Live Review: Smoke Fairies – Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 26.4.15
After their second album got mixed reviews Smoke Fairies had a crisis of confidence questioning whether they should go on but this confident show made you glad they did. One of the reasons the critics turned on them was they lurched from a faintly twee folk duo to a full blown rock band almost overnight. …
News: I Am Kloot to play rare club gig in Hebden Bridge
Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot play a very rare club date at the Trades Club as part of the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival. Lead singer John Bramwell played a solo show at the Holme Street venue in the Arts Festival two years, enjoying the experience so much he managed to persuade his bandmates Peter …
Album review – Villagers – Darling Arithmetic
Villagers pulled off a unique double when their first two albums won Mercury Prize nominations and the good news for their fans is ‘Darling Arithmetic’ is the best yet. To understand Villagers it is necessary to see that they are not a regular group, but a vehicle for the singular vision of Conor O’Brien who …
News: Soul Legend Percy Sledge dies
Percy Sledge is one of those rare artists who secured their pension pot with their debut single as When a Man Loves a Woman must be played on the radio somewhere in the world every second of the day. Sledge, who died today, is not unusual in the soul world for having one classic single …
Meet: Jessica Davies from Smoke Fairies
After a critically acclaimed debut album Smoke Fairies seemed on the fast track to success but a more a muted response to their second record Blood Speaks sparked a crisis of confidence. It promoted Jessica Davies to turn to band mate Katherine Blamire, and pose the difficult question – was it time for them to …
Live review: LoneLady at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
I lived in Manchester for the best part of two decades so it was an astonishing experience to be transported by LoneLady right back to Hulme’s crumbling brutalist terraces and forward to the modern Northern powerhouse the city now is. LoneLady – aka Julie Ann Campbell – has created a series of soundscapes that evoke …
News: Final Cambridge Folk Festival line-up announced
Singing Scottish twins The Proclaimers are the latest big name added to the Cambridge Folk Festival bill joining veteran peacenik Joan Baez, posh troubadour Frank Turner, Joan Armatrading and Wilko Johnson who has recovered from his cancer scare. But if you want to go you’d better be quick as the strong bill means Saturday day …
Live review: The Lovely Eggs at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge.
When a singer is hammered on stage it is usually incredibly irritating but tonight it actually adds to the anarchy this talented duo seem to thrive on. When Holly Ross lurches up to the mic and says with utter conviction this what we believe, then launches into an energised Fuck It , you know they …
Live: The Unthanks at Leeds Irish Centre
It seems unfair these days to label The Unthanks a folk band when they have clearly moved way past the restrictive traditions of that genre which all too often puts people off engaging with our nation’s indigenous music. They are on the road touring their new album Mount The Air and the dynamic live version …
Meet: Swervedriver interview
The Stone Roses famously took five years to make their woeful second album but Swervedriver must have set a new record taking a staggering 18 years to produce a new record. They are now back with their fiercesome new album ‘I Wasn’t Born To Lose You’ complete with their trademark woozy psychedelic guitars, but according …