Feeder – Leeds Academy – 7/11/08

My first visit to the recently reopened venue, and I have to say that I was really impressed with the building and the sound quality. Looks like it should turn out to be a great asset to the Leeds music scene.
This aside the support band tonight were The Chemists who played along side a large florescent sign stage right. This however was the only thing for me that glowed about them. Whilst they had an obviously confident attitude and few catchy riffs, they were for the most part a pretty bog standard sounding indie band, the likes of which pollute the British music scene only slightly less then the manufactured company controlled pop rubbish you hear everywhere. All of the songs sounded the same and blurred into one noise, and the stage performance left me watching the screens behind the bar showing upcoming gigs. The sound, whilst it was never going to be as good as then main act, was loud and had constant fuzz through out the set. I admit there is nothing the band could have done about this but I don’t think it took much away from the songs. Feeder then took to the stage to reputes applauses and all thoughts of the support act were gone. The band were tight and defiantly on top form. I have to admit that this is the first time I’ve really listened to Feeder for a few years and this show made me wonder why. The new songs sounded strong and seemed to get a good if a little mute response from the crowd, but energy levels on the stage never dropped. The sound was sharp and clear with excellent tone and tuning on both the instruments and the vocals. They played an acoustic song from the new album, the name of which escapes me, that I could see becoming a very cool sing-along number in future sets. The real winners were the songs from ‘Echo Park’. These were the songs that everyone sang and the majority of the crowd danced to ‘Buck Rodgers’ was sung so loud by the crowd Grant needn’t have bothered, ‘We Can’t Rewind’ went down in a very similar manor. Despite, or possibly because of, the band having been booed earlier when it was joked, ‘We’re not playing that one tonight, you have to move on sometime you know.’ The second encore and final song was the one everyone knows, ‘Just A Day’. The crowd sang so loud you could probably here them in Morisons across the road, and what had been a rather ‘tidy’ pit at the front of the stage erupted right to the very back of the room, even beyond the sound desk.The set ended the band seemed to be on a high and the crowd most defiantly were. A great night. If you like this type of music, or are a fan that has never seem them play, Go!

Captain Backfire – Bar Vida Selby Friday 17/10/08

The first band I saw this evening, arriving late, were The Highs. A band whom are friends with the Backfire boys, but I have not seen before. They were, from what I saw at least, a fairly standard sounding rock group, but a good one. They payed a high (no pun intended) energy set of songs and were very tight, professional, and most importantly entertaining. The original songs I didn’t know but the writing sounded strong and the band were obviously enjoying themselves as much as the crowd were enjoying the performance.
Captain Backfire were tonight playing to a packed Bar Vida, and this seemed to lift their performance. A few of their friends were also present, getting involved in singing and clapping along, which helped lift the rest of the crowd even more.
The band themselves played well and sounded tight, if you didn’t know they had not played together for at lest two moths before this gig, you would not have guessed. They played there usual set but with some songs given refreshing facelifts in their last rehearsals before they headed back to their various universities. On stage they worked well together and didn’t appear to have the usual problem of finding places to stand. Richard and Reece interchanging in the guitar parts sounded great and helps with the various feels of the songs, Richard having a cool controlled style and Reece being more lose and impromptu. Eddie and Chris, on drums and bass respectively, were tight and helped drive the songs forward with a kick. Joe on vocals was up to his usual high standards, whilst Greg helped mix things up with some fantastic trumpet playing. The whole band were however let down by the sound system, probably only usually used for dance style music, which struggled to cope with the high volume songs and was inadequate on the slower songs when the vocals are supposed to stand out.
The crowd however seemed to enjoy the whole thing and cheered the band back for an on-core of ‘Good Friday’ which they didn’t want to play but as Joe said, “For the Tradition.”
Check them out here

Goldblade - Rio's - Leeds - 17.10.08

Goldblade took to the stage opening with ‘Jukebox Generation’ and playing loud fast and with an amazing amount of energy. They Started as they meant to go on! The who set must have been audiable downstairs with the crowd singing every line with lead singer John Robb and dancing to every beat. The second song ‘Strictly Hardcore’ was greeted with an outburst of ‘Hardcore Dancing’ from a few members at the front of the stage stopping the pit, but only for that one song. On stage the band were tight and perfectly in time even whe various members of the crowd had hold of the mic singing the lead vocals. ‘Riot. Riot. Riot’ saw the female contingent of the audience invited to take to the stage and join in. The ‘Riot’ sign was also present, after a short stoppage to retrieve it from underneath the drum riser. The band ended the set with ‘Fighting in the Dancehalls’ and to the casual observer the mass of people at the front of the stage may have looked like a fight, but the band played on regardless, John Robb jumped into the crowed and the band ended with the same energy and commitment they started with.
If you live in the Leeds or York area and didn’t see them check them out at Fibbers, York this Thursday (23/10/08).

