The Impericon Never Say Die Tour (INSD) has been tearing its way across Europe since 2007. The mini-touring festival -comparable to Vans Warped Tour- showcases exciting upcoming and established acts in the world of Metalcore, Metal, Hardcore, Punk and Deathcore with previous bands on the bill including Emmure, Architects, Suicide Silence, Bleeding Through and Parkway Drive.
On 18th October the 8 band bill tore apart Camden’s Electric Ballroom with headliners We Came As Romans showing how dynamic the genre of metalcore can be. However it was reported that Obey The Brave (who took our ‘Album of the Week’ spot with ‘Young Blood‘ back in early August) stole the show. As ever Stick To Your Guns impressed with their uplifting brand of hardcore whilst blessthefall and For The Fallen Dreams were widely appreciated due to impressive performances from their charismatic front men. We sent talented photographer Jake Owens to capture the annual jaunt through his lens, here are his results…
The BrowningObey The BraveFor The Fallen DreamsStick To Your GunsStick To Your GunsBlessthefallBlessthefallWe Came As RomansWe Came As RomansWe Came As RomansWe Came As RomansImpericon Never Say Die Tour
‘Sound and Vision’ by Shepard Fairey
Until November 4th, 2012
Stolenspace Gallery E1 6QL, London
Words and photos by Phil Procter
It’s been 5 years since Shepard Fairey’s OBEY camp invaded London with Nineteeneightyfouria and this time they are back for total Sound and Vision domination.
His brand new show hosted in London’s Brick Lane has been nothing short of a main attraction. Queues of onlookers have graced the pavements outside for the first few days to witness Shepard’s latest work, showcased alongside legendary sound commander, Z-Trip on the turntables. Z-Trip and Fairey have been collaborating together for years, and both attack their art with a punk mentality that is mixed with the cut and paste ethos of the classic late 80s Hip Hop sound.
Those who adore collecting mixtapes will no doubt be rushing to download his new mixtape which oozes a mash-up of classic Hip Hop and propoganda-inspired beats from the likes of Public Enemy and many more.
The emphasis of this show features the music that inspired Shepard to become an iconic figure in the art world. The installation of an old-skool record store enables you to delve into his collection of Fugazi, Public Enemy, the Sex Pistols and many more acts that influenced his desire to create. The art itself is spread over two spaces. The Stolenspace Gallery is dedicated to album art, while around the corner on Dray Walk, there’s a pop-up store hosting Obey Clothing and the main gallery space for his art which spans across 3 floors. The main building concentrates on influences, with a wall of fame dedicated to album art and portraits of leading members of different genres and subcultures. On display here are artists like Basquiat and Keith Haring, as well as musicians that include the likes of Joe Strummer to John Lennon.. All who were chosen have one thing in common: They were pioneers in their own genres.
This is a huge body of work, exhibited in a fantastic warehouse setting. If you can make it down to the show there’s no doubt that you will be blown away by the scale of this project. With that in mind, it will no doubt be another 5 years until we see work like this again in the UK, but fear not, Fairey has been out and about in East London on this trip and more than left his indelible mark on the city. Get out there and find it.
Dallas band Memphis May Fire are rapidly emerging in the metalcore scene and blew away many fans and critics alike with latest release ‘Challenger’. This autumn the band headed over to our shores with Of Mice and Men for a fully sold out Rise Records tour. We sent Emma to catch up with singer Matty Mullins backstage at the London date. Although Matty has been reported as coming across with arrogant swagger on stage, the Memphis May Fire front man is actually impeccably polite and full of honest truths about the scene and his band. Here’s what he had to say…
Matty Mullins, Memphis May Fire
Your older brother is also a musician, do you think his example has influenced you?
Of course, 100%. When I was growing up, his band was doing really well in the Christian scene, and they were touring in a bus just a few months into their career, so seeing that was like ‘Wow’. I also found his live show really inspirational, it wasn’t just his success that motivated me.
