Larkin Poe live @ Night and Day Cafe, Manchester

Ten seconds. 

That's all. 

Just ten seconds in to Larkin Poe taking the stage and I knew this was going to be one of the best gigs I've seen in a long time. They arrived in a whirlwind of power and energy,encapsulating everyone in the crowd as they jammed out a fierce opening.

The venue for tonight's gig is The Night and Day Cafe, an old haunt in Manchester where I caught the Civil Wars some years ago, and we're treated to an opening performance from Jarrod Dickenson. Hands up.  I hadn't heard of this guy before but boy, do I know who he is now. A burley Texan who took complete command of the stage whilst accompanied by his beautiful Irish wife. Jared definitely had the feel of David Rawlings about his playing with elements of Jason Isbell to his voice. I picked up a CD and I'll bring you a review of that very soon.

Jarrod Dickenson doing his thing.

As Jarrod took his bow and worked his way through the crowd, up stepped sisters Lovell and their merry band to make mayhem on stage. It almost feels like a refreshed band as their music has certainly taken a more rock based direction than the more mellow previous releases. It suits them. They bound off of each other on stage, smiles plastered on their faces and fly through the opening few tracks, even dropping into a spontaneous rendition of Black Betty which really got the crowd whooping and a hollaring.

Rebecca Lovell takes lead on vocals and guitars and is unwavering in her poise and purpose as she completely blows the roof off with her voice. When she really lets loose she channels the raw beauty of Janis Joplin, fuelled by emotion and flawlessly harmonic. Rebecca's sister, Megan, takes control of the slide guitar and I'm not doing her justice by saying her playing would be worth the admission fee alone. What Megan can do with the lap steel is beyond the realms of normality, it's a screeching, scrawling thunderclap that she masterfully uses to create ambience in the dialled down songs, room filling solos in the rockier numbers and the odd vocal battle.

In other words, they pair off perfectly.

Sisters are doing it for themselves. Rebecca and Megan.

We're treated to a performance of what will be their new single here in the UK, Sucker Puncher, and it's a triumph. If this single doesn't go on to capture the hearts of the Brits it will be a travesty. It offers up Americana true to their roots with a rocked up vibe.  A lot of the songs on the night ended with pacey jams largely due to the restricted sets they have been playing with Elvis Costello, so tonight was chance to let loose and thank the lords they did. This is when you see musicians in their purest form, free to attack the air with their brand of noise. You could sense a lot of grunge elements to the instrumentals, as my partner said "very swamp rock".

In what was a lovely touch, the sisters came out to meet all the fans and even had their album on sale despite not coming out in the UK for several months. I desperately wanted to get my hands on one but I had battled through my anxiety and panic attacks to reach the end of the gig, it was time for my great escape. So I implore you to be like me, get the piggy bank out and preorder what's going to be a powerhouse of an album.

The List

For those of you who saw my last post, I've picked up a few tickets for some exciting, upcoming gigs. 

Now.

I get around and I've seen my fair share of gigs, so much so that I keep a list of each one. This doesn't include local acts, just those that I've paid to be in the presence of. 

Some of them have been brilliant and some have been down right terrible but you know what? I'd rather remember those ones more. The ones where I can see chance of improvement, decide what I want from a show and search until I find it. 

Forgetting is no fun. 

So, take a deep breath and take it all in, here comes the list (in no particular order):

Turbowolf	Jack Penante	Goldheart Assembly
Postmodern Jukebox	Florence and The Machine	Local Natives
The Cribs	Jamie T	Los Campesinos
The Enemy	Bombay Bicycle Club	Billy Talent
Oasis	Vampire Weekend	Pulp
Kasabian	Yeah Yeah Yeah's	The Strokes
Twisted Wheel	Ian Brown	Muse
Kings of Leon	Passion Pit	Young Knives
Trivium	Queens of The Stone Age	The Streets
Iron Maiden	The Wombats	Death from Above 1979
Pendulum	Elliot Minor	We Are The Ocean
Ocean Colour Scene	Biffy Clyro	Taking Back Sunday
We Are Scientists	Doctor & The Medics	Fucked Up
Kaiser Chiefs	Hot Chip	Offspring
Tenacious D	Glasvegas	Deftones
Babyshambles	The Thermals	Miles Kane
The Killers	Kid British	Frankie & The Heartstrings
Last Shadow Puppets	Joe Carnell and The Book Club	White Lies
Frank Turner	Eagles of Death Metal	White Denim
Bloc Party	The Futureheads	Beady Eye
Fratellis	The Libertines	Tom Vek
Editors	Arcade Fire	Tim Minchin
Raconteurs	Guns and Roses	The National
Dirty Pretty Things	Weezer	Madness
Plain White Tee's	Limp Bizkit	2 Door Cinema
Artic Monkeys Reverend & the makers	Cypress Hill	Seasick Steve
Radiohead	Dizee Rascal	Pigeon Detectives
Fightstar	Gaslight Anthem	Dizraeli & The Small Gods
Prodigy	Modest Mouse	Bright Eyes
Courteeners	Yeasayer	Manchester Orchestra
The Rakes	Gogol Bordello	Jonny & Jenny
Maximo Park	NOFX	Civil Wars
Enter Shikari	Blink 182	Black Keys
The Horrors	Get Cape, Wear cape, Fly	Band of Skulls
Metric	Mystery Jets	Gillian Welch
Little Boots	Joy Formidable	Ryan Adams
Patrick Wolfe	Mumford and Sons	Spiritualized
Tame Impala	Royal Blood	The Pogues
John Cooper Clarke	Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats	Squeeze
AC/DC	Vintage Trouble

Some of these I've seen numerous times. I don't hide the fact that Ocean Colour Scene are one of my favourite bands and together with my Dad, have been to far too many shows and heard the same songs. In truth, I bloody love them. 

