Gazelle – Young Blood

Leicester’s Gazelle have been setting the underground circuit alight with their brand of rock ‘n’ roll in 2019. This past Friday marked their debut EP release. Can ‘Young Blood’ keep the ball rolling?

Escapism and attitude are the bedrock of this EP. ‘Guilt Trip Gun’ pairs self-doubt and realisation that sticking two fingers up to the world is the only way through it! John Squire’s paisley era (Sally Cinnamon & Mersey Paradise) is reignited on the solo. Meanwhile, ‘Finger On The Trigger’ is inescapably for the young. Angst ridden and driven to break free of their shackles, Gazelle again look to the Roses with the bravado of Stoke’s All The Young.

On the title track and ‘Young Blood’, they begin to showcase there is more to them than just bangers. The former takes The Cure’s archetypal guitar sound and splices it with a rock’n’ roll desperation. Had it sound tracked the tunnel scene of Perks of Being a Wallflower, it would not have been out of place.

‘Diamond High’ taps into the innocent energy of Gerry Cinnamon. Taking a stripped back approach to the Roses rippling guitars, they’ve found a wholesome and everyman sound that’s made Shed 7 so adorable down the years. The sentiments of ‘Live Forever’ prevail on ‘Diamond High’ beautifully in lyrics:

“I get lost sometimes / Your always in mind / I promise you and I / can forget the rest of the world”

 This kind of no nonsense romanticism is destined to bring them huge success!

A playlist featuring Gazelle

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

The Novatones - Drunkn Bar Fight

Southampton’s The Novatones have returned with a new EP ‘Drunken Bar Fight’.

Their ability to recreate the punkier anthems of the 00s has seen the accrue many a fan from that era. Now, with these two everyman tales of nights out, they could be on the cusp of reeling this generation. After all, everyone epoch needs tales of sex drugs and rock n roll, doesn’t it?

‘Going Home’, with its roots firmly in the Artic Monkeys classic ‘I Bet You Look On The Dancefloor’, they’ve found an anthem for the unwashed indie night club masses. With the drunken swagger of Pigeon Detectives and the lyrical spite of Tom Clarke’s The Enemy, ‘Going Home’ is going to soundtrack many a night out.

Meanwhile, ‘Dancing In The Dark’ recalls the raw side of Dogs. The thudding beats of ‘Charlie’ and the debauched melancholy of ‘Spring’s Not Always Green’ combine with punk’s immediacy. Despite being the weaker of the two, the guitar breakdown offers an off the beat sound not seen from there before. The thought of wayward mod psyche, The Horrors clashing with The Ordinary boys is one to truly salivate over. Can it be done? We’re going to enjoy finding out.

A playlist featuring The Novatones

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Richard Ashcroft: Olympia, London

When the Wigan icon returned with ‘These People’ in 2016, we saw him twice in London. Once at the o2, where he delivered a stunning orchestra backed set of the classics. The following summer, at Brixton Academy, something astonishing happened. A man who, to millions, has nothing to prove let his burning desires for people to love his new music pour over his adoring fans. He was a man possessed. Having made his point emphatically, what would he do this time?

Resplendent in his glitter ball jacket, he bounced on stage this past Saturday at London’s vast Olympia Exhibition centre. With his hair long like ‘Storm In Heaven’ era of The Verve, that energy from Brixton hadn’t dissipated.

It doesn’t take long to see why either. Almost every song has been given a makeover. The spirit of Prince’s showman guitar style is at the heart of every riff and solo. ‘Break The Night With Colour’ becomes an funked up introspective masterclass meanwhile, ‘Music Is Power’ is given the full Curtis Mayfield treatment.

On the down tempo The Verve classics ‘Space and Time’ or ‘Velvet Morning’, the meditative guitars are heightened to a more glamourous sphere, but always retaining the respect to McCabe’s majesty.

It’s a remarkable achievement. No one was expecting this gear change. Lesser men, mortals, would have lost a crowd attempting something so bold. Not Ashcroft. With the poetry of Blake still coursing through him, he keeps his integrity and humbleness at the fore of every great lyric and vocal.

