Uni is over… Now what?

That’s a scary thought. I’ve finally reached the unnerving period of ‘limbo’ where I have no idea what I’ll be doing in a year, or even a months time! It’s also very exciting though, and all I can hope is that I manage to find a job in an exciting and creative industry to keep me busy.

This post is slightly different, more of an update on life really! The mountain of deadlines that third year held have distracted from blogging for a while, but they’re all finished now so I can get back into it.

Over the past year I’ve made one massive achievement – producing a music video by myself! The Fontaines (who have been introduced in a previous post) are a fab indie band from Sheffield. They let me follow  them around with a camera for a while and the result was a fun but stressful few weeks and a successful (I think?!) debut music video for them. Have a look for yourself here. 

Next on the agenda: I’d love to film another music video, so if anyone knows of any bands starting out who want some help then send them my way, I’m new to this too – so we could help each other!

I have a lot to look forward to now as well after managing to bag myself a Glastonbury ticket last year. I’m currently working my way through the line up to check out the many artists I haven’t listened to yet, so expect more posts on that soon!

INTRODUCING: The Fontaines

Local band The Fontaines have produced two EP’s in just 10 months with the help of a new member and supportive fans.So I joined them in their rehearsals to find out a bit more…

I was pleasantly surprised as I entered the Attic’s rehearsal rooms, Mowbray Street, Sheffield, where I was gate crashing The Fontaines’ weekly band practice. From the outside it looked like a cold, dingy abandoned old building, but I soon made myself comfortable on the sofa whilst they set up ready for a warm up song before we got going.

The Band

The Fontaines consists of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Joe St Ledger, aged 17, lead guitarist Alex Tood, 17, 18-year-old Oliver Clark on the drums, and 16-year-old ‘baby of the band’ is their bassist, Tom Nugent, however much he tried to convince me he was 36.

There have also been two more recent additions to the band; 16-year-old Ellie Rockliff on the trumpet, and saxophonist Jo Woodcock, aged 17.

Ellie warned that they are an immature bunch, they certainly don’t take themselves too seriously and it was refreshing to meet a band that are having so much fun whilst undoubtedly working hard to get where they want to be.

Jo could not make it today, as she had “chopped half of her finger off”, pretty problematic for a saxophone player even if it was a slight exaggeration, and just a cut. As Ellie explained how she did it at work, suddenly the boys burst into The Human League’s classic “she was working as a waitress in a cocktail ba-aaar”.

Joining us too was Harris – who couldn’t quite determine his role, toying between “fan, silent member and groupie” but eventually settling for “friend of the band”.

The Fontaines original line up formed around September 2013, but as Joe so bluntly put it; “up until January we were really terrible, but then Tom came along and he’s actually talented, which made all the difference.”

The Music

In the space of those 10 months the Fontaines have managed to record an impressive two EPs: Santiago Skyline and their newest release which came out on November 21, Velvet.

“We think of ourselves as the next Arctic monkeys”, Tom blurted out, but the laughter that followed prove that this was indeed a joke.

The majority of their lyrics are the work of Joe and Tom; influenced by bands such as Little Comets and Circa Waves.

Joe described the newer tracks as more “musically interesting” – he said the older stuff was simpler, whereas this, although still sounding like the same band was much more fun yet challenging to play.

They also had the addition of the horns this time around, which Ellie said really helped their sound move forward – cue the accusations of her “blowing her own trumpet.”

The recording process sounded intense; “one day in and we want to kill each other”… but 48 hours and 3 gallons of tea later, with even the sound of clinking spoons from tea being made appearing in the track Cerowyn, it was done. And despite the disagreements, it was also described as two of the best days of their time as a band due to the achievement they felt when it was complete.

Santiago Skyline and Velvet are both now available to buy on iTunes, and whilst “music is not about money, on the other hand being poor – being below the breadline or unable to afford to power our amps is not ideal,” so they are aiming to break-even this year through sales.

Around £2000 has been spent over the past year on things such as rehearsals and studio time, and as sixth form students, it’s a struggle. Three of them having jobs has helped though, and they joked that if they shared between them there would be enough for everyone – with half of the band having two jobs and the other with none.

But their hard work and budgeting will hopefully pay off, with Joe planning a gap year once he finishes school to work in order to help fund the band.

