Reverend and the Makers

No Soap (In A Dirty War)

It’s been a few years since John Mclure and his reverent bunch crashed into the mainstream’s consciousness on the coattails of fellow Sheffield indie scamps the Arctic Monkeys; however, whereas Alex Turner’s caustic, idiosyncratic lyrics seared and endeared himself to the entire country, (before the world), Reverend et al’s kitchen-sink dialogue married with nursery rhyme melodies failed to successfully achieve the North-South crossover.

‘No Soap (In A Dirty War)’ certainly is an improvement upon the bands’ last offerings, as they seem to be taking song writing and production a little more seriously; who can remember the cringing vocal to ‘He Said He Loved Me’?  (It actually sounded as if it was recorded at a chippy after a night out on the lash…by the owner of the chippy).

McClure’s idiosyncratic voice is high in the mix, as he talks of a ‘free ride on a guilt trip’; his lyrics have always been a stumbling block, as, essentially, he sings in the manner of a man who left school early.  Not since Tupac rhymed ‘elementary’ with ‘penitentiary’ has there been a more hilarious rhythmic coupling than, “Nobody likes a martyr love, so leave it Martin Luther”, proving that whatever lyrical sensibility that McClure was taking seriously is now up in smoke…however, it is the fact that he clearly isn’t trying too hard that actually rescues the song from the depths of dread that previous outputs like ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The World’ are now languishing in.

Perhaps, like Peter Kay’s brand of ‘reet Northern’ humour, Reverend and the Makers are a band that are destined to be forever championed by their hometowns, yet in a stroke of irony, somehow their brutal simplicity is not understood by the masses. Well, if Phoenix Nights is ever reprised, the rest of us can relax in the knowledge that we could recommend the perfect house band…

David Harfield

(http://www.roomthirteen.com/cd_reviews/10458/Reverend_And_The_Makers__No_Soap_In_A_Dirty_War.html)

I’ve always liked the REVEREND’s politics much more than his music, and new single ‘No Soap (In A Dirty War)’, out on Wall of Sound on 14th Sept, has done nothing to change this. The two chord strum intro is clunky and way too long, though the Rev’s voice is great. The song threatens to break out into a brilliant chorus but just sounds repetitive. “I don’t wanna die in the same hole I was born” he moans, but it’ll be Sheffield and goodnight if there’s much more of this . . .

One of the hardest balancing acts in rock is the one between popularity and credibility. Often, to achieve one, the other has to be compromised or abandoned altogether. Sometimes, despite the best efforts and intentions of the credible artist, being successful and popular becomes the driving force where once maintaining a stance or remaining true to your roots was the main focus.

Given the fact that his band has just scored a second Top 20 album with the follow up to their debut record and have just come off one of the UK’s biggest stadium tours supporting Oasis, a man in Jon McClure’s position may be excused for flicking through a portfolio of mansions or test-driving a new Bentley. Instead of capitalizing on his sky-rocketing profile, the Reverend is planning to pack up his troupe of Sheffield troubadours and busk his way to China.

“I’m not in this to sell loads of records,” McClure says. “If I was, I’d have said yes when David Letterman asked me to go to America. And I wouldn’t have gone to Beirut to play a gig instead. So I’m in a bit of a war with my record label at the moment because they’re on at me to promote the record because ‘it’s not selling as well as we’d like it to’. I’m like, ‘no, the record is not selling as well as you’d like it too’. So instead I’m going to busk from Sheffield to Beijing, going on the Trans-Mongolian and all that shit, railing it all the way, and we’re going to record all these tunes I’ve written with street musicians and film it all. But the record company is all like, ‘you can’t, man, you’ve got to promote the album and do another tour’. Hang on, I’m not a whore. I’m not your bitch. I’m here to make music and inspire people and say it’s a big world, what’s going on in it – have a look.”

Reverend and the Makers may be enjoying an elevated status at the moment with second album A French Kiss in the Chaos beginning to make waves but, just as many of the songs on the record can attest, McClure is still a man on a mission – not to conquer the charts but to open people’s minds. To that end, rather than becoming a slave to popularity, the Reverend is using the growing interest in his band to expand his flock.

