Satori Movement will premiere the new DVD “Mapping in Time and Space” this January at the following dates:
Please note that the Bristol date is cancelled, please contact 50:50 Store for more details about the date for this premiere.
More info about Satori team can be found at www.satorimovement.com and if you wanna buy Satori wheels and product check out www.crutchshop.com
After working with The Roots and sharing the stage with Gil Scott Heron and the late, great Nina Simone, poet and spoken word artist Ursula Rucker took time out after busy visits to Germany and France to talk to Sam Hesketh about the Wu Tang, the burden of writing and being labelled as a “conscious artist”.
So let’s start with the basics – when did you start getting into poetry and slams?
Actually, I never got into slams, I don’t really agree with them. I did one, but that was to support friends who were putting it on. But I started writing really young, but didn’t realise I was a poet until I had enough sense to realise it and then started going to readings in little book stores and places like that.
Is it a good scene in Philly for poetry then?
It was, it was really nice when I started because nobody was trippin’ on anything, it was just a natural thing and everybody was friends. I don’t know what its like really now because I’m not in there as much but every once in a while I see a reading in the local paper and I wanna go and do it, just to have that special feeling again.
And the music followed pretty soon after?
Yeah it did. You know, the minute I started having the courage to start sharing my stuff from home publicly, everything kinda fell in with it. It was like “Woah, this is crazy”, and that was 12 years ago!
At the moment there are more poets getting into the hip hop scene, Saul Williams and Benjamin Zephaniah for example, do you think that’s important for poetry?
No, I think its nice that people get introduced to poetry in that way, when they realise it can be acceptable, because it’s really like a community. I mean, you can learn it in school and the teachers tell you its all about rhyme and meters and shit, and that can really turn people off, I mean I don’t operate that way. So yeah, it’s nice, but it’s not necessary.
Listening to your stuff, it seems really powerful because its so different from when you turn on MTV and see the rap stars throwing money at the camera and women shaking their booty in hardly any clothes. Do you consciously go out to be different to that?
I don’t consciously do that, but I am conscious y’know? We get put in a box negatively, I mean people like me, Mos Def, Talib Kweli as “conscious”. I’m just conscious like I’m aware. Different people are pre-destined to see and care about different things, from a young age. I had to grow into being a rebel, because I was shy and I had to be brave enough to make a comment, it’s what’s around you.
So, have you ever felt like, you’ve seen something on TV or in your community and you HAVE to write about it?
Yeah! It’s funny you should say that, I’m sure I’m not alone, many people feel like that, artists or not. I was watching something on the TV and I just thought, why do I let things affect me? Why can’t I turn it off? I just can’t! This morning even I flicked on the news, I saw something saying “30 people blown up in Baghdad”, and everyone is de-sensitised to it now, but it’s still such a heavy thing, and I think about how many were children or women or old people y’know? And I’m included, like you hear it every day and you’re just like [hand over face] this. And that’s what I care about, in an age where phones can do everything for you, be your prom date, all kinds of shit, it’s such a time to call on people to pay attention to people.Even if you don’t share your stuff with any other person, if you know in your heart that you’re that type of person, if your art is personal, you’re still progressing as a human being.
Working with The Roots and sharing the stage with real greats, is there anyone that you would absolutely love to work with?
Always the same answer. I had a list, which I did ages ago and I write his name on it like, if I write it enough it’ll happen for 15 years – The RZA. Since the first time I was recording for an album, which didn’t come out as something happened with Sony, and I had to make a wish list for people to work with and RZA was top then. Even if I haven’t always agreed with everything they’ve said about women, as a unit, they are what hip hop is all about, getting together and keeping it constant with good quality music. I like that whole thing, they always take it to the next level.
Well RZA did a world rap album not long ago, with French and German guys on there, so he’s willing to go places other big names don’t go.
Exactly! You can take that shit from the hood, and I mean seriously the hood, you know they are from where they say they are from! And he takes that and doesn’t change who he is when he goes off. He gives who he is to these other people to work with, I love him.
