Category Archives: OI

The Season

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Marvellous stuff happening, this year. The veil enrobing <strong>THE</strong> new band is slowly and teasingly being lifted, in the manner of a seductive Arabian belly dancer of rawk. I can’t help imagining Toby draped in skimpy pink silks, pouting through his Kenneth Branagh beard… It’s not pretty, I wouldn’t recommend such a fantasy.

 

Anyway, we’ve got a nice little interview with him this month, which nuzzles deep into indie boy’s cranial tissues for answers. Well, I tried, anyway. As soon as the band name is revealed, us sorting aahht a spanking little website for the boys can really get to work on whoring their asses to the masses and such. Meanwhile, we glorious purveyors of greatness at OI will have various journalistic treats for you, just you wait and see. There will be gig reviews, CD reviews, all the corking usuals. And articles are added throughout the month, so keep visiting, stay tuned, and Choose Life.

 

Relax, we’ll be gentle.

 

PS the new site for the boys will be online every shortly – maybe within the week!

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Dan Sartain

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Dan Sartain – The Cockpit – Leeds

by Emma
4 February 2007

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from guitar-toting Alabama kid Dan Sartain, however nothing could have prepared me for the livewire I was faced with on this quiet, dark Sunday evening. If you are offended by swearing – I would advise you to look away now!

D – Oh jeez, do you guys know those guys The Sugars? Cool guys, are you guys from here?
E – Yeah we are
E – It’s the first week of your tour…
D- Yeah
E – …how’s it going so far, how has the audience reaction been?
D – The audience I can’t complain about at all – they have been good about every curve we threw at them. I think they keep getting better, so tonight will probably be better than last night.
E – Have you found that you have a very diverse audience, I mean like where there’ll be some punk kids and some rock kids, and then an older crowd?
D – Yeah, it’s definitely nice to have that option.
E – Yeah, I think that it’s always good to appeal to lots of different groups and puts you at an advantage
D – I think so, ‘cos I’ve been going to see some bands ‘cos I know I wont fit in. It’s like me and my wife went to see the Ghetto Boys – do you know them? The midget rapper with the eye patch…’cos he shot his eyeball out! Yeah well they were around in the nineties and I was really excited ‘cos they came around and it was one of those records that your parents didn’t want you to listen to ‘cos it was so dirty…so I was like fuck yeah I’m gonna go see the ghetto boys! It was like ten years later after their prime but I still wanted to do it so we went to go see them. My wife’s ass got grabbed three times, you know, and guys sized me up and grabbed my wife right in front of me and it was like, what are you gonna do? I can’t jump thirty black guys – if they wanna grab my wife’s ass they can! (Laughing) It’s our fault for coming!

E – During this tour are you mainly promoting your new album, Join Dan Sartain, or are you going to be playing a good mix of all of your songs?
D – Yeah, gonna be playing some brand new songs too so…depends how well the first two go as to how much we do of the new songs, but I like them a lot. I keep getting better as an artist I think, personally.
E – Well that’s the only way to go isn’t it really! You’re gonna worry if you don’t!
D- Yeah well you know, you get your sticklers… it’s like …what’s always a cool thing to say about a band is that you’ve heard of ‘em or some shit and it’s always cool to say that their first record is their best. A lot of it is true but…
E- I guess that can be one of the problems – when you get a set group of fans from your first album, and then when you move on they don’t like it because they want everything to stay the same

E – Did you get a choice in the support groups that you have with you for this tour?
D – Yeah, except for the local guys, the sugars, but I was excited about them because they were good last time…I’ve played with them a couple of times. But yeah I got to bring my friends, Plate Six, and Kerry, she used to be in a band called The Red Aunts, and a band called Two Tears.
E -So are you excited to be with them, have you been stood on the sidelines watching their sets every night?
D – Yeah, it’s definitely a bonus. Sometimes when you play with bands and you secretly don’t really like the band you hope that you sell more than them or you might get upset when you see people responding well to them. This time it’s like if you see someone wanting to buy something of theirs it’s like “yeah, one for the team” you know? So it’s definitely good, I don’t feel any competition with them at all.

E – When you go on tour, are you quite well behaved, or do you get into a lot of mischief?
D – I have got up to a lot of mischief, but I think I’m more well behaved now…
E- So is that going back a few years…
D – Nah…Last year! This is the first year I’ve noticed aging though, (turns to scrutinise his face in the small mirror behind), like ageing as opposed to just getting older or maturing or something.
E – Oh you’re alright you’re a young one!
D – I got these lines on my face and stuff so…I’m 25 so yeah I know I’m young! Well…how old are you guys?
E – 23 and 28
D – Whaaaat! I thought you were like 18!
E – Yeah when I went to the bar earlier I was asked for ID, but I love it now so I was like “Yes! Thank you!”
D – Yeah that happened to me the other day, a lady ID’d me and I said woah! I said yeah you’re flirting with me aren’t you and she said yes!

E – Okay, so what would be the craziest or perhaps the naughtiest thing that you have done on tour, if you are able to tell us?
D – It was in Versace’s club in Milan. I was playing this fashion show for these people that make like the Italian Vogue or something, so I was playing this fashion show for them and I was surrounded by beautiful tall models, and I was sexually frustrated then. I got way too drunk and they took us to this Versace club and there were these fashion model guys dancing to ACDC and I was like “fuck you man, ACDC is not for you motherfucker”! And I was “I like ACDC and this is just ironic shit to you” but they were like “oh this is funny…we’re dancing to ACDC” and “oh I paid forty euros for my drink” and so I just like “this is bullshit! I feel stupid, I feel like an asshole for being here”. When I left I was being funny with this other guy and I smashed this lamp and then I went to the street to try and get in a cab, and this bodyguard came up and he was like “excuse me sir, excuse me sir” and I was like “what what, ziggy ziggy blah blah blah” and kept trying to get in the cab. He flashed his badge, and I watch enough of those cop shows to know not to run from the cops, but I was fully just drunk and enraged and I just took off, hauled ass. The guy grabbed the back of my jacket and then I just shook the jacket (demonstrates holding arms out behind him so that the jacket would slip off by the sleeves) and I just kept running and didn’t stop, and then after a while I started thinking “fuck, my passport was in that jacket” so I went back and went up behind him and I was tugging at the jacket and was saying “give me my jacket, give me my fucking jacket back” and he was like “no, no you gotta come over here and I’ll give you you’re jacket back”. He took me back behind the velvet rope and they were holding me there until management came. They gave me my coat back and so I jumped over that fence and I got about two blocks, full speed, about as drunk as I could be and I outran four Italian cops! But then a cop caught me, and he beat the living shit out of me. I looked like Rocky Balboa, I had big fucking swollen eyes and they let me go because he wasn’t really supposed to beat me up, but I guess I was acting like such a prick that he just beat me up anyway! At least my eyes are okay…(pulls face again) but this half of my eyebrow didn’t grow back for a long time! I still don’t think it’s as thick as the other one really! It sucked!
E – (Couldn’t at this point speak for laughing).
D – I heard you’re eyebrows don’t grow back either…you know like you see with boxers…
E – At least yours are the same colour – see I have one dark and one light!
D – Yeah you do! Hey that’s cute!

E – What do you think is the best thing about touring in the UK? What do you like about the UK…if anything!
D – I like everything. It does feel more free, especially Europe.
E – But not the cold!
D- Well, you know that’s kind of a pleasant thing right now, because we skipped winter in the states this year.
E – So when you are packing to go off on tour, what are the most essential things that you have to take with you, say you’re top three…
D – Just normal stuff, like hair stuff and razors and t-shirts and some jeans and stuff, but the most important thing that everybody says stuff like “oh you gotta have this kind of t” or “you gotta have three lighters in your pocket” or “you gotta bring plenty of pens or plenty of socks”. But the thing that I harp on about is a pillow, for your butt ‘cos you have to ride around a lot so for those long car rides – it’s really nice to have a pillow.
E – Save your ass!
D – Yeah otherwise it can get sore, ha ha
E – So what would you say that you miss most about home when you are away?
D – My wife and my cats and my transformer toys
E -Transformers?
D – Yeah, I have several…hundred!
E – (Sings) Robots in disguise!
D – Ha ha yeah! Do you have a brother or anything who played with transformers?
E – Yeah we have a brother…just turned 21
D – Yeah, wow. Did he play with those or was he more Ninja Turtles?
E – Yeah he did like Ninja Turtles!
D – Yeah that sounds about right…when those guys came out, that’s the first point that I felt old, like ‘cos I was like “ah you young kids”! Yeah like when that Ninja Turtles came out and Power Rangers and that kinda shit came out I was like ahhh fuck!
E – Yeah old school was the best!
…cue further chat about Ninja Turtles clothing in school and more giggling from all…

