29-08-2012

It's actually pronounced /rɜdɪŋ/

I told people I was going to Reading fest. Reading. /ri:dɪŋ/. As in the present participle. It's not pronounced like that, dummy.

Anyway, I spent last weekend in the UK, more precisely in London and Reading. It was a blast. I went by myself cause none of my friends were excited enough/willing to spend that amount of money to go to a festival abroad that features most of teh Pukkelpop line-up anyway. But of course, Reading is so much better than Pukkelpop because they booked At The Drive-In, AKA one of the best bands in the world.
Also, At The Drive-In played a show in London Tuesday night, but since I didn't hear about that after I booked my fest tickets and train tickets, it would end up way too expensive to go there. Would've loved to see an ATDI club show, though. Maybe they'll came around again, I don't know how long this reunion is going to last.

Anyway, let's start at the beginning, shall we? I took the Eurostar to London on Wednesday evening. I arrived at 8pm, quickly checked in to the youth hostel, which was an really great youth hostel (YHA Euston Road), then jumped on the underground to Camden Town cause there was a show going on in The Blackheart.
I would've booked my train a bit earlier had I known about the show beforehand, but okay. Therefore I missed the first band, Her Parents. What a shame. So I arrived at the Blackheart, which was a pretty big pub. The venue was upstairs and it was really nice. Not too big, a nice bar at the back, rectangularly shaped, good turnout as well.
I paid my 6 pounds to enter and enjoyed watching Ten Speed Bicycle play. They were really great. Their tumblr page says "Ray Cappo'nJazz", which I think is a pretty funny description but also pretty accurate. Cool! They're a 3-piece playing jingly-slash-riffy emo punk.
Random fact: I thought the bass player looked like the bass player from Self Defense Family, which I though was weird cause they're an US-based band. But when I went to congratulate them on the show and ask for an interview, she said her name was Kai, and that's the name of the Self Def member, so apparently she does play in both bands. So that was pretty cool. Also we did an interview of about 30 minutes, they were really cool and nice and I think the interview came out great, one of the best I ever did. So stay tuned for that!

The next band was Chalk Talk. Chalk Talk is a band I know. I once heard them on a mixcd a friend made and they definitely stood out, so I went to check their stuff and they're actually pretty cool. And live they're also very amazing. Indie/emo pop kinda stuff. They're great musicians and they played a fun, danceable show, which is exactly how I like my shows.

They are on tour with Everyone Everywhere, who played last. They were amazing. Never heard a single song of them before. Yet, I found myself singing along to words I didn't know, dancing to tunes I didn't expect and having an all-round great time. They concluded the show on a high note and I'm excited to go see them this Thursday in den Eglantier in Berchem (arguably my favourite venue in Belgium). You should go too!

So that was day 1 of my musically charged holiday trip to the Island. (Seeing as they call the rest of Europe the Continent, I might as well call Britain the Island.)

Day 2 started around 3 am. That's when I woke up and I tried really really hard to fall asleep again but that didn't work. That sucked. I counted the hours until it was time to leave, which was at about 8:30. My bus to the festival left at 9:30, so I had to make sure I was on time. The bus trip was pretty neat.
Day 2 didn't involve a lot of music. It involved getting in, setting up my tent, drinking lousy but free 2.8% lagers and hanging out with my lousy neighbours. Really, the whole fucking fest is loaded with hot chicks, and I wake up from my afternoon nap and there's this 50 year old mom, her boy-ish ginger daughter who couldn't shut up and her fat friend who totally loved Paramore and All Time Low. Just my luck.
Other than that I met Sam, the guy who set up the Everyone Everywhere show the night before. He's a nice guy.
Also I made a trip to the city, which wasn't all that interesting. Checked out the campsite, the area around the arena and all the stuff that was going on. There's a fucking fun fair at this festival. And not like just a merry-go-round, an actual big-ass fun fair. Incredible.
I went to sleep at 9pm because I had nothing else to do, and I was tired cause I hadn't slept much the night before.

Day 3 then. Entry into the arena went okay. The site is huge. There's a lot of food stands and bars. Some lousy merch stands where they sell slightly overpriced (£20) t-shirts of the main bands (I got an At The Drive-In shirt, mostly because I was cold on Saturday night and didn't want to return to the campsite (a fair 15-minute walk) to get another shirt). I found a non-official time table at the campsite, but it was slightly off (official time tables/info leaflets were £7, no thanks, capitalist fucks) so I was confused at the beginning. Anyway, the first band I saw was an all-girl hardcore band, Petty Bone, who weren't really good. I went to see Fidlar, who I had heard were really good, but as my time table wasn't correct, I ended up watching Palma Violets, who were really cool too. Surf rock, lo-fi, chillwave or some other weird name to describe the relaxing pop/rock music they made. After that it was Fidlar, who put on a great show, and are just a really cool band. Songs about drugs and stuff. Musically, they link Black Flag with Beach Boys, kind of. Glad I saw them.
Then I saw a fair deal of Random Hand. I knew they were a ska band, but the guitar player was wearing a Descendents shirt and sporting a Weasel tattoo so I was kinda hoping for those influences. Well, they didn't really come through but it was a great show nonetheless. Ska punk can be real fun sometimes. I saw glimpses of Coheed And Cambria (that hair!), Spector (whose singer I got compared to a few times), and other bands until it was time to see Ceremony. I haven't heard the new album, but I'm sure I like it. Their show was awesome. Their attitude is great. Their performance is stellar. Started out with Into The Wayside/Sick, played a lot of new stuff like Hysteria and that kinda, more mid-paced music that's actually a remarkable progression for Ceremony. They ended the set with Kersed, probably for old times sake or to please the fans of the faster stuff? I don't know, but I though it was cool and I screamed along to it. "Pack your fist full of hate, take a swing at the world." Ya know.

