Issue 104 / October 2019

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REVIEWS Skeleton Coast Leasowe Castle – 31/08 Over the past few years, boutique festival SKELETON COAST has become somewhat of an exclusive retreat for festival fanatics across Merseyside, and even further afield. Taking place in the last weekend of August, the Wirral day event has secured a comfortable spot on the gig schedule; bringing an increasingly hectic festival season to a close, not to mention, in recent years, providing a timely escape from the increasingly hectic political landscape. The achingly grand Leasowe Castle – usually reserved for weddings and other such luxury events – provides the perfect setting for the day as its haunting beauty and seclusion immediately throws you into an aura of exclusivity. The location, however, is certainly not the festival’s main draw. Cherry picked by Skeleton Key Records, the day’s line-up is seriously impressive; a testament to today’s emerging talent and antithetical to perceptions that guitar music is somehow dead. The Getintothis stage – in Leasowe Castle’s Keep, where wedding vows are usually exchanged – is populated by Skeleton Coast’s more unplugged performances. Nonetheless, the stage manages to maintain its sentimental ambience as it plays hosts to the day’s most tender tunes. With a gentle vocal delivery and lolling guitar sound, LUCY GAFFNEY draws comparisons to Bill Ryder-Jones. The small but appreciative crowd are treated to her blend of soft rock, including a delightful cover of The Cranberries’ Linger. MARVIN POWELL, a Skeleton Key stalwart, similarly impresses with his collection of wistful songs. Throughout the day the stage serves as a pleasant interlude between the rock ’n’ roll stages. Over at the EVOL stage, THE SNUTS stamp their mark on the festival. Frontman Jack Cochrane’s cheeky confidence is backed up by his impressive vocals and energised tunes. All Your Friends is an instant crowd pleaser, with a thumping bassline running right through the spirited track. The young Scots seem a band likely to continue cropping up in the indie scene after a summer touring a throng of European festivals. Squeezing in unreleased songs along with hits Fire, Somebody and Hey Heartbreaker, DREAM WIFE continue the vigorous atmosphere on the stage. The all-female trio have made waves over the past few years with their likeable mix of rhythmic punk. They are undoubtedly passionate and even manage to instigate an artist-crowd conga (yes, really). The penultimate act on the EVOL stage, RED RUM CLUB, prove why they are one of the hottest acts on Merseyside. Frontman Fran Doran’s voice powerfully amalgamates with cool guitar licks and intermittent trumpets to create a sound that is emphatically sonorous. A personal highlight of the festival comes at the Shit Indie Disco stage with BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD. Freakishly Mick Jagger-esque, Tom Rees embodies all the characteristics a frontman needs to propel his band into stardom: cool, charismatic and unabashedly confident. Remarkably, his voice never falters as the band blast through singles Love Forever, Late Night City and Double Denim Hop, permeated with just the right amount of glam rock. Tense anticipation awaits THE MYSTERINES as they headline this stage; they amply deliver, quickly turning the small room into a sweat-box of energy. Their commanding set is stocked full of songs almost recklessly formidable, with Lia Metcalfe’s voice booming amid the bands swaggering riffs. MILES KANE brings the festival to a close in exhilarating fashion. Ensuring the energy of the day is sustained, he explodes out of the blocks with Silverscreen and fan-favourite Inhaler – encouraging the already lively crowd into pits and on to shoulders. Looking genuinely buzzing for his headline slot and first (yes, first ever) show in his native Wirral, Kane rattles through his discography; from Rearrange to Cry On My Guitar, to Don’t Forget Who You Are, knowing the crowd will lap it up. His newer songs LA Five Four (309), Can You See Me Now and Blame It On The Summertime show that Kane is not only writing songs at a terrific pace, but also evolving as a songwriter, experimenting with his lyrical delivery and beefing up a recurrent riff. Kane and his band’s blistering set, which peaks with the lovely Colour Of The Trap, rubberstamps his status as an astute and assured festival acquisition. As Kane’s songs are chanted around the room, his ecstasy is visible and infectious; and with a feeling like that, who’s going to stop you. ! Conal Cunningham The Mysterines (Brian Sayle / urbansubrosa.co.uk) “The Mysterines amply deliver, quickly turning the small room into a sweatbox of energy” Red Rum Club (Brian Sayle / urbansubrosa.co.uk) 38
