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August 13, 2018

SINGLE: ‘Serendipity’ – Liquid Cheeks 13.08.18

Words by Ed King / Pic courtesy of Liquid Cheeks

On Monday 13^th August Liquid Cheeks release their second single – ‘Serendipity’. Available to stream for free though Spotify, click here to listen.

Liquid Cheeks is name you’ll read on our pages again in the coming weeks, as they will be supporting The Taboo Club at our next live music showcase – at The Victoria on Saturday 29^th September. And it’s a name you should remember, as the fledgling project from Ben Ollis Gibbs and Greg Clarke is one of the most promising new musical corners of the Midlands this year.

Releasing a series of introductory singles, Liquid Cheeks launched themselves with ‘He’s a Flower’ in July – a guitar twanging stab at machismo, delivered through gritted teeth and absurd amounts of swagger, burrowing into your brain like a good earworm should. It was a solid start for the new band from two core members of the erstwhile Byron Hare – grabbing us by enough short and curlies to book them for our September showcase, where they will play their debut live set as Liquid Cheeks. Something we’re more than a little excited about. But have you got any more material I could listen to? Yeah, sure, we’ll send it over… ‘Serendipity’ is being released in August.

Remember the first time you heard Foals, or The XX. Or any band who manage to deliver something with that ineffable… whatever it is. That’s Liquid Cheeks. Self-described as ‘electro garage’, their sophomore single, ‘Serendipity’, is a masterclass in effective restraint – opening with an almost twee keyboard riff from Ben Ollis Gibbs, before a gut punch guitar and Greg Clarke’s vocals hook you into the heart of this track within seconds.

This formula stays true until a little six string tweak at around the two minute mark, giving slightly a tougher middle eight, before bringing it back with a sprinkle of the aforementioned keys and the repeated chorus – a simple two line signature that had me singing it around my kitchen after the second play. But ‘Serendipity’ is solid song writing to it’s core – a track that, just, simply, works. And there’s a deep confidence to it all, with a simple chord progression underpinning a major to minor melody that makes me feel like I’m living through the Drive soundtrack. Although not the lift scene.

Liquid Cheeks seem quite laid back about the whole thing too, which is probably where their song writing gets its confidence and strength. I guess when you’ve been working within an ensemble for a while then move into a more self-governed and directed arena, you can take a welcome deep breath.

But with two strong singles on the table and a cluster making their way through the production process, I am anything but relaxed about it all. Birmingham is due another portfolio to be proud of with Liquid Cheeks looking like a solid part of any new attention the Midlands may get. And if there’s an album of this standard in the offing… Jesus, somebody better make up a new acronym because these boys came to play.

On Monday 13^th August Liquid Cheeks release their latest single, ‘Serendipity’, through Default Man Records – available to stream for free through Spotify, click here.

For more on Liquid Cheeks, visit www.facebook.com/liquidcheeks

Liquid Cheeks will be supporting The Taboo Club at The Victoria on Saturday 29th September, as part of the next Birmingham Review live music showcase. Joining them on the bill will also be Stoke’s melodic electro four piece, Lilac Noise – playing their debut Birmingham gig. For direct event information, including links to online ticket sales, click here.

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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 sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

August 11, 2018August 11, 2018

BPREVIEW: The August Showcase with Lice, The Lizards, The Hungry Ghosts, Whitelight @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18

Words by Ed King

On Sunday 12^th August, Setting Son Records and RDE present The August Showcase – with Lice, The Lizards, The Hungry Ghosts, and Whitelight all playing at the Hare & Hounds.

Doors open at 6pm, with advance tickets available for a mere £7 sterling plus a smidgen of a booking fee… which works out at around £1.75 a band, so literally cheaper than chips. Although a small cone of chips are available across the road for £1.25, so literally cheaper than some chips.

For direct event information and links to online ticket sales, click here. For the rest Google ‘Charlie’s Chippy Kings Heath’.

Lice have been steadily creating that kind of hard earned hype for a couple of years now – burrowing deep into the Bristolian live music circuit, snapping up support slots with The Fall and Fat White Family, then heading out across the UK to open for Idles on a sell out nationwide tour.