“One of the advantages of the band taking off is that people are taking me a bit more seriously,” he says. “One of the crucial things which have come about is Twitter. I don’t have to put my ideas through a publicist – I can just say them. And people are picking me up on Twitter and going ‘yeah, man, he’s talking sense, he’s telling it how it is’. Then I started getting invited onto shows like Newsnight and The Week, you know? So people were then seeing me on respected shows, telling the truth. You go from being this laughing stock, as some sections of the press were making me out to be, to suddenly talking absolute sense on TV. The tide starts to turn. People tell people and then there’s the opinion that, he’s telling the truth, that Jon McClure. He’s not that dickhead they were saying he was.”

Away from the infectious fusion of dance, rock and funk that his band produce, McClure himself has been making headlines in the British press for his outspoken political views and his pro-active involvement in initiatives such as Instigate Debate, which encourages the public to challenge power brokers and news makers on hot topics, and the 10:10 climate campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The coverage he’s been getting has not always been complimentary and at times downright insulting. As a result of what he says is a distortion of reality and a breeding ground for the hate and fear culture he sees within British society, McClure’s distrust and distaste of the media has grown.

“The tabloid culture in the UK is out of control, man. It brainwashes people. The Daily Mail put up a headline recently – “Fagan’s Heirs” – about Romanian pickpockets running riot on the streets of London. Just one person was charged with possession of a stolen mobile phone but the knock-on effect is that British people start to demonize Romanian people which is utter bullshit.

“I think that for a long time I was like a lone voice, that I was literally the only person who’s been saying anything about this culture of fear and hate. Now we’ve got this Instigate Debate thing and other projects and now the face of things, the façade, is starting to crack. Once things start to hit people in the pocket, like with the MPs scandal, or when the death toll in Afghanistan starts piling up then people will start looking around and they’ll say ‘you know what, I think this guy’s telling the truth.’ So I’ve been getting a bit more of a receptive audience as time’s gone on. There’ll always be people like me and people are becoming more aware.”

McClure sees himself as coming from a long line of politically aware musicians whose main goal is to get a message across to the people who buy their records or come to their shows. But the Reverend finds himself in a very different age to many of his heroes, where celebrity holds sway over the national consciousness and real issues get buried under stories of Hollywood divorces and Big Brother scandals.

“My heroes are John Lennon, Bob Marley and Joe Strummer,” McClure says. “Just like some DJs pretend to be channeling the spirit of John Peel while being told what to play, and journalists pretend to further a debate while following the editorial line, so some musicians think it’s enough to have a picture of Lennon or Marley on the wall rather than take the soul of what they were saying. John Lennon said that musicians are the newspapers – we’re just reporting what’s going on. We just sing about it rather than write about it. When you can pick up a newspaper and read such blatant lies, then perhaps the need for people to speak out politically is more important than ever.

“The moment you put your career and your financial profit ahead of the lives of innocent people, then what sort of person are you, man? What does it say about society when Israel is dropping phosphorous on little kids in Gaza, burning their skin off, and they put Jade Goody on the front of the paper? Someone who two months earlier they were calling a racist.”

The dichotomy of McClure’s situation is that he has to operate in an industry he obviously resents in order to get the widest audience possible for the views he feels are ignored and feared by many of those in the music business. As one would expect, he has a strong opinion on the state of music today and the musicians that he feels are ignoring the responsibilities which come from having people’s minds open to your words.

“We live in the era of corporate music. We live in the era of the careerist musician where people, wrongly I believe, feel that they can’t make a statement without being crucified for it. I’ve had loads of abuse from people, like the NME, who you would think would be my natural allies. But they’re not. They’re complicit in it.  Back in the day, they would have been the vanguard, the people leading the charge, but now they just want to put celebrities on the front cover.”

McClure believes that music’s foundations in rebellion and revolution are being trampled on in the stampede for the dwindling cash flow. The music business is experiencing one of its darkest times financially and the Reverend believes the desperate pursuit of what little money is available has added to the dissipation of the art form’s soul.

