Friday, August 20, 2010

John Grant & The Big House

Thursday 19th August 2010, Live at the Static Gallery Liverpool

Set list: You Don't Have to (Pretend to Care), Drug, Sigourney Weaver, When Dreams Go to Die, Marz, It's Easier, Out of Space, Silver Platter Club, Queen of Denmark, Child I Never Was, Paint the Moon, TC and Honeybear, Caramel, Fireflies, Chickenbones.

On a night that only summer in England can offer, the Static Gallery offered refuge from the rain, with a night of music that drew its influences from across the pond and sunnier climes.

Liverpool’s The Big House featuring Candie Payne and Paul Molloy, the ex-Zutons guitarist were the opening act. Playing only their second gig, they seemed a little nervous and slightly unnerved by the subdued nature of the audience; though quiet, they were appreciative of their performance.

As a band they are very much work in progress but there is a potential in their tunes, the highlights so far are ‘Pebble Lane’ and ‘Counting Thunder’, songs that have an Americana feel to them. In fact there is something of Cash and Carter about the pair the way they interact on stage.

The one element that probably needs work is the vocal duties; at times Payne is slightly sidelined, It’s like having a Rolls Royce and only using it for trips to the shops. Though Molloy has a great voice, the band work best when Payne is using her vocal range as the set closer is testimony to.

The quiet audience was a different beast for headliner John Grant, back in Liverpool for a second gig in as many months; it was certainly not a case of familiarity breeding contempt.

Touring the brilliant ‘Queen of Denmark’ album that on tonight’s evidence has been taken to the hearts of all in attendance. He introduced each song to rapturous applause that suggested the audience were not just familiar with his latest offering but the older songs from his Czars days too.

Microphone trouble put paid to the slow building opening song ‘You Don't Have to (Pretend to Care)’. That was to be the only misstep of the night, throughout Grant delivered each song with passion and genuinely touched by the reaction that he received from the crowd. The end of tour fatigue he talked about was certainly not evident here.

There were many highlights ‘When Dreams Go to Die’ is a minor chord wonder about thinking a lover could make him happy. His between song banter was endearing after the aforementioned song he suggested the London Underground as that place 'where dreams go to die'.

The majority of his songs are of a similar reflective nature and written with a 70s American soft rock focus, that in the hands of other artists could come across as bland and anodyne. For Grant the subject matter and the lyrical content steers it safely away from that direction.

He avoided the ‘false encore’ and offered the audience the chance to select the closing numbers. Calls for ‘Chickenbones’ were turned down; saying his accompanying guitarist and him did not have an arrangement for that song. Undeterred the audience willed him to do it acapela, which he did, aided by the percussive handclaps of the audience. This almost raised the roof of the venue.

It would be greedy to expect him back in Liverpool as soon as he returned here tonight but when he does return he has set the bar high with this performance.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall

Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall (Windmill)by Luke Haines

As time creeps on, the period of the 1990s is increasingly being seen through sepia-tinted glasses - stand by for the 20th Anniversary celebrations in the next few years. For now, we have a number of books that encapsulate that period written by those at the heart of the madness. Bad Vibes is Luke Haines take on the period, and he is perfectly positioned to offer a viewpoint on the time, as the lead singer of The Auteurs, as a band who were feted along with Suede to be one of the bands of the 1990s.

This represents another retrospective account of the 1990s music scene - I have avoided the word Britpop for reasons that become apparent when you read this book, with all the characters that you would expect to see from this time are mentioned with varying degrees of venom.

Suede, the band that emerged at the same time as Haines’s band, occasionally get barbed comments, though deep down you can almost sense a begrudging admiration for the band. They even get an acknowledgement at the end of the book.

This cannot be said for a number of his other bands of the time Blur, Oasis, Elastica, Verve, Pulp Sleeper and Echobelly all get the sharp end of his pen in equal measure, and for the second successive book I have read about this period, there is a particularly vituperative attack on the Boo Radleys. The biggest band of the generation Oasis, he describes them as a ‘crap new comedy band…[who are] wowing them in the aisles, and they [the fans] swarm on them like flies on shit.’

