Kick Out The Jams

21/09/2024

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pxyuhtEsrFR9BVrg8

02/06/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1wCqqe3M2aTKpqf8/

28/04/2024

Summer season, lots of events happening including this great day in July.

12/03/2024

Wild In The Country!

12/03/2024

Bow Wow Wow at Stone Valley North!

12/03/2024

Festival season will soon be here, highlights from last year I will be posting here.
How is this for a start, The Skids from last June at Stone Valley North in the Big Top!

13/02/2024

Now this is what you call a sound check! Takers and Users Glory Days Hairy Dog Forever Young Festival

12/02/2024

Back from 2024 Forever Young Festival in Derby! What an amazing time, with fantastic bands over the two days! Thanks to Dave Hindmarsh for the invite to DJ over the weekend.

12/01/2024

📸 Watch this video on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/qaCR1wvPbHocAuer/

21/11/2023

📸 Watch this video on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Wz6RGmkFz6j9ucgm/

06/11/2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0gkblkb/later-live-tracks-wreckless-eric-whole-wide-world-later-with-jools-holland
I saw Wreckless Eric on The Stiff Records Tour. Surprisingly enough, Squeeze were first band on with Eddie & The Hot Rods headlining.

Wreckless Eric performs Whole Wide World on Later... with Jools Holland.

06/11/2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0ghz45d/later-live-tracks-skindred-gimme-that-boom-later-with-jools-holland
Skindred, all energy! Bring on 2024

Skindred perform Gimme That Boom on Later... with Jools Holland.

05/11/2023

The Banshees' single MITTAGEISEN (METAL POSTCARD) / LOVE IN A VOID, released in September 1979, was promoted as a double A-side release at the time, but only "Mittageisen" charted on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 47. Nevertheless, "Love in a Void"— but not "Mittageisen"— was included on the band's 1981 singles compilation Once Upon a Time/The Singles, which compiled all their A-sides up to that time, and later on the 2006 remastered edition of Join Hands.
"Love in a Void" endures as one of the band's most beloved and electrifying early tracks, encapsulating their raw sonic power.
The Banshees had been playing the song live for years prior to its release. Their biographer Brian Johns described it as "their old stage favourite" during their late 1970s concerts. Fans and critics immediately took note of its intensity when Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded it for John Peel's BBC radio session in November 1977. With its thunderous drums courtesy of Kenny Morris, the performance spread the band's name throughout the UK punk scene.
The lyrics for "Love in a Void" originally contained the incendiary line "Too many Jews for my liking," which was promptly changed to "Too many bigots" to avoid controversy. Though Siouxsie claimed she was speaking through a character's voice, the revision ensured the song focused purely on its central theme - a relationship crumbling due to suffocating neediness and control issues.
By mid-1979, the Banshees finally committed a studio version of "Love in a Void" to tape, having previously recorded their early staple "Carcass" for their debut album The Scream. Captured at George Martin's AIR Studios with producer Mike Stavrou, the recording preserved the live energy while sharpening the edges. Steven Severin's bass and John McKay's guitar deliver an onslaught of bleak riffs, propelling Siouxsie's cold yet alluring vocals.
Released in September 1979, the 7-inch single with "Mittageisen" reached number 47 in the UK. Though not a commercial smash, "Love in a Void" had made its mark. Derek Jarman's film Jubilee featured Siouxsie and the Banshees performing it in concert, granting the track a heightened profile. When the band compiled their first singles collection in 1981, they chose to include "Love in a Void" over "Mittageisen," confirmation of its stature among fans.
Decades later, "Love in a Void" continues to earn acclaim from critics and musicians alike. Robert Smith frequently performed guitar with the Banshees during this period, appearing in the clip recorded for the TV show 'Something Else'.

https://fb.watch/o7t2C6_99W/

05/11/2023

Ramones provided the blueprint and Leave Home duplicated it, but Ramones' third album, Rocket to Russia, perfected it.
The LP boasted a cleaner production than its predecessors, which only gave the band's music more force.
It helps that the group wrote its finest set of songs for the album. From the mindless, bopping opening of "Cretin Hop" and "Rockaway Beach" to the urban surf rock of "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and the anthemic "Teenage Lobotomy," the songs were teeming with irresistibly catchy hooks; even their choice of covers, "Do You Want to Dance?" and "Surfin' Bird," provided more hooks than usual.
Ramones also branched out slightly, adding ballads to the mix. Even with these (relatively) slower songs, the speed of the album never decreased. However, the abundance of hooks and slight variety in tempos made Rocket to Russia Ramones' most listenable and enjoyable album -- it might not have the revolutionary impact of 'The Ramones', but it remains one of the finest records of the late '70s.
From the album, the classic single SHEENA IS A PUNK ROCKER, Ramones' Summer of '77 neo-surf hit, and a terrific taster to the LP.
The record gave the quartet the vinyl hat trick demanded of them by destiny. Laden with tightly-wadded pop culture satire and bubblegum pastiche, Rocket is often cited as the band's high water mark.
This was a new variant on the ‘wall of sound’ aimed not so much at creating the "mini-symphonies" of Spector and Wilson, as at devising a soundtrack for sidewalk-surfing urban punks. Yet for all their uniformity of style, Ramones managed to assemble a surprising variety of options on their basic buzzsaw-guitar thrash formula. One of these was the garage-pop mode for Rocket To Russia tracks like 'Sheena is A Punk Rocker' and 'Rockaway Beach'.
But they were always most effective the simpler they kept things. The melodies were there and inventive too, yet spare and concise. The harmonic interplay between vocals and instruments, rich, ingenious, and spontaneous.
Speed anthems like ‘Sheena Is a Punk Rocker' showed just how catchy punk pop could be.

