A Night in The Library...

BY TOUTATIS: Disturbing the peace

By Toutatis photograph taken by David Major©

IT WAS a cold northern night at Middlesbrough's central library, but inside a community gathers over hot tea and coffee.  As I enter the reference library I quickly scan the room, I noticed the crowd were truly non-disparate, in every sense of the term.  The old sporting early winter wear, the young sporting ripped Levis, the BBC Four listeners sat adjacent to the Pitchfork subscribers. Surrounding us are books on the shelves choc-full of local history, penning us in happily like fishes in Northumbrian water. What we all shared in common that night was not the clothes on our back but the will to support something special, courtesy of Teesside's most ambitious and conveniently well-dressed band By Toutatis.

Earlier this year By Toutatis released their long awaited debut album "The Songs We Sang To Death" on Tiny Lights records; this came after rave support from followers and friends of the band. On this record the band's attention to detail resonates with the listener, it transcribes tales of tragedy and celebration, the persistence of memory. Daniel Cochran's sad and aptly somber voice paints thickets of imagery, as the Toutatis musical back drop doffs its hat to the likes of Nick Cave, I Like Trains and Scott Walker.

As Bjork slowly faded out from the speakers, Rick, Matt and Dan wearily walk towards their instruments. Dressed Like Wolves are a project launched by principle Teesside singer-songwriter Rick Dobbing.  Their music though painfully sentimental, is dressed beautifully; joyfully sad layers intertwine Matt's multi-instrumental talents are accompanied by his Spector-like ear for music.  The many  sounds from the xylophone ,organ  and guitar both electric and acoustic fused with Rick's childlike voice made for an introspective atmospheric listen; akin to the best american lo-fi you've heard varnished with an Elephant Six influence. Each song performed very well and meticulously. Matt's rapport with the audience was that of a comedian's, laced with Boro-isms and on stage banter, he declared his fondness for the books on the surrounding shelves,  especially the ones on teletext.

Shortly afterwards Natasha Haws awkwardly stepped onto the stage, warning the audience of her nerves and her queasiness, and the chips and peas she had ate were making her queasy. As she began to play with each song her voice grew on me, it was much like Fiona Apple if she'd have come from the north-east of Great Britain and ditched her Costello records in favour of PJ Harvey’s whole back catalogue instead.  Her honest feminist pop-songs recalling failed relationships remain sincere to the end, a powerful and note-worthy performance.

Although I had seen By Toutatis before, words couldn't describe how well rehearsed and well-arranged their live music was performed. It was literally like an audible head scratch, could they fail to surprise me?  The flow of the songs transcribed from their lush LP were performed brilliantly, each song ebbing and flowing effortlessly, the instrumentation second to none, Robbie Major's melancholy violin complimenting Ben Hopkinson's impressive many musical talents (saxophone, guitar, piano) with every number that followed. Cochran's vocal lines lamented with sarcasm, honesty, irony and at times candid fury were second to none.

Songs such as 'Continental Drift' 'Flags' and 'With a Heart That Barely Beats' Toutatis favourites of mine, were played fantastically. In particular the song 'Rebecca' had its crescendos building and breaking again throughout, like waves rising and crashing only to retreat in the sea. The set also featured a traditional English folk performance acapella courtesy of the band's drummer Ben Muriel, it  was most certainly sad and ale ridden. The set was defined though by its awe inducing end as a whole brass and string section accompanied the band for an unnamed seven minute performance which was cinematic, lush sounding and quintessentially British. The group then bowed to cheers and a standing ovation one that the Middlesbrough Reference Library was hardly to have experienced before. The audience were full of smiles, utterly satisfied and elated, I had hoped the band felt the same. I remember thinking what a true success the night had been and I was over joyed for everyone who had played as this night was nothing short of memorable.

