With their first gig in a while Keltrix are back at The Portland Arms, Cambridge with a gig organised by Johnny Cabbage of Rebel Arts Radio. The date is March 9th and the other band on at the event is the excellent Beverley Kills (in a stripped back format for this gig) who were on Cambridge Calling Vol 2.
Details below
We have now released the two EPs by The Strays to date. The first EP Explicit Content includes a previously unreleased track “Be Seen Not Heard”. There is also a chance to purchase a CD version of the original version of that EP.
The two EPs are available via all the usual digital outlets as well as our Bandcamp page.
The duo have a number of dates planned to support these releases…..
Our most popular release to date “This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food” by Drink and Drive gets its long awaited launch at The Peer Hat, Faraday Street, Manchester on Wednesday 24th January.
Doors are at 8pm and the entry price is only £3 and the event is not ticketed. The launch is part of the Manchester Meltdown residency.
Also playing on the night are Four Candles, Bobbie Peru and Cynthia’s Periscope.
After last weeks packed show at the venue we are anticipating a big crowd so we recommend arriving on time to see all four bands. Four Candles will start the night at 8:15 prompt. Drink and Drive will be playing last and will be on stage around 10pm.
The new album has received multiple airplay around the UK and has proved to be our most popular release on Spotify. A sample of the band can be found in the video for the track “Adult Pig Suit”……
The collaboration between Moff Skellington and Hazel Fairburn has been released.
Coupling the wonderful world of Eddodi with Hazel’s violin this is real treat for fans of Moff’s music and lovers of folk music with a slightly different outlook.
Two new tracks in #Forensics and Velvet Transmission and the remaining demo type things from the last 5 years. 22 tracks in all.
ANY AND ALL PROCEEDS ACCRUED FROM THE SALE OF THIS ALBUM ARE BEING DONATED DIRECTLY TO WATER AID SO THE POOREST KIDS ON EARTH AIN’T QUENCHING THEIR THIRST WITH PISS AND SHIT ON TOP OF EVERY OTHER MISERY THEY ENDURE,
Well known Manchester Music stalwart Daniel Clarke joins German Shepherd for his debut solo single.
Known for his work with bands The Moods and Death to the Strange, as well as his active involvement in developing open mic nights for local talent, Daniel has produced a great new song which echoes the art of Brecht and Weill as well as capturing the spirit of Tom Waits.
Titled “Trampin’ Stampin'” the new single is released on February 9th gets one of its’ first airplays on Stephen Doyle’s Sonic Diary Show on Salford City Radio tonight.
26th January sees our release and distribution of two EPs by Buxton based electronic punk duo The Strays.
With a lo-fi DIY beat driven attack the duo of Johnny (beats, guitars) and Georgie (vocals) Stray take no prisoners, with a venomous attack on the establishment, politics and the darker nooks and crannies of the music and entertainment industry. The sound is raw, the love child of Suicide and The Ramones if said child had been brought up in the industrial North West of the UK. There is punk, there is pop, there is electronica and there is a mutant form of dance/disco all in play at various times.
With positive reviews flying out of the internet already we predict that these guys are destined for something special with their heavy touring schedule and growing fan bases in the East Midlands and North West.
We release their first two eps “Explicit Content” and “Never Tweet Your Heroes”.
Both have been previously self released on Bandcamp but we are taking on the distribution chores for the band with releases via Spotify, I Tunes, Amazon, Apple Music and many more digital platforms, plus inclusion in the German Shepherd Bandcamp pages.
Videos are in production at the moment and should be released next month.
Because the band can use some rather anglo saxon language at times we have provided safe radio edits of a selection of songs from both eps for our chums in DJ land.
Here is a soundcloud clip for Gone In The Head
There is a bonus track on Explicit Content – the previously unreleased “Be Seen Not Heard” which is exclusive to the German Shepherd release.
FACEBOOK – www.facebook.com/thestraysofficial/
GIGS
The boys have a number of gigs coming up…..
26th January – The Mulberry Tavern, Sheffield
3rd February – The Globe, Glossop
4th February – Fab Cafe, Manchester
11th February –The Bunny Hop, Heanor
16th February – The Mulberry Tavern, Sheffield
24th March – The Crown Inn, Heanor
15th April – Dublin Castle, London
19th April – The Peer Hat Manchester
2nd June – The Station Hotel, Ashton U Lyne
REVIEWS
Mind Noise Network
unique, upbeat and downright weird songs.
Double EP Review: The Strays – Never Tweet Your Heroes & Explicit Content
Aural Delights
The Strays are well worth less than 20 minutes of your time and the price of a pint to give them some support and to encourage them to continue their attack on the sort of targets that need calling out.
……..five songs in 14 minutes demonstrates the Ramones like efficiency of the bands output and their joyful application of their craft which marries clever and often politically astute lyrics with crisp punk-electronica.
Our good friend Tony Thornborough (The Be Reet Radio Show) contacted us a while back with news of an album that Oldham band Drink and Drive had completed their album. Tony, a big fan of the band, who was one of the first DJs to share them with the outside world, suggested that the band had lots in common with the German Shepherd brand. The sample track that Tony sent through (see below) was more than enough to convince us that this was a band that would fit perfectly in the German Shepherd kennel. Contacts were made and ideas were swapped, Ian went to see them in Oldham, and Bob started on the background work to lead us to releasing the bands debut album “This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food” on December 1st.
