Miles And The Chain Gang: “It’s a lot more guitar orientated than the original”
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang release a cover of Griff’s 2021 hit, Black Hole, as their eighth standalone track on September 6.
“I loved the song,” says band leader Miles Salter. “I thought it was one of the best pop songs of the last few years. It absolutely epitomised the sensation of heartbreak and loss at the end of a relationship.
“I wanted to see what we could do with it. I wanted to do a guitar band version. We changed one or two things – our version is slightly quicker, it’s a lot more guitar orientated than the original. I really like what we’ve done with it.”
Miles continues: “It’s nice to do something different. It’s a little darker than the other songs we’ve released, and Griff is not an act you’d associate with guitar bands.
“I’ve discovered music via having a teenage daughter. She’s introduced me to various things in the last four years. She’s very aware of female singer-songwriters. We’ve been to see gigs by Olivia Rodrigo, Caity Baser and Olivia Dean. A lot of the best pop that’s been released recently has come from female solo acts, it seems to me.”
Miles And The Chain Gang have released eight songs in total, clocking up 24,000 Spotify streams and 60,000 video views on YouTube and other platforms. “We play gigs in Yorkshire and are working on our debut album,” says Miles. “It’s taken ages, but we’re nearly there.”
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Miles is joined on the recording by Mat Watt (bass), Mothers stalwart Rob Wilson (guitar), Ava Hegarty (backing vocals) and renowned York musician Charlie Daykin (keyboards), as well as Anthony Thompson (trumpet) and Jonny Hooker (drums).
“Jonny produces our music at Young Thugs Studio, in York, and always works hard to get great results,” says Miles. “The video was made my animator, Jamie Scrutton, and the song is distributed digitally by Kycker Music, a Sheffield-based company. I’ve worked hard to build a team and it’s starting to pay off.”
Miles And The Chain Gang play the York Food and Drink Festival, in the Parliament Street marquee, on Thursday, September 26 at 8pm. Entry is free. Watch the video for Black Hole at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLCkbb1I2Y
Into the woods: George Stagnell as Dennis “Hank” Haydock in In The Footsteps of Hank Haydock, premiered at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday
WARTIME memoirs and Catholic women trailblazers, open studios and open-air Status Quo lead off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.
Double bill of the week: Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock (film premiere) and Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat (theatre), Helmsley Arts Centre, June 1, 7.30pm
TO commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Bomb Happy playwright Helena Fox has created two poignant, lyrical new works telling the stories of two Yorkshire Normandy veterans from conversations and interviews she held with them in 2016.
Featuring York actor George Stagnell, the short film In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park was shot on location in the Duncombe Park woodland with its lyrical account of Coldstream Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock’s experiences in his own words. In Sleep/Re-Live/Wake/Repeat, playwright Helena Fox and vocalist Natasha Jones bring to life the first-hand experiences of D-Day veteran Ken “Smudger” Smith and the lifelong impact of PTSD and sleep trauma through spoken word and a cappella vocals. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Mary Ward (Augsberg portrait): Foundress of the Bar Convent, as featured in the Trailblazers audio trail
York exhibition of the week; Trailblazers of the Bar Convent, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until September 30, 10am to 5pm; last entry 4pm
AS part of the citywide York Trailblazers sculpture trail, the Trailblazers of the Bar Convent audio trail uncovers tories behind key characters down the years at the oldest surviving Catholic convent in Great Britain.
Using QR codes, visitors will discover more about the trailblazing women whose bravery and determination made history locally, nationally and around the world. Among them are foundress Mary Ward, who believed that girls deserved an equal education to boys; Mother Superior Ann Aspinal, who determined to build a secret chapel totally hidden from the outside world, and Sister Gregory Kirkus, who set up the convent’s first ever museum. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Kathyrn Williams & Withered Hand: Heading to Selby Town Hall tonight
Duo of the week: Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand, Selby Town Hall, tonight, 8pm
KATHRYN Williams is the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based, Mercury Music Prize-nominated singer-songwriter with 16 albums to her name. Withered Hand is singer-songwriter Dan Willson (CORRECT), from the Scottish underground scene.
They first met in 2019 in an Edinburgh Book Festival spiegeltent, prompting Williams to tweet Willson: “What kind of songs would we write together and what would they sound like?” The results can be heard on the album Willson Williams, released on One Little Independent Records, and in concert in Selby. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.
The poster for the three-day Drawsome! 2024 festival in York
York festival of the week: Drawsome! 2024, Young Thugs Studio, May 31; The Crescent, June 1; Arts Barge, Foss Basin, York, June 2
DRAWSOME! combines exhibitions and workshops with live music each evening. Things Found and Made is exhibiting at The Golden Ball, Cromwell Road, from May 31 and Greek-Australian graphic novel artist Con Chrisoulis for one night only at Young Thugs Studio, Ovington Terrace, on May 31 from 7pm, when Ichigo Evil, Plantfood, Mickey Nomimono and Drooligan will be performing.
On June 1, Bonneville, Lou Terry, Captain Starlet and Leafcutter John play at The Crescent community venue, where workshops run from 1 to 4pm, featuring Bits and Bots Recycled Robot, with Tom Brader, and Creative Visible Mending, with Anna Pownall, complemented by Zine Stalls hosted by Things Found and Made, Adam Keay and Teresa Stenson.
On June 2, the Arts Barge presents Dana Gavanski, Kindelan, Moongate and We Are Hannah, after three 11am to 2pm workshops: Poem Fishing with Becca Drake and Jessie Summerhayes, Adana Letterpress and lino printing, and Screenprinting with Kai West.
Sarah Sharpe: Opening her studio at Viriditas Nook, Mill Beck House, 2 Pinewood, Norton, Malton, for North Yorkshire Open Studios
North Yorkshire Open Studios 2024, June 1 and 2, 8 and 9, 10am to 5pm
STRETCHING from the coast to the moors, dales and beyond, 169 artists and makers from North Yorkshire’s artistic community invite you to look inside their studios over the next two weekends.
