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.

We all sucked once upon a time

I've made a new best internet friend recently. The last time I had so much in common with a person I had never met before it was Steve and now we run a business together so I always think of it as a good thing. We both love live music a goddamn hell of a lot and are striving to build up, with what little resources we have available to us, a live music scene which is open and available to all of those people who always wanted to be on a sweaty stage in front of a bunch of drunks and burst their eardrums but never could. It's a really difficult thing to do though. It shouldn't be. So I'll share a little embarrassment on myself and along the way hopefully inspire even just one person who is on the fence about starting a new band.

We all sucked once. There was a time too many years ago when all I wanted to do was play in a band that was just like mxpx. The problem was I didn't really know how to write songs, how to play the guitar properly, what was involved in recording songs, how to go about getting shows or what to do on a stage. That meant that I sucked at being a musician, but guess what, I didn't give a shit because every Saturday me and three friends would cram into our 15 year old drummers shed at his house and play our crappy songs and most of Life In General and we had the best time. As far as we were concerned we were a band, even though we sounded like this:

Yep that's pretty bad. But we were playing music and fucking around with all our friends and that's what mattered to us. I really didn't know about how to get gigs and we only played a few actual shows supporting another friends band and I wish to high heaven that we could have done more but we didn't know any promoters putting on shows around town - or even what a promoter was - and we had no real outlet that we were aware of.

cut to 7 years later and the quality of bands I was playing in got a lot better. mostly due to me getting better (see my previous post on that) and being able to interact with more talented musicians. This was not an overnight thing. I was passionate about music for several years and it took me a long time to learn the ropes. I have been through several bands with several differing levels of motivation and have scores of EPs to show for it but still I have never had a promoter actively look to put on upcoming talent, even though the songs I was playing went from crappy to more like this:



Well now people are offering that opportunity. 13 Stitches and Ipswich Punk Shows are giving that opportunity to bands that was like gold dust and still is in most instances. If you aren't sure of how to transition from playing in a shed with your mates to playing an honest to goodness show with established bands then this is where you need to be. For the first time since I started handing demos into venues there are promoters in the world who will take a brand new bands hand and walk them through the process, giving the best advice they can think to give along the way. There is a network of established and up and coming bands all willing to have a new band take up a support slot and gain experience in all sizes of venue. It's there for the taking and if you enjoy playing the music you love then it's your best opportunity to get out there and do it.

Some bands may be scared from hearing stories about the Mondo culture and pay for play shows and you should be because that sort of nonsense is rampant and preys on brand new acts. But there are promotions companies out there that will actively fight against this and teach you what to look for in the process. They are only an instant message away and they are totally on your side.

So record yourselves on your phone at a practice. Get a mate to take a few photos of you and make yourself a Facebook page. Get a Soundcloud account and putting your crappy demos on there. You can worry about improving things and having better quality everything once you're out there and getting things done. Believe me when I say there's nothing better than having people stand and appreciate your music. Everything else is secondary.