First night of the tour was at the Golden Lion in Todmorden; it was described to me years ago as the ‘psych capital of the north’ so it had a lot to live up to. It didn’t disappoint. A big gathering of northern gig regulars were there as well as others from further afield.  It was a hot, sweaty and crowded gig and Helicon hammered straight into a series of songs from the latest ‘God Intentions’ LP (out now on Fuzz Club) before taking a trip back in time to previous album tracks, everywhere I looked people were grinning and dancing, eyes closed and lost in their own ‘Heliconia’ world. The band was originally put together by brothers John-Paul and Gary Hughes and tonight was all the more special for being Gary’s first gig back after a long absence; it just felt right seeing him back, on keys and guitar. The whole band are seriously good musicians, most with other musical projects on the go, and the chemistry on stage works beautifully, guitarist Mike Hastings and bass player Billy Docherty dominate one side of the stage with the Hughes brothers on the other; at the back drummer Seb Jonsen is a joy to watch as he always looks to be having the best night of his life! Centre stage is Graham Gordon who alternates between conjuring sounds from the keyboards, playing a devilish sitar, a quick turn as the great god Pan for ‘Tae The Moon’ and generally stirring the crowd up in his own madcap Groovy way…The rest of the band are slightly more reserved, just as well really!, but clearly have such a passion for the music and enjoy playing so much that it is infectious.

Helicon’s music walks the line between dark and light; it’s psychedelic but never whimsical, always earthed and rooted in reality, powerful and direct but varied and expansive. Existential psychedelia? They’re deadly serious about the music but have huge fun playing it. At times it is dark and gritty but can explode into kaleidoscopic colour. Half the time the guitars are fuzzy, dirty and noisy and the other half sublime and entrancing. There’s a lot going on in a Helicon song and they seem on the crest of a creative wave at present.

Songs like ‘Seraph’ ‘Permo’ ‘Flume’ ‘In The End’ ‘Come On Get Off’ and ‘Pure Filth’ seem to mainline straight to my subconscious and connect in that weird way that music can, twisting sounds into emotions. (the latter three don’t even make it into the set at present such is the strength and depth of material available) There’s something about the way they put their music together that resonates. I have no idea why certain chords, sequences of notes or tones can produce this effect but I’m very glad they can. Searing psych rock, swathes of sound, slightly melancholic but uplifting at the same time.

The trip from Yorkshire to Axminster in Devon was long and painful, the true glamour of tour life manifesting as sore backs and knees. This could only lead to ….Kozfest! This small scale festival has been running for a while now and I suspect it hasn’t changed much over the years; very much rooted in the old hippie free festival scene with a cast of characters that have been there and done it all many times over; the whole feel was chilled out and friendly with the music alternating between two big marquees. Helicon were to headline one of these – Judge Trev’s Place. No idea who Judge Trev is or was but looking at the rest of the crowd he probably had something to do with Gong or Hawkwind! Set up time was short and soundcheck even shorter but this didn’t seem to phase the band in the slightest and as the tent started to fill up they launched into the set. It was another stormer with the assembled cosmic dancers (even the ones that were too stoned to get out of their deck chairs!) picking up on the band’s energy and giving it back; it felt like a real celebration. After packing up we spent the rest of the night taking in some of the weird and wonderful things that Kozfest offers, before all piling in to sleep in a large tent provided by the organisers.

After free coffee and a good chat with some festival stalwarts we piled back in the van and hit the road again. Driver and manager Stevie couldn’t resist the lure of the ancients however so we did a bit of a detour to Stonehenge…after perplexing a few tourists and with druidry complete and counter culture rituals observed it was onwards to Northampton, the home of Bauhaus and Alan Moore and as we were to find out a whole cast of other eclectic souls.

I go to a lot of gigs; most are good, a lot are great and then there are others that transcend that and stick with you forever. These are the ones that give you those special moments – hair sticking up on the back of your neck, a tear in the eye, a feeling of peace and power at the same time – that make all the travelling, planning, waiting and expense worthwhile. Every night on this tour was one of those and none more so than at The Black Prince. I could see plenty of others in the room feeling the same; there just seemed to be an abandoned joy in the air and big grins all around, just as there had been in Todmorden and Kozfest.

After a memorable night with the underworld denizens of the Black Prince we grab a much needed few hours of sleep before we head to more familiar territory for me in east London, unfortunately during an epic rainstorm. Paper Dress Vintage is, not surprisingly, a vintage clothes shop but the second floor has a gig space, with seriously good sound.  Another one of the things I love most about the gigging scene is the community and that pretty much wherever I end up there will be friends and familiar faces.  That was certainly the case tonight and for the fourth night in a row I was in that space where everything makes sense and nothing else matters. Helicon have been going a while and there is a lot of love for the band; the way they are developing, with each record fuller, richer and more accomplished than the last I can only see that increasing. I often see bands that are good but that I don’t expect to be listening to far into the future; Helicon are building something permanent that exists outside genre labels and fashions.

