Category Archives: News

Anti-Flag Join ‘Toast To Freedom’ For Amnesty International

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I love hearing that bands I admire are involved in something that I really care about. This is a perfect example: Anti-Flag are the newest bands to team up with Amnesty International for their 50th Anniversary.

The song, ‘Toast To Freedom’ was written by Carl Carlton (Robert Palmer, Eric Burdon, Keb Mo) and Larry Campbell (Levon Helm Band, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello), as well as  Jochen Wilms and Art for Amnesty founder Bill Shipsey.

Nearly 50 artists collaborated on the recordings, including Marianne Faithful and Kris Kristofferson. More have joined in later to record their own versions of the track, ranging from students at the Institute for Music of the College at Osnabrueck to Russian rapper Basta.

Proceeds of the song will go to benefit Amnesty International, a charity campaigning against human rights abuses.

You can listen to Anti-Flag’s cover below:

For more info, check out http://toasttofreedom.org and http://www.amnesty.org/

RC xx

New Video From Anavae ‘Storm Chaser’

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Honestly, I was quite stuck for something to write about today. I checked all the usual spots, music magazine sites, rock blogs, even trawling through Facebook for any video posts that I might’ve missed. Still nothing worth writing about.

Feeling a bit stuck, I decided to try Vevo. I don’t use it enough really. A quick flick through the rock section produced this awesome tune from Anavae. It’s a catchy one, a kicking pop punk sound with an electronic twist (if that makes sense?).

These London alt-rockers have already been featured in Kerrang, Rock Sound and AbsolutePunk.net. You can catch them on tour in the UK with I Divide this April, or at Islington Academy on February 21st. Dates on their Facebook here.

‘Storm Chaser’ is the first label release from the band and is out now!

If you like this, youtube search: Invaesion, World In A Bottle

RC xx

Stream The Wonder Years’ New Album ‘Sleeping On Trash’

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Philadelphia’s pop-punk 6-piece The Wonder Years are streaming their new album ‘Sleeping On Trash: A Collection of Songs Recorded 2005-2010’ on their YouTube channel. If you haven’t heard of the band before, this is a good opportunity to catch up on their past releases (and then you can pretend you’ve always been a fan..).

If you live in the States, you can catch them on tour with Fireworks, Hostage Calm and Misser this March. They’ll also be hitting the road in the summer for the Vans Warped Tour (which I’ve always wanted to go to. Shame I live in the wrong country!). UK readers, they’re playing Slam Dunk Festival in May.

Here’s my favourite of the album tracks, ‘Zip Lock’. Think early New Found Glory at their best..

You can buy the collection here.

RC xx

New Video From Silverstein ‘Massachusetts’

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For a bit of straight-up, growling post-hardcore, look no further than Canadian five piece Silverstein. This new offering from the band ‘Massachusetts’ will be going round your head all day after just one listen. To be honest, I’m wishing the band were touring the UK and not North America right now, because this a perfect mosh-pit inducing, fist pumping track.

Silverstein’s new album ‘This Is How The Wind Shifts’ is out now on Hopeless Records.

RC xx

Alkaline Trio Back With New Album / Single

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It seems to be the thing at the moment for some slightly-forgotten bands to make their return with a new album. What’s that called – reunited album season? There’s many a band that I’d like to see come back from an indefinite (or even undeclared) hiatus, but I’m always a bit cynical when they do.

The first question to ask it, have they gone in a new direction? Is the band suddenly inspired to return, they’ve patched up their problems and want to start over (see Fall Out Boy, yesterday). Otherwise, there’s always that worry that the new return-to-form will actually just be another album in a line of many others, where the band has already established their sound and don’t really know where to go with it.

This seems to be the case with the new offering from Alkaline Trio. Don’t get me wrong,  I’ve long been a fan of the band. It’s just something about the way new single ‘I Wanna Be A Warhol’ has me singing along unconsciously to the words of ‘Heart Stops Beating’ by +44. It’s not particularly bad. There’s nothing particularly good about it either though, which is disappointing coming from a band who’ve wowed me many times before.

