Having a band member leave is never a good situation. Having your lead singer drop out just before you release your second album (and your first with her in the band) is probably worse than most. That’s the situation Hey! Hello! found themselves in earlier this year when Hollis Mahady left the band to focus on Love Zombies.
Green Day – Revolution Radio
Oh, Green Day. Where did it all go so wrong? On American Idiot that snotty punk band that sang about wanking grew up into a political powerhouse. If we’d known then that it would start them on a path that ended at Revolution Radio, I could have done without it.
Creeper
In a world where most of musical history is at our fingertips via Spotify or YouTube, standing out takes something special. Every week tens of albums are released and deciding where to start isn’t easy. One band that make that simplifies that decision is Creeper.
Metallica – Moth Into Flame
I can count on one hand the bands that mean more to me than Metallica. Which is hardly rare, if you were to ask a hundred heavy metal fans they would probably say the same. In fact, ask a thousand, they’ll still be up there. And yet recent years haven’t been too kind to ‘Tallica. The whole Lulu debacle came after two average at best and downright bad at worst albums. While ‘Lords of Summer’ and some sloppy live shows didn’t exactly set the bar high for what was to come in the future. That was until they dropped ‘Moth Into Flame’.
Love Zombies – Passionfruit
There’s a pretty good chance that one day I will look back and split my life into two distinct sections. Pre and post ‘Robots & Aliens’. The stupidly infectious song from Love Zombies has been running through my head ever since I first put on Passionfruit and I’m genuinely not sure it will ever leave. To be honest, I might even be okay with that.
Black Peaks & Heck w/ Bad Sign
Edinburgh can be a notoriously tough city to tour. That famous Scottish crowd doesn’t always emerge, and I have seen bands like Bring Me The Horizon (on Sempiternal) struggle to sell out supposedly small venues. So standing in Electric Circus and seeing a nearly sold-out crowd appreciate two of the best young bands the UK has to offer. Well, it’s one hell of a feeling.
The Interrupters – Say It Out Loud
In the excitement (or mehment depending on what side of the fence you are on) of the announcement that Green Day are making their way over to the UK not much has been said about the band coming along in support, The Interrupters.
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Metallica, Slayer, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Green Day and the list could go on. What do all those bands have in common?
- They have had a visible impact on the history of rock music.
- They have gone on way past their sell by date.
Think of it like this, what if Metallica had called it a day after Load and Reload? What if the Chilli Peppers had checked out after Californication? Would Slayer be looked on differently if they’d gone before they got old and how would the punk world view Green Day if they had hung up their guitars before they tried to become U2? If these bands had done those things, how much bigger would their legends be?
Prophets of Rage – The Party’s Over
The idea of Prophets of Rage has never sat comfortably with me. The idea of a bunch of old men trying to come back and be the voice of a generation – even if they may have some good points – strikes that cynical bone in my body. However, if you remove the politics a band should be judged on their music, and we now have their first EP, The Party’s Over. With two original tracks and three covers, it should be an insight into exactly what the Prophets of Rage are.
Puppy – Vol. II
Every year you will be told that such and such a band sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. Now and then that’s true, I mean I genuinely can’t think of many groups that sound like Babymetal. However, more often than not it’s rubbish. They might sound like two bands you’ve heard before smushed together, but the influences are still there. But while I am not going to tell you that you have never heard anything like Puppy before, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you haven’t heard much like it.
Ramblings About Wrestling 