Issue 4 / September 2010

Issue 4
September 2010
Bill Ryder-Jones
We Came Out
Like Tigers
Mike Crossey
The Suzukis
Dire Wolfe
Michael Crossey by Mike Cottage
www.bidolito.co.uk
FREE

Editorial
Its back, thank the lord for that! I can’t handle three months without it...my loins were throbbing, mouth salivating,
knees trembling, I just needed that fix...and it was as wondrously disappointing as ever, I built it up in my head
so much, it was going to rock my world and...we got beat 2 - 1...and it was shit. Why do I do it to myself? Every preseason
its the same, ‘this could be the one’. My mum takes the Mick out of me for it. But hey, what can you do?...
NB - I’ve realised I tend to ramble about Tranmere in this column. Please do let me know if you think I should
leave it out and maybe shed some light on issues of poignance. Maybe....
I’ve been listening to a lot of Lee Hazlewood recently, My Baby Cried All Night Long, just can’t get that tune and that
baritone voice out of my head, nor the new Best Coast LP. Completely gutted I missed their Liverpool show a couple of
months back. It got me thinking about a collaboration between the two, how class would that be?! Lee Hazlewood
and Best Coast. Man. For that matter, try this out...the last 2 records you listened to...imagine the collaboration. Bobby
Womack and The National was a lad from the football’s...genius. Torpey’s
is probably The Lancashire Hot Pots and Arcade Fire, which I for one would
give my left arm for to be the fly on the wall on that day. Jesus.
Last week we ran a post on our facebook page about a new local band
Owls*. I tell you what, they are stunning. One of the best new groups I’ve
come across for years. Deep, dark brooding songs that, again, just stick
with you. They’ve a track called Sound Of The Call, I urge you, urge you, to
go and download it from owls.bandcamp.com. Watch out for next month’s
magazine when we’ll be running a feature interview with them.
Later in this magazine, in the middle eight, we’ve a short preview of Inside
Pages, the launch event for Bido Lito! I’m not going to regurgitate the same
information here as is there, but just wanted to make the point that its going
to be a hoot. The feedback that we’ve had thus far on the magazine has been
Lee Hazlewood extremely positive and it’ll be a pleasure to celebrate Bido Lito!’s arrival in
the presence of such a brilliant collection of bands. It’ll be a weekend to
remember, an ‘I was there’ event. Make sure you are...because we’ll have photographic evidence if you’re not!
In other Bido Lito! news, the 16th September sees the inaugural Bido Lito! Social Club. Held at The Shipping
Forecast, its an opportunity for anybody interested in getting involved in the magazine to pop along, meet us all
and have a cider or two. We’ll also have Bido Lito! DJs on rotation playing the best new Liverpool sounds from these
very pages for your listening pleasure. Want to write for the mag, take photos, draw pictures, tell us we’re great, tell
us we don’t know what we’re on about? Well, come socialise!
A quick nod is needed for The Northern Boys Club, who published the latest edition of their fanzine last week. As
usual, its a splendid read and this month features contributions from various Bido Lito! scribes. If football, Adidas
Samba and Northern Soul are your bag, I suggest you pick up a copy from Probe Records. If they’re not, probably
best swerve it!
Oh yeah, me and Cerys went out for tea the other night to that new tapas place down by Queens Sq, the Salty
House, Salt n Pepper Gaff, Condiment Corner or something it was called and it was lovely. Without this sounding
like a food review, it was mighty fine indeed. Some guy called Jamie has opened a place next door but one. Don’t
go there. The guy can’t cook. Go to Salty’s. There the guy can cook, isn’t infuriating, doesn’t spit when he speaks and
doesn’t wind me up incessantly. Rant over. Peace out peeps.
Craig G Pennington
Editor
Bido Lito! September 2010 3
Bido Lito!
Volume One – Issue Four
bidolito.co.uk
Bido Lito
Static Gallery, 23 Roscoe Lane
Liverpool, L1 9JD
info@bidolito.co.uk
Editor
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk
Reviews Editor
Christopher Torpey - reviews@bidolito.co.uk
Photo Editor
Jennifer Pellegrini - photos@bidolito.co.uk
Designer
Luke Avery - info@earthstudios.net
Words
Craig G Pennington, Christopher Torpey,
Nic Lowrey, David Lynch, Pete Robinson,
Katy Long, Sean Fell, John Still, David
Hendrie, Frankie Muslin, Can Brannan,
Richard Lewis, Bob @ Probe, The Glass
Pasty, Nik Glover, Paul Meehan, Sam
Andruski, Bethany Garrett
Photographs
Jennifer Pellegrini, John Johnson, Chloe
Pattie, Keith Ainsworth, Sian Lloyd, Dire
Wolfe, Bob @ Probe
Illustrations
Sean Wars, John Biddle, Michael Cottage
To advertise in Bido Lito! please contact
Another Media: bidolito@anothermedia.org
0151 708 2841

Features
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6
8
10
12
13
14
WOLSTENHOLME WARPED.
A taped introduction to the film from Korine, dedicating this showing of Trash Humpers to “the scum, the lowlife of Liverpool,
people on the street,” sparks the TVs into action.
WE CAME OUT LIKE TIGERS.
“Screamo has a bad reputation.” It hadn’t taken long for Simon Barr, lead singer of Liverpool’s We Came Out Like Tigers, to
vocalise exactly what I’d been thinking.
BILL RYDER-JONES.
Bill Ryder-Jones has time and youth on his side. He is watching those golden hours slip by. And he is loving every amber
minute of it.
MIKE CROSSEY.
The industry needs to look to the likes of this man and focus on quality. And quality alone.
THE SUZUKIS.
It’s a breath of fresh air from the current wave of pretentious art school indie music thats doing the rounds and The Suzukis
can hold their head’s high.
DIRE WOLFE.
This Wolfe could actually run away with your heart in its mouth - try stopping it.
LIVERPOOL’S GAGGED UNDERGROUND.
KOF has toured, played at Glastonbury, been played regularly on Radio One, yet he still can’t get a feature in any regional
press. These are facts.
Regulars
16 THE MIDDLE EIGHT 18 HOT IN VINYL
20 RANTS/COMMENT
22
REVIEWS

Bido Lito! September 2010 5
WOLSTENHOLME
Words: Nic Lowrey
Illustration: Sean Wars
WARPED
Wolstenholme Creative Space seems the perfect venue to host Liverpool’s screening of TRASH
HUMPERS. A beautifully ramshackle, intriguingly chaotic warehouse space, more process than
result, more externalisation of a developing idea than controlled and defined gallery environment,
Wolstenholme seems to embody the possible, the unpredictable, and is therefore the perfect housing
for what Wolstenholme’s curators, Priya Sharma and Caroline Smith, describe as ‘DIY Culture’, the
ethic, according to Harmony Korine, behind Trash Humpers.
A cluster of old televisions sit awaiting function on a side wall, musical equipment for an afterfilm
show draped across the back, and the floor of the largest upstairs space is filled with an odd
collection of sofas, chairs, stools and rugs. A taped introduction to the film from Korine, dedicating
this showing of Trash Humpers to “the scum, the lowlife of Liverpool, people on the street,” sparks
the TVs into action. Filmed on VHS, Warp Films have elected for this screening to show the film on old
equipment, channeling the ghosts of past technology, past dreams and ambitions, past vision for the
future of film. Each television boasts slightly different dimensions, slightly variant colour tone, picture
quality and position: a fractured and multi-perspective environment which is entirely appropriate for
a viewing of Korine’s film.
A quick google will tell you more than enough to make a call on whether Trash Humpers is your kind
of entertainment. Filmed in a deliberately lo-fi and DIY (or as DIY as an established and reputed film
maker can ever be) manner on VHS by Korine, featuring his wife and local characters from suburban
Nashville, his home, Trash Humpers details just that: a group of masked people who spend their
waking hours humping dumpsters, rubbish bins and fences, fellating trees,
spanking hookers, vandalising homes,
talking shit with random invitees and
misappropriating
wheelchairs,
prams and any other kind of
transport they find.
To
say that the
film is random,
meaningless, repetitive, sensationalist and self-awarely
‘transgressive’ is probably quite accurate – but in a way
misses the point. The film lacks a linear narrative, a moral
code, a structured environment, a sense of society or family –
it tears down both filmic and social structure, and audiences
spend an hour and a half in a true vacancy of the spirit.
Deliberately devoid of overt product placement, or
consumption, of force-fed television or institutional
interaction, the characters wander, like inmates loose
from an asylum, through their environment, speaking
at random, humping on instinct, speaking in riddles and
rhymes.
They hump without orgasm, their babies are
plastic, they murder arbitrarily and without motive or
satiety, their friendship has no obvious signs of shared
emotion or profundity of experience. Various characters
entertain the three pensioner-masked protagonists with
soliloquies lauding the outsider, the rebel, lawlessness,
regarding the world beyond common expectation. They
dress without thought, their friends are disheveled and
seem to similarly lack a desire to entertain normal social
mores: this is a film which at heart is a troubled paen to the
misfit, to the socially unacceptable, to those who follow
base instinct, reject law, reject consumption and seek not
validation or acceptance.
Obviously influenced by David Lynch’s Inland Empire,
the film keeps its petticoat showing, making the shaking
hand, the tags and cut lines visible: Korine has said he
wanted the audience to consider this a found tape: a home
movie made by inbred rednecks: Deliverance as a reality
TV show or video blog. It out punks Punk’d, out trashes
MTV, out shocks Home Video programmes. Certainly it is
not without its problems, in that Korine’s entitlement to
attention comes from an established reputation to shock. If
this had indeed been ‘found’ footage, released to youtube,
it would be classed as, and lost within, the countless
home-made mock-schlock constantly spewed forth into
public space: what makes Korine’s vision different, what
makes his puerile profound? According to him, nothing:
the film is about nothing, about the cultural and emotional
wasteland of contemporary suburban America...what is left
to those living outside the law- not a Jesse James inspired
rebel stampede, but a self indulgent trawl through the
wastelands of the outer suburbs, with no purpose,
no intention and no meaning. Questionable
in its vision, it is. But also, hypnotic, visually
compelling (in a car-crash kind of way) and
sporting a breathtakingly uncomfortable sound
design, with distortion and detuning turning the
quiet of abandoned buildings into a claustrophobic
tangible tension. Whether it works: whether it rises above
the morass to perturb, amuse or astound you seems to
be a matter for debate, and certainly for every viewer to
decide. But as Sharma says in our pre-film conversation,
“Korine’s films stay with you. Constantly.”
warp.net/films
www.bidolito.co.uk

