Ryan's Gig Guide - March 2020

Jess Silk is a guitarist, singer and songwriter from the Black Country. Her shouty but melodic brand of folk/punk music often has her being likened to a female Frank Turner or Billy Bragg, and it gets people sitting up and listening. Armed only with an increasingly sticker-covered acoustic guitar and a distinctive, gravely voice that many don’t expect, Jess plays to audiences up and down the UK (when there are gigs to be played and pubs/ venues open to play them in). Taking a break working on her second album, in March Jess released a new EP 'If We're Damned'. The EP is a collection of songs written over the past seven years (ish), and features re-workings of a couple of older songs off Jess' first album 'Break the Bottle', as well as some more recent as yet unreleased tracks. mouse-pointer www.jesssilk.bandcamp.com Jess Silk  Listen Rainbow Skull are what happens when two guys the wrong side of 45, who made their first steps into music in the late 80s/ early 90s team up with a drummer with a deep love for the music of that era. Alex, Geoff, and Jon make a spiky fuzz thick racket reminiscent of Sebadoh, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Versus, and the older sounds of the British punk scene of the 70s. Sharing bass, vocal, and guitar duties, Alex and Geoff trade their very different voices and styles back and forth while Jon underpins the deafening churn with thunderous beats from his stand-up minimal drum kit. Jon started drumming when he was 14, studied music at Stourbridge College where he formed the band Labelled Dead with his mate Adam Roberts. Labelled Dead self- describe as an ‘Alt-rock trio’ and are good, you should check them out. Jon also plays in a band that regularly makes money at gigs, making him the most successful of all of Rainbow Skull! Geoff started out in his aunt’s 80s electro-pop band, The Hazards playing drums and the bass. One single came out in ‘86 before the band went their different ways. He then played drums in The Mercenary Tree Freaks (who were, literally, big in Japan) and then Phantom Planet. After a break from music at the start of the century, Geoff returned to the West Midlands to play in The Knowing. Following another break to start a family, he teamed up with Stuart Tonks in local electro legends Agents of Evolution. Rainbow Skull is the first time he’s sung and played guitar in a band. Scots born Alex has had a long career in music, taking in Scottish Peel faves Maps of Jupiter and Magnetic North Pole as well as electro duo Lipsick! and techno act Wülfstabber. Probably best known for Thee Moths (described as ‘lo-fi magic’ by the NME for their second album) his frantically scrubbing guitar sound was once dubbed ‘inspired’ by Melody Maker while the Scottish music magazine ‘The Skinny’ described him as a ‘national treasure’. Rainbow Skull is the first time he’s played in a full band since ditching loud guitars for laptops in 2004. Some would say ‘about bloody time’. He is also a writer and visual artist. Rainbow Skull released their eponymous debut album in January 2020. A tight blast of 9 songs it ranges from the snarling punk of Geoff’s ‘Pretender Avenger’ to the epic sweep and wall of noise of the Alex penned ‘Sons & Daughters’. In a sprint of 29 minutes the band touches on the topics of lost love, betrayal, politics, and the spirit of 1992. mouse-pointer www.rainbowskull.bandcamp.com RAINBOW SK  Listen camera-alt Stephen Bennett www.ryansgigguide.com rgg Apr 2020 11 www.ryansgigguide.com 10 rgg Apr 2020