INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW DAY 1

GIG: International Pop Overthrow – Day 1
DATE:: Tuesday 15th May 2012
VENUE: The Cavern Pub & Cavern Club (Front Stage and Live Lounge)
COST: All free
OUR VERDICT: Poptastic!

The International Pop Overthrow in Liverpool hosts over 150 artists, across 5 stages, ranging from solo acts with an acoustic guitar to full on rock bands covering different music styles form folk, pop, rock and everything in between!!!!
During our time at the festival, we can’t see every artist / band, but we do aim to see as many as we can. Some of the bands / artists just aren’t our cup of tea, some are good and some are just pure nuggets and our blog is a personal account of what we thought of each day, highlights and lowlights included.

David Bash launches the IPO

Day One kicked off at the Cavern Pub and not overly impressed with the band that started the festival off, we found one of our IPO nuggets with the second band on the bill, Magic Eight Ball, (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Magic-Eight-Ball/136714362223).

From Egham, this band is a mix of Jellyfish, Manic Street Preachers, with a bit of Neil Finn thrown in. They have  great melodies in their songs and a fantastic sound which just got the vibe pumping through your body and your feet tapping.

Magic Eight Ball

The main vocalist, Baz has a terrific voice and had a great look .Dressed in a striped fitted jacket and polka dot trousers, if Nicky Wire won a three minute trolley dash through BIBA in 1970, this is what he’d look like! Great backing harmonies came from the drummer, who gets our vote for the best smile of the IPO.
Off stage, you couldn’t wish to meet a nicer bunch of people either. 2 CDs in the bag already and we were only an hour into the IPO! Impressed? We were.

Next up, Johnny Monaco & the Traitors,  (www.johnnymonaco.com)  a Chicago based musician who is touring in the UK at the moment.

Johnny Monaco & The Traitors

This was a seasoned performer, going straight into each song without any need for discussion with the band. Johnny had a bit of an Elvis Costello sound about him, great vocals. His set was really good although the mic for the backing vocal could have been a tad higher.

Always Something There to Remind Me

The tempo slowed down for a cover of “In My Life” and then went into a stonking rendition of “Always Something There To Remind Me”, for which Baz from Magic Eight Ball joined him…….. that was a totally FAB version and Baz’s vocals blended superbly. Johnny’s performance was tight, well-rehearsed and got a great response from the audience.



The Montanas, from the Netherlands have been at many of the Liverpool IPO’s and have never disappointed us. Being a four-piece, of which 3 are brothers, you would expect the vocals to blend together with great harmonies and they do just that! The pub was pretty packed, as the band seemed to have brought along their own WAGs and friends, but even without their entourage, this band was a big hit with the audience.

The Montanas

They rocked right the way through their set, with the two guitarists taking their turn with the lead vocals which sounded superb, while giving us some really great riffs. A highlight was “Josie” which we have heard a few times at previous IPOs and a new song they have co-written with David Lloyd (of the Suns).



We headed across the street then to the Cavern Club, and the first act gracing the front stage were a local trio called The Dockers. Another IPO nugget.

The Dockers

This band look young but are really, really great musicians. The bass guitar had LED lights on the fret board, and the guy playing it was a dab hand at playing slap bass (Level 42 style). Their set was a mixture of rocking and slap bass, really strong drumming, a few guitar shreds and lovely vocals and harmonies – all the ingredients needed for a terrific Powerpop band. Their final song started softly, with just the guitarist and bass player harmonising (which sounded not dissimilar to the Everly Brothers) before hitting right between the eyes with a full on rock number to close the set! We hope we hear more from this band.

Next up, The Soundcasters, (https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/thesoundcasters/) a band we have seen twice before at the IPO and love. Their songs are a mix of Mod, Ska and Pop (and it can be all within the same song!), with changing tempos. These guys seem to enjoy what they are doing, if the way they bounce around the stage is anything to go by.

