The Frisbys

Ralph played Born And Raised by The Frisbys on his Radio KC Indie Show last Sunday. 

It's one of the tracks on their Double A side single, the other being Give In To The Dark, which precedes the upcoming launch of The Cause EP on the 30th of January.


Fronted by twin sisters Helen and Nicola Frisby, The Frisbys are an alternative folk band from South London. Their debut E.P Philosolove was released in 2013 and met with much success, featuring as ‘new and noteworthy’ on ITunes, reaching 45 in the singer songwriter charts and receiving radio play from Amazing Radio, Team Rock and BBC Radio stations.


The Frisbys have received support from blogs and press, with their title track Philosolove being chosen for Fatea Magazine’s Showcase Sessions and For Folk’s Sake's song of the day feature.

With the band drawing comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, First Aid Kit and The Staves, The Frisbys quickly gained a reputation on the folk circuit for their striking song writing and stirring harmonies. 

The past year has seen them support artists including Mark Chadwick, Messenger and Ralph's Life favourites Eamonn Coyne and Kris Drever in beautiful venues such as The Borderline,The Natural History Museum and St Pancras Old Church.

Jan 30	The Frisbys *EP LAUNCH PARTY* @ Hoodoo's	Croydon, United Kingdom            FREE
	Feb 26	The Frisbys @ The Troubadour	London, United Kingdom

The Fireflys

It's not often Ralph gets a chance to get out the kennel and do a live review, but he made an exception on Saturday for North West band The Fireflys. 

Two nights previously Lee and Adele from the band had graciously performed an outstanding acoustic set at the Lynn Gerrard book launch in The Citadel Theatre, St Helens which promted the crowd to call for an encore but time constraints sadly didn't allow. 





However The Fireflys were headlining Runcorn's Brindley Theatre to a sold out crowd supported by The Spase and Chasing Infinity on the Saturday, so it was time to investigate further.

The 'Storyteller' gig gave an insight into both The Fireflys extensive back catalogue and the new tracks including the recently released single 'Branches' as Lee Wylding availed the audience of the thinking behind each track prior to them being performed, more of which later.

The night kicked of with a set by local band The Spase who are currently performing as a stripped back two piece, which suits their poetic and insightful songs perfectly. The idiosyncratically named Wax and P took us on a melodic journey of well crafted lyrics and musicality with this lo-fi performance.

The Spase were never going to blow our ears of, but that was the joy of their short but exquisite set. Strong songwriting brought to us by solid and heartfealt vocals. Having just released an album called 'On A Cloud' recently, I'll be investigating further and of course playing a track on the Radio KC Indie Show soon.









Liverpool band Chasing Infinity upped the tempo with a bouncy alt pop rock vibe with an up to date Fleetwood Mac feel, a kind of low-cal Garbage if you will. They breezed through a highly entertaining set with Adele Halsall's vocals a delight. She's backed by the extremely proficient Paul McCormick on guitar, Mark Rice on drums and quirky bassist Rob Saunders.

Chasing Infinity were cheerful but never cheap as they effervesced through a selection of eminently listenable folk tinged pop songs that would happily grace any radio station. Their infectious fervour carried over to the audience who (with a noteable and noisy exception) listened intently and showed their appreciation enthusiastically.








Which brings us to the 'Storytellers' of the evening, headliners and Runcorn's finest, The Fireflys. 

They've made several transitions as a band over the years but finally seem to have found a very comfortable Americana-esque niche with the current expanded line-up.  

Their recently released single 'Branches' has featured in the Top 20 of the itunes Chart this week.

The cornerstone of the band, Lee Wylding (guitar/vocals), Andrea Packer (drums) and Stephen Roberts (bass/ukulele) has been augmented by the skills of Chris Tann (keyboards), David Packer (guitar) with the aforementioned Adele Halsall (vocals) bringing another subtler layer to The Fireflys sound.

Courtesy of Ian Parry Photography ©

The theatre now packed to capacity with friends, family and fans, they assuredly played their way through a selection of past, present and soon to be future favourites. 

