Frank Iero: Good Things Come To Those With Patience
I remember buying ‘The Black Parade’ in Woolworths. We were on holiday at the seaside. My sister already had the album but I wanted to listen to it on my own shitty personal stereo, so I dragged my Dad into the now-defunct high street shop and asked if I could use my holiday money for it. It had a Parental Advisory sticker, so Dad had to tell the cashier that, yes, I could handle teenagers scaring the shit out of Gerard Way.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns'
Arcane Roots are survivors. That might seem like a big statement when you consider the long line of UK bands who have been beset by label troubles, the loss of key members and relentless touring with little reward.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Cradle of Filth: Still Evil After All These Years
Legends of extreme music, black metal blaggers or Hot Topic heathens...whatever your view on Cradle of Filth, it’s already been expressed on some internet messageboard. They’ve heard it all before. Dani Filth’s troupe of misfits have undergone various line-up and stylistic changes over their near three decade existence, but one thing remains the same: people online hate them.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Plug In, Get Radical: The Bronx Talk Their Fired Up Comeback
“Man, they fuckin’ rip. I’ll tell you right now.” Do you really, in the inky recesses of your heart, want new songs by the Bronx to do anything else? Since the release of their first eponymous LP in the summer of 2003, the Los Angeles band have become standard bearers for a brand of punk ‘n’ roll that clings to an even keel by its fingernails.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 19 September 2017
Public Service Announcement: Phaeleh Is Back With 'Lost Time'
The word dubstep conjures different images for different people. Many associate it with the obnoxious Skrillex-led style that briefly dominated the charts in the early 2010s. But for those who encountered the genre at its inception, it connotes atmosphere, mystery and introspection. Burial, arguably the movement’s most critically acclaimed artist, was already an established, influential presence when he revealed his real name in 2008, for example.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 18 September 2017
It's Cool To Care: Charly Bliss And A Love Of Pop Songs
Photo: Shervin Lainez Charly Bliss have a foot in two camps.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Find An Answer To That Question: Sparks On 'Hippopotamus' And Visual Songwriting
Sparks occupy a unique space in modern pop. Their new album, ‘Hippopotamus’ is their 23rd, and showcases the fundamentals of the band’s genre fusion: classically inspired songwriting shone through a prism of artful duality. It’s a kind of musical Theatre of the Absurd.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Nostalgia on Pause: The Movielife Return With 'Cities in Search of a Heart'
On April 18, 2003 the Movielife played a show that Vinnie Caruana shouldn’t remember. It was part of a tour in support of their third album, ‘40 Hour Train Back to Penn’, at a club in Cardiff, Wales that isn’t there anymore. The place was half full, at a guess.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Persistence And Patience: Kojey Radical Talks 'In Gods Body'
Photo: Ejiro Dafe Kojey Radical endeavours to educate his audiences by offering new and original perspectives on life. He presents ideas that challenge our ideals and promotes change through the rejection of societal norms and any sense of political dictatorship.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 11 September 2017
Capturing Chaos: Introducing Yassassin
Photo: Chris Almeida Yassassin come from all over the world, with members hailing from Sweden, Italy, England and Australia. But it was the East London music scene that drew them into each other's orbit. After appearing on the same bills with their previous bands they started frequenting the same parties and became friends.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
"It's life, you know?": Culture Abuse and What Happens Next
Photo: Alice Baxley “What do the Ramones sound like?” David Kelling asks. “They. Do. Everything. It’s all been done. But it’s about having fun and getting a feeling across.”
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 05 September 2017
Talent Will Out: Courtney Marie Andrews And The Road To 'Honest Life'
If you tuned in to Later…with Jools Holland earlier this year, you may have caught your first glimpse of Courtney Marie Andrews. Singing deeply introspective, poetic songs about heartache and personal growth with a hint of peak Joni Mitchell, that exposure was reward for years of toil that culminated in one of the finest albums of 2016: the soul-baring, bittersweet ‘Honest Life’.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Stereophonics: Many Happy Returns To 'Word Gets Around'
A budding artist's early influences will almost certainly shape the sound of their debut record. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, they were often rammed full of cover versions and songs already flogged to death by a band as they perfected their chops. The Rolling Stones’ eponymous debut, for example, contained just one track penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards – Tell Me (You’re Coming Back) – among its 12.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Time and Place: The Preatures Find A Reflective New Space on 'Girlhood'
We have our own personal waypoints. Musicians have them too, but many of theirs also populate vinyl racks and streaming services. When the Preatures look back on their new LP, ‘Girlhood’, they’ll see their studio space in Surry Hills, Sydney. They’ll remember a night spent on a balcony with friends prior to playing a big festival set. They’ll watch their younger selves navigate the yawning space that follows a breakthrough release.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 August 2017
Speak Your Truth: Downtown Boys Discuss 'Cost of Living'
Photo: Miguel Rosario Downtown Boys are a force to be reckoned with.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Pillow Queens: Talking 'Calm Girls' With Your New Favourite Band
Track down Pillow Queens online and you’ll find a tongue-in-cheek description on their social media pages: “Your new favourite band.”
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 14 August 2017
The Pop Kids: Heartache And Hooks With Girl Ray's 'Earl Grey'
Photo: Neil Thomson There are times when we become hopelessly fixated on certain songs. We get hooked on the way they make us feel, or the fact that they just get us. They talk to us when we perhaps can’t verbalise what we’re going through, and that’s one of the reasons Poppy Hankin loves pop music so much.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 August 2017
Laying It All Down: In Conversation With Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Cut Kenny Wayne Shepherd and he’ll bleed blue. Well, more specifically he’ll bleed the blues. The Louisiana native is a diehard. He has lived and breathed the genre since he helped to reinvigorate it in the mid-90s after bursting onto the block with a blistering sound that, although referencing the greats, gave the blues a youthful vibrancy and crossover appeal it badly needed.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 26 July 2017
A Fascination With Destruction: The Enduring Appeal Of Guns N' Roses' Finest Hour
The year was 1987 and, for many, rock ‘n’ roll was truly fucked. The reason? A hairspray-soaked posse of posturing pretty boys who had set up shop with a commercially-charged, overproduced pop sound full of empty hedonistic abandon. Any notions of authenticity, rebellion and anarchy were superseded by a relentless desire to party hard and get laid. Until one band, and one record, woke everyone up.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Elvis Costello: Many Happy Returns To 'My Aim Is True'
Take a look at the songwriting credits on the Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s seminal 1968 single Fire and, alongside those of the bandleader and his co-conspirator, Vincent Crane, you’ll find the names Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker. Less than a decade later, with the royalties from the record tucked in their pockets, the duo would turn four walls in north London into a den of punk creativity.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 24 July 2017
