Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 01
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 02
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 03
“The only true thing one can say about the past is that it no longer exists.” Kay Pollack (1994)
Cover Photo ✪ Chiaki Nozu Shot at Brixton Academy February 2006 Issue 8 ✪ March 2006 Burn Magazine PO Box 350, Dover, Kent CT17 0WF U.K. www.burnmag.co.uk t: 0778 476 1772 ISSN: 1740-6382
The Cartel: El Diablo ✪ Sion Smith editor@burnmag.co.uk
black dye white noise
Deputy Editor/Reviews Editor ✪ Kahn Johnson kahn@burnmag.co.uk Movies Editor ✪ Mike Shaw mike@burnmag.co.uk News Editor ✪ Kristian Barford kristian@burnmag.co.uk Radio/Clubs Editor ✪ JJ Haggar radio@burnmag.co.uk Live Editor/Staff Writer ✪ Andy Lye andy@burnmag.co.uk Staff Writer ✪ Louise Steggals louise@burnmag.co.uk Games Editor ✪ John McMeiken games@burnmag.co.uk Design
✪ Curt Evans, Sion Smith
Photography Crue: Chiaki Nozu, Wayne Herrschaft, Dijana Capan, Duncan Bryceland, Andrew Lopez-Calvete, Mick Rockster.
Contributors: Roger Lotring, Sharon Edge, Seb Willett, Chrissie Miller, Graham Finney, Simon Gausden, Zodiac Mindwarp, Andrea Perry, Katie Roberts, Duncan Bryceland, James Machin, Tom Canning, David Lillywhite, Ida Langsam, Vikki Roberts, Joe Matera, Paul Acres, Julia Collins, Jim Machin, Johnny Messias, Natalie Li, Nick Cullen, Nick Madeira, Chris Denham, Owen Williams, Marc Shapiro, Andrew Bennet, Lucy Vachell, Bill Long, Sarah Mae Williams.
Advertising ads@burnmag.co.uk
Subscriptions & Back Issues subscribe@burnmag.co.uk backissues@burnmag.co.uk
Syndication & Licencing syndication@burnmag.co.uk
Funny. I’ve never hidden the fact that I despise genres but some weird shit happened this week that put it into perspective for me. First of all, watching the new series of Rock School, one of the kids says of Gene; “He’s in a glam rock band. You can’t get much lower than that”. Then Gene brings in Suzi Quatro for a spot of ‘female bass player tuition’. Two things happen next. Suzi Q slays the class with some awesome bass riffing whereby they all realise that even being in a glam rock band requires some talent - that none of them even come close to. The other thing is that the kid who mouthed off at Gene gets cut from the band and cries in the corridor, (coincidental chain of events), thus proving that being in a glam rock band still wields more power, money and sex appeal than being a 15 year old from Lowestoft. Then, later on that same week, I tuned into American Idol. The ultimate in car crash TV. Like Gene, Simon Cowell is a man to be loved or hated and you gotta love him! It’s seriously crazy to watch people who have been dreaming of being a star and their parents supporting them for years on end, feeding them false hope, fall on their ass. Surely a good parent would tell them the truth? Some of these people aren’t even borderline talented. You really would think that if they’ve got what it takes, they would have been out there doing their thing on the live circuit and would have been rumbled long ago. But... the tour de force this week was the buff guy who got through on charisma alone in the auditions only to dive bomb like a Spitfire with its tail shot off while in Hollywood. “People just love me for who I am. I am the next American Idol!” See ya. So - here’s the deal. No matter if you’re the lowest of the low or the highest of the high, when things start to matter to you and become important, life will test you out make no mistake.
Published by: Black Knight Magazines
Printed by Atlantic Print
I love TV.
Unit 3 Sittingbourne Industrial Park, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3JH
Distributed by Worldwide Magazines © Black Knight 2006 While we take every possible care, we cannot be held responsible for the information herein. Burn Magazine may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Letters, particularly those submitted by email are welcome but we can only reply through the letters pages of the magazine. Burn Magazine recognises all copyrights and we seriously attempt to credit all material. If we have used and/or credited some of your material incorrectly, please contact us and we will do our best to rectify the error. All information contained herein is for informative/entertainment purposes only and is correct at time of going to press to the best of our knowledge. Can’t find Burn in your newsagents? Buy it somewhere else - or hassle your newsagent, or just get it online. All very simple really.
✪ Look after the place people! One life, one planet. Money where your mouth is time. Burn is printed of recycled paper wherever possible (apart from the cover which sucks when you do that!). May the Goddess have mercy on your soul, but when you’ve no further need for the mag, recycle it. You know it makes sense.
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
why rock the you can
BOAT when ,
ROLL the CAR 03
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 04
50
The juggernaut of Coheed & Cambria just keeps rolling on. Claudio Sanchez, we salute you!
CONTENTS
30
Bret Hart: Not Faking It
24
Benedictum: American Bad Ass!
32
Geoff Tate: Mindcrime!
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 05
40: Digging in the dirt with Soil
36
Eli Roth speaks out on Hostel
22: Will Aiden take over the world?
44
REGULARS
Featured Movie: Mirrormask!
Cool from the Wire
06
Cool Shit
066
Cool from the FireWire
010
Cinema
068
Sinners Inc.
012
DVD
072
Shooting Shit
014
Anime
076
BurnOut
016
Books
078
Live
056
Games
079
Discs
058
Greasepaint & Monkey Brains
082
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 06
Cool From The Wire The Stone Cold Truth! Delivering only the news that will fit on the page!
Feb. 21, 2006: Yahoo! Music became the first official video outlet to debut the highly anticipated new LACUNA COIL video for the track "Our Truth". The clip was featured on the site's homepage all day and remained a highlighted feature through to the end of the week. Apparently, Yahoo! Music reaches more than 21 million unique users monthly, which is a fair few people! "Our Truth" will be the first single taken from the group's forthcoming album, "Karmacode", which is set for an April 3 release. The track received its worldwide debut on the "Underworld: Evolution" soundtrack and is released to the world on 20 March. The single will be made available in 3 formats, which includes the brand new track ‘Without A Reason’ which is exclusive to the single release The video for the track was shot in Los Angeles by Fort Awesome, a brand-new directorial duo whose individual credits include QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, LINKIN PARK, DISTURBED and CHEVELLE. This week, the band were also confirmed for the Download 2006 lineup but cooler still, LACUNA COIL will embark on a massive six-week U.S. tour this March as direct support to ROB ZOMBIE. This trek, which kicks off in mid-March and runs through early May, will be the group's first stateside run since Ozzfest in 2004. So good news on all fronts there - watch out for a great exclusive with the band in the coming months right here... who knows, we might even do something supercool with them on the cover.
Revenge is Sweet... Get queueing for more frenentic action from the WWE in April as the Wrestlemania Revenge Tour takes to the road. The dates look like this: 20 April Birmingham NEC (RAW event) 21 April - Wembley Arena (RAW & SMACKDOWN event) 21 April - Newcastle Metro Arena (SMACKDOWN event) 22 April - Wembley Arena (RAW & SMACKDOWN event) 23 April - Cardiff International Arena (RAW event) 24 April - Cardiff International Arena (RAW event) 25 April - Belfast Odyssey Arena (RAW event). The tour is likely to sell out before your fingers can touch the keys, so best hurry! Check out our DVD reviews of the latest WWE releases on page 66... the eagle eyed amongst you will also have noticed Bret Hart on the cover. Jump to page 30..
06
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 07
Cool From The Wire SOUL SURVIVORS! Escapi Records will re-release all five albums from the acclaimed band WARRIOR SOUL. On March 14, Escapi will re-release the band's 1990 "Last Decade Dead Century" debut, the 1991 "Drugs God & The New Republic" followup, and 1992's "Salutations From The Ghetto Nation". Then, on April 4, WARRIOR SOUL's groundbreaking fourth album, "Chill Pill" (originally released in 1993) and "Space Age Playboys" (originally released in 1995) will be re-released. All tracks on all albums will be remixed and remastered. The constant in all five albums is frontman Kory Clarke. It's Clarke's vision that permeates the proceedings: from the trippy DOORS-influenced debut to some of the more punk-oriented and heavy metal material. Clarke was a man on a mission. He had something to say. Drenched in angry politics, Clarke used his podium as a soapbox to expose what he saw as major social inequities, yet he did it in such a profound and poetic way that it never came off preachy. Taken as a whole, the five records show an incredible arc…there's a basic continuity that blossoms from one record to the next in a spiraling orgy of sound that, in its five-year tenure, was criminally overlooked and underrated. Much of what Clarke warned about on these records has come to pass…and more. But he's not gloating. In fact, he was hoping that wouldn't be the case. For right now, Clarke is thinking of doing some shows featuring this material with former WARRIOR SOUL members, outside of his new band DIRTY RIG.
WHITESNAKE HIT THE ROAD! Whitesnake Legendary front man David Coverdale is bringing Whitesnake back on the road in 2006 with an entirely new perspective of his 30-year multi-platinum career. "I'm on a mission," says Coverdale laughing. "It's an appropriate time to be playing good, uplifting, positive rock 'n' roll." With their blend of hard rock, soul, blues, and balladry...a healthy dose of priapic posturing and good time fun, Whitesnake is pretty much on it's own in today's grim, unsmiling climate. The band will be touring Europe extensively in support of a New In Concert DVD/CD, "LIVE...In The Still Of The Night"...Both the DVD and companion live CD were recorded during Whitesnake's UK Tour in 2004. Already an extraordinary success story marked with top 5 appearances in all the European charts & top 20 in the USA. "It's as if everyone has been waiting for something new from the band...I'm thrilled with the response to the DVD...It's been overwhelmingly positive & sets us up for the next move..."...said Coverdale. From 1973 to 1976 Coverdale was the lead singer in Deep Purple, one of the biggest bands in the world. A year after leaving, he formed Whitesnake in late 1977 as a blues-based, melodic rock band to tour & promote his solo records 'Whitesnake' and 'Northwinds'. The band then took on a life and an identity of it's own, attracting not only the supporters from Deep Purple, but, a whole new audience hungry for the blues, soul and good time rock Whitesnake offered. Eventually, the early line-up released a hastily recorded, modest 4 song record 'Snakebite' featuring the great Bobby Bland song 'Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City', which became an instant crowd pleaser. This led to the formation of a global phenomenon known as 'The Whitesnake Choir' a spine-tingling experience for anyone at a show who hears the entire crowd singing along with every word. The songs from this recording are being included in the forthcoming EMI releases-- Remastered 'Trouble,' 'Lovehunter,' and 'Ready & Willing.' The albums will be released to coincide with Whitesnake tour and will also feature unreleased bonus tracks from BBC sessions & live festival recordings previously available on bootleg recordings. All in all it looks as if this will be a bumper year for the hard-core Whitesnake fan. The internationally renowned, multi-platinum band will be featuring songs from David Coverdale's time with Deep Purple & drawing from the entire Whitesnake catalogue. This is an opportunity to experience the ultimate Whitesnake line-up: Doug Aldrich on guitar, Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy Osbourne) on drums, Reb Beach (Winger) on guitar, Timothy Drury on keyboards & Uriah Duffy on bass, & of course, the inimitable David Coverdale on vocals. The internationally renowned, multi-platinum band will be featuring songs from David Coverdale’s time with Deep Purple and drawing from Whitesnake’s entire catalogue including ‘Here I Go Again’, ‘Is This Love’, ‘Fool For Your Lovin’’, ‘Crying In The Rain’, ‘Still Of The Night’, ‘Bad Boys’, ‘Burn’ and ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City’. UK dates as follows: May 27 - Manchester Apollo - Manchester, UK May 28 - NIA - Birmingham, UK May 30 - Hammersmith Apollo - London, UK May 31 - Guildhall - Portsmouth, UK Jun. 26 - Newcastle City Hall - Newcastle, UK Jun. 29 - Sheffield City Hall - Sheffield, UK Jun. 30 - Carling Academy, Glasgow, SCO Jul. 02 - NIA - Cardiff, UK
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
THUNDER
UNDERGROUND Words: Andy Lye & Vikki Roberts The early part of the year can go one of two ways. Either there’s an awful lot of tumbleweed or there’s no time to breathe between gigs and concerts. I prefer the latter. I suggest everyone make a belated resolution this year, to see more new music. And I do mean see rather than just listen... These days it’s often cheaper to go and see a band than buy the album and with a plethora of venues in the capital you can’t go wrong. This month I’m recommending The Borderline, one of the venues in the Mean Fiddler family, located just off the Charing Cross Road on Manette Street. In the past it has played host to countless stars, photos plastering the walls of the entrance confirm this, and these days to the annual Singer Songwriter Festival. Tucked away down a side road, it’s easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there, yet at just a stones thrown from the Astoria it’s right in the heart of a thriving London music scene. An intimate venue with the majority located underground, low ceilings and lots of wood mean it’s cosy and although it can get crowded there’s the obvious advantage of being able to get up close and personal with the bands. There’s something on nearly every night whether it be a club night or band for as little as £2 for those lucky enough to hold an NUS card. If you’re a recluse or can’t quite handle going to see a band you don’t already know (you wuss), there are many hidden gems in the “Unsigned” sections of any online music store and you can usually buy before you try. That’s how I discovered a band called Pluko. Almost completely at random I decided I wanted to buy a CD and moreover a CD by someone I hadn’t heard before. I appreciate this has the potential to go horribly wrong and I praise bands who put snippets of music on their website. Pluko are my favourite discovery of recent years. Named after the Black & white hair dressing pomade used by Elvis, they are a 5 piece with astounding energy and a huge talent for writing smart and quirky lyrics about the heartbreak of relationships and putting them to insanely infectious and cheery music. They’re part country, part rock ’n’ roll and bring a retro sound completely up to date. They’ve recently released a new album, “Tongue Tied”, that doesn’t have a single filler note on it. They’ve already been touring with this album, leaving a lot of very happy converts in their wake. The gig they played at the Borderline was packed out and greatly enjoyed by all. It helps that they’re all lovely people, happy to talk to members of the audience (take note Jill Jackson, just ‘cause you were in Speedway doesn’t mean you can afford to be rude) and really enthused about what they’re doing. So until next time, rock on!
www.jukebo.cx 07
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 08
Cool From The Wire NICKELBACK RACK UP THE DOWNLOADS according to Neilsen Soundscan’s ‘Release To Date’ Digital Tracks chart. The track’s climb to the top took just 28 weeks, making it the 2nd fastest climb in digital history. Other artists in this ultra-exclusive company are Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Weezer. “Photograph” has also sold over 200,000 mobile realtones in the US. Nickelback’s current US tour, presented by AEG, is selling out in many markets with the band performing regularly in front of crowds in excess of 10,000 people. The Grand Rapids Press said of a recent show; “Power angst at its best - that's Nickelback - which is why these guys sell millions of CDs. People just love 'em…” and the Wichita Eagle agrees with a summary of their local show; “I wanna be a rock star, (vocalist, Chad Kroeger) sang, leaning out toward the crowd. The screams of 9,000 fans confirmed that he already was.” Next up, the band will tour with Bon Jovi in stadiums across Europe. UK dates feature as follows: Sat 20th May – Dublin Croke Park Sat 3rd June – Glasgow Hampden Park Sun 4th June – Manchester, The City of Manchester Stadium Wed 7th June - Coventry Ricoh Arena Fri 9th June – Southampton St Marys Stadium Sat 10th June – London Wembley Stadium Sun 11th June – London Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT) In the history of digital downloads, only 6 artists have passed the million mark. Nickelback’s “Photograph” is the most recent member of this elite group. The band, who are on the road in the States in support of latest album release, ‘ALL THE RIGHT REASONS’, has been wowing record
crowds with this latest track, as well as plenty of other live favourites like mega-single, ‘How You Remind Me’ and new UK single, ‘Far Away’ (which is out now). “Photograph” was only the 6th song ever to surpass the 1 million download mark in the US,
Tickets are selling fast, so pick yours up now. You can buy online at www.aeglive.co.uk or via Ticketmaster on 0871 2304422, SeeTickets on 0870 405 0448 or Ticketline on 0870 444 5556.
BURNT OFFERINGS:
Once more into the breach, the beloved team search their ruptured minds for the answers to pretty simple questions really. JJ can’t seem to stop emptying his head this month... Sion Hot: TIME - BBC4 documentary thing... wow! Brigade’s Lights album finally coming out, Series 4 of Starsky and Hutch, WWE Billy Graham book.. damned amazing! Crue DVD. Not: Those guys that wrote Holy Blood, Holy Grail sueing Dan Brown over DaVinci Code copywrite rubbish.. do they know whay they’ve started? Bring it on: Download Fest it’s do or die for the Gunners! Take it off: Shouty singers... What the fuck was that all about?: Moving all the SKY channels around so nobody can find anything anymore. Pointless! Shot in the Dark: The DaVinci Code movie will survive the hype...
08
Kahn Hot: Waking Eyes, Living Things, Ark, Your Vegas, Fireball Ministry, Amorphis, and of course Lacuna Coil Not: Suzi Quatro (no matter what one certain daft bugger may think), Status Quo (I see a pattern emerging...) Bring it on: Robbie Fowler back at Anfield. Come on boy! Take it off: There's nothing I can write that won't get me divorced... What the fuck was that all about?: Lost. Ovethyped bobbins Shot in the Dark: Richard Branson will hear about my cat getting run over and offer to pay the vets bill
Mike Hot: New 24, Omid Djalili, beef jerky and Jack Daniels Not: Disney buying Pixar. It was nice while it lasted. Bring it on: Series 4 of Family Guy What the fuck was that all about?: Invasion on C4. Hurry up and show me something! What the fuck was that all about?: Has the fuss about The IT Crowd died down yet? Good. It was shit. Shot in the Dark: All over Mark Oaten
JJ Hot: The JC film 'Walk The Line' fuckin' amazin', Superbowl including half time performance by The Rolling Stones, Idiot Pilot & Aiden Live, Under Attack - The Alarm+ other Albums from In Flames, Hawthorne Heights & Dragonforce, & finding Little Steven double pack of 1st 2 albums on CD for £10... 'Rock The Nation Kiss (DVD), MVC closing down sale, all cd's were £5, bargains galore, sextoys.co.uk (valentines gifts galore), Planet Rock! The O.C. & Smallville & new series of 24...Phew! Not: B4MV tour cancelled, Fozzy in Liverpool (should not have quit the day job Chris!) Not getting a free copy of 'Rock The Nation' DVD, Wales only being good at rugby for one season every 25 yrs, there only being one way to Rock!
Bring it on: Give It A Name Festival in Manchester April 2006, Monsters Of Rock Milton Keynes in June 2006, Foo Fighters Live with 60,000 friends & Red Hot Chilli Peppers tour, Lacuna Coil... Take it off: The Fuckin' Brit Awards! Fuckwits one & all... What the fuck was that all about?: Howard Stern going to Sirius & then his company trying to 'GET' the peole recording his show & rebroadcasting it, censorship from the man who defied censors, bizzare (Mind u his show still rocks)
John Hot: Black (XBOX), Samuri 7 (on DVD), The Alarm in the charts (with NO airplay) & Jack Daniels Not: Artic Monkeys Bring it on: PS3, Summer Festivals & extended Games pages! Take it off: Artic Monkeys What the fuck was that all about?: Artic Monkeys, The Darkness, The plot to any Metal Gear Game Shot in the Dark: Heat Guy J(Manga DVD) & Fight Night Round 3 (XBOX 360)
Shot in the Dark: New Prince Material, proving why 'Musicology' was a step back to move forward in the right direction!
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 09
Cool From The Wire B*MOVIE HEROES & GETAMPED UNLEASHED! Fresh from completed work on their debut Undergroove album 'Calibrate', B*Movie Heroes hit the road this week to promote their 'Still No Surrender' EP and air tracks from the new album. Support comes from Dorset's finest, getAmped, as they promote their single 'Reject and Sterilise' (out March 20) and air tracks from their debut album 'Postcards From Hell' - due for release on StrongLikeBull Records April 10. Catch them both at one (or indeed all) of the following shows: MARCH SOUTHAMPTON Joiners 01 LINCOLN Delph Bar SU 02 LEICESTER Level One @ Demontford 03 HULL Ringside 05 NEWCASTLE Trillians 06 MANCHESTER Retro Bar 08 COVENTRY Colosseum 09 WESTON SUPER MARE Hobbits 11 LONDON Underworld 13
You won’t get far if that’s all the transport you’ve got guys...
'Still No Surrender' EP is out now on Undergroove. 'Calibrate' - which has been recorded with Joe Gibb (Brigade, F4AF) at Mighty Atom Studios, Wales, will be released later this year on Undergroove. 'Reject & Sterilise' Single is out March 20 on StrongLikeBull Records and 'Postcards From Hell' Album released April 10. In other exciting news, but completely unrelated, we just heard that Sweden’s most exciting Rock’n’Roll sensation, BACKYARD BABIES, are presenting the epic titled “People Like People Like People Like Us”, on streets on May 2nd. The album is produced by their old friend Nicke Andersson from the Hellacopters. It’s gonna be a long hot summer dammit...
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
09
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 010
Cool From The (Fire)Wire iTunes Top 30 Songs
Our Favourite Podcast:
iTunes Music Store: Today's Top 30 Songs in Rock
One of the more dedicated podcasts on the market is Strigls Music News. We kinda like what they do out there and there diverse delivery on anyone who’s anyone, ranging Dez Ferrara to Burce Kulick, Fireball Ministry to Dirty Rig.
Amazing what a corporation can class as rock inthe name of compiling a chart, but here’s the official download chart from itunes from the last week of February. We’re not quite sure what Mr Blunt is doing here, but it’s good to see Nickelback holding the fort (as per our previous news story), and Goo Goo Dolls delivering a strong appearance too. Good news too for Avenged Sevenfold there with Bat Country. 1. You're Beautiful - James Blunt 2. Upside Down - Jack Johnson 3. Bad Day - Daniel Powter 4. Photograph - Nickelback 5. You're Beautiful - James Blunt 6. 100 Years - Five for Fighting 7. Better Days - Goo Goo Dolls 8. Lights and Sounds - Yellowcard 9. You and Me - Lifehouse 10. Drops of Jupiter - Train 11. Who Says You Can't Go Home (Featuring Jennifer Nettles) - Bon Jovi & Jenn... 12. Vertigo - U2 13. Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt 14. You're Beautiful - James Blunt 15. Girl Next Door - Saving Jane 16. Ever the Same - Rob Thomas 17. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray 18. Just Feel Better (Featuring Steven Tyler) - Santana & Steven Tyler 19. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls 20. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold 21. Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi 22. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5 23. Animals - Nickelback 24. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey 25. Someday - Nickelback 26. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson 27. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison 28. Right Here - Staind 29. This Love - Maroon 5 30. Hypnotize - System of a Down
If you’re looking for something a little bit different to tote around on your pod then Strigls is pretty entertaining and never seems to run out of cool shit to talk about. You can find it here: www.striglsmusicnews.com/podcasts/talkingmetal/ index.htm
Scary Figures! Music downloads on the rise again Sales of pre-recorded CDs remained tepid in the US last week, while the story on paid downloads continued to grow. Overall album sales inched up 2.3 percent over previous week totals, while lagging 1 percent off of the similar period last year. The cumulative yearly picture remains a concern, with total 2006 sales trailing equivalent, 2005 totals by 2.3 percent. That result raises some concern over first quarter totals, especially in light of pronounced drops in US-based album sales last year. Overall yearly albums sales are now inching towards 76 million units. Meanwhile, paid download sales continued to show strength. Weekly sales have been regularly doubling year-ago totals, part of a nice growth curve triggered by surging iPod sales and gift cards. Last year, USbased paid download levels crossed 332 million, according to figures published by Nielsen Soundscan, while global levels reached 420 million according to the IFPI. Meanwhile, digital album sales also moved upward, though levels remain modest when compared to physical discs and digital singles.
Samsung: new MP3 players to be proud of! Samsung Electronics recently announced the release of the YP-T8Q and YPU1Q flash players in a new 2GB size. Both players combine compact design great features and a large memory capacity of 2GB, enabling users to store up to 1000 WMA tracks. Both players allow listeners to have complete access to their music library, supporting MP3, WMA, WMA DRM, WAV, OGG and ASF music formats in superb audio quality. The voice recording function and FM tuner enhance the players outstanding audio performance. The YP-T8Q also comes with USB Host allowing to easily move or copy files directly to the memory of the players; whether it is a MP3 player to move music, or camera to transfer photos. We’ve had our sticky paws on a couple of these lately and while it’s not in our religion to use anything but ipods (punishable offence), the Samsung range can stand toe to toe with it on many levels. We were particularly impressed with the voice record function and look forward to using them for many more pranks in the office! Seriously though, if you’re looking to invest in an mp3 player that can go the distance, these guys have got what it takes and kicking in at a guide price of £189 and £119, they won’’t break you wide open either.
Pictured: In the box, the YP-T8Q, the other one obviously being the YPU1Q which is about the size of a packet of gum.
010
Is that a pod in your pocket... What’s cooking on the staff’s mp3 players: The Rules: 1. Set your mp3 player to shuffle mode. 2. List the first 5 songs that come up. 3. No cheating. Sion: 1. Warm Sand - Tina Dico 2. Deliver Us - The Ark 3. Impressed - Charlie Sexton 4. The Messenger - Tea Party 5. Calling - Taproot JJ: 1: Spirit Of 76' - The Alarm 2: Bittersweet Symphony The Verve 3: Jet - Wings 4: I Saw Red - Warrant 5: I Predict A Riot - Kaiser Cheifs John: 1 Them Bones- Alice in Chains. 2 Welcome Home - Coheed & Cambria. 3 Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin. 4 Welcome to Paradise Green Day. 5 Goliath & the Vampires Monster Magnet. Chiaki: 1. Join Me (Razorblade Mix) HIM 2. Brother - Alice In Chains 3. Vampire Heart - HIM 4. The Package - A Perfect Circle 5. The Grand Conjuration Opeth Sharon: 1 United by Fate - Rival Schools 2 Muse - Unintended 3 Manuskript - California Dreaming 4 Alice in Chains - Don't Follow 5 Hole - Malibu Chrissie: 1. Iggy and the Stooges – Penetration 2. Bob Dylan – I Believe In You 3. Poison – Unskinny Bop 4. Faces – Bad 'n' Ruin 5. Janis Joplin – Women Is Losers Ida: 1 - "Caroline Goodbye" - Colin Blunstone 2 - "Land of 1,000 Dances Walker Brothers 3 - "Somewhere Along The Line" - Kiara Duran 4 - "Redemption" - Mary Fahl 5 - "Back In Her Arms" - Kiara Duran
Andy: (not allowed one because he breaks things). More dumblists next month! If you want to be included, send your top 5 in to podlist@burnmag.co.uk No cheating!
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 011
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 012
Cool From The Wire
There might be giants! She may wear wigs as a fashion statement, but she knows her own mind does Sharon…here’s her babies for the coming year... Editors Okay, so they’re not exactly unknowns. But Editors must surely transend their current cult status into the realms of rock godliness before too long. They’ve certainly given the British music scene a much-needed shot in the arm. I’d started to wonder if the finite number of musical notes audible to the human ear meant that we’d written all the songs we could write. I thought maybe there was nothing new in the universe. Hence the current crop of bands rehashing their 80s and 90s vinyl collections without an original thought in their heads. Razorlight... the new Boomtown Rats... Kaiser Chiefs.... the new Pulp (with the odd dash of Blur)....Bravery... the new Duran Duran (they think!!)... Franz fucking Ferdinand... the new Gang of Four. The eighties revival has been nothing of the sort. It’s more like eighties necrophilia. Plunging recklessly into a long-dead corpse and bringing festering bits and pieces back into the light, waxing lyrical about their cleverness and (ha ha ha) originality. For this reason I was fully prepared to despise Editors. Before I’d heard a note from them, all I kept hearing was that they sounded like Joy Division. I could feel a bout of Tourettes coming on. Then, because I was going to review their live show, I listened to their album, The Back Room, as homework. That shut me up. Eighties influenced maybe, but influence is different to plagiarism. It’s mainly Tom Smith’s haunting voice that stirs memories of Ian Curtis. The rest is pure Editors. What Editors have that so many indie-rock-guitar bands don’t have right now (apart from a shedload of charisma), is the ability to write a moving, memorable, well-constructed song. It sounds obvious, but it’s an apparently rare talent. But The Back Room is an album that turns my belly to jelly and makes me feel like I might cry for no obvious reason. Passion, energy... originality. There’s that word again. One singer with the energy of five men crammed into his body. Four guys making enough noise for ten. Anthemic, sky-scraping choruses. Whirling guitar licks. A razor sharp live set of both power and beauty. Looking at what’s currently in the spotlight of British music, Editors should eat 2006 alive.
Gliss 10 per cent indie jangle, 20 per cent seventies groove, 70 per cent grindy, dirty rock ‘n’ roll. David, Martin and Victoria are three Californians who together make up Gliss. They started playing together in February 2004. Since then they’ve honed their live skills playing not only around the US, but throughout Europe, supporting Billy Corgan on his 2005 Future Embrace Tour. In fact, if you’re into Mr Corgan, you’ll find his musical genes passed 012
down into Gliss’s melodic, melancholic style. Their show offers a big serving of style and charisma as well as some fiercely good songs. Their relentless, instrument-swapping set is heavy on the deep, pumping basslines, whirling guitar and some electro tinkering. Star of the show is bassist/drummer Victoria, who manages to be sexy as fuck even with her tracksuit zipped to her chin. The brooding, velvety mood that pervades their recorded work is in part the result of having Rick Parker from BRMC as their producer. Their EP is called Kick in your Heart, with a single called Blue Sky, released on Mountain Lo-Fi records – all just begging to be picked up by mainstream radio and touted to the masses. Their seamless blending of sleezy retro with contemporary, mournful vocals, sees them certain – surely – of a prominent place amongst the current brigade of indie/rock ‘n’ rollers.
Above: Gliss... jangly but mighty fine all the same! Below: Weapons... proving that there’s more than one way to skin a cat (and get in a mag)
Weapons of Mass Belief High on my ones-to-watch list is British punk inspired rock/rap outfit Weapons of Mass Belief. Think Rage Against the Machine meets Linkin Park, with a dirty groove, anthemic choruses and two foxy chicks in the band. A recipe for success if ever I heard one. They’ve been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic with three powerful singles so far and a heavy gigging calendar – which has included the notorious Viper Room in LA. Their list of influences is eclectic – to say the least – with New Found Glory, Led Zep, Prince and Muse all getting in on the act. Whatever goes into the recipe, the resulting dish is fresh, fearless and irresistible. w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
22:27
Page 013
013
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:27
Page 014
News from the Old School: Dee Snider Undergoes Throat Surgery
shooting shit
Hailing from Winnipeg, a blue collar city in the centre of Canada's agriculture community, Waking Eyes new single 'But I Already Have It' sees light of day on 13 March. Guitarist/vocalist Rusty Matyas presents himself at the gates of hell and submits himself to the humiliation otherwise known as 20 Really Dumb Questions...
1. If you could look like anyone else, who would it be? Wilson Pickett
11. What’s the first thing you thought when you woke this morning? Not again!
2. Favourite flavour of Chupa Chups? The vanilla ice-creamy one
12. You have hit random on your i-pod – what’s the first song that comes up? The Weight, The Band (Last Waltz Version).
3. What implement do you suggest to best comb the clouds? The trees on the trip 4. You are a fish, what breed are you and why? A blowfish. Why? Hmm... 5 Shoes, sneakers or boots? Converse Chuck Taylors for every occasion. 6. What would you save first in a fire? My 160 pound 1979 refrigerator of a TV that I paid 11 dollars for at a thrift store. And my cigarettes. 7. Who would you stalk? Who wouldn’t I stalk? 8. Which monopoly playing piece are you and why? The race car, because it’s the only one I remember. 9. Favourite word and why? Fuck. It makes me feel super awesome. 10. Who would you want with you on a deserted island? Dave Wakeling, so I could yell at him daily about the $800 dollars he owes me.
13. And what was the last track you deleted in disgust? I haven’t put any crappy songs on my iPod. Maybe that one that’s just 15 minutes of rain noises. 14. If you could put a celebrity in the Big Brother house who would it be and why? John Cleese because he could outwit all the nitwits. 15. A night in Paris Hilton or at night at The Paris Hilton? Perhaps in WHILE at. 16. Favourite insult? Fuck you, you fucking fuck. Fuck off. 17. Perfect night in? Different things to smoke and drink, girls, and music. 18 Perfect night out? Different things to smoke and drink, girls, and music. 19. Who would win a fight between a sheep and a cow? The cow. They taste better. 20. Describe yourself using three words... My name’s Rusty.
014
Doctors predict an eight-week recovery period for the Twisted Sister singer. Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider has undergone throat surgery, which means a slew of cancellations for the New York-based metal band. Among the appearances being shelved is the March Atarfe Vega Rock festival in Spain, Roadrunner Records said on its Web site. Doctors predict an eight-week recovery period. There was no reason given for the surgery other than that it was scheduled after tests by a specialist after Snider lost his voice at an appearance last month. "I hate canceling shows and disappointing fans for any reason, but I have been advised that this surgery should not wait," he said. "My VH1 show will be taped, but some live performance events will have to be rescheduled." Snider said the band's summer tour plans should not be affected.
✪ Journey, Thunder and Ted Nugent have all been confirmed to play at the Monsters of Rock Festival on June 3rd, prior to Alice Cooper and Deep Purple at the Milton Keynes National Bowl. JOURNEY, will be performing live in the UK for the first time in 26 years since playing a sold out, packed-to-the-rafters gig at the now defunct 3,000 capacity Rainbow in Finsbury Park on September 22nd 1980. Journey are arguably the biggest AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) band of all time, having scored numerous top ten US singles and sold over 75 million albums since their inception in 1973. Journey, formed by former Santana guitarist Neil Schon in 1973, were honoured with the 2,275th Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on January 21st, 2005 which will forever be known now as ‘Journey Day’, as declared by Hollywood’s Mayor Johnny Grant. Their latest album, ‘Generations’, was released by Frontiers Records in the UK last August. “As Journey albums go, this is as heavy as they have sounded in many a year. In fact, not since ‘Frontiers’ have Journey sounded as varied and as heavy as they do on ‘Generations’. It’s also the best album they’ve made since ‘Raised on Radio’ and, as AOR albums go, this is the big one. TED NUGENT, the larger-than-life survivalist hard rocker, who lists his vital stats as ‘6’3”, 180 lbs., hazel eyes, lots of hair, surplus attitude and energy’ on his official tednugent.com site, is making a very rare appearance on the UK live stage. His last, heaving, sold out Astoria gig in June 2002, was his first UK concert for more than a decade. Tickets for Monsters of Rock 2006, priced £38.50, are available from all usual agents, and via credit card on 0870 400 0688. A dedicated coach service hotline has also been set up on 0870 166 0430. www.getLIVE.co.uk. w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 015
In the heart of a heartless city, somewhere between Heaven and Hell, an exiled angel trafficks in the darkest trade... and waits...
Buy online now www.goodintentionspaving.com
BurnOut
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 016
With their second album, Over and Over, The 88 refute the myth that art and the three-and-ahalf-minute pop song can’t get along. While the new record shares the same rollicking spirit as its predecessor, Kind of Light, it also marks a sonic leap forward for the Los Angeles-based quintet. The buoyant melodies and general jollity that characterized album one infuse all 12 tracks of their sophomore release, only this time with an expanded sound, a result, no doubt, of the group’s artistic growth – and lots and lots of practice. Once word of The 88’s irrepressible harmonies and hopping pianos – not to mention Slettedahl’s warm, saturated strains – began to spread among club-goers, Light slowly found its way to radio DJs and rock critics. The band became a staple on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, a clearinghouse for rising indie rock outfits, world music composers and underground acts hoping to cross over into the mainstream. With album-opener and first single ‘Hide Another Mistake,’ The 88 flash the same natural hook-writing chops that made Light’s ‘Elbow Blues’ and ‘How Good It Can Be’ so addictive. Equally catchy are the breakupsurvival anthem ‘Battle Scar,’ with its propulsive
The 88 bass drumming and high-octane tambourines, and the track ‘Bowls,’ which showcases Torres’s nimble bass line and producer Ethan Allen’s sure-handed mixing. But nowhere is The 88’s ensemble spirit more evident than on ‘Everybody Loves Me,’ which deftly weaves together Jay’s angular guitar licks, Vasapolli’s pummeling drum fills and Merrin’s frenetic piano arpeggios with subtle backing vocals and Slettedahl’s off-the-chart falsetto. For all its up-tempo gusto, Over and Over has its quietly affecting moments as well. On the plaintive ‘You Belong To Me,’ the band scales back its usually textured arrangements to let Slettedahl’s stark vocals stand alone, while ‘Jesus Is Good’ combines a languid accordion with sultry sevenths to invoke a dirty, swampy burlesque. But it’s arguably ‘All ‘Cause of You’ that has grabbed the most buzz among longtime 88 fans, many of whom have clamored for an album version of this concert showstopper. After playing the song hundreds of times in rehearsals and gigs, the band finally laid down the definitive recording with the help of producer Allen and the famed Village Recording Studio, which over the years has welcomed everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.
When Gravity Fails You know you’re doing something right when Bruce Dickinson keeps banging on about you. The Maiden frontman has been championing When Gravity Fails on his BBC6 radio show for a while now, interviewing the band and playing tracks off their debut almost weekly. “That was pretty amazing,” laughs bassist Nick Emery. “There we were, an unsigned band, being interviewed by a rock legend! “I’ve seen Maiden loads of times, so to find myself across the desk from Bruce was quite funny. “We were hunting for a distribution deal, and that’ something Bruce helped with a lot as people had actually heard of us when we went calling.” With distribution now sorted, Nick’s next aim is to bring in a manager – but before everyone starts clamouring for the job, be warned. He’s being picky. “I want someone who really believes in us and is going to fight for us – not someone who’s just going to take his 20 per cent and not work for it. “I’ve dealt with that sort before. They’re not a lot of help! “We’re not really after a deal either, we’re liking doing it the independent way at the moment. Much better than being treated like some dumb band by a big label which only sees numbers on a balance sheet!” The band (Ivan Fegen - vox/synth; Alex Mackie – guitar; Dave Penney – guitar; Darren Bullis – drums) have only been together for a little over 016
a year, but in that time they have honed their sound to perfection – think classic rock blended with grunge. Only better. “I’m just doing what I want to do,” explains Nick. “I’m being really bloody minded! “When I started this band, I just wanted to do something heavy and hard hitting – like New York hardcore bands like Helmet, only with a more ‘classic’ feel to it.” It has to be said, he’s achieved his aim. The
guitars are heavy, but underneath there’s a groove which drives each song along. And in Ivan, Nick has unearthed a gem. If you live in London, get your arse down to see them as soon as possible. If, like me, you live in the provinces, you’ll have to wait until April before When Gravity Fails head out on the road. Like Nick putting the band together, it will be worth the wait.
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 017
JETHRO TULL More famous for being a man rocking with a flute than their songs? Ian Anderson puts the record straight.
Being a fan of Jethro Tull is like being a member of an exclusive club. Here in Blighty, their profile peaked with their Top of the Pops performance of Living In The Past (if you don’t count the time the cover of Steel Monkey flashed up on the screen of Going Live – I forget why), and so you have to go searching to find out about them and explore their rich and varied back catalogue. Over the years, Ian Anderson and his assembled cohorts have just gone about their business quietly. The odd post-70s album has flickered on the mainstream radar (87’s Crest of a Knave in particular), but for the most part they’ve been left to their own devices. Which is pretty much what Ian Anderson likes. “It was an intentional way of developing the band,” he reflects. “Back in the days of our manager Terry (68/69), he saw us as being really big – and a lot of that got put into developing in other countries. “It means we can just play England from time to time, pop in and keep a low profile! I like coming home and being anonymous. We’re not a household name, we’re just that quirky band who were on Top of the Pops once. “It also means I can go shopping in Waitrose on a Friday evening with my wife and no one recognises me.” In Europe and America, of course, it’s a different story all together. There, Ian is a grade-A celeb, appearing on chat shows and the like with
walking down this corridor and was just pushed aside by these apes Her Royal Highness takes with her everywhere. “It makes you wonder what she’s afraid of, that she has to surround herself with so many people. Absolutely dreadful…” Fortunately, Ian also rubs shoulders with the more down-to-earth star as well – people like Sir Cliff Richard. I’ll spare you the anecdotes, save to impart the news that Sir Cliff’s underwear of choice is brown and cream M&S Y-fronts. Hey, if I have to suffer that mental image, so do you… Fun as it is to get insights into how the rich and famous dress, however, that is not the reason for my tête-à-tête with the flutey one. Tull are about to ‘pop in’, as Ian would say, taking a quick jaunt around these shores during March to promote the charity album, Aqualung Live. The album came about after a radio station invited Tull to perform the 1971 classic in its entirety in front of an invited audience. “It was actually done against my better judgement, but I always find it difficult to say no – you don’t want to upset people.
“Also, when you’ve spent weeks and months making an album in the studio, dashing it off in an hour and a half is a tall order – you have to add a bit of invention, re-record some bits due to a lack of a string quartet etc. “But it was fun on the day. An intimate little concert which we treated as an end-of-term celebration!” Aqualung Live is out now The March UK tour looks something like this: 1 Edinburgh Usher Hall 0131 228 1155 2 Birmingham Symphony Hall 0121 780 3333 3 Newcastle City Hall 0191 2612 606 4 Manchester Apollo 0870 401 8000 5 Blackpool Opera House 01253 292029 7 Bradford St. George's Hall 01274 432000 8 Hull City Hall 01482 226655 10-11 London Shepherds Bush Empire 0870 7712000 12 Basingstoke Anvil 01256 844 244 13 Brighton Dome 01273 709 709 15 Southhampton Guildhall 023 8063 2601 16 Bristol Colston Hall 0117 922 3686 17 Cardiff St David's Hall 029 2087 84444 18 Cheltenham Town Hall 01242 227 979 19 Oxford New Theatre 0870 606 3500 21 Ipswich Regent 01473 433 100 22 Peterborough Broadway 01733 316 100
Aqua Man!
today’s big name divas. Which is not necessarily a good thing. “They make me mad,” he starts – his so far genial tone changing noticeably. “I met Mariah Carey on some programme I was doing in Germany. I was
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n -
017
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 018
circa survive CD, it’s excellent for driving too. I love them as people and the record is excellent.” Chaos is ensuing outside as bands are bombarded with fans between the venue door and the bus so Circa are in an excellent position to give us the lowdown of being on such a tour and touring life in general. What do you think of Coheed and Cambria? They’re somewhat media darlings at the moment Anthony Green: Fucking awesome. They’re amazing to watch live. They put on a really cool show.
Fear & Faith Words: Louise Steggals
On a cold night in Manchester, the congregation of The Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus gathers for evening mass. Across the road, a religious gathering of a different kind is occurring, people coming to worship at the temple of the Manchester Academy, as the behemoth that is the sold-out Coheed and Cambria vs. Thrice tour thunders into town. With such devotion it is easy to forget there is a third band on this bill. But it’s not that easy to forgive overlooking such an exciting newcomer to the stage. Philadelphian quintet, Circa Survive, deserve your attention and should, quite frankly, command your attention. Looking at the calm figures of singer Anthony Green and guitarist Colin Frangicetto sat in front of me, holed up in the catering room, you would never imagine they were in the same band that, when I last saw them live, looked like they were about to cause a stage collapse from the weight of 018
their sound. Currently though, we’re at risk of collapsing under the sound of Coheed’s soundcheck. Thankfully, Circa are good at shouting. “We’re having a really good time on this tour,” says Colin. “I definitely appreciate the extra space of the larger space of a bigger stage. We slam against each other on smaller stages.” “It’s always a really good challenge playing in bigger venues,” agrees Anthony. “It makes us better performers, it makes us better musicians too.” This is Circa Survive’s second trip to the UK and the audiences are starting to warm towards the boys. Indeed, outside, there are a group of fans already converted, literally having the tshirts to prove it. They’ve even attracted their first famous fan. “We did a tour with them not too long ago,” says Ed Breckenridge, from Thrice. “Now every time I’m driving in my car I’m listening to their
Are you learning anything from them as far as live performances go? AG: They have an incredible set up and we get to use the lights and stuff. Colin Frangicetto: It’s great because my old band went out with them previously. We toured with them on their first real couple of dates, before the first record even came out, so I’ve seen these guys from when zero people even in the States knew them and now it’s four or five years later and we’re in the UK with them and their playing for thousands over here let alone in the states where they’re ridiculously huge. They’re still the same awesome guys but obviously their playing and their performance is through the roof from when I knew them. Rather than learning from it, it’s more like “wow…you can get that good”. It’s strange to think that whilst Juturna is still relatively new here, for the boys, it’s nearly a year old. The boys have done their looking back and dissected the album to death. Finally they are ready to move on. “A week after we were done I was thinking “oh I should have changed that,” says Colin. “Now I feel like I accept it more than I ever did, I appreciate the album for what it is. When we were so close to it, it was hard to separate away from it, it was like “oh I wish I did that differently”, now when I listen to it, I listen to it, it’s like “wow, I can’t believe this is our first album, this is great”. Any plans for a second in the pipeline or are you just enjoying the moment, not ready to think about it yet? CF: We’re starting the creative processes. AG: The cells have divided and the embryo has started to form CF: (laughing) There are no concrete plans yet AG: We haven’t had sex or anything like that, we just know we’re pregnant (laughs). Colin mentioned former bands, so talking of which, it seems Saosin (Anthony Green’s previous band) are on the rise again. How do you feel about that? AG: I’m pretty sure they got a new singer pretty shortly after I left. They’ve been trudging along and they’ve got a new record in the pipeline. We talk occasionally but we’re both really, really busy. CF: We bumped into them at Warped Tour. It’s all cool. Whilst it was never envisioned that they would embark on a scrap of Sharon Osbourne vs. Iron w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 019
Maiden proportions, it is a relief to know that things are not as acrimonious as one may have thought. “What’s this Sharon Osbourne/Iron Maiden scrap about?” asks Anthony “Don’t you watch VH1 man?!” exclaims Colin. If you could set up a rock and roll feud, who would it be between and who would win? Let’s bring back Celebrity Death Match for one night only. AG: The only feud I know about is The Game and 50 cent CF: We’re kind of hoping there wouldn’t be any feuds. Don’t even mention those dudes. Somehow it’ll get back to them and we’ll get shot! AG: I don’t think they’ll give a shit about us CF: That’s true. AG: But just in case, I’ve got mad respect for them. CF: Next question! The tour is proving to be an interesting experience for Circa Survive. Colin has taken against British food and has quit eating, and in the process of arranging their tour kit and transport, their first experience of a tour bus has turned out to be a bit of a surprise. “We’re on a big pink bus,” laughs Anthony. “We had to order kit and transportation and we ended up with a pink bus and a sparkly pink drum kit!” Missing creature comforts and friends of home is part and parcel of the deal but it has proved
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
very annoying for all to discover that your phone doesn’t even work. Anthony has more pressing concerns though. “I miss Law and Order,” he moans. Being told of its appearance on channel five is not enough. “You have to understand, in the States, it’s on like every day!” Instead, they’ve been able to provide their own entertainment with experiences worthy of Spinal Tap. A true “Hello Cleveland” moment has occurred in Birmingham. “We were in dressing room 3 which was a long way from the stage,” recalls Colin, laughing. “We actually filmed the trip because it was like a 5 minute trip, there were so many rooms.” “Then it was like a boiler room, a cloakroom, up some steps…then you had to answer three questions and go over a moat,” quips Anthony.
Circa Survive are really something to watch onstage. They take no prisoners with their shows and those who choose to watch rather than queue for beer could be forgiven for feeling that they’d just walked in on a private exorcism. Because Anthony Green onstage is like a man possessed. But they do say it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch. After their (too short) set, people flock over to congratulate the band and tell them how awesome they are so the future is looking bright for Circa Survive. But the band are not ones to get ahead of themselves. “We’re just going to continue on the same path,” says Colin. “We’re just going to try and be really creative and enjoy doing what we’re doing.”
019
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 020
Creature of the
Night 020
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 021
FROM THE CRYPT... Each month David Lillywhite takes a look at a classic DVD that you really should have in your collection:
The Thing (1982) Directed by John Carpenter
It’s 1982 and there are two aliens duking it out at the box office. One would very much like you to phone home, the other would very much like to eat your face. This titanic clash seems like a no-brainer but it was Spielberg’s cute shuffling creature from outer space that won the day leaving John Carpenter’s thing from another world for dust. Some xenomorphs have all the luck... You’d be forgiven for thinking that The Thing was guaranteed at least a modicum of initial success. John Carpenter had done exceptionally well for himself thus far and we were many years from such disasters like Vampires and Ghosts of Mars. Carpenter had already given us a horror icon in the form of Michael Myers in Halloween and birthed cult cool with Snake Plissken (I thought he was dead?) in Escape from New York. The thought of the director turning his attention to a remake of the 1951 film The Thing From Another World was surely another hit. It just goes to show that you can never underestimate your audience who thought that a slightly more saccharine-leaden approach to a close encounter would be their thing in ‘82. Fortunately The Thing didn’t disappear into obscurity but rose phoenix-like to become recognised as a psychological chiller that over twenty years later still has the uncanny ability to unsettle and shock. The conceit of The Thing is a simple one: a shape-shifting alien has been thawed from its icy slumber at the South Pole. Chased down in the opening few moments of the film by the group of Norwegians who woke it, The Thing – disguised as an adorable arctic dog - takes refuge at an American outpost playing host to an all-male scientific expedition led by R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell). It doesn’t take too long before the dog’s face is opening up like a grotesque banana peel and The Thing is revealing its true colours. Fending off the
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
abomination, the group of scientists realise the nature of the beast – that it can assume any shape it chooses and is now among them. The project began life originally as a short story by John Campbell called Who Goes There? and published in 1938. The story took on a new life during the 50s as the escalating Cold War raised parallels with the themes of paranoia and knowing your enemy contained in the story. Hollywood knew a good idea when it saw it and Howard Hawks ad Christian Nyby made The Thing From Another World in 1951. Come 1982 with the Reagan administration in fulleffect and the Cold War bubbling under propagated with tales of the CIA and counterintelligence, John Carpenter decided on a fresh interpretation which would reunite him with his star from Escape from New York, Kurt Russell. In Russell, Carpenter had a talented actor adroit at also playing an action hero (just forget Soldier ever existed) and filled out a cast with an ensemble of real quality. Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, Keith David and David Clennon are just a few of the names adding weight to the proceedings as MacReady’s fellow scientists. Everyone plays The Thing completely straight and this slice of sci-fi is a far more believable and tense affair as a result. When talking about The Thing it would be impossible not to give a nod to Rob Bottin, the precocious special effects guru (who later went on to design Robocop). In his early twenties during his work on this horror masterpiece, Bottin helped create the key effects sequences which The Thing is remembered for. Think past the twisted amalgamation of arctic dog and alien to much later on in the movie. Oh yes. The defibrillator scene. One of those genuinely iconic moments. With Norris (Charles Hallahan) left critical after an attack from The Thing, MacReady and co. watch as their resident doc, Copper (Richard Dysart) sets about saving their comrade. When Norris goes into cardiac arrest, Copper goes immediately for the defibrillator as a means to restart the former’s heart. The first jolt doesn’t appear to do anything but on the second attempt as the pads are placed down, Norris’ chest gives way to reveal a giant, sharptoothed mouth. As the good doctor’s arms fall
into the chasm, the mouth slams shut and Copper’s arms are severed by the provoked alien. Lots of blood follows. It isn’t just a stunning effect on show but also John Carpenter’s skill as a director. In this moment the audience’s eyes are locked firmly on those severed arms not noticing that Dysart has been replaced by an amputee wearing a mask. Carpenter correctly surmised that his audience’s attention would be on the horrific injury rather than immediately focussing on the face of the injured party and the wounds would carry a little more air of authenticity. But we’re not done yet. Norris’ head begins painfully stretching itself to the point it separates itself from the body. Having fallen on the floor, it promptly sprouts legs and antenna and slowly scuttles off (leading Palmer (David Clennon) to utter the immortal line; “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding”). Remember, it’s 1982. Turning the picture over to ILM isn’t yet the standard response when something tricky needs doing. In this light, what Bottin achieves here is truly impressive. Brilliantly and rather tantalisingly The Thing finishes on a bleak note. The ending is a bold move and indicative of the smarts the rest of the script has about it. Though it is quite a logical assumption to assume MacReady has been human all along, by the final reel it is just as easy to suspect him of having been replaced during the last stand against the creature. In hindsight, there is no obvious sequence as to who The Thing has replaced and when something the last two men standing are grimly aware of. Rather than fight each other and with Ennio Morricone’s brooding bass score thudding forebodingly, the pair await their icy fate knowing that no-one is getting out alive. Fortunately for Planet Earth. No-one phones home, that’s for sure. In a convenient nutshell: The Thing has a rare depth that other films in its genre usually lack. With a great cast, sinister score and John Carpenter at the top of his game, this is an audience ride that time has fortunately blessed with a fresh perspective and the respect it originally deserved. 021
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 022
AIDEN Catching up with the bands breaking through
Something Wicked
Words: JJ Haggar
This Way Comes From the foggy majesty of Seattle, Washington comes Aiden, a young band who meld punk, post-hardcore and goth influences into a lethal stew that recalls the best of bands like AFI and H.I.M. With music that defies categorization, Aiden dubbed it horror rock, defining once and for all the dark lyrical influences and vital energy displayed both live and on disc. Nightmare Anatomy is Aiden’s Victory Records debut: a heavy clash of hardcore and up tempo melodies that belies songs with decidedly grim themes. Aiden entered the studio in March 2005 for pre-production at Robert Lang Studios, before heading to Orbit Audio for five weeks of non-stop recording. Produced by longtime friend (and producer of their debut) Steve Carter, who has worked with the band since the beginning. The songs on the album are imbued with references to pain, darkness, immortality and
022
redemption. From ‘Die Romantic’ a dedication to the memory of a friend whose suicide will not be forgotten, to ‘The Last Sunrise’ which explores addiction and abuse, to ‘Genetic Design For Dying’, a love letter to a parent asking forgiveness. Aiden hit the road on the Victory Records Tour in America during July and August 2005 with The Hurt Process, The Junior Varsity and The Audition, but there was no rest for the band – in October 05’ they joined Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein and Bayside for the Never Sleep Again Tour in North America. Nightmare Anatomy was in stores October 2005. When asked about the new record, Will sums it up: “What we have is a collection of cohesive new material and something to say. We aren’t holding anything back on this record. We are
ready to let the world know we‘re here.” So we are in Manchester for the Kerrang! XXV tour, and the opening band on the bill is Aiden, it seems reports on the road suggest that they are certainly more than holding their own; in fact they are fast becoming this years new thing! We catch up with lead singer Will prior to show for a quick chat and it seems he is psyched about being over here ‘We are from Seattle, USA, we got signed just over a year ago, this is our third trip to the UK & it’s just awesome, we plan during 2006 to go worldwide with this, being signed to Victory records is fucking great, it’s a buzz and right now they are the shit for sure, everyone that works at the label is super rad! They are super supportive of the band, they love their job, they love music, they are really us guys but running
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 023
a label, it makes being on a label so much better because you know they understand from the floor up, it’s really cool’ As a band Aiden have been around a little longer than you may think’ April 2003’ states Will, ‘Almost three years, I was working in a warehouse, shipping boots and stuff for snowboarding, but I always wanted to be in a band, from the first time I heard the Chilli Peppers and Nirvana something just clicked in my head and said, that’s it, that’s what you’re going to do, and being from Seattle, there was always a scene before and after Kurt, watching all those bands on mtv, going to the live shows really inspired me to want to do this, I just wanted to pick up a guitar and play rock music, over the curse of time I got into punk rock, Nofx, Misfits, Bad Religion, also it’s the darker stuff that really influences this band, like Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Dammed, all of those bands are real big influences on Aiden for sure, there is certainly a gothic element to us’ Seems like there was a defining point when Will knew he was a singer, he agrees ‘I’ve been in bands ever since I was fourteen years old, it really is all I ever wanted to do, and every band I was ever in I was telling everyone, this is the one, we really are going to do it, try, try, try and then try again is the thing, don’t stop, people will always laugh, or dismiss you, but fuck em’ you know’ Do I ever! Will has a passion for what he does ‘The strange thing is that when I joined this band we were just happy to play some shows local, a real stepping stone process, it was just about songs to begin with, then it was straight to wanting to record a record, just do it, we did that, released it ourselves, then all of a sudden people started to show up at gigs more and more, singing the words to our songs, and we were blown away, so then we set up small tours around where we were, mostly inner state, because two guys in the band were still in high school, that also made it hard to tour full time, sometimes we would do out of state gigs, but not too many, but kids kept showing up wherever we played, so by the end of that year w figured we might as well see if all this that we had built up would get us signed to a label’ So I ask Will was that a hard time being in the band ‘ No, we were working, playing at the weekend, getting support slots, believing the dream, we sent our shit to every indie label out there, Hopeless, Fearless, Epitaph, Vagrant, and Victory, no one got back to us, but then a few months later after playing regionally in the north west area, we started to build a buzz, and when bands would come through on tour, we would get the opening slot, or the kids at the show would have our t-shirts on, so these bands would then leave and either them, the manager, or crew would say to the labels that there was
this band that they should check out, Victory noticed, we had some offers from other labels too, but we believed that Victory would be the best place for us, there is a whole circle both inner and outer that surrounds these labels, everyone talks to each other about each other, good or bad, but Victory are the best’ Boy he is not wrong, Victory has fast become the #1 Independent label in America during 2005, Will continues ‘You know what, it’s not about a bunch of a&r guys going out and checking out bands, when most of them have not got a clue, looking for the next big thing, when they missed the last big thing, it’s a network of people out on the road, checking stuff out, they are all part of one scene talking about everything within it, the bands are discovering favourite new bands while they are on tour, I was not that familiar with Bullet For My Valentine before this tour, but I love them now, they are great guys and great live, they say the same about us’ So it seemed that a lot of the kids on this tour (average age 14) have been following the tour around, turning up from 9am in the morning, a lot of them have already spoke to the band via e-mail prior to the tour, the digital age has become a major force with 50 million My Space users alone telling each other what is hot and what is not, Will completely believes that there is a new force, a 21st century punk rock ethos at work ‘ Oh it’s so true, this would not have been possible even five years ago, for us to come and play big tours like this in the UK and sell out our own shows, if you notice that five or ten years ago it was all major labels and their bands, there was a few indies that did ok, but they did not really compete, it got a bit stale for a while but now you have Victory and others like Fuelled By Ramen who have Fall Out Boy, all these apparent little labels who are shifting units because kids are able to send each other links by e-mail or instant messenger, you can’t stop word of mouth, you cant stop the street, especially if you can tell someone and say hey you can listen to it right now, double whammy, like the old cassette tape days, it’s a generation movement that’s exciting to be a part of, the kids are so into it, they sometimes know more about me than I can remember, they do their research, they delve into what you are all about and if they like it, they love it, when you meet them they really can hold a conversation with you, like this t-shirt I am wearing, this girl read how I dig Edward Scissorhands and she got this shirt and gave it to me’ Will admits sometimes there are no answers, and sometimes you don’t need them ‘Were not getting played on the radio, so it’s not a bunch of fickle people who dig one song because it’s catchy, tonight is a sold out show, it’s a lifestyle, I have tattoos, I got a lot of them, mostly done in Seattle, some of them in other parts of the
USA, , I just dig that and kids who come to the show love to talk tattoos, I watch movies, play console games, drink, fight, fuck, love, hate, feel pain, we are all the same, we all live the lifestyle, I’m those kids five years on, they are me five years ago watching my favourite band come to town and play, there will be kids here tonight who will form a band because of it, you will talk to them in five years and they will say, I was at the Aiden show and I just knew that was what I wanted to do, believe me, what goes around, comes around, I speak to them in a language they understand, I am them, they are me, if we can bring it back to basics, bands sometimes get too big, rock bands need to be friends, hang out, support each other, pass on cool info about great music sites, magazines, radio etc, then the scene will just continue to grow, I have to admit that this is a dream, I never thought I would get to come to the UK, I love it out here, and the reaction has been awesome, it has a feeling of being involved in something bigger than me, of us, of my band, I woke up at noon today and the bus was surrounded by kids’ I end by asking Will what is it like being in Aiden in 2006, he sums it up in four words (To choke upon!) ‘It’s just awesome’ So we leave Will to get ready for the show, and what a show they deliver, ‘Die Romantic’ is an anthem waiting to happen, the band give their all, they also like everyone on the tour, hang out at the merch stall post show to have photo’s, sign stuff, chat and also Victory records have a whole bunch of FREE sampler CD’s that they give away, this is the real deal, this is now, this is Alternative music at it’s best, this is ‘Flaming Youth’ 30 years after ‘Punk’ rock I never thought I would see the day, but fuck me, this has been one of the best days of my life, I used to be those kids, I used to care more about rock n roll than life, then life caught up with me, well tonight I gave it back, believe in this,it isn’t no media made up bullshit, get on the train, it’s a non stop to nowhere! Just like it should be.
I’ve been in bands ever since I was fourteen years old, it really is all I ever wanted to do, and every band I was ever in I was telling everyone, this is the one, we really are going to do it, try, try, try and then try again is the thing, don’t stop, people will always laugh, or dismiss you, but fuck em’ B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
023
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 024
BENEDICTUM Always a pleasure to present new bands from across the Atlantic...
BadAss
American “Bro - I got this hot new band. I think you’re gonna like ‘em.” So went the PR directive. “OK, send some music over we’ll take a listen”. So imagine my surprise when instead of a couple of sample mp3 files, I get these pictures you see here in my inbox.
Obviously it was the right thing to do because a) it’s a good way to get my attention and b) when the music finally did arrive about a half hour later, I had to listen to it to see what was going on. These PR people can be too clever for their own good. Having established that Benedictum are a proper band with real songs and guitars that riff so heavily that thunder needn’t bother rolling, I get a number out of said canny PR guy and end up speaking to Veronica about five minutes later.. and she’s just like you’d expect her to be!
024
“Sorry if I sound a bit tense! I’ve just been talking to this journalist whose question was ‘how could I have a song named Misogyny when I dress like I do in the pictures. What does what I wear have to do with the meaning of misogyny. The deep hatred of women is not even similar to a song about a victim of violence and how her spirit can be destroyed. It just has nothing to do with someone’s image! It just pissed me off - as if a woman can’t express herself and be sexy. I hate it when people miss the point. it’s frustrating!” Have you finished now? “I think so.”
I guess that’s what happens when you get into this business, some people pick up on the music and others pick up on how you present yourself. If you get lucky, you’ll get somebody who will see what you’re trying to accomplish as a whole. Welcome to the world - it can be hard for a
female fronted band at the best of times, but right now seems like as good a time as any with Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation frankly, breaking down doors all over the place, it’s not looked upon as it was in the days of Vixen.
You’ve been around for a while? “Yes! I won’t lie to you, it’s been hard sometimes, but you keep on going because it’s what you love doing. I’ve done loads of different things and sometimes you wonder why you bother when you can’t pay the rent or eat, but it was all worth it to get this far. Going back a few years, I don’t think I was ready for it, but I am now. My voice is in good shape and we’re pleased with the album - we want the whole world to hear it. Yeah... the album. It’s hard to walk away from the Dio-esque ring that it has. Not that Veronica sound anything like Ronnie, but hooking up with Craig Goldie has certainly rubbed off. “I think that was one of the best things that ever happened to us. Craig has been so
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 025
supportive both in and out of the studio, he knows so many people who have also come in to help us and he’s really helped us to navigate our way through making this album. “People quite often say that we’re a little like Dio - I can see what they mean and it’s quite flattering but really, we’re nothing like them! It’s flattering and everything but we’re completely different in our approach.
If old school metal with a gun full of bullets aimed squarely at the future gets your rocks off, Uncreation is available now, so why are you still here?
It’s tempting to look at Veronica and think about her as being the whole of the band - it’s obviously tempting but far from the truth. A band is a band after all and there’s a talented bunch of guys working relentlessly at this to make it work... “Hell yeah... I’m just the gal up front! There’s a whole machine pumping away under the hood y’know. Blackie is definitely the taskmaster of the band. His intensity brings that more modern edge to the music as he actually studies the riffs over and over and actually plots out his territory! He adds thunder and excitement to the music too - and he’s also a graphic artist and is responsible for the bands logos - so he’s going to be busy as hell soon as we get our merchandise lined up! Then we also have Jesse.. the youngest member and he’s a Dimebag fan beyond measure! He came up from the depths of the underground metal scene in San Diego to join forces with us. He has played in numerous local bands including a Slayer tribute band and a short stint as a stand in with Cage. Chris adds textures and layers that give Benedictum that added atmosphere that you hear. He also works on Hammond Organs and any other type of keyboard for that matter at Fish Organs in San Diego… as his other profession and finally Pete Wells. Pete is the riff master (don’t tell him I called him that!)... those driving and inspiring riffs which we build upon. He was a member of Malady with me for several years and is the clown of the band there’s always one isn’t there! Essentially, that’s us!” They’re not afraid of wearing their influences on their sleeve either. Waiting in the wings is a great cover of Sabbaths 'Heaven and Hell' and also the Dio-era barnstormer, 'The Mob Rules' (set for inclusion on the limited edition digi-pak version only). You know, sometimes, you just click with people and I like Veronica a lot. I like her band too. Unashamedly metal, they do it the right way by writing songs that fist throwing motherfuckers can get down to. It’s a given fact that Veronica will have to suffer the slings and arrows of the press treating her as a sex symbol but that’s cool... she can handle it. At the heart of the matter is the fact that Benedictum are a great band who can more than handle it. It it takes a few T&A shots to shove along the pipeline a bit faster, so be it, that’s the business! One thing is for sure though, by the time they get their collective asses over here for a few shows later in the year, there should be a big enough following to start something special.
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
025
22/11/08
22:28
Page 026
The Hills Are Alive!
Burn Issue 8 Final
026
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 027
The Hills Have Eyes The Hills Are Alive
Another remake of a cult horror classic? Could The Hills Have Eyes be different? Owen Williams goes hiking.
Remakes are a boom industry in Hollywood. In the case of TV shows, comedies, and especially horror movies, the chances are that if you have a nostalgic memory of something, someone is planning a new version. Whether these projects actually need re-imagining is a moot point – there seems little reason to reproduce films that are widely available and regarded as classics anyway – and the trend is often attributed to Hollywood’s lowest-common-denominator lack of imagination: money men in suits playing safe by sticking to formulas that have worked in the past. Many such projects have died embarrassing deaths but there have also been some notable successes. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, arguably the daddy of all modern horror and the film least in need of updating, underwent a (leather) facelift in 2003 to surprisingly classy effect, and its equally ugly sibling, Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes is now following on its heels. A handful of 70s horror films cast a very long shadow over their more recent offspring, and that decade produced some of the most recognisable names in horror moviemaking; directors like Hooper, Craven, George Romero and John Carpenter becoming stars in their own right. Numerous filmmakers have lately paid homage to their influence in no uncertain terms - most obviously Rob Schmidt in the punchy Wrong Turn, and Rob Zombie in his berserk House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects – so it was only a matter of time before the films themselves became targets for reassessment. Action producer/director Michael Bay chose to launch his new horror production company with Marcus Nispel’s Texas Chainsaw re-jig, which added an unwelcome gloss to Hooper’s grungy tale of the cannibal family, but also ran off in all kinds of interesting new directions. While the 2003 TCM ticks all the
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
boxes that allow it to function as a remake (the kids in the van, Leatherface’s entrance, the meathook) it also adds new characters and locations, and climaxes entirely differently, so that it functions equally well as a belated sequel (and far better than any of the official sequels from the thirty-year interim). The new The Hills Have Eyes in contrast is keen to tell exactly the same story as its predecessor, but with the benefit of some money and a crew. The original was made with a miniscule budget, a single camera and a fifteen-man staff, lending it that grainy semi-documentary feel peculiar to many of the films from its era. Unlike many of its contemporaries and the films it inspired though, The Hills Have Eyes doesn’t conform to the Agatha Christie Ten Little Niggers formula of picking off its cast one-by-one, instead it builds up a believably tetchy family unit for the first two-thirds, until the astonishing scene where half of them are brutally murdered in the space of a couple of minutes. Telling a classic “don’t stray from the path” story of mutant cannibals living in the deserts outside California, the film blends Watergate-era paranoia with a Marvel/DC comics idea of the effects of atomic radiation, and covers similar ground to Craven’s previous The Last House on the Left, which also featured two “families” that grotesquely mirror one another, and concerned itself with the animal brutality that “normal” people can quickly be reduced to. The 2006 version retains hands-on involvement from Wes Craven, himself responsible for getting the update up and running (perhaps wanting to apologise for his own hilariously poor Hills Have Eyes Part 2 in 1985). Craven states that the intention was “to greatly expand the production’s scope and take more time and care in shooting”, and to that end the production
027
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 028
team hired Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur – the directors of the jaw-dropping 2004 French horror movie Haute Tension – to make their Hollywood debut. “Wes Craven was one of our childhood heroes,” Aja notes. “We grew up watching all of his movies and that was really what got us into horror movies in the beginning. Greg and I actually bonded over one of his movies, Shocker, and The Last House on the Left served as a huge inspiration when we made Haute Tension. So given all that, we couldn’t possibly have been happier to land this project.” Despite it being amazing that anyone could have been that influenced by Shocker, the two filmmakers were especially keen to further develop the characters’ individual struggles for survival in a way that had not been fully achieved previously. Inspired by survival classics like John Boorman’s Deliverance and Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort, Aja saw the film as an opportunity to look at human nature under the most extreme provocation and pressure. “For us the film was the perfect follow-up after Haute Tension because it was a chance to go another step beyond in the fear process,” he says. “I love it when you’re watching a movie and it’s impossible to drink a soda or eat popcorn because you’re too into the story. The Hills Have Eyes is exactly that kind of movie.” The diametrically opposed portraits of a relatively-normal-but-flawed suburban family pitted against their primal instinct-driven mutant
counterparts also sparked the directors’ imaginations: “The idea of making a survival horror movie about a family and not about a bunch of teenagers was very attractive,” says Aja. “When you have a family like the Carters, you have an opportunity to explore so many different characters and so many different types of behaviour in the face of danger. That was very interesting and allowed us to build some very different scenes with each of them. “I think that members of the audience will each identify with the mother, sister, brother or sonin-law and the experience is always more real and disturbing when you really care for the characters.” He continues: “Our version is a remake, but at the same time it’s more about fear, more about a real struggle for survival, more about a family facing some terrifying unknown. We tried to update the film while making everything even more logical and realistic… even scarier and gorier than the original.” For Aja and Levasseur, the key to this was finding the right mix between originality and homage, and the result is, as intended, a much “bigger” production in terms of sets, make-up and effects. The core values of the original however are still thoroughly uncompromised, and the retro paranoiac feel is curiously as relevant in today’s political climate as it was in 1977. We still don’t really know who might be hiding in the hills.
Remakes Revisited Remakes are reasonably pointless exercises unless you actually improve on the original. Quite why Jan de Bont was given the reigns of The Haunting (1999) is anyone’s guess, and people the world over are still scratching their heads as to why Gus Van Sant bothered to go anywhere near Psycho (1998). Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis had the right idea when they formed their Dark Castle production company; that the trick with a remake is to choose something that was fairly ropey to begin with. Thus their series of William Castle overhauls, House on Haunted Hill (1999), Thirteen Ghosts (2001) and Ghost Ship (2002) are all less than perfect but fairly solid, and keep the fun bargain basement atmosphere of their progenitors. Dark Castle’s House of Wax (2005) was also an excellent update of the creaky 3D Vincent Price original, but while Marcus Nispel made a decent fist of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), original Chainsaw director Tobe Hooper’s own stab at remaking The Toolbox Murders (2004) was pretty damn dismal. The Vanishing (1993) took the horrifying 1988 Danish original and gave it a happy ending, and other notable failures are the recent Amytyville Horror (2005) – a poor retread of a film that was a crap Shining rip-off in the first place – and Rupert Wainwright’s abominable The Fog (2006). Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu (1979) is an interesting oddity, and probably the closest a horror remake will ever come to the arthouse, but the title of all-time greatest remake is a tie between Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (2004) and David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986). Honourable mentions should also go to The Grudge (2005) The Ring (2002), Ring 2 (2005) - actually a sequel to the remake, rather than a remake of the sequel, borrowing hugely from the original Dark Water (2002) - and Dark Water itself (2005). Excellent if you’re too thick for subtitles.
028
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 029
MY RUIN Always a pleasure to present new bands from across the Atlantic...
SPOILT ROTTEN
Words: Louise Steggals
In a dark hole somewhere in Birmingham, Tarrie B and her minions collectively known as My Ruin have rolled in for the last date on their long-awaited UK tour. After being previously postponed, it's a welcome relief to finally get them on our shores. It's been a landmark tour with the band having new members, a new record deal, a new album and Miss B's birthday on their first show in London. So trust the British weather to supply her with a stinking cold as a present. Therefore, partner in crime, music and love, Mick Murphy handles the press so Tarrie can save herself for scaring the bejeezus out of the fans at their show that night. After all, who wouldn't want to end a tour with a bang rather than a sneeze? With the changes you have undergone, such as your deal with Undergroove records you must be pretty satisfied with your lot right now? MM: Oh things are great. It's the last night of the tour, things are kind of sentimental. This tour has been a lot of fun and we've got a great family feeling on this tour. I'm very satisfied. We've got the best drummer and the new material is sounding really good. Matt Lechevalier is really pulling it off. How are the fans enjoying the new material? MM: Oh they know all the words already! Tarrie just had her birthday which tends to spark a period of reflection and consideration B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
of the future. Have you guys done any looking back, looking forward, or are you just enjoying the moment? MM: Tarrie's birthday was on the first show. It was a crazy, big show at the Astoria which we filmed for a DVD. We really felt the love from the crowd. We're just keeping the momentum going. We've got two six-week tours in the US coming up. You've always stayed close to your fans, through online diaries and the like. But does this make you vunerable to certain people who get a little too close? MM: We're a dedicated, grass roots band, we keep close and hang out after the show. That's what feels right. A couple of nights we've not as we've been ill, fighting colds. But there are drawbacks and we've had dramas in the past from being too available. What happens after this tour? MM: Back to the airport! We're heading back to LA, touring the US in April, and then hopefully back to the UK in the summer. We'd love to do some of the festivals. My Ruin have been established long enough to see many bands, particularly in the LA scene come and go. Is there anyone you really miss or think is going to go the distance? MM: We kind of ignore the LA scene. There isn't really a group, everyone's really scattered. There's lots of bands that jump on the latest
train. Tarrie respects Black Flag and Iggy, cause they do things on their own terms. They do their own thing, without compromise. Would you consider yourselves a mainstream act? You certainly have a higher profile a lot of your peers. Do you bridge a gap between the mainstream and underground rock scene? MM: We're an underground rock band. We've never considered ourselves mainstream. I see your point about our profile but we're not living the fancy life. Are there any misconceptions people have about My Ruin? Do some people want to keep you in a certain place and time, or feel you have sold out in any way? MM: The music is up to us, we don't answer to anyone. It means we can't please everyone. Every My Ruin album is a bit different. People want to keep you in 1999. But we've evolved into a Rock and Roll band with a modern twist, really guitar driven. This band is real and we fight tooth and nail to stay true. My Ruin is its own band, with its own identity. If it all goes down in flames tomorrow, how do you hope My Ruin will be remembered? MM: I want My Ruin to be remembered for being true to who we are. We've not been given the keys to the kingdom. We've made it on our own terms and I want to be remembered for being in that band. 029
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 030
bret hart Considered the best technical wrestler ever to grace the ring, The Hitman Bret Hart has a new DVD available...
The Execution of
Excellence For a man who’s been in more wars than the U.S. Army, Bret Hart looks remarkably healthy. You can take into account the stroke, the busted joints, the years of toll that line his face and the greying hair but he’s unmistakable all the same as he saunters through the restaurant. On closer inspection he looks tired too but being on a non-stop flight after flight promotional tour across Europe will do that to a man - even if you’re used to it.
030
In town to promote the release of his DVD (The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be), I can think of worse places to do this than a waterfront hotel in Chelsea, but what prompted the DVD package anyway? A special reason perhaps or is he just the next name in the list that’s cropped up on the WWE Legends release schedule? Apparently, the story starts with a WWE proposed release of a DVD called Screwed. For those not paying attention, Screwed centred around the wrestling story of the year in which Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels conspired to take the belt from Hart in his native Canada... Hart picks up the story: “I didn’t mind dropping the belt to Michaels, I’ve always done what’s been good for the business and the company, but I was adamant that the worst place to do it was in Montreal”. One look at the footage (available on the Survivor Series 1997 release), will show exactly what went on. As Michaels puts that hold on Hart, there’s no way he’s going to tap out, but the referee (also in on the plot) gives a swift 3 count, the bell is rung and the deal is done. As McMahon comes ringside to take the heat for Michaels (for Hart is not dumb!), Hart spits on his boss. His ex-tag partner Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldog climb into the ring to diffuse the situation but the damage has already been done. “They built me up to be a hero character - and as sports entertainers, when you do something long enough, you become those characters and that’s all I was being. It was just wrong to drop the belt there.” To further the fate of the relationship between Hart and the WWE, some years later, Bret’s brother, Owen, was killed in a freak Words: Sion Smith accident (Over The Edge, Pics: Courtesy WWE 1999). It should never have
happened but that story is well documented on the DVD, what isn’t however is the fact that a large percentage of Bret’s co-workers and extended family members are also no longer with us. The actual numbers when you sit down and look at it are staggering - far more than any rock n roll casualties. It’s a long list, but off the top of my head, his brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith (the British Bulldog), Mr Perfect, Bossman, Rick Rude, Road Warrior Hawk... should we put it down to steroid abuse or what? “No, not really. It’s not that simple. Back then, you were on the road nearly every day of the year. If you weren’t on the road, you weren’t working, and you get busted up no matter how good you are. After a few while, you start using painkillers to dull the pain. Some of the guys were doing steroids, sure, but if you were in the first few matches of the night, once you got changed, you’d hang out, maybe go to a bar and drink. “They also had us on this schedule whereby the company would block-book seats on a plane to the next venue, but if you missed your flight, you were screwed because then you’d have to make your own arrangements and pay for another flight out of your own pocket. Most guys would also be in the hotel gym every day. So you might use downers to get to sleep because after a match your adrenaline pumps for hours, then you might use uppers to get you back into the mood to go to the ring. Couple that with steroids, cocaine, booze and whatever else you can think of to add to that, and you got a recipe for disaster.” So it’s more a lifestyle thing that people tend to drift into if they have that kind of mentality? “Yeah, y’know I heard that Ray Traylor (Big Bossman) was visiting some family with his wife and kids. His kids went upstairs to play, his wife left the room to go fetch something and when she came back, she found him dead on the sofa. That’s the reality of the business sometimes and the price there is to pay.” So how did you escape it all? You had a successful career and came out of it the other side relatively unscathed - apart from the obvious physical toll it’s taken on your bones and joints of course. “I’m not sure, but I know how I got there! Back when the WWF was at its peak with Hogan and the whole steroid abuse court cases became very high profile, Vince took the emphasis away from the huge body-builder types and really started to work the guys who looked natural. Some of it may have been right place, right time but I’d paid my dues. They knew I was capable of carrying a match from start to finish and also capable of headlining a w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 031
main event. For a while it was great, we had the emphasis on wrestling rather than big guys using power moves and we settled into a good groove, but then at Wrestlemania 9, I had the match with Yokozuna, got the chalk in the eyes thing going on and before you know it, Hogan is in the ring dropping the big leg and the belts around his waist again. “I guess at some level, Vince figured that Hogan has always been good for business so “let’s go back there”, but in all honesty, I think we’d moved too far away from all of that really slow stuff. Things were picking up and there was a real talent pool again.
“So things swung back around and there were some real highs - even the matches with Shawn (Michaels) were good despite what we thought of each other. I’m proud as hell of the Iron Man match that we had and some of the work I did with Steve Austin still hurts now!” Post WWE, Bret found his way to the WCW were there were matches made in heaven that we never thought we’d see. Hart vs Sting for one, and we never really did see it. Not at it’s peak. At a base level, the two companies may have had wrestling in common, but the WCW never really figured out how to use any of the WWE guys that made the switch. In fact, it was only when Nash and Hall kickstarted the NWO that there was ever really any competition. “I had to fight for every square inch - stopping Goldberg’s spear with the metal plate was a great idea bit I had to push and push and they still didn’t like it. Eventually, I just did it anyway and it was great TV. At 37, I’m not too proud to sit here and say that Hart is absolutely my favourite wrestler of all time, (OK, there was the Warrior as well, but that was a different kind of thing altogether!). The guy is an absolute gent and despite still being bitter about all of the things that brought his career to an end, he has it in perspective. Perhaps in the name of sports entertainment,
it’s worth checking out some of the original columns he wrote at the time, the best of which you can find here: www.brethart.com/column/nov15.asp and you can navigate your own way from there. The DVD is available to buy now at www.silvervision.co.uk or good retail stores. If you ever cared at all, it’s essential!
“The tragedy of life is not that we die, but what dies inside a man while he lives.” (on the death of Davey Boy Smith
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
031
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 032
Queensryche Chemical Rebellion
032
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 033
Queensryche Chemical Rebellion
Chemical Rebellion Queensryche. The band name alone means a hundred different things to as many people. Chances are though, mere mention of the name and your mind transcends space and time straight to either Empire or Operation Mindcrime. The former, an album known for its faultless production values and sweeping landscape songs, the latter a barbarous political concept album that was first delivered almost 20 years ago. Which brings us to why Geoff Tate is in town: to promote Operation Mindcrime 2. An album that not many expected to ever happen, but as Tate points out himself, the political climate in the States is not that much different now than it was back then, it has to be done! The key I think, being the name Bush, but as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself. I guess if you were a casual Queensryche fan or just plain not paying attention for the last 20 years, you might expect somebody with a Matrix coat to come sweeping into the room, but Tate is quite frankly, cool as a cucumber…
In my head, I’d often wondered if there was ever a time when they thought, can we really do this? Can we pull it off? The level of expectation amongst the fan base will be quite high. Over to you Mr Tate: I never thought of it in those terms.. hmm. I don’t know how to answer that question! I never think in terms of charts or numbers or meeting peoples expectations. I don’t write records for other people, I don’t make records for anyone else but me. That might sound like arrogance and I apologise but that’s what’s always worked for me. I got into the story and into creating this world and this musical excitement and just tried to wrap my head around the psychology of the characters and make an interesting story. That’s my focus. I wasn’t interested in how long the record was or do we have a ballad or any of that stuff. Tell you a funny thing – this is kind of weird. The band never figures out how long the songs are until we’re finished. In mastering, where you put all the sequences together, at that point B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
they always list the songs and put the indexing in, and that’s when you find out how long the songs are. What’s odd is that Mindcrime was 59 minutes 5 seconds long. This album… exactly the same length. Isn’t that weird! Slightly! As a fan and someone that comes from ‘back then’, I was subconsciously waiting for something familiar to happen and those moments really exist. There are some really cool nods to the past. We tried to take recurring musical themes and weave them throughout the record. We took some of the musical themes of the first album, like some of the half step melody variations we do, and we brought them in and it gives it that similarity and a sense of cohesion. We thought a lot about how we were going to make them musically fit together. I mean we’re planning on playing them back to back, so we wanted them to be somewhat of a similar realm. If you put them back to back, you’ll be surprised at how much bigger and better technically it all is. The first one sounds ‘small’ by comparison. You know the first time I listened to the album, I didn’t know where to start. I figured the best way to listen to it was to throw everything away, the notes from the record company, your notes, the sleeve and the tracklisting, otherwise you get unwanted input and it really disturbs what the whole point of the exercise is about, and it makes you concentrate. There are some awesome things happening on there – that duet with Ronnie Dio and yourself is a real high point for me. That’s a good way to listen to it though. It was actually an amazing experience working with Ronnie. I’d worked with him before on the Hear n Aid song, but this time we were recording each other. I had high expectations of him because of who he is and he exceeded all of them. He’s a hell of a musician as well, so nobody had to explain anything. I just gave him the song and said: “This is what I’m trying to do – I want to weave these two voices together…” I wrote both the parts and he came back a week later and just took all the ideas and pushed them into his own realm. Thinking from a producers standpoint, it all
worked well, but when somebody brings in another idea based on what you’ve given them and they take it one step up, you have to see where it goes, you cant just squash it. He took it and he made it so much better. That’s why its so great to work in a collaborative situation because as one person you can only push an idea as far as you can take it. It’s always good to get a few other people involved – it takes the idea to a whole new dimension.
Touring is a whole different mindset, but you’re playing somewhere like Germany and everybody smokes... singing is an athletic endeavour. It requires your whole body to do aerobic activity. Sometimes you’re in a smoky fucking room and there’s a guy in the back room going “Hey, that Geoff Tate, he cant hit those high notes anymore.” You try and set an athletic record in a smoky room. 033
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 034
Queensryche Chemical Rebellion So you’re taking it on the road – that’s very exciting news! I haven’t figured it all out yet. There’s places were we might flash back and flash forward in the sequencing but I just want to do this. No songs from any other records. Just Mindcrime. This is where my head is at. There won’t be another Mindcrime record because in my mind the story is done now. If my battered memory is any good, wasn’t there a lot of talk years ago about making the concept into a movie? Ha! They’re still talking. There’s a screenplay at the moment that being shopped to different movie houses. I wrote it with a guy called Mark Shepherd. It’s a really cool screenplay; I’ve tried not to make any casting decisions though. Once you hand a movie over to a studio, you sign away a lot of creative control. We’re protected to a certain point with contracts and so on, but nobody is going to put the brakes on because the studio want to use somebody you hadn’t thought of. We’ve had interest from many different directors over the years but never felt comfortable with their idea of what they wanted to do with it, which is why we did it ourselves, so that we had the story in a really solid format so that it was understood properly and they got it in a format that they were used to – not being open to interpretation and all that. So how’s things in the Q camp right now.? Good! You know Mindcrime has been building for a few years in our minds. With the last election in the States it was really a signal to put the record out again! I couldn’t back away from it.
You know what, I got that from it! I was really pleased with myself! I just couldn’t stay away from it. When the first one came out George Bush was in office and now 20 years later, Nicky gets out of prison and there’s a Bush in office again! That’s irony for you. Hell, I was 20 the first time round, it was all “politics, who cares who the President is… let’s listen to Poison!” Geoff descends into much laughter No. Stop laughing! It really was like that, but now, I think we’re in a much more politically aware generation. We all view Mindcrime as being this very successful classic record, but when it came out, it was not looked upon that way. Poison and Motley Crue defined what metal was and what we were doing was very left field. What was weird though was that all of us Poison and Crue fans, we all owned a copy of Mindcrime – we never ventured over the other way into Anthrax and Megadeth, but we all had that album. Looking back it was pretty strange. But 20 years goes by and it’s a different kind of erm… well, the critics didn’t dig it and it was made fun of, but MTV got a hold of the single and it became a huge thing. The power of TV! There was a huge demand for the DVD too when it came out too, yeah? Geoff turns the tables on me… You know this is what’s always confused me. Why do we need a TV station or a magazine to tell us what’s good? Why do we need that? Is it because we don’t have a clue and cant make up our own minds?
It think there are people out there who actively hunt things down. But they’re very small pockets… really small numbers. I feel compelled to answer… Back then, you would buy Kerrang because it was all there was and they would take a chance now and then y’know – and hint at good alternative stuff, and take a shot at putting a band like Kings X on the cover, but it would be hit n run and you either discovered it or not. We were fed then too but it just wasn’t so force fed and saturated with information. We spend huge amounts of money on designer labels that are so disposable - 6 months later and its not worth anything? From a music point of view though, I think people like to find things – or at least I do. That doesn’t happen any more. The record companies - they did this thing in the nineties where they fired all the music people and brought in the bean counters who were just in it for the money. They looked at everything from a sports mentality level rather than the music and they started signing up bands that were similar, rather than taking the unique ones. They spattered a whole bunch of people against the wall and made music disposable to the marketplace and in 6 months it would be a new band that came out. Around the same time, rap came out and you didn’t need huge amounts of money to record anymore. You could record an for a thousand dollars and sell millions, so why bother. At the same time a whole shift happened in the publics mind of what was good and what was
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 035
Essential ‘rÿche The Queensrÿche albums you can’t afford to be without.
Queensrÿche The EP that began it all with a complete concert as bonus tracks! Featuring the original studio versions of classics Queen of The Reich and The Lady Wore Black (still one of the band’s best songs) and live versions of the same tracks plus several tracks from the band’s next album Warning, there’s no better introduction to the beginnings of Queensrÿche.
Rage For Order (1987) Queensrÿche’s “coming of age” album. This is where their technical and progressive style started to come to the fore. Includes some of Queensrÿche’s best songs: Walk In The Shadows, I Dream In Infrared and London.
Operation: Mindcrime (1988) The quintessential metal concept record. No metal collection is complete without this album. Everything about it is as close to perfection as possible, from song craft to storyline to performance. The live CD and DVD companions Operation: LIVEcrime is just are essential to experience the live show Queensrÿche created to tell the story of the album. Includes the classics The Needle Lies, Breaking The Silence, Revolution Calling and I Don’t Believe In Love.
There’s a lot of stupid people in America and you can quote me on that. You can gauge it by the election. Look at all the stupid people who voted for Bush! bad and now mediocrity is what sells. It’s everywhere. You’re right. Music is disposable, but the bigger question now is long before Mindcrime 2 appears on the net? From a money point of view, it’s a bad thing for you, but creatively it’s a winner because people are hearing your material that otherwise may not be exposed to it. The record companies needed to control it but they blew it. There’s no fishing line attached to it. It’s gone way beyond their control - they can’t catch up. There are so many different arguments. You know the labels were cool to a point back then, and then they fired everybody. It’s a completely different world out there. There are no venues for a band to filter up through anymore, not from scratch anyway. They just passed that law where they say that a band cant play in a pub anymore. That’s the beginning point of a bands career isn’t it over here? That’s awful but it’s happening everywhere. Its like they’re trying to force it out of the culture. There’s no breeding ground any more. Could you do it again? What from scratch? I quite often say that I’m done, but my wife just laughs at me and she’s right. I can’t walk away. Well, in my opinion its been a strange ride for Queensryche. You seem to have been up and then down over the years, but I guess if a band stays around long enough, that’s bound to happen
Some people liken life in a band to ocean waves. I can see that definitely as a nice way of describing it. Lives do go up and down. The up and down lets you have a perspective. You know we’re better off now than we ever have been. What I’m saying is, that the perception is that Queensryche went away sometimes when they came back, they made some average albums which is just not what anybody expects of you, but I guess that’s the media talking. That’s the media alright – it’s all about how much page space they choose to give you. It doesn’t always cover everything you do. People come up to me and say “I can’t believe you’re putting a new album out. It’s been sop long since Empire!” Conceivably, you can get your album reviewed in Rolling Stone and Kerrang! – that's the two biggest rock magazines in the world who might pan it - and that’s pretty much your career in the hands of two people who have decided your next moves on both sides of the Atlantic. I don’t read my press anymore. You wouldn’t come out of the house if you did! I don’t even read our website. I’m, glad they’re on there but I don’t read it. Thus is the gospel according to Geoff Tate. Whatever the media spin that gets put on Mindcrime 2, as always, whether you like it or not is up to you. Maybe Mindcrime is more about the music industry than it is about George Bush, but damn me if I didn’t think of that analogy until after Tate had gone to lunch...
Empire (1990) A slightly more commercial turn for Queensrÿche, and frowned upon a little for “selling out” and all the other usual fickle clichés, but a good album is a good album. It yielded the singles Jet City Woman, Empire and the immortal ballad Silent Lucidity but also includes another two of the band’s best songs: Another Rainy Night (Without You) and The Thin Line
Q2K (1999) The album everyone loves to hate. Disliked when it was released as a knee-jerk reaction to the departure of lead guitarist and principle song-writer Chris DeGarmo, this is probably the most underrated Queensrÿche album. Some people question the various direction changes on albums like Promised Land (1995), Hear In The Now Frontier (1997) and Tribe (2003) but Q2K is solid hard rock, Queensrÿche style.
The Rest: In a perfect World Tribe would be included here. It’s a thoughtful album and much more emotional and passionate than the last five albums. For the first time since the eighties the band sounded like they were playing songs about things they believed in. But it’s not for everyone. The same accusation could, and has, been levelled at Q2K there’s no real reason why that album shouldn’t appeal to all Queensrÿche fans, and for that reason it’s included here instead of Tribe. For the band’s other albums, Warning is just a continuation of the first EP. A good album and well worth adding to your collection once you’ve got the essentials. Promised Land is good for the most part, but too much weirdness precludes it from this list. Hear In The Now Frontier is just a weird album. It should be the last album a Queensrÿche fan should buy. For every good track (Sign of The Times, Hit The Black) there’s something completely bizarre (spOOl). The b-side Chasing Blue Sky, now included as a bonus track, is superb though. There’s also a double live album Live Evolution, another live record The Art of Live and corresponding DVDs (beware of the Art of Live DVD though, it’s entirely filmed in sepia!) plus two compilations: Greatest Hits and Classic Masters, both of which are good introductions if you’re not sure where to start. AL
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
035
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 036
Hostel Hostel Takeover
Eli Roth’s new film Hostel is not just a journey across Europe, it is also a journey, a descent really, into the very bowels of human nature. The director claims that he was inspired by a Thai website that offered the chance to kill ‘willing’ victims, for a price. And the worrying thing is that you can believe it. There are examples everywhere of human cruelty, and it doesn’t take a great leap of your imagination to realise that Roth’s visions may just be as close to a documentary on the subject as you’d dare get. Paul Acres took his life in his own hands and met the maverick director to discuss his new movie and his warped mind, and he talked, and talked, and talked...
Do you think that violence on-screen is reflected off it? I don’t think there’s a single recorded instance of violent movies causing violence. I think that violent movies, ah, people love them and I think that they’re a very good thing for society. Quite cathartic? It’s a cathartic experience. You know right now in America… you know it’s interesting. It’s funny how people react to violent movies, you know parents can get so upset and they want to protect their children from them, but like when someone bombs an abortion clinic and tells them that the Bible says abortion is wrong, you wouldn’t ban the Bible. You would say no, that’s a crazy person, who is using the Bible as an excuse to do that. Would you look at the witch trials, the European witch trials where everyone’s quoting ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ and torturing people to death? It’s like those are crazy people who couldn’t explain medical phenomenon like anthrax, which would make a cow’s udders bleed, so that had to be the devil, so it’s like, it’s all like crazy human behaviour but they’ll use anything as an excuse to do it. So I think that horror movies, they’re a very cathartic experience, and right now, in America, people are fucking terrified. We have a fucking chimpanzee running the country, we’re involved in this war that we’re never gonna win, that none of us wanted to be in. We don’t even know who we’re fighting. Everyone’s getting killed and we’re just creating more and more enemies and you can feel like the world is about to fall apart. I mean, someone writes a political cartoon and already people are dying from these protests. They’re
036
burning down embassies. So you feel the tension and people want to scream. You know Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans fell apart and for five days the fucking Government did nothing. We sat there watching people on television starving to death and shooting each other. The Government did nothing! The Canadians made it in before the US Army did. It took five days! The president didn’t even respond for five days. The people want to scream and you can’t scream, you have to behave but those feelings are still in there. And so, when you go to a horror movie it’s like for 90 minutes you can scream at the top of your lungs and it feels good. And on a more practical level horror movies are the best date movies. Because that’s who’s going to see those movies in America, couples; Teenage girls and couples. And they’re going because, like, people on a date they’re not thinking about what’s going in the movie, they’re thinking, when can I grab her hand? When do I put my arm around her? Can I grab his leg? And horror movies give you a great excuse to do that. And then after the movie and everyone’s scared and you stay up all night, and you know, nine months from now we’ll have some Hostel babies. You were inspired to make this film by a website where you could pay to shoot someone. How did you decide how your victims should die? It was an English language website advertising trips to Thailand where you can kill someone, shoot someone, for $10,000. And then the money would go to the person’s family because they volunteered for it. Of course, I didn’t know
if the place was real, but the fact that somebody would actually conceptualise it was what disturbed me. I knew that if I made a movie where you have to go and shoot somebody then the movie would be 25 minutes long and then no one would ever get out. And then I thought okay, if I’m gonna fictionalise what I saw on this site, I thought what would you want to do? Would you want to do it fast? Would you want to do it slow? And I sat there and I thought about the different ways, the different ways if you wanted to kill somebody. Would you stun them? Would you hit them with the drill a few times so they’re in shock, or would you just shoot them or chainsaw them? And those questions I wrote into that scene where the businessman is doing it for the first time. But I actually saw a kind of parallel between these guys, these people who would actually do this and Americans who are going to Amsterdam, and they’re like looking for hookers and drugs, and nothing’s ever enough for anybody in the movie. It’s all about exploitation, the way somebody will do something to another person for their own pleasure without the regard that it’s actually another human being. It’s like everybody’s life has a price. And I saw these Americans who just wanted to pay to go into rooms and do what they wanted to do. It’s like the American girls weren’t enough, then in the movie the Dutch girls aren’t enough, then the Slovakian girls, then they have sex with them and it’s still not enough. They want more. Everybody pays the price for that. But in doing that I started thinking about the concept of going to a room and doing whatever you wanted to do to someone and I thought if this person is very experienced, someone who did this a lot,
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 037
HOSTEL TAKEOVER B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
037
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 038
Hostel Hostel Takeover it’s like, I made it like the whorehouse at the beginning. It’s like an X-rated Disneyland and it’s all colourful and bright and is like this horrible, industrial post-Communist nightmare. But I thought about the guy who does it a lot, he’s probably got his technique down, he probably knows exactly what tools he likes to use, but the person who’s doing it the first time is picking up anything, he doesn’t know what to do. So I wanted variation in the scenes. I don’t want people thinking it’s a 90-minute movie about torture because that’s just a small part of it. It’s this, like, descent into hell, you know, it starts off normal and slowly gets worse and worse and worse. But I also wanted deaths that hadn’t been done before. It’s hard thinking of things that would fit within the story, but you also have to now think of the canon of horror films, and everything that’s been done and hasn’t been done, so you’re not going to be seen as a rip-off of this, or that, or it’s too much like that. It’s kind of like finding the balance between doing something original but you also need that
scene that everyone comes out of the theatre talking about - and this one is like the eye scene. It was fun coming up with stuff actually. There’s a lot of blood and gore in Hostel, but also a lot of implied horror that takes place offscreen. Do you find one or the other is more effective? I think that you need to find the balance between going too gory and not gory enough. I think that in a movie like this people clearly want to see blood. You know, when I watch The Grudge I don’t need to see blood, it’s just like the aaaaaaargh eeek, and that’s scary enough, it’s a ghost movie. But in a movie about people paying to kill somebody and do what they want, you’ve got to show a certain amount. And when I’m shooting it I film everything, and it’s only in the editing that you decide. And pretty much everything, all the most violent stuff made it into the movie, there’s nothing that I thought, this it too much. I mean the censors let us get by but what I’ve noticed is that people come out of the movie, and the stuff that’s disturbing, is that scene
“…In America, people are fucking terrified. We have a fucking chimpanzee running the country.” Eli Roth
with the American businessman with the gun. And you sit there, and you spend all this time with these effects, you got Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger doing amazing effects, they’re so awesome. And they do this terrific Lucio Fulci kind of gore and then people come out of the movie and they’re like, ‘God you know what, that scene where the guy’s talking about how excited he is to kill somebody, I couldn’t sleep after that, just thinking about someone who’d wanna do that’. And I thought about the original thing that horrified me and I thought, yeah, it was thinking about someone who’d wanna do that. So, you can’t say it’s one or the other. You can’t say it has to be all psychological, because a lot of the time you go to the movies and nothing happens. Or it’s too violent, there’s too much gore it’s like a cartoon, I got bored. So it’s really kinda finding the balance, finding the balance of how much to show, and er, most of that is decided in the editing room. I don’t think that you can say it has to be one or the other, I think you have to look at the story you’re telling and every story has its appropriate violence quotient and you just have to match the two up. And when you’ve matched them up you know it works because you can feel it, when there’s too much or too little, the movie’s just not working quite right. And then sometimes you have to pull back and then sometimes you just have to add more, but once you line up the appropriate level of violence you just feel it. And despite the dark subject matter, there are some more humorous moments. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s some callous humour. I didn’t want the movie to turn silly I mean Cabin Fever is really funny scary all the way through. This is fun, but once Oli disappears it’s just horrible, but there are some moments where it’s so horrific that macabre things happen that are not put in as a punchline, but it’s almost so gruesome that it becomes funny. But even that, like, that for some people is so disgusting that can’t even look. The thought of a severed hand near your head is so horrifying they can’t look at it. To me it’s funny, like, it’s just like ‘oh, the thing fell off’. It’s not supposed to be a joke but I think you need those little moments. I mean, because that’s what happens. To me that’s real life. To me there some things that are just like so horrible, someone gets his arm cut off and they pick it up, wandering around because they’ll need it. It’s not funny, it’s horrific, but in context it’s so horrifying and bizarre that your reaction is to laugh. I wanted the movie to feel oppressive at times but the last 10 minutes I wanted to be exciting, people cheering, like a rollercoaster, and fun. I wanted people to come out with their adrenaline pumped. I didn’t want them to feel, ‘oh God, that was horrific’, and you feel like, like you’ve been raped. I didn’t want that kind of a film. Is there any subject that you wouldn’t tackle? Anything that you would consider taboo? No, no. There’s no subject that’s taboo. For me, I’m attracted to that darker side of the matter. I don’t wanna make movies that are gonna shock people just to shock people, but I feel like, after Pasolini’s film Salo, where do you go? I don’t know how to make a movie more horrifying than that, nor would you try. w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 039
Hostel Hostel Takeover
First and foremost I’m attracted to the story. You know, the story and the subject matter, but I think that, the directors that I admire, directors like Takashi Miike and Park Chanwook, you know there’s no subject matter that’s taboo for those guys. I think it’s all about how you handle the subject matter. I mean there’s some movies that you’ve seen that are supposed to be real shocking subject matter and the movie’s a kind of a joke, if it’s poorly done. So I think that, I look at filmmakers, even exploitation filmmakers in the 70s, like Ruggero Deodato, Fernando Di Leo and Sergio Martino, they were making fearless movies, and that’s what I feel the Japanese are doing today. And I think that where the American studio system goes wrong - they get these watered-down, pussy-assed movies because they don’t want to offend anybody. They’re trying to make movies that are safe for everyone and I think that what makes a great horror film is if it lives in that danger zone. What about a sequel? Well it’s really funny because, the movie, like the average Hollywood budget is $80m, a lowbudget horror movie is $40m, a very lowbudget is $20m, and we made hostel for four. It was totally under the radar. Now, if this thing had made $15m total, it would have been three times its production budget, very profitable. And then it did $20m on its opening weekend, beating Kong and Narnia, and it’s like on the websites ‘Hostel beats Narnia’, and it’s like all the studios are going ‘How the fuck did this $4m R-rated violent movie beat our $200m family movie?’ And now there’s this feeling that I’m like, tuned into something that the studios don’t get, and to me, it’s not like I feel I’ve got some magic power, I just feel like these studios, they don’t watch movies like audiences. They watch them in screening rooms, they stay in their own little worlds. They don’t live in the universe with the rest of us. And as a result, Hostel, it sort of sparked all these discussions about what’s going B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
on, the violence in America, the politics, and the war. And all you can ask for as a filmmaker is to make a movie that people respond to, whether it’s positive or negative. You don’t wanna make a movie where people just go ‘…errr’. I wanna make movies where people have a discussion, whether it’s positive or negative, they’re talking about it, and thinking about it and thinking about other things. So, Hostel II, the next morning, they announced it, without even talking to me. Now I own the rights, and it’s like, they’re gonna have to have a discussion with me at some point. And I was like, you guys are really funny, like now they’re all announcing Hostel II. But I understand it’s like Saw. When Saw was such a hit on Halloween, they announced Saw II and kinda claimed the date. Everything is about getting the right weekend, so I understand why the studio did it, they wanna own that weekend. The first weekend after New Year, they want to be Hostel weekend. So they announced it so that everyone else that’s thinking about putting a movie there stays the hell away. It’s good to do that but I’m not going to sacrifice the quality of the movie just because someone wants to have the movie out on January 6. If it takes longer, it takes longer. But I feel like that there’s a whole universe there, and a whole thing about the sickest side of people, and normal people that do horrible things. And I think that everyone has the potential for violence and what I’ve noticed, what a lot a people have said to me is that what scares them about the film, is not the gore, it’s their response to the gore. At the first torture scene they’re horrified but by the end they’re cheering for blood, and it’s like they’ve tapped into this feeling that they never knew they had. Even though it’s fake, they’re still thinking about wanting to see someone fucking get it, even in a fictionalised context. So, that to me is really interesting subject matter. When you’re driving - and I’ve never got in a fist fight in my life - and someone cuts you off
and, just for a second you wanna fucking hit that guy, you wanna ram that fucker. Someone takes your parking spot and you wanna smash them. But, you don’t, you drive on and you let it go and that’s the difference between humans and animals. Well some people don’t have that filter. And what is it that stops you doing that? And I think that’s really great subject matter. I turned down so many studio movies so I could do my own thing. We went to Prague, did a low-budget horror movie, no one’s paying attention. I got to cast my friends, put Eythor, my friend from Iceland in the movie, Barbara, I put her as the star, and now like I feel she could be a James Bond villain one day. She’s so beautiful, like a young Monica Bellucci, but she should be a fucking movie star in America. It was so much fun making this, that I thought, you know what? Hostel II, if I’m gonna do it, I should do it right now. Don’t think about it, just do it, and Robert Rodriguez has said to me, ‘Stay creative, don’t stop, don’t take a break, just keep going’. He’s like, ‘the more movies you make the better you’ll be as a director, the better filmmaker you’ll be, the more people you know’, and he’s right. And I feel like, after Cabin Fever I did everything to support that movie on DVD, and then afterwards I kinda got paralysed, scared to make my next film. I thought ‘Jesus, what am I gonna do?’ So I thought ‘fuck, just keep moving forward and do the best you can, just keep going’. So I am. I’m really, really excited about it. Now that I’m in Europe, I was gonna go back to Los Angeles next week to do press, and in fact, I said, I’m gonna cancel my trip and just stay in Europe and write Hostel II. I’m totally in the mode and in the mindset, and I really wanna go much deeper into the world of the organisation and the businessmen who do this. I wanna see how you get to be the guy with the gun in the room who’s about to kill somebody? What is it like from the point of view of these businessmen? I think that, having established this darkly disturbing world, it’s entirely possible to explore it from the other side, from the dark side. I think that there’s a lot of interesting subject matter there. I feel like I’ve set up a world that I can shoot, at a low budget, in Europe, and show some really dark things and people are clearly interested, and responding to it. So I’d like to further explore that. And I feel like seeing how people responded and the discussions it sparked just inspires me. You know, you’re a filmmaker, and you have these ideas and you don’t know if they’re going to appeal to anyone, you have to think that they will, but you can’t just assume that people will be interested or feeling the same way you do. And then suddenly I’m like, watching hurricane Katrina on television and I’m fucking horrified. And like Bush has conveniently dodged the bullet and you feel like Kanye West is the only one speaking up about it. And you’re like Jesus Christ, does anybody realise how fucking racist and fucked up this place is? The world is about to fucking explode, doesn’t anybody give a shit? And then when you make this movie, you get to realise that everybody is as fucking afraid and upset as you are, and it’s like ‘alright, good, we’re all feeling this. I’m not crazy to feel this’. And it inspires you to go, ‘okay, you know what, there’s a lot of other things that I feel and we can go much deeper into this and do it in a fun and entertaining way.’ 039
Burn Issue 8 Final
22/11/08
22:28
Page 040
HARD
040
AS A
ROCK Words: Dave Gulvin. Pix: Chiaki Nozu
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Soil Hard as a Rock “ …That was the last time they played Chicago. I went to see the show. It was just chaos. Damage Plan. And Shadows Fall and The Haunted. Dude! I was ineeeebriated. Oh, Dime got in … fucked! I was wasted. That night, I think I punched for everybody.” I haven’t seen Shaun Glass for over 18 months. Not since June 2004. Not since his band SOiL, Chicago’s finest, supported Damage Plan at the London Astoria. It was two days after they infamously failed to show for their slot at the Download festival. It’s how we’ve gotten on the subject. Of Dimebag Darrell. And of Damage Plan. “ …Hey I mixed drinks that night,” the guitarist enthuses. “Coz …well, Dime kept doing Crown ‘n’ Coke. And then somebody started giving me Red Bull and Vodka. And the two just went inside me. And the Devil got loose. I was fucking lit man!”
Shaun Glass and I used to be former colleagues. Well, I suppose in a manner of speaking. I was his UK Record Exec, he the US Recording Artist. Now, hanging over the balcony at Koko, I feel like we’re old fiends. So I can’t interview this guy. That’d be too mute. Better we just chat like this. We get reminiscing over their first album ‘Scars’ [01] and the follow up, ‘Redefine’ [04]. Back at the time when I took care of SOiL. When they were signed to J Records, owned by BMG. Glass bemoans the memory. “You know the whole ‘Redefine’ campaign sucked, because, you know James Diener? Remember?” I acknowledge I do. (Diener - who discovered the Black Crows - signed SOiL to J Records, which was headed up by pop and black music legend, Clive Davis.) Turning his head vacantly back toward the stage below, Shaun resumes. “He [Diener] wanted fucking Ryan in everything.” I feel us steadily cutting our way through the pastry to what would prove to be the inevitable the meat of this conversation. He’s referring to Ryan McCoombes, SOiL’s now departed original singer. “Photos just of him. The video for ‘Redefine’ was all Ryan. We were like; we’re a fucking band. Get over it. There’s five guys. Welcome to our remit. It’s a fucking band and it’s metal.” It certainly was a strange signing. So it seems like an appropriate moment to own to up him how I always considered I’d landed working a band that would have been better suited signed to ROADRUNNER, than signed to predominately pop orientated BMG (now Sony-BMG) who dropped SOiL in the summer of 2004, soon after the one-off London show with Damage Plan. “ROADRUNNER in the US were looking at us,” he claims. “They loved ‘Give It Up’. But the UK office told them we were dead. Because of missing Download and all …” As his voice drifts, so my mind drifts… ‘If only…’ I begin to think of those two words. Are they not the loneliest of all pairings? If only SOiL had released ‘Redefine’ in June 2003, right on top of what was a thrilling performance on the second stage at Download. When the band’s momentum was at its peak. Instead they tinkered with it. Delaying it for one reason or another for a further nine months. And, if only the single had been ‘Pride’, which I considered a rival to their classic track, ‘Halo’. If only, having hooked up with Linkin Park’s management that autumn, had Linkin themselves agreed to take SOiL on their arena tour of the UK. Why, if only the band’s tour bus hadn’t broken down. Of all days, on the day of a main stage slot at Download, June 04. A day where every possible replacement vehicle would be booked out. I recall the panicky phone calls, remember the boos from the paying crowd. Recollect swallowing the disbelief until I was sick
on the truth. SOiL missed their slot. It was a total fucking disaster. Still, time heals and now it’s a year and a half on. Shaun Glass’ band is back in London. Below us the crew are preparing the stage for the final date of a headline package tour, where American Head Charge and Panic Cell prop up the bill. So despite all that’s happened, we briskly reestablish an upbeat outlook. “This tour has totally proved it dude,” Shaun comments. “We’re playing like five off ‘Scars’, five off ‘Redefine’. Keeps the kids happy. There’s a block in the set where it’s like three ‘Scars’ songs in a row. They love it! You have to, that album sold forty thousand here. We’re averaging between nine hundred and a thousand tickets a night. Sold out Glasgow, Cathouse. Sold out fucking Dublin and Belfast. If we’re dead? I mean it’s a good package too. Head Charge brings in people.” SOiL also has the backing of a record deal with DRT, which now means they’re label mates with ‘Clutch’. New singer AJ is in toe and they’ve a brand new studio album, ‘True Self’ released in the UK in March. I ask Shaun how he’s finding life on the new label. “DRT is awesome. So far.” He chuckles. “I mean, the new album’s not out yet! We’ll be able to tell when the album’s out. We’re the priority band there so … they’re still building. We were talking to Century Media. Hollywood Records was interested. We were just really scared to go back to a major, after what we went through. We lost the control.” SOiL lost more than control. They seemed to lose all their follow up material to their superior hit song. So while that ‘Halo’ was fast becoming a noose around their neck, critically too, they lost momentum. Still worse, they lost their charismatic front man, Ryan McCoombes. I can’t fathom whether or not it’s an attitude laced with bitterness, but Shaun Glass hasn’t got many good things to say about the former singer. “We came home and so Ryan told us he wanted to be home with his family. And we were like; we were kinda relieved. I for one was really adamant. I was like; I’m not doing another SOiL album with Ryan. And everybody was pretty much sick of his drama. We had a couple of shows offered with him. So we thought, oh let’s just do these shows and then fuck it. Let’s just do ’em for fun. And fucking Ryan wouldn’t do ’em. But then management got him on the phone. We had a conference call. He started crying on the phone. ‘Oh I can’t afford to be in a band. Oh I’ve been a bad father all these years.’ So when err … ‘it’ was done, we kind of put the word out that we were looking for a singer.” The split with McCoombes should really have come as no surprise. Shaun Glass and Ryan were vastly opposing characters. Shaun is pure rock ‘n’ roll debauchery. While he was out partying with bassist Tim King - like later tonight I’ll eye him escorting a pretty young thing into a club toilet Ryan meanwhile, resisting the temptation of the
“We were just really scared to go back to a major, after what we went through. We lost the control.” B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
041
Soil Hard as a Rock
many groupies they’d attract, would take off introspectively. Invariably, back to the tour bus. Perhaps to contemplate life as a rock star. Torn between this insane life and the quiet life back home. Life as a regular father to his child. Husband to his wife. “Then Ryan joined Drowning Pool,” Glass muses. “As the third singer. Coz the second singer, Jason, [‘Gong’ Jones] he quit… Whatever.” All things considered, Ryan McCoombes always was friendly with Drowning Pool. He and the late Dave Williams seemed close. A friendship cut short by William’s untimely death from a heart condition whilst touring on the Ozzfest. The song, ‘Remember’ from SOiL’s ‘Redefine’ album is dedicated to his memory. I wondered if there’s a new Drowning Pool record on the cards featuring Ryan. “No one knows,” Shaun tells me. “I know they’re out playing SOiL songs. They play ‘Halo’ live. It’s pathetic. They’re a cover band now. Ryan’s singing two albums of material he’s not even on. They do Pantera too. It’s pretty horrible.” That particular version of ‘Cowboys From Hell’ I have endured. And though Glass has also hooked up with a singer void on two albums, he’s right about that much. And Drowning Pool ought not to be playing ‘Halo’. Nonetheless, Ryan was a singer to be reckoned with. As well as a truly formidable front man. His hanging up of the seminal microphone, and subsequent departure, leaves footsteps hard to follow in. It’s a subject I’ll shortly take up with his replacement, AJ. The new guy. The one I’ve never met. Thus the one I can interview naturally. Although, come again, I’m beginning to doubt it, because he’s suddenly 042
crept up from out of the shadows and his towering figure looms menacingly over me. But as he stoops to shake hands, modestly introducing himself, behind the spectacles, kind eyes quickly put me at ease. I immediately warm to him. He’s accordingly polite and clearly the classic gentle giant. I suggest we escape the noisy sound checking and head upstairs. “I’m actually from Up State New York originally,” he affirms. AJ is happy to extrapolate on my predictable opener. “But I moved out of there when I was like a teenager. So I went to LA. And then I just came back now. Still now, living up state New York. Back around where I grew up and just commute back and forth to Chicago until I can - until things work out where I can get myself into Chicago.” And did you dig out SOiL or did SOiL dig out you? “A friend of mine, Wayne [Static] from ‘Static X’, he called me up. He’s been a good friend over the years. I’ve known him forever since he first came to Los Angeles. And err … he said ‘this band is really cool. They’re looking for a singer. They’re a good bunch of guys. We take ’em out on tour all the time. You should check ’em out.’ I said; is this the band that we played with? Because my other band ‘Diesel Machine’ had opened up for SOiL, ‘Static X’ and ‘Soulfly’ on the West Coast, on five dates over there. On one of those tours and that’s where I first met ’em all. So like, I said, yeah sure I remember that band. They were cool. They had a cool heavy rock thing going on. I remember that. It was awesome. So they emailed some mp3s of just the music to three songs, one of them, which was ‘Give It Up’. And I wrote it, probably that weekend; wrote the lyrics and melodies and just recorded on my own
pro-tools rig - I have my own recording system at home. And err, sent it back. And pretty much got a call immediately saying that they liked it. And err that was pretty much it. First I flew out and I guess that sealed the deal. Next thing I know, I got a call a couple of weeks later, and they asked me to join.” Looking forward to tonight? “Oh yeah. This place looks great. Gotta good vibe. As soon as I walked into this place, it looks really cool. Kind of feels like a House Of Blues.” Don’t you worry you mightn’t be accepted? “Truthfully? Not at all. I never worry about that. I’m pretty secure with what I do. And what I’ve been doing. What I do fits well with SOiL. It’s just one of those things. My other band, ‘Diesel Machine’ was kind of a one dimensional side project with Pat Lachman from Damage Plan, who’s a good friend o’mine. That was just all about very heavy - kinda Messugha, kinda Pantera. Just brutal. But before that, and during that, I was in my own band called ‘World In Pain’ and we used to sing and scream back in the day. I know what I can do. I know what kind of front man I am. And I’m used to fronting at way more aggressive crowds, where if you suck, they let you know.” Given your self-assurance about your own identity, how do you see yourself now in place of Ryan McCoombes? “You can’t take anything away from what’s been done. I just wanna make sure nobody takes anything away from what was done, prior to what I’m doing. There’s going to be people that are die hard Ryan fans. They should be. You know if you are in love with a certain voice and that’s the voice of the band that you wanna hear, I think, well you know where he is and you can go listen to what he’s doing now. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’re some fans that have come up to me and said, you know, you’re much better than Ryan. I’m like; I don’t want to hear that I’m much better than Ryan. I want to hear how I’m just different than Ryan. I don’t think there’s a level of better or worse. Obviously he’s a great singer. ‘Scars’ and ‘Redefine’ are both great albums. His voice sounds excellent. I just don’t like it when people say that you’re better. I think the word should be different and just let it be at that.” AJ oozes self-belief. Yet it’s a poise without arrogance. Without enmity. In fact, what space Shaun Glass’ allows in SOiL for sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll ‘n’ wrangling, AJ allows for depth, honesty ‘n’ grace ‘n’ self-confidence. It’s this kind malleability that made SOiL so endearing in the first place. And it’s an attribute that’s still in them. No wonder their new singer is keen to reassure the faithful. “I’m a whole different animal. And it’s a whole different thing. But it’s similar and familiar. I’m really proud of it. It’s lighter than what they’ve done and it’s way heavier than what they’ve done. And it’s got the middle road of what they do. So the spectrum, it’s goin’ everywhere, you know? So hopefully people will like it. If they like SOiL, I’m sure they’ll dig it! So that’s why they still kept the name SOiL. Because it is still SOiL. It’s just a little …I would say a notch up in versatility. Its way more versatile than what it was.” Tellingly, AJ repeatedly refers to the band as ‘they’ as opposed to ‘we’. I wonder if he’s settling in. “In Los Angeles, and probably everywhere, its w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Soil Hard as a Rock hard to find musicians who just want one thing and want to do it well,” he says, nonchalantly sweeping away any doubt. “SOiL don’t want to have their hand in fifteen other projects! And I love my guys in my other bands and stuff, but they get pulled away too much from what we were trying to do. So it’s very, very frustrating. So for me to find that. It was like the missing link for me. I was just slid in a slot. It was like, perfect! I couldn’t be any happier. And now to find people with that kind of drive, to all do one thing. And it shows. You put all your energy into one thing and it just comes out best. It really does. If you spread yourself too thin, the music sounds it. You can tell. So I feel like I was their missing link and they definitely were mine.” I have to agree with him. It is so distracting. These days, musicians have so many dodgy side projects or are habitually uncommitted. You cannot fault SOiL on commitment. There aren’t many bands that could have survived what they’ve been through. The question now is; can they forge something from out of that survival? Y’see, arguably, SOiL were the bridge between ‘nu-metal’ and the socalled, (frequently hailing from Sweden) ‘new wave of American heavy metal’. If so, that somewhat sees the band left between a rock and a hard place. I consider putting across this last poser. Then think better of it. I mean, why bother? As Shaun Glass himself put it earlier. ‘Get over it. There’s five guys. Welcome to our remit. It’s a fucking band and it’s metal.’ So SOiL find themselves lying between a rock and a hard place. That ain’t a bad place to be. From such places, things tend to grow. I for one will be keeping a keen eye on them.
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
043
044
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Mirrormask Reflections & Fables
Fables
U
nder normal circumstances, despite all the years they have worked together, Dave McKean normally lives in the shadow of Neil Gaiman – it’s nothing personal but it’s just the way things have turned out. Their work together on the Sandman books is legendary, their work on titles such as The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped My Dad for a Goldfish is critically acclaimed and all over the world, somewhere, people are lapping this stuff up. But now comes Mirrormask – a movie of such magnificent proportions it has gone beyond the norm. As this feature continues, this will all become apparent. It’s not a movie for the dumb. It’s a movie for lovers of McKean and Gaiman’s style, it’s a movie for children and it’s a movie for those who have been longing for something just a little bit out of the norm. I put it to Dave that Mirrormask in the main, is his soul embodied on the screen. Some have lazily used Labyrinth as a comparison, but it’s not even in the same ball park. Hell, it’s not even the same game:
Words: Sion Smith Pictures: Dave McKean
Reflections & “Possibly. It’s hard to know and it’s especially hard to know while you’re making it because it’s seventeen months before you get to string all the shots in a line. Before that, it’s lots of actors wandering around in a big blue space with no sound or music to get a feel for what it is.” Mirrormask has a predominant feel to it all the way through, one in which you feel like you’re watching something groundbreaking. For anyone who has ever been to see a 3D movie at the IMAX, you’ll know what I’m talking about. There’s also interesting little sub stories of inconsequential characters roaming around in the background, (and quite often in the foreground), that you catch from the corner of your eye – a huge multilayered piece of moving Photoshop art if you will, but how do you give birth to a monster these days? “Initially, the seed was with Lisa Henson and the tiny budget they had for the project, pushed them a certain way – a way in which they weren’t able to use muppets and puppets any more. She had seen my short films and knew Neil so that’s really how it started. They started talking about sequels to Labyrinth but nobody really wanted to do that, so we ended up sitting down around
“Well, maybe it’s because it’s got the Henson name on it and a girl in it, but I haven’t been reading the reviews – I don’t think it’s healthy to do that but, obviously initially you get a feel for what’s going on. They’re completely different. Different people seem to have been watching a different film from the one that I know! Some hate everything about it and some love everything about it, but there’s also some people in the middle that feel the story is pretty lame and a lot of people have said nice things about the way it looks and about Stephanie as an actress. It’s a real mixture.” It’s not really about the story though is it. The story seems to be used more as a tool to hold the imagery together. “Yes – the interesting thing for me was that the character regresses to a simple state who brings with her all the simple trappings of a simple fairy tales, the good and bad stories and then as it goes through, it gets a bit greyer which is what real life is like – and I don’t think I would do that again next time.” I don’t think it could handle that sort of heavy story anyway because there’s so much going on visually. 045
Mirrormask Reflections & Fables
“what happens is, because you don’t have an expression to lock onto, you’re forced to pay attention to slight body language, slight changes of angles and you become heightened to them.” Dave McKean the kitchen table at her house with a big pile of notes and pictures and books and CD’s – lots of stuff – and we just went and saw where it could go. Then the circus came into it and so did the masks. I’ve always loved masks and all my short films have masks in them. The reason I love them – and I didn’t know why I loved them so much before this – but I made a short film called The Week Before in which there were just two actors. One played God and the other played the Devil and I gave them very simple masks and their expressions seemed to change as they were walking round. They seemed to get angry, sleepy and bemused – obviously they didn’t but they seemed to, and I think what happens is, because you don’t have an expression to lock onto, you’re forced to pay attention to slight body language, slight changes of angles and you become heightened to them. Often they’re things the actor is unaware of doing as well. Rather than acting as masks, they reveal more about a person and I think that’s why they’re a big part of Japanese and African culture, primal cultures understand that. There’s a great book called Secrecy that you
should hunt down if you’re into masks. I didn’t have to go shopping for mask books though. I have a fair few of them already.” So, is Mirrormask just a shock to the system for Westerners? Does it have roots nailed firmly in Eastern Europe where street theatre, dark alleyways and papier-mache are far more commonplace in movies then sprawling CGI landscapes? “I think it has it’s roots in Europe yes, not England – although England does have its strain of surreal aspects in art and humour, it’s always rather stifled. In Germany and Spain, it’s slightly more lavish and expressionistic, but, by the time you get to the middle of Europe, in Prague and Warsaw, it’s really extraordinary and there’s a really strong theatre tradition. The posters that they make and wallpaper the streets with to advertise their shows are full of amazing images and people just live alongside this other version of the world in their daily lives.” We miss so much over here don’t we. “Yes, we do! I spent New Year in Vienna and this stuff is going on all the time. They have statues and things going on in windows - it’s
046
just part of life. The membrane between the two is very thin. Everything that happened to you this morning is a fantasy and exists now only as a memory and the future is also a dream, so all you really have is this small locus of nowness and a huge ball of stuff that doesn’t exist at all that is still very real to you.” Looking out of the window of the glass offices that Tartan Films now occupy, it’s hard to believe that as little as twenty years ago, these Soho streets were that kind of a world. Triple X cinemas were every other building, you could pretty much buy anything you wanted – and now look at it. The very pinnacle of respectability with its thriving restaurants and businesses that have moved in. Whether your opinion of that sort of thing is good or bad, at least it wasn’t a sanitised and characterless version of the world - you could at least make a movie about something that went on there. Now, we’re just not exposed to anything that has much artistic merit on our streets with which to play with. Mirrormask is essentially what I like to term as a “real corner of your eye movie”. Not quite with the harshness of Company of Wolves maybe, but there’s something un-nerving about the line that it treads between fantasy and
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
reality. If we’re really looking for a comparison to try and find somewhere for it to fit (and believe me, I’m as happy as McKean is for it to stand alone, but we’re investigating right…), then the movie Paperhouse (1987, you can still get it on VHS if you hunt hard), is as close as you will ever get. “Ah. Interesting. I knew nothing about that movie and we finished writing and we had also done a rewrite and Neil asked me if I had ever seen it. So I got a hold of an old VHS copy to see what it was all about and I couldn’t believe it. He also suggested I get a copy of The Talisman (Stephen King and Peter Straub’s excellent duet in horror fantasy from 1985 – pick it up in a million places but don’t be fooled by the crummy sequel that followed a few years back called Black House). I still haven’t read it but I read the précis – these stories; there are only a certain number of things you can put these people through to provoke them into the adventure or whatever you want to call it, so they do come up. It’s frustrating when people think you copied something though.” Assuring Dave that I wasn’t even for a moment suggesting that Mirrormask copied anything, I reiterate that it’s always hard to describe truly original things to people and you end up clutching at straws. What proves my point exactly is that people bandy around this Labyrinth connection on the basis of who is involved rather than what is actually going on. For all intents and purposes, Paperhouse suits my needs. You really do have to hunt hard to buff Mirrormask up against anything. McKean nods and continues: “The director of Paperhouse was at Sundance and liked Mirrormask – and I think he liked the fact that we had seen his film and could actually talk about it. Mirrormask has been out for a while now though and it has it’s own life. I have no control anymore! There comes a time to let go and inevitably people will compare it with their own points of reference.” Did you have control all the way through? I’m guessing that the studio probably panicked at some point when they saw it in its rough state! “I think I can honestly say we did have control. No demands where made but then I didn’t have control because of my lack of experience. Sometimes I thought I had, but I’d not thought things through correctly. The beginning of the film, the scene with the mother and Helena in the caravan, I planned meticulously with a storyboard but it just didn’t work because of so many reasons, so I had to go away and rethink it.” But after a certain point, quite early on I would have thought, you must have held all the cards because there’s no way they could replace you - ever! “That became my insurance policy. when we started I was convinced that I would be replaced. I thought that they were just using me to get Neil to write a screenplay for nothing! So I wanted to make sure that we wrote something together that would be hard for B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
047
Mirrormask Reflections & Fables anybody else to realise. After a while we had terrabytes of files flying all over the place, I knew nobody else would come in and make anything out of it.” Y’know - you don’t really see any Dave McKean copyists out there. “No, that’s true. I still have my own territory but I do see plenty of good work out there. In all fields too, illustrators, painters, movie makers. It’s sad that art school is overflowing with students and most of them aren’t going to make it, but some will come through. Illustration is in a real lull at the moment because most art directors think they can do it themselves in Photoshop - but they can’t!” I don’t think Mirrormask is a ‘see it once’ film. There are too many things going on to soak it up wholly. The first time around it’s Dave McKean just doing his thing, but second time around it’s a film, but maybe that’s because I’m so familiar with your work. “No, I think that’s fair. It’s the experience that’s
the thing sometimes, not the story. I can live with that.” So far, we’ve managed to keep to Mirrormask, but you really can’t sit with Dave McKean and talk about one thing - there are so many other strings to his bow, it would be a major writing crime not to delve a little bit. McKean is probably best known outside of this movie for his work with Neil Gaiman on various ‘comic books’. They met while Gaiman was hustling himself as a writer. Neil had written some stories for a magazine that never happened and Dave was illustrating for it. Gaiman had written a story called Violent Cases and McKean took it away to work on it. Gaiman hustled it around to show the work and the rest as they say is history. “The dominos just fell after that. Alan Moore had gotten in a year before us and also Brian Bolland from that first gang and they had so much success that DC came over to see what other talent was around. At the time there was myself and Neil, Grant Morrison...
I spot a gateway to another level... can’t resist opening it. Grant Morrison, well known proponent of chaos majick. Do you believe? “I tend not to be a believer in anything but I’m always fascinated in how people think. - and what construct of the world they choose to put their trust in. I’m not religious at all but I’m absolutely fascinated by it - where these things come from and why they’re there. I did some book covers for Jonathan Carroll (big time chaos majick author) and funnily enough I saw him in Vienna and he’s written a story called Voice of our Shadow that he wants to make as a comic. He’s written movie scripts but I think he’s been generally frustrated by the process. He really wants to do it so long as it’s not going to be continually watered down for Hollywood purposes. Then, my time apparently, is up. I choose to fill in the remaining minutes with some random questions - because nothing warms my heart more than keeping somebody from a major broadsheet waiting.
“We spent 10 days hammering it out around a table in the henson house and occasionally Dave would get fed up of trying to explain things to me and just start drawing.” Neil Gaiman
048
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Do you find that as an artist, you can’t say much more than your work already has for you? “No, not at all, I’m really happy to talk about it. The difficult thing is doing the same thing over and over. There’s this junket mentality where there are five obligatory questions, there’s no depth. That person is out and the next person is in. There’s a convention mentality as well where someone asks you to draw a sketch for them to take home but so little thought goes into that that I might as well rubber stamp these things. If I were able to take something home and work on it, that would be different. So it’s the same with an interview and I’m happy to answer them, but it’s normally ‘what was it like doing this’, ‘what was that person like to work with’. Do you still read and keep up with the comic world? There are some people that I love - especially when it makes it into the mainstream - it always bothered me that it was published by comic publishers and sold in comic shops for comic fans. It’s so insular. I always loved it when somebody broke out - Raymond Briggs for instance. I think the books that we did achieved that. Mr Punch did and Sandman too. I also think it’s a little sad, but maybe inevitable, that comics are viewed as a place to develop movies. That attitude is a shame. They’re a different medium. American Splendour was great because it didn’t take anything away from the comic. Ghost World is a superb comic. But these things are cyclical. It’s a good time to be getting into the medium because back them I would imagine hours in front of a photocopier, but now you can knock up something of a pretty high standard once you find your way around a dtp programme. That’s always been the great thing about comics, you just need the will to do it. Both Neil and I started that way. There’s always an audience, you just have to find a way to build the bridge... B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
049
Claudio’s world famous impression of Sideshow Bob gets the band an extra encore... 050
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
The
Portrait of Claudio Sanchez
Words: Sion Smith All pictures: Chiaki Nozu
Seemingly from out of nowhere, Coheed & Cambria are on the brink of taking over the world. No doubt they will soon be hailed as overnight successes by those outside of the circle but it’s been a long journey. Some have watched it from its inception, others have chosen to join the crazy train along the way but it has to be said that it’s probably only a matter of time before the rest of the world follows. Sitting down with Claudio on the eve of their UK tour, and at various points in between, it’s hard to imagine this extremely likeable guy can be so intense on stage. Others may have done big stories on them before us, but damn it... I was here first and now I want my pound of flesh...
051
Coheed & Cambria The Portrait of Claudio Sanchez It’s probably not natural to have heroes at my age but in this instance, it can’t be helped. There’s something about Coheed & Cambria that raises the game on the competition well, if there was any they would. Right now though, I have worse things to worry about than looking dumb because I have a new hero. My mini disc player appears to have drop-outs all over the place throughout our recorded interview. Maybe it’s the magnetic field that surrounds Claudio? Maybe some joker at the hotel has got some heavyweight toys from ACME. Whatever the cause I’m not happy because this was a long story. You see in my book, C&C are the most original band to come out of anywhere in a very long time - it’s a good job most of it is still on the disc otherwise we’d just be looking at a stack of great pictures instead! Claudio and I find a quiet corner of the hotel lobby to chat, and for somebody who rips up the boards every night with all the passion of a man possessed with the desire to go home spent, he’s a pretty amenable and friendly guy and perhaps, a little shy too. The purpose of this squirreling away is that I was curious as hell to find out what made such a man tick, so I guess the first question should be, has Coheed and Cambria rescued you from a life of normality? What did the future hold if this hadn’t happened?
052
“Ha. I worked in a pet store for a time before the band took off properly. It wasn’t a shitty job at all. Not really. They were really good to me, letting me have time off and everything - when you’re trying to make a band work, you still have to pay the bills and the pet store was OK, because it was mindless enough to let your mind wander. “When my mind wanders it gets creative,so good things came of it! I think I probably thought up a hell of a lot of song ideas while moving sacks of dog food around!” See.. not your normal start to an interview is it? Strikes me that there may be other gems lurking under the surface, so I probe a little into Claudio’s childhood - after all, the story of Coheed and Cambria has to be at least semiautobiographical... isn’t it? “I guess it is on some level, it has to be, but everything is dressed up to the extreme. I can’t sit here and say that I had an unhappy childhood, because I didn’t really. Knowing what I know now about other peoples family lives as well, it was probably pretty normal.” Was it a religious environment? There’s obviously a lot of searching going on in the overall theme of the concept. “Well, I don’t believe in God as such. To be honest, I don’t know what I believe in, if anything, at the moment, but the ideas behind religion and spirituality are fascinating. I think what I do, is take these questioning ideas and then dress them up with science fiction.
You know, I like the way that you guys aren’t afraid to take it away from the power socket you play acoustic sets really quite often don’t you. “Well, that’s how the songs are written. I have the germ of an idea and I’ll take it to the band and maybe Travis will have some ideas that he will add to it or Mic will take it and roll somewhere. “It’s a very organic process for us but you know what amazes me most about the process. The way the collective consciousness works. Just after I had written IRO-Bots for instance, I saw there was a film in production called I-Robot. “Coincidences like that happen a lot, but it’s not until you sit down and think about how many there really are that it ever becomes strange. “Sorry, you asked me about the acoustic shows. Yeah, we do lots. I really like doing them because the songs shine through in a different dimension and it’s always good when people can take home something a little bit extra when they’ve come to see you.” Later in the day, we all whip across to the venue to check out what’s going on. It’s a bizarre set up when you see things in the cold light of day. There’s the guillotine standing like it could never in a million years fit into the show with any panache at all! What is getting me excited though is the new light strobes they have set up - they look really cool!
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
What The Hell Is Going On, Apollo? Part 1
The Coheed And Cambria albums are entirely open to interpretation. Which apparently is exactly what the band wanted. Here’s my attempt at the upshot of it all. There’s no way it’s completely correct, because no one’s version of events is, so no one is allowed to reprimand me for getting any or all of it wrong. Understood? Apparently it all starts with God (don’t all good stories?), who created The Fence (a ring of star-transformers called The Stars of Sirius) and The Keywork (seventy-eight planets divided into twelve sectors). There are three races throughout the Keywork. Man is one, and the others are the Mage, who rule over Man, and the Prise who protect the Keywork. Each sector has a head Mage. With me so far? The Mage get corrupted by power and start having wars and manipulating Man, the Prise try to intervene, and the Mage all join forces and defeat them. Ultimately, one Mage, Wilhelm Ryan, takes control of the entire Keywork and becomes The Supreme TriMage. God, who buggered off after creating everything, left a prophecy saying he would return. The Prise decide the return of God is their only hope of defeating the Mage, so they set about trying prepare for his arrival. Man are told to keep an eye on the Mage. To do this they create a super-human species called Interceptive Recon Operative Bots. IRO Bots. Get it?
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
053
“Do you have names for all of your household objects?” Claudio cracks under the pressure of the line of questioning...
What The Hell Is Going On, Apollo? Part 1 (continued)
The first three of these IRO Bots are Coheed (The Beast), Cambria (The Knowledge) and Jesse (The Inferno). To keep their true purpose from the Mage, the IRO Bots are passed off as an anti-terrorist squad. In secret their inventor also created the Monstar virus, carried by Coheed, which is capable of destroying the Stars of Sirius. A Mage called Mariah, who is nice to Man, starts to challenge Ryan’s reign. The Mage find out about the Monstar, so Coheed and Cambria have their memories erased and are mingled into society, while Jesse goes into hiding to continue the plan. Coheed and Cambria have four children, called Claudio, Josephine, Matthew and Maria. An android called Mayo, who is a general in Ryan’s army, finds Coheed and tells him about the Monstar he carries, and that it’s curable, but the mutated strain his children carry, called the Sinstar, is not. He says Coheed must kill his children or someone else will see to it. Cambria, being The Knowledge, “overhears” this. They poison Maria and Matthew and Coheed whacks Josephine over the head with a hammer. Nice. Claudio survives, while Coheed and Cambria are sedated and delivered to a space station, where the virus is activated in Coheed and Earth is separated from the Keywork. Coheed and Cambria are killed towards the end of the first album. Someone (possibly Claudio) falls asleep at the end of the album, and dreams the first few songs of the second album. Claudio becomes a Messiah called The Crowing and, together with a young female robot called Chase (created by Jesse), he sets about trying to save Earth. A Prise called Ambellina is sent to help Claudio. There’s also a psycho-killer called Al involved, but it’s unclear where he fits in. It all goes a bit weird from here on. At the start of Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume 1, there’s some guy called The Writer, Claudio is having dreams of the souls trapped in the Keywork begging for freedom and of his parents dying (he doesn’t know what happened). There’s a talking bicycle called Ten Speed living in the mind of The Writer, there’s a girl called Erica who may well be Ambellina, Jesse gets killed by Mayo, The Writer kills Ambellina, and Apollo is a dog. See? Weird. The graphic novel version of Good Apollo… may well help to shed some light on the events of the third album, then again, maybe not.
054
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Coheed & Cambria The Portrait of Claudio Sanchez Presumably, when you get some money behind you, you’ll kick the shit out of this stage show thing and really go to town on it? “I would love to! When I first saw Floyds Division Bell tour, I just knew that doing something on such a scale - and to be able to do it well - was utterly possible. So much larger than life and that appeals to me massively you know, to be able to combine that sort of things with these vast Dune type landscapes that go on in my head would be a dream come true! “I know I’ve said it to you before, but I really miss that sort of thing - to have the power to take people completely out of their environment for a couple of hours is a great gift. Recently Claudio has started to nurture a rather fetching double neck guitar. It reminds me of Page at the peak of Led Zeps fame - if you’ve never seen the band live, you should be ashamed because you should marvel that it’s just not right for a man to be able to play like that and sing at the same time. Claudio started playing guitar around twelve or thirteen. His father, a blues guitarist, taught him his trade. And he always sung with his mom. I ask if he has to push his voice into a falsetto.
The band members all have family musical pedigrees. In fact drummer Josh Eppert’s father has played off and on with The Band. No, I don’t mean Coheed. For the uninitiated, The Band is a group from Woodstock days led by Robbie Robertson. (I think they still hold the record for the largest concert ever, at Watkins Glen in New York, with Allman Brothers and the Dead sharing the bill). Is Page the icon to follow? “No. Hendrix. It has to be Hendrix I think. He was the man.” And when you step back, you can see it in the performance. A riot of colour seemingly drips from his hands as the band go into overdrive that night. The crowd is lapping it up. Never again will you see Coheed and Cambria on a stage as small as this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to start setting it on fire soon. We wrapped up the interview with some spicy hot questions, that was originally going to be part of our Shooting Shit column, but due to the timing we never got round to doing all them, so for you delight and delectation, here are the edited highlights:
“Nope, this is just what comes out.” Who cuts your hair? “Nobody”
schizophrenic chrysanthemums, then two Macintoshes auctioned off the progressive televisions, and one subway cleverly tickled five irascible Klingons, because wart hogs easily sacrificed umpteen trailers. Two obese wart hogs grew up, but the bureau noisily auctioned off one purple Jabberwocky, because five chrysanthemums untangles Jupiter, but sheep easily kisses two quite quixotic dwarves. Bureaux gossips. One aardvark tickled the Macintoshes, however
If Apollo is a dog and Ten Speed is a bicycle, do you have names for all your other household objects? “Er... no!” Martial arts or Martial law? “Shit. Martial law sounds quite heavy so I’m going to with Martial arts!” So there you have it. What was going to be a huge monster of a story, turned out to be just a few scraps in the end. Serves me right for not typing it out as soon as I got home! At the end of the day though, it’s not about what comes out of his mouth in a hotel lobby while we’re drinking coffee that anybody cares about. It’s mostly about this huge album called Good Apollo that has won the hearts and minds of anybody who cared to listen for long enough, and Claudio can reel it off week after week in mag after mag and interview after interview but it will never measure up to his soundscapes. If I was their manager, I’d stop them doing any more interviews... now if ever there was a band that could actually pull that off, well... they just left the country. Stars. Each and every one of them.
schizophrenic chrysanthemums, then two Macintoshes auctioned off the progressive televisions, and one subway cleverly tickled five irascible Klingons, because wart hogs easily sacrificed umpteen trailers. Two obese wart hogs grew up, but the bureau noisily auctioned off one purple Jabberwocky, because five chrysanthemums untangles Jupiter, but sheep easily kisses two quite quixotic dwarves. Bureaux gossips. One aardvark tickled the Macintoshes, however Coheed & Cambria are well reknowned for performing acoustic shows in record stores. In some places, these intimate little gatherings are more widely anticipated than the show itself. Tonight at the Virgin Megastore in London’s Tottenham Court Road, they proved once again that it’s not just their albums that make people move and neither is their show. The bottom line is great songs and it’s obviously a treat for everybody as the joint throngs with mouths hitting the floor every step of the way. These exclusive pictures show a very different Claudio than we’re used to - a man who is more than proud to deliver his songs in this fashion. If you ever, ever, get the chance to check the band out in this way, jsut be there okay. Trust me. This is one of those events that people will be claiming they were at even when they weren’t.
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
055
live Pic: Duncan Bryceland
BAUHAUS MANCHESTER ACADEMY 1 FEBRUARY 2006 Nu-goth bands may well have rejuvenated the scene, but it’s only when the true masters and originators comeback that you realise just how groundbreaking Bauhaus truly were. Twenty-three years after the legendry gothic pioneers split, they are back in black to seduce with such classics as the smouldering Passion Of Lovers and the potent Kick In The Eye, in which frontman Peter Murphy incites the audience to sing-along, creating an affinity between band and audience. Bauhaus’ live stage dynamics are still spellbinding, with Daniel Ash’s creative guitar playing proving that he is one of the most underrated and innovative guitarists of the post-punk era. As darkness engulfs the stage, an eerie intro gives way to the expansive and haunting soundscape that is Hollow Hills. The vocalist betrays his obsession with light, as he slowly and mesmerisingly runs a spotlight over each band member, the audience and himself to create a cinematic ambience. The set builds in momentum as the more compelling dark riffage of Stigmata Martyr is sinisterly exercised. Backlit, the band stand statuesque for near to a minutes silence, as the atmosphere and fans’ expectations grow, only for all to combust with the more punk driven and utterly frenetic Hair Of The Dog. Their uber-goth-
056
A Kick in the Eye glam take on Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust really flourishes live and don’t they just make it their own, which even manages to outshine the original. As they leave the stage to an almighty roar, echo’s of their classic Bela Lugosi’s Dead reverberate. The count is undead it seems, as ‘Bela…’ is reprised and Peter Murphy is reincarnated as the vampiric overlord for the encore. The charismatic frontman theatrically sweeps his bat shaped cloak, displays his thespian leanings and reignites his fixation with highlights and shadows. As he paints with light, Bauhaus creates a timeless pseudo horror moment that captivates and enthrals new and old fans alike, to end a very special show in a fittingly hammer horror filmic finale. A sublime performance from a truly legendry band. DB
THE ARK/ JULIETTE & THE LICKS
SHEFFIELD HALLAM FM ARENA 11 FEBRUARY 2006 Fuck me, what is it with Sheffield audiences and sitting down? You want to sit down and watch the band grandma? Fuck off home and put on a DVD. I’ve come to a rock show and that’s what I intend to do. Just how you can stay parked on your arse while The Ark are on is beyond me. Blowing all preconceptions conjured by the single (Deliver Us From Free Will, which sounds like euro pop with a good chorus), the Swedish six-piece (they’ve added a keyboard player for this tour apparently) spend half an hour camping it up, posturing, posing and playing some great glam-chic rock. Singer Ola Salo needs an arena the size of Hallam to fit his personality into – cross David Bowie with Michael Monroe and Marc Bolan and you’re half-way there – but he doesn’t
manage to overshadow the band’s music, so big are the songs. One Of us Is Going To Die Young, Father Of A Son and the frankly magnificent Fool To Remain Sane are all huge slabs of glam - big guitars, mammoth choruses, the works. You can’t watch this lot without a grin on your face (lines like “good evening Sheffield, city of steel and other metals” help of course). Actually, that’s not true. You apparently can, because all those around me were staring like they’d stumbled into a freak show (such a reaction from people who have paid to see The Darkness is bizarre frankly). That said, the look on people’s faces when Ola pranced onto the stage to do the second-half of the set with a pair of black wings on his back was priceless. The only problem for The Ark is recorded output. Live, their songs soar, the guitars are loud, the drums pound – and the keyboards are barely
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
audible. The studio versions are the complete opposite, which is gong to cause them problems very shortly. Following The Ark is a job for someone who is either supremely confident or just doesn’t give a fuck. Juliette Lewis is both. She arrives on stage looking like she’s popped in on her way back from the gym and proceeds to rip it up for 40 minutes. It’s clear that this lot enjoy playing together. Todd Morse and Kemble Walters shred guitars with huge grins on their faces, while bassist Jason Womack bolts the sound together. And as for Juliette – there hasn’t been a front woman this good for a long time. Eye-wateringly bendy, she can not only cut it live, her performance outstrips the studio version by a country mile. You’re Speaking My Language, Got Love To Kill, Pray For The Band Latoya – they’re all vicious, spiteful, aggressive slices of garage punk that demand you react in kind. Not that Sheffield does of course… Still, at least she dived into the crowd at the end – she’ll always get a reaction, regardless of the crowd! KJ
MIKE PETERS & THE ALARM: GATHERING 14 N.W.C.C, LLANDUDNO, N.WALES: 27 JAN & 28 JAN 2006 Fans of Mike Peters & The Alarm will tell you the highlight of the year is The Gathering- 2 nights and one day of “celebration” It’s a yearly pilgrimage to the windy coastal town of Llandudno that is usually home to grannies with blue rinses, and not a few thousand rock fans. The gathering has always provided the ones lucky enough to get tickets, with 2 nights of chills down the spine, from the heart music. This year more so, as Mike found out in December that he has an incurable form of cancer called CLL. Was this going to have to make him cancel this years gathering and take it easy? I wouldn’t be writing this review if that was the case would I? The Alarm MK1 broke up in 1990, it’s taken quite some time for the ‘new’ version to get things back on track, not that sales make the old band better than the new or visa versa, last years album ‘The Poppy Fields’ and surprise hit single ’45 RPM’ showed a band certainly heading in the right direction, the band have now rode into the single charts yet again with their biggest hit for over 15 years ‘Superchannel’ which is taken from the next chapter in Alarm history ‘Under Attack’ which is an album that can be put next to any other Alarm album and certainly stand up, in fact it’s Mike Peters best vocal work since ‘Strength’ 20 years ago.
FRIDAY NIGHT: MIKE PETERS ACOUSTIC, IN-THE-ROUND Kicking off the weekend, Mike walked up to the specially created round stage to almost deafening applause, a sign it was going to be a good night. As every year we were treated to set featuring songs that span the whole of his career from the early alarm songs to tracks
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
from the Poppy Fields collection. Highlight of the evening has to be ‘Breathe’ a solo Mike Peters cut that just seemed to miss the mark on record, yet tonight eyes closed, you join Mike and become lost in the music. Mike sounds as excellent as ever and even throws tracks such as “Father to Son” and “Strength” which sound great after all these years! Speaking to Mike a few days later he tells us that walking onto that stage on Friday night was so emotional and is one of the highlights of his career, from a man who has done so much, that is testament to the Alarm fans and the man himself, it was one of those ‘You had to be there’ kind of nights. He rounds off the 90 minute set with a few awesome cover versions including Oasis -Wonderwall, Which he reminds us was a mainstay on the stereo and on stage 10 yrs ago, and he dedicates it to his beautiful ‘muse’ Jules, we watch as she sings every word, eyes transfixed on each other, a Love so strong it defies words, also Mike tips his hat to fellow Dead Man Walking ‘Kirk Brandon’ with an apt ‘You’ll Never Take Me Alive’ & ends it all with a rousing Smash It Up and Keep On Rocking In The Free World. Bring on Saturday night.
SATURDAY NIGHT: THE ALARM MMVI These days The Alarm consists of Mike Peter (The Alarm of course) on Vocals & guitar, James Stevenson (Ex Gene Loves Jezebel / Chelsea / Generation X) on guitar, Craig Adams (Ex Mission & Cult) on Bass and Steve Grantly (Ex Stiff Little Fingers).They have been playing together for sometime and they are as tight as ducks ass- as always. Hitting the stage with the awesome Top 30 single Superchannel, taken from the new album “Under Attack” this set the tone for the whole evening- energy levels set to 11! In fact the whole of the new record were showcased here, you would think that was a mistake but don’t be fooled into thinking the old classics were ignored- the band must have played about 30 songs in total, which included ALL the classic Alarm songs including “68 Guns”, “Unsafe Building”, ”45 RPM”,”Absolute Reality”, “Rain In The Summertime”…the final encore consisted of “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” the Clash Anthem, again another apt song to play for while we still miss Joe Strummer we love the legacy he, Mick, Paul and Topper left behind, “In the Poppy Fields” should become a national anthem for those fallen and brave, and the stunning “Spirit of ‘76’ What a way to finish the weekend 20 years ago this song defined a generation, the Alarm went on to play UCLA in California and the rest was history, and that is the word that springs to mind over and over again ‘History’ for we have been part of it and yet again in 2006 we are living it, this is not the end, it’s not even the beginning of the end, but in fact it’s the end of a beginning. The Alarm will go and prove the doubters, the critics and even some of their old fans wrong, This is a man with a band at the top of their game, if you need further proof of how good this weekend was, the following
weekend tickets for Gathering 15 went on sale, 800 were snapped up in three days! G15 will be bigger and better than ever, it will move to a bigger arena, and maybe, just maybe another day might get added! So in 2006 ‘Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?’ I wasn’t I was standing proud, singing loud, living, loving, fighting and fucking! As the Famous (agmm) Welsh Football player & occasional movie star Vinnie Jones said in “Lock, Stock…” “It’s Been Emotional” JMc/JJ
KID ROCK MOHEGAN SUN ARENA UNCASVILLE, CT 20 JANUARY 2006 Some who saw his first Mohegan Sun show just four months earlier said that was the better Kid Rock performance. Opening night of the 18-date tour to promote the new ‘Live’ Trucker album instead revealed the one-time Bob Ritchie and his Twisted Brown Tucker backing band to be more visual than musical, keeping things relatively simple and never playing beyond basics. The highlight of the set was an inspired rendition of “Drift Away” that proved Kid Rock can do better. His limited singing voice managed to fill the familiar Dobie Gray standard with real sentiment. Coupled with a stark slideshow of departed musical legends projected upon the rear stage screen, the song connected with lingering sadness and revealed a beautiful musical purity. The crossover hit “Picture” probably could have been another high point, but shit ragged sound shredded any intimacy. Red line overdrive of the low end throughout the entire set made those better moments sound unflattering, while over-emphasizing mediocre ones—like Bad Company and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers ill-suited to Kid’s limited range and technique. Staples like “Cowboy” and “Motherfucker Quite Like Me” were expected, but the one-dimensional songafter-song lyrical bravado became boring. Still, most of the audience still responded in force to the affected redneck defiance of his persona. Rock and roll rebellion always manages to raise beers and fists on a Friday night, even if completely contrived. Kid did manage to prove his hip hop credibility with an impressive run on the turntables, but the stunt wore thin as he then dabbled with each band member’s instrument. But he managed to entertain, working the stage fairly well to captivate the sold out arena, even if some of the moves were less than original. Even the defiant encore of “Bawitdaba” beyond house lights signaling the end of the show seemed planned, earning the Pimp of the Nation points as a smartly calculating showman first, genuine musical rebel a distant second. RL
ROADSTAR HAMMERSMITH APOLLO, LONDON 4 FEBRUARY 2006 As a rock band, one of the best and worst things you can do is support
one of the best live bands this country as ever produced. Going on first at a Thunder show isn’t easy. You can be fairly certain you’re not going to be as good as the headliners, but you are getting out there and playing for people that appreciate good solid live rock music and you can at least make sure you’re better than whoever follows you, if indeed someone does play between you and Thunder (Toby Jepson, in this case). No worries for Roadstar (formerly Hurricane Party – which is still a better name!). Limited to only a five-song set the band went about getting the crowd moving from the get-go. Being sure to highlight tracks from their recent EP Get This was well advised as the songs are much better than older material. Coming over as a combination of Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses the band delivered five songs of blistering rock and roll with searing solos to boot. There’s a few pretenders in the mainstream that could be shown a thing or two by Roadstar. Especially if they change their name back! Ahem. AL
STREAM OF PASSION BORDERLINE, LONDON 29 JANUARY 2006 Finally, after five years Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen has put together a proper band (Ayreon albums are rock-opera type affairs with too many guests to ever make touring a realistic option) and has returned to London for the first time in twenty years (last time was with Vengeance). Promising some Ayreon material as well as songs from the bands excellent debut Embrace The Storm this was going to be as close as fans could get to a live Ayreon show since the short Star One tour in 2001, which only took in a couple of central European countries. Opening with the first cuts from the Stream of Passion CD the tribal drum intro to Spellbound was used to great effect as the band members (all seven of them) took the stage one by one, starting (obviously) with the drummer Davy Mickers and ending (obviously) with Arjen himself. From here it was into the excellent Passion with its guitar-less verses enabling vocalist Marcela Bovio to demonstrate what a superb voice she has, backed ably by her sister Diana. Most of the tracks from Embrace The Storm were aired, including a brilliant piano and vocal version of Nostalgia. In between new songs various classic Ayreon songs, including Valley of The Queens, Computer Eyes and The Charm of The Seer and newer songs Pain, Vigil and Love from the most recent album The Human Equation. The highlight however came towards the end when Damian Wilson joined the band onstage to reprise his role from the Star One tour on Castle Hall and Into The Black Hole. Those two songs back-to-back were unbelievable and well worth the price of admission alone. Hopefully Arjen intends to keep Stream of Passion going for some time to come and we’ll have the benefit of another tour in the future. AL
057
Discs One of the defining albums of the coming year. Now about this picture... we think it’s nothing a few pairs of stack heels and some greasepaint won’t fix.
BR:GADE LIGHTS ✪✪✪✪✪
MIGHTY ATOM With all of the fuss being made about the new American invasion at the moment, you’d think that the UK was in a slump! Not so, there’s more than a fistful of, to be frank, fucking killer bands over here to take the battle to the fields. What with GetAmped, Fightstar, When Gravity Fails and Br:gade on the home
front - if everyone would just open their eyes properly, there’s more to see here than there is over there! Br:gade have got something a bit special going on with Lights - it might be that they wrote a whole albums worth of songs instead of a few singles and a bunch of ropey b-sides (do people under 24 still refer to those other tracks as b-sides? Discuss!). It might be that they have talent to spare and know it as they deftly show despite having some seriously intense moments of fire, the band aren’t afraid of taking it easy and
letting the album breathe every now and again. That’s not something you see everyday any more as bands push and push to put all their wares on display at once. Br:gade have taken the leave your knickers on route and it’s all the better for it creating a nice slice of mystique to fall back on. This is one band that aren’t going to implode if the album doesn’t set the world on fire straight away and that’s essential to Br:gade’s success. Mighty Atom have released the right singles at the right time leading up to this release, with a little backing from the music channels, it could blow! But to the album... Kicking in with Magneto you could be led down the wrong path. It’s a great stab at defining their sound but I dare you to resist the knockout blows dealt by Meet Me At My Funeral. Lyrically sound and with a rollercoaster set-up, it takes bitterness to a whole new dimension - and it’s blistering live too. The ride comes down then to take in the bass driven Assemble/Dissemble another lyrically driven song (which is probably why I rate the band so highly - they seem to have something to say). It has a secret melody - one of those songs that gets under your skin with repeated listening. Assemble will do the band well over time. Made to Wreck was my first experience of the band and at the time I really didn’t know what to make of
058
them but it’s grown on me a lot since then and has some pretty cool things going on inside. I’ll Be Your Emergency is also going to be long term track for the band. It’s frenetic energy is captivating - it sounds almost like it shouldn’t fit together but it works so well and also leads nicely into my new favourite song Go Slow. Go Slow reminds me of The Cars that’ll be the understated guitars chugging away in the background while the story is told and then coming in for the chorus, in they come to carry the song to a new level. Songwriting 101. And so the album continues with it’s mixed bag of styles dressed up in Br:gades own sweet way. Lights will become one of the defining albums of the coming year - I’d stake what little is left of my reputation on it. If you’re bored of the influx of American swagger that never seems to hit the mark for a whole album, this is the place to come. Live, they can play with the big boys too. Br:gade are a punchy bunch of fuckers with a long future ahead of them - the only annoying thing about the band is that fucking colon in their band name, but you can still count me in for the long haul. And if anybody out there is listening, please make Guillotine the next single... you know it makes sense! SS
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
100 REASONS KILL YOUR OWN ✪✪✪✪
V2
I was apprehensive about reviewing this album. All I could remember about Hundred Reasons was that the singer had big hair and shouted a lot! This is the third album from the still suitably coiffed ones and where the hell have I been? Co-produced by guitarist Larry Hibbett with Rolling Stones producer Dave Sardy, Kill Your Own is a rip-roaring but not mind blowing album. It starts as all the best rock albums should, clearing the ear wax with something anthemic, full on and a true taste of what's to come. 'Broken Hands' doesn't disappoint and similarly jump-up-and-down-and-sing-a-longalive chorus fests such as Destroy, first single Kill Your Own and the brilliant Live Fast, Die Ugly are welcome aural cotton buds. Any one of these tracks will have the baggy black flared brigade rushing to buy tickets for their forthcoming not one but two headline tours in February and April! And by 'eck they'll be jumping up and down and moshpitting when these guys stuff their festival rock into such small intimate venues. And then there's the flipside - not of the CD, but the music. The 'radio friendly single' rock, such as future single The Chance, Breathe Again and a challenge for Nickelback in the Zippo waving, Better Way. Kill Your Own is like two great bands on one album, which is not bad thing. I'm not fussy - a good song is a good song and this band obviously has bagfuls of them (nestled snugly amongst the treatment for their schizophrenia!). I want to drive across America in a Mustang listening to this album deafeningly loud with the wind through my hair…if anyone's off to Arizona, make sure you drop by Amazon first!!! LM
DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND SYNCHESTRA INSIDE OUT RECORDS ✪✪✪✪ For the first time renowned nutcase Devin Townsend (also of Strapping Young Lad) has produced a DTB album that is listenable, varied and doesn't sound like a complete wimp. Previous DTB albums, to me, have sounded weak as hell. Almost like Devin is intentionally trying to be the
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
exact opposite of the extreme metal onslaught of Strapping Young Lad. Clearly a man that does everything to the extreme. This time, however, there's heaviness, melody, comedy, intricacy and insanity in equal parts for over an hour. Exactly what's needed.
and anthemic hard-hitting melodies, and while the dense, grungy melodies of Comfort From A Bomb certainly pack a punch, it’s tracks like Silver Back, Racer X and Paperheart that really accentuate the dark, distorted metal guitar and push Peter Thomas’ painfully raw, embittered vocals to their limit. Weightless simply oozes energy and attitude as it relentlessly rocks through its thirty-six minute entirety before leaving you fairly exhausted, but extremely satisfied. CM
ABIGAIL HOPKINS BLUE SATIN ALLEY POSSESSED RECORDS ✪✪✪✪
As well as Devin's exceptionally aggressive 'SYL' voice, he possesses a beautifully soft and melodic singing voice. And everything in between, it seems. Therefore one of his trademark recording techniques is to sing things in several different ways and layer the vocals. This is something he did to tremendous effect on Ayreon's masterpiece The Human Equation, for example. He uses this technique again on this album in several places, and it works very well each time. With an equal mix of funny/silly tracks (the songs sound serious, but if you pay close attention to what he's actually saying, it's very funny) and serious introspective tracks, with superbly technical musicianship and a full bonus live in the studio DVD, this is the best DTB release to date. For anyone, like myself, with a huge respect for the talent of Townsend, but just can't get into SYL, this is the album to get. AL
SLOW ROOSEVELT WEIGHTLESS REALITY ENTERTAINMENT ✪✪✪✪
Three years after its original release and Weightless is more than deserving of its re-issue; if you’ve never heard Slow Roosevelt before, as soon as the killer riffage of the opener Boys Lie Girls Steal explodes out of your stereo you’ll be kicking yourself for missing these volatile, hard-rocking Texans the first time around. From Laughing Comes Crying, Piss and Vinegar and Audio Star Satellite are instant favourites, with their unrelenting hooks, pounding drums
MAIA SHARP FINE UPSTANDING CITIZEN UNIVERSAL ✪✪✪✪
A total contrast to Ms Hopkins, Maia is a more polished artist, going for a cleaner, more clinical sound (in this case a very good thing) which is totally modern. Opener Red Dress showcases her heartfelt, soulful voice beautifully, as does Something Wild, while A Home is delightfully understated and gentle. There are times when she wanders more into new-country territory (Flood, Come Back To Me), but with her voice that's no bad thing. Hell, she could sing a take-away menu and make it sound gorgeous. And, just like an episode of Alias, there's a twist in the tale - the closing - and title-track has smatterings of Court And Spark era Joni Mitchell, which is as fantastic as it is unexpected. So, there you have it. Two approaches to the same craft. Both different, and both absolutely fantastic. KJ
THE BLACK HALOS ALIVE WITHOUT CONTROL LIQUOR AND POKER MUSIC ✪✪✪✪
Like female TV heroes, female singersongwriters cover a wide spectrum. On the one hand you can have Sydney Bristow (of Alias fame), trained from birth to be a cold killer and kitted out with the latest gadgets. On the other, you have Buffy (of, well, Buffy fame) - chosen by fate to fight the forces of evil using more supernatural, organic methods. Neither is better than the other, it's just different approaches to the same end - in this case, fit birds beating up bad guys. Here then, we have the musical equivalents - two different approaches to the art of music making, with the same target in sight. I don't just make up this shit you know, it's all carefully planned out… Abigail is, if you will, Buffy while Maia is more of your Sydney. With Blue Satin Alley, we are treated to a more organic, instinctive, record almost jazz like in its roots. Starting off with Butterfly (don't be fooled by the title, the chorus bites), Abigail's smoking, haunting vocals hark back to an earlier age. And the music follows suit. I'll Be Waiting For You By The Bus Stand cold have been recorded in the 60s, while Hailstones just wreaks of a 30s jazz bar. And then you have Crow Wire (a bizarre instrumental) and Harold's Bees (which just sounds like a nervous breakdown in action) - every song is different, but all come from the gut (much like Buffy's fighting. See? It's all making sense now…). Meanwhile, over at the other end of the spectrum, there's Maia Sharp.
Vancouver might not be recognized as the punk capitol hometown, but The Black Halos really aren’t that kind of band. Contrary to categorization, this third album since the Canadian group’s 1999 self-titled debut sounds closer to garage rock—more Backyard Babies than Black Flag. And while the Babies definitely do it better, Alive Without Control is not without charm, endearing with its instant accessibility of singalong choruses and trashy guitars. Yeah, frontman Billy Hopeless sings with an almost animated cartoon voice that sounds ragged and flat, but passable. Embracing those vocal limitations as an asset makes for good contrast with shouted choruses that beg for listener participation. So does the 4/4 drumming that’s about as subtle as a 2x4 bashed against the back of the head. “Mirrorman” stalls with dragging monotone, and the cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with “INeed To Know” is questionable, but for the most part the thirteen tracks work. The honkey tonk jangle and handclapping title track serves notices that the Halos are capable of greater musical dynamics than just blasting loud. The key is that Alive Without Control does so without pushing into pretentiousness, just primal rock and roll at its best. RL
059
Discs WARRANT BORN AGAIN ✪✪✪✪✪
MTM-MUSIC Is party hardy cock rock still cool in 2006? I could care less, my only concern in reviewing this is - is it a great album or am I just pleased to see it? Does it matter? If you’re a fan, read on, if not then you probably didn’t get as far as these words anyway. Here’s the deal. With Warrant no longer sporting Jani Lane at the helm, we find Jaime St. James and nothing could please me more. Whilst Jani really propelled the band forward, made them what they were and nailed his colours well and truly with the Dog Eat Dog album, Jaime is twice the frontman and three times the vocalist. Hailing from one of my favourite rock bands of all time, Black n Blue, Jaime has left his mark on every corner of Born Again - so much so in fact that it sounds like a Black n Blue album and not a Warrant album. If you can handle that and you’re still with me, that’s a good thing. I have no idea how any of us ever got through the 80s and 90s writing about bands like Warrant. You can’t say anything about the playing because it becomes a means to an end and the songs are either good or bad there never was any in-between. It’s more about how it makes you feel, and if you can put any prejudices you have about a revamped band coming back for more, Born Again is as fun and as great to listen to as the new Nickelback album. They have no politics to preach, and - assuming Jaime has as much of a hand in the songwriting as I think he did - love isn’t really on the cards
060
either. The best thing I can say about Born Again is that it’s like having a bunch of old friends that you really did want to see turn up at your house. Twelve songs that your stereo doesn’t go loud enough for. 12 songs that make you forget that you just blew this months mortgage payment on the installment of a new Harley -you get the picture. I’m all for it! It’s a fantastic record. I’m so genuinely intrigued by my dilemma however, that I now hand over the keyboard to my potentially erstwhile pal Andy Lye, who has never ever before heard Warrant or Black n Blue... this will be interesting!
WARRANT BORN AGAIN ✪✪✪✪
MTM-MUSIC Sometimes it’s great to be able to view something with an almost child-like naivety. Despite being a fan of many other bands from a similar period, as the man said, I’ve never listened to either Warrant or Black ‘n’ Blue. Therefore, the fact the Jaime St. James is now the singer for Warrant means very little to me. It also means that I won’t be forced to draw the comparisons, which are probably unavoidable for most, between the two bands. Over time I’ve come to desire one thing in an album, and one thing only. Groove. If a band, of any genre, can write songs that say what they want to say, be what they want to be, and have a fair slab of groove sewn into them at the same time, then chances are the album’s going to sound pretty good. An album without groove is like a thriller without a plot twist. It just doesn’t have that element, that spark, that makes
you want to stick with it and take notice of what’s going on. Now, I’ve no idea whether Warrant, or indeed Black ‘n’ Blue, ever wrote songs that made your shoulders involuntarily move before, but nor do I care. After just one minute of opener Devil Inside you’ll see what I mean. It’s got all the grinding dance floor-filling trademarks of the first Guns N’ Roses album. And it’s relentless in its approach. The southern groove (there’s that word again) of Dirty Jack, the lowdown ‘n’ dirty Bourbon County Line, Glimmer and Angels and the goodtime, er, Good Times. There’s only one thing I don’t like about this record, and that’s the occasional dated-sounding Extreme/Van Halen-esque rocker like Hell CA or Down In Diamonds, which just sound too cheerful for their own good. But that minor complaint aside, this is what rock and roll is supposed to be about! AL I feel vincdicated! For a short time there I thought nostalgia had got the better of me, but like the new Bret Michaels material, Brittingham’s Naked Beggers project and the new Faster Pussycat album, these so called hair bands the world had written off so swiftly have proved that only one thing is true - after a certain amount of time, bands will transcend the genres people have put them in and just become part of the history of rock. Warrant have a place in 2006. That space is wide open to be filled as well - with presumably the whole back catalogue of both bands to fall back on live (that’s about 10 albums at a rough count), the coming shows are going to be worth getting off your ass to go and see. SS
BLACK N BLUE VS WARRANT AN OLD HANDS GUIDE: In the spirit of all things being equal, you have to remember that by the time Oregon based Black n Blue had dealt their final hand (not counting the latest album Hell Yeah), Warrant hadn’t even got off the starting blocks. The first self titled ✪✪✪✪✪ Black n Blue album sports some all time classics Autoblast, School of Hard Knocks to name but two tunes that never leave your head. Following it up, Without Love ✪✪✪✪ also had it’s fair share of great songs but lost a tiny bit of the edge they kicked in with due to a bit of a sappy production. This was soon rectified with the bombastic Nasty Nasty ✪✪✪✪✪ which deserved far more attention that it got and also the subsequent In Heat ✪✪✪✪✪ which sported some fantastic singles. Since then, Jaime went on to form a band called FreightTrain Jane who were pretty hot on the demo circuit for 5 minutes and Tommy Thayer joined Kiss in Frehley’s make-up, probably due to the huge Simmons influence there was on the BnB career ladder. For the really curious and well resourced, in between this Thayer was in an incredible band called Shake the Faith who had the capacity to out-AC/DC AC/DC, but ultimately never did anything. Warrant meanwhile rode a wave of MTV heavy availability. Their first album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich ✪✪✪ was idly compared to Poison but what wasn’t back then. There were some great songs on it like Down Boys but unlike Black n Blue whose records still sound great, the album sounds really dated now. Cherry Pie ✪✪✪✪ however delivered a much stronger set of rules with the title track becoming a massive hit and Uncle Tom’s Cabin and I Saw Red proving they could do something else but drink. Easily their best album is Dog Eat Dog ✪✪✪✪✪ which died for all the wrong reasons. Bad timing and a change of a generation saw it off very quickly, but the songs on it remain today as some of the best examples of a rock band doing a hell of a lot of things right. April 2031, Andy Warhol and Hole in My Wall being prime examples. The band chose to follow this with Ultraphobic ✪✪✪✪ which had a great stab at hardening up their sound to match the grunge takeover, but bands of Warrants ilk, having been unfairly tarnished with the “hair band” banner, didn’t even stand a chance. We’ll just forget about the album Belly to Belly shall we... you’re forgiven! Jani Lane put out a pretty good album called Back Down To One ✪✪✪✪ a few years back, but it’s really for hardcore fans of his writing. For a whole generation of music to be idly wiped off the face of the planet by journalists who thought it was big and clever to kick a genre when it was down, was wrong and it still is. Rooting out some if these albums will grace your shelves with some of the must tuneful US rock ever created. SS
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
DARK FORTRESS SÉANCE CENTURY MEDIA ✪✪✪ It’s hard to approach a ‘black metal’ album without some degree of cynicism; there’s just so much bad press. But what you have here is a record that might just start help dispelling those myths. Dark Fortress’ sound is very clearly firmly rooted in the black metal genre, but combined with more modern production and mixing methods. Opening track Ghastly Indoctrination establishes the mood for what’s to come – dark, haunting orchestration that reveals imminent aural devastation, and CataWombs lets the guys rip with black metal convention: incessant drumming, pounding guitar and bass, and aggravated howling vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place in a trollinfested cave! With some seriously spooky moments (check out Incide’s agonised moaning), Dark Fortress leave you wondering if you’re sitting over an Indian burial ground. SW
WWIII WHEN GOD TURNED AWAY REALITY ENTERTAINMENT ✪✪✪✪
Heard of Mandy Lions? Me neither, but apparently I should have. This guy can really wail! Sticking relatively close the formula for groove-based heavy metal (think Black Label Society), WWIII reveals a high degree of talent from all participating musicians, especially vocalist Mandy – his powerful snarl sits comfortably between a Dave Mustaine sneer and a Dez-fromDevildriver growl, and it fits with the steady groove surprisingly well. Tracks such as Rise and Walk With Me define the head-banging rhythms and high-speed guitar solos that you can expect to get from WWIII; Lions and co. are really showing the world that metal can be powerful without being overly aggressive, and it’s a sound that’s growing more popular every day. Like Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society? You’ll love Mandy Lions’ WWIII. SW
ELVENKING THE WINTER WAKE AFM RECORDS ✪✪✪
If the people of Camelot made power metal, this is what it would sound like. No, I don't mean the organisers of
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
the National Lottery. And no, I didn't spell the American progressive metal band Kamelot's name wrong.
This stuff really does sound medieval. On opener Trow's Kind (who's?) it might just be the violin work of Elgyhen (they all have one-word names) that gives it that travelling muse sound, but on The Wanderer the vocal melody is straight out of an olde folk song. You know, the kind where everyone goes “hey!” at the end of the verse. Later you've got your banquet dance songs and romantic ballads, all with power metal guitars and soaring vocals. Some songs aren't so obvious, with just hints of celtic violin, but when the female vocals come in on the acoustic ballad On The Morning Dew you feel like you're firmly in Blackmore's Night territory. Elvenking bring something new and unique to the power metal genre, a genre that can suffer from stagnation at times if things aren't changed up and varied. So, any power metal fans out there tired of the monotonous double-bass drumming and speed-freak guitar playing around at the moment that want something different can do a lot worse than check out Elvenking. AL
managed in a long time. Self-produced (which normally means production quality suffers, to be honest), esprit has nine songs which bring to mind everything that was great about the 80s - the aforementioned Hussey and Eldritch (also both from Yorkshire - must be something in the water), along with a nod towards Bauhaus and, dare I say it, Soft Cell (ooh, another Yorkshire lot). Final Resolve gets us underway, haunting keyboards to the fore, Sleepwalking is almost electro-pop before the guitars kick in, Never Again is led by the bass before Dave's impassioned vocals slither over the top - basically there's not a duff track on here. The great thing about this album is it's simplicity - the drums are kept simple, the guitars unfussy, the vocals direct and driving the songs. It's like being back in 1984 (there's a growing retro theme this month…). What makes all of this tick, of course is frontman Kelly. Part Andrew Eldritch (of Sisters fame), part Pete Murphy (Bauhaus), he still manages to sound original, hi haunting tones spreading from the speakers and captivating you with tales of lost love. And if the eight original tracks weren't enough to get your attention (and they should be), then buy it for the cover of White Wedding. One listen and you'll forget that Billy Idol was ever seen snarling on your TV screens - this lot turn it into a goth classic. Bring a little despair into your life you know you want to. Available from www.twoaf.com KJ
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH ESPRIT D'ESCALIER
SENCIROW PERCEPTION OF FEAR AFM RECORDS
✪✪✪✪
✪✪✪✪
The great thing about goth music these days is that it comes in so many forms - Manson is goth, Lacuna are goth, Nightwish are (were?) goth. All of which is a far cry from where it all started. Back in the day, misery, a drum machine and a guitar was all that was needed - and so it was that we had Sisters of Mercy and The Mission to keep us warm in our bedsits. The modern stuff, it has to be said, is too noisy for a good sulky wallow so thank fuck that The Way of All Flesh are here. Like Wayne Hussey singing early Sisters, this Sheffield four-piece bring misery to life in a way no one has
This is the German five-piece's debut record, unleashed into a European metal climate where bands like Morgana Lefay, Firewind, Dragonforce and Edguy are already building a huge following across the continent. The perfect time to enter the fray. Perception of Evil is firmly in the vein of these bands, with fast-paced drumming, lightning quick solos and strong clean vocals. Lead track Burn It Down is a short, sweet and aggressive track that is now a standard in the genre. A typical verse-chorus-versechorus-solo-chorus, three-and-a-halfminute slab of speed power metal. Dragonforce would me more than
happy to have the track on their album. The more interesting stuff comes later on, with the epic Keeper of Souls, the ominous Wargames and the truly beautiful guitar work on closer Dreamspace. There are times when, like Dragonforce, the relentless pace and drumming does get a bit much. Especially when it's unnecessary, like in the chorus to Connection of Evil. And when over the course of three songs there's very little to tell the tracks apart, you do start to wonder. But give it time. There are real gems on the record to get to. The band show great promise with this fine debut. Over time they will hopefully mature into a strong band with a wide repertoire of songs and styles as, for example, Primal Fear have done, and Dragonforce haven't. When that time comes, they will be a force to be reckoned with. AL
SILVER MOUNTAIN BREAKIN’ CHAINS REALITY ENTERTAINMENT ✪✪✪
“I don’t own enough dubious 80’s Swedish metal,” I thought. Lo and behold, Silver Mountain are releasing Breakin’ Chains, composed of tracks written in the hey-day of 1980s metal. Having released a stream of material in the early 80s under the name Silver Mountain, guitarist Jonas Hansson, bassist Per Stadin, drummer Anders Johansson and his keyboarding brother Jens Johansson, established their musical virtuosity and were summarily split up by a multitude of side projects. Returning after over 20 years, the guys have taken time out from their current projects to record once again under the name Silver Mountain, releasing the ultimate homage to Swedish 80s metal. The track to download is without a doubt Before The Storm, which shows exactly what these guys are capable of (a curious, but intriguing blend of Iron Maiden, Helloween and Mercyful Fate!). Pick this up if you too don’t own enough dubious 80’s Swedish metal! SW
WITCHERY DON’T FEAR THE REAPER CENTURY MEDIA ✪✪✪✪ Pieced together from the shards of Satanic Slaughter and featuring members of Arch Enemy and The Haunted, Swedish metallers Witchery toss elements of melodic metal
061
Discs
THE ANTHOLOGY JAY ASTON’S GENE LOVES JEZEBEL JEZEBEL RECORDINGS ✪✪✪✪ You have to love a double disc set that turns up with not an inch of wasted space on it! 37 tracks has to be enough for any fan to get enthusiastic about, and we take our hats off for not calling it ‘Greatest Hits’ because they all weren’t, but they were great. Streets ahead of their time and as original as sin, GLJ came out of the UK underground around the same time as The Cult. In some ways they were more commercial and their lack of success in the UK always confused me. Maybe it was the two vocalist thing that made them so unique and maybe that they were too alternative to be goth, too goth to be rock, etc… not being pigeonholed is superb for street credibility but an absolute nightmare when it comes to marketing! Eventually, the Americans got it and while they could headline arenas out there, back home they were still playing to club audiences. Still, all of that is past history and the two bands (go do your own research!) can now sit back and say they delivered the goods. Disc one is a well put together collection of the hits that should have been – from the early material we have Pop Tarantula and Upstairs, from what in my opinion is their finest
hour – the album Discover the brilliance of Desire, Over the Rooftops and Sweetest Jezebel, (Jay’s own take on the massive song that is Sweetest Thing). Bringing up the back end of the disc, the even more chart worthy Jealous, Motion of Love and Josephina – all of these songs no matter which side of the ocean you live on deserve to be heard. Disc two features a lot more recent material and also Jay’s solo material – a good idea since most GLJ fans probably got old and missed out on following it up. If that’s the case, then you missed out on some seriously good rock and should catch up immediately. If you’re sitting there reading this and wondering just who in the hell Gene Loves Jezebel are, then this is as good a place as any to start. If indie/alt rock from the US is your bag, then this is pretty much where it all started. Never has one band been more unknowingly influential on entire generations. Get this, then do yourself the biggest favour in the world and get a hold of their recently re-released album in their entirety. Somebody should drop the enormity of the single Suspicion into the world right now – just to see what happens. Deducted a star in the rating for the non-inclusion of Heartache… harsh but fair I think from somebody who was there at the start when it mattered! SS
FIGHTSTAR GRAND UNIFICATION ISLAND ✪✪✪✪ Woman are never wrong, are they? This isn't clean, that's not tidy, not unless you've had a shower - you know what it's like. So it was that the usual domestic bliss chez Johnson was obliterated a couple of weeks back when Fightstar's album dropped. My claim that if you saw them in a pub you'd stick around for half a song befre fucking off was met with derision. Never one to take a hint, I continued my rant. Which not only had the effect of my wife telling me I knew jack shit about music (a claim backed by many at Burn Towers), but she snatched the album off me and proclaimed that she would review it instead as she knew what was what. Ever one to take the easy option (and because I was in danger of having to cook my own tea), I let her get on with it. Here's what Mrs J had to say: Let's face it, Charlie was never really boy-band material - he does moody too goddamn well! Right, 'nuff said about that. Fightstar will be judged on their own merits, and to be frank many of the more established rock bands around could stand to learn a thing or two from
062
the sheer effort and enthusiasm that goes into the pumped up, full-on 13 tracks of this album. It totally rocks. Track 1, To Sleep, has a brief, slow intro, which then explodes into a heavy pull-out-all-the-stops riot. The vocals twist and turn: first aggressive brink-of-madness roaring, then waning to soulful despair. All this is backed up to the hilt by drums and guitars that are relentless in their onslaught. Sleep Well is an excellent track that feels like you're getting about three songs in one. It's heavy as fuck one minute and then transcends into beautiful guitar work before picking up pace again. Grand Unification Pt II then sees another change - and kind of a weird one on first listen - but it's a gorgeous song that has a vocal intro akin to Chris Martin (a good thing in this case) - but don't worry, it builds! And there's a cool bit of narration at the beginning and end of the track. The final track, Wake Up, rounds off in powerful style what is an absolute blast from start to finish. Now, album two… that will be the real test. So, there you have it. According to me, it's average at best - according to my wife, it sets the bench mark for other debuts to follow. As for who's right, only time will tell. KJ/IJ
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
and 80’s thrash into their death metal cauldron before mixing in a large amount of heavy riffage and bringing to the boil with some ghoulish vocals. The result? Pure black metal magic. While tracks like Plague Rider capture some of the thrash metal stylings of Metallica and Slayer with their relentless beats and high-speed shredding, Ashes and Crossfixation lean towards the darker, more melodic sounds of The Haunted combined with the grandeur of Dimmu Borgir as they couple intricate guitar work with ritualistic chants and predatory vocals. Meanwhile, Stigmatized and Draw Blood prove that even black metal can be catchy. CM
Kansas, for starters. Think Perfect Strangers/House of The Blue Light era Deep Purple grooving riffs and bass lines over longer more progressive tracks, with vocals reminiscent of Neal Morse (Spock’s Beard) or Roine Stolt (Flower Kings).
KRISIUN – ASSASSINATION CENTURY MEDIA
Throw in some flute, some Gov’t Mule, some additional percussion, tastefully emotive guitar solos from Livgren and the occasional buffalo and you’re there. Nevermore is a powerful and largely instrumental piece that serves as the perfect opener. Catchy riff after catchy riff, light vocal passages and bass runs Victor Wooten would like to have written. Later tracks utilise the flute a lot more, to great effect, with Relics of The Tempest, When The Rain Comes (possibly the hardest rocking track here) and The Vigil standing out as awesome grooving monsters. A more than worthy addition to any progressive rock fans collection. AL
✪✪✪✪
Earning a reputation for their brand of merciless, hyper-speed death metal, Brazilian trio Krisiun return after 2005’s European tour with, what the band profess to be, their heaviest album to date. Opener Bloodcraft launches the attack with catchy, machine-gun-like rhythms, and while the instrumental interludes of Doomed and Summon provide momentary reprieves from high-speed assault, tracks like Natural Genocide and Suicidal Savagery provide rapid-fire rounds of pure metal intensity before giving a nod to oldschool metal with their cover of Motorhead’s Sweet Revenge. Unrelenting, and brutal as ever, Max Kolesne’s breathtaking double-kick drumming gives AssassiNation its sense of spine-tingling urgency, while Alex Camargo’s guttural growling combines with ferocious guitar work to create their typically dark, claustrophobic sound. CM
PROTO-KAW THE WAIT OF GLORY ✪✪✪✪ Proto-Kaw translates into “early form of Kansas”. Why? Because that’s exactly what they are. Before the band we all know called Kansas there were two previous incarnations of the band, all formed by Kerry Livgren. Proto-Kaw is the second version of Kansas, formed in 1971 and disbanding in 1973. They reformed in 2003 as Proto-Kaw and released the album Before Became After in 2004. This is their second release, with a new drummer. But what are they like? Well, they’re not like
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
with the opening intro The Brutality, then another instrumental The Majesty later on and a third instalment, The Eternity at the end, a clean version of the electric intro. Genius. Elsewhere some awesome twin guitar work, both clean and heavy-ashell, tight-as-fuck rhythms, galloping Harris-esque bass and vocals with a hint of Blitz Ellsworth (Overkill) in just the right spots (particularly Night Wraith) collectively deliver one of the best rock albums for a very, very long time. AL
THE JAM SNAP! POLYDOR ✪✪✪✪
BIBLE OF THE DEVIL BRUTALITY MAJESTY ETERNITY SCAREY RECORDS ✪✪✪✪
Another band at the forefront of the recent rock revival (like Generous Maria and Slave To the System from This Is The New Shit features), but with an Iron Maiden-style dual guitar sound. And they’re American. Sound unlikely? Well, it works. In fact, they’re like a Motörhead/Iron Maiden crossbreed. One listen to opening intro The Brutality will have you reaching for Number of the Beast in seconds. Resist that temptation though, as the rest of this record needs listening to. From the excellent harmony vocals on Cocaine Years, Cocaine Tears, the frenetic galloping and soloing of Warrior Fugue and the epic two-part concept piece Sea of Rage to the simply awesome Motörhead-stomp of Flee, there’s barely a bad moment on the entire album. The guitar melodies throughout are simply sublime. The record as a whole gives an overall sense of completeness,
the bone, The Butterfly Collector is just simply sublime. What stands out the most, however, is just how well this band's back catalogue has aged. We're talking late 70s and early 80s remember, a time when recording studios were far more basic that today's pseudo-Nasa offerings, and yet the production stands alongside anything you hear today. And the song writing hardly needs to be debated. If this country has produced a more eloquent social commentator, then he hasn't been found. This album is both an essential musical education for the uninitiated and a welcome reminder for those who were there first time around. KJ
THE PLAYWRIGHTS ENGLISH SELF STORAGE SINK AND STOVE RECORDS ✪✪✪
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Paul Weller was young and angry. Along with Bruce Foxton, Rick Buckler and a head full of Mod ideals, The Jam exploded onto the scene just as punk was dying in the gutter. In the space of six albums, they stamped their authority on the UK music scene and then - as quickly as they had arrived, they split. In their wake, their label stuck out Snap! - a double album (remember kids, this was the heady days of vinyl) of hit singles, b-sides and rare tracks. When CDs came around, Polydor were keen to make sure all those angry teenagers were able to update their music collections and - as happened with every other band - The Jam's back catalogue was brought out on small shiny discs. Only with Snap!, the record label hit a snag. It was too long. So, given the choice between giving the fans the original album or slashing that to bits and sticking out a singledisc version, the record company took the latter option. Now, though, to celebrate Weller's Greatest Ever Bloke award at last month's Brits (or whatever the fuck it was called), Polydor have finally seen sense (and, lets not kid ourselves, pound signs) and re-issued Snap! as it was intended. Over the two discs (three if you hurry), the legacy of the three-piece is laid out. Some of the songs you should know already (Tube Station, Eton Rifles, Town Called Malice), but for those of us too young to appreciate The Jam the first time around, it's the rest of the album that will be of interest. News of The World fights its way out of the stereo, Billy Hunt is stripped to
It’s easy as it is to be cynical about the occasional passages of spokenword lyrics, as angular guitars and expressive drumming at times seem discordant with Aaron Dewey’s incessant, quick spoken vocals; yet somehow, The Playwrights make it work. Although they can be both arty and political, there is something accessible and endearing about the down-toearth, commonplace themes that unfold from their music; bands like Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and Kaiser Chiefs should watch their backs, as catchy tracks like Why We’ve Become Invisible, Fear of Open Spaces and Dislocated show that The Playwrights have their fingers firmly on the musical pulse and it will only be a matter of time before they make a bid to usurp the indie rock crown. Whatever your musical tastes, it’s hard to ignore the irritatingly irresistible quirky Englishness that shines through. CM
JADIS – PHOTOPLAY INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SPV ✪✪✪ Jadis’ sixth album promises a slightly different take on the band’s classic neo-progressive rock style, as it sees the band’s guitarist, singer and songwriter, Gary Chandler adding the title of sound engineer to his list of accolades and spending over a year in his home studio refining Photoplay’s sound. Having said that, Jadis’ style
063
Discs doesn’t seem to have evolved much since their formation in the early 80s. There are moments of brilliance throughout this hour-long album, a few hard-rocking riffs and a couple of catchy melodies, and at times you can’t help feeling swept away by Chandler’s warm, passionate vocals.
However, Photoplay is often all too predictable in its atmospheric keyboards, wailing electric guitar and fly-away melodies; while fans of Marillion, Pendragon and IQ will perhaps be in their element, for the rest of us Photoplay simply smoulders beneath the surface, but ultimately fails to really catch fire. CM
CALIBAN THE UNDYING DARKNESS ROADRUNNER ✪✪
Describing themselves as German metalcore pioneers, Caliban’s fifth album seems at first to exist firmly within the boundaries of its own genre; tight, heavy and fast, but with little to separate it from anything else within the scene. But keep listening and there are pleasant surprises in store. Denis Schmidt’s superbly melodic backing vocals are the perfect foil to frontman Andy Dorner’s gruff utterances. There is a good deal of melodic content on the album that highlights this interplay of vocal styles, and lifts the whole feel of the album above the usual fare. In some ways this melody reinforces the overall heaviness, and probably ensures more commercial success for the band. RE
LAGWAGON RESOLVE FAT WRECK CHORDS ✪✪✪✪ When their drummer died, Lagwagon exorcised their demons with this CD. Lyrically, it’s a long and queasy
064
ride. Musically, it’s a little belter. The opener, Heartbreaking Music, is grown-up, melodic punk with the feel of Bad Religion. Automatic, on the other hand, sounds like it could have been on Nevermind, with its repetitive guitar riffs and Cobainish vocal. The medium tempo and hooky melody of Virus bring Foo Fighters and QOTSA to mind for the album’s most commercial moment. At times it’s a tough album to listen to simply because of the emotionally charged lyrics. Crashing guitars, moody basslines and blistering drums are just the backdrop to an outpouring of grief. It seems slightly obsene to be rocking out to such intimate, painful lyrics. But rock out I did. Shamelessly. SE
THOMAS BROMLEY TWO-NINE-FIVE 4REAL RECORDS ✪✪✪ The blurb for this guy introduces him as distinctive. In another time, maybe, but nowadays this kind of male vocalist pouring his heart out stuff is two-a-penny. What makes him more welcome than the rest though is his voice. It's gruff in a Paul Weller way, rather than ridiculously high-pitched like Blunt and Coldplay. And there's no doubt this guy is talented: he not only wrote all ten tracks on this, his debut, he also plays guitar, piano and percussion. The style on a few of the tracks reminded me of a male version of Sheryl Crowe crossed with Norah Jones. Mark My Words stands out in particular, having an American country rock sound with a gospel tinge. Good stuff. All the Things We Need, meanwhile, notches the pace up a bit with punchier guitars and fast-patter lyrics. All the songs are incredibly wellcrafted and there's a good mix of tempo. I really quite enjoyed it but it's more Sunday afternoon listening than Saturday night. The sound is modern and fresh. Most of the songs would do well in the mainstream charts quite polished and produced. Having said that though, I would check him out live as I suspect he rocks far more than this record would have us believe. So, if you're out and about in London, check him out and let us know. He's doing the rounds at the moment. IJ
PROPAGANDHI POTEMKIN CITY LIMITS FAT WRECK CHORDS ✪✪✪ These guys are not too fond of music journalists, but I won’t let that put me off. Don’t let it put you off either as they don’t like many people judging by this CD. That’s because this is a musical manifesto from some noisy Canadian punks with a political agenda. Despite hailing from ‘north of
the border’ there are elements of New York hardcore aplenty in here. It’s melodic, powerful and sharp as a knife, with take-noprisoners lyrics crowbarred into breakneck verses and ferocious choruses.
Their heart-on-sleeve anti-American veganism will have you applauding their commitment and integrity, or rolling your eyes to the sky, but causing a reaction is what Propagandhi are all about. SE
SEVEN WITCHES AMPED REGAIN RECORDS ✪✪✪✪✪
By far Seven Witches' heaviest, loudest and best album! Pure, unfiltered and unrelenting heavy metal. Produced by band leader and guitarist Jack Frost and featuring new vocalist Alan Tecchio (ex-Non Fiction) the band finally believe that after six years they've found the definitive Seven Witches sound. And I'm inclined to agree. Even the ballad is metal as hell. Opener West Nile, the grooving riff monster Sunnydale High (Buffy, anyone?) and the ballad BE are my personal picks, but every track is an absolute winner. Frost's lead guitar is excellent throughout, but never more so than on closing track Widows And Orphans, where it's sublime. Seven Witches have suffered a bit of a torrid time since their inception in 1999, never really be considered true contenders in the traditional metal World. Several line-up changes haven't helped, with nearly every album sounding different to all the others, any feeling of continuity was difficult to achieve. Frost's sideline in The Bronx Casket Co. has also detracted from the Seven Witches cause from time to time, but this time they've got it 100% right. Essential for all fans of true heavy metal. AL
EDGUY ROCKET RIDE NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS ✪✪✪✪
There are two kinds of power metal bands. Those that take it all seriously and those that don’t. Now, that’s not to say that the ones that don’t take it seriously make silly songs all the time and don’t make anything with substance. It just means that they don’t run around singing about dragons and wizards and mystical this, that and the other believing it’s legitimately important subject matter, and nor do they frown constantly and sing about the meaning of life and the death of a loved one at every turn. So, Rhapsody and Hammerfall aside (oops!), Edguy are one such band that are fully aware there needs to be a certain tongue-in-check, comedic element to metal. What makes them special is the fact that they do it while playing good, technical heavy metal. They still have the sugary sweet harmony choruses that make many listeners (this one included) cringe at times, but that is a staple of the genre, and fans of the genre like it. That said, the excellent Matrix features a chorus sung exclusively by talented lead vocalist Tobias Sammet, so clearly it’s not always necessary. Wasted Time, for instance suffers from use of harmony singing when it’s really not needed. Return of The Tribe is particularly note worthy for the first ever (to my knowledge) guitar solo to be sung. Seriously, there are two solos in this song and the first is actually Sammet singing. I may not have known that had Tobias not told me, because it sounds like a real guitar solo, but listen closely and you can hear him take a breath. There’s an excellent acoustic ballad, a few comedy songs (Fucking With Fire, anyone?), a few serious songs, a bit of everything, all executed perfectly. Top picks: Matrix, The Asylum and Save Me. AL
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
ep’s, singles & cool bands to watch out for... When you get a bunch of EPs and singles sitting in your desk, they’re always the last things to get listened to but we figured that somewhere in amongst the pile must be some sparks of genius... we weren’t wrong. All of these bands have had any press materials thrown away, and therefore live and die here on their product alone:
JULIA THIRTEEN HANDS ON HEART EP CONSOLE
album of material like this, so they best have some other aces up the sleeve. Good fucking start though.
✪✪✪
RED STAR REBELS TOO YOUNG TO CARE EP
IDIOT BOY BURN NABOUCHAKA
✪✪✪ SS
Packaged up like the dirty sleazy pitbulls they probably are, it’s a good looking package and comes with a bonus DVD. Seems like RSR could attract the Roadstar fan base but they’re sadly lacking in one thing. Really, really good songs. Hold is a piss poor ballad that sounds like something off a Pop Idol compilation. Lead track Too Young to Care kicks in well enough and build and builds only to fall on its arse when it comes to the chorus. My opinion? Get a good producer, write some good songs and go and buy a copy of Roxx Gang’s Things You’ve Never Done Before - because with the image flaunted that harshly in your face, that’s what everyone will expect. Not writing the band off here, just withholding judgement for a few months. Saved by a good DVD that delivers more than the single by itself. SS
B-MOVIE HEROES STILL NO SURRENDER EP UNDERGROOVE ✪✪✪✪✪ Personal favourite of the month, BMovie Heroes should really be pumping out albums at a rate of knots to satisfy the need around here. Think along the lines of Baby Chaos, Honeycrack and some of the Wildhearts more catchy releases and you’re halfway out the door to go and catch them on tour. This 4 track EP has been especially tailored specifically for those who like to play air guitar and pulse their accelerator at traffic lights, Surrender gets the official Burn seal of approval otherwise known as Bring it the Fuck On. SS
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
Perhaps a band for those who miss the back end of the eighties - or possibly earlier (because I really did miss the back end of the eighties and have no idea what happened). Gothicky vocals and a spindly drum track should leave the band with the open gateway they need to let the rest of the band be heard but something seems to be missing. More Joy Division than Sisters of Mercy - maybe a little bit of The Cure in places - you get the drift and you know if you’ll like it. Depressed now SS
CRUCIFIED BARBARA PLAY ME HARD GMR MUSIC ✪✪✪✪ More full on craziness from the Slunt eyes ones. Head down Girlschool action full frontal attack for want of a better description! Rumoured to be a great experience live, Crucified Barbara are doing exactly what L7 should have done all those years ago... little by little getting better and better. Loads of attitude and heavy as hell, their production values are becoming nicely honed... not long now before you won’t be able to resist. Inclusion of an acoustic track here in the shape of My Heart is Black brings a new and very unexpected dimension from the band. Superb song, immaculately performed and should have been the lead track to stop people thinking the same things about the as those aforementioned bands. Tops SS
maybe Spreadeagle but what you get is far more polished. If there’s a criticism, it’s that the keyboards are way too high in the mix, especially for a band that presumably has 2 guitarists (there are six of them). That said In Your Eyes has a suitable catchy chorus and the band can obviously pen a tune or two because Masquarade and Is Anybody Out There are also pretty hot too. Need to hear more, but expect good things all round. SS
THE WAKING EYES BUT I ALREADY HAVE IT COALITION ✪✪✪✪ This is how to do sleazy shitbag rock n roll for real. It’s bored, it’s got attitude aplenty and really couldn’t care less what you think of it. Both the lead track But I Already Have It and the extra Move On pitch themselves headlong into the arena currently occupied by Jet and The Killers - and there’s plenty of room for more if they’re this good. More like this please with more songs on it. Hard to judge a band on just two songs but if there’s an album forthcoming in the near future, one of them better have my fucking name on it. SS
HELLCITY 13 3 TRACK SAMPLER ✪✪✪✪ Shit. this one is hard to judge too. The cover artwork hints at a band that might sound like Swedish Erotica or
✪✪✪✪ Smart riffing, excellent production, Thom Yorke style vocals circa The Bends - for those who got bored of Radiohead when they stopped being great, Idiot Boy could provide a suitable solution to the waiting. Excellent stuff, but at only 2 tracks really need to hear much much more. SS
THIS MONTHS MUG COASTERS: LOVEMAT - BETWEEN THE LINES Hopeful for a second of two with shades of Monster Magnet almost seeping through in the first few seconds but sadly just dies on it’s back like a pub band nobody cares about anymore - which is what, I suspect they are. Disappointed.
THE RIVALS - COLLIDE Nothing particularly bad about this, but just heard it about a gazillion times now, mostly done better but often far worse. Dull. Polish your shoes. you’ll be looking at them for a long time.
Crucified Barbara - not just scary, but talented too!
LAST STOP CHINATOWN JUST ASHES WOODHILL RECORDS ✪✪✪✪ This is more like it. Full on rifferama just the kind of thing a poor editor needs to restore his faith in band that had better be wearing low slung Gibsons when he goes to see them! Lead track Just Ashes has enough swagger and harmony to make even the most jaded journo sit up and take notice - and just for good measure, the second track Down To Your Knees is moulded in the same vein to prove it’s not a fluke. Not sure I could handle a whole
065
cool shit WHITESNAKE LIVE IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT COMING HOME STUDIOS ✪✪✪✪
MOTLEY CRUE CARNIVAL OF SINS CLEAR CHANNEL ✪✪✪✪✪ Holy mother. Carnival of Sins is like chowing down on a chocolate bar only to find a small piece of foil was stuck to the bottom. This is one incredible package seriously. If you only ever own one Motley Crue item, make it this one.
It’s a set list from hell performed by a bunch of guys who could hardly speak to each other a while back and yet, it’s like they formed the band yesterday it’s so fresh. Where to start with a review of what amounts to more of an experience than a DVD. Well, for all their faults through the years, they’re tight as they’ve ever been but once you’ve noted all these great things about a band reborn, what your left with is the stuff you actually wanted to see! Midgets! Strippers! Nikki’s Mad Scientist, Tommy’s solo, riding bikes on stage... for once (and believe me I’ve heard it a thousand times!), this is a band giving the fans what it really wants. It’s all here - from the start to the finish and beyond. Throw in a bunch of videos for Glitter, Sick Love Song and If I Die Tomorrow and ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a bona fide buy, beg, borrow or steal item. Shit, in an age when nothing is shocking anymore, this has still got the potential to stop your old man in his tracks. SS
UNION DO YOUR OWN THING LIVE ✪✪✪✪✪
CREATIVE WORX ENTERTAINMENT
✪✪✪✪
INSIDEOUT MUSIC
The first ever Spiritual Beggars home video comes after seven albums, but was filmed on the tour for the sixth. The ‘70s–influenced Swedish groove rockers featuring Michael Amott of Arch Enemy (he’s the one that looks like a less-stocky Michael Wilton from Queensrÿche) and JB of Grand Magus tore up London’s Mean Fiddler for a night to capture this live document which includes an excellent spread of their material up to that point while exhibiting the very best tracks from the then-current album On Fire. Although previous vocalist Spice (also of The Mushroom River Band) was a well loved member of the group, anyone can see/hear that JB is a far superior frontman, with a much broader vocal range (he’s an awesome guitar player as well, but doesn’t play any guitar with the Beggars). This being his first album and tour with the band it’s also rather evident that he’s a natural frontman, guitar or not. Now, by and large, the footage here is excellent. The picture quality and
066
sound quality is superb and much of the camerawork is very good. However, if the ‘80s taught us anything it was that mixing special fading effects and such like into live action footage is a bad idea. And yet, the editor here has seen fit to use black and white, blurred and slow-motion shots at various points. In every single instance it is unnecessary. That said, it lasts for barely a second each time, so it doesn’t detract greatly from the overall viewing experience. The bonus footage is nothing to write home about, comprising the usual road-movie, photo gallery and interview stuff, so this should be bought purely for the feature concert. Luckily enough, the feature concert is excellent. AL
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS LIVE FIRE
✪✪✪✪✪
Whitesnake where once a mighty arena band. Judging by this gem, they still are, all that’s changed is not so many people want to see them in an arena anymore. Lighting up with a storming version of Burn, they’re still pulling all the right moves and Coverdale still has one of the greatest voices in rock often poorly imitated and really never matched, he can outshine the best on any given night. There’s been some real thought put into this set list catering both for those who thought 1987 was their first album and those who are nearly as old as the band members too (but would I sell my soul to look as good as he does in 20 years!).
Ready An’ Willing is given a rocket up the arse for good measure and sounds exceptionally good here as does Crying in the Rain which veers more towards the original than the newer version. Nice. Fool For Your Loving also comes over as the monster that it truly is - Whitesnake are one of those bands that you forget how good they really are until something like this comes along. A quick mention of the band who are just about the best line-up there’s been for years. Less of that flash guitar slinging going on and more consistent playing, works wonders as Coverdale’s backdrop. Is Tommy Aldridge one of the best drummers around? Absolutely, what a backbone to the band! Moving on, for the young amoebas among you, Still of the Night shakes pretty well, but the cream of the newer Whitesnake material has to be presented in Give Me All Your Love. Brilliant. Whitesnake fan or not, this is pretty essential to have on the shelf. Where’s your self respect! SS
This is an absolute goldmine for fans of Union and its individual members. Not only does it include the main feature concert recorded in Argentina, but the band’s twelve-song exhibition show at the Music Institute, behind the scenes footage, the promo trailer for the Blue Room album and an unreleased song! The main concert itself, featuring the original Union line-up of John Corabi, Bruce Kulick, Brent Fitz and Jamie Hunting is superb. Picture and sound quality are both excellent and the show serves as a much better live document of the band than the Live In The Galaxy album, which was recorded after just one album. This show includes tracks from both Union studio albums, as well as songs from former bands KISS (Kulick), Mötley Crüe (Corabi) and The Scream (Corabi). The bonus Music Institute show is not quite of the same quality, but shot with three or four standard camcorders on tripods. It’s like an exceptional bootleg. The sound quality is excellent, however, making the show very enjoyable viewing. It’s not often you get a complete concert as a bonus feature! The promo clip for the Blue Room album is very funny, mixing footage from the MI concert with a fake voiceover. The behind the scenes footage is the usual stuff, but the unreleased song is a real treat. Walking In Your Sleep was demoed (I believe) for the first record and is an excellent ballad with some sublime guitar and vocals. For
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Union/Kulick/Corabi diehards this DVD is worth the price of admission for this song alone. At the present the DVD is available exclusively from kulick.net, but Bruce expects to have a distribution deal for Europe sometime later this year. AL
KISS ROCK THE NATION SONY/BMG ✪✪✪✪✪
fully behind the band on these discs, I have to question the judgement of, whilst almost 30 albums down the line, Tears are Falling appears. Surely if we’re moving into recent territory Crazy Nights or the awesome I Still Love You should be here. Never mind, we could argue about the track listing all day long, and I will if you want me to, but the main thing as always is the show and I wish I had been there. I’m almost crying that I wasn’t. I’ll stop now, but if, apart from minor hardcore fanbase quibbles, that there is anything wrong with this disc, there is something seriously wrong with your head. SS
Arlovski vs Paul Buentello and the fastest fight in history really has to be seen to be believed. Now that Randy has retired from active service after his recent defeat by Chuck Liddle for the second time in a row, that just leaves Chuck and Andrei at the top of tree. Personally, I don’t see anybody who can touch other fighter at the moment, but then, that’s what you always think when you follow events live. Still anybody who uses Hatebreed as an intro theme deserves respect don’t you think. One of the better UFC events of late, if you’re a fan, it’s definitely one for the collection. SS
WWE SURVIVOR SERIES 2005 SILVER VISION
UFC 55 FURY CLEAR VISION
✪✪✪✪
✪✪✪✪
I’m not sure I should be allowed to review this, but being as nobody else has got a copy, I think maybe I should. Been sitting on this since December when, like may others, I got bored of waiting so whipped a copy in from Germany. Where to start though - well, the tracklisting is suitably generic and I’d be deducting stars from the review for not being adventurous enough if only the performances weren’t so damn good.Do I miss Ace and Peter in the band. Not anymore. Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer do a great job, there’s a little less personality there then you get from the originals but I think that’s probably part of the deal with the day job. You come in, you do what you so and you go home.This stage belongs to Paul and Gene and I for one thoroughly condone it. Control freaks of the world unite. It’s good to see Unholy getting an airing and I like the fact that Got to Choose and Parasite have also made it back into the permanent fold. She also sounds fantastic but even though I’m
For those of you followed the first season of the Ultimate Fighter documentary on Bravo last year, Forrest Griffin who put in a sterling performance throughout the series, appears in his first major fight in UFC 55 against Elvis Sinosic. I’m not going to be a spoiler for anyone, but the guy is a future champion - has to be. Just one look at him in action in this stand up fight proves that. There’s also Joe Riggs vs Chris Lytle, Branden Lee Hinkle vs Sean Gannon and the other regulars, but what we’re all really here to see is Andrei
I have to state, that I’m a lover of the old school Survivor Series, teams of 4 not necessarily friendly team members battling it out, but of late, those types of matches are being seen less and less at this event. The quality of wrestling though just continues to increase and that’s why I just can’t come down that hard on it! While I’m on the subject, and just in case anyone of any influence is listening, how about resurrecting some more of the old WCW events. Both Spin the Wheel and Lethal Lottery where high quality events that the WWE could make so much more of than WCW ever did.
THE BLACK CROWES FREAK N ROLL SPITFIRE ✪✪✪✪✪ Been a long time since you rock n rolled? This is the answer then, for nobody can resist the rock that is the roll of the Black Crowes! From the Fillmore in San Francisco, The Black Crowes bend the minds of the loyal with a barrage of their greatest hits. You name it, they got it covered Talks to Angels, Hard to Handle and Jealous Again over to Lovin’ Cup and Space Captain.. all here. The crowd is intimate and the set-up gives off the taste of a late sixties show. With Chris looking more like a
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
Anyway, the battle between Chris Benoit and Booker T continues with match number one in the ‘best out of seven’ series for the US title. Good stuff. You can’t beat Benoit when he’s on form. There’s a Last Man Standing Match between HHH and Ric Flair which has some really excellent action to exploit as you would expect. Neither player is afraid to bleed for the cameras, so out come the chairs and the screwdrivers for a battle of epic proportions. Kurt Angle vs John Cena has always proved to be worthy of staying your seat for and the match doesn’t disappoint. At the moment, Angle seems to be playing everything very low key with no real story line to hang his hat on, but that’s OK - Angle is probably the best pound for pound wrestler on the team and you can’t take anything away from him. Team Raw vs Team Smackdown arrive for their traditional team up match and it’s a great, very exciting event which is why I’m amazed they don’t do more of them. It’s worth saying again that Batista is swiftly becoming a real player in the game. Nothing but good came from the split of the HHH/Flair/Batista/Orton hook up. Batista, Mysterio, JBL, Lashley and Orton representing Smackdown vs Shawn Michaels, Carlito, Chris Masters, Big Show and Kane for RAW - it’s a great match and worth watching just to see if Batista will do us all a favour and finally rip off Masters’ head. There’s one character I could live with never seeing ever again. All worth not getting up to put the kettle on for and topped only by the return of the Undertaker as he explodes from a lightning struck and flaming coffin. WWE are so good at the moment, it’s almost as unmissable as the McMahon/Helmsley era, but I did say almost - we’re still got a way to go yet to reach those heights once more. So, all in all, a top night in. Chinese takeaway to the left, stack of Budweisers to the right. Nobody else in the house. Sometimes a man can’t ask for much more. SS
Scooby Doo Shaggy than Shaggy ever did only adds to that feeling, but ultimately, it’s all about the songs and the fans lap up every moment. With the band taking it down a notch for an acoustic interlude in the middle of the set, you really remember what a great band they are - capable of many great things, but when they come back and plug back in, the show really kicks in! Watching a two and half hour show of this standard, sometimes you have to wonder what the hell happened to music. When it comes down to plugging in and getting the lead out, nobody does it like the Crowes. Unmissable. SS
067
cinema
THE HILLS HAVE EYES RELEASED: MARCH 10 ✪✪ Not content with remaking foreign language horror flicks, Hollywood’s scary arm here conforms to one of the industry’s more depressing trends by plundering its own past. The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven’s gruesome tale of mutant cannibals, was originally released twenty years ago, and now qualifies for an update at the hands of Alexandre Aja. The hills of the title belong to the New Mexico Desert, scene of the US government’s nuclear testing programme in the 1940s and 50s. Long since abandoned by the military, the area is inhabited by a clan of mutants deformed by the radiation, who take the first chance to attack the Carters, a family driving through the desert to California. One thing highlighted by Aja’s film is the extent to which the nuclear issue has faded from the minds of the American people since the 1970s when the original was made. When the obnoxious young man discovers the craters made by the nuclear blasts, he has no idea what they are. If anything the cultural preoccupation which The Hills Have Eyes plays on is middle class fear of rednecks. The mutants put one more in mind of Cletus the slack-jawed yokel from The Simpsons than Cold War fallout victims. It is a well-observed irony, then, that when they are attacked, the respectable Carters are besieged in their trailer. This image, along with the desert backdrop, also suggests
068
another Hollywood myth: settlers defending their wagons against Indians. That aside, The Hills Have Eyes is an extremely conventional horror movie, which efficiently observes the clichés of its genre, but does little else. The violence is as gratuitous as you might expect, at times distastefully so. Unless that’s your cup of tea, steer clear. NC
ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES RELEASED: MARCH 17 ✪✪ Romance and Cigarettes is a
strange and not entirely satisfying mixture of music, impressionistic splashes of heavy stylisation and kitchen sink melodrama. Written and directed by John Turturro, (this is what he was typing in Barton Fink), it tells the story of Nick Murder (James Gandolfini), a regular blue collar guy, and his struggles with the titular pastimes, the former by way of an extra-marital affair with Kate Winslet’s tart who maybe has a heart but is definitely on heat. Gandolfini is always a compelling screen presence, and here he’s joined by, among other very familiar faces, fellow Sopranos alumni Steve Buscemi and Aida Turtorro. However, consistently strong performances from some of the best in the business are let down by plotting and dialogue that are often garbled the latter particularly so, occasionally, and for no apparent reason, lapsing into what to my untrained ear sounds like iambic pentameter. That’s not to say there aren’t many good points - Christopher Walken’s deranged 50s throwback Cousin Bo steals every scene he’s in and provides some laugh out loud moments. The length of time between conception and the making of the film (Barton Fink was released in 1991) perhaps gives an indication that this is very much a labour of love, and this suspicion is further enhanced by the uneven nature of the result. There’s much to enjoy here, though some will find it simply frustrating and impenetrable. JMa
KIDULTHOOD RELEASED: MARCH 3 ✪✪✪✪ If films could actually pack a punch, the title fight for Best Depiction of Modern London would be a giggle: Love, Actually, skipping on rose petals in one corner and Kidulthood in the other, with death-stares and baseball bats, shouting, “come on!” Not a fair fight, but plenty of fun. Kidulthood’s West London is poles apart from the affluent world of Notting Hill and its ilk. It
follows five school kids as they make their path through 48 hours of violence, drugs and chaos. Granted a day off school after a student’s suicide, Trife (Ameen) must choose between the seductive gangster lifestyle of his uncle and facing up to his responsibilities with his pregnant girlfriend Alisa (Madrell). As an actor, Noel Clarke plays a blinder as the irredeemably villainous Sam and as the film’s writer adds dimensions to the happy-slapping thugs that often fill the news, with moments of humour peppering their uphill journey through a world of machismo, fear and conformity. Director Menhaj Huda matches the verbal break-neck pace of the characters, using quick editing and an array of camera techniques no doubt informed by his TV work. The result is as fierce and unpredictable as the hormonal teens, seamlessly locked with the blistering soundtrack of Grime and UK hip hop. Kidulthood isn’t interested in easy answers for the ingrained problems these kids have to face and at times the depiction of teens growing up too fast doesn’t make for easy viewing. But it’s brave, funny and unwavering; in short, it’s a knock out. BN
CAPOTE RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪ Something of a renaissance in intelligent Hollywood drama (apparently not an oxymoron these days) seems to be continuing apace with this already much-lauded portrayal of American writer and eccentric Truman Capote, which specifically deals with the events surrounding the writing of his ‘nonfiction novel’ In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman has obviously done his homework, and his tic-perfect capture of Capote is predictably impressive, and goes well beyond the initially distracting sing-songy asexual warble of a voice. Contrasting his existence as a social gadfly amongst the bright young things of New York society with his
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
experiences in rural Kansas researching the brutal murder of a farming family by two drifters, the groundnote of the film is one of human pain. After extensive interviews with one of the perpetrators, Capote finds the line between writer and subject increasingly blurred, and it’s suggested that the alcohol problem that plagued his latter years had its roots here. There are no easy answers to be had the film doesn’t flinch at the brutality of either the crime or the punishment, or at the parasitic and exploitative nature of Capote’s relationship with the accused. The static camera work and subtly detailed sound design create an intensity that doesn’t let up. Even when Capote is sipping martinis in Manhattan, the two men languishing on death row and the lonely farmstead now standing empty under a melancholy Midwestern sky are never far from our minds. JMa
HOSTEL RELEASED: MARCH 24 ✪✪✪✪ In 2003 director Eli Roth brought us Cabin Fever, the story of a group of friends torn apart after one of them develops a terrifying illness. It explored the darker side of humanity, and showed just how cruel we can be, even to our friends. Hostel, Roth’s latest horror, takes this cruelty not just a step, but a leap and a bound further, and delves into a seedy and sickening world where rich businessmen pay for the pleasure of torturing and, ultimately, murdering kidnapped backpackers. Three friends, Paxton (Jay Hernandez), Josh (Derek Richardson) and Oli (scene-stealing Icelandic actor Eythor Gudjonsson) are on a backpacking holiday across Europe when they meet a young Russian in Amsterdam who tells them that if they want women, and lots of them, then should head east, to a small village just outside Bratislava. When the three friends arrive at the hostel, they discover they are sharing their room with two beautiful young women, Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova), who seem intent on showing them a good time. It’s only when Oli, and then Josh, disappear, that Paxton realises that there is something seriously amiss. What Paxton uncovers could be death of him. As you would expect from any selfrespecting horror film, there is plenty of the red stuff, as well as some quite truly toe-curling scenes. And although what this movie has to offer is no laughing matter, there are also some darkly humorous moments. However, the real horror is conveyed in a rich American’s (an excellent, albeit brief, appearance by Rick Hoffman) eager voice as he decides the best way to kill his first victim. Hostel is cruel, brutal, blood-spattered and disturbing. Roth’s new movie lives dangerously and he’s clearly not looking for a mass audience, but those who do go along won’t be disappointed. PA
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
MANDERLAY RELEASED: MARCH 3 ✪✪✪✪ To say Lars Von Trier is controversial is like saying there’s no easy solution to the world’s problems – obvious, and yet demanding elaboration. Both sides of this comparison are evident in Manderlay, the second part of a trilogy which began in 2003 with Dogville. Things have moved on from his first pseudo-American excursion, most notably the lead role of Grace. Originally played by Nicole Kidman, the same principal character is now portrayed by relative newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard. Whatever the subtle differences, until the final instalment Wasington (invisible ‘h’ intended) arrives next year, the relationship between the two is unimportant. Other than a single, beautifully sparse set, with rich performances and theatrical pacing, what sticks out in Manderlay is a furious desire to raise issues – stupid and misguided issues, harmful and necessary issues. So far, so namby-pamby; but if you are interested in serious discussion, ethics aficionados, then this is a self-contained celluloid book club. First there is the story: a simple but clever tale of a young, white, wellmeaning society girl out of her depth among the slaves of the Manderlay plantation, but determined to prove her maturity to her gangland father. Then there is the symbolism. Colonialism takes a rap, as does ‘by any means’ democracy, and Von Trier is happy to acknowledge parallels with the West’s position in Iraq. But not for him the contemptuous reprimand: “Why would Bush trick us? It’s because he thinks things will improve in this way… He believes in it. And Grace does too. Definitely.” This, then, is but one interpretation, and the ethics I mention stretch far beyond the slavery in force at Manderlay itself. Class, race, and downright bullying are all inroads to the moral strata of the filmmaker’s unexplained intentions, but to make any resolute claims, you’ll need to see and judge it for yourself. NM
069
cinema THE WHITE COUNTESS RELEASED: MARCH 31 ✪✪✪✪✪ Based on an original screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, this stunning story set in Shanghai in the late 1930s follows the unique relationship between a blind former US diplomat, Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) and a refugee, Russian Countess Sofia (Natasha Richardson). Both become embroiled in the sleazy gentlemen’s clubs and hotels in the heart of Shanghai, both struggling with their own demons. Living in the slums of Shanghai with her daughter Katya, Sofia struggles to survive working in the nightspots, resorting to prostitution and suffering the judgements of her late husband’s aristocratic family, despite supporting the whole family on her income. A well-placed bet at the racetrack aids Jackson in his dream of opening his very own club, The White Countess, and he invites Sofia to join as hostess. Beguiled by this woman, Jackson is successful in his search for a balance of sleaze, romance and political tension. Political tension soon arrives as the characters are thrown into the brink of pre-World War Two China as the Japanese invade Shanghai. Though slow paced throughout, the final gripping half hour is a whirlwind of action with the escape to Hong Kong and a captivating fight to stay together in a crumbling world. The exploration of the characters, though vague at points with the odd nostalgic flashback, still maintains a convincing gradual pace which leaves us with a sense of optimism despite the sordid threatening world in which they have become deeply embroiled in. With a strong cast, the Redgrave sisters feature as Sofia’s aunt Sarah and Olga, the sullen mother-in-law, and Ralph Fiennes distinctively superb performance, an award or two wouldn’t go amiss. NL
SYRIANA RELEASED: MARCH 3 ✪✪ Nominated for two Oscars, Syriana, according to the blurb, is a ‘politicallycharged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it’. Oh dear, if this chaotic film is reflective of the state of the oil industry across the world then God help us! After a bitty start, a bitty middle and a bitty ending it is really unclear who is who (even with the constant subtitling). The scenes cut really quickly between one another. And trying to work out the multiple storylines is easily confused by external noise – popcorn munchers take note. The erratic manner of this film is actually intentional according to writer Stephen Gaghan (Traffic), and though it is well written, well acted and well shot, it’s just well… a bit pointless if you can’t follow what’s going on. Because of the numerous storylines, there is no main lead in this film and though all the actors play their characters beautifully, you
070
never really get to know any of them. Just as you start to get into one of the many storylines, it cuts away to another one, leaving you frustrated and not caring after a while. The stand out performances are George Clooney (Bob Barnes), who put on a stone and grew a mega beard for the role and Alexander Siddig who plays the dashing Prince Nasir. This is a film about a real state of affairs and should be alarming, gripping and intense and leave us questioning what exactly does happen in the commercial oil world. Instead this film is jack of oil trades and master of none. LM
COCKLES AND MUSCLES RELEASED: MARCH 30 ✪✪✪ For much of its length, Cockles and Muscles is a fresh sex-comedy that affectionately plays with gay and sexually liberal stereotypes, with all of directors Ducastel and Martineau’s favourite themes of love, honesty and freedom crammed in. But by drawing on the legacy of light-hearted French comedies on sexual manners and portraying a world where resolution occurs without conflict, ultimately, the film is charismatic yet toothless. Marc (Melki) takes his wife Beatrix (Bruni-Tedeschi) and their two children to the seaside villa of his childhood, intent on rekindling their relationship. When their son’s horny gay friend, Beatrix’s virile lover and Marc’s first love arrive on the scene, chaos, confusion and a lot of door slamming ensues, forcing everyone to confront their sexual secrets. The actors are perfectly cast: BruniTedeschi is sumptuous as the adulterous wife and Bonnafee hilarious as her ludicrously un-sexy partner, but Melki steals the show as the seemingly out of step father, both disapproving and jealous of the sex he thinks his son is having with his friend. It runs at a vaudevillian pace, equally balancing action with witty dialogue and ends on a slightly surreal songand-dance ending. But far from being an attempt to break from film-making clichés, Duscastel and Martineau have made a silly and sassy film that basks in the ludicrousness of cliché. Hypocrisy and sexual repression is poked at with a light touch and though such material could have packed a sober moral, in the end this film is content in being merely charming. BN
TSOTSI RELEASED: MARCH 17 ✪✪✪✪ This screen version of an Athol Fugard novel opens with the violent mugging of an elderly commuter by Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) and his gang of Butcher (a cold-blooded assassin), Boston (a failed teacher) and Aap (a dim-witted heavy). Right from the outset the polar extremes of wealth and poverty in Johannesburg are painted on every scene. Here are young men - but only just – whose
feral, scavenging instincts spill into brutal actions. In a bloody flurry of fists Tsotsi turns on Boston when goaded unsuccessfully into giving his real name. He runs towards the city as he once did from his own father. His accidental capture of a young baby after a car-jacking in a wealthy suburb triggers Tsotsi’s redemption. The young thug keeps the child in a bag under his bed and then accosts a young mother Miriam (Terry Pheto) to feed it. Here is a contrast of menace with mourning as director Gavin Hood allows us to back-track through Tsotsi’s formative moments and the seeds of his searing rage. The pumping Kwaito music of the ghetto gives way later
to reflective song as Tsotsi attempts his own version of fatherhood. Hood’s direction is up close and personal giving the film a powerful honesty and compelling humanity. His film is a shuddering six-day diary stripped of sentimental gloss and loaded with tension. Film novice Chweneyagae was plucked from the ranks of local actors yet his journey from dog-life despondency to DIY dad is handled superbly. This edgy, wrenching film has already picked up Best British Film at the Edinburgh Festival and is South Africa’s nomination for the Oscars. MH
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
BURN MAGAZINE - THE MAG WITHOUT FEAR
COMING
NEXT ISSUE Quite possibly lots of this!
Definitely some of this...
Some creatures of the night
ON
SALE 30 MARCH WWW.BURNMAG.CO.UK
dvds ALL ABOUT EVE CINEMA RESERVE RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪✪
In a world where actresses are considered over the hill by the age of 35 and ever-younger fame-hungry starlets are snapping at their heels it’s pretty much impossible for one of more than 40years-old to get a decent role. That’s true now and it was true back in the late 40s when Bette Davis was finding that Hollywood had stopped calling and she couldn’t get arrested, let alone get her hands on a decent script. Although she wasn’t the first choice for Margo Channing, the ageing star at the heart of All About Eve, she took the role and made it her own with a gem of a performance that catapulted her back into the consciousness of the movie-going public and, more importantly, brought her back to the attention of Tinsel Town’s producers. Both Davis and Anne Baxter, who plays Eve, were nominated for leading actress Oscars but neither won. Unusually for films of this era, the story focuses on the women rather than the men. The script also has some classic and quotable one-liners.
MURDERBALL: Hell onWheels!
Don’t get over-excited about the fact that this is a two-disc edition as the extras are pretty much the same few pieces of footage shown again and again and fans of any of the film’s stars won’t learn anything new. This is also worth a watch for an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe. Her role? An aspiring actress ready to do whatever was necessary to get ahead. Extras: Not only does it come in a snazzy metal box, but there are commentaries, Movietone news segments, featurettes and the original trailer JC Other Cinema Reserve DVDs in this collection include Laura and The Day The Earth Stood Still
EMPIRE OF THE SUN RELEASED: MARCH 6 ✪✪✪✪
graphical novel, the plot, set against the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, concentrates on one young boy’s descent as his life is turned upside down. James Graham (Christian Bale) is separated from his parents in the midst of the invasion, captured and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp. It is here where James battles against the sickness and food shortages whilst bringing spirit to a desperate camp. Despite its disappointing box office returns at the time of its release, Empire of the Sun can nevertheless be hailed as a poignant classic, and enhancing the story are the exceptional sets and wonderful cinematography. Seriously underrated. Extras: Theatrical trailers, featurette The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun. NL
MURDERBALL. RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪
Extras: This two disc ultimate edition not only has the film on it, but also commentaries by Oliver Stone and Captain Dale Dye (a military adviser, who spends most of the time pointing out that “it was a lot worse than this”.) There’s also a load of featurettes, TV spots, and photos to boot as well. TC Steven Spielberg’s remarkable epic, which follows the fate of a young boy during World War II, was to make a mark for The Beard as a commercial director and set standards for his future endeavours Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Based on J.G Ballard’s autobio-
The premise of Murderball is simple. It isn’t, as you might think, a real-life version of the classic film Rollerball, but in fact a term for describing the dangerous sport of wheelchair-bound rugby. Yes that’s right, wheelchair-bound rugby. It sounds like something Alan Partridge would pitch to the BBC, but it’s actually a real sport. Filmed during the warm-up of the 2004 Paralympics, this documentary follows the USA team as they challenge stereotypes and physical difficulties to prepare themselves for the ultimate showdown with Team Canada. Watching this film, I got a sense of warming pride that I haven’t felt since I saw Cool Runnings when I was younger. That feeling that these men have taken on every hurdle placed in front of them and won. Of course, unlike Cool Runnings, no-one had a lucky egg, but they made up for it with armoured wheelchairs, which I think are just as good. Extras: The DVD comes with both a filmmakers commentary and a player commentary, deleted scenes, a nice behind the scenes featurette plus a Jackass special. All in all, a nice package. TC
PLATOON: ULTIMATE EDITION RELEASED: MARCH 6 ✪✪✪✪✪ It’s a well-known fact that Platoon is a great film. There really is no actual need for this review. I could stop now… But I won’t.
072
Platoon follows the story of Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) who plays a young soldier during the Vietnam War, who has to battle with the enemy, his supporting officers and his own built-up anger in order to stay alive. It’s gritty, its realistic and just thinking of it makes me want to wrap a tie around my head, cover myself in mud and hunt down and kill the neighbour’s dog. Of course, I don’t need to do any of these crazy childish shenanigans as I actually was in Nam. Well, I’ve been to Dagenham and believe me, that’s just as bad.
BATTLE IN HEAVEN RELEASED: MARCH 27 ✪✪✪
Mexican director Carlos Reygadas’ second feature, Battle in Heaven, caused controversy at Cannes last year with its extremely graphic sex scenes, but viewers may find it difficult to watch for other reasons. Marcos Hernandez plays Marcos, chauffeur for general’s daughter Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz). He and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom, but it is killed in an accident. The movie deals with Marcos’ subsequent breakdown, against the background of the annual pilgrimage to Mexico City’s basilica, and Marcos’ obsession with Ana. Reygadas tells the story in a series of lingering shots. The single image is important in this film, as are symbols
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
such as the Mexican flag, the crucified Christ, and Marcos’ glasses. This method succeeds in uniting the film’s themes: sex, death and guilt leading to madness. However, it is telling that, at 98 minutes, Battle in Heaven feels far too long, and Reygadas dissipates the impact of the more powerful scenes. With better editing, this might have been a triumph. As it is it’s as flabby as its leading actor. Extras: Interview with director and film notes. NC
MASTERS OF HORROR VOLUME 1. CIGARETTE BURNS/DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE RELEASED: MARCH 13
tines and a cinema projector but the rest of it feels like an afterthought. Dreams is a much better attempt but still feels lacklustre. I understand Masters of Horror has to operate within televisual limits but this is like being sold Jason Vorhees and ending up with Trevor Moorhouse. Extras: The extras on each disc are nicely comprehensive - an array of documentaries, clips and commentaries that would have been of far more value if what they were spotlighting was actually any good. DLNY
isn’t bad for a children’s programme. Based in Sherwood Forest, the show spun the traditional story of Robin Hood onto its head, with Robin Hood being depicted as a Laurence Llewellyn Bowen lookalike coward who took all the glory. The gang was actually led by rebel leader Maid Marian, who, along with Little Ron (a dwarf), Barrington (a Rastafarian) and Rabies, took on the establishment of King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Robinson) with a combination of witty lines, song and dance routines and slapstick acting.
I BURY THE LIVING RELEASED: MARCH 27 ✪✪✪
✪✪✪
Masters of Horror – I bet it seemed like a good idea at the time: a series of hour long horror stories orchestrated by the genre’s best. What a shame this is more The Outer Limits: The Adult Years than anything else. John Carpenter’s tale only just breaks the surface of mediocrity saved only by its interesting premise and a score by John’s son, Cody (which is trademark Carpenter). In Cigarette Burns an enigmatic collector (is there any other kind?) hires a troubled young cinema owner to track down a film which drove its first audience to bouts of extreme violence before disappearing underground. Saddled with actors more wooden than several tonnes of oak and a dire script written by two film buffs which almost made my ears implode, consider this tent-pole episode an exercise in squandered talent. Dreams in the Witch House is Stuart Gordon’s (Re-Animator) project and threatens at various points to become interesting. Stuart managed to secure better actors than poor John and the script is marginally better too. In this exciting episode, young Walter rents a house plagued in his dreams by an evil witch who wants him to sacrifice his neighbour’s child to her. There’s some curious science behind all this which is unfortunately only briefly touched on but at least there’s more of a ‘signature’ feel here than in Carpenter’s effort. The biggest disappointment is how largely devoid of horror – psychological or physical – these episodes are. Cigarette Burns has one truly inventive sequence involving Udo Kier’s intes-
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
the oblivious drunken partying crowd around them.
This curiosity from the late 50s concerns the plight of pillar of the community, Bob Kraft (Richard Boone), whose newly acquired responsibility as ‘Chairman’ of the local cemetery takes a macabre turn when he discovers that by manipulating pins on a map of grave plots, he can hasten the demise of those in whose name plots are reserved. Directed by Albert Band (who later had the dubious distinction of giving the world both Zoltan: Hound of Dracula and Ghoulies 2), this seemingly unpromising mixture of ripped-off Hitchcock tropes and creaky B-movie acting actually works. The atmosphere is piled on with a gravedigger’s shovel and the dread and tension become almost palpable. Despite lapsing into incomprehensibility towards the end, it achieves some of the same weird oppressiveness as cult favourite Carnival Of Souls, to which it’s comparable, and could prove ideal viewing while the chilly evenings are still drawing in early. Extras: None JM
MAID MARIAN AND HER MERRY MEN SERIES 1 RELEASED: MARCH 20 ✪✪✪✪✪ When I was merely a naive child, I had two loves in my life. Optimus Prime (who is now sadly buried in the garden somewhere), and watching Maid Marian on Children’s BBC. Broadcast in 1994 (yes, that’s back in the days when the broom cupboard wasn’t just where you hid the neighbour’s cat) this comedy series written by Tony Robinson was one of the most watched TV programmes on British TV, which
The beauty of this programme was that it wasn’t just aimed at children. Like other classic kids programmes like Dangermouse, the show had a large number of jokes and casual social references that adults and layabout students would notice, as well as wellwritten jokes. Although it was written in 1994, the script is still holds well, with only a few of the references (Like Clough, the archer from Nottingham Forrest) starting to look a bit dated. Truth is, in a world where children’s TV revolves around shouting the word “bogies” as loud as you can, this classic is perfect viewing. Extras: Added to the DVD is a commentary by Tony Robinson, which is informative as it is humorous, plus clips of the show in German, a quiz on the show, a nice comic booklet and karaoke of the theme tune.
WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S RELEASED: MARCH 6 ✪✪✪✪ It’s daft and silly, but it’s the perfect Friday night in film when there’s fuck all on TV apart from silly sitcoms and something with the ubiquitous Jimmy Carr in it. It’s the 80s version of a farce, but is still as funny today as it always was. Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) uncover a company scandal and hoping for a promotion they immediately report it to their boss Bernie (Terry Kiser). As a reward he invites them to his beach house for the weekend. They turn up to find him murdered and rather than call the police, worried that they will get the blame, they decide to pretend he is still alive and continue with their weekend shenanigans. Much hilarity ensues as they try to keep him propped up and looking alive, largely ignored by
Unbeknown to them, the mob hitman responsible for bumping off Bernie then sees him still ‘alive’ and keeps trying to kill him again. You know you shouldn’t find jokes about a dead guy funny, but you just can’t help it. Funniest moment is Bernie’s mistress’ ‘necromantic’ encounter with her dead lover. Okay, it’s crude and tasteless and but there’s no denying it is a classic funny film. If you haven’t already got it in your collection, get it. Much funnier than watching Jimmy Carr’s big moonface. Extras: Trailer and TV spots LM
BROKEN FLOWERS RELEASED: MARCH 20 ✪✪✪✪✪ Accused by his detractors as being too obsessed with male cool – attitude as style and style over content - Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, Broken Flowers, pokes fun at the eternal hipster, whilst offering his most poignant embodiment to date. Don Johnston (Bill Murray) receives an anonymous letter from a past lover informing him that he has a 19 year-old son. Encouraged by Winston (Jeffrey Wright), a neighbour and amateur sleuth, Don visits four of his ex-lovers, including a particularly tough Tilda Swinton, to get clues about the boy’s whereabouts. Written by Jarmusch specifically for Murray in a matter of weeks, the film mocks the over-the-hill Don Juan character as he is made to confront his past, whilst Murray’s laconic charm dominates the screen. Broken Flowers is a lushly shot journey of self-discovery, bringing hope to the aging hipster as he learns of the potential to love himself and others. Extras: Extended scene, outtakes, behind-the-scenes featurette BN
LIFEBOAT RELEASED: MARCH 27 ✪✪✪✪ A welcome DVD release for Hitchcock’s fine 1944 WWII movie. When a German U-boat torpedoes a luxury cruise liner, survivors from varying backgrounds and nationalities have two choices: co-operate with each other or die. With the action totally confined to the eponymous vessel, the tension is racked up several notches higher with the discovery that one of their
073
dvds number is the captain of the U-boat that sank them. A commercial failure at the time, and maybe not Hitch’s best entry into his none-tooshabby canon, it’s a bona fide classic nevertheless.
the accompanying buckets of claret provide crimson jolts of colour and energy in an otherwise turgid and curiously unengaging police procedural. Extras: Original theatrical trailer and film notes JM
misogynist atrocities) is somewhat lacking in redemption.
absurd; Calvaire is an unforgettable film about infatuation, subjugation and determination. Extras: Commentary, making of, additional short film. NM
ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK RELEASED: OUT NOW
TRANSPORTER 2 RELEASED: MARCH 27
✪✪
✪✪✪
Unfairly, it’s mainly remembered today as the film where Hitchcock managed to sneak in his customary cameo by posing for the “before” photograph in a diet advert on the back of a newspaper one of the characters is reading. Hopefully this repackaging with its generous extras will restore its reputation. Extras: Again, a sexy metal box, commentary, making-of documentary, stills gallery JM
TELL ME SOMETHING RELEASED: MARCH 27 ✪✪ Originally released in 1999, this serial killer thriller was one of the opening salvos of the seemingly unstoppable rise of the new wave of South Korean cinema. When garbage bags containing dismembered body parts start appearing around Seoul, troubled cop Lieutenant Cho (Han Suk-Gyu) is soon on the case, establishing that the only connection between the victims was their relationship with the same beautiful young woman, Suyeon Chae (Shim Eun-Ha).
The working man’s Bond, Frank Martin, is back, transporting goods and fighting drug lords in this high-octane thriller from the director/writer team of the first instalment and the superb Jet Li flick, Unleashed. Martin (Jason Statham) is living in Miami, chauffeuring for a government narcotics control policymaker when his boss’s son is targeted for kidnapping. With his suave and deadly manner, it falls on Martin to protect the child and expose the kidnappers. The writing team of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen is incidental here, but director Leterrier goes one better than Transporter, cranking the action scenes up to 11. Unlike Unleashed, which broached subtlety in dealing with its infantile professional killer, Transporter 2 has no time to fanny about with character development, doing its thing as an enjoyable mess of chases, explosions and fight scenes. It also stars former model, Kate Nauta, as the comic book ‘lingerie assassin’. Good dumb fun. Extras: Featurettes, deleted scenes and a blooper reel BN
Thankfully, the relationship between Jin and Jas is well realised, and eerie night-vision lends poison to a gripping finale. Most innovative of all are the parallels drawn between capturing both moments and lives, and with the right insight, this could have been more than just a shot in the dark. Extras: Making of, premier footage, deleted scene. NM
CALVAIRE (AKA THE ORDEAL) RELEASED: MARCH 27 ✪✪✪✪ Social misfits and cut-off communities have always afforded a sense of curiosity, by virtue of their isolation alone. This is what made The League of Gentlemen so peculiarly hilarious, and Misery so incomparably terrifying. It is some spectacle, then, to witness a disturbing bridge between the two. Lonely beginnings see a young cabaret singer on the Belgian resthome circuit heading South in hope of a glamorous Christmas, but engine failure forces him into the hands of an unstable landlord. The brisk journey that follows, from rustic drama to delirious escape thriller, is let down only by an ending slippery with ambiguity, especially frustrating given the otherwise masterful handling of disparate plot folds.
Cassandra Peterson was Elvira – a cult personality from the 80s who hosted the TV movie show Macabre. In 1988, Peterson revived Elvira and gave her a movie of her very own – and this is it. In this over-the-top camp comedy, Peterson once again dons her barelythere wardrobe, prepares her huge hair, to star as the titular star who, while stuck in a dead-end job hosting B movies for a local TV station, dreams of travelling to LA to star in her own cabaret act. However, with no money, she has no way to achieve her dreams. Perhaps the house that her recently deceased aunt has left her will help? Elvira would be easy to dismiss as nothing but a wankfest for teenage Goths, and although it is, it’s also a fairly decent comedy with some genuinely funny performances. It’s corny as hell, but a film like this would never get made today. It’s worth a go. Extras: Biographies and film notes RW
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO RELEASED: MARCH 6 ✪✪
AB-NORMAL BEAUTY RELEASED: MARCH 27
Though unarguably stylish with its neo-noir atmosphere of neon lit back streets and relentless rain, the obvious comparisons with Se7en and a plot that veers between baffling and downright incomprehensible means it soon becomes irritating rather than intriguing. The (admittedly impressive) setpieces built around the discovery of each new collection of body parts and
074
✪✪✪ “When we press the shutter, everything stops… It’s the same in the moment of death.” The morbid obsessions of a camera-wielding teenager make an intriguing premise, which gathers pace in a series of unsettling animal deaths and a memorable tower block suicide. Directors the Pang Brothers handle emotional complexity well, but then they let concerned-girlfriend-syndrome set in, saving photographer Jin from her self doubt, but dooming the film’s development curve. For, while childhood trauma thickens the stock, the twists that follow seem tacked on… really tacked on. Despite a new and horrific threat to the two girls, the storyline (strong female overcomes
This cannot break the film though, especially with such striking imagery and tar-stained humour (“You’ll see, this will be the best Christmas ever… Where is my axe?”). Add to this a totally unexpected and unbelievably brilliant village dance scene, and there is much hope that Fabrice Du Welz can refine his own imaginative theatre of the
At 130 minutes long, what fleeting rewards there are on offer in this cashcow clone will be forgotten by bedtime. All gung-ho anti-historical escapism and insulting inter-genre deja vu, Zorro could be handsomely squeezed into a Saturday afternoon ITV stunt special. The script and the performances
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
require from the viewer leaps of the imagination that nonetheless fail to scale the holes in the plot, and the whole overblown affair is punctuated solely with exclamation marks. Perhaps we can forgive Antonio Banderas who, having played Puss in Boots in the Shrek sequel, emerges with a certain cartoon dignity. Add to this a high quality score and top level stunts, and it scrapes a couple of stars. But there is a need to direct hate, chiefly towards the idea that a swashbuckling swillbucket is more exciting than a regular swillbucket. A word to the wise: it is still monumentally populated by swill. Extras: Commentary, deleted scenes, behind the scenes, multi-angle deconstruction. NM
the film informs us, is the most densely populated place in the world. On the eve of the handover of power to China by the British, a dispute between rival street vendors swiftly escalates into gang murder and retribution. With the city on edge and the body count rising an assassin is called in to kill one of the gang leaders. Meanwhile the police attempt to halt the violence.
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE RELEASED: MARCH 20 A long overdue DVD release means that, thankfully, you can skip any parts involving her opening her fucking mouth, and enjoy King of the Hill as it should be. Peggy Shit-clenching Hillfree. Man, I hate her so much.
✪✪✪✪
ONE NITE IN MONGKOK RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪ A crime thriller with resonances of The French Connection and City of God, Derek Yee’s One Night in Mongkok has been justly feted as one of the best films to come out of Hong Kong in recent years. The action takes place in Mongkok, the Hong Kong vice district which,
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
con/cop odd couple movie that goes some way to rejuvenating the careers of the wisecracking Downey Junior and gay tough-guy cop Kilmer. The plot is encrypted by NASA, so don’t expect to make sense of it – but whenever things get too confusing, there is a superb sight-gag, quick oneliner, or rising star Michelle Monaghan peels off another layer of clothing. It’s a little too self-conscious and knowing in places, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is better than you’d expect. Extras: TBC LL
PRIMER RELEASED: OUT NOW
By working nights and weekends, four men in a suburban garage have built a cottage industry out of error-checking devices, but they know that there is something more. So, through trial and error they begin work on a device that will change the world. However, as soon as they realise their goal, two of the group become aware that it is too valuable to market. Can they trust eachother to do the right thing? Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Shane Carruth’s excellent debut film is a tremendous example of independent filmmaking on a miniscule budget. There are a ton of problems though, including poor audio, out-of-focus shots, a very tricky plot and some pretty shoddy acting – but fortunately it all adds to the DIY off-the-cuff nature of the project featured. It’s difficult to be hard on a film about time travel. Extras: Commentaries, trailer and film notes LL
a very funny, well-rounded programme that could easily be a liveaction sitcom.
Yee conveys the strangeness and the squalor of Mongkok by centring the story upon his two young leads, both villagers from rural China drawn into the metropolitan underworld. Daniel Wu plays hitman Lai Fu, while Cecilia Cheung is Dan Dan, a prostitute hailing from a neighbouring village, who takes him under her wing. The transition from country to city is a key theme of the film, but the two are not completely simplified to emblems of innocence and corruption. Lai Fu and Dan Dan both go into their business with eyes open, and neither condemns the other for conforming to the brutal values of Mongkok, where money and success are the only markers of status. Both Wu and Cheung are excellent, and the film’s tension depends on the audience rooting for their characters. The real success of the film though, lies in doing for Hong Kong what City of God did for Rio de Janeiro. With One Night in Mongkok, Yee has created an unflinching portrait of a city where the bad guys are emphatically in charge, without ever glamourising or glorifying the criminal lifestyle. A tour de force. Extras: Deleted scenes, making-of doc, footage from the premiere, film notes and a trailer NC
Extras: Lots. Deleted scenes, commentaries, featurettes, music videos, international clips, still galleries. Seriously, lots. LL
KISS KISS BANG BANG RELEASED: MARCH 13 ✪✪✪✪
KING OF THE HILL SEASONS 1&2 RELEASED: MARCH 13 ✪✪✪✪ I’ll lay my cards out. King of the Hill would be five stars all the way if it wasn’t for the worst, most irritating character (animated or otherwise) in recent memory. I hate Peggy Hill so much, that if she was a real person, I would happily, slowly, slice off her skin while mispronouncing Spanish phrases into her ugly, misshapen, punchable face. Anyway. Without the madcap quality of other family-based cartoons, Mike Judge’s show is an acquired taste. Give it time though, and you’ll find
On paper this should be dreadful. Washed-up junkie Robert Downey Jr, and washed-up sub-Keanu, Val Kilmer, join forces in a movie helmed by the writer of Lethal Weapon. Can anyone say bargain bin? But Kiss Kiss Bang Bang quickly reveals itself to be a smart and witty
✪✪✪✪
Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), is an apparently healthy 19-year-old college student. One weekend, alone in the dorm, she claims she is attacked by demons, but fights them off. Campus doctors diagnose epilepsy and prescribe medication, but while being cared for at the college hospital Emily believes that she is possessed, and seeks the help of her priest, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson). Father Moore attempts an exorcism, and Emily dies. It would be impossible to talk about Emily Rose without harking back to 1973’s The Exorcist, but the fact is that these are two very different films. The Exorcist was brutal and unforgiving, with it’s innocent beginnings gradually giving way to growing horror, the tension and terror building incessantly while the later film, though equally shocking in its own way, ebbs and flows, swapping courtroom for classroom, as Emily’s story is told in flashback. Jennifer Carpenter is excellent, giving a strong and convincing performance as the increasingly desperate Emily. Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson are also in fine form, lending real weight to the proceedings. The film is both gripping and touching, tender and tragic, and director/writer Scott Derickson should be applauded for his reliance on acting talent, of which there is a great deal, rather than special effects, to tell Emily’s story. Extras: Commentary, deleted scene and featurettes PA
075
ANIME
CYBER-PUNK AND BELLIGERENT! MANGA COME UP TRUMPS WITH THE BEST ANIME SERIES IN AGES GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX 1ST GIG BOXSET RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪
Oh boy, was I excited when this baby landed on my doorstep. Like most people I was suitably impressed with the original GITS movie and couldn’t wait to get hold of this series when I heard it was coming out! What we get here in this plush box set is a seven DVD set that includes all 26 episodes of this stunning anime series. The boys at Manga UK refer to this as the 1st gig, not sure why, but don’t let it worry you. This is state of the art animation with stunning 2D/3D landscapes that help weave this amazing story. Full of atmosphere it keeps you watching to the last episode. So to the story: The year is 2030. Most of humanity has sacrificed some, if not all, of its
076
flesh/limbs and replaced them with electronics and prosthetics. The ultimate replacement being a powerful computer installed inside the user’s head. The only problem with this is that hackers can now cause unimaginable mischief and damage. The good people of Police Section 9 are the heroes that get called upon to police the Cyberpunk society. Stand Alone Complex is the story of Section 9 with the cyber babe Major Motoko Kusanagi being the main character in this story of conspiracy and intrigue. Don’t worry fans of fuckoff robots- we get lots of them too! Each episode can be viewed by itself (stand alone) but there is a theme running through about 12 of them (complex) - hence the title. This is not a follow-on from the original movie, or from the Japanese comic books, this is in fact a reimagining of the same basic stories. I cannot find anything bad to say about this series, there is even one episode that is based in London. Awesome stuff then. If you love a bit of anime, are a big sci-fi fan or just love a cracking story then this is the JMc thing to buy.
GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX 2ND GIG – VOLUME 1 RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪
Natural Enemy is the stand-out episode, which sees Section 9 called upon to intervene in a potential crisis when the AI of a series of attack helicopters go berserk. This brings them into contact with Special Intelligence operative, Gohda. Fans of the 1st GIG will be glad to know that all the team are back to face a new enemy…and that includes the Tachikomas! Story, animation and the dubbing are all top drawer, as you would expect. Extras: Two discs, one with all 4 episodes in 5.1 surround sound and interviews, the second with DTS and Manga UK trailers. JMc
SAMURAI 7 – VOLUME 1 RELEASED: OUT NOW It doesn’t seem five minutes since the final volume of the 1st GIG was released. So keeping up the momentum and following on from the final episode of last year’s best anime series, we get four new episodes following the adventures of Section 9. For those of you out these who are unfamiliar with Ghost in the Shell: firstly - shame on you and secondly, boy have you missed out on some of the best anime out there! Episodes include, Reembody, Night Cruise, Cash Eye and Natural Enemy. They start to form the basis of a forthcoming plot involving civil unrest, problems with refugees, corrupt politicians and some good old fashion terrorism.
✪✪✪✪✪ Based on possibly one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, Akira Kurosawa`s Seven Samurai, this has got to be one of the most hotly anticipated anime series of the year. It’s certainly one of the most expensive…each episode allegedly costing about £160k! So here we get a whopping £640k worth of anime on one lovely shiny DVD. This vision of Kurosawa’s Classic is based in a futuristic world ravaged by war, where the samurai became obsolete once the war was over. Merging their bodies with massive metal war machines, these samurai have become bandits, ravaging the peasant villages. One such village decides to fight back, and three villages go to the big city to seek
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
out seven honest samurai to help them fight back.
this volume, and as we are almost halfway though, things are starting to heat up nicely, thank you very much. Excellent story telling, as ever makes this a “must see”. The dialogue is well-paced and humorous, animation rocks. Bring on volume six! Extras: English and Japanese language and galleries. JMc
reclaim the Protoculture Matrix, part of machine that had landed on Earth that had also been discovered by mankind decades before the attack. This is a great collectors item for all those that follow the highly popular and influential series.
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO VOLUME THREE RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪
The intro to this is absolutely stunning, a space battle in 2D and 3D with flying Transformer-style robots and massive space stations-rivalling the intro to any Star Wars movies. The animation throughout is simply astonishing. If you like anime you NEED this in your collection. The people at MVM sure have a cracking roster of anime this year; they are certainly up there with Manga UK as the best purveyors of Japanese animation around today. Just awesome! Extras: Trailer, character profiles, promo video and closing and opening songs. JMc
FULL METAL ALCHEMIST – VOLUME 5 RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪✪
Welcome again to the continuing adventures of the two young Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse. After a freak accident were they tried (and failed) to resurrect their dead mother, using the art of Alchemy they join the State alchemists in an attempt to find the mythical Philosopher’s stone. After taking a bit of a battering in the field, it’s time for the boys to go back home to the village they grew up in (for the first time in four years, since their mother died,) to visit the Rockbells’ to lick their wounds, get patched up by Winry and get back to Central’s Library to try and find Maroch’s work. The return of Scar doesn’t help and this volume concludes with a cracking battle in an abandoned warehouse. Episodes 17 to 20 are included in
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
What do you get if you cross-traditional Japanese culture and a hip hop style? Samurai Champloo, that’s what. This is the story of a Ronin, or masterless samurai (Jin), a typical anti-hero (Mugen) and the only person who keeps them together-Fuu, a waitress who is in search of “a samurai who smells of sunflowers”…and why not! The total clash of the two male characters is excellent and gels this anime together. They are the classic odd couple - one smart, strong and proud, with a fighting style of a true samurai (the symbol of old Japanese culture). The other a scruffy, rude, likeable rouge that fights in what can only be described as “body popping” - I kid you not! Here we have episodes 912 with some of the sharpest and hippest anime around. Whether it’s a fake promissory note or an empty wallet, a variety of challenges face Mugen, Jin and Fuu in their struggle to survive. No legendary monsters, murderers or never-ending rain can shake their iron will and confidence! Excellent animation, solid storytelling and a bangin’ hip hop soundtrack make this another essential purchase. Extras: Trailers and credits JMc
Considering it was made in the 1980’s, this is definitely one for anyone who loves old-school anime. It has some corny dialogue, which probably isn’t helped by a sub-par dub, and some of the story ideas are nutty at the best of times, which of course makes it an enjoyable watch. The show isn’t particularly well written, and the animation isn’t astounding either, but the crazy laser battles and the legions of fighting robots can make for great entertainment for anyone who is into absurd or eccentric programmes, or even someone who just wants to sink into a bit of mindless fun. As a DVD, the set is a good price, at about £14.99, but does feel more aimed at collectors rather than newcomers, who may feel a bit alienated by the show. Extras: None BL
ADVENTURES OF MINI-GODDESS VOLUME FOUR RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪
ROBOTECH: THE MASTERS (REMASTERED) VOLUME 1 RELEASED: OUT NOW ✪✪✪ One of the founding animes in the western world, Robotech returns with the remastered version, looking better than ever before. Bringing in completely remastered episodes 37 to 48, the series now includes extra footage that had originally been edited from the broadcast show. The program stars the misfit 15th squadron, protecting Earth from a race of aliens, who plan to attack the planet and
Based on a small comic strip, that was within a manga called Oh My Goddess, the anime is all about the adventures of three goddess’ who stumbled upon a teenager, in the original story. These goddess’ have various powers, and the main focus of this show is their ability to reduce their size. In relation to Oh My Goddess, this is basically set during their free time when they are not with their teenage friend. The show is easily quite accessible to
people who haven’t seen OMG, but unless you are really into cutesy, nonsensical anime, you probably wouldn’t like it anyway. At times, it can be overly happy and cutesy, and often feels like a kid’s show, even if some references do seem a little beyond a child’s knowledge. The characters are likeable, but very crazy and sometimes the humour is just a little too silly. The animation is of high quality, but its “chibi” style is of an acquired taste, and can only really be appreciated if you like that sort of thing. The dub, for once, isn’t too bad, with each voice fitting the respective character. Overall, the DVD is probably only a purchase for those who are diehard fans of the original show, people who are really into the cute style of anime, or those who have kids who like crazy anime humour. Extras: Character notes, gallery, noncredit ending and trailers. BL
SUBMARINE 707R RELEASED: MARCH 13 ✪✪✪✪
From the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Appleseed, comes this stunning underwater adventure based on a 1963 manga comic. Submarine 707R takes place in the near future where a war in the depths of the oceans is raging between the Underwater Silence Revolution (commonly referred to as the USR) and the Peace Keeping Navy, a conglomerate of nations who want to rid the seas of the terrorist faction. The main story focuses on an obsolete vessel, the 707, aka “Snapping Turtle”, which the Japanese have donated to help the PKN cause. In a desperate attempt to save the PKN’s main aircraft carrier, the Apollo-Norm, against the USR, the 707 sacrifices itself. Six months later, and a new version of the 707, the “Revolution” is created. This show is very interesting, with a decent plot that isn’t too taxing or thought-provoking. Since everything is underwater, there are a lot of scenes centred on the subs, and they look absolutely brilliant. The 3D vessels mixed in with gorgeous animation makes this a very visual anime. Although the story can move a little slowly at times, the action is worth the wait and makes it that little bit more enjoyable. This is definitely worth a watch. BL
077
books SONGS OF OUR ANCESTORS 3: TREE OF LOVE WORDS BY PATRICK ATANGAN - ART BY PATRICK ATANGAN NBM BOOKS ✪✪✪
India has embraced love and romance in its culture far more than most. From religion to popular cinema, a romanticism pervades it with a generosity that seems virtually unrivalled anywhere else in the world. However, Patrick Atangan's tale of a love that crosses economic boundaries - a classic prince and pauper romance has echoes in old stories across the globe. Like an Indian Cinderalla, Atangan's flower seller is a humble lass wooed by a prince with more regard for beauty and personality than economic status. But in a reversal of the Cinderalla story, the flower seller loses her memory and disappears after she's been won, leaving the prince to embark on an epic journey, sacrificing all to hunt her down. The style of the unusual artwork is drawn from Indian culture and uses full panel paintings to progress the story. Rather than breaking the action down into further defined panels, the characters may appear several times on each page, in different locations on the background, to help move the story along. The speech balloons and text boxes remain thoroughly western, however. Tree of Love is a short but satisfying tale and is certainly unique in its unparalleled embrace of Asian cultural heritage. The market for this kind of thing must be something of a niche but, if you happen to think there isn't enough romance in comics (at least outside of the doe-eyed manga titles aimed at teenage girls) then this could fill a tiny gap.
ELFQUEST: THE DISCOVERY #1 DC COMICS WRITERS: WENDY & RICHARD PINI ARTIST/COLORS/LETTERS/COVER ARTIST: WENDY PINI ✪✪✪ I have to admit, as I turned to the first page of this comic book, the prospect of delving into Wendy and Richard Pini's long-standing world of magic and adventure was a daunting one. Not only is the genre one that rarely appeals to me, but the property has just so much history behind that I
078
thought it would be impossible to make any sense of what's going on. I have to give the Pinis and their editor credit, though, there's a strong emphasis on accessibility for new readers. Still, the sheer size of the cast and loftiness of the plotlines still makes for a dizzying read for Elfquest newbies such as myself. The focus on family and the charmingly sweet quality of the artwork are appealing, but ultimately, the immersion of those more grounded elements in magic and fantasy makes it difficult for me connect with the characters.
Cutter's tribe waits with bated breath for its saviour and its chief's son, Sunstream, to awaken from his magical hiberation in the fabled Palace of the High Ones. But while he sleeps, his soul flies free, travelling throughout the lands with his lover, despite the vast distance between them. Meanwhile, in the undersea home of Surge's one-time tribe of water elves, Skimback and Snakeskin seek to heal the fractured mind of the misshapen Broken One. If one had to choose a single word to describe Wendy Pini's art, it should be "soft." There's a soothing quality to be found in her work throughout the issue. The softness and inviting quality of the art stems not only from the linework and designs, but from the warm glow of the color palette she employs. The character designs are nicely varied, and it's pretty easy to different among the expansive cast members. Oddly enough, Pini's style reminded me a little of that of Don (Megaton Man) Simpson's, but applied in completely different ways. Two key interpersonal dynamics struck me as being prominent in this story. One is the evolving relationship between Cutter and Sunstream, as the father tries to learn to step back and stop protecting his son. The other relationship is the strained, tense one between Surge and Snakeskin, as the father envies that his son has replaced him while the son seems to resent being forced into such a situation. I like those familial explorations, but the circumstances are just so fantastic that it's difficult for that humanity to really shine through as fully as it needs to in order for the reader to relate. I applaud the writers for striving to invite new readers into the world they've crafted over the course of so many years and books. Longtime Elfquest fans will no doubt be delighted with this long-awaited continuation, though.
TANGLED ROPES SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM WWE/POCKET BOOKS ✪✪✪✪✪ As if it isn’t obvious enough by now, I’m a huge fan of the WWE and I don’t mean 20 stone either! By a complete fluke of birth, I came to the arena right at the very moment that things were changing. Hulk Hogan was the man and there wasn’t a lot more you could say about the company than that for about ten years. But just a few short years before that, Superstar Billy Graham held enough cards in his deck to be considered the cream. By his own admission, he wasn’t the greatest wrestler in the world, but the world be damned if he wasn’t the greatest showman. As with all things that come before your introduction into something, you can acknowledge the past but that’s about all you can give it. It’s somebody else’s memory, not yours… …and here is where the rules change. Through all the fireworks that the WWE produce these days, with the hindsight of this book as a guide, there seems to be just two men responsible for changing the sport from what was perceived to be a rigged game into sports entertainment. One is Vince Mc Mahon and the other is Billy Graham – and if you’ve never heard of him, shame on you. The prototype for every single one of Hulk Hogans gimmicks, when I’d finished reading the book, I was left wondering who the hell Hogan really is because everything you see up there is Billy Graham. From the pythons to the ripped t-shirt to the ‘Whatcha gonna do brother…’ – it’s all Billy Graham.
That said, the most shocking thing about this book – and it is shocking – is that it has more sex, more drugs and is more rock n roll than Motley Crue’s legendary book The Dirt. Billy Graham was a one man wrecking machine whose highs touched the sky and whose lows led to the very brink of the destruction of himself, his family and anyone else who happened to be around him at the time. He’s ‘almost’ died more times than all the members of Motley Crue and Guns n Roses put together and right at this very moment has a body made up of more grafts, surgery, restorative drugs and other people’s body parts than a lab experiment. In a word, Billy Graham seems indestructible. And although it sounds glamorous from the outside, it’s written so honestly that your heart bleeds for the man. It’s not been an easy ride to the top or the bottom. Hated as much as he is loved, there are some things in this book it took a very brave man to commit to paper. There’s preaching, steroid abuse, road stories, family values, God turns up a few times just for good measure but to be frank, even he can’t help Billy out of the hole he’s gotten himself into. There’s bad business decisions, Arnold Schwarzenegger, abuse, heroes and villains… you couldn’t make half this material up if you tried. Tangled Ropes is a bullet of a book that’s a wake up call for everyone who thought wrestling was all script and no balls – and if Mick Foley’s Have a Nice Day is the definitive autobiography for the business, then this one has stepped up to the plate and matched it pound for pound. Absolutely captivating. SS
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Games longest game ever, but its fun with 2 player as well, and it makes you laugh out loud, and that’s no bad thing. JMc
Vauxhall Corsa to my death! The game itself boasts over 130 new cars, which you will have many a sleepless night trying to unlock, there are 4 vehicle classes, and 3 types of drift: standard, mild and dynamic. Dynamic is only for those who want to get their thumbs burned! Visually, although a few jagged edges, this racing game will more than keep you amused and is certain to help gain a hunger for what’s around the 360 corner. With the added advantage of online play via XBox Live, Ridge Racer 6 is great, but is this it, or will we playing RR20 before we know it? SMW
LORD OF THE RINGS: TACTICS PSP EA ✪✪✪✪
WE LOVE KATAMARI PS2 EA ✪✪✪✪✪ This game is totally insane. I haven’t got a bloody clue what going on, and it is over with far too soon. So how come it has the coveted 5 star review? We Love Katamari has got to be one of the most addictive/annoying games ever. As you may have guessed, this is a Japanese game from the twisted minds of Namco. It looks like some kind of children’s platform game, designed by someone on magic mushrooms - it’s totally mental! There is some kind of nuts story about a king losing all the stars from the cosmos or something like that anyway, but I just kept pressing the X button until all the reading bits finished - like every other bloke!. I just wanted action. So, to the gameplay. A simple premise: roll a ball (called a Katamari) around a given themed area, and much like making a snowman, you roll over things and they stick to the Katamari. The Katamari gets bigger and the idea is to get it over a certain size in a given time. Sounds dull doesn’t it! Believe me, this game rocks big time. It took over my life until I finished it - I even didn’t go on Myspace, well not as much anyway! This game plays much like Super Monkey Ball. Hell just go out and buy it please.It may not be the
RIDGE RACER 6 XBOX 360 EA ✪✪✪✪ Let’s cut to the chase. You want an arcade racing game with real licensed cars? You’re looking at the wrong review. Try PGR3! If you want a realistic, drifting, power-sliding kind of racing game, then Ridge Racer 6 is definitely the game you want for your XBox 360 console. Ridge Racer 6 follows its predecessors, it’s very much the same formula, but asks the question; do you want more of the same, or are you over the same? There will be critics that say this is too little too soon after the PSP launch of Ridge Racer 5, but there are also those who will lose hundreds of hours getting those drifts right and playing for hours on end to get to 1st place! It is, in the present climate of limited racing games on XBox 360 however, the best looking game on the console to date, and unlike the psp version of Ridge Racer, a lot easier to control, and so much faster. Word of advice Namco - get rid of the annoying commentator! It’s so 80’s Outrun! If I hear ‘ah suki suki now’ one more time, I think I’m likely to jump off the nearest
Check it out, we know this game isn’t out yet, but you’re looking at an exclusive screenshot, sent direct to us from EA on deadline day... we just couldn’t ignore it. This is from the game based on the forthcoming movie "Superman Returns". Look how bloody small superman is...and how big the bad guy is! Boy are we excited about this one! more to come as we get it!
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
WORLD TOUR SOCCER: CHALLENGE EDITION PSP EIDOS ✪✪✪ “What’s the point in buying this game, when there’s FIFA/Pro Evo out there to keep me happy?” - that’s probably the first thing most people will think when they see this game, and with that kind of mentality, you’d be missing out on a great game. The game has a very simple, retro feel to it, and it plays like the FIFA games of yesteryear, with a basic control scheme and easy opponents, its quite possible to score about ten in a match on the easiest setting, which is something I miss, personally, from the older football games. The game also has a massive list of teams and unlockables, there are a lot of things to do in the game, but sadly there aren’t many game modes that allow you to unlock these teams. Although the graphics are bog standard, the commentary is basically crap (with the commentator shouting random names every now and again) and the crowd is really bland, it doesn’t matter. What WTS shows is, that a footy game can still be fun to play, with arcade style play that is amazingly addictive. It has a lot of things that the big football titles seem to lack these days, even if it is let down by other factors. It’s nothing overly, but it‘s a lot of fun and would be a great addition to anyone‘s portable collection. BL
Lord of the Rings: Tactics is the latest addition to the ever-expanding list of games accredited to the Lord of the Rings film franchise. This time around, you get to play as both the fellowship, Frodo and friends, or as pivotal characters from the side of Mordor, including Saruman, The Witch King and even the dark lord Sauron himself. The game is based around all three films, featuring missions based around the epic battles found in the story. The game play is set as a turn based, tactical game where you can move your characters into strategically positions before commanding them to attack. This is very reminiscent of a board game, it’s nothing ground breaking, nor does it bring anything new to the table, but it’s sheer simplicity and effective game play make it an enjoyable experience. The controls are easy to pick up, so the game should appeal to both experts of the genre and newcomers who loved the film. There’s about 20 story missions for both sides and also extra missions, which isn’t really a lot considering each mission takes a maximum of 20 minutes to complete. The graphics are brilliant, and all the characters genuinely look like their real life counterparts and a good soundtrack also accompanies this. So despite it’s shortness, the game is very easy to just pick up and play, making it perfect for gaming on the go. BL
THE SIMS 2 PSP EA ✪✪✪ When I first got this game, I decided to sleep with every woman in town! Good start to a review huh? A good thing about Sims 2 is that you can take any character you wish to create and choose how he/she lives! He/She could be a slut, or a nun... you decide. The Sims franchise is on all media, PC, XBox, PS2 and of course the new PSP this season, but how good does it work on the new little games
079
Games machine? The PSP version has a hilarious dialogue, and it’s agreed that Sims on PSP would’ve been an ideal way to transport the game onto a handheld as it is oh so easy to control. However, there is a dark side to the Sims force. Loading times from screen to screen are an absolute nightmare! I love the game and as soon as it came out for my new handheld I just had to have it, but it’s so annoying when you are trying to eat and it takes sooooo long and your sleep bar is critical!
Loading actually delays the game itself, and turns the mini games/gameplay into a real chore. Underneath this, the game is solid and such a good prospect, but limited time to release it on PSP has hindered the overall game enjoyment. Away from the loading problems however, Sims 2 is hilarious, and the enjoyment of snogging lots of gorgeous women outweighed the game play in loads of different scenarios (Bro, you need to get out more. Ed.) It requires lots of patience to enjoy this game, however if you have the fortitude,
there is a lot of exciting, entertaining circumstances to get stuck in. SMW
RUGBY 06 XBOX EA ✪✪✪ With the success of Football games, and the ever-rising popularity in the Rugby Union internationals, it was inevitable that Rugby games would get more and more interest. This year, right in time for the six nations tournament, Rugby 06 comes out, promising to deliver the best game around for the sport. The game features both international teams and teams from the Rugby Union club level. The game has a lot to it, and probably a lot of realism to boot.
Now, I love watching a good game of rugby, more so that football at times, but I have never pretended to fully understand the rules of the game and that’s probably what lets this game down the most. The game is very complicated and at the best of times fiddly as hell. The buttons
constantly change when applied to different aspects of the game play, such as lineouts, penalty kicks or scrums, and can be confusing. Not only that, but the computer doesn’t really go easy on newcomers unfortunately, so unless you find yourself playing a friend, you’re going to get beat a few times before getting used to things. Thankfully there is a tutorial that explains everything, even though it’s still hard to get used to. The graphics are nice and realistic, nothing amazing, but they work well and help you to ignore the boring commentary. It’s obvious this game was mainly intended for people who fully understand rugby, and anyone who is interested in playing the game should probably give it a rent first either way. BL
with a change of development team and a big rival to go against, the current release for the PSP tries to become king of the portable manager games. For those none the wiser, firstly, how big was the hole you were hiding in? Championship Manager is probably the biggest football manager franchise on the market today. Primarily a PC game, it has made attempts to move to the console world, but the sheer size of the databases, have limited the functionality on a console. When I say sheer size, you better believe me, there are hundreds of teams, based in over 50 leagues, so you can just imagine the amount of players, A1 managers and even backroom staff there must be!
CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER PSP EIDOS ✪✪✪ After countless installments of Eidos’ flagship manager game, and even
So how does the game work? Basically, you take control of a team and, as you would expect, you try and win as much as possible. Statistically and in terms of strategies, the game is second to none, with an easy to use interface and a relatively simple system. It’s quite easy to get to grips with. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be winning the league with Aston Villa any time soon. The game is hard, and I mean very hard. If you’re a lower team, players wont sign for you and you won’t win games, simple as that. At least not until you get to grips with every strategy the opposition can employ, and those who just want to win games may be deterred by this. Unless you are a diehard anorak, or Championship Manager fan, I suggest waiting for the more accessible and ultimately much better Football Manager to make its way to PSP. BL
080
w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
xbox comps ‘STUBBS THE ZOMBIE’ & ‘Black’ COMPETITONs! BLACK - MINI REVIEW! XBOX/PS2 EA ✪✪✪✪✪ First person shooters, you gotta love `em. The staple diet of the video gamer, for some time. There have been many types of FPS involving aliens, demons; squads based, covert sneak em ups and World War 2 Sims. The guys at Criterion (the people behind the Burnout series) have decided to go back to basics and design a FPS that’s all about destruction. You want Hollywood style shoot-outs with tons of “baddies” on the screen- you got `em. Totally destructive scenery? Yep, got that as well. The action is fast & furious with out a moment to take your breath. The guns feel satisfyingly meaty and recoil like you expect them too. The graphics squeeze every last ounce of power out of the respective consoles and look stunning. This is one of the best FPS I’ve played for ages. Level design is smart and there are always places to hide and to destroy. This game is pure class. Black is certainly the new Black! Probally the most fun you can have with a joypad! Black from EA is one stunning piece of FPS enjoyment - and because we want to share that with you guys out there, we pestered the nice people at EA to give us some! So now we have 4 copies are up for grabs, for your XBOX. Just tell us who had an album out some time ago called Back in Black. Easy huh! Answers to black@burnmag.co.uk by March 31 please! THE STORY SO FAR… In 1933, Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield was just another traveling salesman trying to eke out a living. Only one thing stood between him and success: an unbroken streak of bad luck dating back to his birth. Stubbs couldn’t sell ice cream in the Sahara – and he sure couldn’t sell life insurance during the darkest days of the Great Depression. Speaking of depression, Stubbs’ miserable life came to its logical conclusion one hot summer night when a prospective customer unloaded a shotgun into Stubbs’ belly and buried him in an unmarked grave in the remote Pennsylvania countryside. Now it’s 1959 and that same countryside is covered by the steel and plastic wonderland that is Punchbowl, Pennsylvania. Punchbowl is the brainchild of billionaire playboy industrialist Andrew Monday, whose rise from poor orphan to World’s Richest Man has captivated the globe. Using experimental technology developed by an army of scientists and engineers, Monday has created a fully-functional City of the Future, complete with hovering cars and robot labor. The gates of Punchbowl have been thrown open as Andrew Monday
B U R N M A G A Z I N E | w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k
invited the world to see his vision of the future. At the same time, something stirs beneath Punchbowl… an extraveling salesman about to embark on a new career as a brain-eating zombie. At last, Stubbs has found his calling... On his quest, Stubbs lurches his way through numerous large and visually captivating indoor/outdoor environments in and around the gleaming city of Punchbowl, PA, a city built during the Eisenhower administration to show off the ultra-futuristic technology of the 21st century. Stubbs’ brain-eating adventure brings him through bustling shopping districts and verdant farmlands to battle mad scientists, rural militiamen and the world’s deadliest barbershop quartet. His enemies have shotguns, tanks, and all manner of futuristic weaponry. All Stubbs has is his own rotting corpse, a distinct lack of pain or conscience, and the ability to turn foes into zombie allies. Those cool people at THQ have given us three copies to give away for the XBox. Just tell us who wrote and starred in the movie Shaun of the Dead. Send your entries to stubbs@burnmag.co.uk by March 28 and we’ll wing over your prize within 24 hours of closing.
081
24
Grease paint &
Monkey
Brains
The spirit of Keifer Sutherland has arrived... The following takes place between 0.00 and 23.59 (ish) on 13.02.05 0.00 - 0.59 Walk in the door from gig of night before and suddenly realise that this week is hell week. Half term. Great. It will be like trying to paint the Sistine Chapel in a cave full of bats. Decide to do some work while everyone is asleep. Boot up machine and stupidly fire up ichat icon only to find that most of my Amercan pals are awake. Condider closing it down in a hurry but it’s too late, have been spotted. Commence chatting about ‘stuff’. Wayne sends over some top photographs. Job done. Decide to switch to Skype which I know less people on. Even more stupid. People now want to chat because it’s free.
5.00 - 5.59
14.00 - 16.59
Walk away from working on mag because I’m tired. No point going to bed though because will have to be up again soon. Decide to do the decent thing and go to the 24 hour garage for chocolate.
Take eldest child to cinema to see Zathura space type Jumanji adventure. Excellent movie for those who just need to chill. Some guy outside says it wasn’t very realistic. Wonder what is wrong with some people.
6.00 - 6.59
17.00 - 17.59
Not sure what happened here. I may have lapsed into sleep.
Drive home in work traffic. 20 minute journey takes twice as long as it should. Spend half the journey trying to find a song on ipod shuffle that is acceptable to a 9 year old. Get home to find everyone else has a MacDonalds waiting for them. Look in cupboards but they are remarkably bare. Settle for more coffee and Marlboro lights.
7.00 - 7.59 Give up and decide to go to bed to try and catch at least some sleep. Children wake up 07.01 and deploy ‘Dad, can we put the tv on and have breakfast’ missiles. Dad complies. Watch kids tv while eating croissants and drinking coffee.
8.00 - 8.59 Postman comes. Delivers suspect packages. Kids open said packages hoping for DVDs from LoveFilm. Disappointed to find 2005 Survivor Series but Dad is over the moon. Fight ensues about who gets the tv in the lounge. Mum comes down and takes remote away from everyone. Kids sulk. Dad has DVD player on laptop. Decide that being old is great.
18.00 - 18.59 Finally get around to thinking about doing some work and realise that have a JuJitsu class this evening. Neil Gaiman rings and apologises for being late for his 17.00 interview “it’s half term over here and I forgot all about it”. Had actually forgotten he was going to call. Decide not to go to JuJitsu as have fallen behind badly with work.
1.00 - 1.59 Finally get around to thinking about doing some design work on Coheed & Cambria spread but become distracted by the ghost of the Teagan Presley article that still needs designing for the next issue. Pause for thought. Claudio Sanchez or Teagan Presley. Light cigarette and decide that working on the Mirrormask spread is probably the best option.
Get whiteboard out to see what I have planned for the evening to find that I now have a picture of
Dora the
2.00 - 2.59 Getting cold now. All heating in the house has gone off. Decide to revert to coffee and more nicotine to get through the night.
Explorer on there.
3.00 - 3.59 3.20. Finish Mirrormask spread whilst watching the movie. Decide to have a go at imitating McKeans style in marker pen on the lounge wall. Bad idea.
4.00 - 4.59 4.05 Finish scrubbing wall but now it needs repainting. Make a start on Coheed spread while watching a documentary on shark myths on Animal Planet. Wow. In Jaws, the shark really would have blown up at the end. 082
9.00 - 11.59
19.00 - 19.59
Survivor Series takes over
Sort of get children into bed. Sarah gets ready to go to work. 19.00 - 19.59 disappears from my life like dust in the wind.
12.00 - 12.59 Decide to check out the Tai Chi class that has started up the road. If I don’t support it, it probably won’t happen again. Arrive to find that I’m the only one there. We carry on anyway. Good class if not a bit slim on the ground.
20.00 - 20.59 Must eat, so put kettle on again for more coffee. Wonder why cat hasn’t been home for two days. Get whiteboard out to see what I have planned for the evening to find that I now have a picture of Dora the Explorer on there. w w w. b u r n m a g . c o . u k | B U R N M A G A Z I N E
Teagan Presley www.digitalplayground.com