Preview: Norwich full gig guide February 8-14

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

Norwich Arts Centre, February 8

Manchester-based indie art-rock four-piece Everything Everything return on the back of generally positive reviews for Arc, their long-awaited follow-up to 2010's Mercury Prize-nominated debut Man Alive.

Again mixing brains and brawn the alt-pop outfit's latest offering has the same electro sensibilities as their debut but with a more complex maths-rock structuring.

Opening track Cough Cough, previously released as a single last year, is a sweeping indie-tech delight with passionate hooks and a surprisingly attractive hip hop influence.

Formed in 2007, the band members actually originate from Tynedale, Kent and Guernsey, but they reside in Manchester. Both singer/guitarist Jonathan Higgs and bassist Jeremy Pritchard have degrees in Popular Music which they obtained while studying at Salford University.

Their first single Suffragette Suffragette came out in 2008 on XL Recordings and came to more general attention part of the BBC's Sound of 2010. Their debut album, produced by David Kosten and released through Geffen Records, debuted at No. 17.

Although it's not as attention grabbing, you wouldn't bet against their follow-up bagging another Mercury nomination while it has already pushed the band up a level.

This is probably the last time you'll catch them in a venue as intimate as the Arts Centre, should you be lucky enough to have bagged yourself a ticket.

t Further listening: www.everything-everything.co.uk

KERRANG! TOUR

UEA, February 8

Always a hugely anticipated date on every metal fan's calendar, this year's Kerrang! Tour offers up another eye-splintering line-up featuring headliners Black Veil Brides, Michigan-based outfit Chiodos, who recently announced their reunited line-up, Sydney-based five-piece Tonight Alive and Kerrang! best British newcomer nominees Fearless Vampire Killers.

Following the success of the 2012 tour, which featured New Found Glory, The Blackout, Letlive and While She Sleeps, the 2013 vintage includes some of this year's most talked about and hotly tipped bands, which is just as it should be.

James McMahon, Kerrang! Editor, said: 'It wasn't hard to pick the bill. We just listened to our readers. Between Black Veil Brides and Fearless Vampire Killers, that's 50% of our mailbag on any given week. Chiodos feature Craig Owens and if I had a pound for every time someone asked Kerrang! for a Craig Owens poster, I'd have more than enough money.'

Kier Kemp, of Fearless Vampire Killers; said: 'I blew my lid when I found out we were gonna be on the Kerrang! Tour! If I was going to pick a dream line up for a tour, I probably would have picked this one – it's got everything that I could ever want and that our fans would really want. You've got bands that go really well with each other and you've Tonight Alive tucked in there to make things a little bit exciting. We can't wait!'

t Further listening: www.kerrang.com

FRIGHTENED RABBIT

Waterfront, February 8

Surprisingly given their name, Scottish quartet Frightened Rabbit — made up of Scott Hutchinson (vocals/guitar), Billy Kennedy (guitar/bass), Andy Monaghan (guitar), Grant Hutchinson (drums) and Gordon Skene (guitar/keyboards) — play robust, slightly folk-toned indie-pop.

The FatCat-signed quartet, who name 'racquet sports and diseases' as their major influences, arrive in Norwich as part of their biggest headline tour to date and are sure to be heavily featuring tracks from their recently released fourth album, Pedestrian Verse, produced by Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborator Leo Abrahams.

It's already been a busy 12 months for the band. In September, the band released their EP State Hospital, which gained a flurry of positive reviews and radio airplay. They also embarked on an America headline tour as well as supporting fellow Scots Biffy Clyro.

Combining the best bits of fellow countrymen Aereogramme's later work - atmospheric, evocative indie rock - with the pop sensibilities of a post-Infinity Land Biffy Clyro, the Selkirk quintet manage to turn heartbroken, pessimistic subject matter into a comforting, reassuring friend telling you that it's normal to feel this awful.

Support comes from Washington Irving and Wintersleep and Canadian indie rock quintet, whose latest (fifth) album 'Hello Hum' is currently doing the rounds.

t Further listening: www.frightenedrabbit.com/

THE BRONX

Waterfront, February 14

For the better part of a decade, quintet The Bronx — who confusingly hailed from Los Angeles rather than New York — have played provocateurs. From their beginnings as an attack-mode hardcore band to their hardscrabble lives as road warriors to the twist of fate that led to their alter ego Mariachi El Bronx — an episode that itself was an act of defiance — the band has embraced a fierce independence. They arrive at the Waterfront as part of a UK tour to coincide with the release of their fourth album, their first in a decade.

'This represents the highest evolution of the band, which is exactly how it should be,' said vocalist Matt Caughthran of the album fans inevitably will come to know as The Bronx (IV). 'We're the same guys, but we would never make the same record twice. And because of everything that's happened with El Bronx, we've grown as musicians. And that's why on this record you'll hear that the songs are driving everything.'

