Issue 3 - Summer 2012 by Kevin Barnes

Synectic. South wales’ creative and lifestyle magazine

Issue 3 / summer 2012

British n i y t r e p o r p t s he hotte

rock

X I S T A E M U O Y

Exclusive! T

PLUS...

INME CHRIS MAGUIRE MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY NOEL TAYLOR LUCY CATES MERTHYR ROCK PREVIEW + BUMPER MUSIC CONTENT AND THE USUAL CREATIVE CONTENT

WIN!

FLYER DESIGN, PHOTO

SHOOT & VIDEO SESSION WORTH OVER £600!

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE

SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL 6-page special as one of the UK’s hottest new events comes to Wales

REVIEWED: Lostprophets, Straight Lines, Pulco, Man Without Country, Outgunned, Falling With Style, Volenté + LOADS MORE OVER 13 PAGES

Contents

What’s inside this issue...

ISSUE 3 - summer 2012

The Usual Suspects 05

Editorial Some bloke rambles on about what’s in this issue.

Gallery Our usual round-up of what creatives have been up to since the last issue.

Newcomers Under the radar music & model.

What’s On NEW Profile of some significant events coming up.

Competition NEW Over £600 worth for your musical project

Fashion 48

Lucy Cates Interview and pics with one of our fave alt-beauties. Please forgive our lack of fashion content this issue. Circumstances beyond our control have caused this. We will have a bumper fashion section next issue to compensate!

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Music 20

You Me At Six ON THE COVER Interview with the hottest property in British-rock.

Slam Dunk Wales 6-page summary and photographic review of Wales’ newest music event.

How to solve a problem like Facebook? A look at alternatives for bands to Facebook pages model.

Man Without Country Q&A with Welsh electro-duo.

Save Le Pub We plead the case for Newport’s finest music bar.

InMe Q&A with the cult-like band.

Reviews Over 13 pages of music reviews.

Creative 26

Chris Maguire Multimedia futurist talks about all his ventures and shows off his art work.

Noel Taylor Photographer feature with one of South Wales’ finest.

Importance of Make-Up Artists Charis Talbot-Jones looks at the benefits of an MUA for your next shoot.

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

STAFF

From The Editor I

Synectic. Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Kevin Barnes Editor-in-Chief

synectigmag.co.uk Editor-in-Chief Art Director Kevin Barnes kev@synecticmag.co.uk

t would appear to be that time again already! Sorry to sound old, but I don’t know where the time goes. A lot has happened since you were last reading this. On the outside, we have a new logo - and a new website will be following gradually over Music Editor / PR Richard Meyrick the coming months. rich@synecticmag.co.uk Behind the scenes, we’ve seen some changes to our team. I would like to thank all those staff publically. First of all, our Photography Editor fashion editor - Vicki Roach. Vicki came aboard when we were Charis Talbot-Jones really struggling fashion wise, she grabbed the bull by the horns charis@synecticmag.co.uk and got us some respectable content. I will never forget that contribution. We’ve also said goodbye to Jessica Brown & Martin Advertising Sales Izzard - who’ve moved to London together, we wish them the Sally King very best. I’m pleased to announce that Charis Talbot-Jones has sally@synecticmag.co.uk become our first photography editor, so look out for some of her Contributors pearls of wisdom in upcoming issues. Laura Kenny, James Payne, On to this issue. As a consequence of behind the scenes changes, Bob Lewis, Callum Waters, I’m afraid our fashion content isn’t up to scratch this issue. Given Stephanie Lamerton, Jim P the choice to further delay the issue, or put it out and apologise, I chose the latter. I feel its important we continue to provide all Photographer the other features, we’ll just make sure we get fashion right for Kevin Barnes you in issue 4 and onwards, so please stick with us. facebook.com/synecticmag So, in this issue - you will find a bumper (and I mean, BUMPER) @synecticmag music section, full of all sorts. We also have some killer photo coverage of recent gigs and 13 (yes, thirteen) pages of reviews. Plus we have possibly the best competition that’s ever existed in South Wales if you’re in a band, turn to page 18 for that! Enjoy the issue. Until next time...

Kev Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Gallery

Model Violet Noir Photo Clare Cousin

Photo Kitty KEMS Photography Model Sabrina Dickens

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Photo Stephanie Rose Model Gemma Evans Styling Gemma Evans & Stephanie Rose

Digital Art Craig Minchington Photographer Charis Talbot-Jones Model Sara Lou

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Photo Holly Paterson Model Kaitlin Wyatt

8 Jenna Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 Model Cotterrall Photo Kitty KEMS Photography

MUA Leanne Furley Photographer Stephen Davies Model Carly Robins

Photographer Morgan Ellis Williams Model Gemma Evans MUA Lissa Williams

Photographer Noree Model Eddie Q Stylist Agnes Olah Culture

Photographer The Pix Factory Model Lola Pinch

Photographer Photographic Vision Models (L to R) Car melle Lucille Young, Kaeyna Kostromin, Asta

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Photographer Stacey Stargazer 10 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 Model Cara Yorath

Photographer Emma Owen Model Lilly Merrony Title Dark Blossom

Model Carmelle Lucille Young Photographer JB Fotos

Photographer White Rabbit Photography Model Claudia Anna Gilman Title Abi Hill

Photographer Ginger SnapDragon Photography Model Laura Flora Harding MUA Ellen Jones

Gallery is changing...

From issue 4 onwards, Gallery will be used to showcase what we feel to be the very best work from all manner of locally-based models, photographers, digital artists, graphic designers, tattooists and just about anybody else with a visual creative output. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to be considered, please e-mail kev@synecticmag.co.uk Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 11

NEWCOMERS

MODEL

Jordann Ebbitt 12 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

NEWCOMERS

aving been modelling for a little over a year, Jordann Ebbitt is already attracting major attention in South Wales and further afield. Breaking into modelling more by luck than by design, Jordann draws inspiration from Kate Moss: “we have similar shaped faces and features and we are both under minimum height.” Whilst putting aside height concerns, Jordann has added a number of visually-stunning photos to her portfolio, working with the likes of Ryan Bater & A D Vaughan amongst other highly talented, sought after photographers. Jordann’s appeal has reached far enough to see her walk at London’s Alt Fashion Week for designer Bek Cochrane. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.” remarks Jordann, having discovered another feather in her cap: “I have really grown to love being on stage.” Having taken her bow on the catwalk, Jordann has her sights firmly set on the future: “I want to be successful more than anything. Over the past year I have set

myself goals and targets, so far I have achieved them. The one thing I wanted out of modelling was to eventually get signed, and at the height I was it was going to be difficult. But I have worked really hard and here I am. All I am going to do now is keep at it and work hard.” With her efforts gradually bearing fruit, Jordann has recently signed with D1 Models in London remarkably as their shortest ever model, four inches below their asking height - and is looking forward to many exciting things to come. Speaking with Jordann gives us the impression of a hard working, down-to-earth, charming young model, and we certainly can’t wait to see her thrive in her chosen career. Looking at where she’s come from, Jordann’s advice to anybody hoping to follow in her footsteps is “to get a friend to take a couple of natural photographs and join Model Mayhem. Never pay for anything and do your research. There are a lot of scams out there. Never be afraid to ask for any help or advice.” <

“

I have worked really hard and here I am. All I am going to do now is keep at it and work hard.

”

Photos Opposite Page Ryan Bater Below Left & Centre Stacey Clarke Right Emma Bradbrook

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 13

NEWCOMERS

MUSIC

Falling With Style “

You don’t need a big background to make a name for yourself.

”

facebook.com/ FallingWithStyle Twitter @FwSOfficial

s far as exciting new bands go, they don’t come much more exciting than Pontypridd 5-piece Falling With Style. The band are soon to release an EP, ‘Tides’ (reviewed in this very issue), and with it look certain to firmly cement their place as “ones to watch” on the South Wales scene over the coming months.

plaudits for their punchy, energetic live performances - something many bands fail to achieve.

Having started life in September 2010, the band are influenced by the likes of A Day To Remember, You Me At Six and Silverstein. In their own words, they "mix catchiness and fun with a load of ideas from hardcore." Having already taken part in a number of shows that most bands would envy, it seems the excitement and popularity of the band continues to soar. They continue to score headlining slots all over South Wales and have won many

Musical qualities and live zeal aside, there is one very good reason this band continue to progress and impress. They look up to Reaper In Sicily, so much so that they’ve been taken under their wing as part of Reaper Productions, supporting the band on a number of shows and benefitting from their vast experience. Speaking of Reaper In Sicily, FWS tell us “they’re living proof that you don’t need a big background to make a

With the EP release on the horizon, Falling With Style have also bagged a slot on September’s Destroyer Fest in Abertillery alongside some of the best current and upcoming bands nationally.

14 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

name for yourself.” So, where do they see themselves in five years’ time? “we’d like to be playing across Britain, maybe even the world! Just spreading our music to as many people as possible, and playing as many gigs as possible.” Reasonable ambitions indeed, and if they keep it up, there’s no reason why Falling With Style can’t emulate the sort of moderate success that Reaper In Sicily have achieved for themselves, and possibly more. It’s not unreasonable to expect to see this band opening for a touring act in the likes of Cardiff Uni in the not too distant future. < Check out Page 71 for our review of ‘Tides’, by Falling With Style.

Coming up in

ISSUE 4 Fashion Wales Live 2012 Transitions All the best from FMA Cymru’s annual showcase of music, fashion and performing arts. Merthyr Rock Review and photos of South Wales’ premier rock festival as it returns for a second year. Music Wales Studios In-depth look at one of Wales’ newest and best multi-purpose recording studios, including an interview with producer Rob Evans. Roller Derby: What’s It All About? We look at one of the freshest and fastest growing sports in South Wales and give you all the info plus features on which team is local to you and how you can get involved. New content We’re proudly launching two new sections: Entertainment and Alt. Culture. Look out for some hot features on movies, comedy and entertainment in general in South Wales, as well as features on the Principality’s hottest established and upcoming tattoo artists and culture. Threads Looking at some of the hottest must-have band t-shirts & accessories from our the best of our very own. AND... All the best new Welsh music as well as reviews of the big shows happening in South Wales. Socialise with us to stay up-to-date with all the very latest developments. www.facebook.com/synecticmag @synecticmag www.synecticmag.co.uk

AVAILABLE

25 SEPTEMBER 2012

WHAT’S ON

Merthyr Rock 31 August-2 September Photo Finn Beales

cyfartha park, merthyr tydil tickets from £55, camping £15

fter the success of last year’s event, Hay Festival’s Merthyr Rock is back in Cyfartha Park for a second year. Bands already announced include Razorlight and Kids In Glass Houses.

LIGHTS

6 July, 7pm cf10, cardiff TICKETS: £11.50 Award winning Canadian songstress Valerie Anne Poxleitner (AKA Lights) brings her unique brand of addictive electropop to Cardiff for the second time in 2012. Playing Cardiff University’s intimate CF10 venue, this is one show not to miss this summer. Expect a mixture of catchy melodies delivered through smooth vocals and an ecclectic mix of synth-sounds. Not to be missed.

16 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

included sets from the likes of Ocean Colour Scene, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, The Blackout, Skindred and Funeral for a Friend.

Whilst we can’t wait to see this year’s complete line-up, The organisers have even we’re sure the organisers won’t We’re expecting managed to tempt Saves The disappoint. Day all the way from the US for them to deliver a line-up to help the 3-day festival. Other bands establish this fledgling festival announced already are Deaf as one of the best in the UK. Havana, Arcane Roots and Tickets are currently available Yashin. at an early bird rate of £55 Many more bands are expected (until July 2nd), at which point to be announced to top last the price will be increased. year’s line-up of 30+ bands. Camping tickets for the 3 day Whilst last year’s show was very event cost just £15. much focussed on local talent, it appears that the organisers are If you only go to one festival keen to extend the reach and this summer, make sure this is appeal of the festival given the it. The music scene in Wales will benefit immensely from the bands announced so far. growth of Merthyr Rock. < Highlights from last year’s event

WHAT’S ON

fashion wales live transitions 29 june, 7pm riverfront theatre, newport TICKETS: £5

Celebrating the very best in local talent as well as undiscovered stars, Fashion Wales Live returns for its fifth year on June 29th. Providing an amalgamation of fashion, music and dance - the show aims to bridge the gap to high fashion for the general public, whilst entertaining and raising money for charity. The showcase event for FMA Cymru has previously seen the likes of GLC, NDubz, The Automatic and The Guns, as well as being hosted by Josie D’Arby in the past. This years theme, ‘Transitions’ aims to introduce more local talent to the stage. Auditions went well and we expect to see a whole host of underthe-radar local talent on display on the night. With more big names in store, and at a bargain price - this show really isn’t to be missed if you have only a passing interest in fashion, music or the arts in Wales. <

VACANCIES Join our team of unpaid interns and let us help you develop your skills Turn to page 45 for more information Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 17

competition

WIN!

ALL THIS FOR YOUR BAND! PHOTO SHOOT

FLYER DESIGN

WORTH OVER £600! 18 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

ACOUSTIC VIDEO SESSION

competition

Synectic has teamed up with the brilliant new Design for Bands service to bring you a prize that’s officially too good to miss! Sounds great! Who are they? Design for Bands are a creative studio focussing their considerable talents on music-based media. They consist of some of the finest creative South Wales has to offer, and they want to share that awesome-ness with your band. So, what exactly do I get? Are you ready? Well - you get a 1 hour photo shoot with Craig Thomas, who’s recently shot some eye catching work for Straight Lines and The Boy Royals. In addition - there’s a flyer design for whatever purpose you see fit done by Shaun Preece. It can be for a single gig, an upcoming release or just to show the world how awesome you guys are! Last, but by no means least - experienced videographer Hamish Kay will film an acoustic video session for your band The winning band will also get a feature in our Autumn issue to showcase the lovely things that Design for Bands have done for them. Now, you can’t say fairer than that, right? How do I enter? Ladies and gentlemen, cast your eyes right.

