Solihull Summer Fest Sunday (28/7/19) Review

Organising a music festival in the UK is a risky business. whether you make your money back or make a loss depends almost entirely on how the weather turns out on the day. So spare a thought for the organisers of The Solihull summer fest who booked their acts to play on the week of the hottest day on record and yet still had rain pouring down on both days. In true English fashion this didn't stop the crowds from sitting down on their deckchairs, putting on their wellies and drinking their prosecco. For the first hour or so entertainment was provided by some local bands and tribute acts. A guy named Garry Pease looks and sounds almost exactly like a younger Rod Stewart. Garry gave the crowd the hour of cheesy Rod-ness they needed to keep their spirits up but without a live band it had the feel of karaoke. Mercury might not look that much like Queen (put that down to their singer being older than Freddie ever got to be) but their costumes and tunes were on point, hitting most of the high notes and delivering all the loved tunes. Mercury might not be queen but their a damn good copy. 

The first actual band to grace the stage was 80's ska Bad Manners, led by the incomparable Buster Bloodvessel. Buster is still as charismatic as ever and his band are a reminder of what made ska so great in the first place. Dancing around the stage with their instruments and playing some hilariously joyous covers of Frankie Vallie's  'I love you baby  and 'The Can Can'. Buster also had a go at (badly) playing the trombone and still making fat jokes which in 2019 could be seen more as an embrace of body positivity than a crass joke. Bad Manners were a blast. (7.6/10) The same can not be said for 80's yuppie has-been's Go West. Who put on the worst set I've seen a band play all year. While Go West are musically competent it's the confusing mix of covers that made their set annoying. Especially considering as this festival had already booked two cover bands. Covering younger artists such as Sam Sparro (as if they don't have their own 80's tunes to play), older artists such as Smokey Robinson (Sacrilege!) and bad 90's RnB covers. All with the sophistication of a shitty pub band. I left after they played a cover of 'Rio' by the far superior Duran Duran. Fuck this band (3.2)

Luckily by this point things were kicking off on the Hedkandi stage as DJ Storm alongside backing dancers and percussionist Chris Budd and saxophonist Ellie Sax delivered a masterclass in seamlessly mixing house and disco classics. 

The Proclaimers have had a long and fruitful career since having a fluke hit with that one song many years ago. Still recording albums and touring following last years 'Angry Cyclist' album. The Proclaimers live set is short on thrills or chatter but is packed full of great songs. Such as the brilliantly authentic country style 'Sunshine on Leith', and the lovably blunt love song 'Lets Get Married. The Proclaimers have survived because their unapologetic sentimentality is what makes them so special. Of course 500 Miles inspired a mass singalong but the 50 minutes before that proved there is much more to love them for. (7.6)

The Human League know how to make an entrance. Dressing the stage with white keyboards and electronic drums and being introduced by their two keyboardists playing an instrumental 'Sound of the Crowd'. Singer Phil Oakey joined Susan and Jo on stage in full Matrix mode, in a full length black trench coat and tiny sunglasses. Surprisingly Phil Oakey revealed that he was originally from Solihull, having moved when he was 14. The Human league reeled off the hits, 'Mirror man', love action and a brilliantly dark 'Seconds' The only low point was when Susanne took over the lead vocals for the dull 'One man in my heart' (while Phil did one of many off stage costume changes). While The Human League may have struggled to follow up Dare 'Fascination', 'The Lebanon' and the brilliantly poignant Human' proved they they never stopped writing great songs and the response to 1995's 'Tell Me When' shows that it's unfair to simply see them as an 80's band. As the keyboardists played an instrumental version of 'Don't you want me baby' The mass crowd managed to sing everyone of the words flawlessly and unprompted. Some may have left after Phil and the girls came back to sing it themselves, but they missed an encore of the bleakly industrial 'Being Boiled' and brilliantly cheesy Giorgio Moroder collaboration 'Together in electric dreams', which despite it's naffness seems to have predicted the rise of VR and technology being used to maintain long distance relationships. The Human League may have been going through the motions slightly but their hour set flew by, the set design and backdrops looked fantastic as did the band themselves. The Human League delivered an effortlessly  engaging and enjoyable set. A very British synthesizer group closing a very British festival (8.4)

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever + Thyla. Live at The Crossing review (22/7/19)

Thyla

Brighton's Thyla kicked off this show at The Crossing. Thyla are one of the newest bands to take inspiration from the early 90's late 80's Shoegaze and dream-pop scenes. Thyla were shrouded by layers of dry ice and their sound is a heady mix of reverb laden guitar riffs, not that dissimilar to recent bands such as Wolf Alice or Pumarosa. Singer Millie may have bemoaned this show being the last of their tour with RBCF and having to go back "to steaming milk, which sucks", but on the promise Thyla are showing and an EP round the corner, she may be able to say goodbye to lattes soon. (6.8/10)

