Grant Nicholas – ‘Yorktown Heights’ (review)

As I said in my Bob Mould review, there’s something quite exciting about stalwart musicians from the ’80s and ’90s releasing fresh material. Grant Nicholas, famous for being the frontman of Feeder delivers quite a debut solo effort in the form of ‘Yorktown Heights’.

From the opening acoustic guitar phrases of ‘Soul Mates’ it’s clear we’re in for something a bit more folky than Feeder. The track is perhaps a bit Paul Simon-esque. Liner notes also cite the much underrated and sadly no longer with us Nick Drake as an influence. Vocals on this album however are characteristically effects-laden. There’s also a hint of warbly sounding electric guitar here and there as well as some very synthy sounding synths.

‘Tall Trees’ offers up some nice piano chords before the acoustic guitar chords kick in. The track is very daydreamy overall, which is no bad thing.

‘Robots’, as the title would suggest is a bit more electric, though sounds like it would still carry well as an acoustic track, which I think is the point of most solo albums: tracks that can be played by the singer-songwriter alone.

‘Joan Of Arc’ stands out to me as poignantly sombre: “It’s been pouring for days, pouring for days…”

‘Isolation’ slides over me euphorically, with its mixture of different sounds and sweet melody.

The first track we were treated to from this album was ‘Time Stood Still’, a track I would describe as “soothing” with a great hook: “Humming on a bassline, like on the shoreline, watching the tide come in, time stood still, time stood still…” and its “whoah oh oh oh” intro.

This album is an overall lighter affair than a Feeder record, though obviously Feeder were always known for their diversity of styles ranging from heavy-riff tracks like ‘Stereo World’ to acoustic ballads like ‘High’. No matter what the genre, Grant Nicholas has always been a great songwriter and ‘Yorktown Heights’ is no exception to that rule.

I can’t review the album fully without commenting on the artwork, which comes courtesy of Grant’s daughter Hana Sky Nicholas, beautifully done in what looks like charcoal. Really suits the folky nature of this album well.

Highly recommended.

Bob Mould – ‘Beauty & Ruin’ (Review)

Recently my eagerly awaited copy of the new Bob Mould album arrived in the post.

If you don’t know who Bob Mould is, don’t worry, HE’S ONLY THE GUY WHO INVENTED ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC!

With the sarcasm out of the way, I shall introduce Mr. Mould more formally as the former guitarist, singer and songwriter of both Husker Du and Sugar. Bob went through a phase several years ago of dabbling in dubious electronica. If, like myself, you were a bit unimpressed with this particular phase of his music career, fear not. ‘Beauty & Ruin’ has lots of loud guitars and absolutely no programmed beats. It’s safe to say Bob Mould is back to doing what he does best.

As we’d expect from a Bob record, there’s an abundance of great hooks, notably on ‘I Don’t Know You Anymore’ which I’ve had stuck in my head for several days now.

‘Low Season’ is perhaps an odd choice for an opening track given as it’s something of a slowie, but it’s emotional and has plenty of guitar weight. It’s also refreshing to hear a rock album that doesn’t launch straight into the high octane material from the word go.

‘Kid With Crooked Face’ is more that a bit hardcore-esque and wouldn’t sound out of place on an indie-label era Husker Du album.

By no means is this album all about the distorted guitars though. ‘Let The Beauty Be’ is a good example of this record’s more acoustic side. It’s also unmistakeably optimistic in both its melody and lyrics. We also get a hint of keyboard playing and cleaner electric guitar tone on ‘Forgiveness’. ‘Nemeses Are Laughing’ opens with a deceptive a cappella intro before launching into trademark full band loudness.

My absolute favourite track off this album (and as of writing, off of any album) has to be ‘The War’. Loud, fast and impassioned with great lyrics and great guitar playing from Bob. In fact, both lyrics and guitar playing are on top form right through ‘Beauty & Ruin’, with the former being as poetic and deep as we’d expect and the latter delivering a memorable mix of melody and power. Vocals do have to compete with the noise more than a bit. Some may complain, but it gives the record something of a live feel, which is no bad thing and something that has been notably absent from alternative rock records since around the turn of the millenium.

There’s something quite exciting about hearing a new record from a stalwart musician of the ’80s and ’90s that is this good. It gives me quite a rush of optimism. Needless to say, I love this album and have been listening to it relentlessly.

Apparently, Open Mics Are Killing Live Music

Recently, my attention was drawn (by my good friend and fellow open mic. host Graham Bellinger) to an article by an individual named Stuart Walker on the website GigsAndBands.com entitled ‘5 Reasons Why Open Mic. Nights Are Killing Live Music’.

