Sonic Boom Six: “Sunny Side..” reviewed
Posted by jamie on Jul 27, 2011
Sonic Boom Six
Sunny Side of the Street (Single)
– Rebel
Alliance, 2011
19th July 2011
Jamie
Sonic Boom Six put Sunny Side of the Street in the live set when the Boom toured with Random Hand and the King Blues back in April. I watched from two balconies up as they played it live at KoKo, in Camden, in the midst of some fairly severe technical difficulties (described in my review of the show here). That off the cuff, half-acoustic performance of a brand new song actually ended up being a highlight of the whole night. Not bad, considering the SB6 like to get their set as tightly rehearsed as it can be before they set off on tour. Have a look at this, for example:
Because there is so much going on in terms of the sampler and backing tracks we like to get a set sorted out before a tour and really get into perfecting that set from start to finish.
That’s Barney talking to the Sonisphere website about how the Boom like to get everything just so before setting off on tour. Presumably, then, that problem, whatever it was, should hit them harder than most.
When you’ve got a tune like Sunny Side of the Street, though, you’re always on to a winner. It’s a wonderfully anthemic, positively uplifting, laid-back, melodic reggae thing based mainly around Laila’s lead vocal and acoustic guitars. It’s got a nice little vocal harmony in the verse and gang vocals too. There’s a rhythm in the chorus that sounds a bit like the rap from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and Barney raps in the breakdown and there’s a drop-out and some instantly addictive little refrains. It’s thoroughly enjoyable, and perfect for long, hot, lazy summer days, if we get any this year, as an easy-going, feel-good sing along. Definitely the Boom at their most laid back, it’ll win you over if you’re not already a fan and it’s different, yet again, for those of us who are hardened Boomers. If the lyrics don’t pull any punches in their warts-and-all tribute to the dusty Manchester streets that raised the Sonic Boom Six, they’re still unflinchingly positive: about having problems but facing up to them together and getting through them. They’ll probably make you want to hug people. Bear that in mind when you’re sticking this tune on.
There’s a nice little remix on here, too, by Sonic Scribe, selected by the band from however many million were sent in to appear on the single. This one’s got a tidy little drum beat and a sample that sounds like the keyboard part to Close to me, but on a xylophone. If that sounds odd, then trust me, it works.
Top tunes, the pair.
Sonic Boom Six: Sunny Side released TODAY
Posted by jamie on Jul 25, 2011
The new Sonic Boom Six single is released today. Sunny Side of the Street is available as a download and a CD/t-shirt bundle here.
Drewvis: new songs and free downloads
Posted by jamie on Jul 25, 2011
Seeing as we like to do what we’ve told, here’s us telling you about some new Drewvis songs and a few free downloads of his older stuff. It’s all come in an email from the man himself, which is nicely self-explanatory. Here goes..
thank you all so much for your support, and we’re glad you like the new album!
I’m working on a handful of new songs at the moment and have some interesting plans for them which I’ll reveal over the coming weeks.
Also, mega thanks to everyone that has downloaded the free song compilation ‘For The Bin’ hope you’re enjoying that too, did you know you can also pick up our first Do The Dog release ‘For The Win’ absolutely FREE as well? Yup, tis true - go grab it now from here .
If you haven’t done already, please go over to the Drewvis facebook page and give us a ‘like’ and you might be lucky enough to win the new album! Spread the word like butter
Big D / Random Hand: UK & European tour
Posted by jamie on Jul 22, 2011
Big D and the Kids Table are taking Random Hand around the UK and Europe with them. It kicks off in Kingston in November and finishes just before Christmas. You can get tickets here.
DATES IN FULL:
NOVEMBER 2011
15th: KINGSTON PEEL
24th: WERMELSKIRCHEN AJZ BAHNDAMM (G)
26th: ULM BETELGUEUSE (G)
30th: WINTERTHUR GASWERK (CH)
DECEMBER 2011
3rd: DUNKERQUE LES 4 ECLUSES (F)
4th: NANTES LE FERRAILLEUR (F)
6th: PARIS LES COMBUSTIBLES (F)
7th: MELECHEN METTEKO (B)
10th: LONDON UNDERWORLD w/Dirty Revolution
11th: PETERBOROUGH CLUB REVOLUTION
12th: MANCHESTER MOHO LIVE
13th: LEEDS COCKPIT
15th: BELFAST SPEAKEASY
16th: DUBLIN GRAND SOCIAL
17th: HIGH WYCOMBE NAGS HEAD
Gecko: Cafe 1001
Posted by jamie on Jul 20, 2011
Gecko
Café 1001, Brick Lane (London)
20th July 2011
Jamie
It’s been a while since I had a chance to watch acoustic ska/soul/pop ragamuffins Gecko. For one reason or another, stuff just seemed to keep on happening on the days they’ve performed in London. There are downsides to having friends and relatives who get married and have babies or birthdays, and the lack of Gecko in my life has been one of them.
