RMP Magazine #15 by RMP Magazine

RMP Magazine #15

THANKS TO

CEO

Writers

Kenny Leys // CEO

Cameron Smith // Copywriter liaison

David Marote // Managing Editor

Lisa Leysen Holly Reijs David Gilmore

Design

Paulien Verfaillie

Jolien Krijnen // Chief designer

Matthew Howard

Ray Slavenburg

Charlotte Davidson

Lazlo Cootmans

Roel Vanobbergen

Editors Frederik Geuvens // Editor in chief Krystal Cole

Photography Daria Colaes Matt Howard Charlotte Davidson Jurriaan Hodzelmans Dirk Mai

www.rock-metal-punk.org 2

RMP Magazine #15

Stefan Van Den Broek

CONTENT

Inter view//The Maine

Inter view//Lonely The Brave

20 I n t e r v i e w / / ASTPAI

I n t e r v i e w / / Rise Against

28 Inter view//Frank Iero

34 Inter view//Justice In Eyre

Album r eviews

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Thanks To

A W

FROM THE EDITOR

Hello again! So here we are again, tired but satisfied from all the great festivals that already took place. The dedicated team of RMP photographers delivered you front row shots from international festivals as Vans Warped Tour, 2000 Trees festival and many more to catapult you right into the middle of the action. But no rest for the weary, there’s still another month of festivals and shows around the corner! In the meantime while catching some breath and prepping for the next festival here’s our RMP Magazine issue 15. In this issue we were able to talk with the guys of The Maine and Lonely The Brave, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against about their latest album and former My Chemical Romance guitar player Frank Iero who has a new solo album about to be released. We even sat down with Austrian pop punkers Astpai regarding their newest release and chatted up with Boston based RMP photographer Matt Howard to find out all the details regarding his medieval themed clothing line Justice In Eyre. If that doesn’t cut for you yet then we still have some amazing photographs lined up of recent events, our monthly glance at upcoming festivals and to top that off there’s a fresh batch of reviews waiting for you to guide you in your future music purchases while you can listen to Nick Santino’s addition to the mixtape catalogue.

David Marote

Managing editor RMP magazine

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THE EDITOR’S CHOICE

T w i t c h i n g To n g u e s

– Wo r l d Wa r L i v e

Twitching Tongues are back with a new release, this time it’s a live release titled World War. And a war is indeed what’s going on inside your head when listening to this nifty little album. Nine live tracks compiled from previous albums will convince you why these guys are the next big thing to watch out for. From epic studio albums to a crushing live performance, this band will destroy everything on its path. With a solid live reputation that exceeds their albums already, they decided it was time to put some of that live madness onto tape to put an end to the discussion of what’s best, live or album. Released through their own Closed Casket Activities label, this live album is a grotesque display of the talent the young wolf pack possesses, combining the sounds of their musical forefathers with references like Carnivore, Life Of Agony, Integrity and more contemporary brethren, all balled up into a massive wall of sound to without a doubt knock you off your feet. Added surplus to this live record is the stage rants in between tracks where Taylor Young heckles the crowd present at the recordings, by putting them on the wrong track during intros of songs or just taking off in the middle of the set to take a piss. The interaction between crowd and band you hear on this recording will place you straight into the middle of this recorded set. If this is the future sound of World War then I’m signing up today at the recruitment centre for the frontline where these guys are stationed.

Escape The Cult

– A l l Yo u W a n t To

What happens when you take some of the band members of some of best progressive metal bands around these days and put them together to work on a new and exciting project? Well, Escape The Cult may be the answer to that question. Conceived in 2008 by Peter G. Shallmin (Kamlath), soon to be joined by good folks such as Tim Alexander (Primus, A Perfect Circle), Mike Wead (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate) and Matthieu Romarin (Uneven Structure) they started to distil their own project taking progressive metal to the next level in both sound and visuals. Five years of blood, sweat and tears crawled into the release of All You Want To, their debut album that is about to be released. Overall the album is a must for prog fans because as expected the cooperation of these four individuals led to some amazing musicianship. But as discussed earlier the concept involves the visual aspect too, a first glance at what to expect is given by the stunning artwork for All You Want To by Igor (Uneven Structure). The story of Escape The Cult is still evolving as we speak.

La Ar mada

– Crisis

La Armada is a battleship destroyer set to haunt the seven seas, with their roots in the Dominican Republic the band moved to Chicago in 2007 to extensively tour the US. With their latest EP Crisis they display another facet of this diamond in the rough band. Their Latin heritage reflects throughout the whole record by the complex rhythmic patterns used to create their own genre defining mix of crust, hardcore, punk and grindcore. The occasional Spanish parts in the lyrics and the matching accent of their vocalist also play a role in their overall sound. From opener “Chiraq”, the term coined to describe their hometown of Chicago’s less attractive neighbourhoods, to the magnificent “Bad Brains” medley where several classic hardcore tracks by the Bad Brains are compiled into one amazing track with a ‘La Armada touch’ to it. “Human Filth” is another stomper that oozes of socio-political comment and will get your fists pumping for social equality. “Vicho-Leonelista” and “Obsolenscencia” announce the return to their Latin-American background as these tracks are completely in Spanish and followed by a cultural inspired outro, Crisis grinds to an end. Short but chaotic as a crisis should be La Armada is a force to be reckoned with.

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Writer // Matthew Howard Photographer // Dirk Mai

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fter a 5 year departure The Maine made their return to Vans Warped tour following the release of Forever Halloween Deluxe Edition. The band recently left the major label scene and set out on their own, producing under their privately owned label ‘8123’. RMP caught up with Jared on the Massachusetts’ Warped date to discuss their views on the music industry, their development as a band and the Vans Warped Tour culture.

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INTERVIEW // THE MAINE

Please introduce yourself and say what you do in the band. My name is Jared James Monaco the first – I play guitar in The Maine. Before the start of Warped Tour this summer you re-released Forever Halloween and tacked on a handful of previously unreleased B-side tracks. Why did these tracks, including the single ‘Ugly on the Inside’, not make the original printing of the album and what changed that you now feel comfortable releasing them to the public? Well I think it was – we were happy with the songs we had selected for Forever Halloween. And there were probably like two or three that we were kind of up in the air about – and they ended up just not making it. I personally thought

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they could have been on the record but they still needed some more work and so – We even had two songs left over, I think it was two songs from The Pioneer Sessions, that we did. And so we took those plus the ones that were left over from Forever Halloween, brought them into the studio in Phoenix, polished them up, and those were the five songs we put out as the deluxe edition. Yeah, they could have fit, but we just didn’t have room for them so that’s kind of why. Where did the inspiration come from to record Forever Halloween on tape? We actually took a meeting with err… I’m a big fan of Ryan Adams and he is based out of LA. We were in town and he kind of invited us into his studio. I’ve always loved the way that his records sound

and I kind of got to see how he makes them while we were there. It just got us thinking – it got the gears turning, thinking “maybe we can do that, maybe we can record live all at the same time and record it to tape”. So yeah, we met with Brendan Benson from Raconteurs; he produced Forever Halloween. He was very familiar with recording to tape, doing everything analogue – so he was kind of our guide into that process. He really helped us get through it and actually feel comfortable with it. As a band, what were the biggest advantages and disadvantages of recording on tape? I think the biggest advantage obviously is that you immediately hear what you sound like as a band. You’re not waiting for someone in another room to edit it,

“You’re not waiting for someone in another room to edit it, you’re not waiting for someone to auto-tune this or fuck with that or whatever.”

you’re not waiting for someone to auto-tune this or fuck with that or whatever. For us it was like – you step out of the tracking booth and into the control booth and you instantly hear what that song sounds like. And that was the coolest feeling I think – I don’t think anything else could replace that. As an artist that instant gratification

– as soon as you lay your part down everyone’s done – the song is pretty much done. We overdubbed some guitar leads and stuff, but that was it. As far as disadvantages there’s a lot of setup – it would take us about 8 hours every day to get all the tones dialled in and then we’d track one song. So it would be like 8 hours of setup, about 3 or 4 hours of tracking.