So, when you write your stuff, I guess the poetry comes first and then the music follows?
It works both ways, I mean in my mind the poetry comes first because that’s the major thing, but sometimes I need some sounds, when I’m working on a project. When I work on personal things, I don’t obviously. When I was on this last project, I was bogged down with life shit, and I wasn’t in the right place to write poetry all the time, so I asked Ant, the guy who did most of my album, that I might need music upfront, but I told him the themes beforehand. For this album, I wrote everything in the studio, the day before we recorded it, because I so gridlocked in life. I had to get it where I could get it, and I’m not even really a spontaneous person.
It must be hard then coming over to Europe when you have four sons then.
Its hard, but most of the time its because I’m trippin’. I’ve done this a few times, one kid, two kids, three kids, four kids. They don’t like it when I leave but its only a short trip this time, but its mostly because I’m trippin’. My eldest son is 11 now but he’s into hip hop and everything so it’s cool.
In my dissertation on “Hip Hop and Communication Theory”, I read a theory that even if you only touch one person, in all the billions of people out there, its worth it. And I always get that from hip hop, do you feel that way about it?
That’s what I always say , it’s important like that.
I mean, even my mum likes the album!
That’s the real shit right there. When people play it to their parents and they dig it, that’s the biggest compliment you can give me!
You’re music touching all sorts of people then!
Well that’s it, if someone asks me to describe my audience, I can’t do it. A lot of people might think because I’m black or a woman or a poet, I’ll have a certain audience. But you can’t put it down like that, especially at a live show. When I go to a reading or a University, I reach people on different levels, its all important and all relevant.I mean, I know poetry isn’t on the radar like other things are, but I’m so happy to be here right now, it’s amazing. I have mentors and I know the long lasting reach of poetry, and it allows me to get my shit off and let people know this is what’s troubling me, or what makes me happy and that’s the best thing. It’s all about that urgency of the moment you’re in and you get to write it down.
It’s cathartic as well to write all that down.
Oh yeah, I can’t stop, I have to chase things down wherever I go. I liken it to if I were a photographer, because you know they carry their cameras around everywhere. Or if they don’t have it, they see something they want a photo of and they’d kill to have it, and it’s that moment I’m into.
Well, thanks for talking with me, I hope the rest of the day in London is cool.
Thanks so much, make sure you tell a neighbour about the CD and get to a live show next time I’m over!
After the tape stopped, and Ursula found out this was going on a skating site, she told me that her eldest son was into skating and she’d make sure he’d check out the site. On top of this, as I was leaving, she told me that the skating scene in Philly used to be great as the Love monument was used by all the skaters, but the city then closed that down for skating and she felt it was a shame because it was an awesome community to have around.
Ursula Rucker’s upcoming album, “Ma’At Mama” is out on February 6th, on K7 Records.
Scribble Jam – 2005 US Tour
Every year, the cream of the US underground hip hop scene make a pilgrimage to the holiest of holy places – Cincinnati, Ohio. Scribble Magazine puts on Scribble Jam every year there, a coming together of the 5 elements, with graf expos, MC, DJ, Beatbox and Breaking battles, plus the biggest names in the underground appearing live on stage. Previous Scribble Jam DVDs have been excellent, showing the best of the battles, 15 minute features showcasing the best of the graffiti and also footage of the live sets of artists such as Atmosphere, MF Doom, Eyedea & Abilities, RJD2, Blueprint, Brother Ali and many more.
Last year however, instead of just holding the big event itself, a 13 date tour of America was put on, with Mr Dibbs, Glue and Blueprint travelling the length of the States to garner interest in the event and also to hold preliminary battles for spots in the main diss-off at Scribble.
Whilst this DVD does have a tour diary featuring the artists who performed, it comes in at only a little over 30 minutes, which doesn’t really give much depth to the interviews and clips are at a premium. This is a shame because what is there is great, some funny anecdotes and some good live cuts, but it just isn’t long enough.
