wastedmagazine.co.uk Facebook | Twiter | Tumblr Editor Zoe Blush Creative Director Vicky Webb Photography Robbie Candy Martin Hobby Rachael Tucker Chelle Shocked Images Writers Ian Gregory Robbie Candy Jez Silcock Zoe Blush Jimmy Holmes ‘Metal Gremlin’
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PAGE 3: INTRODUCING: A BOY NAMED GIRL
PAGE 4: LIVEFLY! PAGE 5: BLUSH BANTER
PAGE 6: ROBBIE LIKES SHELLAC PAGE 7: METAL GRIMLIN: REVIEWS PAGE 8: INTERVIEW: VIC WINTERGREEN
PAGE 11: ALT GIRL: JASZ CONKIE PAGE 13: ALT GUY: GEORGE WARD PAGE 14: INTERVIEW: PAIGE PAGE 17: WASTED! GIG: F.E.A.R PAGE 21: FACE! PAGE 23: PAPI WANG PAGE 24: EVENTS
[W!] Hey guys! Flip over for an introduction to the not-sonew-on-the-scene A BOY NAMED GIRL on PAGE 3. We’ve got a surprise for you this month. Head over to PAGE 16 to read the interview with Hertfordshire boys PAIGE. We’ve been busy with a bunch of Northerners this month. Go over to PAGE 19 to read the review & have a goosey at some lovely pictures from the FOR EVERYTHING A REASON headlinging show. & don’t forget the rest! Lots of love Zoe Blush xo
you should too
Robbie LIKES Shellac rock band from Chicago. They have been around since 1992, playing their weird, angular songs using unusual time signatures, and repetitive rhythms coupled with Steve Albini’s strange lyrics, to build up a huge underground following. The lack of distortion in most of their songs, and just the way they play tends to break the mould of most ‘rock’ band stereotypes. I think that is what has made me get so into this band. I’ve had their albums on my computer for a while, but never really
listened to them, but with the state that most rock music is in nowadays, to listen to Shellac, a band that has been going for nearly a decade, just seems like a breath of fresh air! So much so, that my band sdrawkcaB tlepS annA, have dedicated a song to them, simply called ‘Shellac’. I can’t wait to play it live! Recommended Album Excellent Italian Greyhound. Find out more HERE
image off of the internet somewhere
I guess I could introduce myself to begin with, I am Robbie, I take pictures at the gigs and help out, I do the events page, and that’s pretty much about it. Soon though, I will be doing a touring blog. I’ve decided to take a year out from uni to go on tour as a roadie for a year. So that’s me. I think I shall write about what has been interesting me most this week, and that is Shellac. I have been listening to Shellac pretty much everyday all week. Shellac are a minimalist, noise
What’s some of your favourite venues to work in, and what type of music do you feel most comfortable working with? “The Red Lion in Gravesend and The Ivy, Sheerness. No real favourite on music, but metal comes easier than most as you have a template that most metal bands can fit into regarding drums and guitar sounds.” Where are you from and how was the music scene there when you were younger compared to now? “I was born in South London and grew up with the punk scene - so I got to see some bands before they made it. I was also a big fan of Deep Purple, but was too young to see them - I saw Rainbow however. There weren’t so many gigs in those days with a more structured scene, until punk broke and the DIY ethos came in. Venues with music
“Murder In The Nth Degree” is a nice little jem of female fronted Indy Punk Rock. Avenge Vulture Attack have a great unique sound going on here, which is much enhanced by Lead vocalist “Ella Grace” who sings beautifully with vocals reminiscent of “Florence and The Machine” and really pushes the song along with her high tier vocal performance. The song is driven by a handful of catchy guitar riffs and bass lines, and has a great hooky chorus. However whilst the song throws a few surprises at the listener like a tempo change late on, the structure still manages to feel a bit hollow and leaves one wishing for just a bit more substance.
Callous have created a heavy metal anthem with “For Our Sins” combine the heaviest side of Trivium with a mix of Unearth, and You’ll end up with a conclusion not much different from this track. From the start the high quality of the recording is apparent. The chugging guitars perfectly complement the scale runs and metalcore riffing, and the drums attack with powerful aggression and inventive playing. Vocalist “Jonny Gray” Mixes between highs and lows flawlessly and his clean delivery is just as precise. There truly isn’t much wrong with the track here apart from the odd part of cliché lyrical content but that doesn’t change the fact, that with this track Callous have cemented themselves as a local powerhouse to keep an eye on.
“Credit Card Lifestyle” features a good selection of catchy guitars and palm muted power chord rhythms, the programmed drums parts (although sounding to robotic) fit in nicely, and give a strong “tap along” backbone, However like guitarist Dean Ince’s previous projects, “Credit Card Lifestyle” is plagued by poor mixing and vocal issues. Vocalist Matt Ladbrooke brings forward a rather unique high melodic vocal style, there are a few points where he gels and brings the song together but other times his vocal rhythms feel crammed, and harmonies sound forced. If “Credit Card Lifestyle” was re-recorded with more time spent on the mixing and vocals and we’d have a unique pop punk / Indy act on our hands.
licences were few and far between, now every pub has a music licence and bands arrange far more of their own gigs rather than working through promoters. It makes it tough on established venues, though there is no problem with more music.” Did you play in any bands yourself? And if so, what did you play? “I jammed with some workmates for a while playing guitar, piano or bass when I was 18. Then I worked for a while, then started again. Everything I do now is down to an advert I put in FreeAds in September 1996 that read: “Ageing hippy, thinks he can play guitar and keyboards and write songs - seeks similar”. It went from there. I started playing bass guitar seriously. My first band was Ego, based in Ashford, then we became Polishing Boris, then Faker. After that I decided that I wanted a harder edge
to the sound and formed WhisperKill, influenced by Tool, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Rush, Kyuss. We finally split in 2002. There is a tune on my myspace (www.myspace.com/defzone, www. myspace.com/vwpsounds)” Defzone is your promotions company, correct? “That’s right, I started promoting in 2002 and came up the DefZone name. I don’t do much these days. I used to do over 75 gigs a year at 3 or 4 venues but I still do 15 - 20 at the Oasthouse.” Why has it died down so much? “I have gotten too busy and the scene has changed. With the dual licence, many venues don’t get the regular crowd now, as lots of pubs now put gigs on for free. It’s not fair on bands to play to 10 people and some gigs, no matter how hard I work, only get a few people in.”
week out, do you find that they generally handle themselves in a professional way? And are there any that stand out in your mind? “For the most part, they are all good. Some, particularly the very young, can get a bit star struck, as their only point of reference is their heroes, so they give you attitude because they think they have already made it. Often they have their parents with them and you have them in your ear telling you how it should be done. I have been offered money and a job on Top of the Pops if I can do a ‘good’ job, like I am going to treat any one any differently to anyone else. I like bands that think outside the box, and have found my taste wandering to the more avant-garde. On the local scene I have a great fondness for Beartrap, Passion for Cats, Los Salvadores, Up C Down C, The Onlookers, Mad Dog, Pay No Respect, Avenge Thee + Naime, Tyrannosaurus Alan, My Third Leg, Burgundy, Release the Hounds, Into Exile, and loads more.”
It’s a common understanding amongst event organizers that less frequency and more quality will bring in the crowds, but venues seem to be piling the pressure on to fill every friday and saturday of the year with gigs? “Well established, dedicated venues
have to do that, that’s their business, but pubs are on their arse and do what they can to get people in. I was asked to put gigs on at a pub, on a Thursday, when the darts team were away. I put three bands on, free entry. The pub would get 40 people in that would not normally be there, I would get paid and so would the bands. Everyone wins. Except the venues, where you have to pay to get in to cover the extra costs involved.” Are then any differences for engineering an all dayer as opposed to an evening gig, other than the length? “It depends on the change over times. If there is good time to change over bands, then re-eq’ing of all the channels can be done. If the times are tight then bands have to live with the previous eq during the first half of the first song, and the monitor mix of the previous band. I am used to bands wanting a lot of vocal monitoring, particularly metal bands. I had the monitors really loud for The Inbreds at an all-dayer. The next act said they were far too loud and could I turn them down - that band was Raging
Speedhorn. So it isn’t always a case of setting the levels and staying there.” That leads nicely into my next question, who is the “Biggest” band you’ve worked with? “That’s a tough call, as I work for a jazz promoter and get to engineer huge acts that aren’t always well known. I’ll give you a list and you can choose: Raging Speedhorn, Orange Goblin, Amen, Bad Manners, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Derek Nash - he is the musical director and lead saxophone for the Jools Holland Big Band and helped launch Jamie Cullum. Snake Davis, Winston Blissett, Alex Dankworth, son of Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Martin Drew - ex drummer of the Oscar Peterson trio, Lianne Carroll, Here and Now, Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), the list goes on. So I would probably say Martha Reeves. It was quite a rush, no sound check, just straight in, Boom! 5000 people watching, so not a time to fuck up!” Of the smaller bands you’ve engineered for, the little guys you deal with week in and
How much longer do you think you will be doing live sound for then? “Well my mortgage ends in 2015, but due to a shortfall on my endowment - I may need a few more years after that. I could go on tour, but again - it keeps you away from home, so maybe another 8 to 9 years, as long as the bones hold up, and the ears!”
Photography by Robbie Candy
Do you put that down to the sheer amount of venues with licences? “Indeed, there is only a finite number of people that want to attend gigs, and in smaller towns those numbers are divided up by the number of gigs. And the entertainment scene has changed too, with so much available online, we are in competition with the entertainment Pound, and people only have so much to spend on live shows. In larger towns and cities, London / Manchester / Brighton etc, there are far more people out at night looking for entertainment, and will go to shows no matter who is playing. In more rural areas, people make a conscious decision on where they will go, and often have to struggle to get transport.”
When did you bring in live recording and has it helped at all with how you mix live? “A few months ago, as an add on, and as a way to carry on earning within music as I will soon be too old to lift PA speakers up and down. And yes as I spent a lot of time on fitting instruments together using eq, which is used in a live situation, so it helped in revision and also other peoples guides to getting a balanced mix.”
recently been introduced into the world of burlesque through my work for Sick Promotions.” WOW, IF THERE’S A/S/L? “I’m 20 (21 in April, Whoop Whoop!) / Female / Located in London and Medway.” WHY DO YOU WANT TO AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO ALT MODELLING? “I first wanted to get into modeling when I stumbled across Americas Next Top Model. From this sprung my interest in photography (which I am now studying at university and shall be graduating from in July!) I started modelling a year ago as I wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side of the camera and from that moment I’ve been hooked!” WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY DO? “I am currently studying photography at university but I do many other things such as fire pois, fire breathing, podium/ cage dancing for Cyberdog in Camden and Parkour /freerunning. I have also
ANYMORE, TELL US THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF? “1. When the bubbles in happy. This occurrence captures and represents everything wonderful in this world to me. From the bubbles birth till it’s death, I find them very
metaphoric. 2. I am incredibly messy! Everywhere I go I leave a path of disarray behind me! 3. I believe everything holds it’s own personal story. This goes right back to its creation and flows through it’s journey until present time. If the object could talk the stories it would tell would be amazing. This idea captivates me and I spend a lot of time day dreaming about the adventures the objects have been on.” WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM? “Ooo, this is a hard one! I like so many! Some of my favorites include Constantine, 5th Element, Dogma, Pans
Labyrinth and Brothers Grimm.” WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BAND / SONG AT THE MOMENT? “I don’t have a favorite! My tastes change with my mood and current predicament! From Classical when I’m concentrating, to chart hits when I’m getting ready to go out and heavy industrial when I need to let off some steam!” DESCRIBE A TYPICAL NIGHT OUT WITH MISS CONKIE? “To my local club on a Thursday for their ridiculously cheap student nights or out with a few mates on a saturday to get our groove on :P” What is your claim to
fame? “I have been in Bizarre Magazine as an Official Ultra Vixen for their Winter Ball.” Where you want to be in five years time?
“I would love to be working as a photographer (and a model) for magazines whilst having a regular comfortable income, a nice car and a few little kittens! I’d also have a really lovely home with my partner, full of wacky furniture and crazy decor!” Best year of your life & why? “It has to have been the end of 2010 until now! I’ve really started to “find myself” and I have fallen into the best kind of love. I have also found harmony within my domestic life and have started to live with more head
a level after a crazy 2009. I feel like I’m finally starting to get a move on with my future and achieve things that
I’ve wanted to do.” [W!]
A/S/L? I’m 17 / Male / Located in Orpington, Kent WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY DO? “At the moment I study level 2 hairdressing at North west Kent college. If I’m not there you can normally find me at the smoking area at gigs, I listen to a lot of hardcore and deathcore, I like to get wanker’d and I like to whack out a bit of world of warcraft.” TELL US THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF? “1. I’m 6ft 5 aka stupidly tall. 2. My origins are from Vietnam, my friends call me ‘Chinky’. 3. I’m a proper video game geek” WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM? “The vengeance trilogy is pretty rad, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was my favorite, and it’s Korean but has such a good plot.” AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BAND OR SONG AT THE MOMENT? “More than life - Never Ender” DECRIBE A TYPICAL NIGHT OUT WITH MR WARD? “A good gig, booze, tobacco and women.” DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT GIRL? “Chest piece, drives so she can drive me about to gigs and shops so I don’t get cold and ill :(, buy me things (hevy ticket & nandos), some boomting body you get me and a beast in bed.” AND WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE OF CHOICE? “Depends on the situation just a casual drink then its Vimto snakebites if I plan to get slaughtered its vodka+sailor jerrys, jager bombs and straight spirits.” WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT OF GOING OUT, WHAT IS THE BEST GIG YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO & WHY? “For the Fallen Dreams, The Ghost Inside and Suffokate at Camden Under-
WHAT IS YOUR CLAIM TO FAME MR WARD? “I have no idea, it’s not my incred ibly good looks then I’m still in like 6 music vid eos.” WHAT WOULD BE YOUR BEST RE VENGE PLAN? “Burn their cat, (which would obviously be called Mittens just to make it cuter) video it and bath in its ashes.” WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST EMBARESSING MOMENT? “I have so many, one I remember is posting on some chicks formspring and forgetting to press anon.” Where DO you want to be in five years time? Living in America or Australia with a decent career and inked to the teeth.” Best year of your life & why? “Probably this year so many good gigs and tours going on and I’m 18 at the end of it.”
if
Photography by Martin Hobby
world, it was just insane.”
+ Accidents Kicking off the night was the local legends Accidents and boy did they kick it off. Clean vocals are obviously this bands main attribute; I’ve never heard such pitch perfect notes from a local band before. However, the growls seemed very frail from both vocalists thus they were heavily drowned out. Musically, the band were incredibly tight but each song sounded very similar and eventually becoming tedious towards the end. All things aside, this band have always created incredible atmosphere and did not disappoint on this cold night out at the Red Lion.
Due to unfortunate arrangements the headliner band Sacred Betrayal had to play second meaning all “fans” that came to the show left straight after their set. Starting their set off was an awesome synth intro that really shook the room and created an atmosphere that buzzed like a cocaine snorting bumble bee. Unfortunately, alike a cocaine snorting bumble bee, their set slowly deteriorated and landed with a bump after a god awful rendition of Crank Dat. I’ve seen this band live before and they were so much better than they were tonight. Hopefully they were just tired from their tour and were bummed about heading back to Scotland just a few hours after. The Bert McCraken lookalike for a vocalist did look tired and didn’t seem to get heavily involved. These boys can do so much better and I hugely recommend going to see them when they’re back in Kent.
nately there were only a handful people there to appreciate it. I don’t understand how a band can be so popular from the beginning and right through until their last show where only a few fans showed up. Anyway enough ranting for now… Musically they were incredibly tight, vocally they were flawless. Enough said. It’ll be a shame to see this metal quintet split after a huge year for them and I’d like to see them return to the music scene as soon as they have things sorted out. I wish them the best for the future.
For Everything A Reason The only thing missing from this band to make them the Devil Wears Prada is the gay poses. The frontman voiced sick throaty lows backed with heart shredding solos giving the ultimate spine trembling sound. Unfortunately the high vocals let them down slightly; they were far too shaky and crackly. But this group of lads have it made, they have a huge stage presence which overrides any flaw. When going to a show whether it be Ma-
donna or a small local band, if they do not have stage presence then you won’t enjoy it. This band have a presence that comes close to Breaking the Day and that’s saying something. I don’t ever like to keep repeating myself but unfortunately without an audience, it’s difficult to make a good atmosphere. By the end of the night only a handful of people were left. It’s sad to see such a talented array of bands have no audience because the “fans” came to see the headliner and left.
Photography by Robbie Candy, Michelle Webb and Rachel Tucker
Sacred Betrayal
Our Final Hour
Dethrone Exodus This is it; Dethrone Exodus are about to play their last show before going on hiatus and they left with a bang. They have always played a flawless set but tonight they really pulled it out the bag. Unfortu-
This band are good. Enough said. This band will go far. Consisting of clean vocals, tight music and awesome stage presence, this band have everything a group needs to make it to the big time. There’s only one downfall that they couldn’t control, the lack of people. They did everything in their power to create an inspiring atmosphere but people seemed to leave after Sacred Betrayal. With a bustling crowd this band will be amazing. Simple. Words by Jimmy Holmes
! E FAC
GUTTED!
Some of our favourite awesomely opertune snap shots from the gig. Email us your own pics to: writeint@wastedmagazine.co.uk
Interactive Magazines FTW Click on the pictures to be taken via the wonders of the hyperlink to its home on facebook so you can leave lovely messages in the comments. and if they haven’t already been - taggage.
Why I despise modern “happiness”. It’s strange how people feel inclined to get jobs to succeed at things in life. I don’t really understand it. That’s not to say I don’t have ambitions myself, on the contrary, I want to be a successful writer, a successful musician, a doctor and a spaceman. There were times where I wanted to be rich, but I’ve come to despise our dependency on money. This inherent need for success, what is it for? What do we get from these meritocratic ideals? Are we happy? I’m certainly not. I’m struggling to achieve what I want to achieve. I have no idea whether I’ll ever achieve anything progressive. I’m worried my grandparents will die knowing I was a “failure”. I’m worried my parents will be disappointed and worried about me for the rest of their lives. What is failure though? I don’t get it. Who are these people to tell me what achievement is? I think just getting through today is an achievement. I imagine things in my head going well in the stereotypical sense. I imagine myself happy and people coveting my happiness, and for a brief few seconds I think I’m happy. Yeah, I actually convince myself its true. Then I think “you’re a cunt”. I literally think that. Because that’s what this is really all about isn’t it? Everyone wants to get one over on everyone else. Everyone wants to have achieved something, because achievement means you’ve beaten someone; it means you’ve done something better than someone else. It sounds like something that wouldn’t be unusual in a Nazi eugenics programme. Nobody ever takes things just the way they are; they compare them to something else. This is understandable because the world is a system of relations. Without “other people”, we would be pretty fucked, regardless of what Sartre said. But when we try to create an objective definition of what physical beauty is, we all run around making beauty contests, and who are the ones that lose out? In comparing myself to “beautiful” people, I become ugly. In comparing my life to “happy” people, I become
unhappy. Once more we need to ask ourselves, what is beauty or happiness? In comparing myself to the “successful”, what do I become? The people I find myself stupidly coveting, the one’s that make me unhappy these “happy people”. The businessmen with their expensive cars and expensive wives, the models with their perfect skin, twig legs, protruding ribcages and overweight bank accounts; those are the “happy” ones according to the popular opinion. The rich people who have so much money they literally don’t know what to do with it… they’re really happy those ones; that’s what everyone says, maybe not literally but everyone just accepts it. You know what? They’re not just happy. They ARE happiness. They are the modern happiness. We all grow up thinking that if we become Kurt Cobain or Britney spears we’ll be happy. But Kurt killed himself and Britney went all bald on us, so think again kids. The wealthy ones may say that money is security, and who can blame anyone for wanting security for their family? That’s what everybody wants. That’s the thing that gets me down. We inherently aim for this pseudo happiness yes, but also out of fear of being poor, a fear of not being in control of our own lives. Why the hell is life a situation where we need to be afraid of life? Why can’t everybody feel comfortable about life? Why do we make it so stressful on ourselves, so important to get a job working slave shifts for people who exploit our labour to make them money? Why can’t we all work towards expanding our own originality, our own personal creative crescendos, and our own complete enlightenment?
Enlightenment is knowledge. It leads to love and empathy. Why is it so damn important for us to keep a system going that impedes the progression of these vital things? Why can’t we change the system? Here are the key things that every human being should have a right to: A comfortable life, freedom to do whatever they like unless it abuses another person’s human rights, access to information and FREE education… food, clothing, and housing. Why are we so retarded that we have figured out how to go into space and create incredible scientific and technological advances, but can’t even create a living system that offers every human being their basic rights? I’ll tell you why: because we’re more concerned about “getting somewhere”, “making a living” BEING BETTER THAN SOMEONE ELSE. Some of us really believe that this is all there is to life. Why can’t people see that the true happiness comes from living itself and that if we don’t offer equally, the basic human rights that people deserve to EVERYONE, then how can anybody be truly, completely happy? This is why I think anyone who is completely happy with a life of exploitation and material possessions and money is pathological. This is not to say that I don’t want people to be happy… just that for anyone to be completely happy, perfectly happy, and sanely happy; this world would have to be a utopia. We’d all need to be enlightened enough to not just believe in the mitigation, (“reforms”, in politician language) but the eradication of needless suffering. When the last person needlessly suffers on this planet that’s when I’ll stop feeling guilty about happiness in its modern form. With this modern happiness we concern ourselves with what we don’t have, and covet more material happiness until there’s nothing left to gain, and then we feel empty knowing that we were never ever gaining anything in the first place. Everything we needed was already there; we just never learnt how to use it. We never learnt how to live properly. #Papi
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