6
Bido Lito! September 2010
Words: David Lynch
Illustration: johnbiddle.co.uk
www.bidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 2010 7
“Screamo has a bad reputation.” It hadn’t taken long
for Simon Barr, lead singer of Liverpool’s WE CAME OUT
LIKE TIGERS, to vocalise exactly what I’d been thinking
approaching this interview. It’s true, music which aims to
capture the aggressive side of one’s spectrum of emotion can
often be too easily dismissed or misunderstood, all the brutal
dissonance and esoteric lyrical content may leave listeners
feeling cold upon a fleeting engagement with the genre.
But it appears that this is exactly where we’ve been getting
it wrong. Screamo isn’t meant for that brief undertaking; it’s
a movement, an investment to be made. Over a couple of
beers in a city bar, the boys try and explain to me why it’s an
investment worth making.
We Came Out Like Tigers were formed two years ago as
Simon, upon graduating, made a last ditch attempt at fulfilling
his ambition to unearth a musical kindred spirit. Fabian Devlin,
the group’s guitarist, spotted his online advertisement (which
basically consisted of a list of frighteningly peripheral bands
Simon had been listening to recently) and quickly got in
touch to form the basis of what would be WCOLT.
Shortly after their formation the boys found they had a
shared passion for DIY aspects, something inexorably tied
to hardcore for many years now. Simon explains where his
motivation came from: “I got given a load of hardcore zines
in a record shop called Listen Up which used to be in Grand
Central. They were just these German magazines so thick
and every single centimetre was covered in this tiny font
with just interview after interviews with bands. It was like
there’s this huge scene out there and by just reading this,
you were part of it. I was just so inspired by that.” Thus began
Brickface Press, a bi-monthly (or “once every other 6 monthly”)
homiletic publication for all that is hardcore. Its brilliantly
candid interviews and the refreshing depth of its commentary
on the composition of groups’ music meant Brickface quickly
became synonymous with a now thriving scene.
So by this point, with a band gaining popularity and an
increasingly accepted ‘zine established, the lads had laid the
foundations of the hardcore setting they had long craved
in Liverpool. However, they still found themselves unhappy
at the dearth of hardcore gigs actually being put on in
the city. Inevitably, they set about correcting that as well.
Despite admitting that putting on gigs is not something
they particularly enjoy, the results of initial gigs were clearly
positive. Simon: “No Screamo bands ever played Liverpool,
nobody considered coming up here. But now we’ve put on
bands who’ve said it’s been the best show of their tour.”
Nowadays, it appears Screamo bands have no such qualms
with visiting the ‘Pool, as evidenced by the recent visit of
Maths whom WCOLT supported at de-facto hardcore gig
venue, Wolstenholme Creative Space.
You may be forgiven for thinking that so far this is just
the unremarkable tale of a band’s past which is only slightly
unusual in their ventures in starting up a magazine and
putting on a few gigs. However, as soon as the conversation
turns to the aforementioned ‘creative space’, and gig venues
in general, the real beauty of the story begins to shine. Fabian
is more than eager to wax lyrical about the site itself: “It’s an
incredible venue. Best venue in the country I reckon. Its ethics
are impeccable, the way the people conduct themselves is
incredible,” and it’s his use of the phrase ‘ethics’ which I find
particularly interesting. I’m quickly discovering it’s what sets
this scene apart. Wolstenholme it seems, just like WCOLT and
Brickface Press, tend to go about their business in a unique
manner. As Simon describes, “it’s always free and they only
put something on if it fits into their ethic. Also, they won’t take
money off people ‘cause they know how difficult it is to put on
shows.” The polar opposite of pay-to-play shows then it seems.
It’s the disgusting exploitation of pay-to-play venues which
represent everything the band and their cohorts are vehemently
against. Fabian: “There are a lot of people in this city pushing
pay to play shows and all those people are doing is stealing
from bands, stealing from the scene. They’re dressing it up as
they need to cover their costs but, if you need to cover costs,
cut them. You don’t need an incredible P.A system for a small
show. Scale it down.” A better argument against the whole
ethos of pay to play gigs you will not find elsewhere.
After adding their heartfelt thanks that Barfly (number one
perpetrators of these ticketed gigs) have finally pulled out of
Liverpool, we move on to another area in which WCOLT have
an uncompromisingly DIY attitude; adverts and sponsorship.
Brickface’s refusal to run advertisements other than those
they specifically choose to promote themselves is explained
to me by Fabian: “as soon as you start selling advert space
you’ve got to guarantee you’re delivering something.” It’s
this belief that means they also don’t want to share a stage
with bands who “have a sponsorship deal with Nokia or
something.” Fabian adds: “You can easily recognise bands
who aren’t doing things for the right reasons, aren’t doing
things the right way. They’re the bands that nobody wants to
play with ‘cause it makes it quite awkward if you’re pushing a
really strong DIY ethic and you’re with a band who are willing
to do things in a very different way.” At this point I start to
believe that a phrase used earlier in passing by Simon is in
fact a more apt description of his own band’s principles than
anything else, WCOLT are undoubtedly “DIY to a fault.”
As we start to wrap up the interview I ask the group for a
preview of what the future holds for Brickface Press. Simon
informs me that “there are rumours of us putting on a new
age rave,” (I’m pretty positive he’s just trying to start those
rumours in print here but I’m feeling charitable) and that
they just wish to “carry on putting on shows and putting out
‘zines”. As for WCOLT, I think Screamo bands are realistic in
their admission that a massive deal from a major label is not
around the corner and the best thing about it is; they don’t
care. However, I’d find it difficult to be quite as succinct as
Fabian on the matter: “People who are in screamo bands
acknowledge that they’re going to be poor. So they do it
because they love it” he tells me, as my admiration for the
whole DIY philosophy grows further.
So then, about that investment. Consider me sold.
myspace.com/wecameoutliketigers
www.bidolito.co.uk

8
Bido Lito! September 2010
Bill Ryder
Jones
‘You must have been warned against
letting the golden hours slip by; but
some of them are golden only because
we let them slip by.’ J. M. Barrie.
There is nothing better than loving
and enjoying what you do. Music, like
any art, is principally for the fulfillment
of the soul, the creators release. With
many modern bands, there can be such
a hang up and emphasis on achieving
certain goals, that those golden hours
do pass them by, and the joys of being
and creating are lost. Thankfully, this is
not the case for BILL RYDER-JONES.
It has been two and a half years
since Bill left The Coral, in somewhat
of a haze of mystique. The reasons
for the departure are of little interest
now, but what most definitely is of
interest is the re-emergence of the
the resolves, that initial moment of
wonder that only lasts so long. Thats
what the book is about.”
And that offers itself naturally
for a musical score? “Yes, definitely.
There’s ten different ideas and that
leant itself well for writing the music.
I’d like people who’ve read the book
and hear the music to be able to
make the link between the various
different passages. Its not meant to
bend peoples mind’s or anything, but
I thought if somebody else out there
had done it, I’d be interested in the
idea having read the book.”
What would seem to some a marked
deviation from the musical trajectory
a way of bridging those two worlds.
Also, its about dramatics and with
bands, they often get it wrong. There’s
hardly any bands that do dramatics
which I like and who really get it right,
maybe apart from Arcade Fire and
Anna Calvi, who’s an amazing new
artist on Domino.”
I can tell that Bill holds Domino
in great affection and I suspect
that this has much to do with the
confidence they have shown in him.
By Bill’s own admission, his previous
endeavors secure him little favoritism
in his new arena beyond the nod of
familiarity and I suspect he’s keen to
reward Domino’s faith...“When I joined
guitarist with a new project and on
a new creative path. Having signed
to Domino Publishing, a wing of the
highly influential record label, Bill
scored A Leave Taking earlier this
year, a film produced in the North
West which received its world premier
at Cannes, and he is currently in the
process of scoring the Italo Calvino
novel If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler.
But what was it in particular about
Calvino’s novel that inspired Bill to
create music for it?
“Its a really tricky book to talk
about” Bill tells me, over a chai on
Bold Street. “The novel is based
around ten different opening chapters,
of ten different books. The point of the
book really is about those first pages
of a novel that really get you, where
which gave him such success, to Bill
feels completely natural, a development
of his skills as a composer. But is there
something in particular about the film
score format in comparison to the pop
song which gives him that freedom to
explore his ideas?
its full of promise. Like music in a way,
“I really love classical music and I
Words: Craig G Pennington
Photography: Jennifer Pellegrini
the first time you hear something that
you really love, before you think about
suppose I’ve always, deep down, been
a little bitter about the fact that I’m
where it goes or before you preempt
not some classical genius and this is
Domino I went down to meet up
with Laurence Bell to talk about what
I wanted to do and he suggested
writing a score for an imaginary film
and I knew straight away I wanted to
write a score for the book. It just works.
You totally get absorbed in it, without
sounding too heavy its given me eight
months of my life, which is really what
you want from art. I read it everyday.
I’ve written an hour and a half’s worth
of music and its almost finished now. I
think with music you have to work out
what it is thats unique to you, then
essentially thats what you are. I love
what I’m doing.”
And that is the single most
important thing. Bill has a fire in
his belly. He talks buoyantly about
Abel Korzeniowski and his score for
Tom Ford’s ‘A Single Man’, Shigeru
Umebayashi (another who made the
leap from the world of rock to film)
and Jonny Greenwood, “‘There Will
Be Blood’ has grown into one of my
favorite records ever, irregardless of
the film.” Bill is absorbed in his work
and excited about the future, with
hunger and desire to boot.
Bill Ryder-Jones has time and youth
on his side. He is watching those
golden hours slip by. And he is loving
every amber minute of it.
myspace.com/billryderjones
www.bidolito.co.uk

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0
Venues throughout Wirral
Martin Taylor . Steve Hackett
James Burton . Tom Paxton
Nick Harper . Wilko Johnson . Dr Feelgood
Joe Brown . Bellowhead . BJ Cole
Gary Murphy . Paul Balmer . Woody Mann . Catfish Keith
John Goldie . TJ & Murphy . Peter Price . Campbell Duo
www.bestguitarfest.com
0151 666 0000

