Matt Henshaw Recommends ... Casino Empire

So, I had my first night off in about three months last night, and a Saturday as well, so what did I do? Went out to see some bands of course. In Leicester city, in my favourite venue - The Cookie. And exactly 2 weeks before my own birthday shin-dig it was nice to see the place packed out, why? Because Casino Empire were playing, that's why.

A very different atmosphere to the Matt Henshaw Peace, Love & Tea sessions but as I sat at the back perched up high watching the lads do their thing and whip the crowd into frenzy it was some spectacle to behold.

Advancing at a rapid pace beyond their years from when I first saw them a few months ago, new songs, smarter shirts - enough paisley on show to make sartorial swine like myself a very happy man - and a whole package that coming together very nicely.

Front man, and past guest on Tea & Toast with Matt Henshaw & Stu Crown, Tommy Cobley follows and fits into the rock'n'roll mould that's gone before him, effortlessly too, Ian Brown, Liam Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft, Tom Meighan ... Tommy Cobley. And it's no nonsense rock'n'roll in the Noel Gallagher lexicon all the way.

The Stone Roses, Oasis and fellow homegrown boys Kasabian pervades everything these chaps do, but when it's done genuinely, convincingly and passionately, there's absolutely nothing wrong in that. 'Shine On' and 'She Loves' have the potential, and you know the next batch of songs will get more and more anthemic, more so than what Beady Eye are currently churning out.

And so, it's with their penultimate song, a sterling rendition of the Burnage boys 'Rock & Roll Star' that spells out the whole philosophy, 20 years ago this week that tune came out charting the course of the first Oasis record, and hitting number one on my 7th birthday (Sunday 10th September, 1994) and changed my life forever, and it's still doing so today, the lads on the stage, and half the crowd weren't even born !!

Now's the time for these lads to take that ethos far and wide, rock'n'roll stars in Leicester, and this kind of show travels around the world, and translates into any language as a ruddy rollicking good time !!

So, hopefully I'll see you all down the Cookie in two weeks time, I know the boys in the band will be there, enjoyed a slightly more quaint and refined evening than their barnstorming rock'n'roll show, but all the same, it's all Peace, Love & Tea and that's what matters, Spread The Love Leicester !! MHx

Elizabeth Cornish
The Strangler Figs
Sky Valley Mistress
Jesse Wright
Siobhan Mazzei
Georgie Rose
Tapestry
The De Montfort University Gospel Choir
By The Rivers
Martin Luke Brown
Joy Mumford
Three Girl Rhumba
MotorMouf
Samuel Idwal
Abandon Her
Stef Baker
Emily Carr
Becky Edwards
Mahalia
Mia & The Moon
Rosa-Leigh
AJA
Kate Rendell
Esther Van Leuven
East Midlands Girls
Ones to Watch for 2014
The Bobcats
Savanna Bones
Mattayoux
Matt Zara
The Simpletones
Charlotte Carpenter
Leah Sinead
Matt Henshaw Recommends ...

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
DOWNLOAD & STREAM 'ALWAYS IN THE WAY' NOW !!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/always-in-the-way-ep/id875188981
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/always-in-the-way-ep
https://play.spotify.com/user/ilsonowl/playlist/2tHGjyz7EpEZpvgc8HpuRm
DEBUT 'IT AIN'T EASY/MY LIFE - EP' !!!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Top photo by Olly Stabler Photography

Things I Like ... McVitie's Biscuits

So, I'm home for one more day, and it's raining. So I'm sat inside with a cup of Yorkshire Tea and a selection of McVitie's biscuits, really getting back to my youth. Like everything I write about on this 'ere Things I Like ... feature on my blog, McVities ties in with the formative years of my life, hold keys to the nature of the universe and I love the company, their products and their history.

As with the LEGO and Yorkshire Tea, there's a tiny part of me that believes I shouldn't be all for advertising companies but, what can I say? They're engrained in my lifestyle, my culture, my history and my narrative, and I don't think they do any harm on the grand scale. So, let's have a look shall we, McVities is a British company, if that means anything to you, still based in Britain, and whilst they're now a subsidiary of United Biscuits the company, their products haven't changed. I've always admired the fact that the Milk Chocolate Digestives come in a brown packet ... brown?? And they still sell, that's a quality product right there !