(whitespace to create structure. allegedly.)

Next up were 3 bands I wanted to see playing simultaneously. But first I went to say hi to the Subways guys and gal at the signing tent, not cause I wanted their autographs but just to meet them for a second, cause they're an awesome band, they seemed like cool people and they totally are cool people. So that was fun. Also, there were crazy queues for signing session for Paramore and the likes, like absolutely crazy. Thankfully I only had to queue for about 5 minutes to get to the Subways.
Anyway, enough fanboystuff. I saw a couple of Hives songs, but decided, since I have tickets to see them in December, and I'm not the hugest fan, I'd go see Crystal Castles. And I saw a couple of their songs, and I love them, but then again I felt like the punk thing to do (and I'm a punk, so that shit is important to me) was to go see A Wilhelm Scream. I've seen them numerous times but it had been a while so it was nice. I saw the final half of their set, and it was great, as always. Technical shit. The vocalist in his ever-present sports marcelleke, the bassist with his ever-present smile, the guitarists with their ever-present shreds and the drummer with his ever-present velocity.
Next band at the Lock-Up stage, where I spend most of the day cause they hosted the punk/hardcore bands, was Touché Amoré. I hadn't actually realised they were playing the festival so I got really excited when I noticed. Got all the way up front and sang along to the words. One of my favourite bands. They played 2 new songs from an upcoming split with The Casket Lottery, one I hadn't heard before and then the one they played on the Rise Against tour, which is probably my new favourite song. "It was the first time, in a long time, that I felt alive. At least I tried." Awesome. The drummer blasted his bass drum, which is also quite something (those things are pretty tough). Love this band to bits, it's cool to see them get more and more exposure!
Saves The Day! Whoo! They also played! They were great! Quite a few old songs, which I was fond of cause, you know, I haven't heard anything aside from the first 3 albums (not cause I'm an old school fan, just because I'm lazy). So that was fun and I loved the set. Bouncing Souls followed them and, although it started of a bit unenthousiastic, it got better during the set. Some classics, some new ones. No Gone, which made me sad, but if they had played Gone, that would've made me sad as well. I would've prefered being said while hearing Gone, though. It's a different kind of sad.
I went to the campsite to get a sweater and a drink, so I missed most of Paramore but I saw a couple songs and she's pretty so that's cool. Not that good though. Every Time I Die made up for that, they were tight. I mean, I don't really like their music, but the fact they're playing it, I respect that. (+10 points for who gets that reference.) Seriously though, they are a great bunch of musicians.

I wanted to get a good spot to see The Subways, one of my favourite bands nowadays, and they are pretty popular but they were playing one of the smaller tents so that was 1) awesome and 2) crowded. I went to the front while Veronica Falls were playing, arguably the most boring band in the world. Then waited for the Subways to come and they came and they started playing and the crowd was wild. It was awesome but I decided it was not my spot right there in the front. Oddly but thankfully Billy decided he wanted to see a circle pit during Turnaround (maybe because of onomastic reasons?) so that was my way out of being crushed to rock'n'roll death. They played an awesome show, all the hits. Not necessarily their best/my favourite songs, but that's okay. Would've loved to hear the intro and rest of Girls & Boys (that intro contains one of the heaviest riffs in non-extreme music) and it would've been mental to hear All Or Nothing (that climax near the end makes my spine go all whirly). But they did play a good set and that's what mattered. During the last song, It's A Party, which was pretty accurate regarding the circumstances, Billy decided he wanted to crowdsurf at Reading festival, cause he never had. (Note: there's a general no-crowdsurf rule at the festival.) So not only did he do that, he did so all the way to the back of the tent and to the front again, while Charlotte and Josh held the party going for a couple of minutes. Cool show, definitely one of the highlights for me.
The Cure was playing the main stage and I checked a couple songs between The Subways and Social Distortion, so that was fun to see them play. But I had also never seen Social D play so I was (prison)bound to go check them out. They played a solid set, but I think I like 'em more on record than on stage. I don't know, the songs are pretty slow-paced and in a live performance that kinda drags it all down (haha, GET IT?). So yeah, I loved seeing them but my expectations weren't really fulfilled. Also they should've played their cover of the Stones' Under My Thumb instead of their cover of Cash's Ring Of Fire, but that's just me I guess. They ended the set with that one, good nonetheless. That was the story of how I finally saw Mike Ness. (That last sentence is there because it rhymes.)

After the show, the first festival day was over. But not done. No, the brilliant people at Reading had morphed the Lock-Up tent into a cinema tent. With actual recently released movies. Friday night they screened The Dictator, which was pretty damn hilarious. So that was cool. Included in the ridiculously high price for the festival were a few good movies as well. Yay!
After that I went ot sleep. Day 3 done.

(major whitespace)

Day 4 was a Saturday. Funny start of the day: I didn't really wanna see anything before, like, 2pm cause there was nothing good scheduled. Simultaneously, I had heard rumours of Green Day who would do a surprise performance in on of the tents. Little did I know, when I was walking past the entrance at 11 am, that Green Day was surprisingly scheduled to play at 11 am in the BBC1/NME tent. Being a true punk, I thought "oh, okay, Green Day, their new stuff isn't really good so I don't really care", but then I heard them play Burnout, and a lot of old stuff from the Dookie album and period. So I went in with everyone else who was totally freaking out (probably because they're the biggest Green Day fans on earth). I didn't get to see them entirely live, cause, y'know, the tent was more than packed and I coudln't get in, but they showed the footage on all of the screens around the festival so it was cool. The show was pretty cool, because of the songs, but lame, because the non-songs. You know, that whole "AAAAAAYOOOOOO" stuff bands do with the audience. Seriously, one minute he's saying "we don't have much time" (yeah, if you're used to playing 2,5 hour shows I guess 1 hour isn't much, but to everyone else it is alright) and the other minute he's just fucking WASTING THE TIME HE DOESN'T HAVE MUCH OF by doing fucking rock star things like the aforementioned yelling and other silly things. And while doing that, he quite obviously took cues from the Bouncing Souls cause he started singing the tune to Olé and Here We Go. (I know those are popular things to yell outside of a Bouncing Souls context but the fact he sang those things in that particular sequence made it pretty obvious to me, while all the other people were probably all like "huh, what's punk music, can somebody explain that to me?" (+1000 points for who gets that reference).) So, I saw Green Day, which was cool, but the only cool thing Billy Joe has done lately was release The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore on his record label. Enough ranting.
Next I went to see The Minutes, which were a pretty cool rock band. I don't know, they sounded nice and it was a cool show. They had a song about best friends. i can't imagine what I went to see after that. I guess I went to the campsite. Oh yeah, I did, and I met this guy'n'gal who were really nice. The guy provlaimed himself a bigger At the Drive-In fan than me, which I was fine with, cause he had been a fan for 10 years, and I was a fan of the Backstreet Boys 10 years ago. So I guess he won. Nonetheless, cool to meet like-minded people. Like this guy, John, who talked to me about my Give Up The Ghost shirt and consequently the band and the reunion and all that. And this guy at the poster stand who was a huge Social D fan and he was really nice and fun. We talked about how much Bullet For My Valentine sucked (note: I used to listen to their first EP a lot, in my 'good old' nu-metal/metalcore days) and how we didn't understand people buying posters of such bands (Paramore, All Time Low, ...).
Anyway. White space coming up!

I saw the last Japanese Popstars song, who were DJs recommended to me, but obviously I missed their set. I saw Grimes soundcheck, who is probably a new sensation in electro-world cause she's really cute? Not really cute but pretty bad-ass were the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All guys. But... let's say I don't listen to hip hop for more than 20 minutes. It was a fun performance though. I guess Enter Shikari was up, they were absolutely shit. They were really energetic and their show was decent, it's just, the music they make makes my ears cry. We Are The In Crowd then. (You can by now probably already guess that Saturday was not really my favourite day of the festival.) We Are The In Crowd play pop punk that appeals to young guys and girls, like Fall Out Boy but with a (slightly cute) female vocalist.
Then, finally something worth my time: The Vaccines! One of the UK's best bands to come out in recent years. Their new album, Come Of Age, is due about now and they played a fair bit of off that, which was enticing. The songs from What Did You Expect? were obviously the crowd pleasers and they sounded awesome. They played a cover, I think, but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, great band, post-punk with added fun.
MASTODON! I've never seen Mastodon live before. Can you imagine? Missing out on these giants of the metal-scene for so long? Thankfully, Reading was kind enough to book them and I got to experience the band. Not necessarily for the songs, cause I'm more of a fan of the older work (Remission and Leviathan), and they didn't play a lot of that, but it's a pleasure to see the drummer play alone. That man is a machine. And of course, although they've gotten more progressive and such on their later work, Mastodon still holds true to being heavy as fuck, which is always a plus. Lovely show!
I then went to see The Cribs, cause I wanted a good spot to see At The Drive-In. Apparently the Cribs are pretty cool as well. Lucky shot! It was a shame though that the guitarist seemed pretty much an arrogant asshole, but okay. Also, apparently their 7th time at Reading. I've never even heard of these guys. I guess that says more about me than about them, of course. Anyway, the music was cool, I sang along although I didn't know the words, and I danced because I didn't wanted to be 'that guy'. I'm totally 'that guy' sometimes, though. But it's often not cool to be 'that guy'. Don't be 'that guy'. At the end, The Cribs got even more stupid by smashing their instruments on stage and front stage. That's not cool, that's just stupid. Even Paul Simonon regretted doing it.
So, that was over and the place was starting to get packed with good people. People who were excited, pumped, stoked, psyched for what happens to be one of the best bands in tah weurld! At The Drive-In, ladies and gentlemen. They came on stage, Cedric started babbling like usual, saying crazy shit that's either really funny or really disturbing, and they went into Arcarsenal. Good choice. First thing everybody does is get crazy and yell at the top of their lungs: "I MUST HAVE READ A THOUSAND FACES". It gives me goosebumps thinking about it. The setlist can be found here. It was awesome. I mean, just look at the songs, think about the songs. The only thing I was kinda dissappointed about was the lack of Rodriguez-Lopez signature dance moves. His guitar playing was spot-on, but his youthful spirit has apparently gone, which I can understand, but I kinda hoped he'd be all over the place like in the videos. Guess I was born too late. Cedric was still pretty wack, though. I high-fived Jim Ward. Paul killed it on the bass and Tony was just amazing. I mean, it's not an easy job to keep up with the rhythms in At The Drive-In's music, which is pretty Latin-inspired and all. But all of them together played tight as fuck and I was happy as fuck to see them although I got squeezed and stuff and I guess people even fainted so it must've been pretty wack. Security did a great job though. Also, I was probably on the screen for a good few seconds cause there was a camera aimed right at me (like, straight in my face) while I was happily singing along but I was too busy screaming along, being happy and watching At The Drive-In play to bother watching the screen, so I don't know. Maybe thousands of people have seen my ugly face on the big screen. Maybe rather hundreds. That's bad enough. Sorry for ruining your weekend, if that happened.

Anyway, that was the most important thing of the weekend. I've seen At the Drive-In. I could die, I guess? Not really, but it's yet another of my life's high points, something I didn't think I would witness but it did happen. All before my 21st birthday (in UK time) or during my 21st birthday (in Belgium time). Crazy, huh?
I watched The Hunger Games in the cinema tent and I really liked it although I feel like I shouldn't? I don't know.

(white) (space)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ME! Yes, yes, It was Sunday, the 26th of August, and traditionally I celebrate my birthday on that day. It's kind of an annual thing. This year was the 21st installment of the festivities. It started out with a free breakfast sandwich (like there was everyday by the way, kudos to that!), recharging my phone, and drinking a few glugs of whiskey to get the party started (most importantly to get my social skills started). This would have its effects, I'll talk about that in a minute. First up, Crowns! Not really good, I reckon. After their set I went to annoy people by introducing myself, talking silly and ultimately mentioning my birthday. I met Georgina and Rosie who I talked to a lot cause they were cute, and nice too. I met Georgina later in the day again which was nice cause she was still cute but also drunk. (No, this didn't end like you'd think, it's still me, you know. "Sweet innocence with loser's luck. I know you think you're giving love, but you're just getting fucked - guess what?") I watched Apologies, I Have None, and they were amazing. Really good. Siked to see them tour with Joyce Manor in September.
I met these dudes Neil and some other dude and Danny and they were really nice. Kinda punk types, but okay. We hung out during the Flatliners and This Is Hell. I went to see Polar Bear Club and I remember seeing them play a song but I guess I fell asleep cause the next thing I knew I woke up? Must've been the alcohol. Sucks cause Polar Bear Club is rad!
I got to see Good Riddance though, who I missed at Groezrock. They were great! (Notice that this day isn't as explicitly reviewed cause I really just don't remember/wanna tell everything). Trash Talk were amazing as well, I really enjoyed them. Turbonegro ruled. I only know their song I Got Erection, which, obviously, they ended their set with, but the entire set was full of fun punk rock'n'roll. Met Sam again in between Turbonegro and Gallows. He advised me to see Gallows (who I'm not that big on, and apparently they have a different singer). They were great. I like that band. i need to check them out. Apparently, Frank Carter, the previous vocal delivery dude for Gallows played with his new band, Pure Love, at Reading. I didn't see them, though. Anyway, Gallows was awesome. Saw some Me First. Went to see Two Door Cinema Club, who apparently have songs I know. Chatted outside of the tent with 2 lovely girls whose hair was pink and blue, which was fascinating at the time. Bit of Foo Fighters, bit of Less Than Jake, went too sleep (too) early cause of drunk/tired/don't know. Kinda regret not seeing the entire Foo Fighters/Less Than Jake sets but it was as good as we have had it had (dutchism) anyway.

Day 5 sucked. Cleaning up my tent in the rain, feeling sick as fuck all day (not only from a hangover), doing a boat trip on the Thames in London (which was nice), throwing up on the underground ride to St. Pancras, wanting to go home but having to spend 5 hours traveling by train to my beloved home.
But I showered (gee!), went to sleep and woke up alright.

Holy smokes. I must have read a thousand faces.

21-08-2012

I bought a record once...

(This is kinda a part 2 to the previous i.b.a.r.o. post. Kinda.)

I've been thinking about getting this album's cover art tattooed ever since I heard about tattooing and I actually think I'm gonna go through with it this fall. I'm not a tattoo guy, and I'll never have sleeves or backpieces, but I feel like this deserves its place on my body. And since the idea has been in my head for about 4-5 years now, I guess I won't regret it.

Defiance, Ohio - Share What Ya Got

1. Hey Kathleen, Are You Hungry?
2. This Time, This Year
3. I’m Just Going To Leave...
4. Chad’s Favorite Song
5. I Don’t Want Solidarity If It Means Holding Hands With You
6. Drinking Song
7. Bikes + Bridges
8. Sweet Dudes + Sweet Ladies
9. Lullabies
10. Old Dead Tree
11. Road Sign Always Look Better Looking Over Your Shoulder
12. Response To Griot

I'm holding the lyrics sheet in my hands right now and I actually feel weird. It's been a long while since I've opened the lyrics sheet (partly because I know all the lyrics by heart). But holding it makes me feel younger, for some reason. It makes me feel punk. It makes me feel like I'm special. And I am special (not retarded, just extraordinary).
I got this cd undoubtedly from the No Idea Records online distro, back when I had to use my dad's Visa card and I couldn't order more than 3 records or something cause otherwise I'd be broke. This was also one of the first punk rock cd's I bought. I was heavily into the whole No Idea/Plan-It-X scene, all that folk punk and gruff punk rock and all, ya know. And then I got into Defiance, Ohio, who distributed all their music (and I mean ALL their music) online for free. Before fucking Radiohead did it, possibly (not sure) before Bomb The Music Industry and Quote Unquote Records was around. Before bandcamp existed. True DIY ethics, and that part, to me, was about as punk rock as you could go. Of course, being a true punk rocker, I wanted to support these guys, who I had grown to love to extreme measures, and so I bought the discs on a real format (compact disc, later on I bought the 7"s and the lp's too). This disc is actually the second pressing of the cd, which includes the Summer Tour 2003 songs they recorded. The original of SWYG didn't have track 7 to 9, but I couldn't imagine this record without them.
So, back to the lyrics sheet, and the packaging. Considering their DIY ethics, this record is self-released by the band, and the packaging blew my 15/16-year old mind. No jewel case, now clean-cut fold-out booklet, none of that stuff. I did get a plastic folder with the cover/back folded in. Within the plastic folder was then room to stick the CD in at one side, and a lyrics sheet at the other. So I got out the lyrics sheet, and it's an A3 page folded 4 times. The whole thing is compiled cut'n'paste style, has all the lyrics and more info and insights in the songs, awesome artwork, cool drawings, great layout. The back has an amazing band picture.
The lyrics were mainly politically and socially engaged so I could reason with one part and relate to the other. I learned a lot of lives' values from Defiance, Ohio. A song like I Don't Want Solidarity If It Means Holding Hands With You rings more true now than ever, but it was clear the first time I heard it because it's not far-fetched. You can go political like Propogandhi and I won't understand what the fuck they mean, but Defiance, Ohio were smart enough (or, not smart enough) to translate their thoughts into reasonably clear yet poetic lyrics.
And don't get me started on Road Signs Always Look Better Looking Over Your Shoulder. One of my all-time favourite songs ever in the world ever.
even when things aren't going so great there can be perfect moments that provide a brief notion of how things might be different and how we can makes them that way. this is a song for partners in crime, for escape artists, for secret clubs, and for conspirators. this is a song for running through sewers, for riding skateboard down parking garages and riding the elevator back up to do it again, for staring at the evening sky from rooftops, for the confused look in the policeman's eyes as we triumphantly hoist the garbage bags, and all night van rides across store lines. maybe ryan's right. maybe this is a love song.
I get chills when I listen to that song and it's almost a shame for me to sing along cause it's really really really beautiful.

Now, Defiance, Ohio were supposed to tour the UK and Europe around now, but apparently the tour got cancelled. The last time they were in Europe, I think, was a couple years ago, and the closest they played was in Luik/Liège. That's the other side of the country for me, definitely not do-able for a kid still in highschool, without a car and no contacts there. So I missed out. They're around for 10 years right around now also, and I still haven't seen them live. They're allegedly rescheduling their tour to 2013 so here's to hoping I'll finally be able to "sing my heart out, cause I know the words by heart now".

20-08-2012

I bought a record once...

This is about one of the first CDs I ever bought.

At The Drive-In - Acrobatic Tenement

1. Star Slight
2. Schaffino
3. Embroglio
4. Initiation
5. Communication Drive-In
6. Skips On The Record
7. Paid Vacation Time
8. Ticklish
9. Blue Tag
10. Coating Of Arms
11. Porfirio Diaz


I bought this on a trip to Bruges  when I was about 15 I think. Me and some online friends were on a day out there and since most of us were into music heavily we stopped at the Bilbo store (cfr. the post on MTX's Yesterday Rules). I got into At The Drive-In through the same message board as the one where I met the people I was hanging out with. So when I saw one of their records in the stacks, I bought it with my pocket money. The other record I bought there was Rancid's "And Out Come The Wolves". Anyway, I fell in love with At The Drive-In and I've continued to love them. I got their other records and surely they became one of my favourite bands ever. Of course, they had broken up so that was a bummer. I love Sparta and The Mars Volta too but those bands are just something different.
So after years of spinning this record, loving the songs, getting shivers during the intro to Embroglio, rocking out to all the tracks, wondering what their lyrics mean or even hint at, they reunite. And I'm like FUCK YEAH. So I was checking out their dates. Some USA, Spain, and UK. And I was like "I'm gonna go to the UK". So I bought tickets to Reading Fest and now, full circle-ish, I'm gonna go and see At The Drive-In perform a festival show in about 5 days. Of course, only later on I founf out they're also doing a club show in London two days after the Fest which I could've easily attended but sadly my traintickets were booked already and it would've cost too much. Nonetheless I'm finally going to see the band I've adored since I was 15 years old, the band who changed the notion of punk music for me and primarily, according to Youtube, one of the best live bands ever. Rather siked.

