Tag: review

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Live Reviews Music

Don Broco live at Electric Ballroom, London

Don Broco
Electric Ballroom, London
11th October 2012

‘This has been the one date on the tour we’ve been most looking forward to,’ frontman Rob Damiani cheekily tells the sold out venue. Anyone would think this was their show and everyone was here to see them. But in actual fact they’re just on a support slot to their good friends Lower Than Atlantis.

Not even half way through opening song ‘Priorities’ and Rob takes the lead to begin their distinguishable routine of ‘The Walk’, which see’s three of the members walk in unison on the spot. There’s something convivial about their practiced dance routines. And before you know it the majority of the 1100 people here tonight seem to be in a festival mood, singing back every lyric on their pals’ shoulders. It’s a scene to remember.

Future single ‘Hold On’ is well received and if the boys ever had doubts previously, tonight they have certainly got their foot in the door and one day managing pop-punk-world-domination wouldn’t shock us.

Of course though, it wouldn’t be a Don Broco performance without ‘Thug Workout’. Almost four years since its release the much heavier track calls the shots, enticing fans to get to the centre of the floor and simply, work out.

One thing Don Broco definitely are not short is being strangely entertaining. Playing ‘Whole Truth’ off their recently released first full length album, the performance is built around an abundance of sheer fun and a solid good hook which everyone takes a massive liking too. They excel at delivering an unpredictable energy that nobody would expect from a pop rock band, truly deserving a pat on the back.

Red faced, sweaty palms and a dose of adrenaline does not make the four-piece relinquish just yet as they go out with a bang with ‘Actors’. Sure, sometimes they may behave and look like a boy band but they’re making a name for themselves the right way with their fans ranging from young teens to those experiencing adult life; Don Broco have the ability to engage with every single one of the audience.

Expect to see much, much more of Don Broco.

Words: Jenny Chu

Categories
Buzz Chart Music Reviews Single Reviews

Purity Ring x Danny Brown

Purity Ring x Danny Brown
‘Belispeak II’

This shouldn’t work but it does. Two artists who are almost the polar opposite of each other in terms of style but who are receiving a similar level of hype and appreciation in the blogosphere have re-imagined an existing track with spine-tingling results. Purity Ring’s ‘Belispeak‘ is a bonafide beauty of a track and here it gets remixed slightly and is graced with some Danny Brown rhymes. The rapper’s inimitable style stands out like a sore thumb on the understated electronic softness of the track but somehow the additional pulsating glitches added to this version meld with Brown’s groove creating an utterly addictive take on ‘Belispeak’.

What we wouldn’t give to see these guys tour together… Or maybe create an entire collaborative album. Just re-work the whole of ‘Shrines’. Why not!

Words: Sarah Maynard

Categories
Features Skateboarding

In Photos: Death Skateboards ‘Ordinary Madness’ Premiere

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.

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Zorlac opens proceedings…

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Even Richie Jackson jetted in from across the pond!

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It’s all down to these lads…

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The party started….

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Yep, Stalker was on fire…

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Adam Moss practised his porno moves…

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Rob Smith turned up as the Green Cross Code bloke from the 70’s…

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The Welsh were there in force as usual.

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Benson and Bain. Legends together.

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Styley and Moggins ponder whose section was best.

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Is that Steve Crawford peeping through the gap?

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Matt Pritchard loves Pickle Porter’s.

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Dinosaur Pile Up?

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Brighton were in the house.

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Wonk Unit punked it.

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And some…

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Zorlac unleashed his new Death extra-hand, shoulder jewellery.

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This was the third shot I had to take from this lot!

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Richie Jackson after 6 pints of Stella.

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The OG’s.

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Blog that you little biatch!

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The smell of Sheffield was in the air.

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Melcher was ready to box Denver’s Matt Pennington – btw, he’s a fucking ripper!

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Snuff photo…

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Nowik was in the house!

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Meansteed rocked the bar.

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“Hey You!”

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“Clap like you are at Wembley!”

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Steak’s face says it all. Meansteed ripped.

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It was so emotional that these punks swapped tongues.

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Zorlac was in fine form!

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Essex represented!

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The tattooists were out too!

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The Trinity owner should receive medals for allowing this to happen.

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Good to hear that Mike’s injury is on the mend.

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Tamar!

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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.

Categories
Live Reviews Music

Of Mice and Men Live at Electric Ballroom, Camden

OF MICE AND MEN
w/ Memphis May Fire, Secrets
Electric Ballroom, Camden
10th October 2012

After selling out way in advance and with a queue lapping the outside of Camden’s Electric Ballroom, you know for a fact tonight’s show is going to be crazy. From an all-American line-up, Secrets are first to take to the stage. They are the perfect warm up act for this sort of audience, plenty of sub-drops and head bangs get the party off to a fine start.

