Thursday: Curtain Call

28 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

In 1997, when Thursday left the dark bowels of New Brunswick basements to play venue stages across America, no one tagged them as a band with longevity; not even those behind the instruments. It wasn’t the fact the band vocally deterred fans from buying their EP while onstage, or their tumultuous relationship with Victory Records in the early years, or even frontman Geoff Rickly’s debilitating health issues. Perhaps it could be attributed to the naivety surrounding the six players, and the underground music overturn that Thursday were so heavily a part of.

::VIEW LIVE SHOTS FROM THURSDAY'S SIDEWAVE SHOW IN SYDNEY

Regardless, fifteen years later, after six albums and a plethora of musical merits - which among them count The Buzzcocks and The Cure as peers of the band - Rickly, Tom Keeley, Tim Payne, Tucker Rule, Steve Pedulla and Andrew Everding were, up until November 22 last year, proud owners of a proverbial flip of the bird to any who classed them as a passing product of a dying scene. The announcement of their split may have been placated with a string of US tour dates and an Australian swan song with Soundwave festival, but that didn’t stop any tears for the post-hardcore veterans.

“Brett from Bad Religion, who’s also our label owner, got a little teary eyed when I told him,” says Rickly while in Sydney. “That made me get teary-eyed because he’s one of my heroes. When someone like that tells you he wishes you weren’t breaking up it’s just like ‘ughh’,” he laughs. “Oh man don’t make me cry, don’t make me cry!”

The mood at Thursday’s final live dates sits at the height of the emotional spectrum; fans in the US have expressed their appreciation sans aggressive mosh-pits, with more cries of thanks than for one more song. “It was all tears,” says the New York-native. “The amount of tattoos, stories and notes, people throwing flowers onstage; it was really something.”

Thursday have chosen to keep the reason for the disbanding (surprisingly it was singular) a secret. But he will say it was because of one particular member. “There were personal circumstances from one of our members, that he wasn’t going to be able to do it anymore [sic].”

As Rickly explains, just because the band had proved their endurance doesn’t mean it had gotten easier. His health issues and battle with epilepsy were made public in 2003 when a reaction to his medication while on tour caused months of internal stomach bleeding. It’s unclear whether illness or the fact he made a paltry $10,000 through the band last year - forced to live off funds generated from selling his possessions and working in kitchen stores - contributed to the break up.

“I don’t really want to get into it because I feel like people would be mad at them,” he admits, happy to leave a more positive legacy. “We just talked about whether or not we wanted to be one of those bands that just changes members every year or whether we wanted to be remembered for 15 years of being one band and having one vision. “It just made sense to us. Fifteen years was a good run, everything has to come to an end so let’s make our ending a good ending, rather than a lame one that takes years - with some crummy records thrown in.”

At 33-years-old, Rickly could potentially swing his career in the opposite direction without looking like the lone, mature-aged bookworm at the university library. It’s clear the breakup wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction as most members have already moved onto other projects. Guitarists Keeley and Pedulla are both in television production with Keeley currently casting an upcoming sci-fi film Ender’s Game between recording with the Blackjets. Keyboardist Everding and drummer Rule contribute to multiple acts; Rule’s most recent teaming saw him play the Ellen Show as a session drummer for UK band The Wanted, and Payne has indefinitely put down the bass to play family man. As for Rickly, he’ll continue his work as a philanthropic crusader between freelance writing and a hushed small screen venture with the TV producer who worked on Monk.

“I expect that’s mostly how it will go, each cheering each other on, each checking in on each other because we really do care about each other, actually.” In fact, the only Thursday output we can anticipate will be in exchange for our own charitable actions. “We’re thinking of giving away unreleased material and all you have to do is sign up to a non-profit organisation’s newsletter,” he explains. “Or turning our website into a gateway to get to non-profits.”

Using what has now become an underground players’ blueprint to generate world issue awareness was a natural progression for the six-piece. Their lyrics expounded a search for understanding from the very beginning as their goal was more focused on grasping life itself than the major label dream. “I think us not trying to have a career was such an important part of the band,” says Rickly. “We didn’t set goals for the band, that’s not what we were interested in. After that, it was just about trying to keep up with it.”

‘It’ refers to Thursday’s seminal sophomore Full Collapse, a record as frantic as it is guideless, but Rickly says that was half the appeal. “That’s the record that really changed things for a lot of bands… It was a big turning point in underground music,” he remembers. “People liked it because it sounded so new and there weren’t any bands doing stuff like that before.

“But I think the reason people really cared about it is because we sounded so young and innocent, we didn’t sound like we were trying to win you over, there was something so innocent and unplanned about the whole thing.”

Choosing Thursday over various film and art schools lead to public explorations of mental illness, unforgiving cruelty and the art of empathy; the band’s records and delivery have been mimicked by hundreds since but according to Rickly, their work doesn’t come close to the songs of those who inspired it.

“You never hear your work the way other people do. It still doesn’t touch Fugazi, it still doesn’t touch any of the bands I’ve grown up on but I’m glad so many people love it.”

While the end of Thursday was confounding for some, there is a certain logic to it. The band had come to a point where they had to practise what they preached for so many years, and to continue under a different agenda would only be to dig themselves a plastic grave.

