Category: Music

w/ Iron Lung
The Underworld,
London 11/12/08

Internet piracy is a great thing. With the increase of illegal downloads harming record sales, a lot of bands can only make a substantial wage from touring. With Christmas looming, everybody wants to take home a crust this festive season. The immediate effect of this is that loads of really decent bands from across the pond have packed up their gear and are going on full UK tours to snatch up your pennies before Santa arrives.

Leading the charge of this mass exodus of bands is the forever partying, Municipal Waste. A band more concerned with robbing your bottle of crimbo sherry than nicking your pennies. Having blown London apart so many times before, this city has almost become home turf to the Waste. The crowd is packed in tight at the Underworld and the fans, young and old, are chugging on their beers with nervous anticipation as they wait for the Virginia thrashers.

Seattle’s Iron Lung filled the support slot and Jesus-titty-fuckin-Christ they were good. A true assault on the senses from a duo that perform with such speed and venom. A perfect and surprisingly good band to get the rabid crowd going before Municipal Waste ignite the stage.

It only takes a couple of chords, played by axe man Ryan Waste, to send the lunatic crowd into a whirlwind frenzy. Opening as per usual with ‘Deathripper‘ the trademark beach inflatables loom over head as skinny punk after fat bastard metal-head begin to dive off the stage and rain down on the heads of the peeps in the pit. The Waste slam straight into ‘Sadistic Magician‘ and after that its nonstop chaos for the night. Municipal Waste churn out some of their best grooves from all 3 of their albums to a back drop of stage divers and beer fueled mayhem. ‘Unleash The Bastards‘, ‘Terror Shark‘ and ‘Blood Drive‘ all get an outing tonight with Tony Foresta (Vocals) barking orders at the crowd between tracks. Commanding everybody to “circle fuckin pit!” or “destroy the fucking place!” the crowd at the Underworld kindly oblige.

The night comes to a close with ‘Born To Party‘ and the inevitable “Municipal Waste are gona FUCK-YOU-UP!” chant from all the thrash elite in the pit. When you go and see a band like Municipal Waste it’s like being reunited with your family at Christmas. There are guys who you will always see there. Like the dude who always dresses up like the terror shark or that one guy who always throws up in the corner after way too much cider. Unfortunately, like most family reunions, after a couple of hours you get bored and want to leave. This ain’t my first Municipal Waste rodeo and I have a lot of time for the band and their music but I’ve seen it all before.

Municipal Waste dominate tonight with a show that has all the hallmarks of a great thrash gig but we get nothing new from their performance. Maybe a “detox” is in order before the Waste come at us again with something fresh, something new and something that will make us go utterly ape shit for these guys all over again.

Tom Lindsey

Brixton Academy
4th & 5th December 2008

“It’s been a long day, a long week, a long month, and a long year” – Ben Verse addressed the crowd at the beginning of Thursday Night’s gig. This is true of the whole Pendulum phenomenon – it’s taken it’s time, but finally, the boys from Perth have got the recognition they deserve – and believe me, it is well deserved. South Central DJ’s supported Pendulum on both nights, playing an interesting series of remixes to try and get the crowd pumped up – there were moments of genius, however a lot of the time, the frequently changing tempo of the beats caused a general feeling of disarray to the music, which sort of prevented a nice hype-up before Pendulum’s slick, consistent rhythms. South Central also opened on Friday night, and perhaps due to the later opening hours, (and more time for boozing beforehand) got a much better reception from the crowd.

Zane Lowe was the second DJ support act of Friday night and what an act it was. He ambled onto stage with a beer, bomber jacket, and a handful of records and set the place on fire! Mix after mix of fresh sounds with rhythmic beats and popular samples managed to turn the once stationary crowd into a pulsing wave of arms, heads and fists. The highlight of he set had to be his take on Killing In The Name Of by RATM done once before by a Pendulum support act, Eddy Temple-Morris. Lowe took it, and made it his to roars of approval from the 5,000 people dancing in front of him.

23:00 Hours, and the big moment had come. The stage was dark, and the curtains were pulled back to reveal Kodish’s trademark “In Silico” logo drumkit, Rob’s futuristic “D-tar” and more computer equipment than your local PC World. The audio began, with the ethereal sound of Rob’s altered singing, digitized and remastered, into in introduction track with bass hits that sent shivers down the spine. As the drums faded in with periodic “THUM-THUM” bass drum hits, that broke long enough for Verse to introduce the evening as the band walked on stage to the raw, guttural roar of the Pendulum die-hard fan. They broke into next single Showdown with absolute pin-point precision and tone, with the energy of a stampeding elephant, coked up on Red Bull and speed. The showmanship of the band has developed so much since their first major breakthrough into popular culture in late 2006, and this really showed on the nights.