E – Right okay, let’s move on…I hear you have just been nominated for a music award back in Birmingham (Alabama)?
D – Yeah…it’s not a big deal and they have it every year and I don’t pay attention to it or anything, but yesterday I heard about it…you’re really current! Either that or you just did all your homework today! But yeah…I hear about it every year and I don’t pay attention to it and like I heard about it and now I’m really into it, like losing sleep over it last night and I’m like “damn I really wanna win that”!
E – It must be a good feeling to have been nominated for the first time
D – Yeah, and to get the nomination is maybe a little more important ‘cos I think I’m gonna be able to cheat and get my friends from over here and from other parts of the states to vote on it! And it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t mean that you don’t like me ‘cos you’re not from Alabama, these guys can have people from all over the world voting for them too. But like Fuck, I’ve really earned it and I want my own town to recognise me man!
E – You’ve been doing this for quite a long time now haven’t you?
D – Yeah and I never felt that I ever get any respect from my own town
E – Do you feel like you haven’t had much support from there?
D – I mean yeah I’ve got my people, and you know I don’t play shows to empty places but man I do a lot you know and its not like I would be the only successful act to come from Birmingham but its like when they do get a bit of money or success they move off to California or they move off to New York. And I cant blame them ‘cos its not exactly the greatest place on earth but god damnit this year I earned enough money to work and move anywhere in the world for a little bit , not for the rest of my life but at least enough to move for a year, I could move over here for a year or I could move to California I could do any of that shit but I’ve decided to stay at home. I wanna stay there, I wanna live there and I wanna be happy there and I wanna have my cats and my wife and stuff.
E – That’s quite a refreshing thing to hear actually
D – Yeah well it’ll be refreshing if they can award me for it!
E – Are you feeling quite confident about winning or are you just gonna try not to think about it? Don’t lose anymore sleep over it though!
D – I did lose sleep about it, I wanna win the fucker. Its stupid and its a trivial thing and it doesn’t matter, just because of them sending me that fucking email more people have probably heard about it than ever have before. But it doesn’t matter. And its so funny ‘cos I got nominated for their Indie Rock category, but who else is on there that’s on a major label? Who’s nominated for any of that shit that’s on a major label? I don’t think any of them, so it’s like if I win the indie award, then I must win the biggest award because it’s all independent and I won the independent award so I won, I beat all of you fuckers! That’s right, I mean I wanted to be an athlete first, I wanted to play American football (that’s huge where we’re from), I wanted to be a boxer and I wanna do all of that shit but I can’t – I’m obviously not an athlete look at me! You know, so I still have that competitive thing though, I wanna compete. It’s like when you play a show and you do well, you just did a good job you didn’t win nothing, you know what I mean?
E – Yeah, it’s just a bit of recognition isn’t it?
D – I wanna win the fucker

E – If you had to define your sound or perhaps the meaning behind your music in just a few words, what would you say?
D – I haven’t thought about that, you know, like, but really when artists start thinking about their meanings and stuff it starts sounding like shit. It’s like with The Beatles people used to make up all this stuff about Paul being dead and weird rumours like John is saying give peace a chance backwards on this record or some shit and they totally weren’t and like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds didn’t mean to spell out LSD and all the rest of this shit but then when they did get into religion and Hinduism and became activists and stuff and tried to tell them that they were like okay well if people are gonna believe any bullshit we put out then we’ll send out a message! And that’s when the old Beatles fans were like “oh, you’re just not interesting anymore” you know. Michael was good when he was all disco, with a little afro and Michael Jackson was totally badass and then he started doing everything for the children and (in southpark-esque Jefferson voice “this is for the children” and it was like you fucking suck now man! I liked you when I was a child and you were just concerned about being cool. I guess I’m just concerned about making myself look cool and I don’t know. No, fuck that’s not true, that’s a lie! I did hear some guy from some band I hate talking on an interview and he was like “don’t let any musician ever tell you that they didn’t pick up a guitar to pick up chicks” and I was like if that was my intention I would have gave up a long time ago ‘cos it didn’t fucking work! I think it was that guy from that band Sugar ray too, you remember the guy? I think it was that guy, and it’s like “no dude you’re making excuses for yourself, you wanted to be in a band to get chicks”!
E – And he’s now doing pop collaborations with Shania Twain! So cool!
D – Yeah he’s on this TV show now, like one of these celebrity news shows in the states that will show when someone flashed their crotch or something, he’s one of those hosts and he’s really corny, like that band Sugar Ray, they put out their first album and I’m not gonna say it was good or you’re underground or you’re punk or anything like that …but it was more underground and more punk. You could see where they would listen to a band that they like and then their second album came out and it was all shots of him posing and it was like you did this to get the chicks man!

E – You started playing and writing quite young didn’t you? Did you ever just write stupid songs about silly things?
D – Oh yeah, still do! I don’t write as much any more but when I do its better and I can see the thoughts through instead of rushing it. Sometimes, when I get up in the morning ‘cos I’m an early person (my wife is definitely a late riser) and I get up and I go into the bathroom before she does, and sometimes I’ll just pop into the bedroom with my guitar playing the worst song like “my shit really stinks”, just to annoy her! She just wakes up and goes “ohhhh stop it”!

E – You financed your first two records on your own didn’t you?
D – Yeah, yeah
E – How did you manage to do that?
D – My grandmother died in about 2000 and I inherited three thousand bucks, and I wasted it all on music and moving up to Nashville
E- But you were working too right?
D- I’ve never had too much luck with work – I usually got fired from every job I would get so…but I definitely invested it (the money) I mean ‘m still selling some of those recordings now – I sold some tonight and I sold some last night so I’m still making money off of it
E – And rightly so! So how long did it take you to do all of that?
D – Well the first one I got done, I was really excited about it and I put a lot of hard work into it, and shortly after I got it done, John from Swami called and told me that they wanted to put stuff out. I was so excited that I just wrote another one right after that, and it’s still some of the best stuff I did really
E – Do you feel a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that you did all that on your own and it was all through your own hard work?
D – Yeah, and what I’m really satisfied with is that that was the first record label that I ever tried to be on, I was never one of those guys that went out and took glossy pictures of myself and sent that stuff off, but I just gave my record to one of those guys and Swami was the only record label that I ever even thought to turn to and that I thought would understand me, and they did! Most bands would sell their legs to be on there.
E – So you must sound pretty good then!
D – Yeah well the Kooks fans didn’t think so!
E – I think the trouble can be that some people (a minority though really) will get stuck into one particular genre of music and they close their minds towards other sounds

E – I heard that for your previous album Dan Sartain Vs the Serpientes, you literally hanged yourself for the cover shot – is that true?
D – Yeah for the cover, I just did for like ten seconds at a time. I had a bunch of people around and they were worried about me doing it but I’m not a professional neck-hanger or anything like that you know! You know like there were various people there to let me down if I start twitching and stuff!
E – Did you worry at any point and think oh god, this is it?
D – Yeah I almost passed out for a second, I could see how you could do it and kill yourself and be very peaceful…but yeah, it was scary
E- I would be shitting it! You must be brave
D – Well did you ever do that thing when you were a kid when you would like bend over and hyperventilate and then stand up and make yourself pass out? Yeah we used to do that when we were kids before you could drink, and it feels quite euphoric and for a second you feel pretty good. Well I felt that almost happen, and if that had happened I would have been fucked.
E – And was that all your idea?
D – Yeah!

E – If you weren’t playing now, what do you think you would be doing? Say if you had never picked up a guitar and never written a song.
D – I wanted to be a mechanic real bad, but I was real bad at that. So honestly, if it wasn’t for music… it’s fucking cheesy to say but music saved my life you know, and it’s not for everybody, it ruins a lot of people’s lives, but fuck you know I might be dead, I might be in jail and I would definitely be on harder drugs than I do already. I just smoke pot now and I really like pot and coca-cola and a lot of salt on my food and cigarettes. That’s pretty good considering that I lot of people I new grew up to be crackheads so I’d probably be with them working in some fast food chain.

E – Are you one of those people that are just writing all the time, or do you set out to think okay today I’m gonna sit down and focus and write a song?
D – Sometimes I do but you can never force it. Sometimes it just pops in your head and you go thank you universe!

E – Do you find that people are quite surprised when they meet you, as your music is quite mature and there is a lot of life experience in there so I guess people might listen and imagine you to be older than you actually are?
D – Thank you, yeah I’m way more silly! I’m a silly, silly person! (giggling). Did you see Kerry, the girl from Two Tears? She’s my friend, she’s been a supporter of me for a long time, and she was telling me the other night that she was selling some t-shirts and this girl came up and was like “oh, what’s it like to work with Dan? He seems precious, he must be precious” and she was like “No! He’s just a big dork! He dances around and makes bad jokes all the time!” You know that song (stands up to sing and dance) “no diggety, I gotta back it up”, well we heard it first thing in the morning the other day and all day long I was bugging everyone just walking up to them and “no diggety”! And I’d be dancing around and stuff and like they were just like “shut uuuuup”!
E- It’s good to see that you’re just a normal guy
D – Well you know most musicians think that they’re way cooler and more important than they are.
E – It’s usually a case of the bigger bands or acts are totally down to earth and friendly, then the smaller ones are those that have the big egos
D – That’s what Greg Dooley, the guy that used to be in Afghan Whigs, we’re on the same label now as his solo stuff and we got the same girl working for us, and she was telling me that he was talking about it, and she asked what was the nicest band he went on tour with back then when Afghan Whigs were in their prime, and she said that he said that Aerosmith were – like on the first day they were like “hey guys, show us that thing you do on guitar” and they were really nice to them. Then they would go on tour with Pearl Jam or somebody and they would not talk to them for the whole two weeks or whatever.
E – I think there are too many Yes people who will just agree with anything those kinda guys will say
D – Yeah, I need people around me who will tell me to shut the fuck up! I really do!

From thereon we continued to chat a little longer about hip hop, collaborations, venue security and Dan ended with a hilarious Snoop story which had us in fits of laughter for the rest of the evening. Hugs and well-wishes all round and it was pretty much time for him to take to the stage. Dan performed a lengthy and spectacular set of tracks spanning all of his albums, including some fabulous new tracks. The high energy and technically perfect performance was just amazing and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Between favourite tracks from his latest album Join Dan Sartain Dan bantered with the audience and lit up the room with his beaming smile the whole way through. The most popular tracks being the brilliant Replacement Man, Shenanigans and Gun Vs Knife to name but a few.

I made the decision there and then to make sure that I catch Dan’s every tour in future, he makes music to smile, dance and sing to and he is indeed a true gentleman and a genuinely adorable guy.


Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year from all of us at Optimum Impact!

 

So now that we are all sick of the sight of turkey and our resolutions are mere days away from being broken, it’s time to climb back aboard the rock ‘n’ roll train full steam ahead!

 

2006 was a great year for rock music, introducing some fabulous new bands as featured in the OI archives…I for one am very excited to see what awesome rock treats 2007 will bring!

 

Keep checking for new additions throughout January and don’t forget to check out our archives for plenty of great interviews,reviews and articles!

 

Ta ta for now,

 

Sixsister

Posted in OI

Malcolm Middleton album review

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by Emma

A Brighter Beat

Kicking off with the ever-optimistic We’re All Going To Die, Malcolm Middleton’s third solo album A Brighter Beat delves further into the darker side of life. The album is due for release on 26th February 2007 following the release of the title track a month earlier.

We’re All Going to Die has an upbeat tune with quick music, lyrics facing a basic fact of life that people seem to forget. Fight Like the Night is again upbeat, a nice duet with some cool electronics. A Brighter Beat is folky and has a strong tempo but portrays a sad tale of fear and loneliness. Death Love Depression Love Death is as you would expect lyrically, the track opens with acoustics then pounding drums and a funky guitar riff rip open the track. Next track Fuck It, I Love You is a mellow sounding tune, with nice steady guitar and drum backing. It’s quite a sweet song about being lonely and finally allowing those three words to be said to win back a lost love.

Up next, Stay Close Sit Tight is a pessimistic view of the onset of depression and being afraid of death and darkness. It’s quite a beautiful song that goes on to describe the good things in life and asking for patience during the dark times. The tune is slow and quite grand with strings, brass and a good melody. Four Cigarettes is a sad song about needing to get away, about sleepless nights and self-torment. Track eight, Somebody Loves You, is another acoustic track, a declaration of love, simple and lovely with vocals taking the forefront. Up Late at Night Again is slow, with strings for mood – it’s a grand and loud song. Final track Superhero Songwriters opens massively with brass and big crashing drums. This song has an optimism and talks about making a change and the decision to start living life and being happy. A nice note to end the album with.

Malcolm Middleton manages to produces plucky tunes whilst delivering painfully honest lyrics, with an honest voice. It’s clear that he has put so much into the album, and the result is really very good. A fine album to brood over.

Sounds Like Violence

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Added by Jo

What’s being said about the band’s first album..

WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS

Release Date: Feb 12th 2007

‘With Blood On My Hands’ is a fitting title for SOUNDS LIKE VIOLENCE’s long-awaited full-length debut. There’s blood alright…and it’s coursing like venom through every song on the album. It’s smeared on the walls, dripping on the floor, oozing from frayed arteries and drowning lead vocalist Andreas Söderlund’s damaged, scarred psyche. It’s the blood that’s filling the hole where his heart used to be…and inciting the band’s frantic, downright explosive sound.

If catharsis was the main theme of SLV’s critically-acclaimed debut CDEP ‘The Pistol’, then ‘With Blood On My Hands’ takes it a step further by manifesting the unflinching and honest imagery of a man struggling with the demons of “black love” as Söderlund describes it. Whether it’s an affair that’s exciting-yet-destructive or simply the bitter condemnation of an ex-lover, ‘With Blood On My Hands’ is a raw, exposed nerve revealing unhinged pain and jagged tension through its dynamic songwriting.

As a whole, ‘With Blood On My Hands’ follows a trajectory similar to that of a destructive relationships, beginning with a steady, nervous beat and gradually erupting into a buzzsaw of guitars and percussive stomp. Blasting out unpolished, gritty pop hooks that drive the stake deeper and deeper with each crushing riff, ‘With Blood On My Hands’ gushes more and more until it finally reaches a critical level with the incredible album closer “The Greatest.” It never felt this good to be on life support.

“Soul-crushingly magnificent…these tracks are positively compelling. KKKKK.” – Kerrang
“From the first note to the last…explosive, original and simply mind-blowing.” – Absolute Punk
“Giving vehemence a new voice, Sounds Like Violence is vital.” – Rock Sound

SOUNDS LIKE VIOLENCE is Andreas Söderlund (vocals, guitar), Philip Hall (guitar), Daniel Teodorsson (bass, vocals) and Daniel Peterson (drums). ‘With Blood On My Hands’ was recorded and produced by the band at Mission Hall Studio in Sebbarp, Sweden. ‘With Blood On My Hands’ is scheduled for release in North America on Deep Elm in late February and will be available from Burning Heart Records throughout the UK and Europe on Feb. 12th, 2007.

www.myspace.com/soundslikeviolence
http://www.deepelm.com/soundslikeviolence/

Justin says…

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by Jo

Well, lots of things. He’s a well-established member of Myspace now, attracting friends like no one’s business. Conversing with the slightly shocked fans, blogging, being the silly arse we wanted back . No hidden agenda, no blaze of PR. Just Justin and his merry band of feline adjutants – they go very nicely together. I’d quite like the kitten pics back please…
Tis good to see. It’s a stop on my weary way through cyberspace for a giggle, these days. His replies to my messages have been pleasant, honest and down to earth, and his humour’s stamped all over the thing. He’s won a few rather cross people back with his blurb, by all accounts. Hypocrites, they’ve been called. I’m sure there a few, by the law of averages, but a few words can mend what’s wrong. You all know that,
Welcome to Justin the person, from all of those who never or rarely saw anything but Justin Rockstar. And thanks for both.

http://www.myspace.com/justinhawkinsworld

The Wildhearts –

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‘Christmas Vs The Wildhearts’ – Wulfrun Hall – Wolverhampton – 21 December 2006

This might be brief because I’m writing it two weeks after the show and am – almost unbelievably – still feeling the after-effects of too much festive cheer lately. Some might say this brevity is a good thing because my Wildhearts reviews are probably becoming quite tedious for all concerned by now.

A combination of dense fog, Wolverhampton ’s barmy one-way system and the box office being located in a pub instead of inside the Hall itself meant that I missed a good chunk of the God Damn Whores, one of the support acts for the night. From what I did manage to see, Jon Poole and chums played a typically punky, rocky, bonkers set with all tracks taken from their recent album, ‘We Are The Lucky Thirteen’. (There are rumours that The Loyalties opened up proceedings but as I was probably on my fifth lap of the ring-road at that time I’m unable to confirm this)

Next up were Beat Union who reminded me of a cross between The Clash and The Jam which was a shame because I’ve never been a huge fan of either. Very ska, a bit punky, a bit of reggae……and possibly a bit of a strange choice to support The Wildhearts. They didn’t really rock my boat but, to be fair, they did put on a good show with lots of energy, enthusiasm and volume.

By now the Wulfrun was pretty much packed. It was nice to see that even after all these years The Wildhearts can still prove to be a popular draw, even if it was for a one-off Christmas special.

The start of the show was fantastic with 5 mostly golden-oldies; TV Tan, Caffeine Bomb, Vanilla Radio, Sick Of Drugs, and Nita Nitro. This was what I’d come to hear so I was absolutely loving it. New bassist, Scott Sorry, while looking a good 10 years’ younger than the rest of the band seemed to fit right in and played a blinder. Ritch Battersby on drums was being as tight and powerful as ever (having said that though, I do prefer a more raw, looser style for The Wildhearts, such as provided by Stidi). And Ginger and CJ just did what they always do, i.e. go a bit mental and pose respectively.

However, the next few songs – Everlone, Greetings From Shitsville, OCD – seemed to take some of the momentum out of the gig, possibly because they’re long numbers. It was at this point that I started looking around the stage (just a dull skyscraper scene for a backdrop, been used before I believe) and hoping for something else to excite me which was unusual. Maybe the pyrotechnics at Scarborough Castle had spoilt me and raised my expectations too high.

Either way, it was a relief when the opening bars of ‘My Baby Is A HeadF*ck’ were struck up, swiftly followed by the thrashy ‘Suckerpunch’. Back on track once again. To conclude the main set ‘Caprice’ was chugged out before Ginger and co left the stage promising to see us in a minute.

The encore began with Ginger on guitar accompanying the crowd who had started singing the old favourite, ‘Don’t Worry About Me’. This naturally segued into ‘Geordie In Wonderland’, again with Ginger leaving most of the vocals to the punters. The next number was a first, as far as I’m aware; ‘29x The Pain’ with Ginger still on guitar on his own but leaving the crowd to do the singing. It’s always nice to see the boys do something different but I don’t think playing one of their best, if not their best, song in this way was a creative turn worth making. Played properly with the full band this can be a show-stopper, make no mistake.

A new song (taken from their forthcoming album – woo-hoo!) followed which sounded as good as all of the rest before proceedings were closed off in flamboyant style with ‘Love U Til I Don’t’ and ‘I Wanna Go…’.

For me it was a great gig, slightly let down by a few songs halfway through. Regardless of this I’d still recommend that anyone with an ounce of musical taste in their body goes to see The Wildhearts or Ginger solo……but you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?

Set-list;

Tv Tan, Caffeine Bomb, Vanilla Radio, Sick Of Drugs, Nita Nitro, Everlone, Greetings From Shitsville, Ocd, My Baby Is A Headf*Ck, Suckerpunch, Caprice, [Break], Don’t Worry Bout Me (With Audience Participation), Geordie In Wonderland (With Audience Participation), 29x The Pain (With Audience Participation), New Song, Love U Til I Don’t, I Wanna Go Where The People Go

Jimbob

© www.livemusicreview.co.uk

OI compilation album

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by Louise

Yes, that’s right. The first ever Optimum Impact compilation album “Six, Thuds & Rock n Roll” is finally upon us!

