Black Crab Music

Introducing Dueling Kazoos

2011-10-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

I asked Frank Pellow from Dueling Kazoos to answer a few questions about what exactly it is they do.

Can you sum up what Dueling Kazoos is in a few sentences?
We are a small group of music fans who put on gigs in Falmouth and Truro. We only put on gigs with acts we really like since it's not our job and we don't make any money from doing it. We try to make our gigs fun for everyone involved.

How long has it been going?
We've been going since the summer of 2008. For the first year or so we stuck to one venue (Live Bar in Truro) and mainly did stuff with a handful of local acts but as we gained confidence we branched out from that venue to others and started booking a larger variety of acts.

Who are the main people who are involved?
Mainly it's me (Frank) and Alex but we have a lot of people without whom we'd struggle to put stuff on. Alex takes a lead on the more punky gigs and I do the other stuff.

There's a gig coming up in Harbour Lights fish and chip shop, Falmouth, how did that come about?
I thought it might be fun to do something at a fish and chip shop and fortunately the people at Harbour Lights liked the idea as well. We've been doing a series of gigs in unusual locations (a library, a museum, a sweet shop, etc) and this is a continuation of that.
This gig is extra special as it features Thom Weeks who is one of our favourite acts.

Are there any other odd venues where you would like to put on gigs?
I would really like to do a gig on a bouncy castle. I think that's would be pretty funny.
Apart from that I'd like to do something in a book shop or a cinema or on a boat. I'm open to any suggestions though.

Are there any exciting touring bands coming to Cornwall soon?
I've been talking to some of the bands we've had down before (like Tall Ships, Tubelord, Crazy Arm & Three Trapped Tigers) and I'm hopeful they'll all be back down in the near future. Unfortunately we struggle to get many touring bands down since it's so far down to Cornwall but that makes the ones that do come down extra special.
We're really lucky to have so many really good acts around Falmouth at the minute so we aren't lacking for bands to book.

Any that you would like to get down?
I'd really like to get Katie Malco down again. She's a fantastic indie folk singer songwriter we had down very recently.
Also it'd be nice to have Tubelord return after they had to cancel that gig with us a few weeks back.

What are your ambitions for Dueling Kazoos in the future?
There isn't really a master plan but I suppose I'd like to carry on putting on regular stuff in Falmouth and hopefully get some really good touring bands down. I don't want to move onto doing big gigs as I'd like to keep it as an enjoyable hobby rather than my job.

Thanks Frank! Keep doing what you do.

You can check out the latest Dueling Kazoos gig on their website, and also be sure to join the group on Facebook to be fully up to date on what's going on.

Twitter

2011-10-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Revival Tour 2011 @ Shepherd's Bush

2011-10-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I (Emma) travelled the 600 mile round trip on many trains simply to attend a gig in London. It was destined to be an amazing gig, therefore well worth the travel and expenses.

The Revival Tour, for those who don't know, is an acoustic collaborative folk music event, founded and created by Chuck Ragan, of Hot Water Music. He brings friends and fellow punk-come-acoustic-folk artists along on tour. But they don't simply play their own sets, they all play together, covering each others songs, and playing for the whole time with no intervals.

"Despite the caliber of the musicians traveling alongside him, the Revival Tour is a place where camaraderie overflows. “There’s no hierarchy; it’s about sharing music together and bringing it to people in an extremely honest and grassroots fashion,” he explains, adding that the musicians on the tour all open the show together, join each other throughout the event and close it with a grand finale all together again. “It’s apparent that simple songs of folk music has been rising in popularity and it’s a joy to bring known artists that people already love but very important to us to expose lesser known artists to the world who play exemplary music and live by ethics we admire whether they’re solo musicians, groups or a singer of a band." - The Revival Tour

For the 2011 UK/Europe Revival Tour, Chuck brought Dave Hause of The Loved Ones, Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio and Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem along with him.

The show started at 7.30 sharp and continued until 11pm, with a non-stop energy from all of the musicians. As well as Chuck, Dave, Dan and Brian, Jon Gaunt (fiddle) and Joe Ginsberg (bass) also played a key part in the performance.

