Gigs – Ferocious Blog

Dogging at the Devil’s Arse..

It has been a while.

I’d like to claim that this is because I’ve been carefully considering the future direction of Ferocious Blog, waiting for precisely the right moment to dust it off and start hammering at the keyboard again.

It isn’t. Life happened. Ferocious Dog got bigger, line-ups changed, lockdown happened, and somewhere along the way I stopped being quite as inclined to spend every available weekend charging around the country watching bands and talking to absolutely everybody I encountered.

Then Ferocious Dog announced they were calling it a day.

It was actually Ella who spotted the gig at the Devil’s Arse and acquired the tickets. Which seems fitting, really. Ferocious Dog are fairly directly responsible for me knowing Ella in the first place, after fleetingly meeting her at a gig in Nuneaton and then properly getting to know her and Simon in Harlow all those years ago.

And so, having both finished work a little early, something unusual happened.

I drove.

Those who remember the more active days of this blog may remember this was once entirely normal. There was a time when my car probably knew its own way to Ferocious Dog gigs. These days Ella tends to do most of our driving, but apparently some muscle memories remain.

We arrived in Castleton with loads of time to spare and almost immediately encountered something that felt rather strange.

There were Ferocious Dog fans everywhere.

And we didn’t know them.

Back in the days when this blog was at its most prolific, going to see Ferocious Dog generally meant arriving somewhere and immediately recognising half the people there. Sometimes considerably more than half. The travelling support was a relatively small, mildly dysfunctional family and you’d encounter the same faces in Nottingham, London, Manchester, a field in Derbyshire or wherever else the band happened to be playing.

Ferocious Dog getting to the point where they can fill places with people I’ve never seen before is, of course, a very good thing.

It just made me realise how long we’d been away.

Not that everybody was unfamiliar. On the hunt for food we bumped into Geoff and Adella, before discovering we’d managed to arrive at precisely that awkward point in the afternoon when all the cafés had decided we didn’t need feeding.

Fortunately, there was a chip shop.

While we were waiting Jamie wandered past, and shortly afterwards a succession of little Devil’s Arse 4x4s appeared to collect an absolutely enormous order.

We naturally concluded this must be the Ferocious Dog rider.

Times really have changed.

Suitably fuelled, we headed up towards the Peak Cavern – or the Devil’s Arse, to give it its vastly superior name – and it’s difficult to imagine many more spectacular places to watch a band.

The cave opens up into a vast natural auditorium, with the stage at the far end and the main standing area split across two levels, along with a raised accessible area for people with limited mobility. It looks incredible.

It perhaps isn’t the natural habitat of the kind of raucous Ferocious Dog mosh pit I remember from years gone by, but more on that later.

There were more familiar faces once we were inside. Paul was manning the merch stand, and we probably encountered another dozen or so people we knew as we wandered around. Outside, Neil told us a lovely story about taking his dad to his first Ferocious Dog gig in Stockton, and Ken making a real fuss of him.

And that, more than anything, was always what this whole thing was about.

The music was obviously important – it would have been a bit weird otherwise – but Ferocious Dog somehow created this enormous network of people around them. People met at gigs, became friends, went on adventures together, formed relationships, discovered other bands and generally became embedded in one another’s lives.

I started this blog because I liked a band and thought more people should know about them.

I ended up with lifelong friends.

And Ella.

Anyway. Enough misty-eyed nostalgia. There were bands to watch.

First up were Shanks’ Pony, who of course are no strangers to these pages themselves. These days they’re also great friends of ours, which meant I was simultaneously delighted to see them supporting Ferocious Dog in such an incredible venue and just a tiny bit annoyed that Darwin’s Rejects hadn’t managed to wangle our way onto the bill too.

I’m sure I dealt with this with enormous maturity.

We headed down to the front for their set, and they were superb.

Getting a live sound right in what is, fundamentally, a massive room made out of rock presumably presents one or two challenges. There was a little crunchiness to the sound at times, but Shanks’ absolutely smashed their half-hour set out of the park.

Rollercoaster provided one of those wonderful moments when the audience properly takes over, the singalong echoing around the cave, before the inevitable closing carnage of Moshpit Waltz. It’s always a highlight of a Shanks’ set and, frankly, if you’re going to finish a set in a cave then you might as well do it with a song encouraging everyone to hurl themselves around a bit.

There’s something particularly satisfying about watching your mates play to a big crowd and absolutely nail it. Although admittedly it does nothing whatsoever to alleviate thoughts of we could’ve supported this, you know.

Then it was time for Ferocious Dog.

And they were on really good form.