The event is organised by the artist-run collective North Yorkshire Open Studios, which supports painters, sculptors, printmakers, jewellers, ceramicists and photographers. Taking part in the Malton area will be Angela Cole (Westow), Catriona Stewart (Norton), Sandra Oakins (Norton), Jo Naden (Scagglethorpe), Sarah Sharpe (Norton) and Jonathan Moss (Malton). For full details, go to: nyos.org.uk. A full brochure is available.
Status Quo: Francis Rossi, left, leads his legendary band at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: Status Quo, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 2, gates 6pm
DENIM rock legends Status Quo open the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, where they played previously in 2013, 2014 and 2016. Led as ever by founder Francis Rossi, who turns 75 today, they must pick their set from 64 British hit singles, more than an any other band. The support act will be The Alarm. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/statusquo.
Georgia Lennon as Paula Pokrifki and Luke Baker as Zack Mayo in An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical. Picture: Marc Brenner
Musical of the week: An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, June 4 to 8, 8pm, Tuesday, 7.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday, plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
NORTH Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster directs Leeds-born actor Luke Baker as fearless young officer candidate Zack Mayor in the Curve, Leicester touring production of An Officer And A Gentleman.
Once an award-winning 1982 Taylor Hackford film, now Douglas Day Stewart’s story of love, courage and redemption comes re-booted with George Dyer’s musical theatre arrangements and orchestrations of pop bangers by Bon Jovi, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie and the signature song (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Graffiti Classics!: “Making classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating” at Milton Rooms, Malton
Breaking boundaries: Graffiti Classics!, Milton Rooms, Malton, June 14, 8pm
GRAFFITI Classics! is not only a classical concert but also a gypsy-folk romp, an opera, a stand-up comedy set and dance show rolled into one uplifting, virtuosic experience.
Bursting the “elitist boundaries of the traditional string quartet”, Graffiti Classics! embraces Beethoven to bluegrass, baroque to pop, Mozart to Elvis, Strauss to Saturday Night Fever, as 16 strings, eight dancing feet and four voices combine with one aim: “to make classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating for everyone, young and old”. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Malton Spring Food Lovers Festival: Look out for the festival guide and map on site
FOOD for thought on the arts and culture front, from street cookery to dance, trailblazing women to Drawsome! artists and musicians, prog-rock and folk greats to coastal Dexys, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Flavour of the week: Malton Spring Food Lovers Festival, today, from 9am; tomorrow and Bank Holiday Monday, from 10am
ON the streets of “Yorkshire’s Food Capital”, Malton Food Lovers Festival celebrates Yorkshire’s supreme produce and cooking over three days of 120 artisan stalls and street food vendors, talks, tastings, chef demonstrations, brass bands and buskers, festival bar, food shops, sculpture trail, entertainment, blacksmith workshops, vintage funfair and family fun with Be Amazing Arts’ Creativitent, Environmental Art’s Creative Chaos and Magical Quests North.
The live musicians will be: today, Malton White Star Band, 11am to 1pm, The Rackateers, 1pm to 3pm, and Oz Ward, 6pm to 8pm; tomorrow, White Star Training Band, 11.30am to 12.30pm, and The Rackateers, 1pm to 3pm, and Monday, The Acoustic Buddies, 11am to 12pm and 2pm to 3pm. Festival entry is free.
Mary Ward (Augsberg portrait): Foundress of the Bar Convent, featuring in the Trailblazers audio trail
Exhibition launch of the week; Trailblazers of the Bar Convent, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, opening today
THE Trailblazers of the Bar Convent audio trail focuses on uncovering the stories of key characters from the history of the oldest surviving Catholic convent in Great Britain.
Among them are foundress Mary Ward, who believed that girls deserved an equal education to boys; Mother Superior Ann Aspinal, who determined to build a secret chapel totally hidden from the outside world, and Sister Gregory Kirkus, who set up the convent’s first ever museum. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
What a hoot: Gemma Curry and her owl puppet in Hoglets Theatre’s Wood Owl And The Box Of Wonders
Pre-festival show of the week: Hoglets Theatre in Wood Owl And The Box Of Wonders, Fountains Mill, Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, tomorrow, 11am and 2pm
IN an Early Bird event for the 2024 Ripon Theatre Festival, York company Hoglets Theatre presents director Gemma Curry’s solo show Wood Owl And The Box Of Wonders for age three upwards.
A lonely little owl wants nothing more than to fly into the night and join his friends, but how can he when he is made from wood in Gemma’s magical half-term journey of singing owls, fantasy worlds, friendship and an age-old message about love? The 40-minute show featuring beautiful handmade puppets and original music will be complemented by an optional puppet-making activity. Box office: ripontheatrefestival.org.
Lesley Ann Eden and her York School of Dance and Drama pupils: Presenting Pinocchio And Ponchetta at Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Picture: Nigel Holland
Dance show of the week: York School of Dance and Drama in Pinocchio And Ponchetta, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 6.30pm
YORK choreographer and dance teacher Lesley Anne Eden presents her 50th anniversary York School of Dance and Drama show with a company ranging in age from six to 70.
Pinocchio And Ponchetta is Lesley’s take on the old story of Pinocchio and his sister, “full of fabulous dancing and great fun for all the family”, with the promise of her trademark quirky props. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The cover artwork for York Barbican-bound Richard Thompson’s new album, Ship To Shore
Folk luminary of the week: Richard Thompson, York Barbican, May 27,doors 7pm
GUITARIST, singer and songwriter Richard Thompson showcases his 20th solo album – and first since 2018’s 13 Rivers – ahead of the May 31 release of Ship To Shore on New West Records.
