The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth 10th December
When I sneaked into Gallow’s soundcheck last night, Frank Carter was nowhere to be seen (which was a shame, because I was going to ask him for a tattoo). However, the rest of the band from Watford instantly deafened me, and I mean instantly. The sheer sound they produced was like being hit in the face with a giant wok, only more profound - and evil. I rounded to stage front expecting to see the remaining members rocking out and was mildly amused to see them all stood completely still, resembling human-sized monoliths or guards at Buckingham Palace. The truth is, these boys have been on tour for a while now, and as Drummer Lee Barratt told me before the show, they were all extremely tired, trying to save their energy for the gig itself, hence the unanimated soundcheck.
This told me one thing; these boys mean it. And boy did that become clear as they came onstage, virtually breathing fire and blood through a wall of violent intensity. Gallows ripped through their setlist without ever letting up. The crowd went bonkers, and so did the band; with stage dives and bloodied faces, shamelessly screaming and roaring into the faces of those who paid to see them, begging for more. There were walls of death in the crowd, shoes and legs flying everywhere – somewhat resembling and old cartoon fight - you know the ones - just a ball of smoke with arms and legs poking out of it. Carter was mesmerising; the inked - up ginger psycho is the heartbeat of Gallows, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. With that distinctive voice, standout tracks Misery, London is the Reason, The Vulture and In the Belly of a Shark brought a new meaning to the word intense. I left the venue with my ears ringing and my mouth open.
4/5
Tuesday 22 December 2009
Miike Snow - album review
From Columbia to the moon! Straight out of the space-pop stratosphere come’s the self-titled debut album from Miike Snow. The Scandinavian three-piece offer up a lushly uplifting ethereal and electronic experience once the countdown ends and you are shot into outer space.
With weaving synth lines, urgent patch drum grooves and straightforward but strangely effective vocals, Miike Snow’s hooks catch you unawares, despite becoming tedious at times. Standout tracks include the opener Animal, Song For No One and Plastic Jungle. With their crisp production and dreamlike vocal deliveries, they succeed at bringing 80s synth to a new melodic, futuristic age – and there is even a slice of Crystal Castles and Wave Machines thrown in for good measure.
If intense yet spacious landscape electronica is your forte, then this grand offering from Miike Snow will have you sonically blissed-out long after touchdown.
3/5
Ian Easton
With weaving synth lines, urgent patch drum grooves and straightforward but strangely effective vocals, Miike Snow’s hooks catch you unawares, despite becoming tedious at times. Standout tracks include the opener Animal, Song For No One and Plastic Jungle. With their crisp production and dreamlike vocal deliveries, they succeed at bringing 80s synth to a new melodic, futuristic age – and there is even a slice of Crystal Castles and Wave Machines thrown in for good measure.
If intense yet spacious landscape electronica is your forte, then this grand offering from Miike Snow will have you sonically blissed-out long after touchdown.
3/5
Ian Easton
Band of Skulls - album review
After a whirlwind year since signing to the Shangri-La label, Band of Skulls hit the ground running with their debut album, but is it all it’s been hyped up to be?
Having gone from playing club nights in their hometown to touring America, with a few gigs in Moscow and Tokyo in between, the music of Band of Skulls has travelled from Southampton to iTunes at breakneck speed. The hook-driven I Know What I Am was single of the week on iTunes in April, and exposure of their track ‘Friends‘ on the Twilight – New Moon soundtrack has also helped things along nicely. You could say that things are going well.
Although - if I’m completely honest - I had never heard of Band of Skulls until recently, and now I find myself wondering which rock I’ve been living under for the last year. Facepalm! A minor slip you may think, considering when I heard the name Band of Skulls I instantly bracketed them inside some kind of extreme Skank/Grindcore/Death Metal genre. Previously known as Fleeing New York, the band must deliver their new name with a wry smile, because little did we know, we have a gem of a band here. Discovering their true musical identity is like uncovering a thousand-year old Inca relic and taking it to the Antiques Road show – yes, it’s that special.
