Christian, C-Dogg, Danny, John gel well together to produce Mean Poppa Lean.Made up from ex-members of Hedroom, They and The Lodge.Although based in Brighton they play across the South East and West of England.A lively band who’d get the best wall flower boppin’ onto the floor.
I really look forward to catchin’ them one day in N London!
Mean Poppa Lean ~ a raw funk song with strong bass instru backing.I can imagine the audience participating to this groove ~ ‘just hope the venue walls are sound proof.
This band will go far... ‘just hope they can get someone like Sheryl Crow to invite them on tour as support.
Little Bear is screaming a Daddy Bear Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Mornings
There's no quick fix when it comes to sounding tight and tuneful, you have to put the hours in. 'Mornings' from Coleraine seem to have twigged that and are already doing the spade-work. The two tunes on Myspace that they have show a deftness of touch and a tightness of punch. Rick Swann's vocals stand out, having the control and range of an Ian Watkins(Lost Prophets) or Patrick Stump (Fallout Boy) and the songs will be equally relevant to an emo-fed audience or the the lighter shades of screamo's. They successfully manage to side-step most of the cliches and commercial sandtraps that could be easy enough to fall into and manage to keep it interesting and quirky. Swann's effortless range, keeping it all at the higher end of decent. Even the inclusion of some cheesy...sorry, 'retro' keyboard lines don't detract from the energy and vibe. Just one question, why no gigs? Promotors in Ireland - you could do a lot worse!
All that in just 12 months. Keep at doing what you're doing the work ethic seems to be paying dividends.
Macky has been on to me directly and asked me to review his material, and fair play to the fella, I think if you are happy in your musical skin you should definitely be pushing to be heard. Hailing from (that hotbed of independent bands that come from Enniscorthy) Enniscorthy, Wexford. Macky writes and performs his own brand of moody indie music using only his own playing skills and home recording. Sounds like a potential recipe for some introspective, self indulgent toss doesn't it? Well he actually manages to avoid all the cliches and the self indulgence traps.
Tracks such as 'Anne Marie' and 'Bird on the wire' are delightfully dark and almost ethereal pieces of music which show a lightness of songwriting touch and a production imagination that has more than a nod in the direction of Nick Drake or Richard Ashcroft. There are layers of intriguing sounds and instrumentation that keeps each song fresh enough to forget that its one man and his porta-studio, even managing to sound very 'band-like' on 'Down, down, down'.
Here's the rub, with Macky's limited format he has punched well above his weight in what he's produced. The songs are all worthy of a listen, enigmatic and well produced (if they all do seem to finish a bit prematurely) but there is no getting away from the fact that ultimately, it does sound like a drum machine and a home recording, albeit of a high standard. If it was down to me, I would be urging Macky to seek out like minded musicians and get out into the gigging world and get his songs heard in 'real time' because they're worth moving up a level.
Charles Dickens once wrote "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Never a more apt quote could have foreseen for the start of Maria Willson (and her band's) musical career. A beautiful young woman with a great rock voice gets scooped up by a major label. Cue the photoshoots, the big support gigs, embarking on your debut album and everything is rosey. The stuff unsigned dream are made of, right? So the kicker is, the label suddenly goes bust right at that critical moment (having thrown stupid money at other, unsustainable acts). So through no fault of your own you're back to square one. That sort of knock back would be enough to send most mortal artists running for the security of the 9 to 5 and cashing in the Fender for a microwave. Not so Maria...
Having found themselves back at the starting line again, stripped of all the trappings of a contract, Maria and her band have dusted themselves down and come back stronger and more street-wise with a bunch of new demos (see the Myspace site for tasters) and while form is temporary, class is clearly permanent. Maria herself, stunningly glamourous, has a voice somewhere between an English Kelly Clarkson and a younger Sheryl Crow. Her songs, albeit still just demos for now, ooze trans-Atlantic class, and are stomping pop/rock anthems underpinned by some fat Hammond style organ lines and chunky guitars such as the smouldering 'Ready to blow' or the sassy strutt of 'Agent Provocateur'. Demos for now, but destined for bigger things me thinks.
If there's any justice, Maria and her band will once again be scooped up and popped back into the spotlight that has their name on it and I have my fingers crossed.
