email: [email protected] website: nightshift.oxfordmusic.net Free every month. NIGHTSHIFT Issue 116 March Oxford’s Music Magazine 2005

DiveDiveDiveDive DiveDiveDiveDive BackBack fromfrom thethe deaddead andand rockingrocking harderharder thanthan everever -- interviewinterview inside.inside.

Plus Live reviews, local releases, demos and the biggest and best Oxfordshire gig guide.

NIGHTSHIFT: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU. Phone: 01865 372255

NEWNEWSS DR SHOTOVER Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU They made me do it! Hmm. The Brit Awards. Now, it was like this… Stuffy Stimpson’s Phone: 01865 372255 pure Bat Guano Mezcal was to blame… He smuggled a bottle back email: [email protected] from Mexico inside a hollowed-out Toltec head, y’see… Two days later I woke up on the ottoman, quite unable to move. Some stupid THE DEADLINE for demos for bands wishing to play at the Oxford bastard had left the the TV on… so I had to watch the whole of ‘The Punt is the 15th of March. This year’s Oxford Punt, which will showcase Brits’. Ghastly, absolutely ghastly. From ‘Sensitive Chav’ Mike 21 acts across seven venues in Oxford city centre, takes place on Skinner to Schmoozy Sioux practically sticking her tongue down Ms Wednesday 11th May. The event runs from 6pm through to 1am, starting Scissor Sisters’ throat (actually, come to think of it, that was the best off at Borders bookstore and carrying on through the evening at part)… From Snoop Dogbreath’s poncing about to Robbie Williams’ Jongleurs, The Wheatsheaf, The City Tavern, The Purple Turtle (in ‘kid with attention deficit disorder’ hyper-thyroidism… All I could conjunction with Beard Museum), Far From The Madding Crowd (in think about was how much I missed The KLF and Extreme Noise conjunction with Delicious Music) and finishing off at the Cellar. The Terror machine-gunning the audience in 1992, or the reformed Faces Punt is the premier showcase for unsigned Oxford talent. Acts wishing to doing ‘Stay With Me’ in 1993. Actually, I even felt quite nostalgic play need to submit a demo, clearly marked Punt on the envelope, along about the time my older brother tried to a do a trepanning operation with a short biog, to Nightshift Magazine, PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 on me using a 1ZU. The only rules for consideration are that acts must be from Black & Decker Oxfordshire and be unsigned. Work-Pal in the As ever there are 100 all-venue Punt passes available, priced £7. These garden shed – are on sale now from Polar Bear on Cowley Road, The Oxford Music Shop less painful by on St Aldates or online from oxfordmusic.net. Almost half the passes have far than 2 ½ been sold already, so be quick! Admission to each separate venue will be hours of that either £3 or £4, with either three or four acts playing at each. The gigs at insipid self- Borders and Far From The Madding Crowd are free entry. congratulatory The full line-up for the Punt will be announced in the April issue of slop… Nightshift, with a four-page Punt guide pull-out in the May edition. Next month: Contact Nightshift on 01865 372255 for more details. Pete Doherty – “I thought heroin would THE DOWNLOAD, BBC Radio ‘Blackmailer’ EP. ‘Teen Suicide stop me having Dr S discusses the decline of Western Oxford’s new local music show Explosion’ from that EP topped such a fat face.” Civilisation with Robbie Williams starts this month, on Friday 4th Nightshift’s end of year Top 20. March. Supergrass will help launch ‘Evil Brother’ is out now and will the new show, which airs every be followed by another single, this month (Saturday 5th March) at the news and info you need. Friday evening from 7-8pm. ‘Worth It’, at the end of March the Zodiac supporting Youth Presenter Tim Bearder will be with their debut album, ‘Control Movie Soundtrack Strategies. THE VICTORIA pub on Walton interviewing Gaz, Mickey and Of The Stereo’, due for release on Street in Jericho has a new acoustic Danny, who have been recording the 18th April. Narco return to live KLUB KAKOFANNEY will be open mic session starting this their new album in France. The performance with a gig at the running their traditional May Bank month. The music nights will take Download aims to showcase local Zodiac on Thursday 24th March. Holiday weekend live music place on the first and third Sundays music of all persuasions and will festival again this year. The two- of each month with all singers and include club and gig reports as well THE WORKHOUSE’s second day event takes place at the Exeter musicians welcome to join in. as a local demo section in Peel session will be broadcast on Hall in Cowley on Saturday 30th Entry is free. Call 01865 554047 conjunction with Nightshift. Bands Thursday 17th March on Rob Da April and Sunday 1st May, with for more details. wanting their stuff played on the Bank’s Radio 1 show. The some 30 acts appearing over the show should send CDs to Tim c/o Workhouse were the last ever band two days, and all for the bargain KAISER CHIEFS’ gig at the BBC Oxford, 269 Banbury Road, to be invited to record a session for price of £4 a day. More line-up Zodiac on Sunday 24th April has Oxford OX2 7DW. Remember: the John Peel. The band are currently details as we get them. been upgraded to Brookes only way to keep local music on recording their second album. They University Union after selling out the radio is to support the show, so play live at the Wheatsheaf on A REMINDER that tickets for this in under two days. All tickets for tune in, or visit the website at Saturday 16th April. year’s Truck Festival are on sale the Zodiac remain valid, while bbc.co.uk/oxford. now, priced £27.50, from remaining tickets are on sale now, THE EDMUND FITZGERALD wegottickets.com. The festival priced £9, from the Zodiac box NARCO return from extended have announced that they are to takes place over the weekend of the office (01865 420042) or online hibernation this month with a new split. The band, reckoned to be one 23rd and 24th July at Hill Farm in from wegottickets.com. Support single, ‘Evil Brother’, on Surface of the most promising young bands Steventon. Last year’s festival sold comes from hotly-tipped To Air Records. It will be the in Oxford over the last couple of out in advance so buy early. Check newcomers Nine Black Alps and band’s first release since 2000’s years, will play their final show out www.truckfestival.org for all Dual. THETHE OXFORDOXFORD PUNTPUNT Wednesday 11th May 2005 21 acts 7 venues 1 night Borders, Jongleurs, City Tavern, The Wheatsheaf, Purple Turtle, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Cellar The best showcase of unsigned Oxford talent of the year All-venue Punt passes now on sale. 100 only available. Priced £7 from Polar Bear Records (Cowley Road), The Oxford Music Shop (St Aldates) or online from oxfordmusic.net. *subject to booking fee. a quiet word with DiveDiveDive DiveDiveDive

affecting my writing because I STICK AROUND LONG didn’t really know many chords enough and fashion will come back and I only had fairly chirpy to embrace you eventually. It’s a melodies bouncing around in my maxim that’s served many a band head. I guess now I just find it well over the years. And it might easier to vocalise the shit things help explain why, ten years after that happen to me rather than the they first hit the local scene good things, though still in quite running as Dustball, Dive Dive are happy melodies. The band has once again the most popular band always been high energy and it in Oxford. feels great to get these things off Back in 1996 Dustball were the your chest as loudly as possible brightest young things in town. whilst throwing yourself around a Pale, skinny and wired they kicked stage. Lately I haven’t really been out a simple but highly effective listening to anything weird, just three-chord punk-pop noise that bands we bump into like This Ain’t coated the classic sound of The Vegas, Jetplane Landing and Undertones and Buzzcocks with a Berkley and other shouty stuff like sprinkling of brattish American the Futureheads and punk thunder. We loved it. The Yourcodenameis:milo. Having said kids loved it. The record all that my favourite song at the companies loved it. Dustball were moment is Sam Cooke’s ‘Change Is gonna be the big new thing. Dive Dive (l-r): Tarrant, Jamie, Ben, Nigel. Gonna Come’. It’s one of the most But it never works out like that, beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.” does it? Big-money contracts were wave of teenage fans, enthused by Truth. What he’s also helped to waved around and vanished into Dive Dive’s trademark blend of instigate is a level of IN OXFORD AT LEAST DIVE the ether just as quickly. The kids sublime melody and punk rock professionalism, or at least tried to. Dive’s fan base now is mostly discovered nu-metal. Dustball delivery. A strong fanzine support We tend to be a much more different people to that which looked like they might just and an active street team have efficient band these days, followed them as Dustball in the disappear. And for a short while bolstered their reputation, while approaching gigs with almost late-90s; do they think now they they almost did. The original the video for the single has just military precision instead of using were ahead of their time back then three-piece (Jamie Stuart - vocals been playlisted by MTV. In short, them as excuses to get completely or have they changed or has fashion and guitar; Tarrant Anderson – they’re back and they’re stronger wrecked. merely come full circle just at the bass; James Russell – drums) than ever. “The dictators of the band, Nigel right time? packed it in to get proper jobs. and Tarrant, ‘helped’ me give up Jamie: “Hell Knows. In the last But soon they were back. They THE DIVE DIVE 2005 MODEL smoking. My voice has gotten four years music seems to have changed their name (initially to is still recognisable from its better but I’ve lost some good sped through the 70s and into the Mote, then the Fighting Ghandis original incarnation but now it’s friends. I suppose Nigel has been a mid-80s with lots of bands that and, finally, to Dive Dive), they stronger, sleeker and with bigger, factor, but it’s more that we sound like bands that no-one really recruited long-time friend and spikier bits attached. ‘5-5-5 For realised we want to do this for a listened to until now because some roadie Ben Lloyd on guitar and Film Stars’ boasts a harder-edged living. We used to be accused by bands sound like them, according to replaced James with former guitar sound than their some of the major labels of not Unbelievable Truth sticksman rollercoasting sound of old. US having the desire to succeed, but a journalist. We have changed the Nigel Powell. And then they got to hardcore bands like The Jesus really, we were 18 and not way we sound; sadly we learnt work making things happen on Lizard and Minutemen now seem convinced of anything much. Now, how to play somewhere along the their own terms. to be a significant influence, while having gigged a lot, you see other line so two-minute, three-chord slower songs have a skyscraping bands out there making a go of it, punk songs can no longer take up SINCE THE BAND quality that seems to owe releasing records, managing the whole set. Whilst we’re reconvened in 2001 with the new something to Unbelievable Truth’s themselves, and earning a living influenced by all the bands we play name and line-up, Dive Dive have epic yearning. with or without the ‘big’ record with I would like to think that racked up half a dozen single Nightshift caught up with Jamie, deal. We just came around to the we’re evolving without a mind to releases on assorted indie labels, Tarrant, Nigel and Ben as they idea that we can make this happen current trends. In all the time I’ve played hundreds of gigs across the prepared to play a headline show ourselves.” been