The Sound Theory all hail from Derby and released their first single We Had All The Love several months ago but it is only now that we review this debut-many apologies for the delay guys. A quick scan on facebook shows they have only played a few gigs so far but the single is a mature sound and shows a good level of musicianship. A powerful sound that will appeal to anyone who likes power ballads and a traditional rock/indie sound, with a patient build up in the development of the song that usually comes from a much more mature band. They consist of Anna on vocals and acoustic guitar, Amir on bass, Ben on drums, Ragnar on lead guitar and Tomek on electric guitar. A great debut sound and they promise to release an ep shortly which we will keep eager ears and eyes open for-Good Luck Guys!

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Bassey

Well gang, after literal decades, twenty years to be exact, they’ve finally figured it out. A life time of doctors appointments, psychiatrists, teachers, councillors and even parts of my own family all telling me I’m wrong and mentally unstable, that I need to get over myself and man up. Failed friendships and relationships, years of torment from school bullies. For years I thought it was my fault and I was just a freak. Well now I’m telling all of them to go fuck themselves. I had a 5 and a half hour assessment today and I’ve had a diagnosis for autism. Now I have an answer. After an entire life of self hatred and pain. I have something to tell me that it’s not my fault I’m this way. That I’m not the freak I’ve been made out to be my whole life. I in-fact have a genuine disability. And now I know that I can relax and be myself rather than try to hide and pretend to be normal. I finally have a reason and an answer for who I am. I finally will be able to sleep at night knowing that all those fuckers were wrong and I am not the problem they made me out to be. I am me and that is a great thing. Now when I struggle I can explain it. That gives me a sense of power over my disability and will in time, allow me to master it. Thank you to those who’ve supported me. Fuck you to those who’ve destroyed me. I’m building myself back up. This snowflakes a fucking avalanche and I refuse to be beaten.

Well at this point this band has probably forgotten they have asked me for a review, as I’ll be honest, it’s been a while. To be totally honest I’ve been very busy having just started university and I was already backed up with posts for several weeks. But even through all that I never forgot folk punk duo The Spirits. Wonderfully charming, brilliantly atmospheric for just a two-piece band and seemingly very lovely from the brief email conversation I had with them some months ago. It’s hard to believe they have less than fifty likes on their Facebook page, please do go show them some love and tell them Oscar sent you, I’m sure they will appreciate it and I know I certainly would

. Based in north London, the pair have played many gigs on the capital’s indie circuit with the lovely Stevie on guitar and the brilliant Vanessa on percussion, mainly the cajon for the live performances but with some excellent additions to the rhythmic elements on the more produced tracks, my favourite of which being the upbeat and catchy Far from Livid London which is interesting in both its message and musical content.

Starting and with the sound of various birdsongs and calls and with a simple but strong guitar pattern being the main attraction alongside the emotive vocals from Stevie. While for my untrained ear it is hard to determine exactly what the other instrument is beyond the main beat, guitar line and vocals they certainly add to the track. Though perhaps it could be turned up slightly, I think it may be an organ but its really hard to distinguish. The title and lyrics of track also display an interesting contempt for London that I wouldn’t expect from a London based band, perhaps there is a story behind that. Either way, a tantalising track from a powerful pair. The band has a sway of more highly produced tracks all over their SoundCloud but most if not all of them are also available on their website and Facebook page in a live format. I’m sure all of my lovely readers would appreciate at least a single tune from The Spirits, but I’m confident many of you will fall in love with many of these simply superb songs. 

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

Barnsley, South Yorkshire has a burning star called Toronto Blessings and for a 3 piece band they manage to make more noise than all the Super Reds Barnsley Football fans put together. I’m not sure what the connection is with Canada and why they decided to refer to Toronto in their name but Barnsley should be proud that they owned them first. The members are Dale Evans-Guitar/Vocals, Rik Whitehead-Vocals/Bass, Richard Murray-Drums/Vocals and they all share in making as much noise as possible.

This 7 track album starts straight off with Hopes/Dreams and hard, driving bass and drums, compulsive guitar and vocals that are barely in control. I’m showing my age here but track 1 at times reminded me of the legendary Killing Joke’s song Wardance. I loved it at 2 mins 32 secs when the bass gets really nasty. I’d never heard of this band before but after that first track I went straight on their facebook page and ‘liked’ them……you should too.

