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March 24, 2017

BPREVIEW: Blossoms (NME Awards Tour) @ O2 Academy 24.03.17

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Pics courtesy of APB

On Wednesday 29th March, Blossoms perform at the O2 Academy (Birmingham) as part of the NME Awards Tour 2017 – with support from socio-political punks Cabbage, and Rory Wynne.

Doors open at 7pm; the minimum age for entry is 14 with under 16s requiring adult accompaniment. Tickets are priced at £20.25 (+bf) – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig info, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

N.B. At the time of writing the O2 Academy (Birmingham) is one of the last remaining venues on the NME Awards Tour 2017 to have tickets to sell. Please check availability before attending or click here for more info from the NME.

On the back of three years touring, and a string of singles and EP’s released, Blossoms hit the road again to promote their eponymous debut studio album. A bit of a warm up before they visit mainland Europe, North America and Canada, Blossoms will be back in the UK for festival season and a potential place in the hall of fame of Mancunian indie rock.

Blossoms arrived onto the music scene in 2014 with their singles ‘You Pulled a Gun On Me’ and ‘Blow’, the video for the latter being shot at the Fitzpatrick Scaffolding yard in Stockport that was their formative rehearsal space (owned by the grandfather of bass player, Charlie Salt). After building up a back catalogue of singles, Blossoms established an almost cult following with tunes like fan favourite ‘Charlemagne’. Their latest single, ‘Sweet Honey’, was released in February this year – once again featuring a who’s who of Stockport locations.

Blossoms‘ synth-rock sound has been labeled as ‘psychedelic’ by some critics but the band themselves arguably prefer to bask in the pop mainstream, cultivating a more mass appeal. Their nostalgia of The Stone Roses has brought older fans to this new band, whilst their sun blushed melodies found favour with today’s pop luvvies and teenage dreamers.

Blossom’s Mancunian roots are a big part of their music (and name – ‘Blossoms’ being a pub in Stockport) but can they be the sound of a new generation, or will their nostalgia tinged indie rock forever remind us of 00’s indie? A dichotomy which was arguably cemented by their support slot at one of The Stone Roses’ homecoming concerts last June.

But with Blossoms‘ debut LP already hitting the No #1 in both the UK and Scottish album charts, alongside a string a plaudits from artists including Johnny Marr and Ian Brown, Blossoms seem to be on their way to fulfilling their dream of being ‘massive’. And if their tour manager tweeting ‘I don’t think @BlossomsBand can fly economy anymore’ is anything to go, they’re becoming at least as recognisable as their musical heroes.

Support band on the NME Awards Tour 2017, Cabbage, will no doubt bring some heavy opinions and political clout to the O2 Academy (Birmingham ) – alongside the self/social media professed doctor of music, Rory Wynne.

The five-piece Cabbage display ‘a penchant for juvenilia’, look childish (nappy wearing stage costumes) and seem a little… unhinged at times (check the official video to ‘Kevin’) but their appearance is deceiving. Often described as ‘Manchester’s next great…’ (I’m not sure how the headliners feel about this!?) Cabbage take their musical influences from band such as The Sex Pistols and Joy Division; their darker punkier sound with manic drums tackles Brexit, poverty and the boredom of everyday life. It will be interesting to see how Blossoms respond to such a rousing start.

‘Sweet Honey’ – Blossoms

Blossoms perform at the O2 Academy on Wednesday 29^th March, with support from Cabbage + Rory Wynne – as presented SJM COncerts. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Blossoms, visit www.blossomsband.co.uk

For more on Cabbage, visit www.ahcabbage.bandcamp.com

For more on Rory Wynne, visit www.rorywynne.co.uk

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For more on the NME Awards Tour 2017, visit www.nme.com/awards/tour

For more from the O2 Academy, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

March 23, 2017March 22, 2017

BPREVIEW: Ed Geater @ Hare & Hounds 24.03.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Rob Hadley

On Friday 24^th March, Ed Geater performs at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) with support from Bear + Dee Ajayi + Amy Louise Ellis.

Doors open at 7:30pm with tickets priced at £6 (+bf) – as presented by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

Birmingham Review first saw Ed Geater just over two years ago, playing at the Sun at the Station in a showcase organised by Call Me Unique. On as a support act, Ed Geater left ‘possibly the biggest impression on me’ and Birmingham Review has been keeping a sly corner of an eye on him ever since.

A maelstrom of styles and influences, brought together with a soft confidence that pulls you into the stage, Ed Geater is worth a stop, look and listen no matter what your iTunes account says. And despite being a ‘lone singer/songwriter… a formula that, whilst arguably ubiquitous, is one less people can pull off than they realise’, Ed Geater imprinted himself on our minds with ‘enough loops, beat boxing and overall originality to make me keep one eye on the future listings’. I’m using hyper links and avoiding pigeon holes.