For us, unsurprisingly, it was the older songs that particularly hit the spot. The Glass, Quiet Paddy and Too Late were all very welcome, while Freeborn John proved that reports of the demise of the more energetic Ferocious Dog crowd may have been slightly exaggerated when Kaysharr got herself up on the surfboard.

Some traditions, happily, remain intact.

But it was probably the songs from From Without that landed hardest.

That album arrived right in the middle of what I suppose was our peak Ferocious Dog period. We were travelling all over the place, this blog was being updated at a frankly unsustainable rate, and the band and the people surrounding it occupied a fairly ridiculous proportion of our social lives.

So hearing Gallows Justice again was particularly welcome. There are songs which you simply like, and there are songs which somehow become attached to a particular period of your life. A fair chunk of From Without falls firmly into the latter category for us.

And, of course, there could really only be one way to finish.

Slow Motion Suicide.

There are songs that acquire a significance beyond the recording itself because of everything you associate with hearing them live, and that one carries an awful lot of memories with it. Hearing it blasting around the Devil’s Arse was a pretty spectacular way to round things off.

We also discovered a useful Devil’s Arse gig-going tip during the evening: the sound is actually better if you move further back. Perhaps that’s the acoustics of the cave doing their thing, or perhaps standing immediately in front of a large collection of speakers has never actually been the optimum way of appreciating musical subtlety.

Who knew?

Moving back also gave us a chance to survey the crowd and notice another difference from the Ferocious Dog gigs of old.

Where were all the mosh pits?

There were certainly flashes of the old chaos – Kaysharr had already demonstrated that – but there was nothing quite resembling some of the seething masses of bodies we remembered.

Perhaps the unusual layout of the venue discouraged it. Perhaps the Ferocious Dog demographic is changing.

Or perhaps we’re all just getting old.

There was a time when getting battered around a Ferocious Dog mosh pit was an absolutely standard component of an evening out. These days I found myself looking at the space where one might have developed and wondering whether my back would actually tolerate it.

Character development, apparently.

It would be easy to get overly nostalgic about all of this. To look back at the tiny venues, familiar faces and chaotic weekends and conclude that something has been lost as Ferocious Dog have grown.

But that wouldn’t really be fair.

Things change.

The band got bigger. People came and went. New people discovered them. Lockdown interrupted the habits we’d built our lives around. I became less relentlessly sociable than I once was. Other things came along – not least ending up playing in a band myself rather than merely standing around watching them.

The old scene didn’t disappear.

It just evolved.

And standing in a cave in Castleton, watching Ferocious Dog with Ella, Shanks’ Pony having just played a storming support set, surrounded by a mixture of old friends and hundreds of people I’d never met before, felt like a pretty good demonstration of that.

When I created Ferocious Blog back in 2015, the About page ended with:

“Other than that there’s no grand plan – let’s just see where it leads!”

Well, now I know some of where it led.

It led to ridiculous journeys around the country. To festivals and fields and pubs and venues I’d never otherwise have visited. To countless bands I might never have discovered. To friendships that have long since ceased to have anything to do with whichever band happens to be on a stage.

Ultimately, it led to a life that would look meaningfully different if I’d never encountered Ferocious Dog.

And it led to Ella.

Which isn’t bad going for a music blog.

This isn’t quite the end, either.

We have tickets – again courtesy of Ella – for Ferocious Dog’s final Rock City show in November.

Because it would be rude not to, really.

And maybe, just maybe, there’s one last mosh pit in me.

Assuming my back’s up to it.

Freeborn Al / 23rd August 2026 / Band, Gigs, Music, Other Bands

The Highs and Lows of Being Normal..

I never cease to be mesmerised by Warren Ireland.

Given that I have the privilege of spending a few hours rehearsing with him each week that might sound surprising. Despite having been privy to some of his writing process with Darwin’s Rejects, how he can conceive of, and perform, such a myriad of musical layers as one person is – frankly – mind-blowing. Even to do it in a studio, then consider the fact he can do it live with the pressure of an onlooking crowd. It’s just wow.

Here’s me generally feeling very pleased with myself for being able to lay down some very simplistic bass on our tracks, haha!

Normally an 80-odd mile round trip to the Black Market Venue in Warsop would feel like a bit of a bind on a Sunday evening but we weren’t going to miss an opportunity to see him showcase the release of his latest album, The Highs and Lows of Being Normal. Regrettably weekend faffing around meant we missed the support acts, which was sad but also necessary as we’d had a busy Saturday already. The curtains were across the room and side stage being utilised for an intimate crowd eagerly anticipating the main act.

If you get hold of a CD from Warren of the album (which you should do), then you’re treated to a book-ends and intermingled skit tracks that aren’t present on the online streaming sites – plus you can’t get it beautifully signed and dedicated on Spotify or Apple Music. So buy a CD even if like me you’ve got no means of playing them probably beyond a computer somewhere, then stream it as well! I’m not going to describe these, you’ll have to get a copy and find them out for yourself!