So really long waiting around, waiting for all the engineers to take care of everything. A few months ago it was announced that you and John had formed a side project called Eagles In Drag with other members of 8123.

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INTERVIEW // THE MAINE

Do you have any other side projects sprung up over the years and how do they affect the band dynamic within The Maine? Everyone has kind of their own thing they like to do. Me and John did the Eagles In Drag stuff which is a fucking blast. Pat, our drummer, he actually just produced Nick Santino’s new record so – not quite a side project but he had his hands in that. Garrett I know was there too working on that with him. Kenny is kind of like the guitar and pedal guy. He loves to dive into the technology behind that kind of shit. So no real side project but, you know, we’re always down to jam with whomever! Shit’s always happening – we’re always working on something.

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The switch from producing music for a major label to independently obviously has its perks as you’ve mentioned in previous interviews, namely an incredible amount of creative freedom. Can you talk a little bit about some of the struggles that come along with producing music on your own? I mean I think when you’re producing a record independently, or doing anything independently really, there’s no one really to tell you “no”. It’s also a great thing, but you can go too far. Like on Pioneer we recorded 27 or 28 songs for that record. And if you listen to some of the ones that didn’t make it they’re just like “Holy shit what band is this?” – it doesn’t even really sound, you know – which is awesome!

Because I think it is so crucial for an artist to find themselves and who they really are – to explore everything! You don’t have to put it out, you can record whatever you want, write whatever you want – you don’t have to release it. Release what you know what is representative of what you sound like. We were able to kind of open up that spectrum which got really scary because we saw a potential that we could be this really spaceyrock band and lose a lot of fans potentially because no one knows us like that. So we kind of dialled it back and learned. It actually ended up being a really good thing.

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INTERVIEW // THE MAINE

Now that you’re producing independently, how useful are festivals like Warped Tour? They are incredibly, incredibly useful. I mean – just on Warped Tour alone we’ve sold close to 4000 records – like just hustling. We walk the line every day, we’re talking to kids, we’ve got our sign with our set time, I’m hanging posters myself like every morning; I’m doing the Street Team stuff. It’s such a great opportunity and it would be such a shame for a band to sit on their ass all day and waste it because that’s why you’re out here. You’re out here to hustle, to get in front of as many new people as you can. John mentioned in an interview last year that major labels have a tendency to turn music into a business venture rather than a creative process,

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and that you’re producing independently from your personal savings. On the other hand, at the end of the day you are all professional musicians and rely on this to support yourselves, your families, etc. How do you find a satisfying balance between the creative and business ends of professional musicianship? Well – you know – wow that’s great. I think it is a business and I think we see this band as a business as much as we see it as a creative outlook for ourselves. The thing that has helped us kind of balance is our manager, Tim, I grew up with him, I know the kid so well and he’s our drummer Pat’s older brother. So we have this weird connection that kind of flows through the band and through friends to the core of the whole operation which is 8123, which is Tim’s

– it’s our label now. I think that balancing – I guess it happens when we put all of the responsibility on him and let him handle the label side of things. We’re I guess – what’s the word I’m looking for – we’re approving things non-stop. He’s always asking us if we approve of this decision. But it also gives us space to go work and be a band and write and be creative and expressive. It’s kind of cool. We have this really weird thing going happening and it’s working so far so I’m happy.

Do you think your growth as musicians has had an effect on your success and fan base? It’s funny I heard someone say, I forgot who said it, a while ago – they said “Man, if you guys kept being the band that you were in ’09 or whatever you’d be in the biggest band in that scene right now”. I remember thinking “Well shit that’s cool I guess”. But I don’t want to be the biggest band in a specific scene; I don’t want to be pigeonholed. None of us do.

A lot of people point out the change in sound the band has gone through over the past 7-some-odd years and I think you’ve made it clear that you write for yourselves and not to fit any mould, whether it be set by a label, a genre, or a previous record.

You have to be able to look at yourself and realize you’re an 18 or a 19 year old kid writing that first record and you have to know that – if you don’t grow from that point, how is 18 or 19 the point in your life where you put out your best work.

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INTERVIEW // THE MAINE

I mean, for some people it might be but, there’s so much growing left to do and we’ve been so fortunate that our fans have stuck with us and supported everything that we’ve done. I think that for the people that say “You would have been more successful.” or whatever – it’s like I don’t know if that’s something that we wanted in that realm. I think we wanted to express and be who we were. We don’t want to be classified, you know?

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In writing for yourselves do you find it troublesome to be constantly grouped into genres and styles? Not really, I think people need it, there’s this human desire to classify things. With everything, it’s not just with music it’s like with fucking food groups, whatever. Everybody wants to classify and I get that I do the same thing. I hate asking bands “What do you sound like?” if I’ve never heard them because that puts you in such a shitty spot because you have to say

“Oh we sound like Tom Petty meets – you know whatever”. I understand the need to classify; it helps people understand, it helps people move forward. But we’re not thinking about that when we go into the studio or when we’re going into writing. I think that the most important part is that you’re not accepting the fact that you are this band. You’re just writing how you write and it’s going to sound like you, hopefully. If you had to place your sound into a genre,

which would it be? Alright, haha! I like that! I would say we are an American alternative rock band. And I think that’s kind of all-encompassing now – I mean I think of like ‘90’s American alternative bands. Goo Goo Dolls. Foo Fighters even. Nirvana, well grunge I guess. Tom Petty. You know, that kind of stuff. The band has only had two member changes in its history, both of which took place in 2007 shortly before your first signing to Fearless Records.

How do you deal with internal conflicts and why do you think you have had such success at maintaining a constant line-up? It’s crazy man – there’s a weird kind of baseline of friendship that we have in this band and when you’re in close quarters with someone for 7 years straight it gets kind of strained sometimes. But I think the most important thing – and I remember being in the van the first tour we ever did and we kind of made a pact that if anyone got outside their own head they would be

pulled right back down to earth very quickly. We’ve tried to keep each other in check this whole time and I think throughout everything there’s never really been like a “behind the music” moment where someone just goes off the rails or is doing heroine or whatever – I’m sure there’s plenty of rumours though. It’s like – you have to just pick up your buddy and you have to make sure that everyone has each other’s back and I think that’s been the most important part.

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INTERVIEW // THE MAINE

It’s no secret that the band has gone through many changes between labels and sounds, which is quite surprising considering your constant line-up. How do the consistent creative forces affect the band? It’s nice to always be with the same guys. Musically you can almost finish each other’s sentences. I love that. You couldn’t trade that. That’s the best part about having the same line-up for 7 years. So let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about you personally. If you could book your dream tour who would The Maine share the stage with and why? I would love to go out with the Foo Fighters – I think that would be a great tour for us. Everybody loves the Foo Fighters, everyone loves Dave.

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I also think for me personally I would love to tour with Wilco, Tom Petty would be fucking incredible, Led Zeppelin would be fun. I mean what’s left of Zeppelin at least. I could go on forever. What is the writing process like and how has it changed over time? Both lyrically and instrumentally. It’s never changed; it’s always been the same. Basically John writes a melody, a lyric, a chord progression, a piece of a song. Usually it has something to do with the chorus – sometimes it’s not; sometimes it’s a really catchy groove for a verse. And then, he’ll have a bunch of iPhone demos, he’ll just record right into his phone, group them all together, send them out, we’ll all listen to them. Then we’ll get in a room together and everybody just kind of lays in their part.