This gig is a firm reminder than nothing less striving for brilliance will do!

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Ride – Future Love

Ride are back and once more teaming up with Erol Alkan on their new single ‘Future Love’.

There were some genuine moments of quality on ‘Weather Diaries’ (‘Lannoy Point’, ‘All I Want’, ‘Lateral Alice’) but, a lack of clarity at times (‘Charm Assault’, ‘Weather Diaries) meant the disappointment of ‘Tarantula’ had not been fully laid to rest.

However, it was clear from the ‘Nowhere’ tour in 2015 and the supporting tours of ‘Weather Diaries’ and EP ‘Tomorrow’s Shore’, the band were in sync again.

This is self-evident on the happiness permeating ‘Future Love’. Iconic singer/guitarist Andy Bell told Pitchfork it is “about the beginning of a relationship, when everything feels possible.” The romanticism of this notion is everywhere. Lyrically, it’s as sweet a pop single you’ll hear all year.

Ride diehards though, may make a different leap. One which imagines the lyrics being about Ride members being in love with the band again. It has the pop ecstasy of ‘Twisterella’ and the escapist warmth of ‘In A Different Place’. They may have been back for five years, but now they are home.

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Noel Gallagher - Black Star Dancing

Despite the success of ‘Who Built The Moon?’, creatively, although leaps were made, great strides forward were not.

So, when the house music Noel talks about so lovingly emerges in the opening of ‘Black Star Dancing’, we stood still. Has the penny dropped? Has he gone for it this time? It would appear he might have!

The crisp bassline immediately transports you to the early part of a club night. A sense of excitement hangs in the air, where will this night go! Noel has found his Chicago soul vocally, cool and calm in verse, exciting and escapist in the chorus. Someone get him in a studio with Frankie Knuckles and Marshall Jefferson!

Noel’s work with Johnny Marr has filtered through on the guitars too. The choppy disco style of Marr and Nile Rodgers collides with his incredulous ability to deliver a catchy solo. It goes further than pop music though, there is a dark edge backing the heavenly backing vocals and hypnotic beats.

This kind of juxtaposition was there on ‘Who Built The Moon?’ but, the quality has now gone to another level.

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

The Membranes - What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away

The Membranes have returned with a new double album ‘What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away’ via the legendary Cherry Red imprint. Their eighth studio album is set to release on the 7th of June and is a clear front runner for the Mercury Music Award.

Forever bold, they’ve again thrown down the gauntlet to their peers to match their psychedelic post-punk creativity. The inclusion of a choir raised eyebrows on the announcement considering how flat ‘The Kinks Choral Collection’ and Oasis’ live use of the Crouch End Choir was. Here, however, The Membranes have embedded the choir as a dangerous weapon in the arsenal.

The lead of the single ‘Strange Perfume’ is a soaring piece of melodrama. It floods the senses on this animalistic funked-up piece of punk with nods to Bauhaus and The Blinders.

With the recent climate change protests having taken place, The Membranes’ approach to highlighting the impending Armageddon is exemplarily timed. Chris Packham’s appearance may roll a few people’s eyes but, the iconic presenter delivers with the panache of Vic Templar on The Claim’s cult classic ‘Mike The Bike’.

The wonder of nature continues on ‘The Murmuration of Starlings in Blackpool Pier’. Featuring folk legend Judy Collins and news reports, it details the flock of birds swirling the famous pier. A reflection of nature’s majesty this is not though. The sinister humanity of Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’ combines with frontman John Robb’s savage delivery to conjure images of flailing life and human destruction.

The album hits an astonishingly powerful high point on ‘The 21st Century Is Killing Me’. Robb channels a husky Ian Brown meets Shaun Ryder vocal on this psychedelic choir fuelled affair. As the choir loops “Breathe in, breathe out”, the magnitude of the song title builds to the almost unbearable reflection of the last 10 years. Years of austerity, Bullingdon arrogance, climate neglect, shit trains, expensive trains, Trump, Farrage, Tommy Yaxley Lennon, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, Corbyn failing to lead, Lammy not leading, Mogg’s dodgy 7 million, and Hartley-Brewer & O'Brien two sides of the same pathetic LBC coin. It all comes crashing down on this hypnotic plea for humanity to pull its finger out!

