tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696734898595935092024-03-13T04:40:08.545+00:00NEW KICKSA place for music reviews, news and interviews...New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-5624778454529919432011-06-23T12:06:00.004+01:002011-06-23T22:12:25.102+01:00INTERVIEW: NEXT STOP ATLANTA<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next Stop Atlanta are a four piece pop punk band from Preston, Lancashire. Over the last 12 months they have made quite a name for themselves recording their debut EP with Matt O'Grady (You Me At Six/ The Blackout) and releasing a video for their single 'I'll Catch Fire (The Gift). The band has also been featured in this week's Kerrang magazine. New Kicks caught up with singer Georgia, guitarist/ vocalist Nik, bassist/ vocalist Blake and drummer Ant for a quick chat.<br />
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<div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><a href="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/227935_10150170652401752_283514346751_7093720_8230394_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/227935_10150170652401752_283514346751_7093720_8230394_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>First of all, what’s new with you guys?</b></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik: We have just confirmed the studio dates for recording our mini-album. That is pretty exciting. We are recording it with Dan Lancaster (Don Broco/ We are the Ocean) and we can not wait to get in the studio.<br />
</i></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: We are preparing for tour next month (July 24th - 28th) and demoing more songs for the mini-album. Expect a few demos to make it online in the meantime. </i></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Ant: Also, today we were featured in Kerrang! magazine, that was cool. Can I mention Kerrang!?!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br style="line-height: 17px;" /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>What’s the history behind NSA? How did you meet?…</b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Blake: We are all friends and musicians from Preston. Me and Nik had been in bands together for a few years. Nik and I were keen to work with Anthony and Georgia because they were already good friends and great musicians. When mine and Nik's old band faded out we approached Anthony and Georgia about starting Next Stop Atlanta.<br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Ant: The name came about after a few rehearsals. We all agreed with Next Stop Atlanta as Atlanta is in Georgia. Seemed very fitting.</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br style="line-height: 17px;" /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>…And what inspired you to start a band?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik: We all wanted to write honest, melodic pop rock music with the view of being our own favourite band.</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: I started out as a solo artist, so to come in and work with the guys in a band environment was very exciting. Everything clicked straight away. It's almost like we were destined to start this band. We have gone from strength to strength and have not looked back! </i></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>What’s the song writing process like in NSA?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Blake: Usually what happens is Nik will loosely write a song with a basic structure. We then all give our input musically and lyrically in the rehearsal room tweaking the song until we are all happy with it. On occasion, we will write an entire song from scratch in the rehearsal room. That way we all have creative input from the start. </i><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /><b>What sort of thing inspires you to write? Are you songs generally about similar things?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: We keep it varied. We write about current affairs, relationships, hot topics, politics. Anything that grabs our attention or we feel passionate about. </i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>What was it like recording with Matt O’Grady?</b><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik: It was great, a real eye opener. Matt is a good guy. He was professional and dedicated to delivering the best he could and bringing out the best in us. </i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Blake: We will surely work with him again in the future!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>How did you find making the video for ‘I‘ll Catch Fire (The Gift)’? And how did you come up with the concept? I imagine that was pretty exciting?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: It was brilliant to do! It was our first experience of shooting a music video so we were nervous and excited at the same time.</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Ant: We wanted a simple concept that would be easy to translate. I feel we achieved that. It was a great experience. I can not wait to do more!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>What has been your favourite gig so far?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik: I always enjoy playing shows in Liverpool. We have a good following there and the people are always welcoming.</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: My favourite gig was not so long ago when we played the final of the 'Fylde's Got Talent' competition. We won the competition and as a result, are supporting Status Quo on August 5th at Lytham Proms. It was a great night and great show!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Ant: On our first tour we played Coventry (Kasbah). It is a fantastic venue with brilliant owners and staff. Seeing the fans pressed up against the barrier singing our songs back to us is amazing... Coventry did not disappoint.</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Blake: I loved playing our EP release show at Mad Ferret in Preston. Awesome night. </i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br style="line-height: 17px;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>What do you love the most about being in NSA?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Georgia: Writing and playing music with my best friends. Sharing the experiences and visiting new places. I am proud of what we have achieved and the direction we are taking this band. I love it, its amazing!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik/ Ant/ Blake: Exactly what Georgia said!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br style="line-height: 17px;" /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><b>Finally, do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to let people know about?</b></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px !important;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Blake: We head out on tour with a great band called Kid's Can't Fly from July 24th - 28th. Full dates will be announced over the next week!</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Nik: We also have the show with Status Quo at Lytham Proms on August 5th!<br />
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Antonia</i></span></span></span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-36399206085046262832011-06-21T17:59:00.005+01:002011-06-21T18:12:04.736+01:00LIVE REVIEW: SAVE YOUR BREATH/ NEXT STOP ATLANTA/ THE CAPE RACE<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">19/6/11</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sound Control/ The Retro Bar</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cape Race</td></tr>
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Sunday night was quite a predicament for me because there was not only one brilliant gig on in Manchester, but two. The solution? Go to both.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gig number one was at Sound Control, a relatively new live music venue which I’ve only recently discovered. Held in the smaller of several rooms, tonight’s gig was a last minute “secret” show put together by ever growing Manchester promoter, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pop, Bubble, Rock</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately I missed the first band but got there just in time for <b>Ghost Saddles</b>. This band is the new project of The Maple State’s Greg. The music was definitely heartfelt and in the vein of Brand New and The Smiths. Perfect Sunday evening music but I couldn’t help but wish the whole thing was a little livelier. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQy7lMAE2ssLiuIz9i0NfCsiXrDtGrbSJk33Iafqdm0iCz4G0o47xQkV0PiIaE5OL9WxN4s4whO2Lwy_K5ROiRaJX9VMEg-Y4G9B3WsM0Ae1TQJTEW3mDywgbNhesPKvZeZDd7cqZyHSe/s1600/NEXTSTOPATLANTA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQy7lMAE2ssLiuIz9i0NfCsiXrDtGrbSJk33Iafqdm0iCz4G0o47xQkV0PiIaE5OL9WxN4s4whO2Lwy_K5ROiRaJX9VMEg-Y4G9B3WsM0Ae1TQJTEW3mDywgbNhesPKvZeZDd7cqZyHSe/s320/NEXTSTOPATLANTA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next Stop Atlanta</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up was <b>The Cape Race</b>. The one thing this band cannot be accused of is a dull live show. If you want crowd interaction and catchy sing along choruses then this is your band. The Cape Race seem to be going from strength to strength in anticipation of their debut album, Now, Voyager. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Highlights of their set included first single ‘They’re Young, They’re in Love’ (I’m pretty sure at least seventy per cent of the crowd were singing along to this) and upcoming single, The Reprieve. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After The Cape Race we made our way over to the Retro Bar for gig number two. As we walked downstairs we could hear something very promising and when we got inside sure enough there was an awesome pop punk band called <b>Next Stop Atlanta</b> rocking the stage. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The atmosphere at this gig was altogether more energetic than gig number one and this band really drew you in. The fact that their singer was wearing a Katy Perry t shirt wasn’t even the best part about Next Stop Atlanta. (Honestly, their guitarist had an Alan Partridge/ The Starting Line one on) Their songs were bouncy and fun and in the vein of Hey Monday. They introduced us to the show very nicely. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyi-85Iwg77TRXsFm-vPKSCOJkHfpNxjmnDYrZltIZ_oYeZe5pBQxeto5znO_iqs11DEVemJ_kiAWXfwMV6ULYNFjm4vaFo0szyG3k5yB2GTggUWvEEf7hsIv8a675FrS-Sg-teRH8D1l/s1600/SAVEYOURBREATH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyi-85Iwg77TRXsFm-vPKSCOJkHfpNxjmnDYrZltIZ_oYeZe5pBQxeto5znO_iqs11DEVemJ_kiAWXfwMV6ULYNFjm4vaFo0szyG3k5yB2GTggUWvEEf7hsIv8a675FrS-Sg-teRH8D1l/s320/SAVEYOURBREATH.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Save Your Breath</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up were headliners </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Save Your Breath</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Unbelievably I’d never heard them before but as soon as they opened their set I knew that I would love them. Mixing pop punk sensibilities with slightly heavier riffs, their overall sound was like The Wonder Years having a punch up with Polar Bear Club. </span><br />
