MATTHEW NORTH MUSIC

So that was the South West Music Awards 2013.  It took place at 'Charlie's Live Lounge' a new club thats by the Pizza hut in Cowick street. As you go in you get the feeling that normally its a venue that plays dance music to boys and girls in track suits and Burberry Caps.  A truly horrid venue where they charge £10.70 for 1 glass of wine and one bottle of Kopperberg. while trying to order a lemonade and blackcurrent the barman had no idea what blackcurrant was in any way shape or form. The PA was appalling, you could not hear a single word for the first few hours as the mic was distorting to buggery. The locals were getting restless as they had nowhere to sit, many who had travelled a fair way to get there.  Far less movers and shakers there than usual but good to chat to a few of the great and the good such as Jackson Cooper, Adam Isaacs, Chris Mockridge, Marie Belsten, Lee and Lisa Fletcher, Andy Botterill, Andrew Padfield and Sarah Woodward as well as the Sirens g

On Saturday night I played my first solo set for a very long time.  It was a short set just 4 songs, but was the first time in the 20 years that I have been playing there that I have played at the Cavern as a solo artist.  The set was Broken Child (All Living Fear song 2012) Blue Sky (All Living Fear song 1996) To Behold (Secrets For September song 2010) Tomorrow (All Living Fear song 1993) The last song Tomorrow I first performed with All Living Fear at the Cavern almost to the day 20 years ago as I had just written it while at work in one of the local music shops. As a result of this show I have been asked to play at a few more gigs, and its inspired me that in 2014 I might just finally make a solo recording. watch this space.    The guitar I used was my little Epiphone travel guitar its got a great sound and hardly takes up any room at all.

Last week was 3 from The Wall (Another Brick 1, Hey You and Run Like Hell)  This week was about People coming to the area and redressing the Balance 1) Jethro Tull - Bouree (from This Was as Martin Barre playing Tavistock) 2) The Cult - Love Removal Machine (steve Brown version) as the Cult are playing Exeter Uni Soon 3) Focus - Anonymous 1 (they are playing Tavistock, Falmouth and Bristol) and finally  4) David Gilmour - No Way (Redressing the Roger Waters Pink Floyd Balance!)

Here is something new. I was asked to play on the new recordings by Exeters ‘National Pastime’ well I didn’t really have the time but I did offer to do a remix. The song on offer was one they had played live as Falling Trees called ‘Run with me now’ when played live it had a bit of a Cure sound to it. When I got the recording to work with I was rather shocked it was 140 bpm and sounded nothing like the song that was played live. Anyhow the first thing I did was to try and make it sound like the song I had heard before. So I halved the tempo and all I used was the vocals. I wrote new music and then went about editing the vocals where I sliced them up to fit in the sections that I felt best. On the choruses I took the first one and the second one and doubled them up and added lots of delay and reverb to give it a big sound. This in on the released as Remix 2. National Pastime - Don't Let It Get Away EP by National Pastime Then I went back to the song and decided to produce a ver

As I had just supported Mostly ASutumn thought Id pick one of theres, plus new songs from the Morrisons and the US/Canadian band the Never Evers.  Mostly Autumn - Drops of the Sun The Morrisons - Captured in a Jar The Morrisons - 1000 Miles Away The Never Evers - Cheap Thrills (Debut UK radio appearance)

Doing this before it happens but Im talking about 2 new LPs, David Bowie 'The Next Day' and Eric Claptons 'Old Sock' both wonderful items of vinyl.  From Clatopn his renditions of 'Goodnight Irene' (Leadbelly) and 'Still Got The Blues' (Gary Moore).  Then from Bowie 'The Next Day' and 'Ill Take You There'  All corkers tonight.

Some random tunes and chat this week.  First off a Song called 'Queen and Country' by Jethro Tull from the album 'War Child' I had actually not heard this LP until the day and though this was a bit good.  Then a song from the Second David Crosby and Graham Nash LP 'Wind on the Water' with the song 'Love Work Out'.  Then I thought to finish a bit of Genesis from the prog to pop transition LP 'And then there were three' with 'Ballad of Big' great tune that.  With lots of banter in between!

Last Monday I was very sad to see my one my favourite record shops DADA in Chiswick has closed down it was full of gret stuff at good prices and they have the knack of finding good new old stock for example I found new copies of Skins Hasta La Vista Baby album that has been out of print since the 90s and Spear of Destinys CD version of Outlands, again new on the virgin label. They also had great selection of Jazz and new vinyl. It will be missed. 

So we had a bit of a mixed bag this week. On Monday I was in Sister Ray record shop in London, I’d never been there before and I bought a few goodies, while I was there they were playing this rather good sounding album it turned out to be the new ish album from Smoke Fairies called Blood Speaks so I bought it, and played the song Take me down where you go. After this we talked about music falling out of copyright one album being the debut from Bob Dylan that has since been re issued by several labels, one is called Not Now Music and it has a mono and stereo mix of the album plus a couple bonus tracks one being a slightly longer version of Corina Corina that was on Freewheeling Bob Dylan and has not been released on anything else apparently. Then I took a listen to a post Peter Green version of Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac from the 1980 Live album, seeing as there was only one guitar on it they pulled off quite a decent version, and I have never heard this version on the radio before so tho

So this week it was the anniverary of the first 7” single released by RCA in America in 1949 so I thought I would pick a few 7” themes. Firstly an old EP called ‘Jam Session At RCA’ with the likes of Fats Waller and Bunny Berigan and Tommy Dorsey playing ‘The Blues’. This was recorded in 1937 and the ep probably came out in the 50s but it was the oldest RCA disc I have. Then it was the new Adam Ant single ‘Cool Zombie’ this song takes a few listens but does grow in time, and the artwork on the single is great. After that I flip to CD to play Something in the Way by Nirvana as on this week in 1992 the album Nevermind got to no 1 in the UK album charts for the second time, no mean feat and it’s a fantastic track. Lastly, on BBC Spotlight this week there was a feature on independent record shops and on the BBC Spotlight Facebook page people were sending in their first albums. One person mentioned Cosmos Factory by Credence Clearwater Revival  a favourite of mine for many years, so I thoug

Well this week on BBC radio Devon I had a true mixed bag of tunes to play. First off was the opening track ‘All that patience brings’ from the debut CD album by ‘Laurence made me Cry’ AKA Jo Whitby, I saw LMMC at a gig in Cardiff a couple of years ago where they were on the same bill as my friend Erin Lang, it was a great gig so I very much looked forward to the album that does not disappoint one little bit.  http://laurencemademecry.com/ Following that was a CD re issue of the Trader Horn album ‘Morning way’, an almost impossible album to find, and a great mix of acoustic folk inspired tunes by miss Jusy Dyble and Jackie McAuley. I picked the title track a wonderful song. http://www.judydyble.com The band that had the most feedback was Exeter’s ‘Hurricane Horse’ I picked a track from the bands debut cd ‘Reflections’ they have a great Neil Young inspired country rock sounds. The song picked ‘Fog of Confusion’. http://www.hurricanehorse.co.uk/ Last was

Thursday night and Secrets For September took to the stage for the first time this year. It was an informal kind of show at the Picturehouse and it was just myself and Ellie for this one.  As we are working on the new EP we thought it a good idea to play some of the songs from the ep. The Set went To Behold Life Traces The Man From Torquay Letting Go Reflections Friends Forever We played pretty well though I must confess I had a senior moment during reflections and played the chorus back to front. Still the gig was a good start to the year.   

Well I thought id post a couple reviews of the All Living Fear album I'm genuinely very touched that the album has met with such favorable reaction. This is one from 'This is Gothic Rock' All Living Fear - Coming Home (2012) All Living Fear Coming Home Danger Noise Rec. Facebook All Living Fear is a band from the UK which has been active since 1992, and has built a name in the European underground scene. And now 20 years later, founder member Matthew North presents this record “Coming Home”. It is an exquisite, relaxing, and very pleasant experience. Their music is a rich mixture of styles  : Gothic Rock, Dark wave, Alternative Rock and even some influences from Progressive Rock bands .The tracks are mid-tempo and each one has been finely crafted, the producer  (Matthew itself) did such a great work. Mike Soundy (drums), Dave Holwill & Niall Parker (bass) , has joined forces with Matthew (Guitar, voice) to create this record. Have to m

So HMV are calling in the receivers, is that surprising? No not really I posted a while back that it was the last straw for the last chain store standing selling second hand cds at 2 quid a pop as a lost leader. So is filesharing to blame, is it the downloading culture, is it I tunes? Well in my opinion its several things. HMV.COM for a start, its web brand, sells everything in the shop cheaper due to the tax laws of being based in the Channel Islands there is no price consistency that is apart from one artist, The Beatles. The Beatles are never discounted, you pay full price for Beatles CDs and albums wherever you go. This I guess is one reason why the Beatles are still one of the bestselling bands in the world and one of the reasons that EMI stayed in business for so long. So HMV who have The Pink Floyd Wall Box Set at 135 Quid in Exeter, 99 Quid in Plymouth and £139 online!  As a tandem to that doing a little bit of research there are quit a few independent rec