tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8 2008-07-23T16:23:09Z Music fans unite... take a sneak peek at what goes on beyond the mosh pit. Movable Type 3.36 tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2902 2008-07-23T15:46:54Z 2008-07-23T16:23:09Z

Cut Off Your Hands Barfly, 17th July Review By Joan Losa One of Cut Off Your Hands strengths is their ability to convert sixties melodies into Punk Pop. Songs like Oh Girl and Happy As Can Be combine Pop...

Crowd Surfer Cut Off Your Hands Barfly, 17th July Review By Joan Losa One of Cut Off Your Hands strengths is their ability to convert sixties melodies into Punk Pop. Songs like Oh Girl and Happy As Can Be combine Pop and Excellence merges sweetness with the rudeness and frenzy of Punk itself. Last night the Auckland quartet, lead by the always restless Nick Johnston, offered fans a serious concert, but far less aggressive than others (it is said that Johnston broke his leg one night jumping from the stage). Their best songs of the night, Still Fond and You And I, sounded powerful but maintained the freshness and spontaneity with which they were recorded. To sum up, the band left us with a good taste in our mouths due to their pleasant backing vocals, imaginative riffs from Michael Ramirez, and the efficient bass lines from Phil Hadfield, and of course, the charismatic Nick Johnston as a ‘master of ceremonies.’ Related Links Buy Cut Off Your Hands tickets]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2901 2008-07-23T14:22:20Z 2008-07-23T14:30:22Z

The Mars Volta The Roundhouse, London 17th July 2008 Review by Bryce Lowry Surely it’s illegal? Within four bars of opener ‘Goliath’ my jaw was straight back on the floor at my feet where the Californian 8-piece had left it...

Seatwave The Mars Volta The Roundhouse, London 17th July 2008 Review by Bryce Lowry Surely it’s illegal? Within four bars of opener ‘Goliath’ my jaw was straight back on the floor at my feet where the Californian 8-piece had left it in Brixton back in March. Even if you know their albums and have seen them before, nothing prepares you for the sonic assault of The Mars Volta. A tsunami of sound, it’s like having your ears force-fed metal, funk, blues, jazz, latin and every other aural spice from the rack all at once until your brain vaporises into a multi-dimensional rock vortex. Somehow though, it’s all flawless. I gasped and giggled my way through the next few minutes at the sheer preposterousness of what I was hearing – there was ample time to recover though, the song went for over 20 minutes. The visual intensity of the band’s performance is no less dizzying, and it has nothing to with the lights or staging which is static. As well as carving an eye watering guitar – you wonder if the Devil sold his soul to him - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez leads his troupe in a cacophony of movement. Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a show unto himself. With the yowl of Robert Plant, the sexual ambiguity of Patti Smith, Cher’s hair and the dirty, loping cool of Joey Ramone, he struts and dances like a man possessed; leaping off the drums, dropping the splits and nailing routines with his microphone with the precision of a rhythmic gymnast. Vocally, tonight he was definitely on. All the falsetto notes were hit and then some. There was far more soul and depth to his voice than is apparent on record where it can be overly textured and layered and too deliberately weird. Most astounding though was the recently recruited drummer Thomas Pridgen. He drives the show with one of the most blistering and powerhouse performances you will ever witness. I could only watch him for a moment before I was exhausted. How he did that for over two hours? Well, that’s just as difficult to fathom as the rest of the show really. ]]> Related links:The Mars Volta concert tickets. The Mars Volta Official site. The Mars Volta on MySpace. Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2895 2008-07-22T09:09:09Z 2008-07-23T14:30:56Z

Shir Khan Maximize! Review By Adam Wood From the first few seconds of Maximize! it is plain to hear why DJ Shir-Khan is causing excitement as a DJ and cut-and-paste merchant, even outside his native Germany. Within moments you...

Crowd Surfer Shir Khan Maximize! Review By Adam Wood From the first few seconds of Maximize! it is plain to hear why DJ Shir-Khan is causing excitement as a DJ and cut-and-paste merchant, even outside his native Germany. Within moments you hear the sheer range of his influences from samples through ‘Don’t want to fall in love’ to past dance floor favourites like ‘Super Sharp Shooter.’ Then, immediately, you are thrown headlong into funky beats that grab you by the shoulders and drag you up to dance. Sirius Mo’s ‘Allthegirls’ sleazy, robotic bass line and sparkling synths set the tone of the record beautifully, leading into the energising ‘It’s the Beat’ from ultra-fashionable Simian Mobile Disco. Spacier, more laid back tunes follow, but the pounding beat never lets up, but this is both a blessing and a curse. While keeping a club-goer on their feet with relentless pacing is a great skill in a DJ, the continual straight-four rhythms can become a little tiresome to a listener after a full hour of Daft Punk-a-likes. ]]> Related Links Buy Shir Khan tickets Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2894 2008-07-21T17:43:15Z 2008-07-23T14:31:29Z

Interview by Katie Spain I could chat to Mugison all day; his Icelandic accent turns every sentence into a song and he has a passion for music as infectious as the ebola virus. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing malicious...