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The crowd were well into it and despite being few in numbers, made up for it in singing and fist pumping. Save Your Breath are definitely the kind of band you need to see live and The Retro Bar is the perfect venue for their pop punk sounds. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The intimacy of the venue made it a special show but the band proved their worth with the power of their songs. Check out this band if you get the chance.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Antonia</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-63946380673389875842011-05-28T20:53:00.000+01:002011-05-28T20:53:27.959+01:00LIVE REVIEW: QUEENS OF THE STONEAGE<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUD06zyayv39mPVHlrdXiUOKRR1whSCbfm7inBi9ieEnXZs5XjVQWDWnhSiyDjx5P09DQVIKNVtXCXX6_zHb2uSz5zGDJmTXRmbLb2RR21EIZNGTezwMVasrk862uiJMinZgJsZx9YCOrv/s1600/QOTSA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUD06zyayv39mPVHlrdXiUOKRR1whSCbfm7inBi9ieEnXZs5XjVQWDWnhSiyDjx5P09DQVIKNVtXCXX6_zHb2uSz5zGDJmTXRmbLb2RR21EIZNGTezwMVasrk862uiJMinZgJsZx9YCOrv/s320/QOTSA.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Queens of the Stone Age</b></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Saturday 21<sup>st</sup></b></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><sup></sup>Manchester Academy</b></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Queens of the Stone Age UK tour dates are rarer than apocalypse predictions, so as soon as tickets were released a few months back I snapped some up. The fact they were playing The Academy only heighted the excitement; I wasn’t sure a sound as big as that would even fit in there. Touring to support their remastered eponymous first album, the band would be playing the record from start to finish. All this together makes for a pretty volatile package for QOTSA fan.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In support were The Dough Rollers, a band I’ve never heard of and had more than a little trouble finding anything about afterwards. But what a sound. Think rockabilly music with some of the darkness of desert rock. These guys put on one hell of a show, throw back in style without ever being trite. And the crowd in turn gave them a much warmer reception than any support band could usually hope for. Only let down by some messy sound mixing, The Dough Rollers really got things, er, moving.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little late on stage, QOTSA didn’t even say a word before launching into the first track, Regular John. This song sums up pretty well what the first album was about, an all dominating wall of sound, dark and peculiar tonal shifts and one chord rifts that you WILL listen to for several minutes. I swear I have never heard a better opener to a gig. As the lights silhouetted the Homme and co., the bass enveloped me and vibrated up my legs, I wondered briefly if this might be the rapture after all.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The album starts out very strongly, and so did the band. Avon and If Only seemed only further bolstered by being performed live, Avon especially threatening to steal the show for itself. But, as the album starts to lose a little something half way in, the band did too. Standout album track You Would Know didn’t translate so well to the performance, and it seemed like the loss of focus carried over to the songs following it. But after muddling around for a while, Hispanic Impressions, a daft instrumental track, seem to get everything in place again. With one of the B-sides from the rerelease and a little shifting of the track order, the album thundered to a closed. That was fantastic, but was that it?</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn’t. The second half of the gig served as a greatest hits session, featuring many of the bands singles, although missing out what are probably their biggest hitters. But for a crowd who’d come to hear the first album, this wasn’t a problem. Overall a colossal performance was delivered; maybe when you know what a bands going to play next a bit of excitement is lost, but the second half made up for this in spades. It only really begs one question- after a bit of a break and rest, what are QOTSA cooking up for us next?</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joel</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-32348946414407578462011-05-23T20:27:00.002+01:002011-05-23T20:41:52.443+01:00LIVE REVIEW: TAKING BACK SUNDAY<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VXDShDCYZ29_eefBe5UPrMAHHqg3_Bd0SIEWSZ75SznqVI2A-Pg22f0istSXf-q1wYqJUxBHCoA6jGetEKmnFsPbeJfGLsDF4UGNM5GtBgPpBCPgQQFhqLKT1Nm5BMF1ZIieUjuApsbc/s1600/TBSCAMDEN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 233px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><img border="0" height="212px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VXDShDCYZ29_eefBe5UPrMAHHqg3_Bd0SIEWSZ75SznqVI2A-Pg22f0istSXf-q1wYqJUxBHCoA6jGetEKmnFsPbeJfGLsDF4UGNM5GtBgPpBCPgQQFhqLKT1Nm5BMF1ZIieUjuApsbc/s320/TBSCAMDEN.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking Back Sunday</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Camden Roundhouse </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20/5/11</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Cute Without the ‘E’’ is a massively appropriate opener for tonight’s Camden Roundhouse show. This particular song represents a time in Taking Back Sunday’s career when they were largely unknown. A time before this song would hurl them into the bedrooms of millions of teenagers worldwide becoming the soundtrack to their collective heartbreak. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The significance of this period is more relevant now than ever, as it’s the first time in eight years that the band has performed with its original line up. John Nolan, arguably responsible for the angsty sound of Taking Back Sunday has resumed his place as songwriter/guitarist. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking Back Sunday have gone through many progressions in the years since Nolan’s departure, yet three albums later it’s like he’s never been away. The band are visibly excited by tonight’s London show and as they bounce through a set of songs representative of their entire career, they do not brush over their messy history. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Liar (It Takes One To Know One)’, ‘Bike Scene’, and ‘180 By Summer’ are contextually worlds apart yet they’re played tonight with such vigour that even someone ignorant of the band’s history would assume they were all personal to each and every band member. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s this embracing of past hardships that makes tonight’s show so special. Singer Adam Lazzara even jokes, “Just don’t leave again…” before being handed an acoustic guitar to accompany Nolan in a rendition of Straylight Run’s ‘Existentialism on Prom Night’. And in the same way, Nolan’s contribution to songs written without him (particularly ‘A Decade Under the Influence‘ and ‘MakeDamnSure‘) shows nothing but passion. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s fair to say that without the coming and going of members such as Fred Mascherino, Taking Back Sunday wouldn’t be the band they are today. But what’s obvious to everyone tonight is that they are now truly back to their best. Despite a set heavily focused on debut, Tell All Your Friends, new songs promise to show a more mature and progressive Taking Back Sunday.<br />
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Antonia</span><br />
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</div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-71644061643211364992011-05-02T20:11:00.001+01:002011-05-02T20:16:39.173+01:00FESTIVAL DIARY: AMANDA'S GROEZROCK<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqrA5w_8Zc3b62hFQecWTs94VQK_VY34EGQ-Z1kl_I3BFbYgWT30RmzSDac2IidOVBTalDfnnOv6-Q1xfFocM1OljGmXJjPftrZWLLG4DIXN0bVv78QxyCSTMRkv1JuYhEzoXW9QE6o_b/s1600/groezrock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqrA5w_8Zc3b62hFQecWTs94VQK_VY34EGQ-Z1kl_I3BFbYgWT30RmzSDac2IidOVBTalDfnnOv6-Q1xfFocM1OljGmXJjPftrZWLLG4DIXN0bVv78QxyCSTMRkv1JuYhEzoXW9QE6o_b/s400/groezrock.jpg" width="281px" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Friday 22/4/11</strong><br />
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Being the lazy, sleepy type, I didn't see any bands until 3pm. Admittedly, they didn't start 'til 1, but that's hardly the point. If you're going to start a festival slightly late in the day however, <strong>Rufio</strong> are a brilliant band to begin with. The mainstage is relatively full for their set, opening with 'Science Fiction' and power-popping its way through to closer 'Angel Above Me'. Never having been a particularly big fan, I wasn't a real part of the mass singalongs and the incredible amount of bromance around me (a recurring event over the weekend I can assure you), but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Rufio are a solid live band, with great personality and catchy songs.<br />
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After running (literally) to the second stage, it was time for <strong>Twin Atlantic</strong>. I love this band. A lot. They didn't disappoint, playing a fair few songs from upcoming album 'Free', including the wonderful title track, interspersed with classics from previous album 'Vivarium'. The tent was far from full, but the enthusiasm of the people pushing into the front half of the crowd more than made up for it.<br />
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After a two hour break it was time for the set I was probably most excited about all weekend - <strong>Thursday</strong> playing their classic album 'Full Collapse' in its entirety. The second stage tent was full to bursting, everyone crowding in to hide from the inexplicable heavy rain storms which were breaking up the otherwise lovely weather and eager to see a masterpiece recreated onstage. The energy of the crowd, and the band, never faltered, from the opening notes of 'Understanding In A Car Crash'. The pace really picks up midway through the set however, as Rickly and his cohorts launch into 'Autobiography of a Nation' and a pit breaks out to rival anything else I'd see over the whole weekend, on the second stage at least. By the time they finish, crooning the end of 'How Long Is The Night', everyone leaves with a grin plastered across their face.<br />
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From Thursday I moved over to the third stage for the first time, a tiny tent with no barrier which seems the perfect setting for <strong>Cancer Bats</strong>. Another band I've never really counted myself a fan of, but the crowd reaction adds another dimension to their admittedly exciting live show.<br />
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Returning to the second stage, it was finally time to see one of my favourite bands of all time for the first time since September. <strong>Every Time I Die</strong>'s first show of 2011 picks up much where they left off last year, with high energy and humour propelling a set filled with the best of four of their albums (as usual, 'Last Night In Town' goes unrepresented). It's hardly shocking that 'Bored Stiff' and 'The New Black' are among the best-received songs, but I can't help wishing that the crowd had been a little more enthusiastic - an ETID party is nothing if you're the only one losing your mind.<br />
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With the excitement of ETID over with, I wandered over to the main stage for the end of the evening. <strong>Hatebreed </strong>play to a packed tent, with pits breaking out all over the place and people moshing their way in to the tent as their set begins. It's quite a sight to see from the back, with the crowd shots on the big screen revealing just how crazy the front half of the tent really is. As always, they play a good mix of old and new, encouraging their fans to look after each other in the pit and shout along. Loudly.<br />
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To end a day of sun, rain, friends and alcohol, who better than <strong>Flogging Molly</strong>? Everyone dances, everyone sings, and everyone pours themselves back into their tents to get some much needed sleep before the early start on Saturday. <br />
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<strong>Saturday 23/4/11</strong> <br />
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Saturday presented my biggest issue with the whole weekend. There were FAR too many clashes, with nearly every band I wanted to see beginning before the end of each other. Equally frustrating was the crowd distribution - the main stage was empty for most of the day, with the exception of<strong> Goldfinger</strong>, and <strong>boysetsfire</strong> onwards, whilst the second and third stage were full to overflow almost all day.<br />
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All this aside, <strong>Dead To Me</strong> did a good job of waking up the tired and hungover few who made it to the mainstage by 11am. Squeezing a frankly ridiculous number of songs into a half-hour set, they are lively and entertaining. After wandering between bands for a little while (catching some of <strong>Blacklist Royals</strong> and <strong>Gravemaker</strong>, and enjoying the hospitality of Epitaph in the process), I returned to the mainstage for the wonderful <strong>Piebald</strong>. Whilst it is a shame to see such a brilliant band playing to so small a crowd, they hardly seem to have noticed it themselves. With crowd favourite 'American Hearts' early in the set, they sound great and seem to really be enjoying being back onstage together.<br />
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Next up were <strong>Dear Landlord</strong>, playing to an overflowing third stage who hung on their every word and rarely left the stage unpopulated for a moment. With little banter and a lot of songs, their live show is absolutely stunning.<br />
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I wish I could say the same for <strong>Sugarcult</strong>, a band I've loved for a long time. Admittedly the sound doesn't do them any favours, and the mainstage is sparsely populated once again, but it really felt that something was lacking from their show. All the classics were there however, and the singalong to 'Bouncing Off The Walls' was beautiful.<br />
