Ceremony

A week ago I blogged about the best hardcore music festival in Australia. Without a doubt, the band I was most excited for was Ceremony. I was considering going down there just to see them play the two days.

But now, we get two of our own shows!

July 5 - Between the Walls (all-ages)
July 6 - Basement 243 (18+)

Two small and great venues for seeing a hardcore band like this. I am excited.

Hardcore 2012

It's not often I post about gigs from areas more than a few hours out of Brisbane, but chances are you'll see me at this one. One of Australia's best record labels, Resist Records, are putting on two days of great hardcore music simply titled "Hardcore".

Over two days (or one if you're under 18) you'll get your face melted by some of the best hardcore from Australia on beyond.

 

Terror, Mindsnare, Ceremony, I Exist, Break Even, Miles Away, Extortion, Iron Mind.

For those of you keeping track, these will be the last ever Break Even shows. So you will be able to say goodbye to one of Australia's best hardcore bands.

And for me, there's mother-fucking Ceremony:

July 7 (18+) and July 8 (AA) at the Sydney HiFi.

Hardcore gig of the year 2012

I'm calling it right now. This show will be the hardcore gig of the year 2012. Two great New York old school hardcore bands supported by one of my favourite old-school Australian hardcore bands.

Sick of It All:

Agnostic Front:

Toe to Toe:

The last few Sick of It All tours have been opening for other bands, generally with crowds I don't really want to be in or venues way too big for just seeing Sick of It All. But finally.. finally! We get them headlining.

May 3, HiFi. 18+

Fucked Up

Today at work, I was having a miserable day. Then I read something on Twitter that just turned my day around. It went by in what seemed like seconds after I heard the news. Fucked Up are doing a club show in Brisbane.

I've been preaching Fucked Up for a while, for good reasons. Their smart hardcore is amazing and not just for people that like hardcore. This year they release a concept album, David Comes to Life, which was just mind blowing. I remember thinking at the time "they're going to have to break up, they can never top this." Well it turns out my thinking was right, as they are going on indefinite hiatus very soon. But not before they finish a tour with the Foo Fighters. 

Part of the tour was a few sideshows, of course in Melbourne and Sydney. I tried to get tickets to either one, but my work schedule would not allow me to make it. I was depressed. So depressed. Then today, a simple Tweet: Fucked Up playing Alhambra, next Friday. The 9th.

I squeed. I actually made the squee noise. And bought my ticket straight away. I missed Iron Maiden to see Fucked Up at Soundwave this year and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Strip that show down to the small stage of Alhambra... My god. Insane. I cannot wait.

Fucked Up. 18+. Alhambra. December 9

Review: After the Fall (USA)/Anchors/Army of Champions/Friends with the Enemy/Milestones, Jubilee Hotel, November 17 2011

Last night was a great night of Australian (and mainly Queensland) punk rock, topped off by the first Australian show by After the Fall (the New York band, not the Triple M rock Australian band). It was my first time at the upstairs bar at the Jubilee and although the crowds were small, they still had a great night.

First up was Milestones. I cam in late and didn't catch much of their set or get a chance to photograph it. One of these days I'll catch a full set of theirs I hope, as their sound was tight.

Next up were the female-fronted Friends With the Enemy. Imagine if you crossed A Wilhelm Scream with a cute punk-girl for a lead singer. That's what you get with this band.

They were great fun and it was good to finally catch a full set of theirs, even if I did accidentally knock the power cord out while trying to take a photo, causing the bass and guitar to go off for a minute. Sorry guys.

Army of Champions were a band I knew nothing about, except their drummer is the guy from Headaches. But after half a song I was head over heels for them. They're basically Queensland's version of Against Me. Their three singer combination though makes it even better. I found myself grinning like an idiot within about 3 songs, just enjoying it immensely.

You can get one of their tracks for free at their Triple J Unearthed website. Do it, if you like any of that folk-styled-punk in the vein of Against Me.

I'd seen Melbourne's Anchors once before, over a year ago, and were not that impressed with them. But at this gig they were a well-polished band and had a great mini-mosh going with the small crowd, much to the hatred of the bouncer.

They've also got a new track out that you can check for free. They played it last night and there were lots of fists pumping the air in time to it.

