Robyn Writes

The Headstart – The Plug, Birmingham, 25/09/11

A Sunday night in Birmingham couldn’t really get much better. It was a beautiful night, more reminiscent of summer than of autumn, there was some crazy Irish folk coming from the pub next to the venue and a lot of extremely happy looking teenage girls milling about outside The Plug. The Irish folk was tempting, and you can probably hear it on the interview video we did with the band before the show, but we weren’t there for that. We were there for a night of pure pop-punk pleasure with the fellows from The Headstart as they embarked on a headlining tour entitled “It’s Gonna Get Messy”. According to the naked Facebook pictures, it had been getting pretty messy all around the country, but was Birmingham going to shape up to that awesome reputation?

The first band on for Kitteh and I (we arrived slightly late due to camera drop-offs), who I must deduce as Every Inch A King – they mumbled their name – showed miles of promise. Obviously a very young band, they combined some interesting synth work and programming with their sound. Their sound was, however, all over the place. The boys need to sit down and do some serious genre figuring out – was it post-hardcore? Enter Shikari-style trancecore? Pop-punk? Who knew? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking a lot of different styles and blending them together in your own way, but there has to be some consistency, which they were sadly lacking. For a relatively new band on the scene, they were pretty tight, although a few slips from the vocalist regarding timing were spotted here and there, but I attributed that mostly to nerves. Also, Chris Martin called and wants his hand movements back! But in all seriousness, give these guys a few years, a few tattoos and no doubt they’ll have completely got it together.

Follow You Home, to be quite honest, were a disgrace. Their music was okay and they were clearly quite well practised together, but the amount of ripped off riffs and vocal lines we heard in their songs was abysmal. In just one song, there was the exact same riff from A’s Nothing in their breakdown, a line from a Framing Hanley song and a very similar, in fact too similar, sequence to Sum 41’s Still Waiting. Having influences is one thing, but taking those influences and claiming them as your own is just wrong, especially when said influences are still in the public memory. A really weren’t that long ago! Their lead singer had absolutely no power behind her voice, leaving her as just another Hayley Williams wannabe in a very difficult scene to crack. They were confident, no doubt, but nothing stood out in their songs until it was a riff that wasn’t entirely their own. The band were getting a fair amount of media attention from Lava TV and got to the top five in Kerrang’s Slam Dunk competition, but it’s just like a majority of the bands in the British scene right now – rip offs of American favourites who will get by on image alone. Which is sad, really.

Chasing Skylines, local Birmingham lads, were a great improvement upon the band before them. Half pop-punk, half classic rock, they powered through a reasonably pleasing set. It wasn’t the most exciting of sets, but the band were pretty tight. One downside was that for all the singer’s theatrics and decent stage presence, his vocals sadly suffered, with his breathing all over the place and a pretty weak effort coming out of his mouth. There were also a lot of unnecessary moshpits invoked – it’s not the sort of music you want to punch someone in the face too, it’s far too light. But anyway, they were fun to watch though and are definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of Don Broco.

The Headstart, the main event, were utterly fantastic. In fact, I felt so sorry that they weren’t getting the love they deserved. They have some really dedicated fans, but not a lot of those seem to be from Birmingham – the majority of the audience left with the support bands and the rest stood stock still, which is not what the boys deserved at all. Despite having only released a single EP so far, their songs are inspiring, extraordinarily well put together and contain a certain hint of nostalgia for the true days of pop-punk while being totally original at the same time, which is a quality that definitely shows through live. The band have so much energy and invest so much in their performance, as well as their interaction with the audience. I suspect on a different night, there might have been some more banter, but the crowd just weren’t responding. Truly, it’s the little things that make their performance – their cheeky banter, the sly ‘I <3 Kyle' on the back of Gaz's guitar, the wary little jumps on a very unstable stage (followed by a big 'ah fuck it' one) amongst other highlights. Their dedication to their fans is also really sweet - they stayed to chat and sign stuff and take photos for a fair while after the set. It's awesome to see such a positive attitude; despite the venue change to the relatively tiny Plug (in comparison to the shiny new HMV Institute), the band made the best of everything and gave it their all. It might not have been the NIA, but just give it some time and hopefully The Headstart will start getting the attention they so completely deserve. I can't wait for the debut album and resulting tour; maybe that one might end up a bit messier than that Sunday night in Birmingham.

Interview with The Headstart, 25/09/11

Check out the band at their Facebook page or their website!

content coming soon!

Hey guys!

I am currently editing an interview with those lovely boys from The Headstart which will be up later today. We’ll also be posting a review of the gig of theirs we went to and one of Merthyr Rock festival when Kitteh gets back from London.

TBO is now back in a normal part of the Midlands so expect waaaay more stuff to start popping up on your page.

Thanks for sticking with us!

xoxo – Ripper

Ivan and the Wolves [demos]

Ivan and the Wolves, based in Camden, describe themselves as “guitar driven Brit Rock” and say “if it isn’t loud, turn it off”. The three piece certainly look the part – they’ve got those check shirts and fedoras that are in these days and from their live photos, they seem like they’re having a lot of fun. Their Facebook page is enthusiastic and quite inspiring – all these guys want to do is rock! I’ve got a couple of tracks here entitled The Get Out Clause and Subdivisions, which I am thoroughly expecting to rock my tits off, so let’s give them a whirl.

The Get Out Clause starts out with some jangly guitar swagger. It’s pretty rock and roll, very danceable. The song doesn’t quite know what it wants to be though – there’s some pretty weird chord changes and jumps from minor to major that are slightly jarring. These aren’t present in the first verse at all, which is a lot more subtle and more impressive. On the whole, it’s a relatively catchy song, with some great ‘ooh’s’ in the chorus, but it does sound like two completely different songs squished together into that three minutes and forty-five seconds.

Subdivisions is a lot less confusing and a lot more together. There’s less of a weird structure and a lot more focus on building what is a really quite good track. It’s slightly less intense than its companion track, but this works in its favour. The opening few chords admittedly do sound like they belong on a car advert, but that’s not such a bad thing. The latter part of the track and the chorus are very We Are Scientists, which keeps me happy because I love that kind of sound. Overall, a far more impressive track than its companion.

Both tracks have some really great vocals and there’s some pretty good range going on there, plus that kind of swagger you’d expect for something a bit rocky. But the tracks just don’t stand out to me like I was anticipating. Perhaps it’s because I’m a really big fan of distortion, but the rest of the songs bar the vocals are far too clean for the rock and roll image it wants to portray. Don’t get me wrong, they’re pretty well put together tracks, the production is superb and the band would no doubt be a blast to see perform. However, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I’d like to hear a bit more from Ivan and the Wolves in the future, just hopefully with a bit more bite and a little less fluff.

3/5 high fives!

PS – if you want to hear the tracks for yourself, check out their website at http://www.ivanandthewolves.com

Reading Festival 2011 – Sunday

I started off the day with a bit of Popcorn Comedy (impossible to rate, too many shorts!), a variety of comedy film shorts and live performances. Of particular note was the Buttery Biscuit Base song, a cat that smeared poo on its owner’s wall to stop her from having a date and Carly Spellman’s song about her brother. And the one dedicated to Simon. You really had to be there for that one. The first main stage act I headed for was Taking Back Sunday (2.5/5), who I was particularly excited for considering their return to their original lineup. I am a big John Nolan fan. And I can tell you that he didn’t disappoint. TBS may be older and wiser, but he’s still got that raw emotion in his voice that made Tell All Your Friends. Adam Lazzara, on the other hand, was probably on something. The songs were fine, they were great even, and they rolled through all the classics, including the stuff that they’d written in the absence of John and co, but Adam was extremely overwhelming. I’ve seen Taking Back Sunday before, I know that he’s a bit of a character. But this was something else, and I honestly felt uncomfortable watching it. A good job that Frank Turner (4.5/5) came along to save the day! Frank’s first time on the main stage and he was positively glowing. The sun came out, the crowd sang along and I lost my voice. Frank and the Sleeping Souls chose their set very carefully, resulting in thousands of voices being hurled back at them. There really is no performer like Frank Turner. The soothing voice, the snappy dress, he’s got us in the palm of his hand. He oozes charisma, but moreso than that, his songs truly connect with so many people. The ‘I won’t sit down’ bit in Photosynthesis is always worth a laugh (essentially he gets everyone to sit down and jump up at a certain point in the song) and with less crush than in the NME tent last year, it actually worked! He’s touring in November, go and see him if you’ve got any sense.

