Tag: twin atlantic

Dec312014December 31, 2014December 31, 2014NoCommentby dan

My Top 10 albums of 2015!

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Against Me1. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Without a doubt the most confrontational and controversial ‘punk’ album in years. Laura Jane Grace defies EVERYTHING to deliver a knockout blow to hish-school jocks, homophobia, the close-minded punk community and anyone who wrote them off, myself included, after the underwhelming White Crosses.

Standout track – Black Me Out 

2. Architects – Lost Forever, Lost Together
Whilst watching what Sam Carter described as ‘their best ever set’ at Reading, my mate Rob (who isn’t exactly known for a love of heavy music) declared that it was one of the Top 10 gigs he’d ever been to. For me, that is endorsement enough. This is the sound of a band with years of experience and potential finally coming into their own and leaving ‘metalcore’ firmly at the door.

Standout track – Gravedigger

3. The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams
After 2008’s somewhat patchy Heaven Is Whenever, this was the epic masterpiece the Brooklyn five-piece knew they had to make. Which is why it took them so long to do it, but it’s a spectacular return to the form for the band who command the most ridiculous fervour from their ‘unified scene’ of hardcore fans.

Standout track – On With The Business

4. Beartooth – Disgusting
I genuinely worry about how obsessed I would be with this album if I was ten years younger. Disgusting is an absolute monster. Stand-out track Beaten In Lips could well the best teen rock anthem since Last Resort. This is the sound of your children revolting indeed.

Standout track – Beaten In Lips

5. Twin Atlantic – Great Divide
Whilst 2011’s Free hinted at the greatness to come, nobody predicted the runaway success of 2014’s The Great Divide. And now they’re only bloody playing Brixton next year. How long until arenas come calling?

Standout track – Brothers And Sisters

6. Manic Street Preachers – Futurology
Plenty of other bands would have used the 20th anniversary of an iconic album to rinse their fans, tread water and trade on past glories. It’s telling that whilst the Manics did announce a tour to play 1994’s The Holy Bible in full, this was within 18 months of the release of two of their career best albums. 2013’s melancholy Rewind The Film, and this, the angular, European-tinged Futurology.

Standout track – Europa Geht Durch Mich

7. Marmozets – The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets
I think it’s fair to stay at the start of 2014 most people had these guys down as being great in the live arena, and not much more. Their debut full-length blew that out of the water as we discovered how much depth there really is to this Yorkshire five-piece. Oh, and there were some amazing live shows aswell.

Standout track – Cry

8. LostAlone – Shapes of Screams
Queen meets musical opera meets Biffy Clyro with the ludicrously talented Steven Battelle at the helm. Now split up, this album is their epitaph.

Standout track – GUILTY

9.The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt
Quite a gear-change for Gaslight, as apparently there’s only so much singing about cars, girls and old movies one band can do. It does take a few listens to get your head around one of your favourite suddenly sounding like Queens Of The Stone Age, but once you do, it’s a triumph. Get Hurt ensured their longevity and showed the world there are plenty of strings to their bow.

Standout track – Get Hurt 

10. Of Mice And Men – Restoring Force
There’s nothing I like more than a band who I’ve written off as being generic and bland make me eat my words with a storming gear change full of deafening riffs, soaring choruses and anthems for the pit whilst leaving their reliance on breakdowns at the door. Remarkable.

Standout track – Public Service Announcement


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Jun042014June 4, 2014June 5, 2014NoCommentby dan

Hardmen and Hype!

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Interviews with Hulk Hogan, Ross Kemp, Pixies and David Lovering

Diptic

I’ve had some awesome guests passing through the show of late.

Perhaps most importantly, I had the fairly ridiculous and excitable pleasure this week of interviewing WWE superstar Hulk Hogan who was in the UK promoting his appearance hosting ‘Smackdown’ live at the 02 Arena.

I asked him about his return to WWE, and how he keeps his cool in the ring.

Recently I also caught up with acclaimed actor, broadcaster and ‘TV hardman’ Ross Kemp to chat about his new book ‘The A-Z of Hell’ I am a big fan of Ross dating backto his EastEnders days so hereally was a pleasure to interview.

and also friends of the show The Hype Theory, who I played ‘Hype or Theory’ with. Is it a hyped band, or a well-known theory? It’s harder than you might think.