Below is a video link to the By Toutatis single 'Rebecca' from their album 'The Songs We Sang To Death':

Written by Ryan D. Welsh

Our Pet Sounds…

 

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

 

In an age where progression is everything, where technology encourages us to squander our lives away, where possibilities and impossibilities are tormented equals, where we exist in the interconnected dream, there are fewer sounds as magical and adventurous as the sounds Animal Collective have produced within this milestone pop record, it truly is the Pet Sounds of our generation and most probably one of the most important pop records of the last 20 years. Neo-psychedelia never sounded so crystallised, puerile and relentlessly spell-binding.  Previous to this record Animal Collective had always been an experimental group of recording artists, constantly adopting a different ethos with approach to recording every new record. Their previous records contained rawer, unfiltered, avant-garde qualities. Which ultimately lead the band to gain a reputation with followers of the new weird America movement. No one really knew where they’d go next, having already experimented with freak folk, electronica, noise pop and art rock. Up until this point their sound always seemed more live oriented, however, with this record the band go head first in the opposite direction, maximising their capabilities by experimenting with PA speakers, heavy sampling, rich melodies and painstaking production. You can see that their song craft seems more rounded than before and that they've adopted a richer pop sensibility. The album is very much like a journey, we all know what those listens are like right? Those records that is to be experienced from beginning to end, leading you to cheery, graceful, welcoming and sometimes melancholy territory. On first listen the album’s introduction track’ In The Flowers’ is like walking down a spiral staircase backwards all the while with your mind glowing, calming sounds that then explode into layers on layers of synthesized sound, soaring vocal melodies and cleverly placed percussion accending to a crescendo. It then melts into probably the group’s most popular single to date ‘My Girls’ a song in which Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) expresses his love for his wife and daughter but in the same instance shares his confusion on fitting in both socially in the 21^st century; “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things, like a social status, I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls”. The child-like avid collector sings along with a new age bubble-gum sound, hooks like these leave you humming to yourself.  The next track ‘Also Frightened’ enters with an infectious bass-line, effects heavy samples, that pan, enter and disappear, a perfect soundtrack to the hallucinogenic suburban dream. The next track ‘Summertime Clothes’ was the band’s second single from this record and probably the most pop-orientated song on the record. A song about floating high and getting wasted with your friends, on a hot summer night.  The next song ‘Daily Routine’ starts off with a slowed sequence of notes, as if being processed from a moog then sped up, Panda Bear vocalises and then the song breaks down into a most mesmerising segment. The next song ‘Bluish’ is a lucid gem, maybe their most romantic offering yet “Put on the clothes that I like, It makes me so crazy though I can't say why, keep on your stockings for a while, some kind of magic in the way you're lying there”  the song’s airy current, and slow-dance atmosphere only adds to the romantic prose. With this album the songs complement one another, with each different track, there are different musical influences and somehow the band manages to form perfect soundscapes that light up forgotten imagination. Animal Collective establishes themselves as pioneers of pop-melody, the forefront of experimental art rock and pop. I believe this record will be listened to for years to come, because of its original song craft and its timeless fresh take on pop-electronica in contemporary music today.

 

Ryan’s recommended tracks:

‘Also Frightened’

'My Girls'

‘Daily Routine’
‘Bluish’
‘Guys Eyes’

‘Taste’

'Bloodsport'

 

My Top 10 Alt-Rock Records

Okay over the years I have heard many, many genres of music that I have come to appreciate in maturity, jazz (west coast, free-form, be-bop) experimental, hardcore punk, hardcore, sludge metal, thrash, proto-punk, post-punk, lo-fi, slowcore and shoegaze. Everyone who ever went out and bought a guitar or drums had to have fallen for their first love, rock music. And by rock music, I mean in all its variety, its sub-genre, everything from classic rock, garage rock and psychedelic rock right up to post-rock that began to the latter of the 90s. But few are harder to define than alternative rock, it transcends definition. As a subgenre, alternative rock  is influenced by so many different types of music, it could contain pop-sensibility or piss on it in the same instance. It could be a wall of sound, with a rhythm you can't help but bob your head to. It could be five fuzz heavy chords with echoes of feedback being strummed in a way no ears could ignore, whether the person listenings wants turn the stereo up, or off. Here's my top 20 alternative rock records in no particular order...



1.     Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)

There is perhaps a defining album for any seminal band, but when I bought this record when I was 15, I realised this was a stand-alone record, nothing I'd heard from the New York underground of the 1980s had been as appealing, inspiring or gratifying as Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation'.  Sonic Youth are kind of a sonic pastiche themselves when you think about it, emersing thereselves in the hidden fringes of art and music and in turn producing some very forward thinking music, by 1991 they established themselves as Generation X's trash girl/boy poster band, the vangaurd of alternative rock.