Paddy Said opens, such a powerful track built around an irresistibly catchy little guitar riff – but layered with chords, beatbox and of course the vocals it comes to life. Lyrically it charts sage bedside advice presumably from Paddy about acceptance and how straightforward it really ought to be to make the world a nicer and friendlier place with a bit more tolerance. Layers of backing vocals backdrop a lovely intricate instrumental picked on guitar, before into another soaring round of choruses then an outro. A strong start.

Happy in my Skin carries on the bouncy start – a long initial opening verse which, if you take a moment to think about it, as well as remembering the myriad of instrumental layers, there’s a ridiculous amount of lyrical content to remember too. More use of reverb and backing vocals on choruses than we’ve typically seen before from Warren works really well, the lyrics are an introspective examination of how we’re all flawed and have perhaps regrettable elements of our past – but ultimately we can only work from now to be the best version of ourselves!

Something So Right starts with spooky backing vocals before the gentler instrumentation kicks in, we’re onto a more chilled out section you can get lost in the lovely little picked guitar bits over a ponderous rhythm – whilst the charming lyrics are a heartfelt tribute to the challenges of developing a relationship – but ultimately the refrain of ‘I don’t want to let you walk away’ shows the underlying desire to make things work. It’s a mostly lovely sentimental track.

Make It Out takes us down a different path – acoustic guitar tricks you with gentle melodies before a full on drum and bass assault of beatbox is unleashed. You might question if he can deliver that live – he can! The impassioned singing and guitar is actually not as pacey as the beats would suggest. Backing vocal melodies are brought in with some singalongable ‘la la’s’ – who knew drum and bass with a singalong bit could be a thing? The picked guitar solo in the bridge sounds almost Spanish guitary. There’s such a lot going on here, but despite what sounds like a description of disparate things that don’t belong together blend into a beautiful absorbing creation. Writing duties here credited also to Jordan Phatboy White.

Heroes pulls us back to acoustic driven chords before gentler percussion and picking is overlaid before semi-rapped-semi-sung lyrics kick in. The over-riding feel is lighthearted but underpinned with the troubled state of the world, and a need for some kind of hero to save the day. We get more lovely finger picking for the bridge, and of course the chorus of ‘Superman or Iron Man‘ gives a nice nod to the fairly frequent appearance of Warren’s Superman dressing gown on stage!

Home is a punchy lament to something I’m sure we can all relate to at times, that overwhelming desire to go home whether it be from a workplace or another place. It’s an anthem for the disaffected, which I’m sure most of us are at least some of the time – but I can imagine when you’re a full on creative the daily grind of a typical workplace must be absolutely intolerable. This is a multi-layered foot-stomper, a steady beat and chord pattern overlaid by more intricate instrumentation and lyrics. Highly relatable but by creating something you can have a dance to it’s made a positive out of frustration.

Woke Snowflake is gentle musically with some vitriol in the lyrics, which I like. Woke is a really interesting slur, my understanding of the term is somebody with empathy for others. That sounds like a virtue not an insult to me! Backing vocals start us off, then guitars and beats before the lyrics, there’s some clever wordplay in here which appeals to me – playing back the kind of vitriolic bile you see increasingly on platforms like Twitter under the auspices of Elon Musk, it’s a creative way of addressing something that is really quite damaging.

Scrolling By is ludicrously catchy – strums back way for beats, strums and picking before the lyrics kick in. It’s a pandemic that affects all of us in the Smart Phone era – I’m definitely guilty of it, questioning the need for the latest and greatest phone – and of course, how much time we spend staring glazed face at banal crap whilst real life passes you by. This is – even by Warren’s standards – an absolute word-fest, he gives himself a nice break before the final chorus kicks in, again another that gives you an irresistible urge to tap your foot at the very least whilst it’s playing.

Letter to Heaven is a change in mood and pace, beautiful acoustic guitar work gives a simple backdrop for really heartfelt vocals. Backing vocals on the chorus heighten the emotion, there’s almost a full cycle of grief here – loss, pain, fondness and gratitude for having known them. It’s so powerful in its relative simplicity, stripped back raw and brave and allowing the narrative to take centre-stage. It was mesmerising to hear this live at the weekend too, although perhaps not one he’ll include often in shorter festival sets. Truly beautiful.

