Devon Music - September 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014

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SEPTEMBER 2014

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Thanks for picking up the September 2014 issue of Devon Music Magazine, your one stop guide to the best music in the county and beyond.

This month we take a look at Exeter’s legendary circuit venue The Cavern courtesy of founder Dave Goodchild, we also chat to young guitar troubadour Lewis Watson ahead of his fast-selling Phoenix show, we catch up with fast rising rockers Blitz Kids and we ask some dumb questions to Dragonforce.

All this plus news, previews, listings and announcements for all of the best venues and events, oh and a chance to win a pair of tickets for Kids in Glass Houses last ever show in Plymouth!

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FEATURE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE

BY DAVE GOODCHILD Sitting in the back of a van, driving away from from The Pit’s in Kortrijk, I was feeling whatever the opposite of homesick is. My band Annalise were coming home from a month long tour of Europe where we had played in some amazing venues, from anarcho squats like Vort’n Vis in Belgium, to more established concert halls like the Melkweg in Amsterdam. We’d had the best time in the world, and now we were driving down that 8-lane autobahn in the horizontal rain toward a city that lacked even the shittest place to see a punk rock show...

Exeter in the early 90s was something of a post-apocalyptic wasteland when it came to venues. The halcyon days of watching the likes of a blood-drenched and drug-addled Malcolm Owen perform Babylon’s Burning at 70s punk club Routes were long gone, seemingly replaced by a parade of tradjazz outfits and Tibetan Nose-flute players at Exeter Arts Centre. Sure, we had been putting on great bands such as Fugazi and Hole at The Lemon Grove, but any attempt at a serious localised punk rock scene in Exeter was constantly being killed at birth. We soon realised that the only way anything was going to happen in this city was if we were to do it ourselves.

done with the spirit of DIY we’d witnessed take scenes, like the one created by Dischord in Washington DC, from strength to strength.

That’s still the Cavern ideal even today.

Over the years we’ve seen many great bands and artists grace the Cavern stage, from the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, The Gossip and Biffy Clyro, to La Roux and Bastille, the list goes on. Exeter locals like Muse, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Thom Yorke of Radiohead could all be seen at shows, and maybe to a certain extent their own music was informed by the bands they saw playing The Cavern.

KAISER CHIEFS

Quicksand was the first Cavern show, and took place on St Valentine’s Day, 1991. In many ways our ideology was defined by that gig; the desire to bring bands from overseas to Exeter, while at the same time providing a platform for the city’s own alternative bands,

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

THE CAVERN

FEATURE The divide between mainstream and underground culture in Exeter has never been as great as it is now. Where the council used to promote the city as the jewel in the region’s cultural crown, their focus is now on high-end retail, with a vision of Exeter’s night time economy as being occupied by restaurants, coffee shops and cocktail bars. The music they promote is of the safe, Britain’s Got Talent variety that can entertain Cath Kidstone clones on that boomy little outside stage in Princesshay, without being too offensive to families.

In effect it’s an assault on culture - for example, ask yourself, when was the last time you were excited by an art exhibition in Exeter?

A poetry reading? A cutting edge performance? Chances are, if you’re into underground culture the only places you’ve seen anything interesting is at The Spacex, the Bikeshed Theatre, The Phoenix or the Cavern.

at least it leaves a social gap to fill. They may have handed the prized Cultural Crown to Plymouth on a plate, and be well on the way to turning Exeter into a Stepford like clone-town, but at least we have bands such as Big Words, The Muncie Girls, I Divide, The Computers, Human Cull, Bangers, Great Cynics, The Heavy Hearted and The Cut Ups promoting Exeter as having some kind of cultural identity.

Fortunately the underground scene has always fared better without council involvement, particularly the underground music scene, which needs to describe cultural and generational gaps anyway, if it’s to mean anything authentic. Their idea of ‘alternative’ is listening to Jack Johnson or Keane after eating a Waitrose meal deal, and that’s a good thing really, because

THE CAVERN is located at 83-84 Queen Street next to Boston Tea Party. To check out what we have on in future months go to our website www.exetercavern.com or call 01392 495370. Every Friday we have House DJs and every Saturday you can see live bands followed by an indie clubnight. We’re also open in the day for vegetarian food.