Notting Hill-born Thompson, 75, who made his name with folk rock pioneers Fairport Convention before forming his Seventies’ duo with Linda Thompson, will be performing with a full band. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Yes: Playing York Barbican on Tuesday
Rock gig of the week: Yes, The Classic Tales Of Yes Tour 2024, York Barbican, May 28, 8pm
PROG-ROCK legends Yes perform iconic songs from more than 50 years of groundbreaking music-making, definitely including a 20-minute medley from their 1973 album Tales From Topographic Oceans and “possibly” from latest album Mirror To The Sky too.
In the line-up will be Steve Howe, guitars and vocals, Geoff Downes, keyboards, Billy Sherwood, bass guitar and vocals, Jon Davison, vocals and acoustic guitar, and Jay Schellen, drums. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand: Teaming up at Selby Town Hall
Duo of the week: Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand, Selby Town Hall, May 29, 8pm
KATHRYN Williams is the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based, Mercury Music Prize-nominated singer-songwriter with 16 albums to her name. Withered Hand is singer-songwriter Dan Willson, from the Scottish underground scene.
They first met in 2019 in an Edinburgh Book Festival spiegeltent, prompting Williams to tweet Willson: “What kind of songs would we write together and what would they sound like?” The results can be heard on the album Willson Williams, released on One Little Independent Records on April 26, and in concert in Selby (and Otley Courthouse on May 30). Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.
Dexys: Heading to the Yorkshire coast on May 30
Coastal trip of the week: Dexys, Scarborough Spa Grand Hall, May 30, doors 7pm
AFTER playing York for the first time in their 45-year career last September, Dexys return to North Yorkshire on the latest leg of The Feminine Divine Live!
Led as ever by Kevin Rowland, Dexys open with a theatrical presentation of last year’s album, The Feminine Divine, to be followed by a second soulful set of beloved hits, from Come On Eileen and Jackie Wilson Said to The Celtic Soul Brothers and Geno. Box office: 01723 376774 or scarboroughspa.co.uk.
Bonneville (York singer-songwriter Bonnie Milnes) promotes her debut album New Lady at Drawsome! 2024 gig at The Crescent
York festival of the week: Drawsome! 2024, Young Thugs Studio, May 31; The Crescent, June 1; Arts Barge, Foss Basin, York, June 2
DRAWSOME! combines exhibitions and workshops with live music each evening. York multi-disciplinary artist Rowan Jackson will be exhibiting at Angel on the Green, Bishopthorpe Road, from 7pm on May 27; Things Found and Made at The Golden Ball, Cromwell Road, from May 31 and Greek-Australian graphic novel artist Con Chrisoulis for one night only at Young Thugs Studio, Ovington Terrace, on May 31 from 7pm, when Ichigo Evil, Plantfood, Mickey Nomimono and Drooligan will be performing.
On June 1, Bonneville, Lou Terry, Captain Starlet and Leafcutter John play at The Crescent community venue, where workshops run from 1 to 4pm, featuring Bits and Bots Recycled Robot, with Tom Brader, and Creative Visible Mending, with Anna Pownall, complemented by Zine Stalls hosted by Things Found and Made, Adam Keay and Teresa Stenson.
On June 2, the Arts Barge presents Dana Gavanski, Kindelan, Moongate and We Are Hannah, after three 11am to 2pm workshops: Poem Fishing with Becca Drake and Jessie Summerhayes, Adana Letterpress and lino printing, and Screenprinting with Kai West. Drawsome! is run in aid of Bowel Cancer UK.
The poster for Drawsome! 2024
In Focus: Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, York Theatre Royal, May 29 and 30, 7,30pm; The Showstopper Kids Show, May 30, 2pm
SHOWSTOPPER! The Improvised Musical heads back to York Theatre Royal in an expanded format with a children’s version of the spontaneous musical comedy for half-term week.
The Showstoppers have 14 years behind them at the Edinburgh Fringe, to go with a BBC Radio 4 series, a West End run and an 2016 Olivier Award for their blend of comedy, musical theatre and, wait for it, spontaneity.
Each Showstopper show is created live on the spot from audience suggestions, resulting in a new musical comedy at each performance, which is then named by the audience.
The cast takes suggestions for the setting, genre and style to transform them into an all-singing, all-dancing production with humorous results. Anything can be expected at a Showstopper show, so if the audience fancies Hamilton in a hospital or Sondheim in the Sahara, The Showstoppers will sing it.
Thursday’s Showstopper Kids Show is for children of all ages, who will see their own ideas being turned into a fully improvised musical right in front of them.
The children will decide where the story is set, what happens next and who the characters are. The Showstoppers will create whatever is suggested, so the characters could be anyone, such as the children’s favourite TV show characters, and the show could be set under the sea or in a doll’s house. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jarmouse: Releasing Flush EP and playing Young Thugs Studio gig in York on May 11
SAY Owt associate artist Bram David Jarman is ready to shake South Bank, York, with his fusion of spoken word, poetry and music in the guise of Jarmouse in a May 11 gig.
York poet, playwright, songwriter and musician Bram has been a key voice at the loveably gobby gang of performance poets’ high-energy nights of words and verse since 2014, whether performing his brand of sharp spoken word or being the friendly face on the door cheering on poets.
This month Jarmouse has released the EP Flush on York label Young Thugs Records. “Featuring a combination of beats, loops, synths and sounds, stories and politics, this experience is for fans of Sleaford Mods, Benefits or Yard Act, but far more anarchic, genre-bending, furious and fun,” says Bram.
Minal Sukumar: Writer, performance poet and feminist researcher
To celebrate next month’s release of stories and songs, Jarmouse will perform a dynamic set of “rave poetry, grief beats and disco fiction” at May 11’s intimate performance at Young Thugs Studio, South Bank Social Club, Ovington Terrace, in the spirit of DIY punk gigs. “Expect a few surprises along the way!” says Bram.
Support acts will be poet Minal Sukumar and electro riot grrrl act Doberwoman. Sukumar is a writer, performance poet and feminist researcher, who was aged “around ten” when she decided to enter the business of telling stories, a “phase” some are still waiting for her to outgrow.
