Interview: Nick Wheeler (The All-American Rejects)

Originally published 31/05/10 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

Fresh from an impromptu vaction, (the result of lead singer Tyson Ritter's unexpected leg infection), and raring to get back on the road, we join The All-American Rejects' lead guitarist Nick Wheeler, on the second stop in their sold-out U.K tour, to talk about travelling, Timberland, and tattoos.

How are you guys doing?

“Ok, just had a very large Indian meal, from urm, Al Babi? ‘A-l-b-a-b-i’ or something like that, I can’t pronounce it but it was very delicious.”

Good, that’s a good start to the show.
“Yeh, well we’ll see if I can keep it down.”

Have you guys been travelling much?
“Yeh, well we just had a couple weeks off, which is the most we’ve had off in the year that we’ve been touring on this record, last night in London was the first show back out, it was really fun, a little bit of remembering how to play parts, two weeks can take its toll, but we had a lot of fun last night, and this venue is always great" (Manchester Academy), "We haven’t been here since they re-modelled it but we did a sound check earlier and it sounded great, felt great, so we’re excited.”

When did you get into Manchester then?
“I woke up and we were on this bus", (He laughs), "it was about 2.15 and yeh, pretty much went right into sound check.”

Fair enough! So you haven’t done that much sightseeing?
“No, I mean we had the curry earlier but that’s about it.”

So how did you spend your two weeks off?
“We went to Florida, Tyson and I have a place there, we hung out, watched a bunch of movies, it was cool.”

Just relaxing?
“Well we’re so busy on the road; people say "what do you do when you’re not doing this?" you know what I do? I do NOTHING, absolutely nothing!" (He laughs).

Well I bet it makes a nice change from everything being so hectic?
“Yeh, the other half was in LA, kind of spread-out all over the place, but it was good, then I think we all got a little stir crazy, and had to get back out here”

(Tyson Ritter, the band’s lead singer enters in fancy dress)

Nick: “Is it headdress night tonight?”

Tyson: “yeh I think i’m gunna go full-on native.”

Nick: “Halloween is all-month long by the way, you know like ‘birthday week?, it’s your birthday all week long? Well Halloween is a month-long deal.”

Do you do a different outfit every night?

Nick: “Last night he was a ...”

Tyson: “Jailbird.”

Nick: “Jailbird, yeh, in the old-style, black and white striped stuff.”

So, you guys formed when you were still in high school, and got signed up pretty quickly, how did that kind of over-night fame affect you?
“Well I guess it seems over-night but we definitely put in some time, we were in a van playing birthday parties for quite a while, it’s been baby steps with this band. The first record made a little bit of noise, we got to come over here for the first time, with the second record we went a lot more places, sold more records, and the third record we got a number one song, Gives You Hell, that’s the first time that’s ever happened, but there’s still a lot more things to do, so baby steps. We’ll get there, but to us it doesn’t seem over-night, it’s been ten years now.” (He laughs).

No I guess not then, in those ten years you’ve done a lot of travelling, a lot of touring, have you had a favourite tour?
“Favourite tour, we were talking about this last night on the bus, about this tour that we did through South Asia, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, really South Asia, you get it. Then we went over to Australia and it was a really fun tour, and wonderful to look back on that, on this album cycle. Then again, it’s only day two on this one, there’s potential for this to take over but we’ll see”

You’ve got a huge fan base, people are already queuing up out there to get in, some of them have even made posters, have you had any particularly spectacular run-ins with fans?
“There has to be one more recently, we have a couple of classic ‘creepy fan’ stories, but I’m trying to think of something more recent” (Calls to Tyson), “Hey what’s the fan story we decided we were going to start telling?”

Tyson: “I forgot.”

Nick: “Urm, we did have a new one though, I forgot what it is”

Tyson: “it was a good one too”

Nick: “well y’no, there’s some crazies, but there’s also some - ah ok, here you go, last week there was this bunch of kids on Twitter, and there was this one kid who was sending me pictures of tattoos they’d gotten with our lyrics on it, or pictures; there was one Straightjacket Feeling, there were several with Move Along, and I just re-tweet them, sent them back out like ‘here everybody check this out, fucking bad-ass’ and that was really cool, that’s not crazy, that’s devotion to a band and to music. That’s something that’s way bigger than any of us individually, that’s us together impacting a person enough to put something permanent on their body, that’s wild.”

You said you had your first studio album out last year, do you think your style has changed at all?
“We’ve never been a band that’s set out to try and make any type of music, we’ve never tried to fit into a scene, we just do what we want to do, write songs that we have fun playing, we’re not trying to put anything on, I think it’s just a good, natural progression of the band trying to find it’s place, and just have fun doing it. We’ve played around with a lot of things this time, y’no, third record, on a major label and we sold three million records before this so we had a nice budget and some money to play around with. We got to bring in like a full-on orchestra, we got to bring in a choir and go up to Skywalker Ranch, where George Lucas has all his movies scored, and we used the biggest live room in North America, to cut the drums for Back to Me, Another Heart Calls, and The Wind Blows, and we got to do the whole thing to tape, which, most records are recorded on computers these days and manipulated, and what not, tape is not only time consuming, but it’s fucking expensive!” (He laughs).

