Issue 59 / September 2015

FREEIssue 59September 2015Strange Collective by Nata MoraruStrange CollectiveBathymetryCavalier SongTess ParksLiverpool PsychFest Guide

THURS 17 SEPT 7pmRACHAELYAMAGATATHURS 17 SEPT 7pmBLACK RIVERSSAT 19 SEPT 7pmTHE ISRIGHTSTHURS 24 SEPT 10pm 18+COLOURSFRI 25 SEPT 6pmWEIGHTSTOCKFRI 25 SEPT 7pmSUGARKINGSAT 26 SEPT 7pmLOUIS BERRYTHURS 1 OCT 7pmETCHESSAT 3 OCT 7.30pmMARTINSTEPHENSON& THE DAINTEESSAT 3 OCT 10pm 18+CHIBUKUJULIO BASHMORE+ MORE TBASAT 24 OCT 6.30pmGENTLEMAN’SDUB CLUBSUN 25 OCT 7pmTHE MILKTHURS 29 OCT 7pmMY BABYTUES 3 NOV 7pmTHE CORONASWEDS 11 NOV 7pmSTRIKINGMATCHESTHURS 12 NOV 7pmBERNIE TORMÉSAT 14 NOV 7pmSAINT RAYMONDSUN 15 NOV 7pmEZRA FURMANWEDS 18 NOV 7.30pmKEYWESTSAT 21 NOV 7pmBRIX & THEEXTRICATEDTHURS 26 NOV 10pm 18+COLOURSSAT 28 NOV 7.30pmDODGYSUN 29 NOV 7pmNOTHINGBUT THIEVESFRI 4 DEC 7pmHANDS LIKEHOUSESSAT 5 DEC 7pmIAN PROWSE& AMSTERDAMFRI 11 DEC 7pmTHE BALCONYFT. KENNY HOLLAND& WESLEY STROMBERGFROM EMBLEM3SAT 12 DEC 7pmTHE ZOMBIESBUY YOUR TICKETSFOR ALL SHOWSIN OUR BAR & KITCHENWITH NO BOOKING FEE!MON 5 OCT 7.30pmGUNTHURS 8 OCT 7pmTHE BOHICASFRI 9 OCT 7pmALEXANDERFRI 16 OCT 7pmTHE SMITHSINDEEDTHURS 22 OCT 10pm 18+COLOURS90SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH

25+26 SEPTEMBER 2015camp and furnacE - blade factory - DISTRICTbaltic triangle, liverpoolSPIRITUALIZEDFACTORY FLOOr. THE HEADS. HOOKWORMS.BLANCK MASS. DESTRUCTION UNIT.THE HOLYDRUG COUPLE. INDIAN JEWELRY.JACCO GARDNER. JANE WEAVER. K-X-P.Artist In Residence ANTON NEWCOMBE.KAREN GWYER. DENGUE FEVER.CARLTON MELTON. FEVER THE GHOST.LUMERIANS. BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB.tess parks + a nton Newcombe. GALA DROP.SACRED BONES RECORDS VS BYM RECORDS.CHICOS DE NAZCA. THE CULT OF DOM KELLER. DEATH & VANILLA.ETIENNE JAUMET. THE FEELING OF LOVE. THE FLOWERS OF HELL.FOREVER PAVOT. FUMAÇA PRETA. THE GANJAS. HEY COLOSSUS.J.C.SATAN. KANDODO3. MAGIC CASTLES. MAMUTHONES.MAI MAI MAI. THE MEGAPHONIC THRIFt. MENACE BEACH.NO JOY. PINKSHINYULTRABLAST. R.SEILIOG. SLUG.THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH. VUELVETELOCA. VIRGINIA WING.VISION FORTUNE. WEIRD OWL. YOUNG KNIVES.CARDINAL FUZZ SONIC ATTACK.THE ALTERED HOURS. BONNACONS OF DOOM. COREY BOWEN.EQUATIONS. EVIL BLIZZARD. THE CALLAS. CHARLES HOWL.CROWS. DREAMWEAPON. DEAD SEA APES. GIANT SWAN.GIRL SWEAT. HOLOVR. HOLY. KOGUMAZA. LUCERN RAZE.NOVELLER. THE OCTOPUS PROJECT. PAUW. PHOBOPHOBES.PLASTIC MERMAIDS. ROY & THE DEVIL'S MOTORCYCLE.RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON. SEX SWING. STRANGE COLLECTIVE.THE TAMBORINES. TAU. THROW DOWN BONES. TURZI. YUNG. ZHOD.HOCUS FOCUS...CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OFFINDERS KEEPERS RECORDSdjs: FINDERS KEEPERS x ANTON NEWCOMBE. PSYCHEMAGIK.AL LOVER. SACRED BONES v BYM. CARDINAL FUZZ.BERNIE CONNOR. RICHARD HECTOR-JONES. POMPONETTE.DANIEL HUNT (LADYTRON). AKOUSTIK ANARKHY. SONIC CATHEDRAL.DROWNED IN SOUND. DOTS & LOOPS. JEFF O'TOOLE. RIP RECORDS.JOEI SUPERNOVA. KARMA. The Buggane and Douglas Ed.PZYK CINEMABOLD STREET BEDOUIN BOUDOIRMUSINGS IN DRONE CONVERSATIONS PROGRAMMEPZYK SKREEN STUDIOPICCADILLY RECORDS WORLD OF PSYCHEDELIC WAX WONDERSEXCLUSIVE RECORD RELEASES + CRAFT BREWED POISONPLUS A FURTHER WORLD OF COMMISSIONS, CURATIONS, INSTALLATIONS + AUDIOVISUAL EXPLORATIONS...TICKETS + ACCOMMODaTiON PACKAGES AVAILABLE FROM SEETICKETS.COMPROBE RECORDS (LIVERPOOL) + PICCADILLY RECORDS (MANCHESTER)+ JUMBO RECORDS (LEEDS)

facebook.com/o2academyliverpooltwitter.com/o2academylpoolinstagram.com/o2academyliverpoolyoutube.com/o2academytvFri 21st Aug •The KooksTues 13th Oct • £25 advRich Homie QuanSat 7th Nov • £15 advLucy RoseFri 4th Dec • £13 advThe Lancashire HotpotsWed 26th Aug •Bring Me The HorizonThurs 27th Aug • £15 advAwolnationSat 5th Sept • £14 advCudSat 12th Sept • £7 advPolar StatesThurs 17th Sept • £12.50 advState ChampsFri 18th Sept • £18 advThe English Beat starringDave WakelingThurs 24th Sept • £15 advPeace+ Splashh + YakSat 26th Sept • £15 advThe Icicle WorksSat 26th Sept • £24 advOver 18s onlyThe Burlesque BallUK TourFri 2nd Oct • £19.50 advStarsailorGreatest Hits TourSat 3rd Oct • £15 adv9pm - 4am • over 21s onlyDromeft. Rob Tissera+ Stu Allen + MC CyanideFri 9th Oct • £7 advBlossomsWed 14th Oct • £8 advSiena RootThurs 15th Oct • £25 advRideThurs 15th Oct • £12 advSwim DeepFri 16th Oct • £16 advInsane ChampionshipWrestlingSun 18th Oct • £15 advRuts DCMon 19th Oct • £13.50 advThe ShiresTues 20th Oct •Years & YearsWed 21st Oct • £15 advReel Big FishThurs 22nd Oct • £12.50 advSpectorSat 31st Oct • £16 advHawklordsSun 1st Nov • £25 advFishFarewell to ChildhoodFri 6th Nov • £12 advThe SunshineUndergroundTues 10th Nov • £17.50 advThe FratellisThurs 12th Nov • £19 advJoey Bada$$Thurs 12th Nov • £16 advParadise LostFri 13th Nov • £28.50 advHappy MondaysPills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches25th Anniversary TourThurs 19th Nov • £20 advPublic ServiceBroadcastingSat 21st Nov • £14 advReverend & The MakersMon 23rd Nov • £13.50 advChad ValleyTues 24th Nov • £13.50 advSlavesWed 25th Nov • £19.50 advThe WailersPerforming the album Legend in its entiretySat 28th Nov • £10 advThe HummingbirdsTues 1st Dec • £15 advCourtney BarnettThurs 3rd Dec • £12.50 advElectric SixSat 12th Dec •Echo & The BunnymenSat 19th Dec • £16 advThe BeatTues 26th Jan 2016 • £22.50 advMichael Schenker’sTemple of RockThurs 4th Feb 2016 • £20 advBowling For SoupWed 9th Mar 2016 • £22 advScott Bradlee’sPostmodern JukeboxSat 3rd Oct • £29 advLeftfieldFri 23rd Oct • £22.50 advThe WombatsSat 24th Oct • £20 advAn Evening withSimon and OscarfromOcean Colour SceneMon 9th Nov •The 1975Ticketweb.co.uk • 0844 477 2000liverpoolguild.orgThurs 24th Sep • £15 advPeaceThurs 15th Oct • £25 advRideThurs 12th Nov • £19 advJoey Bada$$o2academyliverpool.co.uk11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF • Doors 7pm unless statedVenue box office opening hours: Mon - Sat 11.30am - 5.30pm • No booking fee on cash transactionsticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 20155Bido Lito!Issue Fifty Nine / September 2015bidolito.co.ukStatic Gallery23 Roscoe LaneLiverpoolL1 9JDEditorChristopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.ukEditor-In-Chief / PublisherCraig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.ukJEZ WE CANEditorialWell, isn’t this a novel experience: for the first time in a long time I’ve got more options floating round my head to rant about in my Editorial than Iknow what to do with. This could go one of 12 ways, but I, like you, am still no closer to knowing how this is going to pan out. Some things neverchange.Foremost in my mind right now, however, are two left-wingers: Liam Ridehalgh and Jeremy Corbyn. Neither are strictly left-wingers in an outand-outsense, but their rising fortunes over the past month have given me cause for some much-needed optimism.Liam Ridehalgh, as I’m sure you know, is Tranmere’s error-prone left-back-cum-deadly-wide-man who, for the past two years, has looked prettyhopeless as he’s featured on the fringes of a team that was relegated twice in succession to drop out of the football league for the first time in90-odd years. His transformation from liability to reliability (with a vicious delivery from out wide) is indicative of the wave of hope that’s washedthrough the club in the last 100 days, with a new manager and a fresh crop of players installed at Fortress Prenton. This heady bout of optimismis in no way influenced by the fact that Ridehalgh has just scored our opening goal in an away match v Gateshead, to which I’m listening on theradio as I write. Pure coincidence.There can’t have been many people who’ve not been caught up with Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign in running for the Labour Party leadership overthe past few months either: I don’t know whether I’m deluding myself, but there’s been an awful lot of hope instilled in an awful lot of peopleby Corbyn’s plain-speaking, honest #JezWeCan campaign. His views have struck a chord with a lot of people in this area who are dissatisfied withnot just the Labour Party but politics in general, and it’s been really quite empowering to see the growth of this grassroots movement across thecountry. It’s also been great to see socialism back on the political agenda, now that it’s served its time in the political wilderness as a dirty word. Let’sget this straight: Jeremy Corbyn is no Marxist-Leninist who wants us to be a Communist state (despite what you might read in some newspapers,even The Guardian, whose arts correspondent Jonathan Jones was equating Corbyn with Stalin in one recent article). What Corbyn has brought tothe table is a debate about a way of governance that is responsible, fair and without polished soundbites. What he’s pushing forward is a returntowards the politics of compassion, which seems to have been lost in the race for the neo-liberal centre ground.My indignation at this was further entrenched when I started reading Nicholas Shaxson’s excellent book Treasure Islands, which lifts the lid onthe shady world of tax havens (or “secrecy jurisdictions”, as he calls them). The few chapters I’ve managed to read so far have painted the pictureof a freewheeling, free market-obsessed Western world, built on capitalist scripture, with scant to non-existent regulation of banking systems. Asystem where it's every person for themselves and good luck to you in how much profit you can make. This latent selfishness, I think, has broughtabout an erosion of compassion within our society, which allows certain sections (with the Conservative Party as their champions) to overlookmorally corrupt tax gymnastics so long as their own bottom line is being taken care of.Perhaps quite serendipitously, I found this quote from Barack Obama – taken from a speech given in Berlin in 2013 addressing global nuclearsecurity – on a Google Zeitgeist video from the end of 2013 (the one soundtracked by Jetta’s fairly huge anthem Feels Like Coming Home): “Ourvalues call upon us to care about the lives of people we will never meet”. This is a message for all time, and one that we shouldn’t be scared ofstanding alongside.Whether he ends up as leader of the party at the 2020 General Election or not, Jeremy Corbyn’s message of social responsibility – that the stateshould do its best to look after everyone within it – will hopefully find more of a foothold in political debate in this country and allow us to dictateour own terms. It's not radical to want a more even playing field; it's not Communist; it's compassionate.(Tranmere won 4-1 by the way. I hope this means you’re going to be hearing a lot more from me over the rest of the season! #comebackstronger)Christopher Torpey / @BidoLitoEditorReviews EditorSam Turner - live@bidolito.co.ukDesignMark McKellier - @mckellierProofreadingDebra Williams - debra@wordsanddeeds.co.ukDigital Content ManagerNatalie Williams - online@bidolito.co.ukWordsChristopher Torpey, Phil Morris, Sam Turner,Richard Lewis, Alastair Dunn, Andy VonPip, Paddy Clarke, Paddy Hughes, RobStrachan, Stuart Miles O’Hara, Tom Bell,Bethany Garrett, Maurice Stewart, JonnyDavis Le Brun, Paul Fitzgerald, Glyn Akroyd,Matt Hogg, Zach Jones, Ben Duncan, SamBanks, Howl Rama, Christopher Hughes.Photography, Illustration and LayoutMark McKellier, Nata Moraru, StuartMoulding, Jemma Timberlake, DebbieEllis, Keith Ainsworth, Pop Levi, AndyVon Pip, John Johnson, Gaz Jones, DiegoPiedrabuena, Antonio Franco, David Howarth.AdvertisingTo advertise please contactads@bidolito.co.ukDistributed By Middle DistancePrint, distribution and events support acrossMerseyside and the North West.middledistance.orgThe views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of therespective contributors and do not necessarilyreflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or thepublishers. All rights reserved.bidolito.co.uk

6Bido Lito! September 2015As any brave psychonaut will tell you, an altered state ofconsciousness requires exploration. Delve a little deeperthrough the myriad strains of cosmic mischief that definesitself as ‘psych’ today and you may just end up finding yournew favourite band. After capturing the imagination of thehordes at 2014’s Liverpool Psych Fest, our own fiery, sweatyball of energy STRANGE COLLECTIVE are asserting themselvesas many people’s ones-to-watch this time round, as they taketo the stage with hopes of solidifying their growing reputationof blowing minds and rattling teeth.A palpable buzz has calcified around Strange Collective sincetheir rumbustious launch onto the Liverpool music scene in early2014, an appearance that was heralded by a 54-second YouTubeclip of four blurry figures lost in the squall of what we now knowto be a trademark Strange Collective jam. Since coming out fromtheir self-assigned shroud of secrecy (the last time we spoketo them they wouldn’t even tell us their names or meet us inperson), it’s no surprise that the group have quickly become thelocal support act of choice for those operating within the broadchurch of psychedelia. The quartet have consistentlyimpressed with a seemingly endless streakof high-profile supports that includeThe Black Lips, Clinicand those mostWords: Phil Morris / @mauricedesadePhotography: Nata Morarucatchily named Aussies, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard.This extended run of diverse live opportunities, coupled with ataste for full-blooded headline shows, has ensured a wave ofadulation for a band who are very much purveyors of their ownbranch of garage psych worship.Ascending on a purely word-of-mouth basis, Strange Collectiveunleashed their debut single a year after their first performance.Released in February 2015 by Salvation Records, Sun epitomisestheir infectious blend of mischievous riffage, tripped-out yelpsand pummelling distortion. Imagine, if you will, a LitherlandTy Segall fronting a spiritual hybrid of Hawkwind and Thee OhSees, and you’re pretty much there. Strange Collective findthemselves in the middle of a world that has its hands coiledround the neck of the zeitgeist, with an audio signature thathas the ear of psych and garage fans, between skater pop andstoner rock.I caught up with the group in Elevator’s Whitewood RecordingStudio, where they were busy recording a track for a specialpre-Psych Fest cassette release with Bido Lito!, which will bereleased in September. The boys – Alex, Ali, Sian and Andrew– are in buoyant spirits having just recorded four new songs.There’s a perceptible excitement in the room as we are talkedthrough working titlesand workingrelationships within the band. Bassist Andrew Gordon Parry isquick to point out the deeper significance Psych Fest played inthe band’s formation: “Me and Alex first spoke at Psych Fest. It’sgoing to be our two-year anniversary. Romantic.”Guitarist and vocalist Alex Wynne – who outside of the projectillustrates under the guise of Blak Hand Design – recalls that thelucid encounter occurred during an obliterating performance bySan Francisco rockers Fuzz. “I asked Parry if he fancied having ajam,” Wynne remembers. “I thought, if he’s into all these bandsthat we’ve just been talking about, does he fancy coming alongand doing that. I think I freaked him out… I showed him a pictureof an octopus. I suppose that was the genesis of what is nowStrange Collective, though.”Recruitment and adjusting to new members seems to be asalient factor in Strange Collective realising its current potential.The band’s personnel have alternated frequently since itsinitial inception. Assiduously, Alex delineates the band’s so fartransient membership. “We had Louie first, then Robbo, thenSam, now Parry on bass. On drums we had Sam, then Parrycame in, now Sian is in there. It follows a strong tradition of ourmembers coming from different bands.”Even the group’s title represents the disparate sourcing of itsown composition. Each member, estranged from a previous bandor project, wants to contribute towards something altogethermore alien than what they’re used to. After working their waythrough four bass players and three drummers, the band arenow reaping the benefits of a consistent and committed line-up.“Our first gig was with Lucid Dream and Wild Eyes – which for afirst gig was decent,” Parry continues. “We had no idea what wewere doing… We had a month and a half to write a full set andget it ready. We thought – can we do this again? We saw Tylerfrom Bam!Bam!Bam! and he offered us a gig in The Kazimierwith the Warlocks and Mugstar, and that was the secondshow. After that we had the discussion of, ‘Arewe doing this?’”Strange Collective’s willingnessto throw themselves in at theproverbial deep-end of thepool of high-profile supportslots demonstrates

