Manny Lopez has a full section online this week for his new board sponsor, Fabric Skateboards. It’s everything you expect and a little bit more. If you desire more footage from Manny, then follow your nose.
Tag: london
Mr Edward-Woods has been clearing the old hard drives out and discovering footage at Bloblands, Southbank and more London street spots.
“Found this low res clip of Rory, Lucien and Steph on my itunes. The footage was filmed around August 2006, some made it into my first DVD, “Writer’s Block” the rest end up it the first few installments of Hold Tight London. This edit never found its way to the internet, I just made it to hype up the mans to get more footy.”
Hold Tight’s Archives – The Getalong Gang, 2006 from HOLD TIGHT LONDON on Vimeo.
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Polar Bear Club live at Borderline
POLAR BEAR CLUB
Into It. Over It.
The Arteries
The Borderline, London
31st August 2012
*FULL GALLERY FEATURE BELOW*
As the opening band, The Arteries finish their hardcore and clear up all the gear, a bearded man emerges begins to sets up, checks if everything’s in working order and sits on his stool addressing the audience. The man is Into it. Over it, the sole operation of Evan Thomas. The first thing he says is, “So how many of you know I’m actually an acoustic act?”. Personally it comes as a surprise as the album is raging pop-punk. Its soon revealed that he records everything but tours as a single unit, just one man and his guitar. It was a tad strange I must admit, most of the other newbies probably felt the same. A hardcore band just left the stage and the crowd in a sweaty state, the headline act are gonna go mental, yet there’s an acoustic act sandwiched between it all?
Those apprehensive in the audience were quickly converted. Evan charged through his set, with such energy and passion as though he was fronting a full band. You could feel his passion, every song he had was attached with some kind of emotional story with the crowd are left to immerse themselves in the song as he crashed through it. Into It. Over It. Are a different kind of acoustic act, this guy was shredding and singing along with such energy that he struggled to sit still on the stool! The Arteries didn’t take the mosh pits with them, even Evan kept the crowd going.
You can always tell when the headline act grace the stage. Always. The atmosphere shifts, the crowd start to roar and everyone’s ready to tear the place apart. And of course, the same was experienced at the Borderline. Tonight is Polar Bear Club’s night, they own the this tiny basement of a venue in heart of London.
Borderline couldn’t have been a better choice of venue. Its as intimate as they come, with fans climbing onto shoulders and making their way onto the actual stage, shaking vocalist Jim Sandt’s hand whilst he’s singing, and then taking a platform dive straight back into the pool of people below.
Polar Bear Club powered through a varied set list, mixing classics from ‘Sometimes Things Just Disappear’, the epic, ‘Chasing Hamburg’ to their latest efforts from ‘Clash Battle Guilt Pride’. Whatever the song played on the night, it was received with a roar of an applause and continued stage dive action.
The band finished with the fan favorite ‘Living Saints’ and left for the back room. The crowd then started to sing the ballad, ‘Drifting Thing’. Everyone in the room, shouts as loud as they can to each word from start to finish. A call for an encore doesn’t get better than that!
So low and behold, Jimmy turns up on stage, quickly mentions that their current guitarist is a fill in and he might not know the song, to which a fan fumbles onto the stage and says if he could have a go. He introduces himself, Toby. Toby straps on the guitar, strums an a chord and the crowd erupt. He composes himself and is told, “3 strikes and you’re out kid!”, No pressure right?!
A few miss timings here and there, but the rest is perfect. You have to give the sweaty teenager credit, he’s on stage performing to a sold out crowd! Toby pulled through, Polar Bear Club loved it as did the crowd. This was clearly a stand out show for 2012 so far.
Words: Arif Noor
Photos: Alex Langworthy
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New Sam Taylor footage
Get Lesta have been visiting London spots (and Cov) on various missions to capture footage for their upcoming full length with Sam Taylor. Here’s a minute of SPT getting amongth it.
Angel Haze has been an bit of an internet sensation lately and it seems her hard work and raw talent has got her the attention she deserves… The Harlem rapper took to twitter earlier this month to announce her deal with Universal Republic in the States and Island Records in the U.K:
“I am the newest artist signed to Universal Republic in the USA and Island Records in the UK. ;)”
The hiphop/rap upstart has also just announced a London show for this Autumn. She will play Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on 08th October 2012. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
Watch the awesome ‘New York‘ below.
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Enter Shikari Xmas Tour Dates
Well if you live in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, London or Norwich; Christmas will be coming a few days early this year as legendary live band Enter Shikari have announced a string of dates for this December. There is an added bonus as hardcore geniuses Cancer Bats will play as main support, also on the bill is live dubstep from Engine-Earz Experiment.
This is a live show NOT to miss.
The dates are as follows:
DECEMBER
06 – MANCHESTER Ritz
07 – MANCHESTER Ritz
09 – NEWCASTLE Academy
10 – GLASGOW Barrowlands
11 – GLASGOW Barrowlands
14 – BIRMINGHAM Institute
15 – BIRMINGHAM Institute
16 – LONDON Roundhouse
17 – LONDON Roundhouse
19 – NORWICH UEA
20 – NORWICH UEA
7 Seconds / Madball / H2O
London, Underworld
6th August 2012
It’s safe to say that London feels like a pretty special place to be this Monday evening, a line up of this calibre is the stuff most festivals are made of and not a regular night in the subterranean confines of the Underworld. Each of these hardcore heavy hitters is capable of headlining this place on their own so it comes as no surprise that the venue is packed to the gills and the sold out sign is up on the door.
