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SHROP<br />

ROCKS<br />

Sep / oct | FLOREAT SALOPIA | <strong>ISSUE</strong> <strong>#4</strong><br />

Chris<br />

Rollason<br />

Photography<br />

supporting shropshire’s live music scene


Next Edition Out: 1st November<br />

Artwork Deadline: 21st October<br />

Front Cover: Funk & The Two Tone Baby - Farmer Phil’s Festival<br />

Photo By: Chris Rollason Photography<br />

Published by: Twistedego Media<br />

Contributors<br />

Editor:<br />

Kristian Wing-Penny<br />

Production Co-ordinator:<br />

Janinne Wing-Penny<br />

Writers:<br />

Beth Hemmings<br />

Michaela Wylde<br />

Dave Blackhurst<br />

Ron Penny<br />

Maurice Arnold<br />

Photography:<br />

Chris Rollason<br />

Social Media Manager:<br />

Janinne Wing-Penny<br />

Nikki Henshaw<br />

Nev Nevey Nevster<br />

Patrick Tighe<br />

FOLLOW US :<br />

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interested in<br />

building<br />

relationships<br />

with writers,<br />

whatever your<br />

background,<br />

who focus on<br />

music and wish<br />

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our magazine<br />

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The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors alone and do not reect the<br />

views of Shrop Rocks.


E D I T O R I A L<br />

FESTIVAL<br />

TALES OF WOE<br />

Twas the 19th annual<br />

‘Farmer Phil’s Festival’,<br />

the weather was mainly<br />

kind to us throughout, although<br />

post festival early Monday<br />

morning saw the rain nally<br />

come down, on an already<br />

softened camping eld. We were<br />

camped on the noisy eld, not<br />

far from the main stage,<br />

surrounded by a lake, although<br />

thankfully some way from the<br />

toilet area.<br />

On the last night I woke in the<br />

early hours in desperate need of<br />

a wee. The thought of putting on<br />

boots heavy with mud, unzipping<br />

the tent I was sharing with my wife and wallowing my<br />

way to the toilets – or even just to the nearest bush –<br />

seemed a bit much.<br />

It was then I spied an empty Dr Pepper bottle in the<br />

corner of the tent. Perfect. Carefully I guided myself<br />

into the bottle, as it were, and began to feel the relief of<br />

an emptying bladder after a heavy weekend. I hadn’t<br />

fully thought this through though, I had denitely<br />

chosen a bottle big enough to contain the correct<br />

amount, (sorry to be graphic but this is the story) I<br />

mean know one wees more than two litres surely?? I<br />

have drank a lot this weekend, but thats still a tall order<br />

for any normal person. Anyway, nope I had forgotten<br />

the basic laws of physics instead, How Mr Simpson my<br />

deranged physics teacher would be laughing at me now,<br />

as he knows, and now I know that I’ve just formed a<br />

basic airlock … and this now had me stuck to Dr<br />

Peppers plastic rim. As I yanked myself from the bottle,<br />

a spectacular cascade of fresh urine exploded across the<br />

inside of the tent, awakening my beautiful sleeping wife,<br />

nearby tents and late passers by. We packed up and left<br />

early!!!<br />

EDITOR@SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

“I walked into<br />

B&Q the<br />

other day and<br />

this bloke in<br />

an orange and<br />

black uniform<br />

asked me if I<br />

wanted<br />

decking?<br />

Fortunately, I<br />

got the rst<br />

punch in and<br />

that was<br />

that. But<br />

others may<br />

not be as<br />

lucky, so be<br />

on your<br />

guard”


THE QUARRY, SY1 1RN


More people than ever are<br />

ocking to watch live music,<br />

with attendance at concerts and<br />

festivals at an all-time high.<br />

A new report found that there has been a<br />

12% rise in audiences at live music events<br />

over the past 12 months, bringing £4bn in<br />

to the UK economy and providing a<br />

welcome boost for the<br />

music industry.<br />

UK Music’s study,<br />

Wish You Were Here,<br />

found that audience<br />

numbers had hit 30.9<br />

million, up from 27.7<br />

million in 2015, with 4<br />

million people<br />

attending the evergrowing<br />

number of<br />

British music festivals in 2016.<br />

It is further evidence that the<br />

live sector is one of the most vibrant and<br />

protable parts of the music industry, and<br />

it is through ticket sales and merchandise<br />

that most musicians generate the majority<br />

of their revenue.<br />

The research found that people were<br />

increasingly willing to travel from other<br />

parts of the UK, and even from abroad, to<br />

attend live music events. Music tourism<br />

rose by 20% in 2016, and almost 1 million<br />

people travelled to the UK from abroad<br />

specically to attend concerts and<br />

festivals, spending an average of £850.<br />

The chief executive of UK Music, Michael<br />

Dugher, said: “Live music in the UK is a<br />

tremendous success story and makes a<br />

massive contribution to our culture and<br />

general wellbeing, as well as our<br />

economy. It showcases our talent to the<br />

world and brings pleasure to millions<br />

every day.”<br />

However, the report also found that there<br />

was a sharp fall in the<br />

amount of money being<br />

spent at smaller venues<br />

– those with a capacity<br />

of below 1,500. These<br />

are the venues that<br />

have been closing in<br />

their droves over the<br />

past decade, declining<br />

by 35% in London<br />

thanks to rising costs,<br />

pressures from property<br />

developers and strict<br />

licensing laws.<br />

“UK Music will continue to campaign to<br />

safeguard smaller music venues, many<br />

of which are ghting for survival,” the<br />

former Labour MP said.<br />

She was echoed by Juliette Carter, a<br />

British manager whose roster has<br />

included R&B singer Dawn Richard and<br />

Awful Records’ Ethereal. “Whilst it is<br />

great to see the live industry ourishing,<br />

it is vital we continue to support smaller<br />

venues which serve as the foundation for<br />

tomorrow’s festival headliners,” said<br />

Carter<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM // P5


Dugher emphasised that<br />

the smaller venues were<br />

a “vital part of the<br />

live music<br />

industry”.<br />

“As a music<br />

manager, I’ve seen<br />

rst hand how it<br />

is in these spaces<br />

that artists<br />

develop and grow<br />

and cut their<br />

teeth. Without<br />

them, the UK live<br />

music sector just<br />

becomes bland,<br />

expensive<br />

stadium shows<br />

and the whole<br />

music industry<br />

will be less<br />

diverse as a<br />

result.”<br />

The culture secretary,<br />

Karen Bradley, said:<br />

“UK Music’s Wish<br />

You Were Here<br />

report clearly<br />

shows music and<br />

the creative<br />

industries are not<br />

only central to<br />

our cultural DNA<br />

but also hugely<br />

important for<br />

creating jobs and<br />

growth across the<br />

country.”


