Scarlet Rocks: Gig News & Reviews

Ok so here I am once again with my top 5 lists.  I realise that it has been quite some time since my last blog but I'm back with a new laptop and finally have an internet connection.  This is a list I made up a while back and consists of the top 5 songs that always have me tearing up.  so check it out and feel free to comment and add your own list of sad songs.  Here we go...

1:  Roy Orbison - Crying

2: Depeche Mode - All I e...

I dress anyway I please and quite often, depending on my mood, I can look like I belong to various different groups.  In other words, some people would look at me and automatically put me into a box and guess, simply from how I am dressed, what kind of music I'm into.  I like this - sometimes anyway - aspect of fashion and music almost blurring.  I could be on a train in my smart suit and shirt off to start an honest days work and be listening on my ipod to Pantera.  I don...

Venue - Bar Bloc.  Tuesday 2nd August 2011.

Arrived just before 9pm after a quick bite to eat at KFC (I was hungry). We were sat at the opposite table from the band.  Nice gig venue, very intimate with a good, relaxed atmosphere. It was the first time I'd been to Bar Bloc, I'll definitely be back, they have a bottle of beer called Desperados - tequila flavoured beer.  Awesome.

The first up was a young and supremely talented singer/ acoustic guitar player called Sido...

I absolutely love Alison Mosshart!  So I thought I would take some time to tell you all just how much.

Not only is she one half of one of my favourite bands, The Kills, she is also the frontwoman of The Dead Weather with an enviable rock goddess image and uber cool vocals.  It's not just that I think she looks cool (which she obviously does) she is also an incredibly talented musician and songwriter who has been rocking her musical craft since she was 14 years old wi...

Friendly Fires new album, Pala, released May 16th is a back to basics pop/dance album taking inspiration from 80's and 90's raves and early 90's boybands, especially New Kids on the Block and Backstreet boys.  The album has an instant summer vibe about it, making summer 2011 a Friendly Fires one.   I'll be listening to this one with a barbeque going and bottles of beer chilling while we all dance to 'Hawaiian Air'. 

This is Friendly Fires 2nd album and they have cre...

One of my favourite things to do when I've nothing else to do (when I'm surfing the net like a bum when I should be busy doing something else) is searching the net for new bands.  It doesn't even have to be a new band, just a band that is it new to me or that I've been meaning to check out and have finally gave them a listen.  It's that tingly excited feeling that you get, when you realise that, yes! I love this band.  Like last year when I went to see Kiss.  Ada...

Ok, so here's my next top 5 list (I create a million of these in my head, I'm worse than Rob Gordon from High Fidelity).  Here's my  top 5 intro's to songs list, feel free to voice you own opinion.

Top 5 Intro's

1. Happy House - Siousxie and the Banshees. ( I love that it's quite creepy and chilling but perks up at the verses, makes the hairs on my n...

Ok, so a slight move away from just gig and album reviews.  I sit at my work and at home and run through song after song in my head and I have started to compile lists in my head.  So I thought I'd share them and ask for your opinion.

Top 5 Guitar riffs of all time

1. Back in Black - AC/DC

With melodic folky pop tunes and atmospheric grandiose strings, shimmering guitars and beautiful piano parts this is an album that is worth listening to again and again.  America seems to produce a plethora of indie/folk bands that manage to stay in the mainstream and are allowed to grow and mature.  Band of Horses are one of those bands.

The album begins with the uplifting Factory with its grandiose strings and follows with the pop hooks of Dilly, Compliments and ...

What a fantastic album! They have excelled themselves with an array of lyrically captivating punk rock songs.  With catchy beats and sing-a-long anthem like lyrics, American Slang is a rock album for the new decade.  It nods nicely to the rock and punk rock songs of the past 30 years with the influence of Bruce Springsteen shining through along with a helpful dose of The Clash and The Smiths and a smattering of R&B.  Wearing their influences on their sleeve they prod...