Mudkiss April album reviews.

Mudkiss April album reviews  as Callum, Josh and Phil take on :

 http://www.mudkiss.com/albumreviewsapril12.htm

Jack White

Villa Rise














Rusty Bear

Plug 1 & Plug 2

Mike Snow

I Like Trains

Dead City Ruins

Elysian

Who are "NIMBUS???"

The only known live recordings of Nimbus, a savage and raw unreleased psych band based in Livermore, CA from the late 1960s and early 1970s, are finally seeing the light of day. Locked in a vault for 41 years, the tapes from producer Jim Sorensen's "Turn On Your Lovelight" show on 3/14/70 are being released for the very first time. Nimbus' brilliant set is the first to be released from the 1970 concert. Produced by Shattered Music it has hand numbered, limited edition gate fold LPs on smoky gray vinyl, the record is titled Nimbus: Live in Livermore.

The story of Nimbus is shrouded in mystery. Aside from getting 2 of the 3 names of the band members when they agreed to play on Jim's recording, and the few photos Jim took during the set, little is known about this short lived group. The attached note from Jim Sorensen recalls his experience working with the band, which split up shortly after performing on the "Turn On Your Lovelight" bill.

Early reviews of Nimbus: Live in Livermore have likened it to live Dead, early Cream, or a live show by Band of Gypsys by Brad Knox of the band Heavy the World. Performer/broadcaster/artist B.P. Fallon called Nimbus "rock and roll's newest Lazarus, and featured all 3 ten minute plus jams from the LP on his weekly radiocast in November 2011. Record Collector News named Nimbus: Live in Livermore on its best of the year list for 2011 in the December issue of that year.

Two of the three larger-than-life tracks from the LP have been made into full music videos, with the third soon to follow. The videos have been made available as a way to preview the album, and can be viewed at http://www.vimeo.com/shatteredmusic .

Nimbus represents a style of music no longer played by contemporary bands, but which remains extremely popular with 70s era music fans. They are a breath of fresh air from four decades in the past, and efforts were made to keep the album art, layout, and videos true to the style and spirit of Nimbus' time.

One modern touch represents a special perk for the LP; each one comes with a seeded paper digital download card. The front is designed to look like a ticket stub from the "Turn On Your Lovelight" show, and the reverse has download instructions. As the card is embedded with wildflower seed and printed with natural ink, after downloading, toss it in some dirt, water, and wildflowers will sprout and bloom.

Shattered Music, a 1990s Los Angeles record label, released about 15 albums. Notable titles include Mick Taylor Coastin' Home, Live at 14 Below and Pearl Harbour Here Comes Trouble. After over a decade of inactivity, Shattered Music has moved to northern California and re-launched as an ecologically forward company. Beyond our LP's biodegradable download card, the upcoming release of Nimbus: Live in Livermore on CD will have no plastic tray, 100% recycled stock, soy ink, and industry lowest levels of VOCs in the disc making process.

Storm Corrosion - Definitely the 1st track released from the album

The Jessica Cope directed video for "Drag Ropes," definitely the official first track from the Storm Corrosion album is now available to view and hear. 

 

 

 

 

GOJIRA SET TO RELEASE 'L'ENFANT SAUVAGE' AS DIGITAL SINGLE ON THE 1ST OF MAY...

French metal goliaths GOJIRA, one of the most talked about and beloved extreme bands of the last five years, have revealed 'L'Enfant Sauvage' as the title of their stunning Roadrunner Records debut and long-awaited fifth studio album. The title translates to "The Wild Child" and the album features 11 tracks of mind-bending metal that fans can get their paws on the album from June 25th. For fans who can't wait that long, the band will be releasing the title track from the album 'L'Enfant Sauvage' as a digital single on the 1st of May. Watch this space for further updates!

The Miserable Rich - Live @ The Deaf Institute - Manchester

Amazing gig at The Deaf Institute on Friday night from The Miserable Rich supported by Arthur Rigby & the Baskervylles and Stephen Langstaff.

http://www.mudkiss.com/miserablerichlive2012.htm

Mudkiss April Reviews - From East to West.

