Feast Music Blog

Live Review Pere Ubu at Mono, Glasgow

35 years ago Pere Ubu released a truly great album, The Modern Dance and were hailed as one of the leading art rock bands. 2013 sees the release of their 17th studio album, The Lady from Shanghai and the UK tour to promote the album brings the band and FEAST to Mono in Glasgow. Bandleader David Thomas is in playful mood tonight entertaining the audience with a monologue of the bands extensive touring plans which includes ’17 nights at Wembley Arena’!
Half the set tonight is taken from the latest album which Thomas has described as “dance music, fixed.” Indeed there is a four-to-the-floor feel to some of the tracks such as “Thanks” which takes off from Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” and “Free White”. The set kicks off in a similar manner with “Love Love Love” from arguably one of their best albums, Cloudland. The band have always subverted and played around with the concepts of rock’n’roll and this is evident tonight in the half dozen songs they play from their back catalogue including great renditions of “The Modern Dance” and “Misery Goats”.
Thomas’ unique charisma and satiric wit are intact and he is in rare form throughout, just sounding like he’s having a great old time and it’s good to witness the band again, still magical, cogent and coherent .

Victorian Trout Conspiracy: E.P Launch

I think I’m busy. I mean I got three kids, a full time job, and I write this stuff in between. Don’t worry, I not soul searching its that I just got off the phone with Phil from the Victorian Trout Conspiracy and he’s a busy man. If you haven’t heard of them, you will no doubt be wondering about their name. WTF the VTC?

I prefer to think it has hidden meaning but Phil said the name sort of came to him after walking up Leith Walk. The power of Leith! Born from several Edinburgh bands, the main members Phil Ramsey, Fraser Fulton, Rhuaridh Turner and Calum Mason expanded to the whopping 10 piece they are today. Sometimes they play as a duo, sometimes a five piece, and sometimes the mighty deca-bonus-band-ten-piece. Since March 2012, when they got together, they have so far have played over 150 shows (and still racking em up) all over Scotland including Edinburgh’s HMV Picture House and Glasgow’s QMU, also not forgetting having already had multiple SELL OUT gigs here in their home town of Edinburgh.

After seeing them on a number of occasions, I can definitely say that this has made them a very, very, tight live band. Their gigs are real events and the last one at the Annexe had a free after-show party where all the audience where invited. That’s a band who knows how to look after the fans, give them value for money, and give them a night to remember.

VTC Ticket

Next week on the 2nd they play Edinburgh’s excellent Liquid Rooms. Promoting their new EP (recorded with Feast’s help, fact fans) which was engineered and produced by Jim White, it’s a 4 track that showcases Trouts’ sound; big, bold, catchy, energetic, and full of life. These guys are serious about what they do as the gig also launches their merchandising range. It’s time to buy your VTC t-shirts.

Here is a slice of what’s coming up for the Trouts in May alone:
2nd May Liquid Room, Edinburgh
10th May at Box, Glasgow
17th May, Brixton Hootananny, London
18th May, Mau Mau, London

In the summer they are playing a mammoth 11 festivals from the north of England and throughout Scotland. They have a long term ambition to touring America and with this much drive you feel like anything is possible for the Victorian Trout Conspiracy. Told you they were busy.

Live Review- Furrow, Henry’s Cellar Bar

They practice in a caravan in a field apparently. Despite the rural sounding name (and practice room), Shropshire based band Furrows are a long way from the folky, pastoral vibes you might expect from such surroundings. To describe their music I’m going to refer to the talent spotting checklist I had made up especially for the evening:

Number 1- Drummer should thwack the floor tom like he is trying to dispatch a wild hare to the great carrot field in the sky with a single swipe of his drumstick.

Number 2- Drummer should sing as well as playing kit. Actually, ideally should sound like Mark E Smith doing an impression of Karen Carpenter singing ‘Blue Monday’.

Number 3- Must be a duo featuring only bass drums & vocals. Absolutely no six stringed instruments, trumpets or keyboards.

Furrow spookily ticked all of the above boxes. I also liked the way they often opted not to finish songs together at the same time- very post-modern. All in all a very enjoyable night organised by Song, by Toad, with Glasgow’s North American War also on great form. In Henry’s Cellar Bar North American War’s live sound perhaps inevitably lost a bit of the subtlety of their recordings but instead came across more like a lost treasure from CBGBs.

