APP end of year lists... (Top fives)

This is the third year that I've been writing this blog. In that time this thing has gone from my own tour diary to a thing where I write stuff and more than just me reads it!! mental stuff there!! Anyway since I'm all cool and stuff I thought I would do a few end of year lists. I'll try not to be a tosser and love on 13SX bands too much but then again fuck you all it's my list......

Following categories - Best EP, Best Live Act, Best Solo Act. I'm not doing albums because I don't listen to too many these days. Call Me Malcolm would probably win if I did though. you can hear me spend a whole blog post freaking out about the album here.

Best Solo Act

*That I've played with.......As is always the case in life the solo acts go on first....

5. Harrison Wilde

Harrison is awesome both in the fact that he is possibly the sexiest man I know and that he is also the most self aware and cool about it. This comes across in both his tunes, self deprecating but never apologetic walks through the mind of an addict, and a live show full of humour and the kind of don't give a fuck attitude we all wish we had.

https://harrisonwilde.bandcamp.com/

4. Connor Linnie

I had the pleasure of playing with Connor on what ws one of the last duel acoustic shows I played this year. He's one of those real musicians who can work his way around a fretboard like a demon and has a voice like cool breeze on a hot day. He was amazing on the night and is note perfect from end to end.

https://conorlinnie.bandcamp.com/album/astray

3. Jake Martin

Jake and I have been friends for years but also he is one of the hardest working touring artists in the UK. It's a tough job touring alone but I don't think I've seen a month without Jake playing every week. This year saw him release a brilliant EP too and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of his stage show. getting the audience - even when there are only four of them stood in front of you - is an artform all on its own and Jake is a master.

https://jakemartin1.bandcamp.com/album/for-fuck-sake-jake

2. Luke Godwin

I'm actually surprised at myself for not putting Luke at number one. He is not only one of the greatest human beings to walk the earth but also the full package when it comes to musicianship. He has the voice of a thousand angels and can make a guitar do things that make me blush. I love his songs, all singalong anthems, and the fact that he has a full band album that is him on every instrument only makes me love him more. You can't really get much better, except for one man....

https://lukegodwin.bandcamp.com/album/brand-new-lands

1. Grey Charles

On a night when he was going on first and the place was still waiting to fill up I first got to witness the majesty of Charlie's songs. I don't often feel totally moved by music and especially not by one man and his guitar but I was all but hypnotised the whole way through his set. I'd hate to use the term perfect to describe anything but I honestly can't think of another thing to say about him. His songs soar around a venue and infect everyone listening and I could listen to him sing for a hundred years and not get bored. I wished that he could've just played all night, but alas I'll have to just listen to his EP until I get a chance to see him again.

https://graycharles.bandcamp.com/

Best Live Act

*That I've played with.....

5. On A Hiding To Nothing

I still remember the first time I saw OAHTN and they stole my heart, it was the second MOT fest and I hadn't heard of or known who they were or what they sounded like at that point and then the music started and I fell in love!! From Johnny, who is arguably (definitely in my opinion) the best speed punk drummer around kicking out monster beats at a thousand miles per hour to Jack Wiseman, the springy-est face-pulling-est head-banging-est bass player I know they put on a fierce show and the energy spills over all who get to watch.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/on-a-hiding-to-nothing-the-first-ep

4. Demon Smiles

Which Demon Smiles I hear you ask? Well certainly having yours truly be part of the line-up was a feast for female eyes but no I'm talking about the current iteration of them melodic basterds! Having Jazz come along has re-invigorated Demon Smiles to newer greater heights and they are a spectacle of extremely high caliber to behold these days. The confidence levels of the whole band is all time high and it shows in kick-ass perfomances. Comfortable with stage invasions and crowd running alike, they now show off the power without letting a note slip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXZDITNypm0

3. DropThis

I do love me a bit of DropThis, and they are the single most seen act of mine this year, Every time it's such a pleasure and whether they play full band acoustic or full whammy, the show is always most excellent. having a large band can sometimes lead to a bit of bumbling and uncertainty but the DT boys know how to make that stage their bitch! Add in jumps and stage dives and that cool hand-behind-your-back roaring thing the kids are doing these days and you've got yourself a package that would look as good on a giant stadium stage as is does down the Birds Nest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK6NFxEfWBA

2. Mug

Sometimes I wonder how I ended up being friends with Mug. They are some real next level musicians and I stand in wonder each time i watch them do their thing. Each member is an incredible live musician, rarely playing out of time despite giving every gig their all energy wise. I have spent many a word in this blog saying about how highly I think of them so I wont go into it overly much right now. Suffice to say they are the greatest musicians I personally know and every thing they do on stage is gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3rLyfpzrw

1. The Human Project

I love me some melodic hardcore and bands don't come much more melodious and hard of core than The Human Project. I'd seen A Wilhelm Scream earlier in the year (a couple of times) and thought that was the utter pinnacle of playing a technical live show but these guys easily rivalled that. They made it look like it was just the easiest thing in the world to scream every riff and hit every harmony whilst throwing themselves around in time and on queue. The Human Project are incredible in every way and one of the best bands I think I've ever seen. And I've seen all the greats!!!

https://thehumanproject.bandcamp.com/album/origins

Best EP

*That I own

5. HANDCANNON

Of course I love Demon Smiles, they are my total besties but also they make awesome music. Miss Me is one of my favourite of all their songs they've ever done and that can be found on this tidy number. Not easily found but worth the hunt. This EP is my favourite until the next Demon Smiles offering next year.

https://demonsmiles.bandcamp.com/

4. Spitting Feathers

I guess you could say I'm something of a DropThis fanboy, being that I  own everything they've ever had to sell and write fortnightly sonnets to singer Jordan in the hopes he'll become my live in love slave, but besides all that Spitting Feathers is a real masterclass in how to knock your songs out the park. Not only is each and every song on the EP a gem but the production on it is fantastic and it sounds perfectly at home mixed into playlist by "established" artists. I know this through first hand experience having the thing still in regular rotation on my mp3 player today.

https://dropthis.bandcamp.com/album/spitting-feathers

3. Sea Of Trees

Darko were a band I'd not actually heard until late this year and now are up around my top five favourite bands in the world. Sea Of Trees is blindingly good from start to finish with just everything about it blowing me away. Darko are true artistes with guitars and this is the finest they've sounded to date.  Hard as it is to pick out a standout amongst all that gold I particularly love Seaward, which is the perfect blend of just shy of metal riffage with the speed I'm so addicted to in the music I love.

https://darko.bandcamp.com/album/sea-of-trees

2. World Of Weirdos

I'll try to stick on topic and not just go off on a Mug loving rant again.... I love Mug. This EP set up just why they are some of the greatest most talented people on the planet and in three short songs I defy anyone not to totally fall in love with them. This is one of those sets of songs where you can listen to it fifty times in a row (and believe me I have) and there is always something new to discover, an extra hidden layer, a clever double meaning in a lyric, or an extra lick on the guitar that was just spot on. And god the end of the titular song. That never ever ever stops being mind blowingly epic, just put it on repeat, do it.. do it now!!!!!!

https://mugrocks.bandcamp.com/album/world-of-weirdos

1. Dead Neck

I have a pretty narrow taste in music that I listen to personally. I don't hate other styles but there is just a certain groove in the endless genres that floats my boat more than any other and melodic hardcore is basically it. On top of that bracket is Dead Neck. This is it for me. utter brilliance and the absolute closest I have to what i consider ideal music. I can't stop listening to this, I build playlists and have the entire EP play several times throughout. every time I listen to any music I listen to this first as a warm up, I skate to this, eat to this, sleep to this and jerk off over how good it is.

https://www.facebook.com/deadneckhc?v=app_178091127385

Turkey Award.

So having started up a record label and joining a promotions company this year led me to hear untold amounts of new bands, I'd like to think that everyone who I thought sounded awesome I've been lucky enough to see or play with but then there has been some utter shit too. Now everyone is entitled to their taste in music but sometimes you have to wonder what the frick people have been smoking when they come up with this stuff. My turkey award goes to...

3 Chords and a Lie.

I just don't even...... god! Just listen for like thirty seconds and then don't put yourself through the tortue anymore.....



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DCk1G8mrew

That punch and kick, abusive idol-fan relationships.

Goddamn it was everywhere over the last week or so. I couldn't look at Facebook or Dying Scene or any punk news outlet without seeing the story of one incident when a person we all look up to savaged a fan, got hated, then apologized and let the fan kick him back.
Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the specific incident and about whether or not Fat Mike is a total cunt or not. I mean everybody. I saw the same thing in around four different regular news outlets along with countless other blogs and whatnot. All of it focused on that one thing and that's fine.

I'm going to talk about the same thing but not that one incident about their behavior in general. You see this isn't the first time a fan has been savaged by NOFX and their crew, infact I saw it happen first hand in Slovenia. The cycle of lashing out at those supposed to be dear to them and constant apology seems to me to be a direct reflection of an abusive partnership and that's something I have a lot of experience with.

I was in a pretty severe abusive relationship (ask to see my scars sometime) and through study and other second hand experience I would consider myself something of an expert on the subject. In an abusive partnership the abuser will often belittle and attack the victim, this attack can be physical or emotional and will always leave the victim scared of eliciting a similar reaction. Often the abuser will blame the victim and say say it was their fault ("look what you made me do") and the victim will not want to talk out about the abuse under the belief that they somehow deserved it. When the abusers attacks go over the line of the victim and they are left with no doubt they have done wrong they will apologize profusely and comfort and treat the victim to win them back. This causes the victim to believe that there is great good under the abuse and that the relationship is worth sticking to because "they don't really mean it" when the attacks happen. Eventually the abuser goes back to the attacks until the next time they overstep the mark, and the cycle continues.

When I was in Slovenia I had the great pleasure of watching NOFX from the side of the stage. As I sat down at the side I was kicked at by Timmy the Scottish Roadie who also plays keyboards. I'm not talking the full swinger we've all watched Fat Mike do but nonetheless a stiff nudge with a boot instead of a quick word which would have sufficed. having moved to an acceptable location we settled in to enjoy the show. Part way through the set an overjoyed fan (bare in mind these guys might see their greatest idols once or twice in their life) jumped on the stage and tripped on a monitor and fell over. The same grumpy Scottish roadie then ran over to the fan, failed to pull him up by a t-shirt (succeeded in tearing the shirt off his chest) and then proceeded to grab the fan with both hands round the neck, pull him up off the floor and throw him towards the back of the stage.
This whole spectacle obviously went down like shit in a hamper on the crowd who started shouting and hurling pieces of the bark which covered the floor of the main stage there at Punk Rock Holiday. NOFX had to stop in the middle of their song (reeko) and apologize for everything over and over untilthe crowd were placated and they could continue.

This story, along with our over exposure to the Australian incident when couple with the description of an abusive relationship creates a far more damning picture of NOFXs actions than anything I've seen (most stories seem to have ended with "and everyone lived happily ever after"). What is so wrong with these performers that they need to lash out at the very people that keep them fed? Do they hate punk rock kids that much? If so they are really in the wrong career. Are they tired of doing shows and the bullshit and only doing the shows still to get paid? well then they are again in the worst place to try and sell out. Should they be allowed to dictate the way a group of young punk rock kids acts at shows? Punk is always been for the kids and  old men telling the younger generation how to act and behave is the exact thing we all rebelled against when we bought our first NOFX albums.

In conclusion NOFX may have been given another free pass after expertly managing to beg forgiveness but why not just keep an eye on them. If I'm wrong this type of headline will disappear and I'll happily hang my judgmental head in shame. However I'm willing to bet 50p that it wont be the last time and maybe it'll be time for them to hang up their torn converse before they irreparably damage their reputation with more fans than just me.

MORE! than we could have hoped

Back in November last year a bunch of great friends who all love a bit of punk rock did something amazing. We created the template for our ideal scene, one where people can be be themselves and love music and have the most fun. More Of This! Fest was born and it was good.
Then in February we showed that this wasn't just a fluke. Once again we met under the banner of kickass punk rock and had a blast and made a bunch of new friends and even started a record label. All in all something really impressive was happening and last Saturday was the Triumphant return of the best day out a punk can possibly have in London. For those who were familiar with how MOT works it was everything that came before but amped up. This year we had the best crowd, the biggest bands, the coolest nutters and the most fun you can squeeze into 10 straight hours of punk! Those that were new to proceedings were quickly swept up in being part of the 13SX scene, one where you are judged solely on how little of a arsehole you are and nothing else. Personally I had the most fun this time as this was the event where Thirteen Stitches Records was a real thing and it felt like family, welcoming new members into the fray.

And enter they did, in fantastic style.....

Tindall

A huge amount of why the show in general was so good can be attributed to Tindall. It's often a small

washout playing first but they had a meaty crowd for 3 in the afternoon and greatly impressed all who watched. Cool punk-pop is their mode-de-jeur and they pulled everything off with nary a missed beat (that I noticed) they had energy and enthusiasm and got everybody in the perfect mood for a day of rocking the hell out. Arguably one of the best bands of the day, Tindall are welcome back anytime and should be on everyones radar. Getting members of Demon Smiles up to sing with you is also easily the most efficient way to make sure the MOT regulars love you!!

The Drunken Ramblings

"The Hungover Ramblings" came next and are best described as utterly unique to watch live. If you wanted to pigeon hole TDR musically I would say something along the lines of whimsical melodic street punk with heavy Hellcat Records influences. If you were to ask guitarist Vic however,  he would swear he was playing in a late 80s NY hardcore band, making full use of his radio jack by flying through the air at every available opportunity and generally making me feel sorry for his guitar which took considerable punishment as he slammed it around whilst still keeping up the melodies to the tunes. Definitely not an experience to be missed!!!

The Twin Dracula

Nobody knew a lot about these guys before they came on, having been a last minute addition after an unexpected drop out. It's also true that nobody expected one of the best melodic hardcore bands anyone has heard to be blowing us away three bands into the show!! These guys are the full package for me in every sense. Fast as fuck, tight as fuck, crunchy sounding as fuck. All the best things punk bands should be. They impressed everyone so much that record deals flew at them and they instantly became part of our family and will now be a regular fixture at anything baring a 13SX logo.