The Bronx burst on the scene in 2002 with music that recalled the heyday of LA punk — artillery-fire guitars and percussion punctuating anguished missives about the perils of street life and the frayed edges of society. Now the band (Caughthran, guitarists Joby J. Ford and Ken Horne, bassist Brad Magers and drummer Jorma Vik) frames its aggression in more sophisticated ways.

'We made an effort to trim the fat and focus the ideas a lot more,' Ford explains. 'It helped that we're working in our own studio, with our friend (producer/engineer) Beau Burchell, and that we know what we want to do and how to get there very quickly.'

t Further listening: www.thebronxxx.com

SOUNDS IN THE CITY

FEBRUARY 8

Everything Everything (indie) — Arts Centre

Kerrang! Tour: feat. Black Veil Brides + Chiodos + Tonight Alive + Fearless Vampire Killers (metal) — UEA

Frightened Rabbit + Washington Irving + Wintersleep (indie) — Waterfront

Super Action Heroes + Enigma (rock) — Brickmakers

Think Floyd (rock/tribute) — Maddermarket

The Foolish (rock) — Blueberry

Salute To Kareem (rock/tribute) — King Edward VII

Banjaxeld (soul/blues/funk) — Silver Road Cottage

Dynamite Horton (rockabilly) — Walnut Tree Shades

Len Black & The Playboys (jazz) — Hog In Armour

Voodoo Boogie (ska/soul/funk) — Bedfords

Eagle Burner (punk/charity) — The Stanley

Murphy's Lore (roots) — Brewery Tap

Norwich Folk Club: feat. Poacher — Christ Church Centre

Danny & The Seniors (rock'n'roll) — Fiveways

Claire & Josie (duo/pop/soul) — Taverham Silver Fox

Rich Pickins — Rose Inn

FEBRUARY 9

Funeral For A Friend (rock) — Waterfront

Ms Dynamite (hip hop/soul) — Wonderland

Emma Hall Band (soul/pop/funk) — Brickmakers

— B2

The Troggs (pop/rock) — Maddermarket

GI Sounds (rock) — King Edward VII

Replica (rock) — Blueberry

Audio Junkies (pop/rock) — Walnut Tree Shades

Gravy Presents: Bloody Knees + There's Someone In The Pond + Rawshank (indie/rock) — Olives

Dan Hinds + Chairman Of The Bored + Psychotronic Man (punk/indie) — The Stanley

Play The Music: feat. Andy Kirkham + Leanne Croft + David Welfare (acoustic/1pm) — Arts Centre

ABC Blues Brothers Band (soul) — Quebec

Polaris (pop/rock) — Heath House

Killer Tomatoes (punk) — Old Catton Maids Head

Johnny Jump Band (country/blues) — Golden Star

Revolves — Sprowston Social Club

Clive Paul — Gas Social Club

Stepback (rock'n'roll) — Arkwrights

Lenny T — Spixworth Social Club

Steve Moyse — Angel Gardens

Susan Jane — Keir Hardie Hall

Janey K — Robin Hood

Kevin Barnes — The Champion

FEBRUARY 10

Little Feat + Tom Fuller Band (Americana) — UEA

High On Fire + Jumping Jack (rock) — Waterfront

The Planks (soul/blues/3.30pm) — Brewery Tap

The Vagaband (Americana/5pm) — Silver Road Cottage

Lee Vasey Big Band (12pm) — Brickmakers

Folk Club (acoustic) — Lounge

FEBRUARY 11

Ethan Johns + Marika Hackman (indie/folk) — Arts Centre

Modestep + Document One (pop/rock) — Waterfront

Jazz Jam: feat. Rich Buddie — Walnut Tree Shades

Jazz Jam: feat. Brendan Young + Lee Vasey + Ian Hireson + Mark Jolley (jazz) — Silver Road Cottage

Brickie Session (open mic) — Brickmakers

FEBRUARY 12

Robin Guthie Trio + Mark Gardener (indie/pop) — Arts Centre

Gabby Young & Other Animals (folk/jazz) — Bicycle Shop

Outathablues (blues) — Brickmakers

Screamdontwhisper (indie/rock) — B2

Phab Club: feat. The Wymondham Warblers (pop) — Vauxhall Centre

Jam Night — Rumsey Wells

FEBRUARY 13

Pure Love + Turbogeist + The Vestals (indie/rock) — Norwich Arts Centre

Pure Acoustic (open mic) — Brickmakers

Traditional Irish — Gatehouse

Open Mic — Garden House

FEBRUARY 14

The Bronx (hardcore/rock) — Waterfront

Twee Off: feat. Veronica Falls (indie) — Arts Centre

About Them Shoes (rock/pop) — Brickmakers

Madaz + Twisted Piglet + Feeding Norman (rock) — B2

Ghostriders Western Club: feat. MT Allan (country) — TA Centre

Keno Kings (blues) — Walnut Tree Shades

Open Jam — King Edward VII

Open Mic — Lounge