My Chemical Romance: A decade under the influence

14 December 2011

by Poppy Reid

Drug addiction, highway accidents, destroyed instruments, a death hoax and a thieving drummer coloured a tumultuous 2011 for My Chemical Romance. But the band’s silent linchpin, Ray Toro – who plays guitar like Randy Rhoads and sports an afro that has multiple fan-founded Facebook accounts – is celebrating. The year that tested their tenacity more than ever is the same year that marks MCR’s decade anniversary.

“We’ve been through some tough stuff this year,” says Toro. “All those things that happened, you can take it either of two ways: you can let it get you down and defeat you, or you can rise up from it. The cool thing with us is that we’ve always risen. We’re still around now and that’s incredible.”

The most recent hurdle was in September during their US tour with Blink 182 when Michael Pedicone – the fill-in for departed drummer Bob Bryar – was kicked out for stealing and trying to frame a crew member. “We were hurt, we were deeply, deeply hurt and that’s all I’ll say on that,” Toro says dismissively. Adamant that MCR will never add another member, Toro says life post-Pedicone has never been better. “I don’t know what it is but for some reason we’ve just had bad luck, and things right now are easier than when it was just the four of us who started [the band].”

Looking back to when the New Jersey four formed in 2001, just one week after the September 11 attacks, they couldn’t be a less similar group now. In fact, each album release since their story-telling 2002 debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love has staged a rebirth where the band has enveloped themselves and their fans in a world of their own making. Since then, MCR have explored the deal with the devil trope (Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge), mortality and the afterlife (The Black Parade), and post- apocalyptic totalitarianism in last year’s most ambitious and meticulously-created record to date, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. This high water mark redefined perceptions and created a fresh rallying output for escape-seeking youths while admonishing their connection with the term ‘emo’.

“It felt like a power cleanser,” he says. “We were saying ‘hey, you know it’s okay to wear colour’. Danger Days opened up what people perceive of us, not only the image but also the intent behind the band.

“Ten years in, I feel the band has proven everything we wanted to prove. When we came out with our first record there were a lot of naysayers, people were very quick to lodge us into a genre and give us a timeline, and a date, and a death sentence, rather than connecting to any musical movement.”

MCR were even accused of having a hand in the death of a thirteen-year-old girl from the UK in 2007, who allegedly joined a suicide cult after becoming obsessed with the band. “I feel like those people have been proven wrong, and very wrong,” says Toro. “Out of the last ten years we’re one of the bands that people didn’t think would stick around, that did stick around rather than decide to call it quits.”

To the band, the story-telling and realm creation bundled inside each musical movement is not only an act of catharsis, personifying all they’ve experienced, but is also a method which proves more profitable the more eccentric and intense the concept.

“It’s all about momentum and capitalising on that,” admits Toro. “I guess that’s why we keep changing it up.”

Despite the recording of some demos throughout their tour with Blink, Toro says any agreement on a fifth album concept is a long way off. “I like to use the term ‘flighty’. Our ideas are always all over the place.” One thing he is certain of however, is what it will take to match the more than 4.4 million-selling juggernaut that was Danger Days.

“I know from our past concepts that it’s always going to be more than a record, more than just a collection of songs,” he says. “I dunno, it may be a whole new world or it may tap into stuff we’ve tapped into on prior records... we’re always searching for that next thing.

My Chemical Romance will tour with the 2012 Big Day Out festival and perform three sideshows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne throughout January.

Live Review: Foo Fighters, Tenacious D

                                                                               Photo credit: Ken Leanfore

09 December 2011

by Poppy Reid

Thursday December 8
Sydney Football Stadium, NSW

More than 47,000 fans packed Sydney Football Stadium last night for an unadulterated night of rock ‘n’ roll madness from one of the biggest mainstays to come out of the ‘90s.

Warming the crowd amidst pitiable spits of rain was beer-bellied duo, Tenacious D. Opening with Kielbasa, Jack Black hilariously spieled into the set’s comic routine where each track weaved into their onstage antics.

“That was not good enough for Sydney. We said we would provide the lightening and the Foos would provide the thunder!

