Author Archives: Olivia

Patti Smith. The Roundhouse. 31st October 2015.

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In my time, I’ve only properly felt at home in one place. Brussels. On Saturday night I finally saw Patti Smith play with a full band, and it felt like home. The rest is beyond a feeling I can put into words but I’ll try. Not for the interest of others but for my own personal outlet.

Prior to Patti and the band taking to the stage, my stomach was doing somersaults over the PA playing Punk classics from the likes of The Damned and Ramones. The greats were being blasted out in anticipation of the Godmother of it all. As it got closer to the stage time, I started feeling like a child at Christmas. Nothing can top this feeling, nothing ever ever will. I’ve been to many gigs and a few have left an imprint on my mind and in my heart but I knew that this was going to take over from all I had known before. I was entering another world. A world that feels like home.
They walk onto the stage to nothing short of a reception fit for music royalty. Clenching a copy of Horses in her hands, holding it like a trophy. Maybe that’s what it is after all. A trophy to  symbolise greatness and how it should be done. Everything from now on will not compare to this. No winning lottery ticket, nothing materialistic or otherwise will top this.

I’ve seen Patti twice in an intimate setting. The first was around a year ago when she played a tiny show in Howarth, after the show I met her and burst into tears. The second time was last Wednesday when she did a talk for The Guardian- an hour and a half of hearing her wisdom tales. Heaven. I’d been waiting and waiting to see her play with a full band. Any time she announced dates there was always something in the way. Nothing was stopping me from seeing her play Horses in full.

She reads the poem on the back of the record, removes her glasses and we all enter the world of Horses together as she rips into Gloria. That one line from a song owns many hearts, and is still regarded as one of the greatest lines of all time. With a gorgeous smirk she sings, “Jesus died for some body’s sins…but not mine!” If any part of a song is going to ring through the venue and out of the mouths of her fans, it was most definitely this one.

It wasn’t just about hearing the life-changing songs on Saturday night, it was her presence on stage that is so rare and so beautiful. Her sense of humour is priceless and just an absolute delight to witness. From her mishap with the zip on her jeans to her silver hair getting everywhere. She interacts with the crowd in a way most try far too hard to do. She’s a treasure, and I wonder after all these years- does she know how wonderful she is?

After playing Horses in full, we are treated to some delights. Hearts broke as she sang her tribute to Amy Winehouse, This Is The Girl. Playing in a venue that was right near where she lived, it just felt right for us all to listen to this beautiful tribute. If only she was still around. She should still be here, we all know that.

The band minus Patti tore into The Roundhouse with their tribute to the greatest band ever from New York (best band of all time) the Velvet Underground. Lenny, Jay, Tony and Jack blasted through Rock & Roll, I’m Waiting For The Man and White Light/White Heat as if the songs were their own and we were at Max’s. I’m no musician but I’ve always regarded Lenny Kaye as being the best guitarist of all time. His performance at The Roundhouse fully justified my thoughts on him, and I really hope the kids in the crowd left wanting to use the guitar as their weapon to inspire others. We need it, desperately.

There is something really empowering about seeing a woman who is close to my mum’s age spitting on the stage and saying “Come on motherfucker!” during Horses. From seeing her do her talks to seeing her on stage, it is like watching a different person but it is still our Patti Smith. The voice of so many, the truth and the reason. She was taught to question everything and in that, she’s made her fans do the same. There is nothing more unsettling than accepting what others tell you. Don’t buy into corporate bullshit and don’t let the government dictate your needs to you. Punk is still alive, and it is a state of mind.

I’m going back and forth between the songs as my mind keeps taking me back to Saturday night. During the breathtaking Elegie, Patti recited the name of the musicians and poets we have lost. Lou Reed, Robert Mapplethorpe and Fred Sonic Smith’s names were all greeted with such a powerful rapture it was like they were in the room. We don’t ever really fully lose someone, we just carry them around with us in different ways.

People Have The Power for me was the highlight because that song holds so much worth and importance. To hear everyone yell the song back at her and for Patti to tell us “Use your voice” was such a dominating factor of the night. The change comes from us- not anyone else. We all play a part in making things better, it isn’t up to just one person.

They end the set with a cover of The Who’s My Generation. It felt like watching a bunch of kids practise in their garage, it was insanely brilliant especially when Patti took off her boots and socks, grabbed her guitar and throttled it until strings snapped. She told us it was her generation’s greatest weapon, and it truly was. It still could be in others, I really hope it is.

