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March 7, 2019March 7, 2019

EVENT: Readdressing Gender Balance in the Music Industry – Panel & Discussion @ BIMM Birmingham 08.03.19

Words by Ed King

On Friday 8^th March, the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) Birmingham will be hosting a special panel and discussion event – where women from different professional arenas will be ‘discussing the current gender balance in the music industry’.

Free to attend, the event will be held in BIMM Birmingham’s Live Hall from 5:30pm to 7:30pm – to secure your place, click here to visit the Eventbrite page or visit the BIMM Birmingham website for more general information.

Live music will also be performed from BIMM Birmingham’s students, with Alessandra Curle, Eve Pitt, and Julian Bastock playing from 5:15pm until the panel and discussion starts – followed by Renaye & Nandipa, and Lydia Mason playing once the panel and discussion has come to close. There will also be a chance for more informal discussion and networking with those both on the panel and in attendance.

Organised to coincide with International Women’s Day, the panel and discussion at BIMM Birmingham will address the disparity that still occurs between genders in today’s music industry – including why in 2019 is ‘female fronted’ still being referred to as a genre, and the gender imbalance that many still see in the music industries festival and live circuits. The latter is an especially pertinent issue, with festival programmers across the UK and North America being called upon to present line ups with more female artists; a selection of female professionals from within different areas of the industry will look at these pervasive issues of inequality and encourage a group discussion from the other panel members and the audience.

On the panel will be Jo Jeffries, who has a well established carer across the music industry as both a performer in her own right and a songwriter for international pop artists including Holly Valance and Michelle McManus. In 2016 Jeffries founded the local arts and music collective 7LOCO, which works with major brands and broadcasters to promote talent from across the music and entertainment industry. Then in 2017 Jeffries also launched the Birmingham Music Awards, celebrating artists from all genres in both a high profile annual awards ceremony and monthly networking events.

Also on the panel will be Sue Buckler, a long standing radio plugger who has represented artists from Kylie to Britney Spears – achieving airplay for the rosters of major labels and music groups from Sony to Virgin. Buckler is also Head of Radio for the online distributor Ditto Music, working across global territories to promote the music of new and unsigned artists from a catalogue of genres.

Writer Sophie Maughan will offer further insight from the world of music journalism, as a current contributor to publications included Metal Hammer, TeamRock and Distorted Sound Magazine. Whilst Nova Twins (aka Amy Love and Georgia South) will represent current performing artists at the BIMM Birmingham panel event, bringing their worldwide experiences from clubs and concert venues into the discussion.

BIMM Birmingham hosts a free to attend panel and discussion on ‘Readdressing Gender Balance in the Music Industry’ on Friday 8^th March. To secure your place, visit the Eventbrite page and register here.

For more on BIMM Birmingham, visit www.bimm.co.uk/birmingham

March 2, 2019March 2, 2019

EP: Make Way for the Montage – You Dirty Blue 01.03.19

Words by Ed King / Photograph by Eleanor Sutcliffe

On Friday 1^st March, You Dirty Blue released their latest EP – Make Way for the Montage.

Available to stream online or buy for a fiver, all you need to do is visit the You Dirty Blue website and follow the links in the top right hand corner. That and buy them a beer next time you see them, when you’re getting six tracks for under a pound a pop it’s the least you can do.

Make Way for the Montage is well worth a round too, opening with the (dare I say it…) summer spangly feel of ‘Loose Hips’, as a glorious riff from Leon James stomps itself over the legato/staccato rabbit punch percussion from Martin Reynolds. The tandem vocals are back in force too, with the gruff unison delivering banter and the title lyrics, ‘Loose hips sink ships, just the way you like it’ – word play that was previously used by Gone by Tomorrow, although if you can identify any lyrics in that song then you’re probably a bat.

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‘In Other Words’ continues the slight season change feeling, with a riff that makes me think of The Stranglers which is no bad thing. But comparisons aside, this is clearly a You Dirty Blue record even two tracks in. ‘Bimbada’ opens with the obligatory baby sample, at least I think it’s a baby, before some frenetic beats and swirly production and pave the way for an almost The Cure-esque melodic centre of this EP.

‘Paper Moon’ brings the garage rock (and James’ vocals) back to the forefront, whilst ‘Jumped the Gun’ screams North American road trip and gives Reynold’s the mic to call his very own. ‘Unsociable Jon’ then closes off this six track stormer of an EP with a good ol’ acerbic poke in the lyrical ribs.

Make Way for the Montage is a reminder of just how much You Dirty Blue have to offer – it’s been a nudge over a year since their sophomore EP, Tough Crowd, and the Tamworth twosome have evolved their sound just enough to keep it fresh, but maintaining a firm grip on that psychedelic prog/blues rock that we know and love them for. Job done gents, job done. And you know this is all going to be dangerously good when they play it live, which Birmingham will get a chance to see again at The Castle & Falcon on 21^st April.