Fun fact: This record was released on Fearless and V2 Records International. Now, coincidentally I'm going to do my internship for school at the Benelux section of V2 records. Also this is probably the only record of the label that I physically own.

Anyway, just wanted to say I'm going to Reading fest and I'm gonna see AT THE DRIVE-IN perform. Fuck your life.

17-08-2012

"What's Up Ieperfest?" (3/3)

The last day of the fest had broken on (dutchism) and I was kinda hungover. It was alright though, I guess I slept it off. Only problem: my tent was about as far away from the toilets as possiblez, so the morning walks sucked.

On the fest-site I met up again with my West-Vlaanderen buds who were not feeling well, and also my Leuven buds, who were as fresh as Vinny in Season 4 of the Jersey Shore. Anyway, The Cold Harbour slayed. Really cool band. Also amazingcore, I guess. But I was mostly stoked to see A Strength Within rip up the second stage. And they did. These guys are all about hardcore and work incredibly hard. They just came back from a 16-day-or-so tour and ended  it right there and then. It was an awesome show. Kudos!
Naysayer/Brutality Will Prevail were too late, they ended up playing a 1°-minute set each during Cattle Decapitation I think. Anyway, The Death Of Anna Karina played the marquee and that sounded real cool. Italian screamoband.
Deformity didn't hold my interest, neither did Cruel Hand. Toxic Holocaust was alright, second time I saw 'em. They thrash hard. Which is cool. Real cool.
7 Seconds were one of the highlights of the weekend. Real old guys but with the same spirit as in the eighties. Of course, what would you expect from the dudes that wrote "Young Till I Die"? Cool setlist, it's obvious the guys are getting a tad older but they ripped it through, played some classics and some non-classics. Also a decent 99 Red Balloons cover, which wasn't necessary in my opinion but alright. Greta show.
Deez Nuts, on the other hand, played a pretty lousy show I think. I mean, I Hustle Everyday is one of my extremely guilty pleasures, and I like how the band is just about partying and stuff, but the show was pretty bad, period.
Walked past what apparently was Naysayer, but went to see Cattle Decapitation, which was cool.
Terror is not mah thang. Set Your Goals started out alright but 3 songs in it was pretty bad. Crowbar was pretty boring.
Rise And Fall played a great show. It had been a while since I've seen them, so that was cool. They were on tour with Converge, who played an alright set, but it seemed pretty slow to me. The vibe was very different than what I had expected, but okay. Great musicians, near-legends and stuff.
Darkest Hour quickly put down the best show in the entire weekend and Bolt Thrower is metal and that's cool. Apparently a naked guy stagedived but I was shitting on the toilet at that moment so I missed it.

Didn't feel like staying up late so I went to bed to wallow in sadness and despair. Got up early and mixed up trains so the trip took a bit longer than expected. Glad I was home.

"What's Up Ieperfest?" (2/3)

After a lousy night's sleep, which is common thing in a small tent, I got up at like, 9 am. Went to the local market and the supermarket, got some beers and some other supplies. Great way to start the day. I also had a great 'smoske' in Ieper city.

Back at the fest things were starting to get loud. The first band I watched was Truth And Its Burden, a South-African metalcore band. I kinda dug it. It was cool. The guys were really appreciative of their opportunity to play and they put down a solid set. Whoo!
Then I took a break, strolling around the distrotent, more than music tent and beveragestent and generally hanging, buying record, buying beers and having fun. Until Cornered came on stage. NLHC, fuck off. Cool set. I laughed my ass off at "There's too many French people here." and "Yeah!... veganism... animal rights..." Angry guys with nothing to lose. Coolness!
Then it was sad guys with nothing to prove. Pianos Become The Teeth put on an awesome show. Post-something inspired hardcore. By the way, have you heard of this term "amazingcore"? Apparently it's like those hardcoreband that psuedo-hardcore people (like me!) think are "amazing" and sincere, and nice people. Like those melodic hardcore bands that regular hardcore fans don't care about. Anyway, I don't think Pianos fits that perfectly, but perhaps they're kind of an amazingcore band. Also I really like that nomenclature. It's funny.
TRC wasn't good. Nope. Didn't care for Reign Supreme, and not really for MxPx either but since I know their songs I decided to go dance a bit. Also it's pop punk and I like pop punk. I was probably wearing a pop punk t-shirt and everybody at the fest was probably like "oh, geez, a pop punk dude". Or probably not. Anyway, fun times, some hits, some shits. The show in itself was okay.
Didn't see anything until Trapped Under Ice, who were hardcore. That's all I know. Mosh stuff and stuff.
Fell asleep again at around 6 pm. I'm unbelievable. Woke up halfway through Eyehategod, bummed cause I wanted to see them. I also kinda wanted to see the Black Dahlia Murder, because of reasons. But I didn't, because of sleepytime.
Ignite was alright. Not a huge fan. I was actually delighted Zoli couldn't make it on the tour and the Sense Field singer replaced. Kinda the same thing minus the hour-long speeches. Those guys are really old but they can still rock out (also see: 7 Seconds/do not see: Agnostic Front).
Pig Destroyer was destroying and I don't give the slightest fuck about Sick Of It All, really. (Although I admit I sang along to Built To Last.) Food and drinks were good, though. Hangouts too.

Partying ensued once again. Wack night. Some dude came about with his (girl)friend who was totally wasted which was funny but also awkward. He was talking weird and had Here Comes The Kraken mosh shorts. It kinda made me want to buy Parkway Drive mosh shorts the next day but I didn't cause I figured they wouldn't be worth it. It would be fun though. Might consider it again.
Also hung out with French dudes who were real cool but I don't really know why.

"What's Up Ieperfest?" (1/3)

That's what every band was wondering last weekend. Some even multiple times. Sometimes I answered that I was feeling fine. Mostly I didn't answer. I guessed it was rhetorical. Anyway, here's my report on one of the greatest festivals of summer: Ieperfest.

I woke up at 6 am. I got at the camp-/festsite at 10 am. I went shopping for some food and beers and got back right in time for, actually, one of the bands I was most stoked for: the Midnight Souls. They were sheduled to open up the main stage at 11h30. So, the atmosphere was one of tiresome, disinterested hardcorekiddos and no drunks yet. I got into mosh-mode when they started olaying Always Simple Never Easy, but it didn't really last. Nevertheless, once a agin a fun show from my favourite Belgian hardcoreband.
After that I went to see Dukatalon, a sludge band from Israel. Cool for a moment, but the moment didn't last. Luckily there's lots of hangout space at Ieperfest, there's lots of distros to browse records (this would turn out to be the death of my wallet). And the sun was out, there was coffee and beer available, so really, what more could anyone want?
Oh yeah, of course, music! Watched Take Offense from a distance, not really a "thing of mine". Coke Bust sounded cool, fast & pissed off, which I really dig, but for some reason I didn't stay. I missed Dean Dirg although I wanted to see them. (EDIT: Woops, apparently they didn't even play because they broke up! Bummer!) Death By Stereo was fun for a while, but... well, yeah.
Kylesa was fun to watch because of the 2 drummers and the female guitar player, but kinda boring otherwise. Homer was cool because, you know, they're Homer. It was actually a really solid show, their second time at Ieper already!
I went to grab some delicious vegan food while Knuckledust played, which was alright. I don't like it, but it's no-nonsense, straight-forward and I respect that in that band. The food was great as well! I'm not a vegan and I really couldn't be, but I enjoyed every meal at Ieperfest and the plates were worth every one of their 7 euros.
After that it was time for The Chariot, who put up a cool show. I haven't got a clue about most of these bands, so I just check out what sounds cool mostly. I wanted to check Mucky Pup real bad, but I went to drop some records at my tent and woke up 2 hours later. Weird, right? Probably being up since 6 am, drinking beers since 12 pm and the wheather being really hot had something to do with it. So I missed Mucky Pup and Aborted, 2 bands I was eager to check out.
I wen to hang at the Souls merch spot with Donny, who was the only soul left (no pun intended, actually), so I talked to him a bit and I did an interview with him which will be in the next zine. I had composed a lot of great questions at home, then forgot those questions at home so it's not as good as I hoped but it came out all right, defenititely because he's a great guy.
Anyway, I went to eat a vegan burger and I heard Funeral For A Friend start their set, and I was like "whoa!". I really liked it. Hadn't heard it before, but of course I had heard of 'em before. It was really cool. I was kinda tipsy so I decided to dance. And so I danced, and I had a really fun time. There was this guy with an Alkaline Trio cap who was really cool and he jumped in my neck and we ran around and shit. It was like a punkshow at a hardcorefest in front of an emoband. I loved it. Defenitely my favourite set of Friday, one of my favourites of the entire weekend.
Congress, although a legendary act, didn't strike me. Agnostic Front straight-out sucks. They did a Ramones cover and it was really bad and I hated them for doing it. But it was nice to see they acknowledged "the greatest rock'n'roll band of all time" (paraphrasis of Roger Miret).

Then some dancing ensued at the awesome afterparty, but due to tiredness, friendlessness and general sleepyness I didn't make it past two. Perhaps a good thing, as there would be still 2 days to go.

13-08-2012

(funny play on words with 'ska')

End of July. Remember that? That was a long time ago. Anyway, just updating way too late, but I wanne plug these bands for a second.

2) This was a show by RDR-booking, who completely rule. Support by going to their -most of the times free- shows!

Clepto opened. Wack shit. Metal, punk, hardcoire, gypsy, ska, something. Also pirated. Saudi-Arabian Canadians. Shit's wack, yo.

Victims Of Circumstance are a ska band. It's been a while since I've heard a great ska band, but these guys seemed to hit the spot. I guess they're kinda big as well? I don't know, they have a wikipedia page, so that means something, no? Anyway, great show, really enjoyed it! Danced a bit, ya know?

