The Crooked Festival

The Crooked Festival was an all day festival held on 25^th April organized by a group of Sherburn High School

students and featuring Kinch and Captain Backfire as headlining bands.

All the acts went down well with the crowd and the day was a huge success, despite the weathers best attempt to holt proceedings.

The day opened at around 1:30pm with a solo artist, who’s name escapes me (sorry), who had a strong voice and song writing ability perfect for a gentle introduction to the day. Music between bands was provided by Mouse.Monkey/Duck! Djing and Comparing. He provided a large range of music flexible enough to entertain all fractions of the crowd with excellent mixing and give all the bands perfect intro-music. Second up were Myraid, a young band who seemed to have little experience but potential for the future.

Then the rain came… Out of the blue 10 minutes of heavy sweeping rain right down onto the stage, everything was soaked from the crowd to the staff, the PA to the amps and instruments. It looked like it was all over it was too wet to use the electrics. The crowd stood around waiting for news of the next move. Soon members of the various bands broke out acoustic guitars and played an impromptu set, with the singers bellowing out the lyrics as loudly as possible un-amplified including The Monkeys – I’m A Believer and acoustic version of Backfires I’ll Be Waiting which was sung back word for word by a small number of their hardcore fans and the chorus was sung back nearly everyone in the audience. This kept spirits up in the audience and with the other bands.

Dean and Sam were scheduled to play an acoustic set so the power being out made little difference to them, other then the lack of mics for the vocals. After a small amount of organising they stepped out in-front of the stage and played there set regardless. The set included a comedy cover of Spongebob Square Pants, played twice for the audience to sing along to, Girls Alouds’ Love Machine and other well known songs.

Eventually the equipment had dried out and the festival was declared back on.

Nick Spencer reopened the proceedings with an impromptu solo set filling in for a band who had dropped out, and the fact that Mouse.Monkey/Duck! Had his set cancelled due to waterlogged equipment. He showed evidence of a strong singer song writer playing acoustic versions of his own tunes and tunes he would later play with his band. He also played covers of several Oasis songs and a few requests. A good strong set.

The Carlyle Group followed and to be honest were not the best band of the day. The singer seemed to have a good voice and they seemed to be trying to create an original sound. Something just wasn’t right and it was hard to tell if they were meaning to make the sound that they were. This isn’t meant to sound harsh I and other people I spoke too just felt that they could use a little redefining.

In a change of lineup and a refreshing change of pace Kinch played next. They were on top of their game and played a mix of their old jazz/funk style songs, including inde chart number 7 single Old Fashioned Love, and there new more inde/rock style songs. Though a large number of the crowd didn’t know many of the songs they got probably the second best response of the day. The songs were well written, the band tight and the performance the most professional of the day. Kinch showed that they take their music seriously and despite leaving early to play another set later the same evening they gave 100% winning over new fans and back old fans who may have doubted them. The mingling after the set also helped the new fans remember them and gave their existing fans a chance to catch up.

Kinch moving down the order left Leonards Revenge with the job of playing second last and also following their performance. They did this very adequately and played a strong set which sounded tight and well rehearsed. Strong song writing and good musicians were on show with the crowd feeling the energy on stage. I don’t know much about this band but would see them again under the right circumstances.

Finally Captain Backfire took to the stage. After two gigs, not reviewed here due to a lack of time, at The Riverside bar in Selby and the Thack pub in South Milford where their energy was high, the performance level matched and everything went right for the band, this performance was a little average. They weren’t bad but things that the band tried didn’t work as fluently as they would have on another night. They played their new set, opening with new tune We All Find Our Own and mixing their two other new tunes, Take What You Need and Change Of Heart with old favourites including I’ll Be Waiting, Adaptations and How Much It Hurts. An Encore was demanded and the band obliged with a cover of The Zoutons, Valerie and a relegated version of Blue Room. The fans and other people in the audience seemed to enjoy the set but talking to the band afterwards they were disappointed and felt they could/should have done better, though they weren’t as bad as you would think talking to them.

Finally well done and congratulations to Chris, Jade and Ryan who organized and ran the entire event. A good time was had by all, hope you get the grades you deserve.

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