Bido Lito! September 20157that they thrive on a mantra of necessity being the mother ofinvention. The group have had the testicular fortitude to performalongside legends like Silver Apples, Sean Lennon and ArielPink, and have inevitably gained from those potentially careerdefiningexperiences – although it’s fair to say that guitarist AliHorn took more from the former two than the latter. “Ariel Pinkwas a prick. I really like his music but I’ve not listened to it sinceI’ve met him.”Performing with your influences and, indeed, meeting yourheroes can be a risky business, but then there’s always thepossibility they take a shine to you and help you up the ladder.Having heard Strange Collective’s newly recorded tracks andnoting the influence of vintage Jonestown, I wonder if theband would approachthis year’s PsychFest Artist inResidence, AntonNewcombe?Still sore from his encounter with the 5’4” serial diva Ariel Pink,Horn is wisely reticent: “I love the man but I don’t want him tospit in my face. I’m too scared of talking to people I respect,because if they’re not what they’re cracked up to be, it can bereally disappointing.”The presence of a raft of newly recorded material that hasyet to be aired has given the band a renewed impatience toperform, something that has been a feature of their best liveperformances to date. The new-look Strange Collective sethinges upon energetic new offering Super Touchy, which will bedelivered to us as a split 7” vinyl single (b/w The Myrrors) by GodUnknown Records, the label founded by Mugstar bassist JasonStoll. It may only be a small step in terms of physical output (therelease is limited to 200 copies, available only through signingup to God Unknown’s own maladjusted Singles Club), but thecompany the band are keeping in this latest run – Goat, BlackBombaim, Mainliner – suggests that the path they’ve embarkedon is suitably whacked-out and thrilling enough for the PZYKmasses.Aware of how quickly the effects of momentum candissipate, an increasingly convincing Strange Collectiveare ardent in pursuit of their goals. “We just want to playsweaty shows,” Parry says, deadpan. “We played a reallycool gig the other day with Bad Meds, Ohmns and MindMountain – it was so fun. There was no stage and everyonewas in a tiny room. That’s thewhole vibe, really.”There’s a beautiful simplicity in what this group do, even inthe loose and carefree roll of the tracks. Listening to StrangeCollective play live is like watching a ball of energy that couldcollapse in on itself or fly apart at the seams at any moment,which gives you an unbelievable adrenalin rush as you latchon to their unstoppable forward momentum. Don’t resist, justhold on tight.Strange Collective play Liverpool International Festival OfPsychedelia on 26th September, and they release new singleHeavy on an exclusive Bido Lito! cassette on 8th September.soundcloud.com/strange-collective

8Bido Lito! September 2015LIVERPOOLINTERNATIONALFESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIABonacons Of Doom’s PZYK 2015If, like us, you’vebeen following theshifting sands ofalternative music over the pasthalf-decade, one thing you’re sure tohave noticed is the emergence of ‘psych’, both as agenre that’s moving ever more mainstream, and as a tagapplied to even the most mildly otherworldly of artists. Addin the rabid popularity of acts like Tame Impala and theproliferation of psych-dedicated events – in lieu of the vastsuccesses of Austin Psych Fest’s Levitation – and you’ll noticehow wider public opinion has transposed towards the cosmic.LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA’saim is to stay ahead of that curve, developing its own iterationof the form in PZYK by melding heavy, droney elements ofclassic stoner psychedelia with the harsher electronic edgesof transcendental raving – but still managing to have roomfor space and garage rock missives neatly bundled in the mix.It’s a form thatowes more to theinfluence of ButtholeSurfers, Spacemen 3 and TheBrian Jonestown Massacre than thewhimsical paisley psych of Swinging 60s-eraLondon or Hollywood’s Laurel Canyon collective. Liverpoolhas always been a transcendental place, in its own weirdo,outsider way, which makes it a natural fit for an event likethis, which shines a light in to the murkier corners of aresurgent psychedelic sub-culture.Liverpool Psych Fest’s signature artists BONNACONS(of DOOM, JOY or LIGHT, depending on the situation) aresomething of an in-house PZYK noise collective: a shadyband of audio pioneers – made up of members of HIVECollective – who spin a spiritually inflected web of dense,shadowy psych. Having played at each edition of the festivalsince 2013, the quintet performed a one-off compositionof otherworldly,celestial drone titledPZYKSONG with the choirof Liverpool Anglican Cathedralfor LightNight in 2014, and performed amesmeric set at partner PZYK event EindhovenPsych Lab this year, where they opened with some testtube-based audio experimentation.With this in mind, we asked Bonnacons to pick out somehighlights from this year’s festival line-up; a bill that’spacked with a stunning assortment of mind-altering acts(including Blanck Mass, Black Devil Disco Club, Death AndVanilla and headliners Spiritualized) squirrelled away amidlabel curations (Sacred Bones v BYM Records, Cardinal Fuzzand Finders Keepers), a Musings In Drone spoken-wordprogramme, visual and audio installations, a PZYK Cinemaand screen-print workshop, and a Piccadilly Records pop-uprecord store. There was an awful lot to sift through, and hereare the nuggets they found…Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia takes place at Camp and Furnace, Blade Factory and DISTRICT on 25th and 26th September, with Bonnacons Of Doom playing on Saturday 26th. There willalso be a launch party for the festival at Bold Street Coffee on 4th September, featuring live and DJ sets, and a new exhibition of psych-inspired artwork.Full line-up and ticket details can be found at liverpoolpsychfest.com.

Bido Lito! September 20159THE HEADSTHE HEADS are just a total lesson in persistence in doing something really good for a long time. Formedin Bristol in 1990, they were ahead of the curve but out of step for that particular moment. Their blendof Loop/Spacemen 3 repetition and Stooges style psych/biker/garage rock was initially largely ignored,but in the intervening years they grew into one of the most respected UK bands with fans from JelloBiafra to legendary artist Frank Kozik. Since setbacks such as getting into a spat with Talking Headsover their name and nearly imploding during a US tour in the early 2000s, there’s been sporadic liveactivity but a constant stream of material, with fans paying top dollar for limited CDs or vinyl releases.Forward to 2015 and they’re on top form. The Heads absolutely killed the Roadburn festival this year,so their Psych Fest set should be a rare treat.GuideHOOKWORMSA welcome return for Yorkshire’s finest, whose 2013 Psych Fest set was a standout of theweekend. Since emerging from the fertile Leeds DIY scene, they’ve made a series of inventivelycatchy and effervescent records combining motorik grooves and sonic experimentation witha total punk rock sensibility. However, it’s in the live arena that the band really come into theirown. A restless ball of energy, explosively powerful and relentlessly deafening, Hookwormsare an intensely physical and joyful live experience. They’re a band who deserve every wordof praise that’s been written about them in the past couple of years.KOGUMAZAIt seems bizarre that it’s taken this long for the festival to pick up on thisamazing band. Two parts heavy-as-shit, fuzzed-out hypnotic guitar mantras,one part rolling drum reverbs, one part sonic operator. Think Sabbath slowlyfed into you via a morphine drip, Moondog heard through the wall, the Beatlesplaying inside an underwater bunker. No beards, no paisley, no pointy shoes– no need. The best non-pysch psych band you will ever hear.FACTORY FLOORTrust the DJ, that's our motto. So when JD Twitch told us to check out FACTORYFLOOR, we did. What we found was a melting pot of our favourite electronicmusic styles – house, techno and industrial sounds converge into a uniquehypnotic sound, taking you to transcendental heights. On record theypummel, live they soar. Trance music if you will: not that mid-90s pap, butpure psych. Or PZYK. This is music for sweaty, smoke-filled, strobe-blindingdancefloors. A belter of a booking.CARLTON MELTONEqually trance-inducing but in a totally different way to Factory Floor, SanFrancisco’s CARLTON MELTON are the kings of acid-fried, tripped-out drone rock.They’ve got the capacity to take you to another planet, probably one that hasn’teven been discovered yet. They’re masters of minimalist layering, building fromserene droning notes, through abstract space krautrock grooves into primitiveout-there trippy psych-rock freakouts. Don’t miss out on this – Carlton Melton areone of our favourite live bands of all time.

10Bido Lito! September 2015Words: Paddy Clarke / @paddyclarkeOn Cocaine Cat, the standout single from I Declare Nothing,the drone of Anton Newcombe’s emblematic rolls of guitar andlooming thuds of stalking percussion lay waste to its openingwith a familiar loose swagger. For 28 seconds it’s latter-day BrianJonestown Massacre brilliance all over – perhaps even businessas usual. At least, that is, until a new voice rises from the snakingdepth: a Patti Smith-esque growl with the grace of a Mazzy Starglide atop the flow; foreboding, uncompromising and hauntinglyexquisite – that of his collaborator, TESS PARKS.And though the collaborative record – released earlier thisyear on Newcombe’s own a Recordings label – bears theJonestown polymath’s fingerprints throughout, it’s his newprotégé’s work to a more than equal extent. Her face, alone,adorns a cover taken by Anton’s wife Katy in an intentionalthrowback to a detached Francoise Hardy cool; her transfixingvocal is the dominant one to his occasional backing; and thepen behind the eddying drift of its disconsolate lyrics is, for thevast degree, Parks’ own.“I would definitely call it a 50/50 collaboration, for sure,” saysthe singer of the process behind their partnership. “Some of thelyrics I wrote while we were in the studio, or I went back throughmy notebook and picked out certain lines and we workedfrom those or whatever; a lot of them were songs thathad already been written on my own. Some of thetime Anton would say ‘We’ll scratch that orrepeat this line five times’ or whatever, butI wrote the bulk of the lyrics.”There’s a staunch uniqueness toParks’ hoarse, growling vocal,and it’s an individualist bentthat’s long been fostered. In herteenage years in Toronto it wasnot the pop-punk bilge thatdomineered the tastes of herpeers that sowed the seeds ofher current snarl, but the moresubstantial sonics of CreationRecords (incidentally, shecan now count Alan McGeehimself among her swellingfanbase) and, above allothers, Oasis. “I rememberlistening to them when I wasfour,” she recounts. “My dadintroduced me to them. I havemy dad to thank for my tastein music and what inspired me.He was totally like ‘You can bewhatever you want to be and I’llsupport you’.”All things considered it wasthe right introduction, but alsoan ostracising one at the time.“I got bullied for the music Itessparkslistened to. Everyone waslistening to, I don’t know, Sum41 and Blink 182, and all theseCanadian and American shitrock/pop bands or whatever.I was bullied at summercamp for bringing my guitarand my notebook there... butthose are the kind of thingsthat inspire you, a ‘Fuck this,I’ll show them’ kind of thing.”“Some [of the lyrics on the new album] I wrote when I wasquite young, like eight years ago, when I was depressed or didn’thave anything really going on,” continues Parks, yet to revisitthese former torments in more positive, more productive timesin the studio. “It’s like all of those bad times make sense, and itkind of alleviates any kind of pain that might still have existedbecause I’m making something really positive out of it. When wewere playing it live and stuff, singing those words, they still ringtrue to me. It’s not like they don’t mean anything to me – theymean a lot: every time I sing them or listen to them it makesme happier now.”Though it’s a fact that’s sure to change, Parks is currentlysomething of an unexplored prospect, yet for Newcombereputation looms large. With his intense reputation, perpetuatedand sensationalised by cult documentary Dig!, when the twomet in person for the first time in Berlin, to an outside observera few nerves might be forgiven from Parks, a self-professedlong-term fan of the band. However, as she is quick to clarify,Newcombe’s maladjusted former days of concentrated neurosisand drug-fuelled paranoia are by now far in the past.“To me that kind of personality I find really intriguing,” sheclarifies. “[However] he’s in a much better place than then; thatwas a long time ago. He’s healthy and funny and happy. I wasdefinitely nervous when I went to meet him, but more as a fan,y’know? It’s one of those things where you go to meet one ofyour heroes. He totally exceeded any of my expectations as aperson… He’s made a label and a whole musical life for himselfthat really is working, and he puts out a lot of cool bands. He’sreally into helping people; he believes in what he thinks isgood and what he [doesn’t]. I feel really honoured to be partof that.” It wasn’t long until his mentorship had developed intofriendship, as Parks adds: “The advice he’s given me about themusic industry and just life in general, he’s smart and wise andsuper talented. I mean, it’s just beyond cool to have someonelike that teaching you things. He’s always like ‘Dream bigger,always dream bigger. OK this is cool, but what’s the next thing?What are you gonna do next? What are we doing next?’ It’s aboutalways moving forward… It’s very positive; he’s not cynical atall, really.”On such a note, new material from the duo, we’re told, isinevitable, though perhaps under a new name. The backing bandthe two take with them on tour – an international supergroupincluding members from Iceland, Australia, Sweden, and Parks'British-born boyfriend Mike on bass (whom she met, of all places,at a Brian Jonestown Massacre gig in London) – have sincebecome an integral part of the music’s fabric, and the band willlikely pick a collective name on their return to record, seeing as“It’s not technically ‘Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe’ anymore.”“See, a lot of the time it’s like a huge blanket of sound; it’snot necessarily psychedelic, just anything that can take yousomewhere else, transport you anywhere,” Parks says whenI press her about what it means to be an artist of the newpsychedelic movement, which her presence on the line-up forSeptember’s Liverpool Psych Fest confirms. “I’m really lookingforward to this festival; it’s an amazing line-up… It’s just coolto me to feel part of this sort of collective. I never thought I’dbe part of a group, let alone playing alongside so many otherbands that I love.”Modest she may be, but the rest of the bill are in the best ofcompany.Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe play Liverpool InternationalFestival Of Psychedelia on 25th September. I Declare Nothing isout now on a Recordings.tessparks.bandcamp.com

Liverpool’s Newest VenueLiverpool PhilharmonicMUSICROOMMusic Room is a small, friendly and informal venue which will open itsdoors this October. Music Room is a home for emerging Liverpool artists,a new space for city festival events and a place to try out new things.Have a drink at the bar, grab a bite to eat and come and enjoy!Box Officeliverpoolphil.com0151 709 3789Highlights announced so far include;Stevie Nieve Plays Elvis CostelloSaturday 1o OctoberThe first ever gig in Music Room is composer, pianist andfounder member of The Attractions.–Seckou Keita: 22 StringsMonday 26 OctoberMaster of the 22-stringed kora, championed by BBC 6 Music’sMary Anne Hobbs & Guy Garvey.–9BachThursday 5 NovemberIntriguing band from North Wales who have been remixedby Gruff Rhys.–Rob Vincent & Gary Edward JonesSunday 22 NovemberA slice of Liverpool Acoustic Festival with two of the city’s finest.–Tom RobinsonFriday 4 DecemberBBC 6 Music presenter returns to giging with his first album in20 years.–I am Kloot’s John BramwellSaturday 5 DecemberThe front man of the popular Manchester outfit.

