The Backlash...

As mentioned in a previous post, MCR have yet again been painted as the leaders of the "Emo" cult.
Rags such as The Daily Mail (summer 06 anyone?), The Sun and others have blamed the influence of the band for Hannah's suicide. She was 13 and hung herself.

In retaliation to the smear campaign against the band, fansite Whatthefrank.co.uk have arranged a quiet protest to be held in London, urging kids to wear slogans such as 'MCR saved my life''MCR saves lives' and positive lyrics from the bands songs.

Now, excuse me if I'm wrong on this, but leading a quiet march through London is not exactly expelling the CULT idea of the tory rags. This has the potential to backfire really badly on everyone.

Instead of just marching to defend one band, who themselves don't claim to be emo, why not make the protest about the IGNORANCE and INTOLERANCE people have towards kids that do dress up in black and feel misunderstood? It should be about opening peoples eyes to the fact that none of the bands that are labelled "emo" especially MCR condone self harm nor do they encourage suicide. They do, in fact, rally against it in thier songs and attitudes.

I approached the organisers with this view and recieved this reply:

"We're sticking to our guns on the MCR front but we will be changing
the main page of the site to illustrate our cause better, over the
next few days."

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...I'll keep you posted on what happens next.

Making Waves...

First off...Congratulations to the Parlotones for getting thier single 'Louder than Bombs' listed in Kerrang!s Singles to Own list this week! Its not easy... have you seen the security at the Kerrang! offices?

There has also been an amazing addition to the line up for the Psychobilly Night I'm hosting at The Phoenix. Welcome on board - Luna Vegas! They will be tearing up the basement bar along with Los Jailbreakers, Billy Rebel and A Sailors Grave.

Hope to see all my London readers there!

Come One, Come All..

Strung Out and a few reviews...

Bring all your friends! It's happening tomorrow night!
Line Up:
Veil Cassini
The Piccadillys
The Gooners
Dempsey and the DC9's

Reviews:

Panic At The Disco
Pretty. Odd.



Panic At The Disco had been the butt of numerous emo jokes. Very few saw the pure musicality behind thier ostentatious costumes and videos. These boys are serious musicians at heart.
Thier first album opened an operatic theme in thier style. They expanded on this for thier second attempt but after realising the tracks would be impossible to play live, the tracks were shelved. The band then wrote an album that wears its influences on its sleeve. Blatantly so.
But this doesn't detract from the fact that this is a great album with catchy hooks and great lyrics. highlights include leading single 'Nine in the Afternoon', 'She's a Handsome Woman', 'Northern Downpour' and 'Mad as Rabbits'.

The Raconteurs
Consolers of the Lonely



The great thing about a Jack White project, whether its The White Stripes or The Raconteurs, you are always guarenteed a pleasant surprise with the first listen to any new tracks.
Unlike its predecessor, Broken Boy Soldier, with its blues undertones, Consolers of the Lonely is a fast paced album, spitting the tracks out at the listener with as much venom as they contain. Kick off with the wham! of the title track 'Consolers of the Lonely'. 'Many Shades of Black' brings the bam! And thank you ma'm! with Carolina Drama.
Now, it might just be me, but I'm sure I hear traces of early Bon Jovi in a track or two.
Long live Jack White and his guitar!


We Are Scientists
Brain Thrust Mastery



A lot of fans of 'In Love and Squalor' (the band's first album) find themselves kind of let down. An anti climax of the foreplay promised, really.
In 'Brain Thrust Mastery', We Are Scientists veer away from the indie disco sound they made thier own and embraced a more mellow, relaxed sound. With a nod to the 80's, 'Lethal Enforcer' wears it's Hawaii 5-0 'tache with pride, while 'Ghouls' and 'Altered Beast' have snuck out of The Magnetic Fields B-side folder and graced our ears with it's self deprecating lyrics. Lead single 'After Hours' is, behind the happy go lucky tune, a sad, sorry song. The video, however is awesome!
The songs, while still very much tongue in cheek, take us to the dark side of indie.
Not as infectious as 'In Love and Squalor', this is still one of the better sophomore albums released so far.

Its Back!!!!

Boy Hits Car Gig Review - 9th Dec 2007

Yes, I know. This is nearly a month late. I humbly and profusely apologise. I've been busy.



Back to the gig...
The Underworld in Camden is one of my favourite venues to watch bands. It's a basement that smells like spilled beer, BO and vomit (formerly hidden by cigarette smoke now banned by law).
Its small enough to be intimate and large enough to hold a good crowd.

This good sized crowd filled out the club on a Sunday night to watch Californian rockers Boy Hits Car perform the second to last show of thier UK tour.
Chatting to guitarist Mike before the show, he mentioned a new album coming out in March 2008 - so keep your ears out for that.


GUITARIST - MIKE SAYS LOOK OUT FOR THE NEW ALBUM

There was also mention on red tape when they arrived in the country. Due to work permit issues (them not having any) They were deported 12 hours later only to have the permits FedEx'd to them and returning a day later. Damn red tape!!

The first three of the five bands playing aren't worth mentioning. However, the supporting band - Car Crash Television is a band worth keeping tabs on. Queen is an obvious influence as well as Bowie but if I recall correctly, they wore thier punk influences proudly.

Onto the main act...
Blown away. those are the only two words to describe it. Cregg Rondell (vocals and 12 string) blew us away with powerful, yet sensitive delivery of the songs as well as playing that 12 string acoustic and performing barefoot.

FOOT OF CREGG RONDELL

Opening with 'Going to India' then ripping through a set that included that crowd pleaser 'As I watched the sun..', 'Everything', Man without skin' to name a few.
The crowd wouldn't let them leave without an encore which they gladly obliged.

