Transviolet Tramlines Preview Actor Augustines

Melographic
june 2016
Transviolet
Tramlines Preview
Actor
Augustines
Courage My Love
Slamdunk
Vitamin
A Bit To Read A Lot To See
TRANSVIOLET
You could be forgiven for thinking that Transviolet have not
been around for too long. Thrown together by some high
ranking record executive as the “next big thing”. Feelings
fuelled by the PR stunt of a cassette tape featuring Girls
Your Age turning up randomly in people’s letterboxes: You
could not be further away from the truth: They will be the
next big thing but they have earned that particular right.
Indeed lead vocalist Sarah said in an interview recently “I
wish it happened that way! Behind every overnight
sensation there’s years of practice and hard work, right? I’ve
been trying to do this for nearly nine years now, so it’s been
a long time. The band started almost six years ago, so it
certainly hasn’t happened overnight. We have taken our
time writing and making sure everything is as we want it,
meaning our first proper release was just a few months ago.
Things have been building behind the scenes for quite a
while now”.
They met though in a very modern way. Via the internet six years ago
and actually got to meet and form as a band a year after bowling about
ideas via the ether! Sarah says “Mike was in San Diego at the time, and
he contacted me He said he liked my voice and song writing and he
sent me over a track to put some vocals on, and I just loved the vibe of
the song. We sent songs back and forth for a while and shortly after a
couple of his friends - Judah McCarthy and Jon Garcia – joined the
band”. They are unconventional, work hard and produce some
wonderful music; currently doing the rounds is the supreme track New
Bohemia – a call to be involved in doing things rather than just letting
things wash over you. It should be the signature tune for the band as it
describes their ethos to a T. Come summer when they play Reading/
Leeds festival everybody will want one of those cassettes!
They will probably get sick of being asked on how did this thing with
the cassette tape came about. However, it was just, they tell us “a
chance to give fans something they could hold in their hands”
“When we started listening to music we had tapes and Cds and we just
thought it would be cool to have something like this. Fortunately the
record company back us on it too”
But it was this song, the quartet’s first song, which they also popped online in the summer of 2015, which announced Transviolet’s arrival and really
whet appetites for more. “Girls Your Age” is a bewitching slip of a song with Sarah’s voice at once recalling the Lana, Lorde and Imogen Heap: sultry,
measured, assured. The song gained instant online traction. People clicked play and clicked play again. Katy Perry praised the lyrics, Harry Styles
tweeted his support, Ellie Goulding selected it for a spin on Beats1 and Twin Shadow delivered an exclusive remix. “Girls Your Age” soon became a
bonafide viral sensation with over a million plays on Spotify alone. Unflinchingly personal, it was also an apt introduction to the band. “It was my
coming of age story, I wanted to put something out there that was raw, it wasn’t trying to be anything, it was just a true account of how I felt growing
up and the turmoil that surrounded that,” states Sarah. “You’re trying to figure out who you are and at the same time the world is telling you feel this
and be that and want this and you’re caught in the crossfire.”
Their four song eponymous EP (released this past September) further
underscores what’s in store. “Bloodstream” is a straight up toxic love tune,
while “Night Vision” expresses the flip of this. Elsewhere “New Bohemia”
is unabashedly anthemic, but the lyrics are anything but throwaway. “I feel
like every individual has the power to change the world, we decide on a
daily basis what our world looks like and every decision we make effects
our reality,” explains Sarah of the song’s message. “I wanted to write a
song that inspired people to speak up and take action and to take
responsibility for our generation and take a stand for something that you
believe in.”
“For all of us it’s more than just the music,” Michael concurs. “We think
it’s important to spread positive messages and have a nice effect on the
world around us.” While Michael describes Sarah and him as yin and yang
—her lyrics and melodies, his beats and arrangements—the addition of
Jon and Judah should also not be underestimated. Sarah credits them as
being essential to the development of their sound, which they’re now
honing live on their first ever tour (they made their stage debut back in
September 2015). The foursome are a tight unit and it works. “There are
no divas, we all look at each other as equals and there’s no such thing as
stupid ideas,” affirms Sarah. “I think that safety is what allows us to feel so
free in the writing process because no matter what, the other three people
are always going to back you up. Those stupid ideas are what sometimes
lead to the brilliant ideas.”
Recently they have also been likened to David Bowie – not in a
musical sense but in the essence of his spirit. A comparison that is
warmly accepted by the band as they, like Bowie challenge “We are
interested in challenging the status quo, and inspiring conversations
that will help us overcome our differences,” they say. “Too many
times we let characteristics define and, ultimately, divide us. We are
not the colour of our skin or the amount of money we have in the
bank. We are not our gender or our sexual orientation. We are all
humans in need of love, respect, and acceptance. Everything else is a
detail. That’s what the song New Bohemia is about. It’s taking a step
outside of your personal bubble and looking at the world from an
outsider’s perspective. New Bohemia as an idea wants a community
of creatives that comes together and find their voice and are told
they do not have to conform to anything else.”
