Long overdue but finally on the blog, here are a few more pics from last friday’s Big Muff gig at Fallow Cafe, Manchester featuring the brilliant Peaks, the glorious Sprinters, MIMR fave new band Summerhouse and the dynamic duo and headliners Young Romance
Peaks
Sprinters
Summerhouse
Young Romance
The long awaited return of MIMR RADAR, the place to be to get your generous slice of new music and MIMR can promise you a very full portion with the bursting Alt-pop tunes of OhBoy!
The 5 piece from Northampton have been busy bees in 2016, having signed with the excellent Alcopop! Records at start of the new year and releasing some top tracks along the way. The recent single ‘A Bird in the Hand’ is a pulsating Indie-rock anthem that packs a powerful punch and striking all the right chords, sending you into a dazzled state, its glorious!
With plenty of live dates coming up this year including a prestigious slot at Glastonbury Festival, these guys are a band rising up very quickly “Oh Boy, Oh Boy”
Everything you need to know about OhBoy! is on their website here, check them out!
You may well of noticed that MIMR has had a close connection with this next band over the last few months and MIMR may well have totally biased views but now in their 1st Interview Psychomotors can now invite you to rock out to their intoxicating, Bluesy, Garage Rock noise themselves.
I spoke to the band about life in the band and what you can look forward to in the future, how wonderful!
MIMR: Tell us all about how Psychomotors started and what influences do you have on your music?
Helen: Well, the three of us me, Shaun and Dave have been friends for some time sharing houses/flats together. We all had our instruments and would have drinks and play together, writing our own few songs and just jamming for fun. Tom (Drummer) was working with Shaun and moved into a flat share with us.
Shaun: And that’s when things started to kick off properly really. Writing finished songs and deciding to get it onto the stage for people to enjoy with us. That’s how we found Tom, (Bassist) he came to our first gig, we got chatting and he turned out to be the perfect fit!
Dave: Well, influences…there’s a lot worth mentioning I think… musically: Zep, QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures, Kyuss, Black Keys, White Stripes, Radio Moscow, Muse, sabbath, vocally: Beth Hearth and Joss Stone would have to have a mention.
MIMR: Having just started with the 1st couple of live shows as a band recently, do you now feel more confident with your sound and what direction you want to take it into?
Tom (Drums): We think it’s something we have always been confident with. We knew the sounds we enjoyed and the rest seems to just come naturally. Now with the 5 of us the sound just clicks and seems to get better and better, we play what we enjoy listening to ourselves.
MIMR: Tell us all about some more gigs you have coming up in the next few weeks, exciting times!
Tom (Bass): Yeah it’s getting that way. We have a gig this coming Tuesday (21st June) at the night and day cafe, really looking forward to that one. Playing with some other great bands! And shortly after on the 1st of July we are playing a charity gig at rebellion bar, a night called Rusty Cage. That’s sure to be a massive night. Get yourself down!
MIMR: Having seen a few pics of you at band practices it looks like you have a lot of fun, who out of the band is the joker in the pack?
Helen: Well everyone has their moments, but it would have to be Shaun in terms of sarcasm and down right ridiculousness.
MIMR: With the first taste of summer hitting us recently what would you consider being the perfect summer’s day?
Shaun: Bbq and beers and drink and some more drink
Dave: and preferably with no rain but it is Manchester so that would be asking a lot!
MIMR: Thanks for chatting to us on MIMR, all the best with the gigs coming up, where can everyone find you and listen to some songs?
Helen: Check out our soundcloud page. We are back in the studio recording half way through July so our new stuff will be up shortly check us out here: https://m.soundcloud.com/psychomotors-971887004
Keep you eye on our fb page for news on upcoming gigs: https://m.facebook.com/psychoM2016/
Tom (Drums): Get yourself down for a proper listen at what we can do!
They play Night and Day Cafe, Manchester tomorrow night (21st June) but if you can’t make it here’s the next one!
Keeping up the exceptional good quality of bands featured on MIMR this year are the fantastic Suggested Friends.
I spoke to Faith from the band to reveal all about what they’re about and why you should give them your full attention!
MIMR: Great to have another fab new band on the blog, tell us all about Suggested Friends then?
Faith: We are a jangle punk-ish pop group based in London, singing songs about regret, aspiration, and micro-aggressions. We’re all about the catchy choruses and OTT guitar solos! (Or, as OTT as we can be with our skillset).
MIMR: Whats your favourite part of playing Live?
Faith: For me it’s communicating with and engaging with the audience through our songs. I like to think something in our music is going to resonate with people, at least that’s what I hope for. Christabel says her favourite part of playing live is stunning the audience into silence with our awkward banter. So really what we want to do is create an emotional rollercoaster for the audience.
MIMR: In Manchester we are blessed with some great places to see gigs, where’s your favourite place you’ve played?
Faith: We’ve actually not played outside of London yet, but we’ve performed in some great venues here. We all loved played at The George Tavern a couple of weeks ago. Everyone at the venue was super friendly and the sound was great. Sadly The George is under threat of closure because of property developers in East London – there’s a petition online to save it so go check that out if you have the chance! We love DIY Space For London too.
MIMR: With a typical British summer upon us what would you guys do on a perfect summers day?
Faith: Christabel says that she would go to the park for a picnic and then retreat immediately indoors owing to severe hayfever. I would probably go swimming somewhere. There are actually a few outdoor swimming options in London – I live down the road from London Fields Lido which is this massive heated outdoor pool in Hackney. On summer days it’s rammed but it feels like you’re on holiday.
MIMR: Which bands around at the moment would you recommend MIMR checks out?