J<br />

P8 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

A<br />

I N A BO<br />

C<br />

x<br />

K<br />

Shropshire’s indie<br />

pop rockers Jack in<br />

a Box, perform their<br />

own blend of modern<br />

indie music, fused<br />

with punchy backlines<br />

and melodic<br />

choruses.<br />

Formed in late 2015,<br />

they began writing<br />

and released their<br />

rst single “Pages”<br />

in the following<br />

spring.<br />

Actively gigging<br />

around Shropshire<br />

and the West<br />

Midlands, Jack in a<br />

box have played on<br />

the same bill as the<br />

likes of, Reef, Space<br />

and Razorlight, just<br />

a few to mention.<br />

With the highly<br />

anticipated deput EP<br />

‘The Ringmaster’<br />

just released, it’s all<br />

go for this<br />

Shropshire 4 piece.


The Ringmaster is an<br />

extraordinary piece of work<br />

penned by Jack Norcup, the Ep’s<br />

produced to a beautiful high standard by<br />

Ryan Pinson at RML studios,<br />

Wolverhampton. Jack in a box music<br />

sees them in several different styles all<br />

held together by the unmistakable voice<br />

of Norcup with band members Sam Cook<br />

on lead guitar, George Treherne on bass<br />

and Ben Bruce, percussion. The<br />

Ringmaster is<br />

fascinating,<br />

straight from<br />

the off ‘Bone<br />

Fever’, a deeptoned<br />

underpin<br />

which works<br />

superbly against<br />

Norcup’s<br />

constantly scale<br />

moving voice.<br />

The acoustic<br />

guitar is clean<br />

and bright and<br />

holds the song<br />

together nicely.<br />

There’s an<br />

essence of indie<br />

folk outt<br />

‘Turin Brakes’<br />

here for me.<br />

The Ringmaster<br />

EP is a lush bubbly collection of tracks<br />

laced in beautiful zealous guitar lines and<br />

heavenly melodies blended with some<br />

grittier elements at times that keeps the<br />

sound refreshing and radiant. ‘Pages’ has<br />

a bright sparkling indie pop soundscape.<br />

Sharp guitar jingles playfully throughout<br />

with the sweetest tone and refreshing<br />

spurts of zest while the soft beat and<br />

honeyed melody glide with a daydream<br />

tempo and hazy atmosphere. It’s smooth<br />

and soothing tune while also packing a<br />

nice little punch between the dreamy<br />

wisps, with a great chorus, ‘waiting on a<br />

good life’ Norcup sings. Third track on<br />

the EP ‘Fading Dreamer’ bursts with<br />

oodles of catchy upbeat guitar lines while<br />

the track bounces with a peppy beat and<br />

lush melody soaked in a lazy day somber<br />

tone. It’s a bopping sway like delight<br />

packed with emotion and lush sweetness.<br />

Smooth vocals ooze passion while<br />

instrumentally this track places you in a<br />

mellow state of melancholic peace once it<br />

fully kicks in. ‘Dirty Love’ takes a<br />

heavier approach. a cheeky bass riff start<br />

which is dominant throughout, added<br />

with keys, jagged guitars and punchy<br />

drums that make a danceable quality<br />

track with gritty texture. Snippets of<br />

distortion give a<br />

thrilling dramatic<br />

effect while the<br />

melody and<br />

candied guitar<br />

elements glimmer<br />

through with<br />

bright upbeat<br />

scintillation and<br />

sun kissed<br />

luminosity. A little<br />

more aggressive<br />

than its<br />

predecessors this<br />

mosh friendly<br />

track displays Jack<br />

in a box heavier<br />

rock side with<br />

sprinkles of indie<br />

pop embroidered<br />

on top. ‘Masks’<br />

closes the EP with<br />

tender delicate<br />

guitar ickers between acoustic strums<br />

and sweet dainty vocals. It’s a twinkling<br />

beautiful and emotional track that pulls<br />

at the heart strings and places you on a<br />

soft uffy cloud of euphoria. Cool breezy<br />

tones, sweet lush harmonies and call and<br />

response vocals create a oaty feathery<br />

light approach with very subtle hints of<br />

ower power psychedelia.<br />

Jack in a box ‘The Ringmaster’ EP takes<br />

you on an emotion journey whilst<br />

showcasing their knack for sweet<br />

delicious melodies nimble rened guitar<br />

work and slick musicianship. It’s a laid<br />

back beautiful EP that is perfect for<br />

summers evenings or that all important<br />

unwind time. We’ll look forward to<br />

hearing more from these guys !!!


cameron<br />

corbyn groupie<br />

Name: Wilderness.<br />

Age: Seven.<br />

Notable guests:<br />

David Cameron.<br />

wine<br />

fag<br />

avid Cameron isn’t in the<br />

Dwilderness. I just saw him posing<br />

with a £25,000 shed. No,<br />

Cameron wasn’t in the wilderness. He was<br />

in Wilderness, an Oxfordshire music<br />

festival.<br />

What was he doing? Smoking fags,<br />

downing booze and hugging Jeremy<br />

Corbyn groupies? Yes, exactly that.<br />

I was joking. And yet it might have<br />

happened. Someone posted a picture of<br />

Cameron on Instagram, glass of wine in<br />

one hand, fag in the other, accepting a<br />

hug from a pink-haired lady in a glittery<br />

Corbyn top.<br />

Is it a real photo? It’s hard to say, but<br />

Cameron was denitely there. There is<br />

another photo of him looking slightly<br />

glum in a crowd, accidentally<br />

photobombing a sele taken by a man<br />

with a bowler hat, ower crown and<br />

waxed moustache.<br />

Those last 14 words make me never<br />

want to go to Wilderness. Well, no, it<br />

does have a reputation for attracting a<br />

certain kind of crowd. This weekend, the<br />

BBC posted a video entitled How Posh is<br />

Wilderness? If you can get past the man<br />

in the Papa sweater bemoaning<br />

Glastonbury’s mud, you did better than<br />

me.<br />

So is that why Cameron went? Because<br />

it’s posh? No! Cameron loves a festival.<br />

There is a picture of him attending the<br />

P10 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

equally posh Cornbury festival with<br />

Samantha in 2008, sporting an enormous<br />

pair of jeans. And who can forget that<br />

photo of him chatting to Jeremy Clarkson<br />

while wearing a baby sling at Alex<br />

James’s cheese festival, Harvest, in 2011?<br />

Those last 18 words make me want to<br />

brick myself into my house for ever.<br />

Look, I never said he went to good<br />

festivals.<br />

These sound like the most Tory festivals<br />

ever. Not the most Tory, though. Mid<br />

Norfolk MP George Freeman is planning<br />

a “Tory Glastonbury” for September that<br />

he envisions as a “cultural revival of<br />

grassroots Conservatism”.<br />

What does that mean, exactly? He sees<br />

it as a “cross between Hay-on-Wye and<br />

the Latitude festival”, which admittedly<br />

does sound spectacularly conservative.<br />

Are people actually going? Apparently<br />

it’s invitation only, and 150-200 people<br />

will attend.<br />

Will Cameron be one of them? That<br />

depends on whether there will be<br />

cigarettes to smoke or Corbyn groupies<br />

to embrace.<br />

Do say: “David Cameron, absolute lad.”<br />

Don’t say: “Next year, look out for<br />

Theresa May getting dreadlocks outside<br />

the legal-high tent.”


