Robyn Writes

Review: Tom Gabel – Heart Burns

So. Tom Gabel has decided to go it solo for this EP. It’s slightly nostalgic, calling back to the early days of Against Me! where there was nothing more than Tom and an acoustic guitar. Contrary to what you may be thinking, there’s only a little bit of that, and mostly on the iTunes release. Either way, it’s an exciting release, and proves that a major label has not made Tom Gabel soft.

Why is this release so exciting then? Well, it’s arguably Gabel’s best material since As The Eternal Cowboy. Whilst the last two Against Me! albums were nothing short of awesome, I found they were lacking the same kind of heart that Cowboy had; that kind of raw, rough around the edges ecstasy and fury. Heart Burns has that in abundance. Yes, the production is pretty slick, but that doesn’t stop this from feeling a little more punk rock than New Wave. It’s also pretty innovative. Gabel breaks into synth-punk (yes, you heard me correctly) with opening track Random Hearts and more of the same with following track Conceptual Paths. Some may find the electric drums annoying, but they serve to make the two tracks more punchy and add a lot of impact, particularly in the latter of the two tracks. Musically, Gabel does a lot of experimenting on this one. While this is great, it also stops the EP from having a distinct sound and it’s slightly jarring on occasion. This is rare, but it happens. However, there’s some great moments, like on Annie Is A Stool Pigeon, and the way that Amputations builds up to its final message is fantastic.

However, Gabel also goes back to what he does best – those raw acoustic tracks. As I mentioned, this is mostly limited to the iTunes release, with two of the four acoustic tracks on that version only (an acoustic version of Random Hearts and I Can’t See You, But I Know You’re There), but they’re great. While Gabel’s hardly screaming down the microphone any more, you can feel his frustration and his anger so much more clearly on these acoustic tracks, and these are the ones you remember.

This EP is also special for the punk rock stalwarts Gabel’s got to help him. Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio contributes his vocals to Amputations, and it sounds sublime. Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music (!) plays harmonica and sings backing on Anna Is A Stool Pigeon, giving it a folk punk sound that arguably makes it the best song on the album.

This is also one of Gabel’s strongest releases lyrically. There are several lyrics that just hit you. What kind of future are you promising us? in Amputations; I said don’t miss your chance to see it, while it’s all happening, these are once in a lifetime events and time will wait for no one in 100 Years Of War; I don’t believe in exceptionalism, I still have hope for the future from Cowards Sing At Night (a song clearly written to tell McCain to get his head out of his ass) and there are more gems within there to find yourself. Gabel’s always been an excellent lyricist, and particularly politically, he does himself proud on this release.

Overall, Tom Gabel has made a fantastic record. This is definitely one of the strongest releases in his career, and if we hear some more like this on the next Against Me! album or future solo releases, then the future of punk rock is pretty safe for now.

4 out of 5 high fives

Clash Of The Titans

Last night, I decided to go along with my friends and check out Clash Of The Titans, in 3D no less. So, with 3D glasses in hand and ketchup all in my hair (it was an eventful dinner at Nando’s beforehand), we trouped off in search of adventure and to watch Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation) kill absolutely everything ever.

I must admit to have never seeing the original Clash Of The Titans in its entirety, as it’s always one of those ones that ends up on the TV in holiday periods when I’m drifting in and out of the living room, and therefore can’t judge if the movie can indeed live up to its predecessor. However, in regards to monsters, I share Chad Gilbert’s opinion, as viewed on his Twitter the other day – “I will see any movie with a Krakken in it, but I wont like every movie with a Krakken in it.” Truth is, I’ll watch any movie with mythical beasties in it, but I won’t necessarily like them. Case in point: the second Pirates of the Caribbean film. Therefore, I was holding out some hope for this movie and hoping that Mr Worthington would look fantastic in a leather skirt. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t be worth it.

The story is your typical Greek myth affair – man decides to rise up against the gods because they’re fed up of their rule, gods decide to fight back, man sends in a hero – who’s a demigod! Surprise surprise! This is essentially thrown at you as soon as the movie starts with little explanation until Io (Gemma Arterton; Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia) decides to ever so helpfully and conveniently tell our hero Perseus that yes, he is indeed the son of Zeus – and oh, Hades wants to take over everything. If you’ve ever read anything to do with Greek mythology, you’ve heard it all before, and Clash Of The Titans is pretty much an excuse to shove anything to do with Greek mythology into one film and to have Perseus destroy it in style. And to have Liam Neeson play Zeus because he was made for that beard. Nobody else could pull off that beard.

The film is reasonably well casted and a good call for Worthington to keep his Australian accent, even if he did go a bit too into the Christian Bale end on the Scale of Gravelliness. I’m not entirely sure what makes people think that mythology calls for accents that aren’t American, but I’m glad that faculty exists, because it just makes it seem that little bit more authentic, somehow. That, and that British/Australian accents are far cooler. There’s plenty of action, as would be expected from Hollywood’s latest take on mythology, because if there’s anything we’ve learnt from recent years, it’s that swords + leather + monsters + pretty ladies = instant blockbuster. So, there’s plenty of hacking, men in leather skirts all over the place, every monster you could ever think of and a reasonable amount of eye candy (but no sex! This is a 12A after all!) to get excited over. And if you’re not looking for a particularly intellectual film, then this is the way to go.

