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February 25, 2017

THE GALLERY: Rews @ The Flapper 15.02.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Paul Reynolds

There’s an element of luck attached to most things in life: the lottery, love, moving next door to a Chihuahua stud farm (not always good luck). Then there’s endevour and hard graft.

Tonight has all three, as my somewhat petulant approach to language drags me halfway across Birmingham to argue adjectives… only to find Rews at the end of it. Theirs is the hard graft, which rains dividends on The Flapper crowd lucky enough to be here. To read Damien Russell’s BREVIEW, click here.

About a week after this gig Rews had a special announcement to make. We’d been tipped off about this during our interview (out later) and been given the clue ‘branding on stage’ before the show. Being a two piece there wasn’t much clutter – with a lone Marshall amp standing testament to a thinly veiled secret. By the end of the gig I’d smugly worked it out. Or at least I thought I had.

Turns out it’s not just free kit. Rews have been signed by Marshall Records – the legendary (not often you get to use that word and mean it) amp manufacturer who have been synonymous with interstellar rock acts since the 60’s.

“The deal with Marshall is focusing on releasing our debut album,” tells Collette Williams – the Animal/Ash Soan that makes up 50% of Rews, “which we are recording with producer Rob Cass between Abbey Road and Tileyard studios. We haven’t got a release date confirmed but it’s looking hopeful for autumn. Thank you to everyone for all of their support and to anyone who is just as excited as us.”

Marshall announced their new label in summer 2016, making Rews one of their first signings; the best metaphor I can land on is ‘crest of a wave’. Rews have the mustard to make it work too, and the thought of them releasing an album is… exciting times. But in the interim (or summer) my spidey sense says you’ll probably run into Rews somewhere surrounded by sheep.

Until then here’s some pics from Rews at The Flapper, with support from MUTT and Ember Weir – shot by Paul Reynolds for Birmingham Review.

Rews @ The Flapper 15.02.17 / Paul Reynolds

For more on Rews, visit www.rewsmusic1.wordpress.com

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MUTT – supporting Rews @ The Flapper 15.02.17 / Paul Reynolds

For more on MUTT, visit www.facebook.com/mutttheband

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Ember Weir – supporting Rews @ The Flapper 15.02.17 / Paul Reynolds

For more on Ember Weir, visit www.emberweir.bigcartel.com

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For more on Marshal Records, visit www.facebook.com/MarshallRecordLabel

For more from The Flapper, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.theflapper.co.uk

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

February 21, 2017February 21, 2017

BPREVIEW: Worry Dolls @ Kitchen Garden Café 22.02.17

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 22^nd February, Worry Dolls perform at the Kitchen Garden Café (Kings Heath) coming to Birmingham as part of their national headline tour.

Doors open at 7:30pm with tickets priced at £7adv / £8. For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Worry Dolls, aka Zoe Nicol and Rosie Jones, met through the Liverpool music scene and a shared love of the lighter side to the Cohen Brothers. Although it may have been more about the Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Forming their own ‘contemporary bluegrass band’, Nichol and Jones started out playing covers and paying homage, with artists including Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Earl Scruggs, Dixie Chicks and Gillian Welch cited as influences.

But no Americana dream is complete without a road trip and the ‘almost telepathically linked songwriting force’ pootled across the pond, to Nashville, to record their debut album. Go Get Gone was released through Bread & Butter Records on 27^th January – to read a Birmingham Review of the album, click here or on the sleeve artwork.

Having been on the (British) road since the day after the album’s release, Worry Dolls are quite literally living their dream – no doubt with all the dark turns and happy accidents you can expect from the unexpected. But Go Get Gone appears to have been a brave endevour from the start.

Birmingham get’s it’s chance to see Worry Dolls on tour date lucky 13, before Nicol and Jones continue their somewhat head spinning criss-cross of the country. And Kitchen Garden Cafe is arguably one of the better second city settings for some good ol’ fashioned stripped back, bluegrass and country.

But with 25 dates to play until this year’s summer festival season, when another significant wheel starts turning, there’s probably not too much time to notice. Life on the open road can be a cruel and kind mistress, so I remember. And save those diary blues for album two.

‘Miss You Already’ – Worry Dolls

Worry Dolls will be performing at the Kitchen Garden Café on 22^nd February. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

For more on Worry Dolls, visit www.worrydollsmusic.com

For more from the Kitchen Garden Café, including a full events programme and menus, visit www.kitchengardencafe.co.uk

For more from Bread & Butter Music, visit www.breadandbuttermusic.com

February 20, 2017

THE GALLERY: Hidden Charms + The Bay Rays, The Lizards @ Hare & Hounds 16.02.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Rob Hadley

I shouldn’t be here. I should be at home, dressing gown clad, half cut and punching nostalgic travel plans into Skyscanner. But I’m not. A pantomime of missteps has brought me to the second room at the Hare and Hounds; fully dressed and upright I’m watching Hidden Charms, a band I didn’t know until chance and their PR company (Sonic, a more reliable source) threw me into this review. And so it begins.

The first two bands tonight have been superb: The Lizards, with their Faustian approach to distorted psych/prog rock, and The Bay Rays – a stadium seducing blues rock three piece. It’s competitive. Rob and I joke about having to follow this kind of support. I don’t know much about tonight’s headline band but the stakes have been raised at each sound check and they’d better have big enough feet. Hidden Charms saunter into view, croaky, crumpled and confident; just like a rock band. A harmonica sounds, a hand goes up. We are called to the front of the stage. We are Act III. We are on.

A brooding screech cuts through a driving rhythm guitar; the beats drum, a whammy pedal breaks, Americana pours through the room like ill tempered bourbon. I am standing in the cracked mirror ball lights of an old motel bar. Then Bez in a cowboy hat (apparently ‘found on a beach in New Zealand’) drags us further into the stage. We shuffle through imagined broken glass and comply.

