BREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16

BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

For-the-full-Flickr-of-pics,-click-here---SfW

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.BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

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.BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

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.”BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

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/Follow-Birmingham-Review-on-300x26Facebook - f square, rounded - with colour - 5cm highTwitter - t, square, rounded, with colour, 5cm high

BPREVIEW: British Sea Power @ Town Hall 27.02.16

British Sea Power

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.Main with web colour bcg - lr

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.

british-sea-power-album-2015-300x300 - sm, lrYou 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/THSH

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/
Follow-Birmingham-Review-on-300x26Facebook - f square, rounded - with colour - 5cm highTwitter - t, square, rounded, with colour, 5cm high

BPREVIEW: Gabrielle Aplin @ O2 Institute 14.02.16

GA promo shot

Words by Ed King

On Sunday 14th February, Gabrielle Aplin brings her Light Up the Dark UK Tour to the O2 Institute – with support from home grown label mate, Hannah Grace + Warner’s new prodigal son, Lewis Watson.Main with web colour bcg - lr

Doors open at 7:30pm with tickets priced at £16.50 – as presented by Birmingham Promoters.

N.B Gabrielle Aplin has retained her record label, Never Fade Records, since her debut self release in 2010. The label has also been developing a wider roster of artists since 2013, including Hannah Grace and Saint Raymond – who both appear on Aplin’s 2016 Light Up the Dark UK Tour. For more on Never Fade Records, click here.

Gabrielle Alpin caught the crest of a YouTube tidal wave back in 2010 – you know, the way people could before certain ‘decisions to protect the artist’ were made by the online broadcaster. Just think… where would Jay Z or Chris Martin be without such a courageous artistic line in the sand.

Light up the dark - album coverBut Ms Aplin was much more than just an ego on a small screen, having explored two ends of the Pop/Folk production spectrum with her first two self-released EPs, Aplin’s Home EP (Jan 2011) was a solid and self effacing 5 track declaration. Cue some well deserved online sales, supporting national airplay and knock knock… Parlophone signed Gabrielle Aplin, releasing her debut single with the major, ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’, in Feb 2012. Aplin‘s debut album, English Rain, was released in December the same year.

Birmingham Review eventually got to see Gabrielle Aplin about a year after the Parlophone machine started whirring, watching her take over the Institute’s main room on a Monday. Not an easy room on the crappiest of weekdays. Read Ed King’s Birmingham Review of Gabrielle Aplin @ Birmingham Institute 14.03.13 here. I think my favourite line is ‘….makes me imagine Mumford & Sons on meth.’

Now the Wiltshire born, Bath schooled (on and off a record label) singer/songwriter is back in Birmingham, and back at the Institute. And having been sans snapper the last time Gabrielle Aplin came to town, this time Harry Mills will be throwing DSLRs around the Digbeth venue – shooting a Birmingham Review to go into THE GALLERY. So if a picture tells a thousand words, you might be up late.

Gabrielle Aplin released her sophomore album, Light Up the Dark, in September 2015. Stop, look & listen to the album’s lead single/title track below:

‘Light Up the Dark’ by Gabrielle Aplin

Gabrielle Aplin comes to the O2 Institute (B’ham) on Sunday 14th February – with support from Hannah Grace and Lewis Watson. For direct gig info & online sales, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/2016/02/02/gabrielle-aplin-lewis-watson-hannah-grace-in-bham/Print

For more on Gabrielle Aplin, visit http://gabrielleaplin.co.uk/

For more on Never Fade Records, visit http://neverfaderecords.com/

__________

For more from the O2 Institute, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/

Follow-Birmingham-Review-on-300x26Facebook - f square, rounded - with colour - 5cm highTwitter - t, square, rounded, with colour, 5cm high

 

THE GALLERY: Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16

Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

Pics by Harry Mills

For the full Flickr of pics, click here

 

 

 

On Friday 29th January, Mayday Parade brought their Black Lines Tour to the O2 Institute in Digbeth – as presented by SJM Concerts.

