Buckle Up Promotions

Over And Out

Phil Buckleup — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:59 +0000

Over And Out are a harmony soaked pop-rock 4 piece shining from the place dirty weekends were made for.

Brighton town provides the perfect backdrop for the street pop sounds, melody soaked vibes and 4-way harmonies that Over And Out have become known for both on record and live.

After spending most of 2009 off the radar, finding their feet and sorting their sound, Over And Out are now back in 2010 fairly fresh faced and ready to bring their chaos to the music world. Awaiting the imminent release of their new CD ‘The Heat’, Over And Out are heading back out on the road throughout the year so expect them to roll through your town soon!

Myspace / Facebook

fiN. Sunday 14th February 2010

Neil Mach — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:59:03 +0000

Sometimes we ask a lot from our popular music – it’s gotta make us laugh, make us cry, make us work, get us dancin’ on a Friday night – give us the impetus to make love – and then stick it to the man on a Monday morning. It must do all this while simultaneously unmelting the polar ice caps, feeding the world, fighting poverty and freeing the innocent from captivity. And all this must be accomplished by good-looking people who try hard, who know how to perform in front of a live audience, and who can be instant role-models. And it is expected that they must possess a mysterious thing called the X-factor. These ingredients must be packed tightly into a product that is expected to be both instantly hummable, and yet will also stand many repeated listens. Damn! Who can possibly supply all this? Not many, that’s for sure. That’s why ultra-successful bands like our local boys Hard-Fi are so rare. And that is also why this band – fiN. is expected to take off . ‘Cos they’re giving it all up for us.

The Hob Staines was quite rightly packed – with squealing, excited punters – for the fiN. music event of Feb 14. Screaming pop-tarts swayed amiably with the ‘more serious music lovers’ as the band laid out their wares. fiN music is vividly imaginative, suspended halfway between pop craftsmanship and consistent indie rock epics. Agile harmonies between voice and guitar, and tumbling melodies dropping directly from the soul, are often harrowing poems of texture, colour and light.

But crucially there is always a family-sized variety bucket of harmony and rhythm to be found in the fiN. sound, synchronised with a style and sense of grandeur all of their own…. and this adds up to a powerfully inspired concert pop act.

Kicking off with “Everybody Dies Alone” with an intro consisting of lightly plucked almost harp-like guitars and cabaret-style singsong vocals from Luke, the bow-wave of rubber-band bass and heartbeat thumps from the drums soon kick in – like an adrenalin fix harpooned straight to the heart – as light spears of sound culminate gently into an easy to-live-with chorus - meandering softly towards a satisfyingly undulating lead guitar conclusion. fiN.’s work is casual and unhurried, sincere and honest. Eschewing flamboyant style or outrageous rock n roll excesses, the band members appear to be professional artisans carrying out their activities. Not to say that this is stuff is staid or boring. More often than not the fiN. sounds can be sharp and intense – even dramatic. But there is a feeling that fiN. never actually throw caution to the wind. You cannot imagine this band gobbing on the front row, grabbing their crotches lewdly during a breakdown or chucking televisions out of hotel windows whilst on tour.

Songs like the keening “Where Are You Now?” rely on sweet melodies and noble keyboards, carefully manipulated sounds
presented unhurriedly and unpretentiously. But the songs never feel overly gloomy or melancholy. In fact, as I looked around the audience, I saw faces that were alight with pleasure, glowing smiles of appreciation, nodding heads of approval and new understanding.

The set finished with “Life is Wasted [ on the living ]” with those guitars from Luke and Jonny delicately threaded through misty eyed vocals, but always kept in check by a regular rhythm of pounding drums and bass. This lot don’t play their music with hammers and swords – they play it with needles and thread. This band, fiN, are master craftsmen carefully preparing and almost ‘evoking’ every delicious moment of each perfectly pitched song. The tunes lift the hearts of crowd, who are soon gently moving in unison to the waves of sound – each song pushing that euphoria button a little harder. Guitars vie and vault with each other as crisp and colourful percussion and fleet fingered bass provide momentum and solid rock foundations. Tempos are sometimes deliberately energetic, but at other times have a dreamy translucent quality.

This is poignant, yearning and lustrous popular music for the Echo Booming generation.

