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Must See Shows: October 2012

AUGUST BURNS RED
w/Devil Wears Prada
18 – NOTTINGHAM Rock City, 19 – GLASGOW Garage, 20 – WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun Hall, 21 – MANCHESTER Ritz, 22 – BRISTOL Academy, 23 – LONDON Electric Ballroom

For metalcore fans, this is quite clearly a phenomenal tour, not just for October, but for the whole year. Expect plenty of breakdowns, brutal mosh pits and many a sub-drop. Listen to ‘Meddler’ by August Burns Red and you’ll know exactly what we mean.

EVERY TIME I DIE
w/Stray From The Path, Last Witness
24 – SOUTHAMPTON Brook, 25 – BRISTOL Fleece, 26 – PLYMOUTH White Rabbit, 27 – BRIGHTON Haunt, 28 – CARDIFF Solus, 29 – LONDON Electric Ballroom, 30 – WOLVERHAMPTON Slade Rooms, 31 – MANCHESTER Academy II

Band after band said that Every Time I Die nailed it nightly on the US Warped Tour, and now over on our shores we are expecting exactly the same amount of carnage. With ETID being joined by Stray From The Path (who you might have caught with Architects earlier this year) and homegrown talent Last Witness this is a very healthy looking line up.

GALLOWS
w/Feed The Rhino
03 – BRIGHTON Haunt, 04 – EXETER Cavern, 05 – BRISTOL The Fleece, 06 – MANCHESTER Club Academy, 08 – NEWCASTLE Academy 2, 09 – GLASGOW King Tut’s, 11 – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City Basement, 12 – SHEFFIELD Corporation, 13 – STOKE Sugarmill, 14 – WREXHAM Central Station, 15 – LEEDS Cockpit, 16 – PETERBOROUGH Club Revolution, 17 – BIRMINGHAM Academy 2, 19 – LONDON Underworld

Their latest release received critical acclaim across the board, and now with intense front man Wade Macneil at the helm and Feed The Rhino as support, this isn’t just a must see show but a ‘you’d-be-really-fucking-stupid-not-to-go’ kind of show.

HILDAMAY
w/Landscapes
17 – DERBY Victoria Inn, 18 – GLASGOW Ivory Blacks, 19 – MANCHESTER Star & Garter, 20 – LIVERPOOL Format, 22 – LONDON Upstairs at the Garage, 23 – SOUTHAMPTON Cellar,24 – PLYMOUTH White Rabbit, 26 – PETERBOROUGH Met Lounge

We’ve noted Hildamay as ones to watch for some time now, and with a full UK tour to support their forthcoming album, hopefully this will be their time to shine. With Landscapes also on the bill this will be an awesome showcasing event for British talent as hardcore doesn’t get much more emotional and bleak than the way Landscapes go about it.

NEVER SAY DIE 2012 TOUR!
w/ We Came As Romans, BlessTheFall, Stick To Your Guns, For The Fallen Dreams, Obey The Brave, At The Skylines, The Browning, At Dawn We Rage
15 – UK Birmingham, O2 Academy 2, 17 – UK Manchester, Club Academy, 18 – UK London, The Electric Ballroom

Never Say Die Tours are always great but this year it features two of our favorite artists, Stick To Your Guns and Obey The Brave. Stick To Your Guns put on a hard hitting yet optimistic live show and Obey The Brave are sure to slay with their brutally heavy riffs.

PROXIES
11 – BUCKS Uni SU

If you are a regular reader of Crossfire you’ll know that we rate Proxies very highly indeed. Catch them at their live show to find out what all the fuss is about.

OF MICE & MEN
w/ Memphis May Fire, Secrets
08 – NORWICH Waterfront, 10 – LONDON Electric Ballroom, 11 – GLASGOW Garage, 12 – MANCHESTER Moho Live, 13 – BIRMINGHAM Asylum, 14 – LEEDS Cockpit

Of Mice & Men are the buzz band of metalcore right now. Not only due to their ridiculously strong re-release of ‘The Flood’ which featured 4 astounding bonus tracks, but due to the fact that Austin Carlile and his band mates seem to fully engage with their fans.

STRAIGHT LINES
01 – BIRMINGHAM Rainbow, 02 – NORWICH Waterfront, 04 – KINGSTON New Slang, 05 – BRIGHTON Hydrant, 06 – SOUTHAMPTON Joiners, 07 – EXETER Cavern, 10 – BRISTOL Thekla, 11 – OXFORD Jericho, 12 – MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms, 13 – READING Face Bar, 15 – LONDON Barfly, 16 – CARDIFF CF10

After releasing their second (and awesome) album, ‘Freaks Like Us’ earlier this year, check out Straight Lines as they embark on an expansive UK tour.

