Massive Attack - Hyde Park

Massive Attack have been performing well over 20 years with their gritty artistic and incredibly creative sound. Born of the Bristol sound-system scene of the 80's they combined sampling and looping electronica with a down-tempo hip-hop elements to become masters of their own genre, dubbed Trip-Hop. They have always had a great visual aspect, their videos being a cinematic experience and with the visual show an integral part of the live experience and this weekend MASSIVE ATTACK headlined BST Hyde Park with other performances throughout the day from Young Fathers, Patti Smith, TV on The Radio, Warpaint and Ghostpoet.

Legendary singer-songwriter, poet, writer and activist Patti Smith is one of the most influential figures to come out of the late 70’s New York scene as the ‘Punk Poet Laureate’. Last year saw the 40th anniversary of her seminal album ‘Horses’, which is often cited as one of the best albums of all time. Beginning with a poem, Footnote to Howl by Alan Ginsberg, Patti Smith and her band gave a great performance with her classic Because The Night, a tribute to Prince with a version of When Doves Cry and of course Land (Horses) which ran right into a cover of Gloria to the delight of the audience.

TV on The Radio are one of the leaders of Brooklyn’s indie renaissance with their distinct blend of propulsive art-rock and raw soul. They played a great set but were disappointed with the Hyde Park set up ... the majority of the crowd can only get so far forward "it's a shame you guys are so far away ... can we get these guys forward?" Unfortunately not. It was still a great set with the bouncing indie Lazerray and finale Staring At The Sun being particular highlights.

View of TV On the radio from the very front of the general admission aREA

California's Warpaint have a unique brand of intricate guitar lines, hypnotic vocals and driving post punk rhythms. Currently finishing up a new album which should come out later this year they are really ones to watch this year, their set was great showing they deserve the hype that is building around them.

Following his emergence and the Mercury-nominated debut Peanut Butter & Melancholy Jam in 2011, London-based Ghostpoet has marked his own path, propelled by the sonic illuminations of his third, and once again Mercury-nominated album, 2015’s Shedding Skin. For us his set was the highlight of the day and drew such a great and enthusiastic crowd.

The sultry tones and bass-filled clashing and merging sounds within Cash & Carry Me Home and especially Finished I Ain't filled the Barclaycard stage area with an ambience that enveloped the audience with all manner of people getting into the music. 

With the beautifully haunting duet vibes of X Marks The Spot and the reverence of Msi Musmid (check out the free download link below - we recommend you play this VERY loud for full immersion!) the whole performance was an absolute pleasure to experience - well worthy of a spot on the Main Stage.
 

Massive Attack recently released their Ritual Spririt EP and completed a sold out tour of the UK and Europe. Mercury Prize winning Young Fathers are familiar to Massive Attack fans, the Edinburgh trio has supported the band on their recent European tour and they gave a great show within the Massive Attack slot, including their collaboration Voodoo In My Blood.

Reggae legend Horace Andy was wheeled onstage after being unwell to the delight of the crowd and to Massive Attack themselves for Angel his distinctive vocals were great to witness live and after his performance was taken off "straight back to the hospital". With a velvety passion in his voice and the guys on stage showing such admiration for him to be there this was the absolute highlight of the set.

Playing Eurochild for the first time live since '98, getting on for 20 years later, this song is still highly relevant and poignant with Tricky's iconic lyrics ... Hell it seems is still Round The Corner. Tricky made an appearance onstage with Massive Attack for their most recent collaboration Take It There,

There was even a double rainbow over Hyde Park's Great Oak Stage and as the sun lowered in the sky the atmosphere was far more befitting their dramatic style.

The day finished with Safe From Harm in the encore and finally Unfinished Sympathy's beautiful soulfulness closed the set with full strings on stage and a backdrop emblazoned with the slogan "We Are In This Together". With their political musings throughout "this ... is bull****", and their thought-provoking, creative and beautiful sound it truly was an engaging show.

The Kills - Isle of Wight Festival 2016

At the core of The Kills is a bluesy, anthemic and uniquely alternative sound. Alison Mosshart brings a country edge to Jamie Hince's rousing soul-bareing guitar style and both fuse perfectly to form an effortlessly cool sound. 

Meeting in the middle collaboratively The Kills show just how much the two-piece can be an epic partnership with just the right amount of creativity to bounce off and inspire each other ... not too many cooks with so many great ingredients make for an awesomely delicious, perfectly constructed mix.

