‘Something For The Weekend?’

DISTANT echoes of The Waterboys flow through the new single from GAVIN FOX, ‘Lay Down Low,’ released last week and a taster from his forthcoming, ‘Awakened’ album.

“It’s sort of about discovery,” said Fox.

“I spent a long time in my head, with my own thoughts, at times with fear and anxiety, but then I experienced a kind of awakening, to be honest. I met my true self for the first time and decided I wasn’t going to listen to negative thoughts anymore.’

“This song is about rebelling against that. Fear, and anxiety, and not being afraid to be loud about it. It’s about being yourself. I wanted to say with this song, that we have fire in our soul, and that we have no need to fear. There’s no need to lay down low.”

A riveting anthem for rebellion against anxiety there’s a cinematic quality and arrangement to this anthem along with an explosive, fiddle accompaniment. The song is an insurrection against the various times in our lives when we feel fear and are inclined to cower, times when the devil inside speaks to us and we are inclined to listen.

Fox grew up in a restrictive environment, dominated by an extreme religion that controlled his life. Born into a Jehovah’s Witness family, from a young age he was told what to think, what to believe, and what to do. He was not permitted to socialise with ‘non-believers,’ but instead schooled in preaching and spent much of his time going from door-to-door.

But he knew his life was different to that of his peers and recognised that ‘something’ inside telling him to break free. When he did, it took him many years to find out who he really was.

And he had no idea his story would eventually come out in the form of music. It took the time and space allowed during the lockdown of 2020 for Fox to discover a hidden creative talent for song writing and having only picked up a guitar in recent years, his emotional stories continue to pour out in the form of some of the most honest songs you are ever likely to hear.

GAVIN FOX ONLINE: Home | Gavin Fox (gavinfoxmusic.com)

T W O

AS well as making noise, indie punk outfit DAS KAPITANS also run a small ‘Bandcamp only record label’ – Socks On Records – and have just released a 35+ track compilation download entitled, ‘Standing With Ukraine.’

“The download includes the artists on ‘Socks On,’ but also tonnes of other alternative/punk/post punk/rock artists from across the globe,” said Das Kapitans, Stephen Potter.

“It is available to for £5 and all the money raised is going straight to the British Red Cross to support their efforts in helping people affected by the crisis and illegal war in Ukraine. So far we’ve raised just shy of £500 to donate and some songs from the album have been played across the world, so we’re pretty happy so far.”

From the darkest depths of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, Das Kapitans spent 2021 recording an album a month – all of which are available from their Bandcamp site.

A combination of influences including Fugazi, The Spits, The Melvins, Sonic Youth, Blur and Joy Division the band plan two full album releases this year alongside some new singles and continue to work on their ‘Das Kapichat’ YouTube channel and Podcast talking to people from across the country about the DIY music scene.

STANDING WITH UKRAINE: https://socksonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/standing-with-ukraine

DAS KAPITANS LINKTREE:  linktr.ee/Daskapitans

T H R E E

THE first bouncy sound of indie-summer-pop 2022 has arrived courtesy of young Newbridge, Kildare, two piece, RYDERS BLU.

Ryders Blü are PJ O’Neill (guitar and vocals) and Jake Carrick (drums) and during the past 18 months have delved into the world of music production, thrilled to finally have full creative control of their sound. 

Since meeting at a gig almost a decade ago, the pair have honed their skills as purveyors of sweet, no frills, indie-pop, with their latest single an unabashed piece of pure escapism, perfect for pushing through the final dregs of winter.

“Right now, we’re writing really happy pop music to escape the mundanity of what life can be like,” said O’Neill.

For the two young musicians, their art is a means of escape. And after being introduced to the music industry at the ages of 12 and 13, courtesy of an opportunity to tour extensively as part of Dave Maher’s band, the boys learned exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives.

Now, their focus has been refined and cultivated with time and dedication to growing at their craft to produce catchy, smooth songs, with heart and meaning. 

Follow Ryders Blü: Instagram  Facebook  Spotify TikTok

F O U R

OUT of Port Macquarie, Australia, ROYAL CHANT make a more than welcome return with the release of the second single, ‘Rhetorical Homecoming Queen,’ from their upcoming studio LP, ‘Anyways and also Sorry.’

“The song started off with just those first sliding notes on an acoustic guitar taken down to a low baritone tuning, and then musically it just grew from there,” said the band’s, Mark Spence.

“I think I had a lot of these lyrics tumbling around in my head and in my notebook for quite a while, and finally managed to get them all down into something that really had a surreal & poetic punch that I had been trying to reach.

“The drums in general are a nod to the Velvet Underground’s Moe Tucker, specifically in the second verse when it’s just brushes on a snare drum and ride cymbal which is a mini-ode to her approach on ‘Sunday Morning,’ off their debut album.

“There’s also a video in the works, and instead of one of our usual DIY affairs I reached out once again to our long-time collaborator Matt Clements, a filmmaker out of NYC who I went to High School with back in Georgia. We stayed in touch all of these years and visited frequently, and he has been our most trusted visual collaborator over the years, doing quite a few top-notch music clips for us over the years. It’s generally pretty easy to spot the ones that are his handiwork.

“Apart from that, it’s pretty much business as usual and grinding away. We’ve got our first live gig as a band in nearly two years coming up and overall, we’re just putting the finishing touches on the album which has a release date of May 20.”

‘Rhetorical Homecoming Queen’ is now available via Bandcamp and the usual streaming services.

ROYAL CHANT Royal Chant (bandcamp.com)

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(Fancy being featured in a future edition of ‘Something For The Weekend?’ Well get in touch, tell us why, and we’ll see what we can do.)

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