Issue 9 21st May 2008 The University of

The University of Southampton’s Finest Entertainment Publication
Issue 9
21st May 2008
EDITORIAL
Skint Sabbath?
And so the end is near...
It’s our last issue of the year. Nine issues
have flown by. It’s been hard at times - the
media resources room is a tough battleground - but it’s been worth it.
This being the last issue and all, we
thought we’d better include some good
stuff. We review records from the likes of
Fleet Foxes, The Audition, Lily Allen and
NOFX. We give the verdict on In the Loop,
Star Trek and Frost/ Nixon in the film section. Games is something of a gore-fest,
with Resident Evil 5 and House of the Living Dead. In live, we review NOFX (them
again), 65daysofstatic and the incredible
Danananaykroyd. If that wasn’t enough,
we’ve interviews with Propoghandi, Pour
Habit and The Flatliners. Last, but not
least, we have an awesome countdown of
the top ten bitchiest songs. Yeah.
The Edge is now officially in hibernation
until the autumn. But don’t worry; it’ll be
back for good in October, steered by a
new set of hands; some old, some new.
Congratulations to Emmeline Curtis,
Tom Shepherd, Dan Morgan, Joe Dart,
Stephen O’Shea, Hayley Taulbut, Chris
Hooton and Kate Golding who comprise
the new editorial (“edgeitorial”) team, having won out against tough competition.
They’ll be clamouring for content come
the autumn, so if you fancy reviewing any
summer festivals you might be attending,
you know where to send them to....
Thanks from each of us to the other members of the editorial team for keeping it together. Thanks to Adam Parker, Emmeline
and the Scene team for valuable support.
Thanks to our wonderful contributors for
all the content you’ve sent us in. Thanks
to you for reading.
Much love xx
The
film to Cannes, admitted she feared that the
new film would provoke
more trouble from the
government, but remained defiant. “All we
want to do is make films, we don’t want to
cause any problems”, she said, describing
Ye as “a pioneer” who had “the courage
not to give way to society”. Spring Fever
is up against films from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Ken Loach and Ang Lee, but
its completion against the odds is a kind of
victory in itself.
That’s Entertainment
This year’s Cannes Film Festival is doing its bit for liberty by screening a film directed by controversial Chinese director Lou
Ye, who is subject to a five year ban on film
making by the Chinese government. 44 year
old Lou Ye was given the ban in 2002 after
screening his love story ‘Summer Palace’
at Cannes without government permission.
Now ‘Spring Fever’, a story about love and
homosexuality, has been selected as one
of 20 films competing for a coveted Palme
d’Or. The making of the film is a story in itself. To avoid government censors, Ye had
to shoot the film in secret using five actors and a handheld camera. Moreover, the
film’s subject matter, homosexuality, is still
very much a taboo subject in China, adding to the potential implications of detection by the Chinese government. Producer
Nai An, who also dodged a ban to bring the
Genesis’s Peter Gabriel has been
selected as the winner of this year’s Polar
Music Prize. He was awarded the pop prize
of 1 million kroner (£84,000) and will receive his award from King Carl XVI Gustav
for his “ground breaking, outward-looking
and boundary bursting artistry”. Have they
even heard Genesis? The panel who chose
Gabriel as the winner stated the star has
had “not only a significant influence on the
development of popular music – he has redefined the very concept”. If by his “influence on the development of popular music”
they mean his influence in encouraging the
crimes of Phil Collins, I think it’s time for a
new panel. The winner of the classical prize
was Venezuelan composer Jorge Antonio
Abreu, whose work I know nothing about,
and so can’t make tiresome and unfunny
digs at. Sorry to disappoint, folks.
Possibly related to the news I read
in Grazia last week about the Osbourne’s
financial losses at the hands of the credit
crunch (look, I was very bored and the internet was broken, ok?), Black Sabbath
have announced the release of a new ‘Best
Of’ compilation. The 14 track compilation,
imaginatively titled ‘The Best of Black Sabbath’, will feature tracks from the Ozzy Osbourne period of the band’s music, the other members having recently reunited with
vocalist Ronnie James Dio for a new studio
album.
Team
Editors: Pete Benwell and
Hannah Calcutt
Record Editor: Tom Shepherd
Live Editor: Rik Sharma
Features Editor: Holly Hooper
Film Editor: Dean Read
Editor in Chief: Adam Parker
With: Nick Brown, Beryl Bowl,
Elizabeth Moon, Jack Harding, Daniel
Moore, Luke Borrett, Dan Morgan,
Latisha Ma, Morgan Taylor, Hayley
Taulbut, Tim Lemon and Emmeline
Curtis
For enquiries email us:
[email protected]
For advertising email:
[email protected]
TV Peanuts
This may be the last time I write for the Edge. We’ve had our ups and downs, we’ve
laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve learned, we’ve loved. Over my epic six-issue tenure of this
column, I feel that I have laid the foundations for something truly special. So, indulge
me if you will as I reveal my top TV guilty secrets.
Maybe it’s just me but I love seeing what the emergency services get up to. Every time
I pass the police chatting to some person on the street I want to know what’s going on.
Luckily I have cop shows to fill the void. What used to be clip shows of primarily car
chases have now evolved into sophisticated fly-on-the-wall journeys through some of
Britain’s roughest areas. Watch as some of the most patient professionals you’ll ever
see deal with stoned idiots, incompetent thieves and moronic boy racers, and when
they’re caught watch them deny everything and start mouthing off! Truncheon time!
From extreme hairstyles to extreme malformities, Channel 4 has the market cornered
in ‘documentaries’ about morbidly obese two-headed hermaphrodites or fish-tailed
no brained freak children. They’re as exploitative and shallow as a Victorian carnival
sideshow. Yet, if I were a Victorian I would have loved the sideshow. It’s gotten to such
a point where I can quite easily eat my dinner while watching surgeons cut the tumours
off a fat man’s thighs. I guess for that Channel 4 deserves some kind of prize.
Well, that’s that, time to pack away the remote, peel myself from off the sofa and head
out into the bright, scary world. All that’s left to do is announce my replacement. Ladies
and gentlemen, the new TV columnist for the Edge is... *gunshot*. Oh, I’ve been shot.
Please, send for Jessica Fletcher. Or Dr Mark Sloan. Or Judge John Deed. I know he
doesn’t solve murders but he doesn’t look like a guy who messes around.
By Nick Brown
RECORDS
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
By Dan Morgan
More Like This ...
The Maccabees album review!
It’s not easy defying genres. It’s even
harder re-writing them, and to launch an
entirely new one with the explosive success
achieved by Fleet Foxes is all but unheard
of. A hypnotic blend of country, folk and
acoustic music with palpably indie influences, the Seattle four-piece’s debut album
manages to be both groundbreaking and utterly enthralling in a way that no album has
matched in many long years.
If ever music could create atmosphere,
this does. Opening with definably folky
number, ‘Sun It Rises’ glides through its
country roots in an almost psalmic fashion.
The chanting style of the early tracks is a
pervasive theme throughout the album, and
lends a decidedly traditional, almost churchlike edge to the music.
The following two tracks, ‘White Winter
Hymnal’ and ‘Ragged Woods’ are the two
tracks that have received the most public attention. The latter is one of the more upbeat
tracks on the album, employing a full drum
track and more electric influences than the
rest of the predominantly acoustic record.
The former is one of the best tracks to be
released as a single in recent years. A darkly
mystical and yet powerfully beautiful track,
‘White Winter Hymnal’ is chillingly atmos- guitar background and poetic lyrics. The
pheric, with a depth and hypnotic sound electric indie-pop bridge is the only factor
that has to be heard to be understood.
separating the new from pre-electric Dylan.
Tracks four, five and six are in stark conThe simple brilliance of the final track distrast to each other. The first, ‘Tiger Mountain guises the coldly haunting story it is telling.
Peasant Song’, is similar in style and con- The song describes the drowning of a child,
tent to ‘WWH’, albeit slower and slightly less but does so with such weightless beauty
gripping. ‘Quiet Houses’ is another of the that it is almost uplifting.
more upbeat tracks, with a simple, repetiI could go on forever about how this is
tive drum track and pipe-organ accompani- without a doubt one of the most hypnotic,
ments. ‘He Doesn’t Know Why’ is a mixture engrossing, involved albums of the past
of the two styles, and is unfortunately disap- couple of decades, but without being able
pointing in comparison to earlier tracks.
to play these songs to you through the pag‘Heard Them Stirring’ is a return to the es you are holding, I am limited in my ability
psalmic style of track one, yet even darker, to have you understand the way this music
and with hard, short electric guitar riffs inter- affects the listener. If I could paint a picture
spersing the chants. Although almost gothic of dark, damp forests, so powerful in their
in its depth and complexity, the absence blackness and depth and natural complexof lyrics makes this track more difficult to ity that walking through them transcends
engage with than the rest of the album. claustrophobia and becomes a personal esThe following track, ‘Your Protector’, has cape, I would but it might just be easier for
no such qualms, with openly morbid lyrics you to go buy the album.
making clear how powerfully the theme of
death grips this band.
The Dylan-esque ‘Meadowlands’ is the
most overtly folk track, taking evident influ- Good: A band with Bad: A few tracks
on
the
ence from the iconic singer-songwriter. This an excting and re- perhaps
wrong
side
of
exfreshing
new
sound
is also true of the penultimate track ‘Blue
perimental
Ridge Mountains’, with its simple acoustic
4.5/5
RECORDS
NOFX
Coaster
By Rik Sharma
‘So come on! Dance like a retard! Life’s
an endless party not a punchcard!’ The very
essence of Coaster’s spirit is embodied in
the opening line of ‘The Agony of Victory’.
