When I first started Darren’s music blog back in 2014, The Young ‘uns were among the first set of artists I wrote about, when I reviewed a performance of theirs at Cecil Sharp House. Since then, I’ve seen them at a whole range of venues, from big festivals, to medium-sized theatres to small folk clubs and I’ve followed their career with interest. They had already been going a decade by the time I first saw them and this year the not-quite-so-young ‘uns celebrate twenty years together. Tiny Notes is their latest album.
“Taking its name from messages tied to the Wearmouth Bridge in Sunderland by Paige Hunter, Tiny Notes is a collection of songs that find hope and humanity in grief and despair,” the group write in the album’s sleeve notes.
Poignancy abounds, with powerful songwriting from Sean Cooney, trademark harmony vocals from the trio of Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle and evocative musical accompaniment in the form of piano from Eagle and a string quartet who guest on the album with arrangements by Jon Boden.
Writing songs about real, everyday heroes has become Cooney’s “personal passion”. Tackling subjects such as the London Bridge terror attacks, the Lockerbie bombing and one young woman’s heartfelt and very personal contribution to suicide prevention (the title track) the album very much showcases the trio’s more sensitive side – and Cooney is clearly in his stride writing songs of this nature.
What it does mean is that there’s no space on the album for the rousing covers and traditional songs that were often a feature of the trio’s earlier albums but perhaps that can safely be left to others these days? The Young ‘uns have certainly carved out an impressive niche for themselves and have proved to be a valuable and highly unique asset to the UK folk scene these past twenty years. Here’s to the next twenty.
This week sees the publication of my third book for Sonicbond’s Decades series: ‘Slade In The 1970s’. It follows on from my books on The Sweet in 2021 and Suzi Quatro last year – a glam trilogy if you will!
Here is a round-up of reviews for my previous book on Suzi Quatro. All three books are available on Amazon and other major retailers as well as the publisher’s own online shop at Burning Shed.
“Darren Johnson focuses the same obsessive-compulsive attention to detail that he applied to Sweet in his earlier contribution” – Andrew Darlington, RnR magazine
“An interesting book which should appeal to a wide audience” – John Tucker, Record Collector magazine
“Fascinating read for Suzi Q fans, aging glam rockers and anybody who enjoys a good, informative rock biography.” Jason Ritchie, Get Ready To Rock
“One hell of a gig.” – Tim Keppie, Record Collector magazine
“Puckrik leads a performance of riotous energy and no mean volume.” – Chris Roberts, Classic Rock magazine
“If you’re my generation, this is a blast.” – Neil McCormick, chief music critic – The Telegraph
“Great gig. Great band. Brilliant night.” – Marc Riley, BBC Radio 6 Music presenter
Following glowing reviews, sold-out venues and many, many fun nights, the all-star line-up celebrating Iggy Pop’s classic Lust For Life album have announced a second UK tour. Legendary Blondie drummer, Clem Burke, will once again be joined by former Sex Pistol and punk pioneer, Glen Matlock on bass; broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik on vocals; Iggy Pop and David Bowie collaborator, Kevin Armstrong on guitar; Luis Correia, who’s toured internationally with Earl Slick on second guitar; together with classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva on keyboards.
The band will again perform the Lust For Life album in full, as well as revisiting songs from across the individual band members’ careers with legendary artists including Blondie, David Bowie and the Sex Pistols. Some of them will be songs the band performed on the last tour but there will be a few surprises thrown in as well.
The Lust For Life Band – Live at The Lexington, London, March 2023
Three of the band members, Glen Matlock, Clem Burke and Kevin Armstrong, have toured with Iggy Pop and each has made an album with him: Glen Matlock (Soldier) in 1980, Clem Burke (Zombie Birdhouse) in 1982 and Kevin Armstrong (Blah Blah Blah) in 1986.
Fronting the band, the irrepressible Katie Puckrik proved a rock ‘n’ roll revelation to many on the last tour. As Clem Burke said: “Katie is fantastic and she’s joined the ranks of the other brilliant women I’ve been fortunate to play with: Debbie, Annie, Nancy, Wanda, The Go Go’s and Joan!”
Katie Puckrik: “Touring Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life in 2023 felt like a homecoming. My broadcast career had long steered me away from my original calling as a performer, from dancing onstage with The Fall and Michael Clark Company, touring the world with Pet Shop Boys, and singing in Sparks’ opera The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, both on the original cast recording and in performance. So to embody the funny/dirty/tart/smart songs of the magnificent Iggy Pop was an electrifying rebirth. Every single gig was a communion with a frothing room of Pop-aholics, and it’s thanks to the crowds who danced and hollered along to Lust For Life, The Passenger, and the rest of Iggy’s anthems, that we get to do it all over again. Once again I’ll be elevated by some of Iggy, Bowie and Blondie’s most beloved players, including Clem Burke, Glen Matlock and Kevin Armstrong, and I’m warning you—this band is a joy machine!”
