If you ask most people to describe what they consider the standard blues guitarist, they would probably go down the old, craggy man route. Someone who can damn well play, but is not exactly one of the hip young people the modern music world seem to have such an obsession with. However, if you dig below the surface, times are a changing and two albums I’ve checked out in the last week or so, are the perfect proof of that.
Feed the Rhino w/ Night Verses and Baby Godzilla at Ivory Blacks, 21/10/2014
Having dropped the best album of their career, Feed the Rhino made the decision to hold off on starting their UK tour. Instead, they waited a few months before rolling into Glasgow with their electrifying live show.
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Slash – World on Fire
Introducing Slash feels a bit pointless. If you don’t know who the top hat wearing guitarist is, then you are probably on the wrong blog. He’s recently released his third solo album, at least his third solo album that just goes under the name, Slash, once again teaming up with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, to give us, World on Fire.
Defining Punk in 2014.
This article is inspired by a whole series of events. One of which is the newest Lower Than Atlantis album, which is self titled and another of which is Terry Bezer’s defence of pop punk, which you can find here. It’s not a secret that the defintion of punk has changed. The old punks have grown up and anyone who has been to see a punk band that broke in the heyday, will be used to the sight of people who look like they spend their day with office jobs, slipping into the old outfit for a night out. My Dad tells a story of going for a fancy meal in America and afterwards going to see the New York Dolls, where he was surprised to find the exact same people that had been at the restaurant.. To say punk is dead is harsh, but to say punk has changed, seems to just be the truth.
The Motherload and Heavy Metal
I’m slightly behind the times with this one. Mastodon recently released a video for the rather awesome “The Motherload”, one of the highlights of Once More Round the Sun, the album they released earlier this year. That alone is hardly worthy of a post, but the reaction to said video, which is a combination of traditional rock aesthetics and a collection of woman with rather large derrieres ‘twerking’ (as I believe the kids call it), is.
Weezer in 2014
A new Weezer album is a strange proposition in 2014. While there is no denying Rivers Cuomo and co can still bring it on occasion, you can’t hide from the factThe Blue Album feels a long time ago and while those songs still kick ass live, they were recorded twenty years ago. While that was followed by another two amazing albums and a few less amazing but strong in their own way releases, they have also released some trash. With their last few failing to hit the mark. Therefore, Everything Will Be Alright in the End has a bit of pressure on its shoulders, the question has to stand as to whether Weezer still have it?
Heights w/ Echoes, Swallows and Flakes at Classic Grand, Glasgow, 4/10/14
Heights are dead. Not in the sense that Alex Monty and co have actually keeled over and slipped off their mortal coil, but in the sense that the band are saying goodbye. Anyone who has paid attention to my blogs for the last few years, will be well aware that I have a great deal of affection for this band. In a UK where there are more hardcore bands than ever before, they stood out as something a bit special and I am genuinely gutted to see them go. However, the opportunity to go and see them live one last time – they played their last ever show in London last night and were in Glasgow on Saturday – was something I wasn’t going to miss.
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Generic Music
Sometimes you listen to a band and you want to tell the world. You are desperate to have everyone know about them and cannot understand why people greet the mention of their name with blank faces. Other times you hear a band and wonder who actually cares? Who is spending their time and money supporting a band who while maybe not bad, are just so generic, that they are almost inventive through complete lack of invention. A band that very much invoke that feeling inside of me is Godsmack, who this year released 1000hp.
Malcolm Young
Few men will ever define rock and roll in the way that Malcolm Young has. The engine behind AC/DC is responsible for some of the most iconic riffs ever written and the news that has come out in the last few weeks about his retirement from the band, through illness, is one of the most devastating things I have heard as a rock fan. The further confirmation that that illness was dementia and his apparent lose of memory, makes the story all the sadder, as rock will lose one of it’s surest guardians.
Marmozets
Marmozets seem to be the latest buzz word on everyone’s lips and with their debut album, The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets, dropping this week, it looks likely that they are here to stay. Formed of two sets of siblings, Becca, Sam and Josh MacIntyre and Will and Jack Bottomley, Marmozets have been on the live scene for a while. I saw them supporting Feed the Rhino a while back and they impressed me then with their energetic show. Back then their sound was also a lot more mathcore, something that they have by no means lost on this release, but which they have honed and in many ways perfected into some cracking tunes.
Ramblings About Wrestling 