2009/05/30

I'm (not) only dreaming... Ronnie Lane DVD available soon.




The last few days has been really important for all of us. John Hellier managed to get the rights to edit the very longtime expected Ronnie Lane DVD's memorial... You have seen the screenshots, it's absolutely awesome! I've sent official ad copies all around the world and it's still on the way... Everyone told me how almighty it is! If you're a splinterite, check the posts to get one copy. 21 copies are available and 63 soon... The complete DVD (FOUR HOURS!) is planned for future release by Wapping Wharf. Keep checking WWMyspace for updates. I know how John worked hard on it, He's the keeper, believe me. By the way, John gave us the Ronnie Lane EP and it's the most downloaded file ever!




Wapping Wharf on myspace, at last!



WAPPING WHARF PROMOTIONS: NOW ON SALE!!!

13TH ANNUAL SMALL FACES CONVENTION

SUNDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER 2009, DOORS 4pm-11pm

9 BANDS AND VERY SPECIAL GUESTS, 7 HOURS OF 100% SMALL FACES!!!

ENQUIRIES jjhellier@aol.com, TICKETS £20

or cheques payable J Hellier …. 7 WATERDENE MEWS CANVEY ISLAND ESSEX SS8 9YP
MORE INFO TO FOLLOW…

2009/05/26

2009/05/25

The Winner is ...


Simon Cooper

1) Simon Halfon and Lawrence Watson
2) The Jam and Twisted Wheel have a song called "circus"
3) Mini Festival, Silverstone
4) Lucy the castle's gonna blow your mind!
5) Liam and Noel, so Oasis.

Thanx, once again, to Big Kev! :)


Two tickets to win for a Twisted Wheel / Paul Weller double bill gig.


Kevin Brown, TW's co/manager, offers the blog two tickets to win for Thetford Forest double bill's gig: Twisted Wheel and Paul Weller.

You can also Check Paul Weller News for Mini Fetsival performance, including Jonny's appearance.

Facebook Video

1) Two designers worked with Paul Weller and Work now with Twisted Wheel, who are they?
2) The Twisted Wheel and The Jam have a song's title in common, which one?
3) Where Jonny Brown got on stage with Paul Weller to celebrate a very british institution?
4) What's gonna happen to you with Lucy the Castle according to the song's lyrics?
5) Paul Weller helped them but another band helped them too, which one?

First right answers will win a pair of tickets for the double bill Twisted Wheel / Paul Weller at this gig: Friday Fifth June, Thetford Forest, Suffolk, UK. Send your answers to yviseur@free.fr. I WON'T win the tix! :)

Courtesy of Kevin Brown, Twisted Wheel's co Manager.

Just another nice MODS pic... Dedicated to Mike Cobley, of course.

2009/05/18

The "french" song before the 2007's shows!


Magic Heavysoul Dave and Cupertino kid left a message to tell us what is that song, here it is! Thanx a lot, you guys!

It's PARIS, from the lp above.





London Saxophonic video (not Moondog and...)




this music was already in my head before I heard it. blocks of chords ascending and exploding in fugal fireworks, plus evocations of an imaginary jungle-jive Paris love affair. unbelievably soulful, funny, charming, surprising. you like moondog! you like moondog! buy moondog!

2009/05/14

March of the mods.




The 'March of the Mods' Tour is all about celebrating the original 60's Mods and subsequent Revivals. Much of the culture of those original Mods was based around bands such as the 'Small Faces' and Paul Weller's 'The Jam'. Please join 'Wellalive' and 'The Small Fakers' to celebrate these great times and why not dress the part to really complete the atmosphere.


March of the mods

The Mod movement most probably started in the late 50's as teenagers started to reject the 'Dull and Old Fashioned' post war era. The first Mods could be found hanging around Jazz Bars and Cafes. This is possibly where the title Mod comes from "MODern Jazz". These first ACE Mods were soon noticed by the average teenagers from the working class areas who were in need of new role models. These new converts to Mod would become known as the Numbers or Tickets and they were the "Rank and File" of the emerging Mod Culture.

It was this new breed of Mods that really caught the imagination of the young Bands and Musicians and it wasnt long before the evidence of this started to show. Bands like The Kinks, The Small Faces, The Who and many others started releasing singles which were propelled up the charts after being bought by the new Mods.

