the-numbers-game:

I need to find some girls with this mentality

the-numbers-game:

Was that the bad thing?

What The Ramones want vs what The Misfits want.

(taken from reddit)

marci-in-dub:

Guuuuys… I’m sorry I haven’t blogged more. The end of last year was beyond hectic, have never been so busy in my life!! Didn’t even have time to cook let alone take pictures narratively! I’m in Leeds right now with Matthew. We’re heading back down to London in a couple of hours, and once I’m there the blogs can happen again. All it takes is being in your parents house which is plenty full of gorgeous spices and interesting ingredients.. Anyway you guys wanna see one of the things I was up to? This is the video for our new single ‘Ratatat’. It’s out on the 27th February, I’ll keep you updated with where you can get it. It was the longest video shoot we’ve done. It spanned over three days in three different locations- and they were all FREEZING COLD! Remember people there is bass in this tune beyond the capabilities of any laptop or computer speaker so plug it in. I meant to say the same for the Katy B cover vid but forgot. Anyway.. please reblog!! I’ll be back with food posts soon enough! 

Listen to this track, it’s mega wicked.

Wingnut dishwashers union - fuck shit up! (whanananananana)

i don’t believe in cops, bosses, or politicians.
some call that anarchism; i call it having a fucking heart that beats.

I have a real dislike for photos of myself, I rarely share photos of me, infact I think this is my first time posting a photo of myself on tumblr, I used to untag myself in Facebook photos etc. But sometimes, something happens and that something must be doucmented. Last night I met HENRY FUCKING ROLLINS, and this is a photo of me and him. After his brilliant and inspiring spoken word performance at Royal Festival Hall in London, it was awesome being able to get a little chat in with him, I suggested that we do an album swap (I suggest him an album, he suggest me one back), and we did so and if all goes to plan when I e-mail him to say what i thought of his recomendation (Boris - ‘Pink’) he should get back and tell me what he thought of mine (The Skints - Live. Breathe. Build. Believe), we talked a bit about how he mixes what he listens to between the massive amount of new music he consumes and the music he loves and wants to constantly listen to, if you’re wondering he listens to new music Monday-Friday then over the weekend he listens to his favourites and he often also goes back through his collection to rediscover ones he only listened to once. Basically, fucking coolest moment of my life.

this Emilios guy is clearly awesome.

this is me so much.

(stolen from reddit)

Bloc Party - The Once and Future King

loucaltabiano:

At the Drive In, set to reunite after eleven years of silence.

This station is now operational.

Brodie: But my cousin Walter jerked off in public once. True story. He was on a plane to New Mexico when all of the sudden the hydraulics went. The plane started spinning around, going out of control, so he decides it’s all over and whips it out and starts beating it right there. So all the other passengers take a cue from him and they start whipping it out and beating like mad. So all the passengers are beating off, plummeting to their certain doom, when all of the sudden, snap! The hydraulics kick back in. The plane rights itself and it land safely and everyone puts their pieces or, whatever, you know, away and deboard. No one mentions the phenomenon to anyone else.

9/5/2011

Album review of Atari Teenage Riot’s ‘Is This Hyperreal?’, written on request for catonthewall.net. The review was quoted in the advert for the album (see video below).

Atari Teenage Riot. Is This Hyperreal? Album Trailer. from Zan Lyons on Vimeo.

Originally published here: http://catonthewall.net/?p=231

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It’s been twelve years and a major line up change since the last Atari Teenage Riot record, but their much awaited comeback album ‘Is This Hyperreal?’, released on 20th June 2011, sounds like the same iconic band. Last year the 90s digital hardcore pioneers returned to stage with a much acclaimed comeback live show, which demonstrated that the band still had it. ‘Is This Hyperreal?’ features songs just as good as the ATR classics, with just as much meaning to them.

The album opens with last year’s powerful single ‘Activate’ giving a loud start to the album in true Atari Teenage Riot style. The track defines ATR in many ways and has just about everything you can wish for from an ATR song: the classic shouting chorus, political lyrics, lots of noisy sounds and female vocals. The rest of the album is almost a deconstruction of the track going into its different parts more deeply.

Along with ‘Activate’ ‘Is This Hyperreal?’ features plenty of classic Atari Teenage Riot tracks that are along the same lines of ‘Revolution Action’ and ‘Start the Riot’ with shouty and catchy chorus. One of these tracks is anarchist anthem ‘Black Flags’ which will have you shouting along by the time the track ends and also has one of the best and most powerful bass lines on the album. You’ll want to keep the track on repeat. ‘Codebreaker’, ‘The Only Slight Glimmer of Hope’ and ‘Rearrange Your Synapses’ also follow the same classic Atari Teenage Riot format with fast tempos, more shouting choruses and lots of noise which are sure to go down very well live.

One of the few criticisms of the reformed Atari Teenage Riot line up is the lack of vocals from Hanin Elias, however the band have used this to their advantage by taking on Nic Endo onto lead female vocals (she was previously “officially” on backing vocals only and noise programming/production duty), showing just how much of an able vocalist she is as well as her capacity for making noise. Many tracks really boast her vocal talents leaving her in a lead vocal role, such as latest single ‘Blood In My Eyes’, and Endo really proves her worth with the heavy sounding ‘Shadow Identity’ and the danceable ‘Digital Decay’. CX Kidtronik also puts a good deal of effort into the album with his vocals featuring on powerful tracks, of course ‘Activate’ but also ‘Rearrange Your Synapses’.

