Strawberry Fields Forever

Strawberry Fair, Cambridge. View of the annual...Last Saturday week the annual Cambridge Strawberry Fair – a free event that started thirty years ago – was on Midsummer Common. Being fond of music as I am, I signed up as a steward in the acoustic/beer tent and while it wasn’t the most exciting job at the fair I did get to listen to some good bands. Honorable mentions go to Flaming June, Rob Jackson, and The Broken Family Band.

Flaming June
These are a four piece with a sound like The Levellers or The Cranberries. Very fiddle based but a touch of Gothic at the same time, I’m sorry I had to watch the crowd rather than them.

Rob Jackson
I’d already seen him play with another person singing but this time it was just him, a guitar, and his box of tricks. He doesn’t so much play music as evoke a mood and his work comes across as a soundtrack to a film which has not been produced. If you like Sigur Rós you’ll enjoy.

The Broken Family Band
They played another good gig with a fair amount of songs from their forthcoming album. Alt.country seems to be here to stay, even if the drummer still seems to wish he was in Slayer.

There a black dog on my shoulder

ink and enamel on paperThis should be read by everyone regardless of whether they know someone suffering from depression or not. Practically everyone will feel depressed at sometime in their lives and it’s well-meaning friends that can do the most damage by trying too hard to help.

Depression needs understanding and support but that needs to be handled very subtly. It’s all too easy for ham-fisted efforts to only send someone further in.

Gaybar

Okay so I said that The Cooper Temple Clause were bloody brilliant but tonight’s gig surpassed even that. Electric Six were even better, surpassing all levels of the Ryan Rating System and bring about a new grade of gig coolness. They were “Fuckin’ Deadly”. They rocked pretty much with the stuff that I hadn’t heard, but once GayBar came on I found myself sucked into a pit of moshing joy from whence I didn’t emerge for an hour.

A mix of disco, heavy rock, punk, and a stage presence to rival Sir Lawrence Olivier made for the perfect gig to bounce around to like a mad thing and bounce around I did. I imagine I’ll be unable to walk in the morning but it was very much worth it. Especially with their well-timed monarch dissing, and the slightly ironic timing of their cover version of Radio Ga Ga, which confused the younger members of the audience.

Shooting fish in a barrel

So, yes it’s that time again. I’ve just been to another gig and it was bloody brilliant. Those of you acquainted with the Ryan rating system will know that a rating of bloody brilliant is equivalent to several Brit awards, a Grammy, and an Oscar. This week’s gig was The The Cooper Temple Clause who absolutely harpooned bottom.

We missed the first support band, Medium 21, but according to the very enthusiastic badge giver at the door, they were very good. We did see The Rain Band who are also on Temptation Records. This Manc foursome seem to have The Music’s sound down pat while not being quite so polished. They were good bit have a ways to go before they headline.

The Cooper Temple Clause, as mentioned before, harpooned arse and rocked several people’s testicles off; a great thing for population control, but probably better for musical causes. They were a very heavy rock band, pretty much in the Isle of White Hendrix style. Lots of kicking bass, hard drums, growling guitar, and sycophantic synths. Check them out, please. They really are very very good live and better than a lot of new music out there.

Ave Satani

Jeremiah (TV series)Why is it that whenever a character on television or in film is called Damien they’re either strange and have unhuman powers or are evil like the son of the devil? For instance, I’ve just watched possibly the best episode of a television programme ever and even the `I notice things about people that no-one else can’ character named Damien couldn’t detract. Of course the series is Jeremiah written by J. Michael Straczynski of Twilight Zone and Babylon 5 fame. The episode in question was Tripwire and is what has now become to be known as an arc episode of the series. An episode that turns all your expectations on their head and makes you realise that you’re not watching some crap like Sex in the City or Pop Idols.

All I can say is, “more”

I say we bury him in bunny ears. Make it easier to find him in hell so we can kick his ass clear across the afterlife. […] Pink bunny ears, with bells on them. –Kurdy– .

