Vinylicious – Chester Vinyl Night #2

Posted on November 25, 2016 by platinumal

Vinylicious

The Lock Keeper, Chester

Friday 18th November 2016

And lo, for the second Vinyl Night in Chester, a name was bestowed upon the event: Vinylicious.

The Lock Keeper pub graciously invited the gang back for a second round of Bring Your Own Vinyl Night, held again in their upstairs function room. The concept remained unchanged: bring along some records; play a 15 minute set; have a few drinkies. As always, it was VINYL ONLY.

This time my set ran like this:

Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia

Just like last time, I messed up my first song. I’d intended to play “California Uber Alles”, but neglected to check the running order on the sleeve. Preferring to go from memory, I cued up “Holiday in Cambodia” by mistake. As previous, this was no major catastrophe – both songs are brilliant (I just felt my original choice fitted better with my loose theme). This fantastic piece of US punk can be found on the essential “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” album, and if you don’t own it – you should.

Rage Against the Machine – Know Your Enemy

It wasn’t easy to pick just one song from the classic first RATM album. I chose “Know Your Enemy” as it both fit the theme and rocks like a bastard. I love all of the Rage Against the Machine albums, but the first one is legendary. This song has a full fat riff; pounding rhythm; and aggressive lyrics. Perfect. Some mad guitar effects from Tom Morello too.

Public Enemy – Prophets of Rage

A nice link from RATM to PE: Prophets of Rage is the name of the new group featuring members of both (along with B-Real from Cypress Hill). Plus this track, taken from the total master piece that is “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”, is a total monster. Chuck D rhymes with cool style over a hard beat, creating a song that is infectious and immediate. Indispensable hip hop.

Corrosion of Conformity – Shallow Ground/Vote with a Bullet

Yes, I was a bit cheeky and played two songs! I figured, what the hell. Both tracks are from the fantastic “Blind” album, that announced the steady rise of COC to the top of the 90’s metal scene. “Shallow Ground” is a really nice mellow number, quite uncharacteristic and providing contrast to the other album tracks. It lulls the listener into a false sense of security… The next track, “Vote with a Bullet”, is one of the greatest heavy riffs of all time. It’s incessant and pounding, sounding like Thor’s hammer smashing a mountain to pieces. Absolutely love it!

Did you guess the “loose” theme? Well, with the shock result of the US presidential election, I couldn’t resist some aggressive politically driven tunes. Nothing direct, but still to the point.

How did the night go? Well there were plenty of punters who turned up to spin their records, about the same as last time. However overall numbers were down, a huge disappointment considering the extensive promotion that was utilised.

The guys will regroup in the New Year and look at how to build this event bigger and better. Vinylicious was still a great night though, some classic tunes were played. Till next time, vinyl lovers!

The Chester Vinyl Night has a Facebook page, click here.

You can also find The Lock Keeper on Facebook here.

Chester Vinyl Night

Posted on October 19, 2016 by platinumal

Chester Vinyl Night

The Lock Keeper, Chester

Friday 7th October 2016

So the two Bens – Ben the Swede and Coben – decided to stage a vinyl night in Chester. Not to detract from the great night in Mold – but living in Chester they were keen to see how it would go. There had been plenty of feedback from Chester locals who would love to try out the concept and play a few of their own records whilst having a few beers.

After some research, the Lock Keeper pub near the canal, just down Frodsham Street, was selected as the ideal venue. The upstairs function room was ideal, with loads of space and a DJ area at the back. The pub itself offered some fine beers at reasonable prices, so it was all set.

The idea was the same, borrowed from Halcyon Dreams and VOD: bring along a few records, have a 15 minute set to play whatever you like – vinyl only.

I volunteered to do my set early on, whilst waiting for the punters to arrive. Thus following on from The Swede’s opening repertoire, it was my turn. Playing to an audience of six people.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising

I’d planned on playing the superior, and slightly less well known, “Born on the Bayou” by CCR as my first song. However I mixed up Side 1 track 2 with side 2 track 2, and we got this evergreen classic instead. No major mishap, “Bad Moon Rising” is a fantastic song anyway. Always reminds me of “An American Werewolf in London”.

The Stupids – Mega Zombie

This is from one of the first records I ever owned, the “Frankfurter – Eat EP” by UK hardcore punk band The Stupids. They were at the forefront of late eighties skate rock, and sound tracked many a days skateboarding in my youth. This sublime song is just over one minute in length, with the words “Mega Zombie” repeated 27 times. Very fast and a true challenge to prepare the next track in time!

The Ohio Players – Fopp

Luckily I just made it, and dropped the needle on this magnificent chunk of seventies funk. The song first came to my attention via the Soundgarden cover, eventually I picked up a CD “Best of” compilation (also featuring “Love Rollercoaster”, as covered by RHCP). Not long ago I added the Ohio Players album “Honey” to my vinyl collection – which both songs are taken from. This is a solid piece of funk rock with a cool groove.

