Hooten Hallers/Socks in Bed/Labrat

HOOTEN HALLERS/SOCKS IN BED/LABRAT

Soundhouse 14th March 2025

Cracking night at The Soundhouse Leicester last night...

Opening up with a guitar/drum duo, Labrat. They are a covers band, and display some good taste in covers, concentrating on 60's/70's rock classics, venturing into the songbooks of the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, the Who, Ramones and others... They deliver their music with style and panache and deliver a highly enjoyable performance. They spoke of adding their own original songs at some point, it will be good to see how they develop and how the original songs fit. Excellent start to the evening.

Next up came SOCKS IN BED... a rock band delivering their original material with energy and style... The band play well with assurance and style and though an enjoyable set i didn't see anything particularly innovative to set them apart from many other similar bands

Finally... and joyfully... The Hooten Hallers took the stage... a superb rock band with a unique line up of drums, guitar and bass/baritone sax...and the sound they deliver is simply magical.

They hit the stage and crashed into the first number and the highly charged high energy rock'n'roll didnt flag at any stage... their music is unique and wonderful and the band play with colossal energy and joy, it is impossible not to be carried away by them.

John Randall plays electric guitar and a five string electric lap steel and handles the bulk of the vocals... his raspy voice full of power and control throughout. Drummer Andy Rehm is superb, driving the band from behind with power and authority without resorting to flash, and also took the lead vocals on one number... Kellie Everett players powerhouse sax and sang a wonderful jazzy/blues song as well as back up vocals.

This band is all about high energy and good times... and they rock like crazy.. infectious, driving up-beat rock'n'roll blues band who deliver a thrilling set of rock'n'roll which just carries you along with it's joyful power, energy, authority and sheer quality...

Hooten Hallers are a bloody great band... and last nights performance was absolutely superb

A great night was had by all...

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues 

Karen MacLeod/Bertangle & Butterfield/John Boyle/Colin Perks/Steve Cartwright

KAREN MacLEOD/BERTANGLE & BUTTERFIELD/COLIN PERKS/JOHN BOYLE/STEVE CARTWRIGHT

Horse & Trumpet 12th March 2025

Steve Cartwright arranged the event in the Horse and Trumpet, Sileby to benefit Medicine Sans Frontiers... and it was a massively enjoyable evening raising money for the cause.

We also got to hear a lot of wonderful acoustic folky music from Steve Cartwright & The Last Days, Colin Perks, John Boyle and the brilliant featured artists, Bertangle & Butterfield, and Karen Macleod

A wonderful evening for a great cause.

There will be another evening on April 16th... don't know who'll be playing on the night, but it is sure to be another great evening... come along and enjoy as well as helping a cause

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue

Steve & Jim

Colin Perks

John Boyle

Bertangle & Butterfield

Karen MacLeod

Hillbilly Moon Explosion/The Zipheads/Mystery Action

HILLBILLY MOON EXPLOSION/THE ZIPHEADS/MYSTERY ACTION

Soundhouse: 2nd March 2025

Sunday night back to the The Soundhouse Leicester for a rollicking evening of voodoo rock/rockabilly to drive away the cold!

First up were Mystery Action... and I love this band!!.. .if you've seen them you know exactly what to expect... and they delivered in fine style... a glorious full sound... loud, rocking, busy, powerful and exhilarating. This was the first time I'd seen this particular line up but the sound and vibe as exactly as before... no pre-amble, straight into "Voodoo Rock" then they ripped through the set with barely a break except for a minor delay picking up a new guitar after a string broke... Two powerful singers belting out the lyrics over driving drums and bass along with two guitars and trumpet... not only musically uplifting but the band are visually rivetting... fabulous way to start an evening... totally loved it!!

Next up, a band totally new to me... The Zipheads. I had no idea what to expect, but the line up of upright slap-bass, guitar and drums is classic rockabilly!.. .and they delivered that, with an emphasis of the rock. Propelled by a powerful drummer and hugely energetic upright bass pounding away while the singer/guitarist delivered some great guitar and strong vocals... the whole band gelled totally into a powerhouse of rock..

At one point the singer was delivering a bit of chat, and declared "you're not here to hear this... you are here to here some rock'n'roll"... and the band rocked like crazy for their whole set... upbeat, powerful rocking rockabilly... high energy high quality and absolutely terrific set...

Headlining were yet another new name to me, The Hillbilly Moon Explosion.. an international band who are clearly known to most of the audience judging by the roar when they hit the stage.

Not to my mind a purely rockabilly outfit, more towards perhaps indie/underground but the overall sound and set did cover rockabilly, rock and even a country tinged number... but they are unique!

The band features the superb Emanuella Hutter on vocals and guitar along with an energetic powerful upright bass player and superb drummer, with a lead guitarist delivering some superb work. The overall sound was less full on rocking than the previous two bands, but they still rocked beautifully throughout with some fine melodies thrown in.

Terrific band, loved the performance, and they rightly went down a storm with the big crowd... another terrific performance.

Actually loved all three bands... a hugely uplifting and exhilarating evening of great rock'n'roll delivered by three terrific bands

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues

Emma Wale & Philip Koeberle/Paddy McCullough & Helen Butterfield/Stu Crane/Northstar

EMMA WALE & PHILIP KOEBERLE/PADDY McCULLOUGH & HELEN BUTTERFIELD/STU CRANE/ NORTHSTAR

Soundhouse 1st March 2025

Another great afternoon at the The Soundhouse Leicester yesterday... 4 excellent acts 2 totally new to me, two very familiar faces in a different settings... First up were the band NORTHSTAR who delivered a really great set including a number of excellent originals and some well chosen covers... the jangly 12 string on the Byrds covers particularly appealed to me!.. .but this is a really good band who deserve more attention

Next up was the other new name to me, Stu Crane... Stu was one of the musicians involved in Februarys song writing project so after a couple of older pieces he played a bunch of brand new songs... all somewhat quirky and hugely enjoyable. He ended with a new instrumental piece which i felt he over exteneded to fill his time allotment... and to be honest it went on far too long and became boring... a shame because for me it took some off the gloss off an otherwise cracking set.

Next up was the song writing machine Paddy McCullough accompanied for most of the set by Helen Butterfield on fiddle.

Paddy is always an engaging performer and playing with someone else, especially someone as good as Helen, brings the best out in both players.

Paddy is a guiding light of the Song Writing Project, and writes great songs, and playing songs written in the last few days, he was re-writing them as he played... yet throughout Helen's accompaniment was absolutely spot on despite not having heard the songs until 48 hours earlier, and Paddy re-writing them as he went along!!... Superb performance by two quality musicians whose talents blended perfectly

Last up was 40% of Southern Frontier... Emma Wale and Philip Koeberle playing for the first time as a duo. A different kind of set to the band, featuring mainly songs written by Emma & Philip. The style remains rooted in country and the songs were excellent. Emma's voice continues to get better and stronger and she was in great voice and for the first time playing guitar, while Philip's guitar playing is as always outstanding.

The duo had probably not prepared enough material, and ended by playing a few more familiar songs including a fully acoustic "Jolene"... after which they invited Chris the new guitarist with Southern Frontier, to join them while they ran through a few familiar but totally unrehearsed numbers... another really great set

Great afternoon... 4 really great acts!!

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues