King Purple | Stuck in the Rough | Single Review

    Most people would say that the best feeling in the world is self-accomplishment. Or to love someone. Not me (which is risky knowing my girlfriend sees what I write.) The greatest feeling in the world for a music addict like me is hearing a song for the first time, and instantaneously knowing that you’re going to be listening to it for a long time coming.

     And that’s exactly what happened when I first pressed play on King Purple’s newest single, Stuck in the Rough. Upon hearing previous releases of theirs, I was filled with anticipation. The unique alt-rock trio are an interesting blend of psychedelic panache and indie incredibleness. Even if they had credible competition, they would almost certainly rise to become the greatest musicians to ever originate from Northamptonshire. Hoping they would continue their undying reign on my ‘Smaller Bands that Deserve to be Bigger’ playlist, I sat comfortably with my small face speakers in (or earphones if that’s what you call them) and braced for excellence.  

     From the off, a relaxing tone is set by the ambient plucking of strings, with the singer letting out a note so smooth, even the most renowned singers would be left questioning their own talent. It’s rare for an indie band like King Purple to feature a lead singer with such awe-inspiring ability. Nonetheless, they allow their tune to adopt the veritable power of his voice, as if it has always belonged within the family of alternative music. The opening is stylistically as if Tame Impala ditched the pretentious neo-psychedelia voice filter and replaced their synthesizers with conventional guitars.

    The song continues for another 5 minutes, mixing vibes that feature prolonged, reverberating bass lines with shorter, snappier licks and progressions. Effectively echoey, Stuck in the Rough refuses to settle for one melodic pace. It’s one of those that you really feel; the music truly grips you- it forces your head to move with mellow yet fierce avidity. You don’t know you’re doing it, but your neck is stiff, your head is swaying slowly with sheer infatuation for what you’re hearing. The music is intimate, and the vibes are flowing. Goosebumps possess your body- I’ll stop there. But it isn’t just a song, it’s an experience. If you have never felt so passionate with the pleasure of such sound, I can only offer my condolences. Mainly because if you haven’t, I must seem like right weirdo.

     And as if the song isn’t enough, the band have released a music video to accompany the song and, in all honesty, I was mesmerized by it. As if a toddler, the colours and fragmented imagery left my mouth hanging a little. That and the music put together…you can imagine the collected dribble on my chin as I felt 5 minutes of pure soundgasm. 5 minutes! Not many bands can tailor a tune with significant class for that long.

      King Purple are a band I can see producing nothing but genius in the future. And I expect nothing less from such a talented group of people. They are three people that deserve nothing but praise for their commendable contributions to musical hemisphere so far. 

You can check Stuck in the Rough and their other music here:

https://open.spotify.com/search/results/king%20purple%20

Review by Sam Hatherley

SAUCE | There's a Fool | Interview and Single Review

   We caught up with Henry Lewis from Manchester based quartet Sauce about their single release. The band released There's a Fool today, a day before their headline This Feeling show at Jimmy's, with support from Gathering Of Strangers and The Wired it's set to be a good night.

Give us a little background on Sauce, how did it all start up?

We’ve been knocking about for a few years now in one form or another. Our singer Dean joined at the start of 2017 and since then we’ve been adapting to his frequent head loss and fucking mad vocals, but the tunes have definitely improved since he came onboard.

Tell us about your new track! When did you write it?

It’s been our set opener for a while now, collectively one of our favourite tunes. On a personal level, it’s about grafting your bollocks off (which all musicians do) in the hope someone will dig what it is you’ve put your heart and soul into. Wider than that though it’s all about the bullshit we all face in our day to day lives but how we handle it by letting go at the weekend. This one, like a lot of our tunes, was a collaborative effort with Deano writing the verses and Henry writing the chorus. It’s an absolute beaut.

Where did you draw your inspiration from lyrically?

Answered above sorry ha!

How would you describe your sound? When I saw you live a few months ago I got 70s rock and roll vibes, is this intentional?

