[email protected] @NightshiftMag NightshiftMag nightshiftmag.co.uk Free every month NIGHTSHIFT Issue 238 May Oxford’s Music Magazine 2015 OXFORDOXFORD PUNTPUNT 20152015 The annual showcase of Oxford’s best new music returns OXFORD DUPLICATION CENTRE [email protected] Also in this issue: Office: 01865 457000 Mobile: 07917 775477 Supporting Oxfordshire Bands with Affordable Professional CD Duplication FANTASTIC BAND RATES RIDE return! ON ALL SERVICES Professional Thermal Printed CDs So do SWERVEDRIVER! Full Colour/Black & White Silver or White Discs Introducing CASSELS Design Work Support Digital Printing plus Packaging Options All your Oxfordshire music news, previews, Fulfilment Recommended by Matchbox Recordings Ltd, Poplar Jake, Undersmile, Desert Storm, Turan Audio Ltd, Nick Cope, Prospeckt, Paul Jeffries, Alvin reviews and six pages of local gigs Roy, Pete The Temp, Evolution, Coozes, Blue Moon and many more... NIGHTSHIFT: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU. Phone: 01865 372255 NEWS Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU Phone: 01865 372255 email: [email protected] Online: nightshiftmag.co.uk THE ORIGINAL RABBIT FOOT at James’s farm near Kingham, west SPASM BAND, DREAMING Oxfordshire. The new names on SPIRES and Alphabet Backwards the bill join Paloma Faith, Groove are among the local acts announced Armada and Grandmaster Flash. TREMBLING BELLS, NECRO DEATHMORT and CHARLES for the Riverside Stage at this year’s Visit www.thebigfeastival.com for HAYWARD are among the first batch of acts to be announced for Cornbury Festival. more news and ticket details. Supernormal Festival. The artist-curated music and arts festival, which The Riverside Stage traditionally runs over the weekend of the 7th-9th August at Braziers Park, near gives local and emerging acts THE JAMES STREET TAVERN Wallingford, returns for its sixth outing this year, boasting a new audio- the chance to share a festival bill hosts four days of free live music visual stage that will provide an immersive multi-media experience. with big name acts. Tom Jones, over the May Bank Holiday Other names announced include Anonymous Bash, Arabot, Benjamin Razorlight, Roger Hodgson, weekend. Mayfest runs from Finger, A&E, Bonnacons of Doom, Blood Sport, Blown Out, Broken Martha Reeves, Lulu, Chas & Friday 1st – Monday 4th. Friday sees DC, Crying Lion, Emma Tricca, English Heretic, Father Murphy, Ghold, Dave, The Fratellis, Billy Ocean sets from this month’s Nightshift Guapo, Hirvikolari, Hoofus, Jennifer Walshe, Lower Slaughter, Mind and Blue are among the acts playing Demo of the Monthers Monkfish, Mountain, Laura Cannell & Andre Bosman, Paddy Steer, Negra Branca, the festival’s two main stages over alongside Grandma’s Hands, Rhodri Davies, Sharon Gal, Spectres, Stephen Cornford, Trash Kit, the weekend of the 10th-12th July at The Jesters, Gemma Moss and Stargazers Assistant and WTVR. Great Tew Estate. Comfort Zone. Saturday features With its adventurous approach to music bookings, and its old fashioned Other acts confirmed for the The Tom Ivey Blues Band, Tony festival vibe, Supernormal has been welcomed as one of the most exciting Riverside Stage include Larry Batey, Blackthorn, Cosmosis, and unusual events in Oxfordshire. Earlybird tickets for this year’s event Reddington, Brightworks, Dance a Bewarethisboy, Firegazers and sold out in a matter of days. Tickets are on sale now, priced £80 for adults, la Plage, King B, Lloyd Grossman & Wednesday’s Wolves. On Saturday from www.supernormalfestival.co.uk. The New Forbidden, Hope & Glory, you can see Goin’ Loud, Last Zurich, Debbie Bond, Brickwork Rites, Strike One, Pipeline, Dirty year’s Halfway To 75 mini-festival. Insiders, Ags Connolly, The Oxford Lizards, ToLiesel, Les Clochards and Valuables, The Shapes, Mad Larry, The annual one-day celebration of Gospel Choir, Great Western Tears, Slainte. and Rory Evans, while on the Americana and roots music takes The August List, Francis Pugh Tickets for Cornbury Festival are on Monday it all rounds off with String place on Saturday 25th July at the & the Whisky Singers, and My sale now from Project, The Balkan Wanderers, Isis Farmhouse. Dunlop – son Crooked Teeth. Tickets for the event www.cornburyfestival.com Beard of Destiny, The Tom Ivey of Fairport Convention’s Ashley are on sale now, priced £12, or £7 Funk band, Auralcandy, The Pink Hutchings, and who played the for under-13s, with under-7s free. DIZZEE RASCAL, Example, Diamond Revue, Reckless Sleepers young Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s Ahead of the festival, award- Roots Manuva and Maxi Jazz have and Waterfall. We’re guessing Charlie & the Chocloate Factory winning Nashville country star JP been added to the line-up for this there’ll be loads of booze and stuff – won the Radio2 Folk Awards Harris and the Tough Choices year’s Big