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VibrationsMagazine

LeedsandWestYorkshire

April2012

Free

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04 Editorial

06 British Wildlife

08 Hawk Eyes

12 Sam Airey

14 Leeds Fest with Melvyn Benn

16 Passport Control

18 Sam Saunders Returns

20 The Spills

24 Honour Before Glory

28 Reviews

34 Live Reviews

38 Women in Music

Vibrations is

Editor

Rob Wright- bert@vibrations.org.uk

Design

Ben McKean & Niall Hargrave

designers@vibrations.org.uk

Picture Editor

Bart Pettman - bart @vibrations.org.uk

Reviews Editor

Steve Walsh- records@vibrations.org.uk

Live Editor

Tim Hearson - live@vibrations.org.uk

Web Editor

Mike Price - webed@vibrations.org.uk

Web Design

Sam Hainsworth - ask@samhainsworth.com

Advertising

Tony Wilby - tony@vibrations.org.uk

Founded and Published by

Tony Wilby - tony@vibrations.org.uk

Jack Simpson - info@vibrations.org.uk

Contributors

Bart Pettman, Neil Dawson, Rob Wright, Ellie Treagust,

Tim Hearson, Steve Walsh, Hannah Cordingley, Simon

Lewis, Kate Wellham, Toby Hay, James Beattie, Mike

Price, Danny Payne, Chris Ensell, Tom Bench, Alessandra

Gritt, Rochelle Massey, Nick Pritchard, Emma Quinlan,

Benjamin Maney, Pete Ellis, Greg Elliott

Cover Photograph

Hawk Eyes by Horses By Tom Martin

The Search

Vibrations is looking for

Advertisers- 2000 magazines seen by music lovers across

Leeds. Contact tony@vibrations.org.uk

Writers, Photographers, Artists and Sub editors- Come be

a part of it, tony@vibrations.org.uk

Send demos in to:

Steve Walsh

Vibrations Magazine

Eiger Studios

New Craven Gate Industrial Estate

Leeds

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Hello readers,

This is my second, possibly third attempt at an editorial as

the rst two were shit. Im not promising anything more for

this one, but Im hoping it has more gags and swearing in

it than the last two, which were almost free of both. That, I

think youll agree, just wont do.

Another reason for another bite at the cherry is that this

issue is so choc full of quality writing, photography and

design that I feel I would be insulting the efforts of all

concerned by turning in a half arsed piece of work.

It should be whole arsed or

nothing.

I mean, just look at this qualitypublication. Go on, close it up,

ogle the ne looking gentlemen

on the front, feel the quality

of the paper, marvel at the

suitability of the typeface, then

search for the price.

Still looking? Thats right, you

wont nd one.

Then once youve nished this

go through this mag from start

to nish you dont even have

to stop to take a piss as the

size of Vibrations is designed

specically to be held one

handed, leaving the other hand

to... no, stop that. Thats just

not right. Oh, you dirty bugger.

Are you nished? Good, then I shall continue. Our

incumbent government is currently doing its level best to

strip the joy from everyones life (look, Im all for a priceper unit approach to alcohol as long as it literally means

just that 40p a unit, so a pint of Abbot Ale would be

2.00 a perfectly acceptable price. Jaipur IPA would be

just under 2.40 and that I could denitely live with) and

provide us with quite frankly shoddy value for money (I

know my minimum wage will incur less tax, but Im going

to end up spending the difference made on overpriced

under brewed beers thanks a lot, Camel-leg) but we

here at Vibrations towers are dedicated, yes DEDICATED

to providing the same value that we always have.

Let me present you with a little equation. Stephen

Hawkins said that you lose half your readership for every

equation you include so... glad you stuck around, both of

you, but Im going to lose one of you now:

Quality of product over price of product equals value.

Well, all you mathematicians out there should know that

if you divide any number (except zero) by zero you get

innity (actually, Ive had a few arguments about this: if

you divide zero by zero, do you get one? Think on that, if

you will) so considering that you paid nothing, nip, zilch,

nix, nish pence for this publication, you are holding in

your hand... innite value.

Well, fuck my old boots.

I hope you realise how lucky

you are to be able to touch the

innite on a bimonthly basis, and

here at Vibrations Towers we willendeavour to provide the same

level of quality every. Bloody.

Time.

Now before I let you off the hook,

a few hello/goodbyes. First off,

say hello to our new designers,

Ben and Niall I think youll

agree that theyve done a stirling

job long may they reign! And

goodbye to Leeds Guide, cruelly

cut off in its prime by... venture

capitalists, I shouldnt wonder.

Booooooooo!

Nearly done. Three festivals

to note for different reasons:

Live at Leeds promises to be

a ne affair again this year I might venture out, but I

am afraid I am too old to do the marathon dash around

that is L@L might just hole up in a venue and drink

until they ask me politely to leave because I havent got

an armband and a small puddle is gathering around myfeet; and that Peter Waterman debacle, Shit Factory

Live Steps, 2untalented, Jason Pissing Donovan, Rick

Cocking Astley? WTF? When there is no more room

in hell, the dead will walk the earth. Stay in Leeds and

go and see some quality old school bands, like Human

League, Heaven 17 and The Levellers (guilty pleasure

great live band) at M Fest yes, Morrisons; I know,

hard to believe, but therell be some top scran too very

important for a man of my expanding girth.

So off you go enjoy the mag. If you really like it, think

about getting involved be part of the innite...

Rob Wright

Ed with god-complex

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5

Editorial

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Friday 2 March Brudenell Social Club

First up, Super Luxury, a lo- four piece that started their

set with warm up screams and discordant guitar noise

leading into a murky opening number. No tricks, frills,

or melody. I suppose the pre-gig stretches shouldve

forewarned the crowd that the front-man would spendthe set in amongst them, wailing from table tops, with no

regard for the microphone lead that got entangled around

at least ve throats. Its all fun and games til someone

gets decapitated, boys.

Bad Guys. Double-headed guitars, bright red jumpsuits,

classic, clever metal. They manage to use droning

interludes - often detrimental to a live shows atmosphere

- perfectly. So much so that one of their breaks led to a

distinctly prog rock outro that mustve lasted 17 minutes...

Imagine if you will, the most painful headache of your life.

Now, imagine really quite enjoying it... Ultimate Thrush,

as I can best describe them. Three people shouldnt

be able to make such a huge sound, but with the help

of a small clarinet and a chaos pad, they master short,

gut-punching post-punk, not for the faint hearted or those

prone to hyperventilation... Somewhere in rural Austria,

Mozart turned in his grave as the clarinet was desecrated

in such an innovative fashion.

Three girls, one guy? Divorces music was even lthier

than an adult lm titled thus would undoubtedly be. Thetone got lower and the crowd moved in when their home

grown brand of captivating debauchery took hold. The

inevitable brawl broke out in the crowd, mirroring the

unharnessed adrenaline of the head thrashing alt-punk-

metal-hardcore/indenable-brashness.

Finally, if live via satellite is the future of live music,

then it should ALWAYS be Disasteradio. Playing a set

containing the most cheerful electronica ever made,

headlining for the darkest metal bands on the planet.

Because itd ALWAYS be this hilarious.

Benjamin Maney

Saturday 3 March Brudenell Social Club/Royal Park

Cellars

Well, what a varied programme Saturday was. It was

reassuring to experience a festival at the Brudenell/

Royal Park where the acts didnt all sound the same.

That doesnt mean they were all good, but any line-up

that includes Yugoslavian Boys smacks of something

reasonably radical. The programmed 6.30 start might

have been a little early for their set (which involved the

destruction of various food stuffs) but they were already

running late. Their set included sh ngers, two salami

batons, chips, a tuna sandwich, four drummers (two

of which were wearing son-of-God themed robes), a

cowboy, a mod, one assassin and a lot of pink hair. Idbe tempted to suggest their musical variation between

songs is none too important to them or the crowd, but

they were easily the most entertaining band of the day.

They screamed and cavorted their way through the set

and despite having doubled in size since I last saw them,

it wasnt to add diversity, just to add drums. Immense.

Teeth of the Sea provided a very different slant on the

playing of songs, both musically and practically. I do

approve of their stage lay-out (all members in one line

across the front) and although they threw their all into a

typically electronic set, I couldnt get as excited as they

were. Their music did have a decent all-encompassing

quality to it, but more in a physical sense than anything

else; it felt a little like we were underwater. Unlike

Yugoslavian Boys, this for me is one band that is best

served recorded.

The next band, Cold Pumas, I knew absolutely nothing

about, but they turned out to be another of the nights

pleasant discoveries. They played motorik rhythms

packaged up in an indie image (which did not do them

justice) to a slightly unresponsive crowd (who also didnot do them justice). There were some pretty soulless

sounding vocals that echoed over the music, but as a set,

it was far more absorbing than Teeth of the Sea. The only

downside was that they could be viewed as a little dull

compared to some of the other bands present, but for me

the diversity was very much appreciated.