So you’re given more opportunities as you go along. How about your videos? You won an Award for Move Along, do you enjoy making them?
“You know, when we first started doing them, the first one or two videos were exciting because it was all new to us, but then we had to start fitting them in in the middle of tours, and it got really inconvenient, and I personally, hated making them, but then during Move Along, we really started to embrace them, and we felt like we were doing something really special, with Dirty Little Secret and Move Along especially, and now, Gives You Hell, well, people have talked about that for a long time, they’re definitely important and we take pride in them now, it’s still not anything that I would ever do unless it was part of it, I would never want to act or be on a set of any kind, it’s the most boring thing, it’s so much sitting around and waiting, but yeh, the end result is worth it.”

Well Gives You Hell kind of turned into the anti-Valentine’s Day theme, is that something you set out to do or did it just happen?
“No, our band either has great timing, or God-awful timing, and that just happened to be the right song at the right time, or the right video at the right time, and yeh, it’s funny that you say that because we said that before, it came out earlier this year, and was the anti-Valentine’s Day song, and people have said it’s the guy’s version of You Oughta Know” (by Alanis Morissette), “I don’t know, I don’t want to discount the song but a lot of it was good timing.”

Ok, you’ve toured with a lot of bands, are you planning any collaborations in the future?
“Well we just wrote with Rivers” (Cuomo, lead singer) “From Weezer for their new record, it’s not like a ‘featuring’ or a collaboration of anything, it was just something really cool we got to do, and we might do some more stuff like that, We’ve never been the band to go 'oh let’s go do a song with, I don’t know, Timberland’ or whatever, so yeh, nothing on the Horizon.”

Are you working on any new material at the moment?
“We’re just starting to talk about it, this records a monster, we’re still on this ride, it’s hard to find time but we will.”

You’re obviously spending a lot of time on the tour bus right now, what do you do for fun on there?
“Well we got our new tour bus last night, and it’s really nice, I’m excited about it, we spend a lot of time laying about.”

Fair enough, so, any words of advice for wannabe rock stars out there?
“Yeh, being good at guitar hero doesn’t matter, when you rely completely on MySpace and the internet to get your music out, it’s not going to help your band grow; it’s a great tool to gain and expand on your fan-base, but you’ve got to get out there and play music, you’ve got to hone your crafts, there’s so many bands these days that get signed and get so popular so suddenly, that fucking suck and they can’t play!” (Laughs).

Thinking of any bands in particular there?
“Ah, too many to name!”

What can we expect from tonight’s show?
"Tonight’s show? Like I said, last night was a really fun and exciting show for us, and it was a long one too, so you can expect a lot of fucking songs, you can expect a show, you can expect peaks and valleys, and we’ll definitely hold your attention, and we’ll rock your fucking faces off too, by the way.”


The All American Reject's latest album When The World Comes Down, released on Doghouse, 16th December 2008, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=761427

Interview: Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio)

Originally published 26/05/10 on http://www.rookifm.blogspot.com/

Alkaline Trio's frontman Matt Skiba takes a breather before their show in Manchester to discuss inspiration, drugs, Twitter, and up-coming solo project, Demos.

Hey, how’s the tour going?
“It’s good, everything’s good, we’re having fun we started four weeks ago, so we’ve been out here for a little bit.”

This is quite a long one isn’t it, lot’s of dates in the UK and the US. What’s touring like for you guys?
“It’s good! I mean the shows are really good, sometimes we’re in really cool cities, like today. We pretty much like everywhere in Europe but we’ve been in some smaller towns, which is cool but it can be a little slow.”

Have you managed to do much sight-seeing around here yet?
“Yeh, we were here all day yesterday so we went out and had some drinks last night.”

Is it difficult, touring for this long, being away from your friends and family?
“Well I’m with most of my friends right now, my best friends are my band mates and our crew, but yeh, I mean it’s hard to be away from my girlfriend, but I just miss her, it’s not like we’re at war or something, so y’no it’s not that bad!”

Right, your new album, This Addiction, has been really well received, some fans are saying it’s a "return to your roots" is that something you set out to do?
“Not really, just the way that we wrote the record, and we recorded it with the guy that did our first couple of records, so we did that on purpose but we didn’t set out to remake our first record or anything. There were elements of our early records that I think contributed to the way that it sounds, but it wasn’t altogether on purpose.”

Ok, what was the concept, the inspiration behind the album? There seem to be quite a few reoccurring themes; addiction, love?
“Well luckily none of us are heavy-duty drug addicts or anything, but it’s more of a metaphor for love, mostly like lost love, so the addiction theme or the drug references are not necessarily,well, it’s a metaphor. There’s definitely a few different subjects that inspired the record; the loss of a loved one; we had a really good friend pass away while we were writing the record, and a couple of us had some personal issues in our private lives that definitely influenced them at the time.”

So your work really comes from personal experience then?
“Urm, yep.”

You recently left Epic Records to form your own label, what’s that process been like?
“It’s been pretty easy for us, I mean we started the label with Epitaph, but since we’re out on tour we haven’t really done as much work as far as the label’s concerned, we just haven’t had a chance to, so we’ve just been focusing on the touring aspect and then hopefully we’ll start signing other bands, and that’s when we’ll probably get busier.”

