music • reviews • style

HA6-cover3 09/05/2011 17:27 Page 1
HAPPENING NO.6 • MAY 2011 • FREE
MUSIC • REVIEWS • STYLE
HA6-adverts 09/05/2011 18:05 Page 2
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HA6-news1 09/05/2011 17:31 Page 3
A VINTAGE AFFAIR
In 2010, Wayne and
Gerardine Hemingway
launched Vintage at
Goodwood as a
celebration of music,
fashion, film, art, dance,
design and food from the
1920s to the ’80s.
This year the event moves to
London’s Southbank, formng part
of a four-month long festival paying
homage to the 1951 Festival Of
Britain.
The Royal Festival Hall will be
dressed extravagantly, its six levels
transformed into a multi-venue Vintage
playground. People will be able to enjoy 10
Vintage nightclubs, including last year’s
favourites The Soul Casino, Let It Rock, The
Torch and The Leisure Lounge, alongside
catwalk shows, live performances,
exclusive DJ sets, dance and craft
workshops, makeovers, as well as
themed bars and restaurants.
Each evening The Royal Festival
Hall’s main auditorium will host
a one-off, themed Vintage
Revue.
The Southbank Centre’s outside spaces
will also be put to use, to include a Vintage
Marketplace, with vintage clothes,
accessories, mid-century modern
homewares, records and music memorabilia
and up-cycled ephemera. There will also be
pop-up catwalk shows paying homage to
British fashion icons, “Best In Show”
parades, hair and make-up parlours, a
vintage funfair, food stalls, tea parties, boat
parties, film, creative workshops and live
music and sound systems across the site.
For further information on Vintage at Southbank Centre visit
www.southbankcentre.co.uk and www.vintagebyhemingway.co.uk.
TRAVELLING ON A TRUNK LOAD OF PLAYFUL PRINTS
At a time when Mumford & Sons are taking
folk music to its most mainstream and
obvious form in London, it’s nice to know
that in Manchester The Travelling Band are
ploughing the laid back, country-rock vibe
perfectly. Their sweet harmonies recall CSN
and the mellow attitude is utterly Big Sur,
pruning pop, rock, soul and country in the
same banner as Van Morrison or The Band.
Late May sees the release of their second
album Screaming Is Something with single
‘Fairweather Friends’ to follow. The band are
on tour throughout the Summer.
Shindig! friend Johnny
Trunk has just published
limited edition prints
(25 in total) from the
1969/70 Galt Toys
Catalogue. The Ken
Garland designs are
highly sought after, and
the numbered and signed
prints come in at £200
for those who want
something special to
hang on the wall.
www.thetravellingband.com
trunkrecords.greedbag.com
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HA6-news1 09/05/2011 17:31 Page 4
Jools Holland and on Zane Lowe’s show on
Radio 1 the group have now also confirmed
their Glastonbury performance for The Other
Stage on Friday 24th June and recently
announced a headline appearance at The
ATP Festival curated by Jeff Mangum of
Neutral Milk Hotel in December.
NO MERE
FLEETING FANCY
It’s been a while, but everyone’s favourite
successful band Fleet Foxes return this
month with new album Helplessness Blues
and a tour of the UK. Having already aired
material from the new album on Later With
Tues 31 May & Wed 1 June – LONDON –
Hammersmith Apollo **(SOLD-OUT!)**
Thur 2 June - LONDON - Hammersmith Apollo
Thurs 23 June - WOLVERHAMPTON - Civic Hall
Fri 24 June – PILTON – Glastonbury festival
Sat 25 June - BELFAST – Custom House Sq
Sun 26 June - CORK - Live at the Marquee
Tuesday 28 June - MANCHESTER - Apollo
Wed 29 June - EDINBURGH - Corn Exchange
Friday 1 July - ST AUSTELL - Eden Sessions
Saturday 20 August – BRECON BEACONS –
Green Man Festival
Sat 3 December – MINEHEAD – ATP Weekend
2011: LIVING IN
THE FUTURE
In 1972 writer Geoffrey Hoyle, aided by
comic book artist Alasdair Anderson,
concocted a fun picture book depicting life
39 years in the future. If many of the ideas
like the three-day working week and trafficfree commutes are still something we dream
of, Apple and their mobile gadgets have
indeed brought “vision phones” (their
“facetime” facility) to everyday contemporary
life.
Although aimed at children, there’s
something endearingly retro-future about this
64-page hardback book (Green Tiger Press).
retro BIKE
Ooh. If there’s one thing we like at Happening!
it’s bringing old design into the new world. So
okay, having the latest technology at our
fingertips is fine. It’s something we make use
of and the fine people at Apple have a way
with design. But when it comes to modern
bicycles, there’s little to desire. That is,
until the Cambridge-based company
Beg Bicycles came along. Mixing retro
charm with the latest, practical
components their bikes tick all of the
right boxes and look swell. They come at
a price mind, but beauty doesn’t come
cheap.
www.begbicycles.com
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MORE HEAVY
PETTING
To mark the re-release this autumn of their
1970 second album, Heavy Petting, Dr
Strangely Strange will be performing the
album live at London’s Jazz Café on
Saturday October 29th. They will be
accompanied by Paul Simmons of The
Bevis Frond on lead guitar and other
guests. Tickets are on sale now at
www.meanfiddler.com/jazz-cafe.
