VANNA - 'The Few And Far Between'

Before writing this review I had never heard of Vanna. A quick Youtube search led me to something so terrible that I had to turn it off, and I was worried about what I had let myself in for. Another Youtube search led me to something that sounded completely different, but was also terrible in its own follow-the-trend way. A quick Wikipedia search to make sure that there weren’t two different bands called Vanna, and disappointingly I was informed that there aren’t. Wikipedia also informed me of the large amount of lineup changes the Boston boys have been through, which helped explain the frankly horrible yet unalike tracks I had just regretfully experienced. With this in mind, I approached ‘The Few And Far Between’ with my teeth firmly gritted together.

I was surprised, as Vanna seem to have matured somewhat and found a sound that has a lot more lasting credibility than their previous efforts. Although, there isn’t much here that hasn’t been done a million times before.

The opening track provides a nice introduction to the album, drawing you in with distant guitars and led by a vocal that would make this a great song to open a set with. Every Time I Die are the first band that this reminds me of, along with label-mates Norma Jean.

By track three, ‘Year Of The Rat’, we are introduced to the cleanly sung vocals. Vanna fall into the trap here of sounding a bit like Atreyu, Trivium or any other mid-2000s metalcore act that were a bit shit. What follows this is a much better speedy hardcore track, ‘I Said I’m Fine’, which features the lyrics “Black shoes, black shirt, black heart” – coming soon to a Facebook status near you! This one finishes with full-on circle pit fodder and vocals that sound a bit like Refused’s Dennis Lyxzén, which pleasantly reminded me that hardcore doesn’t always have to be as linear and restricted as what we have on this record. Thank you Refused, for the memory.

‘The Few And Far Between’ is by no means a bad record, and I’m sure there will be a lot of people raving about this release (if the Youtube comments I read are anything to go by). It just seems like the formula of chugging guitars and big beatdowns has been exhausted, and to put out a record that is going to be memorable outside of your own fan-base you need to bring something exciting to the table. Vanna aren’t doing anything that Stick To Your Guns, Norma Jean or The Chariot haven’t already done better, and I think real hardcore fans will be put off by the singing that tends to spoil some otherwise good hardcore tunes.

The highlights are definitely the introduction I mentioned earlier and ‘Please Stay’, which shows Vanna at their calmest and probably the only time they deserve the post-hardcore tag they are frequently labelled with. The female vocal is a nice touch, but the track doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the album. The fact that this one was my favourite probably says a lot more about me and my taste than it does about Vanna’s quality of songwriting. I’m not especially keen on tough guy mosh-pit hardcore as it is, so whilst this record didn’t do very much for me, I’m sure it’ll be exactly what some others are looking for.

2.5/5 Stars

Dying Scene - Original Link 
Vanna Myspace 
Vanna Facebook 

NARROWS

The Green Door Store, Monday 29^th April

Narrows are something of a supergroup when it comes to the hardcore and metal scene. Comprising of members of various defunct bands, including Botch vocalist Dave Verellen, Some Girls/Unbroken bassist Rob Moran, and Ryan Frederiksen, who played guitar in These Arms Are Snakes. They sound exactly like a sum of their parts, hardcore punk influenced mathcore that left our ears ringing last time they played here. Heavy. 

Faebook Event Page
Narrows Facebook 

Coliseum Bandcamp
Original Link - Brighton Source  

SPLITTING THE ATOM XIV

The Green Door Store, Sunday 7^th April

What are Sundays for? They're for a long walk on the downs, right? For a quiet roast in a small pub somewhere. For taking the dog/kids to the park. A leisurely browse at an out-of-town car boot sale. Just chilling on the sofa watching the football, maybe even a Spaghetti Western. Right? No. You're wrong. All wrong. Sundays are for all day events showcasing brain-melting noise, experimental audio/visual performances and freeform jazz. If you agree, get yourself down to The Green Door Store for this free headfuck.

WESTHILL BLAST QUARTET
A MOUTHFUL OF BALD WORMS
WARRIOR SQUARES
FONDELLA
STASIS 73
EARTH CREATURE
DANIEL ALEXANDER HIGNELL
SCOTTISH JAMES BROWN
UNCOUTH
LORAH PIERRE & EWA JUSTKA
WILD NERVES
DJ MYSTERY LESSON
DJ CHEESEMASTER

2pm-10:30pm

FREE

Facebook Event Page 

RAZOREATER

Green Door Store. Saturday 6^th April

Punk Vs. Hardcore's monthly treat comes in the form of Church Of Fuck Records' Razoreater, who's Pig Destroyer-esque grinding thrash hardcore will leave you feeling like you've been beaten up underwater. Label mates Iced Out play main support. Two local bands begin tonight's chaos – Hove's Protect Ya Neck supply the mosh, with their own brand of south coast hate. This is followed by ex-Dopefight/Jovian outfit, War Wolf. Expect violence. Expect power. Expect beards.

Facebook Event Page
Razoreater Bandcamp
Protect Ya Neck Facebook

MOOSE BLOOD INTERVIEW

Canterbury's emo gang Moose Blood have been causing a bit of a fuss in recent months with their debut EP 'Moving Home'. I spoke with drummer Glenn Harvey for the next issue of A Short Fanzine About Rocking.

How did you decide on the name? Why Moose Blood?

Eddy and Mark both work together and one time they were just saying as many dumb names as they could think of, this one stuck.

How did you guys meet, and how did it all come together?

We all kind of met through our old hardcore bands. Mark and I played in a band, Sam and I have been friends since school and used to play in a couple of bands, Eddy and Mark were in a band and knew each other outside of that beforehand. It came together pretty easily, which was cool. Eddy had some songs written, asked if we wanted to start a band, sent us a couple of demos and we were instantly down.

You've had a really good reaction to your debut EP, a lot of blogs etc tipping you to be one of the next big things. Had you seen that coming?

I knew some of our friends would be into it when I first heard Eddy's demo of 'Bukowski' because I absolutely loved it. But beyond our little circle, I honestly had no idea people would care at all. We've said it a bunch already, but it really is crazy the way the EP has taken off. None of us saw it coming. We're all so happy though, we just really want to play shows all over the place now to make sure people who bought the record are able to see us.
 
It was released by Day By Day Records who are associated with some great bands such as Gnarwolves and Dads. Do you have friends in any of the other Day By Day bands?

Dads fucking rule. I first got into them a couple of years ago, and when I heard Day By Day were working with them I was so stoked! Gnarwolves are our mates and the nicest guys.

Who do you enjoy playing shows with?

Gnarwolves are the best. Always positive, hardworking and just fun to be around. We just played at the Camden Underworld with them and it was the first time both of us had played there. They absolutely killed it. So fun to watch a bunch of kids going off to your friends. I think we've enjoyed all our shows so far to be honest. There have only been about 15 of them but we've been lucky enough to play with some great bands so far.
 
There's a lot of great bands in the UK right now. How do you feel about the whole emo/punk rock scene at the moment?

I think it's great, I'm gutted we won't get a chance to play with Basement (probably/maybe/who knows?) but Sam and I's old band got to play with them and Daylight a while before 'I Wish I Could Stay Here' came out, which was a really cool show. Everything comes and goes in waves. In 2010, Basement were really one of the only decent UK bands doing what they were doing and that obviously led on to a lot of other bands taking influence, which is cool. It's good to see the hard work paying off for Gnarwolves right now, as well as bands like Nai Harvest and The Winter Passing.
 
Any recommendations?

Every band I've mentioned so far and also Pet Symmetry, Dowsing, Great Cynics, Ten Speed Bicycle and Loose Cannons. In a more general sense, I'd recommend that Tigers Jaw not break up, and Basement get back together sooner rather than later. But I'm not sure I have much say with either of those.
 
You reference a couple of bands on tracks on the EP – Jimmy Eat World, American Football, Dashboard Confessional and Death Cab For Cutie if I remember correctly. Do you guys all share the same kind of taste, generally?

Pretty much! Every so often Eddy will put something on in the car that I've been listening to and I had no idea he was into, like Brave Bird or Mansions, which is cool. On the flip side of that, I found out he had never listened to Jawbreaker until recently so I'm not even sure if we can be friends anymore.
 
What's next for Moose Blood?

New music, more shows, some tours. Hopefully.

Moose Blood Bandcamp
Moose Blood Facebook 

ORPHANS - 'Pack Mentality/Jus Ad Bello'

Denver, Colorado’s Orphans have only been together since 2011, in which time they have brought us their debut EP ‘Jus Ad Bello’ as well as the follow-up ‘Pack Mentality’ within only six months of each other! To call them a hardworking band would be a massive understatement, and it should only take one listen of each EP for you to realise this. Never Lost Records have now released the vicious eight track collection on some rather sexy marble vinyl, so it seemed hugely appropriate that Orphans were given some well-deserved coverage.

‘Renegades Of Fuck’, the opening number on ‘Jus Ad Bello’ is a fantastic track. The vocals are spat at you like ‘Adrenaline’-era Chino Moreno in the beginning, accompanied by some snazzy drumming, before the pace slows and we are given the good ol’ screamo treatment.
Two minutes into this debut is where we are first acquainted with a sound that has led to Orphans being compared to Circle Takes The Square, almost every time anybody has written anything about them. It’s not often a band get compared to Circle Takes The Square, and it’s definitely hard to ignore the similarities, especially with the vocals here. High-pitched wails sit behind a shaky-voiced delivery before the heavy-as-fuck ending gives you one last smack in the mouth.

The brilliantly titled ‘Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be’ is everything you want from a screamo track – delicate riffs, slow building drums and overlapping vocals (you’ll really see where the CTTS comparison comes from now). The song then explodes into what really just sounds like another track entirely, not sure if this was what they were going for here. And wait, did I just hear a bit of double-kick near the end of this one?
There’s a definite metal influence shining through on parts of this record, which I feel helps it to not sound like a lot of other screamo and post-hardcore releases that are getting churned out these days.

‘If Ghosts Could Talk (Dead Peasant Policies)’ is, in my opinion, the best one on this side of the wax. A haunting introduction on the piano, and the chant-along you’ve been waiting for and knew was coming at some point.

Then comes the follow-up ‘Pack Mentality’ on the flip. This is where Orphans have really found their feet. The production is a touch better, the songs are more manic, the vocals are more rabid sounding. Overall, it just sounds a whole lot more violent and destructive. Needless to say, the Circle Takes The Square influence is still very apparent, especially so on ‘Dark Satanic Mills’. Typically-screamo spoken word parts are evident throughout much of this EP, often giving you a brief moment to breathe before the chaos and carnage ensues again.

Opener ‘Blood Of The Father’ changes direction numerous times and immediately shows great evidence of them growing as a band, even with it being recorded so soon after the first record. The huge amount of changes of pace, as well as the variation in the different vocal styles in every part of each track really keeps you on your toes, unable to guess what’s coming next. Of course, what comes next is always messy mosh-pit material and heavy-as-fuck.

I realise I’ve already used that phrase to describe Orphans earlier in this review, but sometimes only one phrase can be wholly appropriate. In this case it’s ‘heavy-as-fuck’. Imagine Glassjaw beating the shit out of La Dispute with weapons that they borrowed from The Blood Brothers and you’re halfway there.

Another highlight, ‘White Guilt’, has a bit of everything I’ve mentioned previously and brings this record to a close very neatly. Screeching vocals, fast, technical drumming, a riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of the more recent Dillinger Escape Plan albums, a meaty bassline underneath the spoken word poetry that leads to another invitation into the pit, and some noisy feedback to finish.

Orphans are certainly worth keeping an eye on, that’s if this record doesn’t rip them both out and stamp on them.

Original Link
Orphans Bandcamp
Orphans Facebook
Dying Scene

OLA MADRID - 'Distance Is Decay'

New Jersey four-piece Ola Madrid describe themselves as 'post progressive indie rock', and in doing so they have pretty much done most of my work here for me. 'Distance Is Decay' is their debut EP, and it's a real treat. Blending elements of early screamo with indie and post-hardcore, the release rips through five tracks that instantly bring to mind fellow New Jerseyans, Thursday, or maybe a slightly less hardcore embodiment of Touché Amoré.

Opening track 'Collective' is the perfect introduction for what to expect from this band. It begins in a manner that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the first Alexisonfire album, but tighter and with better drumming. The vocals are in-your-face and delivered with a lot of passion and punch. The chanted backing vocals throughout, along with the closing lines “Under all these lights, I'm still cold. I'm shaking!” definitely paint a picture of fans clambering forward to scream the words back at them when this band get more of the recognition they already deserve.

The gang vocals and memorable lyrics return in 'The World Is Not Enough', which in my opinion is the best track on the EP.

With such a huge amount of bands currently riding the post-hardcore wave, it's refreshing to hear something that you are actually going to remember after you've clicked away from somebodies bandcamp page. 'Distance Is Decay' is one of those records, and Ola Madrid sound like exactly the kind of band you want to hear playing at a house show, or in a tiny basement venue with no stage.

Lyrically, this release is very poetic and packed to the brim with honesty and emotion. Musically, they undeniably know what they are doing with their chosen weapons and it has come together brilliantly on this debut. Great riffs, a fall-to-your-knees solo on 'I Am The Sun', interesting basslines and rapid-fire drum fills complete the package.

“In years to come we will be memories and silhouettes, and you will see nothing matters in the end” are the closing lyrics on this release. It might be true, but I'm certain the next few years at least will be exciting for Ola Madrid.

FFO: Single Mothers, Pianos Become The Teeth, Thursday, Hot Cross 

Ola Madrid Bandcamp
Ola Madrid Facebook

Original Link
Dying Scene
Dying Scene Facebook

FIDLAR @ The Haunt, Brighton. 27/02/2013

FIDLAR love drugs. They love alcohol, partying, surfing and skateboarding. It might all sound a bit cliché for an LA band that play feelgood stoner beach punk in a way that The Ramones might have if Dick Dale was their lead guitarist, but FIDLAR are one of the best bands to come out of SoCal in a long time.

Their shamelessly open approach to getting as messed up as possible and generally not giving a fuck is actually quite admirable. Because it’s not as if their tendency to smoke a lot of weed and take acid (or whatever they can get their hands on) has affected their ability to write super catchy party anthems that you can’t help but want to dance to. If that’s how they roll, then so be it, because FIDLAR’s self-titled debut is one of the best releases of the year so far and tonight the Haunt is buzzing with anticipation.

They take to the stage and already one of them has jumped into the crowd before anybody has even played a note. This gives us a pretty good idea of how the show’s going to go. They open with ‘Cheap Beer’ and the lyrics “I drink cheap beer! So what? Fuck you!” are screamed back at them. It’s rather ironic that this is happening in a venue that sells cans of Red Stripe for £4 – but since it’s a 14+ show a good twenty per cent of the crowd probably weren’t drinking it anyway.

They continue with ‘Stoked And Broke’ followed by ‘White On White’ and the constant, messy crowd-surfing leads them to tell us that we “rage harder than any American city” before giving us their formal introduction – “We like to drink and we like to do cocaine. We are FIDLAR. F-I-D-L-A-R. Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk”.

After thanking local boys Gnarwolves for introducing them to ‘K’ cider before the show, they crack on with ‘Max Can’t Surf’ during which the stage is excitedly invaded and the drummer loses his sticks, the only two he has, and the bouncers are forced to usher everybody back into the crowd.

During the set the bouncers end up having to clear the stage at least four times, there are bodies flying everywhere, there is somebody in the venue definitely smoking a joint somewhere (unless this is just the scent the band give off), and the younger members of the crowd are given the kind of advice their mothers would certainly not approve of: “If you play an instrument then you don’t have to go to school, you don’t have to have a job. Shit, if we can start a band then so can all of you guys”.

The whole room is bouncing when they play ‘Cocaine’, a song recently covered by their close friend Kate Nash – check out the less drug-related ‘Girl Gang’. She also features on their track ‘AWWWKWAARRRDDD’ (you have to wonder how some people become friends).

‘Wake Bake Skate’, ‘Paycheck’ and a cover of The Descendent’s ‘Suburban Home’ are other highlights of a sweaty, beer-soaked night of fuzzy guitar and smiling faces. It’s easy to see why this band are getting so much attention lately, and we’re sure the Brighton crowd will welcome them back with open arms and open cans.

Haunt, Wednesday 27th February 2013
Words by Chris Biggs

Original Link
FIDLAR Facebook

UNFUN RECORDS PRESENTS

The guys at Unfun Records treated us to a free gig at Fitzherbert’s on Thursday night, with a solid lineup of UK punk rock talent. A lot of the usual Brighton faces seemed to be absent tonight, probably a result of the carnage that was FIDLAR at The Haunt the previous night. Despite having been in the centre of aforementioned carnage, I tackled a hangover/crap day at work and made my way to the pub venue to catch these up-and- coming acts and drink tap water on my own.

First up was Emma Hallows, the punky, folky lady from Manchester. Her songs are heartfelt and sincere and without wanting to instantly name-drop two of the biggest names in the genre, she does bare similarities to early Frank Turner and City And Colour. More accurately though, if you’ve ever listened to the last four tracks on Defeater’s ‘Empty Days & Sleepless Nights’ then you will get a better idea as to what I’m describing. Unfortunately, as she was the first act her set overlapped with most people arriving, and their enthusiastic “Hiya man, how’s it going??!!”’s drowned out parts of the set and I missed what she was singing about.

Local boys River Jumpers almost had to pull out at the last minute due to their drummer being sick, but in the end they decided to play their first ever acoustic show. After a quick phone call to the ill sticksman so that the crowd could all shout “Get well soon, Max!”, they kicked off with ‘Chapters’, the opening track from the brilliant album of the same name. Plenty of people knowing the words and singing along created a great atmosphere when they played ‘Five Doors Down’ and ‘Diamonds’, during which one of the band member’s phones that was sat on top of an amp started ringing. It caused that annoying signal noise you get to cut through the music and the bassist had to remind everybody to put their phones into flight mode as “it’s about to get hectic”. It would’ve definitely got hectic if they had played a full set with the whole band, but it was still really good and they play Brighton shows often enough that you can be sure to catch them again soon.

Three Summers Strong, another Brighton band, demonstrate their fast and catchy snare-driven pop-punk. The gruff vocals sound almost hardcore at times and they perform with a lot of energy. I hear small touches of The Get-Up Kids, The Lawrence Arms and even Greenday in parts but it seemed like maybe they weren’t having their best night. Maybe they hadn’t set up as well as they’d have liked to, but the sound didn’t fill the room as well as it should have so it sounded a bit sketchy at times. It’s something you have to expect in that tiny room and I’ve heard it plenty of times from bands that sound great on recordings.

Woahnows, who released their awesome EP ‘Foma’ (on cassette!) through tonight’s host are next up. They have some great riffs and are incredibly tight when they play. Woahnows hail from Plymouth along with headliners As We Sink. There only need to be two great bands to come from one city for it to stick in my mental musical map, and I think Woahnows have made me realise that PLYMOUTH ROCKS. I’ve never been there. The band were very well received and I think these guys are going to go on to much bigger things. Their sound filled the room better than any of the previous acts, and an observation one of them makes about the fish tank behind the drummer made me consider something – maybe the fish really do hate all these loud punk bands playing in their house.

I felt sad for the fish for a minute and then As We Sink started and I stopped caring. It takes only two songs before the guys (and Emma Hallows) at the front decide to build a punk rock pyramid. I was half expecting the guy on top to come crashing down on the band, but instead he just fell into me and spilled the beer he asked me to hold all over my jacket. As We Sink are one of the most underrated bands in the UK at the moment. These guys truly deserve to be a big deal within the punk/emo/whatever scene. Their songs have some great, memorable choruses and the amount of people passionately singing along only reinforces this. A showcase of their new song goes down really well and I’m really excited to hear the follow up to EP ‘Ventures’. If you like Title Fight, The Movielife or Make Do And Mend then you really need to check these guys out. They are up there with the best.

Original Link

Words: Chris Biggs