There are, however, moments of post-punk pop to cut through this tension. ‘A Murder of Crows’ is a furious Happy Mondays meets The Fall punk-funk stomper. ‘Black Is The Colour’ takes the iconic sound of Hooky’s bass to modern-day Fat White Family and The Blinders dystopian landscapes. ‘Mother Ocean / Father Time’ calls upon the unruly energy of The Stooges via Death In Vegas.

Meanwhile ‘What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away’ harness’ the sexed-up riffs of Elastica, the desolation of Joy Division, and the melodious melancholy of Johnny Marr to deliver glorious pop experimentation.

The mainstream music press, too often says things like “where are all the bands”, “where are the outsiders, the rule-breakers, the risk-takers”. They never went anywhere; this decade has been a great one for music. It’s just been chronically undervalued and underdocumented.

It’s been a decade of psyche influences. Kicked off by the hazy lo-fi Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, it took until 2013 to have its real moment, Primal Scream’s ‘More Light’. This was joined by The Blinders’ ‘Columbia’ last year and now The Membranes have added to it. There is a real sense that they have left every ounce of their soul in the recording studio for this release. The intensity and the struggle is tangible at times and, it should be serially recognised!

The Astronots - Settle Down

LA’s The Astronots are back with their new single ‘Settle Down’, the pre-cursor to their upcoming EP release.

Previous efforts such as ‘El Dorado’ and ‘How Much Pain’ have been indebted to the rock classicism of Led Zeppelin hooks and the effortlessness of The Band. On ‘Settle Down’, song writing duo Niko Giaimo (Vocals/Guitar) and Allee Futterer (Vocals/Bass) have found their sound.

Both voally and sonically, an eerily bewitching mood has been developed. Aloof and dangerous, The Astronots have arrived in a big way.

Ynys – Caneuon

Ynys is the new project from ex Race Horses icon Dylan Hughes. Released today on Libertino Records, it is timed to perfection with the sun beating down on the UK once more.

The Welsh language will be alien to many but, in fractious times, Hughes’ delivery should signify just how much togetherness can be gained via difference.

It’s an effortless sun kissed Elliot Smith track which meanders without a care in the world. Although clearly a great slice of pop, there is a defiance to this record. A carefree attitude for sure but, with an immediacy and a sense of “my time is now” permeates throughout.

Our 8th birthday party is Friday 2nd August at the New Cross Inn. Click the image below for tickets:

The Yellow Melodies - Life

Murcia’s The Yellow Melodies returned earlier this year with their eighth studio album ‘Life’. It seems an unlikely location for the hallmarks of great 90s indie-pop to resurface but, they’ve had one hell of a crack at it.

The moment title track ‘Life’ saunters into action, the cuteness of the Lightning Seeds rises and with the careering strings, the early spirit of Sleeper and ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ era Blur come to life. Lifting ‘Life’, as well as ‘Don’t Think Twice’ and ‘For A Star’ away from pastiche are the guitars of Rafa Skam and Carlos.

For the most part, ‘Don’t Think Twice’ has an air of Bob Collins’ playing in The Dentists. A subtle shimmer revolves throughout like a hazy beacon of light. ‘For A Star’, with the lo-fi infectiousness of The Wannadies classic ‘Be A Girl’ album, meanders effortlessly like The Orchids with Rob Collins joining on keys before exploding into life! The solo that comes bursting into view is a destructive dirt ridden Sonic Youth piece of glory.

‘Our Time Is Over’ is where they pull everything they love together. The pop sensibilities of The Lightning Seeds and the jangle of Sarah’s Records collide with a triumphant melancholy a la Teenage Fanclub. There is so much heart oozing from the vocals and the orchestration, it’s hard not to give your CD a little hug.