Next up in the UK at any rate is an appearance at Leeds/Reading
Festival in August. They have been given a prime spot on the second
stage; Sunshine is promised if not it’s going to cost this particular
interview four pairs of “wellies”. The question is after seeing them
play at The Deaf Institute in Manchester would this be a worthy
investment?
Live they are self-assured and beaming not in the least surprising
considering the time they have been together and the times they
spend with each other. Sarah clearly takes vitality from the crowd an
authoritative piece, full of passion and grandeur. Transviolet’s set,
keeps you involved from start to finish that you almost forgive the
fact that the lighting engineer thought they looked better under
bleak unflattering lighting. The most invigorating thing though is
Transviolet interact with their crowd throughout and indeed
afterwards. Clearly they take nothing for granted despite all the
adulation. The band so noticeably care about its audiophiles that it’s
impossible not to find Transviolet at completely engaging. And you
are left with unequivocal feeling that they are going to be huge and
it is all going to be richly deserved
PICTURE OF THE MONTH
Actor: Headrow House, Leeds
Augustines: "This Is Your Life" - time to
celebrate
They say that sometimes from great ugliness comes great beauty. I am reminded of this just before an interview with Billy McCarthy
Augustines lead singer. Third album, This Is Your Life has just been released. I’ve been playing it almost incessantly but it is only
when I refresh myself with their two previous albums that one releases that the third album is essentially part of a trilogy: So here’s a
quick history lesson
Augustines (formerly We Are Augustines) is an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York consisting of guitarist Billy
McCarthy, multi-instrumentalist Eric Sanderson and drummer Rob Allen. They were signed by Oxcart Records. Augustines are
known for intense shows and heavy interaction with the audience. Numerous shows have seen the band leaving the stage to perform
on the floor with the fans.
Material for Augustines' debut album originated when, with Pela, McCarthy wrote dozens of songs and Sanderson contributed
many demos of his own. The band had close to 40 songs to pick from. Even though the album was nearly complete, they were
unhappy with the results and wanted to re-record the material. "We had to do it twice because it just wasn’t strong," Sanderson
said. Throughout the recording (and re-recording) process, the band fought with its record label, its manager and amongst
themselves Soon after, McCarthy learned his brother James had committed suicide. With all the issues surrounding the band, "Pela
was unable to survive the storm," Sanderson said.
After deciding to part ways with the other two members of Pela, McCarthy and Sanderson eventually decided to finish the
album. Having been through a terrible experience with the music labels and industry, "We knew that we wanted to proceed
independently, but actually taking that on was a whole other challenge." With support from the indie music community,
specifically John Richards of KEXP, they were able to finish the record. The album was produced by David Newfeld, who is best
known for his work with Broken Social Scene.[9] Their first performance of the new material, still under the original name
Augustines, was for Richards and KEXP at the Cutting Room Studios on October 18, 2010. They released Rise Ye Sunken Ships
independently on June 6, 2011 as a digital-only copy on iTunes.
Prior to the release of their first album, the band announced that Rob Allen had joined the band as the full-time drummer.
The album covers a lot of very difficult subjects, the most prominent of these subjects are the untimely deaths of McCarthy's
mother and brother. Rob Allen, the band's drummer, states that while there is a heavy focus on the painful subjects throughout
the album the band also has a deep sense of positivity and hope. "The songs are about topics that happened over a period of
time. They have a lot of meaning to us, especially Bill and that won't change, but, if anything, we are living proof that things can
get better, opportunities can come your way and that is worth celebrating! We are jovial, energetic people who want to enjoy
life and I think that's what you see when we perform."
Song writing it would seem was the way out from all the early trauma in McCarthy’s life I wondered how with all this going on
did he learn to write music “I think I was always a sensitive kid. You know, there was a sense that it wasn't my fault, and I think
I knew that. And when I got to one of the foster homes, there was a piano. And I remember it clear as day. It was just sort of a
window with a curtain and this piano. And I just remember hitting notes and letting them ring out. And it just brought
something out in me, you know, at such a young age, such a complex feeling, and I don't think I ever stopped chasing it” he
says
This Is Your Life is a move on from their first two albums “we changed our writing style a little and we wanted to be different”
according to McCarthy. What they have produced is a stunning album. It is also a very uplifting album as it is plain to hear that
despite all their trials and tribulations the album confirms that you come out at the other end stronger. Indeed, rather than
anthemic some of the tracks on the album are hymns: hymns with a pounding drum beat underlying them.