Tone Loc – Loc’ed After Dark

I wanted to play some tunes to show case some variety, and felt that a bit of old school hip hop would be nice. “Loc’ed After Dark” is the B-side from the “Wild Thing” 12 inch single. I chose it as again, there’s a nice funky beat. Got me strutting my stuff in the DJ booth, anyway.

So alas, my set was over – with still only six people in the audience. Never mind, the evening picked up and soon the function room was full. I even got to play a couple of tracks again at the end of the night to a fuller crowd!

The Chester Vinyl Night was a great success, with a room full of people enjoying the music and drinks. There was a picture quiz which proved popular, and a wide range of tunes spanning several genres – from dub to hip hop to classic rock. There was even a Phil Collins tribute section…

There will be more Vinyl Nights at the Lock Keeper soon. Well done to Ben and Ben for organising the evening – looking forward to more of the same soon!

The Chester Vinyl Night has a Facebook page, click here.

You can also find The Lock Keeper on Facebook here.

Thanks to Halcyon Dreams and VOD Music for help and advice.

Random Driving Playlist

Posted on August 6, 2016 by platinumal

And by that I mean the playlist is random, not the driving. OK?

Driving back from the North Wales coast recently, here are the random songs that were chosen by the iPod for forty minutes of the journey.

Propellerheads – “Bang On!”
Ludacris feat. Shawna – “What’s Your Fantasy”
Sisters of Mercy – “Torch”
David Lee Roth – “Elephant Gun”
Status Quo – “Gerdundula”
Dolly Parton – “Jolene”
Led Zeppelin – “Communication Breakdown”
Public Image Ltd – “The Body”
Therapy? – “Church of Noise”

Songs of the Week 24.07.2016

Posted on July 24, 2016 by platinumal

Just for you!

Big & Rich – Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)
The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
Orchid – Mouths of Madness
Al Green – Tired of Being Alone
Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Scooby Snacks

Songs of the Week 17.07.2016

Posted on July 18, 2016 by platinumal

This weeks “louder then the rest” tunes:

Fishbone – Change
House of Pain – Jump Around
Wolfmother – California Queen
Queens of the Stone Age – The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Dr. John – Jump Sturdy

Songs of the Week 10.07.2016

Posted on July 11, 2016 by platinumal

Here are five more tunes that stood out from my listening over the last week. Enjoy!

Johnny Cash – Bigfoot
Ramones – Psycho Therapy
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Stone Free
Public Enemy – 911 is a Joke
The Presidents of the United States of America – Lump

Songs of the Week 03.07.216

Posted on July 4, 2016 by platinumal

Presenting a new feature at the Virtual Hot Tub, my Songs of the Week. Each week, I will pick five songs that I’ve enjoyed listening to over the last seven days, and share them here for your enjoyment.

Now I listen to probably hundreds of songs in any one week, so choosing just five won’t be easy. Each track will have stood out for some reason or other – perhaps it was poignant, perhaps relating to something going on in my life. Most likely it will just be a proper banging tune that I’ve loved.

This is intended to be a regular weekly feature, but we’ll see how that goes. It’s not easy running this Virtual Hot Tub, you know.

Here’s the five for week ending 03/07/2016:

Devo – Gut Feeling
The Donnas – It’s On The Rocks
The Doors – You’re Lost Little Girl
Alice Cooper – Generation Landslide
Cypress Hill – Can’t Get the Best of Me

There you go – five killer tracks. No explanations necessary. Unless the multitudes of readers want to know why songs are chosen, then I’ll reconsider.

For now – keep rockin’.

Sci Fi Weekender 2016 – part 1

Posted on March 30, 2016 by platinumal

Sci Fi Weekender 17th – 20th March 2016

Hafan Y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli

Wow. This year’s Sci Fi Weekender was a blur – it went faster than light speed. All the usual geekery was in full swing, though I’ll be gosh darned if I can remember everything and what order it happened in. Too much blue milk?

Never mind, I have numerous photos of the weekend to share; to help report on this cosmic adventure. Except that didn’t go to plan this year. My trusty Canon was on the blink, so I resorted to a little digital snapper and my phone.

Not ideal, but sometimes you have to compromise.

Thor and Loki

Merida

Freddy

Scream

Harley and Zatanna

Cool outfit!

General Zod

So what is Sci Fi Weekender? For the unititiated, it’s a weekend of events and special guests, all held on site at the Hafan Y Mor holiday park in Pwllheli, North Wales. Think Comic Con but at a holiday camp and with a party atmosphere. All manner of interview panels, Q&As, games, and musical entertainment are part of the festivities.