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After a quick food break during <strong>Goldfinger</strong> (I know, I know), it was time for the second <strong>Thursday</strong> set of the weekend, a chance for the band to showcase tracks from their stunning new album 'No Devolucion'. Clearly the fact that the set had been advertised as such had driven away a great many of the fans who had watched 'Full Collapse' so enthusiastically, but once again the band rises above it and plays a stunningly energetic and moving set of old and new, which hits a high point with the insanity of 'At This Velocity'.<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Relaxing in the sun outside the third stage, I 'saw' <strong>No Trigger</strong>, another band who were met with an overflow of people too great to fit in to the tent. Their sound is good, the energy is impressive, but the lacklustre response to new material is noticeable even from outside.<br />
<br />
Back at the mainstage, now beginning to fill up rather nicely, <strong>boysetsfire</strong> return to music with a bang. Despite missing my personal favourite song, 'After The Eulogy', there is little to fault with their performance, and 'Requiem' is a highlight of the weekend.<br />
<br />
It's been clear all weekend that there are two bands everyone is really excited for - one is tonight's headliners, <strong>NOFX</strong>, and the other is <strong>The Descendents</strong>. Playing a rare live show, they treat the rowdy masses to an hour of non-stop hits and faultless performance.<br />
<br />
By contrast, <strong>Saves The Day</strong> is a relatively civilised affair. The second stage is verging towards emptiness, but the few who are crowded together at the barrier are clearly passionate. New tracks get a lukewarm reaction, but the hits are never far away. From 'Firefly' to 'At Your Funeral' via 'Freakish', it's a nice way to spend an hour if nothing else.<br />
<br />
Despite being only seconds away from the third stage and being there a good ten minutes before they're due on, we don't have a chance of making it inside the tent for <strong>H2O</strong>. Every inch of space is filled, and the rows of people outside are crammed tightly together as they try to see it. A typical set, the crowd go wild for everything from '1995' to 'Guilty By Association', but it is closer 'What Happened?' which sees a mass stage invasion and singalongs spreading back to back row outside in the rain.<br />
<br />
I won't lie - I watched three songs of <strong>NOFX</strong> and hated it. I'm not a fan, and their sense of humour doesn't appeal me. So really, my weekend ended at <strong>H2O</strong>, and I am more than OK with that. <br />
<br />
Amanda</span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-49492614638618690392011-04-25T16:53:00.000+01:002011-04-25T16:53:33.841+01:00Album Review: Yuck<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpnMCax0pURC1l_u6cy8M7FPXFmKBULw5TemFM-_LDTJ81b5RO3xp2bZ3nj4JfsIFEDhpG6I-5__eQmoLtZfpmYV2KJMPss2Z_pBa9pfi5xiYupiVNJmyiD3jLwkT0LGc7YcnOP8nKI4o/s1600/yuckcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpnMCax0pURC1l_u6cy8M7FPXFmKBULw5TemFM-_LDTJ81b5RO3xp2bZ3nj4JfsIFEDhpG6I-5__eQmoLtZfpmYV2KJMPss2Z_pBa9pfi5xiYupiVNJmyiD3jLwkT0LGc7YcnOP8nKI4o/s320/yuckcover.jpg" width="320px" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Album: Yuck<br />
Band: Yuck<br />
</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was very much younger, a compilation album was released unironically titled “Danger Zone”. The TV spot had lots of images of extreme sports and jet skis and most of all, Blur’s Song 2 playing over the top. But as all the cool kids know, the best songs on any compilation album are actually on disc two. And it was there I discovered my love for Dinosaur Jr, and all their alt rock, grungy goodness. For a couple of years now people have been talking about a grunge revival, and with Yuck being likened to Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth, I started to wonder if I should be paying attention.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First track, and first impressions were good. “Get Away”, recently released as a single, is everything you’d want in a grunge record. Straight in with a fuzzy wall of guitar, dissonant riffs and angsty lyrics. Second track “The Wall” has definitely cropped up on the radio and in shops. It’s upbeat and catchy, but instantly recognisable. Overall a good piece of fun. So far, so good.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as you get further into the album, a nagging doubt starts to build. Sure, this song is pondering along nicely, but, what did the last track sound like again? From a strong start, the album increasingly becomes dominated by gentle, self-interested songs. It’s not that the louder rock music isn’t on there, it’s just much of it feels almost like rock by numbers. Riff, lyrics. Other riff, other lyrics. And while some of the quieter songs are attractive and interesting, as many are frustratingly twee. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are other stand out songs. “Georgia” sounds like being a teenager, and is a great sing along to boot. And the final track, “Rubber” is a refreshing change of pace, which is strange, as it’s noisy and slow and hypnotic. It’s like the band suddenly realised that if you’re gonna write boring songs, you should do it properly- with the fuzzy on 11, starting straight at your feet. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A cynical part of me believes Yuck have been picked up and promoted because the boy/girl vocals, and the quiet, pretty songs bare some resemblance to The XX, and some clever person has smelt money around them. There’s definitely more to them than that, but it just doesn’t pan out quite as nicely as you’d hope. There’s something good to listen to here, but something a little disappointing too. <br />
<br />
Joel</span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-75135686002406364842011-04-21T19:53:00.001+01:002011-04-21T20:02:41.440+01:00INTERVIEW: THE SWELLERS<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSae4rGkYzjqg8xBvqGYthjZLhAaJ-3wzjJLn0ZoTLAnei4GyrKOEoNwHQ5ww5gsr27rUzouVVNPchyCWFm7X0j_du_UNOQKQ1rZlwWB_thrVH7cpm2l2hRB2WWfKrl4VfjwUWYnf_9ZsV/s1600/swellers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSae4rGkYzjqg8xBvqGYthjZLhAaJ-3wzjJLn0ZoTLAnei4GyrKOEoNwHQ5ww5gsr27rUzouVVNPchyCWFm7X0j_du_UNOQKQ1rZlwWB_thrVH7cpm2l2hRB2WWfKrl4VfjwUWYnf_9ZsV/s320/swellers1.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Swellers are an American punk rock band from Flint, Michigan. With an increasing list of support slots, gigs and festivals and a melodic pop punk sound, they're slowly but surely gaining popularity. We caught up with vocalist and guitarist, Nick Diener for a chat about what it was like recording with Bill Stevenson, constant touring and what we can expect from The Swellers in the near future...</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We hear you're recording the new album right now.</b> <b>How is this going?</b></span></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We just finished the new record right before we flew over to the UK. Spent almost a month at the Blasting Room and definitely created something awesome. We're proud.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How does it feel to be recording with Bill Stevenson and do you feel you've learnt a lot from him?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bill pushed us to be the best musicians we could possibly be. He got the best vocal takes out of me that I've ever done, and we made sure to get the best product possible without cheating. There are lots of tricks you can use in the studio to make your record sound big and modern but our record is very real. Bill is also one of our favorite drummers/songwriters so we really valued his input and style.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What can we expect from the new album?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some really great, timeless songs that we'll enjoy playing for years to come, and lots of touring!</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Are there any key themes running through it? What are the kinds of things you usually write about?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every record changes a bit. We get older and experience more/ new things. This record is a lot more introverted, dealing with things on a more personal level, tells stories a little bit better and is even more optimistic at times. The process of growing up and learning is always a big part in many of our songs, though.</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How does the songwriting process work for The Swellers? Does one person write music, and another write lyrics or do you do it together?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Myself and my brother, Jonathan, the drummer both write. I tend to write most of the music and Jonathan helps me out with probably half of the lyrics and a lot of the concepts and other ideas. We're a great team and have been playing together for 14 years, so the chemistry feels pretty good.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How was the reception to Ups and Downsizing?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was cool releasing it in the states because the reception was really positive and warm. We released it later in the UK and it felt like we put out a new album and got new reviews all over again, so we felt pretty productive. Very happy that people dig the album!</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Do you like coming to the UK to play shows and if so how does it differ from shows in the US?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We love it. The fans here are more receptive because they understand we traveled a long way to be here. It's comforting and exciting. Also, the drives are much shorter, so we have more time to relax and don't get too worn out in the van.</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What are the best and worst things about touring for you?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best part is that I get paid for playing my guitar. Not many people get to do that. The worst part is that I have an empty house in Michigan for which I pay rent, and never really get to live there. It's also heartbreaking leaving our girlfriends and families behind for so many days out of the year.</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Am I right in thinking that a couple of you are vegan? Do you find it hard to find good food when you're on tour?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the states it's really easy. In the UK and Europe, it can be pretty difficult. Hasn't really caught on as well here. But I basically survive on veggie curries, veggie burgers, cheeseless pizza and chips. Once in a while we'll run into a vegan restaurant and have a good time. Wagamama's is also pretty solid for vegans.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Do you plan on doing a headlining tour? And if so would that come to the UK?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope so, too. No plans right now, but we'd like to. We're gonna try to come to the UK at least twice a year.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What's your hometown like for music? Did you find it easy to get shows there when you first started playing?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we first started playing in 2002, yes. There was a local venue that was really thriving and awesome, despite the town (Flint, MI) being a ghost town. Amazing music scene. But then the venue closed down due to lots of problems and the music scene is no more. There are talks of the venue re-opening, though, and we're all pretty excited about that and plan to be involved.</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You've played with some impressive bands, which tours have been favourites and what makes a good tour?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good tour consists of good people in the bands, good crew, people being on time, and the music being listenable. We had a lot of fun on tour with Motion City Soundtrack, Paramore, our boys in A Wilhelm Scream and Less Than Jake. The list is endless. We befriend nearly every band we tour with.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Which are your favourite songs to play at shows and why?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like playing all of them. I just like to play. The songs where the kids sing along the most are the best ones, though. That varies all over the world. We don't have 'hits', but I think we've written a lot of good songs, so it's nice to have a good list from which to choose.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Who are your main musical influences as a band? Do you all have similar tastes?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our tastes all vary quite a bit but it's safe to say we all got into punk rock and bands like Nirvana around the same time, which made us decide we all wanted to be in bands. Some of my main influences are Weezer, No Use For A Name, The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World.</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What can we expect from The Swellers for the rest of 2011?</b></span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New record, touring around the world, and bad gas.</span></div><div align="left" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Claire.</span></div></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-89608933203033788042011-04-21T19:45:00.005+01:002011-04-21T20:05:00.608+01:00LIVE REVIEW: MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEa-Kolyegi_VVVZPZdHUJ7TLL0SjIqqteAZS2z1CISUAFnoq9yslOYXfmRVJLcA4fZGrBTnsjCgpkVJvXbOkYFxfIsBKFYCpQ99dvzB17-P0IWZWuYu_axTM1YfKJWW_gz_b1CqQVmr1/s1600/manchesterorchestra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEa-Kolyegi_VVVZPZdHUJ7TLL0SjIqqteAZS2z1CISUAFnoq9yslOYXfmRVJLcA4fZGrBTnsjCgpkVJvXbOkYFxfIsBKFYCpQ99dvzB17-P0IWZWuYu_axTM1YfKJWW_gz_b1CqQVmr1/s320/manchesterorchestra.jpg" width="304px" /></a></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="TextRun SCX185148717" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX243886972" xml:lang="EN-GB">Manchester</span><span class="TextRun SCX243886972" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Orchestra</span></span></span></span></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="TextRun SCX185148717" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shoreditch<br />