Track 2 Uvu has a guitar sound that just makes my teeth itch…..lovely stuff, I’m still finding it hard to believe that this is just a 3 piece band! I can hear Idles and if ever the Sleaford Mods decide to use guitar, bass and drums then I’m sure they would sound like this, in fact Toronto Blessings should have the aka Sleaford Idles name to help wannabe fans understand their sound (in my humble opinion).

Track 3 Good News Everybody is patient and only at around 1 min 30 secs do they reveal the money notes that make this a great number. The songs are coming fast and furious now with Survival Techniques and Invasions although the latter track is relatively calmer compared to the others by Toronto Blessings’ highly charged standards and then suddenly track 6 No Falling at just 1 min 9 secs long shows a different side to the band and perhaps a style they will come back to on another recording-slow, disturbing, more thoughtful and experimental and a style I’d personally love the guys to develop into future songs.

The album ends with track 7 Asleep, the longest song at 5 mins 41 secs and has elements of all the other songs which leaves you wanting more from this Barnsley star called Toronto Blessings. My burning question now is …….where can I see them play?

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Bassey

This post is from a brand new addition to the Cowbell Crew, the wonderful Bassey Easton, welcome aboard my friend and I hope you all enjoy his content,

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

Evening all, its two in the morning, otherwise known as my optimal creative period, so I figured it’s time to get some writing done. Today I would like to give you my take on the creative process, looking at both my experiences with creativity and my own recommendations for devising your own ideas and creations. Now I’ve already mentioned that late nights such as this one is a good time to write for me, being both a creative and mild insomniac allow my brain to get inspired at the time when I should probably be getting some rest. However, the answer to creativity is not simply staying up late dear reader, no, definitely not.

 You see to get your own unique ideas you first have to look at the ideas of others that you have watched, heard and read. All ideas are just made up of a lifetime of other people’s ideas. You start to find out what you like and don’t like, what attracts you to a piece of work could be anything. Developing a sense of artistic vision is key to finding your own personal style. Once you have found something you really enjoy, I suggest looking deeper into the subject. Could there be an interview with the artist? Is there a funny story in the history of the book? Is there a documentary on the creation of the film? Chances are you’ll find a concept you hadn’t considered before. Pretty much every piece of creative work in existence happened because the person who made it was already a fan of so many other creatives. So, go to gigs and galleries, read novels and newspapers, pay attention to films and fan culture for every bit of inspiration you can get your hands on. I’ll include a list of things that inspire me at the end of this post.

Once you have an idea, don’t dilly dally, get cracking! Procrastination is truly a curse I am familiar with, made all the worse by the fact that it’s usually self-inflicted. But it can be overcome! Develop the self-discipline to get your shit together and have another try at your idea, if you’re truly stuck, perhaps have a break for half an hour or so and come back to it. I often find attempting things from a different angle after a break can make all the difference. Maybe you could look at other opinions on how to create something similar to what you are doing. Hell, this very blog post is massively inspired by/stolen from an Exurb1a video talking about writing. I’m sure with enough time and effort you will manage to create something, it may be crap, it may be a masterpiece, but it will be yours and it will exist and that’s a good thing. I also understand the nerves that come with releasing a piece of work. Sometimes you feel that it isn’t good enough and you have to keep working on it, but my advice is to learn when to let go. Self-doubt is part of the process and you should embrace it without letting it rule you. I often use my own anxieties to fuel the creative process. 

I’m also going to touch on reviewing your work, as it’s a key part of the process. The more people who see your work, the more feedback you are likely to receive. And whether that feedback comes in the form of screaming fans, angry haters or perhaps just constructive criticism, take all of it together, don’t let it go to your head but see what the running themes are that people respond to and work with that. Ask a fellow creative in your field or even a friend to have a look at what you’ve done and ask them to be honest. Try not to get upset if it isn’t as good as you hoped and try not to let your ego go out of control if people say it’s the best thing they’ve ever read, honestly chance is they are lying to you but even if they aren’t, over confidence has been the downfall of many a creative.

Remember, these things will take time, be it hours, days, weeks, months or even years. All great work takes a lot of time and a lot of polishing. Even the Sex Pistols had to take time to learn how to write a decent song and perform their work. Greatness doesn’t come from nothing. But eventually, no matter how difficult it is, if you truly put emotion, time and energy into your project it will be done and will most likely turn out okay at the very least, but even if it’s not, that’s still a good thing as you would have learned so much along the way. Keep pushing, keep fighting, it will work out in the end.

