Words by Bob Brazill It could seem to a visiting outsider that the current music scene in Leeds is oversaturated with indie bands, their uniforms consisting of pastel trousers, floppy hair, dubious facial adornments and rolled up woollen hats. To be fair, some of these bands are pretty good and have served the local music scene well. We do, however, have a plethora of fantastic underground DIY rock bands that continue to create music teeming with social importance. Rothschild

Words by Abi Whistance Purple Thread have returned to their usual form after the curveball of I’m All About You earlier this year, and whilst Back To NYC is not quite as exhilarating, it’s still rather difficult to be disappointed. With all the fashion and the fuzz of the seventies, the glitter-infused four-piece aren’t one to shy away from angst and a bit of a gimmick. Back To NYC is a nice get-together of all the glam-rock tropes you can get your hands on, packaged nicely i

Words by Abi Whistance and Late Night Legacy The end of the year is nigh, and we thought you'd love to hear some of your favourite Leeds artists get down to the nitty gritty of 2019. In that very spirit, we caught up with Leeds alt-rockers Late Night Legacy to chat all about their top music picks of this year. Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind Ryan Kitto: This was one of the most anticipated albums of the year for me, Unsainted got me so excited and then the release of the Solw

Words by Merc Rowe Cheaply Bought, Expensively Sold​ is the most recent noisy, overdriven, and relentlessly upbeat offering from Declan Welsh and The Decadent West. DIY, lo-fi sounding indie rock is arguably one of the most painfully oversaturated genres on the independent scene at the minute. It’s no surprise that overrated and overplayed artists such as The Arctic Monkeys would spawn an army of copycats with their near identical powerchord driven songs about some girl that

Words by Abi Whistance Releasing a record on Halloween is a dangerous card to pull as a fledgling band, with the potential to loiter into gimmick zone increasing tenfold with a track named Freaky Friday. VENUS, nevertheless, have been bold enough to do so. Yet despite all signs pointing south, don’t jump to conclusions on this one. This isn’t Trading Places or Sliding Doors, there’s no strange alternate reality at play. This is simply the third instalment in VENUS’s catalogue

Words by Matthew Wilson The first thing that Blame does is grab your attention with just how goddamn good it sounds. The new single by Leeds alt-rockers Late Night Legacy leaps out of your speakers with crisp, dense and layered production that would let this song neatly slip in between any other banger on Radio 1. Rob Orange’s guitar has that same classic John Frusciante twang; a thick soupy, hard hitting funk rock riff, the kind of tone that can’t be replicated by anything o

Rothschild @ The Key Club on the 12th October 2019. Shot by Apertunes.

Words by Mark Wakeman Leeds-based three piece Everyday People have hit the perfect summer soul groove, albeit in autumn, with their new single Small Islands. The song is a perfect showcase for lead singer Maeve Florsheim's sweet and sultry vocals, possessing the ability to take you back to those lazy carefree days we all are stuck reminiscing upon. The band are also impressively tight musically; both Jasper on keyboards/organ and Euan on guitars add their own little flourishe

Words by Abi Whistance After the release of their debut EP Sedative this year, Artio have let those around them know that they’re not here to play games. For them this is no time to loiter, their recent success propelling shows and a further ripple of singles we’re yet to meet face to face. This Friday, we see Artio as the cynic. Hide Them From Me illuminates a far darker side to the band; menacing synths sound jagged and violent, the rise and fall of the song bringing forth

Words by Ruby Judge This is a song to nick trolleys to. An anthem for northern lads who want to mosh to a band that gets them, Fudge. have taken a confident swing at indie-rock and produced a cacophony of riffs, chants and crashes. You can tell straight off the bat what you’re getting- no faffing around, straight into the bangers. It’s the kind of track you can imagine would be played in a TV show's teen-rebellion montage, close up shots of screaming faces and destruction. I

Words by Merc Rowe Brooders’ most recent single ​Mindfield ​is pure noise in the most perfect way. The self described “psych-grunge” trio are the epitome of their genre with distorted, stomping riffs and raw, stylistically imperfect vocals; both of which feel suited to the thriving live music scene that they will no doubt make their mark on. One of the strongest aspects of ​Mindfield ​is the way this solid foundation of powerful, overdriven noise intertwines with the subtly h

Words by Ross Carley When The Sherlocks first surfaced in 2017 with their debut album Live for the Moment, they saw instant appraisal and success with soaring hits Will You Be There?, Chasing Shadows and the album title track Live for the Moment. They set themselves up as the new faces on the block to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen with impressive vocals and driving guitar riffs. But with a successful first album almost always comes a seemin

Words by Abi Whistance Not all funk gives you that raw, unfiltered ‘funk feeling’. That kind of sneer that creeps across your face when you hear a real groove, the jutting of your head backwards and forwards and the insistent foot-stomp to a beat so unshakeable it might just remain in your head forever. Blue Kubricks give you that all too familiar funk feeling. On tape it’s not the same, their newfound blues only rearing its head on track Pleasure; rough around the edges yet

Words by Matthew Wilson Revolutions and revelations aren’t birthed fully formed. They ferment and simmer away; in subcultures, in the back rooms, in basement venues hidden out of sight from passersby until the sound and the fury reaches a critical mass, boiling over and scouring everything in its path. Just as most revolutions begin unassumingly, so does this evening, when local Leeds punks Milk Crimes take to the stage. Possessing an upbeat hybridisation of punk and pop in t

Tranqua Lite @ Oporto on the 8th September 2019. Shot by Apertunes.

Words by Merc Rowe Hideaway is the debut single from Leeds-based pop-rockers Central Arcade, and while the song itself is exactly what you would expect from such a band it lays the groundwork for an undeniably talented group. The first thirty seconds of Hideaway are enough to prove that they know exactly what they’re doing; opening with a killer, catchy lead and following up with a solid vocal performance is an expert formula for a debut single. The upbeat tone, ear worm lead

Words by Will Wolstenholme The prospect of reviewing their latest album, Powers, was one accompanied by apprehension, and led me to choose to ignore all the band’s previous material, and most context other than the 2019 indie-guitar world it enters into. Mind sufficiently open I clicked play, and immediately discover that my instincts appear to have served me well. Thick-set bass and drums establish a firm grip with Jekyll; a watery glass of squash from Them Crooked Vultures

Lucas Watt @ Oporto on 31st July 2019. Shot by Apertunes.

Words by Bob Brazill I approached Modern Day Dukes having never heard any of their music previously and with a totally open mind. I was drawn to a dirty, operatic opening track; a late 70’s off Broadway production that nobody knew was cool until they realised the important and subversive nature of the thing much later. Then, Nine Inch Nails with cheerleaders, a metric crap ton of bass fuzz and off we go on a journey into oblivion. Perhaps showing my age, the last act I can re

Words by Abi Whistance Tranqua Lite were, and always will be, the kids in music who had a little too much fun on the FX keyboard. Years have gone by, skills advanced and tastes refined, but throw the lot of them in a room with a midi and, well, watch them tinker away. New track I Need One Leg For Balance shows us both the phenomenal capability of the band, but equally at times their incapability to know when to say no to the synthesiser. As expected, there’s a loveable nature