You know, I’ll make suggestions for Garrett on bass, he’ll make suggestions for what I’m playing. Basically whatever works, works and we’ll go with that. As someone from inside Warped with a full range of experiences, how tightknit, friendly or competitive do you find the tour? On Warped? Huge sense of comradery on Warped Tour and I think it’s unspoken. I think that’s the weird part about it. You start to make all these friends. We were lucky to have a lot of friends before we got on the tour; we already knew a lot of bands so… There’s just this sense of hope that you don’t play at the same time as these other bands. Not so much so that you have a shitty set it’s so you can mutually have great sets.

They’re taking fans from you, you’re taking fans from them. We’re lucky enough that we have a style on this tour that is different enough. There’s only like 5 to 7 bands that we share fans with on the tour. We’ve been really lucky - we don’t really clash with anyone which is awesome. I think beyond that hanging out every night, seeing good friends. I think everyone is just happy to be on it. Everyone knows what the grind is like and everyone knows that they’re in for the long haul. You smile and you do the best that you can. I’ve heard Warped Tour be referred to as “Summer Camp for Bands”. It is, man! It’s been 5 years since we’ve been on it and it feels exactly the same as it did 5 years ago.

I’ve also heard that Warped can get pretty wild at night. Is this true and do you have any examples or stories? Yeah dude! I mean I don’t know how far I can go with this! We’ve had some crazy shit happen. John in ’09, it was his birthday and you know, we got a stripper for him. She came on the bus and it was just crazy. It’s one of those things that don’t happen every night for us. We’re not Mötley Crüe we’re not going crazy out here, you know? I think a solid night for us on Warped Tour is just drinking a lot of beer, maybe whiskey. We can’t seem to fucking keep whiskey on the bus on this tour it’s gone before it even gets there. We play corn hole, we play bags a lot.

We’ve got that set up and I think a lot of the bands are starting to realize that we do that every night so more and more people come every night and the party gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s either that or the BBQ which is fun too – cheap food, cheap drinks. Well that’s all I’ve got for you – thanks for hanging out! Cool man! Thanks very much, that was awesome. I appreciate it! New Album : “Forever Halloween”

Out now!

facebook.com/themaine

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2000 Trees UK, 2014 Photographer // Charlotte Davidson

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Writer // Paulien Verfaillie

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K rockers Lonely The Brave are currently the next big thing to happen in rock with their unique style of doompop. From shows at Download festival, 2000 Trees festival, Reading/Leeds to Pukkelpop and with their recent signing to Columbia records, these guys are set to conquer the world. Since we at RMP Magazine like to keep our finger to the pulse of what’s happening in rock, metal and punk we thought it was time to get closer with what’s happening in the world of Lonely The Brave. Find out with us how their ride to fame has been so far and what’s next to come along their road.

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INTERVIEW // LONELY THE BRAVE

For the people who haven’t heard of Lonely The Brave, can you describe your band and the music ? We have always struggled with categorizing our music because the individual musical tastes that make up our sound are so diverse. We think our friend probably came closest when he called us “Doom pop”! Really I see us as a rock band with heartfelt songs that mean a lot to us personally as a band and as individuals. It looks like Lonely The Brave is going to have a busy, but amazing summer. How does it feel to get the opportunity to play for the same record label ( Colombia Records) as the boss and Kasabian ? We still can’t quite believe that the oldest record company in the world is now in our corner fighting for our little band from the

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fens of Cambridge. It’s been a mind blowing eighteen months for us; we signed our first record deal with Hassle records, opened up for Springsteen & the Deftones amongst others, signed our international deal with Columbia records & have played festivals all across Europe. We are extremely grateful to have this opportunity to do what we love. I really like the videoclip you made for the song “The victory line”. It gets you in a sort of dark mood. Who came up with the idea of the story, and who did the artwork ? The video is the brainchild of the extremely talented Jeff Le Bars. Jeff created a beautiful short story named De fin D’etudes which we all fell in love with. We were lucky enough that Jeff agreed to create an edited version of the film

to use as the video to accompany Victory Line. Not only is the animation simply beautiful but there is a poignant message as well in that if you are given a golden opportunity, do not mess it up! Your other videoclip “Backroads” is doing ok swell (100,000 views). Looks like your effort is paying off. Do you invent your videoclips yourself? The Backroads video is something that we are extremely proud to be involved with. The concept for the video was brought to us by the Director, Greg Davenport. Greg had listened to Backroads and felt that the sense of hope contained within the track was reflected on a much larger scale by the people he had met whilst visiting Kiev during the recent uprising.

We loved the idea that hope and beauty can be found in any situation, so we jumped at the chance of having Greg create this video. The beautiful thing about the video is that the group of guys that the film concentrates on are a real group of friends, not actors, who have lived through extremely turbulent times & have found hope, beauty and love in each other. The video is not a political statement to us, it’s a celebration of friendship & hope. You guys are coming to Belgium this summer to play at Lokerse Feesten and Pukkelpop.

Isn’t it strange to play at places you would never visit without your band? We are extremely privileged that our music has given us the opportunity to visit

new places and meet new people all over Europe. we are very lucky to do what we do & at no point do we take it for granted. Plus, Belgium beers rule and I’m a huge dEUS fan!

You recently played Download Festival, 2000 Trees, ... How did those festivals go? Download is, and always will be, a very special festival for us as it was our first large festival experience as a band when we played there last year. To be able to come back again this year and play on a larger stage to many more people was a real honour. The history of the site is also mind blowing: Just think how many incredible bands have played there since the monsters of rock festivals, right through all of the Download line-ups over the years! It’s a special place. 2000 trees is a great little festival.

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INTERVIEW // LONELY THE BRAVE

It is much smaller in scale in comparison to the likes of Download, but that gives it its own special feel and resonance.We didn’t really know if many people would come to watch us play but the stage was absolutely packed when we went on. A great, great little festival and I urge anyone who has the opportunity, to go. You won’t regret it. You still have to play Leeds & Reading. Do you expect the same vibe, or will those be something special? You know I think that is the beauty of festivals, they all have their own unique feel & vibe. Reading & Leeds festivals are very special to us as Reading in particular, is the festival that we have collectively been to more times than any other outside of the band and as paying customers. I have seen some incredible

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performances at that festival (Rage Against the Machine to mention one) so, as with Download, to be invited back to play two years in a row is a real honour. Do you have the feeling - with all those festivals appearances that this is the year you guys will break trough? We certainly hope so!

It’s an extremely important year for us , as well as all of the festival appearances, our album The Day’s War will be released in September. We are desperate to get the record out there and see what people make of it. It’s been a long time coming but we think it will be worth the wait.

“We are desperate to get the record out there and see what people make of it.”

I noticed that your Spotify account only has 2 songs. How is that? Don’t you guys like the stream/download culture? Cause I notice that you make your own playlists (W/ the help of fans). There is an argument for and against online streaming depending on your viewpoint ,I guess, but it would be negligent of a band trying to reach out to new fans not to do so. The reason there are so few of our tracks online at the moment is simply because our record has not yet been released. I actually love putting together the Spotify playlist as it means I get to listen to my favourite music all day and find new artists to listen to with recommendations from our fans. What’s not to like! Why only stream “Trick of the light” and “Backroads”?

Are those your personal favourites, or do you think they’re is the best reference of the music you guys make? Those two tracks are a good representation of us as a band, and they are both songs that I think it is fair to say we are proud of. As mentioned above though, we really can’t wait for people to hear our record and see what the reaction is to the songs that have not yet made it into the public domain. What’s up with writing lyrics on body parts and Instagram them? For me personally my job as a musician is to provide a vehicle for Dave’s lyrics. They are the most important part of what we do. With any song I listen to, I decipher & digest the lyrics more than anything else. The Instagram lyric shots really are another way of ensuring that the lyrics,

and I guess their message, spread as far as possible. Where do you want to certainly play in the future? Anywhere that will have us! You know what, as a band we really do take every day as it comes. We are extremely grateful for the support we have had. As long as we can keep writing music, travelling and meeting new people, we will be happy. New Album : “The day’s war”

Out now!

Next Belgian shows: 14/8 - Pukkelpop // Kiewit 5/8 - Lokerse Feesten // Lokeren facebook.com/LonelyTheBrave

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2000 Trees UK, 2014 Photographer // Charlotte Davidson

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Writer // By Lisa Leysen

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ise Against just released a brand new album: The Black Market. Time for us at RMP to barrage frontman Tim McIlrath with questions like: why does Rise Against love Tony Sly so much and what would Tim do if he was the President of the United States? What makes ´The Black Market´ different than other albums? You’ll find the answers to these questions and many more in this interview!

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INTERVIEW // RISE AGAINST

I enjoy the idea of music as a vehicle for SOMETHING MORE than selling records or tickets. 30

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Congrats with the new album, I´ve listened to it and I think it´s really good! What makes the The Black Market different than other Rise Against albums? Whereas Rise Against has often times looked outward for inspiration. The Black Market looks inwards at what makes us tick and why we do what we do. This record is not a sequel to any other record, it has a lot of unique properties musically and lyrically. In “Make It Stop” on the album Endgame you guys wrote about gender issues of kids/ teenagers and about the consequences of their preferences in school. “And too much blood has flown from the wrists, of the children shamed for those they chose to kiss. Who will rise to stop the blood?” Do you think it´s your moral duty as

a band to pay attention to these kinds of issues and this kind of intolerance? I don’t feel responsible as a band, but I do feel responsible. I don’t think all bands need to do what we do and write about change and awareness. I feel that tug from an internal compass and my sense of purpose might be different than someone else’s. I enjoy the idea of music as a vehicle for something more than selling records or tickets. You guys are really thinking about your lifestyle. You´ve been all vegetarian for a while now. Do you think your activism helped through the years? Did anything change since the beginning of the early days? Activism and music are what brought me to music.

When a band was able to reach me and communicate a message to me, that’s when light bulbs went off. So injecting that purpose into what we do has added so many layers to the band. It keeps it really interesting, and we are always learning. You are going strong for 15 years already, what differences did you notice since you started the band? We started this band before social media existed and the internet was as powerful as it is today. We didn’t have cell phones or GPS to get us around and there were record stores in every town. A lot has changed. What´s harder to do: writing a good punk rock song or writing a good acoustic song? A good song should be able to be played electric or acoustic.

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INTERVIEW // RISE AGAINST

A good song should be able to be blasted or played around a campfire. Rise Against has a good reputation when it comes to live performances. Do you still feel that pressure when you´re performing nowadays? Did you ever have stage fright? When you believe in your songs, they affect you when you play. That’s what you see on stage. I don’t feel any pressure, but I take every night seriously. You dare to speak up about what you stand for, so I´m wondering: what would you change if you were the President of the United States? It can be anything. I think campaign finance reform, immigration reform, stricter gun control laws, and more legislation

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that address’ climate change need to happen. Last year you played the Groezrock festival where you joined Joey Cape and Jon Snodgrass on stage to perform a Tony Sly/No Use For A Name song, For Fiona. Quite an emotional performance and the song even ended up on the Fat Wreck compilation Tony Sly Tribute. Why that song in particular? Tony has two daughters and that’s one of the first things I thought after the shock of Tony’s death. Then I remembered that he wrote a song about his first daughter. I ended up recording that song on my own then was happy to put it on the comp. NUFAN took us on our first Japanese tour and we are all fans, Tony meant a lot to all his fans.

The Black Market’s lyrics can take you into dark places, sometimes pessimistic but always leaving a positive feeling. Are we facing a brave new world, or is there still hope? I see hope every day. Every show gives me hope, every fan I meet. The record confronts darkness, but we always leave bread crumbs to get out. New Album : “The Black Market”

Out now!

Next Belgian shows: 11/11 - AB // Brussel facebook.com/riseagainst

Vans Warped Tour 2014, USA Photographer // Matthew Howard RMP Magazine #15

Writer // By David Marote

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stpai hails from Austria, a nation amidst mountains that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really known for its musical releases. In most cases the only thing people can think of is Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vienna and something else. But those times are gone since Astpai is out to show the whole world how great Austrian punkrock can be.

With a new release coming up at the end of August we had a good talk with the guys regarding their new album and the direction they took with it and even insights on their recent tour where they got to play Groezrock to the obvious matter when discussing poppunk and pizza.

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INTERVIEW // ASTPAI

You’ve got a new album coming out end of August, Burden Calls. Are you excited about the release and what should we know about the new work? Really freaking excited! Of all our albums Burden Calls is the one we’ve collectively worked on the longest. We tried not to rush into anything and take our time with planning the release of it. Lyrically, Burden Calls tells one whole story about the ups and downs in the life of a fictional character. However, all lyrics reflect deeply personal experiences throughout the past years, which makes it really intense and important to me. Musically, I feel like we managed to move into both more melodic terrains, as well as trying to capture some more unusual, weirder ideas than on the previous albums. There’s been a few ‘can we actually do this?’-moments along the way of writing Burden Calls.

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Next to CD, digital and vinyl, there will also be a tape release of Burden Calls in October. Of all possible mediums why the tape format? Our good friends in Laserlife Records approached us with the idea of releasing a tape version. Obviously, tapes have been around for a really long time and they could be found here and there in the punkrock/hardcore scene for years, but it seems that especially in the past year or two, a couple of bands from our area picked up on the format and it’s kind of a nice, fairly cheap gimmick for people to get their hands on. Burden Calls has a more melodic vocal side to it than previous work, coincidence or planned? I guess with the songs being more structured, it made sense to actually use all the space and work with more vocal melodies than on previous albums, where the groove of

a song was changing a lot. It was a new challenge working out melodies and harmonies and making them sound diverse to each other. Tracks like ‘After All’ show a different side to the band, semiacoustic swelling into a big burst, not the typical punkrock track. A new influence or experiment? You have to look at the album as a whole story. That also counts for the songs and the way the songs are arranged. ‘After All’ is meant as some sort of an introduction to the next song ‘Departure’. It also captures the lead riff from the previous song ‘Death Everywhere’ and is trying to carry a more quiet, “floaty” type of mood. I don’t think we’d write a song like this if it wasn’t for a bigger concept.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Pizza is our almighty provider of energy, positivity and sometimes horrendous smells in our van. â&#x20AC;&#x153;

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INTERVIEW // ASTPAI

When referring to Astpai many mention Angus Young, AC/DC to describe the band’s sound. Would you consider this a compliment or are their other references you’d rather hear? That’s always a funny one. AC/ DC is the band that I learned how to play guitar to, so needless to say, they’re incredibly important to me. I wouldn’t necessarily say that they are a big part of our sound, but we do write a few riffs and licks in their honour every once in a while. There are definitely more accurate comparisons such as bands like None More Black, Trial By Fire, Hold Steady, etc. It seems that Astpai is constantly touring, from tours with The Smith Street Band and Restorations that even got you to the Groez-

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rock stage and now the recent tour with Only Crime. Do you ever have any spare time left and how was it so far? 2014 especially has been incredibly busy.

At the moment, we’re looking at a total of roughly 150 shows until the end of the year. The time we have between all the tours is spent wisely on working as much as possible and spending time with our partners, friends and family. It’s all a very tight schedule, but somehow we

make it work. However, this year has been absolutely phenomenal and the places we’ve seen and shows we’ve played were amazing all around. I’ve got to say that Groezrock was probably the most breathtaking moment of all. We couldn’t believe how many people made it out that early!! You will be playing the release show for Burden Calls with Masked Intruder, do you feel safe enough to be bringing them on, given their criminal past... Ha, good question. We will provide a little venue-prison for them just in case, but with catering and booze being provided, I’m sure we’ll keep them calm and friendly. Would you consider the band to be sociopolitical in its lyrics or

more an expression of emotions? Definitely socio-political but always from a personal view, which naturally turns it into an emotional thing. If I think back of songs and bands that had a serious and meaningful impact on my life, then probably 90% of lyrics I wrote were from a personal point of view. It just makes the whole story much more believable and authentic for me. How important is pizza to poppunk in general and to Astpai? And what about the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles sample in the new album with the pizza reference? Pizza is our almighty

provider of energy, positivity and sometimes horrendous smells in our van. You can’t mess with pizza. Pizza is always right. The Turtles are the first action quartet that I can recall being a fan of when I was a kid. What a pleasure to have them on our record. You hail from Vienna, a rich town full of history but not known to many, if you would guide us through as tourists, what would the Astpai view of Vienna be? We’re actually from Wiener Neustadt, which is located in the area of Lower Austria. However, it’s only a 40 minute drive from

Vienna. I personally never lived in the capital, but I’d advice to take a look at www. capeet.com for a listing of nearly all punk/ hardcore shows in town. Also, you should grab some vegan food at Formosa and snack on the best falafel ever at Mashu Mashu. That’s pretty much all I do when I get to Vienna: go to shows and eat. Next Album : “Burden Calls”

22th August

facebook.com/ASTPAI

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Vans Warped Tour 2014, USA Photographer // Matthew Howard

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Frank Iero Writer // By Kenny Leys

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ost of you may know Frank Iero as being the madman guitarplayer for My Chemical Romance. After their departure from the scene last year, Frank Iero didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like his song was over yet so he decided to start his own little project. On August 25 his debut album will be released. We at RMP Magazine exchanged some thoughts with Frank on his new chosen path and found out what binds the album title to his personal situation and caught up on his experiences on the road throughout his career with My Chemical Romance.

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INTERVIEW // FRANK IERO

Let’s start at the beginning: You dropped out school for MCR / your music carrier. Do / did you ever second guess this? [Laughing] Oh man... No I don’t regret it per say. I maybe wish the timing was a bit different so that I could have done both, but life doesn’t work that way. Opportunity knocks and you roll the dice. I got to experience and see things school would never have shown me, and for that, I am extremely thankful. Why did you decided to go solo? It wasn’t really a conscious decision to be honest. I just happened to write a bunch of songs and felt like putting them out into the world. I wrestled with calling it a new band, but ultimately decided that would just be a hoax because I wrote and recorded

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everything myself. I don’t like liars. I feel like you can smell a fake band a mile away and I never wanted to be a part of that junk ..so I figured screw it, I might as well be honest. Your first solo album is being released on August 26, 2014. What can you tell us about that? Well for one it’s called Stomachaches and actually I think it comes out on the 25th of August, something weird with a holiday or something so now it’s the 25th...anyway I began writing a bunch of songs in 2013 when my stomach got super rotten. It was a way for me to reclaim my life and not let my condition bury my creative side. There’s 12 songs on the record, and what you hear is my friend Jarrod Alexander on drums and me

playing and singing everything else. Did you work with the same people you worked with when you were in MCR? No, well Jarrod played drums for My Chem a little towards the end but other than that this record was all recorded by me and my friends in small NJ studios. Are you nervous for this solo release? Yeah, always. I’m a bundle of nauseous nerves anyway, so having a new record out just adds to it... but now I have to force myself to smile for pictures that’s the only new thing I suppose. [laughing] Did the MCR breakup have any impact on lyrics? No, not directly. However, I strongly believe every experience you’ve had affects the person you are today…

“ I strongly believe every experience you’ve had affects the person you are today…” big or small, good or bad. So in that respect I suppose there was an impact but no more impact than say a passing conversation I had with an interesting stranger. Can we expect a Solo tour anytime soon? (USA, UK, EU?) Yes, all the dates are posted on my website, www.frank-iero.com The US tour is already announced and starts in Sept. and UK will follow soon after. What’s the best tour memory you’ve got? Oh man that’s such a broad question. I’ve been on tour since I was 18 so fortunately I’ve got a lot of great memories. Ha and unfortunately I have a lot of shitty ones as well. I’ve been lucky enough to do what I’ve always wanted to do for half

of my life. I get to write and play music with my friends and sometimes, if you can possibly imagine it, it gets even better than that. The best memory though is the first time I heard a crowd sing songs back to us. It’s an indescribable feeling. It makes your heart swell. We’ve got a column for vegetarians, and i was wondering: what are the best Vegetarian places you can suggest (Can be worldwide!)? I would definitely recommend Red Bamboo and Veggie Paradise in NYC and Veggie Heaven in NJ. Next Album : “Stomachaches”

25th August

facebook.com/frankieromusic

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Vans Warped Tour 2014, USA Photographer // Matthew Howard

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Writer // By Paulien Verfaillie 48

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ustice In Eyre is not only a medieval term to determine historical English magistrates in forest law at the times but also an independent clothing company rooted in hardcore and punk, founded in 2011 by the Howard brothers from Boston. Now the year 2014 witnesses the re-launch of their company and we at RMP Magazine want to introduce you to them. We had a talk with William Howard regarding the ins and outs of their clothing company, from conception to the eye for detail. We even learned some more on the meaning of the wolf in their logo. And for our RMP readers thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even a 20% discount included when shopping at Justice In Eyre.

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INTERVIEW // JUSTICE IN EYRE

So let’s go back before the re-launch and before the hiatus. Where did the original desire to start your own business come from, and more specifically a clothing brand? Well for me personally it was the summer after my freshman year at college. I had just spent the year away from home and was really struggling to establish my identity as a musician, but also a promising student. I was looking for a way to balance the passion I have for punk and hardcore music without sacrificing my beliefs, and my desire to be successful outside of music. I wanted to develop a wardrobe I could go to a punk show and out to dinner in and feel comfortable at both places. When I couldn’t find that elsewhere I started thinking about all the things that really

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mattered in the clothing, and thought “Why can’t I produce them myself?” If I was feeling like this, there must be other punk and metal fans feeling the same way. What did some of the earliest sketches look like? Well when we first started, we looked to other clothing companies for inspiration. We found things we didn’t like, things we did like, and everything in between. We wanted to have conversations about where there was a void in the clothes being offered and where we could fit in. Ultimately our ideas were naïve and simple. We did a lot with one colour animal images and just the name “Justice In Eyre”. Since then we’ve really grown up. I think the more we experienced in life and as the company we became,

we realized the more subtle things that mattered in the clothing we purchased. We wanted quality materials in addition to cool designs. We began to realize some of the points we had overlooked in the first designs, and began adding them as a point of focus for the more recent lines. I’m proud to say every design we’ve ever printed is something I would be proud to wear. Was there ever a moment when you thought “Yeah, this could be something great!” Probably the re-launch. We spent so much time away from Justice In Eyre focusing on school, jobs, and the rest of our lives that I realized how much it mattered to me. I think we both did.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wanted to have conversations about where there was a void in the clothes being offered and where we could fit in.â&#x20AC;&#x153;

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INTERVIEW // JUSTICE IN EYRE

I was reminded of why I started Justice In Eyre with Matt in the first place, and found the need to keep the dream alive. It’s been three years since we first set eyes on the company and although we’re far from a household name it makes me happy and excited to see people still wearing designs we printed years ago. Matt mentioned in an earlier interview that wolves are a very important image in both your personal and professional lives. Can you explain a little bit more about where this importance comes from? Well to begin, both Matt and I have three wolves tattooed on our bodies. I have a full colour set on my shoulder and I look at it every day. When we were kids our younger sister got very sick.

