Music / Alcest
Metal & Prog picks: November 2016
Holy crap – what a busy month. Yes, there really are three gigs worth going to in Bristol on November 10 and 27. Remember this next time some buffoon tries to pretend that rock is dead. We’ve got old-school metal (Saxon, Last In Line, Y&T), great Bristol thrash (Onslaught), guitar heroics (Paul Gilbert), dressing-up box panto metal (Lordi), brilliant southern rock (The Cadillac Three), magnificent multi-national blues rock (Blues Pills), gothic metal (Lacuna Coil), ‘Blackgaze’ (Alcest) and much, much more. Oh, and a tip: if you fancy taking a punt on a band you may never have heard of before, check out hugely impressive French proggers Lazuli.
is needed now More than ever
Marble Factory, Nov 2
Ace shredder Paul Gilbert isn’t quite in the Joe Satriani/Steve Vai punter-pulling league, but he does have a gimmick all of his own: playing guitar with a cordless drill. He demonstrated this skill last time he was in Bristol with re-formed supergroup Mr. Big at the Academy back in 2011. Industrious fella that he is, he’s also found time to whack out 17 solo albums since 1998, the latest of which is entitled I Can Destroy. Expect to find every guitarist in town down the front scraping their jaws off the floor.
O2 Academy, Nov 3
Saxon’s glorious renaissance has been a marvellous thing to behold. After their huge initial success, they were reduced to playing to a half-full Bierkeller back in the 1990s. But true to the lyrics of the autobiographical Never Surrender (“I was born on the back streets of the rotten side of town…Leaving wasn’t easy, but I’m never going back”) former coal miner Biff Byford reinvented the band with an updated, heavier sound and a string of excellent albums, which got the younger Metal Hammer/Bloodstock generation on board. The latest of these – their 21st, fact fans – is the evocatively titled Battering Ram. Get there early for two great vintage support acts. Fastway are the band that Fast Eddie Clarke formed with UFO’s Pete Way after he left Motorhead. Pete remains, erm, indisposed, but these days Fastway are fronted by journeyman former Little Angels singer (and Bristol resident) Toby Jepson. Then there’s the lovably chirpy Girlschool, who are always overlooked by hacks writing about such fashionable short-lived phenomena as Riot Grrrl, despite the fact that original members Kim McAuliffe, Enid Williams and Denise Dufort have been rocking more or less continuously since the mid-’70s and show no sign of letting up in middle age. Take that, sexism and ageism!
O2 Academy, Nov 6
Cruel old rock history has San Francisco’s Y&T pegged as one of the great also-rans of ’80s heavy metal, but they always deserved better than that. Despite a Donington appearance and a chart hit with 1983’s Mean Streak album, Dave Meniketti’s classy melodic rockers struggled to capitalise on their early success, and a disastrous attempt at reinventing themselves as a hair metal act in the late 80s led to the disgraceful jettisoning of portly drummer Leonard Haze. He carked it last month and original bassist Phil Kennemore succumbed to lung cancer five years ago, but perennially under-rated Meniketti remains at the helm, as he has since 1972. Not for nothing have they been dubbed “one of the hardest working blue-collar touring bands in hard rock history.” And, yes, of course they’re bound to play Summertime Girls. Support comes from NWOBHM also-rans Praying Mantis, with the founding Troy brothers still present and correct and a new album, Legacy, out on Frontiers Records.
Marble Factory, Nov 8
A young Swedish-French-American band heavily influenced by the ’60s British blues boom and signed to a heavy metal label? Shouldn’t work, but it does quite splendidly. Blues Pills delivered a great show at the Bierkeller last May, marred only by the fact that they stuck to the exactly same set they played at the Fleece six months earlier. But since then, they’ve finally got around to recording that Difficult Second Album, Lady In Gold, which gives them more material to draw on. As the mainstream media finally start to notice them, it is now compulsory to compare Elin Larsson’s voice to that of Janis Joplin. Get there early for magnificent Berlin beardies Kadavar, who played a great headline show at this very venue back in November.
Martin Turner, Ex Wishbone Ash
Tunnels, Nov 10
That cumbersome billing is the result of m’learned friends’ intervention, since Mr. Turner and chums went out as Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash when they played the Fleece back in 2013. This rather displeased Andy Powell, who has the legal rights to the Wishbone Ash name. Feuding old rockers, eh? Anyhoo, bassist Turner has previously delivered more of a nostalgia show for those who want to hear the classic early proggy rock stuff. But he recently put out a new album, Written in the Stars, under his own name. This went down pretty well among old fans owing to its similarity to the ’70s material, so he’ll presumably be playing a fair bit from it tonight. Curious fact: his guitarist, Danny Willson, is a former member of Showaddywaddy.
Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons
Bierkeller, Nov 10
Very wisely, Motorhead officially disbanded after Lemmy’s death. So what happened to the surviving band members next? Well, Mikkey Dee has just been appointed the Scorpions’ new full-time drummer. And while one wouldn’t wish to comment on the details of their parentage, fecund former Motorhead guitarist Mr. Campbell has chosen to sire his own band. Todd, Dane and Tyla Campbell are said sons, and they’re joined by vocalist Neil Starr. With just one EP to their name, we can presumably expect a fair few covers. Don’t bet against one or more of these being Motorhead songs. Fascinating trivia fact: back in 2004, the National Library of Wales announced the largest online poll ever conducted in Wales to identify the 100 greatest Welsh heroes. Phil made it to number 20. That puts him ahead of Rowan Williams, Roald Dahl, Tommy Cooper and Sir Anthony Hopkins, but behind Bertrand Russell, Dylan Thomas and overall winner Aneurin Bevan.
Marble Factory, Nov 10
Last seen at the Anson Rooms on Halloween a couple of years ago, Milan’s finest gothic metallers return with a revamped line-up. Don’t worry, though – they might have shed a drummer and a couple of guitarists, but Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are still very much at the helm. Their eighth album, Delirium, is a concept piece about mental illness inspired by Scabbia’s own family experiences. Get there early to catch Copenhagen’s Forever Still, who come highly recommended by our snapper Mike Evans, and are something of a cottage industry who shoot and edit their own videos.
O2 Academy, Nov 11
Yee-haw! Is that a southern rock revival in the air? Black Stone Cherry play the Colston Hall in December and we’ve got gigs by the Drive-By Truckers and the brilliant Blackberry Smoke to look forward to next year. But first, here’s hairy, ZZ Top-approved Nashville trio Cadillac Three, whose second album Bury Me In My Boots has proven a huge hit with rock and traditional country audiences alike in the US. Behind the drawling, hard-livin’, good ol’ boy façade, these guys are seriously talented musicians and songwriters. Frontman Jaren Johnston has a lucrative sideline writing huge country hits for the cowboy-hatted likes of Tim McGraw and Keith Urban, while the uniqueness of TC3’s sound owes much to Kelby Ray’s steel guitar and Dobro. You’d be well advised to get there early to check out support act and fellow Nashville country-rockers Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown. Twentysomething wunderkind Bryant bagged the Robert Johnson New Generation Award while still in his teens and has been championed by none other than god himself (Eric Clapton).
Fleece, Nov 13
Yep, they’re back – kind of. That ‘AD’ suffix should alert you to the fact that this Entombed are not the Swedish death metal pioneers who released the influential Left Hand Path back in 1990. They are, in fact, the outfit formed by vocalist Lars-Goran Petrov and the remaining band members after Alex Hellid quit. They’ve released a couple of albums under their own steam, which are largely in the vein of the groove-driven Wolverine Blues rather than the early death metal stuff. A tad confusingly, co-founders Hellid and Nicke Andersson are also planning to tour as Entombed, since they own the rights to the name. It’s a big welcome back too to veteran French-Canadian prog-metallers Voivod, who are now regular visitors to Bristol, having ignored us for so long. They were last here on the Deathcrusher tour.
Marble Factory, Nov 16
Probably the only band in the world to be influenced equally by black metal and shoegaze, hence the ‘blackgaze’ label, France’s Alcest won over a large proportion of Opeth’s audience when they played the Academy a couple of years ago. There’s plenty of crossover potential to fans of the likes of Sigur Ros in their weirdly hypnotic and beautiful music, so feel free to describe it as “post-metal” or “dreamy pop” if that makes you feel cooler. As its cover imagery suggests, new album Kodama is heavily influenced by Japanese animation titan Hayao Miyazaki, specifically his 1997 film Princess Mononoke. So it’s kind of fitting that they should be touring with Japanese instrumentalists and musical fellow travellers Mono. Their new one, Requiem for Hell, is a concept piece inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
Fleece, Nov 18
Bristol’s very own veteran thrash titans play a rare hometown gig on the 17-date UK leg of their The Force 30th anniversary tour. This has taken them all over the shop over the past few months, with gigs in most of continental Europe, plus Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan, and an eight-date tour of China – sharing a stage with the Backstreet Boys, no less. After this, they’re off to Brazil, Ecuador and Costa Rica. The vid above comes from Onslaught’s recent Live at the Slaughterhouse DVD, which demonstrates that they’ve lost none of their fire. Look carefully and you’ll see it was recorded at Bristol’s O2 Academy.
