Winston's Zen: Good music brings inner peace

A MOMENT OF ZEN: TURRENTINE JONES

2009-10-08T18:54:00.004+01:00

LIVE AT THE ZEN-TRIFUGE LAUNCH NIGHTWhat can I tell you about Turrentine Jones that I haven't already told you?I could try telling you that the Manchester three piece are set to change the way you see that particular cities music, but I've already told you that. I could mention their enigmatic front-man Jude Neville and his eye-squintingly skuzzy blues guitar, but you already know all about it. I

ZENDAR: INTRODUCING DAMIEN RENOUF

2009-09-25T19:59:00.003+01:00

NEW ACTS MAKING BLIPS ON THE ZENDARTainted as it has been in recent times by the Blunt's, Nuttini's and Rice's of our generation, the singer-song writer genre is traditionally not greatly lauded on these pages. So it's with an unusual amount of pleasure that Winston's Zen would like to draw your esteemed attention to a young Londoner with talent to spare and an arsenal of tender, heartfelt songs

ZENDAR Q&A: INTRODUCING - STAGECOACH

2009-09-24T21:51:00.004+01:00

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESThose of you paying attention when listening to Zenlist Vol 5 might have noticed the glistening gem that was Break, the contribution from London newcomers Stagecoach. The five piece indie-popsters recently signed to the achingly cool Alcopop records and featured on the labels innovative compilation-in-a-bottle not so long ago.With a pretty extensive UK tour

DOWNLOAD: THE ZENLIST VOL 5

2009-09-19T16:58:00.004+01:00

THE PLAYLIST THAT BRINGS INNER PEACE...It's been a long time since there was a playlist round these parts, I know. But, even if I say so myself, I think Vol 5 has been well worth the wait.Ten Zen-filled tracks from ten hot new bands you might not have come across yet but who all deserve a nice thick slice of your attention pie. Largely as a result of the drive to find acts to be part of our

GIG REVIEW: WHITE SUNDAY

2009-09-16T21:23:00.006+01:00

LIVE @ THE OAKFORD, READING - SEP 11TH 2009White Sunday may have been off our stages for a while, but if the queues snaking around the block and the eager punters locked out of this sold out show at the Oakford on Friday night are anything to go by, then Reading’s gig goers have lost no more of their enthusiasm for their local hero’s than Winston’s Zen has. If ever there was a night to cram

ZENDAR Q&A: INTRODUCING - CARTER BROWN

2009-08-26T20:14:00.004+01:00

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESFour lads from Brigthon eschewing their cities penchant for glam chopped electro beats, Carter Brown have instead chosen the kind of snarling rock n roll that has been known to cause sporadic outbreaks of air guitar and heads that bang harder than Madame JoJo's headboard.Seemingly capable of achieving the both the cliche'd Wall of Sound ([HaHa] Too Little Too

ZENDAR Q&A: INTRODUCING - LION O'BRIEN

2009-08-26T08:09:00.011+01:00

You might recall London five-piece (yes, five piece despite what the picture tells you) Lion O'Brien from last weeks Moment of Zen. In their own words, "striving to establish their own brand of feel-good music" the band write songs about "love, work, robots vampires and other aspects everyday life".Quite.Winston's Zen was keen to find out more;Tell us how the band got together. We all met by

ZENDAR Q&A: (RE)INTRODUCING - TURRENTINE JONES

2009-08-24T18:46:00.005+01:00

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESIf you haven't heard me raving about Turrentine Jones yet, then you've definitely not been listening very carefully. A swollen, organ-laced blues-tinged beauty, the Manchester three piece's self released debut EP is a mainstay on the Zen Avenue stereo for a few months now. In fact, we like them so much we made them the first ever Zen-trifuge headliners back in

