Puppet Rebellion

One of the advantages of being a dog with a blog is the that every now and again a bit of a gem drops into the kennel's inbox. 

In this instance it's Chemical Friends an album by Puppet Rebellion, one of the first bands I saw live when I arrived to take up residence in the 'sunny' North West of England. It was nearly 5 years ago in Manchester when I was invited to an all-dayer and a nascent Puppet Rebellion took to the stage and played an absolute blinder.  

Time moves swiftly on and the band are now releasing their debut Chemical Friends album on November 17th after a hectic year of both touring and working in the studio with Gavin Monaghan no less.

Puppet Rebellion are Oliver Davies on vocals, Dave Wimbush on guitar, Craig Gibson on guitar, James Halliwell on bass and Henry Rogers on drums. Together they've put together an album of well crafted alt-pop that should see them ascend the musical firmament not only in their native North West but UK wide. 

The energetically fueled Chemical Friends may be their fist full-length studio album but with tracks like the nicely choppy, guitar driven Hey Now to the bouncier Test Pilot and Impact, it certainly won't be their last.

Ralph will be spinning one of his favourite tracks from Chemical Friends on this Sunday's Indie Show on Radio KC, so make sure you tune in from 5-7pm UK time to hear the highly addictive ear-worm that is Slave.

Upcoming live dates include...

Saturday November 4th in The Islington, London

Saturday November 11th in Partisan, Manchester for the album launch

Friday December 19th in 
The Lamplighter, Northampton

Inego - Video Of The Week

Ralph's favourite video this week is Exiled Love by Manchester band INEGO.


Available now from all good download stores. Produced by Gavin Monaghan and engineered by Joe Murray at Magic Garden Recording Studios. For part one of the story click here - youtu.be/__QthXPqgo8 For more information on INEGO, you can follow them here Facebook - facebook.com/inegomusic Soundcloud - soundcloud.com/inegomusic Twitter - @inegomusic

No Hot Ashes

If you're looking to get the funk out, you could do worse than grab yourself the No Hot Ashes debut single Goose which was released 22nd October with its choppy Haircut 100 stylee guitar and North West vocalising. It's a punchy, catchy release from this young Manchester band and produced by multi award winner Gavin Monaghan.

Their live performances are the stuff of local legend and Goose looks destined to become a firm favourite for getting the crowd bouncing. Backed by Skank which is no less catchy, they put the guitar work to good use against in your face vocals.

Thanks as always to trust a fox for the picture

Formed in 2012, No Hot Ashes are Isaac (vocal & guitar), Luigi (guitar & backing vocal), Matt (drums) and Jack (bass). Their brash funk-fuelled style is well formed for ones so young and should see them garner more attention with radio plays over the next few months. They've already been regulars on Ralph's Indie Show on Radio KC as well as Salford Radio and Pure FM.







The only upcoming No Hot Ashes gig to report at the moment is December 13th in Manchester's Soup Kitchen alongside Velocets, Black Light White Light and Sebastian Melmoth. Don't miss it - it'll be huge!


“They truly do have `Northern Swagger` in their music. What I like about these guys is that they’re not afraid to experiment with new sounds. They’ve clearly got talent and its exciting to see where they can push that talent.”

M.E.N Newsdesk (Music in Manchester)

Goose is available now from this link at just £1.58