But the latter didn’t stop on stage, with Joe Talbot signing Lice as the first band to climb aboard his relatively recent imprint – Balley Records. And with fearsome mix of reverberation, guttural prose, swagger, more swagger, alongside an almost poetic approach to bass playing (see their Facebook page) and equine immolation (see below) you can see a well justified postcode partnership emerging. As Talbot told the NME back in April, “to act as a Trojan horse and allow bands that we like to be in a sphere of opportunity that we didn’t get is great. It’s a bit like having a plus one to a party. It feels amazing, it feels exciting and it feels like a privilege that we have that in our hands.”

Lice released their It All Worked Out Great double EP, through Balley Records, in May this year – described by Louder than War as a ‘rabble-rousing selection of wryly dark and humorously unhinged tales, sound-tracked by a dissonant post-punk noise.’ So, erm, yeah. Sold. But coming back to Birmingham after last appearing at the Killer Wave bank holiday all dayer in August 2017, this is another chance to see Lice live on stage and in all their glorious Sunday goodness. And that’s not a bad way to wave goodbye to your weekend

But if you need a more regional reason to drag yourself off the sofa and out the door, then we have three – with The Lizards, The Hungry Ghosts, and Whitelight also playing at The August Showcase. So, sold. Sold. And sold again. All for less than a tenner and a potato based snack, pass the ketchup.

‘Stammering Bill’ – Lice

Setting Son Records and RDE present The August Showcase – with Lice, The Lizards, The Hungry Ghosts, and Whitelight all playing at the Hare & Hounds on Sunday 12^th August. For direct event information and links to online ticket sales, visit the Facebook Event Page by clicking here.

For more on Lice, visit www.facebook.com/licebristol

For more on The Lizards, visit www.soundcloud.com/allyourfriendsarelizards

For more on The Hungry Ghosts, visit www.thehungryghosts.co.uk

For more on Whitelight, visit www.officialwhitelight.com

For more from Setting Son, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/settingsonrecords

For more on the Hare & Hounds, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.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 sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

August 9, 2018August 9, 2018

BPREVIEW: Heathers (30th Anniversary) @ Cineworld, The Mockingbird, The Electric Cinema 10.08.18

Words by Ashleigh Goodwin

Friday 10th August will mark the 30th anniversary of the cult-classic Heathers. To celebrate the occasion, multiple cinemas are bringing it to their screens for the first time since the film’s original release in 1988/89.

Heathers will be shown at The Mockingbird and The Electric Cinema on 10th August, with the start times ranging from 17:25 and 20:30 respectively. Tickets at The Mockingbird are priced at £5.70 or £8.70 (both including booking fee) for a ticket and a pint of MB lager. Further screenings will be held at The Mockingbird until 15th August, with Cineworld (Broad Street) screening Heathers for one night only on 16th August.

Tickets to The Electric’s Heathers: 30th Anniversary ‘What’s Your Damage?’ party on 10th August start from £12.45 (including booking fee) for one of their limited availability standard tickets. At the time of writing, all but one of their back-seat sofas have sold out, with the three-person Dietrich sofa still available for £16.30.

For direct event information, including film times, venue details, and online tickets sales, click here for Cineworld (Broad Street), click here for The Mockingbird, and click here for The Electric Cinema.

Despite opening to a lukewarm reception and a poor box office performance, Heathers grew to be the definition of a cult-classic and became ‘recognised as one of the high peaks of the teen movie genre’ since its original late ’80s release. Further to this, the film has spawned a modern-day remake in the form of a US anthology series – although the Paramount Network, the US production company who commissioned the series, has since dropped the project due to the content mirroring real life high school shootings in North America.

But what is too close to home for the American smaller screen still made it to the stage, with a rock musical adaptation of Heathers having run regularly for the past four years throughout North America, Australia, and most recently the UK – moving from off the West End to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September 2018.

Heathers was directed by Michael Lehmann and depicts angst ridden teenager Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) who is attempting to navigate Westerburg High School as part of the popular cliqué the Heathers – a trio of rich, elitist seventeen-year olds. Veronica soon begins to realise that the cost of popularity is at odds with her morals and that the group may not mark her true place in the high school social hierarchy. This, combined with the arrival of a mysterious (gun-wielding) outsider Jason ‘J.D’ Dean (Christian Slater), means the normalcy of Veronica’s life begins to take a sharp decline. After the two direct a seemingly harmless prank on cliqué leader Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), in response to her unrelenting nasty behaviour, they ‘accidentally’ end up poisoning her and at J.D.’s suggestion frame it as suicide.

