Band

Midnight Rodeo’s latest release “Thank you for your time” is an ode to the under appreciated worker.

16th Oct 2023 — Leave a comment

‘9 to 5’ if Dolly Parton had a fuzz pedal…

Effortlessly ethereal, and exquisitely other worldly Midnight Rodeo’s new track Thank you for you time’ is an ode to the alienated, underpaid worker. Audibly alluring, a siren song, this is the music your mind listens to as it wanders off from it’s 9-5 reality, a customer is being out of order with you, your boss has just made an inappropriate comment, but you are elsewhere, escaping, dreaming knowing where you are is not where you’ll always be.

Thank You For Your Time

Made up of Midnight Rodeo is Maddy Chamberlain (vocals, tambourine), James McBride (guitar, vocals), William Crumpton (guitar, vocals), Harry Taylor (bass), Ferg Moran (drums), the Midnight Rodeo are a Nottingham based band who formed in 2021. Since then they’ve supported the likes of FEET,Black Doldrums and The Bug Club, establishing themselves as trailblazers in the indie/psychedelic pop scene.

‘Thank you for you time’ introduces a slight departure from the band’s thus far signature West Coast psychedelic stylings as they continue to diversify their sound.A dynamically rich lead guitar line dances around the ethereal vocal melody and driving bassline, all three elements responding to one another intuitively as the track builds through two anthemic choruses to one final heavy metal homage.

Lyrcially, Lead singer Maddy Chamberlain stands in solidarity with under-appreciated junior staff member, anyone that’s ever had to serve a piss-drunk stag party at a nightclub, suffered the cringe-inducing pantomime of a sales job or endured the eye-rolling shenanigans of a David Brent-esque line manager. It’s a vindicating dedication to the individual .

If it were for another era you could imagine them touring with the likes of the Beatles. If the painted people in A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte were playing a few instruments and singing a tune it would sound like “Thank you for you time’.

Escape the 9-5 and go see Midnight Rodeo live…

Live Date
22nd Oct – Nottingham, TBA
28th Oct – Norwich, Last Pub Standing NoGlum
29th Oct – Nottingham, The Chameleon
2nd Nov – Birmingham, The Night Owl 
4th Nov – Bristol, The Crofters Rights 
7th Nov – Hull, Polar Bear Music Club
10th Nov – Leicester, The Big Difference
16th Nov – Portsmouth, The Loft 
17th Nov – Southampton, Heartbreakers
18th Nov – Paris, Supersonic
23rd Nov – London, Sebright Arms
25th Nov – TBA
1st Dec – Leeds, The Royal Park Pub & Cellars
2nd Dec – Manchester, The Peer Hat
7th Dec – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
8th Dec – Sunderland, The Independent
9th Dec – Newcastle, Bobiks

English Teacher release ‘Nearly Daffodils’

11th Oct 2023 — Leave a comment

It may be winter but there will be daffodils soon…

English Teacher-Photo Credit Tatiana Pozuelo

Art Punk tour de Force from Leeds, English Teacher, are back with their latest slice of abstract audio, exploring the brutalise of not prospering from your sacrifices.

Comprised of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth) Douglas Frost (drums, vocals) Nicholas Eden (bass) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar), the quartet have been releasing music under the moniker of ‘English Teacher’ since 2020. Their latest addition being ethereal “Nearly Daffodils”

Lily Fontaine explained: “‘Nearly Daffodils’ is about heartbreak and acceptance of unfulfilled potential. How, no matter how much you may want something, no matter how much effort you may put into something’s growth or development, no matter how beautiful you can envision its fruition; life is a bitch and about as unstoppable as a freight train”.

Nearly Daffodils English Teacher

Water your seeds and watch how the flowers grow. In this life, rife with hustle culture, pushing through and defying boundaries, exceeding expectations effotlessly it is easy to drown in the deluge of those all tending their gardens. You can dig, plant, care and hope but sometimes, there is frost and snow, an unstoppable obstacle in the way of letting you reap with you sow.