Next were Hookworms, who brought an entire shipment

of 60s psychadelic rock with them. And it was loud. Very,

very loud. There was a lot of reverb. In my notes from the

set I have written Oh wow a song ended. Oh wait, no it

didnt. I dont remember any actual moments of silence.

It was at this stage that I regretted not bringing any

earplugs (but whats rock and roll about that?). They got

very into their music which is denitely a good thing, but

unfortunately I did not.

Resolutions were quickly dashed by Blacklisters, and I

havent seen many worse bands at the Brudenell (apart

from maybe Shining at 2010s Brainwash). There was

such an irritating wave of arrogant nonchalance that

came from the singer and it was impossible to focus just

on the music, and for a while I was wondering whether

it was performed in all sincerity. One begins to wonder

what the point of writing lyrics is if youre just going to

shout them. Why not just shout? It would be easier. To

quote John Betjeman, Im sure its all done with the best

possible intentions, but it did just throw me back to my

Trivium-infused younger teenage years.

And nally, the very late headliners Zun Zun Egui. With

their usual bizarre mix of styles, languages and footwear,

its hard to know which genre to dene this band by. Of

all the groups that performed this evening, they came

across as the most sophisticated (though I suspect

this is because they are). Its reected in their song

writing ability, which has them building up songs out of

a great many layers and elements. The songs are pretty

unpredictable and half the time I have no idea what he

is singing about (because its a different language, not

because hes shouting). Ive seen them create more

atmosphere than this before, but it was the end of the

night and running very late. Apart from Yugoslavian Boys,

they were easily the most interesting band of the day.

Ellie Treagust

Sunday 4 March - Oporto

The last day of the last British Wildlife Festival? Say it

aint so, Adam.

The jagged math rock of Magnapinna gets things

underway. They play a dry, gnarly kind of funk that feels

like you should be able to dance to it but in doing so

would surely lead to multiple dislocations. Fortunately that

leaves the synapses in your brain free to revel in the joys

of bands explosive, unpredictable music.

Manchester sextet Stanger Son utilise a brace of

keyboards and extensive percussion to open with a

formless wash of noodling that threatens to disappear up

its own jack plug, until everything morphs into a gigantic,

driving kraut rocky groove that seems to stop prematurely

before it blows the roof off. Thereafter the band take

simple ideas and work each into a similarly epic but

controlled frenzy. Lanky singer Gareth Smith stands like

he should be holding a cigarette and reads rather than

sings his songs in a deadpan, detached voice. The

music and lyrics almost sound like theyre (partially at

least) improvised and songs seems to stop after a nod

from Smith rather than anything else.

Jeff T Smith may have abandoned his truck load of

instruments and effects pedals for this gig, but hes still

trading as Juffage. So, apart from viola accompaniment

from Jenna Isherwood on the rst tune, its just Jeff, his

uncharacteristically reined in guitar and his fantastically

quirky, idiosyncratic songs. And what a treat it turns out

to be. There always seemed to be a mismatch between

the live and recorded versions of Smiths songs. Its

quite a sight watching Smith assembling his live sheets

of noise but the racket does tend to detract from the

actual songs. Here, without even the minimal musical

backing used on debut album Semicircle, the songs

sound almost free form and invested with a fragile

tension, Smith modulating the volume and attack of his

guitar and voice to create dramatic new readings of the

songs.

Its difcult not to like the sound of Galaxians thumping

instrumental disco funk, but this duo of Jed Skinner on

synths and programming and Matt Woodward on drums

dont really develop what they do much beyond the

opening bars of the rst tune.

On the other hand, Bearfoot Beware songs have so

many ideas and so much energy crammed into them,

they clearly nd it difcult to contain themselves in their

given form and sound like theyd be happy to throw

themselves off a cliff just for the hell of it. Guitarist Tom

Bradley and bassist Richard Vowden bounce all over

the stage when theyre not yelling into their mic, and

Michael Osbourne tries desperately to hold everything

together from his drum stool. Its a thrilling, riotous ride

alright.

Shefeld quartet Wooderson have been knocking

around since 2008 but its hard to see how their

derivative guitar driven rock songs have managed to

sustain such a long career. The songs are built around

musical and lyrical clichs and seem devoid of any realsense of dynamism. Dull.

London trio Gum Takes Tooth are well established on

the European noise rock circuit and provide a tting

climax to the festival. Thomas Fuglesang and Jaxon

Paine play two drum kits with one wired up and the

sound fed through homemade electronic instruments

to be manipulated and messed about with by Jussi

Brightmore. The drums and treated noise produce a

gigantic sound thats part noise ritual and part ecstatic

rave. Brightmore punches the air like a tripped out DJ,

his mangled vocals barely heard over the thundering

drums.

Steve Walsh

Herein be a recollection of the sixth and nal British

Wildlife. May she rest in peace. Feel free to reect

on these heart-warming and tting testimonials from

Benjamin Maney, Ellie Treagust and Steve Walsh. Oh

well, theres always Brainwash

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I am not sure if ye olde man setting of The Victoria Hotel

is the best place for meeting one of Leeds most intense,

ultra tech yet softly spoken metals bands, especially seeing

as it is a Saturday night and the place has suddenly lled

with suit-wearing, bellowing twats, but it is handy for free

parking on a Saturday night and serves Dandelion and

Burdock. This are the sorts of things you start thinking of

when you get old.

Though I am sure that I will not be thanked for this, Hawk

Eyes are no spring chickenhawks either I have fond

but vague memories of them as they were one of the rst

bands I ever wrote a review for, back in 2005. One of them

wore a mask. That much I remember. I also remember that

Paul used to drum as well as sing, but now Matt Reid is in

the band...

Matt is no longer in Hawk Eyes, announces Paul, whose

birthday is tonight (so you can imagine how popular I will

be as a result of keeping him from his irresponsibilities

and festivities). Woah, let me just get my head around

this. Im surrounded on all sides by Hawk Eyes in this dark

wood panelled booth and dont have a beer in my hand,and if they keep laying announcements like that on me,

I may need something a little stronger than Dandelion

and Burdock. Its all totally sanctioned, Paul reassures

me, hes just decided he wants to do something else,

which seems entirely in keeping with Hawk Eyes ethos,

if there were such a thing. Stepping into Matts shoes will

be the absent Steve Wilson of Japanese Voyeurs fame.

Interesting times...

For the more keen eyed readers among you, I should point

out that this is not the rst time Paul, Rob and Ryan have

graced these pages. Back in 2009, they made the cover

with a picture from Danny North. Jokingly I suggest this

made them.

I think if we hadnt got that at that time, confesses Paul

quite sincerely, after scurrying away for years and years

for basically our own benet and then all of a sudden

people, in this town especially, were saying this is quite

good... Were really grateful for that. We genuinely are. I

feel fairly thrown by this and have a strong urge to shufe

my notes or something. To cover my embarrassment, I go

on to say how, regardless of that, 2009 was a good year

for them anyway: a signing to brew, a lively slot at Leeds,

the zombie video... and then an abrupt name change.

Rob laughs at this. We dont like to make things easy forourselves. The thing is... he pauses almost dramatically,

we didnt really like the name and moving forward we

could see some... technical problems with it.

Chickenhawk was a military operation in Vietnam which is

currently undergoing the celluloid treatment. It is also an

American term for a predatory gay man who likes young

guys.

That as well, says Rob uncomfortably, if we wanted to

take our music over there... people talking about a band

called Chickenhawk and all that connotation... he lets it

hang for a moment, but it wasnt about pandering to what

we needed to do... its what we had to do ourselves.

Hawk Eyes are very clear on this point there is no grand

scheme involved; in fact, Paul gets quite incensed about

the implication: Theres never been a plan, he says

rmly, and weve been very lucky to get where we are

weve worked hard but weve never had the structure

and backing of... corporate music. Weve got to where

weve got by doing a bit of this, a bit of that... and thereve

been mistakes that weve made... yeah, its been prettymessy, but unless youre actually geeky enough to go and

read about it, youre never going to know how messy its

been... but thats possibly why we still exist.

Even though they say there is/was no plan, the (almost)

re-release of their debut album, Chickenhawk as Modern

Bodies did seem to have a certain... shape to it?

We got picked up by this management company, says

Paul, they asked what have you got? We played them

the CD and they said has anybody heard it? So they

wanted to rerelease it... and we were totally against it. So

much so that they dont actually count Modern Bodies as

a separate studio album. Paul sighs. It felt like... stalling,

not going forward or backward, it didnt make any sense

to us to put it out... and someone showed us the reality

wed sold 200 CDs but whod actually heard it? As a body

Last time we met them, we covered them in mud and

inadvertently showered them with glory. Now it looks

as if they are about to take the world out for dinner

and dancing and seduce the hell out of it. Rob Wright

tried vainly to resist their charms in the name of

quality journalism...

