I usually wait at least a couple of hours before I spill my guts about a gig. Let the energy subside a bit and try to write something coherent and witty, usually the day after. I'm writing this right after seeing False Heads in Jimmy’s, Manchester.
False Heads are, on paper, a three piece indie band from the East of London. False Heads tonight were a punk rock band in Manchester.
They are a rock photographer's wet dream. Three good looking lads with style and attitude, with singer and guitarist Luke Griffiths climbing all over the speakers, amps and drums. Every time you looked up you saw an image The Ramones would be proud to stick in the inlay of their record.
Joined by bandmates, Jake Elliot on the bass and a second growling vocalist Barney Nash on the drums, False Heads’ sound is as energetic as their presence. Fast and loud drums, driving bass and complex guitar riffs, this is punk rock the British way. It had the lively venue moving and dancing on a freezing Sunday night.
The boys left the stage in a right state, and left by brain just as scrambled. Raw, rampant and a shitload of fun. Make sure you catch these guys live soon, because the small venues won't hold them for long. Don't just take my word for it, either; Iggy Pop thinks they're mint!
Now, any (legal) ideas how I get this energy to die down? I've got work in the morning.
Go give them plenty of love on Instagram and Twitter. I'm not on Facebook, but I'm sure they are. You won't regret it!
When it comes to Hard Rock I like my music like a good Whisky, Aged. I generally find it difficult to adopt a new band into my Hard Rock fold, I'd be saying minimum 10 years preferably 40s. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Audioslave, early Foo Fighters. Now don't get me wrong, I do like recent Foo Fighters, but much like all bands - the first few albums tend to be the best! I have dabbled with some new Hard Rock bands, some of the super groups too, but I have never been grabbed... until I was introduced to RavenEye by a friend (Cheers over to Jason Wilkinson). RavenEye comprising of Blues guitarist Oli Brown along with Australian bassist Aaron Spiers and drummer Kev Hickman, released their original EP Breaking Out in 2015, then their 11 track album Nova in 2016. Followed up by supporting Aerosmith in 2017! Listening to them I feel like if Chris Cornell joined the Foo Fighters, during his break from Soundgarden in the late 90's, then this is the sound they produced. Now you can't sum a band in as few words, there is so much more to RavenEye so I'd really recommend you have a listen (their first EP Breaking Out is below) Hey Hey Yeah is their most listened to Track, and there are more out there if you like what you hear. Just need even more!
💕Happy Valentine's Day all💕 We're feeling in a Loving mood today. So we're going to give away two £25 Ticketmaster Gift Cards! All you have to do is Like our Page and Tag your loved one, or your gigging buddy, in this post. (If you have more than one, tag them as an individual reply) On the 28th Feb 2018 at 7pm, we'll randomly select one of the replies as a winner! Then send you & the person you tagged a £25 Ticketmaster Giftcard each, to go and see whoever you want!! Get Liking, Tagging and Sharing the love 😊 T&C's: - Cannot be a ALifeOfMusicRocks team member or direct family member (sorry guys) - We'll need your email addresses to send them to, so be prepared if you win, I will need it to send you the e-giftcards. - It will be £25 to each of you, not £50 to one of you. - Give-away is running across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. It'll only be 1 winner from all combined replies.
It's Valentine's day and it may seem that everywhere you turn this year, all you hear is bloody Ed Sheeran or Rita Ora. We don't like to criticise anybody's taste in music here, but if you are reading this blog, chances are you want something different. Metal isn't all doom and gloom. So, for a little change today, I thought I'd raid my wife's Spotify, and create a playlist of Valentine's Day Metal!! So for those of you who wanna "rock 'n romantic", have a listen to what is probably the only Valentine's playlist with Slipknot on it. This playlist is most certainly not safe for work (especially Nine Inch Nails). Have a nice day, guys.
Well finally the post gig blues have gone so I can give my view on Weekend Debt.
I will start by saying I actually had a view, I forgot how much I love the smaller gig, I was close enough that I had to reign in my jumping around so that I didn't take out the bass player
The gig took us up to Scotland on one hell of a road trip, there was lots of laughs, the occasional slamming on of breaks (god damn traffic cones) and a soundtrack taking us back to our misguided youth! If you ever get a chance to go to Lanark for a night out I can highly recommend it, the people are awesome, just be aware everywhere shuts at 1am and some bars just shut at 11 because they are to busy (this was a first for me).
The gig itself was in a bar called Woody's which had a purple ambience (check out the photos you will know what I mean) a small stage but a large bar area which we made sure to check out immediately upon arrival, £6 for two JD and Cokes, I visited it a few times...
Weekend Debt took to the stage at about 9 and well just blew me away. I have seen lots of up and coming bands over the years and none of them have sounded as finely tuned as these guys, they are just switched on from start to finish.
They opened up with Paragon which got everyone there going immediately and then followed it up with a couple of songs that I haven't heard before but I will be badgering them to get me copies of it sent down! Next up came boiler room which is an awesome song in itself but the lads dropped Oasis's Champagne Supernova in the middle of it which I was taking as a nod to me and Michael for our long journey up (they smashed it by the way, something weirdly wonderful hearing it belted out in a Scottish accent) this was followed by a cover of Scissor Sisters Laura (a personal favourite) and then it was time to take it slow with magnetic girl, as Michael points out in his review this is where Grants vocals really come out and gave me a chance to catch my breath (aint getting any younger). For the final two songs came Boyfriend Averse and Three oh Three, pure genius and played with the same fever as the recorded tracks. The whole set was awesome, if you get chance to see these guys don't even hesitate, I am hoping to see them start coming further South where I will definitely be going to see them.
Once the set was done and the kit cleared away the lads came out for a drink, well actually they took us out as we had no idea where to go! They are a great bunch with some awesome friends, everyone wants to see them do well including me, meeting them only makes me even more confident they are going to be big, just hope that when they are they don't forget where they came from and still go back and play one off warm up gig's at Woody's as I want to go back there and have a "Mad Wir It" night!
NB Please no one else point out that I look like there father I am not taking growing old well |..|,
Here's My Review on Weekend Debt's Lanark Gig (Michael) I'm going to say in advance. For those thinking TL;DR.(too long; didn't read) Skip to Paragraph 10 if you just want the core review. Also there is a video of the roadtrip at the end. This was a roadtrip from Bolton to Lanark and an epic well worth it journey. Anyone interested link to the drive's playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/...Journey To Weekend Debt Like Chris said about Alien Ant Farm... We don't go to gigs to blog, we don't go to take notes. We go for the love of music... Indie, Alt, Punk, Metal, Trance, Hip-hop... I don't care! Good music brings people together, and it is that reason we drive 189miles to see a band with a few recorded tracks, in a bar holding about 100 people. I say a band, I don't mean that lightly, this isn't a 4 piece friends from school - ok maybe it is. But this isn't a band that just knocked together a few good rifts & a good chorus, this is a band that stands out from the very very crowded Indie scene IMO. I've listened to so many bands, and seen many more on bigger stages that haven't a touch on these guys. In 8 weeks since I came across them, listening to 4 tracks on Spotify and few more on YouTube, I've realised that the true musicians don't come ready packed on your TV, or even picked out on BBC Introducing... sometimes you need to look yourselves. I'm glad I did, I wouldn't be in Lanark stood with 100 people singing along to 4 humble lads playing their songs. I honestly hope in 6months to see these guys play on a stage with 10,000s, if not more, people singing along. Though actually I'd stand front row in Woody's everytime if it gave me a night like that, I'm expecting that won't be the case soon. Anyway, we turned up hours early, fuck, not be sitting in a hotel room when Jack Daniels is waiting. Taxi to Woody's, swift one, check out the venue then grab some food. Way too early! The lads from Weekend Debt were just setting up & got a chance to say Hi and what not.