Bierkeller, Nov 18
In retrospect, Kory Clarke’s first couple of Warrior Soul albums, Last Decade Dead Century and Drugs, God and the New Republic, were way ahead of the curve in anticipating politically engaged, arty alternative metal. There are those who would claim, with some justification, that this was much more interesting than the sulky, nihilistic grunge that won favour with the early ’90s public. After that big record deal with Geffen soured, however, the band seemed to shift into reverse gear, reinventing themselves as a none-too-interesting punk act. What will we get tonight? That’s not entirely clear, but if Kory can be coaxed into playing the likes of The Wasteland and The Losers, it should be well worth the price of admission.
Bierkeller, Nov 19
Let’s be frank: nobody will ever claim that Lordi are the world’s greatest metal band. Indeed, some of their material is horribly ropy. But the Finnish Eurovision champs do have some enjoyable stompalong anthems and sure know how to put on an enjoyable show. And despite all those cooling fans they had going on stage when they played the Marble Factory, the poor buggers were clearly sweating like pigs beneath their heavy costumes. This, ahem, ‘monstour’ is in support of their cumbersomely titled new album Monstereophonic (Theaterror V Demonarchy). In delightfully old-skool style, it’s split into A and B sides. Theaterror is traditional Lordi hard rock, while Demonarchy is – oh yes! – a concept suite telling the story of the Undead Son, the Bloodsucking Count, the She-Wolf and the Witch.
Exchange, Nov 21
A big-value hard rock double-bill featuring Melbourne’s Massive, a self-styled “reckless rock’n’roll debauchery machine” who sound pretty much as you’d expect. But – hey – there’s a huge market for boozy, unpretentious good-time Aussie heavy rock in this country, as Airbourne have demonstrated. They’re co-headlining with Norfolk’s classy Bad Touch, who are a rootsier proposition with a clear US southern rock influence and should appeal to anyone who enjoys The Temperance Movement. Their new album Truth Be Told is out in December.
Exchange, Nov 26
Those crazy Zorbas are back! You may remember the veteran Athens groove metallers fronted by distinctively moustachioed and sideburned Babis Papanikolaou from the Lords of the Riff tour or supporting Clutch at the Academy. Now they’re returning for their own headline jaunt. Expect crazy dancing, broken English and another rendition of the ungallant A Girl Named Greed.
Fleece, Nov 27
How often do you experience this? Punters arrive early for a sold-out show to secure the best viewing position. Then on comes a support act that nobody’s heard of. Forty minutes later, every single member of the packed audience has been won over. That’s what happened when Fish played the O2 Academy last year and brought Lazuli with him. These beardy French proggers have plenty of crossover appeal to our more adventurous World Music-loving chums, being hugely talented multi-instrumentalists whose musical arsenal includes the horn, marimba, chapman stick and a stringed instrument called the leode. Never heard of it? That’s because they invented it themselves.
Louisiana, Nov 27
One of those bands that draw a diverse audience who find very different things in their music, Wolf People might be signed to hip indie label Jajaguwar but there’s plenty in their ambitious ‘psych/folk’ music to appeal to appeal to proggers. Some of their early material even had a distinct Jethro Tull feel about it. They’re touring to promote new album Ruins.
Bierkeller, Nov 27
This year’s Wacken festival featured a set by a holographic Ronnie James Dio, which was, by all accounts, rather a strange affair. But what are the rest of Dio’s band to do now that he’s no longer with us? Why, carry on as before with a band name taken from his 1984 album, of course. Then Jimmy Bain carked it too. So now journeyman bassist Phil Soussan has joined drummer Vinny Appice and guitarist Vivian Campbell (on secondment from Def Leppard). The chap with the unenviable task of filling Dio’s shoes is Andrew Freeman, who, bizarrely enough, has also played guitar with The Offspring. Last in Line recently released an album of new material, entitled Heavy Crown, but no doubt we can expect plenty of Dio songs tonight. Likely to give them a serious run for their money are the very impressive Inglorious, last seen supporting The Winery Dogs at the Academy back in February. Reality TV enthusiasts may recognise their singer, Nathan James, as he was an unsuccessful contestant on ITV’s Superstar
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Black Stone Cherry, Colston Hall, Dec 2
Forever Never, Bierkeller, Dec 2
Galactic Empire, Fleece, Dec 4
Boris, Fleece, Dec 14
Meshuggah, O2 Academy, Jan 12
Drive-By Truckers, Anson Rooms, March 2
Devin Townsend Project/TesseracT/Leprous, Colston Hall, March 12
Monster Truck, Marble Factory, March 15
Black Star Riders/Backyard Babies/Gun, O2 Academy, March 16
Sonata Arctica, Marble Factory, March 18
Blackberry Smoke, O2 Academy, April 6
Steve Hackett, Colston Hall, May 4
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