Seatwave Interview by Katie Spain I could chat to Mugison all day; his Icelandic accent turns every sentence into a song and he has a passion for music as infectious as the ebola virus. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing malicious about this musician, his craft is one honed by years of experience and a burning desire to try new things. As East London bustles around us, we sit back for a chat about his explosive new album 'Mugiboogie' and the force of a small township that helped pull it together. Mugison studied in London to become a record producer but with two albums behind him, it looks like life is going to get a hell of a lot more interesting. In the meantime, he's happy to chat about the ride so far, about Jesus and his sex life (and why he sounds like an elephant in bed). That's what we like to see... an honest artist. 1) What’s your first musical memory? When I was a kid I was living in the West part of my country, Iceland; in the West fjords. It was a small town called Isafjordur and I was really lucky that my father had a huge record collection. He was a sailor at the time and back then sailors had a lot of money and he spent so much money on records. I’ve got so many pictures of me with headphones on when I was a baby. My parents say that when I was a baby they didn’t need a babysitter, they’d just put on the headphones and then in fifteen minutes they’d come and turn the vinyl for me. I remember listening to some of those albums when I was three years old or something. There’s this one comic that I loved and I remember listening to a lot. I remember asking my parents to put that one on. It’s an Icelandic guy and he did lots of funny stuff, a bit like Monty Python kind of characters. He played every part and it was just ridiculously funny. Even if I listen to it today with my kids it makes me cry. ]]> 2) Did you always know you were going to follow the musical path? I didn’t always know… I was heavily into sports when I was a kid. Swimming, football, riding bikes, everything. I was working in a factory when I was thirteen and I met this guy there. His name is Kjartan and he had a hairdo just like Robert Plant. I was really into Led Zeppelin at the time and Lenny Kravitz and I just thought he was the coolest guy I’d ever seen. He was never with anybody, he was always in some corner reading a book and smoking cigarettes. I just thought he was really, really cool so I knocked on his door without knowing him at all, he was just some guy in the factory. I knew where he lived and I asked if he could teach me how to become an artist. I knew he was a poet, that’s what the people in the village told me – he published one book. He took the challenge, he told me to come three times a week. In retrospect, maybe he was just having a laugh but I took it really, really seriously. He made me listen to art kind of music you know; Frank Zappa and a lot of Indie stuff. He made me read books and poetry and he taught me how to drink whisky. He made me smoke cigarettes, bananas, whatever… how to look at women. 3) Do you ever wonder where you’d be now if you’d never met him? I’d probably still be kicking a football I guess and I would have got a proper education. But that all changed my life because I really got into all that stuff and we became good friends. Actually, he did the illustrations in the booklet of my CD and they’re amazing. 4) Tell me about where you’re from. Is it worth going for a visit? Oh definitely! I’ve been really fortunate because my father was a sailor. We lived everywhere in Iceland. I’ve never lived longer than three years in one place and I’ve also lived in London and Africa. Now I live again in the west part with my family; two kids and a wife. It’s a small town called Sudavik and there’s only like 110 people there. In the winter it gets pretty tough, you know.. the weather conditions. But still there’s a kind of spirit that I really relate to. These tough folks, both men and women; they’re constantly walking against the traffic. Ten or twelve years ago they had a horrible avalanche, killing more than twenty people in the town. That’s a huge percentage for such a small town, but still they just moved the town a mile down the road where it was safe. They rebuilt it in a matter of a few months. They were so determined not to give up, they had to be the winner of the situation. It’s just so encouraging for me as an artist because they feel so real you know. They’re really harsh critics too and they’re always pulling my leg. I’m kind of the town clown or something… there’s only one shop where we have the bank, doctor, everything within the space of this office. Everybody meets there for coffee in the morning. 5) Do you still have your first musical instrument? Yeah, I have a guitar that my parents gave me when I was fourteen. It’s a crappy guitar, I never play it anymore. I don’t think it even has strings but I can’t throw it away. 6) What’s the best thing about your job? It’s the amount of fun that you have. I’ve had plenty of jobs; I’ve been a sailor, a messenger boy, cleaning glasses at pubs. I’ve had some really nice jobs as well but there’s always been this one constant that if I do it for awhile I start to watch the clock you know. This is the only job that I have never considered time. It moves at such a fast pace that it’s sometimes scary. I’m really fortunate, especially when I’m writing stuff. I have a small studio in the town, it’s like a small barn and it’s really nice because even though my two kids are really young, you don’t need keys so everybody’s free to walk, play and have fun. They can come in the studio whenever. I think that’s the best part, even though there’s a lot of good things like touring and press. 