Between tracks about Roadies and Star Wars references, Black and guitarist Kyle Gass offered up ‘an interpretive dance of metal’ and the highlight, Fuck Her Gently. “This one goes out to all the ladies,” Black said. “But we’re singing it to the dudes for the ladies.”

When the Foo Fighters bounded onto the 25ft hydraulic stage, the stadium crowd had doubled to greet an effervescent Dave Grohl, whose head banging in opening hits All My Life and The Pretender were more joyous than aggressive. But so it should be; since the band’s Goat Island gig in April this year, they’ve released a Grammy nominated album (which was recorded on analogue tape in a garage) among six other nods, screened two documentaries and won an MTV VMA.

This concert was always going to be a highlight for most rock-loving Australians; they’re the closest tour offering to AC/DC this year and as Grohl performed his best Young-inspired duck walk, it was clear they knew it too.

During My Hero about ten swift-moving Foo fans broke through a security barricade into the front GA area as Grohl ran half the football field’s length down the centre runway.

“You know we don't play those fuckin' one hour 45 minute shows,” he yelled. ”We don't do that shit. We play until the neighbours call the fuckin’ cops!”

This tied in perfectly with the first line of Learn To Fly where Grohl sang: “Run and tell all of the angels. This could take all night.” He even commented on the crowd demographic when he changed the lyrics in Breakout to “I’ll chase your crusty 40-something ass down.”

:: View all the live pics from last night here.

An unexpected highlight came when Grohl introduced each band member while cameras zoomed in on pianist Rami Jaffee holding a joint; “Sydney wassuuuuuup,” he croaked through a haze of smoke.

When Grohl introduced their shirtless drummer he said (to hoards of screaming women), “I honestly believe the reason we play stadiums is because we have a drummer named Taylor fuckin’ Hawkins.”

Hawkins looked worn and tired but proved his chops throughout and even managed to sing two full tracks in Cold Day In The Sun and Pink Floyd cover In The Flesh.

Warring instrumentals were a constant throughout the set, right after Pat Smear smashed his guitar against an amp (and kept playing the jumble of spiking strings) Grohl and guitarist Chris Shiflett played out an indulgent solo-battle in Long Road To Ruin.

Grohl was as entertaining between tracks as he was when piercing our eardrums with that 17-year trained scream. His explanation of rock ‘n’ roll was endearing, as was his take on 21^st Century bands. “Don t get up on the stage with some fucking computers and call yourself a fuckin’ rock ‘n’ roll band… Next time one of those fuckin’ bands gets up and they plug in their shit, tell ‘em your good friend Dave said this.” Monkey Wrench was met and played with as more fervour than a thousand fervour-generating computers.

Of the few recent Wasting Light tracks, These Days received the most applause; perhaps because Grohl’s precursor was “it's my favourite song that I ever wrote in my whole entire life,” or because the upcoming music video for it will be live footage from this Australian tour.

It’s commonly a boring moment when a band leaves the stage only to return minutes (sometimes seconds) later to play an expected-encore. But Foo Fighters kept us guessing as they screened footage of Grohl and Hawkins backstage. While Grohl was sculling beer and eating chicken, Hawkins faux-convinced him into a six-song encore.

A healthy burp was omitted before Grohl sang Wheels on the runway’s raised platform to fans in the cheap seats. “Let's hear it for the sad ass motherfuckers in the back seats,” he said. Of the five-track encore the Queen cover Tie Your Mother Down was a favourite for Jack Black’s accompanying scissor-kicks and Everlong for its reminder of just how many years this band has graced our sound systems with each of their unwavering rock ‘n’ roll offerings.

Album Review: Rihanna, Talk That Talk

23 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

Releasing an album a year for the past six years, Rihanna’s consistency has been matched only by her versatility.

Originally marketed as a reggae singer when she came into public consciousness with her 2005 single Pon de Replay, the Bajan singer has since weaved ‘80s new-wave, dance-pop, R ‘n’ B, rock-pop and even gothic-horror in her following four releases. While her sixth album is undoubtedly a departure from last year’s Loud, Talk That Talk attunes all her past influences in what presents itself as a hybrid of past dabblings.