The bonus section, which is usually live footage from the event is this time set out as a map of America, with each section from a particular date on the tour. Again, the unfortunate thing is that the footage isn’t of any of the artists, but the best bits of the battles, some of which are cringe-worthy. There are some great lines in there, but you have to dig around to see them, and it just seems a bit of an effort.
Of course, it is a different type of Scribble Jam DVD because it is of the tour and not the main event itself but I still feel it comes in a little lightweight, and would have benefited from a longer set of answers from Dibbs, Glue and Print and more live footage of them, rather than the amateur MCs. Still, you do get a free CD, which includes tracks from Listener, Mac Lethal, Glue and Abjekt favourites Doomtree and that can’t be a bad thing now can it?
Abjekt
Written by: Ralph Lloyd-Davis – 21/12/2006
Photo Credits: Big thanks to Gorm – Ace Joe – Elvin – Steven King.
Sequence Credits: Big thanks to Dom Marley and Leo Sharp (Sidewalk Magazine)
Video Credits: Big thanks to Adrian Downie, Niall Kenny, Alan Christensen and Andy Evans
Road to Ruin – Anarchy in the West-End
“My doctor told me not to let anything get me stressed. You fucked up…”
Those were the words Zac uttered to me as I grovelled apologies for missing my train out to the Crossfire Xmas Jam from Belguim! I felt stupid, and shit. Another ticket would set me back an arm and a leg, and even then I wouldn’t make it to the jam until it was ending…
Then, I got a call from my wife…..There was a flight out the following morning for £50, and I’d get there in time to party. What would I do without such a wonderful woman? I’d probably be wearing odd socks and pour salt instead of sugar in my tea.
Woo hoo! Crossfire, here I come! However, there was a catch to this golden ticket: The plane took off at 7am, which meant 6am check-in, which meant 5.15am taxi, which meant 4.45am wake up, which meant no sleep till Crooklyn!
But it was no good feeling sorry for myself. I was the one who fucked up in the first place. 20 minutes kip, one bottle of rescue remedy and one confiscated deodorant later, and I was gazing dreamily at the sun coming up over London.
Crossfire is the only outfit down South to pull everyone together at this time of the year when the days become nights and water turns into ice, so if you were anywhere within a few hundred miles radius, you know you should have made it down for the annual Xmas get together.
But I’m guessing you were there because the Bay66 skatepark in London’s hip west-end was ram packed full of skaters. I won’t list off each and every British skateboard notable present, just take a look at the news sticky for that, but I think it’s safe to say that if the Westbourne park flyover decided to collapse on that sunny Saturday afternoon, then British skateboarding would be reduced somewhat, Freestyle included- seeing as This’n’That celeb whizzplanker Darran Nolan was present and giving a helping hand. Cheers mate!
Right, enough setting of the stage, what everyone wanted was guaranteed carnage and prizes, so without further a due, Zac grabbed the cowhorn and the unsponsored jam began.
Always a favourite with the crowd, and the worst fear of the on site medical staff, the ski jump opened the show. A few clean melons here, and plenty of ragdoll flailing there, it was tiny little Alex Decuhna (inspired by Lee Blackwell!) who scored a pair of Globe Shoes with a kickflip, and a huge backside 360 that even Danny Way could tip his helmet to.
Honourable mentions must go out to the kid who managed to tailblock drop in on the massive wallride beside the jump, and nutty Darryl who went all Sluggo Boyce on us backflipping to revert over the hill dressed like a Backstreetboy! (Jokes!)
Next damage control zone was the Koston blocks across the driveway. You should have seen the way these unsponsored kids were fiending to have a go at balancing across the blocks. I think they broke a collective record for most under 15’s huddled onto a drop-in bank. After many valiant efforts, and a few bumps and lumps, the chaos claimed its winner, Ollie Smith (with a name like that, he’s hardly going to be a fisherman!) who slid his way through some smooth 5-0s, nosegrinds and bluntslides. Sweet as a nut.
Ollie wasn’t holding back either when the third stage of the unsponsored jam took off. The cheeky fella was thrusting long frontside 5-0s and an oh-so-close frontside nosegrind the full 14 feet of the kicker to curved blocks. This obstacle is a new feature of the Bay66 skatepark, and looks like it was inspired by the London Mayor’s building; a top city street spot.