Yeah man, I guess it’s partly intentional and partly natural. When you’ve got a singer like Dean, there’s no other way to go than massive guitar parts and drums otherwise the tunes would sound daft. George’s drumming is pretty unique and adds a bit more groove than maybe some of our biggest influences had in their tunes,  but the main focus of any of our tunes is the riffs, we’d be nothing without them.

How would you say your music differs between recordings and live performances?

I think on our latest record ‘There's A Fool’ we’ve managed to bridge the gap much better than in the past. This is definitely down to Greaves who recorded us in Leeds and Bradford, he’s a fucking wizard and has finally managed to make the instruments sound as ‘real’ as possible, something we’ve definitely lacked on some of our earlier tunes.

You’ve got your gig at Jimmy’s with This Feeling on Saturday, Black Thorn Music Festival and Liverpool Calling, any more gigs and festivals lined up?

There’s definitely some stuff in the pipeline, of which I’m not sure we can discuss yet. The main focus is getting this tune to as many ears as possible and then cracking on with releasing the E.P. and smashing festival season. There’s gonna be some mega gigs to talk about soon though, let me tell you that.

What else are you working on at the moment?

We’ve got a four track E.P coming out later this summer which we can’t wait for people to hear. There’s definitely a fan favourite on there in the form of 'Give Up Everything', but all four tracks are absolutely class. It’ll be a proud moment when that comes out, and we know people are going to dig it.

What bands in the underground scene are you digging at the moment?

White Room are on a different level, as are The Blinders - we definitely take a lot of inspiration from those two bands. Also, watching Avalanche Party live in Edinburgh earlier this year was a highlight.

Who are the bands you grew up listening to that made you want to become musicians?

Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles, Oasis, Pink Floyd, The Cribs, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses,  Black Sabbath, Kasabian, The Black Keys, The Smiths, Led Zeppelin, (I just wanted to be one of) The Strokes, Queen, Peace, The Libertines… If they’ve got riffs, we wanna be them.

 The track is a banger from the moment it starts, the instrumental introduction instantly reminded me of a lot of 70s prog rock bands (e.g Rainbow, UFO etc) when Dean's voice comes in it only amplifies this old school rock and roll sound. The energy is intense throughout the entire song, it's definitely one that would leave you sweaty and exhausted after a good boogie watching it live. What I like the most about this track is how it high lights each instrument at some point throughout. When you watch live performances of bands from the 70s there's always some mad solo or a really strong instrumental part that makes you just stop and think 'man, THAT'S rock and roll!' and I feel like we don't see very often anymore, but  when listening to There's a Fool there were sections of the song that reminded me of that.

Interview by Holly Beson-Tams

The Brookes Talk 'Man Up' and Mental Health

Yesterday The Brookes released their latest song Man Up, a song that is really focused on mental health, specifically the alarming rate of male suicides. Instrumentally the track has everything in it you know and love The Brookes for, it's catchy, upbeat but with a punk edge. It's a great song, but it's the lyrics and the message that make this track so important. As always the band have delivered a killer song with a thought out and clever message. 

We spoke to frontman Bonge Keal about mental health and their new release.

Photo by Apertunes Photography

Your latest single ‘Man Up’ addresses mental health and suicide within males. Something that is so important to talk about! Was the process of writing the song difficult?

I suppose so, it’s something which effects everybody either personally or emotionally and as it’s such a taboo subject, I guess it was somewhat difficult. I tried to write the lyrics in a form which would indicate and portray the exact issue, but without appearing overly striking. Along with the upbeat track, I’m happy with the end, overall impact.

As the artists, are there any lyrics in the song that really stick out to you? Or you feel will have the biggest impact on the listener?

The obvious answer to this is ‘Man Up!’, as this in itself poses one hundred meanings which I think everyone can be on earth with. The lines ‘they force you to smile’ and the latter ‘go tell your fears’, really show the switch in emotion, being told to cover your feelings to then opening up and beckoning those issues. Again, this is exactly what I tried to point out during the progress of the song.

