Category: Music

Categories
Live Reviews

Royal Republic live in London

royalrepRoyal Republic
London Garage
7th October 2016

Opening the main stage of an increasingly rain-soaked festival can be a daunting task, not least because most folks present will probably be focused more on getting lunch and staying dry than on any of your band’s efforts to create a rock show par excellence. Royal Republic, however, managed to do just that at this year’s Download Festival, and made it look painfully easy into the bargain. Fast-forward four months to a sold-out Garage, packed with people itching for the Swedish rockers to give them a good seeing-to.

But all in good time. Canadian quintet Bleeker kick things off with some punchy power pop tunes. The venue is barely a quarter full as they start, but they give it their all, and just about manage to edge ahead of the increasingly crowded bar in terms of head count.

Next up are Dinosaur Pile-Up, whose frontman, Matt Bigland, cuts something of a Kurt Cobain figure with his bleach-blonde hair. He’s probably sick of such comparisons, but his band’s way with a melody and love of fuzzed-up guitar action recall the ‘Nevermind’ legends in the best possible way. We’d probably be singing ‘Nature, Nurture’ all the way home, if it weren’t for the headliners.

Some bands play rock n’ roll because they love to, but Royal Republic play it as if they’d otherwise self-destruct – or, at least, go running naked through the streets of Malmo (their hometown). Fortunately, they also do it very well; be it the staccato attack of opener ‘When I See You Dance With Another’, the earworm chorus of ‘Tommy Gun’ or the disco pulse of ‘Weekend Man’ and ‘Baby’, tonight is like a sweaty, bouncy Greatest Hits-style party. Not bad for a band with only three albums (plus the odd EP) to their name.

Granted, the Royal Republic live experience wouldn’t be quite as much fun without the master of ceremonies that is frontman Adam Grahn. A showman in a similar mould to his compatriot Pelle Almqvist (of The Hives fame), he does ramble on a bit at times, but there’s plenty of heart underneath all that amusing faux-braggadocio. When the crowd scream as one for a closing ‘Full Steam Space Machine’, he and his band are happy to oblige, and it’s awesome to witness band and crowd unite for an explosive ending. If this marks the start of Royal Republic’s journey to the O2 Academies and Apollos of this land, it’ll be just what they deserve.

Alex Gosman

Categories
Live Reviews

Ripcord reunion show live at Basement 45, Bristol

ripcord_basement45_bristol_steve_cotton_artofthestate_review_footage_video

Ripcord
Endless Grinning Skulls
Violent Arrest,
Basement 45, Bristol,
15th October, 2016

Back in mid-80s England, once the original energy explosion of punk had dissipated, and the harsh political fury of the Crass movement’s five year plan had ended in 1984, it was the hyper-speed hardcore coming out of America that inspired and charged the next wave of kids ready to strap on guitars and arm themselves with noise and words. The music coming out of Boston, particularly, struck a power-chord with future Weston-Super-Mare thrashers Ripcord. Siege, SSD, Gang Green, Freeze, Deep Wound…the sheer speed and fury sparked the mid-80s explosion of ideas and music that saw the likes of Heresy, Intense Degree, The Stupids and Ripcord heading a charge that was blown into the mainstream and overboard by John Peel’s attention and enthusiasm.

By the end of the 80s, however, times were changing and having scorched their way across Europe and the UK, leaving behind two amazing albums, Ripcord ceased to be, moving onto other projects and lives. Fast-forward some twenty-eight years and to celebrate founder, guitarist and all round good fella Baz Ballam’s 50th Birthday, a one-off reunion gig was arranged that promptly sold out in seconds. Slightly taken aback by the interest that has developed in the band over the years, they agreed to play one further gig (in Leeds with Infest, they couldn’t resist it) but apparently THAT IS IT. Ripcord don’t want to sully their reputation and become just another reunion band and there is the present to deal with and that’s how tonight starts, in the dimly lit basement that is the venue for tonight’s gig.

Violent Arrest feature both John Millier (drums) and Baz from Ripcord, with Welly (Artcore Fanzine/Four Letter Word) on vocals, kicking off tonight’s proceedings in blistering hardcore punk style. This is not all about the past. The present is pretty damn good too.

