W♥M (Archive)

Triple Trouble

Read More Vintage Trouble This will be the third time Vintage Trouble will be playing Minneapolis, the first at the tiny Nether Bar and the second at Cultivate Festival 2014. Oddly enough, the Varsity Theater was not originally listed … Greg Holden The evening opened with a solid 40 minutes from Scottish folk singer-songwriter Greg Holden, who now lives in New York, with his sometimes somber, yet very self-effacing songs …

VINTAGE TROUBLE
vintagetrouble.com

Troublemakers and Boys in the Street: Vintage Trouble w/Greg Holden on tour.

One of the most exciting live bands of recent note, Los Angeles’ Vintage Trouble hits the road again, this time in promotion of their latest, 1 Hopeful Road (Blue Note Records).  The band has barely been in existence for five years, yet struts with a swagger like bands that have been around for decades.

Having just finished stints playing huge venues with the likes of The Who, Paloma Faith, and AC/DC, the band scales back to smaller venues for its own headlining tour but count on singer Ty Taylor to scale the speakers, possibly crowd surf, and otherwise be a part of the crowd.

Arrive early as well, as Scottish born/New York based singer/songwriter Greg Holden opens.  His latest, Chase the Sun (Warner Bros Records) contains the effervescent single, ‘Boys in the Street’ that’s receiving local airplay, and Holden is also the co-writer of Philip Phillips’ ‘Home’, which ruled the airwaves in 2013.

Greg Holden tour dates:

09/12/15 Minneapolis, MN Mill City Nights
09/13/15 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
09/30/15 Hollywood, CA Hotel Cafe
10/01/15 San Diego, CA The Irenic
10/03/15 San Francisco, CA Independent
10/07/15 Dallas, TX House Of Blues
10/08/15 San Antonio, TX The Paper Tiger
10/09/15 New Orleans, LA Tipitina's Uptown
10/13/15 Saint Petersburg, FL State Theatre
10/14/15 Charleston, SC Music Farm Charleston
10/16/15 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom
10/17/15 Louisville, KY Mercury Ballroom
10/18/15 Birmingham, AL Saturn
10/20/15 Atlanta, GA Terminal West
10/21/15 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
10/23/15 New York, NY The Marlin Room
10/24/15 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
10/25/15 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of Living Arts

Read More Sex Pistols Formed in London in 1975, this is the legendary Sex Pistols, the band that influenced generations of punk bands. One wonders if things would've worked out differently if the band got it all sorted out, instead of a glorious crash …

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD
pilofficial.com

After leaving the legendary punk band The Sex Pistols, singer Johnny Rotten (real name: John Lydon) decided to form Public Image Ltd., often abbreviated to PiL, with former Clash member Keith Levene and school friend Jah Wobble (of Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart, who had a great hit with Sinead O'Connor with "Visions of You" in 1992).

Anyway, I'm happy to report that PiL is back with a new album What The World Needs Now…, and the preceding single "Double Trouble" is just brilliant.

There will also be a world tour, in support of the new album... and joining Lydon will be former The Damned guitarist Lu Edmonds, bassist Scott Firth, and The Pop Group's drummer Bruce Smith.

Let's hope for a US tour after their European dates (listed below).

09/18/2015 Glasgow, 02 ABC, Scotland, Friday
09/19/2015 Manchester Academy
09/20/2015 Newcastle, Riverside
09/22/2015 York, Fibbers
09/23/2015 Coventry, Copper Rooms
09/25/2015 Bristol, 02 Academy
09/26/2015 Buckley, Tivoli, Wales
09/27/2015 Reading, Sub 89
09/29/2015 Bexhill, De La Warr Pavilion
09/30/2015 Norwich, UEA
10/02/2015 London, 02 Shepherds Bush Empire
10/03/2015 Frome, Cheese and Grain
10/04/2015 Southampton, Engine Rooms
10/06/2015 Paris, Le Trianon, France
10/07/2015 Amsterdam, Paradiso, Netherlands
10/09/2015 Lausanne, Les Docks, Switzerland
10/10/2015 Venice, Rivolta, Italy
10/11/2015 Milan, Magazzini Generali, Italy
10/13/2015 Mannheim, Alte Seilerei, Germany
10/14/2015 Ludwigsburg, Rockfabrik, Germany
10/15/2015 Berlin, Columbia Theatre, Germany
10/17/2015 Bochum, Zeche, Germany
10/18/2015 Antwerp, Trix, Belgium

PINK FILM
facebook.com/pinkfilm

London band Pink Film (singer Ziyad Al-Samman, bassist Frank Styles, guitarist Laurence Hammerton and drummer Danny Brooks) will be releasing their new single "Trouble" (with b-side "Rubber") this October 2nd.

The single was recorded with sonic-sorcerer Shuta Shinoda and features an impromptu sax addition from a Parisian jazz prodigy who happened to be recording in the other studio.