“People just want to make money because these are tough times, especially in the music industry where people are downloading stuff for free. There again, this is the industry founded on the idea of rebellion and they’re the ones telling people off – don’t steal music. How can you act like you’re the law when you’re supposed to be a rebel? Basically the reason that this decade has been so disappointing in terms of the mainstream is because money is the all prevailing thing. Wherever we’ve been, talking to audiences at festivals and the like, the overriding feeling is that they hate being given what the bands and the media think they want. ‘We think you want four skinny white lads with guitars so that’s what you’re going to get – every week’. Or a company says we want that type of record, and they do it but there’s no soul in it. It’s just for profit.

“It’s the way businessmen behave, like they’re providing a public service by giving the public what they think they want. It’s not how an artist behaves. They want to laud bands like the Klaxons as the future of British music – the same band who said in an interview that they sat down and thought ‘which style of music hasn’t been reinvented yet? We’ll have some success with that.’ And then they decided on rave. And then you get Johnny Borrell saying that he really wants to crack America with this album. What the fuck? That’s what you say in a marketing meeting. You’re supposed to be a songwriter, man.”

After playing some of the biggest gigs of his career as support to Manchester legends Oasis this summer, McClure spent enough time in the company of the Gallagher brothers to believe that the band’s split will rob the music industry of one of the few truly honest and independent bands it could count on.

“I’m gutted about the Oasis split, man,” he says. “I got a text from Noel telling me what had been going on and stuff, so I’m really sad about that. Oasis will be very sorely missed. They were the last band who would say the same thing to you in the pub as they would do in an interview. They would be completely honest without any thought about the effect on the wider aspects of their career. And now we have so many PR trained wankers that it’s dulled down music to the point of tedium.”

Despite the bleak picture he paints of the industry he works in, McClure maintains that he’s an optimist and that change is not only possible but essential – in music and society in general – but we are going to have to work for it.

“Musicians changing the world? It’s got to happen, man. The counterculture has got to readdress the balance because at the minute the establishment’s winning, completely, hands-down. It’s a chaotic time. The reason people like John Peel or John Lennon or whoever the fuck you want to mention made a difference is because they continually did things that challenged the people who were into them already and pushed it. As long as you can challenge and inspire people to think and question, you can fight back and win.”

Aiming to knockout the NME

The New Music Express, or as everyone more commonly knows it, the NME has been one of the music industries biggest selling publications for many years.  Published weekly since the 60’s it was a magazine that brought psychedelia to the public’s attention in the 60’s, charted the progress of punk in the 70’s, and covered a wide variety of genres from rap, hip hop and the emerging dance scene that set the stage for the start of the 90’s.

However, in recent years it seems it has fallen by the wayside.  In December 2005 it was hit with allegations that it’s polls had been rigged for commercial and political reasons, something which they strenuously denied.

Caroline Sullivan of the Guardian accused the magazine in 2008 of narrowing down the number of genres covered and gave far too much column space to bands who were already established and didn’t need the publicity.

Many felt a change was needed, but how could it come about?

Step forward Jon McClure, known to thousands as The Reverend, singer/songwriter for Reverend and The Makers and side-project hip hop group Mongrel.

McClure it would seem is fed up, and judging by the responses to his Twitter posts, as are a large majority of the rest of us.  Being on the inside of the industry and speaking out against one of the biggest magazines associated with it at the risk of career destruction is gutsy to say the least.  McClure talks with passion about how NME has become London-centric, focusing on bands such as Kings of Leon, The Killers etc and it pandering to the needs of the ‘pointy shoe brigade’ – 20 somethings with no actual knowledge of music, who prefer the ‘what’s cool’ list to be handed to them neatly for them to put on their coffee tables whilst they watch the latest episode of Skins.

He’s hit the nail on the head.  Having a number of friends in bands who toil week in week out, travelling the length and breadth of the country to play bars, pubs, clubs and small stages at festivals you get to see the not-so glitz and glam side of the industry.  You help them carry their gear in and out of venues, you go along and support them as often as you can (sometimes literally to boost the numbers so they get offered another gig there for getting the crowds in as the promoters have done little themselves to actually ‘promote’ their performance, only interested in ticket sales and tills ringing behind the bar).  You go around and pass out home made flyers and postcards with website addresses and contact details on, all to get them that bit higher up the ladder and a bit more recognition you know they deserve.  And then you pick up a copy of NME and see the faces of four millionaires staring back at you from the front cover telling you they think their 3rd studio album is their best yet.

McClure isn’t some irked musician who thinks he’s been overlooked by the darlings of the industry.  He simply dances to the beat of his own drum.  Where the likes of Lars Ulrich of Metallica is bemoaning the fact that he and the rest of Metallica are missing out on yet more millions through piracy, McClure is telling his label he’s off to busk across Asia (much to their annoyance).  Whilst Bono will happily bleat on about Greenpeace or the plight of Africa, yet all the while raking in the promotion cash from iPod (and more recently BlackBerry), McClure is out there voicing his opinions, pushing causes, working for them and actually getting involved.

McClure is of the actions-speak-louder-than-words school, and rather than simply fire off insults condemning the NME and grumbling to journalists about his hatred of it, he’s actually taking the negativity and turning it into a positive.  His brainchild ‘The Ark’ has come about following back and forths between himself and his followers on Twitter.  When it comes to fruition, The Ark will be a magazine that aims to rival NME and give voice to upcoming bands and their fans up and down the country.

Gone will be the advertising space set aside for majors touting their bands latest single, in its place will be advertisements for bands that may not be signed, or are promoting their own material.

Gone will be the interviews with bands already topping the charts, or reviews of their latest sell-out arena tour – instead we’ll be getting a look at bands playing much smaller venues, hoping to get a wider audience and vital airtime that could be the makings of them.

The Ark will be developed by the people, sold by the people, for the people.

Early ideas being touted round will be that it will have regional variations and fans will be contributing a large portion of its content.  Notable names that have signed up alongside McClure to make contributions include Howard Marks, Jason Manford, Andy Nicholson and most recently, Independent writer Mark Donne.  Whilst predominantly music based, The Ark will be reaching out to other mediums such as comedy and politics, the latter being something NME most definitely fails to give voice to amongst its pages.

It is a very utopian vision set out by McClure, and one many hope will succeed (myself included).  McClure hasn’t forgotten his roots and beginnings in the industry, and that is something rare for someone in the music business and perhaps the cracks that he is attempting to make in what could be deemed an elitist market, will lead to it being bust wide open and bands revelling in the fact that they were featured in The Ark, not just granted a mere sentence or two in the NME.

It reminds me alot of a book I once read by Kevin Sampson entitled ‘Powder‘ in which a band and A&R man disillusioned by the music industry, embark on a new way to crack it – and NME takes a dig or three in that too.  I’d highly recommend reading it.

Also, if you too are fed up with how the NME operate these days, and want to see a change, have ideas or want to get involved there are two ways you can go about it.

Firstly, send all ideas to The Rev at reverendmusic@gmail.com and if you want to be involved, then head over to the Maker’s website and sign up to help on the forums.

Rise up.

John McClure, the cheeky-chops head pumbah of laddish protestniks Reverend & The Makers, has disclosed a dramatic about-face at the heart of his songwriting process. McClure, a long-term advocate of radical formica-chomsky sloganeering, has claimed that future Makers material will deliberately “dance around” weighty political subjects, rather than confront them head-on.

“We all know the world’s going down the shitter with a bullet” said McClure, “there’s no novelty in that anymore. Everyone knows their government are coked out of their heads. Everyone knows their postman’s on crack. So what are you supposed to write about if you’re the saviour of a generation? Shagging kestrels? Contemporary wallpaper designs? Fuck that shit, man.”

“You can’t really get anything sorted by going for it full-on” says McClure, rubbing his neatly-pruned troglodyte stubble. “I wanna tease people’s opinions subliminarily, like Naomi Klein meets Paul McKenna“. Among the songs currently being wrung over by the Makers are ’Raspberry Jam In The Sudan’, about an incident-free picnic on the Darfur border, and ‘Blood For Oil (Don’t Even Mention It)’, which is about “everything but Iraq”.

