the spaceman strikes back the spaceman strikes back

August 2008 • totally free
the band of the eye
blood of ash
slashed seat affair
spiritualized
the spaceman strikes back
A. Human
black bikini alpha
A. Human
A.HUMAN formed in a
stream line, brass tapped,
no spirit pub shop in
Clerkenwell London. Their
meeting was forced through
employment, serving lamb
cordial to suited no-brains
who cared more for the
wage than they did for their
souls. Tired of the prospect
of serving these people
forever they wrote music in a
lounge with a window,
watched life insurance
adverts whilst passing tailor
made’s. In their own world
they continued to create,
with time interest came from
the world that trades in
music, and on a pier, on a
Golden Mile they signed
away their eyes.
Through atmospheric music,
quirky characters and witty
lyricism they create a world
that is far away from our
own. Although each song
works independently,
together they tell a larger
more mystical and bizarre
story that accompanies their
debut album. Their music
mixes both rock and
electronic to a strikingly
soulful effect.
They now spend their times
in an underground studio
called ‘The Difference
Engine’. In the bowels of
Farringdon they scribe away,
hiding from the troubles that
brew over head. They chip
away on broken old
keyboard’s telling stories and
fables of good versus evil. In
a year they came live and
people would throw limbs
and curse them in joy.
A unity was born and those
who once served the cordial
were now toasted with it.
A. Human are the new
breed. Dirty. Strange. Slightly
deranged. And very real. Be
prepared to get hooked on
their full on electroandrogyny rock fronted by a
Shakespearean-esque
storyteller singer who tells
tales of fantasy and reality in
the same sex fluid dripping
breath. One thing’s for sure A. Human aren’t for the
dicky hearted but, like all
addictively hedonistic things
in life, that’s what makes
them so great.
‘Black Moon’, the recent
single, introduces you to
singer Dave Human’s psycho-
monologues about women
with knives for hands and
men with deer heads. He’s a
modern day literary oddball,
and the song couples these
musings with deep, pulsing,
analogue basslines, and
razorsharp guitars.
Their live show is a left
hook to the cheek – and it’s
led by Dave who pulsates
into every bewildered
crowd member like some
new age Michael Hutchence
on Viagra.
He’s a master at capturing a
crowd, “The band creates
the atmosphere and I tell
the story and that’s what
it’s about. The emotion and
the performance that they
give really puts it in me to
go out there and the bigger
the live acts get the more
excited I get. When I’m off
stage and I look back at
everyone it’s a solid unit
and it’s a sexy thing.
I’ve got too much going on
in my body so I have to get
rid of it - it’s like a nervous
twitch.”
The debut album ‘Third Hand
Prophecy’ is finished and out
now. It’s an 11 tracker of
synth and bass laden shock
‘n’ roll that’s ready to assault
dancefloors.
A. Human, as a package, are
as real as a slap in the face.
Distinctly odd, a bit over the
top, whatever the label – this
is one band that won’t, and
shouldn’t, be ignored.
mosphere
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and I tell the story
that’s what it’s about.
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extremist experimental English
boys who’ve been playing with
French fashion fop Hedi Slimane
recently and who are beloved
for their furious live shows.
Tonight they’re joined on stage
by two bands from the
emerging French scene: Nelson
sound like Animal Collective
playing Joy Division songs, like
Can or Suicide writing a horror
soundtrack.
Batmacumba Summer Boat
Party 12 July: 8.30pm: The
boat embarks from Tower Pier
The Institute of Contemporary
Arts have the following events
lined up in July at The Mall,
London. www.ica.org.uk
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble +
Bass Clef
22 July: 8pm: theatre
New York’s Hypnotic Brass
Ensemble are a band that has to
be seen live to be believed, the
HBE is eight brothers, all sons of
former Sun Ra trumpeter Phil
Cohran, plus drummer 360.
They deliver a unique and
exhilarating sound, mixing jazz,
afropop, funk, soul and R&B
with a powerful hip-hop
sensibility. After building a
fearsome reputation in the US
for their guerrilla gigs on the
streets of Chicago and New
York, the band have been
touring clubs and venues around
Europe, most recently storming
the UK on dates with Mos Def.
They are joined by Bass Clef,
another festival favourite.
Hailing from Bristol's eclectic
dubstep scene, this one-man
sensation uses trombones, pirate
flags and a maelstrom of hand
percussion to devastating effect.
hypnoticbrass.blogspot.com
These New Puritans +
Zombie Zombie + Nelson
11 July: 7.30pm
These New Puritans are perfect
to end our summer-long love
affair with all things Francais:
The Batmacumba boat sets sail
in July for our annual trip along
the Thames Riviera. This year we
have an even more fantastic
boat, the Dutch Master, with a
huge external deck guaranteeing
the best views of London plus a
great dancefloor for some
wicked Brazilian beats. Special
guests on the night are Human
Factor, the dudes behind some
of the best new Brazilian
drum’n’bass.
myspace.com/batmacumba
Sixty-Eight Minute Sympathy
For The Devil
a conceptual rock performance
by Seth Kim-Cohen
16 July 2008
Conceptual artist, Seth KimCohen presents 68SFTD, a 68minute, live band performance
of Sympathy For The Devil. Each
section of the seminal song is
played at the original tempo and
diabolically repeated to the
power of twelve.
If you’re searching for the
zeitgeist of 1968, you could do
worse than Sympathy For The
Devil’s intimations (and
imitations) of the Prague Spring,
the events of Paris in May, the
Chicago 7 protests at the
Democratic National
Convention, the My Lai
Massacre, the assassinations of
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Robert Kennedy. The music of
‘68 announces the death of
values like progress, resolution,
and authority – replacing them
with repetition, extreme
duration, and the downplaying
of virtuosity in the minimalism of
Philip Glass and Steve Reich; the
circularity of Can and the Velvet
Underground; the extended
grooves of James Brown and
Miles Davis. Like a demon
accountant calculating the tenor
of the times, Sympathy for the
Devil tallies the spirit of 1968.
DJ Spooky: Sound Unbound
22 July: 7pm: Nash Room
Dj Spooky, aka conceptual artist,
writer and musician Paul D
Miller, is here to talk about
Sound Unbound, his new book
discussing the art of the remix.
Examining the ways in which
music, art and literature crossbreed, Miller questions various
artists and their compositional
strategies. Expect personal and
insightful reflections upon all
things musical from this
renowned figure.
Hit thousands of new
consumers from only
£25.00 a month
www.djspooky.com
Yacht and Special Guests.
28 August 2008
Jona Bechtolt is a renaissance
man and a delight: he’s made a
pop opera, cofounded an online
community based in Portland,
Oregon (the marvellous
urbanhonking.com), just finished
an artist's residency at Marfa,
Texas, and is working on a
creative-commons licensed
album of beats. More to the
point here, he’s worked as a
drummer, remixer and producer
with Devendra Banhart,
Architecture in Helsinki and
Panther, he’s toured the world
making people smile and dance,
and he’s bringing his laptop, his
electro-grunge sounds and his
silly dancing to the ICA.
Jona Bechtolt is Yacht.
Advertising in FUSE makes sense. Space costs
from just £25.00 per issue.
FUSE is extensively read throughout the UK by
1000s of music consumers and the music
industry too. Tell them what you’ve got!
email
[email protected] for an info pack.
fuse wire
James Barton and
Bestival’s Rob da
Bank, of the
Association of
Independent
Festivals, a new
affiliate organisation
to AIM.
AIM is a not-for-profit trade
body established in 1999 to
represent the UK independent
music industry. Acting for over
90% of the independent
market, and with over 800
members from small start-ups to
the largest and most respected
independents in the world, AIM
promotes this exciting and
diverse sector globally, to enable
its members to grow, grasp new
opportunities and break into
new markets.
Artists signed to AIM member
labels include Adele, Antony &
The Johnsons, Arctic Monkeys,
Basement Jaxx, Bjork, Bloc Party,
Coldcut, Editors, Enter Shikari,
Franz Ferdinand, Infadels, Jack
Penate, Jarvis Cocker, Jose
Gonzalez, Katie Melua, M.I.A.,
Maximo Park, Nitin Sawnhey,
Pigeon Detectives, Radiohead,
Reverend And The Makers,
Rogrigo Y Gabriela, Roots
Manuva, Royksopp, Sufjan
Stevens, Super Furry Animals,
The Cribs, The Futureheads, The
Go! Team, The Prodigy, The
Raconteurs, The Strokes, The
White Stripes, Vampire Weekend
and thousands of others.
AIM’s ninth Annual General
Meeting was marked by the
announcement, by Creamfield’s
The brainchild of
Bestival promoter
Rob da Bank, he
said at the launch,
“AIF has been a
seed in my brain
ever since we started Bestival
five years ago, where we came
up against so many issues, from
where to source good toilets to
stopping campsite theft, to
being greener, saving money,
and making our event as good
as can be.”
AIF will be chaired by AIM
Chairman Alison Wenham,
joining some of the UK's
strongest and most creative
music festivals as founder
members, ranging from the
40,000 capacity Creamfields in
Liverpool, to the 6,000 capacity
Summer Sundae in Leicester.
Commented Alison Wenham:
“AIM has come a very long way
since it opened its doors nine
years ago, and no greater
compliment could be paid to us
than to work with the newly
formed AIF. AIM is a broad
church of interests. AIM’s and
AIF’s members are all
independent entrepreneurs
working in music. AIF will
represent independent British
Festivals, another great example
of indie culture at work,
requiring imagination and hard
work. The synergies are
undoubtedly there and we hope
to provide AIF with a supportive
and experienced environment in
which they can develop the
collective platform for the UK
independent festival industry”.
Speaking about the association
with AIM, Rob’s manager and
co-founder Ben Turner said: “It
was clear that working with
somebody as strong and
visionary as Alison and the AIM
board was a clear route to
market, a powerful message of
our intention and an indication
of where this concept can be
taken for the benefit of festival
owners, and subsequently the
festival-going public. The AIM
Board has been open,
constructive and nothing but
encouraging. At the same time,
having our own identity is
important. We have our own
issues and agendas.”
There are reportedly over 450
music festivals in the UK alone.
Believing this is the right time for
such a positive show of strength
from the independent sector,
Rob da Bank stated: "In the
current very competitive, very
intense climate, it’s more crucial
than ever to be able to bond
together as like-minded
independently spirited festivals
to ride out the problems and
make them all better for the
paying customer.”
Creamfields owner James Barton
adds: “There is a real
opportunity to combine our
spending power to deliver
exciting business ideas. The
smaller festivals are also often
overlooked, and it’s important
we now have a voice to
influence decisions being made
that impact on our business.”
www.musicindie.com
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pages of F
Cutting edge new metal, industrial and punk from some of the UKs
hottest new talent featuring:
Nukchorris • Inferno • Scene Of My Demise • Puck • Anon •
Melonfarmer • Drymouth • Wishlist • Twisted Wings • Blood Of Ash
Buy now for only £3.00
at www.myspace.com/fuseweb
fuse wire
The new Bring me the Horizon
album, ‘Suicide Season’, which
is finished and being mixed
and approved as we speak, is
scheduled for an early October
release, followed by a UK tour.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
has been a musical commune
for many respected musicians
over the years, a band that
has spurned other great bands
ever since. Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club, The
Warlocks, The Silver Rockets,
The Black Angels, The
Ravenettes, The Dilettantes
(to name a few).
South Coast electronic
experimentalists, Brenda,
finally release ‘The Coldest
Geometry’, a generously
packages limited 12" with CD
for those without turntables...
Two dozen band members later
and numerous ‘ups and downs’
(some famously sensationalized
in the media), The Brian
Jonestown Massacre release ‘Just
Like Kicking Jesus’ on July 28, a
mini album of 5 songs (4 never
released before), and will also
play the following July dates:
Saturday 5th July
The Chichester Inn, Chichester
with Futures and Revolution.
9th Birmingham - Academy 2
10th Nottingham Rescue Rooms
11th Leeds - Cockpit
12th Dublin - Oxegen
13th Kinross - T in the Park
15th Barrow-in-Furness The Canteen
16th London - Forum
Sunday 13th July
Aeon Gigs / Exeter Respect
Festival, The Phoenix, Exeter
There’s gigs too:
Friday 4th July
Club Airbag @ The Boileroom,
Guildford with Club Airbag DJs.
Sunday 6th July
Sh!tkicker Promotions @
The Jolly Sailor, Portsmouth
Munroe Effect and Stranger in
Moscow will also be on the bill
Friday 17th July
Glasswerk presents...
