Friday 24 May 2019

Weekend Debt - Living Under the Influence EP & Launch Party

Ahh I can talk for days so I've broken this into parts incase you want to skip sections... the EP, the journey, the gossip and the gig. I'm writing this tired and won't get chance to this weekend as were at Slamdunk Festival and I'll be worse after that, so apologies for mistakes!

Living Under The Influence EP
Damn this is a step up both technical and in the orchestration! It's amazing. We finally get a released version of Tories, Tour De France (see previous post for more on that), Miss Cougar... Name says it all. My favourite on this Il Padrino, which starts with some synths and an obscene number of build-ups! COME ON BABY


Launch Party @ Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow 23rd May

Prologue
It's a Thursday night, 200miles away from Manchester, we have work at 9am Friday - a 4hour Strategic meeting to start that day too! Any normal person would wait until the band play a local venue.
No, we're driving the 3hours to the gig and back in the same night.

Both me and Richard book Thursday off to allow us time to get North. At noon we set off, playlist at the ready, Monster Energy & Snacks at hand... Fast forward several hours, a Nando's and a couple of JDs we get to Nice N Sleazy and settle in for the evening.



Talking with WD
Whilst we sip our several JDs, (only a few, no drink driving people!) We catch up with Russell and Harvey, whilst Calvin and Grant are off interviewing / podcasting at the booth next to us.
I've not heard/read that yet, I'll share it when the lads share, but I'm pretty sure it didn't have a patch on the unrecorded conversations that went down on at our booth ;-).
I'll leave those stories between us, but maybe 'The Rus & Harv Podcast' will one day be a thing, then you can find out yourself about 2tonne TVs, Midnight Road Painting, Snakes Procreating and Balcony Scaling.

Ok I will touch on that last one, as that's the story of why the lads were tired. Getting locked out of their flat after late night practice the night before...tales of lost keys, unanswered the buzzers, a construction fence as a pseudo-ladder and balcony scaling. They finally got into their flat at 2am, before having to get up early for photoshoots! 

Got to be honest, I'm feeling very tired, only on 4 hours sleep myself and a long day and drive, sometimes I wonder why we do this to ourselves. 
Ha, nah, this is why we do it, the conversations, the people, THE MUSIC. When a gig starts, that energy from the stage and crowd absorbs into you, you bounce into another world!


The Gig
The support acts Third Party and Two Tone Television were both great warm ups. 

Third Party (check out track RPB on Spotify), they have a different MO, often did some instrument and lead vocal switching which kept us in our toes. Very they're good! Punky / Indie / Heavy - at times they held a similar sound to False Heads!!!




Two Tone Television (check out The Heavy) they were also pretty heavy indie I liked their sound, at this point I was little preoccupied so can't comment too much, I'd definitely say they are a band to listen to and their now in my playlists


Weekend Debt
So this is the 4th time watching these guys, actually, first time with this line up - with Calvin on guitar. I was unsure how things would be without Ewan, I knew the EP was awesome and the sounds were on another level, but the guys have matured, I'm sure this is partly due to natural growth and a technical skill brought by Calvin... Undoubtedly an amazing guitarist!

The setlist was a good set, I don't want to dwell too much on the that, you know we know these guys are good. They are excelling, vocally even better than ever, entertaining both on and off stage. From Grants goosebump generating solo Magnetic Girl to Russell's sheer enthusiasm bouncing more and more as the gig goes on. Harvey with his crowd pleasing/teasing and 'Technical ability' fixing unruly Instruments... And as I said, Calvins guitar skills just another level.



My favourite parts are the rework of some of their previous tracks, adding new layers and tones. I love bands who have great studio tracks but actually perform them slightly differently and with more breadth, it's like you get several versions of a great song! On top of this, some cool feedback effects and even got a pit during Il Pedrino!



Tho the best bit, the suprise - 303 AM ... Fucking... 303 AM.... With a 2 minute solo and crowd energising buildup, I managed to get a little bit of it on video! This needs to be on every gig, infact I'd take 10minutes of this it was fucking Awesome. Plus 303 is my favourite track so this was even better!


THIS 





Ahh we finally get home at 2am. New merch in hand too! Mega thanks to the lads, worth the journey, and I can tell you when these guys play your town - get there! If they aren't playing near you, get to Scotland.

For now!
Michael & Richard

Catfish And the Bottlemen

I'm late sharing this, and let's be honest you should know what to expect, so I'm just going to share a few pics. They were amazing, my only criticism was the lack of Oxygen 

https://twitter.com/ALifeOfMusicRo1/status/1126276646774898688?s=09




Tuesday 7 May 2019

Sam Fender - May 2019 - O2 Ritz Manchester

Finally the stars aligned, it's been nearly 2 years of trying to see Sam Fender... If we weren't already booked up then it was that tickets sold out!
But yes last Thursday we got to see the Start Again, Play God, That Sound masterpiece maker Sam Fender. (You can get tickets this week here)




Over at the Ritz in Manchester it was rammed. Sam was so excited and very much humble. I've been banging his drum since I heard him in 2017, and it couldn't have been better. Playing new songs as well as some of my favcs such as That Sound, Start Again and Play God. His vocals were amazing and the band were tight!




What I loved more was his friends he has paying with him, including a mate (I'm sure he was called) Jimmy Blue hat, Which was amazing. Sam was just there to please, no messing around with encores at the end he just went straight into a few acoustic tracks (Poundshop Kardashians) 



I don't want to go too much into it as it was the first night and you guys need to see him to truely enjoy his offerings. Though I will say the Oasis cover Morning Glory was amazing

Hus full album tour is at the end of the year but is on sale this week check out below
http://alom.pw/Sam-Fender-hypersonic


For Manchester gigs click here 

For now. Michael x




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