10
Bido Lito! September 2010
Mike
Crossey
Words: Pete Robinson
Illustrations: Mike Cottage
MIKE CROSSEY sits back and sips gently at a coffee in Lark
Lane’s Keiths. He comes across as modest, unassuming
even, and within seconds of opening his mouth it is
obvious that he cares about music. Really cares. Belfastborn
and Liverpool-raised, Crossey currently splits his time
between his London home and his south Liverpool base,
near to the newly-renovated Motor Museum recording
studio just off the Lane itself.
The last few years as a producer have seen him develop
something of a reputation within the record industry; it’s
probably true to say that he has become seen as someone
who can breath life into a recording. He brings a rough feel
to an album, perhaps even using the studio to bridge the
gap between the live show and the packaged sound. Of
late, Crossey has been particularly busy, putting in 15-hour
shifts and lending his stylings to a number of different
projects. One such project has seen him working with All
Man Kind, an Australian band currently doing well in the
states, who Crossey describes as, “sounding like early U2.”
Perhaps more enticingly though, the last five weeks, have
been spent in Ray Davies’ London studio, Konk, working on
the former Kinks front man’s new release, a compilation
album of some the band’s more overlooked songs. This is
obviously something he is excited about as he divulges
some of the various guests working on the project. Davies
is collaborating with Mumford And Sons (a band Crossey
himself is keen on), Metallica and even Bon Jovi, amongst
others. Although, it should be said the latter’s inclusion
was revealed with at least mild disdain.
The subject soon moved on to an altogether gloomier
topic though, as the state of the music industry as a
whole was brought into question. When broaching the
issue of digital editing and its overwhelming prevalence
in the last decade, Crossey was refreshingly earnest with
his diagnosing. He views the overuse of the technique
as a “microwave meal compromise” and stated “record
companies now, are looking to make everything cheaper
and faster.” Quite a damning indictment, putting distance
between himself and the major labels such as Universal.
www.bidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 2010 11
This also denotes a sort of ‘us versus them’ attitude from
Crossey, ‘us’ being the pro-music fans, ‘them’ being the
anti-music bigwigs. Cliched maybe but hard to deny. It
also confirms what perhaps we already knew, that the
big labels choose style over substance and are motivated
by greed. ”The labels still don’t seem to be getting it and
they wonder why the kids aren’t buying the CDs,” ventures
Crossey ruefully.
As idealistic as this all may seem, he comes across as
a bastion of hope for a moribund industry whose decline
has been well publicised. If this is the problem though,
what is the answer? Well, Crossey feels a glance at the
past can reveal a lot, “If you look at previous decades,
they are remembered for the latest technology that was
around at the time. In the 60’s it was panning, in the 80’s
it was digital reverb and the last decade it has been digital
editing, and it’s been overdone. I think we will look back
and laugh.” The idea of tinny speakers and frequencies
being squashed to ‘nth’ degree in order to suit the iPod
age may then, just be a phase. But can we be sure that the
people writing the cheques will learn from their mistakes?
Or will the record companies just become more determined
to claw back the money they’ve lost, hemorrhaged through
dwindling sales and a now unquenchable thirst for free
music? Crossey feels they will have to change, “They spent
too much and no longer make enough, so they’ll collapse
in on themselves.”
So if the monsters will sleigh themselves, then the
biggest challenge may be trying to win over the next
generation of kids who don’t know what a good record
should sound like. Again though, this comes down to
an obsession with speed and convenience and not just
in the context of iPhones and file sharing; the recording
equipment itself often suffers. “The best equipment is the
old stuff, 60’s microphones that aren’t made anymore but
could cost you £50,000 now. So instead you get cheap
ones from China. The craftwork just isn’t there now.”
He’s no technophobe though and by the sound of it the
newly-renovated Motor Museum is very much alive to
technological innovations since Crossey took over the
reigns in April. It’s all about the balance though, and the
industry needs to look to the likes of this man and focus
on quality. And quality alone.
mikecrossey.com
www.bidolito.co.uk

Words: Katy Long
Photo: John Johnson
BL: You’re signed to Deltasonic, who can lay claim to
bands such as The Rascals, The Coral and The Dead 60s,
how has that affected you?
TS: It has helped a lot. It’s always good to have someone
who has experience, someone who can listen to you and
tell you not what you’re doing wrong, just, what you can
do better. It’s given us a chance to go on tour too; we’ve
played with The Rascals and The Dead 60s. There’s no extra
pressure, because we practised every day anyway, we’re
always playing and writing, but sometimes they help with
arranging, if a bit in a song isn’t quite there. We do do
things in the wrong order.
BL: How do people react to your music around the country?
TS: People seem to take our music really well all over,
except in the North East like Sunderland and Newcastle,
they don’t like us there. In one gig in Newcastle there were
people doing roly-poly’s around the place, it was weird.
London goes really well, and we played in Birmingham
with The View. There were about 2,000 people there, and
that was really good.
Indie is the fashion at the moment. You can’t turn a corner without seeing or hearing something
about the newest band – how revolutionary they are, how they’re going to be the next big thing,
the voice for the troubled youth. But deep down, for the most part, they’re usually little more than a
fashion, a passing trend.
It’s flamboyant, it’s theatrical, it’s too over the top to be enjoyable and slowly you become
disillusioned. Here at Bido Lito!, we’ve sifted through the rubble to find a band who match the
expectations of the fans...THE SUZUKIS, a four piece from Wigan, are one of those rare groups who
actually deserve the praise, mixing punk, rock, indie and 80’s sounds with typical northern themes
and lyrics. Zane Lowe has been going nuts about them n all. So Bido Lito! braved the East Lancs road
and caught up with the band in their native Wigan, in search of what all the fuss is about...
BL: Guitar music seems to becoming the new pop, do
you think the current trend of music will affect the way
you write?
TS: A lot of people have been saying that, but we’ve been
doing the same thing for years anyway so we’ll just keep
doing it. If we’d come from London or somewhere else, we
wouldn’t sound as we do, but there’s no sort of ‘ooh we’re
working class’ cliché. We don’t plan songs, we don’t craft
them, they just happen as we write. You don’t write a song
because you think you should have a song that sounds
like that; you just write what comes to you.
BL: From current crop of new bands, who could you pick
out as stand out artists?
TS: The band we played with recently, The Loud, they
were good, Victorian Dad and Glassheads too. It’s much
easier to name bands you don’t like, and why you don’t
like them – bands who take themselves too seriously.
Bido Lito!: For those who haven’t come across you as yet, how would you describe your music?
The Suzukis: It’s hard to describe your own music. We have a friend who did once say we sound a
bit like early Nirvana. I can’t hear it, but that’s not a bad thing to say. I’d rather people say that than
say, Snow Patrol. We just hope it’s powerful really, melodic, and heavy. A little bit aggressive.
BL: What was it like developing as a band in Wigan?
TS: For a small town, Wigan is really good. You only need to go to places like Warrington and St
Helens to realise Wigan actually has a lot of venues, and there’s always something going on and
places to play. There are other bands in Wigan like Victorian Dad and Glassheads who are really good,
there’s loads going on there.
The Suzukis’ latest single, Reasons for Leaving is filled
with their usual anger and desperation and, without doubt,
is in a class of its own. It’s a breath of fresh air from the
current wave of pretentious art school indie music thats
doing the rounds and The Suzukis can hold their head’s
high with pride at this latest effort. They are one of the
best bands to come out of the North for a long time and,
certainly, the best is yet to come.
myspace.com/thesuzukis
www.bidolito.co.uk

Words: Sean Fell
Photos: Dire Wolfe
“There are some dicks out there,”
states Dan Croll. “I’d say there are
more dicks than bad bands at
the moment. A lot of them have
something in their music which is
great, but sometimes the people
ruin it for you.” This may seem like
a needless attack on other bands
in the area, but it isn’t. It’s simply
questioning why so many bands
can take the fun out of making
music. Welcome to the mindset of
DIRE WOLFE.
The band came together over the
giving of a business card (Dan: “Tarek
acting the big I am”), an acoustic
guitar and a room full of LIPA
freshers. Drawing on influences like
Youthmovies and Foals (DW’s arsenal
originally included a trumpet), Dan
(vocals, guitar), Joe Wills (guitar), John
Stark (bass) and Tarek Musa (drums)
have become one of the city’s most
energetic and exciting bands. Their
perfectly formed songs change
from dream-like, airy masterpieces
to unhinged breakouts, and then
back again - probably similar
characteristics to the Pleistocene
extinct carnivorous mammal, with
which they share their name.
Bido Lito! sat down with DW three
hours before they set themselves
on Blackburn, 20 hours before doing
the same to Middlesbrough, and
six days before sneaking up on an
unsuspecting Standon Calling Festival.
It’s what they love.
“Most of the bands are out there
to get famous and they think famous
means flight cases with the band
name on and having your dad drive
your van around for you,” says Tarek,
before Joe steps in: “The more we see
bands taking themselves seriously,
the more we just want to fuck about.”
It’s this ignorance to what other bands
think of them which sets Dire Wolfe
apart. However, fucking about is all
well and good but it can only get you
so far. “We want to be seen as having a
good time but we’re not a band that’s
having pillow fights in photo-shoots,
y’know? We’re about having fun, it’s
what we’re all here for, but we leave
that off stage,” says Tarek.
Their songs focus mainly on girls
(”I like writing about girls,” laughs
Dan), be it fictional or real. Come
Home was written about Dan’s sister
leaving home and Gloria tells the tale
of a girl who doesn’t get out enough.
Associate comes with an almighty
stomping intro and highlights the
band’s heavenly melodies in all their
glory, yet still feels like they’re kicking
you in the stomach, similarly with
Regret and its newly sculptured intro.
It’s dangerously close to perfection. “I
think Regret is a good song to define
Dire Wolfe,” admits Dan. “Not every
song has to have a real story behind it
- sometimes the lyrics can just fit and
it will seem right, but that song seems
to be the direction we’re headed in.”
That brings us to their live shows.
More often that not at least one band
member will end up inches away from
your nose, providing energy that Crash
Bandicoot would appreciate. “Our gigs
are like circuses,” says Dan, “they’re
even more energetic if the promoters
let us play on the floor. We’re getting
better as performers too, plus we’re
with the songs so much that we
can tweak them each time we play
them.” It’s this familiarity with their
own catalogue that has made the
band so exciting to watch, it’s quite
possible that they don’t know what
will happen either. “We haven’t had a
set-list for the past 10-15 gigs,” states
John (it should be noted that John is
wearing a pair of tartan shorts that
The Proclaimers might break out on
holiday), “Dan introduces a song and
we just run away with it.”
The band recorded their first EP but
didn’t think it captured the true Dire
Wolfe spirit. “It was very polished and
quite fancy, so now we’re going back
to record it again live.” That recording
is due to take place at the Northern
College of Music in Manchester, in
a recording studio of orchestra hall
proportions, lead by Dave Coyle who
recently worked with Everything
Everything. It should be interesting.
“He saw us at the Night and Day Café
in Manchester and must have liked
us,” smiles Dan.
By the time you read this, the band
will have sunken their fangs into a few
festivals. It shouldn’t be long before
the rest of the country is captured by
Dire Wolfe’s enthusiasm, charm and
down right charisma. They may not be
from Liverpool originally, but the city
would be out of its mind not to claim
them as its own. This Wolfe could
actually run away with your heart in
its mouth - try stopping it.
myspace.com/direwolfeband
www.bidolito.co.uk