Inspirational things I like

Exurb1a: Thoughts about writing

The Smiths: Bigmouth strikes again

BBC: Music for Misfits the Story of Indie

The Cure: A forest

BBC: The joy of the guitar riff

Escapist: Zero Punctuation

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

At a traffic light.

No one in sight.

Not one soul, not one thing.

My anxiety riddled brain: “what if the government has invented invisible cars to patrol the roads in order to control the masses and stop us from j walking?”

Decided to add a bit of pseudo poetry into the mix, hope you enjoy,

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Lost Remnants, a band that originally formed in the late eighties and in the past couple of years have reunited. Last year they released their debut album Talking to Myself Again and after being rather impressed with the CD they so kindly sent me I’ve finally gotten around to writing this. Talking to Myself Again is an interesting record for sure. The mixing of influences creates a unique style unheard in the modern music scene. Tracks like A Big Issue verge on being something the late great Ric Ocasek would write for The Cars in the late seventies. Considering when the band formed originally it’s no wonder the new wave influences clear on this absolute tune. Then you’ve got the more relaxed folk songs such as Homefires which are in stark contrast to the heavily produced No Hope Goes There. I particularly enjoy the intro to this track. The layers of vocals really create an atmosphere. It’s really hard to pinpoint exactly where this album comes from, as there is such a variety of styles on display here. From rock to indie to folk, all listeners can get something they enjoy from this record.

All the musicians playing on this record are clearly top of the class, from the haunting vocal to the dynamic guitar work and behind it all you’ve got that steady bass and drums holding it all together. However, my favourite piece of instrumentation featured on this brilliant record is that beautiful organ and keys playing. It really brings out that seventies vibe that some of these tracks have and is the standout performance on this entire record. The addition of horns on a few songs is also appreciated.

It’s absolutely brilliant that bands from as far back from the late eighties are still getting together to jam without much in the way of fame or money as an incentive. The love of music is clear in this band and on this record. I wish Lost Remnants all the luck in the world and I will wait with bated breath for the follow up to this amazing album. Talking To Myself Again can be found on Spotify as well as in physical form. Check out Lost Remnants on Facebook for more details.

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

I wanted to take a moment to express my love and appreciation for one of my favourite bands. Idles. Their energy, their positivity mixed with rage, their brilliant songs and their amazing live show which blew me away when I saw them in Nottingham last year. But there’s something special about Idles. You get many bands with great energy, epic live shows and brilliant songs. But it is the sense of community centred around five shouty blokes from Bristol which is unique in both its unlikeliness and positive attitude. Sure, Talbot’s lyrics scream love and unity, along with his trademark anger, but it’s the members of the A.F. Gang who show such care for both one another and the band that make this group so special and close-knit. I remember when my elderly French bulldog, Boodles was very ill. I was certain It was her last night with us on this mortal plane and as we decided at the vets the next day, it indeed was. I reached out to the gang for support to get me through the night as I was up with her until my family woke up in the morning. Through tears and sickness, Boodles and I found comfort in the other members of the family that is the gang. Hundreds of likes and comments from people I’d never spoken to before. The kindness of others got me and, I like to believe, Boodles through the night. Every single day the kindness of close strangers supports both myself and so many others. I’m always seeing posts from people who have lost someone, who are trying to get over addiction or are simply having a tough day. And for every one of these posts there are tenfold A.F Gangers expressing genuine care, love, unity and sharing their own experiences. There are the positive posts as well, from memes to gig photos which brighten my day every single morning when I open Facebook.

The point is my readers, the A.F. Gang is so pure and genuine, so wonderfully human that I have to share the love with you. Though I am indeed terrified that the more people brought into the A.F Gang we might lose what makes us so close. But to share the happiness these people have brought me? It’s worth it. At time of writing there is 23,176 of us. Long may we continue. All is Love is our motto. We will not go gently.