Next Endless Grinning Skulls take the floor (there is no stage), with Steve Charlesworth from Heresy on drums (always a thrill to watch him play, one of the best!) and Gords of Hard To Swallow, John Holmes etc on bass, plus Andrew Morgan (Army Of Flying Robots) on guitar. They share vocals and create a thick wall of sound that threatens to reduce the venue to rubble.

Laughing that drummer John might pull a Tommy Cooper and have a heart-attack onstage having already played one set with Violent Arrest (hey, we’re not getting any younger), any fears that the passing years may have dampened the energy of Ripcord‘s youth soon disappear once the band start carving through the slow intro that opens their second album ‘Poetic Justice’, before careering through ‘So Strong’ and ‘Aim To Please’ as the years melt away. The band look thrilled to be playing the music again and humbled by the reaction that greets them as the small crowd of 150 punks pile on top of the band, thrashing harder and harder as each song hits the target. ‘Drugshit, ‘Single Ticket To Hell’, ‘Furder’, ‘Collision Of Vision’, ‘Barriers’, they spray them out like bullets. Short, fast, abrupt. Perfect.

It ends all too quick and the band are hemmed in by the crowd, so have to play more as frontman Steve Hazzard barks the band through a repeat play of ‘Single Ticket To Hell’.

It’s a brief but joyous celebration of both Baz’s birthday and the energy and ideas of the past that are still so inspiring to this day. You’ve got one more chance to see them when they play with Infest in Leeds on November 25th. Don’t miss it. Happy Birthday Baz!

Words: James Sherry
Photo/footage: Steve Cotton / Art of the State

Here’s the set list:

ripcord_setlist_bristol_live_video

And flyer:

ripcord_basement45_bristol_steve_cotton_artofthestate_review_footage_video_reunion

Categories
Live Reviews

The Magic Gang / 02 Birmingham

The Magic Gang / Live at the 02, Birmingham / 02/10/2016

magicgang3

It’s been just over two years since I originally saw the magic gang whilst they supported Swim Deep; nobody was familiar with them and the only person singing their lyrics could have been their mum. From then until now they’ve been to Jamaica recording an EP, and played a number of raucous house parties in their home town of Brighton. Now they have a large following of barely-legal teens clad up in their converse and mom jeans. Being a post-teen alone could be an aetiological reason for adoring this band, since their lyrics cover a lot of the angst and issues we experience as young people.

Magic Gang’s gigs are purely magical in their entirety, even down to the support acts being carefully chosen to complement the crowd. “Island” warm up the room initially, their grinding fuzz broken up by a calm serenity and hush tones which are sure to get your shoulders swaying. Next it’s the turn of band “Babeheaven” who’s soulful funk leave you twinging at the hip as you twist and tap your toes. This audiological foreplay leaves us with just enough time before the main performance to have a quick cig’ down the fire escape and grab another pint.

Entering the room again just as the lights dim and the room falls to silence before the band waltz out to new-ish track “Lady Please”, the eclectic crowd of youth lights up with glee, greeted by an applause and chants of “The Magic Gang Bang” being both a nod to the wistful charm of their songs and a satirical play on words. Other songs from their EP such as “Jasmine” entice the crowd into a synchronised bop, overlaid with the occasional sporadic crowd-surfer, their shoe gaze chime in somewhat of a juxtaposition to what is happening in this room at this very moment.

New released “All This Way” is definitely one of the most favoured songs of the set as it acts almost in retrospect, written on the cornerstone as you begin to pick apart the relationship you’re getting into, an aspect of paranoia or simplistic observations settling themselves under your skin.

Much of their second EP follows this theme whilst keeping a beat that in complete contrast is filled with melodic overtones and clean riffs. Earlier hits such as “No Fun” and “Shallow” which seem to have more of a grunge influence cause absolute chaos in this small, intimate, almost cavern like venue; bodies skewing sight as they float over head, narrowly avoiding security as the front bellows their bodies backwards, away from the sprawling hands of the high-viz fun interferers.

The Magic Gang are not a force to be reckoned with as they’ve gradually earnt and accumulated an almost cult like following that will sing along to whichever track you throw at them. Staggering and saturated in sweat or stella we stagger from the door back onto our coach, left in a state of euphoria and regret that we cannot live that experience every waking minute of our day.