The live shows

The Fontaines have done a number of local shows over 2014 – playing to around 400 people at Sheffield’s O2 Academy in March. “We were the main support but nearly everyone left after us, so that was a bit awkward.

“There were people trying to crowd surf and failing miserably, people pressed up against the barrier, it was surreal. And Alex lay down and played a solo.” He argued that this was less of a highlight for him however, upon realising that he needed to somehow get up whilst still playing.

But their largest show to date and collective ultimate highlight as a band was when they played to a fully sold out Plug in November – celebrating the release of their latest EP.

“It was so exciting to be able to buy the listings poster; which says ‘sold out’ over the Fontaines, right near the likes of Catfish & the Bottlemen who played Plug the week after us.”

Despite other bands having more likes on Facebook, Ellie said that a lot of their fans come to see them play regularly, and are really dedicated.

And she is not wrong – one fan has actually had lyrics from their song Santiago Skyline tattooed on his leg. For a band only in their early days – that’s pretty bizarre.

Gigs can too be stressful though, and although they said the chance to play Tramlines festival was an amazing opportunity, by the end of it and after fitting six gigs into three days, Joe had no voice and Tom’s fingers were wrecked with blisters.

Tom said: “Most of our best memories are the trips”. He then went on to reminisce about the time that the band nearly left him behind in order to make a gig on time. “Our parents got so pissed off with taking us out that we now have to lug our stuff around ourselves on public transport, and it took some getting used to.”

The Future

On March 6^th 2015, the day of their first official single release for ‘1984’, The Fontaines are headlining what will be their biggest gig yet at Sheffield’s iconic venue The Leadmill.

The furthest they have played so far is Selby – where the boys admit to often spending time wandering around looking for the weirdest street names.

But they will soon be venturing out of Yorkshire, with plans of a mini tour this year that will hopefully hit cities including London, Manchester and Leeds, and of course ending in Sheffield, to tie in nicely with their release of their first single.

Time was ticking and the band had rehearsals to get back to – but Tom had one thing to add “I just want to say that I think we’re all quite excited about being in a band, it’s just really great and lots of good things have come of it.

The band and crew are just one big family, and I wish them the best of luck.

Jamie T live 04/11/14 Nottingham rock city

Pre 2014, the last shows Jamie T played were way back in 2010. He took some time out with throat problems but he certainly hasn’t been sat back all that time, finally making a return with his new album ‘Carry on The Grudge’.

Despite his popularity and sold out crowd there were no diva antics here. Jamie came on stage at bang on 9pm rocking his signature ‘flat peak’ cap and kicking off the set with new album opener ‘Limits lie’. It was clear he is back and ready to give it his all.

He then played comeback single ‘Don’t You Find’, followed by a number of others from the new album such as ‘The Prophet and ‘They Told me it Rained’.

Working in chunks from each album, he seemed to know exactly what the crowd wanted. Old and new fans alike will have been pleased with the mix amongst this 21 song set.

At most gigs there are the extra loud screams when you hear the intro to a particular song, but you literally couldn’t differentiate between new and old songs. The singing was equally as loud and despite doubts about his music being too different, they all got a great reception.

Despite his new songs undeniably including more singing than rapping, it is not to say he has ditched his old songs, with fan favourites in the set such as ‘Back in the Game’ and ‘So Lonely was the Ballad’.

He ended the main set on ‘If you got the Money’, and the crowd certainly weren’t holding back. Being stood towards the side meant that we could narrowly avoid the mosh pits and possibility of a kick in the face from crowd surfers – but it was certainly making the security at the front increasingly on edge.

Jamie then shocked the audience with a performance of Sheila for the encore, a definite highlight of the night as  he hadn’t played it at any of the previous shows. Followed by latest single ‘Zombie’ and ending on ‘Sticks ‘n’ Stones’, it was safe to say that the audience were impressed.

Kids in Glass Houses farewell tour – 12/10/14 Sheffield Corporation

Who would have thought that when I saw this band supporting Paramore and New Found Glory a whole SIX years ago, that I would end up seeing them again now and sadly, for the final time.

