This is the first in a series of posts about the Exeter Cavern and we start with 1994 to 1999

Let’s get this out of the way early. I’m getting old. Very old. Part of writing this is for my own memories rather than the fact that other people might be interested.

When I finished university and returned to Exeter in 1993, I found that a small independent music venue had opened a couple of years earlier (1991 to be exact), nestled away underneath Queen Street. With a capacity of around 200 it was perfect to get up close to bands you didn’t know at a reasonable price.

Having discovered a passion for live music and alcohol at university, this was a very good thing. Even better was my friend from school still lived in the city and his interest in live music and alcohol matched mine. For over 30 years now, Marc has been my regular partner in crime for misadventures in the Cavern.

Of course, back in the nineties I made no attempt to keep track of who I saw or when I saw them. The idea of taking photos or keeping tickets just didn’t occur to my beer addled brain so details are sketchy but there are things I remember from those years:

1. The floor was sticky
2. It was dark
3. The toilets were grim
4. There was definitely a pinball machine there at some point

I was coming out of an ill-advised hair metal phase (leather waistcoat, cowboy boots and Jack Daniels) and reconnecting heavily with my goth roots so finding out that a local Devon band called All Living Fear played there almost weekly was amazing. A proper old school goth band with a drum machine and at least one song about vampires meant we saw them a lot. In 1994 they support Nosferatu and that at the time was the biggest goth gig I had ever been to.  

Back then gigs seemed to finish any time between 11 and midnight which always meant deciding whether to risk missing the last bus, pooling together enough cash for a taxi or a long walk. Having become friendly with Matt, the guitarist from All Living Fear, I remember on more than one occasion the band giving us a lift home afterwards.   

Musical highlights from those early years include John Otway forgetting how tall he was and how low the ceiling was before nearly smashing his head open on the lights whilst jumping in the air.

XC-NN rolled up a couple of times with Tim Bricheno after he departed All About Eve. I enjoyed it but the fact he was playing the Cavern suggested the general public weren’t as enamored.

I also saw the Australian Pink Floyd in 1995. This was probably one of the first tribute bands on the live music circuit and a curiosity at the time. Without a big light show or inflatable kangaroos, it really was four average blokes on stage trying to replicate the sound of Pink Floyd in a small space.

There were also China Crisis gigs including one with a string quartet of young ladies (ahead of their time), and another where we sat chatting to the band at the bar while they bickered over whether they had played the venue before.

Before we reach the highlight of those early years, I thought I’d digress on to question of tickets. As the internet was some way off being invented, you had to go to the local record store to buy a ticket or just turn up on the night and hope it wasn’t sold out. Solo Records used to sell tickets upstairs in their classical section which was always amusing to watch those buying Beethoven mingling with the scruffy youths looking for their next gig.

In 1998 the New Model Army played the Cavern, and I was lucky enough to be there. Packed in tight, they opened up with the gentle (for them at least) Fate. – “I’m crying out in fury to the gods of fate, come on and get me if you can”. By three songs in the shirts were off and the front of the stage was a sweating mass of bodies.  Everyone was singing and it was the first time I felt a gig to be that communal, that intimate, to have that shared feeling of belonging.

I’ve seen the New Model Army many time since, but nothing beats that moment

Another short review of one of those bizarre ideas that musicians sometimes have.

Lammoth are an American one-man band who make (by their own admission) Tolkien influenced metal...

Onward is a concept album based around Bill the Pony from Lord of the Rings and it only gets stranger from there.

It’s pummeling black metal mixed with what appears to be music from a vintage Gameboy all presented with some cutesy artwork which wouldn’t look out of place on an album of children’s nursery rhymes.

My favourite track is A Gardner where the brutality is dialed back a bit allowing a bit more melody to shine through with the aid of some wonderfully out of place keyboards.

There is one track, A Fox Passing Through the Woods on Business of Their Own, in the middle of the album that offers some respite. With a title longer than it’s run time (51 seconds) it’s an odd bit of electronica

Depending on your tolerance level for tortured screams masquerading as vocals, I’d recommend you have a listen as proof that there are still some brilliantly imaginative minds our there making music.

 It’s taken a decade but there is a new album from Blueneck called Moonlighting. It appears some serious medical issues led to the delay but thankfully they are back.

The album takes it cue from the more electronic The Outpost rather than their earlier post rock sound. At times it's almost like listening to a very depressed Pet Shop Boys.

Blueneck have a recent trend of opening the album with a stunner of a track and this is no different. Mouth Of The Snake starts with insistent synths and electronic drums before a thrilling change in pace and the introduction of the guitars.  

Unfortunately, the next track Fragments is just that. Some fragments looking for a frame of a song to hang from.

The one-two punch of the next two tracks are some of the best Blueneck songs since King Nine. Return To Cadiz bristle with energetic guitar, while some unadulterated non electronic drumming propels Goliath powerfully forwards, a welcome change of pace.

It all sort of fritters away after that with Did You See The Sunrise? slipping far too close to modern Coldplay territory for my liking. 

You also feel that occasionally the singing need to change it up. The haunting, sorrowful vocals are very much a trademark of the Blueneck sound but occasionally an emotional variation would be good – Maybe a flash of anger or something more uplifting like Alcest manage.

Whilst it is good to see them having returned, we are not at the peak of King Nine or The Fallen Host yet

 The new album, Solstice, from the amazing A.A. Williams is with us.

The first blindingly obvious difference is the album cover – Previous covers have been deliberately blurred or just glimpses of a face hiding beneath a Claudia Winkleman style fringe but here we have a full-frontal face shot. A sign of confidence or an attempt to be more open?   

