Last night my other half and I attended what was in some ways a very sad night at Yorkshire Taps. The night was called Carpe Noctem, the last gig by the local kings of the music scene Carpe. These guys had been playing together for almost a decade and decided that enough was enough and have now called it a day after entertaining crowds with their funk laden grooves and joyous attitudes. First time I ever became aware of them was during the Lancaster Music Festival in 2014, and I have to say I was rather smitten from the get go. I wasn't the only one. These guys released one monster of an album during their career, they were the very definition of a band that should have got bigger.
From a purely musical perspective these guys were one of the most original composite bands I have had the pleasure of listening to. The mix of funk, jazz, hip hop, blues and hard rock with big band sentimentalities was all played with such confidence and relish. It could be argued that Flash is the front and centre of the band but that would be doing injustice to the rest of them because they all play such significant roles.
For example I remember seeing Carpe playing with Frenchie, the guitarist and singer, and they had to replace him with three other people. Jon Moore on lead guitar, is, well... Wow, those guitar solos were really rather awesome and never out of place. Frenchie's subtle rhythm guitar playing can't be underestimated, underpinning a lot of the songs. Has to be added that Flash is an excellent rapper, but they also have three really rather excellent singers who all have different styles but complement each other almost perfectly. Dave, Grum and Rachel's rhythm underpinning everything.
The thing that will stand out most is that what these guys wanted first and foremost was to have a good time and to make sure that everyone else did as well. I am going to miss knowing that they will be playing a gig locally.
This is part three of the Usual Locations series, which I don't think I'll be running out of material to write. Next I'll probably be writing about some Australian bands. Because the scene over there is really really something special.
Now. Here's the thing. I don't think I would have stumbled across this band through merely browsing. They do defy a little bit of definition, going only under the genre Alternative Rock. The short and sweet of how I came across this band is because the wife of the drummer sent me a friend request on Facebook. And of course being the good wife that she is she regularly puts up updates on when and where they are playing.
These gentlemen hail from Wichita Falls, Texas. Well as I said before they use the term alternative rock to describe their music, which as I said before is appropriate. There is groove and fun to be had, and some aspcets of post-punk also to be enjoyed. Listening to them they wouldn't really be out of place in the early ages of grunge... actually any age of grunge since the age was fairly short-lived. It is fairly obvious that they have been playing for a while, even if not in present form. All seem to be experts on their respective instruments, Kevin Gilmore in particular sounds like his dad was Animal and he raped an octopus. Sean Snyder rather elegently plucks away on the guitar, the guitar playing sounds deceptively simple and gleefully rants into the microphone, his vocal style also on occasions reminded me of Jimmy Pop especially on Macy. Nick Thorntons bass, now if only more bands would show of their bassists like they do here, it is not quite Les "Should have been a guitar player" Claypool style of bass-plucking. I don't know who mixed it but they've left plenty of room for everyone to enjoy themselves to their full potential and no one is stepping on anyone's toes.
Their combination is probably best illustrated in the songs Tragic Part and Macy. The urge to not only tap your feet to the beat but also the table and headbang just a little is nearly overwhelming, and I'd do it if I was home alone with the speakers on full blast but as I'm trying to make sure that everyone sleeps in the house I make do with tapping the floor with a slight to and fro shake of the head while the headphones are plugged in. But the two previously mentioned songs have so far been my favourite by far, but then again I only have a choice of four songs and all of them are great fun to listen to. Which sort of leads to what I find lacking. The fact that there are only 4 songs on Reverbnation. But then again those 4 songs have now made me want to see them in live setting, it's just a shame that there's a whole ocean stopping me from doing so. So it's a minor complaint.
In my adopted hometown of Lancaster, there is a band that I have been meaning to see for some time but never got the chance. Promethium. One of the great advantages on Reverbnation is that it gives you local charts and these guys have been in the top 10 for a while, but the first time I listened to them I wasn't that impressed. Yeah, they were functional and filled a certain musical hole that was missing in Lancaster. But it was nothing that I hadn't heard before and done better. But since then they've come in leaps and bounds and turned into something more and better. Old school heavy metal in the vain of Iron Maiden, with a modern twist. Generally I cringe whenever I see someone describing their music like that, bit like Lauren Harris or, uuuggh, Sonic Syndicate, I tend to shudder a little bit.
But Promethium delivered that promise, in spades. Under influence they put Iron Maiden, Soylent Green(Dafuq), Lamb of God, Every Time I Die and Soilwork. Now I can hear lots and lots of Iron Maiden and even quite a bit of Swedish Melodic Death Metal. But as for the rest, no. But to be honest what the musically reminded me the most of were Blaze Bayley first three solo albums.