Amber and Blue

Seeing as I haven’t been to The Junction is ages, this was a perfect re-introduction. In my love for smaller venues I’d forgotten just how much of a buzz it can be to be smack in the middle of a big crowd all getting down to the same music.

The support band, Ambershades, were not anyone I’d heard of before but carried themselves off very well in the face of an uninterested crowd. Very melodic pop, with a tinge of Status Quo, but only the good stuff. I’ll be listening out for them in future.

Of course there was the usual jockying to get into a good position for the headliners, The Bluetones, and this time we managed to get closer to the stage than ever before in The Junction. I’d not heard much of this lot’s music either, but they came highly recommended and quite rightly so. A mixture of The Jam and Primal Scream with a harder edge to it, they absolutely tore the place down. The normally quite staid Cambridge crowd went mad with excitement and there was much pogoing and screaming to be had. I even lost it myself, in spite of the ties being worn by the band, and went ballistic. The lead guitarist was one of the best I’ve ever heard live and indeed deserved the man of the match award.

Powerwalking to Jesus

Yes I know it’s been a while, but I haven’t been to a gig in ages. Tonight was Harvest Time at the Portland Arms and, as usual, The Broken Family Band were headlining. It was a very poor turnout gigwise, with only myself and Red Setter attending, but turned out to be absolutely smashing.

First up was Rob Jackson and friend. The singer was pretty good in a James Taylor style and Rob’s lead guitar led to a fairly mellow but toneful start to the evening’s proceedings.

Lionshare are another band much in the Americana mold. Having a bad start where I was tempted to head to the bar, they got into the swing of things with some dark, almost gothic, country style music. Filled with harmonica, textured guitar, and a growling Johnny Cash type voice I do believe they rawked.

The Broken Family Band this time around played a lot of new stuff which will be on the album, aparantly coming at the end of June. Of course, they played old favourites like Twisted and The Devil’s in the Details but I think the highlight for me was Walking Back to Jesus: Part I, which was nice and Pink Floydy for my tastes.

Another highlight of the evening was witnessing Red Setter’s change from relative gig virgin to full fleged groupie. I feel so proud since she left with both a t-shirt and CD and chatted to the band.

Next week is The Bluetones.

Three teams in the Boat Race

As gigs go tonight’s was brilliant. If you can imagine a concert with three bands, each of which was worthy of headlining on their own, you might get the picture.

First up was Byrne who I can only describe as indescribable. They were rocktastic, musical, and just god damn lovely. They really should be at Wembley rather than a tiny club in Cambridge. Great things will come of them, I promise you.

After a brief interlude Saloon came on who were a lot more pedestrian (much to my embarrassment since I mentioned to the bass and violin player how much I preferred Byrne). They sounded an awful lot like Stereolab.

The Broken Family Band were, as always, fantastic. Not as much banter as usual, but I think it’s because they were nervous. Instead of the usual floating backing singer (Mary happened to be in Bulgaria) they had a guy playing the accordion/squeezebox and I have to say it worked rather well, lending a very Cajun sound to the proceedings. I would hope that both accordion and female backing singers become a permanent fixture as this would give them a much needed boost to their sound.

And to top it off, some of us headed to KamBar, which on alternate Saturday nights is indie. T’was rather good and to prove what a small town Cambridge is Mick, the drummer from the Broken Family Band was there, giving the sign of the horns as was strange Forbidden Planet guy.

Count Bubbla’s Nemeses

bubble bobble, by bethanyAthlete played a great gig last night. Think 1980’s video game sounds playing on a keyboard accompanying some great Coldplay rock and you haven’t even come close to their sound.

They seemed to really enjoy what they were doing which always makes a nice change in a world where most bands look bored and apathetic.

I’d recommend checking them out if you can but it’s probably not a good idea to try to yell Bubble Bobble during the quiet bits.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Cricket In Phoenix Park - DublinThis report of the recent India v New Zealand cricket match fromThe Guardian made me laugh. It probably says more about how interesting a game of cricket is than any other piece of reporting.