In little under two years since their formation, Barnsley band The Hurriers have blazed a trail across the UK’s festivals and fundraisers. Fast gaining a reputation as the ‘go-to’ political band of the moment.
The Hurriers now release their debut long player ‘From Acorn Mighty Oaks’ working with Sheffield producer Alan Smyth (Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Richard Hawley).
The South Yorkshire five-piece comprises Tony Wright-Vocals, Jamie Walman-Bass/vocals, Sam Horton-Guitar, Jim Proud-Guitar and Zak Wright-Drums.
The band called themselves “A proper socialist punk band” and since their formation in 2013 they’ve made a pretty deep impact. Billy Bragg invited them to play Glastonbury, they’ve played festivals with New Model Army and secured support slots with The Sleaford Mods, including at Sheffield’s O2 Academy.
It seems appropriate that a band steeped in the long history of working class struggle should also be a band that crosses generational lines (singer Tony and drummer Zak are father and son). Having some younger blood in the band seems to ignite The Hurriers and infuse them with an energy and pace that belies their combined ages. This is an incendiary band with guitars, SKA rhythms, harmonies and singalongs. You can hear echoes of bands like The Clash,The Redskins, The Jam, Gang Of Four and The Specials.
And their manifesto? Nothing short of “contributing to the overthrow of the corrupt capitalist system through the power of song”. And what songs they are! About the album
On ‘From Acorns Mighty Oaks’ The Hurriers have drawn deep into the musical well of the late 20th century and come up with a record to soundtrack a 21st century fightback against austerity and its’s architects.Here are some songs with something to say about issues like the NHS privatisation (Faith to Fight), Parliamentary hypocrisy (Happy Families) and the dangers of the Far Right (Britain Last). But don’t be fooled into thinking this is simply an album of issue-based sloganeering, there is real depth and beauty here.
One of the stand out tracks is Spectemur Agendo-Latin for ‘Judge us by our acts’. Latin is the preserve of the establishment elite and its use here is a master stroke, coming as it does from the motto of their hometown Barnsley. Here the Latin phrase becomes a tribute to the grit, determination and values of a South Yorkshire town full of people Mrs Thatcher called “The enemy within”.
The Miner’s strike is remembered on ‘Truth and Justice’ as they sing about South Yorkshire Police’s rol in the Battle of Orgreave where ‘blood was spilled and skulls were smashed’. The modern day effects of those pit closures are hinted at in ‘Beat And Then Some’ a poignant story of an ordinary family trapped in a spiral of debt and payday loans.
This is a record for anyone who still has some fight in them. ‘Acorns’ which describes the battle grounds of ‘Upstairs rooms in desolate pubs‘ and ‘Rainy Saturday town stalls’ will resonate with campaigners. Songs like ‘Enjoy The Storm’ and ‘Big Ideas And Promises’ are rallying cries to the faithful to keep ‘Kick Kicking at that door‘.
On this album The Hurriers have set out what’s at stake and then they lead the battle cry. This is what protest singers have done down the ages and the hurriers are bringing that tradition into the 21st century.
It's been 10 years since I sawthe legendary cult band Lyca Sleep playing live at the Dry Bar in Manchester for the first time.
Lyca Sleep @ Dry Bar
Sadly Lyca Sleep had a very short life and they did split a long time ago but two great new bands were born from their ashes: Exit Calm and Two Skies.
I had the immense pleasure to seeboth bands loads of times all over England and some of those great nights will stay in my memory for the rest of my life. But back to Lyca Sleep the question is: living in Spain at the time, how did I ever find about this band?
Well the thing is that a good friend from Barnsley wrote a good review about them in the old (now gone) The Chameleons message board 'Wishville'. So due that my friend Sean McKernan (aka Manero) is rarely wrong with his music recommendations, out of curiosity I decided to give them a go.
I couldn't believe how good Lyca Sleep sounded. I was literally blown away! They were intense but yet relaxing. They weren't post Rock nor Shoegaze or indie either. Some people quoted early Verve.... I couldn't really tell to be honest.
I believe the first song I did listen to was their first single 'Sold me A Ride'. Boy, I was instantly trapped. That was the band I was waiting for. The amazing wall of sound from the guitar, the perfect bass line, the intense drums and incredible lyrics and vocals. Everything was out of this world. It was MAGIC!
Rob Marshall Lyca Sleep
I really had to see the lads playing live no matter what.
As a stubborn person I am, a few months later I was told they were about to play in Manchester on a bank holiday weekend, so I didn't hesitate for a second and booked a flight from Madrid (Where I was working at the time) to see them playing a show on a support slot.
Yes. Thats what you do when you love a band. For the sake of Rock N Roll!
A few obvious questions raised to my mind when I was travelling to see the show. Are Lyca Sleep as good live as they sound on a 7' vinyl? I mean, flying from Spain to England is quite a long way to see a band playing a set for barely 40 minutes. Not to mention the budget, hotels, trains, food, drinks...etc...
Simon Lindley-Lyca Sleep
I remember very clearly arriving at the venue in the Northern Quarter in Manchester city center (Dry bar is located next to another legendary venue: Night and Day). There was not much people gathered in the audience to be honest (lets say about 20 or 30 souls). It did also surprise me to spot a couple of professional photographers and also a guy with a pretty big video camera (I wonder what that footage is?)
That evening I couldn't tell what but something was going on, something kind of exciting was floating on theatmosphere, like a sense of big expectation.
Lyca Sleep were thehottest band from Sheffield/Barnsley and they were about to play live!
I had my first contact with the band few minutes before they were due on stage. Rob came to me and asked -'Are you Pedro?'. That made me smile. Apparently somebody told them I was coming all the way from Spain and they seemed genuinely flattered about it.
At first I was quite surprised how young they looked. Cool haircuts, flares...They all had a very cool presence I have to say but they were pretty shy and humble at the same time. But boy they were indeed very good! Lyca Sleep didn't disappoint me a tiny bit. My great expectations were filled. What a terrific night. Although a short set they blew the rough of the venue. The long journey was well worth.
Dan Cutts and Rob Marshall- Lyca Sleep
It wasn't the last time I saw Lyca Sleep live. One year later (sometime in May 2005) I did made the same route and flew again from Madrid to see them on the tour-promotion of the sophomore single 'Closer in' in the very same venue (but this time in the downstairs room). If i am not mistaken I think it was part of the Manchester music festival 'In the city'. For this gig there was a lot more people in the crowd I have to say. They band were more experienced and their reputation was getting bigger and bigger amongst the underground music circuits in the North England. And this time Lyca Sleep also blew the rough off as expected. During the night I bumped into Reg Smithies, former member of the seminal 80s band The Chameleons. What a nice surprise! After the show I had the honour to introduce Rob Marshall to the legendary guitarist. What a moment!
Unseen rare clip 'Sold Me a Ride' on my first ever Lyca Sleep show!
Lyca Sleep managed to release a couple of 7' vinyls with tracks like : Inches of air, Closer in, Sold me a Ride, South and Falling Cedars.
Then, a few months later (sometime in November 2005 If Im not mistaken), a bad rumour spread on the internet and we sadly found out that the news seemed to be true: Lyca Sleep split was announced with the departure of the singer Dan Cutts. Everything was pretty mysterious and no explanation was given.
Lyca Sleep Live in Mansfield (UK)
Boy I was gutted. I couldn't believe it. Not to this band. Another of my favourite bands and its happening again?!
I thought It was a real shame. The lads were starting to build up a loyal fan base as a result of a couple of extensive headlining tours and support slots all over England with the likes of The Warlocks, Sennen, Air Formation, iLikeTrains, Six By Seven, Oceansize, The Boxer Rebellion, Pure Reason Revolution and many many more.
But now everything was over.
Dan Cutts/Rob Marshall
Sometime in 2006 we get the great news. The 3 remaining members of Lyca Sleep went on to form the band Exit Calm along with a new singer Nicky Smith. And that was fantastic news! (Some legendary Exit Calm shows are well documented in this blog). Exit Calm released two magnificent and now 'essential to have' shoegaze-indie albums which will stay with us forever. Rob Marshall meanwhile co-wrote and recorded an album with Mark Lanegan called Gargoyle (April 2017) . An amazing album with Rob Guitar signature...well worth a listen!
But nothing on the news front from Dan Cutts for a while.
I did keep an eye on the internet to see if there was any information about any new releases or possible live performances from this amazing and very talented singer.
A couple of solo acoustic performances were uploaded in youtube from Dan first solo acoustic album (From 4am the silence sounds). And and a few demos were also available from what it seemed to be Dan's new band Two Skies. Those were the last days of myspace. But months were passing by and Dan new project Two Skies seemed to be pretty quiet.
But thankfully everything was about to change very soon.
I edited this video from bits of footage I ve got on Two Skies last gigs in Manchester and Sheffield.
Two Skies Live @ Plug Sheffield April 2014
Meanwhile the music scene in the north of England was starting to change (as it ever does) and a new bunch of psychedelic bands were emerging from Manchester, Liverpool and other northern cities. The first edition of Cosmosis festival in Manchester this year (which I had the pleasure to attend to) was a good example of it.
Finally in 2012 a new 500 limited edition single was released on physical format: Lucky/4am.
It felt like an eternity but Two Skies were back.... and stronger than ever!
Dan Cutts sings and plays the lead electric guitar, James Cheetham the bass and Oliver Harrap the drums.
Two Skies have their own recording studio (Skylab studios) which gives them plenty of time to rehearse and make loads of new material.
I was lucky enough to witness 2 fantastic Two Skies live sets showcased in Coalfields Festival in Barnsley on the next couple of years. They are regulars in the last editions of Tramlines festival and they also played a live outdoors gig in Weston Park in Sheffield amongst other local gigs.
Two Skies have a new ep out : 'The Red EP' and they will be touring England in 2015 to support the new releases.
The last ep 'Red' comprises 4 tracks. The stunning psychedelic 'Hyperventilation' produced by the band's friend and also former member of Ultrasound Richard Green, 'Tonight', 'Motorway' and 'Slow train'. They also released their last single 'Stay' and a new single launch its been announced in Sheffield for March 2015 plus a supporting slot for Johnny Marr the 20th March in the Leadmill. Excellent news!
Hyperventilation-Two Skies (with live audio)
More Two Skies gigs will be announced for spring and summer so we will wait with a great excitement. The same great excitement I had with any Exit calm release, and the same excitement I felt when I flew to Manchester 10 years ago to see Lyca sleep for the first time.
I am pretty happy to say that The South Yorkshire indie-psychedelic and alternative music scene is alive and kicking as ever.
Bands like Exit Calm, Two Skies, Black Lamps or Pusher are a good prove of it. I can never be grateful enough to my friend Sean-Manero to expose me me to such an amazing music and I also blame him for introduce me to so many nice people, good friends and fans of the band all over the country....and even all over the world! Thank you my friend.
The 9th of March it was announced officially that Exit Calm did split up. Its very sad news but whatever the lads do from now on I really hope they keep playing music and even better doing gigs. Because I will be there.
I am so happy its happening here....and this is not about Austin Scene, or the Seattle one, Berlin or the West Coast, they all had their day. Now its all about the Yorkshire Music Scene. And in 2015, Sheffield its the place to be! I really hope Exit Calm enjoyed the ride. This things happens once in a lifetime.
Sometime in 1967 a young photographer who worked for Elektra Records in NY city called Joel Brodsky did a photo session for the singer of the band The Doors. This iconic pictures later became the most widely and well known photos from the bare chested iconic singer.
The first photo shoot was the Grammy nominated back cover photograph that is used on the 60's american band’s self titled debut album. The second gave birth to the Lizard King.
In this second session its well known the fact that Morrison was highly inebriated (Why he doesn't looks to me?). The famous photos are known as ‘The Young Lion’.
Is that Morrison? I don't think so!
Its funny because being a massive Doors fan as I am, I always thought that this photos never portrayed the real Jim Morrison. I mean, on his short career with the band (barely 4-5 years) Morrison changed his appearance and physical features and personally I think he never looked again like he did in that day anymore. He went through different periods with his image: short and long hair, with and without a beard, the leather trousers years and also due to his well known drinking habits he did gain more and more weight over the years. But like I said he never had the same look again like he did on The Young Lion photo session. That was not Jim Morrison. Funnily enough it became the most iconic photo from the lead singer.
A few years ago while I was living in Madrid, me and my good friend Pedro Leal and his wife Laura Beatriz Suela, we had the idea to do a kind of Young Lion photo Session but this time we will do it to their eldest son Pau Leal. The idea was basically to replicate the original Morrison’s ‘Young Lion’ photo session and Pau would be our best model.
Just for fun! and (Who Knows?) give something original to remember when the lad grows old.
It was a project we had in mind for a little while so we waited a few months for when the kid’s hair had a similar length like the legendary Doors singer.
I also supplied a necklace I bought in Venice Beach on my first trip to Los Angeles in the early 90's to try to make Pau look even more like Jim Morrison in the original poster.
We were unsure what the outcome was going to be like…but we had to give it a go!
At first it was not easy (It is never easy when you do this kind of things with kids) but I have to say Pau acted like a real professional Model. Nice one lad.
My photo session lasted almost a whole morning and we took loads and loads of photos to be able to choose only the best ones for our poster. I also thought to let the parents choose the photos they thought that would be the best ones so we could all have our share in the project.
The second stage would be to edit the photos and make them look as much as possible as if they were original from the 60s. We had a great fun and also a good laugh mainly because the kid didn’t know what he was doing. But I have to say Pau seemed enjoying it too.
At the end we were pretty pleased with the results and Im honoured to say that the poster hangs framed in the lads bedroom.
The first one is obviously the original Jim Morrison one and the second our very own ‘Young Lion’ replica.
I hope you like it.
Thank you Pau! and Thank you Pedrote Leal and Beatriz Suela.
Friday 11th July 2014 Sheffield finest Two
Skies was playing in the Hope and Anchor in Islington London.
It was my first visit to this place. I was told
The Sex Pistols played in that venue The Stranglers, U2, Stray Cats and
many many punk acts of the 70s and early 80s. Even Ian Curtis of Joy Division had a fit there. A
place with an strong vibration indeed.
Video of last saturday gig
Apparently the pub had for a while the
shitty policy of pay to play but good news is new management doesn't
do it anymore. Its a small downstairs club so you can be literally
inches from the stage. So pretty intimate and good if its not too
crowded.
Nice to see in first hand London music
history. More interesting than visit boring museums and shitty art
galleries to be honest.
Each to their own.
Two Skies played new songs. 'Ocean',
'Stay', 'Arrows' and 'Drone Att'.
Two Skies
There is a 7 inch vinyl release in
September 2014 and probably more Two Skies live dates for this autumn, which is
fantastic news! New t-shirts are ace by the way. Got one mesen.
Bring
on Tramlines 2014!
Two Skies
The opener act was an acoustic set from
Sterling Gloswell the bloke from Spacemen 3 and the last band was
'One Unique Signal' with members from the Telescopes which I saw in
Cosmosis festival in Manchester last March. Rosco (Gloswell) said there was a
party in Hackney Wick later but we somehow forgot about that.
Saturday was Model Morning and
93millionmilesfrommthesun at the Victoria in Dalston.
The Victoria in dalston, Hackney London
The Victoria its an old traditional
english pub in Hackney London, usually frequented by old Jamaicans
clients. Some nice fellas there. And the venue is pretty decent. If only we
could bring Sheffield pint prices over to London with us ;-)
93millionmilesfromthesun was a good
find! And as a headlining act they were loud! Always good to support
the south Yorkshire music scene anywhere in England.
93 Million Miles From The sun Limited edition 200 copies
Viva Doncaster!
Model Morning Victoria Dalston 12th July 2014
And then were Model Morning which was
the reason we were this weekend in London for.
There was a bit of buzz with this gig.
Model Morning did split a few years ago
and some members moved on to different projects like the band
Spotlight Kid. So there was only a couple of live dates announced.
Model Morning Victoria Dalston 12th July 2014
Since they are one of my favourite
bands from Nottingham, their self titled album its on my ipod top
plays ever and I had never the chance to see them before, it was a
show not to miss!
Their last gigs were 6 or 7 years ago
when they played live shows with Exit Calm, The Boxer Rebellion, Daniel land and
The Domino state (now that would be a good night!).
Model Morning Victoria Dalston 12th July 2014
While we were chatting in the beer
garden I could hear from the soundcheck inside the venue the ebow
intro of 'We go all night' and I had goosebumps already!
I also had the chance (finally) to meet
and talk with Model Morning guitarist Chris Moore (Who used to play also
with Echoboy) I haven't spoke with him since the (long gone) days
when bands used to upload their music in myspace. Nice one Chris!
Rob Mc Cleary Model Morning
Sometime through their set I closed my
eyes for a moment and I swear It was like watch Dave Fielding&Reg
Smithies play on the old days. They were only bits and hints obviously but the feeling was there.
Nice to hear Chris Moore is a Chameleons&Reegs fan by the way. Thumbs
up to the man who can play an ebow without actually having one!
And the drummer (Peter Moorley) is the
lead singer! Now thats cool, and he is good!
I think the only time I ve seen
something like this before was when I saw Soulwax in Madrid about 6 or 7 years ago.
Brilliant night like I said. Pure
Magic.
I dont know Model Morning will play
live again. Fingers crossed. But if they do, I will be there.
Massive respect to Goodsoul Promotions
for their priceless hard work to promote and put on every week the
best and most genuine shoegaze and psychedelic alternative acts in
London.
