Bicycle Thieves are an indie five piece formed in November 2008. Their role call reads like this:
Tom Hammersley – Lead vocalist/Guitar
Ash Hopkins – Backing vocalist/Guitar
James “Jimmy” Feltham – Guitar
Jim Reynolds – Bass
Nick Pickering – Drums
Today’s port of call is Liverpool, the band’s base of operations. These two wheeled tea leaves are gaining momentum quicker than Lance Armstrong riding downhill. Steve Lamacq believes ‘Stop to Start’ is a “juggernaut of a track”. As we ‘effing love music, Dork mooched to Liverpool to interview them;
Is the band’s name from the Italian film, or the Pale Fountains song?
James: It’s the film, and the fact that Ash had his bike nicked the day we named the band.
What was the 1st album/single you ever purchased?
Jim: I think it was Baddiel and Skinner with ‘Three Lions’ in ’96.
James: Album wise, mine was Definitely Maybe, but I did buy Run-DMC’s single ‘It’s Like That’.
Being based in Liverpool, do you feel pressured by the cities musical heritage?
James: Obviously, you respect the band’s that have come before you, but you have pressure with every city. Liverpool it’s The Beatles, Manchester it’s Oasis, London it’s the Libertines.
Jim: In Wolverhampton you have Slade
James: You’ve just got to get on with it, you know?
When it comes to writing music, where do you draw your influences from?
Tom: Personal experience really, with a bit of romanticism thrown in. One of the songs is about when my mate hit me in the face, but that would only go so far, you have to add some depth really, and make it a big tongue in cheek.
Do you feel pressured by the industry attention you’ve been receiving?
Nick: Every step up seems very natural, it’s all come in its stride. I don’t think it’s beyond anyone what we’re doing.
Ash: I think the thing is we haven’t put any pressure on ourselves; we haven’t set ourselves a fixed template or anything.
Nick: I think it’s good as well that we’re up here, we can just get on with it like. It might be different if we were in London say.
If you could play any festival, which would you choose?
Unified response: Glastonbury.
If you were given the choice of headlining Glastonbury, or pulling Heidi Klum twice a week for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
Nick: If you told people you were ‘gonna headline Glasto, people would believe you. If you said you’d pulled Heidi Klum nobody would.
Jim: You might be able to do a duet with Seal though if Heidi Klum took a shine to you
With the magazine being called Dork, were any of you dorks in school?
Nick: I still am a dork mate. My bedroom hasn’t changed since I was six, I’ll leave you with that.
At that point, a mysterious character named Paul wanders over. The band tells me to “ask Paul a question about Bicycle Thieves”.
What colour best sums up Bicycle Thieves music?
Paul: Soiled Pink.
The band breaks into raucous laughter. I’m left feeling slightly bemused by what just happened and Paul saunters off to enlighten some other unsuspecting soul. Give ‘em a listen, then thank me later.
Thursday 23 April 2009
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Bleeding Ears & Deaf Institutes...
If somebody were to tell you that, for prolonged periods of time, Jimi Hendrix could often be found busking in Newcastle during the 60’s, I bet you’d call them a bare faced liar, no? Well, it’s true.
Historical tidbits aside, let’s move on to the matter at hand. Enter Detroit Social Club, a Geordie band making music that grasps onto the true spirit of the guitar, an instrument that Hendrix championed so viscerally.
If there’s one venue people love at the minute, it’s The Deaf Institute. By the time Sound of Guns (listen to the excellent ‘Collisions’) have finished warming up the onlookers, the venue is packed out. The proverbial grapevine has seen to it this band’s sterling live performances are not to be missed.
‘Sunshine People’ kicks things off, shaking the foundations. The stage is almost too small for the band to fit on. Front-man David Burn is a pretty big guy and he hulks over the crowd, dictating proceedings and holding sway.
In fact, it is Burn’s strong, husky vocals that appear destined to take this band places. He looks a bit like Guy Garvey, but with a stage presence more akin to My Morning Jacket’s Jim Jones.
