Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: May 2019
Bloody hell – everything’s gone all hippy! The Wildhearts may be this month’s only big gig, but we’ve got loads of smaller shows to look forward to, mostly in a stoner/prog/heavy psych vein – including the return of the mighty Gong.
If you’re keeping an eye on the coming soons, you’ll notice new gigs by Sleep (SWX), The Darkness (Bath Pavilion) and the Dan Reed Network (O2 Academy) in an increasingly diverse Autumn rock schedule.
Electric Citizen/Vôdûn/Blackwater Holylight
is needed now More than ever
The Lanes, May 1
You can tell it’s that Desertfest time of year, as many of the acts are heading out to the regions for warm-up shows, each trailing huge clouds of fragrant smoke. Specialising in brisk and bracing heavy rock songs Cincinnati’s psych/doomsters Electric Citizen are frequent touring partners of Fu Manchu and even survived a US tour with our very own, still crazy after all these years Arthur Brown. Their new album, Helltown (named after the neighbourhood from which they hail), is out now on Riding Easy records. Support comes from hugely impressive afrobeat metallers Vôdûn, whom we last saw at Crofters Rights. Opening the show in a suitably relaxed style are the headliner’s slow’n’doomy labelmates, Blackwater Holylight. Trivia note: there’ll be more women on stage tonight than at any other stoner gig ever staged in Bristol (possibly).
The Wildhearts/Massive Wagons/Towers of London
SWX, May 7
Yay – the Wildhearts are back in ‘classic’ form (i.e. featuring unipedal Danny on bass) with their first full-length studio album in a decade, Renaissance Men. They were on cracking form at Motion last year, emerging as the men of the match on that three-band bill with Reef and Terrorvision. Get there early for Ginger Wildheart’s old mates the very-much-improved Massive Wagons, who sold out the Thekla under their own steam last month. Opening the show are The Towers of London. No, really: the tabloid-baiting Poundstretcher Sex Pistols fronted by one Donny Tourette (not his real name) are still going. Or, more accurately, the original line-up have got back together. Is anyone interested? Are they still crap? We’re about to find out.
Exchange, May 9
Rather too many modish rock duos are dull as ditchwater. Not The Picturebooks. Ignore the twee, indie-style name – these crazy Germans rock so hard that drummer Philipp Mirtschink has been known to beat his kit (no cymbals, you’ll notice) with mallets. They drew just four paying punters to their first Bristol headline show at the Louisiana a few years back, but constant touring with the likes of The Answer, Monster Truck and, most recently, Clutch at the Academy last December, has deservedly won them a loyal following.
The Cube, May 11
Those splendid, busy folks at local Wizzarding Promotions bring cosmic Baltimore duo Darsombra (aka Brian Daniloski and Ann Everton) to the increasingly rock-friendly Cube for one of their trippy audio-visual extravaganzas. If that sounds like it has the potential to get all wanky and pretentious on our asses, be reassured that there’s plenty of bracing prog and doom in the duo’s eclectic sonic mix
Crofters Rights, May 18
Some bands opt for mysterious and opaque names; others simply tell us exactly what to expect. Brooklyn jam monsters Endless Boogie are very much in the latter category, having pilfered their name from John Lee Hooker. But these guys aren’t boogie merchants of the lumpen variety, bringing plenty of Krautrock into the mix as they whisk us back to an era before rigidly enforced sub-genres took over. Wretched music snobs should probably stay away, but here’s what The Guardian had to say in a five-star review: “Formed by a bunch of record collectors and label employees, for 15 years New York’s Endless Boogie have been cranking out unabashedly old-timey, long-winded electric blues in a manner that’s part Canned Heat, part Can: classic rock boiled down to its fundamentals and looped into sublime, hypnotic infinity. On record it is a pleasure – beautifully played and recorded, as on this year’s Long Island – but live it is quite another thrill.”
https://youtu.be/Oj0uVcwQpgA
The Cube, May 23
Go on – see if you can guess what kind of music Weedruid play. These heavy German instrumental stoners should appeal to anyone who enjoys the likes of Sleep and Electric Wizard. An appreciation of the joys of the bong probably helps too. They’re touring with Bristol’s very own Cegvera, whom we last caught at the Old E with Toundra.
The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell
Crofters Rights, May 24
A lovable trio of Julian Cope-approved greasy rockers from Hastings with a taste for Budgie-style album cover artwork and the late ’60s proto-metal of the similarly named Sir Lord Baltimore. The singer’s called Johnny Gorilla, the bass player appears to have acquired Graeme Garden’s old sideburns at a jumble sale, and, rather magnificently, they play a song entitled Scratchin’ and Sniffin’. Back to rock Bristol like it’s 1973, they’re still touring the mighty fine Keep It Greasy! album on former Napalm Death frontman Lee Dorrian’s estimable Rise Above label. Support comes from the marvellously named Haggard Cat. But it’s a crying shame that this gig clashes with…
Thekla, May 24
As aging rockers continue to fall off the perch in alarming numbers, the dilemma of whether veteran bands should continue without them becomes ever more acute. Both Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth (surely the oldest person ever to perform on stage at the Academy) succumbed to the Reaper a few years ago, but Allen had the foresight to anoint British-Iranian former Cardiacs guitarist Kavus Torabi as his successor. Overseen by bassist and Gong veteran Dave Sturt, the subsequent Rejoice! I’m Dead! album proved both a fine continuation of the distinctive Gong psychedelic prog sound and a fitting tribute to fallen comrades. Now they’re forging ahead with the band’s 15th studio album, The Universe Also Collapses. This is dominated by two long tracks and has been described by Torabi as a full-on psychedelic collection. As if that wasn’t properly hippy enough, support tonight comes from Ozric Tentacles founder Ed Wynne, who’s just released his very first solo album, Shimmer Into Nature.
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
The Hu, Fleece, June 17
Focus, Fleece, June 26
Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals, Fleece, June 27
Ministry, SWX, July 2
Astral Festival, SWX/The Lanes/Rough Trade, July 6
Monster Magnet, SWX, July 20
The Obsessed, Exchange, July 20
Rosalie Cunningham Band/Goldray, Fleece, Aug 1
Animals as Leaders, SWX, Aug 4
Skunk Anansie, O2 Academy, Aug 19
Rock Goddess/Heavy Pettin’, Exchange, Sept 1
Jason and the Scorchers/Dan Baird/Kentucky Headhunters, O2 Academy, Sept 8
Martin Turner, Exchange, Sept 29
Sleep, SWX, Oct 6
Black Star Riders, O2 Academy, Oct 10
Gloryhammer, SWX, Oct 20
Sunn O))), SWX, Oct 24
Sons of Liberty/Black Whiskey/Trouble County, Louisiana, Oct 26
Marillion, Bath Forum, Nov 9
Lacuna Coil/Eluveitie, SWX, Nov 15
Hawkwind, Anson Rooms, Nov 19
Steve Hackett, Bath Forum, Nov 20
The Darkness, Bath Pavilion, Dec 7
Dan Reed Network/Gun/FM, O2 Academy, Dec 9
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