14th April 2011</span></span></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX185148717" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX185148717" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considering the last time I was in this venue, there was sweat dripping off the walls and almost everyone in the room seemed to be drugged up to the eyeballs, tonight’s rock affair seemed to transform it into a totally different place.</span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX185148717" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX185148717" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX185148717" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first and only support band, Life In Film were something different. All dressed up like an indie band can, their sound was something spectacular. Although the sound wasn’t great, and I could hear the people on the other side of the room better than the band, the lead singer’s voice was magical, and had something of a Kings of Leon drawl and tone to it. For a band that good it is surprising they are still so underground, and, no offence to the sold out gig, but not supporting someone bigger in more commercial venues.</span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX185148717" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX185148717" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX238372242" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" xml:lang="EN-GB">Manchester Orchestra are a band that are magical to listen to, emotion and lyrically bursting, but yet when you see them live the songs are experienced in such a different way yet the emotion and power of them seems even more raw. Highlights of the set included a </span><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" xml:lang="EN-GB">Weezer</span><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" xml:lang="EN-GB"> rendition (Buddy Holly) when trying to tune their guitars and a song called 50 Cent, funnily enough all about 50 Cent and how he should work with them. I guess the band’s own songs were magical too, Wolves at Night, </span><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" xml:lang="EN-GB">I’ve got Friends and </span><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" xml:lang="EN-GB">Colly</span></span></span><span class="TextRun SCX238372242" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Strings, but the request session during their super quick encore was a bit disappointing as they couldn’t play any of the songs that were suggested! It was more a ‘this venue has a tight curfew lets cram in 16 songs without stopping’ gig, but that worked, it worked with their sound, the atmosphere and it built excitement. Next time they come over they should learn the words to their own songs and surprise us with ‘I can feel a hot one’.<br />
<br />
Jess</span></div></div></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-2378270079276698662011-04-21T19:38:00.004+01:002011-04-21T20:01:46.246+01:00LIVE REVIEW: THE BLACKOUT<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-Y2S7cr8ouqGOLys1e_mwKKXZm1OL-APxV3ba5-_EDwR47zuAaHheSlBEJ2UGBPKXFQ71VFWiYKV66qQy0lZVo7MzJlvsfRgYjGGj7xsr9SLrxwtqe6mNsHQMgWwfIDUPGwMiaXthQ_A/s1600/blackout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-Y2S7cr8ouqGOLys1e_mwKKXZm1OL-APxV3ba5-_EDwR47zuAaHheSlBEJ2UGBPKXFQ71VFWiYKV66qQy0lZVo7MzJlvsfRgYjGGj7xsr9SLrxwtqe6mNsHQMgWwfIDUPGwMiaXthQ_A/s320/blackout.jpg" width="213px" /></a></div><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Blackout </span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Koko Camden</span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12th April 2010</span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An exceptional night of music. A brash statement but there was such a variety of things going on it was like being at a festival and just taking a cross section through the line up for the line up of this gig tonight.</span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Now call me a cynic (no, really, do) but it does seem like the in thing right now for slightly ‘harder’ bands to alter their image by singing with a rap artist, and not only have the Blackout done this, but said artist has accompanied them on tour as first support too. Not looking to enjoy it I found my pessimistic self blown out the water by a need to dance, I didn’t know the words, I sure as hell recognised some of the samples and suddenly I realised, this guy was cool. Not that I have any authority to tell you what’s cool, being at a gig surrounded by 15 year olds, but this guy isn’t just your every day rapper. </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Hyro</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Da</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Hero’s influences are purely rock, yet he gives them a magnificent hip hop spin. I was overwhelmed to say the least, and with Mr Sean Smith of the Blackout fame coming on to join in with a song (too ignorant to work out which it was, sorry) it was an epic performance. Headliner worthy.</span></span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Second band, also from the States, was The </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Swellers</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">. Now I really enjoyed their set, full of old and brand new songs, the only qualm is that they’re nothing new, nothing special but hey, I like what I like, especially when it’s good. They could have done with a bit more crowd interaction to give themselves some more stage presence, but there was nothing wrong with their set, it was very entertaining.</span></span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Lastly the Blackout took the stage. I suddenly felt like I’d been transported to the MEN to see </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">McFly</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> with the rapturous applause and girly screams emitting from aforementioned 15 year olds mouths. But, once again the boys from Merthyr </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Tydfill</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> put on an exceptional show. Considering they’d just been on tour with Limp </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Bizkit</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">, I half expected a cover to break the arrogant mood of the night, but alas none came. They played a clever set though, so much crowd participation, an </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">impromptu</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Q&A session live on stage and a thorough mix of </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">songs</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> from ‘back in the day’ and the latest album. </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">The reaction of the crowd said it all really, excitement, arm waving and participation in their overdone gag of getting everyone to sit down before the ‘brutal breakdown’ post encore. I cant fault them though, Higher and Higher was accompanied by </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">Hyro</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">da</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Hero, The Best In Town accompanied by a lot of </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">singalongs</span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB"> and ‘I’M A RIOT’ accompanied by a ‘circle of death’*. A great gig all in all.</span></span></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX249251080" style="margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX249251080" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">*I actually overheard an obvious first time gig goer say ‘Is a circle of death where the </span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" xml:lang="EN-GB">emos</span></span></span><span class="TextRun SCX249251080" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> stand in a circle and kill themselves?’<br />
<br />
Jess</span></div></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-63757557489546129882011-04-17T21:10:00.001+01:002011-04-17T21:12:21.111+01:00EP REVIEW: EGOS AT THE DOOR<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBn4s87-LBPI-3-dUElO2auUzphV-pMNOZ4E1I3LLrD26Nj2ZvFxfbjL435Q-4CnoGSN4EDLaAqNKJhYDrEmv_jU3ASG7tVX-By5XRSSsx2RFc3XST-YujG1hkJG7k-gDvwPPt9IGOdHG/s1600/EGOS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBn4s87-LBPI-3-dUElO2auUzphV-pMNOZ4E1I3LLrD26Nj2ZvFxfbjL435Q-4CnoGSN4EDLaAqNKJhYDrEmv_jU3ASG7tVX-By5XRSSsx2RFc3XST-YujG1hkJG7k-gDvwPPt9IGOdHG/s320/EGOS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Egos at the Door are a four piece hailing from Blackburn, who describing themselves as Punk/Post-Hardcore/Ska-Core, which as a description of their sound is almost too accurate. Their five track eponymous EP tumbled into my inbox recently and has been playing along in the background almost continuously since then.</span> <br />
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</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first impression was the bands similarities to Birmingham troopers Blakfish, powerful, standoffish and schizophrenic, indeed its only takes 45 seconds for the first track to sit down and change it’s mind about where it wants to go. What took me by surprise was when the wave of riffs stopped and the ska suddenly started. Often these changes are done abruptly and you know why? Because it’s more fun that way. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EatD are very much a band of their time, you can hear all the bands they grew up with shining through, even the track names are of that clunky conversational type as is the style du jour. As I mentioned, their description is very fitting. The songs sit firmly in the riffs and screams of Post Hardcore, ensuring they’ll always been something cathartic to enjoy. But the Punk sensibilities show through in the lyrics and the attitude, with Ska interludes to relieve some of the tension. It all fits together very nicely, and the band’s sound has clearly been honed live, with songs you can have a bit of a sing and a dance and a fight to, all in one sitting. Even on record, the result is very satisfying.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first three tracks of the EP are impressive, and have enough riffs and hooks to climb into your head and get caught up there. The recording is tight, but with that raw edge of a brand new band bleeding through, just the way it should be. My only real grip with the EP is that the last two tracks feel like rehashes of ideas already covered on previous tracks. But this is not harmful to the overall effect . I think it’s easy to say that Egos at the Door are definitely ones to look out for in the future, and definitely one to go see if you get the chance!</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joel</span></div></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-47220211407129851142011-04-12T19:23:00.003+01:002011-04-12T19:44:04.917+01:00LIVE REVIEW: FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzdxpJZmRbgrZwVB4Sz4kNL3AecLcJp6QTdxRhCHcn55hWusHfU39ysk0YWoou8cWfGVCxIxCPuqgpWG2XsNEYv7hZrV9w0CRb_XMFkqithdJYjpvwec1F9e0irDF7c3xbyFWaLine_Rx/s1600/funeral-for-a-friend-announce-2011-dates-press.