“This one’s called Northern Man, and it’s for everyone, f**k the Southerners,” laughs Burn as he receives adulation from the predominately Mancunian crowd. The song has a big, carnal sound and it helps to cement DSC as one of the best live acts out there.
The set closes on ‘Forever Wonderland’, an absolute monster of a song. The guitar intro sounds like ‘Swamp Thing’ and as the drums kick in, for a moment the continental plateaus are bouncing. Burn yells “come on” and my how they have. The best thing to come out of Newcastle since Jimmy Nail.
4 out of 5
Historical tidbits aside, let’s move on to the matter at hand. Enter Detroit Social Club, a Geordie band making music that grasps onto the true spirit of the guitar, an instrument that Hendrix championed so viscerally.
If there’s one venue people love at the minute, it’s The Deaf Institute. By the time Sound of Guns (listen to the excellent ‘Collisions’) have finished warming up the onlookers, the venue is packed out. The proverbial grapevine has seen to it this band’s sterling live performances are not to be missed.
‘Sunshine People’ kicks things off, shaking the foundations. The stage is almost too small for the band to fit on. Front-man David Burn is a pretty big guy and he hulks over the crowd, dictating proceedings and holding sway.
In fact, it is Burn’s strong, husky vocals that appear destined to take this band places. He looks a bit like Guy Garvey, but with a stage presence more akin to My Morning Jacket’s Jim Jones.
“This one’s called Northern Man, and it’s for everyone, f**k the Southerners,” laughs Burn as he receives adulation from the predominately Mancunian crowd. The song has a big, carnal sound and it helps to cement DSC as one of the best live acts out there.
The set closes on ‘Forever Wonderland’, an absolute monster of a song. The guitar intro sounds like ‘Swamp Thing’ and as the drums kick in, for a moment the continental plateaus are bouncing. Burn yells “come on” and my how they have. The best thing to come out of Newcastle since Jimmy Nail.
4 out of 5
A Storm On The Vista...
“The next big thing.” How many times have you heard a band described as the next big thing? It’s getting boring.
So boring in fact that it could do more harm than good. People switch off because it’s become a cliché, as are many of the bands handed this moniker.
The Black Marquee is the latest band to be affixed with the old ball & chain. To their credit, they carry it well.
The set opens with the heavy, singular drum of ‘I’ll Sell You All’, and goes on to set an impending tone that lurks throughout. The Black Marquee are shoe gazers, there’s nothing flash to them. They, like My Bloody Valentine, let the music do the talking.
During ‘Allusion’, vocalist Steven Young picks up his guitar for the 1st time and wields it like a weapon. The song is one of the best they have and has a real ebb and flow to it.
‘Reverie’ is where the band’s psychedelic 60’s influence is most prominent, only thanks to Young’s swagger it feels more like an 80’s casuals youth in his Stone Island smacking you in the face than it does a free loving hippy.
The star of this band though is Jeff Wooton. His guitars are haemorrhage inducing walls of noise. This is a feller who skulked off to L.A. at 16 and ended up playing with Zoe Bonham, daughter to Zeppelin’s John Bonham. There are moments when he carries the band, although his shy on-stage demeanour suggests he would feel differently.
The Black Marquee are that thunderstorm on the horizon. A rumbling, menacing threat with the occasional flashes of lightning brilliance provided by Wooton. Like that storm on the horizon however, they never quite get going. There’s still some work to do for this lot, but make no mistake, you will know their names soon enough.
3 out of 5
So boring in fact that it could do more harm than good. People switch off because it’s become a cliché, as are many of the bands handed this moniker.
The Black Marquee is the latest band to be affixed with the old ball & chain. To their credit, they carry it well.
The set opens with the heavy, singular drum of ‘I’ll Sell You All’, and goes on to set an impending tone that lurks throughout. The Black Marquee are shoe gazers, there’s nothing flash to them. They, like My Bloody Valentine, let the music do the talking.
