helenknott Archives - Page 5 of 6 -

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016

BPREVIEW: Ringo Deathstarr @ The Sunflower Lounge 09.03.16

On Wednesday 9th March, Ringo Deathstarr performs at The Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham. Doors open at 8pm, with tickets priced at £12 (advance). For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

This Sunflower Lounge gig is the first of a five-date UK tour in support of the band’s third studio album Pure Mood, which was released on 20^th November through Club AC30.

The brilliantly/badly named Ringo Deathstarr, from Texas, was originally formed by singer and guitarist Elliott Frazier in 2007. After a string of singles and international tours (apparently the band is big in Japan) Ringo Deathstarr released their first album Colour Trip in 2011, followed by Mauve in 2012.

Their latest album, Pure Mood is a continuation of Ringo Deathstarr’s shoegaze sound – heavily influenced by bands like Ride, The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. Crucially, Ringo Deathstarr incorporates enough stylistic surprises, including hints of grunge and heavy metal, to keep things interesting.

And as for the band’s live show, expect Ringo Deathstarr to be loud. Maybe not My Bloody Valentine or Sunn O))) loud, but loud enough to make you worry the ceiling is about to cave in.

Until now Ringo Deathstarr’s most high profile was probably a support slot for The Smashing Pumpkins, back in 2012. But a resurgence in popularity of the shoegaze sound over recent years, through bands such as Cheatahs, Echo Lake and DIIV (along with the release of Ringo Deathstarr’s arguably best album to date) may mean it’s time for this hard working band to finally emerge as a force to be reckoned with.

…I think that’s enough bad Star Wars puns for one BPREVIEW.

Released in November 2015, ‘Guilt’ was the first taster of Pure Mood. Check it out below:

‘Guilt’ by Ringo Deathstarr

Ringo Deathstarr perform at The Sunflower Lounge on Wednesday 9th March. For direct gig info & online tickets, visit http://thesunflowerlounge.com/event/ringo-deathstarr/

For more on Ringo Deathstarr, visit http://ringodeathstarr.org

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

March 2, 2016March 2, 2016

BREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Michelle Martin

There have been some weird and wonderful musical collaborations over the years. Kylie and Nick Cave, Aerosmith and Run DMC, Tom Jones and… well, take your pick. Sometimes they result in a timeless classic, sometimes we get something unbelievably abysmal.

Tonight’s match up between art rockers British Sea Power and brass orchestra Jaguar Land Rover Band lies somewhere between the two. British Sea Power’s most recent album Sea of Brass saw the band collaborate with arranger Peter Wraight to re-work songs from their 12 year career. They performed these new arrangements with a number of different brass ensembles during a 2014 UK tour and this Town Hall gig is a one-off reprisal of the indie/brass pairing.

I’m not sure if it’s the one-off nature of the gig that’s to blame, but the evening starts very awkwardly. The first track is ‘Heavenly Waters’, which in its recorded form is a Mogwai-esque instrumental B-side that provides a dramatic and filmic opening to Sea of Brass. It sounds messy and under-rehearsed on stage. On the record, complex brass motifs weave with melodic guitar lines to create a cohesive whole. Here it just sounds like a song that’s really difficult to play.

A traditional brass band like Jaguar Land Rover doesn’t feature any trumpet or saxophone, so this isn’t the sexy jazz sound of a Big Band; it’s more traditional and mellow. Not a problem, but if the brass isn’t being used to create drama, like in Radiohead’s ‘The National Anthem’ say, it needs to sound totally gorgeous. It never quite does – the tone is dull and flat, when it should be rich and resonant.

It’s not like the raw materials aren’t there to work with – British Sea Power have some gorgeous songs. The two tracks that close their debut album The Decline of British Sea Power, ‘A Wooden Horse’ and ‘Lately’, are both performed tonight. Weirdly, considering how many instruments are on stage, both lack the dynamic range of the album versions. ‘Lately’s frantic guitars and screeching vocals are lost, along with much of its emotional impact.

Things do improve as the gig goes along. The two bands seem to relax a little in each other’s company, carried by the enthusiasm of the crowd. By the encore, audience members are wedding reception-style dancing in the aisles, much to the displeasure of a steward. She makes them sit down again. “Dad dancing? Not on my watch.”