You’re working with CALM Zone in the release of this single, how did that come about?

Searching the internet and really investigating which charities were making an underlined project about this issue. Again, as it’s a taboo subject I was happily surprised to find the amount of noise being created behind this matter. CALM just really stood out to us and were really onboard with what we were aiming to achieve and together, we are on to a good project. Music is a great gateway for everything too, that’s why we used it to really push our cause.

Toxic masculinity is such a huge issue that needs to be broken, in your opinion what do you think we can do to try and change people’s attitudes towards positive masculinity?

Where do I start? I’ll keep it short for interview purposes. To break a historic stigma after so many years of normality to societies after societies, I believe the best technique is one shared in the film gladiator, “I am Spartacus”. If you know, you know. Basically, to make an impact everyone has to create a tremor together and really start pointing out on the damage this has by getting behind these charities, to let them be heard. From soldiers having no PTSD support from the government after such a harsh normality change - to your everyday boy behind put behind today’s pressures which even past generations won’t understand, it needs to be treat with the respect it needs because too many lives are being taken, that’s the harsh reality.

A mental health helpline has launched for musicians recently, I saw you shared an article about it. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it will help make a difference?

Absolutely, you know I have heard too many people complaining about, “why are they focusing this on only musicians” and “They just need to man up”, Ironic aye? But, this is why it is still such a huge issue. I think it’s great to create these helplines for many needs and not just a handful, at the end of the day, those few charities aren’t capable of catering for everyone and that’s why there needs to be certain subjects people feel like they can confide in. It doesn’t mean that musicians get a separate helpline because they are more important or anything along those lines, it is purely there to cater for these people on a comforting level. 

Following on from your release of Man Up, what have you got planned? Gigs and festivals?

We are actually in the making of a video for the song, which will be released shortly. In regards to playing, we are in the wings for a few festivals and we are planning a tour, that’s all you’re getting.

Are you working on anything else at the moment?

We have a few songs being created which are substituting old remaining setlist fillers, I am very much looking forward to playing these live, real crunchers you see.

As a band do you see yourselves continuing to address this subject within your music?

We will always make noise about this issue of course, song wise I think after this we have ticked that box, as we both know there are many issues to cry out about Holly. It’s not much a case of, been there and done that, move on. But, we are trying to create a pattern to capture he fact that we really aren’t happy with societies impact on it’s members and we want these issues to be addressed, what better way than through music?

Currently it’s Mental Health Awareness Week – which has obviously gotten a lot of people talking about mental health. I’ve seen a few people saying things such as ‘it’s all very well people voicing that it’s okay not to be okay but we need to be using this week to campaign for better mental health care’ – how strongly do you agree with this? Do you think it’s equally as important that people are using this week to voice their own struggles or to try and show their support?

Like everything, in the perfect world it would be great to not have to raise your concerns about said issues, but it isn’t the perfect world. Therefor I believe it’s fantastic that so many people are making this the big deal it deserves and hopefully, just hopefully, it will make it’s way to the powers that be in our government, (that’s a whole different argument). I just hope that after this week has left us, that people will continue to recognise the issues and really try make a difference. Donate, help out or even posting on social media, any awareness is awareness and I’m overwhelmed in the reaction it deserves.

Listen to Man Up here: https://open.spotify.com/track/5DSmylK4UeYtbZr1j93vzv?si=vvqV_y9TTSGKyNZ-zmuprw

Interview by Holly Beson-Tams

The Shrives | Crash Me | Single Review

The Shrives’ latest single Crash Me is a whole new route the band have gone down. After listening to their previous album, the band portray a punk-funk vibe alongside rock, whereas Crash Me has identified that they are capable of taking on a much slower, power chord filled song and aren’t afraid to experiment when it comes to sound.