You're watching the official music video for the Ramones - ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ from the album ‘Rocket To Russia’.Rocket To Russia recently turned 40, a...

05/11/2023

The rousing FIELDS OF FIRE with its ‘Guns of Navarone’ inspired riff was a “selection of images,” said Stuart Adamson in 1983, “thoughts on a train journey.”
“We're not a message band though. We're happy if people want to use it as dance music, or background music or just something they can identify with."
First released in 1983 as the second single from their debut album The Crossing, 'Fields of Fire' was a commercial success, reaching the top ten in the UK Singles Chart and introducing the band to mainstream audiences in the United States in 1984.
The song's unique sound features bagpipe-like single-string riffs, which Rolling Stone praised in their review of The Crossing, calling it "one of the great, resounding anthems of this or any other year." Big Country's bassist Tony Butler has also claimed this song to be one of his favorites. Cash Box highlighted the song's use of a familiar Scottish folk theme in the guitar instrumental segments, positioning the band's offering in its own musical territory.
Stuart Adamson revealed that the song's lyrics were "a selection of images" and "thoughts on a train journey." When the band wrote the song, Adamson and Bruce Watson were taking regular trips from Edinburgh to London, which is approximately 400 miles away. This distance was reflected in the song's original title "400 Miles" and the prominent chorus, "Four hundred miles, without a word until you smile."
The song's unique sound and lyrical themes of perseverance and battling against life's struggles helped to establish Big Country's signature sound and style. As one writer describes it, "It’s a fiery number that has all the ingredients of a great Big Country song: bagpipe guitars, impassioned vocals and a heroic resolve to do battle against life’s crushing blows."

Catch Big Country at 'Northern Kin Festival' in 2024
https://fb.watch/o7sG849xtP/

16/09/2023

Kick Out The Jams is so sorry to hear of the passing of Andy Laidlaw from Big Fat Panda.
Condolences to all his family and friends. A big miss, not just in the Scottish Ska scene, but the UK Ska scene as a whole!

08/09/2023

Stone Valley Festival South 2024

👀 ARTIST PROFILE 👀

We are delighted that Cockney Rejects are joining us at Stone Valley South next May!

Rarely in the long history of British rock’n’roll has there been a story of such depth, magnitude and sheer turbulence as that of the Cockney Rejects.

The band were formed in the late Seventies in East London as an answer to the art school punk that had dominated the scene up until then.

Fiercely working class in stance and attitude, the band eschewed the political ramblings of punk’s first wave and sang about the circumstances that surrounded them and millions of street kids in Britain’s inner cities- Police harassment, street battles and football to name three.

Signed by EMI after playing four local gigs (less than the pistols!) they found themselves playing sell out tours the length and breadth of the UK and seeing their debut album storm the charts.

Top of the pops appearances followed, which became the stuff of legend as the band generally ran amok in the hallowed White city studios, finally getting banned from the show for their boisterous behavior.

In 1980 the band recorded a riotous version of ‘I’m forever blowing bubbles’ to celebrate the fact that their beloved West Ham United had reached the FA cup final that year, but their devotion to all things claret and blue proved to be their downfall as the gigs became battlegrounds between the band and rival supporters, culminating in the vicious ‘Battle of Birmingham’ that led to serious criminal charges that in turn led to the band being finished as a touring unit.

With the band’s first phase being over, in the interim they were discovered by a brand new fanbase such as US bands Rancid and Green Day, who cherished the Rejects and their terrace punk singalong anthems which, in turn, inspired a new generation of kids to check them out.

Due to overwhelming demand, the band returned to the live circuit in 2000, and have since gone from strength to strength, playing to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe with a live set that is so energetic that it has to be seen to be believed.

With the fractionalization of the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s now gone for good, with every gig becoming a party for fans and band alike, the Cockney Rejects go from strength to strength.

There has never been a better time to check out the band that inspired a generation with their timeless brand of terrace sing along classics and white hot live set.

Join the Rejects - You won’t have a better night out all year!

🎫: https://bit.ly/SVFSouth

08/09/2023

What a summer, wet, muddy and sodden! Then swiftly followed by glorious sunshine, then quickly followed by rain and mud once more! But the final festival weekend of the season we basked again in Sunshine.
Thanks to everyone for a great summer season of music and laughs. Lots going on throughout the year. 2024 festivals lined up and I can't wait to play music for everyone once more. Hope you enjoy some of my memories ❤️

Festival Season Part 1