The year didn’t start off well, catching COVID over Christmas causing me to miss the Rockaway Beach festival at the beginning of January. In some way, catching COVID was a blessing. I felt I had some COVID protection during the first few months of the year and it helped me open up a bit more and I know I attended more gigs than I might have otherwise.

Changes to working patterns, allowing me to work from home, made it easier to get to gigs as I didn’t have to fight traffic on the A1 every evening before catching a train into London. But oddly, it seemed to reduce my enthusiasm for Friday night gigs. I often wanted to stay in and relax after a week of work. Trains were another issue this year. Weekend trains continued to be unreliable so I rarely attended Saturday night gigs. Strikes caused me to miss a few more.

One big saving grace was DICE. More promoters recognised the benefit of allowing the audience to return tickets to a waiting list. It helps reassure us that we can get our money back if we catch COVID. Despite missing several gigs this year, in most cases I didn’t lose any money as people picked them up from DICE.

Hertfordshire got a new venue, the Corn Exchange in Hertford. Managed by the excellent team from The Horn in St Albans. It has all the elements to be a great venue for Hertfordshire. Hopefully, the people of Hertford will embrace it in 2023.

The annual trip to the Great Escape proved to be a disappointment. The venues were too busy and the festival seemed to place too much emphasis on the conference attendees being allowed in first. Hopefully, they will tweak things for 2023.

Dark, gothy post-punk bands were still the major influence on me this year. But there were signs of the poppier sound that emerged in the early 80s making a comeback again. I think 2023 could see a shift to a lighter sound.

New from us, was our first online magazine. Featuring articles from the first half of the year. Unfortunately, I struggled to find the time to create an issue 2. I was out gigging too much. I enjoyed producing it, so hope I can find the time to produce future issues.

Best Festival: Krankenhaus

A festival for Sea Power fans. Featuring three sets from the band. A whole host of excellent bands. A fantastic venue, Muncaster Castle, with helpful, friendly staff. A range of other activities such as talks, fell walks, trips on a miniature train, a dog and bird of prey shows and a friendly audience. It was a very special festival.

Best Gig: Richard Dawson with Circle

The Sea Power gigs this year were special. Their Roundhouse gig was special for me. It was my first opportunity to photograph the amazing venue. But as they have won the ‘Best Festival’ award, I will focus on some of the other impressive gigs in 2023.

Benefits played their first London show. Their abrasive art-noise sound with Kingsley’s poetry challenged the listener. At each successive show, they got better and better.

A departure for us was seeing the Pet Shop Boys at the Electric Ballroom. A fun diversion from our usual gigs

Jack White released his second album of the year and played Rough Trade. I say played Rough Trade. It was a very short and sweet 15 minute set. But it was still worth queuing for 90 minutes to see Jack play such a small venue.

Richard Dawson had the time of his life playing a fun metal show with Finish metal band Circle. I got the feeling he would have had just as much fun playing to an empty room. Thankfully, we were all invited to his party and because of this I’m going to make this my gig of the year. I really didn’t know what to expect. I don’t even know if I really enjoyed the music. I just know I left the venue with a beaming smile.

Band of the year: Sea Power

Great album. Great Gigs. Great festival.

Best new band: Deadletter

Although 2022 was my first chance at catching Benefits. I was aware of their output. Deadletter on the other hand, were a new discovery when I saw them play an Independent Venue Week gig at the Social. Since then I have seen them several times. Each time, they have got better and better.

Best gig photo: Xenia Pestova Bennett

So many photos to choose from. But there is one photo I love more than any other. It is a photo of the talented composer and pianist, Xenia Pestrova Bennett playing Daylight Music. It is a music photo that doesn’t feature the piano. It shows the Xenia feeling the music as she is playing, with a steam of light through the church’s window. I love the way my exposure for the strong light on her face made the background disappear to black, putting us in her world. No distractions. Only the music.

Album Of The Year: Everything Was Forever

Album of the year: Everything Was Forever – Sea Power

Sea Power’s eighth studio album and first under their new name reflects a more mature band. Neil and Scott having lost both parents since their last outing seemed to be in a more contemplative mood that producer Graham Sutton has encouraged them to explore. Sonically this pays off with probably their most spacial album to date. The album has the usual rockers in ‘Green Goddess’, ‘Dopplerganger’ and ‘Two Fingers’, the later a reference to their dad’s habit of pouring out two fingers of alcohol. The beautiful ‘Lakeland Echo’ is a wistful walk through childhood memories of parents and Cumbria. ‘Lakeland Echo’ being the name of the local paper. On ‘Transmitter’, Martin Noble gets a chance to throw in a guitar solo. The album feels their most personal to date and that isn’t a bad thing. Having heard the material played live throughout this year. The new songs all sound brilliant live and seem to have reinvigorate the band and audience.

