King Blues: “Holiday” out today
Posted by jamie on Aug 29, 2010
The King Blues’ single Holiday is released today (Sunday) as a download and tomorrow (30th August) on limited edition CD single.
Get the bundle of all 3 tracks (Holiday, ‘I Got Hate’, and an acoustic version of Headbutt) here.
The first 175 pre-ordered CDs will be signed by the band.
Rock Against Racism
Posted by jamie on Aug 26, 2010
Rock Against Racism hits Lincoln on 14th November. See it on facebook here.
Dirty Revolution and the Living Daylights are among the gazillions of bands you can see.
The King Blues: Sheffield Corporation
Posted by jamie on Aug 26, 2010
The King Blues;
Sheffield Corporation;
23rd July 2010
Theo
It’s impossible to ignore that this gig was free. So I won’t. Tonight’s event is part of Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival, celebrating its second year with acts as diversely spread as Craig David; Rolo Tomassi and Echo and the Bunnymen. The crowd snaking its way around the corporation is similarly diverse, as the group queuing behind me smile wryly at the group in front’s anxiety over the possibility of age restrictions.
Bad Pollyanna, the previously-unbilled (from what I could tell their name didn’t even make it onto the festival program) opening act, play their symphonic pop-rock (think somewhere between Within Temptation and Lady Gaga) to a half-empty room. Their show ultimately becomes a case of style over substance; with 2 backing singers left completely out of the mix and vocalist Olivia Hyde donning 3 separate costumes for 3 equally interchangeable songs. Not, then, the best start to the evening.
Over the following 10 minutes, the room gets quite a lot fuller. And more than slightly warmer. As such, the final 5 minutes before Pulled Apart by Horses seem to last as long as the previous band’s entire set. But when they arrive, the wait is almost instantaneously justified; moshpits and other bouncing activity erupting during even the intro of the first song. The energy doesn’t drop, as tracks as infectiously ferocious as ‘Get Off My Ghost-train’ and ‘E=MC Hammer’ cause havoc across the venue. As the set nears its end, the venue becomes so hot that a quick rush to the bar for some water is very necessary indeed, even if it does mean nearly missing the opening of the glorious ‘I’ve Got Guest List to Rory O’Hara’s Suicide’ (glory aside, the song’s also quite topical; his band Grammatics being booked at the festival for one of their final gigs on Sunday). A triumphant ‘I Punched a Lion in the Throat’, featuring a wonderfully sludgy outro, brings one of the most rock’n’roll hardcore sets I’ve ever witnessed to a close. Clearly a band to see again many more times and buy all future material from.
At this point in the evening, a strange event occurs: The venue almost completely empties. Those who remain get a few welcome minutes with breathing space, as a new crowd trickle through to await the ska-flavoured segment of the evening.
Last time I saw the King Blues; at London’s Shepherd Bush, as delightful as the music was, the nature of their live show seemed to get lost in translation in the bigger venue. As such, tonight’s return to a smaller space is quite welcome.
After opening with Under the Fog’s instrumental intro and a slightly-less-than-gripping Blood on My Hands; the show begins in earnest as the hits (and they are, definitely, hits – just looking at the response from a crowd who shout back every word should prove that) roll out – Let’s Hang The Landlord, Mr. Music Man, and I Got Love being received with something approaching adoration. With new song ‘I Want to Set the World on Fire’ the level of activity in the crowd nearly approaches that prompted by PABH; ‘the Streets are Ours’ reaching closer still. It seems very odd, then, that at this point in the evening, adrenalin levels finally approaching their highest point, 2 slower songs are played. Both ‘Out of Luck’ and ‘Underneath This Lamppost Light’ are regular live fixtures, and bring the audience together to sing along, a few couples dancing rather more slowly than through the rest of the show; but you still can’t help but feel that the build-up might have been wasted. These feelings are dispelled almost immediately, however, with an utterly stunning rendition of ‘My Boulder’, unquestionably the highlight of the evening. Tonight’s other new song; ‘Holiday’ is rather less impressive; lyrically intriguing verses stuck together with a sickly-sweet chorus. That’s not to say it might become more appealing when it’s recorded though. An inevitable ‘Save the World, Get the Girl’ ends the main-set in as euphoric a fashion as ever, the audience again united to proclaim that “Going to war, to prevent war, was the most stupid thing I ever heard”. New (well, new-ish; they’ve been playing it since at least October) spoken word offering ‘Five Bottles of Shampoo’ starts the encore, the crowd respectfully silent; ‘Taking Over’ drawing the night to its natural conclusion, the crowd split into two as per usual, the ensuing shout-back received with the usual joy, and the evening closes on an euphoric high.
