WWW.INTHEPIT.CO.UK CONTENTS 04. Amy McDonald 10. Y&T Welcome to the newest issue of InThePit. Once again i would like to start this off by thanking everyone who contributes to this magazine one way or another, you guys are awesome. Second of all who has heard Alter Bridges 3rd studio album ‘AB III’? It is easily one of the best albums of the year. Make sure to check out all the images and review of their Newcastle date of their tour. (ROCK)tober has been by far the best month for gigs, make sure you check out all of our features in this issue. The magazine will be taking a short break over the Christmas period as we all do this in our spare time and it is the busiest time of the year. No excuse? We know but im sure all here have worked hard enough already to get on Santa’s ‘good list.’ Hope you all have amazing Holidays and we hope to be back early in the New Year. Chris xoxo
16. My Passion 22. The Dollyrots 28. Bowling for Soup 36. Architects 46. Slaves to Gravity 52. Alter Bridge 60. Bleeding Through
AMY MCDONALD
REVIEW:CHANTELLE JADE BURNS PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
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Amy MacDonald [Love Love Tour] @ O2 Academy Newcastle Newcastle got quite the treat when it was revealed that the Scottish singer songwriter Amy MacDonald would be hitting the O2 academy on her latest tour, not too late after the release of her second album earlier this year, “A Curious Thing”. Amy is probably best known for her songs ‘This is the Life,’ which was her fourth single released, and ‘Mr Rock n’ Roll,’ which was her second single, both released on her debut album; which sold more than 3 million copies alone, and was released when she was just 20 years old. The always supporting fans got a great and energetic show from the young Scot, with a super setlist with crowd favourites included, such as Mr Rock n Roll; which truly set the night off to a fantastic start, with the crowd already dancing and cheering along to the catchy track. Another song in there that I wasn’t surprised to see was Don’t Tell Me It’s Over, which was performed to a full crowd sing along. The song titled the same as the tour, Love Love, was a great song which really got the crowd going, and is a track from her second album. It was great to hear her second album live as I’d only heard two songs from the album prior to the show and haven’t gotten round to checking the whole album out, but I most certainly will now. There were so many easy on the ears songs in there, and the new album has a slight change to it in comparison to the soft tones of the last one, sort of an electropop vibe going on. Overall Amy performed fantastically and knows how to keep a crowd happy, and is a definite must see artist. Her set was well performed with no problems other than the usual and often bad quality of the sound system at the O2 Academy. You can check out her Official Website here: www.amymacdonald.co.uk
Y&T
REVIEW:LENNY RIMSPOKE PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
Y&T @ Newcastle O2 Academy, Y&T have to be one of the most unsung heroes of the classic metal era, projecting class and finesse that modern bands will find hard to match. A typical early start at Newcastle, and on strolls Dave Meniketti all guns blazing, along with his comrades and ripped into ‘On With The Show’, setting an obvious foundation of the what to expect from the rest of the show. Effortlessly they ploughed through the choicest cuts of their back catalogue, including the more recent ‘Facemelter’ album. The previous Newcastle Y&T date was cut short, as Menketti was suffering from flu, and struggled to sing, he was on top for this night though. The crowd nearly blew the roof of the old bingo hall, when Dave dedicated a ‘Coming Home’ to the Geordies, a song he wrote the night he was ill. Special mention went out to Phil Kennemore, Y&T’s bass player, founding member and the real spine of the band, who is currently battling cancer. However, their stand-in bass player Brad Lang did Phil proud, dishing out the low-end in his place. Mike Vanderhule treat us to a ripping drum solo, and with pure perfection, was not too long or too indulgent. John Nyman got his time to come out of Menketti’s shadow during ’Barroom Boogie’, who even alone he stands up as a true virtuoso. The guitar tones from both Nyman and Mentetti were to die for, even with the as ever sub-par sound quality in the Academy. They timed the show perfectly to deal with the venue’s 10pm curfew, even managed to slip in encores, ending with the epic ‘Rescue Me’. We were taken on a nostalgic rode filled with chugging 80s masterpieces and soaring power-ballads, which would be satisfying to anyone to say the least. Highlights for me would be Mean Streak, If You Want Me, Barroom Boogie, Hurricane, Rescue Me, and their greatest hit (which you may remember from Baywatch) Summertime girls. Definietly one of the most classy and polished bands ever to tear up the Academy stage. LR
MY PASSION
REVIEW:NICK MURPHY PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
My Passion w/ Dead by April + Summerlinn I’ve never felt so old as I did tonight... I thought I was still sprightly and youthful but tonight’s performance has left me reaching for the pipe and slippers... Even before getting into the venue, the queue of mid teens snaking round the outside of the o2 Academy, barely flinching at the biting cold was enough to make me question whether their mums knew what they were out wearing, on a school night, no less! First up were Leeds 5-piece Summerlinn, who instantly had the jam packed upstairs venue literally bouncing and shaking in unison, giving the audience a proper physical warm up for the main acts to follow Sweden’s Dead By April kept the pace of the night going, switching out Summerlinn’s poppunk flavour from the mix, replacing it with a dash of synth-metal, not stopping for breath once. The headliners My Passion appeared onstage two-by-two, drummer and guitarist first, looking at first like an evil post apocalyptic alternate reality Jedward (in a good way). Frontman Laurence René’s black lipstick didn’t last long in the heat of the lights and the throng of screaming teens rammed against the barrier trying to tear pieces out of their beloved artists. My Passion threw themselves around the compact upstairs stage of The Academy without once slowing down throughout their set. Keeping the already frenzied audience whipped up through to the end. All three bands put on a great show and put aging gimmers like me (26, btw) to shame. exactly how such skinny guys can keep that going for a whole set and not collapse is beyond me My Passion Setlist: Seven Birds The Mess We Made Of Our Lives Geordie & Me In My Fever Day of The Bees Lily White Lies My Confession Thanks for Nothing The Girl Who Lost Her Smile Secret Never To Be Told Encore: Asleep In The Asylum
THE DOLLYROTS REVIEW:CHANTELLE JADE BURNS PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
The Dollyrots @ O2 Academy Newcastle Wasn’t too sure about how the set by American pop punk band Dollyrots; the first support band, would go down, since I hadn’t heard any of their stuff prior to when they played. The band is made up of Kelly Ogden (vocals, bass), Luis Cabezas (guitar) and Chris Black (drums). The vocalist Kelly has a really soft voice, she almost sounds as though she’s just talking but with a bit of a quirky ring to it. The set was particularly loud, with general good vocals and plenty of stage activity. The vocalist asked the audience to ‘stick their middle fingers up at the band’. Why, you might say. … I honestly don’t know. Erik and Jaret came out for a little song with the band, doing their usual fun stage antics, on this occasion totally missing with all of their air high fives. A very fun personality, Kelly definitely has a fun stage persona, she looked like she was thoroughly enjoying her performance too, which is a good thing. The rest of the band members appeared really enthusiastic about the performance and appeared to be getting into it pretty easily. The band played a great song of theirs called ‘Because I’m Awesome’. The song was featured on the television series Ugly Betty and after that being mentioned, the band played it. Some audience members appeared to know the song, which would have been great for Dollyrots since they were the first band of the night. Easy to notice, Kelly could easily demand the attention of the crowd. She sang to the crowd and put a whole lot of effort into the set! The band seemed nice enough, commenting on meeting people afterward by saying “Come say hi to us! We only bite if you want us to!” The music was pretty punky and easy to listen to. A great band in my opinion. A fun and energetic set, I’d say an 8/10 rating Here’s a link to the band’s MySpace, go and enjoy their stuff! www.myspace.com/thedollyrots
BOWLING FOR SOUP REVIEW:CHANTELLE JADE BURNS PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
Bowling For Soup @ O2 Academy Newcastle After a super energetic performance from Forever The Sickest Kids, the crowd were more than ready for a lively show from BFS – a great American pop-punk band who formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994. The band are still based in Texas but relocated to a place called Denton. Bowling For Soup are best known for the tracks Girl All the Bad Guys Want, High School Never Ends, 1985 and one of their more recent tracks My Wena. Jaret and Erik had already been over earlier this year on an acoustic tour which went down a treat in the small academy and they were bound to come back anyhow because they tend to play Newcastle on most if not all of their UK tours. The first song to really get the crowd going was definitely My Wena, which was played quite early in the set. The sing along was amazing and Jaret was happy to point the mic in the direction of the fans. “Put your hands up, you at the back too! Don’t hate puppies!” For High School Never Ends, the crowd would not stay still, jumping about manically and waving their arms around, causing ridiculously large vibrations in the hall. I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if the floor would have caved in.
“You dance like you fuck, and that’s your dad’s fuck face right there!” – Possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever heard to be said at a gig, and that wasn’t the only memorable quote of the night. The band had a fantastic set and the crowd was forever laughing. The crowd seemed especially pleased when the band played one of their hits, The Bitch Song. Everyone was on their feet and moving, even most of the seated area, who were quite calm until then. The band then announced they were going to do a cover with the statement “We all know this song in different keys, so if it’s shit, act like it’s great!” and proceeded by playing Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name. The crowd seemed to love it and I thought it was definitely a great cover! A huge crowd chant topped off the cover and the band seemed happy with the way it went. “Anyone wanna play doctor? We could have the record for the biggest amount of people playing doctor…” Jaret mentioned that this tour was shaping up to be their best yet, which was great news as the show they’d put on up to that point was awesome. The next song that they played was Girl All The Bad Guys Want – a sure crowd favourite with a rowdy response and some unruly energy on behalf of both the band and the audience.
These guys are great live so be sure to check them out next time they tour near you! 10/10 for a good set with great song choice and most definitely some lovely guys. As a bonus, they generally do meet and greets too so that they can meet the fans! Check out their MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/bowlingforsoup
ARCHIT
INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
TECTS
S BY CRAIG FERGUSON
In the pit – First off, thanks for taking the time to talk to us! Dan – Pleasure! In the pit – You’re coming up to your fourth show on your new tour. How are you finding it so far? Dan – Yeah, it’s amazing! Probably the best tour we’ve ever done actually. Every day’s been sold out so far and tonight’s sold out. Tomorrow’s sold out. We’re not really used to it. It’s a big step up for us. Things are just getting better and better which is strange for a band who are about to release their fourth record. A lot of bands sort of blow up on their first record and the rest of their career is trying to maintain that popularity whereas we have just been steadily climbing for like five years. It’s really strange but it’s cool. We’re constantly pleased instead of all this at once. We’re constantly climbing and it’s never a case of maintaining which is cool. In the pit – You guys have been touring constantly for a quite a while now. How are you managing to keep it up? Dan – I met up with an old school friend the other day and he asked me, “When your new album comes out, will you be doing a world tour?” I was like, “…We’ve just done about 5 back to back world tours.” Haha, but yeah, we will. It is non stop and yeah it is super tiring and I don’t really like to look too far ahead. I do love being home. All of us love being home. This year we’re going to spend about three months at home and five months in America which is really tiring. Especially there where it’s not like here and we don’t have a bus and people doing everything for us. This tour we just play Fifa, get drunk and walk on stage. In America it’s playing, loading up the van then driving ten hours. That said, we try and look at the positives really. We’re pretty lucky, we’re very lucky to do what we do. We get to travel the world and that’s amazing but it’s definitely tough being away all of the time but you know that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to be on tour this much. In the pit – Earlier today, you had a signing at the shop ‘Pulp’. How is it for you having the opportunity to meet your fans before you play the shows?
Dan – Yeah it’s really cool actually! The last three days we’ve done signings and it’s actually the first singings we’ve ever done in the UK before. We’ve done them in Europe and Australia before but never here. It’s different, it’s crazy the amount of people that turn up. Yesterday when we played Manchester it was ridiculous. Even the signing was sold out which is crazy for us. It’s amazing that people want to meet us and we’re happy to do it. There were a few kids that didn’t make it in time and waited around and we were told to go out the back door to avoid them and we were like, “No, we’ll say hello and get photos or whatever cause if those people didn’t exist then we wouldn’t be in the job so you gotta appreciate the fans. It’s like the oil in the engine. In the pit – You recently released a downloadable song from your new album on myspace. Is there any news on when the album and when you’re planning to release it? Dan – It’s out in January in next year which is quite a long time away so it’s weird that we’ve released this song it’s still really long until the actual record comes out which we’ve done for various reasons that I won’t go into. It’s pretty different. It’s going to surprise a lot of people. We released that song to just let people know where we were going but at the same time it’s one of the more similar songs to our last record but we still took a very different angle on it. We went to a different studio so the sound of it’s very different and we’ve been on tour a lot and all changed as musicians and our tastes change. But like I say, you read the internet and it’s just like pure hatred and we do anything. It’s the same with any band. I mean, look at Bring Me The Horizon. They’re like the thickest skinned people ever because they get so much shit but they’re massive and they don’t give a fuck. The more people that hate them there is, there’ll be more people that love them. But we’ve been playing this song on this tour and people have loved it. I think there will be fans that will love it one hundred percent and I’m sure we’ll get more fans. We’re already getting accusations of being sell outs and whatnot. But I mean, it’s ridiculous because to me, selling out is appeasing the fans and doing what you know is going to be popular. We could easily write ‘Hollow Crown’ part two and we’d probably end up being bigger if we released the same album again but we just did exactly what we wanted and that’s just musical integrity, when you don’t give a fuck what anyone wants you to do and you just write whatever you want to regardless of what anyone thinks. That’s not selling out, that’s not giving a fuck. That’s playing it safe and we definitely haven’t played it safe.
In the pit – So this record is going to be completely different then? Dan – It’s definitely got some of the same elements yeah but we started this band when we were like seventeen and we’re different people now. That was five years ago. You start bands for different reasons. You could be into slightly different music or you could be angry kids or whatever but we’re not angry. We’re really lucky and it doesn’t feel like we should be playing super angry music. We go on stage and play the old songs and it’s all about the energy and we do love playing those songs live still but to write new music and for Sam to write lyrics about how pissed he is, is just not true. Although it’s different music, we’re the same band and the same people but we just wanted to do something different with it. People who have heard our new record and our label and manager were like, “Okay, you’ve taken a risk.” But like, taking risks is fun. It’s exactly what we want to do. And if it pays off, it’ll be a big fuck you to anyone who doubts us. In the pit – Yeah, you guys are known as one of the happiest bands going about and one of the most sarcastic bands. I was watching the filming of your new album and you were recording it in America. It was like the biggest piss take ever! Dan – Yeah! And no one gets it! I actually personally made that studio diary and we put it up and we just got so much hate! I put at the end of it, ‘Our new album, out early 2011’ and it just said “Deal with it.” And I was just messing about being sarcastic and being a bit of a dick but not being like, “fuck you, fuck all our fans. Deal with it.” I’m just having a laugh and people are like..One kid on there was like “Fuck Architects, I’m never paying to see a show and I’m not going to buy their album. And we’re like, “You’re just the biggest cock ever. What are you talking about?” We’re just having a laugh and they don’t get our sense of humour at all but oh well, fuck it. That’s what I fucking mean about the internet. It’s a breeding ground for negativity and hatred and it’s ridiculous. In the pit – Some people huh? Haha! So, what have you got in store for tonight’s crowd? Dan – We’re playing the longest set we’ve every played. It’s like, thirteen or fourteen songs. We’re playing songs off every album doing stuff from out first and second album, a lot from ‘Hollow Crown’ and two from our new album. So it’s like spanning our whole career. It’s an opportunity for us to do that and we do spend our whole year doing support tours abroad and playing for like half an hour. Sometimes we go on about five thirty or six o’clock with a five minute changeover and then getting kicked out the back of the venue when you’re done.
It’s so different on this tour like I said, getting treated great and having everything done for us. But, I’m not physically prepared to play drums for an hour! The first night I thought I was going to die! Look at my finger! -Dan holds out finger with a massive blister on itIn the pit – Fuckin’ ell! Dan - It’s wrecked! So bad! It feels horrible! In the pit – Yeah it looks it! Did you not also have a problem at some point when you pulled a muscle in your hand? You couldn’t play drums or something? Dan – Aw! Yeah, I had that last night. I’ve got a really bad wrist and for a while I thought I made it worse but I get by! I rest the rest of the day! In the pit – Well last of all man, do you have anything to say to the fans? Dan – Thank you! For being tolerant! And letting us do whatever we want and supporting us. It’s wild thinking about how many people are onboard with team Architects these days. We’re very thankful for that! In the pit – Thanks Dan, you’ve been great and a pleasure to talk to! Have a great show tonight! Dan – Yeah man it’ll be great! Our first ever sell out show in Glasgow! Looking forward to it! -
SLAVES TO G R AV I T Y REVIEW:CHANTELLE JADE BURNS PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
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Slaves to Gravity @ O2 Academy Newcastle Luckily for the UK, Alterbridge decided to have an awesome support band with them. Slaves to Gravity are an alternate rock band from London. The band have released popular hits such as Big Red, Mr Regulator and Meantime. The band has toured with some fantastic bands in the past, including the likes of Lacuna Coil and Aiden. As soon as Slaves to Gravity took to the stage the first thing I noticed were the gigantic boxes at the front of the stage which appeared to be subwoofers. As the band started playing you could feel the vibrations go right through you. Since I was silly enough to stand on the barrier, I could feel my hair moving due to the impact of vibrations. The sound was ridiculously loud but really suited to the bands loud natured music. Tommy, the vocalist and general guitarist, made use of the stage, dancing around with his guitar and playing off against Toshi, the bassist, and Mark, the lead guitarist. The crowd responded well to the guys, singing along and headbanging throughout the performance. It was clear that the band enjoyed their performance and the catchy tracks went down really well with the hyperactive crowd. The band appeared enthusiastic and weren’t at all sloppy with their playing. The band played the track Mr Regulator from their album Scatter The Crow, as well as the song’s latest single Honesty – the video features regularly on Kerrang! TV and is a fan favourite. The crowd clearly enjoyed a good sing along, chanting the chorus to Heaven is a Lie and coming in on other songs where they knew the words. In general an active stage persona and fantastic live show, definitely a band to see, can’t wait for them to do another headline tour! Here’s the band’s MySpace and official website: http://www.myspace.com/slavestogravityofficial http://www.slavestogravity.com/
REVIEW:CHANTELLE JADE BURNS PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
Alter Bridge @ O2 Academy Newcastle The awesome US rockers Alter Bridge from Orlando - Florida graced us with their almighty presence on their UK tour promoting their amazing new album ‘AB III’. The band formed in 2004 and haven’t had a single line-up change. The band was formed by former Creed members Mark, Brian and Scott, with Myles Kennedy formerly of The Mayfield Four as vocalist and guitarist. The lyrics in their newest album have been noted for shedding light on dark matters, where as the first 2 had a lighter lyrics. The full crowd mustered up a huge chant prior to the band beginning their set. The chant went on for about a minute or so and then the house lights dimmed. You could feel the excitement emanating from the crowd, a crowd who’d waited so long to see this band; some people had queued for over 6 hours for this set. A soft purple lighting struck the stage and there was an enormous outbreak of clapping. The band took to the stage in turn and the crowd quietened down a little. The performance got off to a static start, with not much energy and movement but about midway through the second song, the bassist owned the stage. The speakers were shaking due to the vast amounts of noise radiating from them, and you could see the crowd loved the loud and energetic songs; the whole room was shaking from the jumping that was going on near the front. A fair few great songs were played, including a new track called ‘I Know it Hurts,’ The classic ‘Metalingus,’ ‘Ties that Bind’ and Blackbird.’ Another song played was one of my new found favourites, its track 4 from their new album and it’s called All Hope Is Gone. It seemed to get a good audience reaction which was easy anyhow with a band of this high of calibre. The song that stood out to me the most for strength of performance and crowd participation was the acoustic Watch Over You with just Myles and his beautiful yet haunting vocals on stage. It was quite touching, the performance and the crowd chant being so enthusiastic; there’ll have probably been a good few crying fans that night. Most people seemed to be singing along, and Myles put his heart and soul into the performance.
In general a good gig, I must admit though, the sound quality in the O2 Academy let down this band’s performance a little, as it has with many other bands, but it was evident the band put a lot of effort into the set and they made up for the academy’s faults with their awesome music. 10/10 for effort and performance though! Here’s a link to the band’s MySpace: www.myspace.com/alterbridge And the band’s official website: www.alterbridge.com
Photographers notes: Saw these guys at Download 2008 they were awesome then and they exceeded all expectations for this gig – WOW!!
BLEEDING THROUGH
REVIEW:NICK MURPHY PHOTOS:CHRISTEENY.COM
Bleeding Through, Newcastle Academy After 11 years together, it’s clear that Bleeding Through know how to put on a performance! After the first few bands on the bill strutted their stuff in a rather generic hardcore metal fashion, it was a massive relief to see BT bursting into their set as if ten years of touring hadn’t even happened. They were definately helped there by the average age of the audence members! Frontman Brandan Schieppati strode on stage to cheers from the ensemble of teenage fans, dressed in just a pair of black shorts, showing off a physique that put the previous acts to shame and instantly tore into their first track, Love Lost In A Hail Of Gunfire. Throughout the set, Shieppati goaded security and convinced a number of the young audience to disobey the “no crowdsurfing” rules, and opened up circle pits the likes of which the Academy rarely sees. Acrobatics from Bassist Ryan Wombacher and the honesty and overall performance by a band who know how to play together and play well, made for a thoroughly enjoyable set. I thought nothing had changed in Hardcore over the past decade, but a band who’ve been around for the whole lot of it showed that it can still be bloody impressive! I managed to get all the way through the review without saying how hot Keyboard player Marta looked. Very Very. -NM
SEE YOU ALL IN 2011 ;-D