For a 3 day long festival that calls itself ‘Hard Rock Calling’ the promoters seem to have got completely the wrong end of the stick. I can’t even remotely see what’s ‘Hard Rock’ about either, Starsailor or The Dave Mathews Band. Safe to see I avoided all the support acts like the fucking plague and opted for “cunt-free” day.
All of this nonsense was forgotten when The Boss wondered out on stage backed by the infamous E-Street Band. Opening with an inspired version of The Clash’s ‘London Calling‘, Bruce and the gang arte off to a flying start before diving head first into ‘Badlands‘ and then ‘She’s The One’.
The E-Street Band back a juggernaut set from Springsteen who tears through ‘Out In The Street‘ and ‘Bobby Jean‘ to name a few. Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem joins the party on stage to wail through the spirited ‘No Surrender‘ which was a highlight but for some inexplicable reason; ‘Thunder Road‘ and ‘The River‘ remain noticeably absent from tonight’s set list.
After the people rallying anthem ‘The Rising‘, Bruce then delivers a goose-bump inducing rendition of ‘Jungleland‘. Yet more proof (if you needed it) as to why they call him ‘The Boss’. Unfortunately he goes from glory to annoyance in one fail swoop following up with ‘American Land‘. Some jiggery-pockery shite that is more at home in a Pogues B-sides collection. None the less, we are sent home happy with the classics, ‘Glory Days‘ and ‘Dancing In The Dark’.
I’ve been lucky enough to see The Boss before but this time I felt way out of my depth. Tonight, at times, I did feel like I was the unwanted guest of an older generation, and that in the eyes of hardened Springsteen fans that I didn’t “get it”. That may be true but it just goes to show that regardless of age, the music of Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street band have enough quality and enough depth to transcend generations. Tonight proved that.
Written by Tom Lindsey
Photo thanks to Heather Mary Ryan
If you thought that the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko was an incredibly complex and difficult story, possibly even one of the most bizarre tales you have ever encountered, then be prepared for yet another rush of time travelling excitement with the next instalment S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale.
Donnie Darko was a film that really made you think and got the sparks in the brain working at full speed. After seeing all the facts, you needed to place them all in an order that makes sense. For S. Darko you may have to put what is left of your brain into overdrive, as it is a little bit more of a challenge to get to grips with. The tale begins seven years after the death of Donnie, with his sister Samantha (Daveight Chase) heading off on a road trip with a friend. The trip is cut short when the car breaks down and the town bad boy Randy (Ed Westwick) comes to their rescue. It is when they reach town that the girls end up in a time travelling set of events that sees them die, come back to life and Samantha returning as a spirit like entity which connects to her sleepwalking.
The end of the film is a confusing one with future dead Sam and the present one becoming one in the same due to certain events not happening, and thus changing the course of the future events. If you have ever wondered how the future can effect the past to ultimately alter the future that was to be, then be prepared for a headache.
This sequel takes much more thinking to put all the pieces of the narrative puzzle together. With Donnie’s tale the narrative seemed pretty straightforward with the occasional speed bump and an end result inserted at the start. With Sam’s tale things seem much more complicated with a very similar end and beginning, one what could have been and one that becomes reality. There are also other points that create alternative outcomes. Sam’s story is a slightly creepier tale than Donnie’s first instalment, however still sees the return of the spaced out bunny. Dead Sam from the future has a rather zombie like effect to her appearance, especially with that horrendous dress.
This film has a great up and coming cast including Daveight Chase (Donnie Darko), Briana Evigan (Step Up 2: The Streets), James Lafferty (One Tree Hill) and one guy all eyes are on at the minute, Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), as well as a few familiar faces including Elizabeth Berkley (Save by the Bell). In a world that blurs the realms of fantasy and reality, S. Darko: A Donie Darko Tale will likely mystify and intrigue while getting those brain cells in full working order.
There are two events that you should be aware of going on in different parts of the country this weekend.
First off, DuFFs have their annual jam planned for tmrw, 4th July at Rom Skatepark in Essex this Saturday.
