to view the blogs Flickr: account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/twistedwheelstolethesun/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Twisted Wheel supporting Paul Weller at the Assembly Rooms, Derby 25/11/09
to view the blogs Flickr: account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/twistedwheelstolethesun/
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
53 Degrees in Preston - Epic gig!! 14/11/09
**more pix to follow as unable to upload further pix due to error on blogger.com, sorry**
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Twisted Wheel's sell-out gig at the Sugarmill, Stoke on Friday 13th November 2009
Fans Comments:
Shaun - F***in smashed it up lads and stand it bassist was bang on
Simon -F***in bang on last night I want to go again tonight!
Debbie -loved it!... amazing! and a big apology too to the guy I pushed over,lol.. to be fair tho he was twice the size of me
Hadrian - were f***in awsome last nite!!
Joe - absolutly Emense last night!
Simon - Had a blast last night! Top crowd too !:)
Charlotte - you f***ng rock - i was well chuffed i got right to the front!!!!
Paul - the sugarmill was tops AGAIN!!!!!!!!Thank you twisted wheel!hope you come to stoke again soon!!!!!
Phil - What a night at the Sugarmill on Friday !!! Different class
Pete - superb gig and great hospitality thanks for everything keep on the bricks an i ll c you all at the the railway next year
Kirsty - Loved itttt. Chipped me tooth on the barrier like but still loved it :D
Grant - quality gig last nite, was mental. stand in bassist did a sound job...look 4ward to seein yer with weller in derby
Lancashire Evening Post Interview with Jonny Brown
Twisted Wheel Lead singer Jonny Brown tells of adventures with Oasis and putting the phone down on Paul Weller.
MANCHESTER band Twisted Wheel lead a charmed life. Paul Weller loves them, they supported Oasis at Heaton Park and this year they finally released their first album.
Singer Jonny told Judith Dornan how he came to have a techno dance off with Noel Gallagher and why he put the phone down on Paul Weller.
TWISTED Wheel frontman Jonny Brown is still only 23 - but he's already got a lifetime's worth of tall tales.
There's the time he partied with Noel Gallagher after supporting Oasis at Wembley. He says: "I went back to some mad house in London with Noel and his girlfriend and all their mates.
"And we had a dance off to techno music - which was something I never thought would happen with Noel Gallagher."
Or there's the time, he put the phone down on Paul Weller. "I was just in my room and the phone rang and I answered it and he said hello - and it was Weller on the phone.
"I thought it was my mate messing about - there's one of my mates that's a bit of a comedian and I thought it was him winding 
me up. But it wasn't, it was actually Weller.
"So I put the phone down on him the first time! He rung us back, yeah. The second time when I heard it again, I thought, Oh, it is! It just took me twice to realise!"
He admits: "It is just bizarre, isnt it? But loads of bizarre things constantly happen to us and me personally as well so I suppose it's just another one of them things, isnt it?
"You just sort of think, Oh, that's mad, and wait for the next thing to happen. I hope something mad's going to happen again like that - and it has done!"
Twisted Wheel, from Oldham, Manchester, seem to be every dour old rockstar's favourite band just now.
They recorded a 10-track EP at Weller's personal studio after former Inspiral Carpet,Clint Boon, gave the Modfather a CD by their old band, The Children.
They sent him their new stuff when they became Twisted Wheel. Jonny says: "He listened to it straight away and he text back saying he loved it."
Now signed to Columbia, they're supporting him on his upcoming national tour, including his date at Preston Guild Hall later this month.
But first they're returning to 53 Degrees this week for their own headline show. Jonny says: "I played about three times with my old band and probably three times with The Wheel.
"The people are nice. The DJs there, they always play our tunes and when they've sent the feedback back to us, they've always give us 5/5."
The core of Twisted Wheel, Jonny and bassist Rick Lees, have been mates since nursery school - although, from their earliest days, Jonny had the frontman temperament.
Jonny says: "We did a Nativity play and he was one of the Three Kings and I was Joseph and I was gutted because I wanted to be a King.
"I just walked round the whole play with my head down, like, in a mood. My Mum said, 'If you do the main part, I'll get you a toy gun.' So I just did it for the gun."