The 3D is excessively lacking. To be honest, I wouldn’t bother paying the extra money to see it in 3D unless you like great 3D adverts, because all there happens to be is a spear that comes out and the text looks nice and shiny and standouty. That’s all. The monster effects are all 2D anyway and those in fact do look fantastic . They’re also possibly some of the more realistic I’ve seen in a while, despite being creatures of myth. In particular, Charon just looks incredibly twisted and the journey across the Styx is a sight to behold. The only one that looks at all computer generated is Medusa – even the Krakken itself looks reasonably realistic. And if I don’t get to ride a Pegasus soon… well, let’s just say I won’t be happy.

Overall, Clash Of The Titans is a fast paced, no holds barred action fest. There’s death and destruction pretty much everywhere. At the start of the film, this is well done, but towards the end, it starts to feel rather rushed – the ‘end game’ as it were lasts for about two minutes and you feel somewhat cheated. However, that doesn’t detract too much from it being a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and the staring at the legs of attractive men is pretty sweet too. Sorted.

3 out of 5 high fives!

Live: The Gaslight Anthem – 3/2/09 [O2 Academy Birmingham 2]

The Gaslight Anthem are hardly a well kept secret any more. Without any previous coverage, they graced the front of Kerrang! and sold out their initial slot at the Bar Academy in Birmingham in weeks. However, thanks to an upgrade, I was able to get my hands on some tickets and braved the harsh winter weather to see if the hype was right.

First up on stage were Polar Bear Club, an up and coming band from the US. Polar Bear Club are like the bastard child of Boys Night Out and Stretch Arm Strong. No matter how confusing and potentially awful that sounds, it works insanely well. They’re certainly an energetic bunch and their singer threw himself around that stage like nobody’s business. Their debut album, Sometimes Things Just Disappear is actually really good as well, and the tracks sounded absolutely solid live. Definitely a band to watch out for.

The next act was Frank Turner, ex-guitarist of Million Dead now turned folk punk genius. I was not expecting an act like him at all that night, and neither was I disappointed. In short, Frank Turner is one of the most incredible acts I have ever witnessed and was honestly the best performer that night. He’s essentially a one man punk rock machine – an acoustic guitar and a microphone are all he needs. His lyrics are astounding too, and proof that you don’t need electric guitars and fancy videos to sing about politics these days. The highlight of his set was possibly Try This At Home, a song to be included on his new album. When Turner sings, you can feel the passion in his voice spreading throughout the audience and catching fire in their hearts. It’s truly inspiring stuff, and Frank Turner was the best thing about this evening.


That’s not to say that The Gaslight Anthem weren’t any good though. The band were truly on form tonight and it’s easy to see how they’re selling out venues left, right and centre. Unfortunately, I’d say that was a bad point, because the venue was so packed that it was impossible to get a good place. After trying in vain, I ended up stuck behind some dickhead who jumped around enthusiastically, played air guitar and elbowed me several times. And the pit was three steps to his left. This essentially ruined the set for me, but I’ll give the band their due, they were great. Brian Fallon is possibly the most charming man in punk rock, winning the audience over easily with a cheeky smile. The band are great performers and played a bunch of crowd favourites, all with incredibly abstract names that I can’t remember. At least I’m honest. It’s such a typical thing to say when it comes to punk bands, but there was so much energy coming from The Gaslight Anthem tonight, and it sounded incredible. Watch out for The Gaslight Anthem, because it won’t be long until their eclectic folk punk anthems are filling arenas worldwide.

Review: Taking Back Sunday – New Again

What is it with Taking Back Sunday and line up changes? Almost every other album, there’s at least a new guitarist. At one point, this dramatically affected their sound (on Where You Want To Be, for example), but this time, it still feels like Taking Back Sunday. And that’s good. That’s really good.

The particular edition I’m reviewing is the Taking Back Sunday New Again car kit, which comes with all kinds of wonderful toys such as a TBS flash drive, a t-shirt, exclusive web content and b-sides and much more. Something that doesn’t change is Taking Back Sunday’s dedication to its fans, and this limited edition is decently priced for the amount of extras you get with it. And of course, who can resist a tongue in cheekadvert in true Taking Back Sunday style?

