Ryan Adams, Palladium 30/04/2012

“This song’s for those that came to see The Wizard of Oz and are thoroughly fucking confused”, Ryan Adams teased before heading into a hearty rendition of Ashes and Fire, the second song of his latest London set. His fans are used to his strangely endearing antics; often arriving on stage pissed out of his mind, and renowned for tweeting pictures of his beloved cat. Its fitting then, that the Palladium, currently home to the whimsical musical was the venue of choice for the alt rock enigma’s second night in London.  Promising to “make everyone depressed,” Adams constantly joked about his knack for creating soul destroyingly beautiful songs, whilst pushing through tuning troubles to give a stripped back acoustic set that proves low maintenance is, and always will be, the most authentic way to deliver country.

Arriving on stage alone, and with only one sound guy behind a small desk visible on the right of the stage and a tuning machine at his feet, Adams barley spoke before launching into the vocal based “Oh My Sweet Carolina”. His Jacksonville twang as strong as ever as he crooned his way through the ballad and commanded the immediate silence from an audience of dedicated followers; many of which had already seen him the week before.  Highlights from latest album included “Dirty Rain’” and “Chains Of Love”; stylistically similar to 2000’s Heartbreaker, the tracks simmered perfectly through the acoustics in the loft old theatre. Whilst old favourites “My Winding Wheel” and “English Girls Approximately” found new depth in the intense simplicity of the one-man show.

Not that it was all tears and sorrow though, “this one’s about going out and grabbing some boobs”, Adam’s exclaimed before heading into the harmonica drenched Firecracker; lyrics “maybe be your baby tonight,” ringing through the air to prove the guy can have some fun when he chooses. Later, a piano backed “ballad” about the aforementioned cat had the audience in a state of, somewhat confused, amusement. He’s weird, yes. He’s brilliant, definite yes. “Lucky Now”, lead single from Dirty Rain, showcased the control Adam’s enjoys over his vocal range, quivering beautifully over lines “Are we really who used to be”.

Whilst set closer “Come pick me Up”, reminded of his worth for creating inherently authentic balladry. Encore cover of Bob Mould’s “Black Sheets of Rain”, was somewhat of a surprising end to the career spanning show, but after a whopping two hour long set, Adam’s left the stage amidst roars from his cult-like follower; probably to go ring his cat or something.

Q. Originally from Athlete, Carey met the other band members when he was 14 and they started performing together back in 1999. We wondered what it felt like to now be performing on his own?

“Strange, vulnerable. I played some solo stuff to a few people then it snowballed from there. My new project has been released to the press as ‘something new’ as I wanted to keep this new project very separate from my work with Athlete. And The decision making process is simpler because I only have me to ask!”

Q. Your eagerly awaited début album is due out on 11^thJune. Can you tell us more about it?

“Stickers is the name of the album. The name of the band ‘Boxes’ came about because I felt that people were pigeon holed, put into boxes by other people. The stickers on boxes representing the way people were labelled.”

Q. Can you tell us who collaborated with you on the album, and how did you start?

“Richie Mills the drummer did some stuff. My friend Steve did the keyboards on Throw Your Stones. Other friends came in and did strings, so every pulled together.”

Q. How does your faith influence your music?

“My dad’s a Minister and both my sisters run churches. I’m the black sheep of the family. Faith is massively important generally in my family.”

As we chatted he said that he sees himself as a ‘seeker’.

It was only a matter of time before a question about his controversial video came up. You know the one. There’s an explicit version on vimeo.com and a tamed down version on You tube.

Q. How do you feel about the complete (full) version of the video for ‘Silent Alarm’?

“A lot of people were upset although I think it’s a brilliant video. It’s supposed to be a life affirming moment, but the whole concept is supposed to be awful and if it leaves you feeling hurt and upset then it’s meant to. Its about a relationship that’s gone wrong, but one person doesn’t know it has.”

He goes on to say that he’s surprised people have been offended by the ‘nipple count’ rather than either the affair itself, or the murders at the end.

“But I wouldn’t have done it any differently.” and then he jokes and reminds us that it wasn’t him in the love scenes in the video.

Q. My First Tooth have supported Athlete and now Boxes. What’s the relationship and how did you meet up?

“We have became friends with them, they’re a good band and I was trying to find someone who could tour with us, so I asked Sophie if she could, then the rest of the band were available as the supporting band, so they’ve come with me for most of the tour.”

Q. Athlete are replacing The Levellers at Lake Fest on 19^th May, due to their violinist having surgery, can you tell us more and is this your only festival this summer?

“I’m a fair weather festival goer – I’ll be going for the day, then going home. We’re doing a couple of other small festivals (he didn’t say which ones) its simply having the time together to rehearse – fitting it in is difficult as we all have other commitments.”