“It’s all about compassion, all of our songs, all of our music, it’s all been aimed at understanding, love,” Rickly muses. “For an aggressive band we have quite a hippy ideal,” he jokes. “But we call them crusties now though. No, just kidding.”

The microphone may have stopped swinging but the aftermath will be just as emblematic of their career’s camaraderie, a legacy Rickly has amicable hopes for. “I hope it’s being transparent, being inspiring, being true to yourself. I hope that’s what people remember Thursday for.”

Live review: Soundwave Festival 2012

                                                                            Photography: Ken Leanfore

27 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Olympic Park, Sydney
February 26, 2012
Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, The Used and the most Australian bands Soundwave has ever offered (five) made up a small portion of the stellar lineup to play under an overcast sky in Sydney yesterday.

Fans in the fluffy leg warmers and fish net crop tops had faith the standout act of the festival would be Slipknot, but most punters had Manson or System Of A Down pegged for the crown. Over a one-and-a-half-hour set, Slipknot took us through a brutal reminder of why they are still one of the most talked about metal acts to come out of the US.
::VIEW OUR LIVE GALLERY

Dressed in the same orange jumpsuits and original masks they wore when they first they first started in 1995. Slipknot played Wait and Bleed, Liberty and Heretic Anthem within the first twenty minutes. For Spit It Out, the eight-piece requested the crowd to sit down, and backed by high hellish flames, Clown screamed “get the fuck up” before the bridge. At one point Sid, Clown and #3 (aka Mr. Picklenose) were all in the mosh with us, bleeding and sweating with their maggots who had supported them for 17 years now. As the groups DJ Sid limped back onstage and the number 2 floated on the screen behind them it was understood there may have only been eight of them but they still held the strength of nine men.

On the same stage before them, Limp Bizkit‘s set was more a humble apology and a bashing of Big Day Out for negligence than nu-metal anarchy. Half way through the set a banner was dropped which read “Jessica” while her father George from side-stage. The whole performance was dedicated to 16-year-old Jessica Mickalik who died at the same venue during Big Day Out 2001. Covering Faith and performing all their most notable tracks sans Break Stuff (the song during which Michalik died), Australia should anticipate another return of the band, as they seem to have made their peace with the country.

Meanwhile over at the metal stages (4a and 4b), Mastodon forwent between-track banter to include as many tracks as possible. The continuous bouncing of the Georgian band’s grey-speckled beards through songs like Capillarian Crest and Spectrelight teamed with the bassist’s sporadic munching on his guitar strings were more than the crowd needed to stay sonically satiated. In fact, the only sentence spoken was at the very end when drummer Brann Dailor approached the front mic and thanked the crowd before inciting a mosh-brawl when he threw his sticks in.

Earlier in the day at Stage 3, pop-rock veterans Unwritten Law and newer band to the genre You Me At Six both offered equally impressive sets. Unwritten Law performed for the first time in the country without long-time guitarist P.K - his heavily tattooed replacement a marked reminder of the argument with frontman Scott Russo that lead to his departure. With just two new tracks performed (Starships and Apocolypse and Nevermind) the four-piece know what’s expected of a festival gig. Russo even tipped his hat to Phil Jamieson when he mentioned their track Up All Night was 'written' while doing drugs with the Grinspoon frontman at a Bondi hotel.

UK band You Me At Six conjured the first proper circle-pit for the day at Stage 3 when they called mostly on third album Sinners Never Sleep. Opening with single Loverboy, frontman Josh Francechi appeared gobsmacked as he spoke of their last festival visit in 2010, which attracted just 500 people. The singer even brought his parents onstage shouting, “give them something to fucking look at!” before the rousing Bite My Tongue.

A Day To Remember, the one band with the genre-crossing epithet brought the same wild energy they encompassed during their 2011 visit but this time each member appealed more svelte. Calling on each of their past four albums, this was one set where instead of foot stomps and intermittent head-bangs the crowd were seen jumping and dancing with the toilet paper the band’s crew had flung at us.

Massachusetts band Four Year Strong were one act that proved just because you make radio-ready singles with heart-on-sleeve lyrics, you don’t have to dress like you do; beer guts and full beards were the front that orchestrated chaos at Stage 3 as crowd members bounced and surfed under large white signs with orders to do otherwise.

The most anticipated act proved the most disappointing for those not fully aware of the apparent genius shock-rocker Marilyn Manson provides. Visually, Manson’s set was appealing, black, wet-look clothing, platform boots and more makeup than all Soundwave’s females put together, this could have easily sat high on the festival’s top three of the day. But his unwillingness to actually err, sing, teamed with the brattish attitude coming from the 43-year-old was disappointing to say the least. After a slurred, short performance poem Manson left the stage, his band looked irked, he wasn’t chanted back on. He did return however, for an almost redeemable performance of Beautiful People; showing he is one of the most talented men in show business when he wants to be.

Back on Stage 3, The Used’s Bert McCracken almost rivalled Manson, proving you can still deliver a vigorous set if you have a drug addiction. The most notable moment came when he asked us to sing him a happy 30th birthday and he scolded a teen for showing her breasts. “Don’t get your titties out, I’ll tell your mum,” he said. “Bring her next time, she’s got bigger ones.”

Afterward, on Stage 6a, British electro-rock band Enter Shikari expertly weaved dubstep through their brand of punk and metal from new album A Flash Flood of Colour. The set’s highlight came with Sorry You’re Not A Winner, which fuelled the hilarious crowd contrast of aggressive thrashing whilst holding glowsticks.

