Featured bands
This page is about Leicester bands featured in this website
This page is an archive
covering 2014 and 2013
Page last edited: 6th October 2014
This page is part of the bands’ section
On this page: Skam, Five2Three, The Furies, Satellite Empire, Midnight Wire, Bleech Box (scroll down for more)
2014
In our new series Band of The Month, we feature
Bands feature articles in 2014
7th February 2014
Skam at the O2
Leicester band Skam headline at the O2 Academy Leicester. Read our review.
25th October 2013
We follow a new band
As a special project we are doing a kind of blog/log of a new start-up band from Leicestershire.
See our page on the Five2Three band.
21st September 2013
The Furies Album Launch
The Furies, Death Valley, album launch, The Firebug, Saturday 21st September 2013.
The upstairs hall at the Firebug was full to capacity with music fans eager to celebrate the latest release from one of Leicester’s top bands: they had gathered to see a marvelous line-up of acts and to hear songs from The Furies album Death Valley.
The show was opened by Leicester’s Slow Motion, who gave a polished performance with a solidly good vocal layer from the combined voices of Dale Attkinson and Fraz Mullen. A group of experienced musicians apparently playing their first gig tonight. Despite a funereal rendition of Boy George’s Karma Chameleon, turning the vivacious melody into a lugubrious dirge, Slow Motion’s set was warmly received by the ever-growing audience.
See a video of part of Slow Motion’s set from DVM Films | Follow Slow Motion on Facebook | Watch this video of Slow Motion by Kevin Gaughan
Spirits were quickly regained when Sheffield rockers The Monday Club took to the stage. The trio of deedars thumped out a gloriously good set of high-powered rock. Key to it all was the rock-star singing and guitar playing of Paul Hawksworth, backed by bassist Darren Ullyett. In a set shot with razor-sharp breaks and electrifying guitar solos, Paul delivered a spectacular performance, pumping out one beltin’ song after another. Whenever I think of Sheffield, I will now think of The Monday Club. So forget the Arctic Monkeys, these lads reign supreme in my book. Compelling, rip-roaring songs and tight instrumentals, they showed that they knew what rock was all about.
Follow The Monday Club on Facebook | Watch this video of The Monday Club by Kevin Gaughan
From Birmingham a band I had not seen before but definitely want to see again: Layers. The brummy four-piece brought their incendiary show to the hall, led by a high-octane performance from free-standing singer Lance Joseph backed by well-harmonised voices of guitarist James Thompson and bassist Nick Ebanks who, together, gave the songs a rich vocal layer. Their euphoric songs had people moshing in front of the stage to the bouncing beats and throbbing rhythms of dance-filled delights. Rock with an urban twang, it was as fresh and original as you are likely to get, these days. This supercharged set of rocket-fuelled musical cocktail of rock, punk and metal left me howling for more.
Watch this video of Layers by Kevin Gaughan
Find out more about Layers on their website A five-track EP is available; take my word for it, it is well worth having.
Tonight culminated in a performance by The Furies, whose album Death Valley, we reviewed shortly before tonight’s event.
The four Leicesterpudlians with their laptop were on stage and ready to go, all four of them having a mic in front of them. All performances by The Furies are auspicious events but tonight’s show had a special magic about it. Listening to their music is thrilling enough, but watching The Furies on stage is particularly interesting. Despite the fact they are pumping huge volumes of sound, they look as cool as cucumbers. They do not usually engage in any on-stage gymnastics but they are all of them clearly as excited about playing their songs as the audience is in listening to them. Apart of course from the drummer; as always Neal Hill could be seen there at back giving his kit a phenomenal hammering.
Looking back down the long hall, I saw a sea of heads right down to the back. Caught up in the thrill of the music, people were screaming, clapping in time and ‘dancing’ to the compelling rhythms of the songs. These four angry young men delivered a controlled explosion of fury, a taught fireball of incendiary music, a sound of volcanic proportions. Bringing together the charges of indie, rock, metal, grunge and punk into one glorious fulmination of music, The Furies deliver a total experience.
All the bands were good, the night was well attended and if any gig deserves to be listed in the annals of 2013 this one does.
The Furies, band of the month on Arts in Leicester, October 2012 – interview with the band about their origins plus a discography, gig reviews and YouTube videos.
Watch The Furies performing Ignite The Soul on a video by DVM Films
Watch The Furies performing Into The Night, video by Kevin Gaughan
Watch The Furies performing Death Valley, video by by Kevin Gaughan
20th September 2013
Satellite Empire
Leicester band Satellite Empire put on their first anniversary show at The Music Cafe. Read our review.
10th May 2013
Midnight Wire on tour
It was time again for Midnight Wire to head back on tour for their second UK headline selection of dates. Notable shows included slots with Carl Barat, Gary Numan and Chris McCormacks at the prestigious JUBILEE clubnight at the Camden Barfly (for a second appearance) as well as shows at the O2 Academy in Sheffield and the Brixton Jamm as part of Alt J’s tour aftershow party amongst others. The tour consisted of 25 dates over April and May.