The album starts with Youth fans anthem 'Teen Age Riot' which comes in two parts, beginning with Kim Gordon's Patti Smith-like prose, reciting the lyrics "say it don't spray it, miss me, don't dismiss me, spirit desire, spirit desire, we will fall" as hypnoticly strummed guitars lay the foundations for quite an impressively fresh intro for an album of 1988. The second part of the song starts as soon as you hear the Towsend strum and the carefully EQ'd timbre of both Moore and Ranaldo's guitars as they chime beautifully, in time perfectly. Shelley's drums and Kim's bass enter and you realise this is a song with such melody and youthful grace its one your hardly ever going to forget. If you look to Sonic Youth's previous effort the critically acclaimed 'Sister' you can see Thurston has brought melody and textures that weren't present before 1 minute and 20 seconds into this record. The sharp but smooth velvet esque chords, the burn-out lyrics, Shelley's enigmatic drumming, and Lee Ranaldo's tonality and Moore's slacker drawl creates a legendary format that Sonic Youth are still synonymous with. As the track fades feedback slurs and the second track 'Silver Rocket' starts, a few notes are picked out as they slow down before two distorted chords come crashing in. Sonic Youth's dynamics have always been about pushing limits and setting themselves far apart from the conventions of a generic rock and roll act. If you've never found yourself drawn to long bursts of noise, feedback and manipulation after listening to this record I don't think you ever will be. After scrolling through their back catalogue I didn't just find myself desensitized to noise, but
noisier recording artists like Naked City, Brainbombs and Merzbow.

The tracks richochet from one to another, until eventually you're left with what appears to be a completely original album, Sonic Youth venture deeper into noisey, conceptual and melodic territory. I would suggest this album to any new Sonic Youth fan, as its impressions on underground art-rock, noise rock and lo-fi are long-lasting. Serving as a constant inspiration to those who's values and aspirations don't correspond with the establishment or the conventions of "getting signed" constantly followed by your atypical sell-out musicians.

Tracks to check out:

Teen Age Riot:* (Track 01)
The Sprawl:* (Track 03)
'Cross The Breeze:* (Track 04)
Hey Joni:* (Track 07)
Candle:* (Track 09)

Grey Collar Jobs...

 

Grey Collar Jobs

 

 

Many people talk of the eighties and how monumentally frustrating and dismal times were back then, but has anyone took a look at the state the country is in lately? In Teesside more specifically under its cold post-industrial landscape, the last three years in government have offered little or no benefit to the area. We are in the wake of a near triple dip recession, where 14.4% of Middlesbrough's population are unemployed. Where taxes are hitting those already struggling families twice as hard. Announcing more cuts on benefits, public sector redundancies and the newly introduced bedroom tax. Furthermore job opportunities are scarce with eighteen people to every vacancy in Middlesbrough. Those who are qualified with a degree try hard to find work, unskilled workers struggle to find steady employment and those without qualifications face an unpromising future.

 

It is considered cliché' to point the blame at Margaret Thatcher and her Tory cabinet for the current state the country is in, but being from Middlesbrough I can't help but make this distinction myself. During the 1970s the then Labour government strictly regulated capitalism and made it serve for the common good. Although some people who lived it often talk of three day week and curse Wilson something rotten. By 1978 the standard of living rose by 6.4% proving that his stance on taxation did better conditions for the working classes. Under Thatcher's Tory reign the country faced grim domestic policies (ultimately ghettoising communities) the country experienced two recessions, the derailment of British industry, double digit interest rates, axed unions and mass privatisation. After the Lawson boom, consumerist spending was on the up and up and deregulation had made the market free to do more than it was previously capable of.

 

We were taught that greed is good, that power lies with the individual, not with society and that capitalism helps economic growth, but arguably capitalism has only brought us so far and with better party politics and a change of ideology we may reach a better outcome. The bottom 10% of earners in the United Kingdom is feeling the pinch now more than ever. A single parent with two children needs to earn around £16,000 pounds a year to house, feed and clothe their children. As you probably guessed £16,000 a year is higher than the minimum wage affords a low income worker. And with cuts on benefits and tax cuts for the new rich it seems things will only get worse for this country before things get better.

Now things get personal...

From personal experience, I believed my state education was quite simply a joke. Not that Blair didn't try, he tried his best to better the standards of healthcare and education in this country but obviously my example didn't follow and later in his career, his flaws became more obvious. I experienced bullying because of my appearance (namely long hair) and baseball shoes (which is ironically common nowadays) with no coercion from school authorities even after a number of complaints and serious incidents.