12Bido Lito! September 2015Words: Andy Von Pip / thevpme.comPhotography: Debbie Ellis / asupremeshot.squarespace.com“We’re at the cemetery gates,” texts Ariel Bath, Liverpool-based singer and guitarist with BATHYMETRY, a triowhose eponymous debut album has certainly made many sit up and take notice of them. I’m on my way to StJames’ cemetery, in the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral, for a chat with Ariel and bassist and vocalist EmilyGarner. The cemetery itself is home to around 58,000 of the departed, including “saint of the slums” KittyWilkinson, an artist who spent her early life as part of a Victorian freak show and went on to become a portraitpainter to nobility (and widely known for her pioneering work which led to the public washhouse movement inthe 1800s); an American senator; and, who knows, perhaps even the odd music critic.When I suggest that St James’ Cemetery is an appropriate location given that, beneath Bathymetry’s playfulveneer lies something perhaps a little darker, Ariel isn’t so sure. “It depends which song you listen to really,”she purrs. “There’s a broad mix on the album and we do draw from a wide emotional spectrum. I think maybepeople find their favourite song and then label you as that, but that’s fine with us.”“We all have such diverse influences - however, we are all big fans of horror,” Emily asserts in following upon the point. “So maybe that comes through? But [our first record] is not a concept album, which is kind of whyit was self-titled – it’s more a snapshot of the first stage in our adventures together.”bidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 201513So what’s the Liverpool connection, given that Ariel is fromAmerica, Emily is from Warrington and drummer David (absenttoday with the suggestion it may be a birthday-induced hangover)from Carlisle? Ariel, a native of Richland, Washington (home of theinfamous Manhattan Project), explains: “I did the whole ‘travel toEurope and fall in love’ thing! Basically there was no real scene inRichland: I felt cut off, not just geographically, but also culturallyand it was a really conservative and constrained environment.The high-school mascot has a mushroom-cloud emblem and thecheerleaders used to chant ‘Go Bombers’, so I definitely felt the needto get away and see the world. I went travelling to Paris, Londonand then came to Liverpool, fell in love and decided to settle here.”Emily, who lived just up the M62, was a frequent visitor toLiverpool too. “It was the nearest big city for me, so I’d spend a lot oftime here and I loved the creative scene. I had studied graphic designand was also doing some intern work for [graphic designer and gigpostersupremo] Horse. But I actually met Ariel through a Gumtreeadvert. I was jamming with another girl in Leeds so initially we askedAriel to travel up here. We clicked and eventually we started writingtogether – and then we met David, our drummer, who is such a gem,through another advert. He’s a really strong dreamer.”“When she says a strong dreamer, she means he sleeps a lot – asevidenced by today!” laughs Ariel.After a legal threat forced them to change their original bandname, they adopted the moniker Bathymetry and things reallyseemed to take off. But why name yourself after a term relatingto the measurement of the depths of oceans, seas, or indeed anylarge body of water? Does it have any special significance? “Notreally,” asserts Emily. “Ariel came up with it and thought it lookedbeautiful written down but sounded terrible; personally I think itsounds awesome. It’s an old word, but somehow it sounds so freshand a bit alien.”Ahead of their debut album, Bathymetry bagged a supportslot with The Jesus And Mary Chain for the Liverpool date oftheir Pyschocandy UK tour after the Scottish legends gave localartists the chance to apply to open for them. This gave Bathymetrytheir biggest audience to date and certainly put them on manypeople’s radar. “That was so exciting,” enthuses Emily. “We had ourown dressing room with showers, and the Mary Chain had pistachionuts and nibbles in their dressing room! Ariel painted her face withglitter, and I did my knees. I really wanted to paint them gold, a bitlike C3PO!”“The reaction was a bit weird at first as people wrongly assumedwe were this really well-connected band, but the reality is we’rejust a bunch of hobos!” recalls Ariel. “It was like, who are this newband? But we had been around for a while under a different nameso we weren’t actually THAT new. We just gave their managerAlan McGee a really sloppy demo at one of his Creation nights inLiverpool, as we heard they were accepting submissions. I had areally sore throat but managed to croak out one song and nextwe heard we’d got the gig! It was surreal playing a gig that size. Iactually didn’t know how I was supposed to get on stage, so I triedto push through the crowd to get to the front and was wonderinghow on Earth I was going to climb up on to the stage… And peoplewere like, 'Erm ... what are you DOING?!' And I was like, ‘Oh so thisisn’t how we get on stage?’”This wasn’t the band’s only Spinal Tap-style moment either,as Emily reveals: “When we supported Wire at The Kazimier, theequipment filled the stage so there was actually no room for usat all. David had to play above us on the pedestal, and Ariel andI were squished right in the corner of the stage with hardly anyroom to move. Thankfully it turned out alright, though.”“We played the Fell Foot Sound festival recently too,” saysAriel as the two warm to the idea of talking about themselves,“and there was a torrential downpour; my tent started leakingand in the morning all my clothes were soaked through. Iliterally had one dress left to play the gig in and a pair of veryinappropriate shoes to navigate the mud.”“It’s a beautiful festival,” chimes Emily. “The guy who runs itis amazing and maybe a bit scary!” “Yeah, I think he might beinto pagan rituals,” says Ariel, “as he gives speeches before thebands come on.”Back to their Pat O’Shaughnessy-produced debut album,Bathymetry, which was released on Ugly Man Records in June,replete with amazing artwork drawn by Emily. It’s a genuinelybeguiling mix of styles: there’s a playful ambiguity in evidenceand the sense of a band who are neither chasing the zeitgeist orconstrained by or in the thrall of any particular genre. It’s fearlessin the sense that you’ll find strident indie alongside reflectivewhimsical moments, songs that conjure up an atmosphereof dark, twisted fairy tales, all wrapped up in a youthful offthe-wallsense of adventure. But what sort of things inspirethe band to write songs? “A lot of influences aren’t particularlymusical,” says Emily. “My biggest influence, for example, is theanimated show Adventure Time by Pendleton Ward. Not onlyis it aesthetically beautiful and comical but it also toucheson some really interesting examples of metaphysicalphilosophy. At the moment I’m so excited by Pluto – haveyou seen the photos? It’s amazing. I feel so inspired byPluto and Charon; it’s such a cool relationship they have,so binary – it’s great.” For Ariel, it’s books and movies:“I think you just take elements of everything you findinteresting or exciting, but there’s no set formula when itcomes to inspiration.”As we conclude our chat it comes as no surprise to hear thatthe band are already working on album two. “Is eighteen songstoo long for an album?” Emily asks, tongue presumably in cheek,before the talk turns to designing a new video game based onStreets Of Rage, but fighting Tory MPs, with David Cameron asthe final boss to be defeated. “Do you think that would sell?”ponders Emily. Very much so – and, rather like their debut album,I think they may be on to another winner.Bathymetry play the Bido Lito! Social Live @ Aloft on 17thSeptember. Their debut album Bathymetry is out now via UglyMan Records.bathymetryband.combidolito.co.uk

14Bido Lito! September 2015When watching LIZZIE NUNNERY's award-winning theatre orlistening to her nationally celebrated music, it's clear that she isa woman with a strong connection to the city in which she haslived for most of her life.So Liverpool City Library, a place where she occasionally holdswriting sessions for members of the public to ask her questionsor show her their creative writing, is the most appropriate placefor a natter about her new play, NARVIK (sub-titled A Play WithSongs). After a brief chat about her day and her love of the newsnazzy library, we begin toexplore her life in musicand theatre.It all started for Lizziewith a guitar: “I still havea notepad full of lyrics,”she says, rememberingher teenage yearsperforming acousticmusic on the Liverpoolopen-mic scene. “I wouldperform at a night calledAcoustic Engine.” AcousticEngine was an open micnight set up in the early00s by Steve Robertsof 16 Tambourines, anevent where Lizzie firstdiscovered her love forperformance. “At the timethere was a great scene,there was a lot goingon, a lot of people camethrough those nightslike Tramp Attack andDave McCabe from TheZutons.” After these earlyflirtations with musicand performance, Lizziewent to university andwrote her very first play,and this is where theball really started rolling.Well, kind of… “My firstplay was about my lifeas a student. It was acomedy. People laughed.It was alright. Once youstart researching, though,you realise that there areother things out there thatare fascinating… thingsthat have not happenedto you.” Fascinating thingslike those that have informed her most recent play, a piece oftheatre accompanied by songs based around stories of hergrandfather’s experiences during the war.Narvik began, as many plays do, with an idea. “I wasfascinated by the occupation of Norway. Arctic ports wherethese ordinary fellas were marooned in the ice and snow. Iwanted to explore what that sort of extremity does to people.”Narvik itself is a port city in the far north of Norway, close to theSwedish border. Its strategic value made it a battleground in theSecond World War, with the British navy eventually defeatingthe German army after a military blockade and several battles.What is immediately interesting about this play is that, eventhough it is a play exploring life in a different country and time,it is still very much a Liverpool play. “The central character is fromLiverpool,” says Nunnery. “I like the challenge of writing unusualLiverpool stories. You can write Liverpool stories that don’thappen in people’s living rooms… as much as I do like storiesset in Liverpool living rooms.” Telling big stories but keepinga level of local intimacy is something that comes naturally toLizzie, and it is a theme that has been constantly explored anddeveloped throughout her illustrious canon of work.Playing with Songsand MemoriesWords: Patrick Hughes / @paddyhughes89Illustration: Jemma Timerlake / jemmatimberlake.co.ukThe idea of having songs performed live in the productionis also something that came naturally to the Liverpool writer.Working with Box Of Tricks Theatre Company and composer/musician Martin Hesler, she explored a new way of creatingengaging and exciting theatre. The Manchester-based Box OfTricks approached Lizzie a few years ago and expressed aninterest in her telling a story with live music, and from then ithas been a process of drafting scripts and writing music. Herdecision to work with Martin Hesler, a man who plays regularlyin her own live band and has co-written songs with her, was ano-brainer. However, despite her passion for both music andtheatre, it wasn’t always easy for Lizzie to combine the two intoone neat production. “Narvik really got me thinking how to usemusic on stage. I didn’t really like musicals, the tone or the style.I spent a long time trying to work out how to use music in aplay in a way that felt more heartfelt and interesting.” Narvik isnot a musical; it is, as it says on the proverbial tin, a play withsongs. As we dig deeper, Lizzie continues to explain how shesees the difference between the two. “In a musical, the songshave to carry the story forward. In a play with songs, the musiccan have a subtle relationship with the narrative throughout.”It is apparent that Narvik’srelationship with music isan esoteric one, providingambience and a backdrop tothe show rather than a deviceto move the plot forward.Speaking to Nunnery aboutthe opportunity to perform livemusic and theatre togethermakes you realise just howmuch love she has for whatshe wants to do. Whether itbe through studio albums orscripts, Nunnery is a storytellerwith craft, and big ideas thatshe wants to share withanyone and everyone. She is ahard worker, with no intentionof resting on her laurels afterthis production of Narvik ends.She is already adapting a novelfor the stage, recording a newalbum and, wait for it, writinga musical.From studio albums toaward-winning plays such asIntemperance, Nunnery hasfirmly established herselfas a memorable Liverpoolwriter of memorable Liverpoolplays. She is an artist who isconstantly listening to newmusic and watching newtheatre. Speaking broadly,she lists current and pastinfluences, describing herenjoyment of the wonderfulSufjan Stevens and theLiverpool-born KathrynWilliams along with theatremakerssuch as Dennis Kellyand Enda Walsh – who, if youhaven’t read or listened to before,then you should check out.With (hopefully) a Paxman-esque swagger, I conclude theinterview by asking Nunnery why exactly people should comeand see her most recent play. Her eloquent reply comes aftera brief moment of thought: “I hope people feel like it doessomething unexpected. I hope it hits people in the head andthe heart. I hope it explores big ideas of who we are and howwar disrupts lives. It is a friendship between two lads in thenavy.” And, perhaps most importantly, “I hope it delivers thatbig portion of heart.”Narvik runs at The Playhouse from 8th to 19th September.everymanplayhouse.combidolito.co.uk

Words: Richard LewisPhotography: Pop LeviAUDIO PHOTOS WITHcrush_DLXAt the beginning of 1992,cult indie band The WeddingPresent announced they wereto issue twelve 7” singles atmonthly intervals for an entireyear. Some scoffed, and manymore had to eat their wordsat the group’s ensuing dozenstrongrun of Top 30 hits. Overtwenty years later, an act thatincludes a cult artist alsofrom the independent sectorannounced they were tolaunch a similarly ambitiousproject, only this timeintending to write one songfor every day of theyear.In actual fact,the Micro Sex Tapesserieslaunchedby LA-based duoCRUSH_DLX(pronounced CrushDeluxe) – who consistof Pop Levi (formerlyof this parish) andmusical/romanticpartner Bunny Holiday– is longer than a yeareven, running to 370tracks.Issued via SoundCloudin batches of ten tracksat a time and currentlystanding at 348 entries, the cuts swerve away from theglam/funk/soul/pop of Prince and T. Rex with which Levi isusually associated, towards something exclusively electronic,employing wonky Yamaha keyboards and old tape machines.The latest product of Levi’s permanently restless, grasshopperlikeimagination, the music and visuals are created in harnesswith Holiday, a recognisable figure from print ads andbillboards the world over from her modelling and design workfor American Apparel.“It kinda started totally organically: we got some cassetteplayers maybe four or five years ago now and just startedrecording every day,” Levi explains over a surprisingly crystalclearSkype connection from on top of a mountain on a Greekisland. “We ended up with so much stuff we thought ‘Why don’twe make a project out of it?’ Then we ended up putting stuffout every day, adding to it every day, and then it kind of tookon a life of its own. Then Ariel Pink got involved which was cool,then a few other people [became] involved and it just ended upbeing... we don’t really know! We’re doing it as a total labour oflove with no budget.”The series is made up of bite-sized sonic morsels that rangefrom several seconds to roughly four minutes, taking in the likesof X-Ray Spex, the aptly titled Sumptuous (from the first MicroSex Tapes mixtape collection), and the deep pop of 55s (fromthe upcoming second mixtape). The mildly esoteric assortmentof ‘tracks’ is fairly jarring upon the first listen, but unravels toshowcase not only the pair’s aptitude for locating a melody orcompelling hook in even the most obtuse material, but also theability to wring highly impressive results from hardware usuallyconsigned to flea markets.A discontinued piece of recording hardware – a Sony TCM 210– provides the rudimentary but highly portable studio whereall the crush_DLX material is created. “It’s a little two-speedmachine with a faster and slower wheel. They don’t make themanymore but you can buy them online, so we bought up a loadof them!” laughs Levi. “They’re really expensive ‘cos they’re deadstock,” Holiday explains. “I’ve got a big collection of mid-eightiesfirst-issue samplers and all those Yamaha sampling keyboards,early drum machines, all that kind of stuff,” Levi adds. “We justset it up and let it play out. I guess we try and make it as naturaland honest as possible: all the warmth and all the filthy bits areall the best parts, really.”“It’s mostly inspired by dirty, early Cabaret Voltaire and earlyninetiesrave music, like the Dreamscape series,” Levi continuesas we get in to the nitty-gritty of the project’smusical inspirations. “We want to keep it as dirty and as organicas possible. We set up a studio where we could record into thecassette machine and then overdub other things very simply soit’s really quick and natural. Like audio photos.”Elsewhere, a fellow Angelino maverick, Ariel Pink, appears onthe collection on the minimalist electro throb piece My Pleasure.“Ariel lives on the same street as us, which is bizarre as LA’s sohuge,” Levi explains. “We walked down to his house one day;he had some seats made out of broken keyboard, and we justspent a couple of hours fucking around with ideas and quicklyjammed the track out. He was doing impressions of Nazis saying‘fashion’. It was typical early Ariel Pink sense of humour. He likedthe project cos it’s all built around tapes.”“Really, we want to bring it to England,” Levi continues, whenpressed about realising his ambitions of playing the material live.“We’re out on a limb in LA; musically it’s not the city for it. It’s acool place to start it, but I wanna go and play Hull University.” TheNorth East city leads neatly to one of the project’s other majorinfluences, the iconoclastic eardrum-manglers Throbbing Gristle.Inventors of industrial music and owners/operators of the recordlabel it was named after, the quartet mixed the cutting edge ofsampling, early synthesizers and audio generators to alternatelyterrifying or soothing effect. “We tried to get in touch with [TGfrontman, later Psychic TV leader] Genesis P. Orridge,” Levi recalls.“We’re hoping we can get him on the series; he’d be perfect for it.”With the first compilation of the tracks issued as MICRO SEXTAPES Collection Volume 1 earlier in the year, aptly enough oncassette, a second instalment is imminent, “then a Volume 3, soit’ll be a trilogy by October time,” Levi explains. “A cassette whichlooks good with a download code looks really good I think, muchbetter than a CD.” In a bizarre twist of fate that brought the worldsof lo-fi tape culture careering in to the world of high-societyglitz and glamour, the project received a highly enviablepromotional boost when the cassette was included in thegoody bags given out to attendees at the 87th AcademyAwards in February. “It was valued at a $1000 in the bag,because it was limited,” Holiday explains with barely ahint of incredulity at being a part of this year’s Oscars.“We only made a hundred; they were just made forpromo and on the back you got a code for download.”With several dates already logged around LA, crush_DLX live shows are looking to place an emphasis onthe audio-visual marriage within their world. “Wehave a third member, Miko Reverenza. He’s not amember of the band as such but he’s a member ofthe live crew; he sets up early-eighties camcordersand films us live in the suits that Bunny’s made forus,” Levi explains. “Then live in front of the audienceon a multitude of TV screens, he does a live videomix which is kind of filthy and pre-pixels, that earlyvideo-editing effect. We don’t like to be retro butwe want it to be not what everyone else is doingnow. On top of that, we project videos that Bunnyand I have made onto a screen at the back. Wehaven’t really perfected it yet, but that’s the pointreally.”“It’s very Throbbing Gristle-inspired; it’sdifferent every night, it’s raw,” adds Holiday. Adesigner for American Apparel by day, includingher extensive Cali Sun and Fun range, Holidaycreated the “Intra-stellar flight suits” that actas the duo’s stage wear. “They kind of reallysuit the industrial vibe of the whole thing;they’re a little bit end of the world and 1984, like the music,”Holiday explains. “I got these pieces made at the factory for us.They’re what they call samples; they’re the only two in existence.”“I’ve given up genre, I see it as all of the same,” Levi statesat one point, as if struck by a moment of insight. “I dunno if I’llmake another guitar record; maybe one day, probably I will. Rightnow there isn’t a begging audience for it so I’d be afraid to putit online for a hundred listens, y’know?” At the rate crush_DLXare proffering new material, he needn’t worry about returningto roads already trodden. In fact, it’s hard to see a step beyondthis current project that would be an advance on the creativeprocess perfected over the past year. If anyone’s earned theirright to hang up their space jetpack it’s Pop Levi; one thing you’resure of, however, is that that particular thought is the last thingon his mind.Head to bidolito.co.uk now for an exclusive premiere of the newcrush_DLX MICRO SEX TAPES Collection 2 mixtape, where you’llalso be able to watch a video for the track Frequently.soundcloud.com/microsextapes

