what's cookin' this month...

AT THE BIRKBECK;

At the moment regular What's Cookin' shows are EVERY WEDNESDAY @ 8.30pm / 1st & 3rd SUNDAY'S of the month @ 5.00pm / 2nd & 4th SATUURDAY'S of the month @ 8.30pm. There may also be a smattering of live shows on other nights of the week and guest djs in the bar on some weekends. Check the what's on page or get signed up.

In Brief

Wed 1st Feb; The Sweetback Sisters / Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee
Sun 5th Feb; Hank Wangford with Kevin Foster & Martin Belmont / Serious Sam Barrett / Mark Wynn
Wed 8th Feb; The Malingerers / Al Shields
Sat 11th Feb; Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog
Sun 12th Feb; Danny & The Champions Of The World / Billy Vincent / Jack Day
Wed 15th Feb; The Dog Roses / The Spangles Gang
Fri 17th Feb; Lost Horizons
Sun 19th Feb; The Dials / Whispering Pines
Wed 22nd Feb; Yngve and the Innocent
Sat 25th Feb; The Loving Cup
Wed 29th Feb; Dan Raza Band

The unadulterated full info;

Wednesday 1st February 8.30pm (UPSTAIRS);

The Sweetback Sisters / Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee

The Sweetback Sisters are a honky-tonk band from Brooklyn. They sing early-country classics and new, soon-to-be country hits. They may not be blood relations, but their precise, family-style harmonies recall the best of country music from the Everlys to The Judds, as well as the spirited rockabilly energy of Wanda Jackson, one of the bandís role models. Like the artists they admire, the Sweetbacks are concerned with the traditional subjects of heartbreak, revenge, remorse and staying strong in the face of relationships gone wrong.
www.thesweetbacksisters.com

"Zara Bode and Emily Miller layer gorgeous girl-on-girl harmonies over swell honky-tonk melodies ( the kind that make Loretta Lynn fans weep ) and you just know youíre in for some hot and/or mournful fiddle. Trust us: These guys are brilliant", NBC New York. "The Sweetback Sisters - anchored by tight female harmonies and the occasional western swing melody - sound like the second coming of 1950s country groups like the Davis Sisters", BOSTON GLOBE. "Absolutly f**king great", No Depression.

Kitchen pub rock favourites Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee support. Influences are drawn from early Faces, Stones, Byrds, pub rock, punk spirit, beer from the tap, football from the terraces, rusty Marshall amps, valves rather than transistors, Messrs Fender and Gibson.
www.myspace.com/grahamlarkbey

Sunday 5th February 5pm (Hankie will be on at 8pm);

Hank Wangford with Kevin Foster & Martin Belmont / Serious Sam Barrett / Mark Wynn

C'mon it's Hank! If Daniel O'Donnell is the brightly scrubbed face of British country music then Hank Wangford is its guilty conscience, its dark and troubled grubby soul. Hank has picked at the miserable underbelly of country music for twenty eight years. Ain't anything else to say folks! And he's with ex-Graham Parker & the Rumour/Ducks Deluxe King of the Stratocaster Martin Belmont & ex-Doll by Doll/Jackie Levin bassist Kevin Foster.
www.hankwangford.co.uk

Top-notch support from Yorkshire's 12-string roots-stomper Sam Barrett www.myspace.com/sambarrett and York's up & coming country blues singer/songwriter Mark Wynn.
markwynn.bandcamp.com/

Wednesday 8th February 8.30pm;

The Malingerers / Al Shields

Ex-Surgens, now The Malingerers are a 5 piece old time band playing original songs clearly influenced from a melting pot of traditional country, blues and rock'n'roll (Hank Williams, Merle Travis, Leadbelly, Woodie Guthrie etc.) but as youíd expect, combined with a warped sense of humour and history! After a year of touring, refining their songs and live performances, The Malingerers have now committed their unique sound to tape culminating in an eclectic, strange yet familiar collection of new recordings ready to be unleashed on the unsuspecting public. New single 'House of Mine' is out soon.
www.themalingerers.co.uk

Al Shields is an Edinburgh-based songwriter, with influences rooted in old-time country, folk and blues music. He released his debut album 'Slow Burner' in October 2011. Al sings songs about about bad work, bad luck and bad lovin'. Just our kinda fella!
www.alshields.com

