Wolfstorm

Image Subject to Copyright

I recently spoke to Nia John, the lead singer of the South Wales rock cover band Wolf Storm. She explains what it was like being in a band through the pandemic, how music will change when concerts are allowed again, and venues prioritising "bigger" artists.

"When live music is allowed again, I think live music will change depending on the venues, and what government restrictions are in place. It will also affect how many people can go to a concert at one time, and the prices will be different too"

I asked Nia how she was affected as a music artist by the pandemic and her response was "We had to stop gigging. The band couldn't meet up to rehearse and we were quite uncertain about our future as a band when we lost two members. However, we adapted to meeting and rehearsing online"

"I think a lot will change when live music starts back up again, there will be more outdoor concerts to start but I think when everyone is vaccinated indoor concerts will be considered again"

"At the moment we only have three gigs booked from three venues who are excited to have us play when they are allowed. Venues have been good with communication and public social media posts. We messaged a few, some respond and some don't, but in all fairness they don't know when live music can recommence or what they can facilitate until it comes from the government"

The last question I asked Nia was her opinion on venues prioritising "Bigger" artists when live music is allowed.
"If it opens up doors for the rest of us and live music as a whole then great. However, in terms of cover bands on the South Wales circuit, there should be fair opportunities for all. I think that the public will struggle to afford the "bigger" artists concerts as I think prices will be more expensive so the venues can become stable again"

It was great speaking to Nia, and I can't wait to see Wolf Storm perform live!

Retro Review 50 Years on Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

All Images Subject to Copyright

50 years ago, 21 May 1971, Marvin Gaye’s eleventh studio album was released.
Unusual in the fact it was a concept album it was also a groundbreaking recording still regarded by many as the best that the mainly singles focused Motown ever produced.

Written and produced by Gaye himself, another first for the label, such is the esteem in which this recording is held, it was named #1 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 of the Greatest albums of all time, and few would argue with that accolade.

Recorded at a very dark time for Gaye, a failing marriage, his longtime duet partner Tammi Terrell had died from a brain tumour, whilst his brother, Frank, had returned home from Vietnam with horror stories that had brought him to tears.

It found Gaye wanting to address social injustice issues in his music, something the label’s Berry Gordy thought would kill his career.

What certainly forced the issue and set the theme for the album was the title track What’s Going On.
After witnessing police brutality in San Francisco, Four Tops singer Obie Benson was prompted to write the song with Motown writer Al Cleveland.

The song eventually found its way to Gaye who agreed to cover it and in Benson’s words, put the finishing touches, adding lyrics and spice to the melody, making it more “ghetto “.
It was just the inspiration Gaye needed to plow headlong into creating such an innovative and significant recording.

With the backing of Motown’s finest musicians, The Funk Brothers, musically and vocally it is Gaye’s crowning glory, an album never to be surpassed from a stable of quite incredible artists.

The rather bizarre fact about the recording of What’s Going On is it almost was never was released as a single and in a stand off with Gordy, Gaye threatened never to record for Gordy again. It eventually sold over 2 million copies and inspired a truly great album.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Marvin Gaye discussed what had shaped his view on more socially conscious themes in music and the conception of his eleventh studio album:

“In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say ... I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home.

I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.”

Tony Woolway

Track listing

1. "What's Going On"
Marvin Gaye Al Cleveland Renaldo "Obie" Benson
3:53
2. "What's Happening Brother"
Gaye James Nyx Jr.
2:43
3. "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)" Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye Elgie Stover
3:49
4. "Save the Children"
Gaye Cleveland Benson
4:03
5. "God Is Love"
Gaye A. Gaye Stover Nyx
1:41
6. "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" Gaye 3:16
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Right On"
Gaye Earl DeRouen
7:31
2. "Wholy Holy"
Gaye Benson Cleveland
3:08
3. "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
Gaye Nyx
5:26

My First Music Memory

Music. In many ways, is as much a part of my life as breathing. I love music, I love going to see my music live. I love listening to my old favourites and some new discoveries.

I love playing music through my amp back at home. I'm not sure my mum appreciates the latter contribution but what can I do, this is her fault anyway.

I don't really get a lot of musical influence from my mum apart from a few weird singles such as the Worzel Gummidge song and Neil from the young ones’ hole in my shoe. But she did start off my love for music initially.

It must have been around 1998-1999 the pre-sister years. At this time, my mum worked for an independent card shop where she would create and produce hundreds and hundreds of handmade, personalised cards. She made these while I was sat in front of the tv or having a nap presumably because at this time I was only around 2-3 and she did this to make some money while looking after me. And when she had completed a few boxes of the cards, we would pack up the boot of her blue Rover Kensington and head to a small town not far from Wrexham (where I live) called Mold.

Mold wasn’t really anything to brag about, it was a nice little town with shops on both sides of the street. Mold boasts that Jonny Buckland from Coldplay grew up there which if you said that to me in my teens I would not care a bit. But now, I'm a Coldplay megafan so to think he walked the streets where I've been is very cool indeed!

Once mum had dropped off her cards to the distributor, we wouldn't go home straight away but instead, we would take a short walk down the street, and turn the corner onto what seemed a street that was always sunny, I can always remember it being sunny there.

I can't remember what the place was called but it was a little cafe/tea room where everything inside matched the colours and details of a china cup with the white and blue floral design. That was already very striking to me as a child. I can remember the smell as if it was yesterday, and they always had a small pot of sugar cubes which fascinated me because it meant I had something to play with while mum was having her tea probably.

Now I really don't know if this song ever played there but it's really intertwined with one another. I can't think of Mold without thinking of the song/band and I can't listen to the band without thinking of Mold tea rooms but my earliest memory was The Beautiful South.

The Beautiful South was a small, insignificant part of my childhood but this has transformed my listening tastes. I'm not a huge fan of modern genres of music, I like good songs with good lyrics and a great tune when I was discovering ‘my band’ I oriented toward The Beatles first and from that grew to like The Kinks and the beach boys and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, that style of music suits very well with me.

The beautiful south to me was a mix of great vocals and a happy tune. Perfect 10 is a lovely tune and I love Rotterdam. The song of theirs that I remember most is You Keep it All In.

This song also takes me to 2017 too, I bonded with a work friend over it, we would break out into songs while cooking in a hot cafe kitchen and it was really great fun in the summer just having a sing with your co-worker.

A small claim to fame on my part is that in the same workplace, I worked with the Julie from ‘song for whoever’ by none other than the beautiful south!

I think it’s incredible that I have a few strong Early Music Memories in my life and The Beautiful South has been there for some of them.

To sum up my first music memory would be the happiness, sunshine and the smell of a coffee shop. fantastic.

Virtual Glastonbury Went Off With a Glitch

The evening of Saturday 22nd May, festival and music enthusiasts alike tuned in to partake in a little pandemic escapism and have the closest thing we could get to the Glastonbury experience- although without the inevitable wading in mud and instead embracing the comfort of your own home. ‘Live at Worthy Farm’ would be filmed at the ground of the world-renowned festival and available to watch all around the world. 

But just like with happenings this past year, things didn’t go quite to plan…

Instead of being able to watch a smoothly run special film shot at Worthy Farm, featuring artists such as Haim, Coldplay and George Ezra, technical glitches were afoot and tampered with the much-anticipated event. 

The problems with the link that ‘Glasthomebury’ goers paid £20 to access failed to work for anyone when it came to logging on for Wolf Alice at 7pm for the first setlist of the evening. Organisers worked quickly and non-stop in order to avoid disappointing those who had been anticipately waiting for a night of fun amongst a chaotic year, and eventually managed to fix it. A free link was released in the end so that it could be accessible for all, and those who had paid were emailed with the offer for a refund.

I have to say though, it didn’t spoil my home Glasto fun. 

Like with many events, it was most enjoyable with others around you, and dressing up to look the part is half the fun. 

Donning Hawaiian shirts and sporting glitter laden faces put me in festival mode, with all that was missing was a fashionable pair of wellies. Just being able to get together with others and have a laugh, a drink or two and have a nigh of distraction and fun was enough in itself. 

The fact that Eurovision was able to entertain in the meantime whilst Worthy Farm experienced difficulties was a huge bonus. There’s nothing that gets you in the party mood quite like some cheesy European anthems paired with eye-catching outfits. So, after some glitzy Eurovision fun, getting on to the Glastonbury livestream was still a joy.

It may not have been quite as upbeat and energetic as what was being streamed live from Rotterdam, but the film itself was beautiful. It was a very laid-back sort of affair, with Haim playing their chilliest, dreamiest songs and Damion Alburn taking a seat at a piano rather than riling up the virtual crowds.

Coldplay arguably brought the most concert-like performance of the evening, with their statement colourful bright lights and upbeat anthems being belted out in front of the structure of the famous Pyramid Stage. Chris Martin’s love for Glastonbury isn’t exactly a secret, so perhaps his passion and enthusiasm for the Somerset festival helped carry the performance across into viewers living rooms. 

There were many who were disappointed with what happened, but I chose to embrace the Glasto spirit and look at the positives. I had a good time with people, we had DIY Glastonbury decorations which cheered everyone up and we managed to watch it in the end and have a good time. It just shows that in this digital age we’re in now that even the giants encounter technicalities, and if over a year of Covid has taught us anything, it’s to have just a little more patience. 

Happy 80th Birthday Bob Dylan

All Images Subject to Copyright

One of the world’s most influential singer/songwriters American Bob Dylan celebrates a milestone today, his 80th birthday.

Robert Zimmerman, legally changed his to Dylan in the early Sixties.

The most commonly accepted version has long been that it was a tribute to Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Later, another theory posited that his pseudonym grew out of an early appreciation for the Matt Dillon character in the TV series Gunsmoke.

The ever-enigmatic Dylan – who told Playboy in 1978 that "I just chose the name and it stuck" – was typically of no help. Long after signing the first management contracts that finalized his new identity, he claimed that Dylan was his mother's maiden name (when it was actually Stone), that there was a Dillon Road in his hometown of Hibbing, Minn., that he took it from the name of a town in Oklahoma and that he had an uncle on his mom's side of the family with a similar name.

He even took shots at Thomas along the way. "Dylan Thomas' poetry is for people that aren't really satisfied in their bed – for people who dig masculine romance," Dylan told The New York Times in 1961. "I didn't change my name in honor of Dylan Thomas: That's just a story," he told Jules Siegel during a 1966 interview quoted in Bob Dylan: The Never Ending Star. "I've done more for Dylan Thomas than he's ever done for me."

Dylan’s been a regular visitor over the years since he first strolled onto the stage in Cardiff in 1966 and left many speechless with an electric set that tested the loyalty of his diehard folk living followers.
The set for his first visit included-

Tell Me,
MommaI Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)Baby,
Let Me Follow You Down
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
One Too Many Mornings
Ballard of a Thin Man
Like a Rolling Stone

It was March 1995 when Dylan next appeared in Cardiff playing the Cardiff International Arena, nearly 30 years later and the following setlist

Setlist

Down in the Flood
Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
All Along the Watchtower
Play Video
Just Like a Woman
Tangled Up in Blue
Born in Time
Mr. Tambourine Man
(Acoustic)
Boots of Spanish Leather
(Acoustic)
Desolation Row
(Acoustic)
Dignity
She Belongs to Me
Maggie's Farm

Encore:
Like a Rolling Stone
It Ain't Me, Babe
(Acoustic)
Highway 61 Revisited

He returned again in 1997 to the same venue.

The 2000s saw Cardiff becoming a regular on Dylan’s tour schedule with an number of visits with the last being 3 May 2017, with the following setlist

Things Have Changed
To Ramona
Highway 61 Revisited
Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
I Could Have Told You
(Frank Sinatra cover)
Pay in Blood
Melancholy Mood
(Frank Sinatra cover)
Duquesne Whistle
Stormy Weather
(Harold Arlen cover)
Tangled Up in Blue
Early Roman Kings
Spirit on the Water
Love Sick
All or Nothing at All
(Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra cover)
Desolation Row
Soon After Midnight
That Old Black Magic
(Johnny Mercer cover)
Long and Wasted Years
Autumn Leaves
(Yves Montand cover)

Encore:
Blowin' in the Wind
Ballad of a Thin Man

Morgan Fisher Part 5 Available Tomorrow!

Image Subject to Copyright

This great series of Vodcasts continues with the Musician that has done everything.

Tomorrow Morgan will chat to Steve Johnson of KCL about his love of Japan, Travels, Meditation, and Spirituality.

All Previous Vodcasts are available on our Youtube channel.

Please Click the Button and Subscribe.

Venues - The Gaumont

The Gaumont

All Images Subject to Copyright

Next up in the series of famous Cardiff venues is The Gaumont. In the Fifties and Sixties it was the visiting place of the early rockers.

Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran visited whilst UK’s very first rock’n’roller Tommy Steele also made an appearance, whilst jazz legend Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald also performed together on the same bill.
Situated in Queen Street it was first a music hall, known as Levino’s Hall, which opened in 1887.

In 1889, it reopened as the Empire Theatre and later, in 1990, The Empire Palace Theatre.

Rebuilding work in 1915 increased the seating capacity from 1725 to 2820, operating as a major theatre on the Moss Empire Theatre circuit.

Having been taken over by the Gaumont British Theatres Corporation, it was converted to a cinema, though still able to provided live entertainment.

It became the Gaumont in 1954 when programmed by the Rank organisation and played back up to the larger Capitol Theatre.

With attendances dwindling, Rank decided to close the Gaumont on 30th December 1961. Live shows which had been ideally suited to the Gaumont’s large stage and backstage facilities were relocated to the Capitol Cinema where there were some stage facilities but larger seating capacity.

After demolition in 1962, a new building for the now-defunct C&A clothing business was built with a large ballroom in the basement initially bearing the "Top Rank" name. This has now been demolished and replaced by a new building for the clothing chain Primark, which by 2014 had become a Matalan store.

And We Have A Winner!

We Have been running a competition in conjunction with The Cardiff City Phone In To coincide with the recent appearance of City legend, Dave Carver on the Phone-In, we're giving away one of our lovely 'CCFC 1927' T Shirts.

The question was how many times Cardiff City won the Welsh Cup during Dave Carver's time with the Bluebirds (1968-1973).

The correct answer was Four

We have Selected a winner at random from the many answers we received.

We are very happy to announce our winner is Clive Lintern.

Clive, please email us at infocardifflive@gmail.com to arrange postage of your shirt.

We would like to say a Big,Big thanks to everyone who entered, Steve Johnson,The Cardiff City Phone In, and of course Dave Carver City Legend.

Please Check Out our Retrovybe store for more T-Shirts and Products.

All sales help us Run KCL

Please Click the Button Below for Link