Lark In The Park, Islington,
London
www.myspace.com/brendaband
October 2008
16 Newcastle - Academy
17 Dundee - Fat Sam’s
18 Glasgow - Garage
19 Stoke - Sugarmill
20 Sheffield - Academy
21 Oxford - Academy
22 Nottingham - Rock City
23 Norwich - Waterfront
24 Liverpool Academy
25 Wrexham - Central Station
26 Brighton - Concorde 2
27 Leeds - Cockpit
28 Cardiff - Ifwor Bach
29 Yeovil - Orange Box
30 Bristol - Academy
31 Southampton - University
November 08
1 London - Astoria
2 Manchester - Academy
3 Birmingham - Academy
The band will be playing one of
the Kerrang Awards shows on
21st August – details soon!
fuse wire
Pennsylvanian quartet
INNERPARTYSYSTEM are
proud to be the first band
ever to have their debut UK
single pressed onto a seveninch single made entirely from
dark chocolate and limited to
only 100 copies. Featuring
their forthcoming single ‘Don’t
Stop’, if kept cool enough the
record does actually play as
the grooves are cut into the
chocolate, allowing it to play
like a normal, if slightly
crackly, vinyl single. It might
not sound as good as regular
vinyl but it sure tastes better
and it’s far easier to swallow.
Following their appearance at
Projekt Revolution with Linkin
Park, the band are also playing
around the UK in July:
1st Glasgow Barfly
3rd London The Scala
4th London Club NME Koko
5th London Wireless Festival
The band’s utterly infectious
debut UK single ‘Don’t Stop’ is
out now and is to be followed
by an album in September.
Joan As Police Woman’s debut
album, ‘Real Life’, was
universally acclaimed. Two
years on comes the much
anticipated follow-up, ‘To
Survive’.
Swedish punk rockers
Millencolin will embark on a
UK tour in September 2008, in
support of Machine 15 – their
latest album and the first one
since 2005’s Kingwood.
'Real Life' brought Joan Wasser
out of the shadows and
established her as a truly unique
and original voice. Songwriter,
singer and multi-instrumentalist,
Joan has bewitched fans across
Europe and the US and is set to
garner a wealth of new
devotees with ‘To Survive’.
With an impressive string of six
releases behind them, nearly
two million records sold
worldwide and sharing stages
with the likes of Blink 182, the
Foo Fighters and Queens of the
Stone Age, the Örebro based
quartet are on right at the top of
their game.
An album of unashamedly
heartfelt songs, in Joan’s words,
“I am always trying to dig
deeper into the emotional
experience. I want to access the
most honest place I can, distil it
and present it in a way that
makes sense musically.” See for
yourselves in August at:
‘Machine 15’ has received rave
reviews in the UK press,
including FUSE, see why at the
following September gigs:
3rd BIG CHILL Festival
10th Summer Sundae - Leicester
30th Connect Festival Inverary Castle, Argyll
23 Birmingham Academy
24 Bristol Academy
25 London LA 2
26 Portsmouth
Wedgewood Rooms
27 Nottingham Rock City
28 Manchester Academy 3
29 Glasgow Garage
fuse wire
Nowhere To Hide, Nothing To
Fear; McBride Comes
FACE TO FACE WITH THE
MILLENNIALS
The Music Business
Experiment
Thursday 17th July,
The Imagination Gallery,
London, WC1
Having lifted the lid on the
all important ‘Millennial’
generation in his recent
MusicTank report, ‘Meet The
Millennials’, Nettwerk Music
Group CEO and co-founder
Terry McBride returns to the
UK in July for a one-off
special experimental
conference.
The event will generate a UK
take on the report’s
conclusions, from activating
p2p communities, mash-up
culture and price-tipping points
to the future of the band /
brand relationships taking into
account all the new
opportunities digital media
allows, whether that be new
online communities, mobile
phone content or video games.
The event will kick off a unique
year long project in participants
will generate from scratch a
mould-breaking 360 degree
road-map for an up-andcoming British act.
McBride will kick off Face To
Face With The Millennials with
a keynote explaining why
constant experimentation is key
to success. Following a Q&A,
Terry’s views will be put to the
test by 6Music presenter and
songwriter Tom Robinson,
interviewing a panel of UK
Millennials who will set the
record straight on free music,
online communities, aligning
bands with brands and what’s
working for them. A
presentation of relevant UK
consumer research is in the
process of being finalised.
Part three will see the chosen
act, their management and
leading representatives across
the UK business from digital
distributors and e-tailers to
marketers, live promoters, sync
specialists, video game
developers and beyond,
working with Terry to create
the act’s 12 month road map.
With lessons to be learned for
acts of all genres, delegates will
explore new ways of converting
the act’s ‘tribe’ of fans into
active agents working towards
the artist’s success experimenting with fan mixes,
brand deals, releasing via the
fan base and P2P communities,
also reappraising the
importance the big record deal
at a time when an act might
make more money from a
computer game placement than
from an entire album (more
than 11,000,000 songs were
downloaded last year for use in
the console games, Rock Band
and Guitar Hero III alone).
With the roadmap finalised and
set into motion, the band’s
progress will then be followed
closely over the next 12 months
via the MusicTank newsletter
and other media partners.
The event will be followed by
MusicTank’s 5th Anniversary
Drinks to be held in The Atrium
of the Imagination Gallery.
FACE TO FACE WITH THE
MILLENNIALS
Thursday 17 July, 12.30-17.30
Imagination Gallery, South
Crescent, Store Street, London
WC1E 7BL
• Light lunch and refreshments
provided
• To be followed by MusicTank
5th Anniversary Drinks, free
to delegates: 17.30 - 20.30.
Prices (all ex. VAT)
Full: £85 / Trade Body: £70 /
MusicTank members: £55
Advance tickets only, available
from www.musictank.co.uk
MusicTank is one of University
of Westminster’s sector-based
Knowledge and Business
Development Networks.
Launched in 2003, MusicTank's
remit was to establish itself as a
business development network
for the UK music industry - an
independent body set up to
engage with industry,
innovation and change across
the music business.
DEMOB: 30th ANNIVERSARY
HOMECOMING SHOW Plus Picture Frame
Seduction, Eastfield, Guns on the Roof and
Riot and the Popshots
In 1978 Gloucester was planted firmly on the punk rock
map when a bunch of city upstarts going by the name of
Demob hit the headlines and won over an army of fans and
critics alike. Affectionately dubbed ‘Gloucester’s first sons of
punk’, the band rapidly became known as one of the most
genuine, provocative and essential outfits on the global
punk rock scene. After 30 years and several band changes, the now settled unit are celebrating the music
that has made them a household name in the punk rock family throughout the world. In that time the
band have notched up two 7" vinyls, one vinyl album, three CD albums, over 10 compilation albums and
shows in the USA, Japan, Holland, Germany, Norway and all across the UK.
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This year Demob have performed at the huge Rebellion Festivals in Blackpool and Vienna, and are writing
a new album to take around the UK and on a tour of the USA in 2009. Demob will be joined for this
landmark celebration by four great bands; Welsh UK82 punk rockers Picture Frame Seduction,
Birmingham railpunk band Eastfield, Leeds’ Guns on the Roof and Stroud’s Riot and the Popshots.
Friday 4th July. Tickets £10 advance, £12 on the door. Doors open 7.30pm. Over 14's only.
Explicit Audio presents
Hadouken! plus guests
Please visit www.hadouken.co.uk for
more information about the band.
The Rifles plus guests
Walthamstow’s suburban indie-rock
heavyweights The Rifles come to the
Guildhall as part of their big 2008
second album tour.
The four-piece, whose 2006 debut album
‘No Love Lost’ brought the band much
acclaim and laid the foundations for a
very bright future, are currently putting
the finishing touches to their follow-up,
due for release in October.
The band were recently joined by their
hero Paul Weller at a gig at the Forum,
London, where the Modfather joined
them to perform first album track ‘She’s
The Only One’ and a thrilling rendition of Weller’s own Jam classic ‘The Eton Rifles’.
Get ready for a cracking live gig at the
Guildhall as part of festival fortnight.
Rock/rave/grindie upstarts Hadouken!
have been making huge waves on the
music scene, and their chaotic live
shows and frantic mash-up of styles
has set them apart from the rest of the
music crowd.
Saturday 25th October. Tickets £12. Doors 7.30pm. Over 14s.
Music in the Park
Saturday 26th July, Gloucester Park, 2pm – 10pm, FREE
The London/Leeds band have been
ripping up the record industry
rulebook since they emerged last year, and their debut album ‘Music For An Accelerated Culture’ barged
into the Top Ten in May, spawning a slew of hit singles, including ‘That Boy That Girl’, ‘Liquid Lives’ and
‘Get Smashed Gate Crash’. It’ll be lively!
Wednesday 23rd July. Tickets £12.50 advance.
Doors open 7.30pm. Over 14's only.
Box Office 01452 50-30-50
BOOK ONLINE! www.gloucester.gov.uk/guildhall
Miss Fusion (2pm)
SKANKt (3pm)
Blues Brothers Reloaded (4pm)
Duke (5pm)
Lockup (6pm)
Fat Digester (7pm)
Little Jenny and the Blue Beans (8pm)
Ola Onabule (9pm)
Gigs at Gloucester Guildhall
www.missfusion.info
www.skankt.com
www.bluesbrothersreloaded.co.uk
www.myspace.com/dukelive
www.myspace.com/lockuptheband
www.fatdigester.com
www.myspace.com/thebluebeans
www.ola-onabule.co.uk
fuse wire
Barely has the feedback faded
from their enthusiastically
received debut single and
already New Adventures have
laid to disc their second
release. 'In Our Hands' is
another made-to-measure
breakthrough hit with more
melody crammed into three
minutes than some bands
manage across an entire
career.
15 Guildford Boiler Room
16 Southampton Joiners
19 Brighton Audio
20 Cardiff Barfly
21 London Borderline
‘In Our Hands’ is released for
download on 21 July, and on
limited number 7" from the
4 August.
myspace.com/newadventures
Rose Hill Drive grew up
worshipping guitar-shredding
groups like The Who and Van
Halen. They never imagined
the band they formed in high
school would open up for
both groups before even
releasing an album.
‘Moon is the new Earth’ is their
new album and it represents the
'In Our Hands' is an airpunching, euphoric paean to
making it count. “It's one of
those songs I wish happened
more frequently” says Jez, “I
woke up with the tune in my
head and the rest just fell into
place”.
The band take to the road again
in July.
02 Newcastle Academy 2
03 Glasgow King Tuts
04 Inverness Madhatters
07 Liverpool Academy 2
08 Manchester Ruby Lounge
09 Leeds Cockpit (TBC)
10 Derby Royal
11 Cambridge Portland Arms
13 Bristol Fleece
14 Birmingham Bar Academy
intense ‘live’ feeling of their
show. 12 songs run the gamut
of emotions from the headspinning ‘Sneak Out’ to the
muscle-bound ‘Trans Am’ to the
tongue-in-cheek ‘Do You Wanna
Get High?’ It’s an album that is
shaped by an organic nature and
is a clear record of their maturity,
life experiences and musical
explorations.
Rose Hill Drive’s raw, emotive
rock has earned the group high
praises from both critics and
fellow musicians alike.
One of the most moving and
politically charged writers,
Michael Franti and his band
Spearhead, return with their
eagerly-awaited album, ‘All
Rebel Rockers’. Recorded in
Kingston, Jamaica this new
release deviates from Franti’s
previous sound and comprises
a hybrid dub-infused soul
flavour with some hard-hitting
dub rock production
Historically, Franti has toured
non-stop worldwide, early on
with his group The Disposable
Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
supporting U2, followed by his
band Spearhead performing
with Ben Harper, The Fugees,
Dave Mathews, Cypress Hill,
Billy Bragg, Matisyahu and many
festivals such at Glastonbury, VFest and Japan’s Fuji Rock. Catch
the band at the following places
this August...
16th V FESTIVAL, Hylands Park
17th V FESTIVAL, Weston Park
19th SHEFFIELD, Leadmill
20th EDINBURGH, Liquid Room
21st LONDON, Koko
22nd CHELTENHAM,
Greenbelt Festival
myspace.com/spearheadvibrations
fuse wire
Gigs at the Windmill Brixton, a
port in a storm for new bands
across the UK.