14
Bido Lito! September 2010
WHO SETS
THE SCENE?
Liverpool’s Gagged
Underground...
Words: John Still
“It’s not very often that the words
Liverpool, Urban and Music are seen
together in the same sentence.” This
was the opening gambit from Radio
One DJ Ras Kwame, compere of the
Diaspora Urban Music conference at
Liverpool Sound City festival earlier
this year. The event was designed
to throw a spotlight on the Urban
music talent of the city, and raise the
question of why Liverpool has never
cultivated a reputation for Urban
music in the same way it has other
genres.
Liverpool is a small city with a global
reputation, built in no small part on
music. Since the dawn of the 1960’s
the city has been at the forefront of
music, with prominent performers in
a number of different
scenes and bands
as diverse as Frankie
Goes To Hollywood
and Carcass making a
name for themselves
in their particular
eras. However, the
city has so far failed
to gain a reputation
for a buzzing local
Urban scene. From
the members of
the audience at the
Diaspora
seminar,
it would seem that
Liverpool does have a
wealth of underground
Urban talent. So where are these performers being let down in terms of the
opportunities being afforded them in the city?
YAW OWUSU runs the OneHundredGlobal Youth Culture and Management
Agency, and the Urbeatz Record Label in Liverpool, home to artists such as KOF and
JANIECE MYERS. With such a prominent position in the Liverpool Urban scene, he is
ideally placed to shed some light on the problems that face local artists. “Kof has
supported acts like Akon, Lupe Fiasco, N-Dubz etc. He has performed at Glastonbury,
toured, had his music played regularly on Radio One, collaborated with national
stars and been covered in everything from the Guardian to RWD Magazine. Yet he
still can’t get a full feature in any regional press or a listen by the programmers at
local radio. These are facts.”
Save for the touring artists playing the arena, there is precious little to be found
in local mainstream media about Urban artists. There are obvious constraints
placed on local editors, minimal pages allotted to entertainment, however,
much more emphasis seems to be placed on the local Indie scene that to the
Urban scene. Local radio station Juice
FM used to run a weekly ‘Urban Hour’,
but that has been cancelled and not
replaced.
One reason for this could be the
dissemination of Urban music styles
into the mainstream. A glance into
the top forty charts on any given
Sunday will reveal a plethora of
Urban artists who have transcended
their underground roots and made
it big. Former grime upstart Dizzee
Rascal is now a pop-kingpin, Tinie
Tempah has two number ones to his
name and even the more obscure
Dubsteppers’ Skream and Skepta
have made breaks for the big time.
But surely this increased interest in a
certain style should make for a more
vibrant local scene,
and increase the
interest in local talent
rather than be used to
reduce its airplay?
One of the problems
hit upon at the Diaspora
conference was that
of a lack of solidarity
in the scene, with too
much competition and
infighting
detracting
from the overall goals
of the collective. Yaw
continues, “Yes there is
definitely competition.
Janiece Myers I am sure that exists
within every genre. But
www.bidolito.co.uk

Bido Lito! September 2010 15
add into that we are a small city, a small scene and there are
only a set number of shows and only so many opportunities.
Like a ‘crabs in the bucket’ vibe. But I don’t think you can
blame the artists. Hopefully as the scene matures then we
can have some elders that can help and also a system by
which Urban acts can come through so they don’t see each
other as their main competition rather they have bigger
goals and horizons and they can focus on conquering the
various platforms necessary to reach national status.”
It seems that this is a vicious circle for some artists, with
the lack of recognition from local media and a dearth of
venues to play causing a more competitive, splintered
scene less inclined to help each other on the way up.
Urbeatz artist Kof, who releases single Fire it Up featuring
Wiley and Chelcee Grimes on 23rd August echoes these
sentiments, “In terms of performance there are only a few
places in Liverpool that still put on Urban gigs, there isn’t
much respect for it. I think a lot of people are still stuck on
stereotypes of Urban music. Any urban gig has a big police
presence; no other genre gets that in this city.”
It’s fair to say that Urban music has received a large
amount of bad press over the years. It’s equally fair to say
that much of it has come from the gangster posturing and
braggadocio associated with some facets of Urban music.
However, to hold this against everyone involved in a certain
scene is both ignorant and short-sighted. Perhaps the term
‘Urban’ music can itself be a little detrimental to this cause.
It seems to serve as an all encompassing meta-genre, an
umbrella term that covers a massive spectrum of music,
allowing for a swift dismissal of artists. Kofs’ assertion
that Merseyside Police pay more attention to Urban
gigs highlights a widespread attitude that Urban music
automatically equates to violence. It’s a shame that isolated
incidents have tarred the reputation of a genre in a city.
It’s possible that this lack of support from venues is the cause of a lack of
confidence in the Liverpool scene. Kof continues, “There are artists making
moves in the city, but sometimes you see that the lack of a decent host venue
and media support takes away the motivation, like they can’t win. I had to
go to Manchester and then London for gigs to get noticed.” For artists to find
recognition away from Liverpool highlights that the lack of a visible presence of
Urban music is by no means down to the lack of talent. As well as the attitudes
of the press and the venues, could it possibly be that there just isn’t a strong
desire for Urban music in this city? That doesn’t seem to be the case. Festivals
such as Africa Oye have become a huge success in the city, bringing in massive
crowds, and the recognised mainstream artists consistently sell-out the Echo
Arena and O2 Academy. It seems odd then that an underground scene is not
given more of a chance to prove itself at a more mainstream level.
Liverpool built its musical fame on the back of Merseybeat, and then of course,
the Beatles, and has since produced The La’s, Echo and the Bunnymen and
countless other indie-rock outfits. All these acts came from small, local scenes
that were given an opportunity. It seems strange that a city as proudly diverse
as Liverpool would not have that same infrastructure for Urban music, given
its massive popularity. Yaw states, “I do find it odd. But then I know the people
in power maybe have a lack of understanding of Urban music and culture and
Yaw Owusu
the culture is so vibrant amongst young people both locally, nationally and internationally. And we
have acts in the City who song-for-song are probably as good as any acts in the UK. However, without
the support from our industry, they will not have a chance to get to that national level.”
In order for the local artists to thrive in Liverpool, it seems that attitudes will have to change. With
an artist like Kof venturing towards the mainstream, it may be time to reassess the possibilities for
an Urban scene in Liverpool, and how much time they’re given. Urban music is at an all-time high
regarding global popularity, and it would be a lost opportunity to see a city so proud of its historical
position at the forefront of musical trends left behind.
kofmusic.com
onehundredglobal.com
probably a greater love and affinity for ‘Guitar music’. However, I believe ‘they’
need to try and understand Urban music and support it. Why? Simply because
Kof
www.bidolito.co.uk

16
Bido Lito! September 2010
Middle Eight
Vasco Da Gama
Perhaps taking a cue from the explorer they take their
name from, VASCO DA GAMA have travelled a fair way to get
here. Finally forming in 2009 in Liverpool, the band is the
result of friendships forged over the years in Darlington,
Huddersfield and Warrington. Falling under the all-toogeneral
‘math-rock’ category, they have the skewed timesignatures
associated with the genre, but combine it with
soaring melodies and grooves to get audiences dancing
rather than reaching for the calculator.
After a few months of rehearsing, Vasco da Gama
debuted their set early in 2010, garnering high praise. Tracks
Edited by Richard Lewis - middle8@bidolito.co.uk
Best Disguises and Skeleton Girl Killed the Party have been
showcased on the NxNW podcast. The band’s co-hosting of one
of the podcast’s recent editions showcased their informative
tongues, alongside their dexterous musical manoeuvres.
After only a handful of gigs, the band are gaining a
reputation as an exciting live act, and with an EP scheduled
for late summer/early autumn, they are certainly ones to
watch over the summer. Their appearance at the Bluecoat
on 29th August will most definitely be one to catch...set
square, check...protractor, check...nautical atlas, check...
open mind, check.
myspace.com/vascoband
Urchins
2008 may not have produced the Summer of Ska that was
predicted by many but it did give us the birth of URCHINS,
five lads from St Helens who seem determined to rescue the
reputation of the indie/punk/ska sub-genre that took a bashing
when The Dead 60s and Milburn sank to the bottom of the
bargain buckets. And an admirable job they seem to be doing,
having already provided support for Buzzcocks, Echo & The
Bunnymen and The Bees of late, as well as starting recording
work on their debut album. And if their current collection of
catchily disjointed Specials-influenced tracks is anything to go
The Insect Guide
Headed up by Ormskirk-ian exile Stan Howells, and joined
by husky, guttural vocalist Su Sutton and drummer Chris
Cooper - can-crasher of 4AD band of note The Pale Saints - THE
INSECT GUIDE play dark, shoe-gaze, dream pop of a Slowdive,
Galaxie 500 and Ride mould. The band’s debut long player, 6ft
In Love, came in 2007 to what would seem disproportionate
praise for a band who essentially write, record, produce,
design and package everything themselves...down to the
visuals that accompany their scintillating live show.
Uncut named the record their debut of the month and
the LP’s lead track was given the remix treatment by Sonic
I Am Austin
Creating a buzz around them following an appearance
at Sound City and a slot on Radio One’s Introducing Stage
at One Big Weekend, I AM AUSTIN bring their two-piece
garage rock assault to the city on September 11th. Strongly
influenced by the underground sixties motherlode of the
Nuggets series with a hint of the Pixies’ visceral roar, the
groups’ ear boxing volume is offset by clearly discernible
pop interludes.
They throw Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Queens of the
Stone Age, Death From Above 1979 into the mix and level
it out with the poppier elements of The Strokes and Crystal
by, then it will be certainly be an album to look forward to.
Ranging from the Coral-esque gypsy breakdown of Lupine, to
the Babyshambolic rambling of Les Midinettes, Urchins manage to
mash up a whole load of influences to create songs so sharp you
could hang your box-fresh Fred Perry polo on them. Their overall
sound is still typical of the genre though, proving that they
are the natural successors to the crown of Ska Torchbearers,
passed on from Dammers to Strummer, The Dead 60s, and
now themselves. And rightly so: just you try keeping them
shoulders still when you listen to Eyesore.
Urchinmania is coming to a ghost town near you.
myspace.com/urchinsmania
Boom, he of Spacemen 3, Spectrum and, more recently, MGMT
nob-twiddling fame. Steve Lamacq got excited, Drowned in Sound
named it ‘an irresistible pop masterpiece’ and even the NME had
a sniff, almost getting onto something embryonic and extremely
exciting...
Having toured the US, taken a trip to perform in Scandinavia
and played a BBC 6 Music Session for Marc Riley, the group
return this September with a new single, Down From Here,
with all the pop hooks and melodic spectacle we’ve come to
expect. The band’s second album, Dark Days & Nights lands
in October and The Insect Guide play Fell Foot Woods on the
banks of Lake Windermere in September. Not to be missed.
theinsectguide.com
Castles. The duo’s stoner rock leanings are given an edge with
the swirling FX provided by the myriad of pedals at bassist Adam
Hughes’ feet.
Providing the rhythmic backbone, sticksman
and vocalist David Mitchell’s beats switch between crisp and
rumbling, powering the tracks with blistering force.
Touring to promote the recently released Sounds Like Filth
EP the duo have enjoyed the support of Edith Bowman and
Bethan Elfyn who described them as “One fifth of Kings
of Leon crossed with the ghost of Death From Above
(DFA 1979).” With tracks as strong as Stripper, recent 45
Zombietown and forthcoming single LAFS the duo are set
to shake the Student Union of JMU to its foundations.
myspace.com/iamaustinmusic
www.bidolito.co.uk
Words - Vasco Da Gama: David Hendrie // The Urchins: Frankie Muslin // The Insect Guide: Can Brannan // I Am Austin: Richard Lewis

