The world of Hip Hop is mourning the loss of another of it’s all time heroes tonight as the death of rapper Heavy D (Dwight Arrington Myers) was announced dead today after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital. He was rumoured to be found slumped in an alley way near his home this morning before being taken to hospital where he unfortunately passed.
The lead rapper of Heavy D and the Boyz whose fame reached heights in the late 80’s within rap was 44 and also enjoyed acting. He was last in the UK on October 8th performing alongside Janet Jackson at the Michael Jackson Tribute show in Wales.
With the news of boxer Joe Frazier dying announced yesterday, the world has lost two heavyweights in two days. Get some of Heavy D’s Don’t Curse tune featuring. Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, C.L. Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock and Q-Tip in your ears today and remember one of rap’s finest.
What happens when band members get old? They have kids like everyone else, their tattoos start to fade and they have a routine like everyone else to deal with whilst still trying to hang onto their youth. The Other F Word movie that is gaining speed in the US this month documents a huge amount of punk and hardcore bands on how they are coping with their new family lifestyles and looks like it will be essential viewing.
The cast includes Tony Adolescent, Fat Mike from NOFX, Flea from the Chili Peppers, Lars Frederiksen from Rancid, Epitaph Records’ big cheese Brett Gurewitz, ex Pennywise singer Jim Lindberg, Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, OG skaters Duane Peters and Tony Hawk, Sideonedummy Records’ Joe Sib, Ron Reyes from Black Flag and many more.
Let’s hope that this reaches the UK for a screening soon.
We are very proud to announce today that CROSSFIRE have been invited back to the Camden Crawl in 2012! This will be our third year of being involved as one of the curators of the festival, so we are stoked that in May, we will be rolling out a superb line up of new bands once again to grace this get together.
Over the last 2 years we hosted The Barfly Club, so you never know, we could end up with a different venue this year and at this stage of the organisation and right now, we have no idea what bands will be on the bill. Planning will begin behind the scenes and In the next 2 months we will subject a list of over 100 new bands to the Crawl comittee, so if you have any recommendations for our line up this year, please get in touch.
The Crawl will take place on the 4th-6th May on Bank Holiday weekend in Camden, London, NW1. Earlybird tickets are on sale now at the cheapest price for those who are smart. See you there.
Hawk Eyes have announced a tour, new EP and free download today. The band formerly known as Chicken Hawk who smashed our Halloween Massacre back in 2009 will be on tour in november playing some of the tracks that have been recorded for their new album scheduled for 2012. The tour that kicks off next week is with Turbowolf and James Cleaver Quintet so get your shit together and get a ticket as this line up looks a bit tasty.
Claim your free download of their Witch Hunt demo below and look out for a new EP released via Brew Records in December.
Tue 08 Nov 2011 Bristol Croft
Wed 09 Nov 2011 Cardiff Ifor Bach
Thu 10 Nov 2011 Colchester Arts Centre Tickets
Fri 11 Nov 2011 UK Southend Chinneys
Sat 12 Nov 2011 Nottingham Basement
Mon 14 Nov 2011 Birmingham Vudu
Tue 15 Nov 2011 Leeds Cockpit
Wed 16 Nov 2011 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
Thu 17 Nov 2011 Manchester Alter Ego
Fri 18 Nov 2011 UK Sheffield Corporation
Sat 19 Nov 2011 Aldershot Westend Centre
Sun 20 Nov 2011 Southampton Joiners
Tue 22 Nov 2011 London Upstairs at the Garage
The Massacre was heavily missed by many last year so organisation for this one started as far back as the beginning of August to make sure it was going to happen. With no room for a mini ramp at Vauxhall’s Hidden Club, Matthew Bromley’s idea to have a skate sticker exhibition caught on amongst 12 of London’s best skate art illustrators and the Toxic Wasters exhibition took its place. We did miss the ramp though, so next year we will try our hardest to get it back into the mix for you.