One of the reasons that makes this a strong album is the variety of the songs, you have your classic heavy ATR songs that they are known for (‘Activate’, ‘Rearrange Your Synapses’), slower, slightly quieter songs (‘Blood In My Eyes’ and the atmosphhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giferic ‘Is This Hyperreal?’), and also dance tracks that fit into the 90s rave scene (‘Digital Decay’ and the borderline commercial finisher ‘Collapse of History’). Each track is unique and strong; they fit in together well as an album but also sound great on their own.

The album is consistently great, with many addictive tracks; you will find yourself wanting to listen to the album over and over. Alec Empire and Co. have clearly worked hard and it really shows. They have brought the original Atari Teenage Riot sound into 2011 and have arguably made the album of their career. You will find it hard to find a better album released this year.

22/9/2011

Interview with Alec Empire of Atari Teenage Riot for sound-revolution.net

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/09/22/interview-atari-teenage-riot/

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Having released their latest album since 1999 in the form of ‘Is This Hyperreal?’ , we caught up with Alec Empire from Atari Teenage Riot, who are currently touring the US and preparing to release new single Black Flags. We talked to Alec about the new video, the latest album, the music industry and more.

You have teamed up with activist group Anonymous for your new video for ‘Black Flags’, do you support the work Anonymous have done so far? What do you think of their high profile attack on Sony earlier this year?

Alec: We referenced them in our song which we recorded a few months ago, so when we announced the concept for the video, a few of them got in touch to participate on some level. Of course we totally loved that. I mean, there are so many people involved, you can’t really say that ‘they all’ got involved because they don’t function like that. I love their sense of humor, their actions, the image.

I witnessed a protest a while ago against Scientology in Germany and that was really powerful stuff. But I have to say that I also like the trolling and all the non political joke stuff… It’s just my sense of humor. Some people call that ‘childish’ but I like it… And their political activism is right. In the situation we are right now with the authorities making peaceful protesting impossible and mainstream media ignoring those protests, taking down a website of a corporation can send a message. Can it change anything? Let me put it this way, it can change more than democratically elected politicians can change right now. Because people see the actions and question the status quo. That is good and important.

You are getting fans to contribute to the ‘Black Flags’ video, you also often talk to fans via twitter and social networks, is connecting with your fan base and making them part of things such as music videos something you find important?

Alec: I think it’s good to let others participate in projects like this. It’s also a lot of fun. We were surprised by all the clips we got sent by fans. They had good ideas. It takes some balls to film yourself and appear in a music video. Especially one with a message like this one. Some people sent in crazy black flag corpsing shots… In a shopping mall for example – seconds later the security guards would appear. The best thing is when you watch the whole takes where people lip-sync the song, they have such a fun time doing it – that just put me in a good mood! In times when record labels go down, who do you listen to… Yes, the fans! Everything else is just bubbles which burst after a few weeks.

Before the reunion of Atari Teenage Riot you were ready to release a new solo album before deciding to concentrate on ATR, any plans for the album’s release?

Alec: Yes, it’s still waiting for its release. I am not rushing it.

‘Is This Hyperreal?’ has been well received critically, how do you think it stands up against the other Atari Teenage Riot albums? And which of the four albums is your personal favourite and why?

Alec: It’s the best ATR album in my opinion. The only problem is that some music critics can’t decipher the lyrics when they don’t deal with those political topics. I read some of the dumbest shit I have ever read. Journalists write things like we are ‘against the internet’ for example, but then authors like Steven Levy did great interviews/conversations with me. That’s what I love most about this record. The type of people it made me come in contact with. People who really know their shit. I also realised that anything related to internet swarm buzz hype shit is not for me at all. I am very very bored with the music industry at this point.

You have blogged about how the music industry has changed and that both file sharers and major labels are greedy. How do you think the music industry needs to change in order to prevent both the major labels and file sharers from running the industry?

Alec: They run the what’s left of the industry and they all run it into the ground. Governments try to help with funding in various countries – I see that as the biggest threat to free art.

I am on the side of those who create and produce and not of those who exploit and consume. In the blog you mentioned I spoke about a ‘new mindset’. People have to understand that they drive the music scene and should be in control. So their choices should motivate the artists to create, not only what people expect them to but also to surprise them.

The problem of our era is that music has no value to most people. It is expected. Like the food that is stocked in supermarket chains or the water that’s coming out of your bathroom tub. I am only speaking about it because people ask me, I don’t really care about what happens to the music industry or scene as a whole. Mainly because I don’t see myself as a part of it.

Despite all members of ATR not being British, the band have been based in London with both the comeback and album premiere shows taking place in the city, do you find that the band have a special bond with London and what do you think about the recent riots that have taken place in the city?

Alec: London always played a key role for us. We were first played on the radio by John Peel there, got signed to a Major label, then created our label Digital Hardcore there. We mastered almost all records there. I blogged about the riots in London a few hours after they occurred. I suggest you read the article. It did receive over 100,000 unique views in the first day it went up and was quoted in various articles about the riots in Germany.

On a bit of a different note, you have plenty of young and new bands supporting you on tour, what newer bands do you recommend we check out and what older bands are you currently listening to a lot at the moment?

Alec: Yes, amazing stuff. Otto Von Schirach with his new music has been killing it every night on the US tour so far. Retox which is members of All Leather and Locust were blowing people away. We have Rowdy Superstar opening up for our dates in October. I love that guy. Very very good stuff. Do they have beards, stand around and play safe to death guitar indie electronic crap that pleases boring people? No. That’s why I love playing with powerful musicians, they are part of a great night.

