Paddy Steer is a Zelig-like character along the timeline of Manchester’s musical activity. It’s a testament to his musicality that he has played with such a wide range of music and artists over the years, be it as a bass player, drummer, Hawaiian guitarist etc. or all these roles at the same time.
In rejection of the notion of ‘immaculate reproduction’, live performances from Paddy’s own project err more daringly and admirably on the frontier of chaotic abstraction, expression and focussed blunder, dice rolling down the hill in case of duende, as from behind his stacked array of instruments, the anarchically intrepid punk gargles through a vocoder with his xylophone, all a-clatter under disco lights and doilies.
He creates his tools, as he creates his craft, here from scratch, there from new, ever from long-garnered experience that includes running the massive ensemble Homelife, years hence. In style he is unique on the circuit that knows him, on which similarly his blinkered resolve and capacity to create must be unparalleled.
This has been reduced down over a long period of time, and applied coat by coat with subtle mastery, for richness, depth, and vivid texture, as if it were some magnificent curry, or a samurai sword. Lounge, romp, deep groove, homely and galactic-expedition whimsy, furry electronic invention, it feels akin to playing and winning a computer game made from reality, to hear.
“sounds like a Swiss cuckoo clock made of egg boxes and horsehair, glued together by an African Moog player in a Vietnamese iron monger’s shop”. (Graham Massey)
PILL FANGS:
Fuzzy British garage rock four piece led by Dan Haywood, described by Record Collector Magazine as ''the best songwriter you've probably never heard of'', Pill Fangs is celebrating the release of its fourth album 'PF7', which was recently featured in Louder Than War's Top 100 albums of 2023. With a record collection heavy on the Vs; (Voidoids, Ventures and Velvet Underground - but not Vangelis), Pill Fangs play heady sets taking in break-neck boogies, feedback threnodies and Black Country doo-wop, all loaded with with Dan's unique lyrical bombs.
This explosive band has opened for Damo Suzuki, Mekons, Undertones, BC Camplight and more.
''This is a band stretching itself beyond its initial premise and creating a vision of its own. What sets them apart is that they have their very own wordsmith to match the greats they so admire''. LOUDER THAN WAR
TERO KULERO:
Four piece psych rock outfit from Preston, Tero Kulero mixes sludgy riffs, cosmic drones and pulsing synth lines, stew it all up in a big, bubbling pot of reverb and then serve it out to all and sundry.