Saturday 11th February 8.30pm;

Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog

Weaned in the small village of Rhos Botwnnog, on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, on a diet of Neil Young and Gram Parsons from their parentsí album collection together with a welter of traditional Welsh folk music. These influences bear direct fruit in their Welsh/Americana style of music that resonates with mystical wistfulness. There are hints of 70s influences from the likes of Poco and the Eagles as well as from English folk bands of the 70s such as Lindisfarne. Expect delicious harmonies and echo-laden guitars that enhance the plaintive quality of their Welsh lyrics.
soundcloud.com/cowbois

Sunday 12th February 8.00pm;

Danny & The Champions Of The World / Billy Vincent / Jack Day

On the back sleeve of the new record, " I'm holding a Stratocaster," grins Danny Wilson. "A friend saw it and said, 'Woah, a Strat' Controversial!' Yeah, too right! I wanna play a Strat, and I wanna plug it into a valve amp, and I wanna play music with my friends, and weíve got a sax in the band, so letís have a party. We can play all night, if you want. That's what I love."

The choice of this particular guitar is by no means random, and signals a number of profound changes for Danny and his Champions Of The World with their third album 'Hearts & Arrows'. First off, the current line-up of the Champs is very different from the line-up that recorded their 2008 eponymous debut album and its 2010 follow-up, Streets Of Our Time. Whereas the Champions Of The World were originally a loose and chaotic collective of like-minded souls ( so loose and so chaotic that, at any given gig or session, you couldnít accurately predict who exactly would be performing alongside Wilson ) this new incarnation of the group is a proper rock'n'roll band, wholly and entirely committed to being the Champs.

Hearts & Arrows is a rock'n'roll record. "I love folk music, I always have," Wilson says. "But I'm so bored of 'new folk', and the trendiness that surrounds it, everyone pretending that it's 1971 again. I wanted to make a totally un-bearded record. My reference points were Black Flag and Bad Brains, Tom Petty and Thin Lizzy, not Nick Drake and Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Forget 1971, this is 1976 - Dr Feelgood, Nick Lowe, just great rock'n'roll."
www.dannyandthechamps.com

"HEARTS AND ARROWS IS A SPIRITED, UPLIFTING EXERCISE IN MUSCULAR MELODIC ROCK", UNCUT. "A RECORD THAT RECALLS TOM PETTY & SPRINGSTEEN AND SEES THE BAND ACHIEVE A NEW WEIGHT TO THEIR ROOTSY MUSINGS", CLASH MAGAZINE. "PASSION IS A WORD SADLY DEVALUED BY AD SLOGANS, YET DANNY & THE CHAMPS OFFER A PURE PASSION REVUE", Q MAGAZINE. "SHARES THE SAME SWAGGER AS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JESSE MALIN & GASLIGHT ANTHEM", THE FLY.

Scuzz-folk rock'n'roll from Billy Vincent, music to laugh, cry, fall in love and get drunk to. They're creating a bit of a name for themselves these youngsters.
www.myspace.com/billyvincent

And easing ya in to the rock'n'roll madness we have some tremendous folk-blues from Jack Day.
www.myspace.com/jackdaymusic

Wednesday 15th February 8.30pm;

The Dog Roses / The Spangles Gang

The Dog Roses, folkin' rock'n'roll, black suited & booted, and sinners all. They're now kitchen stalwarts. And if they don't play the usual encore, they're barred for life. 'Nuff said!
www.myspace.com/dogroses

From stalwarts, to first timers in the kitchen, it's some bluegrassy stuff from The Spangles gang. Though ya might know a few of them.

Friday 17th February 7.00pm (Upstairs);

Lost Horizons

Not a What's Cookin' night, but the lovely people from Lost Horizons are starting a new monthly folk night. Check out their FB page, Lost Horizons Folk and Acoustic Club, for more info. Think it might have a small cover charge, but it'll be well worth it.

