2 Music


Songwriter tours with newtracks


TOUR: Ian Siegal


AWARD-winning British song- writer, Ian Siegal, is set to re- lease One Night In Amsterdam, his first full-band live album on CD and vinyl on March 9. The new album dovetails Siegal’s nationwide March UK tour which kicks off at the Chester Live Rooms on March 17. While Siegal’s 2014 album


Man & Guitar showcased the award-winning British song- writer as a solo acoustic trou- badour, One Night In Amster- dam flicks the power switch, marking Siegal’s first live al- bumwith a full-throttle electric band. Chalk up another first for the man that Mojo called, “One of the most innovative, gifted and engaging blues performers on the planet today”. Siegal is able to draw on an astonishing eight-album cata- logue that has scored him sev- en British Blues Awards in five categories.


Five piece of ilm noir


PSYCHE-pop riffs, vocal melo- dies, a film noir meets 60s aes- thetic, a range of audible refer- ences from Arctic Monkeys via Abba to The Doors – Blossoms are Stockport’s newest musical export.


Blossoms will release their


psych infused new single Cut Me And I’ll Bleed on March 2 through Skeleton Key Records. Available on download and a limited edition 7” vinyl. All five band members – Tom Ogden (Vocals/Guitar), Char- lie Salt (Bass), Josh Dewhurst (Guitar), Joe Donovan (Drums) &Myles Kellock (Keys) – live in Stockport.


Contact Us


EDITOR: Nicole Garnon 01633 777203 nicole.garnon@gwent-wales.co.uk


EDITORIAL AND DESIGN: Andy Howells andrew.howells@gwent-wales.co.uk


ADVERTISING: Andrea Hall 01633 777285 andrea.hall@gwent-wales.co.uk


ONLINE: www.southwalesaargus.co.uk www.twitter.com/argus_theguide


Ahead of their Cardiff shownextweekMan WithoutCountry talk to AndyHowells


ELECTRONICA duo Man Without Country have embarked on a two-month headline UK tour. It follows the release of their new album Maximum Entropy, which is due for release on January 19 on Lost Balloon records. Welsh duo Ryan James and Tomas


Greenhalf combine sleek electronic mini- malism with a love of classic pop music, merging the pared-back synths of Ul- rich Schnauss and East India Youth with the adventurous quest to redefine pop shared with early electronic pioneers like The Human League. The album was recorded, produced and


mixed entirely by the band in their home studios in South Wales, and features a sensual reinterpretation of Old-Skool Rave classic, The Beloved’s Sweet Har- mony, re-imagined for a new generation of clubbers while maintaining the origi- nal’s state of bliss. Man Without Country’s Ryan James


provided the hypnotic, fragile vocal on Röyksopp’s recent single Sordid Affair, travelling to the seminal Norwegian duo’s Bergen studio to record the track, which is taken from their new album The Inevi- table End. As remixers, Man Without Country have


a varied CV that’s seen them remix eve- ryone from Two Door Cinema Club and Band Of Skulls to Moby, Miike Snow and Active Child. In a package that includes Erol Alkan and Factory Floor, the band recently remixed the Interpol single My Desire.


Andy Howells recently put questions to Ryan from the band


Who are you and how did you come together? We are an electronic, contemporary shoegazey band called Man Without Country who met at Glamorgan Univer- sity.


ELECTRONICA: Man Without Country


Where are you from? I (Ryan) am from Bridgend and Tomas


is from a small village near Kidwelly. We also have a live drummer, who is based just outside of Oxford. How would you describe your music style? It’s a combination of programmed digi-


tal and analog synthesisers mixed with live drums, drum machines, and often densely reverberated vocals. Overall it’s emotional, powerful and honest.


Band is lawless


four decades on Review: 10cc, St David’s Hall


AT a restaurant on Tuesday evening I was asked by the waiter what I was going to be doing for the rest of the even- ing.


‘I’m off to St David’s Hall to


see 10cc,’ I responded. I was met with a rather blank look, ‘is that a bike?’ he replied. Thankfully when I got to St


David’s Hall there were many other people who actually knew who 10cc were. Fronted by founder member Graham Gouldman the cur- rent touring band consisted of three other key members, all of whom have had associa- tions with 10cc since the 1970s, guitarist Rick Fenn, drummer Paul Burgess and percussion- ist Mike Stevens. The line up was completed


by guitarist Mick Wilson. The first half of the show


was made up of a complete run through of the band’s 1975 album Sheet Music, fea- turing live recreations of tracks Wall Street Shufle, The Worst Band in the World and Silly Love. One of the many highlights of the first half was an all singing and dancing video contribution from another 10cc founder member Kevin Godley lead- ing the band for a rendition of Somewhere in Hollywood. The second half of the show consisted of back to back 10cc hits.


CARDIFF SHOW: 10cc The Things We Do For


Love, I’m Mandy FlyMe, and The Dean and I all featured but the atmosphere rose to a peak as the audience showed their appreciation for Number One hits I’m


Not In Love and Dreadlock Holi- day with the adjusted lyric “I don’t like Cardiff, I love it!” The real highlight came with


the encore, an acappella ver- sion of 10cc’s debut hit Donna and an out of your seats and


dance version of Rubber Bul- lets all resulting in an enter- taining evening from one of the best bands from the 1970s. Here’s to the next time.


Andy Howells


What’s been your best live experience? Supporting M83 at Paris Olympia and


Brixton Academy was quite special. We’ve also had some very memorable headline shows in San Francisco, Santa Ana, Washington DC, Berlin and Prague to name just a few. What are you working on at the moment? At the moment we’re mostly just doing interviews and preparing for our tour. But


our writing process never really stops. Ideas for our third album are slowly start- ing to take shape. Where can people hear your music? Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, everywhere


really. Where can we see you live? We’re playing all over the UK through-


out February and March. But more specifically we’re playing at


the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Car- diff on Feb 26th.


Friday, February 20, 2015 Follow us on Twitter @Argus_The Guide Meet The Band : Man without Country


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