Bank Holiday with the Backfire boys

Captain Backfire played The Thack South Milford last Monday (5th May) at a fairly well attended gig. They played what seemed a tight Acoustic set consisting of mainly covers with a few of their own songs thrown in. The sounds levels of this part of the set were balanced but could have been louder as people could be heard talking over the band.
The second set they played was full band and didn’t seem to go so well. ‘How Much it Hurts’ seemed to be at a lower tempo to usual, and ‘Loose Change’ was so fast it lost its funk. The audience did seem to enjoy themselves however and joined in with the songs when required. Also forcing the band to play ‘Good Friday’ as they had decided to play it only on request, the singing as they returned for an encore planned only to contain a cover of Jemeriquies ‘Canned Heat’ did just that.
The band had a lot of energy and seemed up for the gig but just didn’t seem tight or well rehearsed, which after the performance of the week before was a disappointment.

Captain Backfire – Manchester Battle of the Bands Final Jabez Clegg 27/04/08

Although the band only finished fourth out of five this was one of the best shows I have ever seen them put on. Encouraged by the fans who had traveled to support them the band seemed to feed off the crowed and use the energy in the room to lift the performance to another level.
A well rehearsed set, starting with ‘Blue Room’ consisting of the usual numbers and ending with ‘I’ll Be Waiting’, sounded tight and all the band members were on top of their game. Everyone was giving it their all and it showed, Eddie and Chris in the rhythm section sounded as if they couldn’t have been blown apart by a nuclear bomb, the guitars were interchanging with the smoothness of silk, the solos really showing what Reece and Richard are capable of whilst fitting tastefully with the rest of the track, Greg on trumpet was on fire and especially picked out by the judges for praise. Singer Joe seemed to get some strange comments about his ‘lack of edge’ although its had to see how you can have ‘edge’ singing to the laid back style of music the band play. Personally I though his stage presence was dominating, it seemed as if the crowed was in the palm of his hand. His voice sounded as good as it ever has.
The crowd, having been told stop chanting the bands name in the bar downstairs, were in full voice chanting as the band took to the stage, singing and dancing throughout the set, and cheering the judges’ comments.
On the night I do think the best band (Leeds based funk band 16 Days) won and the level of competition was high, but it seemed a little strange that the other bands finished exactly in the order they played.
Check Captain Backfire out at The Thack South Milford on Bank Holiday Monday (5th May) and look out for videos of the Manchester performance appearing on youtube in the next few days.

The Manikees and Captain Backfire Rio’s Leeds 19th April 2008

Captain Backfire take to the stage and play a tight set with very little chatting between songs, except to dedicate each individually to their friend (and lead singer of Kinch) Chris who is in the audience. Looking relaxed and dancing slightly more then usual (this may have been because they were playing mainly to family and friends) they play all the usual numbers and new song ‘How Much It Hurts’, a video of which can be found bellow. As a warm up for Sundays Battle of the Bands Final this gig was sound and leaving the stage they seemed happy with the performance.
The Manikees then took to the stage and the crowed had still not increased. They played a solid upbeat set of inde-rock highlights of which included ‘Jenny’s Place’ and ‘She’s on the Dancefloor’. Their energy was outstanding considering the lack of audience and they just looked as if they were enjoying playing for themselves as much as for the crowed. I personally felt a little sorry for them, a good band that had traveled from Scotland to play to an empty room. Check out their myspace - www.myspace.com/themanikees.The sound engineer did a great job and the levels were spot on for both acts.

Captain Backfire – How Much It Hurts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfao-zm8gcQ