Dear Me arrives just as you’re recovering your sensibilities and threatens to tip you over the emotional edge again. Again, acoustic guitar provides the platform, this time the vocals are more impassioned, a combination of singing and rapping, interspersed with some finger-picking instrumentals. It’s Warren having a harsh word with himself, a reflection of self-worth (or lack thereof at times), reflecting on achievements he’s reached and to remember he’s his own worst critic. The vocal delivery brings Scroobius Pip to mind for me, which is a high compliment as I absolutely adore his lyrical writing and delivery. As the song builds so do the power of the vocals. It’s lovely. I hope he listens to himself!

Man Among the Damned is a beautiful arrangement with Martin Borrett providing piano along with Warren’s guitar, again we have powerful and less pacey vocals. More self-reflection, the struggle for a sense of purposes or to have a plan – but there’s metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel as the narrative builds (or maybe light through the clouds?). Backing vocals lift the choruses and I suppose it’s a neat reminder that somebody as objectively full of talent as Warren could be wracked with insecurity, it’s a relief to hear some kind of progression.

We end with a reprise of Paddy Said, but slowed and with accompaniment both from Martin Borrett on piano and also Jared Harding with some rousing trumpet as the track ends. This is slowed down and contemplative, it’s such a perfect way to close out the album – almost as it began, at least in subject if not in tone – that catchy riff slowed down becomes a beautiful melody and you’re eased back either to the beginning or the end. It’s a clever way to close out it leaves you feeling relaxed but uplifted after quite the rollercoaster of pace and sentiment.

Highs and Lows you might say, but exceptional – not mere normal.

The Highs and Lows of Being Normal is available on all the usual streaming platforms, and I strongly urge you to get yourself to one of Warren‘s gigs or contact him for a CD too.

Freeborn Al / 19th November 2024 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

A night for revolution

So by now I’m sure you’ve seen the awesome video that accompanies Ferocious Dog’s new single, Pentrich Rising. I was lucky enough to be asked to pop along to be an extra a few weeks ago, and was of course sworn to silence ahead of the release. I was really looking forward to being a torch-wielding would-be revolutionary, emerging from the trees to provide back up to the band who of course played the part of the ringleaders, but on the night ended up taking the metaphorical King’s Shillings and becoming a member of the army. Bad times! Although it did render me more visible the final cut I suppose! It was great fun to be involved in a small way and witness just how much work and preparation goes into what is really quite a short video!

Suddenly last week the message thread where we’d been organising the video shoot piped up again, which was interesting. It was Ken inviting us to pop over to Derby Gaol on the single launch day for a short private gig to mark the release date of the video. Launch day of course was the anniversary of the rising all those years ago, and the location of course was the very location where the story ended for the ringleaders of that attempted revolution, on the end of a rope and then a beheading. How exciting was that? Obviously I immediately cleared my calendar for that evening and looked forward to it!

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 10th June 2021 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Videos

Hibernation escape..

I just looked and it’s been well over a year since my last post on here – that’s not entirely down to lockdown, of course, I’d slowed down on the blogging front anyway. Gosh, a lot has changed in the world in that time hasn’t it? Since excitedly posting about B-Sydes, there’s been some kind of global pandemic which basically put paid to live music, in case you hadn’t noticed, so it was really exciting a few weeks ago when Joel set about organising a Covid-safe garden gig as part of his college assessment and asked me to pop along.

The weather threatened to (literally) put a dampener on things, but we are hardy souls and came armed with waterproofs and brollies. The stage was set – some cunningly placed pallets under a gazebo housing the PA and the lighting, as we arrived some last minute sound-checking was underway, and video cameras set up with fellow students diligently getting themselves organised to take recordings of the performances that would follow. Background music was piped through the PA whilst we awaited the acts to begin.

First up on stage was Abi Greenwood – you can tell I’ve not been in the habit of writing up events as I will be terrible in not recollecting any song titles (although I did purloin Joel’s set list so will get his!), I didn’t take many photos either. Joel cued up a backing track and how can I describe Abi? She has a wonderfully understated but beautifully tonal voice, then builds up to more empassioned singing – it’s very effective. The performed a couple of songs to get us warmed up and it went down very well indeed. We’d set up an arrangement of umbrellas with our camping chairs underneath to get a good vantage point – the rain didn’t actually last that long!

After a break with more background music Kirsty Wilkes took the stage and performed two pieces along to a backing track on her flute. It sounded great, I didn’t recognise the songs (but then I probably wouldn’t!), but it was melodic and lifting. As I said to her and Joel after the music was finished, surely there’s an opportunity there for them to work on some performances together, I could imagine some nice flute arrangements going brilliantly with his guitar and singing!

Warren Ireland was next – he needs no introduction for regular readers (if there’s any left!) of these pages. He’s a mesmerising performer at the best of times, and you could tell he’d been champing at the bit to be performing again. In acoustic guise with no looping he put on a fabulous 40ish minutes – mixing up covers from the likes of Nick Parker, Phat Bollard and Samantics with his own songs. It was so good to see and hear him perform again – I’m pleased that in this enforced break from live music he was my first familiar act to have seen to break my musical fast. He’s such a talented bugger.

