Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: September 2018
What kind of idiot permits three great gigs to take place on the same day? If you haven’t already got tickets for the sold-out Halestorm show, you face an unenviable prog decision when it comes to choosing between Sons of Apollo and The Osiris Club on September 29. On a more positive note, ain’t it grand to see so many excellent gigs coming up at Bath’s rather lovely Art Deco Forum (the third largest seated auditorium in the south-west, fact fans)? First up this month is Camel, followed by Rick Wakeman in October, then Saxon and Hawkwind (with their orchestra) in November.
The Forum, Bath, Sept 11
is needed now More than ever
Another of those ’70s prog titans who were supposed to have been polished off by punk but are doing rather well in the second decade of the new millennium, Camel wind up back in the UK after a sell-out world tour for a run of shows that concludes at the Albert Hall next week. This time they’re showcasing the great Moonmadness album from 1976, which was also their biggest chart hit. As you won’t need reminding, back then Camel were casting round for a concept after the success of The Snow Goose. Rather than go for a narrative, they decided on a suite of songs based loosely on the personalities of the musicians. The video above captures a terrific live performance of Lunar Sea (geddit?), which was drummer Andy Ward’s showcase. Alas, as the title suggests, he was rather over-fond of the trappings of the rock’n’roll lifestyle and left the band back in 1981. Indeed, Camel founder Andrew Latimer is now the sole remaining member of the original line-up. They were on excellent form last time they played this very venue three years ago – and with the likes of Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and, most recently, Arkansas prog-doomsters Pallbearer paying homage, they’re even appealing to the young whippersnappers these days.
This will also be our first opportunity to see the band’s newest and youngest recruit, vocalist/keyboard player (and all-round multi-instrumentalist) Peter Jones, who lost his sight to retinoblastoma when he was just 15 months old. TV talent show enthusiasts may recognise him from the 2004 series of The X Factor, in which he made the final rounds. He’s lately become something of an internet sensation because of his extraordinary solo covers of Genesis classics.
Mr. Wolfs, Sept 16
Nice to see Mr. Wolfs earning a mention in this section at last. Leeds combo Koyo are one of those youthful acts who attract a mystifyingly wide range of labels depending on who’s describing them and how cool they imagine themselves to be. So we’ll limit ourselves to observing that Koyo’s self-titled debut was acclaimed as one of the albums of 2017 by both Prog and Classic Rock magazines and urge you to check ’em out alongside all the hipsters who’ve been drawn by Flaming Lips and Mogwai comparisons.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Rough Trade, Sept 18
Like so many stoner/doom acts, these multiple porcine Geordies feed at the trough of Sabbath – and they’re rather good at it too. Even better news for the impecunious and cheapskates alike is that this launch show for their new album, King of Cowards, is completely free. Support comes from Anthroprophh.
Thekla, Sept 19
Kicking off at the Thekla, this is a big-value national classic rock tour under the Planet Rock Presents banner giving something of a leg-up to a pair of rising young bands. Last seen at the Fleece back in March at the bottom of a bill headlined by Stone Broken, Cannock’s The Bad Flowers are a promising trio who released their debut album, Starting Gun, back in February and have received plenty of airplay with their Thunder Child single. Co-headliners Federal Charm are Mancunian blues-rockers who step up to the Thekla from their usual local stop-off at the Louisiana to showcase their new line-up and third album, Passenger. Support comes from Those Damn Crows.
Crofters Rights, Sept 25
Afrobeat metal? You’d better believe it. One bloke and two ladies clad in tribal dress and mixing up soul, African folklore and very heavy guitar riffs, Vôdûn have just released their second album, Ascend, which is – pleasingly – even heavier than their 2016 debut, Possession. The band comprises drummer Zel Kaute (aka Ogoun), guitarist Linz Hamilton (aka The Marassa) and vocalist Chantal Brown (aka Oya), who all come from different musical backgrounds (Zel also plays in the current line-up of Test Dept; Chantal used to sing in a Boney M tribute act). On paper the result should be a horrible mess, but it all works remarkably well. Support slots with the likes of Orange Goblin, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and Bristol’s very own Turbowolf are already winning them a strong following among adventurous metalheads. And as Dom Lawson noted sagely in Metal Hammer: “…their second album is so preposterously exciting and unremittingly inventive that even the crushing likelihood that the band will one day end up on Later…with Jools Holland seems a bitter pill worth swallowing…Let’s claim them for our own before someone else nicks them.”
Fleece, Sept 26
A swift return to Bristol for Justin and chums after their hugely enjoyable show at the Colston Hall back in December. And no, their first gig at the Fleece in 15 years (April 1, 2003, fact fans) doesn’t signal an abrupt downturn in fortunes. This is a benefit gig in aid of the Nordoff Robbins music therapy charity and tickets sold out immediately. It’s Bristol’s contribution to the national Get Loud Sessions, in which ten big-name acts play in smaller venues to raise awareness of of the charity’s commendable work. Go here for more on Nordoff Robbins and what it gets up to.