Plus a prog rock festival – HRH Prog – was also being held on the same weekend. Not a massive tie in with science fiction you may think (at least not without Hawkwind playing). However it gave additional entertainment for those with musical interests.

Our weekend began with four of us – Adam, Greeny, Kurt and myself – driving from our corner of north east Wales to the north west. On the way we popped into Cob records in Porthmadog to feed our vinyl addition. Then we settled into our caravan home from home – complete with haul of supplies from the local ASDA – and planned our DVD watching schedule for the night.

Belle and Prince

Double trouble

Ant Man and She Hulk

Group pic

Amazing!

Unfortunately the DVD player wasn’t working, and without tickets for the Thursday evening SFW party, we were stuck. Rather than watch TV, we went for a pint in the onsite pub. We then popped in to see what the prog rock was all about. We didn’t think we would get in, but it was no problem. As a result we were able to see Third Quadrant (quite good) and the excellent Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Arthur is over seventy years old and jumps around on stage like a nutter. Highly entertaining and some great tunes.

Friday began with the bad news that Kurt was ill. He’s only 16 so booze wasn’t the issue. As a result, Kurt and his dad Greeny were pretty much out of the running for the day. They watched TV and chilled. Plus Ste, our remaining member, had burst the inflatable camp bed by leaving it too close to the fire. He suffered a bad night’s sleep on the sofa as a result.

The rest of us headed over to the arena and started checking things out. I took a few photos and looked round the stalls. We caught a Cosplay panel with Tabitha from Artyfakes that was very interesting, with extremely impressive Space Marine costumes and hints and tips about the hobby. I bottled asking my question though, which was “How do you go for a wee?”.

Star Trek

She Hulk

This pic should be gloomier

Belle

Doctor

I also watched an interview panel of comic book artists. The panel consisted of 2000AD greats such as Glenn Fabry, William Simpson, Clint Langley and Simon Davis. Hosted by Dez Skinn, the panel was informative and also amusing; it seems some of the assembled masters had been on the pop? Either way, these guys were like rock stars to me when I was a young 2000AD fan, so it was pretty cool.

The vibe around the arena was good natured as always. I took some cool photos (thanks everyone) and despite our numbers being depleted, we had a good afternoon.

After a delightful pizza from the onsite Papa John’s (it was great!); we were ready for the evening’s entertainment. I’m afraid to say that the Imaginarium and magicians weren’t really my thing this year. It’s difficult to dig the magic when you can’t see it up close.

Orc

Morticia and Gomez

Mario and pals

Jedi and Ewok

Welcome!

The highlight was the one and only Professor Elemental, steam punk hip hop pioneer. His smooth raps mixed with groovy beats like a well tuned gin and tonic. A pleasure to witness, as always.

At the end of the night, I teleported across the site to see the end of the set by Caravan. Not only a very apt band to be playing, they were actually pretty good. The Soft Machine were on last with a more jazz orientated approach. All very impressive and I’m glad I got to see something different.

I’m ashamed to say that we all ended up crashing out early on Friday night. Illness and lack of sleep took it’s toll. I was last man standing, going to bed at 11.30pm. Pathetic, I know.

In Part 2: Brian Blessed, the Cosplay final, more Prog Rock…

PLUS: will we be able to stay up late?

Stay tuned to this frequency…

The Sci Fi Weekender site is here.

You really should check out Professor Elemental. His website is here, plus he’s on that Twitter and stuff too.

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night #7

Posted on March 7, 2016 by platinumal

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night

Queen’s Head, Mold

Friday 26th February 2016

Welcome back to the Queen’s Head in Mold, North Wales! Get yourself a pint and make yourself comfortable, ‘cos you know what time it is. That’s right, it’s Bring Your Own Vinyl Night again!

Remember the rules: there’s a fifteen minute slot for each person; play whatever you like, so long as it’s vinyl.

Only Greeny and myself made it this time – Adam and Ben the Swede were both unavailable. No theme for my set this time, just a few songs I really had a yearning to play…

Ennio Morricone – The Ecstasy of Gold

This song is of course from the soundtrack for the classic Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. My version came from an album called “This is Ennio Morricone”. You don’t need me to tell you how great that film is. And Morricone’s soundtrack is stylish and ground breaking. In particular, this track (which plays while Eli Wallach’s character runs frenziedly through a Civil War graveyard) is sheer class. It builds magnificently and captivates the listener. A bit over the top, I admit, as the first song in my set – but never let it be said that Platinum Al doesn’t do drama.

Ramones – Surfin’ Bird

If I was going to recommend a Ramones album for a novice to start their education of NYC’s finest, I’d go for “Rocket to Russia”. I thought that this frenetic cover of the Trashmen’s surf rock gem would be a suitable place to go, after the majesty of the last track. I love the Ramones and this song was a ton of fun to play.