Obviously enjoying the evening The Fireflys transferred this vibe to the crowd who reacted with increasing fervour as each track bouyed their enthusiasm, resulting in a sing song, followed by a standing ovation at the end of the show.






There's obviously a lot of hard work and heartache gone into Lee's songwriting and it shows as he earnestly leads the band into each track with no small amount of humility and humour, explaining to us the thought process behind the songs. 

As he intimated, they're a collection of introverted, sometimes despondant lyrics conveyed via Lee's still gritty, rock vocal overlaid on happy sounding tunes, each pointing the listener to the conclusion that life and love is hard, but there's always a happy ending!

Steel Threads

Ralph played the Steel Threads track It Goes On during this weeks Indie Show on Radio KC and such was the interest via his social media in the kennel that he was moved to take a closer look.

Describing themselves as 'An original acoustic band playing their own unique blend of Rock and Folk' and with influences as diverse as Led Zeppelin, Crowded House and Fleetwood Mac, the multi-talented duo of Neil Wardleworth (drums/guitar/vocals) and Laura Wilcockson (violin/vocals) are proving to be a force to be reckoned with.






Steel Threads formed in 2011 and they pride themselves on their strong songwriting and energetic performances.The debut album Timing Is Everything, released in 2012 saw the band gigging regularly throughout the UK and building a strong following. The strength of support ensured the second album For Those Who Are Left pledge funded by fans reached its target quicker than expected.







Steel Threads have worked with and supported such luminaries as The South, Hugh Cornwell and New Model Army whilst festival slots have included The Great British Folk Festival, Clennell Hall Folk Festival, Les-Fest in Scotland, Welfest in Welford on Avon and Northwich Music Festival along with many of the established venues in the UK.






The 7 track Live EP is officially released (available to pre-order) on the 7th October and I can thoroughly recommend it. It features live versions of songs from the first two albums plus a brand new track, Over Before You Begun.




It's an ideal introduction to Steel Threads as it not only captures the energy of their live performances, but also their innate song writing ability and musicality. Over Before You Begun in particular exemplifies this with it's poignant yet gritty lyric overlaid on countrified violin and sympathetic guitar. You can pre-order the Live EP by clicking on this link.

Braver Than Fiction

Ralph's recently been listening to a lot of 'proper' music for 'grown ups' and in this category comes the recently released EP King Of Crows by Sheffield band Braver Than Fiction. It's a collection of four live tracks that set off vocalist Mel's bluesy infused vocals against some snazzy Steampacket-esque Hammond organ-ising.

It's music for the headphones on, with a glass of red and being transported to the Monterey Jazz Festival back in the day when Johnny Otis would put on another of his infamous discoveries (like Etta James).



The EP is a mini classic of atmospheric retro styled, blues soaked, soulful tracks written and sung by Braver Than Fiction's Mel whilst ably assisted by the musical stylings of Adam (bass), Jason (keyboards), Paul (drums), Martin (guitar). Obvious similarities will be drawn to early Fleetwood Mac, although I'm more drawn to the comparison with a young Elkie Brooks in her Vinegar Joe days.




From the start of lead track Candle Blind, with its thrumming bass leading into that Hammond organ and sultry vocal through the more upbeat Mr Jones (Fear Of Falling) to the excellent, classy Once Bitten, Twice Shy it's evocative of the best of the 60's blues bands but with a more current edge. The eponymous King Of Crows is available only on the EP if you're downloading from Braver Than Fiction's Bandcamp and it rounds off the release in style with its soulful, uplifting sound being all the more enjoyable having been recorded live (yet with no loss of quality).

Take your chance to experience the tracks live as Braver Than Fiction are gigging from next week so keep an eye on their Twitter for updates. In the meantime all current dates are below...watch out for Ralph at their gig on The Wirral...

Sunday August 24th, 2014
Dove and Rainbow, Sheffield

Wednesday September 10th, 2014
The Green Room, Sheffield

Saturday September 13th, 2014
Magners Original Sessions, Manchester

Wednesday October 8th, 2014 
The Washington, Sheffield

Friday October 17th, 2014 
The South Sea, Sheffield

Wednesday November 19th, 2014
International Guitar Festival of Great Britain, Wirral