Band of Skulls are a reminder of our digital, disposable age; demonstrating that an album can be successful - through the correct marketing and promotion - when sold on an almost exclusively digital format. Their debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey also sounds exactly like you might think - which is playfully ironic. It is pure Rock ‘n’ Roll; raw, badass, sexy, and melodic. At times it’s euphoric and powerful, at others it’s whimsical and unkempt. At all times it’s brilliant, with the duo vocals from guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson reaching some spine-tingling moments in standout tracks Fires, Patterns, I Know What I Am and Honest. With three songwriters in the band, BOS have access to endless melodic possibilities, and the album sure is an exhibition of that fact.
You will find it hard to find another debut album with such an astounding and complete collection of songs this year, besides Fleet Foxes, The Dead Weather and Mumford and Sons (all with obscure names as well, might I add). Band of Skulls repertoire reads like a who’s-who of classic rock/alternative influence, yet each song is wax-stamped with their own unique identity and a modern twist. This one’s a keeper.
4/5
Ian Easton
December 2009
Having gone from playing club nights in their hometown to touring America, with a few gigs in Moscow and Tokyo in between, the music of Band of Skulls has travelled from Southampton to iTunes at breakneck speed. The hook-driven I Know What I Am was single of the week on iTunes in April, and exposure of their track ‘Friends‘ on the Twilight – New Moon soundtrack has also helped things along nicely. You could say that things are going well.
Although - if I’m completely honest - I had never heard of Band of Skulls until recently, and now I find myself wondering which rock I’ve been living under for the last year. Facepalm! A minor slip you may think, considering when I heard the name Band of Skulls I instantly bracketed them inside some kind of extreme Skank/Grindcore/Death Metal genre. Previously known as Fleeing New York, the band must deliver their new name with a wry smile, because little did we know, we have a gem of a band here. Discovering their true musical identity is like uncovering a thousand-year old Inca relic and taking it to the Antiques Road show – yes, it’s that special.
Band of Skulls are a reminder of our digital, disposable age; demonstrating that an album can be successful - through the correct marketing and promotion - when sold on an almost exclusively digital format. Their debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey also sounds exactly like you might think - which is playfully ironic. It is pure Rock ‘n’ Roll; raw, badass, sexy, and melodic. At times it’s euphoric and powerful, at others it’s whimsical and unkempt. At all times it’s brilliant, with the duo vocals from guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson reaching some spine-tingling moments in standout tracks Fires, Patterns, I Know What I Am and Honest. With three songwriters in the band, BOS have access to endless melodic possibilities, and the album sure is an exhibition of that fact.
You will find it hard to find another debut album with such an astounding and complete collection of songs this year, besides Fleet Foxes, The Dead Weather and Mumford and Sons (all with obscure names as well, might I add). Band of Skulls repertoire reads like a who’s-who of classic rock/alternative influence, yet each song is wax-stamped with their own unique identity and a modern twist. This one’s a keeper.
4/5
Ian Easton
December 2009
Lé Martells; from Solent to the stars?
Do ‘music career’ courses really work? Is the craft of making money from music something that can be taught, and are there pitfalls? Ian Easton talks to Solent University-bred band Lé Martells to find out.
If you take the long walk through the history of popular music, you will find it easy to cherry-pick one or two shining stars. However, what tends to be overlooked on the cultural music and media landscape is the struggle bands/artists have had to go through in order for their music to become recognised to the world. The discipline they set as a prerequisite and the sacrifices they make are things that most people are unaware of.
Now, some bands and artists are blessed with a little help from people in the industry. The number of music and music industry-based degrees on offer to the public is becoming astronomical, and to be quite frank, it has to be. In an age where anyone and everyone can play the guitar and get their music onto the worldwide web, it is ever more crucial for artists and bands alike to be able to stand tall in a room full of sheep.
