CREAM OF THE CROP SO FAR…

It’s been a while since I forced my musical recommendations upon thee, so I thought “might as well pop one oot real soon!”

First up though, a brief run through the cream of the crop from my previous recommendations.

The best of the lot, not just my opinion but that of my trusted advisors too, is Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze.  I’d also like to pop Eliza Lawson into the equation here too.  This is an act I have now seen perform live on numerous occasions and every single one of those has been incredible.  Baron and Breeze are like the Dynamic Duo of UK Hip Hop, which must make Eliza the Batgirl.  Anyway, Baron Von Alias is a genius!  He also has the eyes of a shrew, which explains the shades!  This duo are putting the fun back into music and their live performances are unbelievable.  Watching this act perform, you can tell they are having fun and you can’t help but get involved.  Eliza Lawson is the perfect complement to this pair too, her vocals add that extra dimension to tracks such as ‘Action Man’ and she has taken to Baron and Breeze’s fun-loving vibe like a duck to water.  That’s not to say that this act is all about their performance value, because their music is the tits!  Everyone who I’ve made listen to ‘Action Man’ immediately thinks it’s class, even those that don’t even really like Hippety Hop.  Listen to ‘It’s OK’ as that is basically Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze telling you what I just did, only in their words with a wicked backing track.  Watch their videos on YouTube too.  Baron, Breeze and Eliza performed at my last event and went down a treat!  I’m even going to see them at the O2 Academy, supporting Rossi Noise, on the 25^th February.  I bet you’re gutted you’re not!

Next up is the legend that is Swede Mason.  His video collages are an audio visual spectacle to behold.  Possibly the most underrated genius in entertainment today.  His ‘Schofield on Crack’ video stirred up a bit of controversy and led to Thames TV making him remove the video from his YouTube channel.  His ‘Tribute to Schofield on Crack’ video is an outstanding response to Thames TV’s lack of humour and “clearly implies, up yours!”  Swede Mason uses Final Cut and Logic to cut videos to create an audio collage and add some beats.  The result is awesome tracks and amusing videos of a standard you won’t witness anywhere else.  His track ‘Jungle All The Way’ features samples taken from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film ‘Jingle All The Way’ and reached #1 in both the Soundclick.com Electronic and Jungle charts and is still Soundclick’s top Jungle track.

Another act I have seen perform live on several occasions now is Alternative Indie Rock band The Stroll.  Recently they have twice been pipped in battle of the bands competition finals by The McQues, despite being better than The McQues both live and on record in my opinion.  Of the tracks that they have so far released, I find it difficult to pick a favourite between ‘Different Tune, Different Mood’ and ‘Searching’, which is “about looking for stuff.”  The Stroll’s front-man, Josh Pringle, has an incredible ability with lyrics and this band has a very 90s Brit Pop flavour to them, kush!  The other three members of the band are Paul Heslop on guitar, Jack Brown on bass and Ben Gash the drummer.  If The Stroll failed to make it big in music Gashy could always fall back on being a stand-up comedian with his bad taste jokes, although, if I was him, I’d do it sitting down behind something so that the audience don’t notice that his body is proportionately similar to that of Orville the Duck.

Last up, Emergency Door Release.  Emergency Door Release are “setting off alarms everywhere” and are the freshest prospect, and most possibly the saviour, of the Newcastle Indie Pop Rock scene.  This four-piece Indie Pop Rock band consists of James Rooney on vocals and guitar, Adam McMeiken on guitar, David Lloyd on bass and Daniel Moktari on drums.  Emergency Door Release suffered some set-backs confirming their final line-up but they kicked off their live career very recently supporting Dave Giles at the Cluny2 in Newcastle on Valentines Day.  They also recently released ‘Who Are We?’ the final track from their forthcoming EP, also titled ‘Who Are We?’  So expect big things from this highly driven and ambitious Indie Pop Rock act, and be sure to check them out at my next live music event at The Telegraph on Saturday 3^rd March, not only because that’s a gig that I am running, but also because that is when Emergency Door Release have chosen to release the ‘Who Are We’ EP on CD, so don’t miss that!

http://www.facebook.com/events/318489318195064/

https://mallazmalcolmwhite.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/the-telegraph-3rd-march-line-up-confirmed/

WHAT’S GREEN AND SMELLS LIKE PORK?

