Brum Notes Magazine - February 2014 by Brum Notes Magazine

February 2014

www.brumnotes.com music and lifestyle for the west midlands

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INSIDE:

The 1975 Anna Calvi Toy The Wytches / Little Comets Dumb / Table Scraps

BRAND NE album revieW w section

PLUS: Leftfoot prepare for their biggest year yet / Unveiling the most exciting new art in the West Midlands / Our pick of the best of what’s on throughout February and much more… February 2014

Sat 22nd Feb • £18.50 adv

Fri 28th Mar

M.A.D.

Five Finger Death Punch

6.30pm - 10pm

Tues 25th Feb • £15 adv

Soulfly 10.30pm-3.30am • £4 adv

OVER 18S ONLY - PROOF OF AGE REQUIRED

Fri 7th Feb • £4 adv

Dapper Laughs @ Propaganda Sun 2nd Feb • £12 adv

Protest The Hero

+ TesseracT + The Safety Fire + Intervals

Weds 26th Feb • £8 adv / £25 VIP

Room 94

Thurs 27th Feb • £13.50 adv

Fri 7th Feb 14 • £12 adv 6pm - 10pm

The Boxer Rebellion Sat 8th Feb • £18.50 adv

Less Than Jake & Reel Big Fish + Zebrahead

Tues 11th Feb

Foals

Weds 12th Feb

The 1975

Thurs 13th Feb

The Kerrang! Tour 2014 ft. Limp Bizkit + Crossfaith + Nekrogoblikon

Fri 14th Feb 6pm - 10pm

A Day To Remember

+ Mallory Knox + Everytime I Die + The Story So Far

Sun 16th Feb

London Grammar + Bondax + Khushi

Thurs 20th Feb • £19.50 adv

Newton Faulkner + Sam Brookes

Thurs 20th Feb • £17.50 adv

6pm -10pm Rescheduled show • original tickets valid

Martin Walkyier’s Viking Funeral 2013

ft. Martin Walkyier Goes Skyclad + Elvenking + M:Pire Of Evil + Exhumer + Quake

Sat 22nd Feb

Rizzle Kicks

Mon 7th Apr • £14 adv

Rock Sound Impericon Exposure Tour 2014

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Tues 4th Mar • £16.50 adv

Mon 28th Apr • £12.50 adv VIP tickets £24.50 adv

Patent Pending & People On Vacation Tues 29th Apr • £16.50 adv

Clutch

Sat 17th May • £18.50 adv

Halestorm

Thurs 27th Feb • £12 adv

Mon 3rd Mar • £20 adv

We Are The In Crowd

Heaven’s Basement

Sat 12th Apr • £20 adv

Killswitch Engage & Trivium Thurs 6th Feb • £12 adv

6pm - 10pm

Reverend And The Makers

Thurs 6th Feb

+ Miss May I + Battlecross

Sat 29th Mar • £10 adv

Thurs 10th Apr • £11 adv

ft. We Came As Romans + Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! + The Colour Morale + Palm Reader

6.30pm - 10pm

6pm - 10pm

Rescheduled from 14th Nov • Original tickets valid

Professor Green

Memphis May Fire

Sat 31st May • £27.50 adv

Graham Parker and The Rumour

Matt Cardle

Sun 20th July • £13 adv

Weds 16th Apr • £20 adv

6.30pm - 10pm Rescheduled show • original tickets valid

Within Temptation

6.30pm - 10pm

Ultimate Genesis

Fri 18th Apr • £12 adv

Sat 25th Oct • £15 adv Weekend ticket £25 adv

The Summer Set

UK B-Boy Championships

1pm -11pm

6pm - 10pm

Knock-Out Jam

Tues 22nd Apr • £11.50 adv

Disclosure

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats

Sun 26th Oct • £15 adv Weekend ticket £25 adv

Sat 8th Mar

Thurs 24th Apr • £10 adv

World Final

+ Rae Morris

+ DZ Deathrays + Slaves

Fri 7th Nov • £16.50 adv

Fri 25th Apr • £11 adv

Asking Alexandria

The Smyths

FOR THE VERY LATEST LISTINGS PLEASE CHECK OUR WEBSITE

Rescheduled show • original tickets valid

Bombay Bicycle Club Sat 8th Mar • £11 adv

Angel Haze Sun 9th Mar

All Time Low

3pm -11pm

UK B-Boy Championships

Blood Red Shoes

5.30pm -10pm

6.30pm - 10pm

Performing ‘The Smiths’ in full

+ Tonight Alive & Only Rivals

Sun 9th Mar • £16 adv

The English Beat ft. original vocalist Dave Wakeling

Thurs 13th Mar • £16.50 adv

The Selecter

35 Years of The Selecter

Tues 18th Mar • £23.50 adv

OneRepublic Thurs 20th Mar

Sat 1st Feb • £10 adv

Sun 23rd Feb • £12.50 adv

Sat 29th Mar • £5 adv

Bands On The Run

Reconnected

Valous

6pm - 10pm

In Aid of the Brain & Spine Foundation ft. Brains for Breakfast, Chapter, CTRL C & Euphony

Weds 5th Feb • £4/£6 adv

Kodaline + James Bay

School Of Rock & Pop Showcase

Fri 21st Mar • £22.50 adv

Fri 7th Feb • £10 adv

Franz Ferdinand

Cash

6pm -10pm

Sat 22nd Mar • £23 adv

The Stranglers 40th Anniversary Tour + Nine Below Zero

Mon 24th Mar • £20 adv

Daughtry

6.30pm - 10pm

Payin’ Respect to the Man in Black + Ellie Galvin

Sat 15th Feb • £5 adv

Hidden Skies + Hope and Chance + Tiger Punch + Lost At Home

Weds 19th Feb • £7 adv

Red Method

Rescheduled • original tix valid

Sun 2nd Mar • £12.50 adv

Thurs 10th Apr • £7 adv

Tues 14th Mar • £7 adv

Fri 11th Apr • £10 adv

Cypher16 & 61 Inch

Weds 5th Mar • £12.50 adv

Mike Peters

Declaration Tour 2014 30th Anniversary, performing ‘Declaration’ in full

Thurs 6th Mar • £9 adv

Brother and Bones 6.30pm - 10.30pm

Radio Charmers

+ De’Nova

Sat 22nd Feb • £5 adv

Thurs 20th Mar • £10 adv

Thurs 27th Mar • £18.50 adv

+ The Ignition System + Panspermia + My Legacy + Methodemic

ft. Interpol. Temples, Royal Blood, Circa Waves

Azealia Banks

Beneath The Remains

The Last Carnival 6.30pm - 10pm

Novana (Nirvana

Tribute) 20 years of In Utero, performing Album in full + A Poetic Yesterday

Sat 12th Apr • £10 adv

Rescheduled • original tix valid

Sex Pistols Experience

Fri 2nd May • £10 adv 6.30pm - 10pm

Sat 15th Mar • £6 adv

NME Tour 2014 with Austin, Texas

6.45pm - 11pm

+ Balls Deep + Urgize + Ashes To Fall + De-Fault

Hats Off To Led Zeppelin

+ Robert Craig Oulton + Static Irony + Ellie Dowen

Tues 25th Mar • £21.60 adv

6.45pm - 11pm

Monster Truck & Scorpion Child

Kazabian

(Kasabian Tribute)

Tues 13th May • £16.50 adv

Martin Stephenson & The Daintees + Helen McCookerybook

Fri 23rd May • £8 adv 6pm - 10pm

Sat 22nd Mar • £7 adv

Rescheduled • original tix valid

Natives

The Upload Tour ft. Emma Blackery, BriBry & Dave Giles

16-18 Horsefair, Bristol St, Birmingham, B1 1DB 2

Doors 7.00pm unless stated • Venue box office opening hours: Mon-Fri 12pm-4pm, Sat 11am-4pm • No booking fee on cash transactions Brum Notes Magazine ticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

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Brum Notes Magazine

CONTENTS

The aftermath of God Damn live at the Hare & Hounds. See more on P34. Photo by Andy Hughes Brum Notes Magazine Unit 12 The Bond 180-182 Fazeley Street Digbeth Birmingham B5 5SE info@brumnotes.com 0121 224 7363 Advertising 0121 224 7363 advertising@brumnotes.com Distribution StickupMedia! 0121 224 7364 Editor: Chris Moriarty Contributors Words: David Vincent, Amy Sumner, Daron Billings, Dan Cooper-Gavin, Saima Razzaq, Ed Ling, Ben Calvert New Music Editor: Amy Sumner Arts Editor: Dan Cooper-Gavin Food & Drink Editor: Daron Billings Pictures: Andy Hughes, Wayne Fox, Sinéad O’Callaghan, Dave Travis, David Stanley Cover photo: Andy Hughes Style editor: Jade Sukiya jade@brumnotes.com Design: Adam Williams, Andy Aitken Connect Twitter: @BrumNotesMag Facebook: www.facebook.com/ BrumNotesMagazine Online: www.brumnotes.com

Regulars News 6-7 Fresh Talent 12-13 Style 30-31 Food & Drink 32-33 Live Reviews 34-35 Album Reviews 36-38 Hotlist: Arts & Culture 40 Hotlist: Gigs 41 What’s On Guide 43-46 Music and Features Behind the Scenes: Dumb video shoot 8-9 Behind the Scenes: Leftfoot 10-11 Table Scraps 13 New Art West Midlands 14 Little Comets 16 Anna Calvi 22-23 The 1975 24-25 Drenge 28-29 All content © Brum Notes Magazine. Views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Brum Notes Magazine. While all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of content, Brum Notes Magazine will not be held liable for any errors or losses claimed to have been incurred by any errors. Advertising terms and conditions available on request.

February 2014

great british guitar show returns to birmingham for 2014 The Great British Guitar Show has announced its plans to return to Birmingham’s Bingley Hall this year on March 1 and 2. Having established itself as the UK’s largest all-encompassing guitar event since its launch in 2011, the GBGS will have Fender exhibiting for the first time, alongside the likes of Marshall, Carvin, Rotosound, Engl amps and Ashton guitars. Also making its debut will be the legendary metal brand Jackson. There will be a selection of live music performances at the event too. All information, along with tickets priced at £12.50, available via www.greatbritishguitarshow.co.uk.

legendary indie club night blast off! prepares for final landing

secret 1920s club night unveiled

After welcoming nearly a million merrymakers through its doors and spanning nearly two decades, the curtain is set to come down on legendary Wolverhampton club night Blast Off. Said to be Britain’s longest running club night, Blast Off! first launched 18 years ago but will come to an end with its final mission on Saturday, March 8.

A brand new secret-themed club night launches in Birmingham this month, taking revellers back to the glitz and glamour of the 1920s.

The weekly indie party, which takes place every Saturday at the Civic Hall and associated venues, has built up a loyal following, with more than 1,250 people so far signing an online petition to keep it running.

Launching at yet-to-be-unveiled Digbeth venue, Next Door, Madame Moonshine’s Speakeasy opens for business on February 15. It will be the first event held at the new underground nightspot.

Advance tickets have already sold out for the closing night on March 8, with an extra penultimate party now added at the Civic on Friday, March 7, due to demand, turning the closing celebrations into a full on weekender. In a statement on the Blast Off Facebook page, promoter Dave Travis said “the time had come” to bring things to end, insisting that he wanted the iconic night to go out on a high. “Thank you everyone that has come over the years, we have so many happy memories but the time has come to finish for now,” the statement said.

Photos by Dave Travis

Organisers added they were “overwhelmed and humbled by the huge response” they had received since the announcement was made, with Blast Off’s Twitter feed and Facebook page being flooded with tributes.

Closing night is sold out but tickets for the penultimate Blast Off! on Friday, March 7, are available at www.wolvescivic.co.uk. The night will continue to run every Saturday throughout February. Tweet your memories with #FinalBloffWeekender or head on over to facebook.com/ blastoffwolverhampton.

A glittering Great Gatsby affair, the night advocates ‘flirtatious flappers, kicking gams, swinging bands, sensational entertainment, betting corners, bootleg beverages and your favourite moonshine mixtures’. There’ll also be authentic jazz and swing bands, by way of The Glamophones among others, professional dancers and national DJs to soundtrack the event. Streetfood specialists Digbeth Dining Club will be on hand to provide the nourishment and Polka Dot Fox’s photobooth will also be in residence. Tickets are £10 early bird, £15 adv or £20 on the door. Find out more details at www.facebook.com/madamemoonshine. Brum Notes Magazine

mofo and lunar festivals reveal headliners

Heading up Sunday night at Lunar Festival (June 6 to 8), an eclectic three day camping extravaganza set in the spiritual home of Nick Drake, Tanworth In Arden, Dallas choral symphonic pop act The Polyphonic Spree join the festival fun. Other acts announced across the long weekend include British Sea Power, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Pram and Birmingham’s own Goodnight Lenin, as well as Tim Burgess who headlines Friday night and Donovan who tops the bill on Saturday. The Polyphonic Spree

With some of the Midlands’ favourite club nights and promoters also in residence (Magic Door, Sensateria, Balkanic Eruption, This Is Tmrw), Lunar looks set to be a magical musical jamboree. Organisers have also announced the first two headliners for Moseley Folk Festival, which takes place in Moseley Park from August 29 to 31. Heading up the Saturday night, Fairport Convention co-founder Richard Thompson joins legendary prog folk rock act The Waterboys, who draw the festival to a close with their headline set on Sunday. Also announced are the winners of the Best Group category at last year’s BBC Folk Awards, Lau. With many more announcements to come across both festival dates, including that final MoFo headliner, keep your eyes on @lunar_festival and @moseleyfolk for updates. Tickets are priced at £35-£80 and are on sale now from www.lunarfestival.co.uk and www.moseleyfolk.co.uk

“the most enterprising black comedy promoters in the country” (The Guardian)

A bRAND NEw COMEDy SEASON HOSTED by

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ThE GOOD, KICKSTARTER ThE BAD & ThE FunnY

COMEDY

The Real McCoy; ITV’s Show Me The Funny

GLENDA JAXSON Award-winning comedian

AXEL

Hot young gun

‘the comedy assassin’

JUNIOR ANNETTE SIMPSON MTVFAGON base star; ‘the

Never Mind The Buzzcocks; They Think It’s All Over

people’s choice’

GLAZZ KANE bROwN CAMPbELL Very silly, very funny

Man of the moment

boxer turned comedian

Richard Thompson

DOORS 7PM • £13.50 (£10) • £16 OTD bOOK ALL 3 SHOwS FOR JUST £35 0121 333 2444 • www.THE-DRUM.ORG.UK

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February 2014

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The first wave of headline acts have been revealed for two of the leading boutique festivals in the West Midlands, Birmingham’s Moseley Folk Festival and the Lunar Festival in neighbouring Warwickshire.