If it’s confidence, then it’s well founded. Another glorious album of languid melancholy showing absolute mastery of the quiet-loud song style. Musically it doesn’t diverge too far from the previous As The Moon Rests album with a polished post rock feel. 

Poison is a powerful and melodic opener setting the tone while later on The Veil is an achingly beautiful piano only ballad.

My favourite track is the 6-minute Hold It Together. For half the song it’s a gentle tale of piano led despondency which suddenly erupts into a febrile wall of tremulous guitars and choirs. The comedown at the end is stunning.

Lyrically it’s still dense and at times difficult to hear but that voice is so fabulous….

Another A.A. Williams album destined to make the album of the year list.

 Don’t normally do singles reviews but I chose these from opposite ends of my musical taste.

First up are Black Metal legends, Enslaved, who have decided to sing some sea shanties with the Storm Weather Shanty Choir. An odd choice but fisherman also tend to be hulking men in beards so maybe not that different.

The A side is Fire Marengo which appears to be a very popular shanty (Longest Johns and Bellowhead are just two examples of other versions I’ve seen).

Vocally it’s very standard apart from one section about 2 mins 30 in where they let the vocalist from Enslaved indulge in some very metal growling. Apart from that there’s a short fun guitar solo and an anvil being hammered just to confirm the involvement of the rest of the Viking horde.

The B side is a beautiful Norwegian shanty Anna Lovinda and a lot more traditional. Apart some huge doomy guitar chords this could easily be played in a folk club without offending those in attendance.

There is a stunning black and white splatter 7” which I couldn’t resist.

For something completely different, Vanessa Funke makes gorgeous post punk/New Order inspired rock under the name of The Occasion. However, she also has a side project called Movement for some very retro synth pop.

So Far Away is very 80’s with waves of synths over some amazing drum machine programming. It pulses along topped off by Vanessa singing where she absolutely nails the almost uninterested, jaded vocals that the Human League did so perfectly.   

The B side is an instrumental called Game of Chance. A slightly faster track making more use of stabs of keyboard – You can almost see someone stood next to a vintage synthesizer, tapping out the notes one handed. 

So far, I’ve loved everything I’ve heard from her, so I need to investigate more 

 So, we have a new album from JJ Lovegrove called History Is The Struggle of Becoming and is a loose concept on the life and works of D.H. Lawrence.

Confession time – I’m know nothing about D.H. Lawrence, so I’ll not comment about how that and the concept (I also have no idea who the apparently renowned producer Ed Harcourt is. That could just be my age or my musical preferences but I apologise for my ignorance.

 The last album from Judi, (Unravelled: The Elegies) was brilliant but so raw and personal, it was hard to listen to at times. This time it’s still lyrically vulnerable and intimate but with more than just voice and piano it feels more of a comfortable share.

Lament is an opening instrumental full of brass before we hit the single Celandine which is one of the album highlights. A slow burn, opening up with piano but with a menacing guitar lurking at the back. Slowly drums are added to the mix and then Judi’s vocals go stratospheric with a succession of astonishing high notes.

The Rainbow is more downbeat, featuring snippets of a home recording while detailing a difficult home life.

Lyrically Lost Girl is gut wrenching in its depiction of a sexual assault before depressingly listing ‘rules’ for young women – “Don’t smile too much, or wear the wrong dress. Cover your glass with your hand, don’t walk home alone.” 

The title track features big booming piano chords while the guitar weaves some glorious noise around them.

Hunger Codes is about sex and throbs with sensuous desire, the vocals a lusty purr. The low deliberate piano notes reminiscent of Talk Talk’s seminal Life’s What You Make It. Another album highlight.

Throughout, the song writing is exceptional, and Judi’s voice is stunning, full of emotion, yet never forced.

Yet another artist who should be applauded from the rafters, rather than being cherished by those of us lucky enough to have discovered her.

 Looks like end of May / start of June is going to be an amazing month for new releases.

First up is the debut album from Abrasive Trees called Light Remaining. This is a band I’ve been following since hearing the debut single in 2020. From those early days only Matthew Rochford on guitar and vocals remains and I have been really looking forward to this.

No Solace opens with a solemn spoken word section before exploding around 90 seconds in a wall of drums and guitar.

There is a slow, glacial tempo to a lot of the tracks with a dense almost claustrophobic atmosphere which the spoken vocals accentuate.

However, the first of two instrumentals, Star Sapphire, positively bounces along on a pulsing bass line before slowing down for some monolithic riffing and then picking up the tempo again.

The first single, Carved Skull, welcomes back former band member Ben Roberts and his electric cello to stunning effect. “Are we divided?” asks the band as the music fades out before the voices. The backing vocals of Yunala Songweaver are a great addition to both this track and Flickering Flame.

The final album track I Didn’t Mean to Hurt You is an 11-minute instrumental epic in three parts. It starts at a stately pace with mournful cello to the fore. A staggering change of pace takes the track into an absolute post-rock maelstrom sweeping you up in a clattering crescendo with thunderous drumming. Pausing to take breath, the final third  tempo allows Matthew to weave some extraordinary guitar virtuosity. 

There is a bonus track, Megadrone, but I’m not sure there is a need for another largely spoken word track, and I would have left I Didn’t Mean to Hurt You to end the album.

Just to say the artwork for the album and the two singles from Grebo Gray is also perfect, giving the band a strong visual identity. 

A brilliant album to start a run of new releases this month.