Tag: Ed King

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INTERVIEW: The Assist

Words by Ed King

“For me, this song was just about portraying a message that if you want to achieve something then it’s just a dream away.”

On Saturday 6th July, The Assist celebrated the launch of their new single, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’, with a special headline show at The Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham – alongside George Pannell and Flake as support.

Launching their debut Lost EP back in August 2018, it’s been quite a year for Midlands indie pop rockers – with a steady flow of gigs across the UK underpinning an evolving sound and the singles to prove it.

There’s also been bit of a musical milestone abroad, as The Assist were invited on a six date tour across Russia with The Twang and Riscas – including a chance for the Walsall four piece to play a headline set at the Ural Night Music Festival in front of 12,000 strong audience.

Released on Friday 5th July, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’ has already been picking up a fair amount of momentum and attention – to listen to ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’ click on the single artwork to your left, or the following highlighted links to stream it via Spotify or The Assist’s Soundcloud page.

And with The Assist‘s Lost EP finding a respectable place in both Spotify’s United Kingdom Top 50 and iTunes’ Top 10 Indie charts, alongside another track from their back catalogue lined up for the Made in Chelsea soundtrack, it’s not bad going for a band that once off the cuff described themselves as ‘council pop-rap-rock’.

There are plans already underway to release second EP, with another festival also in the offing – this time a little closer to home, when The Assist will stand at the top of the Smirnoff Presents Saturday night bill at Sheffield’s three day Tramlines music event on 20th July.

So, it looks set to be another busy 12months for The Assist – but don’t just take out word for it…

Ed King caught up with The Assist lead singer, Mikey Stanton, a few hours before their single launch party at The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 6th July – click on the video link below to see the full interview with Birmingham Review.

Interview with Mikey Stanton from The Assist @ The Sunflower Lounge 06.07.19

The Assist released their latest single, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’, on Friday 5th July – available to stream through Spotify, the band’s social media and Soundcloud page. For more on The Assist, visit www.facebook.com/TheAssistBand

The Assist headline the Smirnoff Presents Saturday stage Club Totem on 20th July, as part of this year’s Tramlines festival in Sheffield. For direct gig info, click here to visit the Facebook event page.

For more from Hey Honey, visit www.hey-honey.co.uk
For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

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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 surrounding sexual violence – 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.

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BPREVIEW: GHUM @ The Sunflower Lounge 14.07.19

Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Indie Midlands

On Sunday 14th July, GHUM play at The Sunflower Lounge – with support from Aufbau Principle, P.E.T and Pretty Vile.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £6 (+bf) – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig info, including venue details and links to online ticket sales, click here.

Out on the road with their new EP, The Coldest Fire, GHUM are stopping off for a Sunday night soirée in Birmingham – playing their second gig in the second city, before up to Manchester and beyond on an eight date UK tour.

Released though the London based Everything Sucks Music on 28th June – home to Dream Nails, Wolf Girl and Birmingham’s erstwhile Okinawa Picture Show (last seen…?) – The Coldest Fire is a thicker broth than its 2017 predecessor.

Opening with ‘Saturn’, an immediate foundation of frenetic drums and bass (from Vicki Butler and Marina MJ respectively) gives way to Jojo Khor’s piercing guitar lead and Laura Guerrero Lora’s subtle, brooding vocals. Relentless and bold, citing the EP’s title in the second verse, this opening track is a solid introduction to the whole release – which celebrates all the wonderful and dark corners of GHUM’s self-described ‘ghost grunge’.

Produced by Adam Jaffrey, who has worked with acts from Beach Baby to Ekkah to Lucy Rose, the EP’s second half does loosen its grip a bit – with a softer threat to the first two tracks otherwise clear cut knife to the cheek. But don’t be fooled, whilst ‘1000 Men’ and ‘In My Head’ might be a little epinephrine deficient they can still stand up and fight.