For a mere £5 (inc. p&p) you can get your hands on this limited edition gem of a CD, which features some of the very best bands and artists around today.

Full tracklisting is:

1. Just Bring It On – Headrush
2. Renegade Child – Bullet
3. Honeymoon In Venice – The Pleasures
4. Today We Kill – Disarm
5. Crazy City Blues – Sweet Seduction
6. Fireworks – Drugdealer Cheerleader
7. Lucifer’s Town – Malice In Wonderland
8. China White – Stereo Junks
9. Rocket 69 – Zen Motel
10. What It’s Like – Kitty Hudson
11. Nancy – Patchwork Grace
12. Even When The Wind Blows – The Conway Story
13. Make My Way – The Upraw
14. No Honestly – Crush Deluxe
15. Ru Ahh – Mowglee
16. Colours – Crone
17. Venom – Steph

To get yourself a copy, just send a cheque payable to Louise Delahunty, to:

Louise Delahunty
Optimum Impact
6 Westover Rd
Bruche
Warrington
Cheshire
WA1 3JP

Band Info:

HEADRUSH:
Pure, unadulterated classic rock n roll with one of the greatest and most distinctive voices you will ever hear. The greatest thing to come out of Stoke on Trent since Slash. Formed in 2002, Headrush have played shows with bands such as Terrorvision, The Glitterati and The Quireboys. They have sold over 2500 self produced EPs and have recently worked with producer Stuart Epps (Led Zep, Elton John, Oasis). Their debut single will be in stores in January 2007.
www.headrushrocks.co.uk
www.myspace.com/headrushrocks

BULLETT:
Strong vocals and hard-hitting hooks combine, resulting in awesomely addictive, fantastically raucous Finnish hardrock. Bullett formed in 2003. Eclectic influences and a burning desire to create their very own style of metal/hardrock ensures that their sound is pure and original.
www.bullettrocks.com
www.myspace.com/bullett

THE PLEASURES:
An explosion of boundary, realm and gender transcending glittertrashrock.
Born in the distant depths of Hamburg in 2004, The Pleasures are fearless, flamboyant, extremist glamrockers whose live shows are truly mesmerising. Their debut album ‘Greatest Hits’ was released in June 2006. In July 2006 they played a very successful three-night tour of the UK. They WILL be back.
www.thepleasures.de
www.myspace.com/thepleasuresmusic

DISARM:
Dirty, trashy, sleazy, punky, fast-paced hardrock in a league of its own.
Disarm consists of four lovable, affectionate tramps from Sheffield, who’ve been spawning soundtracks to Satan’s debauched weekends since 2005. They’ve played shows with the likes of L.A. Guns, Roadstar and The Quireboys, and have even been on full UK tours, supporting Canadian sleaze-rockers Robin Black and American hard-rockers Dirty Rig. Track taken from the 2005 single ‘Today We Kill…Tomorrow We Die!’. New EP ‘By Any Means Necessary’ available now.
www.disarm.info
www.myspace.com/disarmmusic

SWEET SEDUCTION:
Tattoo-smothered fiery guitar-driven rock laced with dirty-gritty vocals. Sweet Seduction are a hard working, hard rocking fivesome from Birmingham. They combine influences such as Skid Row & Motley Crue with the likes of Backyard Babies and The Wildhearts to create a blend of contemporary rock stuffed full of classic riffs, with a bluesy twist. They boast a self-released album, EP and a few demos, and constantly have a long list of upcoming gigs on their calendar.
www.sweetseductionmusic.com
www.myspace.com/sweetseductionmusic

DRUGDEALER CHEERLEADER:
(Fireworks written by DDCL & M. Dixon)
Electrifying, impassioned, addictive rock n roll. Bright and bouncy but hard-rocking tunes, flaunting mouth-watering hooks and a brilliant, brawny, versatile voice. Drugdealer Cheerleader have a strong following and a very promising future ahead of them. Their debut single I Don’t Wanna Go To School, released September 2006, is in stores now.
www.drugdealercheerleader.com
www.myspace.com/drugdealercheerleader

MALICE IN WONDERLAND:
Glam, gothic, superbly melodic rock that goes hand in hand with glitter, sparkles and a whole lot of eyeliner. Strong vocals, strong riffs, strong image. Malice In Wonderland are an irresistible, incandescent Norwegian four-piece. Their self titled debut album is out now.
www.malice-in-wonderland.com
www.myspace.com/maliceinwonderland

STEREO JUNKS:
Powerful, driving rhythms, herculean hooks and abrasive vocals make this a fierce musical onslaught. And a thoroughly brilliant one. There’s a truly filthy recklessness to this band that gets pulses throbbing and loins burning. Formed in Finland in 2003, the trashy quartet are hell bent on bringing their “hard boner R’n’R” to the masses.
www.stereojunks.com
www.myspace.com/stereojunks

ZEN MOTEL:
Essex boys, writing and playing feisty, infectious, home-grown rock, purely for the love of it. With a strong work ethic and a determination to stick to their own way of doing things, Zen Motel ended a deal with a major U.S. management company when they were asked to remove the more ‘difficult’ tracks from their album. They went on to release their debut album on their own label in March 2004 and are currently putting the finishing touches to album number two.
www.zenmotel.co.uk
www.myspace.com/zenmotel

KITTY HUDSON:
Fast, hard, burly rock lead by what is surely the filthiest voice in all of Croydon. Kitty Hudson were the victors in the Download Festival 2006 MySpace Band Competition, gaining a very hefty number of votes to win themselves a place on the festival’s bill. They have two albums (Fiends In Low Places & Three Chords And The Truth) and an EP (Speedophile) under their belts, all of which are available online.
www.myspace.com/kittyhudson

PATCHWORK GRACE:
Glam-tinged punky, raw, shiny, bright-pink rock. This female fronted Nottingham based four-piece are promising bright young stars who not only look great, but sound fresh & exciting. And have some of the coolest logos/artwork ever! Their brilliant debut single Zebra is in stores now.
www.patchworkgrace.co.uk
www.myspace.com/pwg

THE CONWAY STORY*:
Genre-striding Londoners The Conway Story have spent the last two years honing an exceptional sound that defies contemporary music like a psychedelic shrubbery in a jungle of bland, angular pop rock. The band burst onto the scene with Even When The Wind Blows, and are currently beavering away on their debut album.
www.theconwaystory.com
www.myspace.com/theconwaystory

THE UPRAW:
A surprisingly mature, grand and emotive sound for a group of young ladies who formed the band in high school. The Upraw resulted from Kiss star’s Gene Simmons’ visit to Lowestoft for Channel 4’s ‘Rock School’. They’re now signed to Broeknrule Records and are working on their debut album.
www.myspace.com/theuprawband
www.theupraw.com

CRUSHDELUXE:
Suffolk’s vivacious poprockers. Specialising in upbeat, catchy tunes and charismatic live shows. They won BBC Look East’s ‘Be The Band’ competition, playing live on Children In Need. They’ve also received tonnes of airplay and even have their very own loyal army of ‘Crushlings’.
www.crushdeluxe.co.uk
www.myspace.com/crushdeluxe

MOWGLEE:
A flickering flame of 90’s style Indie lives on, though in a slightly more mellow and easily accessible form, in the melodic sounds of Mowglee. The Birmingham based four-piece have been together for several years. Their album ‘Revolutionized’ was independently released in late 2004 and is available online.
www.myspace.com/mowglee
www.mowglee.com

CRONE:
Norwich based trio Crone have been together for three years. Their breed of infectious, foot-stomping, head-banging punk rock serves them well in their quest to rock the masses. Flaunting some fabulous licks, raucous vocals and speedy rhythms, they’re difficult to resist. They have featured on Golf Records Tour, Kerrang! Skate & Slam Tour, and have even supported the likes of Idlewild and The Buzzcocks.
www.myspace.com/cronerocks
www.cronerocks.com

STEPH:
Soulful, impassioned, melodic music with a spiky edge and spine-tingling vocals. Steph is every bit the Great British talent that people of all ages can so easily appreciate. Her writing style is pure and natural, her lyrics frank and beautiful. After fronting a London based rock band, Steph went solo in early 2006 and is now working with Manager/Producer Stuart Epps.
www.myspace.com/stephandshwepp

Words by: Louise Delahunty
*Lucie Walker

Email any queries to: optimum.impact@yahoo.co.uk

Posted in OI

We think it’s all over – it is for us

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by Lucie and Jo

Jo’s bit.

Having agreed with pretty much all of what Lucie said below, here’s my very personal take..

So, this is it. It’s all over. The final act of this long running tragi-comedy has been played out, leaving us tired, emotional, thoughtful, and, if truth be told, a little unsatisfied by the dénouement.. The Darkness was finally vanquished by the blinding light of the unLadylike Miss Celebrity’s torch – her beautiful but deadly shooting stars of Fame, Fortune, Drink, Drugs and Strife piercing the flaming heart of all that was good.

The shock wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Since Justin went into The Priory, there has been a wave of silence, dampening all hope. I’m not counting that scandalous interview with the Scum. THAT was meant for the wider world, not for us, who didn’t matter anymore. Silence as a conscious act, silence enforced by legal issues, and self imposed to prevent leaks. Well, that didn’t work, did it? Please… when the new band arises from the mess of fallout, get a better PR/customer services desk. Or just get one at all.

I’ve written so many words about The Darkness. All of them heartfelt, sincere and honest, though I must admit that there’s some information I never gave you, because it wouldn’t be right. There are some things you just shouldn’t reveal, even for a scoop. I’d never make a real journalist! What can I possibly say that I haven’t already? You’ve experienced the joys with me. We’ve all laughed and cried, argued, criticised, hoped and loved and defended and annoyed the hell out of our nearest and dearest, for all five of these lads. So many good times. So many bad times, too. I’ve met some really awful people, who care more about their own self glory than the band. I’ve been made to feel less than worthless, by at least two band members, darklings and management. Still, I wouldn’t personally have done anything differently, and that’s my solace. That, and Six, and the glory that is the Darklings. You know who you are, and why. There was no point to all of this without you.