Good Friday with Hippy Van, Phish Tacko, and Captain Backfire at Bar Vida

Hippy Van open the evening with an extremely short set cut short due to technical difficulties (breaking their synth). The three songs they do play however sound fairly strong despite it being hard to tell weather the singer is singing or eating the microphone. Their only young and with a bit more experience (and luck) might turn out to be a decent listen.
Phish Tacko follow and the crowd starts to pick up as they cruse through a tight set made up of Indie covers and their own material, all of which is tight and well rehearsed. They know exactly where the other band members are going and move effortlessly through the songs whilst still giving enough to the crowd to get a reaction.
After a quick change around, not even enough time to buy a drink, Captain Backfire take to the stage. They kick off with the vocal intro to ‘Good Friday’, the crowd (mainly their friends) singing straight from the off, before launching into their ‘Aint No Sunshine/Jam’ intro and ‘Blue Room’. Its easy to see at this early stage the band are up for tonight and are feeding of the audience, the performance is at a level I haven’t seen from them for a long time. The John Mayor cover ‘Good Love’ followed with the audience joining in the choruses, and then straight into their latest song. This shows how far the band have come in the year they’ve been together, the music is tight and they play for the most part at least facing the audience, a massive achievement considering that this is the first time the whole band have played this together. Proceedings are then slowed briefly with ‘Adaptations’ which whilst slower doesn’t kill the atmosphere, whilst showing the writing skills of the band and lining them up for new cover (again unplayed as a whole band) J.K’s ‘Canned Heat’ this is again fairly tight and gets the crowd back to singing and dancing. Lead singer Joe then announces, ‘As it’s Good Friday… well go on then’, the band launch into the song of the same name and are rewarded with a small but highly energetic pit erupting in front of them. After prompting the first line they don’t need to or indeed bother to sing the choruses, they wouldn’t be heard for the audience singing back to them anyway. They end on ‘I’ll Be Waiting’ which again gets an excellent response singing and dancing from the audience. The last two songs being their best known gives the night ending it deserves. By the end of the song members of the audience are on stage congratulating the band.
The energy level kept up throughout the night is outstanding and its easy to see everyone has enjoyed themselves.
Well done to Joe and Ray who between them got an out standing sound from the skeleton of equipment available too them.
If you missed this you must be either deaf (in which case well let you off), or stupid.

Stiff Little Fingers - Leeds Met - 6.3.08

The opening notes to ‘Go For It’ ring out the crowd starts to sing along to this instrumental song and the last stragglers rush in from the bar. Minutes later Stiff Little Fingers take to the stageopening with ‘(It’s a) Long Way To Paradise (From Here)’ whilst at the front of the stage the crowd go wild, and continue to do so for the first three songs which are played without a break. The sound quality is unbelievable and the bands enthusiasm and energy is amazing, despite lead singer Jake Burns having turned 50 two weeks ago. This band have been going for 30 years and its obvious to see, they know the songs inside out and pick a set which includes all of the crowd pleasers and the songs they enjoy the most.
Part way through the set they pause for Jake to tell us about when The Specials used to play the next song ‘Doesn’t Make It Alright’ and people used to tell them it was ‘great they played that Stiff Little Fingers cover’ (it was The Specials originally for those who don’t know). The crowd then breaks down into a strange mixture of pogoing and skanking for different parts of the song, the band look as if they love it. ‘Barbed Wire Love’ also provides a great moment when the slow bridge of the song sees the crowd stop jumping around and raise their lighters in the air and start waving their arms, moving seamlessly to going wild when the song kicks back in again.
The first part of the set comes to a close and the band leaves the stage to cries of ‘Oh lay, Oh lay, Oh lay, Fingers, Fingers’. They return and engage in the mammoth ‘Johnny Was’ with the whole room singing.Having now seen this band for the last three years running its obvious why they are still going and that they are most defiantly ‘Still Burning’!

Jimmy Eat World – The Roundhouse London 3rd March 08

Anxious fans gather in front of the stage, hoping that Jimmy Eat World will be better then the support band who have just left the stage after playing 34 minutes of uninspiring synthesizer ‘rock’ which lacked any punch and didn’t even involve a bass guitar player. Trust me if you missed them you really were better of then those who stood through them.

Anyway…The lights go down and J.E.W take to the stage launching into the first song, the crowd go wild… well for 20 seconds or so and then they just stand looking at the stage doing very little, a process repeated for most of the night. J.E.W however play extremely well and deserve more of a reaction. The size of the room also means that you can practically see the whites of their eyes and it’s clear to see that this extra date on the end of the tour was not too much for the band who are clearly enjoying themselves. When they role out songs from the Bleed America (Salt, Sweat, Sugar) album the place goes wild and they become the exceptions to what was said above. The crowd are singing and dancing, the bands energy and performance level rise and its plain the see that these are the audience pleasers. The new material was also strong and a song apparently un-played for years ‘Just Tonight’ is also one of the better tracks.
I got the impression that most people in attendance were old fans who had waited along time to see the Bleed America (Salt, Sweat, Sugar) album played (I’m told this is the bands first UK tour in about 5 years) and this theory seemed to be proved when, closer ‘If You Don’t, Don’t’ seems to have everyone in the building is singing, and the band left triumphant.
In the latter part of the set Jim Adkins announces that they will be playing at ‘Download’ metal festival held annually at Donington Park, claming to be scared because people look shocked whenever he tells them. He then launches into a stereotype chugging metal riff joking ‘We’ll be fine, we can do that for 40 minutes easy.’

For a band I only really went to see because Rob my mate has wanted to see them since collage, not to say that I didn’t want to go. I was impressed and would defiantly see them again and recommend that if you ever get chance go. They are playing Download remember.

