One dark and chilly night when Mr Tim Burton was suffering a high fever and weak at the knees, he clambered into his crushed black velvet sheets hoping for a dream-filled night of marshmallows and furry things….. But as the night drew colder, a hungry Incubus with a taste for ‘The Dresden Dolls’ albums took advantage of poor old Burton. All was not lost that night however, as Portsmouth’s answer to everything sinister was born…. Mister Joe Black.

His sound is like an old lady, covered in Disney-endorsed syrup, in a mobility chair charging backwards, on fire, heading towards a Victorian style Pillow factory.

With his first full length album ‘The Bible Of The Waltzing Cynic’ he picks your brains to find all those little things you were scared as a child and bring them back into reality. From the Scarecrow in the moonlight at the end of the road, to that time you shit your pants at McDonalds, he knows all.

With a nice list of tour dates a head of him and even a nod from the likes of Creature Feature he is not doing half bad.

Keep it fast had a chat with Joe Black about preachers and arse tattoos:

Do you ever get different reactions when performing on the street than on stage?

People seem a lot less shocked on the street surprisingly. They don’t seem to mind their children hearing….

What is the most bizarre thing somebody has said to you after a show?

“Sign my arse; I want your signature tattooed there!”

If Fred Durst ever tried to make a comeback (again) and wanted to use one of your tracks for his background beat, would you be interested?

The Limp Bizkit paedo man? Of course I’d let him. There would be no greater honour, except being Patrick Moore’s bitch- that would be pretty good.

Have you any thoughts on ‘expanding’ your music to use other instruments over time, or would this be betraying the Joe Black genre?

The album uses around 15 instruments on average per track. That can’t be done live, but we make up for it. I’ve recently expanded the live show to around 4 people, but it varies.

If a megaphone-wielding preacher implied that your music was from the belly of Satan and you should cease instantly, what would your reply be?

Yes indeed it is, and we know where you live, we know where your brother lives, we know where your sisters live, we know where your mother lives, we know where your father lives, we know where your brain washed adopted children live, and we are not happy my dear sir. Now make amends for this comment, or I shall strike you down like a clubbed seal!

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Below is a video that captures the mind of Mister Joe black entitled ‘Child Catcher‘

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If you want to hear more simply go onto his myspace here.

Back in the day (mid-1990s, early 2000) nu-metal was big - Pavarotti big. Nearly every music channel had some sweaty bald man in a black t-shirt jumping up and down, screaming about how he was beaten by his dad with a tyre iron. Behind him would be 3 –4 other guys (all of similar appearance, save for ridiculous facial hair) trying to mash together their varied styles of five-string slap bass, two note power chords and jazz drumming. Atrocious, right? Yeah, but at the time it was one bandwagon that I duly jumped on and enjoyed. Of course, I would deny all knowledge of owning the first Papa Roach album when talking about the new La Quiete 7” with my peers down the local straightedge club….

This somewhat embarrassing new feature will briefly (and god to I mean briefly,) skim over 10 or so nu-metal acts from the past (chosen by Jason and myself) for you to cringe over. Angst-ridden rock has never sounded so good.

You’ll notice we’ve only included a few acts, as some are really too appalling to mention.

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Band: Papa Roach
Time Active: 1993 – Present (they self-released a lot of early material on eps.)
Sound: The ‘Roach have moved away from their rap-core metal tag (as seen on ‘Infest’ ) and now sound more ‘hard rock’ apparently. I.e. a watered down version of Eighteen Visions.
High Points: ‘Infest‘ going Platinum 3 times. Woah. Also, ‘Last Resort’ reaching number 3 in the singles chart in the UK.
Low Points: That ‘lovehatetragedy’ album. *Vomits* Plus, looking like world class douchebags.
Fast Fact: In an early incarnation of the band they had a trombone player.
Where are they now?: Still going strong…if that’s the word. New album released in August, called ‘Metamorphosis.’ Drummer Tony Palamero has left the band due to personal reasons.

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Band: One Minute Silence
Time Active: 1995-2003
Sound: Formulaic but anarchistic rap-metal that progressed into a harsher, more desolate sounding territories before their split. ‘Fish Out Of Water’ was a particular favourite, despite the nonsensical lyrics and comedic singing.
High Points: Extensive touring schedules, including: support for metal-gods Anthrax on one of their US tours and a European one, as well as dates with Machine Head, Slipknot and Sepultura.
Low Points: Hard to say – they were a hard working band, but their music offered little experimentation. Perhaps the hectic touring was too much? Also, would they still be relevant nowadays, what with the progression of British metal (i.e. Johnny Truant, Down I Go, Maths, Throats, Rolo Tomassi, etc.)
Fast Fact: The band’s name comes from showing a mark of respect when someone close to you/important/respected dies.
Where are they now?: Vocalist Brian ‘Yap’ Barry formed Pink Punk (spoken word/hip-hop project, quite good) in 2006 and released an album called ‘Zoo Politics’ on Freeport Records. Although OMS haven’t ruled out the idea of reforming, it seems unlikely.