The Soundcasters rock the Front Satge

Really enjoyed their set which had some of the songs we’ve grown to love after seeing them over the last couple of years (Pauline and a cover of a James brown song “I Don’t Mind”) plus a couple of new ones. Although we didn’t get across to the Pub for their second set later in the evening, we understand it was completely different and had more of their new material. Their second set apparently included “Just a Gigalo” with some great acapella harmonies. Sorry we missed that.

The Ace

The Ace, (http://www.myspace.com/theaceuk) from Leeds were up next. We had forgotten just how good this band is and they would not be out of place playing at a Dirty Water gig. Their songs are raw mod rock, with great guitar licks and you find yourself singing along to the “ba ba ba ba boos” and they have the maddest drummer of the IPO so far!!
Vocals were shared between the guitarist and the bass player, each sounded great and worked really well together.  “Go-Go Girl” was a highlight for us – a real 60’s mod beat. Another CD in the bag for us.


Next up for us, in the Cavern Live Lounge (Back Stage) was another local band, The Suns. This is another band we have seen a few times at the IPO, and again, really enjoyed catching them.

David Lloyd - The Suns

Their songs have a soft, melodic sound to begin with, building into a great pop sound with pop energy in all the right places. David Lloyd’s vocals were spot on today – he sounded great. Their set included a few new songs which we felt worked really well and the standing-room-only crowd appreciated them too. We look forward to the new songs being recorded and released on the next album.


Back to the front stage and Spygenius (www.spygenius.co.uk) were next up for us. After a few technical problems with the keyboard, their set got underway. Lots of surf guitar verb from the 12 string Italia.

Their set included “California Sunshine” during which the vocals from all the band members really gelled and sounded so summery. From that point on they didn’t look back and delivered a high energy, powerpop set which ended with one our favourites “Surf”.  This band is playing the London IPO, so go see them!

Spygenius

Dashing back to the Live Lounge, we caught the second performance from Magic Eight Ball. It was quite late and the audience had dwindled (being a week night) so many people would unfortunately miss out on the experience of seeing this band. Seeing them for the second time just re-enforced our opinion of how good Magic Eight Ball are.

Magic Eight Ball

The Live Lounge has a much fuller sound than the Pub, and the backing vocals from the drummer came through much stronger. They have some really great songs, a bit of country and rockabilly mixed in and Baz once again delivered a stellar performance, with awesome vocals, and if he was disappointed at the dwindling audience, he didn’t show it.



Ashbury Keys, (www.ashburykeys.com) from Houston, Texas were up next. This band suited the Live Lounge stage, delivering a fantastic energy filled powerpop set. The audience had dwindled again, but Ashbury Keys gave it their all and we really liked what we heard.

The guitar was great and the vocals sounded great. Their energy reminded us of The Gaslight Anthem, and we got a copy of their latest EP, which we look forward to spinning. This is a band we hope to catch again at the IPO.


Last but no means least, almost playing the graveyard shift was a local band, 20lb Sounds. The last slot of a mid-week night is a tough gig to play but the three piece did not let that deter them. The programme described them as “bluesy roots rock” and with the appearance of a harmonica that rang true. Not a bad set, but nothing really stand out great for us.

 So ended night number one. A great start and a very hard standard set!

Total number of bands seen = 12
Number of bands seen twice today = 1

ALBERT HAMMOND

GIG: Albert Hammond Songbook
DATE: Monday 7th May 2012
VENUE: The Stables, Wverley, Milton Keynes
COST: £16.50
OUR VERDICT:

coming soon

LOS FANTASTICOS

GIG: Los Fantasticos
DATE: Sunday 6th May 2012
VENUE: The Horse & Groom, Brighton
COST: free
OUR VERDICT:

coming soon

TOM TOOMEY

GIG: Tom Toomey
DATE:: Saturday 14th April 2012
VENUE: The Stables, Waverley, Milton Keynes
COST: £10
OUR VERDICT:

coming soon

LEICESTER INDIEPOP ALLDAYER

GIG: Leicester Indiepop Alldayer
DATE: Saturday 24th March 2012
VENUE: The Firebug, 1 Millstone Lane, Leicester, LE1 5JN
COST: £7 in advance
OUR VERDICT: Leicester’s got a crush on you

