Ridge Banks & the Wall of Sound/Wild Daisy & the Blackhearts

RIDGE BANKS & WALL OF SOUND/WILD DAISY & THE BLACKHEARTS

Metal Monocle 10th August 2025

My first visit to the The Metal Monocle to see the next leg of the Ridge Banks tour... first impression was it was great to walk into such a friendly warm venue with a vibe close to the Donkey as it used to be... and to catch up with old friends...

So... what of the music a week on from the previous one... First up were Wild Daisy & The Black Hearts a great southern rock band with their own personality writ large on it... and they delivered another terrific set. Solid drum and bass providing a superb basis for the band.. crisp rocking drums and a pounding bass while the guitar players rock out in great style... i particulary love the sound of the lap steel where it is used... the two musicians playing together and meshing beautifully... it is no surprise that they have been friends for a couple of decades as the interweaving is almost telepathic... up front the fabulous Hannah Adams is the perfect front person.. .a fabulous singer and performer making the band rivetting both musically and visually... a band clearly having a ball playing together and it communicates readily with the audience... a great set... totally loved it!!

Next up was Ridge Banks Wall of Sound... their debut last week was hampered by poor sound for a large part of the show but no such issues this week as, as with the Blackhearts, the sound was excellent and we got to hear the real quality of Ridge's voice and singing... and indeed the quality of the songs.

The band have been together on the same continent for only a couple of weeks and only had 8 hours rehearsal... but never the less they delivered a great set.. though I personally would encourage Sean to get closer into the mic at times as he is a superb musician and should be heard on full volume!!

The Wall of Sound are a great band, featuring some well known local musicians.. .Nick Plews on bass and Mark Haynes on drums providing a quality rhythm section as well as Sean Clutterham on hamonica and Harris Nixon on guitar... each a fine musician who have contributed much to the local scene... and form a perfect vehicle to highlight Ridge on Acoustic and Vocals.

Ridge has a great and expressive voice and delivers his songs with real assurance and qualiy and a warm open personality that shines through

As an added joy on this occasion we had a guest appearace by Elaine (Dust'n'Debris) adding lovely violin to one number.

I throughly enjoyed the set again but this is a new band still bedding in together... and judging by the improvement on last week i can see them getting tighter and stronger as they continue to play... an exciting prospect to think how great they can be!.. .clearly a band who are close in friendship and musical direction they generate a wonderfully warm presence on (and off) stage.

Two bands tonight.. .both with a hugely warm close presence and delivering quality sets... a wonderful warm and friendly evening... great venue... great music... great friendships... what more do you want?

Looking forward to the next couple of their shows i'll be going to!!

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local bands and artists

Issac Deacon Percussion Trio/Libby/Folk Drama/Kevin Hewick

ISSAC DEACONS PERCUSSIVE THREE/LIBBY/
THE FOLK DRAMA/KEVIN HEWICK

Duffys 7th August 2025

Another great night at Duffy's Bar, this time courtesy of Kevin Hewick and Botheration 4. On an evening that could have been a disaster due to a couple of bands from the initial listing having to drop out, the evening became a triumph, one of the best evenings yet...

Kevin as ever opened proceedings, possibly phased by the forced reorganisation of the evening, but his ramblings were as ever fascinating.. and he played three great songs with great strength and conviction... hugely enjoyable as always

Following Kevin was a duo making their Leicester debut, The FOLK DRAMA who proved to a a simply wonderful folk duo... acoustic guitar and two great voices singing their own beautiful original songs, with one cover to close with, (Dylan/Tonight I'll be Staying here with you) all beautifully melodic and with a lovely folky feel throughout. The couple had a bit of a Kristofferson/Coolidge feel as they shared the microphone singing close together... though when one sang solo the other stepped back ..

First time seeing this couple.... hope it wont be the last, their performance was simply beautiful from start to finish

The unenviable task of following them fell to LIBBY who had kindly stepped in at the last moment and said she had not had time to be properly prepared for the gig.. though you would never have known from her performance...

Her songs are personal, powerful and very honest... and the performance strong and assured throughout... Libby has a great voice and bags of character and delivered a totally engaging top class performance.. great set.

Final act was a total surprise to me... ISSAC DEACONS PERCUSSIVE THREE... Two bongo players and a djembe player... no other instrumentation or vocals... but these three guys were absolutely sensational... you wouldn't belive that such a line up could produce such a huge range of textures, sounds, harmonies and rhythms. The sounds were fresh, alive and totally rivetting... the performance perfectly choreographed from the beginning to the end... the levels of concentration and talent to produce this music are colossal... not only was the performance technically brilliant and massively entertaining, but there was room for the players personalities and humour to shine through as well... Totally different... unique.. mesmerising superb performance

Kevin is a legend and everyone rightly loves him... and at this show he brought together three other totally outstanding artists to provide a very special and wonderful evening

Keep music live... keep music real... support your locaql venues and artists.

Ridge Banks & the Wall of Sound/Wild Daisy & the Blackhearts

RIDGE BANKS & WALL OF SOUND/WILD DAISY & THE BLACKHEARTS

Heather Festival 3rd August 2025

A year from the last one... back to Heather to take in some of the music festival.. this time to see a couple of featuring friends in the line-up... and a chance to catch up with some other lovely people too...

So, first band was Ridge Banks and the Wall of Sound... a country/americana band making their first appearance...

