Tag: The Jolly Brewer

The Jolly Brewer

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INFORMATION:

Address: 27 Broadgate, Lincoln, England

Telephone: 01522 528583

Capacity: roughly 150 – 200

 

The Jolly Brewer caters to a wide variety of musical tastes, and is especially good at hosting rock and folk oriented bands, which play there quite often. It is quite an eccentric looking establishment, and well worth a visit. The Brewer attracts a variety of interesting people, and sells Carlsberg and San Miguel among other lagers, plus Black Abbott, if you are a fan of heavier bitter. A small, intimate venue where you won’t have to wrestle half the crowd to get to the front of the gig, you can really enjoy yourself with your mates at The Jolly Brewer.

Lunchband @ The Jolly Brewer

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There’s been a lot of indie bands which have sprouted around the UK after bands such as the Arctic Monkeys exploded on to the scene seven years ago. With the amount of indie bands around, it takes something extra special or different to stand out from the crowd—something unique.

On live evidence, London quartet Lunchband have the potential to be that something.

I was cold, wet and miserable when I got to the Jolly Brewer in Lincoln after trudging through the wind and rain to get there. It didn’t take long to warm up and dry off though because as soon as the first band hit the stage, the place throbbed with excitement. The Unknown Stuntmen were the support act for the night—a five-piece band who seemed to mix a number of genres, creating an exciting blend of music which kept the audience captivated. To put it in their own words:

“The Unknown Stuntmen are a collection of pirates that picked up an instrument each, tuned their vocal strings and set sail for anywhere that would have em”.

Their mixture of pop, folk and rock ‘n’ roll, with a hint of Spanish guitar playing, was a recipe for success with the audience either watching attentively or dancing the night away.

With three vocalists in the band, two males and one female, there’s a good variety in their sound with their voices and harmony’s complimenting each other nicely. I caught up with the rhythm guitarist, Dave, after their show to find out a little more about the band. He described them as being influenced by “anything with a good melody” and cited artists such as “The Beatles” and “Beethoven” as major influences. By being influenced by such popular and respected musicians as these, it’s easy to see why the audience took so kindly to the The Unknown Stuntmen.

Cover art for Lunchband's EP: Rabbits, Princes, Phantom's & Beaches

Cover art for Lunchband’s EP: Rabbits, Princes, Phantom’s & Beaches

In the interval, after everyone had topped their beers up, the crowd started to gather in anticipation for the headline act of the night, Lunchband. Lunchband are a four-piece act from London but many of the band members originate from Lincoln. This made the show that little bit more special for the band and it shone through in their performance. Mixing indie, electronica and folk rock together, the band create a signature sound which is very appealing to both old and young. Listening to them, you can see they’ve been influenced by popular mainstream indie acts of today, such as Arcade Fire, but there’s also some 60’s rock in there in the shape of the Kinks.

The band played songs off their EP which was released earlier this year in July called Rabbits, Princes, Phantom’s & Beaches. The song Rabbit Run is a very easy listening song with a catchy guitar melody layered over the top of a nice chord sequence. My Prince has a strong, bouncy bass line similar to that from the Killer’s song, Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine. Throughout the set, lots of the bands influences shine through ranging from indie band Foals to 80’s electronic band, Depeche Mode. The band do a great job of knitting their influences sounds together to create their own brand of music, which stands out from most of the other indie bands around at the moment.

Lunchband are an interesting band with bags of potential. The gig was billed as Lunchband’s ‘homecoming gig’. I expect that there were a lot of people in the Jolly Brewer last night who will be eagerly counting down the days until Lunchband next come ‘home’.

Knock Out Kaine @ The Jolly Brewer

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Knock Out Kaine @ The Jolly Brewer

In the wild and debauched world of Hard Rock, the aim of the game is to make an impact, to put on a blinding live performance, and to leave people wanting more.

If you were looking for a truly awe-inspiring local rock band, then lay down your burdens, weary traveler.

Your search is over.

Knock Out Kaine rocking The Jolly Brewer.

KNOCK OUT KAINE
photo by Greg Smith

 

With the infectious rock n’ roll attitude and stunning musicianship of Motley Crue, and the ability to deliver a Hard Rock ballad like Skid Row, Knock Out Kaine are a band that will soon be headlining gigs across Europe, and maybe even America. I certainly wouldn’t put it past them.

They played an imbroglio of songs from their fantastic new album House Of Sins, which is available from HMV and at their gigs. These sinfully sweet songs included the electrifying hard rock anthem Set The Night On Fire, the evocative ballad Coming Home and right at the very end, to cap the night off in spectacular style, their unique and brilliant cover of Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell.

This is the second time I’ve seen this band, which is a testament to the infectiousness of their music. It’s undiluted, raw hard rock, the way it was meant to be, yet the band that produced it are definitively English. It’s easy to tell what their musical influences are – the 80’s hard rock movement in America, including such bands as Guns n’ Roses, Aerosmith and Motley Crue is their era of inspiration.

They’ve been going since 2005, getting gigs across the UK to spread their music. Seven years since their birth and they are now standing proud at the very top of Lincoln’s rock scene, a spot they aren’t gonig to surrender any time soon.

The Jolly Brewer can consider itself rocked. When they started playing Rebel Yell, everyone totally lost their… well, you get the picture.

One aspect of their music that is definitely worth mentioning at this juncture is that they are diverse within the genre. They have turbulent rock anthems like title track House Of Sins and Set The Night On Fire, they have ballads like Moving On and Coming Home AND they have delicious, sleazy numbers such as Skinstar and Little Crystal. They know their music, these lads.

Drummer Danny Krash provides the bedrock for the outfit, with classic rock drumming. If you pay particular attention, you might even notice hints of drumming more akin to metal music, which is one of his personal influences. Bassist Lee Byrne holds down the low end for Knock Out Kaine with consistent, driving basslines that really carry the song’s along. Jimmy Bohemian is the man behind the guitar for this musical tour de force, and what a guitar player he is.

Honestly. Mind-blowing.

The spearhead of the band is arguably Dean Foxx, the vocalist and also acoustic guitar player when the ballads roll around. He provides the lyrical paint to the musical canvas, and to complete this rather shoddy metaphor, helps Knock Out Kaine make the masterpieces that they are now renowned for in the city of Lincoln, UK.

 

Also, a hat-tip to Emperor Chung, who were supporting Knock Out Kaine, and were very good too.