With each record Augustine’s release, they move on further away from the darkness that suicide and death can envelope and
for the band hang around their shoulders like an albatross. Pain is still there but it is pain that is no longer holding the band at
gunpoint. “I’m not sure how we’ll perform this live” says McCarthy. I tell him that they should just play it from start to finish
because This Is Your Life is flawless
10 TO SEE AT
Ekkah
Friday — 8:30pm
The Harley
EKKAH are longtime friends Rebekah Pennington and Rebecca
Wilson who met in their native Birmingham and bonded over a
mutual love of music during math class. A creative partnership
ensued when they started writing music together and recording
songs of soul and funk-addled pop.
Pixx
Friday — 7:30pm
The Harley
Pixx is the nom de guerre of 19 year-old
Hannah Rodgers, a young songwriter
from Chipstead, just beyond the fringes
of south London where suburban sprawl
starts to break in to countryside.
Born to a music-loving family, her
creative side was nurtured and
encouraged from a young age and her
burgeoning talent didn’t go unnoticed,
earning her a place at The BRIT School,
the renowned performing arts college
located not far from her home.
Inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni
Mitchell and Aphex Twin and adopting
her grandmother’s nickname, Hannah is
striking it out alone as Pixx. Her
recording debut, Fall In, was released on
28th August 2015.
Eliza and the Bear
Saturday — 3:45pm
Devonshire Green
Eliza and the Bear didn’t plan to be a band. Not a real band, at any rate.
The Essex quintet had no intention of releasing records, never mind
making an album. They had no wish to play gigs, let alone tour. When
they got together in the autumn of 2011, all five had given up trying to
make it as musicians, their teenage dreams of pop stardom crushed by
too many five hour drives to play to ten people. It was time, they
decided, to return to real life.
Holy Esque
Saturday — 4:15pm
Devonshire Green
Kate Jackson & The
Wrong Moves
Saturday — 5:15pm
Devonshire Green
Kate Jackson, former lead singer with muchmissed Sheffield greats The Long Blondes, is back
with a new album ‘British Road Movies’ and new
band The Wrong Moves.
The record was written by Jackson alongside
guitarist and producer Bernard Butler at West
Heath Studios in London. 'British Road Movies'
takes in eclectic musical styles, from synth driven
glam rock to Blade Runner electronica, faded
piano allure to sweeping strings alt-country. All
these recordings have two things in common,
Jackson’s unique vocal top line and Butler’s
instantly recognisable guitar sound. These are big,
melodic alternative pop songs, with the guitarist’s
naturally cinematic production perfectly
complementing the narrative of the record.
Each new song was conceived as a movie title. “The
road, much written about in American popular
song, and an American cinematic staple, is often
ignored in British culture,” Jackson explains. “As
an island our roads lead somewhere far too quickly
to hold adventure. We are not the land of Jack
Kerouac but of Antiques Road Trip. But who is to
say our roads can’t be cinematic?” She cites
filmmaker Chris Petit's 'Radio On' film from 1979,
Patrick Keiller’s Robinson trilogy and the writing
of Will Self and Iain Sinclair as touch points.
THEIR singer’s been described as having the “unholiest shriek in rock”,
they’ve been likened to a string of bands that fall wide of the mark and they
claim Franz Ferdinand were “before our time”.
Meet Holy Esque – Scotland’s most exciting rock band.
The band are four 20-year-old Glaswegians – singer and guitarist Pat
Hynes, guitarist Hugo McGinley and Glasgow Art students Keir Reid on
keys and drummer Ralph McClure.
Thomas Truax
Sunday — 3:00pm
The Folk Forest
American Thomas Truax is one of the most imaginative characters on the pop music fringe. He travels the world performing with his
evolving "band" of surreal self-made Harry Partch-esque instruments including a motorized drum machine made of bike wheels
called 'Mother Superior' and a pimped-up Dr. Seuss-ian Gramophone called 'The Hornicator', as well as guitar. UNCUT magazine
says "Truax is shaping up nicely as one of the great rock eccentrics" while Splendid magazine called him "one of the five or ten best
singer/songwriters in the world that you've never heard of...an exceptional talent, unique and resistant to comparison."
He crafts rich, poetically evocative songs about insects, trees, technology, and a lifelong obsession with things lunar, including
various reasons 'Why Dogs Howl at The Moon'. His eight studio LPs include highly-rated covers album 'Songs From The Films Of
David Lynch'. Notable supporters and collaborators include Jarvis Cocker, Duke Special, Richard Hawley, Amanda Palmer, and the
late author Terry Pratchett.