SGT. PEPPERS<br />

37-37a Church St Oswestry SY11 2SZ


Indie rock artists<br />

traditionally<br />

aspire to<br />

commercial and<br />

artistic autonomy,<br />

selectively selfmarketing<br />

their<br />

music as<br />

inexpensively as<br />

possible outside the<br />

elaborate<br />

mechanisms of the<br />

music industry.<br />

Spun on college and<br />

local radio and<br />

distributed on cheap<br />

cd’s, Indie<br />

Alternative has<br />

ironically provided<br />

the rock mainstream<br />

with some of its<br />

most inuential<br />

albums. R.E.M.'s<br />

"Murmur" and the Replacements' "Let it<br />

Be" became cult sensations in the 1980s,<br />

while the Archers of Loaf's "Icky Mettle"<br />

and Elliott Smith's "Either/Or" achieved<br />

success in the '90s. All of this helped<br />

pave the way for the commercial success<br />

of bands like Oasis, Pulp, Blur and<br />

Coldplay in the new millennium.<br />

aware. Chris<br />

Leech posses a<br />

strong lyrical<br />

frontman status<br />

and with the<br />

excellent<br />

songwriting<br />

capabilities from<br />

fellow band<br />

members, Rob<br />

Jones, Rich Sach<br />

and Chris Bagnall,<br />

it’s all something<br />

completely<br />

different entirely.<br />

Black Bear Kiss<br />

are the project for<br />

the voice of the<br />

people, a voice that<br />

cares. When they<br />

play and when they<br />

are present, people<br />

have the habit of<br />

listening. A debut album or EP is sure to<br />

only draw more attention to this popular<br />

growing 4 piece. Hint Hint, Hurry ....<br />

It’s rare that a band can inspire<br />

conversation inside and out of a certain<br />

Internet hype machine for both their<br />

musical prowess and a certain radical<br />

personal-as-political rhetoric that gives<br />

fans something to not only enjoy, but to<br />

believe in. Black Bear Kiss are our<br />

saviors, with their big fat riffs and<br />

diary-esque retellings of life and love<br />

gone away making them a voice of a new<br />

generation. It was awesome to listen to<br />

this band unnoticed at the back of ‘The<br />

Sunower lounge’ in Brum, they are<br />

exactly what this uncertain country<br />

needs in these uncertain times.<br />

For those with an ear to the ground in<br />

Shropshire’s music scene, Black Bear<br />

Kiss are a relatively new name but they<br />

have all existed as successful musicians<br />

for a lot longer than you may be fully


‘ ’<br />

Sneering raspy coated vocals<br />

add an aggressive<br />

compelling swagger while<br />

irresistible seizure.<br />

Shropshire’s Liam<br />

Millward’s creation<br />

Vulgar Latin has<br />

announced the release of<br />

his new EP ‘Why be happy<br />

when you could be<br />

interesting’. This is<br />

his 3rd EP released<br />

since the debut self<br />

titled EP was brought<br />

to my ears in February<br />

2016. ‘Solsting’<br />

followed 6 months later<br />

in August 2016. So since<br />

producing, Vulgar Latin<br />

have been busy perfecting<br />

their hybrid of muscular<br />

Alt-Rock whilst blowing<br />

away audiences on the<br />

buzzing Shropshire music<br />

scene. With the help from<br />

p14 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

talented musicians, Ben<br />

Pugh, Sean Ecclestone,<br />

Danny Jewkes, the boys<br />

quickly developed a sonic<br />

formula live with great<br />

musicianship and with a<br />

growing fanbase across<br />

the shire and further a<br />

eld.<br />

‘Why be happy’ is an EP<br />

brimming with raw ruckus<br />

causing rough and tumble<br />

alt punk goth rock.<br />

Millward slaps up a plate<br />

of frantic gritty no<br />

nonsense rock to sink our<br />

teeth in to, and boy it is<br />

good. The shrilling oh so<br />

thrilling ‘Rose Crown’<br />

kicks off the EP. Slick<br />

razor sharp riffs pierce<br />

throughout while elastic<br />

bass bounces against<br />

punchy drums creating a<br />

hair raising coarse wall of<br />

sound. Sneering raspy<br />

coated vocals add an<br />

aggressive compelling<br />

swagger while irresistible<br />

seizure.


inducing guitar licks cause a<br />

rush of blood to the head. It’s<br />

a bitter bite but hugely<br />

satisfying start to the EP.<br />

‘’Do Better, Say Nothing’<br />

follows, just as raw and<br />

bloody but perhaps with a<br />

little more sweat and leather.<br />

Excellent vocals reel while<br />

slick steamy guitars crash<br />

and stride throughout the<br />

track leaving burn marks<br />

behind. Next up ‘Asinine’<br />

and It’s probably the most<br />

commercial tune on the EP a<br />

punchy aggressive beast,<br />

rugged and fuzzed, exuding<br />

re and brimstone strut<br />

quality and swagger.<br />

‘Culture’ has a great feel and<br />

a rey punk post rock feel<br />

with sharp catchy guitar and<br />

shining chorus. Drowned<br />

with it’s unusual start fools<br />

the listener and twists and<br />

turns into a heavy crescendo<br />

distorted guitar nish and<br />

leads perfectly into<br />

‘Platform 8’ and to the end<br />

of the EP. With Kasabian<br />

hints and anthemic chorus,<br />

this one is sure to go down<br />

well at a live show. It’s<br />

jagged and bristly soaked in<br />

attitude and brawn with<br />

nimble silky slick guitar and<br />

infectious groove, its<br />

sensual, punchy and sexy,<br />

leaving the listener wanting<br />

more.


