Band of the Week: Save Your Breath

Save Your Breath are a 5 piece from Newport, Wales making classic pop punk music. Starting off releasing an EP back in 2009, the band have since released 3 LP's and have toured with bands such as Funeral For A Friend and Set Your Goals. Despite this and their 18,000+ Facebook likes, Save Your Breath don't seem to be as big as they deserve to be and I can't understand why. Similarly to the hottest pop punk band on the planet right now, Neck Deep, frontman Kristian and his band are from a small town in Wales and are making pop punk records that an army of fans can mosh to and listen to alone in their rooms whilst sulking about how no one understands them. They really are underrated considering their music has the sound that a lot of people love and can relate to. There's messages in their songs which echo that of Real Friends and The Wonder Years, there's a look which could plaster the bedroom walls of fans and there's hooks and choruses to sing your heart out to. If pop punk is your thing and you want to check these guys out, stand out tracks include 'Maps', 'Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy' and 'Whole.'

Latest album 'There Used To Be A Place For Us' is available for purchase now.
Video for latest single 'Airs & Graces' can be found below.

Trash Talk, Tunbridge Wells Forum, 13/07/2014

It's safe to say when I booked my Trash Talk tickets a little over a month ago I was pretty scared. I'd heard
a lot of crazy stories about the California 4 piece and how reckless and quite honestly dangerous their shows could be. A lot of my friends who knew of Trash Talk actually wished me luck. As a 19 year old girl with very little muscle, I live by the moto 'if you don't want to be hit, stay out the pit,' a moto which is hard to live by when the whole room Trash Talk play in becomes a mosh pit. Trash Talk are a truly unique band. They play 50 second bursts of hardcore punk, encourage skateboarding at gigs and they perform among the crowd. The venue I saw them in has a stage, but a stage means nothing to Lee, Garrett or Spencer. It is drummer Devan Bentley who fills the stage alongside some massive amps and speaker, the others play on the floor. Whilst this means the show is as much the crowd's as it is the band's, it is slightly annoying. Like I said, I'm a 19 year old girl who doesn't want to get hit at a gig and whilst I'm more than happy for the mosh pit to still exist, in a situation like this it meant that I couldn't see. I would have love to have seen frontman Lee Spielman's passion and chaos but I couldn't because he was constantly mobbed by testosterone filled young boys.

Anyway, I feel I have become a tad sidetracked so let's get back to the best bits of my Sunday night. Opening act Human Future opened the night by thanking the crowd for being at The Forum and not watching the highly anticipated and loved World Cup final. This was followed by a declaration of "F**k Lionel Messi" something which created a ripple of laughter through the crowd. Following Human Future were Palm Reader (my current Band of the Week). Palm Reader managed to hype up the crowd ready for Trash Talk more than I was expecting them to, they were awesome, but you can read about all that in my post about them. Their bassist said something in passing though which made me laugh: "21 and deaf as a c**t" which was an accurate description of most the people in the room that night, including himself. The crowd now nicely riled (and a bit deaf), it was time for Trash Talk.

Trash Talk's 35 minute set was everything I thought it would be and more. It was absolutely crazy. Kids were throwing themselves into each other, into the band, into walls. Lee was throwing himself about, he was throwing fans about, he was encouraging circle pits and complete mayhem. What I wasn't expecting was for the band to stop mid-set and get each and every one of us to sit on the floor to watch a man propose to his girlfriend who he had met in the venue 2 years previous. It was a surreal thing to be happening at a gig, especially a Trash Talk gig but it only riled the crowd more. "Come on! Two people have jut declared their f***ing love for each other man!" shouted Lee and the show went on with more energy and more mayhem. Other random things which would only happen at a gig like Trash Talk's was a song being dedicated to Biffy Clyro, a song in which the crowd were asked to do skateboard tricks throughout, a song which required the crowd to stand still and frantically fist pump and Lee almost "taking a slash somewhere [he] shouldn't." The venue being as small as it is got pretty hot which lead to the band demanding beer and opening the side doors to hang out of whilst performing. Lee also threw some kids out the door too, just for fun... It was crazy. I wish I could tell you about stand out songs and the gnarly musicianship I saw but it's all a bit of a blur and with Lee having microphone issues, it's difficult to remember what was played when. They definitely played The Hole though and that was pretty awesome.

A Trash Talk show is the sort of show you'll only experience once. They can be pretty scary guys but they're performance is awesome and it is worth seeing them live, even if you don't really know who they are. I loved it, and I'm glad I made it out alive.

Due to the craziness I didn't get any photos or the setlist. Bad times.

Band of the Week: Palm Reader

This week's Band of the Week are Palm Reader, a metal 5 piece from Woking, UK. I first heard about Palm Reader when I found out they were supporting Trash Talk on their UK tour which I would be attending, so naturally I checked them out. After listening to their most watched single 'Noble Host' on YouTube I was pretty excited to see them live but when I did I got quite the surprise. 'Noble Host' is a very tame single from the band; their set was actually full of thrashy, metally songs that got a crowd of testosterone moshing like their life depended on it. What I hadn't realised was that the band had a full length album, 'Bad Weather' already out and that this is where their sound is established. Their sound is exactly what you'd expect from a band supporting Trash Talk on tour: it's frantic, it's grizzly, it's loud and it's pretty awesome. What's nice about Palm Reader though is that frontman Josh Mckeown's vocals are clear which means if you're brave enough you can have a sing-a-long, something which is sometimes impossible with bands of this genre. Whilst on the topic of Josh, he's also a really nice guy; straight after performing he headed to the merch stand to sell to fans and despite how sweaty and out of breath he was I thought that it was cool he was selling the merch to me, not someone he and his band had employed.

The band have also played a few festivals this summer such as Hit The Deck, 2000 Trees and Sonisphere and they were also part of the Rock Sound/Impericon Exposure Tour, which goes to show this band could become something big. Their bio on tumblr reads "We play loud. We play heavy. We play hard. We play fast." and that is the most accurate thing I've ever read in any bands bio. Palm Reader are showmen as well as musicians. Seeing them live was a new experience for me as half of them spent their time playing their instruments in the crowd amongst some serious moshers. It was quite impressive to see a band mosh so hard whilst playing instruments and still make it sound like a song. With a new album out early next year, this band are definitely one to watch.

'Bad Weather' is available to buy now from iTunes and smalltownrecords.co.uk
Single 'Noble Host (Grace Pt. 3) can also be downloaded for free via the band's BandCamp

Band of the Week: Babymetal

This weeks band of the week is slightly different from usual. On a normal day I'd be recommending a band who are clearly full of potential and talent, who I actually like, and recommend for all good reasons. However, this week, Babymetal have been bought to my attention. A Japanese all female trio, Babymetal fuse metal with cutesy Gothic outfits and dance routines that belong in musical theater. They are quirky, odd, confusing and most definitely experimental. I have never seen or heard anything like this before and I don't know if I love it or hate it. They're backed by some pretty cool riffs and shouts but then they're shrouded in "kawaii" (Japanese cuteness) and it makes for the oddest combination since chilli and chocolate! They're supported by a band who look like they've done their own Halloween make up and they've turned the almighty devil horn hand into what looks like a giraffe ready for shadow puppetry. Novelty or not, Babymetal are a serious talking point right now.

So who actually are Babymetal? Su-metal, Yuimetal and Moametal are a vocal-dance group with their hearts set on conquering the world with their unique kawaii metal movement. And weird or not, they must be doing something right as Lady Gaga has just added them as a support act on the current leg of her artRave tour! Insane praise indeed, however, this is Lady Gaga we're talking about, the most experimental woman in music today. Not only this but they are already on a world tour which has included a UK debut on Sonisphere's main stage last Friday! It's insane what this group are doing already. With songs such as 'Gimme Chocolate!' and 'Head bangya!!' it's hard to take this band seriously; I don't whether to laugh or cry or mosh or dance. Naturally, a band as crazy as this is in both concept and reality has had mixed reviews. I think they probably are Marmite. There is no way you could watch this band and go "well, they're okay." Having said all this, I have sat through their debut album 'BABYMETAL' quite happily. It really isn't the most offensive thing my ears have ever heard but I won't be rushing to hit the replay button or brag about how much I love them any time soon. What can be said for Su, Yui and Moa is that they have balls and they've got a lot of people talking, even though no one can really explain what they're doing. They are definitely worth checking out, just to see what the hype is about. 

