To celebrate the fact that it’s 2 years today since the official release date of their very first compilation – ‘Brink of the Clouds’- London based label Art Is Hard Records have announced that their back catalogue is up for FREE download until midnight Tuesday 18th September. This means 12 releases and close to 100 songs are all up for grabs!
You can download the MP3’s here. We recommend getting your ears into a bit of summery Best Friends (which you can stream below), but you may as well go wild and download everything, after all, it’s FREE!
With still many more bands to announce, the UK date of the legendary Vans Warped Tour has sold out with around two months to go until the event. This years festival will take place at Alexandra Palace in London on November 10th and the line up promises to make it one hell of a show.
As well as headliners Lostprophets and Bring Me The Horizon there are a whole host of awesome bands including Funeral For A Friend, The Story So Far, Man Overboard, Architects, Bury Tomorrow and The Acacia Strain. There are also a few controversial choices on the list including Blood On The Dancefloor!
In addition to the music event it has been confirmed that a number of Vans skate and BMX team riders will be making an appearance as well as Steve Caballero and Dennis McCoy with many more to be announced.
Although the London event has sold out there are still a handful of tickets remaining for ‘Road To Warped Tour’ headlined by New Found Glory. Pick them up here.
Its only been 35 years in the waiting but today marks the release of a promo video for Sex Pistols’s classic ‘Holidays in the Sun’. Unlike the Sex Pistols other single’s from the infamous ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ (‘Anarchy in the UK’, ‘God Save The Queen’ and ‘Pretty Vacant’) no promo video for ‘Holidays in the Sun’ was ever filmed.
The newly released promo video was edited by longtime Sex Pistols collaborator Julien Temple and has been compiled from previously unreleased footage especially for use on the limited edition super deluxe box set ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’.
Temple comments on the vibrant video saying:
“The live performance was shot using one camera and shows the extraordinary captivating quality of the band at the time. There was shock in the room, it was hypnotising, contagious, and unfolded right in front of you. It was filmed in Penzance in September 1977, the Pistols arrived unannounced and the audience couldn’t believe what they were getting”
Limited edition super deluxe box set ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ is due to be released September 24th through Universal Music UK.
This isn’t the first time Giants have graced our buzz chart, earlier this summer they launched into the top spot with lead single ‘Snakes’. Now with a mini-album to add to their arsenal, Giants are again dominating the Crossfire stereo.
The band seem to display what a lot of hardcore and punk bands are lacking at the moment, it’s something that is impossible to put your finger on, but this band just get it right. Basically, their style is gnarly as fuck without the guys taking themselves too seriously.
‘These Are The Days’ races through as an adrenaline fueled assault. ‘When It Comes Down To It’, ‘Bottled Up’ and ‘Snakes’ are barely over a minute each, but why drag out the length of a song when you’re already nailing the point in a nutshell?
The bass and guitar tone of the mini-album gives the overall impression of an old school skate punk record, whilst the occasional ‘two-step’ pace and constant aggressive vocals propels ‘These Are The Days’ straight back into the realms of present day hardcore. This is a little corker that needs to be blasted out at full volume.
With a mental live show, stated as a ‘must see band’ by yours truly at Crossfire and tipped to be the next big thing by Metal Hammer, UK band The Safety Fire are hot property right now. After putting out an insanely strong debut in ‘Grind The Ocean‘ earlier this year we needed to grab a chat with the eccentric band. Backstage at Hevy festival journalist Emma Wallace caught up with hilarious front man Sean McWeeney, and banterous guitarist Derya Nagle who were suitably dressed in Hawaiian shirts! Here’s what went down…
How have your festival performances gone down this summer?
Sean: Well today we played Hevy, and considering we were on at 12:30 I was pretty pleased with the turn out. I thought people would still be dying in their tents, but it was quite busy.
Deyra: Yeah I mean its always hard when you are a smaller band or on early in the day but that performance went well. I heard it was a lot busier than for the bands at the same time yesterday. Pretty pleased!
