Live Review: The Wonder Stuff in West Hollywood, CA

After an 11-year hiatus from U.S. touring, The Wonder Stuff have returned to give American audiences a look at a different sort of British rock invasion.

On the road in support of their latest release, "Escape from Rubbish Island," The Wonder Stuff played a rollicking Saturday (4/23) set at West Hollywood, CA's Troubadour, focusing on songs from their new album and their debut release, "The Eight Legged Groove Machine."

Original members Miles Hunt (vocals/guitar) and Malcolm Treece (lead guitar) were joined onstage by new members Mark McCarthy on bass and Andres Karu on drums. Despite the lineup change, the band retained its classic punk-folk sound. Old favorites like "A Wish Away," "Don't Let Me Down Gently" and "On The Ropes" blended well with new tracks like "Bile Chant," "Another Comic Tragedy" and "Was I Meant to be Sorry."

In addition to the new members, another difference in the lineup was the absence of the band's fiddle and piano players. Some fans asked for songs featuring the extra instrumentation, like "Size of a Cow" and "Circlesquare," but their requests were denied-- perhaps temporarily. Hunt assured the audience that when The Wonder Stuff returns to the U.S. come back later in the year, they will have a fiddle player.

Still brash after all these years Hunt took also time between songs to sip from his bottle of wine and elaborate on his feelings about today's trendy, sensitive bands from the Brit scene--like Coldplay and Keane--calling them "bed wetters;"and to lament the deaths of punk godfathers Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer.

Taken From: http://www.livedaily.com/news/8066.html

Interview: Richard McNamara of Embrace

English quintet Embrace, whose initial courting of U.S. audiences was cut short by the record-label consolidations of the late '90s, will give it another try this year with the release of a new CD and extensive touring.

Embrace's debut, "The Good Will Out," reached the U.S. in 1998, but the group was dropped and its U.S. tour canceled during an upheaval at DGC, its American label. The band's next two CDs, "Drawn from Memory and "If You've Never Been," never saw an American release.

U.K. fans continued to flock to Embrace, not only for the group's remarkable live shows, but also for its intimate "guerilla gigs," where shows would take place at a secret location the same day it was announced. The location could be a regular live venue, a town square, or even deep within a forest preserve.

With a new U.S. label, Lava/Atlantic, the band has gained a new cheerleader in Coldplay's Chris Martin, who has cited Embrace as an influence to his own work. In gratitude, Martin composed the new song "Gravity," which he donated to Embrace.

Embrace's recent mini-tour of the U.S. gathered long lines of fans in L.A., New York and at Austin, TX's South by Southwest festival, and the band will return to the U.S. to open for Snow Patrol in late April and early May. The group's new CD, "Out of Nothing," hits U.S. stores June 7, and a July/August headlining tour will follow.

Embrace co-songwriter and guitarist Richard McNamara recently spoke with liveDaily about his band's second foray into the states.

How does it feel the second time around?
Richard McNamara: Well, when we did our very first tour of America a few weeks ago, it was very exciting to see how the audiences are out there. We were kind of bubbling under, really. We're coming back again in April with Snow Patrol and we're really doing it on the cheap. In the U.K., we've been playing large venues, going around in big buses with catering and a crew to set up the gear. When we head back to America, we'll be really cutting back and roughing it up a bit. It's kinda like being in a new band again. It keeps us in our rank, as we're starting over again. We just wanna make it work and do whatever it takes.

You're getting a lot of response to the "Gravity" single and the fact that Chris Martin donated it to you. Has it been a big boost?
In a commercial sense, it's been an enormous boost with our record. The label recommended we go with "Gravity" as our first single, and it's gotten a lot of airplay and should help us with our future singles. It's been a great platform to start from. Quite early on, [the band had a meeting and decided] we'd do the music and we'd let the label do their marketing, the designer do their design, the producer do the producing and basically delegate everyone to do their job. For our first three albums, we kind of did everything ourselves. We wanted our hands in the sleeve work and advertising, and we wouldn't sell our songs to commercials. Now we're looking at the bigger picture. When "Gravity" came out, we were really excited. Our label holds us in high regard and really wants us to succeed. There was no backlash.

Now that you've had a short introduction to touring the U.S., what are you looking forward to as you tour America again?
I guess it's driving across the desert. I've only seen it in films.

Would you consider doing one of your guerilla gigs out there?
You bet. When we were in Texas, about 30 people crashed our tour bus and we did a secret gig there. We considered doing one at South by Southwest, but the logistics just weren't there. But [the desert would be] an absolutely great place to have one.

On the new album, the track "Near Life" stands out as this interesting, trippy, psychedelic excursion. What brought that about?
That was one of three songs that came from some jams with our producer, Youth. We'd be working on a song all day, then end the day and head out for dinner feeling a bit tired, then come back and try a few chords and drum ideas, and then play around with it. We'd play some chords, record them, and hold them in a library, then bang away for an hour. At the end of it, we'd take a break. We didn't know what happened the first time, really, so we'd go off and have a drink or play table tennis, and we'd come back and edit them and make a song. He'd play back the songs, and we're like, "Wow where the hell did that come from?" It's how the title track came about, and since we'd made songs from out of nothing, it just gave birth to itself really.

We actually went back into the studio last month with Youth. We built this studio of our own, which has been a lifelong dream of ours. It's on a hillside looking over the mountains. We took the same process and wrote and fully recorded about 23 new songs, which we think are hot. It took only about nine days. To actually go back into a room as a band is a liberating feeling for us.

So you've basically got a brand new album ready to be released?
Yeah. We don't have to stop touring for a while now. We'll probably wait until next year to release it, as our latest album is just getting released in the states, and we'll be doing a lot of touring for that. It's definitely something to look forward to.

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/8024.html

CD Review: Fischerspooner,"Odyssey"

New York duo Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner--who made their unique mark in the otherwise copycat electronica movement with 2002's "#1"--return with their sophomore release, the appropriately titled "Odyssey."

The new collection is anything but a carbon copy of its predecessor. The duo manages to take a step back from their previous, all-electronic soundscapes, and instead use many real instruments. Despite the human touches, however, the electronic atmosphere remains intact.

Fischer and Spooner's imaginative ways of fusing pulsating keyboards, guitars and dark effects on "Just Let Go" and "Never Win," and the arrangement of live, tribal drumming on "Everything to Gain," show that they're more than just an electronic combo; they're sonic artists who create a distinct and futuristic aura.

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/8010.html

CD Review: Ocean Colour Scene, "A Hyperactive Workout for the Flying Squad"

Over the years, Ocean Colour Scene has furtively marched on with fine, modern interpretations of classic psychedelic-era rock nuggets from their native U.K. It's a winning formula that the band is sticking with on its latest release, "A Hyperactive Workout for the Flying Squad."

The melodic essence that has kept the band afloat for more than 15 years continues unabated, driven by Steve Craddock's guitars--which blend mod, psychedelic and Britpop styles--and Simon Fowler's Northern-soul vocal harmonies. Even Oasis acolyte Noel Gallagher has called them "the second best band in Britain."

Hat-tips to the past on this set include some great, Wings-esque horn and string sections on "Free My Name," and mandolin and accordion parts reminiscent of Small Faces on "This Day Should Last Forever." There's also a fine cover of George Harrison's "Wah Wah."

Also notable are guest appearances by mod forefathers Jools Holland and Paul Weller on "Waving Not Drowning" and acid-jazz/soul songstress Carleen Anderson on "God's World."

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/7976.html