Winston's Zen

FEATURING SPIRITUALIZED, THE COURTEENERS, TWISTED WHEEL, REVEREND AND THE MAKERS, EXAMPLE, THE ENEMY AND MORE...

Exciting times are underway here on at Winston's Zen, it's been all go for a good few weeks now, and it seems like an age since I last had a chance to sit down and write one of these catch-up posts. Regulars to these pages will have noticed substantial cosmetic changes recently (hopefully for the better) a swish new music player courtesy of Yahoo! and a host of new features, including guest reviews, and classic album write ups. The ugly confusion of links and widgets that used to confront visitors to Winston's Zen may already be fading into a distant memory, but the site re-vamp is still very much a work in progress, so I'll save any official announcements till all works are completed and move quickly on to more interesting stuff.....

It's been an incredibly exciting week, here on Zen Avenue and an equally nerve wracking one to boot. A week in which I've been lucky enough to catch a few personal favourites in concert, and also found myself backstage milling around with personal heroes like The Enemy at the FSO4 Freeze Festival [my first Access All Areas press pass - how exciting is that!]. The press pass came my way for a reason of course, it's not all partying round here, I was there to conduct my first face-to-face band interview [and there's the nerve wracking bit!] as part of the the Zen's continuing collaboration with AltSounds. Check out Canadian garage rockers and Winston's first ever interviewees Les Gars on the Zendar here. And look out for the interview and a full review of Les Gars set just as soon as I can type it.

On to the gigs then, and recently lacklustre space-rockers, Spiritiualized seemed regenerated at Camden's Roundhouse last week. Showcasing some fantastic new material taken from May's Songs in A&E album and moulding old favourites to fit the more soulful feel of the new tracks, it really did feel like Jason Pierce and co were back to their late-nineties best. Check out the video of Shine a Light below for the evidence....

Or head over to flickr to check out Winston's GigPics from the night.

Next up was The Courteeners raucous indie rock at Shepherds Bush Empire. By the time much talked about Mancunians Twisted Wheel finished their impressive support slot the atmosphere in the Empire was already chaotic. The band arrived on stage to the kind of reception normally reserved for cup winning footballers and Liam Fray could have stayed silent through most of the set as a largely beer soaked audience chanted virtually every word back to him. A more detailed review is to follow, but for now here's No You Didn't, No You Don't...

Loads more videos from the gig (including a couple of Twisted Wheel) can be found on Winston's Zen's YouTube channel. Don't forget to subscribe! The GigPics are here.

Then I dug out my passport and headed South of The River, where the Freeze London ski and music festival took place beneath the imposing backdrop of the famous Battersea power station. With a $25,000 prize at stake, some of the world best ski-jumpers were cutting some serious air on the artificial slope by daylight and a whole host of musical talent including Cage The Elephant, Reverend and the Makers, The Automatic, Example, and headliners The Enemy were on hand to entertain when dusk finally fell. Again, expect more coverage of Freeze in the next couple of days. For now, you'll have to make do with the slideshow below.


Told you it's been busy. I'll be catching up over the next few days.

Back soon,
Winston