Touring the UK & mainland Europe with their fifth album, the Tallahassee Pop/Rockers are supported on the road by The Maine, Have Mercy + Beautiful Bodies. Landing in Birmingham on the initial cusp of their midway point in the UK, Mayday Parade would play seven more dates on similar stages – before saying bon voyage to Britannia at the Pyramids Leisure Centre in Portsmouth.

Having dutifully stuck his hand in the air (and brought this gig to our attention in the first place), Harry Mills was at the O2 Institute to snap happy a Birmingham Review photoshoot for THE GALLERY. There’s a few selected below, one of each, but for the full Flickr of Pics click here or on the links above/below. Which you really should.

And apologies for missing Beautiful Bodies, but the queue was too long and time was too short… curse all that popularity; we’ll get you next time.

Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

______________

The Maine – supporting Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

The Maine – supporting Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

______________

Have Mercy – supporting Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

Have Mercy – supporting Mayday Parade @ O2 Institute 29.01.16 / By Harry Mills

______________

For more on Mayday Parade, visit http://maydayparade.com/

__________

For more from the O2 Institute, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more events from SJM Concerts, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/

Follow-Birmingham-Review-on-300x26Facebook - f square, rounded - with colour - 5cm highTwitter - t, square, rounded, with colour, 5cm high

BPREVIEW: Sun Club @ Sunflower Lounge 30.01.16

Sun Club by Shervin Lainez

Words by Ed King / Pic by Shervin Lainez

Main with web colour bcg - lrOn Saturday 30th January, Sun Club will be performing at The Sunflower Lounge, with support from Callum Pickard & the Third Look.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £6 – as promoted by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here.

Out n’about promoting their first full length LP, the curiously titled The Dongo Durango, Sun Club play at The Sunflower Lounge on their first of six UK dates – ending up at (the even more curiously titled) Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar in Brighton. What could possibly go wrong..?

Sun Club - UK/European Tour 2016Born and raised in a Baltimore basement or two, Sun Club are the happy amalgamation of brothers Shane & Devlin McCord with neighbor Mikey Powers, plus friends Kory Johnson and Adam Shane. Cutting their teeth on the colloquial circuit, for the first two years Sun Club mostly played friends’ parties and toured people’s basements’ before moving into established venues. But the five piece have finished taking their ‘baby steps’, having now supported acts such as FIDLAR and Fat White Family, as well as being invited onto the Sweetlife Festival bill in May 2015.

But with the release of Sun Club’s debut LP,the focus is just making music that you feel strongly about, and about releasing it’; The Dongo Durango (…a well endowed city in North West Mexico? Colorado?) is glorious eleven track endevour of unashamed psychedelic Surf Rock. OK, ten tracks – the title song is a 15sec request to check out someone’s birthday suit. And Sun Club come from Baltimore, so perhaps it’s not Surf Rock.

For that matter I’m not sure you can use the term ‘psychedelic’ post 1977. But it is fun, lots of fun; DIY drum echoes, punchy melodies, washed out guitar riffs, with Mikey Powers’s vocals foot stomping a polite Punk march over the top. And like drop kicking a My Little Pony, once you start it’s a little hard to stop.

In fact, whilst we’re on the subject of fighting with neon haired plastic toys…

‘Tropicoller Lease’ by Sun Club

Sun Club perform at The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 30th January, with support from Callum Pickard & the Third Look. For direct gig info & online ticket sales, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/Events/sun-club-2/The Sunflower Lounge - BR web colours, cropped

N.B. All ‘quotes in italics’ are taken from an interview with Mikey Powers for www.baltimoremagazine.net – to read Lydia Woolever’s article in full, click here or on the highlighted quotes above.

For more on Sun Club, visit http://www.sunclubband.com/

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

For more from Birmingham Promoters, including online ticket sales, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/

Follow-Birmingham-Review-on-300x26Facebook - f square, rounded - with colour - 5cm highTwitter - t, square, rounded, with colour, 5cm high