I’m sure I’ll find more to say about them as the weeks go on and more info gets leaked, so don’t wander off.

Goodbye, The Darkness. The last bow was taken some time ago. How fitting that this should come at the end of the year, when all things change. There will be no more bad times with them, there will always be the good memories. When all’s said and done it’s not a bad legacy to have. Oh… and we have the photos as well to keep us happy. Ahem.

*pause for sniffles*

*pulls self together*

Right. To work, ready for anything Messrs Hawkins, Graham, Edwards and McFarlaine have to throw at us. Let’s keep the world rocking.

Lucie’s thoughts

Personally, I can’t quite fathom that this is it. That the band I’ve followed blindly, loved, defended, occasionally swiped with claws at and adored for three-and-a-half years is, well, dead. When Frankie went, there was a sense of “worse things could happen” (even if he is the coolest man in Christendom), then when Sir Richard was installed, all the pieces seemed to fit, for me. I thought everything was on the up! Shows what I know. A lot of people are NOW claiming that they knew it couldn’t last, it was all going to end it tears, which was something I saw no evidence for and refused to believe from the beginning.
Then, oh woe, the shit, bollocks and wank hit the fan simultaneously and created an enormous and deeply unattractive mess. Justin was gone. But you know what? I still wasn’t heartbroken. Sometimes it still gets to me that such a showman, such an incredible singer with such a fine arse wouldn’t be in my favourite band anymore, but generally he does irritate the bejebus out of me, so it wasn’t too painful. It’s that I’ll never see The Darkness again, and when it was confirmed that the remaining lads wouldn’t be The Darkness at all anymore, I just couldn’t accept it. Can’t. I wish I’d pushed the boat out and seen them a sixth, seventh, tenth time. But how much I’ve gained since the time in May 2003 that I first saw ‘Growing On Me’ performed on SM:TV, when they were all thinner, more naive, and the catsuits were cheaper, boggles the mind. There’s no way I would have travelled to Norfolk at the age of 16 on my own to meet 5 people I only knew from the internet (original Darkness forum) if not for a mutual love of The Darkness – the six of us morphed into SixSister, and created this ‘zine because of it. I wouldn’t have started the whole music writing thing, or started going to see, review, and interview bands… Or met one of my best friends at my first ever Darkness gig (and first gig full stop) in December 2003… On an escalator in Birmingham New Street station, after he recognised me from the description I posted on the forum of what I’d be wearing, and he declared with wonder, “You’re Dave!”
I’ll always be Dave, to some degree. That’s just how certain people know me. But those people, the ones I’ve known for so long from the original forum, are drifting away. The Darkness haven’t been our little band anymore for ages. The forum isn’t a happy place to be, and SixSister isn’t so stable.
On the other hand, I’m still a Darkling. I HAVE met the most incredible people, fought with some right dickheads, and there’s been some serious heartache in there too, usually when we, who are meant to be so important, find things out last. But, truth be told, I love The Darkness. I’ll continue to wear my tour t-shirts, listen to the music, watch the DVD’s and under no circumstances will I take my posters down. I’m also going to keep the faith and follow whatever incarnation Dan, Richie and Ed reappear as with the new boy. Despite everything, they’ll still kind of be The Darkness in my little world. I can’t help that. The point is being stressed that no one is replacing anyone, I do understand, and yes they’ll have a different name. But it’s still 75% Darkness, and I’m not quite ready to let go. Though I intend to hold the torch of rock aloft for the phoenix that rises from all this. A new start. Oh yes, I have hope, for I am a rocker.

Thank you for the music, the friends, the amazing times, and the bad ones that help us grow. Never stop rocking, because we won’t.

Streebeck – ‘Without a Baedeker’

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by Lucie

Now I’m not a difficult person to please in general, but where music is concerned I’ve grown to be highly critical since becoming a rawk journo. So I surprised myself when, after witnessing Streebeck’s half-hour stint supporting David Essex in Cheltenham, I sat itching to buy his album. The promise of a free badge helped too, I’m a sucker for badges.

There was an exquisite feel to the performance; in this enormous cavern of a town hall, a solitary man played his acoustic guitar beneath a lonely spotlight, and won us over, hook line and sinker. Radio Two listeners may have heard the mysterious name, as the superb single ‘Wasted Time’ has been glistening through their airwaves. Streebeck has also played live in Radio One’s Maida Vale studios, an illustrious feat for any artist. ‘Wasted Time’ sounds, on the album, far more elaborate that it did live, incorporating a steady drum beat into the song for added vigour, atop the guitar/harmonica combination. One cannot help but see a Dylan influence in the simplicity of Streebeck’s style, the folky undertones, the difference being that the former is shockingly glorified, and the latter deserves glorification. Every song on this record stands out as poignant, genuine, and simply gorgeous. The incredible talent behind the guitar playing is moving enough in itself, and is amplified by lyrics that actually mean something.

For me, ‘Eighty Eight’ is the most touching song on the album, with the line “if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not pretend that we’re still friends” brimming over with emotion. Other standout tracks include the gently moving opener ‘Twilight’, the darkly pitying ‘Pirates’, and the uplifting ‘Caged’, which will always remind me of how I felt when Streebeck opened his performance to an audience unprepared for his sparkling brilliance.

‘Without a Baedeker’ shines from start to finish, and Streebeck is somehow startlingly different to every other modern man-and-his-guitar act. So different it turned the mind of a cynical hard rock fan upside down.
Order the album online now, and Streebeck might even sign it for you. That’s another great thing about him, he’s really a very nice boy!

www.streebeck.com
www.myspace.com/streebeck


Malcolm Middleton single review

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by Emma

Not exactly what it says on the packet, Malcolm Middleton’s latest single A Brighter Beat due out 22nd January 2007 is the first track taken from his third album of the same title.

The upbeat melody complete with folk style guitar, happy steady drums and a nice bit of ivory tinkling manages to uplift this track although the lyrics describe the depressions of being afraid to get out and interact and make the most of life. The words are true to life and thoughtful and delivered subtly and quietly by Middleton, his Scot accent spilling over the track unmistakably. This is serious stuff, Malcolm Middleton isn’t just writing songs for the sake of making a record, his songs are messages. Great music for the thinking person.


Good Shoes single review

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by Emma

Just how cute can Good Shoes get? The Photos on my Wall due out on Christmas day is yet another impossibly delightful track from the wonderful UK newcomers.

Their sound is twangy and cool, high-spirited and most of all so enjoyable. The Photos on my Wall is another lovely, lovely track that puts the smile firmly on my face and makes me want to dance around the place along to the childlike tones of the vocals. Additional tracks Beautiful and Deathfame are also sporadic, full of broken verse and upbeat guitar and unfaltering percussion. The lyrics are creative and honest as always and I can’t imagine how any open-minded music lover wouldn’t fall in love with Good Shoes’ music.


Dan Sartain single review

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by Emma

Dan Sartain is a superb storyteller, and has a great talent for making every word that flows from his mouth sound really important, leaving the listener feel compelled to pay full attention.

Flight of the Finch is out on 29th January 2007 and what a way to start the new year for Mr Sartain! This track is grand and authoritative, colourful and clever with an impeccably timed brass accompaniment – it is just dramatic and builds to a fabulous crescendo to end. B-track Besame Mucho is again a wild and elaborate story of wooing and winning the lady. And of course! With this style and standard of writing Dan Sartain will be one of the finest winners of 2007.

Viva Voce single review

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by Em

Due for release on 11th December, Faster Than a Dead Horse is the latest single from the third album Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. Viva Voce form a tight partnership both musically and personally, and this track shows this effortlessly with the indie pop theme complete with retro “ba ba ba bop” backing harmonies and a cool monotone style of the main vocals.

Faster Than a Dead Horse is a catchy track and boasts a raging guitar solo to spice things up a little. It’s a track which I think many will like, however I’m not yet convinced that it’s one to love. Let’s hope that I am proved wrong!


This Et Al

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This Et Al – Leeds Cockpit – November 28th

by Emma

This Et Al Interview – Leeds Cockpit – 28 November 2006

This Et Al are a hotly tipped young band hailing from Leeds and Bradford. Having received rave reviews and being compared to bands such as Mogwai and Queens of the Stone Age by other reviewers, they are set to assault the rock scene in 2007 after a quiet 2006 spent writing and recording their debut album. I went into the gig with high expectations, and This Et Al did not disappoint!

Emma – There isn’t a great deal of information around about you guys so I just wanted to go right back to the start – how did it all begin with the band, were you all friends beforehand?
Ben – Yeah, 2002 it started, in Bradford. We won the Futuresound thing and played Leeds festival and we did a single with Forward Russia and we did a tour with Forward Russia and then we did another single which sold out so then recorded the album so we’ve done four singles and four tours.

Emma – did you all have regular jobs beforehand or did you just go straight into the band from school?
Steve – Well we all still kinda work now, there’s not much money in this yet!

Emma – so were you in other bands?
Steve – I was in a band called Egos Gained when we were like thirteen or fourteen. We invented new metal! Well we did! Wu – didn’t we invent new metal?
Wu – it’s nothing to admit to!
Emma – so you’re to blame!
Steve – yeah! Me and Ben were in a band called Idiot Box as well.

Emma – When did you start playing gigs with this band?
Ben – Properly, well at first it was just three of us – me, Wu and Steve and we were trying to find a singer and we tried out some singers and then we realised that Wu could sing! We started gigging properly in 2003.