H2O are billed here tonight as the rather obvious ‘Thicker Than Water’ and are a last minute addition to this already strong bill. The NYHC posi-core outfit are as entertaining as ever, vocalist Toby Morse bounces from left to right as they tear through ‘1995’, ‘F.T.T.W.’ and ‘Fair Weathered Friend’ oozing PMA from every pore. You have to love hardcore back slapping and both Madball and 7 Seconds are given their props tonight as H2O rip out covers of ‘Pride’ and ‘Satyagraha’ respectively.
Next up are old school bruisers Madball, front man Freddy Cricien inciting the now heaving crowd on the Underworlds floor. For forty five minutes they stomp with an anger and energy that’d put their younger contemporaries to shame. A set culled from their whole back catalogue is delivered with venom tonight, ‘We The People’, ‘Spit On Your Grave’ and ‘Set It Off’ are a steamroller of riffs and beatdowns that incite the crowd into whirling dervishes. Cricien leaves the stage to rapturous applause, sweat dripping from his shit eating grin.
You have to pity any band that has to follow the runaway train that was Madball, this is something 7 Seconds vocalist Kevin Seconds acknowledges as the Californian melodic hardcore four piece take the stage to a slightly diminished audience. Undeterred the four piece rip through a set of classics including ‘The Crew’ and ‘In Your Face’ that soon get the remaining crowd whipped up into a suitably moshing mood. Their faster, melodic take on punk a welcome tonic to Madball testosterone fuelled set. All in all this was a stonking night of hardcore royalty from the old to newer school, from speed to crunch, that shows that this movement is as alive and well as it has ever been.
Words: Miles Hackett
Kvelertak
Borderline, London
16th August 2012
After the collapse of this years Sonisphere festival many of the estranged bands from the fallen line up have been turning up in London to continue to make their presence felt. In a week that’s seen two sold out shows by Refused it’s the turn of Norway’s hottest metal export Kvelertak to slay London with two sold out nights at the uber tiny Borderline.
The bearded throng of punters chant as the sextet saunter on to the tiny stage and launch into ‘Sjøhyenar (Havets herrer)’, vocalist Erlend Hjelvik hurling himself into the crowd. We’re treated to further choice cuts from their 2010 debut as the powerhouses that are ‘Fossegrim’ and ‘Blødtorst’ rain down upon the swirling audience. There really is something unique about this band and their punk/metal/rock/blastbeat hybrid is difficult to define or imagine on paper yet it gels in with a sadistic coherency both on record and in the live setting. Some new tracks are aired too tonight and if monsters like ‘Spring Fa Livet’ are anything to go by album number two is going to be a bruiser.
As their frenetic set rumbles on the crammed confines of this miniscule venue really begin to heat up and mic after mic is replaced as crowd surfers and divers alike get entangled in Hjelvik’s cables as he stalks the stage. The climax of the show is a rousing rendition of ‘Mjød’ which featured in the Troll Hunter movie, fists punching in the air and the crowd mouthing along to Norwegian lyrics they can neither understand nor pronounce. This is the beauty of Kvelertak, a band who let the music do the talking and transcend language barriers. More bands need to play with this venom and conviction, album number two soon please?
Words: Miles Hackett
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Zero Boys live at The Dome, London
Zero Boys
The Dome, London
August 2nd
It’s always a gamble going to see reformed old punk bands. You never know if they’re going to quite cut it, how many original members are left, are they just doing it for the money?
Well, in the case of Indianapolis, Indiana punks The Zero Boys, it certainly can’t be for the money. Whilst they do truly deserve the ‘legendary eighties punk band’ tag (their 1982 ‘Vicious Circle’ album is an absolute classic of the genre – a high octane mix of melodic punk and hardcore, a huge melodic and energetic rush), they are still only really renowned by those who closely follow US punk and have limited appeal having never played in the UK before. Suffice to say, there are only about 60 or so diehards and fans here tonight so any thoughts of cashing in must be long gone! And thankfully, original members drummer Mark Cutsinger and frontman Paul Mahern are still in the band and when they take the stage with two younger hired hands (sorry, I don’t know who they are!) and kick into the set, they sound tight and well-rehearsed.
Admittedly, it does take them a few songs to warm up (drummer Mark thankfully starts hitting a little harder a few songs in, propelling the band forward) and snotty hardcore pop punk anthems like ‘Living In The 80s’, ‘Civilization’s Dying’ and ‘Amphetamine Addiction’ all race past in a flurry of frenzied aggression. And although the venue isn’t exactly filled to capacity, those that are in attendance really get into it and the front area of the stage is soon filled with bodies, hot and sweaty and catapulting across the floor as the band beam back, buzzing on the energy spilling back at them and obviously thoroughly enjoying re-living their youths, casting their minds back to simpler more agile times.
All in all, a worthy reformation. Let’s hope they make it back again one day.
Words: James Sherry
Get ready for some fun this winter at the Bay Sixty 6 skatepark. Not only does the new park boast a bowl for the first time, the new street course now has a ledge that works on hydraulics as revealed in a recent video update from NikeSB today. Set the size of your choice and skate it. Simple.
This is the ledge that has the magic system built in below. Click here for the rolling feature of the park’s progress.
Nike Bay Sixty6 – The Builders from Nike Skateboarding on Vimeo.