The year 2020 will forever be remembered as the time that everything changed and the world as we once knew it changed forever. Former Kyshera main man James Kennedy must have had a touch of the mystic Meg about him when writing and recording this prophetic sonic masterpiece earlier this year. In a world obsessed by Brexit and Trump it seemed that this era couldn't get any more surreal, how wrong we were, enter a virus ‘Made In China’ to completely change everyone's lives.
The cover emblazoned with Russian style revolutionary Politik imagery and calligraphy sets up the listener for the revolutionary call to arms that is contained herein. Even the albums title is a jibe at Trump’s rabble rousing slogan of Make America Great Again (I for one will not be able to see a MAGA baseball hat on a redneck without thinking of James and this aural Tour de Force)
Lydon once enamoured us with the notion ‘Anger is an Energy’ and James picks up the gauntlet on opener The Power. I had always thought of Kyshera as being like an angry Muse, well James solo is like an even angrier Kyshera and this track gives us a taste of things to come with its accompanying video initially banned by youtube only adding to the revolutionary nature of the album.
The angst comes thick and Fast on nearly all the tracks and they all have positively filthy guitar riffs and shouty up and at 'em chorus’. Solace In Sickness is almost a ballad by comparison but the anger is still there and it is probably my favourite track on the collection closely followed by Autopsy.
Kick out the jams kids and get yourselves some short sharp revolutionary kicks, i heartily recommend James’ accompanying book Noise Damage also just released for the background behind the making of this Rock n Roll Underdog from the South Wales Valleys.
CHRIS PHILLIPS
KEEP CARDIFF LIVE
THE PANDEMIC TAPES - COACHES (SELF RELEASED - OUT NOW)
The year 2020 is probably not an ideal time to start a new musical project given that there is no chance of any live performances on the other hand it gives the opportunity to hone your songwriting and get an outfit tight as a drum before being unleashed on an unforgiving public.
Londoner Jake Hussey came to Wales with an impressive set of songs composed Prince like in demo form, a chance work encounter with drummer James Phillips led to them discovering that they had many similar musical influences (more of that later), the band grew during lockdown to include Jake’s brother George Hussey on rhythm guitar / vocals, Ceri Ellis on lead guitar/vocals and Kirsty Thomas on Bass/vocals, all veterans (yet still in their twenties) of various local ensembles. Coaches take their name from the Coach and Horses pub in Abergavenny where all the guys n gals used to meet to for a weekly pub quiz and to plan world domination.
This reviewer has been reviewing bands and artists since the late eighties and musically the valleys have been a hot bed of metal and punk which is fine by me but it is rare that I receive an Indie gem such as the Pandemic Tapes, emblazed with nods to the past but with a fresh urgency that bodes well for the future. The E.P. opens up with Control Us a frenzied call to arms which has all the raw emotion of the Manic Street Preachers in their You Love Us era, Weight Of The World has 100 MPH guitar ala Gedge in the Wedding Present prime and a big shouty chorus.
The pace slows on Surreal with a haunting melody with shades of Oasis with a sprinkling of Fontaines D.C. bass underpinning it all, a heady cocktail indeed. Don’t Listen To The Crowd gets the buzzing chainsaw revving again with a feel of second wave British Punk to deliver a short sharp shock. Purgatory is cut from similar cloth and has shades of S.L.F. (interesting has a major influence is Greenday in the band bio, memories of the fabulous Hi Fidelity film).
These six songs make a great opening statement and the guys save the best till last, Dreamers is like the Stone Roses vocalising over The Cure guitar meanderings. On this evidence 2020 not been a total right off for music. Coaches have taken a blend of influences and mixed them together to make for a welcome tonic in these troubling times.
Live Music be back soon and to paraphrase Frank Zappa, Don’t make a fuss and get on the …….Coach.
Chris Phillips
Keep Cardiff Live
Looking Back: Van Halen in the Capital
In light of the sad news of Eddie Van Halen’s tragic passing, we at KCL pay our respects and look back at when the legendary guitarist and his band visited the capitol supporting Bon Jovi.
The Balance Tour was a concert tour by hard rock band Van Halen promoting their album Balance. It was dubbed the "Ambulance" Tour by Eddie Van Halen due to his hip injury caused by avascular necrosis, and his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen wearing a neck brace for most of the tour, due to rupturing three vertebrae in his neck. Consequently, Eddie was a lot more static on stage. This would be the group's last tour with Sammy Hagar on vocals until 2004, when he briefly rejoined the band for a tour. The opening night in Pensacola, and a combination of footage from the two Toronto shows were broadcast on Pay-Per-View.