The special 'Trouble' show will also be held on October 2nd at the Garage in London.

john + vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

England's Dreaming

Discography [2006] I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child [2009] Mean Everything to Nothing [2011] Simple Math

If you don't know your maps, Liverpool (home of the Beatles) is in the west by the river. Manchester is home of the legendary The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, and Stone Roses, obviously a hotbed of amazing bands. Sheffield is interesting, it's not really a place you think of music - big bands from this city includes The Human League and, of course, the unrelated Cockers: Joe and Jarvis (Pulp). Of course, London, that's the capital of England.

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
www.themanchesterorchestra.com

Like Barenaked Ladies, Manchester Orchestra's name does not describe the band (they are neither from Manchester nor are they an orchestra), they are an indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. I was recently reminded that their new album, Simple Math, was recently released May 10^th via Favorite Gentlemen Records/Sony, because of their appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 12^th.

What I thought was cool was that they feature a row of the the Brooklyn Youth Chorus singing backup to Manchester Orchestra's song, "Virgin". While their live performance seems more, I don't know, "angry", I thought the studio version on their album sounds much better. It feels more personal, and it does feature children doing the backup chorus. Clearly, the song is about singer/songwriter Andy Hull's question about religion, I felt that the rest of the album paints more like an emotional rollercoaster: from the unknown/direction of his band ("Deer") to happy ("Pensacola") to silly ("April Fool") to jealousy ("Pale Black Eye") to sinful love ("Simple Math"). If there was a theme to Simple Math, it might be how passionate Hull feels about his life.

If you like your rock hard with a ton of storytelling lyrics, you'll like Manchester Orchestra. Their album Simple Math is out now.

THE BIG EYES FAMILY PLAYERS
big-eyes.co.uk

James Green orginally formed Big Eyes, in Leeds around 2000, in an effort to create a classical music band. After releasing four albums under the Pickled Egg label, they broke up in 2004. Green went on to form the current The Big Eyes Family Players, now based in Sheffield. Their latest album is called Family Favourites, released a few months ago (March 22^nd), I did get a chance to give it a listen.

What I can tell you is that it's all instrumental, and has a very "Renaissance" flavor to it, although what the band is going for is to record a sort of chamber-folk-pop album. Recommended if you're going to be reading a book by candlelight, this soothing, breezy soundtrack is perfect for you. Unfortunately, I don't really know if there's a huge market for this sort of niche music.

Favorite tracks are "Bunny", mostly for the upbeat arrangement, and "Fast, Lose, and Lovely" because of the violins. Saddest-sounding song is "The Boo Girl". The free preview track, Jack, is a good start, lots of acoustics and maybe a glockenspiel?

Vinyl fans will be glad to know that it's available on wax via Karate Body Records.

THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND
www.sexpistolsofficial.com

Formed in London in 1975, this is the legendary Sex Pistols, the band that influenced generations of punk bands. One wonders if things would've worked out differently if the band got it all sorted out, instead of a glorious crash and burn in 1978 when they band broke up after touring the US. Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose a year later, much of this is well documented in books and films (see Alex Cox's "Sid and Nancy").

The band re-formed in 2007, for a string of live festival appearances. They recorded the Brixton Academy appearance (November 10^th, 2007) for a DVD release called There'll Always Be An England available the following year. For those that missed the band and the DVD release, the good news is that the Bluray version is coming out this Summer, June 13^th. UK residents can preorder on amazon.

For US audience, if you want to check out the DVD, it's available on Netflix as a rental. The fan reviews basically said that the extras are worth it (including a 2-hour documentary called "The Knowledge").

Here's the best endorsement for the video from Johnny Rotten: "I started out this evening fat but I've just lost 15 f**king pounds".

Tracks played include their big hits, "Pretty Vacant", "God Save The Queen", and, of course, "Anarchy In The UK". Also, interestingly enough, a cover of "(I'm not your) Stepping Stone"

LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY
www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk

Just a quick note that the Liverpool Sound City is this week: May 19^th to May 21^st. This is their fourth year of the music festival, this year is bigger than ever, with over 300 bands scheduled to play. Prices are pretty reasonable (compared to, say, Glastonbury), for a three day wristband it is £45.

Bands scheduled to appear are: Black Lips, Cast (yes, that is John Power's band! I love Cast, I hope they do "Fine Time"), Funeral Party, Jamie XX, Spank Rock, Whip, Frank Turner, Mona, Yuck, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Three Trapped Tigers, Miles Kane, F*cked Up, Wretch 32, Young Knives, Amanda Blank, Dutch Uncles, Trophy Wife, Phoenix Foundation, View, Clinic, Set Your Goals, Philip Selway (from Radiohead, of course!), Smoke Fairies, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Broken Records, Delta Maid, Yasmin, Dels, Marina Gasolina, Cults, Cloud Control, The Jezebels, Braids, Grimes, Dan Parsons, Flashguns and many mores...

The festival also just announced a special show with The Kooks at The Bombed Out Church. I don't see them on the lineup poster, but it should be pretty fun to see The Kooks (I saw them in Chicago in 2007).

It's too bad I don't live in Liverpool, but the festival is definitely on my radar now.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic