Live: Band Of Skulls @ Electric Ballroom
Southampton-based rock trio Band Of Skulls are back with their Gil Norton-produced fourth studio album By Default. And to celebrate its launch next week, they played a duo of shows in North London; a last minute Lexington stop followed by tonight’s sold-out Electric...
Interview: Band Of Skulls, Church-Inspired Phase 2
Taking a step back from relentless touring, Southampton-based rock trio Band Of Skulls have been squirreled away in Monmouthshire recording the follow-up to their well-received 2014 album Himalayan. With the fruits of their labour – fourth studio album By Default –...
Interview: Elisabeth Webb, Beyond The Valley.
Elisabeth Webb is a folk singer-songwriter brought up in The Valleys of South Wales, currently showcasing music from her debut extended play, Fly, which was released in January 2016. Before a run of upcoming gigs, and a performance on BBC Radio Wales. Michael...
Live: Gov’t Mule @ The O2 Forum Kentish Town
It’s an unseasonably (read ‘unreasonably’) warm night in London; indeed, if the weather got any closer I’d practically be nose to nose with it. I imagine that Warren Haynes, front man of Gov’t Mule and a native of Asheville, North Carolina, is feeling right at home....
Manic Street Preachers @ Royal Albert Hall
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan wouldn’t have approved of tonight. Playing albums through in full is nothing new and is often considered simply to be for milking a few extra quid out of past glory days. But as soon as I heard that Welsh rockers Manic Street...
Live : Travis @ The Forum, Kentish Town
I think its fair to say that Fran Healy likes a guitar; I wasn’t counting but it did appear that the Travis lead singer pretty much swapped guitars every song through tonight’s performance. This is in no way a criticism, but it does demonstrate that the bands trusted...
Live: Chris Cornell @ Royal Albert Hall
Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell played his first show at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall in support of fifth solo album Higher Truth, the tour similar in style to his 2011 Songbook tour, with Cornell playing stripped-back renditions of a...
Live: Gregory Porter @ Eventim Apollo Hammersmith
My nineteen-year-old daughter first played me Gregory Porter. It says a lot about the width of the demographic that it was her educating me about a forty-four-year-old American jazz singer, and not the other way around. 2013’s Liquid Spirit rang around our kitchen for...
Live: Roger Hodgson @ The Royal Albert Hall
Put one hundred Supertramp fans in a room and ask them if they would rather see ‘Supertramp’ or ‘Roger Hodgson - solo artist and the voice of Supertramp’; and I’d be prepared to bet the mortgage that a significant majority would choose the latter. Pink Floyd isn’t...
Interview: Teleman, A Streamlined Machine.
A Teleman Interview. Teleman formed in 2012 from the ashes of Reading’s acclaimed Pete and the Pirates. The new band took it’s name from composer Georg Philipp Telemann – signalling a shift to a more refined form of pop from their indie guitar-fest early days....
Feature: Joseph Arthur. Welcome To The Family.
It’s almost two years since Joseph Arthur’s last concert in the UK so I’m more than happy to be at The Borderline this Sunday evening to witness his long-awaited return. It’s my twenty-sixth time seeing Joseph, although if time-money-distance were no impediment it...
Live: The Lumineers @ Brixton Academy
Hailing from Denver in Colorado, The Lumineers were born out of tragedy in 2002 when founding members Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion) came together to write music following the impromptu death of Fraites' brother and...
Live: Augustines @ Electric Ballroom Camden
Augustines are a band that have had nearly as many name changes as Spinal Tap: (“There was already a band in the East End called the Originals, so we became the New Originals”). Through the various shifts in identity, (Pela became Augustines became We Are Augustines...
Live: Tom Odell @ Islington Assembly Hall
Ivor Novello award-winning singer, songwriter and pianist Tom Odell is back. Following a whirlwind catapult into the music world over 2012 and 2013, with landmark milestones including a memorable Later... with Jools Holland performance, winning the Critics' Choice...
Live: Nothing But Thieves @ Trinity Centre, Bristol.
If Royal Blood and Muse had a baby, it would sound like Nothing But Thieves. Which is not meant to say that they’re directly generic but that they’re very talented. In fact, ridiculously so. The Trinity Centre in Bristol is sold out and full of eager, rowdy music...