Sundara Karma
Saturday — 10:15pm
The Leadmill
The four young members of Sundara Karma hail from Reading and have previously
claimed their indie-infused sound is “more refreshing than sunshine”. Since forming
in 2011, they have built a devoted following thanks to relentless touring and have
steadily been releasing tracks to critical acclaim throughout 2015. NME promptly
noted their EP 'EPI' boasted “hints of Arcade Fire and Bruce Springsteen in their
powerful new approach, all driving, rousing indie rock that proves that quartet can
create euphoria more than one way.”
Mystery Jets
Saturday — 7:45pm
Devonshire Green
It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Mystery Jets broke surface with their debut album,
Making Dens. Of all the acts that sprang into life in The Libertines’ Fagin-like wake, Mystery Jets
were always the hardest to pin down. A Syd Barrett-enthralled troupe fashioning delightfully
skewed, potting shed psychedelia out of playful wonky pop and unashamedly proggy flourishes
from their Thameside hideout of Eel Pie, the South London island that played midwife to the
British R&B boom in the early ’60s.
While so many of their more two dimensional peers have long since faded away, what’s kept
Mystery Jets consistently fascinating over the last decade has been an itchy footed desire to keep
trying new things. From follow up Twenty One’s dazzling jumble of electro, off kilter indie and
suit- jacket-sleeves-rolled-up yacht rock, Serotonin’s well-buffed melodies and the dust-stained
Americana of 2012’s Radlands, to be a follower of Mystery Jets’ music has been to eagerly await the
next move of their restlessly curious muse.
On Curve Of The Earth, Mystery Jets have changed tack again, only this time it’s been to strip back
some of their more shapeshifting tendencies and distil the essence of what makes them such a great
band. Arguably their strongest, most personal and most coherent set of tracks to date, it highlights
what the kids down the front of their shows shouting “Zoo Time!” have known all along, that at
their centre Mystery Jets simply write amazing songs.
Hinds
Sunday — 4:00pm
Main Stage
One fairly average Madrid afternoon in March, pals Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials disappeared into their rehearsal
studio, and stepped out clutching two of the most perfectly ramshackle pop songs you will ever hear.
'Bamboo' flies like an arrow to the heart: pure '60's pop sounds, cantering rhythm and guitars twanging with tremelo, feeling
effortless as the pair interpolate each other's lyrics instinctively. "I need you to feel like a man when I give you all I am. I know
you’re not hungover today/you are classifying your cassettes".
As it's title suggests, 'Trippy Gum' offers a more psyche edge, with a gloriously extended fuzz-solo, and at least two massive songs
crammed into it's four and a half minute duration. It’s bottled magic and leaves our glasses nearly full with anticipation of a
Hinds-filled vision of the future.
One month after recording the single, bass player Ade Martin and drummer Amber Grimbergen joined Ana and Carlotta for
their first live show, to a sold out Madrid crowd.
Inheaven
Friday — 8:10pm
The Leadmill
South London quartet Inheaven have already got Strokes frontman
Julian Casablancas' seal of approval, releasing their debut single
'Regeneration' on his Cult Records label in the US earlier this year
(the track got a release on up-and-coming new label AMF Records
over here). Now they're following it up with an even more promising
cut in 'Bitter Town'. It's a dose of gloomy '80s-indebted indie rock,
recalling Jesus And Mary Chain and Echo & The Bunnymen in its
expansive atmosphere and echoing vocals. "Ignore the sycophantics,
embrace the young romantic," urges singer James, before delivering a
killer blow. "Oh I may be lost, but at least I don't feel the way you do."
Zip your leather jacket, stick this on your headphones and head for
grey skies.
SLAMDUNK 2016
Safe to say that Slamdunk
celebrated its 10th Birthday
in style: Full review and
more amazing pictures in
next months Melographic
Panic at The
Disco
Catch 22
Capdown
Yellowcard
Mayday Parade
The Story So Far
All Images by Stuart Glossop
New Found Glory
Moose Blood
Zebrahead
Zebrahead
Introducing LAUREN RAY!
Following the release of her debut EP last year, British singer songwriter Lauren Ray has her
brand new single ‘Drive’ out now, taken from her forthcoming debut album, ‘We Will Need
Courage’ – out this summer.
With hints of Norah Jones, Alison Krauss and Carole King, ‘Drive’ ticks all the boxes of a
soulful, pop-country crossover. With a laid back summer groove, it’s thoughtful and
understated with a sleepy, rocking ease to it, complimented with Lauren’s rich sultry vocals.
“There are no guarantees in love,’ says Lauren. “This song is about having the courage to
really go for it, even though you don’t know how any new relationship will turn out.”