The Hux “collectors’ edition” of Heavy
Petting is a high-quality remaster, with
bonus tracks including Gary Moore
outtakes and a 36-page booklet by
Shindig! writer Adrian Whittaker.
GET CYNICal
May 31st sees the release of ’80s garagepunk crusaders The Cynics new album
Spinning Wheel Motel. Recorded late last
year at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit by
garage-punk legend Jim Diamond and
with the truly wonderful Asturian (Spanish
you divvies!) rhythm section of Pablo
Gonzalez (drums) and Angel Kaplan
(bass), it’s set to be another fine album
of simple pop songs played in that
uncanny Cynics style, which can veer
between all out fuzz and plaintive 12string jangle. Watch the video for album
opener on YouTube.
HA6-listings1 09/05/2011 18:02 Page 5
FRIDAY 20
MAY
SAT 14
LONDON
Mousetrap Ska/Reggae Special
Allnighter. Orleans 259 Seven Sisters Rd,
Finsbury Park, London N4 2DD.
Ska/Reggae/Rocksteady/Motown/Soul.
£8 b4 midnight/£10 after
THURSDAY 19
LONDON
Deviation Street
Garage fest with Lot Lizards, The Sideliners,
Suicide Party, Clockwork Era. Alley Cat, 4
Denmark Street WC2H 8LP 8pm-3am, £4/6
FRIDAY 20
LEICESTER
The Junipers
The Guildhall - Two sets & an
intermission. 8pm. Tickets approx £6.00
LONDON
Beat Seeking Missiles (Mick Quinn, Sir
Bald Diddley, Bash Brand), + Armitage
Shanks and London Dirthole Company.
1950s & ’60s rock’n’roll, beat, British R&B,
garage & surf. Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes
basement of Tavistock Hotel, Bedford Way
WC1H 9EU 7.30pm-3am. £5/7
LONDON
Cosmic Slop
Krautrock, electro, cosmic disco, garage,
weirdo psych, biker rock, R&B, P-funk,
library music, pub rock, post-punk and
more. The Drop, Underneath the Three
Crowns, 175 Stoke Newington High Street
N16 0LH 10pm-4am £4
SATURDAY 21
LONDON
The Sticks live
Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street,
NW1 0LU. 9pm–3am £3 entry
TUES 17 - TUES 24
LIVERPOOL
International Pop Overthrow
IPO Liverpool will feature 140 of the best
pop and rock bands from all over the
world. The Cavern Club and Cavern Pub.
BOURNEMOUTH
Dollyrocker Club The Winchester Pub, 39
Poole Hill, The Triangle, BH2 5BW
£3 door, 9-late. psych/60s garage/
authentic rockabilly/rhythm and blues/
surf/soul/b-movie oddities/exotica
SUNDAY 22
BOURNEMOUTH
Acid, Incense and Balloons Sixty Million
Postcards, 19-21 Exeter Road, BH25AF
Free, 3.30pm-8.30pm. Blues, roots,
strange folk, whimsical pop, embryonic
funk, and psychedelic frivolity FRI 27
LONDON
Zoo Zoo! The Blues Kitchen, 111-113
Camden High St, NW1 7JN. 9-3. £3.50.
Peppermint Beat Band + Jess Roberts
SAT 28
LONDON
Buckingham Palace Scooter Run /
Timebox Alldayer Meet 14.00 Carnaby
Street for the Scooter Run followed by
Timebox Alldayer, the Strongroom, 120124 Curtain Road, London. EC2A 3SQ
FRI 27 - MON 30
LONDON
International Pop Overthrow
IPO London will feature 50 of the best
pop and rock bands from London and
beyond. There will be a Shindig!
Magazine showcase on Sunday 29. Bands
confirmed for the showcase include The
Hall Of Mirrors, The Higher State, The
Silver Factory, Ben Jones, Ulysses, and
Dave Rave. The Bull and Gate.
www.internationalpopoverthrow.com
LONDON
The Zombies 50th anniversary show
Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Bush Green
W12 8TT. 7pm, £28.50
SATURDAY 28
LONDON
Dirty Water Records Alldayer
The Parkinsons, The Wildebeests, The
Thanes, Brandy Row, Thee Exciters, Thee
Gravemen, The Revellions, The Kits. DJ
Wheelie Bag. The Boston Arms Music
Room N19 5QQ. 1pm-4am, £18/20
june
july
SATURDAY 4
THUR 28-SUN 31
LONDON
Happening
State Records special with Groovy Uncle,
The Lykes of Yew, and Sleeping Bear live.