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzdxpJZmRbgrZwVB4Sz4kNL3AecLcJp6QTdxRhCHcn55hWusHfU39ysk0YWoou8cWfGVCxIxCPuqgpWG2XsNEYv7hZrV9w0CRb_XMFkqithdJYjpvwec1F9e0irDF7c3xbyFWaLine_Rx/s1600/funeral-for-a-friend-announce-2011-dates-press.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Funeral For A Friend </strong></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Liverpool O2 Academy 2 </strong></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>27/3/11</strong></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welsh heroes Funeral For A Friend have all but sold out the smaller of Liverpool’s Academy venues, and the vast majority of the crowd are early enough to catch tonight’s openers, Tiger Please. Playing well, Tiger Please are well received and seem relatively popular with the throng of people watching. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up next are Rise To Remain. The crowd seem interested, but their performance (to this reviewer at least) is a little uninspired. Technically the band are strong, but they fail to capture the imagination in a lasting way.</span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the time Funeral For A Friend take to the stage the Academy is almost overflowing. Greeting the riotous crowd with classics ‘Roses For The Dead’ and ‘Rookie Of The Year’, it instantly becomes clear that the fans remain obsessed with Funeral’s past work. Tracks from the new album are incredibly strong live, but the crowd react moderately in comparison to the reception which ‘Juneau’ receives. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are some who sing enthusiastically to ‘Serpents In Solitude’ and ‘Front Row Seats’, but they are clearly in the minority tonight. This in no way detracts from the band’s performance. The boyos are energetic and lively, encouraging crowd interaction and bouncing around like 15 year olds. </span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The evening ends with a mass singalong to ‘Escape Artists Never Die’, and it’s difficult to find fault with the headliners’ performance. If anything, all we can ask is that people give the new album more of a chance. It’s really quite good. And with live shows as enjoyable as tonight, it’s fair to assume that Funeral For A Friend are going to remain a feature of the UK scene for a long time to come.<br />
<br />
Amanda</span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-70468462835745002192011-04-10T20:10:00.003+01:002011-04-10T20:26:26.388+01:00LIVE REVIEW: THE SWELLERS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeCX6AyeklCL3yem7W7YmzOZOUyJTTK6T3A8c8QimVIqw9cNzCSeIq_FT9cFRu1bbRj5TEi49BnSC0JL_PdJ9bkzURz0mjgtWy3PAPPtF2DuwHZSQ4dZtFeJ3WsZX8glU4wOlD-_gZ8MX/s1600/SWELLYEAH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeCX6AyeklCL3yem7W7YmzOZOUyJTTK6T3A8c8QimVIqw9cNzCSeIq_FT9cFRu1bbRj5TEi49BnSC0JL_PdJ9bkzURz0mjgtWy3PAPPtF2DuwHZSQ4dZtFeJ3WsZX8glU4wOlD-_gZ8MX/s320/SWELLYEAH.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Swellers </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Manchester Academy 2</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday 8.4.11</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Swellers have been to the UK twice within the last six months and although they’re becoming increasingly popular, it’s a wonder they haven’t done their own headline tour yet.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite an incredible last album (2009's 'Ups and Downsizing') and relentless touring in the US, UK fans still haven’t really caught onto them. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight’s academy 2 gig is sold out due to the fact that the headlining act is The Blackout. It’s refreshing to see The Swellers set up their own gear before opening with <i>Do You Feel Better Yet?</i>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With each song the crowd become more and more rapturous and when singer, Nick Diener introduces a new song as “the best song ever written” they can hardly contain themselves causing possibly the biggest circle pit academy 2 has ever seen. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The band is confident and energetic, genuinely happy to be in Manchester. They play a set that is mostly from ‘Ups and Downsizing’ and when they throw in an older song (<i>Bottles</i>), you definitely start to get excited about the prospect of a new album. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Highlights include,<i> 2009, Welcome back Riders</i>, and <i>Fire Away</i>. By the time they’re done, there’s no need to watch The Blackout. They will only disappoint after a set like this.<br />
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Antonia</span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-71454461617388139222011-04-10T19:32:00.009+01:002011-04-11T19:39:59.793+01:00INTERVIEW: TRUE THINGS<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQmgCniyvMDzMjmKtPOL5wLJi5F84gCGu8LktcUO7j1GWaYT78BmLEniU3ovkpzv-pDURrv8Z9OM5shDRtkI8Kto2GumCkxPpvD_O02JtERAm0L5DdH1IJ3LysWhyphenhyphenQb6ZRIZWo1YhZHIh/s1600/gabe%255B1%255Dtruethings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQmgCniyvMDzMjmKtPOL5wLJi5F84gCGu8LktcUO7j1GWaYT78BmLEniU3ovkpzv-pDURrv8Z9OM5shDRtkI8Kto2GumCkxPpvD_O02JtERAm0L5DdH1IJ3LysWhyphenhyphenQb6ZRIZWo1YhZHIh/s320/gabe%255B1%255Dtruethings.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>True Things are a pop punk band from New Jersey. Their current album, 'Alone in My Room' is out now on <a href="http://www.bandcamp.truethings.com/">Bandcamp</a> and they've just started work on their next album. Singer, James Corbi chatted to NEW KICKS about what the band is up to at the moment.<br />
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<br />
How are you doing? What's happening with True Things at the moment?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm doing fine. At the moment we're working on a lot of new songs. We start pre-production demoing with Jake Clarke from Daylight this coming weekend, we're all really excited about that.</span><br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>For those people in the UK who haven't heard you, could you give a brief history of your band.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well Brandon and I met a few years back playing in our old band. We both parted ways but stayed in touch with each other. I had been working on demos for a while and asked him if he was interested in pursuing them and he agreed. We later asked Gabe and Bob to join on guitar. They agreed as well. </span><br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>You used to sing in I Call Fives. Why did that come to an end?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's honestly like opening pandora's box with that issue. Let's just say we weren't getting along.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>What was your main aim when starting True Things?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To create a band that had more layers than anything I/ we've ever done before. Something that was a genuine influence. We're all extremely excited to be releasing new material. Listeners are not expecting it at all. <br />
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<strong>According to your Myspace page your music sounds "like breaking up with your first girlfriend." Are your songs generally about personal experiences?</strong> </span><br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the first record, yes. Even on the newer songs too. I was just really hung up on some stupid shit back then.</span><br />
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>What inspires you to write?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was just explaining to a friend of mine recently that I have had very little inspiration since I haven't really been dealing with anything that heavy lately. But he definitely made me realise there's a lot going on around me I should be taking that into account and maybe focus on that for a while. It has made things easier the past few days of working on new songs. <br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Have you started work on your next album yet? If so, what can we expect?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes. We're going to be recording a full length record 13+ songs to be released sometime in the near future. Tracking will be taking place June 2011. <br />
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<strong>What are your favourite experiences of playing shows and where are your favourite places to play?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland Ohio hands down. Ohio as a whole. We've got a lot of great friends out there and kids are very supportive of us; especially since we haven't been a band that long. Plus Ohio kids come out to shows, as opposed to other scenes. I have a lot of love for Texas and Omaha, Nebraska too. Two of the most underrated scenes in my opinion. New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Wilkes-Barre, PA are all backed extremely hard as well.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br />
<strong>Who are your major musical influences, both as a band and individually?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all have very similar yet diverse influences. Ranging from American Nightmare to Big L to Supertouch to Katy Perry. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're all fans of 90's Straight Edge Hardcore, New York Hardcore, Punk, Alternative/Hard Rock and Rap/Hip Hop. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we had to say what influenced this band it would be an extremely hard question since none of the material we have out besides a couple faster songs resemble anything close to what was just mentioned. We're really excited to release new songs. It will really define our sound and our influences will become a lot more apparent. <br />
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<strong>Can you recommend some bands to us that we may not have heard over here yet?</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Honestly, UK/Europe is way more on top of new music than America. I'm sure if i just heard that band today you guys heard about them two weeks before I did.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I could just recommend one album it would be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cold Cave's 'Cherish The Light Years'.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>When are you guys going to come to the UK? We can't wait to see you play!</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would love to say soon but airfare is extremely expensive as well as all the other expenses we'd have to cover. We'll see what 2011 brings. <br />
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<strong>What's next for True Things? Any exciting plans to tell us about?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New records and summer tour dates definitely.<br />
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Antonia<br />