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

Sometimes there are days when people can’t get out of bed. These are days where life is hell and you feel like there’s no point to anything. Productivity goes to zero and you just sit there, almost stunned. You do anything to block out the pain, listen to music, watch tv, play video games. But when the video buffers or the music dies down or you simply pause the game to go to the bathroom you remember all the self hatred, the doubt, the memories of every mistake you’ve ever made coming back to haunt you. It hurts so much but you don’t even have the energy to cry. Crying would be good. It would be the release, the big explosion that you are waiting for that will tire you out and allow you to sleep. Then tomorrow you can start again. But until that happens, if it happens at all, you just sit and wait. You get angry at yourself because you can’t function. You haven’t had a shower, you’ve eaten a load of junk food and your room is a mess. You had plans for today, You’re so angry at not being productive that you’re writing your feelings down to post online just to think I’ve done something today. Tomorrow You’ll probably delete it out of shame that you allowed yourself to be so open. Constantly angry at yourself, the world and whatever cruel thing put you in this position. But the worst part is you don’t even know how you got like this. Is it simply yourself? Are you being a drama queen? Are you lazy? The doctors say you have a condition but is that really the truth? Perhaps it’s all in your head? The fear of the unknown gets to you. You pray to gods you don’t believe in just in case they help. But they won’t. You suffer in silence. Too afraid to reach out to a friend in case it’s some sort of social faux pas. Even if you manage to speak to someone how do you open yourself up like that? How do you explain articulately how you feel when you don’t even know yourself. They might ask you why you feel this way but you can’t explain. Is this feeling going to last an hour? A week? A year? You haven’t the faintest idea. You’ve been through this before. You survived but you don’t quite know how. You are doing what you did then. Sit there. Eventually it passes you know this. But as much as you want to sleep you fear tomorrow. Because you are scared that you will still be this way. Because you know it will come back again if not tomorrow then when? This haunting thing that follows you everywhere that you don’t even understand. The day gets longer and longer. You are both exhausted and unable to sleep. You feel like you’ve been awake for days and perhaps you have been. You don’t remember. You question everything. No matter what you do it will affect you. You are vulnerable in this state and you have to force yourself to not do anything stupid. To not message your abusive ex because you still think they can protect you in some weird fucked up way. To not shout and scream at your mother who’s just come to check if you’re okay. Simply the act of defying the overwhelming urge to hurt yourself takes everything you have and you don’t always succeed. You might think thoughts of death but you are too much of a coward to actually do it. For some reason that makes you hate yourself more. You know that if you were in your right mind you could dispel those thoughts. You know deep down that it is strength not cowardice that stops you from ending it but you can’t think that right now. All you know is this numbing sensation that’s both nothingness and agony.

This is mental health. This is one of those days. But you will get through it. You’ll get up tomorrow or in a week or in a month and you will move on. It may come back but you will beat it then too. You won’t give in because you are strong. You are powerful and you will not let this force defeat you. You will look at the people around you and think they will never understand but they will. Everyone has or will go through hardship. Maybe not exactly like yours. We are all different. But you can bond through your pain and become stronger than ever. You can teach those others who have their own struggles how you deal with yours and perhaps it will help. Perhaps not. But you can listen and offer words of encouragement and even then they might not listen. Not at first. But if even the slightest bit of positivity can get through to them then it will ease their burden. Don’t put yourself at risk to help your friends that isn’t good for you and if they are true friends then they won’t want you to do that. But if you can use what you learn on days like this to listen and if they ask for it, help. Show them that they are not alone. And when the next day comes where you once again can’t get out of bed. When the world feels like it’s over. Perhaps they will remember your kindness and help you in turn. But if they don’t? You will still get through it. You are strong. You are powerful. You will not be defeated.

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar

For this post I want to do something a little different. I was recently put in contact with The Idealistics, a Cambridge based indie/punk three piece who, while also having kick ass music, have a member (the wonderful Ali Hirsz) who suffers with a series of rare disabilities, in particular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I wanted to get an insight into what it was like being in a band with such a debilitating disability, to both bring awareness to Ali’s struggles with EDS and support the band. So I set up an interview and I’d like to share with you what Idealistics have to say both about their music and EDS.

For my readers who aren’t aware, can you tell us a little bit about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome?