Expect the usual concrete carnage from Munson and the lads, we will feature this event as a photo blog next week once TH comes back from the wreckage.
This Sunday brings the Final Leg of the Independent Vert Series at Creation Skatepark Birmingham (previously titled Epic Skatepark).
Sam Beckett is on favourite to win the series for the A group but if he drops a few places Sam Bosworth can take Victory. It’s a similar story in the B Group with Oakley Liddel, Joe Atkins and Nick Hanson all looking to raise their games.
Any band who are named after a song by Nation Of Ulysses are guaranteed to be men of taste. So when The Hickey Underworld‘s debut album landed in Crossfire’s lap a couple of months back it went straight to the top of the towering pile of crap that constitutes rock music in 2009. This is no mean feat. Usually it takes huge bribes to jump the queue.
We just sat around looking at the sleeve for a while, touched it, sniffed it and then finally decided to play it. When we did it sounded immense, like many of the recent greats from rock underworld – Jesus Lizard, Refused, Shellac, Queens Of The Stone Age – all rolled in one sweaty Belgian bundle. Did we mention the album artwork is amazing? The artwork is amazing. There was nothing else to do but unleash Ben Myers on the phone to call guitarist Jonas Govaerts, like, immediately.
Hi Jonas. So we know nothing about your band – other than the fact that you’re named after a songs by Nation of Ulysses, who were amazing, but pretty obscure…
Yeah, Younes (Faltakh, singer, pic right) and I grew up mail ordering the whole Dischord catalogue, so we were very much influenced by Fugazi and everything they put out. One band that really captured our imagination was Nation of Ulysses with their strange sense of humour and that great name too. Their song titles were a mystery within themselves, but what I found appealing was the messy element of their music. They had really discordant horns on there and even on record they weren’t a tight band at all. That was exciting and they definitely left a mark on us.
Your album was a genuine surprise. I hear dozens of new rock bands each month and 99 out of 100 aren’t terrible, they are something much, much worse – they are merely ‘OK’. So it’s rare to hear any who have such great songs and ideas and style as The Hickey Underworld.
Oh, thanks. It’s strange because we were working on this band so much that were feeling a little bit out of touch with music, plus so many Belgian bands are influenced by British music right now, whereas out inspirations are drawn more from America. In Belgium they’re all ripping off the poppy end of British music but we’re staying well away from that…
What are the origins of the band?
Me and Younes grew up together in Antwerp and have been playing together in bands since we were twelve – so many bands – and they were all pretty much terrible. It was only really years later when Jimmy (Wouters, drummer) joined us about four years ago from a hardcore band that we really found our sound. Before that – crap.
Is there much going on Antwerp at the moment?
Sure, there’s a good scene in Antwerp. For example, when our album came out in Belgium we sold 3500 copies in the first week alone. The scene we are from you can consider yourself a success if you sell half that amount over the course of a year or two, so people are interested and there was an element of surprise to the reaction we got. We must be doing something right. We feel blessed because we got a lot of help. The Belgian band Das Pop have really helped us out. The three guys from the band are from a different musical scene to us but they really helped us out with the production of the album, getting a decent soundman and finding a record deal. Before that they themselves were helped by the Soulwax / 2 Many DJ’s guys. So, yeah, I guess the scene is pretty supportive.
You’re in LA right now. Are you playing shows out there?
No. As well as the band I make short films and put them on the net. A manager in LA picked up on one and has brought me how here to have lots of meetings with studios. I’m staying right in the heart of Hollywood but it’s possibly not as big a deal as it sounds. I don’t drive either so Younes is here driving me around. It’s not a pedestrian town at all.
What do the rest of the guys do outside of the band?
Younes is pretty much a full-time songwriter and our bassist Georgios (Tsakiridis), who only recently joined us, is still at school, studying film. As for Jimmy, I don’t know what he does exactly? I think it has something to do with battered wives. It suits his aggressive persona…
Do you share any other collective influences?
