On a hot and sticky night like last night, the Manchester Apollo is not among the list of places that I would rather normally be. But hey, this is different. I’ve waited too long, been jinxed too many times.
And there was me thinking the US-industrial that I know and love was only to be a relic from the past in future.
The latter was a bit crap, really – the usual disorganisation etc (my setlist below, I’m going to keep the rest of my views away from here).
Last night’s gig at the Grapes was certainly interesting, and in some respects something of an eye-opener. Not a bad turnout, either, for a Monday night gig.
As was to be expected, this was something of an odd night gig-wise. Four bands on, due to one reason or another first (local-ish) band The Nothing didn’t appear, so it was left to Panic DHH to open proceedings. And did they.
Anytime I get given a [demo] CD with a “produced by [famous name]” I’m gonna at least take a look. As in this case, with “Produced by Gregor Mackintosh [Paradise Lost]” on the front. Granted, I had seen them live first. The famous connection will certainly do them no harm. Musicwise, they do bear some […]
I viewed Gothminister with something of suspicion first time around. Surely it was all tongue-in-cheek, right? The more I listened, the less it seemed to be. But then, with an album called Gothic Electronic Anthems – and to actually have an album stuffed full of them – made such points moot.
It’s been a while coming, this album. And it has certainly been worth the wait. After being voted “Best Unsigned Band” for 2004 by the readers of Terrorizer, they have been snapped up pretty quickly by Anticulture Records. Gone is the slightly flat and muddy sound of much of the earlier tracks, this album screams […]
I’ve always had something of a love-hate relationship with the idea of the side-project. Sometimes they are just a lazy attempt to get more attention to the “parent” band (it is not normally difficult to tell this: often any mention of the “new” band will show “x from y’s new project”, or something like), but […]
It was somewhat surprising to recall, on the way to Nottingham, that it is nearly five years since I first (and last) saw Queen Adreena live, at the ill-fated Lost Weekend back in July 2000. Back then, they had not long since emerged from the long-dead ashes of Daisy Chainsaw, with one album (Taxidermy) only […]
So yes, we have been trailing it for ages. Yes, I have played various versions of some of the tracks over the past few months. But listening to the album as a whole, it has some kind of visceral thrill to it. The big thing to note to start with, is how the band has […]
Army of Me (a cover of the old Bjork single, of course) is looking unlikely to be released officially at present, which would be a shame – seeing as it is an interesting introduction to the band if you have not heard them before.
Last night was good fun. Not too bad a turnout.
Last night was otherwise Mastodon at Corp. Never before have a band had a more apt website name (mastodonrocks.com). Buoyed on by a packed (and enthusiastic) crowd, they seemed to start sluggishly with the mammoth 14-minute epic that is Hearts Alive, sounding somewhat muddy, but as it came to an end everything just seemed to […]
Attendance was small, but good to see those that did make the effort, thanks for coming down. For what it’s worth I was not entirely keen on it being on a Sunday evening either. Some fascinating rumour/conjecture at the end of the night, ears to the ground on that one.
Support act Apocalyptica were something of a surprise – somehow having not managed to hear them before, they were fantastic. Highlight – christ, where do I start? Seek and Destroy was incredible, the intro spiel to Bittersweet was hilarious (lets just say he wasn’t too complimentary about the vocalists on the track – Ville from […]
Can [we] Dig It? Hell yeah!
…Machines turned out to be yet another fantastic local band. Five, maybe six tracks in 45 minutes. Tool influenced, but not slavishly.
Three hugely mismatched bands, a packed Corporation and a mental crowd. We need more gigs like that in Sheffield.
It’s kinda scary really. I have been reading others’ lists for albums of the year and trying to think what mine are. And I can barely think of any. Has this year been a bad year for music, or is it just that I have been distracted by things for much of the year and […]