 

 

Attending Gillbrook Technology College was like visiting an untamed zoo on a daily basis, people hanging from the rafters, looting and abusing, they were proud fractured souls of a lost generation. The teachers swore by the text book and were often red faced and spiteful which was just as equally incomprehensible, it was the mental equivalent of visiting a hospice after being prescribed ketamine, every day. The school was so hopeless in fact; it was nearly closed twice by Ofsted after their preliminary inspections during 2005. They were then in special measures an Official Ofsted report sent to their then newly appointed head teacher stated the following 'GCSE results in 2005 were well below the national average and similar to those of the previous year. The school failed to meet its targets and given their starting points, pupils underachieved'.

 

Shortly after obtaining my average GCSE results I enrolled for college but my trust in education was almost non-existent after studying art and media for a short time, I dropped out to find work and play my music after we received some modest radio play. Of course finding work isn't an easy task for a teenager with no previous experience and in fact I'd rarely receive a reply on application. Once I turned eighteen I signed on the dole with no concept of what unemployment was going to be like, the days turned into several months and the depression settled in thereafter. The sense of hopelessness is ever present, you look around to see old weathered faces and you get to thinking, you too could be here forever. The realisation hits you like a mallet to the cranium, the cynical attitude, the smell of alcohol in the air, the damned. Advisors offer you the illusion of hope but these people don't do anything for you, the meaningless job search reviews, the clinical house where they push you into a corner and paste a label on your forehead "choose" your career 'administrator' 'receptionist' 'call centre agent' 'bartender' 'waitress' 'labourer'. When your course for education is over, you’re thrown into the world with no consideration, no understanding for what aims you have or what you intend to be. You are what you work and nothing more, you're a consumer, now consume! This kind of alienation is hard to deal with and the younger you are the more naive you're supposed to be. I spoke to so many people, some of my closest friends who all experienced the same gloom, we felt isolated and sobriety only acted as a cold reminder that every day was just as long and pitiful as the last.

 

However what I find increasingly concerning is that people's preconceptions on unemployment are mostly completely bias. Perceptions fed to them from inaccurate articles courtesy of The Daily Mail and shoddy portrayals on television dramas seen on Channel 4's Shameless. It’s a sad fact that people actually believe everyone on the dole WANTS TO BE I mean the notion is ridiculous. Of course there are some claimants exploiting the benefit system but half of these critics have never experienced such sorrowful lows. The fact is it’s not so easy to get a job these days, the strange underlining criteria, the cross-examining, the marginal group interviews, what happens if you're too polite? You don't want to talk over people; you would consider that to be rude. The endless online applications, the thirty page forms to fill in and post, the harassment you must subject to someone over the phone in order to receive basic feedback on your face to face interview, it’s not just.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the eventuality you are enlisted successfully you are groomed to work these jobs for as long as possible, if you work hard enough there may be room for promotion they say. But in fact even if you are promoted your standard of living is hardly improved. Grey collar jobs, it’s all there is for the young, unemployed and modestly educated in Great Britain. Temporary job placements ran by alien agencies that exist for only a number of years, companies cutting their losses and cashing in their chips. The lower middle class pen pusher job, for the lower income salary. Receptionists, support workers, health care assistants, administrators, clerks, sales representatives, bar managers these roles are increasingly being governed by private organisations and yet they're always finding ways to cut corners, reduce turnovers and it never pays. We are groomed to work these jobs, the jobs more fortunate people will never have to work and we're taught the hard way it’s either £51 a week or adhere! In 2013 £51 a week doesn't get you very far at all as I'm sure anyone would agree. In fact I struggle to understand how a single parent would pay child support and manage to eat themselves on such a budget.

The answer...