I was at the SoundWave Music Competition Final at the O2 Academy on Saturday (11^th February) and what a fukkin rip that place is!  Before I get onto the O2 though, I’m going to air my scruples about the competition itself.  It was one of those daft X Factor style competitions with a text voting system.  Text voting for a competition on that scale is ridiculous and means the competition is less about the artists’ talent and more about how many mates they’ve got that are willing to waste more than a quid to send a text.  It’s all about SoundWave making money.  On top of that, the actual event itself kicked off at 6pm, the Toon match against Spurs didn’t kick off until 5.30 so I missed a good chunk of the event due to watching Tottenham trounce us.

Right right right, now onto the venue… That was the first time I’d ever been to the O2 Academy and I wasn’t impressed.  The venue itself is not bad, it’s got a decent stage and the room’s a good size, but the price of drink is practically extortion!  At just shy of four quid a pint, they’re having my fukkin eyes out!  Scandalous!  To make matters worse as well, they shut up shop and start kicking every fukka out at 10pm, bollox to that!  If I’m out somewhere I expect last orders to be no sooner that eleven bells!

The Stroll

When I got to the O2 Academy after the match, I arrived just in time to catch the beginning of The Stroll’s set.  The Stroll were the second last act competing in the final.  They sang songs “about blind people” and “looking for stuff” before Josh Pringle’s guitar string snapped.  Obviously two separate songs because blind people can look for things all day and still find nothing.  My opinion of the other bands involved in the final is slightly lower than what it could have been too, fair enough it’s a competition but some cunt could have lent Josh a guitar for The Stroll’s last track, ‘Different  Tune, Different mood’.  The highlight of the night for me actually came during the incident with the snapped string, while they tried to find another guitar for Josh, The Stroll’s drummer Gashy told an epic joke; “What’s green and smells like pork? Kermit the Frog’s fingers!”  That had me doubled over!  The Stroll finished with an impressive cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation’.

These are not Americans!

The act who followed The Stroll, and the last competing band of the night, really failed to impress me.  WildThörn are talented musicians, don’t get me wrong, but their generic brand of Americanised Pop Rock really doesn’t appeal to me at all.  Another  thing that royally pissed me off with WildThörn was the way that their singer kept referring to the audience as “Newcastle”, as though they were a huge American Rock & Roll band playing a packed UK stadium, when they’re from South fukkin Shields and probably got there by Metro!  Twats, you’re from South Shields, don’t try to be something you’re not!  Pretentious Twats!  Put that with the fact that their singer was constantly kicking the air and kept screaming “wooooh” in between tracks, along with them being five of the ugliest women I have ever seen in my life and I just couldn’t tolerate these muppets at all!

The final winners of the SoundWave Music Competition were The McQues, a four-piece Indie Pop band.  They also recently were winners of Seen Battle of the Bands in Darlington.  Check them out on Facebook or Soundcloud on the links below.

Facebook

Soundcloud

The McQues - SoundWave Music Competition Winners 2012

JUST LIKE I SAID I WOULD…

As I said I would in my last blog…

https://mallazmalcolmwhite.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/gannin-balls-deep/

I’ve uploaded all of the videos from Friday’s gig at The Telegraph onto my YouTube channel, and for your viewing convenience I’ve put all of the videos into one easy playlist.  Simply click the link below;

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL41516C6F0C7B6130&feature=plcp

Get Wild, Gan Mental

All videos are by Photo Dave of David Johnston Photography.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-johnston-photograpy/215749741805514

The individual videos are as follows;

Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze – ‘Step In The Room’

SubLevel2’s L87 – DubStep DJ set

Artisam – ‘Free Your Mind’ and ‘Lucid Melody’

And The Stroll – ‘Different Tune, Different Mood’ and ‘I Am The Walrus’

SubLevel2

If you’d like to see more of Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze in action and/or L87 spinning some records then you’re in luck.  Get down to SubLevel2 at The Head of Steam in Newcastle tonight, where for just £4 you can catch them as well as both Rick Fury and DJ ADS of Killamari Records and a live Beatbox set from Brotha Priah.  Also look out for DJ Keek blasting some Earthshaking heavy DubStep and Drum & Bass.

More details of SubLevel2 at The Head of Steam tonight can be found on the Facebook event on the below link;

http://www.facebook.com/events/233430710070639/

GANNIN’ BALLS DEEP…

Friday night at The Telegraph was fukkin epic!  Those who were there will surely testify to that.  The mix of different genres went down a lot better than I could have expected and every act involved was well received by the audience.  The new sound-guy, Chris Kinley from Sessions Newcastle, performed his role flawlessly and helped the night to run smoothly.  People were blown away by Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze.  L87’s quality selection of DubStep were tracks impeccably mixed.  The three-man Artisam acoustic set, with Cam on the cajón, added a unique vibe.  You get something different every time with Artisam.  The Stroll were class, just like I said they would be.  Everything seemed to fit and work well with each other and all the people who attended had good crack and seemed to enjoy themselves.  Even Empty Heed and Fanny Drought turned up!

Empty Heed & Fanny Drought enjoying Baron & Breeze

The photos from Friday can be seen on David Johnston Photography’s Facebook page on this link;

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.307457932634694.67058.215749741805514&type=1

And the videos will be uploaded onto my YouTube channel in the very near future.

Get Wild, Gan Mental

“Gonna smash in your back doors like Keith Lemon…”

Kicking the night off in spectacular fashion were Hip Hop’s dynamic duo, Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze.  Even Empty Heed was impressed by these two, and he’s a miserable cunt!

They performed their set with an electric energy, which was visibly evident from the sweat pissing from their faces by the time they finished.  Getting in amongst the audience, and even rolling around the floor at times, Baron and Breeze proved to be the ultimate interactive package!  They even had me up dancing with them on ‘Get Wild, Gan Mental’ because they know I like that one.

They impressed the audience with renditions of some of my favourite tracks, including ‘Step In The Room’, before being joined by Eliza Lawson for tracks including the truly awesome ‘Action Man’, which evidently is a real crowd pleaser.  Simply put, Baron Von Alias, MistaBreeze and Eliza Lawson were a class act!

Baron Von Alias, Eliza Lawson & MistaBreeze

Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze are performing again this Thursday night at SubLevel2 at The Head of Steam in Newcastle.  Detail of that event can be found on Facebook on the link below;

http://www.facebook.com/events/233430710070639/

L87 of SubLevel2

“Womp Womp”

L87’s cool choice of DubStep tracks helped ease his DJ set into the night’s proceedings with great effect.  His mixing was impeccable and he didn’t miss a beat.  He earned himself a fan in Sound-Guy Chris, who seemed massively impressed by L87’s work.  The set worked perfectly for the transition from Hip Hop to the Alternative acoustic set that was to follow.

L87 is also performing a set at SubLevel2 on Thursday night, along with The Baron and Breeze, so be sure to get down to The Head of Steam for that!

http://www.facebook.com/events/233430710070639/

Artisam

“Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go…”

Artisam brought something entirely different to the table on Friday night.  One-man-band-on-a-box, Cam, further demonstrated his versatility as he slapped away on the cajón with perfect timing as George and Gary played along with the acoustic guitars.  Always impressive, as I have stated on numerous occasions, they performed a fantastic set with a completely unique vibe and I loved it when they played my favourite, ‘Free Your Mind’.  Artisam are an incredibly talented band and it’s always a pleasure seeing them perform live.

Jack, Josh and Paul of The Stroll

“I would walk all day to see your sunshine smile…”

The final act of the night was The Stroll and they were in formidable form.  The Alternative Rock four-piece from Durham performed a stunning version of ‘20^th Century Boy’ by T-Rex.  Gashy, with his daft smile and even dafter hat, was epic on the drums.  Jack was just as good on bass.  Josh and Paul were quality on the guitars and Josh belted out his vocals in sublime fashion.

Tracks such as ‘Searching’ and ‘Different Tune, Different Mood’ went down a treat with the audience and The Stroll definitely made an impression.  A quality evening topped off with a quality set by a quality band!