Finally, closing in on 1130 pm, After the Fall played for the first time in Australia. Looking a little bit jet-lagged, having only arrived at 6am that morning, they rushed through their set to try and fit as much in as possible before midnight. Live they sounded like a mix of NOFX and A Wilhelm Scream which got the crowd up and moving even more, despite the slippery floor.

If you get a chance, see them while they are on their short tour of Australia. These guys are rad and you will have a great punk night.

Free Music Friday 32!

Almost exactly a year ago to the day, I was in a very hot and humid Fat Louies on a Saturday night, camera in hand.

 

And I took some really awesome photos of the Adelaide band In Trenches.

These guys have a pretty good heavy music pedigree, featuring members of I Killed the Prom Queen and Day of Contempt. With the history of those two bands, it's not surprising that they have a very metal sound influenced by a fair bit of hardcore too. It's the kind of heavy music I like, mixing together the best of both worlds.

Their debut album came out a few years ago and is not the easiest thing to buy. But luckily they've put it up for free on their bandcamp. So get over there and get it.

Review: Title Fight/Touche Amore/Break Even/Headaches, Old Museum, September 8 2011

The Old Museum. Is there a stranger place for a hardcore show? For what could possibly be the best hardcore/punk show of the year? There probably is, but I can't think of any more odd than a 120 year old heritage building that used to hold a museum and is used mainly for orchestral stuff now.

That being said, it was a bloody nice and big venue inside. A huge stage, great lighting a more than adequate PA and lots of space in front of the stage. The problem was, being the kind of building it is, they took the "no moshing" rule to an extreme. Throughout the course of the night we were repeatedly warned that if one person stage dived or got out of control, the show would be over immediately.

Locals Headaches were up first and played to a fairly big crowd (of people wearing mainly La Dispute shirts). They were solid as always, but played only about a 20 minute set.

Break Even are the Australian band doing the whole tour with the Americans. They put on a solid set with the crowd really getting worked up and into it.

The crowd participation was closely scrutinised by the security on the stage. If it looked like one person was even close to getting out of control, they bore down on them like a hawk. At one point, someone jumped up to sing along and grabbed the lead singer's shirt. He was ejected quickly.

The guitarist from Fires of Waco was standing in front of me in the crowd and Break Even passed the microphone down to him to sing a song. The security didn't like that either. They kept trying to grab it back out of hands, despite the band reassuring him it was okay.

Touche Amore was the band I was really excited for. Their unique style of hardcore lends so well to a live setting and they just blew everyone away.

The set was quite heavy with songs from their latest album Parting the Sea Between the Brightness and Me, which I managed to pick up a special Australian tour 12" press of at the show for $20. In fact, all their merch was $20. Good on them!

The crowd was very well behaved following the repeated warnings by people before and during the set. But then again, they didn't need to get on stage to get involved, because the lead singer kept coming down to the crowd for sing alongs.

It was great to watch from the side of the stage. If you turned away from watching the band at any point and saw me, you would've seen a guy holding a camera and screaming along to the lyrics while pumping his hands in the air and occasionally taking a photo. To say I enjoyed it was an understatement.

Everyone cleared out after Touche Amore. I honestly thought they wouldn't come back for Title Fight, but as the guitar started swelling up, you could see everyone running back in. I don't know much about this band having only listened to their album Shed once or twice, but they were goddamn enjoyable live. Their punk/hardcore/orgcore style was great fun and led to a lot of guitar jumps. A lot.

I was standing next to another photographer on the side of the stage and we kept having competitions to see who could get the better guitar jump on film. It was a tough contest, but I like to think we both won, by just watching this band.

By the time they announced their last song, you could tell that things were about to get hectic. The crowd had been fairly well behaved but they were itching to really get into the music. Apparently Title Fight are always about stage dives.

When they started playing YoureYeah everyone started bumrushing the stage. People started jumping into the crowd and moshing like crazy. Security tried to stop them and it got quite physical. One of the "volunteers" (not one of the security guards) picked up a kid and tried to throw him off the stage to get him out of the way. The band manager did not take kind to this and tackled this volunteer. Right in front of me. The volunteer looked so scared and took off running.

Needless to say, halfway through the song the power was cut and all you could hear was the drums. The bass player threw down his guitar in disgust and the show was over.

