So recently I haven't posted much, I haven't done an interview for a month or so now and am getting the itch. To be honest there's no band who has played in Norwich recently who I really wanted to interview. Anyway hopefully next year I'll get an interview with The Maccabees, Larrikin Love or Jamie T....here's hoping :). The Twisted Folk Tour rolled into Norwich the other day with some random person i've not heard of headlining and more importantly the awesome Jeffrey and Jack Lewis. Jeffrey hails from the hipster district of Williamsburg in NY and writes amazing songs ranging from punky shout alongs to hearfelt soulsearching songs. Anyway I've seen Jeffrey twice and both times I've absolutely loved it to bits, his shows have a community feel to them which reflects Jeffrey's own hippy/beat leanings. Highlights of his set included his quite incredible "History of Punk on the Lower East Side of New York" and fan's favourite "Don't be upset". The set also featured a number of new songs which sounded really promising, I think Jeffrey said after the show that any type of new recording would happen next year. I came away from the gig with one of Jeffrey's famous Fuff Comics in my hand and a grin on my face.

Random Access Club Stereo: Recently I've been listening to Sky Larkin (ace london/leeds group), we are The Physics (ace Glaswegian jerky-punkers) and the New Good Shoes single 'The Photos on my Wall', i think it's gonna be a hit. Holly just lent me some Elliot Smith albums which i'm digging so far.

Check out the following Linkage:
Jeffrey Lewis site
Jeffrey Lewis Myspace

Wilberforce Recommends..


I can't possibly write another thing more on Beat Poetry so I thought I'd take a break to talk about some of the music I've been listening to lately if this is of any interest. This week's entries were compiled with help from my friends at the Random Access Club Social and New Music Niceness Club For The Spreading of Beauty (as Pictured above). We spent hours discussing music between sipping cup of tea and scoffing pink wafers. So yes, let the mini rant begin

For the first time in ages i'm really excited about music coming from these isles of Great Britain. From Scotland there's emoticore heroes :( ...that's pronounced colon open brackets for the uninitiated and electro freaklet Germlin. From the North East...i know another good band from up north...there's Dartz, 3 highly talented lads with great record collections and great tunes. From Nottingham there's Late of the Pier, a band so good I wet myself at the mere mention of any part of their name (sure made my trip to the seaside an embarassing event). I guess we should also include some token southerners, from the private school system of North London there's Cajun Dance Party. My friends, these are great days to be alive indeed. Go forth and check out these bands...or not as the case maybe. Cheers, have a great reading week everybody!


Here's some linkage

Colon Open Bracket: Myspace , pure volume
Germlin: Myspace, Adaadat Record label
Dartz: Myspace
Late of the Pier: Myspace, download their demo from here
Cajun Dance Party: Myspace

Well since my last post is quite negative I thought it would be nice to have some contrast, afterall, there were some positives to be taken from the NME Rock'n'Roll Riot Tour. One such positive was the Maccabees who played an ace set coming on before the Fratellis and vastly upstaging them in every department. There's something kinda electric about their music and Orlando, the band's vocalist reflects this with his stacatto Ian Curtis-esque movements round the stage. This band also has tuuunes: Latchmere, X-Ray and Lego (which they finished with) to name a few. They also played First Love which comes out in November sometime, its really started to grow on me and is definately worth checking out. After their set rather sweaty and with a grin on my face i made my way back through the large numbers of balding men who were surging forwards to see the Fratellis, anyways I went to the bar to get a drink...and who did I viddy? None other than Orlando Maccabee himself. Have to say that he was a lovely lovely man one of the nicest band peeps i've met. I chatted to him for like 10 mins about music, touring, lyrics and other things, i so wish I'd had something to record our chat with as it would have made an infinity better interview than the one with Faris "Horror" Rotter (see previous post). But yeah, Orlando said that the band's new album was produced by the same guy who produced the Futureheads second album so it should be really interesting and that he was listening a lot to the new Joanna Newsom album "Ys", I really wanna hear that now. He also said how lyrically he was influenced by Rufus Wainwright and Anthony and the Johnsons, I'd have never made that connection. Anyway, Orlando was a top fellow and you should all go check out the Maccabees. I appreciated I haven't actually commented on the band's sound, but then this blog thing isn't really about journalism (ed Will...well actually it is) its kinda documenting musical events i seem to have been around. If you really wanna know what the Maccabees sound like then check out the links on the bottom of the page.