Interview: 5/4/11</span></div></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-29401275949782794812011-03-21T18:40:00.002+00:002011-04-21T20:04:13.602+01:00Interview: No Trigger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3QrBgYdN8lKPXJQj2qG6hI45eV-1733dVPL20hVHQL7lgBlFXWochCvKZvHAjMrV2BvhGdJvdC7LL2SyqX24mICwSabPQ3BlVIVbEjupPP0F89h-kkIgGtZbP8T2s-48LB4_qAHSWCxh/s1600/1223566038_6f49bfb9db.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3QrBgYdN8lKPXJQj2qG6hI45eV-1733dVPL20hVHQL7lgBlFXWochCvKZvHAjMrV2BvhGdJvdC7LL2SyqX24mICwSabPQ3BlVIVbEjupPP0F89h-kkIgGtZbP8T2s-48LB4_qAHSWCxh/s320/1223566038_6f49bfb9db.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's going to be a good year for melodic punk band No Trigger. Since 2006's Canyoneer, they released 7” EP Be Honest, signed to No Sleep Records and are now in the process of recording their second full-length studio album. We caught up with guitarist, Jon for a chat about signing to No Sleep, crashing webstores and what we can expect from the forthcoming album...</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can you tell us what you're up to right now?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We just got back from our first Australian Tour. It was our first time making it over there and it was one of the best tours to date. Such an amazing response after not having any shows for about three years now. We can't wait to get back there. Next month we will be heading to Europe as well for a string of headline dates as well as playing this year's GroezRock Festival in Belgium.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hear you're planning on releasing an album sometime this year. Are you in the process of writing/ recording this now?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes we are. The writing process is always a long one with us. Probably the longest out of any band ever actually. We are so excited to finally get these songs out. We have been working on this record for about 4 years now. Everyone has been extremely busy with their day to day lives, but when it comes to the writing, we are giving it our all.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What attracted you to No Sleep Records?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No Sleep Records was the perfect match for us. We wanted to feel like we were a part of a family-style record label. These guys are young, ambitious and are doing it right. They have terrific bands on board and will not stop working to put out your next favorite band. We couldn't be happier.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What can we expect from the album?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With 4 years of writing and compiling our songs, you can expect the next No Trigger record to be steps above Canyoneer. We felt like we gave it our all with that record. I think that's why it has taken us so long to get this one out. It being the only full length any of our members recorded at the time, this next record is filled with six + years of growing not only as individuals but musicians as well.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How did the decision to release Be Honest on 7" format come about? Are any of you collectors?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The idea came to push some of the stuff we have been working on for our deserving fans to see what we have been up to. With finally doing this next record, we wanted to get some excitement and anticipation going. Even for ourselves! It was great to get everyone back into the studio and get those tracks down. Vinyl has had such an amazing response with this generation and we have never done a 7''. It worked out really well.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was the reaction to the EP like?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We released "Be Honest" with Mightier Than Sword. We have known RJ (of MTS records) for a while and he has worked with some bands that are really close to us. He sparked a lot of interest in helping us out with the release. We couldn't have asked for anything more than for what MTS offered. We even crashed the MTS webstore when pre-orders were announced. Apparently, the Blink 182 releases didn't even do that! That's pretty monumental.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How does the songwriting process work for you? Do you all write together?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It takes all of us in a room to develop how our songs come to life. We are always going back and re-working songs until we all are super comfortable with them. It is quite a long process, but it's worth it. We have been doing things a little differently with this record. Since everyone is so busy, there is more time focused on structuring and developing with one another rather than as a whole.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you all have similar musical tastes?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We sure do. We have all grown up together and have always been involved in the same music scene. Whenever someone finds a new band they are stoked on, everyone gets stoked on them. There's never an issue with No Trigger's playlists. Want one?!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who are the band's main influences and who are yours?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We grew up on the Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph scene. All those bands from the 90's and early 2000's I would say form our main influences. We were actually invited to play Good Riddance's final three shows in California back in '07. That and recording with Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag etc) were pinnacle points for No Trigger.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My main influences stem from growing up on a very music oriented family. My mom introducing me to Def Leppard and Billy Squier, Dad showing me how to play Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple, to me discovering punk from Green Day to Nofx. I'm influenced by anything that gives you that feeling of passion through the music.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you planning on coming to the UK when the album is released?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Absolutely! We love coming to the UK. Be on the lookout. We have been talking about our next UK tour and can't wait to get over there.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you particularly enjoy about touring?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Touring for us is like a vacation. We make sure to visit anything from state parks to national monuments on all our tours. We are sightseers. Getting to do all this while meeting new people and playing our music for them is the best ever.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have any favourite places to play?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gainesville Florida's No Idea Fest, Australia, and can't forget you guys over in the UK!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think the UK and US crowds differ in any obvious ways?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You guys go nuts in the UK! I don't know if it's the water or what, maybe the cheap beers too. But seriously, the appreciation is much more emphasized in foreign crowds. It's almost like you never know when that band will be back so you have to give it your all. Tom (singer) and I flew out to California years ago when we heard Randy was making their first appearance to the states. We had a blast.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which songs get the best reaction when you play live and do these reflect your favourite ones to play?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With only one record and an EP to work with we try to mold our set the best we can. The heavy fun hitters for me would be Not So Noble Purveyors, More to Offer and Tundra Kids. We get requests for older songs and try to have everything under our belts just in case!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are there any bands you're listening to at the moment that you think more people should know about?</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.6cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure to check out Such Gold! Those guys just embarked their first world tour and are killing it right now. I've been rocking Balance & Composure and a lot of older stuff like Rage and Live. Never forget your roots.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Check out No Trigger at </span></b><u><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/notrigger">www.myspace.com/notrigger</a></span></b></u></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Claire</span></u></b></span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-17903118411945952152011-03-21T12:26:00.000+00:002011-03-21T12:26:17.818+00:00COMING SOON: NO TRIGGER INTERVIEW!<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>"You can expect the next No Trigger record to be steps above Canyoneer."<br />
</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNM4Z62etgJsNuBaf4AFa-iUmWKDqCZNrcIMBHrGoOUXPQTBctg_K2u0r_op8Dgq3b3JXgHp0HCYwBRt43LPIOgb3rPLWb_H7T9eWE6dwo7PXbmIgBZOphldYOdw5glFeFA2D58VMXeMLE/s1600/notrigger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNM4Z62etgJsNuBaf4AFa-iUmWKDqCZNrcIMBHrGoOUXPQTBctg_K2u0r_op8Dgq3b3JXgHp0HCYwBRt43LPIOgb3rPLWb_H7T9eWE6dwo7PXbmIgBZOphldYOdw5glFeFA2D58VMXeMLE/s400/notrigger.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-30193492409415241302011-03-17T14:23:00.004+00:002011-03-17T18:57:21.992+00:00PROPAGANDHI INTERVIEW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UiWwv96tsoehxLODK3nFcv_JT9h3KIYKylowIWgndcX8jJRxi9CRiU-RNzyZ0d-R5wsKQqucdI2dnk3Taz9L5eQLEz6Usb2YNuUgcejfqkyDl-H1FadhKrpv7nZHEbmyTIOXhyphenhyphendZQ43W/s1600/propagandhi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UiWwv96tsoehxLODK3nFcv_JT9h3KIYKylowIWgndcX8jJRxi9CRiU-RNzyZ0d-R5wsKQqucdI2dnk3Taz9L5eQLEz6Usb2YNuUgcejfqkyDl-H1FadhKrpv7nZHEbmyTIOXhyphenhyphendZQ43W/s400/propagandhi1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Todd Kowalski is the bassist and singer for Canadian punk band Propagandhi. Kowalski has been heavily involved in the punk scene since 1986 when he started his first band, I Spy. He joined Propagandhi in 1997 and speaks out against various issues such as animal cruelty and inequality. NEW KICKS caught up with Todd to find out what's going on in the world of Propagandhi.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What is going on with Propagandhi at the moment?</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well we just finished playing Riot Fest in Chicago which was cool because we got to see the original C.O.C. line up! They were great. We have a split 7" coming our with Canada's thrash gods SACRIFICe, who've been a favourite of ours since we were kids. The songs on the record are killer so we're stoked! For the last year we've been working pretty hard on new songs. They're going really well. We're in a pretty good state right now with tons of music on the go. Now's time for the hard part-the lyrics.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How does it feel to have been making music for over 20 years?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good. Actually we're happier than ever because we can play better and we're having a good time practising every day of the week. We still have visions that need to come to fruition so we carry on happily.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Your song ‘Ladies’ Nite In Loserville’ really had a huge impact on me as a teenager. How does it feel when you hear that your music has encouraged people into things like feminism?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's cool, Antonia. I'm glad you got something out of that tune. I'm really happy to hear that some people are turned on to new or different ideas because of one or a few of our songs. I really appreciate it because that's what happened for me as well. I learned a lot from some older bands.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>On your latest album Supporting Caste, the song ‘Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)’ apparently led to Katz claiming that you’d threatened him. Can you explain a little about the ideas behind the song?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think Sandor was getting a little defensive because his full of holes position was being questioned. I'm sure he never took the song as any threat, no rational human being would. The song is clearly a satirical parallel of one of chapter of his book. We just used his rational of "humane" killing and made him the fictional recipient of the treatment to show how inhumane it really is. If humane killing was really OK with him he'd have had no reaction whatsoever. I do like Sandor Katz much more than I like Winnipeg’s mayor Sam Katz. Now that's a total jerk off!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Your music is always very politically driven but also very tongue-in-cheek at times. Do you think it’s important to deliver a message to people in a way that makes them laugh but also makes them listen? Do you often find that people interpret your songs in a different way than you meant them?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess some people feel the need to laugh while they're listening to songs. I don't necessarily feel it's important to make people laugh but we have more than one aspect to our personalities and they filter their way into our songs. Sometimes you wake up feeling mad, sometimes, sad, sometimes you don't know what to do but laugh things off. Perhaps the humour adds some levity for people, or maybe they can get more of where we're coming from when they see that we're not just dark tormented weirdos. The songs are very often misinterpreted and misunderstood or the lyrics completely ignored. However people want to take a song is fine. We just do our thing and if someone listens or takes something from it then that's good because we believe that we're coming from an angle that respects other people and nature. There's so many forces going in the opposite direction right now<b>.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You’ve been together for more than two decades. In that time you’ve written about racism, feminism, animal rights and a lot of other social injustices. Over the years what have been the most positive changes you’ve seen in society?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, I think the world’s getting worse and worse so I'm not sure how to answer that. I guess the most positive thing would be that there's many, many people are trying to help educate or empower others to do things to help themselves. Whether it's better farming practices, or building schools for kids, or helping people get access to information.