Live: Frightened Rabbit @ St John-at-Hackney
Frightened Rabbit live at St John-at-Hackney. Scottish indie folk quintet Frightened Rabbit are back. Three years since their last album, and a year in the making, Painting Of A Panic Attack was released Friday 8th April 2016. And with The National Producer Aaran...
Live: PVRIS @ Cardiff University
PVRIS (PARIS) live at the Great Hall, Cardiff University It would be completely incorrect to say that PVRIS are an overnight sensation. Going from playing to a mere 200 people to a sold out 2000 capacity venue within a year seems like a fluke but this certainly isn’t...
Catfish and the Bottlemen @ The Forum
Llandudno-based indie rockers Catfish and the Bottlemen have had a great couple of years. From releasing debut album The Balcony in 2014 to winning British Breakthrough Act at this year’s BRIT Awards. Next month sees the launch of follow-up LP The Ride, and to...
Cage The Elephant Interview: From Bowling Green to Nashville via Leyton.
Cage The Elephant returned to London for an explosive show at The Forum, in support of their latest album Tell Me I’m Pretty. Having transplanted to London for a spell at the start of their career, playing to a packed venue in the city with songs from their fourth...
Live: Sunset Sons @ Koko
Surf and snow bums beware, if you’re hanging out playing some live shows in your local bar, you could just end up in a mega explosive rock band. That’s the dream right? And for Hossegor, France-based Anglo-Australian four-piece Sunset Sons, it just became a reality....
Live: Weezer @ Brixton Academy
Los Angeles-based rockers Weezer made their live UK return with two dates, hitting up Manchester’s Academy venue followed by London’s Brixton Academy almost five years since their last time in London, on the very same stage. Famed for their interspersion of...
Interview: Federal Charm, Generating Headlines.
Federal Charm are a four-piece blues-edged rock band from Stockport, Greater Manchester. Both their eponymous debut album released in 2013 and the sophomore Across The Divide have received strong critical acclaim, and the band are set to commence their first headline...
Live: Stoneghost @ Barfly, Camden Town.
I’ve got a soft spot for the Barfly. A few years ago, I did my first practice shoot for a live music gig there, and for me it always sums up the epitome of a hard core rock club where bands and audience alike can get up close and personal and basically let their hair...
Live: Låpsley @ Heaven
Holly Lapsley Fletcher, better known simply as Låpsley, is about to make bigger waves than she already has if Wednesday’s Heaven show in London is anything to go by. The Southport, Merseyside native released her debut album Long Way Home just a few weeks ago and was...
Live: Tracer @ The Talking Heads, Southampton.
Tracer Live at The Talking Heads Most of the time I head out to gigs, I’ve a reasonable idea what I’m going to get – it stands to reason that you check out the stuff that would ordinarily fall under the radar. Occasionally however, it’s nice to take a punt on...
Interview: Shuggie Otis, This Charming Man.
Shuggie Otis Interview Once there was a man who, while really no more than a boy, took the world of blues and soul by storm. That was in late 1960s and early 1970s. He made three great albums with some of the hottest musicians around and then disappeared from view....
Live: James Bay @ Hammersmith Apollo
English singer-songwriter and guitarist James Bay has had an incredible couple of years. From being signed to Republic Records and releasing his first EPs in 2013 and selling out his first UK headline tour just a year later, to releasing his chart-topping debut album...
Live: The Orielles @ Tooting Tram and Social
Halifax's finest The Orielles travelled to South London for a headline show on Saturday night at SW17's Tooting Tram and Social. The band are made up of Sidonie Hand-Halford on drums, her sister Esme on bass and vocals and guitarist Henry Carlyle-Wade, whom the...
Live: Simple Plan @ Bristol Academy
When people think about the pioneers and major influencers of pop punk, they think Blink 182, New Found Glory, Good Charlotte and rightly so. But there is another inclusion and more often than not the Canadian 5 piece Simple Plan are missed off that list. They have...
Live: Half Moon Run @ Roundhouse
Playing their biggest headline show to date, Montréal-based indie rockers Half Moon Run returned to Camden, albeit the Chalk Farm end, just a few months after their explosive Koko show following the release of their second studio album Sun Leads Me On. Yes, I went...
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