Since the first In Silico tour, the band seemed to have matured into a band with a lot of experience under their belt, boosted with the confidence of numerous tours and TV appearances. They ran a tight ship throughout the gig, while playing a perfectly blended mix of new and old tunes, from fasten your seatbelt to newer tunes like 9,000 Miles, all with new, fresh, twists and kinks that made each night unique.

Rob held the vocal and synth side of the music together really well, however it was noticeable how much strain the songs put on his voice at some parts – but it’s the raw, gritty stuff people love about live performances. They finished with Hold Your Colour, a mix of the original and the bi-polar remix version (excellent drumming by Kodish here – absolutely nuts).

The next thing you know, the band leave the stage, with a giant timer counting down from 2:00 minutes – you guessed it, after the timer hit zero – the band were back with one of the best performances of Tarantula i’ve ever seen. Later, the Band finished up and left the stage again – people began to leave, shuffling their way towards the door – but the die-harders knew something was up – there was something more to see here tonight – then, the moment dreamed of by every Pendulum fan who’s heard the last song on In Silico, and thought of it as the most awe-inspiring, uplifting, epic piece of music ever written! The Tempest was undoubtedly the highlight of the nights, with the last 2:30 mins of the song doing untold things to each member of the audience – that song has a raw power behind it that’ll blow your bloody socks off.

All in all, with the chips down, the music played, the beer drunk, the people drunk, the kebabs eaten and the hangovers slept off – Pendulum live at Brixton Academy was a special night, like the night you lost your virginity to your sister’s mate in the bathroom at that houseparty – moments that were gritty as fuck, but you’ll never forget it as long as you live, and you left with a big smile on your face. Good work boys, keep the tunes coming, the drums banging, and the heart of drum and bass beating.

Words and photos: Sam May

Bush Hall
27.11.08

The Hell is For Heroes show at Bush Hall is a bitter sweet affair. The West London 5 piece are playing their final London date, and after this all the curtain comes down, possibly forever.

Having blasted onto the scene with ‘The Neon Handshake‘, Hell is For Heroes have always been growing and evolving with every twist and turn, and despite label changes, they’ve kept their heads above water and always produced inspiring live shows and two further kick ass albums.

Then in October they announced an indefinite hiatus and this 7 date UK tour is a farewell- and they’re not going to go down without a fight…

“Welcome to the rock show” Justin Schlosberg has a look of concentration on his face, tonight is all about going out with a bang, and they certainly do that. Bush Hall is rocked to its core with a set of such intensity that as wall upon wall of hard guitar sound punches its way around the venue you’re left wondering if the chandeliers will survive the night ( they don’t…but more of that later).

Picking and choosing from their 3 albums they throw usual set closer ‘You Drove Me To It‘ in early, and the pit at the front goes into overdrive, the chest thumbing anthem bringing the crowd together in one voice, it’s the first of many goose bump moments. ‘You’ve Got Hopes’, ‘Night Vision‘ and ‘Five Kids Go‘ are breathtaking- the ferocity of the music never dropping, the sheer passion in the crowd almost tangible – and as the pit cranks it up another notch the band’s guitar tech switches between lobbing ice cubes into the throng to cool them down to rescuing Schlosberg from the throng as he repeatedly throws himself into the front rows.

As ever Fin is the one whipping the crowd into a frenzy, leading the chants and air punches, whilst guitarist Will smiles throughout the set as Justin throws himself around the stage, does handstands off the drum riser – twisting, turning, flinching as through every drum beat is physically punching him. Crowd surfers are in full force and kudos to the people who continually catch a giant of a man who belly flops onto them time and time again as the band kick out ‘Retreat’ with such intensity that you can almost feel the walls of Bush Hall buckle with the pressure.

‘Kamachi‘ is stunning, with the ethereal vocals on the bridge in harsh juxtaposition to the crunching guitars, whilst crowd favourite ‘I Can Climb Mountains’ is every bit the underdog’s anthem with the crowd roaring back the lines “I can run, I can hide, I can take a wall of pain in a stride – I don’t need fairy tales to pretend and I don’t need heroes to depend on..” But they clearly do need these Heroes- and as the band leave the stage the “We want more!” chants are deafening.

