El Blackbirds - Electricity (Single Review)

El Blackbirds are an up and coming four-piece Indie Rock N Roll band from Liverpool. The quartet consists of; Shaun Hough on lead vocals & guitar, Callum Kelly on lead guitar, Liam Rudge on bass and John Appleby on the drums. El Blackbirds sound very similar to the likes of Oasis, Catfish & the Bottlemen and Arctic Monkeys. Their new single is called 'Electricity' and it is jam-packed full of quirky guitar riffs, contagious melodies and catchy lyrics. 'Electricity' was released in June as a taster of what is yet to come of the band, as they have only been together for five months professionally.

The track starts off with a deep sound on a distorted electric guitar; soon accompanied by the other punchy guitars and rhythmic drums, shortly followed by Hough's distinctive vocals. When the lead vocalist, Shaun Hough sings the first verse he mentions;

"The way you make me feel, I wanna scream and shout."

The rest of the song remains strong and speedy, with no lost energy. Which leads to the whole song relating back to this line as Hough shows his passion and affection for this person throughout the rest of the song through his vocals as he states;

"You make me feel like electricity."

Hough repeats this line several times throughout this song, which makes the track very catchy. I am intrigued as to what is yet to come of this band, as I think that they may have plenty more tricks up their sleeve. You can find this track on the link below. Good luck with your future endeavours, and I wish you all the best of luck. Watch out!

https://soundcloud.com/the-blackbirds-4/electricity

Release @ The Underground - Hanley

Release are a five piece post-punk band from Stoke-On-Trent. The 5-piece consists of; Caleb Allport on lead vocals, Mayson Nicholson on lead guitar, Ben Roden on bass, Tom Price on the drums and Josh Woody on backing vocals. The gig was at the Underground in Hanley, Release were the dual headlining act alongside another local band called Bonsai. Release performed 7 songs of their own and one cover by Rage Against the Machine, and their energy remained outstanding from the beginning right to the end of their set list.

Release entered the stage around 22:00, the first song that they performed was called 'Neat Seat'. 'Neat Seat' strongly introduced itself with a solid guitar intro, and Woody on backing vocals soon got the audience clapping. The heavy guitars and drums were shortly accompanied by Allport's violent punk growl. Allport was dancing straight away, which automatically interacted the band with audience and a mosh-pit soon ensued. The song was strongly finished by the guitars and it was a cracking performance for their opening song. I just wish that they had turned the backing vocals up.

The second song which they introduced was called 'C U NEXT TIME' the introduction included a very short quiet riff on the guitar for a few seconds, shortly followed by all of the instruments simultaneously creating a heavy format for the vocals. The audience got a bit too lairy on this song and even ended up joining the band on stage! All of the band members in Release interacted with eachother on stage, which shows that they obviously have a good off-stage relationship with eachother too. The song slowed down a little bit, but it soon picked itself back up again with the fast lyrics and indignation within Allports vocals.

The third song was called 'No Idea' and all of the bands crazy stage presence continued throughout. They had a very catchy & repetitive chorus which consisted of the line;

"Do it for me, do it for me, do it for me"

Being repeated several times, and I was very surprised that the audience didn't tag along. This song really brought out their punk edge and they sounded heavily influenced by the Sex Pistols. Allport's feisty stage presence appeared like an alter-ego, considering how much of a relaxed person he is off stage. It was a shame I couldn't see Price on drums due to the lighting but I could hear all of the effort he was giving within this exhilarating performance. The guitars closed off this song once again.

At this point Caleb announced to the audience how knackered he was which again, allowed him to interact with the audience. Before he introduced the next song, he stated how it is off their debut EP on soundcloud, which I also reviewed earlier on this year. As I reviewed their EP I obviously know this song. The song is called 'Bloody Monday' and it is a personal favourite of mine. Due to some of the audience already knowing this song, they were clapping the band on which quickly influenced their energy on stage. Allport got the tambourine out and Woody was clapping, and a friend soon came on stage and accompanied them, soon followed by more people getting on the stage once again. Also, this song allowed the band to have some time to shine and not just the vocals, so you got to see how talented the rest of the band really are. The drums and guitars simultaneously closed off this performance.

Before their fifth song called 'Cold Hearted Killa', Allport sneaked in some audience interaction again asking them if we were alright. There was a strong guitar intro shortly followed by the vocals; and the band started going wild again, which awakened another mosh-pit. This song definitely got your foot tapping if you weren't already a part of the mosh-pit. Nicholson on guitar and Roden on bass really stood out within this performance and the guitar riff sounded really effective. The bands energy influenced the audience massively and the drums repetitiveness towards the end did the song a huge favour.

'Back To The Old Routine' was their sixth song that they performed. The intro sounded slightly influenced by Peace due to their groovy guitars. However the drums soon builded up the tempo; but on the other hand the indie feel was still their due to the slow vocals, and as the song progressed it surprisingly alternated into the sound of The Blue Collars. I saw Release a few months back, and they have definitely improved; not just their stage presence, but their sound has also improved greatly.  The repetitive instrumental did the song justice alongside the slower and powerful vocals.

"My hearts not in it, because my heads in my hands."

I often prefer the paradox's as it shows how versatile a band can be, and I definitely preferred this song over all of the others. I also thought it was the best vocal performance too, so well done.

The seventh song of the evening was called 'That Man' and the distinctive drums opened up the song, which were shortly accompanied by the guitars; leading to the tempo of the song increasing, which created a firm beat for the vocalist to begin performing. The paradox song was very cleverly placed as the audience calmed down a lot more, due to there being a paradox. The backing vocals were used most within this performance and they also had an incredibly catchy chorus to go with the song. Tom Price on drums gave a very strong performance, however Mayson Nicholson on guitar stood out to me the most within this particular performance. This song also went on longer than expected.

The second to last song of the evening was called 'Killing In The Name' which is a cover that they performed by Rage Against the Machine. Considering I don't know this song, it had a very powerful introduction and it kept going quieter and kicking back in again. Due to it being a well-known song the audience got more lively again, yet again it was cleverly placed like the paradox. The lights would go off on the quiet bits and flash back on again on the loud parts. This proved to be very effective within this particular performance;

"FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME"

The indignation in Allports vocals were there from the beginning right to the end of this performance, like usual. Due to that very powerful line it boosted the adrenalin of the audience, leading them to creating yet again another mosh-pit.

Their final song of the night is also off their debut EP, and it is called 'Spelling Out DOOM'. Before Allport went on to perform, he very kindly acknowledged his appreciation to the audience and thanked them for their support. Due to their friends in the audience knowing the lyrics to this song, they jumped on to the stage once more for Releases last song of the evening. Even though their friends were being a huge distraction and eventually got told to get off the stage by the security, the whole band remained incredibly focused and continued professionally. This was definitely the strongest performance of the night and it was also another strong vocal performance. 'Spelling Out DOOM' was an incredible choice of song to close their set off with. Congratulations on pulling off a fantastic gig lads, and good luck for all of your future endeavours with the band.

The only constructive criticism I would have is the elocution of the lyrics as I couldn't quite hear what you were saying, however it is punk so I wouldn't expect to hear every word crystal clear. The backing vocals also need to be turned up when you perform. Apart from that, everything else was spot on. Congratulations. My friend also enjoyed the gig and said that he would quite happily pay twice the amount to see you again, you have a bright future ahead of you. I would definitely recommend that you see them, because they have outstanding stage presence and perform like their life depends on it and I wish you all the best of luck.

The Smyths @ The Sugarmill - Stoke

The Smyths are a well-known British tribute band, who recreate what it was like to see and hear The Smiths live. The tribute act formed in 2003, and have been very successful ever since. On the 11^th of February, 1985 a fantastic album was released. That album was ‘Meat is Murder’ by The Smiths. Therefore their performance was dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of the album.

The doors opened at 19:30, however I entered the venue at 20:00 as The Smyths weren’t performing till 20:15. The Sugarmill was rammed with a very mixed crowd, of all different ages and fashions. I stood at the back for the first half, as there was no chance I was getting to the front - due to the audience hardly being able to move. Graham Sampson as “Morrissey” entered onto the stage with his hair slicked back like Morrissey’s traditional quiff, his over-sized glasses and polka dot shirt on. 

The first song that the band performed that night was ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side’. I was actually very surprised as to how outstanding their performance was. The line in which the crowd got involved with was;

“If they don’t believe me now, will they ever believe me?”

This song was brilliantly executed and it received a well-deserved astounding applause from the audience.

