Comments on: Pete’s 10 Birmingham bands that are quite bloody marvelous

By: Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:06:09 +0000

Y’know, self indulgent pretentious singers with terrible voices who are boring live are vastly underrated. That’s exactly why I like him.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:17:06 +0000

I hate Shady bard.

Self indulgent, pretentious tripe. The guy has a terrible voice and they are so boring live.

By: johnny normal

johnny normal — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:17:49 +0000

and Johnny Normal!!!!

By: Rich Batsford

Rich Batsford — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:43:32 +0000

also – I havent seem em live yet, but from what Ive heard on myspace I like the sound of Love Child Electric.
Xx

By: Jez

Jez — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:59:05 +0000

Indeedy. Cracked Actors are marvellous.

By: Rich Batsford

Rich Batsford — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:08:57 +0000

oh and belated big up to the Cracked Actors.
Xx

By: paul

paul — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:40:03 +0000

I agree with many of the points made by you there Pete and there are some fantastic bands you have mentioned there, particularly with Shady Bard, The Destroyers and The Courtesy Group amoung my favorites.
I agree in essence about how something is sung and not what is sung, but I just felt the singer/songwriter scene in Birmingham is a healthy one what with matt geary, vijay kishore, gary knock etc. that I felt they may deserve a mention. Plus some of these guys can make a racket when they want to.
Anyways
Peace out and lovin what you do for Birmingham Pete.

By: Rich Batsford

Rich Batsford — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:58:53 +0000

nice one Pete

my top ten would be fairly similar – tho I’d definitely put Mamamatrix in there – see http://www.mamamatrix.co.uk for some fine “psychedelic folk punk” tho theyre very much at their best live.

also 360 are great http://www.360.uk.com “skafunkapunkreggaerockin’…”

Rich
Xx

By: Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:34:41 +0000

A lot of this is obviously subjective, but I feel I should address Paul’s comment about the singer songwriters as I have a problem here.

The thing is, I’m sort of lyrically blind. I don’t tend to listen to the words, more how they’re sung. As a case in point Shady Bard (in spirit a singer songwriter) make the list because the music interests me but also because of the sound of his voice. The lyrics, frankly, are not even secondary to me.

I like a nice bit of acoustic guitar and vocal but only really as background. It’s never going to excite me unless something odd or exciting is happening with the voice or guitar, no matter how clever or thoughtful the lyrical content is. This is, obviously, a failing on my part but explains why I’m not going to add any to my list.

Of course there’s nothing to stop people doing their own lists and I love to see one for the singer songwriters of the city. There’s certainly a need!

So, gauntlet thrown…

By: paul

paul — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:49:36 +0000

May I also suggest adding some of the best singer songwriters out on the scene in Birmingham as well, they never really seem to get a mention poor buggers.

Matt Geary who has recently signed to Boy wonder Records http://www.boywonderrecords.com is an intriguing song writing talent who skews the normal view of the singer/song writer playing nice finger picking songs, the kids got some balls and some thing to say, definitely one to watch out for.

Give him a listen on http://www.myspace.com/mattgearymusic although the recordings up there do not really show Matt as he really is live you’ll get some idea of his song writing talent and then go watch him live.

By: johnny normal

johnny normal — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:22:51 +0000

and don’t forget Johnny Normal too!

By: Trav28

Trav28 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:15:16 +0000

I did my BTEC with Steve H of Einstellung fame. He’s a top bloke and one of the most talented musos I know.

By: Marv

Marv — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:34:51 +0000

Great post.

By: Russ L

Russ L — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:31:00 +0000

‘Tis indeed a great post. It includes most of my favourites, too.

For general informationarytasticerific purposes, I should mention that “Glory Bitches Of Doghead” is a reference to Nick Cave’s (fantastic) novel “And The Ass Saw The Angel”.

By: brenda

brenda — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:47:37 +0000

Fantastic post. You could make a living at this.

Oh. ;)

By: Bruno Soot

Bruno Soot — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:55:48 +0000

Hi there Pete, check out
http://www.sowetokinch.com
http://www.tgcollective.com and
http://www.theolddanceschool.com

All really great and worthy of a mention