BOOK NOW: 0161 832 1111MANchesteracademy.netTHE JANOSKIANS - JAHOO JAHAA TOURFRIDAY 4TH SEPTEMBERTHE WILDHEARTSPERFORMING P.H.U.Q. IN ITS ENTIRETYFRIDAY 18TH SEPTEMBERPEACETHURSDAY 1ST OCTOBERWALK OFF THE EARTHFRIDAY 2ND OCTOBERHAWKTOBERFEST 2015: HAWKWIND+ RUTS DCSATURDAY 3RD OCTOBER DOORS 4.30PM / SHOW 5PMBOYCE AVENUEFRIDAY 9TH OCTOBERBUZZCOCKS+ MARION +GOLDBLADESATURDAY 10TH OCTOBERDOORS 4PMMIGUELSUNDAY 18TH OCTOBERGARY NUMANSATURDAY 24TH OCTOBERPETER HOOK & THE LIGHTA “JOY DIVISION” CELEBRATION PERFORMING UNKNOWNPLEASURES & CLOSER AND FEATURING AN OPENING SETOF NEW ORDER MATERIAL + EL TEN ELEVENFRIDAY 30TH OCTOBERFROM THE JAM + THE UNDERTONES+ THE BEAT+ LOUISE DISTRASSATURDAY 31ST OCTOBERDEATH CAB FOR CUTIETUESDAY 3RD NOVEMBERBLACKBERRY SMOKEFRIDAY 6TH NOVEMBERSKINDRED+ CROSSFAITHSATURDAY 7TH NOVEMBERGARBAGE - 20 YEARS QUEERFRIDAY 13TH NOVEMBERTHE WEDDING PRESENT+ THE VASELINES + CINERAMA + EMMA POLLOCKDOORS 6PMSATURDAY 14TH NOVEMBERFUSE ODGMONDAY 16TH NOVEMBERHAPPY MONDAYSTHURSDAY 19TH NOVEMBERMEGADOG: DREADZONE+ EAT STATIC + SYSTEM 7+ DJ MICHAEL DOG + MC TBAG + VJ’S PEEKA & EEFEESATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER DOORS 9PM - 4AMFRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULSTUESDAY 24TH NOVEMBERA TRIBUTE TO MANCH25STER FT:THE CLONE ROSES - THE OASISEXPERIENCE THESE SMITHS - TRUE ORDERPLUS SPECIAL GUEST DJ PHIL BECKETT (STONE ROSES TOUR DJ)FRIDAY 4TH DECEMBERNEW MODEL ARMYDOORS 4PMDOORS 7PM - 12AM+ THE DUB PISTOLS + GUN + TV SMITHSATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER DOORS 4.30PM / SHOW 5PMFORMERLY THE MDHTHE SUGARHILL GANG PLUSGRANDMASTER’S FURIOUS FIVESATURDAY 8TH AUGUSTALVVAYSTHURSDAY 10TH SEPTEMBERPARADISE LOSTWEDNESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBERHUNTER HAYESTHURSDAY 1ST OCTOBERBEAR’S DENTUESDAY 6TH OCTOBERGEORGE THE POETWEDNESDAY 7TH OCTOBERGAZ COOMBESTHURSDAY 8TH OCTOBERCLASSIC ROCK TRIBUTE TOURFEATURING HELLS BELLS, BLACK ROSE AND STATE OF QUOFRIDAY 9TH OCTOBERTHE ICICLE WORKSSATURDAY 10TH OCTOBERPROTOJEFRIDAY 16TH OCTOBERR5SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBERCRADLE OF FILTHTHURSDAY 22ND OCTOBERBATTLESFRIDAY 23RD OCTOBERDELAINSATURDAY 24TH OCTOBERREEL BIG FISHMONDAY 26TH OCTOBERINSANE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP:LIVE FOREVERFRIDAY 30TH OCTOBERHEAVEN 17SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBERTHIRD EYE BLINDTHURSDAY 5TH NOVEMBERYELAWOLFFRIDAY 6TH NOVEMBERIMPERICON NEVER SAY DIE! TOUR 15FT: THE AMITY AFFLICTION+ DEFEATER + BEING AS AN OCEAN + CRUEL HAND+ FIT FOR A KING + BURNING DOWN ALASKAMONDAY 9TH NOVEMBERPERIPHERY+ VEIL OF MAYASATURDAY 14TH NOVEMBERKATZENJAMMERSUNDAY 15TH NOVEMBERTHE FRATELLISMONDAY 16TH NOVEMBERFORMERLY THE HOP &AESTHETIC PERFECTIONTUESDAY 4TH AUGUSTMORDREDTHURSDAY 6TH AUGUSTCOMBICHRISTTUESDAY 11TH AUGUSTTHE MEAT PUPPETS+ THE BLEEDIN NOSES AND GUESTSTHURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBERU2-2SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBERJUNGLE BROTHERSSUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBERSTEREO MC’S+ JERAMIAH FERRARIFRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBERMOSTLY AUTUMNSATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBERMACHINAE SUPREMACY+ URIZENSUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBERTHE SWORDWEDNESDAY 16TH SEPTEMBERJOLANGA+ FALSE ADVERTISING + LITTLE ILLUSION MACHINE+ WE SIGNAL FIRESATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBEREXTRACTION FESTIVAL FT: [SPUNGE]+ WHITMORE + PHINIUS GAGE + FIGHTS & FIRES+ RED LIGHT REBELSFRIDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER DOORS 6.30PMENSLAVEDSUNDAY 27TH SEPTEMBERWHEATUSWEDNESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBERXENTRIX+ ACID REIGN + SHRAPNELSATURDAY 3RD OCTOBERRALEIGH RITCHIESUNDAY 4TH OCTOBERBLITZ KIDSFRIDAY 9TH OCTOBERRAINTOWNWEDNESDAY 14TH OCTOBERWOLFSBANESATURDAY 17TH OCTOBERTHE WOODENTOPS PERFORM ‘GIANT’SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBERLUCY ROSEMONDAY 19TH OCTOBERDAN BAIRD & HOMEMADE SINSATURDAY 31ST OCTOBERFORMERLY THE CELLARSTEVE HARRIS BRITISH LIONFRIDAY 7TH AUGUSTTHE TUBESSATURDAY 8TH AUGUSTSOJASUNDAY 16TH AUGUSTSOUL BOUTIQUE 4THANNIVERSARY PARTYFEATURING DJ BIGGER, MIKE STEPHENS,PAUL MAC, BIZZY BSATURDAY 22ND AUGUSTNATHAN GRISDALE LIVESATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBERTHE POLYPHONIC SPREEWEDNESDAY 9TH SEPTEMBERLA GUNS’ TRACII GUNSSUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBERGZA – ‘LIQUID SWORDS’20TH ANNIVERSARY TOURTHURSDAY 17TH SEPTEMBEREVILESATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBERPOSTPONED FROM 27TH SEPTEMBER 2014 - ORIGINAL TICKETSELIZA AND THE BEARTHURSDAY 1ST OCTOBERHAYSEED DIXIEFRIDAY 2ND OCTOBERNORTHLANE+ VOLUMES + THE ACACIA STRAIN + HELLIONSWEDNESDAY 7TH OCTOBERHOFFMAESTROTHURSDAY 8TH OCTOBERSCOTT WEILAND & THE WILDABOUTSFRIDAY 9TH OCTOBERAGAINST THE CURRENTSATURDAY 10TH OCTOBERAMBER RUNFRIDAY 30TH OCTOBERDARLIATHURSDAY 5TH NOVEMBERNORTHSIDESATURDAY 14TH NOVEMBERSEPULTURA - 30TH ANNIVERSARY TOURTUESDAY 17TH NOVEMBERMANCHESTER ACADEMY PRESENTSSWEET BILLY PILGRIMWEDNESDAY 2ND SEPTEMBERBITERSTHURSDAY 8TH OCTOBERfacebook.com/manchesteracademy @manchesteracademy FOR UP TO DATE LISTINGS VISIT MANChesteracademy.net

18Bido Lito! September 2015Words: Sam Turner / @samturner1984Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.ukBlue SaintMerki WatersEmily AyreTHEMUSICNETWORKbidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 201519From the old bluesmen travelling around in boxcars, anddustbowl-balladeer Woody Guthrie’s carriage-blues obsession,through Elvis’s Mystery Train to Morrissey’s conflicted figuretoo,heading towards London Euston, there is a long historymostnotably with the plaqueat Widnes Station that recogniseswhich entwines trains and music. It’s ahistory that’s especially trueit as the place where Paul Simon pennedHomeward Bound. Yet, another, altogethermore modern, chapter is being added tothis tradition with the MERSEYRAILSOUND STATION project: a multifacetedinitiative which givessupport to new music onMerseyside through regularevents, a monthly podcast andan annual competition.Now in its third year,Sound Station is a musicdevelopmentprogrammethat involves some of the mostinfluential musos on Merseysideand invites artists who are at thestart of their musical journey to steponto the platform and get a one-wayticket to success (sorry, that’s the first andlast one of those!). Previous winners of the annualhere on MerseysideMerseyrail Sound Station Prize – which rewards one artisteach year with a suite of professional music industry mentoring invarious aspects of live performance, promotion and working withthe press, along with studio recording time – SOHO RIOTS andBLUE SAINT speak glowingly about the chances the competitiongave them. “Winning the prize gave us a massive boost at justthe right time,” says Andy Woodhouse, lead singer of inauguralprizewinners Soho Riots. “It put us in touch with contacts that wewouldn't have otherwise made. And, most importantly, it gave usthe opportunity to play some great festivals like LIMF, Farm Feastand Sound City.”As with the Liverpool five-piece, Blue Saint (AKA DanielSebuyange) also capitalised on a fulfilling experience withSound Station, which started with a performance at one of thecompetition upload days (where artists are invited along to filma song performed at a Merseyrail station and submit the video astheir entry into the competition). Sebuyange then took part in theannual final – a full-blown gig at Moorfields Station – and then,after being crowned winner, went on a region-wide press junket,and recorded a live session and podcast at Tankfield Studios. Itis from this latter experience that Sebuyange believes he haslearned the most, but the Congolese-born hip hopper is mostenthusiastic about the artistic freedom the prize has affordedhim. “It’s allowed me to grow and try different things,” he says, ina spare moment between finishing work for the second year ofhis degree and getting on with preparing his second EP. “I haven’tplayed with a band before and that’s the route I’m going to godown next.”The man known as Blue Saint (also the name of the protagonistin his EP series) excitedly tells me about the doors which haveopened through Sound Station and the guidance he has receivedfrom the mentoring aspect of his prize. “It’s allowed me to getmore recognition as I’ve performed in different places,” heenthuses, wide-eyed and obviously energised by the experience.“Because of me winning, I got to perform at Threshold festival andSoho Riots[producer] BeLOey saw me and said we should collaborate. I alsogot contacted by Jay [Hynd] at Juice FM and went on there – thatwas amazing. There are so many things I am thankful to SoundStation for.”Juice FM and Bay TV personality Jay Hynd also hosts the monthlyMerseyrail Sound Station podcast, which features breaking artistsfrom across Merseyside as well as live sessions from handpickedacts. These session acts – who this year alone have included SheDrew The Gun, Merki and Holy Thursday – get the opportunityto lay down two live tracks with producer MichaelJohnson (whose CV includes New Order’s BlueMonday) at Tankfield Studios in Wirral. Asa platform for emerging music it’s apretty comprehensive one, andHynd enjoys the window ontobright local talent that SoundStation affords him: “It showsyou how much there is herein the North West and it’sa great platform for thisyoung talent which iscoming through. Also, alot of the musicians thatwe get on are genuinelyexcited to be part ofSound Station because itis quite well establishednow.”It is tempting to writeoff projects which talkof championing local talent as vanityprojects for businesses which perhaps giveairtime to artists who couldpractising in their bedroomsa well-publicised platform,impressed by the calibreof musicians who haveappeared on the podcast: “Ican’t actually name one thatisn’t super talented. It’s notall been my type of music,but what you’re seeing ismusicians who we had ontwelve months ago, who arenow highly-respected artiststhat are doing really well.”Hynd’s claim bears out:past podcast participantsinclude Natalie McCool (whohas just finished recordingher debut LP with Outfit’s DaveBerger), Amique (named as one ofthree Most Ready artists as part ofthe LIMF Academy this year), and HootonTennis Club, who are without doubt one of thehottest properties in music in the UK right now. Itpossibly use more timerather than having suchbut Hynd is genuinelyseems that Sound Station is fast becoming the place to find thenext big thing on Merseyside (as well as yours truly, of course).Michael Johnson, who records the live sessions and podcastsat his Tankfield Studios base, agrees about the high standardof performer they have dropping in through Sound Station,struggling to single out just one highlight: “The atmosphere thatNatalie McCool generated just on her own was quite amazing,and Soho Riots I really enjoyed, but there’s been nobody I haven’tliked, so it’s hard to pick out a standout act. They’ve all had theirgood points.” Johnson’s involvement in the project does not stopat the podcasts: as well as garnering slots at high-profile festivalsand a year’s worth of specific industry management, the winnerof the Merseyrail Sound Station Prize is treated to studio time atTankfield with the hugely experienced producer.“Winning the prize gaveus a massive boost at justthe right time. It put us in touchwith contacts that we wouldn't haveotherwise made. And, most importantly,it gave us the opportunity to playsome great festivals like LIMF,Farm Feast and Sound City.”Andy Woodhouse, Soho RiotsThe combination of the three elements of the prize has obviouslybenefitted Sebuyange greatly. The rapper is positively beamingabout his appreciation of how the specifics are tailored to theindividual or act that wins the prize, which is announced at anafter-party following the Moorfields final. “When I won I rememberthinking it allowed me to have more time to try things, and I’ve sincefound that it is about what you want to explore. So, if you didn’twant to do studio time and you’d rather concentrate on performingor other stuff, then they’d give you more places to perform in, so itdepends on the person – where you want to go with it.”Sebuyange has also benefitted from the wisdom and inputof Bido Lito!’s own Craig G. Pennington, who lends his industryexpertise to the mentoring element of the prize, and has presenteda regular live guide on the monthly podcasts since its inception. “Ifind Daniel really, really inspiring as an artist, especially for sucha young guy, and it’s really enjoyable to help in a little way toget that vision realised,” says Pennington, clearly another bigadvocate of the programme. He is also keen to give the Merseyrailcompany credit for their support of such an important project: “Ithink it’s testament to them as an organisation that they investin new music on a grassroots level. With all the challengesthat grassroots creativity has in this city and the region, a largeorganisation like Merseyrail investing in it is incredibly positive.For them, I believe it’s more about them being involved in the citythat they’ve got such a vested interest in, and having a creativerole in the culture of the place that they’re involved in.”If you’ve noticed something musically different about your dailyrail commute over the past couple of years, chances are that theMerseyrail Sound Station initiative is behind it. From on-platformperformances and pop-up events welcoming passengers atstations as they travel to large-scale events, toa ready access to the region’s breakingmusical talent through the free monthlypodcasts, it’s evident that SoundStation is far from a run-of-themilllocal music project. In justover two years, the initiativehas spawned a wealth ofincredible ideas, forgedconnectionsbetweenpeople who are passionateabout the help it givesyoung artists, and along theway has established itselfas an important place on thecultural landscape of the city.Full steam ahead.The Merseyrail Sound Station Prize2015 is open now: any musician from theMerseyside area who wants to be in with a chanceof winning a year of professional music industry mentoring, headalong to your nearest Upload Location (Central Station, LiverpoolSouth Parkway, Kirkby, Southport, Wallasey Grove Road, Hoylakeand Hooton) and record yourself performing an original song, thenupload the video to the Merseyrail Sound Station Facebook page.Full details of the prize and upcoming upload days can be foundat merseyrailsoundstation.com, where you’ll also be able to listento the latest monthly podcast.bidolito.co.uk

20Bido Lito! September 2015In the constant storm that is contemporary music it is often difficult to find something unique: anew voice amongst the chorus that you recognise and move towards because it is speaking toyou. It is even rarer to find that this voice is calling from your own backyard and that, for somereason, most people seem to be ignoring it. This metaphor could, until recently, have beenapplied to Formby-based band CAVALIER SONG. However, with the release of their debut albumBlezzard scheduled for early 2016 on God Unknown Records, it seems that ears are finallystarting to listen. They are a band with vision, and are acutely aware of the direction in whichthey want to take their music, of which Luke Mawdsley and Dan Shea made me keenly aware.“It was great being able to be really creative with the mixing process. We wantedto record the music as live as possible and then take those recordings and turnthem into another space completely,” says guitarist Mawdsley, the band’s de factofrontman. “We wanted it to sound like desert music or space music. For there tobe a representation of what we sound like live but then to take it somewhereelse. We didn't want it to sound like a band. We wanted it to be like a machineof sound, not a rock group.”The album, which is entirely instrumental, does very much resemble a sonicjourney. As the five songs unravel you feel yourself transported, which is attimes an unsettling experience, but ultimately rewarding. Though perceptionis clearly a subjective concept, it is hard to see how the songs could be viewedin a way too far removed from the aesthetic Shea and Mawdsley have laidout for them. Their intentions are, for me at least, always apparent andthe result is a refined and clearly defined sound that communicates theirthematic ideas brilliantly.“I've always been really inspired by Spaghetti Western movies but witha more Gothic take on them,” Mawdsley explains, “and over the past fewyears one of the things that has been a huge influence on me has beenThe Dark Tower books by Stephen King. We wanted to represent the kindof vastness and space in those films and books. We tried to recreate theway Ennio Morricone uses space in his compositions. On one of thetracks on the album, Anode, it's almost like taking a screen shot froma Sergio Leone film and trying to represent that.”The making of the record has been a long process, with demosbeing recorded over two years ago in the Scandinavian Church. Inthe time between then and the completion of the album, there havebeen several line-up changes and the setting for the recording of thealbum proper was a lot less grand than the Church. In Shea's ownwords it was “a shitty, little room where we couldn't even close thewindow properly”. This dilemma yielded unexpected results whenthe sound of a motorbike driving past outside was accidentallyrecorded at the beginning of one of the tracks. “It was one ofthose happy accidents,” Mawdsley says. “It seemed to perfectlysum up the feeling of that song. As if that's the last person ridingaway into the distance and you are left on your own.”This coincidence was certainly an anomaly in the recordingprocess as a whole, which was meticulously planned andmeant months of mixing afterwards to transform the liverecordings into a different entity. The band recruited anotherlocal visionary in the form of aPAtT member Steven Cole, tooffer musical guidance and help with the production duties.“We just thought that he would be someone who wouldhave an extra opinion on music and be able to capture it,”Mawdsley tells me. “He was unfazed and very patient withwhat we were doing. He was a great energy, and madesure it was still fun. Me and him spent a lot of time aftermixing it together.”Patience is a virtue that is clearly shared by both bandmembers. They have adapted through several setbacksand continued to develop their craft. As any musicianwill tell you, it is hard to quite simply get musicout there and have people listen to it. Sometimesthe instant gratification of sites like SoundCloudand Bandcamp is satisfying, but usually onlymomentarily, and for a band like Cavalier Songthere is obviously a requirement for far more depthin terms of a full, proper physical release.“We had almost given up searching for a label to release [the album], but just as we haddecided to put it out ourselves Jason Stoll from God Unknown contacted us and said he wouldlike to take it on. He was so enthusiastic about the album. It instantly felt like the perfect labelfor us. Over the next twelve months we're going to do a lot of shows to promote it, but not justfor the sake of it. We want them to be interesting performances both visually and musically.”Cavalier Song are a band exploring the boundaries that music can touch. The record comprisesfive songs which gradually unfurl over thirty minutes, audio vistas that require time andattention in order to be fully appreciated. From the haunting imagism of Oarfish – “asong about a sea creature rising to the surface” – to the gradually building,krautrock-infused strains of Trees, it is a piece of work that is as coherentas it is diverse. For listeners interested in a quick fix, this is maybenot the record for you. But for those searching for an expansiveexperience that is both beguiling and transcendental,there are few artists amongst the current local cropthat could serve you better. So listen. Theyare talking to you.soundcloud.com/cavaliersongWords: Alastair DunnPhotography: Stuart Moulding / @OohShootStu

sae institute liverpool g.lysaght@sae.edu | 0151 255 1313electronic music productioncertif icate 6 months part timestarts: 5 october 2015www.sae.eduProduction TechniquesMidi, Sampling, SynthesisAbleton LiveApple LogicTaught byDJ/ProducerPaul Kane

