Blood Red Shoes have announced an October tour.
The dates are:
13 – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
15 – Cockpit, Leeds
16 – Academy 3, Manchester
18 – Drummonds, Aberdeen
19 – King Tuts, Glasgow
20 – Academy 2, Newcastle
21 – Waterfront, Norwich
23 – Academy 2, Birmingham
24 – Astoria 2, London
Every Time I Die have brought in Josh Newton as their permanent bassist.
Keith from the band said:
“Every Time I Die is proud to announce that we have permanently filled (or as permanent as can be when regarding us) our bass player slot. His name is Josh Newton and he comes to us via From Autumn to Ashes, Unsane, Shiner and Reggie and the Full Effect. Also, he doesn’t own any other color of clothing except for black. Once I thought I saw him fixing the zipper on a pair of skin tight tapered white jeans, but then realized he was just masturbating while nude from the waste down. Hes a great dude and he laughed really hard at me while I was super high on spacecakes in Amsterdam, so he’s got my vote.”
Check out our interview with Andy from the band here.
Kerry King has been speaking about a new Slayer album.
The band haven’t released an album since 2006’s Christ Illusion and King said:
“There’s been talk of all kinds of odd things, because the record industry changes every day. We’ve talked about maybe putting out a couple of songs from an upcoming record through iTunes, so we can play something new on the Unholy Alliance III tour. You know, that’s not so far outside the realm of possibility. As far as how much we’re gonna get done by the end of the year? I have no idea.”
Pure Grooves are making a number of songs available for free download.
Songs by the likes of Whitey, Yeasayer, Bodies Of Water, Munch Munch, The Lea Shores and more are in Pure Groove Records’ 100 Free Download Chart. The chart will remain on the site and will feature new entries added each week.
Head to www.puregroove.co.uk now to see the chart and download the tracks.
Yo Majesty have revealed the tracklisting for their debut album.
The outspoken duo will release Futuristically Speaking_Never Be Afraid on October 7th. The album will be preceded by The Kryptonite Pussy EP, slated for a July release. The tracklistings are:
Futuristically Speaking_Never Be Afraid:
‘Fucked Up’
‘Night Riders’
‘Blame It On The Change’
‘Never Be Afraid’
‘Don’t Let Go’
‘Booty Klap’
‘Buy Love’
‘Get Down On The Floor’
‘Hott’
‘Leather Jacket’
‘Grindin’ And Shakin”
‘Party Hardy’
‘Club Action’
‘Take It Away’
‘The Kryptonite Pussy EP’:
‘Kryptonite Pussy’
‘Hey There Girl’
‘Break Bread’
‘Monkey’
‘Hit It and Quit It’
There is nothing complicated about the Knife Fight, just straight forward punk-rock.
First off, they’re not from Tijuana, this band hails from Long Beach, California. They don’t advocate violence; however one has an avid interest in knifing people and another is studying Krav Maga so you could say there is some aspect of violence.
Through two telephone conversations with guitarist Chris Muench and vocalist Dan Cady, Crossfire’s Californian correspondent Enorme Nuez got a brief history on the band, their music, skating and life as a whole. As with most punk bands they share their history with a local bar. Why a bar, who knows, but you can’t go wrong when an idea is based around the great pastime of drinking!
As Chris Muench put it, “The idea for the ‘Knife Fight’ came from a chance meeting with Jesse Rowe. We shared a beer and both realised that we had similar tastes in music so we decided to jam.”
Their jam session resulted in four-songs so they recruited friends to join the ensemble. With Muench on guitar and Rowe on drums they recruited Alex Hernandez, who owned their favourite bar to play bass while Aaron Broderick joined on second guitar and to round it off Dan Cady on vocals. This line-up didn’t last very long though, Hernandez with the responsibility of running a bar and other bands left, as did Broderick, as a guitar-tech for the Deftones, Fall Out Boy, Bad Religion and the Beastie Boys, he was pretty much gone for two-years!
Another of Muench’s friends Chris Friedman joined on bass and for the time being they kept it to a four-piece to finish the process of recording their first release. After recording was done bassist Vince Giobbe joined and Friedman moved over to guitar.
