Reviews: Gary Moore, The Yagas, The Velveteers, Bident (Matt Bladen)

Gary Moore - Gary Moore Live - From Baloise Session (Provogue Records)

Gary Moore is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, that's not opinion, it's fact, despite Rolling Stone leaving them off their 2023 list of Top 100 players, there are few guitarists who are as influential to rock and heavy metal. Of course Moore's first love is the blues, he shunned his heavy metal beginnings as member of Thin Lizzy and his early solo years to walk the same path of the bluesmen before him. 

Since his untimely passing in 2011 there has been a wealth of material released posthumously, most of it from live shows where Moore's passionate playing a Norn Irish fire was on full display. Baloise Session was recorded in 2008 in Basel, Switzerland, during the the event of the same name where musician's and music lovers all tuck themselves away in the mountains to enjoy some of the finest showcases that these music legends could give. 

This record features Moore alongside bassist Pete Rees, keys player Vic Martin and Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey, locking into grooves of Moore's own tracks and a couple covers to boot. A ripple of applause, a short introduction and then it's straight into Albert King's Oh, Pretty Woman, a bit of verse, a bit of chorus and then solos and more solos, Moore an animal unleashed when he has that Gibson ES335 in his hand. 

It's an eight song tracklist, one for the discerning listener as the boogieing Since I Met You Baby shifts into a galloping cover of Chuck Berry's Thirty Days (To Come Back Home), with a rhythm and blues revue that makes see the black wayfarers and trilby's from here (if you get that reference you can stay). As the pace slows for the I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know many long time Moore fans will know the next riff as soon as they hear it even when it's slowed down. The triple shot of Thin Lizzy's Don't Believe A Word, Still Got The Blues and Walking By Myself is worth a purchase of this album alone, Still Got The Blues gets the loudest roar from the crowd, but to be honest when Gary Moore is plugged in, locked in and ripping through the blues you can't not listen. 

Is he the G.O.A.T? For sure. Has he made better live albums? Of course. Do any capture him so well in what was his last few years? No. Settle in as this is Gary Moore doing what he does best. 9/10

The Yagas - Midnight Minuet (Self Released)

Oh great another band formed by an actor! I said to myself when I saw The Yagas was fronted by Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Vera Farmiga. Rock and metal bands formed by actors can be hit and miss, for every Tenacious D there's a Wicked Wisdom. But The Yagas? They are a proper band that happens to have a singer who's also and actress. 

Their debut album Midnight Minuet is a alt rock record that owes as much to The Cure and Smashing Pumpkins as it does to Nick Cave even a little Depeche Mode. Vera's vocals are spectral and soulful, comparisons to Jennie-Ann Smith of Avatarium can be made strongly throughout the record as she has a similar tone and range. Her background as a star of the horror movie industry allowing her to tap into dread of She's Walking Down.

The record deals with grief and pain both physical and mental, keyboardist Renn Hawkey wrote single Life Of A Window after spinal surgery and it carries a longing. The occult and mysticism of all things loom large on this album too, the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga, stories of witches and chastised women (Bridle), channelling the spirits of the past into the modern world through haunting dark rock. Farmiga's Ukrainian heritage is also part of that Slavic inspiration in the band's name and the song writing, especially on The Crying Room which was written about family caught up in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. 

Alongside Farmiga and Hawkey (who also produces), the band features Jason Bowman (drums), Mark Visconti (guitar) and Mike Davis (bass) and is a way of Hawley to create something outside of his former band the industrial Deadsy. Part of that style comes through here but Midnight Minuet is different, it's dark and beguiling, mysterious alt rock that doesn't ever linger to long in the waking realm, balancing the connection between the dead and living on this impressive debut that is not just another 'film star makes band' but a living breathing entity all by itself. 9/10

The Velveteers - A Million Knives (Easy Eye Sound)

US rock trio The Velveteers follow up their excellent debut album Nightmare Daydream with the rallying cry against a misogynistic music industry, against discrimination in all its forms. They are a band who are proudly and loudly in support of queer, non-binary and female led artists and roles in society. Never has this topic been more potent as it is in America at the moment so more bands such as The Velveteers are needed to fight against the increasing behaviour to aggressively reinforce heteronormative and gender normative behaviours even when they do not exist. 

The Velveteers use music as weapon, a lucid, psychedelic weapon with a backwash of venomous intent as the fuzzy garage rock riffs of bands such as The MC5 and The White Stripes are unleashed by frontwoman Demi Demitro, her guitar a buzzsaw ready to cut down oppressors while the drumming duo of Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig, batter down any barriers that may stand in the way. 

Dual drumming is so often the reserve of prog bands (see King Crimson) but here the band use it to strengthen the groove, often Baby and Jonny are on the same rhythmic beat but then they’ll counter each other for a broader scope (All These Little Things) all while Demitro’s guitar cranks out another effects driven riff (Moonchild). Vocally too Demitro often uses reverb or delay on the vocals to produce either a nastiness on Suck The Cherry or a hypnotic state on Bound In Leather, a song co-written by Greg Cartwright and Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys). 

Written after a lengthy stretch on the road, this album is a snap back at the music industry (On And On), it’s the band in full creative flow, the swaggering rockers split by the beautiful title track which is a 2 minute vocal/guitar number, this stripped back sound continuing on Up Here, while Go Fly Away has a dreamy 70’s vibe to it. A Million Knives is more Moonage Daydreaming from The Velveteers but with lyrical barbs at our current state. 8/10

Bident – Blink (Self Released)

As Flava Flav once said “Bass for your face London!” well with Bident we have both drum and bass hitting you in your face. Though don’t worry this isn’t the newest project from Goldie or Chase And Status, I’m talking about real drum and bass here. Bident is ‘two pronged’ (remember it’s a Bident not a Trident) attack of Jacknife Seizure bassist Dave and Jackknife Seizure/Purple Kong drummer Sylvy. 

The idea is a rock trio but without the guitar drums and bass taking the lead roles respectively with all the hallmarks of stoner (Blink), doom (Moody) and sludge (Oh Fucking Hell) but taking in moments of thrash/country on Calorina Leaper, more thrashing on Thinking With A Moshcap On and some 70’s heavy rock on That Sad where the bass feels like an organ. 

It’s all played ridiculously well, Charlie Wilson’s production keeping the rawness of just right as the bass shifts through tones and effects while the drum is tight and snappy sounding like the kit on an 80’s crossover record or a 60’s surf band. Blink is an interesting concept for a record, Bident playing a few well known genre tropes but without the standard use of guitar. Still a curio with some next level playing on it, perfect for something a bit different. 7/10