The article can be read here: http://www.gigsandbands.com/5-reasons-why-open-mic-nights-are-killing-live-music/

It should come as no surprise that I, being an open mic. host, am just ever so slightly offended by this hatchet job of an article, which I shall now dismantle and critique with all the subtlety it deserves (spoiler: not much).

“Thinking of doing your stuff at an open mic night? Think again – Open mic nights are an ‘open’ invitation for musicians to be exploited and are leading to the death of  paid gigs. Don’t believe us? Well here’s 5 reasons why you should turn down the ‘opportunity'”

I’ll come back to this point about paid gigs later. Let’s look at these reasons.

“Reason 1 – they’re a bad advert for live music

One of the ‘joys’ of an open mic is that any old person can turn up with their penny whistle and strut their stuff. This means that your local pub is full of tone deaf half talented people who think they are the next Thom Yorke.

The problem then is that the watching punters think that’s what live music is like and act accordingly. If you thought that a proper music night was going to sound like an open mic would you go?

Of course not.

Even the well attended ones tend to attract exactly the same sort of performers. Who wants to listen to 12 chaps with guitars, one after another all singing their break up songs in the style of Bon Jovi?”

Let’s ignore the fact that Stuart is generalising heavily here by holding up the worst case scenario as standard and skip to the bit about “the watching punters think that’s what live music is like and act accordingly.”

So apparently, Stuart thinks people who go to open mic. nights have never experienced live music… ever. And apparently, they are too stupid to figure out that a night themed around letting people of different levels of ability, different genres and different age groups might not be indicative of live music in its entirety.

You presumably haven’t noticed this Stu old buddy, but the bulk of an open mic. audience is made up of performers and their friends, not people who’ve been living in isolation from the real world for the past 18 years and are now experiencing live music for the first time… and are now going to swear off it forever because they heard a slightly ropey version of a Bob Dylan song (Bob Dylan spent his entire career doing ropey versions of Bob Dylan songs and it never did him any harm).

You also don’t seem to make the connection between the type of audience open mics attract and why open mics usually take place in the week rather than the weekend. They’re a way to try and get a few more heads in on a quiet night, ie. nights when the regular punters aren’t there. The nights when punters are there tend to be the nights when professional acts are booked.

“Reason 2 – they are populated by a self elected elite

Open mics are in fact nothing of the sort. If you are a mate of the guy (and let’s be honest it’s usually a guy) running the night then you’ll get a great spot. If you’re not then you won’t.

New musicians feel intimidated by this macho clique and don’t bother turning up, or if they do then they don’t ask to go on the list as a refusal often offends.

If new people can’t get a place to play then the local paid scene starts to look stale and samey. End of scene.

Even worse you’ll find that a lot of the acts turn up, do their stuff then bugger off. They aren’t interested in anyone elses music or indeed anyone else unless they are likely to become fans.”

Contradiction alert: In his previous “point” (yes, I can make snarky use of quotes too), Stuart was dismissing open mic. nights due to the lack of talent of those who perform at them. Having done that, he’s now decided to cry “ELITISM!”

So, just to be clear, open mics that let anyone get up and have a go are shit because they aren’t selective enough and open mics that are too selective are shit because they won’t let just anyone get up and have a go.

Err… OK?

With regard to acts turning up, playing their stuff, then buggering off, Stu old chap, I shouldn’t have to tell you this given as you are an online music journalist, but that’s the underground scene in a nutshell!

Find me a band that hasn’t had the experience of playing on the bill with two or three other bands who all bugger off after playing their set, taking their gaggle of friends with them, leaving the remaining band to play to an empty room.

At least with an open mic. night, if this happens, it’s an audience loss of about three people, not thirty people.

Even then, in my experience (which is a lot in this area), people at open mic. nights tend to be pretty good at sticking around to watch the other acts. You get the odd person who has to leave early to get the bus, but for the most part, there’s a real community feel.

“Reason 3 – The money for a live act gets taken by the compere

The professional compere turns up, takes the money and gets the artists doing all the work whilst he regales the young student crowd with anecdotes of when he was on tour with AC/DC (as their laundry coordinator).

Why the hell should a failed musician get the money when the real work is being done by people who actually have some talent?

At the very least they should split the money with the people who stand up and perform. But really lets’ be fair 100,200 quid? Get four acts and give them £25-50 quid each at least.

Professional comperes suck money out of the business that should really go to hard working (and hard up) musicians. They are generally narcissistic and only in it for the money. Uninterested and unlikely to be particularly keen on what you’ve got to say unless you are telling them how great they are.”