Psychedelia, garage, beat, rock’n’roll.
The Drop below The Three Crowns, 175
Stoke Newington High Street N16 0LH
8pm-4am, £5 entry
LONDON
Mousetrap Allnighter ‘Fuzz for Freaks’
Orleans 259 Seven Sisters Rd, Finsbury
Park, London N4 2DD
SAT 11
LONDON
Pretty Things 100 Club, 100 Oxford
Street, London W1D 1LL. 8pm-3am Adm
£15 advance £18 OTD/ £7 club only
after 11.30pm. www.seetickets.com
FRI 10 - SUN 12
DUNBLANE
Doune the Rabbit Hole Music Festival
The Vaselines, Arthur Brown, Mike Heron,
The Trembling Bells, The Hidden
Masters, Broadcast 2000, Colorama,
James Yorkston, Houdini Dax, Alasdair
Roberts, The Method, Remember
Remember + Eyes Wide Open
www.dounetherabbithole.co.uk
FRIDAY 17
LONDON
The Moons launch party. The Borderline,
16 Manette Street W1D 4AR. 7pm, £10
SATURDAY 18
LONDON
The Chemistry Set first UK show in 20
years by neo-psych legends. The Garage,
Highbury Corner N5 1RD. £12/15
LONDON
A Little Mixed Up Alldayer
Organised by Mod fanzine Double
Breasted. Modus, The Laynes, Aunt Nelly,
The Mynd Set, RT3 and The Nite Tones
Fiddlers Elbow, Camden.
LONDON
Mousetrap R&B Allnighter
Orleans 259 Seven Sisters Rd, Finsbury
Park, London N4 2DD. Quality 60s Club
Soul, Ska, Motown, R&B, Blues and
Boogaloo with resident DJs Chris Dale &
Rob Bailey + Guests
EDINBURGH
The Big Stramash
The Poets, The Higher State, The
Wildebeests, The Masonics.
www.thebigstramash.org
August
4/5/6/7
GIJON, SPAIN
17th Euro Yeye Mod/60’s Festival
Live bands, International DJ’s, Allnighters, Scooter Runs, Vintage Market
www.newuntouchables.com
26/27/28
BRIGHTON
Brighton Mod Weekender
Live bands, DJs, Scooter Run, Vintage
market. All eve events @ Komedia,
Gardiner St. Free Lunchtime events @
The Volks (opp Brighton Pier)
www.newuntouchables.com
september
FRI 16 - SUN 18
NOTTINGHAM
The Blast Off! Festival
www.blastoff-festival.co.uk
october
FRI 7 - SUN 9
GLASGOW
Double Sight Festival
Hidden Masters, Les Bof
facebook.com/doublesightweekender
SEND YOUR
LISTINGS TO
HAPPENING@
SHINDIG-MAGAZINE
.COM
Shindig! Happening! is published monthly by Volcano Publishing.
Editorial team: Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills, Phil Istine, Richard S Jones, Slim Smith.
Contributors: Alan Brown, Graeme Brown, AP Childs, Andy Davidson, Hugh Dellar,
Tanya Falconer, Jeff Penczak, Oran Tarjan.
Design: Slim Smith.
Subscribe at www.happening-magazine.com
Subscribe to Shindig! at www.shindig-magazine.com
Subscriptions queries: [email protected]
5
HA6-FASHION1 10/05/2011 17:36 Page 6
CAVE STOMP
Currently doing a roaring trade on eBay is
Velvet Cave, a store specialising in ’60s &
’70s vintage and reproduction clothing. The
whole affair is run by 20-something
Londoner Imogen Shurey.
“Most vintage shops tend to sell
clothing from a multitude of eras” she
explains “and I wanted to specialise
in items from the ’60s and ’70s. As
a result of my obsession with
these eras, I had amassed a
collection of dresses that were
not even necessarily in my size!
I soon realised that no matter
how much I loved them, I
couldn’t hold on to them all”.
So to find them new homes
Velvet Cave was born. Her
worldwide customer base
seems very happy with the
early pieces. “In my
collections I try to reflect all
of the styles that were popular
from this era. It had so much colour,
imagination and excitement to offer
in its clothes and I enjoy providing
an alternative to the High
Street’s drab and dreary
offerings!”
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Apart from
selling vintage
pieces Velvet
Cave also
produce exclusive
designs in original fabrics.
“Reference to vintage patterns enables me
to authentically recreate the look and feel of
the genuine article. I often fall in love with
vintage dresses that are not my size and I
am all too aware of how disappointing this
can be for my customers. By offering my
own designs in a variety of sizes, I can
remedy this problem to some extent”.
