Robyn Writes

Live: Attack! Vipers! – Kelsey’s, Leamington Spa, 14/1/11

The Leamington scene has been under threat lately. With the closure of Spayce, the last venue that wouldn’t charge extortionate amounts to the promoters, it looked like there was little hope for us. Laurence and Move To Leamington put on a show or two in his house (such as the RVIVR show last year that was epic) but it’s just impractical. However, tonight saw a kind of revival as student bar Kelsey’s offered the top floor for a night of punk rock. It was, to say the least, an interesting evening.

First up were Lineker (who I sadly can’t find a link for online!), a band clearly named after the Walkers man/popular ex-footballer. One of the other bands made a joke that they should put out a split with a band called Gascoigne. It would probably be a stellar release. Apparently one of their first shows as a new band, they performed well! Pretty gruff stuff but not too heavy. Hopefully, they should be playing more shows near here soon.

Cannons And Tanks were up next and as always, were bloody great. Having caught them with RVIVR last year, it’s safe to say they’ve definitely pulled it all together now to form a much tighter unit. Matt thought they sounded a little bit like Small Brown Bike, which is probably obvious from the name. If you like that kind of stuff, then Cannons And Tanks are most definitely for you. It’s music from the heart and it sounds awesome. At the end of their set, they threw in a cover of Waiting Room by Fugazi. From the opening bass riff, I was apprehensive. I am not a huge fan of covers and to even touch Fugazi is usually asking for trouble, but it was actually a pretty impressive attempt and I can’t wait to hear more from these guys.

Caves had a bit of a mixed bag going here. The beginning and end of the set were both excessively awesome, with those awesome pop melodies shining on through, but the middle of the set was a little lacklustre. However, it was still a very good performance. Caves just have this awesome energy, as if they could play all night, and it definitely transfers into the crowd. Some of the oldies there were getting very excited. The new material sounds pretty good and they have a new CD out soon – check back here for details.

Section 13 were very average. Although the majority of the audience were there to see them, they were the worst band on the bill. They play an 80s brand of hardcore which is just impossible to make original. Were they playing that kind of stuff back then? Probably, but if that’s the case, then it’s time to move on. The highlight of the set was possibly the weirdest moshpit I have ever seen, as old dudes in tartan collided with lager louts in a kind of slow frenzy. When I have lost the jadedness of youth and am old and enthusiastic, then I’ll mosh like that. Until then, I’m content to remain vaguely hipster-esque with my arms folded and the occasional toe-tap. They might have done covers, but I couldn’t really tell.

So, hooray forAttack! Vipers! who were just incredible! This is brutal hardcore at its best and a fine example of what’s coming out of England right now. A combination of intense growls and great melodies, they could be likened to early Fight Paris but way more brutal. A great crowd reaction was almost as entertaining as the band themselves – human pyramids and what can only be described as dizzy dinosaurs with almost every member of a band there picked up and thrown in the air was absolutely mental. For a tiny room at the top of a shitty bar, the sound was great and managed to pull up some highly bewildered looking students from downstairs. Hopefully, Attack! Vipers! will be coming to the all dayer in March, as they are certainly not to be missed.

All done!

All of the old articles have been uploaded. Some still need fiddling around with – still don’t quite have a grasp on how much space I have to play with – but for the most part, it’s all done.

New stuff should be up tomorrow – I’m off to a show tonight that I’m going to review.

xoxo – Ripper

Live: Young Guns and Francesqa – The Copper Rooms, 7/10/10

It’s a Thursday. Of all days, it’s a Thursday. We’re late. Kitteh takes forever getting ready and there isn’t another bus for half an hour. We can’t miss Francesqa, she says, I need to see them. I didn’t understand why the commotion, but okay, I’ll go with it. So she calls a taxi and while we wait, this freaky as hell old man comes out of the Well and stares at us. Literally stares. And gets closer. And closer. And closer. He’s terrifying, so we walk away, wait for the taxi, taxi arrives, we get to the union and people are still queuing anyway. Punk gigs are always so much simpler; I know where the venue is, I know who’s on, I know when to go, how much and it’s always more relaxed and less full of freshers. Or annoying exec members of other societies.

But here we were, and as part of my duties to my own society (scored secretary of Punksoc this year, I don’t even know how/what I’m supposed to do), we decided to go down to the union for Crash, the alternative night that happens every other week. But as it happens, this week, there were a couple of bands on beforehand. Francesqa seem to be a certain favourite of Kitteh’s right now and to be honest, I’d never heard of them. But they started playing as we got in, so we ran into the middle, stared up at the stage and witnessed magic unfold.