Why did you decide to start your own label? I know it’s something a lot of bands are doing at the moment.
“Well it’s something that we’ve wanted to do, we didn’t know that we were going to be partnering up with Epitaph, and I mean we’ve worked with them in the past, so we always want to work with people that we trust and like, and Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion guitarist and owner of Epitaph) is a good friend of ours and he’s a fan, so we were talking to some companies that were going to help us start the label and they were people that we’ve never really met before and then Brad came along and asked if we want to do a label together rather than us doing our own thing completely, which is something we can’t really do; we don’t have the staff, we would have to hire people, so Epitaph basically made it possible for us to tour full time and still release, well kind of release our own records. Epitaph’s doing most of the work.”

Well they actually used Facebook and Twitter to promote your new single, do you think the social networking aspect of publicity is useful now?
“I think so, I don’t really do any of that stuff”

So you’re not a ‘Twitterer’?
“I am, I mean we have a Twitter account and it’s fun but yeh, I don’t sit there and follow it like some people do.”

How do you guys come up with your songs?
“They just kind of feel like they write themselves, y’no, you’re usually just sitting down with a guitar and something’ll come out of it.”

Is it a group process then or do you do it individually?
“We do it individually initially, and then bring the ideas together and then we make it sound like 'Trio together.”

Ok. So you’ve got a solo project, Demos?
“'Demos'? Yeh, there’s a Demos record coming out and that’s exactly what it is, it’s just demos of some Alkaline Trio songs and just some ideas that I had floating around that I recorded on my laptop, so it’s pretty lo-fi recording, I did it all myself so it doesn’t sound that great but I think it’s fun.”

So is it along the same lines as the Alkaline Trio sound?
“Not really, it’s a lot more low-fi, there’s some electronics stuff on there and it’s way more stripped down.”

What do you do in your spare time, if you get any?
“On the road? I read quite a bit, right now I’m watching a thing about Navy Seals, so I watch a lot of Military Channel and History Channel, and I read quite a bit, try to do push-ups" (He laughs).

If you weren’t in Trio what do you think you’d be doing for a job?
“Uh I’d probably be in design, I went to school for design, but then the band got busy and I put that on hold, but it’s still something that, I still paint, I still like doing art stuff so I’d probably be in graphic design.”

Do you have quite a heavy hand in your album covers and stuff like that then?
“Yeh, I don’t physically put it together but it usually comes from an idea that one of us has, usually it’s me, I just love doing artwork and stuff like that with the exception of This Addiction, that record was hard, it took us forever to find cover art, I had no idea what should be on the cover so this last record I didn’t have as much input, but we were lucky that it looked really good the first time around.”

Is it the same case with your videos?
“Yeh, we usually have an idea given to us, directors will send in video, they call then ‘treatments’, like scripts, and usually we’ll take like a basic idea of someone’s video and re-write it to fit us a little bit more. I’ve written our last couple of videos and given them to a director and then they embellish on it and make it kind of more cohesive.”

Ok, cool. So what can your fans expect from your live shows?
“We usually try and switch-up the set, we play different songs, but there’s not a whole lot of urm, we just go up there and play our songs and a lot of time we have a good laugh up there, we don’t have any crazy pyrotechnics in the show, we haven’t had to coax the crowd into singing certain parts or whatever, there’s just certain things that have happened over the course of time that now have become staples in the show, people sing and stuff like that so, really what we want to do is show the crowd as good a time as we’re having, we want everyone that comes out to have as much fun as we are.”

Well you’ve got a huge following, have you had any incidents with your fans?
“Nothing too crazy, I mean I’ve had some friends of mine deal with some pretty weird shit but I, personally, never have and I’m thankful for that. Usually our fans are really cool and really nice and we’re all kind of similar kind of people so we’ve been lucky.”

Ok, last words I guess, do you have any advice for young bands out there?
“You know it’s weird now to start a band, it’s so different to when I started this band, with the internet and with everything , I think, if anything, a new band could probably tell me how to do it! Back when we started this thing we were sending out demo tapes and cassette tapes, so a lot has changed since we started, now I don’t know that I could give anyone advice other than you should play music with people that you like and you’ll be together for a very long time.”

Alkaline Trio's new album This Addiction, released February 23rd 2010, on Heart & Skull, is available from online stores:  http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=227080

Interview: Barry Hyde (The Futureheads)

Originally published 4/05/10 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

The Futureheads’ frontman Barry Hyde takes ten minutes out of their sell-out UK tour to chat about cannibalism, coffins, and new album The Chaos.

So, how’s your tour going?
"Great, this is the sixth date on the tour, and all the gigs have been great, it’s been a couple of years since we’ve been out on the road, this is the first proper, get on the road and do lots of gigs tour since the last album."

This one’s massive isn’t it? The UK, the US, Canada, Poland, and loads of festivals.
"Yes, they keep coming in, it’s great, we’re really excited about going to America for the first time in four years, we’ve got a new record deal out there so you never know really, but that’s the place to tour, it’s real touring, the romantic version of it."

