and the brought to you by

Perfect Pop Co-Op

issue 005 may 2012

SPECIALSEASIDE

Following (in our humble opinions) too ‘long-a-break’ from The White Hart Tap in St.Albans (almost 6 weeks!), we were delighted to see such a great turnout for The 50ft Woman and The Scratch double header. We were also rather excited by the response to our ‘loyalty stamps scheme’, which saw all those attending continue to col-lect their handstamps on their specially designed Perfect Pop Postcards, which will ultimately enable all ‘pop fans’ to earn a copy of a live best of compilation featuring the best ‘bootleg’ tracks from our shows. Don’t forget attend-ance is FREE, so ‘earn’ is maybe not the best term, how-ever, anyone purchasing any of the merchandise from our beautiful new table stand, will get an extra stamp per item... so I guess, in a weird way, you can earn... but you don’t have to!... does that make any sense? For more info on the last and next TAP session, tune into Sound of the Suburbs’ show. Tuesday evenings at 10pm.

T O T H I S , T H E F I F T H I S S U E O F O U R N E W I N T E R A C T I V E M A G ‘ T H E P E R F E C T P O P Z I N E ’ - B R O U G H T T O Y O U I N C O N J U N C T I O N W I T H R E C H A R G E D R A D I O . C O M A N D T H E P E R F E C T P O P C O - O P

Welcome

Saturday 9th June:Daina Ashmore and B-Sydes- White Hart Tap, St.Albans FREE ENTRY from 8pm.

MAYHEM!

So, even thought the weather isn’t exactly summery, we’re moving into that season...which means our annual trip to the seaside and our stage at The Alternative Great Escape in Brighton! By the time you read

this we’ll have been and gone and we HOPE it went well. If not... Andy Scratch and Jamie Tayler had a nice day on the Pier playing in the arcade, Regardless, we’ve got a full review of the day in this issue plus a

whole host of other articles to keep you amused. Enjoy!

Jordan (who is writing this in Steve Honest’s Hackney Road studio at the moment, Check out his

contribution to ‘Favourite Toy’ this month!)

It’s that time for the annual Recharged Radio Sur-vey. We are always looking for ways to improve and find out a bit more about you, so we can make RR exactly what YOU want it to be. So, if you have 5 minutes to spare, please fill in the survey and tell us a bit about how you listen to Recharged Radio, and music in general! It will help us shape the future of YOUR Recharged!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/recharged

facebook.com/rechargedradio@rechargedradio

rechargedradio.comstudio@rechargedradio.com

rechargedradio.com

ContentsCover star: Brighton

Welcome 2-3From Recharged Radio

Round the Tap 4-5All the news from our latest night!

Alt Escape Special 6-11All the news pics and info ofan amazing day

Home streaming is killing new music! 12@simonj68 returns!

D’Kay and Demans and SOTS ON 13New Album review and the news!

Daina Ashmore and B-Sydes and My Favourite Toy 14-15Next on at the Tap!

Ooh Matron 16Recharged Radio’s new agony aunt

Schedule and Ads 17 Thanks to: Design @8ecreative. Photography: courtesy of Debbie at http://www.imagingessence.co.uk Dave T, Andrea Perry, Words: @simonj68, Dave T, Jamie Tayler, Andrea Perry, Jordan.

photos by www.imagingessence.co.uk/

50ft Woman and The Scratch - The White Hart Tap St.albans.SATURDAY APRIL 28th.

For a pub, that really is a pub, not a venue and a quite an awkward shaped pub at that, The White Hart Tap generates a really good sound and a better than that atmosphere. You can tell, like Andy and Erica (who invited Recharged Radio and The Perfect Pop Co-op to curate their monthly nights back in January), the punters here want something a little ‘alt’ for their Saturday night viewage. And most definitely not (however proficient it maybe), another cover version of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. With 50ft Woman they were in no danger of that! In Minki you have the epitome of ‘Amazonian Sass’ and from the look and sound of April 28th’s gig, at last, in this incarnation, the right chemistry of band fully do these great pop songs justice. Clad pretty much head to toe in black, save for flashes of (Grrrr) luscious Leopard print you could see the 50ft’s were well up for this one. From her trademark stage entrance, that instantly hypnotised the locals under a spell of swinging hips, Minki oozed into set opener ‘Skinny Minnie’. With scarcely a heartbeat between them, forthcoming single Google Tan, made way for (Strictly) Only Swinging (dedicated to her new suburban throng) and teased itself perfectly into the seductive Soho Sophisticated. As Glycerine Machine became Ice Cream Man, you could tell both sides of the fence were thoroughly enjoying themselves, so much so in fact, that by the time they unleashed (for me) their top tune Psychic Hygiene, the whole place was totally sold on the 50’s schtick.