Co-founder of the poetry collective Mouth Of Word in 2017, Sukumar has performed original spoken-word poetry in India, Ireland and the United Kingdom and her writing has appeared in several publications, most notably South Asia’s leading literary magazine, The Bombay Review.
Her work sits at the intersection of feminism, postcolonialism and mental health – or, in other words, is a medley of all the things she was never supposed to say out loud.
Electro riot grrl Doberwoman: “Gnashing-toothed musical response to a world that expects girls to shut up”
Doberwoman is the digital noise-based side project of folk-punk protest musician and songwriter Alice Nicholls. A far cry from her usual multi-instrumental set-up, armed with MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface] and a megaphone, she creates an explosion of intense harmonies paired with lyrics of expressive, yet eloquent, rage.
“Doberwoman is electro riot grrl: a screaming, yelling, tantrum-throwing brainchild; a gnashing-toothed musical response to a world that expects girls to shut up,” says Say Owt host Henry Raby. “What happens when women let loose their anger after being told they should be quiet? What happens when we get fed up of being afraid? Doberwoman happens.”
Doors open at 7.30pm for the 8pm start. Tickets are available ateventbrite.co.uk/e/say-owt-presents-jarmouse-ep-launch-doberwomen-minal-sukumar-tickets-879734990037?aff=oddtdtcreator
Jarmouse’s poster for May 11’s gigat Young Thugs Studio
Avalanche Party: Party night at Young Thugs Studio in York. Picture: Jason Ferdinando
YOUNG Thugs Studio is marking the refurbishment of its recording studios in South Bank Social Club, Olvington Terrace, York, with a Saturday launch party from 7pm to 11pm.
This celebration of “some of the best music our region has to offer” will feature feral North York Moors garage-punk psych rock band Avalanche Party and Hull’s fast-emerging Low Hummer.
Formed in 2014, Avalanche Party revel in an “intense and immediate sound, so new yet so familiar, brimming with an urgency that explodes off the stage like the front lines of a war you didn’t even realise was being fought”.
Every note is played through white knuckles, every word spat through gritted teeth, as heard on 2019’s debut album, 24 Carat Diamond Trephine.
Low Hummer’s “woozy indie pop with a beautiful world view” was last heard in York when they opened for Manic Street Preachers at York Barbican on October 4.
Saturday’s gig will be preceded by a formal opening, conducted by the Lord Mayor of York, the Reverend Councillor Chris Cullwick, at 10am that morning.
Band and the banner: Bull take to the River Ouse on the album launch day for Discover Effortless Living as the artwork hangs from Millennium Bridge, York
BAND formed: 2011. Debut album released on major label: March 26 2021. No wonder York alt-rock dandies Bull rolled out a large banner of the cover artwork for Discover Effortless Living from Millennium Bridge today.
“It feels great. I’m really excited,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Tom Beer, revelling in one of the most joyful stories in the history of York’s music scene, as the first buds of spring deliver Bull’s 13-track flourish on EMI Records, in conjunction with York promoters, producers and proponents of potent pop, Young Thugs.
“We’ve been working on bringing out the album all year [since signing to EMI last July] and it’s just exciting that it’s done and ready to go.”
Ten years to reach this zenith, and you thought elephants had a long gestation period. “We didn’t know we’d ever get to this point. We’d never bet on it,” admits Tom, after Bull became the first York act since Shed Seven in October 1993 to sign to a major label.
“It definitely feels all the more significant because it’s not only a year’s work. Everything we’ve done has been incremental, learning as we go, for years.”
Are Bull the hardest working band in York, Tom? “I’m not sure we can be called that! I’ll give that to The Howl & The Hum. Not that we haven’t worked hard, but we’ve always just done what we wanted to do. When you work at something you love, it’s not work, is it?” he says. “I’ve only just started calling it ‘work’ in recent years.”
Going Green: The artwork for Bull’s first single for EMI, a song written as long ago as 2012
Bull have hit the roof, in the best way possible. “We’ve just played a gig on the EMI roof,” reveals Tom. When? “Um…I only remember dates in the future.”
Sometime in March, anyway, as Tom, guitarist Dan Lucas, drummer Tom Gabbatiss and bass player and artist Kai West followed in the London footsteps of The Beatles in their last public performance on the Apple offices rooftop at Savile Row on January 30 1969 and U2 in a not-so-secret gig atop BBC Broadcasting House on February 27 2009 to launch their 12th album, No Line On The Horizon.
The Beatles, U2, what esteemed company Bull are keeping. “We’ve actually been called The English Beatles, which we quite liked!” says Tom.
“We had a few meetings at The Golden Ball [York’s first community co-operative pub in Cromwell Road] and came up with a few whacky ideas, and originally we thought we’d just try to play on the roof without telling EMI, just doing it on the day, maybe with the help of the janitor.”
Instead, it developed into a full-blown performance, playing all 13 tracks from Discover Effortless Living. “It will be broadcast on Jericho Keys’ BBC Music Introducing show on BBC Radio York tomorrow [27/3/2021, from 8pm],” says Tom.
“As for actually releasing it, we’re pitching it to various sources, but it will be available to watch via our Facebook site on a date to be confirmed.”
“Everything we’ve done has been incremental, learning as we go, for years,” says Bull’s Tom Beer on the day their debut album arrives
Bull made their little piece of rock’n’roll history on that rooftop. “Apparently we’re the first band to play on EMI’s offices, at the Universal Music building next to King’s Cross [Four Pancras Square, to be precise],” says Tom.
“It was insane! Like, the food that day was better than anything we’d eaten in years! The roof must be 20 storeys up. Brilliant up there, but cold. It was bracing to say the least. We even had a drone photographing us that looked as big as a helicopter! We’re editing that now.”
No fewer than seven singles were released from Michael Jackson’s 1982 album, Thriller, and Bull are on his tail with Eugene this week becoming the fifth from Discover Effortless Living, in the wake of Green, Bonzo Please, Love Goo and Disco Living.
