Tag: nottingham

Posted on

Music Review: The Hotelier

Our Music Writer Amber had the chance to catch The Hotelier’s final show of their European tour with Rozwell Kid and Into it Over it, at The Bodega in Nottingham ahead of the release of their new album ‘Goodness‘…

Opening with ‘Goodness Pt.2’ from their latest album ‘Goodness’ it was incredible to hear Christian Holden’s vocals open up the set, accompanied only by Sam Frederick’s drumming. This track opened the set in such a beautiful way, then they moved into ‘Piano Player’. They swiftly picked up the pace with ‘In Framing’ from the incredible ‘Home, Like NoPlace Is There’, which brought some difficult subjects to the crowd who simply responded by singing the lyrics. It was clear from the sold-out show that the themes in their songs resonate with a lot of people. The iconic ‘Your Deep Rest’ created a choir in the crowd as they were singing ‘I called in sick to your funeral’.

‘Among The Wildflowers’ continued and as the band brought the track to the audience they changed it with screams, heaving with desperation that reflected the song ‘Life In Drag’ that followed.

‘Soft Animal’ continued the poignant tone, every sound in the room was silenced as Holden sang ‘make me feel alive, make me believe that all my selves align’ before breaking into ‘Weathered’ from The Hotelier’s first album ‘It Never Goes Out’ from 2011.

‘Sun’ settled the crowd into a calm – to me this really is the most beautiful and organic track. It has a subtlety that makes it clear just how much work and understanding goes into the breadth and timing of their songs. It’s interesting how the space and the quiet makes The Hotelier such an outstanding band with a raw live performance that could have been so easily fleeting.

‘An Introduction To The Album’ is emphasised with the echoing crowd and begins to end the set with ‘The Scope of All of This Rebuilding’. Closing with ‘Dendron’ was perfect. It showed how the band can word difficult moments and ideas, bringing the crowd to a frenzy of fists and screaming.

The Hotelier have this incredible talent of delivering an engaging set that will always resonate with the audience, but at the same time they are able to hold back to create a striking live performance.

Posted on

Music: Heck ‘Instructions’ Album Launch

‘Instructions’ has been a long time coming for Heck but it was totally worth it. Check out what happened when our music writer Amber attended their album release show….

It was an honour to witness Heck’s album release show at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham last week, and hear what is an outstanding debut album performed in full with an audience, who had clearly backed the band from their first tours to that very day.

The album was released the day of the show, which meant I had it on repeat at work all day and then on the journey to Nottingham that evening. I was so excited to hear them play live and by the time the incredible Raketkanon had got our hearts pumping I was well and truly ready for ‘Instructions’.

‘Good As Dead’ from the get go had Matt flinging himself from a stack of monitors and parting the crowd with the mic lead. It was only fitting that the audience knew the drill- pass the mic stand back then the mic lead.

Heck are becoming more and more renowned for their wild on stage performances and it is incredible that their iconic debut comprises all this live energy into just ten tracks. Their musical dexterity, creative talent and raw power is pushing the boundaries of music and Heck deserve every second of praise not only for ‘Instructions’, but for the mark they have made on music.

Rescue Rooms proved to be the perfect venue for an album showcase. The balcony was rammed with family, that feared for the balcony hoping band and friends safety. A balcony, however, didn’t mean that they were going to miss out on any of Heck’s convulsive action.

Within all the raucous chaos ‘Instructions’ is an album that binds every band member together, conveying their originality perfectly.

‘I. See The Old Lady Decently II. Buried Although III. Amongst Those Left Are You’ was probably the best 16 minutes of my life (although that doesn’t say much for me!) it closed ‘Instructions’ and the release show with a passion that reflected everything Heck have to offer.

Despite all their lunacy Heck never stop thanking the crowd throughout, and it just highlights that not only is ‘Instructions’ pushing the boundaries of music but that these guys have fought hard for this album. As the set closed you could feel the emotion and gratitude in the room. I had the pleasure of talking to Jonny and Matt at Reading Festival last year and there was a strong sense of hestitation about releasing an album that to attend the album release show less than a year later was an honour.

Nothing you read will even begin to sum up this band or ‘Instructions’ until you hear it for yourself.

 

Posted on

Music Review: The Libertines

Our music writer Amber Carnegie recently saw The Libertines, here’s what she thought of their gig… 

After we caught The Libertines at the end of Reading Festival last year we were unsure of exactly how they were going to take on an arena. They may have sold out when they last played Nottingham but the arena still looked really sparse. The passion and eagerness of their fans made it clear that the faithful listeners weren’t just crammed at the front.

image13

An arena tour usually comes with an organised act, special effects and rotating drum kits but The Libertines held their edge. There may have been glinting letters and screens but they kept all that to a minimal, even though there were scantily clad ushers handing out beers mid set. But for those paying attention the girls in the red guard jackets were a throw back to the band’s early gigging days.

Opening with ‘Barbarians’ from their latest ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ Nottingham saw this tight outfit finally back in sync, back as an identifiable unit, with all their raw rough around the edges sound that had a generation desperate for more. The Libertines are iconic for being one of the first indie bands to to create a scene around them, as they connected with fans through the internet, spreading their tales of Arcadia.

image1

The Libertines can probably be counted as the inspiration for most indie bands we hear today and as they sped through a a set list of old and new tracks it was clear why they have become so influential.  There were mic shares that brought back images of iconic scenes between Pete and Carl,  but it was Gary Powell that stole the show. I couldn’t take our eyes off of him and the drum kit!

When I think of The Libertines we think of the last of the old school ‘rock stars’ with all the uproar that the media lapped up.  With musicians now living lives online, I wonder how The Libertines would’ve rose to fame and how the band would’ve founded today.  But as they closed their encore with ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ British icons filled the screens around the arena and there was no doubt that they had earned their place among them.

Posted on

Music Interview: Atreyu

Californian Metalcore legends Atreyu have just completed their first UK tour in nearly 5 years – following a lengthy hiatus, the band were playing a couple of intimate warm up shows at smaller venues prior to appearances at the Reading & Leeds festivals. Our guest music blogger Robert Moody caught up with the band at their sold out Nottingham show:

Atryeu

(From the left: Brandon Saller – drummer and vocalist, Dan Jacobs – guitarist, Robert Moody – our guest blogger, Alex Varkatzas – vocalist and Travis Miguel – guitarist.)

You’re playing much smaller venues for these warm up shows than you would normally play – how has that been on the tour so far?

Alex Varkatzas: No venue too big, no venue too small!

Brandon Saller: They’ve been a blast, it’s what we came from so it’s awesome to have an opportunity to do something like that. Sweating on kids, getting kicked in the face, it’s a good time!

And after this you’ll be playing the bigger shows at Reading and Leeds Festivals, how much are you looking forward to those?

Brandon Saller: I’m stoked, I really love the UK and their approach to festivals, they’re such big events and you get to see so many friends, it’s going to be a really good time.

Any other bands in particular you’re going to try and catch while you’re there?

Brandon Saller:  I’m not sure if they’re on the same day as us but I’d like to see Beartooth, they’re doing a tour with us later this year in the States. Stoked to see Bring Me The Horizon, stoked to see Pvris, stoked to see Ghost…

Travis Miguel: Be good to see our friends in Metallica…

Alex Varkatzas: Yeah we haven’t played with Metallica for a couple of years so it’ll be good to reunite!

Thinking about your new album, the songs we’ve heard so far have had a varied sound, almost encapsulating the styles of the band over the years. With that in mind, how would you describe the band’s sound now, and what does the rest of the album have in store?

Brandon Saller: I feel like this album has a lot of the spirit of our youth, combined with a lot of the things we’ve learned along the way…

Alex Varkatzas: It’s the spirit of our youth combined with the maturity of our years.

Brandon Saller: Exactly – it’s an Atreyu fan’s record, to be honest.

Several members of the band have always had a lot of prominent tattoos and artwork, even dating back to your early days, would you mind sharing some of the inspiration behind what you’ve had done and telling us a little bit about what motivates the tattoos you get?

Brandon Saller:  Personally, I’m not that big on the deep meaning behind my tattoos, I’m a lot more about the art. Several of my tattoos do have meaning of course, this key (below) was a gift for my wife for our 2nd anniversary, I’ve got tattoos for my Mom and Dad…but for the most part, a lot of my tattoos are because I’m appreciative of the art.

Key

Alex Varkatzas: Yeah when I was younger, I was very appreciative of the art, but now I take the art and twist it in my own mind to make it personal. I just got a really large thigh-piece of an English Bulldog fighting a Cobra (below), and that’s because I have an English Bulldog and I love her…and I fucking hate snakes! So for me that’s about conquering fear.

Cobra

You’ve travelled around the world with the band, are there any particular places that have inspired you or stuck with you after you’ve visited them?

Brandon Saller:  I’m a huge fan of the UK, Japan, Australia…

Alex Varkatzas: Which has some of the best tattoos, I think. I think everyone in Australia has really good tattoos. I really like Italy, I’d love to get tattooed there.

Brandon Saller:  Alex has just recently started tattooing, so he’s probably a bit deeper into it now than the four of us are. But it’s always helpful to have someone who knows where the good tattoo places are, wherever you go!

And have you found that it’s given you a new appreciation of the art, now you’ve experienced the other side of it?