With a Polish/South African father and English/Irish mother Lauren and her siblings grew up
living in South Africa, Poland, Austria and eventually the UK. This migratory life seeps into
Lauren's song writing, with the kind of complicated love songs that are born of spending life
losing and making new friends.
Whilst holding down a full time job in the music industry by day, Lauren has spent the last
few years performing and writing in her spare time, building a fan base in London, LA and
Nashville. She’s written with a host of hit songwriters including Martin Sutton (Leann Rimes),
Ian Dench (Beyoncé, Jordin Sparks) and Michael Garvin (Jennifer Lopez) and in April of last
year finally got time to start recording her album in Nashville working with producer Neilson
Hubbard.
The first single from the album ‘Come To Me’ was released in October 2015 on her label
TAMLAN records (named after her families initials). It came as part of an EP, ‘Paying For
Love’ which won her critical acclaim and big UK regional radio support. She’s now putting
the final finishing touches to the album, set for release this summer.
Next month we have a full interview with Lauren
ALBUM REVIEW: Fassine 'Dialectik'
Ploughing a furrow that is as mysterious and brooding as it is enlivening and joyous, the London trio’s lyrically dark and musically
complex operation possesses all the hallmarks of a typically British affair; cold and austere soundscapes being paired with the
uplifting, in a fine execution of the juxtapositional. There are hints of Trent Reznor’s influence, along with a smart ear for the
cinematic – something that has not gone un-noticed, earning their track Bring The Weight Down a slot in Sky Atlantic’s hit US
show The Following. Fassine’s sound is one of striking imagery that dares the listener to enter the group’s own stark world.
Fassine’s recent single releases have painted the picture of a musically dextrous band that thrive among the old adage of Less Is
More. Taking inspiration from old TV shows from the 70s and 80s – the sorts of shows like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and Edge
Of Darkness, that the band say “were built in these vast settings with great distance. Connecting the dots however, were all these
tiny conversations.'
As a band, they don’t feel the need to say 10 words, when three will do, which is something that immediately came across in
former single Sunshine, all bustling percussion and punctuating, slicing synths. Their music evokes such a mood, that it says as
much as the lyrics themselves. Elsewhere the album’s title track perfectly exemplifies the troupe’s keen ear for production, and a
wild percussive experience, and there’s something particularly cleansing in the upwardly fizzing swathes of synths that permeate
album opener Headlong’s robust refrain.
As a body of work, Dialectik is, in the band’s own words “about isolation, those treacherous thoughts that wedge themselves in the
door - a journey from logic to absurdity and back again.” On Dialectik, dark meets like and cold flirts with warmth, creating
claustrophobic atmospheres that reflect their subject matter perfectly.
Bursting with shadowy and astute phrases from the instant it initiates, the album is truthfully forceful. Palmer’s vocals are
unbelievable on Dialectik, they texture the landscapes all the way through the album: Fassine are really devoting in their melodies
fashioning some improbable songs. What Fassine do during the course of Dialectik is dazzling
FIRST WAVE OF ARTISTS ANNOUNCED
FOR NEW MANCHESTER FESTIVAL!
Following the announcement last month that Neighbourhood Festival will be taking over
Manchester City Centre on Saturday 8th October for a full day of incredible live music; the first
wave of artists have now been confirmed.
Headlining the inaugural event are acclaimed indie quartet Circa Waves and Scottish rock band
Twin Atlantic. Also joining the bill are established artists Kate Nash who’s currently working on
album number 4 and Lonely The Brave who’ve earned rave reviews for their brand new release
‘Things Will Matter’.
A whole host of the freshest names and hotly tipped artists of the year such as Ady Suleiman and
Clean Cut Kid will feature along with some of the best home- grown talent Manchester has to offer
including the likes of Cabbage, Cupids, False Advertising, Pale Waves, Prose, Rory Wynne, The
Blinders and Wedding.
Over 100 artists and bands from all around the world will be performing across nine of
Manchester’s best and most iconic music venues the south side of the city. Many more artists will
be unveiled soon, so watch this space!
Tickets go onsale Friday 3rd June at 9am via www.gigsandtours.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk and
www.neighbourhoodfestival.co.uk.
Neighbourhood Festival
Manchester City Centre
Saturday 8th October 2016
AGE 14+
Choir of Young Believers
With new album Grasque out now via Ghostly International, Choir
of Young Believers has announced a performance at Glastonbury
Festival, along with European festivals including Roskilde and
Amsterdam Woods, and a European tour in the autumn.