Q. What’s your favourite gig so far?

“Twickenham when we played with U2. It was my boyhood dream to play there, it was quite a moment. Can you imagine having 80,000 people singing ‘Wires’ back to you? It was amazing!”

Q. Which stage do you dream of walking on to?

“Either the Red Rock USA or the Hollywood Bowl? Or Glasto. Playing at the Shepherds Bush Empire would make me happy.”

Q. Which song reminds you of a defining moment in your life?

“It was the first song on Come On Feel the Illinois, ‘Concerning the UFO sigting Near Highland, Illinois’ written and composed by Sufjan Stevens. It’s an instrumental piece it reminds me of Portland, Oregon, the Little Miss Sunshine film and the Sundance Film Festival and being there with friends, when I play it I go back there instantly and it feels good.”

Q. What is it with you and whiskey and how on earth did you get your own label?

“I was invited to be a judge at a whisky tasting, and then afterwards we decided to produce a blended malt, it will be available for purchase some time in June.”

Q. How many keyboards are you going to take apart?

“No more! I have two, I thought it would be really interesting and fun to take them apart and re-use them. It wasn’t, and I won’t be doing it again!”

Q. What’s your new fire trick with ‘Orange Peel’?

“At Leeds after the gig, we went out for drinks. In the bar we went to, the bar person did this thing where she squeezed the orange peel and set light to the oil that came out, then rubbed the edge of the glass for flavour. I didn’t like the drink, but I had to learn how to set fire to the zest!”

Q. Which do you prefer – Twitter or Facebook?

“Twitter because I’m lazy.”

Q. Tell us a unique fact about yourself?

He told us that he used to play the church organ, finished all the grade books.

And then… after a long pause… he laughed…

“I once accidentally worked for a porn company. I’d just graduated and needed some money so I took some agency work for £10 hour. I hated it but agreed to go back for another week for £13 an hour. I was eventually there for around a month. I worked on the 2^ndand 4^th floors. It was only when he went to use a copier on the 3^rd floor that I found a load of negatives under the copier and realised I was working for a porn company – another member of staff told me it was one of Europe’s biggest distributors… So I left!”

Q. Any last words?

“Goodbye.”

>Interview: Shirley Procter and Amanda J Window

Boxes, The Ruby Lounge, 1st May 2012

Carey and Sophie (My First Tooth) arrive on stage shortly after 10pm. Sophie has kindly offered not only to support the Boxes tour, but also to help Carey out on Keyboards.

The stage has a homely set up. The Ruby Lounge is dimly lit at the best of times and tonight is no exception. Tonight the band have brought their own lighting rig in the form of 1960’s style living room lamps. On the keyboards is a small one, the sort you’d find in a charity store, behind Carey is a tall standard lamp, and three 1980’s solidly built, TV’s are the focal point on the stage, and there’s three laptops strategically placed on stage too, ready for treat our ears to a variety of mystical sounds.

Carey has two mics, making photography difficult, but the effect works and we hear his vocals perfectly in each and every song. The tunes are a mixture of synthetically synthesized pop and something you can tap your toes to. The lyrics are memorable, particularly the catchy lyrics in Don’t look Down and the haunting words in Silent Alarm.

You can sense that Carey has put all his heart and soul into the tunes, playing with them, mixing them between keyboards and laptops and back again. Each song is a creative masterpiece to the ears, not overly loud and booming like some solo artists as they try to compensate for not being surrounded by a band. And there’s a gentleness in his voice as he hits all the right notes and performs what can only be described as an excellent solo performance.

I feel that the audience wanted more, as the evening comes to an end and Carey thanks his guests. There’s no encore, instead Carey busies himself in packing his laptops away ready for the four hour drive home.

If you haven’t already had a listen to Carey’s solo work – then follow the link and give your ears a treat: http://www.myspace.com/boxesclever

Set List:

One

Don’t Look Down

Wake Up, Wake Up,

Stickers

Silent Alarm

Red Skies

Dominoes

I Can’t Imagine

Throw Your Stones

>Words & Photo: Amanda J Window

The Wedgewood Rooms

Andrew Foster:

I can imagine that starting the night can be a challenge, nerves and emotions run high before coming out on stage. Andrew manages to be composed and more than prepared to start tonight with an array of amazing songs that gain the crowds interest and admiration.

Standing, centre stage at the Wedgewood Rooms can make the stage look empty but the lighting and his confidence plays to Andrew’s advantage as he fills the Wedgewood Rooms with his stunning melodies. He even treats the audience to a few songs which are relatively new, and rounds off the first act in the same manner, confidence and awe that he came on stage with.

Dan Shears:

Dan and Charlene have been touring together and like Andrew he enters the stage with an abundance of confidence and performs admirably.

His pleasant voice, the notes he can produce and hold and the feel (or emotion if you would like) of the songs is just jaw dropping. The whole performance could be likened to a serenade, with long gentle vocals and meaningful songs.