Dreamers, Not Schemers...

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of work, it acted as a calling card and a requiem, it seems.

Modern Bodies is Chickenhawk is dead, it wont happen

again... not that we knew that at the time... Paul laughs

freely, conscious of his own near slip into contradiction.

But Modern Bodies is most denitely an ending, as much

as Ideas is a beginning, and in the spirit of the new, it is

even being sold in a relatively new fashion. Though the

album is essentially paid for already, the whole thing is

being sold through Pledge. Its a way for us to give more

back to the fans, explains Paul, The whole point of it is

that people can choose to interact with us. People can

say I want that, I want that it makes it easier for fans

who really care about it to buy into it at the beginning. A

different approach to marketing in a different market? In

the last ten years theres been a massive change in the

dynamic of how the whole system works, Paul continues,

you cant just knock a great album, put a lovely cover on

it, get some good press and expect to shift loads of copies,

people dont want that anymore.

People download it for free, says Rob brusquely, thats

a generalisation, but people who use to buy music like

teenagers or young adults download it. In the majority. Soa release is more like a calling card to get you more tours

and actually drive some revenue back into the band to

keep it going.

There are plenty of good reasons to buy this album

though, one being Pauls vocals, which have undergone

a metamorphosis since Modern Bodies. I ask where

this amazing voice has come from. His rst answer is

a yarn involving old women, fruit and magical powers.

His second is a bit more coherent. When I was eleven

I joined the choral society at school... I had big braces

and big ginger hair and I sang soprano, he admits, I did

Handels Messiah in its entirety. Ive always been able to

sing, but that wasnt the point of the music we made. Then

everyone was like lets try some singing now, because

wed gained in condence as a band... Again, it sounds

like its planned, but its just a happy coincidence.

We thought lets not do another album full of chugging

guitars... says Ryan across the table, who has not been

entirely silent, but has been almost entirely drowned out

by the noisy clientele.

We can do different things on a guitar, laughs Paul.

And with a new style comes a different label Fierce

Panda. All told, Hawk Eyes have been on at least four

labels. Paul shrugs. I dont think bands need to sign to

one label for life, he says, whatever works at the time. It

can be quite dangerous to sign to multi album deals with

labels, because youre then beholden to them. Itstrue;

Ive heard about local bands whove got locked into the

wrong deal and suffered the consequences. But Hawk

Eyes narrowly avoided making these mistakes, making

them wise in the eyes of their peers and very thoughtful

on the album.

A lot of the record is about that... Paul

scrabbles for a description, that feeling of

hopelessness... really not knowing where youre

going and more generally the world not knowing

where its going. Theres a lot of stuff on there,

certainly lyrically I feel sorry for the other guys

sometimes because they dont know what Im

going to do lyrically... as long as the words t

and the melody suits the music Im pretty much

allowed to do what I like I try to involve [the

band] as much as I can I try not to make my

lyrics the Paul Astick show because thats not

what the band is the band is four people so

its reective of the moods of the music and all

the experiences that weve had together, our

opinions and values. But despite or as well

as this, it is still fun, just... serious fun. Theyve

also just released a nal EP with Brew called

Mindhammers as a kind of safety valve for their

creative overow. Considering what theyve got on the

go, its amazing theyve found time to talk to me at all.

Our time is nearly up and I can see that Paul is anxiousto enjoy his birthday, so I dont want to keep them, but

I still feel like Ive merely scratched the surface of Hawk

Eyes; theyre almost too mercurial as a band. I dont

think we should dene ourselves as one thing I think

thats very important for a band, explains Rob, not going

over the same ground twice lets progress.

Its all very grown up, very forward facing. Then one of

the band members suggests I take all my clothes off.

But that is another story...

You can Pledge for Hawk Eyes Ideas at www.

hawkeyesmusic.com or contact Brew for a copy of

Mindhammers. The album is due out on 26th March, but

I think you might be hearing a lot more from them before

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Sam Airey, mild mannered guitar slinger

with a hint of folksiness, has been stamping

like a buttery of late. From being the house

band at the recent Live at Leeds launch to a

Radio 1 Maida Vale set, he has been making

his quite presence known in quite a loud

way. Ellie Treagust cornered this timid yet

feisty little performer and pelted him with

questions which you, dear reader, might like

to know the answers to

ET- How would you like your music to be

described?

SA - I never really know how to answer this

question to be honest. Id rather people justmake their own minds up when they listen to

it. Id probably call it something along the lines

of indie-folk storytelling; theres a real folk

element to a lot of the songs but its not always

a dening feature, I think. Lyrically I try and

write with a strong narrative most of the time,

but its not always the case. With the latest

things weve recorded theres an emphasis

on atmosphere, trying to create a mood that

reects the content of the songs, I guess.

ET - How do you go about the song-writing

process?

SA - Theres no denitive method. Sometimes

Ill have pieces of lyrics or a melody in my head

and it can take the shape of a song within

minutes, other times its more forced and you

have to work at it a little more. I usually write

with a guitar but Ive been sat at the piano

a lot recently. However, Ive written whole

songs before without being anywhere near an

instrument; I wrote Endless Sea on a late-nightferry crossing from Ireland. It started with just

a couple of words, but in my head I could hear

everything - the chord progression, melody line,

and soon I had a whole song, without actually

making a sound. As soon as I got home I played

it in full, it was pretty odd how it came out

completely formed.

ET - Have you noticed much development in

your song-writing since you began, and if so,

how?

SA - I like to think so. Lyrics are a big thing for

me and I tend to spend a bit more time on them

these days. Musically, Im less afraid to let the

songs take course and change, so Im enjoying

layering them and nding new sounds. Youd

always hope youre constantly developing - if

your next song isnt as good or better than your

last, you probably need to sit back and question

what youre doing.

ET - Whats your favourite venue to play at in

Leeds?

I have a few. The Brudenell is an obvious choice

these days for all the right reasons. The sound

is always great, and Nathan does a brilliant jobof running it - its not just a cherished venue but

an integral part of the Leeds scene. In terms

of other venues, I like playing in slightly more

unusual spaces too. The new EP launch at Holy

Trinity Church will be the third time Ive played

there. Its a beautiful space and it lends itself

really well to the type of music I play. We did a

single launch last year curated by Anthologies,

inside the chapter house in Kirkstall Abbey, with

no PA or amplication at all - that felt like a risky

decision but it turned out to be one of the best

gigs. Finally, Oporto and Shopkeepers gigs

are always fun. Its brilliant they have a decent

budget for live music and yet put on so many

free shows.

ET - Theres been quite a surge of one man

and his guitar acts in recent years - what

makes you stand out?

SA - Ive always said theres an inherent aw, or

at least danger, with the term singer-songwriter,

if thats what you want to call this. The problemlies in the fact that the term attempts to denote

a genre, when all it really suggests is that it

concerns someone who both sings and writes

songs. However, these days we mostly come

to associate it with a great deal of bland/dross

music. One of the big problems for me is that

its quite easy to pick up a guitar and get your

songs on the internet - this may seem like a

good thing but it means you have to wade

through quite a lot before you nd something of

worth. Ive worked pretty hard the last couple of

years both on songwriting and learning how to

hold a crowd on my own, which at rst seemed

like the most daunting thing in the world.

But now that the recordings are increasingly

layered and orchestrated, Ill be doing more

with a full band too.

ET - Whats your biggest musical achievement

to date?

SA - There have been a few. Music for me

has always just been something Ive loved - I

never really intended to get to this point, but

with everything good that happens, it seems to

spur you on to the next. At rst it was a case of

I have these songs, Ill write some more, thenit was Ill record and release an EP, and now

two years down the line Ive released singles,

played around the UK, and Im currently writing

an album. I think the most overwhelming thing

has been the radio attention; the Radio 1 Maida

Vale session was a huge highlight for me.

ET - Do your songs always turn out how you

wanted them to or does the creative process

change them?

SA - Sometimes youll have an idealistic sense

of what you want the song to sound like, but

you have to let the process run its course

because you might end up with something that

sounds better than whatever you anticipated.

ET - How much inspiration do you take from

your surrounding area?

SA - A varying degree. Im from rural North

Wales originally, and bits of the songs are partly

inspired by my memories of it, and also by my

move to Leeds and getting used to life in the

city. But Id say I take just as much inspiration

from the people around me and the places I

visit.

ET - A quick run-down of whats in store

musically for you this year?