Words: Henry Calvert
Photo: Zoe Shannon

Categories
Live Reviews

FLAG live at the Underworld, London

FLAG
The Underworld, Camden, London
August 1st

flag_london_live_review_the_underworld

Respect. That’s the key word here. Respect to Flag for choosing to spread their London debut over two nights at the Underworld rather than spending one night in a larger venue with half the required atmosphere. And respect to the members of Flag for pretty much inventing this thing we call hardcore punk rock, and so much more.

You’re in the presence of true legends here. No, it’s not Black Flag. That’s Greg Ginn’s band. He pissed all over his legacy a couple of years back with that dreadful new album and appalling live shows. I know, I witnessed it at Ieperfest in Belgium three years back – slow, sluggish, terrible rhythm section. Awful. Flag, however, (that’s Keith, Dez, Stephen, Chuck and Bill) play the music right, with energy, passion and power. You’re watching true legends at work here. All of the people involved, minus Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton who replaces Ginn, lived, breathed, wrote and performed this legendary material and when the band come out onstage tonight and Keith whispers into the mic…”it’s not my imagination,” before bellowing. “I’VE GOT A GUN IN MY BACK!!” and the whole band lurch into ‘Revenge’, the years melt away and the true power of the music is unleashed, knocking the crowd sideways.

flag_london_live_review_the_underworld

And from that moment on, they fire off bolt after bolt of perfect hardcore punk rock. It’s a total joy to watch these true masters of the art. The way Chuck Dukowski screws up his face and hammers at the strings on this bass like his totally despises all four of them. The way Keith’s unmistakable vocals are both pitch perfect, snotty, sarcastic and drawling. The way he holds his space on the stage, his small frame shielding off endless stage dives and attempts to steal his microphone and scream along with the songs (he does not like this). The way Bill plays with precision and power, lagging on the beat so the songs never run away with themselves. The way both Dez and Stephen’s guitars manage to summon up the undeniable genius of Ginn’s original vision and noise. It’s perfect.

flag_london_live_review_the_underworld

There’s no need to list all of the songs they played. They performed everything that was important, going as far as ‘My War’ (written by Chuck) and although you can feel the band tiring a little towards the end (‘I’ve Heard it Before’ isn’t quite as intense as it should be), the stamina they hold until that point is totally impressive. These are not young guys. These are people that started it all. Show them some fucking respect.

James Sherry

flag_london_live_review_the_underworld

Categories
Music News

The entire Dischord Records archive is streaming on Bandcamp

dischord_records_bandcamp

Stop what you’re doing. Over thirty years of rich U.S. punk history have been immortalised online for your listening pleasure. Dischord Records have uploaded their entire discography to Bandcamp.

Renowned for their ever-uncompromising DIY ethic, this is a wonderfully savvy move. Fans can now feast on the likes of Minor Threat, Rites Of Spring, Dag Nasty, Fugazi and so, so many more classics, and obscurities, for free, in their entirety, without a whiff of Apple Music or Spotify.

Tune in below to the eight tracks that started it all and click here to browse the full archives.

Categories
Album Of The Week Album Reviews Buzz Chart

Descendents

Descendents
Hypercaffium Spazzinate
Epitaph Records

Descendents - album cover

There’s nothing like the news of a new Descendents album to improve a summer in advance –and, with a particularly slow start to the good weather, their short, sweet blasts of melodic punk are exactly what is needed to counteract the strangely unseasonal Seasonal Affective Disorder caused by leaving the house at least three days a week to find South London rain-drenched and storm-swept.

Hypercaffium Spazzinate, of course, would be a cause for celebration regardless of the weather; the band’s first release since 2004 sees them return to Epitaph, the label under which they recorded 1996’s ‘Everything Sucks’. Does this mean we can draw in depth stylistic comparisons between the two albums recorded under Brett Gurewitz’s label whilst at the same time contrasting them with ‘Cool To Be You’, the Fat Wreck album sandwiched between? Does it bollocks. Bill Stevenson has always had a keen eye to which side his punk rock bread is buttered on and Hypercaffium sits comfortably amongst the band’s previous efforts, offering 16 sometimes deceptively sharp blasts of what can be termed ‘pop punk’, but only once you mentally eschew the taint of saccharine awfulness which the late 90s and early 00s bought to that term.

