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Diary Dates
Bambara – Monday 11 April
Firebug
Bambara is a Brooklyn-via-Georgia based noise/punk band with a dark, Western slant. Bambara have always been adept students of noise and post-punk, but with 2018 album, ‘Shadow on Everything’, they’ve transcended their early influences to produce a Western Gothic concept album that sounds as big as the desert sky looming over its characters’ lives. Bambara now performs as a 5-piece allowing Reid to stagger around stage free of instruments. This change has added to their pummeling and unpredictable live shows making them one of NYC’s most sought-after acts.
Itoldyouiwouldeatyou- Thursday 14 April
Firebug
A five piece, ‘sadpop’ band from Guildford / London, merging Math-Rock and Emo with vocalist Joey Ashworth’s soft and calming vocals.
Natalie McCool – Tuesday 19 April
Firebug
With Damian Rice, Gomez, Liam Frost and Suzanne Vega amongst her biggest influences, Natalie’s sound is a warmth of heavenly vocals and engrossing lyrics over a backdrop of masterful guitar playing.
Skunk Anansie – Monday 18 April
O2 Academy Leicester
Aggressive in-your-face indie/metal band fronted by the inimitable Skin. After touring extensively worldwide with a huge variation of bands from U2 to Therapy?, the ‘amalgam of heavy metal and black feminist rage’ disbanded, with Skin leading a solo career until Skunk Anansie reformed in 2009. Since regrouping after an eight-year hiatus, the band have gone from strength to strength. Their 2010 album, Wonderlustre, saw the band combine their trademark raw rock riffs, deep funk, frenetic drumwork and lush vocals with more confidence and maturity than ever before. They continued to build their sound with 2017’s Anarchytecture, and in 2019 they celebrated 25 years in the business with the career-spanning live album 25Live@25.
Ginger Wildheart – Tuesday 19 April
The Soundhouse
Ginger Wildheart remains one of the UK’s most prolific singer/songwriter/guitarists. Best known through his work with The Wildhearts, Ginger Wildheart has spent the last twenty years writing and recording some of Britain’s best rock music and building a fanatical following.
Mystery Jets – Wednesday 20 April
O2 Academy Leicester
‘
Perfectly formed pop’ (Bugbear). Their music is unusual and boundary pushing, but luckily they have the technical prowess to pull it off, sometimes mastering kitchen utensils as well as more standard instruments. The Syd Barrett-worshiping indie outfit formed in the early ’90s when the group’s shock-headed frontman, Blaine Harrison, was only 12. The band was initially called the Misery Jets, in honor of the Heathrow-bound jets that habitually roared over their native Eel Pie Island, but they changed their name when Blaine (who, again, was very young at the time) misspelled ‘misery’. They notched up a few UK top 40 hits in the 00s including ‘Two Doors Down’ and ‘The Boy Who Ran Away’, and a string of successful albums including 2008’s ‘Twenty One’ which went Silver. 2020 saw the release of their sixth album; ‘A Billion Heartbeats’.
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INTERVIEW: Marcus Joseph
Leicester’s jazz man, Marcus Joseph, has a new single on the horizon and an upcoming gig at London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s. We caught up with him to find out about it all.
How would you describe your music for someone who isn’t familiar yet?
My sound and music are a warm fusion of Jazz, Reggae, Hip-Hop and Contemporary Music. I can swiftly shift from a ‘jazz’ sounding project to a ‘hip hop’ sounding project with ease and love fusing together different genres I know and love. Jazz, Hip-hop, Reggae and Spoken Word are all close to my heart.
Which 3 artists have most inspired you?
First and foremost the legend and icon Bob Marley, his music always inspires me, calms my spirit, soothes my soul and makes me feel good! Nas is another one who I deeply respect, and admire and an artist who regularly inspires me. The genius Jazz Alto Saxophonist Charlie Paker constantly inspires me. He’s one of the reasons why I play the Saxophone and love the alto so much.
Tell us about your new upcoming single?
The new single is called I Feel It in My Bones and has a retro-futuristic vibe. It’s vibrant but chilled, delivering self-belief throughout. It’s out on Friday 15 April.
What else do you have coming up through 2022?
Quite a few things are coming up for me, I’m in the studio with Major Ruse working on our debut album, and we have a couple of headline shows coming up around the UK (check our Instagram for dates instagram.com/majorruse/). I have my first headline show of the year at Ronnie Scotts on May 3rd, which I’m super excited about, I get to perform my album ‘Beyond The Dome’ for the first time live all the way through with some incredible musicians. (ronniescotts.co.uk/artists/marcus). I’m developing a Jazz Project in the Metaverse, an immersive Virtual Reality gaming experience exploring my journey in Jazz. I already perform in my own virtual Jazz Club in AltspaceVR on a weekly basis, a club where people from around the world can visit, meet and listen to jazz and spoken word performances. My new single and music video ‘I feel it in my bones’ is coming out 15th of April. I’m also working on a new solo EP which will be out later this year.
What’s your favourite thing about the Leicester music scene?
My favourite thing about the Leicester music scene is the eclectic mix of musicians, artists and poets we have and the many styles of music that Leicester has to offer.
Where can people hear more from you?
You got to check out my brand new website at marcusjosephsax.com
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WEEKLY PLAYLIST
In this week’s playlist you can listen to some of the best acts you can catch live in Leicester over the coming weeks.
Have a listen and get in touch to tell us which tracks you’re loving.
