No Sinner

Vancouver's 'No Sinner', fronted by Colleen Rennison release their debut album on January 20 on Provogue. Absolutely one to watch out for in 2014; 'Boo Hoo Hoo' is the title track and totally my Christmas theme toon this year. Brilliant!

[Useless fact of the day - 'No Sinner' is 'Rennison' in reverse]

Dr Bluegrass & the Illbilly Eight

Thursday evening - 19 December 2013 and Brighton's North Laine Brewery was packed. Lots of people in various states of sobriety (or not) and us. Set the scene well for a raucous evening hosted by the ever lively Dr Bluegrass and the Illbilly Eight (or 'four' to be be fair). Not that reduced numbers made any difference. For tonight was for dancing (inside and out), frivolity and merriment. Sam Salter's banjo, Tom Bailey's rhythm guitar, Tom Clarke's double bass, Bryony Devitt's violin and all four's dulcet vocals combined to leave a very receptive audience shouting for more. Not to disappoint the band led an impromptu Seasonal outside encore with 'The Fairytale of New York'. Excellent stuff.

Mok Christmas Party - Prince Albert - Brighton - 13.12.13

What Brighton's Prince Albert lacks in size, it more than makes up for in ambience; a Mok gig there is always going to be a cracker - and the Christmas Party gig on 13.12.13 was absolutely no exception. Admirably supported by the multi-talented Sounds of Harlowe, Mok stormed their way through a blistering setlist which started as it meant to continue. 'I knew it' kicked things off. Past classics like 'Hey' and 'Monstaz' followed, the recent single 'Rufio', the subliminal 'Dave' and, as if the evening needed any improvement, the thaumaturgic 'Dragon' to finish. Mok smashed it. Roll on 2014 for more of the same.

Find out just how good Mok are by checking out 'Mokmusic-1' on Soundcloud.

'Hey' and 'Rufio' both feature. Here's a link

https://soundcloud.com/mokmusic-1

Stereophonics - Brighton - 21.11.13

I'm not even going to attempt to find the words to try and describe how good this gig was other than it was by far the best £35 I've spent in a very long time.

Mok - Haunt - Brighton - 14.9.13

Headlining at Brighton's 'The Haunt' on 14 September, Mok were on finest form, taking the almost full house through a barnstorming one hour set which left everyone wanting more. For me, the highlight was the mid-set mash-up featuring kick-lines from the likes of The Prodigy and Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' - bought tears to my eyes, it did! New songs 'On the run', 'Slow motion' and 'Massage Baby?' combined with old faves like 'Rufio' and 'Dragon' builds Mok's repertoire to formiddable levels. Rockon Mokrok. More of the same please!

 

 

Vinyl Revival

I have at last rescued my turntable from the loft so that I can re-discover some of my vinyl gems. Most of the discs need a really good dust-off, but the pleasure of that crackle and pop is an audio joy. Co-incidentally I find that two of my good friends have recently done the same. Something of a vinyl revival going on here!

 

One of my first digitisations is this rarity - '2 Faced' from No Dice. Released in 1979, it was the band's second album. Nine tracks of R&B brilliance, particularly 'Come Dancing' and 'If you had nothing'. 'Come Dancing' is up there in my top fifty tracks of all time.

 

Unfortnately though, the album was trashed by the music press at the time which was a death knoll for the band. There would be no follow-up and no digital pressings. No Dice folded a couple of years later.

 

This matters naught to me of course - '2 faced' remains a brilliant album - excellent on vinyl but now, thanks to my CD recorder, digitised to CD and MP3.

A feelgood day

Took a trip to Leigh-on-Sea on 29 August to see some good friends. Whilst there, Richard Baxter took me to the Lee Brilleaux bench - a proud moment indeed. Earlier - whilst having lunch in Old Leigh, Wilco Johnson walked by. All in all - a bit of a 'feelgood' day!