Ooh… now we’re getting insulting.

Let’s firstly deal with this accusation of being a “failed musician”.

What exactly is a successful musician in your opinion, Stuart? Let me guess, someone you’ve heard on the radio or seen on the telly-box?

If that’s the case, allow me to educate you.

A successful musician is someone who earns a living through playing music, just as a successful writer is someone who earns a living through writing. The more astute of you will have twigged that I chose that particular analogy for a reason.

Stuart, do you not think you should garner yourself just a tad more success as a music journalist before you start taking it upon yourself to judge people of other professions as failures? I mean, here you are writing for a small time website with not much over 1000 likes on Facebook and you consider THAT to be an appropriate high-horse from which to be scoffing at people who run open mic. nights.

Now, the point about who does the “real work”.

Allow me to again educate you Stuart on what an average performer does compared to what a host does.

A host promotes the event beforehand; supplies the PA and other equipment; shows up at least an hour before everyone else to set up the PA and other equipment; opens the event; manages the list; plays guitar/bass/percussion/vocals/keys for any performers who require it (often on songs they’ve never played before); packs all this gear down at the end of the event…

An average performer shows up when they like, plays two or three songs and spends the rest of the night drinking and relaxing and leaves when they like.

Additionally, what the hell planet are you living on where open mic. hosts get paid anything like £200?!!! And if you think open mic. hosts get paid £200, how the hell can you categorise them as “failed musicians”? Most musicians would be lucky to earn that in a week, never mind in an evening.

We also have another glaring contradiction here, specifically saying that hosts are “only in it for the money” while simultaneously saying “Open mic nights are an ‘open’ invitation for musicians to be exploited and are leading to the death of  paid gigs.”

So musicians should be paid, but they shouldn’t be paid.

“Reason 4 – the brewery is taking the piss

Open mic night? Great. Do we get paid? no you are doing it for the exposure.

Wake up, you’re doing it for a multi national brewery chain. Forget the pretend antiques and old photos of the locality, the pub you are knocking your pipes out in is part of a conglomerate.

Ask them how many of the bar staff are doing it for the exposure. Ask them how many of the open mic acts are getting paid gigs as a result. Ask them which agents or managers or A&Rs have been invited along.

My bet is none.

You are being used as a method of channelling punter money into the coffers of a very rich corporation.

Ironically most of the money that ends up in a tax haven is in fact coming from the performers and the performers family themselves. See point 5″

You heard it here first folks, pubs put on entertainment because they’re trying to make money! I know! I was as shocked as you are. Here I was thinking pubs were not-for-profit charities devoted purely to the promotion of culture. I had absolutely no idea they were BUSINESSES.

Also, A&R scouts from major labels don’t spend all their time dossing around at open mic. nights?! My mind is officially blown Staurt. My mind is officially blown. Until now, I thought that people whose job it was to scout out original talent for multinational corporations and who could very easily find themselves unemployed very quickly if they prove to be not very good at it couldn’t keep away from pubs where people strum Beatles covers!

Additionally, why would you want there to be A&R scouts at such events? Musicians who are in it for the money are evil, remember?

“Reason 5 – They become background noise

One open mic night is interesting, two open mic nights are a scene, three hundred and seventy six open mic nights are just background noise.

Seriously though, how many OMN does a town need?

Having that many events not only turns punters off it ensures that the available talent pool is spread so thin that you can guarantee that at 20% of the nights they are trying to fill the space with anything they can get their hands on.

Jamming? Filling more like.

If you can’t get decent talent along to an open mic event then the likelihood is that there are too many in your town and the punters won’t bother turning up.

Check out the attendance – how many of the bored looking people are actually real life punters? How many are the drummers’ designated driver or the singers’ mum?”

So apparently, one open mic. night is interesting, even though this entire article has been an exercise in slating open mic. nights as some sort of monolith. Suddenly, by “point” 5, Stuart has decided he’s getting into nuance.

I shall double-down on a previous point I have made here, in regard to Stuart’s comment about the audience being made up of designsated drivers and mums… Stuart:

THAT IS THE FUCKING UNDERGROUND MUSIC SCENE IN A NUTSHELL!

You strike me as someone who is looking for a scape-goat. Someone who is looking to pin all your frustrations with live music onto something and have chosen open mic. nights. If they wanted to, someone with similar frustrations with the music press could do a similar hatchet job of your website. They could rant endlessly about how small independent music websites are killing the printed word. I imagine, Stuart, your defence would be similar to mine.

