Liverpool music gig guide: Getintothis Deep Cuts #16, Sound City, Smithdown Road Festival and much more

Bank Holiday weekend mark one is T-minus not very long away, so Getintothis’ David Hall grabs a highlighter to scribble across this week’s gig listings, and your face.

Well, well, well. Here we are. Arriving at the business end of the gig calendar, by which we mean the starting gun for festival season is being loaded as we speak.

On its marks is Sound City. Getting set is Smithdown Road Festival. We’re just waiting for the word ‘go’ and we’ll be off on the ‘B’ of the ‘Bank Holiday’.

But before all that nonsense however, there’s plenty going on across Merseyside to keep you occupied from Monday to Friday. Local bands appearing across both of those festival lineups are playing warm-up gigs in support of some impressive names this week.

Plus elsewhere, we’re being treated to some amazing quality ahead of what the weekend has in store for us.

So make sure you dive deep into those Gigbites – there’s plenty to enjoy hidden in there, stuff that we haven’t got the time and space to fully draw your attention towards. Except for right now. We suppose that could be construed as drawing your attention to those gigs off the beaten track. Anyway, moving swiftly on…

Getintothis Deep Cuts # 16 – Seatbelts, Milo Tain, Lemonade Fix, Lennie Dies: Buyers Club, Wednesday May 2

We’re teaming up with Sound City (we’ll return the favour later in the week, just wait and see) to bring the stellar lineup of Seatbelts, Milo Tain, Lemonade Fix, Lennie Dies, plus tunes from DJ Cosmic Shepherd to Buyers Club for the sixteenth edition of Deep Cuts.

The squonky guitar sounds of Seatbelts headline, while funky R&B saxophonist and vocalist Milo Tain and others provide backup.

Read our full preview here.

The Spook School: Shipping Forecast, Thursday May 3

Arriving for a Shipping Forecast show midweek are Edinburgh’s finest purveyors of confessional indie trans-pop The Spook School.

Having just released their outstanding third album Could It Be Different? back in January, The Spook School are really going places. Cool Scottish indie-pop from Edinburgh and not Glasgow? Go and see this madness for yourself!

Scott Matthews: Philharmonic Music Room, Saturday May 5

Marking his return to Liverpool at the Music Room following a victorious show at Leaf pretty much exactly a year ago, blues-influenced folk rocker Scott Matthews released six albums in a decade.

He’s given that gruelling release schedule something of a break between 2016 and now, but Matthews recently returns with a new single Cinnamon, lifted from forthcoming album The Great Untold.

Getintothis’ Sound City late night party – King Khan and the Shrines, Pale Rider, Beija Flo: Hangar 34, Saturday May 5

Told you we would return the favour, and what a way to do it! While the main Sound City event is taking place across the Baltic Triangle, we’ve gotten our own little guerrilla breakaway faction gig.

Late night over at Hangar 34, the outrageous energy of King Khan and the Shrines is bound to bring the house down, with backing from Pale Rider and Beija Flo.

Read our full preview here.

Sound City: Liverpool Baltic Triangle and Cains Brewery, Saturday May 5 – Sunday May 6

The talking is over, and Sound City 2018 is here. Much has been said about the festival going back to its city centre multi-venue roots, and a move to the bustling Baltic Triangle certainly works on paper.

We’ll just have to see how the likes of headliners DMA’s and Peace, plus an extensive lineup including Idles, Superorganism and Black Honey, fare across the weekend.

Smithdown Road Festival 2018: Smithdown Road, Saturday May 5 – Monday May 7

Perpetual underdog and rival to Sound City, the Smithdown Road Festival also gets cracking over the bank holiday weekend. A world away from the big headliners, and all the way across town, those making the journey will be rewarded by sets from the likes of Krafty Kuts, Beardyman, John Power and Space, with more from Turbowolf, Scarlet, Polo and The Cheap Thrills across the weekend. Worthy of your investigative powers? We think so.

Former Sisters of Mercy main man? Check. Boss Bristolian instrumental noise rock (the last listing, in case that grabbed your attention)? It can only be Getintothis’ Gigbites!

• Wayne Hussey: Philharmonic Music Room, Wednesday May 2
• The Vamps: Echo Arena, Wednesday May 2
• Midnight Prophecy, White Mammoth, Dead Rebel, Dark Of Eden: Maguire’s, Friday May 4
• Wood Burning Savages: 81 Renshaw, Friday May 4
• The Heist, Silhouette Empire: Zanzibar, Friday May 4
• Christy Moore: Philharmonic Hall, Saturday May 5
• Woes: Sound Food And Drink, Saturday May 5
• Marmozets: O2 Academy, Saturday May 5
• Memory of Elephants, Codices, Quen, Silhouette Empire: Maguire’s, Saturday May 5

Birdstriking: O2 Academy, Friday May 18

Welcome to the world of Birdstriking, a five piece from Beijing spearheading China’s underground music movement. Signed to Chinese indie label Far Out Distant Sounds, with releases handled internationally by Maybe Mars, Birdstriking are building up quite the reputation for their intense and frenetic live shows.

The quintet play economical, addictive art-pop, their jagged guitars and Chinese lyrics sounding like Foals on a waft of weed smoke. Sounds like one of the most interesting propositions we’ve had in a while, right? It’s all brought to the city by Evol, with The Floormen and The Probes in support too, so you can be guaranteed of this show’s quality.

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