The staple products have been a staple part of my life and diet since I was a little 'un - Mini Cheddars, Rich Tea, Milk Chocolate Digestives, Jaffa Cakes, Hob Nobs and Penguins - the only real newcomer to suitably impress is the Milk Chocolate Caramel biscuit, although I think that can't be a healthy biscuit, I just admire it's capacity to sustain it's rigid internal and external structure after dipping in your tea for upwards of 20 minutes, me and my best mate Chris have tested it, maybe not scientifically but we eat a lot of biscuits and drink a lot of tea !

Also, every one of their products is suitable for vegetarians so they're a great compliment to all the fruit and veg I get through, and it's nice to know that you don't have to search the packet for a little V logo to know, you just instinctively know.



And whilst I don't own a TV, I happened across the latest adverts, and they are the cutest things I've ever seen, you had me at cats ...

And I guess I'll leave you on a McVities biscuit related bit of music trivia, Noel and Liam Gallagher's mum Peggy used to work in the McVities factory in Manchester, and bring home all the broken biscuits and reject to the boys, which Noel would then take into school. It did make him very popular, but also earned him the nickname "Gallagher The Biscuit" ...

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

PS. Don't blame it on the biscuits ...



Some more Things I Like ...
Fire
Gardening
Film
Yorkshire Tea
LEGO
Tippy The Cat
Khan Academy
Apple Cider Vinegar

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Brand New Noel Gallagher Video - If I Had A Gun ...

Here's the new Noel Gallagher video ... a nice little prequel to the last one (The Death of You & Me. And a cheeky bit of the Amorphous Androgynous remix on the outro.

Check the acting from Gallagher senior ....

Matt Henshaw on Music Vita ... video interview and review ...

The Music Freak Video Interview with Matt Henshaw

MusicVita.com - The Music Freak

Can’t Hold Back is the brand new EP by singer-songwriter Matt Henshaw, whose lyrical mod-indie credentials are being coupled with the unlikely combination of UK hip hop artist Reggimental, to produce this perfect EP, released on Rusty Juke Box Records on the 10th October 2010.

Henshaw, originally from Nottingham, has been in previous musical incarnations such as the band Censored, when at the tender age of 17, played Leeds, Reading and Isle Of Wight festivals, receiving substantial amount of radio airplay and supporting the likes of Snow Patrol, We Are Scientists, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene, Arctic Monkeys, The Bluetones and The Holloways.

In true rock'n'roll style, exasperated by years of alcohol dependency, band in-fighting, struggles against the confines of unimaginative industry labelling, and the bitter dissolution of several personal relationships, he decided to go away. He spent a whole year where he didn't touch a guitar or sing a note, instead he wrote a novel and a series of short stories, started gardening, quit alcohol and decided to study film at university with no aspirations to sing again.

The Music Freak asked Matt to do his own video interview. Matt ended up doing quite a lovely job indeed.

http://www.matthenshaw.com/

MusicVita: The Online Music Club!

Matt Henshaw at The Gaff 23.09.10

The first thing that strikes you about Matt Henshaw is his dress sense, in a grey suit jacket his quirky sense of fashion makes him stand out from the crowd. However, the minute he opens his mouth all you can focus on is his magnificent voice, it wouldn’t matter if he was wearing a brown paper bag.

His voice is so different from what we are hearing in abundance at the moment, it is deeply soulful beyond his years. The Gaff club in Holloway road is the perfect place to stage the ‘Prove It’ show case which Matt is headlining along with Reggiimental who he is collaborating with. With is dark and gloomy but totally trendy décor and uber cool atmosphere it sets the perfect scene for his performance.

With his modest demeanour and this hugely powerful voice watching Matt is memorizing. The sound is unique, mixed with Reggiimental’s MCing it fuses two very different genres in a surprisingly successful way. ‘The Deepest Cellar’ is a track that has the funkiest bass line this side of the 70’s with an urban edge thanks to Reggiimental’s superb MC skills. The best song of the night is undoubtedly ‘Can’t hold back’ the title track from Matt’s forthcoming EP.

As with all of his songs there is a really strong soul influence but with relevantly modern lyrics thanks to Reggiimental. Matt sings ‘see my friends you have to live your life,’ and there is something that really resonates there. Uplifting lyrics and melody make this a real feel good song that can’t help but leave you smiling, and wanting to hear more.

It’s clear why Matt Henshaw is this year’s NME Breakthrough artist, and why the duo was voted by NME readers to open the Lovebox festival earlier this year. Matt, who the BBC described as ‘just perfect’ releases his debut EP ‘Can’t Hold Back’ on the 10th of October..

http://www.myspace.com/matthenshawmusic

- Jane Pople