The Stroll's Gashy & I, plus Daft Hats

The Stroll are competing in the final of The SoundWave Music Competition at the O2 Academy in Newcastle on Saturday night.  So get down to that and show them some support.  Details of that event can be found on Facebook on the following link;

http://www.facebook.com/events/172041789563041/

and tickets can be purchased on this link;

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_northeast&query=detail&REFID=newcalist&interface=newacad&event=484497

Teaching Josh of The Stroll how to sing

Some thanks are in order

Firstly I’d like to say thanks to the acts involved.  Baron Von Alias, MistaBreeze, Eliza Lawson, L87 of SubLevel2, George, Cam and Gary of Artisam, Josh, Jack, Paul and Gashy of The Stoll, whose efforts are all highly appreciated and they have my gratitude.

Also thanks to Chris Kinley of Sessions Newcastle for providing the sound, and Photo Dave of David Johnston Photography, obviously for doing the photography.

Extra special thanks to everyone who attended the gig, making it the awesome experience it was.

Find the acts involved on the following links;

Baron Von Alias

Facebook

YouTube

Bandcamp

Twitter

MistaBreeze

Facebook

YouTube

L87

Soundcloud

SubLevel2 on Facebook

Artisam

Facebook

Soundcloud

YouTube

The Stroll

Facebook

ReverbNation

Soundcloud

YouTube

Twitter

The Telegraph - Saturday 3rd March 2012

And don’t forget the next one…

My next event is scheduled for Saturday 3^rd March at The Telegraph, on Orchard Street, behind Central Station in Newcastle, where for a mere £3 you can see Emergency Door Release, Ginger Snap & The Style Pile, Honey Chrome and The Shake Appeal all perform live.

More details of that event can be found in the events category of my blog or on Facebook on the following links;

3^rd March at The Telegraph

Facebook Event

IT WAS A CANNY NIGHT WITH THE STROLL AT COATHAM BOWL

Well, Friday was the first heat in the Battle of the Bands competition, being held at Coatham Bowl in Redcar.  Eight acts were whittled down to two in what was a highly entertaining night.

Battle of the Bands 2012

We went down by train on the Friday afternoon and stayed in a bed and breakfast in Redcar.  The train journey was the start of the fun.  We missed our stop at Darlington, where we were supposed to change to a connecting train to Redcar.  We ended up in fukkin York of all places, I’m really not keen on York!  It was my fault like, but I’m blaming my lack of awareness on the fact I was shattered because I received a stupid and pointless phone call at 4am on Friday morning and was then needlessly woken up again at 8am by the gas man.  Anyway, we ended up having to get off at York because we missed Darlington and we then had to go from York and change at Thornaby, or some random place I’ve never heard of, on the way to Redcar.  Inconvenient, yet highly amusing!

We checked in to the bed and breakfast then headed straight to Coatham Bowl for the competition.  Obviously we were late, getting there about half eight to nine-ish, and therefore missed the first few acts.

I was both tired and a bit smashed by the time we got there, but when we arrived James Arthur was performing.  We only caught a brief bit of his solo acoustic set.  Singer, song-writer and producer James Arthur was one of the two acts to progress to the next stage of the competition.  Check him out on Facebook on the following link;

http://www.facebook.com/jamesarthur2323

James Arthur

The other act to qualify for the next stage were Sailors and Saints.  Unfortunately we missed them… I think.  As I mentioned earlier, we arrived pretty late.  Check out Sailors and Saints on Facebook on the next link;

http://www.facebook.com/sailorsandsaints

Sailors and Saints

Coatham Bowl is a really impressive venue.  It’s got a good stage and plenty of room for the audience, as well as the sound being high quality.  Sherry Clark is trying to regenerate the music scene in Redcar and I greatly appreciate her effort and the motivation behind what she is trying to do.  What’s good for Redcar music is good for North East music in general.  Show Sherry, Coatham Bowl, the regions music and two great charities support by coming to any of the heats and/or the final on Friday 9th March 2012.  Every Friday, until 9^thMarch, some of the North East’s best bands and solo artists will compete against each other whilst raising money for two charities, TFM Cash for Kids and SANE.  Entry to any of the Heats is priced at a bargain £5 payable on the door.

