GOTH

CAN CAN – New album from Durham duo Lowfeye

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Cover image French actor Alain Delon.

Lowfeye are Alan Rowland (musician) and Carol Nichol (singer & songwriter). They’ve just released ‘Can Can’ their fourth independently produced album. What have Lowfeye cooked up for these dark, cold, wintry nights? Carol throws a log on the fire.

‘Yeh it’s just the two of us – we have creative control which is paramount to the artistry and creativity of Lowfeye’ said Carol. ‘Songs start to evolve almost by accident. I can be in the Dakota desert composing a country rock road movie soundtrack with it all swirling around in my head while in reality I’m walking around a supermarket, buying wine, chips and beans that’s £14.70 please’.

‘Songs tend to flow fast and easy. They present themselves out of nowhere, almost as if I’m getting a brief from a film director who doesn’t exist’.

‘In the writing process they come in waves of sounds and colour all drifting out of my acoustic guitar or keyboard. Melodies, lyrics and hooks entwine with the influence of film themes, art, nostalgia, current affairs and story telling’.

Stand out songs on this 10 track album are Big Bang which bubbles around the pot, hypnotic goth rock of Babycham, dark piece Jeanne Hebuterne reveals the heartbreaking suicide story about the French artist while Dog Bite puts a vice like squeeze on before Valley of the Dolls hits the road running and Red Star rolls the credits. Lights out.

‘In terms of arrangements Alan and I concoct a cinematic landscape of colourful dreamlike worlds where rock and pop sit hand in hand with classical, folk and ambient. Anything can creep into the mix and make itself at home’.

‘Final stages of the songs reveal their identities with swirling organs rising through chiming guitars, orchestral textures battle it out with pounding drums’.

For creative artists managing and prioritising time is a daily challenge however the pay-off can be surprising and satisfying. As Carol throws another log on the fire she weighs up the benefits and snags of getting yer hands dirty.

‘Not being chained to labels does enable creative freedom, but the down side is juggling regular jobs. On that note if we were signed to a record label we would probably be dropped for not sticking to one formula or style of music’.

‘Getting the right take can involve days of stop-start hit and miss recording sessions, occasional gear malfunction, a phone ringing or the dog barking through a good vocal take, all of these things take time to iron out and finalise’.

‘On the flip side an afternoon can be sufficient to have a track in the bag all done and dusted. And all this recorded in a home studio in a box room setting on basic DIY equipment’.

From their first recording in 2017 with ‘Pow’ to their new offering ‘Can Can’ Lowfeye have produced another independent album full of ideas and imagination.

‘Like all Lowfeye albums ‘Can Can’ is like opening a chocolate box of sound with lots of different flavours. Lyrics can often go into risqué territory – you don’t know what yer going to get’.

‘Can Can’ available at >>>

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/lowfeye1/can-can

Alikivi   December 2024

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE MOUTH OF THE TYNE FESTIVAL 6-9th JULY 2023.

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Siouxsie at the Mouth of the Tyne Festival 2023

I still get some freelance camera work and this job was at a four day event set in a fantastic location inside the grounds of Tynemouth Priory & Castle where the river Tyne meets the North Sea.

First day a smooth load in and five camera set up with three operators and two remote to feed the large video screens, after a few tweaks the set up was ready to go live.

The return of headliners The Proclaimers, they were canny back in 2019, stage time called and the Reid brothers marched on towards the sun and a full crowd, not a bad place to work.

Of course they played Letter From America and 500 miles, they make the camera job easier for framing when they’re planted next to the mic. Think it might be different for Siouxsie tomorrow – and it was.

Opening band LYR were mere lambs to the slaughter as a sold out sunny Friday evening saw Siouxsie casting spells and spinning her web in the perfect goth setting of the Priory, Castle ruins and graveyard.

The Ice Queen majestically skipped around stage singing Spellbound, Cities in Dust and Arabian Knights. Played last, and not on the set list, was a triumphant Hong Kong Garden. Letting the crowd know she went for a dip in the North Sea earlier in the day brought a cheer and more love from the goth hordes.

Set list for Siouxsie at the Mouth of the Tyne festival 2023.

Camera set up 4pm on Saturday in place for the openers from 6.30pm, former Housemartin/Beautiful South vocalist Paul Heaton & special guest on at 8.15pm. Cameras went undercover on a soggy evening.

Trouble in the crowd was just handbags, and the rain never dampened the Saturday night sing a-long. Heaton’s songs are great little stories, and a nice touch when introducing band members he told the crowd what football team they supported!

The show ended with four encores, yes that was four, and a sparkly finish, compared to barely an hour on stage from Gabrielle on Sunday.

It was a long filming day with early camera set up from 10am for six acts and over six hours video screening scheduled. Gates opened 11.45am and saw Newcastle band Clear Blood first on at 12noon.

Gabrielle sauntered on stage for 5pm, but after a few songs disappeared for 15mins leaving her backing vocalists singing random pop hits. What’s this about? A costume change? No, when she returned just a few more songs and no encore.