Opener ‘Feel This’ sets the general pace at 1:14 in length, with only half the songs exceeding two minutes and a grand total of three that get past three. I found myself having to stop the album when I needed to go down and get a beer out of the fridge, in case I missed anything vital. That’s what you get with me, quality professionalism. Anyway, ‘Feel This’ drives full speed into ‘Victim Of Me’, the song which pre-hyped the album to the world and while it may not quite reach ‘Milo Goes to College’ speed, it definitely offers Karl Alvarez’s fingers a workout on a breakneck bass line on a tune which will have you skipping the needle back more than once (or moving the mouse and double clicking like the horrible nowadays bastard you are). ‘On Paper’ slows things down and brings into the mix the self-deprecating humour that Milo’s soulful, very slightly snotty, very slightly roughened voice is so perfectly suited to – the sound that so many vocalists took as a template to fall far short of.

From then on in and for 16 songs the band take the sound which they’ve perfected so well and throw in a number of variables, still keeping hold of their core formula like a control variable in one of Milo’s lab tests. ‘No Fat Burger’ harks back to the band’s earliest days musically, as Bill Stevenson’s lyrics bemoan the doctor’s orders which have stopped him scoffing whatever he wants due to health issues covered in the killer 2013 documentary ‘Filmage’. Just remember as you listen to the primal but supremely controlled beat underpinning every track that the man playing it has survived health issues which would kill five other people at once.

Elsewhere, this may not be a change in style from previous releases but that doesn’t mean that the Descendents are ploughing the same furrow in any way. On the contrary. The hooks which made the likes of ‘Bikeage’, ‘Silly Girl’ and ‘When I Get Old’ such instant classics do the same for much of Hypercaffium. Whether it’s the full pelt race of ‘Human Being’ or the mellower, hook laden likes of ‘Shameless Halo’ or ‘Comeback Kid’, the band sound like they don’t even know what the term ‘twelve year album gap’ means. Closer ‘Beyond the Music’ is a potted history of the band, a microcosm of the personal lean of their lyrics which has definitely played a massive part in them becoming such a worldwide phenomenon.

Despite having almost 40 years of history, and a major place in the history of punk music and numerous musical milestones, they are still writing songs of awkward love, caffeine obsessions and flatulence which strike a chord the world over…and long may they continue doing so.

Jono Coote

Categories
Buzz Chart

Lies

lies-promo_plague

Short, sharp and sinister, Californian hardcore heads, Lies have just streamed their brutal new tracks from forthcoming long player, Plague this week. If your ears are turned on, like mine, by rip-roaring, high speed, dirty punk rock then feast yourself on these two new tunes. It’s for the D-Beat crust core fans out there for sure.

The band consists of members of The Hope Conspiracy and Skin Like Iron, head to Southern Lord for the sweets where you will find a one sided 12″ with an extra EP and more.

Categories
Live Reviews

Sleep live at The Forum, London

Sleep
Conan
The Forum, London July 6th

sleep_live_london_review

There’s heavy and then there’s none more HEAVY. Tonight is a chest-beating display of heavy as bravado. Heavy as punishment. Volume so loud and intense you can feel your skull rattle and vibrate and your guts clench to withstand the impact. So good it hurts.

Liverpool doom merchants Conan get things off to a suitably oppressive start. They describe themselves as being as ‘heavy as interplanetary thunder amplified through the roaring black hole anus of Azathoth’, a fact that is hard to dispute when faced with the sonic sludge oozing from the stage. All you can do is submit and nod. Their job is done and the stage and crowd are perfectly in the zone to greet tonight’s headliners, Californian stoned doom legends Sleep.