Alex Varkatzas: Absolutely. It’s hard. It takes years to learn the craft – so you appreciate it so much more. It’s awesome.

As you mentioned, you’re heading back to the States for the tour with Beartooth, which is really the band’s first ‘normal’ tour since the break – does this mean the band is going back to the touring lifestyle now or is that just a one off?

Alex Varkatzas: It’s more that, as long as it’s fun, and it makes sense, we do it. So we might do this tour and then just cancel everything after it! I don’t think we will, of course – just as long as it’s fun.

Brandon Saller:  We just want to take as much of the ‘job’ aspect of being in a band out of the equation, and just enjoy every second of what we’re doing. We’ve scaled back a bit, we might be touring a little less, but we’d definitely want to get some packages together and then perhaps to a few shows here and there as well.

And are you finding the touring experience any different this time around?

Brandon Saller:  I think we appreciate it more now. For us it’s been great, the energy at our shows has been pretty fucking crazy.

Alex Varkatzas: We’re touring in a smarter manner these days, not just taking every single show that comes our way. The way we see it is that it’s a lot easier to get through some sprints, than it is to run 10 miles. So we can just put more effort into it. So for me, if I know I’m only going on tour for a couple of weeks, I can just go all out. If you’re going out for 3 months, you can’t do that. Plus it’s not so much fun when you’re just doing the same thing every day, so we just come out here, really push ourselves, give the cliché 150%. Then I feel more engaged with it and I think the audiences are more engaged. A good way to describe it is like the NFL season in America – it’s only 16 games, every game counts.

Dan Jacobs: We want our touring career to be like the NFL season and not the Baseball season which is way too long!!

Well we know the London show in April delivered on that so if it’s half as good tonight we should be in for a hell of a time!

Brandon Saller: It should be great, it’s been sold out for some time I think, I think the kids are excited and we’re excited too.

Posted on

Music Review: Atreyu

Our guest music writer Robert Moody continuously trawls the country for live music. In this post he reviews Atreyu and Shvpes who played a sold out Rescue Rooms in Nottingham last week.  

Atreyu

The ‘Sold Out’ signs were on display at The Rescue Rooms on Friday night, as Metalcore pioneers Atreyu descended on the venue as part of their first full UK tour in nearly 5 years. Following a lengthy hiatus, the band had torn apart The Underworld in Camden back in April of this year, and were now playing the similarly sized Rescue Rooms as a warm up show for their appearances at the weekend’s Reading & Leeds festivals.

The sole support for the evening came from Birmingham quintet Shvpes, who wasted no time launching into an energetic set to get the crowd warmed up. Shvpes are an interesting band to critique – having previously been known as Cytota, they have been touring for several years now and feel like a familiar name.  Yet the band are still very young as they played their first shows when most of the band members were under 18. Because of this where many bands have had time to hone their craft in the confines of smaller venues, this band have done so in the limelight, often supporting much larger bands. Since bringing in new vocalist Griffin Dickinson just under a year ago, the band have really begun to gain momentum, and watching them tonight it is clear to see why. Griffin commands a great stage presence and has a powerful voice to complement it, notably on latest single ‘State of Mine’. By the end of the set the pits were breaking out and the band left the stage to a warm reception.

But there was no doubt which band had sold the tickets for this show. Atreyu walked onstage to a thunderous applause, and launched into ‘Becoming The Bull’, which like every song in their set was well received. However, it was fair to say that throughout the set, the deeper Atreyu went into their back catalogue the more raucous the crowd became. Such that the intro riff to ‘Right Side of the Bed’ was enough to open up a large space in the packed room. Moments later bodies were flying across the room and as they moved straight into ‘The Crimson’ the room erupted.

As the band revealed to us in an interview before the show, they are not planning on playing live shows as frequently as they did prior to their hiatus, and instead want to focus on giving their absolute all to every show they play. This is firmly evidident throughout the show with drummer Brandon Saller still managing to deliver a great vocal performance during the most complex drum beats. Whilst bassist Porter McKnight even found himself out amongst the crowd towards the end of the set, with them promptly organising a circle pit around him. Lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas seemed slightly more muted on stage, but later revealed that his initial jump into the crowd 2 songs in had not gone so well, so on this particular occasion he was understandably forgiven!

The band’s hour long set covered everything fans expected and had come to see, right down to their cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. Yet it was pleasantly surprising to see the first of the band’s new songs ‘So Others May Live’ generating a huge reaction from the crowd. By the time the band closed out with the classic ‘Ex’s and Oh’s’ the capacity crowd were in little doubt that Atreyu are not just back, but they are back at their best. Fans of the band can only hope that the decision to the title their upcoming album ‘Long Live’ is as much a reference to the band’s future as it is to their past.