22Bido Lito! September 2015SEPTEMBER IN BRIEFRICHARD DAWSON AND ASIQ NARGILEHaving met at last year’s TUSK arts festival in Newcastle, RICHARD DAWSON and ASIQ NARGILE found that they were bound together by the distinctiveways in which they both channel the ancients to transcend the everyday. Anti-folk artist Dawson (pictured), from Newcastle, was fascinated by themoving work of Tbilisi-born Nargile, particularly her highly virtuosic playing of the native Georgian saz (long-neck lute); this show pairs these two boldand visionary performers from very different walks of life, with little known about what they will conjure up.The Kazimier / 16th SeptemberEdited by Alastair DunnSTEPHEN STEINBRINK AND JULIE BYRNEPut aside your nostalgia for the woozy Americana of the past and allow two of America's great young wanderers – STEPHEN STEINBRINK and JULIEBYRNE – to show you what classic US songwriting sounds like today. Raised in the arid desert of Arizona and currently floating around the western USA,Steinbrink came to prominence in 2014 with his intelligent breakthrough album Arranged Waves. Similarly nomadic, Julie Byrne (pictured) achievedword-of-mouth success with the stunning set of front-porch psych/folk missives on her debut LP Rooms With Walls And Windows.Studio2 / 21st SeptemberWARP RECORDS SPECIAL @ VINYL STATIONVinyl Station, our monthly record-listening gathering run in partnership with Metal, has something of a special treat in store for the Septemberedition: not one, but two fantastic new releases from the Warp Records label. Those who sign up to the free event at Edge Hill Station on Monday 14thSeptember will be treated to a double bill comprising the latest albums from math rock luminaries BATTLES (pictured) and electro duo DARKSTAR.Masterful MC Bernie Connor will once again host the evening, which allows music fans to sit and listen to a brand new and never-before-heard albumfront to back before debating its merits.BREAKING BIDO @ COW&CO CAFÉOne of the city’s most stylish daytime cafés is mounting a challenge to become Liverpool’s most chic evening watering hole by extending its openinghours and serving the finest in hand-picked ales. The cosy Cleveland Square spot COW&CO CAFE is welcoming craft-beer connoisseurs, gin-cocktailenthusiasts and good old-fashioned wine drinkers for a chilled-out evening as they open their doors until 10pm. We’ve joined in the celebrations byputting together a playlist of the hottest artists breaking through on Merseyside right now. Go to our SoundCloud page to find our Breaking Bido@ Cow&Co playlist, and discover your new favourite Liverpool band as we add more box-fresh acts over the coming months. cowandcocafe.com.RUBBER-STAMPED SOULOne aspect of the city’s musical heritage that is perhaps unfairly overlooked is the importance of soul music to the ‘Liverpool sound’, aninspirational strain that is woven a little more subtly into the fabric of Liverpool’s culture. It’s not something that is lost on some of ourfavourite homegrown artists of recent years, however, as Amique, Esco Williams and Roxanne L. Jones carry the soul torch with aplombtoday. Therefore, it’s with great pleasure that we welcome Liverpool’s first ever SOUL FESTIVAL, which takes place at venues across the citybetween 23rd and 25th October. Line-up announcements will be released in due course; meanwhile, join the #soulrevolution.LOUIS BERRYThe spirit of Johnny Cash lives on in Liverpool, in the form of precocious guitar-toting raconteur LOUIS BERRY. Having been nominated One To Watch atthis year’s GIT Awards, Berry has since taken his soul-infused vocals and raucous, blues-tinged rock ‘n’ roll to The Great Escape and Dot To Dot festivals,and heads out on his first headline tour in the UK this month. Berry’s debut EP – 25 Reasons, released in May – showcases a talent who’s set to followin the footsteps of Jake Bugg and Alex Turner.Arts Club / 26th SeptemberLIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC SONGWRITING CHALLENGESo you fancy yourself as a songwriter, eh? Why not try your hand at this. Liverpool Acoustic’s famed Songwriting Challenge returns for its fifthyear on 12th September, to test the skills of the region’s musicians. This unique event challenges songwriters to write a new, original song inspiredby the artwork on show at Mathew Street’s independent View Two Gallery, with the submitted pieces judged on lyrics, melody, composition andoriginality. The top 10 songs will be performed at the Showcase Final on 27th November, and the winning songs in the two categories – JudgesAward and Audience Favourite – will be recorded at Liverpool’s Crosstown Studios with producer John Lawton. challenge.liverpoolacoustic.co.ukbidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 201523THE POLYPHONIC SPREEFifteen years on since their inception, now is a fitting time to appreciate possibly the world's foremost exponents of choral symphonic rock: THEPOLYPHONIC SPREE. Tim DeLaughter’s sprawling collective of vibrant, colourful musicians return to the UK in September to celebrate their 15thanniversary by performing debut album The Beginning Stages Of... in its entirety (with a few greatest hits thrown in too). Their uplifting blend of pop,orchestral rock, and touches of gospel soul results in moments of life-affirming clarity – something that is rarely found in modern music.Arts Club / 15th SeptemberBIDO LITO! SOCIAL LIVE @ ALOFTOur superb series of Socials continues apace this month with another fantastic bill of acts playing at Aloft Liverpool (1 North John Street). We’redelighted that this month’s feature stars BATHYMETRY (pictured) will be joining us for a headline set of their otherworldly folk fancies on Thursday 17th;equally exciting is the prospect of seeing support acts AJHD and TRUDY play their off-kilter ditties in such an opulent setting. The evening will kick offat 6pm with a meet and greet with the Bido Lito! cast, before the evening’s sonic soiree gets underway at 8pm. And it’s all free!Aloft Hotel / 17th SeptemberESGNew York funk pioneers ESG are purveyors of a universal type of good-time music, something that the Scroggins sisters have perfected over 30 yearsof genre melding. Always delivered drenched with cool, menace and dread, the echo of their modest recorded output can be heard in a plethora oflatter-day hip hop acts (Wu Tang Clan, J Dilla, Tricky, etc). This is supposedly the final UK tour from New York funk veterans, although you'd be forgivenfor taking this claim with a pinch of salt given that the band have announced their goodbyes a few times before.The Kazimier / 27th SeptemberZIFERBLATNot a café, not a co-working space, not a clubhouse: a ZIFERBLAT. Direct from Moscow comes the brainchild of eccentric Russian poet Ivan Mitin, andthe concept of the Ziferblat is difficult to explain to the uninitiated. At 6p a minute, anyone can use the Albert Dock living room to do work, relax coffeeand a slice of cake (all free, just help yourself in the kitchen area) or enjoy a civilised board game on one of the comfy chairs. Mitin’s aim is “to createa space [as] cushy as home, where it’s comfortable for you to work and to entertain as well”. A programme of events, community-group gatheringsand classes in the pipeline make this a place to get excited about. ziferblat.co.ukINTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL OF GREAT BRITAINFor the past 26 years, Wirral has been set alight during the dark months of November by a range of shows that pay homage to some of the finest six-and twelve-string merchants currently plying their trade today. This year, the INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL OF GREAT BRITAIN sets out to show thebreadth and range of the guitar as music has moved into the 21st century through some much-anticipated live shows from NILS LOFGREN (pictured),THE BLOCKHEADS, ROY WOOD and RALPH McTELL. Regular venue the Floral Pavilion plays host to most of the acts, with the neighbouring QueensRoyal Hotel hosting some of the more intimate acts. Full line-up and ticket details can be found at bestguitarfest.com.SAE’S INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICSLiverpool's highly acclaimed SAE Institute has been running its Electronic Music Production course for a number of years now, and it has proved tobe wildly popular with the region’s pool of audio wizards. The six-month, part-time Saturday course provides access to tutor-supported productionfacilities across the week and weekend, where students will be taught in SAE’s professionally equipped Pall Mall studios using a state-of-the-artApple Mac suite, MIDI controllers, and running Logic X and Ableton 9. A handful of places are still available for the next EMP course, which begins inOctober. If you’d like to apply for the course, head to sae.edu/gbr.WEIGHTSTOCKThe legal team at Weightmans LLP – a law firm based on Old Hall Street – aren’t your typical group of advocates. Five years ago, an officediscussion about music turned in to a jam session and the formation of some rudimentary bands. The idea quickly snowballed, and in 2013Weightmans held its first concert, which featured four bands made up of the firm’s staff. On 25th September at Arts Club they’re doing it again,with participation from six bands of the company’s paralegals, secretaries, solicitors and partners. The firm cover the cost of the venue hire sothat all of the proceeds from ticket sales can go to the children’s charity Variety. Great cause, great idea.COMPETITION: FESTIVAL NO. 6A bona fide highlight of the festival calendar, FESTIVAL NO. 6 makes a welcome return for its fourth event between 3rd and 6th September. Takingplace in the beautiful faux-med surrounds of Portmeirion, the family friendly festival plays host to a mouth-watering trio of headliners in METRONOMY,BELLE & SEBASTIAN and GRACE JONES. To celebrate one of our favourite summer shindigs, we’re giving away a pair of tickets. All you have to do isanswer the following question: The title track of Grace Jones' classic LP Nightclubbing is a cover of a collaboration between which artists? Email youranswers to competition@bidolito.co.uk by 1st September. The winner will be selected at random and notified by email. Good luck!bidolito.co.uk

24Bido Lito! September 2015 ReviewsThe Vryll Society (Andy Von Pip / thevpme.com)FESTEVOLThe Kazimier Club and GardenFestivals. FestEVOLs. Places of discovery.Hotbeds of rumour. Random generators.There’s so much packed in to these two daylongballs that blinking really does mean you’rerisking missing something. So when wordreaches the garden of an “unmissable” bandindoors, anything is possible. That’s after onesong, but premature elation it ain’t: THE VRYLLSOCIETY demand attention.Remember the names: Michael Ellis (Vocals),Ryan Ellis (Guitar, headgear), Lewis McGuinness(Guitar, sans headgear), Lloyd Shearer (Bass)and Benjamin Robinson (Drums). Pick a fave,enthuse about them, choose where you’ll standat shows. Because you can: so well defined istheir levitational rhythm’n’prog that you hearhow essential each part is. In the measuredpacing of the lyrics, and in the preference (incommon with Nick McCabe, or Peter Green) forsplashes of guitar, with some brushstrokesrubbed out rather than mindlessly layered.There’s room for a proper rhythm section too,one you can get wide-eyed about over an ale,like people did with McCabe’s Verve wingmen.From their gliding debut single – July’s DeepBlue Skies – to the more red-blooded majorityof this set, they’ve all the gears and use themeffortlessly. The folk at Deltasonic Recordsmust be creaming themselves, and they won’tbe the only ones.It’s time for a change of tempo – I don’t thinkwe’ll be able to keep that up all night – and thatcomes in the form of WE ARE CATCHERS. ForPeter Jackson and co there’s no suit of armourtonight, no sense of the studio air or essenceof Brian Wilson sprinkled on their recordedoutput. It’s dudes in civvies banging out tunes,but it’s a testament to their songs here thatthey’re a rarity in wowing a crowd with dittiesalone.To that, THE SERPENT POWER add a wholelotta hair and visible love of folklore. Ian Skellyand Paul Molloy now channel not so much theirCoral and Zutons connections but Tom Pettyand George Harrison in Traveling Wilburysmode, with the expected dash of Beefheart andhints of early Moody Blues. More convincinglygrounded in the past than, say, Temples, youcan truly believe these guys were around inthe sixties, in a good way.Rather that than be prisoners of thenoughties – the challenge, too, for DAVEMcCABE & THE RAMIFICATIONS, and it’ssome achievement that McCabe is back in aconfounding sleek and synthy form that fits sosnugly it teleports him from his backstory toa fresh pop-soul bloodline. That startling roarreveals itself anew in opener Time & Place, andthere’s no reason why that can’t be here andnow – until he visits his back catalogue, butwhy bother when Too Damn Good, a newie, hasmore groove and gumption, and the title trackof forthcoming LP Church Of Miami is the footstomperof the night? McCabe appears spookedby sonic gremlins but listen, Earth to timetraveller,you’ve stumbled into your future. Allaboard, cadets – including you, McCabe. You’lldo fine.EVOL’s nuclear reactor of music continues thefollowing Saturday, dangerously contained inthree rooms and an alley for another 12 hours.Justice can’t be done to the vast line-up, everyslot filled with class irrespective of where theshadow falls on the sundial.SHE DREW THE GUN work the outdoor stageand the afternoon sun, clubland synths fittingperfectly with their West Coast (Washington,not California) bedroom pop. Purple-lit, purplehaired,and wearing purple Nikes, Louisa Roach(Vocals, Guitar) performs Since You Were NotMine with a light touch and more than a hintof Bowie.There are heavy touches, too. The only bandto sound like there’s a Tory majority throw ahalf-hour tantrum that’s vindictive, livid, andtotally necessary. No song titles – just rabiddelivery and a 10m mic cable. At the bar? In thetrain carriage? On the stairs? You’re gettingscreamed at. In the face. Their instrumentsaren’t destroyed, but they’re climbed/stampedon. Basslines bristle with mouldy fuzz and, ifyou’ve never seen a guitar used as a plectrum toplay a brick wall, go and watch BAD BREEDING.Inside, PINK FILM’s industrial drone givesway to sheer bubblegum pop. It’s disarming,but it works, and they can do it the other wayround, too – Loose Cannon and single GutWrench reward a patient, appreciative audienceas Ziyad Al-Samman (Vocals, Guitar) moveslike Phil Lynott fronting Pavement. Specialbidolito.co.uk

26Bido Lito! September 2015 Reviewsmention for XAM VOLO, whose Breathe Slow isso smooth it goes ungripped by human hands.The Kazimier’s interior was always a bitPatrick Troughton-era Doctor Who, and that,apparently, extends to massive secret rooms.Who knew? Quasi-mystical experiences await inthe adopted space of the adjacent Arts Academytonight, the first being BILL RYDER-JONES andIMMIX ENSEMBLE, playing one-off song cycleEpisodes with Daniel Thorne’s introspectivearrangements for quintet of winds and cello.Ryder-Jones’ fractured, confessional voiceis minimally deployed, the lyrical sequencesrelieved by Immix’s intermezzi. The room fallsdumb, as oceanographic sounds push their waythrough spaces in the crowd until it swims inmusic.At the other end of the night, the TEASTREET BAND deliver an era-defining show, ifthe many-armed cloud of admirers before thestage is to be believed. Don’t trust your eyes,just your ears: the TSB’s status rests on guitardance staples like Disco Lights and SummerDreaming, but this show is Janus-like – not justfor the band, who play tunes twenty years oldwhile tantalising with talk of a new record, butfor the Kazimier and FestEVOL – one will die, butthe other can be reincarnated, and there’ll beplenty waiting for a Fourth Coming.Tom BellStuart Miles O’Hara / @ohasm1She Drew the Gun (Andy Von Pip / thevpme.com)RUFUS WAINWRIGHTLucy Wainwright – Max JuryPhilharmonic HallLustrous, baroque orchestrations are oneof RUFUS WAINWRIGHT’s hallmarks, buttonight, with only a piano (albeit a RollsRoyce amongst pianos, the Philharmonic’sSteinway) and a sparingly used guitar, there’sa chance to enjoy the sheer breadth of theCanadian polymusician’s substance-overstylesongwriting, and focus on his bohemian,otherworldly lyrics. Speaking – or singing– of which, considering his signature soundincludes slightly slurred, patrician diction,every word is clear. The voice, gravelly andshowing the patina of age, also packs somepower behind the long, stratospheric notes,showing no sign of weakness at either end ofa set lasting just short of two hours.He’s not quite reached grand old damestatus yet, but Gay Messiah, Matinée Idol,and Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk acquire realpoignancy with the retrospection of middleage, as if Wainwright has come to inhabit thecharacters of his youthful songs more truthfullythan he intended when he wrote them.The piano-playing gently dazzles throughout,but it’s still a real surprise when, amid flashingblue lights, the Prima Donna starts vampingin best Nosferatu style, delivering a VincentPrice-esque monologue about what he foundin his dressing room: “Sequins… feathers onthe floor. I thought… oh God, she’s here, it’sher…” (cometh the dry ice, cometh the confetticannon) “…it’s – Liza Minelli!” It’s really LUCYWAINWRIGHT, garishly made up but stilllooking considerably more human than Minelliherself, to duet on Me And Liza. This display ofhigh camp is brought low by the devastatingchords of Mozart’s finale to Don Giovanni andthe appearance of Judy-Garland-as-Dorothy(first support act MAX JURY), singing, toMozart’s music, a message of filial doom. AsRufus quips earlier when introducing Les Feuxd’Artifice from his first opera Prima Donna, “it’snot gay at all.”Going To A Town, from underrepresented2007 album Release The Stars, is recast as analmost literal slow burner after that frenetichalf hour. Stripped back, for Rufus, doesn’tnecessarily mean simpler, and many songsare differently weighted in tonight’s piano/vocal arrangement. A case in point is how anaria from his opera can seem less ‘classical’than the fin de siècle This Love Affair, but TheArt Teacher remains quite possibly a perfectsong in its original form. Musically simplest ofall is his setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet XX,negating any sense of competition betweenmusic and words. It works, as each limpid beatalmost hesitates to be played alongside thefinest poetry in the English language.Tonight is a Best Of rather than a GreatestHits – one-handed habanera Vibrate is thetitle track of his new retrospective release –but what a catalogue there is to choose from.Almost every mood is covered, which makesthe late-night crooning of Poses another stringto his bow. Crooning is just about the only thingRufus Wainwright hasn’t done tonight and, ashe says, “I’d like to see Judy Garland do that.”Stuart Miles O’Hara / @ohasm1JOLIE HOLLANDAGPHarvest Sun @ LeafAfter several months of surviving mainlyon a diet of noise and tinnitus-inducingperformances at some of the city’s biggermusic venues, it is always nice to return tothe quieter reaches of Leaf and take in somestripped-down musings. Tonight we witnessone artist in ascendancy as well as a veteranat work in the form of JOLIE HOLLAND.First up is AGP, the alias of local musicianand producer Andrew Gordon Parry, who givesus an impressive and intriguing look into hiscreative processes. As he often reminds us,the songs he is performing tonight are stillideas in development, but with his simple setupof reverb-laden electric guitar and vocalsthey already sound fully formed and honed.The dark and brooding tones of the tracks areinterspersed with wry, witty comments thatmaintain the balance between the macabreand the humorous present in Parry’s lyrics.Hailing from Houston, Texas, headliner JolieHolland has been relentlessly involved in themusic industry since the release of her debutalbum Catalpa in 2003. Having sang backingvocals on a plethora of other artists’ recordings,and being cited as a favourite by Tom Waits,expectations are understandably high insidethe crowded venue. From the first strains ofher incredible voice the audience are suitablytransfixed. Her delivery is rich and soulfulwhilst maintaining a delicacy that imbuesit with subtlety, and her fairly unique way ofarticulating her lyrics gives the songs a strangeand interesting angle.Taken from her latest album, Wine Dark Sea,single Out On The Wine Dark Sea is a standouttrack in a setlist of similarly great songs.Its peculiar rhythms and stilted guitars offera fresh take on traditional folk and countrymusic, with the base elements of these formsbeing stripped back and pulled apart to createsomething new and re-invigorated. Performingtonight as a two-piece, Holland’s sparse guitarstyle is balanced by a blinding display from herlead guitarist, who adds counterpoints to hermelodies and generally just has a good oldwail all over the fretboard. As well as a wideselection of her own tracks, Holland also paystribute to another Texas-born musician, thelegendary Daniel Johnston, with a delicaterendering of his classic Walking The Cow.It is a touching moment and one thatperfectly exemplifies Holland’s raw talentas she encapsulates the mood of the songand turns it into a transcendental moment.This is clearly someone who knows how toplunge into the depths of musical feeling andemerge with a fully formed artefact for othersto admire, and we have all been in admirationof that tonight.Alastair DunnKRS-ONEMad BrainsBam!Bam!Bam! and EVOL @ The KazimierLiverpool’s golden age of live hip hopshows no signs of slowing down. It’s as ifthese titans of the genre have been talking,and everyone agrees that Liverpool is aguaranteed knowledgeable, lively crowd. Asold-out Kazimier is crackling with excitement– determined to engage in what could be thelast great hip hop show in this hallowed venue.An underrated factor in our rap renaissancehas been the superb support from local MCs.Tonight it’s the turn of MAD BRAINS, possiblythe only man alive to have split his childhoodbetween Florida and Widnes. That strangebidolito.co.uk

