Birmingham 101 HOME
Articles -
Previous Features & Articles
Latest road tests
and News
Where to stay
- Hotels and accommodation
Address & Phone
|
Dates / Venues - Local Groups - Reviews Archives - Birmingham101 Home - Contact
HOW TO SEARCH THE SITE FOR INFORMATION
ARCHIVED REVIEWS March 2008 Previews by Mike Davies Sunday March 2 Tina Dico
Last here two years back when promoting her In The Red album, the Danish born former Zero 7 singer returns now with Count To Ten (Finest Gramophone), a powerful new collection that finds her in far more muscular form than past comparisons to Joni Mitchell and Julia Fordham might have anticipated. She lays her cards on the table with the title track opener which shows her Leonard Cohen influence on an acoustic but urgent and desperation streaked folk blues number that gradually brings ominous piano into the fraying nerves rhythm. On The Run calls to mind Elkie Brooks circa Lilac Wine, Open Wide switches to soaring Radiohead melancholic stately pop and Night Cab hitches a ride on heady femme-rock melodies. And that’s just the first four track attack. With a set that could also embrace the fragile torched balladry of You Know Better, the bitter inner loneliness detailed by Craftsmanship & Poetry, the incisive mix of confession, compassion and observation on the affecting Everybody Knows and Cruel To The Sensitive Kind, and, of course, current single, the spidery Kiki Dee meets REM neurosis Sacre Coeur, you can’t really go wrong. The Danes have already recognised she’s a world class talent, it’s about time the rest of us caught up. 8pm. £10. Glee Club Monday March 3 Not Advised
Born and bloodied in Southampton, the five piece have been kicking down doors with support slots to such names as Gallows, Aiden and Rise Against. From which you’ll rightly surmise they’re of a hard rocking persuasion with driving riffs, urgent rhythms and guitar solo tendencies. All of which are conveniently packaged on debut single You’re The Designers, We’re The Deciders (Melodramatic) along with a crowd-inviting 'woh oh’ chorus to shout out as you fist the air. 8pm. £5. Actress & Bishop, Ludgate Hill Monday March 3 Sum 41
They have had their moments but, by and large, it’s been hard to get too excited about the Canadian pop punk answer to Green Day and Blink 182. Not even when singer Deryck Whibley got wed to Avril Lavigne. Nonetheless, the fans will be out in force for their first dates since the departure of guitarist Dave Baksh and the release of last year’s Underclass Hero (Mercury) album with its mix of politics bashing and love basking songs. So count on much pumping the air and bouncing around to such largely indistinguishable numbers as Walking Disaster, March of the Dogs, Pull The Curtain, No Apologies, Count Your Last Blessing and the title track. Fast, loud bratty punk with the occasional slow song (So Long Goodbye, Best of Me) to allow everyone to catch their breath. But, you can’t help but think it won’t be long before their number’s up. Support’s Ontario punk swaggerers Sound & Fury who promise much with the name but are actually your standard boozy bar band and, judging by the fact they have numbers called School’s Out, 18, Can’t Get Enough and Teenage Rampage either have problems coming up with original titles or have a sideline as a covers act. 7.30pm. £18. Carling Academy Tuesday March 4 Tom Baxter
With John Martyn and Van Morrison boring, you get worse alternatives in your quest for soulful, jazz tinged late night blues. Armed with an acoustic guitar, exposed nerve emotions, atmospheric piano and a warm, smokey voice, he’s out and about showcasing material from the current Skybound (Sylvan) album, a collection of songs for people who like the idea of James Blunt but want to engage their brain with the music too. Informed by dashes of Latin colours, notably evident in his use of Spanish guitar and the rhythmic moods of numbers like Tell Her Today, Icarus Wings and the Jobin flavoured lovelorn Half A Man, he also filters some Eastern violin scraping into the title track and surrounds himself with string arrangements for those last dance ballad moments of Light Me Up and Miracle. It may well take more than this album to sufficiently filter his name into the public consciousness and bring him the rewards he deserves, but with such quality in his back pocket it can only be a matter of time. 8pm. £10.50. Glee Club Tuesday March 4 Siouxsie
With the Banshees and Creatures defunct along with her marriage, Goth-punk’s ice maiden finally hits the solo trail, armed with her auspicious debut Mantaray (W1) blending spacey and feral electronica into her trademark sinuous rock rhythms. And while she remains an intimidating force with whom you wouldn’t want to argue, you have to say there’s times here where she sounds more like Marianne Faithful (Sea Of Tranquillity, the outstanding They Follow You) and a torch song PJ Harvey (the Nietzschian If It Doesn’t Kill You) than the woman who sang Hong Kong Garden. Not that this is a bad thing (though long time fans may wonder at her foray into Radio 2 balladry with Heaven And Alchemy), since both are among the album’s strongest numbers. And that old icicle through the skull juddering punk is in fine fettle too with the menacing voodoobilly grind Into A Swan, a trashy swagger About To Happen where she rewrites the Roxy Music songbook with a splash of feral Bolan and the big cinematic brassy prowl Here Comes That Day sounding like a Shirley Bassey Bond theme waiting to happen. The jungle beat swings through the vines, thumping out a challenge to all comers with the heavy percussive One Mile Below that could put the fear of God up Tarzan while, just to show her slinkier seductive side, Drone Zone takes on Eartha Kitt and remodels her for the 21st century. “I'm on the verge of an awakening...Feeling so strong...Can't be ignored,” she sings. Too right. And who in their right mind would want to? Will she be including any Banshee or Creatures hits? Who cares. Support comes courtesy of Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes who’ll be trailing forthcoming guitar chugging single Say Something, Say Anything as a taster for the debut album and their headline gig later in the month.