What are Dumb doing messing up the kitchen and bathing fully clothed? Well, filming the new video for forthcoming single Super Sonic Love Toy, of course. Dylan Williams, frontman of the Brummie fourpiece, explains what’s going on. “Super Sonic Love Toy is about growing bored of day-to-day routine and the unsettling urge of wanting to do something new and exciting the next time you wake up in the morning,” says Dylan. “I think that people can easily forget to have fun in day-to-day situations, boredom is the enemy...I would definitely say I’m an ‘anti-routinest’! “I suppose we tried to convey this in the video by just having fun whilst doing everyday things. Our mate James Woods at VICEROY Shoots filmed the whole thing at our mate’s house in Moseley and on the surrounding streets. I spent half a day in a bathtub, which was a strange experience. It took wrinkly skin to new levels... “We are filming the video for the second song on the double A-side [Two Bottles] as we speak. It will be put up online just before the single release date on February 24. And we go off on tour on February 20 so we can’t wait for that.” Watch the video for Supersonic Love Toy now at www.facebook.com/WeRDumb. Double A-side single Supersonic Love Toy/Two Bottles is out on February 24. Dumb are live at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on February 21. Photos by Andy Hughes. 8

Brum Notes Magazine

GBMS_Advert_2014-half.pdf

February 2014

11/11/2013

21:46

Leftfoot FORWARD

Since first sparking into life nearly 15 years ago, independent funk, soul and house promoters and club night innovators Leftfoot have been involved in some pretty exciting projects. Calling the wonderful Hare & Hounds and Bull’s Head venues home, they’ve brought acts such as Julio Bashmore, Mount Kimbie and Horse Meat Disco to soundtrack the suburbs, worked with some of the most exciting promoters both inside and across other venues, and taken their brand out to Europe by way of some of the hottest festivals going. And yet 2014 looks set to be their biggest year to date, as Amy Sumner discovers.

Launching for the new year on February 7 with a two-room extravaganza featuring Futureboogie, Maxxi Soundsystem and Daddy G vs Don Letts, Leftfoot are beginning their year with a bang. “We just fancied trying a two-roomed show with a different vibe in each room,” explains Leftfoot founder Adam Regan of the event. “Daddy G and Don Letts have both played a massive part in shaping the bass-heavy UK sound that always goes down well in Birmingham. It will be nice to hear them dropping reggae, dub, dancehall and hip-hop in the smaller room with Futureboogie and Maxxi Soundsystem taking things in a more house, disco and techno direction in the main room. We also have Freestyle’s Sam Redmore warming up in Venue 2 and Jukes of Hazard (two of the people responsible for the hugely successful Magic Door events) in Venue 1.”

It’s housing these Great Gatsby glittering galas that has won Leftfoot such a reputation across the city and its underground arms. “We always try to keep a balance between brand new and older music with a wide variety of styles and genres,” says Adam, discussing how they’ve managed to retain this appeal. “That means we can tap into a much wider audience and book our favourite artists from each genre. The night started back in 2000 so that’s nearly 15 years of at least 20 shows a year. A lot of people have come and gone but it’s nice to see some of the original Medicine Bar crowd still getting down alongside the younger heads.” This year, Leftfoot will also develop its relationship with other venues across the city. “The Bonobo show [The Institute, February 27] will hopefully be the first of many bigger shows around the city in 2014 and 2015. The Gregory Porter show at the Futureboogie

Town Hall [March 18] is in support of Jazzlines who we’ve done many collaborations with over the years. It’s always good to be involved with shows that help to spread the word about Leftfoot, the Hare & Hounds and the Bull’s Head. The atmosphere at both venues is very special but the bigger venues can be amazing when they’re packed. I’m sure Bonobo and Gregory Porter will both take their respective venue’s roofs off.” Excitingly, Leftfoot will also be hosting a boat party at The Garden Festival – an eclectic dance festival set on a pine tree-covered peninsula aside the village of Petrcane in Croatia. “I‘ve been friends with the organisers (Nick, Charlotte, Eddie and Gail) for years,” explains Adam of the match. “There’s a strong Brummie thread running through the event and that dates back to the first year we all went out there for a holiday in 2003 and about 20 Brummies plus friends from Liverpool, Hull and London, all descended on a small village called Razanac... “Nick and Charlotte decided to move over to Zadar and set up the Garden Bar in 2004. I DJ’d and booked a few artists for them over that summer and I’ve been involved every year since. This year we’re doing the boat party with Metro

Brum Notes Magazine

glad we chose the latter as this will be an amazing weekend.

Daddy G

Area on July 6. It’s amazing to see how the whole Croatian festival scene has developed in the last 10 years – Birmingham City Council really need to shout about this a bit more!” In other festival news, the outfit are also curating the Friday night of the Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival, another event with which they have developed a close relationship. “All will soon be revealed,” teases Adam. “It’s been great fun being involved with this event every year. Last year will be hard to top but everyone is working really hard to make this year just as memorable.” So what else have we to look forward to for 2014? “Mr Scruff will be playing back-to-back with Floating Points two nights in March [14 and 15]. They are both amazing DJs who know how to play long and varied sets. We thought that a 250 capacity was too small so we had the choice of looking at a bigger venue or doing two nights. I’m really

FRI 7TH FEB THUR 27 FEB FRI 15 MAR SAT 16 MAR TUE 18 MAR THUR 20 MAR FRI 2 MAY FRI 23 MAY SUN 6 JULY FRI 11 JULY

“We’ll also be collaborating with This Is Tmrw [independent alternative promoters also based at the Hare & Hounds] on March 20 to bring the hotly-tipped band Jungle to the venue. Then we have a new collaboration with Colore on Bank Holiday Friday [May 2] and we’ve booked Prosumer, from Berlin’s Panorama Bar, with other names to be added to the bill. There’s also a Garden Get Together on May 23 with Ben UFO plus monthly Saturdays at The Yardbird, bi-monthly Leftfoot sessions at the Bull’s Head and loads more pencilled shows to be confirmed.” So with all that in mind, is the ethos the same now as 14 years ago when it all began? “Yes it’s exactly the same,” enthuses Adam. “We just book artists we want to see in Birmingham. We’re fans first and foremost and the business side of things has just developed naturally – if you love what you do it never really feels like work.” Leftfoot are one of the most eclectic and exciting outfits across Birmingham and certainly worth shouting about. When they’re not orchestrating their club nights, live music events or DJing

Don Letts

elsewhere across the city, they’re creating their own fantastic mixes. “Over the past few days we’ve mainly been sorting the office out and there is now a full DJ set up so we can record mixes and host elaborate afterparties with naked girls dancing around [Leftfoot team player] Matt Beck while he DJs,” says Adam. “Matt is always posting great mixes online but I haven’t done one for ages. With the new setup, we’re aiming for a new mix every month plus guest mixes from anyone we can lure into the office. Sexy Beck’s naked after-parties will obviously be useful in that respect.” We eagerly await our invitation. Leftfoot’s 2014 launch party features Futureboogie, Maxxi Soundsystem, Daddy G and Don Letts and takes place at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on February 7.

2014 LAUNCH PARTY WITH MAXXI SOUNDSYSTEM/FUTUREBOOGIE DJS/ DADDY G (MASSIVE ATTACK)/DON LETTS (6 MUSIC) HARE & HOUNDS BONOBO THE INSTITUTE, BIRMINGHAM MR SCRUFF B2B FLOATING POINTS HARE & HOUNDS MR SCRUFF B2B FLOATING POINTS HARE & HOUNDS GREGORY PORTER TOWN HALL (In support of Jazzlines) JUNGLE (in association with THIS IS TMRW) HARE & HOUNDS PROSUMER (Panorama Bar) (in association with COLORE) HARE & HOUNDS A Garden Get Together with BEN UFO HARE & HOUNDS LEFTFOOT BOAT PARTY with METRO AREA GARDEN FESTIVAL, CROATIA LEFTFOOT CURATED DAY MOSTLY JAZZ, FUNK & SOUL FESTIVAL, MOSELEY

TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS AVAILABLE FROM WWW.THETICKETSELLERS.CO.UK MORE INFO FROM: WWW.HAREANDHOUNDSKINGSHEATH.CO.UK February 2014

THE PLAYLIST JUICE

EofE

Six, British rock facebook.com/eofeofficial bands – we take some influence from them.” Turning professional at the end of last year, the band rebranded to East Of Eden, but soon discovered a 70s act with the same name, so are now simply EofE, with their first release a stomping, epic, Finding a band name in the age of globali- rock-solid take on Bad-era Michael Jacksation and the internet is not an easy pros- son’s Top 10 hit, Dirty Diana. pect. Just ask Dudley’s EofE. Dan Bremner “We wanted to take a well known artist (guitar), Tom Harris (vocals) and Luke Brad- and do something different, and Michael ley (bass) first started performing as Audio Jackson was a good one as he’s such a Disease back in 2012, but they soon felt massive icon,” says Tom. “People think that their moniker failed to reflect their rap- they know him well, and he’s not an obidly developing sound. vious one perhaps for us to do. Dirty Di“The name Audio Disease didn’t connect ana was something we thought we could with the music, we’re more rock than metal turnaround.” and Audio Disease sounded and looked – Luke interjects: “A lot of other people with a skull logo – more metal,” says Dan. have done Michael Jackson covers – Fall “I describe us as ‘modern rock’ I suppose, Out Boy did Beat It, and there’s Smooth but there’s also a classic rock element. Our Criminal [by Alien Ant Farm] – and they’ve influences are Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, done well for the bands, so why not? It’s Bon Jovi, 80s hair rock, to Avenged Seven- a good track and it’s gone down well in fold, Maroon 5. Our sound is a combination the clubs.”. of old and new.” Tom agrees: “We obviously take influences EofE play Moochers, Stourbridge, from 80s bands because that’s what we on February 14 and The Flapper, grew up with, that’s what our parents were Birmingham, on March 14. Dirty Diana listening to. But now we’re following bands is released on Feb 17 via Cream RC. like Mallory Knox, Don Broco, You Me At

Sugar The first offering from Juice might be lyrically on the light side but it’s laden with such a catchy chorus that you almost forgive it. A psych-tinged Britpop crescendo, breaking boundaries it ain’t, but breaking into 2014 with a bang its creators certainly are. Available to download from February 14. soundcloud.com/JuiceBandUK

LACED Celeste Retaining the male/female vocals which define them but pushing those of Gracie Vee ever so slightly to the fore, Laced’s recent demo Celeste is raucously momentous yet pretty as a picture. Available now at soundcloud.com/ everythingislaced

cold ocean lies The Game The first offering from the young Staffordshire quartet is an impressive, guitar-driven assault not so far removed from Dinosaur Jr gone pop. With a killer chorus and live performance to boot, watch out for these boys in the coming months. Available now at soundcloud.com/ cold-ocean-lies Follow us at soundcloud.com/ brumnotes for more

ONES TO WATCH burning alms

ADORE

THIEVEs

ATLAS

Comprising members of the Distophia and Calories clan, Burning Alms are about galloping rhythm, power and pace. With a debut album on its way, be sure to catch the trio now. Watch them: February 26, Bull’s Head, Moseley

Grunge rock and blues outfit Adore have been burrowed away reworking old songs and penning new ones for our delectation. Prepare for the big reveal in their debut show of 2014. Watch them: February 27, The Sunflower Lounge

Indie rock by way of Oasis and The Twang, newly rebooted fourpiece Thieves pack a powerful punch. With support slots lined up with Dexters, they’re starting to garner national recognition. Watch them: February 15, The Sunflower Lounge

Beautiful Maccabees-tinted dream pop paying homage to the instrumental complexities of Alt-J and down-tempo moments of Foals. Check out their demo Dew on SoundCloud now. Watch them: February 25, The Actress & Bishop

Brum Notes Magazine

Photo by David Stanley

Table Scraps popped up sometime around the beginning of last year. A powerhouse duo comprising Scott Abbott (vocals, guitar) and Poppy Twist (vocals, drums), the two have both been in moderately successful bands before – Poppy in Poppy & The Jezebels and Scott with Vinny & The Curse. Now though, they’re making a name for themselves together after some ferocious live shows (including the Off the Cuff Christmas special with God Damn and Them Wolves and a Halloween slot for Chicks Dig Jerks) and the appearance online of some deliciously sleazy sounding demos. “I’d been to all of the Vinny & The Curse shows while I was still with The Jezebels,” explains Poppy of the band’s beginnings, “so I was kind of a fan of Scott’s work... and the fact that he moved into the house next door added to the inevitability that we’d get together. We discovered that the houses are mirror images of each other with the same huge collections of rock’n’roll kitsch. The Jezebels kind of got ‘developed’ to death so it was time to move on.”

“Bands are basically just trouble aren’t they?!” says Poppy. “We love the simplicity and how quick an idea can become realised this way,” insists Scott. That’s that then.

An incredibly dynamic and engaging duo, the pair manage to make it sound as though there’s a good few more of them onstage when they play live. “Scott splits his guitar through a stack of various amplification that pushes the high and low ends and makes the sound huge,” says Poppy. “Giant Paiste cymbals fill in any holes in the sound and we both sing – that was important to me.”