There’s nothing new here. NOFX aren’t really
pushing their creative boundaries with their
eleventh studio album. That said, depending
on your penchant for biting, sarcastic lyrics,
there’s a lot to be enjoyed here. The targets
are the same: America’s current state, religion (very bad) and of course, alcohol, partying, having a laugh (very good).
The disc opens with a humorous sample from ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ and then
smashes straight into ‘We Called it America’. It’s fast, it’s catchy, it sounds good, but
it’s NOFX by numbers, as are the next two
tracks, ‘The Quitter’ and ‘First Call’. This
isn’t to say that they’re unworthy songs; infact the latter is an excellent ode to drinking until the early morning and beyond, but
it’s just not new. It’s why when ‘My Orphan
Year’ comes, it hits the listener hard. This is
close and personal. The lyrics concern the
deaths of both of Fat Mike’s (bassist and
lead singer) parents in the same year. The
music is heavier too, and it’s a shocking
contrast to the summery punk that comes
before it. Lyrically outstanding, and unbelievably touching, this is a side of NOFX
that’s not often seen. It’s no surprise that
up next comes a criticism of religion, ‘Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)’. The other
‘God-botherer-botherers’ song is the reggae
infused ‘Best God in Show’; highlighting the
hypocrisies of different people believing in
different gods.
The two weirdest songs on the disc are
‘Creeping Out Sara’ and ‘Eddie, Bruce and
Paul’. The former a story about how Mike
met one of the Canadian singing twins, either Sara or Tegan at a German festival…
and proceeded to creep her out. The other
concerns the history of Iron Maiden, complete with a Maidenesque outro, wailing guitar riffs and high pitched screaming.
The whole affair is very short, twelve
tracks, finished off with ‘One Million Coasters’ via the Ronseal ‘I Am an Alcoholic’. ‘One
Million Coasters’ describes the contents of
the Fat Wreck warehouse, from Betamax’s
to Kodak 110’s, and ten million CD’s. As
such, it portrays the incredible longevity of
NOFX. They have been making music for a
long time. It’s to their immense credit that
they can produce albums like this which are
still relevant. If their message is the same,
it’s because the world hasn’t changed and
getting smashed is still just as fun as it was
ten, twenty (twenty six to be precise) years
ago.
4/5
Good: The band still
showcase the same
energy as when they
first started
Bad: Arguably not
enough
progressioon
from
the
band’s catalogue
The Audition
Self-Titled Album
By Tom Shepherd
Mothers lock up your daughters,
daughters lock up your mothers, the Audition are back, taking their own brand of
feel good pop punk out for a third outing.
The band promised the sound of their new
record to be a mixture of their previous efforts, somewhere between the fiery teenage
angst that was Controversy Loves Company and the more mature, jazzy sounds
of Champion. Armed with producer Mark
Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Blink 182) this
record has the potential to be the stuff of
pop punk dreams.
The band certainly showcase this potential with opening track ‘The Running Man.’
A track that wrestles between the bands
infectious energy and sophisticated charm,
articulating adolescence. The first bout of
immaturity vs maturity and you’ve come off
slightly bruised but raring for more. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the rest
of the album. The band seem to lack any
real sense of direction, with several tracks
just sounding like watered down versions of
their predecessors. It seems inspiration up
and left after hearing that the band decided
on the cheeky, but rather bland name SelfTitled Album.
ing can make an album. It’s not even a
case of all style, no substance; just that a
bit more substance would have been nice
from a band with as much experience and
potential as the Audition. The band seemed
to have had it made for them before they
even began, and it’s this spitting out of their
silver spoons which is the biggest letdown
about the album. Hopefully this is just an
anomaly on an otherwise bright repertoire,
but for now you’ll have to look elsewhere for
a soundtrack to the summer.
The album’s not a complete write off
though. Tracks like ‘Los Angeles’ and ‘Sign.
Steal. Deliver’ offer aggressive episodes of
endless rock energy, each with its own climactic ending, living up to the bands reputation. The band throw some disco dancing
beats into the mix, which compliment the
band’s notoriously smooth stylings on single
release ‘My Temperature Rising’, but sound Good: A few liste- Bad: The album falls
outdated and cheap on ‘Over My Head’. It’s nable tracks full of short of any of the
this hit and miss aspect of the album which punk pop energy
bands previous efthe band should have progressed past at
forts
this stage in their career. Instead of sounding like a band at the forefront of their genre,
they sound more like one of the hundreds of
other pop bands plugging a much overheard
sound; a poor imitation of themselves.
Fall Out Boy, All Time Low
Musically the band are as tight as ever,
and the production of the record can’t be
faulted, however, no amount of sugar coat-
3/5
For Fans Of
RECORDS
The Maccabees
Wall of Arms
By Latisha Ma
Some have described The Maccabees’
new album Wall of Arms as a bit cold with
an ill-fitting pace, something that’s forgettable. I’d rather call it the diamond in the
yawning miles of rough that is the repetitive,
same-old indie music scene. Call it biased,
but I chose to review their latest album Wall
of Arms as they are admittedly my favourite
band, they offer something a bit different to
all the generic indie-band rubbish, they have
sincere talent and don’t just rely on sporting a ridiculously tight pair of skinny jeans or
putting on an ‘I’m so indie’ demeanour.
Their opening track ‘love you better’ is
my personal favourite on the album; it allows each instrument its own fuss whilst
having an eerie chant that sticks with you.
The South London born and newly
Brighton- migrated band have clearly matured in their sound since their ‘Colour it in’
days. You can hear that laid-back Brighton
influence, the album is a lot mellower and
has a less hectic overall sound.
‘Young Lions’ has a slightly country feel
to it and in some parts strangely sounds like
a forlorn Kermit the frog in a state of musical reflection, who suddenly perks up a few
lines in. But don’t let that put you off, it’s a
Dan Black
By Morgan Taylor
Dan Black has caused a sizable stir in the
PR machines buzz factory, with him hotly
tipped by the Guardian, NME and Zane
Lowe. Yet another electro pop singer song
writer though? I hear you ask. I admit my
music snobbery kicked into overdrive when I
heard of Dan Black being compared to –gulpMika. I gave him a chance however, and fair
play, he won me over. Anyone remember
Tom Vek? Well he sounds quite a lot like him
being covered by Friendly Fires (which is a
very good thing). Lead track, ‘Alone’ kicks
things off with a funked up bass line backed
by a wall of euphoric synth, all very minimal
and arty. ‘U+ME=’ follows, very beat heavy,
with hints of ‘Timbaland-esque’ breakbeat
production and an anthemic chorus. ‘Wonder’ provides another swooning minimal euphoria hit with an added acoustic side. So
far so good. Black describes his influences
as being Jay-Z and Sigur Ros, which sur-
great track none the less.
The echoing track ‘No Kind Words’ has
an Arcade Fire feel to it and ‘William Powers’ is comparable to MGMT, with that fast,
electronic, echoing and instrumental noise
perfectly balanced out with atmospheric,
hypnotic and deep vocals. The title track
‘Wall of Arms’ sounds a bit like Jack Johnson’s and The Maccabees’ love child, it has
an airy, perky, country twang but with a bit
more energy. I’m not going to lie; it’s not the
best track on the album.
Their deeper, more mature sound is apparent from their howling about a ‘soul-less
soul’ and ‘poor substitute’ in the track ‘Di-
nosaurs’. All in all, their album is well composed, heartfelt and very catchy, the more
you listen to it the more you love it. This
album is in some ways stronger than their
incredible debut album Colour It In, but they
have still managed to hold on to that original
Maccabees sound. They have managed to
achieve an amazing balance of energy and
anesthetic.
4.5/5
Good: The band
have matured to a
more honest and
heartfel sound
Bad: Perhaps not as
catchy as Colour It
In, but stick with it!
Album Sampler
prisingly you can hear in ‘Ecstasy’ through his Jay-Z like
hip hop beats that are hidden behind the robotic Sigur
Ros like angelic vocals and flowing electro
synths -although I suspect he was being
marvellously ironic on his MySpace page
and I’ve read into it a bit much. The album
sampler finishes off on a high with Black’s
cover of Notorious B.I.G’s ‘Hypnotize’
which is frankly awesome, and comprises
of the beat from Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ with
a choral and string backing and Black adding his version of Biggies vocals over the
top. Also check out his new single ‘Yours’
with another minimal funk bassline and the
standard beep, squeaks and samples, like
a soundtrack to a walk through Hoxton (although it doesn’t reach the Nathan Barley
arty pretentiousness territory it threatens to
stray into). Dan Black’s pulled it out of the
bag emerging into a genre already massively
oversubscribed and unoriginal and actually
making a pretty impressive, eclectic and exciting debut album, let’s just hope the hype
machine doesn’t ruin it all.
3.5/5
Good: A fresh new
sound which may
be what British music is looking for
Bad: Lets hope he
doesn’t succumb to
the hype
RECORDS
Duke Pandemonium
Marmaduke
Duke
By Hayley Taulbut
On first impression, I believed that this album was going to annoy the hell out of me.
Quite aside from the ridiculous pseudonyms
‘The Dragon’ and ‘The Atmosphere’, and
the repetition of ‘duke’ in both band name
and album title, the first track opens with
nearly a whole minute of drum beats and
disc scratching that creates a similar effect
to scraping 10 foot nails down a chalkboard;
it was painful.