Described as ‘the ultimate stoner rock band’, Sleep’s legendary status is well deserved. Having originally disbanded in ’95 when London Records, their major label paymasters at the time, refused to release their now legendary hour-long-one-song-drone workout ‘Dopesmoker’, their reputation continued to grow in their absence as guitarist Matt Pike concentrated on High On Fire. However, when the band reformed in 2009 to play an ATP Festival, they stepped effortlessly back into their towering doom boots as if no time had passed at all and tonight, the noise that they make is utterly earth shattering. Opening with two tracks from their legendary ‘Holy Mountain’ album – ‘Draugonaut’ and the title track, Pike, shirtless and wild, unleashes wave after wave of power in-front of a massive wall of amps, obviously enjoying every second of the colossal noise being created. The sound is incredible. Normally a heavy band’s sound can suffer in a venue this size, often reduced to a dull thud but not tonight, Sleep have more than enough power and amplification behind them to destroy.

Playing the first twenty minutes of their epic ‘Dopemoker’ track, the air fills with the pungent stench of weed as the crowd take their cue to fire up their pipes and spliffs and a few hundred stoners get deep within the zone as Sleep continue to pulverise and groove.

An epic gig. We’re lucky to have them back. Long may they continue to abuse our hearing.

James Sherry

Categories
Music News

Bring Me the Horizon vs Brian Baker beef

bring-me-the-horizon-brian-baker

Yorkshire’s Bring Me The Horizon got righteously slapped down on the internet this week when Minor Threat/Bad Religion and Dag Nasty guitar legend Brain Baker took offence to a sign (above) the band had put up around the backstage area of the Resurrection Festival in Spain that read: “These people are not to be stopped ever. They may not have a pass. They can escort who they want where they want with or without a pass.” Brian instagrammed the sign and said “I’m going to stop these people every time I see them today and tell them how much their band sucks.”

BMTH singer Oliver Sykes and drummer Matt Nicholls responded with their typical arrogance: “Hahah I can’t imagine being as old as you are and still acting like a 14 year old girl. Saw you at least 10 times and you didn’t bat an eye lid. You got bigger things to worry about nowadays anyway, like ya pension, or cold weather. Dickhead.”

Brian Baker’s response tells these spoilt children exactly how it is. You don’t fuck with the guy that wrote Out Of Step.

“It seems you’ve missed the point entirely. The issue here is entitlement. My post was a comment on your collective delusion that working local crew at a thirty band festival should be required to memorize your faces to spare you the indignity of breaking stride on the way to your backstage oasis or even worse, the humiliation of carrying credentials. Your literal display of arrogance (and the hilariously unrecognized irony within it) was what I was sharing with my followers. I honestly don’t know if your music is bad or good – it’s not for old people! I meant that you suck as humans. Sorry for the confusion.”

??????????
??????????
Categories
Music News

Big Boys documentary incoming

Ph: Ben DeSoto / 1980

big_boys_documentary_punk

Austin’s legendary skate-funk-punk pioneers the Big Boys disbanded in 1984 but they are fondly remembered for one fundamental reason; there were no limits to what they could do musically. No shackles, no boundaries. Their punk rock was in their heads, not restricted to their music. Trouble Funk collided with the scratchy post-punk of Wire and Gang Of Four, smashing head on with the energy and spirit of that first wave of hardcore punk.

“I’m a punk and I like Sham, Cockney Rejects are the world’s greatest band. But I like Joy Division, Public Image too, even though that’s not what I’m supposed to do,” sang frontman Randy ‘Biscuit’ Turner in the song Fun Fun Fun, perfectly summing up what the band was all about. Their gigs were a chaotic celebration, their lifestyle pushed as hard against the boundaries as their music did. In short, the Big Boys ruled and they deserve their own movie.

Enter Austin director Joe Salinas, whose forthcoming doc You Can Color Outside the Lines: The Big Boys is aiming for a Sundance 2016 premiere. The trailer for the film has just hit the web and features an impressive cast of talking heads from the era. Ian and Alec MacKaye, and Jeff Nelson from Minor Threat, Dave Grohl (obviously), Glenn Danzig, J Mascis, Steve Caballero, Steve Albini, HR, Kevin Seconds, David Yow, Keith Morris, Steve Alba, Lance Mountain, Exene Cervenka, John Doe and Tony Alva are among the many individuals telling the story of this incredible band.

Here’s the trailer. Go skate, make noise, start your own band. No restrictions.