HOW TO ENTER

It couldn’t be easier. Just the following: Follow @SynecticMag AND @designforbands1 Then simply tweet us:

@SynecticMag get me a piece of the @ designforbands1 competition action for (tag your band) #synectic #designforbands Terms & Conditions 1.) Band members and solo artists may enter. 2.) Only members associated with a band may enter, fans/support staff may not enter on a bands’ behalf. 3.) Only Welsh based music projects may be considered. 4.) All band members may enter, but each band will receive only one entry. 5.) The competition closes at midnight on Monday 16th July 2012. 6.) Entrants will be drawn and the winner notified via Twitter no later than Monday 30th July 2012. 7.) No purchase necessary, prizes may not be exchanged for any monetary value.

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 19

T A E M U O Y

Feature

20 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

X I S T

Feature

hen youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re part of arguably the hottest property in British rock music, you tend to have a lot on your plate. For You Me At Six that involves writing and touring extensively, with three albums under their belts, shows the world over as well as being the face of the Olympic torch concert in Cardiff and taking to the States as part of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Warped Tour. It certainly has been a busy few years for the five-piece from Surrey, Richard Meyrick caught up with them in Cardiff to talk all things music, touring, and pissing off Frank Carter...

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 21

Feature In your own words can you describe what You Me At Six is all about? It’s changed really. When you start out as a band you do it for a hobby, because it’s something you like to do and it’s always a dream that you want to go off and tour the world. We just started writing things for fun and playing local shows, then over the years it became less of a hobby and more of a job as we started a heavy touring schedule. Touring with the likes of Fightstar and Angels & Airwaves in 2007. Then in 2008 we had even bigger tours and released our first CD (Take Off Your Colours). As motions go, once you release your first album you’re under

family members pass away and we had internal problems in the band. I think that’s what shaped us up to be where we are today. After releasing Sinners Never Sleep we were a lot more honest with each other and let a lot of grudges go. We just talked about all the situations we had and came clean, that’s really where Sinners Never Sleep stands, it’s a very honest record. You can hear in the lyrics and even the music that we’ve progressed and are a bit more mature. Yes, it’s a cliché word to use, but you don’t want to re-write the same tracks, because you do that and feel like you’re cheating your fans out of new music. I think that’s where songs like ‘Crash’ and ‘No One Does It Better’ came along, it’s not what people expected. The same with ‘Time Is Money’ and ‘Bite My Tongue’. It’s not what anyone expected You Me At Six to do after ‘Hold Me Down’. Have you always been into the hardcore genre?

pressure when writing the second. You’ve got to up your game and push yourselves as a band to create something better than the last, which is more fresh and new. From then we toured a lot, and went through good times and bad times. We saw

Yeah, I think all of us have to be honest with you, me and Chris listen to a lot of metal, from an early age I can remember catching the Megabus to shows just to hear one Lamb Of God song, thinking “this is fucking ridiculous.” We’ve been into a lot of different styles of music, we don’t stay in one world, we open it up to loads of others. One night we could be listening to Stevie Wonder then the next night Seal, then you could chuck Slipknot and The Ghost Inside on, and before you know it you’re listening to Oasis while having a jam. We listen to hiphop as well, you take influence from everybody else and recreate it in how you want it. With ‘Bite My Tongue’ and ‘Time Is Money’ there were heavy bits,

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so we thought it’d be great if we could get Oli (Sykes - Bring Me The Horizon) and Winston (McCall - Parkway Drive) on the record. We’ve been friends with Bring Me The Horizon for years and Josh sang the song ‘Fuck’ on their record, Oli said then “if you ever want me to return the favour I’d happily love to.” Parkway Drive came about because we toured with them on Warped Tour, they were one of the only bands we got on with really well. When writing the songs we never intended on getting guest vocalists, then we heard the finished recording and thought “these songs haven’t got the edge yet.” They just didn’t have the final touch. Having Oli on ‘Bite My Tongue’ and Winston on ‘Time Is Money’ gave that depth and aggression, and more importantly it had balls, which is what we wanted to portray on this CD. There’s a variety of different styles of songs on ‘Sinners Never Sleep’, did you set out to make so many ‘soft’ songs and so many ‘heavy’ songs? I think our band has always been like that, maybe not at first with Take Off Your Colours, but with Hold Me Down there was a lot of variety on the CD so it wasn’t just the same song for the entire CD. It has to have ups and downs, when we make a CD it’s as if you’re watching a film or on a ride, it has its ups and downs and you connect with the story. If you buy an album and listen to the first four songs and think “this is boring,” you’re gonna throw it away and never listen to it again. You want something you can listen to from start to finish. I think we always make sure our CD’s have flow and variety, which makes it feel like you’re on an epic ride.

Feature You recently did a world first when you collaborated with Thorpe Park and recorded ‘The Swarm’ for their new roller coaster, can you tell us a bit about that? It’s the worlds first ever song written specifically for a ride. It’s weird because I live two minutes away from Thorpe Park, so to do something like that was mind-blowing for all of us. We found out at an EMI party in Ibiza that Thorpe Park wanted us to potentially write them a song for their new ride called ‘The Swarm’. We thought it’d be really interesting, and said “we’d love to!” When they got back to us they said it was between us and Wretch 32, but they thought our sound suited it better, in their words “it was an epic ride.” The whole idea of the ride is the end of the world and the apocalypse. They mentioned songs like ‘Little Death’ and ‘The Consequence’ and said they liked the vibe of these songs, “that’s why we chose you, ‘cause you have those epic, gritty rock songs that we need.” Then they took us to the ride and we walked up it before it was even made, so we got a feel for the entire ride. We were very pleased to work with Gil Norton (Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Counting Crows) who, in my opinion has worked on some of the best records of all time. For us to work with him was like “oh he’s free? Let’s see if he can do it” and he said “yeah I’m free.” He’s English as well which was a good experience (compared to working with Canadian producer Garth Richardson on Sinners Never Sleep). We learned a lot from him, but I think it’s about learning a lot from different producers and seeing who you feel comfortable with. We got on with Gil really well, and I think he understood straight away

what our intentions were for the song when he first heard it. We were all sat in a room together playing the song and he said “try this, try that,” it’s like throwing shit at a wall - if it sticks it sticks, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. We didn’t have to make many changes to the song and we whacked it out in four days in Bath and had a great time. It came out better than we expected when you get told “go and write a song for a

ride, it’s based on this.” Normally the songs come out freely and happily when they do want to come out, so being told “you have three weeks to write a song, go and do it” was really weird for us. We had never done anything like that before and we were always thinking “is it going be good enough? Are we going to crack under the pressure? Is it going to be right for the ride?” There was pressure on us when

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 23

Feature

Live Photos Kevin Barnes

we were writing it, that’s what made which is really good. one of the best You songs we’ve done.

but I think the song, To me it’s Me At Six

This is being played in the queue right? Yeah it’s on a continuous eight minute loop, but broken down. You’d have guitar and drums, then maybe bass, then another guitar, then just drums. If you were listening to a three minute song on loop for two hours in a queue you would be pissed off, which would be a bad thing for us because people would be so pissed off that they may never want to listen to us again. But when we did the press conference for it and opened the ride we had a good response, it’s something you don’t expect, and that’s what attracted us to it because it’s a world first and that can’t get taken away from us. That blew our minds.

It’s safe to say you’re the hottest property in British pop punk at the moment, how does it feel to be setting a standard for up and coming bands around the country? I don’t really think of it like that to be honest with you. The way I look at it is rock gets a lot of shit nowadays and there’s so much more electronic music about, I look back to the past and think “which bands have really made a mark and made history?” I look at bands like Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters, Muse, Nirvana and all that. Legendary bands, how can you achieve to get somewhere like that, you’ve got to set a standard and drive, drive, drive. Work hard and play hard is the key and it’s weird when people say “you are the UK pioneers in this world.” I don’t see it like that because it’s what we do and it’s what we enjoy doing. To wave the flag for England right now is a wicked

24 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

feeling but you can’t get ahead of yourself because it could be gone just like that! You’ve just got to keep working hard, crack on with it and make people excited and aware of what’s going on with your band. A lot of bands get in to it for the wrong reasons, mainly money I’ve found... Yeah the common misconception is “you’re on the cover of a magazine you must be loaded” and in reality we still live with our parents. Nothing is handed to you on a plate, you’ve got to work for it and that’s what we’ve been doing for the past seven years touring. You can’t just stop, if you really have the hunger and passion you’ve got to get out there and do it. Have you come across any You Me At Six cover bands? Never a covers band but I’ve

Feature come across a few on YouTube, a couple of funny ones. There was a mate’s mate of mine who did a cover of one of our songs that made me laugh, then there was a girl who got signed to Polydor who did a cover of one of our songs that never got released which was really good. You’ve got to look at it as your music inspiring other people to become musicians and they could put their own spin on one of your songs. Like what we do with our Live Lounge covers is put a different spin on someone else’s song that no one would maybe expect us to do. You guys tour quite a lot, and have been to quite a few countries these past few years. Is there a particular memory of one place that sticks in your mind? Going to Australia for the first time was nuts. It was for Soundwave Festival 2010 and we were like “mate, this is amazing! We’re flying over to the other side of the world to play music to people.” It’s probably one of the nicest countries I’ve been to, I’d happily move there! When we were going there we said we’d be happy to play to a hundred people and then the first day in Brisbane we played to over a thousand people! We were like “what the fuck is going on!? This is on the other side of the world, as far as you can get from home.” Australia is very much a mix of the UK and America put together; America is just America, it’s fucking huge! It’s over saturated with music so it makes you want to work harder to stand out, which I think we do because we’re British and we try to do our own spin of things. Europe is great for touring, we just love going round and seeing sights that you thought you’d never see in your life. We went

in Indonesia recently and we got to go to a Buddhist temple, which was fucking mental. We couldn’t get our heads around the fact that we were in Indonesia playing shows, whoever would’ve thought that five guys from Surrey would be playing shows in Indonesia? The internet is great for it because the internet is life pretty much these days, which is good in one way but then bad in another because you could be stuck at a computer all day and believe everything a computer tells you. Got any good tour stories? On the first Warped Tour we did we had this ongoing joke with Gallows, and Frank had a thing where he’d call out bands every day and he called out ours and we were like “yeah whatever” because he was pissing around. Then one day I called him a prick onstage and after the show the rest of the guys were saying “Frank’s really mad at you” and I was like “why?” “Because you called him a prick.” I thought he couldn’t be mad ‘cause we were joking around about it the other day. So then on our day off me and the boys went out and one

of the guys changed their phone’s name to Frank’s and started texting under the table saying “Frank’s going to beat you up” and I was like “holy shit whats going on!?” You know when a guy is banging the mic on his head onstage he’s a bit mental, so you wouldn’t want to get in a fight with him! After we had our food we were coming out of the place, and walking down the street was Frank and Stef from Gallows, I was shitting it. They thought I was gonna run off but I didn’t, then Frank said “your boys are such pricks to you, how can you take it?” I was like “thank fuck for that” [laughs] but that was a good prank, there’s been many pranks but that’s probably one of the funniest ones. Tough question, who’s the best band you’ve toured with? Kids In Glass Houses are always great to tour with, we did a European tour in 2010 together and that was the first proper tour we did together. Most nights ended with us all on the bus singing Oasis songs and drinking every kind of alcoholic beverage known to man. We finished the tour and ended up at my house, I woke up, fully clothed, with an empty bottle of Desperados in my hand and thought it was a good way to end the tour. So those guys are well up there. What are the future plans for You Me At Six? We’re going to keep touring this year. There are ideas for new songs but for now we’re going to keep touring with this record and have a bit of time to ourselves. We’ve been touring for seven years and we haven’t really had time to grow up, after seven years it starts to take its toll on you. <

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 25

Feature

“I fit it all in by working my ass off

”

CHRIS MAGUIRE

hen you think of an entrepreneur, you probably think of somebody like Richard Branson, right? Well Wales has produced its very own, his name is Chris Maguire, and his game is multimedia. We chatted to Chris about his staggering workload and what makes him tick in a creative capacity. So - producer, artist, media & PR guru, musician, photographer, videographer - as a man of many talents, how would you describe yourself and why? I found the best way to describe what I do as either Multimedia Futurist or Multimedia Specialist. What started happening was I found it really hard to describe myself and what I did to people in a quick passing

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conversation. I found that either of the two aforementioned titles summed it up enough for people to understand what it is I do, if only on the surface, even if we only talk for 10 seconds and I hand them a business card. You now run Altsounds.com, AltPR, Kingloaf.com along with creating digital art (and that’s just what we can see on the outside), how do you fit it all in? I fit it all in by working my ass off. Since 2004 and the inception of AltSounds I have been honing the ability of working many hours in a day whilst still making it fun, so it isn’t a chore. Living in New York and the mindset here has helped me save time too, you find yourself going a different route to catch a different train for example, if it can save you

5 minutes in a day. Time is money, and hard work equals time. Let’s just say that one of my biggest works in progress is actually bettering my use of time so I can do even more! Do you believe the spirit of enterprise is alive and well in Wales, or would you consider yourself an exception? Entrepreneurship is definitely there but it’s not as rife as it should be. I mean with all the grants and governmental money available there should be a lot more people trying to do their own thing. I have started seeing some guys I went to school with opening their own businesses and it’s nice to see them doing that no matter how small it is. At least they had the balls to walk away from a pay check and risk nothing for the greater good.

Feature How does somebody go from a boring 9 to 5 to realising and living their dreams? There is only one way. You just have to do it. Everyone always comes up with excuses for why they can’t do something, particularly when it comes to leaving your recurring pay check. It’s definitely a hard but liberating thing to do and, one that when you do it, you will always be happy you did. Better to try and fail than be too scared to try right? You must have a plan, and you must know what you want to do. Don’t just quit your job and wing it, know what you will be doing and work slowly but surely towards realizing that goal. It’s easy to get bogged down sometimes and lose sight of the end goal, what advice would you give to somebody chasing a dream? My friend Jerry in Virginia who is a successful business owner once pointed at a truck at the end of the road and said “see that truck? Keep taking a step towards to each and every day and you will eventually reach the truck”. It was a very simple but powerful message, with the truck depicting your goal. How can you fail if you are making moves closer to the goal each day? It’s impossible. I also had another mentor in an old boss of mine named Tony Constable who was also a successful business man in Maryland, we were eating lunch and he just couldn’t understand how people failed in business. He’s like “literally you just have to work and the rest happens”. Sure enough, it turned out to be a true sentiment. And tell us, where do you find the time? You make time. Now, obviously noone can actually make time but, for example, I will work uber hard while

my wife is working so that when she finishes we can hang out. Then when she goes to bed, I work more, often till 3am and then get up between 8 and 9 and do it all again. If you have moments of work and chill spread out through the day it doesn’t become a chore. Also, working on your own stuff isn’t a chore at all. If it is, you chose to go into the wrong business for yourself. So, on to music. You also ran a successful studio in Cardiff Bay for a few years, how did that come about? I wanted to do it. I moved back from the US and wanted to get more serious with my music. I had saved for 3 years in the US so I had just enough money to pull something like that off but it was very minimal to begin with. My uncle and I built the studio by hand, it took a month of work to soundproof and treat it before it opened. I think all in all I was able to pull all the building work off and the gear I started with for like 10 grand. Then I literally pumped all the money I made for the first year back into it so by year two I had much nicer gear and my work was becoming to the standard I wanted. The studio was open for about 5 years in the end I think and I did some great work there and some really awesome bands from all over the world stepped foot in there, tagged my wall and left their mark on Screamadelica Studios. I am seriously toying with the idea of doing all of it again in New York at the moment so we will see how or if that pans out. You’ve worked with a lot of international artists, but who would you say stood out on the South Wales music scene during your time? Yeah man I did 100’s of songs each year there. It was freaking awesome.

Some of the Welsh bands that stood out most that I still listen to in fact are: Kryophere, Clinigol, The Shaws, Bleed Electric and John Q Public. Who was the best act you ever worked with? Too tough a question. There were a million artists that were amazing that I was lucky enough to work with. One of the coolest was Cage The Elephant as we got an exclusive B-Side out of them during their session but I loved all the Bleed Electric material that was recorded there. I am proud of everything I helped Clinigol do during that time and the Kryophere album is still a staple in my monthly musical listening. What’s your opinion of the music scene in Wales, what can it do better or worse? This opinion is based on two years ago as I haven’t been back since moving to New York but, I think bands should be making music that comes out of them. Way too many bands I came across at the studio were copies of other bands. They would approach their band like “ooh I want to sound like Four Year Strong” or something like that. That’s an epic fail right there. Just get in a room and see what happens, don’t force anything and don’t try and be anything specific just let it happen. Bleed Electric is my example of that. We always approach(ed) that with no pre-conceptions, we never said no to trying anything and our sound just came from all three of us getting in a room together. If more bands in Wales did this we would have a flourishing musical scene of originality instead of a diluted scene of copycats. You’re also still involved with Bleed Electric, how’s that project going? Bleed Electric is going well. We are

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Feature releasing a new EP this summer and just released one in February. The Atlantic Ocean can’t hold a beast like that down! I mean, we have something very special there, a sound that is so unique and future fresh that we have to keep going on. Fans won’t see our first 100% across ocean material until end of 2012 or 2013 unfortunately as we have a bunch we need to release first to finish off our ‘Trinity’ sessions. Is it difficult still making music when you’re 4,000 miles away from other member(s)? It’s harder for sure, but we just make sure we’re all using the same software, the same hardware etc so we can just send projects back and forth and they just work. We use Reason A lot to craft beats and sending those files is awesome as they are tiny. So I may work on a beat and send it to Silk who will add his vibe, send it back and I finish it off or whatever. Ask me this again when we are trying to do a whole album over the Atlantic! What can we expect to see from Bleed Electric in future? New EP ‘Accidental Genius’ coming this summer, debut album in 2013. And any future plans for production work or running a studio again? I am seriously toying with the idea of opening up my own studio again in New York City. As far as production work goes I am going to be doing a solo album I think under the guise MUG5, MUGFIVE or BATMAN this year. If I go the BATMAN route, my cat will basically be the face of the project! OK, so on to media. Tell us the idea behind Altsounds.com and how you grew it into what it is today. AltSounds started before Myspace

and was originally a space to go an listen to free, legal MP3’s. This was in 2004 and at that time there was an even bigger issue with MP3’s and the legality of what it was you were listening to. We became the underground equivalent of Myspace at that point having some of the greatest underground bands at that time like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Underoath etc which all became popular bands in the end. After the surge of MySpace, it left us needing new avenues, and what AltSounds is now started then. Since that day we have grown into one of the greatest musical news services in the world, breaking stories before all the supposed giants. We are also used for our musical opinion, with people knowing that what we suggest is usually worth your time. One of our many taglines is “we scour the sonic noisescape highlighting the best and worst music so you don’t have to!” Altsounds.com has been successful now for more than half a decade, is it dream come true, or still work in progress?

the opportunity to write where no one else would. We don’t judge our staff on experience or qualifications. We judge our potential new writers on one thing, the quality of their writing. You’ve also launched Kingloaf. com - what’s the idea behind that and how does it differ from Altsounds? KingLoaf fills all the voids AltSounds doesn’t cover off for me. AltSounds is niche and focuses on just music. KingLoaf focuses on sports, fashion, TV, movies, culture and all the other cool stuff we love. It is worth noting that its demographic is men 18-34 though, so expect girl galleries and all that fun stuff too. We are just launching Queenster.com which will be the female equivalent. Both are still a work in progress that we haven’t actually ever really launched they just became popular through the work we were doing. AltPR is obviously taking off for you now, was it a big step taking your knowledge and experience and forming a PR company?

I would rather say for near 2 decades. The site is 8 years old at this point! AltSounds is a constant work in progress, we add little arms here and there, hone the user experience and design etc. AltSounds will always grow and change with the times which is also one reason we have managed to stay successful. At one point in like ‘06 it was quite literally a radio station only. We always listen to our users and make changes that make them happy. Even more importantly is the very open attitude we have with all the staff that work here with everyone being able to comment and help with ideas to better AltSounds. Who is better to comment than the people spending hours on it each and every day? AltSounds helped you create this magazine that you are reading this on right now. That to me is super cool. We give writers

It’s something I had wanted to do for a few years. I actually wanted Scream PR and bought the domain name but got threatened legal action by a London based PR company back in 2010, which put the PR arm on hold until we launched it at the beginning of this year. Everything is going great with that and the three of us involved are all proud of what we have achieved with that thus far. For all these successful ideas, were there any ideas you had which didn’t work out quite so well? We recall Altsounds TV as one project which maybe didn’t take off as well as others. AltSounds TV will have it’s day. The biggest problem with that is that I was trying to make a TV channel on the

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Feature

Above Long Promised Road “I hit hard at the battle that’s confronting me, yeah, Knock down all the roadblocks a-stumbling me, Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down” Previous Page Monster I’m a mother fucking monster!

web. I figure AltSounds TV will be successful when it is actually on TV!

traditional realms so creativity for me is my way of coping and dealing with feelings and emotions.

What’s next on to the to do list? Either a recording studio or clothing boutique in NYC. Might have to flip a coin to decide. So, we know you studied art in university, how engaged are you with your creative side still? I create art all of the time. Minimum one piece a month, but try to do at least one a week. I am creating all the time across all media. Sometimes I surprise myself with how much creativity I have in me! What inspires you to create? Emotion. I’m not the greatest person at expressing emotion through

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Is there a reason why you opt for digital art over conventional methods? First would be space. If I wanted to paint on canvas I would need a ton of free space. Secondly, with graphics tablets and Photoshop you have any size canvas you want and any color paint at any time and it never runs out! It is worth noting that for years I have been pushing the boundaries of graphic digital art making pieces that are as big as real art. I mean I have done some that are so hi-res they could quite comfortable be printed 12 foot and they would still look good. As computer power progresses I will continue to push it to its limits.

Feature What would you say to somebody wanting to better themselves as an artist? Find your style. Much like music, just cause your inspired by say Pollock or Banksy doesn’t mean you should start doing stuff like them. That was them pouring their emotions onto canvas how they did it. Just do your own thing and keep working on your style so that when people see your work they know who did that piece of work. Do you think there’s still a place in the popular culture for conventional art methods, or is digital the way to go? There is a place for all art. My neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is testament to that. They have a ton of small art galleries that are displaying all sorts of weird art and sculptures etc. I am going to work towards getting a gallery showing at some point in 2012. What’s your biggest achievement from your art work? My art ‘Long Promised Road’ (opposite page) was featured half page in the December issue of Details magazine which is a huge men’s magazine. That was nice to get something featured in something so many people would see. What does your work mean or represent to you? My work is my feelings and emotions. All my loves, hates, fears and everything can be found in my art work. It is all muti-dimensional and detailed though so unless you are looking closely you might miss a ton! You’ve dabbled with photography and music videos as well as video content for Altsounds, is it something you felt as

a DIY-ethic and encourage photographers & video makers to put themselves out there?

passionately about as your other endeavours? Yeah for sure. I feel like I helped create a scene for that in Wales. When I was shooting bands at gigs, nobody else was really doing it, particularly at the smaller show like Barfly etc. Five years on and you couldn’t get to the pit because of photographers. I use a lot of my photography in my art at this point and, my photography these days are art photography so I’ll pick one shot and work days on it instead of working on 20 photos. I’m just approaching it differently but I am definitely still involved. Same goes for video, although my video work has progressed since into live TV, weekly internet shows, award shows and that sort of stuff I am still working on music videos it’s just I have a lot less time due to all of that to focus on it. The music videos you will see me working on will be Bleed Electric oriented ones for now I would imagine.

Yes they should definitely come to us and work with us and get their writing and photography out there. We welcome people in the majority of cases and have given hundreds of people their first rung on the music business ladder. As far as starting something similar. Good luck! If you do, prepare to work 4-20 hours on it every single day of your life forever! The platform is there, instead of trying to make another platform, join and help progress your personal career further forward. It makes much more sense trust me because running something like AltSounds or KingLoaf is far from as easy as some people think it is that only look at surface level. If you could meet yourself from say 7/8 years ago, what advice would you give?

Again, what would you say to people looking to explore these areas?

“Work harder because in 7/8 years you still won’t have achieved fully what you want to.”

Do it! One of my staff was complaining how someone they know worse at photography than her just opened their own studio. I told her to do the same and she buckled under the pressure. I mean, when I firs moved back to Wales I started turning up at shows and speaking to bands and offering to shoot them for 20 quid. Before I knew it I was shooting all the bands at a gig and making 100 and then before I knew it I was charging 100 per band etc. I had no business plan, I just wanted to shoot bands and make money doing so. The hardest thing people have to fight against is their own laziness and their own fears. Tell that side of your brain to go fuck itself and you will be all good! Do you feel Altsounds & Kingloaf are platforms to promote

And finally, what advice would you give to somebody looking to exploit multiple talents? Don’t let anyone stop you. My careers adviser in school told me that there was no job I could do and I would need to choose. I told him I would make that job... and I did. Just because having a ton of talents doesn’t help people put you in a box doesn’t mean you should stop any of them. I have too much creativity to get out through just one medium and each piece of my puzzle helps me get through the day. If you are multi-talented be thankful and gracious for these skills and use them all! <

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Feature

Slam Dunk Wales cardiff uni, 28 may 2012

The rapidly growing Slam Dunk Festival came to South Wales for the first time this May, bringing an unusually international bill to Cardiff. Taking Back Sunday headlined the main stage, with capable support coming in the shape of Motion City Soundtrack, Say Anything, The Audition and local boys Straight Lines. As if that wasn’t enough, the line-up included a 2nd stage, notably downstairs in CF10. Spoiling the assembled masses were hardcore heavyweights Cancer Bats. Propping them up on the bill were While She Sleeps, Don Broco and Save Your Breath. It was arguably the best alternative bill to hit Cardiff since Taste Of Chaos lost it’s clout. South Wales made sure that organiser can’t overlook them for follow-up shows in future, turning out in their hundreds to

support the evening. You sense that Solus could’ve held a lot more people, but the amount of people heading to the CF10 stage surely underlines that interest in alternative music is still strong. Whilst the support stage played a part in expelling heavy tunes to satisfy those squeezed into CF10, a lighter brand of guitar music was playing upstairs. Taking Back Sunday, as headliners didn’t disappoint. It’s been an odd sort of few years for the band from Long Island. Numerous member changes mean that they are almost a completely different proposition to that which burst upon the scene five or six years ago. They play a solid, if unspectacular set, but it’s enough to keep their fans in the audience happy. Motion City Soundtrack provided main support, and proceeded to perform their usual flawless

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performance. Surely now one of the most unappreciated bands of our time, musical and vocal delivery was perfect. Say Anything and The Audition have both had their moments in the spotlight, however both seem to have little more than a cult following as only small portions of the crowd respond. Straight Lines opened up to a great reception, similarly Save Your Breath had the same honour downstairs. Both bands were a testament to the continued strength of the local music scene, looking completely comfortable on the bill. Over these six pages you will find exclusive images documenting the evening on the main stage. All images were taken by Kevin Barnes.

Feature

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FEATURE

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FEATURE

HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE...

facebook S

elf promotion, it can be a fickle and difficult world. For years now, social networking has – to some extent removed the “self” from the equation. Facebook, and MySpace before it, made it possible for a generation of musicians to market themselves like never before. The best part was it was free. Models have become online celebrities, bands have earned deals on the strength of their following. It really has made everything a little too easy. The bubble is bursting. Facebook, used by millions of people for their pages has undoubtedly become the biggest social networking tool in the web, allowing page owners to interact with their extensively built-up following at the click of a button. What Facebook did well with pages was allow those with no marketing budget to promote themselves as easily as multimillion pound corporations. Just attract people to ‘like’ a page, and unless they hide updates, they see everything posted.

In recent weeks there has been a sign of change. Facebook now invites page administrators to ‘Promote’ their updates, what does this mean? Essentially, you have to pay to reach all of the people who’ve clicked ‘like’ on your page. You can still post for free, but Facebook has made some backend changes which means that doing such will not have the same effect is it once did. On a page like Synectic, where there are currently 461 likes, there are two options to promote. The £4.00 option allows us to promote to an unknown amount of people, very helpful. A more exuberant £7.00 will ensure our update reaches an estimated 1,900 people. For the majority of users of the pages function, this is a crippling and frankly absurd amount of money. The very basis of having a page on Facebook is being able to self-promote for free. Your page is now only visible in the news feed of people who regularly interact; there is no way around it. Your page is only about 10-20% as functional as it once was. This is

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outrageous, right? Yes and no. In conventional terms, paying £7.00 to reach 1,900 people is a good deal, cheap, effective advertising. But you don’t have a Facebook page so that you can pay for advertising. Facebook’s recent stock flotation means that the creative types who rely on pages to engage with people are being forgotten. Quite simply, we don’t make them very much money, and that’s all they care for. What can you do about it? Jump ship. There are plenty of alternatives to Facebook where self-promotion is concerned; in part one of this feature, we look at some of these as far as your music is concerned. These are separated into general sites, music-focussed sites and physical promotion ideas. Join us in upcoming issues, where we will tackle this issue and look at solutions for photographers, models, digital artists, graphic designers, illustrators, videographers and more.

FEATURE

The All Rounders

General sites and ideas to help broadcast your music to anybody. Twitter Probably the most-innovative of the current crop of social networks, Twitter is the domain of the micro blogger. If you can say something in 140 characters or less, then Twitter’s potential is endless. Using follow Friday and other hash tags wisely can reap massive rewards, and developing a Twitter following can be as easy as following people you think might like your band.

a new online home is to have your own website. There are an abundance of talented designers who can build you something to stand out from the crowd. Unlike social networking, having your own site costs money, but the rewards can be superb when co-ordinated with social networking. There are also plenty of free solutions for websites, but for the stand out appeal of these, you might as well stick to a Google+ page.

such sites for artists would be to share interests, post & repost photos which take your interest, whilst advertising yourself to like minded individuals, who in turn may be

YouTube Whilst it may seem fairly obvious, YouTube has many uses for a musician. Clearly, when starting out, you probably won’t have the budget to shoot a music video. You do, however, have Google+ Blogging a ready made video camera The natural successor to your Blogging allows you to post in your smart phone or laptop, Facebook page, Google+ has news, updates, photos, music so use it. A useful (and developed a similar type of or videos in one place. It’s painfully overlooked) sidething, but with added benefits. similar to your Facebook page, effect to having an accessible Unlike Facebook, when but isn’t necessarily linked video camera is the ability somebody adds your page to a to a social network which to post video blogs. So circle (the Google+ equivalent allows people to discover many established bands use of clicking ‘Like’), you’re able you. The benefit of a blog is YouTube to broadcast hours to interact with them on their a cost-effective website, a of video material to give their page, commenting on their place where all your content, fans an extra connection with content and posts. Also, thoughts and updates can them, there’s no reason why when somebody puts a +1 of be posted and distributed to your band can’t either. Shoot a post on Google+, it shows social networks, allowing your some behind the scenes at a to people who have them in fans to then see this content. gig, or the next time you’re on circles, meaning, if you post a photo shoot or in the studio stuff which people share it will Tumblr / Pinterest and post them to YouTube. be viewable to people they Very similar contentinteract with. sharing sites, both Tumblr and Pinterest add an extraWebsite dimension to your online The ultimate solution to finding presence. The primary use of

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FEATURE

Music driven

These are the services which provide a specific focus on musical output and networking. Soundcloud Soundcloud is handy as a type of add-on service. Host your music on your Soundcloud account, and then share it around all of your websites, blogs or social networks. Whilst not hugely recognised as a social network in its own right, Soundcloud is expanding this side of things and is now allowing listeners to sign up and enjoy your music directly on the site. PureVolume One of the original social networking sites for music, PureVolume still exists and still provides a competent social network. Where PureVolume differs from other social networks is that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focussed on music. People join to discover music, not to post photos & updates about their day. The benefit of this is that you will potentially find more music-minded people. The drawback of course is that there are a lot less people to promote to.

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ReverbNation Whilst similar to PureVolume, ReverbNation opens up more possibilities for profiles. Venues, labels and management companies have their own distinct profiles, as well as artists and fans. The benefit of this is a convenient place where more music industry types are available. Like PureVolume, this site suffers from having less people online due to the music-centric nature of it. However, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still a very powerful tool. Spotify Whilst it may seem redundant unless you have music to release, Spotify is a growing platform with an increasing number of useful apps and plug-ins. In its most simple form, you can use Spotify to create playlists and share them with your fans. You can then opt to have these playlists visible to all, this allows you to share the music which has inspired your

band, add a track of yours to the playlist and it could help people to discover your music in tandem with music they already love. Last.fm Although not a straight-up music sharing platform, last. fm can benefit your band in a similar way to Spotify, but with greater control. If you sign up and download the last.fm client, you can listen to your own music whilst Scrobbling. Scrobbling allows data to be sent to last.fm which helps them compile recommendations. If you scrobble and listen to your own music in amongst bands who inspire you, you could find your music being suggested when people are hunting for fresh music based on what they already like.

FEATURE

Physical promo

Nothing says it better than something your fans can own and physically hold. Flyers You can’t beat a good bit of flyering, it’s the only way bands survived before the internet. Sadly, the internet has seen this method wither somewhat, but it shouldn’t. Flyering allows you to have a face-to-face interaction with a potential fan, which can spark a conversation and help you to convince them to give your music a listen. Having printed flyers also allows you to target shows, you could go to see the band who completely inspired your sound, and then hand flyers out to over 1,000 like minded people who may just love your sound as a result. The other benefit to flyer is a visual presence, if you have your flyers professionally designed they could turn people onto your band just by looking fantastic. Posters Having posters printed is similar to flyering, although involves more leg work in asking permission to put them up. Most music shops and venues will happily display some of your posters, but there are also lots of laws associated with fly posting.

If you do it, be careful, and check what you’re allowed to do in your local area, as the council could charge you for removal if illegally placed.

professionally, it will improve the outcome.

Demos Similar to flyering; if you have the budget, why not duplicate some demo CD’s and hand them out to people at shows. Again, you get the faceto-face interaction and the benefit of being able to target your potential audience. If you can make a good impression on somebody who takes a CD from you, it could really impact how they view your band and their likelihood of supporting you.

Stickers Exactly the same principle as flyering and demos, get some stickers printed and put them everywhere. It’s all about brand awareness, if you do it right then people will recognise your logo from your stickers, which could peak interest when they see one of your t-shirts or flyers.

Mailing lists This is another tried and tested method, similar to flyering. Whilst social networking has detracted somewhat from the usefulness of mailing lists, people still use email. Print Merch out a sign-up sheet for your It may appear a no-brainer, next show, and offer some but the more merch you sort of incentive to people produce and sell at shows, signing up (free demo CD, the more people who could stickers, badges etc). Once be walking around giving you have them on your you free promotion. People mailing list, it’s up to you to will always need clothes, so post regular, inventive and why not benefit from a bit interesting updates to peak of shameless self-promotion their interest. Mailing lists will and give them awesome work well if you tie-in social t-shirts with your band’s networks and give your fans logo or name on. Similar to exclusives such as first listen flyering, if you go that extra on new tracks and similar mile to have t-shirts designed such incentives. <

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Q&A Q&a

MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY words kevin barnes

resh from releasing debut album 'Foe’, synth-duo Man Without Country look to be the next Welsh band to take the music world by storm.

Interview by Kevin Barnes

You’re sat here finished with ‘Foe’ and it’s been out now for 3 weeks, how do you feel about it? Very happy to have it out there. It’s felt like such a long time and we’re really proud of how it’s turned out. You worked with Ken Thomas on the production, how was that experience? We did, it was great. We produced everything ourselves but we approached Ken to help us give the album a final mix. The way we work is mostly

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digital-based, but Ken works solely with analog and valve equipment, and it felt like our mixes were in need of some warmth and a bit of edge. Rather than work in a studio, you took a rather lofi approach to creating the recordings, what does this say about you as a band? It wasn’t so much lo-fi as it was just a convenient way to work. When you work at home you have the gift of time and freedom. You can stay up all night messing around with synths or whatever. Working

Q&a

in a commercial studio can cost a lot of money, and in most cases there will be an engineer there to do things for you. It can be difficult to convey your ideas verbally to an engineer or a producer, it’s more efficient sometimes to be hands on and do it yourself. Tell us a bit more about the theme and/or lyric ideas progressing through ‘Foe’ All of the tracks on the album are negative and hateful so the title ‘Foe’ felt like the obvious choice. A short, three-letter word that carries a lot of meaning. What do you feel this recording represents for Man Without Country? It’s our first full length album so it feels like the birth of Man Without Country. We now have an identity and something for people to sink their teeth into. Has it ended up sounding as you expected, or is it better/ worse? And why? The whole process of making this album has all been trial and error. We had clear artistic vision of what wanted to create, but the process of achieving what you want can be difficult. We tried working with various engineers and producers but we were always frustrated and unhappy with the outcome. We’d say that the result is as good as we expected, if not better.

How do you anticipate the songs will be portrayed by casual listeners? It’s hard to say from the inside looking out, but we are really happy with the album. What would you say to somebody reading this to convince them to give ‘Foe’ a listen? How can you know if you like sushi if you’ve never tried it?

“How can you know if you like sushi if you’ve never tried it?

”

How do you intend to craft the songs live, will they be faithful reproductions or more story-like re-tellings with added aura and atmosphere? We’ve been playing most of the songs live for a while now. The live side of things feels very separate to everything else we do. We like to try and perform the songs slightly different live, i.e. extend passages, change the structures or instrumentation. We also created a computersynced light show which compliments and exaggerates the intensity of the music. Where do you see Man Without Country progressing now following this release? Who knows?! Build a fanbase, have a voice, continue to express, see the world, inspire and be inspired, desire, motivate. <

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comment

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LE PUB

Words Kevin Barnes

very so often a venue comes along. A venue comes along that punches above its weight, bringing some of the finest underground acts to your area. This venue becomes so renowned that, despite its modest size, it’s on the top of your list of places to play. That venue also gives your band a chance to play, it gives you a break, or it supports that up-andcoming promoter who gave you your first show. That venue is Le Pub. When I first saw #savelepub on Twitter, I feared the worst. What is arguably now Newport’s most iconic venue (surpassing the dearly departed TJ’s) has been put up for sale. It is, I understand, to be sold as a going concern, and for the time being is honouring existing bookings and continuing to take new bookings. So, I hear you ask, why do I need to save it? Think for a moment, what would happen if everybody assumed Le Pub was OK and didn’t need any extra help. Imagine yourself as a prospective buyer, a venue comes on the market, it’s a nice venue and a very good location. You see that it’s a music venue, which is also a nice quality. You pop along to a show and see a sickly crowd of 10 people (mostly friends of the band) supporting what could very well be the next big thing to come out of South Wales. You do the sums quickly, and realise if you buy this place, you won’t get very far on

10 customers. Instead, you decide it’s a much better idea to turn it into a bar/restaurant and make enough money for your business to thrive. This may sound grim, but it’s exactly what will happen if you don’t help save Le Pub. For more years than I care to remember, Sam Harries has devoted her life to Le Pub. Keeping it going, and supporting your band, or your friends’ band get shows and realise their dreams. Sam is just like so many other dedicated music lovers in venues up and down the country, but she’s been lucky. Le Pub has so far survived, and credit goes to Sam for that. Whilst South Wales has lost the likes of TJ’s and Barfly (I like Bogiez, but it doesn’t do as much for the music scene as Barfly did), two major venues in the development of local bands. Chances are; you or somebody you know has played at Le Pub. I myself have played there many times, and despite being an average guitarist and singer, I always found a warm welcome and it undoubtedly helped me. I’ve also promoted at Le Pub, and I couldn’t believe the small price I was charged for the privilege, an absolute steal. The fact is, without a venue like Le Pub, so many of yours and your friends’ bands would never play gigs. The alternative is of course a pub, and pubs like pub bands. They like bands who play a variety of

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hits and old favourites to pull the punters and make money over the bar. I don’t know about you, but I care very little for bands playing a set like that. You may be reading this thinking “that doesn’t apply to me, I like Kids In Glass Houses, they don’t play Le Pub.” I’m afraid that counts for nothing, without venues like Le Pub, those bands would struggle to gain sufficient experience and exposure to ever become so big. Yes, there would be exceptions. And no, I’m not claiming Le Pub made Kids In Glass Houses – but I hope you understand the point I’m making. So, how can you help save Le Pub? Simply put, you can go there. Go and support local bands who are putting their time and money into trying to become the next big thing. Go and support the promoter who doesn’t care if he/she makes a loss, so long as people enjoy. Most of all, go support Le Pub (and similar small venues like it in your town), show people who may be thinking of buying it that it does have a sustainable future as a music venue. If you don’t – then it’s you who will miss out when it’s gone. Especially if you’re one of the people who complain about the demise of TJ’s, don’t let Le Pub be next. Get out there, support the scene and save Le Pub. <

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Creative control over issue-by-issue fashion content. Required to liaise with editor-in-chief regularly to update on progress and discuss features. Responsible for ensuring content is set up and completed in a timely manner. Good knowledge of local fashion scene desirable. Preferably locally based. Workload: 16-20 hours per issue (3 monthly cycle)

Writers (Music, Fashion, Entertainment, Burlesque/tattoo)

Allocated assignments based on individual subject specialty. Opportunity to interview local & touring artists, designers and personalities. Live and recording review opportunities. Preferably locally based. No experience necessary, although we will need to see examples of your writing skills. Workload: 10-20 hours per issue (3 monthly cycle)

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To apply: kev@synecticmag.co.uk Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 45

Q&a

INME

ith an almost cult-like following, InMe recently released their critically-acclaimed fifth studio album, ‘The Pride’. Frontman Dave McPherson took some time out to talk to Synectic about the release and future plans.

Hey guys! You recently released your album ‘The Pride’, on reflection, how do you feel about the album?

I’m incredibly proud of it on a personal level. I feel it’s easily our strongest work and it came out pretty much exactly how I wanted! You’ve also had the chance to tour with tracks from the album, how have they been received? They’re the most fun songs for

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me to play! They’re really fresh, exciting, and are obviously more current in terms of subject matter. We’re also playing with additional electronic sounds, which is really exciting. And how has the album gone down with fans? I’m really happy with the reception, we always divide opinion with each album, as we always change our sound. This album has been received best overall. We have a really warm & honest relationship

Q&a

with our fans, they’re more like independent hardworking there and then a massive UK/ a mass amount of friends to artists, it has separated the men Europe tour in November. I’ve me. from the boys, so to speak. already done about 110 shows this year so I’m glad to (kind of) Now, with ‘The Pride’ you Looking from a Welsh be home for a while! ran a pledge campaign, perspective, how is the encouraging donations support for InMe in South With this album under your from fans to make the Wales, and how do you feel belt, what do you think the album happen, how was playing here is different next 2-3 years will hold in the response? from anywhere else? store for InMe? Ridiculously overwhelming! I I think our crowd there are We’re working on a fairly don’t think we ever anticipated amazing, and I love the massive concept for the next how much work it’d be, but I whole country. The scenery is venture. In the meantime love it! I’m busy at the best of we’ll be doing all sorts whilst times, but this whole year has promoting ‘The Pride’, we’re really tested my 24 hour a day also tackling Europe & America. window! And having outlasted so Do you think a pledge many other bands, what campaign and shameless keeps you guys going self promotion can replace strong? the traditional record label model? Stupidity! (laughs) But really it’s down to passion, belief, ambition, Well the times they are a hard work & determination. < changing... I don’t know, we personally are still on a label. We need them for many things, including added experience, manufacturing, budgeting etc.

“I don’t think

we ever anticipated how much work it’d be, but I love it!

As a band who’ve been around for some time now, how do you feel things have changed with the music industry? Immensely. It feels like a completely different world to me now. Artists have to be on their toes more than ever, as well as most other areas of the industry. I believe for

”

amazing and the people have a unique excitement about them. Unfortunately I feel the live music scene has dwindled, and I don’t get to play Wales half as much as I’d like! Do you have any plans for more UK tour dates later this year? We have odds & sods here &

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 47

Lucy Cates 48 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

Photo Rugglez

model

hat do you look for when booking a model? Looks, attitude? How about personality? Or maybe their drive, ambition and determination matter more? Perhaps views, beliefs and convictions are more important? What if think all of those things are crucial? Then meet Lucy Cates. “I would want to be in a position where I’m working everyday, and travelling across the world. I guess that would be anyones dream as an aspiring model.” As honest as she is attractive, Lucy has quickly become one of South Wales’ must have models, shooting extensively and developing her look. But how did it all begin for Lucy? “I was scouted by Scott Cole” she recalls, having been going about her daily business when she caught the eye of the popular alternative photographer. For Lucy, it was a no brainer. “This was such a great opportunity to be entered into the modelling world, and to work with someone so talented right at the very beginning makes me feel proud of myself and I feel really lucky to have had that. His work was impressive and of a very high standard. I was so pleased when he said I had the exactly the right look for what he wanted.” It hasn’t taken Lucy long to take that experience and settle into the local modelling scene. We suspect this is down to - in no small part - an infallible work ethic: “If you are complacent, then you are not learning, developing and trying to push your standards higher and higher every time.” Lucy is refreshingly honest about where she sees herself, and where she wants to go. The 22-year-old already has a wealth of experience under her belt, including hair modelling as part of a workshop in London, working with internationally acclaimed Vidal Sassoon creative director Tim Hartley. An experience Lucy confesses was “brilliant”. As well as providing an experience, it opened Lucy’s eyes to another side of

Photo Alex Keen

“I would want

modelling. “I really enjoy doing hair modelling live and for shoots, and I feel I’m suitable for this as I always get great feedback and demand for this.” What influenced such a hard working, developing model? “I have always based myself on others around me, to see how they are doing the right things, wrong things, and then what I want to do myself. So I guess everyone. I want to make this work, and I like the idea of competition, luckily.” She can most certainly talk the talk, but what about moving on to walk the (cat) walk? “I love doing live shows and performing, so catwalk would be my next step. It absolutely terrifies me, but that is one of the reasons as why I want to do it. To constantly be challenging myself and not to live in fear.” Behind that burning desire to succeed, is a girl who wants more for herself, to be able to make a statement. Shying away from being the archetypal model, she sees herself as a much more important part of the process: “I want to get

to be in a position where I’m working everyday, and travelling across the world. I guess that would be anyones dream as an aspiring model.

”

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 49

model

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Photo Rugglez

model

Photo Andrej Vasilenko

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model involved in everything, and become almost a creative artist in that sense with what I do. Working on amazing sets together with a great team to create art at its finest.” That team ethic is strong in everything Lucy does: “Working with a great team is definitely one of great things about modelling. The sense that you have all put something into the shoot, and all having great talent and artistic

Photo AD Vaughan

52 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

visions.” Whilst the whole of the modelling world won’t conform to the title ‘team player’, Lucy happily acknowledges that there are other sides to the trade: “I understand modelling is very competitive, but I can’t be bitchy and sly, and I want everyone to do well if they deserve it. Ultimately it’s the clients

decision who they pick to work with, so that nasty side to modelling is irrelevant to me. Surely they would want to work with someone that is approachable, professional and easy to get on with. As opposed to someone who is devious and mean.” Lucy’s enthusiasm and passion for mutual success is admirable, and again a highly refreshing attribute. Whilst strengthening her case as the ideal model, Lucy tells us why she enjoys modelling. “There are loads of great things about modelling, the final results, excitement and adrenaline on set, to the make-up/ hair to create different looks and be somebody new entirely. I love my job, what can I say?” Being fortunate enough to sample both sides of modelling, both live and on camera, we ask which she prefers. “Being a live model is totally different than doing shoots. I really enjoy both, it’s definitely a lot of fun, like doing a performance. It’s a different thrill and adrenaline. You normally work with other models, so it’s a great time to speak to others about contrasting lives and careers to your own. Also, I like to be very supportive to others, and maintain good working relationships.” As undoubtedly passionate as Lucy is - her spirit of fair play and happiness at others’ success belies the typical opinion of how the modelling world works. Then again, we remember that there isn’t a great deal ‘typical’ about Lucy. “I haven’t done it yet, but I want to do a strong animal rights shoot, and for it to have good exposure. As I’m vegan, this is a good platform to convey my views, and target issues regarding animals and the idea of beauty. For example - the fashion of fur, animal ingredients in products, and more severely the idea of animal testing and acceptance of society. All in the pressure to look good to make this moral sacrifice and make us less connected to animals.” Lucy has been lucky to meet and work with like-minded people. Fellow South Wales based Santa Macabre Jewellery seemed like the perfect

model

Photo Rugglez home for Lucy’s convictions: “The owner, Maria is lovely, and as she is vegan too, she makes lots of great items, so this really is a company that I would like to be behind. To front it and be working for them regularly is important and significant, especially as that is what I would want to demonstrate clearly in my work and not compromising for my career.” Besides Santa Macabre, Lucy has a somewhat grander residency in the pipeline: “Hopefully I will be doing lots of international shows for Schwarzkopf. I’ve been assigned as a resident model after a small presentation with Andy Smith at their ASK Academy in London. They seemed extremely interested in future work with me, which is a very exciting concept.” Whilst that would be enough for most models, Lucy has also been busy on other endeavours. “I hair modelled for collections that are going to be entering The Great Hairdressing Awards 2012, the team I worked with was so fantastic, I loved the strong look that was created and the

amazing results. You will find out more about this when it’s released in Aug/Sept, and the images will be out. Hopefully me and the team can get into the finals.” With so much under her belt and yet to come, Lucy has a firm idea of who she would still like to work with. “Walking the collections of Vivienne Westwood would be right up there where I want to be, and for me to succeed in making a career for myself.” She elaborates: “for her punk meets fashion designs and her vegan friendly label and stance as a political activist. These things are very inspiring and encouraging, fashion can be political and death free. I would never compromise this belief, or walk collections for fur, leather etc. No matter who you are.” Eloquent, opinionated and determined as ever, what of photographers she’s yet to work with? “There are loads, but most of them would mean traveling outside of the UK to do so. Catherine Day, Julian Kilsby, Kestrel and Mark Lowen. One in particular that I would love to work with is John Farrar,

and also Tim Walker, as all his sets are stunning.” Lucy also expresses a desire to work with Ryan Bater, Gareth Rhys and iamsuko locally. With so much already behind her, what is Lucy’s greatest achievement? “I see everything as an achievement and I’ve been working really hard and so many great things I’ve been involved with.” With yet more evidence of that burning desire to succeed, we ask Lucy what advice she would give to new models? “Be yourself, know what you want to achieve and what your levels are before you set out. Don’t compromise for anyone. Be open to learn things from others, but at the same time be cautious as to whose advice you take. A lot of people think they know the industry without actually knowing it. Be professional, try and develop good working relationships. But at the same time don’t feel it’s okay to be treated like shit.” Inspirational stuff indeed, this is one young lady who you should be following closely. <

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 53

PHOTOGRAPHER

NOEL TAYLOR

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PHOTOGRAPHER

e’s “35 years old, I still haven’t managed world domination, though I’m getting there.” As far as introductions go, photographer Noel Taylor is certainly one to draw your attention. The same can be said about his photographic work, from fashion, through portrait to his stunning manipulations, Noel has an artistic flair that many photographers could only ever wish to possess. What of that desire for world domination? “I need minions, and a laser, and a lair.” says Noel. Although the world might not be ready to be taken over by a Welsh photographer (perhaps somewhat unfortunately), the world should be ready to appreciate his highly developed work.

of course the great David Bailey.”

“I’ve been into all things arty since I can remember; and into photography for almost as long.” says Noel, discussing how he developed into photography. It’s clear that the two transcend for Noel: “I see photography as a sometimes more instant art-form.” Nothing testifies this association more than looking at Noel’s influences: “Leonard Da Vinci will always be one of my favourites; more so far what went on in his head! The man was a genius.” Whilst maintaining a flair and appreciation for the art of yesteryear, Noel also has a more contemporary streak: “I’m not always stuck (that far) in the past though. I love the photography of artists such Cecil Beaton, Erwin Blumenfeld, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts and

When asked about his work and how goes about setting up a shoot, Neol tells us “I kind of go where the mood takes me. Sometimes I plan for months on end when I have an idea - getting things sorted. One such example is building the model P51 Mustang for a pinup image; making the base; taking it out when the weather was perfect, finding the best position so it looks like it’s the same scale as the background, lighting it... then finding a model (human!), matching the lighting.” Methodical stuff indeed, but there’s also a spontaneous side: Other times, I can pretty much go ‘OH, let’s do this!’ set up and take the shot in a matter of a couple of hours!”” With such flexibility, it’s no wonder Noel’s portfolio demonstrates

How did art become photography? ““I was forever wanting to ‘borrow’ my mum’s 110 camera on school trips. Eventually, I ‘permanently borrowed’ my first SLR when I went to college - my dad’s Praktica BMS 35mm.” With that under his belt, Noel went on to study photography at Stamford College, ignoring the ‘E’ grade awarded him at A Level. Looking at the work he is producing nowadays, it’s refreshing to see that this didn’t dwindle his spirit. After taking a break from photography, Noel re-established his craft in 2003, and has been “annoying, hassling and trying to become a world famous photographer ever since.”

“I need

minions, and a laser, and a lair.

”

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 55

PHOTOGRAPHER such a vast array of ideas and styles. As well as his inspiration from art, Noel also admits to drawing inspiration from visual elements, both in movies and music promos. Again, it’s an inspiration which features heavily in his work and becomes apparent in some of his almost cinematic shots. As well as producing stunning portraits and fashion photos, Noel’s work also expands beyond the point and shoot notion of point-and-shoot style photography, with some quite incredible manipulations. A quick look at some of this section of his website reveals some staggering images, from cartoon bunnies jumping out of the screen to fully otherworldly images, mixed with a little gore. Noel explains the methods behind such images: “If it’s a simple cut, paste and tone/light match, then I can go from start to finish in less than an hour. Although some of my manipulations have been known to include fully digitally hand-drawn elements, which can sometimes take days on their own.” Having also confessed to using himself as a make-up artist in the past, we begin to wonder if there’s anything this South Wales photographer can’t do. Provide a get out opportunity to a well known nu-metal front man? Oh, he’s done that too. “I did rescue Fred Durst from some reporter guys at Sonisphere in 2009 though. He was getting hounded, and the guys I was with said ‘look behind you, it’s Fred Durst.’ Of course 56 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

PHOTOGRAPHER

before I could think straight I wandered over and had no idea as to what to say. Classic feet in gear, brain left behind. Luckily, he spied my camera and started asking about it and if I had any decent shots of him performing. We gradually moved away from the reporter guys, who were by this time blocked by security and I sat, had a beer with him and his then girlfriend and his kids. He even let me take a picture. I love taking candid, or ‘normal’ shots of well known people. Not paparazzi, but tasteful shots to show a different side to what the general public see.”

a controversy in and of itself, Noel is also no stranger to actual controversy: “I almost got the sack while I was a teacher... all I did was take some very tasteful nude shots on a beach of my girlfriend when she was 7 months pregnant with our daughter. Apparently this was inappropriate. Even though it showed less than most of the art books I taught the kids from. Go figure.” Fortunately, there was a happy ending, but it didn’t dampen Noel’s adventurous spirit: “I didn’t get the sack, but I haven’t been on to shy away from controversy or bow to ‘toning things down’ just because I’m told to. That said, Whilst sharing social time with I am extremely conscious of a musician responsible for the displaying appropriate images sickeningly catchy “rolling, rolling, to appropriate age groups and rolling...” line may be considered would never expose minors

to any of my more extreme examples.” A good balance, most would agree. With an influence heavily versed in both the artistic and the visual, Noel Taylor is a rare breed among photographers. As adept at creating at creating a well thought out, beautiful image as technically able to make the most unlikely of manipulations, Noel is clearly at home with whichever project he decides to occupy his time with. True creative spirit is sometimes forgotten in the world of photography, we thank Noel Taylor for reminding us exactly what that can mean in a portfolio. <

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 57

Feature

The Importance of Make-up (artists) Synecticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new photography editor Charis Talbot-Jones discusses the time saving benefits and significance of hiring a make-up artist to establish your work above that of your peers.

everal times a week, I am approached to write a blog about my post processing/Photoshop techniques - particularly for skin retouching. Now, I promise I will finish that post one day, but I will share with you all the one way to circumnavigate your post processing woes... Hire a make-up artist/hair stylist/ wardrobe stylist. To avoid messy make up editing jobs that take hours and layers in Photoshop, I strongly recommend hiring a makeup artist. Simply because they will do the work for you (well a good one will). Sure, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take some time to have them make up the models, but the

58 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

difference is immense. I myself am lucky enough to know many talented and brilliant make-up artists, who I get to collaborate with on creative projects. I find their designs and ideas can really take an idea from mundane to brilliant. I can only do so much myself as I am not a stylist, some times I do like to do make-up myself, but then I am cursed with hours spent on Photoshop correcting my mistakes, like eye shadow all over the face and smudgy eyeliner. If, for example I work with my friend Josephine Jones, I know she’ll carefully consider the model’s features beforehand and research ideas with me. Her kit is well organised and top quality, and she will make sure during the shoot that the model hasn’t a hair out of place or a gap in their eyeliner. Another make-up artist that blows my mind is Alice Bizarre. I can make a suggestion of an idea and she will just come out with something amazing and creative that just makes the picture special. When I see her new work, I am always in awe of her originality and artistic flair. One thing which she does (and all good make-up artists will) is carry a sketch book with her with designs planned in preparation.

Not only does it stop you having to make corrections later, but the act of collaboration itself can ensure that you are not producing photos for the sake of producing photos. You are developing an idea together with an end product in mind. This may mean that you have one final perfect photo as opposed to several OK-ish ones, but that is a good thing. It means you’re taking a step from snapshot to true portraiture. Perhaps not ideal if you are doing a modelling portfolio for a client that requires several images, but for your own work - whether it be fashion, fine art, beauty or an editorial for a magazine - then wouldn’t you rather have one great punchy final photo? You can often find make-up artists who will work TFP with you, but if you want the luxury of not correcting mistakes then I can only recommend paying a well established make-up artist. A few days ago a photographer on my Facebook newsfeed updated his status as saying “the other day a make-up artist refused to correct the model’s eyeliner, saying ‘oh you can fix that in photoshop’, to which I replied ‘I pay you so I don’t have to do that.” A good make-up artist will really do that for you.<

“

To avoid messy make up editing jobs that take hours and layers in Photoshop, I strongly recommend hiring a make-up artist.

”

All photos courtesy of Charis Talbot-jones

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 59

Reviews: live

You Me At Six

Great Hall / 23 Mar 2012 Support: Kids In Glass Houses

Photo Kevin Barnes Judging by the assembled crowd in Cardiff Uni, anticipation is high for You Me At Six. On what is remarkably another tour, it seems that You Me At Six are attracting quit a loyal fan base in South Wales. On the other hand, Kids In Glass Houses are playing what seems like a rare hometown show, which is bound to boost the attendance of even the least anticipated of shows. Kids In Glass Houses explode onto the stage in their usual energetic manner. Frontman Aled Phillips in equal control of the crowd and his ever consistent vocal performance. Walking into the hall at the moment Kids In Glass Houses are tearing through their set could realistically have you thinking tonight’s all about them. But, as their set comes to a massive close, the crowd’s attention doesn’t take long to turn to the prospect of You Me At Six. Bursting onto the stage, the British five piece immediately launch into the popular ‘Loverboy’, sparking a mini riot in the crowd as the assembled

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masses of mostly teenaged girls goes into a frenzy. You Me At Six enjoy one of those special followings with their fan base, the sort which means they spend the majority of their shows trying to outdo the crowd. Whilst the effect isn’t as prominent as it has been in the past, You Me At Six are certainly enjoying the majority of the crowd repeating every word. They quickly work through a well assembled and highly polished setlist. Crowd pleasers such as ‘Safer To Hate Her’, ‘The Consequence’ and ‘Take Off Your Colours’ resonate around the room as the band shares what feels like deeply intimate moments with the crowd. Everybody is on form tonight, the musicians on stage, the technicians (some pyrotechnics adding to the spectacle), the sound engineers, the crowd. Especially the crowd. Josh Franceschi enjoys the sort of adulation that many teenaged boys would give anything for. He remains calm throughout, never missing a note as literally hundreds of young ladies scream themselves silly.

The crowd pleasing songs continue to come thick and fast, as the band adds ‘The Swarm’, ‘Liquid Confidence’ and ‘Fireworks’ to the list of songs flawlessly returned to them on stage. It’s hard to have anything bad to say about You Me At Six on a night like tonight. They have developed and subsequently polished a fantastic performance ethic, pulling the crowd into their world and making a room of 1,000+ people feel like 30. They’re clearly on top of their game at the moment, the months and years of touring have done wonders for their development as a band. Having a crowd such as tonights is obviously a massive help as well, the band given the impression they appreciate every single set of eyes gazing admirably up at them. Massive versions of ‘Underdog’, ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Bite My Tongue’ finish out a night that will surely live long in the memory of the assembled crowd, enjoying their band on top form. KB 10/10

Reviews: LIVE

Newton Faulkner

Coal Exchange / 9 May 2012 Support: Emma Wood “People should smile more” is what Newton Faulkner told his crowd at the Coal Exchange and that is exactly what he made them do. As a quaint figure emerged from the dimmed orange lights, the crowd were greeted by the haunting voice and guitar playing of Emma Wood. A young woman with hair made up in a side plait whose support act echoed both past and contemporary artists from Eva Cassidy and Stevie Nicks to Laura Marling and Amy McDonald. However, I feel I have had a little too much of croaky voiced guitarists and believe the crowd would agree with me. Especially a majority of those having a chat at the bar. An experimental and more innovative act would have suited the gig and set a better tone for Faulkner’s unique style. As the purple lights shone on his notorious warm hair, the Coal Exchange rumbled with anticipation and adoration from a vast array of fans. It was great to see a congregation of people young and old that, on the surface, appeared to stereotypically follow varied music

and fashion trends - yet there they all were in one place for one artist, showing his great diversity. Newton showed his gift with fans drawing the crowd into his own little bubble for the few hours of the gig that night by telling us that after his second song, ‘I Need Something’ how he is terrified when playing new material to a crowd for the first time. Not that we would have known, his voice was consistently strong and expressive as always. The quality of sound was even better than his two previous albums. After his trademark enchanting hammer on riffs he stopped to drink tea from a white teapot placed on a stool behind him. This tickled the crowd and reminded us that we love him for all of his eccentricities. After a few unexpected covers such as Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ he continued his set with an ever varied range of songs from his new album ‘Sketches’ that he spontaneously named his ‘trilogy of tragedy’ because of their more solemn sound. Even though I found that towards the end the gig began to drag a little because of its sheer length and the similarity of the songs’ sound, Newton kept his vitality until the last note. LK 7/10

Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 61

REVIEW

Showdown Meze Lounge / 23 Jun 2012

Featuring: A Tale Of Two Cities, Hopeless Heroic, The Calling Card, Hot Damn, Raise The Alarm, Buried In Alaska, Cardinals, Medik, When Science Gets It Wrong, Tobias Robertson

This year’s official warm-up to Fashion Wales Live, Showdown, brought a whole host of talent to Newport’s Meze Lounge on Saturday. included among the line-up were well-known locals The Calling Card, Buried In Alaska, Hot Damn and Tobias Robertson. Also taking part were Scotland’s Hopeless Heroic and A Tale Of Two Cities, from the less extreme distance of Bristol. The Battleturf and Middle Finger Promotions run event was set up to promote and help raise funds towards Fashion Wales Live. Kick starting the action in the afternoon was local singer-songwriter Tobias Robertson (7/10), portraying a strong vocal delivery, Tobias delivered a good stage presence, allowing his potentially massive songs to shine. On the strength of today’s performance, there’s a lot to come from this young man. Next up, a heavier affair. When Science Gets It Wrong (6/10) have recently made a line-up alteration, and they welcomed new guitarist Kyle to the band for today’s show. As to be expected, they provide a massive sonic onslaught, but maybe fall victim to a few minor timing and tightness issues, stuff which will go away once they all get used to gigging together. Next up, Medik (6/10) provided a good blend of hardcore and funk, mixing brutal, driven guitar lines with the occasional funky beat. It’s an interesting combination, they don’t quite have it perfected yet, but if they can there’s no reason why they can’t make a name for themselves. Cardinals (8/10) were

the first truly polished act on stage. Remarkably, being only their second gig, they completely nailed it from start to finish. The style of easycore is becoming more and more popular in South Wales, taking a strong influence from the US, Cardinals have just the sort of sound to exploit this rising popularity. Buried In Alaska (6/10) provided a steady, consistent performance, essentially on a par with what we’ve come to expect from them. Unfortunately it did fall short of spectacular, which was disappointing given their years of experience as a band. Raise The Alarm (6/10) provided a good solid burst of pop-punk, nothing too fancy, just good honest pop-punk. The sound suits them well and they play impeccably, but on a day with so many styles on show, it was lacking that little something extra. Next up were Valleys punks Hot Damn (7/10), whilst occupying similar territory to Cardinals, Hot Damn do it with a few extra slices of originality. This set was top notch, and very true to the bands recordings. However, it didn’t feel like the bar was raised as high as it could’ve been. Playing a typical energetic brand of pop-punk ought to be an excuse to go mental and invoke epic crowd interaction, but it didn’t quite happen. The Calling Card (6/10) chose this special show as their album launch, and it hopefully paid off for them. Similar to Buried In Alaska, The Calling Card have been a band for long

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Photos Kevin Barnes

enough that they should be blazing a trail that other bands only wish they were able to follow. Sadly, the performance was a little bit tame. Though plucky and full of their usual energy, it did feel like there was something missing. By far the band who put the most into the day were Hopeless Heroic (9/10), whilst travelling from Scotland is clearly the sort of thing to get a band psyched for a show, they pulled out all the stops and grabbed the crowd’s interest instantly, not letting up at all. Musically and stylistically, they’re about five years ago, reminiscent of younger Lostprophets and the whole posthardcore scene which developed. However, take nothing away from the performance, they were sensational and really got people bobbing along. In contrast, headliners A Tale Of Two Cities (7/10) were a less enthusiastic affair. In fairness, they produced a huge sound not a million miles away from Fightstar-esque post-hardcore. The lead elements and vocals in particular stood out during their set. Unfortunately, whilst very solid and musically sound, they failed to capture the imagination of the crowd after the frankly awesome set by Hopeless Heroic. All in all, the day appeared to be a modest success. From a personal perspective, I had expected a little more from some of the bands, but everybody gave a good account and played their music faithfully and passionately. Roll on next year!

PHOTO REVIEW

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Reviews Album

Lostprophets

Weapons Out Now Epic Records

‘Weapons’ sees Lostprophets release their fifth studio album. They’re a band who’ve come a long way and developed a great deal during a career now spanning fifteen years. South Wales is littered with people who liked Lostprophets at some point, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a fan of this and the prior four albums. Lostprophets greatest appeal is also their biggest test to loyalty, they never sound the same! Whilst tracks like ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja’ and ‘Burn Burn’ still resonate strongly with ‘prophets lovers of old, this is now a different band. At one point, Lostprophets were a credible alternative to the emerging numetal scene. Now they’re feel like an old school friend, barely recognisable from all those years ago, but still retaining that one quality that made you like them. Whilst ‘Weapons’ is decidely “poppy” compared with previous

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offerings, it’s still a Lostprophets record, and credit goes to the band for that. Whilst it would be easy to write about how the band are no nothing more than a commercial radio show horse, a money making platform for some label fat cat, or straight up sell outs, I’m not going to. They may not be as underground as they once were, but that’s the curse of success.

song in poorly disguised rock clothing, whereas ‘A Song For Where I’m From’ is a pseudopunk barrage building towards the obligatory massive chorus.

It’s nice, but nice isn’t always pleasant. Lostprophets have managed to sound like slightly confused versions of themselves. I can’t help but be disappointed that a band so strong in its conviction to create a solid, What Lostprophets still man- coherent album have created age to do is produce massive what feels more like a shot in sounds and instantly warm the dark. A mere dwindling tracks. Indeed, one listen to hope that more songs will be ‘Bring ‘Em Down’ and its met- liked than are disliked. Hoperonomic drum-led intro makes fully no band would ever aim the track difficult to write off. for such mediocrity, but sadly Synth elements add a taste of Lostprophets appear to have the old-school for ‘prophets fans, run into head first. with Ian Watkins as reliable as ever. Love him or hate him, the ‘A Little Reminder That I’ll Nevguy has still got it. Now, I’m far er Forget’ and ‘Better Off Dead’ from naive enough to believe are, again, nice. Nothing really one song makes a good album, stands out and grabs you by but it helps get things going. the balls like it should. If I suffocate the cynic inside very briefSubsequently difficult to ignore, ly, there is a lot to enjoy on this ‘We Bring An Arsenal’ does album, and if you’re unfamiliar its very best to prompt a Kids with Lostprophets’ older materiIn Glass Houses-style singa- al, by all means buy this album. long. Whilst failing in part, it’s In fact, if you are familiar with yet another solid and reliable older material, buy it anyway. Lostprophets track. The cho- See, whilst I’m disappointed, rus bellows “if you bring a gun that doesn’t make it a bad albaby, we’ll bring an arsenal” bum. Sure, it’s not as good as it and draws you in, surprisingly could’ve been, and whilst that’s warm and familiar. frustrating, it doesn’t make this album a complete write off. It’s tough to grasp what Lostprophets were going for on this If you love Lostprophets and just album, there’s a heavy amal- want to hear some new mategamation of styles and tech- rial, then you will love this alniques which almost gives a bum. If, like me, the Lostprophcompilation feel. Nothing evi- ets you love are 10 years ago, dences this more than the next then this is likely to leave you three tracks, ‘Another Shot’ is unsatisfied and switching off afthe angsty pubescent cousin ter the first listen. you can’t quit make your mind up about, ‘Jesus Walks’ is a pop KB 6/10

Reviews Album

Skindred

vocal that Imogen Heap would be proud of. But what’s that? Thrusting out of ether with all the cocksure swagger that’s synonymous with Skindred, ‘Warning’ grabs you by the ear lobes and isn’t letting go.

Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) provides a little more urgency with a killer guest vocal, although it’s not like Benji Webbe needed any help. Once ‘Warning’ leaves you with that feeling of a damn good head banging session, ‘Cut Dem’ settles into a chilled out, reggae influenced Union Black beat. But chilled it isn’t for long, Out Now hiding underneath that reggae BMG rhythm is a behemoth of a chorus capable of sending even Newport’s self-styled reggae- the most frigid of listeners into metallers Skindred return with a frenzy. Drop down courtesy fourth studio album, Union Black. of some call and repeat style As up front and unashamedly gang vocals, and we’re back brilliant as ever, Union Black into reggae beat, a masterpiece jumps you like a cheap drunken in fusing elements of different skank looking for a cigarette, genres. it’s shameless and messy as it reels you in with an abrupt, Did you really expect anything brash and downright dirty sonic different from Skindred? This onslaught. album is 46 minutes of pure ebb and flow. Just as things pick Skindred have been in this up, they chill again. That may game a long time now, and sound like a criticism, but when have had plenty of opportunity a band can switch it up as well to hone their sound. Union Black as Skindred, it’s definitely not. is a perfect embodiment of this, What they succeed in doing mixing the vast influences and so well is making the music styles into a trademark, near interesting. Anybody with flawless sound. Union Black sufficient grounding of various is exactly the sort of music styles can blend them, the you need in your life if you are same way that anybody with a slowly losing the will to live in a media player can play one track world flooded by Bieber, Minaj after another, like a professional and X Factor. DJ. But they aren’t, they won’t be able to beat match and On form as ever, Union Black produce a seamless transition, kicks in with a modified version and the same can be said for of the British national anthem, blending two styles. Skindred played over a crescendo of are masters of the art, and they garage beats and a synthesised do it so well, you barely even

notice it happening. This album does invariably have a few off points. A perfect album is very rare, and this one isn’t the exception to prove the rule, but it’s close. Tracks like the masterfully crafted and addictive ‘Living A Lie’ provide a solidly high bar by which the other tracks may judge themselves. ‘Guntalk’ is also a highlight, as arguably the purest reggae track on the album. Beastly metal juggernaught ‘Own You’ is also a stand out moment, permeating through dense layers of dark to deliver a brute of a track. As efficient and enjoyable as it is oozing class. Add an electroheavy bridge and it’s a perfect concoction, yet more evidence of Skindred’s strengths. ‘Make Your Mark’ also pleads a strong case, as does synth-heavy metal-reggae hybride ‘Get It Now’. Webbe demonstrating his versatility perfectly as this one track switches multiple times with very little warning. Skindreds ability to consistently mash-up such diverse and unique elements is aweinspiring. Whilst they’ve had a long time to perfect the craft, it deserves applause every day. The sheer creativity and ingenuity with which these twelve tracks are crafted is refreshing and potentially genredefining. With Union Black, Skindred have re-affirmed their place as one of the best and alternative bands to ever emerge from South Wales. KB 9/10

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Reviews Album

Shaped By Fate

band in the Welsh metalcore scene who everybody else looks up to. At least, if they don’t - then they should. Shaped By Fate are about as hard and heavy as a metalcore band can reasonably be. This eagerly awaiting follow-up to 2007’s ‘The Unbeliever’ is 53 minutes of Shaped By Fate’s very best work. With five of the eleven tracks coming in at over five minutes, it’s really not for the light hearted. Shaped By Fate provide an onslaught throughout, their darkly melodic guitar lines intertwine with a mixture of screaming and almost distant wails, providing a distinctive vocal sound.

I Fear The World Has Changed Out Now Siege of Amida Records

For a long time now there’s been one

Album

Future Of The Left

Musically they are tight as ever, each song seamlessly follows the last and is an icon of precision musicianship. All of that is to be expected of a well versed and travelled band. However, what Shaped By Fate have up their sleeves with this album is a sound

unexpected as far as Future Of The Left are concerned. The band are now remarkably on their third studio album having been operating as a band for almost seven years. It’s been almost three years coming, but Future Of The Left have spoiled us with 15 tracks of their typical off-kilter antics. Falling somewhere between punk and indie, theirs is a sound which is both fun and hard to pinpoint. This album provides no exception to the accepted notion.

The Plot Against Common Sense Out Now Xtra Mile Recordings

It has become custom to expect the

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‘Sheena is a T-shirt Salesman’ opens this album off in a fashion that the Ramones wouldn’t find uncomfortable. The band’s penchant for bizarre lyrical content is fully maintained, second track ‘Failed Olympic Bid’ treads territory that most bands would firmly avoid. It’s all par for the course when you’re Future Of The Left, this album cascades its way through almost 50 minutes with plenty of tongue in cheek and downright odd lyrics.

which whilst intricately theirs, also provides an opening to new followers. Metalcore can be a difficult sound to like, often lacking the straight up appeal of some metal music, but occasionally lacking the intensity with which hardcore is renowned. A lot of bands get lost in the mire of trying to create the ideal sound. Shaped By Fate are not most bands. ‘I Fear The World Has Changed’ is oddly accessible. Particular highlights include ‘Give Me Hope’, ‘Crimson Pig’ and the viciously short ‘Plague & Rapture’. The band also manage to showcase a more epic feel with the grandeur of ‘Death Junction’ and ‘Black Goliath’. If you’ve not previously listened to Shaped By Fate, you owe them a listen. Quite possibly one of the most underrated bands in Wales, and they’ve just gone and produced a hell of an album. KB 8/10

Besides intriguing lyrics, there is a steady musical pace to this album, varying from the driving, bass heavy ‘Beneath The Waves An Ocean’, synth-heavy ‘Cosmo’s Ladder’ and almost rock’n’roll ‘Sorry Dad, I Was Late For The Riots’. Future Of The Left prove themselves as solid musically as they always have been. Mixed with the synth, bass and guitar lines is a unique vocal delivery Andy Falkous. Often the delivery alone is enough to hook you into the song, regardless of the accompanying music. Falkous’ vocal does add an oddly compelling dimension to the band. Mixing between distorted wailing to what can only be described as Dalek - the vocals certainly pull you into, and through the tracks. Whilst a solid effort, this album is perhaps a little long and is too easy to lose track of. KB 6/10

Reviews Album

The Calling Card

Everything You’re Not Out Now Self Released

It feels like an eternity coming, but

Album

Man Without Country

Foe

Out Now Lost Balloon/Cooperative The first impression I got when I listened to Man Without Country’s ‘Foe’

Newport’s The Calling Card finally have a debut album to show for their efforts of the past few years. Originally formed as an acoustic project between current frontman Ben Squibbs and Ceri Collins (The Nothing, ex-Covergirl), the project became a band. Collins is now longer involved, but Squibbs has built on his years of experience as a singer-songwriter to forge a collection of typically energetic and catchy songs. As an overall feel, this album is brilliant for a debut offering. There’s a variety of tracks showcasing the band’s full range of talents and diversity of songs. Squibbs has flourished as part of a band set up, and his vocal sounds as strong as ever on record. One let down (although understandable with a self release) is a slight lack of sound quality. It seems that a bit more care could’ve gone into the production, in general it doesn’t sound as professional as the

was that I could imagine hearing all of these tracks on TV in some way, maybe on Olympic Games adverts or even during the closing scenes of CSI: Miami, I felt it had a background vibe about it. This is by no means a negative comment, ‘Foe’ is such an easy album to listen to that I could chuck it on when I’m doing mundane tasks around the house. I’m a big fan of bands using synthesisers, I’ve heard so many bands both locally and nationally using them in all the wrong ways over the years, so I was relieved to hear Man Without Country using them to their full potential. Essentially this is what Man Without Country is, one giant synthesiser with added drums and vocals. By no means are there any Van Halen-esque synth solos, but Man Without Country built solid structures within their songs to write both rhythmic/backing and lead synth melodies that complimented each

band pride themselves on being live. Whist not apparent in all songs, it’s slightly frustrating to hear. A prime example is the backing vocal in ‘Ain’t No Revolution’. However, I don’t want to dwell. The casual listener will care more about the music than production, and that’s the important part. With a collection of The Calling Card’s finer moment, songs like ‘Let’s Stay Young’ and ‘Why So Serious’ stand out and really give this album a great depth as well as being stand out tracks. Other lesser known tracks like ‘Everybody Gets One’ and ‘I Always Lose’ show that there’s much more to come in future. Slow track ‘Lost @ Sea’ serves as a timely reminder of where this band emerged from. We certainly hope there will be more moments like it in their future. Production aside, this is a solid effort for a debut album. KB 6/10

other with rewarding effect. ‘Ebb & Flow’ shows a great use of both synth creativity and sound samples, which was a personal highlight for me. I’m intrigued to know what Man Without Country sound like live because as good as this album is I’m finding it hard to imagine how Man Without Country could pull this sound off live without sounding like the CD. I hope they prove me wrong and when I do get round to seeing Man Without Country live they’ll blow me away which is exactly what I want them to do. If Man Without Country doesn’t play the Reading & Leeds Festival at some stage in their career I will be really surprised, I could honestly imagine them pack out the NME Stage alongside acts like MGMT and Foster The People. RM 8/10

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Reviews Album

Pulco

Man Of Lists Out Now Folkwit Records

Pulco has been releasing music for almost a decade, this latest offering is ‘The Man of Lists’. This album is a lo-fi affair recorded low budget in a home studio. But what it lacks in a budget it makes up for in creativity. There are ten contributing artists who provide several varied styles; from electronic vibes to a familiar style of acoustic

Album

Straight Lines

Freaks Like Us

Out Now Xtra Mile Recordings After Straight Lines’ debut album showed signs of talent and diversity, anticipation was high for hearing the sophomore release. ‘Freaks Like Us’ not only meets fans’ expectations, but goes beyond them and truly

music. This is certainly a unique piece of work, music and poetry blend together well, there is quite a lot of depth in many tracks. The poetry is melancholy and it gets it right in most cases, the Welsh accent talking over slow building melodic pieces of music gets old after the first several tracks, becoming somewhat repetitive and uninteresting. It seems that the variety of collaborations hasn’t caused the mood to vary much from track to track. The ambient electronica provided by ‘Picturebox’ is relaxing and really fits well with the poetry on top, but then you get the more folky and stringed collaborations with Adam Leonard and Gwidor which fit just as well, offering something slightly different. This is one of the Pulco’s biggest strengths, being able to jump between two conflicting ideas of modern folk seamlessly, which really shows talent. He deserves a lot of credit for keeping a smooth flow of songs throughout. The only collaborator who steps outside this relaxed and chilled out approach is Unexpected Bowtie, who impresses. Album opener, and first release ‘Freaks Like Us’ is immediately intriguing with its original title. It proves to be a pleaser with its definitive, constant change in rhythm and varied range of textures. The initial riff in ‘Commitments’ magnetises listeners. The melody is undeniably catchy and the lyrics are easily relatable, making for a gripping listen throughout. It is no wonder why this song has had continuous air play and a huge hype surrounding it. ‘Half Gone’ is a song not quickly forgotten, with the ominous repeated ‘tick tock’ vocals by singer Tom Jenkins, building up with hushed guitar strums and light cymbals to a memorable and massive chorus. A more indie, yet still rock side of the band shines through the beginning of ‘Ring the Bells’. The lyrics “the boys are coming home” translate to their achievements of festival appearances and touring. The two guitars are perfectly timed with pauses, maintaining the listeners attention. Tracks like ‘Empty Chest’ and ‘To Be Scene’ have powerful

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contributes a more uptempo beat on ‘Vital Signs,’ it’s somewhat ill-fitting and surprising alongside the rest. The main criticism I have for this album is that (as noted earlier) it is a bit on the repetitive side and could be boring to the casual listener. The poetry, albeit decently constructed and well thought out, can seem a little dull and is spoken in an uninterested tone. The highlights on this album come from collaborator Ian Thistlethwaite, who really shines with his arrangements, especially in the great alt-folk track ‘Cabin Fever’. All in all I would say this is generally a good album and has some genuinely interesting arrangements on ‘Vital Signs’, ’Hollow Here’ and ‘Music’. It is definitely an album to listen to with headphones on and more than once, you can pick up on the little intricacies that really make the songs more interesting. The length may put some people off (twenty five tracks!), but when considering most of songs are less that two minutes it evens out to an average length. Give it a listen if you enjoy lo-fi, but avoid if you’re not familiar with the style - you may be underwhelmed. CW 7/10 openings and are reflective of their debut album, yet it still manages to incorporate elements of their new sound into these tracks. Juxtaposed with the majority of the album, ‘Back of Your Mind’ starts off slowly and continues with a relatively thin texture, in comparison; adding a sense of a more ‘pop’ feel to the album. Straight Lines are clearly influenced by the South Wales music scene. ‘The Dealer’s Hand’, has an anthemic vibe which is very reminiscent of Lostprophets work. The calm and peaceful ‘Bury My Thoughts’ is the equivalent to ‘Set Me On Fire...’ and ‘So Many Paths’ is a strong closing track. Even after one listen of this album, it is clear that Straight Lines are set to accomplish greater things. Following the footsteps of the countless successful Welsh bands, it won’t be long before we see them in the charts and selling out the biggest venues, especially if their work is anything to follow this by. NL 9/10

Reviews EP

Outgunned

Embers

Out Now Self Released With the bulk of my background knowledge on Outgunned being lim-

Falling With Style

Tides

Out July 30th Self Released ‘Tides’ bursts into life with the fantastic ‘Reckless’, five minutes which sums up everything Falling With Style are about. Releasing their latest EP, the Valleys five-piece have been turning heads, and this release is already hotly aniticipated. Having been publically backed by

ited to an opening slot for Anterior at Goatstock last year, it was quite the surprise to see they had taken time out of their schedule of playing virtually every metal show in South Wales to record an EP, simplistically titled ‘Embers’. Whilst I’m never going to complain about any introduction track that involves quotes from The Dark Knight, no amount of Michael Caine’s dulcid tones would have prepared me for the anti-climactic opening to ‘Beneath A Smile’. A song that sets the trend for the rest of the EP by combining tasty guitarwork and generous measures of raw potential to build a level of momentum that although impressive in essence, ultimately gets shot down by breakdowns that just didn’t need to be there. One thing that does work in its favour however are the lead vocals, free from the shackles of

cookie-monster worship that any an impressionable metal act feel they have to adhere to, it tilts the overall effort towards the metalcore side of things, which in this case isn’t entirely a bad thing. Problem is, this style of melodic metal is a well-trodden path that can’t offer anything new, with anything that the genre can offer reaching saturation point with all the other bands out there that aspire to do the exact same thing. Outgunned wear their influences on their sleeves, and whilst the textbook nature of the EP should by no means detract from the promise and potential they show when they play (as well as the calibre of their influences), stuff like this is not going to set the world on fire, not yet anyway. JP 5/10

Reaper In Sicily, this EP shows Falling With Style’s intent and ability to follow their mentors.