Franz Ferdinand (Tomas Adam) Kings Of Leon Fusion Presents @ Sefton Park – 30/08 An extra day of rock music has been tacked on to the beginning of FUSION FESTIVAL this year, following its move from Otterspool Promenade to Sefton Park. The line-up leaves you with more questions than answers; questions like: who decided it would be a good idea to put these bands on the same stage? Did JAKE BUGG do something recently? Are FRANZ FERDINAND still together? Sure, it’s a strange mix, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good time. The sun is beaming down as SAM FENDER starts the day off right. Already the recipient of the Critics’ Choice award at this year’s BRITs, he is gearing up to release his debut album Hypersonic Missiles. The North Shields-born singer proudly wears his influences on his sleeve, encapsulating the youthful euphoria and nostalgia of 1980s stadium rock. His rhythm guitarist mercilessly punches a sampler during Will We Talk? blasting out triumphant bells and strings. However, with the chills-inducing Dead Boys, Fender shows us that he is not a onetrick pony. Although taking clear nods from Bruce Springsteen, Fender still puts a modern spin on the style, in the same vein as The War On Drugs. It’s early in the day, but the crowd feeds on the adrenaline of Hypersonic Missiles, and a few people jump on each other’s shoulders during the saxophone solo. Despite the unnecessary Oasis cover of Morning Glory to close, the young singer is infinitely exciting, and is definitely worth a second watch at his upcoming Liverpool show in November. There are scattered showers and, for whatever reason, all of the bars are no longer taking cards. Yet, Liverpool darlings CIRCA WAVES give a performance fit for a festival, as they march through songs from their latest record What’s It Like Over There?. The anthemic Movies and piano-smashing Times Won’t Change Me are well received by the adoring crowd, whose spirits are not dampened by the lack of booze. Circa Waves unleash a frankly shocking amount of energy during their performance of Goodbye, which should see all comparisons to The Vaccines thrown out of the window; their calls for a mosh pit are answered during the Queens of the Stone Age-esque barn burner, which is an impressive feat so early in the day. Despite Sam Fender covering Morning Glory earlier on in the day, Jake Bugg tries even harder to do an impersonation of Noel Gallagher, although it may not have been his intention. The crowd isn’t as tightly packed and sweating as they were for Circa Waves, so something is definitely amiss. Is this one Lightning Bolt? It is Seen It All. Is this one Lightning Bolt? It is Two Fingers. This is his last song. It must be Lightning Bolt? It is. For a complete change of pace, next on is essential post-punk band and pride of Liverpool, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN. How do they fit into this line-up? The inclusion of this seminal band seems like a tone-deaf ploy to draw in an older audience. Even classics like The Cutter and The Killing Moon lose their magic in this setting, and ache to be soaked in at a more dedicated show. Franz Ferdinand are still together. In fact, they put out a new album last year called Always Ascending. Seeing Franz Ferdinand this high on a bill is a strange sight to see, like stepping into a bizarre time machine that could take you back to the years 2004-2007. Sure, they are not exactly a one-hit-wonder per se, but it is clear the audience is here for Take Me Out. Still, the supressed coil, build and release section of the song continues to be exciting and even refreshing despite the fact you know full well it is coming. KINGS OF LEON are aware of their controversy. Hardcore “It’s hard not to feel a part of something greater, beyond the bickering and missteps of Kings Of Leon” fans love to talk about their early material and its ranking; Slow Night, So Long, first – and how they stopped listening after Only By The Night – Crawl second. The British resentment of their later material is a paradox: the English embraced the sound of the dirty Deep South when their own country wouldn’t, only to shout “we were there first” across the water as the Americans followed suit. Anyone who likes their later stuff; Waste A Moment, third; must be an American, or closet American. Albums like Come Around Sundown (Radioactive, fourth) aren’t even given a second thought. But, why? Because it was right around the time we’d grown sick of hearing those dreaded two songs on the radio? Sure, we can all agree that Because Of The Times was the perfect