My sister dated a lot of musicians, so I got to meet lots of interesting people through her. My whole family has influenced me really, my mum took me to contemporary Christian concerts! I went to DC Talk as one of my first shows, my mum used to take me to Creation Fest, so musically I think I had a privileged upbringing.
My brother was living it and my mum and sister also got me involved, so I guess I was involved musically from a very young age. I’ve always known how the game works, I thank my family for that.
Which songs are you most proud of lyrically?
Jeez… I know it’s not really a proper answer, but I guess all of them. I can’t say a specific song as the albums are all different from each other.
If you listen to all our albums back to back you can see that my lyrical style changes. ‘Sleepwalking’ was more poetry and philosophically influenced, ‘Between The Lies’ was more me writing politically and morally. From then on we went to ‘The Hollow’ and that was a significant change, it was written about people that I know and experiences that people go through. Not necessarily things I have personally experienced but events people close to me have. Death, divorce and other issues are mentioned there. I think it gives our fans an outlet to relate to. ‘Challenger’ is different again. It’s about us as a band and who we are as people, and it reveals some things we struggle with.
As every album is different, my lyrics don’t stand alone. It’s more like a journey. I love that some people are touched by my lyrics, but I’m not hugely proud of them currently. I don’t think I have peaked. There is still a long way to go and I perceive myself to write much better lyrics in the future.
Do you think your personality comes across differently in the media and on stage to what is actually is like?
Yes. For sure. Our music is somewhat heavy and wild. This isn’t my personality. I’m not a manly man. I don’t drink massive amounts or like tough sports. I don’t live a ‘heavy’ lifestyle. A little bit of my personality comes out through my music, but the bold image I display on stage is quite different to who I really am. I’m quite quiet and through our music I can release emotions that I can’t release day to day. I feel I can articulate myself and get my point across in a louder fashion through music than I can through any other means.
Memphis May Fire, Electric Ballroom 10.10.12
Who would you consider to be the best front man in history?
Oh my gosh! That is a difficult question. I’m going to have to really think about this one. I reckon some people might hate me for my answers, as my musical upbringing was very different from many others. I reckon everyone would be like ‘Iggy Pop’ or ‘Mick Jagger’, but for me, it’d be Toby Mac from DC Talk. Despite being in his late 40s he still goes wild on stage and he does a hip-hop project on the side that’s really cool. There are some great front men in the heavier world currently. Jake from August Burns Red is amazing. In our genre, he’s hands down the best. I also want to mention Anthony Green, he’s amazing too.
If we are talking about stage presence, I think Christian from Blindside is so different, but in a good way. His moves are like no other. He doesn’t do metal stomps or hardcore hand movements. He just does flowing dance moves, it’s like he really connects with the music.
You’re on tour with Of Mice & Men at the moment, Austin Carlile is another much loved front man, what do you think it is that makes him so popular?
I think it’s because he’s developed so much over the past few years that he’s been touring. I saw videos from the Attack Attack! days and he’s made massive steps since then. And what’s more, it’s really inspiring that he’s doing this, and so well, with such a serious heart condition.
He has to be careful on tour because of his condition, but it doesn’t stop him being awesome on stage. He’s a real passionate dude as well, he loves his fans and he always tries to give the best performance he can which is really important when you are fronting a band.
What qualities make up a good front man?
To be original anymore is impossible. Everything has been done. So taking something that’s not original and putting your own twist on it is really important. Showing individuality is the key I suppose.
So Memphis May Fire are on the latest Punk Goes Pop album, how did you get involved and why did you chose ‘Grenade’?
Well, we were approached, there was a huge list of songs, and ‘Grenade’ looked like it suited us best.
You see, we’ve never been a funny band. We don’t try and be popular by acting stupid, so we wanted to pick something that still reflected our style. Lyrically, I think it transcends the sort of thing we write rather than being a more stupid style of pop song. On ‘The Hollow’ there are a lot of songs about heartache and ‘Grenade’ is sort of similar. It was fun to sing it. I’m not the biggest Bruno Mars fan but I think his voice is really cool, I respect him. Although I’m pleased with the song, and I think the whole album is great, its not something we are looking to perform live. We don’t want to be a band that rides off someone else success.