However, my perseverance was rewarded. As the album gets going, it seems to find
its feet, with each song superseding the one
SINGLES
La Roux - In For the Kill
By Tim Lemon
I do have to say, I’m loving the new single
from La Roux. The powerful vocals really propel this song. Elly Jackson’s voice is certainly
distinctive, and whilst it may be annoying to
others, I think it makes this song stand out
from the crowd.
that preceded it, making this a largely enjoyable listen. Aside from ‘Erotic Robotic’,
with its bizarre repeated lyric ‘Erotic robotic,
despite the accent we’re Scottish’, I cannot
say that I disliked any of the tracks on the album. My favourite track was easily new single, ‘Rubber Lover’. It opens with a repeated
synthesised drum beat and riff that tips its
cap to one-hit-wonder summer soundtracks
that makes you want to whip out the BBQ
and hit the beach. This background drops
out the moment the vocals come in, progressively getting louder and louder until
the chorus, by which point you are on your
feet and ready to dance. Another personal
However I do feel that the song carries too much of an early eighties vibe too
it in places, which is just not my normal
cup of tea. Luckily the song still manages
to sound positively futuristic as well as
quaintly old-school all at the same time.
Overall a slightly odd, but defiantly unique
and exciting song from La Roux. I hope
she becomes big this year!
4/5
favourite was “Skin the Mofo Alive”, with the
random incorporation of steel drums alongside electronic vocals and bass giving this a
distinctly hybrid feel, originating somewhere
between the Caribbean and Tokyo. Also
worth a listen are ‘Silhouettes’ and eclectic
genre mixing track ‘Demon’.
However, my struggles to categorise Marmaduke Duke beyond unspeakably pretentious clichés continued through the entirety
of the record. They claim to be the lovechild
of rock and electronica, but somehow this
does not quite cut it in my opinion. Each
track is so disparate from the last that it is
only possible to tell that they are written and
Lily Allen - Not Fair
By Emmeline Curtis
Lilly Allen follows the success of her
number one single ‘The Fear’ with her latest offering, ‘Not Fair’. Being in an unsatisfying sexual relationship is a huge problem for women, as I once discovered, but
Lily Allen has finally given a poetic voice
to all those long-suffering women who’s
partners only think of themselves in the
bedroom. For a song about orgasms and
performed by the same band because of the
unmistakeable vocal talents of Simon Neil
and JP Reid. I am still unsure whether I can
reconcile this disparity, and I am even less
sure whether or not it really matters in the
long run. The more I listen to Duke Pandemonium, the more I notice how well crafted
each song is: perhaps this disparity is what
makes this such an enjoyable album, for
each song stands as a separate entity from
the previous and upcoming song, fully functional outside the context of the album.
So despite my preconceptions and genre-wrestling, I was actually widely impressed
by this record in the end. It is not an album
that instantly screams greatness, but it definitely grows on you with each listen if you
aren’t put off by the sheer randomness of it.
And, if you give it a chance, it will certainly
be an album that will become imbedded
with memories of sunshine and road trips of
2009!
4/5
Good: A refreshing
side project from
Biffy Clyro frontman
Simon Neil
Bad: Some tracks
perhaps a little too
bizzarre
dissatisfaction, it does sound very sweet
and catchy though. Lily Allen has a knack
for singing about life’s problems in such a
lovely way you don’t immediately realise
what she’s saying. It’s perfect to sing along
to with your girlfriends, or use to humiliate someone who has not quite lived up to
scratch. After all, no one enjoys lying in the
wet patch in the middle of the bed.
5/5
GAMES
etc, and once shot in the leg the
zombies will fall to the floor and
shuffle towards you. If incorrectly
done, however, you can have a
zombie that you can no longer
House of the Dead: Overkill
By Daniel Moore
see or walk past, forcing you to
reboot the game.
Rant 2: Lifespan. It’s rubbish. 9
Levels, no longer than your usual
arcade fare, some unlockable
extras and very little after that it
is only high scores to come back
to and the co-op mode.
Rant 3: Grenades. Grenades
are so impractical in this game.
When using the hand cannon,
you have to either press the c
or minus button which means
either attaching the nun chuck
which ruins the gun or reaching
uncomfortably up the gun.
Nintendo Wii
House of the Dead: Overkill is an on rails
shoot-em-up based around zombies which
is best played with the Hand Cannon extension to the wiimote. It is also a lot funnier
and outlandishly obscene than past HOTD
games, with some genuinely laugh out loud
as well as quite unnerving moments. The
whole game also has a grind house feel and
the whole game feels so much better for it.
The controls are easy to pick up and
responsive with a click on B to shoot and
a shake to reload. This of course lets me
congratulate Nintendo for making such an
amazingly sensitive wiimote and sensor bar
combination, and Sega utilizing this properly (I know resident evil 4 was amazing but
I personally didn’t like Capcom’s hold A,
press B shooting technique.)
est they not really worth mentioning. They’re
no-where near as good as the game, and it
fooled me into thinking there was a 4-player
co-op.
There are also some multiplayer games
thrown in for good measure but to be hon-
Rant 1: AI. Now mostly the zombies are
your usual fare, shuffling, sprinting, crawling
For the brilliant grind house feel and the
excellent shocking and comical storyline I
have some slight niggles.
Mario Power Tennis
By Daniel Moore
Picture the scene. 3 Years ago, Nintendo
announced the Nintendo Wii, saying it would
have a motion sensitive controller. I immediately jumped on my Mario Power Tennis for
GameCube, and thought to myself “oh my,
how amazing would this be on Wii”. Here we
are, with our Wiis and lo and behold, Mario
power tennis has been released.
As you have probably gathered, this game
was originally released on the GameCube in
2005, and has been re-released with motion
controls tacked on. It is a tennis game with a
twist, where Mario characters can use items
and special moves to their advantage.
The game is controlled a-la Wii tennis,
with a flick of the wrist executing a swing,
and if you use the nun chuck, you can also
control where your character moves. On top
of this, depending on the control style you
use, you can execute
power moves, dives
and different swings depending on different button presses and types of
movement.
A charmingly addictive (and surprisingly physics-correct) game when
the predecessor was released on the N64,
the GameCube update had special attack
and defense moves included. If unliked,
you can turn them off in multiplayer, but
you have to grin and bear it in single
player. Other new additions included
a variety of (generally) fun mini games,
some including genuine skill, and others
not so much.
Now these two were fun games but the
new Wii game has me a little befuddled.
This new game has taken an old concept,
which notably wasn’t broken, and broke it.
squeamish.
Overall it’s a really good game,
and its one of the most enjoyable
games I have ever played. Definitely a must buy for all you arcade nuts if you can find it cheap
enough, maybe not if you’re a bit
4/5
Good: Great fun,
easy to control and
lots of gore if that’s
your thing.
Bad: Lots of gore if
that’s not your thing.
Short lived.
Nintendo Wii
The new tacked on controls make it nigh on
impossible to beat the easier single player
modes, let alone the advanced, as the wiimote without the Wii motion plus is simply
not accurate enough. The counter-intuitive
ball control system lets you aim the ball depending on the timing, meaning if you want
to hit the ball left you have to hit early and
risk missing the ball altogether, so you just
end up batting the ball back and forth.
Lazy and frustrating, the pick-up and
play feel has been ruined. It gets a 7 in multiplayer, but just doesn’t cut it overall. Get
the original.
2/5
Good: Good multiplayer mode.
Bad: New controls
make it too hard
and are counter intutive.
GAMES
A Fear You Can’t Forget?
Resident Evil 5
PS3/Xbox 360
By Luke Borrett
‘A fear you can’t forget’ as the adverts have been boasting. It’s far from
a hollow boast, but it is a fear all too
familiar to those that have played Resident Evil 4. ‘Fear’ hasn’t really been
the point of focus since the 4th instalment discarded zombies and tension
for overblown, adrenaline pumping
action-horror movie cliché.
The latest offering works very similarly to its predecessor; a 3rd person
shooter zoomed in claustrophobically
close to the shoulder of your chosen
protagonist, with ammo rationed forcing the player not to panic in the face
of increasingly large crowds. Survival
and keeping your cool is still at the
core of the gameplay, but the ‘action’
focus means it has to work harder to
stand out from the crowd of 3rd person
shooters out there.
The mysterious parasitic infection has returned from Resident Evil 4 and broken out
in Kijulu, an African village. A shadow organisation infects locals and uses them to slow
you down, as you shoot your way through
violent crowds and work from area to area
to unravel the plot. Enemies get more mutated and outlandish and the environments
more exotic and varied, inevitably ending up
in the industrial, creepy labs that are a staple
of the Resident Evil games.
It’s all gorgeous to look at with incredibly
high quality graphics. Music is your typical
atmospheric noise; does the job very well,
but nothing stellar. Voice acting is excellent
and really gives the game that ‘action horror’ movie feel. Boss monsters break up the
pace and move along the story, which ties
up the majority of the loose ends the series
has set up so far in a satisfactory manner.
Innovation comes from tailoring the whole
game towards co-operative play. The story
in multiplayer can be local or online and the
‘partner’ based gameplay changes the flow
of combat and puzzles. Single player works
in the same way with a computer controlled
partner, who is for the most part competent
but has some frustratingly obvious flaws.
The game definitely excels with a friend
to hand, but being able to jump in at any
chapter for online with a friend or a stranger
means you can still enjoy the game at its
best on your own. Taking Resident Evil (a
very much single player series) in a multiplayer direction seems like a big gambit. Not
all fans of the series will think it was the right
decision, but gameplay is solid.
It really shines in ‘Mercenaries’ mode, an
unlockable mini game; the best elements of
the story isolated into a more arcadey gameplay mode. Racking up a high score (alone,
online or with a friend) is incredibly addictive
and unlockable levels and characters provide that incentive to keep coming back.
Controls are somewhat rigid and clunky
in an attempt to retain some of the trademark tension of the series, limiting your reaction times. A controversial decision that
has divided opinions, but Resident Evil 4
was universally praised for the similar control scheme and the formula hardly feels
dated just yet.
Perhaps co-operative play is not what
you were hoping for in Resident Evil, and
perhaps this game does feel more like Resident Evil 4.5 than a true sequel. Definitely
a high quality title, though. The major issue with the game is for that ‘unforgettable’
experience the marketing promises, you’ll
need to bring a friend.
