Categories
Music News

The Scare – Tour Dates

The Scare have just been added to a handful of shows with Forward! Russia! Complete up coming dates below:

Weds 26th April, The Sugarmill – Stoke w/Forward Russia

Fri 28th April, The Soundhaus – Northampton w/Forward Russia

Sat 29th April, The Forum – Tunbridge Wells w/Forward Russia

Sun 30th April, The Barfly – Birmingham w/Polysics

Sat 13th May, The Flapper & Firkin – Birmingham

Thurs 18th May, The Windmill – Brixton, London

Sat 20th May, The Great Escape festival – Brighton

Tour with Sign & The Answer

Sun 21st May Barfly, London

Mon 22nd May Barfly, Birmingham

Tue 23rd May Barfly, Liverpool

Wed 24th May Barfly, Glasgow

Thu 25th May York, Fibbers

Fri 26th May Barfly, Cardiff

Thurs 8th June, Buffalo Bar – London w/GayforJohnnyDepp

Weds 21st June, Club Fandango@ Water Rats – London

You can grab tickets from most major outlets and www.ticketline.co.uk / www.barflyclub.com

Categories
Live Reviews

Test Icicles Live

Whirlwind Heat
London Astoria
22-04-2006

Hey peeps, thought I would fill you in on the LAST EVER TEST ICICLES SHOW ON THIS PLANET!

It was fucking awesome! I now have an inkling on what an acid trip back in the 60’s must have been like! It opened with Whirlwind Heat, an electro punk band three-piece from Michigan. In the beginning I was thinking : Rise of the Amateur, but after a couple of songs I started warming to them. It was like being at a punk rave – completely mis-placed and bizarre, which is why they were probably spotted by Jack White at the beginning of their journey up the rock ladder. Refreshing! It was like nothing I had ever heard…and I say that because I think they were making it all up as they went along. A little prodigy-clash-squarepusher-killers, with a few stolen riffs here and there. Definitely an experience!

In-between Test Icicles mainlining the crowd was moshing to Drum&Bass like it was a Brixton night jam!

By the time they came on stage for the last leg of their Boa vs. Python tour, the Astoria had turned into a hot-box of raging heat and weed. Judging by the very sick, sweaty and transed out teenagers pushing past me there seemed to be a lot more than weed going around. Good thing they were on their way out, because the rest of us needed the much deprived space.

There was no messing around. They went straight on stage, mumbled a quick intro and got their teeth straight into the set. They played tracks from their first album, and joked around about with some experimental crap they claimed to be their 2nd album that nobody would get to hear…good thing too, as apparently it would have been 30min of a whining out of tune guitar…

At least they had a great sense of humour throughout the gig, and kept reminding us it was the last gig they would ever play *talk about milking it*…I’m stoked they chose to end their fast-food fame at London Astoria, the town where it probably all kicked off for them? Best of all they rewarded us with HUGE balloon balls…tons of em, while they had a quick water break. Not to say the show was at all boring. It was non-stop entertainment from raving pirate girls with wings, and UV bracelets, to kids sporting their best schizophrenic disco moves and getting into fights, to some boy from Chicago (who flew out just for this show, and was disappointed by the short set!-BTW) trying to convince me he was going to get back stage because he was from the same town as Whirlwind Heat (sadly, never happened because he kept forgetting the bands name and offering left over weed from his sock to all the lovely ladies *crash and burn*)

Although there was a referral by Rory about a Smashing Pumpkins gig that was “better than them” when he was 14. I still don’t believe the crowd went completely as mental as I saw it explode that night! For a band which is not legendary for sing-along-anthems the lyrics “Still so far…yet so close” have the crowd singing, and hanging onto every breath. ‘Circle, Square, Triangle’ leaves the venue standing on a very small thread, with people getting crushed like an overcrowded football game!

Intermittently we were ‘treated’ to Rory’s Canadian brother’s death metal voice with his lone guitarist who coyly shook his head with shame, and faced the wall as he reluctantly strummed along to the chaos happening behind him. Only in the encore did his screams really warm up alongside his brother. They had everyone on stage – Test Icicle (I’m assuming that would be the plural?) boys, Rory’s brothers two-piece, including Kelly Osborne look-alike girlfriend who was trying to sing along rock karaoke style, some roadies, and some friends. And what a better way to end a set by systematically trashing everything on stage…apologising, and leaving the stage to pave the way for the ‘please make your way to the exit’ intercom message.

Pity we will never get another flash of that sexy lumo pink guitar. Great show which put to bed the end of a Test Icicle Era! It was all over at 9:30 sharp as we had to clear the way for GAY night!

Fans will be pleased to know that as a parting gift they released a CD (with bonus DVD of live gig footage) yesterday, which is now available on Amazon. You gotta love their dry humour, its more appropriately titled: Dig Your Own Grave! They have also released a free track (after you sell your soul to some online telemarketing hounds who will then taint the rest of your natural life with calls from Anyway). MySpace will never be the same…

Niki Kova’cs

Categories
Music News

Snoop Pens Novel

Snoop Dogg has taken time away from rapping to start writing on his first novel, titled Love Don’t Live Here No More which is scheduled to be the first in a series. The story, unsurprisingly, follows the life of a young rapper trying to make it big.