After enjoying the show the crowd looked deflated – was that it? And who thought of booking a Thin Lizzy-lite rock band to go on before her? As tight as they were, maybe a better fit would of been Friday before Siouxsie.

Thankfully, earlier in the afternoon the suited and booted Big Red & the Grinners landed on stage, tuned in and turned on the crowd to their brand of blistering banjobillypop – and saved the day, excelling from their 2019 performance with Big Red observing the Priory ruins ‘I see you still haven’t repaired the windows’.

With sold out shows another successful event organised and delivered by North Tyneside Council. See ya next year.

Alikivi   July 2023

A LIFE IN PICTURES – Snapshot of Victorian Photographer, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (1853-1941)

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In October 2017 I was at the Goth weekender held in Whitby on the North East UK coast. The town was revelling in the darker side of life, people walking around in colourful costumes celebrating the dead.

The reason behind the spooky theme is the town’s connection to Dracula. In 1890 writer Bram Stoker stayed in the town where he was inspired to write his vampire novel. Another reason to visit the town was the Frank Sutcliffe gallery.

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe.

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe was born in Yorkshire on 6th October 1853. He came from a large family, his parents had six children and made the ancient port of Whitby their home. At 17 Sutcliffe was a photographer and assistant to his father Thomas, an Artist and lecturer.

By the time he was 35 he was married to Eliza, the couple had four girls, one son and were living at 9 Burrowfield Terrace. By 1901 the family had moved to Sleights Cottage in the town where his oldest daughter Kathleen was his photography assistant.

Sutcliffe paid the rent by taking studio portraits, but the main subject of his work was everyday working life, with the fishing community a main focus.

Capturing Victorian life brought him international recognition and an award from the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1935.

Included are some of his photographs taken from a 1988 calendar I have called, ‘A Photographic Heritage’. One of the pictures features two of his children, Horace and Irene fishing for newts.

The naff quality copies here aren’t a patch on the images in the calendar, if you search out his pictures, they are worth spending time with.

On the Second World War register he is an 86-year-old widow, employed as Curator at Whitby Museum. His daughter Irene lived with him until he died on the 31st May 1941.

http://www.sutcliffe-gallery.co.uk/

Alikivi   March 2020.

DARK THOUGHTS with Gateshead musician Esme

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At the start of 2017 Penance Stare started as a solo project. Now it’s a duo comprised of Esmé on vocals, guitar and electronics and Graeme on drum kit and electronics. Esme remembers the first gig…

It was in the dark Boiler Room at the Old Police House in Gateshead. I was using a broken microphone so I had to yell, unamplified over the music.

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The Old Police House is bringing incredible shows to Gateshead. Drone/noise/ambient gigs at either the Soundroom or the Art Gallery. Across the river Tyne in Newcastle we have places like the Star & Shadow. Bands are still playing in bars just as much as DIY indie venues.

Newcastle and the surrounding area have a really good scene for both metal and experimental music, with a lot of crossover between.

What’s your music background ?

I was a child in the ’90s when Britpop and Alternative rock were popular. The earliest music I owned were the Shine cassette compilations of indie hits from around ’95/96. I still revisit that music occasionally. .

Our influences include Cranes, Velvet Cocoon, Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. We’ve both played in bands for many years before this, and have projects outside of Penance Stare. We currently rehearse in Gateshead’s Soundroom.

Are you from a musical family ?

My dad played guitar, not well or in bands but he would pull faces while jamming bad blues licks. He bought me some used equipment as a teenager.

My mother exposed me to a lot of music too. Growing up I would steal her records and tapes. She sang a lot, not very well, but she got a lot of enjoyment from it. I can relate to that.

When did you first pick up an instrument and what was it? 

Aged 12 or 13. My first electric guitar was a black Encore Stratocaster. A horrible guitar, the quality of cheap instruments has increased dramatically since then. I plugged it into a tiny Kustom amp.

Like a lot of kids my age I was really into Kurt Cobain. I moved on to Sonic Youth and started writing my own songs.

What do you think of crowdfunding, have Penance Stare taken that route ?

We haven’t done anything like that. I’m not sure its what listeners want. I note that one of the big platforms recently went bust.

Have you recorded any of your songs ?

Penance Stare recordings are deliberate in their rawness and intimacy and all of the recordings thus far have been made at home. We anticipate that future recordings will continue in this tradition. All releases were made available on limited edition cassette and digital download.

Much like a lot of the UK underground at the moment, we deal in cassettes and downloads. That’s out of necessity as much as anything. Hardly anyone can afford to make vinyl now.

Releases:

House Of Bastet EP  (summer 2017)

Scrying (spring 2018)

Solananceae (early 2019)

What are the Penance Stare plans for this year ?

We won’t be playing any shows in a while as we’re writing a brand-new live set. So far, progress has been fast, so we expect to be back by the summer. There will also probably be another release by the end of the year.

 Contact Esme at  https://www.facebook.com/penancestaremusic/

 Interview by Gary Alikivi     February 2019.