Ash & Ice, their fifth studio album is out now, with more electronic elements on this album ... it was great to see them live at Isle of Wight Festival to get the full live atmospheric experience of the new songs.

Alison explained "one of the first songs that Jamie brought for the record was called 'Ash and Ice,' and we loved the title. He does that all the time -- he just starts with the title and he hasn’t written a word for the actual song. I guess he was sitting at some bar or some party or someone’s house, and it was just like people ashing into a glass of ice, in that disgusting thing that you just see all the time." Jamie says "I had a drink, and I just threw my cigarette in this glass of ice, and it was just as simple as that. It was like ash and ice, and I said I’ll just call it that. Which is kind of dull. I wish I’d come up with a better story, but that’s the truth of it. And I just like the connotation. It just sort of sounded right, and I liked the idea of it being these two opposite souls. I liked it being the idea of someone with a joint in one hand and a drink in the other." 

The album was five years in the making in part due to Jamie five hand surgeries, resulting in him having to re-learn how to play guitar with a permanently damaged finger. It was during Hince’s recuperation from surgery that he first started sketching out what would become the songs for the album. To shake up the writing process, Hince booked a solo trip on the infamous Trans-Siberian Express for inspiration while Alison Mosshart, now residing in Nashville, wrote some of the most affecting, poetically candid lyrics that she ever has, painting word pictures that mine the dangerous terrain between romantic obsession, prophecy and tough love.

The first single from Ash & Ice Doing It To Death was amazing live, some tracks have more of a menacing edge ... you can see why they've been picked up by TV shows like Peaky Blinders for their fiercely dynamic, dark and soulful sound that would not be out of place set to any gritty, gripping imagery and makes for great music to stride about to in your own little world.

Now over a decade old No Wow still hits you right in the gut with its pure driving bassline rolling along like a quickened heartbeat, combined with Alison's sultry vocals as the song builds so does the onstage performance. Such a great song to hear played out over a festival as we approached dusk, the audience certainly were wow'd.

Even with their slower songs it is  hard not to get totally immersed in their rich well thought out sound. Kissy Kissy parallels a long and winding road where you can imagine you're riding in a convertible across the US ... even if you are standing somewhere in a field in Hampshire.

In such an amazingly captivating set we witnessed awesome renditions of our favourites U.R.A. Fever ... Cheap & Cheerful ... Black Balloon and so many more.

Having been a staple favourite band of ours for a good few years now, we were drenched with anticipation to finally catch them live. It is always slightly nerve-racking to see a band you already admire perform to see how they translate live - we needn't have worried! Jamie & Alison's exuberant set really added an extra dimension to the music, showing us how live music should be .. full of passion and personality, expertly delivered with captivating flair.

Isle of Wight Festival 2016

We traversed the sunny Solent to the Isle of Wight Festival as it geared up for the weekend. One of the biggest festivals of the year in the UK, not just for the south coast, the Isle of Wight Festival has had a long history of hosting music icons, this year is no less legendary with The Who headlining Saturday and Queen and Adam Lambert headlining Sunday with their only UK show in this year.

Stereophonics and electronica legends Faithless were also on the bill as well as Iggy Pop, Adam Ant, Buzzcocks and The Damned taking to the stage to celebrate 40 years of punk.

It's not just classic names there is something for everyone here with so many varied acts across many stages with plenty of things to see and do.

Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys in The Big Top brought us Faithless frontman Maxi Jazz's guitar band. Incorporating melodic funk and blues mixed with reggae beats, dub baselines, Jamaican melodies, and smooth insightful, penetrating lyrics from the most iconic wordsmiths, this lyrically poetic and playful set was a great chilled out set to start off the weekend.

Cast were a perfect pick to get that summer festival feeling flowing. With their hits Finetime and Alright they really stirred the crowd into the festival spirit in the Big Top.

We caught up with the Southsea contingent in the Hipshaker Lounge to round off Thursday as they kicked off non-stop entertainment with Rhythm of the 90's treating us to live 90's dance hits.

Friday started off with Busted playing the Main Stage with a mix of new songs as well as their back catalogue they really rallied the crowd in this early festival set including their hit Year 3000 which went down well.

