Thanks to Joe Edwards ( who made the cover ), Tom Fry, Olivia Dytor, Dawid Graczyk, Aleksander Kortylewski, Karolina Pudełko and everyone who helped, shared, read and supported me. ~Dreams come true. LOST 2015
CONTENT 4....................................LIKE HOME - Interview 8....................HARD TO BREATHE - Interview 18................................SOUNDCHECK - Citizen 20......................ARTICLE - Sentimental Sounds 24............................SANDLOTKIDS - Interview 30................................TITLE FIGHT - Interview 34...........................CLASSICS - „Static Prevails” 36...........................................................REVIEWS
LIKE HOME
INTERVIEW WITH TOM FRY ( GUITAR / VOCALS )
facebook.com/likehomefleet likehome.bandcamp.com Hi! What’s up? Can you give me a little background about your band? Hey, We are Like Home, a three-piece band from Fleet, Hampshire, in the UK, and we’ve been together for a couple of years now. Before it all started, I used to go over to Joe’s house and we would cover songs we liked, me playing guitar, and joe playing bass. We talked about possibly starting a band with our friend, Tom, as he played drums, and was in to the same music as us. We first covered songs by Touché Amoré, Defeater, and some other bands we were in to. We had another guitarist for a while, our good friend Greg Miles, but he was off to uni after the summer, so we all felt it was best to continue as a three-piece. From there on, we started writing our own music, and developing our own sound, and now we’re here.
You have recently released a 2 track EP, which is a really good material! Tell me about writing and recording process...and why only 2 songs? Thanks a lot! Those two songs have been around for a while, so we’re happy to finally have them recorded/released. We were originally going to use them as part of a four-track EP, but by the time recording came around, we felt the other two songs weren’t as strong, and didn’t feel right being on the same release. The idea of a two track seemed appealing, because we wanted to put something out before next year, even if it was something short and sweet. We recorded drums at Joe’s college, as he has access to their recording studio, guitars were at our friend Edd’s house, and we recorded vocals ourselves. We then sent the tracks over to our friend
Phil Bashford, a guy who was recommended to me by Matt (former member of) Keepsafe. We were really happy with the results, and couldn’t wait to show people. Basing not only on your sound, but even on posts on your tumblr, your new music video and video for LOST Unplugged I can assume that you’re really into 90s and analog stuff, am I right? Why do you find it cool? I’ve been in to analogue for a long time. I’ve studied photography for years, and I shoot mostly on film. Joe is kind of the same. When
it came to shooting the video, we wanted to do something special, and we’d talked about shooting it on film back when we first started releasing music. People like it for different reasons, but I’ve always found it to be very textural, kind of how vinyl or tape is to mp3s. Digital is still incredibly useful, It’s just a matter of preference. And what are your general inspirations? Musically and in general. Me and Joe are both pretty similar creatively, and we take
inspiration from pretty much anywhere, music, art, life experience, lots of things really. We’re in to all kinds of music, which definitely influences how we write. Things like song structures, harmonies, etc. As for the design side of things, designing our merch and album art is something we really enjoy doing. Seeing as Joe comes from a design background, and me, a photography background, we work on a lot of stuff together. Joe wants me to include that he loves April Greiman’s work, so go check her out.
give advice, which is nice to see.
What about
We’re actually in the middle of organising a weekender, which should be happening early next year, then we’ll be recording some time after that. We’ll see how things play out. // Bastian
are your thoughts UK punk scene?
Being in a band has opened us up to so many different artists. You end up hearing about some band that’s just started, and are killing it, or friends in other bands will recommend much older artists you might not have come across. More and more promoters seem to be popping up, and more shows seem to be happening with younger/newer bands. We’re still discovering new bands all the time, and will then try to get in touch with them to play a show. In short, the UK scene seems to be growing, and more opportunities seem to be available. There are a lot of good bands in the UK, who are happy to help out, and
Tell me something ut guitar gear you
abouse.
I play a telecaster, plugged in to a Marshall Valvestate 100 head. Sometimes I use a Aquapuss delay pedal to fill out certain sections when we play live, but other than that, I like to keep things simple. Maybe I’ll move on to other pedals in the future, but for now, I’m happy. What are your upcoming plans? Tour? New release?
^oliviadytor.tumblr.com
tom-fry.tumblr.com ^^
facebook.com/hardtobreathe.warsaw hardtobreathe.bandcamp.com Hi!
How
are
you
doing?
Maciek: Hi! It’s great, thanks. It’s Sunday today so I’ve been doing yoga, had an awesome breakfast, been to an exhibition about Freemasonry and now I’m having a quick break because later I’m practicing with Test Prints and Hard To Breathe after that. Me and my girlfriend have recently received a package of a few brand new rap CDs from Germany so we repeat things like Kool Savas, Said, Marteria, Casper and even Cro! Krzysiek: They call me The Pagan Of HTB, one more jump, one more joke. But nobody’s a saint, we all know it. Me and my homies in closed surrounding. I come from Mokotów, a place where I’m known everywhere and it really satisfies me. Tomek: Hello. In general it’s cool. Life goes more or less smoothly, I’m privately glad about last few months, I can say. Right now I’m thinking how to avoid stress through the following winter. That season should be actually banned.
The social life almost dies, people hide in their life sheds, a stroll is not a stroll anymore and, what’s worse, you can barely see the sun. Hola! Let’s not be too pessimistic spring will come no matter what. We have to be happy about it. In the article some time ago Krzysiek mentioned the beginning of HTB. Could you remind it in a few words? Krzysiek: Exactly. You guys finish what I’ve begun. Maciek: We wanted to have a band of buddies just to spend time in some nice way and we actually played more shows than rehearsals in the very beginning. That was fun but, come on. Finally we noticed practicing was truly important so we decided to make so-called emo and not long after set Mokwa into our team (he was in Deadlift at that time). For me that is the moment everything started. For a few weeks now Grzesiek is with us (Death Row, Bullet Belt) so it’s a kind of a milestone as well.