7) What’s the worst part of the job? I think there are two elements to try to avoid. One is the amount of waiting you have to do like when you’re touring. You get into a town and you have to wait for someone to open a place and then you have to wait for everything to be ready. Then you realise you’ve been waiting a long time. But of course there’s a way around it; you need to have a book or an ipod. Sometime’s you forget and it’s a waste of time. Also, there’s a few people in the business that are kind of like snakes. They’ll feed you wrong information and they’ll try to make things go apart. They are exactly like snakes or rats in a way… and it takes a few months or even a few years to adopt a filter. Of course you have to meet everyone with an open heart and give everyone ten chances because it’s a tough business but there’s unfortunately a few dodgy folk out there. 8) Your dad is a karaoke singer – what tune do you always choose first? I try to do a random pick all the time and it usually doesn’t work! It worked one time for my father when we were touring Malaysia together. I picked a song just to play a joke on him; ‘One Moment In Time’ by Whitney Houston… that turned into his main song! He’s got a really bassy voice and it completely changes the song and makes it really macho. 9) ‘Jesus Is A Good Name’ is a corker of a song. Do you think Jesus ‘got a lot’ back in the day? Yeah, some researchers say so. Yeah, it’s funny with Christianity and sex; It’s like it’s an forbidden fruit, the sex part and I think it’s just really funny. It’s such an everyday part of life. We all have to have sex; it’s like food for most people. But still, it’s like an off topic and it’s one thing that messes people up you know? It’s such a hidden thing and they’re shy about it. I think he did alright though. In pictures he looks like a hippie. 10) You talk about women moaning “Jesus” of “God” at climax. What do you moan at that crucial moment? I’m a bit of an elephant. *Coughs* erm.. that’s when you think you’re going to moan it sounds more like a mistake. Like a bad trumpet (at this point Mugison performs his climax sound). 11) Your past album was an extremely hands on process, especially where the packaging was concerned. What was the process like with your new album ‘Mugiboogie’? We took it to the max this DIY thing; it’s on my own label and we handmade every album. We’ve done 32,000 as of now and we have to stop because it’s too much labor for everyone. I’m really lucky because the whole town got involved; the old ladies and the kids came over on the weekends and some evenings to pitch in. I think we’re working on a back-up plan in case it starts selling ridiculous amounts. 12) You’re touring now and your schedule is all over the place. Is there a particular gig you’ve got coming up that you’re most looking forward to? I have a gig in Poland at the end of the tour. I’ve never been there. We’ve got a lot of Polish immigrants in Iceland, especially in my area. Lovely folk and it’ll be fun to go back home and tell them I’ve seen where they’re from. 13) Is there any chance you’ll head over to my homeland, Australia? There’s always been talk about it… I feel like I’ve been on my way since 2002. There was an email awhile ago offering me a gig in Sydney in 2009. Some festival next to some pub. I’ll have to follow up on that. 14) In your well rounded musical opinion, what’s the best festival out there? Well, the best festival I’ve ever been to (apart from my own festival) is Roskilde in Denmark. It’s one of those festivals where you have 60 – 90,000 people and there’s so many music enthusiasts. Often festivals turn into these beer drinking, drug taking kinds of things. I’ve never been to Glastonbury – I’m told that’s similar. I really like that stuff because people show up and they really listen. Last time I was there, a few years ago, we bought the whole family. I was there with my three-month old son and we were able to have him there with huge headphones to protect his ears. It was really nice – there were no types of threatening situations. 15) What music out there makes your heart skip a beat? I buy a lot of music – I’m always searching and finding things that turn me on. There have been a few constants though; like Gillian Welch, Tom Waits, Aphex Twins, some classic stuff like The Beatles, Screamin Jay and John Lee Hooker. It just makes me happy. 16) What’s the most memorable gig you’ve ever been to as an audience member? I was going to a Tortoise gig and I didn’t know who was going to support him but it was Squarepusher and he just blew my mind. I left soon after he finished, just because I didn’t want to spoil the memory of sitting there being exposed to a different kind of music. I’m a big fan of electronic music… when I lived in London I went to lots of gigs with electronic artists and I was always disappointed because they didn’t have any showmanship to it. Squarepusher proved to me that he can make an intense show only using electronics but still he had the energy of, I don’t know.. Elvis Presley or something. He really made me scared and excited. That’s one of the reasons I tried to do a one-man show with the computer and stuff. That was definitely the biggest I’ve had from a gig. Mugiboogie is out now. Related links: Mugison official site. Mugison on Last.fm Mugison on MySpace Mugison on YouTube Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2893 2008-07-21T16:38:06Z 2008-07-21T16:51:01Z

