Search for self belief performed on Wednesday, 7th January 2009.
self belief
We found the term self belief in 70 articles.
Some time ago, March to be exact, I happened upon a band at Joseph's Well. That band was the Anti-depressants, and after being treated to the promise and potential of an all too short set, I have tried to keep an eye out for them.
"As far as ambition, hard graft and commitment are concerned, no-one has a patch on us" ... that's as maybe, but as far as songwriting and putting your finger on a good tune there's plenty that do.
Ska tinged rock without the horn sections, verging into metal at times with growling vocals and guitars to match.
Considering there wasn't a lot of promotion for the showcase this evening at Leeds Mine this was one hell of a night.
Hot Hot Heat: Middle Of Nowhere
The most understated Hot Hot Heat release yet this definitely is. This is light-years away from the superb 'Bandages' of a few years back.
acoustic rock
Cube scare me. It defies all rules of rock when even the drummer is good looking. Yet it makes sense with the mirror-posing rock that they play.
The Vitamins: You Got Me Singing
We're forever being told that vitamins are good for us. Now it's time to find out the whole truth... Formed two years ago (contrary to pesky scientists belief, I am told), The Vitamins are said to specialise in 'whitebluespoppunkrock', although they could do will adding a little 'glam' tag to their snappy genre; 'You Got Me Singing' certainly contains the sultry distinctive stomp of many a T-Rex pretender gone by.
indie rock
The Glitterati: You Got Nothing on Me
It's like 1986 all over again. Mike Clink has picked up on five sleazy young men with a self belief bordering on arrogance, honed their raw talents and added the layer that separates great from greatness.
If you were thinking that the worse thing about Filthy Sanchez was their name, you're wrong! Yes it is appalling and fits the "funny when you're 14 and you know what it really means" category but the real travesty here is a lyrical one.
Phluid to release mini-album titled "Release"...
Having parted company with their record label, of their own accord, Phluid have decided to go it alone and have produced the finest recording of their career - "Release".
There comes a time for all bands to make a CD. Sometimes though, they tend to misjudge the right time to make one.
indie rock
Ali Whitton and the Broke Record Players: Empty Threats and Recurring Themes
"And you say I'm too young to know what I mean - well, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong about me" protests Ali Whitton alongside his newly-expanded band to open his new EP, 'Empty Threats and Recurring Themes', challenging all those who doubt his belief in every single word he sings or think he's exaggerating, making it all up, even.
Dear god, who on earth thought it would be a good idea to let these four guys loose inside a recording studio?
Eddyfink's current single does what many of their more well-known contemporaries fail to, by grabbing us right by the balls with Andy Pisanu's voice of conviction.
We Start Fires: Caught Redhanded
Mathematics aside this is a valiant effort from this US grrrl-punk scene influenced quartet. Underneath the guitars and quirky 80s' keyboard effects of this album lies a fair dose of pop-punk fused with the daily trials and tribulations of your average young rock and roll girl.
You may recognise the name and remember Amy Studt as a hesitant yet flourishing teenage star. After her debut album sold around 200,000 copies and she gained 3 top twenty singles, she pondered stepping out of the world of music for good.
Band Profile: A Lot Like Eskimos
A Lot Like Eskimos- pop / punk rock
Very Arcane look to be another promising fledgling Leeds outfit to watch, with this idea filled five-song debut being the proof.
"like Sevendust battling it out with deftones and Metallica" - The Machine
To be honest I had never heard of the first two bands that were on the bill this evening, so I went into this completely blind but very open to the prospect of hearing something new and fresh to my ears.
Royal Vendetta: The Lost Cause
Wearing their influences firmly on their sleeve, or more like in a big day-glow t-shirt that says "our influences are:" Royal Vendetta are Leeds' answer to Kasabian, The Cooper Temple Clause and The Music...
Fahrenheit 451: The Catastrophe EP
Deeming themselves to be an explosive mix of Muse and early Manics, I approached this CD tentatively, with a mixture of doubt and excitement.
Every so often, an album comes along so wretched, so dire, so utterly worthless that it prompts you to feel like sitting by your garden pond and wondering what exactly the point of it was.