Come and see some of these groups play at The Cavern, supporting the likes of Eagulls, Auxes, Laura Stephenson,Gnarwolves and The Subways over the coming months. Or better still form your own bands, promote your own shows, make your own ‘zines, and terraform some kind of cultural landscape, because just like when the Cavern opened 23 years ago nothing will happen unless you ‘Do It Yourself’.

SKINDRED

COLDPLAY MUSE

ROYAL BLOOD

DON’T MISS: Wed 3 Sept EZRA FURMAN, THU 5 Sept THE HEAVY HEARTED, Sat 13 Sept CROOKED LITTLE SONS, Tue 16 Sep THICK AS THIEVES, Fri 26 Sept OUR HOUSE presents BLUEPRINT, Fri 3 Oct MAGIC HATSTAND, Sun 5 Oct ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD, Tue 7 Oct THE SUBWAYS, Sun 12 Oct THE DIRTY YOUTH, Thu 16 Oct EAGULLS, Mon 20 Oct PATENT PENDING, Tues 21 Oct THE TREATMENT, Sat 25 Oct Josh Pyke, Tues 28 Oct AS ELEPHANTS ARE.

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

THE CAVERN

Plymouth’s Premier Live Music Venue & Nightclub

SEPTEMBER 5 - The Wounded Kings / Space Witch + Support (doors 8pm) 6 - Clubland X-Treme Hardcore Tour with Hixxy, Breeze, Ultrabeat, Dougal + more (9:30pm-5am) 12 - Triple A + support (Doors 8pm) 13 - Antimatador + Future Dub Orchestra (Doors 8pm) 19 - Stars In Their Eyes: Plymouth Featuring The Lounge Kittens, Vioent Virtues as Whitechaple + Many More (Doors 6:30pm)

19 - Marjon Official Freshers Event with the Futuristic Polar Bears (10:30pm-4am) 20 - Loose People Residents Party - Official UPSU Event (10pm-5am) 24 - The Zoo - Plymouth’s Biggest Fancy Dress Freshers Week Party (10pm-4am) 25 - UV Rave - The Biggest UV Rave hitting Plymouth this Freshers Week (10pm-4am) 26 - This Wild Life + Rob Lynch (Doors 8pm) 26 - Garage Nation with Wookie, DJ Cartier + many more! (11pm-6am) 27 - MC Devvo + Unanymous + JK47 (Doors 7:30pm) 27 - Loose People with Darius Syrossian + more - Official UPSU Event (11pm-6am) 30 - Blitz Kids + Natives & Scholars (Doors 7:30pm)

OCTOBER 2 - Dragonforce + Stormborn (Doors 7:30pm) 3 - One Love with Eton Messy + many more (11pm-5am) 4 - Loose People - Official UPSU Event (10pm-5am) 5 - Kids In Glass Houses + Save Your Breath (Doors 7:30pm) 10 - Land of The Giants + support (Doors 8pm)

facebook.com/TheHubPlymouth

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Monday 27 October

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The debut album TRIBUTE available now

FEATURE

We’re hearing it more and more these days. Exciting new musician releases home-recorded, self-funded videos on YouTube, builds up a fanbase and eventually gets ‘discovered’. In summer 2012 Lewis Watson self-released his debut EP It’s Got Four Sad Songs On It, BTW and it topped the iTunes singer-songwriter chart on the first day of release, outselling the likes of Adele, Madonna and Ed Sheeran in the process. It landed the then nineteen-year-old singersongwriter a deal with Warner Bros. Records and Lewis’ profile has continued to grow ever since. All five (yes, FIVE) of his EPs to date have hit the Top 10 at iTunes and the world has eagerly awaited the release of his first full length album.

This June saw we finally got our hands on ‘The Morning’, an album which demonstrates Lewis’ growing powers as a songwriter. It combines fully-realised reworkings of select songs that emerged as sketches on his early EPs (notably ‘Into The Wild’ and ‘Windows’) together with the best of the sixty (yes, SIXTY) unreleased songs that he wrote last year.

The newer material – including the first single and instant grat track ‘Stay’, Holding On’, ‘Outgrow’ and ‘Castle Street’ – takes Lewis’ stripped-back guitar-and-voice roots and constructs a richer, more textured sound around him.

Always one to give his fans a little extra, in addition to the album, a special D2C book edition will be released with a bonus 52-page diary which tells the story of the making of the album. “I wanted people to be able to see the journey of me as an artist and the evolution of the songs. It’s unorthodox, but I feel very lucky that I’ve had that opportunity” says Lewis. And it seems that simple honesty is at the heart of all that he does. We caught up with him recently to delve a little deeper into the world of Watson…

You recently released your long awaited first full length album ‘the Morning’ – how has that been?

A bit overwhelming, really. A little relieving but mostly overwhelming.

I’m a massive worrier so I worried about it a lot but, at the same time, all I could do was make sure that I had an album that I was happy with and hope that the rest fell into place.

You’ve released loads of EPs in the last few years, do you think there’s any great difference to releasing an album as compared to an EP? Are albums more important in a way?

Definitely, we made sure that the EPs were a bit more lo-fi; demos, monitor mixes, etc. and I think that had a charm to it. An album has to be finished and polished for people to feel like it’s the final release and that we weren’t halfass-ing it which brought a lot of pressure, too. No excuses!

You write a lot of songs (over 60 last year!), was it hard to choose which ones you wanted to put on the album?

Yeah, it was a bit of a problem but it’s a great problem to have. I would’ve hated to get to the album and not have enough songs; that would’ve been the worst.

And are you already thinking about album number two?

I always have been. A wise man called Joe once told me ‘you have your whole life to write album one but only a year to write album two’ and because of that, I’ve always had album two in the back of my head. I think it’s almost half written.

How does it feel being compared to Ed Sheeran all the time?

I think it’s a lazy comparison, our music is pretty different… however, it’s a compliment, the guy is a true gent and has the best work ethic that I’ve ever seen, so I’ll take the compliment.

You’ve selected Amber Run and Andreas Moe to accompany you on this tour, tell us about those choices…

I always have to be into the support acts on tour. I will enjoy the

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

night regardless because I love being on stage with the band but I’m going to share the road/stage with these people for a month.

I need to enjoy their music! I always pick acts that I love and want other people to love.

You’re not only touring the UK this time, but Europe and the States. Is there anywhere you’re particularly excited to see?

Canada. I’ve never been and I’ve imagined it being the nicest place for so long. I like the cold and every Canadian that I’ve met has been an outstanding person. I can’t wait. (and Exeter of course!)

You spend a lot of time engaging with fans via your social media and it’s played a huge part in your success, do you think it’s a good thing that fans have such easy access to musicians these days?

Yeah, it’s helped me a lot. I think that a bit of mystery is a good thing, people will grow tired of a person if they know every in-and-out of their life. However, I really like an insight into the artists/bands that I love so I think it’s great in small doses.

What’s your favourite thing about touring?

Being able to travel from place to place and having the opportunity to play music to a crowd of people. There was a long time when I would play a gig every night in Oxford to 3 or 4 people (if I was lucky) so it blows my mind that we can go to places we’ve never been before and potentially have hundreds of people want to come and listen to us play.

If you had the chance to collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

An Australian singer/songwriter called Matt Corby. He’s brilliant and I’d love to pick his brains in the studio.

Words Zan Lawther

UPCOMING SHOWS: EXETER PHOENIX | 20st September

LEWIS WATSON

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21/08/2014 15:39

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FEATURE It’s a story we’re all familiar with: school friends form a band through a combined desire to turn passion for music into sounds of their own. Blitz Kids are a British rock band purposefully navigating their way up the ranks, and with recent album The Good Youth it’s plain to see (or hear!) that they’ve found their sound. The new album sees the Crewe-founded four-piece wholly capitalise on the potential they’ve shown since emerging into the public eye. Recorded in the USA with John Feldmann [of Goldfinger fame] producer for the likes of Panic at the Disco, All Time Low and Kelis. It’s full of gritty lyrics and honest sincerity, yet melodically bursting with Californian rays.

But things haven’t come together overnight; the roots of this band go way back, to when 11 year old Joe would walk to school beside the year-above Jono. Nick Montgomery was also known to the pair from afternoons playing in sandpits and when teenage years descended and the itch to create music was finally scratched, the three came together to contest battle-of-the-bands events: Joe on drums at the time, Nick on bass and Jono on guitar. Influences – from emo to punk, post-hardcore to nu-metal – were assimilated and processed into the future foundations of Blitz Kids.

Friendships remained but the songs didn’t stay the same; Joe moved out from behind the drum kit to centre-stage, and Blitz Kids was born. EP releases and self-booked tours took the band from boisterous backstreet bar rooms to toilet-circuit triumphs. Their live set became their lifeblood and, today, it’s still performing that fills this band with palpable enthusiasm. Now joined by drummer Matt Freer, Joe, Jono and Nick have fused a previously unexplored lyrical introspection with some of the band’s most instant-gratification compositions yet. This accessibility is evident from lead single ‘On My Own’, a track that complements its dark heart with vibrantly upbeat motifs and a proper holler-yourself-sore chorus.

This band’s ambition is massive: their sights are set on headlining Reading and Leeds one day [where kids Joe and Jono would camp at Leeds for their summer-break rock fix] and it’s not an entirely fantastical dream either. With songs this radio-friendly but blessed with uncommon depth, Blitz Kids could see the new album propel them towards the vanguard of contemporary rock crews. ‘Pop’ to this band is not a dirty word; to be popular would mean achieving their dreams, the moment they’ve been building towards since they were teenagers. We nabbed a few minutes with lead vocalist Joe James to find out exactly how it’s all working out…

You’re starting your tour in Plymouth, have you played here before?

Yes we played the White Rabbit with Mallory Knox last November, it’s a real shame that the venue has closed down. It was a great intimate venue with tons of character and will be sorely missed.

own source of therapy. I think it’s important for me to share what I’ve been through so that anyone else who has experienced similar things can relate to that. Hopefully it can help them and in that way I’m making a positive impact with that we’re doing.

After the UK, you’re off into Europe with Deaf Havana, that must feel like a pretty big step…

We’ve been out to mainland Europe a few times now and it feels like a second home. The fans are so lovely and the promoters really look after you. Havana are close friends of ours and like us they enjoy a scoop or two! So if we come back alive I’ll count that tour a roaring success.

Are you writing at the moment?

Yes. We’re taking our time with the next record which is something we’ve never done before and it feels good. That’s not to say that it’s going to be a millennia before it comes out, we’ve been writing for a while. We wanted to give ourselves a head start.

But you recently jetted off around Europe on your own headline tour, how do you think the two will compare?

It’s impossible to tell. Our headline tour was a great success and I’m sure everyone who came out to see us on that will come again in October!

Then it’s our job to make sure they have an equally great time and hopefully we’ll make a few new fans while we’re at it!

What’s the best festival you’ve played this year?

It’s got to be Slam Dunk festival. We’ve never had a bad show there. There is such a great vibe about the whole festival. It’s all about discovering new bands, revelling in the nostalgia of older ones and having a great time with your friends.

Do you prefer playing festival shows or sweaty venues?

Every show is different. It’s impossible to choose. I feed off the energy of the crowd so sometimes it all depends on them.

You write about a lot of personal issues like anxiety and depression. Do you think it’s important to connect with fans over issues like this?

I always write from experience and sometimes my lyrics become my

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

What can we expect from your live shows?

They are full of energy. We engage a lot with our audience and we give it everything we can every night.

Who’s got the worst habits on the tour bus and what are they?

I sleep a lot, too much really. Jono cracks his knuckles which goes right through me and Nic and Ice Man are a devilishly naughty duo on a night out. When the rhythm section start the party, it never stops.

Which one of you would make the best girl?

Jono would be a right thirsty little minx if he was a girl and I don’t think he’d mind me saying that. Nic would be the prettiest, those cheekbones.

And finally…..if there was a blitz what one thing would you rescue from you house and why?

My iPhone although it would be glued in my hand anyway… so my cat.

He’s a good chap.