Sean: But the problem with playing so early is that you finish early and get drunk early and you still have the whole day and night ahead of you to drink!
Deyra: Just to point out, we aren’t alcoholics. We don’t drink before we go on stage. We’re good boys like that. At Download we played at like half eight in the evening, but we didn’t drink before that, and there was plenty of hanging around before hand that could have been taken up by drinking! Download was cool actually, we played before Gallows and Cancer Bats. It was rammed. It was ace.
Sweet! Guys, I can’t really ignore it anymore, what’s with your attire today?! Hawaiian shirts aren’t that metal!
Deyra: Well we are at a festival so why not eh?! Hawaiian shirts are where it’s at. The sun’s out today, and I think you can thank us for that.
Sean: The shirts have a nice little story behind them. We originally bought them all in Florida when we were touring there.
Deyra: And someone told us they have a magical power. And earlier on today none other than Andrew W.K. gave us the nod of approval. You know one of those looks that are like ‘Yes Sir, you look mighty fine.’
Sean: Indeed, it was actually a point and a nod. You can’t get better than that. These shirts were actually bought at a Salvation Army charity store on a highway. Someone might have died wearing this shirt. They cost the equivalent of about £1. And they are beautiful shirts so you can’t miss a bargain like that. So essentially, what we are doing to metal is bringing the Floridian sun over to England. I think it might catch on you know, they are gorgeous and I’d love it if people turned up to shows in floral shirts, i’ts injecting a whole lot of colour into a goth club. All the hardcore kids are in tie dye, but I’m not sure, you need something more formal, I mean these shirts have buttons. They might make an appearance on the BTBAM tour!
They are beautiful indeed…Well you’ve bought us on quite nicely to the tour. How are you feeling about that? Excited?!
Deyra: Its going to be a lot of fun! We know the Periphery guys really well who are on the tour. Playing at Shepherds Bush Empire will be special. We’ve played all sorts of venues in London, right from the bottom to some of the best.
Sean: It’s great to play to a passionate crowd after years of playing to one man and his dog.
Deyra: And to be on tour with Between The Buried And Me will be something else. We feel that musically we are closely matched. They’re one of those bands where we think our style is very similar and I imagine their fans will be open minded and listen to what we do and enjoy it.
Are there any bands out there at the moment you think deserve a plug?
Deyra: Let’s go with all our old tour buddies Rise To Remain and Bleed From Within.
Sean: No not Bleed From Within! I’m starting a tongue-in-cheek hate campaign against them so plugging them doesn’t really work! They are from this area in the north of England called Scotland. You can barely understand them when they talk. They say ‘Hello we are Bleed From Within’, but it sounds more like ‘Bleed From Wuthwon’ or something bizarre like that.
Deyra: Sean isn’t actually a dick. We take the piss out of them and they do it to us. We tend to do it in interviews the most. I think this is about round three of TSF v BFW. Scott, the pretty front man, stole a pair of Sean’s sunglasses, he didn’t like that very much. So now, we have a bit of banter with the guys, a bit of friendly beef. Make sure they find out about this though, make sure you get me in there quoted as saying ‘Bleed From Within are from Northern England’.
Sean: But yes, they are a great band. We’re just better haha!
Catch The Safety Fire on tour with Periphery and Between The Buried And Me at the following shows:
OCTOBER
1st, Reading – Sub 89
2nd, Wolverhampton – Slade Rooms
3rd, Glasgow – The Garage
4th, Newcastle – O2 Academy 2
5th, Manchester – O2 Club Academy
6th, Leeds – Cockpit
7th, Bristol – O2 Academy
8th, Southampton – The Brook
The Xcerts
The Borderline, London
13th September 2012
I remember the first time I saw The Xcerts. It was a cold and damp late summer night up in Glasgow. Having just moved there, and therefore knowing nothing about the Scottish music scene, I was truly happy and surprised to be watching them play in the crypt of a converted Church. So I set off for Soho, pumped and in an almost euphoric state, to see this trio blast their own brand of distorted punk-rock pop laced music into the faces of Londoners.
