Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
Showing posts with label Ice Cream Man Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ice Cream Man Blog. Show all posts
Mention Sweden to anyone these days and the first thing they think of is Ikea, well here is another package from Sweden, but this time there are no screws missing! The Vanjas hail from Stockholm on the east coast of Sweden and consist of singer Vanja Lo, Bass payer Bon Ton, Guitarist Mr Magnatone and drummer Swingin' Zack. They serve up a good, honest dish of Rock 'N' Roll in the form of RnB, not that faux style of RnB that you see a generic version of each Saturday night on TV "talent" shows, this is Maximum RnB! The three guys in the band take the stage sporting matching red suits, Chelsea boots, white shirts and black ties, looking sharp, smart and as if they mean business, which they clearly do. They fire up with an instrumental before being joined on stage by singer Vanja Lo, Vanja is also looking very sharp in a late 50's early 60's style cut dress, she later tells me that she "struggles to look sharp," pointing to a ladder in her tights which had probably occurred when climbing over the stage barriers to dance with a young man whilst singing the band's new single "No Tomorrow Boy." However, her neat styled hair, again in a 50's/60s style, along with her dress, would suggest otherwise, she is positively stylish and sharp. On stage the band put on a show, a real show, not just an audible experience but a fantastic visual experience too. Mr Magnatone and Bon Ton are all over the stage, pointing their guitars at the sky and towards the audience in a well co-ordinated, synchronised unison, using as much of the stage as they can, which on the small stage at Sticky Fingers is no mean feat. In fact, Mr Magnatone also leaves the stage and plays guitar in amongst the audience who are all wearing broad smiles on their faces, one guy looks across at me and nods and smiles in acknowledgement that we are both witnessing something special.
The Vanjas by Wayne Lundqvist-Ford
Throughout all of this at the back of the stage Swingin' Zack is providing a tight beat, pounding the skins. Vanja is of course keeping command over the audience with an attitude and style that is not frequently seen, when she tells the audience to listen, they listen! The band play most of the songs from their album "The Vanjas Sings and Plays Rock 'N' Roll" with songs like "Friday Twist" making even the reserved crowd at the back of the venue start shuffling around, they are also smiling like Cheshire cats and edging more into the crowd with each song, this band could win over even the toughest of audiences and get them moving, why would you not want to join this party? Talking to the band after the show, I asked about musical influences and there is no surprise when the Blues, Rock 'N' Roll, Soul and Punk are mentioned, The Vanjas encapsulate all of those styles and fire them at you at a million miles per hour. When I ask about their style, and they are as I said, very stylish, they tell me how they were chatting in the car on the 5 hour drive from Stockholm to Gothenburg and they had agreed that with the outfits and the stage names they were like a cartoon, which immediately made me think of the Ramones, a band whose name came up in later conversation.
The Vanjas by Wayne Lundqvist-Ford
It is fair to say that the qualities between the two bands are very similar, whilst the visual styling of the bands are different, the result is the same, fucking amazing! I bid my farewells to the band who are still bright eyed and looking sharp, with the exception of the ladder in Vanja's tights, which isn't really bothering her. I exit the venue into the rainy night/morning, sheltering my newly acquired slice of of vinyl inside my jacket, my beaming grin still firmly fixed in place on my face and head home safe the knowledge that everything I could have wanted from seeing a band live had been checked off and also exceeded. In short, go and see this band, book this band, this isn't the next new thing, this is good old fashioned Rock 'N' Roll, an institution of what is great about music and we should embrace it because The Vanjas aren't going to let us forget it and amen to that.
With many thanks to Wayne Lundqvist-Ford for the review and photos. Wayne also does the excellent Ice Cream Man Radio Show on Radio Andra and you can check out the archive of past episodes at his Podomatic web-site here. You can check out our Retrosonic Podcast Episode from a couple of years ago when I spoke to Wayne in Sweden and we played his pick of some of the best International Power Pop bands that had been submitted to his Ice Cream Man Radio Show.
If you listened to our recent Retrosonic Podcast Power Pop Edition with Wayne Lundqvist-Ford from Ice Cream Man Blog, you will be aware of the blistering guitar pop attack of Budokan's contribution, the superb "The Queen's English". Budokan are a rock and roll band from Victoria B.C. in Canada and they play hook filled songs with loud guitars that they want people to love and remember. They draw inspiration from all the greats, but feel particularly indebted to the likes of Cheap Trick (yes, the band's name is a tribute to their classic "Live at Budokan" album), Ramones, Redd Kross, The Stones and Buzzcocks. Budokan comprise the singing, guitar playing and songwriting pair of Andrew Molloy and Craig Vishek, Kent Bendall on bass and Graham Watson on drums. "Spin a Little Gold" is their hotly anticipated debut full-length album and was initially only be available on beautiful 180 gram gold vinyl and digital download. However, the CD is version is now available on Japan's prestigious SP Records.
Wayne from Ice Cream Man Blog - Photo by Steve Worrall
During my recent trip to Sweden I caught up with my good friend and expert on Power Pop, Wayne Lundqvist-Ford, who runs the Ice Cream Man Blog. I chatted to Wayne about his Blog and went through some of the many CD's and albums he gets sent by bands from all over the word who hope to be featured. Wayne certainly knows his stuff about the huge International underground Power Pop scene, and he picks out some of the new bands that have caught his attention in the past year. Wayne has also been a big supporter of Retro Man Blog favourites such as Stanley Road, The Past Tense and The Len Price 3 amongst others - but I was eager to find out more - and I wasn't disappointed. Wayne chooses a prime selection from all over the Globe, and we kick things off with a great track "If You Love Her" by Californian band Beyond Veronica. That's followed by a raw and punky "Open Book" from Milan's wonderful The Sensibles, then there's a blistering track, "White Capri", from my Retrosonic Podcast colleague Adam and his West London New Wave trio The Jetsonics, taken from their brand new E.P. Another British band next, and it's sunny sea-side popsters Phenomenal Cat and the latest in their series of a single-per-month releases "The Volume Police". We zoom over to Madrid for The Seasongs and a track from their "Out Of The City" album. You can probably get an idea of Budokan's influence in their band name, and the Canadian band offer up "The Queen's English", a powerful Cheap Trick style number. Holland's Marty Graveyard, the ex-Madd band-member, has a solo album out called "Summer Holiday" and here's the super-catchy "Do You Really Wanna Dance?". We stay on the beach for the beautiful shimmering harmonies of Denmark's Surf School Dropouts and their sublime "Run Away". Lyon's Mr Day provide some "Food For Soul", all fuzzy guitars and Hammond organ. Germany's Monkeeman, are next with the mighty "I'm a Lonely Guy" taken from 2008's "Life In The Backseat", one of a trio of must-have albums from the excellent song-writer Ralf Luebke. To finish off there is a track from one of Retro Man Blog's albums of the year "Things That Shine and Glow" from the fantastic Milwaukee based band, Trolley. So, as I mentioned, it really is an International scene and I hope you enjoy the tunes. You can contact Wayne at Ice Cream Man Blog by email and also check out, listen and download the Podcast totally free of charge at our Soundcloud site here:
Wayne has also started up a new Blog, it's called Power Pop T-Shirt, and it's devoted to the "band" T-Shirt. Contributions are welcome, so drop him an email with a photo of your favourite shirt, along with a short anecdote or back story as to why the shirt is special to you.
Here's the fun promo video to Wayne and his band, Wayne James & The Harry Evlar Experience, and their great cover of Teenage Fanclub's classic Power Pop track "Sparky's Dream".
Thanks to Wayne for his time, he will also appear in a forthcoming Swedish music special episode.