There are moments of flatness such as ‘Come and See’ where the worst traits of Space emerge. However, when you temper that with the risk taking ‘Flying Together’, which couples Saint Etienne and The Auteurs, there is not much room for complaint.  

There is so much to fall in love with on ‘Life, the costly investment in the back catalogue is inevitable.

Our 8th birthday party is Friday 2nd August at the New Cross Inn. Click the image below for tickets:

Sleeper: Kentish Town Forum, London

When Sleeper reformed, it was always going to be fun for everyone to take a trip down memory lane. They’re one of the greats of their era. When they announced a new album, the nerves jangled more, then ‘The Modern Age’ came out and rivals, if not surpasses anything they’ve ever done. So, could they bring the new album to life live? You bet your Saturday hairdo they could!

When a band is tagged to a scene such as Sleeper were to Britpop, there is a danger the energy of those songs can fade. It can never be the same again right? No one told Jon Stewart. His playing is bolder on ‘Statuesque’ and more aggressive on ‘Delicious’ than ever before.

Some bands are about the collective, and some, however humbly they deny it, are about the front person. Sleeper are that band and Louise Wener is said icon. Daenerys Targaryen has nothing on Wener. Her vocals on ‘What Do I Do Now’ transport everyone back to the heartache of teenage years. However, it’s on the new material she really comes alive. As the trippy guitars WHAT SONG revolve around north London, Wener subtly deploys her knowing and sexy vocals to crushing effect. No one is left in any doubt just how fucked up the times we live in by the end.

Too many bands deliberately deploy a dip, in order to bring the crowd back up. Frankly, it’s annoying! Sleeper seem fully aware, there just simply isn’t any let up. The crowd is fully on board with the new material, no time for piss breaks! When they deployed multiple disco balls during ‘Atomic’/’Love Will Tear Us Apart’, cystitis seemed worth risking to be honest.

As they closed the night out with the classic ‘Sale Of The Century’, an air of desperation arises. The dawning realisation that they might disappear for another 22 years led to everyone’s soul being laid bare in the Forum.

If that’s all she wrote for Sleeper, it was even more joyous second time round!

Our 8th birthday party is Friday 2nd August at the New Cross Inn. Click the image below for tickets:

Ghost//Signals – A Bag For Death

Newcastle-based four-piece Ghost Signals have returned with their new single ‘A Bag For Death’. Much like Fierce Panda’s Sad Boys Club, they are making waves with their Cure inspired pop music.

Vocally, Rick Lanning has a great ability to impart elements of so many of the 00s greats. Its Preston (The Ordinary Boys) at his pop finest, there’s the fluidity of Joel Stoker (The Rifles) and the warmth of Liam Fray (The Courteeners) circulating throughout.

Musically, it unashamedly reaches for glory with The Cure as its foundations. It has the hallmarks of The Rifles and The Courteeners at their freest flowing. Setting such an awe inspiring sonic to a tale of toxic masculinity in society still burying its head on mental health is highly commendable.

Already a must see in act in Newcastle, Ghosts//Signals look set to achieve wider success with this heartfelt portrayal of a universal problem.

Dont forget our 8th birthday party extravaganza, tickets available via the image below

Skint & Demoralised - Boro Kitchen 4am

It’s been six years since we last saw Matt Abbott and David Gledhill in the guise of Skint & Demoralised. After three albums (the first two pop classics), Abbott established himself as one the UK’s finest spoken word performers, whilst Gledhill was working on his SOULS project. Amid the mire of Brexit, they’ve returned with new single ‘Boro Kitchen 4am’.

When they burst onto the indie scene in 2007, they were churning out classics such as ‘Red Lipstick’ and ‘It’s Only Been A Week’ as if it was second nature. They were songs that only a teenager could have written, even the darker moments were full of hope. Now they are 30, the hope has strayed into rage filled social observations worthy of Joe Strummer.