Do you get sick of being on the tour bus all the time?
"I get more sick of being on a tour bus than staying in hotels, because, the thing about being on a tour bus is you’ve got your little pit, which is like a coffin! That’s your bunk, and personal space is very minimal on a bus. For this tour, we’re doing it in a split of van and staying in hotels, you can do that in the UK a lot easier, the drives are relatively short so you don’t need to drive through the night, but then again, certain tours are logistically impossible in a ‘splitter’ because if you’ve got to get from Amsterdam to Paris, you’ve got to have someone driving through the night."

Your new album, The Chaos, came out last week, would you say it’s different from your others?
"Yeh it came out, a week today, it’s different in that it’s got different songs on it" (he laughs) "but obviously it’s made by the same people, so, it’s not so different that it wouldn’t be recognisable, but it’s not so similar that it would be boring."

Ok, that’s a good mix! You guys set up your own music label didn’t you, have you found it easier?
"Yeh there’s fewer people involved, and that is only going to make it easier, because it concentrates the energy and the ambition of the group. It was very liberating, to get out of our record deal with a major label, which, to be honest, was never really where we belonged. We’re kind of a bit too DIY punk, to be ever really be considered to be a pop band, but a little bit too melodic to be considered to be a DIY punk band, so we’re in this funny area and that’s why we ended up not really knowing where to go, we just got offered a deal and took it. But signing up Nul Records (the band’s label) has been fantastic, because our original intention was to do that, but we got carried away, we got given an opportunity to go on an incredible adventure, and tour the world, and play on Top of the Pops and stuff like that, so we just took it, we were teenagers. But we’re happy to have done that, we’re not regretful of anything because we’ve come full circle, this is our tenth year together, and we’re still going strong, we have a good fan base who want to see us play, and yeh, it’s good."

Actually i’ve noticed that you do quite a lot for your fans; freebies, downloadable tracks etc. is that easier on your own label?
"Yeh, i think it is, then again, it’s hard to know, because we left Warners in 2006 and a lot has changed, so who knows, by now we could have been having the same experience, they could have been as tuned-in as we are now but I don’t imagine that would be the case" (laughs).

What’s your favourite song?
"At the minute, it’s probably Jupiter, which is the last song on the new album, it’s our most, ‘epic’ song, it’s four and a half minutes, which is very long for us, our first gig was only seven minutes, so it’s like almost a whole gig!".

Have you had any ‘crazy fan’ experiences when you’ve been on tour? You know, people throwing their underwear at you?
(He Laughs) "We’ve had a bit of that over the years, but what really freaks me out is when we’ll turn up at a gig in, I dunno, Nottingham, and there’ll be two Japanese fans that’ve flown over and they’ll just be at every gig, it’s crazy, because it’s very far, and very expensive to do that, and their tour has probably cost more than ours because we’re not paying for flights from bloody Asia!"

I suppose it’s flattering though?
"Oh it’s amazing, but you don’t really know what to do, you feel like you should invite them in, you know, "do you want to come and stay in our hotel?", you feel so obligated to show your appreciation that it actually becomes slightly awkward."

Yeh, and it’s probably not the safest thing to invite strangers to stay with you.
"Well little Japanese girls, they’re never any bother" (laughs) "they’re very polite and nice."

You’ve toured with a lot of bands, which tour have you enjoyed most?
"Well the Pixies are the one that kind of blows my mind the most, I guess out of all the bands that we’ve had the honour to play with it would be them, but then again maybe supporting Oasis at Hamden Park, because me and our Dave (younger brother and the band’s drummer) were originally in an Oasis covers band when we were teenagers, so that was kind of odd, watching them do songs that we used to play in mum and dad’s dining room on a Sunday morning, it was great, but all the bands; Foo Fighters, Pixies, Pearl Jam, they’re all (he pauses) well it’s all an honour, it’s wonderful."

Wow, I can imagine. Ok you’re on a desert Island; who would survive and who would get eaten?
 "Well, Ross and Jaff are vegetarians, so they’d probably go. Dave will win, Dave would take this opportunity to beat me to death, which I think is something he’s considered many times."

A nice bit of brotherly love there?
"Yeh, that whole brotherly hate thing" (laughs) "no but we wouldn’t need to, we’re clever boys, we could grow something, find some nuts or berries."

Ok, then, last words; sell us your new album.
"Ok, well the real core of this album, the message, is that there’s too much apathy in the world, there’s too much laziness and ignorance, these things are the real enemies of the human race and we contribute to these things by doing nothing. So this album is about empowerment, it’s about independence, and cooperation, and mutual respect. This album came together though us creating that for each other, and that’s what we hope it’ll do to people who really get into it. On the other hand, the album has some very simplistic songs on it that people seem to be responding really well to, so yeh, The Chaos represents what I think is, our natural way of being, and the idea of normality is just insane to me because there’s no such thing as normal, so don’t try and be normal, because when you try and be normal you deny your own individuality, and you become a sheep. What we really need is individuals who care about other individuals, and that’s all you’re about."


The Futureheads' latest album The Chaos, released 26th April 2010 on Nul Records, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=431965

Gig Review: 3OH!3 (7/11/09)

Originally Published 16/11/09 in Student Direct: The Mancunion and 9/11/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

"Maybe if we pose like this they'll forget that we used the F word in that song?"