“It’s kinda like having a thing for your best mate’s bird, or your second cousin. You know she’s gagging for it, she knows you’re a randy bastard, but  you know if you do anything about it, you’re gonna get kneed in the grapes. That’s kinda the way I feel about the BNP”. AB

          Someone asked me why I ‘don’t throw some random songs for people to download’, I think I’ll try to do that once in a month. ‘Watch’em’ is the name of the monthly collection from this blog, in it you will find all kinds of music, from indie to electronica, from techno to samba. All musical styles are respected and have their space here. Whether you know or not the artists of the month, download it. I’m sure it’ll be a nice surprise.

       From all the stuff I download, these are the most cool and addictive songs that I could find for you guys. All new and fresh out of the oven.

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‘Watch’em!’ -  September Edition

1. Silence is Talking – Reverend and The Makers
2. Death Suite – Boys Noize & Erol Alkan
3. Terminator benelux – Vitalic
4 – The Future Will Come – The Juan Maclean
5 – This Must Be The Place – Miles Fisher
6. Day ‘N’ Nite – Kid Cudi Vs. Crookers
7. Whispered Words – Dan Auerbach
8. It’s The Weekend – Jason Lytle
9 – Easy To Persuade – Sondre Lerche
10 – Save Your Love – Sally Shapiro
11. Ofterschwang – Jürgen Paape
12. Skeleton Boy – Friendly Fires
13. Fixin’ To Thrill – Dragonette
14. Jag Vet Inte Vem Jag är Men Jag Vet Att Jag är Din – Håkan Hellström

Celebrating Diversity in Sheffield

Visiting members of the Sheffield Pakistani Community as part of celebrating Independence Day for Pakistan

I was invited to be a guest at the 62^nd Independence Day for Pakistan.  It was wonderful to see so many British Muslims celebrating their Britishness, as well as wanting to share with friends in Pakistan the independence of that country.  I was really delighted at the number of young people who contribute significantly from the Pakistani Community to Sheffield, and showcasing some of their talents and skills.

Having a bite to eat at Independence Day for Pakistan celebrations

Building Schools for the Future – Community Buildings not just Education

Newfield and Talbot School - part of the city's Building Schools for the Future Programme

I had a meeting with the project officer and the Director of Children’s Services, Dr Sonia Sharp, to discuss how we can make new school buildings a community resource.  It would be nice to try to ensure that such things as libraries, and other local community resources, are built as part of the new school building programme.

We discussed options and ideas and we are going to see what can be done.

Trying to cut red tape and bureaucracy

Meeting with people from Stuffing Oakcakes to talk about creating local jobs

I know like many Sheffielders, I get frustrated by red tape and bureaucracy, in light of this I met with Nathan Roper and Ian Adams from a social enterprise called Stuffing Oatcakes to try and see whether we can help create more local jobs as well as helping homeless people getting employment.  They were frustrated at some of the barriers between planning and licensing within the Council.  We are going to look at their case and see how we can improve services to local businesses so that they can help create jobs.

I am particularly keen to support Stuffing Oatcakes which won the social enterprise of the year award in Sheffield, and their commitment to employment training opportunities here in Sheffield for some people who have fallen on hard times.

Going for Gold

I was able to see Paul Deighton, who is leading the organisation of the 2012 London Olympics.  We were able to showcase the strength of Sheffield businesses which could benefit from winning contacts to help him make London 2012 the best Olympics ever. I am confident that Sheffield businesses can succeed and help promote, not just Sheffield, but the UK on an international stage.

Meeting young people from Sheffield and Bradford to discuss the Olympics 2012

Also as part of the cultural part of the Olympics I met some young people from Sheffield and Bradford who are looking at the Olympics as a way forward to help in education and bringing young people together.  This was showcased at the Graves Gallery in the Central Library.

