/Memory of a Festival /039 /Cold Waves XI /Chicago /22-24 Sep 2023
Cold Waves XI was my fifth trip to Chicago, and over the course of the weekend, it was suggested to me more than once that I’m becoming an honorary Chicagoan, […]
Category: /Reviews
I’ve written a lot of reviews over the years. This is the home of pretty much all of them since about 2003.
/Memory of a Festival /038 /Infest 2023
Just four months ago, I was beginning to be resigned to the August Bank Holiday being devoid of one of my favourite events of the year. So when we finally […]
/Into the Pit /211 /Katatonia & Sólstafir
Remarkably, I believe that this was my last rescheduled gig in the aftermath of lockdowns and shutdowns, after a few years of next-to-no gigs, followed by a 2022 that seemed […]
/Click Click /008 /Bands at Whitby Oct 2022
It’s fair to say that since I first started going to Whitby in 2004, things have changed. The people running gigs at the Spa have changed (twice, now), the people […]
/Memory of a Festival /037 /Cold Waves X
That what started out as a hastily-scheduled event to celebrate the life of Jamie Duffy has turned into a large, multi-day, multi-city festival over the past decade is something of […]
/Memory of a Festival /036 /Infest 2022
One of the obvious casualties of COVID since early 2020 was live music, both in the form of gigs, and festivals. For many, both 2020 and 2021 were almost entirely […]
/Memory of a Festival /035 /Goth City 6 /Leeds /07-10 Jul 2022
It’s been a long time since I was last at any kind of festival in person. The last one I went to was the all-dayer 10 Ten Years of Chaos […]
/But Listen/165/Empathy Test – Monsters
It is remarkable to think that I first heard Empathy Test for myself just five years ago. That first time was back at S.O.S. #2 at Electrowerkz, the second instance […]
/But Listen/164/the return of Brainclaw
I have to admit that it has been a while since I had last thought about Brainclaw before 2020. They have jolted back into my view thanks to the sad […]
/But Listen/163/Doom in the Springtime
For me at least, there are a number of links between Katatonia and Paradise Lost.
/But Listen/162/Promenade Cinema/Exit Guides
Promenade Cinema rather burst out of their native Sheffield a couple of years ago, with a handful of striking, elegant singles and a sensational debut album LIVING GHOSTS, that this […]
/Memory of a Festival/034/10 Years of Chaos
As I noted recently in my chat with the promoter on /Talk Show Host/058, Chaos Theory Music have reached their tenth anniversary by being a fearlessly uncompromising promoter, doing things […]
/Into the Pit/210/3TEETH + <PIG>
My gigging in 2020 has perhaps started slower than usual – I didn’t see a single show in January – but this might be down to the fact that by […]
/Click Click/007/BEAT:CANCER/London/09-Nov 2019
For the last couple of years, one Saturday around this time of year has seen me head to Electrowerkz for the latest London edition of the BEAT:CANCER shows – and […]
/Into the Pit/209/Red Box live in London/24-Sep 2019
The seemingly inexhaustible jukebox that is my brain has a regular supply of new music added to it, by account of my voracious appetite for new songs and new artists […]
/Into the Pit/208/Drab Majesty + SRSQ
We are very much in the time of new bands, new styles, and a distinct dearth of live venues in London. This has resulted in a few things: gigs that […]
/Memory of a Festival/033/Infest 2019
Somehow, despite the feeling I was just getting started, I’m already home, (mostly) unpacked and finishing this write-up of another great edition of Infest. It has long since become far […]
/Into the Pit/207/New Blood Tour
A word of warning: in the future, if you see that I’m attending a show in June next year, just know that for the past three or four years now, […]
/Click Click/006/Statiqbloom/Spit Mask/11-Jun 2019
Nearly halfway through 2019, and the gigs keep on coming. After a week off (I was away in Greece), there were three shows back-to-back as we entered the second week […]
/But Listen/161/Syd.31 roar back
Syd.31 are not your average punks. For a start they are punks by way of electronic music and industrial. But also they are punks by way of a political-based higher […]