London Int’l Ska Fest: 33 days to go..
Posted by jamie on Mar 16, 2011
We’ve had a quick update on the London International Ska Festival:
“33 days to go to Day 1 of the festival, and thing are gathering pace nicely with the announcement of Owen Grey being added to the bill and a special podcast produced by Greedy G. More announcements coming shortly. 4day tickets and day tickets are available now from their official site“.
Less Than Jake join Warped 2011.
Posted by jamie on Mar 16, 2011
Less Than Jake and the Planet Smashers have confirmed for the Warped Tour 2011, with the Planet Smashers playing only their hometown show in Montreal. The good news is that it fits nicely in between Slam Dunk and Reading/Leeds.
Punknews has the full story here.
There’s also a cool Big D sudio video on the official Warped Tour site.
New Skints track
Posted by jamie on Mar 16, 2011
The Skints have put a track from their new album as a free download. Get it here.
Before they disappear “for ages”, the guys are playing one show with Claypigeon and a few others. Tickets for that are here.
Mike TV dates
Posted by jamie on Mar 14, 2011
A friendly reminder about these Mike TV shows:
March
27th Exeter Cavern w. Chixdiggit
28th Bristol Croft w. Chixdiggit
29th Newcastle Trillians w. Chixdiggit
30th London Relentless Garage w. Chixdiggit
July
15th London Relentless Garage w. The Dickies
16th Derby Old Bell w. The Dickies
5th Aug Bristol Fleece w. The Dickies
Mike TV’s latest track Pepe’s Dead is up for download here.
SB6: new track up
Posted by jamie on Mar 14, 2011
Sonic Boom Six have posted a new video. New Style Rocka is actually the first original material since City of Thieves, and features Tonn Piper on guest vocals. See the video here. They told us..
This is our first new material in a long time so we’re stoked to hear what you think!
If you’re not as well read on Tonn Piper as you might be, you can see his myspace here. Tell the SB6 what you think of the new track on facebook here.
There’s going to be new merch to accompany the single. Find out all of the details here.
Random Hand: new song up
Posted by jamie on Mar 11, 2011
Dirty great big ska/metal beasts Random Hand have posted the new song Bones on their facebook page. See the video here.
Bones is a taster of new album Seething is Believing, released on 21st March 2011.
That’s 10 little days.
Ian Britt: the Bedford
Posted by jamie on Mar 7, 2011
Ian Britt
The Bedford, Balham
3rd March 2011
Jamie
You can actually watch this gig here.
Therefore you might disagree with what you’re about to read.
Also, you might see the back of my head a few times.
Ian Britt hadn’t played a London show in a while, so this one always had that chance of being a little bit special. That it ended up being an incident-packed evening and a superbly enjoyable intimate acoustic show was something of a treat even if, in hindsight, it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise.
The Bedford is in Balham, which, it turns out, is about as far south as London goes. It’s an interesting place, and plenty of locals were willing to help with directions that were basically just straight on in a straight line down this big hill. It worked, just about. One of them looked and spoke just like Jerwayne from Phone Shop, which is a lot funnier when you aren’t lost and in a frantic rush.
The Bedford, when I got there, is a gastro pub that smelled, on the night, like scampi everywhere except in the music room. Big enough to get lost in, and with enough different rooms, and all of them except one that smelled of sea food. That said, the food did smell and look good, and the place had a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere that reminded me of the sort of jazz clubs that Gecko seem to love playing in. Like this, or this, for example.
There was no red velvet curtain, no paintings in heavy gold frames, but the round room where the Bedford put their bands (and, apparently, comedians) on, could actually have been nicked from the set of Shakespeare in Love, complete with balcony, and is compèred by a man in an absurd shirt. They video this and stream it live all over the internet, and you can sort of see why. It’s interesting and very unique entertainment.
Our man calls for silence and asks everyone to check their phones, cinema-style, before introducing his first act, a solo female singer-songwriter who has never played here before. The hush is perfect until Egon from Ghostbusters, along from us on the balcony, opens a big bag of Doritos. So far, so weird. Despite this, the lady performs admirably, and then it’s time for Ian Britt.
Ian strolls on nonchalantly and, like the other artist, performs a short, sweet, solo acoustic set. It’s striking for its brief, delicate beauty: his delicate high notes accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and the occasional skips around stage. He’s obviously enjoying himself, and that energy easily transmits itself to an eagerly receptive audience.
Back Home, out first, is a treat, and Run Lola Run, with a credit to the Sonic Boom Six, gets a huge cheer. Next to Boom Boom and Michael Jackson’s the way you make me feel, a perfect fit for his easy, soulful vocal, this one comes across really well when reinterpreted as an acoustic song. In parts, this is a thoughtful, poignant set, and, in others, it’s irresistibly catchy, foot-tapping folk stomp.
Either way, it’s thoroughly enjoyable throughout, with Ian’s dry banter a useful contrast to the instant sincerity that’s evident in his songs: it’s a nice break to hear hi chat, between times, about having ripped his trousers, or to see the photocopied boobs on the back of his set-list. If that was prepared we’ll assume that the trousers were an accident. It’s after this, and a heartfelt rendition of old tune Free that Boom Boom announces itself as tonight’s showstopper: completely striped down, given its full introduction, and performed so candidly as to be so delicately beautiful. Wishing Well continues in the same vein, softly lulling the room in to a hushed silence that we only really snap out of when Ian introduces his Michael Jackson cover with “speaking of nurseries..”.
Dedicate is Ian’s last song. He’s chipper, for a moment, introducing it in the way that musicians do when they’re introducing a song and saying goodbye at the same time. And then he’s sombre again to murmur “this is a song called Dedicate”. It’s a perfect end to an excellent little set, picked out gently in places and then disappearing in a flurry of short, sharp strums as it races to its final little crescendo. It’s unmistakably heartfelt and received rapturously both live, and, I promise, it’s almost as good on video. You can see it here.
There were a band afterwards, and their bassist looked like my mate Theo. They sort of started off playing a song that sounded a little like a Jack Johnson one. We went to say hi to Ian and then slipped off, though, because Balham’s off the bottom of the map and Thursday’s a school night. Sneaking out through the gastro-pub bit, you could still smell scampi. I’ve craved mushy peas every day since, and spent most of the weekend humming Ian’s songs. It was one of those nights that stays with you, and not just from the strange things that happened: a painfully beautiful little direct and intimate little acoustic show. It was lovely.
Francesqa: new merch
Posted by jamie on Mar 4, 2011
The nice lads in Francesqa have written to tell us about their new merch. You can find out all aboout it here.
Less Than Jake interview
Posted by jamie on Mar 2, 2011
A cool little interview with Less Than Jake and pictures of them as zombies. What’s not to love? See it here.
Streetlight: Groezrock
Posted by jamie on Mar 2, 2011
From the Streetlight Manifesto twitter profile. How exciting does this look..?