PERCY’S CAFÉ BAR<br />

B R I D G N O R T H<br />

The Brewery,<br />

Great Hales Street,<br />

Market Drayton<br />

Shropshire<br />

TF9 1JP<br />

brewerytap@joulesbrewery.co.uk<br />

www.joulesbrewery.co.uk


Showers of rain were forecast for<br />

Farmhouse Blues on Saturday 5th<br />

August. The Festival, held at<br />

Wheathill Court Farm, Shropshire, by<br />

organisers of the South Shropshire Blues<br />

Club, is an event for the lovers of great<br />

live music (mainly blues) and to raise<br />

money for Cancer Research UK and the<br />

Rupert's Revenge. It was a blustery start<br />

to the morning to say the least! The team<br />

worked through thunder, lightening,<br />

heavy rain and wind, but the<br />

thunderstorms stopped on cue for the<br />

2.00pm start and the sun came out and<br />

did not stop shining! The event proved<br />

another great success, as the crowds<br />

descended we saw many familiar faces<br />

from our other events and lots of new<br />

faces too! Everyone commented on the<br />

fantastic atmosphere of the festival, as<br />

well as the brilliant food and drink on<br />

offer.<br />

The six great bands did not disappoint<br />

and, although we're still counting up<br />

we're hoping to have made a good prot<br />

for the two great causes. It was a lot of<br />

hard work for the organising team;<br />

thankfully we had a few helpers who<br />

P18 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

by Maurice (Moz) Arnold<br />

volunteered their time and the wonderful<br />

Howells family who made their farm<br />

available to us.<br />

The headline act, THE DAMNED AND<br />

DIRTY had come all of the way from<br />

Holland for the day, their rst visit to<br />

Shropshire, and they vowed to be back.<br />

The rest of the line up was SONS OF THE<br />

DELTA, THE LUCY HOWELLS DUO,<br />

JACK BRETT & BLUE MOON with<br />

guests, SWEET TALK and THE BIG<br />

WOLF BAND, all great stuff, we only had<br />

compliments from the crowd and people<br />

wanting to see them all again!<br />

The South Shropshire Blues Club has<br />

been running for about 5 years and<br />

despite these difcult times, is still going<br />

from strength to strength. This was the<br />

third event at Wheathill Court Farm, the<br />

second as 'Farmhouse Blues Festival' and<br />

we hope to continue the success! If you<br />

want to join us, as a member or a helper,<br />

please email us at;<br />

info@southshropshirebluesclub.co.uk<br />

and for general info visit our website<br />

www.southshropshirebluesclub.co.uk


jonathon<br />

markwoods<br />

hoo-har<br />

conspiracy<br />

Award winning actor and<br />

musician Jonathan Markwood<br />

takes his internationally<br />

acclaimed songs to the stage with his<br />

band Jonathan Markwood’s Hoo-Hah<br />

Conspiracy. Jonathan is making a big<br />

noise on the Midlands music scene,<br />

and bringing songs from his successful<br />

London theatre show ’The Hoo-Hah<br />

Conspiracy Secret Cabaret’ to<br />

audiences around the country.<br />

Described as 'Rocky Horror meets the<br />

Mighty Boosh’, the show’s story and<br />

character based songs invite the<br />

listener to follow the lives, loves and<br />

outrageous fortunes of an eccentric<br />

coterie of characters including<br />

lovelorn 'Chelsea Stacey', the largely<br />

unlovable ‘Minnesota’, weapon<br />

wielding avenger 'Catapult Kevin’ and<br />

superannuated serial killer ‘Pamela’.<br />

Jonathan is a multiple song and album<br />

award winner at successive JPF World<br />

Music Awards in the US (ofcially the<br />

world’s biggest ever music awards<br />

event), and now has four albums'<br />

worth of material under his belt.<br />

Jonathan’s music is a diverse melange<br />

of styles from pop to rock via rhythm<br />

and blues, ska, funk, rockabilly and<br />

jazz, with comparisons to Bowie via<br />

Blur, Chic, Talking Heads, Pixies and a<br />

touch of Edward Lear. Quirky,<br />

whimsical, blackly humorous,<br />

occasionally lurid, Jonathan himself<br />

describes his songs as ‘like Gerald<br />

Scarfe illustrations set to music’. Fans<br />

attending a gig may nd the biggest<br />

dilemma is whether to listen with rapt<br />

attention to the narrative tales, or<br />

dance with abandon to the spine<br />

tingling music.'<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM // | P19 P39


