Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is one of the best kept secrets of rock and roll. Inadequately described as a “psychedelic rock outfit”, the group provides some of the most unusual, complex and interesting music of today.
Dedicated fans of course will need no introduction; Porcupine Tree has been around since 1987. Founded by Steven Wilson in Hemel Hempstead, the band got its roots from the ambient sounds of groups such as Tangarine Dream and Neu!
As a result, Porcupine Tree became album oriented, creating conceptual records like those of their musical heroes, with interwoven tracks and a concentration on musical atmosphere. Up the Downstair was described by Melody Maker in 1993 as a “psychedelic masterpiece…one of the albums of the year.” Famous for their layered symphonic sounds of masterpieces like Arriving Somewhere But Not Here from the 2005 album, Deadwing, the band is also known for the superb musicianship of Wilson, Wesley’s rhythm guitar and backing vocals and Richard Barbieri’s keyboards.
Porcupine Tree’s most successful single is Waiting which entered all UK indie charts, but Radioactive Toy from the album On the Sunday of Life remains a favourite with the cognoscenti and a crowd pleaser at live performances. The mixture of instrumental and songs blends hard rock with melodies and dreamy landscapes and has been compared to the progressive sounds of one of Porcupine Tree’s mentors, Pink Floyd. Performances include a light show, and screens with film projections with rapidly changing images, a result of the band’s work with Danish filmmaker Lass Hoile.
All in all, a performance by Porcupine, in all its melancholic and moody glory, exemplifies a description by Steven Wilson; “the saddest music is also the most beautiful.” We would thoroughly recommend that you get tickets for this performance from one of the coolest and most underrated bands of today.
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Motorhead
One of the – if not the – defining metal band, Motorhead has been playing heavy metal, thrash and speed metal or simply rock’n’roll, all over the world since the 70s, with frontman, Lemmy becoming a national institution. Tickets are available for their series of gigs across the UK, taking in cities like Manchester, Leeds, Southend and Glasgow and London.
With a truly impressive back catalogue and tremendous output, Motorhead is one of the hardest working outfits around undertaking a gruelling list of tours across Europe and the US every year since 1975; they are a band that deserves success and success they have – in bucketloads.
Lemmy was famously fired from space-rock outfit, Hawkwind in 1975 which prompted him to set up his own rock band. He was originally going to call it Bastard but was advised that such a moniker might preclude him from Top of the Pops. Around about that time, he described his aim which was to; “concentrate on very basic music: loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speedfreak rock n roll… it will be so dirty that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die.” Probably remains the best description of Mot?rhead’s music to this day.
The Overkill album recorded with Bronze records represented the band’s first main breakthrough with the follow up Bomber, complete with the legendary Bomber lighting rig on tours. A quick succession of classics followed and the No Sleep At All album became a benchmark for all metal bands with the 1916 album nominated for a Grammy. As a huge fan base developed across Europe and America, singles like The Ace of Spades became Motorhead’s defining sound as a steady flow of albums continued to be churned out to the delight of fans. In 2005, the same year that Motorhead played an amazing 20 festivals, a 30th anniversary show at Hammersmith Apollo took place.
A live performance from the band is a true event; expect walls of amps, a superb set with classics, newer material and surprisingly varied songs, bleeding eardrums and Lemmy, the gravel-voiced legend presiding over all.
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lost prophets
Providing bouncy, catchy but slick fun, the Welsh rockers are on tour again and promise to provide a sizzling performance at London’s The Forum on 22nd October.
The good looking crew have been playing since 1997 with their first album Thefakesoundofprogress being released in less than two weeks for the princely sum of £4,000 and put them firmly on the map as an alt-rock band with nu-metal and grunge credentials.
The band takes many influences from 80s pop culture and pay homage to bands like Duran, Duran and New Order. A second album, Start Something sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Liberation Transmission released in 2006 saw the band adopt a more contemporary sound and since then the boys have tantalised fans with hints about the anticipated fourth album, Betrayal, due for release in January 2010. Vocalist Ian Watkins promises that it will be “nastier” and “darker” than other albums and describes it as “classy rock, sorta heavy without sounding like bad metal but catchy as feck and also a little more grown up.”
With a hectic schedule of appearances at rock festivals including Download, Reading and the V festival, Lostprophets are famed for their awesome live performances headed by energetic front man, Ian who co-ordinates the crowd into a frenzy of moshing.
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Paul Carrack
The versatile vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter and former front man of Mike & the Mechanics, Paul Carrack is appearing at a load of venues in a location near you.