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Band: Spineshank
Time Active: 1996 - 2007
Sound: Their distinct nu-metal sound was complimented by erratic industrial beats, especially on ‘The Height of Callousness.’ Vocalist Jonny Santos maintained a husky drawl to his voice throughout their recordings that was certainly an acquired taste. He constantly sounded like he needed Imodium tablets/or a packet of tunes.
High Points: Making it big with their second album, ‘The Height of Callousness’ and their breakthrough singles ‘Synthetic’ and ‘New Disease.’ Plus, joining Ozzfest in 2001, tours with Disturbed and Hed (PE) and being nominated for a Grammy for ‘best metal performance’ in 2004 for their track ‘Smothered.’
Low Points: Losing Santos really. At the height of their career his departure led to the end of Spineshank. Mind you, I’d have kicked him out for that ridiculous haircut.
Fast Fact: TV host Daisy Donovan actually went on tour with Spineshank in 2002 as part of her ‘Daisy Daisy‘ show, (a crap version of Louis Theroux.)
Where are they now?: Santos plays guitar and sings in rubbish metalcore act Silent Civilian. The 3 remaining members of Spineshank continued for a bit with a new vocalist, but amicably split after 3 years of not much happening. A sad end really.

Video:Fancy laughing at 4 angry men shouting about being artificial/checking out a hott girl? Click below to watch the video of ‘Synthetic.‘

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Band: Disturbed
Time Active: 1996-present
Sound: If you were to look nu-metal up in the dictionary, a picture of Disturbed would probably be under the entry. Their style is typical of the genre, albeit with vocalist David Draiman’s trademark ‘monkey yelps’ and unusual singing style on their earlier material. Nowadays, they seem to go under the ‘alternative metal’ tag.
High Points: The release of their first album ‘The Sickness’ sold 4 million copies and projected them into the metal circuit, making them a staple band of the genre. They’ve also had 3 consecutive number 1 albums, which I find incredibly hard to believe. I guess people like derivative American meathead metal!
Low Points: losing bassist Fuzz due to personal differences in 2003, but apart from this the band seems to be going from strength to strength.
Fast Fact: Their most well known song ‘Down With The Sickness’ was covered by Richard Cheese and used in the film ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004 version.)
Where Are They Now?: Disturbed have just released their 4th album, ‘Indestructible’ (best album cover ever alert) and are currently planning a tour of Australia in August and September with God-botherers P.O.D. and lamest band ever, Alter Bridge. Exciting times.

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Band: Limp Bizkit
Time Active: 1994 –2005 (supposed hiatus)
Sound: Idiotic frat boy rap-rock, featuring over-the-top profanity, abysmal lyrics and some neat scratching courtesy of DJ Lethal.
High Points: Selling 54 million albums worldwide is nothing to be sniffed at and ‘Significant Other‘ their sophmore effort, went number 1 in the Billboard 200. Also, that free gig they did in 2003 at Finsbury Park was a nice gesture.
Low Points: Too many to mention. How about: losing Wes Borland twice, that shitty remix album, Results May Vary, The Unquestionable Truth, the Britney Spears thing, Durst being heckled at the 2003 Summer Sanitarium Tour and walking off stage after 6 songs, being generally a walking joke, etc.
Fast Fact: For Christmas several years ago, I was given a censored version of ‘Chocolate Starfish….‘ by my Auntie. Needless to say, it was actually funnier/better than the original uncensored version - hearing ‘Hot Dog’ with all the ‘fucks’ blanked out was particularly amusing. The album has since vanished.
Where Are They Now?: Hiatus. Apparently Durst and co. are supposedly working on the follow up to ‘The Unquestionable Truth’ but if I was them, I wouldn’t bother (although the ‘Home Sweet Home/Bittersweet Symphony’ cover they did was actually ok.) Borland is currently working on his Black Light Burns project, having severed all ties with Limp Bizkit, calling the ‘Greastest Hitz’ album they released back in 2006 ‘a pile of shit.’ Personally, I’m hoping for a second Big Dumb Face album.