A real multi-cultural bag of albums this month and a journey from East to West.

 http://www.mudkiss.com/andysaprilalbums.htm

Skyharbor

Absolace

Aziz

POM

 Strong Intention
















7 Horns 7 Eyes

Honningbarna "La Alarmane Ga" - Review

The best music makes you initially prick up your ears, take a step nearer the source before  recoiling slighty whilst proclaiming "Whhhoooaaaahhhhh, what the hell is that," exactly my response on hearing Honningbarna (The Honeychildren) for the first time. While the band have appeared from within the Norwegian punk scene, the genre description doesn't fully illustrate the basis of their sound.

Releasing debut album "La Alarmane Ga" in March last year, it quickly garnered praise within their homeland, winning the equivalent of a Noregian grammy at the Spellemannprisen awards, which also highlights the appreciation Scandinavia affords more extreme music compared to the U.K.

The twelve tracks which constitute "La Alarmane Ga" ("Let the Alarms Go") crackle and fizz with pure punk energy, the listener feeling the force of a lightning bolt as it enters one aural orifice before departing the opposite side, although more intricate and unusual aspects also pervade throughout. Lead vocalist Edvard Valberg proves classically trained, utilising the cello to unusal, but great effect within "Fri Palestina" for example.  The site of Edvard playing live, sat behind his instrument, spitting politically charged lyrics from a seated position quite something to behold.

It's the ability to surprise which makes "La Alarmane Ga" such an incredible debut, especially from a band of such tender years. The influences extend beyond punk, into metal, classic rock, hints of The Hives surfacing as the chunkiest of riffs and absolutely blistering solos accompany the dirtiest of  guitar rhythm sounds, reverberating bass with the pre-requisite Norwegian drumming, an impression of additional limbed, super human efficiency behind the kit.

Tragically, at the end of January this year, drummer Anders Eikas died in a car accident, throwing the future of the bad into doubt. A decision made however, with the blessing of the Eikas family, for Honningbarna to continue.

          

To suggest a highlight from such an accomplished and blistering album proves difficult, although perhaps" Klart Blikk" an ideal starting point, the drops, breakdowns and introduction of keyboards a personification of the ability to surprise, never allowing complacency to reign over invention.

Honningbarna have within  "La Alarmane Ga"produced one of the most exciting albums I've heard this year, the fact all the lyrics are sung in Norwegian not mattering in the slightest, still managing to enduce scream a long elements.  Quite simply, a classic debut and a band that must be seen live.  

Check out a Mudkiss interview with Edvard below. 

 http://www.mudkiss.com/honningbarnainterview.htm
 

Folk is the new prog.

Two very different but extremely inventive albums are released on the same day next month, both with folk undertones, although that's just the start.

The Imagined Village – Bending The Dark - 14 May 2012 – ECC Records 

Album Launch / Band Party – The Electric Palace, BRIDPORT, DORSET.

 Thursday 16 May 2012

“Bending the Dark, as a title doesn’t refer to trendy new Physics, deviant sexual practices or even Lord of the Ring wizardry, it’s really very simple: It doesn’t matter how bad things are if you pull together you can turn the situation around and come out of the darkness stronger and more confident.”

Bending The Dark is an album about group survival.

The Imagined Village are:

Eliza Carthy (fiddle, vocals) EC; Martin Carthy (guitar, vocals) MC; Simon Emmerson (guitars, cittern) SE; Ali Friend (bass, vocals) AF; Andy Gangadeen (drums) AG; Johnny Kalsi (dhol, tabla, percussion) JK; Barney Morse Brown (cello, vocals) BMB; Sheema Mukherjee (sitar, vocals) SM; Jackie Oates (fiddle, vocals) JO; Simon Richmond (keyboards, electronics, vocals) SR

                                                                                                                      

This is a band written press statement.

Around the time of writing material for the 2^nd album Chris Wood kept saying ‘if the band’s going to survive we can’t keep covering material from the Martin Carthy song book” a sentiment Martin shared.

MC: ‘The Imagined Village was an experiment started back in 2004 to see if trad and non trad musicians could work together on what was largely my back catalogue, something I was only too happy to engage in…”

With this in mind we came off the road in 2010 hoping to embark on a period of writing fresh, original material or interpretations of trad songs not normally covered within Martin’s repertoire.