The power in this show was something I know I’ll never experience again in any other band or singer I’ll see live. I’ll never get this feeling again. I left feeling as if I need to do something, I still have that feeling. There’s something we all need to do, and trying to figure it out is the toughest part. Everything after is just a ride. Patti and the band are real inspirational figures, and this show 40 years on after they first played here is a testament to everything they have ever done.

The show felt like a huge lion’s roar. A ripple sent through the crowd erupting into a frenzy of people who were ready. Ready for what? Anything. Everything. It doesn’t matter. The crowd was full of people who had been there the first time around and now bringing their kids, people who wanted to feel something, to be part of something truly life changing. I hope it was some lost 15 year old’s first ever show and they left with a fire in their belly and the desire to make their own movement.

Perfection doesn’t exist, something we all tell ourselves but hand on heart, this was the most perfect gig I’ve ever been to. As I head into my 29th year, I hope the dissatisfaction fades and turns into something less worthless. Patti taught me all I needed to know to get through my painful teens and on Saturday night, she spurred me into adulthood with a strong sense of self.

Come on motherfucker. Come on!

CHEAP RIOT.

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Do you ever listen to a band, and proceed to question what you’re doing with your life? Or what you aren’t doing? We plan our mental escape routes through things that we can’t touch such as music and films. I listen to certain bands, and I’m filled with this urge to pack up my records and go somewhere else. Certain places are romanticised in music. I guess real life shows how ugly it is. For me, London is at its best at night. Then again, anything and anyone looks half decent in the dark. For the most part I do love London. I just don’t like how cold some of the people can be. I know we’re all trying to get to and from work like everyone else, but just be fucking nice you know? Have some manners.

Cheap Riot are a band to make you get rid of your mundane tasks and to just go somewhere else. We all know that somewhere else is always better. My mum and stepdad are currently in Turin, and the photos make me see how soulless London is in comparison. Anyway, I’m projecting. I’m just annoyed that in a few weeks I’m 29, then next year I’m 30 and what have I done? Nothing. A lazy escapist with no sense of bravery. It’s alright, because the world clearly needs another idiot with a music blog (sarcasm.) Cheap Riot bring out this frustration and sorry, you’re getting the brunt of it. All sense of hopelessness and feeling bored just come out of their music. It’s the kind of music to do a load of nothing to whilst roaming the streets with office workers looking at you like you’re scum, “Get a job.” Whatever. (I have a job, I really like my job and it feels weird to feel that way at times.)

https://vimeo.com/120963556

Cheap Riot have proper short Punk-ish songs. Declaring themselves as “part-time Punks” should not deter you. It lured me in, I wanted to see if they were what they said they were. Punk can be seen as quite redundant. There’s nothing more offensive than the style of music called “pop-punk.” Fortunately, Cheap Riot aren’t pop-punk and I doubt they are part-time Punks. Sure they sound like all the bands I love, but if I hated them I wouldn’t listen to them or write about them. Their snotty and bratty sound is a tamer take on the likes of Dead Boys and Black Flag, but the aggression is there. You can’t tame this kind of aggression and these Parisian guitar slinging noise makers are where it is at. Maybe Lester Bangs wouldn’t spit out his drink out over these guys, but I love them. I love how they are unapologetically loud and at times woeful in their songs. They could sing in obscure dialect and I’d still be moved by their music.

As mentioned previously I do love songs that last over 5 minutes, but sometimes I just want a 2 minute track and being made to feel like I’m being smacked in the face (fully aware that there are people who would gladly smack me in the mush, but you get my point.)

Friday sees the release of their debut record, Ballroom Portraits. It is loud, it is passionate and it is a record that makes you wholeheartedly believe in this band. It is instant love with Cheap Riot and I hope they hope on the Eurostar and play some shows over here. Again they are a band that I reckon you need to see live to really get their sound. Everyone needs a new band to fall hopelessly in love with, and for me Cheap Riot are exactly that band. They make you want to find some like-minded folks and make your own noise.

You can stream the record here: http://cheapriot.bandcamp.com/album/ballroom-portraits

You can buy it from Friday.

GIRLS NAMES- Arms Around A Vision.

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With it finally getting colder, it’s important to find music that makes it easier to deal with dark mornings that make you question why you’re leaving the house. I like my job, so for me it’s just the effort of having to deal with rude people on the tube every morning. Stop pushing people out the way and PLEASE brush your teeth before you leave the house, or have a mint. Coffee breath just makes me want to vomit. Awful. Gentle rage aside, I’m now going to write about a band who I love (obviously) and why their new record is (again,obviously) a stroke of genius.