Highlights for this explosive night are rife. Cornish 4-piece Crowns made some new drinking buddies by serving up cold pints of Clash inspired, seafaring punk rock. Tomb Crew got stuck into Front Magazine‘s room by dropping the beats on the earlybirds whilst Illaman MC had more words that a dictionary to spill across Rack N Ruin‘s set too. 3 hours of grime, dubstep and bass reigned supreme before Cerebral Ballzy took to the stage in the Vans room. The results were no surprise.
This was the most chaotic show we have ever seen at any Crossfire night. From the off, a sea of bodies collided as the hardcore was sprayed into the crowd. Surgeons, zombies, military officers, pirates, even bananas, were smashing into each other forming one of the biggest bundles ever seen thanks to the dance music podiums that were used as launch pads! This legendary set was ended with a piñata smashing of the highest order and a set of absolute bangers by Stereo:Type who mashed up every classic in the book. The Vans room was covered in beers, stickers and sweets and ended up destroyed.
The Last Resort DJs dropped 90’s rock classics across 2 rooms and had the place rolling alongside a fierce stoner rock set from James Sherry, whilst Talita Two Shoes and Pheobe Winter freaked everyone out with their Child’s Play and dropped a great selection of metal! It’s always fantastic to see the DJs and bands dress up for this occassion. Pheobe’s and Talita won it for the girls and Enter Shikari‘s Rou Reynolds was a serious contender for the boys prize. Shikari have spent the last 2 weeks on tour around the UK but still had the energy to jump on the decks with us for 90 mins. Rout and SGT Rolfy had the place jumping before handing over the decks to High Rankin & Tigerlight who were dressed for Ultraviolence and continued the frenzy with bass driven beats mixed with a ton of wob!
Overall, not many people were ejected on the night. We are listening to all of your feedback on our facebook page and twitter so keep them coming and share your pics on there with us this week.
Thanks so much if you came down to make this night the huge success that this year’s Crossfire Halloween Massacre in association with Vans turned out to be, and also for dressing up in some of the best costumes we have ever seen! Big ups to all at Vans and Front Magazine, all at Hidden Club and Found series, Chloe Leeks, James Sherry, Paul Parker for his incredible artwork and all of the illustrators involved in Toxic Wasters exhibition, all the DJs and bands mentioned above, everyone at Division PR, Sophie Kostrowski, Scott Kell, Tom Halliday, the lovely guys at WE Audio, Kerrang, Rocksound, Clash, Metro, NME, Time Out, The Londonist, TNT, Sidewalk Mag, XFM, Gallows, We Are The Ocean, Hawk Eyes and all of the other bands out there who retweeted our shit and anyone we forgot. See you in 2012!
Enjoy the gallery photos below thanks to the long hours put in by Tom Halliday and Scott Kells. If you use these images, please credit them.
Watch the full video from the night courtesy of Sophie Kostrowski and Matthew Bromley:
Watch a clip of Cerebral Ballzy exploding in the Vans room. Caught on iphone from above.
TOM HALLIDAY’S PHOTOGRAPHY:
Enter Shikari blow up the Front room
Sweet Dreams played party nightmares!
Our photographer Tom Halliday is a Misfit!
High Rankin dropped bombs!Cerebral Ballsout played
SCOTT KELLS PHOTOGRAPHY:
Crowns brought dead sailors up from Cornwall!
Tigerlight in the house!
Next 3 pics shot by James Sherry.
Final photo by Tom Halliday.
“It was a great night had by all with some amazing outfits, a truly hilscarious event!” – Sgt Rolfy (Enter Shikari)
Just over a week prior to this Jehst had been headlining the Jazz Cafe with a live band, yet here is again playing second fiddle to an under-appreciative crowd. Having released one of the very best records of the year back in June, you’d think playing to such an unresponsive crowd would dampen his performance, but Jehst amicably does he best to energise the gaggle of Random Axe fans who arrived early. To an extent, he has some success, and as he cuts the beat to leave the damning political musings of ‘England’ standalone, the crowd are undoubtedly hanging on to every word. While this won’t be the best gig Jehst will have played this year, it does the job and he remains first choice for rap show warm-up by some distance.
