Rising Strike: Bite the Hand that Feeds
Posted by jamie on Jan 27, 2012
Rising Strike
Bite the Hand that Feeds – TNSrecords, 2011
26th January, 2012
Jamie
Things have changed since, in 2010, Rising Strike added Tom “Bone” Maund to their line-up. Adding Bone as a third vocalist, and, of course, on sax, has given them loads more room to experiment.
On this, their first full length record, Rising Strike take full advantage of the added scope: Bite the Hand that Feeds is a gloriously addictive, adrenaline-fuelled race through nine short tracks, and one long one, of Olympic speed skacore, with sax to the fore, played by punks, at punk speed, rooted in the restless social frustration that gave us punk in the first place.
The disc is boisterously, inspiringly vital. It’s not just raw adrenaline caused by the power and sheer speed of the songs, but there’s so much going on all the time that you just can’t be anything but glued to it. On top of the rhythm section, there are three vocals, two guitars and the one sax, and, even given that, the whole comes to much more than the sum of its parts: it’s incredible how enormous they’ve managed to make this sound.
Boff’s work on the drums, most notably on the album’s opener Watching Our Watches, is gigantic. It doesn’t just give rhythm, which is here in abundance anyway, but real body to the sound, rising through the sound to figure in the question/answer duels between the vocalists. In turns, all three vocalists throat it out in true hardcore style, neatly taking turns and at times layering one-over-the-other-over-the-other like the famous onions.
If all that sounds chaotic, remember it’s all combined and delivered at such speed that it could be exhausting on your poor ears. These songs, though are arranged and delivered sufficiently well to give each element due prominence, yet combined cohesively enough to create a sound that utterly dominates, that works together to slice right through you. It’s a risky business, performed at speed, and has to be got just right (a bit like this), but Rising Strike have succeeded spectacularly, and the result is one of the best new records I’ve heard in years.
There’s more, too: a sax solo and guitar solo (yes, really) in Corporate Responsibility is an Oxymoron, that’s like a hair-metal one speeded up (in a good way), and Bone’s sax lines are evocative of Ben Childs’ sax parts from the early, scratty-punk-band days of Sonic Boom Six.
If there’s higher praise than that, then I can’t think of it. With enough body in the sound to carry the tune on its own, and performed at breakneck speed, those addictive, dancefloor friendly sax lines give this behemoth of a record just enough of a twist so that it’s not only a monster of a skacore record, but distinctively, addictively catchy enough to win them lots and lots more friends.
Stand-out tracks:
Mr Fancy-Pants
Is it Solipsistic in Here, Or is it Just Me?
Against the Safe
No Strings Attached
Sane in Insane Places
Chapter Eleven + Ian Britt: the Good Ship
Posted by jamie on Jan 25, 2012
Chapter Eleven, Ian Britt
The Good Ship, Kilburn
21st January, 2012
Jamie
For the record, the Good Ship, on Kilburn High Road, is actually on the opposite side of the road from Sainsbury’s (you know who you are). Here they have nice, clean wooden floors, a good little stage and are positive and open-minded about all sorts of performing arts and live entertainment.
Oh, and they’ve got banana flavoured beer, so Saturday night’s already a banger, and while I’m being ID’d for that, Ian Britt strums the opening lines to Run Lola Run. Watching Ian is, as always, a delightfully surreal experience such is the contrast between his songs: delicately soulful acoustic reggae songs based around the lilting, soothing melodies in voice, and the uncompromisingly deadpan delivery of the dry wit in his links.
After Run Lola Run and Back Home, for example, Ian explains that his next song was written to impress a girl who was “mad as a Mexican dancing bean.. when you get below that [pretty] exterior, she was a bit of a numpty”. It’s the next bit, though, that I won’t repeat that’s the real shocker. That those words can come out of the same mouth as that voice still takes some understanding at times.
His poor sister, nearby, looks very embarrassed.
Ian’s in chipper form, breezily treating us to a quick tour around some of his best known work. Chapter Eleven’s Asher Baker, watching, awestruck, next to me, whispers that King of the World is “a bit amazing”. It is, really: gently candid emotionally and soothingly melodic, it’s an absolute treat.
