This is an interview I did with a guy called Danny who runs Frith Street Tattoos in Soho and obsessively collects vintage Levis.
Danny McKelly first became conscious of the lure of denim from staring at the cover of a record sleeve depicting four kids leaning against a brick wall in the Bowery in the late 70’s. The leather jackets and Levi’s that the Ramones adopted became synonymous with Punk, Skinhead and Oi and have proved an enduring legacy within fashion. Having collected both Levi’s and tattoo’s for a considerable part of his life we decided to visit Danny at his Frith Street studio in Soho to ask what it was that continued to fascinate him about denim.
So what initially got you interested in denim and Levis?
I was a young kid, growing up in Clapham who was a bit lost you know? I saw that first Ramones record and that photo of Lou Reed on the front of Transformer and thought, well that’s it right there. Me and my brother went over to Lavender Hill to a place called the J-Stores where they did all the American workwear, Big Ben and Sears and that and it was in there we got our first Levi’s.
So the music heavily influenced the way you dressed?
Yes and no. Initially I suppose yes, but I soon found my own thing and that was a workwear look. DM’s, Donkey Jackets and over-sized Levi’s. When I was young I was into a lot of aggressive music, but you get older and that changes, I listen to anything from the Grails to Sunn O)) now. The way I dress has remained a constant though. I’ve been wearing and collecting Levi’s now for over eighteen years. You see things come and go but they’ll always be there, I know what I like and I’ll always dress like this, it’s part of who I am. Over the years I have built up a pretty big collection of both vintage and re-production denim while always maintaining that similar style, it’ll always be the workwear thing for me.
Have Levi’s always been the brand?
For me yes. I like how they wear, I like how they are cut and I like how they look, they also have a sense of heritage which I like. I’ve always worn ‘em oversized a 38”-40” waist and usually with a turn-up which shows the salvage. I am a collector by nature and I like feeling that I am collecting something that isn’t disposable. In this age of throwaway culture you hold what is personal to you close ‘cos it means something. I’ve stuck with Levi’s for the same reason I collect tattoos: it’s a statement, you know? This is who I am, this is what I do, it’s the industry I’ve chosen to work in, it will always be here forever and I aint going nowhere, it’s the decision I’ve made.
Tuesday 23 January 2007
FLY53 Interviews
Here are some interviews I did for a FLY53 promotional booklet.
THE BLEEPS
There’s only two guys in this band. But a bit like when you listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and try and work out how one dude is making so many noises come out of one guitar The Bleep’s make your head go funny. Although their names sound a bit like a 16th Century French Duke and a Marvel superhero Remy LaMont and Paul Parker play music to make you dance. Over Paul’s frenetic drums Remy simultaneously lays down Hooky bass lines and peeling angular riffs while singing about how he is a Discotek. Like I said it makes your head go funny.
VICE: You make lots of sounds all at once. How do you do that, there’s only two of you?
Paul: It’s all in his guitar mate. It’s top secret. It can go from one to the power of a million just like that.
Remy: Well we used to play in a pretty straight up rock band together called Father of Boon. While we were doing that we had this wicked practice space in a squat on Cable Street. When we weren’t doing Boon stuff I’d just mess around with a drum machine and loads of delays. Just a solo thing, layering sounds.
VICE: How did that develop into a two piece?
Paul: I used to hear him playing all this stuff on his own in the space and naturally as a drummer thought that I’d sound better than a drum machine. Also a drum machine can’t talk and offer feedback. I can give Remy ideas on how to develop tracks. It’s really fun writing together just bouncing ideas off each other.
VICE: How about live? You guys have got a bit of a rep.
Remy: Well we started out developing a lot of the songs just by playing out. We’ve had at least a gig a week since I can remember, at least a year. We get to play with other bands we like too, Tigerforce, Underground Railroad. I think we were sat in a boozer the other day and worked out the only place we’ve not played in Hoxton is Cargo and we’re booked there next month.
Paul: I just love playing live man. A lot of my major influences are people that were special live, Prince man, I’ll stand by that any day, Funkadelic too, put that down, I love them!
VICE: You’ve got a single coming out in January.
Paul: Yeah, Dull Thud, we’re putting it out ourselves. It’ll be on CD with some live performance material on there as well.
Remy: We’ve been working a lot of tracks out live as well and we’ve got enough material for an album now easy, songs that hang together nicely. We’re just after a distributer!
www.myspace.com/thebleeps
THEORETICAL GIRL
Theoretical Girl is not a band. It is Amy Frolic. She writes, records, performs and tours her stark, spiralling, no wave electro-punk poetry music with a singular vision that sounds refreshingly a step apart. Despite featuring on the Digital-Penetration compilation, that the NME claimed ‘defined a genre’, and having a song on the upcoming ‘Future Love Songs’ compilation put out by the equally influential Angular Records Amy remains determined to maintain her vision.
VICE: So, your stuff doesn’t sound like that much else at the moment.
Theoretical Girl: Well, I’ve been doing this now for about a year and a half but I’ve always been tinkering away, making some kind of music. Before Theoretical Girl though the only major other thing I’d done was an all-Girl three piece called Weare6. It was fun at the time but when I stood back it just sounded so derivative. You could hear Erase Erata and The Fire Engines in the songs. I love those bands but I just wanted to do something different, that sounded more unique.
VICE: So, how did you go about chasing something unique?
Theoretical Girl: Well, the first thing I did was stop listening to other peoples music. I haven’t really listened to anything else for about a year and a half.
VICE: Seriously?
Theoretical Girl: Yep. I live alone, in a draughty loft apartment in Muswell Hill, it’s pretty desolate and helps me focus on writing. Just me and Polly, she’s my partner in crime [pulls CD player that is falling apart out of bag].
VICE: What does Polly do?
Theoretical Girl: Well I come up with bass lines and drum parts and any other noises and programme them into an old 8-Track then burn them down onto CD and Polly plays them out for me. I sing and play guitar over them. I’m not really into technology, keeping it simple helps me focus on the song.
VICE: It all works really well live, do you enjoying playing out?
Theoretical Girl: Thank you, err… I used to get really nervous but lately I’ve played some shows I’ve really enjoyed. To be honest I’m far more into writing, just being alone creating. I find it really exciting that I don’t know where the song will go. I’ve got complete control so I can take things apart, change them, put them back together, it’s the biggest thrill, more than playing out I think.
VICE: What about the future? Any plans to get any real humans to keep Polly company?
Theoretical Girl: Well, there’s a girl called Sam who’s a friend who may play some bass and another girl called Anna who used to play in The Ivories who may play some live drums, we’ll see. I’ve also got a single out on Half Machine Records and I’m in the studio soon to put down the next one. I’m also going to Germany in the New Year to tour which is exciting.
www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl
HEADLESS
Headless are four girls who used to hang out in London and liked the idea of being a band. So they started one. Their Myspace references bands like the Banshee’s and Kyuss but listening to latest single Sway their unhinged, intuitive riff driven rock goes beyond pinching from bands they like to create something actually exciting. We met up with the girls in a Morrocan café in Covent Garden where they were nursing post ATP hangovers with mint tea.
VICE: Hello, did you enjoy ATP?
Nell: It was wicked, I watched a Black Witchery live show on the TV channel thing and went on the water slides.
Clare: I got in a fight with Buzz Osbourne but I don’t want to talk about it.
VICE: If you could curate your own festival who would you book?
Chrissie: Us, my side project, Mudhoney, maybe Dino Jr, resurrect Tad and have Electric Wizard headline.
VICE: I think I would go to that. Do you guys adhere to the Electric Wizard school of songwriting?
Chrissie: Well, I like to take mushrooms and read about things that are challenging like Manson and the Family and serial killers but in terms of the actual songs I’m usually pretty straight. I’ll come up with an idea, hear a riff or some space in a song that’ll inspire me and then go to Nell and Clare for bass and drum parts.
Clare: We work on the songs together but you’ve got to remember though that we played our first gig with practically no songs.
VICE: Really, how did that work out for you?
Clare: Well, me and Chrissie had decided we liked the idea of being in a band so we had sort of been mentioning to people that we were in a band despite not really having done anything productive.
Chrissie: We knew the people who ran Club Motherfucker though and they liked the idea so gave us a show. Our first practice was our first show! After about two and a half songs we just screamed and jumped off stage. The crowd loved it though.
Nell: After that we began to practice like crazy as we’d all loved it. We just practiced and played out all the time. There’s so many venues and promoters in London that you can play like every night of the year and just from going out all the time before we were ever a band a lot of the promoters were friends who were willing to put us on.
VICE: How’s things outside of London?
Chrissie: We did the whole Test-Icicles tour which was really cool and we’ve played with loads of bands we love: Trencher, Comanechi, ugh…too many to mention!
Nell: We’d love to go to U.S. though….
Clare: We’ve got another single due out on White Heat in the New Year then a big UK tour around then so a load more shows outside of London, then maybe an album, we’ve got the songs we just need someone who can do it right.
Chrissie: Yeah, we don’t want anyone to fuck it up.
VICE: Then maybe that festival?
COMANECHI
Comanechi play straight up party music. Their live show is sweaty, raw and confrontational and The Gossip love ‘em so much they took them on their recent UK tour. We met up with Akiko who plays drums and sings in the band who is also really excited and happy all the time.
So, how was the tour with The Gossip then?
It was amazing! We were playing sold out venues all over the place, outside of London! We got on really with them, I was promoted to tour fun manager, so I had to make sure there was always a party to go to after the show!
Your live shows tend to have a real party atmosphere, is the live element what you enjoy most about playing in the band?
Well, I love playing live and we always want to challenge the crowd. We don’t want them to forget a show of ours after they leave! But I enjoy everything about being in a band, playing live, recording, collaborating, doing artwork.
You like keeping busy?
Yes, as well as doing Comanechi I play in Pre and we’re talking about doing a band with the guys from Trencher, I think I’ll play keyboard in that. All the records we’ve had out on White Heat I’ve created artwork for and we have a forthcoming split with Crystal Castles on Blood Of The Drash which I’m doing a cover for. I also freelance for graphic design companies and have done a limited line of t-shirts for 679.
Would you say your art background has had an influence on the sound and image of the band?
Yes, yes! Definitely. I see an affinity with current bands like Les Georges Leningrad or Aids Wolf but we are far more influenced in our approach and creative processes by artists than other musicians or bands. People like John Waters, Richard Kern or Kayoi Kusama, I love him, you should check out his dots, they are amazing!
What does the future hold for Comanechi?
Getting out of Dalston! Touring Europe and maybe the U.S.A. The Gossip said they’d love to play with us over there, That would be cool. Just playing and recording and creating, it’s all exciting for me!
www.myspace.com/comanechi
RAT:ATT:AGG
RAT:ATT:AGG sound a bit like the muppets house band playing post-hardcore. Spinning, weird sounds are underpinned with urgent rhythm while Arab On Radar screams jump out all over the place. I saw them play a while ago at the Barfly and the show ended with a load of kids onstage helping break their drums. Considering half the band are on the dole they might have regretted this in the morning. It was the first show I’d enjoyed in ages, total chaos. In other words: really fun. They all have silly names too like Connan.
Hi Connan. How did you end up in such a silly band?
We’ve been together about 6 months. Rory had written a bunch of songs and The Semifinalists asked him to go on a week UK tour before he’d sorted a band, so we met up and practiced for 3hrs on Wednesday night and went on tour Thursday morning. I’d never met anyone else in the band before that day. Luckily we all get on. We’re thinking of all moving in together so we can be like The Monkeys.
You’ve got a record out now but you seem to enjoy the stage…
We fully admit we are in no way the tightest live band out there and that’s not really our aim. Personally I don’t wanna see a band that just replicates what they do on record I wanna see some energy and chaos and unique things happening and that’s what we try to do. We always make songs up on stage, people probably hate it but whatever… I think they are the best bits of the shows. Stuff always gets broken and people fall over break strings knock drums over, I think a lot of the crowd generally don’t get it but the ones that do seem to have a great time.
You maintain a pretty DIY approach to you’re output, are you all punks or something? I know you were in Abandon Ship…
Most of us grew up listening to loads of Punk Rock and Hardcore as well as indie rock stuff so from Swing Kids to Blur really. Everyone is a pretty big Destinys Child fan as well. Rory used to be in some band, Balls or something, Robin was in Bullet Union and Matt still does a punk band called Navajo Code. We sort of take our approach in those bands and try and do something new.
Anything else?
Ummm… We’re gonna write loads more songs, quit our jobs, actually have a proper band practice, go on loads of tours, buy some stuff to keep our equipment in, stop losing really really expensive guitar pedals and get more free stuff.
Thanks
www.myspace.com/rataattagg
LOST PENGUIN
Considering none of Lost Penguin ever wanted to be in a band and they only got together in March to write one good song that people would remember them for (“like Aqua”), they make a thrilling noise. Jarring synth blasts and confrontational boy/girl screams bounce around a chaotic stage show that always seems on the point of collapse but is somehow sustained by a pounding rhythm section. They sound a bit like a load of 5RC bands having fight with a load of Skin Graft bands inside of an Ice Cream Van that’s about to break down. In a good way. We had a chat with Kev and Matt from the band after the soundcheck at the launch party for new single Pleasurewood Kills at The Old Blue Last. Charleigh who shares vocal and ‘machines’ duties with Kev was nowhere to be seen though….
VICE: Hello, where’s Charleigh?
KEV: Err…We’re not sure. She’ll be here for the show though.
VICE: Ok. You’re live sound is pretty chaotic, what instruments do you use?
KEV: Well, Matt’s the only one who can play anything so he writes bass lines and plays them out. Me and Charleigh play keyboards and sing at each other and we used to have a clapped out Yamaha keyboard that we’d just play the demo track’s out of...
VICE: Have you started using something else now?
MATT: Well, we’ve sort of got a bit more professional since we went out to Barcelona to play some shows and we’ve started programming our own beats. We’ve even got Andrew from the Violets playing drums on the b-side to the single.
KEV: My girlfriend always said she’d dump me if I was in a band and she gave me ‘til Christmas to finish all this so I never thought about it as a band past tomorrow y’know? We’ve split up now though so I’ve thought about the songs more. They’re more complex, darker. Not just about my dad being an Ice Cream man like the first record.
VICE: How did you guys end up playing together?
MATT: Well, Charleigh’s from Glasgow I think. She was just always around in New Cross and we decided we wanted to start a band but that it was probably better to have a girl singer. We asked some other people who told us to fuck off but Charleigh was up for it. She leads a pretty mad bohemian life that sort of adds to the general chaos. Which is good.
KEV: Me and Matt knew each other from going to University in Greenwich. It’s a shit Uni for people that didn’t get any grades. ‘Cos of that though it spurred us on to do other things like put on nights and be in bands.
VICE: What else have you been up to outside of the band?
KEV: I love playing live and being in a band but yeah I’ve been doing a lot of other stuff: putting out Toy Pirate which is a fanzine, writing for some magazines, looking after X-Ray Eyes, putting on nights and I’ve just set up a label called Me and My Brother Records. The first release is going to be compilation I’m doing with Mathew !WOWOW! called Bedroom Heroes. It’s going to be bands like us, the Rotters, Look Dancing Boys and these crazy New York people called Dreamburger. Just show people the alternative to what everyone thinks is going on you know?
Busy Boys.
www.myspace.com/wheresmypenguin
THE BLEEPS
There’s only two guys in this band. But a bit like when you listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and try and work out how one dude is making so many noises come out of one guitar The Bleep’s make your head go funny. Although their names sound a bit like a 16th Century French Duke and a Marvel superhero Remy LaMont and Paul Parker play music to make you dance. Over Paul’s frenetic drums Remy simultaneously lays down Hooky bass lines and peeling angular riffs while singing about how he is a Discotek. Like I said it makes your head go funny.
VICE: You make lots of sounds all at once. How do you do that, there’s only two of you?
Paul: It’s all in his guitar mate. It’s top secret. It can go from one to the power of a million just like that.
Remy: Well we used to play in a pretty straight up rock band together called Father of Boon. While we were doing that we had this wicked practice space in a squat on Cable Street. When we weren’t doing Boon stuff I’d just mess around with a drum machine and loads of delays. Just a solo thing, layering sounds.
VICE: How did that develop into a two piece?
Paul: I used to hear him playing all this stuff on his own in the space and naturally as a drummer thought that I’d sound better than a drum machine. Also a drum machine can’t talk and offer feedback. I can give Remy ideas on how to develop tracks. It’s really fun writing together just bouncing ideas off each other.
VICE: How about live? You guys have got a bit of a rep.
Remy: Well we started out developing a lot of the songs just by playing out. We’ve had at least a gig a week since I can remember, at least a year. We get to play with other bands we like too, Tigerforce, Underground Railroad. I think we were sat in a boozer the other day and worked out the only place we’ve not played in Hoxton is Cargo and we’re booked there next month.
Paul: I just love playing live man. A lot of my major influences are people that were special live, Prince man, I’ll stand by that any day, Funkadelic too, put that down, I love them!
VICE: You’ve got a single coming out in January.
Paul: Yeah, Dull Thud, we’re putting it out ourselves. It’ll be on CD with some live performance material on there as well.
Remy: We’ve been working a lot of tracks out live as well and we’ve got enough material for an album now easy, songs that hang together nicely. We’re just after a distributer!
www.myspace.com/thebleeps
THEORETICAL GIRL
Theoretical Girl is not a band. It is Amy Frolic. She writes, records, performs and tours her stark, spiralling, no wave electro-punk poetry music with a singular vision that sounds refreshingly a step apart. Despite featuring on the Digital-Penetration compilation, that the NME claimed ‘defined a genre’, and having a song on the upcoming ‘Future Love Songs’ compilation put out by the equally influential Angular Records Amy remains determined to maintain her vision.
VICE: So, your stuff doesn’t sound like that much else at the moment.
Theoretical Girl: Well, I’ve been doing this now for about a year and a half but I’ve always been tinkering away, making some kind of music. Before Theoretical Girl though the only major other thing I’d done was an all-Girl three piece called Weare6. It was fun at the time but when I stood back it just sounded so derivative. You could hear Erase Erata and The Fire Engines in the songs. I love those bands but I just wanted to do something different, that sounded more unique.
VICE: So, how did you go about chasing something unique?
Theoretical Girl: Well, the first thing I did was stop listening to other peoples music. I haven’t really listened to anything else for about a year and a half.
VICE: Seriously?
Theoretical Girl: Yep. I live alone, in a draughty loft apartment in Muswell Hill, it’s pretty desolate and helps me focus on writing. Just me and Polly, she’s my partner in crime [pulls CD player that is falling apart out of bag].
VICE: What does Polly do?
Theoretical Girl: Well I come up with bass lines and drum parts and any other noises and programme them into an old 8-Track then burn them down onto CD and Polly plays them out for me. I sing and play guitar over them. I’m not really into technology, keeping it simple helps me focus on the song.
VICE: It all works really well live, do you enjoying playing out?
Theoretical Girl: Thank you, err… I used to get really nervous but lately I’ve played some shows I’ve really enjoyed. To be honest I’m far more into writing, just being alone creating. I find it really exciting that I don’t know where the song will go. I’ve got complete control so I can take things apart, change them, put them back together, it’s the biggest thrill, more than playing out I think.
VICE: What about the future? Any plans to get any real humans to keep Polly company?
Theoretical Girl: Well, there’s a girl called Sam who’s a friend who may play some bass and another girl called Anna who used to play in The Ivories who may play some live drums, we’ll see. I’ve also got a single out on Half Machine Records and I’m in the studio soon to put down the next one. I’m also going to Germany in the New Year to tour which is exciting.
www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl
HEADLESS
Headless are four girls who used to hang out in London and liked the idea of being a band. So they started one. Their Myspace references bands like the Banshee’s and Kyuss but listening to latest single Sway their unhinged, intuitive riff driven rock goes beyond pinching from bands they like to create something actually exciting. We met up with the girls in a Morrocan café in Covent Garden where they were nursing post ATP hangovers with mint tea.
VICE: Hello, did you enjoy ATP?
Nell: It was wicked, I watched a Black Witchery live show on the TV channel thing and went on the water slides.
Clare: I got in a fight with Buzz Osbourne but I don’t want to talk about it.
VICE: If you could curate your own festival who would you book?
Chrissie: Us, my side project, Mudhoney, maybe Dino Jr, resurrect Tad and have Electric Wizard headline.
VICE: I think I would go to that. Do you guys adhere to the Electric Wizard school of songwriting?
Chrissie: Well, I like to take mushrooms and read about things that are challenging like Manson and the Family and serial killers but in terms of the actual songs I’m usually pretty straight. I’ll come up with an idea, hear a riff or some space in a song that’ll inspire me and then go to Nell and Clare for bass and drum parts.
Clare: We work on the songs together but you’ve got to remember though that we played our first gig with practically no songs.
VICE: Really, how did that work out for you?
Clare: Well, me and Chrissie had decided we liked the idea of being in a band so we had sort of been mentioning to people that we were in a band despite not really having done anything productive.
Chrissie: We knew the people who ran Club Motherfucker though and they liked the idea so gave us a show. Our first practice was our first show! After about two and a half songs we just screamed and jumped off stage. The crowd loved it though.
Nell: After that we began to practice like crazy as we’d all loved it. We just practiced and played out all the time. There’s so many venues and promoters in London that you can play like every night of the year and just from going out all the time before we were ever a band a lot of the promoters were friends who were willing to put us on.
VICE: How’s things outside of London?
Chrissie: We did the whole Test-Icicles tour which was really cool and we’ve played with loads of bands we love: Trencher, Comanechi, ugh…too many to mention!
Nell: We’d love to go to U.S. though….
Clare: We’ve got another single due out on White Heat in the New Year then a big UK tour around then so a load more shows outside of London, then maybe an album, we’ve got the songs we just need someone who can do it right.
Chrissie: Yeah, we don’t want anyone to fuck it up.
VICE: Then maybe that festival?
COMANECHI
Comanechi play straight up party music. Their live show is sweaty, raw and confrontational and The Gossip love ‘em so much they took them on their recent UK tour. We met up with Akiko who plays drums and sings in the band who is also really excited and happy all the time.
So, how was the tour with The Gossip then?
It was amazing! We were playing sold out venues all over the place, outside of London! We got on really with them, I was promoted to tour fun manager, so I had to make sure there was always a party to go to after the show!
Your live shows tend to have a real party atmosphere, is the live element what you enjoy most about playing in the band?
Well, I love playing live and we always want to challenge the crowd. We don’t want them to forget a show of ours after they leave! But I enjoy everything about being in a band, playing live, recording, collaborating, doing artwork.
You like keeping busy?
Yes, as well as doing Comanechi I play in Pre and we’re talking about doing a band with the guys from Trencher, I think I’ll play keyboard in that. All the records we’ve had out on White Heat I’ve created artwork for and we have a forthcoming split with Crystal Castles on Blood Of The Drash which I’m doing a cover for. I also freelance for graphic design companies and have done a limited line of t-shirts for 679.
Would you say your art background has had an influence on the sound and image of the band?
Yes, yes! Definitely. I see an affinity with current bands like Les Georges Leningrad or Aids Wolf but we are far more influenced in our approach and creative processes by artists than other musicians or bands. People like John Waters, Richard Kern or Kayoi Kusama, I love him, you should check out his dots, they are amazing!
What does the future hold for Comanechi?
Getting out of Dalston! Touring Europe and maybe the U.S.A. The Gossip said they’d love to play with us over there, That would be cool. Just playing and recording and creating, it’s all exciting for me!
www.myspace.com/comanechi
RAT:ATT:AGG
RAT:ATT:AGG sound a bit like the muppets house band playing post-hardcore. Spinning, weird sounds are underpinned with urgent rhythm while Arab On Radar screams jump out all over the place. I saw them play a while ago at the Barfly and the show ended with a load of kids onstage helping break their drums. Considering half the band are on the dole they might have regretted this in the morning. It was the first show I’d enjoyed in ages, total chaos. In other words: really fun. They all have silly names too like Connan.
Hi Connan. How did you end up in such a silly band?
We’ve been together about 6 months. Rory had written a bunch of songs and The Semifinalists asked him to go on a week UK tour before he’d sorted a band, so we met up and practiced for 3hrs on Wednesday night and went on tour Thursday morning. I’d never met anyone else in the band before that day. Luckily we all get on. We’re thinking of all moving in together so we can be like The Monkeys.
You’ve got a record out now but you seem to enjoy the stage…
We fully admit we are in no way the tightest live band out there and that’s not really our aim. Personally I don’t wanna see a band that just replicates what they do on record I wanna see some energy and chaos and unique things happening and that’s what we try to do. We always make songs up on stage, people probably hate it but whatever… I think they are the best bits of the shows. Stuff always gets broken and people fall over break strings knock drums over, I think a lot of the crowd generally don’t get it but the ones that do seem to have a great time.
You maintain a pretty DIY approach to you’re output, are you all punks or something? I know you were in Abandon Ship…
Most of us grew up listening to loads of Punk Rock and Hardcore as well as indie rock stuff so from Swing Kids to Blur really. Everyone is a pretty big Destinys Child fan as well. Rory used to be in some band, Balls or something, Robin was in Bullet Union and Matt still does a punk band called Navajo Code. We sort of take our approach in those bands and try and do something new.
Anything else?
Ummm… We’re gonna write loads more songs, quit our jobs, actually have a proper band practice, go on loads of tours, buy some stuff to keep our equipment in, stop losing really really expensive guitar pedals and get more free stuff.
Thanks
www.myspace.com/rataattagg
LOST PENGUIN
Considering none of Lost Penguin ever wanted to be in a band and they only got together in March to write one good song that people would remember them for (“like Aqua”), they make a thrilling noise. Jarring synth blasts and confrontational boy/girl screams bounce around a chaotic stage show that always seems on the point of collapse but is somehow sustained by a pounding rhythm section. They sound a bit like a load of 5RC bands having fight with a load of Skin Graft bands inside of an Ice Cream Van that’s about to break down. In a good way. We had a chat with Kev and Matt from the band after the soundcheck at the launch party for new single Pleasurewood Kills at The Old Blue Last. Charleigh who shares vocal and ‘machines’ duties with Kev was nowhere to be seen though….
VICE: Hello, where’s Charleigh?
KEV: Err…We’re not sure. She’ll be here for the show though.
VICE: Ok. You’re live sound is pretty chaotic, what instruments do you use?
KEV: Well, Matt’s the only one who can play anything so he writes bass lines and plays them out. Me and Charleigh play keyboards and sing at each other and we used to have a clapped out Yamaha keyboard that we’d just play the demo track’s out of...
VICE: Have you started using something else now?
MATT: Well, we’ve sort of got a bit more professional since we went out to Barcelona to play some shows and we’ve started programming our own beats. We’ve even got Andrew from the Violets playing drums on the b-side to the single.
KEV: My girlfriend always said she’d dump me if I was in a band and she gave me ‘til Christmas to finish all this so I never thought about it as a band past tomorrow y’know? We’ve split up now though so I’ve thought about the songs more. They’re more complex, darker. Not just about my dad being an Ice Cream man like the first record.
VICE: How did you guys end up playing together?
MATT: Well, Charleigh’s from Glasgow I think. She was just always around in New Cross and we decided we wanted to start a band but that it was probably better to have a girl singer. We asked some other people who told us to fuck off but Charleigh was up for it. She leads a pretty mad bohemian life that sort of adds to the general chaos. Which is good.
KEV: Me and Matt knew each other from going to University in Greenwich. It’s a shit Uni for people that didn’t get any grades. ‘Cos of that though it spurred us on to do other things like put on nights and be in bands.
VICE: What else have you been up to outside of the band?
KEV: I love playing live and being in a band but yeah I’ve been doing a lot of other stuff: putting out Toy Pirate which is a fanzine, writing for some magazines, looking after X-Ray Eyes, putting on nights and I’ve just set up a label called Me and My Brother Records. The first release is going to be compilation I’m doing with Mathew !WOWOW! called Bedroom Heroes. It’s going to be bands like us, the Rotters, Look Dancing Boys and these crazy New York people called Dreamburger. Just show people the alternative to what everyone thinks is going on you know?
Busy Boys.
www.myspace.com/wheresmypenguin
Thursday 18 January 2007
January Reviews
Here are some reviews I've written in January. Again, some may be published in Vice. Some may not.
Dub Stories CD/DVD
Discograph/Uncivilized World
7 From Radiohead trooping off stage to One-Drop to a bunch of kids from Croydon revitalising UK urban dance music, something’s up. Dub is in the air again. This documentary argues that from the day King Tubby killed the vocal on the mixing desk at Treasure Isle and created the first version track it never went away. It’s hard to argue, imagine a world without Rhythm & Sound or Basic Channel. Scary eh?
Ballads Of The Book
Chemikal Underground
8 Hello everything that’s great about Scotland encapsulated in an 18 song collaborative collection! Knowing and arch lyrical ballads of heartbreak and booze spoken and sang by everyone from those folky Fence Collective dudes to Ian Rankin and Idlewild. Who wants a guided tour of the 52 states? I’d far rather hear about waifs from Fife, love that destroys and Calvinist preachers.
Grinderman
Grinderman
Mute
6 If you’d asked me what a record involving Warren Ellis, Nick Cave and a couple of Bad Seeds would spit out I’d never of guessed it would sound like an abrasive No-Wave racket that can morph from agitated Beefheart spoken word dirges to bluesified whig outs to moments of stark beauty. Hold on, that’s exactly what I would have thought it would sound like. Yep, it’s another Cave/Bad Seeds record but with another name.
Harmful
7
Koolarrow
1 There is a reason why this band is only big in Germany. If I wanted to listen to middle of the road riff-driven noisy rock that’s done the same thing for a decade I’d put Lungfish on. If I wanted to hear it done well I’d listen to the first couple of Helmet records. No one cares that Billy Gould used to be in Faith No More, Butch Vig once produced Nirvana, he still went on to play in Garbage. They’re so bored of their own music that they’ve even given up naming the albums, “here you go world: your seventh sack of shit”.
Wolf
The Black Flame
Century Media
10 Not sure if I’m meant to enjoy this as much as I do but listening to Wolf makes you feel like you’re at Castle Donnington watching prime-Maiden jamming with Rush and making wank fantasy NWOBHM. Fuck Dragonforce, this album has a song called ‘Steelwinged Savage Reaper’. Incredible.
Conqueror
Jesu
Hydra Head
9 If you don’t know who Justin K Broadrick is you are probably in the wrong place. Bye. Ok, the recent Final stuff was alright and everything if you were in the right mood but this is something else. While Sunn O))) slowly drone themselves into a dead end this towering slab of perfection sounds like the celestial host rising through the clouds and then shitting on Isis and Pelican’s heads from above. Incredible and essential.
DISTANCE
MY DEMONS
PLANET MU
8 Distances debut at FWD in December was like a breath of fresh air amidst the halfsteps and wobbles of a scene that could easily fall into formula. The reason this works where other Dubstep artists have failed in the leap to long player is that it’s not just a collection of 12”s, it sounds like an album. Put it like this: who remembers Molten Beats? Bet you remember Timeless though.
Kill Rock Stars Video Fanzine 3
DVD
10 KRS is one of those ‘major’ indies that just doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong. It’s been about five years since they last did one of these but wow, worth the wait! For your ten quid you get a mix of promos from quirky bands like Hella which you’d never see unless they were here, some awesome live archive footage of bands like Born Against, Men’s Recovery Project and Unwound all of whom are better than pretty much everything else going on now put together as well as some shorts by people like Sadie Shaw and Sarah Reed. There’s even some bits on here by Quix*o*tic and the Decemberists so you can watch it with your girlfriend.
Dub Stories CD/DVD
Discograph/Uncivilized World
7 From Radiohead trooping off stage to One-Drop to a bunch of kids from Croydon revitalising UK urban dance music, something’s up. Dub is in the air again. This documentary argues that from the day King Tubby killed the vocal on the mixing desk at Treasure Isle and created the first version track it never went away. It’s hard to argue, imagine a world without Rhythm & Sound or Basic Channel. Scary eh?
Ballads Of The Book
Chemikal Underground
8 Hello everything that’s great about Scotland encapsulated in an 18 song collaborative collection! Knowing and arch lyrical ballads of heartbreak and booze spoken and sang by everyone from those folky Fence Collective dudes to Ian Rankin and Idlewild. Who wants a guided tour of the 52 states? I’d far rather hear about waifs from Fife, love that destroys and Calvinist preachers.
Grinderman
Grinderman
Mute
6 If you’d asked me what a record involving Warren Ellis, Nick Cave and a couple of Bad Seeds would spit out I’d never of guessed it would sound like an abrasive No-Wave racket that can morph from agitated Beefheart spoken word dirges to bluesified whig outs to moments of stark beauty. Hold on, that’s exactly what I would have thought it would sound like. Yep, it’s another Cave/Bad Seeds record but with another name.
Harmful
7
Koolarrow
1 There is a reason why this band is only big in Germany. If I wanted to listen to middle of the road riff-driven noisy rock that’s done the same thing for a decade I’d put Lungfish on. If I wanted to hear it done well I’d listen to the first couple of Helmet records. No one cares that Billy Gould used to be in Faith No More, Butch Vig once produced Nirvana, he still went on to play in Garbage. They’re so bored of their own music that they’ve even given up naming the albums, “here you go world: your seventh sack of shit”.
Wolf
The Black Flame
Century Media
10 Not sure if I’m meant to enjoy this as much as I do but listening to Wolf makes you feel like you’re at Castle Donnington watching prime-Maiden jamming with Rush and making wank fantasy NWOBHM. Fuck Dragonforce, this album has a song called ‘Steelwinged Savage Reaper’. Incredible.
Conqueror
Jesu
Hydra Head
9 If you don’t know who Justin K Broadrick is you are probably in the wrong place. Bye. Ok, the recent Final stuff was alright and everything if you were in the right mood but this is something else. While Sunn O))) slowly drone themselves into a dead end this towering slab of perfection sounds like the celestial host rising through the clouds and then shitting on Isis and Pelican’s heads from above. Incredible and essential.
DISTANCE
MY DEMONS
PLANET MU
8 Distances debut at FWD in December was like a breath of fresh air amidst the halfsteps and wobbles of a scene that could easily fall into formula. The reason this works where other Dubstep artists have failed in the leap to long player is that it’s not just a collection of 12”s, it sounds like an album. Put it like this: who remembers Molten Beats? Bet you remember Timeless though.
Kill Rock Stars Video Fanzine 3
DVD
10 KRS is one of those ‘major’ indies that just doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong. It’s been about five years since they last did one of these but wow, worth the wait! For your ten quid you get a mix of promos from quirky bands like Hella which you’d never see unless they were here, some awesome live archive footage of bands like Born Against, Men’s Recovery Project and Unwound all of whom are better than pretty much everything else going on now put together as well as some shorts by people like Sadie Shaw and Sarah Reed. There’s even some bits on here by Quix*o*tic and the Decemberists so you can watch it with your girlfriend.
December Reviews
Here are a few reviews I did in December. Some were published in Vice. Some weren't. Who cares?
Wolves In The Throne Room
Diadem Of 12 Stars
Vendelus
9 So all the founders of the Norwegian Black Metal scene who made their music famous by burning down churches and killing gays as well as each other are now out of jail. Instead of making terrifying music they’ve chosen to be in At The Drive In covers bands with Casey Chaos or Motorhead covers bands called ‘I’ while the one that’s still in jail pretends to be the son of a little known Eastern European despot and makes tunes with plastic spoons. Way to go guys. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic some twisted Yanks are feeding off the sheer terror meeted out to them on a daily basis by producing true, grim, black, putrid metal that outsrips even its inspiration. Best Black Metal since Dead To Dreams. And it’s from Washington.
Coki
Tortured/Shattered
Tempa 12”
8 Dubstep is in danger of becoming formulaic. Benga builds wobbles, Skream does arpeggios, Loefah makes slabs of sub-bass and Mala brings the dub. For my money the only producer still switching it up every release is Coki. Whether it’s the vocal anthem of the year (‘Burnin’) or simply the tune of the year (‘Thieves In Da Night’), when Cokestar’s on button you know you’re on for a winner. Man’s sitting on so many sick dubs it’s ridiculous. If you don’t know these two riddems you clearly know nothing about Dubstep and the last fifty words will be as useful to you as Schott’s Misscelany.
Wire
Live At The Roxy London: April 1st & 2nd 1977
Pink Flag
9 The other day I saw Don Letts’ ‘Punk Attitude’. Apart from laughing at how much like a paedophile James Chance now looks it was a bunch of complete shit that Jimmy Carr will have already presented to you on Channel 4. It did however remind me how good Wire are. How many other faggy art school, new-wave bands tore it so hard that Minor Threat covered them? Flex your head.
Brain Dead/Crash The Pose
Split 7”
Force Fed Records
8 Don’t you wish that someone was making band t-shirts as good as Pettiboon right now so you could wear ‘em and rep something that was going on now instead of spending a fortune on e-bay to wander round with that weird puppet dude from My War on your chest? Fear not! Crash The Pose’s t-shirts are kinda Pushead inspired and look so cool I sometimes wear them to bed and Brain Dead have one of Charles Manson but with their logo branded on his forehead. Go by this split from Distro’s. It’s sold out at source.
Townes Van Zandt
Be Here To Love Me
Snapper DVD
10 A long time ago when I went ‘travelling’ I made sure that my first stop was L.A. I’d never been to America nor had I ever really been that bothered going. Seven years ago though Tomato hadn’t re-issued Townes Van Zandt’s back catalogue. When I picked up three of his albums in a record store in Venice Beach the dude behind the counter did one of those whistle’s and said “Jeez, never expected to shift them”. Townes wrote in his High School year book that all he was after was “another tube of glue” and threw himself out of six storey buildings just to see what it felt like. He lived in a trailer and drank whiskey till his body gave out while all the while singing that to live was to fly. If you thought you were big and clever for ‘discovering’ Nick Drake, Townes is gonna rip your soul in two
Wolves In The Throne Room
Diadem Of 12 Stars
Vendelus
9 So all the founders of the Norwegian Black Metal scene who made their music famous by burning down churches and killing gays as well as each other are now out of jail. Instead of making terrifying music they’ve chosen to be in At The Drive In covers bands with Casey Chaos or Motorhead covers bands called ‘I’ while the one that’s still in jail pretends to be the son of a little known Eastern European despot and makes tunes with plastic spoons. Way to go guys. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic some twisted Yanks are feeding off the sheer terror meeted out to them on a daily basis by producing true, grim, black, putrid metal that outsrips even its inspiration. Best Black Metal since Dead To Dreams. And it’s from Washington.
Coki
Tortured/Shattered
Tempa 12”
8 Dubstep is in danger of becoming formulaic. Benga builds wobbles, Skream does arpeggios, Loefah makes slabs of sub-bass and Mala brings the dub. For my money the only producer still switching it up every release is Coki. Whether it’s the vocal anthem of the year (‘Burnin’) or simply the tune of the year (‘Thieves In Da Night’), when Cokestar’s on button you know you’re on for a winner. Man’s sitting on so many sick dubs it’s ridiculous. If you don’t know these two riddems you clearly know nothing about Dubstep and the last fifty words will be as useful to you as Schott’s Misscelany.
Wire
Live At The Roxy London: April 1st & 2nd 1977
Pink Flag
9 The other day I saw Don Letts’ ‘Punk Attitude’. Apart from laughing at how much like a paedophile James Chance now looks it was a bunch of complete shit that Jimmy Carr will have already presented to you on Channel 4. It did however remind me how good Wire are. How many other faggy art school, new-wave bands tore it so hard that Minor Threat covered them? Flex your head.
Brain Dead/Crash The Pose
Split 7”
Force Fed Records
8 Don’t you wish that someone was making band t-shirts as good as Pettiboon right now so you could wear ‘em and rep something that was going on now instead of spending a fortune on e-bay to wander round with that weird puppet dude from My War on your chest? Fear not! Crash The Pose’s t-shirts are kinda Pushead inspired and look so cool I sometimes wear them to bed and Brain Dead have one of Charles Manson but with their logo branded on his forehead. Go by this split from Distro’s. It’s sold out at source.
Townes Van Zandt
Be Here To Love Me
Snapper DVD
10 A long time ago when I went ‘travelling’ I made sure that my first stop was L.A. I’d never been to America nor had I ever really been that bothered going. Seven years ago though Tomato hadn’t re-issued Townes Van Zandt’s back catalogue. When I picked up three of his albums in a record store in Venice Beach the dude behind the counter did one of those whistle’s and said “Jeez, never expected to shift them”. Townes wrote in his High School year book that all he was after was “another tube of glue” and threw himself out of six storey buildings just to see what it felt like. He lived in a trailer and drank whiskey till his body gave out while all the while singing that to live was to fly. If you thought you were big and clever for ‘discovering’ Nick Drake, Townes is gonna rip your soul in two
Big Star Are Big
This is another bit I wrote for the Greenwich Pirate.
Big Star
I was going through my head thinking of bands with the word ‘big’ in their name and I came up with a load: Big Business, Big Black, Big L, Big Bill Broozny…. Then Big Star popped into my head and I immediately knew what I was gonna write about.
Sorry if you found that New Blockaders thing boring, I had to write that like that cos to me those dudes are incredible and ‘big’ in terms of ‘influential’, ‘seminal’ or ‘important’ and I figured not many of you would have heard of them so I got all the facts down and now you can go explore and shit. Maybe you all have first pressings of Changez Les Blockeurs and I’m just a boring, anal, preachy cock.
Whatever.
I want to write about Big Star cos I have a confession. I love Americana. Big choruses, big melodies, big verses, big themes, life, death, your hometown, your family, your gun, your liquor. This is the music that makes my heart soar. I’ve got to admit it: if I had to choose one record to stay with me forever on a desert Island it wouldn’t be Napalm or Burzum as much as I love those dudes to go mental too. It wouldn’t be Lindstrom or Aphex Twin cos if you’re on your own forever you need something that can speak to you and that’s exactly what Americana/Alt-Country/Whatever you wanna call it does. I’m not from the American South but when the Willard Grant Conspiracy or William Elliot Whitmore sing about it I feel some intangible connection with the words and sounds. I bet if you looked at my I-Pod‘s most played tracks it would be Americana.
Hold on, I just did. It’s Jacksonville Skyline by Ryan Adams. Yup.
Americana is a music that critics latched onto in the early 90’s and grew in media-driven popularity until Adams bust the door down and nowadays your Mum probably listens to her Josh Rouse CD she bought at Tesco with the shopping.
Really though this music has been around far longer than that. It marries that timeless American sensibility and concept of folk with a constantly contemporaneous sound. To me Americana is the Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, the Allman Brothers Band Live At The Fillmore East, every damn record Gram Parsons ever cut, it’s The Replacements singing about beer for breakfast, Uncle Tupelo singing about doing the Graveyard shift, Green On Red singing about gas, food and lodging, it’s punk as fuck and it is embodied most purely in Big Star.
Go listen to them.
Big Star
I was going through my head thinking of bands with the word ‘big’ in their name and I came up with a load: Big Business, Big Black, Big L, Big Bill Broozny…. Then Big Star popped into my head and I immediately knew what I was gonna write about.
Sorry if you found that New Blockaders thing boring, I had to write that like that cos to me those dudes are incredible and ‘big’ in terms of ‘influential’, ‘seminal’ or ‘important’ and I figured not many of you would have heard of them so I got all the facts down and now you can go explore and shit. Maybe you all have first pressings of Changez Les Blockeurs and I’m just a boring, anal, preachy cock.
Whatever.
I want to write about Big Star cos I have a confession. I love Americana. Big choruses, big melodies, big verses, big themes, life, death, your hometown, your family, your gun, your liquor. This is the music that makes my heart soar. I’ve got to admit it: if I had to choose one record to stay with me forever on a desert Island it wouldn’t be Napalm or Burzum as much as I love those dudes to go mental too. It wouldn’t be Lindstrom or Aphex Twin cos if you’re on your own forever you need something that can speak to you and that’s exactly what Americana/Alt-Country/Whatever you wanna call it does. I’m not from the American South but when the Willard Grant Conspiracy or William Elliot Whitmore sing about it I feel some intangible connection with the words and sounds. I bet if you looked at my I-Pod‘s most played tracks it would be Americana.
Hold on, I just did. It’s Jacksonville Skyline by Ryan Adams. Yup.
Americana is a music that critics latched onto in the early 90’s and grew in media-driven popularity until Adams bust the door down and nowadays your Mum probably listens to her Josh Rouse CD she bought at Tesco with the shopping.
Really though this music has been around far longer than that. It marries that timeless American sensibility and concept of folk with a constantly contemporaneous sound. To me Americana is the Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, the Allman Brothers Band Live At The Fillmore East, every damn record Gram Parsons ever cut, it’s The Replacements singing about beer for breakfast, Uncle Tupelo singing about doing the Graveyard shift, Green On Red singing about gas, food and lodging, it’s punk as fuck and it is embodied most purely in Big Star.
Go listen to them.
True Rave?
This is something I wrote for www.viceland.com Vice magazine's website.
True-Rave?
So 2006 was the year of the ‘third summer of love’. The mainstream press was flooded with reports of illegal outdoor raves and the NME induced thousands of 16 year olds to turn up to Koko dressed in their parents hi-vis running tops on a Friday night.
Along with the usual references to Trance and its ket-fuelled sibling Psy-Trance there has been considerable coverage of the supposed rebirth of Hardcore. This is of course bollocks. As a single insightful recent feature in a prominent fashion mag pointed out Hardcore has never gone away. Its committed fanbase has filled raves like Moondance and Hardcore Heaven every month since the music’s inception. Slipmatt may have played the Old Blue Last on New Years Eve this year but he’s been bringing in the bells at venues like the Sanctuary for over 15. Despite a dark period in the late nineties, the renaissance, if it is to be accepted that there ever was one, came about at the turn of the Millenium as opposed to midnight on December 31st 2005.
What has passed below the radar is that the influence of this strong but wilfully rigid underground scene has birthed potentially one of the most exciting sub-genres in the ever-evolving flux of UK dancefloor music. Hardcore Breaks would make uncle John Peel throw his copy of Bonkers 14 in the bin if he was still around to hear it.
The first dedicated Hardcore Breaks night, Dance Energy at The Electrowerkz in Islington (http://www.danceenergy.co.uk), regularly showcases music from a raft of new producers such as Enzyme and Malice, Distortionz and Dekoy that can shift from traditional Old Skool euphoria to dark 4/4 bassline stomp to amen tearouts in seconds. Trust me, it makes Bang Face, which occurs upstairs on the same night, seem staid.
The success of tunes like Bad Habits by Portal and Crazy Club by Austin as well as a thriving community at www.hardcorebreaks.co.uk combined with a support network of labels such as Hardcore Projektz, Mert Wax and a revitalised Kniteforce Records has led to the sound reaching far past the confines of London. Producers like Whizzkick in Germany and Screwball in Poland as well as large Hardcore Breaks raves in Spain and Tenerife have led to the UK big boys waking up and taking notice. Both Raindance and Moondance now regularly book the new breed alongside the Dougal’s and Sy’s at the big London raves.
There is currently some discussion within the scene as to whether the sound should be re-named ‘Nu-Rave’ in an attempt to win back the tag from the revisionists. The name is irrelevant but if you attend Dance Energy you will understand that this is a fearless, innovative sound that rightfully deserves it.
Check out Dekoy’s blog for regularly updated mixes www.myspace.com/dekoybreaks
True-Rave?
So 2006 was the year of the ‘third summer of love’. The mainstream press was flooded with reports of illegal outdoor raves and the NME induced thousands of 16 year olds to turn up to Koko dressed in their parents hi-vis running tops on a Friday night.
Along with the usual references to Trance and its ket-fuelled sibling Psy-Trance there has been considerable coverage of the supposed rebirth of Hardcore. This is of course bollocks. As a single insightful recent feature in a prominent fashion mag pointed out Hardcore has never gone away. Its committed fanbase has filled raves like Moondance and Hardcore Heaven every month since the music’s inception. Slipmatt may have played the Old Blue Last on New Years Eve this year but he’s been bringing in the bells at venues like the Sanctuary for over 15. Despite a dark period in the late nineties, the renaissance, if it is to be accepted that there ever was one, came about at the turn of the Millenium as opposed to midnight on December 31st 2005.
What has passed below the radar is that the influence of this strong but wilfully rigid underground scene has birthed potentially one of the most exciting sub-genres in the ever-evolving flux of UK dancefloor music. Hardcore Breaks would make uncle John Peel throw his copy of Bonkers 14 in the bin if he was still around to hear it.
The first dedicated Hardcore Breaks night, Dance Energy at The Electrowerkz in Islington (http://www.danceenergy.co.uk), regularly showcases music from a raft of new producers such as Enzyme and Malice, Distortionz and Dekoy that can shift from traditional Old Skool euphoria to dark 4/4 bassline stomp to amen tearouts in seconds. Trust me, it makes Bang Face, which occurs upstairs on the same night, seem staid.
The success of tunes like Bad Habits by Portal and Crazy Club by Austin as well as a thriving community at www.hardcorebreaks.co.uk combined with a support network of labels such as Hardcore Projektz, Mert Wax and a revitalised Kniteforce Records has led to the sound reaching far past the confines of London. Producers like Whizzkick in Germany and Screwball in Poland as well as large Hardcore Breaks raves in Spain and Tenerife have led to the UK big boys waking up and taking notice. Both Raindance and Moondance now regularly book the new breed alongside the Dougal’s and Sy’s at the big London raves.
There is currently some discussion within the scene as to whether the sound should be re-named ‘Nu-Rave’ in an attempt to win back the tag from the revisionists. The name is irrelevant but if you attend Dance Energy you will understand that this is a fearless, innovative sound that rightfully deserves it.
Check out Dekoy’s blog for regularly updated mixes www.myspace.com/dekoybreaks
The New Blockaders
This is something I wrote for the Greenwich Pirate fanzine.
The New Blockaders Are Big
“We are The New Blockaders. Blockade is resistance. It is our duty to blockade and induce others to Blockade. Anti-books, anti-art, anti-music, anti-clubs, anti-communication. We will make anti-statements about anything and everything. We will make a point of being pointless.”
So read the 1982 manifesto of the New Blockaders. A group who, more than any other, define the essence of true noise music both in art and in act. They have existed for over two decades in complete anonymity but their influence on the current crop of popular crossover noise artists such as Prurient and Wolf Eyes is immeasurable.
Emerging at the beginning of the 1980’s alongside the industrial grind of Throbbing Gristle and the harsh, abrasive power-electronics of Whitehouse the New Blockaders stood out through a purity of vision. Their first record, 1982’s Changez Les Blockeurs, is noise in it’s most rudimentary form: metallic grating sounds and analogue feedback redefined what could be classified as music. Its abstract form and Dadaist construction challenged all that had appeared before. It’s anti-music approach presented a recording closer to the theory-driven work of Einsturzende Neubauten than their supposed contemporaries.
They would appear rarely and when they did it would be in balaclavas. The records would emerge even more infrequently with little information and in tiny runs. No one knows who is, was or has been a New Blockader. The only fact that is clear is that the singular constant in their evolution has been a man named Richard Rupenus who selects artists to work with and anything that is created is released under the banner of the Blockaders with all sense of individuality sacrificed for the end product. Collaborations in recent years with artists such as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the enigmatic Japanese musician Merzbow have bough their anti-sound to a younger and diverse audience.
The Blockaders made a rare, recent live appearance at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in December. They performed alongside The Haters, an American collective of a similar vintage who once released a blank CD that the listener had to “scratch in order hear”. The screed wall of sound created had apparently been in accordance with Rupenus’ simple order to: “go for half an hour as low and loud as you can”. It was one of the most incredible half hours of my life.
The New Blockaders Are Big
“We are The New Blockaders. Blockade is resistance. It is our duty to blockade and induce others to Blockade. Anti-books, anti-art, anti-music, anti-clubs, anti-communication. We will make anti-statements about anything and everything. We will make a point of being pointless.”
So read the 1982 manifesto of the New Blockaders. A group who, more than any other, define the essence of true noise music both in art and in act. They have existed for over two decades in complete anonymity but their influence on the current crop of popular crossover noise artists such as Prurient and Wolf Eyes is immeasurable.
Emerging at the beginning of the 1980’s alongside the industrial grind of Throbbing Gristle and the harsh, abrasive power-electronics of Whitehouse the New Blockaders stood out through a purity of vision. Their first record, 1982’s Changez Les Blockeurs, is noise in it’s most rudimentary form: metallic grating sounds and analogue feedback redefined what could be classified as music. Its abstract form and Dadaist construction challenged all that had appeared before. It’s anti-music approach presented a recording closer to the theory-driven work of Einsturzende Neubauten than their supposed contemporaries.
They would appear rarely and when they did it would be in balaclavas. The records would emerge even more infrequently with little information and in tiny runs. No one knows who is, was or has been a New Blockader. The only fact that is clear is that the singular constant in their evolution has been a man named Richard Rupenus who selects artists to work with and anything that is created is released under the banner of the Blockaders with all sense of individuality sacrificed for the end product. Collaborations in recent years with artists such as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the enigmatic Japanese musician Merzbow have bough their anti-sound to a younger and diverse audience.
The Blockaders made a rare, recent live appearance at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in December. They performed alongside The Haters, an American collective of a similar vintage who once released a blank CD that the listener had to “scratch in order hear”. The screed wall of sound created had apparently been in accordance with Rupenus’ simple order to: “go for half an hour as low and loud as you can”. It was one of the most incredible half hours of my life.
Birds Of Delay
This is an interview I did for Vice magazine.
Birds Of Delay
Luke Younger and Steve Warwick met six years ago at a Trans Am show in London where a shared a love of hardcore and harsh power electronics led to them moving around the country performing together in various outfits but settling as the Birds Of Delay. With a slew of CDR, vinyl and tape releases on labels from John Olson’s American Tapes to Steve’s own Alcoholic Narcolepsy they have played throughout Europe and the US and only had the plug pulled on them once by some irate Dancehall MC’s at a street festival in Copenhagen where they had decided to play an impromptu show on someone’s balcony. Thurston Moore personally apologised in the programme for being unable to book them at last Decembers ATP and their current 7” is an untitled live recording on Nate Young’s Aryan Asshole records.
Seeing as this is the Fashion Issue can I ask why so many noise dudes wear those weird shoes?
What, the boots? Err... I don’t think they all do. Maybe some guys think it’s cool in a perverse way to invert people’s perception of what they should look like. You know, turn up on stage dressed really smart and then create something that is the antithesis of that on stage. Or maybe they just like dressing like that.
Do you think that’s why Whitehouse ditched the trench coats for the D&G belts and stuff?
Well with them, they’ve been doing it all since before anyone really. They completely changed my perception of music and it’s possibilities and the whole way I thought about a lot of things. The whole sense of confrontation is an integral part of their live performance. Changing the way they dress is just another means of fucking with the audiences expectations, taking any sense of a comfort zone away from the people that turn up to see them. They got bottled off at SEOne when they played with Aphex Twin last year so it must still be working. Then on the other end of the scale you have the New Blockaders who basically exist to be anti-everything. No image, no identity just some guys on stage whose faces you can’t even see.
Is your music at all reflected in the way you dress?
No. I don’t really think about how I dress too much. Maybe Steve does. He has a beard and lives in Berlin now though so probably not. I mean some guys, like all the Providence bands, their clothes are kind of an extension of the visual art they produce and I suppose Olson goes in for pretty crazy clothes, he goes for a new look every season. We’re never really sure how our music is going to come out or how we’re going to produce it in the studio or on stage. I’m not bothered what I wear and I suppose the only link is that we’ll make sound with whatever is there, we used to use guitars all the time but I lost mine so I just use cheap keyboards now, pedals, anything. We’d use a guitar if we had one. Do you have one?
www.myspace.com/birdsofdelay
Welcome
Well, after months of deliberation I have finally taken the plunge.
I figured that this would be a good way of archiving any/all of the music writing that I do.
It will principally be record and live reviews with the occasional more general musing.
Sometimes I might write something about something that isn't music.
This is unlikely though.
Some things will hopefully be good, some will inevitably be crap. For better or worse it will all be here though.
Thanks for watching.
I figured that this would be a good way of archiving any/all of the music writing that I do.
It will principally be record and live reviews with the occasional more general musing.
Sometimes I might write something about something that isn't music.
This is unlikely though.
Some things will hopefully be good, some will inevitably be crap. For better or worse it will all be here though.
Thanks for watching.
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