Emma- How does your writing process work, do you all kinda do your own thing and then get together and throw your ideas in, or do you all sit and do it together in the first place?
Steve – It varies, some of the songs have been written in that way, like starting with one single guitar part and then developing it…discussion based. Other times someone brings a song along that’s completely done and ready and we all like it so we just go with that. It’s whatever works really!

Emma – what kind of bands are you all listening to and were you all listening to when you got together?
Steve – ooh… er… Trail of Dead
Ben – The band that made me want to do this was And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and kinda gothic stuff like Joy Division.
Steve – Mogwai and stuff and a lot of post rock

Emma – Do you find that your own influences kind of pull you apart when you’re trying to write – do you all pull in different directions?
Ben – Sometimes, especially with Ste, ‘cos sometimes he’s either ultra heavy or dark and sometimes I just wanna write a pop song! But it works though ‘cos you get a good darkness but also the melodies.
Steve – We’ve got a good democracy, eventually we reach a position where everything is in place. We never started off trying to be like any other band or anything, it was like “right, we like all these different styles and we wanna catch them all”.

Emma – Did it take a while for you to develop your own sound?
Ben – No, not really it just kind of happened pretty instantly.
Steve – Yeah, just instantly really

Emma – You had three sold out singles in 2005, so how many copies were sold, how many did you put out?
Ben – 500, then a thousand, then 2000 CDs for the last single, and also 500 vinyls for two of the singles.
Emma – you had some really good feedback on those as well didn’t you?
Ben – Yeah they all got good feedback, but on the last single it all got fucked up with the distributors and all the bollocksy music industry shit, so we’d like to forget about that!

Emma – tell me about the Futuresound thing – what happened there?
Ben – Well we didn’t really expect anything from it or anything, we just thought, “oh great” and we had some fun. We didn’t set out to win.
Steve – No, at that stage we just weren’t caught up in any of the business, we thought we would just give it a go, and lo and behold we won it!
Emma – When did you play the Leeds festival – was that this year?
Ben – We didn’t play this year, ‘cos we played last year and the year before. The first year we were on the unsigned stage, that was 2004.
Steve – We headlined the unsigned stage didn’t we, not this year but the year before. The year before that is when we won Futuresound.
Ben – This year we were meaning to be there but because we had some singles – and the last single kind of flopped because it wasn’t in any shops when it was released – we wanted to play the festival but we got the choice of headlining the unsigned stage or playing the Carling stage but because of certain reasons we missed out on the Carling stage.
Steve – The album wasn’t ready by then anyway, I mean it’s good to play Leeds fest but unless you have an album and something to really sell and push …
Ben – …plus we were still working on the album so we’ve got nothing to plug.
Emma – It’s a good opportunity though isn’t it to get people from all over the place just to hear your music
Steve – Oh yeah, but on the flip side of that though there are so many bands there that you do get forgotten about quite easily in the event itself really. Especially if you’re on the Carling stage.
Ben – But you get a VIP pass!
Emma – What kind of reception did you get when you did play?
Ben – The first time was good ‘cos we were in the comedy tent of all places. Literally about five minutes before we went on – stood at the front at the barrier there were about two people…
Steve – …There were just a few groups of mates in, then we went back in and came out again a few minutes later and it was absolutely rammed!

Emma – Did you go see many of the other bands while you were there, did you abuse your VIP pass?!
Ben – Of course yeah! We went and stood at the side of the stage with Bloc Party and stuff, it was great!

Emma – Having played the festival, do you prefer to do that or would you rather play the small venues like this where you can get a better sound and play to your own crowd?
Ben – Well playing a festival is a one off thing, it’s a great experience but it’s not all it seems – you are literally bundled on stage so it’s quite hard to get your head round at first. The smaller dirty little hole gigs are much more fun and sweaty. At the first gig of this tour actually, there were like seven hundred people and we didn’t really know what was going on!

Emma – Your first album is due out early next year…
Ben – Yeah, we have a limited number of copies available now to just try and get it out there and get people talking about it, but officially its gonna be released early next year.
Emma – Can you tell me more about the feel of it – has it got a particular mood or direction?
Ben – Really it was a way of drawing a line under each song for us.
Steve – and it was all recorded on vintage equipment as well so there wasn’t one item that we used that was younger than thirty years!
Ben – Which proves interesting when you’re mixing with five people!
Steve – It’s a nice quality to the recording, it has a good character
Ben – plus it means we can draw a line under all that now and start on the new stuff.

Emma- Where did you record the album?
Steve – Do you know the Somatics? Well Richard Green, the front person, has a home studio in the attic in like a mill complex.
Ben – He has like an old BBC deck with a big old tape machine in there.
Steve – It’s a really nice environment to work in there’s loads of gismos and gadgets.
Ben – We’d get the red wine in and be up until five o’clock in the morning just making noise!

Emma – How long did it take to record, because you’ve kind of been out of sight for most of the year?
Ben – It’s weird, because we started recording it, then Richard fell ill and then we went away touring with Depeche Mode and then we all had holidays and whatever…
Steve – and because we all still work as well we had to fit it all in whenever we could – it was an opportunistic recording!

Emma – If you had to try and sell your band to someone who had never heard anything of you what would you say to them to try and win them over?
Steve – Um, we’re obsessed with blow jobs!
Ben – Noise!
Wu – (stops talking and looks over from across the room) – sorry, I just heard the words blow jobs! Yeah!
Ben – My own take on it is that obviously we like it heavy, but at the same time there’s lots of pop hooky elements in there so it’s catchy.
Steve – It’s sort of an answer to the generic thing that’s going on now – we’re a window –‘cos you’ll get a fad and then it gets completely saturated and then you get something that comes along in it’s own little window. I kind of see it as an answer to being bored of hearing the same thing.
Ben – As opposed to an instant hit it’s one of those where you’ll listen to a track that you like, and then you’ll listen to it another five times and get into it.
Emma – I think the ones that grow on you are usually the best ones anyway. Having said that though, you have already been compared to a few other bands.
Steve – It’s obviously a compliment but to listen to us it’s not like “oh they sound like this band”, although you can see the influences there. It’s sometimes easier to say that we sound like this band or that band…
Ben – it’s lazy journalism really!

Emma – What are your plans for next year then once the album has been released?
Ben – We’re gonna finish the tour, then our manager is working to get a label and to get the album backed up so we can officially release it and officially tour it. And then we can get some fucking money behind it!
Steve – We’ll write the next album as well, get cracking with that.

Emma- If you could tour with any band of any artist of all time who would you choose?
Ben – I don’t know actually…you could support your heroes but then you might not go down well at all!
Steve – And it’s not just about liking the band its how they are as people as well.
Steve – Pink Floyd! That would be mind expanding.

Emma – and if you could create your dream line up…
Ben – Johnny Marr on guitar, Bonham, me on guitar! Probably Jeff Buckley singing.

Emma- Tonight is the fifth night of the tour tonight, will it be quite special because it is in your home town?
Steve – Yeah it’s always good playing Leeds!
Emma – Do you have plans to tour outside of the UK later?
Ben – We have started planning some dates in Europe but without the backing, we can’t do it, so watch this space!

At this point the guys were almost due on stage so we left it there and made our way into the main room to check out the performance. This Et Al put out an unfaltering performance of crowd favourites and lived up to the credit already gained from previous reviews. If you’re looking for something that is that bit different, and set apart from the production line of alternative music that seems to be streaming from the charts – check out this band. It will be worth your while.

Enter Shikari

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Enter Shikari – Leeds Cockpit 7th December 2006

by Emma

 

I always find that a great opener to any interview is when you walk in and are immediately offered a beer! The Enter Shikari boys wasted no time in cracking open a few cold ones while we got settled in! I had been looking forward to this interview for quite some time and was struck by how grounded, down to earth and polite the boys are – an absolute pleasure to interview.

Emma – First of all congratulations on your recent success, because you have really been doing quite well lately
All – Thank you

Emma – Things have been pretty crazy for the last twelve months or so…how do you feel about being propelled into the spotlight all of a sudden?
Chris – Pretty good, pretty cool. I mean in the last twelve months, well in the last few months its taken kind of a jump with all of the press and the magazines getting on board and stuff. If you think that maybe a year and a half ago we were still playing these shows and were getting good turnouts – it’s just been getting better and better each time really gradually, so that’s good but its nice to have a push as well. So it’s been really crazy since then!
Rob – Its exciting – we don’t know what’s gonna happen next.

Emma – you’ve released a couple of singles, and with Sorry You’re Not A Winner – I watched the video climb up some of the MTV video charts so quickly. I caught the Red Button Chart one morning and you were at number two then the same afternoon it had moved straight to number one – and it was all within a couple of days! How do you feel about that – was it just crazy?
Rob – Pretty mental yeah, its kind of the same as with the Kerrang Best Newcomer award – it was like “what, how did we get this?” and we just kind of jumped up and were like “well we haven’t really done anything!”
Emma – It’s all pretty much reputation based isn’t it?
Chris – I don’t think we really noticed the amount that they were playing it until we actually got told, ‘cos we’re not at home during the days and stuff…
Roughton – I’ve never had sky either so I’ve never seen it!
Emma- I got your mailing list email about the Scuzz competition saying that your video was gonna be on, and within a couple of days it was getting played on all sorts of channels
Rory – and we lost that competition! That was the ironic thing!
Chris – It’s weird as well, with the Mothership one actually, we had two edits of that –there was this one edit that was shot through like a peephole, a circle, and at first they told us that we couldn’t use that and they were never gonna play it. Then after the Sorry You’re Not a Winner video came through, now they are all playing the first edit that they were never gonna play!
Emma – and it was all shot in someone’s house wasn’t it?
Chris – yeah in my parents’ front room!