23/7/2011

Live review of Frank Carter’s final show with Gallows in July 2011. Written for sound-revolution.net.

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/08/01/live-gallows-ulu/

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On the 8^th of July, Frank Carter, vocalist of Gallows announced he would be leaving the band, much to the distraught of Gallows’ dedicated fan base. But being a band as loud as Gallows are, no one is going to leave the band quietly – prompting the band to announce a short run of intimate dates concluding at ULU in London, to give Frank the proper send off he deserves. The atmosphere before the show was very foreboding, the crowd were pumped for action and are prepared for what they felt would surely be a memorable show, and Gallows gave them so much more.

After what seemed a long wait after doors opened the first band on were Bastions, taking to the stage with a large amount of energy it appeared a good start for the set. Unfortunately, by the end of their set they failed to keep their energy going, partly due to a lacklustre response from a lot of the crowd. One of the problems was that for a few songs, the bands vocalist started to lose his voice and the guitarist threw an almost full water bottle into the crowd, hitting someone in the face which created hostility between the audience and band. The second band to take the stage was another hardcore punk band by the name of 33, playing only 5 minutes after Bastions. 33 were squeezed in between the two bands leaving them to play a very short but enjoyable set. Having some great shout along tracks the band featured joint lead vocals, with one vocalist spending most the set in the middle of the pit – defiantly a band worth checking out live.

Taking to the stage to the sound of Amy Winehouse (who passed away earlier that day), Gallows jumped straight into Leeches, as the crowd started to tear the venue down. By the end of the track the size of the venue was already moshing, with many people already crowd surfing. The energy on the stage was incredible with Frank Carter giving it his best for one last time. The band continued to please fans with other great tracks such as London Is The Reason and first album favourites Come Friendly Bombs and Abandon Ship. It wasn’t long after Gallows took to the stage that Frank began diving into the crowd from the speaker stack. After just three songs there was already a group of moshers drenched in sweat at the bar drinking water – and they later got treated to massive circle pits that could barely contain themselves with the size of the small venue and a human pyramid later in the set.

Throughout the show Gallows continued to please the fans, bringing out rarely played live tracks such as Sick of Feeling Sick and Six Years, as well as introducing to the stage Eva Spence of Rolo Tomassi to guest on Black Heart Queen.  The band kept on delivering great tracks right up to end the night, with live favourites Gold Dust, Misery and I Dread The Night proving perfect songs to mosh to. Frank takes his last shouts as a member of Gallows to breakthrough track In The Belly Of A Shark before handing over the mic to anyone who wants it for a chaotic ending to Orchestra of Wolves, waving goodbye to a great and talented vocalist. After the crowd eventually dispersed out of the venue there were plenty of people saying that they had just experienced the best gig of their lives – this was one show not to be forgotten.

7/10/2011

Album review of Smokey Bastard’s “Tales From The Wasteland” written for sound-revolution.net.

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/10/07/smokey-bastard-tales-from-the-wasteland/

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You don’t see too many new folk punk bands these days, while bands like Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys from the US remain popular, it’s been a while since a UK folk punk band has made an impact. The Pogues are often touring but not recording, and it’s good and fresh to hear a new folk punk band from the UK, especially one this brilliant. Hailing from Reading, Smokey Bastard return after their debut album last year with the ambitious Tales from the Wasteland released through Bomber Music.

Musically, ‘Tales from the Wasteland’ is a very good album – with a wide use of instrumentation including the mandolin, banjo, accordion and tin whistle; all played by a mixture of the seven musicians that form the band. All these instruments with an added brilliant raspy vocal performance and fast punk songs create a perfect Irish-tinged sound and rowdy atmosphere for the album.

The album opens with ‘Wasteland’, starting off with a slow pounding entrance, building up until they jump into a much faster tempo reminding of how some of Flogging Molly’s popular songs kick off -you can only imagine what the atmosphere at their gigs must be like. ‘Wasteland’ has just about everything you want from a folk punk track, enough to get you dancing and shouting along to an infectious chorus with a great mix of instruments. Another highlight track is the 5 minute epic ‘Mongrel’ with a powerful banjo line, ska influenced guitar and double vocal track to give this track a loud powerful sound. ‘Dear Mol’ is easily comparable to The Pogues’ classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ and Dropkick Murphys’ ‘The Dirty Glass’ with their mix of male and female sung verses and lyrical themes.

Unlike a lot of albums these days, not too many songs on Tales from the Wasteland sound too similar, from the folk punk anthems such as ‘Wasteland’ and ‘Yuppie Dracula’ to the fast instrumental ‘Mong Some Hoof’, the band even manage to put in a few acapella’s such as the wonderful ‘My Son John’ (which is perhaps there to calm the listener down between the powerful ‘Mongrel’ and hectic ‘Mong Some Hoof’). Standout track ‘Aspirations, I Have Some’ sounds like a slightly different style – with the first half of the track being based on just guitar, bass, drums and vocals before the breakdown which successfully brings in banjo and accordion to finish a brilliant song.

Overall the record has an impressive flow that tells us that this works well as a complete album, not just as a collection of good tracks – which is something lacking in recent albums from their contemporaries Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. You can tell that plenty of thought has been put into the structure and tracklisting of the album. It is a shame that the album flow is somewhat ruined, as instead of selecting strong closing track to go close in similar fashion to the impressive opening song, they chose to place a cover of ‘Mamma Mia’ by ABBA. The rendition is rather gimmicky, and although it is entertaining it does ruin the integrity of an otherwise very well put together album.

Smokey Bastard, with this record, have proved that there is life in the folk punk genre – despite being the first band of the genre in a while to come out with a record this brilliant. ‘Tales from the Wasteland’ is full of infectious and well written tunes that will have you wanting to come back for more; this is without doubt an album that deserves multiple listens.

27/7/2011

Album review of New Town King’s “M.O.J.O” for sound-revolution.net.

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/07/27/new-town-kings-m-o-j-o/

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After bringing us great albums recently from The Skints and Random Hand, Bomber Music have another fantastic band up their sleeves – New Town Kings. Having released their debut ‘Sound of the New Town’ way back in 2007, New Town Kings have finally returned with M.O.J.O, one of the greatest reggae albums for quite some time. There isn’t really a weak track on M.O.J.O, and every track, whatever the tempo is very danceable.

The LP is produced perfectly, with a great mix of instruments that create a great authentic ska sound. None of the instruments are too overwhelming, letting no element dominate the music, which gives us a well-mixed sound of horns, guitar, bass and drums. The songs are memorable and have you singing along after a few listens, particularly on highlight tracks Newstand and Dynamite. New Town Kings are clearly talented musicians as well as songwriters and their use of horns is certainly one of their more interesting aspects – bringing us some great horn lines, especially on Stop and closing track Brighter Days.

Many of the songs across M.O.J.O are unashamedly danceable; where ever you are listening to this record whether at home, work or out in public you will feel compelled to start skanking, which suggests they could have some pretty fun future live shows. As well as sounding like an authentic reggae band you also can tell the influence from the two-tone era of ska, and would fit nicely next to albums from The Specials or The Selector.

You’ll be making no mistake picking up this album, but make sure you have your dancing shoes on. It’s great to hear a reggae album this good that also works well as a complete album, as well as the songs working fine alone. And it’s especially impressive that such a good reggae album comes from a British band. The ska scene in the UK right now is becoming more vibrant than ever, and along with their record label companions The Skints and Random Hand, New Town Kings are another great addition to a great music scene.

12/5/2011

Live review of Skindred at HMV London as part of their Union Black tour 2011. Written for sound-revolution.net

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/05/12/skindred-hmv-forum/

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Entering the iconic HMV Forum there felt a huge buzz about in anticipation for Skindred, with many of the crowd donning Skindred t-shirts.

This is the last date on the tour, promoting their new album Union Black. After playing many much smaller venues Skindred came to a fairly big venue to finish the tour, and pack the place out, in what is one of their biggest headline shows ever – really showing the dedicated fan base and just how many people want to see a band who are already doing something complete different to anyone else on record.

First band on were pop-punkers Me Vs Hero, who played a short set of heavy and catchy songs, very similar to New Found Glory but with a more heavy vibe – much better sounding than the current crop of pop-punk such as You Me At Six, All Time Low and Set Your Goals, it’s nice that there is at least one promising pop-punk band at the moment. By the end of Me Vs Hero’s short set they also got the crowd moving after getting a human pyramid started. The second support slot came from US metalcore band Chiodos who played a short set of fairly unimaginative screamo songs, but managed to keep the crowd entertained and maintain a mosh pit for their whole set. Many support bands do much worse.

Soon after Chiodos left the stage the main floor of the forum filled up ready for Skindred. Arriving on stage after a full play of AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ to help get the crowd in the mood, Skindred took to the stage and opened with first album track ‘Bruises’ – which proves to be a fantastic set opener, throwing the entire crowd into an immediate mosh frenzy, from front right to the back. The band then went straight into fan favourite ‘Roots Rock Riot’ keeping the whole crowd energetic and moving, shouting all the words back to front man Benji Webbe.

The band continued to please the fans with tracks such as ‘Set It Off’ and ‘Rude Boy for Life’, keeping the crowd moshing in the very hot venue. It wasn’t long until the whole crowd was drenched in sweat, with the main mosh pit ending up with being mostly topless guys. The crowd also enjoyed new tracks such as ‘Doom Riff’, ‘Living a Lie’ and ‘Cut Dem’ being played amongst favourite and crowd pleasers such as ‘Trouble’, ‘Selector’ and ‘Calling All Stations’.

Benji Webbe proved to be an excellent front man as he always has been, hyping the crowd up and often standing with authority looking over the crowd; it’s hard to remember that there is a whole talented band on stage behind Webbe’s great stage presence. After keeping the crowd going for the majority of the set, they gave the crowd a rest, playing reggae tracks ‘The Fear’ and ‘Gun Talk’ before jumping back into the heavy ‘Destroy The Dancefloor’ and finishing with old favourite ‘Nobody’ making the crowd reach their craziest.
After a quick break the crowd then returned for an encore, with Benji Webbe in mock Flavor Flav getup, complete with clock. They played ‘Stand For Something’ from their last album ‘Shark Bites and Dog Fights’ before having a Rihanna song ironically play through the sound system, creating what is possibly the only mosh pit to ever happen to a Rihanna song. They then continued with old single ‘Pressure’ and then gave an explosive performance of recent single ‘Warning’, with the sweaty and exhausted crowd giving it their all for the climax of the night.