Fast forward a bit to Bedouin Soundclash (3/5). By this point, the clouds had kicked back in, so their brand of reggae/ska managed to cheer everyone up. The tent was filled with people who’d heard that song on the T-mobile advert and not a lot else, but everyone was dancing. It’s happy music, chilled out and made a change from the hardcore being played earlier in the day (I did catch a bit of Off! but it was pretty dire and I wasn’t paying that much attention, so I’m virtually disregarding it). Hot Water Music (4/5) wowed us all. A great return for the band, they played a veritable aural feast from their ‘punk’ catalogue (no Fuel For The Hate Game love?). In fact, I’m surprised that the tent wasn’t as full as it was. Hot Water Music know what it’s all about, and the cover of True Believers at the end where all of their friends came on to join in was inspiring. The whole set was inspiring, really. If I can be as half an accomplished musician as any of them, I’ll be happy with my life. Face To Face followed them, but I didn’t really catch that much of it. What I did catch sounded pretty good though. My apologies to soufex for not seeing one of her faves!

Frank Turner (5/5) played a second set in the Lock Up, which topped his first one by miles, if that was even truly possible. There was admittedly some repetition from earlier, as he played The Road again, but in a much more intimate setting, it was far more involving than before. However, the true highlight of the set was Frank’s cover of Queen’s Somebody To Love, where he ditched the guitar and picked up the mic for an incredible rendition. Screw Glee, Frank Turner is where it’s at! Oh, and The Ballad Of Me And My Friends never ever gets old. As Frank says, “I’m definitely going to hell, but I’ll have all the best stories to tell” and that set can definitely be included amongst the best stories we have to tell. I’m really struggling to write comprehensively at this point, because my brain is just going “AJGDJHFF SO AWESOME” and I think that if a set can reduce me to some kind of babbling mess, it’s got to be worth it, right?

Flogging Molly (5/5) in comparison turned me into some kind of dancing machine. A friend of mine had come for the day and was meant to be watching Muse with his friends, but turned to me and said “I CANNOT LEAVE THIS RIGHT NOW!” To be perfectly honest, it was the most fun I’d had all weekend. Flogging Molly are not one of those bands I’d choose to listen to in the privacy of my own room, not really. They’ve got some great songs and I’m sure there’s some real gems out there, but in a way, I’ve always thought it was too gimmicky. I’m very happy to say I think I’ve been proven wrong. There was a phenomenal atmosphere in the room; everyone was dancing, cheering, clapping, singing… drink was flowing and people who didn’t even know each other were linking arms and dancing with each other. All in all, I think that was a great success. So much so, that Descendents (4.5/5), although they were amazing in their own way, just missed out in topping the list over Frank and Flogging Molly. They may be all grown up now, but they’ve still got it. It was a dream come true to be able to see them, as they covered a huge range of songs from their back catalogue. They clearly love what they do and the on stage banter was hugely entertaining, as well as their choice from a few of the jokier songs in their repertoire (Coffee Mug, anyone?). Milo is a great hero of mine for many reasons, and the true highlight of their set for me was having a mic thrust in my face and singing a line. Punk rock ambition number 12 achieved! The songs sound just as good as on record, even better perhaps as Stephen Egerton takes it up a notch. So the weekend ended on a high, as I got to see one of my favourite bands who I’ll probably never get the opportunity to see again and completely disregarded Muse because I’m a total rebel. This year, Reading rocked.