Green Jobs for Sheffield

Earthmine visits Sheffield

I had another business visit, this time from Earthmine.  We discussed how the company could help cut people’s bills and also how better energy efficient homes and businesses would be in Sheffield.  We all know that Sheffielders reducing carbon is important and therefore this company can give advice, to not only save money, but reduce carbon output, is well worth looking at to see what they can do.  This is clearly the type of company we want to encourage in Sheffield which helps, not just to create local green jobs, but helps internationally reduce climate change problems.  See for yourself at www.earthmine.co.uk

 Tramlines – Feedback

Jon McClure aka 'The Reverend'

Late this week I met with Jon McClure otherwise known as ‘The Reverend’, a Sheffielder who heads the band Reverend and The Makers, an indie rock band which performed at the Tramlines Festival which I mentioned in an earlier blog.  We discussed the recent Festival, how it went, and how the city was buzzing during that weekend and what a great success it had been.  I wished him and the band well with their current tour supporting Oasis.

Please feel free to contact me at leader@sheffield.gov.uk , and be assured that I am doing everything I can to ensure that Sheffield is a city where everyone matters.

Single released 7 September 2009

A beautifully crafted pop song with powerfully delivered lyrics form the backbone of She’s Got You, a rhythmically uplifting tale of love and friendship. She’s Got You is the introductory pop single from the incredibly talented 19 year old Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan Jarvis aka COSMO JARVIS. The musical breadth showcased in his live performances is astounding, supporting the likes of Reverend and the Makers, Panic at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes and Gabriella Cilmi, COSMO JARVIS has proved that he is not just a competent singer, songwriter and film maker, he is also a stunning showman. Keep your ears tuned in to Cos’mania!

August 2009 update

Here are this month’s additions to the list of Sheffield people and organisations of interest on  Twitter. The full directory can be found on the Sheffield Twitter users page.

Paul Scriven – leader of Sheffield city council
@Paulscriven

Jon McClure – Reverend and the Makers front man
@JonMcClure

Cocoa  – chocolate shop on Eccy Road
@Cocoasheffield

Our Cow Molly – locally-made ice cream
@OurCowMolly

Seth Bennet – BBC Sheffield sport presenter
@Sethb45

Oktoberfest Sheffield – beer festival
@OktoberfestShef

Popolo – restaurant in Leopold square
@PopoloSheffield

Eliot Kennedy – songwriter who has worked with the Spice girls, Bryan Adams, S Club 7 and 5ive
@EliotKennedy

Robin hood airport – Doncaster-Sheffield international
@RobinHoodAirpor

Graduates Sheffield
@GradSheff

Oxjam – music festival
@OxjamSheffield

Sheffield unsigned – music directory for artists in and around Sheffield
@sheffunsigned

Crookes forum – community group
@CrookesForum

Hillsborough forum – community group
@hillsbroforum

South Yorkshire fire and rescue
@SYFR

Apple admin – professional virtual admin services
@AppleAdmn

Benchmark recruitment – recruitment agency
@BenchmarkRec

Sheffield university real ale society
@RealAleSociety

C21 creative – web and graphic designers
@C21Creative

VT music – music publisher
@VTmusic

Sheffield big – support programme to help residents set up in business
@sheffieldbig

Roundabout – homeless youth charity
@rndbt

South Yorkshire music – local music news
@syorkshiremusic

Little white book – wedding planners
@LWBwedding

Wath festival – music festival
@wathfestival

Sheffield law society – supporting and representing Sheffield’s legal profession
@SheffieldLawSoc

3 squared – web, print and software
@3_Squared

Sorby nano – leaders in micro and nano scale investigation
@SorbyNano

SYPTE – South Yorkshire passenger transport executive
@SYPTE

City church – local church
@CityChurchShef

Sheffield craft collective
@Craft_Candy

LCPU – NAVCA’s local commissioning and procurement unit
@lcpu

Mookau – gift boutique
@mookau

Abbey joinery
@AbbeyJoinery

Training foundry – computer trainers
@trainingfoundry

Platinum blind – band
@platinumblind4u

Dead world leaders – band
@DWL_Official

Sheffield liberal youth
@ShefLibYouth

Sheffield Labour students
@sheflabstudents

Extension match – brick and stone supplier
@ExtensionMatch

Atweb – band
@atewb

Geeks in the peaks – rural getaway for geeks, 4-6 September 2009
@geeksinthepeaks

Harry Gration – veteran Look north presenter
@gratih46

Sheffield latest – automated news
@sheffieldlatest

If you want to be listed on it then follow @sheffieldblog, get in touch or comment below.