Enter Lé Martells, a four-piece guitar-based pop-rock band formed in 2006 at Southampton’s Solent University. Drummer Jon Cox is full of praise for what Solent University has done for the band, from free rehearsal space to forwarding the band for Island Record’s 50th Anniversary Unsigned Act competition, in which they reached the final. ‘Island requested demos and we got into the top 10 from around 450. We were then asked to go and showcase our music in London. We absolutely nailed it and we got a fair few compliments by their A&R staff. In the end we didn't win but was still great to go to London representing the university and playing one of the best performances to date.’
All four members of LM are currently completing their final year at Solent, studying the Popular Music Performance course there. The PMP course aims to give bands the tools they need to make the grade on a professional level. Taught by established lecturers armed to the teeth with vast amounts of industry experience such as Patrick Ainsworth - Ainsworth is a senior lecturer on Solent’s PMP course - LM intend to make that grade. ‘It’s not just about giving them help on the industry, it’s about taking apart classic songs, and thinking about why and how they were performed and recorded like that. We’ll ask why certain guitar sounds are good to use, or why is a song written in a particular way. There is a lot of theory as well as the advice on the industry,’ reveals Ainsworth.
The evidence is there that Solent University and others like it can offer important opportunities to bands and artists studying their courses. The knowledge and knowhow provided by lecturers is invaluable, yet it is still down to bands like Lé Martells to make the grade on their own talent and determination, as is true for every other band or artist in history. Whether LM can progress from here and become pop-rock avatars is now down to them. Solent University can lead them to water...and well, you know the rest.
Ian Easton
December 2009
If you take the long walk through the history of popular music, you will find it easy to cherry-pick one or two shining stars. However, what tends to be overlooked on the cultural music and media landscape is the struggle bands/artists have had to go through in order for their music to become recognised to the world. The discipline they set as a prerequisite and the sacrifices they make are things that most people are unaware of.
Now, some bands and artists are blessed with a little help from people in the industry. The number of music and music industry-based degrees on offer to the public is becoming astronomical, and to be quite frank, it has to be. In an age where anyone and everyone can play the guitar and get their music onto the worldwide web, it is ever more crucial for artists and bands alike to be able to stand tall in a room full of sheep.
Enter Lé Martells, a four-piece guitar-based pop-rock band formed in 2006 at Southampton’s Solent University. Drummer Jon Cox is full of praise for what Solent University has done for the band, from free rehearsal space to forwarding the band for Island Record’s 50th Anniversary Unsigned Act competition, in which they reached the final. ‘Island requested demos and we got into the top 10 from around 450. We were then asked to go and showcase our music in London. We absolutely nailed it and we got a fair few compliments by their A&R staff. In the end we didn't win but was still great to go to London representing the university and playing one of the best performances to date.’
All four members of LM are currently completing their final year at Solent, studying the Popular Music Performance course there. The PMP course aims to give bands the tools they need to make the grade on a professional level. Taught by established lecturers armed to the teeth with vast amounts of industry experience such as Patrick Ainsworth - Ainsworth is a senior lecturer on Solent’s PMP course - LM intend to make that grade. ‘It’s not just about giving them help on the industry, it’s about taking apart classic songs, and thinking about why and how they were performed and recorded like that. We’ll ask why certain guitar sounds are good to use, or why is a song written in a particular way. There is a lot of theory as well as the advice on the industry,’ reveals Ainsworth.
The evidence is there that Solent University and others like it can offer important opportunities to bands and artists studying their courses. The knowledge and knowhow provided by lecturers is invaluable, yet it is still down to bands like Lé Martells to make the grade on their own talent and determination, as is true for every other band or artist in history. Whether LM can progress from here and become pop-rock avatars is now down to them. Solent University can lead them to water...and well, you know the rest.
Ian Easton
December 2009
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