Angels and Airwaves closed the night for fans more inclined to sway their way through the next hour. Through tracks like Call To Arms and Dry Your Eyes, Tom Delonge and friends (with new drummer Ilan Rubin) marketed love and kindness to end a Soundwave that more than lived up to the very highest of expectations.

TMN's top 10 music biographies

28 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell - Marilyn Manson (with Neil Strauss)

At thirteen years old, a young Brian Warner was attending a strict Catholic school and had already contracted crabs. His biographical tome delves into some of his most intricately described memories and experiences, some relevant to his over two decade-long career, some not.

Manson paints himself as everything the public and his most devoted zealots ever wanted him to be. Even if your opinion of him sits on the side of the blame-game government, by chapter five your complete understanding of his character will overslaugh any predispositions.

Slash – Slash (with Anthony Bozza)

This is one recalling which doesn’t require any knowledge of the band the author is a member of. Released just over a month after his addiction-comrade Nikki Sixx released The Heroin Diaries, the legendary axeman offers his recount of the road too often travelled by rock stars hell-bent on escapism. Wild hallucinations, a tag-team affair with rehab and the kind of sexual experiences not even a wet dream could conjure.

The Dirt - Mötley Crüe (with Neil Strauss)

If you ever doubted the band’s tumultuous friendships then here’s The Dirt. The four-piece each write candidly when offering the often-conflicting accounts of the same incidents, hilarious back-stories on the birth of hit singles and honest delineations of both their struggles to begin and to reach each of their hiatuses. Anyone dubious of how frank an autobiography could be when written by all four members should only turn to the penultimate chapter where Vince Neil takes the reader through the death of his four-year-old daughter.

Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis (with Larry Soloman)

Scar Tissue was always going to make this list. The fact the book is currently in the works to become a television series speaks volumes of its international appeal.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman makes all sexual persuasions fall in love with him and recurrently question why as he relays his most grotesquely intimate battles with drug abuse, his Romeo-esque approach to love and a few slightly disappointing muses for some of his most celebrated lyrics.

Scar Tissue also reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list after its release in 2004.

Journals - Kurt Cobain

Clearly not an autobiography (Journals was published nine years after his death) but nevertheless this release deserves a mention for its burying of multivalent interpretations. Complete with illustrations that were the makings of Nirvana album artworks, letters to the likes of Dale Crover from The Melvins and Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees, his lovers (one who he obsessed over with the fervour of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’s protagonist) as well as odes to the misunderstood media - this is one collection that offers more insight into his personal confessions than Charles Cross’ award-winning Heavier Than Heaven biography. With no explanatory preface, Journals is taken on face value, as we endeavour to piece together the complexity that was Cobain.

Interesting fact: Journalists were stopped from printing page 204 in any reviews. The page in question features a torn page from a comic book collaged with a self-portrait sketch. The lyrics "With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us!" are included underneath the word ‘Swingers’ which titles cut-and-pasted text from the Alicia Ostriker poem A Young Woman, A Tree. http://www.jstor.org/pss/20601264

The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star – Nikki Sixx (with Ian Gittins)

Similar to Slash, the Mötley Crüe guitarist has created one of the best deterrents for any naïve fans wishing to emulate their rock star idols. Sixx divulges details of his drug abuse in a way that makes him appear pathetic and spoilt; the piteous portrayal complete with many lyric sheets, photographs and drug-fuelled ramblings is more than what any music lover could hope to expect from their favourite musician.

Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelganger - Neil McCormick

Already made into a film, the 2003 memoir is as hilarious as it is insightful. Weaved throughout endearing moments of a friendship which reached a fork in the road (while mates McCormick and Bono were both in high school bands, U2 went on to reach insurmountable success leaving McCormick bitter and inadequate) is the sweet reminder the two have remained friends. Plus, his failing attempts to compete with the super-group in multiple projects is possibly the best ‘how-not-to’ guidebook for musicians.

Cash - Johnny Cash (with Patrick Carr)

Written in a conversational manner and read with his Southern drawl in mind throughout, Cash may be a follow up to his 1986 novel The Man In Black but unlike most remakes, this second attempt to tell his life story leaves its predecessor looking like a blueprint. Enlisting the help of Country Music Magazine editor Patrick Carr, Cash recounts each hard-earned win and karmic low with immense gratitude.

Freaky Dancin’: Me and the Mondays - Bez (of The Happy Mondays)

Any man who can make both money and a name for himself by dancing like a fiend on drugs (on drugs) and have the word 'maraca' next to his band contribution, deserves a published autobiography. Known as Shaun Ryder’s sidekick, the pair have been tagged as the cause of Factory Records’ demise after indulge in an LSD and heroin spree in the Caribbean instead of recording an album.

The Real Frank Zappa Book - Frank Zappa (with Peter Occhiogrosso)

Putting to bed the ‘I shit onstage in 1973’ rumour within the first chapter, the late Frank Zappa offers laugh-out-loud opinions of his music, the music of those other who shaped the ‘70s and life as he saw it. Instead of convincing you as to why you should pick up this tome, here’s an excerpt: “A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.”

A Day To Remember: Holding it down for the underground

23 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Jeremy McKinnon views A Day To Remember’s career with both gratitude and animosity; as the frontman and linchpin of the band McKinnon has voiced this dichotomy throughout their ascent, which has been as calculated as it is worthy.

“There’s a never-ending bank of stuff to write from. There’s people who continuously try to fuck us over so I’ll continuously have songs to write about them,” he explains. After eight years, four albums, and a myriad of sagacious decisions, McKinnon, along with Joshua Woodard, Neil Westfall, Alex Shelnutt and 2009 recruit Kevin Skaff have achieved rock star status in every sense of the word – they’ve played the Vans Warped Tour’s main stage, achieved commercial success without one lick of a compromise and this week they’ll tour for the second time with Soundwave Festival - but along with fame has come a thick slew of enemies hell-bent and halfhearted.

“Anytime good things are happening there’s always somebody trying to take it from you,” grants McKinnon down the phone line. “We’ve had plenty of that this record cycle.” The beauty of the last album, What Separates Me From You, is its sound hadn’t wavered from that of albums one, two, or three; a coup that could only be managed by a band like A Day To Remember. Weaving pop, punk, hardcore, rock and screamo means a never-ending musical spectrum to draw from; perhaps this is just the reason for the multiple social media pages dedicated to ridiculing them, or perhaps why a certain website creator fibbed about an incident at Bamboozle Festival, or even why they may not release album five through current label, Victory Records. “That’s still up in the air,” the 26-year-old dismisses, before adding, “Well, let’s just say it’s a misunderstanding. We’ll see how it goes.” The band and Victory have been debating a ten month-long lawsuit ever since an initial allegation last May, where the band hired new management and filed a breach of contract against the label for unpaid royalties. The band’s wish to switch labels has been difficult due to Victory biting back with accusations against their loyalty.

A statement from Victory reads: “[It’s] really about the band’s refusal to fulfil their 5-album contractual commitment to Victory and their newfound desire to move to a major label. Recycled and often apocryphal stories of misguided and unsuccessful attempts by a few Victory bands to jump ship from the label that put them on the map have one common truthful thread; they always end badly for the band.”

Despite legal contention, McKinnon takes the bad with the good and channels the rest into profit; just six years ago, tour buses and sold-out shows were merely the aspirations of an adolescent who bussed tables at a Pilot Arby’s restaurant.

“We were playing to thirty to forty kids a night,” he recalls of the early days. “We are a band that really started from nothing and built to where we are right now, so it’s crazy to think back.” A Day To Remember’s storm onto the scene with the most depreciative of ennui soon spawned into one of the greatest climbs into public consciousness the scene has experienced in the last two decades. For McKinnon though, it was all “really no-brainer type stuff.”

“People are just taking themselves too seriously,” he says. “People don’t want to see a band trying to look cool, they want to have a good time.”

From dive bars to entertainment centres, Mckinnon’s vision has changed with the band’s demand. His decision to turn each show into a spectacle is a direct revolt against the arrogance he sees consuming most acts today.

“I see a hole in all music, I see the majority of bands who are still successful all doing the same stuff… When you become successful I feel like most bands just quit, or quit trying to push the envelope. I really feel like that’s the time when you need to push it the most.

“Nobody wants to sit there and watch you look cool for two hours straight, maybe that works for some bands but that’s not the way we go about things,” he states. “That’s why there are the flash-in-the-pan type bands and then you have career bands, all of the career bands you see are actually putting on shows.”

From balloon drops, to synchronised choreography to climbing inside a giant ball and running across the crowd like a hamster on heat, the band endeavour to secure their longevity by taking on the type of productions that ceased in their genre in the ‘80s.

“That’s how it’s gonna be from now on with A Day To Remember, that’s what we want to be known for. I want people to walk away telling everybody, ‘Hey you gotta see this!’” Most of the talk surrounding them now is whether the next release will hold up against its predecessors; whether the genre-hybrid that bode so well since 2005 will still be deemed relevant,however McKinnon assures TMN the album has been over a year in the making.

“This band doesn’t just shut down for three months and write a record,” he says. “We’re writing constantly throughout the year so when it comes time to write a record there’s nothing but good ideas that we love. I don’t understand just rushing into something, this is your career and I care about what I do,” he adds.

One of the only differences in the approach for the next pool of ‘good ideas’ is the tracklisting. “There’s going to be a lot of tracks on this one,” says McKinnon. “It’s not going to be daunting but it’s probably going to be the biggest tracklisting we’ve put together... I actually think it’s going to be the best mix of everything that we’ve ever done.”

So strong is McKinnon’s belief in the band that to him, irrelevant of any army of haters, it’s actually laughable for me to consider there will come a time when his powerful force could ever be stopped.

“There’s never going to be a time when we fail because we can just do whatever we want,” McKinnon says very seriously. “When other bands have to be stuck in one style of music or change their complete style - that’s not us.”

Anna Calvi: Out of the attic

                                                                                 Photography: Kate Garner

14 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Anna Calvi offers one of those rare, beautiful moments in music journalism when speaking with an artist is much like listening to their music. In this London musician’s case, she is as refined and seductively gothic as her eponymous 2011 debut.

Since the release of her album just over a year ago (through EMI’s Domino Records; after Bill Ryder- Jones from The Coral discovered her), Calvi has met the weight of early complimentary press with critical and commercial success. With the debut written and recorded in her parents’ attic over months of reclusive creativity, the now 30-year- old says it wasn’t an easy transition moving from the calm of homebound recording to tour buses and foreign festival stages.

