Monthly Archives: May 2020

Beyond Redemption: An interview with Big River

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2019 was a big year for UK blues rock band Big River. After a few years of tireless gigging, they’d started to make higher profile appearances. Perhaps more importantly, they finally released their debut album ‘Redemption’, a long time in the planning. We last spoke to founding guitarist Damo Fawsett four years ago, so he was keen to come back to Real Gone and fill us in on the band’s activities. This time, we got the full picture as we also got to spend time with Ant Wellman (bass), Adam Bartholomew (vocals) and Joe Martin (drums). Obviously, they’re all thrilled to bits with the response the album has gained…

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The Great 80s Project: 1984

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Few people could argue against 1984 being one of history’s finest years for pop music.  Above all else, the mighty Frankie Goes To Hollywood came and gave pop a hefty kick up the arse with a combination of great tunes and greater controversy.  They were the first band since the 60s to score three #1 hits in a row, but each one – ‘Relax’, ‘Two Tribes’ and ‘The Power of Love’ were deserving of their success.  Each one sounds as good as ever and in the case of ‘Two Tribes’, there’s still a real edginess you’d think would be long gone.

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MIKEY ERG – Bon Voyage EP

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Best known as a member of The Ergs!, Worriers and sometime collaborator with For Science and House Boat, the ever-busy Mikey Erg embarked on a solo career in 2011. His second full-length album, 2019’s ‘Waxbuilt Castles’, found Erg moving away from his typical pop-punk and taking more of a singer-songwriter stance. Often veering into (pre-country music) Ben Kweller territory, it sort of suited him, but came as a surprise for some fans.

For those who disliked Mikey’s more reflective side on that album, some consolation comes with 2020’s ‘Bon Voyage’ EP’ moving back to punk. The EP was specially commissioned by Stardumb Records and Mikey immediately thought about the punk EP’s of his youth, of how they were often a gateway to a new band, often featured exclusive tracks and often featured a cover tune along the way. ‘Bon Voyage’ ticks all of those boxes.

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Dave Greenfield: 29/3/1949 – 3/5/2020

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The Stranglers were an important part of the first movement of British punk.  Not so much in that they were capable of writing angry, antagonistic songs, but more in the fact that they managed to inject various elements of late 60s dark psychedelia into the then new musical phenomenon.

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BLACKLAB – Abyss

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BlackLab’s debut album ‘Under The Strawberry Moon’ was devastatingly heavy. With an under-produced and over-driven sound, the Japanese duo truly raised the bar in terms of fuzzy stoner riffs. The album didn’t reach a wide audience upon its first release, but a restructured and remixed version (released via the UK’s New Heavy Sounds label in 2018) went some way to giving the band an audience outside of their home country and received some really enthusiastic press.

Naturally, their minimalist set up of drums, guitars, vocals and three thousand distortion pedals never really allowed for a broad musical palate, so their sophomore disc ‘Abyss’ offers much more of the same, but if Blacklab appealed to you before, more of the same is exactly what you’d hope for… If anything is a little different, you might even say BlackLab have become even heavier and more intense, as ‘Abyss’ is a genuine skull-crusher.

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