Also along are Robots in Disguise, the lycra-favouring electro-punk duo fronted by Mighty Boosh regulars Dee Plume and Sue Denim. They’ll be treating all and sundry to choice selections from the We’re In The Music Biz (President) debut album which is great self-mocking, tongue in cheek post-modern fun; if you’ve never heard of Shampoo. They’re not blessed with the greatest of voices, something all too apparent when they attempt to get serious won Animals or Tears, but the fizz and chav sketch show silliness bubbling along fizzily with The Sex Has Made Me Stupid, Can’t Stop Getting Wasted and the title track make for momentary enjoyable diversions. 7.30pm. £22.50. Wulfrun Hall Thursday March 6 Hayseed Dixie
Over the past couple of albums, they’ve been slipping some original material in alongside their bluegrassed versions of rock numbers from the likes of Motorhead, Queen, Cliff and the Scissor Sisters. Well now, they’ve gone the whole hog and, as their seventh album No Covers (Cooking Vinyl) suggests, have ditched the reworks and come up with a complete collection of their own songs. Unfortunately, these tongue in cheek songs ‘about drinking, cheating, killing and hell’ don’t really measure up. They’re naturally well played with some hot banjo picking, and there’s some wry digs about America and Americans (Trickle Down), but from the punk out route of Frustration and You’ve Got Me All Wrong Baby, through the barnyard two step Bouncing Betty Boogie and folk ballad Born To Die In France they just sound like your average bar band in search of a decent songwriter. You couldn’t imagine any rock outfit wanting to reinterpret these. If they’re wise, they’ll keep the set packed with the ‘novelty’ items the audience has come to hear, otherwise there may be few around at the end to ask for an encore. 7.30pm. £12.50. Carling Academy 2 Thursday March 6 Boyz II Men
Having been pretty much written off a couple of years ago with poor sales, public indifference and no major label backing, the most successful R&B male vocal group of all time have made something of a remarkable comeback. Now working as a trio, Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris seem to have won back UK audiences with a vengeance with their Motown Hitsville USA (Decca) album of Motown tunes and it’s a fair bet that the set list is going to resemble a tribute show act as they work through their slick, creamy and versions of such solid classics as Mercy Mercy Me, Just My Imagination, I Was Made To Love Her and Tracks Of My Tears. Pretty much faithful to the originals with the trio investing their own vocal stylings, it’s pleasant rather than inspiring, but coupled with a polished live show and reminders of their own old hits like End of the Road, One Sweet Day and I'll Make Love To You, you can be guaranteed a night of smooth r&b nostalgia. 7.30pm. £29.50/£26.50. Symphony Hall (+ Wed Apr 2) Thursday March 6 Clannad
Reuniting the original line up of Moya Brennan, Ciaran Brennan, Noel Duggan, and Padraig Duggan for their first UK tour in a decade, this is going to be very much a best of night, albeit with the promise of a few numbers they’ve rarely performed live. Whatever your feelings about their Celtic mist New Age ethereality, although they’ve only ever had two UK chart singles, it has to be said they were pioneers of the form and arguably the most influential Irish folk band of all time. With 35 years under their belt since the first album, 25 since debut hit Theme From Harry’s Game, they’ll have plenty to choose from, but you can certainly expect to find Newgrange, Robin (The Hooded Man), I Will Find You, In A Lifetime, Siúil A Rúin and any number of their haunting Gaelic tunes. 7.30pm. £30/£27.50. Alexandra Theatre Thursday March 6 Kid Harpoon
Known to his Chatham mates as Tom Hull, the kid’s back out on the road with another bagful of his often vitriolic urban folk songs in the shape of The Second EP (XL). The opening Riverside shows a rockier approach with snarling guitar and air of Nick Cave menace in his prowling delivery while Fathers And Sons sways and swoops to a medieval melody line and at times summons thoughts of The Levellers, while the strummed perky Suicide Grandad is every bit as cheery as the title implies. And, if you want to stomp the foot, then Her Body Sways helpfully obliges before break up song Lay Of The Land heads back to spare, quasi trad territory. I wouldn’t be placing early bets yet on any Brit Folk Awards nominations, but there’s certainly the promise here of weightier things to come. 7pm. £6. Bar Academy Friday March 7 The Feeling
Two years ago, this lot were the most played act on British radio. Even today, you can barely go a day without hearing Love It When You Call a song which, despite the least successful of their hits, has become something of a pop classic. As ubiquitous as You’re Beautiful, but only half as irritating. So, no surprise that, for sophomore album Join With Us (Island), the band may have upped the production values with loads more orchestral colours but they haven’t messed with the blueprint. So, more 70s retro songs with dollops of ELO, Elton, Macca and, on I Thought It Was Over, even a dash of Moroder. Oh and This Time surely owes a huge debt to Korgis hit Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime. There’s nothing quite as immediate as Feel My Little World or Love It.., but you can be sure that you’ll be hearing Without You incessantly on the airwaves, all the more so if the sun shines. Elsewhere they’re yanking on your ears and getting the toes jogging with the Mika with sax bouncy Turn It Up, the jaunty Modern Love rework that is Won't Go Away (more sax appeal), Huey Lewis meets Gilbert O’Sullivan swayalong Don’t Make Me Sad and, despite the baby voice at the end, even I Did It For Everyone. Their rhymes can be cringe-inducing and, as The Greatest Show On Earth with its turgid swelling finale demonstrates, they’re not great on ballads, but it’s hard not to see them clogging your radio for another year yet. Support from Fiction Plane, the London trio headed up by Sting’s son Joe Sumner, with their competent but unremarkable album of social politics rock Left Side Of The Brain. 6pm. £15. Carling Academy Friday March 7 Envy & Other Sins
The Birmingham boys launch their first release since winning the Mobile Act best new band competition, with Highness (A&M), a live favourite with its skittering beat and mix of Lovecats Cure with a smidgen of Dexys. It’s paired with Orient Express which, as the title hints, comes with a camel jockeying rhythmic sway underpinning the Madness echoes many will hear. The debut album, We Leave At Dawn, should be along shortly so they’ll be paving the way with a set list selection of goodies likely to include (It Gets Harder to be a) Martyr, Shipwrecked, Man Bites God and Almost Certainly Elsewhere. 6pm. £5. Bar Academy Saturday March 8 The Whip