This particular song appears to be focused on the lyrics, this could be the reason for their style choice the song would categorise into. Nevertheless, you can still hear the powerful voice of Matt Grocott throughout the song. The lyrics appear as very striking with a hint of youth rebellion. This can be illustrated from the repeated lyric which reads “I don’t want to die too soon, this dream won’t let me fly”, yet imagery of driving in a car are present within the song, as Grocott references to a car breaking down. This appears metaphorical to the idea that if something in your life breaks down it could affect your entire future. However, he doesn’t want to “die too soon” therefore the only solution is to carry on with the journey to achieve his goal/dream.
Many bands have their influences and similarities too, especially new upcoming bands such as The Shrives. You can still hear within the Ballard rock song the influence of Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, as he helped produce their music in the past, moreover The Shrives have bagged themselves multiple gigs and chance of promoting themselves on tour with SWMRS an American punk-rock band. 

Although, Crash Me is quite a contrast to other tracks such as Turn Me On and Madnight their original fast, hyperactive music will hopefully be on its way. Crash Me is a prime example of a hybrid music genre based band, who can create any music they want or feel. So, if you’re sick of all the controversy with Arctic Monkeys latest album, perhaps give The Shrives a listen to take your mind off the “drama”, who knows you might love it?

Review by Emily Richardson

Vuromantics | 10th May | York | Gig Review

Vuromantics / Talkshop / Honey Smugglers / The Real Ink

   It was yet another sunny evening at The Fulford Arms, the first band had just finished their soundcheck, the sun shone in from the back window to the left of the bar and across the taps, drawing my attention to getting a pint, and then seeing Jake and Sam from tonight’s headliners: Vuromantics (who also happened to be at the bar with a pint, great minds certainly think alike). After some light-hearted discussion about tonight’s show, their upcoming jaunt into Scotland, and their show the following night at Huddersfield Town Hall with 80s legends Shalamar, it was time for the first band of the night.

    The Real Ink took the stage and needed no introduction to the crowd, instantly and masterfully blending Funk & Reggae, with a smattering of Soul & Jazz, drawing the crowd to just in front of the stage and holding many in a trace. Fynn, Gabe & Arron, on guitar, bass and drums, held a tight rhythm section and a strong groove, allowing vocalist Molly & Alto Saxophonist Joe to melodically explore the genres they were mixing together. Molly’s fantastic stage presence and engagement with the crowd made the set very enjoyable for everyone watching. It was their first show in York, and the band will find themselves a very warm welcome when they return.

   Following The Real Ink seemed to be a tough ask for the rest of the bands playing, but local indie five-piece Honey Smugglers did a fantastic job. I’d seen these guys at least a couple of times before, and they have continued to improve and mature musically and on stage. Sam’s vocals and Joe’s guitar tones had an unmistakably Smiths style to them, but Anna’s piano & synth playing gave the overall sound extra rhythmic and harmonic elements, a very likable set. A standout band from York’s current indie scene.

     Next up was something that had me very excited: a brand-new, York, rock band! This doesn’t happen very often, so I hope everyone will forgive my excitement, and Talkshop did not disappoint me. The four-piece had an unquestionably alt-rock direction, with evident influence from bands like Muse and Radiohead, but I could defiantly hear elements of emo, which after spending too many nights at The Key Club in Leeds recently, was something I very much enjoyed and wanted to see more of, but the bands evidently dark and minor musical direction will be something unique, and very welcome on the York music scene. I hope to see more of them soon!