By the time Random Axe appear on stage, though, it’s very clear who this audience are here to see. Black Milk begins on the decks (where he spends most of the evening) playing through a few records, before introducing emecee’s Guilty Simpson and Sean Price, whose presence tonight lends a veteran-like professionalism to the evening. The group run through the majority of their self-titled debut album, before taking the opportunity to show off some solo material from their respective careers. While it’s Black Milk’s kick-snare assault that predictably dominates the night, there are also moments dedicated to the late J Dilla, and also Madlib as they run through cuts from Simpson’s OJ Simpson album.
It’s perhaps Sean Price, though, who is most impressive, and more of a rarity when it comes to appearances in the UK. Previews of tracks from his forthcoming album Mic Tyson show promise, and his stage presence throughout makes the room seem much smaller than it is. While Black Milk emerges from behind the turntable intermittently, the strength of Random Axe is his that all three guys play to their strengths. With Black Milk on the beats, and Simpson and Price up front, this is one supergroup that proves to be a winning combination.
We are proud to tell you today that the bill has been expanded today with 2 new additions to the line up. Crowns will now be playing live in support to Cerebral Ballzy at 10.30pm. This new 4-piece band from Cornwall have a swagger in their step that could only fit a room full of drunken pirates. So get your pints at the ready as Crowns will be playing a 30 minute punk rock set in the Vans room as guests on the night and we cannot wait to see them play again.
Also added to the line up this week is Pheobe Winter from Planet Rock. Pheobe hosts the Metal Hammer show on Planet Rock radio will be tag teaming Talita Twoshoes in the Vans room and slamming in the rock and metal on the night. Get the last of the advance £10 tickets today as they are almost gone. There will be 100 on the door available for £15 from 9pm.
When he burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, Mayer Hawthorne was something of an unknown quantity to most. Some eagle-eyed hip hop fans recognised him as DJ Haircut of Now On but this new smooth, Motown styled persona was certainly a change from his normal routine. Now known more for his debut album A Strange Arrangement than any of his group work, Hawthorne has gone to Universal from revered hip hop label Stones Throw, but those fearing a change in output can rest easy – the new album is definitely one for fans of its predecessor.
Tales of love abound throughout the release, whether it’s falling for a girl, being in love or suffering from the acrimonious split. From the opening track Get To Know You where he describes his wish to find out more about the object of his affection in order to “get it on tonight” to the Snoop-guested Can’t Stop which documents the struggle to let feelings for the girl go to the instantly catchy The News which turns the tables and blames the girl on the split – “What we had, was all I knew / What we lost, was all on you / I’ve got news for you, we’re through”.
The music isn’t complex, but that’s its most potent weapon. Short stabby horns and bouncy drums surround Hawthorne’s voice as he brings to mind all the greats from a bygone era. With closed eyes, this could easily have been made in Motor City by the legends and stands Hawthorne alongside contemporaries like Raphael Saadiq in achieving such an accolade.
This is feel good music, whatever the weather, once these tunes hit, it’s sunshine and smiles. What might have started off as a jokey side-project is now a thoroughly respectable and enjoyable career.
If Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were hanging out with Pendulum and Noisia this month, you can bet your bottom dollar that they would be having as much fun as Denver, Colorado based producer Derek Vincent Smith is having right now.
His renditions of classic tracks produced alongside a sea of deep dubstep and electro beats are works of sonic art and are attracting a huge amount of people to his shows.
Pretty Lights should definitely be in your radar this month, watch this.
The world of Hip Hop is mourning the loss of another of it’s all time heroes tonight as the death of rapper Heavy D (Dwight Arrington Myers) was announced dead today after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital. He was rumoured to be found slumped in an alley way near his home this morning before being taken to hospital where he unfortunately passed.