Expect more from this side of the
business in the near future. Inspiration for
originals can come from all manner of
places. Shurey delights in telling
Shindig! how she spends “a lot of my
free time watching obscure films from
the late ’60s and early ’70s. Whether
it’s an Italian Giallo or a French
comedy, I seek out the most visually
exciting films with the grooviest outfits
and most imaginative set design.’ Beautiful
clothes and beautiful people have to go
together, so make sure you find your own
personal Velvet piece de resistance from the
collection.
Visit www.stores.ebay.co.uk/velvetcavevintage
HA6-competition1 10/05/2011 17:40 Page 7
READY STEADY GO!
The Southbank’s Meltdown festival features a
re-creation of 1960s British TV pop show
Ready Steady Go!, the pioneering music
programme that featured performances from
The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Jimi
Hendrix, Otis Redding and Dusty Springfield,
as well as many appearances by The Kinks.
This Meltdown edition features original
stars from the era alongside contemporary
artists specially chosen by Ready Steady
Go!’s original editor, Vicki Wickham. Special
guests include The Animals’ Eric Burdon,
Paloma Faith, Nona Hendryx of Patti LaBelle
& The Bluebelles & Labelle, The Manfreds,
Sandie Shaw, The Ronettes’ lead singer
Ronnie Spector and more to be announced
soon.
The event is on Saturday June 11th 2011
and we have a pair of tickets to give away!
To enter this competition, email [email protected], with READY in the subject
line, and tell us in which year the show was
first broadcast.
Closing date: 31 May 2011
VELVET CAVE
Win a £20 voucher to spend at Velvet
Cave – ebay.co.uk/velvetcavevintage
To enter this competition, email
[email protected], with VELVET in
the subject line, and tell us the name of
Velvet Cave’s proprietor.
Closing date: 31 May 2011
MORE COMPETITIONS AT WWW.SHINDIG-MAGAZINE.COM
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HA6-routes 09/05/2011 17:43 Page 8
Japan’s modern garage heritage has
included such names as The 5,6,7,8s, The
Pebbles, and Jackie & The Cedrics. To that
we can now add The Routes, brainchild of
Chris Jack, a British ex-pat fixated with all
manner of rock ’n’ roll, beat, R&B, and of
course wild garage-punk noise. The group
has already issued a few records, including
last year’s exhilarating ‘Do What’s Right By
You’ three-track 7” on London’s Dirty Water
Records label.
‘Stormy’ and ‘Willie The Wild One’ (two
legendary ’60s punkers: The Jesters Of
Newport and William The Wild One
respectively) are available on Groovie’s
classic single series, and Alligator, a brand
new LP issued on Dirty Water and brimming
with intoxicating garage R&B, are the latest.
This month alone they’ve played a benefit in
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Beppu (Oita, Japan) for earthquake and
tsunami victims, followed by a European tour,
including UK appearances at London’s Le
Beat Bespoke, and dates in Brighton and
Bristol.
So what turn of events created The
Routes? Chris Jack, guitar/vocals, explains:
“I came to Japan in 2000, having married a
Japanese national (her name happens to be
Yoko Ono, but no relation, thank God). Spent
the first two years pretty much musically and
linguistically isolated as we are in the
countryside.” With drummer Masao
Nakayama the pair started a punk band
called The Facials. “The punk band thing
seemed like a good mutual starting point,”
Jack declares. Every song was about two
minutes. We went through so many bass
players…”
Devouring The Yardbirds, Pretty Things,
Downliners Sect, The Sonics, Howlin’ Wolf,
Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor etc, they
decided to push themselves instead of
playing down. “As time went on the music
slowly evolved, [and] I got a little more daring
on the guitar,” he states. “We then changed
the name to The Routes, and having found a
new bass player, Toru Nishimuta, started
recording some demos.” The results then
became available online and interest in the
group was spreading. “Beat Man was
interested in us,” says Chris. “It seemed that
he would maybe release something on
Voodoo Rhythm. But time went on and the
talking didn’t blossom into anything.” Then
Motor Sound Records in Northern Ireland
contacted them, and in ’07 The Routes’
debut album Left My Mind was issued. They
HA6-routes 09/05/2011 17:44 Page 9
BEAT ROUTE
LENNY HELSING heads
on down the road to
meet THE ROUTES’
singer and guitarist
Chris Jacks... one of
the latest flag wavers
for authentic, no frills
garage-punk!
became acquainted with Mike Spenser too
around this time. “He was doing a radio show
on London’s Resonance FM called The Trash
Can and he plugged the album,” recollects
Jack. The Cannibals were due to tour Japan
and we were all set to play with them when
our drummer left due to a work transfer.”