Grasque exhibits an array of complex influences and styles ranging
from smoky jazz to experimental electronics to smouldering R&B
sounds. The album’s title was in fact the name given by frontman
Jannis Makrigiannis to the imaginary band he’d conjured up in his
head whilst finding inspiration for the album. Though not his
original intention, he soon realised that he could bring his new
ideas and music together into a new Choir of Young Believers
record. The result is confident and expansive, exploring a
multitude of musical styles whilst retaining the integral
components of Choir of Young Believers' sound.
It was the end of 2013 and Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, the frontman
and principal persona behind Choir of Young Believers, was worn
out. He’d been touring the band’s last record, the haunting Rhine
Gold, for the better part of a year and felt confused and adrift, and
didn’t feel like playing music. He was doubting the future of the
band. The way he coped was to detach. He postponed writing in
favor of travelling, deciding that instead of diving back into the
creation of another record, he would allow himself to move in
whatever direction he desired. His impulses guided his decisions;
he wasn’t feeling very inspired by the guitar or the piano, so he
started to fiddle around with a small pocket sampler his mother got
him for Christmas, using it to make small soundscapes, beats and
collages.
Those early experiments became the building blocks for Grasque,
from the warped, weird choral vocals that open 'Serious Lover' to
the breezy, breathy R&B of 'Jeg Ser Dig,' on which he sounds like a
Scandinavian Sade. The record pulls in a host of unlikely
influences: smoky jazz on the noirish 'The Whirlpool Enigma' ,
twinkling pop on 'Gamma Moth' and sun-bathed soul on 'Cloud
Nine.' It’s not so much a reinvention as a redirection, maintaining
all of the group’s essential elements but setting them within a new
context.
The result is an album that is confident and expansive,
incorporating an encyclopedia of styles while still maintaining the
essential elements of Choir of Young Believers’ DNA. It’s pop
music, put through a kaleidoscopic filter. “I must admit, one of the
things I worried about was ‘What will people think?"" Makrigiannis
says. “With almost all of these songs, I had been in doubt. Some, I
felt, were too poppy, others too experimental -- some didn’t even
feel like songs, but more like trips, or feelings. Some even had
Danish and Greek lyrics. But now, it’s all Choir of Young Believers
to me, and it feels great to have pushed the walls around the band,
giving it a bit more space. It’s weird for me to think about all that
doubt -- ”Could I do this? Could I do that? I mean, it’s my f*cking
band. I can do what I want with it. Right?”
Grasque is available on CD, digitally and as a limited colour double
LP, along with a regular black vinyl edition
Belly was the band that saw Tanya Donelly finally step out of the shadows and emerge as a songwriting
talent and a huge commercial success in her own right. Releasing just two albums -Star in 1993 and
King in 1995 - their joyous pop-rock shone brightly, by turns seductive, poetically adventurous and
full-on rocking.
As so often, what made the band so great also made them volatile. "The force that pulled this group
together and made it good - the differences in our personalities - was ultimately a centrifugal force, and
we flew apart", recalls Tanya. After an 18-month world tour in support of second-album King, the
foursome quietly called it quits, Tanya evolving into a solo artist she is today.
But Belly are back and they have announced a UK tour for July 2016:
July 15th
July 16th
July 17th
July 18th
July 19th
July 20th
July 21st
July 21st
Glasgow Garage
Leeds University Stylus
Manchester Ritz
The Waterfront, Norwich
Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Bristol Academy
London Forum
Dublin Academy
VITAMIN have announced they have been hand-picked to
join the KAISER CHIEFS at a series of huge Forest Live
shows this Summer. well we did tell you that it was only a
matter of time!
One of the most exciting bands to emerge from Leeds since
the Kaisers last cast all eyes on Yorkshire over a decade ago
- the rising four-piece will support the indie supremos at a
unique series of shows hosted by the Forestry Commission.
Looking to bring a healthy dose of their sunshine soaked
soul-pop to proceedings each day, VITAMIN will be
heading off the beaten track and to a neck of the woods
near you with appearances at Westonbirt Arboretum in
Tetbury (17th June), Bedgebury Pinetum in Tunbridge
Wells (18th June), Dalby Forest in Pickering (26th June)
and a final show in Cannock Chase Forest in Rugeley (10th
July).
With Brit Awards, multi-platinum album sales and a stack
of hits including “I Predict A Riot”, “Ruby” and many
more, Ricky Wilson and co.’s nose for pop potential would
be hard to dispute. With just two EPs and a handful of
singles to their name including 'This Isn’t Love’ and
irresistible current single ‘Waterfall', VITAMIN's
effervescent indie pop took no time in catching the
attention of the Kaisers, who have hand-picked the
newcomers to join them especially for this special run of
shows.