5 Stars

First to open are Bamboo Shoots, and a playlist of enthusiastic but generic retro, dance-funk. With the highlight of their set being a cover of The Black Eyed Pea's I Got A Feeling and the joker-esque purple skinny jeans and green t-shirt ensemble the lead singer sports, they fail to impress with a vibe that is more dull and forgettable than the chilled-out indie-chic they were obviously aiming for.
 If the first band was disappointing then the second; a DJ set from The Blackout’s front man, Sean Smith, surpasses every expectation you could possibly have for a support act. Heavy, energetic , rock remixes of Sweet Dreams, Living On A Prayer and Smooth Criminal, are sliced with recent tunes from the likes of Lady GaGa, Dizzee Rascal and Katy Perry to create the perfect musical appetiser for this evening’s main course.
 Continuing with the night’s rave theme, 3OH!3 explode on to the stage in a whirlwind of catchy choruses, strobe lighting and deliciously crunky, electro, hip-hop beats. Only five years in the making, and with three Warped Tours and stints supporting musical giants Basshunter and Katy Perry under their belts, the two MCs have paid their dues and are now famous in their own right; the success from their double-platinum-certified single Don’t Trust Me translating to the last stop on their UK tour as they are bumped from Club Academy to Academy 1.
 In the same vain as Gym Class Heroes and The Flobots, these dance messiahs have managed to transcend the rock/hip-hop divide, delivering grade A hip-hop music to rock and emocore fans everywhere. All clapping-jumping-dancing, 3OH!3’s repertoire is as varied as the company they keep, putting their university education to good use with intelligent lyrics and humorous themes set to an infectious back beat. They may be bringing hip-hop to a new level but they can still write frat boy songs about girls.
 A rapid string of their best songs is followed by the debut of a new one (heavy on the pop-punk influences) and a new twist on the circle pit: the dance pit. Conducting from the stage the dynamic pair quite literally bounce off each other as they bound around, dancing and rapping, working the room into a rave-frenzy befitting any nightclub.

Verdict: Rock, hip-hop, dance, electro and just about anything else you can think of combines with the duo’s undeniable stage presence and chemistry to create an unmissable, unforgettable and completely irreplaceable experience. Not bad for a band with only two albums.

3OH!3's latest album, Want, released 8th July 2008 on Photo Finish, is available from online stores: http://3oh3.hasawebstore.com/product/INS67223/wantdeluxeedition

Gig Review: Fightstar (27/10/09)

Originally published 9/11/09 in Student Direct: The Mancunion and 3/11/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

Has Charlie been Busted?

2 Stars

 Fightstar have worked hard to shed front man Charlie Simpson’s pop roots, but the Busted stigma has left a visible mark. Battling years of scepticism the London foursome have all but refused point-blank to let the critics win, instead, emerging, against the odds, as one of Britain’s best young rock bands. But unlike many expected, they have not relied on former fame to aid their career. If anything, Fightstar rebel against their commercial affiliation, working hard to ensure that the only thing they have in common with a certain ex-boyband is a large fan base and strong back catalogue.
 An unusual mix of grunge, soft-metal and rock, previous releases Grand Unification Part 1, We Apologise For Nothing, Paint Your Target and Deathcar, accompany tracks from latest album, Be Human, and a preview of upcoming December single, A City On Fire to make for a strong set. The guys are on form tonight, clearly enjoying the effect their subtle combination of delicate but dramatic metal has on the crowd. Roaming the stage, overseeing circle pits and engaging in more than their fair share of headbanging; Charlie, Alex, Dan and Omar give the impression of a group of lads who really love what they do, putting the crowd at ease and making the academy their own.
 Topping it off with an encore of Palahuniuk’s Laughter, it feels more like an impromptu, private jam session than a big gig.

Verdict: The excitement in the room is palpable but despite a great playlist and impeccable delivery, tonight felt a little flat. A relaxed performance adds a lack-lustre taste to the evening, proving that even rock stars shouldn’t rest on their laurels, (even if those laurels do happen to be cracking songs and impressive guitar skills).

Fightstar's latest album Be Human, released 19th April 2009, on Search and Destroy, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=952365

Gig Review: Bowling for Soup (25/10/09)

Originally published 9/11/09 in Student Direct: The Mancunion and 27/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

"Tryin' to get the girl all the bad guys want"

4 Stars

Toilet humour, sex, drugs and sister jokes; nothing is off the table tonight as Bowling For Soup return with more of the same silly but cheerful, low-brow, comedic, pop-punk that catapulted them to fame all those years ago. Fifteen years and ten albums into their career, the Texan punks have generated quite a following as young and old gather at the Academy to witness the aptly named Party In Your Pants tour.
 MC Lars kicks off the rock bonanza, joined briefly onstage by BFS lead Jaret Reddick for Download this Song. Zebrahead are next up to bat, hitting a home run with a unique blend of high octane, rap-punk, warming the crowd to boiling point with jumping competitions, "party arms" and a "Wall of Death", (renamed the "Wall of Sunshine, Lollypops and Rainbows" for "legal reasons").
 Bowling For Soup do in fact appear to be 12 year-olds stuck in adult bodies. Backed by a video of them prancing around in anatomically correct erection suits, tracks from new album Sorry For Partying are mixed with classics; Girl All The Bad Guys Want, Punk Rock 101 and High School Never Ends. The orgy of barely-concealed euphemisms, condom balloons (a.k.a. the penis Zeppelin) and lycra hot pants indicate that for America’s most beloved party band, High School really hasn’t ended. An un-inhibited celebration of juvenile humour, they pause and crank up the house lights, posing with beers and dancing to Kool & The Gang's Celebration at the front of the stage, before strutting to the side to give a "Bowling For Soup photo-op".
 They may be the poster boys for fart jokes but one area where fifteen years of experience is visible is the show itself. Bursting with professionalism the no doubt, painstakingly-constructed combination of comedic banter, giddy practical jokes and humorous videos provide constant and consistent entertainment without being awkward, stilted or over- rehearsed.