What are you planning for the rest of 2012 and 2013?
Literally two days after we get off this tour we will be heading out with Asking Alexandria, As I Lay Dying and Suicide Silence in America. That’s going to be massive- maybe the biggest tour we’ve done as a band. I’m so stoked to be going out with As I Lay Dying, they are iconic. Then after that tour we are off to Soundwave Festival in Australia, then there are two more US tours that haven’t been announced yet.
It sounds very full on! Will you be back over in the UK at all?
Yes. That I can confirm. The details are still a secret at the moment, but it’s going to be awesome!
It was 5 years ago that most of the people present tonight last stepped through the doors of the Trinity Pub. I’m pretty sure a police car was stolen, broken bottles were awash on the floors, punk rock throttled the speakers and the Death family unleashed the killer DVD,’Better Than Life’. Since then, a lot has changed. As Zorlac said in his opening speech tonight: “…some good shit and bad shit has gone down in between”. Tonight though, is all about one great feat: The unveiling of ‘Ordinary Madness’.
Mark Nicolson and Jake Shunt amongst others have worked hard to get this new Death Skateboards film out. The new wave of ams are getting better and better, making the pro’s up their game to keep their names on the wood.
Tonight in Harrow, most of the team are present and many of them annihilated by the end of the night. Even Richie Jackson, Matt Pennington and Patrick Melcher were in attendance straight off of flights from across the pond. This crew make a lot of effort and as a result, make a lot of others happy with very little politics or skateboard industry bullshit. You get what you see and you are either in our you’re out with Death, and that is to be commended.
Big shouts to all involved including Monster who provided the liquour, Wonk Unit and Meansteed, the two bands that played on the night and all who turned up to see the good ship Death sail once again. Other premiere dates and demos can be found here.
Zorlac opens proceedings…
Even Richie Jackson jetted in from across the pond!
It’s all down to these lads…
The party started….
Yep, Stalker was on fire…
Adam Moss practised his porno moves…
Rob Smith turned up as the Green Cross Code bloke from the 70’s…
The Welsh were there in force as usual.
Benson and Bain. Legends together.
Styley and Moggins ponder whose section was best.
Is that Steve Crawford peeping through the gap?
Matt Pritchard loves Pickle Porter’s.
Dinosaur Pile Up?
Brighton were in the house.
Wonk Unit punked it.
And some…
Zorlac unleashed his new Death extra-hand, shoulder jewellery.
This was the third shot I had to take from this lot!
Richie Jackson after 6 pints of Stella.
The OG’s.
Blog that you little biatch!
The smell of Sheffield was in the air.
Melcher was ready to box Denver’s Matt Pennington – btw, he’s a fucking ripper!
Snuff photo…
Nowik was in the house!
Meansteed rocked the bar.
“Hey You!”
“Clap like you are at Wembley!”
Steak’s face says it all. Meansteed ripped.
It was so emotional that these punks swapped tongues.
Zorlac was in fine form!
Essex represented!
The tattooists were out too!
The Trinity owner should receive medals for allowing this to happen.
Good to hear that Mike’s injury is on the mend.
Tamar!
ORDER IT FROM YOUR LOCAL SKATE SHOP TODAY AND LOOK OUT FOR A FULL FEATURE WITH THE ENTIRE TEAM DISCUSSING THE MAKING OF ‘ORDINARY MADNESS’ ON HERE VERY SOON.
On Sunday 9th September Gallows played the tiny Fighting Cocks venue in Kingston to celebrate the launch of their third and self-titled studio album. Of course the show was completely sold out and a great success. If you missed out on the gig we’ve got a treat for you. Whack on ‘Last June’ (embedded below) and absorb into up and coming photographer Joe Brady‘s photo gallery and it’s like you’re almost there. In the words of Joe, “Gallows tore the Fighting Cocks a new one.” Enjoy.
