Live music in Liverpool this week: 13-19 July

We dive into the listings to bring you this essential guide to gigs in Liverpool this week – plus the latest news on festivals, tour announcements and more. Think we've missed something? Hit up will@theskinny.co.uk with the details...

Wed 13 Jul

Why not warm into the week with a blast of high-speed hardcore? Woking's Employed to Serve come atcha directly through Holy Roar (the London punk/grind/noise label behind Rolo Tomassi among others), with last year's Greyer Than You Remember LP providing a fast'n'furious slice of lurching, brain-rattling excellence. They tear up the basement of radical bookshop News From Nowhere, with the help of Brighton post-rock/screamo types We Never Learned to Live and Liverpool's blink-and-you'll-miss-'em blastbeat wonders Horsebastard. 
Next to Nowhere, 8pm, £4

Describing themselves much more straightforwardly as "British rock & roll" are Titors Insignia, a St Helens-based quartet doffing their caps towards punk, classic rock and Britpop's northern wing. Hear their explanatory single Mods vs Rockers alongside Ellesmere Port's Oranj Son, whose gracefully refined brand of psych-indie somehow manages to include lyrics like 'Do not feature hallucinogens to the aardvark' without coming across as being overtly zany, and Verve-influenced singer-songwriter Cal Ruddy.
The Magnet, 8pm, £4

Thu 14 Jul

The Maccabees, photo: Jonathan Ellenor

Following the soaraway success of last year's UK number one album Marks to Prove It, London's own landfill indie survivors The Maccabees bring their hugely popular racket to the O2 Academy. You know the drill: fizzing Wedding Present guitars, festival-sized choruses and tremulous lovelorn vocals courtesy of the improbably-named Orlando Weeks. Naturally, this show is sold out, but ticketless true believers will surely find a way to catch their heroes
O2 Academy, 7pm, £23

Causing a stir of a very different kind is local country-pop singer Laura Oakes. Originally finding fame on (we think we're saying this right) 'popular music television show' The Voice in 2013, her journey has since taken her to the British Country Music Awards, where she picked up Best Female Vocalist last year. And well deserved it is too: her Dixie Chicks-inspired songwriting is perfectly charming. Definitely a worthwhile option for anyone whose musical preferences point way out West.
Arts Club Loft, 7pm, £11.50

Fri 15 Jul

Over in the city's favourite punk rock pizza place, Decibel promise a night of 'post-punk fun'. Their story checks out too: the trio's music suggests influences from Wire to Joy Division and beyond, with enough angular fretwork to keep you guessing as you munch away on another slice. Support on the night comes from Grenades, about whom no information seems to exist anywhere on the internet. Still, we're sure you'll have a nice time.
Maguire's Pizza Bar, 7.30pm, £3

On the same night, there's an extra-special event at The Magnet: brilliant brass-infused math-rockers Glossom launch their new Verbatim EP atop a mighty six-band bill. Put together by four of the city's finest punk/alt rock promoters (that'll be the muscular quartet of Dead Sound, Lowflying, Yeah Buddy! and Jump On Demand, then), the line-up also features Essex grunge-punkers Don't Worry, Brighton riff merchants Orchards, brooding Melbourne psych collective BREVE, emerging college rockers Echo Grass and the soaring melodies of the hotly-tipped Atlas Eyes. For a fiver, that's not bad at all.
The Magnet, 8pm, £5

Younger readers may find themselves baffled by the 90s success of Tommy Scott's Space, a band who catapulted themselves into the spotlight with Female of the Species (an oddball update on Frank Sinatra's forays into Latin rhythms), Neighbourhood (an unholy marriage of The Specials' Ghost Town and pre-reboot Masterchef host Loyd Grossman) and The Ballad of Tom Jones (the tale of two embattled former lovers, saved by their love of the titular foghorn-voiced Welshman). They remain a popular live act, however, especially on home turf – hear 'em play the hits alongside tracks from recent LPs Give Me Your Future and Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab.
Arts Club Loft, 7pm, £11.50