Vice Like Grip

Pop-punk needs a few key ingredients to work well, those are super fun singalong choruses, great harmonies for the vocals and catchy riffs. Vice Like Grip seem like they wrote the book on all of these things and pull them off without barely breaking a sweat in the process. The day was about to move into the Thirteen Stitches Showcase and VLG set the bar for us all ridiculously high.

The Real Quaid

If there are people on this earth that don't enjoy listening to the Real Quaid then they are people I don't want to acknowledge existing! They are the nuts and this was the best I've seen them. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure they are street punk without being sloppy, crudely humoured without it being a gimmick, heavy without getting too metalish and technical whilst staying relate-able for non muso types. They are in other words the 13SX all rounders and they smashed it.

RxR

The band is dead, long live the band!! RxR have now left acoustic shows behind them and I think

we've shown all and sundry what the future holds. Having taken on Mike Hulbert of Mug fame and borrowing Steve from Demon Smiles RxR are now the 13SX super group of the family and this was the best show we've done so far. Steve did us proud and all the songs were a shit tonne of fun to play. Sometimes when I used to play solo shows I would get bored halfway through because I was sick of the sound of my voice and tired but I could have stayed there all goddamned night!! It was a blast from start to finish and a cheeky Taylor Swift cover and a Demon Smiles song at the end meant there was plenty for everyone to enjoy. I had so much great feedback and it was a total blast.

Probably worth mentioning were are still looking for a permanent drummer so if you came down and enjoyed it then hit me up!!!

DROPTHIS

When DROPTHIS came blasting into my life last MOT they became my instant favourite 13SX band, even before being on the label and every time I've had the pleasure of seeing them since just re-affirms that. This was no exception and was a massive highlight of the night. DT play a melodic hardcore/pop-punk cross that is as infectiously catchy to listen to as it is blisteringly fast. We got a mix of time tested classics and brand new bangers to feast our ears upon and the crowd went batshit crazy from start to finish. DROPTHIS look right at home in New Cross and they work the place lie putty in their palms.

The Rocco Lampones  

One of the best street punk bands in the UK today, rivaled only by our own Dynamite Dynamite, The Rocco Lampones school everyone on how to have the most goddamned fun you can possibly have on a stage. I'm not sure whether they have just found some clever way to be shit faced and still play perfectly but nobody is having as good a time as them on stage and that rampant enjoyment affects everyone in the near vicinity!! whether they are kicking out their greatest tunes (available on www.13sx.co.uk) or winding people up with a Black Sabbath cover that nearly burst into life a few times, everyone who watches these guys feels better than when they started.

Mug

I love Mug. The guys in the band don't like it when I gush about them to their faces so this time I've bottled it all up and am about to unleash it here:

Mug are perfect in absolutely every sense I can care to mention. Songs? The best. Riffs? The best. Ability to play note perfect? The best? Presence on a stage? The best.

They are a group of insanely talented individuals who only enhance each other to new levels every time they play and they are one of the true hidden gems of music in the UK. On bass duties was (the also insanely talented) Gray Charles, a fantastic musician in his own right and maybe one of the few people I could think of good enough to keep up with these guys. It doesn't matter that every member in the band are all my good friends I still lose my shit every time they play and for that brief amount of time they are on the stage they are a little better than human!

Darko

Rarely have I been more excited about seeing a band. I discovered Darko fairly recently but they

have been one of the only bands I've had on my stereo for a good few months now. Heavily influenced by the greats of melodic hardcore such as A Wilhelm Scream, Darko may be a lot to take in for the non musicians in the world but are a wet dream for a fan of the genre like me. even given the limitations of New Cross Darko can blast out a set that matches the power and technicality of their stellar EPs without sacrificing quality. I blame Darko for the fact I lost my voice now as I was going pretty goddamned mental while they played and they showed off what makes them top of the crop of the melodic hardcore scene right now. Also it's entirely worth mentioning that they got down early and partied all day and were the nicest guys to have filled the top slot in many a gig that I've played. I had thought that being so talented yet down to earth was a trait only seen in Mug but I'm so happy to know that they also fly the flag for awesomeness too!!!

The Guy with Gold Shoes

Not a band, but possibly the top NX nutter we've ever had the pleasure of entertaining. This gentleman of indeterminate (but roughly wizard) age came in and paid his entrance fee whilst fishing out of his bag the most elaborate pair of gold patterned loafers I've seen in my life. These were serious fucking shoes right here so I needed to ask this man who could have been anywhere between 80 and
9000 what his deal was..... and I wasn't dissapointed!!

So in his building live two scag heads (his words) and they had apparently been harassing and bullying him for some time. Well he had decided that enough was enough and he stormed into their flat, and took pictures of their habit all whist being physically threatened by these ass hats. Undeterred he finished his sweep of the place and sent the photos to the local police who then planned to arrest the couple the very next morning. Because of this hard won victory the guy had decided that he was going to get his bestest dancing shoes on, bring along his nicest elephant t shirt, get absolutely shit face drunk and dance the night away to the best punk rock New Cross has to offer.

I bloody salute you drunken wizard man. I salute you!!

Anyway that about wraps it up for what was once again the greatest time. I don't want to repeat myself in blogs too much so read the previous MOT blogs for how I feel about the atmosphere of the shows, they hold up just as well for this as they did back then.

Come to More Of This!, find your new favourite band, meet your new best friends, have the greatest time. 

Photo thanks to Liz Miss-Daisy, full album is available here

Cope with a broken band family with dignity

Many of us have been there. I don't know too many souls that are gigging with the first (or sometimes even third) band they started playing with. I liken a lot of musical scenarios to having real world relationships and that's because when you are in a band it's like having a significant other. You pour your heart and soul into songs, you need to make concessions to the rest of your life to allow time to let the band flourish and above all else you need to devote love and attention and a lot of effort into maintaining it or it will fall apart.

Just as with many a relationship not every band goes out with a bang, those big blowouts are actually most often the exception and instead bands die of other more mellow things, like members moving away from each other, or often just that the inspiration kind of drys up along with gigs. However it happens it is a regular pattern and when things go sideways however it went down, there is a tendency to lay the breakdown of a band on to people or individuals. Often when a single person is to blame the band will manage to carry on without the rotten element, but if things go south and you are call it a day try not to:

Say it was your band.

This is especially difficult to do when you were the primary songwriter, but a band is a by its very nature a collaborative engagement and every member is as important as the next. If you don't feel this way then you have a bad band and that should be addressed. As I said bands can continue without certain people if they are not pulling their weight. But bragging that it was all you and you did everything just heaps more failure onto you. If you feel that the rest of the bands were just tools for your blinding brilliance then again you fail all by yourself because a good workman never blames his tools. The worst is when several people are all having the same conversation. When you hear people arguing about who was the most important part of a band then all that goes through a persons head is "well I see why they split up".

Talk shit about the others

When you split up with a girlfriend nothing makes you look like more of a jackass than airing every quibble you had with their lifestyle and personality. Being in a band means spending excessive amount of time with other people and part of making it work is finding a way to co-habit while being accepting of the others life. This sort of thing can be seen in student houses. When a person has never had to live with other people before and then gets chucked in a small house/flat with six other people in a bad house each of those people will see themselves as superior and hate the living habits of the other. The same can be said of bands. listening to someone hate on another members timing or inability to tune properly or whatever just means there was no communication in the band and it was doomed to fail. Once more if someone really is a poisonous influence and whatnot then they should not be in that band. That should not have been a reason the band split up forever.

Keep the songs

One of the biggest difficulties when deciding to call it a day for a band is the fact that you have put so much effort into those songs. Literally years of your life could have been spent perfecting the tune you love and when things don't work out then the effort is wasted. Thing is though that song was something that a group of you created and it's not for anyone to take away and keep on rehashing with other people. At best it shows that you have no regard for the previous band and you start falling in to the "it was all my band" territory, at worst it paints you as a one trick pony who you doesn't have the creativity to do something new with a brand new group of people. There are clear exceptions here, if you have a solo side project then you may have reworked a band song to be solo/acoustic and One off performances of popular songs by previous bands when audiences demand it are of course reasonable, but treat them like you would any other cover, something to pull out the box every now and again when you know an audience will appreciate it and don't just create <yourOldBand.0.2>. I knew a guy once that created the same band THREE times. Every time the songs (which were totally his) were the same and he was the only common factor. The band failed every time and still the man can't accept that the only thing constant in each iteration of his group failing was him. That's an extreme case but members from each iteration have other bands now that are successful so there you go. If things change then so should the songs.

I write a lot of words on this blog but they can almost always be concluded with a short soundbite quote.  This time that quote is "have respect for the people you put all that time in with". Ex members of bands are something a little different and something I might cover another time, but yeah, you spent all that time making something you all loved. when it doesn't work out just let it go the way of the buffalo and above all don't be a dick!

Postscript.

Bands I have been in and how they failed:

The Harmaniax - We all went to college and stopped hanging out

Open Ending - Didn't have the guts to tell our lead guitarist he was rubbish so just stopped playing shows

The Valves - Bassist moved to Australia, just generally got bored of the pub circuit

CJD - were too drunk to write new songs/got barred from most venues in Brighton

Another Day Lost - Guitarist fired drummer in a fit of drunken rage, I walked out with him, others left soon after to form successful skapunk band.

Weighing in on Stage Diving...

Poor old that band who are now the poster boys for the anti stage diving campaign. There was one guy in band who took offense to a 180 pound guy launching himself at a group of young girls and now shit has hit the fan.

Thing is, whether or not stage diving is fun or not is irrelevant, the real issue is whether it is an inclusive or exclusive activity at a show. What I mean by that is do the others in your vicinity that you are interacting with consent to your actions. When you jump on people or mosh with your elbows up or throw your beer glass at the band or grab a mic to sing along is that ok by the person who is directly affected by your actions.

When I played in the Valves I had all sorts of shit happen to me that I had varying levels of

acceptance with. You want to fall over my monitor and knock my mic into my face so i have a split lip for the rest of the gig? no thanks. You want to spit at me and call me a cunt and then try to snog my face off after we finished playing? I guess I'm a little more ok with that. You and all your mates want to borrow my mic to sing the chorus to Londons Calling? Get right in there. As an audience member I have been to some shows (Deftones) where the mosh pit was like a Royal Rumble and I was ok with that. I have also been to shows where people are trying to dance and there is just one guy windmilling and clearing the way while everyone else gets annoyed (Jimmy Eat World). When I went to Punk Rock Holiday people constantly jumped off the stage and loved every second of it, there was even a lip so that  people could do it without disturbing the bands. Great. But when you're at a show where people just want to watch the bands at the front because they love them and want to be close to people they idolise then it's a problem.

The tired old argument I hear is that if you don't want to mosh/get jumped on then you should vacate that particular area of the venue, like the moshers/stagedivers have pissed on that area and no one else but their crew in invited. Since when did alternative music have to be dictated to? Surely by placing rules and demands on unwilling or unenthusiastic members of the audience we lose what is supposed to make our chosen genre so great. We already come from the outcasts and fringe communities so why do we find ways to make things even more exclusive? Just to re-iterate at this point my stance is not anti anything except the singling out and resentment of people who don't want to join in what you're doing at a show. Staking claim to an area and being in control of it is strictly the business of the band on stage.

In conclusion the "issue" around stage diving is not one of it should/shouldn't be banned, but as with

almost everything else in life the extent to which you should do it. If someone doesn't want you to do something to them and you do it anyway you aren't being rock and roll, you're being an asshole. Stubbornly sticking to the "way things used to be" is both unproductive for the furthering of music and a little sad.

Just have respect for those around. that should be the only rule when at a show.

We only went and filled the New Cross again!!!

This blog used to be one mans public diary for band shenanigans and thanks to every incredible person who bothers to click on a link it's a well read thing. I'm extremely grateful for that and your reading this little blog has directly led to me writing for other proper publications. I love every word that I type so thank you all very much for that.
I will of course get to the bit you care about and talk about the New Cross show in a bit but first I'm gonna take things back to basics and talk about a musical journey and learning which is always at the route of this blog - if you don't care that's cool, please buy yourselves copies of Lights Go Out and Seeing Your Scene for real journalism - and I'm gonna talk about my journey into and probable exit from music promotion, and also the growth of a one man solo outfit into a competent skate punk act.

If you dig back a little ways into the archives you will come across the first serious show I attempted to put on in Harrow. If you hadn't read it already that's ok I'll wait, but yeah it was a train wreck. Since then I have been responsible for a slew of other shows all of which have given me extra grey hairs. From bands not turning up till five minutes before they're on a  show to sound engineers who are two hours late I find that my delicate fun loving spirit cannot handle the stresses of music promotion. That is not to say that I'll not do it any more, I love the music scene I've been adopted by with huge passion and will continue to support it in every way possible but maybe promotion can take a back seat to the label which is a fraction less stressful and just as rewarding. The gold star on all these shows is unequivocally the Authority Zero show that recently happened this Tuesday. It was a major undertaking for our fledgling promotions enterprise and thankfully a large chunk of the effort was taken on by ska punk sister company Be Sharp. Working with a big team of people was by far more fun but no less stressful. Putting on a major band comes with a lot of complications from rider negotiations (do you

really need a juicer?) to pushing online sales for the first time (successfully) and the burden is a lot better spread out. That's not to say it was easy though and I think all of us are going to take a lovely stressless break from promotion now. I think that I'm going to quietly bow out of these things, having given it all a go and deciding that it's not really for me. I love to play a show, but the organisation of it it a little too much for this old punk these days.

Red Rag Front
Last Tuesday was a night of big steps for me, as a promoter but also as a band. It was the brand new

unveiling of the four piece properly skate punk band and I was goddamned happy with how it all went. playing on shitty equipment first on couldn't dampen the fact that this was big news for us and we knocked it out the park as far as I'm concerned. I don't really see much of a future anymore in the acoustic shows. This was how RRF was always supposed to sound and I couldn't be happier with it right now. Also Eric from Counterpunch gave me some very positive encouragement after which kind of made my year!!

My Third Leg
These guys knocked out a solid set to the background of a rapidly filling NX Inn. They may not tour extensively or play in all of the places but when they do it a little treat and they obviously have all the fun while playing. Last time I wrote about them I spent way too much time talking about Dave, but then Dave is

awesome and the nicest guy and super cool and totally my friend now. We both have a deep love for the walking bass line which he is a bit of an expert at. The Be Sharp crew make up the rest of the rythmns and everything is glued pretty nicely together by Will who is the corner stone that keeps everything rocking along nicely.



Demon Smiles
I was the guitarist for Demon Smiles in London for a blissful few months but this show was time for me to hand the keys over to brand new guitarist Jazz, and it's a bloody good thing too because The DS crew have never ever sounded better, tighter and more alive than they did at NX that night. Something about the new energy has sparked everyone in the band to new levels of excellence. I have never heard Steve play faster or with such confidence, never heard Cat sound so powerful and never heard such crunchy perfectly delivered riffage as from Jazz. This is the band that Demon Smiles always promised

they could be in the flashes of brilliance we saw too few and far between before. Demon Smiles is Dead. Long Live Demon Smiles.

The Crowd.
I won't cheapen Counterpunch and Authority Zero with a write-up as they were above and beyond exceptional both and are too worthy of great acclaim for my feeble blogging to accommodate. Instead I will finish this post with a love letter to those 200 - 250 souls to packed themselves into the New Cross Inn on a Tuesday night to have the best bloody time they possibly could. There is something special about packing people into the NX that I never see anywhere else. When you have and A* caliber band playing there it's like that act are playing especially to you and every person feels the same. There is a closeness and sense of familiarity that spreads through the crowd and infects them all with an enthusiasm that is hard to match anywhere else. When you are singing the lyrics to your favourite song you know that the guys on stage can hear you and when you are dancing you are dancing for your heroes entertainment and when you turn to the 200 strangers next to you, you see the same look in

their eyes and you know you're all on that perfect same level and that you're all the best of friends right there and then and that you're sharing in something really special.

Finally thank you once more to Cottage Chicken. The single greatest Fried Chicken joint in all of the cosmos. You will never stop amazing me with your quality fast foods at astoundingly cheap prices.

Viva La New Cross Inn
Viva La Cottage Chicken

Photo props to Warren Miller

Call Me Malcolm - Gonzo word stream review

I'm reviewing the brand spanking super new album by Call Me Malcolm for Lights Go Out Zine. What you will find there is the concise appropriate length review that has been edited and checked. That's will be awesome but what is about to occur here is a stream of consciousness review. The only preparation I am making is this intro and a track listing. I will then just listen to the album and comment on each song as and when thoughts form. Could be fun, could be stupid and/or a leading cause of depression among over 30s. We'll see.

You're Free To Do As We Tell You

I feel like I should know who the quote is from. I think it's Adam Sandler and..... oh man that riffage!!! the bass is chunky and awesome. Damn the chorus is cool. This has just enough brass for me to deal with. I'm trying to follow the lyrics but the only thing that is sticking is double header, but that's totally ok because the sound of the vocals is enough to melt my brains!! DAT BRASS SOLO!!!! what you don't realise at first glance is that is actually an everything solo with burning brass over the top. It makes me want to do a dance with golf cubs for some reason.

I Sold My Cat

That hook is gonna stick in my face forever. Nice use of the in song pause there, the bit where the verse picks up rocks my world, you can't go wrong with 2 and 4 beat heys underneath the vocals. Nice harmonizing right there good shiz. totally lost in acapella goodness. The harmonies whether done properly or for comic effect all sound so good that I want to make them into a cake and eat them until i get diabetes.

I'm Alright I Suppose

I want to put a suit and wear  it ironically whilst listening to this. Gives me a bit of an offspring vibe in the chorus. Rocking. This is ironic in the best kind of way, in which it's done to give a message other than "look i'm ironic". OHHH Drum breakdown!! That's the thing about hipsters isn't it, just super goddamned vain really. I saw a guy today with a surly mustache, do those guys actually look attractive to the opposite sex? I doubt it. Assholes.

Head Shot

I could not listen to this song and I would love it anyway because of the Hitchikers guide reference, but then it kicks in and the smooth summertime ska vibes take over and all i want to do is spin in circles. I used to have hangovers, not anymore cuz I'm straight edge (apart from all the drugs) but I can relate to this extremely well, all while nodding my head up and down like a loon missing the good old days of trying to listen to someone else explain to me why there is a heart shaped puke stain on my kitchen door. OH YEAH! GOOD GOD!

Doughnut Man

Oh man yeah, seriously this is like drinking three redbulls at once, what a skank anthem, and such a powerhouse chorus. This is it. The cream of all ska. If someone hasn't listened to a ska album before ( and shame on you is you haven't) then this should be it, in fact even if you've listen to a million ska albums and any number in between then this is exactly what the best of the genre sounds like. It's just gone shooting into my top five songs of all time. I would hit the haters with my kung fu, shame my kung fu is weak and smells.

Meat Party: Episode IV

This one is the metal tune. Not really but you know, bit of a heavy intro. Rad. Thing with this album is that you may think that because it's on a small label and it's not been on Kerrang then it might somehow lack in quality for all that but you would be sorely wrong. This takes the real greats like Reel Big Fish and Sublime and Lightyear and fits right alongside, maybe even looming over them like the way those wish their band could sound like, that's not to say I think those guys are bad. As I mentioned I think they are (were) the best until i heard this.

It's Not Me It's You

Man just when you think is just about as good as it can get they throw in a skatepunk chorus. I love skatepunk the most ever and now i love this album the most ever. This just goes to show what incredible musicianship is on display, these guys clearly love the ska, and they have perfected their craft, but this songs just says "yeah but we could have quite easily written one of the best skatepunk albums of all time if we were inclined". Smooth stuff

John Feldmann's Going To Kill Me

DAT BASS! I see what they did here. Goldfinger are one of those bands that I properly grew up listening to. When I say "properly" I mean that I was already a fan before they had a song on a video game. Superman was a song that didn't leave the punk clubs playlists for too many years. I broke the rules just now to go back and see if I could catch all of the references. If I was to write a homage to my idol I would just borderline plagiarize their music rather than writing something clever and witty and endearing. I am not as good as Call Me Malcolm though. I feel that not many people are.

Sucker Punch

Holy cow yeah!! When these guys wanna rock they fucking crank those amps right up to 11 (of a possible 5). It's nice to hear bands that are just as comfortable playing with the distortion switched on as they are killing it on upstrokes.