I turned up to Corp, (which I should mention, seemed surprisingly less disgusting with a good band playing) to find a packed out venue of all ages, with the nostalgia of people’s teenage years arguably leading them to come and see these guys play one last time.

Opening with Artbreaker I – I was reminded straight away how great Kids in Glass Houses are live. Aled is one of the lucky few musicians that sound equally as good when performing live- if not better!

Three songs in was when the audience really livened up however, screaming back the words to: ‘Give me what I want’, the bands second single from 2008.

Aled toyed with the crowds emotions throughout the evening, shouting out – “Has anyone seen us live before!?” which had the majority of the audience screaming in agreement, only to follow it up with “well you won’t be seeing us again…” oh.

The setlist they played was perfect, with a mixture of songs which included their duet with Frankie Sandford: ‘Undercover Lover’, and ‘Easy Tiger’. Admittedly I hadn’t listened to their most recent album very much, really wanting to go and see the band whose music I fell in love with all those years ago, so I was pleased.

Slowing things down after ‘Raise Hell’ the band went into The morning Afterlife, resulting in a beautiful sing-a-long.

Kicking off their four song encore with ‘Peace’ – a track from their latest album, KIGH soon went back to their roots and sent the crowd wild with their performance of ‘Saturday,’ and ended the show on ‘Matters At All’, making sure to thank their fans and wishing them a (repeated) goodnight for the very last time.

The Kooks are back!

After a few years out of the spotlight while they were busy writing the follow up to their 2011 album ‘Junk of the Heart’, The Kooks are now back and with a very different sound. What better place to bounce back, than a not-so secret set at Glastonbury? (which I was lucky enough to be at). They certainly gave us a taster for what was to come with their new album, playing a number of new hits which involved a gospel choir joining them for recent single ‘Around Town’, and a much larger variety of instruments than the usual indie set up we are so used to.

Their new album ‘Listen’ is now out  and the first single, ‘Down’ is catchy as hell – but also definitely shows more of an R&B influence than we are used to hearing from the indie rockers.

On a whole, I would happily predict that the new approach they have taken with their music after the less successful response to their last album will pay off. It is lively, and with Luke Pritchard’s vocals that most would recognise from anywhere, they are now accompanied by more than guitars and drum beats. Syncronized handclaps and drum beats are a recurring theme, appearing in tracks such as ‘Bad habit’ and appropriately named ‘Sunrise’ is summery and cheery with a lot going on but still just works. A more poppy/electro vibe comes out in ‘Are We Electric’, a track that reminds me more of The Klaxons than The Kooks.recurring theme, appearing in tracks such as ‘Bad habit’ and appropriately named ‘Sunrise’ which has a lot going on but still just works. along with brass and

Forgive & Forget is one of my favourites from the album, the one I’m struggling to get out of my head after a few listens to Luke belting out ‘Yeah, you say you need someone to love you, but it ain’t me’.

They do tone it down for a few songs, with ballad ‘See Me Now’ which is a personal tribute to Luke’s late father, and ‘Sweet Emotion’ where his softer side is shown. And for those looking for something more similar to what we have heard from them before, Dreams is easily the most ‘Kooks-esque’ with simply an acoustic guitar and lyrics which I can picture calling for a nice sing-a-long on their upcoming UK tour.

Stand out songs: Forgive & Forget, Sweet Emotion, Bad Habit

 

Kasabian – 48:13

Since being announced as one of this years Glastonbury headliners, the pressure is on for Kasabian to deliver something that is worthy of such a privilege. After a few listens to their fifth album, 48:13, named after the total running time and due for release on the 9th June, I would argue that they have succeeded in doing so.

The first single from the album ‘Eez-eh’, is a great, upbeat track and I’m pleased to say that it’s only one of many from this LP that I can imagine going down well at such a festival. Other standout tracks include ‘Bumblebeee’, with it’s chant provoking repeats of “I’m in ecstasy” alongside ‘Stevie,’ and ‘Doomsday’, with the band insisting “What you see is what you get with me”, fitting with what Sergio recently said about how they had aimed to be more direct and honest with this album.

It is clear that Kasabian wanted to do something different this time around, with much less emphasis on their guitars and an increasing amount of indie disco style music creeping in to what before was more traditional rock.

