Tuesday is RecommenDAYtion. Hearts & Minds. When I think of Norwich bands, I usually think of heavier bands like Jackals, No Fun, Maths etc. However lurking down the suburbs of Norwich are three guys & a girl making moody emo/punk. This band go by the name Hearts & Minds and I know it’s cheesy but i genuinely do feel a lot of heart has been put into the lyrics & writing of their debut three track demo. The demo feels like a gem in the middle of a twiddly field of emo to be honest (not that I can talk, I love a good noodle). With it’s echoy distorted guitars with countless bends, groovy basslines, solid drums & pretty special vocals, which are very droney at times but still manage to keep me engaged with interesting lyrics & vocal lines, it’s a demo that I feel has been made by some very talented individuals. These guys are a band that I think everybody should check out, super catchy & a moody but fun edge to them. Get to a show soon. FFO: 90’s, Lemuria mixed with Jawbreaker   Hearts & Minds: Facebook & Bandcamp

Tuesday is RecommenDAYtion.

Hearts & Minds.

When I think of Norwich bands, I usually think of heavier bands like Jackals, No Fun, Maths etc. However lurking down the suburbs of Norwich are three guys & a girl making moody emo/punk. This band go by the name Hearts & Minds and I know it’s cheesy but i genuinely do feel a lot of heart has been put into the lyrics & writing of their debut three track demo.

The demo feels like a gem in the middle of a twiddly field of emo to be honest (not that I can talk, I love a good noodle). With it’s echoy distorted guitars with countless bends, groovy basslines, solid drums & pretty special vocals, which are very droney at times but still manage to keep me engaged with interesting lyrics & vocal lines, it’s a demo that I feel has been made by some very talented individuals.

These guys are a band that I think everybody should check out, super catchy & a moody but fun edge to them. Get to a show soon.

FFO: 90’s, Lemuria mixed with Jawbreaker

 

Hearts & Minds: Facebook & Bandcamp

300 followers.

Thank you to all of you & all the bands I’ve interviewed/reviewed, anybody that reads anything that I post is great. Makes this pretty much worth it. x

Healing Powers/Wade split release review. This release is one that I’ve been looking forward to hearing for a while now, released by Get Into It Recs in the UK & Haunt Yourself Tapes in the US, I am defiantly not disappointed. I’ll start with Wade’s half: Having played with Wade in a Leeds basement back in November, i’ve been excited to hear recorded material from them. Their brand of catchy emo/punk is really refreshing & new, I feel like they’re totally doing their own thing and honestly couldn’t care less about other bands sounds to affect their own, this might not be the case but I certainly haven’t heard anything quite like it. Their half of the split starts with the song Hail, Chillingham which starts with a pretty muddy but slightly noodley riff which sets their half of the split off to a lovely start. This section ends with a fill into a faster riff with some weirdly mixed vocals which totally work in the grand scheme of things, these vocals are pretty up & down but easily get stuck in my head even if i listen to this song once & then leave it. At the end of the song there is a half-time section that works perfectly to end the song. The next song is Jonathan Caruthers which start with a raw shout into a fast punky section with very Geordie sounding vocals. One of the things that I like Wade for, is the use of their native accent, I feel like it’s a really nice touch. I feel like as i’m reviewing this, I should be comparing it to other bands but I really can’t think of any that it is like. This is probably a good thing, however i’m sure somebody could pull out an obscure band that Wade are like. However! This is a brilliant side that Wade have put forward & I am super excited to hear more from the boys. Ok so now Healing Powers, before this came out i’d been listening to their first two demos a bunch. In the first one their vocals were really reminiscent of Charlie Simpson in his Fightstar days which I really loved & they kind of dropped with the next release however bands change right? To be honest they changed to be better in my opinion. Their side of the split is incredibly strong bring forward to fantastic songs. The first, “Death Valley Driver” (An amazing song title & WWF reference) starts with a slow & thin guitar riff which is totally filled out by the bass once it & the drums kick in. That & the screamed vocals over that top make for an amazing start to their side. Carry on with the same riff for 2:22 is pretty much fine with me, very droney but seeing as it didn’t out-stay it’s welcome & the vocals are interesting enough to make the whole song a perfect fit together in terms of instrumentation & length. The next song is a more upbeat & screamo/punk track which is really up my street. Clocking in at just over a minute & a half it kind of comes & goes but to be honest, I don’t know what more could want in a 1:30 track. Harsh however surprisingly catchy vocals meet a bunch of octave chords & fast drums, sounds great to me. This split is one of the best Emo/Punk/Screamo releases in a good while. 4 tracks of short, catchy & well written material, that will have you listening over & over again. Perfect.  Listen: Bandcamp Wade: Bandcamp, Facebook & Tumblr Healing Powers: Bandcamp & Facebook

Healing Powers/Wade split release review.

This release is one that I’ve been looking forward to hearing for a while now, released by Get Into It Recs in the UK & Haunt Yourself Tapes in the US, I am defiantly not disappointed. I’ll start with Wade’s half:

Having played with Wade in a Leeds basement back in November, i’ve been excited to hear recorded material from them. Their brand of catchy emo/punk is really refreshing & new, I feel like they’re totally doing their own thing and honestly couldn’t care less about other bands sounds to affect their own, this might not be the case but I certainly haven’t heard anything quite like it. Their half of the split starts with the song Hail, Chillingham which starts with a pretty muddy but slightly noodley riff which sets their half of the split off to a lovely start. This section ends with a fill into a faster riff with some weirdly mixed vocals which totally work in the grand scheme of things, these vocals are pretty up & down but easily get stuck in my head even if i listen to this song once & then leave it. At the end of the song there is a half-time section that works perfectly to end the song.