After being an acclaimed live act for years, Skindred proved that they still have it live, can dominate the bigger venues such as the HMV Forum, and keep the crowd moshing for an entire set. Often known for their great atmosphere at festivals such as Download and Sonisphere, the band really bring this festival atmosphere to their headline show, with charismatic front man Benji Webbe displaying his massive stage presence to help keep the crowd moving. Skindred make some of the most unique music around with their mix of reggae and metal, but when it comes to playing live they really show their greatness – they are a must see live band.

15/5/2010

Live review of Atari Teenage Riot’s comeback show in May 2010. Written for sound-revolution.net.

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2010/05/15/atari-teenage-riot-electric-ballroom/

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When Atari Teenage Riot last played London in 1999, it was at Brixton Academy and it was supporting Nine Inch Nails, MC Carl Crack had vocal problems and didn’t make it on stage and female vocalist Hanin Elias had just walked out of the band, Alec Empire and Nic Endo still took the stage playing a set of harsh white noise, shortly afterwards the band split up. Bring time forward to 2010, and the band have reunited for a string of dates (including this single London show) and a new single, and if we are lucky a lot more.

The band opened the set with new single Activate, within seconds they bring their unbelievable force of energy to the venue, while the crowd goes insane; the track is a perfect opener and sounds great with such an enthusiastic crowd, the atmosphere and energy during this song showed us from the start just how special this gig was going to be. The band power through the whole set without pausing, keeping the energy high, the show was very intense with both the band and the crowd not stopping, the band played favourites such as Into The Death, Destroy 2000 Years of Culture, Midijunkies, Get Up While You Can and Too Dead For Me each song being adrenaline filled, half the crowd moshing, the other half with their fists in the air, energy being high throughout, all three band members don’t give up, keeping the beats pounding during the whole set.

The new member, the relatively unknown CX Kidtronik proved he was worthy of the group while Nic Endo showed us that she can deliver the main vocals just as good as Hanin Elias could, but the stage was ruled by group founder Alec Empire who was on a whole new level that evening – showing even more power that he does at his solo shows, he is in his prime playing Atari Teenage Riot songs.

The energy of the band never calmed through the whole set, the encore included the best songs of the night, songs that are really suited to a live show, such as Speed, Not Your Business, Revolution Action and final song Start The Riot all of which showed the crowd going even more mental than they were already throughout the whole set. The final song Start the Riot ended with a 5 minute jam of noise between the band members, really showing the intensity of the music, combined with the strobe lighting, it was a mind grain of music. This was louder than your average gig. After not stopping and talking to the audience for the whole set when the noise finally ended, Alec Empire addressed the crowd, he told the story of the last Atari Teenage Riot gig in London, he said that they always felt they needed to make it up to London for that gig, it has taken ten years, but this was that gig, and it was truly special, now we must hope that the band may return to the UK in the future and record more new material.

11/6/2010

Extensive live review of Rage Against The Machine’s concert at Finsbury Park, London in June 2010. Written for sound-revolution.net

originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2010/06/11/the-rage-factor-finsbury-park/

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When I first saw Rage Against The Machine at Reading Festival 2008, the first thing I thought when their set finished was “now that, is how a band plays live”. Sunday was the second time I had seen the band, I knew what they were like live, and yet I had the exact same thought when they finished this set. Rage Against The Machine are a band who really set the bar when it comes to performing live.

In early December 2009, two people by the names Jon and Tracy Morter started a Facebook campaign to get the infamous RATM song ‘Killing In The Name’ to the UK Christmas number 1 spot, which is normally reserved for the X Factor winner that week. The campaign challenged one of the UK’s most popular television shows and one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Simon Cowell. Many people were cynical about the campaign, claiming it was impossible, dismissing it as just ‘another Facebook group’ which would have little impact, but as Christmas neared, the campaign got bigger, getting recognition and support from people such as Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, The Prodigy, and  RATM member Tom Morello. The campaign strengthened, odds for ‘Killing In The Name’ to reach number 1 were rising, and then Rage Against The Machine announced they would put on a free UK show as a victory celebration if they won. On Sunday December 20, ‘Killing In The Name’ beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry to the number 1 spot in the UK singles chart.

On June 6^th, RATM fulfilled their promise of a free gig as gloomy weather and 40,000 Rage fans descended onto Finsbury Park in North London. As I entered the gig site security made me empty my pockets on a table, as a friend mentioned, it was a bit authoritarian for a Rage Against The Machine gig, then I look around the area, fairground attractions, burger fans and water that cost £2 a bottle, also seemed a bit of a capitalist affair for a Rage gig as well. On stage at the time were South Central doing a rather average DJ set, the crowd hardly seemed to care but it was adequate enough to sit in the almost sun listening to it. Next DJ set came from L’Amour La Morgue, which is Ian Watkins from lostprophets DJ/remix side project, it was surprisingly enjoyable, featuring many good mashups, I thought I was destined to dislike it, the crowd still didn’t really react, but it was a pretty decent DJ set.

At about 5.15 hardcore punk band Gallows took to the stage with a rather not great cover of ‘God Save The Queen’ by Sex Pistols, but gladly they saved their set afterwards with songs from both their albums, particular highlights being ‘In The Belly of a Shark’, ‘Abandon Ship’ and closing track ‘Orchestra of Wolves’ (which got the best response from the crowd). Singer Frank Carter was good at talking to the audience, at one point got the crowd to boo loud enough for Justin Beiber to hear when he was playing at Wembley Stadium the same day, Carter knows how to please the audience between songs.