To celebrate the release of Taio Cruz's new single “She’s Like A Star”, we've got an interview lined up with the 24-year old Londoner. The single is taken from “Departure”, which Simon Cowell recently called “one of the best albums...

Seatwave To celebrate the release of Taio Cruz's new single “She’s Like A Star”, we've got an interview lined up with the 24-year old Londoner. The single is taken from “Departure”, which Simon Cowell recently called “one of the best albums of the year”. If the Cowell meister said it... We want to give you guys, the fans a chance to ask Taio your burning questions. Keep them fresh, unique and creative. Mr Cruz doesn't want the same old questions every time. There's plenty of question fodder... Simon Cowell was so impressed with Taio’s writing/productions skills that he has enlisted Taio to work with Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward. Cruz is currently in Philadelphia working with superhot US producer Jim Beanz, on new music for Britney, Brandy and Justin Timberlake. He's also been asked to write for Anastasia’s eagerly anticipated new album and to contribute to the Sugababes’ next album. Busy then... it's a miracle he has time to chat to us. Get snappy, post your questions in the comments section below. May the Cruz be with you... ]]> Taio Cruz tour dates: AUGUST Sun 10 London Mela at Gunnersbury Park Tues 12 Sheffield Academy 2 Wed 13 Glasgow ABC 2 Fri 15 Birmingham Academy 2 Sat 16 Stafford V Festival Sun 17 Chelmsford V Festival Tues 19 Manchester Academy 3 Related links: Taio Cruz's official site. Taio Cruz concert tickets. V Festival tickets. ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2892 2008-07-21T16:10:12Z 2008-07-23T14:33:09Z

Ash Grunwald The Borderline July 2008 Aussie Roots and Blues artist Ash Grunwald never pre-plans his set list. “It just doesn’t feel natural” When Grunwald headlines The Borderline in London, the punters hug the stage in anticipation. They’re a mixed...

Seatwave Ash Grunwald The Borderline July 2008 Aussie Roots and Blues artist Ash Grunwald never pre-plans his set list. “It just doesn’t feel natural” When Grunwald headlines The Borderline in London, the punters hug the stage in anticipation. They’re a mixed bunch; one Perth lad in a Glastonbury T-shirt tells me this is the 19th time he’s seen Ash live. There’s just something about Ash. The musician’s bare feet and ‘just walked off the beach’ aura is not something you see in central London every day. Damn it - we miss it. He sits alone, head bent over his guitar, dreadlocks swinging to the infectious beats. Who needs extravagant lighting, reams of equipment and a backing band when you’ve got raw talent? It’s easy to see why Ash made such a good radio presenter at Triple J. The man has charisma and a constant smile; the entire crowd feels like his friend. Ash’s set isn’t perfect and he takes risks that don’t always work. The effect? A unique, heartfelt stormer of a gig. His knowledge of Roots and Blues is extensive, his passion for beats infectious and despite the awards behind him, it’s obvious that this is a man who lives for playing live. Thank the musical gods above he does… our soot-rimmed ears need it. ]]> Related links: Ash Grunwald concert tickets.Ash Grunwald's official site. Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2890 2008-07-21T09:52:09Z 2008-07-21T10:17:20Z

Meatloaf Romsey 6th July 2008 Review by Ally Otter Meatloaf has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, which is why when the chance came up to go and see him for the first time in concert I grabbed the...

Seatwave Meatloaf Romsey 6th July 2008 Review by Ally Otter Meatloaf has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, which is why when the chance came up to go and see him for the first time in concert I grabbed the opportunity with both hands, and my tongue slightly in cheek... With Meatloaf being well into his 50's now, and having not released a successful / decent record since 1993, I went with no expectations apart from the chance to sing along to the hits and to be able to tick Meatloaf off of the list of people I have seen live. Now, you can't review a Meatloaf concert the same way you would a contemporary band, as there is obviously an element of pantomime about him - so really it should be a case of noting if he played the hits, and if he played them well. ]]> Related links: Meatloaf concert tickets. Meatloaf's official site. Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets!]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2889 2008-07-21T09:31:15Z 2008-07-21T09:44:01Z

Esser So So Modern Transgressive Hot Summer Tour The Cross Kings 16th July 2008 Review by Matt Killeen It is a given that no matter what route you walk towards a football game, you will see people going to the...

