9:09am Thursday 18th March 2010
This week I am going to briefly shine a light on a wonderful venue, albeit a bit out of the way, that has been quietly hosting a whole range of brilliant acts for many years now, namely Riffs Bar.
Although it requires transport (unless you are one of the seven people who actually live in Greatfield) it is worth the effort of travelling out there. It looks and feels exactly as a venue should, is extremely user friendly from a band perspective and is a great little boozer to boot.
Proprietor and seventies throwback Andy manages to pull in name touring bands, the best tribute acts, the cream of the local circuit and hosts various battle of the band competitions and weekend festivals. If you are particularly keen on your rock and metal music it is nothing short of a musical Mecca . . . although you do have to head west to make the pilgrimage there. How odd!
An example of the sort of acts they are able to pull in is that although the brilliant American psychedelic rockers, Radio Moscow, have had to chip off back to the Colonies before playing the gig tonight, they have been replaced with “street punk” heroes, Gorilla, who are best described as The MC5 in a fight with Grand Funk Railroad with Motorhead refereeing! Sounds good to me.
Starting tonight at the top of the hill, The Victoria is all about rock and possibly some roll too. Local grand fromage The Ashun make a rare outing to dish out some tried and tested classic rock but make sure you get there early to catch the slick young blades Sion who not only open up the show but also feature on the BBC Introducing radio show this very evening.
Meanwhile the Beehive will be having it’s rafters raised by the eclectic folk fusion of Rigadoo, up from the murky depths of the Forest of Dean. The Rolleston, however, has a bit of a coup in the form of the high energy rock beast that is Dress To Kill, a band not only featuring ex-Divebomb Revolution bassist Rich Bennett but one that has secured the production duties of Supergrass main man Gaz Coombes for their forth coming album.
Friday brings us something a bit tasty at the Victoria. Natasha Griffiths is normally to be found fronting the mutant trip-rock creations of Lighterthief, but in a wonderful role reversal they will be backing up her creations, to promote the release of her glorious new EP. As if that wasn’t enough, The Dacoits and Sam Bates help get the party started.
The 12 Bar offers something a bit more restrained as The Last Calm reform for a one off show with Bateleurs and the newly slimmed down Talk in Code also on the bill. Fans of Coldplay, Elbow, later REM and the like should not miss this show.
There are Hendrix and Yes tribute bands at the Furnace and the 12 Bar respectively on Saturday but, thankfully, some proper bands as well. SMASHfest (what is it with this irreverent approach to capitalisation these days?) Charity Fundraiser at Riffs Bar has a host of young talent from the “far too young to be in a band” Frosted Tea Cakes through to the Streets-esque, funk-hop beats of The Disco PieRats and everything in between.
If you could take the rockabilly genre and remove all the quiffs and clichés, tired old standards and hat-tipping to the previous generations, wouldn’t that be something? Not only should that happen, but it has, in the form of Graveyard Johnnys who inject a bit of the 21st Century into rock and roll at the Rolleston. Support comes from Cowboy and the Corpse.
The next two days are a young punk’s dream with not only Zebrahead returning to the Furnace on Sunday, but Kids Can’t Fly, Slagerij and The Following Announcement firing off a salvo of serious ska/punk over at Riffs Bar on Monday.
The week ends in a more chilled out fashion with the elegant and melodic, rootsy pop tunesmith, David Celia, pictured, returning to the Beehive. Definitely one not to miss.
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