Verdict: Ending with 1985 (choruses sung in "your best Antonio Banderas accent" and "falsetto", respectively), the band who are "much too old to be this damn young" score an A for effort.

Bowling For Soup's latest album, Sorry For Partying, released October 12th 2009 on Jive, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=272123  

Gig Review: The All-American Rejects (15/10/09)

Originally published 26/10/09 in Student Direct: The Mancunion and 18/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

"It ends tonight"

5 Stars

 First support comes in shape of The Upwelling, waistcoated, tousle-haired perfection signed by AAR themselves, who play a few of their own grunge-influenced rock tunes before paying tribute to fellow New Yorkers, The Ramones, with a fantastic cover of I Wanna Be Sedated. Anyone who can rock out in a waistcoat is ok by me.
  Second onto the battle-front are punk-rockers American Steel. With their catchy riffs and boundless energy (surprising from what looked like a group of middle aged men) they are the evening’s biggest surprise, heralding a new age of pop-punk. Definitely a band I’d see again. Predictably, the highlight of the night was, of course, The All-American Rejects.
 Any other band would still be reeling from lead singer Tyson Ritter’s unexpected leg infection and the subsequent operation that forced them to cancel three shows and take two weeks off. But AAR seem to take it in their stride. Ignoring doctor’s advice to stay off stage for a while, they rocked into Manchester, the second leg of their sold-out U.K. tour, bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to tout their own brand of dance-tinged pop-rock to the masses.  The stage resembles a sugar-induced Mardi Gras hallucination, as amongst the flashing neon lights, Tyson bounces around in full Native American garb, complete with body glitter and a feather headdress. Apparently for The All-American Rejects Halloween is a month-long affair.
 Clearly re-fuelled by their recent vacation, the guys are nothing but professional, delivering wall to wall songs and incredible sound quality despite technical difficulties with the mics. Peppering a few tracks from their new album When The World Comes Down, with mandatory hits Move Along, Dirty Little Secret, Swing Swing and It Ends Tonight, keeps the set from spiralling into the tedious obscurity that often plagues the pop-rock scene.
 Losing the headdress during I’m Waiting, what isn’t lost is the enthusiasm and energy, which stays constant from start to finish.

Verdict: Tyson points to the bar; “you guys need to go help that guy out, you’re way too fucking aware for nine thirty”, but this isn’t a gig you need a stiff drink to endure. Fun and sexy, when they say they’ve been putting their "heart into the band for ten years" it’s actually believable.

The All-American Reject's latest album When The World Comes Down, released on Doghouse, 16th December 2008, is available from online stores:  http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=761427

Song Crush: Alone (Heart)

Originally published 17/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/  

From Bad Animals, Heart's ninth studio album.

 Sister duo Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart generally favour a hard rock sound, but a brief dip into power ballads in the '80s produced this gem. Composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly (masterminds behind much-loved classics like True Colours and Eternal Flame) this song endured a short stint on the soundtrack of 1984 CBS sitcom Dreams, before being picked up by girl-fronted, hair-rock band, Heart in 1987, and catapulted into power ballad infamy.
 Bursting at the seams with '80s melodrama, this classic was the groups most successful single in both the U.K. and the U.S., (despite the video being choreographed by a certain Paula Abdul). Beginning with a haunting, reverberant piano melody and hushed vocals, it’s beautiful, but this is supposed to be a power ballad; where’s the drama? Where’s the power? Cue the guitars, exploding pianos and dramatic vocals (and close ups of dramatic hair and dramatic eyeliner) perms never looked so good. Building to an epic instrumental crescendo, Anne belts out the chorus to Nancy’s typical '80s, cock-rock guitar solo.
 Bands like Alice in Chains, R.E.M., and Pearl Jam cite these sisters as a source of inspiration and this song is frequently covered (most recently by Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison on current FOX hit, Glee; Kristin’s dynamic, country-tinged vocals combine with the introduction of a male part to give it an interesting twist).
 Chock-full of power-riffs and electro-synth, this illustrious love song is perfect for those moments when you fancy a bit of drama, well deserving it’s place on every Best Of The '80s, or Car Karaoke, album it graces.

Listen To It Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfdDrKO8uM

Heart - Greatest Hits, released 10th July 2000, on EMI is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=528732  

Interview: Alex Westaway (Fightstar)

Originally published 16/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

Fightstar's Alex Westaway tells us about his upcoming horror film, the recent changes in the music industry and why this summer's Reading festival was the highlight of his career.

