Live music in Liverpool this week: 8-14 Feb

We dive into the listings to bring you the 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 8 Feb

A homecoming, of sorts: Hidden Charms may hail from London, but their four slabs of vinyl thus far have emerged via Liverpool's own Deltasonic Records, former home to The Coral, The Zutons, The Dead 60s et al. They're more blues-inflected indie rock than cosmic Scouse, but local noisemakers The Bay Rays and Bribes are on hand to represent some Mersey flavour. The Magnet, 7.30pm, £7

Thu 9 Feb

Speaking of Mersey flavour, here's a local favourite who's served time in The Stands, The Big Kids, Blueseed and... well, long have you got? Howie Payne has been making music for over 20 years, specialising in blown-out riffs and rickety rock'n'roll before his latterday reinvention as a songwriting craftsman. Catch him at his artful best tonight. Buyers Club, 7.30pm, £9

Alternatively, there's some guitar-drenched racket courtesy of St Helens' Weekend Wars. Compared to the likes of Reverend and the Makers, they visit Maguire's alongside like-minded Mancunians Rivet City, with Liverpool-based Bristolian Phoenix Mundy, aka Patchwork Guilt on hand to open things up. Maguire's Pizza Bar, 7.30pm, £tbc

Fri 10 Feb

Having stuck two fingers up to Murdoch-funded bogroll The S*n in an admirable display of principles, post-punkers Cabbage return to Liverpool. Having left chaos in their wake on their most recent trips, expect nothing short of a riot in EBGBs tonight, provided you can lay your hands on a ticket. The Shimmer Band and April kick things off, no doubt hoping for some boozey anarchy of their own. EBGBs, 7.30pm, £10

Grunge-spotted janglers Menace Beach are also on hand with their usual bundle of noise and melodic finesse. A ridonculous line-up, meanwhile, sees Leeds' C86-styled indiepoppers Bruising, Chester's own Peaness (freshly signed to Alcopop Records) and radical "flower violence" practitioners Queen Zee and the Sasstones. This, friends, is the good stuff. The Magnet, 8pm, £7.50

"The only thing we will ask of you at our concerts is that you listen," say Manchester Collective. "Really listen." They're a ten-piece collective of classically trained musicians, just as likely to bust out some John Cage as an obscure Bulgarian folk tune. They've even been commissioned to put together a song cycle based on one of Anthony Burgess' novels – sound impressive? Latest show Transfigured Night is probably for you. Buyers Club, 8pm, £12 – free tickets for students

Coventry quintet Feet describe themselves as a "student band", which may raise eyebrows on first reading. Still, their sound turns out to be somewhat indebted to the likes of Protomartyr and Joy Division, with some extra nimble fretwork and wry lyrical turns of phrase keeping things fresh. Singer-songwriter Hermannsson provides a more graceful contrast at the start of the evening.
Maguire's Pizza Bar, 8pm, £3

Sat 11 Feb

Esa Shields has hung around on the fringes of the Liverpool DIY scene for some time now, but these lesser-spotted public appearances are rarities to be cherished. Maybe we'll get to hear some of the off-kilter pop nuggets from 2014's marvellous, Beach-Boys-versus-robots opus Ovum Caper, if we're lucky. Head down early to catch The Mekano Set, WHXRS and Simon Jones, of course. DROP the Dumbulls, 8.30pm, £4

Blues-rockin' power duos your thing? Rival Bones trade in the sort of schtick that's taken Royal Blood to the top of the charts and beyond, so fair play. They've also assembled a bill of their faves for their first show of the year: Manchester's Ritual Kings, Enamel Animal, Three From Above and Shogun (not that one) have been rounded up for the city's riffophiles. Maguire's Pizza Bar, 6.30pm, £3

Remember landfill indie? Yeah, so do The Sherlocks. Actually, that's a bit mean, isn't it? It's all we've got, though. O2 Academy, 7pm, £9

The Arch Drude is back! Having fronted The Teardrop Explodes before going on to a successful solo career and more recent sidelines as a musicologist and somewhat idiosyncratic novelist, Julian Cope's forthcoming album Drunken Songs has been described as, simply, "forty minutes of gnostic drunkenness". Fuck knows what that entails; more krautrock-influenced psych-pop marvellousness, probably. Expect a good show. Arts Club, 7pm, £23.50

Sun 12 Feb

Speaking of the landfill, here's Sundara Karma. Still, they're enormously popular, so the joke is almost certainly on us. Not in a cosmic, meaning-of-it-all, grand-scheme-of-things sort of way, but still. Hahaha. O2 Academy, 7pm, £11.50

Now booking

The Tea Street Band are among the first musical acts to be announced for the 14 Hour Super Weird Happening! Attention comics nerds: Alan Moore's presence is expected too. Plus pre-release tickets are a tenner, so that's good innit. 1 April, The Florrie