After Wishing Well, Ian cheekily asks us to guess which Michael Jackson song he’s going to play. “Yup: Earth Song”. It is, of course, his delicious cover of The Way You Make Me Feel.
There’s just time for one more family moment: Ian’s Mum has come as well, and admits to a distaste for his song Crazy Jane, making for an easier decision, and leaving Dedicate as his last tune. Again, a stunning little set.
Tonight, Asher ends his set with the words “I’ve been Chapter Eleven”. And he has: Buttery Biscuit Bassist Sweep is promoting Slowyear tonight, so Asher’s riding solo.
Undeterred, he whistles through a short, sharp set on an acoustic guitar: it’s peppier than I’ve seen him play before, quicker and with more rhythm. It really suits his songs. This Ship, of course, is excellent, and all the better, angrier, for its new tempo.
The set as a whole is strikingly personal, that emotional immediacy lending real meaning and leaving each song incredibly vivid: served up rhythmically and with vigour, it’s a winning combination.
Canoes, again, and the final track Home pare particularly earnest, heartfelt. The softness in Asher’s voice gently illuminating the melodies of the rhythm guitar parts that, tonight, are carrying the tune as well.
It works out perfectly. An excellent show.
Photos to follow.
Slowyear: Camden Enterprise
Posted by jamie on Jan 23, 2012
Slowyear, Rivalries, Burn Daylight
w/ Ill Murray, the Hics, We Were Grownups
Enterprise
, Chalk Farm
20th January, 2012
Jamie
Another weekend, another new DIY punk promoter putting on their first show in North London. On this evidence alone, independent music is alive and well here, and that’s to say nothing of the excellent bands we’ve seen.
Tonight, we attend No Good Promotions’ six band bill at the Enterprise, opposite Chalk Farm tube. By the end, the ancient floorboards to their first-floor room are rolling like the sea in a storm, bending up and then down like a trampoline under pressure from a pogo-ing pit, but it starts sedately enough: once inside, you go around a tiny corner, up an old narrow staircase, around another corner, back on yourself and through a tiny black door marked “pull”, as if it were a tiny bottle in Alice in Wonderland.
Stepping inside, we’re in what used to be the bedroom of some Victorian aristocrat’s spoiled* daughter, in which one corner has a low stage and bright red velvet curtains over their chipped, black-painted walls and railings of disco lights and Christmas tree stars and spirals.
Amongst all this, We Were Grownups have just played the first few chords of their live career to a room of gently hushed, stock-still punters intent on taking in their seeringly emotional take on lo-fi, acoustic proto-emo/punk. This is a side-project for Miz out of Failure By Design, designed** to showcase a different side of his songwriting. This is strikingly different: reflective, emotionally urgent and driven, it seems by restlessness on the inside. Miz and Scott perch on high stools, Miz in a little bobble-hat in the near dark. We’d all been looking forward to this, and it didn’t disappoint.Next up, the Hics are also playing their first ever show. It’s a six band bill, remember, so they only get three songs. They’re good, though, a three-piece band of guitar, bass and drums, with samples coming from a Macbook to embellish their indulgent, drawn-out melodies. They’re clearly enjoying themselves, and with good reason. Well worth watching now, and one to keep an eye on.
Cambridge’s Ill Murray are different altogether: racing boisterously through short, sharp garage rock songs at Ramones speed, and with similarly clipped, staccato vocals. Their chords are more like the Undertones if they’d decided they hated pop instead of embracing it: this is a short, stabby little set, and Ill Murray, for the most part, charge through it, but then surprise us with a couple of more considered, almost-indie tunes based around the two guitars, and yet, pleasingly, deliver those with the same cocksure, sneering swagger.
After some only-just-inappropriate banter at the urinals that scared the other guy more than it ought to have done, if you ask me, it’s time for Burn Daylight. Perhaps despite his best intentions, this is a set that’s noticeable for it’s quietly assured inner confidence and polish: in one look, you could tell this guy was a Springsteen fan, something he readily admits while announcing the title track to 2011’s It’s Alright, It’s Just Blues EP.
