What to do in York this month: Music for July 2013
Grace Clarke looks ahead to a month which mashes up early music with heavy metal
Cancel your plans, because Simone Felice is playing The Duchess tonight – Monday, July 1 – and if you aren’t there, the life you claim to be living will be of very little worth.
Every song sounds like a classic, and to hear them live borders on a religious experience. Tonight he’ll be previewing songs from his upcoming record. Really, do not miss this.
Right, now that’s out of the way. It’s July, already. June was a busy one eh? I for one saw Springsteen and Rihanna in the space of one week. Springsteen came out on top musically, but Rihanna looked better in thigh high boots.
DV8Fest
So July. We’re well into festival season, and this month DV8fest takes over Fibbers and The Duchess between the 11th and 14th, bringing the likes of Echobelly, Midge Ure and Wilko Johnson to town.
They’re also bringing steampunk band The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing who I think are pretty hilarious (in a good way), but I’m not sure I’m supposed to. I had to Google steampunk, and so my understanding is that they are a punk band inspired by industry and science fiction…
Early Music and metal
Another festival this month is the York Early Music Festival. It runs from July 5th to 13th, and this year’s focus is the 300th anniversary of violinist Arcangelo Corelli’s death, who devoted his musical career to Rome and subsequently became an important part in the development of classical music.
July seems to be quite a metallic month, with one day festival Brodown taking over The Duchess on the 27th, showcasing the best in underground metal, Dinosaur Pile-Up on the 9th and Dead City Streets on the 29th.
Not forgetting…
Two bands I’m really looking forward to are Raglans and Hoodlums. Both pretty summery, guitar driven bands with those “oh oh oh” choruses that all the boys join in together on. A bit like Bastille really. They both play The Duchess, Hoodlums on the 8th and Raglans on the 20th.
Tunabunny play The Basement on the 24th. If you have a penchant for Echobelly (see above) they are certainly worth a listen.
They describe themselves as transcendental dance pop. Honestly, I’ve no idea what that means. They caught my eye with an intriguing video for (Song For My) Solar Sister, which features a party not dissimilar to one I found myself at this weekend. I wasn’t invited or anything, I just saw a sign for free beer and heard they were playing Now 64.