The Squirrel, Coventry 29/9/9 - Review

With it being freshers week our hopes were high of a packed pub. Alas, it was not to be. By the time we went on, the place had around 30 or so bodies inside. A short 20 minute set was all we could handle after Jonathan was ill. The guys who put the night on are the most down to earth genuine guys we've met since doing the whole acoustic thing. Hopefully as they continue to promote the night and the students start to spend their loans, it will become a hot spot, but for now, it's just lukewarm.

Part one of our Coventry trilogy over, part two starts at bar Fifty Four (aka student Union) on Saturday with the finale at Eden Bar next Tuesday.

M

The Big Blue Coffee Co, Derby 25/09/09 - Review

Last night saw us taking a trip to Derby to play at the Big Blue Coffee Bar. We got there and saw a familiar site of an empty venue. Met the promoter who was a nice chap and settled in our seats hoping the bar would fill up. By the time we hit the stage a couple of tables had filled but still it was what you would call quite.

We played really well as far as I could hear. Nailed most of the vocals and guitar work and put as much power and effort in as you can when playing to a small gathering.

We left the venue with a few email addresses and an album sale so we can’t complain.

The next few gigs are all around Coventry and it is Freshers week so we are looking forward to those.

J

Mansun? Oasis? Falco?

Pretty much at every gig and interview we do we get asked "so who are your influences?". I remember when I was younger and dreaming about getting asked this question and replying with a really long list of avant garde, indie and obscure acts. The reality is we simply answer with "Everything". And we really mean it too.
At the start it would have been Britpop and the whole Blur Vs Oasis thing with a little spattering of Sleeper, Menswear and The Bluetones amongst others, but from 99 onwards it goes a bit all over the place. Muse appeared and they gripped me tightly from the first single. Rockier, edgier and damn cooler than any baggy trousers and fringe ever were. Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and others brought the cheesy yet melodic Nu-metal, and Mansun, my one true love of the late 90's and early 00's arrived with Six, their second album that simply blew me away. From 01 through 06 I was treated to the rock/metal world through our house mate. Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera et al. all have found their music to me, whilst Jonathan was listening to Leanard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure.
Alongside all of this was the constant one hit wonders. Tatu, Neil Diamond, Dizzy Rascal and yes, Falco. We figured long ago that dispite the size of the act, the popularity or the coolness, if the song's got a great melody, we'll listen to it.
A few years ago I would not even touch a Rasmus CD as my musical snobery was ripe. Now though, after a dose of My Chemical Romance, I have found the joy regardless.

So take off those burbery caps and turn down your trance, remove the eyeliner and dog collers and learn to embrace something new. I did and I never looked back. So much more great music has been brought to my attention because of it.

It is literally everything and anything that has influenced us and to quote Mr Jonathan Coates "If it's got a good melody, we'll nick it".

Michael

A man with a plan

It’s scary that we are in the ‘bers’ (last quarter of the year) It doesn’t seem five minutes since we started recording YAYA and that was nearly a year ago now. This year has so far been a good one for us and although thoughts of Christmas have started to creep in (What to buy my girl and family and more importantly what do I want?) there are still three months left before 2010 commences and there is still work to be done.

The plan is basically to gig and do some more gigs whilst gigging. That’s actually the plan for 2010 also. We have 12 gigs booked so far before the new year and have some more on the cards. The idea is to step up the quality of gigs by booking into better venues and supporting more established acts.

That’s what’s going to happen on the surface. Behind the scenes we have our business caps firmly resting on our heads. Press packs have been produced and will be wangling over to people within the industry. The phrase “throw enough shit (bad choice of words to describe our music) at a fan ….” Comes to mind.

We have an idea floating around of how to thank everyone who has supported us this year. I can’t say much about it at the moment but all I will say is email us with your postal address and expect a little gift coming your way towards Xmas.

Speak soon

Jonathan
BR

PS everyone should watch Criminal Minds it is the greatest TV show ever.
Also take a listen to the new Muse album it is so Cheesy but addictive.

A nice day trip

Gig last night was at the Adam and Eve in Birmingham. We set off around 7.50, with the soundcheck penciled in for 7.30-8.00 We got there around 8.30 with an old guy rambling at the bar and a 'classy-bird' barmaid straight out of Only Fools and Horses. The promoter(!?) then approached us and told us one band had turned up and left as there was no one there and that another was yet to turn up. Asking whether we'd like to stay or go, we decided for the latter, thankfully, it was like we'd dodged a bullet. We had one token drink then left with the wee beady eyes of the locals fixed to the back of our heads. Rearranging this one is not really top of our 'to-do' list. An hour and a half round trip which I could have spent at home watching The West Wing (which is awesome).

Same again next Thursday in Derby?

