When I first heard about Joyrobber, a one man, faceless and nameless musical project it’s fair to say my interested was piqued, and it’s fair to say that the press release I’ve seen is only creating more questions…
The project got underway in the summer of this year when the artist (whoever they might be) rediscovered some long-lost demos of a few previous unreleased tracks, and although Joyrobber doesn’t have a name for himself, he does have some big names behind the single, with vocals being engineered by the Wiltshire legend Jolyon Dixon and the song itself having been produced by Sugarpill Productions.
The song is called Jeremy Kyle, it’s a comedic, catchy take on the career of (you guessed it) Jeremy Kyle. At this point it probably is sounding like some sort of naff joke song that’s not really worth a listen, but surprisingly it’s sort of the opposite.
‘Jeremy Kyle’ has a light indie rock sort of feel – which I think we can all agree we’ve seen work very well locally, with bands like Nothing Rhymes with Orange and Burn the Midnight Oil taking the world by storm. It’s full of melodic guitar riffs, smooth vocals and punchy drum fills, and you can hear the value of both Sugarpill Productions and Jolyon Dixon throughout the track.
I’ve heard on the grapevine that luckily there’s more to come in the not-so-distant future as a few other lost demos have been found alongside this one. It really is worth a listen, I have to say when I first heard about the project I thought it would probably just be a sort of joke single, that I’d listen to once or twice to write this piece and then just forget, but it feels like it has a bigger potential and I would genuinely recommend it.
He might be between two worlds but he can also be in your home, in your very own ears, and that’s the best place for Ruzz Guitar to be. With a striking Funk-O-Pop styled cartoon cover, Ruzz Guitar has a new album out and yeah, just yeah!
Shadowing the Shadows with a belter of an opening track, Ruzz slips into Bo Diddley like a glove, then it’s off to those foot-tapping honkytonk ballads for a few tracks; oh yes, Ruzz is back and it’s a Gretsch-grappling beautiful monster.
There’s not a great deal I can say about this which I’ve not said about our Ruzz before; if it’s not broken….
Ruzz Guitar is a tour de force, a sublime blues rocker meshing blues into a unique and prolonged ecstatic ride into the rock n roll formula of yore, it just jumps, jives, and doesn’t come up for air. And if he does, five tunes in with Forever Yours, it’s like standing in a burning sugarcane field; the sweetest air you’ll ever breathe.
Ruzz brings in stellar backing, with some mind-blowingly soulful vocals from Shannon Scott and Julhi Conlinn. Drummer Brian Fahey, both Chris and Steve PelletierSmith on bass, pianist Paul Quinn and special guest appearances from Tyrone Vaughan, Paul Pigat and Mike Eldred.
Recently he’s been two and fro across the Atlantic more times than Concorde, hence the title of this ten track whopper, but I never find myself wondering how he goes down on the other side, you know, delivering something they invented back to them. It worked for The Beatles, you simply know they’ll love him as deep down as Texas, because it’s impossible not to.
Right here though, we’re in Devizes and via the “Mel Bush effect,” the Hoax and now the Long Street Blues Club we’ve equally been conditioned with high expectations when we receive a blues dosage, but no one does it quite proper job like our Bristolian Johnny-be-Goode, Ruzz Guitar. He’s so good they named the guitar after him.
This is class in a tall glass, I was expecting it, it never disappoints. There’s a number of tracks we’ve tasted before, revised and polished for the ultimate road trip soundtrack; it’s got a new version of Sweet as Honey on it, which for some reason always makes me go bananas!
Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…
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Featured Image: Barbora Mrazkova My apologies, for Marlborough’s singer-songwriter Gus White’s debut album For Now, Anyway has been sitting on the backburner, and it’s more…
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If I’ve been galavanting recently, gorging on other local town’s live music scenes, what better way to return to Devizes than a visit to the liveliest watering hole, The Three Crowns, to see a band with our town’s name all over it, No Alarms And No Devizes? How apt!
I’ll confess, while I know most of the members of this five-piece as individual musicians in their own rights or as members of various other groups, I was yet to see them in this setup, despite them forming the best part of a year ago. Naughty of me, I accept, but I’m overly glad to finally tick them off my must-see list, and on the strength of last night’s performance, it won’t be the last.
Aware of their talents as individuals my only pre-gig apprehension being it can sometimes be a case whereby groups formed of members who’ve met at open mics sadly don’t equate to the sum of their counterparts. This minor angst I quashed before arriving; I could hear them from the carpark as they rang out Steve Harley & the Cockney Rebel’s Make Me Smile with gusto. “Come up and see me,” the song suggests, yeah, I’m nearly there, and already glad I did. Again, how apt!