Middle Eight Bido Lito! September 2010 17
Little Comets - O2 Academy, 1st October
Leaving a major label might be a slightly frightening
prospect for most bands but, with an exhaustive touring
schedule ahead, it looks like LITTLE COMETS are going to
come out of hard times all the better for it. Proponents
of what the BBC describe as “kitchen sink indie,” (yeah
cheers, what’s more boring than a fucking sink?) the Comets
released 4 singles since early 2009 in an effort to convert
the nation to their indefatigable, angular pop (that’ll be one
licence fee, please). Unfortunately for the Comets, it seemed
Columbia were the only people unimpressed with the fruits of
these releases and thus the four-piece were asked to search for
pastures new. They are yet to release anything since the split
but they will undoubtedly now have several suitors chasing
their signature with a view to a debut album release.
So, why search out a band which are currently stalling on
releasing records I hear you ask? The simple answer is: gigs.
Little Comets pride themselves on a live show which has
been honed in a variety of unorthodox venues including
trams, lecture theatres and even a bingo hall. The tornado of
percussion and jocularity that is a Little Comets nationwide
tour is set to start in Liverpool on October 1st, so then, plenty
of time to get some research done and grab a ticket.
myspace.com/littlecometsmusic
Matthew Street Fringe
City Centre, 28th - 30th August
Chances are you might have heard of the elder brother
of this festival. Away from the tribute acts, the MATHEW ST
FRINGE FESTIVAL is now in its third year. Staged in forty indoor
venues, as opposed to the main event outdoors, the ‘Fringe
district’, around Seel Street and nearby thoroughfares are where
most of the action is to be found. Beyond this Bad Format!, Bar
Hannah, The Bluecoat and Bumper all have bands playing.
With so many venues signed up to the cause, almost anywhere
you care to name in the city will have live music, including acoustic
Edwyn Collins
Anglican Cathedral, 13th November
A leading light of the British New Wave scene with
Orange Juice, and latterly a muse to the Nu Wave bands
of the 2000s, EDWYN COLLINS returns to our stages this
autumn with his 7th solo album Losing Sleep, the first to be
fully written and recorded since a double brain haemorrhage
in 2005. Released on September 13th, the album features a
host of collaborators who rallied around Collins during his
rehabilitation, which included learning to walk and talk again,
before he could even think about picking up a guitar. With
cameos from the likes of Cribs members Ryan Jarman and Johnny
Inside Pages - Static Gallery, 1st & 2nd October
So, we’re on our fourth issue of Bido Lito! and we’ve not
thrown a party yet.... well, we’re pleased to announce INSIDE
PAGES, the launch event for Bido Lito!
Taking place at Static Gallery, the two days of music will feature
a complete cross section of new music making in Merseyside.
We currently have a fantastic selection of artists lined up for the
weekend, with headliners THE SAND BAND and BICYCLE THIEVES
to be joined by NEVILLE SKELLY, THE SUZUKIS, THE LOUD, OWLS*, WE
CAME OUT LIKE TIGERS, THE SEAL CUB CLUBBING CLUB, DIRE WOLFE,
EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD, KOF, FLY WITH VAMPIRES, PINK FILM, MISERY
GUTS, SLOPeS, DAN WILSON (The Cubical), VASCO DE GAMA, CHRIK, RAGZ...
sessions at Parr Street as well as music and film hosted by
Urban Strawberry Lunch at St. Luke’s (Bombed Out Church.) The
programme for the Fringe has yet to appear online as we went
to press but will doubtless be available soon. Confirmations
so far include, Hot Club De Paris, The Sand Band and The Loud,
who are just a small selection of the huge number of groups
on. With all the acts having been selected from lists put
forward by venues in the city, it promises to be a wildly eclectic
bill. Gladly, there’s an alternative to the Japanese Beatles and
Brazilian Beach Boys and an opportunity for the legions of
tourists to sample a taste of real Liverpool in 2010.
mathewstreetfestival.org/fringe
Marr, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, as
well as Brooklyn anglophiles The Drums, the album sounds
like more than just an intriguing prospect. Throw in to the
mix Romeo Stodart of the Magic Numbers, and Aztec Camera
singer Roddy Frame, and you have an album brimming with
ideas and sounds that reflect the eclectic nature of the Ivor
Novello Award winning musician.
With that in mind, it is somewhat of a coup that Liverpool’s
Harvest Sun Promotions have managed to nail down Collins to
a date at the Crypt of the Anglican Cathedral for his November
tour. There will no doubt be a lot of interest round this show
to see if the Scotsman is ready to rip it up and start again.
edwyncollins.com
and very many more - with some very exciting ‘special guests’. The
full line-up will be announced in next months magazine.
As well as live music, Inside Pages will also feature an exhibition
of the photography and illustrations that have been included in
the first five issues of Bido Lito! From live photographs of Wave
Machines, to feature shoots with The Sand Band...from By The
Sea’s aquatic illustrations to our tentacled tout. We will also have
a record shop, exclusively stocking local artists, in association
with Probe Records, with all profits going to CALM. New Liverpool
independent record label PAYPER TIGER RECORDS will be producing
a compilation album, available for free at the event.
Tickets go on sale from 1st September from Probe Records.
bidolito.co.uk
Words - Little Comets: David Lynch // Matthew Street Fringe: Richard Lewis // Edwyn Collins: Frankie Muslin // Inside Pages: Can Brannan
www.bidolito.co.uk

18
Bido Lito! September 2010
Hot In Vinyl
Probe Records
Probe Records
Things are fraught! Time is tight! We here at Probe are in the process of moving shoppe (in fact, by the time
you read this we’ll be in our groovy new premises down at The Bluecoat on School Lane) and that’s why we
missed the deadline for last months small selection of goodies from the vinyl wonderworld... sorry ‘bout that.
Meanwhile fer this ish we give you a quick compendium of contemporary compilation elpees.
A Phase We’re Going Through (Fruits De Mer Records)
A whole buch of modern freaky beaty combos nobody ever heard of (yet) take on a whole heap of old skool classics by
the maestros of the psychedelic 6Ts. Cranium Pie take on Hendrix, The Swims tackle July, Geese engage with Pink Floyd
...among many others. Old hands The Chemistry Set get maximum kudos from us for reviving Del Shannon’s mighty
“Silver Birch”. And it’s all heavy on the phase action, natch.
Absolute Belter (Finders Keepers)
From them fanatical crate-diggin Mancs over at Finders Keepers comes this wild collection of Catalonian craziness
originally released in the way-back-when on the Belter label of Barcelona. Mid-Med-Mod-Rock & Spanish Psychsploitation
it sez on the sleeve and that’s exactly what ya get: 22 way cool cuts to shake yr tail feathers, daddy-o.
Psychedelic Sounds Of The Sonic Cathedral (Sonic Cathedral)
Not the first tribute to the world’s favourite acid casualties Roky Erickson & The 13th Floor Elevators but here’s another great
selection of cover versions from various Anglo-American outfits, this time in the Nu-Gaze / Dream Pop / Neo-Psych stylees of Century
21. Featuring: Dead Meadow, A Place To Bury Strangers, Black Acid (Richard “Death In Vegas” Fearless & Co) and more. Roky himself
appears with fellow Texans The Black Angels (which begs the question: is it acceptable to appear on ones own tribute album?)
Nu Yorica Roots! (Soul Jazz)
Latin music of Puerto Rican and Cuban origin melted down in the NY crucible and forged into yet another new sound
of thee American musical scene of the sixties on the reissue of this ace Soul Jazz comp (originally issued in Y2K and
deleted pretty soon after.) Plenty of big names as you can (maybe) tell from the cover pic ...no longer comes with the
uber groovy poster tho :(
Welcome Home: Diggin’ The Universe (Woodist)
A kinda chronicle of the current US indie underground from one of that scenes cult labels. Aggressively analog attitude
too: it was originally released on cassette (!) and is now getting a limited vinyl pressing ...any digital version seems
unlikely... a lucky thirteen track selection (and all exclusive to this) including Woods, Fresh & Onlys, Art Museums etc.
Contains great fuzz-trance version of Reggae legend Errol Dunkley’s 1974 UK hit “A Little Way Different” from Ripley
“Wooden Shjips” Johnson’s mighty Moon Duo.

Club electric sheep presentsÉ É É
MISERY GUTS
WITH
DENIS JONES
PLUS
SUPPORT
FRIDAY
24 TH SEPT
THE
KAZIMIER
WOLSTENHOLME SQ
a
Tickets available from Probe Records,
Skiddle.com and artist myspace pages

20
Bido Lito! September 2010
The Glass Pasty
Notes from the Cultural Abyss
Notes from the Cultural Abyss
“Have you ever been to Nandos before?”
Its holiday season and the geese are turning orange. Thousands of sun
seeking, binge drinking consumer units have topped up their spray tans and
plunged into the crystal clear waters of foreign luxury to sample the wonderful
wines and delicacies of Europe’s finest resorts and cities. But some of us have
stayed put, we foolishly chose the way of the turd and decided not to desert
this land of wind and rain. Before we embark on our monthly organised tour of
the sights, sounds and smells of this fair northern city, we must sit back, make
chit chat with that annoying couple from the midlands and sample a fun-size
morsel from a larger familial bucket of filth in our taste test/give me your table
number section. My latest attempt at taming the zeitgeist and jumping aboard
the food bus, Ramsey’s got his pickled swear wrinkles, Joliver has his state
subsidised turkey twizzler obesity bashing, even Nina Cherry and Sophie Dahl
are in on the act, kooky cooking for the coach potato.
Well it’s my time, welcome to pasties in decline -a sideways glance at modern
eating habits sound tracked by the music of Patsy Cline.
Come gentle reader into the warm embrace of the franchise food hall, prepare
to be patronised, step one – take a seat, step two – read a menu, beautifully
broken down into baby English simple enough for your fisher price brains to
comprehend, and finally step three relay the simple information of your order
to one of our friendly staff equipped with mindless cheeky t-shirt then pay up
and fuck off.
Or maybe you want to grab a slice of outdoor culture and are feeling peckish
after a hard flexi day facilitating cultural linkages, then why not people watch
on Williamson Piazza with a frothy coffee, biscotti and a squashed Panini,
all for under a tenner. Or maybe visit one of the many fat peddling inferior
pasty dispensers offering new ways to beat the credit crunch by increasing the
amount of crippling heartburn and dyspepsia. A big society indeed!
Yes the dumbing down and hiking up of prices is a national past time, but
it is the insidious level of glib faux generosity that really gets under my pastry
casing, when talked at by inanimate objects constantly one really hankers after
the glory days of no frills and lax quality control, when families were rewarded
with random gifts of glass with every multipack of crisps and biscuits purchased.
A great leveller!
On a recent train journey I was informed by my cup of coffee “I’m hot stuff”
thankfully moments before I was about to pour the liquid directly into my
stupid eyes and hair as a morning pick me up, or when exercising my citizen’s
right to at least five portions of fruit and veg per day (a truth I hold self evident) I
was told in no uncertain terms that my “smoothie” contained five strawberries,
one banana, three grapes and a grand piano! “Don’t get funny with me you
inanimate bastards!”
“Listen to my travel talk, travel talk.”
This month the prize goes to a day glow Hollyoaks esque electro jockey who
repeated the phrase “cheesy chips and doner meat Oh my God !” three times
on a morning train. Your barbed wire and H1N1 virus is in the post.
A quick lathery dip into Soapsville and Turkey Necked Wrinkle Diva Deirdre
Barlow is still sexing up the cobbles in Corrie getting Havers hot under the
collar, where The Stapler is on the murder trail and delivering monumental
lines such as – “all I ever wanted to do was teach.” In Emmerdale Jethro, Seth,
Nathaniel and Ezekiel have been murdered by a plague of Yorkshire cricket
enthusiasts and the title music has been finally placed on trial at The Hague.
And in Enders grizzly Rottweiler publican Phil Mitchell is on crack. Nuff said you
tart, give me another rock, pronto!
In the world of spuzak Travie McCoy is human dream mouthpiece in that
witty and sophisticated take on modern greed with chart smash- Billionaire. I
have not felt this “at one” with an artist since Mika kindly informed me that I,
and indeed all of my immediate family and friends were in fact – golden, yes –
golden. Grazie Castrato!
Target: Hollywood: - Fire!
The greatest ever action cast ever assembled is landing on planet earth in
The Dispensers – Stallone, Willis and Statham start as vending machines, water
coolers and coffee makers going head to head for the ultimate prize – quality
customer service and excellent health and safety practice. Spillages, over
charging, poor stocking levels and operational malfunctioning, this has the lot.
Hold onto your seats tinsel town!
Join me again next month for more postcards from behind enemy lines oh
and the Adam Ricketts exclusive interview that has set hearts racing!