An odd highlight to his set was when he asked the sound desk to make him sound a little bit ‘wet’. Which started a string of introductions to the same song, all of which the relaxed and enveloped crowd enjoyed.

Charlene Soraia:

Coming on stage after 2 equally stunning and well performed acts must be an amazing feeling, the crowd are waiting patiently and welcome Charlene to the Wedgewood Rooms in a warm and charming manner.

The stage lighting has been good throughout and while Charlene performs you can see why it has been setup, the visual and audible impact of the performance bounce off each other and produce a well rounded and complete set.

With what appears to be a natural talent to engage the crowd, Charlene jumps to anecdotes while between songs. Giving the crowd an amazing experience that appears well rounded and meticulously planned. Some highlights from these anecdotes include questions that she was previously asked on tour and allowing the audience to question her on stage.

She leaves the well known cover of ‘Wherever you will go’ until the end, with a hugely impressive lighting setup behind to highlight just her on stage and not be able to see to far behind he location on the stage.

If the whole performance was to be summarised in 2 words, and this has been a tough task, it would have to be awe inspiring.

This is down to the talent to hit the right notes, at the right time and making me wonder just how the sounds were produced. It was an amazing performance to watch live.

After the music I had the chance to ask Andrew Foster a few questions.

How did you find tonights performance?

Alright, the crowd were engaging and had a lot of response from the crowd. I really enjoyed it.

Was it enjoyable to support Charlene?

Yes, me and Charlene have done a few gigs together. It is always a pleasure to play with Charlene.

Is there anyone you wish you could support?

Ryan Adams, Neil Young or Scott Matthews.

Any advice for the budding musicians?

Its difficult at the moment, less people coming to live music and especially so for unheard artists. Just keep going, keep on, the moment you lose momentum it’s over. Ultimately enjoy it, thats the important bit.

Whats your most memorable experience on stage?

Weirdest, on the bill to support McFly and found the huge teenage fan base a different experience.

Any exciting news for the near future?

 I have a tour in the summer, a few festivals and another 2 EPs to be release. Check the website for full details:

http://andrewfostermusic.blogspot.co.uk/

Interview with Dan

Firstly, can you give us a brief history of Bastille?

I’ve been writing songs for a few years and it got to a point where I had a few that I was really happy with which I had been writing and recording by myself at home and I started working with a friend of mine called Mark who is a producer. We started co-producing some of the songs that I had written; taking things that I had recorded and rerecording bits here and there and that became the basis of the Bastille songs. I put some up online at the very end of 2010 and got together with these guys and we started rehearsing all of the songs last year. We spent a lot of time recording and gigging and that’s it really. [I feel like] for Bastille it started in my bedroom and online; I chose to put some stuff up online with just the logo and some songs and see what reaction they got.

Do you think it’s a good idea to start off doing it online so that you can reach more people?

Yeah, I think if you’re not going to put your music online then you’re more than an idiot; there’s no option really.

You’ve got quite a unique sound; could you compare yourself to anyone else around at the moment?

I don’t know… I’m sure I steal influences from all over the place. I can’t really think of someone or another band that are doing exactly what we’re doing at the moment; I’m sure that’s just because I don’t know who they are! I guess my influences come from all over the place; I probably hear them more in my songs than anyone else. I guess there’s singer-songwriter stuff in there, band stuff, indie stuff, quite electronic stuff as well and quite a lot of hip-hop production and electronic production so it’s kind of a massive mish-mash for me. What will hold [the music] together will hopefully be the songs and the vocal and all that kind of stuff.

So what artists do you like and listen to?

I really like interesting production, harmonies and good songs; people like Bon Iver, who has a very distinctive sound but experiments within it and someone like Antony & The Johnsons who works with his incredibly unique voice. But also, when I started a couple of years ago with Bastille, I was listening to loads of Brooklyn bands like Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer and Grizzly Bear but also someone like Kanye West; putting to one side his rap and what he raps about his albums and the production of them and the way that they’re produced. He works with a team of people and I think that’s something that would be good to aspire to; not being restrained by having to fit into a sound.

So why should people listen to your music or come and see you live?

I guess live we’ve been quite lucky; playing to crowds of people that know some of our songs and can  be quite into it which is cool. It’s always quite energetic and I jump around like a bit of an idiot on stage; the only dance move that I really know is the jumping up and down one so I’m basically pogoing for half an hour non-stop. So maybe that’s a reason to come… just to watch me embarrass myself. In terms of listening to the songs hopefully they are songs that people can get into and remember and it’s on the level of accessible but hopefully it’s got a bit more depth to it. When it comes to writing songs I’m very self-critical; the people that rise up out of each genre and do really well, be it in folk or even rappers and hip-hop, their choruses are so important, the hooks are so important… alongside everything else. So I try to make the songs as memorable as possible, not in a cynical way but because that’s what I love in other songs.