playing in a band people will UK and finally landed themselves at the Zodiac, part of yet another The pop rush is still there but come up to me and say, `You sound a deal with London-based label national tour. there’s an increasing hard edge to a like XTC,’ or `you must be a big Diablo. The first fruit of this new The band seems to have found lot of your songs recently, fan of the Buzzcocks,’ and liaison was the re-release of ‘Good fresh impetus both with the arrival especially ‘555 For Film Stars’; sometimes, `the guy at the door Show’ late last year. Last month of Nigel and the settled new name. how have your influences and won’t give me my money back, so they released another single, ‘5-5-5 Jamie: “Yeah…. the settled new tastes changed? cough up or I’ll smash you through For Film Stars’, and their album, name, that’s what we wanted you Jamie: “When we first started that wall’ and nine times out of ten ‘Musica Fabrica’, is due out in to think! Nigel rocks! I’d never Dustball I wasn’t listening to much I’ll have to go down to Avid the May. Most of the band’s old imagined he was that kind of music at all, I couldn’t avoid some next day, buy some old vinyl and fanbase has grown up or moved on drummer, having listened to the bands like Nirvana and Sonic find out what the fuck they’re but in their place is a whole new less-than-lively Unbelievable Youth, but they weren’t really talking about.” Nationally you’re now regarded as Express (margherita and a jug of a completely new band in its own tap water). We’ve also been able to right but do you think in Oxford make a couple of videos to you are still thought of as the band accompany the singles, one which I that used to be Dustball? didn’t like - it was like miming an Jamie: “Yes absolutely, and that’s episode of Hollyoaks - and one fine, they were good times and I which I did, which seems to be don’t think we disappoint anyone getting played a lot. The last who comes to see us for whatever month has been really picking up reason. If there are people that speed and I’m getting really excited avoid our gigs because they hated about this release and the gigs that Dustball, that’s fine too. Losers.” go with it.” For Nigel it must be a huge change playing with a band like Dive Dive WHILE DIVE DIVE ARE BUSY after Unbelievable Truth. exploring the farthest reaches of March Nigel: “Faster. Much faster. Unlike the UK’s live music scene, they are UT, the writing process with Dive still firmly rooted in the Oxford Every Monday: THE FAMOUS MONDAY Dive can be very fraught and tense. scene that spawned and nurtured NIGHT BLUES – The best in UK, European and Not always, but with UT it was as them. Veterans of the scene now, US blues. 8-12. £6 easy as breathing. But on the other how do they view Oxford and the th side, with UT playing live could be way it’s changed since they were 7 - THE GREGG WRIGHT BAND like pulling teeth using a flight of starting out? 14th – THE COLIN JOHN BAND stairs, a toaster and a piece of Jamie: “Oxford is blessed and 21st – FAMILY STYLE BAND string, whereas with Dive Dive it’s cursed with a very close music th the most natural place to be. scene. It’s great for people that 28 – BLUES BURGLARS Personally I’ve always liked to want to get on with it; there are push myself in other directions, so plenty of gigs, studios, small Every Tuesday: THE OXFORD JAZZ CLUB – I love it all.” labels, publishers and even Free live jazz, plus DJs playing r’n’b, funk and distributors. For those who are BACK IN 1998 DUSTBALL competitive or selfish in any way soul until 2am. were being courted by a number of it can be too close for comfort. 1st / 15th – THE TOM GREY QUINTET major label suitors, but, typically it There are some great bands around 8th / 22nd – THE HOWARD PEACOCK QUINTET came to nothing and the band at the moment. For me, Youth th released their debut album, Movie Soundtrack Strategies are 29 – THE ALVIN ROY BAND ‘Quality But Hers’ (named after a great; The Edmund Fitzgerald, faulty sign above a Cowley Road great, great; Fell City Girl great, Every Thursday: THE REMEMBER CLUB – butcher’s shop) on local indie label The Young Knives and Smilex, Classic 80s and 90s sounds. 9-2am £3 Shifty Disco. The album came great, great. I miss the Point, packaged in a novel but annoyingly always: I saw the Strokes and the mobile silver ball casing. Even now White Stripes on their first UK Every Friday: BACKROOM BOOGIE – Funk, Dive Dive find themselves more at tours there. These large companies soul and R&B. 9-2am Free B4 10pm; £4 after. home on a small but upwardly that run roughshod over local mobile indie label and that long- interest on the word of an ill- overdue second album is on its educated area manager have their Every Sunday: LOCAL BANDS SHOWCASE. way. Nightshift listened to a rough heads up their arses. I really want The best unsigned local bands. 8-11pm. £3 mix of the new CD and it displays to go to a board meeting and do the a tight grasp of punky, post- Matt Damon thing in ‘Dogma’. As hardcore dynamics, a bullish I’ve grown up around the scene my Plus production that complements their perspective has changed. It would live sound and half a dozen classic be tempting for me to say that it Wednesday 2nd STAND-UP COMEDY with host pop melodies that will stick with has weakened, but that would be you for months to come. What are unfair. When we first got involved SILKY and RICHARD HERRING / ROBIN the band’s feelings about the new there was a lot for us to aspire to INCE / DAMIAN SMEE / RICHARD WILSON album and with the new label? and thanks to a healthy network I 8.30-12. £6.50 Tarrant: “Diablo are an gained experience guitar teching for Saturday 5th – SIMPLE – Funk House Old School independent label based just south larger bands, Tarrant gained of London. We were put in touch experience as an engineer helping Special with NICKY BLACKMARKET 9-2am with them through a girl at MTV us learn our trade in the times we Wednesday 8th – OXFAM BENEFIT with who really liked the `Good Show’ weren’t playing. I’m sure that THE EPSTEIN / REDOX / FORK / single the first time it was released network is still there with some THE NEW MOON 8-12 back in the summer of 2003. The different faces. Having seen how th album has been a while in the disparate the music scenes are in Saturday 12 – DEPTH CHARGE – Drum’n’Bass making and its going to be great to other places of similar activity and 9-2am get it out there with some proper population around the country. Wednesday 16th – BROOKES ROCK SOCIETY backing.” Yeah… Oxford is blessed and Are they feeding you well? almost everyone who reads this BANDS SHOWCASE 8-12 Jamie: “Yes they are. Being an magazine helps in some way.” Saturday 19th – STICK IT ON – Open Decks DJ indie, they’re more into their gastro Session. 9-2am pubs over the trendy, urban ‘5-5-5 For Film Stars’ is out now Saturday 26th – BARNES COURT REUNION – polished pine and chrome bistros on Diablo. ‘Musica Fabrica’ is favoured by majors. They’ve even released in May (date to be Classic soul. 9-2am gone as far as giving us tour confirmed). Dive Dive play Wednesday 30th – ROCK NIGHT with FORK / support so we’ve graduated from instore at HMV on Cornmarket PHYAL / JUNKIE BRUSH / FECK 8-12 living off Gingsters and motorway on Saturday 26th February. sandwiches – although the Check out www.divedive.co.uk addiction remains – to Pizza for gig dates and news. Sponsored RELEASED by VARIOUS ARTISTS Friend on ‘Comparatives’. Similarly metal- minded, 20/20 Vision are marginally harder if ‘Under 18’ not faster, equally in thrall to 80s thrash, (Quickfix) topping it off with dual shouty rap vocals. Just to prove that Oxfordshire’s youth clubs are not You know how grown ups are always worrying just a sea of testosterone-fuelled aggression, all- what the youngsters of today are doing? Well girl grungers Harlette get their quota of shouting here’s a chance for them to find out, from the in too. The excellently-titled ‘Sometimes She comfort of their own homes. And what the Pisses Me Off’ coats Cure-inspired bass lines youngsters of today are up to, if this with guitar fuzz, lightweight ranting and We’ve compilation of local teenage bands is anything Got a Fuzzbox-style vocal harmonies. The even to go on, is shouting. better-named ‘Didcot Is For Lovers’ rises above Quickfix is now the most prolific Oxford its untidy arrangement with a haunted record label and this CD adds a fresh twist to dreaminess. the idea of local compilation albums, limiting It doesn’t go as read that young bands equal inclusion to bands under 18 years old, giving unfinished article: from Supergrass through them two tracks each to show what they’re Crackout to Sexy Breakfast and plenty of capable of. ‘Office Girl’ is less effective, the electronic others, Oxford has always produced teenage Unsurprisingly the band who come out best are chatter and squalling guitars unable to keep up bands who punch well above their weight, but The Walk Off, who have already made quite a with the ranting vocals. equally, given how young all the bands here are, splash on the live scene with their mayhemic Winnebago Deal acolytes Mondo Cada acquit it’s not surprising that the quality is uneven. industrial techno assault. Stripped of their themselves well too, although their buzzsaw, Still,, plenty of time to smooth over those chaotic onstage show and dancing bear, their full-pelt garage metal doesn’t stray too far from cracks and fine-tune those nascent ideas. By music is made to stand up and fight in its own their mentors’ blueprint, all straight-ahead which time there’ll be a whole new crop of right and makes a good fist of it, the Ministry- ramming speed beats and overdriven guitar teenage bands coming through the ranks. Some meets-Aphex Twin-meets-Suede crunch of stabs. Elsewhere Back By Six make angry of whom might even keep a civil tongue in their ‘Taste Of Animals’ throbbing unpleasantly amid shouty noises over thrashed-up Iron Maiden heads. the general din of guitars and sequencers. riffs on ‘Haydn vs Bach’ and Funeral For A Dale Kattack

NARCO BLUE KITE ‘Evil Brother’ ‘Resolution’ (Surface To Air) (Own Label) Well Hell, was it really back in 2000 that By Oxford standards Blue Kite have a hell of a dream mingles with a very English folk edge and Narco’s glorious ‘Teen Suicide Explosion’ pedigree. Formed by three former members of the accomplished maturity of a jobbing jazz- topped the Nightshift end of year chart and the indie legends The Anyways, Alan Buckley, rock band. So while Blue Kite can occasionally band looked set to be the next big thing out of Mark Price and Pete Lock, their current line-up feel like a victory for professionalism over Oxford? And then… nothing. After being dicked also includes one-time Mystics siren Kate adventurism, more often they can be as about by record labels Narco-in-chief Rich Garrett on vocals, drummer Tim Turan who seductive as an autumn evening and as Aitken concentrated on his more lucrative job must by now have played in every band in comforting as red wine in front of a log fire. writing music for computer games and Oxford, plus guest appearances by Soma’s Rich ‘Wired’ and ‘Tears For a Blues Kite’ are smoky, producing a succession of other acts. Haines and Goldrush’s Joe Bennett. slow burning gems, Pete and Kate’s voices There were a few brief live outing last year but Blue Kite made their debut on 1996’s seminal softly twisting themselves around each other, now it looks like Narco are back in contention local band compilation ‘OXCD’ and have while at the other end of the scale, ‘You Are full time with this single set to be followed by released two previous albums but the nature of My Dreamer’ rides on squalling U2-style the band’s debut album in April. So crank out the band has meant they’ve played less than a guitars. Kate comes into her own on the solemn those hissing Suicide synth riffs and those