Robyn Writes

Singled Out – Unfamiliar Faces [EP]

Unfamiliar Faces is probably a very apt name for this EP. From all I’d heard about Singled Out before picking up a copy, the one thing that was cemented in my mind was that they were ‘pop-punk’. Thinking that I knew what I was in for, I put the volume up and sat back. What I wasn’t expecting was a full on metalcore assault from first track ‘The God Complex’, and I honestly had to Google it to make sure I’d gotten the right thing! As I listened, I realised that actually, this wasn’t too bad. There were some great breakdowns, growls that had some fantastic tone to them and the guitar tone was really neat. It was a really good track, but my expectations had seemingly been torn in half by a musical great white.

It’s not exactly back to business as usual for the rest of the EP, but the pop-punk element that I was promised certainly rears its head. ‘Conor’s From Philly, And He Carries A Piece’ blends the two elements perfectly to create a wicked track. The guitars are poppy, but with a hint of something heavier. The clean vocals from Alex Muhich are equally as impressive as his growls, though at first, I couldn’t believe it was the same person – his range is truly incredible. That hardcore edge certainly isn’t lost though, as some impressive gang vocals come to the forefront midway through.

Singled Out don’t necessarily maintain a balance of those two styles throughout, relying far more heavily on their more brutal influences. In fact, it’s possibly the one complaint that I have about the EP – while every song is equally impressive, I’d love to see more of a balance between their poppier side and their hardcore side. It’s still incredibly difficult to throw them into any one genre though – for example, ‘Designer Genes’ has a far more rock and roll feel to it and ‘The Road Less Travelled’ wouldn’t feel out of place on a Parkway Drive album, even with the pop-punk hyperactivity fused within it. None of the songs on Unfamiliar Faces feel formulaic, but they’re all very well structured and clearly intended for a live forum. Finishing with ‘Through These Eyes’, a beautiful acoustic track, it’s clear that Singled Out are ambitious, talented and fearless. Currently unsigned with a debut full length planned for release early next year, I just can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.

4.5 out of 5 high fives!

Bowling For Soup – O2 Academy Birmingham, 24/10/12

Bowling For Soup are a band who always come with one motto – have fun or go home. Maybe this band is never going to headline a major festival, sell 20 million albums or play in front of the Queen, but one thing that can be guaranteed to the throngs of loyal fans queuing up from early hours outside Birmingham’s O2 Academy is that they’re going to have one hell of a night, and a great laugh to boot.

Live shows are the crown jewel in BFS’ legacy; they always tour the UK twice every year, bringing a stripped back acoustic set in the spring before returning in the autumn with a full band spectacle, and every time they come, they bring an impressive amount of energy to the stage. On that note, tonight’s choice of opening band is nothing less than a masterstroke. The line-up of the tour has been decided by the release of the album One Big Happy, a 3-way split album between all of the bands on tonight’s tour, but even if they hadn’t been on the new record, one feels that Patent Pending would have earned a place on this show simply through pure talent. The band arrive on the stage with roaring guitars and pounding drums, but the appeal of this band is instantly clear – and it’s pouring out of frontman Joe Rogasta in waves. The passion with which he sings, dances and generally throws himself around the stage is jaw-dropping, and he brings the most energy to a live show I’ve seen since letlive.’s famed Jason Butler – those who’ve seen him live know just how much of a compliment this is. He keeps the crowd laughing throughout almost all of his set, but also shows emotion; the impassioned anti-suicide speech he makes before “One Less Heart To Break”, a song written about a friend of the band who commited suicide. The raw love for his craft that Joe obviously brings with him to every show was on display throughout, particularly during a fantastic cover of Smash Mouth’s classic hit “All Star”, before winding to a close with the hilarious “Douchebag” – never winning any points for maturity, but at a Bowling For Soup show, one should expect nothing less.

Sadly, all the energy that Patent Pending brought into the room, The Dollyrots sucked away again the minute they arrived on stage. The members almost seemed superglued to the floor, unmoving in their straightforward “play the songs and leave” attitudes. The frontwoman Kelly Ogden has a sadly nondescript voice, not so much untalented as simply uninteresting; while the few attempts guitarist Luis Cabezas made to join in on vocals were nothing less than painful. They brought a half hour of boredom onto the stage with them, complete with a cover version of folk singer Melanie’s single “Brand New Key” – creating more ridicule within the crowd thanks to, of course, The Wurzels’ famed combine harvester-themed parody of the song. Indeed, many around me (and yes, I’ll admit, I was joining in) were singing the Wurzel lyrics in exaggerated West Country accents to keep themselves amused. The structure of this tour had to be questioned, with most agreeing that the main support slot would have been much better served by Patent Pending than the meagre offerings of The Dollyrots.