His publisher has claimed that its a chance to speak to a female audience more than he does in his music, so we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out. Get that gin and juice ready…

www.snoopdogg.com

Categories
Music News

Nebula Announce UK Tour With The Sword!

Hot on the heels of their recently released ‘Apollo‘ album on Sweet Nothing Records, cult fuzz rockers Nebula are preparing to hit these shores alongside the much anticipated debut appearance by mighty metal Texans The Sword. If you have any taste, you’ll be there to enjoy this mouth watering line up. You know it makes sense!

Dates are as follows:

May

11th – Glasgow – Barfly
12th – Birmingham – Carling Academy
13th – Sheffield – Cooperation
14th – London – Dingwalls

www.nebulamusic.com

Categories
Music News

Test Icicles Final Show

Spazz-core outfit Test Icicles played their last ever show on Saturday at the Astoria in London to mark the end of their brief career. The group, who cancelled all US dates after announcing the split, played a 45 minute set and dropped balloons on the crowd, whilst also handing out badges which proclaimed “Test Icicles RIP”.

The show was rowdy as hell and you should look out for a live review coming soon on Crossfire.

For the time being, you can check out their official site: www.test-icicles.com

Categories
Music News

Flea Wants Bush Impeached

Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers has written on the band’s official website saying that he believes George Bush should be impeached for telling lies about his foreign policy. Flea wrote:

“George W Bush should definitely be impeached, he is a liar and his lies have bought misery to millions of people and bought no good to anyone except for the corporate oil billionaires who are making huge profits. Bush has made the world a much less safe place. Before the war Iraq was not a place for terrorists. Saddam Hussein, brutal dictator that he was, was secular and had nothing to do with Al Queda. The people of Iraq are no better off at all. All those people want is for the Americans to leave decent families and people like you and I who never wanted America there in the first place”.

To read the full update, click here.

Categories
Music News

Rapper Swift In Prison

D12 member Swift has been put in jail on a violation of probation when he missed a court hearing due to being at the funeral of his late crewmate Proof. He now faces 93 days in jail after not turning up at court on drink driving offences.

His probation stipulated that he stay clear of drink and drugs, and as he was done for drinking, the length of time is higher than normal.

Bit harsh to chuck the fella in jail for being at his friend’s funeral, where he was an honourary pallbearer really.

www.d12online.com

Categories
Music News

Doherty Out Of Jail…Again!

Him again. The former Libertines frontman was thrown into the slammer only hours after escaping a jail sentence for possession. Why did he get locked up in an East London cop shop? Yeah, you guessed it, drugs charges. He was released on bail and has to return in June, when he may be charged.

Continuing the prison theme, apparently he is considering playing a concert at Pentonville Prison in London in a tribute to Johnny Cash’s legendary show at Folsom Prison.

www.babyshambles.com

Categories
Music News

Eels Announce UK Dates

Remember Eels? Yeah, they were quality back in the day before disappearing off the radar for a bit. But they’re back to play dates in June over here in the UK. The group recently released a CD/DVD called Eels With Strings Live At Town Hall and no doubt will be recreating it on stage. They’ll also feature at the Wireless Festival this summer, playing in London and Leeds.

The two new dates are:

June 23rd – London Astoria
June 26th – Glasgow ABC

www.eelstheband.com

Categories
DVD Reviews

Dig!

[Tartan Video]

When a documentary is made from seven years of filming, you know that you’re in for a lot of action, and Dig! certainly doesn’t deviate from that. The documentary charts the fortunes of two groups, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, both of whom start off as friends, especially the two front men, Courtney Taylor-Taylor [Dandys] and Anton Newcombe [BJM].

The two groups both start off the journey as small groups on the West Coast of the States, but soon after the start of the documentary, the road splits and takes the groups away from each other, with the Dandys gaining a deal with Capitol and BJM starting as they meant to go on by ruining their own label showcase.

From the very beginning, label execs and journalists are throwing superlatives the way of Anton, calling him a genius and saying he could well be the most important person in music at the time, but Anton throughout the film only cares about Anton. It’s not a case of the frontman spiralling downwards, because even at the very beginning he’s a larger than life madman. As they tour, Anton beats up various bandmates, fires entire line ups and even tries to sabotage the Dandy’s concerts.

The path of the Dandy Warhols is a tale of a mix between success and let downs. Whilst they do gain a deal and have a lot of money thrown at them for videos, Anton’s speech about not wanting to be taken for a ride by major labels is true as the Dandys receive very little support or exposure as the film goes on. However, eventually the use of one of their tracks on mobile advert sees them break it big in Europe.

But it is the constant whirlwind of Anton’s life that stays as the basis of this documentary. Clearly so into his music that nothing else matters, Anton can’t stay off the drugs or the violence on stage and the documentary ends with him kicking a fan in the head, much to the surprise of everyone in the room and no doubt those watching the DVD. It clocks in at under at just under 2 hours but it flies by, and this is definitely a must see DVD, regardless of whether you like, or even know, either band.

Abjekt