DAVE T.

You always know a band is good when their set seems about 5 minutes long and you find yourself most upset when they announce that ‘this is our last song’. It seemed like only a deep breath separated The Scratch’s first ditty, the earworm ‘Wag Potential’ and last song ‘I Relax to Spiral Scratch’, and I wasn’t alone in demanding another song to round off the evening. A newly svelte 4-piece, The Scratch are perfectors of their craft; a ball of old style New Wave, with Ant-esque tom tom beats galore and choruses that will pummel your brain for hours. Pogoing fidget-bridget lead man, the oh-so-dapper Andy Scratch snarls one minute and gives a little boy lost look the next.

The band debut a few tracks from their forthcoming album, The Great Adventure, including the aforementioned Wag Potential, with stand out tracks in the set being 88th Day of Rain, Narcotic Hearts, Weirder Than We Are and the excellent treatment of the title track itself, complete with Grim on lap steel, perfectly punctuating what is actually quite a mellow track for the St Albans boys; a perfect slice of sunshine to take us away from the monsoon weather outside. The fact that the pub is so busy despite the atrocious weather outside is a testament to the draw of these local boys.To sign us off, Andy puts down his guitar, downs a pint in one and the band treat us to an utterly awesome encore of ‘Smell the Gas Taps’, complete with the ubiquitous carpet crawling, monitor diving performance. I can only IMAGINE the bruises that decorate Mr Scratch this morning.

ANDREA PERRY

BOOTLEG B A C K TRACKAs part of our never ending quest to pro-

mote and publicise the acts who have joined

the goodship PPCO and with the consent

of the acts appearing we are most proud

to bring you a gorgeously retro style Boot-

leg of last months TAP session. We hope

that you not only enjoy the music, but it

inspires those of you who couldn’t make

the last one, to re-double your efforts for

the next one on Saturday JUne 9th.

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THE TAP ROUNDUP

If you have any suggestions for bands to feature at Perfect Pop Co-Op nights please drop us a mail at: studio@rechargedradio.com

RECHARGED RADIO AT GREAT ESCAPE -WHAT WENT ON?As we all know the best things about a music festival are the sleepless nights in a tent, toilets that defy description, watching bands in the rain and plate after plate of noodles. That is where The Great Escape and its younger sibling The Alternative Escape in Brighton fail completely by having the majority of the bands inside and the vast majority of attendees booked into hotels with showers and soap!

So, when the good wife and I rocked up and checked into the hotel, and were upgraded to a suite, it didn’t seem like we were actually at a festival, but for the one day we were going to be watching an incredible line up courtesy of those excellent people at Recharged Radio. The anticipation of meeting some old friends, and putting names to faces of some others alongside the thrill of seeing over a dozen bands for the princely sum of no pounds at all was clear, and due to traffic and weather we walked in as The Dash kicked off the proceedings. Their punky and upbeat set made sure that anyone expecting a quiet afternoon in the Queens Hotel in Brighton had that thought firmly put behind them.

A cracking start to the day, and for a band as good as them to be opening shows the strength of what was to come for the rest of the day. Next up was Aliceband, a new band for me, but the funky and almost world music beats and tune had everyone interested and hooked for their set. Definitely one I will be looking up a lot more, fresh and interesting and hard to pigeon hole, all good traits for a band I find.

Pepper & Shepherd stepped into an earlier than planned slot, and the wife declared them her “new favourite band”, which can only be a compliment. Their blend of folk and fun drew more people into the venue and they sold a few advance copies of their album into the bargain as well – which shows that people will and do buy music in physical format if it is good. Minki got changed into some sparkling silver hotpants which could

only mean that next on the stage was going to be the aptly named 50ft Woman. As always a stunning set, the crowd singing along to many of the songs and those who hadn’t seen or heard them before having those little moments of realisation that yes, she did just say that. One of my favourite live bands over the last couple of years, and Minki also does a show on Recharged Radio which also mixes the geek and the odd and some awesome music.

A lead singer wearing a Ben Sherman check shirt and a bit of swagger is a risk if the music doesn’t carry it off, and Model Society didn’t fail here. While I would hate to pick a favourite band of the day, and I have seen some of the others a few times, this set grabbed me and many others. The music stands out on its own, and they clearly enjoy playing live, not just going through the motions but interacting and invading the crowd – not the last band to do this during the day. After too many early pints it was time for a quick pitstop of a pizza, and bumping into Micheal Eavis of Glastonbury fame who was in town to check some of the new bands out.Back from the (very reasonably priced and huge) pizza and the monsoon like rain, just in time to catch Cinemawave. A band on the up, their debut album coming out soon and they have already had a track featured on Soccer AM, this is where “Britpop” evolved to. Rock and dance blended together in a set that improves with age – this is an band to see live in a small venue while you still can. Fans of the band will have also got the weather related joke at the start of

The first part of our Great Escape retrospective is bought to you by the inimitable @simonj68

RECHARGED RADIO AT GREAT ESCAPE -WHAT WENT ON?

the paragraph, the rest of you will have to use google to work it all out. Well into the evening session now and coming to the stage is the newly trimmed to a classic four piece The Scratch, whose DIY ethic (and album) underlines what Recharged Radio is all about. Their fourth album is out any day now, and if reading this is the first you have heard of them you will have just missed their album launch party.