Audio Video Disco 14th February 2010

Neil Mach — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:03:36 +0000

Audio.Video.Disco is a pouting, sulking, smouldering almost vampiric looking band ( vampiric in a good ‘True Blood’ type way) with darkly handsome Rich Berkshire up front on his guitar and providing lead vocals, loyal henchman and gigster Matt alongside, twiddling his lead guitar and supporting with vocals and Tox on the bass giving it the third voice …. ( and they even have a Ryan Kwanten look-alike [Tommy] on the drums at the back.)

This incredibly good-looking band played to a packed audience at the Valentines Day party at The Hob, Staines at the weekend. Full to the brim with the posh-totty fans of AVD, there was also enough room in the pub for a fair distribution of assorted divas, shakers, swingers, dilettantes and
philanders – all clamoring for a piece of this exciting local band. And the enthusiastic audience got what they came for. This was music for the young and the famous, the warm blooded and those without shame – Audio Video Disco are synonymous with sex appeal and they ooze success in a world where most of us are merely gasping for air.

Hit after enormously addictive hit was provided to the heaving crowd – each song carefully crafted and superbly presented by the three front-row singers; Songs like “Seeing is Believing” with a choppy almost ska-like Jam-ish quality or the reverberating ‘No Mans Land’ with its solid chunks of bass – this set was an Aladdin’s Cave of gold-standard compositions, sprightly rhythms and catchy choruses. And yet these lads are strangely bereft of ego – they keep their feet firmly on the ground and their minds on their work.

The Audio Video Disco song-book is not only essential listening material but also joyful and zingy enough to get us all dancin’ along. At times the tunes deliver the power and the punch of a cage-fighter. And when this electric train of a sound whooshes towards us, the jolt of energy is enough to bust through our defences…. delivering smiles of wonder and surprise.

Drums dazzle with exuberance on tracks like ‘Five Years Gone’ with its twinkling start flapping up into a headrush of verse. The tunes nag at you like a big sister on school-night and soar upwards like a kite fitted with an afterburner. The Audio Video Disco tunes are sewn together tighter than Dita Von Teese’s bodice and are twice as thrilling.

Top drawer stuff from this hypnotic and high achieving young band.

LOS 28th January 2010

Phil Buckleup — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:32:22 +0000

Currently promoting their brilliant ‘Whale EP’, an apt title given the sheer size and power of their live show tonight, this blues/grunge three-piece take to the stage and defy the limits of their stripped back line up.

Whilst melting into the general throng of Buckle Up gig-goers to watch tonight’s support acts, the eclectic and sometimes misunderstood genius of Arcane Roots followed by the cool rock sound of brother fronted band Fear No Fish (note to self: must find out if there is a story behind such a good band name) Los come across as friendly, unassuming music fans.

The band move to their instruments and after a quick glance over amp settings etc, are good to go. The set that follows should have come with a disclaimer: WARNING Seriously good music inside, excessive depth and sounds of a sexual nature.
From the very first fuzzy blues note that Chris Hamilton (guitar) plays, Dan Hale is there completely tuned in with his drums whilst systematically beating them to death (along with the overhead mike). The two of them displaying a chemistry and passion in their playing that is often posed but very rarely actually achieved. Through this, almost like smoke,the first few notes are uttered from singer Helen Sargent as she tears into their first song with a voice that puts the current list of fashionable singers in the charts to shame. Veering from punchy pop songs to blues laments the band truly are inspiring.

Such a tight bond is felt from the audience when they play together that watching would almost feels voyeuristic if Helen didn’t occasionally break the fourth wall to chat with the crowd. All in all, a very special band and a brilliant night. I heard the band and yes, I bought the T-shirt and I wouldn’t miss their next gig at the Hobgoblin for love nor money.

SAM PICKETT

Terry — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:55:13 +0000

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Flip Stop!

Ray — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:59:57 +0000

Flip-flops… Jeeeeesus, what’s the fucking point of them then eh?

“I know, lets create a style of foot wear, that doesn’t protect the front of your foot, doesn’t arch with your foot, makes you bend your toes to keep them on every time you move and makes you sound like the worlds worst percussionist!”

This isn’t just a rant on a personal level though thanks to the addition of this paragraph (and this paragraph alone!), cos after spending a lifetime aggravating ‘easy-going’ (hahahaha) people like me, you’re going to wake up one day to find that your Achilles tendons are in serious trouble, your arches have collapsed and your back doesn’t work properly any more!

I know that I am pretty much either preaching to the converted or ranting to people that think that 2 six inch spikes are a good thing to balance your weight on of an evening, but I’m seriously at a loss here… I cannot for the life of me understand the point of flip-flops anywhere but the beach.

“Where dirt meets water”…

I was in work the other day and was stuck in the corridor behind three women, all of whom were wearing flip flops… As a drummer, if there is ANY third party tapping going on It HAS to be in some kind of time or it begins to drive me very crazy very quickly… What I was treated to on this particular afternoon seemed remarkably similar to the sound that I can image 6 ADHD suffering kids would make when let loose in a drum show room whilst whizzing their tits off on speed!

Add to that the fascination that a lot of people have with bracelets jangling away on their wrists and you are left listening to the world’s worst one (wo)man band! Jingly jingly plap plap jangle plap!

I’m thinking that I’m going to glue a foghorn to one shoe and a small tourettes sufferer to the other… You want noisy shoes?! I’ve got your noisy fucking shoes right here! ‘HONK’ “BOLLOCKS” ‘HONK’ “PISS”!

I’ve just got to learn how to tap dance now, then all you motherfuckers are for it!

N.B. I have a feeling I’m now going to be spending a lot of time trying to escape from people maliciously ‘flipping’ and ‘flopping’ at me! As long as they’re not actually ‘flipping their flop’ at me though, I’m sure I’ll cope!

Four Wheel Drive

Phil Buckleup — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:56:13 +0000

15th May – Sticky Fungus

I have seen this band a couple of times in bars and they were kinda underwhelming… but put that frizz and fizz on a big stage like Sticky Fungus, Staines and – KAPOW – Four Wheel Drive are sizzling sensations.

Strongly influenced by the blues of the South with its virile aggression and hard working honest-to-goodness energy, Four Wheel Drive are not really declaring musical independence or even starting their own confederacy… They just wanna have some fun playing some agreeable rock pieces to a smashed audience.

But ‘It’s not what they do, it’s the way that they do it’, that counts. On a damp Friday night in Staines town I am looking for a bag of excitement and passion. I am looking for a bit of boogie and a whole lotta woogie. And boy, this group fired me up like a stick of dynamite. If you, like me, enjoy the concept of sharing a bottle of acid-mash Tennessee liquor whilst hanging out with some unseemly can-can girls in the back-room bar of some sleazy no-good dive on Bourbon Street, then this band is definitely for you. They put pepper in your pants…

Staines is a long way from Vicksburg, Mississippi and, in our wet world, where we experience fog, flu, fish-cakes, footie, ford fiestas and girls called Fiona we clamor for escapism. We want a dream. A desert. A cactus. A rattlesnake. And a bit of moonshine. And that is what 4WD The Band provided for us at Sticky Fungus last night.

Distortion fuelled guitars (“Distortia” as Rihanna would call it, whilst doing that mad thing with her hands) and rolling thunderous drums were the backdrop to Jamie Lailey’s superb ‘Brian Johnson’ style vocals. Think of that rasping, high-pitched silver shafting energy in AC/DC songs such as “Whole Lotta Rosie” to get the idea of the sound. Lithe Ben Austwick and sleek Paddy Achtelik share the guitar duties admirably, and the quality and vitality of their exciting solos is inspirational. And this was truly a theatre of rock …. it was like having two frizzante haired ax wielding acrobats whirling around the stage in a blaze of psychedelic glory. It was like reliving the early days of Led Zeppelin all over.

The crowd just stood and stared… not in a bad way either… it was through sheer astonishment and wonder. They wanted to focus and to be grateful. Towards the end of the set the Sticky Fungus crowd started to limber up a little but there was still a kinda magic on stage that held the audience in some kind of mysterious hypnotic trance.

The band plays songs like ‘White Lines’ with its chunky chords worn a bit like a hip 1970’s vicar. With thumping bass sound-tracks like those panadol adverts – you know the one with ‘constant throbbing pulsating pain’. And with the twangy southern feel of the muted lead guitars that start to creep into your head and play footsie with your sensitive and vulnerable parts. The band also has Jaggeresque vocals a la Mississippi Delta together with singsong corn-bread chorus lines – helping to underline that their music is from the Great British southern-rock scrapbook. Fuzzy-felt lead breaks are satisfying and accomplished … with ‘sensible’ chugging rhythms from Will Richards on drums (sensible as in your younger sister wears ‘sensible’ shoes when she goes out clubbin’ on a Saturday night)

Other songs are Black Crowes-ish in feel and texture- with accomplished guitar lines i.e. like Black Oak Arkansas or Kentucky Headhunters. Other numbers have funky southern rhythms (and the blues) with yowser vocals similar to ‘Bad Company’ i.e. British Southern rather than ‘proper’ Southern drawl-rock. Other material was staple fare with plenty of classic sounding riffs and sing along verses.

