Tag Archives: musicians

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night #9

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Bring Your Own Vinyl Night

Queen’s Head, Mold

Friday 4th November 2016

It was great to be back in Mold for another Bring Your Own Vinyl Night.  It’s been a long time since the last evening in the Queen’s Head, with summer holidays and whatnot getting in the way – so it was good to see the familiar faces and crank out some tunes.

The usual rules applied: each person got 15 minutes on the decks to play whatever they liked, genre free – vinyl only!

Adam went for it first, here’s an over view of his varied and very enjoyable set:

  • Voice of the Beehive – I Think I Love You
  • Grandmaster Flash – Whitelines
  • Queen – One Vision
  • Willie Nelson – On the Road Again

I am so jealous of that Willie Nelson single!

Halloween had just been and gone a few days earlier, so I was still in a spooky mood.  This time, my set went like this:

Monster Magnet – See You in Hell

One of the many stand out tracks from Monster Magnet’s classic “Powertrip” album, this is acid drenched stoner rock at its finest.  The retro sound is augmented by a churning organ that whirls around as the bass chugs.  Psychedelic wonderment from Monster Magnet that sounds like a forgotten late 60’s gem.  I’ve owned the “Powertrip” album for many years on CD, but recently acquired the new vinyl re-issue.  Money well spent.  A truly great, under appreciated band.

Donovan – Season of the Witch

This fantastic song was featured in the Tim Burton movie Dark Shadows, a film I’m a huge fan of (though it appears not many other people are).  Whilst the previous song sounds like something from the sixties, this one is.  It’s a mellow groover that manages to wander out of hippy territory and sound somewhat sinister… Love this track, I felt it was a suitable jam for a Halloween inspired set.

The Damned – Plan 9 Channel 7

Ah, the Damned!  Where would a Halloween themed set be, without a tune from these punk rock proto-Goths?  One of my favourite bands, one of my favourite songs – from the indispensable “Machine Gun Etiquette” album.  Every home should own this!  The song is, of course, written about a viewing of Ed Wood‘s infamous “worst film ever made” – Plan 9 From Outer Space – on American horror channel 9.  Vampira, James Dean, Hollywood after dark – it’s all here in a perfect slice of rampaging pop punk.

The Misfits – American Nightmare

Finally, more horror punk from the masters themselves – the one and only Misfits.  On this track, Danzig and pals abandon the usual Ramones inspired turbo punk and offer up a ridiculously catchy rockabilly number.  Complete with handclaps and Danzig crooning more like Elvis than ever, this track sounds like a lost piece of 50’s nostalgia.  Classic stuff.

There we have it ladies and gentlemen – another great night in Mold!  Thanks to the guys from Halcyon Dreams and VOD music – and Dylan who helped out with an extra turntable!  More soon…

The Halcyon Dreams blogspot is here.

The Halcyon Dreams mixcloud page is here.

The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.

The VOD music website is here.

Scorpion Child – Gig Review

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Scorpion Child + Jared James Nichols + The Bad Flowers

Tuesday 1st November 2016

The Live Rooms, Chester

Almost a year to the day since I last saw the mighty Scorpion Child rocking out, and in the same venue too.  This time the crowd numbers are down, but hell – it was a bleak Tuesday evening.  No excuse though – people should have been at the Live Rooms for this gig.

I just managed to catch the end of the first set, by UK band The Bad Flowers.  This three piece were all power and chunky riffs – think Motorhead menace with some ZZ Top rock in there.  Very appetising and well worth keeping an eye on.

Next up was Jared James Nichols, with his two bandmates, bringing us our second three piece of the night.  This American band play a fine blend of bluesy hard rock, delivered with a confident, killer attack.  Mountain were a fair comparison – they rocked out a crunching “Mississippi Queen” just to prove it.  Quality entertainment with a boogie groove!

The last time I saw Scorpion Child, they were here on tour with Crobot (another superb band).  Now with their second album – the extremely brilliant Acid Roulette – firmly under their belt, I was keen to witness these new rock’n’roll superstars-to-be again.