With his impressive back catalogue of songs featuring such iconic singles as Ace’s How Long and Squeeze’s Tempted, the list of other bands Paul has played in makes striking reading. Over the years, he has worked with Roxy Music, Elton John and Roger Waters, replaced Jools Holland in Squeeze and played as a session musician for The Smiths and The Pretenders. Joining Mike & the Mechanics in 1985, Paul sang in their 1985 hit, Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) and featured in the number one US hit The Living Years. He also established a solo career with his album, One Good Reason, charting at number 9 in the Billboard charts.
His performance at the 1990 live stage show of The Wall Live in Berlin in 1990 was one of the many high points of his career. Now alternating a successful solo profession with working as a session musician and songwriter, Paul tours extensively and has opened for bands like Supertramp with covers of his songs being performed by top artists such as The Eagles. His amazing voice and stage presence is legendary and he receives rave reviews on a regular basis. This is one concert we would recommend that you do not miss.
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ZZ Top
The veteran rockers from Texas, ZZ Top return for concerts in Europe, Wolverhampton and London. They’ve been around for 40 years but the old timers still do rock ‘n’ roll better than anyone else. With fourteen studio albums tucked under their beards and a never-ending string of hit singles, they were entered into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for their outstanding achievements in the world of music.
The trio of Billy Gibbons, lead vocals, guitar, Dusty Hill, vocals, bass, keyboards and (aptly named) Frank Beard, drums and percussion are still the original members. Not only capable of putting on a truly gritty show, they’re brilliant musicians in their own right; Cub Koda described Gibbons as “one of America’s finest blues guitarists working in the hard rock idiom…while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support.”
Beloved by bikers everywhere, ZZ Top has always milked the hells angel image wearing biker leathers and boots and sporting their trademark shades and long beards. In 1984, they declined an offer of £1 million dollars each from the Gillette Company who wanted them to shave them off for a commercial, saying, “We’re too ugly without ‘em.”
The bands inception was in 1969 in Texas where they toured for several years before opening for The Rolling Stones in Hawaii. By 1974, they had a huge following appearing at shows like the Labor Day stadium concert in Austin. Later artistic reinventions came about with the use of a synthesizer sound that resulted in their signature formula of modern electronics, fuzzy guitar and danceable beats. In 2000, expanded and re-mastered versions of the original studio albums were released with additional live tracks. In 2009 they celebrated the release of their first live concert DVD, Live From Texas with the world premiere at the Hard Rock Cafe, Houston. Now they are about to celebrate their four decades as recording artists. This is one for hell-raisers everywhere.
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Simple Minds
Tickets are now available for this iconic Scottish rock band famous throughout the 80s and 90s who are playing in venues across the country at locations including Glasgow, Belfast, London and Cardiff. With a string of critically acclaimed hits behind them ranging from their number one worldwide single, Don’t You (Forget About Me), from the soundtrack of the movie The Breakfast Club, the band has a loyal fan-base with songs that are as relevant today as they were a decade ago and the tour is likely to prove a sell-out.
Founder members Jim Kerr (vocals) and Charlie Burchill (guitar, keyboards) and drummer Mel Gaynor were initially influenced by punk music and first tracks were reminiscent of performers like Lou Reed. Though later singles came under the rock banner they always retained an anthemic element with avant-garde rhythms and experimental edge.
Once Upon a Time, released in 1985 included the massive hit singles Alive and Kicking, Sanctify Yourself and All the Things She Said and heralded in a new political phase for the band with albums like Street Fighting Years and She Moved Through the Fair released in support of the kidnap hostage Brian Keenan.
Subsequent albums were critically acclaimed and with the latest offering, Graffiti Soul flying high in the UK and European Charts, the band is currently experiencing a renaissance and continues to wow the crowds with a mix of old classics and quality new material. It’s well worth getting a ticket to see this historic band.
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The Enemy
Playing at a venue near you The Enemy receive rave reviews wherever they perform. This is a band that doesn’t pussyfoot about; headlining at Leeds, T in the Park and a major band at Glastonbury, the debut album We’ll Live and Die in These Towns in 2007 went straight to the top of the charts.
Hailing from Coventry, The Enemy has supported a host of bands, some of which they have subsequently surpassed in popularity, plus some absolute musical giants like the Rolling Stones and the Stereophonics. They were also chosen as special guests on The Oasis 2009 Stadium Tour and played six nights in a row at the London Astoria.