From the Sleaford Mods school of post-punk despair, Abbott’s vocal is at its most violent to date. Lyrically cutting and insightful, it gets to the crux of the Brexit conundrum and its endless contradictions.

Musically, someone has turned Art Brut’s amp setting to spiteful. Riffs and hooks not only aplenty, but they come at you like a flurry of punches. Maximo Park’s reinvention on their ‘The National Health’ album was rightly lauded. After hearing ‘Boro Kitchen 4am’, the rule book on how to re-invent yourself as an anarchic and poetic force has been re-written.

Their live dates at The Social (London 11th April) and The Great Escape Festival (Brighton) are not to be missed.

*Image coutesy of Kelly Harrison

Dont forget our 8th birthday party extravaganza, tickets available via the image below

Desperate Journalist: The Garage, London

It’s been a week since Desperate Journalist packed the Garage in North London. We’re still reeling! Make no mistakes, Desperate Journalist are the real deal, they know it, that audience knew it, now, the world must too.

When you have a pop anthem like ‘Why Are You So Boring?’ in your locker, you save it for the climatic end right? Bollocks to that, they blasted it out second and sent London’s eyeliner massive into a frenzy. How do you follow that? With a soul crushing performance of ‘Jonatan’, that’s how.

On this Wolf Alice meets The Cult track, front woman Jo Bevan details the loss of a close friend. Bevan’s style has always been from pure and raw but, the courage she summons to deliver this heartfelt ode is breath taking. As she repeats ‘Jonatan’ at the songs close, Bevan transcends music. It’s so powerful, and so honest, this packed crowd is grieving as one.

Their recent singles ‘Cedars’ and ‘Satellite’ have seen guitarist Rob Hardy shine as bright as Bevan on record. There is a buzz in-between the support acts about this. Just how good are his solos going to be? Their escapist qualities were undeniable but, they highlighted just how much of gang Desperate Journalist are. There was no trundling through both songs to let Hardy take the limelight. If anything, on ‘Cedars’ he wielded his power with a humbleness that made Bevan look even more iconic.

Sometimes, after a great show (and this was), you are left wondering, where do a band go from here? Should they just bow out in a glorious fashion? For Desperate Journalist, even three albums in, this felt like a beginning. Only bigger and greater things are going to come their way.

Come at the King – Shudder

London’s Come at the King returned on the 29th March with their new track ‘Shudder’.

This is the kind of record latter day Oasis attempted on their last record with ‘Bag It Up’ and ‘Waiting For The Rapture’. Sadly, Noel could never quite land the kind of slow menacing psyche track synonymous with their friends BRMC.

Come at the King have hit upon the desolation of BRMC and the dirty riffs of early Black Keys on this slow building number. It’s an impressive effort for a fledgling band but, arguably, just one crushing solo away from glory.

Catch them live at Modern Age’s London date on 12th April at 229.

Japan Review – Juno

Adam O’Sullivan formed Japan Review five years ago and, now, after several members have come and gone, has settled into a writing partnership with Dom Ashton on their new EP ‘Juno’.

Pop simplicity and drone-rock or noise-gaze are not things that marry well together often. On opener ‘Soviet Happy’, Japan Review have come pretty close. O’Sullivan’s lo-fi vocals have a lazy Lou Reed style and the main riff saunters along like The Horrors in a good mood. The droning psyche howl at the beginning gives it a much needed ‘anything could happen’ feel before the sumptuous Depeche Mode synth hooks come in to melt even the coldest of hearts.

The 5am lo-fi feel flows throughout the EP. ‘Say Hi To Juno’ effortlessly floats on by with the eloquence of Beach House. ‘Sealand F.C.’ has a raw demo of Lemonjelly feel to it whilst ‘Inertia’ has hazier mood.

‘Inertia’ signifies a bright future for Japan Review. It’s reach for something more life affirming will evoke memories of all-nighters with your best friends where, tomorrow, nothing will ever be the same again. It’s like a stripped back TV On The Radio making a Velvet Underground record in the 21st century.