Tom’s mini-symphony of self-flagellation spans the various stages of feeling down on yourself – from lethargy and frustration to anger – using tempo changes to “paint an audio picture”. In its brief visit of only two minutes and 38 seconds, the idiosyncratic song manages to be both melancholy and spritely at the same time.
“It’s a real kick-yourself-when-you’re-down song,” says Tom. “I wrote Eugene when I was feeling dissatisfied with what I was doing. It’s kind of a self-hate song, you know when people talk about self-love? It’s not that. I’m slating myself; it moves through the key changes and different moods, and ends in a way that mocks the sadness, another form of self-deprecation!”
One of the red apples from Bull’s animated video for new single Eugene
Recalling penning Eugene, Tom says: “I felt rubbish at the time but I did feel better for writing it. The problem is singing it for ten years, still having to revisit that apathy, but hopefully it’s preventative to getting back to that state.”
Mulling over the kick-yourself-when-you’re-down subject matter: “I used to listen to a lot of Elliott Smith [the American singer-songwriter who took his own life with a knife in 2003],” says Tom. “There’s a line in High Fidelity: ‘What comes first? The music or the misery? I had a down year when I wrote Eugene…but I think the answer might be ‘music’, though…”.
Who’s Eugene, Tom? “We used to name a lot of our songs around our original drummer Louis’s friends, such as Eddie’s Cap. We like the idea of giving the song a name, as opposed to lifting it from a lyric.
“Eugene is named after Joe G, Joseph G. Louis used to call him Gorgeous G. So Eugene. My brother Paddy’s band are called Eugene Gorgeous after this guy too.”
The video is an animated gem in a collaboration with artist friends of the band that reflects the song’s different moods. Band members Dan and Kai set the ball rolling with a burst of DIY Claymation before handing over to artists Jack Iredale, Rory Welbrock, Roxy Linklater and Tom’s sister, Holly Beer, who each tackled a different animation style.
York band Bull pictured in….Scarborough. Picture: Amy D’Agorne Craghill
“With all those key changes, the song’s a bit of a rollercoaster, and we wanted to mirror that in the visuals, splitting it into animated sections, but we also thought: ‘Does it need something to tie it together?’, so we made the arbitrary decision, or maybe not, that all the animations had to feature a red apple,” says Tom. First Adam and Eve, then Snow White, now Bull!
Summing up the album as “13 songs written and rocked on between the years 2012 and 2020”, Tom elaborates on the origin of the title: “It’s taken from the opening lyric to the final track, Disco Living. We wanted to use a lyric from the album and felt like this was a good one.
” I first saw the words Discover Effortless Living in London, written on the side of a mansion being built and thought it was funny. It also ties in with ideas around class, new beginnings, a golden era of prosperity, and hoping to have life ‘in the bag’.”
What would constitute “effortless living”, Tom? “I just think it’s a contradiction in terms. That’s what was funny about it. Effortless living? I don’t think anyone would want to discover it. Effort is surely worth the effort?” he says.
“My idea of discovering how to live is to take things slowly; finding joy in the little things; having lots of different things on the go at the same time, and not worrying about any of them too much. Maybe lockdown has been a necessary change of pace. A nice change of pace. It’s the first time I’ve had a routine since school.”
Spread out: The artwork for Bull’s debut album, Discover Effortless Living
Tom finds joy in going for walks. “I love walking in suburbia; it’s my favourite thing. I’ve always loved it. You have really good conversations on walks, and I love discovering roads and parts of communities I’ve not seen before,” he says.
Now those discoveries are as much in Scarborough as elsewhere after moving from York with girlfriend Martha – band member Dan’s sister – a year and a half ago.
“Martha is a midwife and it was either Oxford or Scarborough that she would be working in. It was time we lived together; we both liked Scarborough; it’s close, so I can go to York, rehearse all day, then get back to Scarborough.”
Tom and Martha are living in Castle Road. “We’re south-facing, so out of the window we have incredible views of the South Bay,” he says.
“In fact, Castle Road is where we made the album cover, at St Mary’s Church. We knew we wanted somewhere with beautifully green grass, the greener the better. I called the church up on the phone, to ask if we could use the churchyard [where Haworth novelist Anne Bronte is buried, by the way].
Richard Hawley pictured at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, for the album cover for Coles Corner
“I said, ‘can we have it between 10am and 5pm, if we clean up afterwards ourselves?’, and this man very kindly said ‘yes’.”
To create the cover image, Bull combined items they found on the street with “lots of flowers we picked”. “I hope they’ve grown back,” says Tom. “A bunch of people came up to ask ‘what are you doing?’, and once we told them, they said, ‘oh, that’s nice’. Some people even sat and watched!”
And so, St Mary’s Church churchyard becomes the second Scarborough setting for a landmark album sleeve, after the Art Deco frontage of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, at the former Scarborough Odeon, graced the cover of Richard Hawley’s Coles Corner, released in September 2005.
The band portrait at the top of this interview was taken in Scarborough too by Amy D’Agorne Craghill. “There’s this amazing place on the North Bay. From the castle, you walk through the castle walls to woodland with all these orange-coloured rocks and that’s where Amy took it,” says Tom.
A further Bull image in Scarborough came about when they stumbled across 100 gnomes in a woman’s garden. Who could resist using gnomes for a picture? Not Bull. Permission was duly forthcoming.
What’s next? Bull in a china shop?
On the edge: “We didn’t know we’d ever get to this point. We’d never bet on it,” says Tom Beer of Bull’s progress to a major-label debut album
Track listing for Bull’s Discover Effortless Living: Bedroom Floor; Love Goo; Green; Shiny Bowl; Eugene; Eddie’s Cap; Serious Baby; Perfect Teeth; Find Myself A Job; Bonzo Please; In A Jar; Smoke and Disco Living.
Liina Turtonen: Leading the Level music production placement scheme run by Young Thugs Studio in York
YOUNG Thugs Studio, in York, are to run a six-month placement in music production and studio engineering for women and non-binary people aged 18 to 25 under the title of Level.