Scorpion Child deliver music that is well schooled in the classics of the past – Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple.  And like those bands they’re able to deliver monster rockers like “Liqour” and “She Sings, I Kill” along with some superbly epic moments that build beautifully (“Survives” and “Acid Roulette”).

There’s also a thinly disguised darkness about the bands sound, not exactly doomy but much more in the vein of 80’s bands like the Mission and the Sisters of Mercy.  At their most bombastic, Scorpion Child are reminiscent of The Cult (from whence they claimed their name).  Apologies for endless musical comparisons – but this band really have some classic style that merits a bigger fan base.  Throw in some Danzig and Soundgarden and you’ve got a list of some of my favourite bands.

A great deal of the set is from the new album, showing justified confidence on the bands part.  Songs like “My Woman in Black” and “I Might Be Your Man” are thundering hard rock compositions that are classics in the making.

A great gig, shame about the low attendance (and the lack of merch!) – but brilliantly infectious modern hard rock.  I’m off for fish’n’chips.

The Scorpion Child website is here.

You can find Scorpion Child, Jared James Nichols and the Bad Flowers on Facebook.

The Live Rooms website is here.

 scorpion-child

Songs of the Week 09.10.2016

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Biding time till I write up the next Halloween Horror Fest movie review, here’s five songs that stood out last week:

  1. Siouxsie and the Banshees – Arabian Knights
  2. The Stupids – Skid Row
  3. David Bowie – Life on Mars
  4. Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
  5. Anthrax – Antisocial

Songs of the Week 25.09.2016

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This week’s Songs of the Week were all heard on vinyl only.  Some were from records I had for my birthday, others I bought with birthday money.

  1. Generation X – Valley of the Dolls
  2. Black Sabbath – N.I.B.
  3. The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows
  4. Rolling Stones – Ventilator Blues
  5. Mountain – Mississippi Queen

Songs of the Week 24.07.2016

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Just for you!

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

Songs of the Week 17.07.2016

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This weeks “louder then the rest” tunes:

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

Songs of the Week 03.07.216

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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:

  1. Devo – Gut Feeling
  2. The Donnas – It’s On The Rocks
  3. The Doors – You’re Lost Little Girl
  4. Alice Cooper – Generation Landslide
  5. 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’.

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night #8

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Bring Your Own Vinyl Night

Queen’s Head, Mold

Friday 8th April 2016

Got a record collection?  Want to spin those discs on a nice turntable for an appreciative bunch of vinyl enthusiasts?  The Bring Your Own Vinyl Night is for you!

Held monthly in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales, this event goes from strength to strength.  The idea is simple: each participant gets 15 minutes to play whatever records they want.  That’s vinyl only; no CDs, MP3s, cassettes or whatever else.  Just have a beer and enjoy the music.

My pal Adam was back on the decks tonight, and was the first of our crew to step up.  He played a great set of songs from movies, that went something like this:

  • Carly Simon – Nobody Does It Better
  • Blue Swede – Hooked On A Feeling
  • George Thorogood & The Destroyers – Bad to the Bone
  • Ry Cooder – All Shook Up
  • Santo & Johnny – Sleepwalk

A special prize if you can name the films these songs are from!  A great set from Adam, I think one of his strongest.  In particular, I thought “Sleepwalk” was an exceptional track.

Then it was my turn:

Suicidal Tendencies – Possessed to Skate

Regular readers will know the story of my Suicidal records.  Here’s a quick recap.  Going back to the height of my skateboarding days in 1988 (or thereabouts), my friend Kelvin Bedford gave me the album “Join the Army” by Suicidal Tendencies.  A few years later, as a broke student, I sold that album and another ST record to my mate Graham.  Now fast forward to the recent past, and although I had the CDs, I was kicking myself for not having the vinyl anymore.  They were easy enough to buy off Discogs.  However, sadly Kel had passed away a couple of years ago, so I thought it would be great to have the copy he originally gave me back.  I contacted Graham, and he gave me the records for free.  What a gentleman!  I bought him a beer or two as a thank you.