When Memphis May Fire roar into action its clear that many of the Of Mice & Men fans here tonight are also deeply entwined in a love affair with this band. A vast majority of the crowd go wild. Considering Memphis May Fire aren’t headlining the response they get is very impressive. The room jumps as one to the bouncing riffs, with ‘The Sinner’ uniting the band and crowd in a mass sing along.

Before the show, Matty Mulllins discussed with Crossfire what he feels makes a great frontman, and with this performance he definitely put into practice what he preached; lunging across the stage and fully engaging the audience like the pro he is.

Secrets were impressive, Memphis May Fire took that up a level, but Of Mice & Men are just in a league of their own. Valentino Arteaga is a machine behind the kit. Alan Ashby and Phil Manansala create dirty, dirty riffs which entice permanent pits. Aaron Pauley takes care of clean vocals and finds near vocal perfection whilst pulverising filthy baselines that penetrate ear drums in the most heavy of fashions.

Austin Carlile has the audience in the palm of his hand. There are few frontmen that can work a crowd to this level but it’s not just his showmanship that is impressive, his vocal ability is superb. Holding growls for as long as he can then charging around the stage is no easy task.

With ‘The Flood’ and ‘The Depths’ (bonus tracks taken from the recent reissue of their 2011 release) causing just as much carnage as old favourites its becoming ever more obvious that Of Mice & Men are a dominant force in modern metalcore. No longer will they be playing club shows, surely the next step will be Academy shows. If their success back in America is anything to go by, a UK arena tour in the future isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. Tonight was hands down one of the best shows of the year.

Words & Photos: Emma Wallace

Categories
Album Reviews Buzz Chart Music Reviews

White Lung

WHITE LUNG
‘Sorry’
(Deranged)

‘Sorry’? Don’t make me laugh. Judging by this record (the band’s second), Vancouver quartet White Lung aren’t afraid to hurt your feelings and their raw, blistering punk rock attack will rub salt into your wounded heart. Strangely enough, you’ll thank them.

Belting through ten songs in less than 20 minutes, the pace is Ramones-relentless, but they never sound less than convincing. Vocalist Mish Way could match most typical punk screamers for power, but her piercing howl has the clarity and melodic edge that lingers long in the memory after ‘Sorry’ has run its course. Guitarist Kenneth William is no slouch either, whether scratching out a brittle melodic line on ‘Bag’, an ace spidery riff on ‘The Bad Way’ or unleashing bursts of screeching sonic warfare on ‘Those Girls’.

The overall impression is of a mix of early 90s alt-rock and riot grrl (Mish Way is a self-confessed Courtney Love devotee) fed through an 80s hardcore blender; the end result being as addictive and uncompromising as you could hope for. Granted, they’re not offering up anything particularly new, but they certainly infuse these old sounds with fresh rage and vitality. Check them out – you won’t be sorry either.

Words: Alex Gosman

Categories
Album Reviews Buzz Chart Music

Propagandhi

PROPAGANDHI
“Failed States”
Epitaph

Breaking News; I do not have my ear as close to ground as I used to, having failed to register that Canada’s Propagandhi recently released a new album, and it’s on Epitaph. So, having spotted this by chance in a high street music chain, whilst dodging a downpour, I duly stumped up the asking price.

I was a relatively late starter to Propagandhi, with their first 2 albums barely registering on my radar. I had them down as just-another production-line ‘Fat (Wreck)’ band. My conversion came with 3rd album “Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes” which hit me like a jet plane. The union of Thrash Metal, Hard Rock and banging Hardcore, played out to a seriously intelligent and impassioned radical-political agenda, won me over. Learned my lesson. Have been onboard ever since.

Like all great confrontational music, you do not stick on a Propagandhi album, and then get on with something else, whilst the ‘tunes’ idly hum in the background. No fucking way. You soak up the finely crafted (rampaging) music, and give your full attention to the lyrical scripture.

“Failed States“ ruminates not just on basket case countries in faraway places, where punks have their heads shaved by religious intolerants, and lesbian footballers are raped by men to teach them a ‘lesson’, but also closer to home, in our own free and pleasant lands, where life is not always so peachy, and it’s important to take a stand. And all this to a riotously furious soundtrack of precision executed music that veers from tender layered moments, to balls-out jackhammer Thrash/Core ultra-heaviness.

For my money, possibly their strongest album to date. Dyna-fuckin’mite.

Words: Pete Craven

Categories
Live Reviews Music

We Are The Ocean Live at Camden Barfly

WE ARE THE OCEAN
w/ Giants
Barfly, Camden
19th September 2012

Giants have been gigging for sometime and have firmly established themselves as a band to be watched with their latest effort, the mini-album, ‘These Are The Days‘. The Essex band storm the stage with Ed Parker, their highly energetic front man, leading the charge. The riffs are fast and heavy, the bass shakes your teeth, and this mash up of skate punk and hardcore blast your brains out of your ears (but in a good way, if you can imagine that?). You can see that hardly anyone in this room had heard of them before tonight, but one thing is for sure, they won the crowd over completely by the time they left the stage. They are definitely ones to keep an eye on.

