Author Archives: Simon

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About Simon

Simon Ashberry has been playing the best of local music on Bradford Beat for almost a quarter of a century . He was music columnist for the Telegraph & Argus for several years, covering local acts such as Embrace, Terrorvision, Tasmin Archer and New Model Army, and has played bass in several bands himself. He was previously part of Bradford-based Loom with John Rigby from Trip and Stumble and currently plays with innovative blues trio West Yorkshire Noblemen's Society.

Beacons shining brightly

We previewed the Beacons Festival on the latest edition of Bradford Beat.

It takes place near Skipton this weekend (Aug 16 to 18 – ignore the incorrect dates I said on the show!)

Bands taking part include Drenge, Sky Larkin, Wire and Django Django.

Full track listing is:

Drenge – Backwaters
Fossil Collective – How Was I To Know?
Radkey – Cat and Mouse
Das Tor – Addiction
Larry and His Flask – Closed Door
Sentimentalists – All I Need
Malcolm Middleton – We’re All Going To Die
Sky Larkin – Beeline
Wire – Outdoor Miner
Django Django – Default
The Seven Inches – Cravats and Spats and Feather Boas
The Villagers – Earthly Pleasure
The Invaders – Girl’s In Action
Coastal Cities – Nothing Ever Changes
Nick Toczek – Head Came Off

and you can listen again here

Plows and Pandas

Tracks by local bands including Venusian Plow, Fossil Collective, Sentimentalists and Negative Panda featured on the latest edition of Bradford Beat.

You can listen again here and the full tracklisting is:

City and Colour – The Lonely Life
Negative Panda – Suicide On The Moon
Steve Mason – A Lot of Love
The Seven Inches – Cashback
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Mermaids
Fossil Collective – Let It Go
Beady Eye – Second Bite of the Apple
Sentimentalists – I’m Lonely For Every Woman I’ve Ever Known
Chic – Le Freak
Venusian Plow – Ed Canaveral
Drenge – Backwaters
Raglans – Digging Holes

Hot, hot, hot

Some summertime tunes were on this week’s playlist to celebrate the current spell of warm weather.

Here’s the full list – you can listen again by clicking here

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
Das Tor – Addiction
Raglans – Digging Holes
The Seven Inches – The Little Things
Status Quo – Down Down
Blues Beaten Redshaw – Prisoner’s Home
Ruen Brothers – Walk Like A Man
Negative Panda – She is Right
Len – Steal My Sunshine
Venusian Plow – Park For Cars
City and Colour – Harder Than Stone
Steve Mason – A Lot Of Love

Listen again

If you haven’t had a chance to hear our special show paying tribute to Darren Maude, you can listen again here.

The full track listing was:

Das Tor – Like A Child
Architect – More Than Before
Damn Vandals – Kings of Never
Worm – Destroy Myself
Venusian Plow – Happy Angry
Drenge – Backwaters
Arrows of Love – The Knife
Hobbes Fan Club – Your Doubting Heart
ROn Sexsmith – Nowhere To Go
Fossil Collective – Boy With Blackbird Kite
Architect – Castles In The Sky
Yo El Rey – Hey! You! Weirdo!

We’re aiming to play more from some of Darren’s former bands in the coming weeks.

Remembering Darren

This week’s Bradford Beat will pay tribute to Darren Maude, the former Das Tor and Architect guitarist, who died earlier this month.

Das Tor

Das Tor

We’ll be playing tracks from both bands plus other related acts.

In particular we’ll be featuring groups from the Voltage stable which is run by Darren’s former bandmate Tim Walker and is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Tune in to the special show on Thursday 20 June from 8pm – 9pm on BCB 106.6FM.

RIP Darren Maude

I’ve just head the sad news that Darren Maude has died.

He was best know as a member of the Bradford  band Architect, who had quite a bit of success in the early 1990s, touring with Big Country and Dr & The Medics.

There are tributes to him on his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/darren.maude.9

and here’s one of their tracks which Tim Walker of Voltage has put on YouTube

Thread bares all

The spotlight this week is on Threadfest 2013.

Festival curator Andy Abbott was a studio guest of Bradford Beat to chat about the event.

The free festival takes place across several venues across the city over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 24 to 26.

The show features music by some of the bands taking part, including Ruby Tombs, Mother Earth and Hobbes Fan Club.

Here’s the full tracklisting:

Arrows of Love – The Knife
Ruby Tombs – Humdrum
Mother Earth – A Number of Wolves
Koala – Lead Me From This Town
Dean McPhee – Water Burial
Hobbes Fan Club – Your Doubting Heart
Negative Panda – Suicide On The Moon
Steve Mason – Oh My Lord

You can listen again by clicking here and the show will be repeated on Thursday May 23.

Wembley #2

Who’d have thought we’d be doing one Wembley preview show on Bradford Beat this season – let alone two?

This week’s show dips its toe back into the Wembley waters ahead of the play-off final with a couple of Bradford City songs.

Other new names on the show this week include The Hobbes Fan Club, Larry and His Flask and Gerrard Bell-Fife.

Full tracklisting is:

Bradford City Food and Beverage Sub Committee – Spirit of Bradford City
Billy Bragg – No One Knows Nothing Any More
Hobbes Fan Club – Your Doubting Heart
Human League – Mirror Man
Venusian Plow – Park For Cars
Steve Mason – Oh My Lord
Roger Sutcliffe – Death Letter Came This Morning
Larry and his Flask – Closed Doors
Fossil Collective – Boy With Blackbird Kite
The Great Malarkey – Merry Profits
Gerrard Bell-Fife – Falling Down
Ron Sexsmith – Nowhere To Go
The 1975 – The City
Tom and Dom – Let’s Get Ready For Wembley

You can listen again here

Live at Leeds

The latest edition of Bradford Beat previewed the Live At Leeds event taking place over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

The full tracklisting for the 2 May show was:

Ron Sexsmith – Nowhere To Go
Venusian Plow – Happy/Angry
Billy Bragg – Do Unto Others
Alt-J – Breezeblocks
Vaccines – Blow Your Mind
Negative Panda – She Is Right
Dinosaur Pile-Up – Arizona Waiting
Pigeon Detectives- I Won’t Come Back
Everything Everything – Cough Cough
Billy Delines – Everybody Gotta Make a Change Sometime
Arrows of Love – The Knife
Welfare State – Come Away, Come Away
Paul Weller – Flame Out
Fossil Collective – The Magpie

You can listen again by clicking here

Compilations in the spotlight

Simon Ashberry plays tracks from two Bradford compilation CDs on this week’s Bradford Beat.

The show features Sound Shack’s April CD/’zine and the Bradford Noise of the Valleys release Missing Music 2.

Here’s the full track listing:

Fossil Collective – Let It Go
Cave Painting – Leaf
Billy Delines – Everybody Gotta Make a Change
Billy Bragg – January Song
Sentimentalists – Tobacco
Darwen Deez – Constellations
Pigeon Detectives – I Won’t Come Back
Teleman – Cristina
We’re Gonna Have A New World Champion
Tim Burgess – The Doors of Them
Richard Marriott – Honey From The Honeycomb
Steve Mason – Oh My Lord
Roger Davies and the Durbevilles – Stephanie
Ron Sexsmith – Nowhere To Go

You can listen again by clicking here