The answer quite simply is investment, investment in creating jobs to stabilise the future of the United Kingdom. These alarming statistics only instil the need to do so, it should be clear by now that the conservative party only work in the best interests of the rich in this country, keeping the big swingers happy and home, cutting the mansion tax, leaving the working men and women of this country to pay the bigger price. The north east is desperate for investment in education, housing, energy and industry which would stimulate the community and would lay the foundations for a brighter future ahead. After working for an anonymous sales company for over a year I realised how much people were abusing the system. In sales you come to see through the smoke and mirrors, the illegalities, the masked money laundering you come to realise tax evasion is everywhere and no one in that position wants anyone to know. Call centre work is very popular for the young and jobless, it’s also terrible for both your physical and mental health, aspirations are hampered, dignity is quashed you’re left with little hope in finding a new job working unsociable hours such as the 10 to 7 shift. A flux within Britain’s industry would stimulate both the economy and the public creating equal opportunities for those who wish to act on them.

 

 

 

By Ryan D Welsh

 

People Building

Through our own stupidity we decide to live out a weekly rota, involving whatever and whoever we  wish. I have come to the conclusion that association is always bias, when a drinker thinks of drinking its more than the average man or women would drink, he's thinking in terms of volume and strength. These behaviours are common with people who use drugs or eat excessively day in day out. Do we know better? if all you've ever done is throw the shutters down when you're in a difficult situation its not going to be likely you'll find a propper solution.

Life is about discovery, love and experience just as much as its about loss, pain and misery the scales tip in either favour, based on consequence you are responsible for your own actions. Somebody dies, somebody is born, somebody goes to prison somebody is freed, somebody finds love somebody looses it. The world is full of people tending to hidden wounds, or manifestations of some kind of illness just ever-expanding till its undeniably a big problem. So what do we need to get along in the world? I'm not talking about wealth or success just finding your place with others in such a messed up world?

Behaviour determines almost everything, a person's behaviour can make you loose or gain something, everyone judges on behaviour, sometimes simple and fair assumptions, judgements on intelligence, shared interests, kindness or how people in any cut throat business thinks like how easily a person can be manipulated or used to their own social advantage. I thought of hermits, I've met a few, they're the hardest people to understand. I find they disregard conversation and avoid any physical contact. They also adopt strange ideologies and obsessive interests, in either conspiracy theories, fundamentalist beliefs, online RPGs and obscure underground hippie music. After speaking to one agoraphobe I realised how out of place he seemed to be and how he preferred being as far away from people as possible. I obviously have the tendency to communicate quite well with dissociative people as I spent many of my younger years cooked up in a room listening to Radiohead and writing dark prose.  I realised that his disgust in people was centered around his own narcissim, no one particularly found him interesting or compelling in conversation cause he didn't enjoy socialising and so never got good at it. But I also got the feeling he enjoyed alienating people, making them feel uncomfortable, or maybe he just learned to enjoy it? As for the psychology I think the main motive would be to avoid dissapointment and avoid receiving that kind of treatment from other people, avoiding ego depletion.

(And my point?) I think all people are afraid, they're afraid of what will happen on a daily basis, yes some more than others but its because of this common fear that we are begrudged of the oppurtunity. We don't end up doing what we think about doing most days. And what is stopping us? ourselves, we miss the oppurtunities some people would literally kill to have. We could do anything we could go anywhere but we won't get anywhere with iron in the spokes.

So...

I know its been a while since I posted anything on this blog, I have been suffering from the infamous writers block for the last week or so and how can one who's had nothing published suffer from such a thing? I thought that to, but I'm not short of ideas...

I am going to interview By Toutatis soon before their March release, so hopefully some good coverage on an ambitious and exciting band. I am also set to release a zine featuring short stories, poems, anecdotes, reviews, what to look out for in Teesside and a novelty one page comic strip, it'll be released under the working title 'SANE ASYLUM' I'm also looking for contributors a.k.a collaborators to work with, so once i've wrote, illustrated and released the first issue I'll be scouting for colleagues. Catch you sooner or later.

Welcome new post...

Hey, it's RDW (B)logging at 20:28 on 18/11/12 I spent this afternoon jamming my conscience with a fender, a proco rat and a small ego to boot.

This blog will cover weekly reviews, brain stews and other significant well-being...



 MY REVIEW OF P.U.S. GIG DATED 26/10/12
THE BILL INCLUDES...

J.B.B.S//PELLETHEAD//CROMLECH//FENCE PANEL//DRUNK IN HELL

 

 

 

 

I arrived early around 19:00 hours with the better half, she was new to the whole thing, I assured her she was about to see the crème de la crème of the teesside underground music scene. I hoped they'd prove me right.