Working in partnership with the Youth Music Incubator fund, Young Thugs are offering this opportunity to three people in York and surrounding areas to explore studio production and the chance to build skills as a studio engineer and producer.
Participants in this paid placement, funded through players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, will work with industry mentors, led by Liina Turtonen, to acquire knowledge, skills and a CV and gain direct access to industry professionals.
No qualifications or previous studio experience is needed, although basic music software skills are required, and childcare and travel support can be provided.
“These are very exciting times at Young Thugs despite all the Covid shenanigans,” says Dave Greenbrown, co-director of the studios upstairs at the South Bank Social Club, in Ovington Terrace, York.
“Following on from York band Bull’s EMI deal [in tandem with Young Thugs], not only have we now secured our permanent home with a long lease at South Bank Social Club – saving the building at the same time – but we’re also now in receipt of this Youth Music grant to develop a Women In Music programme in York.”
Outlining the programme, co-director Jonny Hooker says: “Over a six-month period, you will receive ongoing one-to-one studio mentorship, personal development, and be given a chance to work on real-time projects with established artists and industry professionals.
“We’re looking for three women or non-binary people who have a passionate interest in wanting to work in a studio environment. It’s OK if you have no qualifications or studio experience, but this opportunity does require you to have some basic music recording and production experience.”
Jonny continues: “Young Thugs will offer a bespoke support package for you that will cover your time, as well as help with things like childcare and travel if required.
“This programme will give you a toolbox, live project experience and could open up opportunities for you to consider further or higher education and employment.
“This opportunity is open to all women and non-binary people who are 18 to 25 and we really want to hear from you.”
To apply, you need to send your answers to the questions below in written, video or audio format to level@youngthugs.com by the closing date of March 31 2021.
* Your name, age and location?
* Why do you want to take this opportunity now?
* How would this opportunity help you moving forward?
* What previous music experience do you have?
* What other information do you feel we should know about you?
* Do you have any access requirements?
If you need this information in another format, send an email to level@youngthugs.com or call 07812 605833 for more details.
Summing up the Level project, Dave says: “Promoting Women in Music Tech over a six- month period, we will teach, train and mentor three women in music technology and production.
“With a chosen industry mentor and in a safe environment, they will work within a busy professional recording studio, working with female artists or bands to create a series of singles, EPs or an album of their choice from conception to release.”
Finnishing touches: Music producer and musician Liina Turtonen in her studio
RUNNING the programme for Young Thugs will be Nordic-born Liina Turtonen, and aptly for an international woman now living and working in York, CharlesHutchPress caught up with her on International Women’s Day.
“I’ve been in York for about four years and in the UK for eight years,” says Liina, from Finland, who lives in South Bank, where she has a home studio. “I first studied in Scotland, in Ayr, when I’d been travelling around the world from 18 to 21.
“I was in Glasgow, and I’d fallen in love with electronic music. I was supposed to be on my way to Australia but never got there.
“Instead, I studied commercial music at the Ayr campus of the University of West Scotland. Commercial music means ‘popular music’, and the course was a combination of many things, but I just fell in love with studios and technology. You’d find me in the basement, on the soundboards.”
Liina decided her next step should be an MA in music production and duly headed south to the University of York.
How did that go? “I would say it was among best things I’ve ever done,” she says. “York Uni was one of the most supportive environments I could have had, and that’s why I’ve been able to make advances in my career so quickly.”
Liina’s own trajectory tells only part of the story, however. “Only 2.6 per cent of the industry are women producers or engineers, and I would say that’s 2.6 per cent of the whole industry across the world,” she says.
“That tells us why something like this Level placement project is necessary and that’s why it’s great that Young Thugs are doing this for young musical talent in York. I think there’s a lot needed to make sure the levels are better for the future.”
Studying music production, “I always felt very alone as a woman”, reveals Liina. “I didn’t have any female lecturers. I’ve never been taught music production by a woman.
“There were two women in the tech department, but for my course, it was two women studying among 15 guys.”
What characteristics are needed in such an environment for a woman to thrive? “I would say one word: confidence…because confidence opens up all the conversations. Everything comes back to confidence,” says Liina. “What you’re up against is the social structure, the patriarchal society.
“The difference between male and female confidence is that, for men, lack of confidence doesn’t stop you doing what you’re supposed to be doing, but not having confidence can stop women from doing what they’re inspired to do. It’s so powerful that it literally stops us.
“It needs so much constant effort, so much courage, to be the minority in this industry. So much so, a woman may not want to go into a studio as the only woman there, feeling you’re not going to know what you’re doing, so you fear being called out. It’s about imposter syndrome, and there’s benevolent sexism too.”
Liina’s own experience affirms why the Level programme is so important to give more women and non-binary people the chance to break into music production to change the prevailing landscape.
“It’s such a strong feeling that even if you know how to do it, like going to university to study – that’s a very encouraging environment, but then you go into a space where you’re the only one that looks like you and people talk to you in a slightly different way, so you start thinking you can’t do it,” she says.
“I would say I’ve encountered that every single day of my career, every day I go into a studio. I go into the studio for the fifth time and I still have to prove that I’m worth it, both to myself and others, which is exhausting. It’s part of my everyday life to prove that I deserve to be where I am, but I have the courage to keep doing it.”
The Level project, with its emphasis on a safe environment to nurture women producers, working with women musicians, is but one avenue for Liina. The musician, songwriter, music producer and educator also hosts LNA Does Audio Stuff, her own music production-focused YouTube channel, featuring tutorials, reviews, vlogs and fun audio challenges.
“I’ve been doing it for two years and it’s one of my key jobs,” she says. “I’ve just published a song made by 90 women and non-binary people, made long-distance with six women producers pulling it together.
“My channel is mostly an educational forum, but it’s also my point of view from my life.”
In addition, Liina is co-founder of Equalize Music Production with Emily Johnson, aka Emily J Electric, a performer, musician and DJ. Proud members of the Musicians’ Union and associates of the Yorkshire Sound Women’s Network, they deliver courses and workshops in music production, song-writing and performance…and creative confidence (that word again).