“Yes, we couldn’t let that go,” says Poppy, “it’s important for a band to create its own world and ours is as a dysfunctional ted couple raising a part-illegitimate KISS-obsessed child on a diet of Monster energy drinks...”

“We’re recording constantly at the minute, so we’ll do a DIY single very soon,”Scott concludes. “We’ve got everything prepared for a killer video for it so we’ll be getting that out there ‘til everyone’s sick of us too.”

“The DIY approach is key to us,” continues Scott, “we’ve got into the process of recording ourselves which feels great. It’s giving us the freedom to do what we want without the ‘it’s supposed to sound like that?’ conversation. Usually I have the bare

If raw and powerful sleazy rock and roll is your penchant, Table Scraps support Fat White Family at The Sunflower Lounge on February 22 and Temple Songs at the same venue on March 27.

And when I ask if they’d ever consider expanding out into a three-piece? February 2014

Table Scraps are also a fiercely independent pair. Handcrafting all of their own artwork, there’s a spirit of DIY and individuality about them and a sense that they genuinely care about the aesthetics as well as the sounds that they create.

bones of a song, a riff or something that I want to yell,” he continues of the songwriting process, “then we jam it around and add anything Poppy thinks will work. It’s always the ones that happen organically that make the cut, if it gets in your head then it gets in the set.” Spiky, punky and inherently hook-laden, you can listen to What You Don’t Allow, In The Ground and Sinking Ship on SoundCloud now.

NEW ART WEST MIDLANDS Four of our art galleries are about to be taken over by a new generation of outstanding local talent. Arts editor Dan Cooper-Gavin looks forward to New Art West Midlands.

Glen Stoker, Re-living Room (2013)

Cheryl Howard, A Grandmother’s Tale – Escaping (2013)

This month sees the curtain lifted on 2014’s edition of New Art West Midlands, an initiative which brings together the best emerging local artists. Those featured are all recent Fine Art graduates from the region’s universities, with their works spread across four galleries in Birmingham and Wolverhampton. This year’s offering features 24 artists, 20 of whom are female, all vying to be one of the five who will be awarded their own exhibition or residency. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery dedicates two of its galleries to NAWM. The venue’s programme has a strong feminist influence, with Csilla Farkas’ collages reacting to female stereotyping by drawing on her upbringing in postcommunist Hungary, while Cheryl Howard’s illustrations respond to the various versions of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, which was originally told as a rite of passage into womanhood. Also on display is Morna Lockie-Anrig’s floor installation, which sees mealtime waste become a tessellated tile pattern. Down in Edgbaston, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts’ offering includes Sade Buckle’s intricate perspex sculptures, taking their cue from centuries-old medical science illustrations, as well as Sikander Pervez’ strikingly repurposed everyday items. Also included is work from Chris Wright, who explores the transience of places, such as the changing interior of a Manchester phone box. Grand Union in Digbeth hosts typically boundary-pushing fayre. Leah Carless’ sculptural work questions our physical interaction with architecture, while Hannah Sutherland’s films and installations reference the panic-inducing information overload of the modern age. Meanwhile, Sarah Sehra’s performance pieces draw heavily on rituals and ceremonies, using everyday objects to perform spiritual rites.

Lucy Hutchinson, Blonde (2013)

Sikander Pervez, Untitled (Chair and plastic II) (2013)

Wolverhampton Art Gallery also gets in on the act, featuring work by eight artists. Sharon Farrelly’s vivid paintings are pop culture-derived images combining past and present in a form of multilayered self-portraiture. Amelia Greville’s work also plays with notions of identity, with her ironic films and photos capturing her in various costumes, while Emily Mulenga’s videos question the boundaries between public and private in the Facebook age. Overall, New Art West Midlands 2014 offers a wildly diverse, fiercely intelligent, thoroughly inspirational programme of works, confirming the region as a genuine hotbed of creative talent. Don’t miss it.

Amelia Greville, A Pauper (2013)

Anna Smith, Torso (2013)

New Art West Midlands opens on February 14. Visit www.newartwestmidlands.org for details. Brum Notes Magazine

February 2014

Living the high life

After their flirtation with life on a major label, jangling indie popsters Little Comets are back to doing things their own way. And as they prepare to tour the UK with their latest EP on the horizon, they tell David Vincent why they’re enjoying themselves more than ever. Little Comets have a plan. After several years of largely ad hoc activity, 2014 sees the trio map out the coming months with a series of releases. First off the blocks is this month’s The Gentle EP, followed by two more extended-players in May and July, and their third album in October, with UK and US dates already in the diary. “We’ve never had a year when we’ve released things at set intervals,” explains frontman Rob Coles. “We sat down in December and said, let’s release what we have, let’s go for it. It’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s good.” Opening with the infectious and jittery Little Italy, The Gentle’s four tracks see the band move confidently into new musical territory – with references to the welfare state and national minimum wage, the songs are linked by a new yet strong social awareness. “This is the first time I’ve written songs in the first person, I usually write around an issue – from the point of view of an inanimate object in a room, almost,” says Rob. “But these songs tackle specific issues, issues I feel passionate about, and they’re darker.” The songs “just happened naturally”, the singer explains. “Songs should be conduits for what you’re thinking. Over the last 12 months I’ve been increasingly frustrated. Look at the government and the way they carry on? They’re under representative of huge swathes of society. Look at PM’s questions in Parliament – they’re shouting across one another, these white, middle-aged men, in a dictatorial way…” The songwriter also points to how women are being increasingly objectified, with the kinds of stories picked by the media, and the tone in which they’re reported. Hard times in the 60s/70s resulted in waves of protest and social commentary in music, so why not now? But Rob isn’t so sure. “These days, it seems that no-one is tackling issues. There seems to be a lack of passionate people…people are drawn towards things that are bland.” Emerging in the late 2000s, Rob, brother Mickey Coles and Matt Hall caused a stir in their native North East. A flirtation with a major label followed 16

before their debut album (In Search of Elusive Little Comets) eventually surfaced in 2011 on Dirty Hit, with Life Is Elsewhere a year later. But album number three, like The Gentle EP, will be self-released. “All I wanted to do when I started in music – which was naive – was get a manager, get a publisher, get a record label,” says Rob. “Now, we have none of those things and it’s a pleasure, there’s no complications, we can concentrate on making. It’s nice to have things simple. We were on a major label, but it wasn’t the right model for us. Now we’re really doing what we want to do. “Major labels can be great, but now a band doesn’t necessarily have to get involved in all that. For us it’s about making our music, it’s not about bottom lines. It’s just a shame it’s taken us five or six years to realise that. “When you take a record to a radio station the first thing they ask is what’s exciting about the band? What things are the band doing? What do they look like? It’s not about the songs, it’s about what you look like. It’s a shame for [the acts] and it’s a shame for the people who listen to music.”

Though hailing from the Newcastle area, both Rob and Mickey now reside in Birmingham. “When I moved down here, I didn’t know anything about Birmingham, but I love it,” says Rob, who used to live in Bournville, and now calls Sutton Coldfield home. “We’re just 5-10 minutes to the countryside and it doesn’t take long to get into the city either. I used to go cycling along the canal to town. And there’s just a lot going on, like the new library. It’s a nice place to live, so handy for so many places. You can gig in Oxford, Stoke, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, and get home after the gig.” The Comets even record locally. “We do the recording in between Mickey’s house and a studio in Worcestershire, Vale Studios. It’s a beautiful little place. We record into the computer, into the box, and take it to the studio as they’ve got some nice analogue equipment and it warms things up. We’ll spend a day and a half re-amping things, making them sound…prettier. Living here’s perfect.” Little Comets are live at The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 11. The Gentle EP is out on February 23. Brum Notes Magazine

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February 2014

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Brighton trio The Wytches conjure up a cauldron of noise, blending elements of grunge, sludge and hardcore with more than a sprinkling of pop appeal. Amy Sumner meets a band far less scary than they might seem. It’s a pretty dark peripheral that The Wytches like to convey. With artwork and a logo practically dripping with shock and gore, they have press shots taken in a graveyard and a self-termed ‘surf doom’ yelp that sounds like a rodeo gone sour. Throughout our conversation though, lead singer and guitarist Kristian Bell couldn’t venture further from that hostile exterior. Sat in the Brighton garden of bassist Dan Rumsey’s house (the trio formed in the south coast city when Bell and drummer Gianni Honey moved there from Peterborough), they’re practising to prepare for their first ever headline tour. “All of my friends were spook kids when I was young, everyone was big on Halloween,” he explains of those dark associations. “So old horror movies and things like that are just what I grew up around. It’s nothing satanic, it’s just a general interest – seeing how far you can push it before it turns a bit gruesome. I just think there’s something exciting about trying to integrate that dark dynamic into pop music.” It’s something that the music press have been hot to pick up on, terming the band’s musical output ‘dark psychedelia’ and flogging the term incessantly. There’s nothing particularly psychedelic about The Wytches, though, who sound like they have far more in common with hardcore than hippies. February 2014

“I agree,” says Kristian, “I wouldn’t say that we’re psychedelic either. I think it’s our use of the harmonic minor scale which is a guitar scale that sounds quite Egyptian and which confuses people a bit. But my first proper band was a hardcore one – quite a brutal sounding metal band which I used to play drums in. That heavier side of music is still with me and though I really don’t listen to a lot of that kind of music anymore, it’s kind of stuck with me in writing for The Wytches.” It’s a popular combination. The band’s debut single, Beehive Queen, released on 7ins vinyl via Hate Hate Hate records (a branch of Luv Luv Luv records) in June last year, sold out almost immediately and their follow up Robe for Juda wasn’t far behind. The Wytches are fans of the physical, opting to release in hard copies and record only in analogue. Incidentally, it was with Liam Watson (the producer behind The White Stripes’ masterpiece, Elephant, and whose Toe Rag studios is famed for its analogue recordings) who they opted to use for those early singles. “Liam was the first producer that we ever worked with, we’d just self-produced up to that point,” says Kristian of the match. “He’s one of a kind, in England at least. I think that digital is a lot ‘cleaner’ than analogue,” he continues, when asked about their preference, “and sometimes that brings out bits that you don’t necessarily want to hear, whereas analogue always sounds

quite flat – there’s no real danger of it sounding over-produced. “Plus it’s just a nice experience, being in an analogue studio and watching them cut the tape and wind it up. We tried doing singles on digital with other guys but it never felt like we were properly working with them – it felt more like we were just transferring our songs onto a computer.” With a growing reputation for a fast and frenetic live show, The Wytches call into Birmingham as part of their first ever headline tour this month. “Whatever we put out seems to get a bit of attention so you can’t let that down live because that’s what really matters. If you have all these cool videos and tracks and everyone’s raving about it, and you play live and it doesn’t match up then that’s the biggest disappointment. Amongst all of the industry stuff, it’s kind of the only bit of fun you get to have these days, so we take pride in our shows – music is supposed to be a pleasure and something you can unwind to. Plus we’re looking forward to it because we’ll be able to play some softer songs so the set will have more variety. We just recorded our album so we’re re-learning live some of the tracks from that.” The Wytches are live at The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, on February 27. Support comes from God Damn and Adore. 19

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Brum Notes Magazine

February 2014

Breath of fresh air

Brum Notes Magazine

It’s been a hectic few months for Anna Calvi. Her second album, One Breath, dropped in October prompting a flurry of country-spanning dates with another full UK tour to come this month. But there’s no complaints from the brooding singer, as David Vincent discovers.

“I finished a regional European tour, before Christmas, which was really fun. I really enjoyed Lisbon and Strasbourg was great,” she reports, adding she’s been too busy playing to get a grasp of how French, Spanish and Portuguese audiences have taken to her. “I don’t know, I really don’t. People came to the shows, so it must be okay,” she laughs. And while many of her peers return home with streams of anecdotes spanning everything from sightseeing to on-stage slip-ups to celeb encounters, Anna says she has little to relate. “I’m not particularly crazy on tour, I went on a few nice walks, which isn’t probably very interesting to anyone else, but they were nice. There was no debauchery though, no craziness.” For many, Calvi appeared out of nowhere back in 2010 with some choice support slots alongside Nick Cave’s Grinderman and Interpol, and debut single Jezebel – a dramatic reworking of the track made famous by 50s belter Frankie Laine. Her eponymous album followed in early 2011, the energy and use of space recalling PJ Harvey. Brian Eno spoke of her in the same breath as Patti Smith, and a Mercury nomination was well deserved. Of course, she didn’t appear out of nowhere as the music graduate had spent her time learning her craft away from the spotlight’s glare. “I was learning to sing and I was in other bands, mainly as a guitarist, and mainly just for the experience. The main reason I waited [to do my own thing] was that I just didn’t feel ready, I didn’t want to do this until I could say, ‘this is my message, this is my music’.” There was no ‘Eureka!’ moment, instead, it was more a case of continued growth for the Twickenham-born musician. “It was more of a gradual process, although things happened along the way, there were signposts. The track Love Won’t Be Leaving [from the first album] really informed the rest of the record, once I’d done that I knew how I wanted the record to feel. That was one of those moments.”

with every song I learn something new. I like that I’m still learning, that there’s more to get from it.” While her debut took some time to complete, One Breath came together relatively quickly. “A lot of reasons why the first album took such a long time to do was that I kept redoing things. When you have an unlimited amount of time you use that time, which is not always useful. But now I’m more comfortable in the studio and I think I’m a better musician,” she says. “You can only take perfectionism so far before it becomes a hindrance.” As a result, takes were kept to an unplanned yet natural minimum. “With a vocal take, you get the best in the first three, so on vocals I didn’t do many takes. I didn’t sit down with the producer and talk about limitations, you know you’re going to get the best in the first three, I think. You should know it’s not wise to do 30 takes for anything – if you’re thinking of doing 30 takes, I’d advise against it.” After working with Rob Ellis on her debut, for One Breath she turned to the Grammy-nominated John Congleton (Polyphonic Spree, Shearwater, Bill Callahan, Amanda Palmer) to take over on production duties. “I guess I was first introduced to him by Annie Clark [aka St Vincent] and he said he was a fan of the first record. So we met up and we did a cover of The Invisible’s song [The Wall] and it felt really easy to work with him, it seemed like a natural thing. “A lot of what a producer does is psychological support, telling you what you’re doing is okay, but John’s very talented, he’s a sound engineer as well as a producer. We discussed for half a year how I wanted the record to sound, what I wanted it to be like, so it’s very much a collaborative process.”