Manchester techno-pop with a strong Joy Division/New Order influence, this serves to preview both new single Trash, which sounds pretty much as you might expect from a combination of the title and the band’s musical preferences, and debut album X Marks Destination (Southern Fried). Given the venue’s recent name change, they’re an appropriate outfit since Frustration could easily be a lost Ian Curtis track known only to the most ardent of Hacienda acolytes while Fire, Save My Soul and the fabulous Sirens all bear that New Order stamp. They do bleepy electro-disco too with Divebomb while Blackout sounds not unlike How Does It Feel and Sister Siam is ample proof that they know their way round the pop arena with their eyes blindfolded. 10pm. £12. The Factory Club, Custard Factory Sunday March 9 Panic At The Disco
After storming the world with Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, it’s been a long two year wait for the Las Vegas quartet’s follow up. So there should be plenty of feverish anticipation as they unveil choice cuts from the upcoming Pretty Odd which, they say, combines their visionary pop modernism with a melodic, classic rock-inspired aesthetic. Roughly translated that means less guitar distortion and more radio friendly melodies. In the case of first single Nine In The Afternoon (Fuelled By Ramen) it also means some Jeff Lynn piano, a lavish orchestral coating, Beatles pop influences and even a ring of tubular bells. If its feelgood pop verve is any indication of the rest of the album, then the wait for album number three is going to be even harder. 7pm. £16. Carling Academy Sunday March 9 Asia
Rescheduled after illness scuppered the original dates, here’s Messrs Howe, Palmer, Wetton and Downes back to thrill those 80s poodle pomp rock hermits still denying the last 20 years ever happened. Back in the day, they scored with Heat of the Moment and Don’t Cry but, despite massive sales in America, were never really that successful over here. Which makes it a bit difficult to summon too much enthusiasm about XXV (Eagle), their double live anniversary album which doesn’t just rehash the band’s moments of glory (and an 8 minute Heat Of The Moment stretches the patience of even the most devoted) but their members’ assorted other careers too. Thus, be warned, there’s a very real danger you could find yourself submitted to a turgid version of In The Court of the Crimson King, a nine minute lumbering Roundabout with keyboard solo, a painful leaden resurrection of Video Killed The Radio Star and, oh dear, ELP leviathan and Palmer tour de force, Fanfare For The Common Man. Be afraid, be very afraid. 7.30pm. £17. W’hampton Civic Hall Tuesday March 11 Duffy
This year’s media hyped new Brit soul sensation, the adenoidal voiced Welsh 23 year old has already scored chart topping doubles with her Rockferry (A&M) album and the Mercy single. But she’s yet to prove she’s an original. She’s been compared to Amy Winehouse and the single sounds a lot like a Rehab clone filtered through Nina Simone, while the title track is heavily reminiscent of Lulu doing To Sir With Love while Warwick Avenue shows clear Dusty Springfield influences and the big ballad Distant Dreamer is pure Sandie Shaw. It’s all 60s retro pop soul (she even does a Barry White spoken intro to Serious where shades of Billy Paul and the Floaters bubble through the Gabrielle r&b), complete with songs about women done bad by their men, but as yet it’s all surface and performance rather than felt emotion and personality. Her record collection and musical associations have already made her a star, maybe now she can find time to find herself and become an artist too. 8pm. £8. Glee Club Tuesday March 11 Richard Fleeshman
Best know as Coronation Street’s Craig Harris, 18 year old Fleeshman now follows in the footsteps of former fellow Corrie stars Matthew Marsden and Adam Rickitt in looking to cross over into the pop charts. He’s not got off to a good start. His predecessors may have long since crashed and burned and moved on to other things, but at least they both managed to score a couple of Top 20 singles first. Fleeshman, on the other hand, stalled at No 78 with his debut Coming Down while the follow up, Hold Me Close didn’t fare even that well. Likewise, the accompanying album, Neon (Universal) made almost no impression at all, which makes you wonder who’s going to be here to make him feel less lonely. As it happens he’s got a decent Jackson Browne-like voice and the mostly self-penned album is easy listening soft-rock, both ingredients likely to find him a home on American FM radio alongside the likes of John Mayer, Ben Folds and Dave Matthews. He turns in a decent breathy cover of Semisonic’s Secret Smile and doesn’t disgrace a jangly rock version of Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms while Coming Down, the pop rush Going Backwards, acoustic ballad Back Here and the jauntily slow swaying These Days all show promising songwriting talent. However, the cold facts are hard to ignore and, if he’s going to make a go of his new direction then he’d better start looking for teen soap openings in America where he can find himself a few soundtrack opportunities to catch the ears of the market where he’ll thrive best. 7.30pm. £10.50. Carling Academy 2 Wednesday March 12 Foals
Currently waving their Bloc Party/Franz Ferdinand-like single Cassius, Brighton’s mathrock combo are out and about laying the ground for upcoming album Antidotes (Transgressive). A reverb heavy disco rock houseparty set, it’s built around their familiar guitar melodies and alongside former single Balloons and studio versions of last year’s live EP tracks The French Open and Two Steps Twice, includes Red Socks Pugie and Electric Bloom. The production gloss drains away some of their in action soul, but make out on the dance floor things should still be reaching the feet. 7.30pm. £9. Carling Academy 2 Wednesday March 12/Thursday March 13 Westlife
They may have been formed after Take That and Boyzone, but ten years on with no hiatus they’re now the longest enduring non-American boy band, even surviving the departure of lead singer Bryan McFadden. So, prior to taking a year off for a battery recharge, they’ll be out celebrating their first decade with a set guaranteed to include most of their biggest hits (you know, Flying Without Wings, Against All Odds, Uptown Girl, Mandy and, of course, You Raise Me Up) as well as material from the current Back Home (RCA) album. The Latino dance rhythmed The Easy Way aside, it’s a particularly ballad heavy collection with covers of Diane Warren’s Have You Ever, Lonestar’s sentimental daddy song I’m Already There, and, former single, Michael Buble’s Home, all of which are likely to figure on the set list alongside current surprisingly slow to take off new single Us Against The World. Just so long as they draw a discreet veil over their ill-advised big band excursion Let Us Be Frank. 7.30pm. £32.50. NEC Thursday March 13 One Night Only