Even Britpop flag bearer Chris Evans comes under attack having participated in the pilot of TFI Friday, Haines describes Evans as 'a shallow bullying man-child, a jumped-up kissogram-turned-light-entertainment-colossus.’ Even fans of the other bands get a dose of Haines’ venom; he describes Placebo’s fans as ‘screaming ingrates’.
It is not just his peers from the ‘Britpop’ generation provoke Haines’ ire. The The, the 80s band, led by Matt Johnson are portrayed as ‘humourless’. On one early support tour with the band, the Auteurs are demoted to opening at 7.30 just as the doors open, in favour of the ‘unfunny’ comedian Tommy Cockles. This provokes a stand up row and an attack on Johnson’s guitars, which sees the Auteurs subsequently kicked off the tour.

There are the usual tales of bad luck and poor record companies, as well as brushes with cults in Japan and fans who take his songs about terrorism as a call to arms. As is the case of many a rock journal there are tales of excess, the drug busts in Europe. The way that future bust were to be overcome was by posting the drugs onto venues and hotels while in France. This came with the realisation that they had now moved on from a potential possession rap to that of trafficking – albeit to themselves

The tone is angry throughout, but it is not a bitter account. In fact there are some real laugh out loud moments.Whether you have been a fan of the numerous bands that Haines has been associated with down the years, it doesn’t matter this is a brilliant evocation of that period and serves as a handy companion for those ‘wasn’t it great’ journals that have arrived recently and makes this book an indispensable account of the British 90s music scene.

Different for Girls: My True-life Adventures in Pop (Ebury Press)

Different for Girls: My True-life Adventures in Pop (Ebury Press)by Louise Wener

Different for Girls is a book in two parts; first we get the accounts of the awkward teenager growing up in a typically suburban setting that would be chronicled later in her songwriting. There are moments of poignancy through the early chapters, as she discusses the death of her father.

The second part will be recognisable to all who followed music in the 1990s and her days of relative success with Sleeper, which she likens to a ‘one night stand, albeit a great one’.

The reminiscences about music throughout her teenage years seem the more heartfelt, than her days in the public eye. The tales of taping of Top of the Pops on primitive recording devices and putting together tapes of favourite hits are things that most obsessive music fans can identify with.

Throughout the book Wener comes across as likeable figure and not the sassy loudmouthed front women caricature that the music press portrayed her as throughout the 1990s. The book recalls a time pre-Spice Girls and the laughable claims of Girl Power and the title alludes to her brushes with the music press, Wener was pilloried by the music press for acting up to a caricature, the passages though show her to be a likeable character and not one that press portrayed her as. She pours scorn that bands like the Manic Street Preachers that could wish AIDS on Michael Stipe and would not get the same vitriol that she faced from the press.

The book is lightweight in tone and is easily readable. Possibly the one criticism that could be levelled at the book is that it skirts over a number of points like dodgy deals and record company machinations. She also does not dwell too long on the relationships that she had with the guitarist and drummer of the band, who both had to cope wit there own issues of being dismissed as being ‘Sleeperblokes’ by the press.

Though it is worth reading for an insight from one of the leading players about the other leading bands at the time. The glamour of being serenaded by Michael Stipe in front 70,000 people, tucking into Blur’s cheese rider, having Elvis Costello covering one of their songs through to the not so glamorous days of touring Europe with the Boo Radleys.

There is not a sense of bitterness about her pop years and the general feeling that you get from reading the book is an acceptance of the band’s limitations and it was good while it lasted. There are no rock star clichés of going of the rails at the end either, instead you see the seamless switch that she has made with her literary career, where her eye for the 3 minute kitchen drama can now be fully explored.
Overall it is an interesting account from someone at the heart of the action and would be of interest to anyone who had a passing interest in bands from that era.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Invacar

The first Match of the Day 2 of the day of the series recently ran a feature on, things that you don’t see at the match these days. One of the items that caught my eye was cars parked at the pitch-side, which used to be a feature but has died out over the years.

One club that highlights the changing face of football has been Chelsea and its ground Stamford Bridge. The 80s saw Chelsea ply its trade in the top two divisions with a ramshackle ground. Before the days of Chelsea Village and their Russian oligarch, the Shed and the disused greyhounds’ track that surrounded the pitch highlighted a club in decline and a throwback to a different era. With its relatively new incongruous 3 tiered stand, standing out alongside its terraced counterparts. The ground of the 80s was typical of many a top-flight ground of the time - it had potential, a euphemism that estate agents tend to overuse.

What set the Bridge aside from the rest of the topflight was the sandy track that separated supporters from the pitch. Another distinct aspect was that it doubled up as a car park, with the attendant cars giving their owners an advantage of a pitch-side seat to the action. One car was prominent on the touchline at the Bridge and other grounds around the country was the Thundersley Invcar.