LF<br />

Get some LF:<br />

SOUNDCLOUD www.soundcloud.com/lf_mr55p<br />

TWITTER www.twitter.com/LF_Mr55p<br />

INSTAGRAM www.instagram.com/lf_mr55p<br />

CRAPPY SHOPPER www.lfmr55pshop.bigcartel.com/<br />

S#*T SHIRTS DON’T GO TO WORK<br />

REVIEWED<br />

The futures bright<br />

P20 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

the futures


“‘Britpop?’ It’s just a shittysounding<br />

word,” Jarvis Cocker<br />

once said. “I don’t like the nationalistic<br />

idea of it; it wasn't a ag-waving music. It<br />

was really distasteful when it got called<br />

‘Britpop’ because that was like somebody<br />

trying to appropriate some kind of<br />

alternative culture, stick a Union Jack on<br />

it, and take the credit for it.”<br />

But Britpop, by any other name, still<br />

would’ve been a phenomenon. Born in<br />

London in the early 1990s, in grimy pubs<br />

and bare ats, the scene offered a<br />

thrilling new soundtrack for young<br />

British life. Bands like Suede, Blur, Oasis,<br />

Elastica, and Cocker’s Pulp captured the<br />

charms and<br />

eccentricities of<br />

their country while<br />

also excising their<br />

frustrations with<br />

class and<br />

community, topping<br />

it all with a deant,<br />

tongue-in-cheek<br />

glamour. Their<br />

guitar-heavy<br />

anthems drew from<br />

the rock of 1960s<br />

England along with<br />

the pulse of waning<br />

Madchester and altrock<br />

trends,<br />

exporting this<br />

exuberant sound to<br />

every corner of the<br />

globe. By the late<br />

’90s, this once-scrappy scene was so<br />

culturally powerful, it inspired tabloid<br />

blood rivalries (Blur vs. Oasis) and was<br />

hijacked by politicians (Britpop’s star<br />

emissaries, including Cocker and Oasis’<br />

Noel SALOP Gallagher, ST were - invited BISHOPS to meet CASTLE - SY9 5BW<br />

Prime Minister Tony Blair). The cultural<br />

ash faded around the turn of the<br />

millennium, but not before Britpop<br />

reinvigorated rock‘n’roll, moving its<br />

epicenter from American grunge back<br />

across the pond.<br />

LF’S new brand of Sleaze pop certainly<br />

picks up from where the likes of Cocker<br />

and Albarn stopped, where Britpop ended.<br />

And as the sun sets on summer and<br />

responsibilities for many begin to<br />

come around again, this particular<br />

set of tracks ‘Shit shirts don’t go to<br />

work’ has to offer to LF’S listeners is<br />

enthralling, especially for sunny day<br />

drives to reminisce or mad alcohol<br />

infused house party’s.<br />

‘Shit shirts’ presents street talk lyricism<br />

accompanied by punchy chords and fat<br />

bass licks with smashed drums, that has a<br />

jagged suburbia edge to it, inspired by<br />

bands like Blur, Elastica, Pulp and Bowie<br />

the tunes stick in your head, and once<br />

there in there's no<br />

getting them out.<br />

Like it or not !!<br />

This new release<br />

combines that indie<br />

rock sound that we<br />

all know and love to<br />

an up-and-coming<br />

group’s originality<br />

to bring a truly<br />

stunning debut<br />

album to past,<br />

present and future<br />

LF fans.<br />

From songs like<br />

“BEES” and “Trying<br />

to get excited” (my<br />

personal favorite) to<br />

stark contrasts like “Drip” and<br />

“Overdraft sponsored recession session”<br />

LF’s new album has quite the experience<br />

to offer.<br />

The core of the style stays true<br />

throughout, ‘Shit shirts’ was truly like a<br />

breath of fresh air with no track sounding<br />

relatively the same to the next — all<br />

songs on the album were independently<br />

genius in their own right, with each song<br />

having it’s own take on LF’s consistent<br />

style. More from these guys would be<br />

great, Seriously we need more...............<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM | P21


P22 | SHROPROCKS.COM


WASH OUT<br />

From the Lord<br />

of the Flies<br />

vibe at Fyre,<br />

to the meltdowns at<br />

Hope & Glory and Y<br />

Not, music festivals<br />

feel more precarious<br />

than ever. Are the<br />

failures down to ‘acts<br />

of God’, or just bad<br />

leadership?<br />

Last weekend, punters<br />

turned up to Hope & Glory<br />

in Liverpool expecting a<br />

“wonderful boutique<br />

festival” that would be<br />

“stylish yet subversive –<br />

think Charles Darwin<br />

meets Tim Burton”. At<br />

least, that’s what the<br />

advert promised.<br />

It wasn’t too wrong. There<br />

was denitely a sense of<br />

survival of the ttest for<br />

event-goers trying to<br />

navigate queues and the<br />

lack of facilities, mixed<br />

with nightmarish<br />

Burtonian unease. But<br />

there wasn’t actually a<br />

festival, so to speak. The<br />

rst day was marred by<br />

overcrowding and hours of<br />

delays, and by Sunday<br />

morning the whole event<br />

had been shut down, with<br />

nothing more than<br />

printed-out posters and a<br />

tweet reading “no festival<br />

today”. Rather than being<br />

all about the headliners, it<br />

was all about the headlines<br />

that followed.<br />

Back in April, when the<br />

accid cheese sandwiches,<br />

emergency shelters and<br />

general Lord of the Flies<br />

atmosphere of the doomed<br />

Fyre festival were beamed<br />

out on social media, it felt<br />

a long way from home.<br />

After all, this was on the<br />

remote island of Exuma in<br />

the Bahamas, and with<br />

tickets selling for up to a<br />

quarter of a million<br />

dollars, it attracted a more<br />

exclusive crowd.<br />

Spain’s Tomorrowland<br />

faced a re that led to the<br />

evacuation of over 22,000<br />

people. Sweden’s Into the<br />

Factory, meanwhile, was<br />

deemed a safety risk<br />

before it even began – this<br />

was just weeks after the<br />

same organisers’ Into the<br />

Valley festival was beset<br />

with poor planning,<br />

needing volunteers to take<br />

on security tasks, and<br />

leaving ravers nowhere to<br />

shelter from<br />

thunderstorms.<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM | P23


Hope & Glory is not the<br />

only festival to go<br />

diabolically wrong in the<br />

UK. Safe as Milk was<br />

cancelled earlier in the<br />

year due to poor ticket<br />

sales, following All<br />

Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP)<br />

in the demise of holidaycamp<br />

festivals. Only a<br />

week ago, Derbyshire’s Y<br />

Not festival was cancelled<br />

a day early, with people<br />

being marooned in car<br />

parks, and<br />

performers<br />

having to edit or<br />

cancel<br />

performances<br />

thanks to the<br />

extreme weather.<br />

Perhaps “acts of<br />

God” can’t be<br />

prevented, but<br />

they can be<br />

prepared for, and<br />

the lack of hay or<br />

woodchip led to a<br />

site that made<br />

Glastonbury look like<br />

Centre Court.<br />

One of the immediate<br />

questions, asked by many<br />

of the punters put out of<br />

pocket, was whether<br />

overcapacity was a factor.<br />

Y Not Festival has gone<br />

from 8,000 to 25,000<br />

capacity in just three<br />

years, which could explain<br />

the lack of staff and the<br />

angry Facebook comments<br />

citing “greed” as the main<br />

issue.<br />

When smaller festivals<br />

become popular, there is<br />

always going to be the<br />

economic incentive to<br />

expand. Michael Baker,<br />

events co-ordinator of the<br />

P24 | SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

UK festival awards and<br />

editor of Festival Insights,<br />

sees these decisions as “for<br />

the most part not taken<br />

lightly. Obviously as<br />

capacity increases, revenue<br />

increases. But increased<br />

capacity also leads to<br />

increased responsibility<br />

and risk”. There’s a decent<br />

amount of red tape to<br />

navigate, which allows for<br />

increased audience<br />

numbers while forcing<br />

organisers to improve<br />

safety measures. When<br />

adverse weather or natural<br />

disasters do happen,<br />

however, a newly increased<br />

capacity is likely to lead to<br />

organisational disasters<br />

too. Between the councils,<br />

organisers, security and<br />

ticket companies, it’s often<br />

hard to know who was<br />

actually at fault, and<br />

although it might seem<br />

reductive to see<br />

individuals to blame for<br />

large-scale disasters like<br />

Hope & Glory, it might be<br />

not too far from the truth.<br />

John McClure from indie<br />

band Reverend and the<br />

Makers lambasted<br />

“gangsters … ood[ing]<br />

the industry, imagining<br />

themselves as latter-day<br />

Michael Eavis types” on<br />

Twitter this week, and<br />

poor decisions often derive<br />

from poor leadership.<br />

Hope & Glory’s organiser<br />

Lee O’Hanlon has a history<br />

of problems around lossmaking<br />

gigs with Tom<br />

Jones and the Jacksons,<br />

and the failed Down to the<br />

Woods festival. Baker tells<br />

me part of the problem<br />

with Fyre festival<br />

was probably the<br />

fact that it was<br />

run by tech<br />

entrepreneurs<br />

rather than<br />

anyone with an<br />

events<br />

background.<br />

Has the holidaycamp<br />

indie festival<br />

had its day?<br />

If these individuals<br />

are reluctant to<br />

take the blame, a farcical<br />

nger-pointing charade<br />

ensues. O’Hanlon’s<br />

response identied a<br />

number of problems, but<br />

alienated himself from all<br />

of them. In a 2,000 word<br />

statement, the council, a<br />

man called Richard Agar, a<br />

woman called Angie<br />

Redhead, a few alcohol<br />

thieves and a pint of milk<br />

that went off were all<br />

identied as problems; he<br />

has prompted further<br />

anger by revealing that<br />

prots, previously<br />

promised to victims of the<br />

Manchester arena<br />

bombing, won’t be donated<br />

because “there are no<br />

prots”.