During ‘Allusion’, vocalist Steven Young picks up his guitar for the 1st time and wields it like a weapon. The song is one of the best they have and has a real ebb and flow to it.
‘Reverie’ is where the band’s psychedelic 60’s influence is most prominent, only thanks to Young’s swagger it feels more like an 80’s casuals youth in his Stone Island smacking you in the face than it does a free loving hippy.
The star of this band though is Jeff Wooton. His guitars are haemorrhage inducing walls of noise. This is a feller who skulked off to L.A. at 16 and ended up playing with Zoe Bonham, daughter to Zeppelin’s John Bonham. There are moments when he carries the band, although his shy on-stage demeanour suggests he would feel differently.
The Black Marquee are that thunderstorm on the horizon. A rumbling, menacing threat with the occasional flashes of lightning brilliance provided by Wooton. Like that storm on the horizon however, they never quite get going. There’s still some work to do for this lot, but make no mistake, you will know their names soon enough.
3 out of 5
The Queen Hath Returned...
For two years now, there has been a Karen O shaped hole in most people’s hearts. Well fear not followers of the Church of ‘O’, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back with 3rd album ‘It’s Blitz!’. Thank fuck for that.
‘Zero’ opens proceedings, and reeks of danceability. The thrashing round your room doesn’t stop there though. No sooner have you finished readjusting whatever pictures adorn your wall than you are greeted with ‘Heads Will Roll’.
“Off with heads” states O with the air of a sexy medieval monarch, returning to behead any potential pretenders to her thrown.
‘It’s Blitz!’ slows down a bit after this, thank God. ‘Skeletons’ is a nice little number. Once it gets going, the song has a Celtic bagpipe feel to it, a bit like a Braveheart montage only without the bigoted Australian midget in a skirt, and no shit blue face paint.
‘Dull Life’ is the stand-out song on the album though. The intro is very MGMT. The track goes from strength to strength, with O’s presence kicking down doors.
It stands with ‘Maps’ and ‘Date With The Night’ as one of their great songs. In years to come ‘Dull Life’ will be the ground zero for a pandemic wave of sweaty clubbers who set foot on the dance-floor with the sole intention of kicking up a fuss.
Things are rounded off with ‘Little Shadow’, demonstrating the bands eye for a slower song. It’s a good way to bring things to a close, and feels like a nice warm hug. It never gets too sloppy though; this lot are far too slick to be sloppy.
The album is tinted with the current 80’s fad, although they never quite venture into that genre, keeping it strictly Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It has a fresh, experimental sound to it but O and them never lose sight of that which made us smitten in the first place. A truly great album.
4 ½ out of 5
‘Zero’ opens proceedings, and reeks of danceability. The thrashing round your room doesn’t stop there though. No sooner have you finished readjusting whatever pictures adorn your wall than you are greeted with ‘Heads Will Roll’.
“Off with heads” states O with the air of a sexy medieval monarch, returning to behead any potential pretenders to her thrown.
‘It’s Blitz!’ slows down a bit after this, thank God. ‘Skeletons’ is a nice little number. Once it gets going, the song has a Celtic bagpipe feel to it, a bit like a Braveheart montage only without the bigoted Australian midget in a skirt, and no shit blue face paint.
‘Dull Life’ is the stand-out song on the album though. The intro is very MGMT. The track goes from strength to strength, with O’s presence kicking down doors.
It stands with ‘Maps’ and ‘Date With The Night’ as one of their great songs. In years to come ‘Dull Life’ will be the ground zero for a pandemic wave of sweaty clubbers who set foot on the dance-floor with the sole intention of kicking up a fuss.
Things are rounded off with ‘Little Shadow’, demonstrating the bands eye for a slower song. It’s a good way to bring things to a close, and feels like a nice warm hug. It never gets too sloppy though; this lot are far too slick to be sloppy.
The album is tinted with the current 80’s fad, although they never quite venture into that genre, keeping it strictly Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It has a fresh, experimental sound to it but O and them never lose sight of that which made us smitten in the first place. A truly great album.
4 ½ out of 5
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