‘Say Hi To Juno’, treads a similar line. The revolving synths soaring through pain and elation simultaneously. They have Mogwai’s ability to torture and nourish the soul in one achingly blistering piece of art.

If Japan Review show as much ambition live as they do on this EP, they’re going to be wowing audiences for a very long time.

*Image courtesy of Edward Green

MOSES - I Think You Worry Too Much

Moses are steadily becoming the success story with which all bands knocking around pub back rooms should take inspiration from. At the brink of splitting, they came back with the kick ass indie-punk singles 'Cause You Got Me' and 'River Thames' in 2018. They've since been signed to These Bloody Thieves and are soundtracking Rio Ferdinand's film '90 Minutes'. Good things do happen to good people.

They're back again with their new single 'I Think You Worry Too Much'. A much more laid back affair than their previous efforts. Adorable and infectious, the early work of The Kooks springs to mind. As ever with MOSES though, an integrity and earnestness shines through their work, setting them apart from their peers. The tag 'lifer' was invented for people like MOSES. Whether it be Brixton Academy or Water Rats, they will bring the honesty shown on this single to anyone who does or doesn’t care.

Musically, this is the first time we have seen the London outfit move away from their Art Brut meets Blur crash bang wallop sound. Everything about this single hook laden. The Funk of the bass and the glam-stomp drums clear the pathway for anthemic chorus and the almost dreampop jangle of guitars.

In times of such division, MOSES might just be the tonic of togetherness to knit us all back together again.

*Image courtesy of Ana Banica

James Dey – Spring EP

Following on from his superb debut album 'The Night Time', Leeds based James Dey is back with the first of four new EP's. All centered around the four seasons, Dey begins, unsurprisingly with spring.

They say timing is everything in music. So, how apt that, last week, Dey released his 'Spring EP' as spring sprung. Dey has tapped into the most beatific moments of Badly Drawn Boy's career on 'Ebb and Flow' and the instant classic 'Faintly But Surely'. The former, eloquently portraying the gentle awakening of life and the breeding of hope. A week on from watching a million people march on Westminster, it couldn't feel more appropriate.

Meanwhile, 'Faintly But Surely', delivers Spring's message of hope with a directness that's undeniable. As Dey infectiously sings 'change is coming', it's hard to not to get lost in the mire of current affairs. Nevertheless, his ability to keep everything light, allows a brightness to grasp your attention more than anything else.

On the EP closer 'The First Swifts', Dey taps into the vocal prowess of Simon Fowler in his Merymouth days and the work of Ian Matthews in Plainsong. There is an earnest and everyday reality filtering through the feather light folk music. Never resting on his melodic laurels, Dey has channelled Turin Breaks with a delightfully awkward and catchy riff.

Dey tempers the hope that Spring brings with the almost downtrodden drudgery of everyday life in 'The 7:42am'. The monotony of a commute, familiar to millions, can be lifted by the spring weather, but alas, we all feel we're missing out going off to make someone else money. The way in which Dey captures the essence of watching the world go by on the train brings Noah & The Whale's brief but illustrious career to mind.

When Badly Drawn Boy's debut 'Hour of the Bewilderbeast', it rightly changed the music landscape we lived in. Evocative, emotive and challenging, it reimagined what alternative pop music could be. James Dey's 'Spring EP' is a great homage to that legacy. In true Spring fashion, has us eager for Dey's future releases.

*Image courtesy of Mike Turner

The Claim: 100 Club, London

Celebrating the re-release of their 1988 album ‘Boomy Tella’ and, the release of the new single ‘Journey’, Kent’s The Claim headlined the 100 Club in London this past Saturday night.

Along with ‘Journey’, they aired other new songs ‘Just Too Far’, ‘Dear’ and ‘Hercules’. All of which retained their razor sharp Medway roots and continued to find interesting ways to deliver pop hooks.

Their classic ‘Birth of Teenager’, knits the support of Treasures of Mexico and Jasmine Minks together with is dark lyrics and infectious melodies.  

