Tag Archives: the rock chic

Fearless Vampire Killers New Video ‘Diamond Dust & Crimson Reign’

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For anyone who can’t wait for the new Fearless Vampire Killers album (I know I can’t..), here’s a nice teaser for you! The band have just released a new video for the first single off their upcoming second album ‘Exposition: The Five Before The Flames’, a prequel to their debut.

‘Diamond Dust & Crimson Reign’ is more ballady than we’re used to with these guys, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have the same kick-ass chords that we love the band for. Plus the video seems to be following on the plot from their originals, which I absolutely LOVE. Just would like to know a bit more of the storyline..

Anyway, enjoy!

‘Exposition’ is out March 11.

RC xx

Wednesday Wish List – Moustache PJs

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Seeing as the weather is still freezing cold, I’m sure I’m not the only one spending their evenings curled up on the sofa in their pjs with a cup of cocoa / hot chocolate / camomile tea / other (its pretty much a part of my daily routine at the moment..). If you feel like you’re missing out on some fun though, maybe this will help:

this is pulp pyjamas

These amazing pyjamas are from This Is Pulp and might be a little pricey at £39.99, but I think they’re worth it! Think how much wear you can get out of them in Movember? To be honest, I would be tempted to go out in that top as a vest top and just hope no-one notices..

RC xx

Hawk Eyes ‘You Deserve A Medal’

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Clever stop-motion? Check. Vinyl porn? Check. Adrenalin fuelled rock-goodness? Check. Must be the new video from Leeds rockers Hawk Eyes then..

There’s something Reuben-ish about the new single ‘You Deserve A Medal’. It might be the shortness of the track (only 1:56, gosh!), but either way its not a bad thing. Tearing through in the blink of an eye, this is one that you’ll want to put on a repeat a few times to really appreciate. Either way, you’ll be humming this to yourself all day..

The band’s new album ‘Ideas’ is out now. Catch them on a very brief tour of the UK (read: only Birmingham / Sheffield / Leeds) next month.

RC xx

New Music Monday: Deap Vally

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Just as I was wishing for more sleazy, female fronted rock’n’roll, I came across the awesome Deap Vally.

deap vally

The duo (Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards) bizarely met at a needlework class in Silver Lake, California and have been making blues-tinged rock ever since. Its hard to write about an all-woman band without crying ‘feminism’, but I don’t think its misplaced with tracks like ‘Make My Own Money’ and cited influences being Thelma and Louise.

Behind the oozing  rock’n’roll  though, there’s real talent. Listen to songs like ‘I Put a Spell on You’ and you can hear the raw emotion behind the lyrics, combined with some pretty decent guitar playing. Think Jack White with more sex appeal (debatable).

‘Lies’ is available on iTunes now.

You can download ‘Ain’t Fair’ for free from the band’s Facebook here.

RC xx

New Bleed From Within Video ‘Uprising’

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I’ll be honest, this one gets massive props from me just for the vague (and possibly unintentional) Crow film reference. See the flames? Bleed From Within clearly have some good movie collections..

Anyway, this is the title track from the Scottish metallers new album, due out on March 25. Even better news is the fact that you can download the single for free now, from the Century Media website. Oh, and did I mention the band are on tour with Heart of a Coward (groove metal, apparently) this April?

As usual, dates and locations are on Facebook.

Enjoy!

RC xx 

Friday Classic – HIM ‘Buried Alive By Love’

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I’ve been a fan of Finnish ‘Love Metallers’ HIM since my early teens. It must’ve been one of my first un-adult accompanied gigs when I went to see them at Portsmouth Guildhall. Thanks to a brief sound problem (causing many over 18s to head straight to the bar) we managed to squeeze our way close to the front. Lead singer Ville Valo prowled the stage, cigarette in hand, rich baritone voice echoing the room like some untouchable rock God.

All the way home they were the only thing we could talk about. Did they wander about Portsmouth before the show? Had they stood where we were standing now? Years later, when I briefly moved to the city, walking past the Guildhall on a night out would still bring back happy memories.

‘Buried Alive By Love’ has to be my favourite song of HIM’s (and one that I used to have playing on repeat on the bus to college). It features the beautiful Juliette Lewis (of Natural Born Killers fame).

What are they up to now?

The band are releasing their eighth album ‘Tears On Tape’ on April 29th. They’re touring pretty constantly from April onwards. More info on their facebook here.

RC xx

New Music Monday: Napoleon ‘Brought Here To Suffer’

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Hey you! Yes you! Like a bit of melodic-hardcore? Then stop what you’re doing and listen to this..

Napoleon are a 4-piece unsigned hardcore rock band from Exeter. Unfortunately, vague youtube comments tell me their singer is leaving, but hopefully that won’t stop them from being awesome tunes like this to the public!

Check them out here: https://www.facebook.com/Napoleon.Devon

RC xx

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

Kerrang Tour, Brixton Academy 15/02/13

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After two weeks of ransacking the UK, the now infamous Kerrang tour finally reached the capital. I went along, just to see what the fuss was about..

Arriving late, I breezed through security and rushed straight into the main standing area, just in time to catch Tonight Is Alive performing their last few songs. There’s a nice moment where the crowd get their lighters out (only in London would there be more lighters than mobiles). It’s only slightly ruined by a friend of mine telling me how much the band like to run around naked backstage. Constantly.

Tonight Alive

The Aussie’s slick pop-punk tunes go down nicely. Its just a shame the venue isn’t more full. It might be the downstairs age limit, or the early start time, but for a tour so huge, its surprisingly to see so many empty spaces.

The arrival of Chiodos is heraled by Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ blaring out of the speakers. The crowds reaction is overwhelmingly positive. There group of barely clothed teenage girls behind me scream and dance around. They scream even more as the band come onstage.

The band growl their way through the set, inspiring a few ‘hands in the air’ moments, but overall its nothing spectacular. By the time they start to clear the stage, the crowd are already chanting..

‘Black Veil Brides’. ‘Black Veil Brides’. ‘Black Veil Brides’.

The sound echoes off the dusty ceiling. Swarms of kids in face paint and black skinny jeans push past us, racing to the front. Its clear who everyone is here to see.

Black Veil Brides

There is a thunder of applause and screams as Black Veil Brides appear. Playing at about 10x the volume of all the other acts might give them an unfair advantage, but its one that they don’t need. They tear through the set, mostly comprised of tracks from their mind-blowing new album ‘Wretched and Divine’.

Wil Francis joins the band for a brief moment, but the real star of tonight is vocalist Andy Biersack. Strutting about the stage in jeans so tight they may as well be painted on, he exudes a confidence far greater than his rakish frame would suggest.

Wil Francis with Black Veil Brides

The banter between songs is short, but the performance is immaculate. There’s two brief, and slightly unnecessary disappearances from the stage, but the audience doesn’t seem to mind.

Black Veil Brides are clearly a band on the way up. From what I’ve seen tonight, there’s going to be no stopping them..

RC xx

 

Friday Tune – Fightstar ‘Paint Your Target’

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Ok, so I’m not leaving you guys with a classic tonight. Its more of a great tune to start the weekend off to.

Fightstar were born out of the flames of singer / guitarist Charlie Simpson’s first “band” Busted. Possibly the only popstar to credibly re-invent themselves into the rock sphere, much respect goes out to the guy for even braving to try it in the first place.

I think my best memory of Fightstar is watching them on the Radio 1 stage at Reading festival the first year that they came out. There were a lot of bottles being thrown. “Busted” being chanted. They didn’t shout anything back though. Simpson just lowered his head, closed his eyes and screamed into the microphone like his life depended on it.

After a while, the barrage stopped. People actually listened to the music. It was good. Very good.

RC xx