This year’s Rise Festival, an anti-racism festival which is laid on for free, which this year takes place at Finsbury Park has added Graham Coxon and Sway to the bill. The festival will be on July 8th and will also feature The Buzzcocks, The Wailers and Roy Ayers.
As well as the main stage, other stages will be set up to feature music from Latin America, Asia, African and will have music and dance from Turkey too.
Camden Underworld,
27/4/06
A message to promoters: when putting on a show, try to remember to actually promote it. London soul-punk septet Jesse James can usually pack out the Underworld, but there has been very little advertising for tonight’s show, and hence the venue is barely half full.
Granted, Angels & Airwaves are playing across the road at the Electric Ballroom, but there must be more punk-lovin’ folk out there who would rather see some quality homegrown bands over Tom Delonge’s vanity project.
Still, the bands don’t seem too bothered. Grown At Home get things kicked off with some entertaining, if unoriginal ska-core, but it’s Failsafe who really up the ante with some excellent melodic hardcore; resembling the best bits of Hot Water Music spliced with a few metal and reggae influences. Check out their debut album ‘What We Are Today’; your ears deserve a treat.
However, it’s Jesse James’ party, and from the moment they kick off with ‘Invincible‘, it’s clear that the London-based septet have never looked or sounded better. Maybe it’s the fact that the release of new album ‘The Assassination Of’ is imminent, or maybe it’s just the healthy avocado salad that lead vocalist/bassist Dko had for dinner, but there’s a real sense of self-assurance to the band tonight. New tunes like ‘Everything‘ and ‘Hooks‘ are up there with the best in brass-laden punk rock anthems, whilst old favourites ‘Black Sheep Generator’ and ‘First Day On A Brand New Planet’ would surely be rock club staples by now, if this lot were American.
Speaking of Americans Angels & Airwhat?
Girlie Skate Camps are back for the summer but will you be out there skating with Europe’s finest ladies?
Every year girls get together and jam their way through an amazing holiday together learning how to skate with a selection of the best female skateboarders in the world. Book your summer tickets today, all info at www.girliecamps.com.
Hellicar, Crago, Lewis Lloyd and Friends will be playing Cargo in London on May 15th as support for My Lastest Novel.
The Djs on the night will be Eat Your Own Ears and Chris Wheeler and you’ll be able to grab the tickets [only a fiver!] from either www.cantaloupegroup.co.uk/shop or www.ticketweb.co.uk.
As if this weren’t enough, there will be a headline show at the Luminaire on May 31st, with special guests James Blackshaw and James William Hindle. Have a butchers at the flyer for more info.
It’s not easy to review jeans i guess but it’s all down to quality i reckon. Element have been making quality clothing for ages now – these jeans are no exeption.
I must admit i always buy jeans that extra size up to skate in just for more space and flexibility, i always look out for the extra pockets so u can stash my daily usuables whilst out on a schralpe and these have everything you need.
They come with that semi worn look so you don’t hit the street with a total complex that you have the newest clothes on ever, some people like that squeeky clean thing but me, i like to be worn in and faded, you get me?
I have been skating in these jeans for the last 4 weeks and as i said, they may be difficult to review but it’s an easy task when they are still in one piece and without massive holes in them already and i have taken a few falls along the way, so it must say something about these jeans.
Pay Homage…
Chuck Bangers
Atmospheric metal overlords Katatonia will release their new single ‘Deliberation‘ on May 15th through Peaceville Records.
The single is the second to be lifted from the band’s brilliant new album ‘The Great Cold Distance’, and will be available in both CD and Download format.
Peaceville are currently celebrating the launch of their brand new site, with exclusive Download only singles from Italian mob Novembre and female-fronted Norwegians Madder Mortem.
Mosh on over to www.peaceville.com for more ear-shattering info.
Can someone tell me how people name products? What is a Spackler? I just checked dictionary.com and it could not help me either because it doesn’t exist…until now that is. Element Clothing is up there in terms of quality and if i was shopping for some stylish, good qulaity skate clothing, i would start right here.
The Spackler is made from the softest cotton that stretches and moves wherever you do, so you always fee comforatble skating in these threads. You can quite easily look fresh out in a club with one of these on as well so they are worth the money.