All this however was thankfully forgotten once Bowling For Soup’s intro track began filling the speakers of the Academy. The band made their way onto the stage to a tremendous ovation which they graciously took in before launching into a superb double of perennial opening track “My Hometown” and celebrity-satirizing super-hit “High School Never Ends”. From here on out, the show is a glorious celebration of the band’s back-catalogue, from classic Drunk Enough To Dance track “Life After Lisa” to more recent hits like No Hablo Ingles and new single Let’s Go To The Pub. An early cover of a song they are often falsely given credit for, Fountains Of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom”, sets the tone for a set full of self-deprecating humour, filled with the theme of Bowling For Soup now officially being known as ‘The Band You Can Wave To’ (yes, really) and the inevitable jokes about one another’s age, sexuality and even mothers. There was also a strange moment of band-swapping – during the closing riff of “Ohio (Come Back To Texas)”, the entire band were replaced on stage by the members of Patent Pending, who, it has to be said, finished off the song in style.

However, despite the bizarre comedy inbetween, the focus manages to remain largely on the music, a particular highlight of this generously lengthy 25 song set being the classic “Punk Rock 101”, still inspiring the loudest singalong in the venue more than 10 years after it was originally released. Surprises abounded throughout the song choices – I don’t think anyone could honestly have been expecting the sentimental “Friends O’ Mine” to pop up – and a good variation was a theme, although admittedly the setlist did rely slightly more heavily on best-selling album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve than any other. However, this is excuseable; after all, it’s the band’s biggest hit record for a reason, and seeing legendary album tracks like Shut Up And Smile popping up was welcomed warmly by the appreciative crowd.

BFS rounded off the main set with the inevitable 1985, their only truly massive song, breaking out of the rock scene and into popular culture, before beginning an encore by whipping the crowd into a frenzy with the opening riff of hometown legends Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, before somewhat disappointingly fading off into a cover of The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” – still a great song, but perhaps in Birmingham, it is best to either play all of a Sabbath song, or none of it. (The point has to be made, this wasn’t the most bizarre cover of the night – that honour goes to their superb version of Britney Spears’ hit “Baby One More Time”). The night was brought to a close as all the members of Patent Pending and The Dollyrots took to the stage to party once more while BFS played final track “The Bitch Song”, but this was not to be the end as, in a fittingly weird end to a strange night, a fan in a head-to-toe penguin outfit was brought up on stage and proceeded to break-dance to a theme of Jaret Reddick’s beatbox antics.

Overall, Bowling For Soup presented a wonderful night spoiled only slightly by one uninspiring support band, but in the end, the impression from the crowd is probably best summed up by the name of the tour itself – truly, this was One Big Happy.

4 out of 5 high fives!

Castrovalva – You’re Not In Hell, You’re In Purgatory My Friend

With a simple glance at the title of Castrovalva’s newest output, one almost knows what to expect straight away. Any band putting out a record with such an incredible mouthful across the cover is aiming for nothing less than the ostentatious and, with some sadness, I have to state that this is possibly the only thing the Leeds trio do manage to achieve.

From the opening rattled whispers of the short first track “Best Friends Go To Purgatory”, the one thing that reigns throughout this record is utter confusion. The band define themselves as “noise-hop”, and while I’m not sure about the hop, noise is definitely one way to describe this release. An incoherent mish-mash of styles, attempting to combine electronic backing tracks, overtuned guitar riffs and grating screamed vocals, this almost feels more like a failed experiment than a finished product. Immaturity appears to be the key amongst the few vocals that are distinguishable from the audio assault that “In Our Prime” provides, the roaring refrain of “Don’t be a pussy” standing as the best – if that’s even the right word to use – example. However, this is one issue which is admittedly redressed somewhat, as by the album’s fourth track, “Dining With The Pope”, the verses can almost be said to contain some sense and lyrics which might work in a more straightforward musical setting, before descending back into chaos with “Donut” – an accurate description of the songwriter if I ever heard one.

This album is also guilty of what I’ve always felt to be one of the most common crimes in music today – striving to achieve some level of shock value with some of the most gratuitous usage of language they can possibly muster. Of those few vocals which can be understood on most of this album’s tracks, every other word seems to be four letters long. While swearing certainly has its rightful place in music – just ask Motley Crue – and indeed in language in general, pointlessly throwing out f words every few seconds just points to a songwriter’s own uninventiveness, and this album stands as a strong example of this.

If there is any positive that can be taken from this album, it exists purely in the work of drummer Daniel Brader. His beats behind the tracks are the only thing that threaten to force the listener to do anything other than switch off, and the best thing I can say for him is that in another band, in another style, he could become a serious name in the business. Sadly, he’s never going to do that behind a truly awful frontline. Anthony Wright’s bass guitar lines are disjointed and practically sound confused, while frontman Leemun Smith’s vocals are nothing short of painful – either an irritating whine, or an ear-splitting screech, accompanied by some truly shocking attempts at rap; not to mention a misguided attempt at falsetto during the opening of final track “A Vulture’s Eyes”. The band have achieved some success in the past, garnering positive reviews and praise from sources like Drowned In Sound and even the NME. If I may be permitted a dose of brutal honesty to end this review, listening to this release, I truly have no idea how.