Contrasting with the range of upbeat tracks however are those such as ‘Glass’, which starts off with a more mournful tone – with pleads of “save me from this world” and ending with a young persons spoken words that question where life is leading us with lyrics like “Are you running around in a circle, going nowhere fast? Cause when you look at the man in the mirror, he’s made of nothing but glass.”

Explodes, despite the title is another of the slower tracks. It has the potential for some excitement to kick in in places but it just doesn’t happen, the trippy sounds build up, but then bam, it’s back to more of the same, resulting in an ironically unexplosive track.

Ending the album is another risk taken by the band, which certainly pays off. S.P.S is an Oasis-esque ballad which would be the perfect addition to their encore, as Serge sings “Didn’t we all have such a good time? Didn’t we all have the greatest night, even though we know its wrong, I know there’s time for one more song.”

 

Foxes live review (Sheffield Leadmill 23/05/14)

Last night Sheffield’s iconic music venue The Leadmill played host to the latest of the UK’s female pop singers to storm the charts – Louisa Rose Allen, known to most as Foxes.

After an energetic set by Glasgow based band Prides (who are definitely worth checking out), Foxes took to the stage looking as beautiful as ever, to a huge reception of screams from the crowd which consisting of males and females of all ages.

‘White coats’, the first real sing a long of the night, really portrayed how powerful her voice is – easily comparable to acts like Florence and La Roux who both show off similar tones and stage setups.

Another track which really stood out to me was ‘Beauty Queen’ – a balled consisting of powerfully belted out lyrics that question people’s judgement based on looks.

Halfway through the show we were treated to an acoustic cover of Pharell’s ‘Happy’ which soon kicked in to the livelier version we all know, and despite my initial disappointment that we weren’t hearing her Eminem cover of ‘Monster’, I was impressed.

One downside I think to the show is Foxes lack of communication with the crowd – but she can be forgiven for feeling slightly intimidated due to the massive success she has experienced in such a short space of time.

In saying this however she certainly makes up for it with her energy on stage! In ‘Youth’ Foxes sings, “don’t tell me our youth is running out” and whilst she dances around the stage and is clearly not running out of youth anytime soon, the crowd in the main were stood still. I don’t doubt for a second that they weren’t enjoying the show, it just wasn’t very lively as they simply watched, most likely in awe of her stunning voice.

Ending the evening on a high with the two most well known tracks – Zedd’s Grammy winning Clarity and her recent top 10 hit ‘Let go for tonight’ the audience finally joined Foxes in doing so; going crazy with appreciation for her brilliant performance.

Lea Michele – Louder album review

Since she started as lead character ‘ Rachel Berry’ in Glee, it was only a matter of time before Lea Michele released an album and 5 years on, the time has finally arrived with her debut: ‘Louder’.

When speaking about opening track cannonball, a song co-written by Australian star Sia, Lea said it described her feelings about the past year perfectly, telling the story of her grief but how she is ready to open new doors and carry on with her life as she knew Cory would want her to.

‘Louder’ then goes on to portray a mixture of emotions, with standout songs such as the passionate burn with you and ballad Battlefield, which speaks of her experiences of love. 

The album definitely contains its fair share of catchy pop numbers too however, with songs like the Kelly Clarkson-esque On My Way and title track Louder, both having upbeat choruses that you’ll struggle to get out of your head after a few listens!

Overall ‘Louder’ does well to prove her undeniable talent, especially in Thousand Needles; a darker track which allows Lea to showcase her vocals and you can really feel her emotion coming through in the chorus.

Closing with If You Say So; a very personal song which speaks directly about Cory and was too co-written by Sia, the album (despite ending with a tear jerker) still manages to portray the feelings of someone who is staying as positive as possible and knows it is all about the future now, so I look forward to what is to come for Lea.  

Tom Odell live review. (Sheffield o2 Academy – 13/02/14)

After a really unlucky week back in October where I had the Arctic Monkeys and Tom Odell both postpone their gigs due to illness within days of each other, the time to go and see Tom Odell had finally arrived. The extra time spent touring since then does seem to have paid off though, and with his voice sounding better than ever I would say he was certainly worth the wait. 

I must admit that the dubious claims that he could be boring live had concerned me slightly, as it’s not often you go to a gig and not come out dripping with sweat from jumping so much, but I needn’t have worried.