SA - Firstly theres the new EP A Marker & A

Map, released in March with accompanying full

band gig in Holy Trinity Church, and were alsodoing a London EP launch. Then Ill be doing

some touring in April including my rst gigs in

Scotland, then of course Live at Leeds in May,

and hopefully well be playing a few festivals

during the summer too.

ET - If you could host a fantasy dinner party of

seven guests, who would they be?

SA - Sam Cooke and Joni Mitchell would

come, and Id also make them sing. Ernest

Hemingway would be on drinks duty, Audrey

Hepburn for some elegance and stories,

Salvador Dali seemed pretty interesting too so

he could probably come along. Then Id invite

Charles Darwin and God, and make them have

an arm-wrestling duel.

13

SamAirey

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Camping It Up With Melvyn Benn Leeds Reading 2012

Anticipation. Despite what the hacks will try and tell you

i.e. that they know the line up for Leeds 2012 and have

done for months blah blah blah, there is a very tangible

sensation of anticipation in this room full of giggers,

liggers, bloggers, sloggers, tweeters and the occasional

writer. In ten minutes time there will be an electronic

barrage comparable to the EMP kicked out by a small

nuclear device departing from the cockpit, but for now...

anticipation.

By the time you read this, the line up will be old news.

There will be the usual accusations of playing it safe and

soooo predictable, but as for me... I still get excited by

this. Im loving the prospect of (hopefully) seeing The Cure,

re-acquainting myself with the Gallic dance metal insanity

of Justice, going bollocks-mental to Pulled Apart By HorsesON THE MAINSTAGE and... well... At The Drive In...

It could only get better if Soundgarden made an

appearance (crosses ngers).

And we havent even got to the FR or Introducing stages

yet... or the Lock Down/Dance line up... or the comedy

stage...

Yes, it is commercial, yes, it is full of pissed up teenagers

but it is still Leeds festival, a massive festival in our back

yard that bears our citys name and I have it on good

authority (from two guys who came all the way from

Reading to go to Leeds, so...) that it is the preferred

locality. And for that weekend, there will be that same buzz

of anticipation, only grown several magnitudes larger and

I have a feeling this is going to be a mighty weekend.

In a fug of free Gaymers, I am lucky enough to get a

moment of time with Festival Republic honcho Melvyn

Benn, a former Hullite and fan of fanzines. He is sipping

a white wine, leaning against a spare stage and looking

slightly relaxed but also slightly anxious about catching histrain down to the big smoke.

Seeing as this is a Glasonbury-free year, I ask him if he

feels like a kid in a sweet shop, literally having the pick

of the bunch when it comes to bands this year. I always

feel like a kid in a sweet shop, he res back, anyone

in my position should feel like a kid in a sweet shop.

Glastonburys a unique festival, entirely on its own.

Reading and Leeds are music festivals, they have music

running through their veins and essentially only music

running through their veins theres no clowns, no re

eaters, no snake charmers.

As well as being a fanzine fan, it also transpires that he is

a Pulled Apart By Horses fan, having been introduced to

them by their manager. He had to buy his own copy of the

new album, though. Opening on the Friday, I ask him if he

sees them as a warm up band: On the contrary actually

I think that world domination beckons - theyve got a

sound that will blow people apart in Germany, in America,

in Japan.

Not only are PABH playing the mainstage, but Leeds own

Kaiser Chiefs will be up there too. Has he gone for some

local action specically? Some people have said to me

do you pick the local bands for Leeds? but the festival

republic integrity wouldnt allow that. We pick the bands

because they deserve to be there.

As well as the big names, Leeds Festival will also be

hosting the winners of the Martin House Hospices

Centre Stage competition for a third year, demonstrating

FRs dedication to new music: The fact that it benets

the hospice is a plus, but its a real opportunity for

young musicians to be on stage and to learn about

their contemporaries. Hes also a champion of youth in

general: Ive always had young people at my heart I

abhor the way that young people are given a hard time by

the press. The young people in the audiences at Reading

and Leeds are tomorrows leaders of the country - Ive

been at festivals where the future king of England has

been excited by being stood at the side of the stage.

But more than that, he has vowed to put a beer anda burger in the belly of every individual who buys a

weekend ticket: In truth, nothing prompted me apart from

philanthropy - I do what I can to make the sponsors help

me if they dont do that, Ill pay for it. Im not naturally

a person that just takes and takes, I always want to give

things back and at festival republic we always work really

hard on charity projects. I just felt I needed to do it. And

for that, I salute you. Will there be haggis there this year

though? Can I get haggis...?

Rob Wright

Melvyn Benn & Leeds Fest. Interview by Rob Wright Images by Carl Fleischer

15

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Names?

Dan, and I play the trombone.

Derek, and I play Bass

John, Johnny Christmas, and I play Trumpet

Matt, I play saxophone and sing

Reason for Visit?Dan Well once a year a plane comes by each of our

houses, picks us up, and says you have to go dance like

a monkey, over within the UK. Since we dont really have

a lot going on, we usually get on that plane.

Business or pleasure?

Dan A bit of both. Between the hours of 9 and 10.30,

its business and the rest of the time, its business.

Derek I am in the business of pleasure.

Dan- Business is good.

Derek Business is a booming.

How has touring changed for you over the years?

We hope you wont be all... rock and roll.

Dan On this tour we tend to be our PJs by 11pm.

Johnny He is very happy about that.

Derek - Stage to PJs in ten minutes.

Dan Although last night there was a bit of partying.

Johnny In Glasgow.

When you come to the UK what do you enjoy the

most?

Derek Kebabs!Johnny Yeah, kebabs here are awesome. We enjoy

meeting all the people. The British fans are always so

awesome. We really appreciate that.

Matt You guys do really good deli meat. I enjoy the deli

meat. I do love some good deli meat.

When constantly touring do you ever get on each

others nerves and want space to yourself? I think

we have a free holding cell...

Dan I think we are old enough to know when someone

wants space.

Johnny yeah, denitely, we have learnt how to stay out

of each others way when we are feeling that way out.

Then the next day they will be ne...

Derek Actually, you should have each of us in the room

alone and ask the question again, and then see what

answer you get.

Drummers are known for being troublemakers,

bassists for being lazy how does a trombone player

behave?

Dan The trombone player is usually stoned, although

not now, I must stress that.

Matt They love Doritos. They can eat an entire bag of

Doritos in one sitting.

Dan That is not true

Matt And they lie

Dan I have not had a bag of Doritos on this entire tour.

I was ne being insulted by myself, but if you want to join

in, please do.

Calm down, gentlemen. How have you kept the band

relevant when ska is in and out of favour?

Dan It certainly is not by getting a sax player.Matt Oooohhhhh, like that now is it.

Dan You bet it is. I think Aaron has written the

soundtracks of most peoples lives from about 12 to the

age of 25. So he is dealing with all the problems that you

go through at that time.

Matt You are still going through them.

What is next for Reel Big Fish?

Dan We are actually working on a new record.

Johnny Yeyyy nally.

Dan Now I know we have had said we have been

working on a new record for what seems like years...

Derek It is years!

Dan ...But Aaron likes these songs, which is very rare.

So this time it should happen. It will happen... (stern face)

Anything else to declare?

Johnny Dont eat space cake and try to come back to

Britain.

(shouts: Blood test for Johnny...)

Dan I would like to declare, that I did wear these shoes

in an agricultural situation, and brought mad cow into the

country with the soil on my boots.Derek Yeah! I have something to declare... I am not

lazy!

Thank you, you may now proceed through passport

control. Enjoy Leeds.

Not ones to let the grass grow under our feet, weve

had a bit of a recruitment drive here at WYPC, so

please welcome Ofcer Rochelle Massey she

doesnt take any, as Reel Big Fish found out when

they got a proper grilling. Fish? Grilling? Oh, forget

it...

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New Pose Old School

Long before most Vibrations readers and writers

were even born, the insanity of providing quality

musical opinion, info, news and reviews for our

ne city was under the auspices of a certain Martin

Tindall. In 1977 he blazed a trail with his fanzine,

New Pose, for such mags as ourselves, so we called

on an old friend to big up his seminal publication,

now reissued after 35 years. Welcome back, Sam

Saunders!

In the middle of the blandest musical decade in history,

a young Martin Tindall was going about his wide-eyedlife listening to New York Dolls and The Stooges, being

expelled from Art College and visiting London.

In London, looking like a punk could mean hiding in

Malcolm McLarens shop for safety, with teddy boy

assailants locked outside, shouting for blood. In Leeds

it was worse. Hanging around The Queens Hall on the

night of a concert could lead to a kicking.

No matter; the Anarchy In The UK Tour brought The

Sex Pistols, The Damned, Johnny Thunders and The

Heartbreakers, and (Special Guests) The Clash to Leeds

Polytechnic on Monday, December 6th 1976. Unlike other

cities on the advertised tour, Leeds actually allowed the

gig to proceed. Martin and his pals were there, with hearts

pounding and a plan.