After a brief interlude for the Fun Draw, we’d all been given raffle tickets on entry – I didn’t win but that’s okay, it was time for the headline act. Joel Fox. I’ve been lucky enough to see Joel progress as a performer over the last couple of years or so. Early performances were good, but unconfident sometimes (which is perfectly understandable!). Clearly he’s been putting lots of practice in over lockdown but it must be nerve-wracking to get up in front of a crowd – even if it’s a modest socially distanced one comprising of friends – after all this time. If it was, you couldn’t tell.

He’s started to develop that most difficult element of stage-craft, the between song banter, to great effect. Sometimes self-depreciating, and usually funny he cast the image of someone comfortable being up there which wasn’t always so easy to project when he was younger. His demeanour and confidence is palpable now, and justified by great work with his guitar and vocal delivery. It made me feel quite proud by proxy!

Opening the set with a Gaz Brookfield song was always likely to go down well with me – he picked Pen to Paper and did a great job of it. Technically it only has three chords, but I noticed he does all those mystifying randomly adding an extra note somewhere to add a bit of texture and interest. A couple of originals were up next, If We’re Going Down and then Losing Streak – they’re cracking compositions, pleasing chord progressions and rhythms with heartfelt lyrics. You can definitely see the influence of some of our festival staples in Joel’s writing but he puts his own stamp on them too.

Another festival favourite got another cover – Nick Parker’s The Conjuror was up next, and done beautifully. It was a request from Joel’s mum Angela and I’m glad she did! Then a run of three original songs, Fighting Fire with Folk, Free (I think this was the one he’d only written recently as was worrying about playing without making a mistake, I didn’t detect any – of course, any seasoned performer will tell you they aren’t mistakes, just reinterpretations!) and Why Run. I really enjoyed them all, hopefully he gets the opportunity to do some recording soon. There’s definitely material enough for an EP on evidence tonight.

Nick Parker got another appearance-by-proxy with a rousing cover of Never Been to Dublin – one I’ve played along on cajon before, it has a tricky switch from 4:4 time to 3:4 time which Joel navigated without issue (I suppose there is a clue in the lyrics as it arrives, to be fair, but even so!), giving us time for an encore which was roundly and genuinely called for by the crowd, and that was original You and Me. A splendid set – finished off with Joel stepping off the stage to perform a Gaz Brookfieldesque jump.

On the Messenger thread set up to organise the evening next door neighbour Nicky asked if he was taking any further requests – I offered to ask the question, when I did indeed ask if he was up for playing some Spice Girls it prompted the guitar to be unplugged. I think we had to take that as a no! A great evening’s entertainment though – not just because we’ve been starved of it for about 15 months either. It was so good to enjoy the performances and the company of friends I’ve not seen in far too long.

A triumphant evening, and with the UK tentatively stepping closer toward restrictions being further lifted there’s hope for more and more opportunities for us to enjoy more live events and – more crucially – the chance for musicians to start getting out there and doing their thing and earning a living doing what they love. I can’t wait! Big thanks to Joel, Warren, Kirsty and Ali for confirming what I already suspected that I’ve been missing the joy of live music really rather a lot!

Freeborn Al / 16th May 2021 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos

B-Sydes myself with excitement..

The latest of my installments of procrastinating like a professional procrastinator! It was back on 13th December that Ella and I headed to the excellent Portland Arms in Cambridge for B-Sydes‘ album launch gig, which is where I first picked up said album – Self-Sabotage – along with a bonus EP. It was an awesome night, and a great first chance to see Ben in as a frontman to a band rather than a solo acoustic guy.

It’s funny really – Ben is part of a pantheon of solo-acoustic performers wot have bands, Gaz Brookfield, Nick Parker, and Jake Martin – all artists I encountered on their own but translate rather brilliantly to a full band setting (although bastard-timing has so far prevented me seeing Jake in this guise). After the gig I grabbed an envelope from Ben before hitting the road, as ever frustrated modern cars don’t have CD players any more – but eventually getting to rip it to my phone, and get stuck in.

That said, there’s a few songs here that have been on his set list for a while so felt like familar friends, and of course fresh in the mind was the launch gig which showcased a number of the songs here. It’s a proper triumph – the kind of clever lyrics and catchy melodies you’d expect from Ben, drenched in personal meaning much of which might go over my head – but moments of brutal exposure that really does encapsulate the most honest of art.

