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Writers Ian Gregory Simon Risbridger Zoe Blush Jimmy Holmes ‘Metal Gremlin’ Advertising Vicky Webb
4
introducing scattter the ashes
5
aLt ppl wink and luke
9 we Interview ISLE OF MAN MEN 13 gremlin REVIEWS 3 local releases 15 more PANDORA Interview 18 Papiwang The hypocrisy of drug laws 19 February Events
Events Co-ordinator Dan Amos Website Sam Detnon
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Hey guys, welcome to #6! Over on page [4] we introduce you to SCATTER THE ASHES, a new5 piece metal band from Maidstone. On page [9] we’ve got an interview with the beauts from the Isle Of Man that are OUR FINAL HOUR. They tell us all about the release of ‘Like Oceans’, making videos & other sorts of shenanigans, so make sure you take youreye balls over there & have a butch. There’s an Alt Beauts double page special! Featuring the lovely Miss Wink Hall & Mr Luke Butterfill on page [5], so browse over there for some lovely shots by Martin Hobby. We’ve also got some wonderful surprises for you coming up in issue #7, featuring the likes of PAIGE, INTO ExILE & A BOY NAMED GIRL, so make sure you come back again, early March for that.
g n i c u introd
WHO ARE YOU?
WHERE ARE you going?
WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFerent?
Hey we are ‘Scatter the Ashes’, we are a 5 piece metal band from Maidstone, we are made up of Matt Webb, Ben Jones, Jon Jones, Josh Wilson and Jack Sibley. We are a new band formed from the ‘ashes’ of broken band ‘Tempest Love’ with a pinch of ‘Apethia’ and ‘Last Hearts Standing’. We started last July. The first few months were working on the sound we wanted and then getting the songs, then gradually came out of alot of jam sessions. We then started to tighten the songs up to get to the set that we have today. We have just started gigging our area (Central Kent) but are looking to go further a field.
we are going to be recording our EP later on this year, we recorded a 4 song demo EP in Decemember up New Day Studio, we also plan to get a tour going but need to make a big fan base first *hint*. ATM Ben is doing a degree in Music Practice at Brighton, JJ homewood school. but our education doesnt get in the way of our music, not at all, the opposite in fact, it’s helping both of them get ideas, and learning new techniques.
We have a subliminal mainstream feel to our songs without being cliche. But we’re more brutal than most of the other bands out there, we have a lot more diverse influences. For example; Suicide Silence, As Blood Runs Black, Carnifex, Parkway drive, Trivium, Alkaline Trio, Winds Of Plague,Avenged Sevenfold, Nile, Atreyu.
find Them
future gigs Sat 12th Feb The Ivy, Sheerness Sat 9th Apil Rafa Club, Chatham Sat 23rd April, Woodlands YC, Gillingham Fri 6th May, Homeswoods, Tenterden Book a gig scattertheashes@live.co.uk
alt ppl
Why ‘Our Final Hour’ ? Stoxy: “We started two years ago with Max & me and we needed a name, so we just sat there one night doing some stupid little acoustic stuff trying to think of a name and came out with the cliché that was ‘Our Final Hour’. Mikey: “We don’t really that fond of the name anymore. Stoxy’s Dad came up with ‘Lost In The Floods’, which we thought was pretty cool, but I doubt we’ll end up changing it. What are your personal favourite songs of off the EP ‘Like Oceans’ ? Jamie, Dan & Mikey: “Seven” Daniel & Max: “To The Depths” Sam: “The Sun is on the Horizon” Why did you choose to do a video for ‘Standing In Circles’ and what is the story behind it? Jamie: “It was a last minute thing whilst we were recording. On the last day of
recording we just kind of went to that field & done that video.” Mikey: “It’s about an abused relationship, basically saying what goes around comes around; in the video I had killed her so she’d come back to haunt me. (Anaemic front man) Kevin Peters guest vocals on the track, how did that come about? Mikey: “Originally we were meant to do the video for ‘Seven’, and my best mate Harry (Yashin front man) was going to feature for guest vocals on the track but he couldn’t make it that day. Kevin
produced the album and started suggesting different things and we ended up asking him to try the part in ‘Standing in Circles’. We hadn’t even heard him before but when we saw what he did, we were all amazed.” If you were going to give another band advice on making their first video, what would you say? Stoxy: “Show that you’re good as a band, don’t just choose a song that you like, choose the song you think the fans will like as well.” Sam: “ And maybe don’t have a story, just show you playing for your first video.” How is the local music scene different in the Isle Of Man to Kent? Jamie: “Its shit, we don’t have one. Everyone here is close minded whereas in Kent it’s a lot different. A lot of bands
here are cover bands, it really does lack originality.” Max: “In Swanley park [ex YOG gig] so many different bands played which is good to see, whereas here everyone just tries to be metal.” Dan: “And no one else tries to join in here, it’s just your friends really, & they’re already in the band.” If you were to come play Kent again, who would you like to play with? Mikey: “Dethrone Exodus. Adalaide are pretty good as well.” What would you all be doing if you weren’t in the band? Mikey: “I’d be playing Halo all the time and scamming off my parents. No actually, I’d go and do my A Levels.” Sam: “I’d be in an Enter Shikari cover band.” Dan: “Probably working full time.” Stoxy: “Yeah same.” Max: “I’d probably go to Uni.” Dan: “I don’t think we’d be friends if we weren’t in the band.” Sam: “Dan would be in Asking Alexandria!” What have Our Final Hour asked Santa for this year? Jamie: “A good tour.” Mikey: “Haircuts, and Max wants dry shampoo. And I want to see my family.” Sam: I want to see my fanny. Stoxy: “I don’t want to see fanny, I want to be like an Action Man and have nothing.” Sam: “Booze and bitches.” Stoxy: “Boobs and biscuits?” Sam: “Yeah actually, boobs and biscuits.”
