Review: The Feelgood Depression

First an apology for my lack of post on Wednesday as advertised as I have been unwell this week.


The Feelgood Depression is a new and upcoming band based in Stoke on Trent right her ein the united Kingdom. As with many bands just starting out they are striving to increase their fanbase and plug their music out to all those who may be interested. It is very difficult these days for news bands to get the proverbial ball rolling. Some believe that the utilisation of websites such as Mysapce, Twitter and Facebook would actually make this easier but I believe it instead to be the opposite.

The Feelgood Depression is a modern combination of Rock and Grunge lead by the vocals of Deborah Crellin and Tracy Smith featuring the lead guitar skills of James Smith, Kenneth Nelson on Bass, Dan Steele on drums and Dan Dale on keyboard and synthesiser.

Their E.P album is called Rockstar and features four tracks. The first track, also called Rockstar opens with an immediately catchy guitar rift which then breaks into vocals part way in telling the classic story of Rockstars doing what they do best, rocking!

Track two, The Flowers are Dead (a title which actually made me go "Awwwh :(" before even starting the track) starts slower than the previous track with a synthesiser start flowing into a soft beat and guitar. This track has a much more sad theme on which we taken on a journey discussing the sadness of being forgotten, whether this is supposed to be forgotten because of death or other reasons I believe is left for the listener to decide depending on what they related to better. The vocals explore that little glimmer of hope that we all have that we would not be forgotten and that someone from our lives, someone we love, still remember.

The third, track titled "The One" jumps back to a more catchy and faster paced opening which reminds me of the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Feeder (For some reason?), and continues into a lovely fast paced "Hum" song, by which a song which after listening to it you find yourself humming the melody for the rest of the afternoon.

And finally the fourth track "Help Me Out" moves back again into a slightly softer beginning but jumps and morphs into a faster grunge track discussing the inevitable feelings of low self worth and yearning for the appreciation of others.

With each track I enjoyed this band more and more and highly recommend you give them a listen and check out their lives shows:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Feelgood-Depression/127179797362002 Give them a big old LIKE

https://twitter.com/FeelgoodDepress FOLLOW and see where it leads you!

Next week I will finally post about this large subject I have been building up to, if there are any topics you wish me to discuss on this blog, or if you have a band or there is a band you want me to review then please e-mail me on paul.rawcliffe1@gmail.com and let me know!


DFTBA

Misc

Okay so I had been avoiding doing a blog post because the one I was planning is very deep and sensitive and had been on my mind a lot recently.

However two things have cropped up lately so I'm inserting this in-between my planned post which I will do next week. On that note since my posting has been, erratic to say the least, I am going to choose a day in the week to do a consistent post, not sure when yet.

I want to talk about the recent plans to make busking without a license an arrest able offence in Liverpool and the 'discovery' of the Higgs Boson.

First of all I am unclear on the facts for both of these stories, but my intention is to examine the hypothetical ideas.

Buskers, as you may or may not know, is what we call those people you often find in city centres playing music in the street for tips. First of all I HATE the stereotype that these people are all homeless beggars. Nonsense, most are very talented musicians and are part of bands etc. Busking is a good way for new musicians to become known and also just to liven up an otherwise dull and ugly urban setting, why would people not want their lives brightened with music?

Secondly these people are clearly not beggars, you can tell just by checking out the instruments and equipment most have.

Anyway off my tangent.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/keep-spontaneous-street-performance-alive

It is my understanding that there are already generally license requirements for busking publicly and I suppose the more I think about it I do understand why this makes sense.

The trouble, as this article is suggesting, is it is restricting who can busk far too much, part of the point of busking is to give new musicians experience, not just to cherry pick the very best, that’s basically signing a musician, and yet with no perks of such a thing.

Street performing is a delight of the modern world and yet local authorities do not seem to want it.

Why?

I have tried to work out what it is that restrictive councils don't like about them. For a start do people forget Liverpool got European Capital of Culture in 2008, something our Council made a very big deal about.

I doubt completely that our skilled street buskers did not in any way contribute to this title, and how do we reward them? More limitations.

Now anyone who has read my University Dissertation (which none of you have, so I'm not sure why I've said that, would anyone like me to post it?) would know that I do actually believe in limitation on things like information. I do not believe in freedom of speech and I certainly do not believe in the freedom of information and that blasted Wikileaks.

However that restriction is based on the idea of public and national safety being the bigger priority.

Unless I am grossly misinformed busking is at worst an irritation to people who don't understand it and then at best a passion for those who enjoy it. On balance I do not see how busking is a threat to the public and therefore should not be so tightly regulated.

The excuse of " These measures will greatly enhance Liverpool's ability to attract the very best buskers and will add a new dimension to the visitors experience...Buskers themselves will benefit from a better regulated process...retailers and shoppers will be delighted the city has finally made this leap."

Is completely insane! How on earth are buskers going to benefit unless they are already the top of their game? Yes we want to attract the best buskers, but why should we reject the ones not as good, is this fair? Should people of all abilities not be able to express their art?

Furious.

Right second topic. Apparently CERN has discovered a particle that fits with their model for the Boson. This is very exciting news for the science world:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/4/3136527/higgs-boson-discovery-cern-announcement

First of let me clarify that the Higgs Boson does not disprove God or any of this nonsense (I personally believe it adds more reason for believing but I'm not going into that), it is called the God Particle which people think mean it is a substitute for God. Well first of all the Media gave it this name not scientists and secondly all they meant is it is such an exciting discovery it would be like discovering proof of God, it is that amazing a particle. That particular phrase is a poor choice of words and causes far more arguments than it should.

It should be clarified that it is NOT certain that this is the Boson yet, what is certain is that it is a new particle. The more we learn about the way the universe works the better, the more advancements we can make and the better life can be improved. Now we can also start manipulating the universe, which is a handy thing to do!

Anyway my next post will be the one I had scheduled and it links in some ways to this post, I'll aim for Wednesday of next week. I also intend of doing Teaser Tuesdays so keep an eye open for those posts too.

DFTBA