So.

That's the list so far.... 

Let me know who you've seen from this list and who you're excited to see this year.

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HepkattFM 

Alreet...

Nah then. 

I grew up when the boardwalk was still the place to be to see the upcoming bands in Sheffield. One of the best exports has undoubtedly been the Arctic Monkeys. They've gone from track suits to church suits but the message stays the same. 

I wrote this review at the time AM was released. 

Enjoy ah kid.

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This is Chip Shops and Chardonnay; Sean Bean and Motorcycles, truly rock and roll with the lights off. AM is a long way from the Boardwalk but this still feels like a new beginning, a new twist on the Arctic trail.

Do I Wanna Know sets the scene as it seduces you with it's swaying riff and electronic drum heartbeat. It feels like a your listening to a Turner monologue whilst star gazing through an electric guitar. If this sets you up then R U MINE? knocks you out.

From the moment it kicks in you're hooked. The lyrics are both brilliant and brave as it feels set in reverse " I'm a puppet on a string, Tracey Island: Lone ranger riding". If a song had a dress sense R U MINE is in leather and shades and not taking them off to go indoors. Helders screeches in the background, linking with Turner as they quip "oh ahh" in the middle of a blatant rock song.

This slinks into One For The Road where the whole thing feels like you're watching Turner put the moves on a dame in a Jazz Club; the music is splashy and the drinks are free. The whole feel of the album is progression, you know there are songs waiting in the wings that didn't make the first team like "you're so dark" which could have easily made the cut but the balance feels right.

This is shown perfectly by the next track on the album Arabella. The start of this track is pure rock in its most subtle and yet glaringly obvious form. The way the drums are simple and yet pierce through, the guitar that skittles across the track, tip-toeing to the chorus where you are slapped in the face with the cosmic call of Sabbath style riffing. This is supposedly based on Turners girlfriend and what wouldn't be to like about a girl with Gator skin boots who smokes organic cigarettes.

Whilst this album is about growth (the only thing that has moved back is each members hair with the help of a tub of hair gel) they also point to their influences and give them a tip of the hat. Mad Sounds, a song that sounds straight out of Costellos back catalogue, (possibly because his own drummer Pete Thomas is on this one) is taken from early Arctics producer Alan Smyths original song. Then there is the much more on the nose use of I Wanna Be Yours plucked from John Cooper Clarke. This gives the record a route home from the States with lines such as "I wanna be your leccy meter, that you get cold without".

The Sheffield group were given plenty of help from friends old and new with people like Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-Coral) creating the melancholy solo in Fireside,which is backed by the 70's style backing of "shoo op, shoo op". Josh Homme a familiar face to these now belts out of 30 seconds of high pitched melody in Knee Socks and lends his voice to One for the Road.

The first single released from this album that set everyone up to AM was the R&B influenced Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High? Turner strolls though this like a trip down memory lane and the groove of the track simply chases him with Helders cracking backing in tow.

The record is kept moving throughout with tracks like I Want It all which features rising guitar only topped by the height of the vocals. No 1 Party Anthem in which you hear Turner talking about parties previous " Sunglasses in doors, par for the course" and Snap Out Of It which feels ultimately like a song from the back end of the 60's. 

This is still Rock and Roll but written by Dr Dre on the wall of the Leadmills bathroom. This record is a cosmic shot of adrenaline to those who had fallen out of love with the Arctics. Put on your leathers, turn off the lights, hold on and ride the AM Helter Skelter.

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HepkattFM

Pumping On The Stereo

Now.

You've sat back and (hopefully) enjoyed the acoustic playlist. You're feeling pretty darn chilled. 

So we need to pick it back up. Maybe it's time to get ready for your Christmas party and all associated debauchery or maybe the Christmas blues (that's a thing right?) have taken their toll and it's time to jump out that funk.

Put away the electric heater. Pop your collar. Enjoy.

Set The Fire In Me C-C  -  Tom Vek

Cassius  -  Foals

R U MINE  -  Arctic Monkeys

Left Hand Free  -  Alt J

Pedestrian At Best  -  Courtney Barnett

Come On Over  -  Royal Blood

Islands  - The XX

Loser  -  Beck

Clint Eastwood  - Gorillaz

Maps  -  Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Song 2  - Blur

Big Sur  -  The Thrills

Fire  -  Kasabian

Homesick  -  Catfish And The Bottlmen

Alright  - Supergrass

Pretty Green  -  White Denim

Inhaler  -  Miles Kane

Golden  -  My Morning Jacket

Solid Gold  -  Turbowolf

Gold On The Ceiling  -  The Black Keys

There we go.

Suitably pumped?

HepkattFM

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Welcome happenin' cats

1931, two musicians sit at the bar in a run down speak-easy, the kind filled with more smoke than people. On the stage, a young man sways to the beat of his band and lurches forward with intent at his Saxophone. 

Now the two at the bar were no strangers to performance and could cut it with anyone who said they played an instrument. Their interest was peaked and their eyes shifted from the bourbon before them to the sounds around them.

“This kid ain’t bad, takes a bounce on that stage like the best of em” says one to the other.

“Yeah...he’s a real Hepcat”.

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Welcome.

I'm a musician with a keyboard as an instrument. 

Here you'll see my thoughts on all things music from reviews to the perfect playlist.

So let's pack up the gear, jump in the van and make some noise together.

HepkattFM

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