4/5
Good: Great co-operative play. Visually
impressive.
Bad: Controls a little
too clunky.
SECTION
FEATURES
PROPAGHANDI
Rik Sharma talks to Propaghandi’s Chris Hannah
about the new album ‘Supporting Caste’
Rik: Do you want to introduce yourself?
Chris: I’m Chris, and I’m from the band
Propagandhi, from Canada.
R: You got voted the worst Canadian of
all time, are you delighted with the accolade?
C: I am. Technically, worst living Canadian,
but second of all. There’s a dead Prime
Minister who beat me. So worst living Canadian, for now.
R: The new album sounds like your truest sound. Your first one, ‘How to Clean
Everything’ seems quite influenced by
NOFX, skate punk and all that. What
were you aiming for this time?
C: I think we’re inching closer and closer
to what we were originally trying to do. The
other day we were listening to tapes me
and Jord made back in 1987 or ’88, and
they sound like very primitive versions of
what we’re doing now, pretty embarrassing.
At the time I’d not heard NOFX,
but we heard the Bad Religion
‘Suffer’ record. I thought “Oh! We
can incorporate that, and then I
can actually sing!”. I think we were
trying to combine some melody
with some heavier elements that
we were influenced by.
R: The lyrics on the new album feel
more personal than on other records
you’ve made. Why was that?
C: Hmmm… to me, the personal topics
on the record can be extrapolated out
into the world. A lot of the themes are
about the struggle for meaning. What sort
of consequences individuals or groups
struggles for meaning have for everybody
else, whether it’s religion, war or race. It all
has ramifications for everybody else. So it
wasn’t conscious, it was just… a lot of the
lyrics have been around for years and we
just never got them into songs.
R: Yeah, I heard ‘Potemkin
City Limits’ was meant for
the album by that name?
C: Yeah… it was a different
version…. it was very bad.
This one’s way better.
R: How’s having a new
guitarist working out, with respects to
both the album and live shows?
C: Way better, way funner. For song writing
it’s invaluable. I can’t believe we didn’t
have one all those years. As soon as we
started playing with Beave, I felt – ‘what a
fucking waste of time not having that earlier’. It worked, and we can’t go back. He
has a very different style to most people
I know, and he has a very good sense of
depth and dimension. I think the crowd
appreciates it more too, sounds more like
the records.
R: When you play live, what songs do
you enjoy playing most?
C: Hmmm… it’s on a case by case basis…
some nights it goes together well, and
sometimes it just doesn’t.
R: Are they any you always play? You
probably always play Today’s Empires?
C: We try to yeah. And ‘A Speculative Fiction’, ‘Supporting Caste’. And sometimes
it’s great, but sometimes it’s like ‘Fuck!
What’s wrong with us?’. There’s a song
called ‘Human(e) Meat’ on the new record,
and when it comes together live, I really
enjoy it.
R: Are there any songs you’ve recorded
that you don’t like anymore, and you
don’t want to play?
C: [pause] We do play some of the songs
from the first album. I don’t disown it, we
sometimes play ‘Anti-Manifesto’, ‘Haile
Selassie’, and ‘Stick the Flag up your Ass’.
Other than those, I personally don’t find
the other songs as compelling as the years
have gone by.
R: How do you make a setlist?
C: We’re touring a little more than we ever
have, so we just say ‘What did we have
last night?’, start from there. Put this in,
“I am. Technically, worst living Canadian, but
second of all time. There’s a dead Prime Minister who beat me. So worst living Canadian, for
now”
SECTION
FEATURES
R: It was about the video he did with his side
project. Admittedly the
video was awful.
C: I can’t remember
exactly… but yeah he’s
walking around a house,
with all these skinheads.
R: Yeah. But do you
think he’s a bad person, as people go?
take that out. Often we try to customise
the setlist a bit, there are some songs Jord
doesn’t like playing in a row, his elbows are
going… he’s old. Vocally, I have the same
problem for some songs too.
R: How long have you been vegan for?
What prompted that?
C: Since 1994. Vegetarian since probably
1988.
I grew up in rural Manotoba, Canada. My
first hunting trip, I was six years old. As
the years went by, the other kids were
trapping animals and skinning them alive.
Killing frogs. I always thought, ‘Something’s
fucked about this’. We lived in farm communities, and watched the animals. I never
connected it to what I ate.
C: Oh I don’t know. I
have no idea… at that
time, whenever that
song was written, the
level of corniness that
was going on with established California punk bands, it was just
nauseating us. We also believe in a punk
scene that still has fun, and is like ‘Fuck
you!’, and takes people down a few rungs
off of their fuckin’ mansion high horses.
But that video just stood out to me. The
other part of the song is about Mike, from
NOFX, and his recent ‘activism’ stood out
to me at the time too.
R: In a recent interview you had with
Tom Gabel, I think you Fat Mike has
having a very limited musical palette.
What would you describe your own
music taste as being like?
C: Relative to Mike, it’s not as limited.
So, it’s subjectively not limited. I listen to
everything I guess. Anything that’s played
with sincerity, integrity and sounds good, I
C: Maybe… I’m totally up for a multifaceted approach, like some bands do. I
appreciate what Rage Against the Machine
did. What they did was worth it. But I can’t
see us being able to pull that off, in terms
of how we operate. We don’t tour very
much. We’re not super interested in getting
our pictures taken, making videos…
R: Have you got any plans to play Reading
Festival?
C: [looks confused] Uhhh… I don’t think so.
R: Ok that’s pretty much it. But you’ve
got to tell a joke to leave…All the other
bands I’ve talked to have. Although
some were laboured. And bad.
R: Do you release singles from your
albums?
C: Oh no! You’re kidding me?[gets up and
opens the door, screams] ‘Todd!!! TODD!!!!
C: Oh… no I don’t think we do. I don’t
think we’re
cut out for
that. And in
a logistical
sense, the
people we
work with
in Winnipeg, Small
Man, they’re
within choking distance.
We know
where they
live, we can
go get them.
They’re not
going to be
fired by a
T: One joke? [murmurs under his breath]
“There are a couple of politicians in Canada, who I wouldn’t
mind cooking and eating. Though I’m pretty sure I’d get
violently ill.”
Then I moved out of the area, to a big city,
and there was cable television. There was
an animal rights group, who played some
videos, and described vegetarianism. I was
like ‘Oh! That’s what I should be doing!’. Finally someone had given me a description
of what I had been feeling all those years.
I’ve never heard a very good argument to
go back to eating animal flesh. Over the
years I’ve run into lots of people who are
like ‘Fuck this vegetarian shit!’, and it’s
like… ‘Well… why?’ They’ve never been
able to convince me.
R: I’ve been reading the inlay of the new
record, and going along with that, which
five people, other than the ones mentioned in there, do you want to eat?
C: [laughs] I mentioned Michael Pollen and
Katherine Friend on there I think. They’re
authors of similar books who make very
poor rationalisations for torturing and killing
animals. There are a couple of politicians
in Canada, who I wouldn’t mind cooking
and eating. Though I’m pretty sure I’d get
violently ill. I won’t mention any names, in
case there are… legal ramifications.
R: The song ‘Rock For Sustainable Capitalism’, the first bits about Lars Frederiksen…
C: The guy from Rancid…
gravitate towards it. Todd listens to these,
in North America anyway, obscure African
bands. We listen to music from all over the
world, blues, classical, jazz.
R: What do you think of bands like
Anti-Flag, who are on a big name record
label, and you’re on G7, your own one.
C: Yeah G7, and Hassle over here.
R: But there has to be a trade off.
Anti-Flag have poppier songs, but get
to send their message out to a lot of
people. Do you not do it because you
don’t want to put money into the hands
of the majors?
C: Everybody’s putting money into the
pockets of the infrastructure we were
born into. Unless you drop out of Western
society, if your using money you’re paying
into the infrastructure. Every punk band,
no matter how underground they are, if
they make a t-shirt, a seven inch, or a
CD, they’re paying into the infrastructure.
That’s not a good enough argument for not
doing what Anti-Flag’s doing. But it just
wouldn’t work for us. We’re not the kind of
people that could pull that off. Our music’s
not the kind of music...
R: But if everybody heard it, if it was
played on the radio, maybe people
would like it, and look into the issues
more?
board of
directors
because
they’re not
making
the label
enough
money,
so there’s
some level
of integrity
that we can
see there.
We’re more
about having fun than
the business end of it. I think we do better
in the basement. Just recording our songs,
letting them speak for themselves.
R: What do you do in your time off, seeing as you don’t tour a lot?
C: Between sporadic touring, Todd’s been
doing a lot of work at a refugee needs
centre in Winnipeg. Jord’s been working
homecare. Beave’s been doing some landscaping to make some money, but he’s
also doing an inner city music programme
for kids, and I was doing a record label
for the past eleven years, G7 records.
Last January I decided to stop doing that
to focus on the band, and be a bit more
productive.
smells like… Oh yeah! What did I tell my
dad… Easter just ended right? What’s the
first thing Jesus said when he arose from
the dead?
R: Don’t know.
T: Brains! I need brains!
[I laugh whilst Chris amusingly looks quite
unamused]
R: He hates it! [pointing at Chris]
T: Good enough?
By Rik Sharma
FEATURES
The Top Ten Bitch-Fest
To even the most avid of music fans the top ten this week seems to read as a count
down of the worse songs of 2009. It’s quite a surprise how anyone would want to
buy them but evidently they do. So here’s some bitching ....
By Beryl Bowl and Elizabeth Moon
10. Paloma Faith - Cold Stone Sober
After an agonisingy long introduction this
debut single is quite exciting. It’s a bit odd,
and comes from a record company looking for the next Duffy or Amy Winehouse.
Now she just needs a drinking problem
and she’ll have a hit album.
