Rhubarb Bomb, 5th Birthday Party.

Rhubarb what?  If you frequent live music venues around Wakefield you are bound to come across this rather cool little magazine or more correctly it's a fanzine to publicize and shout about music, particularly local indie and original music.  2 years ago I was at a gig and stuffed one in my pocket to read later, that was like many people my first introduction to Rhubarb Bomb.  Since that time I have got to know more and more about the Wakey music scene and this publications important place in it.  Dean Freeman is the current and I believe third editor of RB who also writes many of the articles in it.  To call Rhubarb Bomb a fanzine and nothing more would be failing to do it Justice.  It is far more but for now on with the party.

The Orangery

So anyway on Saturday 21st April 2012 Rhubarb Bomb had it's 5th birthday party at The Orangery. Was I there with the camera?  Hell yeah!  Not only was this the 5th birthday bash but also to celebrate the launch of Dean's book wot he wrote called Rhubarb Bomb, The City Consumes Us.  I got there early and got my pre ordered copy and sat down to read bits while listening to bands soundchecking.  It's a 214 page book which I am looking forward to reading as soon as I finish the book I'm on right now.

One Day After School

Ok, so the first band on as guests begin to fill the Orangery are "One Day After School"  Fronted by Dean Freeman himself the songs are relentlessly driven by Dan Hayes on drums.  Most of  them coming from their recently released EP called "The Future Is Not Ours Comrade".  I only have one issue with this, it's not a bloody EP at all, it's an album!  Ok a short album but it's dead good value and there's some great songs here.

Passing Fancy 

Next up was Passing Fancy, not inside but out in the lovely grounds in front of The Orangery.  The weather forcast had predicted some pretty horrible weather and I was rather fearing the worst.  Needn't have worried though coz whoever sorts out our weather must be a Rhubarb Bomb reader and music fan, it was perfect for April.  So we listened to a Passing Fancy doing an acoustic set under a tree on the lawn in the sunshine.  Lovely it was too.

Passing Fancy

Back inside just about had time to grab a beer before Imp hit the stage.  Imp are a wonderful and in some ways rather bizarre unit fronted by Rob Schofield who plays keyboards.  Or rather an ancient Casio keyboard which I suspect is older than most of the band members and occasionally looks as if it might fall apart.  All that said Imp just wouldn't be Imp  without it.  Playing songs from their current EP Sewerpop How The Castle Was Stormed this is another disc well worth checking out, well coz it's bloody ace.

Imp

As Imp finished their set Dean was up on stage and announcing that Dan Hayes would be playing an acoustic set on the back lawn and that also there will be birthday cake for anyone who'd like a slice.  Now anyone who knows me will know I can be a bit thick at times, and was just having one of those thick moments as I interpreted what Dean had just said.  Essentially the bullet points being, 1 cake, 2 camera, 3 cake cutting photo.  I got camera, let's go find the cake.  A bit slow which is why the shots of the cake being cut by Dean has already got a couple of slices missing.  Neh mind I am cheap if a little slow.

Happy birthday Rhubarb Bomb

Did someone mention Dan Hayes, yes.  Dan Hayes the powerhouse drummer at the back of "One Day After School" is playing acoustic self penned songs out on the lawn.  Still no rain!  This is Dan's debut as a solo apart from an open mic set at The Hop a couple of weeks previous.  Yeah he was a bit nervous which anyone would be, I think it takes great courage to first of all stand up and sing and play solo.  Not only that but playing and singing your own songs when you're not sure whether people will like them or not.  Dan needn't have worried, his songs are great and he did fine.  Much respect Dan.

Dan Hayes

Back inside to lust after another beer and get in place for one of Wakey's most exciting bands "The Runaround Kids.  This band delivers all the musical ingredients I like, live, loud, arrogant, raw, savage  and yet honest and sincere.  Fronted by George Garthwaite and Jack Winn The Runaround Kids tick all the boxes and some.  My dad would have hated 'em and that's good.

The Runaround Kids

As I am recovering from a blistering set from The Runaround Kids the non stop party rolls on and back outside, (still no rain)!  Hang on, where the hell are we going now, there's nothing down here except a couple of overgrown Victorian arches full of  undergrowth.  You're joking, nope he's not joking.  The setting for St Gregory Orange to play an acoustic set is a pitch dark old archway a small entrance having been hacked away so we could get in, illuminated by loads of little candles.  You know this is so "Rhubarb Bomb" and a perfect example of why I'm here.

St Gregory Orange

On this occasion St Greg is acoustic for obvious reasons consisting of the well talented Harry Rhodes and Tim Metcalfe and this location is a perfect backdrop for St Gregs beautiful spiritual and colourful songs.  All I have to do now is figure out how to photograph it.  Yeah I know been there done that.  Taking the above shot I was subjected to some kind of wet slime slowly trickling down the back of my kneck and in the frontal shots I got a very wet bum sat in the mud and rat crap.  Bothered?  More beer please!

