NOVEMBER
Thu 01 – KIKI DEE + Gina Dootson
In a three decade career including eight UK Top Forty hits, Kiki's impeccable vocal abilities have
covered all bases - from classic interpretations of soul hits to masterful performances in major West
End musicals. She became the first European artist to be signed to Tamla Motown but it wasn't until
joining Elton John's Rocket Records that success appeared. 'Amoureuse', 'I Got The Music In Me' and
'You Don’t Know How Glad I Am' all had extended Top 20 chart stays but in '76 her duet with Elton,
'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', topped the UK and US charts for what seemed all of a long, hot summer.
Other hits followed including 'Star' from 1981 before the West End beckoned and she was nominated for
a Laurence Olivier Award for her role in Willy Rushton's Blood Brothers, as well as working with Dave
Stewart and, once more, duetting with Elton John on 'True Love'. Still a stunner with a big Cheshire
cat grin, recent collaborations with Carmelo Luggeri, her former session guitarist, and a host of
Indian instrumentalists, have produced extraordinary and magical results, lyrically akin to Joni
Mitchell and k.d. lang. £7 advance – tickets available from the venue and www.fibbers.co.uk
Sat 03 - DENNIS ROLLINS' BAD BONE & CO + The T&B Specialists
Trombone Player. Composer. Arranger. Producer. And … Britain's most promising trombonist in the
contemporary jazz/funk/fusion scene with "wicked tunes bursting to be heard" (Jazz Express). Often
compared to James Brown's trombonist Fred Wesley, Dennis has played with and for just about everybody
including The Jazz Warriors, Courtney Pine, Jamiroquai, George Clinton, Cypress Hill, Brand New
Heavies (even Dionne Warwick and Tom Jones) as well as TV appearances on Top of the Pops, Jools
Holland and TFI Friday. High energy, groove-based funky dance music with jazz overtones and a genuine
virtuoso player. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! £6.50 advance - tickets available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the
venue
Sun 04 - THE WILLARD GRANT CONSPIRACY + Thalia Zedek
Named after a couple of streets in their native Boston, "swamp-noir" collective WGC have been
corralled into the alt.-country ghetto but they are a far more complex beast than genre standard
bearers. Richly baritoned singer Robert Fisher, part Johnny Cash part Tindersticks' Stuart Staples
part Nick Cave, pitches his New England mini-tragedies with a swamp-blues edge against a tumbleweedy
backdrop. He's the voice of doom in a Stetson hat. and in more butterfingered hands, the results
could be a sloppy mess. They inhabit a neither world where love happens by accident, as in the
oppositely titled Beautiful Song, or not at all, as in Drunkard's Prayer ("I'll lift the glass as it
lift's me"), narrated by a character of unmitigated Leonard Cohen-esque sadness. Their sound remains
an American hybrid never forgetting the way with a universal melody whether singing of reckless
nihilism, self-destruction, and death itself or just a hobo yarn. They make music that's deep and
fundamental and old-fashioned but, importantly, they don't sound like they're faking it as bagpipes,
harmonium and Autoharp wheeze away. There's no nod to stage antics, overstated presence or
unnecessary technical wizardry although these boys can play. It's just pure and captivating music
from the aching heart. £5.50 advance - tickets available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the venuE.
Tue 06 - AKP + The Embassy + The Edible 5' Smiths
The CircuitLive tour is supported by POPTONES, UGLY MAN, TWISTED NERVE, SHIFTY DISCO and THE ARTS
COUNCIL OF ENGLAND. Not a bad start and to quote one of it's more well known supporters, Alan McGee,
"The greatest British bands came out of the grass roots touring circuit. I fully support the
CircuitLive tour and urge anyone interested in the future of music to get to these gigs." Circuit
Magazine has been poking a finger in the public ear for a couple of years now as pop's radicalism has
been drowned with egos and too much loot, the music spoiled. Yesterday's bright young hopefuls have
become today's over-indulged "Rock Elite" treading the tedious career path from the Met Bar to the
Priory Clinic... Now - with a little funding help from the Arts Council of England CircuitLive go
some way to providing the antidote in their third instalment of short sharp shocks around the
country. The idea is pure and simple - the best new talent performing in 12 towns over 12 nights in
November, plus special guests from today's most cutting-edge labels. No headline, £2 entry to all -
no guest list, no liggers.
Wed 07 - SPUNGE + Whitmore + Hug Lorenzo
The high energy skanking and infectious ska-punk grooves of early '98 debut EP 'Kicking Pigeons'
kicked in this Tewkesbury-based 5-piece, sometimes described as a ska-propelled madcap Symposium.
Punked-up covers of 'No Woman No Cry' (Marley), '500 Miles' (The Proclaimers) to full-on pit-frenzies
Ego and Sublime, the US of A is next for their unique ska/punk brand. Tighter than a Scotsman on a
shopping spree, this irrepressibly bouncy and tuneful New Radicals / Smashmouth hybrid-with-wit makes
for good clean (dumb) fun for carefree punky types! £5.50 advance - tickets available from
www.fibbers.co.uk or the venue
Sat 10 - THE ROLLIN STONED
"They are amazing, I thought it was my dad on stage" said Keith Richards' daughter, Angela. Formed in
1998 by Counterfeit Stones co-founder Byron Jones, Rollin Stoned, with their dedicated recreation of
the heady days of the Stones in the 60's and 70's, have rapidly become the number one Stones band.
