Author: Crossfire

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Live Reviews Music

Mallory Knox live in Cambridge

Mallory Knox
19th January
The Junction, Cambridge

The Junction, Cambridge, was packed from wall to wall as Mallory Knox performed in their hometown. this was to be a triumphant return as the majority of the people in this room have been with the band since day one but now, their recent releases have pushed them to the top after being placed on the Radio 1 playlist and the venue is looking forward to something special.

The band’s performance was top notch as they played their first E.P for the last time in its entirety. Although their new album, Signals, was not due for another two days, the band treated the crowd to a plethora of songs off of the album such as ‘1945’, ‘Creeper’ and also opened the show with ‘Bury Your Head’, but without the lyrics.

‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Wake Up’, which are two singles that have previously been released from the new album, were also played at the show. The band stood in amazement at the response from the energetic crowd.

Some people wonder what the ‘hype’ around Mallory Knox is all about, but the delivery they give of pure passion and enjoyment infects the whole room. Guitarist Joe Savins has very impressive live vocals, as he screams and shouts down his microphone in a deep, heavy voice – watch out Oli Sykes. Drummer Dave Rawling is absolutely mental; he pounds the shit out of his drum kit as he looks like he’s having the time of his life.

The junction is buzzing. Every audience member were fully involved, from ages of about 10 years old to 50-odd years old. An earthquake was most certainly intimate.

As the band close the show with their first ever single ‘Oceans’, vocalist Mikey Chapman works his way in to the crowd as they go ballistic. Singing to the lyrics right back at him, Mikey appears to be reduced to tears. Soaking up the atmosphere, Mikey is help in the air by the crowd and pushed back towards the stage, he lays back and enjoys the ride. As the band leave the stage, Mikey says, “You’ve made our dreams come true, thank you!”

Since the band’s debut album ‘Signals’ was released on January 20th 2013, it shot straight up to number one in the Rock Album charts. ‘Signals’ is available from iTunes now. Check out our review of the album here.

Sean Hendrie

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Music Music News

Papa Roach confirmed for Download Festival 2013!

Papa Roach frontman, Jacoby Shaddix, slipped up recently about the bands upcoming performance at Download Festival this June.

Festival organiser Andy Copping confirmed himself via Twitter afterwards to clear up any confusion, tweeting “OK @jacobyshaddix does it again! That man just cannot keep quiet! JACOBY!!! Papa Roach are playing #DL2013 on the main stage Friday.”

The Donington Park Festival also recently added 37 bands to the line-up, and released a teaser for the festival (below). Download Festival takes place June 14 – 16 2013 with headline acts Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein. Awesome, right?

More information and tickets is available from www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

 

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Music Music News New Releases

Sonic Boom Six unveil new video

Manchester’s Sonic Boom Six have released the video for their latest single ‘Keep On Believing’, which is due to be released February 11. The track is taken from the bands self-titled album, which expresses political views and around the way our world is ran.

Vocalist Laila K said, “Personally this is my favourite song off the album as it reminds me of when I got into music and bands and how passionate and positive music can make you feel.”

The storyline of the video has something to do with the World Darts Championship 2013, not your average punk rock music video, eh?

The female fronted punk band are currently touring with The Blackout, check out where they’re going below:

22 January – Liquid Room, Edinburgh

23 January – HMV Institute Birmingham, Birmingham

25 January – Electric Ballroom, London

26 January – HMV Ritz, Manchester

Sonic Boom Six’s headline tour dates are below:

8 February – Swindon, The Furnace

9 February – Guildford, The Boileroom

10 February – Brighton, Audio

11 February– Sheerness, The Ivy

12 February– Southend, Chinnery’s

13 February- Milton Keynes, The Craufurd Arms

15 February – Rugby, Vault

16 February– Sheffield, Corporation

17 February – Preston, 53 Degrees

19 February – Carlisle, The Brickyard

20 February – Aberdeen, Tunnels

22 February – Belfast, Stiff Kitten

23 February – ROI, Dublin, Fibber Magees

25 February – York, The Duchess

26 February – Scunthorpe, The Baths Hall

27 February – Stoke-on-Trent, The Sugarmill

 

Keep on Believing by Sonic Boom Six

Categories
Events Music Music Events Music News Preview

Download Festival reveal 37 more acts

Download Festival have recently announced 37 more acts that will be performing at the Donington Park event this June.

