13.3.17

The Fallen Leaves + King Mojo + Sound Reaction. Westgarth Social Club. 11.03.17.



Back to the Westgarth Social Club for what promises to be a decent gig tonight. Great little venue that consistently puts on decent bands by promotors that are working hard to bring live music to Middlesbrough.
As usual the Westgarth’s windows are rattling as I approach. Not sure what’s going on in the upstairs venue (it’s loud) but tonight’s gig is downstairs. 
Sound Reaction are on stage delivering their 60’s mod influenced rock. Standing at the bar buying a drink I hear the lyrics “Punk rock radio, we’re dressed up and ready to go.” And then “Buzzcocks said they’ll always love you more.” The mere mention of the greatest band in the world means I like Sound Reaction straight away. For now. Punk rock they aint. Guitar heavy garage rock they are. Pub rock. In fact, the more I listen to them I’m not sure which genre they fit in.  A quick check of their Facebook page confirms my opinion – “…enjoy playing a few different genres of music.” I find my mind wandering. Credit to them though – when they’re asked by people in the crowd to play a song by Kings Of Leon they don’t. No covers tonight, original songs only. It’s a good attitude to have.
Sound Reaction Facebook.
Sound Reaction 4 track Walking The Streets EP  here.

Sound Reaction

Sound Reaction

Sound Reaction

King Mojo are loud. And fast. Powerful and catchy. Guitar driven garage rock with more than an appreciative nod towards The Jam, Small Faces etc. Songs such as ‘The Reaper’, ‘Ejector Seat’, ‘No Turning Back’, ‘5th Time Around’ are delivered with energy by four clearly talented musicians. The inclusion of a Hammond organ, driven along by the increasingly enthusiastic Tetley, take them a step higher than most such bands. They’re tight and as they blast through their set they seem to get more and more in to what they are doing. King Mojo grab the audience and by the time they close with ‘Like You Always’ they’ve drummed up a great atmosphere.
King Mojo - Facebook.

King Mojo

King Mojo

King Mojo

King Mojo



The Fallen Leaves are brilliant. They get better and better. It’s all helped by the superb sound. It really is good and makes you wonder why, if someone can get a PA to sound this good in a tiny room that probably holds 100 people max, big venues with big budgets so often get it wrong.
The Fallen Leaves have a new album out. ‘What We’ve all Been Waiting For’ isn’t officially released until later in the month but it’s for sale tonight and we’re treated to some songs from it. 'Prodigal Son', 'Lavender Girl', 'Motorcycle Girl' slot in perfectly alongside favourites such as ‘Trouble’ and ‘My Phantoms’.  “Simple songs for complex people”. I’m not sure these songs are simple. They’re tight, tuneful, foot tappingly catchy, loud, danceable, sing alongable, jangly garage punk songs. Rob Green’s unique voice complements Rob Symmons infectious guitar playing. Symmons really does give his Telecaster hell. Matthew Karas on bass and Buddy Ascott on drums provide a tight, infectious backdrop to the vocals and guitar. Whilst acknowledging the influence of early Who and bands such as the Ramones it’s fair to say that The Fallen Leaves are unique. The Fallen Leaves sound like The Fallen Leaves.
At 50 minutes it’s a short set. But it’s a great set. Promoter Dave Griffiths said later that The Fallen Leaves reckoned it was the best they’d ever played. Imagine just how good that actually is.
Brilliant gig.
The Fallen Leaves website.
Facebook - Facebook.
The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves

The Fallen Leaves


6.3.17

X-Ray Cat Trio + Shrug + Snakerattlers. Westgarth SC. Middlesbrough. 03.03.17.

A few pics for now.
Words when I've got time to write them.
Excellent night of proper rock n roll.

Shrug

Shrug

Shrug

Shrug

Snakerattlers

Snakerattlers

Snakerattlers

Snakerattlers

Snakerattlers

X-Ray Cat Trio

X-Ray Cat Trio

X-Ray Cat Trio

5.3.17

Trash Talk + Youth Man + Parks. Newcastle Think Tank?. 02.03.17.