Girls Names are one of those bands that managed to merge everything I love and look for in music into one. They sound like Mark E Smith in a fight with Edwyn Collins, with a bit of Josef K thrown in. For me it is music heaven. I’m not really sure what anyone else thinks, but I’m not fussed. Arms Around A Vision is a record that much like what I’ve written about recently, doesn’t make me feel like I am in 2015. Which let’s be honest, isn’t really a bad thing. Everything now revolves around how many people “know” you via social media sites rather than who actually gives a fuck about you. We’re all deathly scared of being lonely or being unlike our peers that we try too hard to be like them and losing any sense of a personality we once had. In short, Girls Names make me forget how awful everything is and how I feel like I am always on the outside looking in. I’ve never felt part of anything or like I “belonged.” This isn’t in a “woe is me” way. It’s just my interests don’t revolve around being drunk or taking a photo of myself whilst making everyone believe I am having a nice time. I’m sat in bed, listening to a band I love. Occasionally I look out the window, and I can see the lights of planes above my house. For me, that’s a nice time. I’m a bore to most. To myself? It doesn’t matter. Girls Names have this power in their new record to make you see things for how they are and taking you away from it.

Arms Around A Vision is made up of brilliant moments that show you exactly how great Girls Names are. I’m fully aware that’s a mundane statement. but it is entirely true. It’s a record to really gush about. It’s a record to fall in love with, and tell all your pals about. It’s like meeting someone who changes your life in a way no one else will understand, but you still want to tell everyone about. You get that instantly with the record, and records like that are hard to find. Some may struggle to “get” this record and dismiss it for what it isn’t. But as someone who absolutely adores this magnificent Belfast band, it is fair to say that it is a massive music highlight of the year. The songs make you feel like you’re in dark pub watching characters go about their business as you tuck into a stale bag of crisps. This is a record to listen to as you let the day pass you by. It’s a record to vent your frustrations out to. Sometimes I struggle with writing about music because the words don’t seem to want to come out, but Arms Around A Vision has triggered something.

What I love about Girls Names is their poetic and industrial atmosphere in their music. It feels like a grey day, for some that’s an insult but it’s so far from that. It is one of those records that you have to listen to when it is either night-time or the sky is a menacing grey. It’s the kind of record that sounds mighty fine now as it would in the 70s/80s. It’s got the guts of Punk and twinges of others. It’s like Suicide messed around with The Fall. I’m sure they’ve had every comparison under the sun lobbed at them, but I’m just mentioning bands I love and picking up on possible influences. It’s a hypnotic record from start to finish. Each song follows the other in a careful manner, and this effortlessly brilliant record should be high on everyone’s lists come the end of the year. I don’t like lists, but it’d be in my top 5 easily. It feels like you’ve been gripped by some unknown yet magnetic force. It doesn’t let you go, like a chokehold and as you gasp for air you start to struggle less and fall under the spell of Girls Names. Stunning.

I’ve been listening to Arms Around A Vision most evenings for the past week, and I’m trying to pick a song out as my favourite. It’s impossible. Each song fits perfectly into the other, creating something quite poetic in the mind. It has this haunting feeling of The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds. That’s a record I’ve used a reference for so many. What I mean is, if a record or song moves me in the same way that Seventeen Seconds does, then I know I’ve found something I’ll be listening to for a long long time. Girls Names have easily created something influential with this record. They make you want to make your own noise, on your own terms. The dark and eerie atmosphere on this record is heavenly and it is quite easy to shut everything off around you and just play this over and over. Lose your mind over this record.

UK tour starts next week:

15/10 – Liverpool – The Shipping Forecast
16/10 – Leeds – Beacons Festival Headrow House
17/10 – Leicester – The Musician Pub
18/10 – Bristol – START THE BUS
19/10 – London – The 100 Club
21/10 – Brighton – The Hope & Ruin

Followed by European dates. If I had the £££ I’d LOVE to see them in Brussels. I adore Brussels and I’m pretty sure they are a band that would sound perfect there.

Arms Around A Vision is out now. Buy it.

COKE WEED-Mary Weaver.