Grab one today for the summer, you won’t regret it.
Chuck Bangers
The Ivories
London Astoria
02/05/06
The venue is reasonably empty for a Sold Out gig. Goths’ dressed to the nines huddled inwards to hear the unknown sound of The Ivories. As the not only drop dead gorgeous, but extremely talented drummer bangs hard on her drums, heads turn, and the front of the stage fills up with boys, and their camera phones, desperately waiting patiently to take a souvenir pic. The singers scuttle reminds me of The Kills or Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and the music is reminiscent of early Siouxsie & The Banshees. In a nutshell, watch this band, they are on fire! Just like Giant Drag snuck in and took the world by storm, this almost (1 male bassist) girl band definitely have the makings of something great. I remember murmurings of their CD being launched in stores over the next week…
Finally the mainliners – Sisters of Mercy. The stage fills with smoke…but it doesn’t stop there, the smoke just keeps on coming, and coming, and coming!…until eventually we cant see a damn thing! You can only feel the hot, sweaty tattoo-clad bodies next to you, whilst almost gagging on dry ice. Funny in the beginning…until we all realized it was going to last the whole friggin gig! Out of smoke, and lights you can see a vague silhouette of Andrew Eldritch in a long white, luxurious fur collared coat. Perhaps the ambivalent atmosphere was a mask for years of serious drug intake? or perhaps it was just supposed to be mysterious?
With Andrew as the only original band member, the new guitarist, and bassist, are rumored to be from Leeds…hence referrals to Leeds in some of the lyrics. As the newbie’s basque in the limelight, and ignore the screeching feedback, the crowd divides into 2 camps-bored!, and die hard’s! Not only could you not see anything(I was in the front!), but you could hardly hear any of the vocals. With Andrews voice being so close to the baseline you would expect the levels to accentuate his voice as much as possible-like their damn CDs. The backing vocals, and baseline were so much louder than the vocals, if you closed your eyes it was like being at an instrumental, with random shoutings of “hey now, hey now now now”? If that wasn’t confusing enough, the track “Temple Of Love” emerged out of I don’t-know-what-the-hell-just-happened?
They came back for 2 encores finishing the 1st set with golden oldie “Dominion“. Then something random happened again, ending with Goth-sing-along “This Corrosion“. All in all, great band, but at this particular show the sound engineering was shocking! At a live gig you expect to hear and see your living legend, not leave confused, and haunted by reminding complaints the whole journey home. Hopefully they sort it out for the rest of their tour, or their annual tradition might not be so well received in the not so distant future. I think as a mainliner with so many years experience, being shown up by the opening act is just plain embarrassing!
Niki Kova’cs
Big Hand have announced some Scottish tour dates for all the fans north of the border. The group have been described as “Chuck Berry and Madness having a fight with Manu Chao trying to break it up, with the Chilli Peppers and a load of Eastern European folk musicians watching n’ cheering it on, all with a bottle of Jagermeister” and with a reputation like that, we don’t think you can go far wrong!
The dates are:
Thu 18th May – Edinburgh
Bannermans, 212 Cowgate, Tel: 0131 556 3254,
Doors: 8pm, £4,
Support: Unknown Hagana & The Love Bastards
Fri 19th May – Edinburgh
Whistle Binkies, 4-6 South Bridge, EH1 1LL, Tel: 0131 557 5114,
Doors: 9pm, Free Before midnight
Sat 20th May – Edinburgh (DJ set)
The Mission Jnr Studio 24, 24 Calton Road , Edinburgh , EH8 8DP, Tel: 0131 558 3758,
Doors: 6pm, £3
Sun 21st May – Ayrshire
Knockengorroch Festival
Carsphairn, Castle Douglas, Ayrshire, DG7 3TJ,
£20 for 3 day ticket.
Advance tickets can be purchased from www.thebighand.co.uk
Grime artist Dizzee Rascal is going to speak at the Oxford Union next week, talking about his career, his life and what’s in store in his future.
He’ll be at the University’s Union from 8.30-10pm on Wednesday May 10th and will be performing some tracks from his new album Maths And English which is due for release later this year.
East London’s Dizzee will be playing Reading and Leeds festivals this year too.