English Teacher delve masterfully into the agonising heartache of what may not be in ethereal track, Nearly Daffodils which boasts a radiant melody, full of optimism and wonder whilst the choppy instrumentals introduce the storm of overshadowing into the forecast. There are so many fields, how will you fill them?

English Teacher-Photo Credit Tatiana Pozuelo

How will creativity survive your own success? Look around, haven’t you got everything you wanted? Why is there so much space in a slight gap when the room is already full? That gap, that space, the size of failure, something not yet achieved, one more effort to prove yourself, but will you do it? How? When?

What happened to doing something out of true devotion rather than to keep up with someone else, a glass square on a glass screen, unseeing eyes can still feel mean. We are all so focused, so fascinating, it’s frustrating when it feels as though despite the superglue, the tape the nails and the screws, everything always comes loose. To fall is too feel and to feel is to be alive, failure is not a dead end it is a diversion, it is up to you where you go with it.

“Sometimes I want to make a home on it,

To look between the wheels I’m scared of being under.

I’ve started knitting in the mornings,

I like to hear the birds sing.”

Nearly Daffodils is the cognitive dissonance of what if and what is. It is hopeful, it is mournful ,it is humanity dressed up as an insightful indie song. It is however hard to pigeon hole into just one genre, somewhere in the haze of layered harmonies, and gritty guitar riffs this song wanders the corridors of the mind, a musical remedy for the mist. Flowing seamlessly from euphonious song to arresting spoken word, this track showcases the creative prowess of the quartet as they cartwheel over metamorphic metaphors and breakdown ballads, to produce a lyrical pool to dive into as you explore your own psyche.

English Teacher’s biting social commentary and unique musical soundscapes have certainly positioned the quartet as influential figures within the emerging indie elite.

Join them on their biggest UK Headline Tour to date:

21st Oct – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
22nd Oct – McChuills, Glasgow
23rd Oct – Cluny 2, Newcastle
24th Oct – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (sold-out)
26th Oct – Scala, London
27th Oct – The Louisiana, Bristol (sold-out)
28th Oct – Heartbreakers, Southampton (sold-out)
29th Oct – The Hope & Ruin, Brighton (sold-out)
31st Oct – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
1st Nov – Night & Day Cafe, Manchester (sold-out)

18th Nov – Elsewhere / Zone One, Brooklyn, NY
22nd Nov – Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

6th Oct 2023 — Leave a comment

So this is what it means to be all grown up…

Teen Jesus and Jean Teasers taken by Michelle Pitiris

Doodles in your daily planer, a pen leak in your zoom meeting, ruler drumsticks at grey desktops. When did life get so dull? You swear you used to be fun.

Australian band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers know all about this rude awakening called adulthood, the daunting realisation that you’re on you’re own and all your friends live far away.There’s food in the fridge going out of date and you’ve got bills to pay, but who’s to say you’re no fun anymore?

I Used To Be fun by Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers 2023

Made up of Anna Ryan (guitar and vocals), Scarlett McKahey (guitar), Jaida Stephenson (bass) and Neve van Boxsel (drums) the band are setting the tone for new wave indie pop. Formed during a sleepover when they were all in their mid teens back in 2015 in which the teen friends were watching Richard Linklater’s School of Rock. Their song I Used To Be Fun is an allegory of growing up.

From their latest album I LOVE YOU, I Used To Be Fun utilises jagged vocals and shredded guitar riffs the band dissect the notion of ageing, stripping back the once comforting embrace of childhood for the island of independence only to realise , the choices and decisions we make now impact our own lives and shape our future. Embracing adulthood means embracing the uncertainties and complexities that come with it, as we learn to navigate the intricacies of relationships, career paths, and personal growth. It is a time of transformation, self-reflection, and personal growth, where we come to understand that being an adult is not merely about age, but about taking ownership of our lives, embracing our passions, and charting our own course in this vast and ever-evolving world.