“I did just focus on [recording] and didn’t do much else,” she half whispers. “So it was a bit of a shock to go from that to touring all the time, but it’s been nice to get out and see the world.”

With a degree in music and an understanding of stringed instruments which dates back to 1987, it’s surprising to hear Calvi speak of the label signing as if it’s on par with finding a twenty-cent piece, heads up. “I didn’t have to go ‘round to labels trying to get someone to find me,” she remembers. “I feel lucky that I didn’t have to do that because I think I would have found that really difficult. I don’t think it would be fun for anyone really, it’s not what you want to do as an artist.”

Having just finished touring with the Laneway Festival, Calvi successfully sent Australia’s proverbial jaw to the floor, as she seared feverishly through her spaghetti-western guitar solos with brazen assurance. However, her personal expectations are minute compared to the feted comments from ambient magnate Brian Eno, the Mercury Prize Chair of judges and fashion houses Gucci and Karl Lagerfield; these days her suppositions are similar to those a mother would ingrain before her child’s first school concert. “I do have expectations,” she says. “Just day-to-day expectations. To just sing well and perform well; I always try to do my best.”

If it’s hard to believe her eager hopes stop behind a closed stage curtain, it is only because of extols which have likened her excepted trajectory to Patti Smith’s or her musical intuit to that of Joanna Newsom. “Brian Eno gave me a lot of support and is really positive about my work and that’s a thing that I hold very dear to me,” says Calvi. “I don’t feel pressure, I just felt relieved that someone liked what I was doing, that was the main thing. “I’ve definitely expressed my gratitude; we’re in touch and I let him know how everything’s going.”

Calvi is of course, incredibly humbled, but in her effacing arch she says, “Everyone’s got an opinion and it’s up to the individual who’s opinion matters; but everyone’s got something to say about something and it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.”

The former advocacy from Eno has since blossomed into a friendship of sorts where the now famous Smith comment is now a distant treasured memory.

“It’s really sweet and wonderful that he said that but it’s more just the conversations that we’ve had together about music and about what I’m doing that really mean a great deal to me,” she explains. “He said that it was ‘Full of romance and intelligence,’ and ‘What more could we want from art?’”

Calvi’s relationship with the culture that adores her is complex and ambiguous, but the disconnect is fitting. Years of both classical and contemporary training teamed with her ability to pair sinewy, gothic elements with her charmingly subtle mien have incited both wonderment and a litany of comparisons. Her favourite so far is that of Korean- American singer Susie Suh. “I find it funny because I’ve never heard any of her records and I don’t know any of her songs,” she fusses.

“It’s really bizarre to be compared to someone that you don’t know, that’s kind of funny...I haven’t had a chance to [listen to her music],” she adds. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”

The current buzz surrounding Calvi is focused on album number two, however she remained tight- lipped regarding any details. Besides the fact much of her time since her debut has been spent on tour, the material which has formed is apparently far too embryonic. “Because it’s such early days I don’t feel ready to talk about it yet. But it will be different from my last album,” she says firmly. “It’s still forming in my mind so I don’t feel ready to talk about it to people.”

This month will see Calvi gallivanting across Japan before she returns to London to write new material. With the hysteria that comes akin with touring, a step back into self-elected solitary is just the creative bubble she needs to fuel the merciless fire in her belly. Whether she’ll rent a studio is still undecided but in any case a flight back to the nest is always an option for this songbird. “I know that I can always go back to the attic if I want, which is nice.”

Ten bands worth catching at Soundwave 2012

13 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Forget the headliners, TMN have put together our top picks for punters who don’t mind sacrificing a toilet break or ditching the drink line to catch a band that’s slightly under the radar but well worth your time.

Chimaira

The Ohio sextet are one of the most tenacious bands in classic American metal. 12 years together spawned five albums and some of the most brutally unique live shows the genre has ever seen. Those who caught them in 2010 when they headlined a national tour will know only too well the visual assault awaiting Soundwave attendees.

Attack! Attack!
The Welsh four-piece with the spectacled frontman make their Soundwave debut this month with their dogmatic concoction of surging guitar lines and radio-ready choruses.

Neil Starr (lead vocals, guitar), Will Davies (bass), Ryan Day (guitar, vocals) and Mike Griffiths (drums) released their sophomore effort The Latest Fashion in September 2010 so true zealots will know every single line without any awkward hangs of the head in the parts not remembered verbatim.

Hellyeah

This is one supergroup to catch if your idea of metal is the by-product of that creepy beardo who consistently threatened to commit suicide on his MySpace account.

The Baltimore five-piece started as a side project for members of Pantera, Mudvayne, Damageplan and Nothingface who chased a new path with spirit-lifting hard rock. Hellyeah were first famed for being the band that got drummer Vinnie Paul back behind the kit (in 2004 Paul lost his brother and Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell after he was shot onstage), but now it’s their shows that draw the most attention.

Guitarist Tom Maxwell put it quite nicely when he said: “We want them to walk away saying, ‘We just saw Hellyeah on a Monday night but it felt like a fucking Friday. It’s Tuesday morning, I feel like shit, I’m hungover, I don’t know who this chick is in my bed, and their fucking music is still ringing in my ears’!”

Times Of Grace

Take the old-school aggression from Killswitch Engage, mix in beautifully emotive guitar lines written from a hospital bed and you have New York duo Times Of Grace.

Killswitch’s guitarist Adam Duktiewicz called upon the band’s former vocalist Jesse Leach while recovering from emergency back surgery in 2007. Asking him to sing and write lyrics for the time-killer project resulted in newly-birthed debut The Hymn Of A Broken Man. It’s catchier than their common thread’s releases but still hits you like a punch in the jugular on a Sunday morning. Whether you’re a Killswitch fan or your eyes are seeking a new view, this band is well worth an early rise on Soundwave morning.

Thursday

Whether you spent the noughties listening to the seminal post-punk from Thursday or you just see Understanding In A Car Crash as a guilty pleasure, if you don’t catch their set this Soundwave or at their sideshow with Circa Survive, you’ll never see them live again. After thirteen years and six albums the New Jersey outfit are calling it quits.

Dream On Dreamer

The Melbourne six-piece have done well to follow in the footsteps of fellow Australian band the Amity Affliction; their take on post-hardcore weaved with keyboard synths and clean choruses has earned them support tours with the likes of Emmure, Deez Nuts and more recently Avenged Sevenfold. Anticipate a tight set from these boys for it’s their live shows that are now turning heads.

Steel Panther

It’s not an easy feat mixing heavy metal with comedy, but these spandex-donning sleazeballs are set to cover the best in hair metal as well as a few even more ridiculous originals.

Onstage strippers, harnessed crowd surfing and Spinal Tap-esque hair-metal solos will make for one of the most visually satiating performances of the day. Steer clear if you’re feeling sensitive however, Steel Panther will most definitely pull out a few sly digs at Aussie culture – but mockery is the highest form of flattery in this case.

You Me At Six

Meeting the demands of their Australian pop-punk-loving fans, You Me At Six have been taking regular sojourns from their hometown of Surrey for years now. Their latest album Sinners Never Sleep made our very own top 30 in the charts and their single Loverboy has been a mainstay on Radar Radio since its October release. Seamless vocals, lyrics sans world issues and pure, early post-hardcore riffs will make for one of the most fun 40 minutes of your afternoon.

Circa Survive

Circa Survive were backed by blind faith from the very beginning; signed to Atlantic Records before they had even played a show, the Pennsylvanian quintet have since proved the risk’s payoff tenfold.

Beginning as a project of revolt to the major label corporations, Saosin’s Anthony Green was bound for the Universal Music offices to ink a record deal when he decided to take a less commercial route.

Touring their psychedelic prog-rock with the likes of Vans Warped Tour and Coachella, Circa Survive now have four albums and hundreds of shows under their belt; all whilst sticking it to the proverbial man. This is one band worth a look in if only to applaud them for their integrity, oh, and to thank them for not choosing previously rejected band name Cicada Survive. 

Enter Shikari

This English four-piece come in handy for that time in the day when you want to mix metal, dubstep and your anti-government aggression (around 9ish). Set to premiere new tracks from forthcoming album A Flash Flood Of Colour, this band is opinionated, destructive and ear-drum destroying; what more could you want from a band while you inhale a dirty slice of over-priced pizza in the dark?

 

 

Live Review: Incubus

                                                        Photo credit: Ken Leanfore

06 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Friday February 3
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW

Whether Sydney fans bought tickets to a sold out Hordern Pavilion in the hopes of a wistful Incubus set list or simply for a chance to catch frontman Brandon Boyd in the flesh, Friday night’s performance sated fans from both ends of the spectrum.

Boyd held his vintage-style mic in a way that made it disappear inside his fists, while guitarist Mike Einziger, keyboardist/DJ Chris Kilmore, bassist Ben Kenney and drummer Jose Pasilas seared into the anarchy of A Crow Left of the Murder single Megalomaniac. Through a powerful Pardon Me, and new track Adolescents, Boyd performed like the 24-year-old who jolted about the Big Day Out main stage twelve years ago. Kenney held his guitar high on his chest and during Kilmore’s indulgent interlude for the title track of If Not Now, When? he offered quirky side steps and foot stomps. Over the band’s more than two-decade career, their alt-rock has remained mostly unchanged, much like their variegated appearances and influences.

Eight tracks in and Boyd finally greets his minions. “Hey, how we doing so far boys and girls?” he says before Talk Shows On Mute. You don’t attend an Incubus gig for between-track banter; his impressive rap styling on the bongos during Vitamin and his zombie walk (with his shirt over his head) before In The Company Of Wolves were enough to let the set breathe.

2006 Light Grenades track A Kiss To Send Us Off saw Boyd placate the crowd with his now ritualistic shirt removal; some fans followed his lead as bras flew onstage. The ingenious weaving of The Doors’ Riders On The Storm with Are You In? not only cemented talk of the ‘70s psych-rockers influence but also tied in beautifully with the dark, soaring track.

During Nice To Know You, an over-zealous crowd member managed to jump the barricade onto the stage, but that’s as far as he got as three beefy security guards dragged his skinny frame offstage, marking the only fail of the night.

The band’s breakout tracks Drive and Wish You Were Here were saved for last, with Einziger tucking in his chin for a Drive guitar solo (which the crowd cheered audibly over) and Boyd introducing a maraca, which was discarded before the second chorus in Wish You Were Here.

