Hevy Festhave announced more bands to appear on their line-up for this year’s event.
The Festival, which takes place on August 5th-8th has already announced Four Year Strong, Funeral For A Friend and The Ghost Of A Thousand [their last ever show, sob sob] and these bands will be joined by:
Trash Talk (the band performed their first ever festival appearance at Hevy last year)
OFF! (with Keith Morris from Black Flag)
Title Fight
The Xcerts
While She Sleeps
More Than Life
Me Vs Hero
Arcane Roots
Bring Me The Horizon
Brixton Academy
30th April, 2011
Yep, Bring Me The Horizon at Brixton Academy. How did such a band from Sheffield get to this point? Well, an exponentially expanding fanbase and the stunning of many a cynic and critic by producing two really-quite-outstanding albums (the last two) have really put the band on the map of Great Modern British Rock Bands. An accolade that is recognized pretty much the world over as the band’s success continues to increase in countries like the US and Australia. Add to all of this the fact that the band’s latest single ‘Blessed With a Curse’ has been added to the BBC Radio 1 daytime Playlist and you have all the ingredients for a kick-ass sell-out Brixton Academy performance. Well actually the band have brought even more to the table tonight with an unbelievable stage show which includes pyro, the signature massive flashing BMTH lettering, banners that fall to the ground at strategic points and some massive black balloons which descend and are bounded around by the crowd during ‘Blessed With A Curse’ creating a surprisingly ethereal and peaceful effect.
But aside from the massive production, BMTH put on a flawless performance, running around the stage as energetic as ever, clambering speaker stacks and generally making the audience not quite know where to look. At least everyone can hear the thunderous sounds which are entrancing all present tonight. The band have only just enlisted Architects’ drummer Dan to fill in for BMTH member Matt who has broken his arm yet you really wouldn’t know that they’ve only been playing together for two days. Everything is tightly wound and precise. Guitarist Jonah also proves his worth yet again providing vocals on ‘Fuck’ in place of Josh from You Me At Six who sings on the track on the album. It’s the new tracks from ‘There Is A Hell…’ that stand out in the live setting, sounding absolutely huge.
An encore which includes a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Crucify Me’ and eternal crowd-pleaser ‘Chelsea Smile’ goes down as well as the rest of the band’s set and this evening ends on a high which you get the feeling was needed by a band who have been plagued with misfortune on this run of dates. But the powercut in Bristol the night before that meant the band were forced to play acoustic and the breaking of drummer Matt’s arm a few nights previous don’t matter one bit tonight. It all comes together in spectacular fashion.
As massive fans of Small Brown Bike, ‘Fell & Found’ is one of our most anticipated releases this year. So excited were we that initial listening to this, the band’s first album in eight years, left us feeling slightly underwhelmed. It seemed that this progressed version of the band had more in common with the gentler La Salle (a former project of SBB’s Dan Jaquint, Mike Reed and Reed’s wife). It’s true that this is a more chilled out SBB. However, that jagged edge of riffs and raucous double vocals that made them such a cult favourite are still present, just a little less in-your-face for the most part.
So ‘Fell & Found’ is rather more a slow burner than the likes of ‘River Bed’, ‘Our Own Wars’ and ‘Dead Reckoning’, but we can’t exactly blame the band for that. Of course they are not going to be exactly the same in their musical inclinations almost ten years after their last outing. What we have with this new album is a much broader and carefully considered album with even the use of keys on ‘Just Bones’. Yes, it’s slower in some senses but this record is just as intense as the band’s previous offerings once you have lived with it for a while.
As proper grown-ups with proper jobs, the band don’t have much time for touring now but we can only hope and pray that they will make it over to UK shores in the end. There are many who will be waiting with baited breath for their appearance on the live circuit.
Beginning in classic Manchester Orchestra understated style with the beautifully simple ‘Deer’, ‘Simple Math’ grinds into heavier territories with the next track, fittingly titled ‘Mighty’. Andy Hull’s ever-emotional vocals are layered on top of pulsating jagged-edged riffs and interspersed with soaring orchestral arrangements, all the while backed up by some lush drum textures. The orchestral element is a recurring theme throughout the record yet it never sounds overblown or forced. The textures are woven expertly within the band’s alternately lilting and crunching rock backbone.