One pair of Globes was enough for Ollie though, so it was up to technical Jak Tonge to earn his winnings with a perfect manual kickflip out, and a sketchy frontside 5-0 frontside 180 out to fakie nose manual drop down. The exact opposite trick- kickflip manual- was also made by James Baker who bagged a years subscription to Sidewalk Magazine.
To wrap things up with the kids, the mini ramp sesh took centre stage. Eager amateurs lined each side of the deck waiting for the master of Ceremonies to call their name and drop-in. This was a mini version of a skate off where consistency and variety in tricks was the key to success. It wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of this jam that things went ballistic with a full on Texas Death match going down, except the madmen taking part were all under 5ft tall! Wicked!
With so much talent on show, three winners had to be announced. I was designated Judge for the entire Christmas Jam, and to tell you the truth, this was the only moment I felt really intimidated. Little kids eyed me up, ready to throw me into the flatbottom if a disrespected their efforts. Oh no… The midget mafia wouldn’t sway my mind though because it was obvious that little Kyron had killed it lining up frontside flips, sugarcanes and backside 360s into his runs. Mini-me’s Dean and Michael also walked away triumphant with Sidewalk subscriptions and a free Globe deck signed by the European Team for their troubles.
PRO COMP
As a brief interval between the unsponsored and sponsored comps, I’d like to say that the skatepark was buzzing. There were skaters everywhere, so if you noticed something sick go down which I fail to mention, please let it be known on the forums and share the stoke.
Right, anybody who has been to a Crossfire Jam should know that the midi ramp jam is always explosive. There must be something in the masonite or cement ceiling because everyone gets worked up into a frenzy.
Zac heckled the riders and the place kicked off Creature Skateboards rider Marc Churchill was slicing through some of the smoothest smith grinds, taking each one to revert, whilst Brighton beardo Stevie Thompson hopped ridiculous beanplant and backside boneless variations way out of the ramp onto an extension box before leaping back in backwards. Those two guys are seriously under-rated!
Slapping their balls to the wall were Death rider Steak and Ross from Bournemouth. Steak was powering around the ramp like a rabid animal, even going so far as to attempt several Mctwists. The power was obviously in the headband. Ross tried his hardest, and did land on a couple but without rolling away, to stick a head high 360 flip mute grab..
With a park like this on their doorstep, it’s pretty obvious that the local talent could ride too, with Awahd rotating perfect miller flips every go. He never lost his New Era once. Ben Raemer’s mum was there to show support for her son who went one higher than Danny Wainwright this year with a frontside air into the ceiling! His other deep bag of tricks had finger flip liens to tail revert, and a super close kickflip backside crailslide(!). Ben is the future of British skateboarding.
Finally, the tech-wizardry of Chris Oliver and Greg Nowik set the standard for Crossfire cash. On the one hand, Chris was stomping out ridiculous head high frontside kickflip melons, kickflips to fakie, a ludicrously close rock 360 flip to fakie and I even spotted a close attempt at a frontside salad kickflip to fakie. Whoa!
But, no-one could get close to the consistency on White Trash Skateboard pro, and amateur boy racer, Greg Nowik.
As Zac bellowed out of the bullhorn- “Greg eats mini ramps for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!”. Greg was relentless with the massive tweaked airs, double flips, blunt shuffles, a stupid blunt late back foot flip to fakie landing in a switch manual roll away, and the winning trick: a blunt 360 flip to fakie.
The crowd went bonkers, hardcore punk rock from Black Flag, Bad Brains, Flipper and Negative Approach rained from the speakers courtesy of DJ James Sherry and Zac couldn’t feel his hands anymore. Those last Crossfire minutes lasted almost as long as those of British Rail on Sundays, so without hesitation we went straight to the rails.
The rail jams are always a good place to witness prime pitfalls and proper skills. With a triple choice of two hubbas and the round rail, the best British ballbaggers went to work.