The unsurprising encore came complete with three surprises: The Original, Magic Medicine and fan-favourite A Certain Shade of Green. The step back into early-work was more than just a welcome time warp; Incubus may now be a seasoned, more mature band in every way but they hold the same arduous fire in their chiselled bellies that stopped us in our tracks two decades ago.

Chimes Of Freedom: TMN's top 10

Chimes Of Freedom: TMN's top 10

02 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

In reviewing the over-80 artists who contributed to Amnesty International’s Bob Dylan tribute compilation, TMN may run the risk of boring our readers or at least taking up their full lunch hour. Although Chimes Of Freedom’s variegated 75-strong tracklisting is as worthy as it is surprising we have instead decided to offer our top 10 (in no particular order or preference).

Seal & Jeff Beck – Like A Rolling Stone
This is what happens when you team one vocal heavyweight with one of the finest guitar masters of our time and offer up your first born for it to work. Bringing the 1965 track down a tempo, Seal holds back his vocal adeptness while Beck offers up multiple backing sounds with plucking perfection. The pair have turned a track about the crash and fall of a high society debutante into a feel good song filled with effervescent bursts; vocals and guitar lines dance with each other as if Beck is a second harmonising vocalist.

Dave Matthews Band – All Along the Watchtower
The Charlottesville rockers have been perfecting their version of Dylan’s 1967 hit since they performed it at the ’99 Woodstock; perhaps this is why it’s been included as one of the few live covers, as the four-piece prove they haven’t lost any of the earnest collegiate-grunge they represented so well in the ‘90s, and throughout their multiple versions of the song.

Dave Matthews’ slight yodelling and hoarse yells are more lusty than Dylan’s folk-hued tone but that’s precisely what makes the track so intense; direct imitation is considered naff here and the Dave Matthews Band have varnished the track with their trademark bluegrass sound whilst still bowing down to the legend that is Dylan.

K’NAAN – With God On Our Side

The Somalian hip hop artist’s cover may be one of the most brief, but how sweet it is to prove Dylan’s longevity and relevance with this reinvigorated play on his words and integrated funk.

Ke$ha – Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
If there were ever a Bob Dylan cover artist to anger his disciples it would be the insincere 24-year-old who has marked her career with trash-pop ditties. But as she sings the track through tears and strained articulation, Ke$ha’s amicable delivery teaches us to keep our minds open. In an interview, Ke$ha said the song choice was “tragically relevant”; she used her transition from pedestrian to superstar to relate to the track about a lover’s farewell.

She presents one of the biggest jaw droppers due to the newfound respect 21st century pop haters should now offer the singer, whose usual stimulus stems from drunken nights and boyfriends who won’t go to the ‘bum zone’ with her; a much-needed awakening for both sides of the fence.

Miley Cyrus – You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Perhaps the second most-welcome surprise comes in the choice to include 19-year-old Disney-star-turned-pop-singer, Miley Cyrus. For anyone who managed to forget her father Billy Ray’s mulleted boot-scooter Achy Breaky Heart, here lays a sweet reminder that not all influences are wasted in ill-opted mimicry. From Hannah Montana to pure, lilting lyricist, the one track that could scare Dylan zealots away may be the one to keep them hooked further.

Sinéad O’Connor – Property Of Jesus
Taken from Dylan’s 1981 record Shot Of Love, the Irish singer gets righteous as she brings her effortless tone to a rarely used, almost-shout. This cover is an idoneous fit for O’Connor as she wrote of the honour in her online blog in the section entitled Letters To Bob Dylan.

“…You believed in Jesus. And consequently, as a child when I was ordered to lie naked on my back and open my body wide on floors, to be stamped on, your voice would come to my mind ‘God don’t make promises that he don’t keep’.”

Rise Against – Ballad of Hollis Brown
It would have been easy for the post-hardcore band to call upon experience and churn the Ballad of Hollis Brown through the punk cogs to offer up a hard, fast rendition, but the quartet clearly revelled in this challenge. Veering into folk territory and pushing boundaries well outside their comfort zone, this eleven verse ballad without a chorus couldn’t have been more against-type for Rise Against, but by keeping the content and delivery dark and implementing a few nods to Sonic Youth, the Chicago band have recorded the most eruptive track in the collection; one which has not only done the song justice but which will reposition them in the minds of post-hardcore sceptics.

Adele – Make You Feel My Love
Recorded live at WXPN, this version was made famous in 2008 when after a recommendation from manager Jonathan Dickins, Adele included the track in her debut, #19. Her worldwide success since has been based on her impeccable ability to command a room with just her voice and a piano. This stripped back rendition is as touching and believable as the original.

Mariachi El Bronx – Love Sick
The Bronx’s side project have ditched their hardcore acoustic ethos for an even bigger oxymoronic number. The LA band’s version of Love Sick comes complete with Texan tinges and Mexican horns and strings. One of the more recent tracks from the Dylan catalogue (released in 1997) Mariachi El Bronx still managed to take Love Sick that notch further, stamping their trademark punk instrumentals and traditional Mexican influence throughout the track for a reinvention as honoured as it is relevant.