Dirty Revolution: Before the Fire
Posted by jamie on Aug 17, 2010
Dirty Revolution
Before the Fire: Rebel Alliance, 2010
7th August 2010
Jamie
This is late. I know, and I’m sorry. We’ve had a lot to do, and there’s still a million CDs in the pile. Dirty Revolution released Before the Fire on Rebel Alliance back in spring. To give you an idea of just how long it’s taken me to get around to this, Dirty Rev were announced as the latest addition to the Alliance as the label’s other bands (except the Sonic Boom Six) prepared to set off on the first ever Rebel Alliance tour.
When I reviewed the SB6 on their next tour: after the Rebel Alliance tour, after Ben had left, and after Dirty Rev had released and toured Before the Fire pretty extensively, Laila suggested I reviewed it. Being a nice lad, I confessed I owned it already and ended up I apologising to her for not having it written up yet - and even that happened four months ago. Thank heavens, then, that the football season [it now has. agh] hasn’t started, that I’ve not been allowed the holiday to go to Rebellion, and that I’ve been left alone with my laptop and Before the Fire too keep me busy. And still I procrastinate: I’ve just spent an hour bitching with my flatmate about the wedding of some people I’ll never meet. They do sound rubbish, in fairness. Reb, lads: it doesn’t usually take this long. Sorry.
*This far in to writing, I actually stopped to watch a Sherlock Holmes.
Dirty Rev’s arrival on Rebel Alliance was big news back then, of course, and, in hindsight, it was a watershed moment in career: at the very least, it’s been an enormous boost to their profile and richly deserved reward for a talented and hard working band, who just happen to be some of the most down to earth, approachable people going.
On closer inspection, though, another listen to Before the Fire suggests that Dirty Revolution have always had it in them to produce a record of this quality. They’re a fourpiece with two guitars in which Reb, who sings lead, also plays a melodica (not at the same time, obviously). It’s a tried and trusted format in which everything is done well, and the same could be said of their songs: it’s melodic, guitar-led punk/ska that doesn’t set out to do something that no one’s ever done but instead just to do it better.
As a debut album, this is superb, and really does show just how far the band have come. That promise that’s always been there has been given the treatment by Peter Miles and Dirty Rev have, in one step, fulfilled that promise and become the real deal: Before the Fire is darker, in places, than the bands earlier EPs, but bigger and more powerful throughout.
Two songs: I Love Reggae and 50p remain from It’s Gonna Get Dirty, the band’s 2007 release on Do the Dog, and they’re the best example of the progress that’s been made since then. The guitar sound is bigger and richer, the basslines are rootsier and the backing vocals are new, different parts: they come in at different places, just highlinghting Reb’s lead vocal. At its “he had a nazi salute” refrain, I Love Reggae is embellished nicely with an organ part. If you loved the songs anyway, it’s a real joy seeing them done up like this, and they really do sound great now they’ve got the works.
The newer material, especially early on, takes darker, more ominous tone straight from the off. Opener Where Are the Police? begins with a minute-long intro where Reb’s melodica plays above a heavy, sinister guitar riff. Imagine a Ghost Town-esque intro meticulously arranged by a More Specials era that at once kicks into the Sonic Boom Six’s Danger, Danger! The SB6 comparison is based more around the song’s subject matter, but there’s also a comparable level of angst, and an a sharp, edgy tone to the vocal which is cynically clear in its message and bitter to the extent that its almost spat in a way that was more common in classic punk. It’s unsettlingly effective, and gets the record off to a flyer. I Love Reggae is next, before Sometimes You’re Too Rude returns to that edgier, angstier* tone. This time, though, it’s a quicker, more danceable little tune with peppy little upstrokes and harmonies and gang shouts in the backing vocals. The bassline, this time, is made for skanking feet, but Reb’s gone back to her original, urgent, vocal as on Where Are the Police?. 50p follows, keeping the quicker pace, but lifting the mood a little. Failure to Communicate sees Stu sing lead for the first time, with Reb this time joining him on backing vocals. It starts and ends with an eerie line on the melodica, but the song itself is grittier, angrier, and Stu’s voice lends itself well to the song.