‘Shoplifters of the World’ was the second song of the first half, and it is one of my favourite Smiths songs, amongst many others that they also performed. The guitar riff was absolutely spot on, and this song received an even bigger applause. On the topic of my favourite Smiths songs; they also performed ‘William it was really Nothing’, ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’, ‘Panic’, ‘Ask’, and ‘I Want the One I Can’t Have’ . 

When ‘William it was really Nothing’ was performed, that was when I felt that the performance really began to kick in for me. Sampson was wafting his arms in the air all loose, very much like Morrissey. He even got the flowers out within this performance! Once ‘Panic’ began to play, that really got the crowd going and the majority of arms went up on the line;

“Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ.”

One of my favourite performances of the night would have to be ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ as Sampson started doing all of these quirky hand and arm gestures, expressing his passion. This performance also received an outstanding applause, like the majority of their performances. The song that particularly stood out for me would have to be ‘I Know It’s Over’ as this is when the other band members began to interact with the crowd and each other. The bassist began to sing and the guitarist was swaying along to the song, there was just something about this performance that stood out for me. ‘Meat is Murder’ was an extremely passionate performance. Sampson was gripped onto the microphone, pouring his heart out to the audience as he sharply and harshly pronounced specific lyrics. This song was fantastically executed.

However I think the crowd, was not particularly the best audience that the passionate tribute act could have had. When they performed ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ the audience were very dull as I don’t think that the younger generation knew this song, even though it is off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album. On the other hand, the crowd did appreciate their passionate performance so once the guitars cancelled of the song – they received a big cheer. The song that closed off their first set was ‘Nowhere Fast’ and the performers really connected with each other during this song. Sampson, as “Morrissey” handed the microphone over to the audience on specific lines such as;

“And when a train goes by, it’s such a sad sound.”

The performance began to get very intense when he added a swear word into the song, in order to express his passion as Sampson emphasises the lyrics of;

“The poor and the needy are selfish and greedy on her FUCKING terms.”

So to me this performance was one of their most powerful and passionate performances that I had seen so far.

After the short break when everybody went to the terrace for a drink and/or a cigarette, The Smyths entered the stage for their last set at 21:45. Sampson had changed from his polka dot shirt into a more stereotypical Morrissey, by wearing a thin cardigan with nothing on underneath it. During the second half they played quite a few songs, some off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album such as – ‘What She Said’, ‘I Want the One I Can’t Have’, ‘Well I Wonder’ and then obviously the more well-known, popular songs like - ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘This Charming Man’ and the last performance of the night to close their set off was ‘How Soon is Now’ which is also off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album. 

The crowd got a lot more enthusiastic towards the end; due to the more popular songs being performed, and the crowd’s energy also heavily influenced the performers too. The bassist began to get a little bit silly and stuck his plectrum to his forehead; and Sampson’s cardigan was falling off one shoulder, as he passionately performed the songs.

Every song was brilliantly executed, regardless of the audience’s reactions. For me, the crowd make the gig as they create the atmosphere and their energy influences the performers.  However, you don’t pay to see the crowd – you pay to see the band. They have definitely lived up to my expectations and that is why I am going to give them a 9/10. I would definitely recommend that you go to see them if you’re a big Smiths fan, as they aren’t expensive and they put on a cracking show!

Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (Album Review)

Foo Fighters are a five-piece rock band who formed in Seattle, America in 1994. Since then, they have been through several band members. The five current rockers are; former Nirvana drummer - Dave Grohl on lead vocals & guitar, Nate Mendel on bass, Chris Shifflett on lead guitar, Pat Smear on rhythm guitar and Taylor Hawkins on the drums. Sonic Highways is Foo Fighters eighth album, and it was released on the 10th of November in 2014. The American rock band teased fans with 4 singles before they even released their album. Ironically, their eighth album also happens to have eight tracks on it! So hopefully every song should be spot on. No pressure!

The eight track album opens up with a song called 'Something from Nothing'. This song was the first single to be released, and it was released on the 16th of October in 2014. The track starts off with a quiet introduction; accompanied by light vocals, shortly followed by the drums. One minute and thirty seconds into the song is when it really begins to kick in.

"Sweet ignition be my fuse, you have no choice, you have to choose."

As the song gets further towards the end, you begin to hear Grohls signature growl. The drums and guitar start to increase in speed & volume which results in a change of mood within the track.

"Pay no mind, now ain't that something? Fuck it all! I came from nothing, I'm something from nothing."

'Congregation' is the third track on this album and it starts off with a silent introduction for a few seconds, shortly to be followed by the guitars. This track is a typical Foo Fighters song, and it has a similar structure to 'Times Like These' from their earlier work.

"Send in the congregation, open your eyes, step in the light. A juke box generation, just as you were."

The start appears to be very soft rock, and you begin to hear a little bit of Grohl's signature growl throughout.

"I've been going through life making foolish plans, now my world is in your hands."

To me, this appears to be a very naive thing to say. Grohl appears very naive and non self-reliant. However, after 3 minutes the song really begins to accelerate. You hear the acceleration from Hawkins hitting his symbols, and the guitars collaborating and increasing the tempo. Grohl's vocals start screaming and growling profusely when he scrowls the lyrics of -

"Open your eyes, open your eyes, step into the light."

'What did I do?/God as my Witness' appears half way through the album as it is the fourth track. To me, this song sounds a bit country-fied and I think it is due to the way Grohl is delivering the lyrics.

"Your name, year of fame, I could see the writing on the wall. Come on, flip a coin, bet it's going to tell you..."

However the song has a silent break within it, and after the break Grohl gets his rock aspect back again.

"God as my witness, yeah it's gonna heal my soul tonight."

The guitars really stood out throughout this track for me, and I did enjoy the small country twist to the song.

The song that particularly stood out to me and impressed me the most was 'Outside'. Outside is the fifth track on this great album. It enters with some aimless plucking on guitars; but as soon as the plucking hits 12 seconds, all of the instruments unexpectedly enter with full force. On the other hand, once Grohl enters with his vocals, the instruments begin to mellow.

"There you are dancing at your altar. Beautiful earthling, dressed in Kashmir."

I particularly enjoyed this song due to the interference of the vocals on the chorus.

"And we can leave it all behind. I wanna get outside, baby lets go outside."

The guitars also have a moment to shine within this song, and so do the drums. This was mainly because there was a large instrumental piece and the tempo begins to pick up. There is also an amazing guitar riff before Grohl intercepts and finalises off the song with his vocals and the guitar then closes this track off.

I think the song that will be a Foo Fighters fans favourite off this album would perhaps be 'In the Clear'? Correct me if I'm wrong; but this track appears to be a very personal song to Grohl, as the track enters very strong with the powerful lyrics of -

"There are days I might not make it, there are days I might start breakin."

'In the Clear' also has a very catchy and repetitive chorus like many of Foo Fighters signature songs.

"You know I'm not in the clear, you are not in the clear. Don't you go count me out now dear."

To close off this smashing album is a song called 'I am a River'. The track starts off very soft with some aimless strumming on the guitar; very similar to 'Outside' - before some more guitars begin to accompany the introduction, alongside the solo guitar. At 1:34, after the long introductory instrumental - Grohl begins to sing.

"There is a secret, I found a secret behind a Soho door."

The repetitiveness of the chorus really does this song justice, and I thought it was a wise song choice to close the album off with.

"I ! I ! I am a river..."

In conclusion, I am actually really surprised because I like this album more than I thought that I would. The eight tracks worked, because all of the songs were constructed very well. This album is also a lot softer compared to their other previous albums. The only song that didn't particularly stand out for me was 'The Feast and the Famine' - hence why I haven't written about it. The song just didn't really do anything for me, it just felt like an album filler. Even though the lyrics are very meaningful, I just think that the instruments and vocals didn't give the song the justice that it deserved. Apart from that, Foo Fighters new album is getting a very well deserved 9/10 from me! Let me know what you think in the comments, or message me - it would be nice to hear off you! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it & I would definitely recommend that you give this album a listen if you haven't already!

P.S. - I know it's highly unlikely that Dave Grohl is reading this, but I hope that your leg gets better!

9/10 - ROCK ON !!

Part Time Insomniacs @ The Exchange - Hanley

The Part Time Insomniacs are a four-piece indie rock band from Stoke-On-Trent. They have only recently got together, earlier this year - therefore I am going to review what I thought of their very first gig. The quartet consists of; Kieran Breese on vocals & guitar, Sam Fieldhouse on lead guitar, Jacob Ferchal on bass and James Whitehurst on the drums. The gig was in a small venue at The Exchange in Hanley. The Part Time Insomniacs sound heavily influenced by the likes of; The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys and Oasis. However they also have a punky edge to them which differentiates themselves from many indie rock bands out there. 