KRS-ONE (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)amalgamation informs his performance,marrying a West Coast Pharcyde flow tothe kind of murky, minor-chord productionusually found seeping from the high-risesof bleak British towns. Pouring his soul intoboth the microphone and a can of Red Stripewhile stalking the stage, Mad Brains’ tales oflate nights and Stinky Reefa deftly plot thelandscape of every Briton who’s ever turned tohip hop to escape.There are plenty of those in attendance, too,eager to receive a lesson from The Teacher.Despite the glittering list of names to havevisited our shores these last couple of years,this is our first chance to see someone who isincluded in the conversation about the greatestto have ever stepped to a microphone. And,tonight, KRS is putting on a clinic. Breaking offfrom barnstorming opener Step Into A Worldto bless us with the first pin-sharp freestyle ofmany, he blows us backwards with a blizzard ofhits: MCs Act Like They Don’t Know, I Can’t WakeUp, Black Cop and, of course, Sound Of DaPolice. A lot of big bombs are dropping early, butthis set is carefully crafted for ultimate impact;the youthful militant defiance of 9mm GoesBang is directly followed by the cautionary taleof consequences that is Nina (You Gotta Go). Noexplanation is necessary between the songs– KRS made sure the message was clearlyapparent in the lyrics, because the message iseverything. There are times when the music issacrificed, dropping the volume in the act of notwasting a single syllable. Whilst this is slightlyjarring at first, considering he’s spent half anhour telling the sound man to “Blast that shit!”,KRS has an intuitive magnetism, allowing usto easily follow him from hyped to hypnotised,and back again.This man has learned from every hard lessonlife has thrown at him; there is no entourage,save for a DJ/hype man (his son) and a manager(his wife). So many musicians tour in their lateryears in a desperate attempt to hang on to a lifeto which they became a little too accustomed,but it’s clear that KRS is still here for us asmuch as himself. He’s as excited to see us aswe are him. Labelling a show “the most intimatevenue of the tour” could be taken as a slightfrom some lips, but everyone feels the unitybetween stage and crowd. At this point, KRSdelivers his most surprising revelation so far:after spotting an Everton away shirt in the crowdhe intones that it “takes him back to 1989”. Abeaming smile then erupts as he sees the nameof DJ and fallen comrade Scott La Rock on theback. KRS manages to be simultaneously of thepeople and above the people; his words carrythe weight of presidential slogans, but they arewords to set us free: “Some people see disasterand some people see opportunity in disaster”.No one present will ever regret taking theopportunity to see the Blast Master.Maurice Stewart /theviewfromthebooth.tumblr.comTRAMLINESThe exponential growth of citywide festivalscontinues apace with the latest edition ofSheffield’s TRAMLINES Festival. Attracting animpressive 35,000 fans to its inaugural eventin 2009, the city’s premier music festival hasdeveloped into a hotly anticipated annualfixture with an impressive attendance in theregion of 200,000 revellers. Much like thissummer’s Liverpool Sound City, Tramlines saw2015 as a chance to progress to a new chapterin its juvenile history. Moving the main stagefrom Devonshire Green to the much largerexpanse of Ponderosa Park a mile up the roadcertainly echoes the relocation of Sound Cityto its new Dockside home.

ONLY FOOLS & BOYCIEWED 30th SeptJoanne Shaw TaylorTHU 1ST OCTOBERSimply DylanFRI 2nd OctPATRICK KEILTYFRI 9TH OCTDEAN FRIEDMANSAT 10TH OCTCHINA CRISISSAT 17th OctRon SexsmithTUE 20th OctRob Vincent Sings Cat StevensFRI 23rd OctoberCARA LAU DILLONTUE 26TH NOVHIGH KINGSWED 27TH NOVBEARDYMANTHU 28TH NOVMERSEY BEATLESTUE 1ST DEC0844888441185 Hanover Street L1 3DZDREAMING OF KATETHU 3RD DECSPACEFRI 4TH DECWWW.EPSTEINLIVERPOOL.CO.UK@EpsteinTheatre facebook.com/EpsteinTheatre

30Bido Lito! September 2015 ReviewsHooton Tennis Club (Stuart Moulding / @OohShootStu)Brand spanking new stages aside, whatreally makes Tramlines tick is the sheerwealth of affiliated events on offer, officialor otherwise. With the bulk of Sheffield’smost popular venues offering a jam-packedprogramme across the three days, the city whirsinto life, sound and colour bursting out of everypore. Industrious local businesses embracethe footfall with discounts and invitations tosample their wares, whilst small back-alleydrinking holes teem with merry custom. Ratherthan gathering in a far-flung field, city-basedfestivals offer a unique opportunity for localsand tourists alike to engage in the uniquevibrancy of an urban environment.The Merseyside contingent makes itsgreatest showing yet this year, with asmattering of artists showcasing the wealthof diversity on offer in the region. Post-rockstalwarts ANATHEMA bring their continuallyevolving sound to the grand setting of the CityHall, deftly promoting their individualist takeon melancholy. Over at The Harley, Liverpoolnewcomers GULF seek to prove why their ownbrand of psych pop is garnering a positivereaction across the board, whilst HeavenlyRecords signees and BBC 6Music favouritesHOOTON TENNIS CLUB reignite the wit andcharm of Pavement with a winning set at TheLeadmill. But that isn’t all from the reignitedHeavenly set, as STEALING SHEEP delivera performance of increasingly popular hitsfrom their critically acclaimed second album,Not Real. And, in embracing the fringe eventswith open arms, another homegrown gemis unearthed: Stewart Lee favourites EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD smash home a stunningperformance of their latest Mallet Guitars pieceto a rapturous reception in the newly renovatedAbbeydale Picturehouse Social.Dark, minimal and dripping with post-punkcool, Manchester’s LONELADY takes anotherleap into the realms of crossover popularitywith a confident Main Stage performance,further cementing her position as a key signingto the Warp Records roster. Some would say aparty just ain’t a party without the funk-soulmarathons of CRAIG CHARLES, and he hitshis peak around the midnight mark at DQ onSunday.With the newly hiked (although stillreasonable) ticket prices, it’s important forTramlines to prove its worth with a handfulof big hitters. Stepping in for the last-minutecancellation of the Wu Tang Clan, DE LA SOULtake the impromptu headline slot in their stride,showcasing hit after hit like true heavyweights.MARTHA REEVES ignites a sun-soaked Saturdaywith her iconic golden voice, whilst THE SUGARHILL GANG do what they do best with anupbeat set of rap classics. BASEMENT JAXXcompletely steal the show with an impressivesetlist jam-packed with charting singles – atantalising taste of what’s to come at LiverpoolInternational Music Festival on August bankholiday weekend.Clearly risks are taken in bringing a largerincarnation of Tramlines, but the slickorganisation, forward planning and reasonablepricing show all the hallmarks of a team withexperience. A headlining act pulling out with24 hours to go might well sink many festivals,but the swift replacement with artists ofarguably equal weight shows that Tramlinesreally means business. These girls and guys aretough. But what else would we expect fromthe Steel City?Jonny Davis Le BrunAMERICANA FESTIVALThe CaledoniaThis is the fourth festival The Caledonia hashosted, and, at ten days, it’s the longest. Acelebration of American roots music in all itsforms, it’s a welcome addition to the city’s gigculture. And it’s completely free. Never a badthing, that. There’s no doubting the amount ofsheer graft that goes in to putting such a broadvariety of events on in a pub, and that aloneis further proof of the importance of The Cali.The venue is already doing a roaring tradeas New Orleans-based ANDREW DUHON takesthe stage on the opening night. About twelvebars into the song Evelyn he sings “I found anempty boxcar and pulled her on board, we’d getsouth before the winter sets in,” and that linesums up the feel of his classic US troubadourset, with stories culled from the railroads andhighways of the American Nightmare. Duhon’sresonant voice and bluesy strumming perfectlycapture the small-town dreams of Just AnotherBeautiful Girl, while the shimmering slide ofSidestep Your Grave has the crowd stampingout the rhythm on the floorboards.bidolito.co.uk

Marty O'Reilly (Diego Piedrabunea / fotografialive.com)By the time MARTY O’REILLY and hisband, the Old Soul Orchestra, get going it’sstanding room only in a packed, hot andsweaty Caledonia – the perfect atmospherefor a rootsy line-up of drums, upright bass,fiddle and Resonator guitar. They launch intoJunior Parker’s classic Mystery Train, O’Reilly’sResonator sending out striking, anvil-clear riffsunderneath the shimmering washes of ChrisLynch’s fiddle, before moving straight onto amid-European waltz number. Lynch’s gypsyfiddlemeanderings are grounded by O’Reilly’sbluesy lines, a perfect example of the blendingof cultures wrought from centuries of trans-Atlantic migration, and with more than a hintof Raindogs-era Tom Waits about it.O’Reilly cuts an animated figure, hunchedover his guitar, rocking back and forth, andgrimacing as he solos. At the microphone, histhousand-yard stare gives him the look of aman channelling the spirits of his musicalforebears.As the night draws to a close, O’Reilly andhis men lead the crowd out onto the street and,beneath a flapping Stars and Stripes, deliver arousing, sing-along encore in which the crowdare only too happy to participate. There’s noroof to raise but Little Liza Jane blows theclouds away.Eight days later and an early Friday eveningfeel permeates this most communal of cityvenues for the festival’s penultimate night.Tonight, we’re talkin’ all that jazz. Tonight’sopening act – THE YELLOW BELLY STRAGGLERS,with double bass and a stripped-down kit –bring their own brand of 20s swing jazz, fusedwith a tight hillbilly backbeat and a hint ofWoody Guthrie. As well as carrying authenticrootsy vocals with tight and well-honedharmonies, this largely self-penned set showsthat both Dave Brown and Amanda Searsonare relaxed, accomplished guitarists, and aremore than comfortable with the stylings ofthe genre. There’s a homely humour to someof these songs, which, again, adds to theauthenticity of the whole. There’s a clear needfor this band to head into a studio sometimesoon, to gives songs like Weary Bones, FolksLike You, I Hate Myself, and tonight’s geniusopening track, The Little Fish, the chance theyso richly deserve.Much has been made of the city’s links tothe USA of late, and that link is undeniablystrong and is clear to see on nights like this.THE DOWNTOWN DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND takeus through a host of classic Dixie jazz, startingwith Hindustan, and the Jazz Me Blues. Someof this band have been playing these songs formore than fifty years, and it’s easy to see whyand how. On top of a solid rhythm section ofPeter Campbell on double bass, and the tightand light skilful drumming of John Blackman,the trumpet, clarinet and banjo have plenty ofroom to move around the melodies, and theimprovised lines bounce around the stage,delivered with an accomplishment that couldonly be attained from such experience. AmandaBrown returns and joins the band during thefirst set, for the brilliant Dr Jazz and WinehouseBlues, and set two also sees the return of

Searson, to sing the classic Sweet Sue, a tunehe delivers in a scratched rasping vocal andwith all the wizened passion of someone whowas almost born with these songs in him, andlending another layer to the band’s stompingjazzy wonder. A fine, spirited end to the showis brought with a swinging version of Shine OnHarvest Moon, and the crowd dance on longafter the band finish.One of the Caledonia’s best features isits dog-friendly status, but on the closingSaturday night of this year’s Americana Festivalit’s strictly Cats (and one Badger). Openingwith a set of covers, THE UPSIDEDOWN CATSdon’t treat them like museum pieces – andplaying the Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should IGo alongside Eddie Cochran and Johnny Cashhits makes perfect sense.Hissing cymbals and slapping stringscomplement clinking glasses, scraping stools,and low-level conversation – it’s the Americanaccent of music. Ex-La’s man MIKE BADGERdoesn’t play rockabilly with a Scouse twang,though. His is as close to the genuine article aswe’ll get these days, especially as Americanshave long since been homogenising theirroots music with pop production’s heat lamp.With such a formula, you’d think that everypossible rock ‘n’ roll lyric ‘n’ hook wouldhave been written by the early 60s. But thesilver-quiffed Badger and his SHADY TRIOget a lot of mileage out of it in originals likeRockabilly Man and Tupelo Hardware Store,however coolly they may shrug and drag onClean Cut Kid (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)their cigarettes (outdoors, of course). Thelyric “You’ve got the knife and I’ve got thefork/You’ve got the wine and I’ve got thecork,” could’ve been around forever. TupeloHardware Store, for context, is where Elvisbought his first guitar.We should be grateful for this AmericanaFestival, for all the great music, and, most ofall, for The Caledonia – the best little music pubthis side of the Mason-Dixie line.Glyn AkroydPaul Fitzgerald / @nothingvillemusicStuart Miles O’Hara / @ohasm1CLEAN CUT KIDDeclan McKenna – Lying B*st*rdsThe Shipping ForecastUp first on tonight's bill are local lads LYINGB*ST*RDS. Despite the band only having ahandful of gigs under this name, many of youwill recognise familiar faces from local heroessuch as Broken Men, 69 Watts and Jimmy andthe Revolvers. The blues-rocking foursomecome across like The Stone Roses drenched infilth and scuzz, playing harsh lo-fi in its mostbeautiful form. With beautifully raucous guitarsolos, the raw, howling banshee-like vocalsof frontman Henry Pulp, and the ever-presentfuzz, this eclectic mix of Scouse heroes clearlyknow what they’re doing and it makes forexhilarating listening and viewing.COWANDCOCAFE.COMBEERSGINSWINESNIBBLESTUNESGAMESSEVEN DAYS A WEEKMON—FRI9.00-22.00SAT—SUN10.00-22.OOFIND US 15CLEVELAND SQUARELIVERPOOLL1 5BE

34Bido Lito! September 2015 ReviewsLiverpool Calling (Antonio Franco / antoniofranco.net)www.AboveTheBeatenTrack.co.ukAppropriately setting the mood for theevening, Lying B*st*rds make way for bandanacladyoungster DECLAN MCKENNA. At onlysixteen, he has already won Glastonbury’s 2015Emerging Talent Competition, showing promisewith his incredible ability to become a wholeband with just himself, a synth, a loop pedaland his trusty Fender. Despite suggesting hisvoice is hindered by a cold, the mop-toppedteen blows the audience away with a setwell beyond his years. Unlike most singersongwriters,this exciting newcomer writesless about love and teenage angst in favour oftackling world issues such as corruption and theavarices of capitalism. All of this is wrapped upin catchy, clued-up tunes with everything fromreverb-filled shoegaze guitar to Atari-like synth.The new kid on the block’s modesty is almostas great as his talent and, with record labelstearing each other limb from limb for him, hisdestiny is hardly misty in any crystal ball.CLEAN CUT KID have a radioactive brightnessabout them which exudes from every pore.They arrive on stage to the adulation of apacked room: faces peer out from everypossible extremity of the basement, provingthe sheer weight of their hometown popularity.They’re a band that can make the dingy andbrutalist scenery of the infamous Hold look likeits walls are made of candyfloss. Recent singleVitamin C - which has propelled the band intothe limelight with its infectious electro vibeand throbbing beat - radiates out of the dark,sun-deprived cellar of the Shipping Forecasttonight. In fact, it’s hard not to feel positivewhen listening to it.Blasting out their upbeat electro indie,the Liverpool-based art rockers balancesynthetic modern elements with classic guitarriffs which wouldn’t sound out of place on apower rock ballad by the likes of Journey orBoston. At one point the guitarist even jokesof going “pure Slash”. However, all is driven byRoss Higginson’s expert drumming, which isreminiscent of the primal, euphoric heartbeatof The Jesus and Mary Chain.The bright quartet entertain the audiencethroughout the whole set, both in song andin conversation, bringing smiles to all facesin sight. Who needs vitamins when you havegreat music?Matt HoggLIVERPOOL CALLINGAny visitors to town on the day of LIVERPOOLCALLING would surely be bowled over by theamount of noise our city centre can make. Inthe hustle and bustle of a glorious summer’sday, a constant buzzing of sounds from some ofthe city’s burgeoning crop of artists can be heardspilling from the Bombed Out Church, adding a