On ‘Boomy Tella’ album opener ‘Not So Simple Sharon Says’, The Smiths’ 60s British kitchen sink drama imagery is displayed gloriously. Dave Read’s vocal’s, although vastly different in sound, have Mozza’s knack in finding great and unexpected vocal hooks.

The pop majesty just kept coming has they dived into their back catalogue on ‘Lonely Tarts’ and ‘Between Heaven and Woolworths’. When David Arnold gets his hazy jingle jangle via Mod’s immediacy going like this, it’s easy to imagine what a young Graham Coxon was listening to before ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. Just how did roaring success pass them by?

However, there was no place to be wayward or cynical at this gig. So rare are their live shows that, their credibility and integrity just continues to grow in their absence. Now, with new material shining on its debut London outing, the new album cannot come soon enough (May 24th)

*Image courtesy of https://twitter.com/akumulator_uk

Jasmine Minks: 100 Club, London

Former Creation Records pioneers Jasmine Minks returned to the 100 Club this past Saturday to support Kent brothers in arms The Claim.

They came out of the traps firing with the punk funk masterclass of ‘Think!’, the righteous ‘Work For Nothing’ and ‘Where The Traffic Goes’. The latter showcasing just how great Tom Reid is on the drums.

They’re back promoting a new double a-side ‘Step by Step’ and ‘Gravity’. ‘Step By Step’ (Reid on vox) walked right back into 1988’s classic ‘Another Age’ sound.  The “take life by the horns” attitude brings the London crowd both physically and mentally out their shell. The positive spirit in the room is almost tangible. ‘Gravity’, with Jim Shepherd back on vocals, is equally as uplifting but, takes a more measured approach.

As if with so many from the early Creation Records days, jingle jangle guitars underpinning 60s art pop was crucial to the records. The performances of ‘Time For You’ and ‘Poppy White’ demonstrate that the Minks were among the best exponents.  On ‘Cut Me Deep’, it’s easy to see where fellow Scottish bands The Orchids and Teenage Fanclub took their inspiration from.

There is so much to admire about this set from their catalogue both old and new. Former Television Personalities keyboardist Dave Musker further enriches the evening with a touching tribute to the unwell Dan Treacy. However, in ‘Cold Heart’, they have a stone cold classic. Smiles beam from ear to ear as this sun kissed anthem gently meanders its way to the hearts of the London crowd.

Be sure to catch them at The Islington on 20th April!

*Images courtesy of the band

Treasures of Mexico : 100 Club, London

With former members of The Dentists in the band, Chatham’s Treasures of Mexico were always going to light up the 100 Club this past Saturday. Their penchant for sun kissed tunes displayed in full force as they supported the legendary Jasmine Minks and The Claim.

From opener ‘Holding Pattern’ to set closer ‘She’ll Never Get Over Me’, the Kent outfit hit a sweet spot, effortlessly rumbling along like The Feelies, circa ‘Good Earth’. With Bob Collins on lead guitar, they had the ability to step out from the shadows of gentle indie. Whether it’s Weller on the attack or the effortless psyche-jangle of the Fanclub’s Norman Blake on ‘Avalanche’ or ‘The Last Thing’, it’s clear Collins still has the “it” factor.  

During ‘The Last Thing’ and ‘She’ll Never Get Over Me’, front man Mark Matthews threatens a Mark E Smith menace that doesn’t quite materialise. It’s a tantalising piece of brilliance. As the melodic sunshine unfurled, an angst loitered and had the crowd on tenterhooks. The not knowing whether a punk fury was going to breakout of these perfect pop songs was exhilarating.

It’s on ‘Supercute’ where everything comes together for them. Matthews has tapped in to the romanticism of Spector girl groups and Lawrence from Felt, Collins has licks and solos to redefine the C86 movement and in Secret Affair drummer Russ Baxter, they have a melodic beat keeping behemoth.

You will be hard pressed to find a band this good, third on the bill of any gig for the rest of the year.

*Image courtesy of https://twitter.com/akumulator_uk