Lacey Announce Single & Tour

Lacey are an alternative pop/rock quartet from Nottingham, who have been steadily gathering momentum but in my opinion are set to reach bigger heights this year as they head out on tour next month with two huge names in American punk rock. If you haven't heard of them before, they are probably suited to those who listen to bands such as Kids In Glass Houses, Jimmy Eat World and Funeral for a Friend.

They currently have a new EP out called Outlaws, and the band will release new single Reach Out on 21st April to coincide with their live dates on the Spring Break UK Tour with Patent Pending and People on Vacation (Jaret of BFS's side project), as well as their performance at this year's Hit The Deck Festival in Nottingham. 

 

 

 

Live dates:

April 20th - Hit The Deck Festival - Nottingham
21st - Sheffield Corporation
22nd - Leeds Cockpit 2
23rd - Newcastle Academy 2
24th - Glasgow The Garage
25th - Manchester Club Academy
26th - London Relentless Garage
27th - Bedford Esquires
28th - Birmingham 02 Academy 2
29th - Norwich Waterfront Studio
30th - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

 

 

For more information check out their facebook page.

KLOGR new single

I've posted previously about Italian alternative band KLOGR and their album Black Snow, and stated that one of the reasons I liked their album was because they address issues and causes that matter in today's world.
 "Black Snow is the third release from the Alt Metal band from Italy and it shares with the band's previous releases (the full length debut "Till You Decay" and EP "Till You Turn") the common theme of the relationship between man, society and, in the case of Black Snow, between human society and environment."In keeping with their humanitarian spirit, they have now released the second single from the album, Zero Tolerance and all money from the first 500 downloads via iTunes will go to Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation society. For more information on Sea Shepherd, visit their website, they are most notable for their work trying to protect the Taiji Dolphins which the single Zero Tolerance supports.

They are currently on tour and will be playing four dates in the UK supporting Prong, starting this Sunday.

Sunday 30th March - The Underworld - London

Tuesday 1st April -  Cathouse - Glasgow

Wednesday 2nd April - NQ Live - Manchester

Thursday 3rd April - Slade Rooms - Wolverhampton

JETTBLACK Album update!

As you probably all know by now (because I never shut up about it) Jettblack are currently trying to fund their third album and are doing this via pledgemusic. They have just 11 days left to get to 100% and as the days whittle away they keep bringing out more and more incentives...today they have announced a Jettblack calendar.

"JB Family!!!! Just to let you know that after many requests, mainly from our female fans, we have made the JB calendar featuring six months of Jon Dow and six months of the other three blokes in the band haha!!!"

When they hit 50% a gold JB pendant was up for grabs raffle style and now once they hit 70% Tom's Flying V Bass which was used in the Raining Rock video will also go to a lucky lucky pledger. As I write this the pledge target is on 69%! (I am not laughing immaturely either!)

Take a look on their pledge music page as they've got some pretty neat exclusives available, the minimum pledge is £8 which is for the album once it's recorded. If they don't reach their target though, those awesome tracks (which I heard some of last weekend) do not get recorded!

Onslaught add support to UK tour

UK thrash metal band, Onslaught are touring the UK in July this year, with Danish band Artillery as their support. However, they have now named Hatriot as their second support act, which will see Steve 'Zetro' Souza return to the UK.

Takedown: Review

Southampton University was home on Saturday to the alternative event of the year in the city, and with some glorious sunshine it couldn’t have been a better day for it. Southampton already has a strong rock and metal scene catering to all genres across multiple venues, and it was great to see everyone come together for Takedown Festival. When I first arrived there was a huge queue and I was wondering if everyone was going to get in before the first acts were on, but all the staff and crew were helpful, friendly and worked as quickly as possible and I didn’t hear any complaints from those who had been waiting. I was momentarily confused as to where a couple of stages were, before I realised the Uprawr Stage was in what is usually called ‘The Cube’ and the Southampton Local stage was located in the bar area just outside. Other than that the event was very smoothly run, Hacktivist unfortunately couldn’t make their timeslot and were moved to a later time which was disappointing for those wanting to see them but you really can’t blame the crew for that. 

I spend as much time as possible at gigs so choosing which bands to see was brain achingly difficult, especially as the line-up was so strong and I knew how good the bands all were. The Catharsis, a metal core quintet from  Birmingham were up first  on the Uprawr Stage, with a decent crowd for a 2.15pm slot including fans I’d seen at previous shows and the singer from Zoax. They played their well-known tracks like Stray Dogs as well as new single Natural Decline which went down well, and caused some movement in the pit. As always they played with energy and passion, The Catharsis are not a band who ever let up. From that stage I went to the Total Rock stage to catch the last of VooDoo Vegas, and I immediately wished I’d seen it all. They are very much what I imagine when you say classic rock and they were an excellent choice to precede Western Sand. 

Western Sand themselves nailed it, and with the sunshine streaming through the windows you could have believed they were straight out of the Southern States. The Howling followed and I stayed to watch as they came highly recommended by a friend. On appearance they looked like L.A./Hollywood types and I was a bit sceptical but looks are deceiving, they know how to play and how to play well! They delivered a high octane performance that most definitely took away any doubts I had and has left me wanting to see them again.

I have just one bone to pick with the Total Rock stage, the sound created by all the bands playing that day was just too big for the room they had, so the quality was a little lacking. The logic behind the placement of stages and bands was evident and well organised, the Total Rock stage would not have been suitable for say metal-core purely because there just wasn’t the space to move around, was just a shame the sound wasn’t a bit better. 

For a total change of pace I visited the Big Deal Clothing stage for a recent favourite of mine, Zoax. I’ve previously seen them at Camden Rocks with about 5 other people in the audience, and this time it was great to see so many people showing their support. Adam is much more than just a vocalist, he’s a true entertainer, he always has to interact with the crowd and climb on everything which included trying to get into the roof via a ceiling tile on Saturday. When he jumped onto the booth behind me I had to agree with his comment that it was indeed “fucking tremendous” to see so many people.

From one favourite to another, Jettblack were my next stop where I was at the barrier as I have been the last twenty times I’ve seen them. At this point it might be fair to say I’m bias but it was great to hear a few of the classic Jettblack anthems as well as a couple of new tracks from their potential third album (it won’t happen if they can’t meet their pledge music target) and to see the room packed out for them. Despite my love for Jettblack, I think the day was owned well and truly by Heaven’s Basement. I hadn’t seen them since they played Sonisphere in 2011 and how they’ve progressed since then is phenomenal.  They are currently on their Welcome Home Tour having been in the States and Australia, and despite being ill and rundown they absolutely killed it and had the crowd wishing they could play longer. 

All in all I don’t think anyone could deny that they had a superb day. Takedown 2014 was an absolute blast and I’m already looking forward to next year, I’m sure the wonderful team will find a way to make it even bigger and better!

Takedown Preview: Saint [The] Sinner Interview

With just two more sleeps until Takedown Festival 2014, I caught up with Saint [The] Sinner,
one of the bands in attendance to find out some more about them, what to expect from their performance and who they themselves will be checking out on the day.

If you've not heard of them before, they are a 6 man rock, post hardcore outfit from the South Coast of England who have recently been on the Vans Warped Tour UK with Parkway Drive, Enter Shikari and Memphis May Fire. Takedown will be somewhat of a reunion for the band as they have toured and
played with many of the other acts taking to the stages, including Funeral For A Friend, Glamour Of The Kill and Heart In Hand. For a taster of what's in store should you decide to go check them out, listen to the new single The Lament below.

Thank you for taking some time out to chat with me today, much appreciated. Before we begin with the main questions, could you just introduce yourselves, your role in the band and a positive and negative aspect of your personality so readers can get to know you all a little bit?

[Pash] Hi Guys! I’m Pash, I play guitar and create the electronic and orchestral part of our sound. I’m a bit of a music production nerd, so I guess that helps. A positive of my personality? I guess that’d have to be my drive, once I get something in my teeth, I don’t give up. Negative, I get stressy sometimes… Haha!

Can you give us a brief backstory on Saint [The] Sinner, how you formed and emerged…where the name came from?

[Pash] I started Saint[the]Sinner about 3 years ago over a phone call with an old friend, we wanted  to do something a little different from what everyone was doing in the UK at the time. I really loved that American “Dance Metal-core” sound, so wrote the first demo “Yeah, Even The Mona Lisa is Falling Apart” and hunted down the members. That was hard…Haha! The name just came from the notion that even good people do bad things. So yeah, even a saint can be a sinner in some respects. I came up with it on a bus, inspiration strikes at the weirdest of times. 

How would you prefer to describe yourselves genre wise, to someone who hasn’t heard of you? Hopefully you won’t take offence to this, but some tracks make me think of a metalcore Panic! At The Disco. 

[Pash] James came up with the genre “Theatricore”. I think it sums us up pretty well. We evolved into this orchestral, poppy, dramatically heavy mix. That…and we’re all massive drama queens, so I guess it fits. Haha! As for the Panic! At the Disco comment, we’re all huge fans and we’re definitely influenced by them. I’m all about the hook of the song, and Panic! Are the kings of that. That’s what we try to take from it.

You currently have an album out, ‘The Curious Tale of Mistress Murder’. The title sets the listener up for a story, could you elaborate on the themes or how the album progresses through the tracks?

[Pash] It’s entirely about the person you think about before you go to sleep, and the person you think of when you wake up. We tried to explore a lot of our past and present relationship issues with it, both good and bad. We had the idea for “The Lament” and totally ran with it. It starts off setting the story like a play, then finishes up with “The Comedown” singing chants. We tried to imply no matter how great things can be, there’s always the rough with the smooth.

Personally, I love the orchestral feel – particularly in ‘The Projection Room Knows All My Secrets’. I’m presuming synthesisers were used…any chance we could see you on stage with live violinists etc in the future?

[Pash] Thank you! That’s definitely one of my favourite songs off the record. Yes unfortunately, our budget doesn’t allow for a live orchestra just yet… Haha! That would be mind blowing, so if anyone’s reading this who shreds a violin…get in touch! Haha!

Southampton has a very strong alternative scene which is constantly growing, and Takedown is going to be one of the year’s biggest events for us here. You’re playing the Southampton Music Stage – how are you feeling about it?

[Pash] We’re absolutely stoked to play it. It’s such a big event for alternative music, and it’s an honour to be asked to be a part of it. We were recently moved to the Total Uprawr stage aswell, so our Takedown experience just keeps getting better and better!

What can the audience expect from your performance? Are you a band who jump around and climb on things, do you interact a lot with the audience…that kind of thing.

[Pash] We’re definitely an energetic band. We all love to have a little run around, we definitely take our motivation from the crowd. Our aim is by the end of it, no one is standing still. Get involved and lets party!

Any of the bands on the line up that you will be checking out? 

[Pash] Glamour of the Kill. FFAF, and friends, Our Hollow, Our Home!

I've seen Our Hollow, Our Home at Joiners - definitely worth seeing! Which headliner will you be favouring? Funeral For A Friend or Heaven’s Basement?

[Pash] Funeral For A Friend have always been one of my favourite bands so I’ll definitely be checking them again. It’s such a hard one to call and from what I’ve seen of Heavens Basement in the past, I’m definitely going to have to split my time.

What’s in the pipeline for you after Takedown, how’s the rest of your year looking? Are you touring or writing, are you attending other festivals?

[Pash] 2014 for SaintTheSinner is all about writing and touring, and we’re really balancing that out right now. We’ve got some super cool stuff in the pipeline, all to do with the new record, but we’ll definitely be out touring the UK this summer, so make sure you catch us!

Thanks again for speaking with me and I look forward to seeing you March 15th on the Total Uprawr Stage, 2.25pm.
 

Call It Off - New EP Streaming Now

Dutch Pop Punk band Call It Off have a new EP being released tomorrow (12th March) and to celebrate they are currently streaming it via Punktastic. Later in the week a video will be released for the track, Stuck With You and next month they set out to play some dates across Europe.

CALL IT OFF 'Liars' EP track listing:

1. Famous Last Words
2. Burning Bridges
3. Stuck With You
4. I Don't Wanna
5. Call Me

Personally the EP has a nostalgia feel to it for me, it reminds me of my teenage years listening to Rock Against Bush, Blink 182, Green Day and Taking Back Sunday. Give it a listen if you like catchy choruses and tunes with a lot of bounce.

Call It Off live:

Apr 20 - Prilpop - Sevenum, Netherlands   
Apr 25 - Togenblik - Beveren, Belgium 
May 16 - Winston w/ Iron Chic - Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 17 - Dynamo @ Mildtfest - Eindhoven, Netherlands
Jun 14 - Jera On Air - Ysselstein, Netherlands
Jul 04 - Madnes Festival - Friesland, Netherlands

The Brew UK Tour

The Brew is a band I think need more recognition, people are missing out on their beautifully bluesy, classic rock sound and they shouldn't be! Luckily there is a UK tour coming up in May which can put an end to that, check out the dates and then go check them out!




They are far from new and inexperienced, they've been together for ten years now, have toured and shared the stage with some true rock legends including, Lynyrd Skynryd, ZZ Top and Ozzy Osbourne and have now just released their fourth studio album Control.

To get an idea of what the band are all about, listen to the track Repeat and I dare you not to like them.

The Brew are: 

Jason Barwick - Guitar & Vocals

Kurtis Smith - Drums

Tim Smith - Bass & Vocals
Official website: www.the-brew.net Facebook: thebrewofficial Twitter : TheBrewUK

Takedown Clash Finder

Those lovely folks over at Takedown HQ have created a handy clash finder, so you don't have to make one yourself! Take a look see and let me know who you'll be going to see! My only hard decision will be between the headliners. Do I go with tried and trusted, Heaven's Basement or do I go with Funeral For A Friend for the nostalgia factor? I haven't got too long left to decide!