Up for almost anything now

Everything’s too much

Got one foot out the door I guess this is growing up

No excuses or reasons for why I couldn’t come

Should I leave the lights on?“

With an electrifying display of musical prowess and unparalleled harmonies, this talented band captivates audiences with their unique blend of self-deprecating humor and heartfelt songwriting. Their evolved sound has expanded the boundaries of their music, showcasing a newfound confidence that resonates throughout their diverse repertoire.

Their duet with The Grogans on track ‘Salt’ a sound makes strength out of sand after a situation left a soul stranded, scrabbling for something to keep them in place, so beautiful and raw, Salt has depths flooded with both direction and desperation a powerful allegory of building yourself up again, a testament to resilience whilst the title track I ❤ You aches over fixation and unrequited love and the subsequent regret navigated in Never Saw It Coming. Band dynamics, personal relationships and camaraderie all feature strongly, demonstrating that through union, good humour and self awareness can overcome adversity’, that a voice that is heard becomes the most powerful weapon against the disbelievers, sometimes to heal our wounds is to show them.

Salt by Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. 2023

This follows on from the vulnerable elements effortlessly explored their rambunctiously passionate and poignant debut EP Pretty Good For A Girl Band. It lays the foundations for who they are as a band and what they stand for, challenging any preconceived perceptions this band creates their own prophecy.

Escaping the boundaries of gender identity, they are simply the defining sound of the new era of the music industry, a witty two fingers to those that have denied them the voice to their own musical prowess, their auditory abilities simply because who they are does not fit with predetermined ideals.Despite these prejudicial conceptions the EP is not filled with bitter bangers instead using the opportunity to hold up a mirror to the naysayers, trailblazing the way for a constructive conversation that challenges these archaic beliefs that is holding the industry back.

 Scarlett McKahey (guitar) ,Anna Ryan (guitar and vocals), Jaida Stephenson (bass) and Neve van Boxsel (drums) make up Teen Jesus and Jean Teasers. Credit to Ruby Boland.
Miss Your Birthday by Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers 2022

One of my favourite tracks on this EP the infectious ‘Miss Your Birthday’. This anthem is not just about catchy beats and addictive melodies, it’s a powerful reminder of finding strength when you feel powerless. With their unbreakable bond, undeniable passion, and raw talent, this band is about to blow your mind! Despite the energetic elevation of the track it covers deep distress felt by those facing independence and isolation for the first time, evocative of the lockdowns of 2020 as well as the daunting planet of adulthood.

‘I need a break from living near the freeway

All the high beams keep me up too late

Don’t take this the wrong way it’s not to do with you but I’m running out of clothes and I need a clean bathroom

Need a break from living out a suitcase‘

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers captured by Michelle Pitiris

Guitarist Scarlett McKahey explained that it was a haomge to homesickness, the fine edge between ‘wanting to be back at your Mum’s cosy house without abandoning your new ‘grown up’ life. “. Sometimes to go home does not mean to give in, it allows you to get back to your roots so you can grow again.

Navigating adulthood often feels like being trapped in an intricate escape room, where the clues are written in a language you struggle to decipher. Despite having a place to call your own, you find yourself living out of a suitcase in your childhood bedroom, longing for the comfort of your mother’s cooking. Your housemates, who often seem to be in a perpetual state of chaos, add to the overwhelming journey of adulthood. Although you may have convinced yourself that you’re ready to be a grown-up, deep down, you realize that you’re still a child trapped in a 20’s something’s body, trying to make sense of it all. It can be quite overwhelming at times, so sometimes you have to miss someone’s birthday, if only you could miss your own.

Since 2015 the band has built up quite a repertoire full of soul wrenching ballads, energetic anthems and choral inspired pop classics. Supporting Foo Fighters in Melbourne in December they are on to BIG things and should be on your playlist, especially if you’re not quite ready to grow up yet and you’re definitely still fun…