     Finally, the nights ‘main’ event, after three great bands, it would take something truly special to really complete this night of live music. Luckily, that seems to be something Sheffield four-piece Vuromantics specialize in. Their dark pop sound takes evident influence from bands such as Chvrches & Human Leauge as the three instrumentalists of the band played an intro to the set on synthesisers and drums. Jake & Cal had their guitars hung on them and were quick to pick them up and start playing their first song when Sam stepped up from the crowd onto the stage and introduced the band. Dan, their new drummer, is a perfect fit to the bands on stage dynamic, communicating well with Cal who was holding tight grooves on the bass, and Jake who’s rhythmic and expressive guitar style both complimented Dan’s confident style of drumming and allowed a vocally articulate Sam to explore the stage and the melodies of each song. Jake and Cal kept swapping between their guiters and synths throught the set, providing great variations between sections of songs and the overall performance. They played a number of tracks from their 2nd EP: In The Night, as well as some outstanding new material that hasn’t been recorded or released yet. Off that EP, a particular highlight was Waves, where Sam and Cal handed shakers and bubble blowers to members of the audience, including members of Honey Smugglers who were very much enjoying the set. The recorded version of Waves is an absolute marvel, the band did the song more than the justice it deserved in this rendition.

     Overall, a first-class performance from Vuromantics, one to certainly write home about as the band were well warmed up and raring to go for one of their biggest shows yet, at Huddersfield Town Hall the following night.

Upcoming Vuromantics shows:

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh – May 31^st

13^th Note, Glasgow – June 1^st

Both shows: £5 for adv tickets and on the door. Doors open at 19:00.

Review by James Brown

The Shantics | Stevie Nicks | Single Review

     Stevie Nicks. She produced some cracking music in her career, didn’t she? But now the Gold Dust Woman has seen the Silver Springs of retirement after The Chain she had with the music industry snapped, she claims she is Never Going Back. Truthfully, this post has nothing to do with the Fleetwood Mac star, I just like puns.

   More topically: The Shantics, a four-piece indie rock band from the capital, have recently released a new tune, unsurprisingly titled Stevie Nicks. With menacingly wonderful riffs and enrapturing basslines, the song detonates from the stocks and maintains magnificence throughout. The band display a spikey sound with intensity like no other: the kind that surges adrenaline through the deepest of your veins. Aggressive in tone yet pleasurable to the ear, Stevie Nicks adopts a style from bands such as VANT and Blur and develops it into The Shantics’ own sweet, sweet sound. Describing Stevie Knicks, who in this song is a mischievous man (and I assume not a transgender version of previously mentioned Stevie), the lead singer tells that “his sweet talk could turn you diabetic.” With lyrics like that, it’s easy to see why The Shantics are making a ripple in the musical waters, and makes it difficult to understand why they are currently quite so unnoticed by many.

    Excited to check them out yet? You haven’t heard who they are working with. Jake Gosling: known for his links with Ed Sheeran, James Bay and The Libertines, to name a few. That’s not to take anything away from the lads themselves, however. Without a doubt they are packed tightly with talent, topped off with the natural beauty of stage presence and the ability to atmospherically alter a venue. Generating an ever-growing following on their Instagram and Twitter, The Shantics are paving their way to the top as if they are some godly lyrical stone masons. Stevie Nicks isn’t the only evidence for this, either.  

   The bands’ debut tune, Maybe I, is another masterpiece, displaying the plethora of ability from the London lot. But although recognizable in style, it shows the immense diversity they possess, with similar sounds to Razorlight, in collaboration with Kings of Leon. This majestically compliments their original, freshly squeezed sound, as if from the fruit of the music tree. Don’t cringe too hard, I beg. All joking aside, and despite the earliness of their careers, the capability to keep music sounding similar yet different is a significant asset for any artist. Even some of the greatest musicians fail to do so. I’m looking at you, Alex Turner.

   Potential ridden The Shantics are admirable. So rather than admiring them through the electronically derived sound of them via earphones, get yourself down to the Nambucca in London, June 1^st. You’ll get to see them perform with Hello Operator. Even if you’re not interested in their co-hosts, I’m sure the admission fee is a small price to pay for such genius.

Listen to the track on all platforms here!

Review by Sam Hatherley
Photos: @moeeztali - Photographer
@geoffkcooper - Stylist @nikita_andrianova - Creative Director @hd.hairstylist - Hair Stylist