To get an idea of what the show was like, here's some of my (terrible) photographs.

Brian Fallon

Brian and Chuck

Dave Hause

Joe Ginsberg

And a video courtesy of the marvelous Ben Morse, all members of the The Revival Tour play The Gaslight Anthem's '59 Sound.

The Revival Tour is highly recommended by me to basically all fans of live music.
It's a show like no other.

The Stone Roses Reform

2011-10-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday The Stone Roses announced they were reforming after a fifteen year split. The band who last played together in 1996 have released details of two gigs at Manchester's Heaton Park on the 29th and 30th of June 2012. These dates will then be followed by an "extensive word tour".

Tickets go on sale this Friday 21st October at 9:30am and are available from:
Gigsandtours.com
Ticketmaster.co.uk
Ticketline.co.uk

The Stone Roses on Amazon

Tubelord @ Mango Tango [update]

2011-10-19T05:13:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately due to band illness Tubelord have had to pull out of the gig at Mango Tango in Falmouth tonight. The gig with Chinese Sky Candy and Aimee Bea is still going ahead though with a reduced ticket price, and hopefully a third band so no excuse for not still coming!

UPDATE: The third band role for tonight will be filled by Flying Dog Walking and tickets will be £3

Tubelord @ Mango Tango, Falmouth

2011-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Dueling Kazoos are hosting another gig this Wednesday (tomorrow!), at Mango Tango in Falmouth and it is set to be another great night. Black Crab will of course be in attendance and will be bringing you a review and photos later this week.

Tubelord are headlining with support from Chinese Sky Candy and Aimee Bea.

Click the link below for more information and the Facebook event.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=212016308861573

Tubelord's latest album "Romance" is avaliable on Amazon.

Crazy Arm - Union City Breath

2011-10-14T03:50:00.000-07:00

The mighty Crazy Arm released their much anticipated (especially by me!) second album this week. The band from Devon has often been described as a "hard-twang, roots-punk quartet".

The description on their last.fm profile pretty much sums it up, "Not easy to categorise, and all the better for it, the band’s sound is an accumulation of decades of influence and inspiration: rooted in hardcore/punk, ‘60s protest folk/country and classic rock’n’roll, combined with a grass-roots political overview that embraces anti-war, anti-fascist and pro-community activism."

Here's the artwork. As a graphic designer, I cannot resist the urge
to complain about the typography. The faux-sketchy (very cheesy) font
is not particularly great but then we are here to talk about music...

And the music is awesome.

I, personally, have been a huge Crazy Arm fan since seeing them support Frank Turner at the Camden Roundhouse in March 2010. I still stand by my view that that gig was one of the best line-ups I've ever seen/heard. Crazy Arm, Chuck Ragan and Frank Turner - brilliant. Their first album, Born to Ruin, is probably one of my favourite albums of all time, or at least of the last couple of years.

I need to listen to Union City Breath a few more times to really pick out favourite songs - I do have two long train journeys this weekend so my iPod has been updated with the album! But the stand-out track, for me, has got to be Song of Choice. A passionate political song with a very folk/country sound, featuring beautiful vocals from Victoria Butterfield. Apparently it's a cover (Peggy Seeger), but you wouldn't know as it suits Crazy Arm perfectly.

Check out the video for the first single from the album, Tribes:

Union City Breath is available on Amazon

Greetings from Black Crab Music!

2011-10-12T02:35:00.000-07:00

Hello. This is the first ever post from Black Crab!

We are a brand new blog and online magazine bringing you news, interviews and reviews from the world of music! Our content will be mainly concentrated on the South West of England, where we are based. But we will also be updating with news from the rest of the music world - basically anything we think might interest you.

We aim to let you know about as many gigs and events as we can so you don't miss out.
Over the coming weeks more content will be coming to the blog as we build on our team of contributors, so keep checking back.

If you'd be interested in writing for Black Crab just send us an email to: editor@blackcrab.co.uk

Josh & Emma
Black Crab Editors