It opens with Witching Hour, with an atmospheric introduction the title demands – guitar and fiddle interweave without lyrics, giving a haunting lead in to bouncy guitar and drums of Crutches backed by some singalong-ready Whoa ohs – the lyrics are self-depreciatingly autobiographical, instruments fade out with percussion remaining, then back in again – it’s a pacey start after the ethereal introduction.

Good Times starts with palm-muted guitar and vocals before the rest of the band kicks in. It’s a bit pessimistic sounding until the chorus kicks in – it’s a great message, sure – things might be a bit grim (bear in mind the first time I heard this song was the day after the election!), but there’s always good times if you care to look for them, and they usually involve taking in a bit of live music! Another singalong (over a banjo track) opportunity presents itself here too!

This Was My City Once has become a staple of live sets for a while so it was almost a surprise to realise it hadn’t already made it onto a recording! Fleshed out with violin and band backing doesn’t mask any of its potency, it’s a proper anthem. It might seem odd documenting a relationship ending and reclaiming a place after that, but I can kind of understand that – and if you’ve seen it live you’ll know there’s a Whoa-oh-oh singalong opportunity which shouldn’t be passed up. It translates bloody well to a full band track.

All at Sea has a heavy start, all electric guitars and empassioned vocals. There’s some tricksy pace-changes in here too to flummox the singer-alonger in the car I’ve found (doesn’t take much in my case!). I really like the bass-chugging middle-eight (maybe that’s what it is) repeating the line “I tried my best but I can see that you were never really listening to me” before it eventually builds to a tumultuous climax before dropping out into a gentle guitar-picked end.

Safe and Sound is back to acoustic guitar-led and husky vocals – ruminating on our tendencies to play down pitfalls we encounter, large or small. Violins joins and the vocals dance around some of the cleverest lyrics on the album – a really sad song, it makes you sad for the person singing it but also for yourself a little as you recognise the behaviours it paints through its melody and words. Really moving.

Epiphanies changes the mood with some chugging electric guitar, bass and drums with drawn out vocals laid over. A proper rock number, I’m trying to do that dangerous thing of thinking of what it reminds me of because it definitely evokes something – maybe a hint of Placebo in there somewhere, but there’s something else that’s evading me. I really like it, despite it painting quite a bleak picture in my head at least (I am a grumpy sod at heart).

Propaganda is similarly electric driven by more upbeat immediately – guitar solo work over chugging chords, drums and bass leads into the vocals. The subject probably isn’t as upbeat as the music – it speaks of the isolation probably with modern politics, with smears, with lies, with the futility in trying to rail against it, of the rush to the kind of horrible ‘I’m all right, Jack’ individualism we seem to be seeing. Ultimately rather than war, going to the pub probably is the more viable solution. There’s a drum solo in here (is it a solo if there’s still vocals? Drum duet? Either way – it rocks!).

The acoustic guitar is back for 5 Minutes. Once the vocals kick in the percussion kicks in with a basic beat then the bass kicks in before the chorus unleashes into a full on assault followed with a guitar solo. Lyrically this track gives the album its title, it’s a combination of a lament and celebration of a seeming inability to make sensible life-decisions I think (or maybe what are perceived sensible life-decisions). Sometimes you do have to trade-off what the world sees as sensible and what’s good for your soul.

Hobbies starts with acoustic guitar work and gentle vocals – this is a proper heart-wrencher. Having seen a dear friend go through a loved one going missing, the thought processes documented here are all too familiar and incredibly poignant – only picked out more with the sorrowful guitar and guitar harmonics during a brief instrumental section. I don’t know the back story behind this, but it makes me just want to give Ben a big hug. I will next time I see him.

Quicksand brings the album to a close – staccatoed percussion (if that’s a thing) with typical B-Sydes cleverness going a long way up the fret board. It’s almost like Ben’s duetting with himself with the two different vocal styles – eventually the rest of the band kicks in building the song into quite a wall of sound. As the track builds and builds it drops down to a chant of “I’m stood here waiting. Wait, is this quicksand? Hoping that you’ll pull me out” before the instrumentation drops out to a clap-track and the odd guitar pluck. An epic finale to cap off a superb album.

Variety of pace and musical layers – and all underpinned with personal heartfelt and clever lyrics. Then there’s the matter of the cheeky bonus EP that I wasn’t expecting but might’ve been a perk for pre-ordering the album (I should really pay more attention to these things!).

It’s called City, Sea and Mountains which makes a lot of sense – as we’ve three tracks on here – all acoustic renderings, two of which feature in the previous verbal diarrhoea I’ve blurted out above – This was my City once gets the more familiar treatment for anyone who’s seen Ben live over the last couple of years, and All at Sea makes for an interesting translation into just a stripped back acoustic track – it works really well.

