Thrice have recently spoken about their upcoming 4 EPs. Dustin Kensrue of the band said of the releases:
“I don’t know why anyone would want to listen to a band playing the same thing, album after album, Being in a band is like being in a marriage, you have to work at it to keep it up.”
He went on to say the album would include electronics, rock riffs and “acoustic musings”. Kensrue said that these acoustic parts will be similiar to his recent solo album.
Central Station, Wrexham
20.08.07
Tonight’s lively shindig is not full of your average rock fans, the majority of the largely under 18’s crowd are miserable, willowy types dressed head to toe in Topshop clobber desperately trying to look cool.
But after InMe‘s storming set at this year’s Download festival playing to a cacophony of age groups, it’s surprising that we seem to be the only ones old enough to legally buy beer.
As the band hit the stage they seem genuinely glad to be here and as they launch straight into ‘7 Weeks‘ of the highly successful White Butterfly album, it’s clear that they have evolved from the ‘post grunge’ tag that had been lazily attached to them in the past few years.
Now with Dave’s brother Greg McPherson standing along side them on bass, InMe seem to be effortless in their delivery of every single song, pulling off a highly impressive performance and truth be told, these guys are infinitely better live than they are on CD. “You guys are awesome, we are playing what we like and you guys are loving it” mouths front man Dave.
The bands sheer joy at playing the songs they love shines through and rubs off the crowd who sing along to every word. A good mix of old and new material runs through the set, only marred by the exclusion of their best loved song ‘Crushed Like Fruit‘ which the band refuse to play.
‘Chamber‘ caps a stupendous night that brings a blistering two week tour to it’s remarkable climax. It even leaves the angst-ridden teenagers not only smiling from ear to ear, but whooping in delight and that’s no easy feat. Utterly brilliant.
Janes Hawkes
Bedouin Soundclash provided a surprise highlight of 2005 in their previous album, ‘Sounding A Mosaic‘; an addictive mix of soul, reggae, and ska that spawned the radio staple ‘When The Night Feels My Song’. Writing a similarly impressive follow-up was never going to be easy, but on ‘Street Gospels‘, the Canadian trio have both broadened their sound and delivered some of their finest songs to date.
There’s a more polished, pop feel to the likes of ‘St. Andrews‘ and ‘Higher Ground‘, but the band haven’t forsaken their ska/reggae roots; rather, they’ve infused them with a new depth and vitality. Singer/guitarist Jay Malinowski’s voice is on top form throughout, and there are more than enough lilting grooves and sun-drenched choruses on offer to warm your soul through the harshest of winters (which the band, as residents of Canada, are probably used to by now).
Check out ‘Walls Fall Down‘ on the link above, and be sure to have your dancing shoes at the ready when the band return to the UK in November:
4th – Oxford Zodiac/Academy
5th – Southampton University
6th – Cardiff University
7th – Sheffield Plug
8th – Norwich UEA
10th – Newcastle University
11th – Glasgow Classic Grand
12th – Manchester University
13th – Birmingham Barfly
15th – Leeds University (Stylus)
16th – London Forum
Alex Gosman
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for your skateboarding life, you’ll have heard of Fifty Fifty, Bristols premiere skateboarding supplies store. Ran with military precision by the legendary duo Danny Wainwright & Justin Sydenham, Fifty has been supporting the UK skate community for many a year.
So many years infact, it’s a cause for celebration. A bloody BIG celebration because Fifty Fifty have been going 10 years strong and It’s this occasion that saw hundreds of people descend on the CentreSpace gallery in the heart of Bristol for an all-out show / party / knee’s up.
The gallery played host to a 10 year timeline of photographs, covers and articles, taking up an entire wall spanning from 1997 right up to 2007. As if that wasn’t enough for your eyeballs, on the opposite wall was the launch of the new ’10 Year Strong’ product pack which featured the most awesome 5050 x Vans Half Cab shoe, 5050 x New Era hat, 4 new boards, new wheels and a big bunch of limited clothing to polish it all off!
Packed in between all that was Danny’s Ollie world record board, Halfcabs and article, board graphics past & present and a GIANT hand-painted Vans custom shoe from local artist Richt!
Mix all the above together with 600 bottles of (free!) beer, 24 litres of wine, Jon Kennedy on the decks and a tonne of peanuts, you get a damn good time!
After all the booze was consumed and eyeballs worn out from looking at things, everyone formed into an orderly mob and hit up the Red Rooms by the harbourside for the after party, where the alcohol flowed quickly and the people swayed unsteadily.
All in all, THE best night. Ever.
Massive props to Danny, Syd and all the people involved with the show, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIFTY, here’s to the next 10 years!!
Gavin Strange
Photos courtesy of Gav and Lil’ Pete
Rhymesayers group Grayskul have released 2 free mp3s from their new album Blood Radio.
The album, out next week, features the likes of Aesop Rock, Slug, Pigeon John and Cage and follows up their Deadlivers album. You can check out the song Dope by clicking here and the upcoming single Scarecrow by clicking here, with the video for Scarecrow coming soon.
Albert Hammond Jr. is set to record his second solo album.
The Strokes guitarist’s solo outing means more rumours of The Strokes having split up, with Hammond scheduling 5 weeks at the Electric Lady studios in New York to record his new album.
In a MySpace blog, Hammond said that some of the recording will be filmed and shown on his page.
Klaxons picked up the Mercury Music Prize last night for their debut album Myths Of The Near Future.
The band beat off competition from Dizzee Rascal, Amy Winehouse and Bat For Lashes among others to pick up the £20,000 prize money. James Righton of the band said of the triumph:
“I’ve never felt this way in my life. This is shock beyond any kind of shock I’ve ever experienced…To win this is beyond and above any expectation we ever had. We thought we made a really strong record and we wanted to win. But realistically we heard everyone talking, we heard what people were saying and we didn’t think we would win. But we kept that belief… This is just ridiculous.”
Details on the new DVD/Live CD by the Briefs have been announced.
The release is due to hit the shops on October 23rd and is called The Greatest Story Ever Told. It was directed by the band alongside Lewis Ingram and will feature Captain Sensible of The Damned, TSOL’s Jack Grisham and Lars Frederiksen of Rancid fame.
The CD features 8 tracks and the DVD will house videos for Stuck On You, Orange Alert, Poor & Weird and Getting Hit on at the Bank.
Fletcher, guitarist of Pennywise has recently spoken on the band’s new album.
He said that the band have around 60 songs recorded and will spend the next few months “arguing” over which 13 will make the new album. They hope to release the new record in early 2008, which will be the follow up to The Fuse which was released in 2005.
This is absolutely true- Mike Carroll’s thumb now has so much talent in it, it has been sponsored.
In a deal reportedly worth £14million a week, his thumb will now be repping on the Mongo Skate label.