Elite Days

It’s not quite the finished article yet, as much potential as Falling With Style have, there’s a distinct feeling that they’ve yet to completely settle into their skin. ‘Reckless’ works superbly as an upbeat track, but then descends into almost pointless screaming. The downward trend continues, ‘Lakes’ and ‘Anchors’ are both good songs, but neither possesses the immediacy of the opening track. However, don’t write them off yet. ‘Contingency’ and especially, ‘White Flags’ combine to end the EP on a high. The latter especially is a mastercraft in song writing, and an indication of what Falling With Style are truly capable of. I thoroughly recommend getting your hands on this release as soon as possible. Falling With Style are very likely to be the next band to make a name for themselves from Wales, so get along to a show and support them whilst they’re still relatively unknown. This EP is a must have for your music collection this summer. KB 7/10

Heads Down For Take Off Out Now Self Released

Elite Days have a produced an interesting, solid release in the form of this self titled EP. ‘Takes Time’ is a highly catchy number with heavy drum beats and slick guitar riffs from start to finish. Vocalist Shaun Williams delivers an enjoyable vocal, complimenting the consistent instrumentation.

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Reviews EP The interlude provides an introduction to ‘Reckless’ which is a much darker number, much more heavy compared to the first track, very reminiscent to the sound of Senses Fail. Again, the guitar riffs are slick and vocal delivery flawless, the EP provides a small glimpse of the variety of sound that Elite Days have adopted. It’s an enjoyable first release and has encouraged me to keep on the eye on the band in the near future.

King & Country

‘Changes’ produced by Dan Lancaster (Don Broco, Lower Than Atlantis) to help give them an edge. Production wise, it’s worked. What they’ve come away with is a polished and professional sounding EP. ‘Changes’ does well for the band, but at the same time doesn’t go far enough to convince you of their sound or approach to their music. The tracks can be described as pleasant, but nothing particular stands out above being merely pleasant. There are some encouraging signs, and the opening riffs of ‘Breathe In Breathe Out’ and ‘Think Before You Speak’ point to something greater.

JP 7/10

Changes

Out Now Self Released King & Country will be a new name to most people. Although they haven’t let that halt their ambitions. This Bridgend-based four piece had

Don’t get me wrong, all the tracks are solid, but we are left with the distinct impression that there’s more to come from King & Country, and we’d prefer to have seen that in this EP. JP 6/10

Manhattan Coast

Never Tell Me The Odds Out Now Self Released

Manhattan Coast have recently released their new EP ‘Never Tell Me the Odds’. Fans of fast paced high tempo pop rock really should enjoy this two song release. The general feel of ‘Are You Ready For Round 2?’ closely resembles recent breakout stars and success story Twin Atlantic, but the vocals can be compared to Kids in Glass Houses and to a lesser extent Alexisonfire. Especially when it comes to the chanting style of the backing vocals. The title track is quite catchy and is sure to stick in the head of anyone who listens to it. The lyrics are quite impressive and are delivered in an intense style which fits the tone of the track and the guitar work as well as the bass and drums, all are expertly layered to portray a good build to a hard hitting solo and eventual outro. This EP is in line with what is popular and favoured in rock music currently, the vocal style and instrument work

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would not be out of place on TV or radio. The main problem this band possesses is that they don’t stand out all that much, everything about them has been done before and has probably been done better. The substance is there but there is no style to set them apart from the wide array of alternative rock around at the moment. If you are fan of the harder style of pop-punk with hints of post-hardcore this is definitely an EP for you to check out. The highlights of are the heavy guitar riffs and rhythms and their marriage with the impressive vocal styling and catchy melodies. ‘Never Tell Me the Odds’ is a promising start for this young band, let’s just hope they can find something to help them stand out in the future. CW 7/10

Polaris

Pub. Club. Home Alone Out Now Self Released

Hot Damn

Polaris (formally know as Painting Bus Stops) to be honest have taken me by surprise. For a band I’ve never heard before they have done nothing but impress me. The opening track ‘Infected’ kept me listening to the point I have now been infected by a constant repeat of the chorus, ‘Alone in the Crowd’ has had me wanting to be in a crowd at their next show and ‘Hall Pass’ I would seriously recommend to everyone. The EP is a great collection of rock songs dying to get stuck in your head and mellow you out. The band sounds like Lostprophets meets Kids In Glass Houses, with a hint of Nickelback. As odd as it may sound, trust me it’s good. The CD itself is put together well with neither song nor recording quality spared. Some moments here and there may need a little work but I really can’t fault it.

have been, its been wet) it seems another big contributor won’t be far off. The band has a lot of potential for the future, one of the main things I got from this EP. The tracks remind me instantly of bands like The Wonder Years, and in some parts Four Year Strong. They certainly caught my attention straight off the bat with a large amount of energy and some strong emotion (‘Gradient’).

This Weather Makes It Feel Like Home Out Now Self Released

It’s good to see pop-punk creeping back onto the scene these days with such bands as Save Your Breath creating a big impact. Now with Hot Damn making a return with their EP ‘This Weather Makes It Feel Like Home’ (makes me think that wherever they

The EP consists of five tracks sitting comfortably amongst themselves, working off each other rather well. Things are opened up with the explosive track ‘Willows’, what I like about this track in particular is that it takes me back to the older days of pop-punk and gave me the same feeling that came with it then. The raw energy, the open lyrics and the sad/happy feel that I personally love about the genre, all come to light. To be truthfully honest although I was immediately drawn to the songs - I wasn’t hooked, but this has proven to be one EP that may take a few listens

I have thoroughly enjoyed the tracks and will continue to listen to them and listen out for the band. With gigs popping up here and there it shouldn’t be hard. Usually this is the point I like recommend a new release to a target audience, but I can’t seem to narrow it down to a sentence. There’s something for everyone within theses four tracks and I feel I could recommend it to anyone or at least anyone who’s into some form of rock (music of course, but I’m sure geologists may enjoy it too). They are still a young band but I’m sure the years ahead will be good on them and with a strong foundation and an obvious know how of the trade it won’t be too long. So trust me and find them on Facebook or Spotify and give them a listen. BL 7/10

to appreciate. Slowly but surely I was won over, it’s defiantly a good piece of work that deserves the time to be listened to, and if the band keeps it up they will soon be onto something great. If you’re a fan of heavier grittier genres there may still be something here for you as the EP takes a darker turn with the track ‘Nose Bleed’. Singing turns to aggressive shouting and the mood drops (in a good way). Being a fan of heavier material this didn’t put me off at all and with the current state of the scene it will probably be welcomed. I’m glad I got the chance to review this band, as I would have probably never heard the track ‘Gradient’; the song hits the spot for me, dead on. The melodies are great, there’s some strong emotion and a lot of power behind it, making it great anthem. Although it’s a rather short one I understand the qualities of a shorter track and in this case it does work, though I wish it was longer. The band has a bright future and I wish the best for them and I will definitely be seeing them live next chance I get. BL 8/10

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Reviews EP

Pipedream

Pipedream are among the new crop of emo-influenced bands arising in recent times, their demo release back in 2011 was just a small taster of what was to come from the band. Their newest release ‘Shell’ showcases a fresh new sound that is rare to find within bands in the UK. It is clear to hear the influences from 90’s bands such as Jawbreaker and The Promise Ring, the influence of these bands has clearly rubbed off on and allowed Pipedream to construct a refreshing and enjoyable debut release. Prior to the release of ‘Shell’ the band has gained some success with support slots with acclaimed acts such as Nothington and Football, etc.

the EP, Pipedream have created their own unique sound that is showcased throughout the EP. The third track on the EP, ‘Repose’ showcases other talents with a silky and calming instrumental which allows the listener to relax and appreciate the beautiful sound of the instrument being used. The instrumental is followed up with the remaining three tracks on the EP, that all have the same refreshing emo sound that the band were trying to achieve with their debut release.

‘Shell’ is perfectly consistent throughout, ‘Meander’ and ‘Once as One’ are particular highlights with slick riffs and a perfect tempo that suits vocalist’ Tom Sanders angsty voice. Again, the influences of early 90’s bands seems to be shining through each track on

‘Shell’ is a refreshing and encouraging first glimpse of the talent that is Pipdream, with a resurgence of bands with an emo influence in recent times, there is no stopping Pipedream from growing within the UK scene and hopefully globally. This debut release represents a band that are clearly passionate about their music and have full belief that will carry them into the future and give them experience for future releases. JP 8/10

Single

Feel The Rain Out Now // Gold Disc

Hollow Out Now // Dockrad Records

Ghost Coast Out Now // AYOR Records

Recently released debut single ‘Feel The Rain’ sees Valleys girl Rebecca James raising money for the Combat Stress charity.

Experienced Cardiff-based musician Volenté is back with brand-new single, ‘Hollow’. A veteran of previous releases, Volenté doesn’t currently have a follow-up planned for this release.

We’re No Heroes has taken another step towards their influences, capturing closely the 80’s electro feel. Fans of older records will not be disappointed; ‘Ghost Coast’ shows more of the bands.

As this isn’t taken from an album, then it provides a crucial function compared to an album cut single, this is our window into the current world of Volenté’s music. ‘Hollow’ is a chilled downtempo track, borrowing electronica elements in a fashion similar to a chill-out mix to compliment the hard dance tracks of the summer.

The song is more dynamic and up beat compared to older stuff. This track shows a nice development of both song writing and musicianship, one that when matched with this higher recording quality has allowed them to realised a nice single. The song has been captured brilliantly, helping create a nice glossy retro feel, fitting well within the genre. The song itself is fairly catchy with a decent hook, some good riffs and a new heavily FX’d vocals to top it off. Although I’m not the biggest fan of indie I found myself enjoying this single. With the recent reaction this band has been getting, I can see this track being a pretty big deal and fans of the genre will not want to miss out on this up and coming band. BL 7/10

Shell

Out July 4th What We Should Be Doing

Rebecca James

‘Feel The Rain’ is a simple downtempo ballad. With sombre lyrics, Rebecca’s delivery is haunting and beautiful in equal measure, delivering the words with a real conviction and passion. This is a very simple song with money going to a good cause, for that reason it should and will sell well. Hopefully this is the first single of many for Rebecca, as she demonstrates a brilliant insight into a potentially very good range and strong vocal delivery. We certainly look forward to seeing more of this young lady in future. If you have any leanings towards pop music or ballads, then we recommend you pick this single up, you’ll be helping a good cause and owning an enjoyable track. KB 7/10

Volenté

Volenté has a great voice, and this comes across with beautiful sultry tones as the repeating lyric “got to try find a new way to see” leads the track to its inevitable, down-beat conclusion. A simple, yet effective track, a little repetitive - but one that will have fans pining for more new material in future. KB 6/10

72 Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012

We’re No Heroes

Single

Lilygreen & Maguire Ain’t Love Crazy Out Now // Warner Bros As you may or may not have heard, South Wales stalwarts Jon Maguire and Jon Lilygreen have teamed up and signed to Warner Brothers Records within the past year. ‘Ain’t Love Crazy’ is their second single as an acoustic duo. Whilst it’s a million miles away from what people may know these two for, it’s still a pretty good single. Short of the usual sell-out convictions, here are two guys from South Wales who’ve done good for themselves. ‘Ain’t Love Crazy’ is a simple pop ditty, laden with harmonies and the kind of intricacies only major studio time will get you. With two very good A-sides in ‘Falling Out Of Love’ and a cover of ‘Domino’, this is a great value single and a must have for pop or acoustic fans.

Single

Demo

Crying Wolf Club The Rude ‘Em Outs I Am The Architecht Out Now // Self Released Picture yourself in an old Western flick, or similarly a ridiculously trendy indiemovie. Crying Wolf Club’s ‘I Am The Architecht’ is your soundtrack. Boasting a brash and unashamedly country rhythm, this single really does offer a viable alternative to some of the copy cat merchant inhabiting the local music scene at the moment.

Demo

Musicianship is great on this track, everything sounds like it’s exactly where it ought to be. Vocal delivery is spot on for the feel of the track, and overall it’s a very well composed and executed song. If Crying Wolf Club have more tracks of this calibre in their locker, you may well be hearing more from them over the coming months. KB 9/10

If I were to sum this demo up in one word it would be ‘fun’. There are some catchy and incredibly danceable songs here, making any patron of ska proud. I’m a bit surprised these tracks are “demos”, both the recording and song quality are stellar. It’s refreshing to see a new ska band on the scene. I’m pretty sure anyone would agree that hearing brass in any band makes you smile. Not only do we hear some great brass melodies but we’re treated to synth too! Though the vocals a bit grating on times, I can see past it for the sake of the genre. RM 7/10

Carbon With this 6-track demo, Carbon have produced a good marker of their sound. It’s a useful mixture of elements from indie and more traditional rock, mixing soaring vocal lines with driving guitar riffs and rhythms. Whilst the band already has a polished sound, there is still room for improvement, and we get the impression that their song craft will become tuned and the band will improve as a result. There is plenty to work with, and we recommend seeing them live if possible, definite one to watch. KB 6/10

KB 7/10

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One of the reasons Synectic exists is to help the South Wales music scene prosper, and the best part is we will take anything, so long as you’re based in South Wales. If you have music which will be ready by September 18th (including release date), contact

kev@synecticmag.co.uk Synectic Issue 3 / Summer 2012 73