SE “It was apparent that if the band was to move forward we had to write a new body of songs based on our skills as lyricist and composers embracing contemporary issues as well as reflecting an English musical identity that isn’t specifically rooted in the folk tradition.”

Norma Waterson’s heath issues late 2010 interrupted this strategy; Martin was not able to do the proposed tour. We had 2 choices: cancel the tour or continue and use any profits to help support the family in times of need. We chose the 2^nd option. The final gig of the tour was on the 1^st March 2011 in London at Cecil Sharpe House and we closed the tour and set with a live mobile phone link-up to Martin in Robin Hoods Bay, where he told the assembled crowd back at the London venue that Norma was on the road to recovery and he’d be back in the band as soon as he had learnt the new material, which, he added, all sounded very good down the phone. Following the tour Chris Wood decided to take the rest of the year as a sabbatical to concentrate on his own writing. Which was fine but then we experienced another major setback. Mass, who SE has used as an engineer, mixer and co-producer since the 2nd Afro Celt album back in 1999, was suddenly unable to continue working on the album due to his father’s illness. Again we were a key player down, so the two Simons had to step up and fill in for Mass, adding engineering duties to writing, producing and performing.

We continued regardless with the recording, revising and refining a body of over 20 potential songs. The rhythm section was ready to record in the Strong Room studios, London in October 2011 and January 2012 with our new engineer Paul Grady, from Doncaster, who completed the project as the mixing engineer.

SR: “Martin eventually came to our studio in December 2011 and we all felt the band sound was complete again. It was great to have him back.”

The mixing was complete early February 2012.

SE ‘As a band we feel we’ve come through tough times but just through dogged perseverance and the simple joy of playing together we’ve achieved what we set out to do when we came off the Empire and Love Tour January 2010: make a recording that reflects both the fun and energy we generate as a live unit, plus our respective skills, eccentricities and unique identities as song writers, arrangers and musicians. We’ve never felt more united as a band and we hope this comes across on the album’

1 The Guvna – AF brought the demo to the studio with the feel and vibe all there from the off and the band fell in love with its nod towards eccentric English TV scores, the mighty Jerry Dammers and the days of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. SR added what has come to be known in the band rather alarmingly as the “Supertramp” middle key board breakdown, and sampled AF’s guide vocal ideas for a melody – creating an Alivox synth sound layered with a Theremin. AG added rhythmic loops, SR brought a bit of Bays-style dub trickery, and by the time the piece was ready for studio recording, SE had refined all the ska and rock-steady guitars into place, something he will openly admit is closer to his own roots than English trad. The spelling of The Guvna was taken by AF from the Urban Dictionary: “A mysterious group of prophetic gentlemen that hide in the shadows and wait for unsuspecting older women.” Something he could identify with.

This song is also the only track we are aware of that has inspired a charcoal based underarm deodorant powder called “The Guv’nor” designed by Simon E’s bird watching companion, record label partner, Lush founder and radical perfumer Mark Constantine.  The band are proud to stand in a line of song/deodorant collaborations going back to ‘Smells Like Tean Spirit’ by Nirvana. Free samples will be available on request.

2 Captain’s Apprentice – SR was at a JO’s gig during early stages of writing material for the album:

SR “Jackie sang the CA and I instantly felt it could be connected to NYT as a spooky intro to an equally ghostly story all about murder at sea. She learnt the song from the singing of Kathryn Roberts.  At the same gig, Jackie performed a series of Cornish dance instrumentals which later became the basis for Winter Singing”

3 New York Trader – SR: “ NYT is a proper example of a tune’s development process through band input. I wrote the original 5/4 track – it was a slow and gentle piece based around a guitar figure and chilled beats. EC heard this and suggested the trad song ‘New York Trader’ would fit perfectly as it’s also in 5/4. She then sang it in 4/4. AG and AF came to do the rhythm track and took it into the double-time, 10/8 feel. Simple, really…”

So now you know. We then took the whole arrangement to our pre-tour rehearsals where the strings and fiddle riffs were worked out. NYT is a great example of us developing an arrangement to support the narrative of the lyric - in this case a harrowing ghost story based on the old superstition that a ship is cursed if its captain has committed murder. Right from the moment the tune went up-tempo, SE wanted to try brass on it, so called up his old mates from the Kick Horns, who he had worked with whilst producing Baaba Maal and Femi Kuti. This was the final session of the album, days before they started mixing. We used to start our live set with CA and NYT as a perfect opener, introducing to our audience our new singer JO.