First thing to say, i dont want to be unfairly critical of the sound engineers because they are not experienced technicians and were doing the job voluntarily, but for much of the bands set the sound was awful... Ridge's vocals were inaudible until they played "Hero" over halfway through the set, and Sean's Harmonica was virtually inaudible throughout... and we all know how great a musician he is... so it was impossible to judge the band... however, once we could hear Ridge singing you could see his, and the band's, confidence rise...

Niki Colwell (starring in "Blood Brothers" in the West End) joined the band for a few numbers... and her mic was certainly working... what a superb voice!!...

I can only really judge on the second half of the set because of the sound quality... but in that portion we heard enough to know this is a real quality band... this was their first gig, they are not the finished article and as they keep playing they will get better and stronger... i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in established venues with top class sound engineers in the coming weeks...

The other band was Wild Daisy & The Black Hearts , who we saw debut at this event last year...they were great last year and whenever i've seen them since they have got better and stronger, and yesterday was a superb performance.

Between songs Hannah always seems somewhat nervous, i suspect she doesnt realise how good she is!!, but once the song starts she comes totally alive singing superbly and rocking!.

The band are real quality... a great southern rock outfit with two high quality guitar players and powerful bass and drums...

There is great energy in the band and they clearly love playing together... and Hannah is a superb vocalist and front person... owning the stage as she sings... superb set

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

Mystery Action/The Double R2/Gestalt

MYSTERY ACTION/THE DOUBLE R5/GESTALT

IAC 2nd August 2025

A late afternoon trip to the International Arts Centre to see a couple of the bands, specifically Mystery Action, on the Wigfest all-dayer… �

I arrived in perfect time to see GESTALT… a band I had heard a lot of good things about and was keen to see. In the event they were well worth the positive comments I had heard. A band full of energy and attitude delivering a fine mix of rock and punk… the bass, guitar and drums augmented by keyboards giving a rich dense sound topped by strong solid vocals. The band rocked from start to finish and kept up the energy and pace throughout…cracking set.

After this a new name to me.... The DOUBLE R5, a band I hadn't seen before, but hope to see again... Another band playing with bags of fire and energy...playing a powerful set of rock music with elements of reggae and ska thrown in... a potent mix.

Musically the band were terrific.. Lyrically there was a lot of political and socially aware material but unfortunately, by the nature of rock music played live it is difficult to catch all the words... a shame as they sounded to be very good. Thoroughly enjoyed the set, and hope to see them again...

The last band I saw at the gig was Mystery Action... and I confess i am biased toward this band... the line up may have changed but the core magic and power of the band is unchanged, though it looked very different without Caroline and her trumpet.

| feel that the music has changed slightly with slightly less emphasis of the voodoo/swamp and more on the rock... but it remains very definitely unmistakably Mystery Action.

The drums and bass power the band while the guitars blaze away gloriously... up front Frankie plays percussion and adds vocals while Aislynn is a vocally and visually captivating front person... The band rock like crazy from the first note, little time for between song banter as they rock from piece to piece maintaining the power and impetus of the set..

The material is predominantly original but there were two covers... "Fever" which i associate wth Peggy Lee and the Airplane's "White Rabbit"... which I dont recall hearing covered elsewhere. It is no easy feat to equal the original but Nysstery Action delivered a cracking version off the song

The whole sound is dense, powerful, exciting and totally absorbing with not a wasted moment as the band power through the set... this is totally exhilarating high energy rock music delivered with joy and passion... absolutely superb set!!

keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues and artists

A late afternoon trip to the International Arts Centre to see a couple of the bands, specifically Mystery Action, on the Wigfest all-dayer… �

I arrived in perfect time to see GESTALT… a band I had heard a lot of good things about and was keen to see. In the event they were well worth the positive comments I had heard. A band full of energy and attitude delivering a fine mix of rock and punk… the bass, guitar and drums augmented by keyboards giving a rich dense sound topped by strong solid vocals. The band rocked from start to finish and kept up the energy and pace throughout…cracking set.

After this a new name to me.... The DOUBLE R5, a band I hadn't seen before, but hope to see again... Another band playing with bags of fire and energy...playing a powerful set of rock music with elements of reggae and ska thrown in... a potent mix.

Musically the band were terrific.. Lyrically there was a lot of political and socially aware material but unfortunately, by the nature of rock music played live it is difficult to catch all the words... a shame as they sounded to be very good. Thoroughly enjoyed the set, and hope to see them again...

The last band I saw at the gig was Mystery Action... and I confess i am biased toward this band... the line up may have changed but the core magic and power of the band is unchanged, though it looked very different without Caroline and her trumpet.

| feel that the music has changed slightly with slightly less emphasis of the voodoo/swamp and more on the rock... but it remains very definitely unmistakably Mystery Action.

The drums and bass power the band while the guitars blaze away gloriously... up front Frankie plays percussion and adds vocals while Aislynn is a vocally and visually captivating front person... The band rock like crazy from the first note, little time for between song banter as they rock from piece to piece maintaining the power and impetus of the set..

The material is predominantly original but there were two covers... "Fever" which i associate wth Peggy Lee and the Airplane's "White Rabbit"... which I dont recall hearing covered elsewhere. It is no easy feat to equal the original but Nysstery Action delivered a cracking version off the song

The whole sound is dense, powerful, exciting and totally absorbing with not a wasted moment as the band power through the set... this is totally exhilarating high energy rock music delivered with joy and passion... absolutely superb set!!

keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues and artists