Their shows with Music Born are always a treat, though: doors are free, and Brick Lane in summer time fairly sizzles with an enjoyably laid back and communal party atmosphere. Everyone comes to have fun and it’s difficult not to make new friends and/or bump in to a few old ones. Add to that the bars, bowling alley and curry restaurants just around the corner and the best bagels and cakes in East London and you’re set pretty fair.
Tonight’s no exception. It’s hot and very, very muggy outside. In between showers, there’s still loads of rain hanging in the air and lots of it on the ground as we sloshed our way down to Café 1001.
Gecko arrived on stage at 22:30, which is standard for headliners here, and quickly turned the place in to a joyous, homely love-in and sing-along at the same time. They always bring a big crowd in London anyway, but make new friends easily with their catchy, uplifting pop melodies, giant smiles and cheeky-chappy stage banter. It’s a winning combination anywhere, but in a place that’s so friendly and open-minded, on a night where everyone’s come to party, it just has to go off, and it did, with a giant bang.
Elephant Road and What You Gonna Do? Are out first, and those of us who knew them were singing along already. Then Will stops to teach any newbies the choruses to the Library. They had to play it one and a half times because of some feedback, but he raises a big laugh by putting that in to his audience-participation spiel as well. Then he’s got his really funny lyrics, which always work well live as well: “because if you turn it over, it isn’t a new leaf, it’s just the same leaf upside down”, is a gem, and by now everyone’s bobbing up and down and swaying a bit. That’s as much as room as you get to move around in here, because you have to stand shoulder to shoulder if you want to actually see the band. We ended up in front of Si’s monitor once, but it was an accident. Promise.
Falling Down is wonderful, and there’s a rare outing for Daylight Done, which goes down a treat as well. It’s just the four lads on stage tonight, so I Got Time and Miss Jackson do sound a little different, but they’re excellent songs and the lads do them well. In case proof were needed of just how happy Gecko can make a room full of people, they’ve managed to make their new cover songs, Cleaning Out My Closet and Paper Planes in to breezy, up-beat acoustic sing alongs, and make everybody in here sing and smile. Thinking about it, it shouldn’t be possible, but in here there’s no other option but to enjoy it. After these, and imminent new single Safest Bet, there’s just time for Camden and most recent single Pigeon round things off. Inevitably, though, they pop back for a cheeky encore: Guanabana was never going to miss out, and Gotta Wait gets an outing too. They’ve been excellent: uplifting, irresistibly danceable and impossibly good fun throughout, but now it’s home time. Still, it’s easy to get some amazing chocolate brownies here til very late at night. Winner.
Drewvis: tweeting his album..
Posted by jamie on Jul 19, 2011
Acoustic ska genius Drewvis posted his stunning new album on bandcamp over the weekend. In case you missed it, the details are on his twitter. No more clues.
NOFX: to release their first ever EP
Posted by jamie on Jul 18, 2011
Fat Mike has revealed NOFX will soon be releasing an unearthed seven-inch recorded way back in 1984. Mike charitably describes the recording as “fucking terrible.” He goes on to explain:
You know what’s coming out later this year, which should be interesting, is we’re going to release our first EP that was never released. [It's] an eight-song seven-inch that was so bad we decided not to release it. It’s called the Thalidomide Child EP. I’m not sure when it will be out but it will be out. I think it’s going to come in a seven-inch box set but we’ll see.
I found it at Fat Wreck Chords. I found the original quarter inch tape. We transferred it to DAT and they were like “holy shit, this is terrible.” I go “I know, that’s why we never released it because it’s terrible.” And everyone at Fat Wreck Chords goes “Come on, we’ve gotta release it.”
So it’s going to be an eight-song seven-inch and only one of the songs has ever been heard before.
The band is also releasing a seven-inch full of covers of 80s hardcore bands later this year.
Read the whole interview here.
Jimmy the Squirrel: Secret Garden Pub
Posted by jamie on Jul 17, 2011
Jimmy the Squirrel
Secret Garden, Battersea, London
16th July 2011
Jamie
The Secret Garden is a very surprising place. A quick squiz at their website in the afternoon had shown up some exciting looking photo albums, but it does look like they only take photos on special occasions. I mean, not everyone goes this far with their dressing up all the time, right? Wrong. The bar staff here are dressed like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, and the place itself is like the book the Secret Garden, only a pub as well. After a night time roam across an industrial Battersea landscape that felt as infinite, at the time, as Alice’s tumble down the rabbit-hole, we came to earth with a bump, suddenly realising that the pub had been creeping up on us for all of that time it only got more surreal from there.Nottingham quintet Jimmy the Squirrel have just begin to play as we arrive: it’s their first London show since March, but their status here seems undiminished. Perhaps we’ve remained loyal, or maybe we’ve just got more desperate for some Jimmy goodness, but either way the heavy, soggy air of a muggy South London evening is weighed down further by a sense of anticipation that quickly becomes joy when the lads shuffle on to a makeshift stage amongst the sofas on the little low balcony thing, decorated in ivy (the balcony, not the band), to begin their set.
If they’ve ambled on as casually as the queue in a corner shop, the reception is rather different. They’re quickly in to their stride, and it’s almost like they’ve never been away. The Secret Garden doesn’t look like any other pub I’ve ever been in, but apart from that this is a perfect small-venue show: it’s not an intimate gig – there’s too much sound and flashing lights for that, but there’s a genuine sense of euphoria amongst us punters: everyone’s happy to be there and just as delighted that everyone else has come down too. It’s a good, tight crowd and an amazing atmosphere that’s only helped by the cosy heat, the soft lighting and a nonchalantly excellent set by Jimmy the Squirrel. They really are ace, as well. The set is heavy on material from their first full-length Whatever the Weather, and older tunes like This One’s for You, while still instantly so recognisable that it’s greeted with a triumphant roar and by some (admittedly now gently tipsy) raised fists, are now performed in that more plaintive, soulful dub-come-reggae sound that’s so evident on Whatever the Weather. It sounds excellent: better than before, perhaps, as they seem to have got even tighter as a band and, for all the affable manner and cheekily self-deprecating wit about whether or not anyone bar Sam knows the setlist, the truth is that they’re actually playing without one, and are so in the groove that you’d never even realise.
China Shop Bull: Rave to the Grave
Posted by jamie on Jul 15, 2011
China Shop Bull
Rave to the Grave – Code 7, 2011
15th July 2011
Jamie
Let’s get something straight: the whole reason Bananatown exists, and, hence, that I’m sitting writing this is that I love ska, punk and ska/punk. China Shop Bull have got all of that and more, which, for this, makes them absolutely perfect. A good mash-up never hurt anyone, after all.
A side-effect of that, though, is that they’re getting all sorts of coverage from other sites and magazines and that they’re playing all sorts of festivals right now. So other folk are out there writing that CSB are brilliant and refreshing and exciting because they’re “not just another copycat Reel Big Fish”, or all about clichés or Hawaiian shirts, or whatever. Let’s just be sorry for those people that they’ve never experienced the Sonic Boom Six, BabyHead, King Prawn, Beat the Red Light, Mouthwash, etc, etc, etc. and then move on, shall we?
See, the thing is, if you ask me, that there’s nothing wrong with bands or music that don’t push the proverbial envelope, or whatever you want to call it. I mean, can you ever have too much two-tone? Or third wave? Or trad?
What we’ve got here, though, is something bold, different, and refreshing. Well, it would be refreshing if it wasn’t so exhilaratingly, exhaustingly mindblowing.
Rave to the Grave is a gnarly, dirty, mash-up of dub/dubstep/punk/rave/rap/rock thing. It takes that idea of going to every tent at a festival and nicking the speakers. But just imagine you got all those speakers back and put them in a circle and then stood in the middle and turned the bass right up. It’s sort of like that, but bigger. It’s got giant wob-wob-wobs and dirty great big guitar riffs, a back-of-throat punk rock vocal and an angry white-man rap vocal that’s a little like Sum 41, but in a good way. Think of the Sums’ Does This Look Infected?
Never Buy the Sun
Posted by jamie on Jul 15, 2011
Bona-fide old-fashioned-style legend Billy Bragg has posted a free download of new song Never Buy the Sun on his official site. It comes with an accompanying statement.