As always the set is full on from the start, lead singer Andy off the stage almost as much as on it, and a mix of old favourites and also the new, and title track, Great Adventure. Not an entirely new direction, but an instant hit I feel, and I noticed the legendary Tom Robinson to the side of the stage nodding along in an appreciative way throughout the set. If you like live music and a great night out, this is the band

you need to add to your gig list. Fake Teak with the addition of Andrews sister on keyboards had what seemed a “rockier” set than last time I saw them, but still had the Post Office Tower song which I do have a special affection for. While not my usual musical taste their enthusiasm for what they do live wins me over and as the day draws to an end their uplifting electronica keeps the crowd going.

Headlining the night are the quite frankly excellent Model Staggs, one of those mystery bands who make a hell of a lot of noise with just two of them on stage. Like many of the bands championed and discovered by Recharged Radio they are starting to attract far wider attention, and I would not be at all surprised to see their name on far bigger festival listings in the very near future.

And while there are bigger and more famous festivals and event days than this, I can assure you that you won’t have half as much fun or be involved. No VIP areas here, the bands mix and welcome the chats and feedback from the audience, as much free music given away as is for sale, and the genuine feeling that everyone involved is doing it because they want to – this is not a money making venture, this is a day put together by people who love music. Sort of how festivals used to be really.

Book this in for next year – I am hoping that good folks at Recharged Radio do it again.

and up next we have the official insider view from Recharged Radio courtesy of Jamie Tayler.

Tom Robinson taking tips from someone really in the know :-)

50ft Minki gets the pulses racing!

with some great photography courtesy of debbie from http://www.imagingessence.co.uk

Nine hours, fourteen acts, a generous spattering of mad radio-types, a constant torrent of genuine music fans could mean only one thing: Recharged Radio’s showcase at The Alternative Escape in Brighton.

Set in the historic Queens Hotel, a place Prince Albert frequented for a massage in its vapour rooms, Recharged Radio were confident that this line-up would have a “happy ending” too. This was the station’s third jaunt to Brighton for The Alternative Escape, a festival now welcomed into the arms of its older brother, The Great Escape (www.escapegreat.com).

With over 300 acts over three days, music fans are literally spoiled for choice as this coastal town is besieged by a veritable melting pot of talent. Widely identified as Europe’s biggest festival dedicated specifically to independent artists, the 30+ venues are a delightful reminder that there is still a thriving underground music scene in the UK.

Being heard, when all the streets around the centre of Brighton are bursting with tempting new sounds,

could be deemed a challenge, yet, with such a fantastic and eclectic mix of brilliant musicians, as the spirit of Jim Morrison once uttered in Wayne’s World 2: “If you book them, they will come.”

The audience didn’t disappoint. Drawn to the Queens Hotel as if Recharged Radio were a giant magnet, the vibe was set for something rather special. “Showcases” can often be beset with egos, in-fights and band one-upmanship yet, due to the unique way Recharged works with artists, there was a wonderful sense of camaraderie, something rarely seen at gigs on this little island.

Bands are part of the station’s family; without their wonderful musical contributions, the shows would be nothing. Every act brought not only fantastic music but showmanship, personality and real friendship; a bond far stronger than the shallow, wordily superfluous, mutually backslapping-ly corporate world of boardroom evils and TV “talent” contests. This gig was borne from friendship, and those who took the time to venture down the stairs into this world were met with

With This Alternative,

Who’d Want to Be Normal?

smiles, conversation and great music.

Following the usual last minute panics and erstwhile drum stools, the first band kicked off proceedings (on time!) at 3pm.

The Dash

When you’re trying to organise a party, you have wet-dreams about the cool kids coming along and bringing the party to you. Clad in leather and looking like rock royalty, The Dash brought together an amazing set of driven music and beautiful musical mayhem. Frontman Marc Hayward valiantly fought the low ceiling (an inanimate object that continued to vie for attention throughout the day!) and with great renditions

of songs, including a particularly rabble rousing version of ‘Alone No More’, The Dash showed you that when you’re truly Rock ‘n’ Roll, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is – they’d already nearly lost each other at London Bridge and the beer had been flowing since the morning!

