In 1994 Nirvana wannabees, Silverchair entered a competition on Australians no. 1 radio station Triple J, the prize was a free recording at Triple J and a video that was all to be aired on SBS’s Nomad program. Of course, as history tells us, these spotty little droogs of 15 to 16 years won with their song, ‘Tomorrow’. After the clip and interview had been aired, record companies from all over Australia were ringing in wanting to know how they Continue Reading
The ever inventive Welsh kings of pop thrown through the tumble dryer are to take a break from recording their sixth album this autumn to continue throwing rings around the world. Following a fully sold-out hop, skip and a jump across America earlier this year they’ve just added a further 19 dates in September and October. Which are as follows: Tour Dates Wednesday 18 September – Detroit St Andrews Hall Thursday 19 September – Toronto Phoenix Concert Club Friday 20 September Continue Reading
Searching for inner-scouseness has not been fashionable for a long time. Thrown aside for the Saturday night jerks and exertions to House and ignored by the thrall of UK Garage, Liverpool has not looked inwards since tank tops and Panini stickers. Fair enough really, as all background noise for adolescents should be played out to match the times and not hark back to a previous incarnation of pop’s past, especially not to an era when we have to consider our Continue Reading
Despite the moderate success of the 1996 single ‘Guilty’, Gravity Kills has yet to make a splash compared to other contemporary metal/industrial acts such as Godsmack, Filter, or Stabbing Westward. Perhaps it was the band’s overt admiration for Trent Reznor and company’s music that caused the backlash of comparisons and accusations of unoriginality. While Superstarved might possess similar tones as the groups’ previous two records, Gravity Kills seems to have finally broken away from the obvious and expected to create Continue Reading
We may be backtracking into the last century a bit here, but you remember mix tapes. Don’t you? Throwing down your favourite tracks with primitive technology that back then seemed like the future had come to your bedroom and honing a knack for squeezing your choice cuts snugly onto one side of a C90 to suit your mood, or just to force your superior tastes that week onto a mate. And right now it is summer – c’mon, the sun’s Continue Reading
As soon as you play this album, you just know that The Warm Guns possess every Beatles record ever written. Their own album, ‘Blown Away’ contains the kind of upbeat pop psychedelica and ‘socially aware’ lyrics that are rarely produced on these shores anymore. It’s the memory of the original Britpop invasion filtered back through an American West Coast sensibility – shiny guitar stabs and soaring backing vocals singing about time travel and Mao Tse Tung, with a liberal sprinkling Continue Reading
Live and direct from Cardiff, Wales, the Super Furry Animals, Macca and you. Allan Martin Kemler interviews the UK’s lefty anti-heroes on the eve of the US release of “Rings Around The World”. Photo by Matt Greenberg.22/07/2002 The Super Furry Animals are not related to the Teletubbies. They aren’t a spin-off of Pokemon and you won’t find them in the candy aisle next to the root beer barrels and Gummi Bears. However, they could be any or all of these Continue Reading
With US bands currently driving the burgeoning garage rock scene, Marc Sallis checks out two of the UK’s hottest prospects for world domination.22/07/2002 Sold-out within days of going on sale, the prospect of seeing two of London’s elite garage rock bands playing together at one of the capital’s most intimate venues had been billed as the ‘gig of the week’ by many in-the-know. With The Beatings kicking off their first UK tour to promote the release of their debut single, Continue Reading
The latest in a series of split singles from Sorted records, ‘So Easy’ and ‘Subway Sex’ are two neat slices of punky guitar anthems. Circa 1983 – Kyle Hill (vocals) Sam Walker (bass and vocals) and Ash Sommerton (drums) – have spent the last year establishing themselves on the Midlands’ live circuit, and their track ‘So Easy’ sounds like it could be a favourite at gigs with its spiky guitars and a sneer of a vocal, joined in the chorus Continue Reading
Familiarity breeds… well, it breeds a mixed bag for two particular Gallaghers. It breeds reaction from the lowest common denominator, it breeds nostalgia, ticket sales and most importantly to them it breeds number ones. And then of course there’s also the contempt. So a no win situation then? Well, hell no! It’s all win, you must have read a paper recently; Oasis are back on top of the world, on top of the charts and selling tickets like you’ll get Continue Reading