Oh yes, this could be one of the finest records in the history of skateboarding and music! Someone somewhere in Germany came up with the idea of having the cheesiest skateboard tunes EVER on one disc and released it! I guess that the tunes on this CD from the 70’s are the roots of what made skate rock in the 80’s but obviously with a completely different flavour, but what is totally unbelievable is the fact that every tune on this compilation is as camp as Little Britain and makes you wanna actually go into the shed to find your 70’s roller skates and be totally gay in the street! With a mix of classic 70’s funk, disco and surf flavoured Beach Boys style songs on every track you are not gonna be disappointed whatsoever if you have a sense of humour..
85% of the track names start with the word Skateboard such as Skateboard Racer, Skateboard Boogie, Shuffle, Saturday, Queen and so on featuring acts such as The Carvels from the UK, Sneakers and Lace, Daffy Duck and even Marc Bolan’s T.Rex appear with a track at the end of the record! Yeah, and guess what it’s called? “Skateboard!“…this is a must have for pure fun value. It’s the CD you will be picking out of your collection when you get back from the pub with a handful of drunken mates and dance round the table until you collapse with laughter. Expect to hear this on skate DVD’s and web clips for many years to come. It really sounds like someone is seriously taking the piss and is worth every penny.
There is a limited edition double gatefold vinyl pack on sale to, go get one from Diggler and try it for yourself or just buy it direct from herehere.
So, here we are again, Damon Albarn and his team of cool-ass chimps are back with a fresh slice of twisted beats going by the name of Dirty Harry and believe me when i say that this weapon is not carrying a silencer, because this is a sure fire hit and one of the best tunes on the Demon Days album. With Dangermouse on the production and Albarns futuristic songwriting skills, the Gorillaz have stated their intention to dominate the music charts and have followed it through to match the success of the debut album back in 2002.
The More I See feature ex-Prodigy guitarist Gizz Butt on guitar and are the result of Gizz’s misspent youth spent listening to equal parts metal and punk, cutting his teeth in metal inspired punk bands like The Desecrators and English Dogs, he found brief fame as the punk guitarist in the Prodigy during their controversial hit single period, before returning to relative obscurity with melodic punks Janus Stark then seeing a return to a more metal approach with The More I See. And in many ways they are the ideal support band for Exodus tonight as they have their roots firmly set in the eighties thrash metal explosion that tonight’s headliners hail from. It’s a shame that a muted response from a crowd only really interested in the headliners and a seemingly endless succession of technical problems stop the band from really getting into their stride, but for the most part, they play a solid competent set of old school metal thrills.
Exodus were originally formed back in 1982 by guitarist Gary Holt and future Metallica man Kirk Hammet and were one of the most exciting and powerful metal bands of the era, creating one of the genre’s true classics in their debut release ‘Bonded By Blood’ – a record that is twice as vicious and fast as Metallica’s debut and only really bettered by Slayer in the aggression stakes. However, Exodus have had more then their fair share of bad luck over the years and have been plagued by line-up problems and the tragic and sudden death of original singer Paul Baloff in 2002. But this is not a band that will be stopped easily. ‘Certain members decided they’d rather stay home than do this,’ spits an obviously pissed off Gary Holt. ‘But I will never let Exodus die!‘ And from the moment they hit the stage, they play like a band that has never been more alive! Charging straight into their first album’s title track ‘Bonded By Blood‘, the whole venue explodes in waves of energy as the new revigorated and revamped band bark and snap at the front of the stage like rabid pitbulls.
They might have been Public Enemy Number 1 fifteen years ago, but today they don’t even make the top fifty most wanted. In hip hop circles, Public Enemy dropped further and further off the radar with every new release after Apocalypse 91 – The Enemy Strikes Back, so it’s no surprise that the Forum’s not even full to half capacity. Seems the kids just don’t care anymore for Chuck D’s rhetoric.
The Pacific Northwest of United States is a hot bed for melodic, rhythmic indie rock. The likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Hot Hot Heat have put a nice twist on the music in this region. When you think of the demographics of the country you can understand why some sounds are allowed to nurture without mainstream crud being shoved down their throat.
Fusing rock, reggae and ska, Canada’s Bedouin Soundclash have created a truly refreshing and uplifting sound that holds the spirit of The Clash true to it’s heart, whilst drawing inspiration from Bob Marley’s combination of pop song-writing skills and roots reggae. Produced by legendary Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jennifer, ‘When The Night Feels My Song’ is one of the many gems from their ‘Sounding a Mosaic’ album that will appeal to fans of classic punk-reggae hybrids like The Ruts, The Police and Still Little Fingers, harking back to the days when the first generation of punks found much they could relate to in reggae. Bedouin Soundclash are guaranteed to lift your spirits through these cold, dark winter months. We need this now more than ever!