ReviewsBido Lito! September 201535carnival feeling to the air. St Luke’s is the fulcrumof Liverpool Calling’s multi-venue format ofevents, with trickles of revellers meanderingbetween the church’s main stage and parallelevents at Magnet, Studio2 and Maguire’s.A young band tune their instruments onstage in front of a largely empty Magnet andpeople whom I can only guess are promoterslook around the venue, nervously hopingand praying for more punters. The band isGO FIASCO, a five-piece from Liverpool whodrink beer on stage and generally look andact pretty trendy. Almost as soon as the firstchord is strummed, the venue starts to fill up.Liverpool’s rock band answer to the Pied Piperstart their set strong and get people movingabout on The Magnet’s dancefloor. What theband are good at is managing levels: Go Fiascoswitch from loud, rousing, guitar-driven rock tomoments of poignancy, which gives this indiethrowback act a much-needed bit of heart.Occasionally the melody of the vocals is lostin the louder bits but overall the audience isvery happy and the band start the evening offwith a good set.Next up is BROKEN MEN, who are freshoff the back of a line-up change. The BBCIntroducing-recognised band are tight, punchyand delightful to tap your feet to. The histrionicvocals of the lead singer echo throughoutthe small venue and delightfully skim over aBroken Men (David Howarth / dayhowarth.com)

Another Great Season of Comedy at the BrindleyCheshire’s Award Winning VenueOnly 25 mins from Chester, 20 mins fromLiverpool, 30 mins from Manchester.Good road and rail links. FREE PARKINGHardeep Singh Kohli -Bigmouth Strikes AgainFriday 4 Sept | 8pm | Studio | £12Manford’s Comedy ClubThursday 10 Sept | 8pm | Studio | £15Chris Ramsey’s AllGrowed UpManford’s Comedy ClubThursday 8 October | 8pm | Studio | £15Monday 21 Sept | 8pm | Theatre | £17.50Lee Nelson – Suitedand BootedAndrew O’Neill – HeavyMetal – a HistoryThursday 22 Oct | 8pm | Studio | £12Monday 19 Oct | 7.30pm | Theatre | £20Manford’s Comedy ClubThursday 12 Nov | 8pm | Studio | £15The Brindley, High St, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 1BGBox Office: 0151 907 8360 Online:www.thebrindley.org.ukwww.facebook.com/brindleyartscentrewww.twitter.com/TheBrindleybackdrop of upbeat pop. Broken Men showwhy they are an established band on the city’sscene with a set that only disappoints in notbeing long enough.As we arrive at Maguire’s Pizza Bar, Liverpoolalt-rockers POCKET APOCALYPSE are just settingup, so we have to wait a little for the four-pieceto launch into their first song, with the addedpressure acting like a catalyst to the monolithof noise that rings out. A band often reducedto the post-rock tag, Pocket Apocalypse provetonight they are much more. Where the loud/quiet dynamic is adopted, there are countlesselements – from swathes of emo and hardcoreto experimental and ambient sounds.It’s quite a feat to match, but Scottish threepieceEMILIO LARGO seem up to the challenge.They’re arguably heavier than the openers, andserve a platter of technically proficient mathyriffs and heavy chugs to confirm this. As theyhit Liverpool on a run of northern English dates,they’re on good form and well and truly deliver.As the crowd builds and the pizzas becomenumerous, Wrexham’s DOPPELGÄNGERtake to the stage. Wrexham must be a dark,horrible place because the pent-up anger ofDoppelgänger is furious. Lyrically it’s dark,musically it’s heavy as hell. In a climate wherehardcore has become so polished, perhapsthe sloppy, dragging noise of Doppelgänger isexactly what we need.After being serenaded by some fairly lovelysounds, but mostly just noise and impendingtinnitus, FALLS arrive. They are well and trulythe stars of tonight and, as things get verysurreal, you realise that this isn’t a nightmare,you’re not going to wake up, and yes that manis dressed as a horse. Falls spend the best partof what I could only guess is 25 minutes tearingMaguire’s to shreds with riffs heavier than aniron statue of Satan, and the energy of Iggy Popduring the cocaine years.It’s up to CREEPS to follow – which must bean intimidating prospect for any band. Creeps,however, offer a different approach with a moreelectronically orientated set of produced noisygoodness. The elements of sludge and droneoffer a totally different energy to Falls butare none the worse for it. An interesting andunique take on a genre so dominated by thetraditional band format.By the time Maguire’s headlinersALLUSONDRUGS come on stage, the venue’sback room resembles a sauna for the fullyclothedindie rock fan, and space is at apremium. It’s easy to see why Allusondrugshave gained so much momentum: theirsongs are crowd-pleasing and they find it nochallenge to regulate the heartbeat of the firstfour rows, melt some minds and make at leastone kid shit himself. They’re an intense liveband who showcase a total love for distortion,noise and bags of melody.The popularity of the Bombed Out Church’spre-headline act BEANS ON TOAST may comeas a surprise to some people. Not the runof-the-millpo-faced fare often associatedwith the folk genre, for a start: comedy givespeople a way in to some of the difficult subjectsthe Essex singer-songwriter confronts. Weclose off automatically and shut away thosedark thoughts. The media tend be outrightoppressive to any thoughts aside from “it’s allgoing to end soon anyway” so when Beans onToast sings “I’m gonna kill David Cameron” itnaturally generates the biggest cheer of theday (and when, at the end of the song, he letsus know he’s legally bound to advise that heisn’t actually going to kill David Cameron, thebiggest boo as well).We aren’t surprised when, stood atop aspeaker stack, Beans On Toast proclaims hislove for rap. His lyrical dexterity often breaksout into rhyme and metre associated morewith grime than anything folk. “Trying to makea living, trying to stay free, I’ll be down the frontselling my CDs.”Paddy Hughes / @paddyhughes89Zach JonesBen DuncanMARK LANEGAN BANDO2 AcademyLike Bill Murray, Bobby Womack and DannyDyer, MARK LANEGAN’s life is one that hasdefied F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous adage bygoing into a second act. And against some odds.The Screaming Trees’ lead singer took to thegrunge lifestyle of the era with great aplombby enjoying all the trappings, and the limpinggrizzled specimen we see before us tonight istestament to those excesses. However, unlikesome of his contemporaries, Lanegan soldieredthrough into the new millennium and gained anew lease of life.The Washington native always had otherprojects going, aside from the Trees; the soloalbums kept coming as did collaborations withvarious members of the grunge movement, buthis work with desert rockers Queens Of TheStone Age on the album Rated R onwards iswhat got him noticed by a whole new audience,and perhaps ushered him down a newer butequally gravelly road.The O2 tonight, however, is packed with whatlooks like fans Lanegan has picked up throughall stages of his career, and the majority takein the show with a connoisseur’s reservewhich I doubt was present in the early 90s.But the devotion is clearly felt as the bluesrockheavyweight ambles on stage with 90sswagger and a determination not to let downhis disciples.The throbbing riff of The Gravedigger’s Songis a fitting start and that famous voice is quitesomething for your ears to behold. Constructedof decades of abuse, living, singing (and

Ceremony Concerts PresentRichard Dawson+ Asiq Nargile + Ex-Easter Island HeadThe Kazimier, Liverpool - Wednesday 16 th September 2015China CrisisPLAYING THE ALBUM 'FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION'The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool - Saturday 17 th October 2015The Magic BandThe Kazimier, Liverpool - Sunday 8 th November 2015AmsterdamGulliver's, Manchester - Saturday 14 th November 2015Thea GilmoreThe Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool - Tuesday 17 th November 2015Boo HewerdineThe Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool - Wednesday 25 th November 2015DodgyArts Club, Liverpool - Saturday 28 th November 2015Turin Brakes+ Cousin JacThe Kazimier, Liverpool - Friday 4 th December 2015John Bramwell (I am Kloot)The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool - Saturday 5 th December 2015Dr John Cooper ClarkeThe Atkinson, Southport - Saturday 12 th December 2015TicketQuarter / See Tickets / WeGotTickets / Gigantic

38Bido Lito! September 2015 Reviewsprobably taking) a variety of blues, it rumblesaround the venue like burdensome howlsechoing regret. It is all the more astoundingwhen a courteous “thank you very much”reveals a speaking voice which sounds likeSatan doing a Louis Armstrong impression.Lanegan somehow tames that growl to givethe melodies of songs such as Harvest Homeand The Killing Season from latest albumPhantom Radio the vibrancy they deserve.Although the highlights of the setundoubtedly come from the singer’s twoclassic albums, Bubblegum and Blues Funeral,it is the newer songs which demonstrateLanegan’s restless creativity and ability to turnhis hand to a variety of genres. Bunnymen andother 80s luminaries can be heard in the synthdrivenanthems from last year’s opus but it isthat trademark drawl which gives little doubt towho their creator is and binds the set together.Hit The City and Methamphetamine Bluesdemonstrate the skills of Lanegan’s crack bandand that is when the show really gets into topgear. All the songs tonight, in fact, feel likethey would make incredible road-trip anthems,whether that’s rolling through a dusty deserttown to One Way Street or touring a nocturnalcity to No Bells On Sunday.Lanegan is old school and as such heobviously feels it is only right to treat theaudience to an old-fashioned encore. TheMark Lanegan Band (John Johnson / johnjohnson-photography.com)content of the encore, however, is anythingbaritone voice. Brill, who dropped his heart-but old-fashioned. The show culminates withwarming debut Pieces back in January, is climbingThe Lanegan Band long-term collaborator Dukethe ladder of recognition. The Liverpool-basedGarwood performing a thoroughly exhilaratingvocalist is certainly making a name for himself,version of the UNKLE remix of Killing Seasonafter gaining airtime on BBC Radio 1 to boost thefrom this year’s A Thousand Miles Of Midnightacclaim following his EP’s release.– Phantom Radio Remixes album. For a manHe assuredly takes to the stage accompaniedwho once did an EP of Leadbelly covers, it’sonly by guitar and keys, and serenades theReal Ale Pub & Kitchena daring and fantastically forward-thinkingmove. A move that makes you wonder whetherthere is a third act still to come from this rockaudience with stripped-back renditions of hisrecord, along with freshly pressed, untitledballads. The premiere of these tracks signalsOpen 7 days a week. Quality cask ales,plus boss craft beers from Mad Hatter,Brew Dog and others, bottled Belgianbeers, and great food.Whisky tastings, cheese & wine nights,live music and football, outdoor stageand courtyard – all set in a Grade IIlisted former jailhouse, in the city centre.Speak to us about booking a cellfor the game.Liverpool One BridewellCampbell Square, Argyle StreetLiverpool L1 5FBt 0151 709 7000www.liverpoolonebridewell.comLiverpool One Bridewell @Lpool1Bridewelljourneyman. We hope so.Sam Turner / @samturner1984GRANT-LEE PHILLIPSJohn Joseph BrillHarvest Sun @ LeafAs the evening summer sun cascades over Leaf,the perfect ambience is set for one of the 90smost prestigious singer/songwriters, GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS. Grant Lee Buffalo, the band forwhich the singer gained most of his renown,were a band known for their slightly off-kilter,sweet pop ballads due to Phillips’ Neil Younginfluencedvocal work.Support comes from the extremely talentedJOHN JOSEPH BRILL, a bearded sigil, with a richwarmth oozing from his smooth, melancholicanother record is surely in the pipeline whichpromises much. Maybe this will be the bigbreak that is ever-so deserving. A promisingfuture in store for somebody on the brink ofperfecting his vocation.Immediately after taking to the stage,Phillips’ high-toned vocals strike the venue withone foul, dormant strike. The raw emotion thatlies behind the songs is evident; anger lurksand is set to emerge and explode at any givenmoment, yet it subsides at the same moment.A master at his craft, Philips showcases whatmade him one of the greatest songwriters tograce the 90s.After Grant Lee Buffalo dissolved, Phillipsembarked on this solo voyage, focusingmore intensely on personal aspects of hissongwriting, moulding this quirky cult-herostature for himself. These attributes areblatant as he takes hold of the crowd withhis extensive and ever-so impressive back

Dawsons Music LiverpoolFor your every PA system and recording needStocking a range of equipmentfrom top brands like:From mixers and microphones to speakers and subwoofers.From the good value for money, to the best that money can buy!We can provide personal, one-to-one advice and help you find the perfectequipment to get your production sounding great; be it in the studio or at the gig.Dawsons Liverpool I 14-16 Williamson Street Liverpool L1 1EB0151 709 1455 I liverpool@dawsons.co.uk@DawsonsmusicDawsonsmusic

OPEN MICIN assOCIatION wIthMEllOwtONEEvEry wEdNEsday frOM 8PMfrEE ENtryFeaturing guest hosts, guest DJs and whoeverwants to come and play...Original songs. Bring your own Guitar.@magnet123magnetliverpoolw magnet-liverpool.co.uk@mellowtoneclubmellowtoneclubwww.mellowtone.infoGrant-Lee Phillips (Stuart Moulding / @OohShootStu)Distribution is what we do...MagazinesPostersBido Lito!0151 708 0166bookings@middledistance.orgwww.middledistance.orgcatalogue, which spans an entire lifetime.Here’s to Phillips, a genuine gentlemen andtrue American storyteller.TAUPEThe Evil UssesDead Hedge Trio Presents @The Kazimier GardenSam BanksAs we draw ever closer to the closure of theKazimier, it is sometimes sad to attend eventsthere and be reminded of the eclectic andinspiring creative endeavours that they havegiven us. Fortunately, the Kazimier Garden isto survive the upcoming bulldozing, whichis great news considering the huge amountof innovative and avant-garde artists thatfrequent its stage. Tonight is no different, withperformances from two bands who operate onthe fringes of contemporary music.First up are Bristol-based four-piece THE EVILUSSES. With their combination of discordantguitars and saxophone played in off-kilter timesignatures, they are instantly reminiscent of theno-wave/jazz fusion of John Lurie’s The LoungeLizards. There is also the feel of the organisedchaos of Sun Ra about them, as they seeminglystumble their way through numbers heldtogether by their impeccable rhythm section.One thing about this kind of music is that it canoften become dull and slightly gimmicky, butthere are no such qualms here, as each newsong takes the audience in a freshly skeweddirection. This is definitely a case of the perfectband in the perfect setting, and many peopleare left standing around after they’ve finishedwondering why this is the first time they’veheard The Evil Usses.Newcastle-upon-Tyne is not a place generallyknown for its free-jazz exports but headline actTAUPE are looking to change that. They differfrom the previous act in that they embody amore traditional jazz sound with drums, bass

WRSWIRRAL REHEARSAL STUDIOSPermanent secure rehearsal2 mins from the tunnelREHEARSAL STUDIOSPRIVATE 24/7 STUDIOS FROMLOCKUP +1 FULL DAY£25/4HRS£46/WK£30/WKPRO REHEARSAL STUDIOSFREE CAR PARK2 MINS FROM THE TUNNEL24 HOUR ACCESSPERMANENT SECURE ROOMS EASY LOADING ACCESS07906376701WWW.WIRRALREHEARSALSTUDIOS.COMTHESTONESROLLING STONESTRIBUTEFRI 11th SEP 7:30pm£18.50 | £16.50 concF:RATEDCOMEDY CLUBSUN 13th SEP 8:00pmAll tickets £11.00September’s line up features Simon Bligh,Peter Brush and Bethany Black.Compere: Dominic WoodwardContains strong language and adult references.BARBARADICKSONWITHNICK HOLLANDSAT 12th SEP 8:00pm£23.00 | £21.00 concCLARETEALANDHER TRIOSAT 3rd OCT 7:30pm£22.00 | £20.00 concPrices include a£1 fee per ticket.