“Because of that we got to know Young Thugs, and that’s why I’m doing this project with them,” says Liina. “What they’re doing as a male-led organisation is exactly what every studio should do, asking what we need, which is not something I’ve seen before.”
Looking forward to working with three placement participants, Liina says: “I can’t wait to see them, bringing them to spaces where they don’t need to prove themselves every day.
“The great thing is that they don’t really need to know anything in advance; they just need to be passionate. This programme says: ‘Everybody is good enough. Just get yourself in there!”
Creating a safe space is vital. “Even as a professional music producer, I know studios are very male dominated, so many women I know prefer to work from home, but for Level we will make it a very approachable space,” says Liina.
“I feel very comfortable in a studio, and when we feel comfortable, men do too, making such spaces less toxic.
“We’re still far away from it not being like a locker-room male environment, but these projects fight against that environment for everybody. We want great music, great musicians, great producers, great engineers.”
Do apply, stresses Liina: “If there’s someone who really wants to apply, or someone has a daughter who wants to apply, but maybe needs some encouragement, then go on, apply, even if they’re not confident, because it’s an amazing opportunity.
“I wish I’d had this chance when I was starting because my journey would have been easier and more pleasant if it had been easier, and maybe that’s why I always work so hard to achieve things.”
Miles And The Chain Gang members, left to right, Billy Hickling, Miles Salter, Tim Bruce and Alan Dawson. Picture: Jim Poyner
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang release their second song and video, Drag Me To The Light, on November 15.
Available on Spotify, iTunes and Apple Music, with the video on YouTube, this follow-up to February’s When It Comes To You reflects the experience of the pandemic lockdown in Spring 2020.
“I wrote the song during lockdown in April,” says frontman Miles Salter. “I was trying to capture the emotional feeling of what was happening, the sense of hunger for human interaction.
“We are social creatures and I think everybody felt the absence of human connection and warmth.”
Drag Me To The Light was recorded in June and July at Young Thugs Studio, at the South Bank Social Club in York, where the video was then filmed in September. “I had no idea that when it came out, it would be during a second lockdown,”’ says Miles, musician, writer, storyteller and presenter of The Arts Show on Jorvik Radio.
Singer and guitarist Miles is joined in The Chain Gang by Billy Hickling, drums and percussion, Tim Bruce, bass, and Alan Dawson, guitar.
Swelling the gang on Drag Me To The Light are Sean McMullan, guitar, Holly Taymar-Bilton, backing vocals, Sam Pirt, accordion, Thomas Rhodes, trumpet, and Jonny Hooker, organ, most of them drawn from the York area.
Hooker also produced the track. “Jonny’s really good to work with and Young Thugs is a great facility,” says Miles. “They want to champion music in the north of England and have enjoyed success with York band Bull, who signed to EMI Records this year.”
Drag Me To The Light is “a bit more funky than things” Salter would write usually. “I think playing with Billy, Tim and Alan has opened me up to other ways of approaching music. It has something of a Nile Rogers feel to it,” says Miles, who then reflects on a very frustrating year.
“As a result of the pandemic, we haven’t played any public gigs. We were due to play our first gig in late-March, and then the first lockdown happened. We’re trying to focus on video and reach people that way.
“We’ve had more than 2,000 views of various things, so that’s not bad, and we’re also developing our social-media presence. We’ve made a lot of progress since the start of 2019. Nobody knew who we were then! So, things are building, slowly.”
Full of Bull: York band Bull after their signing by EMI
YORK band Bull are signing to record industry giants EMI, nine years after first forming.
They become the first York group to put pen to such a deal since Shed Seven rubber-stamped a six-album contract with Polydor Records in October 1993, going on to notch up 15 Top 40 hits from Dolphin in 1994 to Why Can’t I Be You? in 2003.
Songwriter and vocalist Tom Beer, co-founder and guitarist Dan Lucas, drummer Tom Gabbatiss and bass player and print-maker Kai West will be working in tandem with EMI alongside Young Thugs: the York indie label, artist managers, recording studio and gig promoters, run by Dave Greenbrown and Jonny Hooker up the stairs at South Bank Social Club in the pioneering, underground spirit of Andy Warhol’s Factory in that other York, New York.
The first green shoots of what the EMI publicity campaign is calling “the start of a beautiful friendship” is the aptly named single Green, a crowd favourite with a history stretching back to 2012, released today.
Depending on which band member you ask, this blissful slice of jangle-pop with a pinch of psychedelia and a grating of scuzzy lead guitar is either a “melancholy rumination on decisions made and the grass always being greener”, or is all about “ripping bongs down at the basketball court when you really should be writing the next great American novel”.
“It feels surreal,” says frontman Tom Beer, breathing in the giddying fresh air of becoming a major label act. “I just didn’t really expect it, to be honest! Delighted as well…and really excited. Lucky too, as there are so many good bands out there.
“The way it worked for us was that we’d been doing a lot of gigs, touring so much, here, in the Netherlands, Germany, America, and when we released songs we had more plays because we’d played so many places.
Shed Seven: The Britpop luminaries that set the benchmark for York bands
“Young Thugs and Dave Greenbrown have been so supportive too, and then the MD [managing director] of EMI came to see us supporting Warmduscher at The Crescent.”
When? “I’m not good with dates,” says Tom. “Except in the future. I only remember them when I need to.”
Dave Greenbrown says: “We’ve been working on this for around 18 months. The MD of EMI was looking around for groups and came across Young Thugs two years ago and we’ve been trying to figure out something ever since.
“Clearly, Bull were the ones with the songs and I said to them, ‘I think there’s a chance for you if you can work on your professionalism as you have to be good every night’, and they were up for that and did exactly that.
“I didn’t want the EMI MD to see them until it was the right time, as you have only one chance, don’t you, and Bull took it.
