Dick Spring

Dick is something of a mystery music reviewer for thisisull.com although his identity is unknown, his talent for writing about music and the music industry are unquestionable. Dicks contributions are listed below..

Music Reviews - Friday 18th August 06 - Disarm, Maeven and Slite Return at The Ringside By Dick Spring Photo Gallery By Mo
	ROCK! This is something that seemed to be sadly lacking in Hull in recent years, though once again Ringside seems to be at the forefront of this with some visionary booking. Such was the case tonight, with RingsideLightning Jack Cane and his rock revival disco in the downstairs bar of Ringside, with a sizeable number of real rockers Read more...

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Music Reviews - Tuesday 25th April - Swellbellys, Assert, C-Squat and Undefeated at The Ringside By Dick Spring Photo Gallery By Mo
	When it rains it pours, as the saying goes, and this was very much true of Hull this evening, with big shows on at pretty much every proper Hull venue. Ringside weighed in with a heavyweight punk show, literally, with the monster that is a Swellbellys and Assert tour, their first together in over three years. Kicking off tonight's proceedings rather early, it has to be said, were Read more...

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Music Reviews - Monday 3rd April 06 - Abrasive Wheels, Slander and Certified at The Ringside, Hull By Dick Spring Photo Gallery By Mo
	Tonight had all the promise of being a giant of a gig, and was eagerly awaited by the punks of Hull young and old. But, sadly due to a family emergency, one of the billed headline acts, Discharge, had to fly back home to the States where he now lives. Understandably there was massive disappointment at this bad news, though front man Rat turned up at the show (he was Read more...

Music Reviews - Neville Staples, Quartermain and The Bonnitts at The Ringside, Monday 19th December 05 By Dick Spring Photos By Mo
	Monday December 19th 2005 is a date that could go down in the musical history of the city, for that was the day Neville Staples, original rudeboy singer of the legendary Two Tone band The Specials, and co founder of Fun Boy Three, made a triumphant return to Hull. Opening up were Hull favourites The Bonnitts who, though beset by a few technical problems, marched on through Read more...

Music Reviews - Saturday 23rd April - Hard-Fi, Boy Kill Boy and Turismo at Sweet n Sour, Silhouette Club By Dick Spring with a terrfic 9 page Photo Gallery By Darren Rogers
	On arrival at the front of the club I find a queue waiting to get in, so this must be some measure of the demand for this show tonight (oh, the power of hype) though a top ten single can't have helped the headline band's cause at all! It was indeed packed out, it took me twenty minutes to get a drink, which is something that needs to be addressed by Read more...

Music Reviews - The Mingers, Bosseye, The 30 Second Dead, Diverse Unit @ Adelphi Tue 13th July 2004 By Dick Spring
	Bloody hell! It's about time! A proper punk band that had me rolling back the years. I am, of course talking about Diverse Unit, a bunch of snot nosed punks all around the age of 15 or so, with a passion and something to say. The songs were there as well, and for a first gig it showed a talent and tightness of a band Read more...

Music Reviews - Payola and Malibu Stacey at The Springhead Sunday 11th July By Dick Spring
	ROCK'N'ROLL!!!!!!!!! Bring it on. This is what gigs are about; the like of which we haven't seen for many a long year and in a proper little rock 'n' roll venue. The Springhead, not known for being a hotbed of originality, despite being an excellent place to see live music, has stuck it's neck out and booked a fast rising UK rock band Read more...

Music Reviews - Le Shed at The Ringside - Wednesday 30th June By Dick Spring
	It's been a while since we've had a band in Hull to fill the void left by DumpValve, since they took a heavier more thrashy direction. Well, now such a band exists in the Form of Le Shed, who many will have seen gigging like mad round Hull in recent months, building up a healthy profile. And now it was the turn of The Ringside to host them Read more...

Music Reviews - Displacements and Lord Bishop Rocks at The Ringside, 23rd June By Dick Spring
	If ever an act has ever been more aptly named, I don't know, but whatever, tonight's opening slot was a special guest, short notice appearance. Lord Bishop is a giant of a man, but rocks like a b**tard. A cool black dude, from New York (though he is huge in Europe with near constant touring) is making a name for himself in Blighty Read more...

Music Reviews - Disarm at The Ringside - Wednesday 22nd May By Dick Spring.
	Reading the Day-Glo listing flyer with the line up for June, it seems as though there is some seriously good shit happening here, but there was an enforced change to tonights bill, in the form of Disarm from Mexborough in South Yorkshire. Describing themselves as Post Hardcore, for which I generally read Screamo, a genre that is Read more...

Music Reviews - Flatline, The City Ghost's, Displacements, Green Ginger and Bundy at Springfield on the Common, Hull - Thursday 20th May 2004 By Dick Spring
	Damn good job the team rolled up 15 mins early, as there was a late addition to the bill in the form of Bundy, who were into their stride as we entered. There were an impressive number of people at this unusual but very good venue. It had the look of what the Adelphi ought to have, though it was sadly Read more...

Music Reviews - Headup and Pitiful Reign at The Ringside - Wednesday 19th May By Dick Spring
	Goddamn! Has Wednesday come round again? Where do the days go? At least I have The Ringside to give me a good midweek blast of quality music and environment. I feel I must say that having been to many of the other pubs that have recently been trying their hand at masquerading as venues Read more...

Music Reviews - Infobia at The Ringside - Wednesday 12th May 2004 By Dick Spring
	Wednesday night has come flying round again, and I find myself sashaying along to check out what's on this week at Ringside. Down to play tonight is a Hull band Infobia and what's this? An audience? Not that I would have expected any less from an oft overlooked band but one that has quietly been building it's own following since I Read more...