I tried to get some photos of it at this point, but my flash ran out of batteries and it was dark. Of course it would happen at this point.

I have no anger towards the security at this gig. They did their job well. Moshing and stage dives were banned and they enforced it well. The crowd went along with it fine too. It was actually a job well done by all to keep a hardcore show in quite good check. My beef goes to the organiser. Why choose this venue? You know that the crowd was going to behave exactly like it did. And you know the venue bans it. So why have the show there? We were actually just lucky that everyone was so well behaved and the gig went as long as it did.

Still, a great night all around. So happy to photograph it. You can view the full gallery over at AltMusicHub.

Free Music Friday 28!

What happens when the guitarist of the Gaslight Anthem (the greatest modern working-class punk band with huge shades of Bruce Springsteen et al) gets together with his friends?

Something you were never expecting happens. You get a sludgy hardcore album. Ever since I first heard the band Dangers (at which point I decided to make a blog, name it after them and spread the love of their awesomeness) I've been in love with this style of hardcore. Taking a lot of credit from metal and grindcore, they keep it really low and deep, fast, slightly depressing and full of anger.

This is the kind of band that Something About Death or Dying are. It's glorious to me. Maybe not to all of you.

They have an EP out which you can get for a small donation at their Bandcamp page. Or if you look hard, you can see there is a link for the free copy nestled in their too.

I'm not going to lie, I think I like this more than the Gaslight Anthem.

Free Music Friday 26! (The not for everyone edition)

I stumbled across this band through another blog, which started a review with the words:

This EP, like every good hardcore recording since the beginning of time, starts out with feedback

So yes, I had to get it. But really, it's not for everyone. The band is called Chewed Out, and I couldn't find a picture of them. Here's one of the top Google image search results for them though:
I think that is Steve Jobs punching someone. Yep, no idea.

Anyway, Chewed Out are dirty, grimey hardcore which starts leaning a bit more of the way towards grindcore. If you like bands like Dangers and Departures (which I really freaking do), or even chaotic noisy hardcore bands like The Chariot or Norma Jean, you'll enjoy the shit out of this.

They have a free EP on their Bandcamp. Get it and get moshing in your bedroom/office/wherever you keep your computer.

Hardcore dancers: a rant

It seems I've been ranting a lot lately, probably because of me being an old jaded man. But as I sit here, 16 hours later, with a swollen face, a black eye and a ringing headache that hasn't fucking quit since last night, I figured this rant is allowed.

Hardcore dancers, fight dancers, mosh lords, whatever you want to call yourselves, show a little respect for your fellow punters please.

I say it a lot, hardcore and punk fans are some of the best in the world. No matter what, there'll always be a few people dancing and really getting into the music. It's great to see people feel something at a gig and be motivated enough to move around. I've got nothing against your dancing. I think it's hilarious to watch and bloody stupid to participate in, but you know what, I don't care. Enjoy yourselves. That's what we're supposed to be doing at a gig.

I'll move aside, I'll give you room. However, when you impede on other's people's private space and start involving and trying to hit people who are actively avoiding it, then you become nothing more than a dickhead.

Swinging fists, flying feet, it's ridiculous to think it's going to do anything but cause damage if it connects with someone.

Last night I saw Cruel Hand/Phantoms at Sun Distortion Studio. It was a great show. As expected, during Phantoms, the pit opened up. Well as much as it can in a room with only about 5 metres width. No problems, I got out of the way. I took the animations you see in this rant now. It was all fine, you only involved those that wanted in (although my camera, and JHat's too, seemed to get close to getting hit a few times).

But during Cruel Hand, that's when shit turned nasty. I was pushed right up next to the merch desk, leaning against the wall. It's as far away as I could get in that corner. Not an ideal place to take photos, but I would think out of the way, as there were a few people in front of me. Oh, how wrong I was. A few songs in and you assholes decided to push everyone out of the way and go wall-to-wall. Next thing I know, a fist comes flying across my face, hitting me hard. I went down. I was groggy. I had no idea where I was for a few seconds.

I couldn't get away, I was just trying to watch the band and take a few photos out of your way, and you had to come at me. I ended up with a bloody nose, a black eye, a swollen face and a fucking headache that won't quit. That's what I get for trying to stay out of the way and enjoy a show. You probably don't realize that you did it to me, but it happens a lot.