Today, Calvi feels she’s very much found her voice.

Like its predecessor, One Breath’s influences do not leap out, though Calvi does cite Tom Waits, minimalist composers and choral music as reference points.

“I do feel more confident, yeah, confident about the whole thing. It’s not that one day you cannot do it and then suddenly you can do it. I worked at it for years and now I do feel confident about my voice. I still feel like I’m learning every session though,

“I suppose Tom Waits’ use of tuned percussion to supply harmony, that’s something I wanted to do on this record with marimbas and vibraphone, use the guitar as a force of nature, something that comes in and creates great tension, great drama,”

February 2014

she says. “I like the idea of music being hypnotic, which is why I’m interested in minimalism, things slowly changing, evolving very slowly, and you can hear that on [some passages] in the songs. Choral music? I love the sound of voices singing together and I wanted to use my voice. The last song on the record, The Bridge, is inspired by Rossini and Rachmaninov, their choral works.” A number of key reviews described the collection as “disquieting”, something which Calvi is initially unsure about. “I don’t know,” she ponders. “Do they mean it makes you feel uncomfortable? It depends how they use the word. But I don’t really mind. The record has got a lot of turbulence and I wanted there to be extreme emotions, the ugly and the beautiful, and for you not to know what comes when, which can be disquieting I suppose.” Despite the album’s musical textures, Calvi states it hasn’t been hard to translate to a live situation. “It’s not that much of a challenge – the only thing we don’t have live is strings, which were on the album. I think it’s fine to re-imagine the songs live, so you don’t have to do them exactly as they were on the record. We have a multi-instrumentalist with us who has a harmonium, a vibraphone and percussion, and we have keyboards this time for the first time too.” Edging further into 2014, more live shows loom along with the tantalising prospect of some interesting collaborations. “[I’ve been] doing some playing with other friends who are outside of my own music. I don’t know if I want to say who yet as I’ve not mentioned it to anyone else, but it’s been fun, doing stuff outside of what you’d normally do, outside of your music. It can be lonely doing music by yourself, so it’s nice to stretch out. Stuff might get released, I don’t know yet – it’s too soon to say.” There’s also the prospect of album number three. “I’m thinking about it, it’s brewing away,” she laughs. “I have written stuff for it, though I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to really focus on it. I haven’t played anything new live yet.” Anna Calvi is live at The Institute, Birmingham, on February 10. Latest album One Breath is out now on Domino. 23

Golden year It’s fair to say that 2013 was one hell of a year for The 1975. And with a sell-out tour coming up this month, 2014 is starting off pretty sweetly too. The indie pop quartet and new darlings of the airwaves tell David Vincent about their “totally mind blowing” ascent. This time last year, The 1975 were putting in the hard yards touring the country’s cosier gig rooms. Hotly tipped, but far from a household name, February 2013 saw them take to the stage at The Institute’s 300-capacity upstairs space, The Temple. Fast forward a year and they’re preparing to play to a sell-out crowd of more than 3,000 at the O2 Academy, just one of many sold out shows at venues across the UK. The Mancunian combo’s rise from the relative obscurity of Manchester’s music scene to nation-hopping bona fide popstar pin-ups has 24

been swift, and frontman Matt Healy confesses he’s had little time to seriously consider all they’ve achieved. “You know, it’s hard to remember everything without a cognitive jolt, so much has happened,” he says. “We did 250 gigs last year, and that’s everything from supporting The Rolling Stones to the entire UK festival season. There was this massive acceleration in our popularity, you could see our band getting bigger every day, it was changing on a daily basis.

“Reading/Leeds festival was amazing as was cracking America. But there have been so many highlights it’s so difficult to pick just one without negating others. If you imagine being in a band, then you get to play as many shows as we have after being together for so long… it’s totally mind-blowing.” While it might appear as if The 1975 appeared from nowhere fully formed, Matt (vocals/guitar), Adam Hann (guitar), George Daniel (drums) and Ross MacDonald (Bass) had been busily Brum Notes Magazine

obviously I think there’s evidence of 90s R’n’B and 80s big production, that Trevor Horn-ish production. Peter Gabriel’s So, Paul Simon’s Graceland, Michael Jackson’s Bad… [and] there’s a lot of Prince in our recordings, but all that space is also filled in with Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros, Brian Eno, it’s a real composite of pop, funk, ambient, soul… ” The result is a sound that never neatly sits into a simple pigeonhole or genre. “I think we’ve got quite a post-modern attitude to the creation of music and it’s split a lot of people down the middle because they don’t know how to take it,” says Matt. Over the last decade, the band have changed names numerous times – with Big Sleep, Drive Like I Do and Slowdown among their previous monikers – and played plenty of smaller gigs, supporting acts like Little Comets and One Night Only, but mostly they learned their craft by hard graft. “We didn’t have a CD… we didn’t do anything. We just made music for ourselves or our cool friends and toured with bands we knew. Our manager just let us get better. It was only when we changed our name to The 1975 that we decided to put an EP out – we made a film about it,” Matt says. “James, who did our original videos for Sex, he’s been filming us since we were 17, and filmed all those [record label] rejections. It’s quite funny…it’s quite funny to see us worry so much, quite cute,” he laughs. “It’s almost Spinal Tap!”

beavering away together for over a decade with little impact. “When we started out we were crazy little kids,” says Matt, the son of acting parents Denise Welch (Loose Women, Waterloo Road) and Tim Healy (Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Benidorm). “We sounded like the Dead Kennedys one day, the next like Explosions In The Sky, but our love for music never changed.” Other musical loves cited by the quartet include Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Prince, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, 80s art pop and 90s R’n’B music. “That’s the music that informs us, definitely, but it’s difficult to say what we sound like or how we sound like those acts,” Matt reckons. “Most February 2014

With a name inspired by a scribbling found in the pages of an old second hand book which read: ‘1st June The 1975’, the band’s first release was the EP Facedown in late 2012. Sex, Music For Cars and IV EPs followed with tracks from earlier incarnations re-recorded (check out Drive Like I Do’s Chocolate on YouTube), and within a matter of months, The 1975 are flooring festival audiences, supporting stadium-filling bands like Muse and The Stones, and scoring a number one album with their alarmingly confident, breezy and hook-laden self-titled debut. And yes, it looks like they’ve even cracked the States too. “That sounds like I’m being a dick,” Matt says referring to his earlier statement about their US success, “but in regards to us playing America, we played the Academy in Manchester for three nights (Jan 6-8, 2014), but we also sold out Terminal 5 in New York and venues in San Francisco which are the same size of venues that we play in Manchester and London.” The band are due back Stateside for two months after dates in New Zealand, Japan (“things have

taken off there too”) and the UK, including a date at the Royal Albert Hall. As to why they’ve been so quick to find US audiences swooning, Matt thinks their teen-appeal could be a significant factor. “Partially [it’s] due to the power of the internet and the globalisation of teenagers, and I can say that having seen teenagers from around the world, they’re all the same. Obviously, there’s cultural differences, but if you take teenagers from Eastern Europe or southern California, they’re all teenagers! But it’s the music, I think, it’s feel-good, there’s a juxtaposition of images, there’s darker elements, that’s what we’re about. “I’m just talking here, trying to figure it out myself,” he continues, “we’re quite geographically ambiguous as a band, and there are not many bands on the radio making modern pop music. There are so many solo acts, but that classic band lineup? I don’t know,” he laughs, “I’m just trying to figure it out.” One thing for certain is that they’ve come a long way in a very short time, something Matt is regularly aware of. “I was just thinking that the people who do our live light show are the same people who did Nine Inch Nails’,” he says with a shocked sigh. “I was [recently] walking into this great big rehearsal studio we got to rehearse for the three nights at Brixton and the sold out Royal Albert Hall show and I remembered that just over a year ago we were rehearsing in my mum’s garage for a show at The Barfly. And when we played downstairs at Sound Control, in Manchester, there were about 150 people there. That was about 13 months ago and I could not believe it. I nearly cried!” He mentions the three-night run at Manchester Academy and the queues of fans who arrived at the venue before lunchtime each day with both shock and pride. “That doesn’t really happen for bands, it doesn’t really happen. That messes with your head. You imagine it all when you’re in a band but you never think it’ll actually happen to you, and then you’re suddenly presented with all these statistics and facts.” You could say it’s mind-blowing. “It’s TOTALLY mind-blowing.”

The 1975 are live at the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on February 12, with support from The Neighbourhood and Wolf Alice. 25

Despite emerging through a swirling cloud of hype, Toy are certainly not a band to rest on their laurels. Now two albums in they are preparing to take their krautrock-infused brand of psychedelia on the road once again. Amy Sumner finds out more. Toy had played only one live show when they signed to Heavenly Recordings back in December 2010. Subsequently, they took up a month-long residency at The Shacklewell Arms (playing four sold-out shows to fans who had heard only their first single), released their eponymous debut album (recorded and mixed in two weeks) in September 2012 and its follow up, Join the Dots, just over a year later to rave

reviews. Having toured with The Horrors and Placebo, they’re the very definition of the term ‘buzz-band’.

notoriously wrote and shelved a record before burning out back in 2009. Ah the wheel of fortune.

They’ve done well, considering they’re ostensibly formed from members of the music mediaridiculed Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong (‘an over-hyped case study in how to make a terrible hash of things’ – The Guardian), who

Toy’s music is good though. Paying a palpable homage to obscure mid-70s krautrock and motorik outfits they came across rummaging through old vinyl, more accessible reference points include Sonic Youth and Stereolab,

Brum Notes Magazine

Nick Cave and My Bloody Valentine. Endlessly, the lead single from their latest record, is a psychedelic nu-noir drone which proves that they’re not adverse to penning a chorus-friendly number either. “There are lots of different times and places in the past which must have been incredible to have witnessed let alone to have made music in, but I think it’s dangerous to hark back too much to eras that have passed,” says lead singer Tom Dougall of those retro associations. “I think that vinyl is the most pleasurable way to listen to music and it gives you a stronger connection to it. The internet’s obviously good for finding out about new things so I suppose it’s capable of increasing people’s knowledge but with so much choice of things to listen to and watch and read, I think it can mean that people don’t get the full picture of whatever it is they’re looking at. You can be easily distracted on to something else. Right now though I’ve been listening to lots of Captain Beefheart, especially the later ones like Ice Cream for Crow which I hadn’t been that familiar with before.” Both of the band’s albums were recorded with London-based producer Dan Carey, the man behind records from a wealth of cross-genre

“I think we inevitably learnt lessons about the music industry and how it works. We also learnt that we’re better off making our own decisions and trusting our own instincts.” acts including The Kills and Tame Impala, Kylie Minogue and Fatboy Slim. “We have a great relationship with Dan – he’s very intuitive in the studio and he likes to work quickly, feeding off the energy in the room,” Tom explains. Released just over a year after its predecessor, Join the Dots was produced in a flurry of activity with the band getting together every day to work on the songs. “I think it can compare in many ways to the first record as a companion piece,” Tom says of the links between the two albums. “I haven’t listened to them back to back but I imagine that if you did they would work well together. The biggest difference is a shift in atmosphere which suggests our mind frames at the time of writing and recording…” Toy step out on a European tour in support of the record this month, calling into The Rainbow in Birmingham on February 21. “We’ll be playing different sets each night on the tour, a

mixture of everything we’ve done, old and new,” explains the frontman, suggesting a refreshing change to the formulaic approach to touring that most bands adopt. Toy are a case study in doing it right – aligning yourself with the right people and writing the kind of music that they actually want to listen to. “I think we inevitably learnt lessons about the music industry and how it works. We also learnt that we’re better off making our own decisions and trusting our own instincts,” Tom continues, reflecting on their past musical experiences. This time round, sure they’re wearing the right clothes and being seen in the right places. But being good at what they’re doing helps too and they sure are that. Toy are live at The Rainbow, Birmingham, on February 21, with support from The Proper Ornaments and The Grafham Water Sailing Club. Latest album Join the Dots is out now on Heavenly Recordings.

What’s on

KRAFTWERK UNCOVERED LIVE A Future Past

A live reworking of Kraftwerk’s music.

Saturday 8 February 8pm Town Hall Search ‘Town Hall Symphony Hall’

Box office 0121 345 0603 www.thsh.co.uk @THSHBirmingham

Funded by

Town Hall renovation also funded by

Search ‘Spotify:user:townhallsymphonyhall’

February 2014

Photos by Andy Hughes

Drenge may have found an odd sort of notoriety when they were namechecked in West Brom MP Tom Watsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shadow cabinet resignation letter last year. But they are a band deserving of far more than just being part of a political sideshow. Now with all that behind them, it is their blistering brand of garage rock that will really slap you in the face and make you pay attention. Amy Sumner meets two brothers who just love to take people by surprise.

Brum Notes Magazine

“What PR stunt are we going to arrange for the next one, Andy Murray wearing a Drenge t-shirt when he wins Wimbledon?”