4 Bending The Dark – SM’s PRS 20/12 Olympic Commission. The title came from a typo; the original was ‘Bending the Da’, the Da being the 6th note in the Indian Scale. But like all good mistakes it stuck. An epic written and conceived by SM – the rest of us did what we could do to be equal to the task of getting the piece completed. The two key hushed moments of the piece focus on MC’s playing of a trad figure transposed into a very untrad key Sheema found buried in the mix of a rejected album instrumental. She had heard MC play the tune in sound checks and had always wanted to use it to kick-start a bigger composition. AG took the final drum section away from the arena of ‘world music’ and evoked the teen beat don Sandy Nelson, not to mention the swing era big band feel of Louis Prima and Gene Krupa. The dramatic drum battle between AG and JK was one of the most lively and exciting moments in the recording session in London’s Strongroom studio.

Produced, written and arranged primarily by SM, the tune, in all its different twists and turns, provides a showcase for many of the different elements of The Imagined Village. The band felt this was a fitting piece to become the album’s title track.

5 Fisherman – SR wrote the music, with a working title of “Something Brassy about the North”. Naturally he turned to EC with her deep, northern heritage, to come up with a suitable lyric. She instead wrote a song about the protest movement and occupation of St Paul’s Cathedral – not 5 miles from SR’s London home. The lyrics address the general absence of non-material, altruistic – spiritual, even - leadership in the present day. EC’s stunning chorus harmonies are complemented by the brass arrangement giving it the expansive filmic quality of York’s most famous son John Barry – born, as it happens, just down the road from Eliza.

6 Nest – SR wrote the music. SR and SE started to write a lyric about parental paranoia and the Internet but it didn’t seem to work. The piece sat in limbo for a while. Chris Wood had a go but didn’t succeed. The music was waiting for the right moment and feel – hence EC nailing it in November 2011 during an album recording session at the studio of her cousin, Olly Knight. It was at his studio in Robin Hoods Bay, place of the Carthy family enclave, that MC walked in from doing the washing up at his house next door, laid down a perfect vocal, and went home across the road again to finish the dishes. Later on in Dorset, MC would bring haunting guitars to the piece as well. BMB played a sublime cello solo late in the day at a session in Bath to record JO’s final vocals.

7 Wintersinging – JO played the fiddle motif based on a Cornish 5/4 dance known as a Kabm Pemp. SR wrote a backing track around it and the 2 Simons wrote a chorus and lyric about celebrating solidarity at a period of darkness and not letting hard times overcome our spirit. The lyric seemed to fit the times and what the band was going through.

SE: “We were holed up in our West Dorset Studio, winter was closing in and people were taking to the streets across Europe as the recession was deepening”.

The song was originally a fairly full-on electronic arrangement with a Drum and Bass feel. AG insisted on trying out a lighter, gentler feel for the drums, and this approach of using the programmed beats to inspire and eventually be replaced by live performance became a kind of template for the album.

SR: “It was like starting with a re-mix and then creating the original song after.”

Eliza wanted more blokes singing on the chorus to give it weight and stop it sounding  ‘too hippy dippy’, so we got in the lads from the Essex band Mawkin who aren’t hippish by any stretch of the imagination, plus Steve Knightley and Jim Causley who just happened to be in the studio on that day working with Mawkin. An anthemic chorus was born. The band performed the track on the Radio 2 2day live session from Maida Vale in June 2011.

8 Sick Old Man – Originally a guitar-based backing with a dub step feel written by SE, it was always intended to cover ground not usually heard in conventional folk composition – the bluesy crushed notes and more open 9ths were an attempt to move away from the open C tuning that both Chris Wood and Martin use, and get into some weirder chord shapes. EC wrote the allegorical lyrics based around the trad piece “Raggle Taggle Gypsies” but took the song into the 21^st century, with its tale of England’s squandered resources and growing intolerance of immigrants. SR programmed a Drum and Bass feel for the track before the piece went through a series of rhythmic developments. In rehearsal for live performance the tune finally settled into its present arrangement.

