Member Since: 2/14/2006
Band Website: pre-2003: bidgiereef.com
Influences: tom waits
charles bukowski
ian dury
chet baker
scott walker
miles davis
lee hazelwood
madness
elbow
emir kusturica
Sounds Like: Widescreen cinematic epic... truly interesting.... cant stop playing it.... a real touch of class - Tom Robinson (BBC6)
Live, its Van Morrison fronting the Sex Pistols, and Ian Dury fronting Dexys Midnight Runners - Pat Gilbert (The Clash biographer, Mojo, etc)
Nutshells follow...
The BBC say - like nothing youve heard before... blinding... pop, but not as we know it... like james bond themes on LSD... I havent heard anything as entertaining or original as this for a long time-
Amazon.co.uk say -Brilliant!! The most orginal band to come out of the UK for decades. This may be an indie release, but it’s damned fine album!-
The Guardian say -bidding for rock immortality... stadium ready, post punk power pop... they confound our expectations if what an indie band should be... distinct...sinister electro-funk... music theatre...anthemic ballads... they amuse and entertain... they have taken the base metal of pop1s past- psychedlia, pomp-rock, electro, dance-pop- and turned it into tarnished gold... writes clever pop songs that are smartly reminiscent of all your favourite bands. Sixty-something frontman Roger Winslet adds suavity and cognitive dissonance. -
Gigwise.com say -as if someone has let Hard-Fi’s dads loose in their son’s studio with nothing but Ray Davies and Roni Size records for inspiration. Bizarre? Yes; but very entertaining with it. -
Full Frontal Recordings say -Bidgie Reef and the Gas are a unique phenomenon in that they fly in the face of alternative convention but have managed to infiltrate the London’s Burning scene - modern day Dick Turpins showing up some of the mockney top shop urchins surrounding them a thing or two about soul, wit and floor-filling. A bizarre mix of Sparks meets Blockheads, they dress as if for cocktails with Sinatra, and whilst frontman Roger Winslet passed the NME target age demographic some 30 years ago, his after-dinner anecdotes are twisted, funny and moving paeans to a world gone mad around him - sheer class.-
Time Out say -an arty hybrid of early English punk and R+B... alterno-pop-
The NME say -the blockheads rucking with the happy mondays-
Webzine www.Josaka.com say -Bidgie Reef play music like no other band I have ever heard, their lyrics, often spoken, are blunt but poetic and humorous. They write about stoned teddy bears and china town whores, polythene obsessions and bedroom DJs, subjects rarely touched by others. Singer Roger Winslet is not your average front man, as Bidgie Reef are not your average band, he reminded me lyrically of Ian Dury and vocally of a Frank Sinatra impersonator dressed up in his dinners suit ready to face Las Vegas.
John L Walters in The Guardian - Roger Winslet is the most unlikely-looking front man since Ian Dury. With his unfashionable haircut and glasses, the former actor looks like a market trader on karaoke night. But for Bidgie Reef and the Gas, it"s all part of their bid for rock immortality. Winslets asides are brief - This is about the movie business, or You"ll see what a sad old bastard I am - and the lyrics sound similarly bitter, but bloody hell, the band really rocks.-
John Otway’s mum says - Theyre crap.
The Organ Fanzine say Rather eccentric very English almost spoken word lounge lizard pop of slightly bitter sweet cold fading wallpaper bedroom polythene obsessed Ian Dury/David Devant 701s sounding pre-punk beige R&B leapfrogging over astro physics nature.-
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None