The list of new bands added to the bill are:

Jimmy Eat World
Down
Korn
Airbourne
Enter Shikari
Cancer Bats
Asking Alexandria
Parkway Drive
Motionless In White
In This Moment
Young Guns
Walking Papers
Five Finger Death Punch
Limp Bizkit
Huntress
Hardcore Superstar
Converge
Amon Amarth
Black Dogs
Vision Of Disorder
Hacktivist
HellYeah
I AM I
Last Witness
Stone Sour
Mastodon
Bullet For My Valentine
Volbeat
Coal Chamber
The Hives
Buffalo Summer
Heaven’s Basement
Earthtone9
3 Doors Down
Goldsboro
UFO
The Sword

Limp Bizkit are set to headline the 2nd second on Friday night and Enter Shikari will be headline the 2nd stage on Saturday night.

Headline acts for the festival will be Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein. Tickets and more information about the festival is avaliable at www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

Categories
Music Music News

Enter Shikari announce intimate tour

Enter Shikari have recently announced a 24-date tour, which will not be visiting your average towns/cities. The tour, which has been named as the “Return To Energiser” tour, are mostly in small capacity venues.

The most expensive show, in Hatfield, is set at a price of £20 – the band say that this is because they are raising money for ActionAid UK and that they have “something special” planned for the show.

The Hertfordshire band said: ““We speak to a lot of people who come to the big shows and we’re very aware that a large number of them travel distances to come and see us. Not everyone lives in a major city, so we figured it was time we went out and tried to visit some people a little closer to home. It’s going to be awesome to be in small rooms and up-close-and-personal with crowds again, plus visiting some new places along the way””

Support for the shows comes from Hacktivist.

The tour dates are below:

APRIL
04 – DORKING Dorking Halls
05 – FROME Cheese & Grain
06 – PLYMOUTH University
08 – FALMOUTH Princess Pavilion
09 – SALISBURY City Hall
10 – WESTON SUPERMARE Grand Pier
12 – SWANSEA Brangwyn Hall
13 – EBBW VALE Leisure Centre
15 – NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion
16 – KILMARNOCK Grand Hall
17 – INVERNESS Iron Works
18 – ABERDEEN Garage
21 – GALASHIELS Volunteer Hall
22 – LINCOLN Engine Shed
23 – SCARBOROUGH Ocean Rooms
24 – SCUNTHORPE Baths Hall
26 – HATFIELD Forum
27 – NORTHAMPTON Roadmender
28 – PETERBOROUGH Cresset
30 – BELFAST Mandela Hall

MAY

01 – DERRY Nerve Centre
02 – CORK Pavilion
03 – DUBLIN Academy
05 – COVENTRY Kasbah

 

Categories
Album Reviews Buzz Chart Music Reviews

Mallory Knox

Mallory Knox
‘Signals’
A Wolf At Your Door Records
Facebook

mallorysignalsaLBUMThe eagerly anticipated debut album of Cambridgeshire rock band Mallory Knox is almost here with a release date of 21st January. The album is being released through Wolf At Your Door Records.

Opening song ‘Beggars’ is easily one of the most catchy songs on the album, with a very upbeat tone to it, it is clear that Mallory Knox’s style is fitting into the new trend of upcoming rock bands such as Don Broco and Deaf Havana – but Mallory Knox are much heavier. It’s a fast paced and exciting album for sure.

Mikey Chapman’s easily recognisable and unique voice will make you remember who Mallory Knox are as he uses his lungs to their full capacity; some ‘singers’ scream and shout, but not Mikey, he can actually sing, which can sometimes be rare from a rock band nowadays. Bassist and backing vocalist Sam Douglas’ voice mixes in perfectly in all songs, it’s sort of like soft whispering in your ears.

Acoustic guitars and slow drum beats are proven to be a a new development from the band as we are introduced to songs such as ‘1949’ and ‘Bury Your Head’ which are a work of art. One thing a rock band can never go wrong on is having a slow intro to a song into full on headbanging with thrashing guitars.

Loud, uncompromising and bold is an easy way to describe this album. One outstanding song on Signals is ‘Bury Your Head’, this being the first ever “slow” song by Mallory Knox, it is sung with emotion and has is truly stunning. The soft piano is something new from the band that have never shown a calm side that is quite like this.

The only trouble to Mallory Knox is that some of their songs can sound very familiar, and that is because a lot of the songs sound the same, but that isn’t to say they aren’t fantastic. Signals is a difficult album to review as it clearly shows the band incredible development since filming ‘Resuscitate’, their second ever music video, in a potato warehouse in the middle of nowhere in early 2010.