Wigan Athletic’s old ground Springfield Park had something of Stamford Bridge about, but on a much smaller scale. The Latics fanzine Mudhutsmedia had a feature glowingly recalling the old Springfield Park and the Covington End where the cars would be parked on the half-circle behind the goal. They reminisced about their non-league days and players such as Billy Sutherland, a Scottish left-back and his habit of bringing the Invacars into play. His wayward shots would bring hoots of laughter and derision when on the many occasions that his shots would cannon off the pitch-side Invacars

One supporter remembers these wayward shots fondly: “It was better than a goal. I can honestly remember one day one of the cars shaking for what seemed like an eternity.”

Even at the tightly packed ground that is Goodison Park I’m sure I can remember seeing footage of an Everton game in the 70s with one being tucked away in the corner of the ground between the Bullens Road and Park End stands.

The name itself was something from a far-flung era – Invacar is a contraction of invalid and car that in these PC times would have been dismissed at the outset.

In March 2003, it became illegal to drive an Invacar on British roads, though they probably died out not so much to do with road safely more to do with the fact that the name of them.

The veteran vehicle could not stand up to modern day safety standards. During the 1960's and 70's the Invacar with its modern fibreglass shell, ice blue colouring and belt drive were produced in the tens of thousands. There were still around 200 Invacars in Britain prior to the 2003 recall and scrapping program.

So in an era of corporate facilites being the alternative to being sat on the terraces spare a though to the Invacar and their alternative views of the game.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Around the Grounds

I have decided to set up a football related blog for the forthcoming season. That can be found here.

The reason was mainly that I have become a bit lazy over the last few years and not really been attending football matches as much as I used to. Recently though I have had thoughts of returning to covering football matches as I did a number of years ago. I enjoyed my time covering non-league and lower league clubs. Mainly as these grounds always had character and were worth closer inspection.

The journey will cover clubs from A to Z and I had the idea came for this blog when I was sat at Moss Lane the home of Altrincham, so obviously A for Altrincham and is the beginning of the journey.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

July

This is always the month in work where the frenetic pace of the year begins to slow down. Another good things about this month is that there is no marking to do either.

Away from work, most of my weekends this month have been spent helping people move house (my girlfriend, as well as a colleague from work). Note to self: put all thoughts of moving house out of mind…it’s far too stressful.

The World Cup finished this month and overall I have to say I was not really that impressed. There was the occasional flash of brilliance, but there were few classic games that will spring to mind in the future. The Final itself was won by Spain, who thankfully overcame Netherland’s more aggressive style of play.

Another aspect of the World Cup that has been a disappointment has been the coverage, especially the level of punditry. They have constantly showed a lack of research, which even a cursory glance at Wikipedia could have overcome. Another thing that annoyed me was the lack of respect for referees from smaller nations…the typical ‘what would they know’ mentality was constant. Invariably they would be the better performers.

The other bugbear of mine was the incessant chatter about Forlan's re-emergence. He had two bad seasons at Man United, since then he has been constantly doing well in Spain, first with Villarreal and then Athletico Madrid. Yet the myopic coverage of the commentators constantly talks as though his career is tainted in some way The coverage of the Tour de France, which started this month, only served to highlight the inadequacies of the football commentators and pundits. As ever ITV’s coverage was superb.

It has been a month of weddings, not mine, but that of two friends. They were nice occasions and I was glad to be a part of them. I have attended three weddings this year, thankfully I have no outstanding invites...otherwise I would be bankrupt.

In music, I went to see the Coral and Cherry Ghost at the Lowry, both bands were on top form. They both are touring in support of new albums, they are pretty good an well worth checking out. Other albums I have bought this month include the National’s album ‘High Violet’, which has been getting good reviews from the music press. I also listened to Nouvelle Vague's ‘Late Night Tales’, and the Mumford & Sons album, which is all over the place at the moment. It is pretty good and can see why they have emerged as a big band in the last few years. No doubt they are going down a storm at the various festivals this year.

I also dug out my XTC albums as it had been a long time since I had given them a spin. Like Prefab Sprout the month before you forget what brilliant work that they produced. In Andy Partridge they have a genius, whose talents are not really appreciated as fully as they should.

By the end of the month the football season returned, well in pre-season form. I foolishly ventured out to watch a pre season friendly at Altrincham, despite the weather looking like a grey day in November. Being at this game inspired me to set up a football blog, which can be found here.