Ja Rule similarly made the blame-shifting<br />

response of ‘I truly apologize as this is<br />

NOT MY FAULT’ after the failure of Fyre.<br />

As Baker put it, the worst thing a festival<br />

organiser can do is “blame absolutely<br />

everyone else, including some milk”. Y<br />

Not were at least exemplary in their<br />

response, and gave a generous 50% of<br />

event-goers’ money back.<br />

More important than the physical<br />

damage caused to sites, however, is<br />

punters’ trust being broken. As a darkly<br />

funny photo of Y Not’s giant stone letters<br />

– with the Y fallen over, these disasters<br />

will lead to a reluctance to attend, and<br />

fear about which festival could fall next.<br />

Baker is optimistic, however. For every<br />

festival that faces problems, there are<br />

“dozens and dozens” running smoothly.<br />

He doesn’t see a trend emerging: “The<br />

long-running nature of so many great<br />

festivals in the UK is testament to the<br />

professionalism of the system,” he says.<br />

The fact that people won’t forget the<br />

nightmares that have taken place puts<br />

pressure on organisers to do better.<br />

Baker’s main bit of advice? “Open<br />

communication before, during and after<br />

the event is paramount, and ensure there<br />

are technological solutions to mitigate the<br />

threat of weather.” And never, ever, claim<br />

that your festival was shut down by a<br />

single pint of milk.<br />

shropshirefoundation.org


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Based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire


READERS LETTERS<br />

+Post Bag Snail Mail=<br />

When people<br />

talk about David<br />

Beckham, they<br />

always say that<br />

he’s a brilliant<br />

footballer but<br />

thick as two<br />

short planks.<br />

You never hear<br />

anyone saying<br />

that Stephen<br />

Hawking is a<br />

genius, but shite<br />

at football, do<br />

you? As usual<br />

it’s one rule for<br />

ex England<br />

captains and<br />

another for<br />

theoretical<br />

quantum<br />

physicists.<br />

Adrian Jones,<br />

Shrewsbury<br />

EARN big money by<br />

displaying a “How’s<br />

my driving?” sign on<br />

your car, along with<br />

an 0906 number<br />

(£1.50 per minute)<br />

which you can acquire<br />

through BT. Then<br />

simply drive round<br />

town like a complete<br />

arsehole.<br />

T.Hind, Ludlow<br />

A cash machine in low<br />

town Bridgnorth has<br />

just charged me £1.75<br />

for a transaction but<br />

still told me to cover<br />

my PIN to prevent me<br />

from being robbed.<br />

Pretty ironic if you<br />

ask me.<br />

James, email<br />

[ Appear Here]<br />

(Send us your thoughts)<br />

Electronic Mail: editor@shroprocks.com<br />

Snail Mail: 31 Priory Road // Bridgnorth // Wv15 5EJ


SEPTEMBERS PICK<br />

SR<br />

2ND<br />

THE NEW INN<br />

RUM FESTIVAL<br />

STAFFORD RD // NEWPORT // Tf10 7LX<br />

6TH RAINBREAKERS<br />

ALBERTS SHED<br />

SHREWSBURY // 7PM<br />

9th<br />

audio riot<br />

the bear inn<br />

bridgnorth // 9pm<br />

16thmerefest ‘17<br />

cremorne gardens // ellesmere<br />

30th timedivers<br />

the swan ironbridge // 9PM<br />

smoke & taphouse<br />

All events are subject to change, please check with the venue before travelling


octobers pick<br />

SR<br />

6th<br />

the leylines<br />

whitchurch leisure // 8PM<br />

6th<br />

oktober fest<br />

beer festival<br />

quarry park // shrewsbury<br />

8TH emma &<br />

the proffesor<br />

the wheatsheaf inn // chetwynd aston // 6pm<br />

20th<br />

david busby<br />

malt shovel // highley<br />

29th<br />

pistol pete wearn<br />

the new inn // newport<br />

All events are subject to change, please check with the venue before travelling


farmer phil’s<br />

festival 2017<br />

Chris<br />

Rollason<br />

Photography<br />

Mid August is<br />

hotly contested<br />

ground among<br />

the many festivals vying<br />

for your business in the so<br />

called high summer, so<br />

why, of all the big players<br />

touting their wares on this<br />

weekend, would you want<br />

to come to little old<br />

Farmer Phil’s Festival,<br />

when, with a capacity of a<br />

mere 3000 there surely<br />

can’t be enough revenue<br />

from ticket sales to attract<br />

the big names available to<br />

others?<br />

Firstly, set amid the simply<br />

stunning scenery that is<br />

the rolling hills of<br />

Rattlinghope, within a few<br />

miles of the beautiful small<br />

town of Church Stretton,<br />

the drive alone feels like<br />

the festival has already<br />

begun (whatever direction<br />

you approach from),<br />

nothing corporate, and<br />

barely a queue to enter the<br />

site.<br />

Unlike many others this<br />

festival has genuinely<br />

grown from a marquee,<br />

with an outside bar<br />

serving beer off the back<br />

of a 40ft atbed trailer,<br />

and has the feel of a hand<br />

made with love event that<br />

is precious to staff and<br />

regulars alike.<br />

And, I’ll say it again, it’s<br />

only 3000 people, think<br />

about it! It all makes sense<br />

The gates open Monday<br />

lunchtime for camping,<br />

and the festival starts at<br />

some point in the<br />

afternoon on Friday,<br />

basically, when they’re<br />

ready.<br />

The weather was atrocious<br />

on arrival, probably the<br />

rst time I’ve seen proper<br />

rain at Farmer Phil’s, but<br />

it soon passed and by later<br />

in the week the wellies<br />

were off and dancing shoes<br />

were installed.<br />

The music started at 12<br />

noon and saw Ferocious<br />

Dog blowing away the last<br />

of the rain with a great<br />

acoustic set featuring<br />

songs from their latest and<br />

past albums.<br />

A great performance by<br />

Emma and the professor,<br />

followed by Doozer<br />

McDooze to close the<br />

Russhuntel second stage<br />

on Friday night, while the<br />

mainstage prepared itself<br />

for one of my weekend<br />

highlights, the<br />

incomparable ‘The<br />

Quireboys’.<br />

Saturday was fancy dress<br />

day, with the theme being<br />

fallen artists from the past<br />

12 months? I think? Some<br />

real effort had been put<br />

into costumes by the<br />

participating punters, and<br />

though I struggled to<br />

make the connection to the<br />

theme on a few costumes,<br />

it brightened up the<br />

atmosphere no end and<br />

brought smiles out all<br />

round!!!