Burn Daylight plays an enjoyably upbeat mash of emo and folk-punk that, in its straighter moments, comes with just a suggestion of classic rock. His raspy, raw-around-the-edges vocal is gravelly when it wants and then, on occasion, soars off with a melody and lands gently among acoustic guitar and harmonica (nach). He’s enjoyably witty, as well, explaining:“this next song I’m going to play is off the EP I’m releasing after the next EP I’m releasing” and then wryly volunteering: “yeah, I tend to get them out in quick succession”. On this evidence, that’s no bad thing. There’s room for a few covers, as well,
the Wonder Years and the Gaslight Anthem’s Old White Lincoln among them in a set that’s engaging as well as entertaining, and impressive with it.
the Wonder Years and the Gaslight Anthem’s Old White Lincoln among them in a set that’s engaging as well as entertaining, and impressive with it.
Rivalries are down to business pretty quickly. They’ve brought a big crew with them, who all know all the words to all of their songs. All the same, they’re new to me, but decent: a regular four-piece playing melodic punk rock, but with pop-punk hooks and song structures, delivered with energy and plenty of whoah-whoahs. Their riffs go on getting bigger throughout their set, and they’ve got some funny jokes as well. It’s midway through the set that they attempt, but don’t finish, building a human pyramid during one of their songs, and end up with a “human trapezium” (their words), but, undeterred, attempt it again in their last song and succeed.
And so to Slowyear. Still a very new band, they’re immediately dangerous and exciting, playing dirty, aggressive melodic punk at speed and with lots of swearing. There’s energy coursing through them from the off, and giant, dirty great big riffs dropping around Adam’s vocal that’s raw, and yet still sharp enough to cut you. Unsurprisingly, every song from their stunning debut EP appears in this set, with Dice a particular favourite. There are plenty of new songs in there as well, though, and they go down equally well, eventually sparking the first of four separate circle pits that eventually evolves in to that lurching, pogoing, fist-pumping shouty knot that bends the wooden floor up and down like it’s a trampoline and leaves you feeling like you’re about to land, screaming, on the floor of the pub below, still flecked with sweat and coated, probably in sawdust.In real life, Slowyear continue and the night builds to its climax, Baby Arms appearing in between brand new songs, all of which are roared back on to the stage with glee. It’s a giant performance, and a fitting one to bring what became an exhilarating night’s watching to a blinking, battered conclusion.
*Probably. We can’t prove that without a historian
**Sorry.
Perkie: ST/EP
Posted by jamie on Jan 20, 2012
Perkie
ST EP – self released, 2008
20th January, 2012
Jamie
If you’re a tad surprised that, in 2012, I’m sitting in to review an EP from 2008, then there are a few reasons for that: not least the fact that I’m not just addicted, but in fact totally over-the-moon in love with it. Until very recently, I hadn’t seen her in concert and, therefore hadn’t been able to get my hands on a copy.
If you possibly can, though, you really need to get yourself a copy of this little disc: it’s only five short songs in a plain brown sleeve, but as she is in concert, Perkie’s EP is deceptively powerful and deeply, profoundly moving.
Perkie plays a delightfully unique brand of acoustic, solo protest piano folk, and she does it her way as well: the songs here are immediately noticeable for their incisive wit, succinctly putting the world and all her troubles in their place and talking about things that really matter in a way that’s reassuringly, disarmingly positive. She tells it like it is, and does so with unflinching honesty, and a voice that’s as soft as warm honey and more powerful than an express train.
It comes as something of a surprise: she’s unassuming in person, and even the disc and its plain brown sleeve feel innocent and understated, but hidden in there is soft, smooth singing voice that flutes its way around the catchy little melodies like a tiny little butterfly, and then, hits you right there with great vengeance and furious anger before you’ve even realised.
It’s chin-on-the-floor beautiful, and incredibly moving, stuff, and inspiring, empowering at the same time. You’ll come away from it blinking like you’re coming out of the cinema on a sunny afternoon.
The keyboard parts are wonderful, simple-yet-effective, and Alex Johnson’s guitar parts give the more powerful songs body and a stronger, more resonant rhythm.
Perkie’s voice wraps you in a warm, soft blanket. Her tunes sit on the end of your tongue indefinitely, and her words will leave you feeling like the world can and will become a better place. It actually feels like a better place with every spin.