This is a rather middle aged affair. The bite, mayhem and eccentricity of past British Sea Power gigs is very much missed. Even the famous British Sea Power foliage, which they haphazardly decorated stages with at the start of their career, has been prettied up with twinkly fairy lights. The extra instrumentation should be making the songs soar, but instead the brass, and maybe even the elegant, all-seater venue, actually seems to subdue and restrain the performance.

Perhaps I’m being harsh – the show was warmly received by the audience, reviews of the original 2014 tour were largely positive and the album itself has some wonderful moments.

Maybe the bands were just having a bit of an off night. But, on tonight’s evidence, this is one pop collaboration that I don’t need to hear more of.

For more on British Sea Power visit http://www.britishseapower.co.uk

For more from Town Hall Symphony Hall, visit http://www.thsh.co.uk/

February 25, 2016

BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16

Words by Helen Knott

On Saturday 27th February, British Sea Power appear at the Town Hall. The band is on stage at 8pm with tickets priced at £19.50 – for direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

British Sea Power will be accompanied by Jaguar Land Rover Band, a prize-winning full brass orchestra, performing songs from their latest album Sea of Brass. With only two other gigs currently in the diary, the Birmingham Town Hall gig is likely to be a rare chance to see British Sea Power live in 2016 – as the band focuses on writing songs for their ninth studio album.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 13 years since British Sea Power burst onto the music scene with The Decline of British Sea Power; I loved the screechy, post punk, literary weirdness of their debut album.

You could argue that British Sea Power have never quite reached the heights of their first LP. But still, the band have continued to attract critical acclaim and a cult following – becoming well known for their odd, slightly gimmicky live performances, featuring props like animal costumes, stuffed birds and artificial plants.

The idea of reimagining their back catalogue with the help of one of music’s most unfashionable ensembles – a brass band – is a pretty unusual one; indie bands tend to lay on the strings when trying to fatten up their sound. The seeds of Sea of Brass grew from an Arts Council funded project, one that British Sea Power developed in to a UK tour in 2014.

The resulting 2015 album, ambitious and filmic in its scope, fits well with British Sea Power’s most recent output – which has included a number of film soundtracks. Check out the lead track from Sea of Brass below:

‘Heavenly Waters’ by British Sea Power

British Sea Power come to the Town Hall (Birmingham) on Saturday 27 February. For direct gig info and online sales, visit http://www.thsh.co.uk/event/british-sea-power-sea-of-brass/

For more on British Sea Power visit http://www.britishseapower.co.uk

For more from Town Hall Symphony Hall, visit http://www.thsh.co.uk/

February 25, 2016

BREVIEW: Fat White Family @ O2 Institute 20.02.16

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Ed King

If you believe the band’s PR machine, Fat White Family are the “shot in the arm that independent rock has been ailing after.”

They’ve certainly gained plenty of notoriety since emerging from a South London squat back in 2012, but will they live up to their own hype at the O2 Institute, on the first night of an eleven date UK tour?

They do a pretty good job, for the first half an hour at least. An onslaught of songs in quick succession at the start of the set builds an early sense of momentum. Lead singer, Lias Saoudi, prowls around, topless, predatory, his hand occasionally creeping down his trousers. He’s a great front man, obnoxious to the point of almost being disgusting; commanding total attention from the excitable audience.

A particular crowd favourite is ‘Satisfied’, the second track of the band’s most recent album, Songs for Our Mothers. Typical of the album as a whole, ‘Satisfied’ has somewhat crass lyrics, at one point comparing a blowjob to life in a concentration camp. The words are lost live though, and you’re left with a sleazy foot stomper with a killer chorus. It’s probably for the best.

Mid-set the pace slows a little and the momentum peters out; the best thing about lumbering, dull ‘Goodbye Goebbels’ is its name, whilst ‘Wild American Prairie’ is a straightforward, sluggish blues dirge.

This points my main problem with Fat White Family – their lyrics are interesting, their politics are interesting, their wild antics are interesting, but the music itself isn’t really all that interesting. They write some good riffs and some catchy songs but it can often descend into arguable Fall and Clash rip offs.

There are exceptions. Songs like ‘Whitest Boy on the Beach’, the opening track from their latest album, suggest that Fat White Family could develop into a more musically interesting proposition. The guitar line grooves along, with the breathy vocals gradually submerged by melodic synths before re-emerging with greater force; it’s almost like disco music.

So, Fat White Family – a shot in the arm for independent music? Yes, probably, they really are a spectacle of a live band. But are they independent music’s new lifeblood? That remains to be seen.

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/

February 16, 2016

BPREVIEW: 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.

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.

But 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/