The Filth & The Fury - The Sex Pistols (not) in Cardiff
14/12/1976 Top Rank, Cardiff – CANCELLED
It should have been at Cardiff's Top Rank Suite on 14 December 1976, but the month found the UK's most notorious band since the rabble rousing Rolling Stones, with the Sex Pistols British tour rapidly disintegrating around them.
There were councils in uproar following the band, plus hangers on, appeared on Bill Grundy's Tonight Show, a late replacement for Queen, turning the air blue, much of which prompted by a rather less-than-sober Grundy, causing a tabloid meltdown with newspapers calling for the venues to cancel following a tabloid storm unheralded since singer PJ Proby's black hipsters trousers split asunder and derailed his somewhat promising career.
Bizarrely the Pistols had already played three Welsh gigs earlier in the year mainly slipping in and out under the radar without any fuss but with the Anarchy tour almost in tatters and Cardiff a no go, The gig was moved to Caerphilly's Castle Cinema, Itself not without controversy as the local media pitched in to get it banned with angry readers firing off letters of protest. It even prompted a cartoon by great cartoonist Gren in the following morning's South Wales Echo.
But the gig went ahead and the locals prepared for hordes of violent punks to descend on the small valley town to cause mayhem, but nothing could be further from the truth. Band mates and a smallish crowd ran the gauntlet of carol singer protesters, the concert, that also featured The Clash and The Damned went ahead with hardly a word out of place and locals scratching their heads and wondering what all the fuss was about.
The video below goes some way to explaining what happened back in 1976.
RETRO REVIEW: THE FOALS CARDIFF UNIVERSITY 28/09/2008
WITHOUT doubt one of the more inventive and original bands around at this present time, Foals have had a meteoric rise in both popularity and critical acclaim since their debut release Antidotes hit the stores like a breath of fresh air earlier this year.The five-piece Oxford band, fronted by singer and accident-waiting-to happen Yannis Philippakis, have a certain cool about them that makes other skinny-jeaned, indie wannabes look average in sound and performance, when compared to this charismatic bunch.I’ve always been a sucker for their type of punk-funk laced with electronic blips and spiky rhythms and with a tight bass and drum combo driving away in the background they easily set the feet tapping and the more energetic jumping along to their highly danceable groove punctuated with their quirky and interesting guitar interplay. While their recordings are to be admired, it’s live that the band really excels and they didn’t disappoint their energetic Cardiff following with an exciting and oddly amusing performance.You can certainly detect some of their influences with early Talking Heads and XTC, the most notable especially in songs like Hummer and Balloons with both receiving a rapturous response bettered only by the superb Cassius causing bedlam among the audience.Musically the band were in top form with both Philippakis and Jimmy Smith on guitar trading syncopated, choppy rhythms complemented by keyboardist Edwin Congreave’s electro-techno decoration while Jack Bevan (drums) and Walter Gervers (bass) provided the glue that kept the band together with a driving backbeat. Easily one of the bands to see at the moment and if you missed them, here’s hoping for a quick return for Foals.
Tony Woolway
Chris Difford – The Some Fantastic Place Tour – with Boo Hewerdine
Acapela Studio - 15/04/2018
Acclaimed by many as the 'other half' of one of pop's most enduring and loved duos with Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford is noted for his kitchen-sink type lyrics that have been a feature of his band Squeeze's career that many have enjoyed since they hit the music scene back in the late 70s.
From fresh-faced lads to middle-aged spread their talent for wonderfully composed, catchy songs helped them become the public's go to band, a pick me up for the times and guaranteed to put smiles on the faces.
But behind the music, Difford dealt with some seriously bad times with addictions and stress, the fall out of being involved in a industry that doesn't look after their casualties too well.
Fortunately for Difford, the dark times documented in his book, Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze are in the past and he spares no punches when detailing his life, both the good and the bad times.
Whilst Squeeze the band continue to delight with regular tours, it's the intimate gigs like this one at the Acapela Studios that provides fans with a different insight into the songs and the stories behind them. Songs are broken down, dissected and given new life with the lyrics much more prominent in the acoustic mix.
With the equally talented Boo Hewerdine opening, and providing backing to Difford it was an evening to savour. Hewerdine's songs in his shortish set provided the perfect foil to Difford who followed and with his song American TV, a homage to the TV of his youth, it was one of the evening's stand out moments and would in most cases be hard to follow.
Yet Difford is a consummate professional and with a back catalogue to die for, what to leave out must have been a difficult yet the Squeeze songs he covered fitted effortlessly in with his solo material, another feature of the evening, with Battersea Boys and Sobriety showing Difford at his storytelling best.