To hear the new Maccabees single 'First Love' tune in to Livewire 135oam

Maccabees Myspace Page

Due to popular demand i've been asked to put the interview with Patrick Wolf back up which Jill and I did a couple of weeks back ...so here it is pw interview


Cheersio dearsios xxx

Faris Rotter is a quiet and reserved young man who it seems bears the weight of the world on his shoulder,or so you'd think looking at the pained look etched across his face. When I entered the interview room he was tucked away in a corner quietly engaged in drawing elaborate, introcate patterns onto the pages of his aged moleskin notebook. Our interview was an interruption to his art and he made this fact blatantly obviously when we started the interview. This interview was not the easiest i've ever done nor the most enjoyable. In fact I was very glad when it was all over as towards the end I started to muddle my questions, faltering slightly under Faris's steely gaze.If i judged this man purely on the basis of this interview then i'd have to say that he's an utter twat, but that would be harsh. I'm guessing dealing with the amount of hype n such that he's dealt with has left him slightly numb and alone. Its clear all he wants to do is make music and draw not answer questions on his clothing or anything else for that matter. Keep drawing Faris, keep on truckin'

the horror of interview

The horrors release new single count in fives sometime next month, but i won't say as they don't really deserve this plug. This single can be heard on livewire

(I'm sorry to say that i missed their set at the NME Rock'n'Roll Riot Tour as they were on so bloody early, heard mixed things from friends though...and i tried really hard to like Faris..its his own fault)

Peace out,
the non-scene Norwich fella

Hello all! Cheers for reading this and big shouts go out to everyone at UEA! You know who you are. On friday the pack of jokers that is We Are Scientists converged on Norwich and yours truely (plus my hetro life partner) and my namesake Will were granted an interview with Keith (the singer blokey) from WAS. I have to say it was probably the most enjoyable interview i've ever done, he was totally up for it and gave us a real run for our money. All in all a throughly nice fellow, he even stuck around after the interview to hang out for a bit. We discussed topics as diverse as Cats, Zany Journalists, Paul Smith of Maximo Park's fringe and much much more. Listen enjoy, tune in, tune out. Oh yeah the gig was pretty damn brilliant as well

interview

I apologise for the random squeaking heard in the background, we did the interview in a gulag

So last thursday Hot Chip rolled into town and i was lucky enough to interview them and see them live. Have to say that they totally surpassed my expectations. On stage the band lined up Kraftwerk-stylee behind various synths and drum machines but unlike the aformentioned Germans they jumped anout and generally just got really into it. The crowd at the waterfront were really into it as well and when HC played Over and Over the venue just errupted into a sea of hot pogoing magma people. Or something like that

Anyways, here's the interview Tess and I did with Joe from Hot Chip(he's the one in the middle of the photo): click me for aural pleasure

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


Listen out for new single Over and Over on Livewire 1350

I apologise for the general messiness of this blog, i'm very tired. took me quite a while to edit le interview and then put it in sections, hope you enjoy it anyway

I saw the rapture last night and was less than blown away, check out my review of the gig here. I'm such an old grump, i think after the Patrick Wolf gig everything is a let down.

Was mega lucky the other day to both meet and then later on see Patrick Wolf perform in Norwich on thursday at the waterfront. He was very friendly and even remembered the time when him and I met outside a west london station about 3 years ago. The gig itself was superb and the only downer from the night was that the venue was barely half full. The set consisted of mainly new songs and if the songs sound half as good on record as they did live then i'm sure Patrick Wolf''s new album 'The Magic Position' will go on to receive as much acclaim as his first two records did. Highlights of the set included new tracks Bluebells, Augustine, a song about stars (all his songs are about individual thingies) and perhaps the standout track was the number he finished with, the title track of the new album the Magic Position. It kinda sounded like a motown song played by a string quartet, it will blow you away. For those interested....here's the interview me and Jill did with Patrick earlier in the day. I had loads of question and very little time which explains my hyperness. I apologise for my fanboy tendencies

Patrick Wolf Interview

live version of new song The Magic Position

To hear the new Patrick Wolf single Accident and Emergency simply get yourself over to Livewire, UEA's number one source for new music