Discover Top Posts Tagged with #the artrix

Radio Rothingham #108: Medias lies and slanders

“ In this episode of Radio Rothingham, virtue signalling, why employees don't get all the profits, mainstream media doesn't understand Doki Doki Literature Club, blames it for a suicude and confuses it for another game, Milo Yiannopoulos blamed for shooting at media outlet, and the EU delayed article 13, the system WORKS! “

#Radio Rothingham #theartrix #the artrix #Iconoclasts

Radio Rothingham #101: The tutorial episode

“ In this episode of Radio Rothingham, it's 420 day, a new revolutionary way to transport gas, Will It Blend?, smartphones, AMD to release a new series of Ryzen CPUs, gingers will take over the world, lots of drama going on at Channel Awesome and basically everyone left, and Bully Hunters was a smashing success that absolutely no one mocked for being a cringe-fest. “

#Radio Rothingham #the artrix #theartrix #Cartoon network #infinity train

art by The Artrix

#TheArtrix #The Artrix #Doki Doki Literature Club #Overwatch

Ruby Turner Live @ The Artrix, Bromsgrove

Ruby Turner, the ‘house’, vocalist for Jools Holland and his big band, proved her popularity with her many admirers, with a full house at the Artrix, no more than 10 miles from Birmingham where her roots are intertwined with her Jamaican early years. An impressive, CV, and voice made for Blues, Soul and Gospel, have brought Ruby a huge following, here she was, touring with her band, on her home ‘patch’, it was going to be good.

The lights were dimmed as Ruby joined her band on stage, her warm, powerful voice, bringing a hush to the audience. She’s soon warming to the task, ‘Its Got To Be Done’, brings a soulful swagger, and a ripple of movement across the seated auditorium, as bodies moved with the music. The show destined to be a pick of Ruby’s songs from her many albums that span her career. A lovely, spiritual, ‘Master Plan’, flowed softly out, before a song was plucked from her new album, the band setting up the rhythm, for, ‘A Better Way’.The tempo lifts for the upbeat dance infused, ‘I’m Serious’, some nice guitar riffs dropped in over the excellent piano roll and driving drums. Ruby tells how some of the recording for that release, was done at home in the kitchen, before a deep bass pulse announces the beautiful, impassioned, title track, ‘Love Was Here’, showcasing Ruby’s wonderful rich timbre, perfect to keep you feeling warm in a chilly wind. A break was brought with the emphatic theme music, ‘Stay With Me Baby’, which gave Ruby a big chart hit back in the mid ‘90’s, a full power soul ballad that can bring tears to the eye, Ruby delivered it with a passion and energy reminiscent of an Etta James, phew, time for a beer.

The band are back on stage, Nick Marland on guitar, David Guest, cradling his bass, Simon Moore rolling out the rhythm on his full drumset, and leading with a lovely piano intro, A l MacSween, is king of the keyboards.

Ruby steps back in, ‘That’s My Desire’, wraps you in to its cosy warmth, as you drift around a ballroom. The jazz edged blues of, ‘Blow Top Blues’, it has the lovely swing of the 50’s era, Al is at the keys again, Nick adds honey rich guitar notes. Dropping to a lower scale, Ruby finds a voice of rich dark chocolate, for tasty soulful blues of ‘Runaway’, run, run, run, the clock is ticking, but the spellbound audience are assured the, ‘Time Of Your Life’, but the best is yet to come, as Ruby Turner, turns to a classic that gave her a massive hit, a reworking of the fabulous Ellington Jordan/Etta James, ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, a perennial favourite of any discerning music lover, Ruby pours in the emotion for her closing song. She bares her soul as the band drop away, before the gutsy, expressive close. Of course its not the end, a standing ovation and thunderous hand clapping, foot stamping, demand for more, will bring the result.

The band comes back in, Ruby is in spiritual mood, Al is adding some lovely reed bending harp, as she invites all to get on aboard, ‘This Train’, as it moves off down the track. Nick lets fly on guitar, Al is still in there, David’s bass rumbles away, before Simon has his thrash across the skins, before Ruby fuels the ride all the way to the end of the line. A brilliant ticket to ride.