2nd: The Overload – Yard Act

Following the lead of bands like Dry Cleaning, James Smith speaks most of the songs weaving interesting tales full of wry comment on modern society. At no point does it become sneary, but it is angry. Six minute long Tall Poppies is a good example. The cautionary story of a handsome man who is a big fish in a small village. When you think it might turn sneary, it spins you around. ‘He wasn’t perfect, but he was one of us’, James explains after the man’s death from cancer. On Dead Horse, concern for post-Brexit England being overrun by nationalist ‘nob heads morris dancing to Sham 69’. Unethical business men, the middle-classes, the compensation society are all targets. Driving the narrative is the current trend of a post-punk bass line. Several songs make good use of breaks from relentless bass with the music fading away leaving just the vocals, to then kick back in at a different speed. All combining to create a fresh sounding debut album.

3rd: The Ruby Cord – Richard Dawson

Richard Dawson is one of those special artists who does what he wants and transcends the boundaries of ‘his genre’. Not only did he release a metal album with Circle. He returned with a majestic piece of folk-opera in the form of the ‘Ruby Cord’. The backbone of the album is the epic 41 minute long ‘The Hermit’ is without doubt my favourite piece of music from 2022. Starting slowly as almost laid back jazz, violins come in adding a discordant jeopardy, interspersed by harps creating dream-like spaces. At the 11 minute mark, Richard’s unique vocals come in with his fantasy infused lyrics. The music then switches to a more standard Dawkins folk song. Finally ending as a reflective choral piece. I can’t get enough of this song.

Honourable Mentions

• Broken Equipment – Bodega
• Hellfire – Black Midi
• Heart Under – Just Mustard
• Wet Leg – Wet Leg
• North East Coastal Town – Life
• Time Bend and Break The Bower – Sinead O’Brien
• Caroline – Caroline
• When It Comes – Dana Gavanski
• The Great Regression – Ditz
• Entering Heaven Alive – Jack White
• This Rock – Jill Lorean
• My Name is Hell – Kai Marks
• Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life – Bob Vylan
• Beware Believers – Crows
• Stump Works – Dry Cleaning
• All Of Us Flames – Ezra Furman
• Skinny Fa – Fontaines D.C.
• Most Normal – Gilla Band
• Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky – Porridge Radio
• My Other People – TV Priest
• Versions of Modern Performance – Horsegirl

Support was from the Roebucks

Sea Power continued their strong run of form with another great set. As I had photographed them the night before, I didn’t take too many photos.

Support was from Novelty Island. They did nothing for me.

The first of the three nights was played in what seemed like a magical glade in Cambridge Junction. The guys had done a fantastic job of filling the stage with branches with the effect completed by the lighting engineer who did a great job making the stage look like a mystical place. It just seemed right when Scott appeared in his cassock again. It was like we had all been called to the place to be part of a religious experience.

Sea Power have been on fire this year. The new album has been warmly received by fans and critics alike. It has such positive and reflective post-lockdown vibes and has hit the spot with every Sea Power fan I’ve spoken to. Every song has been warmly received live. At one point in the evening I moved away from the pit, to the side of the crowd just as ‘We Only Want To Make You Happy’ was sung. I stood against the wall watching a sea of people with their eye wide open, arms in the air, singing the chorus, shouting up to the heavens. Each face told a slightly different story, a slightly different lockdown experience. But everyone singing with a shared joy that we all missed. These Sea Power gigs have felt special this year. With the amazing stage scenery, this one felt magical.

Support was from the excellent Hamish Hawk who has such a great stage presence.

Understandably the set list was basically the same every night.

• Who’s In Control
• Transmitter
• Two Fingers
• Fire Escape In The Sea
• Cleaning Out The Rooms
• We Only Want To Make You Happy
• Lonely
• A Trip Out
• No Lucifer
• Folly
• Green Goddess
• Lights Out For Darker Skies
• Remember Me
• Bad Bohemian
• Carrion
• All In It
• Waving Flags
• The Great Skua

Like many current bands. They sit firmly in the post-punk genre. I often forget not all post-punk sounded like the Fall. The New York art-punk scene still inspires new generations of bands. Regressive Left draw heavily from bands like Talking Heads and mix in dance beats from the 90s with some impressive drumming from Georgia Hardy and Simon Tyrie’s pitch shifting vocals, a style you rarely hear now. Will on guitar makes his guitar squeal around the driving beats and keyboards, creating an infectious sound it is hard not to dance to.

As you would expect from the current crop of post-punk bands, the songs are strong on social commentary, with Simon wearing a ‘Fuck Tories Scum’ t-shirt. Their recent EP ‘The Wrong Side of History’ released on Bad Vibrations own label, formed the backbone of the set. The highlight being ‘The Wrong Side of History’ with Simon’s vocals in full Talking Heads style.

• Cream Militia
• Serious Thing
• World on Fire
• Parish Council
• No More Fun
• The Wrong Side Of History
• The Itch
• Never Change
• MD
• Take The Hit
• Bad Faith
• Eternal Returns