So our last tango in Hackney was another successful one to end a great mini tour and we all disperse around the country to resume normal life…don’t know about the band but I felt refreshed, inspired and ready for more!

If you’ve never experienced Helicon, live or on record, I urge you to put that right. In the meantime recreate the set in your own home: – Dark Matters/Flume/Heliconia/Zen Roller/Devil On Your Tongue/Permo/What You Love Will Kill You/Seraph/Tae The Moon……More live dates to follow in September and October.

Goodies available at Bandcamp

Helicon website 

Gary Powell August 23

Gary Powell

A dub & reggae obsessed punk rocker with a dark history in the goth underworld and European horror films...now hacking through the psychedelic jungle and searching for new musical highs... Leads a secret voodoo cult in the Dorset countryside if you're ever in the area...

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The majority of The Witching Hour UK tour is over but Saint Agnes, with Enjoy Yourself! tagging along, take their dark arts back out onto the road for a final three dates – the Unholy Trinity – in the South of the country. We start in Southampton, an unholy place on a Thursday night if ever there was one, but it’s hot, loud and sweaty at Heartbreakers and all the signs are good…

The band launches into the staccato blitz of ‘Merry Mother Of God Go Round’ and it’s a wild ride right from the start! If you’re not familiar with the band expect wicked rock ‘n’ roll glamour, glorious wasted blues, punk energy and electrifying performances from all four band members! There’s not a single note wasted, not a single second of filler or anything second-rate or less than spot on. Each instrument seems to fight for supremacy and the result is savage and heavy but with lots of subtle flourishes that will come to prominence when these songs are recorded. The keyboard tonight sounds particularly strong, shards of crystal amongst the madness. They are on epic form throughout the set.

Kitty (vocals, guitar, keyboards), draped in witch symbolism, is seething with dark energy; animated and channelling vibrations from who knows where. She is an entrancing performer, inhabiting a space all of her own, picking the bones of previous female rock icons and creating a unique style. Her voice ranges from cold and imperious, yearning and bruised to a rich classic rock husky howl.  I see members of the audience smiling to themselves, spellbound and transfixed by her performance.

‘Why Do You Refuse To Die’ is a great illustration of one of the things that sets Saint Agnes apart. It starts with Kitty in femme fatale mode, tragic and desperate, and then Jon (lead guitar, vocals, harmonica) takes the narrative on. It’s epic, grandiose and almost theatrical; rock ‘n’ roll myth storytelling, a murderous decadent ballad. I’ve seen a lot of very good bands recently but good frontmen and frontwomen, who can command a stage and demand your attention, seem a rare breed. Saint Agnes are blessed; both Kitty and Jon could front bands all on their own such is the passion they put into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWSp5zWAsyc

The gig is a massive success and the band knows it. It’s like they’ve rested up since the first leg of the tour, shed their skins and come back fresher, brighter and fired up. They were brilliant on the earlier dates but there seems to have been a metamorphosis in the time they’ve had off between shows; as if they’ve had time to reflect and realise just how good they are at the moment. ‘Silvertown’ is back in the set and ‘Sister Electric’ a single release from 2016 is played for the first time in the shows I’ve seen. It all fits perfectly into a furious pummelling maelstrom, drummer Andy seemingly trying to kill his kit such is the ferocity with which he plays, and bassist Ben churning out basslines like juggernauts, effects pedals adding a warped and fuzzed up garage/psychedelic feel to some of them.

Second of the three dates is Brighton, at the Hope and Ruin, for a show put together by the ever-enthusiastic Acid Box crew. Saint Agnes are yet again in stunning form and hammer through the set in glorious style. The tour has thrown up some quirky venues and difficult nights, as is to be expected, but it is great to see them playing to packed rooms and massively enthusiastic audiences such as this. They are clearly going to be playing bigger venues pretty soon and won’t have any trouble at all filling larger stages, but the sheer adversity of traveling the length of the country playing at times to a few handfuls of people will only serve them well and strengthen their resolve. For me, the mark of a real band, passionate about the music they create, is their willingness and ability to give their all every night and put the same effort in regardless of the size of the crowd, the sound, the venue or the fact they had to travel hundreds of miles to get there. You definitely get that with Saint Agnes; I’ve never seen less than 110%. The set is rammed full of epic songs; ‘The Witching Hour’, ‘Diablo, Take Me Home’ ‘I Feel Dangerous Around You’ – they just don’t have a weak track. There’s not even room in the set for ‘Black Horse’ on these three dates; a better song than many bands will ever write in their careers! The songs seem to fit together and exist in their own place and time; Saint Agnes creating their own mythos; a darkly romantic world of occult glamour, epic road trips, and deals with the devil. When the album comes out I’m expecting it to be on a grand scale – a concept album almost (without the dodgy prog rock connotations) rather than just a collection of songs – with everything relating back to the unique and timeless world of imagery and atmosphere that they have created.