Thoroughly disillusioned, Chris then
branched out on his own. “Masao was my
best friend and the go-between for
everything,” reveals Jack. “We tried another
drummer but it just wasn’t right. I decided to
jack in the group (excuse the pun) and do a
one man band. I did Chris Jack One Man
Band for about half a year. It was pretty
horrible because The Routes had done well
up until that point.” Jack then met and
persuaded a wild drummer with a ’60s
Premier kit, Shinichi Nakayama, who had a
similar fixation with old music and vintage
gear, and bassist Toru Nishimuta, to start
jamming together.
After a year of playing Seeds, Elevators,
and Back From The Grave covers, old Routes
material was reinvestigated and they began
introducing new songs. They then parted
company with Toru but are delighted with his
replacement Bancho (Takafumi Kakizoe).
“Bancho came in and everything fell into
place,” Chris enthuses. “As far as the new
material goes, it’s a product of absolutely
everything we listen to”. Indeed, Alligator is
swamped with such choice selections as ‘I
Never Learn’, ‘Be My Jane’, ‘I’m Spent’ and
the afore-mentioned ‘Do What’s Right By You’
that imbue their garage-rock ’n’ roll spirit
with Sect-a-like dirty R&B punk style
delivered with a clear production, and
acknowledging the experimental dimension
of the later ’60s’ blues-boom, albeit still
sounding raw and, thankfully, a little beat-up.
Chris Jack’s squealing guitar, with intensely
sharp tremolo buzz and fat juicy fuzz leads,
permeates throughout. His playing at times
quite takes your breath away. A spokesman
for Dirty Water Records commented after
witnessing them at their London show: “They
are really great live. Chris is definitely one of
the best guitarists around.” Check out The
Routes for yourself, and look for a split
instrumental single later in the year
(mastered by Tim Warren) on New York’s Go
Ape label.
‘Stormy’/‘Willy The Wild One’
(www.groovierecords.com) and Alligator
(www.dirtywaterrecords.co.uk ) are both out
now!
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HA6-RecordsReviews1 09/05/2011 17:38 Page 10
Edited by Richard S Jones
CARLTON MELTON
Country Ways
Agitated Records
If the genre “pastoral
space rock” didn’t
exist before, then
North Californian
band Carlton Melton
have certainly
created it on their
second album Country Ways. Supposedly
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recorded in a remote geodesic dome their
wholly instrumental music is built around
languid effects-laden guitar soundscapes
and barely-there drumming to conjure up a
truly trippy vibe.
Starting with a 20-minute track (in which
very little happens for the first 16) is
certainly a bold statement of intent.
Throughout the album the band sound on
the verge of nodding off and are rarely
stirred into any display of power or urgency
barring the odd flash of acid guitar work.
Whilst enjoyable in the right setting
(probably a big smoking session) each
composition is impossible to distinguish
from another and tends to drift by with little,
if any notes really emerging from the
speakers. If music on the edge of
consciousness is your thing then check it
out. Thoroughly recommended for layabouts,
the bed-ridden, narcoleptics and sloths.
Austin Matthews
HA6-RecordsReviews1 09/05/2011 17:39 Page 11
DAVILA 666
Tan Bajo
In The Red
Much like last
issue’s coverage of
fellow In The
Redders The UV
Race, in the short
space of time that
Davila 666 have
been kicking their snakeskin heels, releases
on two of Happening’s best loved labels –
Hozac (2009’s inspired ‘Primero Muerta’)
and the cassette-only Burger label – have
firmly stamped their garage-rock
credentials.
Opening Tan Bajo (which translates as
‘So Low’) with what tolls like death verse
from a condemned man, in hardly no
time at all they ease headlong into the
non-nonsense garage throb of
‘Obsesionao’. Later flirting with the ’50s
diner vibe of ‘Yo Seria Otro’, a
sweethearted number turned suspiciously
sour with lo-fi guitar fuzz, they drag many
a classic corpse across this impressive
follow up. Burying The Crystals and The
Shangri-Las, if one of the many things
that stick with you about Davila 666 it’s
their ability to leave that good ol’
American sound dead in the dirt.
Pissing brilliantly onto Phil Spector’s
wall of sound, they aren’t just content on
stalking those happy days of yesteryear
either. With a guitarist called Jota Vigilante
and a drummer named The Latin Snake,
on tracks like ‘Robacuna’ and ‘Diablo!’
Davila 666 equal, if not better, the
contemporary garage excesses of records
by The Black Lips and The Jacuzzi Boys.
Drawing on nothing but an old Jesus &
Mary Chain record and probably a beer
crate full of scratched, Puerto Rican
pressings of Aftermath-era Stones singles,
Tan Bajo has become this summer’s most
unessentially essential garage-rock record.