AlicebanD

Alice introduced almost every number with: “Here’s a(nother) song.” Do not, however, be fooled by the dismissive introductions. Alice’s truly effortless voice and fantastic band (which included the brass talents of her equally gifted father – the genetics are strong in that family!) made for a magical set of songs that regulars to Recharged Radio had not heard before. Having spun her song “Maria” on regular rotation on the station, expect to hear a lot more from AlicebanD very soon.

Canvas Wall

‘Close to the Edge’ has the type of hook that any musician dreams of writing. The thing with Canvas Wall is they are no one trick pony; their set

was a constant and consistent delight. Lead singer, Simon Dounis, has a voice that manages to have the depth of soul of the late Ian Curtis mixed with the charm of The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and post-grunge era Vedder. A strong set of songs you just want to hear again and again.

Pepper and Shepherd

There’s something wonderfully unique about these Peppered Shepherd types; they manage so effortlessly to forge a bridge between cheeky charisma and truly beautiful, heartfelt music. James Pepper also brought along his selection of “mini guitars” and this combined with an on-form Tony Shepherd made for a great half hour. They were not the only people to relish their time on stage; their enthusiasm was contagious and the attentive audience gradually moved towards them, sitting cross legged on the floor as if it were a school assembly. Absolutely magic! You can catch Pepper and Shepherd in the studio discussing their new album on Crawling Home, Monday 21 May.

50ft WomanThe stage lighting arrived just at the right time! The undisputed Rock ‘n’ Roll lady of the day, the beautiful and hugely talented Minki brought her band of musical reprobates to Brighton. Suddenly, the calm and cross-legged audience of folk fiends dispersed and were replaced by a sea of men, and ladies, who were drawn into the hypnotic performance of the 50ft Woman. Low ceilings can be a challenge for someone of slightly above average height, so you can imagine that this inanimate object once again wanted to fight for centre stage! The mix of great performance, chunky riffs and a wonderful voice with a huge range (one person is still hopeful that the live scream from Psychic Hygiene will be available as a download for their text alerts) brought in a crowd of new fans and admirers.

Model Society

Model Society are a welcome reminder that Britpop isn’t dead, it was just on hiatus. Not content on being held by the confines of a small rectangular stage, frontman Danny Clare showed the audience that the only thing stopping him from running outside and singing his songs to the good people enjoying a bag of chips on Brighton Pier was the limited length of the microphone lead! With the audience on their side, the lads managed to sneak in an exclusive track at the end of their set that didn’t make the Recharged Radio broadcast. That’ll be one that fans of Model Society will be telling their grandkids in the distant future.

Ben DrakeBen’s album, Repercussions, was released earlier this year and has been a favourite with Recharged listeners. Having assembled a fantastic band, The Alternative Escape was the UK’s first chance to catch Repercussions live. The behemoth behind the drums showed such power with the sticks that there were rumours that the punchbag on Brighton Pier had slunk swiftly into early retirement! Joined on stage by his equally talented wife on backing vocals, Ben Drake’s band did incredible justice to the record with a strong set that showcased not only his talents as a performer but as a songwriter and wordsmith too.

CinemawaveThe general feeling at Recharged Radio is that Cinemawave lead singer, Robert Powell, doesn’t struggle making new friends! Oozing charm, their performance was a master class in captivating your audience and with a new addition to the band, this is a restart for the band which gives them massive potential to grow into something incredibly special. Having already featured on Soccer AM earlier this year, there’s a chance everybody will be Powell’s friend very soon.

LimozineMinki’s Magic Moments faves, Limozine, showed you that consummate rockers only need two minutes to show the kids how you really make a great track. Fast, energetic and hugely accomplished, Limozine delivered and with the likes of “She Rockarolla”, they did exactly what it says on the tin.

The ScratchLong-term Recharged Radio favourites, The Scratch, displayed their ever flowing energy, remarkably consistent form and stunning showmanship. It’s not often that you see a sound engineer get excited from his sheltered space behind the mixer and start jumping about. The Scratch are a wonderful reminder that the punk ethos is truly at the core of all fantastic live music and their ability to earn both the respect of the old guard and the ‘new’ youth is an incredibly rare gift.

Tom CopsonTom Copson is an incredibly unassuming performer; taking to

the stage in tracksuit bottoms and a jumper, his journey is all about the music without any regard for the often shallow world of ‘image’. If you close your eyes, you truly could be listening to the finished product on the album, such is Tom’s beautiful talent as a live artist, and special mention for his incredibly intuitive band.

Fake TeakFake Teak, have an ability to meld together their obvious roots and 80’s stylings with a degree of ‘something else’. It’s hard to pinpoint what that is, as simply tarring them with the “Electronica” brush doesn’t do their live performance real justice; they’re a hugely talented bunch of multi-instrumentalists and the combined team of brother and sister, Andrew and Joanna, gives the suspicion that it must have been an incredible amount of fun growing up in the Wyld household.