9. Katy Perry - Waking up in Vegas
This will undoubtably be another hit for the
American queen of pop. It’s catchy and
fun, and there are plenty of nice camera
angles for those who appreciate Katy’s
physique. YouTube says: “BOOBS”.
8. V V Brown - Crying Blood
This song is lively, exciting and catchy,
and the chorus is the same as the Monster Mash. The song is a total rip off of
many other songs. This is just no good.
YouTube says: “Her fringe is epic.”
7. Tinchy Stryder No. 1 (Dappy featuring Tinchy Stryder, with a special guest
video appearance from the rest of N
Dubz)
Whilst we’re not quite sure why there are
three members of N Dubz, who seem to
do little more than nod in this video (blink
and you will acutally miss them), we actually like this one. With all his silly dancing
and super gangster image it’s strange to
realise that Dappy is quite a good singer
even if he is singing “all I did was blink
twice from my hommies to my only”.
Foot Note: Dappy’s hat is our second favourite hat other than the Edge’s records
editor, Tom’s hat.
6. Agnes - Release Me
A song which sounds like it came from the
Eurovision stage with a singer who you
could mistake for Leona Lewis. It’s marmite, you’ll either love it or hate it. YouTube says: “The part when she is walking
down the street is ridiculous.....No one
walks down the street that bouncy!”
5. Alesha Dixon - I’m So Excited
Have you heard Alexha Dixon can dance,
and her new video offers her another
chance to show off just how good Strictly
Come Dancing has been for her career.
The dancing is however the only good
thing to come out of the video. Her lyrics, “I’m so excited, I’m a detective I’m all
over you”, really don’t push the boudaries
of even basic communication. To be honest best just to put the tele on mute. Ahh,
look at the dancing, lovely.
4. Dizee Rascal - Bonkers
Whilst the majority of the British public already know that Dizee Rascal is Bonkers
he felt the need to tell us about it in his
latest single. Perhaps his next song will
be entitled ‘Overplayed’. Some people
like this track but it’s no ‘Dance Wiv Me’.
YouTube says: “Spellbinding & Magical”.
3. B.E.P - Boom Boom Pow
Hate is a strong word however this song is
so bad that at one point we actually considered that James Blunt’s music would
be better. We realise now that nothing is
‘James Blunt Bad’. This song is so bad
we wouldn’t even illegally download it.
BEP’s latest single reminds us of that feeling when there’s a fly in the room you just
can’t kill. What were they thinking?
2. Starpilots - In the Heat of the Night
There’s no point to this song it’s ridiculous, it’s cringe worthy, it’s soft porn. It’s
another throw away song for the throw
away dance generation. The only positive
is you won’t remember it in two weeks.
The emphasize on bums in the video is
very distracting. YouTube says: “They all
have nice asses”.
1. Beyonce - Diva
Everything about this song sucks. You’re
married to Jay-Z we get it. Diva she might
be but this doesn’t stop her looking like
an idiot in glasses that look more like curtains. YouTube says: “So bad it’s hilarious.”
FEATURES
By Rik Sharma
Rik: Introduce yourselves.
Chris: My name’s Chris, I play guitar and
sing in the band
Paul: My name’s Paul, I play drums.
Rik: You’re coming back to play at Reading right, what’s the process for getting involved with that?
Chris: We enquired with our booking
agent, cause we knew we were coming back
in August to do a big European tour. We
knew that Leeds and Reading were at the
end of August. We asked her, if she could
ask them. And she did! They said ‘We’ll
keep you in mind’. We said ‘Ah that doesn’t
mean anything’. And then they got back to
us a month, two months later, after that, and
were like ‘Yeah you’re confirmed’.
Paul: They do have that Lock Up Stage.
We look at it every year and think ‘that’d be
really cool’
Rik: That stage must seem a bit like the
Warped Tour?
Chris: It seems much cooler than Warped
Tour though…. At least the Lock Up Stage
does.
Paul: Both days of it
Chris: I might watch Radiohead though.
Paul: Yeah I probably will too.
Rik: Have you got any plans for a new album soon?
Chris: We’ve got enough songs for a new
record written. I don’t want to say we’ve got
a new record written. We’re gonna go home
from this tour, jam for a month, then head
down to the studio, record them all, and cut
them down.
Paul: Hopefully have something out by
the end of the year. Nothing ever goes to
plan.
Chris: No that’s not the plan! That’s everyone’s hope. Our hope and the label’s hope.
An Interview with The Flatliners
We’ll figure it out.
Paul: January, February, who cares.
Chris: The world ain’t going anywhere.
Paul: Till 2012.
Chris: Yeah that’s true. A big flood and
we’ll all be dead.
Rik: What are your musical influences?
Chris: It’s hard to pinpoint. It sounds really clichéd, but everything you listen to swirls
around together, and becomes an influence
without you really knowing it.
Paul: We’re been listening to a lot of
Rocket from the Crypt, even though they’re
deceased. They’re still one of the best rock
and roll bands.
Chris: We’ve been listening to a lot of
rock and roll bands. All the John Reis bands,
Polar Bear Club, they’re really good.
Paul: The new Propagandhi record!
Chris: Yeah that’s true, we listen to that
shit a lot. Even just walking around cities like
London, that we don’t get to visit a lot, it all
sinks in.
Rik: What would you say your greatest
fears were?
Paul: We were talking about this today.
Scott…. Those birds.
Chris: Oh yeah! Our guitarist Scott is
deathly afraid of birds. When we were kids,
me and him were running around in the park.
And a Red wing blackbird swooped at him
and pecked his head. He was running away
with the bird literally on his head. Just pecking away! Ever since then he’s been very
afraid of birds.
Paul: Today near Buckingham Palace all
these birds fly out of the water, and straight
at him, he just grabs me!
Chris: He was freaking out, it was hilarious! One of my biggest fears is throwing up
in public. It sucks. I’ve done it before. Still
haven’t gotten over it. It’s so embarrassing.
Paul: I threw up on a bus once, that was
embarrassing.
Rik: I bet everyone on the bus loved you
for it.
Chris: [laughing] Finish the story, finish
the story!
Paul: And years later I was at a party, and
these girls were like ‘Hey you look familiar.
You’re the guy who puked on the bus!’
Chris: You puked on the bus…
Paul: And I just got straight off!
Chris: Yeah! You told me that day ‘I puked
on a bus today. Then I stood up, rang the
bell and got straight off!’
Paul: This was years ago!
Chris: It’s what I would have done if I
puked on a bus too though man!
Paul: It was years ago before I could
drive. I puked while driving once. I was making a left hand turn. This is all flu related by
the way, we’re not big wasters!
Chris: We’ve got more puke stories if you
want ‘em, we got loads more. One time,
on John’s birthday, he got really drunk and
went outside to puke. He had puked all
over his beard. John comes back inside the
van, with puke all over his face. Our friend
Nick, who was doing merch for us on that
tour, Nick sees him, and goes ‘Woooaaahhhh!’ and runs away and pukes everywhere.
Chain reaction puke! Actually yeah! On HIS
[points at Paul] birthday one year, we were
at our friend’s house in Calgary. We made
this dude the weirdest fucking drink. Tequila, saki, orange juice, beer, hot sauce. He
puked all the way down the stairs. It was like
a slinky. He’s passed out on the stairs. Me,
Scott and John were cleaning it up for him,
and then Scott starts to puke. That’s probably enough puke stories for now.
Rik: You might have the opportunity to
tell another one… describe your ideal night
in, and your ideal night out.
Chris: Ideal night in? No one throws up
on anything. Ideal night in… a bag of weed
Paul: A bag of weed and a movie.
Chris: Ideal night out, we go to a bar and
we don’t have to pay for any drinks. Happens sometimes. And I puke everywhere.
LIVE
NOFX /SNUFF/ THE
FLATLINERS/ POUR HABIT
Shepherd’s Bush Empire
3rd May
By Rik Sharma
You know what you’re getting with NOFX.
An hour and a half of fun, lots of self depreciating humour, and some superbly bizarre
setlist choices. On this, the second night in
London, and the last show of their tour, it
promised to be wild night. And it was. Little did anyone know at the start of the gig
that the show would overrun by forty five
minutes, and end with a break-dance-off,
between NOFX’s enigmatic guitarist El Hefe,
and the equally enigmatic vocalist Chuck,
from the first support band ‘Pour Habit’.
Pour Habit opened the gig well, their
metal tinged punk rock a pleasing introduction. The band have recently signed to Fat
Wreck Chords (owned of course by Fat Mike
of NOFX), and their onstage comedy supplemented their songs well. The Flatliners,
another Fat Wreck band, were up next, and
also had a large dose of metal thrown in with
their ska-core. They were both well received
by the crowd, and have a lot of potential.
The legendary Snuff took to the stage,
and for half an hour we were transported
back to the past, their anthems as enjoyable
now as they ever would have been, perhaps
exemplified by their rendition of ‘Whatever
Happened to the Likely Lads?’, for which
Fat Mike and El Hefe ran on to ‘help out’
with the singing.
Eventually NOFX appeared, opening with
the evergreen crowd favourite ‘Linoleum’,
swiftly followed up with ‘Quart in Session’;
signalling their intent to just play whatever
the fuck they liked. And the show was all the
better for it. It was refreshing to see a band
delve through their back catalogue and
bringing out lesser played gems such as ‘The
Malachi Crunch’, ‘Drugs are Good’ and ‘The
Desperation’s Gone’, instead of just playing
the greatest hits. They’d got that out of the
way on Saturday, playing songs like ‘The
Brews’ and ‘Stickin’ in my Eye’. Tonight’s set
really was a pleasure to witness, the slow/
fast transition of ‘Reeko’ a particular highlight, as was the golden oldie ‘Soul Doubt’.