Veronica soon begins to realise J.D. isn’t the charming loner or idealist she first believed him to be, but a psychopath with an insatiable desire to eliminate all the popular students at Westerburg High – leaving Veronica in a race against time to stop him committing his most lethal act yet. What follows is quite simply a chaotic whirlwind of revenge, betrayal, more staged suicide, and numerous games of croquet.

Notorious for its solid casting and a screenplay that has birthed multiple ‘classic’ quotes, Heathers offers a warped, satirical portrayal of the adolescent journey. The outrageous black comedy manages to offer a bleak and ‘off the wall’ approach to the classic teenage high school film, whilst still remaining undoubtedly entertaining and topical.

As director Lehmann summarises, “we were looking at the John Hughes films [The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink] and saying ‘This is bullshit!’ The movies are fun, we like them, but we didn’t think they really represented the truly cruel nature of interpersonal behaviour in high school.”

Heathers screens at The Mockingbird and The Electric Cinema on Friday 10^th August 2018 – and whilst The Electric’s Heathers: 30th Anniversary ‘What’s Your Damage?’ party event is a one off, The Mockingbird will be holding a total of five screenings with the last being on 15th August. Cineworld will be screening Heathers for one night only on 16th August.

For direct event information, including venue details and online tickets, to visit The Mockingbird click here, to visit Cineworld click here, and to visit The Electric Cinema click here.

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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 sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

August 8, 2018

BREVIEW: Iron Maiden @ Genting Arena 07.08.18

Words Ed King / Pics by Eleanor Sutcliffe

It’s no secret or hyperbole that Iron Maiden fans are amongst the most loyal of the heavy metal fraternity. But seeing over 15,000 rockers donning party hats, holding balloons, and waving birthday messages to Maiden’s longest standing lead singer was a large scale surprise.

Whether you’ve followed the band from the start or jumped on with any of their 16 studio albums it’s a pretty special atmosphere tonight, as a sea of Iron Maiden t-shirts and merchandise (along with the people wearing them) stand as a living museum to the band’s 40 year career.

But there is also theatre in the air, as a packed out Genting Arena have come to see Iron Maiden play one of six UK dates on their Legacy of the Beast World Tour and were promised a ‘very special show.’ Known for ‘having fun’ with their stage sets, this could mean nearly anything with Iron Maiden, and speculation and anticipation run rife through the crowd. That and a few plastic pints of Maiden’s very own Trooper beer.

First up though is Killswitch Engage, the Massachusetts spawned metalcore five piece who are joining Iron Maiden at all of their UK dates. Opening with ‘Strength to the Mind’, the lead single from their last studio album Incarnate, it’s a pretty lively affair – with the band’s lead guitarist, Adam Dutkiewicz, jumping around like an adderall adolescence, wiping pantomime amounts of sweat from his brow, and giving head high kicks during ‘Life to Lifeless’.

After a short break, with an en masse attempt to get served… not easy with over 15,000 thirsty people, we hear UFO’s ‘Doctor Doctor’ coming over the arena’s PA system – the longstanding cue that Iron Maiden are making their way from the dressing room. Scenes from the battlefields of World War II play out on the screens at the back of the stage, with quotes from Winston Churchill being somewhat drowned out by a soundtrack of explosions and gunshots.

Then it happens… Iron Maiden launch into their set with ‘Aces High’, as what looks like a full scale Spitfire swoops in to stand as the most outlandish set piece above the stage. Someone said there might be pyrotechnics tonight, which indeed there (including Dickinson strutting around the stage with a portable flame thrower) but no one warned me about a bloody plane.

Even more pertinent in the city that made the Spitfire, with Castle Vale only a stone’s throw down the M6, it’s a simply phenomenal opener – replete with Dickinson dressed in full fighter pilot paraphernalia and the swagger of man who could probably fly the thing. I remind myself it’s the lead singer’s 60^th birthday today, then quietly question ‘what have I done with my life..?’

So the theme is ‘war’, with camo netting covering the stage and the first part of Iron Maiden’s set marching through a tracklist including ‘Where Eagles Dare’, ‘Two Minutes to Midnight’ and ‘The Trooper’. But it’s also a cherry picked selection of Maiden’s extensive back catalogue, with ‘Fear of the Dark’, ‘The Number of the Beast’, and the band’s eponymous closer from their 1980 debut album being a fitting full stop – as well as a generous hat tip to the band’s original lead singer.

The power, ferocity, and noise levels don’t falter, from Iron Maiden’s spectacular start to their three track encore which ends with ‘Run to the Hills’ – sending the Genting Arena into an almost dangerous state of hysteria.