Anyway, you can make up your own mind here:

‘I Wanna Be A Warhol’ is available from iTunes now. You can pre-order the new album ‘My Shame Is True’ from http://www.alkalinetriostore.com/, its out April 1.

RC xx

Rock Gigs in London – February

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Well its a new month. Fresh start. Not so cold as January (hopefully!).

Anyway, here’s my monthly update of the best gigs coming up, February edition..

The most exciting one I can see on the horizon has to be the Kerrang Tour. It’s got Black Veil Brides headlining, with a bit of post-hardcore from Chiodos, pop-punk with Tonight Alive, and the always amazing, Fearless Vampire Killers.

London date is Brixton Academy on February 15th, but its up and down the country in the two weeks before that. In fact, its on the road already. Go catch it! (tickets are here).

your demise

Another not-to-miss gig is hardcore punks Your Demise hitting up the Garage, London on February 23. All UK dates and ticket links on their Facebook.

 

For a bit of nostalgia, (and to hear the new album, of course) be sure to check out Funeral For Friend. The Welsh lads have a pretty extensive UK tour lined up. If you can, definitely take the chance to see them playing the small places.. Dates here.

 

If none of this takes your fancy, try the ‘wild card’ option: Derby trio Lostalone are at London’s Borderline on February 24. With some great support from Kerrang! and NME, you won’t be seeing them at the mini-venues for much longer.. Tickets and dates here.

 

RC xx

Today My iPhone Reset..

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Sorry for the extremely late post today. I’ve got an excuse this time though. I updated my iPhone to the latest software upgrade (the 6.01) and it completely crashed my phone. Having gone to the Apple store for help, waiting around for 20 minutes to get served, met a very rude helper who (between cutting me off to chat  to other staff members) told me I’d lost everything. If I wanted to them to try to fix it, come back in half an hour.

I returned later, meeting a much more helpful staff member. He managed to restore the phone to factory settings, but everything on my phone was lost. (Yes, I stupidly hadn’t backed it up).

It took me a while for this to register. I went through all the stages – denial (searching for a non-existent fix), anger, depression and then acceptance.

Some things are easier to get back than others. I know my family’s numbers off-by-heart. My closest friends sent their numbers through Facebook in less than an hour. My co-workers I retrieved from emails. I can re-install apps.

Its the smaller, personal things that are gone though. The messages I’d kept for sentimental reasons. The photos I’d taken which remained off Facebook, they were just for my memories. The numbers of ex-boyfriends that I’ve lost contact with. I might not need any of these things, but it was a build up of my life. I’ll never use the number of a guy I kissed in a bar once, but it would make me smile when I scrolled past his name in my contact list.

I guess I’m hoping there’s something good in losing it all. Maybe its freeing to leave all these things behind? As irrational as it may seem to be so attached to a small piece of technology, I’m feeling quite a sense of loss now.

Anyway, just to keep with the theme – here’s a song about moving on..

RC xx

Au Revoir HMV

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This was going to be a usual post with some lovely new music for you guys. Its not though, because there’s something more important to talk about today.

HMV has been the only place I’ve bought CDs from (not including online or gigs) in the last few years, seeing as supermarkets don’t stock the music that I listen to, and indie record stores where I live are few and far between (but I should really make more effort with them).

Its been a place where I’ve re-discovered bands long forgotten, or found new bands on a whim. Its where I’ve wandered about with dates, comparing tastes in music, films, games. It wouldn’t be Christmas without an HMV giftcard, a present from an aunt or uncle, who don’t know me well enough to get something personalised, but know that I love music. It wouldn’t be a shopping trip without a browse round the store, picking up something new to hear on the daily commute. Not to mention the numbers of friends I’ve known who had their first jobs there.

Despite the company’s best efforts (diversifying into merch, lower prices, 2 for £10 deals..), its gone into administration. Its currently unclear if the chain will find a buyer, or what will happen to the 4,123 staff that it employs.

So to make this post a little less depressing, here’s a little blast from the past. The first piece of music I ever bought (though from where, I can’t remember). It may not be rock, but you’ve got to love Bjork..

RC xx