THE DANGEROUS SUMMER
01 – EXETER Pheonix, 02 – SOUTHAMPTON Mo’Club, 03 – BRISTOL Trinity, 04 – NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms, 05 – GLASGOW Garage, 07 – MANCHESTER Club Academy, 08 – NORWICH Arts Centre, 09 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy 2, 10 – LEEDS Cockpit, 11 – LONDON Electric Ballroom, 12 – KINGSTON Fighting Cocks

After releasing one of the albums of 2011 in ‘War Paint’, The Dangerous Summer have become firm favorites at Crossfire HQ. This October they are hitting the road with another of our loves, Don Broco.

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
15 – LONDON O2 Brixton Academy, 17 – LONDON O2 Brixton Academy, 18 – MANCHESTER O2 Apollo, 19 – GLASGOW O2 Academy, 20 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy

It appears everyone has a place for The Gaslight Anthem in their hearts, and rightly so. After a releasing another timeless album ‘Handwritten’ and performing a euphoric set at Reading & Leeds, The Gaslight Anthem are ready to take full control of the UK.

TRIVIUM
w/ As I Lay Dying
15 – MANCHESTER Ritz, 16 – GLASGOW O2 ABC, 17 – BIRMINGHAM HMV Institute, 19 – BRISTOL O2 Academy, 20 – NORWICH UEA, 21 – LONDON Shepherds Bush Empire

A titan of modern metal, Trivium, joined by one of the godfathers of metalcore, As I Lay Dying, in arguably intimately sized venues… this is going to be amazing.

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Album Reviews Buzz Chart Music Preview Reviews

Proxies

Proxies_Lost_Tapes_Volume_II_Dead WeightProxies
Lost Tapes, Volume II: Deadwieght

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.

Words: Emma Wallace

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Features Music

Introducing: Proxies


Not many underground bands have such a buzzing hype around them as UK newcomers Proxies do, and what’s more, it’s well deserved. Proxies are one of those bands who have turned their passion into something tangible through hard work and dedication, actually getting off their arses and doing something rather than waiting for the industry to fall into the palms of their hands.

Producing records in their bedrooms, recording vocals under bunk beds, relentlessly networking and gaining the right contacts has put the band in a promising position at the start of their career. We catch up with keyboard player/programmer/vocalist/general-busy-body Jordan Fish to find out more…

Hey Jordan! First off can you explain how the formation of Proxies come about?

Kind of by accident in that we never planned to be a band. I had begun exploring electronic music with a couple of friends, who way more talented than I, mostly for fun but also to see them in action and learn from them. I knew Joe from college and it turned out he was doing something sonically similar around the time and suggested working on a song together. So we did. Then we worked on some more. Alex lives down the road from my parents and I asked him if he could play the songs so we could try and reproduce them in a live environment, we tried them a couple of times in Joe’s university house and had fun with it. We didn’t ever expect to play live, so when a couple of our friends that liked our music asked us to support them at a few shows, we were a little on the spot. I asked my friend Josh to play bass live for us, he played in a band I’d actually stumbled across via YouTube a while back. He added some vocals in rehearsal and as officially joined a couple of months later. A little while after that I think we realised we were a band.

Proxies Live

Proxies mix many different styles and genres together, what artists have influenced Proxies?

So many. Each of us have such a wide variety of influences that when you include all of our influences together it begins to sound ridiculous. I think we’d all agree on artists like Brand New, Manchester Orchestra, Muse and Daft Punk being amongst the most influential. I know Joe listens to a lot of pop punk, particularly that New Jersey pop punk kind of sound and we share a lot of favourite bands. I listen to a lot of electronic music lately, but mostly am a rock music fan at core which might explain our sound a little. As a rule I could say everything Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen work on is golden, the first Panic! At The Disco record is a masterpiece and Katy Perry‘s singles are only ever the best pop songs… I don’t know if that’s relevant.

Considering Proxies are a relatively new band you have toured with some high profile artists and worked with big names such as Sean Smith & Gareth McGrillen. What has led to your involvement with these credible acts so soon in your career?

We had to pay them one million pounds in hookers and drugs and cash and sexual favours. We got the cash by selling our insides to The Church Of Scientology. Not really. Our band has been really fortunate that super talented people have taken us under their wing and helped us out. Gareth has been a friend for a while and liked what we were doing. Gareth introduced me to Sean a while before our band started and the feature came naturally – we all knew each other and Gareth and I were kind of on the same brainwave with the song and both had Sean in mind to do the additional vocal on it and kind of mentioned it to each other at the same time. Gareth is the nicest dude on the planet and we wouldn’t be where we are now without his help.

You have created an impressive online following and are well known for networking with fans via social media. But the internet often comes under fire with regards to illegal downloading. Do you think the internet is the future or the demise of the music industry?

The music industry is changing a lot, so in that respect the internet probably does bring about the demise of the old model. That said, our band would not exist at all without the internet. That’s really simple. It has been how people discover our music, how we’ve distributed music, how we keep people that care about our band informed on what we are doing. Beyond word-of-mouth and the little touring we have done, it has been the only form of communication we have had. Online merch orders have come in from Chile to Argentina to all corners of the US and Australia. Those people will only know about our band because of the internet. YouTube makes an almost level-playing-field for the discovery of music and great undiscovered content goes viral every day thanks to sites like Reddit. So it is the demise of an old model but it is also the future of the industry. The faster bands (and labels) can adapt to the internet generation instead of trying to control and dictate it, the quicker that will be realised I think.