The packed house, filed out to take opportunity of taking home a signed copy of Love Was Here, and say hello to the wonderful Ruby Turner, who has delivered her music, interspersed with some personal insights, humour and chat, where the singing voice gives way to her Birmingham roots. A sparkling evening, at the Artrix.

Words & Photos Graham Munn

#livereview #ruby turner #the artrix #bromsgrove

Erja Lyytinen Live @ The Artrix, Bromsgrove

Erja Lyytinen, Slides into the The Artrix, Bromsgrove

The Finnish guitarist Erja Lyytinen, and her band closed its UK tour at the Artrix Theatre in Bromsgrove with a flourish. On bass was Tatu Back, keys, Juna Kuoppola, and hidden behind semi translucent acrylic shields, Liro Laitinen. Obscured behind shields He may have been, but you could feel his presence.

Supporting Erja, was blues veteran Mike Francis, who delivered his traditional style on 12 string guitar, and kick drum, building a wall of sound, looping riffs, to produce a rich sound that filled the auditorium.

A short but tasty set ranging from, ‘5 wishes’, through to the punchy rant of, ‘Blinded At The Bistro’, proved the perfect aperitif for an appreciative crowd.

Erja is about to launch her latest studio album on the Tuohi label, much of which was going to be aired over the evening, but with her back catalogue of releases, there’s no shortage of material. Launching into, ‘Lovers Novels’, Lyytinen, lifted her sparkling blue and chrome guitar, her slide firmly in hand, as the band burst into the full on rock opener. Erja is renowned for her slide style, slicker than the Cresta Run, and almost as exciting! Juno sat behind his Hammond and Nord flight decks, a Lesley cab with its rotating horns, throwing out its organic frieze for Erja to decorate. We rolled through the seas of a funky, Black Ocean’, before landing on one of her new songs, ‘Hard As Stone’, lovely melodic rock, with that slide working hard, as the petite Erja moved around the stage.

A gorgeous moody, blues rhythm, pulsed out, from Tatu and Liro, Erja’s fingers were busy, picking her way across taught strings. A superb song, her soulful voice cutting through the heady atmosphere of the Artrix, the Hammond floating clear.

Racked up are sparkling blue and pink guitars, alongside a pearlescent axe, Erja working her way through all, as the smoke machines puffed out there misty veil. A freshly grown, ‘Cherry Overdrive’, burned its way down the road, slipping into an ethereal cruise, before roaring back home. We stayed with the new album, rattling toward a frenetic, ‘Wedding Day’, slipping through the space oddity of, ‘Another World’, the title track that searches for a new home amongst the planets, survival is the fuel. Switching into a dirty rock groove, brilliant, venomous, ‘Snake In The Grass’, hissed and spat from the stage, before sinking its fangs into the groove.

As ever, time is relatively relentless, Erja launched into a blues medley, ripping off licks of Muddy, and Mississippi John Hurt, before, ‘Walking The Blues’ of Robert Johnson. ‘Rocking Chair’, distinctly more rocking than sitting, cranks up the pressure, Liro, has his moment, and takes us into rolling thunderous heavens with an explosive stretched solo, with the band returning to stage for a blistering finish, or should that be Finnish?

It had been a while since I last saw Erja Lyytinen, too long, she is a stupendous live artist, who totally engages with her fans, whilst like her striking glittering guitars, dazzling us with magical slide and riffs, delivering a blend of blues, and prog rock, that comes from well crafted songs and classic roots.