Perhaps, however, The Coldest Fire’s brightest moment is in its second track and lead single, ‘Get Up’, with just over four minutes of low menace and rising panic that throw us around the sonic spectrum with frightening control. As a child of the 90’s, who grew up on the foreboding prophecies of early Sup Pop and Swervedriver, this sends me back to the frivolities of my twisted metal youth.

Like an audio ghost train crashing through the walls of a mescaline hall of mirrors; cracking stuff. And God loves a metaphor… at least, that’s what you get in the absence of any Darjeeling railway anecdotes. Out now; enjoy.

‘Get Up’ – GHUM

GHUM play at The Sunflower Lounge on Sunday 14th July, with support from Aufbau Principle, P.E.T and Pretty Vile – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page.

For more on GHUM, visit www.ghum.bandcamp.com

For more Aufbau Principle, visit www.aufbauprinciple.bandcamp.com
For more P.E.T, visit www.facebook.com/petbanduk
For more on Pretty Vile, visit www.soundcloud.com/prettyvile

For more from Indie Midlands, including further event listings and stories from the region’s indie and alternative music scene, visit www.indiemidlands.com

For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

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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 surrounding sexual violence – 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.

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SINGLE: In My Element – The Clause 12.07.19

Words by Lydia Fitzer / Pics courtesy of The Clause

The Clause came to my attention in May of 2018, as the first of five bands performing in one gig. You’d think I’d have been more excited for the later acts, right? I mean, The Clause were the support of the support of the support of the support. You’d be wrong; so wrong, in fact, that I went on to dub them the biggest highlight of the evening. I positively raved about them. They gave by far the most original and enjoyable set of the night.

The thing you need to understand about The Clause is that they are too cool. They are sickeningly cool. I think they were born cool. When I saw them in 2018 they were in their late teens and already cooler than I have been in my whole life, but now they’ve ascended to a new level of coolness. (I can’t help but feel that it’s a little unfair – young people shouldn’t be allowed to be that badass. After all, the rest of us spent our teen years flailing under ten layers of dream matte mousse and social awkwardness. However, I digress.)

The Clause’s latest single, ‘In My Element’, is truly characteristic of their style. It’s masterfully put together; the deep, thrumming guitar riff is a proper earworm on its own and had me grooving within the first few seconds. The Clause showcased ‘In My Element’ at the aforementioned gig back in 2018, and I stand by what I said in my review: it’s enough to ‘make any rinky-dink panther dance’.

That analogy makes more sense knowing that the band used to incorporate the Pink Panther theme into the beginning of ‘In My Element’ – an effective quirk for a live show, making the crowd giggle with novelty. With that said, I understand why they didn’t keep it as part of the recorded single, probably coming across as a touch gimmicky. The Clause certainly have a sense of humour but make no mistake – they are here to be taken seriously.

They may be young, but they channel old-school in every note. Listening to ‘In My Element’ I could almost be at a record store playing a cassette, the sound is just so slick. It makes me want to oil my hair and stride down the street in a leather jacket and shades. Frontman Peirce McMenamin (vocals and guitar) is an absolute dream for this style. He has a nonchalant tenor vocal which is somehow both mellow in tone and edgy in delivery, keeping his voice regional and unstudied so it doesn’t feel forced.

‘In My Element’ ends a on playful chant – the musical equivalent of a wink and a cheeky grin. The Clause are getting sleeker and more refined with every new record, but I’m glad to see that they’re holding on to the imaginative flair that makes them truly special.

‘In My Element’ (official teaser) – The Clause

 

On Friday 12th July, The Clause release their latest single ‘In My Element’ – available to buy online via iTunes and The Clause’s own website shop. For more on The Clause, visit www.theclause.co.uk

Coinciding with the release of ‘In My Element’, The Clause will be playing at Nambucca in London on 13th July, as promoted by This Feeling  – click here for event details and ticket sales. 

For further tour and live gig dates from The Clause, visit www.theclause.co.uk/live

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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 surrounding sexual violence – 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.