The October GameThis was The October Game’s first live performance in nearly a year and they used it as an opportunity to showcase their new, more brooding musical tone. They’ve spent some time away from the stage creating new sounds that are both intrinsically TOG, yet with a freshness and creative spirit displaying their confidence in taking things in a new direction. There was a slightly disconnected band persona when they initially took to the stage, perhaps a result of nerves and a desire to do complete justice to their product, yet this swiftly transformed into a fantastic set which was both endearing and musically fresh. Viola player, Nick Murray’s overwhelming joy and enthusiasm following their performance was testament to once you’ve broken the thin shell of self-imposed pressure, The October Game are genuinely a group of hugely bright and talented musicians who have something very, very special to share.

Model StaggsManaging to sound like a hundred people and one person at the same time, Cambridge based duo, Model Staggs are difficult to pigeon-hole, and almost completely impossible to write about. Their performance was truly mind-blowing and the gift that Tom and Ash share is something that anyone who witnessed their set

remarked was a privilege to witness. If there’s any fear about the future of music, there shouldn’t be; Model Staggs are the new guard. They’re undefinable, significant, brave, important, unpretentious; they’re two people appropriately weaving new sounds together in an old sewing shed, and for those who saw them on Thursday night, in a hotel in Brighton, there’s a chance you just witnessed a new shift in musical expression.

Much like waves breaking on the shore, rhythmical, consistent, yet each one being completely unique, Recharged Radio’s showcase at The Alternative Escape came to a beautiful close. In the inimitable words of a rather emotionally exhausted, yet hugely satisfied Mr Jordan Thomas:

“Music Needs To Be

Driven,

Not Controlled.”

Top to bottom: Limozine, The October Game, The Scratch, Cinemawave, Model Staggs photos by www.imaginessence.com

We are once more excited and delighted to have secured the esteemed services of blog and twitter legend @simonj68 for his column in Sound of The Suburbs.

I S H O M E S T R E A M I N GK I L L I N G N E W M U S I C ?A normal morning commute for me, and many others, includes our daily moans about the timeliness of the trains, the weather and the person eating a Burger King on the 6.47 out of Milton Keynes. Alongside this, on the electronic pub that is Twitter, many will also be passing on quick reviews of new music, old music and just advising the rest of us what they are listening to that morning, and I have often picked up an inspiration or gone and bought some albums based on peoples’ offerings.

What I have noticed more are comments about people using the Spotify Premium Mobile service, which, as I understand it, allows you to use Spotify “on the move”, thereby giving you access to a music library that would cost millions to buy and require an MP3 player the size of the train you are travelling on to be able to store it all. One comment got a very long and ongoing debate started as “Jon” (his real name), commenting on the service, said “I may never buy music again, £10 a month for this is all I will ever need”.

Now, he has a point; in some ways, £10 a month and you can listen to almost everything you ever want, whenever you want, and no pesky CDs to get delivered and clutter up your desk and living room, seems like a utopian juke-box. Unlimited and uninterrupted music 24*7 and all legal so no one has anything to worry about.

However, this is not strictly the case, and as so many conversations about music and bands do these days, this one also went into the dark area of “Who pays for music now?”. It’s a simple question with a thousand answers, and none of them seem to make sense on their own. The general gist veers from small indie bands selling their self-made offering as an MP3 or CD on line or at their own gigs, to the mid level band selling via Bandcamp and HMV, to the top level artists selling in Tesco and on iTunes. The thing is that an album down any one of these routes will cost me in the region of £8, so how am I supposed to know what is best, and how does online listening make money for artists?

Remember all those years ago (just over 5 years) when Lily Allen was “discovered” on MySpace and every artist was suddenly going to get rich online? That didn’t actually happen, and an artist getting rich using just the internet seems further away than it ever did. This has nothing to do with the illegal market of downloading, but the totally legal online methods of listening like Spotify and Last FM (plus the many others that exist, I am sure).

A little bit of Google and a memory of something I had seen once and forgotten about lead me to this link - which although it is a couple of years old, the figures are all still the same (as far as I can find, as for reasons that will become obvious they are quite hard to find). I am not going to go through all the options, but the idea is to show how much needs to happen for an artist to earn about the US minimum wage (about $1100) a month from an album.Starting option; I buy the new album by The Scratch at their gig and so

do 143 others, and that comes to around about the level required. Seems OK in a lot of ways;, as a solo artist i you could sell 150 albums a month and that is going to make sure you don’t starve to death. Next, and a common way to buy an album, on iTunes, an artist would need to sell over 1200 copies to make the same income.. Almost ten times as many for the same return, so as you can see, the money is already massively leaking elsewhere here. If you had a deal with a publisher and CD was being stocked in the shops, it would be between 1200 and 4000 copies you would need to sell for it to hit the same income.