 

The gig was organised by D.I.Y. culprits Gregg and Zak who run P.U.S. (Pissed Up Scum) they bring some great underground music to the community, which otherwise might not happen so regularly. I have been involved in this scene previously with a former band, where I had met some of these people and made friends. And I can say that no matter how different each individual is they share a love for writing and playing music and are passionate about those two things.

Jimmy Bullet and the Baby Shakers (J.B.B.S) had gotten alot faster and alot heavier since I last seen them. It was the lead-guitar player Shaun Blowes 50th birthday aswell as Mr Morris's from Fencey P. The band were pretty seasoned for this reason and in the mood to tear things up. It was also the last gig involving their now ex-drummer as he was departing for personal reasons. Their performance was choc-full of gritty basslines, raw-spikey guitars and d-beat rhythms. Rory offered some humorous commentary and it was cool to see the band weren't sticking to their MC5 influenced rock n' roll rhythms but favouring d-beat influenced aggression.
 

Local legends Pellethead followed, no matter how many times I've seen this band live I'm still just as excited to see them play again Pellethead are a visual act aswell as a performance. Al, Richie and Shaun's different vocal styles and performances along with their late 70s-80s alternative rock/punk styled guitars backed by Gillham's more than accurate drumming Pellethead make a more than interesting act. They've been playing their comedy drunk punk for almost 20 years. Although each members influences are wide and ever-changing their styles compliment eachother so brilliantly. The set featured 'Food Giant' 'School of Health' 'It' and 'Social Creeper'. Their set was full of energy and were like ever a joy to watch. Cromlech were soon to follow...

The next band Cromlech were about to play, I looked over to see a wine licked James (lead vocalist/bass guitar) toying around with his delay pedal and microphone making sure those echoes reached ears in a matter of minutes. While Ben (lead guitar) and Gordon (drums) adjusted their instruments. The onlookers eagerly awaiting that first fuzz soaked chord to ring out, and so it did. Cromlech are a power-house of stoned rhythms like Sleep meets Electric Wizard, a Sabbath black hybrid of sheer intensity.  Messier 31's slow spacious tones intertwine creating a huge wall of sound. Their sound involves a fuzz-heavy guitar, rupturing bass lines and exceptional drumming. With songs clocking in at almost 10 minutes, the dynamics with this band are both brooding and psychedelic. The band were incredibly loud and ferocious playing three songs one of which finally seen its debut. Their set was probably one of the best I'd seen of the band and certainly one of the loudest.

Now if four of your closest friends formed a band, I doubt they'd sound as good as Fence Panel. Four lads with a knack for the craic and a love for getting fucked up while doing it, and I know I've joined them. Aaron walked on stage in his Silent Bob get-up, pacing from one side of the stage to the next just before that riff blasted in like an amphetamine filled S.O.D. meets Negative Approach then Gordon rolls in for the kill. Dave's crunch-groove heavy riffs, Jonny's bass-breaks and Aaron's hilarious take on booze, cretins and sluts could entertain any hardcore/crossover addict. The set featured Fencey P favourites like 'Rape' 'Pornhub' 'Get Fucked' and 'Skanky Little Slut'. The band's dynamics of fast and slow work so well, always a crowd pleaser.

Drunk In Hell have been the wrecking ball to all things mundane since 2008. Anyone who is remotely apathetic or hateful of a modern day existance can relate to the fury within, the questions that are not answered, and never will be. Drunk In Hell are sure to leave the room devastated like the world we were welcomed into. This band's potential can't be charted their live intensity, abrasive feedback and infectious riffs can only be met with hopeful grins and moshing heads. As a band they wear their many noisey influences on their sleeves. Drunk In Hell take to the stage, the cacophony of feedback followed Bishop as he stumbled up glass in hand and then exit a demon from his open jaws. Kev, Mike and Stengers  sonic colossal riffs,  pitch heavy feedback and Gillham's powerhouse drumming fronted by Bishop's warcries made an immense performance. They played DIH fan favs like 'I'm Not Laughing' 'Gag' 'Chick Flick' and 'Hungry For Blood'.  I was also surprised to hear new material being played. The band played in Birmingham at the legendary Supersonic Festival in June this year and the year previously. I am hoping I'll hear their long awaited vinyl release sometime in the near future.

All together I stumbled out from the venue with a smile on my face, made my way home with good company only to enjoy more music, more wine and more smokes.