If you thought Brix and the Extricated were nowt but a glorified Fall tribute band, well think again.
Reviews
105 posts
What better venue than London’s 100 Club for the on stage revival of what many regard as the The Damned’s premier rhythm section. Paul Gray and Rat Scabies were reunited for the first time in more than 20 years at the spiritual home of British punk for a one-off show with Professor And The Madman. Many of those present would have been there […]
Dub Sex guitarist Chris Bridgett is back with new power trio Cold Water Swimmers. Geordie Bridgett, whose short-lived previous outfit The G-O-D supported The Stone Roses at Wembley Stadium last year, says his new band “tell stories of life and death and all the stuff in between”. Formed in February with Carrie Lawson on bass and Selina Clements Woolnough on drums, Cold Water Swimmers promise […]
Never a dull place even at the worst of times, Camden Rocks had the whole borough buzzing on Saturday. With 200 acts performing in 20 venues, wherever you turned there was live music to be heard. Beer, bands and bonhomie – what could be better? With so much to see the only problem was where to drop anchor for […]
Coming 10 years after its predecessor – and with David Bowie‘s right hand man Tony Visconti in the producer’s chair – there were naturally big expectations surrounding Evil Spirits, the latest offering by The Damned. With founder members Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian well into their 60s – many have predicted it might be their farewell album – a last run around the track for the band, […]
Recorded at the same Skyline studios, where they made their best-selling major label debut Flood, I Like Fun feels like a hearkening back to They Might Be Giants‘ glory days of old. TMBG fans have long learned to expect the unexpected and this their 20th album is typically eclectic, mixing and mashing genres from surf-punk to funk, college rock to avant […]
Words Matt Catchpole, Pictures Sam Wells The Damned’s place in history is secured as one of the triumvirate of London bands that kick-started the punk rock revolution. And yet despite being first out of the traps with a bona fide punk single, New Rose in 1976, they’ve often been dismissed as the jokers in the pack. For the sheer effrontery of […]
The pale hordes who descend on Whitby for the biannual Goth Weekend may just have found the perfect soundtrack for their journey. With esteemed Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil producer John Fryer at the controls, York-based duo Mary and the Ram have come up with a modernist take on coffin-rattlers like Bauhaus, Love and Rockets and The Sisters of Mercy. Fryer is also famed for his […]
Robert Plant has been enjoying a late career renaissance since 2007’s excellent Raising Sand collaboration with country/bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. Carry Fire, his 11th solo studio album, sees the Led Zeppelin frontman backed once again by The Sensational Space Shifters – a quartet of multi-instrumentalists – who clearly share his enthusiasm for finding new approaches to music. Produced by Plant himself, the album covers similar territory […]
When I was about nine or 10 and just starting to take a serious interest in music, my elder brother, in a rare show of fraternal indulgence, took it upon himself to introduce me to the delights of indie synth-pop. To my great surprise and eternal gratitude he presented me with a cassette tape (ask your parents kids!). On […]