Francesqa are, quite frankly, the most exciting ‘alternative’ (and by that, I mean potentially mainstream) act to come out right now. I had no idea what to expect, but their music is ridiculously melodic, full of energy and beauty as well as being completely grandiose. Every song is a massive anthem, filling the room entirely. They already had a band of dedicated fans repping at the front, Kitteh included, and I couldn’t help but get swept into it all. The majority of their set came from their latest EP, We Lived, which Kitteh reviewed a few weeks ago and we highly recommend you purchase it. It’s an absolute blinder of a record. The same passion that comes through on the record definitely comes through live, and singer Ashley struggled on through, despite an oncoming illness without sacrificing the quality of the set. There were a few rarer B-sides thrown in to make up the rest though, and these songs were just as enthralling and polished as their lead material. As a band, they’re extremely well rehearsed and slick, and it’s clear that Francesqa know how to put on a good show. If you can catch them on their headline tour next month (which I sadly can’t), then do go and see them – you’re in for a right treat.

Young Guns were the night’s headliners, and possibly the biggest act that’s played in the Copper Rooms since it was built. Francesqa called the place a ‘cracking venue’, the rest of us are a little bit more unconvinced. Nevertheless, there were enough people for it not to feel as empty as it usually does at these affairs. I still felt a bit lost though. We’d recruited a couple of freshers (and some not freshers) who were more lost than I and attempted to see what all the fuss was about. All I know about Young Guns are that they’ve been in Kerrang, they’ve played Reading this year and fifteen year old girls seem to go mental for them. Most of those usually convince me to stay away from a band, but I’d paid my ticket price – no point in backing out. And to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. On the whole, it’s not my kind of music. Standard ‘scene’ fare, like You Me At Six, but a little more rock and roll. I was too busy staring at the frontman – Gustav has some impressive guns himself, I can tell you that! It’s easy to see how they’ve become so big in such a short amount of time though – they’re highly polished, but not so much that they’re too inaccessible; there’s still that raw energy to make them just exciting enough. And they’re a lot of fun. It’s still danceable, and the crowd did. There was even a vaguely impressive moshpit. Most material came from new album All Our Kings Are Dead, which Kitteh quite likes. Despite my general disdain for most stuff that appears in Kerrang these days, I can’t help but respect a band who puts out stuff on their own label, tours hard and plays hard. And that’s exactly what Young Guns did. They were psyched to be there, they put on a good show. That’s all I can ask.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (a review by Nox)

Okay, so I know there have been a lot of opinions flying about the new Wolverine: Origins movie and I figured I would give my two cents. Honestly, I loved the movie; however, they definitely messed up the story a LOT.

I’m going to go from least important to most, and first of all Wolverine’s love was from Japan not Canada. That was completely bogus. Also, the girl with diamond skin that played her sister looked pretty tacky (Note from Ripper: She’s billed as Emma Frost, but Emma Frost actually has telepathy, so I don’t know what’s going on with that), but quality is another story altogether. Secondly, Victor Creed is Sabretooth. Liev Schreiber did a wonderful job playing Victor in the movie, but did anyone else notice how he looks nothing like the Sabretooth in the X-Men trilogy, and how Wolverine had no relationship with him in those movies? (Note from Ripper: They chose Liev because he’s awesome and the other guy was not. That makes perfect sense to me!) Not very well thought out. The war sequences were definitely cool. I loved the whole brother team thing they had going. I do wish more comic relief could have been tied in throughout the movie and not just in the first twenty minutes. I think the entire story would have been more comprehendible if each member of the Striker team would have had a background snippet.

Finally, the big issue: Deadpool. Ah yes, let’s talk about how much they messed up his character. Wade Wilson had cancer and could only be cured by Wolverine’s power, but Chemical X mutates and disfigures him. Deadpool gets his powers through killing mutants. He is not put together like a build-a-bear and Striker never controls him using a computer. All of that was bogus. In the beginning they had Wade Wilson right on point, and might I add Ryan Reynolds does a wonderful job playing the part; however, the sword coming out of Deadpool’s hand mimicking Wolverine never happened either. I don’t know why the writer’s decided to change such important details, but it only seemed to confuse most people and infuriate others.

There’s talk of Gambit and Deadpool spin offs in the future. An after credit scene featuring Deadpool makes this rumor look probable, but as far as Gambit goes I hear there are complaints about Taylor Kitsch playing the part. Either way, I completely support separate movies for both Gambit and Deadpool, and as far as Wolverine: Origins goes I give it three out of five high fives. It was a good movie, but the writers just messed up way too much for me to give it a higher rating with a good conscience.

Dear Ripper, I’m sorry for your shitty music taste (AKA why the hell do I now like 30 Seconds To Mars so much?)

When I choose my music, I am very clear about certain things. First of all, it has to at least be vaguely interesting – while hardcore music itself sounds like a ton of shit in places, it at least has an interesting history. Secondly, I have to feel like the musician who wrote it actually gave a shit about it; I’ve got to be able to recognise a passion of some kind in it. And finally, it doesn’t necessarily has to be recognised as ‘good’ because I know I listen to a ton of stuff lots of people would describe as ‘wank’, but it has to be honest. It has to know that it is a pile of wank when it is.