The Car is on Fire „Oh Joe!” / Lakes & Flames

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart “Young Adult Friction” / TPOBPAH

The National “Mr November” / Aligator

Reverend and the Makers “Silence Is Talking” / French Kiss in the Chaos

Frankmusik “When You’re Around” / Complete Me

Frankmusik “Better Off As Two” / Complete Me

Frankmusik “In Step” / Complete Me

Dan Black “Alone” / ((un))

Dan Black “Symphonies” / ((un))

Dan Black “U + Me =” / ((un))

Speech Debelle “Live and Learn” / Speech Fantasy

Speech Debelle “Spinnin’” / Speech Fantasy

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Najpierw zajęliśmy się Offem (relacja szczegółowa TU), potem młodymi-zdolnymi. Recenzje ich płyt już za chwilę na blogu się pojawią.

Dziś parę słów o Offie, a potem artyści, co mieli pojawić się tydzień temu, ale audycja się nie pojawiła  – Frankmusik, Dan Black, Speech Debelle i Reverend and the Makers.

Zapraszam dziś o 21.00 na 97.1 FM (Warszawa) lub www.radiokampus.waw.pl – reszta świata.

Autor.

A dziś o tym jak jedna dziewczyna (Speech Debelle) zakasowywuje trzech panów (Frankmusik, Dan Black, Reverend and the Makers). Choć panowie – trzeba im to oddać – radzą sobie nie najgorzej.

Do usłyszenia o 21.00 na 97.1 FM (Warszawa) lub www.radiokampus.waw.pl (reszta świata).

Autor.

El reverendo vuelve con los suyos para guiar hacia la luz a su segundo trabajo llamado A French Kiss In The Chaos. En esta ocasión, Reverend and the Makers dan dos pasos adelante y uno hacia atrás en comparación a su álbum debut The State of Things: han madurado y sus letras tratan temas más serios y realistas pero caen en el error de los tópicos.

Myspace

Devendra Banhart has a new album out in October – yay!

Spoon are in corporate overload and are engaging in some online selling in the form of their recent gigs. If that presses your button, you can find out more HERE

Myspace Transmissions is kinda cool (and free) – this time around you can access a Passion Pit session HERE

Footage of Reverend And The Makers busking in London earlier today, courtesy of NME HERE

Remember Kings of Convenience? I do Anyway, they are putting out an album in October … 5 years after their previous release.

Finally, Pete Doherty has said that it’s entirely possible The Libertines will reform next year. Cool, but a year is a long time in the life of Mr D.

I’ve just heard a little rumour that Reverend and the Makers MAY be playing a secret busking gig near Birminham Bullring at midday today …

this according to Kate and OJ on Kerrang Radio right now …

http://twitter.com/Kerrang_Drive

http://twitter.com/katelawler

thanks for the tip off … off to investigate …

UD

mmm … according to Myspace the band are doing a HMV appearance in Bristol at 5 …

Birmingham to Bristol in less than 5 hours … doable – esp with faffing and setting up each end??

A quick follow up to yesterday’s post about Sheffield Music City, as last night I went up to Devonshire Green to watch Reverend and the Makers.  By the time they came on, it was chucking down with rain but it didn’t spoilt it at all and it was the busiest I had seen it all weekend.  An amazing set from a band that I knew I liked, but whose songs I didn’t know well, and once again it was all for free.  Yet again, we also had the mad old bloke who was dancing around in shorts and a hat – anyone who was there will know what I mean.

I really hope that we do this again next year as it could become a really successful annual event.  There are of course a few things that could be improved, but generally it was a really good event, that made the city come together and created a great atmosphere.  It must have brought a lot more trade to the city centre shops as well.  Next year, we should also try and market it outside the city too and get other people coming in to the city to enjoy it too.

Finally, I am also pleased because a couple of years ago I mulled over the idea of Sheffield having a music festival in lots of small venues all around the city centre, which could take advantage of the fact that Sheffield is currently well known for its music scene.  Thankfully someone who could so something about the idea also had the same thought.