Second single You Da One reverts back to the 23-year-old’s roots with sunny reggae and dull percussion while Where Have You Been begins with a tip of the hat to her 2009 Rated R record; dark Disturbia-reminiscent undertones and deep vocals oddly segue into a dubstep backing one minute in for what translates as a trend reaction to Beyonce’s Major Lazer sampling in Who Run The World (Girls).

It’s clear Talk That Talk was a passion project for Calvin Harris, his production and creative trademarks can be heard right through the record; even the electro-house track he features on (We Found Love) could have been his own, with Rihanna acting as the cameo.

Her Jay-Z collaboration, I Got A Story To Tell is a delightful throwback to ‘80s R ‘n’ B, the pair sample Notorious B.I.G to offer all that was celebrated and ballsy about the genre when it first hit the mainstream.

Cockiness (Love) is perhaps the only dubious inclusion as Rihanna joins the Katy Perry’s and Ke$ha’s of the U.S. commercial realm with lyrics like: "suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion…I love it when you eat it.” Conversely, the starlet could sing about brown paper bags in her inimitable tone with androgynous inflections and we would still call it perfection. If Rihanna has taught us one thing over her six-year career, it’s that lyrical aptitude is irrelevant.

Rihanna’s slow-paced tracks predominantly hit the mark and rival her past ballads, especially on We All Want Love which was recorded in multiple hotel rooms while on tour. Drunk On Love samples Intro by English duo The XX and while the indie kids were an intriguing selection they seem to carry her throughout, turning what could have been a whining bore into a driving force-fight of classic and modern R ‘n’ B.

Talk That Talk has enough in-your-face choruses, ooh na na’s and moody middle eights to satiate her Navy (Rihanna's pet name for her fanbase) but with Rihanna's various facets all on show here, this 11-track album can be difficult to tackle in one setting. Thankfully though, the brand that is Rihanna is packaged and marketed for a drip-fed, single-minded approach.

KOЯN: The Path Of Totality

23 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

14 years after industry experts declared an ‘electronica revolution,’ KoЯn announced an entirely dubstep-influenced album. The Californian nu-metal band have been offering whiplash- inducing aggression since the early ‘90s but are now adding fuel to the fire (or glow stick) once ignited by acts like Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, whose pioneering efforts came a decade and a half too soon. After a blatant cool-hunt lead by frontman Jonathan Davis, Korn teamed up with today’s dance music innovators like Skrillex, 12th Planet, Kill The Noise and Noisia, who are among the electronic partisans charging mainstream radio of late. The product of this unlikely hybrid is upcoming tenth album The Path Of Totality.The band are currently road-testing the new sound across the US and have just stepped offstage at The Paramount Theatre where their 1,500-strong focus group offered a “mixed” response, according to Korn’s tired but nonchalant guitarist, James ‘Munky’ Shaffer.

“I mean ten albums?! You gotta evolve,” he exclaims. “I remember when Metallica came out with the black album [1991’s Metallica] and everyone just freaked out. They were like, ‘oh my God, they cut their hair!’ And then that album ended up being one of the best albums in their catalogue. They’re still a great band thirty years later, they’re still pushing the boundaries.”

While stylistic progression is often celebrated, pushing boundaries and breaking moulds sealed over almost two decades is sure to incite some ostracism. However the 41-year-old ensures the hype surrounding the sound departure is just that.

“There’s a preconceived notion that we’re putting out a dance album,” he laughs, “which is completely wrong; it’s a Korn album. It just has certain characteristics that have progressed creatively, but that’s what we needed at this point in our life.

“Trying to work out how it will play out [live] has been a challenge for us too,” he admits. “You want your fans to walk away from the concert having enjoyed it and hopefully opened up their minds a little bit to something different as well as satisfying them by giving them some stuff that they know – it’s a balancing act,” he says before hastily adding, “but whenever there’s a challenge, you know you’re hooked onto something good.”

A certain confidence also came when many of the album’s collaborators revealed they were fans of the band. “Some said ‘you know, I’ve been listening to Korn since I was 13’,” says Shaffer.

