Manchester Beer And Cider Festival, Velodrome, Manchester, 21st – 24th January 2015


This was the second year that that the annual CAMRA Manchester Beer festival had been held in the Manchester Velodrome and with a venue as unique as this it is easy to see why the organisers came back, and I imagine they will try and keep it here for the foreseeable future (I would)...

Mark Lanegan - Leeds Beckett University January 22nd 2014

Find me an artist who has lived, breathed and would die for his music more than this man we've gathered here to see tonight, and you're a better person than me. Having reached a half century in age, he shows no signs of slowing down either in recording terms or his relentless touring schedule.

Siskiyou 'Nervous'

Embarking upon their third album to-date, Siskiyou demonstrate their ability to flirt ever so fervently with the delicate, the dramatic and the downright sensational in an album that promises bright horizons in 2015. . .
Entitled Nervous, the Canadian five-pieces’ latest offering proves nothing but bold, inventive and intense. Indeed, from opening track Deserter the sense of adventure in the composition of their unique form of Baroque- rock guitar becomes abundantly clear. With each swell of singer Colin Huebert’s lucid vocals, we are drawn in; tonally, he adds intrigue at every turn in what is already an almost surreal listening experience. 

GHXST - 'Nowhere' EP


Big Apple based power trio GHXST (pronounced “Ghost” for those of you who were wondering) take elements of Grunge, Krautrock, Metal, Punk and Blues, the end product being a creepy stoner sound that’s far more accessible than you’d first believe.
‘Nowhere’ is a 5-and-a-bit-track EP released via the Club the Mammoth label and feels like the band’s most ambitious work during their 5 or so years together. 

Chandos 'Rats In Your Bed'


Chandos’ first two EPs were self-released on cassette, but this time around they’re stepping into the studio with the support of Carpark Records, and ‘Rats In Your Bed’ is the overdriven, paranoid result. Bearing comparison with the heyday of fellow Bostonians the Pixies, and with dashes of early Biffy Clyro thrown in for good measure, this is a record burning with adrenaline and with a dynamic, muscular musicality which it is an injustice to label pop rock.

Menace Beach 'Ratworld'


Menace Beach are the latest beast to rear its head from the churning waters of the Leeds music scene, a scene which is integral to the very fabric of the band. MJ from Hookworms, Sky Larkin’s Nestor Matthews and Matt Spalding of You Animals join the creative force of Liza Violet and Komakino’s Ryan Needham for debut LP ‘Ratworld’, which is set for release on January 19th. The band has just completed a tour with Pulled Apart By Horses, whose bassist Robert Lee is an erstwhile collaborator, as is Paul Draper of Mansun.