The Killers, Train and Boddingtons Chimney!

Two nights out in a row at gigs last month! I thought those days were over, but apparently not, saw The Killers play Manchester arena on Monday 18/02 and Train at the Apollo on Tuesday 19/02, here's the lowdown.

 

 

Night 1: The good lady and I made our way to the Killers gig on Monday night. It was the first time we had been to the arena in Manchester since arriving back to the UK from our nine year overseas 'lost weekend', the obvious thing we noticed was that where the iconic Boddingtons brewery had once stood for the best part of two centuries, there was now a car park and a Travelodge, well actually its a travelod, the g and the e conspicuous by their absence. Honestly, you turn your back for nine years, come back and they've knocked down boddies chimney! As my daughter pointed out when I gave her the bad news, they have literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot! Even though we were out of the country when it was bulldozed, I'm still amazed that this sad news didn't filter out to the colonies!

We arrived too late to check out the support act, although that's not strictly true, as we heard a little of them from the bar queue! This was after we were through the doors and Mrs Baggers handbag had been thoroughly checked, quite right too, never know what these women are carrying into venues! Always makes me chuckle, there are fellas walking in with who knows what in their pockets, yet the ladies get the treatment in case their choice of lip gloss should offend the travelling troubadours! Needless to say we avoided the merch stand, which at 25 sheets a pop for t-shirts, was making a killing, pun intended!

The Killers took to the stage at 9pm sharp, just as predicted by the missus! and what a sound, rocking the house within the first few bars of the first song. Mr Flowers throat was certainly back on form, this being the rescheduled gig which was cancelled in December. The guys ripped through a boatload of stomping tunes before a couple of treats came in mid way through the gig. First, in the shape of a singalongamanchester 'Don't look back in Anger', tipping a hat to the brothers Grimm aka Manchester band, Oasis.  A bigger treat was the appearance of Bernard Sumner, he of New Order fame, introduced by Brandon as 'The Sheriff of Manchester' they dueted on a New order track called 'Crystal'. Not one we were familiar with to be honest, but its video is apparently is where The Killers took their name from. Learn something new everyday! The gems just kept coming in the shape of 'Read my mind', 'Runaways', 'Mr.Brightside'. I came relatively late to this band, only really getting into them via Brandon's solo album, 'Flamingo' about three years ago, then backtracking through the Killers stuff. Mrs B has been into them from day one, so I'm grateful that she turned me on to them , this was a great gig and The Killers go straight into my virtual list as one of the best live bands I've seen, I would highly recommend getting to see them next time around. We beat the solid traffic heading home by nipping down past Strangeways and out via Cheetham Hill, home in time for a nightcap, result!

Train and Gin Wigmore

Night two: Monday 19th, Train at Manchester Apollo, picked up my daughter, and headed into town. After a beer and some fine food in Chinatown we took a cab out to Ardwick,  I strolled into the venue as her bag was thoroughly searched for suspect lip gloss! After we had checked out the merch stand, which at 15 quid, was far better value than the Killers, we gathered a couple of beers and headed upstairs to the circle, the bar was very quiet up there, note to self for next time, 'use upstairs bar!'. We were shown to our seats by a very kind lady with a torch, old school or what!
The seats were in a excellent spot, left of and approximately 40 feet from the stage. Result! The support act was in full swing, and what a performance. A young lady by the name of Gin Wigmore was up there, rocking the house along with her fine band of merry men. Kiwi Gin is new to me but I bought her CD (Gravel and Wine) on the way out, I never, ever buy support merch, so that's a good indicator of how good she is, check out her stuff.
I went to this gig because my daughter is a big fan of the boys from San Francisco and she asked me if I fancied it. So glad I did, Train delivered an awesome set, very different to the Killers, more showbiz to be honest, but extremely good value all the same,  a hardworking band who go the whole nine yards to ensure their audience is fully part of the gig.
Lead singer Pat Monahan has a great voice, even though he was obviously struggling at times with a sore throat in this gig and had been told rest it, he delivered a great performance, highlight of which was when he put down the microphone altogether and sang to the Apollo unaided, very, very impressive! Drops of Jupiter, Save Me San Francisco, Hey Soul Sister, Drive By were the obvious gems, but also Mermaids, Marry me and Bruises for which Gin Wigmore joined the band for a duet were also excellent. This was a great night out, thoroughly enjoyed it, not least of all because I rode a double decker bus back into town for the first time in more years than I care to remember, it was an electric driven double decker at that...Go Manchester!