The next song is Jonathan Caruthers which start with a raw shout into a fast punky section with very Geordie sounding vocals. One of the things that I like Wade for, is the use of their native accent, I feel like it’s a really nice touch. I feel like as i’m reviewing this, I should be comparing it to other bands but I really can’t think of any that it is like. This is probably a good thing, however i’m sure somebody could pull out an obscure band that Wade are like. However! This is a brilliant side that Wade have put forward & I am super excited to hear more from the boys.

Ok so now Healing Powers, before this came out i’d been listening to their first two demos a bunch. In the first one their vocals were really reminiscent of Charlie Simpson in his Fightstar days which I really loved & they kind of dropped with the next release however bands change right? To be honest they changed to be better in my opinion. Their side of the split is incredibly strong bring forward to fantastic songs. The first, “Death Valley Driver” (An amazing song title & WWF reference) starts with a slow & thin guitar riff which is totally filled out by the bass once it & the drums kick in. That & the screamed vocals over that top make for an amazing start to their side. Carry on with the same riff for 2:22 is pretty much fine with me, very droney but seeing as it didn’t out-stay it’s welcome & the vocals are interesting enough to make the whole song a perfect fit together in terms of instrumentation & length.

The next song is a more upbeat & screamo/punk track which is really up my street. Clocking in at just over a minute & a half it kind of comes & goes but to be honest, I don’t know what more could want in a 1:30 track. Harsh however surprisingly catchy vocals meet a bunch of octave chords & fast drums, sounds great to me.

This split is one of the best Emo/Punk/Screamo releases in a good while. 4 tracks of short, catchy & well written material, that will have you listening over & over again. Perfect. 

Listen: Bandcamp

Wade: Bandcamp, Facebook & Tumblr

Healing Powers: Bandcamp & Facebook

Crows-An-Wra. Call me a “noob”, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anything quite like this before. Crows-An-Wra are a 4-piece from Cornwall playing their own brand of punk & by their own brand, I mean it. To me anyway, their sound seems like a cooking pot of lots of different genres put into one, it’s almost like screamo influenced punk with a surf twist or screamo influenced punk where the members have listened to too much Bowie although I think the beautiful thing about the band is the fact that you can’t really compare it to anything else. Some people seem to love to say “with members from” which in this case I could say, seeing as the band has members that were in Kasa, Ravachol & Crocus, but I seriously don’t think they need to rely on that one bit! The only time I would even pick up on the fact they might be connected is the guitar work due to the distinct & strange strumming patterns, never-the-less Crows-An-Wra are a brilliant band in their own right, & I hope to see them go far! Plus anybody that doesn’t dig that artwork is crazy. Listen: Facebook, Tumblr & Bandcamp

Crows-An-Wra.


Call me a “noob”, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anything quite like this before. Crows-An-Wra are a 4-piece from Cornwall playing their own brand of punk & by their own brand, I mean it. To me anyway, their sound seems like a cooking pot of lots of different genres put into one, it’s almost like screamo influenced punk with a surf twist or screamo influenced punk where the members have listened to too much Bowie although I think the beautiful thing about the band is the fact that you can’t really compare it to anything else. Some people seem to love to say “with members from” which in this case I could say, seeing as the band has members that were in Kasa, Ravachol & Crocus, but I seriously don’t think they need to rely on that one bit! The only time I would even pick up on the fact they might be connected is the guitar work due to the distinct & strange strumming patterns, never-the-less Crows-An-Wra are a brilliant band in their own right, & I hope to see them go far! Plus anybody that doesn’t dig that artwork is crazy.

Listen: Facebook, Tumblr & Bandcamp

Ok so this is my interview with Nottingham’s Plaids. A class 80’s hardcore influenced punk band with pretty fantastic things lined up. Hello Plaids. How’re you doing? Joe C: All good, just got back from (our second home at the moment) Leeds playing with Hindsights. Phil-mo: Pretty tired, was mixing until 4 this morning haha. Matt: Sober.   First off let’s get the name out of the way. Who came up with the name and how do you say it? “Plaids” or “Plads”? Joe C: It’s said Plads, I’m not really sure why we are called it! Sorry there is no clever anecdote here really Matt: Plural names are in right now.   You guys are bringing out a new self-titled 7” soon. How’re you feeling about the new release? Excited, nervous or a huge mix of emotions? Joe C: We’re really excited as we’re a band who prides ourselves on being really productive while we can and this is the first of many vinyl releases we have lined up to keep dropping. Matt: I’m looking forward to it, it’s always nice when you get to see, hear and feel something you’ve been working towards for months.   It’s being released by WOLF TOWN DIY and Art For Blind. Why did you choose those labels to put out the record? Joe C: They chose us really, the WOLF TOWN guys put us on in Wolvo a couple of times and we just ended up being pals. Dany from Art for Blind is the nicest, and most hard working guy in UK DIY, and it’s always a pleasure to do stuff with him. Phil-mo: The Fok Up guys are ace, so nice they got involved and yeah, AFB have been one of my fave labels for a fair while, so nice to be welcomed into the fold. Matt: Yeah, Art For Blind have always been a totally sick label, they put out some of my old band Saturday’s Kids records and Dany has always been super reliable and generally awesome in handling that end of things. The Fok Up is also a sick venue that you should check out if you live near Wolverhampton/Birmingham area, I think the more regional DIY venues we get running in the UK the better, so if you have one near you, do whatever you can to support it.   How do you feel it compares to your previous releases? The City Dweller split and your Four Songs demo. Joe C: Well it’s taken us a while to really find our sound I guess, I feel more and more as we write material it’s less easy to categorise or reference, and that’s what we’re into really: the music having it’s own personality instead of being easy to backwards engineer. Matt: Every band, to me, that has ever failed has begun with the words “let’s start a band that sounds like this” which is counter-productive because it completely removes the personality of the music. It’s like choosing to be a cover-band but instead of stealing songs, stealing musical devices and regurgitating them in a, more often than not, less effective way. What’s worse is this also sets a band pre-determined rules that shouldn’t exist when making music, and I think that’s one of the biggest problems in Punk today, at least musically, is that too many bands buy into pre-existing aesthetics and musical conventions when the scene would be alot more interesting if when people sat down to write music they said “Let’s just try to play how we feel” and express their own personalities and musical tastes without sounding overly cheesy. I’m all for playing the music that you like but why not try to add your own flavour to the sound instead of creating something completely devoid of original thought? I guess it’s easier to play into the current wave of musical styles in the UK than to do your own thing, but to me Punk was always about playing whatever the fuck you want, instead of conforming to what the UK scene’s flavour of the month is. I bet you get sick of hearing this, but your song names are just numbers. Why is this? Plus, how are they numbered, in order of them being written or released? Joe C: It’s simple, the songs don’t have names, but we had to put something on bandcamp! Phil-mo: much better than putting the working titles, which they remain called until they’re pegged for a release, getting a number is like being promoted.   I heard you guys on Jen Long’s radio show the other month. How did that come about? Joe C: She is just a mate of ours really outside of music biz shenegigans, she’s very supportive of UK DIY bands so it’s a pleasure for us to have been picked out by her. You guys have a split release and tour with Football Etc. right? Would you like to explain it in more depth? Are you super excited for it? I know I would be! Joe C: This will be coming out on Count Your Lucky Stars and strictly no capital letters. The band showed an interest in our stuff around the same time we were on a big “find bands to do splits with we like!” trip, the rest is history…   So JT Soar is a venue/recording studio in Nottingham where you put on various different Punk, Emo, Hardcore, etc. shows. What’s the story behind the building? Phil-mo: I ran the place as a studio for about a year or so before the rest of the guys got involved, when I got the new live room, which now doubles up as a venue it’s potential was immediately realised. Me and Joe put a few shows on, but we went full pelt when I renegotiated my contract in July and we were actually allowed to put the shows on, with the Plaids and WAPS crew booking more and more shows and eventually letting outside promoters in when the word got out of our DIY haven.   Who and what would you say are your biggest influences? Joe C: We all have vast and independent musical influences, but we have some stuff in common between all four of us, I think that’s how most bands work, unless they are just blatant copiests, but I don’t find that any fun to do. As the vocalist and lyricist I am really influenced by the 80s DC hardcore scene, very blunt lyrics without much romanticism, vocals ranging from yelling to spoken word. Guys like Ian and Alec Mackaye (Minor Threat and The Faith), Shawn Brown (Dag Nasty/Swiz), Guy Picciotto (Rites of Spring) etc.. Matt: There’s definitely an 80’s hardcore influence as well as a heavy influence from 90’s emo but I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Indie Rock in the chords that I play too. There are definitely certain musical devices that we use more often than others but when I sit down to write one of the songs it’s more to do with what seems enjoyable to play than sitting down and having a preset bunch of rules telling me what kind of song I’m supposed to write to make it “work”.   How’s the scene in Nottingham outside of JT Soar? Is it all students and night clubs or is there much more to it? Phil-mo: Stuck on a name is another studio just round the corner thqt does the same kinda thing we do, boulty is a legend. The chameleon still has loads of great stuff kicking off, but nick and his scary vagina paintings put me off a little. Matt: Speaking as someone living outside of Nottingham I’d like to think the punk scene fairs pretty well in comparison to other places. We have a DIY venue here for a start, and there’s plenty of other stuff going on like Phil mentioned as well as other kinds of music too which might not be related to punk, but there’s definitely other stuff going on here regardless as to what you’re into musically.   Do you have any other plans for 2013? Tours/Releases ect. Where would you like to see Plaids at the end of this year? Matt: I just wanna keep writing music and making the sound better as we go along, for me it’s an outlet rather than an achievement. To do this full-time getting by on band money would obviously would be incredible, but highly unlikely.   What’s your most memorable show to date? Phil-mo: Playing with Give at JT Soar was a biggie, playing in a totally transformed flowerhead JT Soar (fake flowers and balloons everywhere) alongside one of my favourite bands, such a lovely bunch. Matt: We played at About Time fest to a pretty hefty crowd, and it felt like everyone kind of made sense of us I think which was good. It was nice to be a massive building filled with people on the same page.   Would you like to recommend any bands/labels/zines/artists to the people reading this? Phil-mo: Crossings, but their singer is a bit questionable… Matt: Check out the Joanna Gruesome album when it comes out, the members are some of my best friends and if you’re into noise-pop, twee vocals with a loads of mucky distortion then you might just love it. You should also check out my friends feminist blog called The Misery Chicks which has just started out, they cover a whole bunch of different stuff not just to do with music. Ok, last question. If you could tour with any 4 bands to any 4 places. Where, Who and Why? Joe C: Mars to Stay, on Mars. Phil-mo: Julliard in ma Julie’s yard. Matt: The Enemy, On The NME Stage.   Thanks guys. I wish you all the best in your future endevours. xx Plaids: Bandcamp, Youtube & Facebook

Ok so this is my interview with Nottingham’s Plaids. A class 80’s hardcore influenced punk band with pretty fantastic things lined up.

Hello Plaids. How’re you doing?

Joe C: All good, just got back from (our second home at the moment) Leeds playing with Hindsights.

Phil-mo: Pretty tired, was mixing until 4 this morning haha.

Matt: Sober.

 

First off let’s get the name out of the way. Who came up with the name and how do you say it? “Plaids” or “Plads”?

Joe C: It’s said Plads, I’m not really sure why we are called it! Sorry there is no clever anecdote here really

Matt: Plural names are in right now.

 

You guys are bringing out a new self-titled 7” soon. How’re you feeling about the new release? Excited, nervous or a huge mix of emotions?

Joe C: We’re really excited as we’re a band who prides ourselves on being really productive while we can and this is the first of many vinyl releases we have lined up to keep dropping.

Matt: I’m looking forward to it, it’s always nice when you get to see, hear and feel something you’ve been working towards for months.

 

It’s being released by WOLF TOWN DIY and Art For Blind. Why did you choose those labels to put out the record?

Joe C: They chose us really, the WOLF TOWN guys put us on in Wolvo a couple of times and we just ended up being pals. Dany from Art for Blind is the nicest, and most hard working guy in UK DIY, and it’s always a pleasure to do stuff with him.

Phil-mo: The Fok Up guys are ace, so nice they got involved and yeah, AFB have been one of my fave labels for a fair while, so nice to be welcomed into the fold.

Matt: Yeah, Art For Blind have always been a totally sick label, they put out some of my old band Saturday’s Kids records and Dany has always been super reliable and generally awesome in handling that end of things. The Fok Up is also a sick venue that you should check out if you live near Wolverhampton/Birmingham area, I think the more regional DIY venues we get running in the UK the better, so if you have one near you, do whatever you can to support it.

 

How do you feel it compares to your previous releases? The City Dweller split and your Four Songs demo.

Joe C: Well it’s taken us a while to really find our sound I guess, I feel more and more as we write material it’s less easy to categorise or reference, and that’s what we’re into really: the music having it’s own personality instead of being easy to backwards engineer.

Matt: Every band, to me, that has ever failed has begun with the words “let’s start a band that sounds like this” which is counter-productive because it completely removes the personality of the music. It’s like choosing to be a cover-band but instead of stealing songs, stealing musical devices and regurgitating them in a, more often than not, less effective way. What’s worse is this also sets a band pre-determined rules that shouldn’t exist when making music, and I think that’s one of the biggest problems in Punk today, at least musically, is that too many bands buy into pre-existing aesthetics and musical conventions when the scene would be alot more interesting if when people sat down to write music they said “Let’s just try to play how we feel” and express their own personalities and musical tastes without sounding overly cheesy. I’m all for playing the music that you like but why not try to add your own flavour to the sound instead of creating something completely devoid of original thought? I guess it’s easier to play into the current wave of musical styles in the UK than to do your own thing, but to me Punk was always about playing whatever the fuck you want, instead of conforming to what the UK scene’s flavour of the month is.

I bet you get sick of hearing this, but your song names are just numbers. Why is this? Plus, how are they numbered, in order of them being written or released?

Joe C: It’s simple, the songs don’t have names, but we had to put something on bandcamp!

Phil-mo: much better than putting the working titles, which they remain called until they’re pegged for a release, getting a number is like being promoted.

 

I heard you guys on Jen Long’s radio show the other month. How did that come about?

Joe C: She is just a mate of ours really outside of music biz shenegigans, she’s very supportive of UK DIY bands so it’s a pleasure for us to have been picked out by her.

You guys have a split release and tour with Football Etc. right? Would you like to explain it in more depth? Are you super excited for it? I know I would be!

Joe C: This will be coming out on Count Your Lucky Stars and strictly no capital letters. The band showed an interest in our stuff around the same time we were on a big “find bands to do splits with we like!” trip, the rest is history…

 

So JT Soar is a venue/recording studio in Nottingham where you put on various different Punk, Emo, Hardcore, etc. shows. What’s the story behind the building?

Phil-mo: I ran the place as a studio for about a year or so before the rest of the guys got involved, when I got the new live room, which now doubles up as a venue it’s potential was immediately realised. Me and Joe put a few shows on, but we went full pelt when I renegotiated my contract in July and we were actually allowed to put the shows on, with the Plaids and WAPS crew booking more and more shows and eventually letting outside promoters in when the word got out of our DIY haven.

 

Who and what would you say are your biggest influences?

Joe C: We all have vast and independent musical influences, but we have some stuff in common between all four of us, I think that’s how most bands work, unless they are just blatant copiests, but I don’t find that any fun to do. As the vocalist and lyricist I am really influenced by the 80s DC hardcore scene, very blunt lyrics without much romanticism, vocals ranging from yelling to spoken word. Guys like Ian and Alec Mackaye (Minor Threat and The Faith), Shawn Brown (Dag Nasty/Swiz), Guy Picciotto (Rites of Spring) etc..

Matt: There’s definitely an 80’s hardcore influence as well as a heavy influence from 90’s emo but I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Indie Rock in the chords that I play too. There are definitely certain musical devices that we use more often than others but when I sit down to write one of the songs it’s more to do with what seems enjoyable to play than sitting down and having a preset bunch of rules telling me what kind of song I’m supposed to write to make it “work”.

 

How’s the scene in Nottingham outside of JT Soar? Is it all students and night clubs or is there much more to it?

Phil-mo: Stuck on a name is another studio just round the corner thqt does the same kinda thing we do, boulty is a legend. The chameleon still has loads of great stuff kicking off, but nick and his scary vagina paintings put me off a little.

Matt: Speaking as someone living outside of Nottingham I’d like to think the punk scene fairs pretty well in comparison to other places. We have a DIY venue here for a start, and there’s plenty of other stuff going on like Phil mentioned as well as other kinds of music too which might not be related to punk, but there’s definitely other stuff going on here regardless as to what you’re into musically.

 

Do you have any other plans for 2013? Tours/Releases ect. Where would you like to see Plaids at the end of this year?

Matt: I just wanna keep writing music and making the sound better as we go along, for me it’s an outlet rather than an achievement. To do this full-time getting by on band money would obviously would be incredible, but highly unlikely.

 

What’s your most memorable show to date?

Phil-mo: Playing with Give at JT Soar was a biggie, playing in a totally transformed flowerhead JT Soar (fake flowers and balloons everywhere) alongside one of my favourite bands, such a lovely bunch.

Matt: We played at About Time fest to a pretty hefty crowd, and it felt like everyone kind of made sense of us I think which was good. It was nice to be a massive building filled with people on the same page.

 

Would you like to recommend any bands/labels/zines/artists to the people reading this?

Phil-mo: Crossings, but their singer is a bit questionable…

Matt: Check out the Joanna Gruesome album when it comes out, the members are some of my best friends and if you’re into noise-pop, twee vocals with a loads of mucky distortion then you might just love it. You should also check out my friends feminist blog called The Misery Chicks which has just started out, they cover a whole bunch of different stuff not just to do with music.

Ok, last question. If you could tour with any 4 bands to any 4 places. Where, Who and Why?

Joe C: Mars to Stay, on Mars.

Phil-mo: Julliard in ma Julie’s yard.

Matt: The Enemy, On The NME Stage.

 

Thanks guys. I wish you all the best in your future endevours. xx

Plaids: Bandcamp, Youtube & Facebook

I’m Tired Of Not Sleeping by Marseille. This isn’t a review as much as a promotion post, but these four tracks are made by John from the Ann Arbor band Youth Novel whom I’ve written some features about before. These songs are short, fun & basically a fantastic listen even if it is as lo-fi as it comes. So this record starts with an acoustic track that goes by the name of “The Neighbours” & personally I’m not really a big acoustic fan. I usually get bored of a song half way through (probably super immature of me, I know) then put something more upbeat or at least something with drums in on. However with this it’s got a certain charm to it. It really does sound like he’s recorded it in one take into a kids tape recorder. This first song as an amazing harmony that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up it was that great. The next song entitled “Hungry” has more going on in it for sure, it sure is nice how this EP is mixed with different sounding songs. It keeps me interested for longer than two seconds. Anyway! It starts with a sample from Network (you know the one I mean) with a fingerpicked acoustic part. After sample has finished the midi drums come in & I really think they sound great. I’m not a great midi drums fan, but i’m context they work amazingly. Now for my favourite song on the record which is named “Ski Mask”. It’s the longest one on there clocking in at 1:51. Why is it my favourite, I hear nobody ask? Well it’s super reminiscent of Adventure Time which is a show i’m in love with & I always find the music in that show incredible. I don’t understand how they write such off music & make it sound amazing. Anyway! Marseille has basically done that however it is less off-key/beat & works more as a song. The lyrics to this one stood out to me. “You stood in overalls, and you proved you could fly. Straddling a high wire, just to prove you were something.” While pretty dark really I can’t get the Adventure Timey-ness out of my head (again, not a bad thing). The last track “I’m Tired Of Not Sleeping” is an organ filled classic. A really moody vibe that is the perfect end to a near perfect EP. 0:57 seconds of organ playing a great chord progression with some playful midi drums in the mix too. Ok, so this did sort of turn into a review however I feel like these 4 tracks have such a charm to them I had to write about them. I had no expectations for them & maybe that’s why I love it so much. It caught me off guard & it was a very pleasant surprise for me when I woke up this morning  Oh, & one last thing. That artwork is really cool also. Listen here: Bandcamp

I’m Tired Of Not Sleeping by Marseille.

This isn’t a review as much as a promotion post, but these four tracks are made by John from the Ann Arbor band Youth Novel whom I’ve written some features about before. These songs are short, fun & basically a fantastic listen even if it is as lo-fi as it comes.

So this record starts with an acoustic track that goes by the name of “The Neighbours” & personally I’m not really a big acoustic fan. I usually get bored of a song half way through (probably super immature of me, I know) then put something more upbeat or at least something with drums in on. However with this it’s got a certain charm to it. It really does sound like he’s recorded it in one take into a kids tape recorder. This first song as an amazing harmony that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up it was that great.

The next song entitled “Hungry” has more going on in it for sure, it sure is nice how this EP is mixed with different sounding songs. It keeps me interested for longer than two seconds. Anyway! It starts with a sample from Network (you know the one I mean) with a fingerpicked acoustic part. After sample has finished the midi drums come in & I really think they sound great. I’m not a great midi drums fan, but i’m context they work amazingly.

Now for my favourite song on the record which is named “Ski Mask”. It’s the longest one on there clocking in at 1:51. Why is it my favourite, I hear nobody ask? Well it’s super reminiscent of Adventure Time which is a show i’m in love with & I always find the music in that show incredible. I don’t understand how they write such off music & make it sound amazing. Anyway! Marseille has basically done that however it is less off-key/beat & works more as a song. The lyrics to this one stood out to me. “You stood in overalls, and you proved you could fly. Straddling a high wire, just to prove you were something.” While pretty dark really I can’t get the Adventure Timey-ness out of my head (again, not a bad thing).

The last track “I’m Tired Of Not Sleeping” is an organ filled classic. A really moody vibe that is the perfect end to a near perfect EP. 0:57 seconds of organ playing a great chord progression with some playful midi drums in the mix too.

Ok, so this did sort of turn into a review however I feel like these 4 tracks have such a charm to them I had to write about them. I had no expectations for them & maybe that’s why I love it so much. It caught me off guard & it was a very pleasant surprise for me when I woke up this morning  Oh, & one last thing. That artwork is really cool also.

Listen here: Bandcamp

I’ve been so so excited for this interview like a little fanboy + I found out a great reason why they’re called You Blew It! Here it is & Thanks for reading if you chose to! xx Hey You Blew It!, How’s it hanging? Tanner: I actually noticed that it was legitimately hanging a little bit to the left the other day. It’s never really had a directional preference before, so I think this is kind of a big step for me and for us as a band. Would you guys like to introduce yourselves and explain each of your roles in the band?Tanner: Guitar/Vocals Tim: Drums/Yuengling Andy: Guitar/Vocals Nick: Bass. Trevor: Plays guitar too.How did you guys first form You Blew It!? and who came up with the name? Tim: The band was mostly formed in a garage; but then the neighbors thought it was too loud so we moved to a bedroom and wrote quieter music. As for the band name, we can thank Corey Taylor #8 from Slipknot. To quote from their critically acclaimed smash success “People=Shit”, They never told me the failure I was meant to be. Now. Overdo it - don’t tell me you blew it, Stop your bitchin’ and fight your way through it! So your debut full length “Grow Up, Dude” came out April last year. How do you feel people received that release? Are you guys proud of it? Andy: The writing and recording process for Grow Up, Dude was interesting. We had some members of the band come and go during the writing process, so I think that contributed to the variety of songs that are on the record. Throughout it all, though, I feel like Tanner and I got in this groove where we were really meshing well and writing more mature songs than our previous release. As far as recording the album goes, it was all over the place, literally; We recorded vocals in Tanner’s bedroom, and all of the instrumentation was done with our good friend Derek Perry down in Naples. Because of work and school, we were driving down there on weekends and recording from early in the morning til 2:00 AM each night. It was a little rushed, because we had to snag whatever free time Derek had when he wasn’t touring with Fake Problems. Despite the time constraints, I think we walked away with something we are all very proud of calling our own. The reception has been excellent. Really mind blowing. I [Andy] wasn’t a part of the writing of GUD, so it’s difficult to say I feel much pride towards it. It feels great to say my friends recorded such a kickass album, though (I can say that as a fan). Could you talk about the writing and recording processes for that release? Tanner: It was pretty lengthy. Thorough too. I guess those words are interchangeable when you’re in a band though. There was something like a 2-year gap in between the release of our first EP and Grow Up, Dude. I want to say a good year and a half of that was spent writing the record, and the last 4-5 months was spent recording and mixing. We would write songs until we were completely happy with them, and then we would tear them down and rebuild them with our scene dad, Derek Perry. We owe him a lot of credit for how that record turned out. Your video for “Terry V. Tori” was pretty weird. Could you explain that video for us? Did you enjoy filming it? Tim: WHATS SO WEIRD ABOUT A BUFFALO BEING THROWN OFF THE WALL AND THEN COMING TO LIFE AND THEN CHASING A GIRL AROUND A HOUSE WHILE ALSO MAKING OUT WITH A DUDE IN A BED AND THEN ENJOYING SOME HARMLESS ROCK & ROLL? The answer is yes, filming it was quite fun. Mostly because the keg at the beginning of the video was not a prop; that was real beer. You’ve got a split with Fake Problems coming soon, right? Are you excited for it coming out? Would you like to talk us through how it came about? Tanner: Yes. Definitely. That split came out of nowhere, which pretty much makes no sense. Fake Problems have been our close friends since this band started, so I guess it got to the point where we all were asking ourselves why we haven’t done something like this before.   You guys are signed to Topshelf Records. How are they to work with? Are you glad you signed to them? Tanner: It’s hard to even consider it “working” with them. They’ve been friends even before we signed with them. It’s more or less just a series of poop jokes with business sprinkled in. I can’t really imagine a better working relationship. Very, very glad we’re on their roster.   So you’ve just come back off tour with Dikembe this month. How was it? Who and What were the highlights of the tour? Tanner: As far as tours go, it was flawless. I’d say ¾ of the shows were an absolute success, and even when they weren’t, we still had a lot of fun. I think the easy highlight of the tour is our New Years Eve show in Philadelphia. The underdog highlights of the tour were snowball fights. We’re from Florida. We don’t know what those are. Do you have any plans to come over to the UK anytime soon? Tim: We have had multiple plans to. Pretty much every chance we’ve had to tour in the past year, the UK has been plan A, but it’s fallen through every single time for some odd reasons. Scheduling and budgeting has had a lot to do with it too, though. We’re itching to get out there though.   This is your chance to recommend any bands/labels/artists/zines that you might like to share… All: You’ll Live, Kit Fisto, Ex-Breathers, Echo Base, Send Away Stranger, Super Mutant, and Direct Effect.  Ok, so last question. If you could tour with any 4 bands to any 4 places. Who, Where and Why? All: Japan w/ This Town Needs Guns, Midwest/West with Braid, anywhere with Minus the Bear, literally nowhere with Empire! Empire!. Because besides the last one, we’re generally just fan boys that can play instruments. Thanks guys! I wish you all the best in all your future endevours (& I’ll be hoping one of those is a UK tour). You Blew It!: Facebook & Bandcamp

I’ve been so so excited for this interview like a little fanboy + I found out a great reason why they’re called You Blew It! Here it is & Thanks for reading if you chose to! xx

Hey You Blew It!, How’s it hanging?

Tanner: I actually noticed that it was legitimately hanging a little bit to the left the other day. It’s never really had a directional preference before, so I think this is kind of a big step for me and for us as a band.


Would you guys like to introduce yourselves and explain each of your roles in the band?
Tanner: Guitar/Vocals

Tim: Drums/Yuengling

Andy: Guitar/Vocals

Nick: Bass.

Trevor: Plays guitar too.

How did you guys first form You Blew It!? and who came up with the name?

Tim: The band was mostly formed in a garage; but then the neighbors thought it was too loud so we moved to a bedroom and wrote quieter music. As for the band name, we can thank Corey Taylor #8 from Slipknot. To quote from their critically acclaimed smash success “People=Shit”, They never told me the failure I was meant to be. Now. Overdo it - don’t tell me you blew it, Stop your bitchin’ and fight your way through it!


So your debut full length “Grow Up, Dude” came out April last year. How do you feel people received that release? Are you guys proud of it?

Andy: The writing and recording process for Grow Up, Dude was interesting. We had some members of the band come and go during the writing process, so I think that contributed to the variety of songs that are on the record. Throughout it all, though, I feel like Tanner and I got in this groove where we were really meshing well and writing more mature songs than our previous release. As far as recording the album goes, it was all over the place, literally; We recorded vocals in Tanner’s bedroom, and all of the instrumentation was done with our good friend Derek Perry down in Naples. Because of work and school, we were driving down there on weekends and recording from early in the morning til 2:00 AM each night. It was a little rushed, because we had to snag whatever free time Derek had when he wasn’t touring with Fake Problems. Despite the time constraints, I think we walked away with something we are all very proud of calling our own. The reception has been excellent. Really mind blowing. I [Andy] wasn’t a part of the writing of GUD, so it’s difficult to say I feel much pride towards it. It feels great to say my friends recorded such a kickass album, though (I can say that as a fan).


Could you talk about the writing and recording processes for that release?

Tanner: It was pretty lengthy. Thorough too. I guess those words are interchangeable when you’re in a band though. There was something like a 2-year gap in between the release of our first EP and Grow Up, Dude. I want to say a good year and a half of that was spent writing the record, and the last 4-5 months was spent recording and mixing. We would write songs until we were completely happy with them, and then we would tear them down and rebuild them with our scene dad, Derek Perry. We owe him a lot of credit for how that record turned out.

Your video for “Terry V. Tori” was pretty weird. Could you explain that video for us? Did you enjoy filming it?

Tim: WHATS SO WEIRD ABOUT A BUFFALO BEING THROWN OFF THE WALL AND THEN COMING TO LIFE AND THEN CHASING A GIRL AROUND A HOUSE WHILE ALSO MAKING OUT WITH A DUDE IN A BED AND THEN ENJOYING SOME HARMLESS ROCK & ROLL? The answer is yes, filming it was quite fun. Mostly because the keg at the beginning of the video was not a prop; that was real beer.


You’ve got a split with Fake Problems coming soon, right? Are you excited for it coming out? Would you like to talk us through how it came about?

Tanner: Yes. Definitely. That split came out of nowhere, which pretty much makes no sense. Fake Problems have been our close friends since this band started, so I guess it got to the point where we all were asking ourselves why we haven’t done something like this before.

 

You guys are signed to Topshelf Records. How are they to work with? Are you glad you signed to them?

Tanner: It’s hard to even consider it “working” with them. They’ve been friends even before we signed with them. It’s more or less just a series of poop jokes with business sprinkled in. I can’t really imagine a better working relationship. Very, very glad we’re on their roster.

 

So you’ve just come back off tour with Dikembe this month. How was it? Who and What were the highlights of the tour?

Tanner: As far as tours go, it was flawless. I’d say ¾ of the shows were an absolute success, and even when they weren’t, we still had a lot of fun. I think the easy highlight of the tour is our New Years Eve show in Philadelphia. The underdog highlights of the tour were snowball fights. We’re from Florida. We don’t know what those are.


Do you have any plans to come over to the UK anytime soon?

Tim: We have had multiple plans to. Pretty much every chance we’ve had to tour in the past year, the UK has been plan A, but it’s fallen through every single time for some odd reasons. Scheduling and budgeting has had a lot to do with it too, though. We’re itching to get out there though.

 

This is your chance to recommend any bands/labels/artists/zines that you might like to share…

All: You’ll Live, Kit Fisto, Ex-Breathers, Echo Base, Send Away Stranger, Super Mutant, and Direct Effect. 


Ok, so last question. If you could tour with any 4 bands to any 4 places. Who, Where and Why?

All: Japan w/ This Town Needs Guns, Midwest/West with Braid, anywhere with Minus the Bear, literally nowhere with Empire! Empire!. Because besides the last one, we’re generally just fan boys that can play instruments.

Thanks guys! I wish you all the best in all your future endevours (& I’ll be hoping one of those is a UK tour).

You Blew It!: Facebook & Bandcamp

WOLF TOWN DIY. So, around where I live (Lincoln, UK) there isn’t much going on in the way of great music at the moment. However, one/one & a half hours down the road there’s something great happening. WOLF TOWN DIY is a collective of people who put on shows, release records & are genuinely nice dudes. I don’t usually do pieces about my opinion on things unless it’s a review, nevertheless these guys deserve more credit than they are shown. Forged together from various labels including “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking” & “Quiet City Recs” Wolf Town DIY is a glimpse of hope in a pretty thick cloud of nothing for the Midlands. These two labels were based in “Wolf Town” or better known as Wolverhampton & the same with their new collective however with the combined know-how & brains of all the guys they’re making something far more likely to make an impact. Basically, what made me want to write this is the fact that they’ve given my band so much push, through way of shows & even offering us to do a split with one of their own bands “Wrestling”. They went on to release this split on tape & it has gotten us many a like on facebook. Then they topped themselves, asking us to play with the likes of Dowsing, Annabel & other fantastic emo bands in Birmingham, UK. While people might not think much of this. For us it’s crazy & I know I speak on behalf of most people that they’ve been involved with when I say that they’re great guys that just want to see/hear new music. I know that they’re not the only guys doing it in the UK. I mean, you have Tommy from Z&NH in London, the guys at Tye Die Tapes in Sheffield & Hashim at Hawkchild DIY in Scotland who are all doing amazing jobs but it seems like us in the midlands have found our beacon. So, this is where I only have one thing to say at the end of this super soppy post. Thanks WOLF TOWN DIY. Keep it up. WOLF TOWN DIY: Bandcamp , Limited Run & Facebook

WOLF TOWN DIY.


So, around where I live (Lincoln, UK) there isn’t much going on in the way of great music at the moment. However, one/one & a half hours down the road there’s something great happening. WOLF TOWN DIY is a collective of people who put on shows, release records & are genuinely nice dudes.

I don’t usually do pieces about my opinion on things unless it’s a review, nevertheless these guys deserve more credit than they are shown. Forged together from various labels including “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking” & “Quiet City Recs” Wolf Town DIY is a glimpse of hope in a pretty thick cloud of nothing for the Midlands. These two labels were based in “Wolf Town” or better known as Wolverhampton & the same with their new collective however with the combined know-how & brains of all the guys they’re making something far more likely to make an impact.

Basically, what made me want to write this is the fact that they’ve given my band so much push, through way of shows & even offering us to do a split with one of their own bands “Wrestling”. They went on to release this split on tape & it has gotten us many a like on facebook. Then they topped themselves, asking us to play with the likes of Dowsing, Annabel & other fantastic emo bands in Birmingham, UK. While people might not think much of this. For us it’s crazy & I know I speak on behalf of most people that they’ve been involved with when I say that they’re great guys that just want to see/hear new music.

I know that they’re not the only guys doing it in the UK. I mean, you have Tommy from Z&NH in London, the guys at Tye Die Tapes in Sheffield & Hashim at Hawkchild DIY in Scotland who are all doing amazing jobs but it seems like us in the midlands have found our beacon.

So, this is where I only have one thing to say at the end of this super soppy post. Thanks WOLF TOWN DIY. Keep it up.

WOLF TOWN DIY: Bandcamp , Limited Run & Facebook

Capillaries by Without Maps Review: If you asked me if I liked Without Maps before I listened to this? I would have said yes. If you asked me what I would improve about Without Maps? It would be the fact they didn’t have enough material for me to properly get into them. However, now my problems with the Nottingham 4-piece have been solved with their debut record, “Capillaries”. All the way through this record, while listening to it, all I could think was that this band could feature on that “New Roars On The Block” 7” compilation that Holy Roar brought out a while back. It had bands like Easy Hips & Le Swing on it. Pretty frantic guitar work with fast, slightly jilted drums was its message and I get the same feel from these guys. I might get slated for this, but I also feel a Blakfish/At The Drive-In cross over in the mix as well  Perhaps it’s the vocal phrasing or the guitar tone however, I really get that vibe from this. Ok so, the opening track Blood Songs opens with 3 vocalists shouting in a call & response fashion, then it begins. The endless assault of trebly singled note guitar riffs & super catchy vocal lines, that make me want to partly dance & partly shake my fist. The 4th track on the record is the one that I’d heard before as they had a video for it way before this is due to come out & it was also on an old EP just like Moving Out (another track on the album).  The track is called JCVD & is probably one of my favourites on the record due to it being short, fast & straight to the point. I feel like that’s exactly what Without Maps do well. The single for this release is Naked Light, which is very Cap’n’Jazz but full of British lads shouting. Also while being very frantic it manages to keep a tune & a catchy one at that! Another perk that this record has is that I feel as if this band takes everything they do very seriously which is a very nice touch & is show somewhat in the actual music itself. It’s fun & quirky, but I can imagine their live shows to be quite intense at that, since listening to this record they’ve been on my list of bands to see as soon as I can get round to it.  It’s strange that I can compare this band to so many others such as Dananananaykroyd, early Shapes, Blakfish etc. although Without Maps give a real & unique experience while listening to their new record. Sure, it might be easy to put them aside with any math/punk band, I really think Capillaries is a great record being put out by Barely Regal Records and the bands own label, 49s v Dolphins Records & is well worth a listen if you like the noodly post-punk side to things as well as fast chaotic music. This record shows that DIY is stronger than ever. You can catch Without Maps on their UK Tour with Bayone this May, however full dates haven’t been confirmed yet. Capillaries is out on CD on the 25th March which you can preorder now at Barely Regal’s bandcamp. All details below. Without Maps: Facebook & Website Barely Regal Records: Facebook & Bandcamp 49’s Vs. Dolphins Records: Facebook & Bandcamp

Capillaries by Without Maps Review:

If you asked me if I liked Without Maps before I listened to this? I would have said yes. If you asked me what I would improve about Without Maps? It would be the fact they didn’t have enough material for me to properly get into them. However, now my problems with the Nottingham 4-piece have been solved with their debut record, “Capillaries”.

All the way through this record, while listening to it, all I could think was that this band could feature on that “New Roars On The Block” 7” compilation that Holy Roar brought out a while back. It had bands like Easy Hips & Le Swing on it. Pretty frantic guitar work with fast, slightly jilted drums was its message and I get the same feel from these guys. I might get slated for this, but I also feel a Blakfish/At The Drive-In cross over in the mix as well  Perhaps it’s the vocal phrasing or the guitar tone however, I really get that vibe from this.

Ok so, the opening track Blood Songs opens with 3 vocalists shouting in a call & response fashion, then it begins. The endless assault of trebly singled note guitar riffs & super catchy vocal lines, that make me want to partly dance & partly shake my fist. The 4th track on the record is the one that I’d heard before as they had a video for it way before this is due to come out & it was also on an old EP just like Moving Out (another track on the album).  The track is called JCVD & is probably one of my favourites on the record due to it being short, fast & straight to the point. I feel like that’s exactly what Without Maps do well. The single for this release is Naked Light, which is very Cap’n’Jazz but full of British lads shouting. Also while being very frantic it manages to keep a tune & a catchy one at that!

Another perk that this record has is that I feel as if this band takes everything they do very seriously which is a very nice touch & is show somewhat in the actual music itself. It’s fun & quirky, but I can imagine their live shows to be quite intense at that, since listening to this record they’ve been on my list of bands to see as soon as I can get round to it. 

It’s strange that I can compare this band to so many others such as Dananananaykroyd, early Shapes, Blakfish etc. although Without Maps give a real & unique experience while listening to their new record. Sure, it might be easy to put them aside with any math/punk band, I really think Capillaries is a great record being put out by Barely Regal Records and the bands own label, 49s v Dolphins Records & is well worth a listen if you like the noodly post-punk side to things as well as fast chaotic music. This record shows that DIY is stronger than ever.

You can catch Without Maps on their UK Tour with Bayone this May, however full dates haven’t been confirmed yet. Capillaries is out on CD on the 25th March which you can preorder now at Barely Regal’s bandcamp. All details below.

Without Maps: Facebook & Website

Barely Regal Records: Facebook & Bandcamp

49’s Vs. Dolphins Records: Facebook & Bandcamp