The Enemy Exclusive AOL Session, London

With just 50 people and some media types, I'm off to a top secret location in London to see Coventry's very own The Enemy. The lads will be performing an exclusive live session for AOL and we'll be bringing you another "robmacca" fly on the wall review after it happens.

I'm rather hyper now as I'm rushing around trying to find my London A-Z and make last minute arrangements, it's going to be another manic event where I get no sleep - I'm up at 03:20am for work!

Bring it on.....................

The Enemy "Secret" Session

The Ripps Weekend

The Ripps brightened up a very wet and windy Bank Holiday in their double bill performance, first locally at Birmingham's Barfly venue on Sunday and then down at The Pressure Point in Brighton on Monday.

The least said about the sound problems in Birmingham the better (not The Ripps fault!), thankfully the other acts, The Officers and The Priory were top quality and made it an entertaining night. Did I mention the rain...........................

Monday night it was all the way down south to Brighton's The Pressure Point, where The Ripps were headlining. By golly they gave a performance and a half - no sound problems this time around!


From the very first cord to the closing lyric, Rachel, Raul and Patch gave 100% effort,energy and zeal - demonstrating exactly why the sound of The Ripps is so infectious. We the crowd, could have stayed all night but alas the venue did need to shut for the night but we were spoilt with an extra song at the end ("Too Much Too Young").


The Bank Holiday weekend was eventually danced away at the Candy Bar in Brighton to a host of indie tunes with a crowd that were very much up for the party, but by 2am - this old dog had partied enough for one night and was heard moaning inside a 24 hour grocery store about the cost of Polo's (45p ................... shocking!).

Tuesday morning it was rise and shine early as the coach home was 10am, no wonder I look so rough in the picture above!

Band of the Week: The Rrrs

The Rrrs:

Introduction:

The Rrrs (pronounced with a tongue roll, 'rrrrrrrrrrs') were formed in November 2004 and are made up of a Singaporean sex-pot singer Sharliza R aka Maxima Moog (vocals, rhythm guitar) and her three male bitches. They are Les Woods on bass, Rowan Gifted on lead guitar and the third, Felix Faltin (drums) has just escaped to Austria. The band can be found usually at Warwick Uni or at a pub.

Their music can be described as "madcap guitar pop" with "orgasmic scream-a-longs". Sharliza says they play "fun and happy music". To celebrate this the Rrrs will be launching their new EP "Look Good, Feel Great" at Coventry's Colosseum Nightclub on Saturday June 23rd, 2007.

The Rrrs in action

1.How did the Rrrs form?

We formed over a shared love for tongue rolling and tigers.

2. Which artists have influenced your lives?

Sharliza: Radiohead, Suede, Duran Duran, Frank Zappa

Les: Joy Division, Jack Kerouac

Rowan: Mr Oizo, Broken Social Scene, Bob Marley, Dr Hendrix

3. What's the best thing about COV?

Sharliza: The upcoming IKEA! And Nandos.

Les: The plastic monks under the cathedral.

Rowan: The varied architecture.

4. Name your favourite albums of all time?

Sharliza: Thom Yorke - The Eraser, Stereolab - Fab Four Suture, Madlib - Shades of Blue

Les: New Order - Technique, The Clash - London Calling

Rowan: Zeppelin I, II, III, Dark Side of the Moon, Soil And Pimp Sessions - Pimp of the Year, Supertramp - Best of

5. What do you think about the Cov music scene at the moment?

Les: It's thriving - too much competition! :)

Sharliza: Really really good, it houses anything from Jamsons Nook to DbMA - the outside world ought ta pay more attention.

6. What has been your favourite gig venue?

All: Le Phoenix (Coventry), especially on Kapow nights!

Sharliza: Though Workhouse Festival in Wales is blinking great too.

7. Which is better - Costa Del Sol or Costa Del COV?

All: Nah, we all live together on Costa del Rrrrrs - all are welcome to bask on its shores!

8. There has been talk of a Hollywood style "Stars of Coventry" in Priory Place - What one person would you put there first??

All: Patch Ripps, we think.

9. Who would you duet with, if you had the opportunity?

Les: Peter Hook, to absorb his genius.

Rowan: Koji Kondo, made the music to Super Mario. The man's a genius.

Sharliza: Thom Yorke, so I can also get away with wearing a swan dress. Maybe a tiger catsuit, hmm? He's also a genius.

10. What's the craziest thing that has happened in the band?

All: It's ongoing....the fact that we always lose our drummers - we've gone through seven so far! No gardening incidents needed. We've got 3 lined up at the mo but looking for more!!! Please get in touch, we'll treat you very well.

11. Who's your favourite superhero?

Les: Super Ted!

Sharliza: Donnie Darko - is he?

Rowan: Captain Planet. Obviously.

12. If you had unlimited power, what would be the first thing you would do ?

Les: Go to Japan, resurrect Sega and force everyone to play Dreamcast.

Sharliza: Bring my parents back to life.

Rowan: Sleep in.

13. Where would you like to be in a years time?

Les: On the cover of something, even if it's Angling Weekly.

Rowan: Editor of Angling Weekly.

Sharliza: On ya telly! Propagating the happy happy sound.

14. Give us your 'Tip of the Year'

Sharliza & Les: Put coriander in every dish you make!

Rowan: Put milk in with coffee before hot (not boiling) water. Tea bags to brew for three minutes, no more, no less.

15. What plans lie ahead for the band?

Sharliza: We're launching our Look Good, Feel Great! EP on Saturday June 23rd at the Colloseum, with some belly dancing involved - and a mission to offend the fringe ma-ssive.

The Rrrs - set to get your tongue rolling!

Coming Up:

The Rrrs gig dates:

June 23rd - Look Good, Feel Great! EP launch, with Carter Manouevre and tbc, Colloseum Nightclub.

July 30th - with DbMA and Paris Riots, Golden Cross, Coventry.

They are currently looking for a new drummer and a budding director to shoot a video for 'Is That Your Underwear on the Floor?' - Contact them on any of the links below.

Links:

Rrrs MySpace Page

Rrrs Official Website

Rrrs on Facebook

"The Rrrs make me wanna touch myself" where you can request a tiger face in your honour.

Are you a local Coventry band and would like to be featured in a forthcoming "Band of the Week"?

Contact: Whats on in Cov or robmacca and it could be your band we are promoting.

Drug For The Good Gig

Last night was the first proper gig for "Drug For The Good", the four postmen from Coventry - Pete, Matty, Malcom and Andy. The night was a sell out for the Dog and Trumpet and went on to make several hundred pounds for charity. The crowd were very supportive and mainly consisted of Royal Mail colleagues, family and friends but helped put the band at ease as they worked through their set of own songs as well as cover versions.

The first half started with "Lucky Man" and ended with "Turning Japanese" - with robmacca on the tamborine, doing his Bez (Happy Mondays) impression! The second half, had the band playing four of their own tracks back to back. Then the madness kicked back in with the return of the tamborine player and a few well known covers - "500 Miles" and "Irish Rover". By this point the crowds were either coming up to the stage bowing down before the new rock legends, or throwing socks on stage for the bare footed Matty.

The night will go down as one to remember for all those who attended and it was a great opening for these Coventry lads. For me it was the first time I'd been out with so many Royal Mail workers!

Here are some pictures from the night taken by Alex:





robmacca the tamborine man!

Matty, robmacca and Pete

Malc


Matty



Andy

Pete

Pete, Malc and Andy


Matty and Pete



robmacca and Pete

Pete and andy

Girls Aloud "Greatest Hits Tour" Pictures - Birmingham

Here are Girls Aloud at Birmingham's NIA last night as part of their "Greatest Hits Tour", you can also see videos from the night HERE

The robmacca Music Weekend

"The robmacca Music Weekend" consists of 4 days, 4 locations with 3 different bands. The week has been non-stop with virtually no sleep, I was so tired I was able to nod off during band practice on Tuesday next to large amps that were pumping loud tunes. Lets see what is lined up:

Friday: Girls Aloud, Birmingham NIA

It has become a tradition to go and see the Girls Aloud concert, it's entertaining and of course all 5 look damn hot on stage. Who knows this could be the last time they tour!

Saturday: Drug For The Good, Coventry Dog and Trumpet

New band perform their very first proper gig, selling all 340 tickets in aid of a children's charity. These 4 postal workers from Coventry will take to the stage with a mix of covers and own songs. There is a special stage appearance by robmacca - this is a first!

Sunday: The Ripps, Birmingham Barfly

Coventry's finest, The Ripps will be giving the Bank holiday Sunday crowd a good reason to party all weekend with a set featuring many songs from their acclaimed album "Long Live The Ripps" at Birmingham's Barfly venue. I'm travelling over with Alex - this will be the first time he has seen The Ripps on stage.

Monday: The Ripps, Brighton Pressure Point

It's the Bank Holiday and what could be better than a trip to the seaside? No time to paddle in the sea as we're not arriving into Brighton until about 7pm. The gig kicks off around about 8-9 pm so it will be a mad dash across town to have our second session with The Ripps. This time it will be my chance to cheer on the Coventry trio as they belt out some mighty fine tunes in Brighton.

The night will no doubt involve lots of alcohol and then it's a nice long coach journey back to Coventry on Tuesday, rounding off an exhausting 4 days of music!

Melanie C - London Gig

Thanks to my good friends Shaz and Emma, I am once again going to a gig I didn't think I'd be able to go to - I am working the day of the gig and the day after and so wasn't going to go - but now tickets are available and I've booked my transport to London for the only Melanie C UK gig date, ahead of her new single "Carolyna" - released in the UK on Monday June 11th.