Peter Ross

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Articles

Khruangbin review - exquisite dreamy grooves get lost in the ether

Nov 17, 2024 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

Houston three-piece Khruangbin (Thai for aeroplane) are a bit bluesy, a bit psychedelic, a bit funky, but always mellow – intricate and sophisticated musicianship in the service of the groove. They write dreamy songs that burble away in the background, stroking the pleasure centres of the brain. Seeing the band live is an opportunity to focus, to really listen, to watch them play and interplay.
Public Service Broadcasting review - Amelia Earhart tribute soars

Oct 17, 2024 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

Corduroy suit, spotted bow-tie, professorial spectacles: J Wilgoose Esq takes to the Barrowland stage dressed as the sort of chap who comes to a sticky end in an MR James ghost story. Which is apt as his band, Public Service Broadcasting, are in the business of raising the dead. In this case, Amelia Earhart, the aviator whose life, achievements and disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 are chronicled in new album The Last Flight. The stage is dressed to resemble the interior of her cockpit.
Bruce Dickinson review - metal’s charismatic star indulges his goofy side

May 19, 2024 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

Bruce Dickinson, as is well known, is a qualified pilot – and there is something of the captain preparing for take-off in his interactions with the crowd. “In a moment,” he instructs Glasgow, “we will commence furious jumping.” Then, as the riff to Dark Side of Aquarius kicks in: “Furious jumping commence!”His ability to hype a room has been honed over decades of what he calls the “day job” – being frontman with Iron Maiden.
‘Slick with memories and nostalgia’: writers’ favourite UK trips by car, train and bus

Apr 6, 2024 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross |Phoebe Taplin

From Glasgow to Dundee by roadThe sequence M77, M74, M73, M80, A9, M90, A90 may not sound freighted with emotional weight, but those roads are, for me, associated with the sadness of separation and the pleasure of reunion. It’s the route I drive between our home in Glasgow and Dundee, where our eldest boy now lives, having left for university. When he moved out, that’s the way we went. When we visit or go to pick him up, that’s how we go. Those motorways are slick with memories.
From stargazing to a festival of fire: five activities to light up the UK’s dark winter months

Nov 11, 2023 | theguardian.com | Rhiannon Batten |Mike MacEacheran |Wyl Menmuir |Peter Ross

“We,” says the Brocher, face lit by fire and dark with soot, “have creosote in our blood.” In their blood, on their hats, on their boots, down their backs – the Brochers, and in particular the Clavie Crew, have creosote everywhere, except in their whisky. They take that with water, a substance they otherwise disdain as being fine for quenching a thirst but a terrible thing to allow near a bonny flame.
Wunderhorse review - a band galloping towards even bigger things

Oct 30, 2023 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

A young man with a mullet plays guitar in the spotlight, and sings about electric kisses and razor-blade smiles. Such natural charisma threatens to give a bad haircut a good name. Jacob Slater, frontman of Wunderhorse – one of the buzziest bands in UK indie – is formerly of snotty teen noise-mongers Dead Pretties, defunct since 2017. Although he is only in his mid-20s, his songs ache with bruised nostalgia. In interviews, he has explained that he stopped taking drugs when he split his old band.
The Chemical Brothers review - mesmerising barrage of thunder and lighting

Oct 27, 2023 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons are indistinct within a looming ring of keyboards, drum machines, laptops and mixers. It isn’t clear, through darkness and dry ice, what precisely they are doing to conjure the mesmeric thunder of a Chemical Brothers live show. But they are busy as druids in a stone circle, working magic among the machines. Nothing in this two-hour performance suggests the duo – now in their early 50s – are trading on past glories.
A journey back in time to the ghost village on Salisbury Plain

Aug 25, 2023 | msn.com | Peter Ross

A line of London buses is crossing Salisbury Plain. It looks like someone has taken a red pen to the map. At the wheel of the leading bus is Peter Hendy, AKA Lord Hendy, AKA the boss of Network Rail. He’s a great man for old Routemasters, owns two, and is the driving force – literally – of this annual jaunt to the abandoned village of Imber. “It’s the bus equivalent,” he says, raising his voice above the engine, “of going to the north pole.” Well, up to a point.
10 of Britain’s weirdest and most wonderful churches - and why you should visit them

May 11, 2023 | telegraph.co.uk | Peter Ross

My book, Steeple Chasing, is a sort of treasure map. So many churches contain art and architectural wonders; think of them as some great jewel hoard scattered across these isles. The buildings themselves are often extraordinary. Most villages have one, towns and cities several, and they remain landmarks even as their authority has waned.
‘A missing link in ancient Scottish history’: on the trail of the Picts

Apr 12, 2023 | theguardian.com | Peter Ross

Beatles on the radio, stones on their mind, the masons are on their way to work. Got to Get You Into My Life finds an answering fanfare from daffodils on the verges as the van growls past. Scotland mapThey park by Aberlemno village hall. There is a job to be done. The Pictish monoliths for which this nook in Angusis known spend winter in wooden shelters, protected against frost. Now, Historic Environment Scotland stonemasons are uncovering them for spring.