Retisonic – Robots Fucking

Spawned from the ashes of several great purveyors of underground alternative rock including Bluetip, J Majesty and Garden Variety are Retisonic, who with latest release ‘Robots Fucking’, carry on the great underground American alt-rock tradition of making uncompromising and agitated music. Released on the legendary Ian MacKaye-founded Dischords Records, ‘Robots Fucking’ is the sound of three guys who have played in every dingy, crumbling toilet venue in the U.S but are still intent on creating complex sonic chaos while retaining a distinctly keen ear for a melody or two. A stark and stripped back aural delivery is instantly recognisable to the Washington D.C scene of the late 80’s/90’s, where all three members cut their teeth in various spheres of the scene. Thankfully, the three now middle aged members seem as disgruntled and generally pissed off as they were back in the day as singer Jason Farrell despairs at the state of American culture as well as his own life. Coupled with a general rough-around-the-edges production, this album could be straight out of Washington D.C circa 1992. Singer/guitarist Jason veers his guitar between driving power chords and jangly aspirations while the bass for the most part remains urgently pure punk. ‘Wait…LOOKOUT!’ and ‘Called to Say’ meld the melodic intuitions with fervent musicianship. Hardcore bleeds into ‘Necropolitan’, a song that is as uncompromising in the music as it is in the lyrics as it scathes American culture in much the same way as the original wave of alt-rock bands. Closer ‘Defined’ introduces minimalistic piano in a slow building melodically driven affair that brings the album to a dignified and surprisingly restrained close. ‘Robots Fucking’ is as raw as it is bleak, and despite the odd additional instrument it remains simply three guys thrashing away with undeniable urgency. If you can’t get enough of the noise that erupted out of the D.C scene twenty or so years ago then ‘Robots Fucking’ is your next fix.

4.5 out of 5 high fives!

Radicus – The Bigger Noise

Every now and again, I’m introduced to a band through a support slot or an online recommendation and I find myself genuinely embarrassed that I hadn’t stumbled upon them before. Recently, this took the form of the Peterborough based post-hardcore act, Radicus. Sitting somewhere between Set Your Goals and Alexisonfire, they have an upbeat and fun quality to their music that proves to be almost unbearably infectious. With pop-mosh acts such as A Day to Remember more often being the order of the day with young gig-goers, Radicus are hard to place, but a real breath of fresh air.

Radicus’ 2010 album The Bigger Noise should really be required listening for anyone who likes their music loud, bouncy and fun. Take the album opener, Family Fortunes; the Against Me!-esque frenetic energy pushes along the vocal lines into peaks of fist-pumping harmonies. The vocal stylings are distinctly punk, but stay on the cleaner side of the road. That is until oDeJay God kicks in, when harmonies go into overdrive, and ferocity gets pumped up to a new level thanks to the inclusion of Phil Barker – vocalist in TwoBeatsOff favourite, We Are Fiction. oDeJay God is by far the stand-out track on the album; anthemic and frenetic with moments designed for throwing yourself into a stranger at a gig. My Legacy (The History to Come) takes a far different tack. While guitar riffs and drumsticks fall fast and sudden, like some upturned Jenga set, the whole tone is far more serious and genuine. Unaccompanied, yelled, sentiments are delivered so very punk-esque that it hurts. The Spark II however, takes the band back to a far more Americanised tone, with all the delivery and dynamism of a young Sum 41. Regardless of this, the repetitive chorus and simplistic vocal breaks are a mark of genius, born of fist-bumping and the suggestion of pits. 2 Legit 2 Quit is probably the most uninspiring song on the album; that’s not to say that it lacks merit, but it bears few notable differences from Radicus’ general sound. The bassline however is one of the heaviest on the album, juddering through the punk sensabilities like a greased juggernaut. MVP is a real ‘filler’ track in the nicest way possible. It’s thickly layered, manic and a blueprint for the perfect song to get an audience jumping. Business As Usual (BAU)’s climbing guitars and throbbing drums provide one of the greatest instrumentals on the entire album. Lyricism and vocal delivery aside, the riffs are what makes it as catchy as herpes in a dockside whorehouse. The album concludes with Let them Try, a more punk inspired offering with enough gang vocals to satisfy the most attention-starved listener.

With understandably low production costs and a commendable do-it-yourself attitude, Radicus are a band that are easy to respect and even easier to adore. If only they could manage to snare a wider listenership, I’ve no doubt that they’d achieve a far higher and much deserved level of recognition – one that they completely deserve.

4 out of 5 high fives!