French babes ‘The Plastiscines” graced the stage with an 80’s Post-Punk rock set. From what can be read about this band, and given the Gabe’s (Cobra Starship) opinion of them, this must have been a rough night. They seemed to struggle through the set, constantly fighting with feedback and a seemingly tough crowd. It did during the set as people sang along with lyrics from “Barcelona “and “Bitch”, however it never seems to get to wear it needed to go.

2/5

Family Force Five certainly had their ‘amps up to eleven’ tonight and got the crowd into an incredible frenzy. There was energy from start to finish as they “crunked” their way through an exceptionally tight set. Solomon wore his infamous wrestling belt along with stylish knew pads. Tracks like “Love Addict” went down a storm with fans. 2010 see’s the release of their music into the UK market for the first time, so hopefully these guys will return again soon!

5/5

…and then it arrives, all the way from the New York, the Cobra Starship . The fact that the show was smaller made for a much more humble performance which the band took full advantage of. Opening the set with ‘This City Is At War’ Gabe held back nothing as he launched himself toward fans. There was plenty of banter between the crown and fellow band members, but never long enough to be left feeling awkward. Tracks such as ‘Snakes On A Plane’ and their first single ‘Hot Mess’ kept the crowds increasingly energetic attention. The band entertained an ‘encore’ which included ‘Bright Lights’ and hit single ‘Good Girls Go Bad’. Gabe didn’t rush off either; he took time to mingle with fans for a while after the show.

5/5

SET LIST

The City is at War
Smash it Up
Nice Guys Finish Last
Kiss my Sass
My Moves are White (White Hot that Is)
Wet Hot American Summer
The Church of Hot Addiction
Send my Love to the Dance Floor, I’ll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Smile for the Paparazzi
Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)
Hot Mess
Guilty Pleasure
Bright Lights
Good Girls Go Bad

Words: Adam Spall

Having toured with bands like Aiden, Escape The Fate and Eyes Set To Kill among others, the band’s tight sets of intensely passionate performances have won over fans from all over.
After their 2007 Kerrang! Tour followed by a successful European co-headlining tour late 2008 I Am Ghost have announced the dates of their 2010 headlining tour, set to take place this Spring.

Says frontman Steve Juliano: “”This will be our third time now overseas, and this one is very special to us since it’s our very first headlining European tour. We have learned so much from the past two times being over there, and it always brings us a huge smile to come back. The scene in Europe and UK is amazing, and the love and respect we get over there is why we keep doing I Am Ghost”.

Their latest Epitaph release “Those We Leave Behind” with its impressively cinematic sound (Q, UK) is out now.

Date Country City Venue
30.04.10 Czech Republic Brno CARODEJALES open air
01.05.10 Italy Cesena Vidia
02.05.10 Italy Milano Tunnel
03.05.10 Austria Wien Arena
04.05.10 Austria Haag Böllerbauer
05.05.10 Germany Stuttgart Universum
06.05.10 Germany Schweinfurt Alter Stattbahnhof
07.05.10 Germany Rosswein Juha
08.05.10 Germany Köln Underground
10.05.10 Germany München Feierwerk
11.05.10 Switzerland Zürich Dynamo
13.05.10 France Paris Glazart
14.05.10 Germany Trier Ex-Haus
15.05.10 UK Southampton Joiners
16.05.10 UK Birmingham O2 Academy 3
17.05.10 UK Newcastle O2 Academy 2
18.05.10 UK Leeds Rios
19.05.10 UK Bristol O2 Academy 2
20.05.10 UK London Underworld
21.05.10 UK Peterborough Met Lounge
22.05.10 Belgium Leopoldsburg Blackstarfest
23.05.10 Netherlands Alphen Aan De Rijn Het Kasteel
24.05.10 Germany Hamburg tba
25.05.10 Germany Berlin Magnet

For more information please visit:
http://www.epitaph.com/
http://www.myspace.com/iamghost

Rock the Rabbit is a mash-up of music and design. Over the past five years, they’ve paired artists like Daft Punk and the Flaming Lips with legendary photographer Mick Rock and today’s top designers. This year they’re turning things up a notch. They’re rolling out a new band every day until their Late Night bash at the South by Southwest music festival in March.
Rock The Rabbit and Playboy have teamed with both MGMT and The Kooks and got the bands to design their own t-shirts.
Both very bold, original and at a very affordable price of £20 go HERE to buy

Quoted from the Playboy website

MGMT became a global phenomenon during the past year, capturing the zeitgeist on both sides of the economic collapse. “Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives,” they sing on “Time to Pretend,” the first of their two world-beating anthems. Pre-collapse, you could get into their exuberance. Post-collapse, their cynicism and devil-may-care attitude kept us partying even as things crumbled around us. And for just that reason we’re proud to have Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, the two Wesleyan University grads who make up MGMT, as part of our Rock the Rabbit project. “We like dressing up in weird clothes,” says Ben, “but I’m not sure what we wear could be called a fashion sense as such.” Their Playboy T-shirt design, however, most certainly proves their fashion sense.

And directly on the project Andrew said

“The inspiration for the design came from our love for Playboy and new yorker styled cartoons. We’re very into cartoons, the rest of our merchandise line is in fact a series of original cartoon characters designed by our friend Dan from our descriptions of the characters….” – Andrew VanWyngarden, MGMT

Check the site regularly for more bands and designs

Worn Free recreates Tees that capture the enduring cool of the last century’s pop-culture icons and are already a huge hit with LA’s film and music communities. Worn Free T-shirts represent defining moments in rock and roll history. Classic Tees once worn by John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Joey Ramone, Ian Dury, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Kurt Cobain and many others, have been selected and recreated to capture the style of some of the greatest names in history.Each couture quality T-shirt is accompanied by a hangtag in the style of a backstage pass that bears a photo of the design’s origin, who wore it, and information about its provenance. The design is reproduced to create a vintage t-shirt made from ultra soft, organic, pre-washed cotton.
Worn Free is the brainchild of British born designer, Steve Coe who spent almost a decade researching thousands of images of the most influential rock stars from the 20th Century. “The great thing about our shirts is they reflect the personal style of the legends who originally wore them. All of our products are pre-endorsed by style icons like John Lennon & Debbie Harry”, comments Coe.

Worn Free is celebrating its UK launch with the debut of the Muhammad Ali Luxury Robe, a deluxe velour boxing robe modeled precisely on the one The Champ wore – with his immortal catchphrase “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” stitched on the front pocket and “Muhammad Ali” in imposing capital letters on the back. The robe will be accompanied by a hangtag/sticker in the style of a ringside pass that bears a photo of a preening Ali in his robe. All of the designs are fully licensed and many feature cryptic slogans and references, a far cry from the ubiquitous imagery of typical rock merchandise.
Worn Free now produces over 100 retro-chic tees. RRP starting from £30. Available online at www.wornfree.com and at selected UK retailers including Liberty of London, www.mywardrobe.com and other premium retail outlets across the country.

Opening with the track ‘American Clouds’, echoing the line ‘rolling like a diesel train’, was a high point of their set and became one of the most memorable points from this show, which means they must be doing something right! The electro/indie four piece use big sounds and cutting guitar riffs held down with the power house drumming of Gavin McDonald. This sound paired with the dual vocals that run through many of the songs works to great affect.

Rate: 4/5

You Me At Six seem to please the crowd, which is somewhat surprising as the PA seems to be working against them tonight. This may have contributed to the feeling that their set is not being up to its usual quality. Baring in mind that this is a huge show and no doubt the pressure is on and possibly getting the better of them. The London based five piece did well balancing current material with the new sounds of their forthcoming album ‘Hold Me Down’ out early 2010.

Rate: 3/5

Taking the stage next was Paramore followed by an arena full of screams. The band opened with an atmospheric introduction into the first single ‘Ignorance’ taken from the latest album ‘Brand New Eyes’. There is something about this band that is simply breath taking, the mechanics behind the crafting of their song writing with the spectacular live presence is second to none. The set is geared towards promoting their new album, however they didn’t forget their roots whilst rocking out to ‘Pressure’, ‘Emergency’ and ‘CrushCrushCrush’. The band leave the stage after ‘Decode’, a song that has undoubtedly played a huge part in the bands current status. The band returned with a beautiful rendition of ‘Misguided Ghosts’ followed by the crowd pleasing ‘Misery Business’ and ‘Brick By Boring Brick’. Once again Paramore played a flawless set, with Hayley Williams vocals being perfect for an arena sound. performance.