The first half of the record builds to a central focal point in the masterful track ‘Virgin’ which also goes so far as to feature a children’s choir and interjections from a brass section. There really is only one word to describe this song – epic. But far from being the pinnacle of the album, MO proceed on to the heartbreaking title track of the record ‘Simple Math’. Again, we are treated to the extremes of loud and soft as can only be communicated by this band. Hull’s haunting vocal leads on this one although it certainly has a lot of immensely carefully placed instrumental back-up. The eerily quiet start to ‘Leave It Alone’ is again contrasted with the introduction of lush strings later in the track and this album of intense light and shade ends on the gently meandering ‘Leaky Breaks’ which stands at a massive 7 minutes long and fades out into nothing thus completing the circle of ‘Simple Math’. Stream it all here.
Last night I was just surfing Facebook updates and about to crash out when I pressed play on this youtube video and then had to watch it 5 times in a row before I fell asleep the happiest man in London town. The internet has allowed word of mouth to bring us some of the best music so quickly and for the likes of Vacationer this method of natural goodness will be how hundreds and thousands of us will be drawn to their unique music as it becomes available online.
Based in Philadelphia on the Eastern Seaboard, Vacationer looks to be a an extremely new project. Their incredibly minimal, chilled pop is billed as Nu-Hula and mixes chilled beats with tropical sounds of the 70’s blended with an array of vocal goodness often found at the the bottom of rainbows. This genius song ‘Trip‘ is quite possibly their first ever track and has a mesmerising but cheerfully, warming presence that is seriously addictive. I dare you just to listen to it once as I have a feeling that like myself you will be coming back for more as soon as the waterfall stops running.
There’s not too much information about Vacationer online so be sure to follow their progress as this Nu-Hula stuff could quite easily take off, especially if ‘Trip’ is just the beginning. Download it for free from this widget and pass it on.
For fans of Animal Collective, The Avalanches, TV On The Radio, Boards of Canada and Cloud Control.
It seems like Raekwon releases videos every other day, just like his albums, but this is definitely worth a watch.
Harking back to the days when Wu Tang first burst onto the scene, the beat on Butter Knives is killer and The Chef’s vocals are as potent as ever. Kick back and enjoy!
Fugazi fans will be stoked to learn that the band are currently trawling thorugh archived live recordings from shows all over the world whilst they were still an active touring band for release online. The band have recently agreed a deal with Spotify to finally stream the Dischord catalogue and Ian Mackaye was quoted a zine called Frontman Ian Mackaye told blog Approaching Oblivion:
“I wanted it to be up last fall … We had to digitise every show, they are on cassette and DAT for the most part. So we got that stuff done. Now we’re in the process of mastering all the shows so they play at the same volume. That stage is not too hard, it’s pretty mechanical, there’s a mastering program that does most of the work. Then we have to edit the shows which means we have to put in index points in between every song so they are not these two hour long files. It’s a fuck of a lot of work. We’re hoping it will be up in the near future. The idea at the moment is to start it with 100 shows. Then put 20 more on every month or something. We’re still building the site, it’s an interesting and complicated process“.
He also replied to the question we all want to know about if Fugazi will get back for another album in the future or more shows. He said:
“The four of us love each other dearly. We didn’t break up, I coined the indefinite hiatus term specifically because I thought it was absurd to break up. It is entirely possible that we will play again and it’s also possible that we won’t. We’ve been offered an insane amount of money to play reunions, but it’s not going to be money that brings us back together, we would only play music together if we wanted to play music together and the time allowed it“.
Fingers crossed they come back as they in our eyes one of the all time greats.
This Sunday we will be at the Barfly for our evening of party goodness at the Gaymers Camden Crawl and will be expecting a night full of tunes and live bands from 6pm. The venue will be open all day of course if you are planning to get amongst the daytime entertainment but our evening line up is looking pretty tasty and can now be released so here’s what we have planned for you.
Live Schedule upstairs at the Barfly:
8.20pm – HOLY STATE – visit www.myspace.com/holystate – Traveling from Leeds and signed to Dance to the Radio, this angular, post punk 4-piece should please fans of Hot Snakes and Jesus Lizard. Don’t miss them as they give a great live show and will be a band you will hear much more about this year.
9.25pm – DELS – visit www.myspace.com/imdels Signed to Big Dada Records (offshoot of Ninja Tune) DELS is an MC who pushes what he can say with words as hard as he can and combines it with a really adventurous attitude towards music. His debut album ‘GOB’ is released on Monday so this should be quite a party!
10.30pm – CEREBRAL BALLZY – visit www.myspace.com/cerebralballzy Our headliners are set to take the roof off the Barfly in true hardcore style. The Brooklyn based punk 5-piece play fast, skate punk that Bad Brains and first album Suicidal Tendencies fans will be proud to hear so expect total mayhem!