This first wave of Mod Culture slowly died out during the early part of the 1970's but it re-emerged again at the end of the 1970's thanks mainly to Paul Weller and The Jam. Paul Weller was a massive Mod and it was his style that inspired a new wave of Modernism. Teenagers up and Down the country were soon raiding Carnaby Street for all the latest sharp styles, and Lambretta and Vespa started seeing a large increase in sales.

Again this Mod scene was to collapse on itself in the early eighties but it again saw a comeback in the 1990's after bands such as Ocean Colour Scene (OCS), Blur and Oasis all started to claim Mod as a huge influence. It was at this point that Paul Weller staged a huge return in 1992 with his first Solo Album 'Paul Weller'.

Mod is still not dead. It can stll be found hovering around in the background and its influence can still be seen today in Music, Fashion and Advertising.

Long Live the Mods!


Shepton Mallet 1982. Trans global express tour. (Track 12 reuploaded)



Part One (Rapidshare)
Track 12.

Part Two (Megaupload)

Artwork by Manu; Thanx a lot to original Uploader and Taper. Dazzz1 and AndyC343.

It's a mod mod world. Courtesy of Billy Bubbles. The Enemy's new single.

2009/05/13

Twisted W(h)eller?


Twisted Wheel will be covering a Paul Weller’s track for the Mini Festival and according to the Mini's site, they will be offering the song as a free download! Stay Tuned!


2009/05/12

Twisted Wheel on tour.




WEDNESDAY, 6 MAY 2009
SOHO STRUT
Twisted Wheel




Fancy some hard edged rock and roll? The sort they used to make back in 1977- fast, furious, adrenalin soaked. From a band whose name shouts out that they instinctively know the cultural significance of a Fred Perry polo and a pair of loafers. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

The debut album from Twisted Wheel holds back at nothing. From the dirty guitar that leads into “Lucy The Castle”, right through to the final moments of “What‘s Your Name“, this record captures the band‘s live sound extremely effectively. I first saw them back in October 2007. They were great then. But they’ve developed a lot in the interim, with some class support slots with the likes of The Enemy, new tunes and a very tight sound.

Highlights? For me, the two standouts are the swaggering gang mentality of “We Are Us” and the full on bravado of “Oh What Have You Done”, a slice of “dirty rock and roll“, which fires out of the speakers like they can’t wait for tomorrow. Just like it should be in fact.

But they’re all top drawer. Nearly all the songs are fired with the most ferocious guitar since a young Steve Jones strutted his stuff down at the 100 Club - like “She’s A Weapon”, “You Stole The Sun“ and “Let Them Have It All“. The one exception is the acoustic “Bouncing Bomb“, a quality tune in its own right.

This is a record to restore the faith in the possibilities of what stripped down, no nonsense rock and roll can do. “Twisted Wheel” - the album of the year? You could do far worse “you dirty rock and rollers”.

Rob Massey
SOHO STRUT

2009/05/10

Twisted Wheel opens for Paul Weller. Discover them, Part one.


This is my very special serie, the bands Paul Weller Rang. Soon, a song by song interview With Connett

First things first...Twisted Wheel are not named after the legendary Northern Soul club of the same name (though they are aware of it), are encyclopedic about their musical heroes and recoil at the thought of being pigeon-holed as a 'northern band'. They are, however, the most exciting young British guitar band to emerge in recent years. Don't take our word for it. With a fan club already including Noel & Liam Gallagher (how often do they agree on anything?), Ian Brown, Kasabian and Paul Weller they've been attracting the attention of the great and the good from their earliest incarnation.