Mike claimed that they didn’t play that any
more because it ‘fucked up my voice’, but
then said it was the last show of their tour
and
therefore
he didn’t care.
He also didn’t
care much for
the Queen, as he
sung a song he
had written specially for the people of England;
‘Punch her in the
Cunt’.
The
band
plainly
enjoyed
themselves;
by playing two
shows in a town
they freed themselves from the
constraints
of
having to play a
set that would
merely appease
the general crowd
baying for the big
hitters. However,
it would be unfair
to say they didn’t
play some of their
more popular material;
encoring
with ‘Don’t Call
Me White’, ‘Bob’
and ‘Theme from
a NOFX Album’
was a fantastic
ending,
made
more stunning by the aforementioned dance
off. The show had overrun, and yet it kept
going, ending with El Hefe telling the much
younger (and thinner) Chuck that he had
‘been served’. Melvin played a long accordion outro to the last song, and even the famous NOFX crew members (Jay and Limo)
took to the microphone.
Eventually it was over. People spewed
out of the Shepherd’s Bush doors and to the
tube station. The last tube had left Shepherd’s Bush half an hour ago. Something
to do with Bank Holiday Monday. Everyone
was at a loss what to do to get home. But
no one cared. We’d seen something sublime
tonight, that would stay with us a long, long
time.
5/5
Good: Unforgettable show.
An outrageous party to finish
the tour off. A great setlist,
and a great time.
If you like this, pick up
‘Punk in Drublic’, or failing that,
‘Get Smashed and Party Like It’s
1995’
Bad:
Beer showering down
from above, as Mike insulted
the ‘pussies’
who bought
seated tickets up in the rafters.
But even this was hilarious. If
dampening.
LIVE
Rik Sharma meets Californian Punks
Pour Habit
Rik: What do you fear?
Colin: Herpes. [laughs] My greatest
fear…. What’s your greatest fear? Not
playing in a band I suppose. That these
guys are gonna kick me out of the band.
Colin: Those
California summer
nights in September. It’s just calm
and quiet. Maybe
watch a baseball
game. We were
thinking, we never
really go out; we
only go out when
we play.
Steve: Do you
know which band
we are?
Rik: Introduce yourselves
Colin: My name’s Colin and I play drums in
Pour Habit
Eric: I am Eric and I play guitar
Rik: How’s the tour gone so far?
Colin: It’s been amazing. The crowds have
been awesome, all the other bands are really amazing bands. Meet people like you,
just been having a good time.
Rik: Is it the biggest tour you’ve done?
Colin: For sure. We can’t even fathom how
insane this is. It’s a good ride.
Rik: What’s it like touring with NOFX?
Colin: They’re really nice guys. They all
take time to talk to you, and they’re from a
whole other level. Even the crew guys are
awesome. It’s been so much fun.
Rik: What are your plans as a band after
this?
Colin: We just re-released our album on
Fat, we get home for a week, go out with
No Use for a Name for a month, and Only
Crime, then we’re in the studio to record
our new album. Then catch the last ten
days of Warped Tour. After that I have no
idea. But I couldn’t wish for anything more
than to know that I have these shows, the
recording, these shows, it’s lucky.
Rik: What would you have done if you
didn’t have a band?
Colin: That’s a weird question. Cause this is
all I’ve ever done.
[Steve, the guitarist, comes in]
Rik: What would your ideal night in and
night out be?
Rik: Pour Habit
Steve: I thought you were gonna say the
Flatliners. Everyone says that.
Colin: ‘Oh you guy’s aren’t the Flatliners?
See you later!’
Rik: What do you do when you’re not
playing music?
Colin: Lift weights! We like to work out.
Steve: Porn
Colin: Steve watches porn. We’re real outdoorsy guys, Steve likes movies.
Steve: Charles (the vocalist) is a gamer. He
plays Counter Strike like no other.
Rik: What’s been your biggest challenge?
Colin: Being away from our families, not
having a lot of money, trying to make ends
meet but still trying to follow the dream.
Rik: What’s the worst crowd reaction
you’ve had to deal with?
Colin: We haven’t really had that hard
of a time. Probably when we played our
friends birthday party. And his parents
were all bummed out. What the fuck is
this? [referring to the pitta he is eating]
Steve: Pitta with vegetarian sausage.
Colin: Ahh.
Rik: If you could only wear one article
of clothing for the rest of your life?
Colin: I’d wear jeans and a t-shirt for
sure.
Rik: That’s not one, that’s two.
[laughter]
Colin: I’d wear a burka. I’d wear the skin
of a bear. I like this guy! He asks good
questions!
Steve: My negro Yamaka.
Colin: Haha! Steve has a beanie. And it’s
never on his head correct. It’s just laying
across his head.
Rik: What would you spend your last
money on?
Colin: Guiness. We answer that question
every night.
Steve: Strongbow. Black strongbow.
That’s the one.
Eric: Gin!.
LIVE
Fight Pop!
ripped, I’m grinning from ear to ear, and
I’m now officially married to an overweight
man with glasses called Paul. Well, I’m sorry
Paul, wherever you are, but I’m in love with
Danananaykroyd. A cheesey closer, maybe,
but when you’ve seen this, you know what
true love is.
5/5
Good: Literally incredible.
Joyous.
Go see.
Bad: Could have
been a longer set.
Apart from that,
perfect.
Like This?
Debut album ‘Hey Everyone!’ is
out now.
DANANANAYKROYD
SOUTHAMPTON JOINERS
By Pete Benwell
Dananananaykroyd is a brilliantly named,
six headed fight-pop monster from Glasgow. Technically, Danananaykroyd
are a band. But I’m
loathe to call them that.
Live, they’re more of an
experience. I’d heard their
album, and seen live videos,
and I thought I was prepared
for an awesome show. Nothing
could have prepared me for the
next half an hour.
I haven’t smiled so much for a long
time. From the crashing opening
powerchords of ‘Hey Everyone!’
to the triumphant finale ‘Song
One Puzzle’, Dananananaykroyd whip the audience into
a state of delirium with their
glorious waves of what the
band
themselves
have aptly termed as ‘fight-pop’.
They sing, play, and dance like no-one
is watching. Never have I seen so much
energy in a band.
First song proper ‘Watch This!’ starts with
the band chanting their own name, and
dual vocalists Callum Gunn and John Bailie
Jnr dive headlong into the audience to belt
out the first verse, hugging crowd members
as they go, the first such occasion of many
tonight. Indeed, Audience participation is a
key part of the Dananana live experience.
During recent single ‘Black Wax’, a jangly, nineties-sounding (in a good way) pop
gem, guitarist David Roy mock spears me
in the chest with his guitar, whilst Callum
writhes on the floor next to me. Definitely up close and personal. “Pink Sabbath’
sounds even greater than it does on record,
all soaring riffs and crashing drums, there
being a second kit on stage which vocalist John bashes away at at certain points.
Halfway through ‘Some Dresses’, half the
band drop their instruments and stride into
the crowd. For a moment, everyone looks
disappointed, thinking they’ve finished early. Not so. The three members pause in the
middle of the crowd and form a circle. As
the remaining members strike up a pulsating beat, Calum initiates a dance off. I won’t
embarrass myself by saying what moves I
bust when my turn came, but suffice to say
the words ‘bunnyhop’, ‘robot’ and
‘p i g gyback’ could all be
used as descriptors
(imagine that if you
will).
Too soon, Dananana
announced they have
only several songs left.
Drenched in sweat, we
dance to the irresistible riffage of ‘Infinity Milk’ before the
Song One Puzzle brings the set
to a close. Not before one last
dive into the audience, and
the set’s crowning glory.
John Bailie clambers unsteadily back onto the
stage and, after telling
everyone to shut up,
splits the crow in half.
Confused, we do so.
He makes us link our
arms in an arch with
the person opposite
to make a tunnel, and
then, on the count of
three, instructs us to
run through the tunnel
in pairs. “Congratulations!”
he
shouts
triumphantly,
“you’re now officially married!”
With that, they throw off their
instruments,
hug
every
crowd member, and are
gone.
After
embarrassing
myself by accosting the band and
expressing my undying
love and gushing admiration, I wander outside in a daze.
I’m covered in sweat, my jeans are
Alex Hel/ Wise Children
... at a house party
By Dave Thompson
“Music Scene” is an almost impossible
phrase to define and one that it is generally disliked by musicians. However if it is
simply a group of friends who enjoy listening and performing music,then I went to my
first Southampton University “Music Scene”
Event. As we turned up fashionably early to
the party we could see the house had been
cleared and covered in Tea Lights and other
atmospheric lighting found at Ikea.
When the house seemed full, the hosts- Part
Dinosaur (myspace.com/partdinosaur) ushered us into the front room where there was
a race to sit on the beanbags. Wise Children
opened with ‘Knockie’, which silenced the
crowd as people listened to Robin’s gentle
voice singing while Charlie sat leaned against
the wall playing his guitar, a very cool look
from both of them… one I couldn’t pull off.
The set moved between vibrant songs like
‘Pigeons’ to the last song, where Robin got
his girlfriend to sing with him. Wise Children
write extremely soft music in a genre that is
hard to sound different from other acoustic
outfits. Yet, with clever lines and interesting
arrangements, they manage to stand out.
Alex Hel came on to “headline” accompanied by entrance music played from YouTube. He doesn’t write songs as beautiful or
subtle as Wise Children, but writes songs
about getting dumped, which seems to
have happened a lot to him, poor guy. He
was very confident with good interaction
with the audience, he certainly had a charm
to him. The set varied in style and always
kept you entertained, finishing with us all
standing outside for his last song… far too
cold though.
Afterwards everyone chatted and got more
than merry. Southampton may not be this
hive of creativity, like London or Brighton
but you don’t have to look too far to find
like-minded people who enjoy good music.