By the spring of 1977, Martin, with typing by Jayne Cobbe

and photos by Steve Dixon, had photocopied the rst

issue of a remarkable fanzine called New Pose. It was

copied, one sided, onto 16 sheets of A4 stapled together

and sold through outlets like Virgin Records (who quickly

put Martin in charge of their punk-record purchasing).With art school still in his blood, he got contributions

from cartoonists too: Mark Manning (founder of the band

Zodiac Mindwarp), Ray Burns (aka Captain Sensible)

and Jerzy Szostek of Knockabout Comics were active

contributors.

A lot of the text was handwritten by Martin. The

photographs by Jayne Cobbe and Matt Dixon (Elvis

Costello, Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash ...) are

densely zeitgeist (with contact prints in one issue to save

on processing costs). Pin-up cartoons by Mark Manning

(and Martin) are brilliant. The comic strip review of an Iggy

Pop gig and a comic strip biography of The Damned (by

Captain Sensible) are something else. Vibrations should

adopt the format immediately (duly noted any takers?

Ed.).

Over ve spiky issues through the whole of 1977 writing,

photographs, comic strips, cartoons, gig news and

personal views poured out. Alongside the few Yorkshire

artists like S.O.S., The Jerks, Cyanide, The Mirror Boys

and The Neck Fuckers there were reviews and interviews

with most of the best: The Ramones, The Stranglers, The

Vibrators and The Sex Pistols and loads more.

The fanzine has had a good deal of national attention

over the years. NME, championing punk at the time andfast becoming THE music weekly as Melody Maker lost its

bearings, put it second only to Snifn Glue as the nations

best fanzine. (Snifn Glue had started a bit earlier and

Martin thought he could make something that looked

better. He was right.) New Pose has since been featured

in TV documentaries of the era: notably in BBC 2s Arena

series in 1990 and Channel 4s The Stiff Records Story

in 2010.

But after ve issues Martin had run out of steam and the

Leeds punk scene was turning into something a lot less

exciting and a lot more commercial. New Pose stopped

while it was still hot. Each issue had got stronger than the

previous one, but things were shifting in Leeds. Martin

told me that those descendants of the skin heads and

football hooligans were starting to arrive at punk gigs,

looking for trouble and going for the smell of bands like

Skrewdriver who represented everything that punk had

stood against. The cult of punk itself was morphing into

goth and new wave. Record labels who had been fast

asleep in 1976 were starting to throw chequebooks atpeople like Elvis Costello who could develop their music

and make a series of big money albums. The erce

energy of the punk singles that Martin was selling in

Virgin couldnt maintain their impact on whole albums and

something had been lost.

He still remembers doing one DJ set at John Keenans

rst Stars of Today series at Leeds Polytechnic but the

pressures of his full-time job and putting out New Pose

made him back out of a future as a DJ.

The New Pose full-set reissue of ve can be bought from

Crash Records and Jumbo Records. If you have original

copies, treasure them and buy these to read all over

again.

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They like chilli sauce on beans on toast, eating sh andchips whilst recording and watching South Park. They

are The Spills, an indie rock quartet from Wakeeld who

in fact like watching South Park so much that we stop the

interview halfway through, so they can pay attention to

the TV in the room and watch a cartoon Rob Schneider

make a tool of himself. Sorry about that, says Sam, its

the best bit of the whole episode.

Were in the living room area at Greenmount studios

in Armley. A one-time place of worship, this converted

church has ceased to open its doors for the religious and

instead acts as a place for bands to record their music.

The Spills, consisting of guitarist/singer Rob, bassist

Sam, drummer Joe (who is sadly unable to attend) and

guitarist/singer Chad, have recorded here a few times

and dont seem to be put off by the weird eeriness that

surrounds the place.

We did our EP here and then we did our album here,

explains Rob, Lee and Jamie the guys who ran it then

did our EP and album and now I run the studio with

them. We just always really liked this studio and we

record to analogue tape and its got loads of vintageequipment.

Formed around six years ago, The Spills all met in

secondary school and began playing together when Rob

was in school and the others were in sixth form. We

started pretty young...I was 15 when I started writing

some songs and then me and Sam bought a four-track

tape recorder. Its been the same line-up [ever since] but

when you have been going from that young obviously its

very different.

You dont mean that of The Spills do you? interjects

Sam.

No, laughs Rob, Its so different. Its just that most

bands split up

Theyre like school bands, continues Chad, and then

they kind of break up and actually do something.

With this, they all begin laughing, which they continue

to do throughout the interview, normally at the expense

of one another. Basically, says Rob, we carried on

when we went to university [even though] we all went to

university in different places. In the rst year we took it a

bit slower and then we kind of built it up again. Then we

did an EP and then after university we did the album.

The album he is talking about is Occams Razor, their

fantastic debut that takes all the best bits of the indie

genre and whacks them together in one glorious CD.Their work has gathered a respectable amount of

praise from the music media (including this very ne

publication), which came as a nice surprise for the

makers.

We got a lot more reviews than we thought and they

were all really nice so it was a pleasant surprise really,

smiles Rob.

Yeah, chuckles Sam, I thought we would get like three

reviews or something...

Thankfully this has not been the case and instead

Occams Razor has ignited a ame The Spills and

shown the rest of Yorkshire how indie rock should be

done. However, even though they regard themselves

as an indie band, they arent fully comfortable with the

tagline.

Its quite an indie band, mulls Sam, but I dont like the

word indie because people always turn their nose up at

it. Hes got a point. If you say the word indie to people,most of them will envisage a bunch of posh lads, touting

guitars and annel shirts but The Spills are denitely not

one of these bands. [Our sound] is noisy and I dont

know if its heavy but its noisy and a bit rough. [Its] kind

of indie in the sense of American indie[like] Pixies and

Pavement.

So did these bands inspire The Spills to pick up their

instruments? When I started playing guitar I was like

10, remembers Rob, So probably [someone] like Jimi

Hendrix inspired [me] to start playing guitar. Apparently

this isnt the rst time Jimi Hendrix has been mentioned

during an interviewDo you remember that interview

we did when you kept referring to the Jimi Hendrix

tape in your dads car? smirks Chad. He doesnt, but

according to Sam he mentioned it over and over.

Just outside of Leeds (I know, bear with me) there

is a little star cradle of a town that has spawned the

likes of The Cribs, The Research, Runaround Kids

and now The Spills. Emma Quinlan managed to get

some sense out of them between ts of laughing and

breaks for South Park. YOU WILL RESPECT HER

AUTHORITAH!

Chills, Thrills and... The Spills!

Words Emma Quinlan Images Giles Smith

TheSpills

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The band breaks into more smiles and more giggles,

with Rob now the target for mockery. Yeah, my dad had

a Jimi Hendrix tape in his car jokes Rob, taking their

mocks in his stride. Apparently he also had a few others

including Bob Marley, but we dont need to go into that. I

didnt start playing until I was 15, says Chad, So it was

mainly that I liked a lot of bands but [also] that everyone

else played instruments and I just always wanted toso

I just did.

He makes it sound so easy and The Spills as a whole

make being in a band look easier than it probably is. For

these lads though, this isnt exactly an easy life - they all

have regular jobs as well as playing in The Spills. Theres

no Bono-style private jets and full stadium tours for them,

just small chapels with no bars and a bring-your-own-beer

policy. We did an album launch at Chantry Chapel, which

is a chapel in Wakeeld. The capacity is probably 50

people. Its a really little place, explains Rob.

Theres no bar so it was bring your own beer and no

toilets so people [were] just having a piss in the open,

adds Sam, I think [that was the] best gig of ours.

Not exactly the venue dreams were made of, but its

not all pissing on walls and cans of Red Stripe for The

Spills no, not all of their live appearances have been

this classy. Last year however they were booked for the

one-day extravaganza that is Live at Leeds and this year

they are doing Long Division (which they also did in 2011),

Wakeelds answer to Live at Leeds and according to

Sam, the festival that is putting Wakeeld on the map.

This brings a little grin to all our faces, but apparently

the claim is deserved. It actually is, says Chad, it was

amazing last year.

They sold it out last year, adds Rob, They had Darwin

Deez come over, and The Wedding Present. Is getting

Darwin Deez to play really

a thing to brag about? Its

pretty cool that he came

from New York to play in

Wakeeld, answers Rob

and when put like that, I

suppose I have to agree

So thats The Spills, past

and future (there doing a

split EP with Runaround

Kids scheduled for later

on in the year) but what

about the present and more

specically what are you

recording in this creepy old

church anyway? [Were

recording] a track for a

compilation, explains Sam.