‘Over Now’ brings some serious shoulder drop blues; Addidas and broken Converse in a fist fight with keys and guitar. It’s Thursday night in a tired second city, but a complicit front row continues to accept this increasing and almost violent invitation – before ‘Long Way Down’ presses us further into our focal point and foe. John Lennon with balls. There’s no escape; it takes less than ten minutes and Hidden Charms’ front man is climbing into the crowd.

I was promised the London four piece would be ‘well worth seeing, you’re in for a good night’… but what does that ever mean. There is no truth, right? But the energy in this small live room is immediate and palpable – the music, ferocious and infectious. If chairs start getting thrown I don’t think anyone will care, or notice. As long as sound stays on and the bar open.

Usually I step through a set list, number punching the pertinent plot points and looking for chances to sound funny, but not now. After a small stationary skirmish I am reminded… I am here. So I put the pen down and dance. Anyway, you could pick five words (on, driving, cowboy, blues, rock) to surmise this review but in essence you only need four: go see Hidden Charms. You can get the rest from YouTube, Spotify or (better still) iTunes.

I did write the following (as I took a five minute double whiskey break at the back of the room) so I guess I should give them to you. Unedited, picked from the drunk spider scrawls in my now slightly crumpled notebook:

‘Punching it up between foot stamp blues anthem 101, seduce the front row, all round awesomeness – the whole room is, or should, or wants, to be having as much fun as possible. Then at some point, I’m not sure when, the front of the stage moves into the front of the crowd and we’re buying rounds of Tequila.’

Tonight has been a barrage of blues, psychedelic and prog rock – delivered by a live triptych of almost absurd quality. Raw and unexpected. You don’t see this too often. So go and watch all of these bands: The Lizards, The Bay Rays, Hidden Charms.

And by the end of a night I hadn’t planned for, I was picking my way off a fan fervent stage – full of pedals, alcohol stains and stories for the next day. Which reminds me of two more words: happy accidents.

Hidden Charms @ Hare & Hounds 16.02.17 / Rob Hadley

For more on Hidden Charms, visit www.hidden-charms.com

The Bay Rays – supporting Hidden Charms @ Hare & Hounds 16.02.17 / Rob Hadley

For more on The Bay Rays, visit www.thebayrays.com

The Lizards – supporting Hidden Charms @ Hare & Hounds 16.02.17 / Rob Hadley

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

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

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

February 15, 2017February 15, 2017

BPREVIEW: Hidden Charms + The Bay Rays, The Lizards @ Hare & Hounds 16.02.17

Words by Ed King / Pic by Lee Vincent Grubb

On Thursday 16^th February, Hidden Charms perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) with support from The Bay Rays + The Lizards.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £7 plus a booking fee – as presented by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here.

One of the ever impressive Delta Sonic signings, Hidden Charms are psychedelic prog rock ‘who deliver propulsive, urgent rock n’ roll’ through their self described ‘prowling guitar riffs,’ ‘thundering tribal drums’ and ‘gritty dual vocals.’ It’s pretty awesome stuff too, if a whiskey stained 70’s hangover is your mixed bag of indie and rock.

Hidden Charms released their four track Harder From Here EP earlier this year, opening with the audio monster that is ‘I Just Wanna Be Left Alone’, and have been on the road since the pointy end of January. Enjoying a near as damn sell out tour, not a bad achievement following the first payday after New Year, Hidden Charms will be on the Hare & Hounds‘ stage for the last-but-one-but-one date on their 12 date UK tour.

Support has been (and will be again) from The Bay Rays, with The Lizards joining in for the Birmingham pit stop.

‘I Just Wanna Be Left Alone’ – Hidden Charms

Hidden Charms perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Thursday 16^th February, with support from The Bay Rays + The Lizzards. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Hidden Charms, visit www.hidden-charms.com

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

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

February 15, 2017

BPREVIEW: Cinderella @ Hippodrome 15-25.02.15

Words by Ed King

Opening at the Birmingham Hippodrome on Wednesday 15^th February, Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) presents David Brintley’s Cinderella – running until Saturday 25^th February.

Matinees will be held at 2pm and 2:30pm, with evening performances held at 7:30pm. There will be a Touch Tour (10:30am) and audio described performance (2:30pm) on Saturday 18^th February.

Tickets for the main theatre seat (not boxes) range from £16-31 with concessions available. For direct information, including venue details and online sales, click here.

Cinderella is a classic fairy tale, one of the bedrocks of fantasy literature and moral narratives. It is a story so popular the name itself has become a description for romance, love and fortitude. Opening the day after Valentine’s Day, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of this timeless story could not be more pertinent.

In ‘a glorious celebration of ballet,’ choreographer and BRB Director, David Brintley, won the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography with his production of Cinderella – which premiered in November 2010. Returning to Birmingham for a ten day run, David Brintley’s Cinderella has received widespread praise from critics across the country.

With lighting by David A. Finn and set designs from John F, McFarlane, the world renowned creative, the Birmingham Hippodrome stage will be further transformed into a fairy tale land of ‘wonderful dance, spectacular scenery, and a cast of characters that include mice, lizards and even a dancing frog.’ The composer for David Brintley’s Cinderella will be Sergei Prokofiev.

David Brintley’s Cinderella – Birmingham Royal Ballet

A true family adventure from Birmingham Royal Ballet, David Brintley’s Cinderella comes to the Birmingham Hippodrome from Wednesday 15^th to Saturday 25^th February. For direct show information click here.

For more from Birmingham Royal Ballet, visit www.brb.org.uk

For more from Birmingham Hippodrome, including a full programme of events and online ticket sales, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com