have to say, I’m a huge fan of the<br />

Irotating main stage they have in<br />

place here, it considerably speeds up<br />

band changeovers which means more acts<br />

can get on during the day and night.<br />

There is also a 2nd stage and recently<br />

added cabaret tent and if there’s<br />

something on that you don’t want to see,<br />

you can take a stroll around the many<br />

stalls of clothes, craft & festival artefacts<br />

that we all love to bring home and put in<br />

the loft, or you can grab a bite to eat at<br />

many of the ne selection of food vans<br />

always keen to ll that gap.<br />

I’m always really impressed with the<br />

quality of acts here, for such a small<br />

festival, and Saturdays music was yet<br />

another fantastic mixed bag of local<br />

emerging talent and established names<br />

from across the UK.<br />

A masterclass in performance from Two<br />

faced Tom and the bootleg boys, Folk the<br />

system, The Endings and Rusty Shackle,<br />

all proving that quality can be found on<br />

any stage at any time of the day,<br />

The raucous punk-folk sound of festival<br />

veterans Ferocious Dog followed another<br />

of my stand out performances of the<br />

weekend headling on the Saturday night<br />

main stage. The Urban Voodoo Machine<br />

were in great form and drew a large<br />

crowd as the sun was setting.<br />

t no means is this a short festival,<br />

AAs mentioned before, you can go<br />

the Monday before the weekend<br />

and not get home till the Monday a week<br />

later, so the need for careful pacing comes<br />

into play, or if your like me, you can go<br />

balls out for the duration, but don’t expect<br />

to be home in time for songs of praise, as<br />

it’s not going to happen,<br />

Headlining the main stage were the<br />

excellent Wayne Martin band and looking<br />

every inch like the headline act too, it’s<br />

not difcult to see why they would attract<br />

attention, and to be fair to them, they did<br />

sound great too. Wayne has been on the<br />

Shropshire music scene for a number of<br />

years now and for the past few has been<br />

fronting one of the best blues bands in the<br />

county and beyond, they were a totally<br />

credible headliner and have been a very<br />

good friend of the festival over the years.<br />

Farmer Phil’s does always seem to be<br />

over in a ash, and it’s so hard not to be<br />

overcome by the relaxed atmosphere, so<br />

you really do have to be careful not to<br />

spend too much time on the campsite if<br />

you want to get the best of the music.<br />

All in all, it was a again a massive success<br />

and next year see’s the big 20th<br />

anniversary, which is testament to Farmer<br />

Phil himself and all the wonderful staff<br />

and volunteers who make this superb<br />

event happen!!! Hats off to you all.<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM // | P33


