Some Innovation please!!!

So it took us a while to evolve into the walking talking idiots that we are today. When I say a while that period differs hugely depending on what imaginary friend you choose to have or whether you decide to believe the Science folk.

• Archeologists estimate that modern humans have been on the Earth for about 200,000 years
• According to Bible scholars--by estimating the generations given, the time would be about 4000 years for the Old Testament and about 2000 years for the New Testament--approximately 6000 years

So which ever path you take your'e looking at quite some time! Now looking back over time not a lot has changed... we still fight over land and whose imaginary friend is the best and unfortunately this will probably go on for the next 200,000 years.

So it's agreed we evolve but we don't learn much? I'll take that as a yes for now :) 

approximately 60 years ago a new phase in our evolutionary journey, Rock and Roll was born. And as always this was greeted with frenzy and awe as something entirely original had been born. When in reality it was derived from Rhythm and Blues so another example of nowt new going on here :) 

I bring this to your attention as the "Rock and Roller" 60 years on is still on the same blinkered path of "Copy and Roll" much like his forefathers. 

Now there have been some visionaries along this "Copy and Roll" journey and they have paved the way for new musicians to be brave enough to try to be different. Not all of them have succeeded mind you but its better to try and fail than conform and in my opinion. 

This brings me onto my next band that I would like to bring to your attention - 

Black Tooth 

https://soundcloud.com/black-tooth-songs

Black Tooth hail from Manchester and how refreshing it is to hear a Manchester band stand out from the white noise that is the Manchester music scene. With a dark yet groovy vibe going on these chaps are really worth a listen. There are 6 songs on their Soundcloud page and all of which offer a unique journey that only Black Tooth can take you on.

The first song kicks off on a happy guitar vibe and it really lifts you up and you know you're in for a treat, it reminds me of classic Beck. This track would be a great driving track imagine a sunny day windows down you get the idea :)

The next track "Polyphonic Blues" has a really gritty sound with a really cool vocal sound over the top, very old school vibe here with cool guitar riffs carrying the song nicely.

As we move through the tracks on the page its obvious these guys are very talented song writers each track is catchy and gets stuck in your head. I'd say there's a little bit of all my favourite bands in Black Tooth from The Brian Jones Town Massacre to Bowie.

Overall a perfect example of an innovative band that refuse to conform to the "Copy and Roll" movement.

"Innovative songs executed perfectly" 

You know a great band as they can lift your mood with a great riff or a simple hook.Black Tooth are definitely resident in my "Great Bands" category and I would highly recommend a listen and even better go check them out live @ The Eagle Inn in Salford on the 26th of July you won't be disappointed.

It's been a while

So we return to the stage next Friday. I'ts been a while I hear you cry? and rightly so it certainly has! well we have some new tunes and so forth to kick us back off into the dark dingy murky world that is the "Unsigned Manchester Scene" where Oasis/Stone Roses rip off bands are playing every venue and the zombie audiences act like they've never heard such original music before!!

Wake up folks there's nowt new going on here.... 

So for a new phase in our musical journey I am bringing in a new idea into Bands on Bands......
Pre gig blogs where I will do a write up on the bands that we will have the pleasure of playing with in the up and coming shows.

Now this is a brave move!!

The 10's of people that have kindly read my blog over the past year will already understand that I don't have a zombie-esque taste in music so this should be interesting idea :)

Don't get me wrong my intention is not to bad mouth anybody, as there really is no need. We all have different tastes and I bet most of the bands we play gigs with don't like our music, but that's part and parcel of taking your music to the masses! you have to be prepared to take some criticism or a bad reception as some people just don't get good music when they hear it and there's no saving some people :(


So the event - https://www.facebook.com/events/645114512229010

On the lineup we have

• Toy Sparrows
• Zilov Gaps
• Empire Signal

Now lets kick things off with a listen of Toy Sparrows - https://soundcloud.com/toysparrows

First impressions!! Well, great vocals for a start and some great guitar melodies going on here it reminded me of Tracy Chapman "Fast Car" meets Ellie Goulding (if that makes sense) I really like the single "Inside My Head" its a strong pop song and it wouldn't be out of place on the radio at all. 

Moving on to the Woodland Creatures demo that's posted here there some little gems that I reckon with the same production as "Inside My Head" these guys could have a strong set of songs! I have had a few listens to "Rex Demo" and that one has definitely got stuck in my head :)  I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll be delivered live on the night..... 

Moving along we find - https://soundcloud.com/zilovgaps

Well I'll be honest I wasn't sure what to make of these chaps at first, The vocals are really strong and dark with some odd arrangements going on its really different it's like an 80's/early 2000's mashup. There's Synths Guitars and even a Xylophone going on here :) I have to say it's clever music with a story to tell... definitely worth a listen and again I'm really looking forward to the live delivery, as it looks like we're in for a treat of a performance from the frontman Matt Carmody  - https://t.co/h6U2sWw9te. 

Finally we find  Empire Signal - https://soundcloud.com/empire-signal 

Now to me these guys have a "Manchester" sound very 90's, I really like the first track "Alive" it has a great energy to it and I reckon this track must go down a storm live. 

There are some great tracks on their soundcloud page including "The Greatest Thing" and "Turn Myself Around" I have a feeling these chaps will go down well, and I bet they have a good stage presence going off their sound. As you know we're big bass fans and I'm loving the driving bass on these tracks I'm sure Mark will love these chaps.

Then there's us... :) https://soundcloud.com/unassisted

Overall this stands in good stead to be a great mix of original bands playing some great music! We hope to see you there? or you may want to dust off your leather jacket and join the zombie hoards at an Oasis/Roses rip off fest.

FaceFish!!!

We all get fed up from time to time! You may get fed up with your job.. you go get a new job and that is ok for a while then you eventually get fed up of that... you go look for another and start the whole process over again, never really getting anywhere! You may earn more money or get to boss more people around. In the end you still end up right back where you started disappointed and expecting what you think you deserve! Well in all honesty you probably don't deserve to not be fed up because you're a waste of space just like the rest of all the pointless carbon based life forms dribbling and managing not to get killed through a series of small miracles on a daily basis!

Where am I going with this you ask? well let me tell you :) the mediocre and boring people who make up this great society we live in far out number the creative and brilliant members of society! In the grand scheme of things we all fall in to the mediocre category... but, for some reason you're born convinced you belong in the brilliant group... take a good look in the mirror my friend you fall into the first group.... So do I so don't think I'm having a pop at you :)

But...... this is great! you should embrace your mediocrity and enjoy the brilliant people who make the music you love, the books you read and the movies you watch. Without them I doubt you'd have much left to do apart from reproduce and make more mediocre versions of yourself !!!

Now not very often the brilliant members of society are picked up high above the shoulders of the mediocre and declared to be so.... And these chaps I am about to introduce you to should be held aloft and carried into the pantheon of the brilliant.

FaceFish
If you follow my blog you know I don't waste my time talking about mediocre bands. We all know there's plenty of them knocking about ready to bore you to death with their remake of their own favourite tunes! Boooo I hear you cry and rightly so... change the record why don't you? Well that's because they lack the ability to change the record.

Not these chaps. They took the record and threw it out the window :) Imagine I created a particle accelerator and introduced the some T-Rex particles, White Stripes particles, Screaming Trees particles and a pinch of Black Keys then turned it to maximum and let it rip. The outcome would simply be Facefish.....

The music is full of swagger, it's not easy to get this kind of groove/rock vibe going only a handful of bands manage to pull this off with such aplomb. The main ingredients of any band is a frontman with plenty of attitude that you can't help but pay attention to and when Wills starts singing you are immediately caught off guard and your attention is truely caught.

On Soundcloud there are three tracks... in my opinion there should be way more than this:) The first track Heart on Fire starts out with a catchy melody driven by a simple groove on the drums the unique sound of Wills' voice jumps straight in and from there on in you're hooked. The vocal melody drops in and out of the music and followed up by the back end of that dirty guitar riff. Simple but stupendously effective. I found myself having a 'I wish I'd come up with this' moment :)

The track is great what I love about this band is that the tracks don't go where you expect them to and thats a refreshing thing to hear for a change. Nice to see a band going to the effort to do something new.

Track 2 starts off with an even bigger guitar riff and some proper swagger from the bass and drums and another great vocal melody, Not only do you get great music there are some clever catchy lyrics here as well. But yet again the track is taking you by the hand in this direction and then you get swiftly pushed in the other direction and pulled back in to that dirty riff... it's very clever indeed! you must have guessed by now I'm liking these guys!

Sadly the last track kicks in at this point! however I must stress that this is by no means a disappointment :) This track starts out a lush laid back dirty riff and drops back with the vocal dropping in, this just makes it even cooler. This band clearly enjoy what they do and this for me makes them stand out. You can tell, or I think I can tell, when a band takes themselves to seriously and for me that spoils the final outcome.. Facefish have produced three quality tracks that scream confidence and creativity and I look forward to seeing them live.

https://soundcloud.com/wills-facefish

                                           

You know the drill go share, shout and tell the world about this band they deserve it.

We all need a hobby

So it's been a while! how are you? I'm ok, I can't complain.. although I probably will :)

So today I have been on my FA coaching course and I was listening to the head coach talk about young players and how only a very small percentage of them will never make it as professional players, and that's only if they're really lucky or extremely talented. A bleak outlook I know. However, the same applies to us musicians who start a band and have great expectations to make it and become a signed professional. I pondered on this as he went on about something else less profound and I thought back to playing football as a kid and how it didn't matter what the outcome would be, all that mattered was that I was playing football and it was awesome :)

Now this is something we should transfer into our music as musicians, imagine if you didn't give a fuck about making it or how many tickets you sold to the fuckwit promoter that insists you sell 10 or 20 tickets, and just enjoyed the music!!! I mean think about it 99.99999999% of us will only ever achieve a gig in a pub or if we're lucky a support slot at a small 02 academy :) either way what does it matter you won't be here for long so get your head out of your ass and resign yourself to the fact you will amount to nothing and I guarantee you will enjoy the music more than you do now, and stop worrying about how many tickets you sell or how cool you look in your leather jacket IT DOESN'T MATTER :)

So the question is, now you have thrown away your inhibitions what do you go for? something that's been done before or something brand spankers? well we know the majority of us go for the first option (present company guilty)

Well why not go for something completely new?

I'll tell you why most of us don't! it's not commercial mainstream is it! simples conform and go for the norm... it's easier... well some people dare to be different and that's what I like in a band :) and these guys are a prime example -

The Hobbyist

These fine artists are from Chicago and I love the way they piece their songs together it's genius. The riffs build like a huge storm brewing and the lyrics are dark and sinister. Just when you think you have the tune figured out your taken off on a tangent and another journey begins, I'm very impressed with how all the "best practises" are ignored and told to jog on as these guys just go and do what they do best (just what you weren't expected)  the best example of this is the following track -

https://soundcloud.com/hobbyist-1/soulless-lies

I tweeted this track about 8 months ago and I still love coming back to it and I just can't get bored of this track : )

I highly recommend listening to the rest of the tracks on this page you won't be disappointed :)

Go on have a break from the norm and see how great it can be when a band go for something new

https://soundcloud.com/hobbyist-1

Two Thousand and Blerghhhhh......

So 2014 kicks off with a sigh and a fart! what have you all got to look forward to this year? more of the same shit? more of the same mediocre music from the legions of mediocre half wits that create the same shit we've all heard before? 

Well I'm sorry to say that unless you get off your fat lazy ass then YES that's what you are in for! If you insist on being spoon fed your opinions and not making the effort to seek out the new and the innovative then I pity you my friend... 

All it takes is a moment of curiosity and that spark to go off.... I had that moment this time last year and I finally got off my ass and went looking for something new! I picked up my guitar and started something that I didn't know would go anywhere near as far as it did. We met some awesome new people that went out of their way to help us achieve the goals we set ourselves as a band and we did just that... I'm not having a Jerry McGuire moment here I just think we all need that moment, and that's what the new year is all about. It's not about stopping smoking or drinking, it's about living your life for a change and putting a stop to the mundane. Stop making excuses for doing exactly the same things you've been doing every year. If you don't do new things because of what your friends will think about you then you better pick up the phone and ask them what you're allowed  to have for your tea tonight. Stop being pussies and doing whats already been done.

I dare you to do something mad this year and report to me after you have done just that :) 

Anyways I digress on to the music - 

Little White Lies

I know everyone feels the need to talk about local bands and the "scene" but fuck that when something sounds great then why should that matter??? 

I tell you what it shouldn't..... 

This band hail from Poland and tick all my boxes they are as follows - 

1 - Do you sound fucking awesome?

2 - Do you make me want to dance?

3 - Do I wish I had written this? 

4 - Do I immediately want to listen to this again? 

5 - Do I feel compelled to tell everyone I know about this? 

I do hope you concur :) 

These guys mix quirky vocals and dirty rocking riffs like someone gave them a recipe book... it just comes across as effortless and I love that. As any good band they have smart lyrics that run along seriously catchy melodies, with a great architecture to each song. The vocals are a mix of haunting and sexy at the same time, you can really hear the emotions in the lyrics. 

The guitar work is brilliant. Some times technical and beautiful and other times just down right dirty it really does show off the talent of these two :) 

https://soundcloud.com/little-white-lies

I would spend some time on this page if I were you, you are in for a real treat from the up tempo driving songs like Don't Breathe When I Tell You To https://soundcloud.com/little-white-lies/dont-breathe-untill-i-tell-u to the laid back psychedelic journey that is Farewell https://soundcloud.com/little-white-lies/farewell 

Enough from me go listen to them!!!! 

you know the score go listen, shout and share