Richard S Jones
CIRCLE
Infektio
Conspiracy
Greetings from
Finland and the
latest communication
from the mysterious
genre-melting
brotherhood that is
Circle. What the
strangely beautiful and kaleidoscopic sounds
captured on Infektio seem to equate to is a
memorably rich blend of Krautrock –
specifically Faust and Popol Vuh on the
breathtaking 15 minute ‘Salvos’ – ambient
soundscapes, space-rock and free-flowing
psychedelia while also managing in part to
sound like a soundtrack from an as yet
unmade though suitably contemplative
cinematic extravaganza. The end result of
such methodical plundering and a radical
diversity of sources and approaches sees
Infektio radiate a power to entrance and
intrigue in equal measure.
Across the contrasting terrain of the
album’s six intricately constructed tracks,
whether it has something to do with all the
rarefied air up there or not, in land of the
midnight sun, go ahead intrepid voyager and
set the controls for the heart of the trip.
Grahame Bent
DAN SARTAIN
Legacy Of Hospitality
One Little Indian
With no new album
in sight and a UK
tour looming,
followers of the selfproclaimed “Ivory
Godfather” will have
to make do with this
retrospective collection, Legacy Of
Hospitality. Touted as a part-companion to
2010’s Dan Sartain Lives, the disc is a
satisfying if unsurprising compilation of
roughly-hewn rockabilly alternate cuts; lo-fi
outtakes, hard-to-find numbers and five
unheard songs recorded between 1999 and
2009.
There is a great self-produced, diamondin-the-raw version of ‘Voo-Doo’, which
disposes of the polished rockabilly glamstomp heard last year, in place of feral
garage-punk. Sartain has also had the good
sense to excavate an outsider mutation of
‘Telegram Sam’ and the excellent reverbdrenched country-blues number ‘Box Cutter
In My Boot’ from his 2001 self-released
debut album Crimson Guard. The standout
track, however, has to be the gory ‘Hungry
End’, bringing to mind that ghoulish
rockabilly mountain man Hasil Adkins.
Alan Brown
THE DONKEYS
Born With Stripes
Dead Oceans
For Born With
Stripes, San Diegobased ’60s
throwback band The
Donkeys have come
up with a more
adventurous and
less twangy affair than their 2008 Dead
Oceans debut Living On The Other Side.
With the versatile quartet’s musical nods to
The Grateful Dead (at their rootsiest) and
Gene Clark-era Byrds, they align
themselves neatly with a lo-fi acousticapproach similar to fellow California-based
11
HA6-RecordsReviews1 10/05/2011 07:28 Page 12
artists, Pavement or Beck.
On originals like the vibrant title track, the
alt-rock rhythmic and tambourine-accented
‘The Way You Walk’, the hangover-blues of
‘Bloodhound’ and The Turtles-like tale of the
‘New Blue Stockings’, The Donkeys
demonstrate the artful combination of hooks
and modern-day lyrics that stick in the ear.
Turning out comfortably laid-back harmonies
in a sublime powerpop atmosphere, further
favourites include a pair of kaleidoscopically
spiralling sitar-spiced ragas and the surreal
advisory ‘Ceiling Tan’. Devendra Banhart and
Vetiver acolytes should lend an ear.
Gary Von Tersch
KID CONGO AND THE PINK
MONKEY BIRDS
Gorilla Rose
In The Red
Kid Congo Powers
boasts one of rock’s
most stellar
pedigrees. Featuring
in the first and later
incarnations of The
Gun Club after being
taught to play in open tuning by Jeffrey Lee
Pierce, he later went on to join The Cramps
and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds before forming
The Pink Monkey Birds in 2009. The followup to that year’s Dracula Boots debut,
named after the legendary LA artist and
produced by Jason Ward, is a refreshing
blast of Barrio sleaze, garage-punk guitar
blitzes and surreal degeneracy sometimes
recalling The Fall or Beefheart.
Kid lends lasciviously throaty narratives
on everything from fruit (‘Catsuit Fruit’) to
the roller-skating drag queen OD’ing while
robbing a Hollywood record store (‘Our Other
World’). Meanwhile, his original psychobilly
template rears on tracks such as ‘Hills Of
Pills’, usually as a stepping-stone into his
increasingly esoteric, underbelly-fixated
world, reaching a peak on ‘Lullaby In
Paradise‘. Toweringly recommended.
Kris Needs
MOUNTAINS
Air Museum
Thrill Jockey
To say that it has only
recently become a
hip thing; this whole,
cerebrally buoyant
and ambient psych
noise free of any
discernable rock
and/or roll, would be overlooking two
12
decades of pioneering music that around
about now is really beginning to play
Godfather to a listening generation. Boards
of Canada, Broadcast, Aphex Twin, even The
Orb have all sewn squares onto the electric
patchwork blanket that shapes the music of
artists, like Brooklyn’s excellent duo
Mountains.
Admittedly, less psychedelic than you
might expect from an act packing such a
suitably lysergic feel, but what ‘Backwards
Crossover’ and the sublime ‘Thousand
Square’ provide listeners with are
experimental sounds to nullify your mind’s
rationale to seek out hooks. Not unlike Silver
Apples. Progressive electronic compositions
that pulse and phase away traditional song
structures whilst at the same time make
fresh rhythms anew, before your very ears,
bringing you back to the absolute basics.