Back together after over 10 years ... they said it would never happen hence their 2016 tour being named Pigs Can Fly! Bassist Matt Willis who won I'm A Celebrity in 2006 and also appeared on Eastenders returned to music in 2013 with McBusted, Charlie Simpson re-joined Busted this year and has had several solo projects including the rock band Fightstar.

One of the most successful Welsh rock acts Stereophonics were next up on the Main Stage. Singer Kelly Jones' gravelly vocals topped off their classics Dakota, Just Looking and Bartender & The Thief to make a perfect set for a fun fuelled Friday with a happy crowd singing along. 

Faithless were Friday's headliners and with over 20 years since the iconic Insomnia was released they still sounded fresh and entirely relevant. Faithless have sold over 15 million records worldwide, toured the globe and been dubbed responsible for the creation of a whole new sonic landscape for Dance Music.

As one of the first to mix dance, hip-hop, blues, folk and classical music and being integral to the whole dance music genre they have always had something poignant to say lyrically with their great mix of musical flavours. Almost ambient at times they created an awesome atmosphere and live show Maxi, Sister Bliss and Rollo rounded off the first day of Isle of Wight 2016 with the greatest performance of the day.  

The Lounge Kittens opened up Saturday's music in the Big Top which went down really well, beautifully rendered popular alt rock classics performed in their own lounge style was a great start to blow away the cobwebs of the previous night's festivities!

With Dodgy in the Kashmir Cafe performing their feel good hits Staying Out For The Summer and Good Enough to a packed out audience and Irish folk pop siblings The Corrs gracing the Main Stage Saturday was shaping up as another great day of music.

Festival organiser John Giddings led a tribute to David Bowie on the main stage while Andrea Corr and Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp gave a beautiful rendition of Bowie's Starman.

The Sex Pissed Dolls have just finished a tour playing songs by The Jam, The Clash, Nirvana and The Specials, and these fierce ladies were in their element celebrating The Sex Pistols to honour 40 years of punk.

At the core of The Kills is a bluesy, anthemic and uniquely alternative sound. Alison Mosshart brings a country edge to Jamie Hince's rousing soul-bareing guitar style and both fuse perfectly to form an effortlessly cool sound. 

Meeting in the middle collaboratively The Kills show just how much the two-piece can be an epic partnership with just the right amount of creativity to bounce off and inspire each other ... not too many cooks with so many great ingredients make for an awesomely delicious, perfectly constructed mix.

Ash & Ice, their fifth studio album is out now, with more electronic synthy elements on this album ... it was great to see them live at Isle of Wight Festival's Main Stage to get the full live atmospheric experience of the new songs in what was a really great performance.

Iggy Pop certainly is one of the most dynamic stage performers of all time known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics. He bounded on stage with epic amounts of passion and all the energy and enthusiasm we have come to expect, with absolutely no hint of restraint.

Smashing his set through our ears with epic amounts of on the Main Stage at the Isle of Wight Festival with the anthemic classics Lust For Life, I Wanna Be Your Dog and The Passenger this really was a truly captivating performance. The set could not have been better, Iggy cavorted about the stage writhing with such a passion and vigour, rallying the crowd and demonstrating exactly why he is known as the godfather of punk rock.

Almost 40 years since their inception Buzzcocks are still going strong and played a cracking set with all the energy and enthusiasm you would have expected in the early days. Their more melodic brand of punk still packs a punch and you can really tell how much these guys love playing together. On great form to a packed out audience they mixed new material with old favourites like I Don't Mind, What Do I Get and of course Ever Fallen In Love....

Punk pioneers The Damned are also on their 40th anniversary tour this year. With the iconic Captain Sensible cavorting around the stage they pulled off a great live show. New Rose went down a storm today and 40 years on from being the UK's first punk single, it is as fresh and rousing as it was then, performed with boundless snarling energy and enthusiasm. 

As Smash It Up's gnarled glorious noise rolled out over the audience reminded us all of the energy of of a generation of kick ass UK punk music and how that lives on today as they influenced future hardcore bands with their fast-paced style. 

Adam Ant rounded off the day for us in The Big Top with his alternative classics Stand & Deliver, Prince Charming and of course Goody Two Shoes. Adam Ant proved today that he is still the dandy highwayman and great entertainer!