Magnet is Even Jobansen, a Norwegian with a fine sense of melody. 'The Tourniquet' opens with with recent single 'Hold On', a plucked melody and some gentle programming throb in the background as Jobansen's vocal drifts along until the chorus comes washing over like a glorious sunshine.
Alternative Pop & Rock act with a nod towards the more obscure...
Oui Bee's solo career began when she joined the 'Hydrogen Jukebox', an alternative Cabaret, music and comedy forum in Darlington, where she was quickly snapped up as the resident songwriter/performer...
The eerie echoes of Adams' cover of the Oasis classic give way to ringing, plucked chords sprawling across the rich landscape.
ˇForward, Russia!: Give Me A Wall
Choose life. Choose chaos. Choose beauty. Choose frantic guitars crashing into mountains of shouts. Choose mind-splitting blasts of intergalactic synth.
Entering the barely packed side room at first glance this does not seem like the prime of Switches' domains, stage drab and atmosphere mellow.
It's the second of the Futuresound heats, and what I manage to catch of The Dead Certs' set is sadly quite brief, as I arrive at the Cockpit a little later than planned.
Whether it was the presupposed idea that Lightspeed Champion would be akin to Dev's former insane, urchin punk band Test Icicles, or the belief that such a gig would only attract indie scene kids, The Cockpit was looking bare...
rock electronica dance
Reverend And The Makers @ Cockpit
There's an air of anticipation amongst the crowd; The Cockpit is sold out and as this is the closest venue to Sheffield of their July tour dates plenty of people have made the trip up the motorway from Sheffield.
What a great opening. The first 35 seconds of "All our so called bad luck stories" are fresh young and just fantastic.
Kesh Patel and Alex Routledge have modest ability and titanic self belief. Their self-produced CD arrives with a wallet full of expensive printed gubbins telling us about their astonishing talents, rising popularity and forthcoming tour.
The Sunshine Underground @ Brudenell Social Club
It may be cold outside, but the atmosphere inside the Phoenix Club-esque venue is anything but. With fierce rivalry and bitter competition all too common in most "scenes", the camaraderie and genuine mutual respect among the Yorkshire bands playing this evening is heartening to see, and sets the tone for the night.
Juliette & The Licks: Got Love To Kill
Perhaps one of my biggest regrets of this year's Leeds Festival was allowing myself to get swept along with the hype and be all eager-beaverish, arriving early at the Carling Stage on the Sunday to secure a 'good spot' for young scamps, Arctic Monkeys.
Malcolm Middleton: Sleight of Heart
Middleton cracked into the public consciousness with the cheerily titled electro-pop single "We're all going to die", briefly in contention for Xmas number one status thanks to Radio 1.
For the uninitiated The Haunted are from Gothenburg, Sweden. Formed from the ashes of seminal metallers, "At the Gates", their music is that of unbelievable extremes.
Julie Ellison @ Trades Club (Hebden Bridge)
Two rather significant women singer-songwriter-guitarists had Hebden Bridge Trades Club in the palms of their hands on the evening of Thursday 8 July.
Lovechild have self belief and ambition. They've sent their stuff from Belfast to Leeds, and they're determined to get a wider audience.
This gig was my first at the Faversham a venue with halls I had never graced before. After a glass of lemonade (I was t-total for the evening) support act Your Heart Breaks graced the venue's small stage.
The Diawara frontman looks in his element as he energetically takes it upon himself to cover every square inch of the stage before the night is up.
Various Artists: Ali Whitton / Sarah Williams split single
The split single can look deceptively simple - two bands that stand up well in isolation can incur a musical car crash when unsuccessfully married on release.
Bloody hell, it's busy in here for a Monday. Usually a night of rest following the weekend, but tonight a haven of rock and roll activity the likes of which we haven't seen since...
Flippin' 'eck, lads, talk about a statement of intent. Imagine you are gliding through irridescent layers of space dust and stars like that bit at the beginning of every Star Wars film where the plot outline slices through the galaxy and gets progressively harder to read...