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She’s fine now but the fear of losing her was incredibly influential on my life. I spent years searching for meaning in the events. I looked to religion, music, literature, etc. Throughout that time my siblings and I became incredibly close. The image of a wolf began to gain meaning. Wolves are an animal with an incredible amount of strength as an individual but even more strength as a group. They serve as a reminder that I may be able to do things on my own but I can always look to my family for support when I need it. It’s no secret that the new designs are a big step up from the older lines. What sparked this second wind of sorts? I guess the second wind came because we missed it. We never really intended to go on a hiatus.

“The image o to g

of a wolf began gain meaning.“

The rest of life just took over. School, my band, and a job took the focus. Justice In Eyre just didn’t have the priority it deserved so it fell by the wayside. The spark that gave it a second wind came when everything else settled down and we realized the big hole that had developed in our life without JIE. When the stress of the rest of life disappeared we were left wanting more. We were ready to hop back on the horse and hunt down our dreams. Was it difficult to relaunch the company? It was difficult. We left without any sort of announcement or intention so we had to make sure if we were going to do this again we were going to do everything right. All the designs needed to be better, the store needed to be easier to use, everything had to be better.

We had let the entire buzz we had developed, fizzle out and now we had to give everyone a reason to start talking again. Has the public accepted the new direction of the company? I believe so. I think the best part is that our focus shifted from unisex clothing to men’s clothing. We wanted to focus on individuals like ourselves rather than such a broad audience. I think now we have a better understanding of what our target market is looking for in clothing, and more importantly what they want from the shopping experience itself. Do you find it strange seeing people in public wearing something you’ve created? I don’t find it weird; in fact it’s kind of awesome!

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INTERVIEW // JUSTICE IN EYRE

My dream actually is to be able to go into a mall or a store somewhere where they don’t know me and talk to an employee or a customer anonymously about what they think of the clothing. I know we create a product we love, but if we can continuously create a product others love, I will be more than satisfied. Is it hard working so closely with your brother? How do you balance your personal and professional relationships? If I’m being honest here half the time we’re at each other’s throats and the other half the time we’re jumping up and down with joy. We haven’t quite mastered separating our personal and professional relationship but I suppose that’s why we created the family business. We know each other better than anyone

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else does, so regardless of everything that’s going on we know at the end of the day none of it is personal – it’s all about ensuring that our vision is achieved, that Justice In Eyre Clothing is as successful as possible. Do you ever seek outside help with development, design, and marketing? Actually we consult a wide variety of people pretty often. We look to our friends for opinions on the designs before we print them. Since the re-launch we have relied heavily on my girlfriend for her opinion. She went to school for design so she brings a more careful eye to Matt’s designs than I can often provide. She’s the one who’s always reminding us that a less than perfect product is a waste - that if you can’t do it perfectly you shouldn’t do it at

all. Recently we’ve also brought our younger sister on board, having her send out orders and maintaining inventory. In the future we hope to bring her on as a full equal part as the business expands. In the past we relied on the bands we worked with for a great deal of our material, now we’re utilizing more of our personal relationships. Both professionally and personally you both seem to have a very deep connection with music. Where did this connection come from? I started playing bass when I was in middle school. Since then I instantaneously fell in love with music. I’ve played in bands, wrote solo projects, I even went to school for it. Music has always been a place where I find inspiration, connection and meaning. It’s been the place where

turn our focus onto a second round of clothes. But right now we’re really focused on rebuilding that buzz. In the future it would be my hope to move beyond shirts alone into full wardrobe options. If one day I could dress myself in all Justice In Eyre Clothing my life would certainly we complete.

I feel most at home. Without music I would certainly not be the man I am today. I wouldn’t have had the desire to create a clothing company to connect the aspects of my life. What do you want to say to people who are afraid to follow their dreams? GO FOR IT! Worst case scenario you can say you tried and fail, but if you don’t give it a shot

you’ll always wonder if you had what it takes. Remember the only way to guarantee success is to always work harder, learn more, and be better informed than everyone else. Where can we expect Justice In Eyre to go in the coming months and years? In the next few months we’ll be focused on really building the brand selling this summer’s line. After that we’ll

We can’t wait! Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! Yeah no problem! Great questions! We’d like to offer a discount code for all your readers. For the month of August if you type in “RMP20” at checkout you can get 20% off your entire order! Thanks guys! Discount :

“RMP20” jjustice-in-eyre-clothing. myshopify.com

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BEST THREE PARTY’S

Three of the biggest parties taking place over the next couple of months. Do all those concerts and festivals make you feel dizzy? Don’t you really know where to start or do you just want to try something new? No worries, we’ve put out some of the top upcoming events that you sure as hell don’t want to miss.

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Photographer // Matt Howard

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BEST THREE PARTY’S

HEVY FEST 2014

// Port Lympne (UK), Friday August 15th – Saturday August 16th

Hevyfest will be hosting its fourth edition this year at Port Lympne in the UK. With its unique location next to an animal park it attracts some of the most ferocious animals in the international hardcore, punk and metal scene to perform at their stages each year. 2014 is fully lined up for another edition of two days of moshing madness and has some interesting bands that we like to introduce to you. With three stages over a timespan of two days the line-up has reached double digits easily and ticks off at 48 international bands that will be slugging their gear to get you of your feet. From some local UK bands to some classic US bands and even some Belgian talent got included in the roster. Kicking off at day one, and to low down the line-up to my personal taste, is Ghent’s finest blackened hardcore/metal combo Oathbreaker. Their spiritual inspiration and Church Of Ra founding fathers Amenra are playing later on in the evening in a more fitting darkened atmosphere to their intrinsic sludge sound. Next to these Belgian revelations there’s also tons more of heavy bands destroying the stage like the madmen of Kvelertak, Brutality Will Prevail, Crime In Stereo or headliner at the second stage Deez Nuts. For those who took the day before as a warming up, the real deal continues on Saturday with the UK hardcore from those masks hoodlums The Hell or what about UKHC legends Stampin’ Ground. The more melodic loving punks can always check out The Murderburgers or the ska-inspired tunes of Reel Big Fish. Main headliner The Vandals is always a dead certain guarantee for melodic punk with tons of jibber jabber and fun. Added bonus to the whole Hevy Fest experience is the free entrance that’s included with your ticket to visit the next door animal park. The Hevy fest crew even adopted their own monkeys at the animal park so that’s a perfect excuse to behave beastly when visiting Hevy fest, it’s mandatory even.