9 Get Kalsi – SE approached JK for some percussion ideas for an Imagined Village Bhangra style track. JK sent over some of his tabla and dhol recordings and SR built these into a groove around a synth pattern. AG and AF fleshed it out into the break beat/drum and bass feel it now has. Whilst recording the plucked fiddle riffs at CW’s studio SE wrote the top line as a tribute to one of his favourite genres of traditional music: the English film score. It just happened to be the 40^th anniversary of Get Carter, a film often identified by Roy Budd’s distinctive tabla, electric piano and harpsichord theme tune. SM wrote the introduction’s bravura musical flourish, bringing the whole Anglo/Asian feel of the piece into focus. Another tune that got it’s 1^st radio airing on the BBC Radio 2 “2day live”  Maida Vale session in June 2011 prompting a huge amount of public feedback and interest

10 Washing Song – Originally a purely trad song that had caught AG’s ears during sound checks, and that EC brought to the studio as an arrangement for fiddle, accordion and vox. It didn’t seem to quite sit as a piece on an IV album, so at a recording session late in the album’s development, AG suggested there might be a way to re-think the song. SR and AF worked on re-voicing and re-writing the song’s chordal and bass harmonies. The result creates a powerful contrast as the tune moves from the opening feel of Saul Rose’s accordion and Eliza’s fiddle into the warmth of the double bass and piano underneath the vocals. 

Produced by Simon ‘Palmskin’ Richmond and Simon Emmerson with band input. Apart from BTD, produced by Sheema Mukherjee.

Album written, arranged and performed by The Imagined Village

Mixed by Paul Grady with the 2 Simons 

http://imaginedvillage.com/

 ANDERSON, MCGINTY, WEBSTER, WARD, AND FISHER

 DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED 14TH MAY

Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward, and Fisher are a swarthy batch of young cronies made up from the parts of Dundee’s recent hot bands - The Law, Luva Anna and The Lost Todorovs. Their secret is a blend of enigmatic songwriters and singers thrown together into one melting pot.

Described as a breath of fresh air, both musically and in their approach to their audiences, they maintain a humour and humility that many bands just cannot harness. The line up of instrumentation they employ hints at the unusual sound they have harnessed – bazooki, mandolin, harmonium, double bass, autoharp – the list goes on. Folk, hip-hop, rock and country are not genre’s that are normally associated with just one band.

Since August 2011, they have been quietly refining their live set and preparing their eponymous debut album release. Recorded almost completely live in just 3 days it is the first release mixed at the brand new Gardyne Studios in Dundee by Mike Brown. The album was launched in spectacular style with a groundbreaking multimedia gig at the Gardyne Theatre in Dundee on Saturday the 28^th of January.

 http://www.facebook.com/AndersonMcGintyWebsterWardandFisher

New album details from GOJIRA

GOJIRA ANNOUNCE THE TITLE OF THEIR NEW ALBUM...

 

 French metal goliaths GOJIRA, one of the most talked about and beloved extreme bands of the last five years, have revealed L'Enfant Sauvage as the title of their stunning Roadrunner Records debut and long-awaited fifth studio album. The title translates to "The Wild Child". Featuring 11 tracks of mind-bending metal, fans can get their paws on the album from June 25, in store and digitally. Recorded at Spin Studios in New York, the album is produced by Josh Wilbur (Lamb Of God).

"When you become a musician, you don't have a boss telling you what to do so you have to be very responsible," singer/guitarist/songwriter Joe Duplantier says, shedding a little light on the title and its meaning. "With freedom comes responsibility so I'm asking myself, 'What is freedom? What does it mean to me?' L'Enfant Sauvage reflects on that. There's no answer though. There's just life and questions".

Full details of a special edition / collector's package of L'Enfant Sauvage will be revealed shortly. The standard CD track listing for L'Enfant Sauvage is as follows:

1. Explosia
2. L’Enfant Sauvage
3. The Axe
4. Liquid Fire
5. The Wild Healer
6. Planned Obsolescence
7. Mouth Of Kala
8. The Gift Of Guilt
9. Pain Is A Master
10. Born In Winter
11. The Fall

First single and title track, L’Enfant Sauvage, will be unleashed digitally on April 29.

Fresh from Australia’s Soundwave 2012 tour, the band next embark on European Sonisphere dates and 2 shows in Dublin on July 3 and 4 with MASTODON.