How have OFH been dealing with the weather conditions? Sam: “Well, we were walking home at like 4 in the morning after a pleasant evening up a big hill, the road was clear, so me and Stox walked up the road, and Jay tried to walk up the path which was covered in ice, then he got stuck, and kept falling on his bum, me and Stoxy chuckled heartily.”
When was your first gig? Jamie: “Our first ever gig was Max’s 18th birthday. We rented out a place and it was awesome. It was dead packed and we were shit.”
How will you boys be celebrating the new year & what are you looking forward to the most n 2011? Max: “I don’t want to be 20.” Jamie: “It’s Max’s birthday on the 30th
of January, and also our 2nd anniversary of gigging. So we’re playing with Uber Room on the 30th and then we’re off partying on the 31st.” If Santa gave each of you a calendar with your celebrity crush on it for Christmas, who would it be? Sam: “Mikey’s would be Gerard Butler.”
Max & Dan: “Hayley Williams” Stoxy: “Katy Perry” Jamie: Daniel’s would be Matt Cardle.” Sam: “Mine is the singer from Emure.” Who are the main influences for OFH’s sound? Stoxy: “Parkway Drive & Asking Alexandria, Between The Buried & Me.” Mikey: “I like Daft Punk, they’re really good.” Sam: “I actually really like Dizee Rascal’s first album, a little bit different there.” WHAT’S WITH THE NEW GUY? (Dan Cross) Sam: “Our last bassist didn’t have dedication. He felt we could do more without him, so he left. He’s still our friend tough, he sells merch for us” Stoxy: “We found Dan because he works with Max & Mikey,” What are your best and/or worst experiences on stage? Stoxy: “I got hit in the face twice in one gig by Max.” Max: “I also swung my guitar & hit Mikey.” Mikey: “I also hit Jamie in the face with the mic.” Dan: “Best experience has got to be when, at the end of ‘We’ll Walk to the Horizon’, the crowd was just shouted back the song to us. That felt awesome.” Jamie: “Crowd surfing is always the best part of performing.” Best experiences for the band on a whole? Stoxy: “The week of recording was amazing.” Max: “And making and recording the video.” The Guys leave for their tour in the UK on Valentines Day. They are playing two days locally: 17/02/11 Beacon Court [FB Link] 25/02/11 Leos Red Lion [FB link] Find more about them here:
if you like a little
theatre
Yeah, this is pretty theatrical, I’d say. Whilst the bulk is your standard hardcore there’s also an underlying velvet curtain aesthetic to this album. You’ve got the content you’ll find on any number of other band of this ilk’s albums but you’ll also find some extra magic in the form of pianos and string sections. But not like that crappy orchestral metal of old. Its almost like someone took the orchestral soundtrack to a slow moving thriller, and then trashed it with some hardcore metal. One thing I will say is that whilst it all sounds very nice this would be improved tenfold if they could have afforded the budget to get an actual orchestra and pianist in to play these parts properly. The strings don’t have any real feel to them, and seem quite digital and cold. Same with the piano parts, a little bit of variation in velocity would have been nice, same goes for the kick drum though so maybe this is just an artistic choice I’m not getting. Anywho, track rundown, track one, “Seven” not a massively epic intro here, well restrained, because with the tools these guys have strapped to their batbelt they could have easily gone mental but its off to a good start and by the time you hit the 32 second mark you know what you’re in for! I say have a listen to this track and if you make it to 40 seconds without having heard something you didn’t like then you’re in for a good ride. Second track keeps things on, err, track.