Battleaxe

And then when they've wound you up like a coil the last tune kicks in and it floats you back down to earth in a cloud of pure awesome and perfectly constructed vocal melodies. I feel like I've been on the funnest journey through my mind right now and this is the ship to to the Grey Havens just ending the game for all who have come before. I feel sorry for all other music in my life that has to come after this. I may actively decide to never listen to another album again. The rational part of my brain tells me that it's not a great idea because I play in a band myself and run a record label and part of that means I will inevitably need to hear something else but right now I don't care. This is it, and everything can go hit the mute button.

Bonus

I wont say too much about this. It is an experience that cannot be described without my face exploding. Whatever you are thinking you are totally wrong.


And there you have it. I only proof read this enough to clear out the worst of the spelling mistakes so if you made it far enough to read this then I'm sorry, seemed like a good idea at the time. Go console yourself with THIS ALBUM

Killing it at NX

This is going to be yet another in the long list of love letters I've written to the New Cross Inn. The thing that makes these shows so much fun is the character of that place. You never know what kind of crazy is going to walk through the door but you can be pretty sure that they are going to be brilliant. Highlights this show included a tiny old oriental woman chugging large glasses of red wine and demanding that Mug play her "Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting" and a bald dude who certainly took to heart the saying "Dance like nobody's watching". If you're band who enjoy seeing just how bizzare a show can get then this is the place for you and we love it. New Cross is the spiritual home of Thirteen Stitches and last Saturday saw it take us in it's arms and throw us playfully into the air until we laughed so much it hurt our sides and threw up a little on it's shoulder!

Red Rag Front
At one point I wasn't going to play this show to make space for more bands but then I was so excited about the line up I thought fuck it and stuck us on at the beginning. We had a pretty good set apart from Drew hilariously forgetting where the end of a song was. All I can ask from playing shows is that the people in the venue at that early point enjoy and appreciate what we do and I really felt that it was well received. This was one of our quiet goodbyes to acoustic sets and the response was humbling and invigorating for the future of RRF.

Bottler
Bottler were ever so slightly the outsiders for this show being the only group on the list not a part of the 13SX family, although a quick listen to their pretty stellar EP let me know they'd be right at home in our little melodic punk rock paradise. Despite having to battle attention away from a Brazilian penalty shoot-out (even guitarist John finding it difficult to tear himself from the big screen) they knocked their set out of the park. They play anthemic tunes and pull off their set with skill and precision (albeit with some minor guitar to acoustic faffing) and they impressed all who watched with their energy and made friends and fans all round. I'm looking forward to getting to see them again soon.

Mug
What? What the hell were Mug doing going on so early? The answer to this is the same for any question you pose to the techincal skate punk powerhouses - "Because fuck you that's why......also because life demands it".

I could gush about Mug forever. They are the full package, as long as that package is your favourite punk band. Everything they play is dripping with awesomeness, I don't think I ever heard them miss a beat and I should do because I'm a serious fanboy and know their songs inside out! If you want to know what a great band sound like live then look no further. Mug are the band we all want to be live, fast paced but technically perfect, extremely professional but perfectly accessible and clearly exceptional without a shred of ego. Also they are the best guys. Mug. I love Mug. Go buy their things.....

The 4130s
Travelling all the way from the far east (of England) this was the first London show for the 4130s and they claimed the prize for having the fans who travelled the furthest having a dude having made a trip up from Devon to check them out. I don't like to liken bands to other established acts too much but if Bad Religion ever stopped singing christmas carols and got more punk than they've ever been they might come close to being as awesome as the 4130s. These guys played hits off their highly successful first album which were brilliant and had everyone shouting along. They also  played tracks from their brand new album (available on 13SX records) which were particularly excellent and even more polished than the hits (possibly due to them having spent months getting ready for the record). Their power levels are through the roof when they play and I don't even think singer Ben needs the mic to be heard when bellowing out the catchy as fuck choruses.

Demon Smiles
Normally before a Demon Smiles set I'm not shitting myself like a little bitch with a skinned knee but that's because normally I'm not filling in for Joe on Guitar and vocals. I had a practice with Demon Smiles once -May 2013 - and had spent the previous night listening to their new EP on repeat a bunch of times, playing along on an acoustic guitar. I was a tiny bit apprehensive about playing a set of songs I'd never performed live with a band i hadn't practiced with in a year on a borrowed guitar (I haven't played an electric guitar in over seven years). But the moral of the story was when you are a fanboy then things can go better than expected. Playing what was Demon Smiles simplified to the basic rhythm of the tunes it all came together quite nicely and we were incredibly well received by the people watching which was kind of like how I imagine my heaven to be like.

The Rocco Lampones
The worst thing about being the headliners is that when all the preceding band are rad then you're likely to be ever so slightly shit-faced by the time you get on stage. Not that the Rocco Lampones let that hamper them playing a killer set (maybe instead it amplified the effect of them being awesome). If there was a missed beat or fumbled line then i must have missed it whilst I was dancing my ass off. They were funny and endearing in between songs and when they're playing they have riffs you can die happy in. They were the perfect end to what was an incredible line-up delivering tunes to get everyone jumping. Again having a group of guys that are so excellent off the stage kick so much ass on stage makes it all just that bit more enjoyable and I could quite happily watch them every day of the week.

The culmination of all of this awesome was another cementing of the fact that New Cross is the place to be for all your no nonsense, anti prejudice, all inclusive, good time punk rock fun. Long live the New Cross Inn.

5 things that'll keep you up an night being a music promoter

Everyone loves live music, or at least those that come to see shows loves live music, but how often do we think/care about what goes into getting those people to stand on a stage and play and to make sure that people show up?
This year has seen my first few forays into actually setting up and promoting shows and seeing this side of the coin, rather than the "turn up, plug in, make noise, fuck off" story I was previously used to. So I asked a bunch of other DIY promoters with varying levels of experience about how they find things and from that have extracted some fun advice for those who may consider it.

N.B. - this is for fun people, by all means spark up a conversation about how you promote yourselves or what you expect from promoters but any abuse or naughtiness will invoke the wrath of Zeus.

1. Bands can be arseholes

Now don't get me wrong the majority of bands are lovable likable rogues and great great people but as with everything in life there are some that will sour and experience for you and they key to success when promoting is to be able to pick these out and weed them out of the groups you do business with so you can keep those greying hairs at bay. You will find some bands are all about the money, they will demand to know all about the payment in their first sentence of communication and put demands and ask for guarantees before everything else. Now I'm not saying that as a band you shouldn't worry about your travel money and what-not but as a promoter know that these things have been considered and will be discussed in due time. Bands will also lay a lot of demands at a promoters feet and if you are dealing with the headlining act, fine maybe come to some agreement as long as demands aren't too outlandish but there should be sharp diminishing returns for your support acts. At the end of the day if someone wants the trimmings on their show to be extravagant then maybe they should have looked at something outside of DIY punk shows.

• As a subset of bands an honorable mention needs to go to booking artists too. I know from personal experience that a bad booking agent can not only lose a great band several high profile shows but also having to deal with an arsehole booking agent can often make the band look like a bunch of dicks too. 

