David Gray @ Hull Arena

Yes, he played Babylon. Yes he did wobble his head more than a nodding dog sat on the back of a penny farthing racing down a cobbled street, but my God does this man know how to put on a show.I was a bit apprehensive about going to see Gray play this evening. Not least because I’m only familiar with a few of the hit singles but also because to be honest I really didn’t feel in the mood for what I (perhaps naively, definitely unfairly) classed as depressing music. When I got there however and the lights went down and Gray took to the stage, I instantly took to the friendly, up for a laugh personality that I saw before me.

Opening with the atmospheric ‘Alibi’, he effortlessly switched between playing near flawless piano to acoustic guitar, and I think what made the gig so enjoyable was that everyone could see he was having a good time playing his music. It really was refreshing to watch this man put so much into every single song, whereas some bands (who shall go unnamed, they know who they are) seem to just fall into routine when playing through a set, Gray was living in the moment for every single note and it was a pleasure to watch.

His rapport with the crowd was excellent as well. Joking about when he first played at Hull Adelphi 14 years ago before playing the first song off his first album, ‘Shine’ Ive seen psychiatrists, the fucking lot, and I’m finally back. His great sense of humour too was also evident as he dedicated ’slow motion’ to England’s World Cup performance. His laughter was infectious as he gave and took friendly banter from the crowd  at the danger of repeating myself it was so rejuvenating to see an artist having so much fun playing to an audience.

Not that Gray was to have all the fun, mind you. A surprise inclusion to the encore, a cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ had the whole of the arena clapping, dancing and singing at Gray’s beck and call.

The only criticism I can think of was towards the end of the main set the momentum seemed to get lost quite a bit and the songs being performed all sounded a bit samey, however this lull was quickly picked up and carried on through the encore with renditions of the moving ballad ‘This Year’s Love’ and of course �Babylon� to close an overall fantastic set.

Before leaving the stage for the final time Gray called out to an army of fans he now had in the palm of his hands, ‘Thank you Hull City, you’re better than England’ I’ll be back!’ Needless to say, Mr Gray, if that’s true then so will I.

Review by Chris Prince

Interview: iForward, Russia!

Audioscribbler: How has the tour been going so far?

iForward, Russia!: Awesome yeah, It’s been going really well

AS: Have you enjoyed playing with the other bands?

FR: Yeah, there all really nice people and that, so when you get on it’s a lot easier touring because you have a lot more people to talk to when you get bored of the ones your used to.

AS: Have you always just been mates and that, just hanging out etc.

FR: Yeah, Pretty much, especially with The Automatic we get on really well with those guys. Its weird, at the start of the tour it would have been The Automatic and The Long Blondes sharing a dressing room. But they realised we got on best with The Automatic so they put us together.

AS: Who has been your favourite band on the tour?

FR: Howling Bells are awesome, but they’re not on it anymore, but of the bands still on it, Yeah definitely The Automatic.

AS: So how long have you been together and how did you meet?

FR: Me [Rob] and Tom used to be in a Leeds band together called Black Helicopters and we knew Whiskas because he was in another band at the time and he also ran the venue and a club night that we played at. we both had come as far as we could with our bands so we decided to move on and expand.

AS: What bands and artists inspired the Forward Russia sound?

FR: Everything, Everything we listened to, ever. That was kind of the point, that we didn’t want to be inspired by one, two or three particular bands. We tried not to think about it to much and just do what comes naturally but at the same time don�t do what seems obvious. We all have really mixed backgrounds and musical interests; we don’t try to sound like just one band like a lot of bands do. We just put all our influences together. Except Oasis!

AS: You’re not a fan of Oasis?

FR: I quite like a bit of Oasis, we had Oasis on in the van for a bit the other day, ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory)’.

AS: In terms of bands today who are you into?

FR: A lot of touring Leeds bands, like ‘Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst Into Flames’, ‘This Et Al’, ‘iLiKETRAiNS’.

AS: Leeds has just exploded, it used to have a little music scene, now it’s just everywhere.

FR: Yeah, it’s created a bit of a mess.

AS: Do you think there also some rubbish bands as well in Leeds?