But it’s not just in the word-playing a Radiohead song’s band name to give it a local spin, nor the coincidental meaning of the song they were covering when I arrived which makes me happy to report that they know exactly what buttons to press, rather on the tightness of the band and their comradeship too. Frontman Tom Harris, known for also fronting extreme-metal band Kinasis and a stalwart locally as a blues solo artist, is a force to be reckoned with. His lively vocal range knows no bounds, and there’s joyful connotations within his energy and often amusing facial expressions which rub off on the audience.
If, as it suggests, ‘extreme-metal’ is too extreme for me, it’s in his lighter fashions which makes me smile, and during lockdown the few funky tunes he created really brought Tom’s natural talent to entertain to my attention. With No Alarms No Devizes’ varied range of cover choices in their arsenal, Tom is free to explore his funky side or whatever fancies his tickle, and I loved this about the No Alarms And No Devizes show the most.
Tom is backed by proficient guitarist Pat Ward, once modest about his abilities, today moving through the audience whilst strumming, like a pro! Bassist Jonny Jam, who’ll you see blessing his skills in many local bands. A new drummer, Nick Wood, who sure found his feet and sticks last night. And with the additional Matt Pryor on keys, the lineup gives them the scope to nail a vast range of pop songs into their repertoire, and they do them all with impressive confidence and showmanship.
Keyed in to precisely what the varied crowd at the Three Crowns want, they ventured through anything and everything from Nina Simone and the Beatles to the obligatory Radiohead, the Proclaimers’ crowd-pleaser, and eighties pop such as my personally most welcomed Men at Work’s Down Under, with a gradual fade from melodic to a frenzy. They slipped in a few great originals too, but whatever direction they took themselves into they did so with flow, precision and enthusiasm, making for a universally highly entertaining night I cannot fault. Even their break was no longer than a wee-stop!
I do ponder if the band’s name implies it’s just a bunch of guys from Devizes when they arrive at other town’s venues. They played Swindon’s Rolleston recently, they played HoneyFest at the Barge and Salisbury’s Coach & Horses, among others, but Matt assured me they’re welcomed wherever they play, leaving me only to assure venues outside Devizes, they may be announcing they’re guys from Devizes within their very name, and banter between towns might be a thing, but once No Alarms And No Devizes are in full swing, you’d be glad you booked them!
Another wonderful night at the Three Crowns, then. It never fails to please. With the Brewery Shop opening next door, seeing visitors stopping into the pub, the live music and gourmet burgers, The Three Crowns is surely a testament to what a pub can achieve if they put their heads into what punters want, particularly in these uncertain times. It was as busy as ever in there, hospitable and lively, with a varied age demographic out to party and nothing baleful.
We clashed events with the wonderful Facebook page dedicated to promoting local live music, Bird is the Word, which had to happen at some point! Go give them a like if you do Facebook, they’re doing good things over there, with higher quality photos and video streams than my tiddly tries of getting into focus while dancing and balancing a cider!
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Four years of hard work in the making, and it sure shows, Man Made of Glass, the third album from John and Jolyon, aka Illingworth, is released across streaming platforms this week. If you’ve seen this Salisbury duo performing on the circuit, the unyielding passion they inject into the obligatory classic rock covers set isn’t half of what they put into their own compositions…..
Pardon me if you came here for a respite from the onslaught of inflammatory international headlines and toread a nice music review, Man Made of Glass contains much prose on the tyranny of contemporary politics. As the idiom is defined, this narcissistic disorder of egotistical figureheads is fragile and therefore likely to shatter manifests abstractly, particularly in the title track and single Gaslight, but hey, I think it’s safe to say we know the people it is directed towards.
It’s a floating opening, building in layers, this title track, richly written even if poignantly critical of power corrupting. As ever with Illingworth there’s this breezy air of feelgood rock too, of Foreigner or The Cars, which enriches the sound naturally. Soulless might be the subject, but soulful is the expression; it’s a contrast.
Superior single Gaslight does similar theme-wise, but as powerful as an indie rock anthem, and rolling on a tougher riff than the title track, throughout, it takes the manipulation of its title’s term to the worldly encouragement of avoidance; this “don’t be convinced by propaganda” concept.