But, for Jon who will only listen to Spotify now, how many track plays do you think it would take for the artist to be paid the $1100? Can’t be that many, after all there are ads and also a subscription, so there is money there isn’t there? It is actually over 4 million plays a month required to pay the artist $1100. If people were listening to it that much, I am guessing that the artist would also be U2 or Lady Gaga and not actually needing the $1100…

Don’t get me wrong, I have a Spotify account, just the free version. And I use it quite a lot to check out a band if I have never heard of them and someone mentions them. If I like what I hear I go and buy it, and as a service like that, it is great, easy to use and a quick reference point. But to stop buying music because you “don’t need to” will be the death of all music, aside from those who have the industry machine behind them.

So, stop buying music if you like Simon Cowell and Coldplay, otherwise, you may want to have a look around some of the bands in this mag, maybe give them a listen and a buy!

For more spot on opinion and comments, join Simon on Twitter or subscribe as we recommend his rumblesandgrumbles blog... http://www.rumblesandgrumbles.com/

Simon Says

THE RADIO SHOWTUES 10-12pm

Dear SOTS fans, this month, I profile a new hero of mine, who grew up on my doorstep and I didn’t even know it!

Since I began my show way back in the December of 2011, my demo’s section has been for me the most interesting element (don’t tell Vintage Viney, ‘cos I do love that bit too!)... but the demo’s bit is great. Every show is like an archaeological dig for me; (man... not that sort of dig!) being a musician, the demo is something really close to my heart, having produced an innumerable amount myself!

Anyway, one of the first demo’s I stumbled upon, via the magnificent http://www.satellitestalbans.co.uk/ website, (that I have plundered mercilessly for my shows, thanks to Grae Wall and the others behind it!) was an amazing version of ‘Antimatter’ by a band called The Innocent Vicars from my home town St.Albans... it’s ‘rough as a badgers’ in quality, but what makes it twice as exciting for me than even the single version, is the chaotic, crudely chopped radio advert intro and the fusion of a spoken word book that intertwines throughout the track.

Richard Norris is the genius behind this early masterpiece which went on to spawn him an expansive musical career. From the ‘Vicars’ he moved on to a role as label manager for the British psychedelic record label, Bam Caruso and then went on to write for the NME and later worked with such musical luminaries as Joe Strummer, Genesis P.Orridge and The Grid, with whom he had chart success between 1990-1995. He has also written Paul Oakenfold’s official biography and continues in music today with The Time and Space Machine, whose album Taste the Lazar is currently featuring on the latest show!

Tune in this month for a special guest of the St.Albans scene and all of the usual suburban exotica!

facebook.com/soundofthesuburbs

DEBUT ALBUM - OUT JULY 15THLast month’s cover stars Dekay & The D’Mans release their highly anticipated debut album Darkness Visible on July 15th. The Camden 4 piece are one of the figureheads of The Camden Calling social enterprise collective. With their original brand of live Rap / Hip Hop they draw from a myriad musical influences. Formed through membership of the collective, they have been playing together since late 2010 and spent 2011 working on the album. DEKAY - “My music is my diary and my life and influences are all there. I have been writing songs since I could hold a pen and rapping since I was fourteen, releasing my first album ‘From The Hostel’ when I was sixteen. This was followed by the ‘Represent Mix Tape’, ‘Phoenix Down’ & ‘Broken Lifts’. I am out performing most evenings, be that with the band, open mics, battle raps or solo PA’s. If you want to talk to me or get to know me, I suggest you listen, it’s easier.

Darkness Visible is a state of mind something I have been dealing with my whole life and the result has been a spectacularly honest dark tribute to life as I know it.”