By David Marote

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BEST THREE PARTY’S

READING - LEEDS 2014

// Reading (UK), Friday August 22th – Sunday August 24th The Reading and Leeds Festival is back for 2014 with a huge summer line-up that is enough to get any music fan’s blood pumping. The festival kicks off simultaneously across August bank holiday weekend in the UK sharing the same line-up, The Reading Festival is held at Little John’s Farm in central Reading and the Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, the grounds of an historic house. This year the festival is being headlined by Arctic Monkeys, Blink 182 and a co-headline night by Queens of the Stone Age and Paramore. Hosting over 200 acts across 6 stages, there is a variety for different tastes in rock, from Architects to Enter Shikari and You Me At Six. The main stage is for your headliners and major rock, indie, alternative and metal acts across the weekend. NME/Radio 1 sees indie acts such as Cage The Elephant mixed in with The Horrors and Mallory Knox so you can expect a variety staying at this stage alone. BBC Radio One Dance Stage may be a nice break from the mosh pits and head banging if you like the likes of Annie Mac and The Klaxons and want a bit of a boogie. The Pit/Lock Up stage is where you want to be if you like your music hard and heavy: Of Mice And Men, Marmozets, Neck Deep and Baby Godzilla are just a few of the names appearing this year, guaranteed to bring the ferocious vocals, heavy guitar riffs, mosh pits, crowd surfers and most likely band members suddenly appearing in the audience. Festival Republic Stage brings a mix of up and coming acts with a few that are now back for more action such as Bipolar Sunshine and Mayday Parade. The festivals see around 75,000 people attending each site so it is clear to see that it is one of the biggest festivals going in the UK as it offers great camping facilities across the weekend, other forms of entertainment like comedy and a general amazing festival atmosphere!

By Charlotte Davidson

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BEST THREE PARTY’S

FEST 13 - 2014 // Gainesville, Florida (USA), Friday October 31st – Sunday November 2th

The Fest is becoming close to legendary by now, with last year’s edition in Gainesville, Florida stretching out over four days and over 400 bands performing, not even including the two day pre-Fest that also holds over 100 bands. A total of almost 23,000 lovers of underground hardcore, punk, indie and alt-country took over rock city Gainesville during those days to attend The Fest that was taking place all over Gainesville town. From small clubs and bars opening their doors and stages to bands performing in libraries or just around the street corner busking on the street, anything goes when it comes to ‘Festing’. One can plan his Fest experience but there is so much going on that you’ll never be able to follow it and see all the acts you want. It’s like the city of Gainesville becoming one huge festival site but with indoor venues, restaurants and hotels to catch up from all the action going around. The Fest also attracts an ever increasing audience of international guests flying over for the weekend and hanging out with other ‘Fest nerds’ as they call themselves. This year Fest 13 is happening in October again and a huge amount of names have already been released; from Descendents to The Smith Street Band, Astpai and Restorations, just to name a few of the many great acts taking over Gainesville. If The Fest doesn’t offer a band that caters your taste then they’ll probably come up with one on the fly especially for you, or you might just bump into your new favourite band playing somewhere over town by accident. Anything can happen at the Fest!

By David Marote

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MIXTAPE

The mixtape from

Nick Satino

1. The War On Drugs – Under Pressure This is the perfect “standing in the long catering line ignoring the world” song for me. 2. Tom Petty And The Heart Breakers – Red River This is a tune from his new record that comes out at the end of this month. Dude can do no wrong. 3. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud A song from his newest “Multiply” record. It’s the perfect soulful pop song. Super catchy! 4. The Jayhawks – Blue Just a great chilling in the back lounge on a hot Warped Tour day kind of song. 5. Ryan Adams – Gimme Something Good This is the first tune Ryan released from his new record he’s putting out. Such a good vibe. Ryan can also do no wrong! 6. Wilco – I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Just a bizarre yet perfectly written song. 7. Jason Isbell – Cover Me Up I find myself walking around all day whistling the guitar part in this song. 8. Margot And The Nuclear So And So’s – I Wanna Live In LA A perfect ironic summer song to listen to. 9. Pvris – St. Patrick This is a newer band out of Boston and I got to check them out when they were on Warped for a few days. Such a great chorus and Lynn has such an awesome voice, especially on this tune. 10. Vanna – Void Another band from my area that also plays on Warped. Full of energy, just badass hardcore.

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Jamie Lenman 2000 Trees UK, 2014 Photographer // Charlotte Davidson

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ALBUM REVIEWS

Get Dead Bygones

Rise Against The Black Market

Upon A Burning Body The World Is My Enemy Now

What do you get when you combine old school punk rock with a little bit of ska and some laid back tunes? Well, you Get... Dead. “Bygones” is an easy going 7” record with a couple of memorable tracks that stick to your eardrums like duct tape to a bottle of glue. I caught myself more often than not humming the pleasant tune of opening song “No High Road”.

Following the successful release of “Endgame” in 2011, the band took a well-deserved break. Now three years later Tim, Zach, Brandon and Joe are back with a brand new album. “The Black Market” kicks off in an unusual way for Rise Against. Instead of banging the drums or shredding the guitars, the first notes you get to hear are violins and other string instruments.

“Bygones” is not a loud punk rock record. Get Dead takes it easy and that is just fine. It’s even safe to say that the title track, which is the loudest of all four, is probably the least likable. That doesn’t mean that it’s no good though. If you are into some good punk rock on a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon, Bygones is the 7” for you.

But after the intro comes the Rise Against that we know and love. But it’s becoming apparent that their style is changing. Not only is their music becoming less punk and more pop but the lyrics are different as well. The political criticism is making way for more personal stories and experiences. But at the end, it’s still the same band we grew to enjoy and there are still songs on this new album to prove that like “The Eco-terrorist In Me”.

This August sees San Antonio crew Upon a Burning Body release quite possibly their most intense and aggressive offering to date in the form of their third album “The World is my Enemy Now”. Channelling their inner Slipknot and Lamb of God the group have produced a bile infused slab of modern metal which moves away from the generic deathcore of previous releases.

By Lazlo Cootmans

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By Roel Vanobbergen

Whilst starting off strong with tracks like opener “Red Razor Wrists” and “Scars”, it isn’t until the second half that the Texans come into their own. Stand out tracks include the double tap beat down of “Judgement” and the album’s title track. The only weak moment comes from an acoustic instrumental half way through. This track halts the flow of the album and would have been better left on the cutting room floor. This album sees UABB mature musically if not lyrically but it will surely see the band reaching greater heights. By David Gilmore

ALBUM REVIEWS

Outline In Color Masks

Astpai Burden Calls

Take a trip down technicolour lane and one might run into the playful yet brutal styling of the fresh album “Masks”. The perfect combination of serenity and insatiable lust for heavy screamo, the tracks gently flow through one’s ears only to pack a punch when least expected. Trevor Tatro, the screamer behind the six-man band, must be recognized for his accolades. He fills in the perfect substance, which quickly turns into a cliff hanger and then with a heart of passion he drops into a mysterious ocean of calamity. The soulful energy resonates throughout the entire release, and empowers the cornerstone of any soft or choral genre. I felt as though I was on a trip to the far distant galaxies, all the while being grounded back on earth. Without a doubt, “Beautiful Secrets” tops the album and easily takes first place. “Con Artist Culture Vs. Pax Americana” will interest those looking for a rush and a new lease on life.

Oh crap, ASTPAI’s sound lost its rough edge. Nope, that is not a disaster. Even more: “Burden Calls” is a pretty decent punk rock album, but it lacks that knockout punch that the band’s previous records contained. The pop punk styled tracks on this thirteen-song-long album don’t always match the raw vocals that differentiate the Austrian band’s work from all those other punk bands.

By Cameron Smith

Do not expect a revolutionary leap into unexplored musical territories. Do expect a great deal of singalong songs and some standard up tempo drum lines. “Burden Calls” peaks when the band shifts from clean, well-practiced songs to gritty, really moshable tracks like “Resignation”. The album is no milestone in ASTPAI’s repertoire, but it surely makes us dig into our archives to relive some of the bands previous successes.

