Behind the music – Levi’s (No-)One To Watch tour

Firstly, apologies to any subscribers who got hit with the backlog of reviews. I’ve finished upping them now.

So, on Thursday I went to the Barfly to review Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, Cazals and Cut Off Your Hands for Birmingham Live. I’d heard of all three but couldn’t name a song by any of them so much of the day was spent listening to the two co-headliners so I could at least recognise some of their sets.

I’d expected to miss Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man because I was playing 7’s football (4-1, I scored a hat-trick since you asked) but somehow I managed to shower, change, etc in record time and was at the venue in plenty of time. I was pretty chuffed with that, having resolved to catch more support acts and not just turn up for the headliners. Unfortunately I hadn’t listened to any of their stuff and had got it into my head that they were a folky/acoustic act – wrong.

I’m still baffled as to how a Levis-sponsored bill featuring three up-and-coming bands could be so badly attended. There were no other big bands in town, it didn’t coincide with anything of Valentine’s Day-like proportions, it was advertised everywhere you’d expect and tickets were a pretty reasonable £8. Surely there are 100 or so people in Birmingham who would rather a night out seeing some live music (any live music) rather than sitting in front of the TV. Surely. Surely?

I’ve since discovered that Cut Off Your Hands will be back in Brum on 19 March at The Yardbird. I’ll take any excuse for a night out there so might trot on down for that.

Another positive from the night was that I got to meet the photographer Lee Allen whose snaps accompany my review on Birmingham Live. He was a nice bloke and I’m sure I’ll be bumping into him again.

Plans for this week:

  • Tomorrow is day 1 of the Punch Records music marketing course.
  • On Tuesday there’s an outside chance I’m seeing Eels at the Town Hall
  • If it’s Wednesday it’s Sarabeth Tucek at the Glee Club. I might be interviewing her too which would be good.
  • Friday (fingers crossed) I’m seeing Editors supported by the very good Sons & Daughters.

A good week then. I’m looking forward to starting the course although it’s been a while since I’ve been taught anything in a traditional sense.  It’ll be interesting to see who else is going to be there too.  Anyway, I’ll report back on all of that later.

Published by Chris Unitt

I work at One Further, doing digital projects with cultural organisations. Follow @ChrisUnitt or find me on LinkedIn.