These guys have decided to give Gary McGohan the centre stage. And boy does he deliver(Actually in some songs he also sounds like Sean Snyder). One of the most powerful singers I've come across, the only thing I would wish he'd lay of are the cookie monster growls, that is probably the only thing he can't do so well, The end of Gunslinger being a good example though Tribute to The Fallen does the cookie monster growl better, but not sure if it is Gary is doing it or someone else. But when he croons and sings he is world class, the semi-ballad Rain is a good song for him to showcase his rather immense talents. That is not to say that the rest of the guys don't deserve it, they do. The harmonized guitar attack is great to listen to and a bit refreshing to hear a band from a small city play with such professional gusto. The emotional breadth of the band is shown again in the song Nothing. Yes I'm a sucker for a good power ballad and Promethium have two of those on show on their Reverbnation playlist.
So next time their playing in Lancaster, I'll be there. Hopefully I'll be joined by plenty of others, because these guys like It Hurts to Be Dead deserve more attention than they're already slowly getting.
Blaze Bayley is a man who's career I've kept a fairly close eye on. He was working as the frontman for my favourite band of all time, when I first started getting into metal. I bought Virtual XI when it came out and loved it back then, still like it now. I just wish that the rest of guys had held Steve Harris down, and hired some one competent to mix and produce that album, oh and The X-Factor(Oh and if someone could have hidden the notes from The Angel & The Gambler that would have been even better). After listening to some of the Wolfsbane stuff I can understand why he was hired as Bruce's replacement, and of course after hearing how dark X-Factor is, Blaze's vocals fit perfectly.
But couple of years later he was asked to leave, in favour of the return of Bruce Dickinson.
Which in so many ways was the correct decision. That year (2000) we were honoured to be bestowed with TWO excellent heavy metal albums. One being Iron Maiden's Brave New World, and the other Blaze Bayleys Silicon Messiah. While Brave New World was a good album, Silicon Messiah was a mother-fucking great album! It just sounded to good, and Blaze sounded revitalized. Like a man with a point to prove, which he did in spades. Blaze has always had an interesting voice, a very bass oriented baritone, he carries his notes very well and has a lot of passion. There isn't a lot of breadth to it, but he more then makes up for that in emotion and he never hits a false note either. For that record he hired 4 extremely hungry (metaphorically of course) and extremely talented musicians. And boy do they let rip throughout the album. And the one that came after this Tenth Dimension. Which follows in the same Sci-fi tinged Heavy Metal. During the early part of his career Blaze hired master music producer Andy Sneap, who does have this amazing ability to make things sound big, clean, yet not too polished, with a HUGE emphasis on the guitar sound. No wonder he has done jobs for Nevermore, Megadeth and many many more. Now maybe if only Steve Harris had hired him for both X-Factor and Virtual XI they wouldn't have been so violently shat upon. On his very first album Blaze wrote a song that he still hasn't been able to top, and probably never will. Not that it matters that much, but this song is massive, it's huge, emotional, victorious, ponderous and all around a beautiful song.
Unfortunately it wasn't to last. The band started slowly crumbling, with the drummer leaving first, followed by the bassist. Still he did have the guitarists left, and Andy Sneap was still around to help when Blood & Belief came out. This one was a lot more personal record. It seemed that Blaze's world was coming apart, as can be demonstrated in the song Hollow Head, which apparently was written using Blaze's counselling sessions. In some ways it's also the most controversial song he's done, but that's more to do with fucking metal hipsters who didn't like that fact that it had a lot of groove going on.
There were some other great metal assault tunes like Alive and Tearing Yourself to Pieces. The former being a song where Blaze releases his catharsis of hatred towards his critics, very much like when Iron Maiden did a song(With Blaze) called Virus. As can be guessed Blaze doesn't have much love or patience for those who continually criticise him for nothing else except replacing Bruce Dickinson. Which unfortunately is a legacy Blaze will never get rid of, and shouldn't either. The latter is about... well I'm not entirely sure. It's sort of seems to be in the same vain as Alive... and Virus. But it's got a great groove, fantastic riff and a brilliant chorus section. It would appear that it's about someone who bigs himself up, but refuses to show why he thinks he's such a big guy. Essentially, possibly maybe it's a take down of bullies who suffer from low self esteem and penis envy.