Rewind. As kids growing up in Oldham singer-guitarist Jonny Brown and bassist Rick Lees absorbed the sounds of their mum and dad’s record collection, paying particular heed to the Beatles 'blue' album. By seventeen they'd formed The Children with friends from college. Obsessed with the (Loog Oldham era) Stones and the flamboyant psych-pop of The Small Faces, the band were soon selling out 600 capacity venues and wreaking havoc wherever they went. “Those gigs with The Children were wild” laughs Jonny (Modish good looks; cheekbones to take your eye out). “There would be naked people on stage, the works.” Following a gig at the Night & Day in Manchester the band gave Clint Boon a demo, who in turn passed it on to Paul Weller.
“Paul rang us up and asked if we wanted to record at (the Modfather's own studio) Black Barn” explains Rick (firm handshake; impressive blonde wedge). “Afterwards he asked us to support him at Manchester Academy. That was the biggest thing ever for us. Someone of that stature thinking we had something told us we must be on the right lines. The trouble was, the band was burning itself out”


Recruiting octopus-like drummer Adam Clarke (aka Clarky), the newly formed trio embarked on an intense period of rehearsal. “Straight away the sound was much tighter and more focused” explains Jonny. “I had an acoustic gig booked at The Late Rooms and we turned up as a three piece band and that was it. We were Twisted Wheel.” Intent on circumnavigating the pitfalls of being a My Space 'buzz-band', the band set about doing things the old fashioned way: playing gigs wherever anyone would have them and handing out CDs outside other band's gigs, complete with a sleeve depicting a close up of a Victorian slot machine and the words: “Pay £1 for the Mega Ride” (now changing hands for £40 on eBay). Duly signed to Columbia following keen interest from several labels post an appearance at In The City in October '07, they have toured relentlessly ever since- propping up everyone from Oasis & The View through Kasabian to The Enemy, and will be Special Guest on Paul Weller’s outdoor shows this summer. “Being a support band is great” smiles Jonny. “You get to play to two thousand or more people a night, there's a massive rider in the dressing room and you get to hang out with musicians you respect. What could be better?”


Such carpe diem high spirits course through the band's self-titled debut album (released April 13th). Recorded with producer Dave Sardy (Marilyn Manson, Oasis, Cold War Kids) at LA's Sunset Sound studios over a month last summer, it's a raucous celebration of life on the margins. If the musical template is a kaleidoscopic mix ranging from The 13th Floor Elevators via The Buzzcocks to Hank Williams, lyrically it's staffed by a roll call of characters straight from the pen of Ray Davies. Opener 'Lucy The Castle' is a pulverizing blast of energy about a lysergic utopia (Jonny:”It's a metaphor for a special place, where you go in depressed and come out shining”). 'Strife' finds us acquainted with characters ranging from Sheila the Dealer to a rifle toting antiques expert called Henry. A feral 'One Night On The Street', meanwhile, is the sound of SLF after a long, strange night on the tiles in Camden. ”We were out one night at this club and I lost everyone” explains Jonny. “I got talking to this woman who was living on the streets. In the end I stayed out with her until eight o'clock in the morning.”


Those doubting Twisted Wheel's capacity to slow things down, meanwhile, should head to the sublime 'Bouncing Bomb'. An acoustic lament in the spirit of The Jam's 'That's Entertainment' or The Kinks 'Dead End Street' Add in the anthemic 'Let Them Have It All' and it's obvious the next generation of British rock is in safe hands. Tune into these poignant tales of Night Bus traumas and late night epiphanies and you'll tap into a world which is paranoiac and uplifting all at once: call it urban psychedelia if you like. “We're the last people to tell anyone what to do, but I guess we’re the other side of the coin to bands like Glasvegas and White Lies.” says Jonny.


“We know that these days there's a temptation to go out and get drunk and become maudlin. We're saying; let's make the most of it. Don't let the world get on top of you. Get on top of the world.” You heard the man. This wheel's on fire. (Paul Moody March 2009)


2009/05/09

Connett Live at The Troubadour!

DSC_3699.jpg picture by baxter62

Since 1954, the famous Troubadour Club has been a hotbed of emerging talent and a leading light in excellent musicianship and live music. From its early incarnation as a folk venue, and counter-culture den of creativity, The Troubadour Club has remained at the forefront of interesting, original music and spoken word events with a great reputation for originality and atmosphere. Although now twice its original size, The Troubadour Club remains true to its roots as the private cellar beneath the café and is one of the most exciting small music venues in town.

We look for performers of real talent who write and perform their own material and can add their names to a roster of troubadours that includes Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello and more recently Jamie T, Jack Penate, The Dead 60s, Paulo Nutini, Morcheeba…the list goes on an on.

The Troubadour
263-7 Old Brompton Road
London
SW5 9JA
Tel. 020 7370 1434