It is safe to say they haven’t had the best of luck with band members. It was shortly after Giobbe joined when drummer Justin Rowe decided to leave and it was then they had a ‘Spinal Tap‘ moment. No, their drummers didn’t mysteriously explode, but they had drummers come and go in a flash.
Giobbe’s friend and original Blink-182 drummer Scott Raynor joined. They got on with things and played shows to support the recording. Things looked up until Raynor informed the band that he too was leaving so he could finish his studies. Friends filled the seat while they searched for a permanent drummer; even former drummer Rowe played some shows to help the cause. The process was taxing and as Muench put it, “We were kissing a lot of frogs and no prince’s so we put up a post on MySpace and said if we don’t get anyone we wanted to call it quits.”
It was after this posting that they were contacted by two friends who recommended a drummer. After conversations over the phone they invited Justin Whische down to jam. Muench was quick to say, “After talking to him on the phone for an hour I knew if he could play, he was our new drummer and, well he can play!”
As I had them all together I thought it was primetime to ask them who their influences were. They said many names and through the many voices came many bands. From early Ramones and New York Dolls to the Riverboat Gamblers; Hot Snakes and The Bronx to Bauhaus, AC/DC, At The Drive-In, Bad Brains, Black Flag, the Misfits, the Dirtbombs, Born Against, The Catheters, The Buzzcocks, The Clash, Guns N’ Roses, (old) Mötley Crüe, the Detroit Cobras, Drive Like Jehu, Pitchfork, Fugazi, Motörhead, Murder City Devils, Refused, Joy Division, Slayer, Sonic Youth, Tanner, Toys That Kill, Underground Railroad to Candyland, Wipers, Karp, and Dead Kennedys. (Those were the names I could catch!)
In their time together many things have changed, they’ve experiences the highs, vocalist Dan Cady got married and Chris Muench will walk down the aisle this summer and they’ve experienced the lows, the passing of Friedman’s father. They all have day jobs and as much as they would like to play music all the time they are realistic. Cady and Muench are designers by trade, Cady redesigned and ran Mattel’s Hot Wheels website for some years while Muench made the Listen Skateboards website. They both now work together designing websites for celebrities. Giobbe still skates, “I still skate at least once a week. Punk rock has always been the sound track to skating because of its aggressiveness and its do-it-yourself mentality.” He was also quick to say, “Jay Adams. He never sold out!”
Their tours have kept them locked to the Pacific Standard Time zone but it doesn’t mean they haven’t had their share of tour stories. Muench was quick to let me know, “we did some dates in Mexico and well we almost weren’t allowed back in to the US…but that is all I can say about it.” I was talking to Muench while the band was heading out to play a show in Las Vegas, which is something they try to do as often as they can.
Through their many performances up and down the West Coast they’ve shared the stage with some great bands, even those they site as influences such as, the Riverboat Gamblers and The Bronx. They’ve played with Mike Watt, dios (malos), Tiltwheel, Juicifer and the Smutt Peddlers.
Leading up to the gig in Vegas I was able to have a quick chat with Dan Cady and fire off a few questions.
Where do you fit in? You can snuggle with ‘Rock’ and you can cuddle up with ‘Punk’. Where do the TKF fit in?
Dan: “We all have a different take on it, we have so many varying influences and the only commonality is that when we do it…we do it loud and usually fast! “It’s nice that we don’t always fit – rock bills or punk bills – it’s difficult at times but all in all it’s good to be on a bill, finish playing and have people be like, “damn!” And say that it was heavy or that was intense…even if they don’t like it…it’s a reaction.”
One common fault I’ve noticed is the need to pigeonhole. We see the need to have an attachment to a sound or a style before we can commit to listening or watching a new act.
Dan: “I think a lot of acts try and fit in…Or catch a vibe…but I think what we are doing is honest, organic and natural.”
So it is good that you don’t fit or that you give the listener a surprise…
Dan: “Precisely…but what we do musically stems from just turning on, plugging in and letting it go…and that’s the knife fight.”
The ‘Knife Fight’ are loud, they like to drink and they like to have a fun time when they play. I’ve had the pleasure of watching them live many times and they improve with every performance. They just recently finished recording their latest record which they are hoping to release later on this year.
