Hare and Hounds

September 22, 2019

OPINION: A team effort (…we are greater than the sum of our parts)

Words by Ed King / Pic by Aatish Ramchurm

Whilst promoting the next NOT NORMAL NOT OK live gig fundraiser, being held at Centrala on 25th October, I was messaged by someone who’d just got their tickets saying: ‘thank you for making a positive difference’. Simple enough, but something in me was uncomfortable – from well planned birthday presents to professional praise I’ve been waiting too long to hear, I can feel awkward from adulation. This was different though.

NOT NORMAL NOT OK was launched just over a year ago in response to a deluge of stories we heard about sexual violence in the local live music scene. And it started where most things do, for me, as a piece of writing. Namely an op-ed featured on Birmingham Review, which originally ended on a general call to arms to tackle sexual violence – ‘we should join together and form a campaign…’ that sort of thing.

Then we thought, why not just put a campaign together and use that drum banging energy to get people to join in – the call to arms became a social media drive, with our sticker campaign as the initial outreach activity. And it went well; venues reached out in support, promoters and artists invited us to their gigs to hand out stickers, and a reasonable chunk of both the music and mainstream media got solidly behind the campaign.

We had achieved our aim of bringing the issue out of the shadows – our logo was appearing on t-shirts, guitars, drum kits, and the occasional toilet room door at venues across the city. Our social media spiked with sign ups, the mailing list gained traction, whilst countless people asked how they could get more involved. Plus, after a relatively short time, we had already started helping victims of sexual violence get the help they needed – linking them to our campaign partners at RSVP and West Midlands Police. We had even had a few curious phone calls, such as people asking “…should I be worried?” A question that answers itself if you stop and think about it.

(On that note, we would rather see someone get help to address and change their negative behaviour than burn them at the stake. If you need help, whatever your problems with sexual violence, be honest and reach out.)

But from my days evaluating consumer based PR campaigns, NOT NORMAL NOT OK launched with aplomb. We had reached our audience; the singular idea had grown into a force of its own, propelled and shaped by the ongoing support of people across the city. And right there… that’s why ‘thank you’ makes me uncomfortable.

There are a team of amazing volunteers who have supported NOT NORMAL NOT OK from day one – pushing the message at gigs and handing out stickers wherever they go. There are the people who take the time to read and share our social media activity – which encourages new people to learn about the campaign and seek help if they need it. There are the venue managers and promoters that have been so embracing – allowing us into their premises and supporting our campaign teams. There’s everyone who’s bought a badge, worn a sticker, or turned up to our events. And there are our campaign partners at RSVP and West Midlands Police – who have made this into something more than just a paper tiger, helping us get the right support to those who have suffered abuse.

I waited for a few minutes before responding to the message I mentioned at the start of this article, offering: ‘Team effort – thanks to you too’, as my reply. I hope it didn’t sound ungrateful. It certainly wasn’t meant to. But the absolute truth is that the successes of the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign comes when we make that team effort, when we are greater than the sum of our parts.

I love the picture at the top of this post. It was a great gig, with everyone on stage and off sharing in a sense of real group achievement.

And we’re asking you now, as we asked when we launched this campaign, please continue to help – come to the Centrala fundraiser on 25th October, be part of the next group photo we’re planning to take. Buy a pen, buy a fridge magnet. Help us hand out more stickers at more gigs and help us reach more people via social media. Get involved.

NOT NORMAL NOT OK has made some great progress in the past year and we’re about to embark on a new outreach activity that will help us make even more – click here for more info. But this only works, really works, if we don’t do it alone. And whatever ‘thank you’s are left hanging in the air can be more deservedly shared by all of us.

NOT NORMAL NOT OK is hosting a live gig fundraiser on Friday 25th October at Centrala – with Flight Brigade, Hannah Brown and Lycio all performing live. All money raised will be used to support the venue ‘tool kit’ and staff training programme, for more info visit www.notnormalnotok.com/venue-tool-kit-staff-training-programme

Tickets are priced at £5 Early bird / £7 standard advance, then more on the door – for direct event info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page.

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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.

July 25, 2019March 29, 2022

INTERVIEW: The Cosmics

Interview by Abi Whistance/To the Local – Pic by Jessica H Ingram Photography

In June 2019, The Cosmics released their self-titled debut EP – a six track eponymous monster of noise rock, twisted indie, a splodge of Mazzy Star and some of the fastest guitar feet in the Midlands. We salute you and your ten toes Mr Boyle (the one standing up).

Celebrating with an out of town gig at Hackney’s The Old Blue Last on the BIG DAY itself, The Cosmics had previously introduced their new material with a launch party for the EP’s lead single, ‘Trust is Blind’, at The Sunflower Lounge back in November 2018.