BLONDE CURLS OF CREGG RONDELL

I was invited to hang out afterwards and knock back some Jager, but the huge bouncers had other ideas, so I made my excuses and headed home, happy with the evening.
Besides, I was doing breakfast shift the next morning.

Another Show...

Thursday night I found myself at the O2 arena in Greenwich, London. Formerly the Millenium Dome, this building is now hosting music events. I personally think the venue is so big that even for a show like My Chemical Romance, who's trademark is over-the-top theatrics, it should be used for x-sports instead.
But maybe i'm just spoilt and prefer to see bands in a small venue with about 300 other people at the most.
So there I was, up in the rafters, wishing I had brought along my binoculars as the people on stage looked about 1cm tall.
The opening act was Mindless Self Indulgence (aka Mrs Gerard's Band). I sat back and watched, objectively, to thier set. And you know what? They really weren't that bad. But then, they weren't good either. Mostly rapping to punk music. With repetitive lyrics in the veins of 50 Cents. What? You couldn't be asked to try some clever word play?

So once this foursome flounced offstage, we had our headliners come on. Well, three out of five. Bob Bryar (drummer) is on sick leave due to a wrist injury, and Frank (rythmn guitar) was away due to a family illness.
But we had Gerard, Mikey and Ray to keep up the act. Now here comes the stupid part. I carefully typed out the playlist on my phone during the show and stupidly pressed the wrong button and erased it! So I'm relying on my memory from here on in.
Opening with a new track Stay Awake the band kicked off the show! Before you knew it, we were being raced through hits from all three albums, including Mama, Prison, Give 'em Hell Kid, Honey..., Headfirst for Halos, Helena, Teenagers and of course the ballady I Don't Love You.
Pyrotechics were going crazy during Welcome To The Black Parade, which still sends shivers down my spine.
Gerard is an amazing front man, even without the antics of Frank to amuse, he captivated us. Well, me at least. His banter was warm, darkly funny and went down well with everyone there.


(Photocredit to Somlanare off LJ)

Reports from Camp MCR say that this is thier last European show until thier next album. Let's just hope they don't choose the O2 arena again.

Indie Animals

I'd like to introduce you to The Wombats.
The UK's latest addition to the ever increasing indie scene. Thier new single 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' is taking every indie dancefloor by storm. I have found myself bouncing around to it, which is surprising. The video is cute, full of homages to older bands.
The song itself is catchy. Very catchy. Good rock 'n roll in the get up and dance way. Enjoy.

Christmas Came Early

Motion City Soundtrack @ Astoria , London - 5 October 2007

Last night, instead of falling in love without someone, I fell back in love with Motion City Soundtrack.
This completely underrated pop punk act from Minneapolis, USA has been on tour for the past few months promoting thier new album - Even If It Kills Me - which, by the way, is a phenomenal collection of love songs I am way overdue to review.

So tonight, with Mother in tow, I landed at the Astoria very sober and ready for action.
We caught Starlight Run half way through thier act. Not too bad. Bonus points for lead female, yet, not too memorable.

Next up was Zolof The Rock & Roll Destroyer. Mouthy name, but pretty good Pixies-ish band. Kept the raucous crowd somewhat in line.

Then came the headliners, the reason we were there. And man, what a show. Justin controlled and encaptivated the audience, who was singing every song word for word back to him. The set list included old staples such as LG FUAD, Attractive Today, Red Dress, newbies - Opening with Fell in Love Without You, Antonia, This is For Real, Broken Heart, It Had To Be You, and Point of Extinction.
The set was tight with nearly no techinical issues except for the roadie removing Justin's guitar before thier encore, which was rather funny..it was a you-had-to-be-there-moment.

I would have loved to meet them just to say - Well Done boys! The album is fabulous, the show rocks and please, would you sign my wrist cast.
We can't have it all...i guess.

Clubland

London is by no means a small city, and one is never pressed to find something to do on any given night. But, there is the huge risk of ending up in a dive with a band that needs a lot more practice and paying far too much for beer.
Lucky for everyone out there, I have taken to the dodgy pavements of London and weeded out the best places to be any given weekend.

Friday:

Beneath the World's End pub in Camden, lies another world - UNDERWORLD. A club that hosts live bands from up and coming youngsters to veteran acts. But the fun really starts after the roadies have cleared the stage.
PUMP UP THE VOLUME comes at you full blast, throwing every 80's guilty pleasure you know and then some. I'm not and 80's fan, but I was jumping and dancing and singing along in no time! And I even knew the words to the songs!
The vibe is friendly, the people cool and everyone is there to indulge in thier nostalgia.
The beer isn't too expensive either.
Entrance is £5.

1st Friday of every month:

Who likes a little indie rock? VOTE PEDRO is the club to be. They feature two awesome bands with some electric and electic mixing in between sets. Hosted in the basement bar of The Phoenix in Cavendish Square, this night is seeing a bigger turn out every month. Help it grow...

Entrance is £5.

Update...And a Video!

Hi guys,

Sorry I've been absent...between breaking my wrist and paying my rent, I've been uber busy listening to the latest albums to come my way.

Coming up by the end of the week you'll have reviews on:

Venus Doom - HIM
Even If It Kills Me - Motion City Soundtrack
Every Second Counts - Plain White T's
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters

As Well As

A look at some of the best alternative club nights in London.

AND

Interviews with some up and coming scene shakers.

So keep reading. For now, enjoy the latest video from Motion City Soundtrack - This Is For Real.