Having done Chas n Dave indie pop with You & Me and then married Simple Minds and Pulp on Just For Tonight, the Yorkshire and proud of it quintet now unveil their debut album, Started A Fire (Vertigo) in similar jaunty singsong down the pub form. It’s About Time is a breezy ivories bashing tune, Sweet Sugar tumbling pop, He’s There a bouncy little rock pop number and Start Over one of several with the U2 style guitar bits. But, while Time and It’s All right seem them getting to grips with slower material, ultimately it all begins to shade into one, and while they may fan the flames in the moment, there’s very little here to burn its way into your life. 7.30m. £7.50. Carling Academy 2 Thursday March 13 Boy Kill Boy
After an underwhelming debut album that suggested nothing more than a bunch of Smiths wannabes, they largely shrugged off the Morrissey clothing for No Conversation and Promises, the first two singles off upcoming new album Stars And The Sea (Vertigo) but failed to come up with much to replace it. The album doesn’t do much to improve matters either, settling for identikit standard issue urgent chugging guitar 90s indie rock with snatches of punk as embodied on Be Somebody, the Stranglers-like Pen & Ink and Rosie’s On Fire, and, Morrissey reappearing, Ready To Go. The steady soaring power of Paris and a moody swaying ballad Two Souls show they have it in them to rise above their influences, but for the most they seem content to be enthusiastic rather than ambitious. 7.30pm. £8. Barfly Friday March 14 Heidi Talbot
Perhaps better known as the Irish mist and honey-voiced lead singer with Cherish The Ladies, the Irish-American five piece who have made a name for themselves with their interpretations of traditional songs and tunes, Talbot also maintains a successful solo career leaning more towards the contemporary. Having made her debut with Distant Future four years back, she’s now taking time out to promote the follow-up, In Love + Light (Navigator) which, while it may not feature any self-penned songs does boast a fine selection of folk-based material that ranges from the trad to the modern. The former’s sturdily represented by Scottish ballad Glenlogie, a hand percussion paddled Bedlam Boys, the fiddle scraping waltz The Blackest Crow (on which she duets with tonight’s opening act, Kris Drever) and, calling to mind Natalie Merchant, the old parlour hymn When They Ring The Golden Bells. Not trad but certainly vintage, she also brings her warmth to bear on the old Ink Spots classic Whispering Grass, channelling the version recorded by Sandy Denny, while more up to date choices include Tom Waits’ heartachingly gorgeous Time, bluegrass writer Tim O’Brien’s Music Tree, and, from producer Boo Hewardine, the stirring Celtic folk rock Everything and the double bass coloured late night slow dance Invisible. Arguably though, the album’s stand out is the opening track, the simple, tender, string-kissed hopelessly romantic If You Stay written by the then 19 year old Sydney singer-songwriter Simon Bruce. Testament that not only does Talbot have a fine set of pipes, but her musical ear and judgement are well tuned too. 8pm. £12.50. midland arts centre Saturday March 15 David Gray
You know pretty much all you need to know about Gray though it may be a surprise to realise that, save for The One I Love and the ubiquitous Babylon, he’s not actually had any high charting singles. Not that that stops this from being a greatest hits tour as he digs out the likes of Sail Away, Please Forgive Me, This Year’s Love, Shine and, hopefully, his splendid cover of Say Hello Wave Goodbye.
Opening the show will be skinny nicotine and malt voiced Glaswegian singer-songwriter Phil Campbell looking to catch his second wind after blowing the promise of his 1997 debut album Fresh New Life. Taking stock of the decade since then, he poured the experiences into his sophomore release, Joy, released early last year along with the folksy strummed single Cold Engines, only to fall foul of a dispute with EMI. So, he’s shifted distribution and it’s coming out again, this time titled After The Garden (Safehouse) and with a few changes in the tracks but still featuring new single Maps, a sunnily optimistic love song with harmonica, Neil Young influences and the sort of Radio 2 friendly clapalong along feel that sent James Blunt into the stratosphere. 7.30pm. £29.50. Symphony Hall Sunday March 16 The Infadels
An East London outfit fronted by one Bnann and featuring Bill Bruford’s son Alex on drums, they made their debut a couple of years back with We Are Not The Infadels (Wall of Sound), mixing up electro-rock, ska, early INXS dance rock and Specials skank on numbers like Can’t Get Enough, Stories From The Bar Love Like Semtex and Jagger ‘67. Not especially memorable, maybe they’ll fare better with upcoming single Make Mistakes with its more punky pop guitar slashing big chorus approach that nods to both the Clash and the Alarm. 7pm. £8. Barfly. Tuesday March 18 The Dykeenies
Having garnered some inexplicably glowing reviews for their Killers aping debut album, Nothing Means Everything (Lavolta), the Glaswegians return once more to roll out their punchy rhythms, singalong choruses and energetic melodic flurries in the name of plugging tour tie-in single, the chiming guitar stop start Waiting For Go. 7.30pm. £7. Carling Academy Tuesday March 18/Wednesday March 19 X-Factor Live
In 2006 it was Leona Lewis who has already established herself as a world class star with debut album Spirit, but last year saw arguably the blandest, most forgettable X-Factor winner ever with a surprise triumph by Leon Jackson. Even more than Shayne (which one was he again) Ward. Naturally, When You Believe was the Christmas No 1, but can anyone actually remember how it goes?
He’ll be reminding you in this touring collection of the finalists with the songs they performed in the series, which, it must be said, has to be one of the weakest line ups yet. Last time round there was Ray Quinn and Ben Mills (who seems to have worryingly vanished off the radar), but here you get run of the mill groups Futureproof and Hope (who never should have survived that first viewers vote), Birmingham’s cruise ship cabaret singer Niki, and competent soul singers Alisha and Beverley.