Witness a storming non-stop 2-hour show, featuring spectacular costume changes, recalling the raw and
basic early Stones. Tackling the difficult live songs other Stones tributes dare not has become a
trademark and their attention to detail (sitar on Paint It Black and recorder on Ruby Tuesday!) has
even stunned close family members of the originals … "Phenomenal. I can't wait to tell Keith and
Mick. They could easily stand in for The Stones" - Keith Richards' mother, Doris. " Sent shivers down
my back - it was just like seeing Brian again" - Pat Andrews, mother of Brian Jones' son Mark. Even
respected venues can't hold back, "The latest and most authentic sounding Stones tribute band" - Half
Moon, Putney. From 60s material like Not Fade Away, Little Red Rooster and Sympathy For The Devil to
70s releases Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. Life long fans from around the World are acclaiming them as
the accessible face of The Rolling Stones. You no longer have to wait for them to come around and
around 'cos it's all here and … It's Only Rock 'N' Roll But You'll Like It, Like It - YES YOU WILL.
£6 advance - tickets available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the venue
Sun 11 - IAN MCNABB
Rich-baritoned Liverpudlian Ian McNabb and Chris Sharrock (who went on to drum for The Lightning
Seeds) formed Icicle Works in 1980 and they became icons along with Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop
Explodes and The Cure. Their first UK hit Love is a Wonderful Colour reached 15 but in 1984 Whisper
To A Scream (Birds Fly) broke them in the USA. Despite critical acclaim the band split after the dark
and foreboding Permanent Damage in 1990. His continuing solo career (with the occasional
superstar-to-be in tow like David Gray) has served to remind us all what a great songwriter he truly
is starting with 1993's Truth and Beauty recorded when, in his own words, "I wasn't down in the
dumps, I was below the dumps." Next, he employed members of Neil Young's Crazy Horse to rip through a
series of raw, guitar-heavy rock reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen to record the loud and bluesy, Head
Like a Rock finally establishing him as a serious artist and getting a Mercury Music Prize
nomination. Ian's latest album, Merseybeat, mixes his wit, pop sensibility, ear for a tune and
penchant for ballsy guitar in equal measure and has restored him as a national treasure - a position
currently enjoyed by elder statesman like Paul Weller and Edwyn Collins. (£7 advance - tickets
available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the venue)
Tue 13 - HUGH CORNWELL & SUMYUNGUISE
After enjoying 13 years of global success with hits including ‘Peaches’, ‘Walk On By’, ‘Strange
Little Girl’, ‘Always The Sun’ and ‘No More Heroes’ as well as successful covers of 60’s hits ’96
Tears’ and ‘All Day And All Of The Night’, internal tensions led the former ‘bad boy’ of rock
Cornwell to leave The Stranglers and go out on his own. The band's most successful and timeless song,
‘Golden Brown’, is used on the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie's current Hollywood blockbuster ‘Snatch’.
It's three years since Hugh's universally acclaimed ‘Guilty’ album, but new work ‘Hi Fi’ - full of
catchy melodies and trademark caustic wit - clearly announces a return to form. Album opener 'Leave
Me Alone’ features in a new Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly) film Trigger Men, released this
autumn; and he has recorded a new solo version of ‘No More Heroes’ for the TV comedy ‘Mirrorball’,
the follow up series to ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, starring Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders.
Cornwell, who cites Arthur Lee, of 60s psychedelic band Love as a major influence (“Arthur was an
inspiration to me”) will also be appearing with Tori Amos on her release of 'Strange Little Girls'.
Hugh is appearing with his full band. £7 advance - tickets available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the
venue
Wed 14 - THE HANDSOME FAMILY + Andrew Bird
Chicago-based husband and wife Brett and Rennie Sparks have collaborated as songwriters for over five
years. Brett, the bi-polar Texan who writes the music, spent his early years listening to opera and
eating biscuits and gravy. Rennie, the lyricist, grew up on the shores of Long Island where she
swears she never entered a room without spotting a spider on the wall. Live, the band still consists
of only the two of them: Rennie with her Autoharp, bass and melodica and Brett with guitar and the
remote control for the Minidisc that provides backing tracks (including a few odd frog calls).
Variously described as darkly gothic alt-country, it wasn't until 3rd album "Through The Trees" that
much deserved worldwide and more mainstream attention arrived. Best New Country Album of the Year,
Mojo Americana CD of the Year and inclusion in numerous Top Ten lists trail this oddball duo and
their weird real-life deadpan tales of suicides, giants, dying swans and lovers' pacts. Thoroughly
recommended. (£5.50 advance - tickets available from www.fibbers.co.uk or the venue)
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