One of the most influential rock bands in music history The Who headlined the Main Stage today, celebrating over 50 years. Pulling a massive crowd of adoring fans in with so many classics like My Generation and Baba O'Reilly they put on a cracking show. Roger Daltrey's gravelly vocals accented the large psychedelic, rounded out sound, demonstrating how they are still a great live band firmly cemented as the legends of rock that they clearly still are.  

Pendulum closed off an epic day of music with a storming set in the Big Top that started just before midnight and sent their light show streaming across the field. The still pumped crowd went absolutely crazy for their track Propane Nightmares and the night ended on a great buzz around the festival site.  

Sunday started off with Glasgow rockers Twin Atlantic playing the Main Stage and although a little slow for our tastes they played a good set and singer Sam McTrusty's unique vocals were really refreshing.

Billed as the "loudest silent movie on earth" we checked out Gutterdammerung in the Big Top which features a host of rock icons including Iggy Pop as a renegade punk angel Vicious, who sets the world on fire to test humanity and Henry Rollins, (also co-screenwriter) as a "priest Svengali". The brain-child of Belgian-Swedish visual artist Björn Tagemose, this is a fully immersive experience, primarily visual, with a live band playing the epic score to this dark fairytale. With Grace Jones portraying the "ultimate nemesis, an African goddess from Hell" and Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes as a bounty hunter who "kills sound for money," working for people who "use false morality as oppression" visual artist Björn Tagemose's film is a fully immersive experience.

Whilst primarily visual, this is like no movie you have ever experienced - a live band plays the epic score to this dark fairytale in  what is surely to be a cult classic. With so many iconic legends in one film, including Lemmy and Slayer's Tom Araya, the film showed us how sparce dialogue can be loud as hell! With a surprise appearance by Henry Rollins himself this was one not to be missed!

Indie pop-punkers The Cribs gave a great performance on the Main Stage having supported Sex Pistols, played on the Weezer Cruise and had Johnny Marr in the band for a while, this upbeat indie sound was the perfect summer Saturday afternoon tonic. 90's Britpoppers Ocean Colour Scene also brought out all the big hits, from the Beatles-esque Day We Caught The Train to the Riverboat Song and Hundred Mile City for a great festival set.

Another 90's band were up next in the Main Stage lineup, Reef's plodding melodic rock tune Come Back Brighter showed they were a great choice to go before Queen with Place Your Hands making the crowd erupt with singalongs and hands aloft.

Headlining the Main Stage today Queen & Adam Lambert played a sparkling set in their only UK date this year, playing a mix of their popular and lesser known material. Possibly the most recognisable song and loved by all kinds of music fans, their performance of Bohemian Rhapsody was a real sight to see live with rapturous sing-a-longs from right across the heaving crowd. Adam Lambert is truly a great frontman, with all the showmanship and poise you could want for such an iconic band. 

Welsh rockers Feeder played their one of very few UK festival appearances for 2016 after being quiet over the last couple of years. With their well loved singles Buck Rogers, Just The Way I'm Feeling and Just A Day this was a great set to close off an enormously varied weekend of superb music.

Iggy Pop - Isle of Wight Festival 2016

Iggy Pop certainly is one of the most dynamic stage performers of all time known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics.

He bounded on stage with epic amounts of passion and all the energy and enthusiasm we have come to expect, with absolutely no hint of restraint.

Smashing his set through our ears with epic amounts of on the Main Stage at the Isle of Wight Festival with the anthemic classics Lust For Life, I Wanna Be Your Dog and The Passenger this really was a truly captivating performance.

The set could not have been better, Iggy cavorted about the stage writhing with such a passion and vigour, rallying the crowd and demonstrating exactly why he is known as the godfather of punk rock.

Gallery - Isle of Wight Festival 2016 - Friday

Busted played the Main Stage at Isle of Wight Festival this afternoon, with a mix of new songs as well as their back catalogue they really rallied the crowd in this early festival set.

Back together after over 10 years ... they said it would never happen hence their 2016 tour being named Pigs Can Fly! Bassist Matt Willis who won I'm A Celebrity in 2006 and also appeared on Eastenders returned to music in 2013 with McBusted, Charlie Simpson re-joined Busted this year and has had several solo projects including the rock band Fightstar.

One of the most successful Welsh rock acts Stereophonics were next up on the Main Stage. Singer Kelly Jones' gravelly vocals topped off their classics Dakota, Just Looking and Bartender & The Thief to make a perfect sunset show for a fun fuelled Friday with a happy crowd singing along. 

