Pombagira/Lesbian, Manchester Star and Garter, 15th April 2008

Last night Thee Claw travelled to Manchester to catch the latest stop on a tour by two bands that are (were) new to us: Lesbian from Seattle, and Old London Town's very own Pombagira.
Actually, there were three bands playing that we'd not heard but I'm trying to forget the first band, Lathe Spirit or something, who buy their shirts exclusively from the Southern Lord webstore, with the exception of the drummer who had on a Burzum shirt and eyeliner.
As I walked out after ninety seconds of the first song I could hear the sound of Varg Vikernes digging himself a grave so he could spin in it.
Don't worry lads; even Hellhammer got a one K review back in the day, so you're in good company. Before I forget, here's your very own solitary K.

Next up where Pombagira, whose vocalist/guitarist Pete explained that the set tonight will have to be instrumental because he has a sore throat.
Given the fact that only about 15 people had bothered to turn out for this show (quite a few of them were the parents of the first band) I don't blame him for wanting to keep his voice for a bigger audience.


We are then treated to a totally instrumental set of total UK sludge, and it's very, very impressive. I love the fact that the type of music Pombagira are playing has the ability to make you lose track of time; it draws me in until I don't know whether I've been listening to it for a few minutes or a few hours.
Comparisons are lazy; but they're bound to happen, think Ramesses/Electric Wizard style filth, huge riffs and syncopated drumming with roving basslines.
When they finish their one-track half hour-ish set, I'm already making a mental note to go and see them again, because they must be fucking amazing with vocals if they are this good without them!

Closing the show are Lesbian from Seattle.


Lesbian are impossible to pigeonhole, in fact when I got in last night I destroyed any pigeonholes I had around the house and made a big box with "Lesbian" written over the top, and slung all my CDs inside it, and now my girlfriend thinks I'm on PCP.
Seriously though, I didn't know what was coming next with this band; there's Neurosis-style riffing and then it would break into black metal style blastbeats, and there were a few songs at the end with double-kick action, slow doomy riffs that made me think of demo-era Paradise Lost. Nice use of the Bill Hicks sample too guys.
They totally blew me away to be honest, big kudos to promoters Wot God Forgot for getting these two to play in Manchester, I'm so glad we went, a shame nobody else could be bothered.

And is flannel really the National Dress of Seattle?
Links:
Lesbian (Myspace)
Pombagira (Myspace)
Wot God Forgot (Promoter)

Down, Manchester Academy, 12th April

Here are some of the "best turned out" pics off my phone from Down. Great gig, quite an improvement on the last time they played, no boring rants between songs this time, the new songs sound really good live, Man Of The Match goes to Pepper Keenan!!!

Down, Manchester, April 12th 2008

On Saturday night we went to see Down in Manchester; I'll let SJW or Skum write that one up because they know more about them than I do.
We weren't allowed to take any photos though.

Currently Listening To...

Enslaved - Ruun
Thou - Tyrant
Deformity - Murder Within Sin
Dio - Diamonds (Best of Dio)
Venom - Cast In Stone
Genghis Tron - Board Up The House
Last Action Hero OST

Terminal Frost

Former CELTIC FROST singer and guitarist Tom Gabriel Fischer has issued the following statement regarding his departure from the group:

"I am devastated beyond description, and I am infinitely disappointed. As the one member of CELTIC FROST who is exposed most dramatically to the feedback by our audiences and the media, I feel troubled and humiliated about being unable to honour the enormous goodwill extended to CELTIC FROST during the past few years and meet the justified expectations of our fans.

"I have always seen the ’Monotheist’ album as a mere beginning, and a tame one at that. My mind and spirit are full of energy, creativity, and ideas. CELTIC FROST had become the unreserved focus of my life for the second time. I was looking forward immeasurably to working on the next CELTIC FROST album. To me, it needed to be darker, heavier, and more experimental than ’Monotheist’.

"And yet, CELTIC FROST consisted of three individuals, and I was only one of them. In the end I had to concede to myself that there was no other option.

"My friendship with and respect for Martin Eric Ain [bass] remain unaffected. Moreover, I am in the process of assessing my options to eventually complete, record, and release some of the ideas I originally created for CELTIC FROST and the planned next album in the course of the past few years, and to take our distinctive music out on the road again.

"There is no way back."