Firing Line is the record’s only slower tune: a thoughtful, gentler, more reggae effort. This is a great little tune: impeccable vocal harmonies, and plenty of percussion: I’m not a drummer, but I think it’s hi-hat. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful – a tiny bit sad, but a really nice, simple song, and again it’s been executed perfectly.
Church, next, grabs you by the feet and drags you quickly back to earth with a bump: it’s got all the sneering anger and ominously dirty guitar riffs that we saw earlier on the album, but such is Reb’s clearly visceral anger that her voice becomes a growl, even when it drops to a whisper. Why Should I Care?, again, snaps back, as we’ve seen before, to a noticeably more up-beat tone, with an almost sing-song tone in the top notes, the a catchy little guitar hook and the upstrokes again. The backing vocals have come straight from vintage pop songwriting, like they were the Monkees or something, and there’s even a breakdown for synchronised handclapping. It’s enjoyable, and it’ll obviously be great fun live, but on record, after Church, it sounds implausibly like the clappy bits out of this (we don’t condone bullying) or even this or this. Well, not really. But I mean that in a good way, anyway.
On Years and Years we back to that Ghost-Town-style, Sublime doing eerie dub thing, again remarkably well executed: the concept, arrangement and production are incredible, all spooky, echoey menace. And then, when you think it’s done, it kicks in and gets angry again and carries on until the five-minute mark.
System is similar to some of the edgier stuff earlier on the album but better: angrier when it gets angry and building to a crescendo at its finish. The layered dual-vocal is a really nice touch. Empty Houses is similarly impassioned and, in places, aggressive, but drifts in and out of that eerie dub thing before all at once becoming a giant, dirty punk rock beast, and then disappearing all at once. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know these guys could rock this hard until I sat down with this album. Childs Play closes the record in a similar direction: dirty great big riffs and a good, old fashioned rock out to finish the record. There’s a cheesy little secret track for good measure, but this, to all intents and purposes, is where Before the Fire finally stops.
I’m really keen on Before the Fire: it starts well and gets better and better as it goes on. alternates between angry and angry - you’ll have picked up on that by now, I’m guessing, and shows a startling range of musical talents too: there’s real depth and feeling to the songs and genuine variety and innovation to the music that I’ve somehow managed to overlook until spending serious time with this record and paying it the attention that it deserves and that it took me to get all of this down. There’s real substance here, and so much going on on Before the Fire that it’s surely worth checking out again even if you do already have it and have heard it a million times. Treat yourself.
Stand Out Tracks:
50p
Firing Line
Why Should I Care?
Years and Years
Empty Houses
*My spellcheck says that “angstier” isn’t a word, but I claim it here.
New Riot headline show
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
New Riot have a new London headline show. It’s at the Water Rats. Pre-order is here.
Advantage: tour being booked..
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
Advantage are booking a September / October tour: “all will be revealed soon”, says Willis, mysteriously. Having won a load of cash in Prague, the guys are also ready to record again. Watch this space..
the Junk interview
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
Our mates at New Pollution have published this interwiew with Brighton punkers the Junk. It’s pretty good, so deserved a re-post.
“We played a squat in Holland to about 10 people - they were all going nuts!”
- Perity, the Junk
Aquabats / RBF tour
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
The Aquabats will be main support to Reel Big Fish on their November tour. At present this is only for the USA, but here’s hoping. They haven’t toured together in ten years..
The Aquabats will release their new album independently on 9th November. No title announced yet.
Mash Attack
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
Southampton ska/punk nutters Mash Attack have a new myspace and new bits on their youtube channel. Their tour-diary’s also on its way “over the next few days”.
NEW SKINTS SINGLE
Posted by jamie on Aug 12, 2010
The Skints headline Camden’s Underworld on a Saturday night. The big night in question is 25th September. See it on facebook here.
BIGGER, SEXIER NEWS is that the guys have a new single out on 7″ vinyl. The disc contains 2 exclusive tracks: Up Against the Wall and Where the Ragaman Go. Official release date is 4th October, but pre-orders will be sent out as soon as they leave the pressing plant. Preorder here.