Was buzzin, for sure! It's mad, when you listen to music day in day out and get into it so much that it becomes your daily pick me up - Interpol, Placebo, Stiff Little Fingers, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Weekend Debt, Arctic Monkeys, The Hunna... I expect to see them from afar and don't expect to be having a drink with them. Food (American diner round corner, pretty good!), Jack. Back to Woody's to chill til they came on. I think tweeting the journey up made for a good talking point a few people knew who we were (Bolton accents in Scotland, not a hard miss like) Shout out to the lads Callum, Lewis, Michael, I lost track of names of the rest of you all, sorry, cheers for the good night. Also everyone was friendly as fuck, from The staff at the Best Western Cartland Bridge hotel, to the bouncers on the doors. Who all took their time to chat and tell us about Gentle Giant Music Festival. Or just general chat about favourite artists, music collaborations etc - Projects of Rage?! One for the Collaborations Playlist. Review starts here: Woody's is a small bar, pretty upmarket feel but doesn't hold much more then 100 maybe. It was just us and about 10 people, including the band until 8.30 when it quickly picked up and became full. Price is slightly dearer than other places in Lanark, but still half the price of Manchester!
Layouts cool, purple lighting makes for a cool effect but pictures don't look that great cause of it. Also the position between the stage and the toilet wasn't the ideal of scenarios. Especially when the band came on at 9pm, and it got going. I don't recall the exact order and playlist, I went to see these guys play and my memorys a little off at the moment. Pretty sure they opened with Paragon, had a few sound issues as Grants Mic was a little low but that was quickly sorted, as well as heavy drums (who doesn't love heavy drums tho). No gig goes without it's glitches, that's what makes it better, rawer.
That aside the further in the sound got better, I'd love to say I knew the next few songs but we're limited to to what we had access too, I'd heard Tories and Boiler Room a few times from the King Tuts videos. The lads were in tune, in time, on point and vocally spot on. Sweet baselines from Russell, excellent solos from Ewan... I could listen to more of them. Can't beat a good guitar solo. Harvey smashing away on those drums rocking some 'trendy' as fuck trouser and white socks ;). Grants Vocals were not off at all, from start to end. Mid set we got a fucking awesome rendition of Manchester band Oasis' Champagne Supernova, personal favourite of mine so that was mint. The crowd really getting into it and singing along more as the night went on. Slowing the pace with Magnetic Girl, where Grants Vocals really get shown off. Back up to a heavy pace and singalong with Boyfriend Averse and Three oh Three (my personal favourite)
We also got a taste of a new track, which I wish I remembered the name of. It starts in with a funky AF bassline which immediately pulls you in... Game changer here... a few tempo switches throughout, showing some real skills! And solos parts all around. It all happened so fast I now need to wait till it's released to hear it properly. Top notch though. Overall venue was decent, band was on form, audience were a laugh and Mad With It (Scottish equivalent of Mad For It) what more could you want. That in itself was what we came from and I'd do even just that bit again next weekend if they were on. Back into chatting, TL;DR'ers free to leave. Just share first yea! What more could you want? Well after, it gave us a chance to speak to lads properly and have a few drinks around with them and their mates. You never know what to expect, they say don't meet your heros because it's generally a let down and ruins it. Now 2 months listening ain't in the Hero bracket, not yet, but could still put a spoiler on your listen if they turn out to be a Grade A c*nt. Fair to say that was not the case. These guys are true fellas, who are as into their music as you and me. Talking about their inspirations, eclectic music tastes, gaming and general being down to earth. Welcoming, Friendly, Humble, and worthy of some real recognition. So what next? For them... They've got gigs around Glasgow, new tracks in the pipeline and some interesting projects. For me... I don't know. I've got a few weeks to chill music wise, hopefully help my bro get his studio going. This trip did make me realise how many people live and love music as much as us, so we'll keep sharing, you keep sharing. For you... Listen to their music, follow them on whatever social media you use, get to a gig, share with your friends. I promise you, you will not be let down. https://www.weekenddebt.com Spotify Weekend Debt This is the face of Indie 2018... Or at least they will be the forefront of all my promoting. have a bob over to richard's blog on this http://blog.alifeofmusic.rocks/2018/02/weekend-debt-my-view.html
That's all for now! MICHAEL PS... Short video of the road trip:
Here's a fun fact. Alien Ant Farm’s Smooth Criminal is older than Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal was when Alien Ant Farm covered it. Confused? Google it. There are 14 years between the 1987 original and the 2001 cover, which came out 17 years ago. Does that make you feel old?
Good! I'm glad you feel old, because I feel really old after last night. I went to see Alien Ant Farm and Soil in the Ritz.