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BPREVIEW: Sam Lambeth presents 10 Years on Four Chords @ The Victoria 12.07.19

Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Sam Lambeth

On Friday 12th July, Sam Lambeth presents 10 Years on Four Chords – a final gig showcase held at The Victoria on John Bright Street, where he will perform cherry picked tracks from The MonoBloggers, Quinn, My Perfect Summer and Winona. And like that… he’s gone. This really is your last chance to see the boy up on stage. Although as a musical epitaph, Lambeth released a compilation of his decade long back catalogue under the same name back in May this year – to read Abi Whitsance’s Birmingham Review of 10 Years on Four Chords (the album) click here.

Joining Sam Lambeth for the 10 Years on Four Chords last hurrah will be ‘an array of special guests from throughout his career’, standing in as his swansong band mates – extra support comes from further local artists Giant & the Georges, Bryony Williams and Paul Beaumont (Wood and Nails).

Doors open at The Victoria on 12th July from 7pm, with tickets priced at £5 (+ booking fee) – as promoted by The Future Sound Project. All money raised from the door sales will go to Teenage Cancer Research, a charity Sam Lambeth has supported for several years, with NOT NORMAL NOT OK also invited to have a presence at the event – challenging sexual assault in the music scene, from dancefloor to dressing room. For more direct gig information and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the 10 Years on Four Chords Facebook event page.

Birmingham Review first saw Sam Lambeth as frontman for/founder of Quinn, when the indie pop three piece were supporting erstwhile Goth rockers, Semantics, back September 2017. Describing their sound as ‘languid melodies disguised by fast paced distortion and an unashamed rock outlook on life’, Quinn’s set was confidently wrapped around their engaging frontman – with Lambeth’s self-deprecation and humour being one of the highlights of a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The line we settled on was: ‘Lambeth is a superstar in the making, with absurd confidence, deft solos and the kind of charisma that you would sign in blood to possess.’

But Mr Quinn had worn several hats before Birmingham Review saw him strut his funky leopard print stuff, having again founded and fronted both The MonoBloggers and My Perfect Summer – the former enjoying some pretty respectable momentum and attention, getting picked by music media such as NME and Radio 6 alongside support slots for The Lemonheads and Little Comets.

Likewise, when the first incarnation of Quinn went the way of the dodo back in 2018 Lambeth sought to re-establish the band with some pretty sold new material – darker than its predecessors, a smattering of tracks were floated around (which Birmingham Review dubbed ‘Evil Quinn’) but despite being pretty exciting evolutions sadly did not pan out as many of us had hoped. No doubt, Sam Lambeth included.

But not one to be easily thwarted or pushed of stage, Lambeth set about redefining his redefinition with a further band – the again exciting but again short-lived Winona. In fact, when we run through it all it’s difficult to pinpoint why Lambeth isn’t now sipping hare of the dog cocktails in the Ivy, kvetching with Noel Gallagher about all the new faces at this year’s Glastonbury. To paraphrase the words of Robert Burns… I guess things just fuck up. But it’s an odd equation gone wrong that ‘Sam Lambeth’ isn’t on the way to being a household name by now. Or at least, to Celebrity Love Island.

Platitudes and prophecy aside, 10 Years on Four Chords will see this decade of highs, lows, fortune and famine played out (literally) on stage at The Victoria on Friday 12th July – in a portfolio packed showcase that presents ‘choice cuts from every band, resulting in a winning playlist of some of his (Lambeth’s) best tracks spanning his ten-year tenure.’

Expect tears, expect laughter. Expect growing old gracefully to be shoved down the back of the sofa for a night. Come and say well done/goodbye to someone who has been embedded, both on stage and off, in the Midland’s music scene for the last 10 years. Someone should bake a cake, or buy a watch. Do PRS and Birmingham City Council issue a long service award…?

‘All the Best’ – Quinn

On Friday 12th July, Sam Lambeth and The Future Sounds Project present 10 Years on Four Chords at The Victoria – showcasing tracks from The MonoBloggers, Quinn, My Perfect Summer and Winona. Support comes from Giant & the Georges, Bryony Williams and Paul Beaumont (Wood and Nails). For direct gig information and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook Event page. 