If my memory and my badly scrawled notes serve me rightly, there was a band named Chasing Wilson, who performed a decent cover of Franz Ferdinand‘s ‘Take Me Out‘.  You can look Chasing Wilson up on Facebook but you can’t hear any music by them without liking their page so I’m not going to bother with a link.  How do you know you’re gonna like a band if you can’t hear anything by them?  They also have a Myspace page, but that doesn’t have any music uploaded onto it so that link would also be pointless.

Chasing Wilson

One band who didn’t impress me a great deal were Rough Justice.  I’m half sure they didn’t perform any original tracks, but don’t quote me on that, and they murdered ‘Starman‘ by David Bowie.  They also performed Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘.  It was a good cover but they failed to make it their own in anyway.  It was the same thing with ‘Under Pressure‘ by Queen and Bowie.  Rough Justice’s singer was basically a thick tashe away from being a low-budget Freddie Mercury clone.  Their image lacks individuality and, in his black vest and skin-tight, ripped white genes, the singer appears to be a Glam Rock throwback.  He didn’t help himself in the image stakes when he donned his horrid mustard yellow jacket part way through their set either.  It wasn’t through lack of ability that Rough Justice failed to impress though, they all possess musical talent and the singer displayed plenty of vocal talent.  It was their lack of individuality that did it for them.  They just simply failed to give us anything we haven’t seen or heard before.  Rough Justice are another band who have no music for you to listen to online, so I won’t bother with links for them either.

Rough Justice

If you’ve been following my blog then you will know that the main band I went to see play at the Battle of the Bands was The Stroll, a four-piece Alternative Rock band from Durham.  I absolutely fukkin love The Stroll and they were every bit as impressive as I remember from when my old band played with them at LYH in December.  It was another energetic performance from an incredibly talented band who possess bags of potential.  They ended an epic set with my personal favourite ‘Different Tune, Different Mood‘, which is perfect for having yourself a little dance to.  We were told that afterwards that The Stroll missed out on qualification for the next round by only one point.  I blame that ridiculous hat that their drummer, Gashy, was wearing for costing them that point.  Of course, because I like them, I was heckling The Stroll throughout their set and they retorted with their usual amusing wit, well played.  Although Gashy did buckle and eventually took that daft hat off!  You can find The Stroll (and listen to their music!!!) on Facebook, Soundcloud and ReverbNation on these links;

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stroll/152650318150277

ReverbNation – http://www.reverbnation.com/thestroll1

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-stroll

You can also follow them on Twitter (@TheStroll1) –  https://twitter.com/#!/TheStroll1

Me with Josh Pringle from The Stroll

The Stroll are competing in another battle of the bands this Friday, this time at Seen on Beaumont Street in Darlington (they get themselves about a bit, don’t they?).  So if you’re not going to Heat 2 of the Coatham Bowl Battle of the Bands, then go to that instead!  You can find more details of that event on Facebook on this link;

http://www.facebook.com/events/320443234651476/

I’ve also got The Stroll headlining my next gig at The Telegraph on Orchard Street in Newcastle on Friday 3rd February.  More details of that gig can be found on an older post on this blog or on Facebook, links below;

My Next Gig (blog) – https://mallazmalcolmwhite.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/my-next-gig-friday-3rd-february-at-the-telegraph/

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/events/162422163865780/

The Telegraph - 3rd February 2012

The three other acts to compete, who I was either too late to see or too fukked to remember, were (I think…) The Blitz, Panda Lasagne and The Method.  Below are some links where you can find and listen to their music without having to like anything you aren’t able to listen to first.

The Blitz (Facebook) – http://www.facebook.com/theblitzsunderland

The Blitz (Myspace) – http://www.myspace.com/staidantheblitz

Panda Lasagne (Facebook) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Panda-Lasagne/26738511357

Panda Lasagne (Soundcloud) – http://soundcloud.com/pandalasagne

The Method (EP on Soundcloud) – http://soundcloud.com/andrewrobinson-2/sets/the-method-5-star-rockin-ep/

And finally, here’s a link to the Facebook event for Heat 2 of the Battle of the Bands at Coatham Bowl in Redcar;

http://www.facebook.com/events/320213488011573/

THE STROLL – SEARCHING (TRACK REVIEW)

Up and coming Durham based band, The Stroll recently released another track to follow up ‘Different Tune, Different Mood‘, so here’s my take on it…

‘Searching‘ has a more mellow vibe than Different Tune, Different Mood’ and again displays some excellent song-writing skills.  Searching is a very well written track and the composition of the music itself is flawless.  The production on this track is of very high standard too.