Now this is a fucking tour...

MOTORHEAD, SAXON and DANKO JONES
November UK Tour....

Nov 3/08	Wolverhampton, UK	Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Nov 4/08	Ipswich, UK	Ipswich Regent
Nov 6/08	Brighton, UK	Brighton Dome
Nov 7/08	Newcastle, UK	Newcastle Academy
Nov 8/08	Sheffield, UK	Sheffield Academy
Nov 10/08	Glasgow, UK	Glasgow Academy
Nov 11/08	Leicester, UK	Leicester De Montfort Hall
Nov 12/08	Southampton, UK	Southampton Guildhall
Nov 14/08	Manchester, UK	Manchester Apollo
Nov 15/08	Cardiff, UK	Cardiff University
Nov 17/08	Cambridge, UK	Cambridge Corn Exchange
Nov 18/08	Bristol, UK	Bristol Colston Hall
Nov 19/08	Exeter, UK	Exeter University
Nov 21/08	Norwich, UK	Norwich UEA
Nov 22/08	London, UK	Hammersmith Apollo

Somebody Tell Me It's Not True....

...we are flying to Holland to see them next week!!

Roadburn Update

The line up for Sunday's "Afterburner" show at the Roadburn Festival (curated by Current 93's David Tibet) has been updated, due to Rickie Lee Jones having to pull out of playing in Europe with C93.

David Tibet comments:
"As many of you will have seen, Rickie Lee Jones has been unable to appear at the Roadburn show. Both I and Rickie Lee want to point out this happened due to bad luck and unforeseen problems. We remain good friends and, although sadly this time the energy was against us, we are both determined to reschedule our working together as soon as we can.

In the absence of Rickie Lee Jones, Current 93 will now be playing a specially lengthened set and Hush Arbors will also be playing a solo set.
Current 93's set will consist of material from early albums such as NATURE UNVEILED, DOGS BLOOD RISING, IMPERIUM and CHRIST AND THE PALE QUEENS, as well as our most recent work."

Decent news though if like me, you're a fan of the earlier Current 93 stuff.

Revised running order:

Links: Current 93

Bursting Out

Man I am real excited right now, I can't stop thinking about all the awesome stuff we've got planned for the next few months.

Me and Patchie are off to Tilburg in Holland next week to see Trouble & Celtic Frost at Roadburn. Meanwhile Our Claw is jetting away to Belgium for the huge Graspop festival - he gets to see Maiden, KISS & Judas Priest, all in one sitting. The lucky fucker!

Also on the cards, the 3 of us are taking part in a spot of arena rock in July, in the shape of Whitesnake & Def Leppard at the new Liverpool Arena, then me & H will be going back there in October to fulfill boyhood dreams and see Queen in concert. Yeah yeah, not very Claw-ish but still, can't wait for that one.

And let's not forget the Iron Maiden gig that's happening at the Twickenham cricket ground on July the 5th. Throw into the mix a possible Motorhead UK tour in November and you've got yourself the beginings of a memorable year.

Stick with Thee Claw kid, you'll go places.

-----

Currently listening to:
Thou - Tyrant. I cannot get enough of that record.

Slow Week

So here's a photo of Thee Claw boys for you.
I've got some bad cursed-photograph shit going on there, haven't I?
(This is in the graveyard at the rear of Liverpool Cathedral)

Monthfest

There's stacks of prospective gig attendence on thee horizon lads... so make sure you've got a little money for the merch table.

We might not make it to each and every one of the following shows but, god dammit, we'll give it a damn good try!

9 April - Exodus @ Rio’s (Leeds)
12 April - Down @ Manchester Academy (Patchie's birthday!)
15 April - Sick Of It All @ Underground (Stoke)
16 April - Witchcraft @ Rio’s (Leeds)
17 April - Roadburn Pre-burner @ Tilburg
18 to 20 April - Roadburn Festival @ Tilburg
21 April - Boris @ Ruby Lounge (Manchester)
24 April - Suffocation @ Jabez Clegg (Manchester)
25 April - Opeth / Our Jeremy / 3 Inches Of Blood @ Manchester Academy
27 April - Vader @ Rio’s (Leeds)

Note to gegs: 3 men, 6 claws. NO HANGERS ON.