Words & Photos Graham Munn

Another World Is The Title Track Of Erja Lyytinen’s Forthcoming Album, Out 26th April

#livereview #the artrix #bromsgrove #erja lyytinen

Radio Rothingham #114: At least it's not Peroni

“ In this episode of Radio Rothingham, Peroni is Italia's main brand of beer and incredibly bland and mediocre, recap of Artrixcon 2018 in Italy, food named after its place of origin, Artrix tries the KFC Double Down, the Swan Pretzel Burger, MS Paint memes to bypass the EU meme-ban, EU parliament doesn't even know what it votes on, SanyaWaffles discovers that you don't want your political affiliation to be your entire personal identity as one of her former friends broke off their friendship over her not toeing the line of identity politics enough, and the new Spiderman vidya not progressive enough because in that game you help the police do its job. “

#Radio Rothingham #theartrix #the artrix #A Hat In Time

Radio Rothingham #114: At least it's not Peroni

#radio rothingham #theartrix #the artrix #art stream #podcast #A Hat in Time #Italy #beer #food #KFC #EU #Article 13 #article 11 #liberal #liberals #SJW #feminism #feminist #Marvel #Spiderman #Spider-Man

Chantel McGregor Live @ The Artrix, Bromsgrove

Seems to have been far too much water under the proverbial bridge, since I last caught up with Chantel, possible Gloucester, over 3 years ago, so when she returned to the Artrix, I had to go along. In that time, Chantel has of coarse had a second album release, ‘Lose Control’ and much of that album sourced the material for this gig.

Dressed in black, with her white Music Man guitar, slung comfortably across her, I had visions of the first album cover of Black Sabbath in mind, and indeed, much of the music had dark roots, with, arguably, elements of Sabbath genetically engineered with essence of Nirvana.

Accompanying Chantel on stage was bassist Colin Sutton, sporting 4 and 5 string weapons, producing the menacing rumbling bass line behind a curtain of hair. Drums were being attacked with venom by Ollie Goss, taking brief diversions to reposition his glasses, as a direct result of the shock-waves that fed back up into his shoulders.

The dark rich taste of, ‘Take The Power’, captured our minds and drew us into Chantel’s web, strong vocals, punctuated by testing the strings of her Music Man. We slid into a vortex of rock for ‘Killing Time’, as Chantel luxuriated on her newly acquired, expansive rug, before her bare feet took her beyond onto the cool stage floor, ripping off riffs like a bus conductors ticket machine.

A swap to her Stratocaster, brought raw, chopped chords, to find me, ‘Caught Out’, of place, as eased in closer to the apron. The searing heat and dusty bones of ‘Your Fever’, cut through the air brilliantly, flaying us with windswept gritty guitar. But then, something magical, drifted in, a beautiful, Jeff Buckley inspired, ‘Eternal Dream’. Ollie touching the cymbals added colour over the ethereal opening guitar chords, his soft mallets, caressing the, skins, Colin laid down a featherbed bass, as Chantel built over their foundations, absolutely superb. The explosive drumming and thunderous bass brought the ‘Fabulous’ Chantel to take us to a break on a high rolling, rock, note.

Chantel has a penchant for a little acoustic session, before bursting fully into a second set, ‘Anaesthetise’ was the perfect fix, a cloud of poetry stepping across the guitar strings, whilst revealing the quality of her voice.

The acoustic took us on a journey of slow steaming blues, as the band rejoined for a haunting, lovely, ‘Inconsolable’, Chantel changing back to electric as the song built, and stretched. The ‘Southern Belle’ tolled high on hedonistic deep South, before plunging into the dark swampy waters of, ‘I’m No Good For You’.

Without doubt, it had been far too long since seeing Chantel McGregor live, killer guitar riffs, lovely vocals, great support from Ollie and Colin, and a cosy rug. BUT, what really makes a difference, is her ability to connect, she invites the audience into her world of Bradford, curry’s, chips, and a wonderful sense of fun, with her travails ‘on the road’.

My only regret, which I cannot fathom, is I did not pick up a copy of Lose Control, plainly a stupid oversight!

On Tour, Dates

Greystones, Sheffield Sept 14

The Courthouse, (solo acoustic) Otley Sept 15

Face Bar, Reading Sept 17

Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis Sept 18

The Acorn, Penzance Sept 19

Pheonix, Exeter Sept 20

The Wharf, Tavistock Sept 21

Hard Rock Cafe, Glasgow Sept 28

Cafe Drummond, Aberdeen Sept 29

Bannermans, Edinburgh Sept 30