Tomek: It’s been a long time... For me it was not that pleasant time of my life, the moment they invited me seemed a chance. I guess we didn’t realize we’d be playing so long together, that we would release anything and we’d make it to go further and further, finally - that we’d fight so many obstacles. We wouldn’t have even thought we would develop mhsically so much. But I think it all came out quite well. The way was „pointy” - from zero to hero. I do think we should be glad about it. Recently, thanks to Antena Krzyku, your new „Spotkanie” 7”. Tell me a bit about this release, writing and recording
proccess. I guess it costed you a lot of yourselves? Maciek: These songs are what’s been left from the recording session of the LP. From seven recorded they (EXCLUDING ME) chose only three. The two remeining from the single were meant to be the firs and the last song of the album - they’ve been making it the whole thing. We didn’t want to part them. The third song will soon come out as a part of the split with Guantanamo Party Program. And yeah, it took a while to prepare them but we are familiar with that during making of everything in HTB. Even though we’ve been playing those two live for a
year and a half. We’ve been recording in Milanówek in Sound Grenade Studio in the beginning of 2014. Later we’ve had some issues on in-band communication and it took us over half a year to track the vocals in Moustache Ministry and finally finish the thing. Unfortunately due to different lifestyles of us we weren’t able to do it right away so everyone would be happy about the effects. Wojtek should’ve prepare guest rooms at his place in Milanówek to let the band move out during the recording process. We could’ve have a place to meditate and shit - that place would be the best. For the next time we should practise more and know exactly what we want to put on the record. Tomek: We’d come up with an idea of the LP. There had been one - at least in theory - cool vision. The album had been meant to be a whole complete thing as musically as lyrically. It’d had to tell a story - from the first meeting ‚till the goodbye with a few different stages of relationship in between. The lads have recorded around half an hour of music; there were barely four songs during the recording. I’d found it really hard to describe all those inexact feelings in a convincing way (at least for me). So tiring. I started doing the vocals in a really bad time of the year for me. I was mentally broken, I co
uldn’t focus on anything, I had really bad thoughts. My first attempt on tracking was a complete failure. I found it even worse than I did on our demo (which was horrible and no one should ever hear it again). The second try wasn’t much better. Imagine that I didn’t „feel” one of the songs and didn’t even sing it in during our practices back then. I jad no ideas, no power. So I was the one slowing us down. All in all we let the release be as a 3-track album, which I had lyrics written to and they were making itna whole thing. In my opinion those are awesome. Meanwhile I started to work on my mentality. What’s more - the studio has changed to the one closer to home. Under attendance of Klima - whom I would love to thank so much for what he taught me - I have finally made it to record my vocal parts. Krzysiek: When you plan one thing while doing something else and something completely different comes out - you know something went wrong. There’s no point in analysing this case through. Releasing that EP was a rapid idea and even quicker making it come true. Kind of a shock how quick and happy it turned out. How did it happen that the album has been released by Antena Krzyku?
year and a half. We’ve been recording in Milanówek in Sound Grenade Studio in the beginning of 2014. Later we’ve had some issues on in-band communication and it took us over half a year to track the vocals in Moustache Ministry and finally finish the thing. Unfortunately due to different lifestyles of us we weren’t able to do it right away so everyone would be happy about the effects. Wojtek should prepare some guest rooms at his place in Milanówek to let bands move in during the recording process to meditate and shit - it would be the best. For the next time we should practice more and know exactly what we want to put on the record. Tomek: We came up with an idea of the LP. There had been one - at least in theory - cool vision. The album was meant to be a whole complete thing as musically as lyrically. It’d had to tell a story from the first meeting ‚till the goodbye with a few different stages of relationship in between. The lads have recorded around half an hour of music; there were barely four songs during the recording. I’d found it really hard to describe all those inexact feelings in a convincing way (at least for me). So tiring. I started doing the vocals in a really bad time of the year for me. I was mentally broken, I couldn’t focus on anything, I had re-
ally bad thoughts. My first attempt on tracking was a complete failure. I found it even worse than I did on our demo (which was horrible and no one should ever hear it again). The second try wasn’t much better. Imagine that I didn’t „feel” one of the songs and didn’t even sing it in during our practices back then. I had no ideas, no power. So I was the one slowing us down. All in all we let the release be as a 3-track album, which I had lyrics written to and they were making it a whole thing. In my opinion those are awesome. Meanwhile I started to work on my mentality. What’s more - the studio has changed to the one closer to home. Under attendance of Klima - whom I would love to thank so much for what he taught me - I have finally made it to record my vocal parts. Krzysiek: When you plan one thing while doing something else and something completely different comes out - you know something went wrong. There’s no point in analysing this case through. Releasing that EP was a rapid idea and even quicker making it come true. Kind of a shock how quick and happy it turned out. How did it happen that the album has been released by Antena Krzyku?
Tomek: Maciek knows some people, haha. We were ready for a split with Guantanamo Party Program. We knew „Zima” will be on it (the most important song for me, the lyrics are a huge personal thing). „Spotkanie” and „Pożegnanie” were also included, because it’d be a shame not to do it as they are filling each other. We’ve come up with an idea of putting them together as an EP. And then was a time for those magical contacts of Maciek. As for me, personally, I’d never thought I’ll be a member of a band from the label of Antena Krzyku. This is wicked! Maciek: I was in touch with Arek, because he was co-producing the vinyl reissue of the second Peru album (one of the best polish albums in the world) which I had been designing a cover for and those were exactly the same days we were reaching the end of recording the
vocals and I had just received first mixes. He listened to it and made an offer we couldn’t have declined. The discs came a month after. Krzysiek: Action then reaction. Bang. By the time of us preparing the other release we got the offer from Arek and after seven days the album went to the factory. Thanks, Arek. The premiere of your single was backed by premiere of an awesome music video. A few words about it? Krzysiek: Glad you like it. All of it has been filmed during our European tour in May 2014. I am happy it turned out cool and we’ll have a memory in it. Huge thanks to Łukasz who gave us his time and skill for the second time and produced the clip.
A few words about the emo scene in Poland? Maciek: My favourites: Aporia, Beaver, Escapism, Brooks Was Here, No Values and Astrid Lindgren. There is more and more emo lately. I have a feeling there is a growing movement among most music scenes. Well, I gotta admit I’ve fallen a little bit behind with the hardcore/punk scene for the last few months. Fuck, I forgot the Aporia’s pre-order… Krzysiek: There are many cool bands which tour and record all the time. I think it’s going the right way and the only thing we can worry about are quick break-ups – R.I.P. Mojapołowa – apart from that it’s fine. I do hope there will be more and more sad bands with different strange arrangements. Tomek: It’s been a very good time for a while. I don’t want to skip any band but I am impressed with the things happening. Contrary to appearances, we used to have a bunch of those emo (though in very different subgenres). In fact there may have been a little drought at some time but recently there are more and more presenting very high level, having cool lyrics, cool ideas while keeping tight to the hardcore/punk scene. Mojapołowa (R.I.P.), Marksman, Astrid Lindgren, GPP, Czerń, Kaldera, Beaver, ANSA, Escapism,
Lie After Lie, I Hope You die, Aporia, Torn Shore, Brooks Was Here, No Values – these bands show that it’s possible to play emo in a variety of ways – from typical screamo even to metal. Another new bands are showing up. For exaple Shame and The Human Complain are now recording. I am pretty sure I forgot at least a few projects worth attention. Deep inside I hope there will become a sort of screamo/emo bands slightly refering to styles of bands such as Old Gray, I Create, Kaddish, Perfect Future, CityCop, Tiger Magic or very philosophish and artis Locktender. I don’t mean the rash rip-off of the ones listed. It’d be great. What ring
are for
you prepaus recently?
Maciek: The 7” split with Guantanamo Party Program is soon to come out. At the end of winter we plan another split – this time with Marksman. I’m not completely sure if it’s secret but we were talking about it for 2 years so now it’s high time to start talking about it loud. Other way it’d never go on. Interested labels are welcome to contact. On the other hand there is a plan of releasing all the songs from the EP, 3 splits and compilations as one CD (this is for those vinyl haters) because it’s like over a dozen of messed up stuff. Moreover,
it’s gonnna be quite many shows and I really do hope we release that first album. Well, yeah, there’s become a saying „first album for the 10th anniversary”, so it’s like 2 years to go. Tomek: First of all, we’re waiting for the split with Guantanamo Party Program and shows scheduled for the near future. We’re slowly figuring out some new songs. Grzesiek, who replaced Michał, is out friend; he’s been playing with us on a few tours so it’s going to be fine. Krzysiek: I’m getting myself fit, have lost 6kgs so far and, what’s more, I began wearing sunglasses. Apart from that, non-stop PMA and having fun in my life. New situational jokes and the good old ones. But seriously, we’re practicing old songs with the new guitarist and słowly making the new material. We’ve just started but there’s already some new stuff. I put huge hopes into surprising you with the new sounds when we hit Poznań next time. As always – big thanks toyou, Bastian, and for your interest and I’m looking forward to your band’s songs. We’ll throw a show together – I do believe! H5!
Bastian//translated by:A. Kortylewski
piataesencja.pl
FLOOD RECORDS Belgian Emo / Punk / Screamo / Hardcore label
www.floodfloorshows.com AVAILABLE NOW: * Depths. - We Love, We Lose, We Break 7” EP (BE / post-hardcore) * 52 Hertz - Somnolence 12” EP (DE / Emo) * ØJNE / Улыбайся Ветру - split 7” (IT-RUS / Screamo) * Sunpower - Concrete Blues 12” EP (BE / Punk)
Sandlotkids. I Will Wait Here
Coldsore By Bike
12” EP on colored vinyl
7” EP on ??? vinyl
Also available in the store: releases by Deathwish Inc (Touche Amore, MLIW, Converge,...), No Sleep Records (La Dispute, Xerxes, Moose Blood,..), Topshelf Records (The Jazz June, Caravels, Empire! Empire!,...), Run For Cover Records (Tigers Jaw, Citizen, Pity Sex,...), Dog Knights Productions (Nai Harvest, Headroom, Rainmaker,...), FITA Records (Bent Life, Departures,...) and A LOT more!
KOEPFEN
records. artworks. love.
COMING EARLY 2015
VIVA BELGRADO - FLORES, CARNE 12”
SANDLOTKIDS - I WILL WAIT HERE 12”
WHEREBIRDSMEETTODIE / DEAREST SPLIT 7”
CURRENT KOEPFEN RELEASES REASONIST - NOTHING IN COMMON EP TAPE REASON TO CARE - EVYN 12” TRACHIMBROD - A COLLECTION OF HIDDEN SKETCHES TAPE THINGS FALL APART / TALL SHIPS SET SAIL / INFRO / SHIZUNE SPLIT 12” UNSAID. - LOVED EP TAPE
koepfenrecords.bandcamp.com facebook.com/koepfen koepfen.tictail.com
SOUNDCHECK Ryland Oehlers ( Citizen )
What guitars are you currently using? Which one is your favourite? Reverend Jetstream 390 and Fender Telecaster. I love them both equally have been using my Reverend more during our live shows because I lik using the whammy bar and I love how it looks. What was your first guitar? The first guitar I ever had was a Danelectro. Not sure what model. It was giving to me for Christmas one year I believe I was maybe 12 or 13. I just remember it was extremely sparkly! What pedal effects are you using? I use: Earnie Ball Volume Jr TC Electronic PolyTune EarthQuaker Devices Hoof FullTone OCD Boss Blues Driver EH Neo Clone EH Small Stone Boss Tremolo EH Holy Grail EH Cathedral Stereo Reverb EH Memory Man Boss Pitch Shifter
Your favourite amp/head? Why? I recently bought a vintage Fender Bassman from 1969 and I absolutely adore it. Has that great old fender clean tone which I have always loved. This thing can also get unnecessarily loud if I wanted it too. I have played through an Orange Rockerverb 100 for the whole duration of being in this band. The gain channel on them, to me, is one of the best you’ll get. What kind of guitar gear are you dreaming of? Since I’ve been obtaining a lot of new gear lately I feel like my dreams are becoming a reality by having it all but I would definitely dream of having a room full of pedals to have at my disposal since those are what I throw a lot of my money at.
fot. rylandoehlersphoto.tumblr.com
Sentimental Sounds
Growing up as a first generation Chinese american might have been one of the toughest things that I had to grow through while growing up. When you are first born, you are automatically put inside this box, one in which you are suppose to make good grades, go to a great college, get a well paying job, and follow those traditional ideas (after all, my parents didn’t immigrate to america so I could get a B+ in everything I do). I always felt I was a little different, and it really wasn’t until I entered middle school that I realized that I may have been out of step. The more time I spent outside of my home, the more I realized that I didn’t fit inside of this boxed marked for your stereotypical chinese girl. I never once tried to fit inside this box. It was around the same time that I started going to see homegrown emo bands, now dead, play live. First bringing a small digital camera and later my passion evolved into bringing along a small digital slr. It felt right, especially because at the time, I wasn’t hard into any particular type of music. I just wanted to be there, to check it out. Somehow I found a box that I liked, that I picked. I preoccupied with shooting and not by the fact that I didn’t know any of the bands.
Through this unconscious process I got to know the bands in a musical and emotional sense. The photographs captured how much passion the artists had for their music. Photographing bands became 30% not standing around awkwardly and 70% trying to capture that emotion. Like anything while growing up, you some how end up putting it away to graduate and to work on your future. What I wanted for myself was completely different from what my parents had planned out for me. I was nothing like they had imagined me to turn out; listening to loud music, being a terrible student, hanging out with friends all the time doing, and ‘god knows what’. It has been a tough fight and getting tougher as high school graduation reared it’s ugly head. In the end I got my way, getting a BFA at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, granted I funded myself through school and I would’ve done anything to do so. When first moving I’d spend days and days just hanging out and working on school projects, just trying to be about the graduate life. It took me a couple years to adjust to living in a new place; I was having a hard time making friends and enjoying San Francisco. As strange as it is, when you leave a place you don’t entirely love it’s still your home and you still miss it. When I finally decided to go to shows again I, ironically, found myself where I was when I was 16 years old. There I was, listening to new bands that I had never heard my camera in hand. It was easier that way, it meant not needing someone to be with me while I checked new music and I got to see how much the band enjoyed playing. Eventually I made lots of new friends at shows and the photos I took collected in the thousands; on my computer, in my hard drive. It was long after starting to go to shows that I decided that the photos needed to be more than just left on my hard drive or on tumblr. When first moving I’d spend days and days just hanging out and working on school projects, just trying to be about the graduate life. It took me a couple years to adjust to living in a new place; I was having a hard time making friends and enjoying San Francisco. As strange as it is, when you leave a place you don’t entirely love it’s still your home and you still miss it. When I finally decided to go to shows again I, ironically, found myself where I was when I was 16 years old. There I was, listening to new bands that I had never heard my camera in hand. It was easier that way, it meant not needing someone to be with me while I checked new music and I got to see how much the band enjoyed playing. Eventually I made lots of new friends at shows and the photos I took collected in the thousands; on my computer, in my hard drive. It was long after starting to go to shows that I decided that the photos needed to be more than just left on my hard drive or on tumblr.
For me, Sentimental Sounds isn’t just a 7’ x7’, 100 page book. It’s a reflection of myself; a years worth of friends and an evolution of how much I’ve grown as a photographer and person. This project became the perfect opportunity to put myself out there as an artist. Through my education I was able to take a graphic design class to teach myself a thing or two about formatting a book and making a simple logo. I was able to apply what I was learning in school into the book, I think this makes for really good practice. Learning new things and growing is such an important part of life, so much so that I had decided that a percentage of the profits made from the book would go to an after school photography program in San Francisco, that teaches young kids photography. My hope is that the book inspires others to put themselves out there no matter where they come from or what box they are put in. Start projects, meet new people, learn something new and apply it to something you love! It’s important to go your own path and do something great rather than getting lost in the shuffle and if you can meet some new friends, and help out some people along the way then it makes the journey even sweeter.! //Senny Mau
facebook.com/sandlotkids sandlotkids.bandcamp.com Hi
dudes!
How
are
you?
Hi dude. We are tired because we are answering your questions while driving home from a secret mission far far away. But other than that pretty good. Sandlotkids yah yah yah. Can you tell the story between forming the band and the name? Orion and Anton used to make music together for a while in different projects from metal to hardcore. But Orion always had this project in mind where he was looking for fellow musicians. A band that tells a story that is honest and happy to try out new things. So Anton introduced him to Georg and they fell in love. Mentally and musically. After looking for another guitar player and finding it in Fabi, Anton joined the band on bass. Thats how this love story started. The name goes back to when Orion started with the idea of the project and wrote the first songs. Basically it is inspired by a movie from the early 90s about
a shy introverted boy who makes friends by playing baseball and about a huge dog. And dogs are what keeps this band together. Fabis family have a very awesome dog that goes by the name of Lucky (keep that in mind). Another reason for him joining this band. Not long ago you released “I will wait here” EP. There were some struggles during the recording process, right? Yes, struggles that made it really hard to keep on going. I, to be honest, expected something a bit else after “Loner”, but I still like the new songs. What opinions did you get so far and are you happy with the final effect? You are not the only one. I guess. We released loner right after founding the band. And i will wait here is the first release with all the members working on the songs. And mainly Finding a sound. We are still in this process. Future releases will probably be a lot different too.
Max Keller ^^ piataesencja.pl vv
About the production. Like you asked before, we had a lot of struggles and it took a lot of time. We changed studios / producers in the process and that changed the sound as well. There are a lot of things that made „i will wait here” what it is. But its exactly this what makes it special. For us it tells a huge story of the beginning phase of this band and the problems we already went trough. Its crazy what feedback we got so far. thats music that comes from the deepest inside of our hearts and the fact that there are people who appreciate and enjoy that really means the world to us. There are people out there that wrote us that our music means something to them and even helped them or that they could identify theireselves in the lyrics and that is what makes us do what we do. What
the
EP
is
about?
All of the lyrics we have and that Orion writes are very honest, personal and mostly sad. There’s a lot about finding yourself while growing up and how hard that can be. Also it is about us growing as a band and also the struggles he/we went trough the last years. If you really want to know what it is about we would love to talk about it person.
Orion: i love writing sad songs. It gives me so much more than trying to write songs that have no meaning to me. I think that makes sense. But this music is my expression and my therapy. Paul Mccartney once said that writing a sad song is a good bag to get into because you can actually acknowledge some deeper feelings of your own and put them in it. It’s a good vehicle, it saves having to go to a psychiatrist. Will there be a vinyl release? Yes the vinyls are on their way. They will arrive soon via koepfen records, beyond Hope records and floodfloorshows Orion, you are the bands art director and you have also your project called Great Hunter. Can you tell us something about it and how did you get interested in art/graphics? Art Director? I just love to combine my drawings with the music we make and somehow it works out. Great Hunter is some kind of my synonym. When I draw I am the Great Hunter. The name comes from the greek mythologie where Orion simply is the great hunter. It has nothing to do with hunting. What i despise.
fot. facebook.com/Momo.Vu.Photography I always drew. My mother is an painting artist and my father used to be a graphic artist, so I had that cradled. But it is tough as well to grow up under those circumstances, affecting my ego. And I always loved comics, cartoons, mangas and of course classic art. What about your acoustic side project - First Day of Aries? First Day of Aries is basically how i started sandlotkids. By writing Songs on my acoustic guitar and trying to teach myself how to sing and i never wanted to stop that so i play a few shows a year. i am still not sure about the name tough. What are your inspirations? What do you listen to recently? a lot Lately. I just went to see Fink live. That was very Nice. Orion: I am a vin- Things that are always good to listen tage Vinyl collector. to and get inspired by is of course Recently i am spinning Joe Brand New and Daughter. I am a very Guy in the Point Jacksons Looking Sharp, a lot common of Beatles, Queen, Neil Young, of listening to music. I shoSimon and Garfunkel and so uld listen to way more bands. on. Also Georg and me have a I think we all have a very diversified passion for Foo Fighters and i taste in music. that helps making really like the new record. The music because it makes it more inNew pianos become the te- teresting but makes it way harder eth is awesome. Waited a long to decide what kind of music you time for it. Just what i thought want to make. For example if cothey Would do. Mewithoutyous nverge and the beatles are two of Brother, Sister is running your favorite bands than you want
to get rid of the hard and heavy stuff. if i was a good screamer you would here it a lot more in our music. but i suck at that, unfortunately. And Reason To Cares Evyn inspired us a lot. And of course there are a lot more bands to mention but i think you know what we like when you listen to our music. Here some favorite bands of the bandmates: Anton:Against me! Metallica! Georgy:Taylor swift, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins Fabi:Mastodon, Witchcraft
vox ac30 and just got into the Pedal matter. I have also bought Fender Telecaster Deluxe Chris Shiflett recently.
What guitar gear do use? (guitars, pedals
you etc)
Georg:
stuff
Making music. Playing shows. Spreading peace, love and unity. Petting some dogs. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Without the Rave because raving is EW! // Bastian
drum
Orion: I am very happy with my
Fabi: I’m playing a fender ‚52 telecaster hot rod deluxe through an orange ad30. not the most common combination, but i love that sound. the orange comes with two channels with splited eq’s which is the actual reason I was going for it. On top of that i use some pedals, mostly delay and reverb stuff.... . What are your band plans for the nearest future?
fot. facebook.com/Momo.Vu.Photography
facebook.com/titlefight titlefight.org Hi! What’s up? How s the tour with Circa Survive going?
Title Fight (boxing match) and he thought it looked cool so it stuck.
Shane Moran: Hey. The tour is going well. It picked up a lot once we hit the west coast. Circa survive are very nice people. Big shows - like 1000-2500 people.
How would you compare playing music then to now?
I know that you all started the band when you were pretty young, can you tell us about the origins of TF? How did you come up with that name? It’s true that the band started at a young age. I actually didn’t join the band until 2005 when everyone was a little bit older. Ned Ben and Jamie formed the band in 2003 when they were 12 and 13. They were just young and excited about music and we’re looking to start a band. Kind of the same story as many kids around that age that are into playing music. As far as choosing a name, I believe that Ned saw an old TV advertisement in his attic promoting a
In some ways it’s different but many ways it’s the same. Our perspective, ability, and influence has changed over the years but I get the same feeling now as I did when I first joined. I will admit sometimes being on tour and meeting deadlines and things like that can make things a little less enjoyable at times but the general vibe is same. Your old material was pretty pop punk/hardcore, and then, record by record, there was more and more alternative music influences, like grunge or shoegaze. Does it reflect the change of your music taste? What were your influences then and now? Yeah definitely. Although I think a lot of people (press outlets especially) kind of beat those genre tags to death.
photo: Senny Mau We are always letting new music influence our sound but it’s not as cut and dry as it may seem. We don’t decide „this is gonna be a shoegaze song with a hint of grunge...” We just do our thing and hope it’s cool. After that the Internet usually decides their new favorite descriptions and one liners to toss around but that sort of thing is kind of annoying to me. We are still influenced by a lot of the same music from when we started but we are always trying to find more things to be inspired by. If that doesn’t happen I think that it is pretty easy to become too self aware of your „sound” and that can become toxic.
Almost every record you put out was released by different labels, can you tell us about those changes? For me, the label side of things continues to be a learning process. For every release we have been in a different position to make a decision that was kind of in stride with what we are going for at that time. Early on we kind of planted the seed with Run For Cover, after that we were looking for a way to reach more people and gain some legitimacy with Sideone, Rev we basically did just to be a part of their history and now with Antiwe are trying to shine next to
the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Kate Bush. I’m happy to say that all of our label relationships have been and continue to be healthy both old and new. You released series of sneak peeks of your upcoming record. Also the release date leaked recently. How would you describe your new sound? What can we expect? The new record has a lot of similar elements of our most recent releases with a few more challenging elements. I abuse my trem bar and chorus on this record. Some riffs are really basic. To me it’s a record record and not really full of singles or anything. It’s more about the big picture. Can you tell us shortly about the guitar gear you use? I love your sound so i m curious of your guitars, pedals etc. I switched from a Les Paul to a Mustang. Pedals are really basic.. Mostly just use chorus, reverb, and a pick up booster by a company called TSVG. Jamie has a few more tricks as far as pedals go but we aren’t really nerds about that stuff. We try to make our guitars and amps sound good first and then we will supplement with some pedals when needed
but I would say that pedals are only a fraction of our sound. I think the way the play, chords we use, and how we physically play our instruments is what gives us most of our „sound”. Do you play in any side projects? And would you recommend some new bands you like? Not currently. But Jamie has a band called haze. Ned has stick together, disengage, 3D, and a ton of other stuff I don’t really know about. Ben is in FERAL MAN. Do you remember your gig in Poland? Everyone here says it was one of the best punk gigs ever haha did you enjoy playing? Do you have any plan of coming back :) ? Yeah I remember driving to your city on dirt roads through the countryside. We were in Poland- a place so far from home and somewhere I never expected to be. That made me think the show wouldn’t be good but I remember playing and being so shocked with how crazy it got. Very cool show. I want to come back and eat pierogis. We have a lot of Polish-Americans where we are from in Pennsylvania so I feel the connection.
// Bastian
CLASSICS: Jimmy Eat World „Static Prevails” Static Prevails is a second album from Jimmy Eat World. After strongly pop-punk debut, the band has completely changed their course and created one of the best albums of the scene then. Jimmy Eat World has been playing together for only 6-7 months, when Capitol Records, one of the greater labels got interested of them. They signed a contract in 1995, but after some time JEW members admitted, that it happened too early and they weren’t completely ready. The band complained that nobody in Capital cared about them, and they were forced to deal with many matters themselves. Anyway, the first-born (and in fact, very fine) child of this hard relationship was Static Prevails. Album produced in cooperation with the legend (he currently fries donuts in Donut Friend :)) Mark Trombino, is filled with mixture of highly energetic compositions (Thinking, That’s All, Call It In The Air), more calm tracks (Episode IV, Claire) and everything that balances beetween. No clear split of vocal resposibilities among Jim Adkins and second guitarist Tom Linton diversifies music compositions even more, and creates easy on the ears contrast between both guys voices. What’s more about the vocals – we can hear Eric Richter form Christie Front Drive on Digits, which is nice accent. My personal favourite is unquestionably World is Static. Without unnecessary whining I admit that I actually love everything in this song. From the first sounds, the way it develops, through its dynamics, energy, lyrics layer and explosing riffs. Jimmy Eat World is a band, which confuses you at least. Their every consecutive album drifts to more distant stylistics, compared to the one that they started with, but many will ignore the band anyway after hearing The Middle or Last Christmas cover. It doesn’t change the fact, that Static Prevails is a strong position, which pushes off the shelf many newer albums. //Aron Klichowicz transl. D. Graczyk
REVIEWS
Water Canvas „At Least” EP Indie emo’s from Brighton, Water Canvas, draw influences from all across the spectrum of the punk scene to create their own unique and refined sound. Their bright and light guitar tones mixed with both singing and shouting vocals makes their sound stand out and differ from others. Opener on the EP, Memorial Drive, stands out as a focal point and one of their finest creations as they build the pace and energy throughout the first few minutes before launching into a chorus that seems almost pop punk influenced. The layering of two different styles of vocals work together in harmony to create a fuller and intense sound. The rest of the songs on the EP follow the same tone and style as set out in At Least each with their own unique elements, providing a great EP and set of songs. The final track on the EP, Curve, features slow, light and dreamy chords and a beat with a speech played over the top, showing Water Canvas’ ability to produce and write unique material whilst staying true to their original sound.//O.Dytor The Tourist “Love Will Find You” A trio from Germany. Listening to their new record I had the feeling, that one day these guys just said something like “Ok, now every one of us will throw his 3 favourite CDs to this box and we will mix it”, and it’s not a bad thing! I, personally, hear on this record most of the things I love in music, like post-hardcore emotionality, the tension/sensitivity of 90s underground emo bands, beautiful harmonies and loads of melodies, a great variety of riffs and beats from some kind of technical match rock through more dark hardcore ones to calm indie melodies. Really cool thing about this band is that every member is involved in singing/screaming what really makes the vocal parts stand out. Every instrument is well presented, nothing dies in the background. My favourite tracks for now are the second single - “Track For” and the ending track “Stock Market Heroes” but I think that the great variety of sounds on this record will satisfy almost everyone! Check out The Tourist, I predict a great future for this band!//Bastian
Like Home „There’s A Shade / You’re Nothing” The latest offering from the Fleet trio, Like Home, may only feature 2 tracks but it proves their worth as songwriters and musicians. The first track, There’s A Shade, starts with a bass line intro followed by an intricate drum fill before the whole band play together and the vocals come in too. The mix of two vocalists allows for variety within their sound whilst letting both of them shine. This track sounds slightly darker, heavier and slower than their previous songs showing how they have progressed and bridges the gap between their last EP and their upcoming, grungier EP. Second track Your Nothing builds up the pace with faster drums and guitars whilst retaining the same tones throughout created by the unique sounds of both of the vocalists voices and the guitar tone. This track makes you want to head bang and sing along with the catchy melodies and riffs. There’s A Shade / You’re Nothing is a great offering from a promising upcoming post-hardcore band.//O.Dytor Coloured In “2015” A brand new band from Kent, UK. The grunge/punk 3-piece just released their first 3 songs as a small demo/EP called simply 2015 and for me its one of the most promising releases of past few months. You can hear that guys have some experience from previous bands cause songs are really well written and easy to remember. Both riffs and vocal melodies are really poppy and full of dirt at the same time, after hearing it for just few times I caught myself singing along and nodding to these songs. Although this material isn’t perfect it’s really solid debut release! Can’t wait for more! // Bastian Hindsights „Cold Walls / Cloudy Eyes” is the perfect follow up from Hindsights last release in 2013, The Thoughts That Weigh Me Down. The album continues along with well crafted, similar tones, lyrical themes and riffs as heard in their back catalogue, showing that Hindsights have found and perfected their sound. Opener, Everything Inside Me Echoed begins as a slower and quieter track from the album, focussing on just a riff and vocals before the whole band joins in creating emotive and powerful music. Pensive is another song that begins slow and calm before a catchy head nodding chorus ensues. The closing track to the
THE VAPORS KER ┃ NIGHT SPOTLIGHT ┃ BENDING ORKS ┃ REMINDER AINST OOPED ANDSCAPES
album, Sore, is the longest on the album and seems to sum it up. The verses begins tepid and quiet before launching into a heavier, riffier and catchy chorus, a common theme throughout the album. Hindsights show their ability as musicians and songwriters here as they build an eclectic and emotional ending to the album through loud dreamy riffs and pounding drums. Cold Walls / Cloudy Eyes is an excellent offering from Hindsights to most fans of rock/emo music, as it is easy to listen to and accessible whilst retaining their original tones and catchy and clever riffs.//O. Dytor Swain “Heavy Dancing” EP - The punks from This Routine is Hell decide to change their name into “Swain” more or less because of, as they said, huge sound change on the new record. Is that true? For me there are no “drastic” changes, but there are some hearable ones for sure. The new EP reminds me a lot of the 90s Seattle sound, but you can’t say it got rid off their characteristic hardcore sound. The whole record, for me, sounds more like another step in progress than heading another direction. The band is floating around social and existencial topics - there are no big changes here as well. It’s really melodic, you really want to move and scream to those tracks ( especially to “I Need Some Space” !). I have to admit that I love this EP, it’s really good and too short! I love the “new” sound. I’m really curious if the band will stick to it or “Heavy Dancing” will be more like a bridge between “Howl” and something totally new? I don’t know, but I feel that Swain is one of the bands I can totally trust! // Bastian The Spouds “Fear is the New Self-awareness”The new LP of Warsaw based The Spouds is for sure one of the strongest Polish releases I heard in a long time. From the first track, that begins with nice guitar melody, gives a trace of what the band prepared for us - good, influenced by 80s/90s alternative scene maFEAR IS terial full of noise, shoegaze, post-hc/punk and even THE NEW SELF-AWARENESS emo motives. Dirty riffs,disquieting noises and catchy vocal melodies ( and the second, screaming vocals!)-what’s more to expect? The record is realy diverse, and the whole thing seems really well balanced and consistent. The tracks seem to be full of youth anger, angst and insecurity, sometimes even weariness. 100% honest. My first association was Sonic Youth meets Mineral, it can show somehow the character of this record. I hope that the world of alternative music will hear about The Spouds after the release of this record. They deserve it! // Bastian
Coldsore “By Bike EP” I heard about the belgian emo group some time ago, even some voices that it’s one of the best upcoming bands in Europe, what made me even more curious. Hearing some acoustic tracks and live performances on youtube made really good impression on me, so when I finally got to hear the EP it felt like christmas :). The material is really atmospheric, despite hearable influences in alternative rock, 90s emo and even poppunk the band managed to form their own, unique style. I love the slightly blurred, kind of “disappointed” vocals and the additional vocal parts. We have 3 songs ( and some bonus surprise!), “Insane” lets you float in the bands emotional stream and enjoy the silent-lound-silent parts popular in the 90s bands like Pixies or Nirvana, “Rainy” has a more acoustic feeling just until the full band comes in what sounds just fantastic, but my favourite is the most punky and melodic “Lonely”. Lyrics seem to be really simple, honest and emotional, you can easily relate to them. Despite the shortness of this EP, I’m sure that Coldsore will get the attention of european emo lovers, it’s a great record. Make sure to pre-order ir soon via Flood Floorshows or Koepfen, it’s really worth to support bands and labels like this!//Bastian Molly Drag „Deeply Flawed” City and Colour for all the emo kids! Deeply Flawed is a mostly acoustic mellow, deeply emotional record with a lo-fi feeling. Everyone that got used to the punk standards will be shocked by the long, 20-songs tracklist, and most of them last around 3 minutes. Deeply Flawed feels like it was supposed to be a soundtrack record to sleep, learn or travel to, also good for some rainy weather. I predict that it will be perfect for upcoming early spring (and then autumn). Despite the beauty and calmness of this record, Molly Drag often likes to experiment. Drone acoustic emo-shoegaze? I dig it! // I. Prusakowski Turnstile “Nonstop Feeling” is the latest record by the crew from Balltimore. The previous releases of this band made a lot of noise, and some people even entitled them as “the most original hardcore band” on the scene right now. This record doesn’t lack in some unexpected elements. We can hear, for example, really well arranged singing ( like in “Gravity”). Turnstile is inspired a lot by early 90s sound. It’s been a long time since I heard something that comes back to roots but feels so fresh at the same time. Really interesting moment is also “Can’t deny it” that deserves more attention.
I’d even risk a statement, that vocals on the record feels even a bit “shoegazey” sometimes.For me this album is truly amazing thing. Personally I love this band from the first EP, but with every next step I observe not only progress, but neverending wave of really good ideas. // T. Masłowski Simmer “Yellow Streak” Fresh band from Cheshire that’s taking what’s the best in shoegaze, noise, emo and punk is about to drop their new EP via one of my favourite UK labels - Dog Knights Productions. “Yellow Streak” consists of 4 songs and I dn’t see any weak spots here.We start with the single - “Head Trip. Noisy intro and then awesome, catchy, floating vocals. This one seems to be my favourite. “Douse” hits us with the massive drum sound and the energy, similarly with “Laying Odds”. Despite the shoegazey shell we have loads of punk and post-hc energy here. The last, title track, is more calm and mellow, it simply flows, with its heavier chorus it’s a truly beautiful song. It’s quite adequate to say that it sounds a bit like Nirvana using My Bloody Valentine pedalboard, but Simmer is just a lot more than another shoegaze/punk band. I fell in love with this EP and I highly recommend checking it out!//Bastian Shame „self-titled EP” Shame released their first EP not long ago what made some noise on the hardcore scene around here. This crew from Warsaw that consists of members of bands like The Lowest or Sailor’s Grave, play really good modern/melodic hardcore in some oldschool way. No “post-ambient” bullshit tags on bandcamp - we are given some kind of mixtire of Landscapes and La Dispute on a really high level. They made themselves a good place on the underground scene and I’m sure they will stay here for a while - for me it’s a pure and indisputable 10/10!//I.Prusakowski Cavalcades „Lights Begin To Dance” is a collection of emotive, dreamy, punk songs from Aberdeen emo’s Calvacades. Burning Matchsticks begins with a catchy riff and drums that makes your head nod, combined with shouting vocals with a softer edge setting the tone for the rest of the album, as it follows similar themes and sounds throughout. The vocals, gentle with a Scottish twang, are the main focal point of the beginning of Orchard Street as the other elements and instruments
of the song seamlessly blend into the background, before the band launch into a louder, rockier, emo sound. The final track, What Once Was Poorly Lit, sums up the album through the general emotions and tones conveyed, slow, dreamy, heavy and emotional. Calvacades stand out in a scene heavily saturated with bands through combining different elements of emo lyrics and riffs, post-hardcore vocals and general punk tones. Their album, Lights Begin To Dance, although not released until May, is streaming on Already Heard and worth a listen for fans of The Saddest Landscape and La Dispute.//O.Dytor Title Fight „Hyperview” Title Fight have never been afraid of releasing exactly what they want. It has always felt like their music is the product of four musicians, with varying taste, pitching in pieces of themselves, to create their art. It is also through the work of their good friend, Will Yip, that they are able to capture these ideas, and turn them in to finished pieces. ‚Hyperview’ is the band’s third full-length record, and by far, the most surprising. It’s a long way off from the sound of their first full-length ‚Shed’, but there have been hints to a new sound for quite some time. Listening back to their previous EP “Spring Songs”, you can hear the early stages of this, blossoming on tracks like “Be A Toy”, and (probably the most prominent)“Hypnotize”. The most significant changes on this record are the vocals and guitars, which have been dialled back a significant amount. The vocals seem to float through each song, in a dream-like way, reminiscent of much older acts from the 80s. These lazier vocals, coupled with the much cleaner guitars make for an different listening experience with Title Fight. Songs like “Murder Your Memory”, “Liar’s Love” and “Your Pain Is Mine Now” have a cathartic feel, almost as if they were to be played in the middle of the night, after a heavily emotional experience. However, the tracks pick up the pace on songs like “Rose of Sharon”, “Mrahc”, “Trace Me Onto You”, and a few others, with upbeat riffs, and playful vocal melodies. This balances the record almost perfectly in terms of slow and fast songs. Title Fight have shown maturity in Hyperview, and proved they can write a series of quieter songs in one release, and still keep them sounding fresh. I’m sure no one will expect what they release next, but there are definitely no signs of Title Fight slowing down.//T.Fry