Freezing Fog, Unsanctum, Zangief, Nowhere Fast, Ocksen, Liverpool Korova 9th May 2008

I'm working til 9.30, but only around the corner...see you there!

Roadburn Update

Another update, another band pulling out.
This time it's Sourvein, being replaced by the mighty Dorset druids Ramesses!

Dio @ Birmingham

Close the city! Tickets arrived today!
(No, really... This is no April fools shikanery!)

MOTORHEAD play the Sheffield Academy on 8th November and Rock City in Nottingham on 16th November.
Don't really know why there's such a big gap between them dates but hopefully that gap gets filled with more UK dates.

Incoming

News just in from the lovely guys over at Future Noise...

Thursday 8th May 2008 @ The Star & Garter, Manchester
Swedish Doom merchants Gloomy Sunday will be playing their down-tempo madness, backed up by:
Lazarus Blackstar
Black Sun
They Are Cowards

Doors: 7.30pm Damage: TBC

Black Cobra / Saviours / The Sword

Another week, another gig for you all to share in with us.
Last night Thee Claw travelled across to Manchester to check out a triple bill of Black Cobra, Saviours, and The Sword, at the Manchester Academy.


Opening the show last night were Black Cobra, a two-piece group from LA, playing sludge type metal with doomy overtones, sort of like a two-piece High on Fire. Actually that was a shit comparison but it's the best one I can come with right now being as lazy as I am.
For a two piece they sounded immense, huge riffs and thundering drums.
They were great though, just guitar, drums and vocals, sounding as beefy as most four piece bands out there. Check out their Feather and Stone EP.


Next up were Saviours, from Oakland, California, a four-piece band, with a twin guitar attack that, for some reason, had Thee Claw thinking of Thin Lizzy, which is never a bad thing.
Catchy riffs and doomy vocals, and as I say the whole Thin Lizzy/biker vibe going on.

Really good stuff from these guys, they have a good few LPs available, well worth checking out.

Headlining were The Sword, whose LP "Age of Winters" has been getting a lot of play at Claw Towers.

They drew quite a few songs off this and their upcoming LP "Gods of the Earth" (which some naughty internet pirates have been listening to since January, or so I am told), the crowd were well into them but for me, Saviours were the band of the night.
The Sword finished off with a great one-two of Faith No More's "Surprise! You're Dead!" and their own "Freya", which everyone was very happy with.


Their new LP is out this months I believe, well worth getting hold of, and I'll be looking out for them touring with that one.

We had a great night out afterwards too, in Jilly's Rockworld listening to classic rock.
Hocus Pocus by Focus anyone?


Links:
Black Cobra (Myspace)
Saviours (Myspace)
The Sword (Myspace)

As a side note, this is Thee Claw's 16th show this year; it was the 23rd of June last year before we reached that particular milestone. It's shaping up to be a great year.

The Sheriffs of Huddersfield

Landing on the doormat at Claw Towers yesterday; a package from West Yorkshire sludge merchants Crawe, containing a T-Shirt and demo.
Expect a review as soon as I get a chance to listen to it.
The demo that is, not the shirt.

Link: Crawe

Mayhem - Birmingham Gig - Video

I didn't realise we had footage of the recent Mayhem clip taken at the Birmingham leg of their European tour on February 26th. The video is only about 15 seconds long but it shows the very end of the show, when Atilla Csihar pulled his "prop" table to the floor and all of the lights went out, ending the show. Hell, he even throws a claw too for good measure.

The sound is terrible on this clip, but what can you do? I'm happy just to find this clip - I honestly didn't even know that we had it!

Dio - May / June 2008 - European Tour Dates

Ronnie James Dio and his band are soon to be sweeping across Europe in a 9 date tour this spring:


5/27 - Birmingham, UK (Academy) - Support from Girlschool
5/28 - London, UK (Astoria) - Support from Girlschool
5/30 - Oslo, Norway (Sentrum Scene)
5/31 - Karmoy, Norway (Kopervik Festival)
6/2 - Malmo, Sweden (KB Halle)
6/3 - Copenhagen, Denmark (Amager Bio)
6/4 - Stockholm, Sweden (Debaser)
6/6 - Oulu, Finland (Teatria)
6/7 - Lahti, Finland (Water & Rock Festival)

We've snapped up some tickets to the 1st date of the tour in Birmingham - see you there!