Dear Clash Music Readership,
There’s only one ‘M’ we want to be musing over in March, and that’s music.
March will see the coming of Peace to the UK. They were already here, hiding away in Birmingham and occasionally venturing out to London but this upcoming March tour is their true time to shine. They carefully crept into the collective conscious of the music media with their breakthrough song ‘Bblood’ (their deliberate typo, not mine!). Everyone seems to be in agreement that its bbloody good! However, the upcoming 19 dates of this tour will be prime time for them to prove that they aren’t one hit one wonders. Of course we are still waiting on the coming of world-peace, but until then, its Peace all round. Their debut single drops in April, but that’s a story for another time.
Birmingham’s fixation with strapping on a guitar and giving it some doesn’t end with Peace. The Bombergs are another gang of guitar-wielders channelling self-expression through strings. What’s more is, they’ve only gone and started their own club night! Fierce People is their monthly gift to the city that raised them. Featuring tantalizing talent from all over Birmingham and beyond, the Fierce People stage has already been a temporary home for the likes of Furrow, Drool and Horrorshow. The Bombergs host and then hammer it home each night with a headline set. These nights are not to be missed; they will be inscribed in the tapestries of Birmingham’s culture.
The high point of music coming to Birmingham that doesn’t have a native affinity with the city has to be the arrival of Summer Camp on 14th March at The Rainbow. To sum up Summer Camp would be to shout the word ‘pop’ with as much enthusiasm as humanly possible. But I’m sure that’s not the only thing that fans will be shouting at them during their gig. I know I’ll be asking Elizabeth Sankey to marry me whilst trying to look Jeremy Warmsley in the eyes. Fixers are on support duty with their less obvious take on what the ears of the world have come to know as pop. This will be the night where some sounds from London combine with some sounds from Oxford to entertain Birmingham, beautiful.
Forget the boys; it’s the blues that are back in town with The Mighty Young building up a buzz in Birmingham around their brand of blue tinted garage-rock. They are blowing the dust off the dictionary of rock’n’roll traditions and starting at ‘B’. Keep your peepers peeled for these keepers. That’s an order!
No month is complete without Troumaca being extremely busy. They have managed to fit some generosity into their busy schedule with the arrival of ‘The Gems’ E.P. You can wrap your ears around it and take it home for nothing! And as I write this, I am imagining what illustrative imagery they are coming up with for their next video offering, the follow up to the psychedelic video for ‘Fire’.
Come and visit Birmingham, if not for the place itself, for the music! Until then, I shall keep writing to you with nuggets of encouragement.
P.S The Arcadian Kicks will be bringing the Birmingham vibe to Brick Lane in London on the 2nd March at 93 Feet East. Sob! They grow up so fast!
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Words By Jack Parker