Live Review – Euan Weddell & Ded Rabbit

Sometimes it’s a real honour seeing a live band in a small venue that delivers a great sound and more often that not Henry’s Cellar Bar on Morrison Street is one of those venues. Most of the engineers that work there get a fantastic sound from a wide selection of bands in a venue that is not really designed for live sound. It’s no mean feat.

Arriving late, I caught about four tracks from Euan Weddell, and boy, did I love them. One vocal and electric guitar all delivered in a choppy punk feel. At times I though I was listening to Ivor Cuttler’s long lost son. Euan has a wonderful mix of funny, raw lyrics and music shown mostly clearly on his track “Awkward”. I didn’t know if I should be laughing so much at his lyrics about his inabilty to talk to girls, or if I should just give him a wee pat on the back and tell him it’s all going to be alright when he gets older. His between track banter was just as good as well. Golden.

By the time Ded Rabbit took stage, Henry’s seemed stacked to the rafters and after they struck their first chord you could see why. Most bands would bite there own hands off to have a couple of catchy tunes like these guys. If you add their great stage presence, then you know you are watching a band that could go very far. It’s no wonder that they are playing Sound City @ Liverpool. There were just so many stand-out tunes that got the crowd jumping. “Down and Out” sounds great live – I am looking forward to it being released as their single. Sometimes, everything works together and you could see why the band invited the audience on stage for their last track; everyone was involved in making this a great gig. At the risk of repeating myself – check them out!

POST launch debut album

POST are a band we’ve been following for a while and having heard their contribution to the Mao Disney compilation from label We Can Still Picnic and a great session on 6music’s Marc Riley show, it’s good to be able to mention the launch of their debut album at Nice n Sleazy’s on Friday April 26th. Looking forward to this.

Live Review – Johnny Marr, ABC Glasgow

The ABC Glasgow is packed tonight and the crowd are in fine form chanting “JOHNNY, JOHNNY, JOHNNY F***ING MARR!” Rising to a crescendo, the man himself takes the stage with his band for his first solo tour as a frontman proper, following the recent release of his solo debut album, The Messenger . “My mum won’t like that, but I do” retorts Marr and it’s clear he’s in the mood to enjoy this show as he launches into the lead track from the new album, “The Right Thing Right” quickly followed by one of many Smiths classics played tonight, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”. This receives rapturous applause from the audience.

All songs from the new album, bar one, are aired tonight which is good as for the most part it is a strong collection of songs, and in the case of New Town Velocity, up there with any of his earlier classic work with The Smiths. Halfway in and another great Smiths track, the raucous and evocative “London” (the B-Side of Shoplifters Of The World Unite) is brought back to life. This emphasizes one of the main points about The Smiths, a classic singles band, that to them, every detail from artwork, to how the band were mentioned on the sleeves, B-Sides mattered enormously. The fact that one of their greatest songs, “How Soon Is Now?” began life as a flip-side is testament to the effort that they put into each and every detail of their career.

The band encore with a cover of a cover, The Clash’s definitive version of “I Fought The Law” followed by “Getting Away With It” from Electronic, the band Marr formed with New Order’s Bernard Sumner in the late 1980s. The best however is saved to last as Marr and his band deliver a beautiful rendition of “How Soon Is Now?” and end on the brilliant “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” conveying wonderfully the feelings of longing and escape that encapsulated so many songs by The Smiths.

Live Review – Stu Larsen @ The Caves in Edinburgh

As I make the brisk walk across Edinburgh’s city centre towards The Caves I am cold, my legs tired and I am regretting not getting the bus. However my self-loathing is put massively into perspective when I consider whom I am about to see. Stu Larsen gave up his humble nine to five bank job in Queensland, Australia three years ago to pursue a life on road. He has travelled across the globe venturing to such places as far afield as Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and thankfully Britain. This must seem like your average jet set tour plan but consider that he has done this as an unsigned artist and most of his travels are done in his self-driven van.

The gig kicks off with the warm, country fuelled music of Andrew Mill and The Stolen Pirates. The mix of banjo, guitar, fiddle and his rich voice really set the scene for the evening, creating a welcome atmosphere that the crowd loved. He did however take a break mid-set to allow highland poet Donald Ker to give the audience some of his favorite rhyming tales. This would be one of their last gigs before Andrew and Donald set off on a tour of the southern states of America.Up next is Esther Swift a singer songwriter with a difference; you might expect she would have an acoustic guitar, piano maybe even a ukulele. Nope, a full sized harp is her instrument of choice. A classically trained musician with a beautiful voice pulls the gig goers in with her subtle melodies.