M

Corner House, Cambridge 13/09/09 - Review

Cambridge, Sunday Night, Hungover, 174 miles round trip. All these things added up to a pretty daunting thought come 5pm, still feeling slightly wobbly from the night before. We left Nuneaton around 6 and quickly settled into the rhythm of the drive by discussing the future of the band. It's looking bright, but finding a way on the next rung of the ladder is the next hurdle. The hour and a half drive swiftly past and we arrived at the small pub around 7.45. They had some kick ass large dogs just lying in the pub which made it feel homely. As I suspected, Sunday night was low on numbers, 8 I counted, up until 2 minutes before we went on when 15 more came through the door. We sorted a set but had to drop 2 songs as only had to play for 20 minutes. Was it going to be worth 174 miles round trip for 20 minutes. Well, yes actually.
4 originals and a cover later we came off stage with the student crowd cheering for more. An album sold and a load of email addresses added to our ever growing fan base (the lure of free fridge magnets seemed like the lure of pollen to a bee for our student folk) we exited the building for the trip back.
Talk of the future, Christmas songs and TV shows ended our adventure and we returned agreeing that gigs further afield would yield something worthwhile, if we put the effort in.

YAYA Review from 'Off Beat' Leicester Music Zine

"As many of the East Midlands' music fans will have I have been fortunate enough to see a few Barricades Rise gigs and have been blown away every time by the talent and energy this Nuneaton based acoustic duo show, not to mention how much noise these two can make, often during live shows you could believe there’s five or six people on the stage. Due to this when I received Barricades Rise's new album in the post I was concerned as to how this phenomenal live show could be translated onto record. The transition has proved to be no challenge to this band, the energy they bring to their stage performance streams out of You and Your Adored with the same startling aplomb. Track to track the band show a class and style that is unheard of in unsigned bands, their style takes clear and heavy influence from 80s power ballads but with a modern and cheeseless twist that makes their music anything but dated. Content wise You and Your Adored could be described as a break up album, a pain album, but a story told through anger and intensity, a combination I much prefer to the tears and moaning approach taken by most to such a theme. Stand out tracks from the album for me begin with Aftermath, an eerie, powerful song of pain and loss soundtracked by the boys' trademark vocal harmonies and heavy guitars accompanied by subtle percussion. Next is Sleepwalker, a different sounding track, the verses flirt with reggae rhythms and beautifully executed off-beat vocal lines before breaking cataclysmically into a stunningly epic chorus-line. But for me the top song on this album is Messages, flying straight into a deep, dark guitar line the screaming vocal kicks in with a ferocity that few can create, I am also fairly sure, although not completely, that this song boasts a kazoo line and if it does it is the eeriest kazoo line I have ever heard, either way it adds an additional lyer to an already outrageously powerful song. With it's drops, rises and indescribably angry vocals Messages already found it's way into my head and shows no sign of leaving. I have had four albums to review this issue, two from bands who have been signed, created a following and should be creating high class music, another was from a young acoustic unsigned two-piece from Nuneaton. You and Your Adored blew them out of the water. The best way to describe this album is thus, we have been playing it at Off-Beat HQ for a while, we have had arguments about our favourite song, we all find ourselves singing several of them as we work and the lyrics to various tracks from the album have been facebook statuses for more than one member of Off-Beat staff, you don't listen to this album, you experience it."

Review By Andrew Mills for Off Beat Zine - www.myspace.com/offbeatleicester
Off beat can be found throughout Leicester in shops that support Local Music

The Pheonix - Coventry - 07/09/09 - Review

We have played the Phoenix a few times in the lastcouple of years and it has been a strange venue for us. Sometimes you come away feeling it was a waste of a night because you played to the promoter and his dog and other times you come away buzzing from a packed out room. Coventry’s Emma McGann (check her stuff out) hosts the Monday night sessions and the last one we played earlier in the year was packed. This time however the numbers were low mainly due to the lack of students at this time of year. This said she had realised this and moved the event from the large upstairs room to the downstairs bar, which is small and cosy.


We watched the usual gathering of open micers and were blown away by a couple of chaps from Cov (didn’t catch their band name) who played a couple of originals and covers. All their songs made us take a step back and we got chatting to them for a while afterwards. Turns out they run a few acoustic nights themselves around Cov and after hearing us we exchanged details and promised to do some gigs.


We played quite an energetic set considering the numbers and sold a few albums and took a few emails so all was well and good.


Came home a little to late, woke this morning feeling like the worlds tiredest man and want to go back to bed.

Get Barricades Rise on your desktop

Now on www.barricadesrise.co.uk you can download two different windows desktop images. Take a look and have us smiling (ok not smiling) at you everytime you log on. - See here

Brasenose Arms, Croprody - 30/8/9 - review

It was the second time in three weeks we visited our southern county neighbours, albeit the first time was at the Croprody Festival. We turned up not knowing weather to expect a hundred or so people or just a man and his dog. It turned out to be around 10 people and their dog. Playing on the back of a truck was a new one for us, the wind and whispy rain moulding the sound into different shapes depending on where you stood. By the time we came on (we were on first, 1pm) we looked out and to my surprise noticed that there did seem to be around 100 people, with more turning up by the minute. An hour set started off ok, got better, then worse, then better and by the end had the majority of the crowd on our side with cheers and sing-a-longs. It's difficult to go on a festival crowd but by the time we finished, there were around 200 people there with eyes on us. The shout of encore from them really took me by surpise but with most of our back catalogue already played, we unfortunatley had to leave the stage.
From the moment we left the stage a few people came up and grabbed our album off us (yes it's now available from www.barricadesrise.co.uk) and for the next half an hour sold a load more from people who loved it.
The real ale circuit seems to be the crowd that really enjoyes what we do, so expect us to play a lot more real ale pubs in the future.