If we could talk a bit about your new album; Be human’ is your highest charting album to date, do you think your music has changed since you started?"Yeh I think we’ve just evolved a bit really, obviously we’re a few years on since we started out and we’ve had more experience and I think we’re all at a slightly higher level in terms of playing. We’re always trying to stretch ourselves and trying to not make anything sound the same, trying to create new sounds and go in a new direction with each album.”

Well this one is quite different; you used an orchestra, what was the concept behind the album? “There was no real concept it’s more to do with the space that we were all in at the time, when we were writing it, I think we were all feeling fairly settled in, like in life and that kind of reflected on it having a few more positive songs I suppose, and we’ve still got a few dark ones on there.”

Well you have a quite unique sound in general, delicate and dark at the same time, how would you describe it?“I think we have a lot of different influences, we pretty much write whatever we want to write, it encompasses a lot of different sounds. We’ve always described our music as being hopeful. Yeh we always liked that kind of epic feeling of hope you know?”

So are you quite heavily influenced by the music that you listen to?“Yes, we all have like pretty similar tastes, although we favour different stuff, like individually, I bring more of the kind of softer side to the band, I’m less of a metal guy, I’m more of a post-rocky, like singer-songwriter type really, Dan on the other hand is more metal.”

You released your latest album yourselves in partnership with your management company, that’s quite an unusual move for a band, what prompted you to do it?“It’s a sign of the changing times really, I think you’ll see a lot more bands doing it, purely because of the state of the industry. I mean, at the moment, major labels are signing bands on 360 deals which means they get a big chunk of their lives, income, merch; even if you’re a band and you’re on a major label, how you survive, how you pay the bills is by playing live, touring, selling merch, if that’s being taken away again by the label it makes it even tougher! We’ve always kind of liked the idea of going independent anyway and the opportunity arose for us to set up this label with the distribution through PS who are a great company - they’ve helped us out a lot, they’ve just done Oasis’ album.. That’s a good example really if you look at their roster, there’s a lot of bands doing it the same way we are, they’ve got Enter Shikari, they’ve got this thing set up which is a new kind of mould which is at the forefront of how the music industry is going to survive.. they’re growing and becoming stronger whilst the major labels are becoming weaker.”

So that’s definitely an issue in the music industry at the moment?
"Yeh, well I think so, yes”

You guys have done a lot of festivals and toured with a lot of other bands, what was your favourite festival?“Reading, this year, we were just lucky, the weather was great, we had quite an early slot so we were a bit sceptical about how many people were going to be up on a Saturday morning, we thought everyone would be really hungover from the night before, but we had a great response, like the best response we’ve ever had and apparently the circle pits and stuff we got going were the biggest of the weekend which is great you know. It’s really epic to see that when you’re on stage and you look out and theres like a huge mass of kids going absolutely nuts, the ground was really dry so it was kicking up loads of dust and it was just really, really huge, there’s nothing else like that, it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had on stage, if I never did it again I’d be happy that I had that moment.”

You’ve got a huge fan base, you’re first big hit, Palahniuk’s Laughter went straight into heavy rotation on music channels, how have you dealt with that kind of over-night celebrity?“Well I don’t know if I’d ever call myself a celebrity, maybe if I was out in a small town and there was a rock night or something, maybe a few people would recognise me but we’re pretty under the radar to be honest. None of us are the kind of people who go out to these posh dos, we kind of avoid that really, we’re more into writing and being creative than poncing around.”

Well you’ve dabbled in a few things – producing, writing, cover art and I hear you’re directing a horror film at the moment?“Yeh well Dan and I have a small production company, that’s been our kind of side- project, we’ve done a couple of music videos and various things, we’ve got two other guys, one of them works for ILM In the states, just two old friends from school really. We’ve always been majorly into film and the last couple of years we’ve been shooting what started off as a short film and it evolved into, well it’s about an hour long now, but it’s completely done in our spare time, there’s no budget, we’ve written it, directed it, produced it, we’re writing the score for it so it’s all very much home-grown and there’s no budget at all, so don’t expect too much from it but it’s what keeps us busy and in the future we’d love to be more involved with film.”

Ok, well you’re starting your U.K. tour soon, in October, what can fans expect from your shows?“We’re going to be playing quite a few songs that people haven’t heard live, a few new tracks off the album that we haven’t played before, the new single we’re playing, we just shot a video for, so it should be on the music channels in a few weeks time, so yeh just as much fun as we can put into it really, as much energy, we just hope that the audience can enjoy it as much as we do.”

Well I’m sure they will. You spend a lot of time travelling and touring, how do you spend your spare time?“ Urm making this damn film that we’ve been making for the last few years! That pretty much takes all of our spare time, so we’re never not doing anything, there’s always something creative on the cards or we go a bit mental.”

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t in the band? Would you be a director?“I don’t know, it’s bloody hard to get into directing, the same way it is getting into a band where you can do it full time, I mean yeh, I’d love to become a director, my background is kind of art as well, so maybe a painter or a struggling painter, probably.”

Are you working on any new material at the moment? In between all your directing and touring?“Yeh we’ve just recorded like four new tracks that are going to come out on a special edition, like a Be Human special edition with some sort of live DVD on it, that’s going to come out in early February I think, so that was fun to get back into the studio, even though it’s quite soon after we’ve been recording, the songs are sounding really goods I’m looking forward to getting that out.”

