Dorset Music - September 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015

YOUR ONE STOP GUIDE TO THE BEST MUSIC IN THE COUNTY!

DORSET

C I S U M

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bullet for my valentine opm headed for the o2 academy

heaven’s still a halfpipe

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WELCOME

Thanks for picking up the September 2015 issue of Dorset Music Magazine, your one stop guide to the best music in the county.

This month we chat to cheeky pop-punkers Bowling For Soup who are returning to the UK just when you thought it was all over! We also chat to Bridgend superstars Bullet For My Valentine who are back with a new LP and ready to rock Bournemouth plus Heaven is still a halfpipe 15 years on as OPM hit Mr Kyps this month.

All this plus previews, listings and announcements from all of the best venues and events in the Dorset area.

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So, it wasn’t goodbye, it was just farewell and now you’re coming back to visit us on a full tour – what prompted the decision to book some UK dates again?

We were pretty adamant about the fact that our Farewell tour wasn’t goodbye forever and we do understand that it could seem like we’re taking the piss, doing the whole Kiss thing where they break up for 15 years or whatever but we were just at a time where there was a lot going on personally. Most of it’s out there now, Erik was going through a divorce, I was going through a divorce and trying to work out custody of my kids, Gary was a new dad and started his own business, there was a lot going on and we couldn’t keep up with that touring schedule that we’d painted ourselves into for so many years. So we took a break and over the course of a couple of years things have gotten awesome for everybody and we’re now at a time where we can come back and deliver rock music. And the timing is good because people seem really happy that we’re coming back so we’re going to come play rock and roll songs and people will clap and sing and everyone will be gloriously happy.

My conversation with Jaret Reddick, the enigmatic and down to earth frontman of Texan pop punk legends Bowling for Soup, begins with an apology. He is late. But he has a good reason. He had to take his son to school because his fiancée was too hungover from spending the evening before sitting on the driveway drinking champagne, because that’s how they do it in Texas. I like him already. This is going to be fun…

Back in October 2013, The Bowling for Soup Bids Farewell tour took a magical trek around the UK, spreading both good times and sadness as the band who’d made Blighty their second home said goodbye to full time touring over here by giving it everything they had every night. Though Bowling for Soup made it clear they wouldn’t be gone forever, another full tour wasn’t on the cards, and the UK mourned.

Since we last saw them they’ve been through a lot, faced some harsh personal challenges, celebrated their coming of age as a band as they finally turn 21 and released the fabulous greatest hits album ‘Songs People Actually Liked - Volume One - The First 10 Years 1994 to 2003’ - with songs much loved from the first half of Bowling for Soup’s life as a band painstakingly rerecorded and sounding fresher and better than ever.

But rejoice! They’re coming back! They just can’t resist the opportunity to party with the UK BSF Army one more time and are headed this way in February 2016, so ignoring his hangover, I quizzed Jaret on why they decided to come back, what they’ve been doing whilst they’ve been away and what it feels like to be 21 (again)…

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

You’ve often said you feel you owe a lot to your UK fans, what have you got in store for them this time round?

We owe them our career. I’ve said that over and over. Had the UK not embraced ‘The Bitch Song’ early on, the album ‘Drunk Enough to Dance’ would never have happened. We would have gotten dropped because ‘The Bitch Song’ did nothing in the States so we’ve always treated the UK as a second home. We’re going to bring a pretty big show this time and try and do some things that maybe we haven’t done before. And material-wise; obviously we’ll play the songs that everybody wants to hear but we’re also coming to a place where people might have been listening to us for 10, 15 sometimes all 20 years and so the idea will be to also play a few things that maybe people don’t expect to hear. And maybe something different each night. That’s one of the things I’d really like to do is throw in a few songs that are different each night from the night before and kind of get back to the way we used to do it back in the day.

You’re currently celebrating a massive 21 years as a band – what do you think it is that’s kept you consistently popular all these years?

I think just because we’ve stayed the same. Y’know… pizza is delicious. And when you order a pizza, you know what it’s going to taste like. Even shitty pizza is good because it’s cheese and bread and there’s some tomato sauce on there and then whatever toppings of your choice. So the toppings are the songs and we’re the pizza. You know what you’re going to get. It’s freaking Bowling for Soup and we’re just consistent. I think the longevity is due to the fact we found our niche and stuck with it, we just got better at doing what it is we do.

So Good Charlotte are on hiatus, Blink are on again/off again, Sum 41 are back together and recording - is there a community amongst these bands? Do you feel like pop punk as a genre is getting stronger again as new bands push their way through?

There’s definitely a community. You definitely have some bands that are closer friends with others but I think we all respect one another and the bands you just named, we all had successes at the same time and we’re all still going at it one way or another. New Found Glory are back out and Yellowcard are back out and there’s new bands coming through all the time. I think that pop punk is one of those genres that everybody thought was gonna die out. I think even some of us that are in it probably thought that at one time or another, that at one point it was gonna have run its course but all of the bands that were instrumental in the movement itself have been consistent and great and have just kept plugging away. I think it’s just one of those things that just won’t go away.

Pop punk is back on the radio – that’s crazy to me! All Time Low have a legitimate hit in the US right now and I think a lot of people would see 5 Seconds of Summer as more of a boyband, but they’re definitely playing pop punk songs and you don’t get much bigger than that! It’s a good time for the genre itself and for fans of the genre.

back then was just silly. The way we went about making records on a do it yourself budget, the songs sounded terrible, so it was fun to go back and grab hold of those songs and make them sound amazing.