Sunday 19th February 5.00pm;

The Dials / Whispering Pines

The Dials? In a nutshell, psychedelic country rock, and they haven't paid us a visit for ages. Welcome back!
www.thedials.co.uk

"Glide effortlessly between the harmonic swoon of The Byrds, the poppier elements of the Velvets and the child-like psych of Syd Barrett. All despatched with brio and genuine affection for every genre that crosses their radar", UNCUT. "A band that never throw themselves wildly on a great idea, but instead nurture and raise it in absolute perfection", SHINDIG. "Many knowledgeable heads nod sagely in their direction; Gideon Coe and Mark Lamarr are fans, and now having heard the album, I understand why! a great band", BOB HARRIS. "A twanging country psych extravaganza. Right on!", THE FLY.

The Whispering Pines are basically Matthew Boulter, frontman of kitchen faves The Lucky Strikes. He is also currently lending his musical talents to Simone Felice and The Duke and the King. The Whispering Pines fantastic new album is out now on Stove Pony Records that Uncut have just given 4 stars, and you really do wanna buy it. Trust me.

Wednesday 22nd February 8.30pm;

Yngve and the Innocent

Following on from the success of his solo releases 'Tell Men This' and 'Have You No Love' in 2008 & 2009 critically acclaimed Irish/German americana artist Yngve (pronounced Ing-vuh) Wieland returns with a new band and their debut new E.P. 'Nothing Was Delivered'. German-born and Irish-raised, Yngve has been simmering under the skin of the music industry since 2004. Growing up in rural Sligo in the eighties his dad's weekly blues sessions fuelled his interest in music. Moving to London in 2008, Yngve has been making a name for himself in the London scene with his new touring band The Innocent.
www.spacetobeyourself.com

Sat 25th February 8.30pm;

The Loving Cup

Warm and soulful country-influenced rock n roll. The Loving Cup are a rockin' country and blues Americana band based on the borderline of North Wales. BBC Radio 2 DJ Mark Lamarr defined the bands sound as Southern Boogie Rock, and that about sums them up.
www.the-loving-cup.co.uk

"Stone southern soul oozing from every pore, buzzing slide evoking the best of southern rock, from Skynyrd and Little Feat to The Black Crowes. But this is in no way the domain of beer-bellied rednecks. This is straight-talking, dancefloor rock'n'roll with a swagger in its stride. Strong songs, impeccably crafted", ROCK'N'REEL. "In one word: infectious", BLUES MATTERS. "Keith Richards' brain, ( he won't miss it ), Gram Parsons' Country Lilt', The Swagger of Jagger, the fingers from John Squire's Left-Hand (currently unused), The Allman Brothers' Bottleneck, Levon Helm's Sense of Rhythm", BBC RADIO WALES.

Wednesday 29th February 8.30pm;

Dan Raza Band

Dan Raza has already established a considerable reputation on the UK singer songwriter and folk roots scene. His distinctive approach has won him many fans. His song, 'Every Little Dog' was endorsed by Neil Young when Shakey chose it for his 'Living with War' website. Not bad! Raised in Bedfordshire, Dan is of mixed Indian and British origin. Many of his songs draw on images from his past and there is an enigmatic and whistful quality at the heart of his writing. To sum up, a bit folk, a bit country, a bit rock and very, very good!
www.danraza.com

"Truly spellbinding, stunning...if there is any justice in this world, it won't be long before Dan Raza is headlining in a town near you, take my advice and go and see him live, highly recommended", MAVERICK MAGAZINE. "Has the feel of an old fashioned protest singer but without any sort of preaching attitude", AMERICANA UK.

Coming up...


Sun 4 Mar; Buckshot Soup
Wed 7 Mar; David Rovics / Marc OíReilly
Sat 10 Mar; Lord Rochester / Little Lost Lou
Wed 14 Mar; The Dublo / Mr Plow
Sat 17 Mar; Steve White & Protest Family
Sun 18 Mar; Kingsize Slim Trio
Wed 21 Mar; The Dirt Daubers / Burning Condors
Sat 24 Mar; The Coal Porters / Ruby Mae
Wed 28 Mar; Miss Quincy
Sat 31 Mar; The Bikini Beach Band

For all the latest developments please phone 07904 210218 or email Ramblin' Steve at ramblinsteve@whatscookin.co.uk .

And don't worry yer details will not be passed
on to any pesky third parties!

rockin' country fried music...