2. Venues can be arseholes

There are some really really great places to play shows where people want Live music in their bar because the  people who drink there love live music and so do they, these people are few and far between though and recognizing the turds is always gonna be a priority for promoters, especially in the niche corner of punk rock that we exist in. Does the venue want to charge you for the night? Do you have to use their own backline/pa/sound engineer all for a price? Are there crazy noise restrictions? Doe the curfew mean everyone will have to play shortened sets? if you find a majority of these things are true then maybe it's time to start looking elsewhere. As a small DIY promoter you already have a group of bands that you would like to give some money too plus you need to make just a little yourself so having to throw good money at extras that other venues will provide for free is crazy unless you're charging enough to cover everything, and the motto with DIY punk should be "as close to free for attendees as possible". Of course even free shows can't save the day sometimes since....

3. Attendees can be arseholes

Back in the day a promoter would have to stand in streets for days handing out thousands of flyers to every one within sight just so those people could throw them in the nearest bin, it was pain staking and didn't yield great results and cost a lot. Now we live in the digital age we have Facebook, an immensely powerful tool that is connected with just about everyone on earth (at least those you would be targeting to come out for an evening of punk rock). Whilst we still do flyering at targeted shows and put posters up if we have a buddy that works for a printers we do the majority of pushing via FB and that's fine because most of us check it several times a day and it is on the whole free to promote within groups and from pages. The problem is though that a persons insistence that they are coming to a show becomes as quick as a click of a button and for shows of this nature advanced tickets are a rare and seldom used thing. Sometimes you can see triple figures from a shows attendance in a facebook event and still not have more than a handfull turn up. a "going" click on facebook means very little when the effort required to agree is so small. Even if you are putting on a free show people will find excuses not to make it out like, the travel costs or the weather or whatever. In truth though people just plain old forget most of the time, just like we only know it's a persons birthday because facebook told us we forget to check what events are happening and they sail by without a second thought. Almost all of the people that actually do make it down have a great time at punk shows and that word of mouth is really the best form of advertising but getting momentum for your night going and making it worthwhile is a difficult thing when people aren't that interested in turning up in the first place.

4. The night can be an arsehole

Why do we put shows on? Because we love live music right? We probably have bands too right? Chances are if you're reading this you are in, or have friends in a band. It seems like the obvious thing to have your band play your own night but trust me from experience that it's a stress kettle of the highest magnitude doing both band and promotion duties in a night. Time keeping is often the first thing that will generally go out the window. I don't think I've ever known a headlining band to turn up in time for a soundcheck at the allocated time, and if you tell people a show starts at 7pm they will invariably get to the venue at 8.30 and your first act will play to no one. You will worry constantly that not enough people are going to show up and will only stop fretting at the point you break even, which could be two songs before the main act finishes. The bands may have had a crucial piece of equipment break which you have no way of replacing, the traffic/weather on the night can leave someone stranded an hour away when they're due on in ten minutes. The third support act will deliberately play too long meaning the last two bands will have to shorten their sets. You will invariably face a thousand little things that haven't gone according to you schedule of events and people will look to you to solve everything and your head will feel like exploding. Right up until the point where it's all over and everyone is shaking your hand and telling you what an amazing time they've had. then you can relax for five minutes before setting up the next show.

5. You're an arsehole

There is only so much one person can control, and in the midst of a choatic punk show those things dwindle down to around zero. This doesn't mean that you can't be blamed for everything and anything that comes your way. No one showed up? your fault. Bands played too long? your fault. Stuff broke? your fault. An act had a bad show and sounded crud? your fault. I've heard the promoter blamed for just around everything that could possibly go wrong with a night and people can always offer up a way you could have resolved it, so what can you do when you're the arsehole who ruined the evening? Get annoyed with people? no freaking way bud, then you really are an arsehole, you just have to shrug it all off, and remind people that it's all gonna work out anyway, then bounce right back from your troubles and get on to making sure that you avoid that next time round, because learning by having something go super wrong and then making sure you've done all you can to make sure that doesn't happen in future is all we can do. You'll do it again for the chance to put your friends bands on and see them play, wherever in the world they've come from, and you'll know that they'll do the same for you if you travel, you'll hit even and be able to give the bands who have played money and it'll feel like the greatest triumph of your life. You'll meet great people and start lifelong friendships, the people who play your shows will be thankful that they got to play and most importantly you wont love live music any less and this is as close to the heart of it as you can get.

When punk died in North West London

I have the pleasure of writing about some of the most fantastic experiences in my life on this blog. The trouble though, with a warts and all approach is that when things go wrong they're gonna end up here too, and wrong things did go, disastrously so.

This is the story of how a show I put together sputtered and died  and how it was my fault I guess.

So lets start at the beginning. I needed to put together a show for a Hungarian band - Till We Drop - and  unfortunately the 13SX mainstay venues were all booked up. On a hunch I tried The Junction in Harrow, having played a pretty sweet halloween show last October.
I spoke with the relevant people over Facebook and (here's where things start to go wrong) I had a phone call in which I assumed I had confirmed that the date was booked. I also sent them the event page so they could keep up to date with what was happening.

Anyways time passes and the world moves on and we come to the day of the show. I turn up to the bar and there nobody is aware of what is going on. Apparently nothing had been confirmed with the venue and rather than having checked with me at any point to see if I was still going ahead assumed that the conversations we had never took place.
Still they said the space was still free and we could still use it but we couldn't have the bar open upstairs. Fair enough I thought, the show must go on.
Next to rain on our parade was the fact we had to use their own (total shitty) PA instead of the stellar one we had brought along. Again, fair enough the show still went on. A little late I was ready to take the stage and kick some ass. What followed was the most awful set I have ever produced as a sober musician. The stress of fucking around getting everything happening gave me a brain wipe and I couldn't remember any of the words to any of my songs and I think Drew may have sustained a head injury earlier in the day as he similarly couldn't seem to recall how any of the songs that we wrote together went. So after ruining a live recording although apparently still doing well enough to hide it enough to make it enjoyable for everyone else we departed the stage and made way for the fully plugged bands.
The Drunken Ramblings were next and it was soon pretty apparent that the ampage of the equipment was way too much for the shitty assed PA system we were forced to use. So it was more of an instrumental set. It was also halfway through their set that shit started to go really wrong. The bar staff came up to me and told me it needed to be turned down a bit, fair enough I said, I didn't want to be fucking people off, I just wanted to make some sweet sweet punkrock. Later during their set I was told the drums were too loud. Well shit. What to do when the un mic'd drums are too loud. Fuck and carry on was the choice I made and TDR managed to finish our set. By this point we were annoying lots of the staff and we did all we could and tried (didn't really try) to keep some of the noise down(ish). Not Pennys boat were up next and they made it a fair way through their set before the axe came down. There had been some kind of complaint and the gig was totally shut down, we couldn't even carry on acoustically. Nothing. So there I was with my nuts in my hand and not a chance in hell of carrying on the show.