Now Ed Geater is on the road with his first headline tour, visiting the venues and motorway hard shoulders of fair Albion as he enjoys (we hope, anyway) an increasingly exciting 2017. Big things on the horizon.

To read more about the wonderful world of Ed Geater, check out Giles Logan’s interview with Ed Geater for Birmingham Review – click here.

But 24^th March is the homecoming show, so we’re saving all our cider shekels and garrulous commentary for the Hare & Hounds. The support lineup is strong too – with some tickling voices from Birmingham’s musical underbelly coming out to shout. Ed Geater is a vocal champion of the local music scene and has handpicked the varied artists with a keen eye and interest. Getting there early might not be a bad idea.

But if a picture speaks a thousand words a music video must be an unabridged version of War and Peace in Latin, so here’s a couple of MPEG tomes to save me having to describe anything further.

And if you still can’t land on an adjective… a crisp tenner will get you watching it live with a drink in your hand. Problem, solved.

Don’t Think – Ed Geater

Symmetry (Live Session) – Ed Geater

Ed Geater performs at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Friday 24^th March, with support from Bear + Dee Ajayi + Amy Louise Ellis – as presented Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

For more on Ed Geater, visit www.edgeater.co.uk

For more from the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), including a full events programme and online ticket sales, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit www.birminghampromoters.com

March 22, 2017

BPREVIEW: Mad Dog Mcrea @ The Big Bulls Head 25.03.17

Words by Damien Russell

Wending their Happy Bus down to The Big Bulls Head on the 25^th of March are Mad Dog Mcrea. Brought to us by Birmingham Promoters, the show is scheduled to start at 19:00 with tickets are priced at £13.75 (ex-booking fees). For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here.

N.B. The Mad Dog Mcrea gig has been moved to The Big Bulls Head, 75 Digbeth, B5 6DY – from Mama Roux’s. For direct venue info, click here.

Mad Dog Mcrea are a modern folk band very much of the old school, blending traditional folk leanings with gypsy jazz and a more modern folk/rock sound. Even the odd nod to bluegrass creeps in occasionally.

And although they lean towards a quintessentially Celtic sound much of the time, the band actually hail from Plymouth in deepest Devonshire. That said, Mad Dog Mcrea seem to spend so much time on the road I would be surprised if they can remember what street they live on. They are a road tested, hard-working, hard drinking good time band and no mistake.

Mad Dog Mcrea currently have four full studio albums and one studio EP on the shelves, with their latest LP, Almost Home, released via God Damn Records in March 2015. Each album has a diverse mix of sounds, tempos and styles, and if you look at their iconic songs: Black Fly, Am I Drinking Enough?, The Happy Bus, Duck Street and Bees Wing, they span twelve years of writing, recording and touring (my favourite is ‘Am I Drinking Enough?’ – check it out live, link below). No flash-in-the-pan group here.

Mad Dog Mcrea were more prominently recognised in 2011 when Radio 2’s Mike Harding gave them some airplay. Harding was quoted as saying they were “one of the most exciting discoveries of 2011,” despite their pre-2011 activities.

Last time I saw Mad Dog Mcrea was in 2014 at the Robin 2 in Bilston. They’d been delayed on the way up by some numpty crashing on the motorway or something, loaded in late and had a hurried soundcheck. Maybe the stress was a factor or maybe it was business as usual, but I’m certain that lead singer/guitarist Michael Mathieson was swigging from a bottle of whisky throughout the set. And emptied about half of it. Quite the stage show.

They also had a bunch of dedicated supporters at the front dressed as crayons, who had apparently followed them for most of the tour. A right bouncy lot they were too. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see such merry madness again this time around. I hope Birmingham’s ready; the Happy Bus is heading to town.

‘Am I Drinking Enough?’ (live) – Mad Dog Mcrea

Mad Dog Mcrea perform at The Big Bulls Bead in Digbeth on Saturday 25^th March, as presented by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Mad Dog Mcrea, visit www.maddogmcrea.co.uk

For more from The Big Bull’s Head, visit www.facebook.com/TheBigBullsHead

For more from Birmingham Promoters, including a full event programme and online ticket sales, visit www.birminghampromoters.com

March 20, 2017March 19, 2017

BPREVIEW: Warpaint @ O2 Institute 22.03.17

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 22^nd March, Warpaint come to the O2 Institute – with support from a band on the punkier side of the UK Rough Trade roster, Shame.

Doors open at 7pm with tickets priced at £21 (+booking fee), as presented by Crosstown Concerts. Minimum age for entry is 14 with under 16s requiring adult accompaniment. For direct gig info, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Warpaint come to the O2 Institute in Birmingham for the first date in their six date UK & Ireland tour, including a set at the BBC 6 Music Festival in Glasgow. On the road promoting their third studio album, Heads Up, Warpaint land back on British shores after six dates across mainland Europe.

And Heads Up is what’s it’s all about right now for Warpaint, with only a handful of songs from their latest LP making it onto the previous tour’s set list. As Theresa Wayman told Clash Magazine in late 2016, “right now we only have five new songs in the set, which doesn’t feel like enough”.

But Heads Up is an arguable transition for Warpaint, with a new approach to writing and recording bringing a broader spectrum of styles and tempo; the opiate haze from much of Warpaint’s back catalogue now has the odd disco biscuit bounce and white line shuffle to keep it on its toes. There’s even a Soulwax remix.

The crowds seem to be toying with a chance of pace too, as Warpaint’s last gig in Manchester received a respectable mosh pit response. “We played ‘Love Is To Die’, ‘New Song’ and ‘Disco/Very’ all in a row” continues Wayman in her interview with Clash, “and people were moshing pretty hard. But we did the same set in Edinburgh the night before and it was completely the opposite, so I don’t know what the secret is really.”

But with Jake Bercovici back at the helm, who produced Warpaint’s debut Exquisite Corpse EP, it’s not a total clean slate. And lots of Heads Up harks back to the shoegaze dream rock of releases gone by. Not that any of this matters until you see it on stage, and with Birmingham getting the first UK look at an amended set list it would be rude not to form a new opinion.

In the meantime, check out a couple of strands from the new Warpaint spectrum with the following tracks featured back to back on their Heads Up LP.

‘New Song’ (YouTube video) – Warpaint

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‘The Stall’ (recorded by NPR Music at the 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.) – Warpaint

Warpaint perform at the O2 Institute on Wednesday 22nd March, with support from Shame – as presented Crosstown Concerts. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Warpaint, visit www.warpaintwarpaint.com

For more on Shame, visit www.facebook.com/shamebanduk

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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For more from Rough Trade, visit www.roughtrade.com

For more from Crosstown Concerts, visit www.crosstownconcerts.com

March 13, 2017March 12, 2017

ALBUM: Semper Femina – Laura Marling

Words by Damien Russell

Laura Marling performs at the O2 Institute on Tuesday 14^th March, as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Laura Marling, having lived in both the UK and the US, has a breadth of experience to draw on and has undoubtedly been exposed to a wide variety of musical genres, styles and eras. I say ‘undoubtedly’ because it’s all here for the listening in her new album, Semper Femina.

Over the course of Semper Femina we are treated to the jazz and blues undertones of opening track and first single ‘Soothing’, British folk stylings on ‘The Valley’, ‘Always This Way’ and ‘Wild Once’, Southern rock and blues on ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ and a definite country twang to ‘Next Time’ and ‘Nouel’.

A wide and varied mix – one that would be easy to make jarring, but Marling flows from track to track without difficulty. Not seamlessly and certainly not in any kind of concept album style, but making the nine tracks feel like an album, not just a collection of songs.

One of the things that helps with that is the well crafted instrumentation; the string section, double bass, harmonies and guitar take turns in the limelight, rising and falling between tracks and making way for the next ‘lead’ in turn. This means that while the styles move quickly, the instrumentation moves more slowly creating a sense of harmony between the tracks. If deliberate (and I see no reason why it wouldn’t be) it’s masterful and great to see real thought put in to making an album in a world of single track downloads.

Of course nothing’s perfect, and while I absolutely appreciate (and support) the artistry and craftsmanship of Semper Femina I couldn’t help but feel that some of the tracks were too long. I hate to be the guy who complains about track length, and I will sit and listen to 7/8 minute songs when the content is there, but some songs felt more like a set sequence of sections repeated just one too many times for me. If we could have lost thirty seconds off a few of the longer tracks and got one more song on the album; that would have been preferred.

When it comes to individual songs, in so many ways, the album opener is the most important and ‘Soothing’ is a fantastic choice for Semper Femina. One of the strongest tracks on the album, it channels a funky vibe that I could only describe as being what I imagine a Morcheeba/Gotye collaboration might be like. A total winner for me.

Contrastingly, the last track on the album, ‘Nothing, Not Nearly’, is jarring and not to my taste. It comes so close to working itself out but still, unfortunately, so far. I found myself ending Semper Femina and playing ‘Soothing’ again just to keep that positive vibe in my mind. And while each track has its own merits the other outstanding song on Semper Femina for me is ‘Wildfire’, which gave me a real Janis Joplin vibe underneath the definite Laura Marling vibe.

Overall Semper Femina a cracking album; in no way do the few bad points outweigh the good. It’s a fantastic demonstration of Laura Marling‘s talent and feels like considerable effort and thought have gone into the bigger picture, as well as each individual song. Semper Femina is certainly a record that will stay in my playlist and I can’t wait to see some of these tracks brought to life on the O2 Institute stage.

‘Soothing’ – Laura Marling (directed by Laura Marling)

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Laura Marling performs at the O2 Institute on Tuesday 14^th March, as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Semper Femina by Laura Marling was released on 10^th March 2017 by More Alarming Records via Kobalt Music Recordings. For more on Laura Marling, visit www.lauramarling.com