Boots opened the show with a third try kickflip frontside boardslide, whilst Blueprint Skateboards Neil Smith answered back with a nollie backside lipslide and kickflip backlip.
East and 50-50 dread head Korahn Gayle pushed out a buttery smooth frontside salad grind to fakie, and flatcap wearing Sherpy mixed things up with a feeble to backside 50-50.
The ratio for bails per make was running at about 7:3, which is fair enough, but poor Adam Howe riding for Plan B took the heftiest slam when he miscalculated a frontside something or other, and flew straight to the floor and sent one of his shoes flying a good 20 feet away! Ouch!
In the end, judgement had a split win between Globe rider James Gardner with his shocking frontside bluntslide (held upright I might add!) bigspin out, and Death Skateboards am Boots hammering in the nails with a perfect bigspin frontside boardslide.
The vert wall jam was next up with a love seat quarter pipe that dominated the far side of the park. Whilst Zac heckled Santa Cruz’s Joe Habgood to get his boots on, Duffs man Rob Smith was already two tricks in with a sick kickflip indy footplant and good bonk of his nose on the ceiling!
Someone else heading for the stratosphere was Death rider Horsey who literally hit the roof on several of his mental beanplant to fakie attempts. The speed freak actually landed on a couple, but couldn’t roll away far enough.
Chris Ault repped in front of his boss, Fos, with stylish wall jams to rock fakie and massive frontside airs out and around. Tranny tamer, Stevie Thompson took off like Horsey on some great beanplant madness. One wipe out almost took a camera man out to Zac’s call of “watch out media scum!“.
Local ripper Awahd rode high up into the wall to frontside air back into the quarter pipe, whilst the Southampton crew came correct with Marc Churchill knocking out a massive frontside air across the whole expanse. Father Christmas a.k.a. Dan Cates heckled Death team rider Lee Blackwell for wearing shorts when he whipped out his trademark (and last year’s winner) kickflip nosegrab fastplant. It was obvious who had won though- Rob Smith with gruesome face paint to boot, had a big bag of tricks and almost shut it down with a kickflip indy footplant finger flip back in! As time was called, Globe and Kill City rider Daryl Cashman repped the tech side of things with a beautiful kickflip nosestall revert – silky smooth.
Helas, it was time to haul out the beast for this year’s special obstacle. Initially the people screamed how they wanted a Ring of Fire, but the local fire department had us wrapped in thick red-tape at that suggestion.
So, plan B was brought forward by Mark ‘Fos’ Foster who suggested a Whale and this beached sea creature was built, thanks to SA. Ettienne and his brother.
Shaped like a wave, with sharp gnashers and a dangerous harpoon wallie bar poking out its backside, The Heroin Whale was definitely a proving ground to separate the men from the boys.
It took a while for everyone to get used to this quirky beast, but once the initial slappies were settled, things really started to heat up. Horsey got a one-footed 50-50, whilst Chris Ault balanced a long manual to 5-0 slappy off the end. Playing it slow, but not easy, Neil Smith gathered the balance to land a rock fakie on the bar Daewon style! and Ben Reamers came closer than ever to a backside 360 out of his pole jam.
As men reduced themselves to pulp trying to tame the beast, little Alex Decuhna from the unsponsored comps stepped up out of nowhere and wallied the rail first go! The crowd couldn’t believe it, and a few of the sponsored guys felt a bruise of their ego.
Naturally, the Whale’s creator, Fos, gave Alex a free Heroin deck for his effort – N.B. The rail was almost a foot taller than Alex at its peak! The man of the hour though was Chris Oliver. After losing out to Greg Nowik during the ramp jam, this time Chris was taking no prisoners. The ginger ninja dropped bomb after bomb with backside smiths, nose grinds, nosegrinds to revert, switch nosegrinds to revert, and to top it all off- a head high kickflip caught perfectly out of a mach ten wallie! Boom!
This shit was done and everyone celebrated with one of the biggest product tosses to date. Unfortunately we could not do the usual product toss to the death this year.