evil handful of gigs in all those years. Things have ‘Run To Me’, all mournful cello and plaintive metallic bass lines, growl like you’re a down- changed somewhat since the arrival of Kate into vocals, reminiscent of Propaganda siren Claudia home Noo Yawk smackhead with a 40-a-day their ranks but this elusive band are still Brücken. Only on tracks like the pedestrian habit and life dedicated to the cliché of the rock something of a secret even in their home city. ‘Our Great Expectations’ and a seriously risible and roll dream. ‘Evil Brother’ knows in its gut it Which they shouldn’t be, because this third reinterpretation of ‘Daydream Believer’ do they was born to grace the stage of CBGB’s and album is very much the sum of all that talent. unmake the spell. probably die in the process. It’s a precision Discreet pop is probably as apt a description Given that most of Blue Kite have been writing produced slice of New Wave synth rock, yet as you can find for Blue Kite but that insinuates and playing for 20 years or more, the depth and sounds like it was mashed together from spit, something bland or dinner partyish, when really breadth of talent on show here isn’t unexpected. sawdust and beer dregs. It’s half-dead with the they’re more exotic than that. Kate’s voice is What might be more of a surprise is just how spirits of Martin Rev and Jim Morrison, it inscrutable and other-worldly and this as much fresh most of this album sounds, Much more so needs a decent meal inside of it and it’s great. as anything lends a lost in time feel to than many bands less than half their age. Dale Kattack everything. The darker edge of the 60s hippy Sue Foreman Selected Oxford releases are now available on the ground floor HMV Oxford supports local music Open Sundays 11-5pm & late Thursdays till 7pm. 10% student discount every day

gig guide

TUESDAY 1 st SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks – Weekly dose of ska, dub, funk, reggae and Latin beats, with DJ FIGHTSTAR + CRY FOR SILENCE + Aidan Larkin and guests. HOLLYWOOD ENDINGS: The Zodiac – MARCH SABOTAGE: The Zodiac – Weekly rock club Former-Busted singer Charlie Simpson’s new night with Club That Cannot Be Named DJs proper indie punk rock band comes to town, the American singer Anton Barbeau, plus support spinning a selection of metal, punk, hardcore and former pre-teen heartthrob apparently following from Tim Buckley-inspired duo The New Moon indie sounds. his heart and jacking in the popstar life for some and 50s-style jazz, rock’n’roll and country from th back-of-a-van action around the nation’s more FRIDAY 4 Mr Curran. intimate venues. Of course it’s already long-since THE RAVEONETTES + DOGS + THE BOXER DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: sold out. Support comes from London hardcore REBELLION: The Zodiac – First chance to see Old School House, Gloucester Green – crew Cry For Silence. the heavenly Danish fuzz-pop duo – see main Weekly all-comers live music club. JAZZ CLUB with THE TOM GREY QUINTET: preview. OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley The Bullingdon – The Bully’s weekly live jazz DIATRIBE + THE GREEN + THE LONG THE EVENINGS + THIS TOWN NEEDS club keeps swinging the joint with club resident WEEKEND + THE SEVENTH LEVEL: The GUNS: The Cellar – Vertigo, the University’s band The Tom Grey Quintet keeping it lively. Zodiac – Four-band local bill featuring glammy indie music society hosts its new club night with Quality jazz and dance and all for free. rockers Diatribe, Suede-inspired gothsters The live music from dynamic electro pounders ANTON BARBEAU + THE NEW MOON + Green, plus four-times Nightshift Demo Of The The Evenings, plus emo-tinged rockers GARY CURRAN: The Port Mahon – Month winners The Long Weekend with a TTNG. Psychedelic pop in a Robyn Hitchcock vein from dynamic, melodic blend of 60s garage rock and ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley 80s indie. Road REPUBLICA: The Zodiac – With special guest th nd Friday 4 WEDNESDAY 2 Anne Savage. THE RAVEONETTES / THE DHARMA: The Port Mahon KLUB KAKOFANNEY with JUNKIE BRUSH COROFIN & FRIENDS: Exeter Hall, Cowley + SACRED DISORDER + REVEREND DOGS / THE BOXER – Weekly trad Irish folk residency. MOONSHINE: The Wheatsheaf – Yer actual BOSSAPHONIC with NATUREBOY proper old school punk rock from Junkie Brush. REBELLION: featuring ALICE RUSSELL: The Cellar CJ ROCK PRESENTS: The Exeter Hall, CATWEAZLE CLUB: Northgate Hall – Cowley – A night of unsigned local rock bands. The Zodiac Weekly all-comers session for musicians, singers, SKETCHY: The Cellar – Hip hop, ragga, funk poets, storytellers and performance artists. and drum&bass sounds from DJs Toby Kidd and Well, it’s about bleedin’ time The Ravonettes BARCODE: The Hollybush, Osney – Weekly Mr Brogan. played in Oxford. Some of us have been energy jazz residency with resident drums, double SLIGHTLY MAD: The Barn, Red Lion, waiting an age and we just know it’s gonna bass and piano trio. Witney – Queen tribute. be worth it. How will you be able to not fall THURSDAY 3 rd OXFORD FOLK CLUB with BEN PALEY & TAB HUNTER: The Port Mahon – Fiddle and madly in love with a two-piece boy/girl band THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES: The guitar duo playing klezmer and bluegrass. from Denmark who sound like a stripped- Zodiac – Sweden’s megalithic classic rockers, BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon – making out like it’s still 1968 with hefty doses of down crystallisation of The Jesus and Mary Classic funk, soul and disco. folky psychedelia and Rolling Stones steals. Oh, Chain, Shop Assistants, Buddy Holly and th just about every Phil Spector-produced girl and a big beardy frontman who we can only SATURDAY 5 band of the 1960s? And that’s not even presume is the lovechild of Vangelis and Rasputin. THE HAUNTED + DEAD TO FALL + MARTYR Takes all sorts. AD: The Zodiac (upstairs) – Swedish thrash counting the fact that bassist / singer Sharin SPIN JAZZ CLUB with JOHN ETHERIDGE: metal titans return to the Zodiac to plug their Foo coos like a less angelic Julee Cruise and The Wheatsheaf – World-famous guitarist and ‘rEVOLVEr’ album, following last year’s tour looks like Nico (we feel faint all of a former member of Soft Machine, Etheridge has support to Funeral For A Friend and now reunited sudden). Or that guitarist / singer Sune Rose played with Stephan Grapelli, Dizzy Gillespie and with original vocalist Peter Dolving. Support Wagner sounds exactly like Lou Reed when Nigel Kennedy during his illustrious career, from Victory Records-signed metalcore hopefuls he was in the Velvets and was actually any drawing plaudits from the likes of Pat Metheny Dead To Fall and Martyr AD. good. Drones, feedback and honey-dripping and Sting along the way. YOUTH MOVIE SOUNDTRACK bubblegum punk melodies? They got ‘em. RAMI & THE EYE-LAND MONKEYS: The STRATEGIES + THE EDMUND FITZGERALD + Exeter Hall, Cowley – Funk, soul and blues THIS TOWN NEEDS GUNS + NARCISSISM: Support on this Jim Beam-sponsored tour from the local troubadour. The Zodiac (downstairs) – Youth Movies comes from north London’s scruffy rock and BEARD MUSEUM wih ADVENTURES OF continue on their convoluted guitar journey with roll newcomers Dogs, and Aussie-American EMILY ROSE + BEN ULPH + ANONYMEN: this headline gig. Elaborate guitar textures and ex-pats The Boxer Rebellion, mixing up the The Cellar dynamic rhythms make for a thrilling but Verve’s sweeping grandiosity with Geneva’s BLACK RIVER PROJECT + STONE FROM intelligent journey into leftfield rock noise. delicate sense of epic. DELPHI + DR SID + THE APPLETHIEVES + Promising post-rock youngsters The Edmund SOULBURN: Brookes University Union – Fitzgerald sadly call it a day with this gig. Their Showcase night for the Brookes Rock Society spiky instrumental guitar noise having livened up with Leicester hardcore crew Black River Project; the local live scene for the past couple of years, melodic hard rock in a Muse-meets-Lostprophets hopefully it won’t be long before Yannis and co. vein from Stone From Delphi; stoner rock from return with a new band. Melodic emo rockers Reading’s Dr Sid, plus two of Brookes’ own TTNG and proggy Banbury youngsters Narcissism current faves, Soulburn, firing out some Pantera- make up a strong local band bill. inspired metal and funky riffs and grunge noise P.Y.E + WARHEN: The Wheatsheaf – More from The Applethieves. post-rock action down the road with P.Y.E adding DELICIOUS MUSIC BLUES AND JAZZ a jazzy slant to their instrumental noise. Spiky BANDS NIGHT: Far From The Madding punk teens Warhen support. Crowd – The mobile live music club presents a BOYWITHATOY PRESENTS: The Port weekly session of jazz and blues bands. Mahon – Leftfield and indie bands. MY INITIALS CLUB with GINGER BROWN THE PETE FRYER BAND & GUESTS: The + SALVO: The Port Mahon Exeter Hall, Cowley from California’s guitar virtuoso Gregg Wright, BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon one of the most renowned blues guitarists and HQ: The Cellar –Drum&bass from Q Project. session men in the world, including a stint in SATURDAY 12th Michael Jackson’s touring band. THE SAMURAI SEVEN + RED STAR CYCLE + SALSANEROS: The Cellar – Live Latin FILM NOIR: The Wheatsheaf – Buzzsaw dance. punk-pop with classic 60s harmonies from local THE PHIL BEER BAND: Nettlebed Folk Club stalwarts The Samurai Seven. Bullish th TUESDAY 8 synth’n’fiddle-led rock from RSC, plus indie pop BARNABAS + SIMON DAVIES + SEAN from Film Noir. TAYLOR: The Port Mahon – Prolific local WIGOUT! with UNCHAYNED + SIR BALD cellist, guitarist and singer Barney Morse-Brown DIDDLEY & HIS WIGOUTS: The Port performs his own songs solo; classically trained Mahon – Raucous garage punk from Unchayned th guitarist Simon Davies provides songs of thwarted at tonight’s Wigout Club. Host Sir Bald Diddley Tuesday 8 romance, American imperialism and melancholia, carries the torch for authentic 50s and 60s while London-based Sean Taylor does folky pop rock’n’roll, surf and garage rock, plus rock’n’roll THIRTEEN SENSES: in a John Martyn style. and soul DJs. THIRTEEN SENSES: The Zodiac (upstairs) – EIGHT-FOOT UNDER: The Barn, Red Lion, The Zodiac Sweet piano-led pop dreaminess from Cornish Witney It’s barely a year since Thirteen Senses were starlets – see main preview SEXTODECIMO + CHINESE FINGERTRAP: being tipped as “The New Coldplay” by the SONDRE LERCHE: The Zodiac (downstairs) – The Zodiac – Local stoner heavyweights pile on marketing department of some vast record Easy listening with a distinctly dark tinge from the pressure with grungy punkers in support. label that weren’t on the ball enough to sign Norwegian songwriter Sondre Lerche, mining a DEPTH CHARGE: The Bullingdon – the old Coldplay first time round. Now of similar vein of quirky, ambitious popto Rufus Drum&bass club night. course, three Top 40 singles, a CD:UK Wainwright and Ed Harcourt. THE CHEESEGRATERS: The Exeter Hall, JAZZ CLUB with THE HOWARD PEACOCK Cowley – Live funk and soul. appearance and tours with Embrace, Keane QUINTET: The Bullingdon DEVIL’S GUN: The Cellar – Live electro punk and The Charlatans later, they’re an DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: noise. established part of the musical furniture. As Old School House, Gloucester Green LATIF BOLTA + JENNIFER FERRARO: comfortable as an Ikea sofa and as discreet OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley Friends Meeting House, St Giles – An as a flat-packed coffee table. Like Keane, ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley evening of Turkish sufi music in aid of Tsunami and Coldplay before them, Thirteen Senses Road relief. deal in delicate, emotional pop. With pianos. INTRUSION: The Cellar DAVE NOBLE & SHARON SUBBARAO: th Singer and keyboard man Will South writes WEDNESDAY 9 Magic Café (1pm) gentle, semi-acoustic anthems that swoop THE EPSTEIN BAND + REDOX + FORK + THE and sweep in all the right places and sings NEW MOON: The Bullingdon – Oxfam Monday 14th them with a suitably plaintive falsetto. Like benefit gig with four local acts giving it up for the their home county, Cornwall, Thirteen developing world. Melodic country rockers The Epstein Band headline, swampy party vibes from HATEBREED: Senses may be a bit wet at times but, again Redox, proggy punk noise from Fork and gentle like Cornwall, the scenery is pretty and acoustic pop from The New Moon. The Zodiac come the summertime, they’re going to be COROFIN & FRIENDS: Exeter Hall, Cowley Hatebreed are one of the few bands around very popular. MIXOLOGISTS + DIGITAL ERA: The Cellar who can get away with calling their album – Drum&bass DJ set. ‘The Rise Of Brutality’. Because that, in CATWEAZLE CLUB: Northgate Hall essence, is their story. The band who were SIMPLE: The Bullingdon – Old school funky BARCODE: The Hollybush, Osney recently nominated for a Grammy for best house with Nicky Blackmarket. th MARK BOSLEY + NUGGET + CHANTELLE THURSDAY 10 metal performance have worked their way to PIKE + STEM + BLUNT INSTRUMENTS + WHITMORE + CHIEF LIBIDO + FLOATING the top with a decade of seriously vicious NEW MOON: King’s Head & Bell – Skittle FACE DOWN: The Zodiac – UK ska-core metallic hardcore, selling nearly a quarter of Alley acoustic session, featuring gothic troubadour heroes. a million albums before they’d even been SPIN JAZZ CLUB with STEVE LODDER: The Mark Bosley and a host of local unplugged types. signed to a major label. Now that they’re Wheatsheaf – Jazz piano from the former AFTER HOURS: The Barn, Red Lion, firmly ensconced in the mainstream – signed Witney sidekick to Andy Sheppard and Paul McCartney. to Universal in the States and with singer MAEVE & GRAEME: Magic Café (1pm) DELICIOUS MUSIC BLUES AND JAZZ th BANDS NIGHT: Far From The Madding Jamey Jasta presenting MTV’s SUNDAY 6 Crowd Headbanger’s Ball – they’re giving it a royal RODRIGO Y GABRIELA: The Zodiac – Swift GWYN ASHTON: The Exeter Hall, Cowley – kicking. Theirs is a sweaty, cathartic and return to the Zodiac for the Dublin-based Acoustic rock and blues. extremely punishing update of Slayer and Mexican guitar duo, mixing up Latin rhythms, DELIVERENCE with SUMMER OF MARS: Sick Of It All’s stripped-down metal, fuelled Celtic lyricism, Flamenco, jazz and the odd The Elm Tree – Country and western themed by extreme amounts of testosterone and Metallica riff into an oddly effective world fusion club night with live bands and free grub. experience. SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks anger. They’ve most recently been seen in CHURCH OF THE HEAVY: The Bullingdon SABOTAGE: The Zodiac the UK supporting Slayer and Slipknot, – Local live bands showcase. th while their musical incitements to riot have ELECTRIC JAM: The Exeter Hall, Cowley FRIDAY 11 ONE LOUDER with THE ROCK OF seen them barred entry to Canada, lest thry (5pm) – Jam along with the in-house rhythm corrupt the nation’s youth. So, parents, are section, all musicians welcome. TRAVOLTA + SIREN + THE WALK OFF: The you sure you want your kids going out OPEN MIC SESSION: The Victoria, Jericho Wheatsheaf – The final One Louder club night BURN: The Black Horse, Kidlington features the first ever live show from the new- tonight? THE USSR: The Port Mahon look Rock Of Travolta. Phill Honey’s long- th standing leftfield rock club is the perfect setting MONDAY 7 for his old band’s comeback, hoping to retain STRAYLIGHT RUN + THE SPILL CANVAS + their majestic grasp of dynamic rock and JUNIOR VARSITY: The Zodiac – Long Island orchestral noise. Support comes from former melodic rockers formed by John Nolan and Shaun Ultrasound frontman Tiny Woods’ epic new Cooper, who left Taking Back Sunday in 2003 outfit Siren, plus rampaging techno noisenicks just as that band hit the big time. Their apparent The Walk Off. Amps turned up to 11 all night and career suicide is now paying dividends, although bowing out in style. their piano and sample-heavy new sound is some SLIDE: The Zodiac – Funky house club night. way removed from their heavy rock roots. TALL FACES: The Barn, Red Lion, Witney THE GREGG WRIGHT BAND: The OXFORD FOLK CLUB OPEN NIGHT: The Bullingdon – Energetic and soulful blues rocking Port Mahon JAZZ CLUB with THE TOM GREY QUINTET: THE EPSTEIN: The Port Mahon – Country The Bullingdon rock. DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: RIM: The Barn, Red Lion, Witney Old School House, Gloucester Green ROLLERCOASTER Vs CHICKS WITH HEDROOM + SOW: The Cellar – Funky hard DECKS: The Cellar – Indie, electro, 80s pop rock and ska-punk from Thame’s Hedroom, plus and punk sounds. hardcore heaviosity from Sow. STICK IT ON: The Bullingdon – Open decks OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley night for aspiring local DJs. ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley JOHN PAUL DAVIES: Magic Café (1pm) Road SUNDAY 20th th WEDNESDAY 16 THE GA*GA*s: The Zodiac – Old school heavy OBSU ROCK SOCIETY LIVE MUSIC rock revivalists in the vein of Guns’n’Roses and SHOWCASE: The Bullingdon – A taste of the Backyard Babies. Signed to Sanctuary Records Brookes rock scene. having toured with The Wildhearts and – gulp – Thursday 17th IN THE FLESH + BLUEWAX: The Whitesnake. Wheatsheaf – Grungy epic pop with Foo CHURCH OF THE HEAVY: The Bullingdon SECRET MACHINES: Fighters and U2 influences from In The Flesh. – Local live bands showcase. COROFIN & FRIENDS: Exeter Hall, Cowley ELECTRIC JAM: The Exeter Hall, Cowley The Zodiac BOSSAPHONIC with THE SPIRALIST: The OPEN MIC SESSION: The Victoria, Jericho Nightshift’s favourite album of last year, by Cellar THE WORRIED MEN: The Black Horse, CATWEAZLE CLUB: Northgate Hall Kidlington some distance, was Secret Machines’ full- BARCODE: The Hollybush, Osney MONDAY 21st length debut, ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’, a th magical, dynamic journey into sound that THURSDAY 17 GOD FORBID + EXTOL + TED MAUL: The stands in stark relief to the ugly, messy SECRET MACHINES: The Zodiac – Must-see Zodiac – New Jersey thrashcore metallers last Oxford debut for New York’s magnificent prog- seen at the Zodiac opening for Chimaira and lumps of noise that pass for mainstream pop stars – see main preview Killswitch Engage. They’ve since toured with ‘alternative’ rock these days. Brothers SCRIPT + CHANTELLE PIKE: The Port Machine Head in the UK, drawing on early 80s Brandon and Benjamin Curtis (singer and Mahon – Lightweight indie drifting from Script, British metal and mid-80s American thrash for keyboard player, and guitarist respectively), with folky pop from Chantelle and band. inspiration. along with drummer Josh Garza started out SPIN JAZZ CLUB with CHRIS GARRICK: FAMILY STYLE BAND: The Bullingdon – based in Dallas, Texas before relocating to The Wheatsheaf – Electric violinist whose style Genuine proper family band, from Milano in New York and it shows: they have the switches from contemporary jazz to Hot Club to expansive sounds of traditional southern gipsy swing. DELICIOUS MUSIC BLUES AND JAZZ Saturday 19th rock, coupled with the artier edge of their BANDS NIGHT: Far From The Madding new home. They’ve been called prog and Crowd QUEEN ADREENA / krautrock, but while they encompass RAMI & THE EYE-LAND MONKEYS: The elements of both, it’s their melodic majesty Exeter Hall, Cowley IVY’S ITCH: that makes them so special. You can hear THE KICKS + KONTIKI: The Cellar – Local echoes of Neu!, Pink Floyd and Tangerine indie rockers. The Zodiac Dream in their sound, but equally Crazy SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks If you think Pete Doherty is a wildly SABOTAGE: The Zodiac Horse and The Band. Even more than this unpredictable performer, you probably th though, Secret Machines sound like a band FRIDAY 18 haven’t witness Katie Jane Garside yet. who should be headlining every festival this DETWIIJE + WAITING FOR CONISTON + While one previous Queen Adreena gig was summer, ploughing their epic motorik groove THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE: The Wheatsheaf cut short midway through after Katie – Cinematic guitar soundscaping from Detwiije at under lazer-lit skies. A band who claim to collapsed on stage, their best shows have tonight’s Vacuous Pop club night. Support from want to “connect to the cosmos and connect former-Modern post-rockers WFC and Exploits been an encapsulation of everything that is to the gods”. Which isn’t something you of Elaine who mix up Sonic Youth, My Bloody exciting about rock and roll. Like Linda Blair could say about too many other bands. Valentine and Godspeed. in The Exorcist, there’s a little girl with QUENCH + LENO + SCARLET SOHO: The demonic possession quality about Katie th Zodiac (downstairs) – Newly-signed melodic Jane’s performance, while musically Queen SUNDAY 13 rockers in a vaguely Foo Fighters style out on Adreena spark and crackle with unrestrained THE RELATIONSHIPS: The Bullingdon – tour for the first time. power and energy. Imagine a gutter-level Gentle psychedelic rocking from the 60-inspired RUMPSHAKER: The Zodiac (upstairs) – Old Björk raised by rats fronting a head-on stalwarts. school acid house and techno club night. DUBWISER + SEXY BREAKFAST: The Zodiac THE DIRTY EARTH BAND: The Barn, Red collision between Motorhead and The – Local reggae veterans team up with epic glam- Lion, Witney Banshees. Or Kate Bush trapped in a gothic prog faves. OXFORD FOLK CLUB St PATRICK’S DAY underworld of freaky metal-obsessed cave IN/OUT: The Exeter Hall, Cowley – Rock SPECIAL: The Port Mahon trolls. Now, you’re about halfway there. Just covers. LISA FITZGIBBON & JANE GRIFFITHS + don’t stand too close to the front: you might BIG EYED FISH: The Black Horse, KATE GARRETT + MAEVE BAYTON + get hurt. Support comes from Oxford’s own Kidlington JACKIE SINGER & JOSIE WEBBER: banshee rockers Ivy’s Itch, boiling up COMPOUND: The Cellar Holywell Music Room – A night of local female cauldron of gothic grunge noise and spooky ANOTHER LOSS LEADER: The Port Mahon singer-songwriters as part of the International MONDAY 14th Women’s Festival. Power-folk singer Lisa kid whispers and caterwauling. HATEBREED + CROWBAR + CALIBAN: The Fitzgibbon headlines. Zodiac – Ten-ton heavy metalcore carnage from FUNK WAR: The Exeter Hall, Cowley the US rising stars – see main preview SOLUTION: The Cellar – Live UK hip hop THE COLIN JOHN BAND: The Bullingdon – plus club DJs. Classic blues and rock from the Ohio-based BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon guitarist and singer. SATURDAY 19th NOEL MURPHY: Nettlebed Folk Club QUEEN ADREENA + THREE CHILDREN OF TUESDAY 15th FORTUNE + IVY’S ITCH: The Zodiac – LAGRIMA + JEREMY HIGHES + STEM: The Down’n’dirty gothic sludge rocking from the Port Mahon – Subtle, soulful pop from Lagrima gutter – see main preview at tonight’s acoustic night. Instrumental guitar KOHOUTEK: The Exeter Hall, Cowley – The support from local cult figure Jeremy Hughes, plus band formerly known as Tsunami return with a former Neustar people, Stem. new name and some more epic soft rock. Italy, rated as Italy’s premier blues band playing THE HIDEAWAYS: The Barn, Red Lion, tonight’s gig as one of only a handful of UK dates Witney – 60s soul and r’n’b covers. on their current European tour, mixing up BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon Chicago and New Orleans blues with a cool jazz SKETCHY: The Cellar edge. SATURDAY 26th JOHN TAMS & BARRY COOPE: Nettlebed BLUE KITE + STUEY MUCH: The Zodiac – Folk Club Insular, atmospheric jazz-pop from the reclusive nd TUESDAY 22 collective who seem to suddenly have found their TWIZZ TWANGLE + RICHARD front door after managing about three gigs in BROTHERTON + BROKEN RECORD + LEE eight years. GABEL: The Port Mahon – Legendary local GOLDRUSH + THE EPSTEIN: The Zodiac pop loon (and this month’s Nightshift Demo of SHIRLEY + THE