My Chemical Toilet’s roving review machine John-Scott Croly went to check out some up-and-comers on the latest Levi’s Ones To Watch Tour, so he did.

The band selector for the Levi’s OnesToWatch tour (for argument’s sake let’s call her Jean) is seemingly able to predict with unerring accuracy the bands that will be soundtracking our iPod commercials and adorning our NME-reading teenage relatives’ bedrooms walls twelve months down the line. Given the name and premise of the tour, this surely makes her very good at her job.

Of course I’m fully aware that in all likelihood each tour’s band roster is carefully selected by a team, nay, committee of achingly hip cultural Nostradamuses - but it’s fair to say that whoever these people are, they’re getting something right.

Previous acts to play on the Never-Ending Tour of Denim-Endorsed Musical Foresight™ have included White Lies, Passion Pit, Dananananaykroyd, Black Lips and The Temper Trap. And whether you care for these bands or not, their subsequent success is indie-sputable.

So it was with a curious ear I ventured down the steps of legendary Soho haunt The Borderline. I’d barely heard even whisperings about any of the bands on bill. A friend at the NME had only heard of one of them. Would this night’s show be a non-stop cavalcade of clever clairvoyance, or had Jean been headhunted by the Wrangler Corporation for their forthcoming ‘Next Big Thing’ tour? Well, chuffing well read on and you’ll find out.
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Sunday November 1st, 2009 at 5:00 pm

John-Scott Croly skipped along to Wimbledon’s Watershed to see Band Of Skulls (above) support some people called The London Punks t’other day week.

Hotly-tipped Southampton blues-rockers Band of Skulls were this show’s not-so-secret support act, squeezing in a quick one on their way back home for a well-earned weekend off. They blew the sweaty roof off the Watershed’s dank back room - not that any of the 20 or so glass-eyed punters noticed.

Without their own following, the trio had to make do with the headliners’ early crowd - a smattering of arm-folders and phone-fiddlers who steadfastly refused to be won over, seemingly out of some kind of fierce-yet-misguided loyalty to The London Punks.
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Sunday October 25th, 2009 at 5:27 pm

Jack Daniel, despite being dead, still gets to have a birthday. Or rather his “product”, Jack Daniel’s Tennesee Whiskey, does. That Jane Bradley went along to see Brett Anderson, Carl Barat and Jon McClure perform at a special bash t’other week, and this is what she thunkabourrit.

The Jack Daniel’s Birthday Set is an exclusive sort of affair. Tickets for it can’t be bought; it’s competitions winners and media only. There’s only capacity for four hundred in the Village Underground vaults, so you’d assume some elitism about the kind of riff-riff they let wangle their way in. Luckily for me, not so.

Every September, the folks at Jack Daniel’s organise shindigs like these to celebrate the birthday of the Tennessee whiskey wizard. The calibre of the “rock royalty” performing varies; previous celebrations have included Patti Smith, Juliette Lewis and Frank Black.

Apparently I was to be treated to an assortment of sterling musicians across a spectrum of genres, but as soon as I heard Carl Barât’s name being bandied about, I started to get suspicious…
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Saturday October 17th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

That Louise Doherty went along to see that rapper Example the other night. Here she talk:

I swore I’d never go to another Example gig after the last time, when the man himself called me an idiot.

I’m certain there are many things I’ve done which deserve that charming accolade, but going to a gig on my own because I’m a long-time proponent of Example’s particularly unique brand of dysfunctional electro pop - while my friends aren’t (yet) - is not one of them.

The incident filled me with fury and resentment: “But I forced my friends to watch your new video on TV! I made a special effort to tune into your hilarious Radio 1 interview! I bought your first album! I’ve seen you play THREE times! I follow you on Twitter, and I’m your Facebook Fan! Hell, I even find you strangely attractive!”

If anything, I should have got a shout-out at that gig for being a super-fan and helping to spread the Word of Example (that’s Elliott Gleave by the by, initials E.G. - geddit?).

(Readership, when I asked Louise if she wanted to go to this show I didn’t realise quite how much “baggage” was attached - Ed)

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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Tuesday September 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am

Last weekend I went to Paris for Rock en Seine festival, as one of the esteemed music bloggers invited along by the nice peoples behind Eurostar’s Little Break Big Difference campaign. In what is surely a record for My Chemical Toilet here is an account of the event, turned around in just ONE WEEK.
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Sunday September 6th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

While lesser other music blogs file a festival review as soon as the weekend on which it occurred has ended, My Chemical Toilet does things differently. There will always be people who claim that this review has only now been published because of an unshakeable laziness that plagues the site’s editor, but I think we know that those people are just HATERZ.