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Everyone has their own take on what makes a band great or what makes a band mean the world to them. I enjoy hearing why someone loves a band or a song. I’d rather discuss the ins and outs of a song with someone than hear about their political stance. It’s too personal and it can make people turn into arseholes.

Mary Weaver has a David Bowie feel to it. By that, I mean a lot of songs sound like Let’s Dance. I’ve never been into Bowie, but I can appreciate certain songs. Does that mean I hate this record? Not at all. If I hated it, I wouldn’t write about it. Coke Weed not only have a brilliant name that provides questionable search results, but they’re so underrated it hurts. Their sound is part elegant, part rebellion. They have this way of transporting you to and from where you are, and making you feel as if you are anywhere but where you are. Mary Weaver is made up of laid-back grooves mixed with blissed-out vocals. Everything about Mary Weaver feels like a summertime road trip. It’s still a bit warm here in London, I guess that means the world is going to end soon. The seasons are fucked up. Run to the hills, hide underground. I don’t know.

If I could dissect every song and tell you about them, I would. I used to do that. I know. Sorry, but I don’t want to bore you anymore than I have. I’m always looking for bands that sound a bit like The Cramps or Fugazi with a bit of Captain Beefheart. I basically want unlistenable noise. Coke Weed are nothing like that. They are the calmer part of my brain that loves the likes of Beach House etc. Where does Mary Weaver leave us? Is it the best thing Coke Weed have done? I don’t want to be that person and be utterly lazy, but it truly is their best record to date. Next one, and I’ll probably say the same. The thing is, when a band improves each time it isn’t a band thing. Prime example, I love The Kills and Crocodiles and they are two bands that ALWAYS sound better with each record. Every record sounds different, and that’s part of the charm. I don’t want to keep hearing the same sound. I hate routine and order, so for the bands I’m into to always sound different, that’s something I can really get behind. It makes them believable, you can sense the passion and the love for what they are doing.

Coke Weed have made a truly exceptional record here, and for me The Chill is my personal favourite. It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve heard all year. I love All The Shades and the depth of the lyrics. The record requires a lot of attention, but only with the second listen or so. First listen is all about falling in love with it. It’s an instant love. Then it becomes clear with the lyrics and how they are sung that this is a record with high importance. New Jive is one of the many key moments of the record. It’s the rebel of the record. For the most part Mary Weaver is a laid back work of art, but New Jive has this feel to it that The Stooges would be into. You can hear many influences in the record, and I can hear bands I love flowing in and out of certain songs. They’ve done it in an excellent way, and some bands are clear rip-offs of what has come before, but with Coke Weed it is subtle influences, and it just sounds so perfect.

If you want, you can sit back and dream away to this record. You can play it sky high and turn your neighbours onto it. The last 3 tracks on the record are again moments that stick out. For the most part you can listen to this record in any order, but the last 3 have to be played in order. You’ll know when you’ve heard it, trust me. It will sound out of place if you play them in a different order. I know I said I hated order and routine, but this is okay.

Mary Weaver is out on Friday, and you can stream it over the next few days here:

http://www.self-titledmag.com/2015/10/06/stream-coke-weeds-new-album-and-read-the-stories-behind-their-art-rock-songs/

FLESH RAG.

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I got paid on Monday, so I decided to treat myself to a new record. I didn’t know what I wanted to buy, but I was going to buy something anyway. I went to All Ages Records in Camden. It’s my new favourite place in London. The bus from work stops right by it, so obviously it was fate. Sometimes in record stores the staff can be proper grumpy and a bit pretentious. This isn’t the case with All Ages. The guy who works there was one of the loveliest chaps I’ve ever met. Totally nuts about music and played a record at the wrong speed. My kind of person. Ever played Sex Pistols slowed down? I have. Sometimes by accident, other times because I’m easily amused. Another customer comes in, and by this stage I have a record in my hand. Suddenly, he plays something. I’ve convinced myself it’s Dead Boys. It isn’t. I’m told the other guy is after the record and there’s only one in the shop. A lunchtime brawl in Camden? I’ve not eaten so I’m unsure of the challenge. I’m a friendly Northerner, so I accept defeat without saying anything. Turns out, the guy was after something else and I end up with the record (a badge and a zine. I know how to live!)