RBCF's Joe White

To music listeners who have been paying attention over the past few years it may seem that Melbourne has become the musical centre of the world. In recent years the city has produced acts such as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Courtney Barnett, Tropical Fuck Storm, Amyl & The Sniffers, and many more. Last year I decided to take a trip to Australia and owing to my love of some of those bands, I made sure that I took a trip down to Melbourne while i was there. What I found was a music lovers dream. Where every bar, seems to have a gig on every night, each day The local gig listings have more shows listed than  my native Birmingham has in a month. I caught local heroes such a Deathbeat and Sophisticated Dingo on stacked bills where for a measly $10 you can catch 5+ bands on shows that regularly finish at up to 1am. I didn't get to catch Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever while I was over there but I did listen to their debut album "Hope Downs" on repeat. It's an infectiously brilliant album of summery indie rock bangers from a band who wear their aussieness with pride. When RBCF took to the stage the first thing that occurred to me was how ordinary the band look. With their plain clothes and short haircuts RBCF look more like extras on The Almighty Johnsons* than a gang of Melbourne hipsters. The occasional moments of chatting to the audience didn't really change this impression. With jibes about how stressful it is buying underwear from the bullring and the politicalish statement "our guys called sco-mo your guys called bo-jo" this is 'a song about how stupid fences are'. Any rejection of the division pushed on us by polticians and media is welcome, but it's hardly the sloganeering of an IDLES gig. It was when RBCF started playing tunes from 'Hope downs' that everything started clicking into place. 'Talking Straight', 'Sisters Jeans', 'The Mainland' and 'An air conditioned man' are the kind of tunes that lesser bands would kill for. RBCF have clearly had to work their asses off to get noticed in the vast swamp that is the Melbourne music scene and it shows. There are no gimmicks here, just a band of incredibly tight and talented musicians playing some of the best rock tunes of this decade. RBCF are also refreshingly ego free, all taking turns to be the lead singer. While Joe White deserves prises for his fantastic lead guitar work, its the way all 5 musicians come together that makes the band stand out. After a brief encore and finishing redition of the title track of their breakout EP 'The French Press, it became clear what makes RBCF so special. Free from trends or pretension, just good tunes and fantastic musicianship, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are the every mans indie band. (8.8)


*New Zealand TV series about Norse gods living everyday lives, google it. 

Links 
www.rollingblackoutsband.com/
www.thyla.co.uk

Why positivity in music is the new anger, and why it matters.

When looking into any movement in popular culture, any changing of the zeitgeist, you can usually start by looking at the authors, poets and artists before you see how their ideas and ideals trickle down into more commercial  art-forms such as music or film-making. For example the poet Alan Ginsberg was such an influence on Bob Dylan that he toured with Bob and his entourage during his 'rolling Thunder Revue' tour in the mid 70's. It's also easy to see how the surreal realism of a writer such as William Burroughs may have influenced the likes of Tom Waits. The writer who I think is most influential in this age is Matt Haig. If you are not aware of Matt and his work then you may have come across one of the pages from his best selling self help/memoir 'Reasons To Stay Alive'. In the two page chapter 'The World' Matt wrote out a new manifesto for loving in the modern age, it follows that. "The World is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn't good for the economy, If we were happy with what we had, why would we want more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? how do you get people to vote for a political party? you make them worry about immigration". Matt concludes that "To be calm is a kind of revolutionary act, to be happy with our non- upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves would not be good for business". On the most basic level Matt's book has infiltrated music through the 1975 and their brilliant "A brief Inquiry..." album as they reportedly hd a copy in the studio. this can easily be confirmed by listening to the lyrics on tracks such as 'love it if we made it' or 'Give yourself a try'. Matt has also released an album with Andy Burrows. the album is also called 'Reasons to stay Alive' and is a sort of companion piece to the book.

Glastonbury has also historically been the host to many changes in pop culture. Starting out as a small hippy festival in the 70's, giving amnesty to political campaigners in the 80's and leading the way for festivals to become the billion dollar industry they are now via the big beat sounds of the 90's. In 2019 Glastonbury was the host to almost every single act that matters in 2019. It was an occasion notable for it's blanket ban on plastic but also for the amount of special moments that happened throughout it's many sets. Loyle Carner may have worn a shirt that sad 'I hate Boris' but his set was one full of joyous positivity rather than political anger. as he paid tribute via poetry to his mother and gave his friend the opportunity to propose onstage to his girlfriend on stage before an audience of hundreds. Lizzo made waves with one of the most talked anbout sets of the weekend. Spreading a message of body positivity and self love. Telling her crowd that "I want you to know if you can love me, you can love your goddamn self,”. Dave made headlines by inviting a young fan named Alex to rap the verses of his song 'Thiago Silva' which was one of the most unexpectedly heartwarming moments if the summer. Especially considering how dark the topics on Dave's debut album Psychodrama were. Stormzy delivered an epic Glastonbury set where he took time to shout out many of his other fellow MC's, and became overwhelmed with emotion.

Perhaps the most important band in this current wave is IDLES. Whose instant- classic 2nd album 'Joy as an act of resistance' echoes Matt Haig's writing in it's title. What those who bemoan the lack of politics in music are missing is that while there is currently a huge amount of vibrant artists making political music, the attitude is what's different. There is more than enough anger out there and it doesn't need to be put into music. There is already so much of it existing on the internet, and on our TV screens. If you read 'Reasons To Stay alive. you may also notice the alarming statistics that suicide is the leading cause of death of men under the age of 35 and that one in five people go through depression at some point in their lives. It's an issue that IDLES tackle directly through their music. Believing that 'Toxic masculinity' -I.e. the inability for men to discuss heir feelings due for pressure from social norms. At Glastonbury IDLES frontman Joe Talbot talked openly about his own issues “I spent a long time feeling lonely and depressed and a drug addict and an alcoholic, But I’d come (to Glastonbury) and feel like I was part of something bigger than myself”.  IDLES signature song Danny Nedelko is an anthem which will have been heard across many a muddy field this summer. It's a fiercely pro- immigration anthem and tribute to Joe's friend, the Lativian frontman of Heavy Lungs. The lyrics to this song illustrate better than any why a generation of musicians have decided to eschew cynicism and hatred for postivity "Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain, pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate". While the world may be increasingly designed to depress us our new generation of rock stars and activists have realised that fighting for what you believe in and that embracing positivity, and loving your fellow humans can go hand in hand.