Yeah, adds Rob, Doyou know who Rhubarb Bomb are? Queue the blank

expression. Its a Wakeeld zine thing and their doing a

compilation with loads of Wakeeld bands. Its coming out

with a big book on the Wakeeld music scene. Theres

us, Runaround Kids, The Cribs, Imp, The Research: its

Wakeeld bands past and present, so were recording for

that.

Sounds good to us but whilst I wish I could talk to The

Spills all night, we all have homes to go to and work to get

up for. Before we say goodbye though, any last words?

Not that I mean that to sound so terminal. Ill make a

pledge for this Rhubarb Bomb compilation. [Theres] loads

of memorabilia from gigs in Wakeeld like big prints of

Artic Monkeys playing Wakeeld for instance I think thats

one and theres one of Kate Nash playing Wakeeld.

Basically you make a pledge, a certain amount of money

for whatever item and obviously you get that item,

explains Rob.

Thats then funding the compilation and this big book on

the Wakeeld music scene [showing] the history of it and

the history of the magazine. You can make a pledge forthat online, so it would be good if everyone checks that

out, its a good thing. When is this out? [The compilation]

comes out April 21st I think and its called The City

Consumes Us. Is it not called The Bomb-palation?

Unfortunately not Sam, but by god we wish it was.

The City Consumes Us will indeed be available at the

end of April, complete with funky book. It is unclear as to

whether Robs dad still has a Jimi Hendrix tape in his car...

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Musician, label owner, manager, producer, promoter

- the man known as Whiskas has had many guises

throughout his long association with the Leeds scene.

Hes sat with me in a Headingley watering hole talking

about Honour Before Glory, the solo alias under which

he self-released the This Is Broken Lines LP in 2011

and its follow-up EP The Maison earlier this year. The

origins of the project can be traced to the dying days of

Forward, Russia!, with whom Whiskas played guitar

and rode the mid-Noughties New Yorkshire wave to

something approaching mainstream success. Breaking

into the charts, however, came at a price.

We got swallowed up by the machine, he tells me,

we were reacting to what other people were doing and

we werent taking into account what we needed to be

doing as individuals. Looking back it was mental that

we were hanging around with bands like Editors and

Dirty Pretty Things, thinking that we had the same kind

of appeal! We wasted a lot of time, energy and money

on promotion - it denitely got us bigger, but whether itwas the right thing in the long term I dont know. He

pauses. Its a bit like Chelsea really.

In 2007 Forward, Russia! decamped to Seattle to record

their second album, Life Processes. The sessions

were marked by a changing dynamic within the band.

I was coming up with things really quickly, Whiskas

recalls, before, I would just write a guitar part and wed

build a song around that, but now I was turning up with

fully-formed ideas. I would go in and say you do this

and you do that. I could hear in my head how the

whole thing worked. Some Buildings was the rst song

wed recorded in such an un-collaborative way. It was

awkward - it wasnt how the band worked and it jarred

with all of us I think. When there was downtime I would

disappear and mess around with ideas, but they didnt

really t with what we were doing.

Whiskas had unknowingly planted a seed which would

come to fruition with This Is Broken Lines indeed,

standout track Broken Bottles, Empty Hearts was written

in Seattle and could have been a Forward, Russia!

song. Upon his return to Leeds he tried to record somedemos with friends Jamie Lockhart (Mi Mye) and Jon

Foulger (Duels), but the project quickly stalled. I didnt

really know what to do with it, why I was doing it or what it

was for, he admits, I didnt want it to be another band,

but maybe a more coherent collective of people than it

ended up being. In many ways it was a reaction to the

experience of four people in a room trying to write songs

together. When youre in a band you dont think of every

detail - theres always somebody adding their two cents

and usually in a really good way. It was almost like an

experiment, pulling all of the ideas together myself and

seeing what happened. Thats probably why it took four

years! He laughs.

It was the demise of Forward, Russia! at the end of 2008

that started bringing things into focus. An interest in

production, sparked by the more holistic approach to song-

writing he had taken with Life Processes, led Whiskas

to enrol on a postgraduate course at LMU. Freshly up-

skilled, he entered the House of Mook recording studios

in Meanwood to begin work on his debut solo album. It

was a serious undertaking - as well as producing Whiskas

played every instrument himself, with the exception oflive drums performed by Simon Fogal of I LIKE TRAINS.

Backing vocals came courtesy of a cast of Leeds

musicians known to Whiskas from his famous association

with local independent label Dance To The Radio,

including Fran Rodgers, Sam Airey and I LIKE TRAINS

frontman Dave Martin. I would say to them I want this to

happen I trust you to make it good, he explains. Id

know I wanted a certain vocal range lling, or a transition

on the drums to get us from a verse into the chorus, but

people had the license to be creative and come up with

their own ways of achieving what Id asked for.

This was uncharted territory for Whiskas. For one thing,

he was placing a much greater emphasis on the sound of

the songs. I already knew about arrangements, he tells

me, like, in the second verse the guitars going to drop

out or the vocals are going to change melody or whatever

It actually came as a shock to realise that iForward

Russia! Have actually been on permanent Hiatus since

2008, but time ies and all that. Whiskas, not a man

to let the grass grow under his feet but having to deal

with the responsibilities of a young family, took time

out of his busy schedule to speak to Greg Elliott about

new Honours, new glories...

Not Back in The USSRthat. I could hear in my head how the

whole thing worked. Some Buildings

was the rst song wed reDUMMY DUMMY

DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUM-

MYWhiskas had unknowingly planted a

scorded in such an un-collaborative way.

It was awkward - it wasnt how the band

worked and it jarred with all of us I think.

When there was downtimDUMMY DUMMY

DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY-

Whiskas had unknowingly planted a seed

which would come to fruition with This

Is Broken Lines indeed, standout track

Broken Bottles, Empty Hearts was written

in Seattle and could have been a Forward,

Russia! song. Upon his return to LeedsDUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY

DUMMY DUMMYWhiskas had unknowingly

planted a she tried to record some demos

with friends Jamie Lockhart (Mi Mye)

that. I could hear in my head how the

whole thing worked. Some Buildings was

the rst song wed recorded in such an

un-collaborative way. It was awkward - it

wasnt how the band worked and it jarred

with all of us I think. WhDUMMY DUMMY

DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUM-

MYWhiskas had unknowingly planted a

sen there was downtime I would disappear

and mess around with DUMMY DUMMY

DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUM-

MYWhiskas had unknowingly planted a

sideas, but they didnt really t with what

we were doing.

Whiskas had unknowingly planted a seed

which would come to fruDUMMY DUMMYDUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY-

Whiskas had unknowingly planted a sition

with This Is Broken Lines indeed, stan-

dout track Broken Bottles, Empty Hearts

Honour Before Glory

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Ad

but now it was more like, okay, the drums are going

to pass through a lter, the kick drums going to bottom

out, all these synth and percussion things are going

to be happening. I was learning as I went. I enjoyed

the process, but if I couldnt get the sound the way I

wanted there was no one I could turn to. There were

some advantages to working in isolation, however. My

experience with bands is that you have a thing, then you

do another thing, then you do another thing, he explains,

you cant get into the detail too much. With Honour

Before Glory the songs are mainly verse-chorus-verse-

chorus-end, but theyre interesting because of how theyre

produced. I cant imagine being in a room with people

discussing why all these different things need to happen at

these very specic times.

This Is Broken Lines also represents Whiskas rst

experience of writing lyrics. Given that he became a

husband and a father while the album was if youll

excuse the pun gestating, did these

upheavals in his personal life inform itslyrical content? The album is musically

rather than lyrically driven, he insists, the

lyrics are quite insular they mean a lot

to me but probably not much to anybody

else! The feel of the album is very mono-

chrome; the ideas are all very black and

white. Fran [Rodgers, also a talented

illustrator if you ever wanted to type Lazy

Dane into Google] came up with some

great artwork to represent that.

So, he had a nished album he was

pleased with time to promote it with a

fuck load of live shows, right? Not by

the looks of the Honour Before Glory

website, which proclaims no gigs for the

foreseeable future. Its never been a

live thing - hence its problem with being

a live thing! explains Whiskas. With

my previous bands the songs were written with gigs in

mind and it was cool to be able to get away from that.

The un-live parts have dened the directions the songs

have gone in, rather than vice versa. Ive been ableto put two drum kits or ten guitars on a song because I

havent been worrying about how Im going to do it live.

Weve done some shows, but Ive found them really

unsatisfactory. Im not a strong singer and I dont feel

condent or comfortable fronting a band. Its a shame, but

there are other things I enjoy more. Im so busy I have

to prioritise.

