The Burnout with new improved bassist

Following an afternoon and morning tackling the hills of north Leicester with Bruce, and lunch at the cricket pitch, I bus into town to meet Karen. We go into the cathedral to see Richard III's grave, nothing to write home about, and then wander round the more interesting Guild Hall to find out what present day historians thought folk in Leicester were doing 1,000 years ago. Then wander round the lanes and precincts to see what folk do these days. Drink a lot on a Bank Holiday Saturday by the looks and sounds of it. 5.30 we are ensconced in Duffy's Bar to watch The Arsenal beat Leeds by a good margin. Bruce has joined us following his sound check and we go eat in an Indian street food cafe.

Back at Duffy's first up are Rogue Notion who play a solid set of post punk garage agit pop with a few reggae vibes thrown into the mix. The stand out is the use of a guitar with a grungy fuzziness that to my mind makes the sound. A lot of attitude with a chatty and engaging front person. A great start to the evening. Hulot! are good musicians (apparently, I'm not a great judge as if I enjoy the band I think they are good musicians regardless of their musicianship) and at times do take us into a Hawkwind vibe, which is always a good thing, but for me there was something a bit lacking. Maybe as they didn't have a real life drummer and had a swirly synth going on in the background. I do like electronic music but for me Hulot! are neither fish nor fowl.

The headliners are the mighty The Burnout. I am proudly sporting my T shirt (excellent quality) and new badge. See previous blogs for how great I think that The Burnout are but in summary a great mix of rock, punk and heavy blues. All great songs that bring punters back from the beer garden and bar and a fair few jigging away including all of the first band. They are damn good at what they play and keep the energy high throughout their set. The Stranglers without the keyboards, The Clash without the reggae, Pink Fairies without the psychedelia, Iggy and the Stooges without the nudity and bloodshed. All of the above. They have a new bassist which for a 3 piece must be a pretty big deal and he fits in perfectly even treating us to a few bass licks worthy of JJB. The drummer is on point as ever and drives the songs along brilliantly. Hulot! take note! And Bruce on guitar and vocals provides the blues and rock guitar licks alongside threatening vocals adding to the sinister vibe supported by the graphics. A fantastic set for which the crowd are baying for an encore and we're treated to a Stooges ditty.

After all that excitement we linger around whilst the band packs up and do a bit of roadying. Then it's home time. Next morning we wander down to the local steam train station before Bruce drops myself and Karen at the station for the train back to London and then on homeward for each of us. Great weekend as ever.

The lineup

They have long memories in north Leicester

Karen being historical in the Guild Hall

Rogue Notion

Hulot!

The Burnout

Garagebashing Vol. 28

Wanting to catch up Simon and I decide upon the Windmill and why not? I say hi and how are you to the regular guy on the door and he asks the same. Simon's at the bar with a gin waiting for me which levels out le Tour tour (see holidays blog) finances. The first band are on being Rockpool Dramas. They play a guitar based rock with a 70s feel. Simon suggests Dire Straits which we both agree is a bit harsh (although they were good before they became famous). We settle on Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers with a bit of hard punky grunge thrown in at times their nod to Garagebashing. So excellent riffs and tunes and a great intro to the night. We go out to the garden which is as busy as ever and which I won't mention again as taken as read. And jump around the drinks to IPA, lager and finishing in sharing Newkie Browns. Next up is Todd Modern who plays a jangly (as advertised) guitar sound backed up by an Apple Mac. A good set but difficult to get a lot of energy if just one of you and a computer. Godot are a different kettle of fish as they have a lot of people on stage indeed difficult to count them all partly as the lighting is a dark blue with dry ice drifting around the musicians. They are billed as "music of dread" and they do sound like some weird film soundtrack. We can't decide if they are not great musicians making a cacophony of sound or if they are great musicians playing a very avant garde jazz tinged wall of noise. I wonder if they are a pick up band formed of other band members.Towards the end they ease into a less avant garde noise and show their musical abilities going into a dark groove. We're wondering if their darkness is a nod to the recent last gig of Black Sabbath and the passing of Ozzy. Ringards get us back onto the classic garage vibe as they are a noisy punk band with very enthusiastic members especially the singer. They get everyone dancing more energetically for their set although to be fair there's been an enthusiastic reception for all bands including a fair bit of dancing around. Influenced by FWFB and we wouldn't be surprised if there is a definite link there. Again, there's a heavy grunge vibe for some of the songs which could well be a nod to Sabbath indeed Simon notes a War Pigs riff in one song and I can see what he means. So another great garage band. Four down one to go. I've seen Children of the Pope a few times and they seem to progress their style each time. They have a harder set tonight which is in tune with the rest of the evening. Still an undercurrent of country there but a punky garagey grungy sound with harsh vocals and I mean that in a good way. They go down very well. So an excellent end to an excellent night. Roof Dog (Son of,) sniffs us both on our way out and we say goodbye to the landlord before cycling home our separate ways.

Rockpool Dramas

Todd Modern

Godot

Ringards

Ringards

Children of the Pope

Children of the Pope