While they may have been constantly pilloried by Louis Walsh, brother/sister act Same Difference should bring some much needed sparkle and effervescence to the night, but you can pretty much be sure that the real star of the tour is going to be Powys born Rhydian Roberts, the X-Factor runner up who, you may recall, is a former Birmingham Conservatoire student and adopted Brummie. It’s his quasi-operatic dramatics and powerhouse vocals that should set the place alight as he belts out competition highlights You Raise Me Up, Go West and Get The Party Started. He’s currently working on an album of original material, due later this year after Jackson’s has enjoyed its five minutes of chart fame and retired to the bargain bins. 7.30pm. £26. NEC Wednesday March 19 Cut Off Your Hands
New Zealand’s London based indie art-punk popsters get to do their own headline tour, offering the chance to see whether they are just a bunch of Smiths copyists as the Oh Girl single would suggest or whether description of them as a cocktail of Split Enz and Gang of Four are more accurate. 7.30pm. £5. The Yardbird, Paradise Place, B’ham Friday March 21 Friends Of The Stars
Formerly trading under the names of Buick 6 and The Toques, the Birmingham based trio’s debut album Lighting & Electrical (Commercially Inviable) sets it stall proudly among those of Gram Parsons, Emmylou, the Dillards and Jayhawks. So step up and sample such fine goods as the 60s sunny summer of love Dragonfly, the old fashioned country harmony lilting Feelin' Blue with its sly musical quotes, melancholic barroom swayer Nobody Out There and the backporch Handsome Family flavours of Sharpening A Blade's keen murder-minded break-up song. They're not exclusively dedicated to music from across the water, though. Behind its banjo, the oddly titled acoustic Why Are The Movies of Jane Seymour? harks to leafy English folk with Anna Russell conjuring the taste of wheatfields and haystacks amid hints of Cara Dillon. Then there's Monday Morning which, borrowing a melodic refrain from Softly And Tenderly Jesus Is Calling, sounds like it could as easily be a hymn from the Welsh valleys as an Appalachian lament. There's a few rough edges around the production, but otherwise this is a rather splendid reminder that some of the best alt-country bands around are actually homegrown. These Friends are well worth making your musical buddies.
There’s a nice story to the support acts too. Trained on classical piano and sounding a little like Antony (of the Johnsons) crossed with Randy Newman, California singer-songwriter Dorian Wood has made the visit over after discovering he has a Birmingham namesake who’s also a musician. They’ll both by doing their own sets, the homegrown version apparently trading in krautrock and techno influences while his American counterpart will be digging out numbers from his guitar-free debut album, Bolka. A fascinating swirl of Eastern European, folk, gospel and Weimar cabaret with one number, the dark rumbling Kletka ot Sniag, sung in Bulgarian, it’s a potent brew, the percussive urgent beat and breathless delivery of The Mutual promising to be a particular live highlight. 8pm. £3. Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath Saturday March 22 Velvet Revolver
Ready for some sweaty heavy duty, boozing rock n roll? Welcome then the outfit forged from former members of Guns n Roses (Slash, Duff McKagen, Matt Sorum), Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland) and Wasted Youth (Dave Kushner). Having made their recording debut with Set Me Free on The Hulk soundtrack and then covering Pink Floyd’s Money for The Italian Job, the released debut album, Contraband, in 2004, scoring hits with out and out rocker Dirty Little Thing and big ballad Fall To Pieces. Charting again with Come On, Come In from the Fantastic Four movie, last year saw the release of sophomore album Libertad (RCA), which provides the backbone to the current tour. Opening album and set with the appropriately titled Let It Roll, a track that suggests a few Beatles influences in their make-up, you can expect them to be working through such current material as the riff centred She Builds Quick Machines, a pounding fast/slow bluesy American Man, the catchily melodic Just Sixteen (which sounds like a hard rock Monkees), the swaggery blues Pills, Demons, Etc, and the album’s ballad double punch Gravedancer and The Last Fight. With the likes of Superhuman, a thunderous Sucker Train Blues and Do It for the Kids also waving the flag for the debut album, there’s every chance they’ll be revisiting their individual past careers too with the chances of Weiland’s Interstate Love Song and GnR favourites Set Me Free, Mr Bownstone and a stripped down Patience putting in appearances. I wouldn’t hold your breath for Sweet Child O’ Mine though.Far more straightahead commercial than their former outfits perhaps, but this is still seminal American rock n roll played by masters of the genre.
