Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: June 2018
We’re well into festival season now, which means major gigs are relatively few and far between. That still doesn’t prevent some annoying clashes, such as Richie Kotzen and Mostly Autumn. Grrrr. Check the coming soons for some quality autumn gigs, including the welcome return to the Fleece of prog-doomsters Elder, Graveyard at the Thekla and the intriguing prospect of that MC50 (geddit?) show at the Academy, which sees MC5 veteran Wayne Kramer joined by Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and the great Doug Pinnick of King’s X on bass and vocals. Should you fancy a night at the pictures, Rough Trade is screening a couple of excellent metal documentaries as part of the Doc’n Roll Festival later this month: Death by Metal and the UK premiere of Slave to the Grind.
Exchange, June 8
is needed now More than ever
Parfitt’s carked it, Rossi’s gone all acoustic, Lancaster lives down under. So drummer Coghlan’s quartet offers your only chance of hearing classic Quo performed by at least one original member of the Frantic Four. When he’s not fulfilling his duties as patron of the Westie Rehoming Charity, Coghlan’s stated aim is to “recreate an authentic ’70s Quo sound”. No bloody Marguerita Time, then. Woo-hoo!
Exchange, June 20
West Virginia instrumental stoner/desert rock trio Karma to Burn make it a tad challenging to shout out for your favourite riff-driven song, since the lazy buggers can’t be bothered to think up titles most of the time and stick to numbers instead. And you’d feel a bit of a dick shouting, “Thirty seven!” or “Sixty Three!” The latter’s on their current album, Mountain Czar, in case you’re wondering. It also features a little diversion into surf rock just to keep things fresh. And the band’s newfound experimentation yields a song with vocals. In Italian. By a woman. And it’s a cover. Yup, Uccidendo Un Sogno is indeed a reworking of Tom Petty’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, with Stefanie Savy singing in her native tongue. Support tonight comes from Desert Storm and Sergeant Thunderhoof.
Thekla, June 24
Prolific whizz-kid guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen is probably the only person alive who’s collaborated with jazz-fusion legend Stanley Clarke and been a member of Poison. Amusingly, he was kicked out of the latter for shagging the drummer’s fiancee. Last seen here at the Academy fronting the “don’t call them a supergroup” supergroup The Winery Dogs, he’s an outstanding musician with a string of top-quality solo albums but has never really achieved the recognition he deserves – possibly because of his refusal to be tied to one particular style of music. Current album Salting Earth (his 21st, fact fans) continues in this mould, taking in hard rock, soul and mellow jazz.
https://youtu.be/_rDf0LKxIhg
Fleece, June 24
A late booking for the Fleece, this is the classy Yorkshire proggers’ first gig in Bristol for, ooh, years. There have been some line-up changes along the way, but founder and Gilmour-esque guitarist Bryan Josh continues to steer the band, with his spouse Olivia Sparnenn on vocals, Iain Jennings on keyboards and Angela Gordon on all manner of instrumentation. Their defiantly independent approach means that Mostly Autumn have struggled to break out of the clubs, but anyone who likes their prog old-skool, melodic and Celtic-influenced should find plenty to enjoy there. Their 12th album, the fan-financed Sight of Day, is out now.
Fleece, June 26
Had they pitched up 40 years ago, Canuck classic rockers The Sheepdogs would have swiftly become arena-filling rock royalty. Things are rather different today, which means they face more of a struggle. Nonetheless, the quartet from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, boast the distinction of being the first unsigned band ever to make the prestigious cover of Rolling Stone magazine back in 2011, landing them a deal with the legendary Atlantic Records, and were the winners of three 2012 Grammy-equivalent Juno Awards (New Group of the Year, Single of the Year and Rock Album of the Year). These suitably shaggy Sheepdogs were last in Bristol five years ago when they played a brilliant show at the Louisiana. Hipsters requiring permission to rock would probably cite The Black Keys as their chief inspiration, especially as that band’s Patrick Carney produced the Sheepdogs’ eponymous 2012 album. But their heritage runs a lot deeper than that, taking in fellow countrymen The Band and heading across the border to worship at the southern rock altar of the Allman Brothers. Hell, they even chuck in the occasional trombone solo. Sixth album Changing Colours is out now. Highly recommended. Note that this show has been cancelled owing to our old chum “unforeseen circumstances”. The band are hoping to reschedule their tour for later this year. Watch this space.
Fleece, June 27
Using your skill and judgement, see if you can guess which leisure pursuit unites these two bands. We last saw Bongzilla on the massively over-subscribed third stage at the 2015 Temples Festival. Pleasingly resembling a bunch of backwoods dope farmers from Central Casting, these pot-fixated Wisconsin veterans waste no time in hitting their self-medicated groove and are a pure stoner delight. Pleasingly, supporting Canuck doom/sludge trio Dopethrone decribe their music as Slutch Metal – “a foul Canadian mix of yellow snow, crackhead diarrhea, blood, tears and broken dreams”.
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Eyehategod, Fleece, July 1
Pallbearer, Fleece, July 19
Ginger Wildheart, Thekla, July 19
Ministry/Chelsea Wolfe, SWX, July 25
Skid Row, Academy, Aug 20
Camel, The Forum, Bath, Sept 11
Bad Flowers/Federal Charm, Thekla, Sept 19
Halestorm, O2 Academy, Sept 29
Sons of Apollo, SWX, Sept 29
Glenn Hughes, O2 Academy, Oct 2
Elder, Fleece, Oct 4
Evil Scarecrow, Marble Factory, Oct 11
MC50, O2 Academy, Nov 9
Blackberry Smoke, O2 Academy, Nov 11
Hawkwind, The Forum, Bath, Nov 24
The New Roses, Louisiana, Nov 27
Graveyard, Thekla, Dec 12
Rick Wakeman, St. George’s, Dec 16
Clutch, O2 Academy, Dec 18
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