A couple years ago I was sitting at the back of a crowd at the Big Day Out watching Enter Shikari. Nowhere near the pit, probably 30 to 40 metres back just standing around. The next thing I know, a crowd surfer lands on my head, and as I stand up some asshole fight-dancer swings his fists right into my gentleman's area. The rest of the day was a blur. I was out of it completely. According to someone that saw me afterwards, I was just sitting on the edge of the highway looking lost and confused after the festival.

So seriously, if you're going to fight dance, at least keep it to yourselves. We give you room and don't chastise you, why can't you show the equal respect and do it back?!

Fucked Up new song

The highlight of this year's Soundwave, without fail, was Fucked Up.

(Photo by Stephen Booth)

I say that because I am a massive fan of their smart hardcore, and they just put on a really good show. They are currently in the process of taking it to the next level, pulling a the Who, and making a rock opera. Entitled David Comes to Life, it's about well... the life of a guy named David. It's almost finished, but for now you can get the new single from David right here: http://www.stereogum.com/698241/fucked-up-queen-of-hearts/mp3s/

It's slightly different from some older stuff, but you can definitely tell it's part of a whole story line.

Cruel Hands/Phantoms

Lately, Clus has had a pretty good mantra when it comes to music: if it's on the Bridge 9 label, it's good. And this tour, it features a Bridge 9 band.


Coming around in June will be America's Cruel Hand. They can best be described as New York hardcore punk with Metallica-style riffs. You like the sound of that? Check out their MySpace.

Following them on this tour will be one of my favourite current Australian bands: Phantoms. In fact, thinking about this, both bands are mightily similar. Phantoms also do hardcore punk with a metal influence. Basically, I'm going to enjoy this tour.

South East Queensland gets two shows.
June 16, Boys and Girls (X & Y), 18+
June 17, Sun Distortion Studios, All-ages

Helmet

Helmet. One of the greatest hardcore bands to come out of the late 80's/early 90s scene. They're rather unknown still, which is sad, but it doesn't stop them being awesome. Evergreen Terrace even tip their hat to them on the track Chaney Can't Quite Riff Like Helmet's Page Hamilton.

(Googling for Helmet + music = Daft Punk pictures. So here's the music video I first saw as a 12 year old late one night on Rage before buying an electric guitar and learning it)



They'll be bringing their hardcore down under, and we get two south east Queensland shows!
June 22nd, Coolangatta Hotel
June 23rd, HiFi

Both 18+. But that's to be expected, most of their fans are in the mid to late 20's by now. Catch some more of their tunes here.

The Chariot, for real this time

So I've been bitching about this for a while. The Chariot, whose 2010 album Long:Live was amazing, are coming to Australia. Their only stop in Queensland is in Toowoomba though, for the Easterfest Christian festival.

Chuck was not happy.

But then there were rumours (not of wars (bad Chariot joke)) of an all-ages show at the Fort. Unfortunately that rumour has been shot down.

In even better news, today they announced two Brisbane shows!

April 20, Old Museum (All Ages)
April 21, Boys and Girls (X&Y), 18+

YES! Marathon are opening one of these shows, but this will be a truly amazing two nights of chaotic hardcore in-your-face noise music.

Underoath/A Day To Remember tour

Two albums I surprisingly loved last year was Underoath's and A Day To Remember's.

A Day To Remember put together post-hardcore and pop-punk for a fun little mix. They came through in December for the very wet No Sleep Til festival. I didn't go see them, as I was dry and I didn't want to go in the sea of scene kids, but by all reviews they were fun as all hell. It seems a bit weird that they'll be back within half a year of their last tour, but their fans will love it.

Underoath on the other hand, has been a band I've always had a little bit of a crush on. From my friend's Christian-music loving ways in high school, I fell in love with this song:

Then in 2006 they put out what is still one of my top 30 albums, Define the Great Line. It was just a beautifully put together screamo album (if there's such a thing). Although they lost their singer/drummer to the pop-punk band the Almost (who are almost good.. haha) they still stayed together and put out an album last year, Disambiguation. And it was grand. They dropped most of the singing vocals and just made a great heavy album.