Faith: There are so many amazing DIY bands popping up I don’t know where to start. But in brief: The Whooperups, Baby Arms, Ay Carmela, and Charmpit are doing fresh new things! We’re going to do a mini tour at the end of August with Charmpit which we’re mega excited about and so we’ll be in Manchester with them on August 27 at Fuel! Pencil it in!
MIMR: Thanks for chatting to us, wish you all the best for rest of this year, Do any of the bands have pre-gig routines or superstitions?
Faith: A few of us are quite anxious people so usually our routine extends to having a couple of pints and reminding ourselves of the structure of newer songs. Despite generally being quite a scatty person i’ve become pretty meticulous about setting up pedals and stuff, so that i can actually relax and enjoy the set without worrying whether my overdrive is going to work or not. I’m not sure we have any superstitions but we did end up playing a gig sober at DSFL at Bent Fest (because of alcohol licensing) and it was revelatory. So maybe this will become a superstition…
Check their FB page out here to keep in the know:
https://m.facebook.com/suggestedfriends/
They also head up to Manchester in August, great!! More deets here:
Power pop quartet Thee Mightees are the next exciting band to feature on MIMR in 2016 and Tom S and Ben from the band dropped by for a chat to tell us about their plans and their fantastic new album
MIMR MIMR welcomes Thee Mightees to the blog, we will start with the excellent new album, how was it produced and what inspirations did you draw upon in the making of ‘Smiling’?
Tom S: Hey! It all happened quite quickly really. We formed as a group in June last year and had the album recorded at Delicious Clam Studios by August (before we had really played live). It all started when Chris and Tom asked me to join this band that was going to sound like Billy Childish and they had the name Thee Mighty Chiefs. I said yes but didn’t really feel like I wanted to do 3 chord garage rock as I was listening to a lot of jangly indie music at the time – stuff like Revolving Paint Dream and The Pastels – bands we’ve since had comparisons to. Once Ben joined the whole band began to take shape from then onwards. I was feeling quite sorry for myself at the time and didn’t really feel like a “Chief” so we dropped that bit and started writing these jangly pop songs. I guess The Velvet Underground are a big influence on us musically and I can see that in a few of the songs on the album but none of us take heroin or anything like that.
Ben: We went into the studio with 9 semi-completed songs and BANG two days later you have a gem of a 10 track album finished. Chemistry. And whip cracking courtesy Ed Crisp and Calum Keiler, producers extraoadinaire.
MIMR: Now I’m personally looking forward to seeing you play in Manchester later this month, what’s the best thing about playing live?
Tom S: I think the best thing about playing live is meeting like-minded people and talking to them about music. I guess it’s about sharing really because there isn’t money to be made from independent music anymore. In a way playing live is an extension of that I think.
Ben: Personally I enjoy seeing a mix of disgust and/or enjoyment on peoples faces. If you can get a response that is good, ambivalence is the natural enemy of the rookie band. I am looking forward to the Manchester show, in which we do our finest Beatles/Be-sharps impression on the roof of Big Hands.
MIMR: You hail from Sheffield which over time has had a great musical heritage with some big bands breaking through, what’s the current music scene like and what’s your favourite venue in the city?
Tom S: I don’t really think about the Sheffield music scene too much to be honest as we’ve been so busy doing our own thing over the past year or so. I think my favourite new venue is Picture House Social where we have played a number of times – it does great pizza and cocktails and has a strong no dickhead policy which I like.
Ben: I concur with the Picture House pizza assessment, it is mighty fine, and a great venue. Personally I feel it is lovely to be part of the Delicious Clam family of bands – acts of distinction: Fruit Bomb, Long Limbs, Bruce & Carl, Thumbuster and Avida Dollars etc, as well as acts of foul disrepute: The Fentonville Street Band. Outside of that family, bands such as Nachthexen, Sievehead and Sammartino I wholeheartedly enjoy.
MIMR: What does the rest of 2016 hold for the band?
Tom S: We are gonna be releasing our second album. Writing the third and possibly touring. Maybe if God is on our side releasing something on a bit of plastic called vinyl. We like records you see!
Ben: We also need to pull our finger out and make some music videos, as they seem to be popular these days, what with the Youtube and such.
MIMR: Thanks for chatting to MIMR, look forward to having you on the blog again very soon. What other bands around at the moment would you recommend we check out?
Tom S: Spinning Coin where the last band I thought were on to something in terms of pop music. I saw them last year and they really blew me away. After the show I gave them a early Lou Reed record in exchange for their t-shirt. Again it’s all about sharing!
Ben: I am very much a fan of a band called Holiday Ghosts, made up of members of Falmouth superstars The Black Tambourines and The Red Cords – we hopefully will have a short tour with them at some point this year, and they are ace. Also TV Crime are a new band with plenty of banging powerpop hits, and The Birth Marks are worth seeing for sure.
This is their Manchester date in a few weeks time part of Rooftop Rumble All Dayer @Big Hands, come on down!!
The star attraction at The Castle on friday night (10th June) were the fantastic Chorusgirl who thrilled everyone with a impeccable show. The Noise-Pop foursome from London made their 1st trip to Manchester and everyone was glad they made it, as they bounced along with great verb throughout their electric performance.
Recently featured on the blog before this gig Chorusgirl headed by the dreamy vocals of Silvi and a breezy guitar sound which is so infectious, certainly made some new friends and we hope they come back up north very soon!
Here are a few more pics from their set.
One of the brightest bands on the blog in 2016 Peaness once again shone at The Castle friday night with a delightful set.
The Indie pop trio from Chester brought their A game despite struggling with the intense heat in the room and still delivered their summer-infused pop treats which was hard not to smile too. Further evidence on friday that the 3 girls are turning more and more heads, MIMR are big fans, you should be too!
Here are some highlights from their set.
