Saturday 24 September 2011

Edinburgh Scene - As Autumn Falls


This is the second installment of my look into the Edinburgh heavy metal scene, and another feature that been sitting in my inbox for a while. Anyway, As Autumn Falls describe themselves as a post-hardcore band. They are made up of Ali on vocals, Jamie and Sean on guitars, Beattie on bass and Jamie on drums.

I caught up with the band a while ago to ask them some questions. I've put the answers below.

What prompted you to start As Autumn Falls?

As Autumn Falls started as your usual high school band, the normal couple of mates starting a band kind of thing. Since then we have been through 1 name change and 2 line up changes until last year we decided on the name As Autumn Falls and the current line up has now settled down and some great things are on there way.

What are your influence, both musically or otherwise?

We all have many different influences throughout the band from Hit The Lights to Architects. On a whole we are mostly influenced by Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, even ADTR's older stuff.

What is the Edinburgh scene like now and has it changed much from when you started out?

We only recently broke into the Edinburgh scene when our line up changed around a year ago. Even in the space of a year there seems to be a lot of younger bands coming through to help the scene grow. I would say that the Edinburgh scene has started to flourish and will continue to grow into something great one day.

What do think about the state of metal in general at the moment?

There is a great underground hardcore type of scene at the moment with plenty of great bands appearing all the time.

What have you got planned for the coming months?

We have got some big things planned in the coming months, we are working on booking many more tours throughout the UK as well as heading down to Kent to re-record our EP and tour/promote it more so throughout the UK.

Do you think that social networking sites like Facebook have helped you to get noticed by new fans?

Facebook and other social networking sites have helped us out greatly! Facebook has helped us even book tours in the past and we wouldn't be able to survive without. We recently uploaded our EP for free to bandcamp which has had 100s of downloads so far. By letting people download our EP for free we are reaching listeners that probably would have never heard of us before if it wasn't for bandcamp. The EP has even found its way onto many torrent sites, mediafire, and strangely lots of Russian download forums, even some American ones without us even knowing about most of them until recently!

What has been the highlight for you so far as a band?

There has been many great highlights so far, from our first UK tour to supporting many great bands like, Bury Tomorrow, The Casino Brawl to Yashin and Young Guns. It would be hard to pinpoint an exact highlight as there has been so many and hopefully there is many to come!

Can you recommend bands from your local scene, that people should check out?

Go check out The Party Program, Behind Hollow Walls, Here Lies A Warning, Dead At The Scene, there are many more. Sorry if we have forgotten anyone! 


You can listen to As Autumn Falls' EP - Seeing is Believing on their bandcamp page at http://asautumnfalls.bandcamp.com/.

You can also listen to here-










If you want to check out As Autumn Falls' EP go to their Big Cartel page at http://asautumnfalls.bigcartel.com/ and purchase it for the princely sum of £1!

As Autumn Falls are another band to keep an eye on, not just north of the border, but wherever you are as well. We'll start hearing a lot more of there guys soon!





Let It Die - bring the violence


Another band to appear out of the deathly shadows of the UK hardcore scene are Kettering based Let It Die. They have been causing quite a stir recently in the UK and have a 10" vinyl/CD set coming out via an as yet unknown label, as well as being band on the week on the Terrorizer magazine website, which you can read here http://truecultheavymetal.com/band-of-the-day-let-it-die.

So explain a bit about Let It Die? How did you form?

We are a kind of crusty/scuzzy Hardcore thing from Kettering in the Midlands. We are Alex on drums, Ben on Guitars, Dean on bass and me, Red, on vocals. Let It Die came about through the demise of two bands (You Suck and Jealous) that happened within a couple of months of each other. My old band, You Suck, had finished and I was looking to carry on doing vocals and it just so happened that Jealous were planning on finishing but with the aim of some of the members moving on to a new band. We were all friends anyway and Alex had produced You Suck's cassette release so it was a pretty natural transition into the new band. 

What are your influences?

Typically with these types of things I will say that we all have a big range of influences but there are a bunch of bands we all agree on such as Black Breath, Trap Them, Cursed, Black Flag, All Pigs Must Die. None of these were really something we set out to sound like but there are certainly plenty of reference points in our music to that sort of "darker" Hardcore if you will. The aim with this band was I guess to take bits from both previous bands and smoosh them together.

Tell us a bit about the scene in Kettering?

Kettering is pretty much dead. We used to have a gnarly venue called Sawyers that was run by an amazing fellow called Rich who put on a lot of great bands and was very much into the DIY ethic but sadly not enough people were interested and it shut down last November after a decent run of about eight years. As for bands, there are basically none. There's probably some out there but they're either terrible Deathcore type stuff or at the complete opposite end of the scale to us. We have been looking for somewhere to put our own shows on again (I used to run shows at Sawyers) but it's proving difficult with costs and such.

You play more experimental hardcore in Let it Die. Do you think UK bands seem to favour this type of hardcore?

Man, these questions always throw me. When faced with it I A) forget all the sweet bands in the UK right now and B) don't really know what qualifies as experimental. I think it is pretty hard nowadays to start a band regardless of where you are and NOT have some kind of "experimentation" in your music. Sure you can be more attached to one genre than another but music in general is so wide now that it is pretty hard to have a rigid mindset.

What do you think about the metal/hardcore scene in the UK at the moment?

As with the previous question I always forget stuff when put on the spot but for me, when I look around at shows the UK right now I see a pretty darn healthy scene. Regardless of whether I like the bands or whatever it is nice to see more people standing up and putting shows on. I think that is a very important thing. I am neither a supporter or detractor of the whole "hardcore as family" mentality but the idea of a loose community of people doing things because they want to thrash it out and see others doing the same can only be good.

You remind me a bit of Napalm Death. Are you fans of Grind-core and what are your favourite bands from that genre?

As a band I think we all appreciate Napalm Death but they are not a direct influence. If peeps hear them in our music it's more likely to me the aforementioned combination of our influences and former projects that bring that out in our music. You Suck was a straight up Powerviolence band and Jealous were more trad Hardcore so inevitably the two together will give you something similar to that of Napalm Death.

Can you give us a heads up about bands from your scene that people should check out?

Here are some kick-awesome bands y'all should peep (sorry if I forget anyone):

Witch Cult - South Coast Powerviolence! Our badass buds who we are doing a short tour with at the start of June. Debut record coming on Holy Roar soon - 
http://witchcult.tumblr.com/

Year Of The Flood - Epic D-beat from Nottingham. Good friends and amazing musicians. Maybe a split with them later this year, WHO KNOWS?-
www.reverbnation.com/yearoftheflood

Meatpacker - Two-man Vegan Grind holocaust from Leicester. Great guys, fast drum machine - 
https://www.facebook.com/Meatpacker

Regimes - Stalwart Rock 'n' Roll Hardcore from London -
http://www.myspace.com/regimesregimes

XharoldshitmanX - Super gnarly Powerviolence from Scotland -
http://www.reverbnation.com/xharoldshitmanx


Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair - Hilarious Grind from Scotland -
http://www.myspace.com/4wheelchairs

Senator - Banging Tech-Hardcore type shizzle from our pals down on the South Coast -
http://www.myspace.com/killthesenator

Let it Die's 2011 Demo is available for streaming and digital purchase from their bandcamp page www.letitdie.bandcamp.com. You can listen to it below:-


If you'd like a more physical copy of their demo, you can buy it via Party Wound Productions Big Cartel at partywound.bigcartel.com.
You can follow Let It Die via Facebook on http://www.facebook.com/LetItDie.


Let It Die are certainly gaining a name for themselves in the UK, and along with the bands they mentioned above are very exciting additions to the UK hardcore scene, and additions that should see us square up against and surpass those from across the pond. 


Watch this space!



 

 



Sunday 18 September 2011

Step On Memories


I came across Step On Memories a while ago now, while I was in one of my curious moods and wanted to seek out bands from a different country. Step On Memories are a hardcore band from Vicenza in Italy, and since I wans't too familiar with the Italian hardcore scene, I decided to check them out.

After many listens to their brand hardcore on Facebook, I decided to pop some question over to the guys. Here's what they had to say:-

Tell us a bit about Step On Memories and how you formed?

Hi James!
First of all we want to thank you for the interview and for giving us space.
We decided to set up the band on December 2008, some of us already knew each others since years but we all met during the concerts organized by Free Mosh Team here in Vicenza, our city. After six months of intense rehearsing we recorded a three-songs demo and consequently started playing live as much as possible. After one year of live concerts we decided to dedicate ourself to our first five-tracks EP “Lasting Values” that is released by Indeed Records! on October 2010.

What are your influnces, musically or otherwise?

Each of us has different music tastes and so this is reflected in the composition and on the overall sound of the band. I can tell you that we try to mix everything we like and make a mix that includes all the influences and tastes of each member.

What have you guys got planned for the rest of this year? Is there a possibility of you guys coming to the UK?

We are currently composing the songs that will be included in our next CD and at the same time we are trying to organize an European tour in October. It would be absolutely great to come and play in UK but unfortunately we are trying to play in countries closer to Italy. Maybe in the future…

What is the hardcore scene like in Italy at the moment?

In Italy at the moment people who organize underground shows are very few and most of the time they do it just for true passion. The audience is not very active with the local bands and they tend to support only the foreign bands.
At concerts you can often see the same 40/50 old familiar faces. This encourages the bands to organize abroad tours, hoping that the proposal music will be more accepted.
 
You guys have recently played on Atticus tour. How did that come about?

Romu (friend of us and owner of Flipout Skate Shop) follows the band as an active partner almost from the beginning. He suggested to the official distributor of Atticus to add Step On Memories in the roster of Italian bands followed by the brand. They accepted to follow us so they included us in “Atticus Tour”.

You guys have already played a lot of live shows this year. What reaction have you been getting and what has been the highlight so far?

Playing live is absolutely the best part of having a band and if you do it with your heart, people become aware of that and the satisfaction arrives consequently also thanks to the audience feedback during the shows.
Until now the best moment ever was during the Moshpit Show in Trieste, on the border between Italy and Slovania. It was one of the most beautiful concerts both performance and audience, the best one in Italy at this time.

What kind of media attention have you had up to now?

Actually our gender of music doesn’t pass on the radio or on TV so you have to gain the media attention playing live constantly and spitting blood on stage. We shot a videoclip of our song “More than memories” but it was more our personal satisfaction that a promotional choice.

What bands should we listen to from your local scene?
Our city (Vicenza) is quite small but offers a very interesting music scene. We’d like to bring your attention to:
and Whales and Aurora (http://www.myspace.com/whalesandaurora)

I've posted the video the band did for their song "More Than Memories" for you to check out.




Make sure you check out Step On Memories on both their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Steponmemories and on their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/steponmemories. Also, check out the other bands on the links the band mentioned above. 


If yoy want to order the bands record "Lasting Values", you can contact the band via Myspace and it's also available through iTunes.
 

Sunday 4 September 2011

Juggsfest All-dayer - The Stereo, York


There's gonna be an all-day alternative music festival happening at The Stereo in York on the 24th of September. It's being organised by Ninth Legion Promotions to promote the diverse range of bands in York and the surrounding area.


You can check out the event on this Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=252882911399903.


The line-up is as follows:-


With One Last Breath - http://www.facebook.com/withonelastbreathofficial


You Cried Wolf - http://www.facebook.com/youcriedwolfuk


Ramona - http://www.facebook.com/Ramonabandyork


We Sleep In This Machine - http://www.facebook.com/wesleepinthismachine


Shot Down Stay Down - http://www.facebook.com/SHOTDOWNSTAYDOWN


Mitzi's Revenge - http://www.facebook.com/mitzisrevenge


Beneath The Scarr - http://www.facebook.com/beneaththescarr


One Night Stand With Fate - http://www.facebook.com/OneNightStandWithFate


Atlas - http://www.facebook.com/atlasuk

So check it out and if you're around the York area on the 24th of September, check it out and show your support. It'll be a great day for Yorkshire alternative music and hopefully it'll become an annual event.

Saturday 3 September 2011

Paul Allen's Demise - Tailgating A Funeral


Paul Allen's Demise hail from the mighty Boston, Massachusetts Home of some of the most influential hardcore scene's the US has to offer, as well as the metalcore heavyweights such as Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall. They play crust/grind influenced hardcore with a sense of humour.

So to their debut album, Tailgating A Funeral. Well, it starts with a short, sharp song filled with brutal crunching riffs which are to become a trademark of PAD throughout the records. When the band hit their stride shortly into their second track, it's all about the fast drumming and rabid screams, from vocalist Travis. PAD are also able to weave in melodic riffs to the tracks, to give their music a punkier edge. The music is chaotic in the way it's layered but organised enough for you to be able to breathe and take it in. The low/high pitched vocals bring to mind bands like Outbreak and New Mexican Disaster Squad, which is no bad thing. On some of their longer tracks, the bands crunching intros are reminiscent of those of Metallica, in their earlier classic albums.


The standout tracks for me are short, ode to Taco Bell, "Turd Sandwich" and also the second last song, "Hopes & Dreams", which almost reminds me of THAT SONG by Napalm Death. PAD to vary their style throughout, adding sludgy riffs and gang vocals into the mix, showing their love for crust punk/hardcore and adding a sense humour which is sometimes lacking in other bands of their ilk. For a debut album, I'd say Tailgating A Funeral is pretty strong. It should appeal to a good cross section of people and should see PAD gain a lot of followers.


Paul Allen's Demise have made the entire album available for free download on their Band Camp site, so there no excuse for you not to check it out. You can listen to album below.


You can also follow Paul Allen's Demise on their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/PaulAllensDemise and on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/paulallensdemise.

Show them some love!





Introducing - Gewoon Fucking Raggen



When I was just starting my blog, I decided I'd try and post about as many bands in the Noord-Brabant scene in the Netherlands as I could. Two such bands were Malfunction and Laatste Halte. Now, Malfunction are no more, but Joost, who played guitar in Malfunction and Laatste Halte, got in touch with me about his new band Gewoon Fucking Raggen, which i'm told roughly translates as Just Fucking Shred. Quite apt I thought!

Anyway, GFR are an 80's inspired hardcore band made up by Joost on vocals, Wes XIII on guitar, Lemmy on drums and Sally Chen on bass. The band has a 17 track demo available for download via their facebook page. Go to http://www.facebook.com/gfrhc. You can download the bands 17! track demo on Mediafire at http://www.mediafire.com/?a1gv567d19wi1tb.


Joost was cool enough to answer some questions for me, and the responses are below:-

How did GFR come about then?The guitarplayer and drummer met eachother at a punk show (Disturbance) and started talking about Void, the 'drummer' wasn't even a drummer in that period, but started playing when the band started. A bassplayer was found shortly after that and they started writing songs. A few months later (september/october 2010) I joined the band. We played our first shows and recorded a 17 song demo in winter. The bassplayer suddenly vanished so we had to find a new one. Currently we have a young kid, an amazing musician (he plays all kinds of instruments), helping us out on bass, but we've founded a girl to do bass for us.

You seem to have a habit of forming awesome hardcore bands, have you grown up with heavy music and what has been your influence?It all started with Nirvana for me, it was the first band that really got to me. I read a lot about them and their influences so I gradually started to get into all kinds of hardcore and punk (Black Flag, Flipper, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Mission Of Burma) and other cool bands (Talullah Gosh, Vaselines, Beat Happening). It also motivated me to pick up a guitar (and I hope I will be able to influence at least one person to start a band / learn to play)

How is GFR different to your other bands, Laatste Halte and Malfunction?Malfunction was a mix up of all kind of hardcorebands. Different people mixing together I guess. Laatste Halte also has some different sounds put together, we got fast parts, but also some clean melodic stuff. But it's way more chaotic than the other two bands. And then there's GFR: the bandname actually speaks for itself (translation is): Just Fucking Shred (we hardly have 'breaks' or slow songs, some people even complained about it haha)

What are your plans for GFR?Play a lot of shows, write a shitload of short songs. We got about 8 songs we haven't recorded yet. Hopefully we can find a label who'll help us put it out on a (split) 7" or tape.

So what are you waiting for, check em out!