There’s a frustration that often accompanies not living in the city. When you get here you realise that actually it’s almost as difficult, yet it’s a feeling that intensifies the further out you get so that by the time you arrive home to your village in the arse-end of nowhere, you’ve had a fair few hours of contemplative despondency to dispirit you. Drenge are from Castleton, a bus ride from Sheffield. Taking their name from the Danish for ‘boys’, they’re two brothers who encapsulate that boredom and cheerlessness through snarling and off-kilter garage punk. You’ll maybe have heard of them following Tom Watson MP’s incendiary resignation letter from the shadow cabinet last year, in which he advised Ed Miliband to “be that great Labour leader that you can be, but try to have a real life too. And if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge”. The West Bromwich East MP has seen the duo in action a few weeks earlier kicking about at Glastonbury. It was a letter that reeked of mid-life crisis, noted the Metro, and actually you could probably count on one hand the number of gig tickets they sold off the back of it, but it gave everyone something to talk about for a while anyway. “It was weird because it happened right before our album was released so it totally looked like we’d paid a politician to big it up,” jokes drummer and youngest Loveless, Rory. “What PR stunt are we going to arrange for the next one? Andy Murray wearing a Drenge t-shirt when he wins Wimbledon?” We’re sat around a small table. Singer and guitarist Eoin sits opposite his brother, switching his eye contact from him to me and back again as they comfortably and playfully bounce off one another. I ask them if it’s easier or harder being a band of brothers. “It’s easier,” says Rory, almost immediately, “because we’ve known each other forever...in my lifetime anyway.” “Yeah, I’ve only lived a small percentage of my life without you,” agrees Eoin. “There’s 21 months between us and someone said that means we’re like something called ‘Irish twins’... which means that your parents just got on it straight afterwards, essentially. February 2014

“We used to fight about really daft shit and Rory was actually quite a violent child. But when we recorded our album, we’d get to the studio at like 11 every day and there were these two really old guys who were obviously twins who’d walk past every morning and they were dressed exactly the same – same shoes, jumper, trousers, hat, bag. They must have lived together too, and the more we’ve been on tour the more I’ve thought that we’re becoming that…sleeping in our twin beds and ordering the same takeaway.” Offstage they’re an amiable duo who take the time to meander off into anecdote. They tell us about playing together as children (including a mildly alarming story involving a Lego Godzilla set), and about their dog Panda and family trips to the zoo. On stage, they’re completely ferocious. More often than not they’re likened to other duos – primarily The White Stripes, The Black Keys. These are easy comparisons to make given their setup, but is it these outfits they draw inspiration from? “It’s quite ugly to take inspiration from something so close to what you want to do,” deliberates Eoin thoughtfully. “It’s like bands who take inspiration from Oasis – they very rarely come up with anything of as much value. So I did grow up listening to bands like The White Stripes, but I really dislike The Black Keys. I guess it’s because two-piece bands are so few and far between that when people see two of you onstage they instantly start drawing comparisons to other duos. But especially live, we sound so...fat. “A lot of those bands rely on simplicity and quite often people come up to us after shows and say, ‘I was stood outside and I’ve never heard you before but when I walked in I thought there was gonna be a full band on stage’. I don’t know how it’s done and in a sense I’d hate to know – I quite like just being able to do it,” he finishes. They’re an intriguing pair. In August last year they released their eponymous debut album, which included such heartwarmers as People in Love Make Me Feel Yuck and I Want To Break You in Half, amongst others, and which really did gain them some credible critical acclaim. Just a few months before, Eoin said in an

interview that hewasn’t “interested in releasing something as gravitas as an album”. So what changed? “We signed a record deal,” the pair say in unison. “Yeah we had that obligation to make a record so...we thought we should make a record,” surmises Eoin. “If you want to make a living as a musician these days then that’s the easiest way to do it. And we are interested in making albums, it’s just when I said that I was really scared of doing it. We thought there was a pressure to write something like Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not...” “We thought we had to write a rock opera,” admits Rory, “but happily it’s kind of worked.” “The next one will be god-awful and we’ll fade into obscurity,” continues Eoin. “But I suppose it wasn’t really that we wrote an album, we just transposed what we did live into a recording studio. Then in the last session we wrote some songs there and then because we had a bit of free time. And in that time we could also look and see how the album was taking shape and we didn’t want it just to be 15 fast and edgy songs, we wanted to put some different stuff in there.” When Drenge were last in Birmingham, they played main support for Peace’s 3,000-capacity homecoming show. This time round, it’s a headline show at the Hare & Hounds for the boys with room for a good few thousand less. “They’re different experiences,” finishes Eoin, discussing which he prefers. “When you’re in a small venue, it’s really close and personal and you can stare someone out in the crowd. When it’s massive you can be like ‘I’ve got huge legs and I can walk everywhere and do jumps and stomp’.” One thing is certain, Drenge are creative and ferocious in completely equal measure – you don’t want to miss this one.

Drenge headline the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on February 19. 29

EDITOR'S PICK STYLE WINTER SALES

OASIS £30

RIVER ISLAND £7

FOR HER

ZARA £49.99

H&M £14 NEW LOOK £8

URBAN OUTFITTERS 7p

MANGO £6.99 URBAN OUTFITTERS £40

MISS SELFRIDGE £22

TOPSHOP £20

BOOHOO £50 ASOS £25

TOPMAN £18

BURTON £3 H&M £9

FOR HIM OFFICE £40

RIVER ISLAND £40

URBAN OUTFITTERS £30

Brum Notes Magazine

birmingham street style KS photography by Sinéad O’Callaghan

DENRY, 23, MODEL Denry wears a black leather biker jacket, black Chelsea boots from H&M, a white shirt from Topshop and a button up knit from Camden Market. His skinny jeans are from River Island and his wooden beaded bracelets were a gift. His style icon is the model Jon Kaiejata and his favourite retailer in Birmingham is Zara.

MADISON, 16, STUDENT Madison is wearing metallic silver buckle ankle boots from Topshop, wax look grey jeans from Lee and a check scarf from H&M with a cream cardigan from Primark, a Ted Baker bag, a New Look raincoat and a Vivienne Westwood watch. Her style icon is Vivienne Westwood and her favourite retailer in Birmingham is Topshop.

EMMA, 22, FASHION STUDENT Emma wears an embellished black leather bag from Zara and a Topshop teal skater dress and brogues with a Topshop Boutique black wool coat and grey jumper. Her style icon is Alexa Chung and her favourite retailer in Birmingham is Zara.

JAMIE, 18, FOOTBALLER Jamie is wearing Nike trainers from Size?, a Nike kit bag, a black beanie from White Label, black tracksuit bottoms, hoody and a camouflage print waistcoat from Zara. Jamie’s style icon is David Beckham and his favourite retailer in Birmingham is Size?.

February 2014

MARY, 23, VISUAL MERCHANDISER Mary is wearing Nike high top zebra print trainers, with a black pleated maxi skirt and polka dot monochrome shirt, a vintage hot pink mohair cardigan, earrings from New Look and a brooch from a car boot. Her style icon is Beth Ditto and her favourite retailer in Birmingham is Cow Vintage.

NATHAN, 20, STUDENT Nathan is wearing a multi-coloured knit from Cow Vintage in Nottingham, a Navajo printed coat and canvas backpack from ASOS Marketplace, Cheap Monday Jeans, Clarks suede desert boots and a hat hand knitted by his mum. Nathan’s style icon is Jaco Pastorius (the bassist from Weather Report) and his favourite retailer in Birmingham is Cow Vintage. 31

Coast to Coast 9 Brindleyplace, Broad Street, B1 2JH 0121 643 5708

Occupying a prime location on Broad Street (once home to the belt-busting Around The World in 80 Dishes) this is the 10th restaurant in the Coast to Coast chain, a straightforward, no nonsense homage to food from the good ol’ US of A. We went on opening night so the place was packed and buzzing like a bee on speed. They’ve done a great job of kitting it out, creating somewhere that feels a little classier than the average joint. Our table for two was a touch ‘compact’. In the quest to maximise covers there’s been an inevitable compromise or two on space here and there, although the tables for four looked far more comfortable. For starters we had a special version of the BBQ platter with wings, ribs, battered tiger prawns, deep fried seafood, sausage, chicken strips in breadcrumbs...enough to feed a small American town in fact. Everything was tasty enough whilst also clearly meeting the need for speed that an operation like this relies upon. Speaking of which, service was rapid. Again, being opening night

Cuisine:

American

Price:

Around £25 per head

Service: Atmosphere: Food: Overall:

I imagine things may be a little more chilled in future. A couple of cocktails went down a treat. The Zoom (inspired by the ice lolly), with ‘layers’ of Midori, orange juice, Eristoff vodka and cranberry juice was particularly fun. For mains we plumped (a pretty good description following the mountain of food we’d already consumed) for the 8oz Casterbridge Steak and BBQ Pork Fajitas. The steak was cooked to perfection and as melt-in-the-mouth tender as the menu promised. The accompanying sweet potato chips, rocket, slow-roasted tomatoes and

PUB WATCH: THE VILLAGE

grated parmesan balanced out the star of the show perfectly. The pulled pork element of the fajita dish tasted, like the starters, perhaps a little ‘processed’, lacking the rich flavour and texture of a truly homemade version of the dish. The portion size was generous though, for once defeating the other half who has a pretty healthy appetite. Pudding was always going to be a challenge but in the name of research the chocolate brownie with honeycomb ice cream went down a treat, even if a small crane would now be needed to extricate myself from the seat. Just call me Mr Creosote. Overall, Coast to Coast has a lovely, fun feel, positioning itself as somewhere that’s perfect for a party, pre-night out scoff or just a quick bite. The bar area’s a class above most of the existing places on Broad Street too and it’s not hard to imagine it becoming a popular hangout for stressed workers drowning their sorrows after a day doing whatever people do to earn a crust these days. Daron Billings

Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8JR Billed as ‘Your Urban Home From Home’, this freshly refurbished landmark pub has certainly delivered this – a fully open plan layout, a fireplace with wood burner, a flock of flying duck ornaments above it, a moose’s head above that and sky high ceilings. On this winter’s afternoon, it feels like we’ve had a personal invite to this log cabin-esque sanctuary, such is the level of allround warmth emanating from this parlour, its punters and its staff. I’ve only just sat down with a tankard of 1799 porter and I’m being asked by a smiling waitress if I’d like water for my table. 32

thevillagemoseley.co.uk

At my second trip to the bar, I see that there’s a good choice of ales courtesy of Greene King, and a well-stocked top shelf with a range of premium spirits. The wine selection is high-end and bespoke with a Chateauneuf du Pape as the king of the list. Outside, there’s a cosy, heated smoking area and a more open smoking terrace too, which will be welcome come the spring. Totally transformed, The Village is now a lovely place to be, with friends, with family or with visitors to the city. You feel wanted there and you want to be there. Ben Calvert Brum Notes Magazine

DIARY:

FACEBOOK.COM/THESUNONTHEHILL - TWITTER: SUNONTHEHILL

Birmingham Whisky Festival

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CATCH SOME OF BIRMINGHAM'S BEST LOCAL TALENT WITH ACOUSTIC ACTS AND DJS HERE EVERY WEEK. CHECK OUR FACEBOOK AND TWITTER FOR FULL WEEKLY LINEUPS AND VIDEOS.

STUDENT FOOD OFFER March 1, The Bond, Digbeth After a sell-out inaugural event in 2013, Birmingham Whisky Club’s 2014 Whisky Festival is even more dram-bitious. As well as bringing together some of the very finest distillers from across the world to The Bond (nestled alongside the canal in Fazeley Street, Digbeth, also the site of the Brum Notes offices – BOOM!) on March 1, there’ll be a staggering 200 different drams on offer, together with a range of masterclasses matching whiskies with artisan cheeses, chocolate and cigars. Sounds like the perfect way to break all of those boring New Year resolutions in one go... Soul Food Project will also be returning with their signature Deep Southinspired cuisine, alongside Digbeth’s Pop-Up Dosa, who will be serving up authentic Keralan street food. Local whisky bar The Victoria will again be hosting a pop-up ‘Afterhours Speakeasy’, ending the festival with a bang with live music and whisky cocktails. Tickets are £25 for entry into the main festival room and all whisky (masterclasses, speakeasy and food require an additional ticket/ cost). Visit www.thebirminghamwhiskyclub.co.uk or twitter.com/ TheWhiskyMiss for more details.

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GET ANY BREAKFAST BAP WITH A BLOODY MARY FOR £5! SERVED FROM 10AM-MIDDAY. WE ALSO SERVE A FULL SUNDAY LUNCH WITH ALL YOUR FAVOURITE ROASTS FROM 12 - 8PM!