Support comes from Pearl, an LA five piece fronted by Meatloaf’s adoptive daughter and one time Motley Crue backing singer Pearl Aday, whose self-titled EP also nods towards one of her prime influences, the legendary Janis Joplin. As Worth Defending and Nobody show she has a similar bluesy rock n soul voice though on Mama she also sounds a lot like a female Axl Rose while Check Out Charlie socks across like a meeting between AC/DC and the Black Crows. The band, which features Aday’s fiancee, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, are solid (they were Henry Rollins’outfit), so, with previews of numbers from the upcoming album, they’ll be giving the headliners something to really live up to. 7.30pm. £32.50, W’hampton Civic Hall (+ Sunday March 23, 6.30pm.Carling Academy) Tuesday March 25 Dodgy
Rescheduled after guitarist Andy Miller broke his arm just as they were about to embark on last year’s tour, this reunion now also welcomes keyboard player Richard Payne back into the fold alongside Miller, Matthew Priest and Redditch born bassist Nigel Clark. The band enjoyed minor success in the mid 90s with pre Brit-pop hits Staying Out For The Summer, In A Room and, their biggest, Good Enough. Then in 1998 Clark left to pursue (but never really find) a solo career, releasing one album and with a dance rework of Good Enough with SFG still waiting in the wings. The band slogged on with new members but, again, their album failed to rouse much interest. However, fans have remained loyal and following the release of a collection of radio recordings, they’re finally getting back on the road. Don’t expect any new material, but if you’ve been pining for their 60s summery sound, make the most of the get together. 7.30pm. £15. Carling Academy 2 Tuesday March 25 Justin Currie
Following on from the pseudonymous Uncle Devil Show collaboration of a couple fo years back, Del Amitri’s frontman is continuing to spread the word about solo debut, What Is Love For? (Ryko). Recorded without the pressures of having to sound like the band, it’s a largely acoustic, intimate affair that bears witness to his Lennon, Young, and Mayfield inspirations with a set of songs that wear a cynical face but carry a romantic heart. It’s also a welcome reminder of Currie’s soulful, folk inflected vocals, heard to shivering effect on the stoical piano ballad If I Ever Loved You, the Celtic countrified Walking Through You, the world weary pedal steel keening slow waltz Gold Dust and a cello laden, politically bitter No, Surrender. Taken together, it’s a little samey which, unless he can be persuaded to punctuate the mood with some older material, may make for a live set lacking in light and shade, but as an album it’s a firm reminder that he remains an undervalued writer and singer. 8pm. £13. Glee Club Tuesday March 25 IAMX
The new parallel project from Sneaker Pimps man Chris Corner, the watchword now is 80s synthpop glam infused with hints of goth drama, a sort of early Human League wearing Bauhaus clothes. They’ll be featuring material from their debut album, 2004’s Kiss + Swallow, as well as last year’s rush-released (and hence lost) follow up The Alternative (No Carbon), including the new title track single. 7.30pm. £8. Barfly. Tuesday March 25 The Dilettantes
A double bill of bands by former Brian Jonestown Massacre members, this promises to take you back to the psychedelic pop heyday of the summer of love. Fronted by BJM’s ex tambourine shaker Joel Gion, who shares vocals with Brock Galland and Jefferson Parker, the headliners will be showcasing material from 101 Tambourines, an album that pulls together Moby Grape, the Byrds, and the Velvets. Gion channels Lou Reed on the sunny pop The Whole World, What Were You Thinking and the stand-out narcotic jangle of Like Crazy while Parker finds the band’s digging into hints of the Hollies and Monkees and Kiss And Run reveals them to be fans of The Kinks too.
Headed up by erstwhile BJM bassist Tommy Dietrick, they’re joined by LA’s Sky Parade, a meeting point between Primal Scream and Spiritualized who’ll be expanding heads with the likes of Fire In Your Heart, My Eyes Are Bleeding Tears, the druggy sway of Lullaby Love and I Feel Surreal from their two albums, Fire In The Sky and Love Is Forever. They also arrive in the company of a brand new EP, High On Desire, featuring the lysergic slow pop title track and the chiming We Should Be Lovers which clearly underlines their debts to Stone Roses, the Scream and Oz pyschedelic kings The Church. Dig out the paisley and take a trip. 8.30pm. £6. Flapper & Firkin Tuesday March 25 Jake Shillingford
The lead singer of My Life Story makes his first UK tour in 8 years to coincide with the release of his acoustic solo album, Written Large. This features stripped down versions of songs such as You Can't Uneat The Apple, Claret and Neverland originally recorded by the band, Antiques, Butterfly Wings and The Waiting Room from his Exile Inside albums, and new numbers like the haunting piano ballad title track which serves to remind what a fine writer the man is. 7.30pm. £6. Little Civic Wednesday March 26 Buck 65
Sometimes described as a hip hop Tom Waits, weaving blues, folk and country into his rap Nova Scotian Richard Terfry arrives here with his eleventh album, Situation (WEA), bringing back drums and finding him in concept mood. 1957 is his theme here, a year he sees as a cultural watershed. Quite where Shirley Ellis’ Clapping Song (a proto rap song of ever there was one) fits on the cultural scale isn’t clear, but he references the chorus line on the self-explanatory 1957 while elsewhere there’s talk of Che Guevera, Bettie Paige, the space race, the Beat movement, cheap pornography, Allen Ginsberg and cops in sunglasses. Of course, this isn’t simply nostalgia, songs like Mr Nobody, the jazz-limbed Cop Shades, the Frightened City noir of Spread ‘Em, low rent sleaze snapshot Shutter Buggin’, the images of racism percolating through White Bread all speaking to contemporary America as much as to its past. With the piano loop lope of Ho-Boys, a clattery Lipstick, the urgent Waits meets Roger Miller of Dang and the early Eminem feel of The Outskirts rep some of the strongest moments, but it really works as an entity, so it’ll be interesting to see how things stand up when they’re cut and pasted between material from his past releases. Either way, he remains an individual voice in the political hip hop arena, and the gig should crackle.