Actually we like quite a bit of world music, Ethiopian music. It’s very refreshing stuff. We’re also really excited that Jesus Lizard have reformed. But aside from music, art and the visual side of things is very important to us…
I should explain to readers that the art-work for your album is very impressive: a colourful fold-out painting that is loaded with sub-satanic and Masonic symbols, hidden messages, pictures within pictures…
Right. And I think the record label and our manager probably hated us for it because we had such specific demands and also because it all had to be folded by hand! A big influence on the visuals was Coffin Joe, the Brazilian horror film-maker, whose work is very powerful and psychedelic, but loaded with dark humour too. An artist friend of ours did the artwork and we really made him work for it. It took months to do. We made him draw ten different temples before he got the right one, which itself is only a small detail in the picture. We were very selective and very precise, because the presentation aspect of music is getting lost amongst download culture. So, there are hidden messages throughout the artwork – the artist put the names of girls he likes in there and if you go through it carefully you’ll be able to find drawings of the four band members too. But you’ll have to look for us hard.
What does 2009 hold for you?
We’re playing some big European festivals, though we’re actually more excited about the smaller club shows. All the bands we love we first saw in small clubs – Kepone, Girls Against Boys, all that type of stuff. Our band works best in clubs too.
We obviously grew up listening to the same bands at the same time.
Yeah! I think we must be the same age.
I’m 33.
Well, we’re actually younger…
You were obviously just a lot hipper growing up, then.
Ha, thanks!
Download The Hickey Underworld‘s debut single Mystery Bruise at i-Tunes here and await the monster that is their debut album scheduled for release via Naive Records in September 2009. Watch the video for the debut single Mystery Bruise here.
To coincide with the release of 5 singles and the re-issue of their debut album, The Stone Roses have launched a new interactive website.
The www.thestoneroses20.com site allows users to log in and vote for their favourite piece of Roses content online, whether it’s a video, photo or blog. The site also features all the latest news, videos, a gig archive and podcasts featuring the Roses themselves and the likes of Oasis’ Noel Gallagher.
The release dates for the singles are:
6th July – ‘Elephant Stone’ (with limited edition box, plus 5 art prints)
13th July – ‘Made Of Stone’
20th July – ‘She Bangs The Drums’
27th July – ‘Fools Gold’
3rd August – ‘One Love’
IC19 will be released on July 20th and will feature remixes from A1 Bassline, Mikix The Cat and James Talk amongst others. In addition, BSS are about to start work on the Blood Diamond mixtape, more details of which are set to be revealed soon.
Check out the video for their banger Sound Of Kuduro:
After the recent release of their sizzling debut LP, ‘SPAYED‘ and the subsequent European UK support slot with The Gossip, KASMs are back! ‘Absent Without Leave/Murmur‘ is their new double single, to be released for download on August 10th through trouble records.
Whilst ‘Murmur‘ has already staked it’s claim on album ‘Spayed‘ and as the band’s favoured show closer, ‘Absent Without Leave’ is a brand new addition to the KASMs inventory. Utilising their usual reel-to-reel recording process, the track was written and committed to record live in one day in band member Rory Brattwell’s own studio space. The idea behind this freeform style of recording being to capture the live energy in which their snowballing reputation is rooted and document the exhilarating sound and attitude they have created during their time together as a band.
Kasms have also just been confirmed to play Reading and Leeds Festival in August.
Here’s a video of Kasms playing Murmur live in Glasgow on their recent tour with The Gossip:
For a 3 day long festival that calls itself ‘Hard Rock Calling’ the promoters seem to have got completely the wrong end of the stick. I can’t even remotely see what’s ‘Hard Rock’ about either, Starsailor or The Dave Mathews Band. Safe to see I avoided all the support acts like the fucking plague and opted for “cunt-free” day.
If you thought that the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko was an incredibly complex and difficult story, possibly even one of the most bizarre tales you have ever encountered, then be prepared for yet another rush of time travelling excitement with the next instalment S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale.
There are two events that you should be aware of going on in different parts of the country this weekend.
This Sunday brings the Final Leg of the
Any band who are named after a song by Nation Of Ulysses are guaranteed to be men of taste. So when 
What do the rest of the guys do outside of the band?