They have also revealed a video on their YouTube channel showing the recording of the upcoming album.

Wolfcrusher Interview

Mudkiss interview with Dan Mucs and Gary Harkin of Wolfcrusher, another absolutely amazing  metal band out of Manchester.

http://www.mudkiss.com/wolfcrusherinterview.htm

New RUSH album - "CLOCKWORK ANGELS"

RUSH RETURNS WITH 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' + NEW SINGLE “HEADLONG FLIGHT” LANDS AT ROCK RADIO ON APRIL 19TH... 

 

Legendary rock band RUSH have unveiled details of its highly anticipated, new album, 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS'. This is the renowned trio’s first new collection of original material in over five years and their first studio release via Anthem/Roadrunner Records. 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS', the band’s 20th studio album, will be released in the UK on June 11th.

In the UK, the album will be released on June 11th in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form – providing a unique collectible package containing the 12 track studio album alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack cover will also feature brand new exclusive artwork from RUSH’s longtime collaborator Hugh Syme (who also designed the Clockwork Angels artwork). The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts including a limited edition Clockwork Angels keyring & artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailer. The Fan Pack is available for pre-order now at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/rush, where all early bird orders will receive a personalised RUSH poster. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the RUSH album will follow through Roadrunner Records on July 9th 2012.

The recording of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' began in April 2010 with Grammy Award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones) – who also collaborated with the band on their last studio album, 2007’s 'SNAKES & ARROWS'. RUSH co-produced both records. The first two songs, “Caravan” and “BU2B” were completed during that first session at Nashville’s Blackbird studios and performed nightly during the wildly successful Time Machine Tour, which ran from June 2010 to June 2011. Work on 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' resumed in the fall of 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto after the tour’s finale, with additional strings (arranged by David Campbell) recorded at Hollywood’s Ocean Way Studios earlier this year. Lyrically, 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' chronicles a young man’s quest across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams. The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, an exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. The novelization of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' is being written by science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson in collaboration with RUSH drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

RUSH will herald the release of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' with a new single “Headlong Flight” landing at rock radio on April 19th. Details of a full-scale North American tour to support the new album will be announced shortly.

RUSH - 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' tracklist:

1. Caravan
2. BU2B
3. Clockwork Angels
4. The Anarchist
5. Carnies
6. Halo Effect
7. Seven Cities Of Gold
8. The Wreckers
9. Headlong Flight
10. BU2B2
11. Wish Them Well
12. The Garden

Talena Cuthbert - Solo Material

Along with her lead singer role in Manchester melodic metal outfit Gone Til Winter, Talena Cuthbert has made outstanding solo material entitled "Speaking in Tongues" available to stream via her Soundcloud profile. 

Talena's outstanding vocal talents, incoporated within melodic, atmospheric compositions, allows the listener to drift slowly into a netherworld of musical bliss.

Relax and enjoy.

   



http://soundcloud.com/talena-cuthbert/sets/speaking-in-tongues/

The Miserable Rich - True Love

Always great to hear the story behind a song  and here James De Malplaquet of The Miserable Rich  explains the influence behind the beautiful "True Love," available as a free download at their  Soundcloud page which also includes a personal reference from Tom Robinson.

