New Wheelie Bag night!

Deejay Wheelie Bag returns with a monthly shindig in Old Street. 

Good news for all you Wheelie Baggers, Denys has a new regular monthly night at The Old Fountain on Baldwin Street EC1V 9NU, just off Old Street on the first Sunday of each month. After a successful try out on 23^rd March, the new night begins on 7^th April and you can expect the usual fun & games, pound shop prizes plus of course, a fabulous selection of music.  And for those of you who like a fine selection of ales, the pub comes highly recommended by CAMRA.  For more info on Deejay Wheelie Bag click here. http://www.djwheeliebag.co.uk

Photo by Dave Edwards.

Going to a Jojo! *

 Secret Affair unleash Soho Dreams in Soho!

Wednesday 13^th March saw Secret Affair launch the album Soho Dreams to a specially invited crowd at Madame Jojos in Brewer Street in the traditional mod playground of Soho. Ian Page and Dave Cairns’ current line up played a selection of tracks from the new album plus a few classics from back in the day thrown in at the end. Among the crowd of assembled music press and fans were Purple Heart Simon Stebbing, Long Tall Shortys Tony Perfect and Acid Jazzs’ Eddie Piller. There was also news of a new single taken from the album, All The Rage which sees Secret Affairs sound brought bang up to date with a pumped Motown beat, lashings of brass and plenty of keyboards. Add to that a great instrumental take on Brian Augers Black Cat with Andy Fairclough letting loose on the Hammond, it’s a fine addition to the bands previous recordings. Click here for a clip of Secret Affair performing Dance Master on the night.

                                      Ian Page and Dave Cairns. Photo by Dave Edwards.

                                          Ian Page. Photo by Dave Edwards.

*A big thanks to Well Suspect for the title!

The Godfathers – Jukebox Fury - Godfathers Recordings

 First new studio album since 1995’s Afterlife.

It’s all looking good for The Godfathers, with a support slot on The 
Stranglers tour and a mighty fine new 12 track album released at the start of March.  I love the title Jukebox Fury, already my contender for album title of the year. Let Your Hair Hang Down opens the album, it’s low down and dirty and if Bolan had lasted long enough to take in punk, I could imagine him doing something similar.  If I Only Could is more poppier, there’s a Byrds-esque twang to Del Bartles guitar in the middle.
Next up is Primitive Man which is classic Godfathers all the way, a great guitar riff with Peter Coyne spitting out the words with a growl and is followed by last years download single The Outsider, this time there’s a great organ riff throughout, as Coyne’s vocal menaces like he means it. And you just know that he does.
The only cover on the album is a beefed up take on Link Wray’s I’m Branded, all twanging, brooding surf guitar while A Can Of Worms veers towards Squeeze territory with a vocal delivery similar to Chris Difford.
Another download single Back Into The Future follows with more hypnotic, killer guitar riffs,  before I Can’t Sleep Tonight throws a touch of The Ramones into the mix.
Mary Baby nods towards West Coast 60’s pop with a twist of psychedelia thrown in for good measure, and Theme To The End Of The World echoes back to those great spaghetti western film scores.  The Man In The Middle is straight ahead garage rock and grows with each play before the album closes with Thai Nights which could easily pass for John Lennon.  The Godfathers have always been a straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll band, never afraid to hide from their influences preferring to embrace and build upon them. Thankfully, that hasn’t changed, this album is a testament to that and long may it continue. 

The album is available from the following:-

Cargo Records :- http://www.cargorecords.co.uk/release/20908

I-Tunes :-http://bit.ly/jukeboxfuryitunes 

Sainsbury's :- http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/The-Godfathers/Jukebox-Fury/product.html?product=E11197513 

& all usual outlets. 

For the latest Godfathers news, live Tour dates, other info, please visit The Godfathers NEW & only OFFICIAL website on:-http://godfathers.uk.com/ 

The James Hunter Six – Minute By Minute - Fantasy

James Hunter returns with a stunning new album.

Unbelievably, it’s been five years since James Hunters last album but the wait has been more than worth it.  The former Howlin' Wilf, now performing as The James Hunter Six, has for his first album recorded Stateside, drafted in the skills of Gabriel Roth, co founder of Daptone Records whose production has beefed up James’ authentic old school sound.
First track Chicken Switch sounds like a lost Bobby Bland recording from the vaults of Duke, an uptempo R&B dancer that I’d have as a single all day long. Title track Minute by Minute follows and slows the pace down with James' rasping vocals heading towards Otis Redding territory, interspersed with the horn section and keyboard.  The horns on Drop On Me gives it a James Brown feel, while Heartbreak reminds me of Billy Stewarts' Summertime with it’s subtle guitar riff in the background.
One Way Love brings the tempo up again and you can hear the Daptone sound all over it and is followed nicely by Goldmine. 
Let The Monkey Ride has an early Ska feel to it while Gypsy borrows the rhythm from The Champs Tequila which is no bad thing in my book, in fact I’d have this on the b-side of Chicken Switch! 
Slowing the pace down again for So They Say, a song that highlights James’s ability to keep the instrumentation simple but effective, a little riff here, a blast of saxophone there and a spacey keyboard throughout.  
Nothin’ I Wouldn’t Do has more of the same with a twangy guitar break thrown in for good measure. On Look Out there’s a great keyboard sound giving it a slightly sinister feel before the album ends with If Only I Knew, a simple and lovely ballad.  James Hunter has again delivered the goods with this album, but then you just knew that he would, it's full of warmth and soul, with nods to the great soul artists of the past. But this is very much an album of a great soul singer of the present.   

Already released Stateside, it’s available here on 25^th March and he’ll be playing the Islington Assembly Hall on 28^th March. There may be a vinyl edition too, if so I can't see me taking this off the turntable for a long time.
For more info on James Hunter click here. http://www.jameshuntermusic.com/home/