The Stroll

The difference between Searching and Different Tune, Different Mood shows that The Stroll have plenty of versatility in their style.  The lyrics, yet again, are very impressive.  Josh Pringle does an excellent job on vocals, which create a very spaced out and distinctive tone to the track.  Ben Gash keeps perfect time on the drums and the bass-line provided by Jack Brown is perfectly complimented by the cool guitar licks from Josh and Paul Heslop.

The Stroll are performing this Friday at The Battle of the Bands, held at Coatham Bowl in Redcar.  Entry to this event, Heat 1 of The Battle of the Bands, is priced at £5 on the door and the event is raising money for two charities, TFM Cash for Kids and SANE, so is a really good cause.  So get down to that and show support for a great cause and a great band in the making.

Battle of the Bands 2012

Searching is free to download on Soundcloud.  Click on the following link.

http://soundcloud.com/the-stroll/the-stroll-searching

Also check out The Stroll on Soundcloud and ReverbNation, and like their Facebook page.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO!

I listen to music all of the time and I listen to all sorts of music, new and old, from across almost every genre.  My favourite artists include Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, David Byrne of the Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses and Swede Mason, who I believe should be knighted!

I also listen to a lot of new music, particularly from the North-East because it’s local to me.  So what I’m gonna do is give you some recommendations of what to listen to, based on what I’m listening to these days.  I’ll do my best to cater for different tastes, just because I’m nice like that.

What I’ll do is recommend a handful of acts you may or may not have yet heard of and prattle on a little bit about them.  Then I’ll give you a ten track playlist that will include some of my favourite tracks as well as new stuff worth listening to and then I’ll stick the links to the acts that I have recommended at the bottom.

If you click on any of the highlighted track titles in this blog you will be forwarded to somewhere you can listen to that track online.  Same with highlighted names, they’ll take you somewhere online relative to whatever you’re clicking on.  It’s not rocket science.

The Mojags

To start off with, I highly recommend checking out The Mojags, a young Rock band from North Shields area.

The Mojags performed at The Telegraph for me on December 2^nd.  They have bags of talent and, being so young, have limitless potential.  At my gig they did a brilliant cover of ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix.  This is a band that’s going places so keep an eye out for them.

The Mojags at The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011

In 2010 they won the Teenage Kicks Battle of the Bands.  They are also competing in a Battle of the Bands in Redcar next year.  They are in Heat 2 on Friday 20^th January 2012.  The Battle of the Bands is held at Coatham Bowl in Redcar and entrance fee for any of the heats is £10.  The event is in aid of charity.  Get down for that and show some support for a great band and help raise some money for charity.

The Mojags can be found on Facebook, YouTube and Soundcloud.  I would recommend listening to ‘Ojay‘ if you’re only gonna listen to one; it’s my favourite of the tracks currently available online.

Also check out this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhs_Dkdu2w .  It’s The Mojags video of ‘Sychophant‘, shot as their prize for winning the Teenage Kicks competition.

The Stroll

Another band on the way up is Durham based Alternative Indie Rock band The Stroll, who are a new outfit only started in August.  They’ve only got one track online at the minute ‘Different Tune, Different Mood‘ and you can listen to that on Soundcloud.  It’s a catchy track like, and displays a small portion of the talent that these lads possess.

I saw them perform live at LYH the other week when I played there with Downtown Lester Brown.  Being a brand new band they are still doing quite a few covers but their original stuff is quality.  I particularly liked ‘Searching’, which is apparently about looking for magic mushrooms.  Their choice of covers was a cool blend of things ranging from The Beatles to The Stone Roses.

The Stroll

It’s not just the music that makes The Stroll a great band in the making.  The Stroll have a great vibe and energy and create an electric atmosphere at gigs.  They’re a fun band and their crowd interaction is impressive.  Their singer Josh Pringle has good crack and his patter on the microphone in between tracks is entertaining.  This band has it all and I’m tipping The Stroll to become massive!  They epitomise everything I was after when I set up Downtown Lester Brown.  They are a fun, energetic band with a great vibe and attitude as well as plenty of talent and drive.