LIVE
By Pete Benwell
25th April
Southampton Talking Heads
65DAYSOFSTATIC
By Pete Benwell
It may be a Saturday night but the Talking
Heads is still unusually rammed. There's a
notable excitement in the air; 65daysofstatic are in town. Whilst by no means famous,
65 (as all the cool kids call them) have now
gained a sizeable enough following that they
can sell out a venue several weeks before
a gig. Good. This band need to be shared.
Tonight's set showcases the band's already
latent talent but has the promise of more to
come in the future.
After support band Amusement
Parks on Fire have droned their way through
a half hour wash of disappointing progshoegaze, the tension starts to build as
backing music segues into a refrain of “65,
65, 65, 65” before the band take the stage.
Starting with an as yet unnamed newbie,
from the outset 65daysofstatic are stunning.
Multi instrumentalist Paul Wolinski coaxes a
rich, unnatural but enthralling array of glitchy
electronic noises from laptop and samplers
as drummer Rob Jones begins to thrash
seven bells out of a floor tom. Guitarist
Joe toys with the already baying audience,
miming playing guitar as the music builds,
demonstrating the band's seeming new
confidence. Bassist Simon Wright looks to
be completely caught in the music's grasp
– swaying back and forward, eyes rolled
back, fingers moving ceaselessly across
his fretboard. The opener having stunned
the crowd into an awed silence, the band
plunge into live stalwart 'Await Rescue' and
people begin to move, the cantering drums
whipping the assembled onlookers into a
frenzy, with subsequent crowd-slayer 'Retreat Retreat' converting the few remaining
arms-cross nay-sayers at the back into followers of 65.
The set that follows proves a fantastic showcase for new material. Whilst
65daysofstatic have always been a band
fusing electronic influences with post-rock,
new songs do so in a more immediate, accessible and danceable way than has been
done before, as was hinted at on last years
'Dance Parties' E.P. (get it, it's awesome).
Their electronic influences now appear to
veer more towards dance and techno than
towards ambient forms of electronica. But
don't worry, folks; 65daysofstatic aren't
about to become Pendulum; new material is still enthralling, exciting and at times
heart-stoppingly good, each song starting in
one direction but finishing up in a place you
couldn't imagine possible. Whilst these new
songs are incredible, and promise much for
a forthcoming fourth album (release date not
yet specified), it is still second album closer
'Radio Protector' that proves the highlight
for me. A floaty, gentle piano line and delayed guitar weave a beautifully together
before the drums kick in to a rousing, chestbeating finale that never ceases to wow me.
It's one of those rare moments in music
that really takes you away; makes you be-
lieve you can do anything and go anywhere,
makes you want to declare love or climb Everest or eat a whole cake (that might just be
me). Then, as you leave the gig, it subsides,
and you realise you're in Portswood on a
Saturday night, and some Jesters-bound
card has just thrown something at you. But,
for a while, it was incredible.
5/5
Good:
Great
fu- Bad: Nothing.
sion of new and old
material. The new
songs sound excellent. In a word; epic.
Like This, try...
Maybeshewill
FILM
Like politics... but sexier
In The Loop
By Jack Harding
Director: Armando Ianucci
Starring:
Peter Capaldi
Tom Hollander
James Gandolfini
Chris Addison
Paul Higgins
Release Date: 17 April 2009
Tagline: ‘ The fate of the world is on
the line’
Runtime: 106 mins
Rating: 15
In the Loop is a cynical, laugh-out-loud
docudrama-cum-comedy that tackles the
“speculative” side of modern politics with
piercingly funny and audacious dazzle and
dialogue. Writer/director Armando Iannucci
satirises and melds both the light and dark
components of International relations and
humour into an instant transatlantic gem
of vivid one-liners and putdowns, characters and camerawork with Peter Capaldi at
the cold heart of it all in one of the single
most funniest yet frightening character performances I’ve seen in anything, anywhere,
ever.
The film, itself, follows a fictitious assembly of foul-mouthed, sharp-tongued Government and State Department Officials,
advisers, Secretaries and enforcers in their
behind-the-scenes efforts to either promote
or prevent the then impending war in the
middle east.
Tom Hollander plays Simon Foster, a
nervy yet humane Cabinet Minister who
lands himself in a web of turmoil after publicly declaring the probabiltiy of the UK and
the US launching a war in the middle-east
as “unforeseeable” only to contradict himself the following morning with a hilarious
pro-war metaphor on live TV. Enter the PM’s
obstinate and shady communications chief
Malcolm Tucker (Capaldi), an abusive yet
hysterical press and political spin doctor
who jets Foster and his new assistant Toby
off to Washington while things in London get
smoothed over. In the Loop centres, then,
on the aftermath of Foster’s comments as
both pro and anti war narcissists inside the
US State Department treat him as a pawn
“In the Loop is a cynical, laughout-loud
docudrama-cum-comedy
that tackles the “speculative” side
of modern politics with piercingly
funny and audacious dazzle and dialogue.”
in their fierce yet farcical tug of war as the
“secret” opinion poll for military intervention
in the middle-east draws near.
It’s basically The Office
meets Dr.
Strangelove. It’s probably the best and
most original British comedy to hit the silver
screen in years. It’s a sublime political satire:
a hyper-kinetic, feature-length spin-off of
director Iannucci’s award winning BBC sitcom (The Thick of It) that has all the energy,
look and feel of a 30 minute episode and it’s
absolutely brilliant. Hard to follow in places,
perhaps, but more than enough chunks of
comedy gold at hand to keep you glued until
the plot becomes clear. Still not everyone’s
cup of tea, granted, but sufficient enough to
“Armando Ianucci and his team of
talented screenwriters don’t say anything we don’t already know, then,
but when a film’s this funny and this
good, who cares!?”
wet the appetites of those who like (a) their
politics, (b) their comedy black and sharp
and (c) their films fast, smart and relevant
to the now.
If truth be told, though, In the Loop is
hardly an enlightening experience, it doesn’t
educate us on the cut throat world of modern politics- apparently it’s corrupt and full
of lying, egocentric gits- director Armando
Ianucci and his team of talented screenwriters don’t say anything we don’t already
know, then, but when a film’s this funny and
this good, who cares!? Stand-out turns from
Capaldi, Hollander and James Gandolfini
along with a whole host of smartly scripted,
paced and delivered dialogue make for one
of the funniest films this country have ever
produced. So get In the Loop.
5/5
Good: Fast, foulmouthed and very,
very funny. In the
Loop is a political
satire to look up to.
Bad: Very little. Unless you were expecting something
poetic and subtle,
that is.
The Final Countdown
The University year 08/09 is coming to
a close and along with it this year’s run of
the Wessex Scene/Edge combo. My editorial nuances will not be gracing next year’s
pages of this finest of student publications.
After two years of diligently trying to get the
f*&king computers in the media resources
room to do what I want at a speed greater
than my old 486 could have, I am hanging
up my journo hat. No more invites to press
screenings in London, no more celebrity
endowed press conferences, no more free
screener DVD’s. In truth I only got 3, 2, and
5 of these respectively over the whole 2
years, but ya know, they will be missed.
“No Dean, please don’t leave us, your
beautifully edited pages are all we live for”, I
can already hear the wailing when the news
hits the campus. Well don’t worry, my shoes
will be well filled and are in fact probably
too small for my replacement, Stephen O’
Shea. He has been dedicated in sending me
excellent, creative reviews for nearly every
issue over the past year and I am sure he
will bring those same qualities to the role of
film editor. Good luck with the job Stephen,
you’ll definitely learn a lot.
Well thanks to all of you who have bothered to point your eyes in the direction of my
sometimes pretty, sometimes s*&t film section. I will leave happy in the knowledge that
I rocked your faces off with my awesome
picture editing on numerous occasions.
Dean Read.
FILM
Like real Star Trek... but sexier
Star Trek
By Nicholas Brown
Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Simon Pegg
Eric Bana
Karl Urban
Leonard Nimoy
Release Date: 8 May 2009
Tagline: The future begins
don’t want their beloved franchise to go
the way of Star Wars but yet the success of
other sci-fi revamps such as Battlestar Galactica, Serenity and Doctor Who prove that
change is not necessarily a bad thing.
Star Trek, at least as far as the original
series and movies went, has always had an
oddly serene tone to them, forsaking expensive action for character driven adventures
closer to westerns than science fiction in
some cases. Throw all that out of the window, this ain’t yo daddy’s Star Trek. Abrams,
creator of Lost and director of the underrated Mission Impossible 3 and the monstrous
Cloverfield, ramps the pace right up from
Runtime: 126 mins
Rating: 12A
The mission of the USS Enterprise has
always been to boldly go where no-one has
gone before, but for the crew of JJ Abrams’
new envisioning of the Star Trek franchise,
the ground they are walking on is not only
well-trod but hallowed.
As I write this I am looking out over
Leicester Square on the afternoon of the
premiere, crowds are already gathering,
some in the distinctive Starfleet uniform to
herald the coming of the new film and catch
a glimpse of their idols.
Trekkies are traditionally a possessive
breed, their letter writing campaign got the
original series back on the air, they turned
Klingon into a fully fledged language and
they spent years arguing over Kirk and
Picard. To say a lot is at stake would be an
understatement. A fully fleshed out universe,
six television series, ten feature films, countless computer games and novels, decades
of history. Star Trek fans understandably
“Throw all that out of the window, this ain’t yo daddy’s Star
Trek.“
“Star Trek is the perfect Summer blockbuster, a well thought
out entertaining space romp that
delivers on action and spectacle.
”
the start, hurling you into an epic space battle from the word go.
The story follows young Kirk and Spock
through their turbulent childhood to their
eventual meeting in Starfleet Academy.