Which leaves – to complete the title – Mountains – which is an excellent cover of Jake Martin’s Mountains. This works really well with a bit of accompanying banjo. Jake’s a really clever song-writer too, and the fusion of this and B-Sydes’ interpretation is quite intoxicating (not to mention the surprise ending which I won’t spoil, but it’s awesome!). All in all, I’m very happy with my musical haul from nearly a month ago.

If you’d like to avail yourself of this musical feast then you can do so here. You really oughta. It’s only £7 for a digital download or a tenner for a CD!

Freeborn Al / 4th January 2020 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos

Is this the end of it all?

It feels like it sometimes doesn’t it? The 12th December is certainly a decisive moment for the sentiment – not just because of the general election, certainly the most divisive and in my time as an eligible voter it feels like the most important and scary – but because Lawrence County (formerly DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show) are launching their new single.

Hauntingly melodic and foreboding in equal measure – it strikes the perfect tone for how many are feeling in as the countdown to the election looms nearer. The polls – whilst not always a reliable bellweather – predict a continuation of the policies that have led us to where we are.

The world is on a knife-edge of recoverability from human abuses, domestically we have ever increased disparity in wealth and, whether you favour EU membership or otherwise, a ruinous and calamitous divorce and years of negotiations from a weakened and desperate position that puts our very health service at risk is probably not what the majority of ‘the majority’ voted for back in 2016.

But anyway, I didn’t start this blog to talk about politics – there are plenty of others out there that do a much more thorough job, and I’m not self-important enough to think my musings are likely to make anyone think any differently to how they do already – this is about music, and here is some!

So come the evening of 12th December if you fancy something other than sitting in and worrying about the outcome of the ballot box counts, then you could pop yourself down to the single launch event at The Running Horse and sink a few consolatory pints.

Freeborn Al / 8th December 2019 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Politics, Videos

#upthebabs

Pretty Babs haven’t been slouching since they released their debut album, Graffiti Lights, back in 2017 (I had to check then, in my head it was only last year!) – with an ever-growing gig schedule they’ve released a new EP, #upthebabs – building on their debut by adding Craig to the ranks to beef up their guitar sound.

For a bunch of fellas so young they have a mature gritty rock sound – the kind of thing Sam’s powerful voice has been literally crying out for since I first used to go see his acoustic evenings up at the Brown Cow in Mansfield. Coupled with the clear bond of friendship the four of them have, it makes for a really engaging live show.

Most recently I caught them at the always awesome Ey Up Mi Duck festival last month, and have subsequently been procrastinating about writing this review having acquired their EP there (thanks Andrew!). Oftentimes I find that my favourite live bands don’t always translate to recording – not that I don’t enjoy them, but it can lose the buzz you get from a live performance.

Not so here – clearly the band are careful to work with producers who aren’t going to smooth the edges too much when they hit the studio. Guitars snarl, bass thumps and drums crash across these five tracks, paces change and they give the perfect backing to counterpoint Sam’s voice.

The Fall opens gently before the main guitar riff kicks in joined by bass and drums, as the vocals join the guitar slows right up. There’s pace-changes in the pre-chorus leading into the chorus too before a treat of a guitar solo – the lyrics talk of lighting beacons and I suspect echoes of the horrendous political turmoil we find ourselves in at the moment. It’s a strong start!

Tumbleweed comes with an accompanying video (well, okay, it’s more of an image!) – after initial guitar it’s very percussion led with some overlaid guitar intracies. Almost hypnotic verses are pretty much driven by Brad’s drumming with building guitar and bass input before a rousing chorus kicks in. There’s a nice instrumental bridge here too showcasing pretty much everyone before the backing almost drops out but for subtle guitar and vocals – then everything’s back for a final rousing chorus. More referencing to lighting of fires too!

Blue kicks right in with vocals and guitar strums and occasional stabs, then some drum fills kick in to the full track. If there’s an underpinning of political influences in the previous tracks then here it becomes much more overt “It’s such a pity she’s a Tory girl” is the lament throughout but this is a real barnstormer of a track – you could get a good sweat on having a dance to it.

Roadrunner kicks straight in after a cymbal count in – I do think they missed a trick to have a “meep meep” in there, but maybe it’s not about a cartoon bird trying to constantly foil a not-so-wily coyote! But on listening, perhaps not the right mood to set – we have heavy chugging guitar here and empassioned vocals – definitely much heavier, with an unfeasibly catchy riff following through most of the song.

Then finishing up with with the quieter lament of Death of the Free Man, starting with deliciously intricate finger picking and heartfelt vocals, which you can sample a live rendering of below. I’d half expected it to kick in with the full band – but even as Sam’s vocals lift for the chorus the guitar picking is all that accompanies him, and I think that’s the right call for this song – and rounds off nicely the multi-facets that Pretty Babs bring to the party.