Here is a taster, the massive six minute opener “The Itch-Scratch Cycle” (the aforementioned sample track that grabbed our attention)
Forthcoming gigs for the band……
December 23rd – The Bank Top Tavern, Oldham
December 30th – The Witchwood, Ashton
January 24th – The Peer Hat, Manchester
The album was recorded at 6dB Studios (where a lot of releases are laid down) with the ever excellent Simon “Ding” Archer.
We will also be distributing the bands first EP in the new year which has only had a Bandcamp release so far.
Being lazy sods and far too busy watching Stranger Things 2 and Gotham we insisted the band to write their own interview and did far better job than we could ever hoped to have done…….. and this is what they came up with via Ben the vocalist…..
Brief history please…..
We formed in Oldham in 2008 because there was nothing else to do. They cut off our escape routes and we had to write songs to keep warm. The band was born out of pure spite and an utter disinterest in anything musical that was coming from our town. This makes us sound snobbish but we’re just being honest. We were bored and we wanted to make a racket for ourselves, we didn’t care if anyone liked us. Some people did, so we carried on.
What are the bands influences?
The horror of the mundane. I never wanted to write songs about girls or cars, leave that to the experts. I’m too emotionally retarded to write love songs. I write about the things I find on the street, found lyrics play a big part. Recurring themes are TV & Media, deviants, people I don’t like, bands I don’t like, awkward social situations and a complete bewilderment at modern life in general.
How would you describe the sound?
It’s basically the internal monologue of an alcoholic smartarse set to music. Heavy bass riffs, repetitive. Irritating.
What’s with the album title?
The title is taken from a health information poster of the early 80s. It was designed by Charles Saatchi and was in hospitals, doctors and clinics the length and breadth of the country. It had a profound and terrifying effect on me as a child.
What is the band’s ethos?
We just want to do our own thing, make outsider art and be left the fuck alone. We have no desire to be included in any kind of “scene” and as such distance ourselves from Manchester, we are from Oldham – it’s a different kettle of fish. We’ve always done everything ourselves, artwork, videos, promotion and all that. We’re not a political band but we are political people, when it was the Jubilee a few years back, Oldham had just been named in the top ten most deprived towns. So we put a gig on and distributed every last penny we made round the town, in little plastic wallets for people to find. Although as a gesture it’s akin to pissing in the wind, I were dead proud of that bit of positive anarchy.
Are you Spinal Tap? How many drummers have you had?
Dunno. About six? All of them apart from Jonny are under my patio. We have an initiation ceremony where each new drummer has to dig their own plot before we’ll allow them in to rehearsal.
Who is FP Moonbridge?
He’s like our fifth member. He’s a Milk Lab Technician we contacted psychically. He didn’t really like it at first because we kept sending him dead cats in his dreams but he’s now like our unofficial biographer. He drinks mild in halves.
Why did your original drummer leave?
He was sacked. I won a bottle of bourbon on the football card and the little bastard drank it all.
What is the point of “False Lib”?
What do you mean? That it’s not about anything? Doesn’t bother me that it’s throwaway. The guitar riff is the bass riff from “Hate Song” by Fudge Tunnel but don’t tell em.
How many versions of “Stars Without Make-Up” did you write before this one that you still can’t play?
Several. But that’s not really on me, I wrote the guitar part so I can play it. It’s our guitarist who can’t play it the same way twice, which again is fine by me. You never saw Bob Holness wear the same tie twice on Blockbusters did you?
Which Fall album are you planning on pillaging next?
This is just getting lazy now. We sound fuck all like the Fall really.
German Shepherd label co-owner Ian “Moet” Moss has pulled together a five week Wednesday night residency at The Peer Hat in Manchester during January 2018. Pulling together the best cutting edge bands in the Greater Manchester area, the line-up includes a selection of German Shepherd acts as well as other notable performers from the scene.
Starting at 8pm each night and only costing £3 to enter the festival of music is not only value for money but gives Manchester gig goers the chance to sample new and exciting independent music.
The bill is still being finalised but the listing below provides the already agreed slots on what looks to be an exciting event which hopefully will become embedded as a routine in the Manchester music calendar.
Notable is the long-awaited return of the much loved Monkeys In Love after maternity/paternity leave.
Mr Moss’s own band Four Candles will be the resident act for all five dates and will kick off the evening at 8:15pm sharp. Moet promises a surprise on the Candles set list on each night!
It will be pay on the door with no ticketing.
Watch this space for more details
Boz Hayward has released another video to compliment the Tennessee Ten album. The wonderfully quirky “My Little Bubble” is now available, shot in New York, City and state, the ‘lounge jazz’ track from the Tennessee Ten features Rick Burrows on trumpet, and is described as a diy lo-no-fi Bert Weill Productions video.
November 1st also sees a live performance of the whole of Tennessee Ten at The Eagle Inn, Salford. One Sided Horse and Misharlo support (details below).