Flesh Rag are brilliantly named and are as mental as they sound. They’re on the same level as Dead Boys. For snotty, obnoxious brats who don’t give a toss what you think. They’re loud and they are coming to deafen you. The louder you play them, the better. And if you can crank it up louder, then make sure you do it. You want this shaking the walls and scaring your neighbours. Again I reckon these guys are a band that you need to see live to really appreciate the music. They’ve got a proper Punk feel to them. It doesn’t feel forced or anything like that. It’s a genuine sound that needs to be heard. They aren’t for everyone. I’m pretty sure if I played them to certain people they’d think I was a bit mental, but I live in hope that there’s someone out there who digs this. I’m 100% sure my uncle would love this band. He got me into Punk, he’s to blame for my many music based obsessions.

Flesh Rage are the band that Lester Bangs would piss himself with excitement over. The kind of band The Stooges would have taken on tour and left a trail of destruction and mayhem. It’s chaotic bliss that leaves you feeling bruised all over. I feel like that anyway because I’ve got some cold/flu thing going on. Night Nurse is a lifesaver. I’ve had excellent sleep by taking this recently due to feeling ill. When I wake up I have no idea where I am (no more than usual.)

Each song feels like a glorious punch to the face. You feel as if someone is launching punches at you, and you just take it because, what else is there to do? These three guys are ferocious beats and are out for blood and guts. They’ll make you squirm- as if you can’t take the thrashing, but the thing is, these guys are making some of the rawest music around. You’ve heard Flowers Of Evil, right? You’ve heard Young Boys, right? On that level but a little more aggressive. Loud, powerful and a brutal attack on your general being.

The growling in the vocals, the rage in the drums, the electric shock in the guitar and the boldness of the bass are incredible, and they leave you wishing you could make noise like this. There’s nothing stopping you,

The songs don’t really last longer than 3 and a half minutes, so all you can do is keep it on repeat. Take what you can from the music. Invest in this band. They’re bloody great and someone needs to bring them to the UK. Urgently. Many great things have come from Canada, but Flesh Rag are probably the best band to come from there in a long, long time. They don’t hold back and they gnaw at your skin like a rabid dog.

2:54-South.

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As I sit in bed feeling sorry for myself as I’m ill, I thought I’d write about a song that I’ve pretty much had on repeat for a year, nearly. It is also to make up for the fact I’ve lost my dictaphone with my 2:54 interview on. If I can’t find it within a week, I’ll just be massively disappointed in myself. Useless. In my defense, I have moved house so it could be anywhere.

South by 2:54 is my favourite song by them. I thought I always had a firm favourite (Got A Hold) but it turns out, I was wrong. I guess lyrically I’d probably call Blindfold because the lyrics are easy to relate to. But for me, South is a song that feels like a hug from the person you adore the most. It feels like you’re being wrapped around something reassuring and comforting. The lyrics are quite sad, and I think last year I probably said the line “Got nowhere to put misshapen love” was the best I’d heard. You can take your over the top and complex prose, but I’d rather settle for a lyric like that. The simplicity of it can break your heart or make you feel like you’ve been finally healed. I love the uncertainty in the line, “Am I doing it wrong? Am I doing it right?” It’s such a simple line but the way in which it is sung that just gets you right in the heart.

I’ve tried to fathom what I love the most about the song. Is it Colette’s voice? Is it Hannah’s guitar or the way Alex makes the drums feel like a soothing wave hitting you? Is it the lyrics? It’s all and more, I can’t pick just one reason. The intro feels like rain hitting a window, but the drums come in and it feels like waves crashing around you. Something I’ve always adored about 2:54 is, you know the cover to their first record? Well, what I love that from their music I always feel like I am in that place. I feel like I am stood watching waves hit the rocks in the freezing cold with nothing surrounding me. Lost and found at the same time.

I’ve always felt 2:54 a band to listen to with nobody else around and at night. Turns out I was wrong because I can listen to them anytime, anywhere. But the ideal setting for them is late at night when all is dark and still. They create something eerie in your mind, and I think it is partly to do with Colette’s voice. I honestly think 2:54 are terribly underrated, but that’s a different matter entirely. Colette has this power in her voice that is found in the likes of Patti and Shirley Manson. She can make her voice sound gentle (Tender Shoots) or she can add something quite ferocious to it (Sugar.) I don’t know of anyone else who can do that. I don’t think they realise how great they are.

South is the perfect song to have on repeat as you go for a long walk. Just wandering around trying to clear your head or to just be alone for a while.Maybe I carry for too many feelings, but I think South is so special to me because it feels like an outlet. I don’t know what their meaning behind the song is or what place they were in when they wrote it, but I know where it takes me and how it makes me feel. You can listen to this on a crisp autumn evening as the sun sinks down or on a misty morning when you feel as if you’re the only person left; it can be purely self-indulgent or a journey of discovery. I’d always aim for the latter but, whatever gets you through.