LINKS:

www.myspace.com/bmxbanditsgroup

www.facebook.com/pages/Serious-Drugs-The-Film-About-BMX-Bandits/108397285893794

www.mjhibbett.co.uk

www.myspace.com/tendertrap

The format of the day was forty five minutes for each of the eight bands on the bill, including set up and take down time, which gave about 30 minutes actual playing time (not unlike the International Pop Overthrow). By the time we got there, the second band was coming to the end of their set.

The third band on the bill was The Sweet Nothings – a three piece who seemed to be well rehearsed with lots of off-beat (and totally unnecessary) time signatures. The vocals came from the guitarist who had a bit of an Emo Phillips haircut. They sang about “Peace, Love & International Socialism”, the Daily Mail and one that made The Beeb smile, called “She’s An Accountant!” Not a bad start, we agreed.

As the next band set up, we thought “oh a bit of a Honeycombs type look” with a girl drummer…… appearances can be deceptive, as Anguish Sandwich sang about The Bermuda Triangle and we wished that they had found it! They kicked off the set at a frenetic pace, with the lead vocalist screaming into the mic, with a really high pitched voice. Towards the end of their 30 minutes, things did slow down a little and they sounded a bit better as their songs gained a half-decent beat, but this was not our cup of tea at all.

Next up was a band who never actually introduced themselves, so we are assuming the band noted on the bill was them (!) – Just Handshakes (We’re British). We felt this band had not been together very long and were very unsure of themselves and their set list as the gaps between each song was really drawn out as they all looked at one another as if to say “What’s next?”. They just didn’t flow. The girl who was the lead vocalist, behind a Moog and a keyboard, had a marshmallow voice – sweet and sickly with little substance. No power behind it at all. The Beeb picked up on a comment she made as the set was drawing to a close, “I have 2 more songs for you” as though she had forgotten there was a band behind her!!!

Then the evening really warmed up, as one of the highlights of the day took to the stage. Putting aside the fact that the lady who shared vocals was the spitting image of The Beeb’s sister, MJ Hibbett & the Validators was a FUN band. They have obviously played together a lot – they were very comfortable with their music and set list and had brought their own audience who knew the words and dance steps to what we felt was a terrific song called “Do The Indie Kid”. With everyone dancing, the floor shook!
Their set included some songs from (what we would describe as a concept album) called “Dinosaur Planet”, plus another good song “My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once”

MJ Hibbett & The Validators

It’s not often you see a violin in an indie band, but this worked perfectly throughout the set. They impressed us so much we purchased the CD’s and vinyl single immediately afterwards. We actually ended up with 3 CD albums, an EP and two vinyl singles. Plus, one of the CD’s at least, has another album worth of downloads on it. This was worth the entrance fee alone.

Next up was The Rosie Taylor Project. The set up included a trumpeter. They had a laid back, melodic beat, but we felt the lead singer was a bit miserable, only seemed to know one chord on the guitar and even had the band sit out one song while he did a solo gig! Having said that, the audience was a bit disrespectful, with many people chattering through their set, something we had not noticed while any of the other bands were playing.

Last and certainly not least on the bill was a five piece (but centred on three lassies) called Tender Trap. Wowzer! Minty absolutely loved them – a 60’s type girl group who kick ass! Their songs were short, punchy, and full of harmony and sounded absolutely terrific. They pitched a couple of songs form their forthcoming album, one of which they wanted as the single (“Step One”) and the other (“Kings Cross”) the record company wants as the single. From the audience “clap-ometer” there was not much in it, but we felt the former probably had a bit more commercial oomph to it. We felt this band would go down a storm at the International Pop Overthrow sometime.