The next support act was rapper Roots Manuva. The set was quite unexciting with not much difference between many songs, Roots lacked stage presence and the audience was mainly static throughout his set, the only song that managed to get a half decent audience response was ‘Witness the Fitness’. After the rather disappointing set from Roots Manuva, South Central came on stage to do a second DJ set before Gogol Bordello hit the stage, this time the crowd took much more notice of them, they didn’t sound too bad, but then, they crossed the line, they attempted to remix the Nirvana classic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, which is when bottles began to be thrown, followed by South Central sticking their middle fingers up at the crowd and storming off stage.

Gogol Bordello had a decent reaction from the crowd; they got many people jumping for the first time of the day. They started off with some better known songs such as ‘Ultimate’, ‘Not A Crime’ and ‘Wonderlust King’ which all got the crowd jumping to Eugene Hutz’ energetic stage presence. Newer songs such as ‘Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher)’ and ‘Pala Tute’ fitted into the set well before they finished with fan favourite ‘Start Wearing Purple’, which had the best crowd reaction of the set. Towards the end one member of the band went to do the trademark bass drum surf, throwing the bass drum into the crowd and then struggled to get it back from fans in the crowd, this was one of the more entertaining moments.

Waiting for Rage Against The Machine to take the stage fans started to get impatient, but then the screens on the side of the stage were taken over by a cartoon version of Simon Cowell. The parody of Satan (sorry, Simon) gave a little speech concerning his displeasure of introducing a band whose success he had nothing to do with. After the introduction, the EZLN flag raised up to the sounds of prison sirens followed by Zack, Tom, Brad and Tim walking onstage. Zack addressed the audience, “Hello we are Rage Against The Machine from Los Angeles California” with a massive cheering response from the crowd, before the band immediately preceded into ‘Testify’, as soon as the first note was hit, the crowd were already bouncing like mad, showing that even 10 years after their career began, RATM fans still respond in the same great way.

The band raced through their (short) 75 minute set performing many fan favourites such as ‘Bombtrack’, ‘People of the Sun’, ‘Bulls On Parade’ and got overwhelming responses for tracks such as ‘Know Your Enemy’ and ‘Township Rebellion’. After a fantastic rendition of ‘Bullet In The Head’ the band introduce Jon and Tracey Morter on stage, to a very large applause, Tom Morello gives a little speech about the campaign and they then hand a giant check to Jon and Tracey, all the money the band made from ‘Killing In The Name’ in December, to be given to homeless charity shelter. Zack then goes on to talk about British punk bands, many of which changed the world. He talked about bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Specials, Led Zeppelin, The Jam and bands like The Clash, who changed the world, before going into a great cover of popular Clash song ‘White Riot’, with a great reception from the crowd.

The band then played ‘Guerrilla Radio’, ‘Sleep Now In A Fire’ and ‘Freedom’, by which point the crowd had got crazier than before, the mosh pits were getting bigger and more hectic, before the band retreated before their encore. The encore started with the sound of Joe McElderry’s ‘The Climb’ while the screens began to show odds at the start of December of The X Factor getting Christmas number 1, and then develops the story of the Rage Against The Machine Facebook campaign. The quotes were shown of Simon Cowell and Joe McElderry insulting the song, calling it terms such as “dreadful”, it then goes on to show the sales of ‘The Climb’ and then showed the sales for Rage, to enormous cheers from the crowd, the screen then showed the words ‘YOU made history!’, then the crowd heard the opening chords of ‘Killing In the Name’ as the band returned to the stage. This was the best performance of the song possibly ever performed in my opinion, the crowd went completly insane, this was the song that the whole concert was about, I think the band probably put a bit more effort and energy into it this night, then they ever have before.

Now that is how a band plays live. Rage Against the Machine gave a powerful, entertaining and impressive set, even if it was a bit short, and lacked fan favourite ‘Wake Up’. The show was amazing and truly special.

16/8/2011

Preview feature on Reading and Leeds Festival 2011, detailing reccomended acts, written for sound-revolution.net

Originally published here: http://sound-revolution.net/2011/08/16/reading-and-leeds-2011-who-to-see/

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Friday Reading/Saturday Leeds

Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Dance Stage

Reading locals return to the festival after a three year absence, having unleashed their fantastic second album this year they are sure to get the crowd going at a fairly early time, especially in Reading where their local crowd will give them the homecoming the dance punks deserve.

Saul Williams – Alternative Stage

Making a fairly rare UK appearance the genius US poet and alternative hip-hop artist will be making his Reading and Leeds debut in what will sure be a interesting and engaging set having released some great material in recent years (such as the Trent Reznor produced ‘The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust’) and having released his more commercial ‘Volcanic Sunlight’ earlier this year puts him in the ranks of all the US hip-hop greats.7

The Naked and Famous – NME/Radio One Stage

After making their way around the UK festival circuit this year playing at Glastonbury, Wireless and T in the Park the New Zealand band finally end up at Reading and Leeds. Having risen in popularity in the UK over the last year after being selected for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll this is sure to be a set not to miss.

Henry Rollins – Alternative Stage

After a successful show on the alternative stage in 2008, Henry Rollins returns to Reading and Leeds for what will be a great show, and a change of pace from seeing bands all day. Having been successful in his various bands such as the legendary Black Flag as well as Rollins Band, Henry spends most his time now doing spoken word shows and they really are a treat, you’ll be so entertained by his show that it will end before you barely realised it had started.

Deftones – Main Stage

Having been one of the highlight acts of Reading and Leeds 2009, Deftones return to the main stage for what will defiantly be another fantastic performance from the band who have been on top form since the release of their most recent album ‘Diamond Eyes’.

