this week, leeds 13.05.
a little bit late this week. truth is, there wasn’t anything that interested me on monday or tuesday. the rest of the week goes someway to making up for it though. maybe i’m just being picky after an amazing bank holiday weekend last week. i mean, blue roses, jeremy warmsley, fran rodgers, james yuill, alessi’s ark, mumford and sons and jeffrey lewis in three days… IN THREE DAYS.
after that you’d think thing’d calm down in leeds. un/fortunately not, you don’t get a minutes rest with everything going on in this city.
with a host of gigs i’m going to be blagging my way into this week, we’ve got stag and dagger to look forward to in a couple of weeks. and, if you had fun at this year’s live at leeds, don’t forget to check out the sessions i recorded when alessi’s ark and slow club came to see me..
so, wednesday 13th. charming scottish 5-piece my latest novel return to leeds to play the faversham, with support from one of our favourites the rosie taylor project.
i really do have a soft spot for scottish bands. there’s just something about them. i could name you a few i like, but you’ll probably have a good idea already if you’ve been reading the golden owl of late.
having been in the studio recording their second album, the bella union band release death & entrances on the 18th and are currently touring the country promoting the record. leeds is one of the first gigs on the tour and i’m really excited about this one.. rumours have it they spent no less than 628 days holed up in an old pub back in their little hometown of greenock recording it. sounds fun.
supporting the scottish ensemble are the loveliest gang in leeds the rosie taylor project.
they were nice enough to play at the golden owl’s first gig at the library back in april, co-headlining with the red clay halo’s emily barker. and what a great show that was. they’ve not played many gigs of late, spending a lot of time in the studio recording new material, and the somewhatratherenormous crowd that turned out was testament to how much we’ve missed seeing them live in leeds.
the band also popped in to see me and recorded a few songs that i’ve put up for download. amongst these was ‘lovers or something like it’ which is the band’s next single, out on monday 8th june. another new song, recorded exclusively for the golden owl (i’ve always wanted to say that.. sorry), ‘a walk by moonlight’ is available to download too. look out for our feature on the band coming soon.. i might even let you download the other song they record with me..
in session with.. the rosie taylor project
tickets £6 from jumbo and crash. doors 7.30pm. (the rosies on at 8pm, my latest novel at 9pm.)
if it wasn’t for the two beautiful bands i’m going to see at the faversham, i reckon i’d be at the brudenell checking out icy demons.
the experimental 5-piece are chicago’s equivalent to animal collective. or maybe not. well.. maybe. i think so anyway. (i think, i think so. i’ve not heard toooo much of their stuff but really like what i have heard.)
in truth, i could be completely wrong. i mean, they might not even be a 5-piece, with members coming and going over time. there are five of them in the picture so let’s stick with that.
melodic and completely engrossing, the band combine electronica with instrumentation whose influences can be traced back to the canterbury scenes in 60s kent. i know all about this and did not just get it off wikipedia, i swear.
the obvious fact that i don’t know much about this band nor how to describe them aside, it’s a gig i really don’t want to miss. in fact, if my latest novel are off by 10pm, and i’ve a feeling they are supposed to be, i might just head down to the brudenell and catch these lot. there has to be something about a band who leave you as lost for words as i am now, purely from hearing them on record.
support comes from pit er pat and local legends quack quack, who nearly destroyed the hyde park picture house last week supporting jeff lewis. i have to admit, they wern’t my cup of tea, but i think i was the only person there who could say that. maybe i didn’t get it.
£5 on the door. doors 8pm.
i first came across rosie doonan in february, at the escobar, when she played with peggy sue and mumford and sons.
i’ve been wanting to see her again ever since and she’s back at the royal park cellars this thursday 14th.
rosie’s blend of folk and folk, with hints of motown chucked in and a voice she can really, really carry live, completely surprised me. i can’t remember who was on before her but.. well, rosie doonan and her band really set a standard that night. luckily peggy sue are amazing and mumford and sons are… …. did you see them at the brudenell last week?!
rosie’s played at the cellars quite a lot this year, but i’ve yet to catch her in leeds. there’s a first time for everything.
£3 on the door. doors 8.30pm.
and supporting twisted wheel at the cockpit on thursday are detroit social club.
described by some* as a post-kasabian combo, with their combination of humungous grooves, terrace-style chants, gnarled vocals pitched somewhere between shaun ryder and liam gallagher, and a penchant for less-than-sensible hair, i like to think they’re just good. (*some genius at the guardian, i think.)
forget the headliners, it’s the support band you want to see here.
tickets £8 through lunatickets.
friday 15th should have been tuesday 12th, if you’re a little boots or delphic fan.
having sold out the faversham last march, victoria hesketh returns to leeds to play the cockpit. miss hesketh, better known as little boots, has already confirmed she’s playing at this year’s leeds festival and this could be the last time she plays in town before then.
supporting her on the night are the beautifully electronic delphic.
a band whose sound defines subtle, delphic make electronic rock music that’s a bloody joy to listen to. with spacey synths and skippy drums, and vocals that compliment rather than overwhelm the music, they’re a band i absolutely loved the minute i heard them. i can’t wait to catch these guys live, be it at the cockpit this friday night or at the faversham for at stag and dagger on the 22nd.
check out their myspace, which, incidentally is as simple and beautiful as their music. delphic on myspace.
tickets £7.50 through lunatickets.
something a bit different at the brudenell social club on the same night, if electro-pop-rock-synthyness isn’t your thing, when the handsome family and liz green come to visit.
formed in ‘93 by husband-and-wife duo brett and rennie sparks, the handsome family are currently touring the uk and europe before heading back to play dates across the states. a band whose take on traditional american music encompasses alternative country, folk, bluegrass, rockabilly and old roots music, they’ve built themselves a solid fanbase for nearly two decades now.
