Bayboards How I Wish I Was Cool Review

Do you ever feel as though you are screaming ‘Look at me! Listen to me !’ Just to realise you are whispering to yourself in a dark room. You have so many stories to share and songs to sing but no one is listening.

Bayboards explore this concept of invisibility in their latest single, How I Wish I Was Cool, a guitar infused banger accompanied with a fun video, filmed in their home city, Manchester. It’s a slow burner as it settles you into the song, exploring deeper themes of covering up your true self in order to fit in and still failing to do so. The build up before the anthemic chorus is one that bubbles in your chest, this is a song that was made to be sung- I must admit I was belting the chorus the second time through.

Bayboards – How I Wish I Was Cool (Music Video) June 28 2024

How I Wish I Was Cool is like a bedroom floor anthem that wouldn’t feel out of place at a summer festival this year. You can see the bouncing heads and mosh pits forming in the chorus you can see people causing concern for their housemates as they scream this, falling to their knees on the bedroom floor. This is a song that demands attention and will hopefully be the reason Bayboards finally start gaining the recognition they deserve.

The video for this track is a follow on from a series of music videos where the band are caught in a simulation, trapped by The Mystical World of Bart. In this video they have escaped the simulation but are forced to function as ‘normal human beings’ in order to prepare for their headline show at Manchester academy 2 in November. Get tickets for that here!

We all feel like outsiders but what about when we feel like outsiders to our own lives? stood at the window watching ourselves. You feel as though you are evaporating from your own existence, only worth something if someone is watching your performance. What is the point in your talent when it can not be perceived by others?

Bayboards

Wishing you were cool enough to feel seen by others, to be cared for by others. I wonder how many of us think, “I have so much to offer, what will it take for you to turn your head in my direction? I am searching for that spotlight but it is not looking to shine on me”, but these are thoughts we bury deep, hoping that silence will disguise them and we will shine just as those who are deemed ‘cool’ do, but we all share these thoughts, perhaps its time we started talking about them, perhaps its time we started listening.

What does cool even really mean anyway? Who determines what is popular? If you have a passion, if you have a talent you should pursue it, even if you are made to feel as though you are living an invisible existence, make the noise, drive the dream and live for yourself first.

Speaking about the song the band said “I want people to take whatever they want from the song, it will be unique to everyone’ and isn’t that just the magic of music, everyone’s ears are different but that feeling of union is always the same.

I think fans of this song will also like Get You Down and Moving to America, also by Bayboards which both boast a bouncy beat and follow and booming chorus. Bayboards make songs that boast stories, packing lyrics with meaning and a beat you can move to.

Bayboards certainly are gaining a reputation as being more than ‘cool’ with their energetic live shows fuelled with passion and full of power. On record they offer similar sounds to the likes of Circa Waves, The Black Keys and Sea Girls. Experience this banger and many others live at their up coming gig this October in London. Find out more here.

Easy Life To Change their name after legal case.

Easy Life by JACK BRIDGLAND

Easy Life have not had an easy run of it lately. Forming in 2017, Easy Life made up of Murray Matravers (vocals/keyboards), Samuel Hewitt (guitar), Oliver Cassidy (guitar), Lewis Berry (bass), and Jordan Birtles (drums), released their debut album ‘life’s a Beach’ in 2021 and their second ‘Maybe in another life’ in 2022, both surging to second place on the UK top charts, seeing them stand on stages at Reading, Leeds and Not festival, all a true testament to their musical prowess and their connection to their fans. Sadly their sub sequential success has been a factor in their fall.

Recently they came under fire from conglomerate,easyGroup, owners of easy Jet, who claimed that Easy Life were ‘brand thieves’ and filed a lawsuit claiming their name infringed on a trademark. On October 10th the band surrendered their name and put on an impromptu farewell tour. Although this is goodbye to Easy Life as we know them it is not goodbye forever with the band vowing to return in the future, same faces, same sound just with a different name change.

Frontman Murray Matravers shared a statement on instagram in response to the situation,’Sadly, it seems that justice is only available to those who can afford it. We simply don’t have the funds to access a fair trial in the high court. Not to mention the fact that this would likely rattle on through to 2025, and with this hanging over us we wouldn’t be able to release any music in the meantime. Our careers, and indeed our lives, would be on hold’

Their final song as Easy life, titled “Trust Exercises,” was released on Friday the 13th. It serves as a heartfelt tribute to their friends, family, and the power of friendship. Throughout the song, Easy life embraces the spirit of resilience in the face of adversity, defying obstacles with a resolute determination. “Trust Exercises” encourages listeners to seek the positive amidst difficult times and to find solace in the midst of chaos. It is a reminder to focus on the good and to always search for the metaphorical sun, even during the darkest storms.

trust exercises by easy life

The band shared the release in an instagram with the caption: “‘Trust Exercises’ with a caption explaining that the song has been written over 6 years ago. Since then it’s faced countless changes/edits/tweaks. The band explained how they ‘were always waiting for the right moment to drop [Trust Exercises] but it never felt right and new material always got priority”, but it seems there is a strong silver lining in this case and it comes in the form of this song.

This may be the last we have heard from Easy Life but the boys will return.

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

‘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