The Filaments: Purple Turtle
Posted by jamie on Jan 17, 2012
Filaments, Jakal, Stand Out Riot, Skets
Purple Turtle, Camden
14th January 2012
Jamie
To give credit where credit’s due, Sick Mosh Promotions put on a party like few others. The Filaments haven’t headlined a London show in more than a year, so to get this show in to a venue the size of Camden’s Purple Turtle is an achievement in itself.
Chuck in two excellent local supports, a wonderfully chaotic performance from the consistently fantastic Stand Out Riot and then kick off your after-party with Ian Dury (on CD, obviously) and you know you’re on to something good.
More tickets were available on the night, but this show still sold out for the second time. It’s not long after seven when we arrive, and even then it’s difficult to actually get inside the place. You’d think they’d tried to put on Guns n’ Roses in the back of a mini, and still pushed the front seats back.
Skets, a boisterously aggressive six-piece punk band from South London, have worked up a good head of steam by now and, cheerily ask for “a bit more aggro” from an already rowdy, frantic pit. If it’s actually possible to get more, then I’m sure they actually got more aggro. From our squashed-in little vantage point it sort of seemed like everything just happened a bit faster: band and pit racing against each other in sweaty, sweary unison for the rest of a spicily short, entertaining set.
Manchester’s Stand Out Riot are at their spiky, ebullient best. It’s another new line-up, Danny Fairhurst having joined on guitar/vocals.
By now the vantage point is more a view of the shoulders of some very large men, pounding shots of something black and sticky that smells of aniseed. Watching the tops of their heads bobbing giddily up and down, back and forth from the other side of a sweaty mangle of pumping fists, the little we can see from here suggests it’s pretty much business as usual: Stand Out Riot, looking like a bunch of pirates and playing like a family of gypsies in a fight with a wasps’ nest.
And so to the Filaments. It’s been much too long already, and, as if to build on the already palpable sense of anticipation, they leave it a tiny bit late before ambling, casually, on to the stage.
Soon enough there are feet, and whole bodies, bobbing about on what was already a sea of pumping fists and bobbing heads. The Filaments are clearly delighted to be here, and ride the wave of delirium brought in by an eager crowd. It’s just one of those shows where everything comes together perfectly, and their powerful, brass-powered take on ska and hardcore is a fitting end to a spectacular show. Squashed in to this little room, and bang on form, they sound absolutely enormous: gravelly vocals soaring over giant horn riffs and dirty great big basslines as the gig itself draws to a close. The bar stays open, mind, and there’s still plenty of partying to be done.
New Found Glory: cheeky tour reminder
Posted by jamie on Jan 17, 2012
Exactly three weeks until New Found Glory land in the UK. Brilliantly, support comes from Sum 41.
If you still need them you can get tickets here:
February 2012:
7th: Southampton Guildhall
8th: Norwich UEA
10th: Bristol O2 Academy
11th: Cardiff University - Great Hall
12th: Newcastle, O2 Academy
13th: Glasgow O2 ABC
15th: Manchester Academy
16th: Birmingham O2 Academy
17th: Roundhouse, Camden Town
Rude City Riot: Nothin’ But Time
Posted by jamie on Jan 13, 2012
Rude City Riot
Nothin’ But Time – Stomp Records, 2011
10th January, 2012
Jamie
The backlash seems, for the most part, to be over, but there are still people around for whom the word “ska-punk” exists as a derogatory label that would-be hipsters can use to denigrate anything with a horn section as diet-Reel Big Fish, as if that were a bad thing.
Anyone who knows anything about our music knows that punk and ska are in rude* health right now, and that plenty of new bands are out there doing their own thing. Amongst all of this, though, perhaps it still needs to be said that there’s nothing wrong with staying true to the things that, after all, have never let us down.
Step forward, Rude City Riot. For their first full-length album, Nothin’ But Time, the Vancouver-based septet have created a record that’s genuinely refreshing, both in the quality of the songwriting and performances and in the relaxed, unpretentious way that the music’s been put together and presented. To top that, it’s unashamedly, infectiously catchy: packed as it is with hooks and melodies that echo some of the oldest and best loved traditions in vintage pop songwriting.
Rude City Riot’s sound is a mature, confident fusion of reggae, punk, soul and jazz. They like to call it “power ska”, which, on this evidence, does exactly what it says on the tin.