ZENDAR Q&A: INTRODUCING - THE IC1s

2009-08-20T14:34:00.009+01:00

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESWhen a band name themselves after the police radio code that describes their particular racial demographic, you probably won't be surprised to learn that you won't be discovering their CD's in the Easy Listening section of your local HMV. Just as well, because no one's life is long enough to endure meaningless musak.The IC1s are five West London lads who are

STOP PRESS: TOP LINE UP FOR MERC INSTORES

2009-08-19T17:05:00.006+01:00

RELEASES FROM THE ZEN INBOXFirm Zen favourites The Rifles, Official Secrets Act are both set to play at Merc’s legendary Carnaby Street store in London as part of its LIVE Initiative, an enticing series of free shows that have already seen the likes of and the Zendar 2009 shortlisted New Education entertain the crowds.With The Rifles performing a "classics" set, their intimate gig will kick start

A MOMENT OF ZEN: LION O'BRIEN

2009-08-16T18:15:00.005+01:00

THIS LIFE - LIVE AND ACOUSTICFor an act who claim to be "striving to create their own brand of feel good music", recently expanded London five-piece Lion O'Brien have made a pretty good start of it with their debut EP Raincloud vs Sunshine. Packed with catchy hooks and melodies of the breezy summer variety the four tracks are inspired by the breakdown of James O'Brien's former relationship and

ZENDAR Q&A: INTRODUCING - THEM:YOUTH

2009-08-09T14:06:00.006+01:00

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESJoy Division, The Stone Roses, Doves, Starsailor and dare I say it? Yes. Even a hint of Oasis. Very Manchester-centric influences for a West London five piece, but all influences that pour from the pages of them:youth’s ever growing catalogue of casually soaring indie-dance anthems.For evidence of the bands potential look no further than the excellent Lost and

A MOMENT OF ZEN: TWISTED WHEEL

2009-08-08T22:45:00.009+01:00

BOUNCING BOMB LIVE AT KINGS COLLEGEWhat a year it's been for Twisted Wheel, one that's seen them support Oasis on a European tour and become part of the entourage at the Manchester legends UK enormo-gigs. They've scored support slots on Paul Weller's forest tour, The Enemy's UK tour, played a successfull headline tour of their own, debuted on the John Peel stage at Glasto and produced a brilliant

ZEN-TRIFUGE II @ THE GOOD SHIP

2009-08-01T15:09:00.001+01:00

BRINGING INNER PEACE TO NORTH LONDON ONCE AGAINZen-trifuge II, the gig night spreading inner peace all over North London is back. After so many of you turned out for the launch night we kinda felt we owed you something. So we're gonna pay you back with more of the same. Only this time bigger and even better!So we've rushed out and got ourselves a bigger venue (220 capacity), more bands, (four of

INTRODUCING: TURRENTINE JONES

2009-07-29T21:33:00.001+01:00

NEW ACTS MAKING BLIPS ON THE ZENDARManchester; England’s third biggest city, largest metropolis in the famously working class North and one of the wettest cities in the country. Little wonder then that the city’s perpetually thriving music scene has gained a reputation for taking poorly waged, disaffected inner-city kids in big jackets and turning them into the kind of camera shoving, cocaine

A MOMENT OF ZEN: THE RIFLES

2009-07-14T19:18:00.005+01:00

THE GREAT ESCAPE VIDEOIf you've been around these pages before you'll already be well aware that we've got a bit of a soft spot for London four-piece The Rifles. You might remember Winston's Zen was the first blog to post the video to The General way back in February.Well, the boys are back with another slice of typically upbeat indie. The (almost) title track - and some might say stand-out track

A THANK YOU LIST FROM ZEN-TRIFUGE

2009-07-10T18:20:00.013+01:00

WHAT A WAY TO START!So..... that was that then!Zentrifuge exists.The first night is now behind us and what a night it was! I'm writing this at nearly 5pm the next day, and I still haven't come down from the buzz of it all.Everything surpassed our rather timid expectations. Everything.I feel indebted to so many people. So it's time to say some thank yous.Firstly, to Dave my right hand man, for

A MOMENT OF ZEN: GASLIGHT AND THE BOSS!

