Interview with... Blaenavon

Blaenavon have become renowned as the band who doesn't release music. Almost eighteen months since their last release, the KOSO EP, they say things are about to change.

With a handful of festivals on the horizon, a debut album nearing completion and school left to one side, the trio are finally making use of their musical abilities. Tonight at The Leadmill in Sheffield they support Dry The River on an intimate UK tour but unlike some support acts, they leave the crowd wanting more of them rather than the headline band.

Live they are one of the tightest units around and fit snuggingly amongst the likes ofDry The River themselves and The Maccabees. 'Denim Patches' brews slowly, with Ben Gregory's vocals wavering like latter's frontman, Orlando Weeks. Other crowd favourite, 'Into The Night' shifts through picky riffs and drummer Harris McMillan turns tribal on the drums.

The crowd are treated to a taste of new tracks to come with thicker bass lines and strings that ring more like synths in what sounds like older influences from The Cure. 'Swans' is the highlight though, and despite it being first played before the band had even accomplished puberty, it's lullaby opening is a throwback to The Maccabees 'Toothpaste Kisses'. It's a wailing love song and far too mature for their youthful souls but a sure sign that their album to come could be a dark horse to say the least.

I had the chance to talk to the band just moments before they went on stage and they revealed more information about the album, their thoughts on the Brits and misleading song names.

Listen below:


By Josh Shreeve (@JJShreeve)

Interview with... Slaves

The NME Awards creep up on you each year and you have to fumble to think of deserved winners of the glamorous 'middle finger' award. Unlike some of the winners, which you won't remember in years to come, the NME Awards Show provides some of the finest new talents around to tour the UK around the month of February.

Slaves backstage before their gig in Norwich last year (photo by Cal Beasley).

Traditionally including four acts, although tonight The Amazing Snakeheads have pulled out, the first slot is sacred and held by the likes of Coldplay, Florence and the Machine and the Kaiser Chiefs. This year it's the turn of Slaves to kick off the 2015 NME Awards Tour at The Leadmill in Sheffield, but first they must decipher which is the best flavour of Monster Munch and after settling on pickled onion, they sit down for a chat. Listen to what they had to say through stuffed mouthfuls of stinkin' crisps.

Interview by Josh Shreeve (@JJShreeve)

Live Review... Slaves @ The Leadmill, February 19th

You’ve got to give it to Slaves. Not only have they managed to make it to the first night of the tour, when other band on the bill, The Amazing Snakeheads have just dropped out, but they’ve come prepared. They claim they don’t have pre-show plans but armed with a fridge full of ham sandwiches and clenching packets of monster munch, they’re ready for war. 

A giant mantaray lurks behind Slaves as they open the NME Awards Tour 2015.

It’s down to them to get the NME Awards Tour 2015 kicked off with ‘White Knuckle Ride’, the catalyst for the first spews of beer. In between erratic marching, vocalist and stand alone drummer, Isaac Holman, asks the audience what their favourite type of biscuit is but there’s little time to answer as he scrunches his face up once more and batters the skins whilst Laurie Vincent shouts, ‘anyone for a garibaldi?’

Not taking themselves too seriously could be the key to success. Holman is shy yet mischievous off stage, but once in front of a crowd it’s his chance to confront everything that’s ever pissed him off, including ‘Debbie’ in ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie?’, which he says is of a story of searching for her car with a Sasquatch in hot pursuit. When joined in by Vincent’s vocals, there’s shards of The Clash flying about, but the duo claim they’re not trying to sound like anyone, although not even the most acute hearing can draw comparisons to anything from Sex Pistols punk to American garage rock. 

The street poetry tales continue from a shirtless Holman, who turns the ‘Yorkshire’ chants into ‘Feed The Mantaray’ when a roadie joins them onstage dressed as a giant mantaray. It’s all of a sudden turned very Shooting Stars as if Vic Reeves is shredding guitar as Bob Mortimer spits ludicrous venom. The light hearted story telling turns ferocious and politically charged in ‘The Hunter’, as opening lines, ‘the people are freezing and the water is warm, and the ice caps are melting what will happen when they’re gone?’ gather momentum and there’s a riot building in front of Vincent who peers through the mist. Moments later Holman finds himself amongst this mass as he leaps in during the breakdown of ‘Hey’, using them as a human towel to dry every beed of sweat he’s exuded over a short but savage set.