Review
Straight into the action with some really nice riffs from the offset. I felt a little let down by the swing rhythm but I’ve just never been a huge fan. I am however a fan of programmed drum tracks. Coupled with a decent string section and a really nice bass line the quieter parts of this track score high! From the mid point onwards this track gets really good, with some really nice synth stabs floating about in the background. Track 3 feels a little like its being strangled. That’s not a bad thing, I just really cant think of another way to describe the
sound, it sort of chokes in with a really raw guitar sound that along side the machine gun kick drum that doesn’t let up is becoming an apparently signature sound. The kick drum is my only issue with this track, because without that, you’d probably be able to hear a lot more of it. I haven’t met anyone who goes out of their way to listen to albums inside a tank that’s being constantly bombarded with chaingun and mortar fire, but at times that’s a little what this feels like.
in your hardcore...
Track 4 for me kicks off at the 1 minute mark, the first minute isn’t much more than what you’ve already had a taste of up until this point, but at around 1:05 there’s an epic howl and things take a turn, enjoy the next 50 seconds and then prepare yourself for my favourite bit of the album. The end of this track (apart from the overly abrupt fade out) is brilliant. I’m not going to say much about track 5, because I don’t like it. There you go I said it. Call me sexist but this is one for the girls. I can appreciate the Idiot Pilot-esque into drum track, and again the piano isn’t half bad, though id like it more if it was played on a real piano. I don’t like being negative however so I’ll move on. For the same reasons I wont go into too much detail about the intro to this EP’s exit strategy, track 6. I’m not into “talky bits” but if you like that sort of thing then enjoy all 40 odd seconds of it. If you can hear it over the Chinook they seem to have brought into the studio. HAH ok I’m kidding, yes the kick drum’s taking up a lot of room here too but I actually think that this is one track on which the drums deserve to be center stage. I’m not knocking the guy, he’s clearly pretty good, but, well, you’ll see what I mean… …At least I hope you will because this EP is well worth a purchase. Overall, its well written, well played, and on the most part well produced. But guys, get a pianist in the studio and lay off the kick drum a bit so we can hear how awesome everything else is!
“I’ll be fine” initially hit me in the face as something what I’d expect from a Mudvayne track. What followed was an adrenaline pumping, ride of genre bending ferocity. One minute a fast paced metalcore riff, the next a death core scale run and then a syncopated breakdown. The song is rollercoaster ride of killer riffs, with some great technicality. All that’s missing is a unique vocalist and Fault Line, could be the next big thing.
“Open Eyes” instantly grabbed me with its appealing mix of unique Post Hardcore/Melodic Metalcore crossover. Clean vocalist George Washbourn has a great singing voice on hand here; he creates some great sing along moments which really flesh out the song and give it a unique feel. yet his voice sometimes contains to many tell tale signs of pitch correction and auto tuning. Screaming vocalist Marcus Reddick performs a nice range of highs and lows throughout but at times his screams lack punch and power, and he seems to suffer with some of his pronunciation. “Open Eyes” features some great guitar and bass work, catchy hooks, and really shows off Accidents song writing ability. Never is there a section which feels like it out stays it welcome. The band gel really well here and over all have created a great track.
“My Best Mistake” is a fine tuned mix of Power-PunkPop that churns out catchy moments by the bucket load; the guitar work is bouncy and contains some precisely engineered riffs, which are written to be as catchy as they possibly can. The song features an interesting use of gang vocals and a small quiet refrain section, both of which helps to keep the song fresh throughout. The only downside Is that as good as it is, it all feels a bit predictable. Despite that “My Best Mistake” is a great song to show of the band, defiantly worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre.
...a name we all know and love. They’re finally back but with new fresh-faced frontman Miles Leedham and (for the third time) Jim Everson on guitar. On a cold Saturday night before their headlining show at Rafa I got to know the real Pandora, what makes them tick and what the older members really think about the new boys!