At times I have felt that 2:54’s music is a reflection/stepping outside of the self to look in. Maybe I’m going too deep with this, but songs like South hit you in the gut and stir everything inside. In some parts of the song, Colette’s voice sounds quite woeful and I think this stands out towards the end where it is just her voice, then the guitar comes back in. I guess that’s probably why I feel a lot towards this song.

In their live shows this is definitely a highlight for me. I love songs that last over 5 minutes, and South slowly creeps in. There are other glorious moments in their live sets, but as I’ve only seen them tour The Other I (I was living on the Isle of Man during the start of their career so I was a distant fan, I suppose) I can only use this as reference. That said, the jam at the end of Creeping is mind-blowing. They are a band that I would urge anyone to go see. I don’t think they realise how great they are, and I don’t think Hannah is fully aware of how brilliant a guitarist she is. She towers over most, she makes it look effortless but you know a lot is going on. South is a song that shows us what 2:54 are about. The lyrics are dark and brooding at times, the music is complex and takes you someplace and the vocals ease you. They ease you into the unknown, and that’s what I love about 2:54. They take you gently into the unknown and everything around you just falls away.

I don’t know what anyone else thinks about South but for me it just evokes a sense of freedom. When love is misshapen, what do you do? The sensible answer is to probably walk away from it. There’s a handful of songs I play when things just seem a bit too much for my head to take in, and South is one of those that ease this uncertainty. South like I’ve mentioned feels like you’ve found a source of comfort and maybe it is all down to the vocals, maybe. But go deeper into it and every element of the song is a wealth of reassurance. It is one of the rare moments where the drums don’t make you feel as if you’re being smacked in the face. The drums on South make you feel as if you’re gliding in the sky like a bird, heading South.

I’ve a million and one other things I could say about the song, and maybe I’ll re-read this and disagree with what I’ve written, but it’s a song I’m hugely in love with and grateful for.

PEACE AND LOVE BARBERSHOP MUHAMMAD ALI/PINS. Oslo,Hackney. 23rd September 2015.

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For the sixth time last night I saw Pins, of course they get better each time but let’s talk about the support act first because they were nothing short of brilliant.

Peace And Love Barbershop Muhammad Ali (named after a shop in Manchester, I advise you to go in) are fronted by Mark who is also in Brown Brogues. PALBMA are just as loud as Brown Brogues which I am really happy about. I’ve written about the band before, but to write about their live set is a different experience. So the term “cool” is fucking redundant and is always lame to call someone that, but these guys are cool. They’ve got something about them that just makes you want to listen to them non stop. I’ve always got wandering eyes but during their set all I could do was stare and take in how great they are. If their bassist Kim doesn’t leave you wishing you were as effortlessly cool as her or wish you could play bass, then go get your head checked.  It’s only up for another 3 weeks, but you can listen to their Marc Riley set here:
Mark holds the guitar in a charming mad man kind of way, as if he’s got a machine gun and you’re not going to see tomorrow. He reminds me of Jamie Hince with how he makes his guitar sound like a weapon. This is the kind of stuff kids and adults should be indulging in. If someone can get this band back down to London soon, please do it. THe crowd seemed to love them, and it was just really refreshing to see a band so loud and wonderful have the same hook on you as the main band. Manchester is evidently the home of excellent music, and these guys are easily one of the best Manc bands around. But hey, let’s not limit ourselves- they are one of the most exciting bands around and their recent set on Marc Riley’s show justifies this. Charming buggers with songs to make you deaf. I love them. I’d happily write a thousand and more words about why I love them and why they are a bloody brutal and excellent band, but you can discover that in your own time. Just don’t dilly dally you know.
And now to PINS.
Opening with Baby Bhangs, it is fairly obvious that with only 2 full length records to their name that they ooze the confidence that most bands well into their career can’t muster. It is always a delight watching PINS live because they make you feel like you’ve joined a gang. A lovely gang. For me I just love how Lois sings every word to the crowd as if she’s a fan, she makes you sing a little louder. And yes, my throat is sore today. They brought Say To Me out last night which for me was the highlight. I’ve always had a thing for that song, and to see it live was a proper treat. The little jam at the end of Dazed By You could move the most rigid, and it’s again enough to make someone want to start a band. My only gripe about the gig is the amount of guys at the front who are old enough to be their dads who think it is okay to take photos and zoom in on the bands legs. Why would you do that? We can see you, assclown.
Of course during Girls Like Us causes a stage invasion. Faith reaches out to a guy in the crowd who she handed a balloon to earlier and brings him on stage closely followed by others. The delicate way in which she reaches out and brings people on stage is like watching a timid cat slowly let you get near them. This band has exactly what it takes to be a huge influential role in music and after seeing them last nights, I reckon they’re super close to doing just that. The show felt like a massive party with Girls Just Wanna Have Fun fused into Girls Like Us and their take on Hybrid Moments by Misfits. I just didn’t want it to end.
They really do get better with each show I’ve been to, and London crowds seem to idolise them. Maybe they also realise that the North is far superior in all ways. I think what makes PINS shows so enjoyable is that they obviously love being on stage, and their songs just sound bigger and better when played to an adoring crowd. Got It Bad is one of Wilds Nights slower moments, but Sophie beats the shit out of the drums on stage which takes the song some place else. It’s a gorgeous declaration of love much like Dazed By You.
By rights they should be playing bigger venues, the songs are powerful enough as are they. I’ve seen them support and I’ve seen them headline, and each set is louder and braver than the last. The confidence in all of them is really great to see. They’ve got a solid sound on Wild Nights (they did on Girls Like Us also) but they’re obviously a band that aren’t going to make the same record over and over, and I think that’s why people are into them. You can see exactly why they’re on Bella Union. No other label would be good enough.