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Links

Papa Roach
One Minute Silence
Spineshank
Disturbed
Limp Bizkit

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By Ross Macdonald

There is a lesson to be learnt about bands and that is always give them a chance as you may just find a gem. Of course at the same time there can be some terrifying ‘how are these famous??’ bands, such as 30 Seconds To Mars. But before I start one of those fucking annoying comment wars like on every youtube video, (no YOUR mum) I will cut to the chase…

One of my links led me to Lancashire’s Alternative to every music genre, Bikini Black Special. The 5 piece seem to have put on their dark worship robes at a full moon and thrown into the pot every type of music they can think of. But instead of a explosion of shit occurring on the final synth loop, these guys have completed the impossible. Or have they? Actually they have!

With a beautiful female vocal range mixed in with snapping bites from the male backing, it makes you listen to the lyrics rather then the usual Friday night pub band where they are just shouting to the drum beat (bark, bark!). As for the music itself, it is better to just watch the video at the bottom of this page.

Keep it fast spoke with Bikini Black Special to find out what is going on in their subversively seductive minds:

When you walk onto the stage to an audience who doesn’t know who you are, how do you try and make an impression to the crowd?

By standing impassively in a line, as if the Pet Shop Boys had somehow magically reproduced and staring, just… staring. Alternatively, usually what we do speaks for itself, just go in hard and loud and kick the whole thing off as we mean to go on.

Is there any difference between the tracks you record and performing them live?

Not really, no - we’re pretty proud of the fact that we do this big wide studio sound out there in the big wide world. We make a few more mistakes live, like.

Do you have any BBS followers? If so do they dress up for the occasion?

There’s a few dotted around - we keep seeing more and more of our world-famous Zombie Invasion t-shirt in the crowds, and occasionally bump into them on the street. We have a pretty wide fan base, ravers, metallers, old folks, and of course the fairly intense acoustic folk contingent - so they all dress quite variably.

Have you had any offers to have your music featured in a b-movie? If not would you accept offers?

Some animators wanted to use BBS tunes for the soundtrack to a movie about an alien invasion being battled by a tea drinking private investigator. Never heard any more about it. We’d be delighted to be on a B-movie soundtrack though, especially if we could be extras in the movie, zombies or aliens or something. Even better if there was a scene in the movie with zombie/alien band playing in some zombie/alien bar. It’s the dream.

If you were performing live and there was a power cut, could you still give the crowd a good time? If so how?

Using Laura’s firelighting skills, Paddy’s culinary skills, and Bobby and Andy’s raw physical strength and powers of intimidation, we’d cook Jonti and give everyone a good feed.

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Below is live footage of them playing the track Nagasaki… Enjoy!

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Links:

Bikini Black Special official myspace page

(I know this is a bit late, but meh.)

Rejoice! Those of you who favour Eastpack resistance backpacks, flannel shirts and black thick-rimmed glasses and bands like The Promise Ring (“proper emo”) then you’ll be pleased to hear that Rival Schools have reformed! Led by ‘I’ve been in lots of good bands’ frontman, Walter Schreifels, the emo/post-hardcore supergroup will be visiting our fair shores this year for several live dates, which run as follows:

June Tour!

11 London King’s College (very nice place, has upstairs toilets)
13 Donington Download Festival (LOL)
17 Birmingham Academy II
18 Leeds Cockpit
19 Glasgow King Tut’s
20 London Radio One Rock Show Session at Maida Vale
21 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

They are also expected to release a new album sometime this year, details to be confirmed sometime in the future. After the band split in 2003, a second album was rumoured to be circulating the information super-highway and was at one point available from Schreifels’ website. Although, it is thought to have been a b-sides compilation. Those unfamiliar with the work of Schreifels should note that he played in 80s New York hardcore bands, Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits as well as emo-types, Quicksand.

Also, I’ve decided they do sound a little like Bush, but y’know…. a good version of Bush.

*Awaits being stoned to death by die-hard Rival Schools fans*

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Video

Here’s a video of Rival Schools playing ‘Used For Glue.’ Proper good.

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Links

Rivals Schools last.fm
Wiki Page
United By Walter (fan site)
Record Label

Hey everybody do you like:

1) Wearing Hawaiian shirts all the time, even when it’s -25 and raining like a bastard?

2) Saying “pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, yo!” and dancing like a coked up windmill?

3) An abundance of trumpets/trombones/saxamaphones in your music?

4) Bands with ‘wacky’ tripled barreled names and songs about travelling?