“They write great catchy pop songs; they’ve finished the album, and they’ve signed a one-year deal with EMI: three singles, one album, just royalties off the streams and the sales of their records.”
Bull charged on to the York music scene in 2011, led by Tom and Dan, both inspired by their 1990s’ alt. rock heroes, Pavement, Yo La Tengo and The Pixies.
The present line-up of four Yorkshiremen emerged through friendship and happenstance: drummer Tom joining after he and the other Tom jammed together in bars when backpacking around Thailand; Kai making the giant leap from persistently jumping up on stage to dance in the erratic, blissful manner of Happy Mondays’ Bez to eventually being allowed to play bass.
“It feels surreal,” says Bull frontman Tom Beer. “Lucky too, as there are so many good bands out there.”
But 2011 to 2020, Tom, that is an unusually long gestation period for a band, isn’t it? “I would never not want to do this. I just can’t see myself not doing it. It’s how I operate. I’ve always busked…I’ve worked at the Golden Ball, where I put on open-mic nights on Mondays…and I’m good at living on chickpeas,” he says.
“I definitely feel that one of the best feeling you can have is playing music with another human being and I incorporate the crowd in that.”
Apparently, this is “the start of a beautiful friendship”, Tom? “I hope that’s true and I believe that to be true, because it’s always been based on friendships between us and promoters, travelling around and making it happen and it’s been rewarding.”
One such bond paid off, leading Bull indirectly to their Dutch record producer, Remko Schouten. “Whether it was blind faith or fate, we decided on a whim to go to Germany, just after Tom and Kai joined in 2018, and we were all feeling very serious about it, like when The Beatles played Hamburg,” recalls Tom.
“We were playing dive bar gigs, and we went to this bar at three in the morning, where Tom was wearing my hat, and this guy came up and said, ‘Where did you get that hat?’.
“He turned out to be the drummer – and a golfing pro! – for Spiral Stairs and Remko was there on tour with them doing their sound. We put on this house party at a friend’s house in Berlin, in Schoneberg, the area where Bowie used to live, and the next thing we know, Spiral Stairs [alias Scott Kannberg of the aforementioned Pavement] was playing at our house party!
“That night Remko said, ‘if you ever want to record with me, let me know’, and we did, two months later.”
Over the next two years, Bull visited Schouten’s Amsterdam studio four or five times, recording songs over a few days each time, songs that will now form the album whose title and release date are yet to be confirmed (although Dave Greenbrown did mention January 29 2021, so watch this space).
The artwork for Green, Bull’s first single for EMI
“This was no ‘one weekend, bash it out’ recording session,” says Dave. “This was a proper job, working over a long time.”
The Coronavirus pandemic may have brought gigs to a stultifying halt, but Bull are coping with being a band in Covid-19 times in 2020, boosted by the momentum of signing a record company deal. “It feels OK for us right now because luckily we finished the album the day before we had to flee the Netherlands, returning home instead of playing with our favourite Dutch bands in Amsterdam, but we definitely made the right decision,” says York-born Tom, who now lives in Scarborough.
Green is the first fruit of that record deal. “That song is one of the oldest Bull songs, I wrote it in 2012, and it’s the only song on the upcoming album that was featured on She Looks Like Kim, our first album in 2014, which we self-released,” says Tom.
“We recorded it at the Melrose Yard Studios, the brilliant studio off Walmgate that sadly closed last year, and we launched it with a gig at Dusk, covering the cost of the recording that night.
“Green was the first song on there and the lead single back then too, and we just thought it’s a good song, it’s always been a favourite, so let’s give it a second shot at the big time.”
The accompanying video is the work of Bull too. “We’ve worked on a lot of music videos: the one for Green is the first time I’ve ever used movie software, with the help of Dan [Lucas],” says Tom. “We had a lot of footage from various things that we could use, and there’s even some footage on there from the original Green video, made by Rory Welbrock, our bassist before Kai joined.
“It also features some latex masks made by my sister, Holly, who’s been really interested in making masks for three years – and now masks are everywhere of course, aren’t they!”
Dave Greenbrown hopes Bull’s record deal will be a trigger for more York musicians to find favour with record labels. The Howl & The Hum set the bar high with Human Contact, their late-May album for our disconcerting, disconnected times, and the likes of Bonnie & The Bailers, Fat Spatula and Perspex should be on the radar too.
Fellow York band of the moment The Howl & The Hum, featuring drummer – and former big band trumpet player – Jack Williams, left
“I think it’s been really good to be a musician in York. As a child, there were amazing music services provided for you in the city,” says Tom. “I was in a big band, playing the trombone; there were loads of people doing that, like The Howl & The Hum drummer, Jack Williams. He played trumpet.
“I think that’s had a massive impact, because you can enjoy it when you’re little, and then your musicianship progresses and you start playing in bands. For me, it was places like The Woolpack Inn [in Fawcett Street], run by a guy called Sid, who had bands on every night. It made it feel like you owned it, and if you wanted to put on a gig, you could.”
Broadening his thought, Tom says: “I’d like to thank Young Thugs for their involvement; the MD of EMI got in touch with them because he was impressed with what Young Thugs bands, such as The Lungs (Theo Mason Wood and Bonnie Milnes) and …And The Hangnails, and Bonneville, were doing.
“And now, the great thing with the link-up between EMI and Young Thugs is that hopefully it’s going to benefit other York bands too.”
What makes Bull stand out, the way a bull does when frequenting a china shop? The infectious tunes, yes, but also the humour in Tom’s Yorkshire-frank lyrics. “I’m very glad you say that,” he says. “I definitely don’t want to be any one thing in my lyrics – a lot of the time I’m capturing a temporary feeling – but a lot of my favourite songwriters embrace humour…though sometimes it doesn’t want to be too funny, just for the sake of it.
“Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, one of my favourites, likes to use humour, and Dylan, my hero, is full of it. He plays with words a lot. It’s that thing of, if you don’t cry, you’ll laugh.”
Right now, on Green day, Bull have every reason to be smiling.