Tender Trap

With the bands packed away and the stage cleared of the drum kit, the time came for the main attraction for us – the screening of Jim Burns’ music documentary “Serious Drugs – The Film About BMX Bandits”. It was exactly what it said on the tin….. celebrating twenty five years of that great Scottish band the BMX Bandits. The amount of music they have given us in that timeframe is phenomenal, and the credits at the end of the film just reiterated just how big their back catalogue is. The documentary is extremely well thought out and put together, covering the various line ups of the band over time and touching at times on the sensitive topic of depression but overall, commemorating the music the Bandits has released to the world since 1986.
We really hope that there is a DVD release of this, but in the meantime, if you have the opportunity to catch a screening of the film, then go see it. You won’t be disappointed.

The night ended with a short Q&A with the producer & director Jim Burns and BMX Bandit head honcho Duglas T Stewart. Unfortunately it was shortened as the “host” had had a lot to drink through the day and couldn’t put two sensible words together. But not before The Beeb made him look like the total buffoon he was, with one of his acerbic bits of repartee. It was good to hear the audience laugh at the idiot. (The host, not The Beeb.)

Both Duglas and Jim showed amazing stoicism with the host – a bit of grin and bear it! All the questions thrown at them were answered interestingly and informatively. Of real interest to us, was finding out the wonderful BMX Bandits 25th Anniversary gig we attended in Glasgow (see http://mintyandthebeeb.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/bmx-bandits.html)  could very well be on the DVD release.

PADDY CASEY

GIG: Paddy Casey
DATE: Saturday 10th March 2012
VENUE: The Oliver Plunkett, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork, Ireland
COST: €15 on the door
OUR VERDICT: Irish Charm

Links:
www.facebook.com/pages/Paddy-Casey/23408360005
www.myspace.com/paddycasey

ARGENT

GIG: Argent

DATE: Saturday 4^th February 2012

VENUE: O2 Academy (Shepherds Bush Empire), Shepherds Bush Green, London

COST: £25.00 plus the usual extortionate booking fees!

OUR VERDICT: Heads Held High

www.rodargent.com

www.russ-ballard.de

Although it was snowing when we headed out to London’s Shepherds Bush Empire, we were determined not to miss this gig – the last night of a short, six date UK tour with the original members, Rod Argent (vocals and keyboards/organ), Russ Ballard (vocals & guitar), Bob Henrit (drums) and Jim Rodford (bass).

The flakes had trebled in size and were coming down steadily by the time we reached Shepherds Bush Green. We could see the queue outside the Empire (or O2 Academy as it is now called!!!) as we did a circuit of the green in order to find a suitable side road to leave the car.

The show was scheduled to kick off at 8pm, with tonight’s support act, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, who gave us the best part of an hour filled with their melodic rock. Their set had a blend of harmonies with loads of guitar and Danny Wilson’s nimble finger work on his lovely PRS really shone through tonight (he was wasted in Showaddywaddy!).

Argent took to the stage right on time, and hearing the opening to “The Coming of Kohoutek” we settled in for a great night of rock. The set was the same as that just over a year ago when we saw this superb band in the Forum in Kentish Town (refer to our blog from Dec 2010).

The opener was just a smidgen of the song however, a bit of a teaser, before the band went into “It’s Only Money Parts 1 & 2” with Russ Ballard on fine form on guitar and vocals. Minty was happy as our seats were front row, right in front of Russ so she could sit and gawp! J

Rod Argent

Rod Argent then took the lead vocal on “Keep On Rolling” and “Rejoice” and then there was a fab primal drum beat from Bob Henrit for “Dance Of Ages” which included Rod performing his usual magic on his Hammond and Kurzweil (as he did throughout the whole gig).

“Be Free” swiftly followed and then “Sweet Mary” with Rod on lead vocal and some nifty guitar work from Russ included.

“Liar” sounded brilliant and then Russ introduced his favourite song that Rod had written at the tender age of just seventeen – “She’s Not There”, on which Rod played a sweet piano solo for the introduction.