WATCH VIDEO FOOTAGE FROM THIS ELECTRIC SHOW COURTESY OF JAMES SHERRY’S MAN CAM
This week’s delivery of wood from Amsterdam revealed that bowled corners will play a part in the new design at Bay Sixty 6 Skatepark. Watch video here of the structure and the start of the new build to transform this spot into a brand new skatepark.
For more photos and updates, click here to keep an eye on the ongoing, updated feature.
A few pints in and we arrive at the brewery with Enter Shikari to find free booze on tap and some strange frogspawn type food on the ends of wooden spoons. I had to try one but looking back I have no idea what it was. It stayed in my stomach though, washed down with a mohito and a can of weak beer, lunch was done.
Welcome to the Kerrang! Awards 2012, one of our favourite piss up’s of the year. The lovely organisers decided to give us seats next to none other than Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne who sat with his wife Sharon and Kelly. Thankfully there was no dog shit to be seen under the table like in their house of madness. I did check.
As bands and hangers on guzzled champagne, Tenacious D’s Jack Black hit the stage to massive applause and picked up a Service to Rock award, various other awards were handed out to Mastodon, Machine Head, You Me At Six and others, an Aussie comedian laid into the Queen, Slash walked his walk and we threw sausages at emo kids.
We won the Award for stickering up the bogs and playing records badly at the after party. Now we have large hangovers. Thanks Kerrang! Hopefully next year we can can share frogspawn with Slayer. Enjoy the pics.
Ozzy and Sabbath celebrate being the kings of all metal!
Enter Shikari won best live band. Rou Reynolds won best skateboard hat of the night and Hero of the Year Award. Drummer Rob Rolfe won the award for the best piss into a bottle on the night.
Bring Me The Horizon took the Best Video Award, no pissing involved here.
Ever wondered why Kerrang! Icon Slash is so called?
Yep, of course we drank Tony Iommi’s beer. It was Carlsberg though so no wonder he left it.
The Best British Newcomer Award was well celebrated by While She Sleeps.
Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols welcomed us with open arms.
Hawk Eyes love a bit of sausage. Fact.
The man with the best riffs in the biz knows. Inspiration Award won hands down.
Spring is here once again, so if you are thinking of getting down to your local skater owned shop this month or shopping online, then here’s a selection of this month’s recommended products to check out on your travels.
This Spring, we have joined forces with Unabomber Skateboards for a 10 Year collaboration t-shirt. The result is the ‘Pilot’ collab tee which is a limited edition run in their Spring catalogue. Please note, this is a very limited run, so order one exclusively from our Big Cartel store today before they run out and we will ship them out to you with some free stuff.
Enjoy this selection of products from Death, Blueprint, Consolidated, Kill City, Landscape, The Harmony, Crayon, Superdead, 5Boro, Independent, Volcom, Krux, Thunder, Spitfire, Ricta, Autobahn, Bones, Etnies, WESC, Enjoi, Slam City, Kr3w, Lakai, Vans, Altamont, Supreme and wait for part 2 of this to drop in April with even more.
Last night, the Prince Charles Cinema played host to Slam City Skates’ first ever skate video, City Of Rats, celebrating 25 years of service in London’s skate scene. The grins of the 6.30pm sitting were ever present as they left the screening making way for the final showing for Slam staff, various pro’s from all over the country and London skaters keen to see what has been in the making now for a few years.
The 56 minute video put together from the hard work of Henry Edwards-Wood was kicked off by Nick Jensen following a well received dedication to Bingo (RIP), whose huge pop reached many London window sills, ledges and benches to a mellow, 60s tune. Joey Pressey’s part and a cameo by Benny Fairfax dropped before Snowy and Joe Gavin (who has big news coming soon) got into the mix and raised spirits in advance of a mates section, where Jason Caines‘ massive road gap ollie received a huge applause, and tricks from Ben Jobe, The Gonz and many more skaters, old and new, provided the entertainment.