KICKS + AIRPORT TIGERS: the Monther) Twizz gives music another lopsided The Wheatsheaf – Local progressive punkers Friday 25th kick in the pants. Support from blues guitarist headline with melodic indie rockers in support. Richard Brotherton, Lee Smilex’s new project WHALEBONE POLLY + MARK BOSLEY: STINKING LIZAVETA / Broken Record, plus trad folkster Lee Gabel. The Port Mahon JAZZ CLUB with THE HOWARD PEACOCK THE DRUG SQUAD: The Exeter Hall, SEXTODECIMO / QUINTET: The Bullingdon Cowley – Ska-punk and spaghetti western party DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: noise. HEY COLOSSUS: Old School House, Gloucester Green BARNES COURT REUNION: The OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley Bullingdon – Classic soul. The Wheatsheaf DIATRIBE: The Cellar FREE AT LAST: The Barn, Red Lion, Witney ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley CONFIDENTIAL COLLECTIVE: The Cellar – Okay, seeing as it’s Good Friday why not Road Live funk and hip hop. put on a night of music that even the Devil WEDNESDAY 23rd SUNDAY 27th himself would run scared of. Philadelphia’s Stinking Lizaveta (named after a character in COROFIN & FRIENDS: Exeter Hall, Cowley LAIMA BITE + SARAH WILSON: The Exeter SYNTHESIS: The Cellar – Reggae and hip hop Hall, Cowley – Excellent local gothic folk Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, club night. chanteuse. fact fans) have been blowing amps for ten CATWEAZLE CLUB: Northgate Hall CHURCH OF THE HEAVY: The Bullingdon years now, previously championed and BARCODE: The Hollybush, Osney – Local live bands showcase. produced by Steve Albini and having just THURSDAY 24th JABERWOK: The Cellar released their fourth album, ‘Caught SCOOBY DON’T: The Black Horse, EIGHTEEN VISIONS + EMANUELLE + Between Worlds’. They’re brutal for sure – Kidlington MISERY SIGNALS: The Zodiac (upstairs) – all opressive bass, pile-driving polyrhythms th Southern Californian metallers return to The Club MONDAY 28 and cluttered guitar scrawl, like a cross That Cannot Be Named to promote their new BLUES BURGLARS: The Bullingdon – between Slint and Black Sabbath, but with album, ‘Obsession’; their first UK headline tour Chicago-style blues from Newcastle quintet, space for icier space rock and prog following supports to 36 Crazyfists and formed around guitarist John Whitehill, who tendencies, plus a willingness and ability to Lostprophets. spent years playing with Paul lamb and the improvise live. Doom jazz? It’s real and it’s NARCO + KIOSK: The Zodiac (downstairs) – Kingsnakes, plus singer Billy Sharp, belting it out Long-overdue return for the electro rocking in a Howlin’ Wolf style. happening tonight. Local sludge-core Narco brigade. The Doors meet Suicide in their DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: deviants Sextodecimo provide suitably sleazy synth-infested world. Debut album due in Old School House, Gloucester Green monstrous support. Mind you, you’ll be April. OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley deaf by the time they come on stage, after DISQUES VOGUE: The Zodiac (upstairs) – ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley south London’s Hey Colossus have laid Special one-off return for the seminal local easy Road waste to your eardrums and most buildings listening club, with original DJs Giles and Dick TUESDAY 29th within a five-mile radius. Hypnotic drones, spinning cheesy pop and Moog classics. JAZZ CLUB with THE ALVIN ROY BAND: white noise and screaming are the order of SPIN JAZZ CLUB with ZUBOP: The The Bullingdon Wheatsheaf – Lively blend of contemporary the day, and that order comes with a side THE CLIFFHANGERS + SIMON jazz, Latin and African dance and funk. portion of boiled synapses. Enjoy! SCARDELLO + PHIL GARVEY: The Port DELICIOUS MUSIC BLUES AND JAZZ Mahon – Local chanteuse Chantelle Pike and BANDS NIGHT: Far From The Madding Inflatable Buddha’s Su Jordan present their new BOSSAPHONIK: The Cellar Crowd bands, The Cliffhangers. 60s pop classics from BARCODE: The Hollybush, Osney HARRY ANGEL + THE THUMB + RED STAR local veteran Phil Garvey. CATWEAZLE CLUB: Northgate Hall CYCLE + SHIRLEY: The Exeter Hall, DELICIOUS MUSIC OPEN MIC SESSION: st Cowley – Local bands night with belligerent indie THURSDAY 31 Old School House, Gloucester Green gothsters Harry Angel headlining. Synth’n’fiddle- DELICIOUS MUSIC BLUES AND JAZZ OPEN MIC SESSION: Exeter Hall, Cowley led rocking from RSC in a vaguely New Model BANDS NIGHT: Far From The Madding ACOUSTIC NIGHT: The Hobgoblin, Cowley Army kinda way, plus punky pop from Shirley. Crowd Road DELIVERENCE: The Elm Tree th SKYLARKIN SPECIAL with INTENSIFIED + NEUTRINOS + SEVENTH LEVEL + LIQUID WEDNESDAY 30 DJ DEREK: The Zodiac – Live set from ska and REMEDY: The Cellar FORK + PHYAL + JUNKIE BRUSH + FECK: rocksteady crew Intensified who have shared SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks The Bullingdon – Punk and metal local bands stages with The Skatalites and Prince Buster in SABOTAGE: The Zodiac bill at the Bully tonight with old school their time. Plus Bristolian ska DJ legend Derek FRIDAY 25th slash’n’burn punkers Junkie Brush the pick of the and host Aidan Larkin. bunch. MATT SAGE & THE ORCHESTRA OF LOVE: STINKING LIZAVETA + SEXTODECIMO + THIS AIN’T VEGAS: The Wheatsheaf – Hard, The Zodiac HEY COLOSSUS: The Wheatsheaf – Fancy fast, angular and angry post-punk rocking from SABOTAGE: The Zodiac your brain scrambled for dinner? Here are your Sunderland’s brightest sons, exuding righteous fury chefs for the evening – see main preview LEGACY OF JOHN: The Exeter Hall, in the style of Husker Du, Fugazi and Gang of GAPPY TOOTH INDUSTRIES with Cowley Four. CHANTELLE PIKE + MOVE ALPHA A CULT CALLED KARRIANNA + ROSE CHERRY FALLS + UNDERCUT + FELL CITY PRODUCTIONS: The Zodiac – Folky pop fun KEMP: The Cellar – Glammed-up rock, 80s from the vocally dextrous local singer at tonight’s GIRL: The Zodiac synth pop and bad, bad haircuts from cult GTI club night. COROFIN & FRIENDS: Exeter Hall, Cowley Manchester starlets ACCK. SOURCE: The Zodiac – Longstanding monthly drum&bass club night. Nightshift listings are free. Deadline for inclusion in January’s gig guide is the 15th of December - PHYAL + FORK: The Exeter Hall, Cowley – Double bill of local punk-inclined noisemakers, no exceptions. Call 01865 372255 (10am-6pm) or email listings to [email protected]. Bicester’s Phyal go for the metal side of the coin, This gig guide is copyright of Nightshift Magazine and may not be reproduced without permis- while Fork keep it poppy and proggy. sion. LIVELIVE Photo: Richard Hounslow (07761 682297)

MINNIE DRIVER The Zodiac Hands stuffed in jean pockets, dressed in a modest t-shirt, tight curls down to her shoulders and exuding an unassuming chumminess, the woman onstage could be any club singer on any night in any town. Surrounded by a tight group of jobbing musos, she’s got a husky, soulful voice, somewhere between Patsy Cline and Bonnie Raitt. But this isn’t just any anonymous club singer, this is Minnie Driver, genuine A-list Hollywood actress and now, she hopes, pop star. Which is why the Zodiac is packed and a slightly older than usual audience are hanging on her every word, laughing at every aside and occasionally wolf whistling. Of course Minnie was a singer before she fell into acting – something she’s keen to remind us about tonight, lest we mistake her for another misguided thespian passing time between blockbusters. Early reports have pointed towards a Dido style of soppy pop, but Minnie’s more into her roots than that. Her five-piece band is dominated by a pedal steel player and there’s a distinct, if discreet country twang to the majority of its lack of any great divergence makes for soporific listening. the set. And that’s the main problem: she’s a great singer, and a decent Essentially what Minnie is doing musically is exactly the same as she’s enough songwriter, but everything about her music sounds compromised. done with her acting career – taking her genteel ,very English manner and The best songs tonight, the bluegrass anthem, ‘Invisible Girl’, plus a aimed it straight for the heart of middle America. There she might find couple of smoky, jazzier numbers prove she’s got soul when she uses it, commercial success on the back of her name but you feel there’s more to but mostly it’s all over-polished Nashville sheen and no dirt under its her than this. nails. Minnie even apologises for the mellowness of the set, but Sue Foreman

AT RISK / ZELEGA / THE FACTORY THE FAMILY MACHINE / PLACE ABOVE The Bullingdon BONE MACHINE / The Port Mahon Great music should take you places. One song into their third ever gig and The Factory are AIRPORT TIGERS Last-minute stand-ins for Intermezzo, Place simultaneously taking us up into the The Zodiac Above are notable for most of their set more for stratosphere and deep, deep down into the dark their pained expressions than for any great cavernous earth. Squalls of heavily-flanged Airport Tigers kick off proceedings at tonight’s tunesmithery. They make plenty of noise, but guitars sweep everything from their path, Gappy Tooth Industries club and by the second it’s their spirited cover of Smilex’s ‘Mystique’ song they’ve quickly reached their peak. It’s swirling like a cyclone while the bass cuts a that creates the biggest splash, the singer one of these wired, angular, stop-start numbers, groove through anything that stands in its path. wading into the crowd and eyeballing various which they’ve pulled apart to such an extent This is the five-minute intro to opening track, punters before coming face to face with the there’s barely a melody left. Yet strangely it `Servant’s Hand’. Soon the musical storm, part venue’s doorman. Who just happens to be Lee works. Unlike the rest of their set, which raw Stooges menace, part hypnotic Spacemen 3 Christian, lead singer with Smilex. rapidly descends into a sub-Zeppelin blues psycho blast is engulfing singer Laima Bite’s Zelega win this month’s competition for bands swamp and never recovers. They have a song mantric, Grace Slick-like vocals. It’s wearing the coolest t-shirts onstage (Big Black; called ‘Bumstick Brown’, which is a fair overwhelming and a revelation from such a new Yo La Tengo), but can their music match? They description of the majority of their set. give it a fair crack: guitars are fed through pedals band. Laima of course is gaining quite a Portsmouth’s Bonemachine are industrial, yet to make them sound like entire string sections reputation locally for her gothic confessional strangely poppy. The band crank out rhythms and they interweave dark and dense layers of folk songs, but with this new band, including reminiscent of the long forgotten Delicatessen, sound with a solid dynamic and know not to three guitarists and what sounds like a jet engine surges of keyboards enveloping the sound and spoil it all by trying to be flash. There are for back up, she’s proving her talent extends in force feeding you their tunes. The strange twist washes of guitar sound and crescendos even more directions. After that opening salvo in their music is the effortless abandon with everywhere; doubtless Mogwai and Godspeed The Factory have to work hard to keep up the which they purvey their dark, almost gothic albums lurk within their CD collections, but momentum. They aren’t letting up though. tunes and also their unexpected humour. while they rarely stray far from the post-rock Black-clad, with fringes covering their faces, the Local favourites The Family Machine play template, they make a satisfying job of it. band are a picture of studious malevolence, sweet pop with a slight country slant. I’m At Risk are one of a growing number of bands surrounding their diminutive, kohl-eyed singer. reminded of the band South, who have good flying the flag for goth in Oxford these days. The Stooges-like blasts of raw power makes