(@JJShreeve)

Gig Review... Temples @ The Leadmill, Sheffield, 4th December 2014

It's been one hell of a year for Temples. Releasing their critically acclaimed debut 'Sun Structures', the Kettering four-piece blended classic songwriting with heavy 60's psychedelia influence. In the current climate of popular alternative music in 2014, Temples' style, although derivative, acts as a refreshing mix-up to the scene.

Taking to the stage at half nine, the band were preceded by support from Klaus Johann Grobe and NME favourites Superfood. Both played brilliant sets that warmed the crowd up nicely for Temples. Set up with an excellent backdrop of beautiful projections, artist Mad Alchemy provided an analog liquid lightshow that illuminated the band's euphoric music and created silhouettes of the band.

Opening with title track 'Sun Structures', the band set off on their psychedelic whirlpool. Temples were helped a long the way with the ever-changing visual projections but in places the band fell flat with a few tracks that, live, sounded all too similar to each other. In places, Temples extended tracks to enable a sonic battle of clashing spring reverbs and analog synths, especially towards the end of 'Sand Dance' but this was one of the set's highlights. 'A Question Isn't Answered' inevitably made way for an audience participation of claps due to the percussive style of song.

Fan favourites 'Shelter Song', 'Keep In The Dark' and 'Colours To Life' went down brilliantly and was received well by the warm crowd. This made up for the lack of talking to the audience from lead singer James Edward Bagshaw but nevertheless, this lack of communication added to the ongoing coherence of their music as if all the tracks blended seamlessly together. The energy of the band was high with constant movement especially from bassist Thomas Walmsley which added to the buzz of their set.

Coming back for an encore, the band played a slower more atmospheric song named 'Move With The Season' where Bagshaw proclaimed 'you'll all need to be quiet for this next one'. This at first felt slightly lacklustre but soon blossomed in to an epic crescendo of noise. They finished the set with, in my opinion, their biggest single 'Mesmerise' which went down a storm.

Temples did a great job of displaying what they were all about and as time goes by, more new material could form the perfect setlist to win over any naysayers. The band play Manchester Ritz tonight (6th Dec) followed with a string of shows in Scotland (Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow) before rounding it off in Newcastle Riverside. Make sure to catch them!

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Gig Review... Nick Mulvey @ The Leadmill, Sheffield, 24th October

Nick Mulvey has been nothing short of a sensation over the past 12 months. 'Who remembers coming to see me in a pub up here last year, right at the beginning?', he calls out in between strums of his guitar to a Sheffield crowd notably bigger than a year ago.

It seems to have become a fashion for just about every young man to equip himself with a guitar and produce a husk of a voice behind the mic. Whilst Mulvey's vocals aren't the most rasping, he lets the tender, blossoming nature of his melodies do the talking. From start to finish, he and his band produce trembles which breeze through a still and captivated crowd at The Leadmill.

Having spent the summer playing to an ever-growing fan base at different festivals, the 900 capacity crowd shouldn't stutter him and his intense, tight-knotted unraveling of opening song, 'April', quickly has everyone under his controlling gaze. It's a gentle opening but by the time 'Meet Me There' bursts into life, the nostalgia weaves its way around the crowd. The most intriguing song of the set, 'Venus', changes up the show altogether, as do the different instruments adorned by Mulvey's band members, with what looks like a bouzouki making its way onto stage at some point.

Where he may not have the upbeat, pop factor of Ed Sheeran or George Ezra, Mulvey's few upbeat songs glisten brightest with 'Juramidam' being an infectiously bouncy celebration about alcoholic beverages and arguably the gem of his debut album 'First Mind'.

The show gradually matures as it goes on, eventually reaching top gear with crowd favourites 'Feel To The Form' and the tongue-twisting 'Cucurucu', which unsurprisingly gains the biggest sing-a-long of the night with 'hums' buzzing around the room. However, Mulvey's not going to go out without a gentle acoustic 'bang'. A pleasantly surprising encore includes a sobering rendition of Drake's 'Hold On, We're Going Home' and is accompanied by 'Nitrous', which takes a pinch of lyrical material from 90s club classic 'You're Not Alone'.

Whilst not the most raucous show, he's a real treat to see live, showcasing both his most delicate solo talent as well as that of his all-empowering band, but above all, it will ensure goosebumps are left firm and mouths agape.

By Josh Shreeve (@JJShreeve)

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