IPO LIVERPOOL DAY 1 (Tuesday)

The Cavern Pub and Cavern Club
Mathew Street, Liverpool


The annual International Pop Overthrow Festival spans 8 days and features around 150 bands. This festival goes a long way to keep music live and give some great bands the chance to showcase their music to an audience who may never hear about them otherwise.
The artists range from a solo singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar to a full on rock band and loads in between! During the festival we try to see as many artists as possible, some are good, some are not so good, and some are wee nuggets. This blog is our own personal review and where an act may not our cup of tea, they are still worth checking out as they may be yours. 

Bands seen today:
A View of Earth From The Moon, WHY NOT NOW, David Luke, Twister, The Aim, Jose Estragos Band, Edgar Road, The trip Takers, Watchtower, Jack Bartlett, Last Fakers

(we apologise for the quality of the photos - the red lighting in the cavern Pub make decent pics impossible!!)

A View Of Earth From the Moon

The 16th Liverpool IPO kicked off, as always in the Cavern Pub and it started off well.

Jon Fickes, aka A View Of Earth From The Moon had come all the way from Seattle to delight us.

Usually he would have a band, but today he was flying solo, just him, an acoustic guitar and a box full of harmonicas. More often than not, we find that a solo guy trying to so songs usually done with a band fall a bit short, but not in Jon's case. He proved the point that good songs will stand out no matter how stripped down they are.

We suppose you could liken him to Dylan, but his voice is 1000 times stronger and more tuneful. He was everything good about a guy with a guitar on his own. He was also very gracious to the audience, who really did seem to appreciate the 30 minutes. We have to like this guy - any American who says he is looking forward to drinking his weight in Stella in a bit of a bad ass!

Next up was a local band from Liverpool whose name shouts at you because it is all in upper case!! - WHY NOT NOW. Despite some decent backing vocals from the bassist and the other guitarist, the main lead vocals really dominated and whilst he had a strong and distinctive voice, it did get a bit samey after three or four songs. Their set was rocking enough, but the over-powering lead vocal really distracted from what should have been an actual band sound. We think some of the problem may have been down to him. More of that later though.

WHY NOT NOW

David Luke

We had not intended to catch David Luke as our IPO research had revealed him as a covers' artist who uses backing tracks. However, he had a full band behind him today which took
around 25 minutes to set up! Way too long for an IPO set.

Once they got going we were impressed, and surprised to hear original material. The songs were toe tappers and they ended strongly on a song called "Country Girl" which was a bit of a nod to Keith Urban's style. We actually enjoyed their set, although introducing each and every single song with the hoary old "And it goes like this" had some of our company in giggles!

Twister

Next up was Twister. We have seen this heavy rock band last year and in the pub they do more of an acoustic set before wheeling in their Marshall Stacks for their Back Stage slot later on! So, the pub it was then!!!

They look like a heavy rock band - tousled hair, black t shirts and jeans. Both the guitarists are good singers and with the acoustic set, can be heard no problem.

They did Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and really made it their own. We'd like to have seen the electric set, but experience taught us it's not worth the bother as it would have only been good songs made intolerable by painful, unnecessary volume.



We caught the last 20 minutes of the set from The Aim. A bunch of upbeat Cockney lads and a gal. Their sound was mod rock/ska/soul and drew in quite a large gathering in the Back Stage. The lead singer had a lot of character, and their whole set was very energetic. We liked them. You just know they would rock any pub gig they play in.

The Aim

Jose Estragos Band

Spain always delivers at the IPO, and The Jose Estragos Band have appeared just about every year.

It is not often we actually get to see them so we made a point of seeing their Back Stage slot today.

They stay true to their roots with the majority of their set is sung in Spanish, but today the audience were appreciative of covers of "That Thing You Do" and also The Ramones' "California Sun". This is the sound the Cavern was built for!


Edgar Road from Elgin rocked the front stage. The drummer was very good, pounding the tom drum a lot. Their sound was rock infused with a bit of symphonic keyboard without being Prog Rock! The keyboard player really did enjoy herself and her vocals added a lot to the overall sound.

Edgar Road

The Trip Takers

Scicilian band The Trip Takers were one we had really wanted to catch as they have a Mod/Psych with a hint of Beatle sound.

Tonight was not good for them. The sound engineer really struggled to get any balance (again) and everything was muddy. It was obvious the band were not happy and things were not gelling.

Also, maybe their English is not too good as they did not engage with the audience at all....... apparently they had vinyls for sale, but as they did not tell anyone, I guess they did not sell any!

We saw Watchtower in 2015 when they announced at the end of their set that they were calling it a day and splitting up, with the gig that night being their last. We had really liked them so were really pleased to find they have reformed and were on this years' bill.
Even though they were a three piece (as opposed to a four piece in 2015), we were not disappointed. They have personality, and the bass player got a wiggle on from the start, hopping around or shimmying. They had a great beat and the lead singer gave a few interludes from time to time of surf like guitar complete with whammy bar, on his Gretsch. They were fun and finished up on a cover of Led Zep's "Rock and Roll" with the Bass player taking the lead vocal, doing a fine impersonation of Robert Plant. Brilliant set.

Watchtower

Jack Bartlett

All the way from Devon, Jack Bartlett, in a smart Mod style suit and a slightly gravelly voice opened his set by going straight into a cover of The Jam's "That's Entertainment"before he introduced himself.

His set of eleven songs had 7 covers in it. The four songs of original material were actually extremely good, in particular stand out songs were "I Can't Help Myself" and "10,000 Dreams" where you can hear his mod and 60's influence shine through. His original material is usually done with a 5 piece band but the fact that the songs sounded great with just Jack  and an acoustic guitar is testament to the quality of the songs - they really stood out.

We wish he had ditched some of the covers and had the confidence to do more of his own songs.






We stayed for the last band, Last Fakers. This was another band with sound issues, but not really the fault of the sound engineer this time. They just would not turn down, and the drummer beat seven shades of s@@! out of the drums which along with the bass, just drowned out the vocals and the harmonica player. Every time the sound engineer adjusted their volumes, they just turned it all back up. Seriously, there was absolutely no point in the harmonica player being there at all. It was as if none of the band knew what a sound balance was meant to achieve. Each and every one of them seemed to just want to be the loudest. We left sharpish!