I received an email from PRSformusic recently advising that they now have a overseas music reporting tool on their website, they also invited me to check it out as I've had issues previously logging known international performances of Summats work, TV, Radio etc. Good to see that they are making an effort even if its still only tiny steps, I will certainly check out the functionality and report back! Or at least I will once I work out why my windows 7 desktop isn't able to login to the PRS site, even though my login works fine from the XP laptop! One senses there is a move from PRSformusic to 'put its house in order', that would certainly be appreciated. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, all radio stations are now be able to provide full information on ALL tracks they have played, there is no need for 'sample days', anyway, rant over for now! Watch this space.

Until next time, take care and keep smiling

Baggers

Christmas Songs & other musings

The festive season is fast approaching, every shop window is being decorated & every store is playing the seasonal songs we all love to hear.

The Christmas song genre is obviously something very close to our hearts, especially as our own festive offering has been very good to us since its release in 2010, it has brought us mainstream TV airplay in Australia & made it to radio both in the UK and United States. 'All I Want Is Christmas'  was inspired by our love of the really great festive tunes, it seemed to us that no-one wanted to write good new ones anymore, we set out to both deliver a good old sing-along Christmas tune whilst paying homage to the great Christmas songwriters, time will tell if we achieved that but the single is going extremely well online again this year.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/all-i-want-is-christmas-single/id402973211

All I Want Is Christmas

In December we'll be heading to the Apollo Manchester to see Squeeze in concert. Been looking forward to this gig since about 1978! Never got to see them in their heyday, but I'm sure they will be worth the wait. Difford and Tilbrook are genuinely one of the finest songwriting partnerships to come out of the UK since Lennon and McCartney & deserve their place in the history of British music. Additionally, every night's entire set is being recorded and made available immediately as part of a 3 CD set which also includes the Packet Of 4 EP  - Squeeze's first set of new studio recordings in 15 years! Now so far as I'm aware, that's a first, who said the old brigade can't innovate! Pics to follow in the next blog. Will be great to be back at the Apollo, it has been a mainstay of the Manchester music scene for well over 30 years and has an atmosphere that somehow the bigger venues in the city aren't able to replicate, we've had some great nights over the years in the 1930s art deco former cinema which is also now a listed building, but especially gutted to have missed The Buzzcocks reunion gig there in May this year.

At the opposite end of the career spectrum, we are looking forward to seeing a fine young band later  this month. Loor a Los Heroes are a four piece indie band hailing from Newton-le-Willows and Ashton, we'll be seeing them at a gig in Warrington, I'm sure they are destined for a big future.
Their latest EP is excellent, check them out at:
http://looralosheroes.webs.com/
Whilst on the subject of new talent, please take time to check out an awesome new young female artist, A me B hails from Golborne and is an exceptional talent who can be heard regularly on BBC Introducing, Rinse FM and most Manchester radio stations, this young lady has a huge future in front of her, please check out her music at:
http://www.ameb.co.uk/

One gig we didn't get to see in November was The Killers, Brandon Flowers unfortunately had to leave the stage four songs into their first night in Manchester, he was suffering from a sore throat. The gig on the following night, which we had tickets for, was also cancelled. All's well that ends well though as the guys have rescheduled for February and it should be top night!