‘The Witching Hour’ – just out as a single – is a cinematic, gothic masterpiece; a steadily building incantation, throbbing bassline, and ghost dance drums are split open by an overblown, unapologetically over the top guitar solo! They even throw in an unhinged B- movie freakout keyboard solo for good measure! An album’s worth of tempo changes and different elements all arranged into one dark, pulsing spell! The song is full of echoes of classic rock moments through the years but brewed up in a mixture that is pure and easily recognisable Saint Agnes. Music in widescreen; shamanic and powerful and inspirational. 

There is an attitude to the band, a gang mentality – there has to be to perform like this – but I don’t feel any arrogance in it at all. Somehow the aggression, fire, and passion are inclusive and contagious. You are part of the performance, a participant in the ritual, involved in the celebration. It’s us – the Coven – against them, the rest of the world out there, the unbelievers.

After two triumphant performances the London date, at a sold-out Lexington, was always going to be special. The excited tension had been building throughout the day as the audience had already been treated to five bands. The buzz in the room was palpable and expectation was raised even higher as three cowled figures, faces obscured, appeared on the stage in front of the neon inverted crosses. They remained there motionless, for some minutes as the atmosphere grew heavier. When the despairing tones of intro music ‘John The Revelator’ starts, like a wail of mourning from the abyss, the magick is fully woven and the spell is cast. The devil is in the detail after all…
The band hit the stage and instantly explode into furious action. Jon is electrified from the start and wired as always, his classic rocker mannerisms and guitar-wielding all-action style contrasting initially with Kitty’s more knowing and calculated persona as she stalks around the stage and hangs witchily from the mic stand, but it doesn’t take long for the spirits to take hold and she is soon feeding off the audience  and letting go more than I’ve seen before. Throughout the set, she leaps from monitors, climbs on amps, jumps into the audience, thrashes around on the floor abusing her guitar – and still finds time to sing and play keys! Ben is also clearly feeding off the energy in the room and really letting it all go, while Andy, a fury of movement as ever, batters his drum kit into submission.
It’s a full-on celebration, an end of tour set as they should be, wired, buzzing, charged. I can see the adrenalin in the crowd, people grinning at the sheer power of the event as the band leave the stage, with instruments and kit left in disorder.

The sense of community that the band and their music create is something I’ve not felt at many gigs or from many bands for a long time; that connection between band and audience. I think they genuinely do want to create that sense of belonging, of tribe loyalty, and they seem to thrive on it. It is feelings like that, and a relentless touring schedule won’t hurt either! – that breeds loyalty from gig goers and band followers. There is momentum here, outside of any strict scene or genre and I can only see the Coven growing. The album, when it finally hits, will be a killer. Events have been set in motion… they’re coming for you…
They are Saint Agnes. We are Saint Agnes.

Words: Gary Powell for Enjoy Yourself!
Images: Dave Taylor for Enjoy Yourself!

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Gary Powell

A dub & reggae obsessed punk rocker with a dark history in the goth underworld and European horror films...now hacking through the psychedelic jungle and searching for new musical highs... Leads a secret voodoo cult in the Dorset countryside if you're ever in the area...

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Psychic Lemon were the main support and their opening track ‘Interstellar Fuzz Star‘ typifies their set; a thumping multi-layered psych rocker, with howls of distortion and frequent changes of tempo, that mutates into the dubby bass opening of ‘Satori Disko’ a slow-burning journey through a twisted psychedelic landscape.

‘Hey Droog!’ is another change of pace; an aggressive industrial barrage delivered with an armageddon like fury. I’ve heard this band described – possibly by themselves – as space rock, but that doesn’t cover the howling intensity of their sound. There are subtle touches in their music that you can pick up on their recorded material but tonight their live set is 5 tracks of monstrous ear battering dark psych which went down well with the Leicester crowd and which I expect to be seeing more of at psych fests and gigs around the country.

