I've started a band - Joey Smith

My name is Joey Smith and I have started a band

MB – So Joey, you’ve just started a band, why did you do that?

JS – What! What kind of a question is that! I dunno, I guess...you don’t have much of a choice once you learn how to apply guitar at the age of 12.

MB – What kind of music do you want to make?

JS – Again, there isn’t much choice because we can only play guitars so it all comes out sounding the same in most sort of ways. Actually, it’s dirty blues rock.

MB – Dirty blues rock?

JS – Yeah, dirty blues rock. Because we can play the blues scale.

MB – How important for you is it to have a good relationship with the singer.

JS – [laughs] It’s a beautiful friendship, it’s crucial to the band dynamic.

MB – Have you written any songs yet?

JS – Yeah.

MB – What’s the best song title you’ve got?

JS – Erm.....they’ve all got bad titles, they’re good songs though. We’ve got a song called The Pervert Song.

MB – The Pervert Song?

JS – Yeah [winks].

MB – Have you got a demo we can listen to?

JS – Nope. We’re going to record it next week. Stick that in your magazine.

MB – So who are the other members of the band?

JS – Brian Beckett, the rhythm guitarist, I play lead guitar of course because I’m better. Rachel Roby who plays bass. My brother, Richard Smith is on drums. He’s younger than me but he’s got a beard so he looks about 40. Sian Williams is on vocals. She’s also of BBC fame I think.

MB – That is right, is she also a weather reporter?

JS – I think so – she was once in a Wombats video.

MB – How does your music express itself?

JS – We try to fulfil our creative appetite by producing pieces of art outwardly. It’s rip-offs of things I’ve heard.

MB – What’s the band’s name?

JS – Mystery Box. Not my idea.

MB – Like a forbidden prostitute?

JS – [silence].

Stuart Todd picks the 10 songs which inspired him the most

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
This goes back to when I was in music college and I grabbed a book about him off the shelf and it kept going on about Born to Run [the album]. So eventually I bought the album from the old Hairy Records shop for about £3.99 and I just thought 'Whoa!' It just sounded so big - the album as a whole but in particular the title track. After hearing Dancing in the Dark and Born in the USA (which I didn't like and wasn't that into) this song and that album really spoke to me.

Supergrass - Time
The whole Britpop era was a very interesting time for me. You had like a couple of tiers of bands. The big bands were obviously Oasis, Blur and Pulp and then you had the second tier which was you're Dodgy's and maybe you're Suede. Supergrass kind of fell into the second tier as well and I always thought they were a very underrated band. The first album I Should Coco is brilliant. This song's got a great groove to it as well. I saw them on their last tour last year and I was pretty sad to see them split up.

Ottis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
When I first started playing music I was playing old soul records on bass, or songs of the Blues Brothers movie. I've always loved soul music; Motown, Stax, Atlantic etc. This son is a bit of an obvious tune but I just love the song, and I've covered it a few times in some of the sets I've done. It's one of those songs where I just get into a certain modd and I could listen to it for hours.

10cc - The Things We Do For Love
10cc are one of those groups that no one really talks about too much, in my opinion they were a very underrated group when they were going. This is the song I would take to a desert island if I had to choose just one. It's quite a middle of the road number but it is just a great pop record. This is why it has influenced me because that's what I've been trying to do with my stuff - trying to write really good pop songs. Look at it this way - if you can write a 2/3 minute song that is really catchy then that is usually the start of good things to come. This song has a great introductio, great verses - fantastic!

Simon & Garfunkel - Save the Life of My Child
This songs of the album Bok Ends. I could've chosen something more famous from Simon & Garfunkel but I really do think this track is ahead of its time. Paul Simon is a great lyrical writer but I also think that he was very much into the studio situation side of things. He seemed always into experimenting with new sounds and different styles of music. This is the most experimental song off the album and it probably is their best album they ever did. It's all about alienation and being cut off from the rest of the world and that's something that I could connect with straight away at the time.

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
Being from Liverpool, I'm a huge Beatles fan and it's quite hard to pick just one their songs. If I had to I'd pick A Hard Day's Night. It's my favourite album of theirs, the whole album is brilliant and the first track is just fantastic. I remember when I was a kid at Christmas and wtaching the film on video. That song though, from that might chord at the beginning of the track to the arpeggios on the guitar at the end. I think it is the most exuberant track they ever did. It's got so much energy, so much enthusiasm and the whole album reflects that.

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
I wish I'd wrote that song. In actual fact, apart fro Pet Sounds and some of their earlier hits I've never really got into the Beach Boys that much - never really been a massive fan but the harmonies in this song are simply unbeatable. I wish I could have created a song like that which is based around all those different harmonies. Brian Wilson definately has a gift for that sort of thing - this track is 3 and a half minutes of genius - and I do not use that word lightly.

The Police - Spirits in the Material World
Having started out as a bass player, I've always had a thing for really strong basslines. The Police are one of my favourites because of this, you can always hear it in their songs. The album Ghost in the Machine is especially true of this. Sting's a really great bass player. I mean even though it isn't really fashionable to like Sting at all, during The Police he was really on form. He's never got any better than the stuff he did with him. Although on the flipside, I suppose it is quite fashionable to like The Police now! Personally though I've always been really into the power trio format and this song I guess reflects that.

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
I've always been a big Bob Dylan fan, he was one of the first guys I really started following. My uncle was a huge Dylan fan, and when I started listening to him he lent me all his records so that was cool. That album in particular really struck out to me.