Well then you will be pleased to hear that Gainesville ska punk metalheads, Less Than Jake are re-releasing their back catalogue through the record label Cooking Vinyl and their own label, Sleep It Off Records. So if you missed getting hold of their first album ‘Loser Kings and Things We Don’t Understand‘ like I did, you can buy it now (released 3 days ago) with all new brand-spanking artwork and a bonus dvd (which I think features footage of the album being played in it’s entirety.) Also, ‘Pezcore‘, the b-sides album ‘Goodbye Blue and White‘ and the DVD entitled ‘A People’s History of Less Than Jake‘ will see full re-release.

The band are apparently working on their 9th studio album (I know, pretty impressive for a band that sing about pez, leaving towns behind and some guy called Mike) which, according to punknews will combine ‘third wave ska and pop-punk in each song.’ Hmmm… we shall see. Seriously though, I can’t help but feel a little excited about this; I mean anything has to be an improvement on the songs I heard from ‘In With The Out Crowd‘ - urgh.

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Video

Here’s some footage of Less Than Jake playing ‘My Own Flag‘ at Reading Festival 2002 (yeah, I was there….)

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Links

Less Than Jake
Less Than Myspace
Cooking Vinyl
Sleep It Off

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By Ross Macdonald with help from punk news.

If the rumours are true, i.e. the tour dates they have posted on their myspace; then the self-proclaimed ‘greatest band of all time’ ArnoCorps (pronounced ‘ArnoCore’) are to return to the UK for what they call ‘The Sequel’ in July. Expect thunderous amounts of hardcore-action adventure rock ‘n roll and songs about ‘Predator’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘Commando’ and ‘Last Action Hero.’ - Ballsy!

Those unfamiliar with the Austrian/Berkley/California-based 5 piece (2nd bassist Der Wolf left the band recently) can have great fun reading their ‘Arnosynopsis’ here and check out the band’s bio here. Their only album, the 15 track masterpiece entitled ‘The Greatest Band Of All Time’ is well worth �10 of your hard-earned cash, if only for the epic-sounding intro.

Any self-respecting hero should make his or her way to any (if not all) of their UK shows this summer. In the words of the great man himself; “DO IT! DO IT NOW! GOOOOO!” *riff*

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Video

A taster of what you can expect at an ArnoCorps show. See you at the party Richter!

‘Collateral Damage‘ (note how the drummer picks people up as if they’re made of paper!)

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Links

Arnocorps
ArnoSpace
AntiCulture

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Words - Ross Macdonald

Photo by Tanner, AAP. (Taken from Arnocorps Myspace)

You know when you discover a band that sound so incredibly brilliant and you’re not sure if you can believe it, and you end up pinching yourself just to make sure you’re awake and haven’t dreamt the whole experience? Well that’s what I ended up doing when I first heard The Carps.

Yeah, yeah I know - blog posts raving about the astonishing talents of band “x’ and the jaw-dropping escapades of band “y’ (“look! The keyboardist crowd-surfs in a dingy! They have 7 drummers! The singer wears a costume made of meat!!!!!111!”) are ten a penny and usually really fucking boring, much like this one (jokes.)

Toronto-based 2 piece The Carps play a strange mix of punk rock, soul, funk (you’ve closed the page haven’t you? Sigh.) and electronica. Convoluted? Not really. Their minimalist approach of a singing drummer and bassist has been seen and done before, but they are completely different to noise-terrors Lightning Bolt, but appear to have more in common with the much missed Death From Above 1979. The bass rumbles with that familiar low-end sexual tempo, whilst the drum beats are even more furious (if possible) than that of Mr. Grainger. Vocalist/drummer Jahmal Tongue has as incredible voice; ranging from a sublime croon, to short sharp barks of encouraging fury with topical spoken word segments (see “Compton to Scarboro‘ which deals gangland peer-pressure, gun crime and one man’s struggle with his decision to rob a store.)

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As far as releases go, they have 1 EP out at the moment entitled “The Young & Passionate Days Of Carpedia‘ (which I strongly recommend) and are currently working on a follow-up EP entitled “Waves and Shambles‘ with a release date scheduled for April 18th. Tour-wise, the band has played a plethora of dates throughout Europe, including Fabric and will be bringing their brand of bass-heavy dance-rock to Paris and Antwerp in March.

Still want convincing that The Carps are great? Well, think a dirtier, sweatier sounding Head Automatica without the bullshit pop-hooks and a less volatile and diverse trunk-nosed 2 piece and you’re not far off. Or just watch the damn video below and buy their EP.