Seatwave Esser So So Modern Transgressive Hot Summer Tour The Cross Kings 16th July 2008 Review by Matt Killeen It is a given that no matter what route you walk towards a football game, you will see people going to the same match walking in the opposite direction. It is more unusual for this to happen going to a gig so I was surprised to see Ben Esser striding towards me on his mobile as I left King’s Cross Station. However, my real shock is reserved for the fact I recognised him at all. I have a terrible memory for faces. I was standing next to some Indie luminary recently at a festival for well over an hour as the kids mobbed him and for the life of me I couldn’t place him. The fact that I knew who Ben Esser was means that he must be very memorable indeed. This is a good thing. If Esser want to be big, if they want to be The Next Big Thing™, people are going to need to know who he is. ]]> Related links: Esser on MySpace. Esser concert tickets. Single review: I Love You/Long Arms. Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets!]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2887 2008-07-18T10:53:39Z 2008-07-18T11:15:25Z

Cute Is What We Aim For Rotation By Gareth Thomas Having endured widespread criticism regarding their first album, CIWWAF’s second release, inevitably, catches the late train of pop-punk maturity. After parting ways with previous producer Matt Squire, Cute identified...

Crowd Surfer Cute Is What We Aim For Rotation By Gareth Thomas Having endured widespread criticism regarding their first album, CIWWAF’s second release, inevitably, catches the late train of pop-punk maturity. After parting ways with previous producer Matt Squire, Cute identified Goldfinger member John Feldmann as the band’s revivalist. The influence is clear. Indeed, the album virtually emulates Goldfinger’s discography onto one twelve track record. Although healthier than their prior release, front-man Hacikyan and co struggle to produce a record capable of reaching the heights of their emo-esque, American counterparts. Whilst the likes of Fallout Boy and Panic adapt to the contemporary demands of diversity, CIWWAF tend to lack the originality and ingenuity that allows the heavyweights to retain their dominance within the pop-punk arena. Admittingly, members of ‘the scene’ will unreservedly purchase the album, enjoying aspects of Cute’s efforts. ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ signifies the musical progression from their debut, soon introducing the sardonic infectiousness of second track ‘Doctor’. Notably, ‘Hollywood’ laments the period in which “singers wrote songs instead of hooks”, perhaps an ironic recognition of the genre’s, and conceivably even music’s, increasing impassiveness. Throughout the album, CIWWAF have crafted emo-based melodies pertaining to the greatest anxieties of the teenage years. Drinking, relationships, meeting the requirements of the in-group: it’s all here. This Topman-friendly record will undoubtedly be embraced by the MySpace generation of skinny jeans, arm-shot camera pictures, and askew fringes. ]]> Related Links Buy Cute Is What We Aim For tickets ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2886 2008-07-18T10:33:03Z 2008-07-18T11:50:21Z

Cute Is What We Aim For Practice Makes Perfect By Gareth Thomas Practice Makes Perfect emerges as the introductory track on CIWWAF’s second album, Rotation. The track boasts little in innovation, in effect, a factory-produced melody boasting a bland...

Crowd Surfer Cute Is What We Aim For Practice Makes Perfect By Gareth Thomas Practice Makes Perfect emerges as the introductory track on CIWWAF’s second album, Rotation. The track boasts little in innovation, in effect, a factory-produced melody boasting a bland repetitive chorus and weak vocal ingenuity from Hacikyan and co. Although a slight improvement from the clichéd one-liners and predictable instrumentation of their initial release, the record fails to distinguish itself from the efforts of Cute’s peers. Indeed, Practice Makes Perfect fails to make a blink on the music radar. Hacikyan’s voice often abuses the luxury of auto tune, producing a generic sound many would have seen, heard, and bought the t-shirt for. The melodic structure itself embodies the predictability of the emo genre; starting quiet, progression into familiar, medium paced verses, and inevitably, a strident chorus following. Anberlin, Boy Likes Girl, Saosin; all have followed suit, and all have failed to reach the heights of those who have adapted to modernity’s yearning for musical diversity. In this case, practice does not always produce perfection. Related Links By Cute Is What We Aim For tickets ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2874 2008-07-16T09:31:19Z 2008-07-23T14:29:48Z

T in the Park Festival Scotland 11th - 13th July Review by Tim Kernutt They say that success often goes to one's head. Could it be that this has happened to the organisers of T in the Park in Scotland?...

