BPREVIEW: Fat White Family @ O2 Institute 20.02.16

Fat White Family @ O2 Institute 20.02.16

Words by Helen Knott

On Saturday 20 February, Fat White Family perform at the O2 Institute in Digbeth – as presented by SJM Concerts.

Doors open at 6pm, with tickets priced at £12 (advance). For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here.Main with web colour bcg - lr

Fat White Family’s gig at the O2 Institute in Birmingham is the first of an eleven date UK tour – in support of their second album, Songs for Our Mothers, which was released on 22 January through Fat Possum/Without Consent.

Formed in a South London squat back in 2012, Fat White Family have gained notoriety as one of the most raw and wild bands on the live scene. Onstage arguments and nudity, riding a donkey into a venue, pig’s heads in the crowd… it’s all the stuff of legend.

Fat White Family @ O2 Institute 20.02.16But while they haven’t quite managed to capture the energy of their live shows in either their latest album, or their 2013 debut Champagne Holocaust, there is more going on with Fat White Family than just wanton debauchery. Incorporating lo-fi, psych and post-punk styles, Songs for Our Mothers doesn’t shy away from the difficult subjects. In fact, it covers themes of fascism, serial killers and racism in a manner that revels in crossing the boundaries of good taste.

So are Fat White Family “members of an emergent underclass of literate but degenerate squatters” (Paul Lester – The Guardian) with something important to say about modern Britain? Or are they merely “raw-assed rabble rock as dark, deviant and disgusting as the ’70s” (Mark Beaumont – NME).

Either way, if Elton John is referencing them to show he’s still relevant (and he is) it’s probably not long before they cross over into the wider public’s consciousness. So catch Fat White Family before they go supernova. Or, just as likely, before they self-combust.

Released in December 2015, ‘Whitest Boy on the Beach’ was the first taster from Songs for Our Mothers. Check it out – click on the image/link below:

‘Whitest Boy on the Beach’ by Fat White Family

Fat White Family perform at the O2 Institute on Saturday 20 February, as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info & online tickets, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/listings/upcoming-events/29011/fat-white-family/

For more on Fat White Family, visit https://fatwhitefamily.bandcamp.com

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For more from the O2 Institute, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more events from SJM Concerts, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/

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BPREVIEW: Howl feat. Joe Cook, Lydia Scarlett, Afrah Yafai @ The Dark Horse 10.02.16

Howl @ The Dark Horse 10.02.16

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 10th February, Howl opens at The Dark Horse in Moseley – presenting spoken word & performed poetry/prose from Joe Cook, Lydia Scarlett, Afrah Yafai + open mics slots to be announced on the day. Main with web colour bcg - lrDoors open at 7:30pm with entry charged at £3 – for direct event info, click here.

Howl is a Sansho event, co-promoted & presented by Leon Priestnall.

Beginning at the Sun at the Station at the beginning of 2015, Howl has carved a solid little curve into the back of Birmingham’s spoken word and performed poetry/pose scene. Named after the Ginsberg poem, which has been both heralded and contested as a poem written for performance, Howl (the event…) had a solid first year at the Kings Heath watering hole.

The Dark Horse - portrait #1, sfwPreviously run for free but well worth some money (it’s now three English Pound Sterling to get through the door), Howl is the familiar set up of more established writers/performers alongside the potential gems and car crashes of an open mic roster. Curated and presented by local poet Leon Priestnall, the night is now moving over to The Dark Horse in Moseley, taking over the second Wednesday of each month at the B13 venue.

Birmingham Review attended Howl at The Sun at the Station undercover and saw a markedly more balanced night than other events of the same ilk. But that may have been the cider. It can always be the cider. Still, it lodged in our ‘good night out’ cerebral cache, that terrifying abyss, and we’re hoping there will be more of the same at it’s new Moseley home. Here’s a little intro to who’s on in Round One at The Dark Horse:

Joe Cook / Seemingly all things to all men, ‘Joe Cook is a spoken word Artist, lyricist, musician and political activist based in Birmingham.’ Sounds exhausting. But the boy can certainly deliver, and has been the front end of many worthwhile endevours in Birmingham – honing many of his wily ways through Beatfreaks and Apple & Snakes. Witty, insightful and confident… let’s just hope he’s a terrible dancer. For a bit more on Joe Cook (and Howl), visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6sd_6KhL6U

Lydia Scarlett / A singer, storyteller and ‘quirky songstress’, Lydia Scarlett has just released her debut album – the appropriately titled, Just Lydia. Out from October 2015, on the potentially inappropriately titled Paddywack Records (unless it’s a reference to cow ligaments?), the 12 track (kind of, sort of) debut is a versatile mix of acoustic and Folk, with narrative firmly at the front. For more on Lydia Scarlett, visit http://www.lydiascarlett.com/

Afrah Yafai / The dark horse at The Dark Horse, to us anyway, we don’t know much about Afrah Yafai – and our customary Google search didn’t do much to help. But in the words of Howl’s own Facebook page: ‘Afrah’s performances are sincere and her writing will have you clicking for days.’ Sounds good, apart from the last three words. I may bring my HAPPY TO BE HERE CYMBALS.