http://www.dekayandthedmans.com/

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Simon Says

NEXT on AT THE TAP

B-Sydes“Watching Benjamin Sydes, better known to regulars of Recharged Radio as B-Sydes, perform is quite an experience. It often feels like being privy to a private, emotive conversation between him and the microphone. B-Sydes not only uses his guitar and voice but the whole of the space within the venue to create an edgy, non-conventional acoustic experience. What you get from B-Sydes is a musician not content with being pigeon-holed;, a man brave enough to break free of folk tradition and produce raw, emphatically unique music. B-Sydes plays The Perfect Pop Co-Op night, in conjunction with Recharged Radio, at the White Hart Tap Tap on Saturday June 9. Wrecked Vessels really captures the energy of your live performances - there’s such passion and excitement when you play - so was it important to try and encapsulate this on the ep? Trying to capture that was paramount as I don’t have a band behind me on the EP, so bringing what I try and do live was crucially important.Matty Moon, who produced the EP at Halfton in Cambridge did a great job of making sure what was recorded was a reflection of that. You make a big noise with an acoustic! Most singer/songwriters hold back in this type of environment - was it always very natural to play very differently in this arena? During the writing process I didn’t sit down and think to myself: I need to play or perform in a certain way. What’s on the record is just what came naturally to me during that period. I realise that what I do might put some backs up in the acoustic fraternity but it’s nice to be a little different. There are artists who are abrasive in the folk world (if that’s what you can call me) as well as intricate and fragile. I’d like to think I have a little of both. What comes next might be totally different, we’ll have to wait and see... What drives your music? Seeing and listening to others perform I find to be very inspirational. I can usually be found with my headphones on listening to something. There have already been some fantastic releases so far this year so there are no excuses not to be inspired and writing. Which thankfully I have been! What’s next for B-Sydes? I have already started writing again so I don’t know if what comes next will be my 3rd EP or my 1st Album. I don’t tend to churn songs out like some and so my writing process can take a little longer. I sit on some songs and come back to them, to see if I still feel the same as I did when I initially started writing them. You get such a great buzz with something new but you can come back to this a few hours/days later and what you had wasn’t nearly what you remembered! In your opinion, what is the best “b-side” of all time? A great question, but one that’s really difficult to answer! I grew up wading through a sea of Hundred Reasons b-sides that would come out each time they’d release a single and they were all normally just as strong as the a-side itself. I will give a mention to a b-side that caused a friend to have a bit of a meltdown when hearing it. It’s a track by a special band called ‘Johnny Foreigner’ who put out a track called ‘Palace Fires’ on their 2009 single ‘Criminals’. Well worth checking out but probably not the seminal answer!

You can buy B-Sydes ep, Wrecked Vessels, now by going to: http://www.b-sydes.co.uk

JUNE 9thSATURDAY SEEN

DAINA ASHMORE

Daina Ashmore is a Singer/Songwriter who originally hails from Down Under. Daina was involved in the Choir Voiceworks for many years and went on to back artists Rolf Harris for Australia Day and Tina Arena at the opening of the Brisbane Convention Centre. This then lead to Daina studying Jazz & Contemporary Vocal at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and performing with her band around Queensland. In 2003, Daina needed to spread her wings and made the move to London on her own. Here she formed the band Feverfly who went on to release the album ‘Falling Forward’ on their own label ‘Vestry Records’ in 2005. After a short successful tour in 2007 in Eastern Europe, the band decided to go their separate ways. Having pursued other interests before 2009, Daina was very fortunate to meet producer Steve Haworth of Ritz Studios in June and he convinced her to go out on her own. This lead to a six track EP being recorded in late November. In March 2010 she was selected as one of 500 artists for the Facebook campaign ‘Storm the Charts’ for her song Brewing. This followed successful appearances at 2 festivals; The Sheen Folk & Blues Festival and Rock the House 3 in Lincolnshire, with a mention in the Grantham Journal. More exposure has also come by appearing live on radio stations ONFM Hammersmith 101.4FM – The Tom Mallow Show & Scratch Radio in Birmingham. Feature articles were also published in the Australian Times in London, The New Zealand Times online and The Southern Star in Brisbane in November 2010. In 2011 Daina released her Debut Album ‘Dirty Little Secret’ in April and has performed regularly at the Kensington Roof Gardens; the Kingsbury May Festival; Weyfest and the OXJAM- Shepherd Bush Takeover, to name a few, as well as running a monthly showcase ‘Acoustic Duke’ at the Dukes Head in Putney. Daina once again performed and showcased her new album on Radio stations ONFM Hammersmith 101.4FM – The Tom Mallow Show and performed live as a featured artist on the BBC Bus for BBC Radio Somerset in 2011. By the end of 2011 her song ‘Brewing’ was picked up by Mix Radio and Suckfree Radio in USA. 2012 is shaping up to be yet another exciting year with more regular appearances around London & the South East. Head to www.dainaashmore.com for more updates.

