The Sheffield Scenester

Jimi’s Parade formed in 2009 by AvanGaard’s lead singer Liam Burns after, or so the legend goes, he locked himself away for a month to focus on writing. The resulting demo EP starts off with the upbeat ‘Ragged Old Streets’, full of looping chorus lines and catchy guitar riffs this is without doubt one of the freshest foot tappers you could wish for to open a demo. Liam’s vocals come through with a slightly rough hewn edge giving it that world weary effect, this coupled with lyrics that are both deep and intangible. I found myself thinking of a pint of Guinness while relaxing by a roaring fire in an Irish pub, every time I played it. The second track, ‘The Lover’, drops the slightly acoustic style for a hard electric construction leaving you in no doubt that we’re back to indie territory. With an almost Kasabian feel to it you’re dragged from skuzzy guitar to grinding chorus, all backed as they are by hammering drums and a solid bass. Somewhere amidst all this Liam is declaring his love for someone which he seems almost desperate to beseech - but they throw in a top solo on guitar which sounds great. Track three ‘Blackest Blues’ is a very interesting concoction... and for my money the best track here. With what almost sounds like an homage to early 70’s Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon in particular – we are enveloped in a world of swirling vocal harmonies draped over a slightly boosted bass line. We eventually reach a crescendo of electronic skuzz bringing this exhilarating song to a climax. Finally we are given the track ‘High Hopes’ beginning as it does with choral vocals, all the while we are treated to a haunting melody on flute backed by subtle guitar work. A complete change of style but a brilliant conclusion to any EP, if this is what being locked away in a room does for him then he should try it again and soon!

The Little Million are a four piece rock/alternative/pop punk group from Sheffield, who can hardly be described as dull...in fact far from it; They describe their forthcoming debut single ‘You And Me Against The Universe’ as ‘a blaze of meteoric thrash pop that feels like being caught in the middle of a turbo-speed game of Asteroid, blasting away at huge, hurtling chunks of space rock’....! As I Listened to the single, I was straight away left in no doubt that a sense of humour was needed to deal with this onslaught. Beginning with a sound that immediately evokes images of classic 50’s low budget sci-fi films, this is abruptly cut off by the fast paced hammering of the drum kit courtesy of Jez Dennis before guitars and bass lay waste with extreme prejudice. The tune itself is a riot from beginning to end and catchy as hell with a memorable chorus to sing along to, apparently it’s about having a hard, stern girlfriend who could be used as the first line of defence in the event of an alien invasion...?! Alternatively if you take the Freudian angle on things...it’s probably about male inadequacies in the face of rising female dominance...I prefer the alien scenario myself! If you go to their MySpace or YouTube then you can watch the hilarious accompanying video based as it is on classic 50’s Ed Wood sci-fi, or on an even more surreal level its sister video ‘The Making Of YAMATU’. In both cases the single and video are distinctly reminiscent of that other classic B movie homage ‘Monster’ by The Automatic except with a distinctly harder sound, as if they took the pop out and dosed it with some Ramones home grown punk thrashing. If you like good fun filled intelligent rock laced with fast paced punk then this song is released on March 15th.