DJ Schedule, downstairs at the Barfly
6pm-9pm:CROSSFIRE SOUND SYSTEM with Zac Slack and James Sherry. Expect a mixed bag of punk rock, psych-garage, stoner and classic alternative and indie tracks.
9pm-11.15pm:SWEET DREAMS DJs. Returning for more since last year’s Camden Crawl these 2 ladies who know their dirty hip hop and also love a party classic!
11.15pm-12.30pm: The CROSSFIRE SOUND SYSTEM will be charging on all fronts with mash up, rock and punk classics once Cerebral Ballzy take your ears off. Expect a sing-a-long.
12.30-2am:RITA MAIA. West London’s electronic slayer will be dropping Hip Hop, Drum n Bass and dubstep hammers until close at 2am.
Everywhere you turn at the moment your eyes simply can’t hide from the hoards of royal wedding memorabilia; Plates, mugs, badges, bumper stickers, keyrings, pencil sharpeners, pencils, pencil cases, suit cases, suits, trousers, shirts, football shirts, football boots (sorry got a bit carried away there), all depicting the bland faces of prince William and Kate Middle-of-the-road. Why – with all the coverage that the wedding is already generating from TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, flyers, town criers, carrier pigeons (I’ll stop now) – would I want to mop up the last traces of gravy from my Sunday roast to reveal the face of a sickeningly clean cut prince and some girl staring back at me.
So come the 29th April, the date in which they will ride the awkward ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ moment and proceed to get drunk at the reception, which necessitates the return of Harry’s Nazi costume and a best man speech documenting Williams first sexual experience in front of a drunken Queen Elizabeth II, I will not be celebrating it.
I will however be celebrating National Persian Gulf Day, International Dance Day, the 9th day of the Ridvan festival, the 95th anniversary of the end of the Easter Rising and the birthday of tennis legend Andre Agassi. On top of this I will be listening to the following Anti-Royalist songs to give me a glimmer of hope that there is more to British culture than a certain pompous family.
List your choices in the comments section below.
CRASS – BIG A LITTLE a
I think it’s fair to say punk rockers Crass weren’t big fans of religion, government or the royal family. Here they combine all three in a huge two fingers to the establishment. The stand out lyric being their message from the Queen:
‘My prisons and my mental homes have ever open doors
For those amongst my subjects who dare to ask for more
Unruliness and disrespect are things I can’t allow
So I’ll see the peasants grovel if they refuse to bow’
SEX PISTOLS – GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
This list wouldn’t be complete without a contribution from Mr Rotten, you don’t need me to tell you the Sex Pistol’s influence on anarcho-punk. From the moment he stepped onto the Lesser Free Trade Hall stage shouting his sentiments to the future of British music to the moment he stuck it to mainstream butter by advertising Countrylife, there is no questioning his dedication to the anarchic cause. A song disclaiming the Queens status as a human being peaking at number two in the charts, genius.
THE SMITHS – THE QUEEN IS DEAD
A sample of Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty, thunderous drums and mesmerising guitar courtesy of Johnny Marr provide the perfect backdrop for Morrissey to imagine ‘her very lowness with her head in a sling’ or Charles on the cover of the Daily Mail ‘dressed in his mothers bridal veil’. The peak of the tracks comic imagery comes with Morrissey’s witty exchange with her majesty.
‘So, I broke into the palace
With a sponge and a rusty spanner
She said: “Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing”
I said: “That’s nothing, you should hear me play piano”’
MANIC STREET PREACHERS – WE HER MAJESTY’S PRISONERS
This Generation Terrorists era B-side is a huge stab at the royal family and the imbalance of British society at the time. It contains all the passion and confidence of early Manics records and is a good one to dig up every time you hear about how special the royal wedding is going to be. The lyrics touch on the futility of attracting tourist to the gates of the palace when we don’t know where the money is going. A real fist clencher and a commemorative plate smashing anthem.
STONE ROSES – ELIZABETH MY DEAR
A 53 second track from their debut album politely asking for the monarch to step down. There is nothing more to this track than John Squire’s beautiful arpeggios and Ian Brown’s soft vocals as he states ‘I’ll not rest till she’s lost her throne’. If punk was the bully beating up kids for their dinner money, this track is Oliver innocently asking for more.
BONUS TRACK! – KUNT AND THE GANG – FUCKSTICKS
Kunt and the Gang is back with the biggest dig at the Royal Wedding ever heard so take note as it could cost you your shit job if played at work. Certainly not safe for work and unlikely to be number one this Sunday but get in. Fucksticks is utterly ridiculous but well worthy of a bonus track! Screw you Royals. – Z-Ed
Hevy Fest have announced more bands to appear on their line-up for this year’s event.