Massive Attack - BST Hyde Park - 1st July 2016

Not long now until MASSIVE ATTACK are live headliners at BST Hyde Park with other performances throughout the day from Young Fathers, Patti Smith, TV on The Radio, Warpaint and Ghostpoet.

Massive Attack recently released the Ritual Sprit EP and completed a sold out tour of the UK and Europe. The show will see the band bring a new and provocative audio-visual live show to Hyde Park, designed by Robert 3D Del Naja and longtime visual collaborators United Visual Artists. 

James King, Senior Vice President, AEG Live comments: “With an incredible archive of music that has stood the test of time and inspired so many, Massive Attack are still providing a heartbeat for the World. More than that, their music and live performances form a message that makes us stop, think and evaluate when we are so often encouraged not to. With powerful beats, orchestral arrangements, beautiful melodies by incredible vocalists, inspired video art - it’s hard to think of a more important moment for the World to listen to Massive Attack than right now. The band's production has always been a shining light in live music and to see their video art across 900 square meters of screen on the Great Oak Stage will be a truly breathtaking sight.” 

Massive Attack have been delighting audiences for well over 20 years with their gritty artistic and incredibly creative sound. Born of the Bristol sound-system scene of the 80's they combined sampling and looping electronica with a down-tempo hip-hop elements to become masters of their own genre, dubbed Trip-Hop. They have always had a great visual aspect, their videos being a cinematic experience and the visual show an integral part of the live experience. 

Tickets are available here for what promises to be a show to remember: 

Despite Everything

Athens based melodic punks, Despite Everything hit the UK this week as part of an extensive European tour and we caught their show at Southsea's Birdcage.

Having formed in 2008, the band have build a solid fanbase in the European DIY punk rock scene having played well over 400 shows in every club, squat, basement, garage and bar in every town and city on route.

Following on from their debut album “The Dawn Chorus", Despite Everything have just finished recording their new record called “Trails” set to be released in late spring ’16.

Check out their single Joke's On Us and pics from their Southsea show:

Slowcoaches - Interview / Exclusive Tour Pics

We caught up with Heather from Slowcoaches this week to find out more on what they are all about after discovering their refreshingly raw yet melodic single "Ex Head" check it out below:

Slowcoaches are a 3-piece from Leeds and having already been in for a 6Music session with the legendary Marc Riley we're excited to see what's next for this band who have a great energetic sound filled with boundless attitude ...

Hey Heather, so how did you come together, how long have you been going?

Me and Matty met in Leeds - we just found each other one evening. We’ve been playing music together for about 4 years.

Are you very collaborative in your song-writing process … do you share the same influences mainly and would you say you listen to a range of genres generally? 

I’d say that Matty is the real bones of the music - the substance and I kind of mould it and shape it and give it words but it varies from song to song. In terms of influences, I mean we have cross overs - bands we like that are the same and then we have a lot of music that we aren’t as familiar with as the other. Matty is really knowledgeable about weird electronic music for example. At the moment I mainly like to listen to buddhist chanting.

Is there anyone in particular you would say are so influential that if they didn't exist you wouldn't be doing what you are now?

For me, I don’t think that the reason I play in a band is down to one person. Its a series of events and people thatguide youth want to play music. I’d say when we started Slowcoaches, I was listening to a lot of musicians who really convinced me that anyone could create art; Patti Smith, Daniel Johnson, Stephen Malkmus, Scout Niblett, Liz Phair, The Germs, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Die Kreuzen. Loads of stuff and I just though, ‘I want to do that’.

Sometimes inspiration can be found in the strangest of places … anything outside of music that really gets your creative juices flowing?

I like watching documentaries about creative people and serial killers and cults and stuff.

Are your songs sometimes autobiographical or social comment? Do you have a general message you would like people to hear?

I’d say that all our songs have an autobiographical or observational element. Each song has a different subject matter but I tend to write about a lot of things at once so some songs are about like, 3 or 4 or 5 different things that are going on at the same time. All of our lyrics are about life experiences.

What first turned you on to music in a big way? 

My parents always played lots of music in the car and stuff. I remember dancing to The Beatles with my dad in the living room when I was like 3 and thinking the lyrics were really insane. I guess when I got to about 14 - I bought a copy of Kill Em All and I never looked back. 

Is there a band /artist at the moment really inspiring musically, or that you think will go far this year / would like to see more of?

Radical Boy

 http://radicalboy.bandcamp.com/album/smears

How do you see the music scene generally in 2016. Is there anything you would change if you had a chance?

It’s thriving. I mean there are a lot of bands that seem to see a certain criteria for a certain band and slot themselves quietly and prettily in to it but there are also loads of bands ‘breaking that mould’ all the time.

I don’t specifically want to change anything about the scene. We just operate as a unit and the way that we behave dictates how people interact with us and experience our music. We create throw away tunes for a rotten generation. We seek to destroy the idea of women musician as ‘novelty’. We reject the marriage of high fashion and music for profit. We exist to entertain ourselves and if anyone else enjoys that then they’re welcome to.

If you had to describe each band member (including yourself) in just three words, what would they be?

Me: Early, Leggy, Blonde

Matty: Late, Leggy, Blonde

What’s next for 2016 … have you got any new releases coming up or are you off out on the road? 

We just came back from an awesome UK tour ... our debut Album, Nothing Gives is out this year and we’ve got a bunch of shows coming up. We may tour fully again before the year is out ... here are the upcoming dates:

9th June The Dome, Tufnell park

2 July* London, Moth Club

3 July* Brighton, Hope & Ruin

*with PAWS

22nd - 24th July Tramlines Festival, Sheffield

Thanks Heather!

We can't recommend highly enough you check them out, although we have yet to see them live we are pretty sure catching them live will only fuel what is already a firey fierce sonic experience ... especially with Loud Noises favourites PAWS on the dates above!

Slowcoaches gave us exclusive pics from their recent UK tour where they hung out with Radical Boy, took in the beautiful Edinburgh and chilled in the cinema when Matty wasn't playing with his pedals ... so tide yourselves over until they hit the road again next month and get these in your eyeballs and this in your ears!

http://slowcoaches.bandcamp.com/album/ex-head

The Duke Spirit - New Album / Instore

Bold and bluesy as ever The Duke Spirit return with their new album KIN which is out now.

Recorded in early 2015 in East London with long time collaborator and Producer Simon Raymonde, KIN signals a subtle shift in dynamic for the band. “Brimming with new sounds amid a vibrant energy, flecked with sublimely delicate, intimate spaces, and as such feels like a landmark recording for a band that are now in their 12th year” according to Raymonde.

The album features guest appearances from Mark Lanegan on the beautiful track Wounded Wing, Sam Windett (Archie Bronson Outfit), Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey/Gallon Drunk), Hackneys Deep Throat Choir, Mara Caryle, as well as some tender piano courtesy of Mr Raymonde.

We caught their instore performance at Southsea's Pie & Vinyl last night. It was well worth going out in the roasting heat for this show. Singer Liela Moss's delivery was spot on ... full of emotion she conveyed a sometimes beautifully haunting and their always epic full sound with sass. Their fuzzy full rock sound translates so well to an intimate instore performance as much as they would be at home on a grander stage. Their meandering blanket of noise was perfectly suited to the intimate setting. This really is a band that is versatile enough to bang out a cracking live show and a thoughtful intimate instore performance.

We highly recommend you check out KIN which is both introspective and highly engaging, if you get a chance to check them out live you should ... there really is nothing better than experiencing a well rounded band who gel so well together to deliver such an enchanting performance.

The Duke Spirit play Standon Calling & Boardmasters this year as well as a host of live dates. 

October 2016 tour:

Brighton Patterns, 10

Birmingham Rainbow, 12

Leeds Brudenell Social Club, 13

Glasgow King Tuts, 14

Newcastle Think Tank, 15

Manchester Gorillia, 17

Nottingham Bodega, 18

Bristol Fleece, 19

London Scala, 20

My Defense / The SLM / Misgivings - intimate show

Cologne, Germany's My Defense have been going for just over 10 years now, but their passion for writing honest and heartfelt music has not changed over that time.

Their melodic hardcore / punk ethos is all about having a great time driving hours and hours to play 30 minutes, having a beer and sleeping on dirty floors.

Over the last few years My Defense played hundreds of shows with the likes of Madball, Strike Anywhere, 7 Seconds, Terror and many many more including two european tours in 2015 and a UK-tour in 2016.

Misgivings were founded in 2013 after a drunken chat at a squat show in hamburg, combining a love of melodic punk, drinking beers and travelling.

These fast rising pizza punx have released their debut EP Delete History (released on Charlie's Big Ray Gun Records). With influences as broad as Hüsker Du,  The Replacements, Alkaline Trio Fugazi and Brian Wilson ... we recommend you check them out!

The SLM have been going around in the local scene for 14 years now, this 3 piece you can tell love playing together with their onstage banter and energetic delivery. Do you like Zombies? Sharks?...... Zombie Sharks......and even turtle sharks !! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Dinosaurs? Then you should check out The SLM's fast punk zombie-shark-core.

New album has been rumored to be coming around the start of July so keep you ears open for that one !!

Matilda's Scoundrels

Matilda's Scoundrels have a new single Crowley's Curse and their new album is out June 10th. With a stack of major festival appearances this year including Rebellion & Boomtown we caught up with Matilda's Scoundrels at their recent Hastings show to find out more... 

So guys introduce yourselves!

We are Matilda’s Scoundrels and we’re a folk punk band from Hastings.

When did you form and how long have you been going now?

We formed in early 2014 after talking about doing so for months. We spent the first 6 months or so writing material before our first show later in the year.

Who tends to write the music and who are your influences?

Most of the time someone will be an idea for a song to the rest of us and we’ll jam, we then work together from there. Most of the time it ends up completely different to how it originally started. As for influences the genre we play is the main but we are all into different styles, which is great for writing. Most of our newer stuff has been about our home town Hastings and people that have lived here.

You seem to be doing a big push this year, we see that you have Boomtown and Rebellion confirmed, anything else that you are excited about?

2016 has gone a bit nuts for us. We’re pretty happy that we’re going to be a part of two great festivals in Boomtown and Rebellion. We also have loads of other great festivals lined up including Outcider Festival and Common Ground. Another thing we’re really excited about is that we have multiple shows with Mischief Brew, who are a big influence. Supporting Days N’ Daze in Hastings will be a great one as well.

What are your plans for the rest of 2016?

Play as many shows as possible. We’re playing plenty of new places we’ve never played before as well as some of our favourite towns/cities. The end of the year is a little quiet for us gig wise, but we’re aiming to fill it recording our first album.

We didn't realise Aleister Crowley was from Hastings that is a pretty infamous influence for the new single ... do you think there is something about the seaside that inspires evil?

Aleister Crowley spent the last years of his life in Hastings and its believed he put a curse on the town. Apparently if you ever lived in Hastings you will always live there. Obviously we had to write a song about it.

https://matildasscoundrels.bandcamp.com/album/crowleys-curse

Weezer - Gallery - Brixton April 2016

Bar Creeps – Interview April 2016

We had a chat to Bannister from Barcreeps ahead of their single release for "The Hour Between Dog And Wolf" check them out here: https://barcreeps.bandcamp.com/releases

Hey guys, so how did you come together, you’re pretty recently formed with members from all over?  

Hendricks and I (Bannister) went to school together, then we went to uni with Railgrind, then we put an ad on Gumtree and found Campari. And of course we bonded over music, and played in other bands that toured together etc. 

Are you very collaborative in your song-writing process … do you share the same influences mainly and would you say you listen to a range of genres general?

We all grew up listening to fast skate punk in the mid 90s. Even though we all like many other kinds of music, our deep-seated love for this music never died. 20 years on there is something of a revival around this type of music, and we have been swept up in that! The whole point was to form a genre band – to play a very specific type of music that has a very particular audience.

The process of putting together songs is very collaborative – normally, one person will write the bare bones of a song and then we work out the remaining parts and dynamics and move on to the next one. Super efficient. There is nothing ‘jam band’ about us.

Sometimes inspiration can be found in the strangest of places … anything outside of music that really gets your creative juices flowing?

To contradict my answer above, I don’t actually think music really inspires us. There is too much weird shit going on in the world to think and write about. The music is just a kind of vehicle for communicating that. If there is anything that inspires us about music it’s that the musicians and songwriters we admire are some of the more self-aware and less narcissistic creative people out there. They were pioneers and we’re now humbly following in their footsteps, we hope… 

Real stories about people are, I suppose, what inspires us. For some reason, transhumanism and the possibility of living forever is becoming something of a theme – not consciously intentionally…

Your artistry can speak for itself as you are promoting yourselves anonymously … is that important to you to really focus on the music rather than personalities as forefront?