LAME.

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In my biased opinion, many great things have come from Italy. However, the music from there is something I’ve always had slight reservations about. There’s more to Italian music than Litfiba (they were kind of good so it’s okay.) I can only apologise for Eiffel 65. I’m so sorry. Italy has more to offer than that.

LAME come from the same beautiful city as my stepdad. Torino is one of the best cities in the world, and is also home to LAME.

LAME make a lot of noise, and their most recent release The Lame Shall Enter First is probably one of the year’s most underrated records. I don’t even know how many people have heard it or are even into this band, but the record is an angry piece of work that cannot be played quietly and privately. I’m writing it whilst listening through headphones but I know the ideal setting for it is to be played so loud until the walls shake and pictures and mirrors fall down. It’s effortlessly brutal. Cold Night feels like a maniac losing their mind late at night, when they probably should be asleep.

Known for the bluesy but Punk sound, they don’t fail to live up to that notion. Half the time you feel like smashing shit up whilst listening to the record, the other half you just want to sit with a bottle of something and watch the weary world go by. Like most bands I’ve written about, and write about, LAME are a mixture of strange and wonderful kinds of genres and noises into one and end up creating something really weird and passionately brilliant. I always want to listen to something that makes me want to start a band, even though I never will (too old and I have no musical talent) but if it can leave me feeling this way then surely it can cause some lost teen in the depths of Cleethorpes to pick up an instrument and make some noise of their own. That’s all any of us can hope for.

Another thing I love about LAME is that they feel like you’ve invaded a nightmare. You’re looking in and LAME are providing this menacing and eerie soundtrack. You want to be part of it somehow- so you start feeling as if you’re being chased through some creepy forest with some local loon close behind you muttering delirious words, brushing branches out of their face to grab a closer look at you, and to probably grab you. You’d run a lot faster with LAME blasting in the background. This feeling of being lost in the wilderness could drive anyone a bit nuts, but LAME are the perfect soundtrack to losing your marbles slightly.

Sounding like a band possessed by something greater than any of us could imagine, LAME are just a rowdy lot with something brilliantly sinister in their music. Much like Bikes who I wrote about last night, they make you want to leave where you are and go explore somewhere new.

You can listen to their recent record here: https://aliensnatch.bandcamp.com/album/lame-the-lame-shall-enter-first

As far as first LPs go, this one is nothing short of excellent, and it leaves you wanting more and more from them. Favourite new band.

Play it as soon as it gets dark, unless you’ve got a weird imagination like mine- if so, sitting at your desk on your lunch break whilst listening to something weird like this will probably give you equally mental images in your head.

FORZA LAME!

BRAIN TRAPS.

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Sometimes you’ve just got listen to music that shatters your brain and makes you feel as if someone is stood up in your face screaming muffled words at you. More often than not, this is pretty much what I listen to and I guess it’ll cause my hearing to be questionable in later life.

Brain Traps are a mighty fan band from Cologne. I’ve never been to Cologne, but I’m going to assume it’s a nice place. Does all the music sound like that there? I sincerely hope it does. Brain Traps are great for many reasons, and for me I just love the way they make you feel as if someone has grabbed you by the head and is shaking you repeatedly. There’s no venom just pure fury, and I love this kind of music. It doesn’t make you feel loved, it makes you feel as if you’ve gone a few rounds with a heavyweight boxer and lost spectacularly.

Their fuzzy sound with hints of reverb will speak to those who are clinging .onto something as great as Psychocandy and the likes. This is different, and is a different wave of heavy. I’ve said it about many bands before that I’ve written about, but Brain Traps are the kind of band I’d want to sound like. They are noisy fuckers who are the ideal band to play one of those dodgy basement venues that have next to no lighting and make you sweat buckets before you get in the venue.

I have no idea what kind of comparisons have been thrown at Brain Traps, and I really can’t think of any (I’m not that lazy) but they just merge all the kinds of music I love into one and make their own kind of noise. The kind of noise that your parents wouldn’t really approve of, but would probably listen when no one is around. Ah man, life is too short to act like you don’t want a bit of rowdy music in your life.

Brain Traps do sound like a bunch of naughty school kids who have snuck into the music room at school and have gone a bit mental. There’s a fair deal of experimenting in their music, and in all its chaotic glory- it works. It’s loud in all the right places and is the right side of confrontational.

Their songs are really short but as proven by the likes of Ramones and Girl Tears, you don’t need to do a 10 minute symphony to get your point across. Brain Traps are an excellent band who will make the most uncomfortable and awkward person feel alright in their own skin. They unleash what you can’t, and they do it in a way you wish you could. They’re just perfect for any mood, and I really hope they play in the UK soon because I get the impression that their live shows are what really makes them. Some bands just come alive during their shows, and I reckon that Brain Traps are one of those bands. The kind that leave you smelling of everyone’s drinks and sweat after the show because you got a bit carried away and threw your body around with everybody else in the venue.

The kids are alright, they’ve got Brain Traps.

Listen and purchase: https://braintraps.bandcamp.com/

BIKES.

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Berlin heartthrobes Bikes are brilliant. They are a proper rowdy and obnoxious band. Their sound is part Iggy and The Stooges and part drunken street brawl. The songs are awfully short (like myself) but don’t let that be a deterrent. They’re one of the finest bands doing this kind of music. What kind of music is it? Oh it’s just noise to the outsider, but anyone else would realise very quickly that it’s a stroke of potential genius. The G word is lobbed around too often, so I’ll say it is potentially genius, but in my heart I know it has already reached that point.

When I find a band like Bikes I feel like I’ve won the lottery. However if you saw my bank statement you would probably think I’ve been a victim of fraud. Truth is, I’m shite with money. I found a new record store to venture in next week when I get paid, but today on my lunchbreak all I could do was lustfully look at it as I walked past. It didn’t help that my uncle (he’s on holiday in Canada) sent me a photo of two records he bought today (The Cramps and Fucked Up.) My time will come next week on pay day.

Money woes aside, Bikes are the kind of band you go to when you’re broke,bored and unsure. They’re the right kind of loud and they just make you want to pack up your stuff, and escape to Berlin. As you make your escape, you decide that Bikes are going to be your soundtrack and you throw yourself into their scene. Bruised and sore, covered in various shades of booze and sweat. They are the epitome of a good time for those who want to throw themselves into the unknown. Their sound is a mixture of weirdness, Punk and Garage Rock. All the typical things that I adore rolled into one to make this incredible sound.

They’ve been going for quite some time now, and I’m foolishly only just now discovering them. I first heard them about half an hour ago, and I knew I had to try write something about them, even if it makes no sense. I’ve never planned any form of writing, and I’m fairly sure it shows. Bikes are the tyrants that are coming to save you. Their menacing and infectious sounds can pull anyone through the worst day of them and are just a real joy to the ears, and soul.

You can do a whole bunch of nothing to this band or you can go on a journey of self-discovery, regardless of your mood and general state of being, Bikes are a band to really get behind and play as loud as you can stand. They’ve got a song called Ocean Penis, that’s pretty great.

All you snotty nosed brats and restless adults, let Bikes be your soundtrack.

Get the tunes here:

https://bikeshateberlin.bandcamp.com