Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose spent a day in a Swedish jail after having allegedly bitten a security guard. According to reports, Axl was partying after a show and came back to the hotel where he began arguing with a woman in the hotel.
The security guard stepped in to break it up and then was allegedly bitten. The police spokesman claimed Rose was let out after admitting to the charges and paid over $6,000 in fines and damages.
Buzzcocks are back with a new single, called Sell You Everything which comes from the new album, due out in August called Flat-Pack Philosophy. They’ll also be playing some festival dates, which are as follows:
July
8th – Rise Festival Finsbury Park, London
August
4th – Bath Halls Scunthorpe
5th – Gosforth Gathering Gosforth Park, Newcastle
13th – Summer Sundae DeMontfort Hall, Leicester
20th – Beautiful Days Escot Park near Fairmile, Devon
27th – Get Loaded In The Park, Clapham Common, London
It can be hard work being a dedicated Sonic Youth fan. Although part of the obvious beauty of the band is you never quite know what you’re going to get next, when some of their more recent releases have been patchy to say the least and others seem to consist of Thurston’s guitar leaning up against an amp and feeding back for thirty minutes, even the most hardcore fan is going to have their patience well and truly tested.
Thankfully we’re on safe ground with latest release ‘Rather Ripped’. This is classic Sonic Youth, buzzing with Ranaldo and Moore’s trademark guitar beeps and squeals, Kim Gordon’s panting vocals and Steve Shelley’s infectious grooves. Switching between bursts of chaotic noise and some sublime chilled and loose vibes, the whole album is packed full of quality tunes and blissful melodies. If not quite up there with classics like ‘Daydream Nation’ and ‘Goo’, ‘Rather Ripped’ comes damn close and on evidence of the first few listens it could be a real grower.
Mix ex-members of ska, hardcore and punk bands and add them into a new melting pot, and what would you expect the result to sound like? Not reggae, is my bet. However this self-titled album, The Aggrolites debut on Hellcat Records is one that recalls the sounds of a funky James Brown and laid back Bob Marely fused with the odd Doors moment to create 19 bizarre but strangely addictive songs.
You can’t help but get into the groove of these songs and if you are still smarting at the thought of no Glastonbury this year, I urge you to buy this. Whack it on, turn it up and get your mates round in the garden and chill in your own mini Glastonbury. It’s the perfect partner to heady summer nights with it’s sunny melodies like ‘Mr. Misery‘ and ‘Funky Fire’. Having toured with the likes of Rancid and Madness, there is a wide ranging appeal to their joyful and passionate tracks which will brighten up even the rainiest of days.
Blood Red Shoes
The Blood Arm
14.06.2006
93 Feet East
The opening band theme of the night seems to be blood. A far cry from metal, the venue is in the heart of Shoreditch, unusually hosted at 93 Feet East. The Blood Arm which we already know to be great, is followed by Blood Red Shoes. An energetic sounding 2-piece, all guitar, drums, and shouting which steers them away from the usual melodic duo formula. I like them already!
Up next are the well awaited, flirty, and fun The Grates. The Aussie trio have been opening for top names like We are Scientists, and more recent claim to fame The Zutons.
The cake party(as it was playfully referred to) was a room of balloons, tea cakes, and brightly coloured merch. Patience is not shy to embrace the attention! Armed with her favourite mic, clad in pink she oozes Blondie sex appeal. You can hear influences of Courtney Love, whilst her stage presence has the relentless energy of Karen-O as she jumps around without skipping a note. The girl has it all! She wraps the audience around her finger with crowd banter, singling out the single boys…”He’s not bad looking. Get the fuck in there girls. Third row from the front in the middle…”
What the band lacks in bass they make up for in backing tracks, and playful energy. Alana looks like a sweetly smiling little girl, as she bangs on her drums with percussion diligence. Predominantly they are a visual band, which encompasses many influences. From the ska feel of “Silence is Golden“, and the contagious Rock ‘n Roll vibrations of “192020“, the audience gets swung round to the Country-esque feel of “Sukkafish“. They have clearly learnt a lot from working closely with producer Brian Deck, who has also worked with the well acclaimed Secret Machines, and Iron and Wine.
What makes them less run-of-the-mill is their youthful friendship on stage, their politeness, unstoppable humour, and circus tricks…in reference to the occasional floor roll, and popping of balloons. Proof that occasionally less can be more, and that keeping it simple works!
Niki Kova’cs
[Photos by Niki Kova’cs]
Unbelievably, Alice Cooper has been shocking the world with his outlandish rock and roll shenanigans for the past 35 years and there are still no signs of him letting up. At a staggering 58 years old, and affectionately known as the granddaddy of shock rock, Alice Cooper was creating scandal and outrage long before Marylin Manson could say ‘eyeliner’.
Still ever the showman, in this DVD filmed at the Montreux Festival in 2005, with no sign of a zimmerframe anywhere, he continues to provide one of the most entertaining, tongue in cheek stage shows around. Although scaled down somewhat for this recorded performance in Montreux’s Stravinski auditorium which only holds around 3000 people, it’s still clear that Alice is having a ball.
Guillotines, coffins, lances and fake money from the bank of Alice is all in a days work, and with Alice’s daughter playing the part of dopey media doll Paris Hilton in ‘Wish I Were Born In Beverly Hills’ it’s a characteristic Cooper show for sure.
With classics like ‘Poison’, ‘School’s Out’ and ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ teamed with newer tracks like ‘Dirty Diamonds’ Alice is still on top form and this DVD and bonus CD is a worthy addition to any collection.
Stone Sour have streamed their new single, Through Glass, online, which you can check out by clicking here.
A video for the track was just finished and should be seen on television soon. Their upcoming album, Come What(ever) May will be out in August.
Turntablist extraordinaire Mike Relm has been hand picked to man the decks for the upcoming Peeping Tom dates, Mike Patton’s new project. The announcement came on Relm’s Myspace and is exciting for everyone involved. The dates he’ll play in the UK are:
July 15th – Latitude Festival
July 17th – London Astoria
Crossfire favourites Lamb Of God are releasing their new album, entitled Sacrament, on October 16th in the UK although it;s out in the US this month (August). It’s produced by Machine and will contain 11 tracks.
The first single from the album, Redneck, is available for streaming along with snippets of other tracks at www.sacrament2006.com. They are also going to tour the UK.
Mark Morton, guitarist for the band said:
“The music’s influenced by what the five of us are listening to, what we’re writing about, the context in which we’re writing, our lives and our experiences. We made a deliberate effort not to be so politically motivated this time. We still care about and think about those things, but at this point, creatively, we wanted to step out of that for a moment, and address some other things. So the lyrics are more introspective and more personal, and I think just about anybody will relate to them. Not everybody pays attention to the war or politics.”
The tour dates are:
Oct 30 – Cardiff Arena
Nov 01 – Birmingham NEC
Nov 02 – Glasgow SECC
Nov 03 – Manchester MEN Arena
Nov 05 – Dublin Point Theatre
Nov 19 – London Brixton Academy
Nov 20 – London Brixton Academy