The Offspring – Main Stage

With the main stage being fairly weak this day (My Chemical Romance headlining? Err…) it’s great that the organisers have booked pop punk heroes The Offspring for one of their first shows in the UK for years, and their first appearance at the festivals for seven years, they will be bound to be bringing out the hits as well as possibly previewing some new material from their currently in the works ninth studio album.

The Horrors – Festival Republic Stage

The big names for this day at the festival are fairly lacking, to end the day there is a choice between what is possibly the weakest headliner the festival have ever decided to book, My Chemical Romance or the blandness of post-Oasis band Beady Eye. However, if you look at the smaller Festival Republic stage you have The Horrors who after releasing their fantastic second album ‘Primary Colours’ they followed it up this year with the equally brilliant ‘Skying’, there really is no other option as to who to see this night, cram into the tent and enjoy some incredible music.

Saturday Reading/Sunday Leeds

Madness – Main Stage

Middle of the day, hopefully with the sun out, happy ska tunes on stage, the atmosphere for Madness should be incredible. The booking of Madness in between Two Door Cinema Club and Jimmy Eat World may seem like a random booking but will likely be highlights of the day as the classic ska act bring out their jumping classics for what will be one of the most fun sets of the weekend.

Jimmy Eat World – Main Stage

After doing the rounds this year playing T in the Park and Glastonbury, Jimmy Eat World end up at Reading and Leeds with their seven album strong back catalogue. They are sure to bring out all the fan favourites to keep everyone singing along.

Leftover Crack – Lock Up Stage

Skacore legends Leftover Crack will be one of the highlights of the Lock Up stage over the weekend with their hardcore punk tinged ska and a dedicated fan base, they will be one of the bands tearing down the Lock Up.

Capdown – Lock Up Stage

Having played one of their most memorable shows on the lock up stage in 2007 before they split up, UK ska punk heroes Capdown now return to Reading and Leeds after successful sets at last year Slam Dunk Festival as well as this year’s Rebellion festival. Get your dancing shoes on and get ready to have fun.

Pulp – Main Stage

The recently reformed Britpop legends bring their successful comeback show to Reading and Leeds after wowing crowds headlining Wireless festival in London and performing a great unannounced set on The Park stage at this year’s Glastonbury festival. They will get the older crowd more nostalgic while also giving their newer younger fans a chance to see them live. ‘Common People’ will be the best sing along of the weekend.

Jane’s Addiction – NME/Radio One Stage

A bit of an alternative choice from the masses that will see Pulp and The Strokes co-headline the main stage, 90’s alt rockers Jane’s Addiction will be a treat for rock fans attending the festivals this year with Perry Farrell’s brilliant stage presence, this are a band despite their ups and downs are really tight and entertaining live. Likely to play to a relatively small crowd due to the popularity of the main stage headliners this day, Jane’s Addiction will still have a great atmosphere, and will likely preview new songs from their long awaited forthcoming album ‘The Great Escape Artist’ as well as all the old favourites.

Sunday Reading/Friday Leeds

Frank Turner – Main Stage

No stranger to the joint festivals is Frank Turner who first played in 2007 on the Carling Stage (as it was then called) and has since played every year including sets on the Lock Up and NME/Radio one Stage, now Frank finally makes his much deserved main stage debut. A man who owes a lot to this festival it is sure to be a highlight of the year for Frank who released his forth studio album this year.

OFF! – Lock Up Stage

Having made their UK debut this month with successful festival shows at Rebellion and Hevy Festivals, Keith Morris’ OFF! Make it to the Lock Up stage for what will be a set of short hardcore punk songs making you think you’re back in the 1980’s despite this band only forming in late 2009 by the early Black Flag singer.

Death From Above 1979 – NME/Radio One Stage

Here’s the one were really looking forward to this weekend, returning to the UK after successful shows at The HMV Forum in London, DFA1979 are sure to draw a decent sized crowd, and knock that crowd into a dance frenzy. If you are seeing this band and not dancing you are doing something wrong. The atmosphere will be immense and this will not be a set to miss.

Flogging Molly – Lock Up Stage

Flogging Molly are the perfect festival band. Having seen Flogging Molly twice at Reading before, and again this year at their Glastonbury debut I can say with confidence that they will be one of the best sets of the weekend. When playing the Lock Up stage in 2008 they sent the whole tent dancing and moshing, the band always bring with them an insane energy that bounces into the crowd making an incredible atmosphere. Have a cider and get yourself into this tent to have the most fun you’ll have all weekend.

Muse – Main stage

Closing the weekend in Reading are Muse, no strangers to Reading and Leeds they last headlined in 2006. After an extended tour of their last album, The Resistance, Muse have decided to make their headline slot at Reading and Leeds rather special by playing their classic Origin of Symmetry from start to finish, as well as bringing all their other greatest hits. Love them or hate them, Muse are one of the greatest live bands on earth and are a great way to finish the weekend.

15/12/2009

Got asked by buzzjack.com to do an informative piece on Rage Against the Machine during the campaign for ‘Killing In The Name’ to reach the UK number 1 spot christmas 2009. It gave a history on the band as well as giving information in support of the campaign.

(originally published here: http://www.buzzjack.com/story_284258.html )

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In 1991 Rage Against The Machine stormed onto the music scene with their strong political messages, amazing musical skill, and of course, their controversy. In 1992, they released their debut self-titled album, featuring their most famous track, ‘Killing in the Name’.