Tom Odell has the type of voice I could stand and listen to all night, and seeing the passion he puts into his performance when he’s on that piano more than makes up for the fact his songs don’t warrant the audience to be constantly jumping up and down screaming.

They do however, prove great for a good sway and singalong. Kicking off the show with his debut album’s title track Long Way Down, Tom followed with two of his most well known tracks: Hold Me and Can’t Pretend, which certainly got the crowd excited and showed how powerful his vocals really are.

After playing a number of tracks from his album, it was clear that his fan base is still growing and it wasn’t just the singles they were interested in, with tracks such as Supposed to Be, Sense and Till I Lost also calling for major singalongs.

Returning to the stage for a five song encore, my only criticism of the show is that this mainly consisted of songs that I didn’t know (maybe i’m missing something but they aren’t on the album). He did however slip in a cover of Etta James’ I Just Want To Make Love To You, causing the girls to go wild and also played a brand new song ‘Parties’ which will feature on his forthcoming album, with a chorus so catchy the crowd managed to successfully join in after the first listen and it was still stuck in my head after the show had ended. 

Another Love

Frank Turner live review. (Nottingham Capital FM arena – 07/02/14)

It was only when I was browsing through last years Leeds Festival lineup that I thought to myself, why have I never listened to Frank Turner? So I checked out his albums on Spotify and soon enough I was hooked.

Following a brilliant set at Leeds, he soon announced his next UK tour so without a second thought I brought two tickets for myself and whoever agreed to come along with me. 

So now, 6 months on, I can safely say he did not disappoint. Myself along with newly converted Frank Turner fan – my dad, arrived at the Nottingham Capital FM arena at around 7pm and it was filling up quickly with a mixture of young and old faces and him certainly not feeling out of place. 

While it’s not like me to stay out of the crowd, my dad didn’t fancy pushing to the front and I couldn’t see a thing at the back. So we waited until the end of the first song and ran up to sit in 2 of the rare free seats. Thankfully the owners of these seats didn’t question us, just looked confused when they arrived 5 songs in and sat a couple of rows behind… (should have arrived on time shouldn’t ya) so from then on we had a brilliant view. 

Frank kicked off his set with the energetic Photosynthesis; a great choice to set the atmosphere for the evening with the whole arena letting loose and joining in to sing “And I won’t sit down, And I won’t shut up, And most of all I will not grow up” and from then on it simply got better and better.

Frank and his band The Sleeping Souls went on to play a 90 minute set of a variety of songs from his five albums. He performed a large chunk of his most recent LP ‘Tape Deck Heart’ with standout tracks being Plain Sailing Weather, The Way I Tend To Be and Losing Days, alongside a mixture from older albums such as clear crowd favourite If Ever I Stray.

He proudly stated halfway through the gig that it was his second biggest headline show ever, and despite having faced criticism for playing arenas he hit back via twitter with a witty “We’ve sold five rock cities of tickets for tonight. Seems more important to me that people can get in to the show.” So you go Frank, because I certainly would have been gutted had I missed out on this. 

Regardless of the fact he is now selling out arenas, Frank clearly hasn’t forgotten about the fans that have been around since his days performing at the Rescue Rooms, as he treats them not only to older tracks such as I Still Believe but also lesser known songs (but no less brilliant) like Wisdom Teeth and The Ballad of Me and My Friends. 

Towards the end of the set he challenged the crowd to what he described as “a crowd participation triathlon” which in other words was a combination of singing, clapping and jumping enough to beat the previous nights crowd, so for the duration of Recovery the whole room was bouncing. This was soon toned down a notch as he followed it with a passionate performance of Broken Piano, with the audience attentive as ever and holding on to every word.  

Ending the show on a high, back to the stage he came for an encore of I Still Believe, followed by Four Simple Words; in my opinion the perfect song to end on, giving audiences the chance to participate in what may have began as a heartfelt singalong by tonight’s 10,000 strong crowd, but soon turned into their last song to go crazy to, with moshing down on the floor and a good boogie at the very least if you were up in the seats.

All in all, for a man who “didn’t really write these songs to be played in a room this size and shape,” he has certainly pulled it off and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t continue to do so for a very long time.