goldilocks moment between the two halves of their career. Molly’s Chambers from the first half and Supersoaker, from the second, both retain raw energy, while embracing the stadium-rock sound that propelled them into stardom. Their catalogue is deep and they play to their audience. They know that their band means more to us than it does to Americans. We’ve been there through the good times – Fans, My Party, Mary – and the bad times – Sex On Fire, Use Somebody. We want to hear it all: the songs that makes us dance (Closer) or makes us cry (Milk), or both (Pyro). As the heavens open they play Cold Desert, and it is hard not to feel a part of something greater, beyond the bickering and missteps. ! Joel Durksen / @Joeldurksen Peter Broderick and Friends Play Arthur Russell + Claire Welles + Nick Branton & David Kelly 24 Kitchen Street – 22/08 Misunderstood by many during his own lifetime, cellist Arthur Russell tragically passed away in 1992 unaware of the cult status his music would one day achieve. Now, as his reputation continues to grow, artists like multi-instrumentalist PETER BRODERICK are discovering the mystique of his music. Fans, too, who never had the chance to hear these outstanding compositions live, are now reaping the benefits. Russell served a brief tenure in the 70s as musical director of The Kitchen, an NYC arts space that hosted emerging experimental acts. Tonight’s proceedings at 24 Kitchen Street appear to share something of that avant-garde spirit. NICK BRANTON & DAVID KELLY’s three-song, entirely improvised, set on saxophone and drum kit setting a fitful, atonal pace. Outlier artist CLAIRE WELLES is truly absorbing despite being on the verge of losing her voice. Opening with the contagious (hopefully not) Viral Infection, Welles appears to be Liverpool’s answer to John Maus. “Life’s a piece of piss, especially when you’ve got no kids” she taunts on Shit For Brains, before the Krautrock careen of Knowsley. Both are taken from Welles’ new album Transpose; “It’s my Nevermind,” she deadpans. “You’re not meant to laugh.” If anyone is fit to handle Russell’s sprawling back catalogue it’s Peter Broderick, a prolific recording artist with an obscene collaborative track record. The one-time Efterklang man isn’t one to rest on his laurels. We get a glimpse of his virtuosic talent early on during the deconstructed intensity of Lucky Cloud, which falls always to the measured delicacy of Close My Eyes. Undeterred by a false start, Losing My Taste For The Night Life is another fragile, delay-drenched high. Eli, scaled down from cello to fiddle, shows off the uncanny vocal resemblance between the two artists, as Broderick nimbly slides between notes in Russell’s signature touching style. Broderick is later joined onstage by a backing band comprising of some of Glasgow’s finest guns for hire. Their alt-country and new wave leanings are swapped for a reggae backbeat on A Little Lost, which closes with the ecstatic repetition of “I’m so busy thinking about kissing you”. Next Broderick asks for a volunteer in lieu of Allen Ginsberg on Ballad Of The Lights. None of the fear-stricken faces around me seem game, as if his suggestion seems to insight the same state of anxiety surrounding a day of team building exercises. Claire Welles, luckily, takes the stage before the all-out mutant disco of Go Bang, Russell’s Dinosaur L dancefloor hit. Broderick’s suggestion of getting the disco ball going is shot down (“The death star has not yet been completed,” he remarks) before some unnamed hero steps in repositioning the lights. Broderick then clambers into the crowd, exuberant and uninhibited, wailing the hook. Bathed in sepia rays, for his encore he closes with the contrasting tender balladry of You Are My Love, an unreleased Arthur Russell cut and one final testament to the iconoclast’s phenomenal legacy. A wild combination, indeed. David Weir / @betweenseeds REVIEWS 39
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 104 / OCTOBER 2019 NEW MUSIC
Page 3 and 4: What’s On October - December Wedn
Page 5 and 6: GREY HAIRS KAZIMIER STOCKROOM 26 OC
Page 9 and 10: New Music + Creative Culture Liverp
Page 11 and 12: DANSETTE Future-pop auteur NATALIE
Page 13 and 14: a strung-up picture of The Smiths i
Page 15 and 16: on worrying whether I’ll be loved
Page 17 and 18: Image: Liv Free, Crow's Eye Product
Page 19 and 20: MARVIN POWELL Classic Americana son
Page 21 and 22: Box office: theatkinson.co.uk 01704
Page 23: than Manchester (using the analogy
Page 27 and 28: KINGFAST Caught in a loop with the
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Issue 104 / October 2019

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