With the loss of a founding member after more than a decade together, many bands would have struggled to maintain the same passion and enthusiasm that has driven them to such a lengthy and successful career in the first place. Bakersfield rock icons Koßn, however, are not one of them. With a new line-up, new label and new album; things are once again firmly on the up. The first single from their forthcoming album ‘See You On The Other Side‘, ‘Twisted Transistor’ is the sound of a band very much still at the top of their game. A perfect blend of pop sensibility and haunting hard rock melodies, it’s a song to silence all cynics, and further proof that this is a band very much “here to stay”.
I’ve never seen this venue so full. The night kicks off with an explosive 3-piece Electric Eel Shock, who take no prisoners. These little Japanese guys have the biggest, hardest sound. Think Metallica cross Led Zeppelin. Complete Rock ‘n Roll in the most classic sense~even though they are classified as Garage-Metal. Combined with a fantastic stage performance and a healthy balance of nudity, they played a mental show I would definitely sign up for again. Big hair, big personalities and a healthy dose of originality make them a performance not easily forgotten.
Bloodhound Gang! They start off with some favourites, new tracks from their 2005 ‘Hefty Fine‘ release and, some old classics from ‘Hooray for Boobies‘. And yes, some of the Tesco Essex girls (I never said it-they did!) in the crowd took that quite literally! Every word was sung like it was a mantra. They threw in ‘The ballad of Chasey Lain‘, ‘Along comes Mary‘ and, ‘Hell yeah‘-enough reminiscence to make you feel 16 all over again. Their new album may not be a musical wonder, but their humor and stage antics definitely make it an entertaining show. Jimmy Pop seems to have followed in Steve O’s steps and done course at circus school. It must have been all that time off between their last album release in 2002! 
Their new album is cheesier, and has a vast amount of dick ‘n’ fart jokes! Their 2005 claim to fame would be Bam Margera’s guest appearance in the music video for ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo‘ ~obviously in true BG style that spells FUCK. That and their petition to get their new track “Pennsylvania” to become the new Keystone State’s anthem! (*see their website for more details-
So this is where the music industry hang out on a Wednesday night then. Thankfully this show brought out the crème rather than the riff raff, I must have been at the right show after all. Newly signed Welsh act The Automatic had just finished a tour with Hard-Fi which is probably a good starting point to explain influences and sound. This 4 piece have a set full of indie pop with strange lyrics about monsters and rats which slightly confuses me to be honest as a few of the lyrics in this set could be picked straight out of a Super Furry Animals record.
Humanzi are on the flip side tonight. After hearing their debut single explode across underground radio shows across the UK recently it was always going to be interesting to see if they could pull it off live but they did better than that, they killed it leaving the support bands in the dark. One of the support bands were heard saying “we should just give up now” and although I missed the first 2 bands you would have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on this set.
In direct contrast, Bullet Union are a tightly sprung coil of energy that instantly explodes across the stage on impact, taking their love of Dischord post-hardcore and San Diego based Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu guitar noise and moulding it into something that is very much their own. Tonight they are better than they have ever been. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve already played one gig earlier tonight and they are still buzzing from the adrenalin but they play with such power and passion that thoughts like ‘this is the best band in London‘ keep flashing through your mind. Right now Bullet Union are on a mission to play as many gigs as possible so expect them to arrive in a town near you soon and don’t miss them.
It’s Halloween tonight and the ghouls are out in force to subject themselves to the horrifying noise that is Part Chimp. They arrive onstage in-front of a screen that pumps out blood and guts images from ‘The Evil Dead’ and the like and proceed to unleash tidal waves of crushing noise that have the less masochistic members of the audience cowering at the back with their fingers in their ears. However, it’s very easy to just focus on how loud Part Chimp are when actually, buried underneath the dense, thick slabs of sound are almost hidden, part whispered melodies and guitar harmonics that show depth and variety in the music that others might miss. Take forthcoming single ‘New Cross‘ for example; while the abrasive volume may stop it bothering the charts and you’re not likely to see Part Chimp on Top Of The Pops just yet, it does hold a killer melodic hook that works against the swirls of noise nicely. And that’s Part Chimp all over. Scratch beyond the surface and you’ll be surprised what you may find.