Windmill Brixton, 22 Blenheim
Gardens, London SW2 5BZ
www.windmillbrixton.co.uk
myspace.com/windmillbrixton
1 July 2008
20:00
Griswalds + The Shitty Limits +
The Murderburgers +
The Blankheads
2 July 2008
20:00
Plastic Passion + Little Trophy +
The Scuzzies + Nebraska
5 July 2008
20:00
HOLY GHOST REVIVAL +
Cheeky Cheeky &
The Nosebleeds +
Lyons & Tigers + Derek Meins
7 July 2008
20:00
Kenneth Ishak & The Skidz +
O + tbc
10 July 2008
20:00
EAMON HAMILTON (Brakes) +
Exlovers + Beans On Toast +
Men Daimler
17 July 2008
20:00
TELEVISION PERSONALITIES +
Milk Kan + Jack Ladder
18 July 2008
20:00
Danny & The Champions of the
World + Stornoway + more
27 July 2008
17:00
Sunday BBQ:
Red Pony Clock (USA)+Local
Girls+ ohdear + Keith John
Adams + more
28 July 2008
20:00
TOBY GOODSHANK +
The Wave Pictures +
Dizzy Spells Martian
30 July 2008
20:00
LETS WRESTLE + more tba
Popular Workshop +
ten City Nation + Kunk +
Nebraska (acoustic)
24 July 2008
31 July 2008
19 July 2008
20:00
20:00
The Shanners + Dorp + tbc
25 July 2008
20:00
Guildean Gang +
Zebedy Rays + Barrelhouse +
Steve Bland Assembly
20:00
SoundofzZz + guests
fuse wire
Chicago based cryptic riffers,
SPiT LiKE THiS have been
confirmed for the 2008
HARD ROCK HELL FESTIVAL
to be held in North Wales
December 5th-6th.
SPiT LiKE THiS were the first
band to open a Hard Rock Hell
Main Stage at last year’s event
(the first), their performance
being the reason they have been
invited back in 2008.
Zion, singer with SPiT LiKE THiS,
picks up the story: “Last year's
Hard Rock Hell surprised
everyone – we all thought it
would be great, but it turned
out to be amazing! The fact that
it just won Event Of The Year at
the Metal Hammer Awards
confirms this fact. I was really
proud of our performance last
year – we were the only
unsigned band to play amongst
such legends as Twisted Sister,
Saxon and Girlschool – but I am
even prouder to be asked to
return and repeat our success!”
Hard Rock Hell is one of the
biggest rock festivals held in the
UK and looks set to become a
regular date in the rock & metal
calendar. Also on the bill for
2008 are Black Label Society,
Thin Lizzy, Budgie, The
Wildhearts, Viking Skull,
Tigertailz and loads more.
The Acorn Make The Long List
For Polaris Music Prize +
Summer Update!
Electrasy are releasing a digital
only single from their latest
album ‘Wired For Dreaming’.
Since returning home from their
first US tour, Ottawa’s pride 'n
joy, The Acorn have been
enjoying the fruits (and nuts) of
home-life, but furtively gearing
up for an especially busy
summer, as well as their
forthcoming ‘Tin Fist’ EP out this
Autumn on Paper Bag Records!
The track, ‘Roll It Up’ is an
energetic and infectious romp,
proving to be a live favourite at
all of their recent gigs. The
single will be available from the
7th July 2008.
The Acorn will be making their
way across the pond for their
first UK tour from September
5th – 14th in support of the
‘Glory Hope Mountain’, which
will be released in Europe,
Australia and Japan by England's
Bella Union label (home to Fleet
Foxes, Beach House, Midlake,
Dirty Three, more). Official dates
will be released in the coming
weeks.
The new album from Garfields
Birthday, ‘Let Them Eat Cake’
has been getting been getting
some superb reviews and is
now out and just waiting for
you to give it a good home!
As a special gift Pink Hedgehog
records will be giving away a
free dvd with the first 20 mail
orders received at
www.pinkhedgehog.com
The DVD is a DIY documentary
put together by Alien Igloo,
featuring various classic
camcorder clips of the band...
rare live footage and much
silliness.
THE AMENTA enter ‘The Vault’
Recording Studios in Sydney,
Australia this week to mix their
latest release, ‘n0n.
THE AMENTA describe the new
album’s sound as a fusion of
Extreme metal, Electronic Noise
and Dub. ‘n0n’ will feature 12
tracks in total. ‘n0n’ contains a
myriad of different contributors
and performers and was
recorded across the world!
fuse wire
BBC INTRODUCING BUS
& MYSPACE BUS
The ‘BBC Introducing’ Bus rolls
into town with some of Radio
1’s big names acting as
conductors for some of the UK’s
freshest emerging talent,
together with the refurbished
MySpace bus this will without
doubt be one of the busiest
plots on site, expect some
surprise performances too!
KING RAMPS
If the UK's finest circus freaks
can’t keep you entertained, the
daredevils at the Vert Ramp
certainly can. King Ramps have
a special show planned for
Creamfields where the cream of
British Vert skateboarding and
BMX talent compete.
STREETWAVES STAGE
Streetwaves stage was borne
from Liverpool’s famous
Mathew Street Festival and
returns this year giving young
THE MOST DYNAMIC DANCE EVENT GETS CREATIVE
With a decade of festivals under
their belt, the ringmasters at
Creamfields have announced
two days of 10th anniversary
celebrations on top of a world
class line up that includes
Kasabian, Fatboy Slim, Ian
Brown, Paul van Dyk and Tiesto.
Stepping outside of the big tops
and exploring the site festivalgoers will discover the Vintage
Circus and Performers,
Hospitality Area, Skateboarders,
Farmers Market, Fancy Dress
Clad Revellers, the luxury
Boutique Campsite and more.
Set over 14 arenas in the
stunning Cheshire countryside
Creamfields will showcase the
UK’s best performance artists
serving up constant
entertainment throughout the
weekend with the world’s
biggest artists playing the
soundtrack to the hottest
weekend festival ticket this
summer. Creamfields was the
first festival to emerge from a
superclub and with a decade of
experience the musical maestros
will be showcasing weird and
wonderful attractions to
entertain everyone’s interests.
VINTAGE CIRCUS AND
PERFORMANCE ARTISTS
All manner of creative
troubadours will be bringing
their magic to Creamfields
creating a world of unique
entertainment for when you
want to explore the meadow
away from the music. The
Vintage Circus will transport us
through time into a land of old-
school fairground fun including
Carousel, Swings, coconut shy
and facepainting. Experience the
timeless excitement of the
fairground, try your luck on the
games and check out the
modern day sideshows created
by fellow festival goers! The
rides will be circled by a host of
incredible performers including
trapeze artists, jugglers,
showgirls and ringmasters.
CREAMFIELDS VILLAGE /
FARMERS MARKET / PIMMS
BUS
This year be sure to check out
the Farmers market offering an
array of delicacies and mosey on
over to the all new and
improved Creamfields village
which will be selling everything
from fancy dress to airhorns!
musicians the once in a lifetime
opportunity to perform at
Creamfields.
HOSPITALITY ARENA /
VANITY VAN / FAKE BAKE /
BOUTIQUE CAMPING
This year’s Creamfields
Hospitality Enclosure will be
hosted by the Hacienda and
Cream. Hospitality ticket holders
can enjoy the bright VIP tent
complete with wooden floors,
plush leather sofas and legendary
Cream & Hacienda DJs on the
decks. Some of the original
Hacienda crew will be brought
back together including Peter
Hook, Mike Pickering, Graeme
Park, Dave Haslam, Andy Mac
and Jon Da Silva.
The Vanity Vans will be on hand
in the hospitality area with a
fleet of pamper trailers, The Fake
Bake trailers to top up tans and
you can rest your weary legs at
the boutique campsite.
Saturday 23rd and
Sunday 24th August 2008
Daresbury, Halton, Cheshire
www.creamfields.com
Creamfields have also launched
a DJ competition launches,
here’s how to enter;
• Upload a 30-minute mix to
your myspace page and make
sure it is titled ‘Creamfields
guest mix’
• Email your link to
[email protected] with
‘Creamfields DJ competition’
in the title.
• Deadline for entries is 3pm
Friday 25th July. Finalists will
be notified after the closing
date and the 10 finalists will
be uploaded onto
myspace.com/officialcreamfields
where the public can vote for
their favourite.
• The overall winner will be
announced on 12th August.
fuse wire
June 29 2008. Reykjavik,
Iceland.
planned, in Europe's largest
unspoilt wilderness, Iceland.
Náttúra (the Icelandic word
for Nature), the largest live
music event ever held in
Iceland, took place in front
of 30,000 people in central
Reykjavik.
During the encore, referring to
the aluminium smelting plants,
she repeatedly chanted:
“náttúra, náttúra, náttúra,
náttúra,” ending with “náttúra don’t sell it” to huge cheers
from a crowd that ranged from
young children to grandparents.
Attracting 10% of the country’s
total population the event,
featuring Björk and Sigur Rós,
was broadcast live globally via
National Geographic’s World
Music website.
During her headline
performance, performed under
blazing sunshine in Laugardalur
park, Björk protested against the
hugely destructive industrial
developments (mainly
aluminium smelting plants and
their associated infrastructure,
which have caused the total
annihilation of many unique and
ecologically important areas such
as Kárahnjúkar) that have been
already built, with many more
After the event, she said: “The
world is standing at a cross
roads with the future of energy
right now. This concert was held
to make sure we go in the right
direction.”
Sigur Rós, who recently released
their new album performed
several songs from the record
including the single
‘Gobbledigook’, which received
an especially warm reception as
Björk and Ólöf Arnalds joined
them on stage for a unique
collaboration. The concert
also saw Ólöf Arnalds and
Ghostigital performing.
Organiser Einar Örn
Benediktsson, Björk's Sugarcubes
bandmate, who joined her on
stage for one song, simply said
after the event: “This was a
truly momentous evening.”
It is hoped that the Náttúra
concert will inspire and inform a
different way of approaching
the issue as many believe that
Iceland, ranked #1 in the world
in a recent UN quality of life
survey, can maintain a strong
and progressive economy
without the intrusion of
polluting industrial processes and
the sale of ecologically rich land
(at reduced prices) to
multinational companies.
Following on from this vital
event, a deal was recently
agreed to destroy part of
another huge river in Iceland
to make way for industrial
development.
www.nattura.info
“The world is standing
at a cross roads with
the future of energy
right now”.
fuse wire
Electro-punks mind expanders
Black Bikini Alpha have a
handful of Summer dates lined
up ahead of the release of
their break-out single
“London Town Is Falling
Down’ on July 28.
This band mean business, and
with an album planned before
the end of the year there may
not be many chances after this
to catch them at small venues.
11th July –
The Sound Bar, Birmingham
12th July –
The Witchwood, Manchester
25th July – The Flag, Watford
31st July – Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
Gothenburg Sweden based
melodic death metal sextet
MARIONETTE will join forces
with German metallers DIE
APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER on
the REITERFESTSPIELE Tour.
The tour will cover Germany,
Austria, Czech Republic, and
Switzerland. Also on the tour
are MUSTASCHE and
HONIGDIEB.
MARIONETTE bassist Mikael
Mendin had the following to say
regarding the tour. “After an
awesome weekend at
MetalTown in Gothenburg we
are psyched to announce our
participation on the
REITERFESTSPIELE Tour. It is
going to be our first tour on the
European continent in support
of Spite and we cannot think of
anyone better to hit up
Germany, Austria, Czech
Republic and Switzerland with
than the mighty DIE
APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER! It
will be an awesome tour and we
look forward to meeting all of
our fans at our merch booth!
We also look forward to making
tons of new fans! Be ready to
rock and see you in the
moshpit!”
MARIONETTE's debut album,
‘Spite’, was released in April.
October 2008
22 Prague - Rock Cafe
23 Schweinfurt - Stadtbahnhof
24 Erfurt - Centrum
25 Glauchau - Alte Spinnerei
26 Berlin - Kesselhaus
28 Hamburg - Grünspan
29 Hannover - Musikzentrum
30 Köln - Live Music Hall
31 D-Dresden - Schlachthof
November 2008
1 Magdeburg - Factory
2 Essen - Zeche Carl
4 Frankfurt - Batschkapp
5 Nürnberg - Hirsch
6 München - Backstage
7 Henndorf bei Salzburg Wallerseehalle
8 Wien - Gasometer
9 Innsbruck - Hafen
11 Stuttgart - LKA
12 Freiburg - Jazzhaus
13 Karlsruhe - Substage
14 Kaiserslautern - Kammgarn
spiritualized
From the legendary Spacemen 3 to
the orchestral Spiritualized, Jason
Pierce (aka Jason Spaceman) has
risen above genre, style and the
fickle fashions of underground
music. From blissed out, drug
fuelled musical experiments in
psychedelia and drone with
Spacemen 3 through half a dozen
Spiritualized albums of everything
from trance rock to jazz, gospel
and ragged blues and in many
songs the whole shebang at the
same time.