The first thing to mention is that the Borderline has never been the biggest venue, but tonight it is rammed, as you walk down the stairs you have to squeeze past people trying to get a view of the stage. On top of this it’s hot as hell, but there’s a real buzz in the air as we all wait for the band to walk on stage. All of a sudden they appear and the music starts.
Now this is the part where I’m suppose to tell you how much I loved the show, and how it was ‘THE BEST GIG EVER!’, but it wasn’t. The sound at the start of the set was shocking, and when I say shocking I mean really crap, as you can hardly hear the guitar or vocals beyond a wall of distortion. Thankfully after about three songs the problems with the P.A. is sorted, however, although the majority of the audience seems to be really loving this play-through of their 2011 Scatterbrain album, I’m not blown away at all. I loved their first album, 2009’s ‘In The Cold Wind We Smile’, and I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of ‘Scatterbrain’, but I really thought it would gain a whole new dimension live. It didn’t really have that effect. While you can’t really say it’s a bad album, in my opinion, it’s just not as good as their debut effort.
The crowd are ready enough to sing-along towards the end and the band thank everyone for their enthusiasm. You can really tell it means a lot to them to see an audience who has embraced their music and a gig format such as this completely, but then it’s all over as they round up the set up after about 45 minutes and there’s not a trace of any earlier material, just one older track could have done the job.
You can’t fault the band’s musicianship, they played exactly the same way as the very first time I saw them in Glasgow, but the poor sound at the venue added to the lack of a truly gob-smacking set list made this, very sadly, just another ‘good but not great’ gig.
If you went and were new to the band, then I can appreciate you’re going to disagree entirely, but for anyone who’s seen them play live before this was not the best gig the boys have played.
UK indie label A Wolf At Your Door Records have announced their latest signing as Post-hardcore Brighton based band Eager Teeth.
Eager Teeth formed just over 18 months ago from the ashes of Telegraphs, Chaos Days and This City and have already started to cause a stir with their nostalgic brand of alternative post-hardcore. The band have spent much of this summer in the studio with emerging producer pair Thomas Mitchener and Steve Sears (Gallows, Spycatcher) tracking their brilliant self-titled debut album, which is set for release early next year.
AWAYDR are certainly an exciting label to join, having launched Deaf Havana’s career and with up and coming artists Marllory Knox and Hildamay on their roster. To mark the beginning of the AWAYDR and Eager Teeth partnership, album track ‘Exorcise Bike’ has been made available for FREE DOWNLOAD, you can grab it below.
A little while back we bought you an introducing interview with a band we find very exciting. That band is Proxies. Their latest release, ‘Lost Tapes, Volume II: Dead-Weight’ explains why we see such potential in this young band.
Opening up with ‘Deadweight, Veritas’ vocals seductively dance around a repetitive, slow-tempo clean guitar riff whilst electronic atmospherics are absorbed into your ears making for a sensual yet eerie start to the EP.
Another clean guitar lick invites the listener into an already established fan favourite ‘Trojan (Inside Your Chest)’. Here Proxies really begin to shine. A pounding kick drums ups the tempo just before a ridiculously catchy bridge and chorus take hold. Again with ‘Masquerade’ the band nail ‘catchy’ with perfect song structure. The track reflects a similar style to early, Panic! At The Disco (think ‘Time To Dance’ taken from ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’). In fact, it could be said Proxies are one of the first bands to display the same amount of ingenious pop/rock and electronica crossover appeal since Panic!.
Proxies have begun to refine a sound that is as accessible as a mainstream version of Enter Shikari, late Pendulum and something undeniably unique. They’ve even managed to capture a bit of radio friendly dub-step in there which is oh so fashionable at the moment. With a bit more beef put into the riffs and production, Proxies will have it spot. This band will take over the hearts of teenagers everywhere.