A step away from the DIY garage rock that they started with, through singles such as their 2016 debut ‘Johnny’, the gig was a chance for their home town crowd to get a live look at The Cosmics’ new material – to read Ed King’s Birmingham Review of ‘Trust is Blind’, click here.

But never ones to rest of their laurels for too long, The Cosmics laid out a diary chock full of dates across the UK and Europe to promote their EP – bouncing around from Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton, London, Belgium and Paris until July this year.

And as their latest single, ‘Eyes’, grabs the attention of Radio 1, The Cosmics are coming back to Blighty to support Table Scraps at the Hare & Hounds on Friday, 26 July – with local prog/psych rockers, Nosuch, also performing.

Abi Whistance and To the Local (with Birmingham Review holding the camera case) caught up with The Cosmics the last time they were at the Hare & Hounds, supporting Feels, in June – grabbing a few words with the Birmingham three piece before the headed out on stage. Watch the full interview below.

Interview with The Cosmics @ Hare & Hounds 30.06.19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRYdhr2KRzo

The Cosmics’ debut, self-titled EP is out now – available to stream through Spotify, with limited edition vinyl available through The Cosmics’ social media. For more on The Cosmics, visit www.facebook.com/thecosmicsband

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019

BPREVIEW: Mutes @ Hare & Hounds 13.03.19

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 13^th March, Mutes headline at the Hare & Hounds – with support from Robert Craig Oulton. Sofa King were originally scheduled to perform but had to pull out of the gig – so look out for someone possibly filling in.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets available for £6 (advance +booking fee) – as presented by FOMA. For direct gig information, including links to online ticket sales, click here.

There’s probably a music journalist handbook out there that would help me with genres and comparisons, one that is updated every year to keep the lexicon cutting edge. I mean, seriously, who coined ‘trap’ music…?

But one of the joys to this job is the constant evolution, especially when it comes from an arena of intelligence and not some attention/chart grabbing pretender.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Swallowing-Light.jpg

Enter Mutes, closely followed by a list that will include My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, a couple of curveballs and an apologetic recognition as to the list itself. Sprinkle some clever metaphors, make a reference to Sub-Pop, throw in an opiate analogy and – if you’re feeling brave – a joke about revolving doors and band members. Mwah…. we mean it with love.

But it’s been just shy of two years since the James Brown led ghost in the music machine (…stir in some existential philosophy) released No Desire, the somewhat bold and beautiful debut album from Mutes. And now they’re back with Round Two. The as-of-yet unnamed new album (in the public domain at least) is set for release sometime soon, we think, we hope, but there is one single already dangling like the proverbial carrot – check out ‘Swallowing Light’ below, being performed live at the Hare & Hounds back in July 2016.

Now the more observant of you will note this is nearly a year before Mutes’ ‘dichotomy of extremes’ debut album came out, sans ‘Swallowing Light’ – so questions, questions, questions…

Now if we were to jump a gun or two, heaven forbid, it could mean that the ambient swirls and prolonged rabbit holes of No Desire have been set aside for the simple ball kicking grunge rock that Brown & Co can deliver so well. Which would be no bad thing. Or it could mean the sophomore LP is a reworking of some tried, tested, loved and live tracks from the Mutes back catalogue – with some new nuggets thrown in. Or it’s a coincidence, or an accident. Or it’s all a ruse and the rest of album two is a spoken word diatribe about penguins.

But with an album promoting gig at the Hare & Hounds on Wednesday 13^th March, you’ll probably get a sneaky peak and hopefully some clarity soon enough. Or not. But you might. In the meantime, I’m going to dust down my Roget’s Thesaurus and frayed copies of DIY, so I can be rhetoric ready for when the album does arrive.

The rest of you can keep yourselves busy with the link below, or click here to check out what happened when we danced this dance before – including an interview with James Brown about what brought No Desire to the table. Enjoy. And save some mental space for the next Mutes album, coming soon on FOMA Records. TBC…

‘Swallowing Light’ – Mutes

Mutes headline at the Hare & Hounds on Wednesday 13^th March, with support from Robert Craig Oulton. For more direct gig information and links to online ticket sales, click here.

For more on Mutes, visit www.mutesuk.bandcamp.com

For more on Robert Craig Oulton, visit www.facebook.com/RobertCraigOulton

For more from FOMA, visit www.wearefoma.bigcartel.com

For more from the Hare & Hounds, including full event listings and venue details, 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 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 raised in this feature – 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.