St Gregory Orange
Harry Rhodes & Tim Metcalfe

St Gregory Orange

Back at the bar, this beer is on the house if you can post some photos for us to look at.  Well that's more than you'd get from local newspapers so of course I will.
Right, who's next for shaving.  The Rhubarb Bomb big mega birthday bash rolls on and it's Mi Mye fronted by Jamie Lockhart and very familiar faces of Chad and Rob make up the 3 piece band tonight.  A very listenable mixture of fun and sometimes meloncholy songs.  Well known by Hop regulars Jamie is the man who is more often than not responsible for making that awesome sound system sound as good as it should.  Needless to say it always does.

Jamie Lockhart

Mi Mye

Time to crank up the energy as The Piskies are imminent, Harry Rhodes is on stage, gone is the acoustic guitar from the melodic set from St Greg and in it's place a Fender Jazzmaster and a large peddleboard followed by Craig mic in one hand bottle of beer in the other, Mike is on drums wearing the latest designer off the shoulder er sort of t shirt, and a woolly hat.  Al, Chris, and Morsey complete the lineup.  This band is Piskie Sits. This is full on, earth shattering stuff to give your ears a right good seeing to.  The Piskies have been going for about 10 years I think and were the first band I ever photographed at The Hop, that seems like a lifetime ago now.  Towards the end of the set the band are joined on stage by Andy Micklethwaite for one song, this I think has become a kind of Piskie tradition as Andy has been a Piskies fan from the beginning and it tops off a great performance.

Piskie sits
Harry Rhodes & Chris Morse

Piskie Sits

Michael Ainsley  

My ears are still ringing as Dean takes to the stage to say a few words, to say a few thank yous and to present bottles of of bubbly to some important people in the life of Rhubarb Bomb. I have only known about Rhubarb Bomb for a little short of 2 years but I am at once really touched by the little speeches given by these hugely significant people in the life of Indie music in this city.  All three editors of Rhubarb Bomb's 5 year history  are here, Rob Dee Stokes, Benjamin James Trout and of course Dean Freeman.  It's moments like this that make you rather proud of where you come from and of the great little Indie zine that this event represents.  However there is more to this little zine that you might pick up in a record store or pub than just a good free read.  More of that in a bit

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Benjamin James Trout & Dean Freeman

The Editors
Benjamin J. Trout, Rob Dee Stokes, Dean Freeman

Chris Morse & Benjamin J. Trout

Ace people, Good Friends

Time for one more band.  Yes and I'm bloody exhausted, it's been a long day, many of these musicians started at 12 noon with an acoustic gig in The Ridings to support Record Store Day 2012. As for me I've been hauling some very heavy camera gear round since then too so I'm beginning to feel it.  No worries, one more beer and one more band.
Last up is The Spills.  I'd hesitate  to call them the "headliners" and I think they'd agree that all the bands and musicians tonight have been superb, giving their all for this  great event and can all rightly call themselves "headliners.  As The Spills crash out of their final song Chad trips over a mic stand and leans on the amps at the back of the stage, totally shattered and no wonder he seems to have been on stage one way or another since the start and as I said it's been a long day.

The Spills

Rob Slater

Looking round no one has left, everyone is still here to the end, no one's drunk, or out of it, just lovely people with a passion for the music, and what music it is, MADE IN WAKEFIELD.  I pack up the camera full of photos and say goodnight.  Walking up into the town centre, This is Wakey on Saturday night, The infamous Westgate run and in the company of Benjamin James Trout I'm sort of reflecting on the days events as we pass the plastic clubs playing plastic music for plastic  people steamed out of their plastic heads on plastic drinks and whatever else and I can't help having a rather smug feeling of being one of those select few who knows something they don't.

See you at a gig, come and say hi.
For more photos of this event you might like to have a look at my flickr set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john2755pics/sets/72157629907410605/

Me, My Passion, My First Post.

So after ages thinking shall I, or maybe not I done it.  I have a blog.  This can't be good.  I don't think I really need to introduce myself coz if you're daft enough to be reading this you already know who I am.  Essentially, what excites me to the exclusion of pretty much everything else is music.  Alas, I can't play anything so I content myself by taking photos of people who can.  I am often  found populating dark, noisy, hot, sweaty music venues shooting bands that only a select few have heard of, YET.  As a result I find mainstream pop music extremely bland and uninteresting.  Oh yeah and by the way if you haven't already guessed most of this blog is probably gonna be about music.
I was born in Wakefield and I'll more than likely die here, eventually.  It's my city and this is my home it's got it's problems and bits of it are not so pretty but like someone else said about Wakey well if it's shit it's our shit and we like it.  One of Wakey's best kept secrets which too few of us are shouting about is the number of bands, musicians, and songwriters currently making original music in this city, er I did say original, not covers in case you missed that bit.  There are in my opinion 3 vital and precious factors behind the vibrant state of cutting edge original music in this city one is a really cool venue with an awesome sound system.  Two is a music fanzine which has been around for 5 years and shouts about our music to anyone with the ability to read, and three is a record label that puts out the magic for you and I to take home.  For my part I shall be shouting about all three of the above and uploading photos coz that's what I do.
Ok, first post written, from here on posts will be about venues, bands, festivals, cameras, Bleech, and beer, and anything else that fires me up in future interlaced with my miserable attempts to capture the amazing music and extremely talented people who make it with a camera.