06-08-2012

F U UP

By the by, I totally forgot to report about two cool shows I've been to last week. So let's recapitulate those shortly (shortly because I'm lazy).

1) Sunday night I went to see Municipal Waste in Bruges. Awesome. Last time I saw the Waste was when I was 16 and I didn't know what crossover thrash was. It was at Ieper Winterfest, they headlined and I circlepitted/moshed during the entire set without knowing who that band was. Good times. Afterwards I spent a cold, cold, cold night in Ieper with 3 buds, but that's a different story.

Anyway, the opening band was Toxic Shöck, a fitting band for this show. Groovy riffs, crazy songs, outtacontrol vocalist. Great show, I like this band. They have an LP out which I have yet to check out, but the new stuff sounded a lot heavier than the demo stuff, so I'm stoked.

Second band was Evil Invaders. Belgian metal band. I honestly don't have the slightest clue about Belgian metal, so this was quite the revelation. Okay show, I don't dig the high voice but musically it's pretty cool. Pretty traditional heavy/thrash metal or something like that.

Then the Waste came about and a party erupted like the Vesuvius in 79 AD. They played all the hits, other great songs and then some. Every song got the crowd surfing, headbanging, moshing, spilling beer and ripping everything around them. Cool! They ended the set with Born To Party and came back for an encore that I don't remember. Awesome show once again.
The MW merch girl was a) cute and b) wearing a Chotto Ghetto shirt. I'm just saying this because Chotto Ghetto is an awesome band and you should check them out.

Make this earth shake.

Cold Summer is a British band. Figures, right? Cold summers are typically British, or even North-Western European for that matter. They're from around Leeds and they probably haven't seen the sun in a while. Cold Summer not only coincides with the weather there, but also with the music these 4 guys make. It's summer-hinted by its sense of melody, dynamics and full-sounding arrangements, but it's doesn't feel warm because of the shivering rhythms, the lyrics and the overall atmosphere. I hope that makes some kind of sense.

So, these guys recently released their second EP this year, it's called Wake and it's pretty intense. You can get it for free at their bandcamp, as well as their previous EP Transitions. If you want a genre-label, let's say post-hardcore, leaning towards the indie rock spectre of said genre. Don't expect heavy breakdowns (thank god). Their first show was at the start of 2012, in support of EOAY Self Defense Family. And while they don't sound alike, I bring this up because they have the same approach to their music. Both bands play "heavy" music but they don't necessarily intend it to be heavy. Okay, that doesn't make much sense again, but trust me on this one. They don't restrict themselves, but also don't have obligations, so that results in free-spirited and open-minded song writing. Great!

On to the EP then. Have I mentioned it's free?

Cold Summer - Wake (2012, DIY)

1. Waiting
2. Wake
3. A Is For Arson
4. Car Crash (In Progress)
5. Mistakes





The band is from a town called Wakefield. My guess is that their origin and the title of this EP are somewhat related. Not entirely sure though. The catchphrase in this release is the powerful exclamation "When will we wake/When we do we'll make this earth shake". This sets the tone alright for what this EP has in petto (dutchism!).
Things start of with guitar feedback. Classic. Then the bass comes marching in, drums come crawling in and finally this musical volcano erupts into this hardcore rock'n'roll like riff that puts the "groove" in "groovy", to the backdrop of a headnodding-worthy mid-paced beat. Things calm down a bit when the vocals start. The guitar plays an emo-like melody that harmonizes with the singer's words. The EP is recorded/produced by Bob Cooper whoe also does Nai Harvest, which I personally think is a great band and it is certainly possible that certain of these twangly sounds are influenced by the kind of music Nai Harvest makes. That aside, Cold Summer do a great job constructing, arranging and composing their songs, which is probably the most important part of songwriting, because, certainly in their style of music, there are a lot of things they want to do, dynamically and melodically, but it's necessary to maintain coherence. In Waiting, the groove returns, the drum fluctuates sporadically and the structure is pretty stable, but between the lines there's quite a few things happening, and that's something Cold Summer definitely uses to their advantage.
In full tradition of contrast dynamics, the next track, also the title track, is a guitar melody-based short song that really focuses the essence of the entire EP, which is an interesting approach on not only musical coherence, but also artistical coherence of the entire release. (It's funny how writing reviews makes you think about these things, while otherwise I would've just said "hurr why is this song so short but it's good though heh yeah".)
Anyway, A Is For Arson is another portrayal of the band's sense of musical composition and climactic song writing. After a rather punk-esque start of the song, where the vocalist's range is broadcasted and leaves the listener nothing but impressed, the song breaks down around the 2-minute mark and suddenly there's an alternative reprise of Wake. This band definitely thinks things through. Car Crash (In Progress) has an awesome almost intimate picked intro/verse riff. as opposed the the wall of sound that is the chorus. The solo/vocals mix really works too. Not my favourite song on this EP, but it's pretty cool.
The last thing you hear from these guys for now is Mistakes, and acoustic track. Whut? Yes, acoustic. It's cool. Trust me. They pull it off. The kind of overwhelming acoustic shit. Very powerful chorus.

Great job from Cold Summer! I'm not a huge fan of this genre but sometimes I like to be reminded of it and I figure I generally always appreciate the sounds. I'd definitely like to hear more from these guys.