Emma – In the town we come from there are quite a few people that actually do hold gigs in their flats and houses – your video really reminded me of that.
Chris – my living room’s not been the same since!
Emma – Did you ever do that whole thing – playing gigs in people’s houses etc…
Roughton – We’ve done a few in people’s houses, yeah, like house parties. I remember doing a house party in Wales…
Rob – It was just a student house, and we played the shittest set ever! The drum kit that I had was just falling apart!
Chris – We really like the idea of really intimate crowds – just absolute mayhem – not too many people crammed into really tight spaces – its always fun.
Roughton – In one of the versions you can see the lampshade go tumbling across peoples heads and stuff and getting thrown about
Chris- It really was mental, that video!

Emma – So you have had quite a lot of label interest and as everything has blown up so quickly – I heard that there has been a bit of a bidding war going on between labels…have you been tempted by any of their offers?
Chris – Well yeah, of course we were tempted…definitely
Rory – Today we might be doing a signing to Vital Distribution – it’s basically like a distribution thing
Chris – It just enables us to stay independent and own our copyrights. Everyone who came to us – I think they really wanted us, ‘cos there were really good contracts that they were offering us, but at the end of the day we didn’t really want that
Emma – You’ve managed to maintain control for the last three years haven’t you?
Roughton – Yeah
Chris – We just thought – well why chuck it away, when they (labels) will just chuck money at you… and you’re gonna have to pay it back anyway!
Emma – When did you decide that you were just going to stay independent
Roughton– It was a long decision…
Chris – We were just going from side to side, again and again – I mean the original plan was to set up a record label and do some releases ourselves and see how it goes…which is what we did!

Emma – Well that leads me on to my next question, which is – tell me more about your label Ambush Reality. Did you just do that to facilitate your own single releases?
Chris – Yeah basically the plan was that we were just gonna put out a few singles and test the water see how it goes, and luckily it seems to have blown up a bit, which is cool. We had a lot of help from our manager – he’s run labels before so he helped us out with a lot of the administration and that side of it

Emma – So far with the singles you have released you have put out a limited number of copies on CD and vinyl format and the rest has been download only – are you planning keep doing that or are you moving more toward digital release?
Rory – We just thought we’re not gonna get into the charts with this single! But yeah, we were actually really surprised by how well it did so we thought why don’t we just make it a limited edition for our fans at the moment so they can go out and get it.
Emma – It was quite hard to get a copy too – after just a few days I tried to get a CD copy and everywhere I tried had sold out, so I had to get vinyl!
Rob – It was really annoying like in our home town St Albans there was only one copy!

Emma – Let’s go back a bit – you’re all friends from school right?
All – Yeah
Emma – Do you think that helped to give you a good grounding – like when things started getting crazy did it help that you are good friends to keep each others feet on the ground?
Roughton – Yeah – I think we have a pretty good friendship & relationship going on.
I think if we see anyone slipping out of line we can just tell them.
Chris – And I think because we spend so much time together, it’s like there’s no point getting pissed off about silly little things

Emma – I think you have a pretty unique sound going on – did you realise that there was a window for this type of sound and deliberately set out to fill it?
Rory – Not at all, it’s just been a natural progression really.
Emma – Was it an immediate thing or has it taken a while to build to the sound you are at?
Chris – Oh yeah, its definitely been building up , and especially if you think about the synths that we used to use in the early demos and stuff we did, a couple of them are pre-sets and stuff wheras now its all written and layered and we just keep adding more to it.

Emma – You have a bit of a reputation for having mad shows and things getting a bit crazy! Tell me more about that…
Chris – Cardiff! Let’s tell them about Cardiff
Rob – No…Dublin!
Chris – Dublin, yeah that’s the one!
Rob – By the end of the show there were six ambulances, a police car and a fire engine there!
Emma – nice!
Chris – People were just being carried out – like knocked out! And they only had one security guard! Just one! And they tried stopping the show…
Rob – I fought him off! They said turn it off – and I just said no!

Emma- It’s getting to the end of this tour now isn’t it really…when you are on tour what are the three most essential items that you have to take with you?
Roughton – Good question! We haven’t had that question before…right…
Mystery bloke joins in – Rou needs his make up!
Chris – Hair gel is definitely one!
Rob – Shower gel!
Rory – Febreeze!
Chris – Yeah, Febreeze is number one! Yeah the bad thing is we always forget it as well!
Emma- There must be more important things!

Chris – I think Febreeze because you cant take too many clothes with you and Febreeze just sorts them out
Rory – I’d say t-shirts, Febreeze and hair gel!
Chris – There would be music and stuff in there as well – we need more than three, can we have six?!!

Emma – I have been reading a few reviews where you are being branded as the “new rock gods” and “the best band in the uk”…
Roughton – yeah that was in Kerrang yesterday wasn’t it!
Emma – Yeah I saw that! What do you think about that – do you think that you are being put on a pedestal that might be difficult to live up to?
Chris – We like reading it!
Roughton – I don’t think we feel under pressure, I think the press has come along quite quickly but its still not like they are bigging us up that much…
Emma – I don’t know – rock gods?!!
Chris – It is kinda weird…we were sitting there and we were like “heeeeeey, rock gods!”
Yeah I don’t think we’re under pressure to live up to it though.
Rory – The way I see it is we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing for the last three years – people can say what they want about it.

Emma – You all ditched university to be in the band full time – if you didn’t have the band what would you do?
Chris – at uni I was studying a music course anyway – music industry – so I would probably end up working for a record label somewhere, just something involved you know…
Rory – I was doing guitar making and learning how to build guitars basically
Rob – I was doing photography – I’m kind of the odd one out!
Emma- Did you all start uni courses?
Roughton– yeah we all did a year
Chris – We all made sure we were within a hundred miles of each other as well so we could get back and do the mid week gigs we needed to.
Rory – It was really hard having to worry about the band, and worry about uni work and trying to juggle them. And trying to do course work between mid week gigs!
Rob- Yeah especially when we get back from a gig at like three in the morning in Newcastle or something and then we have to get up at seven to go to uni the next day
Rory – There was a lot of sleeping in the van – it was like you get to the van, sleep, get top the gig, play …

Emma – Let’s move onto next year – you have a few things planned for next year so I hear – is it right that you’re going to be supporting Alexisonfire and Billy Talent?
Chris – Yeah that’s right, and they are apparently really nice guys
Emma- Yeah Alexisonfire are really nice, you’ll have a great time! Do you feel really excited to know that you’re gonna be playing with some really high profile bands
Chris – Oh yeah, definitely!
Rory – I saw a great quote that The Automatic said – it was something like the small bands are the ones who are up themselves and the big bands are the ones who are always down to earth, and its so true.
Mystery bloke – Alexisonfire make you get a tattoo every night!
Emma – ah were you there for the Yeti?!!
Mystery bloke – I’m scared of the Yeti!! Rou’s gonna get a Yeti tattooed!

Emma – If you could choose any band to tour with, who would you choose and why?
Chris – that’s a tough one…
Rou – Prodigy
Chris- any band in history?
Emma – Yeah
Rob – Mozart!
Chris – Yeah he’d be fun!
Rob – Can you imagine playing to that sort of crowd!
Emma – What are you listening to at the moment on the tour bus?
Rob- Skeeter
Rory – Comeback Kid, he’s getting played a lot in the van
Emma – You must spend a lot of time listening to stuff in the van
Roughton – Yeah, we listen to mix compilations!

Emma –I would like to talk about this year’s Download festival – that was quite a big thing for you guys to pay, and the tent was packed fit to burst! Did you expect that?
Roughton – We didn’t expect that many people to be watching, the tent was overflowing – looking out from the stage there were just heads as far as you could see
Rory – and that was before we’d had any press at all!
Emma – Did you meet or check out other bands there and make the most of your backstage passes?
Chris – yeah, we were sitting next to the guys from Billy Talent, and we’re gonna be doing a lot more of that!
Rory – I had a picture with Nick Oliveri
Chris- I got a picture with one of the rangers from Starwars…
Rory – Sick Of It All were my highlight, but it meant I had to miss the Prodigy
Rob – Prodigy were my highlight
Emma – Do you plan to play any festivals next year?
Chris – All of them!
Rory – Hopefully we’ll get to play Download, Reading and Leeds, and T in the Park.

Emma – Describe Enter Shikari in one sentence
Chris – Good!
Emma – you can do better than that
Rory – An organised riot!
Rob – …of gargantuous proportions!

Emma – What would you like people to gain from your music?
Rob – To open people’s eyes – like for people that are solidly into rock music hopefully they’ll start thinking that maybe dance music isn’t so bad and vice versa. Making bridges!
Roughton – I think without realising we’re becoming quite environmentally friendly, so maybe that’ll be something we expand on.
Emma – Well that’s all, unless you have anything you would like to add?
Chris – The album comes out in March, buy it please!
Rory – Download it
Rory – Give us money!

We thanked the guys for a great interview and then made our way downstairs to a packed out room to watch the gig. Enter Shikari have received a whole lot of praise over recent months but they have worked so hard and deserve every word of it. The gig was mind-opening and was one of the best performances I have ever seen. Shikari kicked the shit out of so many other live performances I have seen and loved before and there is no doubt in my mind that they are going to blow a lot of those bands out of the water in 2007 – so watch out!

The Levellers

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Victoria Hall – Hanley – Stoke on Trent – 09 December 2006

I missed the 3 Daft Monkeys. Again. I have got to start making an effort to get to the venue in time for the warm up act, as by all reports the 3 Daft Monkeys put on a storming set, which reportedly got the crowd rocking and ready for the Levellers.