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COME AND VISIT US AT 23 BENNETTS HILL, BIRMINGHAM B2 5QP February 2014

LIVE God Damn Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath 19/01/14 Photo by Andy Hughes

Five bands is a lot for any bill. It’s also an indication of the celebratory nature of the event tonight, and Wolverhampton garage rock outfit God Damn do have a lot to celebrate. Playing tonight the ‘hometown’ date of their current full UK tour, it will be followed later in the week by the announcement of their signing to record label One Little Indian. Unsurprisingly, with so many soundchecks to get out the way, doors are late opening and a trail of fans wind down the stairs and into the courtyard and the rain. It does mean, however, that when Swerve take to the stage, there’s already a room half full of people – an unusual novelty for an opening act. They play a set of psych rock underplayed with elements of grunge which should be a delicious combination but there’s something about Swerve which is just a bit…inaccessible. Perhaps it’s the self indulgent instrumentals. On their Facebook they term their music ‘classic shit’, which is probably a revealing insight into the mindset of this band. Nevertheless the room seems to enjoy them. They’re completely overshadowed by Victor though, who seem to have found the funk since their last outing. A groovier and louder bass section underpins the distorted guitars beautifully and adds an extra level to their performance. Singer Georgina Grainger is as captivating as ever and they do justify 34

why people are talking about them, which is somewhat refreshing. They leave the stage to a vocal loop and a response befitting their performance. Them Wolves are next, delivering (despite the dodgy American accent) a full throttle attack on the room. A complete storm of a set as snarling and destructive as it is alluring, they play a mix of old and newer material including the recently released The Wild Girl of Champagne and Wolf Song. As it hurtles towards midnight, the room gets busier and penultimate act Youth Man materialise. Punk rock, grunge revival, call it what you will, what Youth Man have is a bona fide ability to really wail. It’s fast, it’s hard hitting and its composite components tie in beautifully with each other. Tonight is not the best we’ve ever seen them (the bass could do with a seeing to) but with energy like that and charisma to boot, you pretty much don’t notice. The night builds to its climax as God Damn ascend to the stage. It’s a performance that those who have seen them before have become accustomed to and is why fans return time after time – it’s a completely thrashing foray that manages to retain its melody and its technical ability in the process, and that’s no mean feat. The crowd’s reaction is wonderful, a circle pit filled with love. Towards the end the duo hint at something

special to come but when guitarist Dave Copson joins them on stage it’s a moment the word ‘special’ doesn’t cover. Six months and over 20 hours of surgery after a serious, life-threatening accident last summer, the applause which greets Dave is heartwarming and as he shoulders his guitar for one of the band’s most poignant numbers, Dangle Like Skeletons, it’s so overwhelmingly moving to see him back. As the song builds to its conclusion and guitars are smashed on stage, it’s a completely beautiful ending to what’s been an indescribably affecting occasion. And if that isn’t reason enough to celebrate, then nothing really is. Amy Sumner

Connan Mockasin Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath 23/01/14

“Ohmygod he’s soooooo sexual,” moaned one young lady towards the climax of tonight’s set...possibly post orgasmically. The object of her affections? A skinny New Zealander with a dyed blonde mop of hair, decked out this evening in white trousers, a white silk blouse top, black leather jacket and what looked suspiciously like his granny’s sun hat. Proof that you can sometimes judge a book by its cover, Connan’s music is a similar mix of the masculine and Brum Notes Magazine

feminine, blending woozy psych-outs with a vocal that’s occasionally so high pitched only dogs and particularly attentive teens can hear it. Swigging from a bottle of wine throughout the gig, the set’s relatively short on tracks but given that some of them stretch out to 10 minutes or more, that’s no real surprise. With a trio of albums under his (or his granny’s) hat there are plenty of gems to choose from though, and the dreamy womb of a tune Do I Make You Feel Shy? (from his new album Caramel) soon sets the tone for the evening, lulling the capacity crowd into the kind of blissed-out mood that normally follows some serious action in the sack. Connan was just getting started though, flipping us over and gently wooing us with It’s Choade My Dear, a tune with such weird notes and vocals that it should be labelled a Class A drug. I’m The Man, That Will Find You (imagine Prince after a carrier bag full of weed) managed to be both creepy and rather sexy at the same time, with Connan whispering sweet nothings suggestively into the microphone. Hubba hubba, ladies. Like all good lovers he saved the best ‘til last though, with a trippy extended version of his magnum opus (or ‘mignim opis’, as he’d probably pronounce it), Forever Dolphin Love, that may well still be going on right now. All hail the strangely sexy God of Odd. Daron Billings

Jessica Pratt Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath 14/01/14

There’s a complete beauty in the room tonight, candle-lit tables face forward attentively as local folk outfit Boat to Row’s main man Michael King plays a solo set of the band’s intricate material. It’s a beautiful serenity which fills the space as he plays and demonstrates a poignant talent for poetry and musicianship and an inherent ability to craft delicate works of art. Unfortunately, the spell is broken by Jessica Pratt’s tour support, Belgian singer songwriter Ignatz who plays what feels like several hours of drowning vocals recalling wandering through a desert and never really getting anywhere, accompanied by a guitar that sounds in about as much pain as the audience. Communicating not a solitary word of explanation in between, it’s a performance as beige as his fleece and a thoroughly misjudged affair. Luckily, Jessica Pratt salvages the situation. She’s super tiny as she takes to the stage to sit, but she makes an arresting presence. Playing through songs from her self-titled debut album, she’s thoroughly hypnotic, her mournful tones reminiscent of February 2014

early Joni Mitchell but with a tranquil consistency to them. Playing her debut Birmingham show, the San Francisco singer captivates the crowd and brings a real warmth to a cold night in Kings Heath. Despite the enforced dip in the middle, it’s another wonderful orchestration by indie alt promoters, This is Tmrw. Amy Sumner

Reaside + Bolshie + Looca + Tom Walker Trio The Roadhouse, Stirchley 19/12/13

The West Midlands basically owns Christmas music for the masses. Think Noddy Holder’s eternal cry of the working man – IT’S CHRIIIISSSSTMASSSS!!! Wish it could be Christmas every day? That smells of Stetchford. Thanks Roy Wood. So there is something intrinsically festive about four bands from the perennially unglamourous south side of Birmingham playing a Christmas shindig down by a canal in Stirchley. I’ve heard it said that the live scene in Brum is in decline. I think that’s bullshit. The iconic venues may have gone – Hummingbird, Bierkeller, Barrell Organ, take your bows – but there’s a healthier grassroots scene than ever out in the many neighbourhoods that make up the great city. As this event showed. Tom Walker Trio and Looca were tight and professional – and brought their following. The goofishly-monikered Bolshie cut a cheeky garage punk-cum-pub rock schtick. The spunky geezer of a frontman monkeyed around with an infectious exuberance that delivered the band’s tales of Taxi rank trauma with bulllseye sincerity. In spite of fundamental lineup changes and a frontman apparently playing his first gig ever, the eclectic-looking Reaside had stacks of potential. A shredding brute on lead bouncing off a skinny-jeaned arch-geek on rhythm, Dave Grohl’s cousin on drums and said virgin vocalist building a stage presence way beyond his note-perfect SoCal vocals – this was quirky fusion of every alt-rock standard from the past 25 years, with way more to come. Ed Ling

pretty killer pop song – friendly enough for Radio 1 and with an accompanying swagger to ensure that their merch stall is occupied pretty much throughout by gaggles of teenage girls. A clever fusion. With that in mind, it’s pretty pleasing that the few thousand who cram into the O2 Academy tonight for the climax of Peace’s final UK tour of 2013 and their biggest headline show to date are a mix of the two audiences. All are ready to party – it’s nearing Christmas after all. As part of a beautifully crafted bill, Peace have brought their friends Drenge and Superfood along with them. Superfood prove that they can hold their own just as well as the headliners on a stage this size, and Drenge follow suit, harder, more thrashy, less talkative, the brother duo power through their half-hour. Which leaves it all to play for Peace who step on stage to a complete roar and Waste of Paint. A lengthened set including Drain, the wonderfully indulgent 1998 and an absolute belter of a new track, Money, make way for their Christmas cover, Last Christmas, to which lead singer Harry Koisser’s voice lends itself perfectly. And when the confetti cannons fire, it doesn’t for a moment feel like too much, it feels like a party to celebrate the success of a truly whirlwind year. Peace are a band even better live than on record and live is how music is meant to be enjoyed. Tonight they justify every ounce of hype they’ve received. Amy Sumner

Peace O2 Academy, Birmingham 17/12/13

There’s a kind of two-sided appeal to Peace. First and foremost, the foursome are genuinely good musicians whose ability to craft songs, teasing the best out of their instruments and effects is impressive, and their ability to do so live to an even greater extent, evident. Secondly, they can write a

Connan Mockasin Photo by Wayne Fox

album reviews

Wild Beasts Present Tense Out Feb 24 (Domino)

An intensely seductive synth and the baroque falsetto of lead singer Hayden Thorpe pronouncing “We're decadent beyond our means” opens the fourth record from Kendal’s Wild Beasts – their first attempt since 2011’s intimately sorrowful Smother to re-connect with a wider audience. Its lead single, Wanderlust, is a multi-faceted creation, a powerfully political comment on class in Britain which emotively impresses “Don't confuse me with someone who gives a fuck”, before reflecting “In your mother tongue, what's

Mogwai Rave Tapes Out now (Rock Action)

With Mogwai’s studio albums now yielding diminishing returns, their best recent work has been in their soundtracks – for the film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and, last year, for the French TV drama Les Revenants – where their music had the freedom to retreat into an auxiliary role. Unfortunately, Rave Tapes, their eighth album proper, reverts to type. If the promise of a more synthy sound palette generated a measure of pre-release buzz, then that’s quickly tempered by opening track Heard About You Last Night. It’s the sort of mid-paced, moderately haunting workout that we’ve come to expect all too readily from the Glasgow five-piece 36

the verb to suck?” (a barb at bands opting to adopt an American accent and a compromising position to advance themselves – wonder who that could be aimed at?). It then mounts to a final, whirling off-kilter instrumental. It’s an incredibly powerful return which harks back to the pinnacle moments of 2009’s Two Dancers. Elsewhere on the record, Mecca is a beautifully melodic confessional and closing track Palace comes as close to a pop record as they’ve got so far. There are also some interesting themes. “Daughters is imagining what our children owe us, which is revenge,” explained Tom in a recent interview with Pitchfork, while Sweet Spot toys with our innate existence as creatures of desire (“where the body goes the mind will follow soon after”).

– decent enough, but you imagine they can churn out this sort of thing in their sleep by now. And it’s not an isolated case. Cuts like Hexon Bogon, Deesh and No Medicine For Regret contribute incredibly little to the Mogwai canon, while the track title is very much the best thing about the synth-heavy Simon Ferocious. As if to reward their most patient fans, the album’s best bits arrive late. Blues Hour is a desolate lament featuring Stuart Braithwaite’s signature ultra-vulnerable vocals, but far and away the highlight comes with closing gambit The Lord Is Out Of Control – a gorgeously understated vocoder-led weepy, but far too fragile to shoulder the burden of the rest of the album. It’s not to say that Rave Tapes is a disaster – the band are far too good for that – but where Mogwai were once an exhilarating Young Team, these days it’s a case of same old, same old. Dan Cooper-Gavin

“I went through quite a metamorphosis at the end of Smother from...cantankerous and burnt-out...to becoming more accepting of the lack of control over life,” said Hayden recently. Guitars have been traded for delicate electronics and personal explorations for those of the world around us, but retaining those hauntingly trademark vocals, it’s a return to form indeed for Wild Beasts which could only really be bettered by another couple of upbeat numbers. Amy Sumner

You Blew It! Keep Doing What You're Doing Out now (Topshelf Records)

Emo wasn't just about Fallout Boy and My Chemical Romance you know. There was a whole scene of interesting, musically accomplished bands like The Get Up Kids and Braid doing their thing in the late 1990s and who left a deep cultural impact. This release from the winsome young Floridians You Blew It! looks unashamedly back to this sound, albeit throwing in a few new tricks here and there. There's literally boatloads of this “emo revival” coming out of the minor labels Stateside at the moment – Touche Amore, La Dispute! and many more. So it takes a lot to stand out from the Brum Notes Magazine

ever-swelling crowd. And to be fair, this does. This is a collection of 10 neat, little tracks of around three minutes apiece that get in, tell their stories of loss and reflection with poignancy and precision, and move on to the next thing – and in a seeming blink of an eye, it's all over. Devoid of filler, emotive but never indulgent. You might say this is the musical equivalent of Friday Night Lights, or for the older generation, Dawson's Creek – tightly played, self-aware and occasionally sharp-edged Americana for the indie kid masses. It's also wholly accessible, but with more than enough poke and deft lyrical hooks to lift itself above the floodwaters of the current emo deluge. Which is no mean feat. Ed Ling

James Vincent McMorrow Post Tropical Out now (Burning Rope/Faction)

On first listen it seems that James Vincent McMorrow is an artist suffering an identity crisis. When he first leapt to prominence, it was as an acoustic artist with an edge, his soulful falsetto vocal burrowing it's way into your head. Despite being too often lumped into the Ben Howard/Mumfords/radio-friendly folk category, his debut album was an altogether more elegant affair that that may suggest. That said, this time around, it seems a conscious effort has been made to move away from the singer-songwriter clichés, seemingly delving deeper into inspiration from the likes of Spirtualised, old school soul and, according to the man himself, 90s RnB. It would be easy to say it at times borders into James Blake pastiche territory (album opener Cavalier) and the debt to Bon Iver is still apparent (the harmonies of Red Dust), but In Tropical is the work of a man who appears determined to plough his own musical furrow. The wispy falsettos are accompanied by an ethereal backdrop, punctuated by touches of electronica, but more successfully using orchestral flourishes to add a real depth to his sound (Gold and album highlight All Points). All in all, a hauntingly layered record with some moments of majesty. Chris Moriarty

Peggy Sue Choir of Echoes Out now (Wichita)

Recorded at the legendary R o ck field studios in South Wales, Choir of Echoes marks Peggy Sue’s third full-length release (aside from their cover of the soundtrack to Scorpio Rising) – and happily is up February 2014

there with their best work yet. “Choir of Echoes is an album about voices keeping each other company and competing for space,” comment the trio, and no clearer is this than in the haunting choral opener Come Back Around. Esme and Substitute reveal a completely new sound for Peggy Sue – a unique post-folk offering where edgy guitar riffs echo alongside intricate drum beats. Katy Klaw and Rosa Rex’s vocals are still as powerful, reminding us of the harmonious singers’ heartfelt lyrical ability, “the call and response of the kindest and cruellest words”. The delicate How Heavy The Quiet That Grew Between Your Mouth And Mine is the only track to make place for a more accustomed folk sound, bearing resemblance to label and tour buddies First Aid Kit. Longest Day of the Year Blues hints at murmurs of what we heard previously in Peggy Sue Play the Songs of Scorpio Rising, and highlights the positive influence of Jimmy Robertson who’s produced both albums. What we have in Choir of Echoes are 13 eloquently crafted tracks that seamlessly merge into a postfolk phenomenon. Think Feist meets My Morning Jacket. You may not instantly be drawn into this release but it’s definitely worth making time for a couple of listens, it’s a grower. Saima Razzaq

Of Mice & Men Restoring Force Out now (Rise Records)