The Swedish four piece trip daintily on stage, accompanied by a hurdy gurdy soundtrack that conjures up images of accordion playing moustachioed fellows and Heidi running through lush meadows.
Why, oh why, oh why?? What is it with female bass players? Now I've been in bands with three myself and my current partner in rhythm, Miss Ravelle, is an exception to this rule...mostly anyway.
Okay let's be straight right from the start. We weren't exactly there for Athlete right from the start.
Bank Holiday Monday and "Lock & Load" bring us four local bands to play the Rocket Venue, fast becoming the best middle sized venue in Leeds, following the closure of the Duchess in March.
At the thought of Jon Gomm, and the prospect of attempting to express the inexpressible, the pen trembles.
Have you noticed that it's getting harder and harder to tell bands apart from their roadies? This is not necessarily because of the lack of true rock stars we possess at the moment (© NME), rather that bands are employing their own 'posse' as opposed to the black-leather clad roadies of the last few decades.
Arctic Monkeys: Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys EP
How many million sales exactly? It beggars belief, it really does. Sorry to break yer suit jacket and jeans-wearing hearts kids, but it's time someone said the truth about this - the Arctic Monkeys are simply Not Very Good.
Occasionally bands with edgy names proclaiming gritty sounds can sell themselves short, others should be seriously checked under the Trade Descriptions Act.
To release this double A side at any other time of the year than sweltering July would have been highly foolish.
Bilge Pump @ Brudenell Social Club
The Brudenell Social club played host to three bands, all helping to raise funds for the Asian Earthquake Disaster appeal.
Cathy Simpson talks to The Blueskins about music, festivals, The Beatles and lazy journalism...
Interview: The Casual Terraces
Andy Roberts catches up with The Casual Terraces before their gig with Radio Clash...
The first band Giant Drag arrived on stage at around 8.30pm. The crowd were full of energy, evidently as 15 minutes beforehand they had been chanting away, clapping for the show to start and at one point actually stroking the security guards (they loved it and they know it).
The primary reason for the great and the good of Leeds society piling into the cosy Faversham this Thursday night was the chance to honour our local up-and-coming pop heroes, Sky Larkin, and the launch of their debut 7" ('One of Two' on DTTR records - available in all credible outlets now, pop pickers!) Prior to this brooding slice of indie perfection, however, we had a couple of other outfits to draw us in the direction of the Fav's intimate stage.
Scuzzy indie chancers and childhood playmates of Pete Doherty, Cazals caused a few excited murmurs in the East London grotty party scene a few years back, and after being spoken about in the same sentences as The Rakes and The Paddingtons, signed, quite (un)surprisingly to the 'super-cool' and 'uber-trendy' French label Kitsune.
Even if he is unable to attend - by dint of incarceration, far-flung vacation or other indisposition - the embedded chronological awareness of any Leeds gig-goer will tell him at this juncture (6pm on the first Friday of the month) that he should be nestling within the subterranean catacombs of the Hi-Fi Club.
The Machines Will Take Over @ The Railway (Featherstone)
First impressions of Featherstone's The Railway? Normal pub... ominous looking equipment lying around...
This review is really rather late, for which I apologise profusely. If I may, I shall explain how I came to be so rubbish at time-keeping, life-maintenance and being able to do stuff in general.
The annual Bright Young Things showcase has been very much like a 'Kinder Surprise' over the last few years - yes you may look back fondly enough, but you'd rather have a 'Fizzy Cola Bottle' (Futuresound competition) or even a 'Flying Saucer' (local band nite at Joseph's Well) because, at the end of the day, while the 'Kinder Egg' promises much, open it up and a crappy toy that you play with for five minutes and then lose down the back of the sofa is all that confronts you.
As another long night bleeds into another bright, sunny day, bleary eyed tent dwellers emerge from their probably now a little bit on the stale side canvas abodes to see out the last day of the festival.
The Scaramanga Six: Cabin Fever
"Glad you all could join me, on another pointless journey". So begins the 2nd album proper of Wrath's finest premium export The Scaramanga Six.