Rate: 5/5

Words – Craig Bunting

Photos – Adam Emery

Fourth album by welsh pop/rockers shows that they are not just an average band but the dark house of rock music. They bring back some hip/hop and trance influences in the form of ‘For he’s A Jolly Good Felon’. As the single’s ‘End of the World’ & ‘Were We Belong’ show they can still deliver there catchy and fist raising tunes. The overall design and production of the album has been well thought through, which shows these guys have talent after 12 years on the scene. Tracks highlights would come from ‘End of the World’, ‘Darkest Blue’ & ‘The Light That Shines Twice as Bright’. A major criticism would be that the songs change mood too dramatically over the course of the album. Also it would be nice to see them going a bit more back to there route and doing something which represents a dance/electric rock follow on from fake sound in progress. Overall a well made and long time coming album which shows a matured band, but is it really worth the wait? 6/10

Jay James

Hold me Down sees the Surrey quintet release an emotional second album which hopes to convert all you none fans over.  This album gives you songs to just relax and tap your feet too after a stressing day. Warning though it may cause you to burst out into a dancing fit, the tunes get you listening and shake you up to pay attention. The lyrics are really personal and real which compliment the bursting energy of riffs. The technical ability of the band could be pushed more towards not only the rocky side of music but to bigger depths. This is what pulls the album down, is that there is not enough difference between some of the songs. After being signed to Virgin, supporting Paramore and growing an already full fan base they can only get better, they are still young guys doing what they enjoy and trying there very best. Tracks to pay close attention to because they will be hits are, ‘The Consequence’ & ‘Fireworks’. They have created some party and floor filling tunes but nothing to keep them in the history books, hopefully they will over time but worth a listen this time over. 7/10

Jay James

A surprising sound from a local Leeds/Sheffield band, surprising from there idea of what hard Indi is. They have early Lostprophets in there with the likes of a hip hop/dance mix on some tracks, which shows they can tackle a different style. They do feel very Indi and were originally acoustic based but with the additions of a bass line they have hardcore power showing. This would be one of my CD’s of the year as I can see real potential, cool riffs and long lasting beats. Please get hold of there song, ‘Making Progress’, if you want to feel good today. They are for fans of the ‘Future Heads’ & ‘The Automatic’. 9/10

Jay James

An Avant-Garde and very experimental sound to which Nitkowski has put across, which show a very different side to the instruments. They are trying to create something very different and by no means generic using a strange music passion. These won’t be played through many stations or in many clubs but would be very interesting live. If you don’t care for corporate music and stuff not making sense make sure you check out the 3.55, wonderful song ‘Bite My Tongue And Do It For The Dogs’. 6/10

Jay James

A genuine classic pop band in the making, take ‘Noah and the Whale’, ‘Keane’ and a pinch of ‘The Killers’ to get, The Chemists. They come storming in to your ear drums and make you remember the song for a long time afterwards.  A mainly pop/Indi based sound which does sound a bit generic and repetitive these days.  ‘Radio Booth’ sees them getting a bit meaner with a very catchy and distinctive sound. ‘Tazmanian Devil’ also brings the edgy yet still poppy sound again but I can’t help to listen to more of them, MySpace here I come. The main improvement I would suggest is give the audience a feel of what you are saying and pleases no Britney Spears covers again. 7/10

Jay James

The tracks flow quickly and smoothly through this adventurous album. This quintet of guys is comfortable at delivering a shredding and rocking sound but they feel a bit too safe. A different approach or experimentation could be done to make them seem fresher and take them from that comfort zone. The tracks go from strides to small steps, they repeat a song but with faster rhythm, with these said you start to doubt there future and ability. This is album is held up by the songs ‘Remnance’ & ‘The End of Days’. 5/10

Jay James

‘Blondie’ is back but in the form of Lounge Fly, a brave band that tries to pull the boundaries of Indi, punk and grunge together. They also most get there with a diverse and edgy vocal sound back by a rocking bass player. However there is nothing special or memorable about this hardcore female driven band. If you must check out the tune ‘Lap it Up’. 4/10

Jay James

Four pure rock fuelled songs which feels like pouring petrol on a fire. The Rocket Dolls let you know they are in control of your ears and body movements when they get hold of you. ‘Bleeding The Shame’ is a focused track which gives you not only the hook you look for in a classic song but the slamming drum and bass grab you as well. 7/10

Jay James

‘Bring me the Horizon’ fans would do well to check out this progressive, scremo punk band. They come and deliver with a meaty hammer of hard hitting bass lines and nail curling key changes. The big strength to this is the precision and quality of producing. Download the track ‘Hope in Silence’ for an epic adventure. 6/10

Jay James

The first track ‘Hell Yeah’ is a sexy sweet track which will get any stiff up and rocking along. The guitar riffs and solo part from vocals and bass is gets the excitement out and ready for a bumping, good rock single from an under-rated band. The band then show more of there talent on the moving and emo song called, ‘Little Boy’, a great successes so buy it now! 8/10

Jay James