Just now it seems that everything incoming from America is either emo-revival or metalcore. And this new release from sunny California’s Of Mice & Men drops safely into the general metalcore bucket. Whilst it uses the standard issue HEAVY! – clean – HEAVY! – melodic – HEAVY! template that’s been doing the rounds for a while, there’s nonetheless plenty of spark and personality here to hold the interest. Think a more varied and ever-so-slightly classic rock-infused Bullet for My Valentine or August Burns Red, and you won’t be far off the mark. Kicking off with a pleasing blast of aural shock and awe (Public Service Announcement) and successively chugging, roaring and bridging its way through 11 densely produced tracks – none of which overstay their welcome – if you want a more accessible, less po-faced and more reflective alternative to, say, Bring Me The Horizon then this one is for you. And to be fair, in this one record you get every trick in the book of modern alternative metal – blastbeats, downtuning, screaming, soaring, seething, an occasional burst of djent – and some infectious tunes. Standouts on this count being Would You Still Be There, and the fairly representative single

You’re Not Alone. They also work the full emotive spectrum – from fully angry (You Make Me Sick) through to mellow and wistful (Space Enough to Grow). So all in all, this doesn’t break any moulds or take on the world, but it’s an accomplished and complete package nonetheless. EL

East India Youth Total Strife Forever Out now (Stolen Recordings)

The doom laden, unnerving pounding of second track Total Strife Forever I gives no indication of the moments of glistening pop that will follow it. Total Strife Forever, as a whole, is very much an album of contrasts, peaks and troughs and myriad influences. In an age where the blogosphere can make or break new music, the fact that influential music critic and founder of The Quietus John Doran decided to form his own label purely on the basis of listening to an East India Youth demo should be enough to make you pay attention. Luckily, it turns out, he’s a man who knows his music and this debut full length album from the musical alter-ego of William Doyle is adventurous, genre-hopping and altogether inspiring. It’s little surprise that Doyle came to the electronic spectrum from a band background, as this record avoids straying into unnecessary electro indulgences and is punctuated with some very frontman-friendly hooks, choruses and vocal parts. But as well as that, you’ll find tracks encompassing club-ready house, introspective electronica and uplifting synth-pop – a true musical adventure. CM

Eat Y’Self Pretty Yo! Miserable EP Out Mar 1 (Maori Music)

Electronic indie fivepiece Eat Y’Self Pretty’s last EP, We Are the Morally Untidy, was released back in June 2012. Since then, it’s safe to say that the band have taken a somewhat darker turn. “How can a song be dark when someone’s hitting a frying pan in a samba section?” jests bassist Pete Thornton and sure enough the record begins with a handclap and there’s some charmingly trademark indie-pop shouts over the top which make up the chorus. But boy does this one brood. It marks a progression from the previous record, sort of picking up where WATMU’s closing track, Heartwings, left off, and when Yo! Miserable’s dying embers bleed into the threatening bassline of Porcelain 37

Avalanche, which is laced with some deft guitar work and uplifting keys, it really begins to gain some momentum. Rainbows and Waterfalls contains some of the record’s standout moments. With a killer chorus, it lends itself to a jubilatory live performance and the closing minute or so sounds big. Animal Instinct Predator Prey begins to lull the EP to a close, a tender and wistful refrain which mounts to a crescendo in its three and a half minutes. Overall, the record is a window into a more mature Eat Y’Self Pretty than ever before. At the same time however, it feels a little disjointed. In an effort to move things along and mix it up a bit, it struggles with timings, stopping and starting and actually it feels like what it is, two sets of songs recorded put together on a record (tracks 1 and 3 were recorded by Joe and Gavin at Magic Garden Studios, tracks 2 and 4 were recorded by Miguel Seco at Robannas). That said, there are some wonderful moments. Eat Y’Self Pretty present a different concept completely to the reams of imitation bands en vogue at the moment and their use of electronics is a daring dalliance with distinction. Undeniably the boys know how to write a chorus and how to write a hook and once they’ve tweaked the formulae, they’ll be on course for a very good album indeed. AS

Boat to Row Tightrope / Heavy Was the Night (single) Out Feb 10 on 7ins vinyl and download (Nocturne)

A violin dripping in sunlight commences the new single from folk five-piece Boat to Row, a tightrope walk between love and fatigue. Delicately picked instruments structure the entreatment “Let’s remember what we’re worth to one another”, in a spring morning of realisation and reason before, “That tired reflection to which you rely, you’re running on empty, I’ll say my goodnight”. It’s a beautifully sincere delivery. B-side Heavy Was the Night is a similarly melodic accompaniment, an intricate and enchanting lullaby which melts the heart. Through this release, Boat to Row cement their standing as one of the West Midlands most exquisitely talented folk acts and we are completely charmed. A beautiful video accompanies Tightrope, shot by Tom Avery in Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield and the band are on tour throughout the month in support of the single with a special show planned for Birmingham’s Old Joint Stock theatre on February 28. AS

The Grafham Water Sailing Club Ankara / Feelin’ Blue (single) Out on Feb 24 on ltd 7ins vinyl (Static Caravan)

‘Stoned’, ‘trippy’ and ‘noise’ are three of the tags which accompany Ankara on SoundCloud. At 3 minutes 42 seconds, this is the shortest of TGWSC’s repertoire but one of the most experimental. A shadowy and sinister foray into 80s new wave, it’s darker than anything they’ve come up with before, delicately interweaving layer upon layer of beats, keys and effects with a wonderfully hostile vocal. Spewed forth from BB King talking about a kerosene-filled garbage can he’d use for heat and dance around in Arkansas in the 40s, B-side Feelin’ Blue is lengthier and somewhat flatter than its A-side. However with an extra-terrestrial melody making way for eerie and almost tribal chants, it’s equally as fascinating. Driving to an abrupt finish, this is a mesmeric debut accompanied by some stunning artwork. A truly unique work, grab one of the 300 copies while you can. AS

Brum Notes Magazine

February 2014

arts &

The Adoration Of The Cage Fighters, © Grayson Perry

culture

The Vanity of Small Differences

PICK

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, from February 14 Grayson Perry’s sequence of six tapestries, created in conjunction with his Channel 4 show All In The Best Possible Taste, comes to Birmingham. With reference to William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, the tapestries relate a narrative inspired by Perry’s experiences in the show, in which he travelled across the country learning about social mobility and the relationship between class and taste. The works include the grotesquery of The Adoration Of The Cage Fighters and suburban strife in Expulsion From Number 8 Eden Close.

New Art West Midlands

Various venues, from February 14 Four of our galleries combine for a major exhibition presenting new work from 24 emerging artists – all of whom are recent Fine Art graduates from local universities. Highlights include Lucy Hutchinson exploring the socio-cultural differences between the UK and China at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the juxtaposition of James Birkin’s modern urban grit with oil paintings by the old masters at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, shamanic performance by Sarah Sehra at Digbeth’s Grand Union, and Sharon Farrelly’s colourful, pop culture-referencing paintings at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Jamal Penjweny

Ikon Gallery, from February 19 Ikon’s 50th-birthday celebrations get underway with the first solo show from the Iraqi artist.

Saddam Is Here is a photographic series displaying Saddam Hussein’s lingering influence in the country, while Another Life is an arresting short film following Iraqi alcohol smugglers. Meanwhile, Without Soul, the exhibition’s most-recent work, features photos of unsuspecting passers-by with red lines separating their heads from their necks, in response to Islam’s attitude towards images of living beings.

Walls With Wounds

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, from February 15 A visceral, inspirational series of paintings from Dale vN Marshall, in which the artist references his former life as a graffiti artist, his experiences of being sectioned in a Cornish asylum and his haunting place of work – a decaying former Victorian workhouse – in a bid to gain personal redemption. His frenetic pieces somehow manage to achieve a real sense of serenity. Not to be missed.

BEAST

Image credit: Jamal Penjweny, from the series Iraq 40Flying (2006-10), courtesy the artist. is

A Life Of Galileo

The Rep, from February 28 The opening gambit in the venue’s Epic Encounters season, celebrating the work of the German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht. This production of Brecht’s drama, adapted by Mark Ravenhill and directed by the Rep’s own Roxana Silbert, arrives in Brum off the back of a successful run in Stratford-upon-Avon, and features Star Wars’ Ian McDiarmid as the brilliant but beleaguered scientist.

Never Try This At Home The Rep, from February 27

Saturday-morning TV is a relatively bland proposition these days, but most of us will remember the anarchic gems of our youth – whether it’s Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Going Live! or Dick And Dom In Da Bungalow. This play centres on the fictional Saturday-morning broadcast Shushi, which became too anarchic for its own good.

Ikon Gallery, February 14

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre will create an immersive site-specific soundsystem. Also taking part will be Birmingham Ensemble for Acoustic Research, in which they will combine feedback signals with live coding.

Edgar Allan Poe’s haunting short story, in which a murderer is plagued by noises under the floorboards, as imagined by the wonderful Little Earthquake company.

Mac, February 6

Brum Notes Magazine

gigs

Cate Le Bon

PICK

Hare & Hounds, February 18 Cardiff-born LA-based singer songwriter Cate Le Bon returns to the UK this February to play a selection of material from her three critically acclaimed albums Me Oh My (2009), Cyrk (2012) and Mug Museum (2013). Having initially won attention after touring with Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and appearing on his Neon Neon album, the beautiful vocals and assured stage persona of Cate Le Bon have won her fans the world over. Catch her at this intimate show in Kings Heath.

Northampton, Western Massachusetts, that is. Crafting grittily nostalgic works of songsmanship full of twisted torment and resolve, it’s American noise pop at its most striking. Expect to be simultaneously wounded and inspired by frontwoman Sadie Dupuis.

Ezra Furman

Hare & Hounds, February 16

Foals

O2 Academy, February 11 Creatively relentless Oxford five-piece Foals are back on the road again this month. Upgrading to the O2 Academy after their raucous Institute show last March, the sold out signs went up a while ago so if you manage to get your hands on a ticket then don’t miss out on the chance to see them power through their highly regarded threealbum back catalogue of jagged, anthemic indie math-rock and,

Speedy Ortiz

Hare & Hounds, February 13 Playing their debut Birmingham headline show, Speedy Ortiz hail from Northampton. February 2014

Fresh from being shortlisted to win the BBC’s Sound of 2014 poll, bluesy ballad youngster Ezra Furman is already having a remarkable year. Still at the tender age of just 19, Zane Lowe described him as ‘one of the most compelling and powerful new vocalists around’. Find out what all the fuss is about on February 16.

Fat White Family

The Sunflower Lounge, February 22 South London racket-stirrers and controversialists (remember the banner proclaiming ‘The Bitch Is Dead’ after Maggie T passed away?), Fat White Family have already gained themselves quite a reputation for a ferocious live show. Snarling, ramshackle rock’n’roll – this one promises to get sweaty.

Bonobo

The Institute, February 27 Pioneering beat-maker Simon Green calls in to Birmingham to play a set of his rich and multilayered electronica. With five studio albums to choose from comprising jazz, house and bassheavy influences, he marks his 15th year as a solo act with this world tour.

New Faces Tour ft. Luke Sital-Singh, Eliza & The Bear, Farewell J.R, Annie Eve Hare & Hounds, February 27

Founded by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, Kevin Jones of Bear’s Den and acclaimed producer Ian Grimble, Communion is a Londonbased independent collective of fans and musicians. Following on from the New Faces compilation album and the New Faces EP series with XFM, this inaugural tour takes in 10 cities over two weeks with its diverse fourband bill. Featuring emotive songwriter Luke Sital-Singh, euphoric indie-rock five-piece Eliza & The Bear, the gravelly drawl of Farewell J.R and haunting vocalist Annie Eve, there’s almost something for everyone. 41

Brum Notes Magazine

WHAT’S ON

KEY TO LISTINGS: M = LIVE MUSIC CN = CLUB NIGHT C = COMEDY

BIRMINGHAM: O2 Academy, Horsefair, Bristol St B1, 0844 4772000; The Institute, High St, Digbeth B5, 0844 2485037; NIA, King Edwards Rd B1, 0121 7804141; LG Arena, NEC, Solihull B40, 0121 7804141; The Flapper, Kingston Row B1, 0121 2362421; The Victoria, John Bright St B1, 0121 6339439; Hare & Hounds, High St, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4442081; The Actress & Bishop, Ludgate Hill B3, 0121 2367426; The Sunflower Lounge, Smallbrook Queensway B5, 0121 6327656; Symphony Hall, Broad St B1, 0121 7803333; Town Hall, Victoria Sq B3, 0121 7803333; Kitchen Garden Cafe, York Road, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4434725; Alexandra Theatre, Station St B1, 0844 8472302; Bull’s Head, St Marys Row, Moseley B13, 0121 2567777; Island Bar, Suffolk St B1, 0121 6325296; The Jam House, St Pauls Sq B3, 0121 2003030; Ort, Moseley Rd, Balsall Heath, B12; The Asylum, Hampton St, Hockley B19, 0121 2331109; The Rainbow, High St, Digbeth B12, 0121 7728174; Adam & Eve, Bradford St, Digbeth B12, 0121 6931500; The Rose Villa Tavern, Warstone Lane, B18, 0121 2367910; The Yardbird, Paradise Place B3, 0121 2122524; The Glee Club, The Arcadian, Hurst St B5, 0871 4720400; MAC, Cannon Hill Park B12, 0121 4463232; Nightingale, Kent St B5, 0121 6221718; Scruffy Murphys, The Priory Queensway B4, 0121 2362035; The Wagon & Horses, Adderley St, Digbeth B9, 0121 7721403; Lab11, Trent St B5, lab11.co.uk; The Moseley Arms, Ravenhurst St B12, 0121 7668467; Air, Heath Mill Lane B9, 0121 7666646; Suki10c, Bordesley Street B5; Gatecrasher, Broad St B15, 0121 633 1520

M M M M

Saturday, Feb 1 Inclement Quartet Brains For Breakfast Only the Good

CN Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

O2 Academy

Birmingham

The Actress & Bishop The Lamp Tavern

Birmingham Birmingham

M M

Birmingham

M M

Kings Heath

Moseley

ANiMA + Bombers + Ghosts of Dead Airplanes + Rick Wellings No Mute

Hank Wangford

M CN CN

Wax Futures

The Wagon & Horses Kitchen Garden Cafe The Loft

Loaded

Snobs

Birmingham

Moschino Hoe, Versace Hottie - The Beyonce Spesh Heartbreak Hitlist

Spotlight

Birmingham

The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN

Pleasure Birmingham UPROAR - The Time Machine FACE X [KU:DER’TA] Houseology 101 10.31 w.B Traits & DJ Zinc Clifden Winter Sessions Juqebox Circles Present Fabio, Grooverider & Utah Jazz

February 2014

The Hub

Birmingham

The Institute

Birmingham

The Rainbow

Birmingham

The Rainbow Warehouse The Rainbow Warehouse The Lord Clifden

Birmingham

The Rose Villa Tavern Hare & Hounds

Hockley

Birmingham Hockley

Kings Heath

CN C

CN CN CN C M M CN CN M M CN CN M M

Want your gig or club night listed in our monthly guide? Send details to: info@ brumnotes.com All details correct at time of going to press. Check with venues before setting out.