The track caused controversy when it was released due to its high popularity getting to charted (both in the UK and US), this controversy was caused by the anti-authority lyrics and lack of mainstream appeal despite its popularity, also the repeated line of “f*** you I won’t do what you tell me” (repeated 16 times in a row in the song), it isn’t their best material by far (see ‘Freedom’, ‘Bullet In The Head’, ‘Know Your Enemy’) but it remains their most famous. 17 years after the release and original controversy of ‘Killing In The Name’ it has returned to the forefront of controversy with a campaign started on popular (350 million+ userbase) website Facebook, to get the track to the number 1 spot on the UK singles chart, this would mean ‘Killing In the Name’ would be a Christmas number 1 in the UK (a place highly favoured) and would also ruin The X Factor’s 4-year run of getting the Christmas number 1, showing that the British public are not all slave’s to Simon Cowell’s regime of controlling our music industry by spawning generic act after generic act supporting them with an inane karaoke television show (The X Factor), forcing them to the top of our music charts, giving a bad name for the British music industry. ‘Killing In The Name’ making Christmas number 1 would not only say ‘f*** you I won’t do what you tell me’ to Simon Cowell, but would also be a win for original music, showing faith in the British public’s taste in music.

The band spilt up in 2000, but reunited in 2007 to do live shows (although they haven’t done any since September 2008), the band were always known for their activism and protests, most recently in 2008 when the band were due to play a free concert against the ‘power abusing party’ (or the Republican party in America), during the Republican National Convention in America, when the band arrived, police covered the area and refused to let the band near the stage claiming they didn’t have a permit, when the band showed their permit they were still denied access to the stage due to the music that they played, the band then played a cappella through a megaphone to the crowd, before leading a march through the streets, on the second day of the Republican National Convention they successfully played a concert which followed by a demonstration on the streets, 107 got arrested when riot police arrived. Another famous moment from the band’s history is when they got the New York Stock Exchange’s doors shut during a video shoot (directed by Michael Moore), the band played anti-capitalist songs outside before trying to gain entrance to the exchange, the video (for ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’) claims ‘no money was harmed’. Singer Zack De La Rocha has also lived among the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico and guitarist Tom Morello co-run’s a political organisation, ‘Axis of Justice’ who organise around peace, human rights and economic justice.

Sales of the single ‘Killing In The Name’ this week also gets money donated to charity Shelter who have also benefited from £30k so far this week. By downloading ‘Killing In The Name’ this week not only do you give justice to the music industry and stick two fingers up to Simon Cowell and the horrible music business he has created in the last decade, you will also be giving money to a decent charity. Let’s see Rage Against The Machine reach the number 1 spot this weekend.

Unpublished album review written late 2009.

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After much hype, YouTube teasers and secret shows, the wait was finally over for the Them Crooked Vultures album in November 2009. The band consists of three of the most talented and famous rock musicians of today, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age fame, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame and Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame. The three musicians combine together perfectly on this album, all of them proving their immense talent, Homme’s amazing guitar skills, particularly the addictive riffs (‘No One Loves Me and Neither Do I’, ‘Elephants’), Jones’ multi-instrumental talent and unique style (clavinet on ‘Scumbag Blues’, slide guitar on ‘Reptiles’), Grohl’s brutal drumming (‘New Fang’, ‘No One Loves Me and Neither Do I’), the drummer is most famous for being the front man of Foo Fighters but his real talent comes out when he is behind the kit like we have former witnessed when he featured on the Queens of the Stone Age album ‘Songs For The Deaf’ (Grohl’s drumming on ‘Song For The Dead’ is possibly the best he has ever done, the album overall is basically an ode by Grohl and Homme to Led Zeppelin, ‘Them Crooked Vultures’ is basically the nest step where they are Led Zeppelin).

The three musicians all have their own special talents on this album, really proving each of them are true legends and are all capable of making brilliant music without the help of fellow musicians, but on this album they come together, they make music together, and the chemistry between all three of them is what really makes this album. The chemistry is best shown on the track ‘Warsaw or the First Breath You take After You Give Up’ which is almost a jam track between the three musicians, whichever way you look at it, the three band members know how to play, and when they work together it is just an amazing sound. Some parts of the music work perfectly together for example the drumming and guitar riff go together perfectly in opener ‘No One Loves Me and Neither Do I’, and then mix that in with Homme’s slow vocals, it is musical perfection.

Everything about this album is brilliant, every riff, every drum beat, everything John Paul Jones does; it is rock music at its best, done its best musician’s. If I had to pick out the best thing about this album it would have to be the guitar riffs, some of them I already consider the best ever written, ever since I first heard the teaser of ‘No One Loves Me and Neither Do I’ I was in love with the riff, it just sounded perfect, especially where it is placed in the song, it doesn’t start with that riff, it comes half way through and the drop is insane. I feel a similar way with the riffs of ‘Elephants’ and ‘Dead End Friends’, perfectly crafted guitar riffs, that go perfectly with the drumming of the songs, and even when you change the pace of the songs, for example on ‘Gunman’ which really shows the chemistry between Homme, Jones and Grohl, and show’s they have more in them than just hard rock, they can also write some real funky music.

Overall this is one of the best rock albums to come out in a long time; I put it in the same league as some of the greatest rock albums of our time, such as ‘Songs for The Deaf’, ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Led Zeppelin IV’. It is a must for any fan of rock music.

9/10