Speaking about the shows, VITAMIN frontman Jared
Saville said:
"I've forever fantasised about playing shows of this size
since I first picked up a mic, also the fact we'll be playing a
forest only adds to the excitment. I honestly can't wait for
these gigs and we're so grateful to the Kaiser Chiefs for
picking us to play with them.”
The Forest Live announcement follows seamlessly on from
support slots on tour with Clean Cut Kid and Magic Gang,
plus a host of festival appearances at Stockton Calling
Festival, Live At Leeds, Handmade Festival and The Great
Escape Festival.
The band have also recently unveiled their recent single
‘Waterfall', which you can listen to here:
VITAMIN
Hockey Dad
Australian duo and Leisure Coast legends Hockey Dad are set to release their debut album Boronia on August 12th via Brooklyn indie label Kanine Records.
Their story is simple: best mates first, band second, and their music flows from their surroundings: sunny and jangly guitar driven rock complete with anthemic
choruses. Yet please do not mistake their laid back vibes for anything but tight execution and a drive to share their good times with the world.
Zach Stephenson (guitars/vocals) and Billy Fleming (drums) have been best friends since age 4. Living two doors down on Boronia Street in the small Australian
coastal town of Windang, it was around 13 when they discovered Zach's Dad's old gear in his garage and about 15 when they started sneaking into local music
venue RAD BAR and playing other bands' instruments while they were not around. By 18, they were touring Australia under the name Hockey Dad, which was
gleaned from a Simpsons episode. The duo brings an incredible energy and youth to their warm and jangly guitar tones, telling tales of beaches and babes.
The past year has seen the duo move from aspiring garage band to Australian indie pop stars. After releasing their debut EP Dreamin' on local Aussie label
Farmer and the Owl, Hockey Dad won Triple J's Unearthed Fall Festival Competition in 2014 gaining them national radio play and sold out shows across
Australia. With headlining festival appearances in their hometown under their belt, in 2015 they headed stateside for CMJ where they met up with Brooklyn indie
Kanine Records (Surfer Blood, Splashh, Beverly) and cemented a deal to release their debut album in the US.
Boronia is 11 tracks of pure unadulterated fun that comes straight out of the surf and skate culture surrounding them in their native Wollongong. "As a kid
growing up, it was inevitable that we'd be picking up boards and hitting the waves, as we're only a couple minutes walk away from the beach. The video for 'I Need
A Woman' serves as a dedication to our childhood, just hanging around the beach and having sick fun." But skating and surfing wasn't enough to fill up their
days, Billy grew up on his older brother's stash of 90's punk, while Zach grew up with his dad's collection of Aussie Gold records. "It's funny because one minute
we'll be throwing bones to Parkway Drive, and next thing we're sobbing to Aretha Franklin."
Their debut album Boronia is a testament of the good times that the boys have pouring out of them. And now they want to share those good times with the world.
IN PICTURES:
This Must Be The Place,
Leeds, 30th May
Twin Atlantic announce album
no.4 'GLA'
"This is where we come from. It's laced in our blood not to mention our art and vision.
It's bold. It's in our voice. It's time to embrace it and not work around it. This album is
our reflection of what it's like to come from a city at the forefront of multiculturalism,
both forward thinking and with a real sense of community, but also with a dark and
rough history. We have
changed our approach to writing and recording; we turned the idea of a rock band upside
down, conforming only to this one idea - to take back rock and roll. To give people
something real again. You can't get more real than Glasgow. Infamous for rivalry and
danger. Passion and fear. Diversity and depth. Love and warmth. Small spaces and one
climate. We have finally made the album we wanted to make.” (Sam McTrusty)
The songs of ‘GLA’ – from riff, to lyric, to guitarist Barry McKenna’s searing lead lines –
are possessed of powerful complexity and nuance. The perfect polished pop songs have
been ditched, replaced by tracks that are just as compelling, but also possessing new
depth and sophistication, while never shedding that primal Twin Atlantic kick fuelled by
bass player Ross McNae and drummer Craig Kneale. And they are personal and from-theheart in a way the group have never before delivered.
‘GLA’ was written in Glasgow, and the band repaired to Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles to
record the album, working with Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Two Door Cinema Club)
who had previously produced some tracks for previous Top 10 album 'Great
Divide' (2014). Under his direction, they eschewed old school recording techniques,
taping their parts separately. This change in their recording process marked the grander
ambitions of the new songs, while their dream mixer Alan Moulder (best known for his
unforgettable work with Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Foo Fighters and My Bloody Valentine)
came aboard to give the album the essential finishing touch.
ACTOR
ACTOR, the alias of Louisa Osborn, collaborating producer Chris Mulligan and drummer Ste Anderson,
who started writing their caustic and atmospheric alt-pop in a murky art space once home to a bomb
factory in Leeds.are set to play their first headline show in their hometown on 26th May when they will
play Headrow House.