November 21, 2018November 20, 2018

INTERVIEW: Jack Jones – Trampolene

Words by Sam Lambeth / Pics by Daniel Quesada – courtesy of Cloud PR

Trampolene, the brainchild of Swansea songsmith Jack Jones, have amassed two highly successful records, impressive support slots and admirable column inches – their latest single, ‘The One Who Loves You’ was released via Mi7 Records in October.

With a return to Birmingham scheduled on Thursday 22 November, playing at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath, Jones spoke to Birmingham Review about gigging in the Second City, curry and sleeping in Sainsbury’s car park.

There’s a moment when Jack Jones has a glint in his eye. At first, you think it’s a detached retina, but it happens so frequently you realise it’s merely introducing another clever and witty answer. Jones, the 26-year-old wordsmith behind alternative rockers Trampolene, has a seemingly endless slew of soundbites. He’s a raconteur, a purveyor of shaggy dog stories that will, in years to come, rival the great warblers like Noel Gallagher and Ian McCulloch.

This particular glint preludes a yarn about Birmingham, in which Jones was tasked with picking up muse and sometime bandmate Pete Doherty (Jones performs in Doherty’s busman’s holiday Puta Madres) for a gig in the Second City. “Pete asked me to pick him up and he never showed up,” Jones laughs. “Long story short, I ended up sleeping in Sainsbury’s car park!”

You’d think dozing next to some shopping trolleys but would enough to put Jones off the Midlands, but the truth is he’s used to sleeping a tad rough. Years before, he was in the usually plush suburb of Muswell Hill in a shitty room. It was here where he penned the tracks that make up Pick A Pocket Or Two, a recently-released collection of songs that have shaped Jones’ career from urchin poet to arena rocker.

“It was the fans idea and these songs built the fanbase that we have now… and without the fans we’d be nowhere… so we owed it them and ourselves to put the songs somewhere and make them easier to find,” Jones says. “I also like to think the next album will be our third as we have already swerved the difficult second album syndrome.”

Pick A Pocket Or Two and its predecessor proper, 2017’s Swansea to Hornsey, have given Trampolene gigs with the likes of Liam Gallagher, RAT BOY and The Libertines. However, Jones is always happy to return to Birmingham, where he’ll be playing the Hare & Hounds as part of the nationwide This Feeling promoted Alive tour. “I think they (This Feeling) have been essential in giving new bands a break,” Jones says, “we always get a great reception in Birmingham and the crowds love seeing live bands and are always fabulous.”

As for the Midlands scene, Jones thinks there’s a plethora of talent. “Birmingham has a great tradition of producing amazing bands; Sabbath – Slade -Dexy’s – ELO – Denim – Swell Maps – they must be putting something in the curry,” he chuckles. “A great new band, The Surrenders, are on the Alive tour with us, Paper Buoys… The Cosmics… The Lizards… The Americas all sound cool.”

Whether it be in the curry or in the noggin, Birmingham certainly does conjure up some great talent, and Jones – and his glint – fits right in.

‘The One Who Loves You’ – Trampolene

Trampolene play at the Hare & Hounds on Thursday 22^nd November, with support from The Surrenders and Lacuna Bloome – as presented by This Feeling and Metropolis Music. For direct gig information and online ticket sales, click here.

For more on Trampolene, visit www.trampolene.co.uk

For more on This Feeling, visit www.thisfeeling.co.uk

For more on the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), 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 learn more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here.

September 11, 2018

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

Words by Ed King / Pics by Paul Reynolds

Urrgghh… a gig on a Sunday, who has the energy/serotonin left?

Apparently quite a few people, as I saunter (stumble) into the Hare & Hounds Room 2 alongside a very respectable crowd. Numberswise that is, they could all be slow boiling lost children at home for all I know. Or care. My Sunday roll call of compassion is often woefully one-sided. But a strong tail end of the weekend audience have turned out to support RDE and Setting Son’s August showcase – with local lads (and it is a bit of a sausage fest tonight) Whitelight, The Lizards, and The Hungry Ghosts all supporting Joe Talbot’s label champions, Lice.

Whitelight, a band I’ve not heard of before tonight but who I’m reliably told have come from the aftermath of Shaake, take up the first space on the bill – a stripped back twosome, guitar and drums, delivering a big room sound that far surpasses their square inches on stage.

Jokingly I said words to that effect would be my review, but adding ‘fuck me they rock’ probably sums it up quite nicely. There may be a few disjointed moments tonight, in set relying too heavily on the ‘break… and kick in’ rock power play, but the musicianship from this arena filling sound is a more than a little impressive. I could even use the word ‘Hendrix’ and not feel like too much of a fraud. But keep an eye on those listings and make your own addled mind up about them. Whitelight; you have been warned.