My dad tells me he doesn’t believe in ghosts. Somewhat confusingly however, he also says he’s heard one.
When he was in the army, stationed in France as a military musician and stretcher-bearer, he was once stationed at a chateau not far from the front. It seems the old castle was haunted and many of the soldiers reported seeing apparitions of ladies in medieval garb, walking along the halls then turning to walk through a wall that hadn’t been there in times of yore.
One night my dad, a young man then and a bit of a lightweight when it came to alcohol, went out on leave to a bar in town with the guys he was billeted with. I’ve never known him to be a big drinker, and it seems back then he was just the same, quickly getting squiffy and deciding to stumble back to the digs.
He and two other guys were sharing a turret room on the side of the chateau, with access via some perilous winding stone steps which wound around the outer wall. He fell asleep quickly, and was woken sometime later by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs towards the room. They stopped outside and there were three soft knocks on the door.
Thinking it was his roommates, he shouted that the door wasn’t locked, feeling too tired and tipsy to get up and go to the door. After a couple minutes, to his surprise he heard the footsteps continue up past the door, winding up to the roof. They crossed the roof deliberately and stopped.
My father panicked. He thought his roommates had got so drunk they’d somehow missed the room and toppled off the roof. He jumped out of bed, ran up to the roof and looked around.
Nothing.
Running downstairs to the sentry post, he raised the alarm, and a search party bearing torches went all around the grounds, looking for someone who had fallen from the roof in a drunken haze. While this was happening, the roommates returned from the bar in town, drunk, confused but very much alive and wondering what all the fuss was about. They had not been back to the barracks all night.
The mystery went unexplained for several days, and the reputation of the castle and the strange things that had been witnessed there saved my young pa from the worst of the teasing about ‘hearing things in the night’.
As he recounted the story in the same local bar in town later that week, an old man listened intently, nodding sagely to himself at each new detail. When the story was told, he rose from his seat and cleared his throat.
He told the young British soldiers, in near-faultless English, the chateau’s tragic love story. It seems the turret bedroom was once occupied by the beautiful daughter of the local baron. She fell in love with a poor young peasant neighbour, and planned to run away with him.
The night of the planned eloping, her father found the love letters and locked her away, deep inside the castle. Her lover came to her room that night, knocked three times on the door, but heard no reply.
Night after night he returned. Night after night he was disappointed, until one night he went past the room, crossed the roof and threw himself from the ramparts. Ever since, he returns on the night of his death, retracing his steps, vowing his undying love, and disappointed once more, throws himself back to his doom. 

Hopefully now enraptured by the gorgeous sounds and vocals of The Miserable Rich, check out the latest album "Miss You in the Days" and head out to one of the forthcoming UK dates commencing next week on April 17th in London. 

Me, I'll be at The Deaf Institute in Manchester on Friday the 20th.

The Amazing Manchester Metal Scene- 2012 Update

After the Mudkiss Manchester  Metal Interviews last year, 2012 began and continues to be another important and prolific year for the rejuvenated Manchester metal scene.  SPIRES are recording their new limited edition acoustic EP "Lucid Abstractions" prior to working on their highly anticipated second album, follow up to the truly breathtaking "Spiral of Ascension" later in the year.   

Spires Vocalist/guitarist Paul Sadler commented "we have a suitably pretentious title: 'Lucid Abstractions'. It's gonna be 5 tracks, which is 4 brand new, and an acoustic version of Spiral Of Ascension from the debut album. 

It's gonna be purely acoustic, with prominent use of cello, female vocals and percussion. The EP will have an ethereal, dream-like quality that I think our fans will appreciate as a natural progression from some of the lighter moments from 'Spiral...'.  Artwork will be by Daniella Morrison (who previously did the cover art for ‘Spiral...’)”.

Latest news on the EP, hot off the Paul Sadler / Spires press.  

Update for you all, as I realise we've been a bit quiet on that front recently. Rest assured we've been mind bogglingly busy getting it all together, and it's sounding absolutely great! All guitars and bass are done, some vocals done, just 3 drum tracks to do, then cello, bits and bobs and finishing vocals. The original release estimate of late April is looking unlikely, but should be some point in May (predictable!).

Spires recently visited Ireland for a mini tour last month with good mates BETRAEUS, who released their debut "Towards the Sun" at the end of last year to critical acclaim. Betraeus playing the following dates in May with Scar Symmetry and Xerath.

Check out the recent Mudkiss Interview with Spires.

http://www.mudkiss.com/spiresinterview.htm



You can catch the lads at Grand Central in Manchester on April 26th with Core of Nation and Fantasist supporting ALIASES (ex Sikth) at their hometown Moho Live show in the city on May 26th along with the equally brilliant melodic death metallers NOT ABOVE EVIL and they will also appear at S.O.S Festival in July for an acoustic set.

For your NOT ABOVE EVIL fix, head to their Bandcamp page for a run through of second album "The Transcendental Signified" released last September. 

WOLFCRUSHER, who have also undertaken a mini tour outside the confines of the city, are currently working on new material for album number two. The intelligent money is on a couple of new tracks appearing before too long. I met Dan Mucs and Gary Harkin from the band for an interview on behalf of Mudkiss  http://www.mudkiss.com/wolfcrusherinterview.htm and they play The Riverside in Selby on May 20th.