FR: Well we don’t have the opportunity to see the shit bands because were on tour all the time so we only know about the good ones! So when your out of Leeds you only manage to hear the good ones. There are of shit bands though that aren’t from Leeds. I think the problem with today’s music scene is that its very easy to be average but perceived to be a good at being an average band. Which is sort of acceptable in this day and age so I think you have a lot of shite coming through. It’s quite easy if you have a lot of money to put loads of money into something and it’ll do well because of the money, but it only really does well in the short term and in a couple of years time no one will remember it. Bands don’t stick around for very long these days because they’re pumped full of money and then they burn out straight away.

AS: A lot of bands have that problem, especially when it comes to the second album.

FR: Mind you we might be one of those bands, we haven’t got to that stage yet (laughs) We’ll probably write a really awesome first song really quickly and be like this is gonna be real easy, then it all goes to shit.

AS: Do you get nervous when you get hyped up in the press?

FR: You’re kind of in a bit of a bubble when your on tour because you’re not at home watching telly and you’re not reading papers, so you don’t really see it.

AS: Sometimes though in the music press bands get rammed down your throat so you end up reading more about them than actually hearing their music.

FR: I don’t really think that’s happened to us, we have had a lot written about us but I don’t think its got to ridiculous levels. I wouldn’t want to one of those bands that everyone hates because they’re written about all the time even though they’re quite good.

AS: It seems that’s happening with the Arctic Monkeys, the backlash is starting because of all the hype.

FR: This is sort of the genre that’s ‘in’ at the minute I think its quite easy to be average at It. As Tom (singer) said if you get a lot of money behind you, you can sell whatever.

AS: Can I ask you some more about the label, ‘Dance To The Radio’. So how did it come around, how did you set it up?

FR: Well it was sort of Whiskas’ (Guitarist) baby really. He had wanted to start a label for ages and originally, the first release was just going to be This Et Al. The first single ended up being a split between This Et Al and us. He was like ‘Yeah I want to put out your single’ and they were like ‘Well it should be a split between us and you [iForward, Russia]‘ That’s how it started and since then there’s between about 9 or 10 records released, well I think its 12 now with the album. There’s also about 2 or 3 other bands that they’re working with long term, ‘Pigeon Detectives’, ‘Yes Boss’ and ‘Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst Into Flames’ The 3 main bands that’ll be releasing stuff in the future. I think ‘Pigeon Detectives’ and ‘Yes Boss’ are working towards an album on ‘Dance To The Radio’.

AS: A lot of the mentioned artists are on the ‘Dance To The Radio’ compilation CD ['What We All Want']. Are all the artists on the cd going to release singles and albums through ‘Dance To The Radio’?

FR: Well the first one was sort of just helping people out, It was all Leeds bands. The second one he branched out a bit more.

AS: How do you write your songs?

FR: It’ll usually start with one little riff Whiskas has written, then we build songs around that and finish off in a different direction. Move parts around, generally try and make it not as obvious as it may have been. Quite often we scrap the original bit, and move bits from other songs. One of our songs ‘Five’ we’ve completely ripped that apart and there’s bit of that in thirteen in Fifteen parts 1 and 2.

AS: How do you feel with the album? Are you relieved?

FR: It’s weird, you don’t really expect it to happen. We don’t really know much about it while were on tour, we don’t know who’s buying it. Its quite overwhelming though overall.

AS: Are you looking forward to finishing the tour? What are you plans for the future?

FR: Were doing Hi Fi Festival in Newcastle and 3 gigs with Editors. Then were going to America and we’ve got all sorts of things coming up. A head line tour in July and loads of festivals in summer, Reading and Leeds, T In The Park, Oxygen and Truck. It should be awesome.

AS: When your on tour we do enjoy playing the most?

FR: Portsmouth and Norwich. When we toured with we are scientists, more people were going mad. Manchester and we always get a good reception in Leeds. Its random really, you wonder why you don’t a good reception in for example Leicester but you do in Norwich.

AS: What’s it like being on tour in general?

FR: It gets less hectic the more you do it. I find you have an alter ego, you sort of have your home life then your rock star life (laughs) On this tour I’ve started to enjoy being away from home, and being in the band, but to begin with it’s quite hard you do get cut off from the rest of your life and I imagine its like being an airline pilot. It crazy, unpredictable but cool though!