So, onto the actual music! The album opens with the track New Again, a proclamation of their new incarnation. It’s sharp, it’s punchy, it hits you with the force of a freight train and it’s incredible. New Again is definitely one of the best tracks on the album and the best one to open with for sure. Sink Into Me, the first single, is up next, and it’s a delicious affair with some provocative lyrics and a great chorus. I can guarantee you’ll be singing it for days. The album is consistently great. No song sounds the same, but each song has Adam’s ferocious vocals and that crisp guitar sound that Taking Back Sunday have always had and it works. Some personal highlights are Swing and Cut Me Up, Jenny. Swing is a fairly upbeat affair with some great riffs, and Cut Me Up, Jenny is one of the more emotional songs on the album, reminiscent of A Decade Under The Influence, another of my favourite Taking Back Sunday songs. Lyrically, Taking Back Sunday haven’t weakened either, with some of my new favourite lines coming from this album. The chorus to
Swing is fantastic, and the viciousness of Carpathia and the way Adam sings it is sublime. Carpathia is also the only song in which Matt Fazzi’s presence is really noticeable, which is a shame, because it would be good to hear him in some of the other songs, so it would be interesting to see how they perform live. The album also ends strongly, with Everything Must Go, a heart-wrenching finale which is the best song on the album.

This time, Taking Back Sunday are claiming to be ‘New Again’, and I suppose in some respects, you could say that they are. The introduction of guitarist Matt Fazzi has resulted in the removal of one of the key TBS characteristics – that back and forth between Adam and the guitarist that we’ve been so familiar with. Is it something I miss? Considering my favourite Taking Back Sunday album is Tell All Your Friends, I guess it is. However, the band are flourishing with the new formula, and this is one of the strongest Taking Back Sunday albums since the beginning. That said, it doesn’t feel unfamiliar. This is still the Taking Back Sunday I know and love, but this time, packing a greater punch than ever before. New Again indeed.

4 out of 5 high fives!

TwoBeatsOff – the origins story

Originally posted on the 23/12/09. To be honest, TBO’s focus has shifted once again, but at this moment in time, this is what it was.

Lately, I’ve found myself with a bit of a problem. Whilst advertising for new writers and receiving responses from potentials, I’ve been faced with a fairly ponderous question – what the hell is TwoBeatsOff? Fightclubsandwich has actually written a fairly comprehensive answer to this for a good old fashioned paper ‘best of’ zine, composed of our favourite articles so far and I am sure that her piece covers just about everything. But, being as vain as I am where my projects are concerned, I have decided to try and define it myself in honour of our first birthday occurring a couple of months ago.

TBO started as some kind of vague dream within a writing group that I used to be a part of with Nox, fightclubsandwich, ninthandash and A.Von Doll. With half of the members within that group, I knew it would never happen. I remember the Myspace threads trying to get people involved, and there were cries of “I’d love to, but I’m too busy,” “I’d keep forgetting, I’d suck at doing it regularly” and also, golden silence on the topic. Well, at least they were honest. So I turned to my three closest friends within the group who became the pain-in-the-arse writers I have today (A.Von Doll came along a bit later). Despite that, I would never trade them, no matter how long it takes to get an article from them. You gotta wait for diamonds to be found, right?

And so, the foundation was there. Nothing actually happened for about a year. We were too preoccupied with summer and stories and other such things. Then, the term ‘personal statement’ came into mine and ninthandash’s lives. For those of you who don’t know, a personal statement is the most evil piece of writing to exist. You have about three quarters of a page to tell a university everything that’s good about you. Mine was lacking, so I decided that I would make something good, due to having been turned down numerous times for work experience at local papers. With this new found motivation in hand, I bought the hosting and we were set. We finally stopped being fraudulent pricks and finally had some proof of journalistic experience. But we couldn’t do it on our own, so we recruited Nox and fightclubsandwich and we tried to write things we thought people would enjoy.

But that’s not where the story ends. I get a hell of a lot of questions about the name ‘TwoBeatsOff’. In fact, it came from meeting soufex at a Say Anything show. Originally, TBO was going to be called Paper Hearts. It sounded cool and edgy, but Hawthorne Heights or some other shitty band like that had a song called that, so that was totally out of the window. We needed something a little more punk rock, a little less whine. So, after meeing soufex, adding her on Myspace and asking her to join us, I discovered she was a Fugazi fan. This was right in the middle of discussing names with ninthandash. “Shit, wait! Fugazi songs, you got a list?” I typed and she came up with a link. It was weird – I think we actually typed Two Beats Off at the same time. It has everything; music, punk, slight sexual innuendo, and it’s also one of my favourite Fugazi songs. I guess nothing could stop us now, right?

Except the problem with TBO is that we don’t have a clear area of focus. At first, we were solely to be a music zine focused around the punk subculture, delivering scathing reviews and doing interviews with relatively famous bands. To some extent, that runs through the zine’s blood and music, particularly the punk and indie scenes are our main influence. However, it got hard just writing about music, so we broadened to movies, fashion, games, comics and even the more serious stuff – one of my favourite pieces is soufex’s inspirational ‘Fight With Tools’. So loosely, TBO is a pop-culture zine with other bits thrown in. We write about what we like. Even though we’re all girls, we’re not quite feminist, despite a number of us being feminist. The most true description I can give of this zine is that it’s independent, honest and that we love this zine like nothing else. And we hope you do too.