As you would expect the Squeeze material produced a sing-a-long effect on the sold out crowd which included Take Me I'm Yours. Goodbye Girl, Tempted and Cool For Cats, to name but a few, interspersed with enthralling tales from his book.
I'd advise anyone with even the faintest of interest in Squeeze to next time. if near you, to get out and witness the genius of the man that is Chris Difford.
Retro Review: Tom Robinson Band
The Globe, Cardiff - 17/10/2017
1978 and a background of economic and political turmoil, a desperate time for teenagers looking for anything to express the anger and frustration, punk had fuelled the youthful angst of a generation. But although punk had started a movement with the exception perhaps of The Clash it lacked Articulate and musical songs to catch the imagination and political influence.
Then along came a band and an album to change that. Power in the Darkness The Tom Robinson Band brought a new intelligence and musicality blended with political comment and vision of a desolate future.
40 years on and the Tom Robinson Band appear at the Globe performing Power In The Darkness in its entirety to a vociferous crowd, not teenagers this time, but teenagers now in their 50’s and just as passionate about this album and it’s message as shown by the tremendous reception of Robinson and every song performed.
From the first chords of ‘Up Against The Wall’ to the brilliant passion of ‘Too Good To Be True’ and the title track every word spat out with passion.
It’s not the same line up but it’s the same message and same anger 40 years on, Robinson amazingly still keeping the venom in his vocals, still meaning every word, with guitarist Adam Phillips’s fierce and melodic sounds on his Les Paul proving fire to Robinson’s thunderous bass lines, and Andy Treacey playing the drums like a man possessed, Jim Simmons completes the driving and powerful sound on keyboards.
In between the frenetic, hard paced set, Robinson explains how the album had two sides as did all albums before the introduction of CDs and only lasted just over 40 minutes but the magic that was in those grooves still stands defiantly in tonight’s performance as it did in its original time.
Power in the Darkness was simply a great album of great songs reflecting a period of change and political movement. Robinson continued after the album performance with familiar favourites to fans ‘Martin’ and ‘Glad to be gay’ and of course the one everybody knows the his breakthrough hit 2-4-6-8 Motorway.
Tom sealed the mood of the night with ‘Don’t Take No For An Answer’ to finish Robinson standing with the band looking drained from a full on performance, a man in his sixties still giving every word and note true feeling.
As he commented 40 years on and what has really changed? Still politically the world in turmoil and socially people struggling, but his answer to his own question is ‘you still got to keep trying’ he is and the crowd are, the spirit of 78 , that lives on tonight.
I suggest digging out ‘Power In The Darkness’ and giving it a listen, it just might get those hairs on the neck standing.
Retro Review: Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons
The Globe, Cardiff - 22/11/2018
A packed venue on a cold autumn night indicates the popularity of Phil Campbell and the bastard sons making a return to home ground before venturing into Europe, with a Brand new critically acclaimed album.
Yes the Motörhead faithful are here but there are more than enough Bastard Sons t shirts on display here to show the band have a real following and on the performance it’s not at all surprising.
I must mention Leader of Down as well who were an excellent support band and really got the crowd going, well worth checking out their album Cascade into Chaos.
Phil steps onto the stage with sons Todd,Tyler and Dane and Neil Starr on vocals and it’s straight into Ringleader a Motörhead similar drive and power Style guitar anthem, there is also plenty of diversity in the set, the groovy riff of Freakshow, welcome to Hell Metallica style guitar chords and the catchy Riffed Big Mouth.
Dark days has a Southern Blues feel, and Step into the fire classic power chords and riffs with a modern flavour and killer solo.
There’s plenty of crowd participation encouraged by Starr who’s voice seems to have been inspired by classic rock and bodes well on the different styles performed by the band, Danes drumming is a power house that drives the set and compliments Tyler’s solid Bass and allows Todd and of course Phil to play the trademark Solos displayed in High Rule and Get on your Knees.
The classic Motörhead tunes are also here, Ace of Spades, Bomber, Just’cos you’ve got the power and Going to Brazil, and a fitting tribute of Silver Machine by Hawkwind to all Motörhead members not with us anymore all sounding excellent.
This is Rock music as it should be tightly performed and crowd pleasing but with the bands own originality stamped on it.
Phil Campbell and the Bastard sons are not just reliant on The popularity of Motörhead but have their own style complimented by a quality album and musicians, of course Phil is a legend and after over 30 years of being in Motörhead is the best man to be performing their songs, but the band really have much more to offer and deliver.
If you missed this sold out gig catch them next time you will not be disappointed.