Birminghams Brand new 02 Academy play host to Enter Shikari, Devil wears prada supporting.
Enter Shikari are a four-piece post-hardcore band from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England formed in 2003. Inspired by hardcore (in both punk-rock and dance genres), metal and trance.
Despite being offered several major label record deals, their debut album Take To The Skies was released on their own label – Ambush Reality – in March 2007, reaching the dizzy heights of #4 in the UK’s official Album Charts and going on to sell over 100.000 copies in the UK (the album was released in Europe through PIAS, in North America on Ambush Reality / Tiny Evil, and in Japan on Hostess).
In March 2008, after spending 12 months on the road across the globe, Enter Shikari set up camp in their rehearsal room (a large shed in Chris Batten’s back garden which they christened “The ‘Low”) to begin writing tracks for their second album such as Antwerpen which was released as a free digital-download from the band’s website.
In July they played to their largest live audience at the UK date of Linkin Park’s ‘Project Revolution’ travelling festival alongside JayZ, Pendulum and N*E*R*D, as well as playing several shows with Linkin Park in mainland Europe.
Enter Shikari followed a UK / Ireland tour in October 2008 with the release of a one-off single ‘We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don’t Want Us To Escape’ (a finished version of a track the band demoed in 2005 but never got around to ever finishing properly until the summer 2008). — last fm.
Link to the bands website
Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago at 4:05 pm. Add a comment
Venue – The Hare and Hounds
Cheers to Carlo from the 444 club for letting me know abou this fantastic band, all the way from LA to Birmingham,
“If you threw Kings of Leon, Scissor Sisters and Arcade Fire into a blender, this – with an obligatory shot of wheatgrass – is exactly what you would get in your musical glass.”
Almost 40 years to the day since the Manson murders is, perhaps, not the best time for this bunch of long-hairs to release their debut album.
Throw in a messianic group leader, the fact that they drive around LA in a painted bus and write lyrics that include “Run to the desert/ You will be/ All that you need to be” and it’s clear that history, minus the murderous madness (hopefully), is repeating itself as farce in sunny California.
Having said that, there is also something unmistakably now about Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. If you threw Kings of Leon, Scissor Sisters and Arcade Fire into a blender, this – with an obligatory shot of wheatgrass – is exactly what you would get in your musical glass.
It’s a somtimes heady brew. Sharpe – real name Alex Ebert – and his crew (which stretches from nine to 13) sing, clap and make all manner of joyous noises that make live shows raucous and rejuvenating events. Such “vibes” are harder to get across on record.
Up from Below starts promisingly with a few short foot stomps signalling the arrival of “40 Day Dream”, as Sharpe bursts in with “Ooh, I’ve been sleeping for 40 days ‘n’/ I know I’m sleeping cos this dream’s too amazing”. There follows a redemptive Arcade Fire-style group-singalong chorus with a “magical mystery” motif, as the spirit of the 1960s come charging triumphantly into the here and now.
It sets a standard the group can’t possibly maintain and there follow songs so forgettable that it’s hard to believe it takes this many people to play them. Salvation arrives again at the album’s core, with two songs so fabulous they diminish still further those mediocre moments. “Home” is a psychedelic-country jam that positively whoops with delight, while “Desert Song” is as ominous and creepy as the Manson Family it evokes.
Bottom line is, if Up from Below had come out in 1969, it may well have started a musical revolution. But times have changed and the acid-fried young folk of that year played their own small part in that cultural shift. For now, it’s worth popping a few of these songs on to your iPod and musing on what might have been had that hippie dream not turned so dramatically sour.
Reviewed by Simmy Richman
Posted 1 year ago at 9:11 pm. Add a comment
Birmingham – the Barfly
Breed 77
Breed 77 come from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Old Gibraltarian school friends, Paul Isola, Danny Felice, and Stuart Cavilla met up in London and became informally known as the Gibraltarian Mafia. When, in late April 1996, this circle of friends formed a band, they wanted a name to reflect their joint origins and called themselves simply Breed. The band were forced to change their name because it was previously registered by Steve Hewitt (formerly of Placebo) on his vanity record label. Stuart Cavilla, the band’s bass player, had previously worked as a motorcycle courier under the call sign of Kilo 77 or K77, and the band became Breed 77
Breed 77’s self-titled debut album was first released in November 2001 and due to a high demand was re-released in April 2005. Their second album Cultura was released on 3 May 2004 and went to number 61 in the UK album charts and number 3 in the Rock Album Chart. Cultura produced the singles “La Última Hora”, “The River”, and “World’s on Fire”. “The River” managed to secure their first UK Top 40 position, getting to number 39 in the UK Singles Chart. “World’s On Fire” just missed out scraping in at number 43, but was number 1 in the Rock Singles Chart. Neither song received any mainstream radio air-time and the videos were featured only on the Scuzz and Kerrang! TV music television channels.
Breed 77 released their third album In My Blood (En Mi Sangre) internationally on 11 September 2006. In My Blood (En Mi Sangre) was produced by Ron Saint-Germain (The Saint) noted for his work with Soundgarden, Tool, Creed and Bad Brains. Two bonus tracks were produced by Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers). The first single from this album, “Alive”) was out on 12 June 2006, also known as Download Monday, and reached number 6 on the Rock Singles Chart. The second single was “Blind”, released on 4 September 2006. Their last single to date is “Look at Me Now”, released on 23 April 2007. The single includes a special cover of the song ‘Zombie’, by The Cranberries.
In early 2007, the band released the iTunes exclusive album Un Encuentro (to coincide with the launch of “iTunes Latino“. The album featured 11 songs from previous albums but all sung in Spanish. This album was re-released in physical CD format on 7 May 2007.
The band is currently finalising their fifth studio album, Insects. The first two tracks have been announced as “The Horns of Hattin” (April 2008) and “Wake Up” (July 2008). The album is set to be released early-mid 2009.
Panic Cell
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Harj Virdee (Guitar)
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Rob Hicks (Drums)
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Luke Bell (Vocals)
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Kelly Downes (Guitar)
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Bobby Town (Bass)
Taking their cue from the new album title, Panic Cell have striven forward defiantly through their first album (‘Bitter Part of Me’) and their intense live shows have won them acclaim, admiration and new fans all over the world, their reputation as a world class live act is unquestionable. “We’re a live band first and foremost, we’re entertainers and we do a damn fine job, we play every show with hunger and voraciously whether we’re first or last on the bill ” says vocalist Luke Bell. Three years of touring the UK, Ireland, Europe & the U.S.A has oiled the machine that is Panic Cell; the band have taken new found maturity and poured it into ‘What Doesn’t Kill Us’. “Having had the luxury of coming off tour and spending time in pre-production for these new songs, something we couldn’t do with the first album and Panic Cell sound all the better for doing it” says bassist Bobby Town.
Panic Cells evolution comes as no surprise when looking at the top international class of bands they have toured with on their first release: U.S Billboard No.1 artists Disturbed and Staind, Mudvayne, Devildriver, SOiL, Drowning Pool, ILL Nino, Testament, American Head Charge, In This Moment and many more. “We’ve had the privilege of playing with many a great band, literally world class acts that has ensured every night we go out on stage we’ve had to raise our game, giving the crowd one hell of a show.” says drummer Rob Hicks. One hell of a show is very apt for the bands set at the UK’s top rock/metal festival ‘Download 2007′ with many people believing this one of the main highlights of the festival. A packed out tent with outside standing room only is testimony to Panic Cells pulling power and longevity. Most astonishing of all, everything Panic Cell had achieved to this point was as an unsigned band. (words taken from the bands
website)
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 3:29 pm. Add a comment
Download the set Here
Gallery Link Here
Gypsy Pistoleros link Here
DMA Models Here
The Gypsy Pistoleros - DMA models. - Dave Piper Photogrpahy
Last Sunday i was up nice and early, had my breakfast then headed down to the studio for what was a very fun but cold day. Thank you to all involved. A crew of 4, the band, and the 7 models from the DMA agency made this a very fun day and some excellent photography! A big thank you to Daz and Vix for making it all happen. The whole set of photos will not be up for a while yet as it was almost a 6 hour shoot and there are lots of stunning photos to get though! Be sure to check back or register to the blog to see the rest of the shoot as it comes up! I will also be starting to create the new artwork for the forthcoming album from the Pistoleros! so watch this space!
Happy Birthday Iggs!
Fae - DMA
Anarchy - DMA
Ghost - DMA
Dave “Pistolero” Piper….
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 2:49 pm. 3 comments
Last year Gigbeth and Heducation brought us JFB and Beardyman, This year its bringing us a mighty fine line up:
Clare Edwards, Founder and Organiser of Gigbeth says: “It is an honour to host such a seminal band as The Sugarhill Gang at Gigbeth 2008 and presents a great opportunity for fans of the group to meet their heroes. With this being the first and maybe last performance by The Sugarhill Gang in Birmingham, just having them in the city presents a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of their Birmingham based fans.”
Other headlining acts at this years Gigbeth include ‘Geek Rockers’ Young Knives, indie phenomenon The Guillemots, MOBO winner Kano and dance music icons The Stanton Warriors.
Tickets are priced at £15 for Friday, £18 for Saturday, or £25 for the entire weekend. Tickets are available by ringing the official Gigbeth Box Office on 0844 888 3883.
Posted 1 year, 10 months ago at 9:49 pm. 1 comment
Last Tuesday saw Templeton Pek supporting US punk band Millencolin,
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I got me sorted out with a press pass ( Cheers Kev ) and headed down to the rock show!!,
Enjoy!
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago at 1:12 pm. Add a comment