But wait…

The day after posting this article, Stuart posted a follow-up, which you can read here: http://www.gigsandbands.com/5-reasons-why-open-mic-nights-are-a-good-thing/

If you’re thinking this is all a bit Sam Pepper-esque, you’re not alone.

Now, I could go through this point by point, as I have with the previous article, but I shall not. I think this comment sums it up pretty well:

I completely agree with Catherine. Your first article, Stuart was obviously your opinion. This follow-up is the token “other-side”. The covering of your metaphorical arse.

I’m also not impressed that, as of writing, my comment is STILL pending approval:

Here’s a scenario for you Stuart:

Imagine I were to call you a hack writer who should actually try focusing on making a success of himself before presuming to accuse hard-working musicians of being lazy failures and who should actually try doing some research into the topic he is trying to cover rather than just pulling figures like £200 out of his arse and who should maybe learn the bare basics of how the music industry (both indie and corprorate) works before presuming to voice his opinions on anything to do with music…

… but after leaving you to stew on those words for an entire day, I tell you they were in jest and I actually think you’re a spiffing chap.

How would that make you feel?

In conclusion ladies, enbies and gents, GigsAndBands.com, is a site I very much DON’T recommend.

All three Stiltskin albums

The Mind’s Eye

It’s hard to believe that 1994 was twenty years ago. I remember in 1994, 1974 seemed like some period of ancient history, yet here we are, the same number of years later looking back on the ‘90s as the period of ancient history it presumably appears to be to millenials.

We’re talking about an era when rock music was a bit hard to come by. Remember, there was no internet back then, so if you were too young to be going to gigs, your only sources of new music were: older siblings/friends who were a bit more clued up on music than you were; radio… or TV.

For almost everyone, the latter is where they will have first been introduced to the music of Stiltskin. Specifically, an advert for Levi jeans to which Stiltskin contributed one of the most memorable guitar riffs of the decade in the form of ‘Inside’.

There’s a few different stories of how Stiltskin formed floating around. One that claims the band was hastily put together by guitarist and songwriter Peter Lawlor after scoring the Levi deal, another asserting that the band was formed by Lawlor, bassist/keyboardist James Finnigan (formerly of Hue & Cry) and drummer Ross McFarlane (formerly of Slide) as far back as 1989 and that many auditions for a lead singer were held before Ray Wilson (formerly of Guaranteed Pure) was selected. Some stories say he auditioned, others say Lawlor and Finnigan offered him a lift to a gig when his car had broken down and offered him the position of vocalist after watching said gig.

Whatever the true story is, what’s important is, the original Stiltskin line-up recorded one hell of a debut album in the form of ‘The Mind’s Eye’.

I’ve always considered ‘The Mind’s Eye’ to be a brilliant and highly underrated record. Before we even get into music, let’s give kudos to the cover art: a green eye, viewed so up close it resembles a blackhole or hyperspace jumpgate. When viewed this close up, the eye no longer stares at you. You stare at the eye!

Musically, ‘The Mind’s Eye’ has plenty of loud/soft dynamics, loud being distorted guitar chords and soft being mostly bass and drums with the occasional intrusion of harmonics. The sort of thing we’d typically associate with grunge, however with the inclusion of Hammond organ, Wurlitzer piano, the Ambrosian Choir on ‘Inside’, celtic elements such as accordion and mandolin on ‘Rest In Peace and a guitar solo that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dire Straits record on ‘Sunshine & Butterflies’ we’re clearly dealing with something a bit more than just grunge. Post-grunge seems a much more adequate category for Stiltskin. Influenced by, but by no means limited to the genre of grunge.

Over the top of all this of course, is the deep, haunting voice of Ray Wilson, delivering Peter Lawlor’s mysterious poetic lyrics.

On that note, let’s dive into the lyrics. Lawlor’s lyrics intrigue me. They bring to mind various images (such as picture frames tied to horses and snowfall turning to rust). Their ambiguity leaves them open to fascinating amounts of interpretation.

It’s worthy of note that the American release of ‘The Mind’s Eye’ included an extra track called ‘Shouting In My Sleep’ (not to be confused with the Ray Wilson solo song of the same name). This song is well worth a listen. In fact, it’s perhaps worth listening to songs from ‘The Mind’s Eye’ in the American order so as to get the experience of being an American fan.

In perusing various reviews and opinions of this album, you are certainly going to encounter those who claim that ‘Inside’ is the only good track. Obviously I am not one of those people. ‘Inside’ is certainly the stand-out. The one that got everyone interested in the band and the one that people will always remember Stiltskin for. It’s even fair enough to argue that it’s the best track, but to say it’s the only track worthy of your ears is to do a huge disservice to the rest of the album which is a well written, well produced and well performed body of songs.