These competing priorities aside from the obvious

responsibilities of home life - include playing guitar for

Sam Airey and Monte Carlo, producing their new EPs

as well as upcoming releases by Soul Circus and Kleine

Schweine, and organising the 2012 Unconference as

part of Live At Leeds next month. Thats not to mention

the day job, which sees Whiskas passing on his wisdom

as a lecturer at LMU. He remains passionate about

empowering musicians to take control of their art and

keep their integrity, prompting me to ask if the name

hes chosen for his latest project is a reference to this

continuing preoccupation. He nods. Its what Forward,

Russia! was about too - doing things in the right way and

for the right reasons. Its not about glory - I just want stuff

to get the recognition it deserves.

It might have been taken off the road for the time being,

but Whiskas is keen to stress that Honour Before Glory

is still a going concern. There are plans to go back into

the studio with some new songs this year, and there may

well be a quite different live manifestation of his muse

before too long. It can be whatever he wants it to be, after

all. The early songs were quite Americana-inuenced,

a bit more rock and roll, he tells me, things got more

electro as I went on. I really like the sound of the later

songs theyre a lot more synthetic. None of the songs I

recorded at the end had live drums and I didnt miss them.

So I have this idea that in the future I could do

songs like Shadow Into [a seven-minute epicof pensive ambience and perhaps the most

experimental track on the album] on my own.

He smiles wryly. I wouldnt expect it to be

exciting to watch though!

Well see.

This Is Broken Lines and The Maison are

both available via Bandcamp and, though you

may not see Honour Before Glory in a hurry, if

you see Whiskas, buy him a beer...

He remains

passionate

about

empowering

musicians to

take control

of their art

and keep

their integrity

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Ad

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Bilge Pump/Two Minute Noodles/Cowtown @

Brudenell Social Club

First up is Cowtown, whose bouncy quirk-rock has yousmiling and nodding in the most positive senses of the

words. The Devo t-shirt adorned by synth-maestress

Hillary Knott gives a couple of ideas as to where one

should look for inuences, but for those unacquainted

theyre like a grungier White Stripes with a less tokenistic

drummer and far more frenetic sound. A little bit one-

dimensional perhaps its all a tad smash and grab but

still, by the end of their sharp set Im so happy I could piss

myself.

Two Minute Noodles step up now to have their say and

its another line-up that pleases me from the off. A duo of

drums and electric organ, this is what I imagine an ice-

cream van ghting its way through the zombie apocalypse

would sound like. What amazes me is how well it all

hangs together the drumming is especially brilliant (and

a pleasure to watch) with its frantic beats and its general

pissing about with tempo. All-out stomper Black Rod has

to be the clincher though; these are some badass tunes.

As if that wasnt enough, scene patriarchs Bilge Pump

line up for a dose of heavy rifng that has the heads going

once again. Fans of That Fucking Tank will recognise the

style of rock-riff mashups while the proggy lyrics assert

Bilge Pumps status as kings among nerds. Somethingabout them reminds me of Rush. Not sure why, but

I imagine that comparison might get me into trouble

somewhere. A more traditional rock sound to end the

night, but no less ballsy and excellent.

Tim Hearson

Hawk Eyes/These Monsters/Hookworms/Shallows @

The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

To kick start this metal packed montage of mayhem, a

worthy precursor for the headliners Shallows were the

rst band to take to the stage. Shallows talented female

singer dominated the zone with an unforgiving display of

strenuous vocal ability, which the crowd seemed to enjoy.

Hookworms were up next and their psychedelic, cool

style of rock was a pleasant change of pace in the venue.

The band was visibly hyped their elongated guitar riffs

and thoughtful combinations of very impressive keyboard

and drum vibes reinforced the unconscious journey that

everyone was being taken on.

After Hookworms, These Monsters geared up. I didntknow what to expect from this trio, but even after their rst

couple of songs I was blown away by how awesome they

were. Fast, sharp and tasty metal/rock riffs that smashed

everyone square in their faces! Sufce to say, everyone

loved it. The front-man emitted a screaming voice that

perfectly matched the speed of the composition, nishing

in a barrage of claps and cheers Denitely one to look

out for!

Finally Hawk Eyes. Although the crowd had diminished

slightly, the venue was still rammed and eager to absorb

the new tracks from their upcoming LP, Ideas. No time

wasted: they quickly showed the crowd why they are

one of Leeds nest live acts. Hawk Eyes blew the lid

off the Social Club, performing an explosive array of

metal. Tracks played tonight included Kiss This, NASA

vs. ESA and Headstrung, each producing a wave of

nodding heads that broke on each drum pulsation. Their

new drummer is an animal, and the band as a whole are

exceptional. An intriguing night.

Jonathan Lees

Pulled Apart By Horses @ The Leadmill, Shefeld

Taking to the stage to the not-so-dulcet tones of Requiemfor a Tower, its clear that Pulled Apart By Horses mean

business. Big business. Two albums in and threatening to

break the lock on the door of mainstream rock, they have

a lot to prove and tonight, in Shefelds The Leadmill, they

do so with aplomb.

If the sonic assault of opener I Punched a Lion in the

Throat heralds the battle, then Bromance Aint Dead

and new single V.E.N.O.M wage the war. Both tracks

are from new album Tough Love and the heavy but

remarkably tight riffs are recalled note perfectly, displaying

just how far PABH have come as a live unit.

The notably tattooed-older-male dominated audience

lends itself to some formidable circle pitting, even if

frontman Tom does put the kibosh on one audience

members drunken request for a wall of death. Pulled

Apart By Horses are not pugnacious men: in fact, they

come across as a humble and well-grounded four piece

who profess themselves this evening to be just a bunch

of shitheads playing music. All humbleness aside,

there is denitely something about their epic, chugging

breakdowns and brilliantly ludicrous song titles that seem

to demand a riotous crowd response more betting of a

Sunday derby between two Yorkshire teams, creating a

jubilant atmosphere that lasts long into the night. Mission

accomplished.

Jenessa Williams

Submotion Orchestra @ The Wardrobe

I was in the rare position of reviewing a band I had never

listened to before, a rare but good position. Before going

to the gig, I began to conjure up my own ideas about

Submotion Orchestra. My thoughts were solely based

on their name but it turned out my predictions couldnt

have been further from the truth. They werent quite the

orchestra I was expecting.

Entering a packed out venue was my rst indication

of Submotions popularity. For the rst half of the set I

couldnt even see the stage. Perhaps this was a positive

thing though, as I could make my judgments based

solely on what I was hearing.

To witness such an array of extraordinary sounds was

mind blowing; it was hard to tell whether I was at an

indie gig or an underground rave. The best word I can

use to describe the atmosphere in The Wardrobe was

buzzing; there wasnt one still body in the room. It

was also interesting to see the mixture of people at the

gig, proving that Submotions music reaches a wide

audience.

The voice of singer Ruby could easily rank high amongst

some of the greatest dance music singers of our time:similar to Katy B, but with much more depth. This voice

is complimented so perfectly by the unique dub-step-

meets-jazz sound created by the other multi-talented

members of the band. All hailing from various different

musical backgrounds, each member brings they own

avour to the exceptional Submotion Orchestra. Their

new single Its not me, its you is denitely one to add

to your iPod.

Stacie Lloyd

Extra Curricular @ Hi

Its the start of the night; were all thinking about dancing,

but no one is at that level where alcohol has replaced

inhibition so were all awkwardly shufing at the front of

the stage. The hardcore fans might take it up a gear to

a tentative two step in preparation for the band but the

whole room is self consciously holding onto their drinks,

savouring every sip, because otherwise were going to

have to think about what to do with BOTH arms.

However as soon as Extra Curricular take to the

stage, drinks are thrown back, clothes are coming off

and everyone, and I truly mean everyone, gets down.

Strangers are dancing with strangers and everyone has

forgotten whether their hair looks alright or if that guy

from Friday is here yet. Soon enough the whole room

is sweating, the kind of sweat that no one is going tojudge you for, the kind of sweat that makes passersby

on the street jealous because youve had a better time

than they have.

Its not just the music Extra Curricular creates - its

the atmosphere. The set was perhaps a little too short

(they could have played all night and it wouldnt have

been enough) but it did leave everyone wanting (and

chanting) for more.

Hana Walker-Brown

Arthur Rigby and the Baskervylles/Hunting Bears @

Nation of Shopkeepers

Openers Hunting Bears have a lush, full sound which

is impressive for a four piece and owes much to

the double bass/violin combo. Battling hard against

Shopkeepers punk-friendly acoustics, theres a buzz of

chatter thats never quite quashed until gorgeous closer

Only in My Skin, a tender 4-part harmony country

chorale, leaves the majoritys collective jaw hanging.

Personal favourite Heavy Tree also packs a bit of a

punch once it gets going but this gentle band could dowith perfecting their crowd handling.

