Page 7 - RYAN'S GIG GUIDE June 2014

these days there is grow
ing trend for young
bands to have female
vocalists in fact where I
work at Base Studios in
Stourbridge I help run a Friday
night there twice a month and have stage man
aged and put on superbly gifted but young acts
such as ARAMANTUS and FOOLS GLORY which
both have powerful women controlling the mi
crophone There are definitely a lot of bands I've
come across in recent times adopting this format
and it seems to work very well
Went to Moochers in Stourbridge a few times
drank either coffee or a lot of J so much J
that on one next morning my brain felt like it
was made of soaked mangos and it honesty felt
worse than some hangovers I've had Saw two
wicked acoustic artists at this venue; PETER
WILLIAMS and ESTHER TURNER and they each
oozed in originality Terrific Another night there
I saw THIS ELEGANT CHAOS and they're just
solid as a floorboard on Noah's Ark; then I saw
them again playing at THE RAINBOW in Birm
ingham supporting DIE SO FLUID two fantastic
bands and yet again females fronting the stage;
I was beginning to think all the blokes were on a
guy scrapheap but a visit to the Midlands Metal
Crusade festival at The Slades Rooms in Wolver
hampton gave me my shot of much needed mas
culine overtones Bands like LEFT FOR RED
OUR WORLD BELOW? and XVII restored the
balance of the sexes A top band event spent a
lot of money on J though
So within six weeks I spent roughly just under
P and saw a lot of inspiring live music chat
ted up a few ladies who I got phone numbers
from (have yet to call) got a good feel of our
Midlands music scene today made use of this gig
guide went out on my own flirted loads and did
n't really drink much alcohol It was fun So that
was my experiment; you can do the same and
enjoy our live music scene instead of reading
about gigs that have passed that you will never
really be able to be a part of no matter how
much history or research you do
gig tonight so could you go down to it for me
and write down everything that happens there
and then give it me to read the next day so that
I don't miss any of it?"
Anyway despite everything I've just said about
reviews I am going to tell you all about my ex
periment On some of these nights I went to
Katie Fitzgerald's in Stourbridge witnessed the
debut gig of all girl band VIX VOX AND HER
MSCHIEFS which featured the divine VIX VOX
whom you should knowwas one of the leading
ladies in the 's all girl pop band FUZZBOX
Now I could tell you all how much I enjoyed it
(which I did) and inform you that you missed
it if you weren't there if you're a large VIX
VOX fan and didn't go down then you'll hate
the fact that I was fortunate to get a hug and
a peck on the cheek from her after her set So
now you have to question if I am a music jour
nalist or a big pervert Of course I am a mas
sive pervert I also saw the incredible technical
acoustic player DAVE ONIONS who is much
older than me but is a better guitar player than
I can ever dream of being it'll never happen
the guy is just one of the most technically ac
curate guitarists out there Saw the skillfully
poetic anarchist IAN PAISLEY of the HUM
DRUM EXPRESS who not just plays music but
gives you a spoken word type show that's en
tertaining he's really good I didn't receive any
kisses from DAVE ONIONS or IAN PAISLEY
Now I didn't buy any beers on any of my visits
but because I'm so bloody popular I was
bought drinks so this is where the experiment
failed as some of you out there may not be as
magnetic as me personality wise or even as
modest!
At "The Baseline" which is a weekly Friday
night event at the Court House in Dudley I de
cided to drink nothing but orange juice caught
a glimpse of sexy Rock three piece band
NAKED SUNDAY who I grabbed a CD from to
review for a future issue of RGG incredible
band on one of their songs the bassist shouts
R O C K S T A R and it's hard not to join in with
her Noticed this young and quite talented
five piece called THE VECTORS and I give them
a good CD review this issue also noticed how rggsince 1995