Not so brief that recap, but now you have the background.  I wanted to play a track off the classic “Join the Army” record, as it was back in my collection, and this had to be it.  Many fun memories of my old skateboarding days always come flooding back with this fast paced punk rock/metal hybrid.  And I still listen to it when I skate nowadays (which isn’t often enough).  “Possessed to Skate”.  RAD.

Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger

The next song is a favourite I was introduced to in my university days.  I was already a fan of the early Stooges albums, but hadn’t heard “Raw Power”.  It’s a superb record, full of barely restrained energy and chaos.  “Gimme Danger” is a the second song on the album, lulling the listener in to a false sense of comfort after lead track “Search and Destroy” decimates your speakers.  “Gimme Danger” still has an air of menace, however – a sense that anything can, and will, go wrong.  Decadent and beautiful, a masterpiece.

Chris Isaak – Wicked Game

And so on to Chris Isaak.  I have the “Wicked Game” album on CD, so I can regularly bask in the warmth of Isaak’s voice and imagine desert roads, truck stops, motels and neon lights.  This version is on a 7″ single that Greeny gave me for Christmas, and I’m so glad I have it.  Timeless Americana that always carries a hint of David Lynch, thanks to the song being included in “Wild at Heart”.  I usually drunkenly sing along to this at 2am.  I’ve also attempted “Wicked Game” at Karaoke a couple of times; I think I got away with it.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Sexy Mexican Maid

One of my favourite RHCP songs ever, you can find this sensual little number on the fantastic “Mother’s Milk” record.  It’s a slow funky groove that deserves to be heard more often, from one of their greatest albums.  “Sexy Mexican Maid” shows the Chili Peppers exploring their sound and developing towards “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, whilst still happy to languish with their sexually charged lyrics.

So last up was Ben the Swede, who recently moved house and now had access to his full vinyl collection.  The theme was bass, of different types:

  • Level 42 – You Can’t Blame Louis
  • Duran Duran – A View to a Kill
  • ELO – Shine a Little Love

And there you have it: another great night with some great songs and some very cool people.There were some killer tracks from PIL, Perrey & Kingsley, Elvis Costello and more.  You can see the full playlist on the Halcyon Dreams blog here.

Thanks all – looking forward to the next Vinyl Night!

You can listen to this Bring Your Own Vinyl Night (and previous ones, too) on the Mixcloud page here.

The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.

Thanks Graham!

RIP Kelvin Bedford

Bring Your Own Vinyl Night #6

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Bring Your Own Vinyl Night

Queen’s Head, Mold

Friday 22nd January 2016

The first Bring Your Own Vinyl Night of 2016 brought out fantastic tunes old and new. Regardless of genre, all were welcome to spin their records for the enjoyment of the gathered vinyl enthusiasts.

Held in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales, the idea is simple.  Each participant gets a fifteen minute slot to play whatever they like, so long as it’s on vinyl.  No other format permitted.

Again my selection for this evening had a theme, though a sad one.  Inspired by the loss of many musical heroes recently, my songs were selected as a tribute to some of those musicians who had passed away.

My old mucker Adam was first up from our gang.  He’d got to the pub early and had some food, which I’m told was very good.  Here’s his set:

  • Aerosmith – Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu
  • The Backbeat Band – Money
  • David Bowie – Moonage Daydream
  • Neil – Hole in My Shoe
  • Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel – White Lines

Five great songs, awesome set.  Some of the other punters had a go, then it was my turn on the wheels of steel.

Stone Temple Pilots – Plush

Taken from the first Stone Temple Pilots record, “Core”, this song is my favourite track on the album.  “Plush” is a big, epic song that always reminded me of Led Zeppelin.  A great track to start the set off, though as it’s over five minutes long it meant that my set would be three songs rather than the usual four.  No problem.  Played in memory of STP singer Scott Weiland who died in December 2015.