There’s more Canadian hip hop from opening act C.R. Avery, a harmonica playing one-man beatbox blues poet guitarist who can count Waits as one of his biggest admirers. He’ll be showcasing his new album, Magic Hour Sailor Songs (Bongo Beat) and, while you won’t be getting the string quartet or female jazz choir along for the gig, you can expect to find him spitting out poetry slam numbers like The Boxer Who Just Returned From London, Hell Of A Hotel Of Harm and the blues wailing Birdcage and digging into the booze-hazed backwoods country of Black Bible Night and Ginsberg’s New Stanzas For Amazing Grace. Elewhere there’s Dylan evoked on Prime Minister’s Chair, he rides the Waitsian swampy boho rails Down At The Cafe and even conjures Nebrasksa era Springsteen on the standout The Ballad of Charlie Parker and Patsy Cline. Magic hour indeed. 7.30pm. £8.50. Barfly Wednesday March 26 Be Your Own Pet
Nashville’s brash, rowdy punks hit town. riding the slipstream of Get Awkward (XL), an album for which the words fast, loud and urgent might have been invented, but also showing a willingness to try out some minor tempo shifts to see what sticks. Kick off single Super Soaked is all body slamming attack with singer Jemina Pearl sounding like the Stooges after a quart of Jack Daniels while, if anything, Food Fight is even more of a wall-demolishing punk assault. However, The Kelly Affair, which references kitsch B movie sleaze soap The Valley Of The Dolls, shows more attention to melodic curves and dynamics and Black Hole is a Ramones thumping dose of riffing. Throw in High School murder fantasy Becky, Twisted Nerve, the titanic The Beast Within and kick it out Zombie Graveyard Party, mix it up with some earlier high speed nuggets and you’ve got all you need for the short sharp shock their shows inevitably prove to be. 7.30pm. £8.50. Carling Academy 2 Wednesday March 26 Chris T-T
Following The 253 in 2001 and London Is Sinking in 2003, the Brighton singer-songwriter finally completes his London trilogy with Capital (Xtra Mile), an album that explores the politics, sex, love, and economics of the city’s gathering urban decay. Although you’ll hear Kratwerk influences percolating through the angry five minute train-rhythm opener (We Are) The King Of England, the obvious reference point is going to be Billy Bragg in terms of both his urban folk and concerns but you’ll also find yourself thinking Ian Dury and the Blockheads on the funky Black Music with its repeated ‘green planet, purple bruise’ refrain and the jazzy instrumental Balletschool Pianist. Musically, although Old Men is all very busker, he’s a lot rockier than Bragg, Where Were You heading towards throaty hardcore guitar fuzz and while the trad folk roots are in evidence, things like A Box To Hide In, 4am, This Gun Is Not A Gun and A-Z are all throbbing pop-punk numbers. Fuelled by rage and indignation but also a degree of compassion and concern for the prejudices and fears of London living, it’s a potent brew and while he’s unlikely to muster album collaborators like Razorhead’s Andy Burrows, Bellowhead’s Jon Spiers or Jim Bob for the live show, it should still pack a wallop. 7pm. £6. Bar Academy Thursday March 27 Blood Red Shoes
Six singles (seven if you count the recorded reissue of You Bring Me Down) in from forming four years ago, the Brighton based duo of guitarist Laura-Mary and drummer Steven finally come up with their debut album next month in the shape of Box Of Secrets (V2). Aside from new versions of the singles (except for I Wish I Was Someone Better which appears in original form), the album’s pumped up with seven further tracks, including single No 8, Say Something, Say Anything, which doesn’t much deviate from the blueprint of snarly US influenced punk a la Fugazi and Babes in Toyland. Actually, the opening Doesn’t Matter Much with its steady hammering rhythm and shouted yelps would actually have been a better choice while Try Harder’s White Stripes shapes, the surprising folk shades to the juddery pop Take The Weight and the stadium basher five minute builder that is Hope You’re Holding Up reveal much more ambition and textures than might have been expected. Worth stepping out for. 7.30pm. £7. Barfly Thursday March 27 Efterklang
A Danish five piece from Copenhagen who play otherwordly cinematic pop not entirely unlike Sigur Ros (but with a little less of the anthemic bombast), the recently released Parades (Leaf) features three separate choirs, string and brass quintets and church organ. None of which are likely to fit into the pub’s upstairs room, so the live experience is likely to be a rather more stripped back affair. Even so, that’s unlikely to much diminish the innate sculptural elegance and sun-kissed icicle nature of numbers like Mirador (very Polyphonic Spree), the marvellously titled gurgling Horseback Tenors, the Caligari cabaret oompah of Polygyne, the jazz textures to Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles or the widescreen epic canvas of Cutting Ice To Snow and new single Caravan. Take your own mental visuals and let them provide the score
Opening act will be Bella Union signings Our Broken Garden, or, more accurately, fellow Dane Anna Brønsted who, accompanied by guitarist Søren Bigum on ethereal floating numbers like When Your Blackening Shows and Watermark, makes Stina Nordenstam sound like Lemmy. 8pm. £10. Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath Friday March 28 Long-view
It’s been a long five years since the release of the Manchester outfit’s debut album, Mercury, with its blurry jangling guitar pop and achingly melancholic ballads saw them being talked about alongside the likes of stadium fillers such as REM, Coldplay, and Travis. Since when, save for reissuing it three years ago with some extra tracks and that January’s Top 40 appearance of non-album track Coming Down, things have been a little quiet. However, a handful of dates shows them to be alive and relatively well, while tasters of new material in the form of Waste Tonight, the slow waltzing Why, Fires and Drive Faster more than live up to the standard set by This Is, Electricity and Can’t Explain, suggesting they could yet prove this year’s Snow Patrol.