Glen Matlock: “To be on stage with these fellow like-minded guys and gals and celebrate our collective musical ancestries is always a pleasure, so come on down and let’s all hit the roof together.”
Clem Burke:“I’m really looking forward to once again playing with this great group of friends and musicians. All aboard for more Funtime!”
A fixture on the adjacent “festival fringe” of Fairport Convention’s annual Cropredy extravaganza each year, Wigan-based folk-rockers, Merry Hell, have finally made it to the main stage and will appear there this August. With impeccable timing (and something that will sell like hot cakes at this and other festivals this summer, I’m sure) the band have released their first ever ‘best of’ compilation.
Emerging back in 2010 from the ashes of 90s folk-punk outfit, The Tansads, the band weren’t quite sure how things would take off but six albums later Merry Hell have more than proved themselves and there’s no shortage of strong material for a proper career retrospective.
Never afraid of wearing their hearts on their sleeves and standing up for what they believe in, Merry Hell have developed a strong niche as purveyors of rousing folk-rock anthems with socially-conscious lyrics, all delivered with characteristic good humour, energy, verve and passion.
In compiling the album the band had some assistance from fans, alongside each individual band member also choosing their own particular favourite. The result is a whopping 28 tracks over two discs and, for me, there’s plenty of personal favourites among the final selection: from the ecologically-themed paean to decluttering, ‘Bury Me Naked’; to the band’s self-proclaimed “alternative national anthem” ‘Come On England!’; to the rousing ‘Leave It In The Ground’ from the climate-themed Emergency Lullabies album.
With over half of the members of the eight-piece band also being songwriters, Merry Hell explore a variety of styles and influences in their output and so it’s not all rousing, amped-up sing-alongs, albeit that is very much their forte. The compilation has its mellower, tender moments, too, such as the beautifully-poignant acoustic number, ‘No Place Like Tomorrow’.
Whether you’re a long-term follower of Merry Hell or just discovering them for the first time at a festival this summer, Let The Music Speak For Itself is a strong compilation which is sure to find favour with fans both new and old. Role on Cropredy!
I was encouraged by the reaction to my Sweet book and began work on one about Suzi Quatro, another big ‘70s icon that I’ve always been a huge fan of. However, the first band I truly fell in love with was Slade said author Darren Johnson.
Originally from the North West, Darren moved to London in 1990 where he spent over twenty years working full time in politics…
My professional background was in politics and campaigning so I’d written a lot about current affairs and had various articles published in the national press – from tackling climate change to building more council housing.
After stepping back from politics Darren moved out of the capital and in 2016 based himself in Hastings, East Sussex.
When I no longer had an endless cycle of meetings to attend, one of the things I was determined to do was go to more live gigs…
Marking the publication of my third book for Sonicbond’s Decades series, Slade In The 1970s, I’ll be at the legendary Trumpet pub in Bilston on 17th June, a traditional stomping ground for the members of Slade in the early days and still a much-loved and highly-respected jazz venue.
Slade In The 1970s previewed this month in Wired Up glam fanzine:
As well as a Q&A and book signing I’m thrilled to announce there will also be a live acoustic set from Martin Brooks and Nigel Hart of the Pouk Hill Prophetz as part of the launch that afternoon (1pm-3pm) as well as a later set that evening (8pm-11pm).
Coming together through their shared love of Slade, Pouk Hill Prophetz have been together almost a decade now, bringing their own unique take on the music of Slade and other glam-era icons.
Martin Brooks, guitarist with Pouk Hill Prophetz: “Darren Johnson has been a friend of the band for many years and we are delighted to support his book launch. It is a great honour for PHP to play a gig at The Trumpet, which is such an important music venue in the Midlands and has been associated with Slade since their glory days in the 70s. It will be a day and a night to remember!”
About the author: A former politician, Darren Johnson spent many years writing about current affairs but after stepping away from politics he was able to devote time to his first love: music. His first book, The Sweet In The 1970s, was published by Sonicbond in 2021, followed by Suzi Quatro In The 1970s in 2022. Now he turns his attention to the first band he truly fell in love with: Slade. A keen follower of both rock and folk, he maintains a popular music blog Darren’s Music Blog and has reviewed albums and gigs for a variety of publications. He lives in Hastings, East Sussex
Given the Gillan-fronted Deep Purple have largely disowned the output of the Mark III (and IV) Deep Purple, Glenn Hughes has been doing a sterling job keeping the flame alive for these classic Purple songs in recent years. And this Autumn he sets out on a new UK tour celebrating fifty years of the magnificent Burn album.
Hughes and his band will perform the legendary album in full as well as performing other Deep Purple songs from the Mark III and Mark IV eras. In addition to Hughes on bass/vocals, the band features Soren Andersen (guitar), Ash Sheehan (drums) and Bob Fridzema (keyboards).