Southbank legend Femi Bukumola raised the roof with some vocal skills introducing Palace Am, Karim Bakhtaoui, whose 5 stair magic ender once again brought more howls before Jin Shimizu rolled the City streets. Robbleyard, Tanner, Howes, Todd and Danny Brady shared footage to Radiohead’s Black Swan tune followed by the Vagrants section that has some great skating from Madars Apse and the euro contingent before two of Blueprint’s finest, Neil Smith and Jerome Campbell both stepped up with a fantastic joint part that brought cheers from a stoked crowd.
The Slam shop crew have a section in this alongside a huge pick of friends and family who all have tricks filmed in various spots around London, Bromley and beyond. This makes the shop video feel as real as it can get as it includes extended family which rightly part of the successful blueprint of 25 years of Slam being in business who rightly boast at the intro of this film are the oldest skateshop in Europe. So, it’s not just a collection of bangers from the likes of Chewy Cannon, Lucien Clarke and Steph Morgan who have a section dedicated to them towards the end, the film has tricks from everyone which again, proves popular tonight from the full house that are witnessing Henry’s hard graft.
Casper Brooker‘s section is packed with goodness. Really impressive stuff. Rory Milanes then closes the show with a fantastic section that deserved its placing within this huge montage of (mostly) UK skateboarders and gives you an insight into what’s to come from Palace in the future and where Hold Tight Henry leaves us hanging before his next chapter wherever that will be. He was nothing but relieved on the night after a gruelling fight to get this one finished and hats off to him for the dedication.
As far as shop videos go, City of Rats will take some beating, but as we all know, your local skater owned shops are the ones who supply the goodness for everyone and they will have their turn to try and match this once the dedication is recorded onto a hard drive. This week though, the honours have gone to Slam and now it’s up to the rest of the UK’s independent scene to step up to this mark. Roll on Great Britain.
Here’s a few shots from the night (thanks to Mark Brewster), pre order your copy of the DVD here.
Last night we were invited to the Kerrang! Awards 2011 at a Brewery in the heart of London and DJed the after-party for a packed room of guests at the Garage.
What went down? 2 people in the audience got on stage to present an award without being invited to, 30 Seconds To Mars made a member of Puddle of Mudd eat his own words, Ozzy Osbourne won something legendary, as did Alice Cooper who high fived us on the way out and there was not enough booze on our table. The hangovers are now rife but here’s some photos from my phone as I forgot the camera like a douche.
We walked the Red Carpet with Enter Shikari as we arrived although Relentless Energy Drink had ordered a blue one this year.
Gallows’ Stu and our very own James Sherry ham it up for the camera. Dirty punks.
School was definitely out for Alice Cooper as he picked up his well deserved Icon Award.
Korn took their place in the Kerrang! Hall of Fame.
Our table mates The King Blues look on as most stupid looking band-of-the-moment Black Veil Brides came past to pick up an award for being nonces.
This girl really takes the cake…
Even the undead came out to party…
Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes had two good reasons why we should take his photo and won Best Album.
The view from the decks at the after party before we blacked out…thanks for having us again Kerrang!
The Impericon Never Say Die Tour (INSD) has been tearing its way across Europe since 2007. The mini-touring festival -comparable to Vans Warped Tour- showcases exciting upcoming and established acts in the world of Metalcore, Metal, Hardcore, Punk and Deathcore with previous bands on the bill including Emmure, Architects, Suicide Silence, Bleeding Through and Parkway Drive.
It’s been 5 years since Shepard Fairey’s 
This week’s delivery of wood from Amsterdam revealed that bowled corners will play a part in the new design at Bay Sixty 6 Skatepark. Watch video here of the structure and the start of the new build to transform this spot into a brand new skatepark.
A few pints in and we arrive at the brewery with Enter Shikari to find free booze on tap and some strange frogspawn type food on the ends of wooden spoons. I had to try one but looking back I have no idea what it was. It stayed in my stomach though, washed down with a mohito and a can of weak beer, lunch was done.