Music Reviews - Smash it Up! Dead or American, Windum Earl, The Favours, Minions of Jeffrey At the Adelphi, Hull Thursday 6th May 2004 By Dick Spring
	Well, on the face of it, it looked like a somewhat strange billing, but the bringing together of these different strands of punk rock, two of which were from Hull, and though widely regarded as indie they contained ample loudness and blariness to qualify for the tag. Openers Minions of Jeffrey, appeared to have more people on stage than Read more...

Music Reviews- Flatline, Die-For,The 30 Second Dead, Twice A Riot, The White Room, 28th March By Dick Spring
	Unfortunately The Defected were on stupidly early and I missed them but I did arrive in time to catch Twice a Riot, featuring Harry's great new hair! I have to say that this band do this screamo metal/ hardcore crossover pretty well and is certainly a giant leap forward from singer (screamer) Harry and bassist Arthur's previous musical outings. Read more...

Music Reviews - Inner Terrestrials, Die For, Flatline (with Greg) Adelphi, Hull 21st March 2004 By Dick Spring
	Well, indeed, what an eventful evening! With Mark (Flatline's singer) unavailable due to work commitment, it was left up to Greg, from Freaks Union to join his friends for an impromptu run through a couple of songs. On the face of it, this seemed like a bit of fun, though it would appear that certain people saw it differently Read more...

Music Reviews-The Ordinary Boys,Mower,The Applewhites, The Hideaways at Adelphi, Hull 10 March By Dick Spring
	Well this is the second Under the Influence night I've experienced and it has left me impressed. It would appear there is another visionary Promoter in the city (alongside Nigel, of the legendary Smash it Up Punk Nights) that quite frankly leaves all the other rank amateurs standing. Speaking to Dean Shakespeare (for that is he) it was clear that here is a Read more...

Music Reviews - 4Ft Fingers / Tiny Elvis / Flatline / Displacements The Adelphi, Wed 21st April By Dick Spring
	Having seen countless posters around, and, with a very eager, expectant, and sizeable queue, for this Smash it Up show featuring one of the big hitters of the current UK punk scene 4 Ft Fingers. Opening act Displacements, made an excellent job of getting proceedings into gear. They appeared to have a large fan base there to support them with Read more...

Music Reviews- Jesse James / Fraction of the Cost / The Trailers The Adelphi, Thur 15th April 2004 By Dick Spring
	Smash it Up teamed up with the Adelphi to bring the self styled Punk Soul Brothers Jesse James back to the Adelphi. Yet another busy night, as always when Jesse James swing into town. First up were three piece pop punk band THE TRAILERS from Bridlington, and contrary to reports about them being dreadfully bad, I can report Read more...

Music Reviews- Multiple Injuries at The Ringside, Hull - Wednesday 14th April 2004 By Dick Spring
	This venue is a new addition to the Hull circuit, and I was informed that the booking is in the very capable hands of Determination Inc (who were the driving force behind, the late, lamented, Moriarty's ) and are bringing the magic touch to this venue, with a newly installed 2k PA system. The new Wednesday night Read more...

Music Reviews - The Suicide Machines/Adequate Seven/ THE FREAKS UNION - Carling Academy, Liverpool - 12th February 2004 By Dick Spring
	This was the first time I'd been to Liverpool in over 10 years (last time was on tour with Mega City Four) but I was impressed by the clean and neatly laid out interior of the newly refurbished Carling Academy (formerly The Lomax). We were in the middle sized room, the Academy Two, which was a Read more...

Music Reviews - Fraction of The Cost & The Trailers - The Ringside Wednesday 21st July 2004 By Dick Spring
	Walking into Ringside tonight, you could see how the reputation of the place is growing rapidly, as it was bustling with people. Various faces were dotted around the place with members of Die For, Le Shed, and Freaks Union in evidence. Opening up tonight's gig were Bridlington three piece, The Trailers - although Read more...

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Going Down - Sunday 27th August 06 - Concrete Jam at East Hull Skate Park By Dick Spring
	With pretty much most people who would have been interested in an event like this decamped to Leeds Festival, it could have been deemed a major faux pas on the part of the organisers of the first Concrete Jam, to hold the event on this particular weekend. Concrete Jam was a one day festival of music and sport incorporating competitions for both inline and Read more...

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Music Reviews - Disarm at The Ringside - Wednesday 22nd May By Dick Spring.
	Reading the Day-Glo listing flyer with the line up for June, it seems as though there is some seriously good shit happening here, but there was an enforced change to tonights bill, in the form of Disarm from Mexborough in South Yorkshire. Describing themselves as Post Hardcore, for which I generally read Screamo, a genre that is Read more...

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Music Reviews - Break Even - A Local Band Bio - Plus Gig Dates
	DumpValve are a five-piece metal outfit from Hull (England). They have been together for 2½ years, and in that time have played gigs throughout the U.K. building a large fan base. They have recorded three EPs - The Silence Will Be Broken in 2001, Karma in 2002 and Hidden in 2003 - and Read more...

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Music Reviews - Break Even - A Local Band Bio - Plus Gig Dates
	Break Even is a 4 piece rock 'n' roll band based in Hull, East Yorkshire. Our music lies closer to the garage rock scene but we do not like to categorise our music into any specific group, as our main concentration is on the song writing. The band was formed in January 2003 and we have been gigging since January Read more...

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Music Reviews - Dead or American - Band Bio
	In accordance with the prophecy, Dead or American came into being at the stroke of midnight on the 31st December, 1999 - the result of numerous failed musical ventures. Following the departure of founder-member Greg Heuer in 2003 after he realised there was more to life than this rock n roll pish. Various bassist were drafted in Read more...

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