Then why the hell am I listening to the latest 30 Seconds To Mars album and enjoying it?

It’s not that I’ve disliked it on principle – while I may be jaded enough to look upon popular rock music with contempt, I always like to give it a chance before I toss it aside and piss on the remains. But I’ve always thought that 30 Seconds To Mars’ music is lazy. There’s nothing particularly innovative in it and they get by spectacularly on the basis that Jared Leto is an excessively good looking man. He also has a very impressive voice, and I’ve generally felt it to be wasted on their earlier albums because well… EVERY SONG SOUNDS EXACTLY THE SAME. I challenge you to listen to A Beautiful Lie and be easily able to tell the songs apart. For this point alone, I only listened to From Yesterday because it was a) the best of all the songs that sounded the same, b) it had a cool breakdown and I’m a sucker for that and finally, c) in the video, you get to see some torso. I am easily swayed by a pretty face and some smoking abs. But, back to the point about Jared being able to sing, he can! He’s a much better singer than most of the people in these bands the kids listen to these days, like Fall Out Boy (oh no, wait, they broke up), My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte… Alright, the latter is me, but Jared Leto has got some pipes on him. They’re just not utilised very well. He does a bit of a screamy bit in places, he sings simple intervals and nothing particularly stands out. He’s the frontman because the band wouldn’t work if he wasn’t, essentially. The rest of the songs just drag on and on forever and ever with some wanky electronics and repeating the chorus over and over. That hasn’t changed in This Is War at all, but it’s more bearable for some reason, which I’ll try and figure out later. The truth is, only Midtown can get away with a song over five minutes which repeats the same phrase over and over for the majority of the song. Only Midtown.

But why exactly do I now like 30 Seconds To Mars? And I actually paid money for this new album as well. I guess that this might have something to do with it…


I suppose I am easily swayed by awesome hair. My mother earlier frowned in despair as I announced my wishes to bring home a man with a mohawk. My love of interesting hair probably explains why I kept listening to Fall Out Boy so long after their decency died. But, to give This Is War, the album itself, its dues, it’s actually just a much better album. Every song does sort of sound the same, but the passion that was lacking from the earlier albums has been found. That’s clear from the video to ‘Closer To The Edge’ – they’re finally showing that they give a shit. If they were before, it totally wasn’t obvious. Doing a video on an icecap to raise awareness doesn’t mean you care about your music. The singles are fantastic this time around; the first time I heard Kings And Queens, I had shivers. That massive vocal force was… interesting. Very interesting. It showed progression. And the video was cool too. Jared himself said that Kings And Queens has the optimism that the previous albums were lacking and as we all know, I like optimism. It’s music that’s got hope in it, but I guess Kings And Queens was something more; it was almost like a call to arms. And THAT is why the new 30 Seconds To Mars album has impressed me – because they’re on the offensive. It might not be aggressive music (although Stranger In A Strange Land is pretty intense, actually kind of filthy and definitely one of the best songs on the album), but they’ve got something to prove. I guess this is the proof that they aren’t just a pretty face (and sorry, but… it is just one pretty face). Featuring a song on Dragon Age: Origins is also going to get my attention quite a bit and ‘This Is War’ can be heard on the final credits of the game. It fits perfectly with everything the game’s about and I suppose it got in the way of my previous tirades. I legitimately couldn’t criticise a song that good, no matter how hard I tried. While I mentioned previously that the songs sounded the same, they at least sound the same in a good way – there’s a lot more experimentation with the synths, the songs are much tighter and while they might still be a bit too long, it doesn’t feel like a total drag by the end. There’s that optimism coming in again.

One thing that does get me a bit whiny is that it’s apparently a concept album. I can’t really string a story together in it. I guess it has a ‘concept’ – all of the songs are linked by a theme of ‘war’ and fighting for something in one way or another, but I like concept albums to have a story. At least they didn’t do a My Chemical Romance and try to have a story but fail miserably. I am also disappointed by the lack of Kanye West after hearing that the band were working with him on a song. Kanye West makes everything golden. Everything. Boys, you missed an opportunity.

I am actually pretty impressed by their touring schedule this year. The band are doing a massive seven leg tour and hitting up Europe three times. I completely underestimated their fanbase here because that is dedication. And watching some live videos on Youtube, I can kind of see why they’ve got as big a following as they have – they put on a good show. Mind you, I can say that about a lot of bands with mediocre music and irritating teenage fans, because that’s how they manage to stay alive. So while it doesn’t have much bearing on why I like the new album, it’s certainly given me something to think about. There’s also a fair amount of shirtlessness on stage. But seeing that, and also their street team has made me realise that this is a band who care about their fans, no matter how big they get. And that’s earned my respect.

And what the hell, the massive amounts of 3OH!3 on my iTunes made me lose all credibility anyway, so I may as well give in.