‘Loose Hips’ – You Dirty Blue

You Dirty Blue released their Make Way for the Montage EP on Friday 1^st March. For more on You Dirty Blue, including links to online streaming and purchase points, visit www.youdirtyblue.com

For full details of the current You Dirty Blue UK tour, visit www.youdirtyblue.com/tour

March 1, 2019March 1, 2019

BPREVIEW: Wood and Nails @ The Flapper 02.03.19

Words by Ed King

On Saturday 2nd March, Wood and Nails headline at The Flapper – with support from Dearist, George Gadd, and Last Light.

Doors open at The Flapper from 7pm, as promoted by Surprise You’re Dead Music, with tickets available through Eventbrite for ₤6 (advance). For direct event info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the gig’s Facebook event page.

A stalwart of Birmingham’s rock fraternity, Wood and Nails have been pumping out their ‘emotive’ punk rock since their release of The Night Before EP in 2015. The title track of this debut is a fast paced fusion of indie and garage rock – with founder and frontman, Paul Beaumont, laying a careful melody and just-gruff-enough vocals over four tracks that would make Feeder squirm with jealousy.

At their core, Wood and Nails are solid songwriters – and the next few years saw this band brimming with promise deliver a somewhat sporadic series of singles, but all of which landed confidently and were well worth waiting for. It is a genuine surprise that no indie infused label picked this band up and ran.

But God and Geffen love a trier, and the brothers Beaumont et all are giving those Midlandsphobic A&R executives another chance to get in line – releasing their latest single, ‘Searching for an Exit’ on 1st March, one celestial dance before their gig at The Flapper.

Check it out by clicking on the image below, or go and see it as God intended on Saturday 2nd March at The Flapper – with support from Dearist, George Gadd, and Last Light.

‘Looking for an Exit’ – Wood and Nails

For more on Wood and Nails, visit their Spotify artist profile by clicking here – or to visit the Wood and Nails Facebook page for more info and links, click here.

For more on Dearist, visit www.facebook.com/DearistUK

For more on George Gadd, visit www.georgegadd.bandcamp.com

For more on Last Light, visit www.soundcloud.com/lastlightuk

For more from Surprise You’re Dead Music, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.surpriseyouredeadmusic.co.uk

For more on The Flapper, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.theflapper.co.uk

December 7, 2018February 27, 2019

THE GALLERY: Bare Bones @ Café Artum 01.12.18

Words by Emily Doyle / Pics by Ed King

Café Artum, a vinyl-filled setting nestled at the far end of Corporation Street, is busier than usual on this Saturday afternoon.

“This one’s for my mum, over there. This is the first time she’s ever seen me play, today” says Liám Mckeown, taking his seat in front of the window. The room grows quiet. At the back of the cafe, one guy listens to a record on headphones, seemingly oblivious.

Mckeown builds up loops of rhythm guitar before layering effortless lead over the top. Best known for his role in local psych-rock outfit Brain Food, solo he conjures up a much more mellow sound. His singer-songwriter vibe verges on jazzy at points, but always has a psychedelic tinge.

Mckeown covers Neil Young’s 1972 release ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ – it’s ambitious but heartfelt; the audience listens in stillness as the X51 bus rolls past the window behind him. The set also features stripped back versions of Brain Food songs, including ‘Lemon & Lime’ from the band’s debut EP Get One On. These feel more vocal-led than the rest of Mckeown’s performance and round off the set nicely.

The first full band of the bill, Handwaxx, have made only minor concessions to Bare Bones’ advertised ‘raw, stripped back’ ethos. New member Will Sutton, having been recruited to the group just a month ago, has traded out his Vox Phantom for an acoustic guitar, but otherwise the only thing especially stripped back about the outfit’s sound is the lack of a proper PA.

Handwaxx describe themselves as ‘psychedelic indie pop’, which seems like a fair label. Their sound blends a brit-poppish sensibility with a sprinkling of dreamy shoegaze, backed up by impressive lead guitar work from Ryan Baynham. Their set reaches a high point with the last two songs, which move in a more Morricone-esque direction. Handwaxx’s reverb drenched surfy sound is perfect for brightening up a gloomy Saturday afternoon.

The promo material for Bare Bones argued that The Mighty Young ‘could probably still melt your face off with an acoustic set’, but it’s clear we won’t find out about that today, as the only acoustic instrument on stage is the drum kit. This is loud, raucous garage rock ‘n’ roll from one of Birmingham’s trusty trios, and there’s not a Cajon in sight.

The Mighty Young have always embraced a stripped back, DIY ethos with their sound, though. Reminiscent of The White Stripes, their straight-to-the-point performance and songwriting are a joy, unphased by some minor technical hitches.

A jubilant sing-a-long cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ provides the soundtrack as one of the bar staff weaves through the dense crowd, putting tealights out on the tables – it’s grown dark out. A passerby outside stops by the window to listen, intrigued. A few younger audience members, who’ve got another ten years to wait before they can get in to any other Mighty Young shows, are growing a little restless, but the rest of the crowd are fully engaged.

As six o’ clock approaches and the trio draw things to a close with a slow, bluesy ballad; it’s clear that this inaugural Bare Bones session was a success. And although perhaps not as ‘stripped back’ as originally intended, neither the performers nor the audience seemed to mind. Watching the punters filter back out into the cold and on to the next stop on their Saturday nights, there’s a sense that things are only just beginning.