His recently released Spiritualized
return, ‘Songs in A&E’ offers
reflective twists on the spaced-out
blues theme with dark themes. Jason
was in fact near-death himself during
it’s recording. “The idea was to
record and put the record out quick,
but then I became ill. I had double
pneumonia, legionnaires’ disease or
something, so ... I was quite ill, it
took it out of me.”
At his worst, Jason spent a couple of
weeks in intensive care. “I lost
weight,” he says. “I was in a bad
way for a few months. It was a big
gap in the making of this record, it
was a big thing to get through, and
to get over.”
ike it now,
l
t
o
n
d
n
a
f
f
u
to st
You can listen
umstances change,
but in 20 years, when your circ
you may come to love it.
Initially, however, the album had
seemed almost blessed by a bizarre
external twist of fate, part of rock
mythology.
“We found a guitar in a shop in
Cincinnati,” Jason recalls, “a 1929
Gibson, absolutely immaculate. It
was in a store full of the things, and
it just sounded unlike anything else
in there. I had no money but I kind
of knew that I had to have the
guitar, we found the man and took
the guitar away, and it almost
seemed like it came with the songs
attached.”
Jason pauses, and laughs. “The
songs came really quick after that,
within about two weeks or so. This
record is the first one where I just sat
down and wrote songs on a guitar,
usually I just get ideas in my head
and put them onto tape. So doing it
this way, writing on an acoustic
guitar, seemed like something I
hadn’t really done.”
Somewhere between penning the
tunes and words, and the point where
any of them had been fully prepared
for release, Jason’s illness kicked in. He
wouldn’t return to his work-inprogress for the best part of two
years. When he finally did, it was
difficult to regain the creative impetus.
“It was very hard to reattach myself to
the record.” he says, “It took a long
time, to try and rediscover what my
original thought processes were. But it
would’ve been equally hard to just let
the songs go, because they’re invested
with a huge amount of emotion.”
His way back into the record was an
offer to provide the soundtrack to
Mr Lonely, a new movie by indiedirector Harmony Korine, (Gummo,
Julian Donkey Boy, Kids), a film
about a Michael Jackson
impersonator looking for an outsider
utopia in Paris.
“While I was doing stuff for
Harmony’s film, I also worked on the
‘Harmony’ pieces for ‘Songs In A&E’.
They’re called that as a reference to
him, and also because they’re kind
of harmonic pieces. They suggested
a way of putting the original tracks
together.”
this record. For anyone who works in art,
the work is more important than what you
are producing. There aren’t many painters
who will go look at their stuff in a gallery or
authors who will read their own books. And
I had a break, which made it hard for me to
understand it once I came back to it. ‘Songs
in A&E’ is already three years old. It’s weird
to see that – how the last three years could
still exist ahead of time.”
His career with Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized
has wilfully transcended time, fashion and
influenced at least two generations of
musicians and bands.
Jason’s confidence was given a further boost,
when invites started flooding in to perform
his so-called ‘Acoustic Mainlines’ gigs,
everywhere from All Tomorrow’s Parties in
Minehead, to the Harlem Apollo in New
York. The band – 3 gospel singers, a 7-piece
string section, Spiritualized member Tony
Foster on Fender Rhodes piano, and, Jason
on acoustic guitar and vocals – pretty much
brought the house down wherever it went.
“It sounds dumb, but we were on stage at
some of those shows with tears rolling out
of eyes and across our faces. There was just
this amazing reaction to what we were
doing. It was like doing a show without
production – not about lights and bombast,
just about the delivery of these songs – and
I think people were genuinely moved by it.
It felt like a good place to be.”
Suitably vibed up by each live excursion,
Jason got stuck back into the 1929 Gibson
songs, reworking them often with the same
choir/strings/acoustic format, and often
road-testing them out onstage. The likes of
‘Soul On Fire’, ‘Sitting On Fire’ and
‘Goodnight, Goodnight’ will be familiar to
anyone who witnessed momentous ‘Acoustic
Mainlines’ shows through 2007.
The album that slowly took shape has all the
flow of previous Spiritualized classics, only
here there is no hiding behind studio effects,
or screaming tornados of guitar feedback.
“There’s is no need to over-complicate
things, to be wilfully strange in music. These
songs are simple in their construction, but
they’re honest.”
“I’ve already done those albums before, so
there’s little point in producing the same
thing again. Music used to be all about
performance rather than technique or
production. Today, if you don’t have a song
and you have nothing to say, you can still
dress it up with production. I’ve lately
gotten into removing that. My new album
has no reverb, and very little in the way of
additional sounds. It’s another process,
something I haven’t covered. I like finding
new areas to work in.”
“Years ago, I could go through every
program in the studio, from harmonizers to
the banks of effects, because I don’t mind
exploring the dead ends of music. And I
used all the studio could offer, anything that
I could use, wah pedals and different
guitars. Which is why it was hard to finish
“I guess it works like that, on 20-year cycles
or something. People get our stuff, and by
extension the stuff we listened to when we
made it. Sooner or later, someone picks up
on all of it. But everyone wants their music
to be immediate. ‘Are you hip to this music?’
means this is a music we are selling, in
whatever regard. And it all comes around.
I think I now disagree with Duke Ellington,
who said there are two types of music: good
and bad. I say now that there is stuff you
like and you don’t like, and that it will
change. Because you can listen to stuff and
not like it now, but in 20 years, when your
circumstances change, you may come to
love it.”
His concerns, however, very nearly resulted
in the first single from the album ‘Soul On
Fire’, almost missing the final cut after he
considered the track to to be too ‘pop’.
“I had a problem with something like ‘Soul
On Fire’ – I had a thing that it’s a pop song.
I feel that sometimes I shouldn’t be writing
songs like that, that I should be pushing the
boundaries into this improvised world.”
“So for a long time I resisted and to be
honest I couldn’t find a single person that
would back me when I said I wanted to take
it off the album but it became what it is and
it now makes sense within ‘Songs In A&E’.”
The resulting album is a record true to
Jason’s original tenet of simplicity, but
completely unlike any of his others, thanks to
its naked, unelaborate sound. Songs like
‘Baby I’m Just A Fool’ and ‘Goodnight
Goodnight’ and ‘Death Take Your Fiddle’ find
Pierce’s voice, ever a fragile but engaging
instrument, taking stage centre in its fatigued
vulnerability, in each case supported by
exquisite angel’s breath from the choir, and
the subtlest of instrumental backing.
However, ‘Songs In A & E’ is hardly an
‘unplugged’ record: check ‘You Lie, You
Cheat’, and the Can-ish LSD howl of
‘I Gotta Fire’.
So, after an album genesis even more
harrowing than he might have anticipated,
Jason now prepares to do what for him is
the more care-free part of his trade – live
performance. He has returned with a full
Spiritualized line up in the UK, including a
spot at Glastonbury with dates around the
world to follow.
With thanks to Andrew Perry
Additional quotes courtesy of Wired and XfM
Slashed Seat Affair are currently putting
the finishing touches to their debut
album to be released in 2008. Featuring
powerful vocals, showers of almighty
drumming and riff driven melodies, their
sharp, polished sound is based around the
potent songwriting partnership of lead
vocalist Ellie Mules and bass player/
guitarist Darren Michael. Drummer Rob
Meehan and Guitarist Noel Martin add an
aggressive backbone to the band’s sound.
Honest, heart wrenching,
uplifting, inspiring,
fun, pop with an edge.
slashed
seat affair
The band are signed to indie label Fill The
Void Records and have an already impressive
CV which includes national radio play in the
UK and live supports to major acts such as
The Guillemots, Nate James and Chris
Shiflett of the Foo Fighters other band
‘Jackson United’, and they topped the
Kerrang stage at The Clothes Show Live
2007. They were the first UK band to get
airplay on American Podcast Radio
‘Insomnia’ and have had their debut video
played in all Top Shops and Toni & Guy
Salons in the UK. They’ve had MTV
unsigned video play in Japan, Canada, US
and Europe, with extensive airplay on local,
national, international and internet radio.
Add to that being voted winners of
Sofagig.com, winning the Talk Sport Radio
competition listeners vote, being nominated
as artist of the week on popworld Promotes
and have been rated the ‘Hype’ on
Vaionation sony website for four weeks
running. UK-based independent media
production company, B7 Productions, used
the Slashed Seat Affair song ‘He’s The One’
for their anthem for the audio return of the
cult television classic BLAKES 7.
More recently Slashed Seat Affair have
received further exposure through Upop and
Worldspace live sessions at Abbey Road
Studios amongst artists such as Electric Six,
Hugh Cornwell, Teenage Fanclub The Wrens
and Pistol Valve. Slashed Seat Affair were
described as one of this year’s most hotly
tipped global recording artists. With more
festivals, and gigs coming up including a
performance at this year’s In the City event,
it looks like a bright future for London’s
Slashed Seat Affair.
As any Brit music aficionado will tell you the
band name comes from The Jam classic
‘That's Entertainment’, Darren describes the
decision more fully. “Great song, great lyrics
… and now a great band, fancy that! It’s a
very passionate statement and we thought it
suited us.”
The aforementioned impressive CV means
2008 will be hectic for the band. “We’ve lots
and lots of dates lined up, mainly to promote
our debut album – ‘Noises’ – which will be
out later in the year. We also have a single
coming out in the autumn. So we’ll be coming
to a town near you soon.” laughs Darren.
Irrepressible vocalist Ellie joined in by
describing the bands previous live highpoint!
”My favourite gig would have to be ...
Cobham Christmas Extravaganza 2007 – the
turning on of the Cobham Christmas lights in
the centre of town with the Fonz from
Happy Days. Although he blew us out. Poor
show Winkler.”
“I like playing the kind of venues where the
crowd are right in-yer-face”, continues
Darren. London has a few of them. One of
my fave venues is The Motherbar in
Shoreditch. The audience are as close and
can be. Some of the bigger venues are fun
but there’s a certain lack of connection.
Having said that, summer outdoor gigs are
fun. Did I manage to cover all bases there?”
The Slashed Seat Affair emphasis is on the
sheer enjoyment music can bring and how it
can define and suggest moods.
“Honest, heart wrenching, uplifting,
inspiring, fun, pop with an edge” offers Ellie.
“We don't think a lot about what we’re
going to write usually, it mostly just happens
– for better or worse. The lyrics are quite
personal, but you’ll have to listen to find out
what the hell I’m on about!”
“Loud, fun, raucous pop. It’s all a bit of fun
really, adds Darren. “We write what we feel
we want to write about on any given day. If
it’s been a sh*t day, then you can pretty
much guarantee something melancholy and
in a minor key. If things are going well then
you’ll have something more upbeat ... and
still in a minor key!!
“We’re believable – we have feelings you
know!” laughs Ellie. “That’s right,” continues
Darren. “We want people to feel that they
enjoyed the experience and the energy and
they went away humming a song or eight,
and that they could see we care about what
we do.”
had a couple of offers, but we are happy as
we are at the moment, we’re a baby
independent, trying to learn how to run a
business as well as be a band! We do care
what people think of us, to a point. Then we
just laugh despite ourselves. Except Noel,
who cries a lot.”
That’s exactly why the world is beginning to
love this band. “We’re writing and
performing great pop rock songs” says Ellie.
“Regardless of the bandwagon, we’re honest
about what we do and we just wanna be
loved by you! Nobody else but you ... Oooh
ooh ooh!”
We’ve generated quite a bit of interest,”
continues Darren. “We have received some
offers in the past but in this digital age we
felt we’d rather have more control over what
we do so we decided to release our music on
our own label.”
Ellie continued the point, “our first single
release will be autumn time, so we’re getting
ready to film the video for that, plus endless
gigs around the country. If you sign up to
our Fans Only area of the official website
you will receive exclusive tracks every month
FREE! Visit www.slashedseataffair.com”
So go on then what are you waiting for...
The music Slashed Seat Affair make is
refreshingly honest and their sheer love of
what they do shines through, this comes
across to an ever growing army of willing
audiences too Ellie thinks. “We’re building a
strong fan base from the gigs we’re doing,
but we’re only just mastering our first album
and about to release our first single in the
autumn, but so far so good. We tend to
write songs we enjoy and we like and hope
they translate.” Darren is equally open,
“People do tend to follow a lot of trends in
the UK but what we do is make music we
like and hope others feel the same,
regardless of the fashion of the week.”
“We are kind of cute, admit it?!” smirks
Darren. “Seriously our plan for this year is
keeping busy, releasing the album and single
under our own label – Fill The Void Records,
which takes a lot of time and work, but it’s
doing something we love, so you can’t
complain really.”