If you are the kind of person who loves Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company / Free and AC/DC, then you are gonna just lurve this band. When I saw Four Wheel Drive for the first time, a couple of years back, I thought that they were a bit like a musical version of a 1990’s Land-Rover Discovery. You know … the one in blue with nylon trim and chipped paint. It does the job- it gets you to work and back and gets you around town – at times it is fun even, it can keep things movin’ on a long hard day – but it doesn’t really make your heart sing and your jiggly bits shiver with excited anticipation…

But after that totally triumphant concert at Sticky Fungus Staines yesterday evening I have to admit that the band has now become a shiny top of the range Hummer softop with an expensive LA chop-shop paint job, screaming flame decals, roaring afterburner exhausts and decorated by leggy babes wearing cut down denims, cowboy boots and tiny polka-dot bras.

God, I love ‘em!

Kamikaze Test Pilots

Neil Mach — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:47:23 +0000

Oh kudzoka kutamba !

You get the feeling that the music of the KTP did not start out as a vision, but that the sounds gradually emerged, like grubs from pupae after a long dead summer. You get the sense that the music only evolved once that stifling long sessile period had reached a natural end and once the arid ideas and dead-end formulas had been tested, retested, drained and dried. Consequently the birth of the new sound, the emergence, is a warm and finely crafted creation … and well worth the wait.

Zimbabwe born brothers ‘Beans’ and ‘Wes’ formed the band back in 2005 with Martin on bass. Jim Davies (ex Loki) was a later UK addition to the outfit with his flying V lead guitar, dreads swishing and flipping in the air, and cosmic energy pulsing through his vital sinews like a rampaging torrent. Like the name of the band, the band members are a contradiction unto themselves…the diversifying contribution from each musician creating a stylistically unique tapestry of sounds and experiences.

Most of the KTP songs start out as simple riffs played upon fibrous frets. The sounds are then built up, layer-on-layer, with generous funky chord backdrops and feverish jazzy drum accompaniments, ultimately reaching satisfying plateaus of finely produced rock and blues. The two gung-ho heroes- Beans and Wes- have a good old time smashing and thrashing. Beans provides the formidably heavy metal vocals (actually Ozzie-esque in both size and quality) and Wes pounds out those drums. Under all that flamboyant thrashing and swirling, Jim seems tougher and more focused than the brothers, but no less intriguing. Martin is the quiet man of the band, with his black porkpie hat and dark beard, beady eyes flicking left and right. He produces a succession of thrumming bass lines and lively rumbles. Very pluckin’ good.

At the start of the gig the early sounds of KTP reminded me of Second-Coming age ‘Stone Roses’ with that heavy bluesey-rock sound predominating, interlaced with subtle jazz-funk touches. But later in the show I was reminded more of ‘System’ when the sounds developed a progressive metal edge… strange time sigs, thematic links, unorthodox sound patterns etc. Tribal rhythms and stoner rock sounds are fused with complex metal guitar-work and harmonies to become complete backdrops onto which the boys can add their richly enjoyable African chants.

These boys write their own songs (credits also to Gavin Creedy) and go down a storm with their (mainly) student following in Berkshire UK. The funky beats and, at times, almost jazzy licks, added to those jump blues syncopated rhythms and a ‘twin lead guitar’ approach to the breaks, mean that this band is very reminiscent of old school classic rock. Large portions of solid noise (man, this band is noisome) and spot-on harmonies add to the overall texture and quality.

I particularly appreciated a heavy and almost instrumental track ‘Kumusha’ with its insistent hooks, possibly influenced by the likes of Black Label Society and, I would even guess, Iron Maiden. It is a fine rock song with plenty of false starts, vague whaleback dwalas and promises a-plenty reminding the listener of SOAD…but with additional vocal arrangements in the Bantu language, Shona, this song a classic-rock delight.