Michael Philips describes himself on Myspace in these words: 'I play an eclectic collection of ambient music influenced by sounds from around the world and around the corner'. Michael's style is very individual, and built on a platform of folky, post classical acoustic/Spanish guitar style. His songs all have the vague whiff of ambient new age about them and the significant word here is 'ambient'. With titles like 'Minkie whale conversation' - (which sounds to me like the sort of background music you'd get while having your Raiki massage or browsing the Vegan book store) or 'Shady places big hats', you will see where Michaels slightly hippy-esque roots are. There is no question Michael Phillips is a talented musician and his guitar credentials are of the highest order. His guitar playing on the aforementiond 'Shady places..' is peerless. But you will have to be prepared for this, with an incredible slowing of pace and thoughtful musings this is an acquired taste. Pleasant? - yes, ambient? - without doubt, played well? - unequivocally, a panacea for modern stressful living? - yes, I guess so. It is slow tinkling music that hovers around your head like bursting bubbles and is equally as light of touch. But its very delicate, almost fragile songwriting. Be prepared to let it creep into your consciousness, maybe even take a couple of listens, otherwise it could float past you completely, like a dandelion seed on the breeze. It won't be for everyone and I am struggling to imagine a concert of these songs, but for those moments when you want to kick back and just let the sounds carry you off, it could be for you. Personally, I like my music with a little more beer and a bit less froth, but what Michael does is easy on the ear and mind. If you like your soothing sounds more on the macrobiotic side, check him out.
Its a thin line between being 'influenced by' established bands and wanting to 'be' them. So many demos and CD's I hear lately, you can sit down and easily pick out who the players want to be. Its currently very rare to find a new band that are genuinely (or even try to be) original. Its a grey area and could narrow your chances of being picked up by a label if you travel too far over the line in the direction of "sounds like...". So why do I give you this slab of Drumhead wisdom? Read on...
Mr Lightweight, are a four piece of 19 yr olds from Carlow (Ireland) and I tell you what, they're a bit good. They are not going to be winning any awards with originality of style as their songs are carbon copies lifted straight from the Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, NOFX, Jimmy Eat World and Lost Prophet song books. BUT, despite some very obvious influences here's the thing, they do it bloody well. As I sit here in my pants in Drumhead Towers with a Jack Daniels and a smile, I am playing and replaying tracks like 'Debs Song', 'Sunbed' and 'Time is the only enemy' and nodding my head thinking "yeah!" as these are really excellently recorded/produced tracks (excellent recording job lads) that kick some serious behind. Pats' drumming is fast tight, and well... lets just say, Travis Barker should be looking over his shoulder. The lead guitar is clear, compliments the songs and note perfect without resorting to 'noodling'. Its all tight, the songs are memorably sing-a-long and all in all, its a band on top of its game. I would go as far as saying that for an unsigned band, this is almost as good as it gets, there are no weak areas, I love it.
So what of the Drumhead philosophy? Well, Mr Lightweight should be signed, of that I have no doubt. At this moment in time though, most companies are going to think that they have enough emo/punk/pop bands to invade a small country, so despite the quality of Mr.L's work, it may help them to get that extra foot in the door if they start stamping more of their own identity on the songs and be confident enough to move away from emulating their heroes. Then they'd be remembered for the quality that they produce and not because they sound like, say, Blink 182. Top stuff.
Mary Coughlan transformed the Aras Chronain into a sultry American polished piano lounge room for her performance on November 24th. The music was a controlled use of emotive lyrics, along with an edgy and catchy stage presence. With some surprisingly humorous moments, Mary introduced a very classic style to the Irish accent with some easing subtle jazz reflections.
This artist is from the UK with a great future, Folk tunes with a twist of his own originality, Excellent vocals and packed with talent!!!! Listen out for this artist.
SING HALLELUJAH- Very melodic rhythm gutair, vocals are excellent, Matt sings the chorus with a high tone in his voice and sounds perfect with the gutair, lyrics are well constructed and there is not many songwriters can do this.
YOUR STILL HOLDING ME ON- Gutair picking in this tune is great it has a old Irish ballad feel to it, the vocals comes across with a real folk beatle kind of vibe, but sounds excellent!
(A true genius in the art of songwriting, excellent vocals full of passion.)
Michael really knows how relax his audience with his witty a funny comments in between his songs giving off the vibe of a true professional musician, with songs like "REMEDY" excellent rhythm gutair with bursting colourfull lyrics, the song went down really well. I had a small chat with Micheal before the gig and he told me he was really tired from all the traveling he was doing, but i could see no effect when played the night without a glitch and controlled the night very well, sadly the night came to a end when he finished out with "MEXICO" another track from his album "CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN US" a real moving tune Michael played the song with a lot of passion you could feel the energy coming from this song, overall it was a superb performance from Michael on the night.