I've seen them a few times now and their live show is amazing. If you look past the occasionaly god related speeches that pepper the show, it's still amazing. And I have a man-crush on their guitar-tech as he always checks the guitars to the song There is No Dana by Twothirtyeight.

Put these two bands together and you're bound to have a loud, yet fun, musical night. Well actually, two nights in South East Queensland!

May 15 - The Tivoli, AA
May 17 - Coolangatta Hotel, 18+

Top Shelf Hardcore

It speaks abounds to the quality of some of Australia's hardcore bands, when they are ticketed above a great American band. But check out this poster for what will be a great tour:


Perth's Miles Away, above Defeater?! Huh. Random. But if you love your hardcore music to be more than just mosh breakdowns with stupid fashion and silly dancers, go to this. Featuring Defeater from the USA, Miles Away from Perth and our own rapidly-rising Fires of Waco (who have an incredible drummer and a new album getting ready to blow our minds away).

April 8, the Fort. AA
April 9, Rosies. 18+

Defeater
Miles Away
Fires of Waco

In the Walls

I don't know if there's an actual scene, but In The Walls are as local as it gets for me: Indooroopilly-core.

They're a metal/hardcore band with a sound that reminds me a little of I Killed the Prom Queen (and that's definitely not a bad thing). In the Walls have an EP coming out in the next few weeks and a slew of dates to support it.

Dec 31, Basement 243
Jan 1, Thriller (Rosies) 18+
Jan 8, the Fort, All Ages. This is their EP release and it shall be a crazy night.

They've got a few tracks on their Facebook, check it out. That is some great production for demo/EP tracks.

Suicidal Tendencies

There were many things Tony Hawk Pro Skating (the video game) brought to popular culture, one of which was skate punk. And one of the greatest songs on the soundtrack (after Primus) was this:

Oh joy. Because of this we went on to form a very short lived band named Suicidal Garden Gnomes (I think we were a band for 4 hours until we gave up). Of course, it was really only the one Suicidal Tendencies album that was skate punk. But it got me into them.

Their main sound is crossover hardcore/thrash/funk metal. Which ticks a lot of boxes for me. A few of the members live in Queensland now, so it wasn't a surprise last year when we got shows on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. But now we're getting a full fledged Australian tour.

May 12, Coolangatta Hotel
May 13, HiFi

I saw Suicidal play the original Soundwave. Although the lead singer was a bit preachy about Jesus at times, I can tell you they've still got it after 30 odd years of punk life.

MySpace

Phantoms/I Exist

I know I've talked about this a fair bit, but one of the best shows I went to this year was in a little-ass basement rehearsal room in West End, featuring Phantoms and I Exist, before I headed over to the HiFi to see Converge.

I'm standing next to Ellis in the background of that picture. You can see the side of my head. As always, thanks to JHat for taking the kickass photo. Hopefully with a few more years of practice I can take gig photos as good as him.

These two had such fun times on their tour up here, that they fell in love with Wet n Wild. And are currently in the process of recording a split EP about their experience. If you know me, you know Wet n Wild is my favourite place in the world, where I take my yearly pilgrimage.

In celebration of the EP, the two are hitting the road again.

Catch them February 10 at the Step Inn. 18+. It's within a week of my annual Wet n Wild pilgrimage, so maybe they'll be up earlier and want to come along? Guys? *nudge*nudge*

Phantoms are probably my favourite Australian band of 2010. I love their new album.
I Exist may be a close second.

You can also order the new split 7" here.

Heavy Heavy Low Low farewell tour

Heavy Heavy Low Low are an American thrash/mathcore band. I'll be honest, I had never really heard of them until a few weeks ago. Mainly because with a name like that, I will tend to ignore you. But then in one day my mate asked me if I was going and I saw this kick ass poster hanging off the walls at the Jubilee.

So I checked them out. And realised they are everything I like about that style of music. They combine all of the different heavy genres I adore: grindcore, thrash, mathcore and hardcore. Luckily I got on the band wagon with enough time to spare, literally a few days.

Because they are breaking up. This is their first and last tour ever down under. They'll be playing the Jubilee on December 16th (18+) and Burst City on December 17th (AA).

They are supported by NSW crazy grindcore guys Totally Unicorn.

MySpace