JuJu is the creation of Italian multi-instrumentalist Gioele Valenti; he composes, plays, records and produces everything on his two albums to date – with last years ‘Our Mother Was A Plant’ following on from the previous year’s self-titled debut, both available on Fuzz Club. For live appearances, he has a regular band of extremely good musicians who allow him to take his vision out on the road. They start their set, split fairly evenly between both their albums, with the marching, militant ‘Samael’ from their debut. It builds the tension, with a slight air of threat, before exploding into a psychotic, almost gospel chorus. This is followed by a total change in style; ‘We Spit On Yer Grave’, a beautiful, driving, triumphant masterpiece – uplifting waves of guitar providing the perfect prescription for a cold winter night with its infectious, spirit-nourishing grooviness! It’s one of those ‘hairs on the back of your neck’ moments, pure inspiration that would make a corpse grin! If there was justice in the music world it would a global hit, the soundtrack to every perfect summer.

‘Sunrise Ocean’ has a dusty timeless feel; a head out on the highway, driving through the desert night roadhouse blues groove. It clatters along with a rumbling bass line, rock solid drum pattern and another of those angelic choruses, otherworldly and visionary. The band is a joy to watch, clearly immersed in their own sound and digging the music that they’re creating. They don’t even look like a band! You could pass them in the street and never guess that they could combine to produce such evocative sounds, this is music purely for the love of music, no trappings, no-nonsense.

The set continues with ‘Stars and Sea’ – a trance-inducing ceremony in rock n roll form, a slow trippy blues-drenched psychedelic opening that eases into a fuzzed up psych rock crescendo packed full of soul and with its eyes set firmly on the heart of the universe. If music was colour this would be kaleidoscopic.

‘In A Ghetto’ the first of the tracks from the latest album ‘Our Mother Was A Plant’ is harder and harsher than the recorded version; pounding primeval voodoo rock summoning the spirits in abandoned fashion, conjuring images of steamy jungle nights, animal masks, dancing worshippers, ancient lust….

‘Play A Game’ in contrast seems warmer than on the LP; saturated with more soul, more colour, and more visionary vibes. It’s got an irresistible funk shuffle with mind-bending freak out guitar snaking away around it. ‘James Dean’ is a sexy beast of a track anyway but tonight it has even more swagger and aggression, it’s on edge – a sonic neon flare charged with such punk energy that at first, I couldn’t recognise it. “I wanna die like fucking James Dean, I wanna live like goddamn Putin”

‘Patrick’ too is weightier – a musically colossal almost industrial nugget of dark, dark bad trip psychedelia contrasting blissful out-of-body vocals and expressive guitar. They close with ‘Bring Em War’, just included on the latest Fuzz Club compilation ‘The Reverb Conspiracy Vol 5’. It’s a beautiful mix of bass-heavy pagan echoes, atmospheric keyboards and heavy rock riffs, Gioele in shaman mode, chanting and enchanting.

The epic feel continues with the encore ‘Lost’, a cavernous deep and thoughtful piece to finish with, the guitar hook evoking a feeling of pure nostalgia but at the same time a new promise, a glimpse of the future. It’s not the ‘normal’ way of ending a show – with a rousing crashing finale – but that’s what we’ve come to expect from JuJu. Guitars spiral off into deep space and the set comes to a close and I don’t begrudge a single one of the 400 miles I’ll have done by the very end of the day.

For me there is something that sets JuJu apart; they defy narrow categorisation, their sound too expansive, varied and wide to fit any label. There is an earthy, primal, natural feel emanating from what is on the face of it rock music. Their records are a mix of pagan rhythms and beats but with a steamy urban grit, hints of gospel, bags of soul. There are ecstatic highs amidst the dark wide open spaces, an element of ceremony and ritual, something huge and spiritual about the sound that doesn’t fit any set genre.

I try to avoid direct comparisons with other bands but I’ll make an exception; the genre-busting mix up of different styles and approaches reminds me of ‘Screamadelica’ – not necessarily in the actual sound but in the sheer joy involved with adding in so many diverse elements and creating something very different but at the same time with a timeless  feel to it.

I anticipate doing many more miles on the road with JuJu in pursuit of those precious moments when everything sounds just right and all is well with the world.

Words: Gary Powell for Enjoy Yourself!
Images: Dave Taylor for Enjoy Yourself!
Additional images can be found here: 

https://www.facebook.com/JuJuSpell/

Gary Powell

A dub & reggae obsessed punk rocker with a dark history in the goth underworld and European horror films...now hacking through the psychedelic jungle and searching for new musical highs... Leads a secret voodoo cult in the Dorset countryside if you're ever in the area...

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Originally posted 2011-02-25 17:46:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter