Date: 15th of August. Venue: The Bitter End. Acts: Electric Child House, States of Emotion, The Jayways and London Blackmarket.

I enter The Bitter End at around half past 8 and there's already a substantial crowd! Seriously I haven't seen a crowd in the Bitter End like this since Sikth played it a couple of years ago! I am simultaeneously impressed and annoyed at the size of the crowd drawn by the nights headline act London Blackmarket; the size of their appeal impressed, the inconvienience annoyed me, that and the heat generated by the numbers! It was a hard night to concentrate on the music!

First group up on stage are Electric Child House, billed as a "90's rock influenced psychedelic garage band" the group reminded me of Oasis's first album 'Definitely Maybe' ; so much so that I thought their second song was a cover of 'Rock and Roll Star'. They are unlike Oasis however in the sense that their music isn't ladish... You know what I mean. It's not the kind of thing that one would here wafting from a kebab shop, smelling of Stella breath at 2AM. It's too soaring and pretty, with rolling grooves like waves of strawberry love unfurling like orchids in HD. Think Feeder, Kasabian, My Bloody Valentine. I feel though that they don't quite kiss the sky; something is missing, preventing them from achieving pure psychelic bliss... Maybe the singers vocal style was too bland (it was), or the lead guitar player needed to include an epic solo now and then (he should do really), but who knows...
Good songs, good performance, good band.

States of Emotion were up next, this band like the previous, immediately reminded me of another A-list indy act; U2. Soaring indy with a psychedelic melody and pop hooks.
SOE drew a huge crowd! I guess thet're big locally (among live music fans). Too many people for my liking, but thats not their fault... I guess. Their sound was a little too mainstream indy for me, nothing stood out and made me want to remember this band; but since it's not extreme metal I may be biased. I'm quite willing to put up with a lack of difference in bands and their songs as long as it's brutal/chaotic, but with indy I tend to demand experimentalism a lot more. Not impressed much by SOE then.

The same problem seemed to affect the Jayways; they performed well, they had good songs (think The Kooks, Dirty Pretty Things and other light catchy pop indy), the crowd responce was good, or it was at the front at least; everyone else in the pub seemed completely unphased by them. They might as well have let the jukebox play! The problem being here that The Jayways seem to draw a primary audience
that are quite happy to use music as background noise as they chat to friends; something that couldn't happen last week! Extreme metal may annoy, baffle or even offend you; but you can't ignore it, which is the point! So if thats what the Jayways set out to accomplish, job done!

None of that for London Blackmarket however; the crowd began singing their music before they even start playing! And when they did begin, I suddenly understood the reason behind so many strange faces in the pub! And it's a following well deserved!
The confidence of the band fills the air and plants a seed inside all LBM newcomers, it's a feeling that this band are good and well worth taking note of. LBM remind me a lot of Kings of Leon, before they shaved; it's the same kind of sweet, slightly pained shoegaze indy with a little blues thrown in for a touch more insecurity.
The vast audience loved the set, and I'm stuck for trying to remember when I've seen a Bitter End audience so disappointed to see a band stop playing! Chants of "LBM!" carry on as the members pack up their gear, and it's more the swealtering heat than anything which makes me glad it's home time. London Blackmarket are so professional, so talented, so likable, so committed! It's obvious that this is their life, and they're on the right track to making it their full time job too. Check this band out!

Until next week here's the links! Thanks for reading ninja's!

http://www.myspace.com/londonblackmarket
http://www.myspace.com/thejaywaysmusic
http://www.myspace.com/statesofemotion
http://www.myspace.com/electricchildhouse

Date: 8th of August. Venue: The Bitter End Romford. Acts: Nothing Gained, Black Polaris and When All Else Fails.

So finally I am treated to a night of senseless brutality! The Bitter End had promised the up-and-coming Bleed From Within and the melody raping Hideous Miscreation! But alas I am disappointed again, as it soon transpires that both had pulled out and hastily the bill was filled by unheard of (by me) Black Polaris and When All Else Fails; bands that are also dedicated to bludgeoning it's audience to death sonically, so my disappointment was short lived.

First band up however were the aptly named 'Nothing Gained', a female fronted (sighs) nu-metal like band from the London/Essex area. Inspired by this band, I have begun writing a separate blog on the topic of female fronted metal bands and the sad state of most of them being really fucking lame, so look forward to that!

For me, this band summed up EVERYTHING I hate about the Essex alternative scene; the main point being that mostly it's members are stuck in the past. By 'the past' I mean these people seemed to have stopped being interested in new bands/styles in the scene around about 2001; so Linkin Park, long dyed black unconditioned hair and chains on jeans are still genuinely enjoyed. Nothing Gained look, sound and smell cheesier than Fred Durst after a 2 year tour of the world, with no shower and being completely fuelled by Wotsits.
Their sound was a Tesco's value grade soup of all the most obvious bands to be a fan of in the alternative scene of the last ten years; Korn, Slipknot, Machine Head, Disturbed etc. Combine this with a deplorable lack of stage presence and you end up with a band that has fuck all to give... Oh! Nothing Gained! Now I get it!
The fishnet-clad lead singer to give her her due, could sing and scream well; but as the rest of the band drowned her out it hardly seemed worth her being there at all!