The fear of any fledgling band beginning to
attract interest and get noticed is that they’ll
be swallowed up and spat out by the
corporate music machine. Ellie is adamant
that Slashed Seat Affair will retain control of
it’s ... well... affairs. “We’re keen to take
charge and do things our own way – we’ve
black
bikini
alpha
to
more and more people
are coming to the gigs
about
see what the fuss is all
When trying to break up a fight that had
erupted in a local pub where Eoin used to
promote gigs, he wondered for a moment
whether there was an easier way to make
a living – the response was a resounding
NO. Music was the only living that he
wanted to make. After a few false starts
with a powerpop, thrash punk band he
decided he wanted to deliver something
more than a 2-chord cynical rant on speed.
He met Darren at a local rehearsal studio and
they played in various different bands
together for the next few years with Eoin
playing guitar and just doing backing vocals.
When their old singer left all of a sudden Eoin
decided to try his luck at singing. As other
band members drifted off, they realised that
they functioned better as a two-piece and
decided to call it Black Bikini Alpha.
Black Bikini Alpha are two misfits, brought
together over a love of gritty, hard hitting but
uplifting music. For them, it’s about the songs
and making that important connection with
people – on record and live. The songs are
inspired by growing up, living and working in
London. The themes are wide ranging from,
describing post-7/7 tension in the soon to be
released debut single ‘London Town is Falling
Down’ through to the importance of hope in
times of adversity on ‘Reason To Believe’, and
down to the late night underworld sleaze of
‘Dance Like A…’.
Their song ‘Swag’ was released on a US
compilation last month and is now on rotation
on Californian Radio. Their anthemic song
about sexual experimentation ‘Kicking and
Screaming’ was included in the ‘BEST OF
2007’ selection on the BBC6 Music Tom
Robinson show.
Black Bikini Alpha’s energetic and evocative
live show has earned them main support slots
with Fun Lovin’Criminals, Reef and Feeder.
They also spent a few weeks gigging in New
York which was organised by an obsessed fan
who turned out to be a schizophrenic. All part
and parcel of being in a band! Catch them
now before they explode and say you were
there at the beginning….
Darren – Bass, Vocals and Eoin (pronounced
‘Owen’ or simply ‘O’) – Vocals, Guitar,
Electronica – are men on a mission in a
dangerous world as Eoin explains “The name
comes from the system used by the British
armed forces around the world to indicate the
level of terrorist threat; they are known as
‘Bikini’ states of alert. Black is a low state of
alert and Amber is a high state of alert (red
being the highest). We used to be called
Small World and when we went to play some
gigs in New York a few years ago, our tour
manager at the time explained the Bikini
states of alert to us. We agreed that it was
time for a name change so decided that when
our plane landed back in London our name
would be changed to Black Bikini Alpha.”
“You’re probably wondering where Alpha
comes into it…well, when the tour manager
explained the states of alert to us, he
misquoted Amber as Alpha. However, Black
Bikini Amber doesn’t have the same ring to it
as Black Bikini Alpha so, we stuck with it!”
Dangerous of course means exciting too, and
these boys are revelling in it. “We’re currently
in the middle of a tour in support of our
debut single, ‘London Town Is Falling Down’.
As the tour gathers momentum, more and
more people are coming to the gigs to see
what the fuss is all about and we’re becoming
more confident with the set, so right now, all
the gigs are exciting!”
“We’re still waiting for Muse or U2 to knock
on our door and offer us that all important
support tour though!”
“We once played two gigs in the same night
in New York. We’d double-booked so, instead
of cancelling one of the gigs, we decided to
all night with his feet in the kitchen sink.
Our keyboard player was forgiven as it was
the first night he’d ever gotten stoned and it
sent him off the rails a bit!!”
Black Bikini Alpha capture the current
musical zeitgeist perfectly as Eoin puts it...
“We’re essentially a punk-rock band but
with electronica sounds infiltrating many of
our songs. We’re trying to mess around with
the normal guitar, bass and drums set up.”
“We constantly push ourselves to come up
with something new and not repeat
anything we’ve done before….looking for
different ways of approaching songs; listen
to ‘Swag’ which is a 5/4 song but played
and sung as though it’s straightforward 4/4.
Listen to ‘London Town Is Falling Down’
which is a political punk-rock song but with
electronica sounds all over it.”
“A mix of punky energy, spiky guitars,
upbeat vibe, electronica and vocals that
sound like an angry young Bowie,
underpinned by bass lines that would have
Sid Vicious climbing out of his grave.”
play both. The first one was at The Lion’s
Den (apparently the venue where Bruce
Springsteen played his first New York gig).
As we hit the last chord of the last song, our
manager was outside the venue ordering
taxis to take us to the next gig at CBGB’s.
Loading the gear into the taxis, we clocked
each other and had that twinkle in our eyes
that said ‘this is what it feels like to be
proper rock stars’.
Darren continues the tales of danger and
thrill, “we supported Reef at a bikers’ festival
in Somerset. Reef weren’t hanging around
after the gig so they offered us their dressing
room to sleep in and their rider to eat and
drink. The dressing room was a big mobile
hut definitely large enough for the band and
roadies ie. six smelly blokes. If it wasn’t for
Reef we’d have been sleeping in the van.
However, our keyboard player at the time
decided to trash the dressing room (he let
the fire extinguisher off and poured sugar all
over the room), so we ended up sleeping in
the small kitchen attached to the dressing
room; three of us on the work surfaces and
three of us on the kitchen floor – Eoin slept
Their points of reference ranges from the
exuberant electro-pop of Does It Offend
You, Yeah to the droned out grunge of
Queens Of The Stone Age, but for this band
inspiration is in life itself. “Everything around
us; our environment and our experiences all
make their way into the music.”
“Living and working in London; post 7/7
tension (‘London Town Is Falling Down’), late
night underworld sleaze of Soho (‘Dance
Like A…..’), small time crooks (‘Swag’).
Experiences - ‘Reason To Believe’ is about
the importance of hope in times of adversity.
It was written around the time that one of
our old bands split up.”
“‘Nightmare’ is about Eoin’s macabre
recurring nightmares”, smirks Darren.
“‘Goodbye To All The Cynics’ is about our
struggle to make it in the music
industry…that song in particular is set to
become an anthem for the masses. To hear a
festival crowd sing it back to us will be a
moment to behold.”
With music seemingly becoming ever more
eclectic and drawn from an ever widening
pool of inspiration, Black Bikini Alpha’s faces
fit the times perfectly. “This year has seen Jay
Z headlining Glastonbury and Neil Diamond’s
latest album go straight in at number 1 which
proves that the music-buying/gig-going
public aren’t committing themselves to one
specific genre anymore. Everybody is enjoying
music for exactly what it is and what it does
to the listener by way of unlocking memories
or emotions. That’s what Black Bikini Alpha
are all about- we’re pulling influences from
different genres and putting them into one
bundle and bashing it out. We’re not worried
about fitting into one particular genre- it’s all
about making music that we enjoy and that
other people will too. It feels that all the
different guises our band has been over the
past few years have all been in preparation
for what we’re about now. 2008/9 is totally
ready for Black Bikini Alpha and we’re going
to fit in just fine!!!”
“It’s never been a more perfect time; the
world wants and needs a band like Black
Bikini Alpha right now. Lyrically provocative,
musically dexterous and all wrapped up in an
explosive live show. We’ve been called the
modern day Clash and that’s what the world
is ready for right now.”
“We want people to believe that they’re
witnessing the beginning of something…like
the lucky few who were at early Pistols or
Clash shows, they knew what they were
seeing was gonna kick off big time. We want
to blow people away and to entertain, excite
and enliven them.”
“People should love us because we’re just like
you. Everyone is getting pissed off with
celebrity culture. Completely useless dicks that
can get a record deal because they’ve sat in a
glass house for twelve weeks letting people
watch them pick their noses on Channel 4.
And, talentless, superficial rich kids who think
they can become pop stars because they are
heirs to their parents’ empires.”
“We’re two ordinary blokes that have worked
our balls off for something we’ve always
believed in. We’ve had our knocks and have
always picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves
off, stuck two fingers up and carried on.
That’s the exact reason why Bruce
Springsteen is so popular – he’s an ordinary
bloke that just so happens to have the ability
to write great songs and perform them in
front of a crowd of people – he’s a natural.”
“We’ve got a long way to go before we
can claim to be the next Springsteen and
The E Street Band but we’ve got integrity,
belief and sincerity, and can also write some
great songs.”
“We’re starting to ruffle a few feathers in
the industry. People know our name. Don’t
get us wrong, we’re not fighting record
companies off in their hundreds. Our main
concern is not to please an A&R man who
may be watching and making a two second
judgment of us on Myspace but to please
the people in the audience watching us in
the flesh and those buying the CDs and
downloading the songs.”
“A good record deal would be a massive
help though as it would mean we had the
backing to take this band to the next level
which is what we deserve now. It has to be
the right deal though…we need to be
working with people who completely
believe in the music and are not in it just to
make a quick corporate buck to impress the
shareholders.”
“We want to make a connection with
people the world over through our songs
and our live shows. We have the
songwriting talent and the hard work ethic
required to do that. Our philosophy is that
if we’re not writing, we’re recording, and if
we’re not recording we’re rehearsing, and if
we’re not rehearsing, we’re playing live.
From the Red Rocks amphitheatre in
Denver, USA to the Big Day Out festivals in
Australia, to the glorious Glastonbury;
we’re ready for all of those gigs and more.
Once this band take off, it will take off in a
big way.”
Big words from a big band. Watch the
danger signals hit red very soon.
The single ‘London Town Is Falling Down’ is
digitally released on July 28th and will be
available from itunes and other online
music stores.
monster traffic
design
Those of you who have been FUSE readers
from the start will recall the industry
features we ran on One Music, labels, and
promoters to assist new bands in making
their mark. This month we’ve resurrected
the idea, with the help of Tash Jones, to
bring you some words of wisdom from a
young publicity designer, Jake Yarwood,
and his Monster Traffic Design company.
So, tell everyone about your company –
What you are and what you do?
Well, Monster Traffic Design is a
freelance creative design agency, working
particularly with the music industry.
However, when other work opportunities
arises in any other industry, I am willing
to take them.
Where did the influence for this come
from? What are you gaining from it?
I have mainly been influenced by other
cultures from around the world, having
been to over 25 countries. This has given
me the opportunity too see a lot of
global art as well, from Mexican wall art
to old school graffiti in the Unites States.
These previous opportunities of
experiencing these global arts help me
have more variation in my work.
companies and clothing brands. I aim to
work for various other companies outside
of the fashion and music industry in the
future. The services I have provided for
clients in the past include: innovative PR
design, web work such as Myspace
layouts and web banners.
Who would you like to work with?
At the moment, anyone who provides
me with a brief! Although, in the future
I have ambitions to work with major
companies for example, Live Nation or
Virgin Records.
What is the future for Monster Traffic?
More opportunities to work with some
truly great clients.
Why did you choose to be the big man,
rather than freelance for other companies?
I enjoy the responsibility of taking on
new work, although I am currently in full
time education, which sometimes can
restrict the amount of time I have.
However, I am still prepared to take on
the majority of projects set by clients.
Who have you worked with?
So far, I have worked with many up &
coming bands, band management
www.myspace.com/monstertraffic
the band
of the
eye
Formed in 2007, Bristol-based trio The
Band of the Eye has become a regular in
south-west venues like The Fleece, The
Croft, The Louisiana and Moles Club as
well as playing further afield.
The January/February 2008 issue of
Alternative magazine included The Band of
the Eye’s ‘Beatnik Acoustics’ on the covermount CD. In January and February the band
spent time in London recording new music
with producer Paul Tipler. Three songs were
recorded, ‘Lippy Children’, ‘Dress-Down Day’
and ‘Sad Old World’ and their debut single
was born.
“We agonised over a band name” reminisced
guitarist, vocalist and song-writer in chief
Chris Murray. “We would come up with ten
good ideas and find all were taken. Then I
wanted to call the band Full Intercourse but
nobody would let me!”
“The Band of the Eye proved irresistible –
we’d agreed not to have the definite article in
our name, or the word ‘band’, and it breaks
both of those rules. It sounds like it has some
kind of oracular significance when it has
I wanted to call the band
Full Intercourse
but nobody would let me!
nothing of the sort. I think it prevents taking
yourself that bit too seriously when you have
a name like ‘The Band of the Eye’.”
“Band names are virtually always arbitrary
anyway – pick a noun and pluralise it, or find
a terse verbal-formulation from popular
culture … it’s all meaningless.”