Next up are The Hungry Ghosts, a band I love to the core but feel compelled to judge with an extra stern eye. And ear. And gut. And all those things I need to be truthful. But having a replacement bass player on stage tonight – with Miles Cocker filling in for Emily Doyle over a few of the summer months – the most immediate of my knee jerk commentaries is ‘an overwhelming newness’ to their performance tonight.

It’s exciting, it’s rock and roll, but it’s also a little… The stage, for a start, feels too small, with the proficient wall of blues rock tumbling over the first song and smothering ‘Death Rattle Blues’ – the sophomore on the set list tonight. I’ve seen The Hungry Ghosts crammed into much tighter corners, but something is uncomfortably full tonight. And yet there is a… about it all. And as I wrestle with the ellipses that will no doubt be haunting my copy later on, I write ‘too much of something’, ‘this band just keep getting better’, before adding ‘I don’t know’ to my drunk spider scrawl.

‘Lazaro’ follows, with Joe (INSERT SURNAME HERE)’s vocals feeling well rounded for a weekend finale, before a bit of a swing/miss from new song ‘Jesus Fever’ and a somewhat lacking rendition of the tried and tested ‘Super King King’ – one of my longstanding favourites from this band’s slaughterhouse repertoire. But when you’re close to perfection it’s hard to stay consistent, and exciting ebbs and discouraging flows continue from ‘the ghosts’ set tonight – yet I am, once again, left both curious and eager. For all its ferocity and fallacy, it feels like something is brewing in The Hungry Ghosts’ set list tonight, with this Sunday showcase perhaps just first public introduction to an exciting evolution. But never fear; we’ll see/hear from The Hungry Ghosts soon enough, and ‘Shake the Devil’ will no doubt be in there somewhere near the start.

It is now that I must issue an honest, albeit rather unsatisfactory, apology, as I miss The Lizards’ set due to cider and an earth shatteringly endearing band I fell afoul of at the downstairs bar. But I shall leave you with two pearls of wisdom: 1) Orchard Pig cider is not as benign as it sounds, and 2) Liquid Cheeks. And I’ll bet my pension (currently about £32 and a first edition Roald Dahl) that in 18 months time you’ll not need an explanation for the latter.

Time… enough. Attack ships on fire introduce the headline act for tonight, the Bristolian barrage of fun that are Lice. Well documented for bad time keeping and guttural prose, both attributes close to my heart, it is the band’s frontman that I’m most keen to see in full swing. But an army of low thumped drums, distorted feedback, and restrained punk pretensions (if such a thing can exist in the realms beyond oxymoron) are soon taking my eyes across the rough edged four piece. Frontman, Alistair Shuttleworth, who has set the stage for such anarchic atrocities as Fat White Family, owns the Sunday night dwindling crowd from the off – delivering his trademark prose in a way that makes me sit up straight yet miss every word. A linguistic trick I almost love and hate him for in the same short, sharp intake of breath.

But they are commanding, even to a room that seems half empty from the last time I stood in it (The Lizards, cider, downstairs bar, shit journalist…) and I am quickly moving my shoulders in that way a middle aged man does when he wants to let go. Lice last played in Birmingham “on this stage, almost exactly a year ago” as part of the Killer Wave all day August band Holiday event in 2017, and it’s good to see them headline after such a well earned 12 months.

Oddly, even incongruously (if I were a devotee of Paul Dacre) polite, each song gets a stomach propelled “thank you” as Lice blast though their short songs and punchy set – delivering a well meant audio assault that makes me want to invite them, and their backline, to my next birthday party. Superb, SUPERB FUCKING PERCUSSION. But jumping from the tirade of an angry child to the wisdom of someone with something to say, Lice live up to their hype – as the Joe Talbot endorsed ‘fuck you we don’t care’ send out a set that shows this band mean business. And, even somewhat perversely, I believe them. If my mum were here she would probably file for adoption.

Sunday gigs are hard to promote, Lord knows I know – having spent over a year of my life doing it week in week out. But Setting Son and RDE have delivered this end of the weekend ensemble with fine fettle, setting a backbone of local luminaries against a visiting headline act who well deserve the attention. And, wonderfully, there was a good crowd to receive it. Even if the previous 48 hours have left the room’s frontal cortex a little bereft… well, mine at least.

Ha, and now to write a review about it (my ‘get it down as soon as you get home’ policy). But beyond ‘research Whitelight’, ‘The Hungry Ghosts’ new stuff’, ‘buy The Lizards a drink’ and ‘see Lice play on their home turf’, the South Park back catalogue is about all I have left. I bet Burroughs never had this problem. Possibly a bad comparison. Now, where’s that corkscrew and laptop power cable gone…

Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

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

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The Lizards – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

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

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The Hungry Ghosts – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

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

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Whitelight – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

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.