The Moods - Video of The Week

Ralph's favourite video this week is Joy by Manchester band The Moods.

The Moods released Joy ahead of UK tour. Joy is accompanied by a thought-provoking short film starring actor and musician Steve Evets, who found fame in the leading role in 2009 film Looking For Eric, and formerly played Bass for The Fall.

Shot on location in Salford and Manchester, the story follows two wildly different characters as an average day unravels and they both meet dramatic and contrasting fates. As well as Evets, the video, directed and filmed by Croftwerk Productions, features established local actors Nicole Evans, John Mackie and radio broadcaster James Stannage.

Video - www.croftwerk.co.uk

Produced & Released by - www.a1mrecords.com

The Moods

Ralph has been featuring the Blackthorn Festival on the blog recently due to the fact that it's near Manchester and probably the best value for money small festival in the UK.

We've also been singling out a few Manchester bands for some special attention and today it's The Moods turn.

They are the city's premier electro hip-hop reggae outfit, and their message is loud and clear. This 9-strong band unifies rap, brass and beats, delivering potent, political lyrics for a post-2016 world to make you dance make you think. Born out of a musical experiment in North Manchester's Boomshack Studios in early 2014, The Moods quickly gathered members and momentum. 

With thanks to trust a fox photography

A dizzying amalgamation of producers and poets, they swiftly honed their very own sound, which, when taken live, quite simply blew their audiences away. 

It wasn't long before The Moods attracted the attention of local radio stations (Ralph's giving them a spin again on next Sunday's Indie Show on Radio KC) and journalists like John Robb and Terry Christian.

The Moods ended 2016 on an absolute high, with raucous, sell-out gigs in London, Glasgow and Manchester. 

As the world reflected on the travesty that was 2016, The Moods channeled their energy into writing and performing their vital, mighty music.

They have now signed an artist development deal with the fiercely independent A1(M) Records (Ralph's just featured their Music From The North Live EP to raise funds for Salford 94.4 fm) in Manchester. Further to that, their new single JOY is to be released on June 23rd and we gave it a pre-release spin on Sunday 4th June.

Music From The North

Ralph occasionally strays from the path and rather than focus on an individual band or artiste, will feature an event, festival or release by an independent record company. 

Such is the case with today's blog as we're having a look (and a listen) to the release on A1(M) Records of the Music From The North EP.

It's a 9 track EP featuring the music of The Moods, The Nouvelles, The Backhanders and the spoken words of North West poet extrordinaire J.B. Barrington recorded live at Manchester's reknowned and eclectic Band On The Wall venue in the Northern Quarter's Swan Street.




The Music From The North EP; mixed, mastered and produced by award winning producer Dave Tolan in his Hope Mill Studio, is officially available on iTunes and limited edition (300 copies) CD (dedicated to Yvonne Doyle) from tomorrow.

The Music From The North EP had an exclusive on-air debut on Wednesday night, during a special episode of Steve Doyle's Sonic Diary on 94.4FM Salford City Radio. A1(M) Records will be donating copies of the Music From The North CD to the radio station, who will in turn sell them to their listeners in aorder to raise funds towards the much-loved station's ongoing fight for survival.



Ralph will be featuring tracks by the bands on the EP in next Sunday's Indie Show on Radio KC. 


The 9-track EP features live music from The Moods, East Manchester’s premier electro hip hop reggae outfit, The Backhanders with their 'Swirling guitars and intensely-spat lyrics that brim with authentic Strummer soul', The Nouvelles who purvey 'upbeat, powerful, tight and well-crafted tunes' and of course Ralph's Life favourite spoken wordsmith JB Barrington 'His quick fire comedy sits well alongside his machine-gun spoken word performance. He's witty, wise and wonderfully eloquent with his unmistakeable Salford twang'.

Factory Acts

Ralph's long been a fan of Factory Acts who are a Salford post-punk electro duo who live on the edge of the analogue-digital divide, sometimes dreaming, always dancing.

After garnering copious amounts of critical acclaim with their debut EP Thirst in 2014, Salford's underground, post-punk maestros Factory Acts return with their highly anticipated sophomore release Second Amendment which is available on official release April 21st.

It is powerful, haunting electronica awash with synth leads that swirl icily over driving bass lines and looming electronic beats which I'm sure Uncle John Peel would have highly approved of and played repetitively. 







Each of the four tracks are laced with Factory Acts' signature lyrical honesty, integrity and rawness - this is music with a message that is deeply personal:

In their own words...

"Our second 4-track EP has a fuller sound and more up-tempo beats but maintains the dark heart of the first. The songs speak of hope in an increasingly fractured world. Dancing out despair is the desire."




Outside of the studio it's been a busy couple of years for Factory Acts. One of the most prolific live bands in the North West of England; the band have performed alongside the likes of Brix and the Extricated, 1919, Ralph's life favourites Empathy Test and Skeletal Family at live shows and festivals across the UK and Ireland.

Factory Acts are, Susan O'Shea on vocals, synths and analogue digital devices and Matt Davies on bass, beats and 'magical' mixes. Ralph will be spinning the excellent Leave The World To Us on this Sunday's (March 19th) Indie Show on Radio KC.

Take Back Theatre

As Ralph has often been wont to say - "It's not just about the music." - So when a visit to Gullivers in Manchester was on the agenda, it wasn't for the sell-out Slow Readers Club gig on Saturday, but the (nearly sold-out) Take Back Theatre performance of Ten Takes On Hope on the Monday after.

The theatre company was created earlier this year as a response to the Tory Party Conference in Manchester and aims to produce quarterly script-in-hand performances and use theatre to make a positive change.



The evening was produced and coordinated by Grant Archer, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Becx Harrison with a view to exploring social issues and creating a springboard for debate with the audience, starting small conversations which ask big questions.

The audience was invited by Take Back Theatre to join the cast and writers in the bar after the show to achieve that very thing.



This was achieved ten-fold with some stellar script writing and performances which challenged not only what hope is, but what we can do to give hope. 

The informal setting and script-in-hand nature of the evening somehow made the stories being told all the more poignant, dramatic or added to the humour of each individual piece.





Each vignette; written by professional writers, was inspired by A Summer Of Hope and each used different themes or personal stories very evocatively to engage the audience members. 

Whether it was the humour artfully deployed in Fish (Jennifer Platt), The Hope Factor (Rebekah Harrison), Words On A Wing (Joshua Val Martin), Rock, Paper Scissors (Ian Kershaw) or Cut and Dried (Cathy Crabb), the poignancy of All Names Have Been Changed (Victoria Brazier), Marching On Stone (Gareth George) The Shoes (Louise Wallwein) and Born (Julie Hesmondhalgh) or the outstanding drama of Detention (Sandra Cole), each delivered the same thought-provoking message in its own style.

It's probably wrong to pick out individual performances however, special mentions do go to Luke Bailey, Jo Dankin and Rico Marshall.




The next event will be Take Back: Capital and will be in response to the budget and going on tonight's performance and the quality of writing and acting on display it'll be one not to be missed!

Chris Flynn

Manchester singer/songwriter Chris Flynn has spent many years performing with bands, but is now releasing solo material of an extremely high quality. 

His work has attracted a fair bit of high profile attention too, including I Am Kloot's Peter Jobson.

So Ralph thought it'd be a good time to find out about the changes in his life and songwriting.

Ralph: How's the 'solo' life?

Chris: I've enjoyed the whole band/collaboration thing but 20 years of it has affected my songwriting and I want to bring that almost cathartic process to everyones attention, although writing the album has been a slow (two years) process.

Ralph: The video for Dumped looked fun to make and great to have Maxine Peake on board?

Chris: Yeah it was, it was partly filmed in The Kings Arms, Salford with a lot of mates in the cast, spending four hours in a pub, what's not to like. Maxine was great too, I love what she stands for and the way she supports local artists.






Ralph: There seems to be an introverted approach to some of your tracks, how much has your own life affected your songwriting?

Chris: The new album actually features a lot of 'character songs' with invented scenarious. It's allowed me to be a lot freer with the whole process and it's been very cathartic. There's much more to come too, you've not heard the best yet!




So there you have it, Chris Flynn is like the proverbial great wine, very much improving with age. Dumped is a stylish, well crafted track in the style of Robert Wyatt backed by an atmospheric, well directed video. If there's more and better to come, then we're in for a real treat! 

There are some small acoustic shows coming in September before the album is finished so watch this space.

31/08/15 CHARITY GIG (BURY HOSPICE), GLASTON - BLIND TIGER, BURY, 9PM

14/09/15 ACOUSTICA @ APOTHECA, MANCHESTER, FREE ENTRY

Scott Lloyd

Monday sees the release of Give Me Something a new EP from Middlesborough born singer/songwriter Scott Lloyd. 

Having moved to Manchester he's become a firm favourite on the local scene with his blend of folky Americana and this new rendering will build on that.

trust a fox photography

God I Say kicks off the EP strongly with its punchy, reflective lyric and Dylan-esque musicality. It's followed up by the plaintive Give Me Something which reinforces what I've said previously about Scott Lloyd being a younger version of Jackson Browne, but bringing a grittier flavour to his own brand of North Western based Americana.












What Have I Gotta Do is pure Americana with a hopeful message and a bouncy tune leading into the lilting Picture In My Mind in which Scott Lloyd's harmonica once again shows the Dylan influence in his music but also reminds me of Ewan McColl's Dirty Old Town (which was about his home town of Salford).

Make That Mistake is more of a hat tilt towards Alt Folk with its choppy acoustic guitar and the EP finishes with Is This What You Dreamed Of which kicks off with almost a hint of Pink Floyd before it builds into what for me, is the strongest track on Give Me Something.






Scott Lloyd laid a strong foundation with his previous release The Northern Gate and he's built on that with a collection of six well crafted songs that confirms his pedigree as one of the best of a bunch of young singer/songwriters currently exploding from the North West. He's embarking on a mini tour starting off with a launch of Give Me Something in The Eagle Inn, Salford on the 17th of November with support from Liam McClair and Bones.