Frontman:<br />

Chris<br />

Johnson<br />

Today’s Judas Johnson formed in<br />

January 2007 as a down to the core<br />

three piece - though it is strictly a<br />

reformation with Ev, Chris and Mark coming<br />

together from the original line up formed in<br />

1993. A split in ‘95 saw the members go their<br />

separate ways for more than a decade. Chris,<br />

Ev and guitarist Rick Buck toyed with a new<br />

line up and a new band, while Mark, Sue<br />

Stringfellow and Ellie Arthur went on to form<br />

Evidence with Micheal McLean. Time moves<br />

on and the second coming brings the best of<br />

the old Judas Johnson along with a new<br />

vibrancy and an altogether harder, darker<br />

sound.<br />

Psycho is the band's debut album<br />

and was recorded at their<br />

Minsterley studio. It follows<br />

several single and ep releases on<br />

their own label, notably The Pink<br />

EP and The Wedding EP. The<br />

band's brooding sound can be<br />

heard in tracks as diverse as<br />

'Psycho' a bruising assault and<br />

'Silence' a melancholic death<br />

lament, ending with the strange<br />

and wonderful 'Ghost of You'.<br />

The band have gigged extensively over the last<br />

few years and are regulars in venues locally<br />

and across the West Midlands, building their<br />

reputation for musicianship, professionalism<br />

and great songs. Radio airplay on BBC<br />

introducing ‘The Friday Night Gerbil’, on<br />

Radio Shropshire and on The Severn has<br />

helped to raise the bands prole and win them<br />

new admirers.<br />

P34 | SHROPROCKS.COM


The tactile and heartfelt debut<br />

album ‘Psycho’ by Judas Johnson<br />

doesn’t simply reward repeated<br />

listens, it demands them.<br />

Over the course of their musical<br />

backgrounds, Judas Johnson perfected a<br />

painterly approach to sound construction.<br />

What makes this alt-dark rock trio<br />

exceptional is their ability to wrest<br />

seemingly endless possibilities by netuning<br />

the grain of every sound. On their<br />

debut album, Judas Johnson take the<br />

tactile dimension of their music even<br />

further while also introducing groove and<br />

drama. With Dark Silent Off bristles and a<br />

passion that you hear on their back EP<br />

catalog. It supplies you with a constant<br />

ow of sensory<br />

input, they<br />

connect with<br />

your heart and<br />

soul to<br />

mesmerising<br />

effect.<br />

The Album<br />

begins with<br />

‘Psycho’ the<br />

guitar textures<br />

building into a<br />

half-organic,<br />

half-synthetic<br />

hybrid: electric<br />

guitar chords<br />

strained<br />

through an<br />

amplier and drum sticks establishing a<br />

pattern on snare. As usual for them, the<br />

overall tone feels dark, if not cold, then at<br />

least impersonal, an exercise in modernist<br />

architecture that privileges audacity of<br />

form over comfort. When guitarist<br />

frontman Mark Johnson plays, it feels<br />

like you can reach out and touch the grill<br />

covering on his amplier. You can hear<br />

air moving behind Boon’s and Evan’s bass<br />

and drums. If the music of Judas Johnson<br />

had been painted on a canvas, you'd notice<br />

the detail in the brush strokes from<br />

twenty feet away.<br />

This album hardly lets up and you<br />

struggle to get your breath as it races<br />

through ‘Coming Alive’, ‘The Road’ and<br />

‘Silence’ all dark and twisting with much<br />

feel and plentiful ambience.<br />

Out of nowhere, the music starts to pant,<br />

sweat, and move. The sudden rush of<br />

humanity is startling. The album goes<br />

into the awesome ‘Satellite’ 7 minutes<br />

long with a trippy outro played on keys<br />

by bassist Chris Boon, and by that point<br />

Judas Johnson have covered more<br />

ground in one piece than all their<br />

predecessors. In the same vein, a piece<br />

like “Ghost of you” which unfolds like a<br />

suite, almost a mini-album unto itself, as<br />

its traverses a shifting landscape of<br />

sounds. Sufce it to say the album doesn’t<br />

simply reward repeated listens, it<br />

demands them.<br />

My personal<br />

favourite ‘In my<br />

hands’ depicts<br />

everything that<br />

is good and bad<br />

with the world<br />

and literally<br />

blows your mind.<br />

With ‘Waves of<br />

light’, ‘Promised<br />

land’, ‘Nothing<br />

ever changes’<br />

and ‘Dead bodies<br />

and broken<br />

glass’ added to<br />

the big dark<br />

whirlpool mix<br />

it’s hard to climb<br />

out once you’ve<br />

been sucked in, so my advice is to hold on<br />

and enjoy the ride.<br />

Judas Johnson brand of alt-dark rock has<br />

always gone down smoothly in pubs,<br />

clubs and festivals across the UK, and<br />

they've outdone themselves on every level<br />

here. More limber and ery than ever, the<br />

band has risen out the experimental culde-sac<br />

past with a riveting work that<br />

should appeal to both its expected<br />

audience and to new fans who they pick<br />

up along the way. All in all a truly mind<br />

bending experience and a credit to<br />

Shropshire.<br />

A MUST LISTEN & SEE !!! SHROPROCKS.COM | P35


there was<br />

a tape<br />

A SHROP ROCK<br />

CASSETTE<br />

Cast your mind back<br />

to 1995.<br />

Soundscape Studio,<br />

Shrewsbury had joined<br />

forces with a local record<br />

company Evansong Ltd to<br />

produce a cassette (yes<br />

you read this right, a<br />

TAPE CASSETTE) which<br />

was to contain material<br />

from local Shropshire<br />

musicians, an eclectic mix<br />

of local artists and bands<br />

to cut into a SUPER<br />

TAPE.<br />

Commercial director of<br />

Evansongs, Ken Evans,<br />

said '’Shropshire has a<br />

wealth of musical talent<br />

and we want to produce a<br />

cassette to show that<br />

talent off”. And so they<br />

bloody well did !!!<br />

We got in touch with Dave<br />

P36 // SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

Cowton of ‘Shrop Rock’ to<br />

see if we could still get<br />

hold of a copy of the old<br />

Shrop Rock original<br />

cassette, 22 years later,<br />

and guess what? We could,<br />

and what a little treat it is.<br />

A fully mastered copy CD<br />

(yes you read this right, a<br />

COMPACT DISC)<br />

ended up at our head<br />

quarters a few weeks later,<br />

so we thought we’d share<br />

it with you!!!<br />

The acts on the CD<br />

include; Judas Johnson<br />

(amazingly still going<br />

strong), Bogus Monk,<br />

Strange Wool, Ogre Jelly,<br />

Jonah (Paul Henshaw’s<br />

old band), Drivin’Rain and<br />

Jane Fonda.<br />

We are appealing for<br />

anyone with anymore<br />

information to come<br />

forward and share your<br />

memories.<br />

Many thanks goes out to<br />

Dave Cowton and long<br />

live Shrop Rocks<br />

taking us into the 21st<br />

century.


BEYOND<br />

THESHIRE<br />

BY BETH HEMMINGS<br />

For new talent, breaking through<br />

the mould of the music biz is now<br />

harder than ever. With declarations<br />

from many acclaimed stars that British<br />

guitar music is lost in the abyss of an<br />

insipid wave, it seems that for<br />

Lancashire’s emerging<br />

band LSP, things may<br />

be a little belligerent<br />

to begin with.<br />

LSP are a progressive<br />

emo/post-hardcore band<br />

with some shoegaze and<br />

experimental inuences, and have just<br />

released their rst full length album titled<br />

Waves. Waves features eight diverse<br />

tracks that are all extremely appealing to<br />

the ear, boasting gorgeous melodies and<br />

SHROPROCKS.COM // P38<br />

thrashing choruses alike.<br />

The musicality in the album leading track<br />

Nori is simply divine – but it is also<br />

evident in the vocal deliverance that<br />

perhaps the band is trying a little too<br />

hard to conform to the<br />

whiney stereotypes of the<br />

emo genre. This begs the<br />

question; is there room in<br />

the ever-progressing<br />

world of music for<br />

another emo/posthardcore<br />

band, and if so,<br />

what must they do to make themselves<br />

known? How can they bring fresh life into<br />

this decaying genre?


In the case of LSP there is a lot of<br />

evidence that they are conforming to the<br />

stereotypes of their genre – particularly<br />

demonstrated by the vocals – which may<br />

make it difcult for them to stand out in<br />

such a dog eat dog industry. However, the<br />

band’s new album Waves is highly<br />

commendable for its lovely mixture of<br />

slow, thrashing, screamo and guitar led<br />

tracks. For example, the inclusion of<br />

female vocals on track Wednesday<br />

compliments the album beautifully. It is<br />

reminiscent of A Day To Remember’s If It<br />

Means A Lot To You with Sierra<br />

Kusterbeck. LSP should perhaps consider<br />

using this female vocalist more often.<br />

Another commendable spectacle of Waves<br />

is the seven-minute song. It delivers an<br />

P38 // SHROPROCKS.COM<br />

abundance of emotion and vulnerability<br />

via spoken word lyrics, screamo and a<br />

delicate guitar accompaniment. The<br />

painstaking lyrics are relatable to all<br />

those who have had relationship issues –<br />

which is pretty much everyone, right?<br />

Furthermore, the prologue style track<br />

Does It Get Easier? is alluring and very<br />

well constructed. The voices on the track<br />

are accompanied with beautiful piano and<br />

guitar melodies, really giving a sense of<br />

overall professionalism to this album.<br />

Right now, LSP are in no position to burst<br />

in right at the top of the rock charts, but<br />

nor are they in the afore mentioned abyss.<br />

They are in amazing stead to shine Pictured: as<br />

they have an immense musical Evans talent (left) that<br />

is both engaging and captivating. Best (Right)<br />

MAY/JUNE SHROPROCKS.COM | P39 P37

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