Neil Young - Down By the River
I have to pick a Neil Young track. This song is off his second album, and it's the first album he did with Crazy Horse [Neil Young's backing band]. It's an epic track, a 10-minute guitar epic! It's only 2 chords, just E minor and A but the way that it's so simple you wouldn't believe it, I think a 2-year old could come up with it but it's the way he does it. He does ballad stuff as well of course but I've chosen this track because I never get tired of hearing the guitar solo. Half the song is a one-note guitar-solo!

Free Rock n Roll @ Mello Mello, 3rd March 2011

Free rock ‘n’ roll has been quickly been gaining a reputation around Liverpool since its inception around last year. People pretty much know what they’re going to get at this night; the sound is often a bit tinny, the bands (and most of the crowd) all have a 50s style that would make the cast of American Graffiti look out of date, and there will at least be one member of Zombina and the Skeletones wandering around.

This night is no different, with the headlining act being rough rhythm and blues/rockabilly band El Toro featuring the Skeletones’ very own guitarist ‘Doc Horror’ on bass

After a rather uninvolving start to the night with an acoustic singer guy whining about stuff and generally not sounding very good, the night truly starts to experience some good music from local lads The Lees. Despite having a rather tame name, they open with a number I was reliably informed was entitled ‘Don’t Fuck With The Law’. Imagine Johnny Cash being trapped in a drunken stumble home with a member of The Coral and you’ve got a good idea of how The Lees sound. It’s local ‘Liverpool’ music as you expect to hear it; sixties-influences, brown-ale sound, and lots of cynical self-mockery between and during songs.

However, The Lees aren’t really suited to the crowd of fantastic freaks at Mello Mello, and the atmosphere noticeably goes up a notch once the stupendously ghastly sounding and ghastly looking Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons get going. Hailing from ‘dannnn south’ these sound exactly like the Zombina and the Skeletones used to (there they are again).

The crowd love them, but they were more than good enough for people to pay good money for. The lead singer, complete with feline hair ears and furry tail fully lived up to all the expectation and merchandise that they brought with them. A smart young lad would keep an eye on this band.

El Toro then had to follow them, but thankfully (think of Liverpool’s pride at being upstaged by a bunch of southerners [crying, crying, crying]) they delivered a solid, pounding dose of rock ‘n’ roll to quash the uprising. Lead singer ‘Jimmy O’ stalked the stage in a sinister pair of black sunglasses as the rest of band hammered out I-IV-V rhythms. To quote my friend, who’d tagged along for the gig: “The last band was mint” – and who would argue with that?!

Overall, this was one of the best Free Rock ‘n Roll nights at Mello Mello in a while. Although, ZATS’ influence still looms, it has become clear – to me at least – that that band is coming to a close, and that El Toro (with a new album just completed and released) me be able to steal the market.

Les Savy Fav @ The Kazimier, 26th February 2011

Despite always sounding a little bit thin on their albums, Les Savy Fav have always been one of the best live bands around. There’s a reason why they’ve been going for over a decade and also why according to Wikipedia, London based band Jetplane Landing have penned a tribute entitled: “Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?” Honestly.

This was their debut show in Liverpool, and it is difficult to imagine a better venue for their first appearance than the avant-garde, high on pretension but high-on quality setting of the Kazimier.

Despite the rambunctious finale that promised to be provided by Les Savy Fav and infant indie-supergroup Young Legionnaire, the night started off with some rather tame math-rock from local band Dire Wolfe.

The rather subtle and not-too-offensive seemed to be a reflection of the Kazimier at the time, as the place was only half-full. Mind you, their set was pretty much faultless, everything sounded tight and I expect to see them a couple more times around Liverpool.

After the rather subdued efforts of the previous two support acts it was time for Young Legionnaire to get up in front of Liverpool and prove that they are a bit more than the spare parts discarded by The Automatic (singer and guitarist Paul Mullen), Bloc Party (bassist Gordon Moakes) and not La Roux (originally drummer Will Bowerman has been replaced on this tour by Dean Pearson).

They pretty much set their stall out on the first song, which was probably louder than all the previous songs if they were added up together and mixed in a rolling, overall decibel pot. It’s hard to recall if they did actually ever turn the volume down; I think they had to stop to tune up once.

However, the energy supplied from Young Legionnaire was superb and gave a much needed kick-up-the-arse to proceedings. Frontman Paul Mullen was particularly brutal in his deliver; his Gibson SG in hand ‘Angus Young-style’ and his foot on the monitor ‘Steve Harris-style’. Stand out song was their single from last year ‘Colossus’.

All in all, the tone was set nicely for Les Savy Fav. After a quick break (it’s always funny how the biggest band playing can sound check the quickest), the New Yorkers burst onto the stage, and lead singer Harrison Haynes surprised everyone by appearing from the back of the crowd in neon-green face paint and green smurf-hat. However, this was only the start of proceedings.

Bear in mind that whilst the band was churning songs of the quality of “Pots and Pans”  “What Would Wolves Do?” and “Who Rocks the Party”, Harrison managed to hit people with a large Gandalf-inspired staff, strip down to his underwear, snog someone at the other end of the room and hang upside down from the top floor before finally pulling on a tiger suit for the encore.

If Liverpool needed introduced to Les Savy Fav then it is surely past formal handshakes now. The crowd and band seem to have taken to each other straight away, and if the zany New Yorkers ever feel like staying over again for a bit (a lot) more than coffee then they will forever be welcome.