The Gaslight Anthem – Changing of the Guards
Most renowned for their blatantly proud similarities to Bruce Springsteen, the New Jersey band take on Changing of the Guards with an invigorated groove. The choice to affix an addition riff could have come across grandeur-seeking but instead provides a bridge from their Spingsteen-Americana to Street Legal-era Dylan.

Dylan waived the publishing rights to his entire catalogue, while all artists, musicians, engineers, producers and others involved in the recording worked for pro bono. In other words, don't pirate this record.

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honouring 50 Years of Amnesty International is available internationally now.

Big Day Out 2012: Sydney

                                                                        Photo credit: Ken Leanfore

27 January 2012

by Poppy Reid

For a day that was picked to be shadowed by dark clouds and intermittent rain, Big Day Out Sydney hosted a fair few sunburnt schnozzes and Southern Cross tattoos. Although this reviewer didn’t personally catch Byron hardcore band Parkway Drive, they deserve a mention for the buzz that followed their fans from the Blue Stage where they performed to The Amity Affliction’s set at Essential Stage.

“You should have seen it!” said one zealot. “This one guy came out of the pit with his bone sticking out of his leg.” Clearly their absence spent touring the UK and Europe did nothing to dilute their strong, raucous, native fanbase.

Onlookers over at the Essential Stage couldn’t have regretted their wares more as their sweat soaked through the wardrobe choices from the darker end of the colour spectrum. Opening with popular single I Hate Hartley the crowd was hesitant to meet the energy lead by frontmen Joel Birch and Ahren Stringer, however by third track Dr. Thunder a circle pit was emanating violent responses and a few interesting scissor kicks from one Where’s Wally? advocate. The Sydney sun matched Birch’s aggression and while he admitted he wasn’t the best at between-track banter, the short seven-track set didn’t allow for much more than the precise melodic hardcore they proffered. The breakdown in final track Youngbloods saw the circle deepen as far back as the sound desk. One kid walked out holding his bloodied face as ribbons of red dripped thick through his fingers.

Odd Future’s performance in the Boiler Room stage was marred by sound issues; leader Tyler, The Creator’s microphone was clearly off for most of the set, and the volume settings were all askew, with murky beats and muffled vocals. Still, this didn’t hamper the band’s performance, nor their audience’s spirits. After all, Odd Future are seen by many to be a spectacle first and a musical act second. This early afternoon slot was ill-suited, but ultimately triumphant.

Over in the Hot Produce amphitheatre, King Cannons were expertly on track in their endeavour for a rockabilly-style revival. Their classic, slicked back quiffs and neck-high tattoos matched the mix of rock ‘n’ roll and indie punching out from their beaten guitars. The Auckland six-piece are one of EMI’s most recent golden children but with tracks like Take The Rock, Shoot To Kill and Teenage Dreams all executed with the fervour heard from the band on radio, the hype certainly matches the product. Although the band is still in its embryonic stages, they’ve already undertaken a slight lineup change; it looks as if previous drummer (and lone femme of the group) Lanae Eruera has been demoted to bongo and tambourine enthusiast. The new stickman, Dan McKay was pinched from Tasmanian rock band The Nation Blue and has more than earned his stripes with the kind of percussion you notice well before the obvious anchor tattoo on the bassist and resident tattooist Rob Ting’s forehead.

My Chemical Romance incited questionable dance moves and lyrical faux pas early as crowd members at the Orange Stage were over-zealous in broad daylight with their physical appreciation and Na Na’s for first track Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na). It would only disappoint if frontman Gerard Way didn’t show up with a new hairstyle; this time his theme was orange, his hair was orange, his sunburnt face was blushing with a reddish-yellow hue and he sipped on orange juice the entire set.

After breakout single I’m Not Okay (I Promise), Way proclaimed: “This is going to be the best crowd of the day, it may not be the biggest crowd but it’s going to be the best.”

Later in the New Jersey band’s set, Teenagers saw nostalgic long-time stalwarts dance as if the track was still directed at them; perhaps noticing how many of us had grown up with the band, or more likely just wanting to remind us of their longevity, Way thanked the crowd for sticking around to celebrate the anniversary of their decade together.

Behind us Tony Hawk flew between the sides of the half pipe while closing tracks Famous Last Words and Welcome to The Black Parade sawthe crowd lose all inhibition. A band once associated with the terms ‘emo’ and ‘sell out’ should now be seen as the perspicacious glue that managed to team together the gym junkie with nautical stars brazened down his back, the punkish tween with a Dora the Explorer backpack and the daisy duke-donning stunner in the cut-off wolf tank.

Soundgarden warmed the audience up for Kanye West; that is, if there was any crossover audience for the two acts at all. The juxtaposition between frontman Chris Cornell’s high-pitched, no-nonsense wailing and Kanye West’s overblown-yet-ornate stageshow demonstrates how far along the Big Day Out has come in terms of the breadth and depth of its lineup. The days of this festival being a strictly alternative fare are long gone, and while some may bemoan this change, the majority of punters have welcomed this evolution with open arms. As Kanye started his set from a cherry-picker, flew through two and a half hours of hit singles and treated the entire thing as a Broadway musical, it was apparent why the Big Day Out is a global highlight on the festival calendar. West’s set going overtime meant that a lot of punters missed Noel Gallagher, but there was something entirely appropriate about exiting to the worldbeating sounds of Don’t Look Back In Anger bouncing across Olympic Park Stadium.