Bido Lito! September 2010 21
Nik Glover
You’ve completed the album,
the artwork is coming along nicely and you’re preparing
the liner notes. You’ve collected all the information, if
you had someone else produce and mix they’ve fought
out their differences and accepted their respective
shares of responsibility (or reward); the record/publishing
companies have sent you their little widget-logos. You’re
ready to put the whole thing down on paper. You quite like
the idea of wing-dings, but dispense the notion when the
record company remind you who is both boss and feckless
tosser.
Now for the tricky bits.
“All songs written by...”
If you run the band as a total democracy, you might just
want to mention the band name, as if everyone involved
has a healthy and respectful approach to the artistic process
which allows for debate. This opens the possibility for your
own view to be dispensed with, and for something you’re
not 100% on to make it onto the album. If everyone in the
band is truly respectful of everyone else, this shouldn’t be a
problem. If there is any doubt, go with the flow. You can put
them straight on who is boss (and feckless tosser) in the
PRS credits.
On the other hand, you might be the kind of cat who
prefers to fade into the background, but still likes to see his
or herself’s name in lights (in an equally-numbered share
of bulbs). For this situation, the old ‘Albert/Brian/Chris/
David/Edward’ alphabetical listing is best. If one person
in the band (probably you) feels like the artistic lead, but
is basically a reasonable person, they might opt for extra
mentions later on, for instance, as a ‘co-producer’, or even
‘executive producer’ (warning: this title should be reserved for those who really
lack a sense of humour).
At the end of the day, you know what you’ve done. Hence, lying to the
general public is made easier if you do it through the medium of liner notes.
“Recorded At...”
It’s always nice to say thanks to the people who run studios by advertising
them on liner notes. Most studio engineers earn sod all and are extremely
helpful chaps and chapesses who are ever-willing to stay an extra hour or
so to help you record that backwards-snare-in-a-thin-corridor-made-of-metalcases-and-mirrors.
This is your way of saying thankyou to their employers, and
hopefully get them more business, and a better reputation. This, in turn, may
lead to the nice engineers getting jobs at real establishments, and not ratinfested
pork-holes two storeys beneath anywhere the air, or reputable music
industry ever reaches.
“Thanks To...”
A thankyou list is a tough thing to quantify. Basically it’s there to thank people
who get no credit normally; friends, family, managers, sound engineers and
cartoon and computer-game characters (one band I know thanked Guybrush
Threepwood, understandably). You also may want to thank random people who
helped and don’t know that you are grateful (like agents).
One thing that only seems to appear on hip-hop liner notes is the old ‘No
Thankyou’ or ‘Fuckyou’ list, which, sadly, can degenerate into childish middlefinger-wiggling.
The police are probably the most common receivers of this
dubious shout-out, though considering all the good work they do stopping
people running around and doing whatever they want, it’s possibly a little
harsh. Imagine a world where everyone did what rappers said they should like
to do; it’d be anarchy. Swearing and shit.
“The Humorous Last Line”
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion used to put ‘All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs
Reversed’ at the end of their liner notes; ha-hahugh-he-he-hacking cough. A lot
of hip-hoppers put ‘Peace and Love to the Whole World’ or likewise, and this
sort of thing should be encouraged. There isn’t enough peace and love around
at the best of times, and after listening to a bit of Non Phixion there might be
considerably less, at least in your brain. So that’s OK then.
What is NOT acceptable is putting ‘The Hepcats say ROCK ON YOU CRAZY
HEPITITIZOIDS!!!!’, or similar. As Terry Pratchett says, multiple exclamation marks
are the sign of a diseased mind.
89 Bold Street, Liverpool, L1 4HF
Telephone: 0151 707 0760
boldstreetcoffee.co.uk

22
Bido Lito! September 2010
Reviews
RAGZ
Hannah Trigwell – Laura Oakes
this shy, nervous girl doesn’t seem to
know this herself yet.
By the time next performer HANNAH
See The Sound @ The Zanzibar
TRIGWELL takes to the stage the
Zanzibar has become quite full, and
There’s something very relaxing
about The Zanzibar: the formalities
of places like the 02 and The Masque
are still there, but they’re blended in
with the surroundings, and it has the
comfortable feeling of your local pub.
As it begins to fill, the first act quietly
take to the stage unnoticed, until their
startling introduction via the stadium
announcer from Anfield jolts the
crowd’s attention.
the Leeds lass takes it all in her stride.
Her voice has no northern lilt, instead
she sounds almost Gaelic; her band
supports this, with the violin player
especially providing the songs with
atmosphere and giving them a setting.
Her voice also has emotion, filling
every space in the venue and initially
capturing everyone’s attention but it
soon becomes very easy to sit back
and listen to as the songs all seem
First act LAURA OAKES is
to blend into one. It’s hard to imagine
immediately striking, her voice being
extremely rich and mature, with
a slight throatiness that stops it
sounding studio produced. Her songs
fluctuate in style, with some sounding
like modern pop ballads, while others
Miss Trigwell is just 19, as her songs
posses a maturity that most adult
artists struggle to achieve, and there
is nothing false about them.
As the evening draws to a close, the
headline act, RAGZ appears on stage.
are a mixture of blues and jazz. The
If the previous two female artists
track Naturally, performed without
possessed vocal maturity, Ragz’s voice
band accompaniment, has some film
possesses age: deep, slightly hoarse
soundtrack atmospherics, but it is the
and tired, but effective. Her native
sheer tone and purity of her voice that
Norwegian accent aids her vocal style
stands out, revealing the immense
perfectly, adding emphasis and glottal
quality she possesses. Unfortunately,
stops to moments in the songs that
wouldn’t usually be noticed if sang
by someone else. Her vocals are also
incredibly powerful, similar to Florence
Welch’s, but behind her vocals a very
faint cello can be heard. The cello is
beautiful, adding sadness to every
song while retaining the intended
emotion. Compared to the other acts
though, Ragz’s confidence can be
seen as arrogance, and her constant
orders to the sound technicians are
off-putting. Her final song is the stand
out piece though, as she sheds her
band to perform a traditional hymn,
asking for reverb on her voice. The
resulting sound floods the room,
the aggression in her voice gone,
leaving the raw power, and without
the band it’s much easier to see the
beauty in Ragz’s voice. The piece
actually invokes emotion, reducing
the room to complete silence as she
sings. As I leave, no matter how hard
I try, the vocals still spin around my
head. If Ragz performed more songs
like this, down to earth and without
the concern over how much sound is
coming through the monitors, she’d
soon have cities under her spell. But
until then, for me, she blends in with
many other female artists, which in
truth is a shame.
PUBLIC IMAGE
LIMITED
O2 Academy
Katy Long
It takes a veritable fount of self
confidence in your body of work to
open a set by firing off one of your
biggest guns, but John Lydon is just the
man to throw down such a gauntlet
to the eager Liverpool crowd. PUBLIC
IMAGE LIMITED lope through This Is
Not A Love Song with a supremely
self assured swagger and brooding
tension, leaving us in no doubt that
there is plenty of ammunition left
in the barrel. Lydon is in expected
ascerbic form, and his mouthy
posturing takes in the poor form of
the England football squad, a vitriolic
rejection of religion – all religions, in
fact, but a special dig reserved for the
Pope – an equally acidic denunciation
of politicians, and heckling hecklers.
He accompanies each precocious rant
Public Image Limited (John Johnson)
www.bidolito.co.uk

24
Bido Lito! September 2010
with his familiar parodic grimaces and
wide-eyed grins, reminding those who
remember, and educating those who
don’t, that Lydon is larger than life,
and larger than his legacy.
Given Lydon’s very public statements
about both the Sex Pistols and PiL
tours being revenue raising exercises,
it could be forgiven to approach
this gig with a certain cynicism; an
expectation that Lydon, like a modern
day Fagin, is picking the pockets of
fools who are knowingly being had.
However, even if that is true, we no
longer care because tonight PiL are
undeniably, astoundingly good. They
have described this tour as being
serious music for good serious people,
and there seems to be ample evidence
that they’re attempting to live up to
this branding.
Whilst it is hardly conceivable
that Lydon could be overshadowed,
PiL are not just a showcase for his
voice – although he is certainly in
brilliant form. Guitarist Lu Edmonds
(who previously played with Pil from
1986 to 1992) almost steals the show,
oscillating between funk, defiance,
shoegaze noise, pop elegy and dreamy
delicacy. Edmonds magicks up that
almost indescribable tension between
punk and pop which typified the early
years of PiL’s output, accompanied
in that feat by Scott Firth’s utterly
appropriate restrained post-funk bass.
The fusion of electronic and acoustic
drums from Bruce Smith anchors the
low slung hooks subtly but firmly, and
the three of them prove easily able to
balance the charisma-vortex of Lydon.
..Love Song is a blueprint for
their approach to a winning two
hour plus set of extended re-frames
of vintage PiL material: Poptones,
Flowers Of Romance, Psychopath,
Warrior,
Death Disco and Disappointed
coalesce into loops, jams, workouts:
eminently danceable, subtly hypnotic,
casting wide without collapsing into
indulgence, this is an exercise in
controlled chaos. Religion, introduced
controversially by Lydon with an
anti-papist rant is magnificent, and
seems impassioned. Albatross is an
undeniable highlight, the original
version feathered out into what seems
like fifteen minutes of bassline-driven
deep post-disco deliciousness.
After the interval, which Lydon calls
a ‘cigarette break’, they’re back with
Rise and Open Up, both of which evince
delight and animation from the crowd:
sing-alongs, moshing and finally a bit
of dancing. After which our two and a
half hour public sweatlodge is over
and we’ve been served the irresistible
force of death disco, blended and
extended as it should be.
LIGHTSPEED
CHAMPION
02 Academy
Nic Lowrey
It’s hard to tell whether LIGHTSPEED
Lightspeed Champion (Chloe Pattie)
CHAMPION (Devonte Hynes) is
nervous, uncomfortable, terrified or
just incredibly relaxed as he walks on
stage. Maybe, like me, he expected
more people to turn up; the 02 isn’t
empty, not at all, but sadly it’s not
full, and by rights it should be, if only
out of curiosity. It’s obvious from the
start that, unlike some bands, Dev
isn’t going to perform carbon copies
of his songs, and the distinct lack of
Emmy the Great, or any sort of string
or woodwind section, just proves this.
With a full orchestra in a studio, Dev
is a genius, and tonight more than
anything I’m watching to see how
he can convert this genius over to a
live performance with a guitar and a
piano.
With a guitar in hand, Dev seems
to relax, and as Marlene is played,
he looks completely content with
his surroundings, and a lot more
comfortable than when he first
shuffled on stage. It’s a far cry from
anything from first album Falling Off
The Lavender Bridge, sharper and
staccato, with more leanings towards
pop than folk, but still with the same
warmth. As Marlene quickly turns into
Midnight Surprise, the atmosphere
changes immediately, its haunting,
almost chilling melody, fills the room
with the echoes of the guitars. The
song loses nothing in the style it’s
performed in, and Dev casually swaps
between piano and guitar, softening
the song as it progresses. Despite
shouts for songs like Dry Lips and No
Surprises, Midnight Surprise, Galaxy
Of The Lost and Tell Me What it’s Worth
are the only songs from Lavender
Bridge. The tunes from second album
Life Is Sweet, Nice To Meet You fill the
evening, with Romart and Middle Of
The Dark
standing out more than any
others. Middle Of The Dark
especially
is rather eerie, performed with a
slight desperation that is completely
intriguing. After a while it becomes
surreal, almost hypnotic, reminding
you quite suddenly how impressive
Lightspeed Champion is.
Despite this, throughout the whole
performance, Dev and his band
seem so approachable: he leads us
in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a man
called Paul, succumbs to a fit of the
giggles halfway through a song after
someone yells “We love you Dev!
Smash the place up!” and introduces
the whole band as Juan Carlos. The
atmosphere fluctuates constantly,
between friendliness and complete
awe, and rightly so: Lightspeed
Champion is a genius. No other artist
of this generation can take as many
musical styles and instruments and
incorporate them in to a song like he
can, and no other artist could take
them away in a live performance and
still have the song retain its power
and beauty. Yet on stage he seems
so down to earth, no theatrics, no
routines or acts – he’s just an ordinary
man. As he finishes his encore, he tells
us he hopes to be in Liverpool again
soon, and I hope he will be too. When
www.bidolito.co.uk