Firstly, let me just clarify: I went as a fan last night, I wasn't “at work”, I didn't take notes, did no prior research, and had I not been driving to Southport this morning, I most certainly would have got drunk.
We missed the first band of the evening, Illinois grungers Local H. I do remember their song ‘Bound For The Floor’, back in the mid 90’s when I was taping Blur songs off MTV. So, even the band I missed managed to make me feel old.
Soil started. The metallers, also from Illinois, were brilliant. They tore the roof off the place. Opening up with ‘Breaking Me Down’ and closing with rock club favourite ‘Halo’. It was their cover of Ram Jam’s ‘Black Betty’ that got the dance floor bouncing, those of you who have been to the Ritz in Manchester will know just how bouncy that dance floor is! My personal highlight was the chilling rendition of ‘Unreal’, my favourite Soil song, from their fantastic major label debut album ‘Scars’. We don't talk about heavy metal much around here, but that album is worth checking out if you like your rock a bit harder.
A change of pace occurred when the headliners took to the stage. Alien Ant Farm opened up with ‘Bad Morning’, while it is one of their heavier songs, it was a stark contrast from the face melting screams we had heard earlier.
By Song 3, the pop-punk smash hit ‘Movies’, the room had adapted and the crowd were singing along and dancing and having a great time.
What followed was a nostalgic trip through the fun loving Californians’ impressive back catalogue. We were reminded of the days they crashed awards ceremonies with ‘These Days’. ‘Wish’ was a song I used to listen to on repeat on the soundtrack for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, it took me right back. Alien Ant Farm somehow managed to make a freezing cold, rainy night in Manchester, feel like a San Franciscan summer 15 years ago.
I will go on record as saying that ‘Attitude’ is one of the greatest songs ever written. I'm going to post the video below, it's such a wonderful tune. An underrated classic. Alien Ant Farm’s best song, and a song that will forever live in my top 5 rock songs of all time. A sentiment I share with singer Dryden Mitchell’s mum. Before the song, he told us it is his Mama’s favourite song in the whole world. He also told us it was Chester Bennington’s favourite Alien Ant Farm song. The song was then dedicated to the late Linkin Park singer, a sentiment met with a massive applause.
The band finished, naturally, with ‘Smooth Criminal’. The room was jumping, clapping, everybody singing along, as you would expect. Mitchell also managed to squeeze in the chorus of CeCe Peniston’s ‘Finally’, insuring the song was stuck in everybody's head as they left the venue.
All this talk of Chester Bennington. All these childhood memories. All these old great tunes I used to listen to in the bedroom of parent’s house. Last night made me feel old. I drove to the gig. I didn't drink. I'm a grown up now. But, I'm a grown up that has lived through 3 generations of music. I have witnessed the birth of new genres, so many eclectic variations of music. Why can't a metal band and an alternative rock band tour together?
Sea Girls, are in the midst of another nationwide tour. Last year the 4 piece had a successful tour, including a number of sell out nights in London. This time they're round on the back of the release of their 2nd EP - Heavenly War. Heavenly War has pulled out some decent accolades, from the likes of Huw Stephens, Spotify's New Indie 2018 - not to mention our own Indie for 2018 playlist last December. It's the success to follow on their first EP "Call Me Out".
It has got fewer tracks (excluding the acoustic cover of Call Me Out), but the quality makes up for quantity. It shows how the band as grown in their sound and developed a faster paced style, than the almost Dream / Alt genre of Call Me Out's tracks. This is reflected in the event and audience!
The energy at the start was slow to get going but after a little crowd surfacing and getting into the crowd they guys really picked up the pace and clearly enjoyed playing to the Manchester crowd, especially at their encore which was second play of Call Me Out, which showed the a much greater engagement with the crowd than their first play of it.
This is my first gig at Deaf Institute, I think each time I've booked here the artist changes to a bigger/different venue so I've been looking forward to it and it was a great change! The intimacy and Intensity has was more then worth the very little entrance fee! Setlist obviously covered their key titles; Heavenly War, Lost, What For. As well as : Call Me Out (x2), What You Eat and Favourite Colour. All masterfully played and drawing a word for word sing along from the packed venue. They even played a new song, I assume called Twenty three, which was pretty cool
If you get the chance, see these guys, you won't be displeased! They stand out from the crowd, in this very flooded Indie marketplace - where you can often blur the lines from where one band ends and the next starts.