Whatever it truly is, avant-garde electronica
has never before sounded so wonderfully
Arcadian.
Richard S Jones
PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT
Laced
FatCat Recordings
Imagine if a
resurrected William
Burroughs and Andy
Warhol rocked a
selection of drums,
guitars, cheap
keyboards,
harmonica and samplers intent on freaking
out the left field indie kids. If you can
imagine such things then they might have
sounded something like this delicately
named duo of electro pranksters from
Columbus, Ohio.
Reeking of a studiedly cheapo approach
and awash in distortion, dissonance and non
specific narcotic fall-out, complete with
abundant echoes of the Velvets, The Fall,
Royal Trux and a host of fellow subversives,
Laced was apparently recorded just about
anywhere, other than a conventional studio
with an antique ’70s Teac reel to reel.
Announcing the arrival of this, the duo’s
FatCat debut the label’s colourful press
release reels off a string of exotic sub genres
including “protest folk, barbed garage-punk,
scrawny white dub, smeared psychedelia,
free noise, tin-can electronics and
shoegaze”, in a valiant attempt to capture in
print exactly what seems to be going on
here. But somehow it still falls short of the
reality.
Grahame Bent
Singles
GRUFF RHYS
Honey All Over
Ovni Records
Super Furry Animals front man and all
round musical oddball Gruff Rhys knows
how to befuddle and bemuse. He also
knows how to write cracking pop songs that
stick in your brain and follow you about like
a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. With
summer just around the corner and the
garden buzzing with bees, ‘Honey All Over’ is
taken from his excellent album Hotel
Shampoo and makes a companion of the
coming season quite perfectly. Its ever so
slightly downbeat introduction quickly gives
way to the kind of bouncy pop ballad that
Paul McCartney would give his right arm for.
Ably assisted by fellow Welshmen Y Niwl,
‘Honey All Over’ isn’t as sweet as its title
suggests, but like a sugar rush from a
sherbet dip it will have you craving more.
Flip it over (yes, it’s on vinyl) and you’ll even
find a new song called ‘Xenodocheionology’
about Rhys’ love of hotels.
John Blaney
TROGONS
Contina
X-Ray Recordings
Any group which drops Third Bardo,
WCPAEB and Siouxsie And The Banshees
as influences has obviously got off on the
right foot but, while their sound indeed
carries echoes of the latter’s damned
eternal reverberation, the London fourpiece of bassist-singer Gemma Fleet (also
of The Kasms), guitarist Andrew Robert
Doig, organist Phillip Edward Johnson and
drummer Dean Hinks already boast a
vibrant, soaring sound of their own,
brilliantly represented by the hallucinogenic
majesty of lead track ‘Contina’.
Intriguingly, ‘Contina’ will be released on
download and flexi-disc, which has hardly
been seen since the late lamented
Flexipop! mag in the ’80s. Both formats
also feature the abrasive ‘Protest Song No.
678’, while ‘Where’s My Sword’ also
appears on the iTunes package. The songs
were recorded by The Kasms’ Rory
Brattwell at his East London studio and
mark the first release on X-Ray,
spearheading a new strain of East London
garage-goth loaded with jagged mysterioso
charisma.
Kris Needs
HA6-adverts 10/05/2011 07:22 Page 13
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Photo: Oran Tarjan
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Wolfpeople
The Borderline, London
April 21st 2011
Hot on the heels of their first headline tour
of the UK, Wolfpeople return to London to
share the bill with Canadian doom rockers
Blood Ceremony. Tonight’s set is drawn
largely from last year’s Steeple album,
including the recent single ‘Silbury Sands’
and a cracking version of ‘Tiny Circle’ coming
on like some sort of medieval funk folk work
out (sadly minus flute). Wolfpeople remind
you of all the best bits of your early ’70s
acid/folk-rock LPs, from the beauty and
fragility of Jack Sharp’s vocals on the quieter
moments to the fluidity of the guitar interplay
between Sharp and Hollick – somewhat
reminiscent of the freeform jamming of The
Grateful Dead in full flight, spellbinding stuff
indeed.
Tonight’s headliners Blood Ceremony are
here to promote their wonderful new album
Living With The Ancients, released on Rise
Above Records earlier this year. From the
opening bars of ‘The Great God Pan’ the
group are on fine form, whether it be bass
player Lucas Gadke (bearded and bare foot
hunched over his instrument like a
14
madman possessed) or the monolithic
riffage coming from the guitar of Shaun
Kennedy. With elements of doom, folk and
a general downer vibe throughout the
music it’s difficult to pick a highlight from
tonight’s set, but for me it would be the
closing trio of ‘Night Of Augury’ (with a
great organ intro from Alia), ‘Children Of
The Future’ and ‘Coven Tree’, before coming
Blood Ceremony
back for an encore of the epic ‘Daughter Of
The Sun’ showcasing the amazing
musicianship between all four band
members. Andrew Haust’s drumming was
at times truly mesmerising. This evening
Blood Ceremony shone, I think Old Nick
may have been secretly looking up and
smiling, Doom on!