Giants Live Barfly

Giants Live Barfly

Then it’s time for the headline act to take to the stage. We Are The Ocean have lost a vocalist since I last saw them, and I’m not quite sure what to expect from the live performance. The band start with ‘Machine’, a solid new track, and the crowd loves it. However, the set comprises the old for the new, and although the bands new screamless line-up is as polished and as slick as Simon Cowells hair, yet there is definitely something missing…

The real problem lies in the fact that the new material is lacking edgey excitement and anxiety. You wait for the songs to reach their heights and then burst through a barrier and stand balls out in front of you, but they don’t. Now that’s not to say the performance is bad, in fact the band are great, it’s the simple fact that they’re not We Are The Ocean anymore. They’ll be people wanting to guillotine me for saying this, but if it was another band you couldn’t complain about the evening. It’s when they stand they’re old material up against their new that you see a sort of sleek and polished decline, and the fact they’re missing that raw, rasping voice in certain parts to push the songs into the stratosphere is noticed.

Like I said, if this was any other band and you’d have had me singing praises. I just have such fond memories of other live shows of theirs that this one was more of a damp squib. Regardless the new line-up works as a polished unit, its just not We Are The Ocean of old.

We Are The Ocean Live Barfly

We Are The Ocean Live Barfly

We Are The Ocean Live Barfly

We Are The Ocean Live Barfly

Words: JJ Nattrass
Photos: Alex Langworthy

Categories
Live Reviews Music

Between The Buried And Me Live at Sub89, Reading


BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
w/ Periphery, The Safety Fire
Sub89, Reading
01.10.12

First on tonight’s bill is the home-grown talent The Safety Fire. The London lads play to a fairly full room considering they go on straight after doors. It seems the ever increasing crowd appreciates The Safety Fire’s techy-brand of metal and although not too familiar with the material played before them, the audiences’ reaction to songs taken from ‘Grind The Ocean‘ is positive, a promising sign for a band who are clearly targeting this market. On a completely irrelevant and non musical note, it has to be mentioned that The Safety Fire display facial hair at its finest. Their set was topped off with a glorious array well kept moustaches.

So away from male-grooming and back to music for a second or two, and its now Periphery‘s turn to take to the stage. With much loved drummer Matt Halpern being forced to withdraw from the performance due to a shoulder injury, a massive burden is placed upon the shoulders of Mike Malyan (Monuments) who has to learn the challenging set in 24 hours and perform to a hungry crowd. Well, the boy did good, there were no notable errors and he played with style, stamina and impressive levels of skill. And as for the rest of Periphery, well they owned the stage, it goes without saying Misha Mansoor was effortlessly exceptional and Spencer Sotelo domineered as a front man.

Between The Buried And Me really deserve to be playing to a sold out show but unfortunately the room is now only around three quarters full. Words cannot describe Between The Buried And Me’s levels of creativity, their captivating set travels through an odyssey of technical music; a progressive journey that climaxes with blistering riffs and intense vocals. Combing old favourites such as ‘Disease, Injury, Madness‘ (taken from ‘The Great Misdirect’) along with newer numbers like ‘Telos‘, BTBAM hold the audience in the palms of their hands. The band perform a masterclass, with a level of musicianship second to none.

Words: Emma Wallace

Categories
Skateboarding News

Watch Chima Ferguson’s Since Day One Remix

Chima Ferguson‘s part from the Since Day One video for Real has been remixed this week to the sounds of Odd Future.

Get stuck into this to end your week as it rips.

Categories
Skateboarding Product Reviews

Emerica vs Altamont Reynolds Cruisers

reynolds-cruisers-altamont-black-tan-largeA pair of these arrived on my desk last week and just opening the box gave me a satisfied smile that one can only recieve when appreciating shoes that are designed and run solely by skateboarders. The relationship between Emerica and Andrew Reynolds is one that should be recognised and saluted. Throw in Altamont and you know that these are going to be a strong purchase and that’s exactly what your feet feel like once slipped into these puppies. They are pure quality.

Andrew Reynolds wanted some ultra-slim, low profile boat shoes to skate and chill in, and the Reynolds Cruisers are the result. The mix of suede and denim work extremely well and should last way longer than your average thin suede-only skate shoe, especially if you are partial to blasting holes through the sides of yours due to ollie abuse, which should never be a problem.

The tongue gives extra support and the gum sole sticks to griptape like nothing else. In fact, after a few skates in these, moving around became easier ending in perfect grip. Overall, once worn in these work a treat. Try some for yourself this Autumn.