Author: Crossfire

Brixton Windmill
06.06.07

The Green Monkey Experiments (GME) seem to be working out well, because the monkeys have evidently grown sharper teeth in the last couple of months. “All our songs are NIN rip-offs’ deadpans singer/guitarist Scoot, but whilst these three guys and their drum machine do indeed borrow liberally from Trent Reznor’s early work, there’s a distinct Metallica-esque guitar crunch that lends an extra dimension to songs like ‘Modern Way‘. The electro-rock banana is theirs for the taking.

Dear Thief are an equally dance-worthy proposition, sounding not unlike a funkier Pixies; with tight bass lines and scratchy guitars set against vocalist Yusuf’s urgent, almost spoken-word delivery. Considering that they’re a local band of sorts, it’s about time people started keeping a Neighbourhood Watch on this lot.

It seems odd that The Flesh aren’t yet media darlings; after all, they hail from New York, look ultra stylish, and have recently released a brilliantly eclectic album in ‘Firetower’. Despite the average turnout, they put on a great show – bringing a touch of glamour to this cosy south London pub with their addictive hybrid of indie, punk and soulful R&B influences. But the real genius of their live show lies in the contrast between vocalists Gabriella and Nat; she a sultry presence with a soulful voice, he a mad guitar dervish who howls into the mic like the Mr Hyde of rock n’ soul. Oh, and if they don’t make you wanna dance, you’d better check your pulse.

Don’t be surprised if just about everyone wants a bite of The Flesh when they return in the autumn. Until then, be proud to call them our little secret.

Alex Gosman
Photo from www.myspace.com/theflesh

22nd June 07

When was the last time you went out? When was the last time you went out to witness a fucking riot? When was the last time you went out to watch a band destroy a venue and eat you for breakfast at the same?

If you can’t answer these questions then you have not see Gallows in the flesh and you have not lived your life to the full yet.

Picture Kings College in London. It’s Thursday night, The Ghost of a Thousand slayed the warm up leaving people stoked. Then the Cancer Bats fuelled the fire on 400 raging kids making way for the most explosive show since the last one! It’s the end of the tour and after 4 songs you could the band were just that 10% off their usual energy charged set until Lethal Bizzle of all people came on stage to join mouthy Frank Carter to perform a swinging rendition of Staring at the Rude Boys! Even The Ruts themselves turned up tonight to see what all the fuss was about – it turns out they were stoked on what they saw as the cover was dynamic and burnt the place down.

Franks Mum, who was watching this atomic bomb spill napalm over London from a gallery was probably wondering how the hell she spawned 3 amazing sons who are causing the uproar with their heart felt hardcore set across the UK. Tonight, this set was for her and also for everyone else of course because that’s how Gallows roll – they can be in your face wanting to kill ya, but will pull back and buy you a beer and give you a hug before they do…

With no security present, the stage was invaded for the legendary chorus of Orchestra of Wolves and with bodies flying everywhere, the band are stopped mid song due to the overcrowding and Frank stage dived off the PA into a sea of boiling energy. Crowd surfing seems normal, i had to dive too, no holds barred, one dude is crowd walking! This is total and utter carnage only witnessed years back when Snuff came to town and injected their pop punk blend of total fun into your life or when US hardcore really had the word ‘punk’ tattooed on it’s vinyl compared to the crap we are fed thesedays. Carter reminds us of this all night and he is right to….

Gallows even have the audacity to bring a circle pit back to the punk scene and on tonight’s evidence it will not be long until that pit gets much bigger. See this band now before you can’t get to the front to launch yourself off the stage and buy this debut album today, you seriously have not lived until you do.

Zac Slack

Hyde Park
16.06.07

After tightening the hood on my anorak whilst the rain lashed down on central London and drying off in the queue waiting to get into the barracked part of Hyde Park, the O2 Wireless experience was ready to rumble.

The first band I saw were the Norwegian electro-dudes Datarock, who jumped out on stage in matching red tracksuits. Now, I wasn’t familiar with them and so I was excited to hear what they had to offer, but was soon let down when their singer showed a complete lack of tone and couldn’t hold a note for very long. The music itself wasn’t awful, but suffice to say they didn’t make a new fan of me.

So I then trotted over to the XFM tent to see Calvin Harris. Waiting for him to come on, we were treated to the MSTRKRFT remix of Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. which immediately put me in a good mood and when Mr Harris bounded on stage, hands clapping and body jumping, my mood got lifted even higher. Running through tracks from his recently released album I Created Disco, Calvin had the packed tent in the palm of his hand and when the singles, Acceptable In The 80s and The Girls were played, the eruption of cheers was deafening. Belting.

Back to the main stage and the less said about Plan B the better. The biggest cheers of his set came when he played Roots Manuva’s Witness and Blur’s Song 2 but his swearing and shock rap lyrics really did nothing for me. Thankfully, he was followed by Brazilian funsters CSS and with Lovefoxxx breaking out 2 intensely colourful all-in-one jumpsuits and the band played tracks like Alcohol and Alala, the dancing was back and generous applause came their way.

Once again I made my way to the XFM tent and again was hearing some great tunes from the DJs, especially the Radioclit remix of Bonde’s Gasolina. Klaxons stormed the stage as the last few people that were allowed into the tent piled their way forward and immediately went crazy to Atlantis To Interzone. The crowd really came alive for the entire set with the highlights being Golden Skans, Totem On The Timeline and Magick.

To finish the night off was a group that were riding high on my “must see live before I die” list and Daft Punk certainly didn’t disappoint. Standing on a raised platform in the centre of the stage, the robot-personas began their set with Robot Rock and immediately every single person in Hyde Park was screaming and dancing. The light show on stage was incredible and their mixing of Around The World and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger was a real grin-inducing part of the set. As the two DJs got more into it, heads bopping, arms waving, the tracks came thick and fast from 1 More Time to Technologic.

As they came back for a short encore, the entire stage black and the only illumination coming from their now red helmets, the Frenchmen showed just why they are regarded as pioneers and giants in their field. They were absolutely incredible.

Abjekt.
Photo by Kim Norbury