Tony Clarke
Photo: Oran Tarjan
WOLFPEOPLE & BLOOD
CEREMONY
Photo: Marc Mun̂oz
HA6-RecordsReviews1 10/05/2011 17:41 Page 15
Photo: Oran Tarjan
Photo: Oran Tarjan
THE FLAMIN’ GROOVIES
Le Beat Bespoke,
April 24th 2011
The first incarnation of The Flamin’ Groovies
embraced good time rock ’n’ roll as opposed
to the early Beatles and Stones influences of
the later ’70s band. The idea of guitarist
Cyril Jordan and original vocalist Roy Loney
reprising those late ’60s/early ’70s days
filled this reviewer with a mixture of
anticipation and trepidation. Anticipation
because early Groovies albums like Teenage
Head are brim full of music that actually
deserves the term “classic rock”. Trepidation
because over the past few years many
revered cult bands have reunited for some
live shows, but some have tarnished their
reputations by doing so.
The evening began well with support act
D.C. Fontana, whose tight set of mod
Hammond soul put the audience in a good
mood. I shouldn’t have worried about the
Groovies. Roy no longer looks like a rock
singer but he was in fine voice, and proved
well capable of doing justice to tunes he first
sang over 40 years ago. Sporting his
favourite Dan Armstrong Plexiglas guitar Cyril
drove the songs forward and was clearly
enjoying himself. The set concentrated on
pre-1971 material, which most of the
audience had never heard live before. The ABones proved a very able backing unit;
drummer Miriam Linna had a big grin on her
face for the whole set, which featured some
fine material from the Teenage Head and the
earlier albums, particularly ‘Second Cousin’,
‘Tallahassee Lassie’, Evil Ada’, and
‘Yesterday’s Numbers’.
It was heart warming to see later
Groovies’ vocalist Chris Wilson join the band
onstage towards the end of the night. After
falling out in ’80 Cyril and Chris hadn’t
spoken in 31 years, so until recently a
rapprochement seemed about as likely as
the presidents of North and South Korea
kissing and making up. It was great to see
Chris join the band for spirited if slightly
ragged versions of the Groovies’ most fondly
remembered songs, ‘Shake Some Action’,
‘Teenage Head’ and ‘Slow Death’. Sunday
licensing laws prevented a spate of encores,
but perhaps now we can look forward to
some new recordings including Loney, Jordan
and Wilson?
Phil Suggitt
ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDSLEY
SHOVELL, INCREDIBLE HOG &
GENTLEMEN PISTOLS
The Borderline, London
April 7th 2011
Taking cues from pre-’75 hard-rock the
Shovell guys looked and sounded the part.
Lead guitarist Johnny Gorilla’s tats and vest
strut, glorious Flying V powered leads and
the part Ronnie Wood and leery biker from
your local look and stance was the vision of
the consummate early ’70s rock star, bassist
Louis Bronco played the finest rock lines with
a heads down concentration whilst cheeky
boy drummer Shorty sounded splendid... a
honed, old-school, no shit Bill Ward
technique. With humour and skill they
entertained the full house, and played the
most authentic sounding dirty scuzz rock
you’ll hear (think Emerge-era Litter, Buffalo,
Dust and all that cool stuff from the era
when “heavy” meant good). No pretence, no
posturing... just the kind of hard-rock that
anyone in a leather vest and ironed hair
would die for.
Incredible Hog hadn’t played in 36 years,
but they pulled off the “legendary status” by
knocking out their back catalogue in a well
rehearsed manner, pleasing the fans of their
rare (and now reissued by Rise Above) album.
If unaware of the Hog, theirs is a melodic
post-psychedelic form or hard-rock that grew
out of blues-rock. Sure, Thin Lizzy, Taste and
Zep spring to mind, but with album opener
‘Lame’ having that glam beat and some nifty
moves of their own they’re a unique prime cut
of the era... After this solid show I’m sure
we’ll see a lot more of them.
Headliners Gentleman Pistols posture and
look confident, and so they should. Clearly
they have rock god attitude, and licks to
match. Exuding that ladies man ’74 stadium
rock era they have The Deep Purple cock-rock
thing going full tilt... well constructed songs
with dual guitars, harmonies and strong
vocals. However, out of all of the bands
tonight they are the only ones that perhaps
do sound a little too much like a parody.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
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HA6-adverts 10/05/2011 07:20 Page 16
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Saturday 18 June
Peter Asher
A Musical Memoir of
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Saturday 18 June
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