Last year, many kids took it too far and people got injured, this year had to be slightly different. Crossfire would like to stress that it is with great pleasure that we can give out so many free goodies thanks to our sponsors, but skate parks are becoming targets for parents who allow their kids to come to these events and then threaten to sue us afterwards and that just can’t happen anymore.
That said, the rabid look in a child’s eyes when four massive boxes full of clothes, Globe Shoes, DVDs, boards and stickers are carried out and showered from above, is a sight that makes Damian from the Omen look angelic.
It had been a long hard day, but so amazing. The British skate community had come together to celebrate Xmas in the Big Smog, and fun was had by all. With the kids stoked, the obstacles sore and the skaters hyped, the only thing left to do was hit up the party organised down the road at Mau Mau.
Hi-Jinks assured by Ed Pitt’s DJ set and a live performance that took the roof off from Joe Driscoll, a steady flow of booze and good vibes. Merry Christmas everyone!
If you would like to comment on the Xmas Jam you can do it here.
Big thanks to our associate sponsor Globe Shoes for their unconditional support for the second year now. Also big shout out to Independent Trucks, Heroin, Death, Landscape, Blueprint, Casual, Kill City, Karma, Plan B, the Harmony and Blind Skateboards for supporting British Skateboarding, supplying product and organising their pro riders for this event.
If you were there, thank you for your support, if not we will have more planned for 2007 so enjoy downloading the video on this page by right clicking and saving as.
Click the image below to view the Xmas Party Pics..
Merry Xmas 2006!
Unsponsored Jam:
Ski-Jump: Alex Decuhna – BS 360 and a Kickflip
Koston Block – Ollie Smith – FS 5-0 – BS Bluntslide and FS Nosegrind on the top.
Curved Ledge – Jak Tonge – manual Kickflip out and FS 5-0 FS 180 fakie nosemanual drop down.
Mini Ramp: Kyron, Dean and Micheal
Sponsored Jam:
Midi Ramp Jam – Greg Nowik (White Trash/Globe) – Blunt 360 flip in, ollie back foot flip, double flip fakie and huge tweakery.
Rail Jam: – Boots (Death) w/ Kickflip FS Boardslide & big spin FS Boardslide. James Gardener (Globe) – Front blunt slide big spin out.
Taj Mahal Wallride Sesh – Rob Smith (Death/Independent/Duffs) Kickflip indy footplant and roof ripper..
Whale Tail Pole Jam on the Heroin Whale: Chris Oliver (Alai/Vans) – BS Smith, BS Nosegrind revert, switch BS nosegrind revert and wallie kickflip out head height!
Photo Credits: Big thanks to Gorm – Ace Joe – Elvin – Steven King.
Sequence Credits: Big thanks to Dom Marley and Leo Sharp (Sidewalk Magazine)
Corrosion Of Conformity were one of the first early eighties American hardcore bands to mix sludgy metal riffs with traditional hardcore punk, sounding like a chaotic and ear splitting mix of prime Black Sabbath doom and hyper-speed Black Flag and Bad Brains.
As the eighties progressed, C.O.C. (as they were more often known) delved even further into their metal influences, spearheading the late eighties crossover movement that saw hardcore punks like D.R.I. Crumbsuckers and Ludichrist redefining hardcore with a renowned force and power. By the ninnies after many line-up changes, guitarist Pepper switched to vocals and C.O.C. became a fully fledged rock monster, bringing a whiskey soaked Lynyrd Skynyrd southern drawl to the heavy metal party.
‘Paranoid Opioid‘ is from last years awesome ‘In The Arms Of God‘ album that proved to be one of the band’s best and a real return to form after the disappointment of their previous ‘America’s Volume Dealers’ set. And the good news is they’re here, right now, ripping through our little Island as support to the mighty Clutch.
Don’t miss this one!