Seatwave T in the Park Festival Scotland 11th - 13th July Review by Tim Kernutt They say that success often goes to one's head. Could it be that this has happened to the organisers of T in the Park in Scotland? Boasting a stellar line-up, ostensibly the festival would be difficult to dislike. Unfortunately, the organisers did their best to create a logistical and administrative nightmare for the fans, especially the campers. However, despite the organiser's utmost attempts to create havoc, the bands and DJs managed to put on such good performances that arguably T in the Park's reputation as Scotland's premier - if not the UK's - festival is cemented forever. Year after year the festival's organisers seem to deliver up prime acts. And it's hard to be complacent about a festival that delivers the likes of REM, the Verve, Kings of Leon, The Prodigy, and the Chemical Brothers amongst other big names. ]]> Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2869 2008-07-15T10:27:21Z 2008-07-15T11:01:06Z

The Charlatans You Cross My Path Review By Tim Kernutt It is hard to believe that The Charlatans have now produced ten albums, however their latest release, "You Cross My Path", could well be their best effort so far....

Crowd Surfer The Charlatans You Cross My Path Review By Tim Kernutt It is hard to believe that The Charlatans have now produced ten albums, however their latest release, "You Cross My Path", could well be their best effort so far. It is raw-rock music - experimental but also strangely familiar. With the release of this album, The Charlatans made music history by becoming the first band from the United Kingdom to release an album completely free to its fans through a radio station's website. It is a great concept in theory, as unfortunately it is a sign of the modern times that undoubtedly most fans would have downloaded the album for free from the internet, however it does beg the question of how the band is to make any money! However, given the angst-ridden nature of the album, perhaps the band wanted to give something back to the fans... For those who actually do go out and buy the album, a supplementary CD accompanies the main fare and in many respects this album is worth the cost of the purchase price alone as it features powerful live versions of many of the album's songs as well as extra material. ]]> Related Links Buy The Charlatans tickets]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2868 2008-07-14T18:46:11Z 2008-07-14T19:12:18Z

Interview: Graham Fink The Outline - Guitar, Lead vocals Interview by Katie Spain A chat with The Outline’s lead vocalist and guitarist Graham Fink is like a rollercoaster ride of pizza, shots, sex and genitalia. It was when I clashed...

