Tag Archives: the rock chic

Jimmy Eat World New Single ‘I Will Steal You Back’

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I know, its Friday. I normally run a piece on a slightly less-well-remembered artist. However, I’m making an exception this week, simply for this song.

Jimmy Eat World have long been one of my favourite bands. I religiously buy their albums whenever they come out, because I know they’ll always be brilliant. I even decided to run this post today before hearing their new track ‘I Will Steal You Back’.

I have heard it now though, so don’t worry. Its beautiful, hopeful, enduring with the slightest hint of melancholy.Its the perfect soundtrack to a cold, rainy spring that hasn’t begun yet.

Basically, its Jimmy Eat World in a nutshell and its brilliant.

I suggest you drop whatever you’re doing right now and have a listen to this:

FYI They’re playing Download festival this year if you’re going..

Have a great weekend!

RC xx

New Music Monday: Enter Shikari ‘The Paddington Frisk’

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Right. So Enter Shikari‘s new video for ‘The Paddington Frisk’ is only 1:24 long. That’s a bit weird. Oh, and it seems to be a Japanese TV show featuring a dinosaur hanging itself. Then the band do some strange kind of macarena dance.

Can’t tell if this is the band poking fun at others in the rock music world for taking themselves too seriously, or if frontman Rou Reynolds just woke up with a really crazy idea and then went for it..

I’d like to say something more in-depth about this, but having watched the video 3 times now, I still have no idea what he’s saying for most of it. Instead, let’s focus on the fact that whilst watching, The Jonas Brothers ‘Pom Poms’ came up as a suggested video. So we should all just remember that there are much, much worse things to listen to out there. Right, I’m done. Enjoy:

RC xx

London Rock Gigs: April

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Wow, April’s really crept up on me. I’ve been more than busy, starting a new job (yay!), flat hunting (difficult) and other things which have really eaten up my time lately. Hopefully you didn’t miss the Paramore gig at The Garage this week, which actually I didn’t go to either. Heard some great things about it though.

Anyway, as per usual, here’s my roundup of the best London (and other UK) gigs this month:

 

Bleeding Through

Camden Underworld, Fri 19 April, £17 TICKETS

If you’ve heard of Bleeding Through, you should’ve bought tickets for this already. Hardcore metal. Enough said.

 

Canterbury

The Garage, Tues 23 April, £9 TICKETS

I’ll always have a soft-spot for these hometown boys. They’re great and the gig is cheap. If I haven’t convinced you to go yet, have a watch of this:

 

Lower Than Atlantis

Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Thurs 25 April, £16.25 TICKETS

Pop-punk from Hertfordshire in the style of You Me At Six. Go for a bit of a dance. Go on, it’ll be fun..

 

Honourable mention: Hit The Deck Festival in Bristol / Nottingham on Sat 20th and Sun 21st April. Lineup includs Mallory Knox, Sonic Boom Six, Fearless Vampire Killers, Rolo Tomassi, Lostalone etc

Tickets from £22

 
RC xx

 

Friday Classic: The Ramones ‘Suzy Is A Headbanger’

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True story: I once did a University project on The Ramones. Ok, not specifically The Ramones, but punk rock in general. They were one of my main examples though. I even paid homage to the band’s guitarist, Jonny Ramone and bassiest, Dee Dee Ramone at their gravestones in LA’s famous Hollywood Forever cemetery.

This song was a major track in my teenage years though. Mostly from the influence of my older sister (aptly named Suzie). You can probably guess why this became one of her songs of choice.

If you don’t already know who The Ramones are, you’re really missing out. They were one of the seminal punk bands of the 70s, inspiring the likes of The Clash and The Sex Pistols.

Where to start?

There’s plenty of compilation albums to check out. If you’re trying to impress someone though, probably better to start with the band’s original release ‘Ramones’, featuring the awesome tracks ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’. Go check it..

RC xx

New Track From City and Colour ‘Thirst’

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I do miss Alexisonfire. The albums were good. The live shows, sadly I missed out on, but I heard good things about too.

cityandcolour

Luckily, singer Dallas Green has graced us with his solo project, City and Colour. The music is as beautiful as the name suggests. I think my favourite, though more than a little depressing, has to be the album ‘Bring Me Your Love’ . There’s some new music from the boy coming soon though, and I’m pleased to hear this little taster of it..

‘Thirst’ is more electronica, but not quite pop in the sense of Owl City. Its much more low-key and relaxed, without losing any of the heartfelt emotion that goes into each track.

Have a listen here..