Another treat coming up in December will be a visit to Manchester's Christmas markets, this annual event is something that has grown and grown over the past decade, and is now arguably the best in the country, definitely worth a visit if you're in town and looking for pressies!

 http://www.christmasmarkets.com/UK/manchester-christmas-market.html

On the subject of pressies, there are plenty to be found at a great little online shop, lilyesque.com are offering 50% discount on all items to fans & readers of The Summats blog, be sure to use the discount code HO2012 at the checkout to get your bargains!
http://www.lilyesque.com/

Big news for the band as we now have two female vocalists, Becky Dawson has joined The Summats & will make her debut on the next single, due in June 2013. Becky has been rehearsing with us for the past few weeks and has co-written a track called 'Anymore' along with Sam, Toe and myself, a real band effort this one which the girls will take lead vocals on. The next EP track listing is almost finalised and we are looking forward to getting the songs out there for you as soon as we are able.

So much to pack into the blog this time, but hopefully got it all in there. Have a fantastic time in the run up the big day on the 25th, hope Santa brings everything you hope and all the musical treats you can listen to without your ears busting!

If you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment below, if you didn't.....go write on someone else's blog!..lol

Till next time, take care and keep smiling.

Baggers

 

In the studio

So we're back in the studio, working a new single, which may become the first track of an EP, or the first track of an album! Who knows, whatever way it turns out, its good to be finally producing some music again. The primary holdup has been my move from Australia back to the UK last year, takes longer than you would imagine to get yourself settled, with all your stuff around you and in the frame of mind to create!

We have a heap of tunes in demo state, finishing them is the problem! The track we are currently working on is called 'Second Hand Store', originally written about two years ago, as you can tell, we dont work quickly! In fact, since we wrote this track, Libya has had a revolution, Qatar have been awarded a soccer World Cup and I moved back to the Northern hemsphere! Almost at final mix stage, will let you know when its out there.

Very sad news to hear of the death of Robin Gibb. For anyone who may think that the Bee Gees were all teeth and big hair, should check out what brilliant songwriters the brothers were, producing hits for both themselves & countless other artists across five decades. One of the finest musical talents Britain has ever produced, he will be sadly missed.

Logged into our band account this morning & lo and behold, some new royalties had arrived... this is from a new source called iTunes match, apparently a royalty payment is due when our tracks are played through someones itunes match account. Although a small payment, this was unexpected and much appreciated, also another example of how Tunecore & iTunes are helping independant musicians to get their music heard and ensure royalties are forthcoming when they do. Well done guys, now if only PRSformusic was so efficient!

I have a particular guitar melody, written about 15 years ago, which refuses to leave my brain! Its one of those tracks that I always play whenever I pickup the guitar. I'm finally going to get around to writing a lyric for it, it's amazing how a tune can just stay in your head, hanging around like it owns the place until you get around to finishing it! Its a lovely melody  and really does deserve a good lyric, like a little orphan, its just waiting for someone to love it, will let you know when I've finally finished it.

In December this year we'll be paying a visit to Manchester Apollo, along with our significant others, to see Squeeze, one of our all time favourite bands, and if that wasnt enough, they will be supported by Paul Heaton, ex of The Housemartins & The Beautiful South, more recently solo star and landlord of the Kings Arms pub in Salford!. Saw The Beautiful South at GMex in Manchester during the heady days of their success in the 1990's, never seen Squeeze though and excited doesnt even begin to cover it! They delivered a huge chunk of the soundtrack to our youth! So big night at the Apollo followed by a some appropriate refreshments in the city coming up, good times!

Check out the new video on Youtube which was filmed in Kent during winter 2011, the song was originally written in 2009 and was actually the first track we worked on after getting back together to write some new stuff after a gap of twenty years!. It was released as part of the 'May Street Bridge' EP in March 2011, still one of my favourite songs of ours, hope you like it. Until next time, take care & keep smiling :)

Baggers