tunes but are a bit on the toothless side. Not Singer Cat has the looks of a 1930s Hollywood way for pockets of calm, dark, Doors-y many of their songs reach out and grab you starlet and one of those wonderfully bored- atmospherics or krautrock grooving. tonight, but they’re at their best when the do sounding, almost flat vocals that can rest While it can be easy to get swept along by the more upbeat numbers, as that’s when the songs undisturbed amid the most turbulent of sonic giddy headrush of a new band, it’s obvious that finally start to effervesce. ‘Chicken Feet’ stands storms. The band can veer towards the untidy The Factory have arrived on the local live scene out from the rest as it has before and they leave side of things but at their best their clatter and more fully formed than most. If they can us in sublime fashion with a sweet little number scramble of gothic indie pop sounds like a continue to build on this impressive start, while played over a birdsong backing track. primitive take on early Siouxise and the never losing grasp of that raw intensity, plenty So while you’d struggle to find anyone on the Banshees or even 80s German girl goth cult more people are going to find themselves in awe bill tonight that’ll set the world alight, it’s been stars X-Mal Deutschland. of industry. a pleasant mix of the dark and light sides. John Leeson Victoria Waterfield Russell Barker THE HOUSE OF LOVE Live & Free @ The Ex The Zodiac Exeter Hall Pub Back in the late 80s The House of Love, Bickers’ Levitation project, to some Corner Cowley / Marsh Road 01865 776431 along with My Bloody Valentine and awkward country rockabilly and one track March Spacemen 3, revolutionised indie music, that could pass for a Mavericks’ b-side. Every Tuesday - Open Mic - all welcome but the acrimonious split between singer But that’s not why we’re hear. The cheer Every Wednesday - Corofin & Friends Guy Chadwick and guitarist Terry that greets ‘Christine’ tingles the spine Fri 4th CJ Rock Presents Sat 19th Kohoutek Bickers, followed by a string of almost as much as the song itself, Sat 5th Pete Fryer & Guests Sun 20th Electric Jam 5:00 pm Sun 6th Electric Jam 5:00 pm Thu 24th Harry Angel + The Thumb + underwhelming albums, meant that The spangled and spiralling guitar noise that Thu 10th Gwyn Ashton Shirley + Red Star Cycle House Of Love have never maintained the seems to come from another world Fri 11th Blues Deluxe Fri 25th Phyal + Fork same legacy as their peers. altogether. There’s the slow-burning Sat 12th Cheesegraters Sat 26th The Drug Squad th The reunion of Chadwick and Bickers is intensity of ‘Hope’, with its flowery Sun 13 In/Out Sun 27th Laima Bite & Sarah Wilson Fri 18th Funk War Thu 31st Legacy of John as unexpected as a kiss and make up psychedelic interludes, and the gossamer session between Sonic Boom and Jason ‘Love In A Car’, which ends the set, Pierce, or a new My Bloody Valentine displaying the magical secret ingredient of album, but tonight’s packed Zodiac their success – the ability to create tender, (including three quarters of Ride, a band flowery pop with the kick of a mule, and massively influenced by The House Of sounding as alive tonight as it did 17 years Love) proves that it’s a welcome return ago. for the one-time standard bearers of great The four-song encore includes ‘Jesus’ and British guitar pop. Bickers looks older, the magnificent ‘Shine On’, but sadly, obviously, now with proper rock star incredibly, no ‘Destroy The Heart’, and ponytail; Chadwick still looks 50 years we’d probably riot if we hadn’t been so old, just like back in 1988. entranced. History teaches us that There’s a new House of Love album out reunions such as this are short-lived and this month, entitled ‘Days Run Away’. rarely commercially successful, but if We hear half a dozen songs from it tonight, Chadwick and Bickers can get along, the the quality varying between breezy chemistry they once shared might yet Beatles-inspired harmonic pop and some produce more magic. elongated noodling that’s closer to Dale Kattack

ATHLETE 5K The Zodiac 32 Tonight’s special free gig has been so one-trick pony. The plaintive, take-me- eagerly awaited that it’s almost a relief to home-and-cuddle-me vocals have an get it over with. The best turned-out and immediate emotional pull, but listen to the nicest smelling audience ever to fill this new stuff a few times and you start to the room exude enough excitement to power hear the same old melancholy chords the PA. Though singer Joel Pott is repeating themselves, song after song. announced as being under the weather, They’re a bit like a comic who tells old they hit their stride quickly and sound jokes with a sufficiently novel twist that confident and tight, particularly Tim you don’t mind hearing them all over Wanstall’s keyboards and theremin and again. The first album, ‘Vehicles and Carey Willets’ bass. However, it soon Animals’, had enough originality and becomes clear that Athlete are a bit of a quirkiness to carry them over this, but the difficult second one (as in bleedin’ difficult to listen to) exposes too many holes in the scenery. I wanted to get through this review without mentioning the whole Christian thing, but it’s not really possible. There is a valid question in why a band who met and cut their teeth at Christian music festivals should now be so reluctant to engage in any public discussion about their faith. You could put it down to English reserve or a level of privacy that everyone deserves. On the other hand there is something deeply unsatisfying about tonight’s show that could be summed up by the new LP’s title, ‘Tourist’, and the chorus of the closing track, “I love everybody here”. Athlete sound like they want to reach out to everyone, but they don’t want to give too much away. Art Lagun Photo: Richard Hounslow (07761 682297) Photo: Richard Hounslow (07761 682297) Katy Jerome and onlytimewilltell. the thingsthatmakehimso…real.Theverdictisstillout putting himonthispedestalsosoonmayindeedtakeaway insights andlyricaldelightshebrings.Butthesimplefactof this generation’s BobDylan. Yes it’s amazingsomeofthe with itallreally. Butwe’reholdingback. Yes Willy couldbe the audienceintoafrenzy. It’s hardnottogetsweptaway hit ‘Oxygen’ andpolitical-minded‘HardHand To Hold’ get us towhat’s gotmostofusouttonight.SongslikeRadio1 Browne overKennyRogertunes.ButWillyquicklytreats Adams meetsawhisky-drinking,tab-smokingJackson singing setoverrockabillyandcountrythrowbacks;Ryan been listeningtotoomuchJohnnyCash.Lazyandbending About threesongsintothesetwestarttowonderif Willy’s practice. it tobethiswayoriftheyjustdidn’tgetmanychances is rougharoundeveryedge.It’s hardtotelliftheymeanfor arsed attitude-lookingattimespositivelybored.Themusic their ownclaimtofame,The22-20s,reflectthiscan’t-be- careless, lackadaisicalattitude.Hisbackingband,whohave with emotionoftheheartandpoliticsdelivereda smeared withanalcopoplabel.Hissongsarewrappedup that mosthisagewouldn’tknowifitcamebottledand about, buthehasawinsomecharmandhonestyabouthim technical abilityontheguitarisn’tsomethingtowritehome packed audiencefindssoappealing:hissincerity. His on theyoungster. Perhapsthatiswhatthiscompletely it roughandsometimesonthestreetshadaprofoundaffect Massachusetts packeditintotravelacross America. Living year-old fromoneofthemostaffluentcommunitiesin There issomethingspecialaboutWillyMason.This19- The Zodiac WILL Y MASON PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS The Zodiac One problem with hardcore gigs is in the mix. With the exception of the token maintaining attention span. Sure you can would-be circle pitter pinballing round the shock with pounding riffs and front rows, parts of the crowd seem impassioned screams for the first couple sceptical, as band requests to move of songs, but what when four bands share forward are greeted with grudging shuffles. a bill? Alas this seemed the case for the However being the last night of their UK opening two bands on tonight’s bill. While tour, it seems Planes are determined to both sets were distinct from each other, keep up the intensity audience interest or the palm-mute power of the first and the no. They give the impression they’d be two-piece thrash of the second, both get playing this hard faced with an empty lost mid-set. Golf Records’ October File room, all four sweat-drenched members bring a bold stage presence, meaning while having to catch their breath between songs. the performance is lively and listenable As the set goes on this stubborn passion there is little in the songs diverging from and sheer force of will finally brings the DELICIOUSDELICIOUS the usual hardcore-by-numbers fare. audience round. With old favourite Following this hit and miss hardcore, ‘Copper and Stars’ they impress enough ENTERTAINMENT Planes Mistaken For Stars take the stage to be kept for an encore and ‘Thunder in Live Music in March in front of an audience seemingly a touch the Night’ sees frontman Gared O’Donnell Every Tuesday - OPEN MIC SESSION restless. Launching into ‘A Six Inch embracing the front row as they join him @ The Old School House, Gloucester Green Valley’ from latest album, ‘Up Them In in belting out the song’s climactic screams, 8.30-11.15 Free! Great music and drinks promos. Guts, displaying the rawer side of truly serving as the last hurrah and leaving Every Thursday - LIVE JAZZ hardcore, moments of calm serving as the the cynics starting to believe, and the die- @ Far From the Madding Crowd, Friars Entry exception to the brutal but impassioned hards fully sated. 8.30-11 National and local Blues & Jazz Free! Drinks promos onslaught that is, unfortunately, muddied Patrick Casey For bookings/info- Tel: 07876 184623. Demos to Mars at: Oxford Music Shop, 99 St. Aldates, Oxford. Tel: 01865 242784 THE KILLS The Zodiac The best ideas are usually the simple ones style over substance. Erm, if only they - I think we can agree on that. It’s weren’t so damn good. certainly a philosophy beloved of The Ostensibly a blues-inflected punk band, Kills, who take the two-piece aesthetic of The Kills simultaneously keep it simple The White Stripes, apply a dash of while mining a rich vein of influences. reductio ad absurdam by whipping away There’s a little prime Chrissie Hynde the drumkit, leaving them with a scant about VV’s peremptory sneer, and more armoury of drum machine, guitar and than enough welcome nods in the direction themselves. That’s to say, a couple of of the Velvet Underground. But while pseudonyms, a slender American girl with outclassing their influences might be a velvety voice and a tight T-shirt, and a beyond them, their performance is little haggard, scowling English bloke who short of compelling. Hotel twitches and moves like Leatherface, if only he’d taken spasms, eyes wild and speaking in up guitar instead of elementary tongues, while VV coils herself around him dismemberment. They look good, they and her microphone stand in equal pull all the right moves: so far, so glossy measure, elegantly wasted. Both are style mag. In fact, the Kills have the mesmeric, and having nothing else to focus potential to be the absolute epitome of on makes a positive virtue out of their not having a drummer. When they’re singing about fucking and fighting in ‘Black Rooster’, it’s impossible to tell if they’re going to vanish off stage to do one or the other. Ultimately, it’s a gloriously sleazy statement of punk rock in dishabille, and one which, thankfully, more than lives up to the ROCK-POP-DANCE-GOLDEN OLDIES-INDIE- mythology they’ve SOUL-TECHNO-HIP-HOP-JAZZ-LATIN-REGGAE- created for DRUM&BASS-GARAGE—R&B-DISCO-1950s- themselves. 