Ali: it’s a genetic condition that is connective tissue disorder. I’m being queried with which kind of EDS I’ve got but a few of my doctors are almost certain it’s arthrochalasia EDS. EDS affects people in different ways but for me I dislocate and subluxate (partially dislocate) all of my joints, and I usually get three dislocations a day. I bruise really easily, have fragile skin so scar easily and have abnormal scarring. I’ve also have 3 other syndromes related to EDS, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome which is an autonomic nervous system disorder so I get dizzy very easily, have heart palpatations and have blood pressure issues. A big symptom that impacts my life alongside the dislocations and chronic pain is the fact that my digestive system rejects food. Doctors aren’t quite sure why and they haven’t really got a proper cure so I was fed with feeding tubes that went into my digestive system. When that didn’t work they decided to put a feeding tube that sits in my arm and goes to my heart and I feed that way now, which is called parental nutrition.

How does that effect you both as an individual and as a musician in a band?

Ali: in some ways it’s not too bad, I’ve got a lot of support from family but if I walk down the street or go to the shop, people stare and some people pull their children away. I heard one lady say to someone else ‘I didn’t know they let people like that out’. In the music industry, it completely halted our career as I was told we couldn’t play gigs because I’d ‘deter’ a crowd. People think I’m too sick and I can’t put the time and effort in and they hate the look of the tube coming out my arm. People say it’s disgusting but it’s part of me, so they’re calling me disgusting. It’s keeping me alive and I fail to see what’s disgusting about that. Other artists have told me to keep quiet about my disability but why should I?

How did Idealistics start?

Ali: I was introduced to George through a Manic Street Preachers fangroup, I watched his videos of him doing guitar covers and I got in touch with him, he asked if I played bass and if I’d he interested in joining his band, I jumped at the chance! We had a few changes in our direction, mainly maturing as people and when we struggled to find a drummer who would support our views my sister, Dom, offered to learn drums. She’s been learning for a while now and it’s been going really well. We’re very close knit.

Dom: I’d say the band started with me trying to play a prank on Ali by adding George as a friend on Facebook on her behalf, which ultimately ended up in them forming a band and begging me to learn drums. Eventually I gave in and it was an amazing decision I wouldn’t have made without them.

George: Ali saw my YouTube channel and pushed her way into the band. Luckily for me she could write better lyrics and sing better than me so it wasn’t all bad. She also had no issue making phone calls which you wouldn’t get me doing. I’d also like to add, Dom’s reluctance to join was reduced greatly when I agreed to be her drum teacher for free. Like all good teachers, the extent of my tuition was making her buy a book and read it herself. She picked it up too quickly for me to know how to go about teaching.

How do the rest of the band feel about Ali’s condition?

Dom: Obviously we want to support Ali in every way we can! We don’t experience any of the pain or stigma she does, so all we can do is check on her, make sure she we keep things as accessible as possible for her and lift up her voice. Also putting back dislocated arms and legs from time to time.

George: luckily, we’re a very close group and we’re usually able to tell when she’s feeling particularly sore or if she’s in any more pain than usual. Being aware of that really helps. Having to eat her share of our dinner is a nice perk too.

What’s next for Idealistics?

Ali: we are releasing an EP and hope to be able to give a push with that, it’s got some personal songs on there about my experiences in hospital. We really want to get back on stage and we’re hoping to do a few gigs after the EP is released. Obviously we want to find a manager and get signed but that depends if we find people who are willing to support us and not treat me or the rest of the band badly.

George: we’re always writing new music, I’m definitely hoping to experiment with new sounds and instrumentation in the future. I’m looking for an excuse to shoehorn in Ali’s Phantom of the Opera-esque vocal abilities and Dom’s love of synths! We also have folders full of songs that are already written we’re just waiting for the right time to record them and play them live.

What would you say to anyone suffering with EDS who wants to get into music?

Ali: never ever listen to other people’s negativity. People will tell you to hide your disability, they will weaken you and they will say you have a ‘disease’. No. You don’t. Never accept that and never let anyone dictate your life or your achievements. Do what you can at your pace and don’t give up!

Truly inspiring words from Ali there and I give huge props to the rest of the band for being so supportive. It can’t be easy trying to make it as a band while going through such hardship. Despite Ali’s condition I am confident just from listening to them that they could go far. The blending of various influences, Ali’s haunting vocals and the excellent guitar work are all to be admired. Their music is awesome and if they can find the right label or manager, one willing to support them, who knows how successful they could be. I am a firm believer that through music anything is possible, even the most unlikely underdog can find themselves at the top. I truly wish Ali, George and Dom all the fame and fortune they absolutely deserve. Keep on rocking guys!

Peace, Love and Cowbells,

Oscar