Expect a lot more from Mallory Knox in 2013.

RATING: 10/10
FOR FANS OF: Young Guns, Don Broco, Deaf Havana, You Me At Six

Check out Mallory Knox’s latest single ‘Lighthouse’:

Categories
Live Reviews

Don Broco live at Esquires, Bedford

Don Broco
Esquires, Bedford
15th December 2012

One of the most spoken about new bands of 2012 decided to return to their hometown roots and perform a monster of a show in a tiny 400 capacity venue that very few had ever heard of, although it has hosted shows for bands as big as Coldplay and Supergrass.

The four piece pop-rock band with their hook-heavy and energetic songs wasted no time and got the show into full swing. The distinguishable routine ‘The Walk’ makes an appearance within seconds as the band open with the song ‘Priorities’. Somehow the band reminds you of a teen boy band as they perform their rehearsed dance moves. Band members and the rowdy crowd are not holding back tonight.

With a mixture of old material and songs off of their debut album ‘Priorities’, their performance is full of energy and the band work together fantastically; their timing is outstanding. Crowd favourite ‘Whole Truth’ involves the audience getting onto each other’s shoulders; lead singer Rob Damiani encourages people as people are flying high above the crowd as strangers become friends within the audience. All the band are interested in is making this show as fun as possible for everyone.

The smile on lead singer Rob Damiani’s face showed his amazement to the crowd’s reaction as the crowd screamed at the top of their voices right back at him. The sweat drenched crowd “really take the biscuit” as some audience members decide to join the band on stage with a bit of cheeky crowd surfing, it’s all fun and games here.

Although the show was disappointingly short, with the band only performing for one hour and five minutes, the show was truly one to remember. From a teenage dream to reality, it is clearly obvious that Don Broco still haven’t showed us everything they’ve got. Expect much more from them in 2013.

Don Broco are touring in 2013, see dates below

February
18 Arts Centre, Norwich
19 O2 Academy 3, Birmingham
20 Joiners, Southampton
21 Underworld, London
22 The Haunt, Brighton
23 White Rabbit, Plymouth
24 Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
26 The Cockpit, Leeds
27 Corporation, Sheffield
28 O2 Academy 2, Newcastle

March
01 Cathouse, Glasgow
02 Academy 3, Manchester
30 O2 Academy, Liverpool

April
13 53 Degrees, Preston
14 Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton
16 Concorde 2, Brighton
17 Academy 2, Oxford
18 KOKO, London
20 Hit The Deck Festival, Bristol
21 Hit The Deck Festival, Nottingham

Photo: Emma Wallace – taken at Red Bull Bedroom Jam Finals

Categories
Music News

DevilDriver enter studio for sixth album

American metal groove powerhouse DevilDriver have recently announced that they are now in studio recording their sixth album, having recently signed onto Napalm Records after the end of an eight year relationship between DevilDriver and Roadrunner Records.

The yet untitled album is being recorded at the Audio Hammer Studios in Florida.

The notorious metal band has also said that a “worldwide tour” will be announced in August 2013.

Frontman Dez Fafara spoke to Loudwire.com, saying: “Every record is different, that being said I thought ‘Pray For Villains’ was kind of an out of the box record for us, I thought ‘Beast’ was a weird out of the box record for us – we’ve kind honed back in to where we are.

Fafara continued: “This new record sounds a lot like the first three records, it’s got an intense groove to it and I’m really happy – the writing is going extremely well.”

Catch Devildriver on their UK tour with support from Cannibal Corpse:
7th         LONDON – Forum
8th         NOTTINGHAM – Rock City
9th         MANCHESTER – HMV Ritz
10th         GLASGOW – ABC

DevilDriver will also be making an appearance at Bloodstock Open Air Festival 2013 on 11 August. Headline acts include Lamb of God and Slayer.

Watch DevilDriver’s latest video below:
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Categories
Music News

Mallory Knox announce debut album ‘Signals’

After years of patience, Mallory Knox has announced that their debut album will be released on 21 January 2013.Mallory Knox Signals

The studio album named ‘Signals’ will include three previously released songs: Death Rattle, Wake Up and Hello. The band previously released Wake Up as their latest single alongside with a music video.

The band will be performing songs off the album at a hometown show on 19 January 2013 at The Junction, Cambridge – fans will also be able to buy the album at the gig two days before its official release; the band have also said that it will be the last time that they will be playing their first E.P ‘Pilots’ in its entirety.