The Band of the Eye also have a slightly
unusual take on the normal rock n roll gig-togrow policy. Chris explained more, “Our
current gigging policy is not to gig as much as
possible, instead to do a couple of shows a
month, but for them to be decent ones, in
good venues, to good crowds. So we tend to
be excited about every show. The Hope &
Anchor show in London on 30 August will be
a great one, people have even said they’ll
come over from Ireland for that.”
“And we’re supporting the Divine Secret on
their September tour in Cardiff.” Added
Gloucester-born bass man Kev Ross.
“Lots of our gigs have been great for different
reasons though, continued Chris. “Buffalo Bar
in Cardiff was special because, as show time
approached, we thought there’d be no-one
there, but we ended up playing to a cool
audience and having a good night. In June we
played a show at The Croft in Bristol that
I organised – I picked the bands and we had
video games on in the bar. There was a
wonderful atmosphere and a sense of
occasion that you wouldn’t get if some
promoter had rounded up a bunch of
dissonant bands, which is what happens
frequently. Local press listed it as a
recommended gig at the expense of Feeder,
which made me laugh!”
Many underground music MySpace crawlers
out there might already have heard the
band’s single. “Shifty Disco released our first
single, ‘Dress-Down Day’, as a download. It’s
a satisfying rock barrage of a song. We play
it live as our finale, and shouting the chorus
prefer self-interested songwriters who chime
with your own narcissism, listen to
somebody else.”
“I take my bass playing style from Nicky
Wire (Manic Street Preachers) and Peter
Hook (New Order)” adds Kev.
Chris took up the mantle again to talk about
his current inspirations and diversions.
“In terms of what I’m listening to right now,
Serj Tankian’s solo album, ‘Elect the Dead’.
I think he’s a gifted songwriter and, in that
way I think is essential, he marries pop
sensibilities to hard-rock delivery. He’s used
his experience to make a richly-produced
record, although I don’t think the production
is excessive. Sometime Serj’s lyrics seem too
blunt for me – the references to US foreign
policy are a bit artless – but he’s due credit
for having a political conscience.”
Kev was a little less obscure in his tastes
citing Manic Street Preachers, Foo Fighters,
Suede, Blur, Coldplay, Radiohead, with
drummer Wil being especially excited by
Pendulum and Breeders.
has made my throat bleed. It’s a good choice
to represent us, and Shifty Disco is a
reputable name to be associated with. It’s a
one-off single deal, which is indicative of
where the industry is at currently. But I’ve
heard it said that having a single out is seen
almost as a prerequisite to consideration for
an album release, so it’s a good CV builder.”
It’s all too easy for band’s to describe
themselves as beyond genre, or moving in
different circles to other bands. In The Band
of the Eye’s case its truer than most. Chris
was typically cryptic about their definition of
themselves. “‘Neo-Grunge’ [my coinage] is a
tag I’ve taken to using. We don’t have long
hair, or wear flannel shirts, and we’re not
from the American north-west, but it captures
the spirit of literate angst that inspires us most
musically. For me, the strengths of Grunge
were the poppy melodies, bluesy vocals and
crunchy guitars of bands like Nirvana,
Mudhoney and Screaming Trees, and the
lyrics of those acts were a cut above the drivel
most other guitar bands were writing at that
time. I think we advance that tradition
musically, with drum machines and slide
guitars in the mix, and lyrically, asking new
questions of a different age.”
“Lyrically, my influences are diverse as I’m
interested in poetry and philosophy and
literature of different kinds. I tend not to write
about personal experiences, but to address
different aspects of how we live our lives in
western society. The strategy is to be
suggestive and critical without being preachy.
If the rhetorical method is subtle, I don’t think
it makes us any less of a political band than
the Manics or System of a Down. But if you
“Since we formed in 2007 we’ve certainly
had a harder edge than most alternative
music in the UK without quite being a metal
band.” offers Chris. However, a contact told
me that slightly heavier music is coming back
into fashion – ‘Guitar Hero’ was one reason
people are getting a taste for harder music,
he mentioned – so hopefully we’ll be
identified more widely as a good prospect.”
“We fit in a bit more obviously in the US,
where heavier music is very mainstream and
we get a good amount of radio play.”
“The first US airplay we got was in Chicago.
The DJ sent me a CD of the show. She
introduced us after playing us, but what was
magical was the moment when the show
went wordlessly from a Nirvana song into
one of ours. Things like that keep me going.”
“I think rock music is ready for a different
sound – limp indie-pop has been milked for
all it’s worth and emo has had its day. While
we’re not reinventing the guitar, we are
offering something a bit different.”
“Our future plan is always to do things on a
slightly larger scale than before – a bigger
venue, on a more sociable night, with better
acts. That’s how we’ve progressed, gradually
– ‘baby steps’, like Bill Murray’s mantra in
‘What About Bob?’”
“There are whisperings about a decent
support tour but we don’t want to share any
details in case we jinx it.”
“Ultimately our goal is to release an album
and to tour it – everything we do can be seen
as working towards that ambition.”
“We’d like people to believe that we have
good songs, played well. I think that’s the
essence of a decent band: good songs, played
well. Lacking those two qualities a band will
fail no matter who is hyping them, although
it’s easy to get waylaid fussing over your
image or what scene you belong to. I’m
telling you, the number of bands I’ve met
who wear little costumes… “
“We have a lot to offer. At the heart of our
songs are strong, catchy melodies, the songs
are varied and are not like any other single
band, we’re good musicians, we have wit and
personality and the lyrics actually mean
something. I think this makes for an attractive
package, a band with style and substance.”
“We’ve attracted a reasonable amount of
industry attention given our lack of a PR
budget, and yet we’ve never fallen on our
feet in terms of having useful contacts.
We’ve worked hard to get shows, radio play
and press exposure and some people in the
industry have paid attention. The recordings
we made this year with Paul Tipler have been
noticed as they sound great and Tipler is well-
known. A couple of big acts in rock have
heard us and liked us. We have a music
lawyer in the US who has taken our music to
some of the big record labels, and a chap in
London is about to do the same here. That
said, we consulted a very experienced
industry insider recently, and when we asked
him what the best labels for our music were,
he named two indie labels that we’ve already
had some dealings with. We’re reaching the
right people. We’ve enough songs to make a
great album now and our aim is to find the
right company to do this with.”
originality. So building on this attention to
make meaningful progress can be a drawnout process.”
“However, the industry does have less money
these days and I think this is reflected in
conservative signing policies – if you’re not
part of the sound that’s in, it can be hard to
get your record put out – the disadvantage of
Find out more about The Band of the Eye,
intelligent, substantial rock and strikingly
handsome too!
“I do care about industry attention, although
I realise it’s unfashionable to say so. Despite
the changes in how music is produced and
made available, I still think the record
companies have the know-how to launch a
band effectively.”
“But we’re having fun too and that’s
important. I feel like, for the first time, I’m in
the band I’ve always wanted to be in.”
www.myspace.com/thebandoftheeye
blood of
ash
We will invite anyone to come
and enjoy the energetic shows we put on
e
and share the fun we hav
Taking inspiration from great noise
contemporaries such as Chimaira and Lamb
of God, as well as exploring the classic
metal heritage of Metallica and Pantera,
Blood of Ash derive their name from the
80’s horror flick ‘The Evil Dead’. In keeping
with the mood of the film, they make no
holds barred, thoroughly evil hardcore
metal to kill zombies and grind bones.
To date, Blood of Ash have burned across the
UK, relentlessly gigging on the back of some
self-financed demos. But a recent record deal
with Four Aces, (the label that brought to
your ears Abel is Dying, Born to Break Even
and the ever growing The Maple Room)
Blood of Ash will hit the studio soon and
begin creating a record so brutal it’ll be like a
shotgun blast to the face!
After several line-up changes the band are
now settled as Pic (Vocals), Marcus (Guitar),
Mattie V (Guitar), Shitfer (Bass) and Turvey
(Drums). Marcus recalls the formative days of
Blood of Ash. “Me and original drummer Joe
Trott met while working in a call centre, as
well as our love for metal, we would get
through the long boring days by talking about
our other passion, horror films! ‘Evil Dead’
was one of those films. When we formed the
band, it was a chapter from that film that
gave us the inspiration for our name! Check
out the back of the DVD cover, and answers
to which chapter it was to our MySpace!”
But with a new deal and a fully committed
personnel, these are exciting times for Blood
of Ash. “Our first proper tour is soon and
we’re well excited about it! We’re sharing the
tour with our friends Sharp End First, playing
nine gigs in eleven days” says Marcus.
“We are taking in venues from Barnstaple to
Kingston, and Norwich. All the dates are
booked by ourselves, so we’ll have a real
sense of achievement if the shows go well.”
The band’s experience on the stage is
extensive enough for them to be confident
about a nationwide tour though. “The gigs
we did with the bands from the US were
cool, we played with Sworn Enemy and held
our own, and also with 25 ta Life. But to be
honest our best show to date was in April this
year when we headlined at the Porter Butt in
Bath. We really performed well and the crowd
that night was awesome. I think that was the
first time that we had the crowd joining in on
the choruses to all our songs, we even pulled
off a wall of death at the end!”
If a national tour wasn’t enough, Marcus is
also extremely pleased with their recent foray
into studio-land. “Our first EP ‘Taste The
Blood’ is finally available’ It been a long time
coming, what with the line up changes etc,
but we’re proud to say that it’s now up on
the MySpace to buy! Also it’s hitting the
shops at the end of August. Once the tour is
over, it will be time to start recording our
second EP. Also, we will be relentlessly gigging
up and down the country playing in any
venues that will have us! We’re hoping to get
shows in Europe soon too, I’ve spent a short
time in Germany, Amsterdam, and Belgium
driving for Seerkind, and have seen first hand
how passionate the Europeans are for live
music of any genre.”
Full-blooded metal of the brain melting kind is
as healthy as it’s ever been in the UK and
Marcus is keen to pay homage to his heroes.
“We are defiantly into Chimaira, Lamb of God
and As I lay Dying, so I think you tend to try
and emulate your idols, whilst trying to put
your own spin on things. I’m really into
As Blood Runs Black at the moment, also
“It’s weird, because we haven’t had any press
yet (until now!), so I don’t think anyone
outside the Bristol/Bath area really knows
about us!
But every time we play, we honestly feel that
we impress a lot of people including fellow
bands who would not have necessarily
bothered to give us a chance! And as for
caring about the industry? Well yeah, of
course we do! We need to be noticed by a
record label for the simple reason that with
the backing of the right label, we will be able
to continue doing the one thing that we love
doing, and that’s playing our music to people
but on a wider scale.”
“We are a hard working band and are
passionate about our music. We will invite
anyone along to come and enjoy the
energetic shows we put on, and share the
fun we have.”
Darkest Hour! And we’re totally gutted to
hear that Himsa have called it a day.
Metalcore is meant to be dead so maybe we
should change our sound!”
“If that is the case then fine, but we’re not
going to start listening to, or trying to sound
like bands that are the ‘scene’ right now!
This may or may not be our downfall, but
we really don’t care! The music we write and
play comes from that deep dark place from
within. I guess we’ll just keep on playing
extremely energetic live shows and writing
songs that we would want to listen to, and
play live.”
Blood of Ash have a forthright approach to
their music that may seem devil-may-care,
but audiences will always respond to energy,
passion and excitement. Marcus feels the
band are now ready to rise to the challenge
of finding a wider fan-base. “We have finally
found an awesome balance within the band
and everyone has now settled in and we are
ready to put it to the world. We are a very
hardworking and close band, and we just
want to play to as many people as possible.
In any venue possible.”
“I want people to believe that I’m not just
talking sh*t, and that we really do put on one
hell of a show (every night!).”
It’s a sad fact that in the dumbed-down
media fed world of pseudo-celebrity and
plastic packaged bands that often the honest,
committed and in many cases most exciting
new bands slip by unnoticed. Something that
hasn’t escaped Marcus’ attention either.
That can be done soon, at a town near you
with the mighty Sharp End First. While your
there, shell out for the monster-sized ‘Taste
The Blood’ EP as well. You won’t be
disappointed.
www.myspace.com/bloodofashuk
fuse disks and downloads
www.myspace.com/fuseweb • [email protected]
SPIRITUALIZED – SONGS IN A&E
www.spiritualized.com
RECORD
of the
MONTH
Jason Pierce is a legend. A true distorted, resolute genius. From the heady
days of Spacemen 3, whose quartet of hallucinogenic, pharmaceutical
forays into musical hedonism defined pre-Madchester UK music, to half a
dozen voyages of discovery under the Spiritualized name, Jason is
possibly the UKs most inventive musician.