Talking of Gary Harkin, his Blues Rock project Ten Foot Wizard which also includes Dan Mucs on guitar, are close to releasing their debut album. Having only played two gigs in 2011, they've surpassed that figure already this year, with hopefully many more to come.

  

Female fronted INCASSUM are currently in Gracieland studio recording their debut album, hopefully released by the Summer.  They also appear at the S.O.S festival on July 22nd, but prior to that accompany FOREVER NEVER on a couple of dates from their forthcoming tour including June 2nd at Moho Live where Mudkiss will be accosting the band for an interview before reviewing the gig.  


 


















THU 24th MAY - DERBY - THE OLD BELL + Sworn To Oath + locals TBC
FRI 25th MAY - LIVERPOOL - THE KRAZYHOUSE + Sworn To Oath + Incassum + Annular 18+ KROSSFIRE CLUB NIGHT
SAT 26th MAY - ALDERSHOT - THE WEST END CENTRE + Orestea + Fires Of Tartarus - 14+
WED 30th MAY - LONDON - CAMDEN BARFLY + Sworn To Oath + Orestea 14+
THU 31st MAY - MARGATE - THE WESTCOAST BAR + Sworn To Oath + Orestea + Callous + Crashgate.
FRI 1st JUN - BARROW IN FURNESS - SANCTUARY + Sworn To Oath + locals TBC
SAT 2nd JUN - MANCHESTER - MOHO LIVE + Sworn To Oath + Incassum + Dirty Habit 16+
  
Also playing the Moho date on June 2nd, another Dan Mucs from Wolfcrusher project, DIRTY HABIT another outfit keen to stress the heavier end of music isn't confined to the male of the species, so get down there early. If you can't make it, there's still a couple more chances to catch Dirty Habit at The Barcelona Bar in Liverpool on April 28th or The Cockpit in Leeds on May 12th.

 GONE TIL WINTER  are another outfit playing S.O.S Festival who fly the flag for females in metal, not quite as rare an occurence as you might think. Currently working on a new album "Hiding from the Sun" due this Summer, they have a series of gigs throughout May

Saturday 5th | MOCKFEST II | Castlesands, Manchester
Thursday 10th | The Snooty Fox, Wakefield (with Awaker)
Friday 11th | The Dove & Rainbow, Sheffield (with Awaker)
Sunday 13th | The Hollywood & Vine, Hull (with Awaker)
Thursday 17th | The Moon and Sixpence, Glossop
Saturday 19th | The Star & Garter, Burton-Upon-Trent (with Awaker)
Sunday 20th | The Green Star, Stoke-On-Trent (with Awaker)
Thursday 31st | Grand Central, Manchester (with Awaker)

Lead vocalist Talena Cuthbert has just released new solo material, a four track EP "Speaking in Tongues" available to stream via her Soundcloud page.

While perhaps not from Manchester, instead just down the road in Stoke, SWORN TO OATH are also creating big waves on the extreme scene and spending a lot of time further North, don't miss them  on the majority of the Forever Never dates and there's also a rumour the guys will be accompanying WOLFCRUSHER on more dates in May to be announced.

The Manchester metal scene is a real hot bed of amazing talent at present and while the purists will throw names like I-DEF-I and PROFANE into the mix as perfectly righteous examples metal is far from new to the North West, no one can surely doubt there's a real impetus behind a burgeoning scence, destined to become even bigger as the extreme seeds continue to be sown, blossoming in the U.K's rainy city.

And lest I forget the irony of my situation, current exposure to Manchester Metal began via a band from London, the mighty TALANAS after their extrodinary album "The Waspkeeper" dropped via Mudkiss in May last year and the quartet appeared at The Witchwood in Ashton-Under-Lyne with Spires and Incassum in support.  For this reason, I'm making Talanas honourary Mancunians for the day and here's an interview with the guys.  They are currently working on the follow up to "The Waspkeeper."

http://www.mudkiss.com/talanasinterview.htm
  

   

2:54 Live review

Great gig down at The Deaf Institute in Manchester on Wednesday night with 2:54 on top form supported by Palma Violets.

http://www.mudkiss.com/254livethedeafinstitute.htm#.T34IFjHnANM.facebook