THE GALLERY: Bare Bones – with The Mighty Young, Handwaxx, Liám Mckeown @ Café Artum 01.12.18 / Ed King

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For more on Liám Mckeown/Brain Food, visit www.facebook.com/brainfoodofficial

For more on Handwaxx, visit www.soundcloud.com/handwaxx

For more on The Mighty Young, visit www.facebook.com/ruttingdevil

For more on further events from Bare Bones, visit www.facebook.com/whiskpresents

For more on Café Artum, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.cafeartum.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this feature – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse, or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK website.

December 4, 2018February 27, 2019

BREVIEW: Katie Melua @ Symphony Hall 30.11.18

Words by Ed King / Pics from Symphony Hall by Dave Cox – courtesy of the Express & Star. Pics from Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre by Allan Jones – courtesy of Republic Media

So, I have this thing about honesty. It’s a rule and a burden. Yet it’s also a freedom, if you can understand why. One that keeps us in bed with the truth and one that’s behind anything I put into the public domain. I also have this thing about framing techniques.

Katie Melua is in Birmingham tonight, stopping of on her European tour to play to a sold out Symphony Hall crowd (no mean feat) with a set that promises tracks from her latest album, In Winter – joined live on stage by the Gori Women’s Choir, who were a home grown backbone to her 2016 release. That in itself carries a high expectation; the Gori Women’s Choir’s three albums are all quite powerful collections (thank you Spotify) and tonight’s marriage of a strong vocal ensemble with an acoustic lead are a tempting hook to this little fish.

But my interest has been further piqued by the lack of a Mike Batt signature anywhere on the paperwork. Locked into an arguably suffocating six album deal whilst still in her late teens, I’m curious to see a Melua set without Orinoco waiting in the wings – although I suspect there will still be a few laments about to two wheeled statistics and borderline personality disorders.

As we file slowly, languidly, into the hall, the stage is set simply for Melua and her band. Large screen backdrops host a medley of soft illustrations, pastels, and swirling patterns of light against water – eight mics, for the sixteen extra mouths that will fall in and out across the evening, stand ready and waiting stage right. We are poised for a dimple yet elegant display.

Melua’s opening number is sung solo (in what I assume to be as Georgian) and begins the evening with something seemingly untouchable, yet once embraced – as music can allow you to close your eyes and accept without shame, query or question – quite beautiful.

Her immediate follow up, ‘Plane Song’, brings in her younger brother on guitar accompaniment – layering a subtle red brick onto the Cyrillic foundations. And by the time we are halfway through ‘Nine Million Bicycles’, I am yearning for the return of a language that I don’t understand. Melua, even from this immediate dissection, offers a much firmer delivery when her performance is less obvious. To a solely English speaker, at least.

A curiously saccharine cover of ‘Just Like Heaven’ gets served up next, giving Robert Smith a sugar coating that was endearing but perhaps misjudged, before the Gori Women’s Choir return for another homage – this time to the prickly Christmas tree of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’. Now there’s a moment when every evening finds its point, and when the words that were first delivered in 1971 – exorcising Mitchell’s broken heart – are reissued by nearly 50 years later, I can’t move my attention away from the following:

“I’m going to make a lot of money and quit this crazy scene”.

Katie Melua is a widely respected artist, with both a strong international fan base and public appearance track record. She has travelled the world and the world has travelled behind her. But I have not, with tonight being my first encounter of seeing this artist on stage. And when I’m watching a seasoned performer, walk with well rehearsed blocking around a stage set designed for a cause, planting every note with the precision of a LAMDA exam distinction, I clap with only half of my heart. No matter how surprising or wonderful the occasion has turned out to be.

But here, echoing the words of a woman who will always be remembered for brave intent and anti-establishment honesty, I want to stand in ovation and solidarity. Bill Hicks wanted his rock stars dead, and I’m not Bill Hicks (and Katie Melua is not a ‘rock star’) but the request is the same. And when it is answered, in whatever language, with whatever accompaniment, the more visceral response is quite a spectacle.

I wasn’t sure how much of this evening I’d enjoy, it had been a long day in a longer week, and when the Gori Women’s Choir sang I simply acquiesced and stopped thinking. But Katie Melua is a much more impressive artist than I had I walked into this room believing, and with all the set’s manicures, pop infused covers, and platinum achieving polish, the most glorious of moments were the ones from an older heart.

I surmise, as such: discernible talent deserves the rawest and most truthful of edges, for else what are we but obligation or ego? So let go. More. Scream if you have to, with a yawp or elocution. But give this world what you want it to see and trust in this, anyone who challenges a truthful intent is simply not worth appeasing. What’s left is heartfelt and an honest delight.

For more on Katie Melua, visit www.katiemelua.com

For more on the Gori Women’s Choir, visit www.facebook.com/GoriWomensChoir

For more from the Town & Symphony Halls, including venues details and full event programmes, visit www.thsh.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here.