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Proceeds from the pre-release downloads of Supporting Caste went towards some organisations that you, as a band, support. Which organisations would you encourage people to look into? </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I'll list three good ones here that I hope people will check out: <a href="http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/">Doctors Without Borders</a>, <a href="http://www.womenforwomen.org/">Women For Women</a>, <a href="http://www.dignitasinternational.org/">Dignitas International</a>.<b> </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How long have you been vegan and what inspired you to look into it in the first place? </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been vegan since about 1993 or so, I think.. maybe longer? I was vegetarian in January 1992 so that's 18 years. I love animals and I don't like to harm anyone or anything unnecessarily. In 1991 I lived with a guy from India who was vegetarian. It looked really easy and I liked the idea so I just did what he did. He thought I wouldn't last more than a week. Ha ha. But it was really, really simple. I've never ever missed meat. In fact I'd rather eat shit.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Animal testing is still a major practice in the cosmetics industry. What are your views on this and do you think people turn a blind eye out of ignorance or laziness?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People will do anything so they don't have to change themselves and they will turn a bind eye to anything that infringes on their convenience. I'm losing faith in people. Most people are definitely lazy and self centred. People will let other people die for them. They won't even change tiny simple things about themselves to save the lives of others. It's really pathetic and sad if you really think about it. I find it strange that you'd accept that an animal should die so you can have rosy cheeks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What preliminary steps do you think people can take in order to live cruelty free lives? </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think the best and easiest step is to stop eating meat. It's totally 100% simple, easy and direct. The idea is clear and the means of accomplishing the task are satisfying and liberating. I felt instantly happier when I stopped eating that crap, the only downside is that if you recognize how easy it is you start to feel a bit of sadness that others don't follow that path as well. So many animals are being raised, abused, and killed for no good reason. I think about it a lot.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Did you start the band in order to get your messages out there or was the band originally about making music?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think we all have ideas that we need to say. Even when I was a kid I was writing lyrics about the things that bothered me whether it be other kids or how society sucked. Ha ha. Some people feel a need to write love songs, some of us feel a desperate need to write the types of songs we write. It's who we are and what we think about.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In the beginning Propagandhi and I Spy toured together. Was it a natural progression for your members to join forces?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suppose. It's cool to have a band with a couple song writers. It's fun to see what the other people will come up with. I really like Chris's songs so I'm happy to play them and see if I can add things to them here and there. As long as a song is ripping, creative and moves us in some way then we're all in to it!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do you do when you’re not writing, touring or recording?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like to draw and do a lot of art, I volunteer with refugee kids in an after school program. That used to be my job but touring got in the way with that. I've got a couple other things in the works that will help make the world a little better for some people. I'm hesitant to blab about it right now in case it doesn't work out. I try to get some exercise when I can. Ha ha.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What prompted you to start the G7 Welcoming Committee label? And what happened with Fat Wreck?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chris and Jord started G7 to promote bands they liked and thought were worthwhile for people to check out. They wanted to do a different kind of record label that was actually about music and art. Of course that's pretty tough in an "industry" that is such a joke. We just outgrew Fat or something. We weren't really into what was happening there and we just wanted to go our own way. It paid off because we are much better on our own.</span><br />
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</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You’ve been around for years now. What do you think of the punk scene at the moment and the newer bands? </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a lot of good bands in the underground scene. The more mainstream bands are really, really terrible, and these Warped Tour type commercial shows are horrible. I'm not so much into the way music is gobbled up these days with ring tones and downloading. That's just not my thing. It's really boring. I'd rather get the records and see what the band was really up to. I can't say I'm really feeling a lot of the punk scene because so many bands are absolutely meaningless and have no sonic appeal for me. I'm just not interested. I don't like retro bands and I don't like kids with beards pretending they’re truckers or rednecks. Haha. So that's pretty much every band out the door right there. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Off the top of my head there are only a handful of punk bands I can think of that use their music to comment on social issues. What is your opinion on this? Do you think a lot of bands waste their voice?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's pathetic for a punk scene. It shows how all those bands in the early nineties going to major labels and watering punk down to nothing really did kill it. It's very hard for me to relate now. when I think of music and bands and music history I feel like I'm not in step with what other people are seeing or valuing. I'm not saying that to try to sound special or cool. It all just truly confuses me. As a music lover I find it sort of depressing. I do search for new bands all the time and I'm not stuck in the past but there's a lot of discouraging things out there. I don't think the bands are wasting their voice because they clearly have nothing to say or they'd say it. Their voice is their meaninglessness, I guess. It screams loud and clear to my ear.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In the UK at the moment we have a coalition Conservative-Liberal Democrat government. What do you think of our country’s political situation?</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh jeez. It's pathetic everywhere. Maybe I'm answering this on a bad day or something but I'm starting to feel a bit bummed out by it all. Politicians and media outlets trying to steer people down crazy paths and blame all the wrong people for the problems. Britain, Canada, and the U.S. are plunging so far in the hole mentally. I don't know what's ever going to bring us out of it. People just want convenience, comfort and low taxes, they don't care what the expense is. The parties are all similar and are completely infiltrated and used by large corporations. It's a truly unbelievable situation that would surprise and terrify George Orwell if he was alive today.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Do you enjoy touring and do you have any plans to come back to the UK?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We enjoy touring in little spurts so we can do our best at every show. I think at the end of last year we were burning out a bit. We came back to the fray recently with a new plan and way of attacking our shows that seemed to really pay off for us enjoyment wise. So we're eager to hit the stage again. I guess there's bound to be ups and downs when you play for so many years. These days, at least while we're playing and practising there's more ups than downs. We'll bring the new and improved show back to the UK when we have a new record out. Until then we're sort of grounded here in Winnipeg.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What can we expect from G7 Welcoming Committee in the near future?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Probably just the next Propagandhi record for the next little while. We're all really busy doing our thing and rocking as hard as we can. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thanks so much for talking to us. It’s much appreciated.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you, Antonia.<br />
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<b>This interview was first published in Lights Go Out issue 11 which is available to buy <a href="http://www.lightsgoout.co.uk/">here</a>. </b></span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-74072119160819955342011-03-16T22:02:00.000+00:002011-03-16T22:02:18.576+00:00The Wonder Years & More on Japan Relief Album<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Wonder Years, Valencia and Title Fight are among several bands that have joined forces to release an album in aid of Japan's recent disasters.<br />
<br />
The compilation of rare tracks, entitled 'Vs. The Earthquake', can be purchased at <a href="http://www.limitedpressing.com/">http://www.limitedpressing.com/</a> </span></strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">for a minimum donation. </span></span></strong></span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #0068cf;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Soupy from the wonder years said: "Last Friday we woke up in Maryland to read the news about the earthquake that struck Northern Japan and as the hours rolled by, things seem to go from awful to worse than awful. News of tsunamis, floods, fires, radiation leaks and more poured in as we sat feeling helpless in the van.<br />
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"I think it really speaks to the sense of community we have in this scene that within the two hour drive to Delaware, over 20 bands agreed to be a part of this. The comp is a collection of primarily rare, hard to find or unreleased recordings."</strong></span></span><br />
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #0068cf;"></span></a></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">Vs. The Earthquake</span></span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></strong></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Track listing:</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><br />
</strong></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>1 The Wonder Years - Hey Julie (Fountains of Wayne Cover)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>2 The Swellers - By a Thread (Acoustic B-Side)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>3 I Call Fives - Everyone Knows (B-Side)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>4 Mixtapes - Your Little Hoodrat Friend (Hold Steady Cover)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>5 Citizen - Tracking Time (Acoustic)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>6 I Am Alaska - Patriot</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>7 Koji - Giants Sleeping</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>8 Perfect Lines (ex- My Heart to Joy) - Crooked Tracks</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>9 Transit - Indoor Voices</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>10 Man Overboard - Different People (Rare Track)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>11 Allison Weiss - Let Me Go (Live)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>12 Balance and Composure - As Planned (Rare B-Side)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>13 Valencia - Spinning Out (Acoustic)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>14 Fox Fires (Members of FYS) - Dogma</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>15 Nix 86 - Why Can't You Stay (Live)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>16 La Dispute - Why It Scares Me (Live in Brisbane 1/25/2011)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>17 Save Your Breath - Stay Young</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>18 With The Punches - No Blood, No Foul</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>19 Daytrader - Living</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>20 Such Gold - I Hope You Die Soon/Ten Seconds too Late (Movielife Covers)</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>21 Bad News Bears- Where is Home</strong></span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>22 Title Fight - Western Haikus (Acoustic)</strong></span></span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-68206733946734041552011-03-13T18:42:00.002+00:002011-03-13T18:43:51.146+00:00Propagandhi's Todd Kowalski: "We're not just dark tormented weirdos!"<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">COMING SOON:<br />