Though distinctive, it’s not altogether a new sound, rather a perfectly balanced blend of all the best bits of so much other great music. If the opening of first track Nothin’ But Time evokes fond memories of Nerfherder’s addictive theme tune to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and with it, of course, the Offspring’s the Kids Aren’t Alright) then the album as a whole is a smoother affair, closer, in its mellower moments, to the Toasters’ typically NYC take on reggae, or the Slackers, for example.
The charming It’s Raining, and the instantly lovable sunshine soul of Pray for You are stunning examples of just how effective a good melody can be: they’re absolutely lovely little songs, beautiful for their relative simplicity, and made exceptional through the sheer quality of their performances.
When they want to, though, Rude City Riot can rock out with the best of them. The lovesick Gen the beers-in-the-air Victoria and the giant Same Old Story are absolutely perfect for parties.
In this mood, Rude City Riot bring together the soaring vocal of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the speed and power of 5 Cent Deposit and then add big, powerful horns like Too Late Lucy. Written, arranged and performed like this, classic, horn driven, melodic ska-punk is absolutely irresistible: instantly accessible skankalong, singalong stuff that’s perfect for partying. Through in some perfect pop tunes, add in upstrokes wherever you can reasonably put them, and then put backing and gang vocals in all the right places, and you’ve got yourself a very fine record, right?
Presented with minimal fuss, Nothin’ But Time is a textbook example of just how to write addictive hit songs, and it makes it look and sound impossibly easy. The world would be a better place if there were more records like this.
Stand-out tracks:
Bonnie & Clyde
Victoria
It’s Raining
Pray for You
25 Years
Miacca: Tia leaves the band
Posted by jamie on Jan 9, 2012
Today we received the sad news that Tia Kalmaru has left Miacca. We’re still big fans of both, and the good news is that they’re all still big fans of each other.
Here’s what Ti told us:
Everything’s cool and everyone’s still friends and the band are carrying on with another member.. can you also remind people of the slackers gig?
It is my regret to announce that I am leaving Miacca. After 2 years of travelling round in a sweaty car, eating junk food, sleeping in the most uncomfortable places, having no money, failing at education and generally having the best time of my life, it’s time to move on to the next phase of my life. It’s been an almost impossible decision to make as my band mates have supported me through the hardest times of my life. They will carry on without me, with another guitarist and are going to do all gigs that are already booked.
Aislinn, Joe and Damon, good luck guys, make 2012 your year! It’s been a pleasure playing with you guys and I wish you (plus new guitarist) the very best of luck, thanks everyone who supported the band while I was a member, you all helped me grow as a person, as well as musically, in ways you can’t imagine. Keep supporting, they’re just getting started
Ti ♥
To see Miacca’s show with Jaya the Cat and the Slackers, go here.
To get Slackers tickets, go here.
Popes of Chillitown: new album! New shows!
Posted by jamie on Jan 7, 2012
Big news from our homes in Popes of Chillitown:
First up - we have started recording our debut album! We’re about two thirds of the way through - bass, drums, guitars and some vocals are done with just the sax and the rest of the vocals to go.
We have been recording part of it at Resident Studios in Willesden in London and the rest at our various houses cos we’re punk like that. Our drummer Jack and our producer Paul have been at the helm of recording.
We’re hoping to get it finished ASAP and released in the first half of 2012 so watch this space.
Exciting, eh? The Popes are booking shows at the moment. Here’s where you can watch them so far:
10 Feb - Steamboat Tavern, Ipswich (Ultrazang)
25 March - Concorde 2, Brighton (supporting The Selecter)
25 April - The Maze, Nottingham (supporting Jimmy The Squirrel & New Town Kings)
13 July - Birmingham Free Festival TBC
14 July - Swansea Ska Festival
Chris Murray: new album ahoy!
Posted by jamie on Jan 5, 2012
Excellent news: it’s nearly time for a new Chris Murray record. Here’s what the man himself has told us:
Chris Murray Combo is currently recording our second album,
which features all unreleased original material and is going to be
totally awesome!
Watch this space. As soon as we know more, we’ll tell you. Thanks, Chris!
Here’s me hugging him:
