Princess Slayer / Nina Schofield / Ross Leppard / Jonas and Jane [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 12/5/14]

festibellyI need to work on my time management. Arriving all too tardy for this show, I missed most of Jonas & Jane’s set. However, I did catch their encore, a pretty and well-performed country-tinged tune. Check out their Soundcloud page for some very sweet tracks that I regret missing out on. Read more…

Posted on 13 May 2014

Princess Slayer / ERIKA / Natalie Ross / Stella [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 8/5/14]

girls of guildfordWhen I first saw that poster, my first thought was that this show would turn out to be a serious sausage party, full of hot-under-the-collar guys who’d assumed that an evening spent being entertained by women would entail something very different. I was relieved to arrive at the Boileroom and find that I was wrong; like the performers, last night’s crowd was stylish, socially competent, and clearly excited to be in the presence of the following: Read more…

Posted on 09 May 2014

Bats – ‘The Sleep Of Reason’ [Review]

A common accusation levelled at those whose core beliefs revolve around science and humans is that they are little more than logic-driven robot people, cold and emotionless, utterly devoid of the ability to feel ‘real feelings’. Their favourite music is assumed to consist of late-Seventies robot pop (Kraftwerk / The Normal / Giorgio Moroder / etc.) and the various electronic music styles birthed since that era, while their favourite activities are presumed to be a) watching Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens videos on YouTube, and b) arguing with Creationists and Christians in the comments.

Bats are very different. Read more…

Posted on 05 February 2014

Princess Slayer / Jamie Lenman / Natalie Ross / CeCe [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 31/1/14]

independent venue weekThe last couple of months have been a little quiet on the live review front – but this show marked the ideal moment to get back into the swing of things. As the Boileroom’s contribution to Independent Venue Week, it was guaranteed to be a stunner before the doors even opened; and it really goes without saying that the night was incredible, from start to finish. Read more…

Posted on 03 February 2014

Mr Tom: ‘King & Queen EP’ [Review]

Opinion

I think I need to move to Southampton. Those of you who have been following the Musical Melting Pot social media feeds have most likely noted my love of math-pop quartet Signals; now, having discovered ‘indie banger pop’ band Mr Tom, my loyalty to Guildford is becoming somewhat tested. Read more…

Posted on 03 November 2013

The First / Thousand Autumns / Jamie Lenman [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 11/10/13]

Opinion

Jamie Lenman (AKA Radu The Handsome)

If you had been scanning the Internet for a decent gig to head down to last night, come across the listing for this show, and then Googled the name of opening band Radu The Handsome, you wouldn’t have found anything to do with music (apart from the listing for this gig). You would, however, have found a ton of references to Vlad the Impaler’s allegedly homosexual brother, and perhaps his appearance in an obscure Doctor Who audio story. From this information you might have deduced that this band are a bit into Doctor Who, and might even suspect – rightly – that Radu the Handsome are not a real band at all, but Doctor Who illustrator and ex-Reuben frontman Jamie Lenman and his new band performing under a pseudonym.

But let’s be honest, that’s pretty unlikely. Read more…

Posted on 12 October 2013

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