Are the songs different to the rest on the album?“Not really, it is a bit different but it’s of the same kind of ilk, I think it would fit nicely within the other songs.”

Any advice for people that want to get into the music business?“Yeh just write as many songs as you possibly can and play as many live shows as you can, that’s how you improve, you can never have enough songs!”


Fightstar's latest album Be Human, released 19th April 2009, on Search and Destroy, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=952365

Gig Review: Maximo Park (8/10/09)

Originally published 19/10/09 in Student Direct: The Mancunion and 13/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/  

4 Stars

 Skinny jeans are out in force tonight in Manchester, though none looking quite as good as they do on Hot Club De Paris, who play an impressively tight set despite battling against a half-empty venue.
 The place quickly fills for the main attraction and eventually, amidst disco lights and a smokescreen, they emerge, launching straight into A19; “we are Maximo Park” hear us roar.
 A welcome break from the usual indie uniform of checked shirts, black wire frames and ironically asymmetric haircuts; in their smart suits and trilbies, Maximo Park are every inch sophisticated, film-noir chic. It’s rare to see a drummer in any type of shirt, much less one with a collar and cuffs, these guys are definitely serious contenders for Britain’s best-dressed band. The Apollo serves as an epic, theatrical stage for what is more a cabaret show than a rock gig; an observation validated when, after rattling through a few of their best singles, a five-piece brass ensemble join them to give latest album, Quicken the Heart a cool, retro edge.
 The band are on form, but despite a flawless delivery, are quickly overshadowed by frontman Paul Smith, offering little more than background music for Smith’s energetic onstage antics. He acts out every lyric, punching a megaphone triumphantly into the air to screech out the chorus to Quicken The Heart, and clutches the mic stand for emotional support whilst belting out the Parisien Skies in unison with the crowd.

 The stage suddenly takes on an element of horror, and the lighting glows as Smith stalks the stage during Russian Literature, his shadow super-sized on the wall behind him as the crowd jostle to get closer. It’s hard to believe that this ex-teacher ever thought that he "wasn’t frontman material". Crooning out an encore of Acrobats and Our Velocity, they save the best for last as the latter of these generates the closest thing to a mosh pit I’ve seen all night.

Verdict: A good show but it’s Smith that sticks in your mind: his effortless showmanship makes for an electric atmosphere. Maximo Park? Try The Paul Smith Experience.

Maximo Park's latest album Quicken The Heart, released on Warp Records, 11th May 2009, is available from their online store: http://www.recordstore.co.uk/maximopark/  

Song Crush: Wheels (Foo Fighters)

 Originally published 3/10/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/ 

From the upcoming album, Greatest Hits.

  After announcing in September 2008, that they were going on a long break, the Foo Fighters have kept to their word; warning fans "not to expect anything for a while" (although there are rumours circulating that the band may have cut their hiatus short and be preparing to write a new album – we can hope can't we?).
  They promised to be back in the future, when people "really miss" them, but in the mean time, they’re putting 14 years of stellar hits to use and releasing a long-awaited record of their greatest hits. This upcoming album boasts fan favourites such as All My Life, Monkey Wrench and Breakout, as well as two new, previously unreleased tracks; Wheels and Word Forward.
  First premiered on the lawn of the White House, (during this year’s Independence Day celebrations), Wheels more than lives up to its suitably epic unveiling. I think I can safely say that they made a smart decision skipping the album stage and sticking it straight where it belongs; on the Greatest Hits.
  Rightfully chosen as the single to promote the new album, this soon-to-be classic has a distinctly country feel about it, complementing the Foo’s usual blend of acoustic and hard rock, and exposing the rarely seen softer side of the revered quintet. Kind of a Green Day - meets - Rascal Flatts, if you get what I mean. The result is effortless and understated with bluesy guitars, country ballad melodics, and a rousing, inspirational chorus that shows that (despite taking a break) they clearly have no indication of giving up their Rock God titles and want to remind us why.

Listen To It Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFvihs_vNI  

Greatest Hits, released November 3rd 2009, on RCA Records is available from online stores: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/11924640/Greatest-Hits/Product.html   

Song Crush: London Town (William Control)

Originally published 27/09/09 on http://www.rookiefm.blogspot.com/

   From Hate Culture, debut album from William Control, (Aiden singer WiL Francis' side project).

   
  The perfect example of goth-rock, Hate Culture is about a man named William Control and his last night on earth before he kills himself. Yes, it's a little morbid (and a lot emo) but I can't help but love this song. The final track on the record, London Town is quite different to the rest of the leather-clad ,electro-synth-metal, dance tunes; the lyrics perfectly reflect the utter despair and isolation of a man disillusioned with love, the world around him and humanity in general; this is accompanied by a haunting melody to create a beautiful acoustic piece. Whether you're indulging in the grief of rejected love, or just in the mood for something slower, this song is the ideal melancholy accessory for your everso 'deep' and dejected wallowing.

Listen To It Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDV51bKwfk0

Hate Culture released October 28th 2008 on Victory Records is available from the online store: http://www.victoryrecords.com/item/13661/0/William_Control_Hate_Culture