RC xx

 

New Music Monday – Escape The Fate ‘You’re Insane’

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It’s a bit of a late one tonight, oops! Guess I’ve been having too much fun this bank holiday weekend..
You’d be forgiven for thinking this next track sounds more than a little bit like Papa Roach’s ‘Scars’, with a bigger dose of anger thrown in. I’m not arguing, but this song gets my approval for the awesome guitar solo. Also the irrelevant snake at the beginning. (Honestly, there’s a reason I’ll never move to the desert!).

Luckily, Escape The Fate don’t seem too phased by the scaly reptiles, or the heat blasting out. Which is surprising seeing as they’re definitely not dressed for it. Anyway, it doesn’t stop them rocking out like the best of them!

Check out the new single ‘You’re Insane’ below. It’s out now..

For those of you who don’t know, Escape The Fate are a five piece metal band hailing from the sands of Las Vegas. Their new album ‘Ungrateful’ is out May 14 and they’ll be touring the USA from mid-April. Uk folks,  you can catch them at Download!

RC xx

Friday Classic – Marilyn Manson ‘mOBSCENE’

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Before the likes of Black Veil Brides and Aiden (but not so far back that we stray into KISS territory..), there was one name that was synonymous with the white face paint, sharply cut black clothing  and a penchant for girls in latex. Marilyn Manson (real name: Brian Warner) reportedly formed the band after a growing dissatisfaction with the music scene he inhabited in his days as a music journalist.

It was a venture that paid off, with Manson becoming one of the iconic figureheads of the early 00s rock music scene. The songs ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Beautiful People’ were on the playlists at all the best rock clubs, his stickers were attached to everyone’s backpacks, he even became a national hate figure after the school shooting at Columbine, when it was discovered that the killers were fans. (If you’ve ever watched Bowling For Columbine, you’ll have seen how eloquently and succinctly Manson responded to this).

There may have been a few hurdles along the way, a short-lived marriage to burlesque performer Dita Von Teese, followed by a relationship with actress Evan Rachel Wood. The failure of Manson’s protegees Jack Off Jill. But that hasn’t stopped the band, who have a tour lined up with Alice Cooper starting in June. Dates on the band’s website.

 

RC xx

Single Review: Lauri Ylonen ‘She’s A Bomb’

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So for anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while, you’ll be aware of my undying (and slightly embarrassing) love of Finnish rockers The Rasmus. So I’m always keen to check out what the band members are up to with solo projects and such.

Lead singer Lauri Ylonen‘s first attempt at a solo career seemed pretty good. His first album ‘New World’ was a bit more tech-influenced, carrying an theme of escapism and fantasy through the tracks and videos. It was different, but it was listenable, just as catchy as The Rasmus’ music and fell under the genre of ‘dark electro pop’.

Unfortunately, ‘She’s A Bomb’ isn’t quite the same. It’s still catchy, in a Tiga-esque way (repetitive words instead of the lyrical stories that I would’ve expected). The video though, which I’ve decided not to include just to keep this blog PG13 is downright weird. It feels like a joke that I’m not a part of. Maybe a take on society, but its not poignant enough to make any kind of statement.

I’m quite disappointed by this. I’ve stuck by this band through the bottling at Reading, the several-years-long absence from the UK, even finding out about the slightly bizarre fashion choices of their youth. This though, will be one piece of music that I don’t think I’ll be buying.

Make your own mind up below:

RC xx

Sunday Comment: Band Breakups

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It’s been a bad week for breakups (not for me, I had no-one to breakup with in the first place!). For bands, I mean. My Chemical Romance and Attack Attack (the UK band) have both called it a day. It’s pretty weird timing, what with the return of Fall Out Boy not that long ago.

I’ve spoken before about band breakups – the reasons, the wasted talent, but its a weird one for MCR. They’ve been successful, been adored by thousands. Its possible that this is more a sign of a hiatus, where at least one band member attempts a solo career, an acting career, an art career? Still, while we wait and see, let’s remember the good times:

RC xx

Friday Classic: Death Cab For Cutie

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I remember reading a feature on Death Cab For Cutie a few years back, when they stated that the band’s most memorable song (in my opinion anyway), ‘Transatlanticism’ had been quoted on everyone’s Livejournal at least once. I can see why. It’s probably the best summary of the pains of a long distance relationship that I’ve ever heard.

I guess you might be asking why I haven’t chosen that song for this post. Its partly for the video – the constant travelling really sums up the way I seem to spend my entire life on trains. It’s also the song though. Its much more optimistic, almost in a desperate way, but who hasn’t felt like that?

Oh, plus I love a good intro. This one comes with the extended, four minute (I’m not counting exactly) intro which was, naturally, cut for radio. It’s a bit of a shame really, because I think that four minutes of instrumental is better than some of the music that actually does get played..

RC xx