The first song that the Part Time Insomniacs chose to perform was 'Zombie' by Jamie T. The beat really kicked in by the drums, which lead the show. The vocals were also very clear which lead to them portraying an outstanding overall performance, it was very well executed.

The second track that the band covered was  'Big Mouth Strikes Again' by The Smiths.  The guitars were incredibly powerful giving off a strong introduction for the beginning of their performance - Ferchal on bass began to get into the performance and relaxed a lot more, which was great to see. The drums were noticeably outstanding throughout. Breese on vocals carried off the vocals very well and they did the song justice. Then the drummer continued drumming to develop their performance into the next song, which I thought was pretty impressive.

The third track that the band performed was 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun' by The Libertines. The song was very well introduced by the drums alternating cleverly from 'Big Mouth Strikes Again' into this song. The talented drummer stood out the most for me within this performance. Ferchal on bass was doing a little jiggle to the song as he was hypnotically getting into the song, meanwhile Fieldhouse on lead guitar remained very concentrated throughout this performance.

Their fourth track which was chosen is one of my all time favourite songs and it is called 'Sally Cinnamon' by The Stone Roses. The boys did me proud on this one. One of my all time favourite tracks by one of my favourite artists. Ferchal singing along to the lyrics whilst simultaneously playing the bass. This song obviously means as much to them as it does to me. Yet again the drummer has an absolutely outstanding performance. With a graceful ending with a nice and slow guitar stroke on the outro. Outstanding performance, yet again doing an amazing song very good justice. Congratulations. 

As you can imagine, for their first gig the lads are doing incredibly well by giving it their all on every song. The fifth track was surprisingly not a cover, and it was their own song that they had written and constructed. So fair play for doing that lads. To me this song really brought out all of the three guitarists talents. However the only issue was the instruments over-powered the vocals unfortunately, leading to me not being able to realiterate the lyrics. Slow and basic drums throughout but the bass remained powerful and strong from start to finish.

The sixth chosen track was the notoriously renowned 'Cocoon' by Catfish & the Bottlemen. Every musician entered simultaneously with a strong and powerful thrust leading to some of the crowd even getting to the front of the stage and dancing along! This was the song that got the audience prepared for the main act. Well done lads, very well executed. This performance definitely got your foot tapping along, whether you knew the song or not. Breese on vocals also gained a lot more confidence throughout this song due to the crowd creating a very positive atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the strong and powerful drums at the end. Then when they introduced 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor' the audience started singing the chorus before they even began to play!!

The final track that they obviously chose to perform following the amazing performance of 'Cocoon' by Catfish & the Bottlemen was 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor' by Arctic Monkeys. They started off with a very heavy intro, as every instrument simultaneously went straight in with great force. Even more of the crowd gathered to the front for this one! Drums yet again, stood out. Amazingly executed performance, like all of the previous ones too. What an incredible song to close the set with, great choice. 

The only constructive criticism that I would give you would have to be your stage presence. If you stayed in the audience for the headlining act 'Magna Collider' you would realise why they deserved to be the headlining act. You all needed to loosen up a bit; especially the drummer and lead guitarist. To me you both looked too concentrated on getting the song right, that you weren't having fun on stage. At the end of the day nobody knows if you messed up except if you stop performing, which you didn't and I never noticed any slip-ups even if there were any. You just need to relax a bit more on stage and gain that extra little bit of confidence. Breese loosened up towards the end which was comforting to see, however Ferchal was loose towards the second song, so perhaps he could give you some hints on how to calm your nerves; if that was the issue? In all fairness the drummer is often the most hypnotic act when you go to see a band, because they tend to get so into the performance and their arms are everywhere, they're doing a little trick with their drumstick whilst waiting for their next cue etc... Other than that, that was an outstanding first gig lads, and I'm very proud of you. If you ever see them advertised as being the support act again, or even being the headlining act - I would most definitely recommend that you go and see them, for £4 you couldn't complain!! Congratulations on your successful first gig lads, I really enjoyed it. You have a bright future ahead of you within the music industry.