So, after cunningly bypassing the glut of Latitude reviews that stank up the internet like a dog fart a few weeks back, here is the definitive review of the event. It was texted through in installments by the diligent and dedicated Duncan Geere, who also writes about sprong configurations and downloadable bumware for top tech site Pocket-lint.

From the outset, Duncan was keen to show that no old duffer he. Check this pensioner-baiting update which he spat out before he’d even reached the festival:

Average age of people in coach station - 68. Average age of people carrying rucksacks: 23.

In other words - “I might be travelling on the same vehicle as you, Grandma, but I’m going to rock out while you’re complaining about your ankles. FUCK. YOU.”
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Tuesday August 18th, 2009 at 8:00 am

Paul Lamkin went and saw intense indie noiseniks The Twilight Sad last week at The Lexington in London’s trendy North London. Here he describes the experience through the medium of type:

Why aren’t The Twilight Sad famous? Why do other Scottish bands such as Glasvegas get to bask in the festival season limelight while their far superior countrymen struggle for recognition and resort to playing tiny venues such as The Lexington, as they did last night?

“Maybe it’s because I’m too ugly,” says James Graham, lead-singer of the band (professionally photographed, above), after the gig. “Or maybe we’re just too noisy.”
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Monday August 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

This is a guest spot by Laura Scott, who is from somewhere called Canada. Recently she went along to see a band called Moneen, who are from - hey! - Canada as well.

The other week I had the chance to check out Moneen at the Camden Barfly, as they headlined one of two UK shows before kicking off their week-long tour with Brand New. Despite the fact the show had been organised fairly last minute, with the band having to borrow equipment from opening act Lights. Action!, the Barfly was packed and Moneen delivered a solid performance.

Playing predominantly old material with a few new songs from their forthcoming album The World I Want to Leave Behind, they had the whole room singing along from the moment they stepped on stage.
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Monday July 13th, 2009 at 8:30 am

Wednesday’s Levi’s Ones To Watch show was, for me, an evening of counfounded expectations. I didn’t like what what I thought I might, and I really liked what I expected not to. More of that later though.

I had no expectations whatsoever regarding the first band of the night, Apples, because I didn’t know they existed. Now I can report that they are a jaunty little outfit full of ‘09-issue plaid shirts, shaggy side partings and post-Vampire Weekend rhythms.

Fewer African influences here though - if anything, you’d swear Apples have been taking cues from Alphabeat. Which is no bad thing in my book, but while I enjoyed their summery jangle-pop I did get the sense that if I was exposed to them on a regular basis familiarity would soon breed loathing. Perhaps that’s down to my low boredom threshold rather than their abilities as a band though, I dunno.

Apples ended their set with a saxophone making an unexpected appearance, which led nicely into Fanfarlo’s multi-instrumental approach. I spied a mandolin, a clarinet, a violin and a xylophone onstage at various points during their burst, but sry2say the band came off as considerably less than the sum of its parts.
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Sunday July 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

You thought I was going to ignore Glastonbury festival, didn’t you? Can’t really blame you for thinking that way really, since it began nearly a week ago and ended a few days back with nary a mention round these parts.

Ah, but you didn’t know I had another every expense spared “solution” up my sleeve. That’s right, in another demonstration of the 21st 20th century’s remarkable technological advances, I arranged for a dedicated festivalgoer to provide reglear text message updates from Glastonbury.

It sounds outlandish, but it is actually possible nowadays. All you need are a mobile telephone and a thumb, really. What will they think of next?

So, following the similarly comprehensive recent review of Download festival spotted at this domain, let’s see how Nick Fleetwood got on at Glasto this weekend.

For beginnings, regardez the giddy optimism of the British festival fan, pre-event:

Music might not start for a day and a half but i’m in a car to glasto. We’re eager and ready! It feels like evergreen forest before burt raccoon wakes up…

Bless! Sadly it took but one more text to wipe out such bushy-tailed… ness?
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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Wednesday July 1st, 2009 at 10:28 pm