Tommy Reilly – One for the future?
To say I dislike reality TV would be an understatement. To say I dislike the musical variety of reality TV, things such as X-Factor would be a massive understatement. However recently I stumbled upon Orange unsignedAct on T4, and my god it’s good!
The show pits unsigned bands against each other in a ‘battle of the bands’ style show where celebrity musicians judge their performances and decide who goes through to the next round. The difference with this show is that the bands are real – they sing live, they play their own instruments, write their own songs, and have even played gigs before being on the telly (who’d have thought it)! It’s been pretty inspiring watching it – I’ve felt genuinely excited watching the show – something I can’t say about any other ‘reality TV’ I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching.
Tommy Reilly is 19 years old and from Glasgow., Scotland He looks like he could be the bastard child of Elvis Costello and The Proclaimers, minus the glasses. He looks completely unremarkable, but when he popped up on the show during the auditions and started playing I jumped up out of bed with a start. After his initial performance with just his acoustic guitar, audition judge Jo ‘Radio One’ Whiley told him she didn’t think he was ready for the competition and to try again next year. Tommy said “ok thanks” and toddled off – no tears or strops a la X-Factor , afterall he’s a musician doing what he does, not some little wannabe who’s determined to be the next Kerry Katona. Within seconds of the door closing Jo Whiley and the other judge began whispering on the sofa, and before long realised their mistake. To their credit, they called Tommy back in and told him they thought they’d made a mistake, and were putting him through into the next round.
The judges for the next round were Alex James (the bass player from Blur), Lauren Laverne (ex-Kenickiea nd all-round good egg muso presenter), Simon Gavin (the usual industry type), and rapper Leathal Bizzle. After watching Tommy’s performance (click on the image above to watch the video) all four judges gave him their vote – making him the only person on the show to get all four votes.
I listened to Tommy’s demos on his Orange unsignedAct profile and they’re okay, but they nothing compared to hi no-nonsense live performance of ‘Give Me A Call’ – they don’t do his songs justice – watch the video and decide for yourself.
I hope Tommy wins the competition so that someone talented and real can come out on top of one of these competitions, however part of me fears for him, as winners of this type of competition usually get chewed up and spat out by the industry within 12 months. Maybe he’s be better off coming second, signing to an indie label, and releasing a couple of records before a major snaps him up – it would be a real shame to see the raw nervous energy he has ‘polished’ by an A&R man and producer.
Only time will tell how Tommy gets on – but right now he’s definitely one for the future, good luck son!
Best Of You
Foo Fighters @ Wembley June 2008, originally uploaded by Chris Wilkinson.
The gig was great from start to finish with The Futureheads and Supergrass in support, before the Foos took to the stage playing ‘in the round’ with the stage in the middle of the pitch surrounded by thousands of rabid fans. The stage rotated 360 degrees so that everyone in the stadium got to see the band front-on, even those sitting behind the stage.
Everything was perfect – the band, the set-list, the stage, the lights, the special guests (Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin!) the crowd, and even the fireworks at the end.
I was really glad we went, as judging by Dave’s comments the band were in agreement that it was the highlight of their career, and I had a great day spent with some of my favourite people.
Where the Foo Fighters will go from here I’m not sure, but if they broke up tomorrow, I think I would be ok with that. On Tuesday we’re going to re-live the show at our local cinema where the soon to be released DVD of the show is being screened in high-definition with 5.1 surround sound. It’s not quite as good as being at the gig again, but it’s the next best thing!
Poll The People – Your Top 5 Lists
PollThePeople.com is a site set up by Glenn Cooper (head of Digital at Island Records UK) and his wife Kirsty, after an argument they had. The site encourages users to add lists of their ‘top 5′ albums, films, and books.
The site plays on people’s desire to list / tell everyone else their favourite things, and includes social elements that let you find similar lists, browse other user’s lists, and invite your email contacts to view your lists.
Being a music geek, it took me no time to get signed up and post my top 5 albums. Although I did have to wrestle with myself over 5th place – it always causes me trouble. You see, picking number 5 always brings with it an amount of guilt, because there’s more than one album worthy of such a position. Luckily you can log-in and change/update your lists whenever you feel like it, so such decisions don’t have to be set in stone!
I’ve not added my top 5 films or books yet, mainly because I don’t tend to watch films more than a couple of times (it’s just not the same as listening to an album over and over), and I don’t read enough/regularly to compile a list of favourites, but maybe I’ll do this in the future.
The site also includes celebrity top 5 lists (including Nick Horby who coined the top 5 phrase in ‘High Fidelity‘) and a ‘suggest a future poll‘ section where you suggest your own poll, or vote for one of the most popular suggestions.
There’s also a neat little widget that lets you post your top 5 lists on your blog, website, myspace profile etc. This site is a must for list makers, so check it out now.