The Stroll are also performing in the Battle of the Bands, in Heat 1, on Friday 13th January 2012.

I also have them booked for Friday 3^rd February 2012 at The Telegraph, behind Central Station in Newcastle.  That’ll be £3 in and the wisest investment you’ll ever make.

Look up The Stroll on Facebook and Soundcloud and remember, you heard it heard first!

Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze

If Hip Hop’s your bag, here’s another act with a sense of fun.  Hip Hop duo Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze are an audio-visual spectacle to behold, so I would recommend checking out their videos on YouTube to get the full effect.  The Baron is an emcee time-lord from 1830 and sports a huge tashe, top hat and sunglasses, so you know he’s got a sense of humour, however, he’s also an excellent wordsmith and a born entertainer.

Baron Von Alias

I was put onto Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze by old school mate Nathan Wood, who has his own radio show.  He recommended I listen to ‘Get Wild, Gan Mental’, which is growing on me but I didn’t take kindly to it at first.  I told Nathan on twitter that I wasn’t impressed and The Baron piped up.  After a bit crack on, The Baron said I should give some of his other material a whirl.  I did, and I was impressed.  I blame Nathan for his poor choice in track selection whilst making recommendations.

There are plenty of quality tracks by The Baron and MistaBreeze so check out their YouTube channel.  You’ll enjoy their official videos and their live stuff.  I’m particularly keen on ‘White Noise’.  The Baron and MistaBreeze do make fukkin awesome videos!  I’d also recommend checking out the video of Baron Von Alias performing ‘Phoney’ on Amazing Beats, because I find it really fukkin impressive.

I saw Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze performing live at The Head of Steam in Newcastle the other week and they are an act well worth catching.  For £5 you can see them live at The Riverside this Thursday (15^th December) http://www.facebook.com/events/109965722442103/ .

—-

So that’s three acts for you to check out, now here’s a couple other things that you wanna check out.

The Local Music Show

The Local Music Show presented by Nathan Wood, on Spark Sunderland.

That’s 107FM local radio or can be listened to live online at sparksunderland.com every Sunday at 4pm til 7pm.

Nathan plays music from local bands from across all different kinds of music so give that a listen and you’re bound to hear something that tickles your fancy.  Mix that with a little bit of low brow humour and smut and you’ve got yourself one canny Sunday afternoon’s listening.

Battle of the Bands

As mentioned earlier, there’s a Battle of the Bands going on in Redcar in early 2012.  The competition is being held at Coatham Bowl, in Redcar, every Friday from 13^th January 2012, with the final being held on Friday 9^th March 2012.  The entry fee to these events is £10.

The Mojags and The Stroll are both competing in the Battle of the Bands so get down for their heats and show some support.

Heat 1 – The Stroll – Friday 13th January

Heat 2 – The Mojags – Friday 20th January

Battle of the Bands 2012

Now Here’s My Recommended Ten Track Playlist

Here’s a ten track playlist I recommend listening to.  Click on the song title and you’ll be directed either to a YouTube video or somewhere else online that you can hear the track for free.  Enjoy.

Happy Mondays – Yahoo

Mick Jagger – A Memo from Turner

The Mojags – Ojay (live)

The Stone Roses – Good Times

The Stroll – Different Tune, Different Mood

Swede Mason – Bill Wyman’s Metal Detector

Baron Von Alias & Mistabreeze – Its OK

Public Enemy – What You Need Is Jesus

Gorillaz ft Shaun Ryder – Dare

Flowered Up – Weekender

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed what you’ve listened to and if you’ve got any recommendations let me know because I’m always willing to listen to new things.  Also please share this blog so that other people can hear the acts that I have mentioned and to get a little bit more publicity for the charity Battle of the Bands competition.

Thank you.

Links

The Mojags

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mojags/162283410463944

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-mojags

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMojags

The Stroll

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stroll/152650318150277

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-stroll

Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Baron-Von-Alias/28616761468

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/iamsteesh

Bandcamp – http://baronvonalias.bandcamp.com/

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/burnblockbeats

Spark Sunderland 107FM

http://sparksunderland.com/

Battle of the Bands 2012

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/events/233350486723088/