B.DOLAN’S CHURCH OF LOVE & RUIN TOUR
Feat: B.Dolan, Sage Francis, Madge of Honor, The What Cheer Bridage, Dan Le Sac
Sub89, Reading
06th September 2012
*FULL GALLERY FEATURE BELOW*
As Dan Le Sac wrapped up his triumphant home town DJ set, there came an alarming sound from the back of the venue. A procession appears and they kept on coming, taking everyone by surprise like an ambush. Masked and covered in zombie-like make-up, the marching band arrives from all angles. Drums, cowbells, trumpets, flutes, it was a complete free for all in the intimate venue and the crowed were left in utter shock…
They have no interest in the stage, as far as they’re concerned, the whole venue is a stage. So the crowd dodges drum sticks, ducks under the dude with the massive trombone and dances along with the band. What an into. It was something special.
As the the tempo slowed down the band started to lower themselves to the ground, kneeling, then eventually sitting down, taking everyone with them. Now that’s the 1st time I’ve ever seen a room full of people, at a gig, boogieing their buts off whilst actually sitting down!
They eventually found the stage. But not until after the percussionists had sat chanting together in the centre of the venue like a tribe from the depths of the amazon rainforest. They then did laps getting everyone involved. Reading’s Sub89 was treated like a carnival. We were all in shock. What the heck was that, who are these guys B Dolan found? They are, The What Cheer Brigade.
Its clear straight away that ‘The Church of Love and Ruin’tour is an experience, not you’re average concert. None of the tedious waiting around whilst each performer finishes their set. After What Cheer left for the back-room, there is an interim performance, B Dolan welcomes the next act on tonight’s bill, Madge of Honor, a burlesque artist. “Does anyone know what burlesque is? It is the art of ass and titties” says Dolan as Madge takes the stage and deliverers her somewhat titillating performance
B Dolan reappears dressed in a robe, with an ornate cross around his neck and black wayfarer sunglasses. He is the pope, the priest of the Church of Love & Ruin. He takes the stage, the bass drops, and he does what he does best, the lyrical mastermind keeps the audience engaged for the next hour. Delivering the best of the best from his albums ‘The Failure’ and ‘Fallen House, Sunken City’. He also opts for the controversial, yet hilarious ‘Open Letter to JT’.
Meanwhile Sage Francis comes on stage dressed like a Biblical shepherd, with a cloak and a white scarf around his head, and of course sporting his legendary lengthy beard. If all shepherds could rap like that, they’d be a force to be reckoned with! The mix of spoken word poetry and and hip-hop was received well by the audience, Finished off with the gripping fan favorite, ‘Best of Times.’
The Church of Love & Ruin is going to be an experience which will be hard to forget!
The Facebook event page to invite guests is located here.
The infamous CROSSFIRE HALLOWEEN MASSACRE returns to London on Saturday 27th October with a frenzied skate jam during the day and a boat party at night for all fiends.
As this year marks 100 years of HMS Titanic going down, we invite you to shred the brand new BaySixty6 Skatepark with guest pro teams and then hail the high seas on the Thames for a nautical themed evening of Hip Hop, Rock, Breaks, Drum ‘n’ Bass and more aboard The Battersea Barge with guest DJ’s.
Start planning your travel arrangements and book two days off work to recover.
The Skate Jam at Bay Sixty 6 will be open to all from 12pm-5pm and will feature guest pro riders from Witchcraft, Creature (UK), Lovenskate, Kill City, Heroin and Death Skateboards. Expect an open, all day skate jam with best street trick comps in the new hydraulic street section, plus a Zombie bowl sesh in the new 6ft beast. This will be a day of total carnage in the new park where NBD’s will be on display all day from the session.