My Top 5 Albums @ PollThePeople.com (in no particular order):
| Outlandos d’Amour (The Police) | |
| “So Lonely”, “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” – name me another debut album that has 3 songs to rival those! Great lo-fi production too. My favourite Police album by far. | |
| Yield (Pearl Jam) | |
| The perfect mix of Pearl Jam’s many styles, great production and most definitely the finest drumming of Jack Irons’ career. Highlights include “Given To Fly”, “Faithful” and “In Hiding”, but every track is great. Picking a favourite Pearl Jam album is like picking your favourite child…you just shouldn’t do it! | |
| Third Eye Blind (Third Eye Blind) | |
| Without a doubt one of the best debut albums of all time. Great songs, great playing, great production. Most people remember them only for “Semi-charmed Life”, but this album has a whole lot more – they never stood a chance of topping it. Perfect. Stand out tracks include “Graduate”, “The Background”, “How’s It Going To Be” and “Motorcycle Drive By” (not to be confused with “Motorcycle Emptiness” by the Manics!) | |
| There Is Nothing Left to Lose (Foo Fighters) | |
| The only Foo Fighters album recorded as a three-piece and the first recorded in Dave Grohl’s home studio, and boy it shows. Really warm production, the first album Taylor Hawkins ever recorded (until then he’d only played as a live session drummer) and the drumming is outstanding. I love the sound of this record – and once again the range of songs make it another perfect album. Narrowly beats “The Colour & The Shape” as my favourite Foos record. Every track is a highlight on this album. | |
| The Used (The Used) | |
| Another band who created a brilliant debut album, and could never top it. Despite the slick production, I love the raw energy on this record, it really sounds like a hungry young band at their best. This was my favourite album of 2002/2003 and still remains in my top 5 several years later. Highlights include “The Taste Of Ink” and “Blue & Yellow”. It’s a shame they’ve gone downhill so rapidly since. | |
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Albums of 2008 (so far)
2008 seemed to get off to a slow start in terms of album releases, but now they’re coming thick and fast. March has produced a pile of great albums.
I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a music reviewer, but I ramble too much and generally hate music reviewing members of the press, so I’d never lower myself to do actual ‘reviews’. Below you’ll find a list of what’s currently floating my boat and a bit about why. Just don’t call them reviews whatever you do.
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Yes, yes, I know! Everyone is raving about this band. I happened to hear MGMT just before the hype got to me and put me off. Musically the album is a real mish-mash, it’s pretty poppy in places with tons of synths, and at times wanders off into prog-rock territory – overall it’s a really interesting sounding album which covers a lot of ground – I can’t get enough of it!
Sounds like: Beck meets Secret Machines meets Prince.
Fave Tracks: ‘Time To Pretend’ (the first single), ‘Kids’.
REM – Accelerate
Only just out, but wow – REM are rocking once again! I don’t own many REM albums, but I do love them – some of their albums seem to have passed me by over the years, this one certainly hasn’t. It’s a real rocker, and it’s great to see a veteran band who can still give it some despite having entered that dangerous ‘mid 40’s’ stage of their careers.
Sounds like: REM kicking ass.
Guillemots – Red
Guillemots are a strange band. People seem to love them or hate them, and they seem determined to mess with you. Just as you start getting into a song they throw in completely crazy middle eight that leaves you wondering what just happened. I really liked their debut album ‘Through The Window Pane’ and ‘Red’ doesn’t disappoint. It took a few listens to get my head around as there’s some interesting instrumentation and production, but essentially the majority of the songs are great -albeit with their weird freak outs.
I think Guillemots are the closest the UK has to an Arcade Fire, and I don’t mean that they sound like Arcade Fire, there’s just something about them which is reminiscent – maybe it’s the madman/genius thing and the vast instrumentation?
Sounds like: An instrument factory, with great choruses, and strange middle eights.
Fave Tracks: ‘Get Over It’ and ‘Cockateels’.
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha
Great album title! In a similar move to REM, Supergrass return to their rockier roots after the relatively mellow last album ‘Road To Rouen’ (I could never get into it). This reminds me of my favourite Supergrass album ‘In It For The Money’ – chocked full of bluesy glam power-pop, with Gaz Coombes’ warbling voice backed by fuzzy guitars, booming bass, crazy-ass drums and even crazier keyboards and organs. There’s even a few Jellyfish-esque moments in there – gotta love it!
Sitting here listening to it has made me realise I was a fool for thinking I wouldn’t bother going to see them live this time around – fingers crossed there’s still tickets left!
Sounds like: Supergrass at their best.
Fave Tracks: ‘When I Needed You’, ‘Ghost Of A Friend’, ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
My favourite Elbow album is their second ‘Cast Of Thousands’. I liked ‘Leaders Of The Free World’ (their third) but not as much as ‘Cast Of Thousands’, so I was looking forward to ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’. The first single ‘Grounds For Divorce’ has a great line; ‘I’ve been working on a cocktail, it’s called grounds for divorce’ and Guy Garvery’s gravelly voice certainly sounds like he means it.
I’ve not given this album enough listens yet to really get into it, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of gems – a return to form…not that they ever lost their form.
Sounds like: Only Elbow can, dark, brooding, moody…
Also…
I’ve also been listening to The Gutter Twins – ‘Saturnalia’ and The Raconteurs – ‘Consolers Of The Lonely’ both of which I’m really enjoying, more about them soon.
Care to share?
Maybe you’ve got your own tips on what’s hot in 2008? Post them in the comments!
BOTW: Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters – ‘The Pretender’
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This week’s ‘band of the week’ is the Foo Fighters. Anyone who reads my blog will know of my love for the Foos – I’ve been a fan of theirs since day one pretty much. They’ve been quiet for a little while, but their new album ‘Echoes Silence, Patience & Grace’ is out on September 24th in the UK (25th in the US) and for me, it’s one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year.
Lead single ‘The Pretender’ is classic Foo Fighters, with an extra touch of 70’s rock. The guitar-picked intro is reminiscent of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and guitar riff in the breakdown before the middle 8 sounds like Status Quo to me!
You can buy ‘The Pretender’ here at iTunes UK.
[tags]Foo Fighters,The Pretender[/tags]