Words Zan Lawther Upcoming shows: THE HUB | plymouth | 30TH SEPTEMBER

www.facebook.com/blitzkidsuk

BLITZ KIDS

acoustica festival exeter’s festival of alt-folk, folktronica and americana

over 50 bands and artists, in 6 venues, on 11 stages across the city.

12 - 14 sep AdvAnce: £6 per dAy £10 weekend) On the dOOr: £8 per dAy (£12 weekend)

line-up...

Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, Winter Mountain, Death & Treason, Rhyme & Reason (a dark musical cabaret), Black Feathers, Kezia, Grice, Tom Hickox, Jess McAllister, Bite The Buffalo, Sam Fearon, Richard O’Hara, the pick of student singer songwriters from the Academy of Music, Blair Dunlop, Hannah Lou Clark, Arhai, Nick Harper, Count To Fire, David Harbottle, Woodford Green, Moor Reason, Sunday Skyclub, Wildwood Kin, Polly Money, young singer songwriters from Exeter Phoenix, plus many many more... live music at the folloWing venues...

Exeter Phoenix, Bike Shed Theatre, Old Firehouse, Barnfield Theatre, The Globe & Oddfellows

AcOusticAfestivAl.cO.uk Bradninch Place, Gandy Street, Exeter, EX4 3LS | 01392 667080 | exeterphoenix.org.uk

SEPTEMBER AT

Live music venue and great food!

student deals available facebook.com/ TikiBarPlymouth

Friday, 5th

Thursday, 18th

Saturday, 6th

Tuesday, 23rd

Tiki Sessions III: Unorthodox, Tiny Folds

Martyr Defiled, Set to break

SUNDAY, 7th

Thursday, 25th

Totem Skin, Tendrils

BLACK ART

wednesday, 10th

EVERY FRIDAY!

“Burlesque in the Basement”

crows-an-wra, Boxkite

Corrupt moral altar, teething

“Tear It up! “ Rockabilly, vintage, surf...

5

1

13 6

2

14 3

2

12

11

1 7

3

4

8 8

7

1

4

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4 5 6

5

2

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Thirst

Plymouth

7 3

1 The White Rabbit 2 The Hub 3 Club Envy 4 Pavillions

5 Plymouth Uni 6 Tiki Bar 7 Thirst 8 Last Shop Standing

Exeter

1 The Phoenix

2

5

2 The Cavern

1

3 The Lemon Grove 6

4

4 The Corn Exchange 5 Mama Stones 6 Exeter Cathedral 7 Exeter Great Hall

COMPETITION

Welsh rockers Kids in Glass Houses are calling it a day. but not before one final blast around the UK smashing out their biggest tunes one last time. You could be at The Hub in Plymouth with a pal singing yer little socks off, just answer this frankly ridiculous question, it’s so silly we’re almost ashamed...

Q: What should people in glass houses not do?

Email your answer to: competitions@devon-music.com or send us a direct message via Twitter or facebook. Competition closes 01/10/14 /devonmusicmag @D e v o n M u s i c M a g

devon MUSIC | september 2014

kids in glass houses

If you weren’t called Dragonforce, what would you be called?

I guess dragon heart?!

If you could be any creature from Greek mythology, what would you be?

Icarus Have you ever Googled yourself and if so, what was the weirdest thing you found?

Really unflattering pictures of myself What’s the best thing about being a rock star?

Free t-shirts & people think you’re cool when you’re not!

If you had to lose an eye, a hand or a foot, which one would it be?

A foot.. or an eye. Eye patches are cool :) If you had to cover a nursery rhyme, which one would it be?

Three blind mice, I already know it on the recorder.

Who takes the longest to get ready in the mornings?

Probably me!

What’s the worst thing about being a rock star?

Cold sweaty handshakes!

If you had the choice to make unicorns real or bring dinosaurs back to life, what would you choose?

Dinosaurs, so we could all look at them and actually agree on their existence and destroy all wayward theories with one fell swoop.

Would you rather have a cat that can talk or a dog that can fly?

I’d rather a dog that can talk, but without that option, I guess the talking cat would be quite cool.

Look to your left, the first thing you see is what you have to defend yourself in the zombie apocalypse, what is it?

Hermans garden chair!

Who is your favourite dragon?

Spyro the dragon I guess haha What’s your favourite band you’ve ever supported?

Iron Maiden and Trivium

catch dragonforce live: the hub | plymouth | October 1st

previews Happy singalong pop rock

WHEATUS

It’s hard to believe that ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ is now 13 years old but Wheatus have stood the test of time and despite numerous changes within the band, their unmistakable sound remains as fresh and bouncy as it was back in 2000.

Upbeat and carefree, Wheatus both old and new will have you grinning from ear to ear!

FOR FANS OF: BOWLING FOR SOUP / SUM 41

TOM BAXTER

OCT 01 | PHOENIX, EXETER

SEP 25 | JOLLY FARMER, NEWTON ABBOT

Stunning singer songwriter gets better and Better After gathering broad critical and public acclaim for his first two albums “Feather & Stone” and “Skybound” Tom Baxter returns to the touring circuit with his sumptious vocals and pleasing melodies. Baxter showcases his masterful guitar playing and raw, confessionary depth of lyrics and voice. Truly captivating you really can hear a pin drop from the moment he walks out on stage.

FOR FANS OF: TURIN BRAKES / BETH ORTON / DUKE SPECIAL

Foot stompin, rockin, ska punk

GHOULS

This six-piece London-based band’s sound derives from an array of musical influences ranging from Gypsy, Punk, Ska, Hip Hop, Soul and Garage Rock. Their eclectic musical sound is mixed with honest storytelling calling to mind modern greats such as The Skints, Gogol Bordello and Arctic Monkeys. Ghouls are known for their crazy stage antics and love getting the audience involved as much as they can.

FOR FANS OF: KIDS CAN’T FLY / ZEBRAHEAD / NECK DEEP

THE DIRTY YOUTH

OCT 12 | CAVERN, EXETER Heartfelt melodic hardcore

OCT 04 | CAVERN, EXETER Female fronted hard rocking heroes

They may be fronted by a girl but there’s no shortage of balls in this band. Hard hitting, dirty rock washes over you in huge crashing waves as Danni Monroe’s searing vocals sail overhead. The South Wales five piece have been smashing their way through festival shows and world tours supporting the likes of Korn, The Rasmus and Reckless Love since they leapt into the scene in 2010 .

FOR FANS OF: HEAVEN’S BASEMENT / PARAMORE

CLIMATES

Hailing from the tiny town of Lincoln, comes the hard working, melodic hardcore quintet that is Climates. The band have taken the UK and European hardcore scene by storm with their unique sound of melodic hardcore, which combines the urgency in Wes Thompson’s voice and the heartfelt lyrics, backed by the explosive music hammered out by the rest of the band.

FOR FANS OF: YOUR DEMISE / THE GHOST INSIDE / BURY TOMORROW

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

OCT 23 | TIKI, PLYMOUTH

previews

previews KERBDOG

NOV 18| THE HUB, PLYMOUTH

90s grunge rockers return

Cerebral and heavy tones with a generous helping of grungey riffs are the order of the day from 90’s Irish heroes Kerbdog.

Shimmering melodies abound with effective breakdowns between crunching guitars.Their fans remain firecely loyal despite several comings and goings over the years but they’re BACK and on the road again to delight followers new and old.

FOR FANS OF: THE WILDHEARTS / THERAPY? / REUBEN

A Welsh cocktail of punk, reggae, rock and metal

From sleepy Wales to main stage festival heavyweights (Download this year, anyone?), Skindred are ready to go hard or go home with tracks from their 5th album “Kill the Power”, released earlier this year. Having created their own genre of ragga-metal, there ain’t no mosh pit sweatier than a Skindred mosh pit and as one of the UK’s best live acts, we have no doubt this show will be INSANE. FOR FANS OF: SYSTEM OF A DOWN / KORN / SLIPKNOT

HACKTIVIST

SKINDRED

NOV 21 | THE HUB,PLYMOUTH Bounce to the BASS

Featuring ex-members of HOAC and Margot Kidder, hard-hitting, raw energy is assured at any Hacktivist show. With bass as heavy as you can handle and two rap vocalists these boys are LOUD and have been hammering their way through the scene, laying waste to festivals and venues alike. We defy you not to get down to this new brand of noise as Hacktivist breathe new life into rap metal.