Feastival. The food and too, so that’s our bank holiday Horizon Award for his 2013 debut play a rare UK show at the music festival, organised by Alex sorted. album `Blight & Blossom’. He is Bullingdon on Thursday 21st May. James and Jamie Oliver, runs over joined at Halfway To 75 by a cast Visit halfwayto75.com for more the weekend of the 28th-30th August BLAIR DUNLOP headlines this of local acts, including The Long details. RIDE returned to action with a special fanclub show at the O2 Academy on Easter Sunday. The local legends announced the show in the O2’s upstairs venue - the room where they played their first major local headline show back in 1989 when it was The Co-Op Hall - with an email to fans on the 1st April. Tickets sold out in a few hours. The band played a 90-minute set of songs drawn almost exclusively from their early EPs and first two albums, starting with `Polar Bear’, and clos- ing the set with `Chelsea Girl’ from their debut `Ride EP’. The gig was their first full show since they split in 1996, with the quartet flying out immediately aft- wards for a tour of the States. On an emotional night, other set highlights included a stunning version of `Drive Blind’ as well as fan favourites `Dreams Burn Down’ and `Seagull’. Read the full gig review on page 18. photo:Johnny Moto NEWS Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU Phone: 01865 372255 email: [email protected] Online: nightshiftmag.co.uk UNDERSMILE play their only community of promoters who put Oxford show of the year this month. on secret shows in intimate venues The doom metal stars play at The in over 100 cities around the world, SWERVEDRIVER play their first Oxford show since 2009 this month, Wheatsheaf on Saturday 9th May including Oxford, each gig filmed with the band out on tour to promote their fifth album, `I Wasn’t Born To with support from Essex sludge crew and edited by volunteers. They are Lose You’ – their first in 17 years. Earthmass, and gothic songsmith D looking for film makers to join the The local pioneers, who emerged from the Oxford scene at the same time Gwalia. Recent Nightshift cover stars growing community. You can get as Ride in the late-1980s, and signed to Creation Records after Ride’s Mark Undersmile released their acclaimed in contact at oxfordsofar@gmail. Gardener gave a demo of `Son Of Mustang Ford to label head Alan McGee, second album, `Anhedonia’ in com, or find out more and hear about moved to London but frontman Adam Franklin regularly returns to Oxford, March and have been touring around forthcoming gigs at and told Nightshift that he still regards the city as home. the UK and Europe, including a www.sofarsounds.com. “Oxford certainly feels like home to us,” said Adam as Swervedriver set at Roadburn Festival in The completed a tour of the States in April, “but I guess Swervedriver’s name Netherlands. Go to www.facebook. TANDEM FESTIVAL returns for isn’t quite as wrapped up in Oxford’s music history as Supergrass, Ride com/Undersmile for all your doomy a second year over the weekend or Radiohead because we all moved to London in 1989 and were based Undersmile newsie stuff. the 19th-20th June at Hill End, there when things took off. Our links here are still massively strong though; near Wytham. The two-day our old band Shake Appeal was voted best band of the year in 1988 or NON-STOP TANGO release their festival features jazz, folk, gypsy something, and Ed from Radiohead once laughed that On A Friday couldn’t new album, `Unnatural Selection’, and Afrobeat music as well as get a gig back then because they didn’t sound like us! I apologised, but this month. The band, formed by talks, workshops, films, poetry pointed out that things had worked out alright for them in the end.” While Swervedriver split in 1999, they reformed in 2008 to play Coachella members of Oxford Improvisers, and theatre, with an emphasis on Festival and made their Oxford return in 2009 with a show at the Academy including Jon Seagroatt, Malcolm environmentalism. The festival – a venue they return to on Friday 22nd May. Since then the band have toured Atkins, Sam Kidel, Chris Hills was inspired by organiser Nicholas Australia as well as America. The new album was recorded in Melbourne and singer Stavroula Kounadea, O’Brien’s five-month cycle trip and in Ray Davies’ Konk Studio in London. have imagined a journey, based on around Europe, recording over “We couldn’t be happier with the new album and feel it sort of touches on Homer’s The Odyssey, along Cowley 200 unknown acts from different ground covered in all the previous records,” says Adam. “People have said Road, from The Plain to Divinity countries. As well as having an it’s like the engine just started up again and Swervedriver condensed the Road, by Stravroula, in the company international slant to music, Tandem 17 year gap into what sounds more like two.