Tracklisting for new album ‘Signals’ is below:
01. Beggars
02. Lighthouse
03. Death Rattle
04. Wolves
05. 1949
06. Wake Up
07. Hello
08. Misdemeanour
09. Bury Your Head
10. Signals
11. Creeper

The album will be released through Wolf At Your Door Records.

Watch Mallory Knox’s latest music video, Wake up, below:

Categories
Live Reviews

Go Groez or Go Home

groezrockfestival2012As ever, Groezrock festival in Belgium was a bit of a blur. A pretty brilliant blur of bands, drinks, drunks, friends, work, play and partly questionable weather. Crossfire headed out as it’s one of our favs and one of the most punk rock festivals out there. This is a rundown of our experience in the crowd this time around.

DAY ONE

YELLOWCARD ACOUSTIC (W)
We kick off our weekend of bands in a chilled manner with a mass singalong in the chandelier-adorned acoustic tent as Yellowcard have each and every one present in the bulging tent in the palm of their collective hand.

MISS MAY I (J)
Brilliant live band. Lots of head moshing to this which gave us a bit of a head ache but we reckon it was definitely worth it.

THE WONDER YEARS (W)
Stage diving is mandatory at the Etnies stage and bodies are flying throughout The Wonder Years’ set. In fact, they start propelling themselves through the air before the band even kick off their first song. An excellent performance brimming with energy and complete with mass stage invasion at its conclusion.

SET YOUR GOALS (W)
SYG pick up where TWY left off perfectly with more audience participation and an effervescent set of pop punk perfection.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (W)
We catch a fleeting moment of Dillinger and even this short audience with the band’s set provides opportunity to see them scaling the heights of speaker stacks and spewing forth excellent intricate heaviness in abundance.

GARRETT KLAHN (W)
A hidden gem on the line-up, the acoustic stage is woefully quiet for Garrett’s set of Texas Is The Reason classics and his own solo creations. However, it’s a magical interlude this evening with a spine-tingling stripped down version of Back And o The Left closing his beautiful performance.

GALLOWS (J)
By this point one too many Jagers had been consumed although we do remember a rad set, a rammed tent, a hell of a lot of crowd surfers and keen crazed Belgian stave-divers. The crowd were all rooting for Wade which was nice to see.

RANCID (J)
Two words: Fucking AMAZING

DAY TWO

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK (J)
Should have played a smaller capacity tent seen as it was half empty throughout the whole set. They lacked serious energy for such a band with lots of great songs and Pierre’s patronising chat in between songs wasn’t very inspirational.

ALKALINE TRIO (J)
We always find that despite how much we fucking love Alkaline Trio their sound live is pretty shocking. So we were glad to hear that they weren’t as bad as they normally are but it still wasn’t brilliant (Skiba if you are reading this – sort it out!) Their set was varied of old and new tracks which went down well however they didn’t play Armageddon so they lose 5 points.

THE BRONX
Undeniably one of the weekend’s highlights, The Bronx have become one of our ultimate festival bands, always bringing the party and the hits, with plenty of engaging banter from Matt in between. In fact, he proposes to the entire crowd present, becoming the ultimate crowd pleaser in the process.

WATO (J)
Sound was slightly dubious and by no means loud enough for such a great band. Despite the fact that their set was not advertised they drew a decent crowd. (They also played v well despite a mole telling us that they were absolutely shitfaced and the drunkest they have ever been for a gig.)

THRICE (J)
Thrice played a much anticipated set to a packed out tent of over-eager fans keen to see one of their last shows as part of their farewell tour. They did not disappoint and delivered a storming set including crowd pleasers Deadbolt and Stare at the Sun.

GORILLA BISCUITS (W)
More Etnies stage insanity at this point with a neverending barrage of stage divers and crowd surfing. The classic hardcore is certainly one of Groezrock’s big pulls for many of their regular punters and it’s great that the organizers bill such legendary bands in such an intimate tent so everyone can get involved. If they can squeeze into the tent, that is.

REFUSED (W)
What can we say? One of our most anticipated bands of the weekend and they did not disappoint. Huge sound. Riveting stage presence. Seminal songcraft. The energy at the main stage when New Noise kicked in is a feeling that will not soon be forgotten. Catch this band whilst you still can.

Brought to you by Jaimo (J) and Winegums (W).

www.groezrock.be