Voytek The Bear » Gig Dates

Rampage @ Sound Control | 05/03/2010 | Voytek the Bear, Cyril Snear, Gallops!

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:20:21 +0000

Voytek the Bear will be playing Manchester’s latest venue Sound Control on Friday 5th March.

Rock and Jack Daniels go hand in hand right? Well we’ve got the killer of all rock nights and a lovely sponsor from our friend Mr Jack Daniels.

Tickets are £6, although if you are one of the lucky pups with a flyer it’ll be £5.

8.00 – 2.00

And like we touched on, JACK DANIELS will be mega cheap all night, good god.

It’s about time Manchester had something new to let loose too, let’s smash it.

CYRIL SNEAR

Manchester’s Cyril Snear officially released their debut album ‘Fluent In Seven Types of Monotone’, in April 2009, through the band’s own label, Weatherface Records.

Originally from Wales, Cyril Snear moved and based themselves in Manchester back in 2007. Early boundary pushing recordings and formidable live shows resulted in them quickly becoming favourites on the Manchester music scene. Their hard-working and DIY ethic resulted in their stunning, self-recorded and self-produced album being highly regarded throughout the underground scene in Manchester and beyond.

‘This is a band seemingly unconstrained by adherence to any one genre. Cyril Snear manage something you don’t see very often – a truly individual sound which is absorbingly magnificent’ (ManchesterMusic.co.uk)

‘Weighty without being heavy-handed and intelligent without being preachy, Cyril Snear make absorbing indie rock as capable of firing the synapses as it is of thrilling the heart. They are startling, sparkling and never ever dull – and who could want more from a band than that?”’ (Chris Long BBC Radio Manchester)

‘Cyril Snear are out to mess with your head, make no mistake about that! But there is also a commitment to tickle your soul and remind you that you have one and that it is, in fact, attached to a capacity for free will’ (BBC Introducing)

GALLOPS

Gallops are impossible to sum up in a soundbite. Their music is too fresh, compulsive and inventive. It’s cyborg soul music.

ADAM WALTON – BBC RADIO WALES

Post-rock, it appears, is alive and well, and living in Wales. A packed Kaz Bar sees a muscular set by Wrexham’s Gallops, who successfully channel the riff-heavy, Oxes-style breed of post-rock, rather than Mogwai’s snowflake prettiness/sonic maelstrom template. Fat, Sabbath-esque riffs underpinned with grooving drum patterns and smattered with laptop electronica; it’s post-rock for the head and the heart, and a very promising start to the festival.

BEATRWTZ.COM

The town’s silver lining has emerged: digital math-rockers Gallops, who have inherited more than horsey wordplay from their successful precursors. While they’ve harnessed the jerky propulsion of Foals, the riffs-as-rhythm of Pivot and the synthy tomfoolery so beloved of Battles, it’s all built on a bedrock of post-rock and they’re not afraid to unleash guitars as heavy as, say, Russian Circles.

NME.COM

“Gallops; an instrumental four piece from Wrexham sounding like the four horses of the apocalypse, listening to God Speed you Black Emperor! Exclamation mark and all. ”

LOUD AND QUIET

“It’s not just their equine referencing moniker that Wrexham’s Gallops share with a band like Foals. A shared love of sonic experimenters Battles, Don Caballerro and Pivot is hugely apparent. Yet their sound is all their own. In the disorientating surroundings of a wine bar their furious, raw, motorised computer-led crank-rock proves extremely potent.”

BBC NEWSBEAT

“If Wrexham seemed like the last place to find complex math-rock leanings, then that’s because it is, making a group like Gallops all the more special and exciting. Marrying drums, guitars, sequencers, keyboards and general ‘noise’ this four piece play the sort of techno-glitchy rock synonymous with Pivot. This builds on songs like ‘Crutches’ on a dynamism akin to Foals, multiplying note patterns into an explosion of intense guitar work becoming almost a twisted club banger. Disparate layers of obsessive lilting melodies intelligently fused-Wrexham your time is now.”

SWN FESTIVAL 08

VOYTEK THE BEAR

mcr:music
Cath Aubergine
“…unlike most bands who cite such an eclectic influence list – often as a badge of how cool they are – Voytek the Bear do actually appear to have absorbed all that and more.”

“…pleasingly abrasive punk-funk indie”

Megan Vaughan
“…the soundtrack to heaps of bedraggled revellers falling asleep amongst beer cans and roaches, while a few of the remaining hardcore sit around the bonfire’s embers, nodding their heads”

Beat Promotions
“…Alternative space-jazz ambient dub cock teases.”

Rob of EFTM
“Shrink-wrapped geniuses”

Tickets are £6, although if you are one of the lucky pups with a flyer it’ll be £5.

And like we touched on, JACK DANIELS will be mega cheap all night, good god.

It’s about time Manchester had something new to let loose too, let’s smash it.

