distorted on palms) provided by Howard Be Thy Name, add to the spectacular setting, altogether doing justice to an institution like Viper. Jay Gatsby would approve. THE COMPUTERS The Dead Formats - The Midnight Ramble – Midnight Playground Sam Turner Bam!Bam!Bam! @ MelloMello The agreeable confines of MelloMello seem rather at odds tonight with the turbulent rock and soul communion so eagerly anticipated by the savant flock beginning to gather. This is going to be a treat. MIDNIGHT PLAYGROUND get things started and their indie guitar musings are politely well received. Stepping up a gear, genre-spanning soul and blues rockers THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLE squeeze onto the stage. They’ve chosen tonight as the launch event for their new release High Time/Live and you could be forgiven for thinking that this was the act everyone has come to see. Frontman Paul Dunbar guides us through the set with an assurance justified by the rich and pleasing textures his talented band produce. In keeping with the heterogeneous music mix of the evening, mod rockers THE DEAD FORMATS dash through a truncated set of energetic tunes from their At Sixes And Sevens album. Unfortunately, in an ill-judged manoeuvre on a slippery stage, guitarist Glenn Wizik takes the type of tumble that may prevent the band completing the tour in Aldershot tomorrow night. As the rebooted and burgundy-suited THE COMPUTERS plug in and scroll through their current setlist, we recognise cuts from the new record Love Triangles Hate Squares. It’s a new direction which they’ve honed to perfection, playing and preaching round the UK and Europe pretty much all spring. The relentless blasts of screeching hardcore have been usurped by soulful “whoa whoa” swing-a-longs: this is no longer niche moshing music, it’s a radio-friendly, good time dancehall revival. This particular revival features the (friendly) fire and (rolling) brimstone preacher formerly known as Screamin’ Al Kershaw, who spends most of his time in amongst the congregation. No pulpit preaching, but this sermon is delivered from the windowsill, the speaker stack, several chairs and a couple of tables. He is evangelising to converts of course and, as the band launch into the first three tracks in order from the album, the pattern is set: we will hang on his every word, our gaze will follow his ups and downs, and we will remember the name of the band. Kershaw is in full flow; snatching up a crowd member’s phone, he explains that a conversation “isn’t really possible right now, I’m in the middle of a show!” Next, he’s partnering up strangers for community dancing to Call On You, then dividing the room for the coordinated bedlam of closer Music Is Dead, all the while trailing his mic and its long-suffering stand. There’s hardly a breath before the contemporary nostalgia of the encore kicks off more soul, more reverence and more chaos. This is memory-making music: tomorrow is June, and it’s all sunshine and joy from here. SUNSTACK JONES Bold Street Coffee Gary Caldwell An English summer has arrived, typically late and unapologetic, and there is a buzz in the air, but it’s not that of angry bees. Emanating from the rarefied airwaves of Marc Riley’s show on 6Music and Tom Robinson’s BBC Introducing Mixtape is the fact that the rest of the country has caught up with what Liverpool has known for ages: that SUNSTACK JONES are great and on the verge of something big. The cause of all this buzzing is single You Can Help Me Out - a flimsy, tricksy little thing which has just been released as a limited edition 7” on Eighties Vinyl Records, and the reason we’re all here tonight. On first hearing, their music is an identikit of what stereotypical Liverpool music sounds like: jangly pop for a ferry ride on a summer’s day. But that wouldn’t get near to describing the depths present here: the true sound of Sunstack Jones seems to be created out of the pure quintessence of warm melodic English pop, West Coast California influences, and East Coast of Scotland vocals – singer Chris Jones has the nasal, yet plaintive tone of a young Roddy Frame. Their music has true heart and soul, and yet some huge indefinable sadness. Sunday Comedown is the sound of an angel’s hangover, full of love and regret. This is not to say they are all about acoustic bliss. The band, constantly in flux (on this occasion a four-piece), is tight enough to up the pace when necessary and play with the formula. When they go psychedelic, dipping their toes into the warm waters of fuzzy guitar, it is a pleasant change of scenery, showing that sometimes the beaten track is more fun than the smooth path. If Sunstack Jones need to work on anything, though, it is their stagecraft. Gigs at Bold Street Coffee have an intimate air, where it’s always nice to see random strangers walking past the windows and looking in. Jones has a quiet yet friendly word with passers-by and those leaving early, and the songs seem casually tossed at the audience like cardboard boxes, when they should be handed reverently on, like a bunch of flowers. Still, these are minor quibbles. Behind the plate glass windows of Bold Street Coffee, the Saturday night world is looking in. Sunstack Jones have just made our lazy English summer a little warmer. Kev McCready
MU-Page ad 148x117_Layout 1 12/04/<strong>2013</strong> 15:15 Page 1 ‘Would I have made it without the MU? Probably. If I was starting out again, would I still join? Definitely.’ — ‘The MU has been around even longer than me. Helping musicians of all ages and genres. Let’s make sure they continue to do so.’ — Jimmy Page Join us now. theMU.org Membership is open to all musicians. BidoLito!&YeahSkinnyBoy / MCTonyBroke / SessionsFactionDJÕ s present ! TheBidoLito!Social! vsHipHopKaraoke! Thursday 25 th .! <strong>July</strong> 9-late giveaways! . . wack prizes & beer want to get involved with BidoLito! magazine?! ....come meet the gang at the Social Club!! BrooklynMixer 78SeelStreet Liverpool!
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