And it was cool too because even if we’d just remastered them, it just would have been this fluctuation of odd sounding things. A lot of them wouldn’t even have sounded like the same band playing, which is cool but people already have those recordings and it’s the digital age; if I want ‘2113’ off BFS’ original album I can just go on the internet and get it y’know? So it was cool to go in and make them sound like an album together and it came out great. We knew we were taking a chance, because a lot of times when people re-record their songs, it’s not that well received and fortunately for us, ours was.

What were you doing when you turned 21? Was BFS already going?

We were not. Gosh, I was working, finishing college, I had my own business at the time. I had started a toy store when I was about 18 so I was doing that and finishing two degrees at university. I didn’t drink so my 21st birthday was actually kinda boring. I think I went to a Mexican restaurant, then went home and watched Friends on TV or something haha. I really wasn’t a huge party guy back then, but I feel like I’ve made up for that being in a band that sings about beer y’know. Yeah, we’ve definitely made up for any time we took off being late bloomers…

You released this via a Pledge campaign – how have you found the change from working with a major label to working directly with your fans and doing a lot of it yourselves?

I think it’s cool because the whole fan-funding thing happened at such a great time for us because we got dropped from our label in 2009 and we had just made, what we thought, was our greatest album. We honestly thought that ‘Sorry for Partying’ was gonna be THE album that launched us to the next level and unfortunately that didn’t happen. But fortunately it motivated us to get out there and start doing shit on our own. We were already making our own videos and recordings and all these things, so it was very natural to just bring the fans into it. We’re just videotaping ourselves doing what we’re already doing so we were a natural fit into that model and it’s worked out great. I love it, I do hope that fans continue to embrace this way of doing things because I think it empowers the fans more and it just MAKES the band give you more and more content and I think everybody wins that way.

Is being in BFS as much fun now as it was back then or has the focus of the fun shifted at all as you’ve got older?

It’s different fun, but it’s still fun. Y’know I’m 43 years old now so it’s different to when we were a band into the 4th and 5th year and we’d get in the van and just leave for 6 months and just go play shows and just survive together. Sometimes we didn’t even know where our next show was, we were just trying to find shows out on the road and it was this awesome survivor band life. So those days were amazing, they were hard but we look back on them as being the best time ever. But it’s still fun y’know, we just laugh constantly. It’s a rolling sitcom on our bus. We still absolutely love each other and get along and make each other laugh and beer is still free… so that always makes for a fun time!

FEATURE

What do you think is the key to the fact that you all still like each other?

We’re friends first and we love each other. We’re closer than family. We’re there for each other, no matter what. We also know how to push each other’s buttons and we know when to leave somebody alone, or when somebody needs a hug and we all know our role in the band. We don’t really have those issues that we see other bands have like ‘aw, Jaret’s doing all the interviews, I have something to say!’ or ‘why is Erik’s picture in this week’s magazine?’ we just don’t have any of that sort of ego around us. We are who we are and we know everyone is equally as important as the other guy and I think if you treat people that way then everybody’s happy. I think that’s what’s kept us as close as we are; knowing that without each of the four of us, none of this would be happening.

Is there a Volume 2 coming or are you working on something new?

Right now we are in the process of trying to finish a couple of DVDs and then we’re working towards getting out there and doing these tours. Y’know a Volume 2 is a little tricky because [and you’ll find with me that I’m always really honest haha] but to be honest, as we recorded those older songs it was like ‘man, this sounds amazing’ and as we got into the newer shit like Girl All the Bad Guys Want, Punk Rock 101, we were like THAT song already sounds For ‘Songs People Actually Liked’ you re-recorded a load of your favourite great, so what can we do here to make this sonically better? I mean, I’m tracks from the first 10 years of BFS. What made you decide to re-record definitely 10 times a better singer than I was back then so that’s a given, but rather than just make a compilation of the old recordings? really everything sounds awesome already so in the approach to Volume 2 I Several reasons. A lot of bands do it because you can take back control of don’t know how it’s going to work but we definitely want to do something. the masters and that gets into a bunch of stuff that fans don’t really care But there’s definitely new material coming in the next year or two. We’re just about. For us, there was that aspect of things but for the most part the real plugging away! reason is a lot of those songs were recorded in ’94 or ’96 and we didn’t have Words: Zan Lawther gear, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing, we didn’t know how Catch bowling for soup live @ O2 Academy Bournemouth | February 12 to play, we didn’t know how to sing and the technology of even recording

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BOWLING FOR SOUP

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Bullet For My Valentine While She Sleeps, Coldrain

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Conrad Sewell, BB Diamond

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1 Big Reunion Bournemouth’s Best 70’s, 80’s and 90’s Party Night is Back!

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Knotslip (A Tribute to Slipknot)

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The Smyths

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Lianne La Havas

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The Darkness: Blast Of Our Kind 2015 Tour

Definitely Mightbe (Oasis Tribute)

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Secret Affair - My World Tour

Bowling For Soup: How About Another Round Tour 2016 The Dollyrots, Lacey

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STEVE IGNORANT’S SLICE OF LIFE MARK WYNN

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B U L L E T

F O R

M Y

V A L E N T I N E

Bullet For My Valentine have established themselves as one of the biggest bands on the planet. Over the course of their astonishing career they have sold 10 million albums and toured the globe countless times, gaining more fans at every turn. In the UK their last tour saw them hit sell out arenas, including the hallowed Wembley Arena and now they’re coming to our very own O2 Academy.

Widely regarded as one of the most successful crossover artists, love them or loathe them, there’s no denying that they’ve been massively responsible for bringing metal to the mainstream and for shining a big bright light onto the alternative scene. Mixing classic riff-heavy rock with a contemporary grasp of dynamics they’ve plundered hearts with their emotive tunes and crashed their way into headline slots at almost every festival there is.

Their latest album ‘Venom’ is a return to their heavy metal roots. An unrelenting, fierce step forward for the band that had been criticised for going soft with their last album ‘Temper Temper’, it’s their heaviest record to date; it sinks its teeth into listeners with a powerful delivery by vocalist/guitarist Matt Tuck, ferocious riffs by guitarist Michael “Padge” Paget and rapid-fire rhythm courtesy of drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas. Bullet manage to maintain their signature balance of heavy, coupled with surging melody and push themselves to the next level with all the ‘Venom’ of a rattlesnake, and with new bassist James Mathias now fully entrenched in the team and a tour to prepare for, we counted ourselves lucky to get a good old chinwag in with frontman Matt recently to talk all things dark, heavy and hairy...

We bumped into you backstage at Download, did you have fun? Who did you see?

Yeah I had a lot of fun. Got there on the Friday and the rain spoiled everything for everyone, as usual, but apart from that it was good. Saw a bunch of bands; Young Guns, Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Fightstar, the list goes on really. It was the first time I’d been there as a punter. We’ve always been there because the band’s been there and we’ve just played and shoved off somewhere else so it was good to hang around for a change.

New album Venom is just about to drop, what can we expect?

I think the best way I can describe it is a reinvigorated, way more aggressive Bullet for my Valentine. We’re super proud of the record. It’s definitely the heaviest record we’ve done overall and it feels like it’s part of something special. We’ve got the vibe that this could be a career defining moment for us so it’s good and everyone is super stoked on it and we can’t wait for people to hear it.

Do you feel like the heaviness of this record is a natural progression as you grow older or was it a conscious decision?

It was a conscious decision. We knew before starting to write the record that we wanted to step it up this time round. We wanted to make something aggressive, we wanted to make something angry and to reconnect with the more old school metal that we had on The Poison and Scream Aim Fire so that’s the only thing we had in mind before we started writing and it took a lot of writing to get to the point where we were happy with the level of aggression. The balance between the melodic and the heavy stuff has always been a Bullet identity so it was a long process getting there but as soon as we had two or three of the key heavier songs written then it was game on and it came on quite easy.

Lyrically it’s quite dark, how did you approach writing this album?

It was about reconnecting with stuff that defined growing up, as a teenager, as a young man, going through life and the struggles that I personally went through. Y’know growing up in a not very nice part of the world where you have a talent and are motivated to actually do something with your life, no one ever took me and the boys seriously. No one ever harnessed that positive energy. I always had this ambition of something special and being a songwriter and touring the world and making a difference connecting with people on a musical level. So I thought it was important to reconnect with those moments in my life and I haven’t had those moments for a long time because I’m grown up and everything’s cool and I’ve gone through all those things and I just thought that that was when I was at my most frustrated and let’s try and recapture that frustration.

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

Which song on the album was the most difficult to write and why?

I think they all had that moment of frustration really. Lyrically and performancewise the most difficult one was No Way Out. That song is very aggressive and the chorus is right at the top of my range and beyond so it’s a difficult song to perform. It’s one of those songs that’s super pissed off sounding so in performance, you really have to give it some shit, so I did.

How has the reaction been so far for No Way Out? It’s been incredible man. It’s just reconnected with everyone to a level where it already feels like the album is out and everyone’s back on board.. It’s a heavy song anyway but coming off the back of our last record I definitely think people are quite surprised but happy at the same time. It’s been amazing, the feedback we’ve had from that song. I haven’t heard anything negative really and all the people that are lucky enough to have already heard the album have all said the same thing about the whole album so everything’s looking great and we’re super happy with how it’s been received.

Out of all your albums, which has been your favourite album to record?

Probably The Poison or Venom would be the two, both for very different reasons.

The Poison was the birth of the band as we know it. It was one of those moments that connected where the band blew up instantly. Going through that process of being accepted and having the opportunity to make the record was the best feeling ever, probably the most exciting time in my life and the band’s career. And we kind of had that same feeling on this one really. You know when you’re doing something special. We’ve had it on a couple of songs in the past and we had it on The Poison for the whole process but from the moment we started recording this album there was an energy, it just feels special. So having those two experiences 10 years apart is odd, but those two records are very, very special to us.

Do you get nervous releasing new material?

Yeah, obviously you’re putting yourself out there and you know that there’s always going to be someone that says something that you’re not going to wanna hear haha. I don’t think it’s so much nerves as it is the anxiety of putting yourself up on a pedestal in order to be thrown off it y’know? But it’s just part of what you do in a band so we’ve just become used to it y’know? We were in Germany last week on a press trip and we did a fan playback party and it’s the first time we’ve done that in a while, where the band have been in a room with fans, genuine fans, and hardcore fans and we played them the new record and we were all very, very nervous about that. But I think it was just an unusual situation and you sit on an album for so long and it’s such a private, intimate thing that when it finally goes out there, especially cos we were there! So we don’t really get nervous about it but that was a moment where everyone had sweaty palms but it was good, we had a great night and the fans loved it which was the best because they were there for a reason and everyone left with the same feelings.

FEATURE

New bassist Jamie has joined the band. Where did you find him and what do we need to know about him?

He had a relationship with Padge behind the scenes. Jamie used to be the frontman of a band called Revoker and he’s a Welsh lad as well, grew up in a similar area to us, and Padge gave him a shout and said ‘send us a video, we’d love for you to have a shot and try out for the band’ so he did us a little video on his phone, playing some songs and doing some backing vocals and sent it in and it was awesome. So we did a couple of live auditions with a couple of the guys we thought might be suitable and Jamie was one of them and he came in and both auditions completely smashed it. It was awesome and it just felt right. He’s from the same part of town so having that relationship and the same upbringing was amazing. We never thought we’d be able to keep it an all-Welsh thing y’know but we did! And he’s good, he’s an amazingly talented guy and a great asset to have within the band.

You debuted him at Camden Rocks festival, and it was your first live performance in a year, is that right? How did it feel to be back out in front of the fans again?

It was actually really easy. We’ve been doing it for such a long time now that when we hit the stage, that’s where we come to life in every respect y’know. And where we’d had that time off we were even more anxious to do it, rather than being on tour for three months and coming to the end of it and being all ‘here we go again’. I think it was that excitement of not playing for a year and a half, having two new songs AND it being Jamie’s first show all at the same time was just an amazing feeling. It felt so good.

Did your throat operation and losing your voice knock your confidence at all?

Oh absolutely, yeah. It was the lowest point, not only in the band’s career but of my life really. It was at the stage where it was coming off the back of The Poison and we were trying to make the second record, the follow up to this record that blew up worldwide and working so hard up to that point and having all that success and then almost being on the brink of having it all taken away again was awful. It was a very dark point in my life, very low and scary. Everything we’d wanted to achieve, we’d just got there and it felt like we weren’t going to be able to continue so it was awful. It took a long time to get over it and get my confidence back and get my voice back into any shape at all but hard work and persistence and we got there in the end. It was a weird time but it was definitely something that needed to happen because it made me professional, rather than a guy in his band with his mates that got lucky. I think it opened everyone’s eyes that shit was serious now and we had to look after ourselves. I got vocal coaching and stuff like that and from that point on there’s been no issues.

Do you have any tips for taking care of your voice when on the road?

Make sure you get proper vocal coaching – warm up, warm down, apply those techniques to the songs and look after yourself physically. No partying, no late nights – I mean we still have those moments but they’re few and far between now because it just takes its toll and there’s nothing worse than going on stage at 60 or 70%, that’s just not good enough for us these days. For me personally I won’t go on stage if I’m not feeling Matt Tuck from Bullet for my Valentine. I have a pride in my work and a reputation and I hate going on stage with a sore throat or being bunged up because I know it’s going to take something from those shows so to put myself into a self-inflicted situation like that, for me, is just not acceptable so I haven’t done it for a long, long time.

Who are your vocal heroes?

I’ve always been a guitar player, I don’t really think of myself as a vocalist, I’ve just never been that guy but I think obviously Hetfield was my main influence for everything growing up. Just watching him on stage and being a Metallica fan y’know, he was the guy that inspired me to do what I wanted to do. He was just this being, this package of a guy that did everything, he’s just a hero.

Rob Halford I have to say just cos how he does what he does, I’ve got no idea what’s going on there. How he does that, I don’t know! Bruce Dickinson again, his range and his ability to do what he does at the level and age of those guys and still to go out there and smash it like he does is inspirational. I’d say Eminem would be one, weirdly. Again I just like people who have an individual voice and have character. It doesn’t have to be in the metal world as such.

I’m gonna be really weird here and say Mariah Carey as well because, being a singer in a band that’s nowhere near that world but I know what you have to do to get to that level as a singer and that’s a commitment and a life choice and not many people will ever get to that level. So there you go, Mariah Carey is my vocal inspiration!

You look really different with short hair. What made you decide to cut it and will you ever go back to long hair again?

I just wanted a change really. I got married in 2013 and I wanted to look dapper for my wedding. Y’know the wedding photos are forever and I wanted to look the best that I could possibly look for my wife so I took it on the chin and got rid of the hair and looking back, it’s the best thing I ever did. It was manning up, in a way and to get rid of the mane was a big thing cos I’d had it forever and I went through a couple of transitional styles but once I’d done it for the wedding, it was like YES because without wanting to say so myself, I look like a f*cking GENT haha!

That’ll be a no to growing it back then…

Words: Zan Lawther

Catch Bullet for my valentine live @ O2 academy | October 1

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

Jalarra caféE bar live music Bournemouth’s loft bar & live music venue 45 Poole Hill, The Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5PW. Tel 01202 556113

A fantastic place for great food, live music & entertainment throughout September MONDAY > FRIDAY from 5.00pm - a great place to meet up for drinks & a meal SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Open from 11.00am until late, serving lunch and supper HAPPY HOUR EVERY WEEKDAY: Two for one cocktails from 5.00pm > 7.00pm

SEPTEMBER 2015 Sunday: Monday: Friday: Saturday & Sunday:

Open mic on the main stage with 2 for 1 pizza special offer Our now infamous industry night - mix it up with friends Live Funk, Soul, Disco & Retro-Pop with the occasional twist Chilled out Brunch - fab food with Jazz & Lounge music INDUSTRY & PRIVILEGE CARDS Have you got yours yet?

Are you a musician, part of the leisure or hospitality industry? Friends, you are welcome to pick up your INDUSTRY card every Monday night at Jalarra. Offering substantial discounts on food and drink.

Anyone else - become a regular at Jalarra and receive your PRIVILEGE card, offering you discounts on food & drink.

Please check out www.jalarra.com for listings Come early, eat great food, drink some fab cocktails and be a part of something good

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1 Sound Circus 2 Halo 6 3

3 Chaplin’s 4 The Old Fire Station 5 The Anvil 6 The O2 Academy 7 BIC 8 The Winchester 9 Shakeaway 10 Orange Rooms 11 Sixty Million Postcards 12 Pavillion Theatre

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13 Eden Live 14 Jalarra

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Live music at Dorchester Arts this Autumn...

Wille and the Bandits: Under the Grove tour Sat 3 Oct

Ruarri Joseph: Farewell (For Now) Tour Wed 14 Oct

The Producers Sat 12 Sept RSVP Sat 24 Oct

Mad Dog Mcrea Sat 31 Oct

Joe Stilgoe: New Songs for Old Souls Fri 30 Oct Courtney Pine and Zoe Rahman: Song (The Ballad Book) Fri 6 Nov

Steve James Sat 7 Nov

Sam Kelly’s Station House Sat 12 Dec

For full event listings, visit our website Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, Dorchester DT1 1HF Box Office 01305 266926 dorchesterarts.org.uk

FEATURE

Taking on all kinds of subject matter, Williamson rants his way through twelve aggressive songs that deal with “the disorientation of modern existence” yet the clever use of repetitive bass lines and jangly guitars helps to soften the blow somewhat. Taking its name from a grocery store in Williamson’s home town of Grantham ‘Key Markets’ is likely to become a go to staple for all you mods out there.

Nottingham’s hip hop punks are back with their fourth full length album and they are pulling no punches with this one. Definitely one for the ‘explicit content’ sticker ‘Key Markets’ is packed full of beat infused tracks with the unmistakable no-nonsense vocals of Jason Williamson layered over the top.

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

Spotlight on…

Check out second track ‘No One’s Bothered’ which combines the perfect pogo bounce with your typical punk attitude. It’s catchy as all hell!

See them live 5 October @ Old Fire Station

SLEAFORD MODS

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FEATURE Remember ‘Heaven is a Halfpipe’? The masterminds behind that absolute banger are back. OPM started out 17 years ago as STASH, quickly gaining a record deal with Atlantic Records.

Heaven is a Halfpipe featured on their debut album ‘Menace to Sobriety’ which celebrates its 15th birthday this month!

If that doesn’t make you feel old then you can’t have been around when the band first took off. The album provided the soundtrack for an angst-filled, disaffected, baggy trousered, skateboarding youth that had lost faith in society and felt overly controlled. The themes running through the album followed suit: drinking, skating and rebellion all tied up in an array of smart bass licks, heavy drum beats and inventive programming. It was followed up by 2002’s ForThemAsses featuring new member Big B and some stage appearances alongside Iggy Pop, Limp Bizkit, Rancid, Linkin Park and the Bloodhound Gang. The band also played Reading & Leeds, Rock AM Ring, Rock IM Park and appeared on BBC’s Top of the Pops. They then released two more albums ‘California Poppy’ and ‘Golden State of Mind’ as well as three more EPs ‘Outlaws, Perverts & Misfits’ ‘OPMDEN’ and ‘Heaven Can Wait’.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of ‘Menace to Sobriety’ the band will be touring the UK and Europe for 26 very special shows. The very last of these shows will be taking place in our very own Mr. Kyps on 27 September. We know we’re ready to close out this special tour by getting our bounce on to Heaven is a Halfpipe and all their other hits. On top of this the band are releasing a brand new EP ‘The Minge Dynasty’. The title alone is representative of the bands carefree approach to subtlety, which suggests to us that this latest offering will be as fun and wild as their previous material. It’s good to see the band stick with the attitude that made them so popular in the first place.

We caught up with frontman John E Necro recently to talk about the new EP, their special anniversary and this tour…

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

So it’s 15 years since ‘Menace to Sobriety’ was released, how does it feel to reach such a milestone?

It’s pretty crazy. That 15 years went by pretty quick. It’s pretty intense.

You’re touring to celebrate this. What can we expect from these celebrations?

We’re just trying to bring it 100% and have a good time. Our shows in general are just a big party. We do party music, it’s about having fun so we feel like if we’ve got something to actually celebrate, then it’s gotta be big, so we’re going big.

You’ve played some pretty big shows over here in the UK over the years, and you’ve shared the stage with some incredible artists, do you have any standout memories from your time in the UK previously?

Reading was huge for me. Years before I had gone over as just a fan and went to the Reading Festival and had the best time of my life and a couple of years later I was going over and playing on the same stage, it was pretty intense. Obviously if you’re doing music then you’re a fan of music in general first, and then all of a sudden you’re with these other people that you’re a fan of their music. When we played Reading we shared the stage with Rancid who are one of my heroes and all of a sudden I’m playing the same stage and hanging out, it’s intense. And it’s also cool to see them tripping out over the fact that we’re all playing with Frank Black and they’re getting to hang out with Frank Black! Everyone’s kind of in the same dream y’know?

A lot of bands that experience the success you’ve had for one song in particular find themselves frustrated for being pigeonholed as the band that did ‘that song’, do you ever feel that? Or do you see it as a compliment that so many people still love that song?

We’re excited that we’ve had anything that’s achieved that level of success. And growing up as a skater kid and then people call it the

OPM

skateboarder’s anthem, it’s an honour. All of your songs are sort of like your babies and you wish that everyone would treat all of your ‘children’ the same but y’know, it’s like that for anyone that’s doing art. The people are going to decide which ones are the premier versions. Not every Salvador Dali painting is as revered as his greatest piece; he only has a few so it’s not upsetting in any way.

Is there anything about that first album that you would have done differently if you had been given the opportunity today?

Oh yeah. So many things! It’s weird, we just finished our EP like a week ago and I’ll go and listen to it and I’d already change a bunch of stuff. It’s really difficult. It’s perhaps easier to explain in terms of painting rather than music. I paint a lot as well and y’know and at some point you think ‘is this good enough to show somebody?’ and you could just constantly work on it but once you think it’s good enough to show people then ok, it’s done and I’m not gonna touch it again. My thing with paintings is if I put a frame on it and put it on a wall, then I can’t touch it again and with music as soon as it’s pressed onto a CD then I won’t touch it anymore.

So you mentioned the EP, it’s called ‘The Minge Dynasty’. Where did that title come from?

Hahaha, it’s funny, you’re one of the first people who’s actually said it out loud haha. One of the things that I admire about the people in the UK is the way that you guys speak. The whole concept of sexuality in America, the levels of repression are crazy. Any word relating to vagina is a really bad word, nudity is shameful and it’s really upsetting. But over there you use those words as terms of endearment. Here the word ‘minge’ has no meaning, it’s an English word that we don’t use so I think it’s funny, the play on words with the Ming Dynasty.

So it’s like an in joke for us? And we’re supposed to be the prudish ones!

Yeah, exactly. But in a very short 400 years we’ve managed to level that out!

You’ve been working on ‘Feel the Pain’ a song from very early in the band’s history, how did it feel going back to that?

We’re doing a remaster of Menace to Sobriety and we’re going to add that to the re-release of that because it’s from that era. I was just going through some stuff and I found it and I remembered it being such a good song but something that kinda got nipped in the bud. But it was a trip hearing it after all those years; it brought back a lot of memories. I lived in Hollywood for a long time and there was a bar round the corner and this guy Torrance lived in the neighbourhood. He was this massive 7ft black dude who was a door guy and he was always singing as he checked peoples’ IDs and we had him come in and sing on this track. And then Matthew, who was the other MC in the original OPM line up is on the track too. And we haven’t really spoken since we split up back in 2002 and he came back in and that definitely brought back some emotions.

You’ll be closing this tour in Poole. Will we see anything special as the finale for the tour?

For sure! By the time we hit that last show we’re definitely gonna be letting it all hang out. You gotta reserve yourself in the beginning a little bit but y’know we are celebrating 15 years so I think we’re gonna party like it’s 1999.

Words: Liam Fleming

catch opm live @ mr kyps | September 27 FEATURE

y t r a p

month e h t f o

Never one to let a night in Bournemouth pass by without a banging session, Halo has outdone itself with this one…

WHERE: Halo | Exeter Road | Bournemouth WHEN: Sunday 27 September | 10pm HOW MUCH: £12.50 FIND OUT MORE: halobournemouth.com

Having launched the Halo Sessions this time last year, Duke Dumont is back to once again take his seat on the throne as ruler of all things BEATS. Perhaps the most beautiful nightclub in the country; Halo exists inside a magnificent church building in the heart of Bournemouth. The incredible architecture combined with the pulsing rhythms of all the Duke’s classic floorfillers is guaranteed to make this a party you’ll never forget.

NOT YOUR THANG? CHECK OUT SOME OTHER HIGHLIGHTS ON OFFER THIS MONTH… Thank Rock It’s Friday! EVERY FRIDAY @ Sound Circus – drinks for £1.50 and all the best rock, punk and metal tunes in yer face ALL FREAKIN NIGHT

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

20/09 – Fresher’s Moving In Party @ Halo – what better way to break the ice than at one of Bournemouth’s premier super clubs?!

21/09 – District Launch Party @ Old Fire Station – Southampton’s biggest alternative night makes its debut in Bournemouth with DJ sets from Don Broco & all the rock, metal, pop punk & indie classics

party of the month

www.rock-regeneration.co.uk It’s that time of year again when we start to think about the Bournemouth Oxjam Takeover. It’s an annual event that I have been part of for a few years now and it gives myself and my fellow volunteers the chance of putting on a host of local bands over many venues across Bournemouth to raise much needed funds for the deserving charity.

It all kicked off at our launch party at Chaplin’s on the 22nd of August. It will continue with the Oxjam ‘Mini Jam” at Mr Kyps in Poole on the 6th September. This a really exciting event where artists whom are all under the age of 18 get a chance to perform live on stage in an established music venue. It is really difficult for artists of this age to get gigs due to most venues having over 18 rules due to their licensing law. These guys are the future of our music scene and should be given all the help that we can. So get down to Mr Kyps on the 6th of September to support these guys and prepare to be amazed with the amount of brilliant talent we have gathered together.

I had the pleasure of catching up with The Villanova’s last month at Chaplin’s. They are a band who formed in Bournemouth abut have moved away to London for their education. Living in London has many benefits when you are in a band as they now have the opportunity to get their name out there and be playing gigs at venues where the right people will notice them.

They are a four piece retro sounding rock n’ roll band with a large injection of blues. Their two guitarists Brett and Jamie both have a real natural talent with their craft producing a real mature sound.

The band have just released their latest single “Honest Man” which opened the set at the Cellar bar. The song is 4 minutes 36 seconds of pure quality from start to finish, these guys have it all with prefect vocals, creative rhythm section and great twin guitar sound.

The gig was a really uplifting experience with plenty of well written original songs that give a beautiful snapshot of their bright future.

This band is certainly destined for big things, they are not afraid of hard work and have plenty of gigs coming up in the near future.

Check them out at www.thevillanovas.co.uk

CHINNERS

Our gigs of the Month Fri 4th Sept 19:00, Sound Circus, Bournemouth : Moose Blood + Creeper Sat 5th Sept 21:00, White Horse, Swanage : Lady Winwoods Maggot Sun 6th Sept 19:30, Mr. Kyps, Poole : Oxjam Mini Jam (featuring many local artists under 18) Tue 8th Sept 19:00, Old Fire Station, Bournemouth : The English Beat (Featuring Dave Wakeling) Fri 11th Sept 21:00, Grove Tavern, Bournemouth : Harpin’ On Fri 11th Sept 21:00, Goods Yard, Broadstone : Black Water County Sat 12th Sept 22:30, Peppinos Bar, Charminster, Bournemouth : Phil Dewhurst Fri 18th Sept 20:30, Winton Liberal Club, Winton : The Rolling Drunks Tue 22nd Sept 19:00, Sound Circus, Bournemouth : Ugly Kid Joe + Richard’s Crane Fri 25th Sept 21:30, Jalarra, Bournemouth : Funkle Sam Sun 27th Sept 20:30, Lord Nelson, Poole : Calvin Glen Festivals 4-6th Sept Kings Park, Bourenmouth : Boscombe Community Fair 4-6th Sept Water Meadows, Wimborne : Hairyman Music Festival 11-12th Sept Halls Road Farm, Lytchett Matravers : Acoustic Movement Festival Chinners Recommends: Between the Void “Self-Titled” www.betweenthevoid.com Stone Angels Give In To Temptation stoneangels.bigcartel.com Drew Allen Show a Little Mercy www.drewallen.co.uk If you would like to find out more about the gigs and artists mentioned in my blog please go to www.rock-regeneration. co.uk. If you would like your band or gig featured here or on the Rock Regeneration website contact me: chinners@rock-regeneration.co.uk.

The Villanovas

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

Each Wednesday listen to local music show “Livewire Live” between 7-9pm on 90.1 Hope FM or listen online at www.hopefm.com

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previews Ska beats and musical treats

The singer, songwriter behind the biggest 1980’s 2-Tone Band, The Beat (known in the US as The English Beat) is back this side of the pond this month. Dave Wakeling is touring the world with an all-star line-up, performing the hits of The Beat, General Public and a host of new songs.

With pure melody, passion and politics, it’s impossible to forget the genius of Top 10 singles, ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’ and Too Nice To Talk To’.

FOR FANS OF: BAD MANNERS / THE SPECIALS / SQUEEZE

OPM

SEPT 27 | MR. KYPS

Heaven is a Halfpipe

FOR FANS OF: SMASH MOUTH / WHEATUS / BLOODHOUND GANG

The Bay City Rollers are back, featuring Les McKeown, the voice of hits such as: ‘Bye Bye Baby’ and ‘Summer Love Sensation’. The band provided a soundtrack to life for millions of teenage girls across the world, and are back! Playing all the hits and taking everyone on a trip back to simpler times. Why miss out on the chance to enjoy some icons of classic pop at their finest?

FOR FANS OF: DUSTY SPRINGFIELD / THE OSMONDS

BAY CITY ROLLERS

OCT 02| WEYMOUTH PAVILION Indie Singer Songwriter

Having been writing songs since he was 14 years old, Martin Luke Brown has become a very talented singer songwriter, able to produce wonderfully crafted Indie/Soul Music. Songs like ‘Nostalgia’ and ‘Scars on Scars’ will touch the hearts of those that get to experience this intimate event. We can’t think of anything better for an autumnal Thursday night.

OCT 10 | 60 MILLION POSTCARDS Boys Will Be Boys

FOR FANS OF: RAE MORRIS / AMBER RUN / BASTILLE

Expect some ‘Over the Counter Culture’ at this show. Preston and the boys are back to electrify Poole with their unique live show, supporting the release of their new self-titled album, which looks set to stun! We can’t wait to dance to ‘Boys Will Be Boys’. These Indie Rock Starlets will not be messing around when it comes to delivering big songs and a great atmosphere.

FOR FANS OF: MADNESS / THE ENEMY / RAZORLIGHT

DORSET MUSIC | SEPT 2015

SEPT 08| OLD FIRESTATION

Remember ‘Heaven is a Halfpipe’? The band behind the skaters anthem are back to celebrate the fact that the song is now fifteen years old! We’re going to ignore how old that makes us feel and get down to Mr Kyps to party with the band, are you? Watch out for new hit ‘Millionaire Like Me’ as well as a few songs from new E.P. ‘The Minge Dynasty’ at the show for some new party anthems.

70’s Pop Heroes

MARTIN LUKE BROWN

THE BEAT

THE ORDINARY BOYS

OCT 28| MR. KYPS

previews

previews THE PETEBOX

Loop pedal beatbox maestro

His debut album ‘Future Loops’ has seen YouTube views of over 15 million to date, amassing him a global audience. This November The PETEBOX is bringing his explosive live show on tour in the UK to showcase tracks from his forthcoming album ‘Use The Fire’ coinciding with its release. Don’t miss your chance to catch this beatbox superstar as he loops his way through classic covers and original smashers.

NOV 12| 60 MILLION POSTCARDS FOR FANS OF: SHLOMO / ED SHEERAN / THE LOUNGE KITTENS X-Factor Winner

The 2009 winner of The X-Factor is coming to Poole! After launching a successful musical career, with multiple albums and Nationwide tours. This singer can go from belting out a huge pop hit to performing an incredible rendition of an operatic classic. Both styles will be performed live by Joe and his wonderful live band! This is set to be a stunning show.

FOR FANS OF: THE X-FACTOR / WILL YOUNG / OLLY MURS

ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE

NOV 13 | MR. KYPS Rapper with big club anthems

Punk Legends

FOR FANS OF: UK SUBS / SEX PISTOLS / RAMONES

FOR FANS OF: AKON / WYCLEF JEAN / SEAN PAUL

DEC 17 | SOUND CIRCUS

DORSET MUSIC | SEPT 2015

NOV 13 | LIGHTHOUSE

Original Punk Heroes Anti-Nowhere League are back to prove that they are still the loudest, most obnoxious punk band around. Originally gaining fame for their obscenity and explosive attitude, their original work faced the possibility of being banned in the UK. This only led to increase fans hunger for the band. Catch them as intense as ever!

You might know Fuse ODG from his huge hit ‘Dangerous Love’ with Sean Paul, or the fact that he famously turned down the chance to be involved with the most recent Band Aid project. Perhaps you know his other smash hit ‘T.I.N.A’ or the movement that came with it. However you first found out about Fuse ODG, it is widely accepted that he is a great musician and this show will not be a dissapointment.

GNARWOLVES

JOE MCELDERRY

FUSE ODG

NOV 25 | O2 ACADEMY DIY Punk Titans

This band epitomises fun at a live show. They play songs that are universally relatable and yet feel wonderfully individual. Gnarwolves are the new face of punk and there are no two ways about it. With quick songs that hit you in the face before you have time to react the band will pack plenty of huge tunes into the set. Gnarwolves bring everything that belongs in a great punk show: fun, brilliant songs, and passion.

FOR FANS OF: NECK DEEP / ALKALINE TRIO / MOOSE BLOOD

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ones to watch

every single one of us was loving it. After the 4 hours of this first practice were over, we knew we were on to something special and Light Fire Down was born.

What made you first decide to learn an instrument?

It was all to impress a girl I knew. I was 15 and going through a very loud music and long hair stage (Nirvana in this case) and thought this girl would notice me if I did something really cool like play the guitar...turns out it was harder than an over-night thing like I originally imagined and by the time I had learnt to play in any competent way, she had moved half way up the country and I was left with this newly discovered creative skill. Life’s funny like that...

If you had to describe your music in 3 words, how would you sum it up?

Energetic, infectious and sincere.

Pop punk is not dead! The genre itself seems to be having a resurgence of late and we’re seeing so many bands bursting through into the mainstream, for a moment we wondered whether we’d time travelled back to the 00’s. Weymouth’s Light Fire Down were formed in 2012 by Richard Cooper and Max Wilson who were quickly joined by Dan Batten and Ash Polley. Following the outstanding reception of their debut EP “Lighthouse” and second EP release “Piece of You”, Light Fire Down are set on bringing their off kilter sense of humour and melodic punk sounds to the masses, and who better than head honcho Richard Cooper to tell you all about it…

Who are you and what do you do in the band?

I’m Richard Cooper. I sing, play some guitar and do the bare bones songwriting; which essentially means bringing basic acoustic songs to the table for us to get our teeth into as a band.

Tell us about how you got together…

The idea of Light Fire Down had been around for a while. I was playing the local acoustic circuit and had written a handful of songs that were slightly different from anything else I’d done (Carolena among them, technically making it the first LFD song). They were fast, energetic, catchy with a punk edge and I just felt that these songs deserved to be played with a really good quality band behind them to really bring them to life.

Things didn’t really start to kick into gear until 2012 when, through Facebook, I met Max Wilson. This guy absolutely astounded me. A young hard hitting drummer, very technically impressive and a fast learner too as he seemed to be able to come up with great beats to whatever I threw at him. After talking about what we wanted to do we started looking around for a bass player and after a few false starts and one very near all-out quitting period, we were contacted by Ash Polley who offered to play bass so long as he could bring his buddy Dan Batten along with him.

We met up on a rainy night (and it rained every time we met for the rest of that year) to go through some basic ideas I had. We discussed bands we liked and discovered we all had a huge common ground in our main musical influences and we more or less had the same ideas of what we wanted to do in a band. It was then that we decided on the band name too, which is lifted from a song I wrote years before. The song itself sucked but the lyrics had stuck with me for some reason and we thought it had a nice ring to it as a band name and it kind of stuck.

We all met up for a practice a few days later and something just clicked.

Max was like a human-metronome, Ash was coming up with ideas for chord changes and parts to try that I never would have dreamed of and Dan was pulling lead guitar melodies seemingly straight out of the air that just sounded so completely fitting with what I originally had in mind for the songs when they were acoustic tracks. Everything just seemed to fall into place and those simple few songs were suddenly coming alive in ways I had never thought possible and what’s more was

dorset MUSIC | september 2015

You released your EP in February, how did that go?

It was fun. The release itself was on a punk night at Finns in our hometown of Weymouth and did really well, selling half of our prepared pressed CDs in the first night! Since its release everything seems to be happening in leaps and bounds. We’re suddenly being asked to sign CDs and t-shirts (which is still a wholly surreal, yet enjoyable experience I don’t think I’ll ever get over), we’re getting artwork sent to us along with videos of people singing our songs, we’ve had airplay on BBC: Introducing, we’ve been asked to appear on various compilation CDs, etc. It’s all a bit of a crazy ride but we’re loving it.

Are you planning to release anything else and if so, when?

At the moment we’re currently in the process of writing a full-length album. There are some songs we do that aren’t recorded yet that are fan favourites at shows that we really want to get recorded but we don’t want to just release another EP, so we’ve got ourselves up to our necks in new songs and are going through the process of filtering out the best ones to go alongside the ones everybody sings back to us when we play.

If you could tour with anyone, who would it be?

For me it’d be either Alkaline Trio or Therapy?. For Dan it’d probably be The Menzingers, for Ash maybe Bayside and I think Max would happily tour with anyone so long as they rocked out.

What can we expect to see at your live show?

Random banter and me sweating a lot! Seriously though, I think there’s a lot of fun and energy in the music we play, certainly emotion, and we like to think that comes across during our time on stage. When we get people up the front screaming back the words of our songs to us, we can see in their faces just how much they’re enjoying themselves and that means so much to us.

What do you think of the local music scene in Dorset?

I’ve noticed that my home county has been getting a lot more attention by the entertainment industry than usual of late and that can only be a good thing. The music scene in Dorset is incredibly diverse and with more and more well-known acts starting to include Dorset on their tour schedule, it looks like it’s getting prepared to get bigger too, or at least we hope so.

catch light fire down live @ Finns | Weymouth | September 5 & Weymouth Pavilion | September 18

www.facebook.com/LightFireDown

LIGHT FIRE DOWN

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