Hurley Clothing have backed a huge UK tour featuring Funeral For a Friend, The Used, Killswitch Engaged, Rise Against, Story of the Year, Bleed the Dream and My American Heart.
The Taste of Chaos will be one of the best this year if you like it loud…
Dates are:
11.6.05 Manchester UK Apollo
11.7.05 Doncaster UK Dome
11.8.05 Birmingham UK NIA
11.9.05 Glasgow UK SECC, Hall 3
11.10.05 Brighton UK Centre
11.11.05 OFF
11.12.05 Cardiff UK CIA Arena
11.13.05 London UK Brixton
11.14.05 London UK Brixton
Go to www.gigsandtours.com for all tickets or win them from the competitions page on this site.
Just the other day I was re-living that great scene from A Bronx Tale- you know, that film where DeNiro is trying to keep his son on the straight and narrow during the Mob/Race hate era of the 50’s…Yeah, so I’m sitting in the backseat with my New Era pulled low, black camoed down, eyes focusing on an uncertain future. My camarades are more relaxed and joking around me. One of them mock sings a verse from some hip-hop song about “Still not caring…” I don’t remember who the rapper is.
When I scan the screens and pick up the airwaves, witnessing the tear of social fabric in France somehow none of it surprises me. When I moved to France, the coffee and croissant charade was soon squashed and replaced by the stale baguette and odd flavoured milk. I didn’t run the Champs Elysées with a beret and string of onions like many a tourist, I walked the back alleys with an army of Lacoste shellsuits and stolen scooters. Despite their garish outfits (peaked hats, bright coloured tracksuits and dazzling white Stan Smiths), my co-hosts were ignored and avoided by the rest of French society.
Fighting words in a volatile situation usually ends in hostilities. The only problem here is that nobody’s listening. The kids don’t understand the political rhetoric and the politicians can’t get to grips with the back-slang. Add to that the fact that a lot of the estates are no-go areas for social services, and an immigrant’s son can’t take two steps out of his ghetto without being stopped and searched by the fuzz, and there is definite communication breakdown.
There was talk of curfews being installed across the land, and distant communities taking up the cause elsewhere… We didn’t care.
Alright, I’ll break it down one more time for those of you that weren’t paying attention the last few hundred times: Ventures are light-weight but break a lot easier. Independent are heavy but strong*. Thunders are the middleweights which make them light enough for good pop and strong enough to take a drop. Anything else on the market is superfluous.
Ah! The good ol’ days… Eastern Exposure, Mixtape, Trilogy: Three staples of what skateboarding stood for between 1996 and 1997. All three out of print and rare collectibles today. RB Umali, the mastermind behind virtually any East Coast footage you’ve seen, has compiled various lost tapes and gems onto this DVD: NY Revisited Volume 1.
I’m not sure, but the only place you might find these babies are on E-Bay or in the bargain bin… The reason being that 88 Shoes no longer exists, replaced by Vox. Anyway, while 88 Shoes did fill up our shelves, Justin Strubing rode for them and anyone who has witnessed how this guy skates knows he’s in control no matter how fast, steep or awkward the terrain. The shoes themselves are functional and relatively simple. My pair were jet black which always works better than dazzling white because they are skate shoes not shoes for the disco. However, the materials used aren’t super resistant, so after a few skates, the sole is already wearing flat and the leather is starting to crack. Oh dear… Not my favouritest shoes ever, but good none the less. Have fun finding a pair!
With the loss of a founding member after more than a decade together, many bands would have struggled to maintain the same passion and enthusiasm that has driven them to such a lengthy and successful career in the first place. Bakersfield rock icons Koßn, however, are not one of them. With a new line-up, new label and new album; things are once again firmly on the up. The first single from their forthcoming album ‘See You On The Other Side‘, ‘Twisted Transistor’ is the sound of a band very much still at the top of their game. A perfect blend of pop sensibility and haunting hard rock melodies, it’s a song to silence all cynics, and further proof that this is a band very much “here to stay”.
I’ve never seen this venue so full. The night kicks off with an explosive 3-piece Electric Eel Shock, who take no prisoners. These little Japanese guys have the biggest, hardest sound. Think Metallica cross Led Zeppelin. Complete Rock ‘n Roll in the most classic sense~even though they are classified as Garage-Metal. Combined with a fantastic stage performance and a healthy balance of nudity, they played a mental show I would definitely sign up for again. Big hair, big personalities and a healthy dose of originality make them a performance not easily forgotten.
Bloodhound Gang! They start off with some favourites, new tracks from their 2005 ‘Hefty Fine‘ release and, some old classics from ‘Hooray for Boobies‘. And yes, some of the Tesco Essex girls (I never said it-they did!) in the crowd took that quite literally! Every word was sung like it was a mantra. They threw in ‘The ballad of Chasey Lain‘, ‘Along comes Mary‘ and, ‘Hell yeah‘-enough reminiscence to make you feel 16 all over again. Their new album may not be a musical wonder, but their humor and stage antics definitely make it an entertaining show. Jimmy Pop seems to have followed in Steve O’s steps and done course at circus school. It must have been all that time off between their last album release in 2002! 
Their new album is cheesier, and has a vast amount of dick ‘n’ fart jokes! Their 2005 claim to fame would be Bam Margera’s guest appearance in the music video for ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo‘ ~obviously in true BG style that spells FUCK. That and their petition to get their new track “Pennsylvania” to become the new Keystone State’s anthem! (*see their website for more details-
So this is where the music industry hang out on a Wednesday night then. Thankfully this show brought out the crème rather than the riff raff, I must have been at the right show after all. Newly signed Welsh act The Automatic had just finished a tour with Hard-Fi which is probably a good starting point to explain influences and sound. This 4 piece have a set full of indie pop with strange lyrics about monsters and rats which slightly confuses me to be honest as a few of the lyrics in this set could be picked straight out of a Super Furry Animals record.
Humanzi are on the flip side tonight. After hearing their debut single explode across underground radio shows across the UK recently it was always going to be interesting to see if they could pull it off live but they did better than that, they killed it leaving the support bands in the dark. One of the support bands were heard saying “we should just give up now” and although I missed the first 2 bands you would have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on this set.
In direct contrast, Bullet Union are a tightly sprung coil of energy that instantly explodes across the stage on impact, taking their love of Dischord post-hardcore and San Diego based Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu guitar noise and moulding it into something that is very much their own. Tonight they are better than they have ever been. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve already played one gig earlier tonight and they are still buzzing from the adrenalin but they play with such power and passion that thoughts like ‘this is the best band in London‘ keep flashing through your mind. Right now Bullet Union are on a mission to play as many gigs as possible so expect them to arrive in a town near you soon and don’t miss them.
It’s Halloween tonight and the ghouls are out in force to subject themselves to the horrifying noise that is Part Chimp. They arrive onstage in-front of a screen that pumps out blood and guts images from ‘The Evil Dead’ and the like and proceed to unleash tidal waves of crushing noise that have the less masochistic members of the audience cowering at the back with their fingers in their ears. However, it’s very easy to just focus on how loud Part Chimp are when actually, buried underneath the dense, thick slabs of sound are almost hidden, part whispered melodies and guitar harmonics that show depth and variety in the music that others might miss. Take forthcoming single ‘New Cross‘ for example; while the abrasive volume may stop it bothering the charts and you’re not likely to see Part Chimp on Top Of The Pops just yet, it does hold a killer melodic hook that works against the swirls of noise nicely. And that’s Part Chimp all over. Scratch beyond the surface and you’ll be surprised what you may find.