‘Lost Tapes Volume 1’ epitomizes a DIY attitude to music by self producing the EP and hand-making the physical copies. What are your thoughts on the EP now that it’s complete and out there for people to hear?

I’m really glad we did it. The response has been overwhelming. To hear people singing along at shows to songs we wrote and recorded in our bedrooms is really strange and makes us even more proud of it.

'Lost Tapes Volume 1'

It seems Proxies never stop working! Do you have plans to release new material anytime soon?

Yes! We started working straight away on a sequel to the free EP, which we are recording in our bedrooms and producing ourselves once again. It will be released in the next few weeks. We have also been working for a while with back with Gareth and another producer Andy Gray on an official release. So that’s on the way too.

Selling out physical copies of your EP in seconds and being announced for Reading & Leeds are impressive achievements, how does it make you feel?

I am convinced it is a big elaborate prank that one of my friends has planned and everybody is in on the joke. It definitely has just crept up on us and been a huge surprise. We’re all a little bit shocked but determined to try and make the best of it.

So finally, after an impressive start, where do you see Proxies in 5 years time?

Haha, wow. Hopefully we will have put an album out properly. I’d like to be able to perform a headline tour too. But I don’t even know what we’ll be doing in 5 months time, 5 years is such a huge scale. Maybe Joe will be working on a solo experimental acapella folk punk album and Alex will be trying his hand at movies. Maybe people will say they liked us better when we recorded EPs in our bedrooms and struggled to survive, before we sold out and recorded in one of those “mainstream recording studios”. Or maybe nobody will care. Regardless, I like to think we’ll still be making music.

Make sure you check out Proxies at their up coming UK dates and of course at this years Reading & Leeds festival.

WORDS: EMMA WALLACE

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Features Music Preview

READING & LEEDS: MUST SEE BANDS – BBC INTRODUCING STAGE

BBC Introducing Stage, Reading & Leeds 2012

As always Reading & Leeds has an impeccably strong line up. Headliners The Cure, Kasabian and Foo Fighters are joined by numerous big names across several stages including Cancer Bats, At The Drive-In, The Gaslight Anthem, Enter Shikari, The Maccabees, Every Time I Die… The list goes on! But for those who are more interested in finding some fresh blood, the recently announced BBC Introducing is the place to be.

33 up and coming bands have been selected by various BBC Radio Introducing shows and the festival promoters Festival Republic. We’ve handpicked our favourites below with the full stage line up as follows: Attention Thieves, Backyards, Bearfoot Beware, Black Moth, Crooked Tongues, Cut Ribbons, Danica Hunter, Dear Prudence, Dingus Khan, Empror & Duppy Beatz, Escape To New York, Escapists, The Establishment, Family of the Year, Fish Tank, Glassbody, Hawk Eyes, Hildamay, Ifan Dafydd, Lady Lykez, Marmozets, Marsicans, Max Raptor, Mikill Pane, Park Bench Society, Proxies, Rachel Sermanni, Samoans, Sarah Williams White, Seasfire, Wet Nuns, We Walk On Ice, We Were Frontiers.

Proxies:

After selling out physical copies of their EP ‘The Lost Demos’ in a matter of minutes, having toured with the likes of Hadouken! and Canterbury, releasing a single featuring The Blackout’s Sean Smith, and, with over 16,000 followers on Facebook is a bit of a surprise that Proxies are on Reading & Leeds smallest stage! Well we can assure you they won’t be there for long, watch this electric young band up close and personal while you still can!

Hawk Eyes:

Describing their debut album as, “sleek and modern and hardcore and suitably post-post-everything,” and themselves as, “Band, four people, Leeds, riffs, spend a lot of time in a van,” Hawk Eyes are a no frills, yet exceptionally fun, British rock band. We can guarantee that Hawk Eyes won’t be playing these smaller stages for much longer so catch their intimate set while you can…

Samoans:

Samoans are masters of the fretboard. Their distinctive brand of progressive math-rock draws influence from the legendary Reuben and Maps & Atlases. The raw emotion in the vocals is comparable to early Biffy Clyro, making Samoans are compelling and intense live band.

We Walk On Ice:

After featuring on Fred Perry’s Subculture ‘Best New Music’ section and filling out some of London’s coolest venues, We Walk On Ice are one of those buzz bands that you need to catch. Renowned for surf-pop-soundscapes, We Walk On Ice are the perfect accompaniment to a British summers day (weather permitting).

Attention Thieves:

Born in the vibrant Reading music scene, Attention Theives combine straight forward rock with some gutsy punk spirit. You may recognize front man Alex Green from tech-metal band The Arusha Accord, but Attention Theives are on a completely different end of the alternative spectrum with a much more accessible sound. Constantly living life on the road and frequently treating fans to new music videos, Attention Thieves deserve this exposure.

WORDS: EMMA WALLACE