robhadley Archives - Page 4 of 6 -

March 6, 2017March 5, 2017

BPREVIEW: Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation @ Hare & Hounds 07.03.17

Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Rocket Records

On Tuesday 7^th March, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath).

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £7:50 (adv) – as presented by This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online sales, click here.

The ‘queen of stoner pop’ in their home country of Sweden, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation come to Birmingham at the end of their eleven date UK tour. Although nobody really describes this band better than theselves, so ‘Alchemical Sky Gazing’.

Playing gigs from Brighton to Glasgow, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation have been in the UK since the end of Feb – including a return to Liverpool, where the band were amongst the top bill for the city’s International Festival of Psychedelia last year. Not really relative to their Birmingham gig but citing this booking should divert the need for a load of garrulous comparisons. Alright, you can have one – Mazzy Star meets Swervedriver.

Relatively fresh faced Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation released their first LP, Horse Dance, in 2015 though the Stockholm based Gone Beyond Records, and Rocket Records – the UK based label home of Goat, Teeth of the Sea and Gnoomes. A brooding and driven eight track landscape, with subverted rock powering some ethereal yet commanding vocals, this uncompromising album was both a darker side step from their previous EPs and something to notice. A bit like Mazzy Star meets Swerve… ibid, your honour.

Self described as marking ‘out a territory in which beguiling repetition could sashay with sweet pop suss, melodic flourishes with experimental intensity,’ (a line I wish I had written) Horse Dance gained Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation a solid left of centre fan base and respectable industry interest. Roskilde followed, as did a string of dates across the UK supporting label mates, Goat.

Now back on the road with a new album, Mirage, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation’s sophomore LP is similar but a step up from their visceral debut – bringing the same twisted metal intensity and spirit guide vocals, but with a touch more digital than analogue. So Mazzy Star meets Swervedriver, remixed by Underworld. Or to once again cherry pick from the band’s own biog: ‘…the seductive splendour of these ten songs make manifest a parallel world of disorientation and deliverance in which one would be a fool not to want to languish adrift.’ Lovely.

But one sense (or song) is seldom enough, so have a stop, look, listen to this double album track sandwich from Mirage.

‘In Madrid / Rainbow Lollipop’ / Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation

Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Tuesday 7^th March, as presented This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, visit www.josefinohrn.squarespace.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 This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk

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

January 29, 2017

BREVIEW: The Hunna @ O2 Institute 23.01.17

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Rob Hadley

You know you’re in for a good night when it’s door opening time and there are staff making sure the roads aren’t blocked. Monday night and a queue around the corner kind of good.

The 2,900-person capacity venue had enough room to get to the bar, just, and with crowd-surfing and moshing all through the evening these two young bands clearly instill excitement and enthusiasm in their fans.

High Tyde, a 4-piece like The Hunna, hit the stage with great energy and great reactions from the crowd. They kept the tempo high until the very end and only the introduction to ‘Dark Love’ showed a bit of a softer side we might see develop over time. As The Hunna said of them during their own set, High Tyde “smashed it”.

The Hunna came out to another great response from the crowd. A bit slow to start after their introduction music, but when they did kick in with ‘You & Me’ they kicked in hard. Singer/guitarist, Ryan Potter, sounded a little tired to begin with and I did wondered if the road was wearing them down. But The Hunna seem to be a band that feeds off the love from the crowd and kept building momentum up to the end of the night.

The Hunna have a real gift for writing a sing-a-long chorus and the crowd knew them all, every word. Ryan Potter let the crowd take the lead more than once or twice, basking in having his lyrics sung back to him.

But the highlight of the night was ‘We Could Be’, tucked into the last third of the set; a real powerhouse of a song, it’s clear why it’s one of The Hunna’s singles. Although somehow it felt like the end of the set and I half expected to see them to just walk off, but ‘Rock My Way’ and ‘Bonfire’ followed in quick succession. The actual ending (before the inevitable encore) was a proper rock show of feedback and noise; the roar of a crowd still hungry for hits.

The Hunna finished with a three song encore of ‘World is Ours’, ‘Brother’ and finally ‘Bad For You’ – all kicked off with another piece of musical Interlude. Again, the interlude and song didn’t quite flow smoothly; between this and some of Ryan Potter’s clichéd ‘Best Audience Ever’ style patter, I felt the edge was knocked off their performance. I’ve heard all the old rock lines used before and this gig brought no new ones to add to the list.

That said, throughout their set it was clear that The Hunna are totally into their music and love every note. Definitely a good night. And after the encore it was no less busy outside, but nobody seemed in a rush to go home and admit it was all over.

For more on The Hunna, visit www.facebook.com/thehunnaband

For more on High Tyde, visit www.wearehightyde.com

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For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from Kilimanjaro Live, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.myticket.co.uk

January 23, 2017

THE GALLERY: The Pretty Reckless @ O2 Institute 20.01.17

Pics by Rob Hadley

On Friday 20^th January, The Pretty Reckless performed at the O2 Institute – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gig & Tours.

On a global tour promoting their third studio album, Who You Selling For – out through Razor & Tie Recordings from October last year, The Pretty Reckless were in Birmingham for one of a handful (one for each finger & thumb) of UK dates. Next stops: mainland Europe, Russia, South, Central and North America. We did say global.

Fronted by Taylor Momsen, with Jamie Perkins, Ben Phillips and Mark Damon having been ‘the band’ since their debut LP, The Pretty Reckless are vocally strong and obviously Rock. But with Kato Khandwala (Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, Blondie) as producer for their three studio albums, this is what you’d want and expect. Something the gig ticket buying public seems pretty (no pun) happy with too, as The Pretty Reckless sold out their entire UK tour with reassuringly green tinged ease. I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller…

Rob Haldey was at the O2 Institute for Birmingham Review – shooting an extended photo feature to go into THE GALLERY. See a selection of Rob’s shots below or click here for the full Flickr of Pics (or on the link above). There’s some on the Birmingham Review Instagram page too.

The Pretty Reckless @ O2 Institute 20.01.17 / Rob Hadley

Who You Selling For – the third studio album from The Pretty Reckless, is out now on Razor & Tie Recordings. For more on The Pretty Reckless, including full tour dates and online sales, visit www.theprettyreckless.com

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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For more from Razor & Tie Recordings, visit www.razorandtie.com

For more from SJM Concerts / Gigs & Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com