A French Kiss In The Chaos by Reverend And The Makers

Reverend (John McClure) And The Makers today release their second studio album, A French Kiss In The Chaos. Their debut effort, The State of Things, received mixed reviews last year. My personal view was that I thought it was a decent debut with some very good hooks and melodies but that the band would have to mature beyond that level to survive next time around.

John McClure is a very political guy. He has been a high-profile voice against the rise of the British National Party in the UK and, whilst it is refreshing to hear a frontman with an opinion, I felt the debut album made some rather obvious political statements.

The new album opens brilliantly with Silence Is Talking, a fantastic summer track. If you listen to it and notice it sounds familiar it is because it samples Low Rider by War. The next couple of tracks are pleasant enough but don’t really display any huge development by the band. Track 4 does though. Professor Pickles is another very good track. It is more similar in feel to the opener, having a more laid-back, almost psychedelic, feel to it. The vibe continues with Long Long Time, actually bringing The Beatles to mind.

No Soap In A Dirty War is the next track and is inoffensively unspectacular. Manifesto/People Shapers sounded like a bit of a jumble to me and over 5 minutes of the track was more than enough for me. Mermaids is a jaunty track and The End is easy to listen to, although the chorus is a little whiny. The album ends with Hard Time For Dreamers, a fairly introspective ballad with an incongruous key-change and another chorus that becomes grating.

As a whole, I see some promise in this album. I think what lets the band down, and why they are given such a hard time by the music press, is because of the sense of being preached to by McClure in his lyrics. His previous publicity stunt where he announced he was retiring from music probably hasn’t helped matters.

I think the album contains at least 3 tracks of a reasonable quality though and the collection holds together well enough as a package. I really can’t be too harsh on this album and I hope the band continue to progress away from trying to be a clever protest outlet.

7.5/10

Old Rev’s debut album ‘The State of Things’ wasn’t that good. It was pretty shocking actually. some OK songs really let down by flat production and vocals that made you want to move to London so you never had to hear a northern accent again. It didn’t help that Rev thought he was some kind of modern day Joe Strummer – his full political rage was delivered on the truly bad ‘Mongral’ album unleashed earlier in the year. Fair play – the guy has strong and noble political views, but he seems to think he is some kind of messiah whose words will change the world. They won’t because he simply isn’t good enough at this moment in time.

Not that this album is bad, which is all the more surprising. There is nothing really that stands out but there aren’t too many stinkers either, in fact it all kind of blurs into one hazy record – the album title is quite apt. It is an album of chaos but there are moments to savor. Brief moments – not entire songs – but basslines, hooks and sometimes lyrics that actually make you think. On first single ‘Silence is talking’ it’s the borrowed horn section that really steals the day and makes the track a winner.

The influence of Britpop is all over this record, a nice shift of gears from the more upbeat Jam-esque vibe of ‘The State of Things’. It is commendable that Rev has opted for a more adventurous album when many of his contemporaries prefer to stick to one formula. It is also commendable that he continues to strive for political change even in the face of hostilities and flak he receives. His political ramblings even hit the mark on ‘No soap in a dirty war’.

If a political, britpop throwback record is your cup of tea then you are likely to love ‘French Kiss in The Chaos’, even if it isn’t the classic you imagine Rev wants it to be. It is considerably less annoying than the debut and makes some positive strides in the right direction. This is a man with something to say and I look forward to hearing what will come next.

5.5/10

Despues de unos pequeños dias de vacaciones e decidido volver y me encuentro con tantas cosas nuevas, y una de esas cosas es el segundo album de reverend and the makers y esta muy bueno, espero que lo disfruten y no tengo nada mas que decir por ahora.

tracklist
1. Silence Is Talking
2. Hidden Persuaders
3. No Wood Just Trees
4. Professor Pickles
5. Long Long Time
6. No Soap (In A Dirty War)
7. Manifesto / People Shapers
8. Mermaids
9. The End
10. Hard Time For Dreamers

REVEREND AND THE MAKERS – A FRENCH KISS IN THE CHAOS(2009)

COMENTAR NO CUESTA NADA MAS QUE TIEMPO!!!!!COMENTEN!!!!!!!