Uncategorized | Is this thing on?

May 15 2013

emo, grunge, hardcore, music review, punk

NEWSLETTER #3

Hey again. I have a rare morning of not having to do anything or be anywhere so what better way to pass the time then post another of these newsletter things. The theme for this one is ‘SPLITS’.

The idea for bands to release split singles/ep’s/albums has been around for ages but there seems to be a real trend for it at the moment, and why not? as the pickled onion producer Barry Norman would say. Splits are great, who doesn’t like the ’2 for 1′ deal that you get? No one has yet to better the greatest split of all time, The Promise Ring/Texas is the Reason split 7″ and no one is likely to but some of the recent splits are pretty damn good so lets crack on.

1. PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH/TOUCHE AMORE (Deathwish/Topshelf records)

If you’ve read this blog a lot then you’ll know my feelings about Pianos Become The Teeth, they are one of my favourite bands of the last 5 years. Their albums still blow me away with every listen, they left me speechless when I saw them play live in Margate and when I bumped into their guitarist in Subway, Tunbridge Wells before seeing them play the forum, he invited me to sit and eat with him, amazing! Their song from this split, ‘Hiding’, doesn’t disappoint one bit, in fact it exceeds all expectations. It’s slower and gentler but powerful. An epic song packed full of emotion, it’s a bit of a cliché for someone who writes a blog predominantly about emo to say they well up when listening to a song but Kyle Durfey’s voice does something to me. My heart literally melts as soon as he starts singing mix this with the post hardcore meets post rock music and you have as near perfect a song as you’re likely to hear all year. This review probably sounds a bit one-sided but nothing should be taken away from Touche Amore. Again they are an incredible band and their song, ‘Gravity, Metaphorically’, matches the PBTT side for brilliance. It’s a bit of a departure for TA, you could also describe this song as an epic as it’s about 4 times longer than any song from their last record. With the same kind of attack Touche Amore bring to their music, this song is allowed to breathe giving them time to play with the dynamics resulting in a rollercoaster ride of a song that leaves you exhausted but also wanting so much more. Cannot wait for their new record which is due to come out in the autumn.

Stream/Download HERE

2. TOUCHE AMORE/TITLE FIGHT (sealegs records)

Sticking with Touche Amore for the moment, I do love a split where the bands cover each others songs ever since I got the Built To Spill/Marine Research split 7″ all those years ago. And this is exactly what you get here and what great songs they chose. Touche Amore could have chosen any song from ‘Shed’ and I’d have been happy, ‘Crescent-shaped Depression’ is what they plumped for and do it more than justice. It’s a straight up cover but it sounds great with Touche Amore bringing all the energy they normally do to their own material. Title Fight are pretty much a faultless band, their cover of ‘Face Ghost’ from Touche Amore’s last record ‘Parting the sea between brightness and me’ is brilliant. Mainly for the fact that at first glance it’s a straight ahead, loyal cover of a great song but Title Fight subtly bring their melodic hardcore/shoegaze crossover that they’ve been leaning towards on ‘Floral Green’ and it really sets the song alight. Both great bands playing great songs by each other, what the hells not to like?

Listen HERE

3. BRAID/BALANCE AND COMPOSURE (No Sleep Records)

I finally get to see Braid play this summer and it’s on my birthday which is pretty damn perfect. In the meantime they’ve put out a split with Balance and Composure, a few people were annoyed that they were doing this with a new band but I really like Balance and Composure so can’t see the harm. Plus, Balance and Composure come out of this a bit better judging by the songs on display. Their half of the split doesn’t really cover any new ground for the band but cements their reputation for making really solid and really enjoyable slacker, indie grungemo, I don’t know if this is a reputation they have outside of my head but they should. The Braid half took a while to get in to, at first I wasn’t impressed. Both songs have grown on me more but neither come near to reaching the heights of ‘Frame & Canvas’, the album they’ll be playing in full this summer.

Stream/Download HERE

4. WITS END/HUMAN HANDS (adagio 830, strictly no capital letters, lila himmel, eat a book, and time as a color)

This is a beautiful, must have split single on many levels. Not only are both tracks superb and also superbly different, but the way it’s packaged and presented reminds me why I love music and this scene so much. The 7″ comes in an individually stamped paper bag with photocopied lyric sheets, it is understated and glorious at the same time. The songs are pure emo joy, Wits End from Norway play brooding and intense emotional hardcore while Human Hands deliver long, repetitive, sparse, lo-fi’mo which builds with heart breaking beauty. Both songs fit perfectly together making an essential split single.

Stream Human Hands HERE Stream Wits End HERE

5. TIGERS JAW/CODE ORANGE KIDS/SELF DEFENSE FAMILY/THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE (Topshelf records)

This split wins the award for the most interesting and intriguing of all the splits mentioned today. The line up had to be admired, 4 totally different bands put together on one record and it all makes sense. Although, this split is tinged with sadness, could this possibly be the last song that Tigers Jaw ever release? I fucking hope not, I was so gutted to hear they had split up and it’s with a heavy heart that I listen to their new song. If they had made it terrible then maybe it would be easier to accept the break-up but Tigers Jaw don’t know how to write bad songs. ‘Fake Death’ shows a band still at the height of their powers, the guitar work, the harmonies, the downbeat pop, it’s all there and it’s all good. Code Orange Kids take you by surprise with ‘VI (Worms fear god // god fears youth), experimental yet captivating. Self Defense Family take you in an altogether different direction with their affecting and repetitive folk anthem ‘Holy Trend’, that leaps at you with the delivery of someone preaching the end of the world on a street corner. The split is finished by The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die who really are an incredible band and not just because writing their name in full on my blog pushes the word count up considerably making me feel like I’ve done more work. Their song, ‘Beverly Wyatt’, is typically beautiful and uplifting and the underlying ethereal melody that plays through the whole song helps paint pictures in your mind. There is a rumour going round that they are going to tour the UK this autumn with Dads, this has to happen!!

Stream/Download HERE

6. DIKEMBE/HIGHTIDE HOTEL/JET SET SAIL/MONUMENT (Count Your Lucky Stars)

Another 4 way split and another stellar line up. Dikembe can do no wrong, their songs are always instantly likeable and this one is continued proof of that theory. ‘Donuts in a six speed’ wouldn’t have felt out-of-place on ‘Broad Shoulders’ and builds the excitement nicely for their new album which will be out soon. Hightide Hotel announced last year that they are splitting up but not before they release their second record this year. It’s a massive shame because based on ‘Built to last’ they’re a band that could offer so much. The main riff reminds me of the kind of ones i’d try to write for my old band back in the 90s, I was never this good though. Jet Set Sail continue the quality of the split here with their barnstormer ‘Strickland North’, I definitely need to investigate this band more because I listened to this song back to back a good 4 times in a row which always a good sign. Monument bring the split to a close with ‘Sophisticated Liars’. Monument are a criminally underrated band who write consistently great music, their song here is catchy enough to have you singing along by the second chorus (woooaaaoooohhh) and is a good reminder to listen to their music more.

Stream/Download HERE

7. FAKE PROBLEMS/YOU BLEW IT! (Topshelf Records)

A band I love and a band I’ve not heard before makes for a good split single, which is exactly the case here. Fake Problems play bright, britpop-esque music with massive choruses, they remind me of Gene and maybe a little bit of Suede in a good way. I wasn’t expecting to be reminded of them and it came as a nice surprise, their songs are catchy enough to find yourself humming them to yourself hours later. You Blew It! made one of my favourite records of last year and the 2 songs on offer here keep that quality up, the first of which, ‘Batavia, NY’, is currently my favorite songs of theirs. Saying that, both songs are great. You Blew It! are another band who need to make the trip across the pond and come play for us.

Stream/Download HERE

8. FOOTBALL, ETC./PLAIDS (Strictly No Capital Letters, Count Your Lucky Stars)

I’ve written so many nice things about Football, etc in the past that I’ve literally run out of superlatives to attribute to them. Although I’ve probably never simply stated that they’re fucking great, which I should’ve because they bloody well are. Their song here, ‘Down The Field’, continues them on the path to become my absolute favourite band, faultless indiemo of the highest quality. Them putting out a split with Plaids is a very exciting prospect. If, like me, you spend far too many hours reading about emo bands on the Internet then you’ll know that Plaids are one of the most exciting bands in the UK at the moment. They just get it, their music plays with time signatures, brilliant angular guitar work and delivered with a blast of incredible energy. Both bands are touring the UK together this summer which will be a tour not to miss.

You can download/stream the songs HERE

Cheers for reading!!

Come and say hi, leave a comment here or on Facebook www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog or on twitter @alex_itto

Tagged Emo, Pianos become the teeth, topshelf records, no sleep records, title fight, touché Amore, balance and composure, football etc, braid, count your lucky stars records, strictly no capital letters, you blew it, dikembe, sealegs records, human hands, wits end, plaids, split, fake problems, hightide hotel, code orange kids, the world is a beautiful place and i am no longer afraid to die, self defense family, monuments, jet set sail

May 05 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, grunge, music

NEWSLETTER #2

Hello!

Things are a bit slow over here at the Is this thing on? blog at the moment and there is a good reason for it. My awesome wife is now 9 months pregnant and we have 3 other kids so I’ve been busy looking after all these beautiful people as well as working and getting the house ready for the new arrival. This has left little time to keep the blog updated, I do this on my own and I’m a slow writer so hopefully you’ll forgive me. I will of course continue to write whenever I can, have lots of reviews, ideas and the like that I’ll post asap.

In the meantime though, I thought I’d post another of these newsletter’s that will appear sporadically, each focussing on a different subject. Todays theme is “VIDEOS!”. There has been so many videos that have caught my attention recently and in case you’d missed them why not take some time this sunny bank holiday weekend to watch and enjoy. Here goes.

First up is Warren Franklin & the Founding Fathers. The man who made watching Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate) last November in Brighton even more perfect than it already was is back with a new EP at the ready and a new video to boot. ‘Every letter and souvenir’ is the perfect indiemo pop to soundtrack the nice weather we’re having, so excited for the whole EP now. Enjoy!

You may have seen a few weeks ago that I posted a review of the amazing new Reiziger album, to go with the record Belgian film makers Swoon have put together some incredible promo videos for a few of the songs. Each of them as interesting and compelling as each other and all perfectly complementing Reizigers music. Here is my favourite video, for the song ‘Bended Trees’. Watch it!

Next up is Dikembe. Now, this video is a couple of months old now but well worth revisiting if you’ve already seen it. There ain’t many bands better than Dikembe around at the moment and this video lives up to their greatness, it features supernatural goings on at a Dikembe house show. Good freaky fun. Bring on the album!!!

You may or my not have seen this fantastic mini documentary, ‘My Basement is a Shithole’. It’s a 22 minute film about basement show scene in Philadelphia and it is so good. There needs to be more films like this and I wish this scene existed where I live, essential viewing.

Following in a similar vein to the hilarious audition video to find the singer for the Postal Service comes AIC23. A film to celebrate the release of the new Alice In Chains album, a failed look back at the band’s career. Literally every band should have a video like this made to promote new records!!

And finally, another video that is now a few months old but as they are touring the UK next month it’s definitely worth another look. Dowsing “Midwest Living”, simple and brilliant!

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon.

come say hi on facebook; www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog and on twitter @alex_itto

Tagged alice in chains, belgium, count your lucky stars, dikembe, diy, dowsing, Emo, my basement is a shithole, philidelphia, punk, reiziger, tiny engines, video, warren franklin

Apr 21 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, music, music review

REVIEW: REIZIGER – KODIAK STATION

Band – Reiziger

Album – Kodiak Station

Label – Birch & Broom

A wise man who makes a podcast about emo recently stated that ‘No band ever splits up’ but bands reuniting and reforming has been quite divisive amongst fans. Some view it cynically as a money grabbing nostalgia trip whilst others are happy to relive their past with them or hadn’t seen them first time round so are overjoyed to get the chance to see them play. For me it really depends on who the band is, when I heard that Reiziger were back playing again and working on a new record I felt a surge of genuine excitement.

In my opinion Reiziger are one of the defining bands of the late 90′s/early 00′s, if I catch a glimpse of any of their album covers I’m instantly transported back to hanging out in a friend’s bedroom as a teenager in the 90′s discovering new music, reading fanzines and shouting ‘I MISS MY RECORDS!’, (little Reiziger joke there for you). I never got to see them play live and may not get to this time around but they have done the right thing and made a new record so I get to be a part of it again by sitting in my house with Reiziger on my headphones once more.

‘Kodiak Station’ is either an album, a mini album or a long EP, to be honest I’m not quite sure what category it falls under. Basically it has 7 tracks but one of those is a spoken introduction, so really it is 6 songs although it does have the feel of a proper full length record. It’s been at least a decade since the last Reiziger record so things are bound to change and one of the things that strikes you at the start of the first song ‘Yuma’ is the production of the record sounds a lot different. There is more of a polish to the sound whilst at the same time retaining the old Reiziger charm. It’s hard to define, maybe you could say that this is more of a grown up record with a mature sound but it is still Reiziger, they still sound like a 90′s band but one with todays production values. It’s not quite what I was expecting but don’t get me wrong, this is a brilliant record.

‘Yuma’ kicks the music off with distorted, discordant guitars at a slow, slacker indie pace with sweet vocals languidly drifting over the music. When the bass kicks in as the song veers in to the second section, I won’t say chorus but I suppose that’s what it is, you are on board and interested. The second track ‘Grizzly People’ then turns this on its head and takes you in a different direction altogether. I didn’t think I would ever write this but it really reminds me of fellow Belgian heroes Deus, I hope that is taken as the compliment that it is. It’s a big, catchy indie pop song which sounds more 90′s than anything else on the album, it has a feel good vibe but the lyrics counteract that by protesting the fact that it’s ‘All about the contacts’. ‘Transgressions’ then kind of continues in this vein although there is a looser feel to the song, it brings to mind the amazing Smart Went Crazy which is definitely a massive compliment. Reiziger return to more familiar ground with the second half of the record, things are a bit bleaker and less poppy. There is no drop in quality however, in fact I’d say my two favourite songs are kept for last both ‘Bended Trees’ and ‘Shy Reptile’ are beautiful songs that build up, each in their own way, to steal the record.

At the end you’re left wanting more certainly but at the same time content with what you’re left with, this is a record that gets better and better on each listen. It’s also a record I can whole heartedly recommend to old Reiziger fans and those that never had the pleasure the first time round. Hopefully they will make the short trip over to the UK at some point so I can say thanks in person. Thanks for coming back Reiziger and thanks for making it so good.

You can download ‘Kodiak Station’ as well as their entire back catalogue from Reiziger’s Bandcamp page HERE

You can buy the CD in the UK from these two sites:
http://www.allagesrecords.com
http://www.wearereiziger.com

Thanks for reading, come say hi on Facebook; www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog or on twitter @alex_itto

Tagged belgium, Emo, indie, is this thing on?, kodiak station, reiziger, review

Apr 15 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, interview, music

Q & A WITH MOOSE BLOOD

The UK is full of some incredible new bands playing the kind of music I love to write about but one band seems to be creating the biggest amount of buzz recently. Moose Blood come from my neck of the woods and play bright, poppy indiemo and I thought now would be a good time to do a quick Q&A with the band before they get too big to answer emails from dumb blogs like this one. Eddy from the band was kind enough to answer some questions, here’s the results:

http://mooseblood.bandcamp.com/

http://mooseblood.tumblr.com/

Is this thing on? – Quick obvious question to begin with; When/How did the band form? Have you known each other long, were you in previous bands together etc…?

Eddy - The band started with me messing around with some demos after moving back home with my folks. After I had a few songs finished, I got in touch with the rest of the boys to make it a full band. We had all played in bands together in the past so it came together pretty easily.

ITTO – You come from Canterbury, which was famous for its Hardcore scene some years ago. What is it like now? Would you say there is much of a scene?

Eddy – I’m not too sure about Canterbury so much, but there are some fantastic bands around Kent at the moment. And with people like Jay from FITA putting on so many great shows, I am sure things will pick up again.

ITTO – On your song ‘Carbis Bay’ you name check American Football and Dashboard, what other bands are the biggest influences on the band? (That song, ‘Carbis Bay’, reminds me of ‘Very Emergency’ era Promise Ring btw)

Eddy - There are so many.. We all love Brand New, Tigers Jaw, Will Smith. I could carry on all day.

ITTO – With the internet now you can build a fan base without leaving the house but you seem to be gigging a lot and on a very regular basis, have you found that you have to still have this ‘old school’ approach if you want to make anything of your band?

Eddy – I think that without the Internet we wouldn’t be anywhere. But yeah, we love playing shows. It’s always great to catch up with friends, watch new bands and play in front of a bunch of new people.

ITTO – There has much written about you guys being the next big thing. Are you aware of this? Has this affected the band or yourselves in any way? Or is it something you can just take with a bit of salt and get on with it?

Eddy – We have read a few little bits. Things like that are crazy to us, we are just a bunch of friends that play music together. It means the world to us that people like our record so much, but we are just going to take it day by day.

ITTO – What better time to be in an emo band than right now, what current bands (both locally and not so locally) are you in to right now?

Eddy – As I said before, there are so many. From around Kent there are bands like Coastline, Chewing Gum and The Reason I Failed History. And the new Daylight record is fantastic.

ITTO – Speaking of emo, it used to be a cardinal sin to label a band an emo band. Are you happy to be described that way?

Eddy – We are more than happy to be called an emo band. Emo is a gang after all.

ITTO – You have a new single out, what else is next for Moose Blood?

Eddy – Well the single is out at the end of this month, and then we are just going to be writing for the record. We have a few tours lined up in the summer that we are pretty excited about. And it’s looking like a couple more release before the end of the year too.

ITTO – And finally, (a question I for some reason feel the need to ask every band), if you could’ve been in any band from the 90s, who would it be and why?

Eddy – I would have loved to have been in Jimmy Eat World when they wrote Clarity. That record is incredible and to be a part of that would have been amazing. Cheers

ITTO – Thanks dude

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFKaRlt-Fs

Thanks for reading, come say hi on facebook – www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog or on twitter – @alex_itto

Tagged canterbury, daylight, Emo, hardcore, indie, interview, moose blood, music, the reason i failed history, tigers jaw

Apr 06 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, interview, music

INTERVIEW WITH FOOTBALL, ETC.

Just over a year ago a countdown on this very blog declared ‘Safety’ by Football, etc. to be the 79th best emo song of all, this is something that I now regret… Because it should be much higher!!! Football, etc. are one of my favourite bands from the last few years, these indiemo heroes have a new album recorded and a UK tour booked so I thought this would be a great time to catch up with Lindsay, Mercy and Ed and fire some questions in their general direction.

Is This Thing On? - Hey!! You’ve just recorded a brand new full length, how did it go? What stage of the process are you at now?

Lindsay – We recorded it 2 weeks ago, we tracked everything in 4 and a half days and it went really well, we had a great time. Currently it’s being mixed, we’re reviewing some mixes right now and it should be mastered and sent off probably in the next month or so.

ITTO? – So, you recorded it with Ed Rose who has recorded some legendary emo bands, how did that come about? Did you seek him out? And did he have much influence on how the record sounds?

Lindsay – Some time last year our friend, his name is Andrew Mcshan and he plays in an acoustic act called Emo Side Project, he tracked a song at his studio. He lives in Kansas, quite near it and so he posted about it. I looked up Ed Rose, I actually didn’t know who he was immediately, saw what he had done, was blown away then went to his blog page and saw that 2013 is the last year that he’ll be doing records so when it came around time for us to find a studio, when we were ready to record he immediately came to mind. We contacted him, he had the time available and we went for it.

ITTO? – Is there a reason he’s stopping recording bands?

Mercy – He seemed to be just looking for a more 9 to 5 type of a job; he really wants to sell the studio that he’s at currently. I think that he just wants to move on to a job that’s a little bit more stable, I suppose, then trying to record bands all the time.

ITTO? – Empire! Empire! Are recording now with him

Mercy – Yeah in a couple of weeks

Ed – Recording with Ed Rose was my first time in an actual, professional recording studio, so I was undoubtedly nervous. He was so easy to work with and everything went so smoothly, and that made the process enjoyable for all of us. At least personally, I never felt stressed or pushing too hard to get a certain sound or certain parts absolutely perfect, so that definitely left so much room to actually enjoy the recording. The enjoyment of making a record and just having fun with all aspects of the process is probably his biggest influence.

ITTO? – Cool. Did he have any stories about when he recorded bands like Appleseed Cast/The get up kids that were pretty funny?

Lindsay – I asked him about Appleseed Cast a little bit because, you know, one day we were in the mixing room I just for some reason said “Appleseed Cast Low Level Owl Volume 1 & 2, that’s like my favourite record ever!” and he kind of chuckled. I asked, you know, how did that go? What was the deal? The only thing I remember is that he said it was recorded in 18 days which I thought was pretty cool, it was a long album

ITTO? – What both volumes recorded in 18 days?

Lindsay – Yeah

ITTO? – Wow

Lindsay – Yeah, so, that was neat. And he had good things to say about projects that he’s done and he seemed to have fun.

Mercy – Yeah, but he had some crazy stories too one was of this band that I don’t remember the name of. But it was one of those bands that were on a more major label that was kind of put together, sort of not organically. None of them really knew how to play their instruments or anything but they go in and they sign up to record with him and it’s just a total mess, the label ends up dropping the project and in exchange the band they were so angry that they stole the whole of his dvd collection that was at the studio.

ITTO? – (laughing) you didn’t do that?

Mercy – No, there was nothing left!

ITTO? – It’s been nearly 3 years since you recorded your last full length. Did you approach this record differently? Do you write songs differently now?

Lindsay – Well as far as the studio goes we wanted it to be similar as in tracking everything live other than doing vocals and a couple of extra little guitar and bass things here and there, so that process was similar. And working with Ed Rose was great. As far as writing I guess the biggest difference now is that we have a new drummer. I guess the approach hasn’t necessarily changed.

Mercy – Yeah maybe not the approach to writing songs but I think that we’ve been writing songs a lot more quickly since we started up with Ed.

ITTO? – Do you write songs as a band? Do you come to practice with an idea for a song and then flesh it out or are they pretty much written by one person and everyone just adds their own parts?

Lindsay – All of the above, some of them start with something I have written, some of them start with something Mercy has and then there’s the songs that just happen on the spot.

ITTO? – And what bands have you been listening to a lot lately and did they have any influence on how the record sounds?

(Lindsay & Mercy both laugh)

Mercy – I think we’re both laughing here because we continue to just listen to like all of our same favourites, you know, from like the past 10 years or whatever. I think I’m still spending a lot of time listening to Fugazi and stuff like that, I don’t know.

Lindsay – (laughs) I got a new car so I’ve been listening to satellite radio so I will say my favourite station is ‘90s on 9’ hits from the 90s, gosh, especially in the past couple of months writing the record, finishing that I kind of go on like a music hibernation sometimes. So I haven’t been listening to much, I know that’s a terribly boring answer.

ITTO? – No, that’s cool. How long have you had the songs for this record? Have they been written over the last few years since the first record or have they been written pretty much in the months leading up to recording?

Lindsay – All in the last year, one of them we wrote sort of in the in-between time before we found Ed and the rest of them we wrote, a couple of them we had before, but most of them we wrote with him and we even finished one at the studio so they’re all in various levels of completion leading up to recording. But, for example, there are 2 songs we wrote like a week or 2 before we went into the studio and one that Mercy and Ed wrote 2 days before we went into the studio and I wrote my part there.

ITTO? – Do you write the lyrics in advance, do you have an idea of what you’re going to sing about or are they more last minute?

Lindsay – I have a couple of journals that have stuff on the ready and once we have a song written I’ll kind of flip through and say hey, this might fit and kinda tweak it from there. Most of it I have written already.

ITTO? – Will it be coming out on both Count Your Lucky Stars and Strictly No Capital Letters again?

Lindsay – Yes.

ITTO? – Ed is the newest member of the band, how did him joining come about? Had you know him long? Has he had any influence on the sound of the band or what direction you’re going in?

Mercy – We came in to contact with him, just like our last 2 drummers by putting up an ad on Craigslist and I think that is again a testament to like where Houston is like maybe not so heavily concentrated with people who like this type of music where we’re unable to find a drummer. I think he has changed the dynamic, he comes from more of a punk rock background than the last 2 drummers and he also likes all this kind of emo revival stuff. So I think overall he puts a lot more energy in to a lot of the songs.

Lindsay – And writing with him has been a lot of fun. It’s interesting, when we found him on Craigslist he had seen us before. We had never met him per se but he had seen us and liked our band, I thought that was really cool and we ended up having some mutual friends in Houston. He lives about an hour away right now, but it’s neat how we had kind of crossed paths.

ITTO? – You guys played the Topshelf/CYLS records showcase at SXSW, how was that? It looked like a pretty awesome line up?

Mercy – That was a fun time, it was really great to be able to see a lot of the, you know, a lot of the bands on CYLS really are our friends and we see them every time we go on tour and we see them we then come through so it was a great chance for all of us to be in one spot, we had a really good time.

ITTO? – Rumour has it that Chris Simpson of Mineral was there, did you see him at all?

Lindsay – Yeah, he was there. He did a surprise acoustic set, we played with him last year, he played with Zookeeper. And actually our band Tin Kitchen, our band before this, booked a show for Zookeeper in New Brunswick in like 2006 maybe or 2007. So we’ve crossed paths with him a few times which is pretty cool.

ITTO? – Awesome. You are coming back to the UK this summer to tour again and that will be your 3^rd time in 2 years, what is it you like about the UK and what keeps bringing you back to come and play for us?

Lindsay – I don’t know, I really like it over there. The shows, I don’t wanna say they’re more fun, but in a way it’s like, I don’t know, people seem really in to us and in to the shows that we play and it’s a different vibe. And after the first time, of course being in a new place and being just in awe of everything, everything’s a little more fun and a little more interesting and making those friendships and wanting to do it all again, we’ve been lucky enough to be able to just do it.

Mercy – I would just add that a lot of the bands over there are bands that I really like and so that’s really fun and exciting to play. You know, it’s different from the US because we’re covering a smaller territory, you can have dates with a band like Human Hands like a couple of days in a row even though you’re not officially touring together and that’s fun too.

ITTO? – Like you say it’s a smaller territory but do you still find a difference between playing a show down south as opposed to playing in Scotland or the Midlands etc..?

Lindsay – That I did not really think about although I will say different places have their different personalities.

Mercy – Yeah, for sure.

Lindsay – Brighton was fun, like really energetic fun. Swansea…

Mercy – Is amazing!

Lindsay – Surprisingly amazing. It really seems that they have a really cool thing developing right now and there’s this venue that looks like it used to be a restaurant and we’ve played there twice and we’re playing there again. It’s just a really cool spot; I’m excited about what’s going on there

ITTO? – Excellent. When you play ‘Safety’ and everyone sings along with the guitar melody at the beginning, is that something that only happens here or does that happen every time you play?

Mercy – I don’t think that’s ever happened when we play in the US.

Lindsay – Maybe after people saw the videos from ‘About Time’. That was a UK thing, it started in Manchester.

Mercy – Yeah, we were totally caught off guard by it but it definitely caught on.

ITTO? – The so called ‘emo’ scene is really vibrant and exciting at the moment, is that true of where you are in Texas or do you have to tour to feel a part of it.

Lindsay – I think right now there are some bands in Houston that are…

Mercy – Going for that sound or whatever…

Lindsay – yeah, that are in a nutshell a part of it but not necessarily leaving town and connecting but they’re definitely a product of it, newer bands. But it takes travelling to somewhere like Chicago or a lot of different places where like you’re ‘in’ it. I wouldn’t say in Houston it’s a cohesive scene but its happening.

Mercy – I think it’s in the early stages right now, whereas like in other places like where we moved from, New Brunswick in New Jersey, it was already going by 2007/2008. I think here it’s just sort of beginning to develop and I’m not really sure exactly why that is but…

ITTO? – Yeah, where I live, in Margate, we had a massive scene at the end of the 90’s that my band was a part of but we don’t seem to have that now but there’s so much in other areas of the UK. It’s weird that in some places it’s really caught on and come back but now I feel I have to go online/write my blog to feel a part of it, rather than just having it locally like we used to.

Lindsay – I really think it pops up in bubbles, I mean if you think of it that somebody starts a band, they play with their friends bands and then it creates this thing. I feel like these bubbles pop up and they move and then they settle down again, you know, there are towns like you said in Margate that used to have something but just right now nothing is really happening. Yeah, I definitely think in the US it’s like that.

ITTO? – Yeah. And with ‘emo’, historically bands hate being labelled as ‘emo’ bands but that doesn’t seem to be such a problem anymore, bands seem to accept it. Do you have any objections to being called an emo band? Or does it not bother you at all?

Lindsay – It doesn’t bother me, I still feel like we are slightly, I don’t know, different.

Mercy – Yeah, I see what you mean. So, like, I don’t mind our band being called that but sometimes I don’t want anybody to be misled in to thinking it’s going to sound more like something else or whatever and I’m not talking about the Hot Topic thing, I’m talking about feeling like we’re exactly like the poster child of this whole emo revival thing. I mean, we don’t always adhere to the model.

Lindsay – And certainly if some layperson asks me what kind of music my band plays I would not say emo first because then I’d have to like give some sort of history behind that, I usually just say ‘Indie rock’. But I also feel like we’re a punk rock band at the core through just the way we do things.

ITTO? – And finally. If you could’ve been in any band from the 90’s who would it be and why?

Lindsay – Well I would say Rainer Maria is the obvious answer as it’s my favourite band. I think through playing music I’ve really come to appreciate how much they do as a 3 piece band. It’s just cool to think about the things that they do and how that might influence me or inspire me. Also another would be Sonic Youth because it’d be really fun to, first of all, play loud in humongous places but also to do all that crazy shit with the guitars all day would be…

Mercy – Really fun!

Ed – My love for Metallica makes me want to say them, but I think I’d love to have been in No Use for A Name. I remember listening to them in ’97 in junior high and, although not really realizing what “punk rock” was, completely loving them. Melodic punk rock has always been one of my favourites. It broke my heart to hear of Tony Sly’s death this past year – we were actually on tour when it happened, and I made it a point to dedicate our set to him that night

ITTO – Football, etc. Thank you so much!!

Links:

http://footballetc.bandcamp.com/

http://footballetc.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much for reading. Get in touch here, on twitter @alex_itto or Facebook www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog/

Tagged appleseed cast, ed rose, Emo, football etc, houston, indie, interview, is this thing on?, music, sonic youth, texas, uk

Mar 23 2013

6 Comments

comment, emo, music

The end is nigh….

I’ve been mulling over this post for a while now. I’ve had little time to do any writing recently so very nearly jacked in the idea for this post but it does, kind of, follow on from a previous one I wrote last year so here goes.

Last week I bought Kerrang magazine, let me tell you for why (in a roundabout way).

Cast your minds back to last summer, you may or may not have read a post I wrote bemoaning an old copy of the NME from 2002 that I’d kept hold of. The issue in question was an emo special, a beginner’s guide to the new hip underground movement that the NME would make out they discovered on your behalf only to then trash it later on. Jimmy Eat World were on the cover, Hundred Reasons and Rival Schools were interviewed within and the whole thing was made to look like a fanzine, DIY style. My main grievance with the issue was that whilst it was trying to introduce its readers to the genre it was simultaneously mocking the whole thing which then made the issue completely pointless. No one who had never heard of it before would be interested and it would piss off and alienate those who were already part of it. At that time bands were trying to distance themselves enough from the emo tag and things like this only made things a lot worse.

It probably seems weird that someone would care so much about what they did. I read way too much into the article and definitely took it too personally but at the time it came out of the blue and it felt like it was the beginning of the end. Having been into music since I was a kid in the 80′s, to being a long-haired grunger in my early teens to then falling in love with punk, pop punk, indie, post hardcore etc.. from the mid 90′s, music held a lot of importance in my life. In 1998 the band I was in (the babies three) were making the transition from playing throwaway pop punk into something more substantial. We would spend hours listening to Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Beezewax, Fugazi, The Promise Ring and so on and our music reflected this. We started to feel like we were part of something, bands were coming to play our small seaside town. Our singer, Paul, put on Harriet The Spy in his living room and Appleseed Cast at our local Friday night hangout. Come Easter of 1999 we were going out on a UK tour with two bands, Rydell & Sunfactor, with whom we had just put out a 3 way split CD. In all honesty some of the shows were terrible but some were the most amazing I’ve ever played, the whole time though it really felt like we were part of something that was happening there and then. Up until that point anything I’d been into I was either too young to be a proper part of or had already happened. But this was happening, we were a tiny part of it and it was fucking exciting, we didn’t want or need the mainstream music press to get involved.

In the UK, in 2002, something definitely shifted. Jimmy Eat World were making appearances on Saturday morning kids shows and selling out Brixton Academy. At the Drive-In were being proclaimed the ‘best band in the world’ and you no longer had to seek out a distro or indie record shop because HMV suddenly had all the bands cd’s that you loved in massive amounts. After then most of my friends were moving on to other things, other bands, other genres. A couple of years later emo came to mean something entirely different and that weird goth definition really did enter the mainstream consciousness and duly pissed over everything I’d been part of that point. When the travesty that is the Daily Mail wrote an article warning parents of the danger of this new cult they called emo then that was the final nail in the coffin.

The next few years after that I became a little bit lost, musically speaking. I felt jaded and burnt, I wasn’t playing music/finding new bands/buying as many records any more. But that all changed when someone told me to check out Algernon Cadwallader and I was completely blown away. I couldn’t believe a band was playing music like this again and playing it this well, it was so fresh and exciting. This led on to discovering a whole wealth of other bands, a scene was happening again and somebody had declared it to be an emo revival. No one was mentioning the mid-noughties wilderness goth years anymore and instead bands were giving musical nods to the 90′s with bands like caP’n Jazz, Mineral and American Football.

I was obviously in heaven at this point, I was finding new bands to fall in love with on a daily basis and I then started this blog to help share the good news. I started drawing comparisons with the late 90′s scene and it got me to thinking about what went wrong the last time around and whether that would be likely to happen again, would a band become really big? would bands start to shun the emo tag and start to release sub-standard records because of this? However I looked at it I couldn’t see an end in sight but then Twitter was about to change all that.

Twitter is incredible for finding out things before anywhere else but the news that Fall Out Boy were reforming I could’ve waited for. They were back and people were excited, EXCITED??!!?? In my mind Fall Out Boy have a lot to answer for, years ago a front cover of the NME again had caught my eye in a newsagent because it stated the emo was back in the form of Fall Out Boy. I went straight to their MySpace page, such was the fashion at the time, desperately wanting to hear what the NME was referring to. Instead of being happy that I’d found a new band, I was just left wondering “WHAT THE FLIPPING HECK IS THIS CRAP??” So, to learn they’re back filled me with absolute dread. Feels a bit weird that they’ve reformed during this revival, like when someone nobody likes turns up at a party and makes everyone feel uncomfortable. Are they thinking that there’s an emo scene happening again and if they’re quick they can cash in? Maybe, maybe not but who cares because it won’t change anything.

And this is where the aforementioned issue of Kerrang comes in. With its headline; “EMO, The amazing untold story”

When I first saw it I felt deflated, do we really have to put up with this again? And then I started thinking how dumb it was that a 32-year-old was getting upset with what is essentially a kids magazine, a metal Smash Hits. I bought the issue and skipped to the middle section, ignoring the “6 awesome posters”, and read through the “history” of emo. It was obviously re-written in the time-honoured Kerrang tradition of just making it up as you go along because the kids that read the magazine are too young to know any different. A nod at the beginning to Rites of Spring and Embrace then quickly through Quicksand and Far on to Hundred Reasons and Jimmy Eat World to Panic at the Disco, My Chemical Romance and The Used with no time to mention Mineral at all. There was a time that I’d have been outraged by all this but after an initial, short-lived, pissed off reaction I’m now left thinking that I shouldn’t give a shit. Who is it really harming anyway? So some people like 30 Seconds to Mars, well more fool them. If I focus on all the amazing things, bands, records that are about today then its easy to ignore what mainstream magazines are saying. There is an incredible online community of people who I can still reminisce about the 90′s with or enthuse about the new band on Count Your Lucky Stars with.

When I boil it down, when I’m calm and rational I know nothing bad will happen because of this article. But wait a minute, whats this bit at the end when Kerrang talk about emo nowadays?? One of my favourite bands, Tigers Jaw, have their photo on the last page of the article with the tag “Tigers Jaw, the new face of emo”. Tigers Jaw split up on Thursday. What the hell have you done Kerrang, WHAT THE FUCKING HELL HAVE YOU DONE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Thanks for reading, get in touch here or on facebook – www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog or on twitter – @alex_itto

You can download my old bands song from the split mentioned in the post for free HERE

Tagged 90's emo, count your lucky stars, Emo, fall out boy, kerrang, mineral, nme, sunny day real estate, the babies three

Feb 21 2013

3 Comments

emo, music, music review

Review: Brave Bird – Maybe You, No One Else Worth It

Band – Brave Bird

Album – Maybe you, no one else worth it

Label – Count Your Lucky Stars

Don’t you hate it when lazy blog writers write about records in January/February and proclaim them to already be the ‘album of the year’? Usually results in the same person saying this about a number of records only to go on and exclude from their end of year list. It’s annoying and, like I said, lazy. So, anyway, this brings me on to the new album by Brave Bird which could well end up being the best album you’ll hear all year, Hey!! I never said I wasn’t a lazy blog writer.

Around Christmas time last year a lot of buzz started gathering for this record after a site had been streaming a preview of the record. My small group of Twitter friends were saying some amazing things about and they have taste you can trust (most of the time). I decided to wait until I was able to get a copy of the album myself to properly give this the time it deserves, by the time I did I was desperate to hear it. And I’m glad I did wait because one of the great things about this record is that it is still getting better with each listen. I’m not saying that I didn’t like it to begin with, i really did. But it was one the 4th or 5th listen that i really fell in love with this album. I was driving alone in my car with the album on and track 4, ‘Tired Enough’, came on and something just clicked, I put the song on straight again after it finished and that was me sold.

Like other albums of this genre from the last couple of years there is definitely a classic emo feel of the late 90′s/early 00′s to ‘Maybe you, no one else worth it’. But this is mixed in with a ton of youthful energy and invention and there are more hooks to be found than horsemeat in your ready meals. If you can imagine Jimmy Eat World putting out an album of Glocca Morra covers, or maybe vice-versa then you come close to knowing what to expect from this record. This is also a longer record than a lot of others released recently with most songs pushing the 4 minute mark, they never out stay their welcome though. The songs have plenty of breathing space, they’re perfectly paced and filled with gorgeous melodies and really interesting guitar work.

As for standout songs on ‘Maybe you, no one else worth it’, Brave Bird spoil you for choice. As already mentioned, ‘Tired Enough’ just about steals it but has strong competition from the lovely ‘Thick Skin (should I give in)’ and the near perfect ‘The worst things happen to me’. The latter being so catchy at the end that when I’ve had the album on in the car taking my kids places, I hear them singing it still later throughout the day. I’m sure Brave Bird will take it as a massive compliment that they are up there with ‘Gangnam Style’ for songs that get stuck in my kids heads.

Needless to say ‘Maybe you, no one else worth it’ is an incredible record. If bands keep putting out albums like this than this wave of emo will no longer be thought of as a revival and instead as the definitive emo time with everything that came before in the 90′s just serving as a prequel to now. Brave Bird need to come to the UK so we can stand in a basement somewhere singing their songs back at them with our fingers pointing in the air, and they need to come soon!!!

Thanks for reading xx

Click HERE for the Count Your Lucky Stars store

Or click on these for Brave Bird’s Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter/Bandcamp

Tagged brave bird, count your lucky stars, Emo, glocca morra, is this thing on?, jimmy eat world, maybe you no one else worth it, opinion, review

Feb 17 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, grunge, music, music review

Newsletter #1

This is the first Is this thing on? newsletter, I will be posting these every so often to roundup what I’ve been meaning to post about and haven’t got round to yet. I always have far too many ideas of what I want to write about but never seem to have enough time to make these a reality so I thought a Newsletter every so often would be a nice way of keeping up. Each one will have a bit of a theme to it and this one is no exception. The theme this time is: Bands who have sent me music. I know it’s not the catchiest title but, hey, what you gonna do??

Every so often people will get in touch with this blog via facebook/twitter/email etc with music they’d like me to listen to. Sometimes said music will be described as ‘Christian Technical Metal’ which as an atheist emo blog writer I tend to ignore. But sometimes I’ll get sent something by a band that is really good, too good to ignore so I thought I better get on and share some of these with you.

1. Bag of Bones – Deep Thought

John Molfetas is a musician from Long Island/Purchase, NY, who performs under the name Bag Of Bones. He got in touch with at the end of last year, as is always the case it took me a little while to getting round to listening to this record but as soon as I did I knew I had to share it with you. Deep Thought is 10 songs of really thoughtful, slow-paced and atmospheric emo. There are shades of Appleseed Cast here, mixed in with bits of Joan Of Arc and plenty else in between. Using samples and an array of varying musical instruments, Deep Thought feels like a really collaborative album with John Molfetas being the creative through line. It is a beautiful collection of songs which you can currently download free from his bandcamp page.

http://bagofbones.bandcamp.com/

2. Squeamish – Hammerhead

Squeamish are a band it’s very easy to like for two main reasons; Firstly they play big, twiddly, poppy emo with a huge Braid-like sound and secondly they’re from Ohio, which is just shorthand for saying their awesome. It seems every band I’ve been falling in love with recently have been from Ohio. ‘Hammerhead’ is a five song EP and it’s available as a free download from their bandcamp page, it’s upbeat, infectious and brilliant. The kind of thing you’d wanna throw on at a party if you wanted everyone to get a bit crazy. YES!

http://squeamish.bandcamp.com/

3. Month – Bath Salts

Month come from Cleveland, which obviously makes them another great Ohio band. If this carries on the Rock’n'roll hall of fame, situated in their great city, could open a dedicated emo wing and fill it with bands from this state. ‘Bath Salts’ is a short two song EP, which matters not as both songs are great and show 2 different side to their sound. Track 1, ‘Vernal’, is a driving rock song in the vein of Daylight. Track 2, ‘Thermal’, is more of a 90′s inspired, downbeat, fiddly emo number. Again, you can download these songs for free from Bandcamp. Sweet.

http://month.bandcamp.com/

4.Placeholder – Thought I Would Have Been Somebody By Now

If you know me well then you’ll know my two main loves, music wise, are grunge and emo. When bands started to mix these two genres it was like the best Christmas ever, Placeholder are one of these bands and they do it bloody well. This EP is four songs, it’s available for free and it’s loud and catchy as hell. Trying to think of a good description and the best I’ve come up with is like a grungier early Planes Mistaken For Stars, I hope that will do.

http://placeholderpa.bandcamp.com/

Nobody, Ever – Everyone Stood By The Side Of The Road

Now, I did get sent this to listen to but that’s because I know these guys so I’m kind of cheating to include them here but SO WHAT?!? They’re great so they deserve the extra mention. I recently reviewed them for Tight to the nail which you can read HERE. In short I described them as a chunky Dowsing which I think they were happy with. Again, IT’S FREE, WOOP!!!

http://nobodyever.bandcamp.com/

Hope you’ve found something here to enjoy. To any of the other bands that have sent me stuff, sorry if I’ve not included you on here but I will be doing this again so all is not lost. And to any other bands, keep sending stuff over you lovely people.

Thanks for reading.

Facebook – http://www.facebook.co./isthisthingonblog

Twitter – @alex_itto

Tagged bag of bones, Emo, grunge, is this thing on?, month, nobody ever, ohio, placeholder, squeamish

Jan 24 2013

Leave a comment

comment, emo, hardcore, interview, music

INTERVIEW: TOM MULLEN – WASHED UP EMO PODCAST

Last week I got to speak to Tom Mullen who runs Washedupemo.com and does the Washed Up Emo podcast. I love a good podcast and Washed Up Emo is by far my favourite one. I think that if you like the sort of stuff that I write about then you’re going to feel the same way. He also hosts an emo DJ night in New York city every month. I had a few questions prepared but we ended up just chatting away about the podcast/site and all things ‘mo. It’s quite a long one, hope you enjoy!

IS THIS THING ON? – Hello

TOM MULLEN– What’s up Alex?

ITTO? – Hey!! Give us a brief background about how you got in to music and when emo became a big part of that?

TM – I got into music pretty early on as a kid, I wanted to play guitar after seeing smells like teen spirit on TV. I think I remember telling my dad ‘we’re going to the store right now to get this’. And that was a pretty big influence on me playing music, you know, and he, Kurt, was in to a lot of different bands, indie bands and things. Probably what turned me from grunge was a band called Helmet. I saw their video and was like ‘this is heavy but it is smart’ and then from there I started to learn about more hardcore bands and metal bands. Growing up where I did in Vermont you don’t really get to see the big artists, like I didn’t get to see giant top 40 artists, those guys never came through. So the people that came through were the metal bands and HC bands from Boston and New York. So from hardcore, turned into post hardcore, because that’s kinda what bands did after that and then that turned into emo. I don’t know if it was Get Up Kids or Mineral or one of those bands but it really kicked in freshman year in college, that’s when I started to really get into it and there were so many shows. I went to school in North Carolina and there were shows every day it seemed. And so that was a really fun time.

ITTO? – Did you know that was what it was when you were getting in to it, did you know it was called emo or was that a thing then?

TM – Yes, someone had called it that. And I was like ‘oh ok cool’, I mean I liked the music. There wasn’t a fashion around it, there wasn’t like you needed to look a certain way. I was wearing ridiculously way too big sweatshirts and shirts, I was horrendous. It wasn’t that thing; it was more about the music.

ITTO? – It’s interesting on the podcast that when you ask about how they got into that kind of music it’s usually a HC route.

TM – Yeah, it’s either HC or they came the indie route with Fugazi or they were into Buffalo tom or whatever it was. They went both ways and if you listen to them again after hearing that you totally get it. It’s interesting to hear where they came from and if it’s HC then you’re like ‘ah ok I get it’.

ITTO? – What was the reason for starting the washed up emo website?

The website came first; I was super angry, probably ‘04/’05. Just really upset at what was happening with the name itself and being attached to it and turning it in to sort of a fashion statement vs. something about the music. They were referencing things that didn’t really make sense to me. And that’s since changed but then I was like; ‘no one’s talking about Elliott, no one’s talking about Get Up Kids and at this time, these bands, some of them were still going on, still trying to hang on to the certain fan base that was there but it was dwindling because they weren’t as flashy. You went to Bamboozle, which is this big music festival in New Jersey and Fall Out Boy or whoever it was was playing. And people were losing their minds and gave support to whatever god awful band it was playing and the Get Up Kids would play after them and the bands were psyched but the crowd was like ‘who is this? This is boring’ and it was just this kind of turning point when I was like this word is being ruined on a daily basis and that’s why I started the site in ’07. It was very negative early on, I look back at some of the posts, it was discrediting a lot of things because people were relating cutting to this genre. It was sort of Goth and it was a lot of whack-a-mole with trying to explain it. And through the years it’s slowly kind of, I’ve got less angry.

ITTO? – The tagline of your website says that you wish for the days where you’d type emo into a search engine and nothing would come up, is that because you’d wish it would all go away

TM – Everyone has this same sort of feeling that it was special, for what it was. And because there wasn’t internet or it wasn’t really widespread, you didn’t have it on your phone. You didn’t have a cell phone, you had a beeper. You had these sorts of connections happen where you had to connect, you had to go to the show, and you had to do a little work. And I think every sort of genre past that, it’s sort of that doesn’t happen anymore. It’s so quick and easy so I did like it when I would search for bands and I couldn’t find anything. I couldn’t find anything online for it and that was sort of fun because you did have to work.

ITTO? – It’s weird because if you look at the old records from that time, or the catalogues that used to come with the insert and they’ve all got email addresses and websites and I never married the two together. I wasn’t big into the internet at the end of the 90’s but I guess there must’ve been something there if you looked hard enough.

TM – Yeah they had their email there. It was aol or yahoo or something stupid and the websites were very basic. There wasn’t a lot. If I could go back I would take every programming class I could because I only knew basic html and I actually got connected with a band and a label because I started doing an unofficial website for artists. Because when artists didn’t really have good websites fans did them and I did that for a band and that connected me to a lot of different people as well.

ITTO? – Basic chat rooms are all I can remember using. A couple of message boards like Fracture fanzine had one where you could communicate with people but that was only really at the end of that particular wave of emo that we liked

TM – I think the Victory records message board and the trustkill message board that was definitely a way to find out about shows. And find out what was happening.

ITTO? – After starting the website did you find that there were a lot of likeminded people or is that something that has happened over time?

TM – It’s happened over time. There were some years where it would be a couple of posts a month, a few things happening. And I didn’t really know anybody else that was talking about this and slowly I would get people who would say ‘oh I saw that thing, it was really cool, and I feel the same way’ and I was like ‘Really?’ And it’s ended up being these last couple of years I think that I’ve been finding that there’s a lot of people I’ve met, yourself included, through twitter and Facebook ramping up those parts of it. And really focussing on that and having people interact. And I don’t make any money I just do this because it’s fun and people really enjoy it. And of course it’s turned into the podcast. And the dj night every month.

ITTO? – When did the idea for a DJ night and then a podcast come about?

TM – It’s interesting that I remember this, I think we were on a train or something and I was emailing friends and I posted I was listening to a camber song on, I think it was, twitter or Facebook and I had tagged it and someone wrote that’s really awesome, you have a ton of records like that and I said well you do too, we should dj somewhere. A friend had a bar and we’re like let’s see if he’ll let us do it on a valentine’s day for an anti-valentine’s day event and ended up going really well. We kind of just put our minds together on who could help dj because I’m not cool enough to have people show up, I can only beg my friends so much so we needed bands and things and we’ve ended up doing, next month will be 2 years. And we’re the bars most successful theme night and we’ve had after parties for Braid who actually dj’d which was really funny because I had to kick them out. Chris did not wanna stop dj-ing it was hilarious; it was 4am on a Thursday I was like ‘dude I gotta get outta here’. The dj thing is really fun and we’ve met so many people that have been in this city and find out about it and come down and hang out. I’ve met some friends that I’ve ended up working with on a work level, they’re people who’ve worked at different labels or companies and I find out that they’re in to this genre. Case in point, a friend from a blog is a graphic designer and was a super big fan and I had her design the logo.

The podcast was a few months in, I realised that I was looking at my rolodex and was like I kinda know a bunch of people and it would be kinda fun. And I had a friend that I did it with for a while and it was tough because he was on the west coast and I was on the east coast and the band was wherever they were and it was hard to connect and he ended up doing his own thing. And I ended up just continuing with the washed up emo podcast

ITTO? – That’s Ray right?

TM – Yes, Ray.

ITTO? – Yeah I was going to ask what happened to Ray.

It was so hard, just a scheduling thing. He has a lot of stuff; he has a kid, his jobs all over the place. He’s got a lot of stuff going on, the 3 hours’ time difference made it hard to connect. And that’s where we splintered off and he does his own ‘100 words or less podcast’.

ITTO? – Yes, I’ve listened to a few. He interviewed Keith from Empire! Empire! / CYLS records which was a really good one

TM – Nice! I actually give him crap for interviewing emo people but that’s just a joke. It’s been fun, it is a ton of work but I’ve been able to connect to a lot of people and a lot of people have helped. Someone helped get me in touch with Jim adkins; another friend helped me get in touch with Chris Simpson from Mineral. They’ve been very very cool, Matt Pryor was awesome, those early ones like with Chuck from Deep Elm, and it was great to talk about deep elm records who were a huge influence. I was on one of their comps with the band I was in. It’s been nice. Blair (Shehan, Knapsack) when I interviewed him his first thing was, my first question and he was like ‘wow, this is going to be fun’. That’s the first thing he said and I think they’ve never been asked these questions before because no one’s really asked about it this way.

ITTO? – It’s becoming an incredible document for that time period

TM – Well that’s exactly the idea with it, I had spoken with a few people before I started and said is there anything out there like this? Am I copying it? Is it something that’s worth? And the only thing I could find was those oral histories from alternative press magazine where they interview 10 or 15 people about the project and they end up discussing things but there wasn’t really an audio history or an audio document of these things. Hopefully if its ten years from now and some person looks back and they’re like ‘I kinda wanna know what’s going on with the guy from deep elm’ then there’s an hour of me nerding out with him (laughs)

ITTO? – I take it you’ve had your dream guests on already?

TM – As of a couple of weeks ago, yes! I’ve been very, very lucky to have; I think, the biggest one left for me at this moment would definitely be Jeremy Enigk from Sunny Day Real Estate that would be a great one. But there’s still plenty, I actually was just looking at the list of people that I’m trying to get and there is still some really, really cool people like I’m trying to get Travis from Piebald which I think is going to happen, Kevin from Topshelf, Ben from Armor For Sleep, the guy that ran Caulfield records. So, yeah, I think there’s still plenty more and I think there’s plenty more stories to tell. As long as I have fun doing it and people are still downloading them, I’ll still do them.

ITTO? – To think you’ve had The Promise Ring/ Braid/ Mineral do it then you think it might be hard to top that but some of the more obscure bands will be interesting because it’s harder to find things out about them.

TM – I think one of the most popular episodes is the Buried Treasure episode with Ray. We talked about obscure bands and songs people may not have heard, that one was really popular and to have Christie Front Drive – Eric do it and Promise Ring its really easy now to get people to do it. Jim (Adkins) had mentioned that he had listened to a bunch of the older ones before, you know so He was even interested in hearing them which blew my mind. ‘You spent time listening to me nerd out??’ I’m now really scared to talk to you’.

ITTO? – It makes sense, they were his friends, and these were times he was involved in. It’s like if you see an old friend you’ve not spoken to in a long time and you reminisce it’s probably a form of that for him.

TM – Yeah, he was mentioning that he was laughing at Eric because Eric made fun of him in the podcast about his long hair so he’s actually looking forward to doing one with him to make fun of him. There are still those memories and things. But just looking back at list at who’s done it, Zach from Mae who was a close friend, Troy from Speedwell which was this really obscure band who I think are amazing, Blair from Jealous Sound who was super cool to do it. The one I can’t wait to edit but its taking forever is Pedro from Jealous Sound and I’ve never laughed more in a podcast. I was crying laughing with him, he’s been super nice. He understood what I was doing, he’s like ‘you’re not just a fan; you’re trying to get the word out about this time period’. When AV Club wrote about the podcast which I had no idea about, they kind of mentioned the same thing. They had said that it was that he’s coming at it as a fan, a knowledgeable fan and you’re kind of talking, you’re not just ‘hey remember in 1992 when this happened’ and that was probably the biggest compliment.

ITTO? – Do you feel that people really are talking about it (emo) now? With the podcast and all the new bands that are about now it does seem so and it also seems a lot now like it did at the end of the 90’s, although in more of a weird internet way but there seems to be that same kind of feeling about now

It does, I think it is 2013 with all the new ways to connect. You can easily find out about a label in 5 seconds and all the releases and listen to everything. I think it is exciting; there are a lot of great bands. That’s probably the next thing, I really want to have more of the newer bands and hear their story and hear what they listen to and why. That’s kind of the new and old which has been really fun to talk about. Even during the DJ night it’s one thing to play all the old school hits but it’s also great to play a new song and have people come up to say ‘what was that?’ And you tell them it’s a new band and they’re like ‘Oh man!’ and I think that’s great to hear that someone’s open enough to listen that and be excited.

ITTO? – Especially now as there’s been bands in the last few years that have made a great impression but split up already, like Snowing or Algernon Cadwallader and I think in a few years’ time we’ll think of them like we did caP’n jazz/Mineral. It’ll be great to hear their version of what happened

TM – Yeah and I think the word itself has been so overused and I think there’s people that come to the dj night and they’re like ‘hey I want you to play Acceptance and then I want you to play Rufio’ and I’m like ‘oh my god I know your age, I know what time period you’re in. I almost can tell where you live’ Just because of the songs that you’re asking for and its fine. I understand, because it’s that time period when they were 15, 16, 17 or whatever and they connected to it or they watched Fuse and they’re relating that and that’s fine, it’s just there’s this little point beforehand that you need to know about. Because all the bands you like they listen to this. And it’s great that the newer bands are skipping that and they’re going back further.

ITTO? – What’s the most requested band at your DJ nights?

TM – I would probably say Brand New, that’s every month. The usual Promise ring, Get up kids, Taking back Sunday. Probably Taking back Sunday and Brand New and that’s probably because it’s the New York area. One of the loudest ones we ever played, which wasn’t really an emo band but it kinda made sense because Get Up Kids toured with them, was Weezer. The guy came over who runs the bar and said ‘We can’t even hear the music’ because people were screaming so loud.

ITTO? – Excellent, it’s been so cool chatting to you Tom, thanks so much.

My Top 5 Washed up emo podcast episodes (click on them for the link)

5 – Norman Brannon of Texas is the Reason

4 – Davey Von Bohlen and Dan Didier of The Promise Ring

3 – Eric Richter of Christie Front Drive

2 – Chuck Daley of Deep Elm/Tiny Engines

1 – Chris Simpson of Mineral

Thanks so much for reading.

Come and say hi on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog

or Twitter – @alex_itto

Tagged braid, christie front drive, chuck daley, deep elm, Emo, mineral, new york, podcast, the get up kids, The promise ring, tom mullen, washed up emo

Dec 18 2012

1 Comment

comment, emo, grunge, hardcore, music, pop punk, punk, screamo

The Is this thing on? Top 10 Records of 2012

What a year 2012 has turned out to be. So much so that this list has proved to be near impossible to write, choosing the 10 best records of the year and then listing them in order of bestest has given me a headache. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good headache and I ain’t complaining. Last year I posted a top 10 and so I thought i would continue with this. My best friend paul who writes the Wallernotweller blog made the sensible choice of listing 15 records but I’m not that wise. So, 10 it is. Meaning that some bloody good records have ended up missing out on this list. Bands like Suis La Lune, Converge, Joyce Manor, The Cribs, Sport, Ape Up! and Dads have all produced some quality work and have only missed out on my top 10 by the slightest of margins. Annabel too, whose album ‘Youth in youth’ is packed with greatness and if it had come out earlier in the year it might have taken one of the top ten places. These are all very worthy but they can’t all be winners so on with the list..

10. You Blew It! – Grow Up Dude

This is an album that just keeps on growing on me, I like it more every time I listen. The records perfectly understated production mixed with the heart and melody of the music make it hard not to love this album. The fact that bands are making music like this is the reason why I write this blog, if someone asks you if there really is a 90′s emo revival happening at the moment then play them ’Grow up dude’ and they will have their answer. I’m sure I saw someone mention on something or other that You Blew It! might be coming to the UK in 2013, this needs to happen. In the meantime I’ll just make do with falling in love with this album some more.

9. State Faults – Desolate Peaks

My first listen to ‘Desolate Peaks’ was my first experience of State Faults and by heck it was a good one. I love it when you put something on completely without assumptions and end up being blown away. The record is powerful yet touching. It perfectly fills the void left by Pianos Become the Teeth not releasing an album this year. But of course State Faults are a lot more than just a lazy comparison and they are by far the heaviest, screamiest band on my list this year. Earlier in the year they were kind enough to answer some of my questions, click HERE to have a read.

8. Dowsing – It’s still pretty terrible

This is a record that is full of charm and beautiful indie pop songs that warm the soul. I said in my review of this album a few months ago and I stick by it, this is the record The Get Up Kids were trying to make with ‘On a wire’ and failed. Dowsing however hit it spot on. Now I know for a fact that they are planning to tour the UK next year, this is one not to miss. These songs in a packed venue with a whole crowd singing along to every word is something I definitely wanna be a part of!!!

7. Basement – Colourmeinkindness

This is a record that appeals to the teenager in me, the spotty kid in the early 90′s with long greasy hair who was proud to called a ‘grunger’ by every chav in Thanet. There are so many grunge influences on this record that it’s hard to keep up, Basement mix in their straight up melodic hardcore and what you have is an album that’s screaming out to breakthrough. If it does it’ll be too late though as Basement are no more which is more than a damn shame. Great record!

6. Glocca Morra – Just Married

Glocca Morra are quite possibly my favourite band that I discovered this year. ‘just Married’ got a hefty few plays again and again this summer and listening to it now immediately reminds of that time. This is a perfect summer album because it’s just so much damn fun. If I was in to having house party’s and was wanting to get things happening then i would reach for this record, it would pretty much guarantee everyone a good time. Not only did Glocca Morra give us ‘Just Married’ this year, they followed it up with the equally amazing ‘An obscure moon lighting an obscure world’ EP. I hope they keep this momentum up and maybe next year they can claim my entire top ten!

It has come time to take a short break from this countdown and take a minute to remember the bands that we have lost this year. I mean, what awards show would be complete without a memorial montage and this Top 10 is no exception. So watch the video below and join me in some quiet reflection as we remember those that are gone.

5. Crash Of Rhinos – Distal

Now, I know what you’re thinking, technically this record didn’t come out this year. It was first released in April of 2011 but it was re-released this year by Big Scary Monsters and this record is too good to be left out on a technicality. Plus who are you to say I can’t have them in my top 10, you’re not my mum! (mum if you’re reading this put the laptop down and back away, they’re in and that’s final). Crash of rhinos are almost too good, beautifully brilliant songs that last forever yet never outstay their welcome. With incredible vocals that seem to come from every member of the band and more bass players than bands that only have one bass player in them. They are touring in January with Raein which has ‘tour of the year’ written all over it already!!!

4. Prawn – Ships

Shortly before getting this EP I went to see Prawn play live in Folkestone, the show was beset with technical problems so much so that they ended up only being able to play 4 songs. At the time I wasn’t bothered because I’d had a great night and Prawn were still fantastic. But after getting ‘Ships’ a few weeks later I was gutted that they couldn’t play all night. The songs that make up ‘Ships’ are so incredible that hearing them live would surely constitute one of the best gigs you’re likely to ever attend. Perfect emo like a poppier Appleseed Cast, love it!!

3. Title Fight – Floral Green

Title Fight keep going from strength to strength and ‘Floral Green’ is their best record to date. Only a year after releasing their first studio album ‘Shed’ they released a record that was not only brilliant but also showed they had made great leaps forward in terms of sound and maturity. The dreamy, shoegaze magic of ‘Head in the ceiling fan’ showed a new side to Title Fight and ‘Secret Society’ proved that Title Fight can write catchy, instantly likeable grunge songs as well as anyone. Another essential record.

2. Dikembe – Broad Shoulders

Dikembe are one of the best bands you’re ever likely to hear, following up the massive potential shown on last years ep ‘Chicago Bowls’ with a near perfect record of beautiful, mid paced emo. My heart melts at the first sound of Steven Gray’s voice and the guitar sound they have only heightens this sensation. I can see this album/band coming to define this current wave of emo tagged music, in a few years we’ll be looking back at it with the same fondness that we look back at, for example, ’30 degrees everywhere’ by the Promise Ring it’s that good. In any normal year it would easily win my album of the year top spot and they were only very narrowly beaten this year by…….

1. Joie De Vivre – We’re all better than this

This years first prize just has to go to Joie De Vivre with ‘We’re all better than this’ an album which I’ve very rarely not been listening to since it came out in the summer. Having split up it is unfathomable that this record could never have been made and I am so grateful that they gave it another shot. Seeing them play this summer in Brighton is one of the best shows I’ve ever been to, a brilliantly uplifting experience. Which is like what you get every time your hear ‘We’re all better than this’. An album that both boasts the best use of trumpets all year and the amazingly lovely backing vocals from Lindsay Minton (Football, etc) cannot fail to impress. A beautiful, beautiful record, well done, FIRST PRIZE!!!

Well, there you go. 2013 is already shaping up to be another incredible year that is promising new albums from Tigers Jaw, Football etc, Daylight, The Reptilian, Appleseed Cast, Jimmy Eat World and many more. I literally cannot wait. In the meantime thanks for reading and have yourself a very merry christmas xx

I’ve made an Is this thing on? best of 2012 playlist on Spotify if that’s your kind of thing, click the link below x

Is This thing on? best of 2012

Tagged basement, colourmeinkindness, count your lucky stars records, crash of rhinos, dikembe, dowsing, Emo, glocca morra, is this thing on?, joie de vivre, prawn, run for cover records, state faults, tiny engines, title fight, top 10 2012, topshelf records, you blew it

Is this thing on?

Thoughts, reviews and news on emo, indie, hardcore and all thats good about music

Category Archives: Uncategorized

NEWSLETTER #3

NEWSLETTER #2

REVIEW: REIZIGER – KODIAK STATION

Q & A WITH MOOSE BLOOD

INTERVIEW WITH FOOTBALL, ETC.

The end is nigh….

Review: Brave Bird – Maybe You, No One Else Worth It

Newsletter #1

INTERVIEW: TOM MULLEN – WASHED UP EMO PODCAST

The Is this thing on? Top 10 Records of 2012

Follow “Is this thing on?”