No strangers to the city, Bombay Bicycle Club return to Norwich to having seemingly slowly kept towards the big time. Plus fretless guitar master Ed Evett, Sheffield indie stars The Crookes and the NME Radar Tour.
BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB
UEA, October 10
No strangers to the city — they headlined Norwich Puppet Theatre on one memorable occasion — Bombay Bicycle Club return to Norwich to having seemingly slowly kept towards the big time with release of their third album, A Different Kind Of Fix.
From the teenage indie kicks of their debut I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose, to the sparse, timeless folk of last summer's top 10 album acoustic Flaws, the quartet have made steady progress — it was notable they were topping festival stage bills this summer — and developed musically.
This return visit to the city is sold out so you'll have to wheel and deal or hope for an unlikely return ticket if you haven't got one already.
Ironically having taken a age to get it well known, lead guitarist Jamie MacColl admits the band don't actually like their name.
'We were only 14 when we got our first gig at school, and didn't even have a name,' he recalls. 'We used to walk past a Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant every day, so just went with that.
'When you're that age, you don't really think about it much, or that you're going to make it big and the name will be scrutinised. I'm sure we could have come up with something more exciting.'
t Further listening: www.bombaybicycleclubmusic.com
NED EVETT
Norwich Arts Centre, October 10
Ned Evett is one of the world's foremost fretless guitarists, creating music that both celebrates and transcends the novelty of his instrument. At age 11, Ned started playing ukelele, graduating to his first guitar at 15. At 16, he got his first classical guitar and gave his first professional performance as a guitarist. Around that time, Ned saw King Crimson Live in Japan, and was mesmerized by the fretless guitar wielded by Adrian Belew.
In 2003, he entered and won the North American Rock Guitar Competition, and a subsequent TV documentary, Driven To Play was shown in the US and Canada.
Following the film's premier, Ned began a series of tours with artists such as Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, George Thorogood, and Robert Cray. In the past year he has been on a world tour with Grammy nominated guitar god Joe Satriani.
Ned's five solo releases run the gamut from instrumental beauties to hard-rocking blues, and everything in between. His upcoming sixth solo album, Treehouse, is a 14 song diary of love, loss, redemption, and the future told in his mesmerizing voice, accompanied by Ned's trademark fretless mirrored glass and steel resonator, the 'Globro' and his glass-necked electrics.
t Further listening: www.nedevett.com
NME RADAR TOUR
Waterfront, October 13
Having previously featured the likes of Max�mo Park, La Roux and Friendly Fires, the four-band-bill NME Radar Tour has a track record of serving up the best new and innovative talent.
Enigmatic artist Wolf Gang — aka 24-year-old Max McElligott — headlines this year, and though far from unknown he will produce plenty of effortless and indelible pop grandeur. Having already caused a storm with his debut album, Suego Faults, Wolf Gang is also on the receiving end of favourable attention after supporting the likes of The Killers, Florence and the Machine and The Editor.
South East London-based post-punk group S.C.U.M are second on the bill. The band's vast range of genre interest - from pyschedelia to ambient soundtracks collide - to form a pop trio that neatly balances the innovative with what is rapturously danceable. Hailing from Sweden, Niki & The Dove is a new project featuring lead vocalist and songwriter Malin. Boasting a background in live bands, writing music for theatre is what provided the inspiration to form this new band.
Openers are DZ Deathrays, a thrash pop duo from Brisbane, Australia. The crazy rockers said they: 'started playing house parties, they'll will most likely end at one and this is the middle part.'
t Further listening: www.wolf-gang.co.uk
THE CROOKES
Norwich Arts Centre, October 13
The Crookes are four young Sheffield hopefuls whose mutual love of D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and Alan Sillitoe inform their kitchen-sink tales set against a backdrop of 50s rock'n' roll and 1980s indie.
Having formed at Sheffield's legendary Fuzz Club, they hoped their songs (not yet written) would one day inspire the giddy abandon they felt when listening to The Cure, Monochrome Set, The Shirelles, Elvis Presley and Aztec Camera.
Last year they recorded sessions for Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq on Radio 1, and as well as performing live with Sheffield's musical Godfather Richard Hawley on 6 Music. They also became the first unsigned band to play a session on Radio 4's Loose Ends.
Having released two sold-out singles, A Collier's Wife and Bloodshot Days (Heist or Hit), their Dreams of Another Day EP was released on the legendary Fierce Panda label last October and was followed by their debut album Chasing After Ghosts, which saw their charming tales of snuffboxes, broken tea cups and lovers sharing a gasper under gas-lit lamp posts set to a soundtrack of 1950s rock'n'roll, 60s girl groups and The Smiths.
t Further listening: www.thecrookes.co.uk
SOUNDS IN THE CITY
October 7
Oxjam 2011: feat. Addison's Uncle + more (indie/rock/acoustic) — Karma Kafe
Wombatwombat's Peel Day: feat. Victorian English Gentleman's Club (indie) — Arts Centre
Michael Chapman (folk) — Olives
Money Shot (rock) — Blueberry
Emma Hall Band (soul/funk) — Brickmakers
Norwich Folk Club: feat. Akabella (folk) — Christ Church Centre
The Stylotones (ska) — The Leopard
A13 Allstars (Americana/blues) — Brewery Tap
Rockin Johnnies (rock'n'roll) — Gatehouse
Graham McGrotty — Lakenham Cock
Rock'N'Roll Night — Walnut Tree Shades
Ricci — Perseverance
Elvis — Trowel & Hammer
October 8
The Barlights + more (indie/rock) — Waterfront
Hollow Earth (prog-rock) — Brickmakers
One Trick Pony Presents: feat. Electric Youth Revolt (indie/grunge) — B2
Flying South (rock/blues) — The Stanley
Honeydripper (rock/blues) — Trowel & Hammer
World's Apart (rock) — Walnut Tree Shades
Shannan — Bread & Cheese
What's Up — Arkwrights
Mark Anthony — Angel Gardens
Pat James — Wensum Community Centre
Rob Charles — Heath House
Vic Salter — Gatehouse
Tony Cann — Quebec Tavern
Sue Brooks — Royal British Legion
PJ — The Windmill
October 9
The Planks (blues/3pm) — Brewery Tap
Lee Vasey Big Band (12pm) — Brickmakers
Gordon James — Freedman
Barry Lee — Royal British Legion
Ian Larkins — Lakenham Cock
October 10
Bombay Bicycle Club (indie) — UEA
Brickie Sessions (open mic) — Brickmakers
Jazz N Jam: feat. Lee Vasey + more — Blueberry
October 11
The Horrors (indie) — Waterfront
Brickie Blues Club: feat. Electricity (blues) — Brickmakers
Planet Beet Presents (indie) — B2
October 12
Wishbone Ash (rock) — Waterfront
Sloan Wainwright (folk/pop) — Olives
Hessian Rose (metal/rock) — B2
Pure Acoustic (open mic) — Brickmakers
Rock 'N' Roll Jam — The Windmill
October 13
NME Radar Tour: feat Wolf Gang + more (indie/electronic) — Waterfront
Black Veil Brides (rock/metal) — UEA
The Crookes (indie) — Arts Centre
Quiet Stars Quartet (jazz) — Brewery Tap
Hearts & Souls (pop-punk) — B2
Ghostriders Western Club: feat. Stubby (country) — Royal British Legion
Pop Punk Showdown — Brickmakers
The Planks (blues) — Walnut Tree Shades
Johnny Jump Band (blues) — Micawbers
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