NOV 28 | THE HUB, PLYMOUTH FOR FANS OF: TESSERACT / MONUMENTS / BORN OF OSIRIS Epic and explosive return of metal SABATON Already meeting chart success this year with their newest studio album, Heroes, going straight to number one in Sweden, it’s clear that Sabaton mean business. Still raging with their dramatically intense guitar riffs, accompanied by the heavy metal roaring from lead vocalist Joakim Broden, the band are as powerful on stage as they are on record. Get ready to bang your heads!

FOR FANS OF: IRON MAIDEN / ALESTORM / CORRODED

THE HUMAN LEAGUE

NOV 30 | THE HUB, PLYMOUTH Keeping the synth contemporary

In March we saw the song “Don’t You Want Me” re-enter the charts after its release over 30 years ago, and now we have The Human League touring again. A great year right? Expect a repeat of their best tracks, packed with the heavy use of synthesisers and electronic rhythms they’re best known for. Original member, Philip Oakey, will be backed by Susan Sulley and Joanne Catheral for a night of pure electro pop.

DEC 14 | PLYMOUTH PAVILIONSFOR FANS OF: DURAN DURAN / PET SHOP BOYS / TEARS FOR FEARS

DEVON MUSIC | SEPTEMBER 2014

previews

ones to watch

Auction for the Promise Club are an indie rock three-piece hailing from St Agnes. The band have recently been taking the country by storm, appearing at festivals such as Bestival, Boardmasters, Y Not, Lodestar, Leopallooza and the Olympic Park during London 2012.

Their debut EP, One was recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studio and Cube Recordings and combines the haunting vocals and stunning good looks of lead singer Zoe White Chambers with a fresh look at guitar-based indie rock. They have been gaining support on BBC 6Music, NME Radio, XFM, Absolute and Amazing Radio and are definitely coming through as Ones to Watch out for over the coming months.

Even Rolling Stone picked up on them with the release of recent single ‘Walk the Line’ So what is the fuss all about? And just where have they been all our lives? We caught up with the band to delve a little deeper…

How did you get together as Auction for the Promise Club?

Corr it’s a long story and we won’t bore you with the ins and outs!

Who does what in the band?

Zoe is the lead singer/guitarist/keys, Perran is the lead guitarist/keys/ computers and Toby is Zoe’s brother that just sits at the back hitting stuff with sticks.

You’ve just released a video for new single Ghost, how do you come up with your video concepts?

Zoe usually has a bit of a narrative but sometimes they are just visual or performance based. We felt the Ghosts song suited the starkness of the early morning beach and ocean.

Devon MUSIC |SEPTEMBER 2014

Which bands are you loving at the moment?

Foxes, Alt-J, Public Service Broadcasting, Radiohead etc Which festivals have you played this summer and do you have a favourite?

We haven’t played many festivals this summer because we have been writing for the next couple of releases. We have three singles coming out soon and in the meantime we are recording the next EP! What’s the best live show you’ve ever played?

Bestival was awesome or the last Islington O2 gig was great but to be honest you can’t beat a lashed up crowd in the Southwest, they know how to party!

And what’s the best live show you’ve ever been too?

We were playing at the Joiners in Southampton once and there was a girl playing called Laurel Arnell-Cullen….. she was amazing, great little songs and a beautiful voice, look out for her.

What’s next for Auction for the Promise Club?

This month we are shooting a video for the next single ‘This May Hurt’ and then other two singles to follow. We have been focusing on the writing and developing songs for the next recording sessions so all being well we should have a new EP out around Christmas/New Year time.

Where can we see you live?

The next Southwest gig is the 13th September at the Palladium Club in North Devon which should be a great night! Usually is :-) www.facebook.com/auctionforthepromiseclubmusic www.youtube.com/user/AuctionForThePromise twitter.com/AFTPC FOR FANS OF: PJ HARVEY / SONIC YOUTH / NICK CAVE

Auction for the promise club