 

Debut album 'BABYMETAL' is available now.

 

Royal Blood: Figure It Out

A previous band of the week of mine, Royal Blood have just released new single 'Figure It Out' and my God, it is another epic track from the duo! As gnarly and grizzly as ever, this single is loud and in your face with some intense instrumental work from both Mike and Ben. You can literally feel the music through you and the louder you play it, the more you love it. I've already moshed around my house to this song an unrecordable amount of times and I can imagine that it will be nothing short of a spectacle to see live. There's nothing more to say about it really, it speaks for itself. It's awesome.

Self titled debut album 'Royal Blood' is due for release on August 25th.

Below is the band performing 'Figure It Out' in session but the track can be found on the duo's soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/royalblooduk/figure-it-out-single

Real Friends: I Don't Love You Anymore

'I Don't Love You Anymore' is the final single to be released before Real Friends release their debut studio album later this month. The song is unmistakably Real Friends and sounds very much like a mash up of 'I've Given Up On You' and 'Anchor Down.' In some ways, it's a shame that it's so similar to their previous material because it feels like the band are stuck in a sound that they've become comfortable with. Despite this, it's still a song that is enjoyable. If the Real Friends sound is something you enjoy then you will love this song. It's safe and I think that's why it will sell; it's the classic sound of a band that have a loyal fanbase and the song will therefore be received with open arms. It's a pop-punk anthem which gives the middle finger to anyone who has ever broken another person's heart. With lyrics such as "I'm gone and I'm never coming back" and "I woke up today and realised what we had is dead", it stands out as something powerful and something about being heartbroken, something which a lot of people, young and old will relate to. It is worth a listen and you can imagine kids singing and moshing to it like their life depends on it, but if you're expecting a new sound from Real Friends, you're going to be disappointed.

Debut album 'Maybe This Place is the Same and We're Just Changing' is available to preorder now and is de for release of July 22nd.

5 Seconds of Summer: the debut album.

This is now my third blog post featuring 5 Seconds of Summer and I still don't think I have a bad word to say about them. 3 days ahead of it's UK release I've managed to get a listen of the boys debut album and I am so glad I've been able to do so. I'm just over half way through my first listen of the self-titled album and I am yet to be disappointed. Yes, there's some ballads and some pop but there's also some serious rock & roll sounds throughout the album and it's awesome. It's definitely worth some attention and it will definitely be on repeat for a long long time. Single's 'She Looks So Perfect' and 'Don't Stop' obviously feature very early on in the album and although they are both great songs, they are almost forgotten by the end of the album because there are so many other songs which you instantly love just as much. Alongside the singles there's also songs such as 'Heartbreak Girl', 'Good Girls' and 'Beside You' which have been kicking about the internet and the live circuit for a while. I love all these songs but I have found new loves in the form of tracks '18' which I will sing along to as if I am 17, and not in fact 20, and 'Kiss Me Kiss Me' which the band teased fans with pre-album release.

So what does it actually sound like, other than my bias opinion of awesome? Well, it sounds like the sort of stuff that daytime radio will devour and that teenage girls will scream about. It also has hints of anthemic power with many "woah" sing-a-long sections and a few guitar solos that fit in with the bands of Kerrang! and Rock Sound. The album is also an ode to the bands which have clearly influenced and shaped 5 Seconds of Summer with similarities to bands such as One Direction but also bands such as Green Day (Social Casualty is very 'Minority'-esque). In a YouTube series entitled #FINALLYA5SOSALBUM, the boys touch upon writing with the Madden brothers (Good Charlotte) and Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low); names such as these are what make it clear that these boys are serious musicians and that they are a rock band. To be honest, it doesn't matter if you think their rock or pop because there is something for everyone on this album, even if it is enjoyed as a guilty pleasure. It's fun and it's catchy. It's a triumph for four Australian boys with an average age of 18 to make an impact as big as this on a worldwide scale. They're a band which are full of promise and this album reflects that entirely.

'5 Seconds of Summer' is available for pre-order now and will be released on Monday 30th June.