Sat 16 Jul

Back at Maguire's, it's the return of DIY promoters No Pasaran – they're raising money for mental health charity MIND with a stellar evening of local noise. Hardcore-heroes-turned-noise-rock-enthusiasts Code Break top the bill, while the city's enduring street punk trio Down & Outs belt out their anthems, slacker-rock trio Fort Baxter make a delightfully Pavementy racket and Mugstar's Peter J Smyth plays highlights from his recent folk-inflected solo LP Black Smoke. Worthy sounds for a worthy cause.
Maguire's Pizza Bar, 8pm, £4

It seems that charity shows are the order of the day, in fact: the Flight of the Refugees fundraiser at 24 Kitchen Street is also thoroughly deserving of your hard-earned cash. An all-day festival on the edge of the Baltic Triangle, this meticulously-organised event collects funds for United to Assist Refugees (a grassroots charity working to help Syrian refugees in crisis), and features music from Seawitches, Long Finger Bandits, Mamatung and bucketloads more; plus DJ sets, samba dancing, art exhibitions and the premiere of Elias Matar's film Flight of the Refugees. This will be busy.
24 Kitchen St, 3pm, £8

Everyone's favourite confessional songwriter slash hilarious internet troll Father John Misty is also in town for an unmissable Liverpool performance! Not for nothing was last year's I Love You, Honeybear LP declared one of the year's best; its winning combination of lusciously-arranged, windswept melody and witheringly hilarious autobiography found fans far and wide. Our advice: take this opportunity to catch his tempestuous persona while you can. This is a rare treat.
Liverpool Guild of Students, 7.30, £18.50

Back for another go following his Magnet performance earlier in the week, rising tunesmith Cal Ruddy presents his fresh-faced country-pop for a weekend bout of fun and frolics. Another free show in the Jacaranda basement, it also presents the chance to see local rock'n'roll quartet Room 3, Scousepop mainstays The Bad Stones, youthful retro-rockers SPINN and rustic folksters Nine Blind Ravens. 
Jacaranda, 8pm, free entry

On a very different tip indeed, those wondering where to find the heavier stuff need look no further than Hecate Enthroned. More than 20 years since they first formed, and with a new album (their sixth) on its way, the Wrexham black metallers return from the abyss to tear yet more holes in the eardrums of their faithful following. Local heroes Ninkharsag lead the supporting cast, which also features Sathamel, Dystopian Wrath and The Crimson Brigade: fearsome and essential.
Arts Club Loft, 7pm, £7

Sun 17 Jul

Moving on to metal of a very different alloy, reunited veterans Raging Speedhorn visit The Arts Club in support of brand new LP Lost Ritual – so new, in fact, that it's due out this very week. The follow-up to 2007's Before the Sea Was Built, and their first since reforming in 2014, the record sees them continuing to weld hardcore and sludge influences to their brutal riffology. A welcome return for anyone longing for another moshpit-bound tumble through The Hate Song.
Arts Club Loft,7pm, £10

Tue 19 Jul

Finally, Bristolian quartet Area 11 pay a visit to Seel St. New album Modern Synthesis is further evidence of their knack for fusing squalling rock and pristine power chords with post-punk danceability and tranced-out waves of electronic noise. They take over the Loft for a typically wired, energetic show – what else are you gonna do on a Tuesday night?
Arts Club Loft, 7pm, £11

Now booking...

After selling out their Peaches show before anyone could find time to breathe, the good folks at Evol deliver the goods once more with another stellar booking:  LA duo Deap Vally have drawn comparison with blues-tinged sleaze merchants Royal Trux, and with good cause. Their addictively scuzzy delights come to the Invisible Wind Factory on 20 September – we'd expect another sell-out, so grab tickets while you can.

Poltically-minded folk singer Jay McAllister – better known as Beans on Toast – is endlessly prolific. Having released seven albums since 2009, and with eighth full-length A Spanner in the Works due to drop in December, his tireless mind works at almost the same pace as his endless tour schedule. He'll be at Constellations on 25 November, and you can pick up tickets here.