Slam Dunk Festival South
Beckoning in the beginning of a fantastic summer of festivals, Slam Dunk South is back for another year in Hatfield on Sunday 26th May. With American pop-punk funnymen All Time Low headlining the day, there are plenty of bands to get excited about on this year's bill.
Joining a host of previously announced bands such as Deaf Havana, Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens comes another surge of new additions to this year's already strong line-up.
Welsh rockers Kids In Glass Houses and Bury Tomorrow, Metalcore lads from Southampton, bring a showcase of British talent to Slam Dunk.
Welsh rockers Kids In Glass Houses and Bury Tomorrow, Metalcore lads from Southampton, bring a showcase of British talent to Slam Dunk.
The Aussies are also out in force with Tonight Alive, Heroes For Hire and House VS Hurricane flying the flag from down under. Canada’s biggest metal band Cancer Bats will also be bringing a supersonic blast of heavy screaming to the daylong festival.
Slam Dunk South Will be taking place: Sunday 26th May: Slam Dunk Festival South. The Forum, Hatfield
Tickets for Slam Dunk Festival are £34 or £38 including the infamous aftershow party (please note aftershow party is 18+). For details go towww.slamdunkmusic.com
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Review: Don Broco, The Joiners Southampton, 20th February 2013
From the offset you could tell this was going to be a sweaty one. The Joiners was full to bursting in the anticipation to see Don Broco, the four piece Bedford rockers that seem to have become more popular in the last year than Pokémon cards were in the 90’s.
"This is the sweatiest show on this tour, if not ever" shouted Main Man Rob Damaini as mosh pits and stage divers enveloped the room.
Everyone knew what song they were set to start with; it had to be ‘Priorities’.
The band walked onto the stage with swagger, then came ‘The Walk’, a synchronised jump that goes into a full blown exaggerated walk, arms flying everywhere, legs way up in the air; the energy was infectious.
This infectious energy was the backbone of the show. The crowd were jumping so hard I could feel the floor bouncing beneath me. For anyone who is familiar with the gimmicks of Don Broco ‘s live shows, you would have been pleased to see all of them in their set. The Push up squad being one of them, with Damaini calling for the crowd to open up the floor, crowd members dropped down and started doing the push ups, there was even an overly enthusiastic response from one crowd surfer joining in by lying across his mates' shoulders and really going for it.
The set included an assortment of songs from the new album ‘Priorities’ which included ‘The Whole Truth’ and ‘Hold On’ alongside old favorites from the bands EP’s such as ‘Dreamboy’ and crowd favorite ‘Beautiful Morning’.
Throughout the beginning of the set Damaini struggled as both his microphones faced technically difficulties. Swapping frantically back and forth between the two for a few songs obviously meant the set wasn’t as good as it could have been. The band recovered well from the hitch and provided great entertainment.
The highlight of the set was the performance of ‘Yeah Man’. As the crowd chanted in request, the band really bought the song to life. The harmonies between Damaini and Drummer Matt Donnelly were spot on adding a great depth to the song.
Damaini should be crowned king of crowd involvement as he partitioned the room in a mammoth sing along.
The girls began with a chorus of “ohhh ohh ohh ohhh ohh ohh ” with the boys joining in with a shout of ‘Yeah man” the sing along built to a dramatic climax with the entire room belting out ‘YEAH MAN” at the top of their lungs providing the feel good moment of the night.
With the single ‘Actors’ came the end of what was a truly special show full of enthusiasm, great British rock music and a whole bunch of laughs and singing along.
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D.E.A.D Anniversary Show, Southampton Solent University, 26th February 2013
The small room above the Students Union of Southampton Solent University was bursting with energy for one night and one night only; a birthday bash was underway to celebrate the first birthday of local band D.E.A.D!
The 5 piece emotional rockers may have only been together for a short time and therefore need to mature and develop into their sound, but they are already showing promise of greater things to come. Their Debut self-titled E.P has been compared to the likes of My Chemical Romance by Kerrang Magazine, and the band are set to support the likes of Yashin and Attack! Attack! (UK).
The biggest attraction of watching D.E.A.D’s anniversary show was seeing just how much energy and passion was thrown into making their performance explosive. It was entertaining to watch as each one of the members took it in turns to throw themselves about the small stage, climbing up the amps in momentary lapses of chaos, they were really going for it. This attitude really complimented their sound, rough around the edges and punk-esque with a hint of polished and refined.
Between the Emo guitar solos, the lyrics about teenaged romances and afflictions of youth intertwined with the passionate signing from front man Alex Mountford; the band's appeal screams to the teenage market. Being of that age themselves that’s the world they understand and own so well.
Song Everything, Everything is ridiculously catchy and tells the tale of teenaged romance gone astray. The haunting harmonies work well together, they inject an even deeper level of sentiment and pain into the already emotionally overflowing songs.
Like a raw diamond, the band needs refinement to reach their full potential. The talent and ideas are already there, the song structures are interesting and they know how to put on a good performance, but there is something not quite finished about D.E.A.D!
With sweat dripping faces the band pause from their performance as a birthday cake is bought onto the stage. As the fans sing happy birthday to the delight of the band, I can’t help but to think how much potential D.E.A.D! has and what on earth they could achieve in just another years time.
Visit the band's Facebook Page for more information - www.facebook.com/StayClassyStayDead
Review: Don Broco, The Joiners Southampton, 20th February 2013
From the offset you could tell this was going to be a sweaty one. The Joiners was full to bursting in the anticipation to see Don Broco, the four piece Bedford rockers that seem to have become more popular in the last year than Pokémon cards were in the 90’s.
"This is the sweatiest show on this tour, if not ever" shouted Main Man Rob Damaini as mosh pits and stage divers enveloped the room.
Everyone knew what song they were set to start with; it had to be ‘Priorities’.
The set included an assortment of songs from the new album ‘Priorities’ which included ‘The Whole Truth’ and ‘Hold On’ alongside old favorites from the bands EP’s such as ‘Dreamboy’ and crowd favorite ‘Beautiful Morning’.
Throughout the beginning of the set Damaini struggled as both his microphones faced technically difficulties. Swapping frantically back and forth between the two for a few songs obviously meant the set wasn’t as good as it could have been. The band recovered well from the hitch and provided great entertainment.
The highlight of the set was the performance of ‘Yeah Man’. As the crowd chanted in request, the band really bought the song to life. The harmonies between Damaini and Drummer Matt Donnelly were spot on adding a great depth to the song.
Damaini should be crowned king of crowd involvement as he partitioned the room in a mammoth sing along.
The girls began with a chorus of “ohhh ohh ohh ohhh ohh ohh ” with the boys joining in with a shout of ‘Yeah man” the sing along built to a dramatic climax with the entire room belting out ‘YEAH MAN” at the top of their lungs providing the feel good moment of the night.
With the single ‘Actors’ came the end of what was a truly special show full of enthusiasm, great British rock music and a whole bunch of laughs and singing along.
: : :
D.E.A.D Anniversary Show, Southampton Solent University, 26th February 2013
The small room above the Students Union of Southampton Solent University was bursting with energy for one night and one night only; a birthday bash was underway to celebrate the first birthday of local band D.E.A.D!
The 5 piece emotional rockers may have only been together for a short time and therefore need to mature and develop into their sound, but they are already showing promise of greater things to come. Their Debut self-titled E.P has been compared to the likes of My Chemical Romance by Kerrang Magazine, and the band are set to support the likes of Yashin and Attack! Attack! (UK).
The biggest attraction of watching D.E.A.D’s anniversary show was seeing just how much energy and passion was thrown into making their performance explosive. It was entertaining to watch as each one of the members took it in turns to throw themselves about the small stage, climbing up the amps in momentary lapses of chaos, they were really going for it. This attitude really complimented their sound, rough around the edges and punk-esque with a hint of polished and refined.
Between the Emo guitar solos, the lyrics about teenaged romances and afflictions of youth intertwined with the passionate signing from front man Alex Mountford; the band's appeal screams to the teenage market. Being of that age themselves that’s the world they understand and own so well.
Song Everything, Everything is ridiculously catchy and tells the tale of teenaged romance gone astray. The haunting harmonies work well together, they inject an even deeper level of sentiment and pain into the already emotionally overflowing songs.
Like a raw diamond, the band needs refinement to reach their full potential. The talent and ideas are already there, the song structures are interesting and they know how to put on a good performance, but there is something not quite finished about D.E.A.D!
With sweat dripping faces the band pause from their performance as a birthday cake is bought onto the stage. As the fans sing happy birthday to the delight of the band, I can’t help but to think how much potential D.E.A.D! has and what on earth they could achieve in just another years time.
Visit the band's Facebook Page for more information - www.facebook.com/StayClassyStayDead
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Album Review
Album Review
Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
With the screams of “This is Sempiternal!” a new era of metal comes with it. Sempiternal is a game changer, genre defining in the fact it’s a sort of easy listening metal album that hasn’t sacrificed any of the death pounding screaming, darkly emotional lyrics and breakdowns that can melt the face off any unsuspecting listener.
The album breaks into a start with a distorted dance trumpet sound in Can You Feel My Heart. It gives you a false sense of security as to what you will find on Sempiternal. “Where on earth is Oli Sykes deathly screaming?” fans may plea, well there is no lack of that.
The House Of Wolves brings the harder metal edge to the album similar to the bands previous album.
Antivist one of the heavier songs on the album brings an incomparable anger and rebellion with screams of revolution. Sykes has likely had to make a huge donation to the swear jar as there is certainly no lack of it, which actually just propels the song to another level.
The most refreshing part of Sempiternal is hearing Sykes sing, and surprisingly his vocal chords aren’t shredded to pieces by his many years of screaming as if the Dementors from Harry Potter were after him. Hollows of the words ‘We Are Powerless’, in a way comparable to that from the likes of The Killers Frontman Brandon Flowers, exudes from Hospital For Souls.
Bring Me The Horizon have really bought their ‘A’ game to the table; Sempiternal is unlike any thing before it. It mixes hallowing metal screaming and breakdowns with softer generated computer sounds.
The way Sykes can manoeuvre from ear piecing screaming to softly singing lyrics is commendable and really adds to the captivating emotion and disillusionment of society felt by the youth of today.
The track of the album is undoubtedly Shadow Moses. It captures the band at its highest point. It’d be hard to knock the Sheffield Metalcore band down now as they are showcasing just what altitudes they are capable of reaching.
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Takedown Festival 2013
On The 11th May chaos is set to descend on Southampton University with the return of Takedown Festival. Following the success of last year’s event, Takedown returns for its second year bigger and better than before. With over 30 acts set to play across the day covering a range of pop, rock, metal and punk.
Headliners The Blackout are bound to be rocking that party atmosphere with tracks of their new album ‘Start The Party’.
Death Pop band Fearless Vampire Killers, Marmozets, Arcane Roots, Your Demise, Sonic Boom Six and Burn The Fleet also join the rich line alongside many more names.
Tickets are available from Seetickets starting at £33.75
For more information visit their facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Takedownfest?fref=ts
Album Review: Peace – In Love
Birmingham is at the heart of a new breed of indie music sweeping the UK. Peace isn’t the only band part of the emergence of the Brindie scene (Birmingham Indie); Swim Deep and Jaws closely follow behind making waves in the same direction. If Swim Deep and Jaws are making waves however, then Peace is causing a downright Tsunami with the amount of buzz they are creating.
‘In Love’ is everything you would expect from a good indie album, but not in a disappointingly formulaic way. Harrison Koisser’s vocals are very The Arctic Monkeys meets The Kooks, although the music sounds nothing like either band.
In Love breaks the boring Indie stereotype; song Delicious has a great mix of guitar parts and percussion instruments. Higher Than The Sun provides that feel good summer feeling and that impossible to forget catchy chorus. Highlight of the album is Wraith. It erupts with captivating guitar rifts and a killer hook of a chorus of "you can be my ice aged sugar…”
Easy to listen to enjoyable indie music, In Love is an album hard to hate. Very wistful with memories of summer sunshine and love lost, it’s easy to see why Peace are trailblazers of the exploding Brindie scene.
You can contact Rebecca at rebecca.rayner@winchestertoday.co.uk
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