PROPAGANDHI'S TODD KOWALSKI TALKS TO NEW KICKS.<br />
</span></span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQGdtzKPEZ5g-6H2JYVTL6yWXVB5aI4FRFSsjzUEpz-ucpomMgGOZWA8bgw-tXQHut9SDoAADEYJqzjjNGC_aneD1yW8ywK3-ihdRnD480Q2tZaOkCyVAcmFOjALeM5OVtGMvf_NwH-cO/s1600/propaghandi-group-shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQGdtzKPEZ5g-6H2JYVTL6yWXVB5aI4FRFSsjzUEpz-ucpomMgGOZWA8bgw-tXQHut9SDoAADEYJqzjjNGC_aneD1yW8ywK3-ihdRnD480Q2tZaOkCyVAcmFOjALeM5OVtGMvf_NwH-cO/s320/propaghandi-group-shot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-10508686459583869092011-03-07T10:26:00.001+00:002011-03-07T10:27:06.706+00:00Taking Back Sunday UK Tour<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1IFRR0InKaYdhEsfedkPcGcZKmCLoVfPLVm0E2bYr5xbMOtV4bTjOLHedRYIGSJ7glG7Qudsy2i1t-EAs3ZHpT0aAKQ6XUDhB85YcqY-epFkYBCHOP_NhKluP5U_TwbgVCDdQX8u31c2/s1600/TBS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 261px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><img border="0" height="216" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1IFRR0InKaYdhEsfedkPcGcZKmCLoVfPLVm0E2bYr5xbMOtV4bTjOLHedRYIGSJ7glG7Qudsy2i1t-EAs3ZHpT0aAKQ6XUDhB85YcqY-epFkYBCHOP_NhKluP5U_TwbgVCDdQX8u31c2/s320/TBS.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Taking Back Sunday have announced a UK tour in May. <br />
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Tickets go on sale on Friday 11th March at 9am. The dates are as follows:<br />
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12 May – Southampton Guildhall<br />
13 May - Manchester Academy 1<br />
14 May - Nottingham Rock City<br />
16 May - Glasgow Barrowlands<br />
17 May - Liverpool 02 Academy<br />
18 May - Bath Pavilion<br />
20 May - London Roundhouse</strong></span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-51867475756248147022011-02-21T20:43:00.010+00:002011-02-22T19:51:15.899+00:00My Chemical Romance<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: 'Courier New'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgiONLY05korMLkHqY0OK8FhjCH7YvS_96250odDog3U0NuXwjv2IzhwD4lRc292-DRKDiGtXPN4ojHyA3vgE3gxMGNd0NuKatcnOQihDgZWymjyjUsM4PdEMjvT0QPF2GI1q3KcxKe5K/s1600/mychem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgiONLY05korMLkHqY0OK8FhjCH7YvS_96250odDog3U0NuXwjv2IzhwD4lRc292-DRKDiGtXPN4ojHyA3vgE3gxMGNd0NuKatcnOQihDgZWymjyjUsM4PdEMjvT0QPF2GI1q3KcxKe5K/s320/mychem.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a cold, dark friday night in Manchester and New Kicks are about to see one of the biggest bands in the world right now, My Chemical Romance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The excitement in the venue is palpable and rightly so since this is a band who have gone from strength to strength in the years since the release of what was arguably their breakthrough album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.<br />
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In those years MCR have built up a reputation for themselves as an incredibly spirited and elaborate live band. Something that shocks us to realise is lacking from tonight's show. The band begin their set with the Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys single, 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)'. <br />
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They continue with their set playing an abundance of songs from the new album and Gerard Way impresses about 25% of the audience (the ones who are over the age of twenty) with a quick rendition of 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' by legendary Manchester band, The Smiths.<br />
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The band are on top form but the set tonight is very much focused on Danger Days. The crowd don't have much in the way of complaint but the set would definitely benefit from some more songs from The Black Parade album. This is only confirmed when the biggest cheer of the night goes to the single first note of it's title track, 'Welcome to the Black Parade.'<br />
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The show reaches an unexpected low when the band finishes with 'Cancer', a song that, like it's title suggests, is a melancholic and desperately upsetting look at death. Why MCR would choose to close their set with such a downer is slightly disappointing but it only adds to the variety they have displayed tonight.<br />
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Gerard Way is a born frontman and looks like a cross between Billy Corgan and something Tim Burton forgot to draw. This makes him the perfect spokesman for a band who have gained a cult following. Despite the lack of special effects and fancy lighting, My Chemical Romance know how to deliver a great live show.<br />
<br />
Antonia</span></b></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-33470896353446160982011-02-17T18:50:00.003+00:002011-02-17T21:12:44.473+00:00Mayday Parade Tour Dates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCBw9D6a21VFViEtAaZTSoOl7gw-ifdxZ-SgWtCPrwSdUvymA7Pxaw7uZvj8R5Up9GGBIjrFqRnu7QXj_aMbcpJ2ifca2II2wnH0mbYbq6AnQ8VwhSLjgvFWr_2D6FCkQppCAyBxO0S0p/s1600/Mayday%252BParade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCBw9D6a21VFViEtAaZTSoOl7gw-ifdxZ-SgWtCPrwSdUvymA7Pxaw7uZvj8R5Up9GGBIjrFqRnu7QXj_aMbcpJ2ifca2II2wnH0mbYbq6AnQ8VwhSLjgvFWr_2D6FCkQppCAyBxO0S0p/s320/Mayday%252BParade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mayday Parade will return to the UK in May for a string of shows. Catch them on the following dates:</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mon 16 May - Milton Keynes The Pitz</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Tues 17 May - Kingston The Peel</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Wed 18 May - Leicester Sub 91</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Thurs 19 May - Yeovil Orange Box</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-gb">Sat 21 May - </span><span lang="en-gb">Liverpool Liverpool Sound City – The Hub</span></span></strong></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Sun 22 May - Cardiff Solus</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mon 23 May - Nottingham Rescue Rooms</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Tues 24 May - Glasgow Garage</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Wed 25 May - Manchester Academy 2</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Thurs 26 May - London Koko</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-gb">Fri 27 May - </span><span lang="en-gb">Birmingham Academy 2</span></span></strong></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Sat 28 May - Leeds Slamdunk Festival, Leeds</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Sun 29 May - London Slamdunk Festival, Hatfield</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mon 30 May - Oxford Academy 2</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Tues 31 May - Norwich Waterfront</strong></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Wed 1 June - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms</strong></span></span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-52866469216115252942011-02-17T18:27:00.002+00:002011-02-21T10:00:11.167+00:00New Paramore Songs in the Pipeline <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaByZWJccA_HJnyeUjN5Sr9_1pGSRnXm8xERv0oRbq7dr9787WNNADdFap_ZRd31BP8WfuLOZmaW39hT9uZUiMo2OB9qawHGm3hA14T9j5U2TAmvJXM7i7eyXBRmroDBRIymISsqege-_W/s1600/PARANEW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaByZWJccA_HJnyeUjN5Sr9_1pGSRnXm8xERv0oRbq7dr9787WNNADdFap_ZRd31BP8WfuLOZmaW39hT9uZUiMo2OB9qawHGm3hA14T9j5U2TAmvJXM7i7eyXBRmroDBRIymISsqege-_W/s320/PARANEW.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Paramore Press Shot</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paramore are set to release several songs over the summer, according to frontwoman, Hayley Williams.<br />
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The songs will be the first material the band has released since the departure of guitarist Josh Farro and his brother Josh (drums) in December.<br />
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Speaking to AOL Hayley said: "All the details aren't worked out yet, but we definitely do want to release In the Mourning and some other ones before we put out a proper album."<br />
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The band also released a new promo photograph featuring just the three remaining members. </span></strong>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-87313981748214168542011-02-17T18:04:00.001+00:002011-02-17T18:04:59.485+00:00Death Cab For Cutie Announce Album Release Date<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnPvQiOXxPcJhCABSC9u-s-9JbgeKoRyTE1fTP6w4ui4bX6MJtlobzY7zU7A3lUpPt64nTpykeyOS60htCSRZLyV_ZzUQ6SXu_8IK3EGCcD3hyphenhyphen1u_Shn0OePRKCP82iXwNqzq51HF44q-/s1600/deathcab2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnPvQiOXxPcJhCABSC9u-s-9JbgeKoRyTE1fTP6w4ui4bX6MJtlobzY7zU7A3lUpPt64nTpykeyOS60htCSRZLyV_ZzUQ6SXu_8IK3EGCcD3hyphenhyphen1u_Shn0OePRKCP82iXwNqzq51HF44q-/s320/deathcab2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>A release date of May 31st has been announced for the seventh album by Washington's Death Cab For Cutie.<br />
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Bassist, Nick Harmer spoke about the album, 'Codes And Keys': "This is our seventh album and now, almost fifteen years in, it's still really exciting to get back in the studio. There's still so much musical territory to cover together." </strong></span></div>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-45328364197510162372011-02-17T17:52:00.000+00:002011-02-17T17:52:35.920+00:00The Get Up Kids Release New Album<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6w05HMzdaUFEqM8BxIxqDExltuxa820GWVH5RDctVgFaYeawyOVhMh15njxBQ-NOFqAve8iB6cn_C7SKo88LisoeitFwuaL3yx94qWOYsjWXaTyl7EYq-3KKXDC4pC8PYgewdXjV5zf6/s1600/get_up_kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6w05HMzdaUFEqM8BxIxqDExltuxa820GWVH5RDctVgFaYeawyOVhMh15njxBQ-NOFqAve8iB6cn_C7SKo88LisoeitFwuaL3yx94qWOYsjWXaTyl7EYq-3KKXDC4pC8PYgewdXjV5zf6/s200/get_up_kids.jpg" width="184" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>The Get Up Kids have announced details of their fifth studio album entitled 'There Are Rules.'<br />
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The album will be released on February 28th, seven years after what was believed to be their last album, 'Guilt Show.'<br />
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The band have worked with producers Ed Rose and Bob Weston, who recorded their debut 'Four Minute Mile' hinting at a return to their earlier sound.<br />
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Front man, Matt Pryor said:</strong> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>"</strong></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>This record came together really organically. We'd throw out an idea and if it didn't work after 30 minutes we'd scrap it and move on to another one. We all wrote together really spontaneously and then fleshed it out with Ed in the studio."</strong></span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469673489859593509.post-17452368303121573372011-02-17T09:14:00.001+00:002011-02-17T19:39:33.706+00:00All Time Low New Album<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHgo9BgQQ01dFUz8AYwnBBMswbgL0rP7RzCwVeRteQwdlfV0vg15Mpplx1QT38wp5nWSN9zjLRPq-67nUtFRmI3IB4dS3JfOHfZqHrSy7EAlEfZaDr-EuqE-jXC-iliimTb7pPos_bUh_/s1600/alltimeloww.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHgo9BgQQ01dFUz8AYwnBBMswbgL0rP7RzCwVeRteQwdlfV0vg15Mpplx1QT38wp5nWSN9zjLRPq-67nUtFRmI3IB4dS3JfOHfZqHrSy7EAlEfZaDr-EuqE-jXC-iliimTb7pPos_bUh_/s200/alltimeloww.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>All Time Low singer, Alex Gaskarth has confirmed that the band won't be releasing their new album in March.However, he said they will release new songs including 'Time Bomb', a song that they have already been playing at shows.<br />
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Alex said, "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: black;">Interscope’s going through some “restructuring” and unfortunately some records were pushed back so as not to get caught up in the confusion… We fall in that category. We’re so close though."</span></span></strong></span>New Kickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285100673639291978noreply@blogger.com0