Hopefully they’ll make their way to Europe in the near future, but in the meantime you can listen to their music via their MySpace page or watch the video for ‘Knee Jerk Reaction’ below.
If you just-so-happen to be in Southern California visiting the sights and happen to get lost in Long Beach on your way to Disneyland then keep an eye out as they might just be playing. Saturday Night Apocalypse LP is out now.
Enorme Nuez
Camden Barfly
09.06.08
There’s something a little sinister and mysterious about South Central as they take to the stage at XFM’s X-Posure at The Barfly. Having been touted by XFM’s Jon Kennedy as the ones to watch this year, there’s an air of expectancy hanging over the crowd rammed into the venue – dance, indie and scene kids all swirling together. South Central are a slightly arcane band, there’s no niceties or introduction, they stand unsmiling staring down on the crowd, their hood ups throughout the set, which could make them look like slightly fierce Hobbits, but actually makes them look unbelievably sinister, giving a dramatic air to the show.
They throw themselves into the set with Aoen, a melting pot of heavy guitars, thumping drum beats and synths – it’s trance with a hefty dose of rock, a euphoric shot in the arm of soaring and screaming melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in Ibiza. Revolution has a heavier beat, you can feel the bass in your chest as the band storm through the song, luring the dancers in the crowd to the front. Strobe lights flicker as they punch their way through the rest of their set, ‘Nothing Can Go Wrong‘ and ‘Higher State‘ have the crowd at fever pitch – the tempo never drops, and the neither do their hoods.
Having recently toured with The Whip, South Central are fast making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting nu-electro bands on the scene, and with a set like this it’s not hard to see why. They take elements of trance, rock, indie and punk and throw them all into the mix, demanding your attention with a set overwhelmed with ferocity and bristling vitriol. They’re one step on from Enter Shikari and Pendulum, taking it to a new level – with pounding guitars intertwined in electronics and synths tearing through the venue, and bass lines clawing up the walls. South Central are a band that are going places- catch them now before they go stellar.
For more info www.myspace.com/southcentralmusic
Dee Massey.
Crossfire DJ’s Zac Slack and James Sherry have returned from the Download Festival this weekend where the Crossfire Sound System made a lot of new friends in the Duracell Powerhouse.
Each night, the festival had various guests invited by Crossfire to play to a crowd that demanded to party hard and that is what they got.
Slack says “last year was pretty mental but this year it was crazy, especially when Pendulum joined us. It was utter carnage in there!“
The pair were joined by Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman on Friday night with a full set of metal, classics and rock n roll that included Pantera, Metallica, Prodigy and even Eye of the Tiger whilst on Saturday night, Pendulum crashed the party and blew the roof off completely.
Fronted by hypeman Ben Mount, Gareth McGrillen and co got mash up with Slayer, Slipknot and blast beats moulding in classic Pendulum tracks such as Blood Sugar, Slam, Tarantula and many from the new album. People who were squashed inside the tent in a sea of sweat were treated to a brand new Pendulum track never played before. Pendulum drilled a hole in that tent and everyone got oiled!
Look out for a feature in Night Raids later this week and thanks to all of the people who came out to party, there will be more Crossfire events planned very soon, starting with the rebirth of Thrash vs Trash in July.
Pics by Beth Crockatt
Kiss has claimed fans have killed the record industry.
Gene Simmons of the band explained that they were not recording any new material until illegal downloading stops, claiming downloading is “uncivilised”. He went on to say:
“The record industry is dead. It’s six feet underground and unfortunately the fans have done this. They’ve decided to download and file-share. There is no record industry around so we’re going to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilised. As soon as the record industry pops its head up we’ll record new material.”
Oh well.
Fucked Up have signed to Matador Records.
The Toronto band will release their second album The Chemistry Of Common Life, on the label on October 7th. The CD will contain 11 tracks with the vinyl version containing 12. They will also be playing the following dates in the UK:
July 13th – Birmingham – Supersonic Festival
July 14th – London – Water Rats in Kings Cross
August 23th – Reading – Reading Festival
August 24th – Leeds – Leeds Festival
August 25th – Bradford – 1 in 12 Club