Seatwave Interview: Graham Fink The Outline - Guitar, Lead vocals Interview by Katie Spain A chat with The Outline’s lead vocalist and guitarist Graham Fink is like a rollercoaster ride of pizza, shots, sex and genitalia. It was when I clashed phone lines with him anyway. When we chatted, the Californian band were smack bang in the middle of a European tour with Say Anything and The Rocket Summer. Although we touched on music talk, their album ‘You Smash It, We’ll Build Around It’ and the release of their single, ‘Death To Our Enemies’ (out on July 21st), talk soon reached more animated heights. As the first whisky for the day burned the back of his throat, Graham enlightened me on backstage antics, band love, The Queen’s nether regions and the size of his dangly bits. Admittedly, he was encouraged to tiptoe down the verbal gutter, but who needs to chat about favourite foods when you can cut straight to the chase? If you haven’t seen The Outline live, make sure it’s on your ‘to do’ list. After this animated interview, number one on mine is to down some shots of my own with this delightful musician and his fellow sound scientists. Set the scene for me... where are you now? We are in the Wilmington Arms in Clerkenwell, London. Drinking and eating nachos. I’m about to do a shot to get in the mood for the interview. What are you shotting? A ‘Paddy’. It’s a whisky… a whisky that burns. Tell me the truth, how many shots have you had? That’s the first one today. We had quite a few last night with the other band so this is the first. It’s pretty early for a first shot! ]]> What’s your first musical memory? Well, I remember jumping up and down on a bed at five-years old, listening to Guns’n’Roses and Metallica because I had a big brother and he was into metal in the late 80s. So my first musical memory is playing air guitar to ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I think it changed but for most of my youth I think I wanted to be a soccer/football player. How’s that going for you then? Oh, it’s working out. I’m, going to be in Manchester United next year, easy. I need to build up my endurance a little bit… all those beers and veggie burgers aren’t really contributing to my athletic stature. I reckon shots and nachos is probably a step in the right direction. That sounds great to me! As long as I drink enough Lucozade it’ll cancel out. Your music is experimental – what else in life do you like to experiment with? My sexuality, pizza toppings, yeah… mainly those two things. I’ve read a few of your past interviews and pizza, sex and the male genitalia come up a lot in conversation a lot…No! I think your right about the pizza, I’m not sure about the sex and genitalia… Of all the bands you’ve toured with, who’s been the best to hang out with backstage? We generally get along with everyone really, really well. There’s a band from Kansas City called Vadera who are our best friends in the world and we love touring with them. There’s a Japanese band called Polysics that we toured with and that was really, really fun. They taught us Japanese curse words and they were just hilarious. What’s your favorite Japanese curse word? You know what, I don’t think I can remember any of them. All I can seem to think of is the word for “Cheers” because we drank with them so often. I just remember these Japanese girls saying stuff like “F*** off you c*** sucker” in the funniest, cutest most innocent voice of all time. Does fame scare you? I think we’re pretty far from fame, in the sense of having to deal with it on a daily basis like going out in public and being mobbed or anything. I’m not really thinking about it too seriously at this point in time. I don’t know, I think it’d be cool and maybe a little overwhelming to get to a kind of crazy point of fame but luckily I think we’re too far away to have to think about it. ‘You Smash It, We'll Build Around It’ is out now. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever broken? My virginity? I guess that’s bad... it was the first thing that came to mind! It wasn’t even stolen… it was broken hey? It sounds like you’ve got some issues with your first time m’dear… (laughs) No way, I’m totally a stable, well adjusted dude. The album was a long time in the making right? Are the songs still fresh to play? We wrote a lot of the songs when we were seventeen and we’re going back to playing them on this tour and I was saying in the last interview that it’s almost like going ‘back to the future’. Taking a trip back in time to a younger part of our lives which was kind of fun and a little bit more carefree. It doesn’t feel that fresh playing them but it is kind of nice and nostalgic. Have you got some new stuff in your back pocket? We do, we’re almost done with our new record and we just need to mix and master it and maybe write a few new tracks. We recorded it over the past few months before we came over to Europe so it’s all there and it’ll be available sometime, I’m not sure when but sometime. Have you been including them into your sets for the European dates? Yeah, we’ve been playing a few new songs. We actually played a few in December when we came over with Powderfinger. We played two new songs last night and we’re trying to throw in a couple here and there but at the moment we’re supporting ‘You Smash It’. How is it touring after so long? I love it, it’s my favorite thing. I love seeing new cities every day. I mean, on this tour we’ve all had too much free time; we’ve had two weeks off in London to just hang out and drink and explore. It was amazing. It’s a fun life, I really don’t think you can complain about it. Maybe you don’t get much sleep or it’s a little bit chaotic but it’s definitely an adventure and there’s never a dull moment. Is there an Outline bus this time round or are you rocking some van action? No way, we’re still in the same van with good old ‘Norman’ our driver. It’s a maroon sprinter and it seats six in the back. It’s pretty clean; it’s almost too small to get messy. It’s two rows of three looking right at each other. We just sit there and look at each other and go to sleep. Gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes? You took the words right out of my mouth! What’s your ideal way to spend a day off? The other day we had the day off and went and had drinks on Primrose Hill. It’s just beautiful up there; amazing views of the city, it was sunny, we had some good food and some drinks and just kind of relaxed. I think that was one of my favorite days that we’ve had. Then of course, we’ve got ourselves into some crazy nights as well. What music makes your heart skip a beat? I’m going to say Bryan Adams – So Far So Good, 'Summer of 69'. I hear that your dressing room in Portland turned into a stripper rehearsal room. You, twenty naked women and donuts sounds interesting. Can you please elaborate and make it the highlight of my afternoon. You’re building up a high standard there… I’ll do my best. We were on tour with Polysics and we played this show and thought it was just a normal venue and all of a sudden, someone came down and informed us it was turning into a strip cabaret. So it was us and Polysics who are four kind of timid Japanese people and all of a sudden these women in high black leather boots with flame throwers and bikinis came down and just sort of stripped completely naked and were doing stretches and were bending over, touching their toes and getting ready to get on the pole. Then somebody from our band came back with twenty donuts from this amazing donut place across the street and we were just sitting at a table with these four confused Japanese people, looking around laughing at all these naked women getting ready to put on a show upstairs to a bunch of drunken Oregon citizens. It was definitely an interesting evening. Have you had any weird experiences on the road this time round? Max once got his wallet stolen by a psychotic prostitute – that must be hard to beat. That was also America.. I guess America is an little bit crazier. I’ve had really fun nights but nothing really tabloid worthy. Nothing shocking or terrifying. This trip has been pretty stable to be honest but hopefully before it’s over we’ll have something to report. I interviewed you when you were touring with Powderfinger. When asked about what question you wish an interviewer would ask you, you said “How big is your weiner?” So, I’m asking you now… Somewhere between six and eight inches… Wow, maybe I will have to come down to the Apollo for your gig! If you could ask David Bowie one question, what would it be? How big is your weiner? If you could ask The Queen one question, what would it be? Shit, is it weird to say the opposite? No, no…I’d feel really weird asking her that. Actually, leave it at that. That’d be a great one. I think she’d be really caught up by that – it’d make for a really picturesque moment. The Outline release the ‘Death To Our Enemies’ single on July 21st. Taken from the ‘You Smash It, We’ll Build Around It’ album, it is accompanied by a Star Trek circa 1970 inspired video. Related links: The Outline album review. The Outline gig review. The Outline concert tickets. The Outline Official site. The Outline's MySpace.]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2867 2008-07-14T14:24:58Z 2008-07-14T14:45:20Z

