It's pouring outside. It’s ridiculously cold; there’s nothing more depressing than NIrish weather. When Delays finally skip onto stage many minutes late (insert Delay-related joke here), it’s wall-to-wall pop perkiness. Bizarrely bright and upbeat, they’re the antithesis of every moping indie band, but it’s all right, because the way things are going outside, we could do with some sunshine.
‘Long Time Coming’; an appropriately named first song, gets the crowd singing along. Sunnier than a Steps concert, the set highlights some of the best tracks from the band’s forthcoming album including the brilliant 'Pieces'. Latest single, 'Hooray', is a somewhat questionable cheese-fest, but that said, it is incredibly difficult not to jump up and down and dance along. Don’t be fooled by the saccharine keyboards; perfectly crafted melodies and harmonies; a closer listen to the lyrics suggests that our lovely Southampton boys have a darker side.
But it’s the final song of the evening that shines the brightest: the Donna Summer-esque 'Valentine' is a fabulous display of disco electro, with frontman Greg Gilbert’s swooping falsetto carrying the song to its luscious chorus. Disco pop seems to suit Delays and it’s a powerful end to a sometimes surprising set.
Set List:
Long Time Coming
Touch Down
Hooray
Pieces
Lets Keep It Simple
You And Me
Valentine
4/5
The Fly - the-fly.co.uk
Friday, March 7, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
ASIWYFA&Fighting With Wire@Limelight - 20.2.08
Too much hype can be a bad thing but post-rock adventurists And So I Watch You From Afar take it in their stride with a dangerously intense performance. Loud and melodic with each track slowly erupting to a powerful crescendo, sometimes it feels like the soundtrack to every tragic film scene.
Spunky support FWW celebrate their recent Atlantic Records signing with a sound-perfect performance. Poppy; punky and polished, a mix of At The Drive In meets Foo Fighters, this Derry trio almost upstage their hosts.
Spunky support FWW celebrate their recent Atlantic Records signing with a sound-perfect performance. Poppy; punky and polished, a mix of At The Drive In meets Foo Fighters, this Derry trio almost upstage their hosts.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Who are: The View? - October 2006 (RADAR magazine)
They're from Scotland.
The oldest member is 22.
They like girls.
They make damn good music.
So we ring them up, and as we're talking to them, they're on their bus driving to Glasgow for a show in Strathclyde University. It's part of a headline tour through the UK, and although rave reviews are flying around the place, if we were to review them on their conversational skills, they'd get a shabby one out of five. Nevertheless, we can't all have the gift of the gab.
"We've had such a great time so far. People have given us such a good reception wherever we go," enthuses guitarist and vocalist Kyle. Well, perhaps enthuses is the wrong word. For a young lad who has the world at his band's feet, he is remarkably monosyllabic throughout the whole interview. Friendly but almost guarded with his information. Then again, perhaps he's just not quite ready to give away the secrets of how the View have managed to collect such a high-profile set of fans.
"Bobby (Gillespie) asked us personally if we'd do support for the forthcoming Primal Scream Tour. We're big fans of the band so it's pretty exciting. He's told us that he really likes our stuff."
Debut single, Wasted Little Djs reached #15 in the UK single's chart on its release. A week prior, it had entered the charts on downloads alone – one can assume that the MySpace hype surrounding The View may have had something to do with this. Demo tracks had been available on the site since November last year. Big things are expected of the second single, Superstar Tradesmen, which already has been championed on Radio One, as Edith Bowman's Single of the Week. And further in the future, what can we expect?
"Our album is going to be out in January. We're working with Owen Morris on it. He's produced albums for Oasis and the Verve and he understands where we're coming from."
Signed to 1965 Records, a subsidary of Sony, Kyle claims that one of the most important aspects of their contact was to be able to have creative control. Of course, every new band these days claims the same but he is admanant that the View will not allow themselves to be influenced, or led astray.
Originally from Dundee, one of their biggest performances to date was in their hometown at the One Big Weekend event in May. Although seemingly glad to escape from the small town mentality, Kyle is relatively complimentary about the Dundee scene.
"There is quite a bit going on – bands playing in bars but most of them don't go anywhere. We always wanted to do something with this, to get out of Dundee. We always wanted success."
Success and all it entails perhaps? Rumours were rife after the band's performance at Tennant's ViTal. Apparantly our young friends were fully enjoying themselves with a group of keen female fans in the dressing room. When probed about this, Kyle is politely reticent. "We're young. We like to enjoy ourselves." And the dead silence that follows speaks more than he ever could.
Rock n roll young'uns but gentlemen all the same.
New single, Superstar Tradesman out 23rd October on 1965 Records
The oldest member is 22.
They like girls.
They make damn good music.
So we ring them up, and as we're talking to them, they're on their bus driving to Glasgow for a show in Strathclyde University. It's part of a headline tour through the UK, and although rave reviews are flying around the place, if we were to review them on their conversational skills, they'd get a shabby one out of five. Nevertheless, we can't all have the gift of the gab.
"We've had such a great time so far. People have given us such a good reception wherever we go," enthuses guitarist and vocalist Kyle. Well, perhaps enthuses is the wrong word. For a young lad who has the world at his band's feet, he is remarkably monosyllabic throughout the whole interview. Friendly but almost guarded with his information. Then again, perhaps he's just not quite ready to give away the secrets of how the View have managed to collect such a high-profile set of fans.
"Bobby (Gillespie) asked us personally if we'd do support for the forthcoming Primal Scream Tour. We're big fans of the band so it's pretty exciting. He's told us that he really likes our stuff."
Debut single, Wasted Little Djs reached #15 in the UK single's chart on its release. A week prior, it had entered the charts on downloads alone – one can assume that the MySpace hype surrounding The View may have had something to do with this. Demo tracks had been available on the site since November last year. Big things are expected of the second single, Superstar Tradesmen, which already has been championed on Radio One, as Edith Bowman's Single of the Week. And further in the future, what can we expect?
"Our album is going to be out in January. We're working with Owen Morris on it. He's produced albums for Oasis and the Verve and he understands where we're coming from."
Signed to 1965 Records, a subsidary of Sony, Kyle claims that one of the most important aspects of their contact was to be able to have creative control. Of course, every new band these days claims the same but he is admanant that the View will not allow themselves to be influenced, or led astray.
Originally from Dundee, one of their biggest performances to date was in their hometown at the One Big Weekend event in May. Although seemingly glad to escape from the small town mentality, Kyle is relatively complimentary about the Dundee scene.
"There is quite a bit going on – bands playing in bars but most of them don't go anywhere. We always wanted to do something with this, to get out of Dundee. We always wanted success."
Success and all it entails perhaps? Rumours were rife after the band's performance at Tennant's ViTal. Apparantly our young friends were fully enjoying themselves with a group of keen female fans in the dressing room. When probed about this, Kyle is politely reticent. "We're young. We like to enjoy ourselves." And the dead silence that follows speaks more than he ever could.
Rock n roll young'uns but gentlemen all the same.
New single, Superstar Tradesman out 23rd October on 1965 Records
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Incoming: Klaxons - September 2006 (RADAR magazine)
So called rave revivalists, Klaxons are one of the bands to name-check right now. RADAR was lucky enough to entrap guitarist, Simon Taylor, to uncover a little more about the band and find out just what this “nu-rave” title means:
“We basically invented the nu-rave name ourselves. We were just joking around, we wanted to invent a label and eventually we did. Then all of a sudden, you have people from the Guardian writing about nu-rave. We find it hilarious.”
The practice of attaching a fancy genre to a band is nothing new; various popular music publications have played their part in it and Klaxons are emphatic that the label does not define them totally as a band.
“It’s not something that bothers us. It’s a problem for some bands if you’re a band that can only exist in those borders but we’re completely confident that we can branch out a bit.”
Despite being slightly amused by their neo-rave credentials, it is not difficult to see where this has sprung from. Covers of songs such as the 90s rave hits, “The Bouncer” and “Not Over Yet” only work to solidify the claims. Simon is quick to point out, however, that their versions are somewhat different to the tunes of yore although a basic premise exists.
“We wanted to recreate that excitement about going out on a Friday night; the excitement about parties.”
It’s an interesting sentiment from a group of guys who had barely hit puberty at the height of the dance scene. On the other hand, they are keen to highlight the trail of thought that suggests bands can mix and match everything. James, the bassist, admits to being a Gwen Stefani fan; Simon prefers “weird noise stuff” and as a group, they share a love of kraut-rock bands, such as Cluster.
“Even as youngsters, we listened to Nirvana and Ash on one side of the tape and dance music on the other.”
Comparisons have been made in the press with the now-defunct, Test Icicles, notable perhaps due to the fact that Simon shares a house with one of the band members. He’s reluctant to say that musically they share common ground but he does have his own theories as to why such links are made.
“They had that element of high-energy music and made party music which is hopefully what we do as well. Test Icicles shook people out of that Whitechapel, dark, dingy Libertines-esque scene and with our album, we want to do that as well.”
At the time of the interview, Klaxons have been locked away in the middle of nowhere - a recording studio near Hastings in England, working on their debut album. James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Mystery Jets) is their main producer but the band have previously worked with Erol Alkan on some material and are keen to do so again.
“We’ve already done some stuff with Erol – it’s probably going to be b-sides. It’s a bit of a time issue with him but we’ll definitely be working with him again.”
The album is due for release in the second week of January – one year since things started taking off for the guys. It does not escape them how quick their rise to success has been.
“In November 2005, we basically formed a band, had one rehearsal, booked a gig a few days later and that was that. We had the intention that by February we’d have a few more gigs on the go. By the second week of January, we had management; record labels chasing after us trying to sign us and basically all our live dates booked ‘til May.”
It is pretty impressive, especially considering keyboardist James was drafted in under false pretences. Originally residing in Madrid, he was convinced by Simon and Jamie that he was wanted to front a band of girls back in London so he returned. Still, he can’t have been too disappointed as he remains here a year later! Both James and Simon had recently finished uni by the time plans came together about setting up their post-punk, dance band.
“I studied Fine Art and personally I think the music we make wouldn’t have sounded like it does if I hadn’t had the creative influences there. In terms of lyrics, the books I came across reading there are critical to where I am now. It does make a major difference having something to fall back on. I can’t even fathom not having any sense of direction.”
His grounding in Fine Art has been of benefit to the band – they are determined to stay involved in their creative process – doing artwork, working with friends of theirs videos etc. Being able to have a great deal of authority was what took Klaxons so long choosing their record label.
“I think some of the bands recently who have come out with second albums, you can see who has been influenced and immediately you can see whether a major label has had a say in it – even in advertising and merchandising. I think a lot of people can see through it and for us, it’s incredibly important to keep a firm hand on every aspect that goes on”
He enthuses about one of his musical stimulus - Liars Club, a small capacity club, in Nottingham, where he studied, that is well known as a starting ground for bands – Franz Ferdinand played one of their first shows there Things have changed now though – instead of being part of the crowd, Klaxons are now up on stage, having recently come from playing the Carling Stage at Reading festival.
“Reading was one of those life-changing moments. To walk out to four / five thousand people and knowing they’re there to see, it’s really weird. You play some gigs and you’re like ‘are they really there to see you, a support band?’ But to go to Reading and knowing people are there to see you… It was nearly a week ago and we’re still completely baffled.”
Looks like you’re going to have to get used to it, boys, as it seems Klaxons are only going to get higher and higher!
Next single, Magic, out 1st week October.
“We basically invented the nu-rave name ourselves. We were just joking around, we wanted to invent a label and eventually we did. Then all of a sudden, you have people from the Guardian writing about nu-rave. We find it hilarious.”
The practice of attaching a fancy genre to a band is nothing new; various popular music publications have played their part in it and Klaxons are emphatic that the label does not define them totally as a band.
“It’s not something that bothers us. It’s a problem for some bands if you’re a band that can only exist in those borders but we’re completely confident that we can branch out a bit.”
Despite being slightly amused by their neo-rave credentials, it is not difficult to see where this has sprung from. Covers of songs such as the 90s rave hits, “The Bouncer” and “Not Over Yet” only work to solidify the claims. Simon is quick to point out, however, that their versions are somewhat different to the tunes of yore although a basic premise exists.
“We wanted to recreate that excitement about going out on a Friday night; the excitement about parties.”
It’s an interesting sentiment from a group of guys who had barely hit puberty at the height of the dance scene. On the other hand, they are keen to highlight the trail of thought that suggests bands can mix and match everything. James, the bassist, admits to being a Gwen Stefani fan; Simon prefers “weird noise stuff” and as a group, they share a love of kraut-rock bands, such as Cluster.
“Even as youngsters, we listened to Nirvana and Ash on one side of the tape and dance music on the other.”
Comparisons have been made in the press with the now-defunct, Test Icicles, notable perhaps due to the fact that Simon shares a house with one of the band members. He’s reluctant to say that musically they share common ground but he does have his own theories as to why such links are made.
“They had that element of high-energy music and made party music which is hopefully what we do as well. Test Icicles shook people out of that Whitechapel, dark, dingy Libertines-esque scene and with our album, we want to do that as well.”
At the time of the interview, Klaxons have been locked away in the middle of nowhere - a recording studio near Hastings in England, working on their debut album. James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Mystery Jets) is their main producer but the band have previously worked with Erol Alkan on some material and are keen to do so again.
“We’ve already done some stuff with Erol – it’s probably going to be b-sides. It’s a bit of a time issue with him but we’ll definitely be working with him again.”
The album is due for release in the second week of January – one year since things started taking off for the guys. It does not escape them how quick their rise to success has been.
“In November 2005, we basically formed a band, had one rehearsal, booked a gig a few days later and that was that. We had the intention that by February we’d have a few more gigs on the go. By the second week of January, we had management; record labels chasing after us trying to sign us and basically all our live dates booked ‘til May.”
It is pretty impressive, especially considering keyboardist James was drafted in under false pretences. Originally residing in Madrid, he was convinced by Simon and Jamie that he was wanted to front a band of girls back in London so he returned. Still, he can’t have been too disappointed as he remains here a year later! Both James and Simon had recently finished uni by the time plans came together about setting up their post-punk, dance band.
“I studied Fine Art and personally I think the music we make wouldn’t have sounded like it does if I hadn’t had the creative influences there. In terms of lyrics, the books I came across reading there are critical to where I am now. It does make a major difference having something to fall back on. I can’t even fathom not having any sense of direction.”
His grounding in Fine Art has been of benefit to the band – they are determined to stay involved in their creative process – doing artwork, working with friends of theirs videos etc. Being able to have a great deal of authority was what took Klaxons so long choosing their record label.
“I think some of the bands recently who have come out with second albums, you can see who has been influenced and immediately you can see whether a major label has had a say in it – even in advertising and merchandising. I think a lot of people can see through it and for us, it’s incredibly important to keep a firm hand on every aspect that goes on”
He enthuses about one of his musical stimulus - Liars Club, a small capacity club, in Nottingham, where he studied, that is well known as a starting ground for bands – Franz Ferdinand played one of their first shows there Things have changed now though – instead of being part of the crowd, Klaxons are now up on stage, having recently come from playing the Carling Stage at Reading festival.
“Reading was one of those life-changing moments. To walk out to four / five thousand people and knowing they’re there to see, it’s really weird. You play some gigs and you’re like ‘are they really there to see you, a support band?’ But to go to Reading and knowing people are there to see you… It was nearly a week ago and we’re still completely baffled.”
Looks like you’re going to have to get used to it, boys, as it seems Klaxons are only going to get higher and higher!
Next single, Magic, out 1st week October.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Album Review: The Crimea - Tragedy Rocks
An atmospheric piano intro bursts a flood of emotional, sweet melodies. The Crimea present a bittersweet collection of edgy tales. Musically, it swings from upbeat such as Lottery Winners On Acid, to swirling and bleak – Opposite Ends. Davey McManus’ voice portrays desperation with such painful honesty that it is hard not to be drawn in to his world of destruction and debauchery. From start to finish, it’s aching, it’s powerful and it hurts. Imaginative, emotional rock – tragedy has never been so appealing.
Published in Alternative Ulster magazine - iheartau.com
Published in Alternative Ulster magazine - iheartau.com
Thursday, August 4, 2005
The Mascara Story @ the Limelight - 3.8.05
The Mascara Story@Radiation - Limelight, Belfast
3rd August 2005
Emo kids The Mascara Story play a rare Belfast date prior to their UK tour. It’s easy to see why they appeal. They’re the epitome of their genre – pretty boys with sensitive lyrics about lovely girls and well… lovely girls. The trio command the crowd with fiery solos and sweet melodies. Underneath the make-up, these pretty boys prove there is substance to their tale.
Published in The Fly magazine - the-fly.co.uk
3rd August 2005
Emo kids The Mascara Story play a rare Belfast date prior to their UK tour. It’s easy to see why they appeal. They’re the epitome of their genre – pretty boys with sensitive lyrics about lovely girls and well… lovely girls. The trio command the crowd with fiery solos and sweet melodies. Underneath the make-up, these pretty boys prove there is substance to their tale.
Published in The Fly magazine - the-fly.co.uk
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