Next up, Russ went to the other side of the stage and took up position by the keyboards to melt our ears with “I Don’t Believe In Miracles” which just gave goosebumps all over it was that good.

Russ Ballard sings "I Don't Believe In Miracles"

“Since You’ve Been Gone” was a particular favourite of Minty’s, when it was a hit by Rainbow. Hearing Russ sing it, is nothing short of brilliant and his guitar intro was awesome.

The night ended with two songs that perhaps Argent are really best known for, “Hold your Head Up” which Rod and Jim sometimes features in their shows with the Zombies, and then “God Gave Rock & Roll To You”.

A great way to end the night – on a total high.

Russ came to the front of the stage to shake hands with some of the audience who were still giving a standing ovation, which included Brian. Russ recognised him, and had a quick word with him which really made The Beeb’s night.

Russ Ballard recognises The Beeb

There was no hanging around afterwards, as the snow had continued to fall during the show which left a treacherous journey home…. taking two and a half hours to cover the 19 mile distance!

The venue had not been a sell-out (indeed we learned the Cardiff show from a couple of nights before had been cancelled), and with the hazardous weather, we suspect some ticket holders had not made the journey into London but those who did seemed to enjoy themselves. We certainly did.

The Flaming Cortinas

Gig: The Flaming Cortinas
Date: Saturday 21st January 2012
Venue: The White Hart Pub, High Street, Old Town, Hemel Hempstead
Cost: all free
Verdict: Flaming great

THE ZOMBIES

GIG: The Zombies 50th Anniversary Tour
DATE: Sunday 27^th November 2011

VENUE: Alban Arena, St Peters Street, St Albans, Herts

COST: £22.50 plus the usual extortionate booking fees! 
OUR VERDICT: The boys come home

www.thezombies.net

www.colinblunstone.co.uk

www.rodargent.com

We’ve seen the touring Zombies many times, and the reformed Zombies (with the four original surviving members) for the Odessy & Oracle Tour a couple of times, but have never seen The Zombies on their home turf. Fifty years since their first gig, the band was back in St Albans playing to a very appreciative, sell-out crowd (which included Rod’s mum!).

This show was the touring Zombies, with Rod Argent (keyboards and vocals), Colin Blunstone (vocals), Jim Rodford (bass), Steve Rodford (drums) and we were seeing the new guitarist Tom Toomey for the first time.

The set was a mixture of old Zombie classics and many new songs from their recent CD, “Breathe Out, Breathe In” and also included some Colin Blunstone solo tracks, such as “What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted” and some Argent songs, “Hold Your Head Up”, and “God Gave Rock & Roll To You”.

Colin Blunstone’s vocals just get stronger and stronger with time, and how he holds that final note for the time he does at the end of “Say You Don’t Mind”, we’ll never know. Flawless is the way we would describe his vocal performance tonight. Rod was right at home behind his Hammond and Kurzweil organs and delivered some stellar vocals too.

A real highlight was Tom’s guitar solo at the end of Colin’s big hit “Old and Wise.” It would have given Dave Gilmour a run for his money. The Beeb can’t remember the last time he heard a better solo.

For the Odessy & Oracle tracks, the audience were really happy to see founder members Hugh Grundy and Chris White join the band on stage, and with Chris’ wife, Viv adding some excellent vocal harmonies, we let some of the O&O songs tingle our ears. It was great to see the guys back together again as a special one-off in the town where it all started fifty years ago……..

“She’s Not There” ended the main part of the night but the audience would not let The Zombies off the hook so quickly and they bade us farewell with the sultry “Summertime”, which had also been used as the main intro music to a recent BBC4 documentary about the Gershwin song.

PAUL MERTON

GIG: Paul Merton - Work In Progress
DATE: Saturday 26^th November 2011
VENUE: Old Town Hall, High Street, Hemel Hempstead
COST: £10.00 and no booking fee
OUR VERDICT: