Ryan's Gig Guide

www.ryansgigguide.com rgg May 2018 9 Totally original and highly recommended for fans of Frank Zappa; this in my opinion is far more in- telligent than say the humour ofWeirdAlYanovic and I adore that artist.This is the brand new solo music project from Cradley byWarren McCabe- Smith. 'IfWeWere Flies....' is the title track from the 18 track album featuring hilariously surreal stories and observations with a mixture of cult- like smooth jazz blues acoustic hooks through- out.There's an entertaining zany music video of 'IfWeWere Flies...' available to watch onYouTube and Facebook which provides comedy gold and musically it's darn good. Highlights are the painfully funny yet sarcastically serious 'There's A Fire' from the point of view of a guy on a second floor singing about his dangerous predicament and slowly melting from the heat of a raging fire happening below him; I've never laughed as hard at the sound of someone screaming in pain before. Dire Ear is a gold nugget of genius. www.facebook.com/direear NEWBIE of the month If We Were Flies I Would Kiss Your Eyes by Dire Ear If you enjoy the music of Elvis Costello, Paul Simon or Tom Petty then the debut album 'Un- even Ground' fromWolverhampton / Stoke-on- Trent based dark folk rock band Bluebyrd is absolutely ideal for you; a real treat. Highlights in- clude the delicate and uplifting 'Afraid Of The Dark', the reflective spaghetti-western sounding 'Gary's Gang' and title track 'Uneven Ground' which is just truly great song writing with such a beautiful chorus.A stunning debut and was a gen- uine pleasure to review despite having one of the worst album covers I've ever seen; looks like the Twitter bird threw up on it. This album is the combined work of Chris Rowley on guitars and vocals and Gareth Pask on keys and the pair of them have so much darn talent. www.bluebyrdband.co.uk SONGWRITERS of the month Uneven Ground by Bluebyrd