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Video

Click below to watch the video to ‘Compton to Scarboro‘. To hear tracks from the ‘Carpedia‘ Ep, click on the band’s myspace, official site or their last fm. Enjoy!

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Links

The Carps Space
Official Site
Last Fm

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By Ross Macdonald

Missing a support band at a gig is a double-edged sword. It can be a relief (example - you thank the gods you didn’t have to stand watching that musical car-crash) or it can be steel toe-capped kick in the shins - painful, for about a million years. This was somewhat how I felt after missing The Computers, but gig clashes are inevitable and sometimes we have to live with the decisions we make!

For a band with such a geek-centric name, their musical style is the polar opposite of what I was expecting. Naming your band after something made of “spiders webs and magic” (Superhans) is an instant wrong-footer in that respect. The Computers are a four-piece punk rock band from Exeter, who sound like a sexual combination of Henry Rollins-era Black Flag playing Rocket From The Crypt songs. They also give nods towards howling rock-n-rollers, The Turbo A.C.s combined with frantic speeded up, physco-billy punk. In fact, this pretty much kicks the ever-loving shit out of most punk bands I’ve heard recently. It’s quite malevolent, sharp and incredibly tight, with some gorgeous bass lines and guitar flourishes that make them stand out from the quite stagnant crowd of Epitaph-by-numbers, carbon copy posers.

They are also almost impossible to search for on the Internet, which gives back links to various operating systems I should be interested in as well as discounts in PC World.

Currently, the band appear to be unsigned (lord knows why) and their only material seems to be a self-released single/ep on their myspace page, which you have to message the band to get hold of. With dates in France and a gig supporting double-bass-toting oddballs, The Peacocks, catch hold of The Computers and their runaway train of riff-tastic, gritty punk rock.

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Video

I’m doing a terrible job of describing/writing about this band, so I’ll just leave you with this video of them, put together from tour footage.

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Links

The Computers Myspace

It’s only been 5 days, but already this New Year brings sad news to the music world. Charlotte-based rockers Hopesfall, have officially thrown their instruments on the bonfire and split. To me, this is hardly surprising. The band have had more line up changes than I’ve had rejections from members of the opposite sex, and after the departure of founding guitarist Josh Brigham during the release of ‘Magnetic North‘ (the band’s 3rd album), no original members remained since their inception in 1998.

Die-hard fans often stated that the band was ‘officially dead’ after the departure of half the band and the release of ‘A-Types‘ their critically acclaimed 2nd album (a radical departure from the screaming bile-fest that was ‘The Satalite Years‘.)

According to punknews.org, the band had fallen out with their label, Trustkill Records (apparently not the reason for the break up.) The split is supposedly a ‘long story’ one which the band feels they shouldn’t go into, even though numerous line up changes and tour commitment problems all possibly had an effect on the band’s future.

An unmastered version of a song left off of ‘Magnetic North‘ called ‘Saskatchewan‘ can be downloaded from their myspace. It has not been approved by Trustkill. (Actually, the untitled B-Side on the player sounds much better!)

For me, the split is sad news; Hopesfall were a band I had followed since discovering them 5 years ago, and ‘Magnetic North‘ was one of my albums of 2007. Here’s to new beginnings guys. *Raises glass*.

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Video

Live version of one of Hopesfall’s most famous tracks, ‘The Bending‘ enjoy, but please don’t windmill me in the face.

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Links

Hopesfall Myspace
Official Site
Trustkill

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Ross Macdonald

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Source - punknews.org

Yes folks, get ready to slap a healthy wad of bacon fat in your hair and style that quiff, get that black shirt/white tie combo, with the white braces out of the cupboard and perfect your best ‘WOOP!’ because Rocket From The Crypt have apparently set a date to release the posthumous CD/DVD package of their last ever show, recorded on Halloween back in 2005. According to Pitchfork Media, on February 26, the San Diego sextet will release ‘R.I.P.‘ through Swami Records and Vagrant, which they were part of for the Group Sounds and Live From Camp X-Ray albums. The extensive set list features 26 Rocket classics that spanned their 10 album career (yes,’On A Rope’ is featured!)

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Also, more news on the new ‘formally-known-as-Speedo’-project: an album release date is expected on the 25th March, followed by tours and maybe a trip to Europe! Woo! Yeah!

I leave you with some more RFTC related video-goodness in the form of the trailer released by those wonderful people at Vagrant Records:

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Video

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Source: Pitchfork Media and Punk News