O2 Academy, Sept 29
Despite Halestorm’s troubles, this show sold out as soon as tickets went on sale, so they must be doing something right. Troubles? Yep, like many rockers who’ve tasted chart success, siblings Lzzy and Arejay and chums found themselves pressured to take a more poppy direction with their third album, 2015’s Into the Wild Life, in pursuit of a mainstream audience. This paid off with Halestorm’s biggest hit to date (number 5 in the US Billboard chart), but The Guardian‘s harsh review (“as plastic and cynical as it gets”) was a fair assessment and the band’s subsequent self-disgust has been pretty evident. Little wonder aptly titled new album Vicious breaks out the metal in no uncertain terms. It also secured the band’s highest UK chart placing, entering the top ten at number eight. By our reckoning this is Halestorm’s fourth gig round these parts and their first since their 2014 Academy show. (Award yourself bonus points if you saw ’em at the Fleece back in October 2012.) Support comes from splendid Gothenburg dressing-up box/avant garde metallers Avatar, who are touring their seventh album, Avatar Country. Trivia note: every song on the album has the word ‘king’ in its title. Opening the show are Brit alt-rock duo Rews.
SWX, Sept 29
When we reviewed The Winery Dogs’ show at the Academy back in 2016, their ‘people’ got rather cross with us for describing the band as a side-project, as this was now the primary focus of attention for Messrs Portnoy, Sheehan and Kotzen. Two years on, the Winery Dogs are officially ‘taking a break’ and drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist Billy Sheehan are back with this prog-metal supergroup. Completing the line up are keyboard player and Portnoy’s former compatriot Derek Sherinian (who was booted out of Dream Theater in 1999, and subsequently played with Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Jason Bonham in Black Country Communion), former Guns’n Roses guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal and rather excellent journeyman vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, who was in Journey for nearly five minutes, almost fronted Queen, and whom this writer once saw play to around six paying punters at the Bierkeller. The band’s debut album, Psychotic Symphony, was released by Inside Out late last year. “Fierce, loud, bewildering, brilliantly performed and monstrously entertaining,” was Team Rock’s assessment.
Cube, Sept 29
Another evening of avant-metal/prog from those splendid Cube folks. The formerly masked men of The Osiris Club (the name comes from the Hellboy comics, as nerds will not need reminding) channel their ’70s horror movie and prog influences (chiefly Genesis and King Crimson) via the production talents of Ulver and Myrkur collaborator Anders Moller on new album The Wine-Dark Sea. Support comes from that crazy Kavus Torabi fella – formerly of The Cardiacs and now juggling roles fronting Gong and Knifeworld. He’ll be playing tracks from his Solar Divination EP. And if you miss him this time, he’s back at the Exchange next week doing – ulp! – a DJ set with his chum Steve Davis. Yes, that Steve ‘Interesting’ Davis!
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Glenn Hughes, O2 Academy, Oct 2
Elder, Fleece, Oct 4
Steve Davis/Kavus Torabi, Exchange, Oct 6
Yob/Wiegedood, Fleece, Oct 7
Evil Scarecrow, Marble Factory, Oct 11
Enslaved, SWX, Oct 14
Rick Wakeman, Forum, Bath, Oct 19
Sheepdogs, Fleece, Oct 31
Caligula’s Horse, The Lanes, Nov 6
Shinedown, O2 Academy, Nov 6
Saxon/Doro/Wayward Sons, The Forum, Bath, Nov 8
MC50, O2 Academy, Nov 9
Blackberry Smoke, O2 Academy, Nov 11
The Vintage Caravan, Exchange, Nov 14
Dan Reed Network, Fleece, Nov 18
Hawkwind, The Forum, Bath, Nov 24
The New Roses, Louisiana, Nov 27
TesseracT, SWX, Nov 27
Lazuli, Exchange, Nov 28
Zeal & Ardour, Fleece, Nov 30
The Magpie Salute, Fiddlers, Dec 1
Von Hertzen Brothers, Thekla, Dec 4
Graveyard, Thekla, Dec 12
Rick Wakeman, St. George’s, Dec 16
Solstafir, Fleece, Dec 17
Clutch, O2 Academy, Dec 18
Myrkur, Fleece, Dec 19
Damian Wilson & Adam Wakeman, Chapel Arts Centre, Bath, Jan 10
Behemoth/At the Gates/Wolves in the Throne Room, Motion, Feb 6
Blue Oyster Cult/The Temperance Movement, St. Philips Gate, Feb 28
UFO, O2 Academy, March 7
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