Of all the unsigned bands on the circuit I’ve grown to know and love over the last few years, I’ve said before and I’ll say again that in Pretty Babs they’re the one that I could imagine crossing over to become more mainstream – and I certainly don’t mean that as an insult, but they have such an accomplished style that you could see landing well with a more mainstream audience.

You can catch Pretty Babs at The Bodega in Nottingham on 15th June with a glittering array of amazing support acts too for the sum of just ten English pounds. It promises to be a really awesome night – I for one am looking forward to it very much. You can avail yourself of a copy of #upthebabs from the band at a gig – and presumably digital releases will follow.

Freeborn Al / 22nd May 2019 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

The adrenaline of denizen..

I’ve been looking forward to Funke and the Two Tone Baby’s new album – Denizen – ever since he’s talked about creating it. There’s a few familar songs there from the last year or so of gigs which have evolved over time, and some new ones – and unusually we had the opportunity to hear them all live before getting home to eagerly listen to the recorded version. Playing the last date of his tour at Bodega in Nottingham last Sunday we all crammed in to see what the fuss was about.

First up though was support act She, Robot – also known as Suzy Condrad – she took to the stage in a sparkly top behind a console of gubbins much like Funke does, and frankly she had me won over from the off. To start a gig just up the road from where Xylophone Man used to busk (although he actually played a glockenspeil) with the said same instrument, looping it into the mic to open the set with Whose Army, was a sure fire way to win me over.

She effortlessly builds layers of sound and vocals to build an ethereal soundscape – really clever stuff, and really engaging. Seven Bells was up next, then a Ukulele makes an appearance for Walk of Shame. A sublime cover of Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control was up next, one of my favourite songs which always means a cover needs to tread carefully – no fear on that score, it was a compelling interpretation. Breakdown was next, then Fragments and finally forthcoming release Brains.

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Freeborn Al / 27th April 2018 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

The Pests from the West beat the Beast from the East..

In true British fashion social and mainstream media alike was awash with perhaps rather exaggerated fears regarding the weather, casting doubt on whether the Warsop leg of The Leylines tour would happen. It’s true some areas of the country really were hammered, but certainly North Nottinghamshire was okay, it put paid to a few acts making it, but some redrafting by Dave and some rearrangements meant a splendid day of music would definitely go ahead – with some hardy souls camping in the car park from the night before!

For our own part, both Ella and Morgan had fairly chunky distances to come – Ella and Becki drove up to mine the night before in occasionally grim conditions, with Nick and Morgan joining us in the morning in plenty of time for a sit and chill before we convoyed up to The Black Market Venue without incident – we could’ve probably squeezed into one car but it proved to come in handy later having two. Once at the venue there was time to catch up with folk in the bar side before the main room was open.

First up were Darwin’s Rejects – we got Ella and Morgan’s stuff sorted by their stage as they struck up with Phat Bollard’s Millionnaires – I must say they were sounding the most tight I’ve seen ’em, and as a fellow box banger I did have slight envy of Rob’s cymbal/tambourine stand! A Levellers section comprised Sell Out and then a Leylines style arrangement of Fifteen Years with the slow build up. Back to grassroots and Ferocious Dog’s Unconditional and Headsticks Cold Grey English Skies were up next.

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Freeborn Al / 4th March 2018 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

How now, Brown Cow!

This blog post is nearly as horrendously late as I was a week ago to the Roots Acoustic Evening at the Brown Cow in Mansfield, it meant I managed to miss the host, Phil Ashmore and the first act on too, Alan Robinson – but luckily my epic day of driving got me there in time for Sam Jones. I’ve not seen Sam in solo acoustic guise in ages, and it’s always a treat (and in truth, why I feel motivated to write a blog post more than anything, especially in this venue where I first saw him!).

So once I’d got myself loaded up and my gear out the car (chances are I wouldn’t have made the trek from home to Stevenage and then to Mansfield, but we were playing, you see, under the guise of The Carrot Spies since Kev couldn’t make it, sadly – and frankly we aren’t The Star Copiers without a full compliment of members – lucky we’ve got a gigantic list of anagrams isn’t it?

But anyway, the amazing Sam Jones was up first – he’s such a talented fella. He was standing in for his dad, Mark, who was feeling under the weather (Sam himself complained of feeling rough too, but it didn’t bring his performance down any that I could see!). He kicked off with Death of the Free Man, then that lovely cover of Bee’s Wing he busts out for his Mum, Kathie – who was in the crowd to enjoy it, always lovely to see! I took to Facebook live for this as it’s one of Ella’s favourite songs too (I couldn’t resist getting Lucy in on the act!).

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Freeborn Al / 25th February 2018 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Photos, Politics