Luckily, and making the finale almost as memorable at the beginning (…an actual plane), we are left with Monty Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ coming over the PA, creating a more subdued sing-a-long to send us all home.

Iron Maiden have enjoyed four decades as one of heavy metal’s most successful ensembles, with a gold star reputation for high octane live shows, a tireless work ethic, and a fiercely loyal crowd that will (sometime literally) travel oceans to see them. If tonight is anything to go by, with the passion and production coming off stage a clear cut above anything you would call ‘the norm’, then it’s it’s a well earned trophy.

And happy birthday Bruce Dickinson… what an unbelievable way to celebrate six decades on this planet. Let’s raise a pint of Trooper and toast to many more.

Iron Maiden @ Genting Arena 07.08.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

For more on Iron Maiden, visit www.ironmaiden.com

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Killswitch Engage – supporting Iron Maiden @ Genting Arena 07.08.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

For more on Killswitch Engage, visit www.killswitchengage.com

For more from Live Nation UK, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.livenation.co.uk

For more on the Genting Arena, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.gentingarena.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 sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018

BPREVIEW: Iron Maiden @ Genting Arena 07.08.18

Words by Ed King

On Tuesday 7^th August, Iron Maiden bring their Legacy of the Beast World Tour to the Genting Arena with support from Killswitch Engage – as presented by Live Nation UK.

Doors open at the Genting Arena from 7:30pm, with tickets ranging from £48.50/60 plus booking and administrative fees – although prices vary depending on positioning within the arena and ticket outlet.

For direct gig information, including venue details and online sales through The Ticket Factory, click here. For tickets direct from Live Nation, click here. For tickets from Ticketmaster, click here.

Iron Maiden are, quite simply, one of the most successful bands on the planet. And their 40 year stamp of authority on the heavy metal scene is unrivalled, starting out with the release of their eponymous debut in 1980 and still breaking new ground (and sales figures) with their latest studio LP, The Book of Souls, released in 2015.

Seriously, try and name another metal outfit that survived for so long and has even grown its sales/fanbase decade after decade. You can’t. Because they don’t exist. Love ‘em, fear ‘em, blame ‘em for the satanic betrayal of the American dream (we’re pointing at you, The Moral Majority) Iron Maiden are a phenomenal success story.

But what makes their latest, arena packing, sell out, world tour such a litany of red letter dates is that it technically shouldn’t be happening – Iron Maiden founder and bassist, Steve Harris, had gone on record saying the band wouldn’t release more that 15 studio albums. The Book of Souls was No16; for all intents and purposes, Iron Maiden should have hung up their plectrums, mics and drumsticks back in 2015.

But as Harris told The Guardian during Iron Maiden’s first Indian concert, at the Bangalore Palace Grounds in 2007, ‘we do think about some kind of half-retirement… But it seems the world won’t let us.’ And why wouldn’t you carry on, when you’re band is still breaking new markets across the globe and your last studio album (and let’s just clarify the trajectory again, your sixteenth studio album) reached No1 in 24 countries.

Iron Maiden have been on the road with their Legacy of the Beast World Tour since May 2018, scheduled to play six dates in the UK from Belfast (2nd Aug) to London (10/11^th Aug). According to the band’s longstanding manager, Rod Smallwood, fans can expect a “history/hits” set list with “both new material and the older favourites” getting performed from Iron Maiden’s extensive portfolio. Even Eddie, the band’s longstanding mascot, is dusting off some of his former glories – with the tour poster presenting him as from his Piece of Mind (1983) and Somewhere in Time (1986) days.

As Smallwood continues, “we decided to base the theme around the Legacy of the Beast name… giving us scope to get creative and have some fun, especially with Eddie! We’re working on a number of different stage sets, all in keeping with the Maiden tradition and we hope to give our fans a fantastic experience when they come to see this very special show.”

‘Speed of Light’ – Iron Maiden (from The Book of Souls)

Iron Maiden bring their Legacy of the Beast World Tour to the Genting Arena on Tuesday 7^th August, with support from Killswitch Engage. For direct show information, including venue details and online sales through The Ticket Factory, visit www.gentingarena.co.uk/whats-on/iron-maiden

For more on Iron Maiden, visit www.ironmaiden.com

For more on Killswitch Engage, visit www.killswitchengage.com

For more from Live Nation UK, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.livenation.co.uk

For more on the Genting Arena, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.gentingarena.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 sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.