2000s. Brand new back catalogue CDs £4 - £7 Stuart Fowkes each. Brand new chart CDs £5 - £10 each HOOD / YOUTHMOVIE DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 / SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES THE FEVER / CONTROLLER The Wheatsheaf CONTROLLER Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies have rapidly become one of the most popular live bands in Oxford, and the reasons are obvious tonight. Their The Zodiac songs are created from an amalgamation of styles, making it difficult to Funny how you can have a notion about an entire nation so quickly pin them down into any one genre. Their forthcoming release ‘Ores’, for dispelled. Like how Canadians are all so personable and polite. But, just example, has everything you ever wished for in a single: the rolling bass as the equally chilled Norwegians gave us death metal, Canada tonight line and disco interlude are surprising yet perfect compliments to the showcases two bands who burn with unexpected intensity. heart wrenching guitars and anguished vocals. And with ‘The Pitch and Ontario’s Controller Controller are a revelation: broody and long of Yaw of Satellites’, the band breathe new life into the term epic, as the fringe, they kick out a wired punk-funk racket that is various parts song builds into a glorious fury of guitars and writhing bass. Banshees, Wire and Slits, infectiously danceable but with a dark heart. It is difficult to discern when exactly Hood start playing; indeed, their Diminutive singer Nirmala Basnayake bounces and shimmies, while cooing menacingly about 49th Parallels. As sweet as maple syrup and as entire set retains a bizarre, almost dreamlike atmosphere. Their sound, ferocious as a grizzly bear. surprisingly, is a lot clearer tonight than it has ever been on record. Sitting uncomfortably between the two Canadian band are New York’s Tracks such as ‘They Removed All Traces That Anything Had Ever The Fever, who prove that not everything from the Big Apple is as Happened Here’ and ‘You Show No Emotion At All’, both taken from impressive as we may be led to believe. They boil down the constituent their earlier album ‘Cold House’, here sound noticeably more polished. parts of Talking Heads, The Velvets, and Television, and manage to Where once Hood dabbled cautiously in electronica, they seem now to totally overcook the final product. What’s left is a mush of ideas have fully embraced the genre with their most recent material, and thus murdered by over-indulgence and appalling sound. have grown into themselves as a band. The newer tracks that they play Ever since Death From Above 1979’s debut single sold out in a matter of tonight are arguably the best of the set. Recent single ‘The Lost You’ minutes, and their remixes found their way on to the more sordid of sounds remarkably more accomplished than their earlier material. dance floors around the UK, it’s been obvious that this was a band Similarly, forthcoming release ‘The Negatives’ is framed with rousing, capable of notoriety. Stripping back the basics of normal band dynamics, electronic harmonies, and is accompanied by a beautiful organ sound that Sebastien Grainger and Jesse Keeler take to the stage armed with a drum causes the track to resemble an old Irish reel. kit and a bass guitar, laden with effects. But if you think that such a set However, the main problem that Hood face tonight is the audience’s lack up would be full of more holes than a cartoon piece of cheese, Death of concentration. While the band is technically excellent, it is nonetheless From Above take such notions and stomp them into dust before your noticeable that many people find it difficult to focus their attention eyes. They specialize in brutal reappraisals of Led Zeppelin and stagewards for any more than five minutes at a time. It is perhaps Motorhead, but without the need for screaming guitar solos. With songs possible that, due to the type of music they perform, Hood are not quite as powerful as `Romantic Rights’, and a stage presence someway as immediately accessible live as the guitar bands with whom they choose between our own Winnebago Deal and Fugazi (one white light bulb; all- to play. out intensity), you should be watching the skies for Death From Above. Emma Short Allin Pratt PORT MAHON 82 St Clements, Oxford. 01865 202067. March Wed 2nd The Dharma Tue 15th Lagrima + Thu 3rd My Initials Club Jeremy Hughes + Stem with Ginger Brown + Thu 17th Script + Salvo Chantelle Pike Fri 4th Oxford Folk Club Fri 18th Oxford Folk Club with Ben Paley & Tab St Patrick’s Day Irish Hunter Special Sat 5th Boywithatoy Sat 19th The Epstein Presents… Tue 22nd Twizz Sun 6th The USSR Twangle + Richard Tue 8th Barnabas + Brotherton + Broken Simon Davies + Sean Record + Lee Gabel Taylor Thu 24th My Initials Club Fri 11th Oxford Folk Club Sat 26th Whalebone Open Night Polly + Mark Bosley Sat 12th Wigout! with Tue 29th The The Unchayned + Sir Cliffhangers + Simon Bald Diddley & His Scardello + Phil Wigouts Garvey th Sun 13 Another Loss Doors: 8.30pm Leader www.portmahon.co.uk THE PADDINGTONS / XAVIER FLOYD THE LONGCUT KILL CITY FIREBIRD / Northgate Hall TRANSMISSION An unassuming lot, The Longcut. Thin, gawky, The Zodiac and awkward-looking young men, looking as if Lisa Moorish, lead singer with oh-so trendy The Cellar they’ve just wandered out of the audience and Londoners Kill City has already mothered With his plethora of vocal guises and band decided to have a bash at a few tunes. children by Liam Gallagher and Pete Docherty, They’re not much for stage presence either, so she knows her way round a dirty rock beast. names, it’d be easy to label Transmission singer Mark Cobb as an unlucky chancer. Unlucky mumbling their thanks and shuffling about And Kill City are kinda dirty and beastly without so much as a hint of Mancunian themselves. Lisa looks, dresses and even sings because he is also in a band called Tsunami, who I presume are now all washed up, and chancer swagger. But then there’s a lot to be said for like Pauline Black of The Selecter, but musically letting your music do the talking, right? it’s hardly party time. Her strident, sloganeering because in tonight’s guise, he’d like us to believe that Matt Bellamy doesn’t exist. If he didn’t, For a band apparently grabbing enthusiastically vocals dominate a low-rent, monochrome form from influences like a hyperactive kid with free of indie noise, driven sluggishly along by a drum I’d be telling you about a fantastic new rein over Pick ‘N’ Mix, The Longcut’s set can machine with only one speed setting. They’ve frontman who can give you epic balladeering by essentially be divided into two categories. The got a clutch of almost annoyingly catchy songs, the shed load, like you’d never heard before. band’s singing drummer isn’t of the Phil Collins notably the football chant ‘Hooligans On E’, Unfortunately Muse have all but cornered this mould (as in drum-and-sing-at-the-same-time), but it’s only with their final glitterstomping particularly histrionic section of the market, so rhythmic duties on vocal-led tracks are number that they really kick it up. The bassist leaving everyone else a voucher for a stars-in- picked up by a keen but tinny drum machine. swaggers like a drunkard and tells the crowd to your-eyes audition. ‘Amber Light’ stands out as Songs flash past that are inventive and hook- “Fuck off you cunts”, while Lisa sieg heils, but the best of the ‘Musings’, while on a positive laden, like a stripped-down version of the Boo their wanky attitude simply destracts from note ‘Kings’ adds an Arabian twist to the guitar what is a strangely intriguing sound. Back in sound, which is worth expanding on. Radleys on `Giant Steps’, but a combination of 1982 a GLC-sponsored benefit gig is missing a Xavier Floyd Firebird, from Southampton, cavernous acoustics in the venue and the band. have worked their name to the other extreme, or ineffectual spit of their programmed rhythms Hull’s Paddingtons are neither as cute as their maybe it’s a famous NASCAR driver I’m lend them a anaemic feel. teddy bear namesake, nor as hard as one of his ignorant of. Their music certainly seems exactly The instrumental tracks are where things really legendary hard stares. Mates with the what you’d need playing during a track race. pick up, though. Heads-down, locking into a Libertines and The Others, they share a similar XFF are on a month-long, what I call a Seagull groove, and taking inspiration as much from the bedsit revolutionary attitude, while nicking Tour: i.e. they fly in, make a lot of noise, crap gloriously hypnotic repetition of Loop and the what few musical ideas they have from Sham on everything in a wonderfully punk sort of sense of joy of prime Stereolab as from the 69. While we don’t doubt their hearts belong to way and fly off, making us local sparrows in twisting arpeggios characterising much of Sonic punk rock, it sounds like it’s been learned the audience dream of an irresponsible bright Youth’s recent material. Where so many through NME retrospectives, watered-down to light life on the wing. They look and sound like instrumentals can spiral off into unfocused fit a comfortable middle class audience. Really, a stripped down Cooper Temple Clause in noise to make amends for spreading one idea The Paddingtons are so lame, so wretchedly ‘Panzer Attack’ mode, with every song played too thin, ‘Late Night Bus’ is almost the Stone lacking in any character you fantasise about at full pelt. The single ‘Boss Man, You Scare Roses-gone-Neu!, poised and deliberate but them being forced on stage in front of a Killing Me’ does impress, and final song ‘Kick It In’ is with a groove that knowingly skirts around the Joke audience just to see them beaten to a joyous for its reminders of Generation X. fringes of Krautrock. The Longcut are that rare bloody pulp. I think we’ll keep the original Bedheaded and feral, they hand out button commodity – a hotly-tipped band who take a Paddington Bear, thanks. This lot can fuck off badges that say Long Live Rock and Roll, which bit of invention and élan to their influences. back to darkest Peru. is pretty much all you need to know. Substance over style, then. Hurrah! Sue Foreman Paul Carrera Stuart Fowkes

NATUREBOY The Port Mahon Dave ‘Natureboy’ Noble is a furry little fella that we all know. A quiet, humble, furry little fella – not prone to bigging himself up too much. Thing is, if he was a bit more mouthy about his talent, a lot more people would have heard about him and his band. As it is, Dave has brought together a few friends (including Quantic Soul Orchestra vocalist Alice Russell) to play a chilled Sunday evening set in a pub resembling my gran’s sitting room (you know, the one with the plastic flowers that only gets used at Christmas), for a few more friends ahead of higher profile shows at the Camden Jazz Café and Bossaphonik here in Oxford. And as chilled Sunday evenings go, it’s the best I’ve had in some time. Opening with ‘Sweet Is The Air’, an airy piece that sounds like a collaboration between John Martyn and Sergio Mendes - with an exquisite vocal performance from Russell - the group (featuring drums, bass, keys, violin plus Dave on guitar and vocal duties) glide through an hour that takes in folk, jazz and bossanova at a suitably unhurried pace. As a singer, Noble is restrained, his vocal rarely rising above a honey- coated whisper; as a frontman he has real understated charm, between-song banter is funny and self-deprecating. He has the kind of presence that it’s hard not to warm to; by the time he has implored us to get up and dance for some later, more uptempo tunes (‘Life’ is pure Astrud Gilberto; ‘Bum Funk’ has an authentic Blaxploitation feel), it’s impossible to refuse the guy. Alice Russell’s trademark soul holler is reintroduced for an all-too-brief encore, and our perfect Sunday night is at an end. Still, Dave’s got two albums worth of new material awaiting release, so next time shouldn’t be far off. Aidan Larkin DEMOSDEMOSDEMOS Demo of the month wins a day’s free recording at Ursa Audio. For special deals for local bands, call Ursa on 01865 242055.