She

One can’t help but wonder what a second album by the original Stiltskin line-up would have sounded like, had they remained together.

Rumour has it that Ray Wilson’s song ‘Another Day’ had found its way into later Stiltskin concerts, so perhaps we’d have been looking at more of a collaborative effort rather than another album penned entirely by Peter Lawlor. The pseudo-grungey nature of Wilson’s post-Stiltskin project Cut_ perhaps gives us some indication of where things might have been headed. It’s even tempting to imagine the album art being a close-up of a different coloured eye!

But as interesting as it is to indulge in such “what ifs”, let’s have a look at what IS.

The 2006 line-up of Stilskin retains only one original member: Ray Wilson. Two, if you count live keyboardist Irvin Duguid. So one could be forgiven for asking what differentiates this project from a Ray Wilson solo album.

Opening track ‘Fly High’ gives us a good overview of what to expect here. Louder guitars than we’d typically expect from a Wilson album, though the riffs here owe more to the influence of metal than the grunge of ‘The Mind’s Eye’. The album is not without its ballads however, ‘Lemon Yellow Sun’ being a good example.

Wilson is a much more straight-up lyricist than Peter Lawlor. Don’t expect to find references to picture frames tied to horses here. Wilson likes to be quite direct with his message, a theme no clearer than on the track ‘Fame’ which pulls no punches in accurately describing TV talent shows.

As well as the big drop-D guitar riffs we have some slide guitar, some nice piano and keyboard work, some occasional hints of distorted bass and drums provided by Wilson’s former Genesis band-mate Nir Z. String arrangements are making their way to becoming standard by this stage of the discography and we even have a bit of guest rapping from Adonis. While rapping should offend someone such as myself, it reminds me enough of ‘Rage Against The Machine’ to be acceptable.

The title track of the album is a very groove-based affair. While it is very different to a track like ‘Inside’, it is perhaps similar in that it wouldn’t sound out of place as the theme tune to an advert.

A particular standout track for me is ‘Wake Up Your Mind’, partly because it was one of the first tracks from ‘She’ that I heard when discovering the new project on MySpace. I almost wish it was the first track on the album as it seems to be an almost perfect bridge between the Stiltskin of old and the new Stiltskin, showcasing Wilson’s moody vocal tone, suitably introspective lyrics and a loud/soft approach to dynamics coming from the band.

Overall, we’re looking at something that is appropriately similar to the Stiltskin of old so as not to simply be a Ray Wilson solo album with the name Stiltskin slapped on it, but different enough to not simply be written off as an attempt to re-hash ‘The Mind’s Eye’.

Unfulfillment

So now the band is called “Ray Wilson & Stiltskin”. At first I assumed this was for the same reason Whitesnake are now called “David Coverdale & Whitesnake” and The Police are now called “Sting & The Police”, but having listened to the album, we do appear to get a fairly even mixture of the sort of loud guitar driven tracks of a Stiltskin record and the more acoustic guitar and piano driven material of a Ray Wilson solo album. There’s an undeniable (Dark Side Of The Moon era) Pink Floyd vibe to this record overall, which is no bad thing.

Subscribers to Ray Wilson on Youtube will be aware that ‘American Beauty’ and ‘First Day Of Change’ are the two tracks from this album that have music videos. The former being an upbeat rock song and the latter being more of a sombre ballad, perhaps more typical of Ray as a solo artist. Both these tracks serve as appropriate samplers to the heavy and the gentle dimensions of the album. ‘American Beauty’ opening with what sounds like a programmed drumbeat and a piano hook before kicking in with full band. The instrumental section also features a really neat slide guitar solo. ‘First Day Of Change’ offers us a more waltzy time signature opening with some pleasant acoustic guitar arpeggios. The harmonising of the male and female vocals gives this track a nice texture.

String arrangements are now a permanent fixture in the line-up, as are a hell of a lot of guitarists. Being a minimalist, I’m a bit sceptical of such crowded line-ups, but for whatever reason, it seems to work really well.

A standout track for me is ‘Guns Of God’, a song featuring samples of Israeli conscientious objectors mixed in with some heavy guitar verses and more piano driven choruses.

I feel I must give props to more impressive photography that adorns the album inlay, creating some nice visuals to associate with the songs.

Much like with ‘She’, ‘Unfulfillment’ is not an attempt to re-hash ‘The Mind’s Eye’. Nor is it an attempt to re-hash ‘She’ for that matter. It’s a definite step forward. It’s unclear if there will be another Stiltskin record, but certainly Ray Wilson shows no signs of stopping writing, recording and touring any time soon.