Reviews Bido Lito! September 2010 25
he does come back, I’ll be bringing
along a small army of people, I’ll even
pay for them – the size of tonight’s
audience didn’t do the man justice.
THE APPLES
Masque
Katy Long
Israel may not be a country known
for its musical exports let alone for
its love of funk music, and you would
easily be forgiven if you couldn’t think
of any actual artists that hail from that
part of the world (Dana International
excluded). Fear not though as all that is
about to change thanks to fruit-based
funk outfit THE APPLES. Consisting of a
four-man brass section, some drums,
a double bass and two turntablists,
The Apples draw comparisons from a
line-up similar to that of Manchester
act Fingathing: throw in a dollop of
Parliament-Funkadelic at their funkiest
and you’re somewhere near the sound
of The Apples. Their instrumental acid
jazz fusion has been making many
in the music industry sit up and take
notice, largely thanks to their big band
cover of Rage Against The Machine’s
Killing in the Name Of which has been
played on both Annie Mac and Zane
Lowe’s Radio One shows. Couple this
with the fact that the likes of A-Skillz
and Mr Scruff often incorporate the
tune into their DJ sets and you have
a band that are quickly making friends
in all the right places.
As a live entity The Apples are
fantastic: they make energetic, funkyas-hell
grooves that make it irresistible
to remain static. The opening track of
the evening begins with a very Amon
Tobin-esque drum beat that was
pretty constant throughout the set
(no complaints there). The set is like
one big hot Granny Smith apple pie
as it doesn’t disappoint and you feel
very satisfied afterwards (Oh dear! –
Reviews Ed)! If it wasn’t a mesmerising
sax solo, scratching contests or
beat battles between the DJs and
the drummer that amazed then it
was probably the countless twists
and turns, dizzying transitions and
spontaneous arrangements that truly
blew me away tonight. The Apples
have a great gift for songwriting
too: they know how to keep an
audience hooked with great build
ups throughout their songs which can
instantly be transformed and slowed
down to dark, almost psychedelic
midsections that are infused with
shrieking sax sounds and a haunting
drone on the double bass.
Finishing with their brilliantly catchy
cover of alt.rock classic Killing in the
Name Of
guaranteed to all inside that
The Apples are an absolute party band;
there wasn’t a better way to bring the
house down and ensure that we all
left with smiles plastered across our
faces. A Gala performance indeed.
Paul Meehan
NEVILLE SKELLY
The Zanzibar
With the Lowry Centre and the
Philharmonic Hall ticked off his
‘venues to play’ list, tonight NEVILLE
SKELLY returns to the more familiar
surroundings of The Zanzibar to
celebrate the launch of his debut
EP Child Of The Morning amongst
friends. And plenty of them there
are too packed in to the Zanzi’s dark
recesses: mates and new admirers
alike, squeezing themselves in, along
with seemingly half of the city’s music
scene, in order to sneak a peek at
Liverpool’s new favourite son.
Typically bespectacled and bedecked
in denim, Our Nev cuts an imposing
figure on such a small stage as he
sidles on and sets about decorating
the venue with his throwback charms.
In fact, it’s almost as if someone has
dropped a sepia curtain behind the
band, such are the feelings of nostalgia
and warmth experienced as Skelly’s
songs flood the room. The double
bass and lapsteel guitar, expertly
manipulated by Scott Marmion and
Bob Picken respectively, add touches
of classical and tropical to the already
intriguing blend of sounds that the
band produce: the songs are built on
the classic folk/country form, with deft,
finger-plucked guitars and subdued
Neville Skelly (Keith Ainsworth)
www.bidolito.co.uk

26
Bido Lito! September 2010
Reviews
percussion, but these extra layers add
shades of light and luminescence that
give the Neville Skelly Experience a
truly unique appeal. Evoking images
of Atlantic sunsets, palm trees and
secluded beaches, the tracks Colours
Collide and Child Of The Morning are
indicative of this, and the mood created
by Skelly’s music is embedded in the
crooning vocals. Deep and soft, his
voice has a deftness that surprises me,
not needing to hit the top decibels to
have an impact, yet retaining a power
that is restrained not overplayed. In
particular on the Johnny Cash rumble
of Poet & The Dreamer is this evident,
as the song nearly gets carried away
with the exuberance of the upbeat
tempo, before Nev regains control.
Control is perhaps the operative word
here actually, with Skelly exhibiting
a trait shared by fellow crooners and
influences Sinatra and Williams (Andy,
not Robbie). It is this that gives him a
wider-scale appeal than just any old
folk-style singer/songwriter as he is
less introverted and more aware of
the importance of performance to his
work, the idea that he should connect
with the audience rather than wait for
them to connect with him.
Neville Skelly is evidently a man who
has talent and respect from his peers
such is the turnout tonight. And that
stretches to the list of collaborators
on his EP, many of whom are here
tonight. For me it is the melody of
Will She Hold Another, covered with
the unmistakable dirty fingerprints of
co-writer James Skelly, that leaves me
salivating at the prospect of further
collaborations. But for now I’m just
happy to be here, enveloped in the
dreamy soundscapes, and you get the
feeling that he is too. Nice one Nev.
Christopher Torpey
SHELLSUIT
Dead Cowboys
Williamson Tunnels
Although the DEAD COWBOYS
don’t cite The Smiths as an influence,
lead singer Dave Jackson does a
mean Morrissey. The mannerisms
and the swagger are all there even
if the vocals aren’t a perfect match.
Musically, the band have looked to the
likes of Johnny Cash, The Fall and T-Rex
for their inspiration, with tracks such
as Relent and Neighbour exhibiting a
fusion of decidedly jingle-jangle British
invasion rock, and rhythmic Americana
sounds. A five-piece, the Dead Cowboys
typically play guitar-loop heavy indie
rock songs, while Jackson, for his part,
brings largely narrative lyrics rooted
in the blues and this often gives their
sound a certain melancholic intrigue.
There are moments where their debt
to The Fall is clear for all to see, but
this could possibly be their biggest
shortfall: the guitar pieces, whilst
melodic and contagious enough,
seem to be trying to emulate the lofi,
one level effect of Mark E Smith’s
best work, with tracks occasionally
bleeding in to one another, perhaps
hinting at the limited scope of the
band. They do have quality though
and there is enough on show to make
them worthy of further investigation.
Taking to the stage at nine-thirty,
top-billing SHELLSUIT provoke a swift
exodus of the bar area. Dinner jacketclad
they enter with a smile, and in
the case of lead singer Ed Doherty,
a dubious blonde hairpiece. This is a
band creating genuine excitement at
the moment, and in the cavernous
wonder of the Williamson Tunnels
there seemed to be a real buzz of
anticipation. Taking a look through
their website will tell you that
Shellsuit aren’t just a band but a
project, a concept even, with Budgie
the actor and Farquhar the poet also
coming under the Shellsuit banner,
with the latter introducing the band
tonight by way of an anti-American
rant. There is also a written mission
statement of sorts, espousing multiculturalism
and pointing out the
ludicrous nature of stereotypes.
Musically, they are fresh sounding
and vocally led; the songwriting
itself seems purposeful and a little
unusual. A common theme of sparse
arrangements is complemented by
subtle and pleasing guitar licks. Their
strongest suit though, is the lyrics as
they are a band with much to say,
dealing with issues such as patriotism
and immigration, and specifically
in the excellent Iraqis In Shellsuits,
the relationship between the two.
Elsewhere, the subject matter becomes
more introspective, Split Brain And
The Whole Mind being a much more
inward-looking affair. It may also be
their most instantly memorable song,
with a ruthlessly infectious tune and
the mesmerizing repetition of the
short chorus, ‘His brain’s got a brain of
its own.’ Curiously, there are no obvious
comparisons that spring to mind,
showing that Shellsuit certainly don’t
lack originality, already demonstrating
it within these thirteen songs that
are brimming with ideas. It’s difficult
to say why but this band stand out,
they’ve certainly got something about
them. And this is one way of bringing
the shellsuit back.
Pete Robinson
Shellsuit (John Johnson)
www.bidolito.co.uk

Mellowtone and Canadian Blast
TUESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER
At The Shipping Forecast • Doors 7.45pm • £4
Featuring: Wilderness of Manitoba, Ragz,
Karima Francis, The Mountains and the Trees
Mellowtone meets Liverpool Irish Festival
WEDNESDAY 27TH OCTOBER
View Two Gallery
Mellowtone
WEDNESDAY 17TH NOVEMBER
The Shipping Forecast
Compered by Monkey, plus resident DJs Richie Vegas & Jonnie O’Hare
www.mellowtone.info
SAT.SEPT.4
SEPT. SEPT4
8PM
ZANZIBAR
THE MALADIES OF BELLAFONTAINE
NEVILLE SKELLY| SERIOUS SAM BARRETT| DEAD CITIES
wwwmyspacecom/liverpoolcompanystore

28
Bido Lito! September 2010
Reviews
MISERY GUTS
Steve Pilgrim – The Big House feat.
Candie Payne
St. Brides Church
St. Brides’ reputation as Liverpool’s
forward-thinking church has been
cemented of late by a string of
credible gigs that showcase the city’s
most notable nu-folk talent, with this
particular line-up heralding something
special. It must be said that entering
the hall to the sight of a full band setup
beneath the building’s stunning
stained glass window, then joining
the smattering of punters who had
arrived as unnecessarily early as I had,
and resting our cans of Export on the
pew shelves, created a strange, solemn
atmosphere to which we heathens
aren’t usually susceptible. St. Brides, we
all agreed, is certainly a strange one.
The Big House (Sian Lloyd)
As the daylight began to fade and
THE BIG HOUSE came to the stage,
the hall began to breathe with the
wonderful, summer-evening energy
that has made the venue a success.
The Big House is the name of the new
collaboration between muso darling
CANDIE PAYNE (Vocals) and ex-Zuton
Paul Molloy (Guitar, Vocals). Between
them they create timeless, nostalgic
slices of Americana, some nothing
more than brief acoustic sketches,
but that work towards a set made up
of moments of fleeting beauty. The
appeal to these songs is that they
recall something familiar, yet never
feel derivative: the fabulous Pebble
Lane, for example, employs bass notes
that I feel I should be able to place
(surely not Bill Withers?!), and the
song has now slotted nicely into my
subconscious. With the pair intending
to expand and recruit a full band, they
are certainly an act to keep an eye on.
“I have a confession to make. I’m
a consumer. I’m a capitalist; you can
buy my CD at the back. But I don’t
like that I am. I don’t like that the
world’s like that,” was the baffling
opening sentiment of local favourite
STEVE PILGRIM, before he burst into
the crowd-pleasing Post-Thatcher
Consumer Market Blues. Pilgrim, an
accomplished drummer who currently
tours with Paul Weller, knows how
to parody Liverpudlian sensibilities,
while remaining firmly one of us. The
song itself is a feverish, vitriolic snarl
rather than a melody, which raised
smiles, but was a rough contrast to
the gorgeous Explode the Sun, which
received the warmest reception from
his swollen fan base, shifting between
the luscious and the rebellious
He set the scene for MISERY GUTS,
a comparatively new four-piece whose
latest EP, More Human Than Human,
featuring the unforgettable anthem
I NO U NO, has placed them among
Liverpool’s new folk elite. The band
played in semi-darkness, lit only by
the harsh, awkwardly positioned and
oversized stage lights, and, in many
ways, Misery Guts are a twilight
band. On record, their music occupies
the same space as Fleet Foxes, all
polished production and delicate
arrangements; however, it is on stage
before an audience where Misery
Guts show their pedigree - tight and
intricate across a changing line-up of
instruments from the glockenspiel
to the mandolin, and with an evercaptivating
set list. Their last single, the
scuttling, paranoid stomper Spiders,
was undoubtedly the highlight,
recalling the early Coral at their most
self-assured, sinister and strange.
Sam Andruskir
KENDAL CALLING
Lowther Deer Park, Cumbria
Returning late Sunday night to a car
that has been unwittingly unlocked for
the entire weekend in the vast rolling
expanses of the festival car park to
find not one item pick-pocketed nor
pilfered nor any vehicle upholstery
out of place sums up the amiable
atmosphere at KENDAL CALLING to a
tee.
After surprising ourselves by
pitching our tent with scouts honour
ease, the first act we catch is THE LUCID
DREAM, playing an early evening set
at the Calling Out stage. Contrary to
its name, it’s not a simply a stage
but a tent styled as a circus big top
which over the course of the weekend
hosts the highest concentration of
Merseyside born and based artists
with four of Liverpool and the Wirral
Peninsula’s finest gracing the stage.
Though The Lucid Dream themselves
call Carlisle their home, their pulsating
first single I Got The Devil deems them
worthy of Bido Lito! mention, with
frontman Mark Emmerson mercilessly
screaming and howling his lyrics
whilst brandishing an irregular, Ian
Curtis-esque, pentagon-shaped guitar,
it’s the highlight of a distinctive set.
On learning that the guitarist of the
next band to play the CO stage shares
his name with the late Godfather of
Soul, I prepare myself for a lifetime of
telling everyone that I have seen James
Brown live. Not the James Brown, but
they don’t have to know that. PULLED
APART BY HORSES’ performance sees
Brown and lead singer Tom Hudson
charging around the stage with little
regard of fellow bandmates though
drummer Lee Vincent doesn’t seem
the type to care, effortlessly pounding
away, his bare torso sporting a
mighty array of tattoos. You begin
to feel sorry for bassist Robert Lee
who seems shy and unassuming
compared to his bolshy bandmates.
Or maybe not. Halfway through the
set Lee perilously climbs the rafters
whilst Brown perches himself on top
of the speakers much to the dismay of
crowd control who exchange nervous
glances before Hudson leaps into the
crowd, the poor security men opting
to occupy themselves attempting to
retrieve him rather than disturbing
Brown and Lee who seem pretty
content with the heights they’ve
reached.
Following these equipment
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Reviews Bido Lito! September 2010 29
clambering jockeys are Liverpudlian
dream pop quartet WAVE MACHINES
who are less agile but an equally good
live spectacle as their predecessors.
Teaming offbeat guitar hooks, earthy
bass and mellow drums and keys
with a concoction of astute and
surrealist lyrics, they play a sublime
set. ‘Co-codamol kick start my faltering
heart,’ the opening line to first single
I Go I Go I Go sums up the following
morning for many festival goers
though with a sing along chorus and
quirky riff, it gets the gathering crowds
dancing. The three dedicated fans who
brave bare chests on a chilly Cumbrian
evening to spell out ‘Where’s my punk
spirit?’ across their torsos are delighted
when Wave Machines save their best
till last. Ending with the gorgeous
Punk Spirit a song that questions the
whereabouts of our inner anarchists,
they show how simply wonderful they
are. The wordsmithery seems entirely
relevant as we abandon our own punk
spirits in exchange of some much
needed slumber.
Saturday begins with some
enlightening exploration of the site,
dodging killer whale and dinosaur,
posing by the love and peace signs
(to name a few of the many art
installations) and envying those
Wave Machines (Jennifer Pellegrini)
who’d nabbed the hammocks in
the Garden of Eden before heading
back to the CO stage to watch Wirral
natives THE SEAL CUB CLUBBING CLUB
put in an impressive matinee show.
Apologising for their name, the band
are welcomed by the crowd who fill
the red and yellow candy striped tent
as soon as the five-piece begin to
play. Recent single Made Of Magic,
a spectacular frenzy of cryptic lyrics
with frantic percussion and some very
persistent sleigh bells, receives the
warmest reception and is a marvel
live, capturing the eclecticism and
energy of TSCCC and proving why
they’ve been such a hit on the festival
circuit.
Feeling rather out of place standing
between God and Homer Simpson, (is
not telling press that it’s fancy dress
a recurring quandary amongst PR
people these days?) I stick around the
CO stage to watch Sheffield based
quartet THE CROOKES play a delightful
set. Sporting quiffs and clad in 1950s
attire, they engage the crowd in some
nifty finger clicking and dance about
the stage with youthful jerkiness
before recommending that the crowd
should see GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY
later on. The boys have good taste.
Goldheart Assembly who enjoyed the
Pulled Apaprt By Hourses (Jennifer Pellegrini)
‘fun and uninhibited’ crowd at their
perfect harmonies shared between
recent Sound City gig in Bumper play
two main vocalists John Herbert and
a stunning set ending with Engraver’s
James Dale, the latter who informed
Daughter, which displays the pitch
us that “John likes to leap out of the
www.bidolito.co.uk

30
Bido Lito! September 2010
Reviews
The Coral (Jennifer Pellegrini)
tour van when it’s moving with the
door wide open. We got to 25 miles an
hour. We’re doing 27 today.” A prime
example of Kendal Calling bringing out
the best of the artists it showcases.
“The band I’m really looking
forward to seeing is the band that
are playing after us, Wild Beasts,” THE
FUTUREHEADS frontman Barry Hyde
lets us in on his festival highlight
before breaking into a surprisingly
decent impression of WILD BEASTS’
The Lucid Dream (Jennifer Pellegrini)
countertenor vocalist Hayden Thorpe.
Both bands play greatest hit sets
on the Main Stage to thousands of
punters, The Futureheads reminding
the crowd of their impressive back
catalogue of indie disco floorfillers
and Kendal natives Wild Beasts
reminding their home crowd why
they’ve just been shortlisted for this
year’s Mercury Prize.
Returning to the CO stage, the
masses (including three pirates, Edward
Scissorhands and Smurfs galore)
are already gathering and the tent is
brimming by the time Liverpudlian
rogues SOUND OF GUNS take to the
stage. Dressed cool as anything in
leathers and jeans, they look the part
and play immaculately too. It’s difficult
to distinguish differences between
the quintet live and on debut album
What Came From Fire, the sheer energy
they’re famed for in live performances
somehow conveyed into recording
and the meticulous precision in the
live performance sounding as flawless
as on the album. The highlight of the
set comes when after a good thirty
seconds of clapping led by bassist
John Coley, drummer Si Finley clashes
those thunderous cymbals and the
band break into Collisions, a stunner
of a song with raucous bluesy guitar
sounds courtesy of Nathan Crowley
and Lee Glynn accompanied by soulful
vocals from exuberant frontman Andy
Metcalfe.
Sunday night sees Hoylake’s
finest and the last of our Merseysidemarathon
of acts THE CORAL headline
the Main Stage. Playing material
from critically acclaimed latest album
Butterfly House, they brandish their
acoustic guitars against the beautiful
backdrop of a Cumbrian sunset. The
combination of their breathtaking
fingerpicking on Walking In The Winter
and the grey stained clouds behind
them highlighted pink, reminds the
crowd of what a beautiful festival
Kendal Calling truly is whilst fan
favorite Dreaming Of You coaxes
hoards of punters to dance along
insouciantly, bringing the festival to a
vivacious climax.
Bethany Garrett
www.bidolito.co.uk

Circus 8th Birthday Party Sat 25th Sept @ Nation
Main room_
ERIC PRYDZ
FELIX DA HOUSECAT
MYNC
Courtyard_
MARCO CAROLA
CASSY
LEWIS BOARDMAN
Annexe_
JAMES ZABELIA
YOUSEF
JAMIE JONES
18th Sept
2nd Oct
Claude Von Stroke / Benga / Joker
Boys Noize vs Erol Alkan / Sub Focus Live
/ Four Tet / Jamie xx / Brackles
/ Joy Orbison / Roska / Futurebound
/ Dom Chung
9th Oct
16th Oct
Hospital Rec Pres Andy C
Carl Craig / Adam Beyer / Skream
/ High Contrast / Logistics / Netsky
/ Tensnake / Rich Furness
/ Nero / Abandon Silence
23rd Oct
Annie Mac / Flying Lotus / Fake Blood
/ Viper Rec Party
15 Slater Street Liverpool L1 4BW
FRI 16 SEPT - 6th
BOROUGH PROJECT DJ
WED 22 SEPT - PULLED APART BY HORSES
LIVE
THUR 23 SEPT - JAMES BLAKE
LIVE
FRI 24 SEPT - HORSE MEAT DISCO DJ
TUE 28 SEPT - the futureheads LIVE