We’ve swooned, been moved and waxed lyrical with regard to Sarabeth Tucek and her beautiful album ‘Get Well Soon’ a number of times on this here blog. In fact such has been our admiration for
Guest Blog By Shay Rowan. “Throwing Knives” by Christine Owman. “The thought counts, but the action makes the difference”. ‘Circles’ By Christine Owman. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/7216780″ params=”show_comments=false&auto_play=false&color=9b100b” width=”100%” height=”81″ ] ‘Apart’ By Christine Owman. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/7217383″
And so on to part two of our Liverpool Sound City round-up. (PART 1 featuring The Good Natured, Pete And The Pirates and Let’s Buy Happiness can be found HERE And it’s our first rant
Over three hundred bands in just three days across thirty plus venues? It can mean only one thing, Liverpool Sound City is back! And what an amazing three days it was! Highlights included fantastic performances
‘Hey, Hey Moonshine’ By Bird. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/10553324″ params=”show_comments=false&auto_play=false&color=a70d00″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ] Two tunes today, both from my home town of Liverpool. First up is Bird a new Liverpool based band fronted by 22 year old
Yes it’s a new year and a brand new feature replacing the dreadful leaden punning ‘Something For The Weakend‘ posts. Basically it means I’m not restricted or duty bound to post anything every Friday (which
Phew, it’s been a busy old time at VP Towers, what with promoting a new music night (as above) band management, photo shoots, interviews, secret deals, and clandestine assignations, highs lows and everything in between.
“Alcatraz” By Sound Of Guns [soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/vonpip/alcatraz-by-sound-of-guns”] Sound Of Guns are Andy Metcalfe – Vocals –Lee Glynn – Guitar-Nathan Crowley – Guitar John Coley – Bass –Si Finley – Drums You’d think being from Liverpool
Emmy and the band perform a flawless set that when it wasn’t shot through with brilliance is merely magnificent. The crowd were enraptured as Emmy scattered songs amongst them like pearls from a broken necklace, whether it’s the 60s-style girl group pop of “We Almost Had A Baby” or the sparse sublime contemplative beauty of “On The Museum Island” the results were uplifting, moving, and life affirming.
Folk music, bluegrass? I beg your pardon? I have to confess a few years ago the very thought of folk music used to terrify me, I pictured a shallow gene pool which had produced epically bearded Harold Shipman look-alikes roaring “Hey Nonny,Nonny” clad in arran jumpers, morris dancing maniacally around a network of huge wicker men, erected in order to sacrifice much loved actors such as Edward Woodward. I also suspected they had a penchant for marrying their brother’s nephew’s sister’s wives. This was of course silly of me, they don’t all have beards. The fact is, if I were to analyse some of my favourite singers influences , (such as Billy Bragg, Jose Gonzalez, Half Man Half Biscuit, Frank Turner, Shane McGowan) I would have to concede that they have all been heavily influenced by folk . As for Bluegrass, well, I thought this possibly may have been a term for an Everton football hooligan turned police informer; I was of course completely wrong, its not Evertonians but Chelsea fans. Nowadays there seems to be acoustic folk tinged troubadours popping up everywhere, it’s a genre that’s certainly enjoying a revival and has been recently reinvigorated by singer songwriters such as Beth Orton , Laura Marling , Adem, Mumford and Sons, Lucy And The Caterpillar etc. Another name to add to the list is Ragz, she’s a Liverpool based singer songwriter hailing from Norway, and who by chance I caught supporting Laura Marling a few weeks ago at the Zanzibar. To be quite honest I’d never heard of Ragz, I’d thought whilst the support bands were on I’d have a sneaky pint at the bar and text a few people. So when Ragz started her set I was rather blasé and shamefully not giving her my full attention…but then she started to sing……..Good Lord!!!… this is how sailors of yore must have felt when they were drawn towards the rocks mesmerized by a collection of hauntingly beautiful siren songs, thankfully I wasn’t in a boat (which was handy, as I imagine that would contravene most musical venues health and safety regulations ) and besides Ragz looked friendly enough.