Review: Zun Zun Egui, Arficeden, Electric Free Time Machine, Voytek the Bear

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:46:35 +0000

Dingo Barracks have provided a great evening once again. The promoter that claims to specialise in Rock, Electronica and Experimental not only kept to its word, but in excellent fashion.
Manchester’s Voytek the Bear kicked things off with their Gomez/ Primus/ Coral/ Police sound.
Hard to define to but easy to dance along to, which the crowd agreed with. With music based on dub, jazz and blues rudiments, Voytek the Bear cannot be described as any one of those styles, but manage to harness their own sound with the driving Drum & Bass sections; courtesy of John Callaghan and Pete Robinson respectively. Vocalist Dan Merryweather (not to be mistaken with the Australian pop star Daniel Merriweather) ties together the rhythm of the 7 song set with a mix of ska/ rock and almost Arabic guitar patterns. Last but not least is Trumpeter Dave Leonard who provides the lead sections for most the songs whilst picking up his axe to add to the heavy; QOTSA inspired, crowd pleaser ‘Ike’.
Voytek, whilst playing a very engaging set, were uncharacteristically anxious during the opening song; with a subtle rabbit in headlight look, but this in no way affected the quality of the emanating music which left the even the most heavy footed of the crowd moving their feet.
Having just self-recorded their new E.P; Bear Tunes, Voytek the Bear will be distributing copies on their (soon to be arranged) UK tour.

Voytek the Bear | Pete

Next on were Kendal’s Finest, Arficeden, and damn they were fine.
A great reviewer once said about this trio “This is how it’s done, watch and learn”. Very true, but almost impossible to do. The song-writing of these chaps is flawless and only matched by their musical technical ability.

Danny & Med | Arficeden

On Bass and Guitar are Stu Metcalf and Paul ‘Med’ Metcalf (no relation) with Dan Payne on drums.
With a sound reminiscent of Hella, they blew the crowd away with Stu’s inch-perfect bass lines, Med’s deliciously catchy riffs and the strobing blur that was Dan’s arms. It’s fair to say that although the night was full of simply genius musical moments, Arficeden’s final song ‘Football’ was the highlight of the night. With a room full of people staring in amazement, banging their heads to the throbbing beat, or trying to valiantly re-enact one of the instruments with eyes closed tight, the atmosphere was absolutely electric.
Catch them in London on the 4th and 5th February or at any one of their many other shows throughout 2010.

Local heroes Electric Free Time Machine were given the task of following all of the above. And in the words of Bruce ‘eerily ageless’ Forsyth; Didn’t they do well!’
The band that most of the punters came to see, Electric Free Time Machine are 4 piece Harv, Dave, Simon and Rob (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that 8 people were on stage). With watertight changes in time signatures and the swapping of instruments between Harv and Simon, their Primus/Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart sound is both unpredictable and addictive.

Electric Free Time Machine

Any new comer to an Electric Free Time Machine set may have been left bewildered by nutty lyrics and, at times, downright odd song structures, which suggest much of the material came from the wee hours of a morning in a practise room far away. This is to their credit as it is at these times that true innovation happens and leaves at least 50% of each set they play sounding brand spanking new.
Electric Free Time Machine’s are performing up and down the country. The next opportunity to catch this amazing band will be on the 27th February at Doncaster’s Vintage Rock Bar.

Zun Zun Egui ended the night in fantastic fashion.
Hailing from Japan/Mauritius/South-West England, Zun Zun Egui sound like the result of a dance-off between De Facto, Battles and Paul Simon. Their set started as it was meant to carry on and did not let the crowd relax for an instant. If the almost carnival rhythm, underpinned by a rather sinister complexity, almost excruciating in its subtlety, did not have every single appendage in the room being moved by its owner then the crowd were sucked up into delightful washes of sound that sceptics might describe as akin the dreaded jazz odyssey.

Zun Zun Egui

The singer/guitarist is a gem of a man to watch and the rest of the band exude a very infectious enjoyment of the music they are playing. Zun Zun Egui are worth watching at any time of year, any time of day and in any weather. They are playing various dates around the country including The Deaf Institute on the 4th of February.

Many thanks to the sound engineer for a flawless experience and also to Howard Hill for his fantastic photography.

23/01/2010- Yorkshire House- Lancaster. Zun Zun Egui, Electric Free Time Machine, Voytek the Bear, Arficeden.

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:36:55 +0000

We’re kicking off 2010 with a show at Lancaster’s Yorkshire House and the bitter sweet truth is that this may be the most enjoyable gig we’ll ever have.

We’re playing alongside the hotly tipped, Japanese/Bristolian outfit; Zun Zun Egui, Lancaster’s Frank Zappa/Primus /Boneyard Blues fiends; Electric Free Time Machine and Kendal Math Rock gods; Arficeden.

Dingo Barracks Promotions will be hosting the eclectic night and with dates running up to August, they are clearly proving themselves to be the people to pay attention to.

This evening kicks off at 7:30pm and entrance fee is £5

Saturday 23rd January 2010

The Yorkshire House
2 Parliament Street, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 1DB
01524 64679‎

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