You can pick up the Kamikaze Test Pilots new six-song EP “Into The Sun” at their gigs or off their space. Go out to see them SOON in venues around the Reading area.

Alphabet Backwards 30th April 2009

Neil Mach — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:14:57 +0000

Alphabet Backwards 30th April 2009 – The Hobgoblin, Staines

It is the Hobgoblin, Staines. April 2009. It’s the eve of the end of the world (swine flu, credit crunch and all) and what are the Alphabet Backwards playing? Folksy pop songs. That’s what. All our fears are gently tossed aside as we sink into their faintly nostalgic end-of-the-pier show of merry-go-rounds, ice-creams, summertime romances, handclaps and salty tears. This band takes the gloom and turns it into bloom.

So the seaside shuffle melodies and all the fun of the fair mentality keeps the hungry audience braying for more. This band’s brand of Kieran Hebden type electronica is less poppy and more Avant Garde in its claims- with those keyboard based rich textures. At times the modulations and fuzzy notes remind me of classic chip chops but with very little glitch- this is more precision based toolcraft. The lightly chiming guitars and the strong pop melodies with their sweetly innocent lyrical content, take me back to Belle & Sebastian and even further, to a folk-pop heritage that evokes memories of The Byrds.

My favourite song from this Oxford based band is ‘Polar Bears’ with it’s folksy strumming chords and icy-cool beat licks from the Korg. The authentic folk-sounding vocals remind me of me of Bowie’s ‘Bewlay Brothers’ but the pin-point accuracy of the keyboards escalates this song into a newer, fresher dimension.

The band’s new single is also a joy. Played with appealing lines from Bob and enhanced by James, this is a low dependence electro acoustic number of brilliant quality. Like a flawless gem, clean and clear cut.

Much of their work reminds me of the sixties Kinks (Sunny Afternoon) with plenty of picturesque Englishness in their simple sounds and nuances- yet although their work is not overblown nor exaggerated- it is perfectly formed and a joy to be treasured.

Expect a lot more from this rather special little band.

A Drivers Blood Stained View

Ray — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:53:23 +0000

What in the name of Greek buggery makes some of you cyclists think that you can cycle three abreast down a public road and then look at car users like they’re a piece of shit when they honk their horn at you?

The very roads that you flagrant twats block is paid for by the people you are blocking! You arrogant cunts, can you not see that if everyone where as ‘green’ (you smug fucks) as you, there would be no money from road tax to pay for the upkeep of the roads that you looooove to claim as your own so much!

Would you all be quite as high and mighty cycling down a bumpy dirt track? I thought not!

Besides, it’s obvious that you’re all fit and healthy and congratulations to you, you lucky bastards! Some of us haven’t been afforded that luxury, does that therefore mean that in your utopian (somewhat fascist) society I would be forced to stay indoors? Or wreck my legs for life? How about a little bit less judgment and a little bit more getting the fuck out of my way?

You like to flaunt your abuse of common road courtesy and you like to do it right in front of people performing a famously stressful task, with anger problems (if you’re anything like me), in a giant lump of metal and petrol travelling at a fair old rate… What would happen if I were to actually lose my patience one day and abuse the rules of the road by sticking it in 5^th and jamming the windscreen wipers on as I watch you rag doll over my car with an evil smile across my face and a chuckle in my gut?! There are literally NO words to describe the level of stupidity that you possess.

Back when I was cycling, I used to feel it my duty (as someone that fancied staying alive and not fucking up the life of an innocent car user) to keep out of the way as much as possible… Anyone who decides that 3 people can share one lane is literally begging for trouble… It only takes one pissed up joy rider to treat the road like a bowling alley and you’re all fucked!

And most fucked up of all is the fact that the people who are worst for it (through my experiences on the road) are the Royal Mail cyclists… They’re not bad on their own, but when you work just off the road that the sorting office is on, you’ll see 10 of them cut you up in two rows of 5, there has been a number of occasions where I’ve been really tempted to NOT stamp on the brake! And they STILL give you the evils when you sound your horn at them… Perhaps it could’ve been the unintelligible screaming and profanity, but it’s early in the morning and I’ve already had to deal with morons whose stupidity gets in the way of my life.

When you wake up in A&E with half a bike wedged up your arse, then you’ll understand that it would perhaps have been better to take the bus!