By Lazlo Cootmans

Shudder & Sectioned SHDDRSCTND Split There comes a time when we all have to slow down the pace of our lives and take a breather. Enjoy, the day, soak up the rays of the sun and just chill. Shudder & Sectioned obviously didn’t get filled in on that brief. Brave and experimental, the split release throws a heavy sword into a dartboard. For those who love to growl at walls of pearls and silver, or for the ones who enjoy breaking fine china, this one is definitely for you. Merit must be given for the true grit and passion that these fellows have for their craft - if you want to call a spade a spade. But then again, perhaps we need a grim demon in our lives, willing to clash out the sins of yesteryear and, like a boomerang, return it to us with vigour and pride. A wide array of interesting guitar fingering variation is at your disposal with this release, but they seem to lack creativity and form a boxy and clustered tone.

By Cameron Smith

RMP Magazine #15

ALBUM REVIEWS

Eleanora EP

Moments Modern Day Life

Four year strong Go Down In History

One word can easily describe the efforts of this EP: brutal. This hardcore band from Ghent, Belgium shows no mercy and puts their fears to bed in little more than fifteen minutes of music. A dark room fades into an even more sombre shade of black, the curtains are drawn and slow-paced demons come out to play. The two songs, both drawn out and steady, tell the story of a slow and painful death by using an interesting combination of heavy post-hardcore and subtle sludge.

I have a confession to make: I’m no big fan of present day hardcore. You’re probably wondering why the hell I am reviewing this Belgian melodic hardcore EP then. Well, if you ever saw Moments perform live or looked them up on YouTube, you might understand why. This band rocks in more than a genre specific way. Title track “Modern Day Life” is the type of song that combines lots of masterfully executed melodic pieces with that raw mosh-for-yourlife vibe.

Popcore bearded band Four Year Strong is back with a five track EP that is going to blow your mind. Opening track “What’s In The Box?” is full of energy and you know straight away that the rest of the EP is going to be rowdy. The guitar riffs throughout the five tracks are intricate and truly unexpected.

Gather your friends who enjoy swinging side to side in a reckless fashion – they will enjoy sweating out all of their problems to the beat of this heavy release. “Mammon” releases the beast with ceremonial drumbeats and crunchy stabs. “Amenable” paces itself with a steady rhythm and a crushing undertone. Perfect to listen to on a rainy day or in the side lines of a riot, Eleanora’s EP will have you rushing to the edge of your very own primal anger. By Cameron Smith

RMP Magazine #15

Moments skilfully succeeds in making pace-shifting tracks that keep you interested from beginning to end. I fell in love with the powerful voice of lead vocalist, Dries Monsieur, constantly screaming meaningful lyrics in my ears. That, my friend, is what I look for in a genre called ‘melodic hardcore’, and that is why I choose to review “Modern Day Life”. And now go download this five-track-strong Belgian piece of pride from the band’s official website! By Lazlo Cootmans

The songwriting has been brightened up and the lyrics give out a really in-depth taste to the band’s lives. The third song “Tread Lightly” is the one song that truly stands out on the whole EP. It consists of a slower chorus that hits you right in the brain. The last song “So You’re Saying There’s A Chance…” has speed-picked guitars which are bold and has a huge hook to it. It is true to say that Four Year Strong are here to stay for years to come!

By Holly Reijs

RMP Magazine #15

ALBUM REVIEWS

Lazer/Wulf The Beast of Left and Right

One second in and your head will be spinning off your neck, and you will be left running around like a madman! The riffs, the choppy palm mutes, the bass, the insane drumming techniques; it’s all been tightly squeezed into one hyperactive package. That isn’t to say this extremely talented trio has failed to raise the bar – in fact they have dropkicked it into the netherregions of our capacity to comprehend music. “The Beast of Left and Right” is the group’s third full-length effort, and they have implemented a new breed of extremely raucous and edgy hard rock. Grind a heavy dose of confident metal, stir well with a pinch of funk and groove, add some jazzy beats and let it bake for an hour. The taste of alternative hardcore music will be well enjoyed with a beer in each hand. “Choose again (right path)”, “Choose again (left path)”, and “Beast Reality” are my favourite slices of this unique audio pastry pie. However, if you want an overdose of talent and insanity, give “Twelve Leaps Over the Triple Trap” a chance – it will surely leave you gasping for air as you roll around your room screaming “How is this even possible?!”

By Cameron Smith

RMP Magazine #15

Along Came A Spider Resurgence

Cleveland’s Along Came A Spider are back with their second full length album “Resurgence”. This album follows up their 2012 album “If We Were Normal Men” which the band went relentlessly on tour with where they appeared at many festivals. Resurgence is an album about hope and revitalization adapted for the listener. The album opens up with a track called “A Link to the Past” which starts up with an electronic feel to it. Making you wonder what the whole album is going to sound like? Lead vocalist, Jamie Miller, showed his full potential with his voice in this song, with the whole album, in fact. It’s clear and mesmerizing. “Crush Crush Crush”, the fifth track on the album is the one that stands out most to me. Miller’s voice is clear and the guitar riffs are upbeat and catchy alongside the lyrics. There is just the right amount of screaming throughout the track, mixed in with the clean vocals. “Would You Kindly” is a track that starts off slow and peaceful and then kicks in to hardcore vocals, making you jump and smile at the same time. The lyrics are down to earth and they really make you listen to every word. Within the melodic metalcore community, this album has made a huge statement. It’s a powerful album that you have to listen to over and over again. Along Came A Spider is definitely a band to watch this year; big things are going to land in their laps! By Holly Reijs

ALBUM REVIEWS

Brutality Will Prevail Suspension of Consciousness

A band that has come a long way, starting as an underground band, being one of the finest in the genre nowadays. With gigs on Graspop Metal Meeting and other big events, they achieved what every other band wants to achieve: recognition and respect. Also, they gave us a new album to enjoy, called “Suspension of Consciousness”, but does all the fame come in handy for their release, or are they on the way to becoming ‘another one of those bands’? Sadly enough, the latter is the case. This is their fourth record, and they have been known by their hardcore/beatdown-esque songs, but on this record, they decided to take some things from other genres, which wasn’t the best thing to do. The blend mix of their old sound, with the widely known groove-sound nowadays, just doesn’t cut it. The only two songs that let us think back on the good old BWP are “Martyr-Anxiety” and the title song of the album “Suspension of Consciousness”. And for a twelve-song-long record, that’s just a pity. Even when the band members are trying and doing their absolute best to let it sound somewhat like the old BWP, it’s just not what I want to hear. So please, BWP, bring back the down-tempo, and the ‘brutality’ because change isn’t always the best thing to do.

By Stefan van Den Broek

Monuments The Amanuensis

Monuments’ last album, 2012’s “Gnosis”, was a great launch pad for the band to grow from. The groups second effort “The Amanuensis” improves upon their debut in every sense. With new singer and former Periphery vocalist, Chris Barretto, the group has found an extremely versatile and emotive singer. Barretto has definitely added another element to the band and seems to have reached his true potential. “The Amanuensis” is one hell of a djent/progressive metal album and with it they have put themselves into a different league altogether. The band are painting with a broader palette, compositionally and musically, and this is one of those albums that has you thinking the band’s previous work was merely a stepping stone. Stand out tracks include opener “I, The Creator” and “Saga City”. Both of which showcase the band’s technical ability and forward thinking mentality. There is hardly a weak moment in the eleven tracks offered here, and Monuments continue to be one of Britain’s best up and coming prospects.

By David Gilmore

RMP Magazine #15