2009-07-04T01:39:00.006+01:00

BRUCE AND THE BOYS ON THE JOHN PEEL STAGEI normally try and be a bit more wordy in my posts than this but I'm not sure I've got the vocabulary for this one.You might remember we mentioned Springsteen inspired The Gaslight Anthem some time ago. Well, last week at Glastonbury, in full view of Winston's Zen...... this happened;Video - The Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Springsteen - '59 SoundWho doesn't

THE ZEN AT GLASTONBURY 2009: DAY ONE

2009-06-30T19:22:00.006+01:00

WEDNESDAY - THE ARRIVALOk, ok. So setting off in the hire car without a map, might have been an ill-advised way to kick off my first ever Glastonbury experience. But nonetheless, that’s what we did, and yes we might have found ourselves flying past the Cerne Abbas Giant, a full 40 miles from the Worthy Farm site, convinced we were heading in the direction of Pilton before the unnecessary detour

ZEN-TRIFUGE : A GIG NIGHT BY WINSTON'S ZEN

2009-06-20T22:52:00.010+01:00

9TH JULY 2009 - THE NORTH LONDON TAVERN, NW6It's happened. Winston's Zen just got tangible, and the reason for my recent radio silence now becomes apparent. The site may have been slow, but Zen Avenue has been a flurry of activity in the last few weeks. Here's the full story....Whilst Winston slept soundly after a hard nights work at the ether factory, a magnificently eye-browed Noel Gallagher

HOP FARM FESTIVAL 2009

2009-06-03T18:40:00.005+01:00

NO BRANDING, NO SPONSORS - JUST MUSIC AND PUNTERSVince Power is a man who knows a thing or two about what makes a good shindig. In 1982 he establishekd the Mean Fiddler club and watched it quickly grow into the all encompassing music empire we now know and love. Along the way, Power has hand a hand in organising some of the biggest knees-ups on the planet (Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Homelands

ZENDAR Q&A: (RE)INTRODUCING - BLEECH

2009-06-03T11:00:00.000+01:00

LETTING EMERGING ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESLondon trio Bleech boast a winning combination of hardwork, killer tunes, and good looks that seem set to help them clean up on the UK indie scene.Managed by Andy Ross, the brains behind 90’s brit-pop legends Blur, Bleech are fronted by sisters Katherine and Jenifer O’Neil, both talented guitarist and on-stage visions of rock-chick perfection. Sticksman

A MOMENT OF ZEN: TORRENTS

2009-06-03T09:12:00.004+01:00

TORRENTS NEW VIDEO: HE'S A VICTIMRegular Zen readers will already be aware of Torrents. And no, I don't mean those files you download and convince yourself are "sort-of-legal, really". No, round these parts when we mention Torrents, we're talking about the five piece indie-rock whirlwind hailing from deepest darkest Blackburn. Torrents "meaty and emotive indie" saw them register on the Zendar

Q&A: INTRODUCING - SING IT LOUD

2009-05-30T13:27:00.007+01:00

LETTING NEW ARTISTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESMinnesotan five-piece Sing It Loud scored a deal with legendary punk label Epitaph after playing just seven shows together. Weighing in a darn site poppier than the majority of the labels roster they've toured with the likes of We The Kings, The Proivdence and Cobra Starship. Debut album Come Around sees the light of day on the 1st June, so now seems like

A MOMENT OF ZEN: GROOVE ARMADA

2009-05-22T22:25:00.004+01:00

DROP THE TOUGH: FEATURING SAINT SAVIOUR OF THE RGBsYou don't get where Messers Cato and Findlay are today without knowing a thing or two about making asses shake. Released via the Bacardi B-share website, Groove Aramda's latest EP might not have been the creative pinnacle of their illustrious twelve year career, but it did produce this wiggle inducing colaboration with former Zenlist act The RGBs