This is a feature i have done on one of Chris Jones' pieces
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Top 22 Punk Albums Feature
This is the feature that i have done for what i think are the Top 22 Punk Albums of all time this accompanies the text below:
Top 22 Punk Albums
This is a guide to what I think are the top 22 punk albums both old and new. If you are familiar with punk music you’ll almost certainly be familiar with this list. If you’ve never really listened to punk music, firstly what have you been doing? Listening to hippity-hoppity music? secondly you should cause it’s great, have a read, then have a listen.
Agnostic Front - Victim in pain
This is AF’s debut album recorded in 1984, and is widely regarded as their best album, and one of the greatest hardcore punk albums of all time. It’s fast, it’s brutal but with breaks of marching rhythms. ‘Last warning’ and ‘with time’ are personal favourites and sums up the album’s sound. This album kicks and spits.
Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning
Their debut album recorded in 1979, one of my favourite british punk albums. It has more of a rock and roll feel but with powerful lyrics about the opressive policies of Margaret Thatcher. One of the most politically charged albums of the time, and with lyrics like ‘fuck off and leave me alone’ you can see why!!
Bad Brains - I Against I
One of my favourite intro songs to an album of all time. Recorded in 1986, this is Bad Brains’ highest selling album and interestingly is their only album that doesn’t have a reggae influence. It fuses funk, soul, heavy metal and hardcore punk. H.R. the singer recorded the vocals for the song ‘Sacred Love’ over the phone from prison while he was serving time due to marijuana distribution charges.
Bad Religion - Suffer
This album was recorded after a 5 year break for the band in 1988. It is considered one of the best punk albums of the 80s and was Epitaph Records best selling album until the release of The Offsprings album ‘Smash’. NOFX’s Fat Mike describes it as “the record that changed everything”, i think he’s right.
The Buzzcocks - Love Bites
This is the second album released in 1978, very influential on the manchester music scene at the time, it has a more pop punk feel and the song ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ remains a classic and a must listen.
The damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
This is their 3rd album and the first since reforming with Dave Vanian on vocals. A more experimental album compared to previous. A blend of punk, psychedelic rock and pop styles. The album includes ‘Looking at you’ a cover song originally by MC5, and one of their most famous and my favourite Damned song ‘Smash It Up’, proper get up and go music.
Black Flag - Damaged
The band’s first full length album recorded in 1981, one of the greatest albums of all time, one of the most iconic album covers in punk music. This was a classic of the era and the peak of their career, with the newly joined lead singer Henry Rollins, a true god of the genre blasting out Anti-authoritarian, non-conformist messages of isolation neurosis, poverty and paranoia.
The Bronx - The Bronx
Their debut and first of their three self titled albums released in 2003. The spawn of which is Mariachi el Bronx their mexican alter ego’s. All of their albums are good so this should really be titled ‘Everything the Bronx has done’. ‘Knifeman’ and ‘Six days a week’ are particular favourites.
The Dwarves - Are Young and Good Looking
Released in 1997, the band are notorious for self-mutilation, on-stage sex and taking hard drugs. Their live shows would only last about 15 minutes usually cut short due to spectators injuring themselves. This album was a new direction with which they could play longer sets but still with a loud garage punk style and controversial lyrics.
The Exploited - Horror Epics
Hardcore/street punk band from Scotland with a worldwide reputation. Their 4th album released in 1985, the title track refers to the horror of starvation in the third world, and westerners tendency to look away. They are still writing albums today and are as strong and in your face as they always have been. A proper boot to the face.
Leftover Crack - Fuck World Trade
Highly controversial band and album. The band lives in a squat in New York and have a history of conflict with the NYPD. They play a mix of ska, crust punk and hardcore with anarchistic lyrics. This album is one of my favourite punk albums, it’s been banned in a lot of places due to its title and artwork which features George Bush blowing up the world trade centre. It has longer songs than previous albums and are more diverse with string arrangements and synthesizers and guest appearances from Anti-flag.
Minor Threat - Minor Threat LP
Released in 1991, this hardcore punk album inspired the straight edge movement with the 45 second long song ‘Straight Edge’ a highlight of the LP. ‘Out of Step’ was another song on the album which solidifies the band having anti-drug views. Silverchair, Pennywise, Rise Against and Slayer have all covered songs from this album.
The Misfts - Static Age
The inventors of the genre Horror punk, recorded in 1978 and released in full in 1997 this debut album lead by one of the best frontmen and singers in music, Glenn Danzig. My second favourite punk album of all time. Due to time restrictions the songs were recorded with only a few takes each. Many of the songs were based on horror films and American historical events from the 1960s and 70s. It personifies Misfits’ gothy, sludgy, gloomy horror punk rock style perfectly. The album also contains sexually explicit lyrics about Jackie Kennedy (JFK’s wife). ‘Last Caress’ is a classic and was covered by avid fans of the Misfits, Metallica.
Operation Ivy - Energy
This 19 track album was a pivotal point for skacore, and is one of the most important in the ska punk genre, and was the bands only LP release in 1989. It has similarities to the music of Rancid and was a widely covered album by many punk bands. If you like punk music and trombones then this is the album for you.
Peter and the Test Tube babies - Pissed and Proud
This is the only live album on the list recorded at Hammersmith, Wood Green and their hometown Brighton in 1982. They have tongue in cheek lyrics as demonstrated in the songs ‘Up Your Bum’ and ‘Banned From the Pubs’, the album also includes a cover of Gary Glitter’s song ‘I’m the leader of the gang’. Proper british good fun.
Rancid - ...and out come the wolves
My favourite punk album of all time. You can’t fault this album everything about it is perfect. It has a heavy ska influence sound due to Tim and Matt’s old band Operation Ivy. It was released in 1995 and went gold and platinum in 1996 and 2004 respectively. It had three hit singles ‘Roots Radicals’, ‘Time Bomb’ and ‘Ruby Soho’, however my favourite song is ‘Maxwell Murders’ simply for the astonishing bass playing by Matt Freeman. The album artwork is a tribute to Minor Threat. This album is a must for anyone who likes listening to music of any genre.
Sex pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks
Released in 1977 this is the only official studio album from the band. Highly controversial and highly influential, everyone know this album and it is regarded as a very important record in the history of rock music. Went to UK number 1 in 1977. If you haven’t heard this album then....well....your bollocks.
Sham 69 - That’s Life
A huge influence on the street punk and Oi scene this typically english band released this album in 1978. It is a great album and times very funny. It had two big hits with ‘Hurry Up Harry’ and ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’.
Sick of It All - Scratch the Surface
This band is a huge influence on the American hardcore punk scene and this third album released in 1994 demonstrates exactly why that is. This is their most successful release and may be due to a switch in label. ‘Step Down’ is a huge song and one of the best hardcore punk songs of all time.
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material
This is the lads from Belfast’s first and their signature album released in 1979. This was the first independent album to get in the UK charts through Rough Trade now a big punk label. This band are cracking live and have elements of rock n roll. My favourite song is ‘Johnny Was’ which has a stompy military feel.
Subhumans - The day the country died
Formed in Trowbridge this hardcore anarcho-punk band released this their first LP in 1983. It was recorded in just 5 days and released on the bands own label. It is Influenced by the George Orwell book 1984 most clearly seen in the song ‘Big Brother’. Highly focused on the politics of media and has dystopian overtones. Classic punk album.
UK subs - Punk as Fuck
One of the very first british and street punk bands formed in 1976, they continue to tour today. Any of their albums are good but this one has the best name. Think punk, rock and pubs.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Rob Mason Interview
Rob is an old friend of mine I have known for the majority of my life. He always had an amazing talent for drawing and it was clear to me that is was going to be a big and sucessful part of his life. I haven’t seen him for a while now but we catch up now and again........
Ellz: Where are you at the moment?
Rob: I am currently in the living room at my mums house.
E: What’s your favourite place in the world?
R: Nowhere specific but somewhere green in the summer with not many people is good.
E: What do you enjoy doing the most?
R: I’m happy driving, painting or watching a good movie, some "inhalable inspiration" doesn’t go a miss either.
E: What is your favourite film?
R: I struggle to even work out a top 10 but if i had to pick one id say labyrinth by jim henson.
E: Who is your favourite musician/band?
R: I like a bit of everything but am currently listening to the thrash-funk band 'infectious grooves' with members from suicidal tendencies.
E: How many guns do you own?
R: Currently just an air rifle, i haven't got round to applying for a shotgun license yet but my mum has one so i sometimes use that
E: What is your current mode of transport?
R: I drive a ford transit camper van thing, its damp in the back during the winter but i spent most of last summer in the back of it in cornwall, also my trusty stunt wood (aka skateboard) and an old folding bicycle my friends mum gave me
E: What’s your choice of drink?
R: Any beer will do, not really into spirits but i love a good apple juice
E: Any embarrassing/drunken moments?
R: Nothing springs to mind, i guess i must be quite a well-behaved drunk. the odd bit of petty theft or violence, but that is very rare
E: Who is your favourite artist?
R: At the moment I'm into vic reeves from shooting stars. Not many people know he's an artist and his pictures are pretty funny
E: What inspires/influences your art?
R: pretty much everything
E: How do you come up with your ideas?
R: They just turn up inside my head without warning
E: Where do you do your art?
R: Wherever I'm living at the time, i don't have a studio yet but thats part of the dream
E: How often do you produce your art?
R: It varies, I'm thinking about stuff all the time but wont necessarily draw everyday.
E: What materials do you use?
R: Usually acrylic on scraps of wood or water colour, sometimes i'll make something 3-D if i get an idea and i've got something to make it with, whatever i can find really
E: Do you do commissions/can anyone buy your art?
R: I have some t-shirts and prints in a shop in exeter called "no guts no glory", you can buy online as well at www.ngngdesign.com
E: Would you ever want to do an exhibition of your work if the opportunity arose?
R: Sure, I don't think I'm good enough for that yet though, I don't think Id like the attention either so maybe If I could have one without actually having to go that'd be good.
E: What do you want to do in the future? Is art something you see as being a part of it?
R: I definitely want to always be an artist, I plan to find a wife, buy some land, build my own house and become self-sufficient.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Monday, 1 February 2010
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Spring Offensive Interview
SPRING OFFENSIVE INTERVIEW
22/01/10
On a cold winter’s evening in a flat in Abingdon the band ‘Spring Offensive’ sat and answered questions about their past, present and future. With their highly anticipated new upcoming album ‘Pull Us Apart’ the band is in high spirits and excited about their forthcoming release. This is a band which is consistently getting better not with every step but with every bracing stride. The first time i saw them was in a town hall in Bradford on Avon, surrounded by about 12 people (mainly underage drunk teenagers, of which i was one) making an extremely weak attempt to create some sort of energy through the art of moshing, but failing to do so very badly. I’ll be honest they have come a long, long way since then, my knuckles are whitening, my neck is stiffening and i can feel the cold sweat dripping down my back and as i grip the arms of my chair beside my stereo it can mean only one thing, I am listening for the first time to the writhing, slithering opening notes of the first track of the new album, here’s how they got there............
ELLIOT: When did the band start and how did it start?
MATT: We’ve been together for about 6 years. It started at school but the lineup has changed radically, we’ve been through about 4 different bassists. We lose a lot of bassists, well we’ve lost two out of four bassists. They go and study Ancient History at Exeter. Well, you know, it must be a great course, very attractive.
LUCAS: That’s something we do to people; we drive them to the sea.
MATT: We’ve only really been at it properly for about a year now, since ‘A Let Down’. We were really, really bad before, and are very, very grateful that we’ve had so long to improve.
THEO: Gestate
LUCAS: And not having to deal with anyone watching us as well, which is quite important. You can make all your mistakes in private so you know you haven’t made a tit of yourself.
ELLIOT: What are the main influences for the band, what inspires you?
LUCAS: We all started listening to The Cooper Temple Clause’s Kick Up The Fire and Let the Flames Break Loose and Hope Of The States' The Lost Riots quite a lot and that was the music that first got us into wanting to make it ourselves really.
MATT: I think everyone having different influences is so important because when we come to a writing session or rehearsals, we’ve each been listening to different records so we try to crossover a lot of what everyone’s listening to.
THEO: There needs to be some overlap otherwise you just get mismatched genres being jumbled up together and it doesn’t really work very well so you need to be fairly open minded
ELLIOT: Who are your favourite unsigned bands?
LUCAS: That’s quite a difficult question; it’s very difficult to actually get to know unsigned bands beyond your immediate scene because they don’t obviously get much exposure in the same way as a signed band.
MATT: It’s also very difficult to tell which bands are unsigned.
PELHAM: And it doesn’t mean nearly as much now as it did even like 5 years ago because so many bands are producing material without getting signed.
LUCAS: But in terms of bands who are definitely not signed to any labels, we are all into obviously Stornoway, but also Fervours and Ute.
MATT: ‘Ute’ are a 3 piece Oxford band and yeah have very cool sets and are fantastic live. Colchester's Fervours, sound wise, are almost the other end of the spectrum, with a much thicker and fiddlier sound.
ELLIOT: What’s the idea and concept behind the new album?
MATT: The new album?
PELHAM: Yeah the new album as in Pull Us Apart, the album we’re about to release in March.
MATT: I think it’s hard to apply one overall concept behind the album. We really wanted it to be a concept album, pretty much orientated around the opening track 'I Found Myself Smiling'. All the songs sort of stemmed from that really and that frame of mind. There are overall themes but it would be quite reductive to tell you what they are.
LUCAS: Yeah it’s kind of about being obsessed about things, which goes hand in hand with being in a band. This band, at least.
ELLIOT: Who did the album artwork? Did you know what you wanted it to look like or did you give the artist freedom to explore ideas?
MATT: I pissed a lot of people off actually because I told them all I wanted them to do the album artwork and then I found Joseph Carpenter. They were all awesome, but his style really appealed to us. We really like hand drawn things and think that goes really well with our sound. Going back to the last question, one of the reoccurring images is rats and what rats symbolise to us. So yeah we gave him rats and you can see the final product.
ELLIOT: How long did it take to record the album?
LUCAS: In a way we started writing it in May last year when we wrote 'The Cable Routine' which actually ended up going on the EP as well. We started off wanting to make a full album and we announced it on an interview with BBC 6 Music but then we realised we couldn’t afford to do that, so we had to scale down our ideas a little bit. So we've ended up releasing a mini album instead.
PELHAM: And yeah it took about four months to write and about two weeks to record it in early December at Courtyard studios, which is lovely.
ELLIOT: Where will you be able to get a copy of the new album?
JOE: You can get mail order copies from the store on our Myspace page, as well as iTunes, Spotify, Amazon etc.
ELLIOT: Do you think this is the strongest material you’ve done so far?
MATT: You’ve always got to have new ideas and songs coming out of the recording studio but you have to believe that your last material is your strongest. Which we feel it is.
ELLIOT: Is recording something you like doing or do you prefer getting it done and performing it to an audience?
LUCAS: I hate recording.
PELHAM: I love recording
THEO: The thing that’s quite enjoyable about recording is that you’re in quite a safe cocoon and it doesn’t really matter if you're not playing very well. It doesn’t really matter to you during that period whether the music is good or not, it’s not that important.
JOE: It’s not that it’s not important, it’s just you can’t think about it.
THEO: Yeah, it kind of ceases to be an issue to you. You can just leave all that behind and then suddenly the worst time is just coming out of the studio when you realise you can’t actually play because there isn’t someone cutting your parts together and the music might not be as good as you thought it was.
MATT: I think that the main worry is that you get so engrossed, to the point where you can barely function in a conversation outside the studio, and you can’t then entertain the thought of “is this any good?” because if you do you start to make decisions in the studio. We tend to try and not make any decisions regarding the material once in the studio. That’s why we spend so much time writing.
LUCAS: It’s a very relaxed atmosphere in the studio, but it’s the recording process itself that I don’t enjoy and I don’t really like recording my own parts. Playing live is a completely different game though and that is generally speaking a joy.
ELLIOT: How would you describe your fans?
PELHAM: Would you describe our fans?
MATT: I don’t think we have any.
LUCAS: Yeah a few close friends I guess; how would you describe our friends?
MATT: It’s really hard to tell if anyone really listens to us, I just try and block it out of my mind.
ELLIOT: What’s the idea behind the beaten up look at the moment?
MATT: We had a horrible patch when we started writing the album and we did a terrible terrible gig; probably the closest we have come to splitting up. I think it stems from one of our biggest problems and assets, which is the fact that we’re so self critical and we don’t really let anything go. I think beating ourselves up is something which we do and probably everyone does as well. I think it became a bit of a feature of our music and a feature of us as individuals.That’s my take on it. The new video takes it even further.
LUCAS: It’s sort of an anti-rockstar look in a way, you know the rockstar posing and pouting on top of a mountain, half naked oiled body with a guitar up his etc.. Showing yourself as quite a weak character, someone who's actually lost the fight is, you know, more interesting I think. It’s more what we think is cool about music. It’s not about being the big guy, it’s about being interesting.
PELHAM: There’s a lot of well intentioned advice to look glossy and produced and it’s not possible unless you're in a position where someone can pay you to be glossy and produced all the time.
ELLIOT: Are music videos something you think is key to the success of a band, and your band?
JOE: It's part of the overall project, you’ve got to have cool videos.
MATT: Videos are one way of bridging a gap between the record and the band when you can’t play live every night and you can’t afford to do world tours or there’s not enough interest for you to do world tours. I think that music videos are a step closer in terms of intimacy.
THEO: It’s the way that you can search for more material about a band that you may be interested in. It’s quite exciting that you can find and discover all that stuff.
LUCAS: It’s just a more interesting angle on the song, and that’s cool in itself and that’s a good enough reason to do one.
ELLIOT: Do you have a tour or a series of concerts coming up after the album is released?
THEO: Yeah we’ve got a couple of dates together for March with some really cool bands like “Cats and Cats and Cats”, “A Genuine Freakshow”, “Little Fish”- awesome bands so we’re very much looking forward to that, and there are more on the way.
ELLIOT: If you could have any ridiculous stage prop or effect what would it be?
LUCAS: Carrots
THEO: Yeah we like vegetable shaving.
LUCAS: When we didn’t have very many good songs, we were thinking, “how can we make ourselves more interesting?” We did talk about peeling vegetables on stage and preparing a vegetarian dish. It didn't happen.
ELLIOT: Do you have groupies?
PELHAM: Well some of us have girlfriends, but that’s not really the same.
MATT: Most of our lyrics are about inadequacy and sort of being crap at everything so I don’t think people are interested.
LUCAS: Chicks dig the sensitive guys.
PELHAM: Yeah that hasn’t been our experience but if anyone wants to prove us wrong then come along to the gig.
LUCAS: You can't say that! (laughing)
ELLIOT: Are you reckless youths on a path of destruction?
PELHAM: I’m just currently sipping on Ribena and Jim Beam.
JOE: That’s disgusting.
PELHAM: No it’s nice.
MATT: Ultimately everyone is aren’t they? So yes probably yeah, we are.
PELHAM: But not in a “Jagermeister / drinking trashing hotel rooms” way. More in a probably “ruining our career” way.
JOE: If we get enough money for a gig to afford Jagermeister and staying in a hotel room, I’ll drink it and then trash the room..
ELLIOT: Does Matt ever break his equipment?
LUCAS: Yes.
PELHAM: Well in fairness, Matt’s equipment has a habit of breaking, and the jury's out as to whether it’s his fault. It seems like misfortune a lot of the time.
MATT: It’s a curse, a curse!
JOE: We have an expression in the band which is the “Madras touch”, where instead of everything you touch turning to gold, it turns to shit. That's what Matt has with technology and electricity.
MATT: Is that our expression?
PELHAM: No I don’t think so. I think it exists outside of the band as well.
ELLIOT: Is there another album in the pipeline, are you already dreaming up your next masterpiece?
THEO: We’re working on it now.
ELLIOT: Lovely, that's the interview over now.
MATT: Just make sure we sound funny, clever, intelligent…..
PELHAM: Really attractive.
MATT: Yeah really attractive, sensitive, and not like dicks.
THEO: Yeah because we are not dicks….or the big guys.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Flower Drawings
Two drawings i have done of some flowers, done in ink, gouache and highlighter........
Blue Flowers
Two photographs i took of some blue flowers i bought, not sure what they are, they remind me of the ones used to make Substance D in the film 'A Scanner Darkly' (if you haven't seen it you should it's sort of an animation film, directed by Richard Linklater ( who also directed 'Waking Life', based in a dreamworld, it's about a boy going around and listening to what people have to say and their thoughts on life). I haven't edited these photos in any way, the colour is amazing think they may have been dyed..........
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