Support comes from chilled out Barnsley quartet Exit Calm, an ethereal ambience shimmering from the cinematic clouds of forthcoming single Higher Learning (ac30) and the slightly more fuzzed and broody Awake where the eruption of guitars adds My Bloody Valentine references to those of Verve and Spirtualized. 7.30pm. £8. Barfly Friday March 28 Sugababes
Having confounded the cynics by outliving their first album and the loss of one of the original line-up, the ‘babes continue to defy expectations by not only remaining the UK’s longest serving girl group but building on the success of Taller In More Ways and hits like Push The Button, Ugly and Red Dress with current album Change (Island), becoming the only all female act to have topped the single, album and download chart simultaneously twice. The official studio debut of Amelle Berrabah, the title track’s a classy ballad, new single Denial chugs along on an irresistible soft disco-pop groove where Gossip meets ABBA while About You Now is an out and out pop classic that’ll still be gracing airwaves years from now. There’s no filler fodder either. Never Gonna Dance Again is a disco handbags on the floor packer, My Love Is Pink has sassiness to spare, 3 Spoons of Suga offers a rocky rumble, Back Down slips over a reggae groove and Back When shows them more than capable of taking on Sandi Thom folksy pop too. Last year they were out in service of the Overloaded greatest hits tour, so they might be downplaying the single bias a little this time, but you can still pretty much guarantee Freak Like Me, Round Round and Hole In The Head finding their way into what, they say, is going be a lot more dancier set. 7.30pm. £26. W’hampton Civic Hall Friday March 29 Nightwish
Finnish symphonic metal, just what the world needs. Well, judging by the fact this has sold out, apparently quite a bit of it does. It coincides with Dark Passion Play (Nuclear Blast), the first album to feature new mezzo-soprano vocalist Anette Olzen after original frontwoman Tarja Turunen got her marching orders. Brazenly opening with the 14 minute orchestral overkill of The Poet And The Pendulum, they at times sound like a heavier answer to Brit orchestral-prog outfit Renaissance filtered through Metallica and a gothic kaleidoscope. It’s big, bombastic and, to be honest, quite thrillingly ludicrous stuff as they welter through the likes of Master Passion Greed, 7 Days To The Wolves and Whoever Brings The Night but balance that with the slightly subtler acoustic balladry of Eva and the folk shanty The Islander while Amaranth, Bye Bye Beautiful and Meadows of Heaven keep the widescreen drama-pop soaring. The Celtic hued instrumental Last Of The Wilds even sounds like a steroids Clannad circa Last of the Mohicans. The band promise that the change of vocalists won’t mean having to abandon much of their fan favourites and although you apparently won’t be getting Phantom of the Opera, the live set will divide equally between the new and the older. Look out for the kitchen sink. 7pm. £15. Carling Academy Friday March 29 Sonic Hearts
Having wooed audience supporting Amy MacDonald and Scouting For Girls last year, the Liverpool five piece now look to gather followers to their own headlining dates. As incentive they’ll be showcasing new summery indie folk-pop single To Be Someone (EMI) and previewing tracks from impending debut album Sunrise where, it says here, Brian Wilson, Ryan Adams, Neil Young and Supergrass all get to wave an influence. 7pm. £5. Bar Academy Friday March 29 Megson
The Teeside duo make a welcome return to town for a second serving of songs from current album Smoke of Home, trad tunes such as Just As The Tide Was Flowing and Durham Gaol with self-penned material like murder yarn Lambkin, the 60s folk-pop of the chirpily downbeat Fell To The Breeze, the political Humanlands and the title track’s tale of a northern girl who went to France seeking her fortune in and wound up as a Disneyland bear. Mixing the newer material with old favourites like the anti-war Butternut Hill and gorgeous break up song More Than Me, if you’re already into the likes of Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby and Seth Lakeman, they’ll slip down nicely. 8pm. £10. Red Lion, Kings Heath Sunday March 30 Scouting For Girls
Trading in upbeat Norf Larndan rock n roll roll with a collision between Supergrass and Pulp influences, the piano led Acton trio’s eponymous debut album is a chipper affair with the bouncy It’s Not About You, a choppy She’s So Lovely and the breezy Britpop Elvis Ain’t Dead, with its Supertramp-like intro, all proving radio friendly singles. Throw in the likes of I’m Not Over You, Keep On Walking, I Need A Holiday and Mountains of Navaho and you’ve pretty much got a soundtrack to being young. Fun while it lasts, but aware that you have to grow up sometime. 7pm. £12.50. Carling Academy Sunday March 30 Young Heart Attack
Their Mouthful of Love debut album revealed the Texans to have a slavish obsession with AC/DC cut to a splash of ZZTop boogie and The Who (that’s Won’t Get Fooled Again on Starlite), but with Chris Hodge’s Bon Scott/Robert Plant vocals complemented by the rowdy Jennifer Stephens there’s no getting away from the sheer energy and thrusting power they crank up. Sounding like the essence of every leather and denim packed barroom in the world, they turns the voltage up high and rock like crazy. Now armed with a new rhythm section and signed to Not On Your Radio, they’ll be previewing material from the upcoming sophomore album, Rock And Awe, which, if the punky title track and Runaways-like Hell On Earth is any indication, should be another hard partying experience. 7pm. £7. Bar Academy Sunday March 30 Make Model
Forged by Glasgow’s Lewis Gale and informed by influences ranging from Huey Lewis to Flaming Lips to Arcade Fire, last year saw them stake their claim to pop fame with The Was and its shimmering shudder of cascading melodies, wounded soul lyrics and big brass flourishes. Now they’re back in even more persuasive form with upcoming new single The LSB (EMI), a commentary on social ills and tough talking but cowardly ASBO yobs set to a ridiculously catchy marching beat and crowd-rousing shoutalong chorus that comes across like OMD mixing it up with the Skids and Supergrass. A massive flag-waving hit you’ll be needing to hitching to your cred as soon as possible. 7pm. £5. Barfly Sunday March 30 Hush The Many
A space-age cello boy-girl folk rock quartet with hints of Bowie, Al Stewart, Arab Strap and Syd Barrett and hushed but sometimes spiky acoustic sksycrapering guitars sound, they made their single last year with the edgy sonic scowls of Song Of A Page. This time round they put the emphasis more on the baroque folksier side of their musical personality with earth and loam new release Revolve (Label Fandango), which makes them even more of an attractive proposition. 7.30pm. £7. Little Civic Monday March 31 Look See Proof
A punchy indie mod pop quartet from Hertfordshire who are mates with Lily Allen, they’ve come a fair way in their two years together, most recently gaining further followers with the jerky geezer lad single Local Hero. They ride into town now in service of follow-up, the similarly musically inclined barrow boy fizz of Do You Think It’s Right? (Weekender). 7.30pm. £6. Bar Academy
Instantly search and compare
hotels & accommodation, see the many discounts available and book
the best price online - local hotels, UK hotels, & Worldwide hotels
|
Daily
news archives -
What's
On / Events -
Live
Music & Gig Guide - Theatre and Arts
Venues
-
Restaurants -
Nightclubs
/ Nightlife -
Shopping
-
Motoring
Home
& news -
Motoring
reports/articles
-
Midlands
Features & Articles archives -
PHOTOS
of the region and events -
Video
& Multimedia Archive -
Hotels -
Local
Travel & Timetables -
BIRMINGHAM
MAP -
LINKS
-
Travel
and Holidays - Privacy Policy
© Copyright Birmingham101.com 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007