Motorhead – Killed by Death

At the last Bring Your Own Vinyl Night, I played “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead as drummer Phil Taylor had passed away.  Sadly Lemmy, Motorhead main man and all round rock legend, was to follow on 28th December 2015.  After “Ace of Spades”, the next best Motorhead tune is “Killed By Death”, so I gave this classic a spin.  Taken from the best of compilation “No Remorse”, which I bought when I was 16 as it had both of the aforementioned tracks on it.  Every home should have one!

David Bowie – Heroes

And finally a Bowie song, to remember this great artist.  I chose “Heroes” as it’s my favourite Bowie song, grand and optimistic with a tinge of melancholy.  Truly magnificent.  The track I played was the single edit, taken from the “Best of Bowie” album, which I picked up a couple of years ago in a charity shop.  There were several songs I could have picked from several albums I own, all brilliant tunes. Bowie best of

After three songs I was running out of time for my fifteen minute slot and decided to call it quits.  I had the Eagles “Take It Easy” in reserve, to commemorate the passing of Glen Frey, but I was running out of time.  Plus Bowie’s “Heroes” was a perfect track to end on.

So Ben the Swede took to the stage after me, armed with just three records.  He’s moving house, you see ( a real house, not a cardboard box) – and most of his stuff is in storage at the moment.  Despite limited resources, Ben dropped a set of bangers.

  • Megadeth – Tornado of Souls
  • Elton John – Grey Seal
  • Deep Purple – Never Before

A nice mix there, from Megadeth to Elton John!

There you have it – another night of great tunes and good company at the Queen’s Head.  I even had a few requests for songs from the audience, though couldn’t oblige as that’s not what vinyl night is all about!  Thanks to everyone concerned.

Hope to see you there next time!

The Halcyon Dreams blogspot is here.

The Halcyon Dreams mixcloud page is here.

The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.

R.I.P. Lemmy

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Lemmy

Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister

24.12.1945 – 28.12.2015

A huge part of growing up is buying your first Motorhead album.  For me it was the compilation album “No Remorse”, which I wanted because it had “Ace of Spades” and “Killed By Death” on it.  With that purchase, I took a step into a bigger world.  Motorhead were a gang, not just a band – and with buying that record I was subscribing to a whole new way of life.

The first time I encountered the rabid monster that was Motorhead was when they performed the legendary “Ace of Spades” on the Young Ones episode “Bambi”.  Lemmy was there front and centre, a living icon in mirror shades, mutton chop whiskers, and thunderous bass guitar; bellowing into a mic that was stretched to the ceiling.

Motorhead’s music was a raucous, fast burst of adrenaline and I played that album every Monday morning before school.  It was the best way to get into the zone and face the start of the week.  Total take no prisoners, take on the world music.  Of course, real life wasn’t so harsh, but Motorhead made you feel like you could do anything.

Lemmy himself was always the uncompromising rock’n’roll figurehead.  His gruff demeanour and his reputation for fast living only cemented his status.  And Motorhead were always cool.  When I developed a taste for punk rock, Motorhead were still cool.  Lemmy and Motorhead straddled the otherwise impossible crevasse between punk and metal.  He had roots going back to early rock’n’roll and the classics of the 60’s with the Beatles and Hendrix.  Lemmy was part of rock’s DNA.

Over the years I collected their albums, bought the t-shirt and Lemmy’s autobiography, and saw them live.  I even met the guy once.  One day I’ll write up the story of that night, which I was always going to call “The Greatest Night Out of My Life”.  Suffice to say that I met Lemmy in a strip club in Liverpool after a Motorhead gig, totally by chance.  I hung out with him all night.  He was extremely gracious and funny.  He was tolerant of drunk fans because he knew how much the music meant to us.

As much a gentleman as a warrior, the world has lost a real original with the passing of Lemmy Kilmister.  He was a pioneer, an innovator.  We knew he’d go one day, but it’s still unbelievable.  I’ll miss Motorhead.  Raise a glass to the great man and yell:

“You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, but that’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live forever!”