Special guests for all UK shows are Canadian rock and roll band, The Damn Truth.
Glenn Hughes:“It was 50 years ago, in the summer of 1973, that the BURN album by Deep Purple was written at Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire,” reminisces Glenn. “It was recorded in October in Montreux, Switzerland. We all became one in this centuries old castle in the UK countryside, it felt like Deep were a new band, with David (Coverdale) and I as new members, we couldn’t wait to start working on new songs. The atmosphere was electric, in such amazing surroundings.”
“All the songs on BURN were written in the crypt/dungeon, underneath the great hall. We worked on a new song every day, and we were in the flow. Musically we would play, and work out ideas, and David and I would come up with vocal melodies that would later have lyrics. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
Featuring classics like ‘Might Just Take Your Life’, Mistreated and the magnificent title track, Burn was Deep Purple’s eighth studio album and the first to feature Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, who replaced Roger Glover and Ian Gillan respectively.
Hughes adds, “The title track was the last song to be written. We came back from the pub, and went down into the crypt, and magic happened.”
“It’s time to celebrate BURN, and I’m really looking forward to seeing you.”
One of the things that makes the early 1970s my absolute favourite era for music is not only were there so many classic releases coming out of the album-oriented rock acts at the time, like Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, but the singles charts, and what was considered mere pop, were packed with brilliant releases from acts like Slade and the Glitter Band and Suzi Quatro, too.
It wasn’t a completely straightforward division, of course. Bands like Deep Purple would get into the singles charts now and again (‘Black Night’ and ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ both made the Top Ten, for example) and Slade enjoyed three No. 1 albums on top of all of their singles sales. And in reality, the distance between bands like Purple and bands like Slade was not as great as we might imagine – with both bands delivering their own particular brand of loud, guitar-based hard rock.
Where we might perceive the gap to be much more unbridgeable, of course, is when we start considering prog and glam. The classical influences, musical complexity and long solos associated with the world of prog seem a long way away from the handclaps, glitterbeats and chanted choruses from the world of glam.
There were crossovers, however. Only few years after releasing ‘Blockbuster’ and ‘Teenage Rampage’, the Sweet moved into progressive territory with their 1978 Level Headed album. But an early crossover contender must surely be Barclay James Harvest’s 1972 dalliance with glam.
Admittedly, it was released under a pseudonym but the 1972 single ‘Breathless’ (credited to Bombadil and supposedly written by ‘Terry Bull’) was none other than Barclay James Harvest, which saw the Oldham-based prog foursome attempting to make a bid for chart success by playing the likes of Gary Glitter and Chicory Tip at their own game.
Where on earth did the pseudonym Bombadil come from though? According to the Barclay James Harvest website it was inspired by Tom Bombadil, a character in Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings. Hmmm that is all starting to sound a bit prog and not very glam at all. Perhaps it was the name that let them down in the end then. Sadly, the single failed to make any impact on the charts but since the early 2000s the track (and its B-side ‘When The City Sleeps’) has been made available as bonus tracks on the Baby James Harvest album, leaving us with a wonderful slice of prog/glam crossover.
Amelia Hogan is a San Francisco-based Celtic folk singer who performs both traditional and contemporary folk. She sings in the Irish music tradition of Sean-Nós, or “old style” as well as accompanied. Amelia also plays bodhran and a small 22-string Welsh lap harp, and has toured internationally to popular acclaim. Her latest album Taking Flight features sixteen tracks of which the title track is an original composition and the remainder are a mixture of traditional numbers and Hogan’s own interpretations of songs by contemporary songwriters.
Amelia Hogan:“Birds are featured in a number of songs on the album. Often seen as a symbol of loss and sorrow, birds also represent healing and the ability to find healing in the midst of hardship. The intent of this work is to take the listener on a journey through grief and out the other side, as a bird taking flight might.”
Some well-chosen songs from a diverse range of sources and Hogan’s distinctive vocal style along with some beautiful musical accompaniment and a fine cast of supporting musicians all serve to make Taking Flight an extremely cohesive album, and a deeply immersive experience for the listener. Highly recommended.
The Scottish instrumental folk band RURA (Jack Smedley, Steven Blake, Adam Brown, and David Foley) celebrated their tenth anniversary back in 2020 with a live album – Live At The Old Fruit Market. Now they are back with a new full-length studio album – Dusk Moon. While the previous album fizzed with energy from a barnstorming live performance, Dusk Moon sees the foursome in a mellower and more contemplative mode.
Jack Smedley:“Much of the music has been inspired by a deep sense of reflection, hope and the people and places we’ve been so fortunate to meet and experience over the years. We’ve tried to focus on what we enjoyed most about our last studio album In Praise of Home and build on that sound.”