It’s Thursday night, it’s bloody freezing, I’ve driven 78.7 miles to get here (according to AA Route Planner), then driven around Newcastle for 25 minutes before finally grabbing a parking spot and all I’ve had to eat is a service station sandwich. Tonight had better be good.
Actually I’m here because I want to be. I know very little about the bands I’ve come to see but I like my punk rock, like live punk rock even more and particularly like small venues that work hard to keep places open for bands to play. And I’ve said I’ll take a few photographs.
Youth Man + Trash Talk. I’m particularly looking forward to Youth Man but not so much Trash Talk.
I turn up just as the doors are opening, get myself a pint and am surprised that there’s actually three bands playing not two. And what a great surprise it turns out to be. First up are Parks. A young three piece band I’m assuming are local. They’ve been together for a year yet the confidence they show on stage belies this fact. Tight, noisy, tuneful and always on the right side of thrashy/shouty (ie  not too ..). This old punk likes them immediately. Young people need a band like this. Attitude, energy and a stage presence. Jamie Slesser on drums and Ben Davidson on bass hold it all together whilst Sam Grice bounces round his small area of stage giving it all on guitar and vocals. Slesser beats hell out of his kit while Davidson fixes a point on the back wall with a hypnotic stare. I’m not sure if this is intended or whether it’s to avoid eye contact with people he knows in the crowd. Either way it works.
They do just five songs. ‘You, You, You’ is fast, jump up and down, punk rock. Proper punk rock. Punk rock that will appeal to the young and the old traditionalists. Single ‘Breathe’ is darker, heavier, grungier. ‘Pamela’, ‘Just Like .’ and ‘Ice Tea’ make up the rest of the (too) short set list
A quick exchange with them reveals they state Joyce Manor, Title Fight and Cerebral Ballzy as influences. I can hear others – recent Kevin Devine album Instigator springs to mind as do older tunes by bands such as Dinosaur Jr or even Codeine (if they were speeded up a bit). All good stuff and if you like any of these you’ll like Parks. The influences are there but Parks do things their way and no one could ever accuse them of copying.
Parks will be bigger soon. They won’t be third on the bill for many more gigs. They work hard on stage and have songs that, once recorded and out there, will be picked up by more than your so called hard core teenagers.
Parks can be found on Facebook.
Single ‘Breathe’ can be found on Soundcloud and Spotify.

Parks

Parks

Parks

Parks

Parks

Parks




Youth Man explode with energy from the second they hit the stage. Opening with ‘Sweet Apples’ from recent release ‘Wax’ it’s a set of non-stop, hardcore, screeching, gritty punk. Fast, loud, intense, powerful. This is a band that don’t let go from start to finish. ‘Valley Girls’ and ‘Pigs’ follow quickly – “Gluttonous. The human species. Every one of us full of lust.” Read into that what you will but it’s a perfect statement about today’s materialistic society and general attitude towards life by too many people.
‘Fat Dead Elvis’ –“This is an encore that nobody asked for” – three and a half minutes of pounding drums, guitar riffs and Kaila Whyte’s unrelenting screaming vocals. It’s the longest song they play tonight. Bang, bang, bang – you get into one song then without warning it’s over and your brain is pummelled with the next one.
‘Joy’ almost slows things down a little. Almost. “I’m standing in a pool of cold blood”, it’s hardly a song to help you calm down. ‘Look Wait’ powers through and is over in just 70 seconds.
And so it continues. Whyte screaming her lyrics, owning the stage, guitar head almost taking out the front few in the crowd as she thrashes it around like a maniac.
2013 single ‘Heavy Rain’, ‘Statuesque’ (I’ve not heard this before) and ‘Skin’ from 2015 EP ‘Hill Of Knives’ close the set in a blisteringly fast wall of noise. It’s raw and it’s honest.


Facebook here.
Music, merch etc here.

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man

Youth Man





And so to Trash Talk. I’ve been going to gigs for the best part of 40 years. I’ve witnessed moments I just want to put on repeat forever. I’ve also seen some shite. But I’ve only ever walked out of three gigs because they were so awful. This was one of them. It would be unfair to say why and I’d only get a load of abuse because after all I’m just an old punk. Other people clearly loved this band. That’s all I need to say.