But where Blood & Belief really really strikes gold is in the Power Ballad department. There are three absolutely mind boggling, lighters in the air, hair at the back of your neck rising power ballads to be shown. Blood & Belief, Life and Death and Regret. The one I can relate most to is the last one, where Blaze puts all of his regrets on the table, about all the things that could and should have happened, what he should have, could have done instead, how he should have learned his lesson sooner, that there's a hole in his chest. At first it could be said that he's singing about his time in Iron Maiden, but then again we don't know that for certain. But as I said before, this song is the one I can relate to the most, and it always without fail brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it.
Then things started going tits up. The rest of the band left. With Blaze having to piece is all together again. The one theme that has been going throughout of Blaze's career is that he soldiers on, never gives up, no matter how often life kicks him in the teeth.
After working with several journeymen musicians, even publishing a live DVD, he came across the Bermudez brothers. Formerly of Under Threat Columbian fame. Well sort of anyway. Under Threat play this Thrashy Death Metal, who's singer was probably their weakest link but musically. Not bad. Not bad at all. And thankfully those influences can be heard on the the two albums he made with them. With them he was joined by a guitarist and artist called Jay Walsh, who also created the album covers for both of the albums that he played on. And of course there's a journeyman drummer, who also wrote a book about their experience of working together called At The End of the Day. To round all of this off Jason Edwards from Wolfsbane did the music production, now there's a man who also deserve a great future in that field. Because the job he does on these two albums was phenomenal.
The first one being The Man Who Would Not Die, it seems now that with every album he has to make the point again that he's here, and he's here to stay regardless of what the nay-sayers say. Again it's just a journey of thunderous heavy metal, maybe slightly heavier then previous output. Which isn't surprising considering the musicians backgrounds. It starts galloping with the title song, and doesn't really let up one bit. Even the power ballad which is probably one of the most touching love songs I've heard. And it all ends with an absolute monster of a track called the Serpent Hearted Man.
I went to see them playing in Lancaster in the Yorkshire House. And I have to say that it was one of my favourite gigs that I've ever attended. I lost my hearing for three days, and it was worth while Blaze ripped through his back catalogue and even did some Iron Maiden songs as well. I had the opportunity to speak to Jay whilst out back smoking in between bands. Got a picture taken with Blaze! So I was an extremely happy metal bunny.
I can imagine that this period was probably the hardest for Blaze, but not musically speaking. Sweet Jebus, he had a sweet band going on. Had just released a brilliant metal album and was about to release another. Then in 2008, his wife died.
Then the following year his father had taken ill and died after battling an illness.
I just... I just... No. I've got nothing. Except enormous respect. He still toured through both of those tragedies. And I was always struck by that tattoo he had on his shoulder with scissors and a microphone crossing each other.
Through all of this, he still managed to publish Promise & Terror. Which was a logical continuation of solid block of newly minted metal. No new ground being broken, just solid lumps of metal assaulting your ear canals like re-inforced cast iron gondolas sailed by Charon himself. But the real crown jewel are the last four songs. Remember when I said that Blaze will probably never release as good as a song as Stare At The Sun. Wellllll, I lied. He did four songs tying with all the emotional shitstorm that had been plaguing him. The thing is, while each song are individually great, they are even better when listened together.
Sadly again, this wasn't to last. There were some major problems in camp, and Blaze dissolved the band citing financial and medical reasons. The financial aspect was mainly because of the Bermudez brothers Visa's, and the medical being Blaze's own fragile mental state.
Since then Blaze has been touring by hiring local bands all around Europe. Been doing stuff with guitar wiz Thomas Zwijsen. Mainly on the acoustic front. He's also toured with another former Iron Maiden singer and benefit fraudster Paul Di'Anno. And published another album bravely called King of Metal. Now it has to be explained that when he's singing about King Of Metal, he's not singing about himself but rather his fans. Then there are rather touching tributes to both Ronnie James Dio and Dimebag. The only thing is I've listened to the album a few times, and I just can't get myself to like it. I want to. The lyrics are as good as ever. But musically... and possibly production wise, well the whole instrumentation sounds a bit flat, there's hardly any oomph going on there especially on the guitars. What made such a big difference on the last albums was that Blaze had guys who were very very guitar oriented producing and mixing the albums... and that album cover. I just can't. I can see what he's going for and I'm really happy to see him going on.
But now that the Best Of is coming out with two new songs, I think the next album might actually be good if those two songs are any indication of what is to come. Though again, he might want to get either Andy Sneap or Jason Edwards to do the mixing again.
I am Metal
I hear Metal
I see Metal
I feel Metal
I think therefore I am