Slave Unit crooner Painis concentrating on DEMO OF Near Life Experience, replaced by 19-year- old screamer Tom Higgs. Sow rumble and www.appletreestudio.co.uk THE MONTH grind and occasionally career along, like a train with a drunken driver. There are rampaging drums and discordant, uptight TWIZZ TWANGLE guitar solos; they don’t pull their punches, they have no time for subtleties and make Eight months on from being stuck in the no concession to tunefulness. Proper `eavy demo dumper in an attempt to stop him metal, then. sending us his increasingly inept and unhinged musings, Twizz Twangle – aka Dan Eisenhandler – returns with some of KAZOR his finest music to date, equal to his And here’s some more while you’re about original lunatic outpourings under the guise it. The work of Abingdon’s Daniel Clarke, of Oh Susannah Joanna some twelve years this is the gruff flipside to his more ago. For this mini epic of a demo Dan is ambient Reactor Mind project. It’s an joined by regular co-conspirator Patsy innocuous opening, ‘Why Do You Do This Decline as well as gothic balladeer Mark Everyday?’ a straightforward run through Bosley and Vigilance Black Special’s Adam of sloganeering vocals and staccato riffs, Clayton. Their vocal contributions make all obstinate enough but nowhere near the the difference since Dan’s breathless, bulldozing might of Skinny Puppy that it deathless monotone can drive you to purports to take inspiration from. Things distraction in prolonged sessions. From the get better with each track though, the anti-folk carnage of ‘Dark Outside’, electronics taking a more prominent role, through the mad scramble of ‘Jehovah’s counter-pointing the often pantomime Witness’, Twizz is back to being vocal growls. ‘Unconscious’ batters with unnervingly strange and proper daft. That’s real conviction and a deathly techno throb, not to say he’s just a crazed novelty act. while ‘Junkie Idol’ is a steaming industrial ‘Motorway’, with Patsy on vocals, is a metal assault, taking a blunt swipe at junkie full-on atonal punk rant that echoes both celebrity worship. Daniel Clarke doesn’t The Slits and even Throbbing Gristle, while sound like a very happy man. All the better ‘Guiding Light’, with its swirling synths for us. and tinny beats, topped off by Patsy’s otherworldly disco diva vocals and absolutely captivating. Finally, ‘Future THIS TOWN NEEDS Paradise’, finds Adam Clayton’s full, rich baritone wrapped in a solemn Spanish folk GUNS strum, ugly synth stabs occasionally Leading the charge of the Radiohead- puncturing the atmosphere. Unlike so afflicted young men this month are This much this month, nothing here sounds even Town Needs Guns, a university band remotely like Radiohead, and never would who’ve made a name for themselves on the want to. Welcome back Twizz; the break local gig circuit in the last year. They lean has done you a world of good. towards the emo scheme of things on ‘They Spoke With Strange Accents’, mixing quiet, almost pastoral verses with regular bursts of splenetic noise, trying their hardest to hide the obvious Nirvana SOW influences bubbling up from beneath. With “I love my baby and my baby loves me / ‘Eleven’ they move firmly into the post- We’re as happy as squirrels in a tree,” Radiohead land of emotive stadium pop, opines the lead singer of Sow on opening plenty of bravado, bombast and stomp track, `Little Johnny’. Well, he might do, carrying them through, although there’s not but it’s impossible to hear anything he’s too much to take away with you singing because he has the devil himself afterwards. ‘Vaguer Transmission’ shows lodged in his throat and everything he that they’re capable of better things, shouts, bellows or grunts is utterly though .With its hazy swells of epic guitar unintelligible. And so it should be for the noise and awkward dreaminess about it, band formed from the ashes of Slave Unit. they come into their own. The shadow of The band has found a new lease of life Muse lurks over the overwrought ‘This Is since guitarist Aynz’s other band, Jor, split Wrong’, but you feel with a better sense of recently. Along with Days of Grace bassist direction, This Town Needs Guns could be Chris, he’s going for it full tilt now, old shooting up the right street soon enough. ‘Bring Me Here’, with its repeated guitar MARK CROZER grooves, jangly pop with muscles and some The first demo in a good while from the neat New Wave influences. By the end talented Mr Crozer; in fact, we think it’s they’re treading water, though. ‘Satellite’ his first offering since he temporarily repeats the formula to diminishing effect upped sticks to Canada 18 months ago. We and, at eight minutes, outstays its welcome always liked his lachrymose take on the by about seven minutes. singer-songwriter thing, and this new demo builds well on those old recordings, introducing new levels of sound and a TREV WILLIAMS heavier edge. Mark’s lost little of his old Trev is a solo artists recently relocated to morose self, but songs like ‘They Said It Oxford from Manchester. This demo Would End In Tears’ coat the world-weary sprawls over nine tracks (cheers, Trev), and tales in layers of lysergic guitar fuzz, much as tends to be the case with these sort of like Mercury Rev or Flaming Lips of old. efforts, it can be frustrating listening as he ‘A Million Miles Away’ similarly gets a tries to cover all bases on limited resources kick in the pants by swells of distortion, and you wish he’d stick to what he does THE COURTYARD STUDIO its pastoral fuzziness similar to Flying best. What he does best is keeping it simple OTARI MTR90 MK11, 24 TRACK TAPE Saucer Attack, although the agitated vocals and raw, like the opening ‘My Girl’, which MACHINE & MTA 980, 32/24/24 CONSOLE, distract from what could be a hypnotic initially promises to imitate Manchester’s SOUNDSCAPE DIGITAL EDITOR, SUPERB performance. Mark’s still best when he favourite son, Mark E Smith, but makes do CONTROL ROOM WITH GOOD SELECTION OF strips it down to basics though, and ‘Sink with a full-blooded, if old-fashioned bluesy OUTBOARD GEAR, MIDI FACILITIES INCLUDE Or Swim’, with its Thom Yorke-style rock’n’roll stomp in the vein of early LOGIC AUDIO, 8 MEG S1000, etc howl, retains its decency, Mark’s voice Beatles. Or best of the lot, ‘Clothes Peg’, stretching well and never taking leave of its which is fuzzy Guided By Voices-style RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES OPTIONAL senses. Definitely a local solo artist to keep psych-pop. Elsewhere, though, Trev is an eye on. either self-consciously quirky, as on ‘Firestone’, or over the top and operatic, Phone KATE or PIPPA for details like ‘Crying In Silence’, which just goes to on 01235 845800 HARRY ANGEL make his limited resources all the more Another act with at least one or two starkly obvious. Eclectic is not always a Radiohead albums in their collection, Harry great thing. Angel also retain their dignity on songs like ‘Striptease’, which, if you’re being really cynical, could have been stolen from the demo sessions for ‘The Bends’, but manages to plough an admirably melodic THE DEMO but cacophonous furrow, with its alternately sweeping and angular guitar DUMPER noise. But it’s ‘Death Valley Of The Dolls’ that impresses more. With echoes of Bauhaus’ ‘In The Flat Field’ in its gothic CLONE RADIO heaviness, offset by bassist Hayley And talking of such things, one muse Phillips’ Kim Gordon-style backing vocals, recently pointed out that eclectic is the new it careers towards an imagined precipice dull. But equally, epic is the new musak, with lead singer Chris Beard hollering, and no-one demonstrates that more than “The doors are closing in”, and you can Witney’s Clone Radio, who, for all their start to feel the creeping claustrophobia. bombast, sink lumpenly into the background with every sky-touching burst of guitar noise. They’ve got all their old YUKURI Radiohead riffs, they’ve got fake American With a name that implies a spot of accents and they’ve got stadium-sized gigs fantastic throwaway Japanese punk-pop in their sights, but for all that, they’re and a declared affection for Japan itself (the unconvincing. Even when they’re trying country, not the band), this should be good. their hardest, like on ‘All Because Of You’, They’re actually from east Oxford and and you feel that in a live setting, with the sound a bit more like the Wedding Present, volume turned up to the max, they might but it’s not so bad, at least initially. First pick you up and carry you away for a few track, ‘Can’t Delay’ is slightly fey, with brief minutes, you come away with the feel of a malfunctioning clockwork toy nothing, not even an unpleasant aftertaste. amid its insistent guitar grooves. The singer Thins do pick up significantly at the death, is a bit Bob Dylan-ish and sounds a bit with ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’ ditching forced at times but the band have got a the Radioheadisms and displaying some decent grasp on dynamic power pop and a frenetic punky soul, but it’s almost too few hooks to hang your coat on. Similarly late.

Hey, stoopid people, read this bit before you send a demo in! Send demos for review to: Nightshift, PO Box 312, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1ZU. IMPORTANT: no review without a contact address and phone number (no email or mobile-only). No more than four tracks on a demo. If you can’t handle criticism, please don’t send us your demo. Go and have a cry instead.