The dates are as follows:
1/20/06: Liverpool, UK – UNI
1/21/06: Manchester, UK – MDH
1/22/06: Nottingham, UK – Rock City
1/23/06: Leeds, UK – Cockpit
1/24/06: Glasgow, UK – Garage
1/25/06: TBA – TBA
1/26/06: Portsmouth, UK – Wedgewood Rooms
1/27/06: Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
1/28/06: Oxford, UK – Zodiac
1/29/06: London, UK – Mean Fiddler/Astoria
COC is currently supporting In the Arms of God. Clutch released Robot Hive/Exodus earlier in 2005.
Hailing from the dusty town of Nazareth in Pennsylvania (now that’s a damn rock sounding town!), Pearls & Brass take the bluesy proto-metal of 60s rockers like Cream, Blue Cheer and Led Zeppelin and then add huge doses of stoner rock fuzz and twisted math rock chaos to the mix.
Only The Fucking Champs come close to creating the kind of bizarre hard rock jams that ‘The Indian Tower‘, from which the track ‘No Stone‘ comes from so it’s hardly a surprise to find out that this album was in fact produced by Fucking Champs legend Tim Green. He’s in damn good company!
Incredible stuff – listen and learn!
British producer Colin Emmanuel [aka C-Swing] has gotten his big break with help from Lowlife Records, home to Jehst, Rodney P and Skinnyman. His production skills have helped him work with a range of artists from Jamelia to remixes for Nas and eventually allowed him to produce The Beta Band’s “Hot Shots 2” album and currently is involved with tours and production for Steve Mason’s King Biscuit Time.
This album is a nice mix of styles, from the rap skills of legend KRS-1 on My Thing!!!, Braintax‘s Let’s Go Away and Mystro‘s Heat to the terrifically catchy Pretend featuring Nate James’ smooth vocals. With other guests appearing such as Terri Walker, Michelle Escoffery and pop writer Daniel DeBourg, Emmanuel is able to put all sorts of different sounds into the pot and still come out with a tasty album. Amazing.
Abjekt
Widely touted as one of the best live bands in Europe THISGIRL return with new material and kick-off 2006 with a headline tour.
If you haven’t managed to catch their shape-throwing, Led Zeppelin in a space-ship, rock show yet, now’s your chance.
The follow-up to 2004’s critically acclaimed ‘Uno’ will see the light of day toward the summer of 2006. Three fresh demos have been leaked to their rabid fanbase over on their myspace http://www.myspace.com/thisgirl
January 2006
Wed 25 Northampton Soundhaus
Thur 26 London Water Rats
Fri 27 Tunbridge Wells Forum
Sat 28 Bath Moles
Sun 29 Bristol Louisiana
Mon 30 Cardiff Barfly
Tues 31 Birmingham Bar Academy
February 2006
Wed 1 Manchester Music Box
Thur 2 Sheffield Corporation
Fri 3 Derby Victoria Inn
Sat 4 Stoke Sugarmill
Sun 5 Leeds Josephs Wells
Mon 6 Glasgow Barfly
Tues 7 Newcastle Academy
Wed 8 Peterborough Met Lounge
Thurs 9 Exeter Cavern
Thisgirl have previously toured with everyone from Deftones through (International) Noise Conspiracy but consider themselves to have more in common with Stevie Wonder and Micheal Jackson. haha! – official wording
Brand new indie sleeze from The Delilahs drops into London from Switzerland next Tuesday 24th at the Dublin Castle in Camden.
The band have a sound akin to Sonic Youth, Blondie and The Pretenders and some are saying Powder (are you old enough to remember them?) but we think they are better. They are arguably the sexiest looking band to appearon a stage in London in a while but we wonder what they will be like live?
Check out their tracks on their site at www.thedelilahs.com
UK Oi Punks Hardskin are the latest guests to appear on Maximum Rock and Roll internet radio show in the US. South London’s most obnoxious punks take over the show this month and completely wreck it for Tim and the gang (no surprise there!) whilst they were touring the US with their piss take punk rock.
The site is mirrored to the classic punk and hardcore fanzine with the addition of their gnarly radio shows and more. If you like it raw then you should be on this site monthly. Visit the radio link at www.maximumrocknroll.com and tune into the chaos…