their latest album honey moon was released in april and i’ve been playing it quite often. all the time, actually.
supporting them is liz green whose influences include shane macgowan and canadian hip-hop.
i’d be lying if i said i’d heard about her before writing this, but to say she intrigues me would be somewhat of an understatement. listening to liz green, so far, has been like sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch, in the sun, with a cold glass of lemonade and a bit of straw in my mouth, my dog laid out across the wooden slabs that greet you walking up the creaky set of stairs towards my front door. on an old gramophone, the ones with a needle that looks more like a nail. you know what i mean, don’t you?
i’ll say not a thing more for fear of moulding your expectations and spoiling the experience for you. though it might be ever so slightly late, however, i can appreciate.
oh, one more thing. if her song ‘liz groan’ isn’t dubstep, leeds isn’t about to be turned into a nation of shopkeepers.
tickets £10 from jumbo and crash. £12 on the door. doors 8pm.
it was a lucky friday 13th for ellen and the escapades back in march when they sold out the cockpit. and they’re back again this saturday 16th, just up the road, launching their brand new single at the holy trinity church.
releasing their debut single ‘without you’ (with ‘run’ on the b-side), ellen and the gang will be celebrating what has, so far, been a great year for the yorkshire folk-pop 5-piece. i’m glad ‘without you’ is being released. it’s just lovely, a soft but upbeat song about getting on with it once you’ve gotten over someone. happy times. i love ellen’s accent too, none of this faux-american nonsense.
if you didn’t catch them at the cockpit in march, get yourself a ticket for saturday night. and keep an eye out.. i’ll be recording with ellen once both of us find a spare minute somewhere.
amongst the support on the night is the the gary stewart band.
gary, who’ve been in the studio recording new single ‘maggie oh’, released on may 25th, hope to use the show as a single launch of their own. i’d call that cheeky if i didn’t love this band. having released their tables, tree and tripods ep last summer, it’ll be great to hear something new by them. all the better that it’s live. should it come as a surprise that gary is scottish?
and last, but of course by no means least, the final support on the night comes courtesy of a band from “nowhere in particular” who’ve apparently lived in leeds this past year.
i think they’re from loughborough. or at least some of them are. maybe the lot of ‘em are. god knows. either way.. i want to know why i’ve not come across these lads before. they’re great. ’spokes’ reminds me of vampire weekend. that’s a bloody good thing. it reminds me of someone else, too, but i can’t quite think who.
either way, i can’t wait to catch these guys live. a gig where i’m looking forward to all the acts is always nice, and saturday night should be great.
tickets £4 from jumbo and crash. doors 7pm.
over the road, at cockpit 3, icelandic band hjaltalín make their first leeds appearance with local support from just handshakes (we’re british) and olfar.
lots of words can be used to describe hjaltalín.. wonderful (the sunday times), playful (the guardian), snuggly (the nme.. snuggly? pricks.), strangely beautiful (time out. ok that was two words.), or maybe, as huw stephens put it, classoul, an ingenious blending of the words classic and soul. well done, huw.
i just think they’re fucking good. think teitur meets arcade fire meets bon iver. i’ll leave it there.
and if you didn’t manage to catch them at live at leeds, just handshakes (we’re british) are back at the cockpit.
i wonder how they’ll introduce themselves to hjaltalín. be careful, guys, you don’t want to offend anyone.
perhaps olfar knows a thing or two about an englishman introducing himself to a group of snuggly icelandic musicians..
again, i don’t know much about this guy but i like what i’ve heard. he sounds eerily like chris martin, as it goes. (and, would you believe, the picture above was taken on a patch of grass very near my mum’s house in london… … EXACTLY.)
tickets £5 through lunatickets.
if none of that tickles your fancy then you, my friend, are a fool. but it might be that you don’t fancy the trip into town. i know the feeling.
how about heading on over to the royal park cellars for ‘a night of folk, acoustic and experimental music’ featuring one of our favourite bands here at the golden owl, killing fields of ontario.
along with the rosie taylor project, these boys rocked the library on april 25th at the golden owl’s amazing first show. filling in for pengilly’s who couldn’t make the gig, unfortunately, ontario really did play a great set. i mean, with my ipod deciding to ‘randomly’ select one of their songs minutes before they went on stage, the band managed to keep their cool and focus and play on as though nothing had happened. i was a tad embarrassed. bad ipod.
other bands on the bill are april in paris, sleeper service, glades and the january club (who don’t seem to have a myspace. how individual.)
£3.50 on the door. doors 8pm. got facebook?
it’s about time kid british played a headline show in leeds. and that, they do, this sunday 17th at the cockpit.
with the debut album it was this or football out in june, the manchester 4-piece are playing headline shows across the country promoting the record with their lively, confident stage shows. that’s when they’re not supporting the specials, of course. or when they’re on tour with the enemy. busy boys.
if you don’t catch them on sunday then catch them supporting the specials on millenium square on may 24th.
tickets £8 through lunatickets.
and finally.. it’s a busy week and, if i’ve got it in me on sunday, i’d quite like to see tommy tokyo and starving for my gravy.
tommy tokyo and his epic beard (ash who?!) take over TJs in woodhouse on sunday night. i’m looking forward to seeing the man from norway.. have you realised how many great folk bands come from that part of the world? the tallest man on earth comes to mind. but i digress. and, i’m starving and about to get a pizza. so, if you’re reading this, i’m still in bed on wednesday morning and haven’t got up to edit it. but i will soon.
support comes from beggars hollow and hard-time orchestra.
tickets £4/5 advance/otd. doors 7.30pm.
have a great week.. x