Yes, 100%. Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys did an interview recently where he said that the main problem with popular music is that there is only one subject – the writer. He’s right. I’ve made this mistake myself, and spent 10 years writing about my love life. It was too solipsistic. BarCreeps songs are stories about what we observe other people do and say – no judgement, just stories for the sake of stories. Good ones, we hope.

Are your songs sometimes autobiographical or social comment? Do you have a general message you would like people to hear?

The songs are generally from my perspective, about things that interest me, but there is no message or moral – just observation and perspective. In some of the newer songs I’ve tried writing from the perspective of other people – a bit like the Weakerthans do. For example, we have a new song called Trauma Team, which takes the perspective of someone who has a deep faith in god, although they’re not preachy about it. The song is a rebuttal of sorts to evangelicals, saying I’m interested in helping people for real – triaging people who have had accidents, that’s how I serve god – rather than trying to abstractly save their souls.

Is there a band /artist at the moment really inspiring musically, or that you think will go far this year / would like to see more of?

I’d like to see more old school punk bands coming back. We’re still re-discovering the UK punk scene, so this would be a good question for us to answer in a few months. Wayne Adams, the guy who we recently recorded with, he has a band called Shitwife who are pretty good.

How do you see the music scene generally in 2016. Is there anything you would change if you had a chance?

There was an interesting radio show recently called the Pop Star and the Prophet, where a musician interviewed a French political theorist called Jacques Attali who predicted the decline of the music industry in the 1970s. The most interesting thing though is that he saw the music industry as a harbinger of changes that would rock (excuse the pun) the whole of society. This resonates with me quite strongly – the idea that music is a figurative canary down the mine for how technology is changing the world so rapidly. I have my moments where I would love to be able to ‘rewind the clock to a simpler time’, but obviously this is impossible. I think we just have to find ways to accept that we live in a fascinating but frightening world.

So the single The Hour Between Dog And Wolf (great title by the way!) is out on Friday, how would you describe the story behind the song?

Unfortunately I can’t claim originality around the title (or the chord sequence, for that matter) – the title is from a book by a Cambridge neuroscientist that looks at how adrenalin and stress affect our decision-making abilities. It turns out that biology has a big part to play in this – as in, some people are better at handling stress than others because they’re just built that way (women, in fact, are apparently better at this than men on average). I just extended the idea to our psychologies – that we have these incredibly impactful experiences when we’re younger that shape our personalities and our worldviews, and no matter how much we grow and mature as people, we can never fully escape those deep feelings and prejudices. 

What else do you have planned for 2016 with regards to releases / touring?

Yes, all of the above! A couple more singles this year, then an album early next year – or maybe even this year. Shows and touring when we can, but like most musicians these days we have full-time jobs and other responsibilities that we have to work around.

We're always looking to play more shows so any bands or promoters that like what they hear and want to play a show with us, please email or Facebook us!

Thanks for your time!

Thanks Sam!

BarCreeps will be releasing their debut single 'The Hour Between Dog And Wolf' on Friday 15th April on BCHR Records, and will be playing their first London show on April 23rd, at Camden Barfly, as part of a Camden Rocks Night.

Monolithian / Darkmother / The SLM / D:Roid / Grim Ravine

Grim Ravine kicked of early for this packed out show at The Edge in Southsea this Thursday. This was only the second show for these south coast based doom-mongers who treated us to some slow and heavy sludgey riffage. 

Grim Ravine's debut is out now on Bandcamp: https://grimravine.bandcamp.com/releases

D:roid were up next ... this 3-piece know how rock, for fans of Metal, Punk, Noise Rock, Sludge, Desert Rock they cite their influences as Melvins, Shellac, Beefheart/Zappa, the sound of the hoover, the microwave, and a boiling kettle. Check out their noises here: https://d-roid.bandcamp.com/

Next up in this packed bill were The SLM ... Southsea's finest Zombie-Shark-Core punks who's sense of humour and sheer pace of their sound never fails to wow their cult following!

Darkmother's 2-piece stoner doom psychedelia from Nottingham kept up the pace ... check them out here: https://darkmother.bandcamp.com/releases

Monolithian are a heavy as balls 2-piece from Falmouth Cornwall for lovers of doom metal and black metal which went down a storm:  https://monolithiandoom.bandcamp.com