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July 28, 2017July 29, 2017

THE GALLERY: The Hungry Ghosts – ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ single launch @ Centrala 22.07.17

Words by Ed King / Original pics by Rob Hadley

On Saturday 22^nd July, those slaughter house siblings let another one of their scaly offspring slither out unguarded across the plains… or if you’ve not read me write about them before, The Hungry Ghosts released a new single – their double a-side of ‘Amerika/Lazaro’.

Celebrating their latest twisted blues debauchery, The Hungry Ghosts had themselves a fine little single release shindig at Centrala – taking over the upstairs room (which we never knew existed until this event) for a smoke filled DIY affair on the banks of the Birmingham canal network. There was laughter, tears, mother’s ruin drunk straight from the bottle, probably a lost shoe or fractured corpse floating somewhere in the waters, plus a feast of friends coming from all across Albion for some superlative support. ‘Aint alliteration ace, anyway…

The acts that came to play at The Hungry Ghosts‘ ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ single launch are (almost) all represented in glorious Technicolor below, but if you need a chronological roll call: You Dirty Blue, Charlie Boyer, Average Sex, The Lizards.

But honestly, I was having too much fun to seriously comment. Or commit. Or converse, rationally, at points. Although I’ll tell you this for nowt – The Hungry Ghosts have been embedding a new line up this year and the results are blisteringly promising, both on stage and off. I saw the five piece first at The Sunflower Lounge for Counteract’s 7^th Birthday bash in April, with a fresh edge that had been somewhat needed. The fire was back. And their Centrala single launch was another notch above, so as trajectories go there’s something of a second attempt Icarus happening here.

Joe Joseph is fast becoming the front man of legends, whilst Billy Ollis seems to have tapped a little further into that dark spring that wells so wonderfully within him. Flanking the founders now are Jay Dyer and Emily Doyle, who feel like they have always been there, with Rich Burman proving that you can actually keep hold of a percussionist. He’s a keeper; they’re all keepers. This is the band The Hungry Ghosts should be.

So, blah blah blah. Adulation/opinion. Told you… having too much fun. But ‘Amerika’ rocks in every sense of the description so it’s all quite simple really:

1) Read my BPREVIEW here
2) Watch the official ‘Amerika’ trailer video via the link below
3) Buy a copy here – out on August 4th. This band needs to eat

‘Amerika’ – The Hungry Ghosts

Outside of all that, Rob Hadley had a more professional hat on at Centrala and there’s some smokey sex shots for you to skewer you’re way through – a few cherry picked below, or (heartily recommended) for the Full Flickr of Pics click here or on the relevant links.

And if you still need a guiding voice in your ear, you crazed bastard child of Bateman, then simply grab your leather bound Roget, flick those fingers to the words ‘sinister’, ‘gold’ and ‘vociferous’, then start to fill in the blanks. ‘Awesome’ might be worth a look too.

N.B. The Hungry Ghosts are back out on the road in August (tour poster above) so you’ll be able to see this for yourself. Diaries at the ready… Crofters Right (Bristol) 12^th August, Shambala Festival (Northamptonshire) 26^th August, Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath, B’ham) 27^th August.

The Hungry Ghosts @ Centrala 22.07.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

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

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You Dirty Blue – supporting The Hungry Ghosts @ Centrala 22.07.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on You Dirty Blue, visit www.facebook.com/youdirtyblue

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Charlie Boyer – supporting The Hungry Ghosts @ Centrala 22.07.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on Charlie Boyer/The Voyers, visit www.soundcloud.com/TheVoyeurs

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Average Sex – supporting The Hungry Ghosts @ Centrala 22.07.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on Average Sex, visit www.facebook.com/averagesex

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The Lizards – supporting The Hungry Ghosts @ Centrala 22.07.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

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

For more from Setting Son Records, visit www.facebook.com/settingsonrecords

For more from Centrala, visit www.centrala-space.org.uk

July 17, 2017July 27, 2017

BPREVIEW: The Hungry Ghosts – ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ single launch @ Centrala 22.07.17

Words by Ed King / Pic by Rob Hadley (Indie Images)

On Saturday 22^nd July, The Hungry Ghosts will be celebrating the upcoming release of their ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ double a-side with a single showcase gig at Centrala (Minerva Works). Support comes from You Dirty Blue, Charlie Boyer (The Voyers), Average Sex, The Lizards.

Doors open at 7pm with tickets prices at £6.50 + booking fee. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Set for release on 4^th August through Setting Son Records, ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ is the first release for The Hungry Ghosts with their new line up. Adding two new bodies and three new faces, the Redditch born purveyors of slaughterhouse blues are enjoying (we hope) a promising evolution this year – with height, grace, automaton time keeping and the occasional Manchester moshpit brawl now packed into The Mothership (The Hungry Ghosts’ trusty touring steed). Don’t mess with Emily Doyle I think is the message here.

So, any good..? The last time Birmingham Review saw The Hungry Ghosts was at Counteract’s 7^th birthday in April, where the now five piece were supporting The Mother’s Earth Experiment and the world’s worst kept secret. And there was certainly something going on. The new material – still spearheaded by Billy Ollis and Joe Joseph – is a continuation of this curve; fresh yet confidently identifiable, the two snippets we’ve been privy to so far are promising to say the least.

‘Amerika’ opens with swagger, low steel twangs and a guitar riff so addictive it would out twitch a crack baby, before Joe Joseph’s serrated drawl comes to drag us a little further through the grit. Think ‘Super King King’ after the longest sex of its life. Smeared with all the imagery, prophecy and the subtle flavour of gold rush fever you’d expect from a Hungry Ghosts track titled ‘Amerika’, this is a little lighter than their usual brand of twisted metal yet still immediately identifiable. Blood Red Songs is an awesome EP but this is the balance we’ve been waiting two years to hear.

Following the narrative is ‘Lazaro’, a more garage rock affair that introduces the ‘naked as a stranger’ protagonist who will be our resurrected guide through this double a-side. Punched out from the off, this side of the single is more raw and raucous – a hark back to the ‘Hares on the Mountain’ that hooked our cheeks in the first place. Awesome. Again. Double A.

And here’s a sneaky peak into the story of ‘Amerika’ and the dark tendrils that pulled it out from the collective subconscious. Or Joe, for short. The rest you’ll get to figure out on repeat from 4^th August.

‘Amerika’ – The Hungry Ghosts

The Hungry Ghosts are launching their ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ double a-side at Centrala (Minerva Works) on Saturday 22^nd July, with support from You Dirty Blue, Charlie Boyer, Average Sex, The Lizards. For direct event info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

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

For more from Setting Son Records, visit www.facebook.com/settingsonrecords

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For more on You Dirty Blue, visit www.facebook.com/youdirtyblue

For more on Charlie Boyer/The Voyers, visit www.soundcloud.com/TheVoyeurs

For more on Average Sex, visit www.facebook.com/averagesex

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

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For more from Centrala, visit www.centrala-space.org.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