Skrillex, who also co-produced The Path Of Totality, once fronted post-hardcore band From First To Last; the 23-year-old ditched the mic for a laptop in 2002 after observing the rising electronica trend in music culture.

While the album might seem a bandwagon passenger at face value, its themes remain quintessential Korn. The record is less blunt than previous efforts but still echoes their distaste for the ego and colourful views on secret societies – especially on the track Illuminati – although Shaffer refused to go into any great detail about its meaning.

“Did you just ask me if I am part of a Masonic cult?” he says, offended. Shaffer takes a moment before adjusting his tone. “Well if I was I’m not supposed to tell you. Rule number one in Fight Club.”

Despite many Korn-haters linking the band with US Freemason societies, the likelihood of this is small considering bassist Reggie ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu and former guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch’s devotion to Christianity which caused him to leave the band in 2005. Shaffer even says he would reform the original lineup if the chance arose and that talk of a reunion tour occurs “almost every day.”

“If Brian and David and everybody were into it and the timing was right, yeah it would be really exciting to have everyone together again,” he says. “But it’s one of those things you have to all get in a room and talk about.”

For now though, Shaffer is excited about the new path his band have taken and has prepared for the possible fan backlash in the only way a Korn member knows how; with the same heedless aggression that will always be their trademark.

“People get scared if they don’t understand; if it’s a new image or something different,” says Shaffer. “They’ve got to be willing to accept it, and if they don’t they can fuck off.”

The Path Of Totality is out through Roadrunner Records December 5

Album Review: The Getaway Plan, Requiem

15 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

After receiving the national nod of approval in the mid-noughties with their debut studio album Other Voices, Other Rooms, The Getaway Plan’s fall was as fast as their rise when they announced their split one year after the record’s release in 2009.

It was the full year of constant touring that took its toll on the once bright-eyed 17 and 18 year olds, the break up saw them join the ranks of many whose fast rise to the top is met by a swift fall that crushes potential longevity.

This month though, vocalist and guitarist Matthew Wright, guitarist Clint Splattering, bassist Dave Anderson and drummer Aaron Barnett mark their return with Requiem, a darker, less commercially accessible reincarnation that sees the band enter a creative phase, both sonically and lyrically. The album also marks their first with We Are Unified, the rebranding of long-time Getaway Plan advocates, Boomtown Records.

Over 11 tracks, the secret to Requiem’s success is unfolded in every puncturing horn section, every gospel choir undertone and every necessary pause that follows when Wright hits falsetto. It’s also in the album’s production where David Bottrill (Tool, Mudvayne) was brought in late during the recording with his mind set on the unconventional. This speaks volumes in tracks like S.T.A.R.S where sharp strings and echoing guitars match Wright’s sombre vocals early on, sounding even more elegiac when the Boys Choir from Sterling Hall School chime in later; or on the should-be-second-single Heartstone which makes pounding military-style drums seem apposite when laced with lyrics like, ‘it won’t be too long ‘til the end of the world.’

Phantoms could be the Streetlight of Requiem but the underpinning of transient chord changes take it to another level. The track is genius in its approach but detrimental for the same reasons; no matter how many Gotyes or Angus & Julia Stones break into the Australian commercial sphere after taking the road less travelled, most are ostracised if they don’t fit through the machine’s cookie-cutter cogs. Child Of Light is another example of this, where a plethora of sounds from string and wind instruments offer sparse and controlled nuances to the hovering soundscape.

Requiem could have been listed as a late contender among the top indie-rock albums of 2011, if it weren’t for one annoying oh-so-close misfire. The acoustic-led filler, Oceans Between Us upsets the calculated balance of rolling guitars and ascending vocals, disrupting the swirl of ingenuity nine tracks in.

Although an anticipated new sound was promised, Requiem doesn’t flow far from Other Voices/Other Room’s vein; a welcome rush of a reinvigorated trademark.

Requiem is out now through UNFD/WMA

Live Review: Kings Of Leon

                                                                             Photo credit: Ken Leanfore

07 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

Friday November 4
AllphonesArena, Sydney, NSW

The opening concert of King Of Leon’s postponed return to Australia needed to be a cascading, triumphant exhibition - and that’s exactly what it was.