MY FAVOU-RITE TOY

Steve Honest - HACKNEY ROAD

STUDIOS

I live in a world of wonderful musical equipment - and always have. I’m a strong believer in the best tool for the job. I don’t care about cost; I just have to have the best. If I were forced (as I am for this article) to choose the one item from my collection that brings me the most pleasure (and I can’t stress enough how hard this is as I have so many amazing items), it would have to be my 1982 Fender Strat. ‘82 is known as the transition year at Fender. The company had culde-sac-ed and was turning out very mediocre mass-market items that were simply not very nice. There soon followed a management change and a big upgrade in build quality. This Strat is one of 7 Strats I own and even over the ones from the 1950s, this guitar’s neck is possibly the best neck I have ever touched: its profile sits bespoke in my palm. The action and string tension allow me to play things that simply can’t play on other instruments. I know that may sound pretentious (!) but this guitar is a facilitator. The tone of the pick-ups and electronics are as Strat as you can ever get. Even though the bridge pick-up is a stacked Humbucker, it still has that sweet brilliance and cut that a single coil will have but without the hum. The balance and contour make it a comfortable use-me-all-gig guitar. However, it does have an Achilles heel; the bridge is not a thru-body with springs but a badly designed and poorly executed fulcrum type tremolo bridge. If you’re dumb enough to hit the tremolo... it will go badly out of tune (if you take all the strings off at once, you will be over an hour or two getting it to stay in 440). Anyway, to solve this... I just got 3 big screws and nailed the fucker down. Now it’s perfect! Come round and play it sometime; I can say with confidence that you will fall in love with it too!

OOOOOH Matron...

Dear Matron,

I have recently joined a new band who

seem like

very nice guys. But that’s just the pr

oblem.

They’re all guys. They seem to express

an interest

in only playing to guys too. I didn’t

see this as a

problem, until one gig where we all ha

d to dress up

as the Village People on the venue’s r

equest. I am

28, my band is... er... 3 I think? My

band want to

play this venue a lot as they went dow

n very well

and I never had myself down as a guy w

ho could have

a problem with this sort of thing but

I’ve got to

sort it out. I play a Marshall JCM-900

and I think

it might be a bit overbearing for the

size of club.

Can you suggest a more suitable amplif

er?

Too Loud, Basingstoke

Dear Too Loud. I’m a little hard of hearing myself sometimes.

I don’t know about those amp thingies, this isn’t multicoloured

swap shop, perhaps you should try and change it for something

useful like a hot water bottle? As for dressing like Village

People, I do wonder whether you were the butcher, the

baker or the candlestick maker? Or Windy Miller? Now he was

a nice village person. And that PC Plod. Was he PC Plod? I

forget.Trumpton dear, don’t you remember? And what on earth

are you doing playing with a band of toddlers? Oh and I think

an Orange TH30 Thunder Combo would be much more appropriat

e

for the size of the venue. Plus the boys will love the colour

.

Welcome to the new Recharged Radio AGONY

Dear Matron, I seem to have a problem with my eyes. Every time I put on glasses, it gets dark. I’m 17. What should I do? Corey, Plymouth.

Dear Corey Corey? What a silly name. I can’t even tell if you are a girl or a boy. You sound confused, my dear, which is perfectly normal at 17. Perhaps you should stop doing whatever you are doing that seems to make you go blind. Or, alternatively clean your glasses. Filthy, I bet.Dear Matron, I don’t understand you musician types. All you do

is moan then play song about you moaning. How to

I get you to stop moaning? I’m 75. Not that you

care. Angry, Flamborough HeadDear Angry. No wonder you are angry coming from Flamborough

head. Very windy there. I do care. Of course I care. That’s what I am here for. But I’m not a musician type,

does that matter? You also talk like you might be slightly

foreign? So let’s recap. You don’t like moaning, you are 75,

foreign and live in Yorkshire, oh and you don’t like music,

or music that is about moaning. So you aren’t an old punk?

I think you need a nice cup of cocoa and a lie down. You

sound like you might be about to burst a blood vessel. Ooh

wasn’t he an old punk? I know he had Bad Manners. In

fact, I think YOU have bad manners, you never even said

please. And being foreign is no excuse.

column

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Friday, 18 MAY00.00 - 20:00 Best of: Music and show repeats20:00 - 22.00 The Forum22:00 - 23.00 I Land Music (rpt)23.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Saturday 19 MAY00.00 - 10:00 Best of: Music and show repeats10:00 - 12:00 The Forum (rpt)12.00 - 00.00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Sunday, 20 MAY00.00 - 19.00 Best of: Music and show repeats 19:00 - 20.00 Music Unleashed Top 4020.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Monday, 21 MAY00.00 - 20.00 Best of: Music and show repeats 20:00 - 22.00 Crawling Home22.00 - 00.00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Tuesday, 22 MAY00:00 - 22:00 Music & Shows throughout the night22:00 - 00:00 Sound of the Suburbs (rpt)

Wednesday, 23 MAY00:00 - 19:00 Music &Shows throughout the night19:00 - 20:00 Metal Mumin (rpt)20:00 - 22:00 Night of the Artisans (rpt)22:00 - 00:00 Music & Shows throughout the night

Thursday, 24 MAY00:00 - 19:00 Music ^Shows throughout the night19:00 - 20:00 Close to Nowhere20:00 - 22:00 Minki’s Magic Moments22:00 - 23:00 20/20 Hip Hop23:00 - 00:00 Music & Shows throughout the night

Welcome to the new Recharged Radio AGONY

column

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