After ‘five years of reservations’, The Specials are ready to return, the original line up will re unite for an Autumn tour, the first time they will have performed in public for 25 years.
Band rehearsals have been going on for some months now, with the band previously saying that they were prepared to perform again if they felt they had something to offer.
“Seven 50-year-old men together in a room is not very pleasant, no matter who you are. But we’re getting on great and that’s all you can hope for, really.” said lead singer Terry Hall.
He added that The Specials will only play small UK venues, as arena’s and sit down theatre’s “would be weird. I think we should carry on where we left off.”
Here’s a clip from 1979, The Specials - A Message To You Rudy
Some new names have been added to the Reading & Leeds Festival line up for August 22/24.
Chicago Pop Rock band Plain White Tees and Electronic Punk act Mindless Self Indulgence will perform on the Main Stage.
Henry Rollins will play on the Alternative Stage, as will Jeffrey Lewis.
On the Radio One/NME Stage, Pete And The Pirates have been confirmed to play, while Tiger Army, Briggs and Blackhole will all be playing on the Lock-Up Stage.
The Killers, Metallica and Rage Against The Machine will headline the event.
The Black Angels – Directions To See A Ghost (Light in the Attic Records)
Picking up right from where their last album ‘Passover’ left off , The Black Angels manage to combine Mass’ haunting singing, depressive lyrics and the bands experimental style to make something quite beautiful.
The four piece from Austin, Texas, certainly have talent when making a new style of music is concerned.
With an album cover as trippy and psychedelic as the music itself, instead of defined tracks, ‘Directions to see a ghost’ plays as a 72 minute fusion of sounds.
The 16-plus minute long track ‘Snakes in the Grass’, epically closes the album with tones of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division and The Doors all crammed into one song.
‘Never/Ever’ has a slow tempo, and an acoustic peacefulness contrasting greatly to ‘You in Colour’ which starts with a mass of feedback before the drums and tambourine kick in.
‘The Return’ shows their Texas roots, as the guitars take a more folk style sound.
The 11-track album, is definitely a must have. After listening to it a few times, you start to appreciate the talent of the musicians and the combination of sounds and genres they’ve managed to fit into one album.
The album will go perfectly with a sunny day in the garden and a glass of Pimms!
With a name taken from the Velvet Underground song, The Black Angels certainly took us back to the 60’s with their own brand of psychedelic rock.
For the fifth date of their UK, tour The Black Angels played in a small room at the back of London’s ICA. Certainly a new gig experience for me!
Walking through an art gallery and then a restaurant before finding the dark gloomy room was something I hadn’t done at a rock gig before.
It was a sell out and the room was packed with mostly 40-somethings who’d come to reminisce listening to the 60’s rock. Checking out the band before their show, they were a five piece yet they came on as a quartet which caused a bit of confusion on my part until I later found out the fifth member is a projectionist….. yet there were no special effects!
Drummer Stephanie Bailey created an almost tribal drumbeat throwing herself at her drums, guitarist Christian Bland using a drone machine to make a very surreal, almost Jesus and Mary Chain style sound. Yet singer Alex Mass didn’t take part in any form of experimental music playing, as he headed the band with a hypnotically droning voice occasionally adding a few notes on keyboard or shaking a tambourine.
Despite Mass’ drone and the band’s infusion of sounds, it was possible to pick out a heavy influence of Joy Division.
The Black Angels have definitely found their own experimental style, and prove very fun to watch… though I’m not sure they’d be able to pull off the energy in their music at a larger venue.
The Boxing Lesson are a three piece band from Austin in Texas comprising Paul Waclawsky, Jaylinn Davidson and Jake Mitchell.
The album is a diverse collection of indie tracks fused with electronics and psychedelic guitar patterns with excellent songwriting and mature vocals.
The guitar is what does it for me, full of reverb and feedback, crashing power chords on the edge of distortion give the songs a ‘live’ feel.
The electronic genius of Davidson gives the album another dimension although sometimes at odds with the trashy guitar.
The band could also be accused of being a bit indulgent with intro’s and outro’s but this is not so evident after a few listens.
I have been playing this album constantly for a week or so and it gets better and better. Dark Side Of The Moog is an excellent opening track and sets the feel for the album.
Stand out tracks are Lower, a beautiful track with stunning guitar and swirling electronics, Meurta and Wild Streaks and Windy Days. Growing fast are the more upbeat tracks Timing, Hopscotch and Sodapop and Dance with Meow all of which would be worthy singles.
All in all a really great album from The Boxing Lesson, I am growing to love it. There is so much obvious inspiration from many musical genres, but the outcome is that of a very original collection of songs.
After ‘five years of reservations’, The Specials are ready to return, the original line up will re unite for an Autumn tour, the first time they will have performed in public for 25 years.
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