This was the single most embarrassing moment of my adult life as I had a headlining act who had come over from hungary to the UK for the first time for their farewell tour and they weren't going to play a show. They could have taken the money it cost them all to travel over with all their equipment and used it to buy pins to stick in their eyes and they would have gotten more than putting their trust in me to deliver them a great show. Now I'm not exactly saying it was the junction who ruined this event but I have a few points:

I have the message I sent to them confirming that the gig was going ahead. I don't know how archaic their processes are but I do all my band business over facebook so took that as a done deal. Also who agrees to book in a bunch of punk bands when they can't make noise? And who doesn't check to see whether an event they have  penciled  in is still happening or not if there is any  ambiguity on their behalf. As I said I though it a done deal since I had the conversation on the phone saying I very much wanted the event to take place there and then sent them the event info straight away afterwards.

Anyway I guess there is always more I could have done. There is always something else I could have done, but from now on one thing is clear in my mind. Punk is dead in Harrow. Long live South East London!!!

When BeSharp filled the New Cross...

It's official. The punks have taken the New Cross Inn and made it their home. Judging by this Sundays ska/punk super-show we are here to stay and I think everybody is incredibly happy about it. The venue has had some of the best shows in the scene hosted there and it seems that people now realise it's now the place to be.
The line up was set, every ticket available for the show had been sold and NX was ready to jump the eff up. These were our guys come to cheer on both veteran pros and total newcomers alike and I didn't spot a single person without a smile on their faces. So the ritual brass cranked up and we said our protection wards to make the zombie Jesus search elsewhere for brains and got to business:

The Pisdicables
If I've never heard your band before and you want to instantly make sure that I love it then play a Rancid

cover. This was an apt cover for Pisdicables as they seemed like they would be utterly at home on the likes of a Give 'Em The Boot compilation or elsewhere in the Hellcat ska library. I can only assume that they jumped on the bill at the last second since I've rarely seen such a quality band come on so early in a bill. They showed five o clock on easter sunday who was boss and the crowd of people who managed to make it down to see them showed that they can pull a crowd any time of the day.

Triple Sundae

If the late 90s early 2K pop punk explosion needed a figure head to lead the revolution then Triple Sundae could fly that flag and slay a thousand dragons. Listening to them I was transported back to the days when pop-punk was only just a thing and bands loved music more than  straightening their hair and crying. I was reminded greatly of Green Day back when they only had good albums (N.B. Nimrod was the last good one) and MxPx hadn't had that album I like to forget on that major label. All in all I could've easily forgotten that this band had never played a show before and I can't wait for them to start taking the scene by storm.

Xup-Sup
When I was a lad emo-punk meant something very different than it does today. Emo-punk was any punk rock that wasn't really political and focused more on relationships. Emo-punk was pop-punk before that

term was a thing. You could spot a emo kid by their descendants t-shirts and the fact they always seemed to wear rucksacks in the crowd at shows. Xup-Sup are the imbodiment of this and they played a masterclass in the genre. They played a super tight set full of great melodies, memorable vocals and  synchronized jumping. All the best things that I love the most. This is a band that I need to see again and own everything they have.

Best Mates That Crack Cases

It's true that I am Bass player biased. Having been the bassist in many a band and being a top percentile Mike Herrera fanboy means that the four stringers are my favourite band members and someone who can expertly play is an instant winner in my eyes. Leo from Best Mates is that expert. He did things to a bass guitar that made me blush and then ate at Cottage Chicken with me after. I think that counts as second....BASS!!!
the band itself is a frenetic ever changing jump fest and doesn't rest or make themselves lazy because they have a beautiful singer or do anything by anyone elses rules musically. If you're looking to try and pigeonhole them then I'd try something along the lines of Incubus meets Save Ferris meets Eve 6, that doesn't get close but may give an idea as to the unique and extremely entertaining show they put on.

Call Me Malcolm
Before this show if you had asked me to describe the absolute perfect ska-punk band I would have struggled and given up and been miserable for the next few hours but now can easily and with a beaming smile say Call Me Malcolm. They are everything a truly exceptional ska-punk offering should be and they

show off their mastery of their chosen genre with a finesse that comes from being veterans who know exactly what they are doing. They weren't just incredible musicians with unforgettable songs (  "double the reggae is half reggae squared" appeals to every aspect of both my punk and geek natures), they knew how to work a stage and looked every bit the ska punk rockstars. I love a band that can land their harmonies spot on in a small venue without the aid of particulalry good monitors or ear pieces and they made harmonic honey for my bear ears... or something like that, it was good, too good, it seemed, to be fourth from the top.


Rivalries
Rivalries were the band I knew on this bill, I'd not seen them live but have heard and liked their stuff already so this time I knew what to expect and was excited to finally see them perform. Unfortunately they had a real chronic case of bad sound for some reason. For a band who share vocals having one that was non existent made most songs jar and the flow got knocked out of place for me a lot. the guitars seemed to get lost too and the melodic sections of the songs seemed to fight behind a wall of noise. I really like Rivalries, they are obviously a great band judging by the fact that the crowd still went freaking nuts and they know how to handle a stage like pros but I still don't feel like I know what they sound

like live.

T///Alan
I write down little notes on bands these days to help me remember some of my thoughts when it comes to writing about them. For T///Alan I have two words: Holy Shit! I'm no stranger to the idea that UK Grime can work extremely well with ska but what these guys deliver is such a perfect powerhouse of awesome that i could barely comprehend what was happening until my brain stopped vibrating with crazy heavy - almost metal - ska punk. I've known these guys exist for a long time but this was the first time I'd heard their music and I was coloured every shade of impressed. It's an utterly unique blend of so many genres that you'd think they would muddy each other but instead make the whole shine through as something outstanding. Bit

of Dub-Step bass? Why Not? Rage Against the Machine esque guitar riffs? Will do thanks! dual vocals faster than any fool calling themselves a rap god? Go on then! T///Alan are one of lifes one offs. If anyone tried to imitate them they'd fail because these guys have it down with so much precision that anything that could come close would seem trite in comparison.


Chewing on Tinfoil.
The New Cross Inn isn't the biggest venue in town but it's a fair size. It seemed tiny as I pushed through the capacity audience trying to get a good view of Chewing on Tinfoil, the

days ska rock superstars over from Dublin. As I pushed the floor actually bent under the weight of people jumping and going totally mental. you wouldn't think that 200 people would be able to drown out a fully plugged band but they threatened to with each and every chorus and COT loved and appreciated every second of it, working the crowd to get the most out of them and to keep everyone losing their shit. The band were excellent and sounded amazing despite having to play over a crowd that knew every word to every song and wanted to make damn sure the band heard it.

One thing that happens down in New Cross that doesn't seem to happen anywhere else is that I always hear bands thanking the promoters for putting them on. It's nice as band to be at a show where there is a large and engaged crowd and this Sunday was the most animated crowd I've seen there yet. What a fantastic debut for a brand new band to have 60 people all paying attention to you play and how equally great as an established act to have your tunes boomed back to you by 200. This is the kind of show every band wants to play no matter what your level and props to those tireless souls who pull it together with cellotape and spit.

People had to be turned away from the venue due to the overwhelming popularity of the show so I would imagine that if that was the case for local heroes Chewing on Tinfoil then Authority Zero, who are playing in August will go even faster. To make sure you don't miss out on being at such a huge show at what is certainly now THE punk rock venue in London then pick up your tickets by following this link.