The Daily Growl

There are many signs that a band has made it. One is the presence of roadies. Since I mostly go to small-scale gigs, it’s odd to see someone other than the band themselves onstage setting up. Especially at a venue the size of The Borderline. But there they are. A bloke with a fine beard [...]

This gig was a promising triple-bill which got off to a disappointing start for me, after turning up halfway through She Keeps Bees‘ allotted slot to see Jessica Larrabee onstage looking like she was clearing up. Annoying, but it transpired that they had some sound problems and cut their set short.
But it wasn’t too bad. [...]

There were a few things missing from the Super Furry Animals gig at Somerset House on Saturday. The first and most obvious one for me was Mrs Growl. This was notable, because in all the many, many times I’ve seen the Super Furries in the past 12 years, the constant factor was the woman who [...]

The Britannia is becoming one of the best places for free live music in London. In addition to it being a good bar, having a critically acclaimed menu, and one of London’s best beer gardens (that’s a proper beer garden, rather than a beer patio like most london pubs) backing onto Victoria Park, there’s been [...]

It’s not like I expect to go to gigs and hear bands do a perfect recreation of their album’s songs on stage. That would just be too boring. That said, I wasn’t quite ready for the M. Ward live experience on Tuesday night. I’m sure the muddy sound mix for the first few songs didn’t [...]

Last Friday brought a few surprises. First was the queue. I knew the gig was sold out, but I wasn’t quite expecting the long queue which looked amusingly out of place in this quiet Tufnell Park junction. A passerby may have assumed that this it was some hot young starlets drawing the crowds to the [...]

It’s not very often that you get to put on your two favourite bands on the same night. So says Howard Monk, head honcho of ace London promoters The Local, who are putting on tonight’s highly promising show. They may not be my very favourite bands, but between them they were responsible for one of [...]

Music aside, gigs like this make me feel good. By making me feel young. Last time I was at this venue I was surrounded by teeny tiny teenagers rushing the stage at a No Age gig. This time it’s more about the receding hairlines and middle-aged spread, and yeah, I feel better. That’s not to [...]

Lunchtimes may never be the same again. After I moved offices recently, I found myself right on a direct bus route to Farringdon, so a short bus ride takes me to just down the road from Pure Groove Records. So my new lunchtimes go like this. Look at Pure Groove website. See if there’s a [...]

Camera Obscura are warming up. They’re off to SXSW this week and tonight’s gig is their opportunity to run through new material before they hit the Texas schmoozefest. Singer Traceyanne Campbell comes on stage admitting that she’s nervous. But she needn’t be. This is the perfect place for the Glasgow band to be playing the [...]