Stu Larsen takes to the stage and as he kicks into his first song it becomes apparent that his nomad lifestyle is clearly his greatest muse. A personal favourite of mine being San Francisco a tale of travelling north listening to music and being on an adventure. He mixes his music with tales of the road that are just as intriguing as the music and the man himself. He takes note of his surroundings in the historical caves, a perfect backdrop to his music.

Larsen also throws in a few treats for the audience by inviting Esther back up on stage for a few numbers and the rest of the support up to sing along with the gigs last song. All in all a great performance from Stu Larsen complimented by the hand picked support acts.

Live Review – Redolent @ Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh

Being Redolent’s debut gig this was the first time I, or anyone else for that matter, had seen them perform in a live venue. However, you would be mistaken for thinking that they have been performing together on stage for months as they turned in a solid and thoroughly entertaining performance.

Taking place in one of Edinburgh’s best known and loved venues, Cabaret Voltaire provided an intimate and not too intimidating arena for the band to debut their tracks to the audience.

Great vocals from the singer mixed well with their blend of intricate guitar picking and interesting and changing rhythms. A mix of solid bass playing and driving drums provided a great platform for the guitars to shine through and take centre stage on the tracks. The bands use of dynamics created interesting changes in the songs and kept the audience on their toes.

Full of nervous energy at the beginning, the band seemed to relax into the gig very quickly and throughout the show they had a great command of the stage. They did not just play through their set but gave a performance that was entertaining, well executed and most importantly full of good songs. Due to a couple of small technical difficulties the sound was a little muddy at times, although this was nothing major and did not take away from the performance of the band.

All in all Redolent’s debut gig was a triumph, with the band showing great potential and promise for the future, whilst looking like a band that has already worked out how to perform well with each other.

Have a listen to the demo of their track “Useless”. Its another great tune which has, for some reason, a picture of a redhead lying on the grass to go with it. Go figure!.

Live Review: Of Monsters and Men @ the O2 in Glasgow

Okay…so the big question about Of Monsters and Men ‘s gig at the O2 is not ‘how did this band having only formed in 2010 and having released only one album have to get this gig moved up from Oran Mor to the sold out O2?’ Nor is it ‘how does the tiny Icelandic community (only 320,000 of them) keep producing these amazing bands with such individual sounds?’. Nor is it ‘how can this new band have fans from every age group, social class, colour from young hipsters to old folkies; from 12 year olds to guys in tracksuits and bad bad haircuts?’

No. The real question is – just who is having the most fun, us or the band on stage?

Because they were having the time of their lives.

As the first chords were struck and harmonies sung, the band had us totally in their hands and we were in very, very, safe hands. Live, they managed to really rock out and then rein it in for the soft lullabies and handle each as if they had been doing this for decades. They managed to keep the harmonies and warmth of the songs whilst still bringing them alive on the stage. This was far from simply hearing an album played live, this was a band giving a new expansion to each and every song.

And what songs! From the hit single Little Talks to the sweet ballad Sloom, every song was welcomed and luxuriated in by the fans. Seen live, you realise just how sing-a- long most of their tunes are. These are the songs that your neighbours will learn to love as you drunkenly sing them, loud and proud at 3.00am of a Friday night.

They have been winning plaudits all over Europe and the US with their festival tours, and by end of the gig, every one left the O2 with a warm glow. It was just like those old ads for Ready Brek (kids- go ask your dad)

If you weren’t there? You probably should’ve been.

Live Review – Ded Rabbit @ the Jazz Bar in Edinburgh

Feast went along to Chambers Street to see Ded Rabbit, who are an indie rock type of band. They have the usual set-up of guitars, bass and drums but introduce sax into various songs which adds a bit of spontaneity to their approach. The tunes are infectious and really catchy without being too polished or in the least bit predictable, pushing and pulling in various directions but never seem to overstay their welcome.

They put a smile on my face and are they are at ease about how they deliver their songs.Tonight amongst other songs they play tracks from last year’s ‘Ice Cream’ EP which is great and well worth searching out. They have an ability to combine several influences whether it be funk, jazz, indie, prog and somehow bring them together to produce something original that feels totally natural but has an intensity and excitement which is infectious. Given this, the packed audience really warms to the band and many, including me, have become fans of Ded Rabbit.

See them for yourself when they play Henry’s Cellar Bar on Friday 15th March.