Doing gig reviews in the North West of England does mean that travel and the weather are frequent battles, but not even I expect to be nervously checking the National Rail website (other train information websites are available) in June. It finally stops raining though and, unlike at the Heart Of A Coward gig the previous week, I turn up to the venue resembling a human rather than a drowned rat.
Read MoreIn early May 1994, as an enthusiastic but rather rough around the edges reporter I reviewed The Wildhearts playing the Student Union’s Main debating Hall for the Student Paper. I tell you this as here I am twenty-five years later as an enthusiastic but rather rough around the edges reporter for ROCKFLESH reviewing The Wildhearts play exactly the same room (now renamed Academy 2). Many things have changed (how many new buildings does Manchester actually need and where did that bloody spiral staircase come from) but other things have stayed the same; namely I still can’t spell, my social skills haven’t improved, my teeth are still in woeful condition (I remember someone at the ’94 gig commenting on it) and The Wildhearts are touring a stunning album seemingly on the verge of greatness.
Read MoreIt's Easter, it's a Saturday night and it's the hottest day of the year so far. The O2 Academy 2 is the venue for this evening's visit of Canadian rock Gods Monster Truck. The tour is currently rumbling around the UK in support of their 3rd album “True Rockers” released in September 2018. With their previous releases “Furiosity” and “Sittin’ Heavy” also gathering critical acclaim and having songs used as Ubisoft and EA game music scores, songs used on TV programmes and guest vocalists like Dee Snider on the new album, its set to be an interesting gig to say the least.
Read MoreThe Struts have been a word of mouth sensation. There has been no big media push, instead news of this young vibrant rock fireball has been passed on covertly by one convert to another. The rumour mill has obviously been working overtime as the Academy 2 is not just sold out tonight, it is utterly rammed and in full sauna mode as everyone is here to experience the young up-starts that their friends won’t stop yapping on about.
Read MoreIt’s been a very long time since we had a gig in the Liverpool Academy 2 and thus take as much time organising our entrance as we would for a gig in Manchester. It’s this size of gig that is particularly fascinating. Smaller more visceral bands with a more engaged audience are a ROCKFLESH favourite, although the room to photograph get increasingly silly as the room decreases. I’m now onto sickness number three for the month and starting to feel quite Dickensian.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year were the family tries to kill off the weakest member by incubating the most virulent strain of cold, flu or chest infection possible and infecting a member at the most inconvenient possible time. All attempts to resist are futile, alcohol gel, tissues, exercise and pre-firing (See Call of Duty) day and night nurse are not barrier enough and my wife manages at the very end of her own ordeal to pass the lurgy onto me. Both myself and Johann’s crimson death wagon cough and splutter into Manchester for a mid-afternoon chat with Johannes (Hannes) Braun, vocal songsmith for Kissin’ Dynamite, more to follow as a separate piece on rockflesh.com.
Read MoreThe most satisfying success comes when you push and push and something happens beyond the prescribed boundaries. Often it is where you can see opportunity that others can’t. So it was, that in the sixth minute of four minutes injury time, Divock Origi saw what no one else did and caused much celebration for one middle aged Frenchman, who now sits beside me, bottle of water to hand and the effects of a 96th minute derby winner steering him nauseously to Manchester in the red, bullet wagon of death. “I don’t skimp on brakes and tyres” he assures me, testing his unnerving creed to the limit, but thankfully not past it.
Read MoreWelcome to Clash of the Titans: the polyrythmic, ever shifting time signatures edition. If you like your metal complex, intelligent and highly technical then this is probably the finest double header you will find. First out the gates are Between the Buried and Me and without wanting to get a reputation as the reviewer always moaning about the sound, Tommy Giles Rogers Jnr's vocals are just about audible. Now usually this would annoy the hell out of me but, truth be told, I would be gushing lyrically about Between the Buried and Me even if our Tommy did his entire vocal delivery via the medium of mime.
Read MoreEnslaved and High on Fire make for interesting tour bedfellows. The former are the thinking person’s Black Metal band. Pedalling an intricate, complex and subtle take on a musical genre that can be rather harsh and one dimensional. On the other hand High on fire are the drinking persons Doom band, offering up a guttural, primitive and brutally direct take on what an often be an introspective genre.
Read MoreI’d literally just clicked send on the Just Eat order, the anticipation of a large chicken kebab swirling around the axions and synapses. Was I droolin? Then that little ping and a blue message “I’m on my way”. What? Why are you on your way? What purpose? I check the Rockflesh calendar, clear as a bell 1st Oct - Sons of Apollo. I quickly throw a t-shirt and hoodie on and dive out. Johann’s late for a gig I thought was tomorrow. He roars down the street, I’m already missing the kebab. The rain has turned the roads black, slick and shiny. Distorted brake lights multiplied in the windscreen. After a few death defying, maybe law breaking manoeuvres we are at the familiar side street in Manchester city centre. The Academy 2 is the epitome of a box auditorium. It looks like a glorified Punch and Judy stand.
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