Their immediate dislike for each other has to
be put on hold when Enterprise is flung into
a battle with rogue Romulan baddie Nero
and his multi-tentacled mining ship.
The first half of the film feels like a high
school rebel story with Chris Pine’s Kirk the
flawed yet practical genius trying to escape
his father’s shadow. Once he meets Zachary
Quinto’s Spock there are buddy-cop parallels galore with the straight laced Vulcan
trying to temper the emotions of his fiery
counterpart. Towards the second half of the
film Spock takes the limelight. Kirk may be
the protagonist but Spock has the greater
emotional journey.
The rest of the cast play their parts with
varying success. Zoe Saldana smoulders
as the iconic Uhura while Karl Urban gives
a fantastic performance as the Enterprise’s
long-suffering medical officer ’Bones’ McCoy. Sulu, Chekov and Scotty are all accounted for but provide little aside from occasional comic relief.
Special effects are impressive as one
would expect from an Abrams production,
particularly the shots of the massive Enterprise. A few Star Wars looking aliens are
thrown in for good measure, counteracting
the ‘humans with odd appearance’ tradition
of Star Trek aliens.
There are some criticisms to be levied.
The film’s score leaves a little to be desired,
lacking the pomp and grandeur of the original Star Trek themes. Some of the interior
sets seem a little out of place, looking too
industrial for a futuristic star ship and the
enemies (disgruntled alien miners) never really feel like much of a threat compared to
the might of the Federation.
Importantly there are enough nods to the
existing Star Trek universe to satisfy ardent
fans, highlighted by an extended cameo
from Lenoard Nimoy. The plot also carefully
sidesteps existing canon through time travel
and parallel dimensions so as to not tread
on the toes of existing Star Trek episodes.
Star Trek is the perfect Summer blockbuster, a well thought out entertaining space
romp that delivers on action and spectacle.
The current buzz suggests sequels already
in the pipeline so this rejuvenated franchise
will hopefully live long and prosper.
4.5/5
Good:
Well
cast
leads, top notch
special effects, rejuvinates a stagnant
franchise
Bad: Score not up
to past Star Trek
standards of pomp
Like This? Watch...
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Past Star Trek
Round Up
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis
FILM
Like real life... but sexier
Frost/Nixon
By Jack Harding
Director: Ron Howard
Starring:
Frank Langella
Michael Sheen
Sam Rockwell
Oliver Platt
Kevin Bacon
Release Date [DVD]: 1 8 May 2009
Tagline: 400 million people were
waiting for the truth.
Runtime: 122 mins
Rating: 15
Skilfully adapted by Peter Morgan from
his hit stage play, Frost/Nixon is an expertly balanced film that sees the playwright’s
screen tailored script combine memorably
with two unfamiliar yet exceptional actors to
give us one of the best and most gripping
Hollywood dramas in years.
Child actor-cum-director Ron Howard
has an Oscar winning flair for historical U.S
bio-dramas and Frost/Nixon could well be
his masterpiece. Predictable? Perhaps, but
without a doubt his most charismatic and
intelligent picture to date that uses a truly
historical event to comment on current affairs.
If you want a modern-day sense of both
the scale and importance of Frost/Nixon,
then imagine, say, Richard Hammond set
loose on George Bush over a string of tel-
evised interviews and wringing out a confession over those WMD‘s. I know, I knowHammond/Bush hasn’t quite got that same
ring to it and granted, it hasn’t even happened...yet. Though something along these
very lines did happen back in 1977 when
happy-go-lucky TV presenter David (Breakfast with) Frost (Michael Sheen) sealed a
series of face-to-face interviews with under
fire ex Prez’ Richard Nixon (Frank Langella).
For three years after being forced from
his presidential post over his involvement
in the notorious Watergate scandals, Nixon
remained silent. Officially pardoned yet publicly despised: unquestioned yet yearning
for his chance to set the record “straight”
and win “back” the hearts of the American
people. So when a young and inexperienced
Frost comes along with a wad of cash and a
team of ‘crack investigators’, baying for the
ex-premier’s blood, time and apology, Nixon
sees what he thinks is an easy chance for
a public-relations comeback. What follows
is a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable
battle of wits and words between a budding
TV talent trying to further his career and a
shamed politician trying to justify his.
Peppered with archival footage and recordings along with staged documentary-like
interviews with the side characters, Frost/
Nixon throws up a dramatic yet authentic
looking insight into the events surrounding the now legendary interviews, showing
us the mentality, morals and interlocking
back stories of both Frost and Nixon in the
months and weeks leading up to their final
showdown. The result is a dynamic duel to
the death: a sometimes heavy, sometimes
light affair chock full of high-quality movie
moments that move us, chill us to the bone;
make us gasp, laugh and sometimes gape.
Frost/Nixon is a political drama without the
politics. It’s all about the day of the underdog, the serving of justice, human nature
and the sense inevitable victory over the
forces of old and evil. A certain close-up of
a rattled and wounded Nixon, eyes welled
and head tilted, is up there with some of the
finest and most pungent pieces of Hollywood cinema I’ve seen in a while. It’s a telling climax: time seems to stand still, there
is complete silence, no words or score are
needed- just damn good restrained acting.
“Frost/Nixon is a significant
and assured piece of American
cinema- it’s a very well made
film, a very well acted film and,
dare I say, a modern great in the
making”
Reprising their roles from Morgan’s play,
then, are the quite brilliant Michael Sheen
and Frank Langella. The latter, without a
doubt the film’s crowning glory. The 71
year old plays the part of Richard Nixon to
shocking perfection. Each individual mannerism and tick that set the slouched and
slack cheeked politician apart come to
quite excellent pass in a performance of
great presence and great effort. As the forlorn yet droll Nixon, Langella gives one of
the great leading performances of modern
movie history yet to say he outshines Sheen
would be wrong. The unsung Brit sparkles
as the beaming, coming-of-age underdog
Frost in a breakthrough turn full of energy
and optimism, charm and class. Expect
more from him for holding your own against
Langella and a star studied supporting cast
comprised by the likes of Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and the priceless Sam Rockwell
can’t be easy. Sheen makes it look just that
though. If you thought his portrayal of a certain Tony Blair was good then wait ‘till you
see his Frost. Next up for him: Brian Clough
in...wait for it...Peter (that man again) Morgan’s adaptation of Dave Pearce’s bestselling novel, The Damned Utd. Now there’s a
film I want to see.
Anyway, back to Frost/Nixon- a film I
have seen, a film I thoroughly enjoyed and
would recommend to anyone and everyone.
Ron Howard has crafted an inspired, thoroughly engaging political drama of rare value and class; time, place and intelligence.
With The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher could’ve canned Hollywood an instant dramatic classic. He didn’t.
Button was tedious, pointless- a let down.
Howard’s saved Hollywood’s ‘09 bacon.
His Frost/Nixon is a significant and assured
piece of American cinema- it’s a very well
made film, a very well acted film and, dare I
say, a modern great in the making. See it.
Final Verdict: Ron Howard’s taste for humour, charm and knack for getting the best
out of his cast prevails in a way few could’ve
foreseen. Langella and Sheen are dynamite.
Where were the Oscars/BAFTAS?
4.5/5
Good: Brilliant performances from the
leading men, interesting slice of recent
history
Bad: Historical accuracy is questionable throughout
Like This? Watch...
Charlie Wilson’s War
25
TUESDAY
Reemer
+ The Rising
+ Amy Peters
The Joiners
Mac and the Orchard
The MR Rooms
TUESDAY
The Blizzards
The Joiners
The Somer�ields
Portswood Junction
TUESDAY
Blackbud
The Joiners
Tyketto
+ Opening of Passion
The Brook
26
2
9
WEDNESDAY
27
THURSDAY
Brokencyde
The Joiners
THURSDAY
21
28
FRIDAY
My Vitriol
The Joiners
The BO
+ HipFandango
The Brook
FRIDAY
22
29
White Rose Movement
+ Romance
+ Ulterior
The Joiners
Tommy Reilly
+ Louisa Osborn
+ Hannah Bowers
The Joiners
Geno Washington
The Brook
Aiden
The Joiners
FRIDAY
SIC
+ Driven By Devils
+ Bare Your Scars
+ Typheous
The Joiners
THURSDAY
Mr Hudson
The Joiners
Rusty Strings
The Shed
Thinking For Tuesday
Talking Heads
5
The Electric Light Orchestra
Experience
The Brook
10
4
Mostly Autumn
The Brook
WEDNESDAY
Mists Big Adventure
The Joiners
Zoe Corbishley
The Bridge
WEDNESDAY
Joy Formidable
The Joiners
3
Logan
+ My Endeavour
The Brook
May/June TheGigGuide
MONDAY
Jose Vanders
+The Help Movement
+ Luke Leigh�ield
The Joiners
Bens Brother
+ Dlugoekcki
+ Rhys Morgan
The Brook
MONDAY
1
Emmeline Curtis
The Wes Bene�it Concert
Girl’s Alouder Feat. Amy
Cazneaux
The Underground Cafe
MONDAY
8
Azdam Parker and the SuSu
Crew
West Riff
Lemon Space
The Grass Pub
SATURDAY
Birdpen
The Joiners
George Thorogood
Guildhall
Green-ish Day
The Brook
SATURDAY
23
SUNDAY
Cherbourg
+ Kurran and the Wolfnotes
Unit
Pennyfest
The Joiners
SUNDAY
Gringo Star
+ I Remember Tapes
The Joiners
30
Kumiss
+ Haunted Stereo
+ Illness
+ Pacer
The Joiners
The Blooms
The Railway Inn
24
31
22
7
Klaus Says Buy the Record
The Joiners
SUNDAY
John Waite Band
The Brook
6
Legend
The Brook
SATURDAY
Burn the Fleet
+ Waiting For Sirens
The Joiners
Johnny 2 Bad
The Brook