Photography by Rachel Tucker Words by Jimmy Hollmes Who are you and where do you come from? [laughter] Josh: Well most of us come from Medway, apart from Miles who comes from Maidstone but we’re all practically Gillingham boys except Craig who lives in the posh bit and err yeah we just play metal really, bit of metal. [laughter] How’d you come up with the name Pandora? [all laugh] Thirkell: Awh right this is a funny story, what is was right Josh wanted the name Chaos Theory which I thought was fuckin... gay and err Jim said we’re not having a name from a Splinter Cell game and so I said Pandora, as in Pandora tomorrow. Josh: The next one! Thirkell: The commonly known Splinter Cell game [laughter] and Jim was like yeah yeah lets have Pandora, Jim then left the band, we got left with the name. [laughter] And that was about it, we can’t change it now. As a band, who are your main influences? Jim: Erm, well we’re quite a metalcore band really so Killswitch Engage, my main influence and I think we all draw from Killswitch Engage. August Burns Red, As I Lay Dying, The Black Dhalia Murder so are another , quite a big influence. Err anything that’s heavy really. [laughter]
Josh: Surprised you didn’t chuck The Acacia Strain in really... like ACACIA STRAIN! Thirkell: We don’t really inject alot of humor into our shit really do we... Miles and Jim, you’ve only recently joined the band. How are you finding it? Thirkell: Oh! Oh! Miles: Erm well I’m enjoying it quite alot, and erm it’s hard work gigging an stuff, getting up, finding money for band practice cause I’m only on £20 a week and band practice is £8. Thirkell: Is that an advert? It’s hard finding band practice money, donate now, you see those adverts on TV with those African kids don’t ya! Jim: Don’t listen to them, this is your moment now. Thirkell: Donkeys as well! [laughter] Jim: Yeah yeah it’s alright, I’ve known all the rest of them apart from Miles since I was 16 anyway and I went to school with them so. Thirkell: 14. Jim: 14 sorry. Erm, yeah it’s alright I’ve been in a few other bands. I’m not gunna name drop. [laughter] Had a few CDs out, also not gunna name drop [laughter] yeah it’s alright, bit of a change really, bit of a change. For the older members, how do you think they’re doing?
Craig: They’re doing alright, Jim could use a bit of work [laughter] y’know he’s alright but he’s got a way to go. [laughter] But no seriously Miles is fucking good, he’s doing really well, very impressed. Thirkell: Jim’s like erm, y’know when you have sex with some dirty bird and you think “I ain’t doing that again” and then Jim’s like that with Pandora. [laughter] He comes along, rapes us. [laughter] Always has to do us one more time. We’re just waitin for him to fucking leave again! Josh: This is his 3rd time with us. Craig: His 2nd time was doing vocals which was interesting. Thirkell: So err yeah Jim doesn’t go away. Ever. Craig: He’s a lingerer! Thirkell: But no we like Miles. [indistinct chatter] MILES! is very good for a young person. Just gunna talk over you all, nah it’s good. I’m not the baby of the band anymore, fucking... I love it. Josh: We been doing this since we were about 14. Thirkell: Yeah that’s disgusting man, we been doing this since we were babies. The comeback show was really well received, how do you think it went? Thirkell: HA! Josh: Was really happy with the crowd, quite a nice crowd, was really good to
know people still actually knew about us to be honest, cause we though after a year of being out it would have been bit of a like a whole new crop of kids into the scene but they seem to like, accept us quite well erm yeah it was quite good. Craig: We could’ve played a lot better and Jim could have not broke a string. Thirkell: We always try to play better so that’s it isn’t it though. Josh: We were a bit drunk though as well. Craig: Yeah a bit drunk so if anyone see’s us again then we’ll probably be better than we were that night. What’s your favourite song to play? Thirkell: New one. Josh: What’s it actually called? Thirkell: We don’t really have a name for the new one. Miles: Yeah we do, it’s called One Last Time. Thirkell: Yeah it’s called One Last Time (Sing for Me), it’s a cover of Michael Jackson actually. Uhh but no the reason it’s fun to play is because it’s fresh material. Been playing stuff like Jesus Pie for God knows how long, it’s a really nice song, don’t get me wrong but playing it, I could probably play it y’know sleeping so this new one is brilliant. Jim’s holding out his hand like he wants to cup my balls. So here is Jim. Oh fuck this isn’t an audio thing is it. [laughter] Jim: Mermaids and Forsaken.