“We’ve never played such a long set!” Justin smiles wryly as the band return to the stage, and gather around Joe Birch’s drum kit to decide on further songs. “We’ve not played this in a long time so sorry if I forget the words..” he shrugs as they throw themselves into ‘Five Kids Go’, the opener from the Neon Handshake, and then a cover of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, a staple of their live show.

The last track tonight is the sublime ‘Slow Song’. As Justin climbs on top of the speaker stack the crowd are behind him all the way, even when he reaches for a chandelier and breaks a rope of crystals off by accident, leaving it swaying. As the track hits its climax, with a wall of sound, he leaps downwards to his band mates. The final guitars wail over the crowd and in turn are replaced by the sound of thunderous applause. And so Hell is For Heroes leave the stage for the last time in London, it’s a fond farewell to a great London band – Justin, Will, Fin, Joe and Tom – we’ll miss you – roll on the reunion tour!

Dee Massey

Brixton Academy
20.11.08

“Here’s another song about how well adjusted I am….and how happy I am….and how I’m so good at relationships…”

The Cardinals have been playing for over an hour and a half and the floodgates are well and truly open. Having started the show tight lipped and serious, Ryan Adams is sliding into sarcastic quips and retorts about his own state of mind. Just like his emotional, self pitying yet endearing blogs that he writes at night, only to delete the next morning- you can’t help but think that maybe all is not right with our favourite alt-country indie upstart.

In the last few years The Cardinals have gone from being Ryan Adam’s backing band to being so much more, and the sound bouncing off the walls of Brixton Academy on this cold winter night is so tight and honed that you could sit and listen to them jam all night (and given half the chance The Cardinals probably would jam all night). The tracks are written with enough space to let the guitars and bass ebb and flow around each other, building up into awesome crescendos of sound, as Chris ‘Space-Wolf’ Fenstein (bass) and Neal Casal and Ryan Adams on guitar feed off each other’s energy. Nowadays it’s as much as about the band members as it is about their front man.

They kick off proceedings with Cobwebs (off their new album ‘Cardinology), and from there they weave their way through a lengthy set list, with ‘Everybody Knows’ ‘Stars Go Blue’ and the stunning ‘Goodnight Rose’ all highlights of the first hour. Adams barely addresses the audience, his hair over his eyes, deep in concentration as he spits out the lyrics to ‘Fix It’ ” I know it’s not a game, but it feels like losing when someone you loves throws you away…”

The Cardinals’ sound meanders between country, rock, blues and indie – which is reflected in the crowd, which has everything from country music fans and dark eyed emo kids through to a plaid shirt clad indie crowd – Adams has mass appeal and lives up to his anti-hero status with nonchalance. There’s no denying it as he leans ocer his mic stand and twists the crowd round his finger- he has that certain something that makes him oh so watchable.

Neal Casal takes vocal lead on ‘Freeway to the Canyon’ but it’s the sublime rendition of ‘Come Pick Me Up‘ followed by the eerily beautiful cover of Wonderwall which gives you goose bumps. “Now, let’s enjoy yet more songs about fucking happy I am “Adams mutters, and laughs slightly manically, before sliding into the delicate, almost ethereal ‘Please Do Not Let Me Go“, taken from the aptly named’ Love Is Hell“. The lines “I’m all alone now, I can do as I please , I don’t feel like doing much of anything ..True love ain’t that hard to find not that you will ever know” and sung so sensitively that you can almost feel the waves of empathy rolling off the crowd.

‘Natural Ghost‘ spins across the Academy as the band slide into another Casal led jam, seamlessly rolling with thundering guitars and a pulsating rhythm forged from a band that’s one of the tightest on tour right now.

With a set lasting almost 2 and a half hours The Cardinals seem to have enjoyed the show as much as the audience, who are baying for an encore. As the last chords of a haunting ‘I See Monsters‘ brings the night to an end, it’s clear we’re seeing at his best musically wise – although the bantering story teller of old is missed.

Tonight Ryan Adams & The Cardinals perform a stunning show, tracks rolling seamlessly into one another, the new tracks just as memorable as the old favourites. The Cardinals have hit their stride in 2008, and with new tracks already being demo-ed for another album the future looks very promising indeed.

Dee Massey