Representing a formidable force on the British music scene, concerts make use of a huge video screen that provides a backdrop to the high energy stage tactics. Playing in support of their new album Music for the People, there’ll be plenty of anthemic hits with lots of communal singing, swaggering stage presence and accomplishment well beyond their years with the subject matter of their songs striking a chord with many. 2009 has been a huge year for The Enemy and they look set to see it out in style.
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DragonForce
The Force is with us as DragonForce return in a succession of blistering concerts throughout the UK taking place in locations in Scotland and cities like Liverpool, Bradford, Wolverhampton and Cornwall.
One of the greatest heavy rock acts around, DragonForce is famed for its “extreme power metal” that incorporates influences from computer games, and electronic sounds.
Fronted by ZP Theart, the outfit are a romantic looking bunch with glossy locks that would put any cavalier to shame. Any DragonForce concert will involve fast-paced twin guitars and keyboards with dramatic songs inspired by heroic subjects including war, journeys and battles as phantasmagoric elements combine with larger than life, epic rock, screaming vocals, keyboard wizardry and dazzling fretboard work.
Spawned in 1999 in London, DragonForce first won its spurs with the breakthrough album of 2006, Inhuman Rampage which contained the band’s biggest hits, Operation Ground and Pound and Through the Fire and Flames. The latter track features on the game Guitar Hero lll: Legends of Rock. The 2008 single, Heroes of Our Time from the album Ultra Beatdown, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Perfomance in 2008.
As their die hard fans across the world already know, it’s well worth battling through Fire and Flames to see this outfit in action – they’re from the stuff that legends are made of.
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Electric Six
Heavy metal meets burlesque in a series of outrageous concerts taking place in December performed by the six-piece band, Electric Six.
This genre blending outfit must be seen in all their perverse, politically incorrect, bizarre and grotesque glory. With their glorious combination of disco, glam and arena rock, pop and synth, the Electric Six never cease to amuse and abuse.
Their first single Danger! High Voltage was released in 2003 when it struck a chord with the good old UK public always up for something a bit different. Sales were helped by the rumour that Jack White of The White Stripes featured on the single, a fact that the band refuses to either confirm or deny. A second single, Gay Bar, probably the most popular to date, made it to number 5 in the charts.
Often courting controversy, in 2005, Electric Six covered the Queen track, Radio Gaga releasing a video that portrayed Freddie Mercury as a ghost with a backing band of poodles. Although Queen’s guitarist, Brian May allegedly liked it, drummer, Roger Taylor professed that he was seriously “unimpressed.”
However, it’s lead singer Dick Valentine’s piercing vocals that give Electric Six its edge. His shrieking falsetto plunges every now and then into punk rock anarchy. Despite lyrics that have been described as “disaffected, angry, ironic and lustful, expressing macho flippancy and tongue in the cheek pomposity”, Dick Valentine claims that about 90 per cent of the songs are about “absolutely nothing.” Nevertheless, whilst almost every song contains references to war, nuclear and fire (one of the reasons why the latest album, Fire, gained its title) others aim to shock with controversial titles including “She’s White” and “Naked Pictures (of Your Mother).”
“I’m a man torn between vengeance and fashion,” claims Dick Valentine. Go and see Electric Six in action – you’ll be tantalised, mesmerised and outraged.
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65 Days of Static
Tour dates have been confirmed for the post-rock group, 65 Days of Static in September and November. The quartet from Sheffield is doing three gigs following the release of their live album, Escape from New York, at Digital in Brighton on 10th Sept, Manchester Academy on 17th November and Heaven in London on 18th November.
This largely instrumental group love playing live; in 2005 they complained that they had only played 91 shows in a year. Their penchant for touring means that they’ve developed a huge fan base appealing to the cognoscenti and hipper elements of the underground scene with critical praise from the musical press. In 2006 they played at the Summer Sonic festival in Japan and last year they supported The Cure on their North American tour.
With three critically acclaimed albums, The Fall of Math, One for All Time and The Destruction of Small Ideas, plus the recent live album, 65 Days of Static’s brand of music defies genres, mixing heavy progressive-guitar with live drums, keyboard and drum and word samples.
Live, their performance is riveting. Creative and atmospheric music combines with nervy, angry energy, frenetic drums and euphoria while guitar instrumentals either provide an onslaught or beautiful interludes accompanied by electric violins and melodic keyboard.
If you haven’t yet heard this highly creative band play you should do so now. Get your tickets today.