MAMMA MIA! The Movie Soundtrack Review by Christ Todd For some people, Abba is inexplicably one of the greatest pop bands of all time, each three-and-a-half minutes is a little nugget of sweet Pop at the highest order. Then there...

Seatwave MAMMA MIA! The Movie Soundtrack Review by Christ Todd For some people, Abba is inexplicably one of the greatest pop bands of all time, each three-and-a-half minutes is a little nugget of sweet Pop at the highest order. Then there are those who think Abba is one of the most over-rated bands in history; their vomit inducing pop causing annoyance every time they are heard and the only good thing to come out of their existence is influencing of Steve Naives’ piano playing on Elvis Costello Classic ‘Oliver’s Army’. For some people, going to watch a musical starring the "eyes and teeth" brigade singing over the top covers of whatever band’s songs interspersed with the usual story of boy meets girl, girl meets boy, everyone lives happily ever after and everyone goes home uplifted and full of joy is the sign of a truly great night. There are others who think sitting on a rusty spike brings more pleasure. MAMMA Mia the musical has been seen by over thirty-million people around the world so a film was inevitable. Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters and hey, it’s a film about love so let’s get Colin Firth involved in it too, always the sign of a top quality film, if rom-coms with bumbling Brits who are crap with women is your thing. The Soundtrack is bereft of any creativity or actual point. This is a band that has sold almost 400 million records; do their fans really want to buy another CD? Not just that but a CD of self satisfied actors and actresses having fun? The covers on this album are so faithful to the originals that there is ABSOLUTELY NO POINT. Yep, Streep and Walters can carry a tune all well and good but there is still no point. One pearl of interest however is Brosnan’s inability to sing. His attempt has him sounding like an old tramp spitting sweet nothings in your ear as displayed on ‘S.O.S’ whilst Firths’ attempt on ‘Our Last Summer’ isn’t even singing, it’s talking a bit louder than usual. All in all, the film and the soundtrack will be massive, it’s comfort food for the great British Public; you know where you stand with a good old Abba tune don’t you? Personally I think producing this gubbins is a massive waste of cardboard and plastic, such a waste in fact, I hear Prince Charles is thinking of upping his environmental campaign to prevent any further wanton waste in producing this bilge. ]]> Related links: Mamma Mia's official site. Tickets to Mamma Mia the musical.]]> tag:backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com,2008://8.2866 2008-07-14T13:56:18Z 2008-07-14T14:21:01Z

Primal Scream Beautiful Future (B-Unique) Review by Chris Todd Being a Primal Scream fan is equal parts satisfying as it is damn frustrating. They have the ability to electrify with scorchers such as Swastika Eyes but have a habit of...

Seatwave Primal Scream Beautiful Future (B-Unique) Review by Chris Todd Being a Primal Scream fan is equal parts satisfying as it is damn frustrating. They have the ability to electrify with scorchers such as Swastika Eyes but have a habit of boring immensely -(all of 2006s 'Riot City Blues' album). Throughout their career they have never managed to make two great albums in a row and their output from this decade has diminished the reasons for which we loved these guys so long. After the highs of 'Exterminator' you got 2002's 'Evil Heat' which despite being recorded with the brilliant Jagz Kooner and Andy Weatherall at the helm, proved to be 'Exterminator 2' without the best bits. As for 'Riot City Blues', this is one of the worst albums ever, let alone by Primal Scream. It was the first time they were truly regressive, they followed the crowd and made an album even The Stones would think was too generic. The tour for this album had them for the first time looking like they lacked danger, creativity and ideas. They have always done it; thrown in a couple of bad rock ’n’ roll songs on all their albums. 'Riot City Blues' was that one bad track copied ten times; it would have been easy to write them off there and then. ]]> Related links: Primal Scream tickets. Primal Scream's official site. Sign up for the Seatwave newsletter for your chance to win free gig tickets. Sign up to the Seatwave Facebook group - yep, more free tickets! ]]>