[laughter] Once you’ve all settled down, are you planning on releasing an album? Thirkell: Probably gunna end up making up a new song which we’re currently writing. We’ve always got about seven songs on the go, we just write so much it’s insane [laughter] err no we got a song on the go, and once we’ve written that we’re probably going to release those as a demo so people can hear our new vocalist err but in the long long run hopefully might have something a bit more fleshy outey for all you people out there. Josh: Err yeah hopefully we’re gunna go into the studio and record like a demo track, just to record the new sound really cause like we’ve only got Liam on the old stuff, we recorded that stuff about over a year ago now so we’re completely different to how we were then, nah it must nearly be two years, thinking about it. That sounds grim doesn’t it. Yeah but yeah just gunna record a demo track to dish it out to show off our new sound and hopefully we should be getting into the studio to do like a full length E.P like seven tracks, that’s about it really. Anything you’d like to say to your fans? Craig: Just y’know, thanks for sticking around despite the fact we were out for so long and despite the fact we’ve had fuckin numerous members in the band. Just cheers for still being interested and
coming out. Thirkell: Please buy a t-shirt. [laughter] Cause I need to pay my car insurance and I thought if I get them on my own, everyone would buy them. Buy a t-shirt. I’m done. Jim: I want to fuck you all up the arse. [laughter] Josh: There’s all these 14 year old girls going like y’know “fucking hell!” Miles: I’d just like to say thankyou for the big support from everyone around Medway cause y’know it was a bit nerve-wracking coming out back on that first show but. Thirkell: Coming out the closet? Miles: And seeing all the familiar faces was... it was all good. Cheers. Thirkell: Good night. These five lads are obviously having a great time as a band, with the new boys settling down, playing more shows every month and recording a demo track this year. Watch out for these lads over the next few years. They know what they’re doing and enjoying it too so expect big things in the future. Or expect Jim to leave again, who knows. W!
It’s interesting that when you look at the
most new scientific evidence, instead
facts and not the media hysteria involving
siding with archaic moral arguments.
drug use, a glaring, lucid hypocrisy stares
This of course was rejected without
right back at you, making you feel, once
consideration by the government, who
more, that you‘ve been duped. A much
obviously, being so educated and morally
more level headed and logical approach
adept, must have known better. Or not.
could lead to the health benefits of
They went as far as sacking one of
drug users, and also drop crime rates
the leading specialists on the subject,
significantly. It may seem absurd to
Professor David Nutt, after he had
the deeply indoctrinated, that the
publicly stated that horse riding is
legalisation, education, and control of
statistically far more dangerous than
production of certain drugs could in fact help these things to come to fruition, but many experts now argue that this could well be the case. One thing is very clear: the system we have at the moment does not work. It has been called “The war on drugs”. In over 40 years of this so called “war on drugs” no progress has been made what so ever, and evidence actually shows that things have become a lot worse. Professor Noam Chomsky renamed it “The war on certain drugs”, because of course, as we all know, alcohol and
drugs was to be revaluated using the current system, Alcohol would be made a class A drug and Tobacco would be made a class B drug. This simply would not do for the rich businessmen who would stand to lose...their business. But, In fact, scientists (probably many of them drinkers and smokers, ergo: drug users themselves) did not imply that they insisted on the illegalisation of alcohol and tobacco. Instead they advocated the revaluation of the system itself which is an obvious failure because it ignores
taking Ecstasy. The subsequent outrage from politicians (unlike Professor Nutt) stemmed not from scientific fact, but from personal ascetic beliefs and social stigma. Another down side to illegality of drugs is the constant search and production of new drugs which side step the law. The recent example of this was Mephedrone which was legal when sold as “plant food”. The obvious risk is: because this drug is new, we know nothing about it, unlike ecstasy for example: which we know is toxic if taken in extremely high doses (although
tobacco are taxable drugs (alcohol raises
this is rare), is not addictive, and from
15 Billion in tax per year).
extensive evidence does not appear to have any long term effects (unlike
You may counter
alcohol). That said, the
this by saying “yes,
police clearly jumped
but
at
t h e s e drugs
to
are
to
Wrong. Research is
that
obviously
chance defame
Mephedrone,
less harmful”. shows
the
the
Alcohol more
socially
expedite process
of
classification, linking it with the
acceptable, and yet it causes much
deaths of two boys (their deaths later
more harm overall than illegal drugs
turned out to have nothing to do with
like Cannabis, Ecstasy, and even LSD
Mephedrone), so that the drug today
(and more). This is not an advocacy for
has its hysteria based class B status.
any of the previously mentioned drugs,
The cycle continues and new drugs are
but a snapshot of the hypocrisy of the
put on the market legally, which could
current A,B,C drugs classification system
potentially be more dangerous than the
in this country, which is, quite frankly,
drugs available illegally. Maybe it’s time
outdated.
we gave the legalisation of certain drugs
So why hasn’t the government listened
a chance. It’s clear that there was a war
to the experts on this? Well, to Me this
on certain drugs, but the drugs won.
is quite simple. If the classifications of
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