Now I could go on and on about the bands appearance, believe me! But as the main criticism I've been getting has been that I write too much, I'm just going to proceed onto the next act; Black Polaris.

Black Polaris are as Deathcore as it gets; fringes, skinny's, bruuutal band logos on their t-shirts, and planet heavy breakdowns with glass shattering screams and brown note growls. Since Deathcore is the big issue in metal culture today, I would like to declare my colours; I quite like it. I like it in the similar sense of when people say they like Girls Aloud, it's the metal equivalent. It's not really doing anything different or special but nonetheless it's entertaining. Predictable but enjoyable, kind of like Suicide Silence.
Black Polaris give it a hefty go at trying to get the audience going, but as the Romford alternative scene hasn't quite got death metal yet (presumably because of it's lack of turntables), the most the band gets is a few lads down the front and a few pricks at the back shouting "you're shit!" Shame.

I'm barely over the fact that Nothing Gained had a longer set than Black Polaris, when 'When All Else Fails' begin. The Terminator 2 theme heralds their arrival and builds the tension; it's a bit of a cheesy move, and one that is sooooo 21st century pop culture reference humour, but I'll never say no to a sweet injection of nostalgia. The first thing I wrote down when this band started playing was; "talent". They seemed so comfortable onstage! Leaping, flopping and running about on/off stage and into the feeble crowd, passionately requesting for the crowd to move forward and giving the finger to the loud mouths at the back. This band were a joy to watch, fast, furious and simply too big for the Bitter End.
Primarily a hardcore band, obviously some second wave death/deathcore influence though, with some great screams and chugging guitars.
The only problem being the short length of the set; I'm sure WAEF could have gone on all night for the small collection at the front who cared, but alas licencing forbids them from continuing.

Here is where I end for this week; apologies for how long it took to get this up on Blogger, life's a complex rubix cube and it throws you a few curve balls. Priorities etc. Any, hopefully you enjoyed this blog and you'll read my next featuring;

Electric Child House
States of Emotion
The Jayways
and
London Blackmarket

Peace ma Ninjas!


http://www.myspace.com/nothinggained
http://www.myspace.com/blackpolaris
http://www.myspace.com/waefuk

Consider this a handshake

Hello, good evening! (I'm writing this at 23:35 so to me it's evening. Good whatever time it is for you!)

I thought I'd write a little introduction to this blog, to map out a few motivations, objections and aspirations for those who find my presence here in the blogosphere a little hazy. First things first, I'm Martin; a recent Media and Cultural studies university graduate with a penchant for metal, tattoos, swearing, comedy, tea, taste and intellectualism. Essentially, I'm a pretentious wind bag who enjoys using his opinions as a cudgel on folk I consider to be in serious need of having some sense beaten into them.

I must say I enjoy dispencing opinion almost more than any other dispencings! But there's more to this blog than just my shallow and pathetic need to tell other people how wrong or crap they are with a degree of anonimity! The idea came about through my desires to pursue a career in writing; where better than the internet to hone my skills? Rife with niche audiences and cult status that it is! What better to write about than (mainly) unheard of bands? A subject with nigh on infinite examples that the majority of will just be happy to be reveiwed at all! Even if it is just some flailing ex-student wanker with a blog read by no one.

Which brings me to my next point; what I can offer. Ok I don't have a respected or well publicised opinion, or even a platform! I do however have something at least 2/16ths as important; enthusiastic, genuine and intelligent opinions and criticism direct from the audience the bands I review are trying to reach. And I hearby promise right now to not write endless slagging off reviews of bands that are the equivalent of crippled ducks with both wings broken, lying face down in the opaque water slowly drowning, begging to be blown quite literally away, just to get a cheap laugh at the expense of someones honest attempts at self expression... Well there may be a bit of that but only if they really are lame, half arsed, biological waste or wanky scene kids with delusions of grandeur; such pond life are so deserving of my swift bloggers back-hander!

As a musician myself, I know what it's like for people to be as apathetic about your band as they are about the next 'Saw' movie; so to the bands I review; I try to see the good and be fair handed in forming judgements about others serious artistic efforts... I am but a humble amateur, imparting my personal opinion, which is as important as whoever may read it decides it is. You will only assign importance to my views if you think I make any kind of valid point at all; this is a warning then; if you get mad about what I say, remember that some part of you in some way, agrees with me.

So in closing I remind you that ultimately, if your intentions are true, you have no one to blame, or to answer to, but yourselves.

In the words of the immortal Bill Hicks, I implore you all to; "play from your fucking heart!"

Thanks for reading and please subscribe!

Martin