Howl feat. Joe Cook, Lydia Scarlett, Afrah Yafai comes to The Dark Horse on Wednesday 10th February, launching the event’s new a monthly run at the Moseley venue. For direct event info, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1723728741196063/

For more from The Dark Horse, visit http://www.darkhorsemoseley.co.uk/

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BPREVIEW: Sun Club @ Sunflower Lounge 30.01.16

Sun Club by Shervin Lainez

Words by Ed King / Pic by Shervin Lainez

Main with web colour bcg - lrOn Saturday 30th January, Sun Club will be performing at The Sunflower Lounge, with support from Callum Pickard & the Third Look.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £6 – as promoted by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here.

Out n’about promoting their first full length LP, the curiously titled The Dongo Durango, Sun Club play at The Sunflower Lounge on their first of six UK dates – ending up at (the even more curiously titled) Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar in Brighton. What could possibly go wrong..?

Sun Club - UK/European Tour 2016Born and raised in a Baltimore basement or two, Sun Club are the happy amalgamation of brothers Shane & Devlin McCord with neighbor Mikey Powers, plus friends Kory Johnson and Adam Shane. Cutting their teeth on the colloquial circuit, for the first two years Sun Club mostly played friends’ parties and toured people’s basements’ before moving into established venues. But the five piece have finished taking their ‘baby steps’, having now supported acts such as FIDLAR and Fat White Family, as well as being invited onto the Sweetlife Festival bill in May 2015.

But with the release of Sun Club’s debut LP,the focus is just making music that you feel strongly about, and about releasing it’; The Dongo Durango (…a well endowed city in North West Mexico? Colorado?) is glorious eleven track endevour of unashamed psychedelic Surf Rock. OK, ten tracks – the title song is a 15sec request to check out someone’s birthday suit. And Sun Club come from Baltimore, so perhaps it’s not Surf Rock.

For that matter I’m not sure you can use the term ‘psychedelic’ post 1977. But it is fun, lots of fun; DIY drum echoes, punchy melodies, washed out guitar riffs, with Mikey Powers’s vocals foot stomping a polite Punk march over the top. And like drop kicking a My Little Pony, once you start it’s a little hard to stop.

In fact, whilst we’re on the subject of fighting with neon haired plastic toys…

‘Tropicoller Lease’ by Sun Club

Sun Club perform at The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 30th January, with support from Callum Pickard & the Third Look. For direct gig info & online ticket sales, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/Events/sun-club-2/The Sunflower Lounge - BR web colours, cropped

N.B. All ‘quotes in italics’ are taken from an interview with Mikey Powers for www.baltimoremagazine.net – to read Lydia Woolever’s article in full, click here or on the highlighted quotes above.

For more on Sun Club, visit http://www.sunclubband.com/

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit http://thesunflowerlounge.com/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, including online ticket sales, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/

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BPREVIEW: Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16

Mayday Parade / www.maydayparade.com

Words by Ed KingMain with web colour bcg - lr

On Friday 29th January, Mayday Parade perform at the O2 Institute in Digbeth – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs & Tours.

Doors open at 7pm, with tickets priced at £16 (advance). For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here.

Back in the UK & mainland Europe as part of their Black Lines Tour, Mayday Parade are on the global road promoting their new album of the same name. Released in October 2015, Black Lines was produced by Mike Sapone at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock, upstate New York.

Mayday Parade - Black Lines Tour 2016Available now through Fearless Records, Black Lines is the fifth studio album to come from the Florida based band – with all their LPs being released through Bob Becker’s home grown Punk/Rock imprint.

Formed in 2005, Mayday Parade released their debut EP, Tales Told by Dead Friends, in June 2006. Initially self releasing the six track debut, Mayday Parade built a strong following from their brash distorted guitar riffs, rolling drums and energetic Pop/Punk – reportedly selling their debut EP in the thousands (or even tens of thousands, according to some sources) to festival goers across North America, following the Warped Tour in 2006.

Signing to Fearless Records in August 2006, and re-issuing their Tales Told by Dead Friends EP in November the same year, Mayday Parade would start working on their debut album whilst on the road with their debut EP.

Changing front man from their original singer, Jason Lancaster, to Derek Saunders in March 2007, it wouldn’t be until July 2007 that A Lesson in Romantics was eventually released – featuring lead vocals from both front men, with Lancaster also credited for ‘guitar on all songs.’ Derek Saunders has remained Mayday Parade’s lead singer and front man across the bands decade long active career.

Released in July 2015, ‘Keep in Mind, Transmogrification is a New Technology’ was the lead single from Black Lines. Mayday Parade further released ‘Letting Go’ as the follow up single, in October the same year – have a stop, look, listen, below:

‘Letting Go’ by Mayday Parade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsbdHOuv0X0

Mayday Parade perform at the O2 Institute on Friday 29th January, as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info & online tickets, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/listings/upcoming-events/24741/mayday-parade-3/Print

For more on Mayday Parade, visit http://maydayparade.com/

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For more from the O2 Institute, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more events from SJM Concerts, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/

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