Confirmed guest riders include:
Heroin: Questions, Rogie, Casper Brooker and Tom Day. Lovenskate: Ewen Bower, Matt Ransom, Chav Dan, Lucy Adams, Alex Barton and Lee Santer. Witchcraft: Arbel Samsanov, Max Roton, Mikey Joyce and Jamie Morley. Death: Rob Smith, Dan Cates, Nudge, Adam Moss, Sam Murgatroyd, Alex Lally and Radman. Kill City Sam Pulley and Sox. Creature: Salar Kooshki and Carl Potter. Stand Up: Aaron Sweeney, Marcus Adams, Jeremy Jones, Adam Collingburn, Doug Parmiterm, Evan Knight, Hector Barnett, Caspar Barnett, Jamal Bendriss.
ORDINARY MADNESS SCREENING!
We will also be screening the Death Skateboards ‘Ordinary Madness‘ DVD on the big screen from 1.30pm. Don’t miss it!
We invite you to come in Halloween fancy dress. It is of course optional but please note that most will make an effort including the guest riders. Prizes will be awarded to the very best fancy dress outfits on the day.
Tickets for the jam are £10 for the full day out and available on the door at the brand new BaySixty6 Skatepark, 66-67 Acklam Rd, London, W10 5YU from midday on Saturday 27th October.
This year’s Massacre party in association with Front is now sold out. The party will be held on The Battersea Barge, Tideway Dock/Tideway Walk/Kirtling St, London, SW8 5PZ from 8pm until late. (3am ish)
We welcome special guest DJs Eddy Temple Morris (XFM Remix show), Stereotype, Johnny Doom & Matt Stocks (Kerrang! Radio), Talita Two Shoes (Total Rock), Phoebe Winter (Planet Rock). Expect a serious mash up of classic tunes to make this the best night out you will have this year.
Don’t forget that the best part of the night is that the clocks go back at 2am meaning you get an extra hour of partying!
The address of the boat is The Battersea Barge, Tideway Dock/Tideway Walk/Kirtling St, London, SW8 5PZ. For some, this boat can be hard to find, so look out for a small alleyway next to the Thames Water Company building on Nine Elms Lane (A3205). Walk down this alleyway and at the end of it, you will see the boat. It’s down the road to Battersea Dogs Home, so if we have any casualties to deal with amongst the Zombies that are on board, we will drop you off there at the end of the night.
On a serious note though, knowing that the boat is moored and not sailing, please be aware that your safety is our main concern and also in your own hands at this party. Crossfire will not take responsibility for your actions once you are on-board the Battersea Barge. When you arrive, the likelihood is that the boat will be beached, but by 1am, the tide is scheduled to rise and be 18 metres in depth. Yes, that’s extremely deep. It will also be freezing cold, windy and very dangerous, so look after yourself and your friends and we will all have a fantastic night out as usual.
When you reach the boat you will need to bring your ID to confirm your tickets. If your ticket is in someone else’s name, then make sure you have their full details and booking code as they will match the names on the list at the door. Our friendly security guys will greet you, please give them a hug as they are there for your safety. The boat takes all sorts of credit cards etc but note that there is no cash point on-board and none nearby so plan ahead.
Please note that there will be no tickets available on the door. but tickets may become available on the FB event page if people pull out. See you there!
To celebrate the fact that it’s 2 years today since the official release date of their very first compilation – ‘Brink of the Clouds’- London based label Art Is Hard Records have announced that their back catalogue is up for FREE download until midnight Tuesday 18th September. This means 12 releases and close to 100 songs are all up for grabs!
GIANTS
With a mental live show, stated as a ‘must see band’ by yours truly at Crossfire and tipped to be the next big thing by Metal Hammer, UK band The Safety Fire are hot property right now. After putting out an insanely strong debut in ‘Grind The Ocean‘ earlier this year we needed to grab a chat with the eccentric band. Backstage at Hevy festival journalist Emma Wallace caught up with hilarious front man Sean McWeeney, and banterous guitarist Derya Nagle who were suitably dressed in Hawaiian shirts! Here’s what went down…
The Xcerts
UK indie label A Wolf At Your Door Records have announced their latest signing as Post-hardcore Brighton based band Eager Teeth.
Proxies
B.DOLAN’S CHURCH OF LOVE & RUIN TOUR