I did in fact hear the end of the 3DM’s set and it sounded good, but I was too intent on buying my pint from the “bar with the overstretched bar staff”.

Victoria Hall looks new from the outside and the entrance area is very plush. However, once you get into the main hall it is like an old theatre, but with the stalls removed to leave a large standing area, plus seating on the upper two tiers.

Last time I was at this venue I could have walked in without a ticket, the security was so lax, but this time it was a lot more strict and I had to dig around for my ticket while desperately trying not to spill my pint.

After a short wait the lights went down, the intro began and the huge backdrop was lit up by the rotating spotlights. The band appeared, the crowd erupted and we were launched into “100 Years Of Solitude”.

Mark seemed to be quite angry during the first three or four songs and really punched out his vocals quite aggressively and the whole band seemed to be on fire. Perhaps it was because it was the penultimate night of the tour and Christmas is coming, but it could easily have been because they’d all spent the afternoon in the pub. I suspect the latter as later on in the set Mark pointed at someone in the crowd and said “I recognise you sir, from the Albion”, a pub just around the corner from the venue.

My trusty setlist recorder (camera) had rather selfishly broken down earlier in the day (so you will be spared any photo’s), so I don’t know the full setlist, but up next came “15 Years”, an excellent version of “Last Man Alive” and “The Road”, before “61 Minutes Of Pleading” slowed it down.

The crowd had quietened down a lot by the time the next song was played. This was a new song (“Inevitable”, I have since found out) which seemed OK, but didn’t exactly thrill me. However, it normally takes me a few listens to get to like anything and at least it shows that the Levellers are in the process of lovingly crafting a new album together.

“What A Beautiful Day” followed a track which is a crowd favourite and sure enough we were bouncing around again almost immediately.

I often get asked when I announce that I’ve got a Levellers ticket “Why are you going to see them again?” and the next track answered the question.

As well as each Levellers being a completely different experience to the last, often with a different set-list and each with a different feel, there’s the fact that you never know what’s going to happen next.

What happened next was that it was time for the Simon solo spot and tonight we were treated to a storming version of “Sell Out”. During which Simon started off with one guitar, powered through what sounded very much like a bitten booming, took his guitar off while still singing, now unaccompanied (helped along by a slightly out of time crowd), put a new guitar on and motored through to the end of the song as if nothing had happened. The crowd went wild and justifiable so. The rest of the band reappeared to Simon’s ringing applause and Mark thanked him with the words “That was Simon and his invisible bass guitar”.

I think it was “The Boatman” next, or at least Mark on drums for “Crags Of Sterling” and then “The Boatman”.

A painted face appeared on stage and Stephen Boakes appeared for the didgeridoo warm up to “One Way”. The unexpected happened next in that everything stopped, Boaksey appeared to give Mark a cuddle, Mark jokingly announced that they’d all been on tour for three months and turned gay, while Boaksey gave Jeremy a kiss behind his back and Simon and John protested fervently that they hadn’t.

Good, funny stuff.

“One Way” got the same rapturous crowd reaction that it does every time it’s played, before Simon took over vocal duties again for “Men-An-Tol”.

A slightly over paced, to my ears, “ Hope Street ” followed. This seemed to slow down dramatically after the first verse as if Matt had realised they were going way to fast and slowed it down. It then seemed to be too slow, but it was good to hear it for a change and I enjoyed it, before being blasted into the excellent “Forgotten Ground”.

By the time the first notes of “Liberty Song” were struck even the most reserved people in the audience had been dragged screaming to the dance floor. There were people dancing in the balconies, in the aisles and on the dance floor. I was quite worried at one point by someone doing what appeared to be a one-armed salute, but this just turned out to be the warm up for a full on version of what appeared to be the chicken dance, which everyone around seemed to be much happier with.

Jeremy always seems at his best during “Liberty Song”, thumping his bass and adding his, seemingly random, backing vocals as if his life depended on it. A superb end to the gig and people started to drift towards the exit.

Then the band returned to the stage. I think it was at this point that Mark walked on with his lit cigarette and asked the audience “Is this a non-smoking venue?”. The crowd cheered and the security men looked annoyed. They looked even more annoyed seconds later as Mark threw his lighted cigarette to the eager inhabitants of the mosh pit.

The worlds most moving anti-war song “Another Man’s Cause” followed and charged up the emotion of the crowd for a blistering “Battle Of The Beanfield”, which ended superbly with Simon picking out a load of harmonics from his fret board.

“The Riverflow” finished us off nicely with Jeremy screaming “faster” all the way through.

But then the crowd knew it was going to be the end, the band was applauded off the stage and the fans headed for the exits.

Only to come dashing back in again, as the hardcore had waited, clapped and stamped for “What You Know”.

The Levellers re-appeared for “fiddle time”. John was accompanied by Athena from 3 Daft Monkeys and Mark announced that there were three members of 3DM’s on stage for the encore, one with a tambourine (I think) and one with what seemed to be penny whistle.

For me this was the best track of the night and they went out on a very big high. The “fiddle off” had no clear winner and got to such speeds that you wondered when, not whether, they were going to catch fire. And the penny whistle added that certain something that really made a full on sound. Everyone was enjoying themselves and there was no better way to end the gig.

(Approximate) Setlist;

100 Years Of Solitude, 15 Years, Last Man Alive, The Road, 61 Minutes Of Pleading, Inevitable, What A Beautiful Day, Sell Out (Simon Solo), The Boatman, One Way, Men-An-Tol, Hope Street, Forgotten Ground, Carry Me, The Game, Liberty Song, [Break], Another Man’s Cause, Battle Of The Beanfield, The Riverflow, [Break], What You Know.

courtesy of www.livemusicreview.co.uk

Dan the Saviour

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by Jo

A fanfare for the uncommon man.. Daniel Hawkins, this week the saviour of news- and floof-starved darklings the length and breadth of the universe, blogged, and said universe partied. The boys are back!!! working and playing hard, writing, recording and rocking – doing what they do best for the good of all. And it sounds bloody good! (I guessed, educatedly, i have as much idea as you..) I was holding out for a hero, and lo… It might be uphill, but we’ll carry up to where you all should be, if we have to.

So, the debate now is – to be Darkness or not to be Darkness? (I’ve come over all literary)My tiny small opinion is not. Move on and up.. The Darkness image is too strong. Some would say that Queen managed it after Freddie died, but they’d been around for many years by then and all of them were ingrained in the national psyche. TD haven’t been, sadly. Let’s get Ed, Richie and Dan known by millions, as they deserve. Queen also managed to preserve their iconic sound – whether it’s Richie or someone else singing, TD will find that a tad tricky, so why bother trying? Off with the old, and on with the new. These boys won’t be caught with the Emperor’s Clothes.

Anyway.. let’s go rockrockrockrockrockrock…

Ahem. Where’s the valium? Darklings in need!

Latest thoughts

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by Jo

The following was written on a train, but much of it appeared on a thread while I was gone.. a case of like minds rather than a rehash. It’s certainly not meant as an apology for Justin’s actions. Just musings and opinion and reporting back on darkling feelings.

A month later, the dust has – well, it hasn’t done anything. It keeps being kicked up by people demanding ‘one last single’ or ‘one last gig’ which would be the most ridiculous thing.. no chance. It was further disturbed by the appearance of an article by a Sky News journalist, whom Justin apparently told ‘I might rejoin later’ and ‘we all need some space’ I hold my hand up on posting that on forum. I wouldn’t normally, because of the furore it causes, but it had been so long since anything was heard. My apologies for the kerfuffle.

As I’ve been predicting to myself for a few weeks, the length of time since he left and the arrival of announcement from him is proving to be a massively damaging PR disaster for both him and Sue. Her part in it all is being questioned too.. from the wrong angle, in my opinion, but.. Atlantic undoubtedly had a part, but they were never popular with darklings. There should have been a huge damage limitation programme by the Justin camp from day one, or before. The exclusive revelations to the sun with no ‘fans’ only’ version doesn’t sit easy. Lawyers gagging orders do not preclude a statement saying ‘Look, I’m really sorry, I’m not allowed to talk but I will soon’ – Justin has lost so much respect. Only time will tell whether hubris or bad advice or both were to blame. He HAD support for a solo career, but it’s fast dwindling. TD fans are anxious about TD. Whatever he issues now, it’s too late for some.

Is this man truly arrogant? He has a streak of it, sure, but he’s capable of self effacement. He’s stuck with this project for far longer than expected, given his restlessness and need for change. It’s a tangled psyche. Driven, but not like Dan. His stresses lie in different directions. Eager to create, with a talent for composition and lyrics. An attention seeker – learning guitar ‘to get girls’, but the thrill of being on stage didn’t pass him by. He’s going to find it hard before long, not being in the limelight. I don’t suppose that it’ll be long before he tests the water.

Remember him saying that his piercings (nipple and defunct Prince Albert) were a way of punishing himself when he did things wrong? You wonder whether the cocaine abuse was another way. Bulimia – longstanding. The removal of himself from TD could be another symptom of Justin’s feeling that he’s really not worthy of what he has. They’re all forms of self harm. It’s not a case of ‘where did it go wrong’ for Justin. It’s a case of when, and what to do now.

I have some Sympathy for this Devil. He knows not quite what he does, and condemns himself accordingly, as the consequences are not top of his priority list. A downfall caused by his own flaws – that’s the true literary definition of a tragedy. Pity it had to affect so many, so deeply.

And the good news…. Dan, Ed and Richie have been hard at work, and when the legal curtains part, all rock will let loose. Thanks to Dan for taking over his myspace and blogging for us. Much kudos to the lad, and to Richie and Ed. xx