Bittersweet is the general ambience Illingworth delivers with here, and that’s no new thing in rock, but they do so with such passion and expertise it polishes the delivery and leaves you feeling alive and stimulated, with nothing bad you could possibly say about their songs. They are rich with honesty over vanity, reflecting on the theme. Gaslight may be the kingpin to the album, the running motif becoming less prominent in the other tracks. Every tune is a beauty though, embracing all stimulating elements of being uplifting, inspiring and catchy, just subtly with differing moods and tempos.
We Don’t Have to Try is a country-rock ballad on an eternal love subject, whereas, Heart To Rule Your Head, is an inspiring “you can get it if you really want” upbeat track.
Another Passion is upbeat too, of if, buts and maybes, whereas New Year is arousingly paced, reflecting on the unification and love perpetrated by the annual occasion. Love conquering over evil becomes the inclusive factor as the album drifts archetypically. This conquering notion to avoid the brainwashing of those seeking power lessens somewhat in favour of identifying affections, yet never fully expires. The finale is not to let it worry you, as the matter will shatter like glass.
While great, if previous Illingworth albums can feel fragmented, like randomly placed collections of their memorable songs you rarely hear enough of when they’re gigging, Man Made of Glass is more rounded, it has an overall concept. Like a classic rock album, the tracks’ narratives combine and flow wonderfully. It’s not a “concept album,” per say, but in the same classic fashion, and that’s a welcomed rare find these days of media overload and the average attention span of a goldfish!
Man Made of Glass is more suited to a vinyl, CD or cassette format, of a time when album composition contained an all-inclusive message, and you sat in the dark listening to it. Just like those albums of yore it feels like something to cherish, a testament to a bleeding heart of sentiment you identify with and get emotionally involved with, rather than simply hearing it while you wash the dishes. But hey, streaming is the mainstay these days, and that’s where you’ll find this treasure buried.
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The Light at the End of The World is a fourteen tracks strong album which scores a goal directly from the kick-off with the aptly titled opener Let’s Go. Released at the beginning of the month (August 2024) the timeless goodness of hard rock is firing off on all cylinders, and it doesn’t wait for the opponent to tie their shoelaces. What did you expect? This is a band called Bottle of Dog, who use a logo design adapted from the Newcastle Brown Ale label….
Lady Red follows, then Push Up Push On, and this Chippenham three-piece indie self-defined raw powerhouse shows no sign of letting up. There’s something ZZ Top about all this love at first sight monster. The band was accidental; formed from a one-off gig, now on their two-hundredth, a splendid accident.
Their Facebook blurb pigeonholes it as indie, combining “seventies classic rock sounds with modern day indie,” yet I find it takes four tunes to meander from the outright frenzy of early eighties hard rock. The riff of Chancing hints at mod rock of the same era, something that reminds me of the Undertones, or and especially, Secret Affair. Better Than Me, which follows immediately after tingles with a goth rock edge. Clearly there’s more going on here than the initial blast, but through influence nods it never loses its frenetic, loud and proud edge.
Okay, The Light at the End of The World doesn’t dare to experiment, opting for the tried and tested rock template, and only moving from subgenre to subgenre, but it does so thunderously and with the “if it broke” notion; hard not to like unless you’re George Gershwin! And anyway, before you know it, Loveable Idiot at the halfway point has taken us back to hard rock, and you won’t be complaining. It’s authentic noise, lyrically felicitous and admissible for the bill.
Three quarters through the album you consider yourself safe from getting a slushy or moody angled track, Bottle of Dog give it their all throughout. Break the Page perhaps the pre-eminent, a rolling riff to make to hurry your fag and get back inside the pub to headbang! The penultimate Captain’s on Board, has an anti-establishment yell, providing adequate narrative over the rolling drums and a “Hey!” chorus, which leaves you confident the audience of a live gig will be singing back to them no matter how unaware of these confident originals they are, or pissed they happen to be!
And we finish with Zombie Town, which quotes London as the inspiration, alien to the communal Chippenham, yeah, keep your nose out, pal! Unsure if any inner meaning to this, or if this is quite a light at the end of any road, or album, as the title may suggest, but it sure is fiery fun, quality blaring and doesn’t come up for air. If a metaller went to a boozer expecting covers of Ace of Spades and Hallowed Be Thy Name, or punk wanting White Riot and Teenage Kicks, neither would go home disappointed if Bottle of Dog simply runs off this album.
They play the Fleece in Bristol 8th September, The Royal Oak, Corsham 2nd November, Colerne Liberal Club on 7th December.
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