Jason and Spiritualized have remained firmly entrenched underneath the
mainstream music radar. The darling of the disaffected underground, Jason has
never seen any reason to make music for the airwaves. He can lay claim to
soundtracking the music of generations, but these are generations whose
appreciation is for invention not slave-like fashion following. That being said,
Spiritualized is perhaps more about re-invention, each of their albums is a very
different entity revolving around Jason’s explorations of raw emotion,
technology and sound. The drug-drone of Spacemen 3 is occasionally revisited
as are experiments with psychedelia, jazz and blues.
‘Songs in A&E’ balances melancholic introspection with life-affirming
celebration in equal measure. No surprise when you consider the
circumstances surrounding the record. Its nearly three years since Jason began
writing and demoing the core tracks on the album, but these are years bisected by a life threatening illness which took Jason through weeks of
intensive care and months of rehabilitation. As anyone would expect, once
recovered and ready to revisit his songs, his perspective had altered radically. It
took the creation of an entirely separate film-score to bring Jason back to a
frame of mind ready to once again explore the creative possibilities of
Spiritualized and ‘Song in A&E’.
The album is unquestionably stunning. It veers alarmingly from lush, layered
melancholia evidenced by the sextet of ‘Harmony’ interpretations to the
inventive pop of the single ‘Soul On Fire. The recurring theme is a kind of
stripped down, hallucinogenic raw blues touched in history by the Stones’
‘Beggars Banquet’ or Dylan’s ‘Blonde On Blonde’. The squalid street-rock of
‘Yeah Yeah’ is dissipated by the fuzzy squall of ‘You Lie You Cheat’ before
returning to the languid bare bones of ‘Harmony 3 (voice)’.
‘Songs in A&E’ is the equivalent of drifting in the burning sun on a one-man
boat with no oars. In calm waters it’s safe to lie back and enjoy floating, in
choppier waters there’s danger. Clipping submerged rocks, fighting for control
in mounting waves and in mortal danger as the skies darken.
The threat to Jason Pierce’s own life has clearly steeled his resolve and opened
new pathways of creativity. Pure genius, pure soul, pure brilliance.
fuse disks and downloads
www.myspace.com/fuseweb • [email protected]
SPARKADIA –
POSTCARDS
their understanding audiences
and scaring the unenlightened.
Yeti music is accessible but way
beyond the wit of the watereddown-indie fuelled mainstream.
myspace.com/sparkadia
The shimmering, melodic
grown-up pop of Sydney
quartet are currently in the UK
cramming in as many Summer
festivals as will have them.
ROSE HILL DRIVE –
MOON IS THE NEW EARTH
www.rosehilldrive.com
Rose Hill Drive formed in an
ordinary USA high school with
a reverence for guitar
shredders like The Who and
Van Halen. The trio never once
imagining they would one
day open shows for their
heroes before ever releasing
and album.
Despite protestations from the
whole neighbourhood, the band
built their songs in a basement
in Rose Hill Drive, Boulder, CO
and they built them very loud!
Following the release of their
eponymous debut in 2006, the
band built a fearsome live
reputation and a world-wide
fanbase and were honoured by
their hero Pete Townsend when
he joined them on the stage
midway through their support
tour with The Who to knock
lumps of ‘Young Man Blues’ and
their own song, ‘Raise Your
Hands. Then, Rolling Stone
magazine announced them as
the band to watch in 2007.
Rose Hill Drive returned to
Boulder, CO to record the album
they’d dreamed of, in their
hometown with their favourite
people around them.
The result is ‘Moon Is The New
Earth’ a resounding slab of raw,
emotive heavy-duty rock n roll.
The album burns with smoking
hot rock tunes, traditional in
structure with loud, muscular
guitars, inviting harmonies and
all the garage-band excitement
of Nirvana with the intelligent
refinement of early Van Halen.
The album roars into life with
the swirling, potent riffs of
‘Sneak Out’ and the rock-hard
road-ode ‘Trans-Am’. There’s
depth and subtlety in spades,
the lyrical messaging and twisted
riff of ‘A Better Way’ slips easily
into the sleazier bar-room
boogie of ‘My Light’.
The warped, ethereal intro of
‘The 8th Wonder’ crunches into
super-powered hard rock and
closing track ‘Always Waiting’
reinforces the American rock
dream. Long hair and cuban
heels are back with a vengeance.
Appropriate really, as ‘Postcards’
is almost the perfect lazy, easy,
Summer days album. It floats
easily in the sunshine from the
outset. Single release ‘Too Much
To Do’ has shape-shifted from
national radio for months now
with Zane Lowe and Colin
Murray among other declaring
allegiance to the blissed out
anthem.
The album zings with a
craftsmanlike polished sheen,
slightly retro, very upbeat and in
many ways typically Australian.
‘Morning Light’ echoes a more
chilled out ‘Last Broadcast’ era
Doves, but less caustic. The
bittersweet grandeur of
‘Connected’ slips effortlessly into
the songs on the breeze
whispers of ‘Our Own Way.
‘Sleeping Lion’ closes the
collection with jangling
crescendos. Take one I-Pod, one
cold beer, a deckchair and
‘Postcards’ and your holiday will
be complete.
Freshly reinvented as a quartet,
Yeti have recently completed a
sold out 30 date UK tour and
have returned to spin the
shimmering, zesty ‘Legend of
Yeti Gonzales’.
ATOMIC – COMING UP FROM
THE STREETS
myspace.com/atomicboys
YETI – THE LEGEND OF
YETI GONZALES
myspace.com/yetiintelligence
The Pink Hedgehog records
ear for perfectly built,
euphoric guitar-pop is virtually
infallible, born out by quality
release after quality release.
Yeti are the archetypal English
eccentric band. Endearingly
kooky deliverers of
psychedelic, shimmering offthe-wall pop that British music
has always known and loved.
Atomic are no exception. They
arrive in the UK from Germany
with a huge European
reputation . Their first minialbum ‘The Big Issue’ hit Europe
as far back as 2002 prompting
interest from NME and support
slots with Brit-gods
Babyshambles and Paul Weller.
‘Coming Up From The Streets’ is
Atomic’s second full-length
album, an irrepressible indie-pop
jangle of soaring guitars and
sneering Gallagher-esque vocals.
From the opening power-pop of
‘Soul Sister’ to the fuzzy, scuzz
of ‘Magic Daydream’, Atomic
deliver a fine eclectic blend of
super-cool indie, that recalls the
glorious Brit triumphs of Oasis,
The Coral and Mansun. Any
expectations of typically Teutonic
austerity are blown away by the
sheer excitement of ‘Face In
Heaven’ or “The Good Souls’.
Much of the past year has been
spent playing live while they’ve
tried to legally extract
themselves from a stifling record
deal. But Yeti have escaped and
are once again roaming the
backwoods of the UK thrilling
The bright, easy breeze of
‘Obvious-Lee’ chills seamlessly
into the buzzy, jumpy harmonies
of recently released single ‘Don’t
Go Back To The One You Love’.
Yeti explore the off-kilter, multihued West Coast inspired
English psychedelia once
touched upon by The Coral or
I Am Kloot.
‘The Legend Of Yeti Gonzales’ is
deceptively inviting. It’s guitar
spirals, relaxed strums and
layered harmonies mask a dark
wit and cynicism corkscrewing
through the campfire singalong
of the acerbic ‘Shane
MacGowan’ or the bitter
aftertaste of ‘Jermyn Girls’.
Yeti are intoxicating, inventive
and glorious. Sit back and melt
along at your leisure.
fuse disks and downloads
www.myspace.com/fuseweb • [email protected]
‘Violent Nun’ features the
legendary debut single, fleshed
out with four tracks from the
same session and no less than
15 unreleased tracks from their
1984 demo ‘Fat, Drunk and
Stupid’. In true Stupids fashion,
the songs are short, sharp and
explosive. Of particular interest
to Stupids completists will be
the bonus inclusion of live
stalwart ‘Tommy Cooper’.
THE STUPIDS –
VIOLENT NUN /
PERUVIAN VACATION /
RETARD PICNIC /
COMPLETE BBC PEEL SESSIONS
myspace.com/stupidsuk
Hailing from Ipswich of all
places, The Stupids were the
UK’s very own hardcore
skate punk pioneers who in
three short years from 1984
to 1987 went from four track
demos to the covers of NME
and Sounds and number 1
indie chart albums.
They were the first hardcore
band to record a session for the
even more legendary John Peel.
The Stupids with their
patronage of US hardcore
bands paved the way for British
bands to make their own mark.
The Godfathers of UK Skate
Punk now finally get the
reissues their back catalogue
deserves, and with the full
involvement of the band.
The brainchild of drummer and
vocalist Tommy Stupid took the
fledgling hardcore scene by
storm with their ferociously fast
punk thrash in a time that was
struggling with crusty metal
punk and UK anarchists.
Hugely influenced by US bands
like Gang Green and DRS, The
Stupids where a whirlwind of
fresh air. All the DC/UK bands
would hang out, thrash and
skate for a short while until The
Stupids broke up in 1989, but
only after changing the face of
British hardcore punk forever.
Like so many genuine
innovators in music, The
Stupids never fully got the
credit they deserved, but major
music press front covers in
1987 around the time of the
release of the seminal ‘Jesus
Meets The Stupids’ at last gave
the band some richly deserved
profile at the time.
These four albums represent
the the first four parts of the
collection all stunningly
packaged in limited edition
coloured vinyl gatefold sleeve
or a digipack CD with a
booklet and vinyl effect
coloured CD disk. Each album
also gets full liner notes with
photos and memorabilia from
The Stupids own collections.
‘Peruvian Vacation’ was the
band’s debut full-length release
in all it’s ferocious glory with
the addition of the nine song
‘Mr Adult’ sessions and the
three tracks recorded on side as
The Coolest Retards.
Exhausted yet? Nah! 1986 saw
the breakthrough which flipped
The Stupids into the music
press. ‘Retard Picnic’ defines
UK skate-core, a rip-roaring
thrash through two-minute
mini classics like ‘Frankfurter’,
‘Yah Dude’ and ‘Jesus, What
Do You Have To Do?’ The
album is supplemented by a full
1987 Washington DC live show
and tracks from an unreleased
flexi-disc.
Last and maybe best of all are
the raw, fresh thrill-a-minute
sessions recorded for the BBC
John Peel show and not heard
since they were first broadcast
in 1986/87. The awesome
‘Heard It All Before’ and ‘Dog
Log’ are available on ‘Hardcore
Holocaust’ a PEEL compilation
but until now, the rest have
been consigned to the memory
bank. Also included is the four
track session recorded as
Frankfurter.
Love thrash? Love The Stupids.
JOHNNY TRUANT – NO TEARS
FOR THE CREATURES
myspace.com/johnnytruant
Recently expanded to a
supersized five piece,
Brighton’s Johnny Truant are
an album length exploration
of musical brutality.
the aural
THE WEEK THAT WAS –
THE WEEK THAT WAS
myspace.com/theweekthatwas
Right, let’s get the context
straight first of all. Sunderland
based Field Music have
released two albums to date
to much acclaim. ‘Field Music’
in 2005 and ‘Tones of Town’
in 2007.
In an excess of willful
bravery/madness the band, on
the edge of a breakthrough,
decided to jump off the band
treadmill concerned about their
creative output being constricted
by the traditional band format.
As a result February saw David
Brewis release his much praised
School of Language album ‘Sea
From Shore’, Peter Brewis now
releases ‘The Week That Was’.
In collaboration with his Field
Music cohorts, ‘The Week That
Was’ is a breathtakingly
ingenious musical double-take.
Retro 80s is the current
mainstream indie zeitgeist, whilst
this album may be considered to
start there too, its expansive, big
picture viewpoint gazes across
plains laid bare by Peter Gabriel,
sometimes Kate Bush,
occasionally Japan and even Bill
Nelson’s Red Noise. An
extraordinary cross-section of
dramatic sequences, meandering
stories and psyched-out
production, ‘The Week That
Was’ is optimistic and hopeful
yet black and claustrophobic
best evidenced as the bright
‘The Airport Line’ segues
uneasily into ‘Yesterday’s Paper’.
Awe-inspiring and eclectic, highdrama that turns convention on
it’s head.
When you find out the Wase
MacNeil of Alexisonfire lends
guest vocals to ‘Widower’ you’ll
get the idea. ‘No Tears For The
Creatures’ is a guttural, ear
shredding metal assault nailed
together with some of the
grimiest, bad-assed rock n roll
known to man.
Pure metal made molten by
kerosene soaked guitars, animal
vocals and punctuated by
cannon fire, Johnny Truant are
crushingly relentless.