LIVERPOOL’SINTERNATIONAL ARTS VENUEWHAT’S ONwww.thecapstonetheatre.com Autumn Season 201501 I Oct £14Matthew Halsall and theGondwana Orchestra20 I Oct £11.50Stephen Hough23 I Oct £11.50Roller Trio27 I Oct £12.50 (£9.50 con)I loved you andI loved you30 I Oct £11.50Philip CloutsQuartet04 I Nov £11.50Julian ArgüellesTetra14 I Nov £11.50Yaron HermanBOX OFFICE0844 8000 410www.ticketquarter.co.ukTicketQuarter Handling Fee of £2.25 per order applies when booking online orby phone. Call charges apply. There is no Handling Fee when buying ticketswith cash from the TicketQuarter Box Office, Queens Square Centre, QueensSquare, Liverpool L1 1RG.guitar and saxophone their instruments ofchoice. Once again the drumming is remarkableand enthralling to watch, whilst the bassjumps between frets without missing a beatand generally provides a spine on which theerratic saxophone can stand. At first it is allvery impressive and probably not the kindof performance that most of those presentare used to witnessing. However, as the setprogresses the majority of the audience startto lose interest and, after several songs, theconversational noise is almost drowning outelements of the music. This is, of course, thenature of gigs in the relaxed surrounds of theKaz Garden and it is not necessarily a reflectionon the performers. But there is the feeling that,for those not really intimately acquainted withfree jazz, Taupe serve as better backgroundmusic for a night out than as an act to trulypay attention to.In fact, it is hard not to think that perhaps theacts should have been the other way aroundon the bill, as the night seemed to peak earlyand was then always destined for a fall. Thataside, it is a great show and for those who haveseen similar acts before there is no denyingthat taupe are doing big things.Alastair DunnBOMBAY BICYCLE CLUBMountford HallThere’s a reason that gigs are not often put onindoors in the summer, and the horrendouslyhumid environment at the refurbishedLiverpool University Guild reflects that reason.On the new Guild stage, perspiring just asmuch as their fans, are BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB,a band that have been around for nearly adecade, which is amazing when you think ofall the similar bands that have fallen into theindie graveyard. Their survival has always reliedon them growing as a band: they were sixteenwhen they started as a guitar act and they’vecultivated their sound, expanding the bandwith new instrumentation, backing singersand brass ensembles. They also have a killerlight show, with some outstanding and tweeanimations of birds, snakes and masks.Yet, with all the experience and lampwattage they have, Bombay Bicycle Club area fucking boring band to watch live. They’rea bland concoction of every indie band everformed with songs that remind you of Interpol,The Maccabees – even Conor Oberst – andthey’re so Radio 1-friendly it hurts my gut.They aren’t an awful band; their songs are justemotionally wet behind the ears and withoutdepth. Take Luna for example, a song that likensthe protagonist to a werewolf and the personhe is infatuated with as the moon. It’s lifeless incomparison to the surprisingly more insightfullycanthropic pop tune She Wolf by Shakira: atrack written by Shakira and Sam Endicott (ofindie graveyard residents, The Bravery) whichtells the tale of a woman trapped in a sexlessrelationship who once a month escapes fora carnal affair. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s awhole lot more interesting, and it taught methe word lycanthropy.High-ish-lights of their set are their breakoutsingle Always Like This, and fan-favourite Feel,but it doesn’t help that most of their songsare drowned out by the bass swells and their(admittedly, unbelievable) fans, who knowevery word to every song. Perhaps if I couldhear the songs more clearly I could get into it abit, and maybe try to formulate a more positivereview. Instead, I’m sopping with sweat at abarely audible gig that I’d much rather havemissed.KENDAL CALLINGLowther Deer Park, CumbriaHowl RamaAfter pitching my tent with a Girl Guide’s ease,I navigate the muddy mission through KENDALCALLING’s mud-caked campsites to the mainarena. A week’s worth of Cumbrian rain hasspawned the kind of mud that grabs your Docsby the ankles, sucks you in and makes youwonder whether you’ll have to hop for the restof the weekend, all one-boot Betty. It’s only alittle dampener on the festival spirits, though;entering the arena I’m greeted by nomadicfestivalgoers who look as though their lastwash predates Stonehenge, mingling withfresh-faced grads, fresher-faced children andwrinkled, smiling-eyed grandparents. All setto a sonic background of an always beautiful,sometimes indecipherable blend of Northernaccents. Festival bliss.We catch up with BLOSSOMS, who tell usthey “always get mistaken for a Liverpoolband” despite hailing from Manchester, andare looking forward to their Friday eveningslot at Tim Peaks Diner: “It’ll be nice to play tothe smell of ground coffee instead of the smellof piss like other festivals.” Nice. The diner runby Manc legend and Charlatans frontman TimBurgess is packed to the brim with stragglerswatching through windows trying to get aglimpse of the five-piece as they open withCut Me And I’ll Bleed, all infectious chorusand dreamy synth. Their set is a whirlwindof swirling psychedelic guitars and sneeringvocals which wraps up fifteen minutes beforetime with Blow. Full of tightly packed bodiesswaying and singing along, by the end of thesearing guitar solo the wood-panelled dinerresembles a sauna more than anything else.Sweaty? Yes. Brilliant? Definitely.Next we trudge to watch JOHN McCULLAGHAND THE ESCORTS play the House Party Stage –yep you guessed it, a tent decked out B&Q style

ReviewsBido Lito! September 201543Sugarmen (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)with all your favourite home comforts. NewYork City has enough mouth organ, cynicismand romance to carry you through the muddyfields, while She’s Calling Me seems a crowdfavourite for the teenage troubadour andhis band, carried by hard-hitting guitars anddesolate vocals. A great warm-up for Fridaynight headliners THE VACCINES, who racethrough their hits before we part ways to catchsome funk, warm our souls and dance the nightaway at the Chai Wallah tent.Saturday dawns and it’s cracking the flags,so we take a wander through the Garden OfEden – where installations mimic the soundsof birdsong and woodland creatures, a giantbirdcage looms, and a mechanical white deeris led through the punters. Liverpool fourpieceSUGARMEN disrupt the peaceful andsurrealistic nature of Eden to bring us back toreality with a power-charged set at the JackRocks the Woodlands stage. A high-octanecover of Lou Reed’s Hangin’ Round drawsin passers-by with dynamic delivery andstaggering stage presence, while angst-fuelledTime and This is My Life And It’s Alright keep themomentum pounding with heavy drums, bitinglyrics and electrifying guitar solos.We hang around to watch Lake District localsBRITISH SEA POWER take the headline slot onthe woodlands-inspired stage, which sportsKendal Calling (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)

SOUND MATTERSIn this monthly column, our friends at DAWSONS give expert tips and advice on how to achieve a greatsound in the studio or in the live environment. Armed with the knowledge to solve any common (orunusual) musical problem, the techy aficionados provide Bido Lito! readers with the benefit of theirexperience so you can get the sound you want.Here, PA expert HARRY BROWN discusses how to avoid that dreaded feedback - the scourge of many a liveband - and achieve the best levels, whether you are gigging in your local boozer or jamming in the practice room.When somebody says the words ‘PA system’,you might imagine anything from two hugestacks of speakers either side of a bouncing Bonoon a stadium stage, to small speakers on eitherside of an aspiring singer-songwriter at a localbar. The fact that no two people’s preconceptionsabout PA systems are exactly the same is perhapsindicative of the vast array of different forms a PAsystem can take.If you were looking for a PA for a comedy gig,where the audience are seated in one fairly smallarea and it doesn't need to be much louder thannormal speaking volume, one self-powered(or 'active') speaker such as a Mackie SRM350is sufficient for the whole audience to hearadequately. It has a mic preamp and EQ built in, soyou can change the tone to suit the mic being used.However, if you're the lucky person in your bandwho has the responsibility of finding a PA system,you might need slightly more equipment than that.A good place to start is with mics: for everymicrophone you will need a microphone preamp.This is usually denoted by an XLR (three-pin)socket, as opposed to jack sockets, which areoften designed to receive a different level or typeof signal. So, if you need to plug in 10 microphones,you will need a desk with 10 XLR inputs.Once a signal has been through a preamp, itneeds a power amp (for example, a StudiomasterAX1500) before it goes to a speaker. Poweramplifiers are now frequently built into eithera ‘powered’ mixer like a Samson TMX20 or an‘active’ speaker, which either way means less gearto carry around. The increasing trend in portable PAsystems is to have a power amp in each speakerinstead of the mixer, so that if one of your speakersdies during a gig (heaven forbid, but it happens) youcan finish the gig with the other one.Monitors are important to ensure thatmembers of the band can hear themselves if,like singers, they don't come with their ownamps. But it's just as important to ensure theycan hear each other. A Laney CXM 112 is a valuefor-money'wedge' design monitor, a costeffectivesolution to ensure your singer can heartheir superb vocals.Monitoring is about clarity, which requires apowerful enough speaker with a good frequencyresponse, and you standing in exactly the rightplace. What people don't realise about speakersis that they behave a bit like a torch. They have abeam. For you to hear the true/full response, yourears need to be directly in the speaker’s beam.Then there’s feedback. Feedback requiresa special level of attention, which is difficult togive when it's ear-splittingly loud and everyoneis looking to you to stop it as quickly as possible.To avoid feedback in any situation, it's a goodidea to use microphones with a very tight 'pickuppattern'. The legendary Shure SM58 is so widelyused because it has a reliably tight pickup patternand is therefore less susceptible to feedback thanmany other microphones.The lower in pitch a sound is, the less you canpoint it in a particular direction. So, if the feedbackis at a fairly high frequency, it must be a speakerfeeding straight into the front of the microphone,or a reflection of a speaker coming off somethingin front of the microphone. Sometimes justsomeone putting their head in front of the miccan be enough to do this. If it's low frequency, themic could be picking up those frequencies emittedby subwoofers from the Front Of House system. Itcould also be that there is too much bass comingoff a monitor near to the microphone. As I saidearlier, bass isn't particularly what's importantin a monitor speaker, so back that bass off if itis. A good tool to counter feedback problems isa graphic EQ, such as a Peavey PV231. This sort ofunit can help you take out very narrow bands ofproblem frequencies without affecting the rest ofthe mix too badly.If you only remember one thing, however,make sure it’s the most important. Point speaker.At face. Golden rule.You can find Dawsons at their new home at 14-16Williamson Square. dawsons.co.ukJack Daniels bottles as kitsch chandeliers.The bright stage lights and littered lanternsagainst the darkness of a cool Cumbrian nightmake for the most picturesque setting for theband to open with largely instrumental trackFrom The Sea To The Land Beyond, a beautiful,anthemic orchestral piece which resonatesthrough the woodlands. Hot chocolateskindly topped up with a dash of Jack on thehouse, we’re ready for crowd-pleaser WavingFlags, which receives the full sing-a-longtreatment before guitarist Martin Noble leapsinto the crowd, carried aloft by a melange offancy dressed-revellers from Scooby Doo togo-go girls and everything in between.On Sunday, Liverpool electronic duoD R O H N E draw dishevelled revellers tothe Tim Peaks Diner, with NATALIE McCOOLsupplying mesmerisingly haunting vocals.Over on the main stage, SNOOP DOGG openswith The Next Episode and delivers a selfimportantset: all the audience participationSnoop Dogg (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)revolves around singing his name or gettingthe “ladies” to sing I Wanna Fuck You backto him. No ta, mate. I wanna fuck yourheteronormative misogynist bullshit. Still,he’s a crowd-pleaser, churning out hit afterhit of his own making, interspersed with amedley of hip hop classics every West Coastwannabecan rap along to; Hypnotise andJump Around get the best reception beforehe finishes up with Bob Marley’s Jammin’.ALL WE ARE have to compete for punterswith Sunday-night headliners KAISERCHIEFS, but their mellowed-out melancholicgrooves with a pinch of psychedelia bringplenty of revellers with refined taste tothe Jägermeister, hunting cabin-stylebar. Last up, we hit the Glow Tent to catchGROOVE ARMADA play out the festival toa kaleidoscopic balloon drop as fireworksexplode outside to celebrate Kendal Calling’stenth birthday. Here’s to many happy returns.Bethany Garrett

Weightstock 4Friday 25th September 2015Weightmans LLP Presents:A charity concert for Variety, the children’s charity.Tickets £5. Doors open 6pm.Featuring:All funds raised will go to Variety, the children’s charity.For more information or to donate please email: Weightstock@Weightmans.com

46Bido Lito! September 2015DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPERwith Dig VinylBold Street’s wax junkies DIG VINYL know a thing or two about the weird and wonderfuldepths of people’s record collections, and each month they rifle through their racks andpick out four of their favourite in-stock records. This month they’ve gone for a LiverpoolPsych Fest theme, highlighting some great LPs from four artists playing at the event thisyear. Keep digging…bidolito.co.ukDEATH AND VANILLATo Where The Wild Things AreThis, the Swedish psych poppers’ second LP, is a blissful journeythrough delicate dreamscapes of reverb and krauty bass. MarleenNilsson’s vocals are reminiscent of Broadcast, gently gliding abovea rhythm section that evokes as much a feeling of French yé-yépop as it does 60s sci-fi. But don’t let that make you think this is aloose album – these mischievous lullabies are tightly crafted and surprisingly catchy. And,despite the top layer of bubblegum icing, there is an eerily dark side to the record, one thathelps DEATH AND VANILLA stand out as more than just the sum of their parts..PINKSHINYULTRABLASTEverything Else MattersUndoubtedly one of the highlights of Moon Duo’s pre-partyKazimier show in May, these Russian psychonauts have rightlybeen hailed as the most interesting shoegaze band in the worldright now. Their debut release, Everything Else Matters, sounds likea cross between The XX’s self-titled record, early Cocteau Twins, andrecently reactivated shoegazers Slowdive. It’s as interesting as it sounds, and surprisingly fun.Holy Forest is difficult to stay still to, an infectious beat keeping everything together underwashes of reverb guitar and vocals. Hailed in Russia for representing a disenfranchised youth,PINKSHINYULTRABLAST are one of the must-see acts at this year’s festival.THE CULT OF DOM KELLERThe Second BardoHaving made successful appearances at Austin Psych Fest, andboasting a collection of well-received albums, THE CULT OF DOMKELLER’s latest offering of kaleidoscopic jams features growlingbass and fuzzed-out guitars at its core. It’s an album thatrumbles through cosmic shadows, where Black Sabbath-esquestoner blues cross with the outright creepiness of Fat White Family to create an acid-lacednightmare. It’s gritty, it’s frenzied, and it’s got the lads from Nottingham a reputation asone of the hottest live underground acts around.FUMAÇA PRETAFumaça PretaThe Portuguese for ‘black smoke’, FUMAÇA PRETA is a fitting namefor a band and record that deliver dark, mysterious chants througha swirling fog of freak guitar and Latin/tropicalia rhythms. Thisrecord is as punk as anything, coming out as the bastardisedproduct of The Mars Volta and Gogol Bordello. Analogue sweepsof synth give depth and intensity to the album, while screeching wails of lead guitar à laSantana dance with congas and claves. The result is as original as it is intriguing, and theirLiverpool debut this month promises to bring their ghoulish sounds to a new legion of fans.Head to bidolito.co.uk now to stream the latest Dig Vinyl Podcast, featuring a mixture of new,old and half-forgotten classics.THEFINALSAYWords: Sam Turner / @samturner1984Each month we give the magazine’s final fanfare over to a guest columnist to have their own sayon an issue of their choice. This month, our Reviews Editor Sam Turner trumpets the virtues of thatgreat British institution, the BBC, imploring us all to consider a world without the insight and witof Auntie Beeb.Imagine a world where every television programmeis as intellectually stimulating as PaddyMcGuinness’s Take Me Out. Imagine not being ableto escape from taxi advertising jingles on the radio.Imagine no 6Music, no Match Of The Day, no DavidAttenborough. You’ve just pictured a world whichhas not benefitted from the considered quality ofthe British Broadcasting Corporation.As they mount a coordinated attack on the NHS,the welfare state and anyone else thousands ofmetaphorical feet below their ivory tower, thegovernment is now going after the hallowedBBC. It’s not a surprise – the Beeb representseverything the Conservative Party hates: socialabove market values, culture for the masses andegalitarianism.It’s not a popular proclamation in certaincircles, but I love the BBC. As ridiculous as itsounds, it’s one of the chief reasons I made ahasty return back to Blighty from the Murdochsponsoreddystopia of Australia. I missed thereassuring tones of Radio 4, the wry wit ofGary Lineker and the trustworthy, even-handedbulletins from Broadcasting House. Built on JohnReith’s (quite Tory) principles “to inform, educateand entertain”, the BBC has an integral quality toits output which is above the considerations ofmost antipodean programming, which consistssolely of beach-based vets talking aboutbarbeques while prank-calling pregnant royals.Of course, the Beeb isn’t perfect. The culturesecretary John Whittingdale, in his inevitableplot to upset Auntie, points to Saville, unoriginalprogramming and sky-high golden goodbyesas reasons for a needed shake-up. Such issuesundoubtedly need to be addressed for the sakeof licence payers, who rightly expect a lot moretransparency and integrity for their money; butthe very real danger is that the well-informed,educated, entertaining baby is deliberatelythrown out with the bath water.It is in Tory DNA to reconfigure a systemto make it completely at the mercy of marketforces. They want a broadcaster that is fundedby subscription rather than a licence fee. Just likethey would prefer a health service that can onlybe accessed by people who can afford it ratherthan an incredible system which is paid for byeveryone and used by everyone. However, theBBC (like the NHS) is too important to be sidelinedas a service only available to a select few.The Beeb has established itself, not just in Britishhomes but in homes around the world via the WorldService, as an outlet which can be trusted to deliverfirst-rate programming on a boundless spectrumof subject matter. If it gets mutated into anotherBSkyB, it means chasing after subscriptions bycashing in on trends and watering-down content.Following where it once led.As Stewart Lee pointed out in a recentGuardian piece, on paper programmes such asDoctor Who, Top Gear and The Office shouldn’twork but thankfully we have a broadcaster whichhas the space and freedom to take such risks. Thiscreativity cannot be stifled by market pressures.Characters such as David Brent and geniuseslike David Attenborough need to be allowed toflourish and inspire future generations; off-kiltercommentary on cricket and golf needs to bechampioned over awkward efforts to introduceclunky new technology (always the last bastionof the desperately uncreative commercialchannel’s sports coverage).So what can we do to stem the tide ofprivatisation spewing from the rooms ofWestminster threatening to wash away all thecreative colour from our airwaves? A unified voiceis an important strand of any such defence. Nowis not the time to falter; I’m sure the majorityof people know in their heart of hearts thatthe BBC is needed. I’m even more certain thatthey would miss it if it were gone. Whether we’dmiss the weather page on the Beeb website,the impenetrable high-arts coverage on Radio3 or The One Show, the far-reaching tentacles ofAuntie have surely touched everyone’s lives atsome stage. Sign the petitions, tweet the peoplewho badmouth the institution, write highfalutin’columns in niche music magazines – just do whatyou can. Or I’m off back to Australia.

Get There By TrainCALLING ALL EMERGING MERSEYSIDE MUSICIANS!WIN A YEAR of ExpErt MuSIc INDuStRY MENtoRING, pERforMANCESLotS At top SUMMER fEStIvALS AND REcoRdING tIME!thE MErSEyrAIL SoUND StAtIoN prIzE 2015 IS opEN Now!TO ENTER...• Film a video at one of our UPLOAD LOCATIONS performing one of your original tracks• You can find them at Liverpool Central, Liverpool South Parkway, Southport, Kirkby, Wallasey Grove Road,Hoylake & Hooton stations• Post it at facebook.com/MerseyrailSoundStation• Include a link to your original music onlineThe 10 best entries will play at the Merseyrail Sound Station Festival& a panel of music industry experts will select the final winner.For more information visit MerseyrailSoundStation.com

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