Captain Backfire – Adaptations

The latest original song by the Backfire boys is slower then their other material but fits seamlessly into the middle of the set, check out the video on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6g4CSJutsw

Royal Park Cellars Leeds

While the £4 entry price and competition with Karaoke upstairs kept the audience attendance low the sound quality and enthusiasm of the few who did attend made this night well worth the trip.
Opening act Urchin Child combined and multitude of different styles with a high energy performance including classic rock poses throughout the set. Mixing original material and well known covers the band showed a diversity rarely seen even in today’s charting acts. They moved seamlessly between Classic rock and instrumental jazz pausing only for the trumpet player to join them on stage. The rhythm section held the whole thing together whilst the guitarists played choppy and interesting riffs and fantastic solos. The lead singer provided a number of different vocal styles and only stopped moving when holding a pose which wouldn’t be out of place in a stadium rock show. A band well worth seeing.
Second up were Break Degree, a classic rock/metal band obviously inspired by Iron Maiden and Motorhead. Heavy riffs and gravely vocals were the order of this set and the band pulled them of effortlessly. By far the most impressive part of this set though was the doubled up guitar solo with the two guitarists standing back-to-back tearing up a solo which would have been impressive had just one of them played. If you like the above bands or are just into guitar rock check these guys out.
And now, as is becoming the norm at their gigs, for something completely different, Captain Backfire! The funky/jazz/rock band took to the stage with a jam into ‘Blue Room’ and the energy level of the crowed (who it has to be said seemed mainly to be with Urchin Child) raised again. When not playing both Reece and Greg were doing excellent jobs of encouraging the crowd to clap along and get involved. The sound levels were right and the backing vocals didn’t overpower the lead on ‘I’ll Be Waiting’ as often happens. The trumpet parts were also clearly audible after concerns in the sound-check. The whole band seemed up for the night, which followed their mid week show at Lancaster University. The high energy of lead singer Joe also seemed as if he was picking up where Urchin Child left off and added another dimension to the strange dancing of bass player Chris. The interchanging guitar parts gave both guitarists the chance to shine with Reece giving it all he had and Richie pulling out solos that proved that speed isn’t everything when you have feeling. The rhythm section were as usual extremely tight, drummer Ed playing some grate fills between riffs and under solos, making life so much easier for everyone.A good night all round for info on the other bands search myspace, and you can see Captain Backfire in Leeds playing Dirty Beaver @ Santiago this Friday (the 15th feb). See link on right for more information and other gig dates.

Latest Backfire gigs!

The latest news on Captain Backfire gigs 2008.

6 Feb 2008
19:00
Lancaster University
Lancaster

8 Feb 2008
20:00
Royal Park Cellars
Leeds

9 Feb 2008
20:00
Private Function
Leeds

15 Feb 2008
20:00
Dirty Beaver @ Santiago
Leeds

27 Feb 2008
20:00
Under The Boardwalk
Sheffield

21 Mar 2008
20:00
Bar Vida (Hippy Van vs Phish Tacko vs Backfire)
Selby

18 Apr 2008
18:00
Private Function
Selby

27 Apr 2008
20:00
JabezClegg - National BOTB final
Manchester

8 May 2008
20:00
Royal Park Cellars
Leeds

See www.myspace.com/captainbackfireuk for more infromation

National Semi-Final at The Independent Sunderland

Last night saw the National Semi final of Stage Pass Promotions national Battle of the Bands 07/08. The Line up saw 4 bands from the Yorkshire region advance to the Final in Manchester.
The competition was intended as a five band lineup but the only band in the competition from Sunderland split between New Year and last night leaving all of the bands who played to advance automatically and playing for their slot in the final.
‘Captain Backfire’ were in attendance and although they did enough to finish third, ahead of a young rock band whose name escapes me, they did not play at their best relaxing too much when the pressure was lifted. They did however debut a new song ‘Adaptations’ a slower song then the rest of their set, watching them play, having seen them plenty of times before, it was obvious they were not as confident with the song but it sounds promising and I’m sure will grow over time as they get used to playing it.
Second were heavy rockers ‘I Panri’ (I think that’s how it spelt) who were really tight, competent and seemed to have massive support.
The winners were the band from the Leeds final a funk band called ‘16 Days’. They were outstanding and their slot was so tight and well rehearsed. A proper show. The funky bass groves kept the audiences head bobbing, and the lead singer’s awesome voice blew everyone else off the stage. Easily the best band on the night it doesn’t look too good for the Backfire boys in the final with them around.Look out for the final which promises a non-BotBs group opening the show, 8 bands competing for the big prize, and a well known signed band closing the show. All for £10!