With the addition of drummer Adam Clarke and Neil Lavin on keyboards, they morphed from the Children into Twisted Wheel.
Previously, they have claimed they took their name from Manchester's northern soul nightclub, the Twisted Wheel, inspired by Oasis naming themselves after a Swindon music venue.
But now Jonny denies this. He says: "Er, I think we've given a different answer to that question because we've been asked it so many times, we just said whatever we felt like on the day.
"I didnt really know anything about the Twisted Wheel. I just saw the name and I thought, Oh, that's a great name for a band.
"We didn't think we're going to find a club and call the band after a club or anything like that. No, I just seen it."
The most amazing moment of this year was walking onstage at Heaton Park opening for Oasis in what turned out to be their last ever hometown shows.
Jonny and his Dad both enjoyed it to the full. Jonny grins: "I drunk that much over them three gigs that I was in bed for a week after with kidney failure.
"My Dad were there every day. He's got this little van - it's the van we're in now, usually we have a proper Splitter but my Dad's just helping out today.
"But he slept in the van, he said he nearly got hypothermia in the night. But he just goes round having a mint time, telling everyone: "It's great, it's like being in the 1960s!"
He says Oasis bonded with them on the first date in Sheffield. He recalls: "I was in the canteen in catering a
nd seen Noel and he said alright to us and I had a little chat to him.
"And then I went for a cig with him in his dressing room and straight away we were talking to all the band in there and Liam.
"And then I was getting fruit salad after me tea and Liam came up to me and started dancing round my shoes, saying, 'I like your shoes.'
"Then the next night, we all had a big party in their dressing room and our drummer ended up falling asleep and spewing on the sofa.
"I must have robbed all their cigarettes actually because when I got home and looked in my pocket, I had, like, three decks of 20 B&H. We just got really pissed and had a good laugh and I think that sort of broke the ice."
Most of the time, he just accepts this extraordinary life. But sometimes it hits home. He says: "Sometimes I think, nah, I'm meant to be doing this so I just dont think it's weird.
"But sometimes I wake up in the morning and just think, bloody hell, mad!"
http://www.lep.co.uk/entertainmentnews/Twisted-Wheel.5822733.jp
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Give Wheel a spin: Twisted Wheel (Middlesborough Evening Gazatte)
ASCENDING stars TWISTED WHEEL (pictured left) are descending on Teesside on Thursday 19th November with a headline show at Stockton's Ku Bar.
The Oldham three-piece mine the same rich seam as some of the UK's greatest rock'n'roll bands such as The Clash, The Who and The Jam and are armed with a lyrical intensity to match Mark E Smith at his most pointed.
In 12 short months they've gone from nothing to selling out 500 capacity shows in their home town, 300,000 views of their My Space site, and a record deal with Columbia Records.
With songs that tell tales of unhinged northern street life, dripping with sardonic humour and reckless desperation, Twisted Wheel are taking their incendiary, compulsive, no holds barred live set on another national tour this month and next.
Although half of their gigs will be on shows supporting the Modfather Paul Weller, they will also do a whole host of rare headline shows.
We say rare because the band have been picked by nearly all of indie's great and good for support.
In June the band were hand-picked by Noel Gallagher to support the now defunct Oasis during their British shows that month. Other notable support slots have come with ace indie bands The Rascals and The Courteeners, Kasabian, Reverend And The Makers, The View, The Enemy, Friendly Fires and Secret Machines.
This year's busy schedule comes on the back of triumphant festival appearances at Dot to Dot, The Great Escape, Kendall Calling, Radio 1's Big Weekend, T-In The Park, Oxegen and Reading/Leeds Festival (even experiencing a stage invasion at the latter) last year.
They're rolling into the Ku Bar on Thursday 19th November when they will be supported by the Teesside delights of PRETTY HICKEYS and THE MASTER COLONY.
TWISTED WHEEL, PRETTY HICKEYS, THE MASTER COLONY: Ku Bar, Stockton Thursday. 19th November - Entry: pounds 6
Twisted Wheel is one to see - Liverpool Echo
TWISTED Wheel are playing a free show for Liverpool Music Week, and it's definitely one to see.
The three-piece band from Oldham - made up of guitarist and singer Jonny Brown, drummer Adam Clarke and bass player Rick Lees - formed in 2007, and signed a deal with Columbia, home to Bob Dylan, Kings Of Leon and Glasvegas, the following year.
"We only started the band two years ago," says Jonny. "We made the album back last June, so we couldn't wait to release it. It still sounded good to us, so that's a good sign.
"I think even better than the reviews is that Paul Weller and Oasis have said they like us, and they're just legends. Things are looking good so far.
"We played our first gig about a week after our first rehearsal, then saved about pounds 500 to record our first EP, had 1,000 copies made and then used to just go outside gigs in Manchester and give them to people. We did that, and pretty quickly we were playing to 300 people in bars in Manchester.
"News of that got down to London, then this buzz started. We played In The City, the industry festival in Manchester, and got a few offers of record deals. We signed our deal with Columbia in 2008, about a year after we got together."
They recorded their album in LA with Oasis producer Dave Sardy.
"We sent a load of demos to producers, some over here, some in America," says Jonny. "Dave came back with some great feedback, got what we did straight away and we really liked him.
"You can get equipment a lot easier over there and when you're recording they really look after you. If there's not a guitar you want in the studio, you just ask for it and someone will turn up with one 20 minutes later.
"I was joking around by the end of it, saying I wanted a 1961 Fender Telecaster in sunburst, you know, a super rare guitar, and one would be there that day. It was amazing."
Twisted Wheel play the Masque on November 6
Liverpool Music Week: Twisted Wheel on Oasis and living the dream + post gig exclusive Interview
Liverpool Music Week: Twisted Wheel on Oasis and living the dream
"There’s no secret to the rise of Twisted Wheel, “We just make good honest rock ’n’ roll music that people clock on to,” says bassist Richard Lee, who prefers to be known as Rick.
Only his mum calls him Richard. And hasn’t Mrs Lee’s son done his mum proud?
The Mancunian three-piece, Lee, drummer Adam Clarke and front man Jonny Brown, are on a headline tour off the back of a summer where they made their name."
Their support slot on what would turn out to be Oasis' last hurrah will go down in history.
In some ways it could be Twisted Wheel's claim to fame but they're determined to make their own name in this business. Doing that hasn't been easy.
"I remember us trying to get gigs when we first started" says Lees
"A lot of venues were saying no, unless we could bring in 100 people on a wednesday night in Bedford. It just wasn't happening was it?"
“It’s all about who you know really but at the same time if you write f**king great tunes and you put everything into it you're gonna do well.”
They’ve not been doing too badly. The release of their eponymous debut album earlier this year was followed by a headline tour, then a European tour with Oasis and now another, bigger and better headline tour.
They headlined The Masque in Liverpool on Friday night as part of the city’s fantastic music week.
Their happy to be in the city but the band’s Manchester roots lead to an inevitable comparison with Oasis.
“To us Oasis were the reason we started playing music and why we got into it.
“When they came along you could identify with it because it was lads from Manchester who dress normal and are proper rock and roll stars.”
A dream come true then to support them over the summer but Lees doesn’t remember seeing any signs that a split was on the cards. 
“You couldn't really sense anything but then we hadn't seen it five years before so we didn't have anything to compare it to. But it’s a big loss.”
Twisted Wheel's sound has inevitably drawn comparisons with Oasis but has been described perhaps more accurately as a “confrontational, folk inflected brand of garage rock”.
Comparisons to The Jam and The Clash have also been mentioned in reviews. It’s an honour no doubt but Lee doesn’t have much time for stuff like this. They’re just a people’s band.
“We're the sort of band that you put on on a Friday before you go out just to get you in the mood,” he says.
“We're not like an arty-farty, novelty band who are only under the spotlight for five minutes.”
“We're definitely a gigging band,” says drummer Adam Clarke who arrives late to the interview but has plenty to say.
“We're not gonna do a Kid A, spend two years in a studio and do an album we're not really gonna play live ever.”
And with that talk turns to a new album. There’s loads of songs but no concept as yet. They’re just enjoying life on the road.
They’ve found an unlikely fan base in Japan. Having played Fuji Rock over the summer the Wheel are returning early next year.
Clarke adds: “I don’t really know why we’re big over there but they're quick at getting on stuff the Japanese, they're very obsessive over English bands.”
You can sense they love the touring. Sometimes, as Clarke points out, you can “sit on a bus and stare into space for five hours.”
But it’s got to be worth it at the end of the day? “Yeah we’ve got used to it now,” he adds.
Having fun with your mates, seeing the world and earning money doing something you love. That’s the dream for all ordinary lads from the North isn’t it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post gig INTERVIEW: 
Twisted Wheel have just come off stage after playing a blinding set to an adoring flock, who sing all their songs, bouncing around to the fresh, raw and yet to be ripened sound that the band thrashed out at Liverpool Sound City. I was told by the tour manager that the band had darted off, as Johnny Brown the singer/songwriter and guitarist was coming down with something and the drummer had girl problems, but he has managed to get Rick, the bass player in a room up stairs, so we went up there and started the interview. Rick had ice on his hand, he told us it was repetitive strain injury (wanker’s cramp). Bass players get this from time to time after spending months on the road playing with it, night in, night out. Rick gave us the last two beers from the band’s rider and I began asking him how he felt, as I knew he was diagnosed with Swine Flu a few weeks ago. We had a little chat and my phone rang. It was Johnny, who was waiting for us in the back of the van to do the interview. So we took our drinks and an injured Rick and made our way down to the van. We climbed in and began the interview…
Virtual Festivals: I have just seen you play live for the first time. The raw energy takes me back to the live performances of my teenage years on the Manchester scene of the late 80’s. These Scousers loved it.
Johnny Brown: “Yeah it was a good gig man. It’s always good in Liverpool, the fan base is full on. The last time we played in this venue, I think it was called The Barfly, in a little room, it was pretty small and there was about four people there. We’ve played a few places in Liverpool it’s a good crowd down here.”
VF: How do you feel?
JB: “I feel pretty knackered today, but it’s great. The main thing for us is playing live and it’s always a great feeling to be touring the world as this is what we have always wanted to do, you know, the music is taking us round. There’s nothing better than being out on the road, meeting new people, playing our music and connecting with people.”
VF: And it gets you out of Oldham?
JB: “Yeah it keeps us out of mischief.”
VF: You’re from Oldham near Manchester. Is that where you grew up?
JB: “Yeah a place called Saddleworth. I grew up in Greenfield, then lived in a place called Dobcross and I’ve got a flat in Uppermill now.”
VF: I got my bass nicked from a music college near where you grew up and it turned up in the window in a second hand shop in Oldham, I loved that bass, I got it from The Chameleons.
JB: “John Lever the drummer used to be the caretaker in the rehearsal rooms where our old band used to practice. We used to see him every week; he’s a top bloke. I’ve never met the rest of the band.”
VF: They had a sound that you can hear in many bands today. Do you think that you have a unique sound and does your music encapsulate that Manchester static that has sparked off many an explosion on the music scenes of the past?
JB: “I think we’ve got a unique sound, yeah. We are different to a lot of bands especially now there is not a lot of rock and roll bands about. I think we have combined a bit of country, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, that was like our early stuff, the punk and blues I think we’ve got a bit of The Kinks in our song writing, Chuck Berry and Hank Marvin.”
VF: Two and a half years ago when you first got together, did you imagine yourselves playing in front of thousands of people at Glastonbury or supporting Oasis and Weller? [The photographer in the room shouts “He was still at school!”]
JB: “You what? No I wasn’t actually I am deceivingly older than I look; I still get ID-ed for Rizlas. I didn’t expect to be supporting so many great artists that we were influenced by and we look up to. When we started this band I always had a good feeling that we were going do some good stuff but not as much as we’ve done. We’ve supported Ian Brown, The Happy Mondays, Oasis, Kasabian and The Buzzcocks – there’s loads of great people. Any band would be over the moon with anything like that.”
VF: What was Ian Brown like?
JB: “Great, he was a really nice bloke, really chilled out. Sometimes you go on tour with bands and they don’t care about the support bands but all the bands that we supported have been genuine and have given us the time of day, which is great.”
VF: You have played loads of places all over the UK, what’s your favourite city? And why?
JB: “I like Brighton and I like Glasgow and – a mad sort of like wild card – was Margate which I’d never really heard of until I played there. I think it’s like Blackpool for Londoners. We did a gig there supporting The Enemy and I don’t know how they got them in but there were hub caps being thrown around off cars. That was pretty mental. I like playing in Manchester as well, obviously.”
VF: Are you what the world is waiting for?
JB: “I think there is a percentage of the world that is still searching for us but yet to find us. We’ve noticed with the fans is that some people get into us straight away while others don’t like it when they first hear it, then suddenly convert to it. The good thing with our fan base is they stick with us, it’s not like we are a five minute band, people feel part of something.”
VF: What do you think of the emerging social change? Do you think you could be the band of the revolution or would you be happy just riding a wave of mediocrity?
JB: “I think if you’re going to be the band of the revolution that just happens naturally. The main thing for us is to just keep writing songs and being truthful and what ever happens, happens. We just put our hearts into it and do our best. If we were the band of the revolution I’d be very happy 
about it.”
VF: Do you think that your electropositive success will burn out as fast as it ignited or will the fire in your music blaze on when the hype dies down?
JB: “I will always be writing songs man. If I’m not doing this sort of music I will be doing a load of the stuff that I do that no one knows I do. We are making the music we are making now, but there is loads to come. I don’t think I will ever burn out.”
VF: Your songs are mainly based on character sets. Are these characters in your head or are they based on real people?
JB: “A lot of them are real people. I think that is where I was at the time when we was writing the songs for that album, we just liked to sit around watching the world go by and meeting a lot of people. And where we live there are a lot of characters. There are people who mean a lot to me, they are great people and by writing about them we are noting them down in history and I think not enough people do that and when them people are gone they are going to be there in a song.”
VF: Like the bouncing bomb?
JB: “Like the bouncing bomb, yeah.”
VF: Your hometown is situated on a big hill overlooking the orange glow of Manchester. On the subject of elevation, how high are you right now? Could you get any higher?
JB: “These are mad questions. You know what, I’ve always been a big fan of walking and hiking, I don’t have all the gear and that but I like going up hills and look at great views. There is a place near where we live called Pots and Pans and if you go up there you can look down over Manchester and I do that a lot, it’s one of my favourite things to do when I get a bit of time. If anyone comes to see us who has never been I always take them up there if we’ve got a day off. So yeah, that is one of my favourite things to do and it’s right on my front door.”
VF: You released your self-titled debut album in April this year. How do you think it compares to the debut albums of the bands that have influenced you?
JB: “The production’s different because obviously the bands that influenced me are pretty old so the recording techniques are different. When you get the first albums of The Jam and The Clash every song’s a nugget, it’s bam bam bam bam bam and it’s over and you want to play it again, I hope we got that. I played it a million times before it came out. I don’t listen to it now.”
VF: Are you bored of it now?
JB: “Well, no I’m working on new stuff. That’s been done. I think we have captured that raw energy that we make live. Some bands that can be energetic live go in the studio and they lose it all. We have kept that which is important.”
VF: In 20 years time will the kids be influenced by your music as you were by say The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, The Jam, The Clash or The Smiths?
JB: “I think they will because they are now, especially the young kids. All our mates that have got kids themselves, all their kids are into it which is great to know because when everyone else gets bored of it there is always another generation of people.”
VF: What are Kasabian like on tour? I saw them at Manchester University five years ago, their energy on stage was dynamic.
JB: “I’ve not actually toured with them but we did one gig in Milan with them and we did the Heaton Park gig and that was the first time I’d met them. I haven’t actually met Serge but I had a few chats with Tom and he’s a dead sound bloke man.”
VF: Do you think they have lost that spark after years on the road with each other?
JB: “I never got that impression. I think I prefer their latest album to their other stuff to be honest. When Kasabian came out I was so busy doing my own music I never really watched them but I quite enjoyed their set at Heaton Park.”
VF: Will that ever happen to you? Do you think you will ever get sick of the site of each other and lose the will to play live?
JB: “I don’t think it will in the long term. I think if you are on tour all the time together you would just have those days where you might have that feeling towards each other but it never lasts. I wouldn’t want to be in a band where you’re constantly not getting on. I think I’d just leave and do something else but we all get on pretty well. It’s nice to get home and have a break from each other but we are one band who have never had an argument.”
VF: Like Girls Aloud?
JB: “Why do they not argue? I bet they have right fucking rows.”
VF: 50 years ago on these very streets, in venues like this one, four lads were about to shake the world with their own brand of rock and roll and this would change the world forever. The world is in need of another shake don’t you think? Are you the boys to do it?
JB: “You know what? I proper believe that the world does need another shake and I think that there has not been a band that has done it for quite a long time for a few reasons. I don’t think the radio stations that the kids listen to are playing the right music, they are limiting what they could play to people and I think that makes it hard for some great bands to get through to people. “I think we have come to a point in time that things are going to change and there is going to be a band that everyone wants. Not an X Factor band and not a little indie pop band and not bullshit. I believe that we’re the band to do it. We have done one album that we are all happy with but at the same time we have been going two and a half years so it’s really early days for us. Some people can easily make the decision that they don’t like ‘The Wheel’ but we haven’t done nothing yet, there is a lot more to come. I believe as a songwriter and an artist that we are definitely the band to do it.”
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Twisted Wheel's epic Halloween gig at the Doghouse, Dundee, 31/10/09
The next gig in Scotland - Dundee, and the sun shines brightly, a welcome respite from the previous two days of rain. However, this date falls on the effervescent event of Halloween making Twisted Wheel's appearance at the Doghouse all the more alluring!
With The Jam's 'Disguises' being played over the pa, there couldn't have been a more apt tune to play.
With the crowd pileing in, no one was in any doubt that the evening's event would go down in Twisted Wheel history as one of the more outrageous & adventurous gigs that they'd ever played, from Michael Jackson look-a-likes to the Spice Girls in the audience, it was plain to see this was going to go down a storm!
Did anyone recognise Kieren Webster as he introduced Twisted Wheel? ha ha I thought not....
Set List'Lucy The Castle'
'Bad Candy'
'Racket'
She's a Weapon'
'One Night on the Street'
'Bang of the Beat'
'Bouncing Bomb'
'Whats your Name'
'Let Them Have It All'
'Smash it Up'
'Strife'
'Turnaround'
'Oh What Have You Done'
'You Stole The Sun'
'We Are Us'
(with crowd invasions from Spice Girls' Mel C and clowns, to bouncers blocking everyone's view)
Twisted Wheel at the Tunnels, Aberdeen 30/10/09
Another rainy day in Scotland, but all smiles, as Twisted Wheel headed in the direction of Aberdeen, on the way to the underground venue of The Tunnels.
Once again the crowds forming early, to a fully packed out venue, with fans travelling long distance from Coventry this time, to catch a glimpse of their heros in action.
Set List'Lucy The Castle'
'Racket'
She's A Weapon'
One Night on the Street'
Bad Candy'
'Bouncing Bomb'
'Whats Your Name'
'Let Them Have it All'
'Turnaround'
'Smash It Up'
'Strife'
'Oh What Have You Done'
'You Stole The Sun'
'We Are Us'
The set list may not be as you remember it, cos, well, many pints were consumed and things got slightly confusing.....for me that is......
Keep your eyes peeled on the shelves of your nearest newsagent, as you may have a pleasant surprise soon... a fully loaded Twisted Wheel bomb bag special may just be heading your way.
Twisted Wheel @ King Tuts, Glasgow 29/10/09
A rainy night in Glasgow didn't dampen the eager spirits of the crowd forming outside King Tuts, for the first gig of Twisted Wheel's Scotland dates.
The bar became full of expectant fans, some coming from as far a field as Newcastle to catch a glimpse of their favourite band - of course, they werent disappointed with a full throttle rock n roll set.
Set List'Lucy The Castle'
'Bad Candy'
'Racket'
'She's A Weapon'
'One Night on the Street'
'Turnaround'
'Bang of the Beat'
'Bouncing Bomb'
'Whats Your Name'
'Let Them have it All'
'Smash It Up'
'Strife'
'Oh What Have You Done'
'You Stole The Sun'
'We Are Us'
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