Emerging onto a red haze of dry ice following fellow Southern American soft-rockers Band Of Horses (who really ought to be headlining their next visit), Kings Of Leon were met with deafening appreciation by fans at AllphonesArena on Friday night.

They opened with Radioactive, the first single from their recent fifth album, Come Around Sundown; its intense chords carried the catchy upward swirl of frontman Caleb Followill’s grainy vocals, the spiral settled only for the wandering ‘ooh ooh’s’ from rear-stage songbird and drumming brother, Nathan Followill.

Reaching back to their second album Aha Shake Heartbreak for following track Four Kicks, Caleb resumed the generic power-stance as he strummed with rapid authority, strobe lights endeavoured to keep up but fell short, exacerbating his precision. Switching to acoustic guitar for Fans brought Caleb’s vocal nuances to the forefront, perhaps the fact he sipped on water while fellow guitarists Matthew and Jared drank from red paper cups contributed to his articulate agility; although some seemed disappointed that this set wouldn’t see a repeat of their July gig in Texas.

:: View all the live shots from the night here.

Throwing guitar picks into the crowd every few tracks, the excitement surged across the arena through early track Back Down South where touring member Christopher Coleman played two of his five instruments simultaneously to the set’s first immaculate sing-along, Revelry, introduced by Caleb with a: “thanks a lot for coming back.” 

Each track built gloriously onto the last, the audience even cheered when lead guitarist Matthew spat on the stage at the end of My Party and smoked a cigarette through Knocked Up. He was the band’s hilarious rockstar, the racing track Closer saw him play the intro with his teeth while Nathan played his bass outward from his chest like a shot gun.

“Has everybody had a good time tonight?” Caleb asked the obligatory question knowing full well they had executed Sydney. “I want everybody to scream.”

They finished the main set with a roaring rendition of their mainstream hit Sex On Fire and after the traditional interval ritual the band re-emerged for a four-track encore. The Bucket, Manhattan, Use Somebody and Black Thumbnail were celebrated with a slow-building blur of smoke, fireworks and Caleb’s long-awaited antics as he kicked over his mic stand. The encore was the gig highlight, the band teased us with slow-burning tension which erupted just when we anticipated it most. Similar to their set, Kings Of Leon have been quietly cementing their place in the wall of greats through subtle tenacity and performances such as this.

Album Review: Jane's Addiction, The Great Escape Artist

04 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

With lyrics like “You were the foreskin, I was the real head,” sung over MIDI effects just two tracks in, Jane’s Addiction prove that even through multiple hiatuses, lineup changes and rehab stints, they remain accessible and diverse with each hedonistic album release.

Despite spearheading grunge since the early ‘80s, The Great Escape Artist is the Californian quartet’s first album in eight years. Record number four sees the band team with producer Rich Costey (Weezer, Muse, My Chemical Romance) and TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek (The Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) who pitched in as writer, programmer, keys and bass player. In fact, with the many bases covered by Sitek, he’s ended up playing on more tracks than the band’s other unofficial frontman, Dave Navarro.

The Great Escape Artist is also the first time in the band’s 25-year career where the use o f synths, MIDI edits and effects can be heard. As the album title suggests, the band have become heavily addicted to swapping one dependence for another, this time around they’re fiends for a fresh distraction, and thankfully it doesn’t translate as a desperate attempt for relevance, as Jane’s Addiction have never been an act to seek it.

Just as Ziggy Stardust and Iggy Pop centralised their efforts around escapism through bizarre, antagonistic vocals and sophisticated chord progressions, this record follows a similar line, with tracks like Twisted Tales and Ultimate Reason weaving and merging into one another.

Elsewhere, early track Curiosity Kills stands alone as reverberating, organised fervency with frontman Perry Farrell delivering impeccable vocals that parallel the band’s early work.

Just when you thought 2003’s Strays was as varied and youthful a fusion as Jane’s Addiction had the ability to produce, The Great Escape Artist retains their spot on a pedestal of their own making.