The tour began with some warm up shows in Northampton and Leeds where Midnight Wire have already grown a dedicated fanbase from previous touring. Both shows went well with Midnight Wire showcasing old and new material from the debut album Crossing the Rubicon and a new track from the second album. In Northampton, Midnight Wire particularly enjoyed support band Dirty Fair.
Just before heading off on tour Midnight Wire performed at the UK’s leading clubnight ‘This Feeling’ as part of their first show in Leicester at SUMO with Little Night Terrors and Dexters.
The tour properly started in Portsmouth before the band headed up to Camden to have a party the night before their show at the Camden Barfly. Camden Barfly was one of the key nights of the tour and Midnight Wire received an enthusiastic response with fans literally going mental. Jake Phillips (the tour photographer/videographer) actually has a video of a guy throwing a girl across the dance floor.
The tour then continued onto a small town called Farnham (just South West of London) where Midnight Wire have played a few shows. This is one of Midnight Wire’s favourite haunts and in a town where not much goes on, they certainly know how to party. Following a radio interview for the students union there, Midnight Wire performed. The band particularly enjoyed support band ‘Paper Boats.’
Following the first three dates on tour Midnight Wire returned to Leicester for an exclusive acoustic showcase of the debut album with By The Rivers at the Orange Tree. Alex apparently attacked someone who was eating cheese with a microphone.
The next few shows included appearances at The Croft in Bristol, a beer festival in Newcastle and the Kraak Gallery in Manchester among others.
During a performance of ‘Never Gonna Leave LA‘ in Bristol, Alex managed to clamber behind the bar before the venue refused to let him pour his own pint. Manchester was noted by the band as one of their favourite shows – it involved toilets and lots of parking the van up. The Kraak Gallery was a particularly strange venue – situated in a tiny alley in the backstreets of the city centre. The turn out was particularly impressive and Midnight Wire enjoyed band ‘Get Cubs.’
Midnight Wire’s appearance in Gateshead was noted as one of the most difficult nights on tour. Upon turning up, the gig was cancelled but the band after scouring the streets of Newcastle managed to find a gig at a local beer festival to a packed audience. On the journey back the band realised that the van had a tire blowout upon seeing sparks flying down the motorway. They ended up waiting for the Green Flag for 3 hours during the early hours of the morning on the hard shoulder hoping ‘Red Van Nistelrooy’ was going to get better.
The main part of the tour ended with Midnight Wire making a performance at the Kasbah in Coventry. This is one of the band’s favourite venues and the smoking area is a joy to behold. As a fitting end to the main part of the tour the gig ended with a stage invasion and left everyone in a good mood as they made their way back to Leicester.
1st September 2013
James Ferraby – Guitar/Vocals – has joined Midnight Wire, following the departure of Chris Merriman.
4th September 2013
Bleech Box makes headway
Leicester pop/punk band Bleech Box have been popping up at gigs recently so we thought we would find out a bit more about them.
MusicIn: Tell me when Bleech Box started and how you came by the name?
Bleech Box: We met up in school in about two years ago when Chan [Hastings] met Luke [Kendrick] and Luke introduced him to George [Bignell] and Kurtis [Orton.] The passion each of us had for music was awesome – it instantly clicked! We were originally called Falsehood, but, after discovering that there were two bands already called Falsehood, we had to look for another name. We went about a month and a half with no name and then Kurt suggested ‘Bleach’; there was bound to be a band called Bleach so at a practice we came up with Bleach Box. But after Luke spelt it Bleech Box we decided to go with that as it stood out a bit more!
MusicIn: So when did the band play it’s first gig? Where was that and how did it go?
Bleech Box: Our first gig was on the 4th June 2012, on a park in Lutterworth, as a celebration for the Diamond Jubilee, organised by our school. We only played two songs, a cover of Dammit by Blink-182 and our own song Keep Calm And Carry On, which we play at every gig, we probably sounded absolutely terrible, but we were buzzing after we were done.
MusicIn: Why did the band decide to become a pop/punk band?
Bleech Box: We’re all pretty big fans of Blink 182, and when talks of starting a band – between Luke and Chan – started Blink, Green Day and Sum 41 were the main topics of the conversations. Also it’s fun to play – the only music we can think of to jump around and move to as much as we do onstage. We love writing it and also its listenable, people of all ages and all over the world like it! Also, there hasn’t been a good pop punk band from the UK in a long time, if anything ever! So, that’s what motivates us even more! To be the band that makes Pop Punk popular again!
MusicIn: What are the band’s plans for the future?
Bleech Box: We’re currently writing LOADS of songs and are talking about professionally recording an album, but it’s only talks at the moment. We’re heading back to the studio in a few months to rerecord one of our home recorded EPs, one that Artin Leicester hasn’t even heard yet! We’re also already planning next summers gigs, looking at going all the way down to Coventry and even Cambridge and looking at what festivals we can play! And hopefully by then we’ll have a solid dedicated following behind us! A lot can happen in 12 months! But also a lot can change, so we may pull something out of our sleeve at the last minute or may be planning something that could be the biggest thing we’ve ever done! So keep an eye out because big things are just around the corner!
Follow Bleech Box on Facebook.
See our review of Bleech Box headline show at Lock42