Arthur Rigby and the Baskervylles are next up with

a massive pop sound and a booming baritone vocal

delivery: I cant help but feel like Im being sung to by a

1920s aviator. That said, its the creative, vibrant brass

arrangements that make this really special: fanfares,

chorales and the occasional sweeping ute line have

a pastoral charm and give the whole sound a massive

mid-range boost. One particularly effective song has

the rhythm section pounding out a low groove that

showcases this bands ear for the overall package.

If I am to gripe, all the most energetic and best written

songs seem to come at the start and I couldnt help but

feel like the performance seemed to settle down a bit

too much. Also, the drummers sense of timing is liberal

at best but to his credit I think it added a bit of extra

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energy to proceedings. These are very minor criticisms

though as Arthur Rigby... are one of the most inventive

bands Ive seen in a long time. In a word: sterling.

Tim Hearson

Pengillys/Garnets @ Brudenell Social Club

Opening up the night is Garnets who are mellow and

spacey of the ilk of Hernameiscalla, Tomorrow We Sail et

al. The slow moving compositions show a lot of promise

but prove somewhat formulaic. This kind of music needs

epic rises and falls to grab your attention but Garnets

music by and large plateaus around the mid-range. Also,

the laptop additions seem slightly tokenistic given the

onstage keyboard. Dont get me wrong, all the ingredients

are in there Garnets just needs the stones and the

variety to shake things up a bit.

Pengillys are a bit special. Frontman Ric Hollingberry has

a face youd love to punch and an unabashedly southernwhine (think The Kooks dialled up a notch) but their sound

is captivating. Stripped back, synth laden and cerebral,

theres a dark groove to these minimal tunes. Lead single

Tobys Hill starts with Hollingberry layering up a looped

chorale before dipping into a warm bath of electronica.

Add in some Radiohead-worthy basslines also a

shameless rip of the one from The Immigrant Song and

drums that sizzle and shimmer and youve got a band

who deserve every bit of the recent radio airplay theyve

been granted. A home crowd and fairly packed room

give this gig a great atmosphere leaving me very little to

quarrel with.

Tim Hearson

Asa Hawks/Round Window/Iona Dhrum @ Carpe

Diem, Leeds

Last time I was at Carpe Diem, someone came in and

spat at the barmaid, followed by a pitchfork wielding mob

shouting burn the witch! I really should get down more.

Actually, its not been that long (though the spitting part

is true) but it has been rather remiss of me not to check

out CD and Grain Division and to keep a weather eye onwhats going down in the town. Naughty Ed.

Ive always been a bit wary of projects and when Jess

Kershaw announces herself as the project Iona Dhrum,

warning bells start to chime. She then strikes up an

ethereal key on her Roland and sings about drifty stuff.

The drifty stuff is not really her though and hardly a

decent match for her voice, which is strong and warm.

Fortunately she picks up a guitar and does herself justice

with some more earthy tunes. This is the good stuff, stick

with it be loud, be proud, be Jess Kershaw.

I start doodling a bit of stick man porn during Round

Windows set, which is never a good sign. They are

denitely procient, but the music is interesting rather

than exciting a blend of prog, folk and good old

fashioned rock. Its a bit... indulgent and twiddly and

can be summed up by the lead singers confession of

writing this one in a conservatory. The last song really

steps it up, though, in classic Who style this is really

what everything else should sound like too. Get out of that

conservatory.

Despite coming on at 10.45, The Asa Hawks show no

signs of fatigue and strike up a jaunty country... sorry,

Americana, number that is chock full of joie de vivre.

Katy, in a very sparkly top, comes across as a Yorkshire

Kirsty McColl, vocally charming and approachable, while

the rest of the band creates a Dick Dale/James Yorkston/

Johnny Cash groove. Its funny, its enjoyable... its bloody

cheeky in places (especially the lifting of a Cure riff and the

casually dropped in homage to the Duelling Banjos) but

more than that, the band are loving it. That makes them

very likeable, for me and the rest of the audience. You

might like them too.

Rob Wright

Kane-Hession-DSilva/Swinepipe @ The Fox & Newt,

Leeds

This was the rst in a (hopefully long running) series of

jazz/improv gigs under the new Fusebox banner, actually

a collaboration between a revived Leeds Jazz and a

reactivated Leeds Improvised Music Association (LIMA).

Dont know about you but Im excited already.

Prior to this gig I hadnt really appreciated the full range of

instruments included in the clarinet family. Swinepipe, a

trio consisting of Richard Ormrod, Helen Baines and Ollie

Dover, come armed to the teeth with different versions of

the instrument, and are here to educate anyone prepared

to listen. They open with an Astor Piazzolla tango which

highlights the traditional, warmly woody sound of the

standard clarinet, but then move on to a piece with three

bass clarinets to create a deep, hypnotic drone, and nish

with their eponymous anthem which does a good job of

creating an ear splitting storm of noise not unlike electric

guitar feedback. No, really.

Leeds born drummer Paul Hession and Leeds baseddouble bassist Dave Kane are no strangers to the national

and international jazz and improv scene, while saxophonist

Karl DSilva may only be familiar to Leeds audiences from

his other band The Trumpets of Death. Hession and Kane

dominate this trio with some typically furious playing from

the former that cooks the music to boiling point repeatedly

throughout the set, and Kane rises to the challenge with

some raging playing thats clearly utterly exhausting.

DSilva seems a bit unsure of what to do in the quieter

passages, possibly prompting Hession and Kane to keep

things loud and fast, an approach which seems to suit

the saxophonists penchant for short, repeated phrases

anyway.

Steve Walsh

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Pelican + Guests @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 9

April

Sludge metal, post-metal or whatever, the genre bending

Pelican will be giving the Brud a good thwacking.

Runaround Kids/Imp/St Gregory Orange @ Nation of

Shopkeepers, Leeds 11 April

Another Philophobia-fest with Wakeeld darlings

Runaround Kids and support from the slimey electronic of

St Gregory Orange and raw indie of Imp.

Cowtown/Pifco/Wimwams/Super Johnny K and the

Bang Bangs @ Packhorse, Leeds 14 April

Choppy and bouncey, Cowtown and Pifco will be bringing

their edgy quirk-rock to the Packhorse. A line-up that never

fails to be bloody good fun.

Ellen & the Escapades/Paper Aeroplanes @ Brudenell

Social Club, Leeds 15 April

Rising star, gentle Country types Ellen & the Escapades

hit up the Brud. Not quite line-danceable but more-so than

say, Thom Yorke

Born to Brew/Chris Sharkey @ Fox & Newt, Leeds 20

April

Virtuosic, maniacal jazz keysmith Matthew Bourne

brings his esoteric duo Born to Brew to the Fox & Newt,

supported by Trio VD guitar demon, Chris Sharkey. Shit.

Renegade Brass Band @ Hi, Leeds 22 April

A horn-based funktacular from Shefeld, these can hold

their own against the likes of Hypnotic Brass, Youngblood

and Horndog.

Live at Leeds @ All over Leeds, 5 May

Yes, its time for the annual day-long music slog that is

Live at Leeds. Youll laugh, youll cry, youll probably need

a nap half way through. Absolutely something for everyone

with Los Campesinos!, Marina and the Diamonds and TheEnemy rubbing shoulders with the likes of Scroobius Pip,

Ghostpoet and Blacklisters (though probably not actually,

could you imagine..?).

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This Womens Work - Wombeatz

It is a sad fact that the music industry is not as groovy as

everyone would like to think there is still a lot of gender-

based inequality out there and it really needs to go the

way of the dinosaur. Fortunately, music tends to attract

the sort of people who want to do something about it, as

Kate Wellham discovered at the inaugural Wombeatz

Conference. Some of this may come as a shock to you

Its International Womens Day and were on our way to

a man-hating, hairy-legged musical event so militant that

its been organised exclusively for girls. Im imagining it as

a sort of training camp where we will learn such dark arts

as how to render a man infertile with the ick of a single

drumstick, and how to close the pay gap by taking our 17%

from the removal and sale of his now unnecessary organs

as maracas.

The inconspicuous venue has been made slightly more

conspicuous by the sporadic hanging of pink and blue

balloons both inside and outside the only indication that

anything sinister is going on.

Yes, pink AND blue. AND theres a boy here! And instead of

plans to take over the world, there are biscuits.

What subversion is this?

Sneaking a peek into the various rooms reveals many

perfectly friendly-looking women teaching and learning

the basics of sound engineering, DJing and recording

the technical sides of the business where females are

undeniably underrepresented.

What is clear from the happy participants is that this

obviously feels to them like a safe place to ask any kind of

question no matter how silly it seems, to play, to get things

wrong a few times, and to try something completely alien,

without worrying about the consequences: a fundamental

need in order for many of these women to even begin to trysome of these things, as they each later explain.

Were not saying were better than guys or we want to be

seen to be better than guys, its not about that, its about

offering the opportunity and encouragement to get more

women to try stuff like this, says Sarah Statha