The nine-track album sees RURA come up with a stunning set of new compositions and there is some wonderful interplay between the foursome as they deliver their trademark sound of pipes, guitar, bodhran, flute and fiddle. All four members have contributed compositions and while they may have slowed down the tempo, there is no sign yet of RURA slowing down on the creative front. Another fine album.
Following their ecologically-themed debut album, Temperature’s Rising, two years ago, husband-and-wife acoustic duo Milton Hide are back with a follow-up. While their debut was something of a departure for the duo with its host of guest musicians and extensive, multi-layered production, the follow-up captures more of the essence of what Milton Hide are all about on stage: stripped-back acoustic playing, engaging melodies and thought-provoking, observational songwriting.
There’s a couple of beautifully poignant instrumentals on the album, too, including the title track.
Jim Tipler:“We got the idea for the album name, The Holloway, from a beautiful place we walk the dog. The path has got lower and lower over the centuries and the trees have grown overhead to form a kind of tunnel. You can’t help but imagine the thousands of feet that have trodden it. We didn’t have a title track, so I said Josie should write a tune on the clarinet to finish the album. It’s one of my favourite bits.”
All in all, a very fine album from this charmingly inventive East Sussex folk duo.
Caoir (pronounced Koor and meaning a blaze of fire) is the third solo album from Scottish traditional singer and Gaelic language champion, Joy Dunlop. It’s appropriately named, the infectious beats and catchy melodies definitely make for a fiery combination and a very contemporary take on Gaelic folk.
Joy Dunlop:“I’ve always loved music that pushed the boundaries of what was considered ‘trad’, without losing the soul of the songs. As a Gaelic singer, I’m always trying to make my music accessible to those who don’t speak the language. With this recording I wanted to capture the sentiment of the songs, whether the listener understands Gaelic or not, while adding new engaging elements to the music.”
With Caoir, Dunlop certainly pulls off what she set out to achieve. The vibrant instrumentation of Ron Jappy, Mhairi Marwick, Gus Stirrat, Ifedade Thomas and Euan Malloch provides the perfect backdrop for Dunlop’s beautiful vocals makes for a captivating album from start to finish.
Husband-and-wife duo, Stu and Debbie Hanna, have been a fixture on the folk scene for almost twenty years now. What Are We Trying To Say? is the duo’s thirteenth album and their first studio album in four years. Featuring eight original songs, one traditional number (Cannie Old Blind Willie’) and the words of another (‘The Barbers News’) set to newly-composed music. The central theme of the album is about how we, the public, absorb news and information in the modern age.
Debbie Hanna:“We spent so much time during the pandemic watching the news and endlessly scrolling – social media became a vital source if information but it also became clear there were so many different takes on what was happening it became hard to figure out the real truth. We began to think about the different ways news can be used – to inform, entertain us or even control us and these are the themes we have touched on in songs on the album.”
Don’t worry though – the album not a conspiracy theorist’s charter and the duo’s song ‘The Conspiracy Trap’ tackles that unfortunate modern-day obsession head on. What the album does do, however, is offer intelligent writing, sharp social commentary and heartfelt lyrics, all delivered in those rich Teeside voices and the trademark Megson sound, with captivating melodies and stacks of beautiful fiddle and mandolin.
Eve Simpson is a singer-songwriter, storyteller, and collaborative community artist from South Shields and now based in Edinburgh. Written between the two places, her four-track EP All Her Strange was inspired by the playfulness of Woodstock-era Joni Mitchell and that captivating combination of honesty and vulnerability from great songwriters like Laura Marling and Carole King.
Eve Simpson:“It is a piece of work about trying to understand myself at 21, processing grief, health, heartbreak, joy and loss, and becoming a person that had two places that felt like home now.”
Combining wit, feistiness and vulnerability, one of the stand-out tracks on the EP is ‘His Euphoria’, a coming-of-age commentary on misogyny where Eve playfully narrates the trials and tribulations of being a young woman dating, dancing, and debating her way through her early 20s.
Eve told Darren’s Music Blog: “His Euphoria is a complete mick-take of the very male-dominated spaces I found myself within the music industry and university in my early-20s. Written during the first lockdown, when I completely removed myself from those spaces, it was a sarcastic reflection of how much I had to play myself down to exist within those spaces. It is a really fun song, about some very awkward and damaging environments.“
“The EP more broadly, continues along this lens of reflection, with each track honouring some very important coming-of-age moments: heartbreak, grief, and empowerment. All Her Strange as a whole is an acknowledgment of experiencing self-love, and acceptance for the first time. Of acknowledging my shortcomings, and areas of growth, whilst recognizing those integral parts of myself that I can’t change.”
The EP was produced with support from Youth Music’s NextGen Fund. A short tour in support of the EP commences on 17th April in Edinburgh.
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