You are going to get 2 posts about this band,am sure, but they are worth it!
I didn't know what to expect, small venue, relatively unknown band, slap bang in the uni district. They were awesome!
The band had everybody in the place hooked, each song pouring more energy into a red hot room. The lead singer interacted brilliantly jumping into the crowd for a walk around first and then crowd surfing later on in the set. When it sadly came to an end everyone demanded one more song, they didn't let us down and the fact it was a repeat of a song already heard and the crowd got even more into it shows how amazing they are.
In summary go and see these guys now whilst the tickets are only £6 and the places are still intimate, where you can get close to the action because in a year's time I doubt you will get much change from £50 for a ticket... Will still be worth it though!
Is it just me that gets ridiculously excited about watching live music?
I love the build up, it doesn't just start on the day for me either, usually a week before I will be pestering my co-conspiritors about times we're leaving, what are we doing when we get there, what time the doors open, whose supporting etc
As the days tick by I phone them after work just to shout at them "4 days to go" (my friend group has shrunk over the years) I can't help it I am just stupidly hyped up. I have been going to gigs for the last 15 years you would think I could control myself by now.
Today is the day though, this evening we are going to watch Sea Girls, I have been blasting them in the car for the past few days (hate not knowing the lyrics).
Tonight I am with fellow blogger Michael Gaskell, I am sitting here smirk on face mithering the Mrs and he has gone to bed for a power nap - maybe it is just me who gets overly excited! Tomorrow will be a massive crash as I come down from my own created ecstacy! Although maybe not as tomorrow is the gig I have been looking forward to most, Weekend Debt up in Scotland, it's a 3 hour trip for a band with a small selection of songs (⁴ recorded and a couple more live) but it will be worth it, they sound amazing, just how arctic monkeys did when they very first hit but even better.
Am sure he will write the reviews, he is far better with words than I am, I will just give a brief summary probably (hopefully) using the word awesome several times!
Oh super excited this morning! So way back when I did a Three oh Three AM misheard lyrics blog. I got a reply on Facebook off Grant where he sent the actual lyrics and said to message him and he would send some merch. I messaged but I didn't give my address, I felt cheeky messaging just to get free merch, so I just discussed the bands tracks and gigs and left it at that. Anyways I decided I'd support the band and actually buy a T-Shirt (£5 limited edition), having ordered 1 black Weekend Debt T-Shirt, it took a few weeks and hadn't received anything, so I dropped Dougie @ Dovecot an email following up the order and he apologised on the delay and said he'd sort it and chuck some extras in. Well... Today the parcel came, and that parcel was far bigger than anyone would have expected. 2 T-shirts, 5 copies of their EP, Stickers, Business cards, Buttons, a signed Poster and a Photo!! Yea, Proper fanboy now!!
So much merchandise!! And now it's not just me blogging about my views, it's a team! We've started a brand and we're promoting it and our favourite artists. Who knows how far we'll take this, full blown music promotion? For now though A Life Of Music Rocks and we'll be sharing it with you! And with all the extra merch we're looking into some competitions ideas.... Watch this space.
It doesn't seem like 2 years, but it has been that long since we had new music from Glasgow’s electronic indie superstars Chvrches. It's here!!
The brand new single ‘Get Out’ dropped today on Radio One, and it has come paired with a cryptic video clip that you can watch below. The song is everything we've come to expect from Lauren and the lads, catchy, poppy, indie loveliness. This, however, is a more mature and polished sound than usual. The production value is spot on, and with Grammy hogger, Greg Kurstin at the helm, would you expect anything less?
If you have been living under a rock for the last 5 years, and you don't know who Chvrches are, they are a Scottish band consisting of musicians and gadget junkies Iain Cook and Martin Doherty providing a synth-tastic underlay for Lauren Mayberry’s gorgeous voice. Go and listen to their 2 existing albums right now, they are absolute works of art. Those of you who are familiar with the band, i.e. all of you, can expect their brand new album to drop later in the year.
Check out Chvrches' Official Website for tour dates coming up, including Manchester's Parklife festival.