Soundgarden – Fresh Tendrils

This song, from the simply fantastic “Superunknown” album, is probably my favourite Soundgarden song ever. And I’m a bit of a Soundgarden nerd – I’ve collected tons of their stuff. Rather than play a more obvious, well known song, I decided to go with my top tune. “Fresh Tendrils” has an epic, classic rock sound that I love. No idea what Chris is singing about, however. The version I played was from the “Spoonman” 12″ single (on clear vinyl!).

Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues

Originally I was going to play a Stooges song, but then I remembered that 26th February was Johnny Cash’s birthday. So I decided to play a song by the Man in Black. “Folsom Prison Blues” is a legendary track, one of Cash’s best. And I’ve already stated how big a hero this guy was to me. The album this came from – “Original Golden Hits Volume 1” – was my Gran’s. After she passed away, it was given to me. I’d heard a lot from bands I was into how Cash was an inspiration, so I checked the record out. I loved it, and my Johnny Cash fandom was born. The first Cash record I heard, but not the last!

That’s my list for the night. There were may great songs played through out the evening, though. Budgie! Hawkwind! Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy! Anthrax! Check the link below for the complete list.

Wax is back – get spinning those tracks! Thanks for a great night!

I’d also like to thank my old mate Graham, who turned up with a couple of Suicidal Tendencies records for me. You see, I’d sold these two exact albums to Graham some twenty years ago, when I was a broke student. Although I could’ve tracked the records down on eBay, I decided to message Graham and see if he’d sell them back to me (if he still had them). The reason being that one album, the awesome “Join the Army”, had been given to me when I was 15 by my friend Kelvin Bedford, who I used to skateboard with every day. Sadly, Kel passed away a couple of years ago. So it was cool to get that actual copy back in my record collection, as a nice memory. It even had the same plastic protective sheet over the album – and the selotape strip I patched up the inner sleeve with many, many years ago! Graham gave me both records for free – so I bought him a pint or two. Thank you!

The Halcyon Dreams blogspot is here.

The Halcyon Dreams mixcloud page is here.

The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night #5

Posted on December 8, 2015 by platinumal

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night

Queen’s Head, Mold

Friday 4th December 2015

Unlike the last event, I didn’t have a theme for Bring Your Own Vinyl Night this time around. Just some tunes I fancied playing. I hadn’t even decided exactly what they would be till the show was on.

For anyone still uninitiated, the night is hosted in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales. There are two turntables and each participant gets to play 15 minutes of whatever music they want, vinyl only.

I had myself a couple of beers and rattled out this selection:

Motorhead – Ace of Spades

When you buy your first Motorhead album, you know you’ve entered the world of grown up music. Big, nasty unapologetic rocking grown up music. A song that never gets old, I was introduced to “Ace of Spades” when the band performed it on the classic “University Challenge” episode of The Young Ones. It’s just a non-stop, joyous racket that simply will not stop or slow down for anyone. Absolute perfection. I played this in memory of drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, who sadly passed away recently.

The Vapors – Turning Japanese

A New Wave/Punk Rock classic, I was donated the brilliant “Turning Japanese” by a friend. Thank you, Simon. It was supposed to be part of a tribute set that I’m still working on. It was going to be hard to follow up the adrenaline rush of the previous song, The Vapors pulled it off here though. A great power pop song that kept the pace of the set nicely.

Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene

A slight fast forward to the late 1980’s for this next track. The first track on Dinosaur Jr.’s album “Bug”, this track nicely covers the appeal of early American alternative rock. Born out of punk and hardcore, with one foot in old Black Sabbath and one in jangly pop; Dinosaur Jr. constantly delight. Reminds me of my skateboarding youth.

Beastie Boys – Sabotage

I couldn’t decide which track to play last, so I let the audience choose the album. The Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” won hands down, and I chose “Sabotage” as the track to play. Another unrelenting monster of a song, “Sabotage” has a funky groove delivered with a rocking style. Again, a song I never tire of. Plus the Spike Jonze video, with it’s 70’s cop show homage, is a work of genius. It’s been over twenty years and I still want to dress up and play Sabotage Cops for a day.

My buddy Adam strode up to the decks next, and delivered another fine set. It went something like this:

Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure
The Blasters – I’m Shakin’
Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
DJ Kool – Let Me Clear My Throat

Four top songs from Adam there, the Queen track was a load of fun and had me doing my world renowned Freddie Mercury impression. It was nice to hear a modern song on vinyl too, with the Ronson/Mars number.

Great night, great songs – well done all on another fine evening’s entertainment. I’m currently stumped what to play next time. I’ll work on it.

The Halcyon Dreams blog is here, where you can find listed (very helpfully) all of the songs played on the night.