A disconcerting amalgam of
intelligence and musical muscle,
the powerpack tunes are
delivered venomously but with a
curious restraint.
Anyone who marked down UK
metal as a pale imitation of the
the USA led metal-charge will
think again. Truant are after you.
fuse disks and downloads
BLACK BIKINI ALPHA –
LONDON TOWN IS
FALLING DOWN
myspace.com/blackbikinialpha
The debut single from one of
the ‘most likely’ bands around
at the moment. Out as a
download on 1 September,
‘London Town Is Falling Down’
is the first of three singles
planned ahead of the release of
their debut album ‘Grand
Madness’ later in the year.
THE HINGES –
SURREY ST.
myspace.com/thehngs
A joyous longing for better
times from Sheffield trio The
Hinges. Signed to End Of The
Trail records earlier this year,
‘Surrey St.’ is the debut single
from from three lads whos
mission is to make everyone feel
a whole lot better. Strong, gritty
vocals over a dancing, glittering
slab of indie-pop summertime.
BLACK LABELS –
AVALANCHE OF TEARS
myspace.com/blacklabelsuk
A snappy, edgy cut of garageband indie from Darlington new
boys Black Labels. The single
‘Avalanche of Tears’ is drawn
from a biting repertoire of live
tunes recalling the early and
best days of Strokes or Kings of
Leon, grungy, lo-fi guitars battle
Gavin’s unique, engaging Iggyesque vocals.
www.myspace.com/fuseweb • [email protected]
THE SPLENDOUR – MONEY
myspace.com/thesplendourband
The Splendour play dirty.
Coming on like a sleazy, garage
styled Hard-Fi or Kaisers
‘Money’ is a slippery, jagged
slice of Brit-pop delivered with a
cocky, smirky sneer. Infectious
and engaging, complete with a
trumpet, The Splendour are
Orson had they been from a
small-town English backstreet.
CONVERSE®–
MY DRIVE THRU
To celebrate the centenary of
legendary foot-brand Converse,
they’ve hired Strokes front-man
Julian Casablancas, Santogold
and Pharell Williams to put
together an infectious, lowdown groove rider. Twisting and
turning like a rattlesnake whose
recently swallowed Prince and
Keith Richard, the track is
available free. Google Converse.
The single is probably the most
exciting debut single of the year
so far. The London based electro
indie rockers have unleashed an
absolute gem. A throbbing,
pulsating, adrenaline rush that
raises the social fallout from the
7/7 attacks on the city.
BODYMACHINE! –
WE SAY BODY
YOU SAY MACHINE
myspace.com/bodymachine
Conceived in the eccentricity of
Canterbury, England,
Bodymachine! create energetic,
inspirational pop-art-noise. The
band recently opened BBC Radio
1’s Fringe Festival in Maidstone
and with this years Lounge On
The Farm festival quickly
approaching and rumours of a
BBC Introducing tour it’s all
Bodymachine go!
Prepare to hear resurrected
sounds with a twist as the
stylophone is rinsed out rising to
musical fame once more
alongside driving drum rhythms
and catchy riffs. Sign-wave
vocals on the edge of sanity, like
a melodic laser into your mind,
are mixed into genreless sounds
from eclectic misfits.
‘London Town Is Falling Down’
is a thoroughly exhilarating
three minutes. Baying synths,
growling bass, buzzing guitars
and vocals with attitude add up
to electro-indie that forces the
fledgling genre to grow up and
take a closer look at itself.
JACK SUMMER –
LOVE, LIFE, LOST
myspace.com/jacksummer
THE CARLETONS – BET YOUR
LAST TENNER HE WON’T GET IN
myspace.com/thecarletons
Take the most thrilling moments
from early Boy Kill Boy singles,
add Klaxons adrenaline and the
zeitgeist currently ridden by
Does It Offend You, Yeah? and
others, throw in a big dollop of
London punk delivery and
watch as one of the year’s most
breathless debuts comes to life.
Geordie troubadour Jack, brings
soul and depth to songs that
defy his tender years. A hearfelt,
dramatic brooder taken from his
acclaimed new album ‘The
Major and the Minor’, Jack’s
songs build dramatically
unfolding a rhetorical tale of
love’s misfortunes.
Hailing from Lancashire,
excitable, hi-energy sassy lads
The Carletons release the
gloriously titled ‘Bet Your Last
Tenner He Won’t Get In’ in early
August. A pacy, confident indieromp delivered with stacks of
attitude and a crackling, lively
buzzsaw sound. Ace.
OH LAURA – RELEASE ME
myspace.com/ohlaura
JAPANCAKES – SOON
www.soniccathedral.com
The uber-cool Swedish make
gorgeous, yet jarring,
bittersweet lush-pop absolutely
made for rainy nights in with a
bottle of whisky. Frida’s
fractured, luscious vocals soar
high above perfectly crafted
hear-melting pop, Haunting yet
uncomfortable in a twisted but
shimmering way.
Athens, Georgia based
experimental post-rockers have
raised all sorts of hell with their
song for song cover of My
Bloody Valentine’s 1991 opus.
Famous for a live show which
played a single chord for 45
minutes, Japancakes have turned
‘Soon’ into an insane, glitchy
electronica symphony.
‘We Say Body You Say Machine’
is seven-track foray through the
noir-side of arty electro-indie.
The scuzzy fizz of ‘Lil Things’
snakes with Japan-style
electronics into the electric-cello
falsetto madness of ‘Girls’ with
effortless invention. The ultragrooved up soundscaping of
‘Picture’, the burgeoning jagged
pop of ‘Hive’ and CD closer
‘Midgets’ are delightfully leftfield
manic pop thrills simply dying to
be MySpaced asap.
fuse disks and downloads
SLASHED SEAT AFFAIR –
FORGET YOU
myspace.com/slashedseataffair
‘Forget You’ comes from the Fill
The Void records demo and is
most likely to be the band’s
debut single with work on a
first album ‘Noises’ welladvanced too.
Slashed Seat Affair’s signature
sound is built around Ellie
Mules’ engaging vocal power
and a molten dousing with big
drums and aggressive riffs. For
now, musical access to the band
is confined to a worthy trip to
their MySpace or band site, but
take care to listen out for
‘Forget You’ you will, as they
say’ be humming it soon.
THE WOE BETIDES
– BOREDOM IS THE KILLER
myspace.com/thewoebetides
A new distraction for slashing
punk troubadour Simon
Mastrantone who with equally
leftfield cohort Grundy has
demoed some highly intelligent,
experimental tracks littered with
dark lyrics, aggressive downtuned guitars and a periphery of
strings and electronica. Catch
them at MySpace now.
HOPE & SOCIAL –
DAYLIGHT CAME
myspace.com/hopeandsocial
BLOOD OF ASH –
TASTE THE BLOOD EP
myspace.com/bloodofashuk
METHUSELAH –
TRIBUTE TO FREEDOM
myspace.com/methuselahsnowman
‘Daylight Came’ is the debut
release in the form of a fivetrack EP from Hope & Social,
with an album expected soon.
The lead song is a hopeful plea
for positivity in a cynical world,
‘These Walls’ is a bitter pianoled claustrophobic epic. The
band are diverse, eclectic and
always bold and inventive.
Clutching a newly signed record
deal with Four Aces, Bristol
based Blood of Ash are quite
simply uncompromising. ‘Taste
The Blood’ is a quintet of utterly
brutal metalcore thunderbolts.
Mesmerising guitar thrashes and
strangely melodic á la Lamb Of
God, the drumming is
astonishing, a machine gun
metronome holding together a
bone crunching sound and
some guttural vocals that
recall the early days of Death
Metal, served up on an
unsuspecting big-haired
mainstream metal crowd by
Carcass and Napalm Death.
The work of Swede Tommy
Magnusson, ‘Tribute To
Freedom’ is a sumptuous,
stunningly well played and epic.
An accomplished musician,
Methuselah is a rock man taking
time out to explore his gentler
side and make an album of
breathtaking sparkle. A late
night, soundtrack of calm.
Already they’ve gained airplay
in the US and their video has
enjoyed many plays in all Top
Shops and Toni & Guy salons
across the UK.
Like all Slashed Seat Affair tunes,
‘Forget You’ is a precision
crafted shimmering slice of
buoyant pop-rock with
shameless catchiness built in.
‘Connected’ is mighty meaty
with power set firmly to full.
Don’t miss ‘Immune’ either.
If music for you has to tick all
the sexy, sassy, big songs boxes
then some preliminary online
investigation is essential. How
smug will you be later in 2008?
NEW ADVENTURE –
IN OUR HANDS
myspace.com/newadventures
Surely the break through single
from the euphoric, air-punching
New Adventures. ‘In Our
Hands’ is a compelling,
liberating, monster tune
launched straight at the
heavens. Uplifting vocals and
chiming guitars make the heart
soar and the spirits lift.
www.myspace.com/fuseweb • [email protected]
TELEFLORISTS – OUR TRISMOS
myspace.com/teleflorists
Teleflorists single aim is to make
your ears bleed and your brain
hurt. Their five-track EP alive
with gritty compressed vocals,
drone-rock riffs and deviant
distortions recall the
experimental Americana of
Sonic Youth or Smashing
Pumpkins with liberal doses of
Velvets circular melodies.
Blood Of Ash tread the paths
many of already walked, but are
invigoratingly refreshing
because they keep it simple.
Relentless pace, face melting
riffs and beyond the grave
grunts keep healthy away from
the screamo, time-shifting
indulgence all too prevalent in
current UK hardcore.
‘1000 More’ takes no prisoners,
it is colossal. ‘Rising War’ sucks
the life away from all who dare
stand before it and ‘This Time
We Fight’ achieves the
impossible, it played even faster!
Brutal, evil metal core with
uncompromising passion.
THIS BEAUTIFUL THIEF –
STOLEN THINGS
myspace.com/thisbeautifulthief
The Midlands based live in the
intelligent, epic indie world.
‘stolen Things’ is their latest
uploaded track and it’s a big
‘un. A mountainous chorus
locked up tight with soaring,
chiming guitars creates an
exciting tension rush with a
bright, breezy energy.
SATELLITE STATE – PLANS
myspace.com/satellitestatemusic
Satellite State, from Guildford,
walk the epic line with songs that
aspire to fill stadiums. ‘Plans’ is
their debut four track EP and its
chock full of majestic
atmospherics. A sonic wall of
lush, joyous sounds that engulf
the senses in the way Snow
Patrol once did. Satellite State
effortlessly blend melancholy and
uplifting hope in single songs.
COMING SOON – NEW GRIDS
myspace.com/starsoon
Coming Soon are an
international indie-folk thrash
pop band by their own
admission. Hailing from SouthEast France, ‘New Grids’ is an
interesting and refreshing
album. It’s grooves are filled
with quirky, bar-room, cheap
cider anthems best taken
outdoors! Fun and different.
fuse out on the town
DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?
GUILDHALL, GLOUCESTER
The super-energised hyperactive bandwagon
set in motion by an over-excited Does It
Offend You, Yeah? steamrollered in to
Gloucester. Their recently released day-glo
album is bubbling away nicely and the tour is
selling well. The future is very bright.
The boys wore the exuberant crowd into the
ground with a barrage of super-charged
electro indie songs to dance for. The roof
came off and arms and legs flailed akimbo as
the band tore through ‘Lets Make Out’ and
the shiny plastic trash-comedy of ‘Dawn Of
The Dead’.
Arms where raised aloft when the young,
sweaty crowd was asked if they had heard
the album, gently scolding the fans who
cheered ironically when Does It Offend You,
Yeah? chastised those who owned up to
downloading it illegally. If the band is to be
believed, two copies have been downloaded
on the sly for every copy actually sold, a
worrying trend hamfistedly addressed
currently by Virgin Media.
As the teenage pop kids happily dehydrated
and shed pounds before the eyes of their
heroes, the boys continued apace as synths
clanked and soared amid descending chaos
through breathless renditions of ‘With A
Heavy Heart’. All too soon it was nearly over.
The downside of playing one albums worth of
songs at twice normal speed in a blur of
adrenaline, strobes and glow-sticks is that it
makes for a very short live set.
But it was choices time. The band openly
admitting to having two songs left, one of
which must be saved for the rudimentary
encore. Which was it to be? Signature
electro-thrash trash classic ‘Rockstars’ or the
super-quick Devo cover, ‘Whip It’. Popular
demand dictated that ‘Rockstars’ closed the
set proper. Does It Offend You, Yeah?
returned all smiles to duly deliver ‘Whip It’.
www.myspace.com/fuseweb
thanks for reading and listening
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