For more from Sam Lambeth, and for a sneaky peak at what’s coming off stage at 10 Years on Four Chords, visit https://spoti.fi/2G6ANA1

For more on Giant & the Georges, visit www.giantandthegeorges.co.uk
For more on Bryony Williams, visit www.soundcloud.com/bryony-williams
For more on Paul Beaumont (Wood and Nails), visit www.spoti.fi/2IJ1IWc

For more from The Future Sound Project, visit www.seetickets.com/promoter/the-future-sound-project

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

For more on Teenage Cancer Trust, visit www.teenagecancertrust.org

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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 surrounding sexual violence – 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.

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BPREVIEW: The Assist – single launch party @ The Sunflower Lounge 06.07.19

Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Hey Honey

On Saturday 6th July, The Assist celebrate the launch of their new single, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’, with a special headline show at The Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham – support comes from George Pannell and Flake.

Doors open 7:30pm, with tickets are priced at £7 (+bf) – as presented by Hey Honey. For direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, visit the Facebook event page by clicking here.

It’s been a busy 12months for The Assist. Since launching their debut Lost EP back in August 2018, the self-described ‘council pop-rap-rock’ four piece have been popping up all over the world – from the Made in Chelsea soundtrack to a it six date tour across Russia, it seems everybody wants a piece. Not bad for four lads from Walsall, who once told Clash Magazine they formed because they ‘felt we could do something better than the bands all the girls at school were talking about.’ And so, they did.

But alongside The Assist’s seemingly Faustian pack with the Devil of pop-rock melodies, beginning with the seductively bouncy croon of ‘Tell Her How You Feel’ back in 2016 and cemented with follow up singles ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Give it to Me’, their growing success comes down to graft. I guess being cherry picked by This Feeling to be the king-making promoter’s Band of the Month back in Feb 2017 would have helped add some national attention to the mix, but that kind of industry recognition doesn’t come without some serious groundwork.

Since forming in 2014, The Assist have thrown themselves into a touring schedule that would make many lesser rock-Gods-in-waiting curl up into the foetal position in the middle of the M1 – but one that has seen them appear alongside a staggering line up of luminaries, including the Happy Mondays, Blossoms, Black Honey, Ratboy and The Twang. And whilst most musical bucket lists would be pretty ticked off with those stage sharing credentials, The Assist’s list of accolades are only just beginning.

More on that later, as Birmingham Review will be catching up with The Assist to get all this from the horse’s mouth. Watch this space. But right now, there’s a more pressing matter than a litany of pats on the back and biography soundbites. On Friday 5th July, The Assist release their latest single – a 3min summer anthem that has FESTIVAL FEVER written all over it, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’.

Vocalist, Mike Stanton, is arguably on his finest form yet – belting out the titular aspiration with a glorious Midlands twang. But with a tinge of Madchester also lurking in the background, this tempered pop rock power punch could be the ‘breakthrough single’ that every band considers selling a soul for. And with both the great and good of Radio 6 and a growing global fanbase behind them, the world is quite literally becoming more and more their playground.

But there’s still time to catch them without having to spend a month’s rent with Aeroflot (we told you they just toured Russia, right…?) as The Assist will be basking in some closer to home glory with a special launch party gig at The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 6th July. Tickets may have sold out, we’re not 100% sure, but they probably will if they haven’t already. We’re suggesting investing in an advance ticket or two, click here for more details.

And if they have gone, gone, gone… then in the words of the late great Mr Bullseye himself, let’s have a look at what you would’ve won.

‘Just a Dream Away’ – The Assist

The Assist comes to The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 6th July, celebrating the launch of their new single, ‘It’s Just a Dream Away’, with support from George Pannell and Flake – as presented by Hey Honey. For direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, visit the Facebook event page by clicking here.

For more on The Assist, visit www.facebook.com/TheAssistBand

For more on George Pannell, visit www.facebook.com/georgepann74
For more on Flake, visit www.facebook.com/flakebrum

For more from Hey Honey, visit www.hey-honey.co.uk

For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

________

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 surrounding sexual violence – 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.