You’re on quite a big tour at the moment; how has that been so for?

It’s been pretty fun; this is day 7 I think. I’m still finding it bizarre going to different cities and there being people there who have heard our songs and want to come and pay to stand in a dark room for an hour listening to us try and sing!

You’re playing the Scala in London soon; are you looking forward to playing there?

Yeah, that for me… if we were supporting a band at the Scala I’d be over the moon. I’m finding it mildly inconceivable that we’re actually going to play the Scala and that we’re headlining and that people are buying tickets; it’s crazy so that should be good. I’m actually really excited about tonight [Southampton] because we’re either sold out or a couple away from selling out so there should hopefully be some people here.

So what are your aspirations for the band; what have you got planned for the future?

It would be nice to just be able to get our first album out, keep making albums, touring and grow steadily. I just want to keep making songs I think. From very recently this has become our job and even if it only lasts for a year that will be absolutely amazing. So all I or any of us really want is just for it to be our job for a while longer.

You’ve got an EP out called Overjoyed can you tell us a bit more about it?

It’s based around the song Overjoyed so that’s on there, there’s another song called Sleepsong which we’re putting out a video out for (http://youtu.be/2cuR_Vi6vas) and then we’ve got a bunch of remixes on there by various bands including Yeasayer who are one of my favourite bands so it’s absolutely mental that they did a remix of our song.

Ok I think that’s all we’ve got time for thanks very much for your time.

Thank you!

You can get a free download of ‘Other People’s Heartache’ which is a compilation of seven cover songs by Bastille from here: http://www.otherpeoplesheartache.com/

Their EP ‘Overjoyed’ is out now and can be obtained through iTunes or as a physical copy from here: https://store.digitalstores.co.uk/bastille/

http://bastillebastille.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bastilleuk

http://www.youtube.com/user/BASTILLEvideos

Interview conducted by Kelly Burgess on 27/04/12 at The Joiners in Southampton and is edited at the interviewer’s discretion.

Also, find our interview with Bastille here, ohh yeah.

I’m going to go ahead and review the two support acts this evening together; not because I’m lazy but because I feel much the same way about the both of them. The first act is Tom Biggs who is a solo singer-songwriter that plays acoustic guitar and the second act is Bryony Fry; also a solo singer-songwriter that plays acoustic guitar.

Both artists put on a good performance and their songs are well written; they can both play very well and seem to please the crowd equally but I feel like that is where it ends. These days there are so many acts like these two and therefore you need to be something really special to stand out and be noticed and these two just don’t seem to have that; though Tom possesses vocals similar to those from the lead singer of Mumford & Sons – gravely with some power behind them and Bryony has a lovely tonal quality. Unfortunately the sheer number of acts such as these means that they may well get stuck opening and supporting other bands that, however, may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Tom Biggs: http://tomtaylorbiggs.com/

Bryony Fry: http://www.myspace.com/bryonyfrymusic

Bastille

Now it’s time for the band that everyone has come to see; Bastille. The band is four young lads including a drummer, a bassist, a keyboard/synth player and the lead singer. I was lucky enough to be able to sit in for a bit of the sound check from which I found myself already singing some of their songs; their melodic dance/pop/indie sound is a perfect mix for memorable songs. It’s difficult to compare this band to anyone else around at the moment; their sound is so varied in its influences. The band, being the brain child of the lead singer, shouldn’t fool you into thinking the rest of the band are disposable members, the bass lines are brilliant accompanied by the mixture of a live and electronic drum kit which provides the fantastic beat all held together with the great melodies of the keys and synth. All four members also provide some incredible vocal harmonies. Highlight songs of the evening for me include a new song entitled ‘Bad Blood’ which has a fantastically catchy chorus, a slower song called ‘Oblivion’ which has a gentle, sweeping pace and is a beautiful song in general and a couple of tracks from their Covers CD which is entitled ‘Other People’s Heartache’ (A download of which is available for free from here: http://www.otherpeoplesheartache.com/).

The lead singer is energetic and there’s some great crowd participation going on for ‘Pompeii’; it’s clear that there is a lot of love for this band and I can see why. Each song sounds amazing, there are some incredibly catchy choruses and infectious beats and melodies all backed up by great signwriting and wonderful vocal harmonies.

Overall I really enjoyed the evening and I think I may have found a new band to love. I encourage you to check them out for yourselves in the usual places before they become massive:

https://www.facebook.com/bastilleuk

https://twitter.com/#!/BASTILLEdan

http://bastillebastille.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/BASTILLEvideos

Bastille have an EP called ‘Overjoyed’ out which is available as a physical release here: https://store.digitalstores.co.uk/bastille/ and as a download from iTunes.

Review by Kelly Burgess

Images courtesy of Ben Parslow