Killerwave 2.0 Free Entry Club Night Blast Off!

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Ellie Taylor

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Sunday, Feb 2 Protest the Hero

O2 Academy

Birmingham

The Actress & Bishop The Institute

Birmingham

The Sun on the Hill The Yardbird

Birmingham

Kings Heath

Hangover Club

Kitchen Garden Cafe Risa

SiN Sunday

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

Emma Marie Sepultura Free Love Club Groundhog Day Sunday Sociat ft The MP2 Band Bonfire Radicals

Birmingham

Robbie Gee

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Monday, Feb 3 Suzanne Vega

Town Hall

Birmingham

Clutching at Straws GB Mondays

Kitchen Garden Cafe Gatecrasher

Kings Heath

Jam Jah

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Tuesday, Feb 4 RX Bandits

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Impact ft The Broken + Think Tank Stupid Tuesday

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Player’s Bar

Birmingham

Frat House

Risa

Birmingham

Wednesday, Feb 5 Live Jazz

Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Hip Hachett

Big Wednesday

Thursday, Feb 6 Jay Phelps Trio

M M M M M M M M CN C M M M M M M M M M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN

CN C C M M M M M

Snobs

Birmingham

Bramhall Music Bulding O2 Academy

Birmingham

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham Birmingham

The Clocktower

Symphony Hall Cafe Bar The Rainbow

Cordelia Gartside

The Junction

Harborne

Traditional Song Session Mark Morris (The Bluetones) Del Amitri

Kitchen Garden Cafe The Loft

Kings Heath Moseley

CN CN CN

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Get It On Thursdays Steve Shanyaski

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

CN CN C

Killswitch Engage We Are the In Crowd Boat to Row

Friday, Feb 7 The Boxer Rebellion Jonathan Silk Quintet Bad Apes

The Glee Club

Birmingham

M CN CN

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

Symphony Hall Cafe Bar The Flapper

Birmingham

M M

Birmingham

Rachel Sermanni

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Guy Jones

The Rainbow

Birmingham

Cassette Days

Birmingham

Duke

The Sunflower Lounge The Victoria

Birmingham

The Straits

Town Hall

Birmingham

Freestyle with Cassie Reid King Shaker

Bull’s Head

Moseley

The Loft

Moseley

Supersonic Vague

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

M CN CN C C

Dr Jekyll’s Remedy

Jekyll & Hyde

Birmingham

A Bob Marley Celebration Click

PST

Birmingham

Snobs

Birmingham

KANYINI - Psy Trance ft. ManMadeMan (live) Zombie Prom ft. Silent Noize & Killer Wave 2.0 Shadow City presents Swamp 81 Leftfoot 2014 Launch Party with Maxxi Soundsystem ANTICS!

Suki10c

Birmingham

The Rainbow

Birmingham

The Loft

Moseley

Steve Shanyaski

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Steve Harris

The Slade Rooms

Wolverhampton

Saturday, Feb 8 Buzzard Lope

Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

Crash Test ft William The Bastard Less Than Jake + Reel Big Fish Dapper Laughs

Muthers

Birmingham

O2 Academy

Birmingham

The Institute

Birmingham

The Deep Dark Woods

The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

Kings Heath

Town Hall

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Wharf Bar

Walsall

The Slade Rooms

Wolverhampton

Music Box

Boxxed

Birmingham

Gatecrasher presents R3hab Dr Jekyll’s Potion

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

Jekyll & Hyde

Birmingham

Loaded

Snobs

Birmingham

Pleasure Birmingham Clifden Winter Sessions Leftfoot Sessions

The Hub

Birmingham

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Blast Off!

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

Steve Shanyaski

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Sunday, Feb 9 Slaves + Pup

The Flapper

Birmingham

The Sunflower Lounge The Yardbird

Birmingham

The Rose Villa Tavern Bull’s Head

Hockley

Liberty Lies Sunday Social ft. Che Cartwright Live Jazz Bohemian Jukebox Sunday Social Tom Odell

Birmingham

Moseley

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Hangover Club

Risa

Birmingham

SiN Sunday

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

Rough Works

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Andy Kershaw

Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

The Institute

Birmingham Kings Heath

GB Mondays

Kitchen Garden Cafe Gatecrasher

Jam Jah

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Tuesday, Feb 11 Foals

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Expire

The Flapper

Birmingham

Little Comets

The Institute

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Keston Cobblers Club Eleanor McEvoy

Kings Heath

Jimeoin

Kitchen Garden Cafe Wulfrun Hall

Wednesday, Feb 12 The 1975

O2 Academy

Birmingham

LITE

The Flapper

Birmingham

Shy Nature

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

The Kate Gee Band

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Big Wednesday

Snobs

Birmingham

Fierce & Fabulous

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Laughing Cows

Kitchen Garden Cafe Civic Hall

Kings Heath

M M CN CN

Birmingham

The Rainbow Warehouse Hare & Hounds

Kraftwerk Uncovered - Live The Steve Ajao Blues Giants Andy Bennett (Ocean Colour scene) The Treatment

M M M M

M M M M CN C C C

Monday, Feb 10 Anna Calvi Martin Carthy

Jack Whitehall

Birmingham

Wolverhampton

Thursday, Feb 13 44

Brum Notes Magazine

M M M M CN M M M M M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN C M M M M M M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN

Limp Bizkit

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Heather Peace

The Institute

Birmingham

Speedy Ortiz + Joanna Gruesome Will & The People

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Get It On Thursdays Friday, Feb 14 A Day to Remember Tich

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

O2 Academy

Birmingham

The Institute

Birmingham

Rose Redd

The Victoria

Birmingham

Heaven 17

Town Hall

Birmingham

XOVA

The Loft

Moseley

Monster Magnet

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

Lucha Libre ft DJ T4BLES So It Goes Valentine’s Special Supersonic Vague

Bodega

Birmingham

Chic

Birmingham

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

Dr Jekyll’s Potion

Jekyll & Hyde

Birmingham

Propaganda

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Click

Snobs

Birmingham

Ouse

Suki10c

Birmingham

On Point presents The Valentine’s Love Affair All You Need Is Dub Freestyle 5th Birthday ANTICS!

The Rainbow

Birmingham

Robin Morgan Saturday, Feb 15 Hidden Skies Plastic Factory Steve ‘Big Man’ Clayton & The 44s JUICE

Hare & Hounds Bull’s Head The Loft The Glee Club

Kings Heath Moseley Moseley Birmingham

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

The Actress & Bishop The Adam & Eve

Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham

Basia Bulat

The Sunflower Lounge Hare & Hounds

Fire in Cairo

Wharf Bar

Walsall

Dream Theater

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Dr Jekyll’s Potion

Jekyll & Hyde

Birmingham

Madame Moonshine’s Speakeasy Loaded

NextDoor

Birmingham

Snobs

Birmingham

Electro Revival

Suki10c

Birmingham

Pleasure Birmingham Shadow Demon Valentine’s Ball 2014 FACE - No Artificial Colours Clifden Winter Sessions Soundwave Croatia 2014 Birmingham launch OOOOOO Look

The Hub

Birmingham

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Blast Off!

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

February 2014

Kings Heath

The Institute

Birmingham

The Rainbow

Birmingham

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

C M M M M M M CN CN CN M M CN M M M M M M M M M CN C M M M M M M M CN C C M M M

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

M M M M M M

Robin Morgan

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Sunday, Feb 16 London Grammar

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Husk

The Flapper

Birmingham

The Strypes

The Institute

Birmingham

Ezra Furman

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

The 45’s

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Chris Quinn

Kings Heath

Hangover Club

Kitchen Garden Cafe Risa

SiN Sunday

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

Come Vinyl With Me Monday, Feb 17 The Beards

Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Trust Fund

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Jam Jah

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Tuesday, Feb 18 Alexander

Birmingham

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

Bryan Corbett Quartet Cate Le Bon

The Jam House

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Andy White

Kings Heath

Turisas

Kitchen Garden Cafe The Slade Rooms

Wednesday, Feb 19 Red Method

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

Sweet Gum Tree

The Institute

Birmingham

Twenty One Pilots

The Institute

Birmingham

Drenge

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Big Wednesday

Snobs

Birmingham

Jim Cornette

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Thursday, Feb 20 Boink Quartet

Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

Newton Faulkner

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Martin Walkyier

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

Uncle Jim

The Actress & Bishop The Institute

Birmingham

Carrie Tree & House of Hats The Orwells

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Get It On Thursdays Ian Cognito

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Gary Delaney

The Slade Rooms

Wolverhampton

Friday, Feb 21 Sugar Mama

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

The Actress & Bishop The Glee Club

Birmingham

Orla Gartland

Super 6 John Bramwell (I Am Kloot) Sonic Boom Six

Wolverhampton

Birmingham

The Institute

Birmingham

TOY

The Rainbow

Birmingham

Fires

The Sunflower Lounge Hare & Hounds

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

The Loft

Moseley

Dumb Hot Club De Swing February Ball RiD

Kings Heath

M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN CN C M M M M M M M M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN C C M M M M M CN CN M M CN M M M 46

Gipsy Kings

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Midlake

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

New Hype presents Wot You Call It Wiley special Lucha Libre ft. DJ T4BLES Operation Hardcore 3 Supersonic Vague

Adam & Eve

Birmingham

Bodega

Birmingham

Club PST

Birmingham

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

Propaganda

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Click

Snobs

Birmingham

Freestyle

Bull’s Head

Moseley

ANTICS!

The Loft

Moseley

Ian Cognito

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Saturday, Feb 22 El Ghost Fest VII

M C M M M M M CN C C M M

Muthers

Birmingham

Beneath the Remains M.A.D

O2 Academy

Birmingham

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

Rizzle Kicks

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

M M

Casino

The Actress & Bishop The Institute

Birmingham

Honey Feet

The Sunflower Lounge Hare & Hounds

The Twang

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

Gatecrasher presents Chuckie House of God 21st Birthday

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

M M M CN

Rainbow Warehouse & Garden Snobs

Birmingham

Pleasure Birmingham Clifden Winter Sessions Jam Hott

The Hub

Birmingham

The Lord Clifden

Hockley

M M

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Blast Off!

Wulfrun Hall

Wolverhampton

Ian Cognito

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Ed Byrne

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Sunday, Feb 23 Beyonce

LG Arena

Birmingham

Reconnected

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

Nipsey Hussle

The Institute

Birmingham

Sunday Social ft James Bay Live Jazz

The Yardbird

Birmingham Hockley

SiN Sunday

The Rose Villa Tavern The Lord Clifden

Andrew O’Neill

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Taking Hayley Fat White Family

Loaded

Monday, Feb 24 Chris Mills & The Distant Stars Radkey Jam Jah Tuesday, Feb 25 Soulfly Atlas Foxes

Birmingham

Kings Heath

Hockley

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

The Actress & Bishop The Institute

Birmingham Birmingham

M M

M M M M M M M M M CN CN CN CN CN CN CN

Rudimental

Civic Hall

Wolverhampton

Paul Chowdhry

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Wednesday, Feb 26 Room 94

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

The Mongoloids

The Flapper

Birmingham

Gavin Degraw

The Institute

Birmingham

The Graveltones

The Institute

Birmingham

Autobahn + Elephantine Big Wednesday

Bull’s Head

Moseley

Snobs

Birmingham

Mostly Comedy

Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

Paul Chowdhry

The Glee Club

Birmingham

Thursday, Feb 27 Coco’s Lovers

Cafe Ort

Balsall Heath

Reverend & The Makers We Came as Romans Fire in Cairo

O2 Academy

Birmingham

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

Abie’s Miracle Tonic Bonobo

Symphony Hall Cafe Bar The Institute

Birmingham

The Wytches

Birmingham

Luke Sital Singh

The Sunflower Lounge Hare & Hounds

Paper Aeroplanes

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Face of a Stranger

The Loft

Moseley

Get On It Thursdays Hip Hop at the Bull’s Head Friday, Feb 28 The Deer Hunter & Anthony Green Loveless Luck

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

Bull’s Head

Moseley

O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

O2 Academy 3

Birmingham

REALMS

Symphony Hall Cafe Bar The Actress & Bishop The Institute

Birmingham

The Old Joint Stock The Rainbow

Birmingham

The Sunflower Lounge The Wagon & Horses Hare & Hounds

Birmingham

Hare & Hounds

Kings Heath

Freelance Mourners Kastella

Bull’s Head

Moseley

The Loft

Moseley

Lucha Libre ft. DJ T4BLES Supersonic Vague

Bodega

Birmingham

Gatecrasher

Birmingham

Propaganda

O2 Academy

Birmingham

Click

Snobs

Birmingham

The Bounce Factory - Phase 2 Freestyle

Suki10c

Birmingham

Bull’s Head

Moseley

ANTICS!

The Loft

Moseley

Winston’s Big Brother Sam Smith Boat to Row Malone Malone The Samuel Rogers Band ANiMA Alternative Dubstep Orchestra Skaters

Birmingham

Kings Heath

Birmingham Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham Kings Heath

Brum Notes Magazine

February 2014

Brum Notes Magazine