Just released is new record Girls Do – which you can listen too below: The record is essentially a plea for
women to be accepted as people rather a sexualised object:
Louisa Osborn from the band said “I feel that in light of negative issues surrounding inequality, there is
more awareness being raised in the music industry but, I will still encounter something unsavoury and
backward at many live shows I play. I'm not writing this for anything else but to raise awareness. Music
is for EVERYONE. And I worry that some members of the audience are still viewing female musicians
solely as a sexual image. (ESPECIALLY if there's the phallic symbol of the guitar involved, due to that
age old misconception the guitar is male territory).
I know this isn't the case at every single gig, or even for 99% of the room. But when the 1% lets it down
by perhaps coming over to you whilst you're packing your pedal board away, getting you in a tight
headlock and telling you how much your performance "turned them on"...one may start feeling that
there is still much progress to be made on a social and cultural level.
Please don't be the 1%. Musicians aren't objects and female musicians are still striving for parity.”
The song has an unassuming, marginal construction to enable Osborn’s vocals to soar. She sings
emphatically and methodically about a myriad of expectations that women have in terms of defining
themselves via male dominated standards often sexualised: Osborn urges women to be themselves to
the extent that the song becomes a battle cry for feminism and maybe male understanding. It is a very
old message of course but sadly we need to reiterate again. Girls Do does though add a refreshing and
honest impetus to the debate:
In an email to the press Osborn says of the song “"’Girls Do’ was written in part out of frustration. If
you're a sexy woman that stands on a stage wearing a full PVC skin clinging body suit, then you can be
sexualized and treated as an object. If you're a sexy woman that wears an XL band tee and a pair of jeans,
then you're sexualized and treated as an object. It's just about doing whatever the fuck you want," she
added. "If you want to wear lipstick on your teeth instead of your lips because you can't do it right and
don't feel like being like everyone else, then that's fine. If you want to walk on stage with a see-through
top on because YOU think it looks good, then that's fine too.” It is a song beautifully constructed and
catchy too: Music can still be a powerful medium to put the message across
Actor have also been added to Kendal Calling
James: Leeds Arena
Tim Booth the lead singer of James is as is his signature crowd surfing at
Leeds Arena. He’s being passed, delicately as he’s asked the crowd to do
because he asked them ‘be gentle with this old man.’ Surprisingly he is still
perfectly in tune with “To My Surprise” It is only the third song into the two
hour set but in many ways this moment sums up the James and the Leeds
Arena performance. James are connected to the audience and the flawless
professional that make them so easy to like
They are here to promote their excellent fourteenth release Girl At The End
Of The World: A record that has been well received in all quarters. Not least
in their fan base who pushed it as high as number two in the album charts.
The concert provided evidence that James have an fondness few other
bands enjoy and of course they have Sit Down: The anthem kept for the
most least surprising encore ever but the twenty-one songs that went
before it show that the band have yet to even consider a greatest hits tour
as they are still reverent and still fresh with new ideas of where their music
is going. They easily create an atmosphere that draws you in and all of it
comes not packaged with an ultra-flash pyrotechnic show as a backdrop but
from the warmth of feeling the band generate: It is not something that the
arena has seen that often and maybe not likely to see unless James do
actually do a GH tour.
Photographs
Laura Toomer
Sum 41 - New Album October 2016
SUM 41 are proud to announce their new album, 13 Voices, due out October 7th via Hopeless Records. The ten-track
album marks the band's first LP in five years, following up 2011's Screaming Bloody Murder, which featured the Grammy
Nominated song "Blood In My Eyes."
On the album, frontman Deryck Whibley says, "I am really excited to be releasing an album after everything I've been
through recently. This new music represents the journey I've been on throughout the process of making this record. I had
to fall in order to rise, and nothing feels better than to have something you love that you had to really fight for. I can
honestly say that 13 Voices saved my life and I cannot wait to share it with all of you."
Whibley began writing for 13 Voices immediately following his four-month stint in the hospital. The frontman recalls, "I
had to learn how to do everything again-my motor skills, learning how to play guitar again... I couldn't even walk at the
time. It was really difficult, but at the same time if I didn't have a record to make, I don't think I would have recovered as
quickly. Writing music gave me a purpose. I had to get better." As Whibley's health improved, so did his ability to write
songs, and 13 Voices soon began to take shape. Recorded, produced and engineered by Deryck Whibley at his home in Los
Angeles, 13 Voices is now ready to be released this Fall.
SUM 41 consists of five members including Whibley, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh, co-lead
guitarist/backing vocalist Tom Thacker, bassist/backing vocalistCone McCaslin and drummer Frank Zummo.