I also caught up on the phone with Pixies’ drummer David Lovering to chat about their most recent album Indie Cindy. They will of course be over here this weekend for Field Day Festival.


This weekend I headed down to Camden Rocks festival and checked out the aforementioned Hype Theory  – who today release an EP ‘The Hunted’ featuring acoustic versions of standout tracks from last year’s Captives debut. Other highlights included Apologies, I Have None, Turbowolf, The Blackout, the ridiculously young Drones and Hacktivist who DESTROYED The Underworld with their unique rap/metal/djent/ crossover.

This week I’ll be mostly saving myself for Last Resort’s 3rd birthday party at The Star of Kings, but I’ll find time to check out the new Twin Atlantic (currently #1 on the Kerrang! Rock Chart!) album which is being premiered on Wednesday at a top secret location. If their recent London date at The Dome in Tufnell Park is anything to go by, it looks set to put them firmly in rock’s premier league.


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May142014May 14, 2014May 14, 2014NoCommentby dan

Interviewing Two Legends – Dave Navarro and Courtney Love

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CourtneyDanWeb
Recently I was lucky enough to catch up with the living legend that is Dave Navarro, former Red Hot Chilli Pepper, and most importantly, guitarist for Jane’s Addiction.

The latter are over here in August, and will be performing their debut studio album ‘Nothing’s Shocking’ in full. I asked Dave what the album meant to him 20 years on. In particular I was keen to ask how he felt about the title, as in 2014 rock music has definitely lost something of its ‘shock’ value.

Last week I also caught up with Courtney Love. I only had literally 5 minutes with her, but this was more than enough time for her to tell me all about how she ‘forgot’ about her feud with Lily Allen, nearly falling out with the ‘Boss’ and how she wants more straight guys at her gigs!

Gig-wise, having returned from Live At Leeds I immediately got excited about the forthcoming Camden Rocks festival – a similar setup (1 wristband gets you free entry to around 20 venues, all day) but with a much more Kerrang! friendly line-up! At the very least it will give me the opportunity to see Hacktivist live, who I missed about 5 times last year.

Tonight I’ll be catching Twin Atlantic down the road at, ahem, Dome in Tufnell Park as part of a super-intimate tour looking ahead to their new album ‘The Great Divide’ in August. Their new single ‘Heart and Soul’ is the current #1 on the Kerrang! Rock Chart, and it’s definitely a step up from the band lazily tipped to be ‘the next Biffy Clyro’.


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Aug212013August 21, 2013August 21, 2013NoCommentby dan

The Day The Whole World Went Away

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Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails, The Scala, 20/8/2013: Review

You don’t really need me to tell you how good this gig was – you know the story. Nine Inch Nails are an incredible live band. They possess a frontman capable of delving deep into his unconscious to deliver some of the most intense performances known to man. They boast an enormous back catalogue covering everything from metal, industrial, goth, disco, to glam, pop. dance and everything in between and they’re back after a six year hiatus with an album that promises a spectacular return to form, playing a TINY venue as a Reading and Leeds warm-up. Needless to say, tickets sold out in minutes and people were practically selling their mother to get in. All of that is patently obvious.

BUT what I didn’t see coming was an epic light show that wouldn’t look out of place in an arena, a brutal cover of David Bowie’s (NIN-esque) ‘I Believe In Americans‘, a surprisingly talkative Trent Reznor, a brutal moshpit for Terrible Lie, and (however many times you’ve seen it before, it never ceases to surprise) the sight of grown men crying to the dark balladry of Hurt that gets you every single time. Epic.

Of course, this was just a warm-up for the madness to come this weekend at Reading and Leeds Festival. Their previous performance, in 2007, was so captivating that frankly, The Smashing Pumpkins were blown off stage, and I certainly don’t envy Biffy Clyro this weekend. Unfortunately I’ll have to miss this, as I’m heading to Suede at Kenwood House on Friday, but I’m heading up to Leeds on Saturday and looking forward to checking out Frank Turner, Deaf Havana, Bring Me The Horizon, Twin Atlantic, Chase and Status and Eminem (in that order!).

(Re NIN, Cleverly I turned up 20 minutes before showtime which meant I was literally right at the back with no chance of moving, so the above pic is sadly the best I could do!)


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