Flashback Friday's.. Alexisonfire - 'Hey, It's Your Funeral Mama!'

Slightly late today ladies and gents, but I have FANTASTIC news (for me at least anyway!) because, after approximately 8 or 9 years of loving and wishing, my wish has come true! I.. am going to see.........

ALEXISONFIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'D :'D :'D :'D ajfkepgkfnpesnbgv-gewanaffangoebgikuaesgve a!!!!

I can't express how happy I am at all! This bands means so much to me and they've been my favourite band for so long! This was really perhaps the first band that made me make the transition into more mature 'rock' music, moving away from bands such as Lostprophets etc and into post-hardcore.

Alexisonfire are a very diverse band, easily shifting between being melodic yet edgy and downright aggressive punk. What also makes them unique is their effective use of not 1, not 2, but 3 (!?) vocalists! In theory, it should be a mess, but it works so well because each of the vocalists specialise in a certain vocal range; George Pettit shrieks and screeches his tirade, Dallas Green smooth, pitch perfect voice, with Wade MacNeil straddling the fence in between with his rumbling punky undertones!

The band announced that they were to split last year, after Green decided to devote himself full time to his folk side project, City and Colour, whilst MacNeil was named the new Gallows frontman following the departure of Frank Carter, but that's another story! At the time, I was so distraught that I'd missed the opportunity to see them play during their previous run of the UK (their visiting Nottingham seemed too far away at the time, despite the fact that I'm now willing to travel to London!), so I'm ecstatic that my friend managed to get us tickets this time :D

Back to the song - this is 'Hey, It's Your Funeral Mama!', taken from their second album, Watch Out!, perhaps their most experimental release, and my personal favourite! It was the first song that I heard by them and will always be amongst my favourites, perhaps just being on the subject matter of Go-Karting! If you like this, go check all their albums; if you're not so keen on one, you may be on another, as the sounds shifts a little through the time periods. Their last release, Dog's Blood EP, was easily their heaviest stuff to date and they went out with a bang!

Alexisonfire are playing London's Brixton Academy on Mon 3rd December (sold out) and added Sun 2nd December due to demand !

Grab 'em whilst you can!

http://theonlybandever.com/presale/
http://www.facebook.com/AOFofficial

Fashion Files.. Office Night Hawk Boots

I've had such a beautiful moment! I seriously don't know how the tears aren't streaming down my face! At last - after lusting so long! - I've finally found a pair of beautiful winklepickers!

A few months ago, I spent many an hour scouting out winklepicker boots on eBay, to no avail, I could never find a pair in my size. But alas, after reading a blog post by LLYMLRS (great fashion blog, this girl has epic style!) I discovered the Night Hawk Boots on Office's website. They. Are. PERFECT! The studding, the straps (this is beginning to sound a bit 50 Shades - oh, curse me for referencing that book on here!), even the heel is a nice size and slightly square, as I struggle to walk in heels too high due to an embarrassing lack of balance and a foot injury (duly caused by that embarrassing lack of balance...). They have a nice rock/punk edge and I can see myself living in them, as they'll easily go with day and night outfits, and will probably deal for autumn/winter weather too.

These boots are also available in red and white, but I'll be getting the black. Only downside is that they're £80 (!), but if it's one thing I'll invest in, it's a good pair of shoes. I don't even own that many, but I always think it's better to pay quality for shoes as it's carnage on your feet if it's not leather!

New Waves.. No Doubt - 'Settle Down'

Slightly late on the ball, I admit, even after counting down the days, I still only manage to post this a week later!

But...

Finally! After teasing us all with pics and video clips for what feels like aeons, No Doubt FINALLY reveal their comeback single, 'Settle Down'!'

No Doubt are nothing if not catchy, and this is signature No Doubt, channeling their ska roots blended with catchy reggae beats, 'Settle Down' is a pleasing return and shows promise for their upcoming sixth album, Push and Shove. 


Even though it connects on first listen (for me anyway!) it's somewhat of a grower, taking a few more rounds to really sink in. Stefani has a knack for vocal hooks, and the chorus 'Get, get, get in line and settle down!' rotates in the brain and will leave you humming and grooving away to yourself for hours.

On a different note, Stefani has somehow defied time and looks not a day older than the last No Doubt video for 'Running', made back in 2003! Consider me amazed and wishing that I get hit by such a kind age stick!

'Settle Down' is out now.
Push and Shove will be released 25th September.

http://www.nodoubt.com/settledown/
https://twitter.com/nodoubt/

Wonder Woman of the Week.. Kathleen Hanna!

Welcome to my new weekly Sunday feature - Wonder Woman of the Week! As previously mentioned in my organisation post, this will be a weekly feature where I choose a woman who inspires me (or has been heavily featured for whatever reason in that week) and discuss them and say what exactly makes them so brill! 


So who should my first woman be.... hmm... how about riot grrrl feminist, Kathleen Hanna!

Founder of riot grrrl band, Bikini Kill, and later electroclash outifit, Le Tigre, Hanna has been a poignant and outspoken feminist voice since the early 1990's. 


She first became interested in feminism when her mother, a housewife, took her to a feminist rally where Gloria Steinham spoke when she was aged nine, which left a lasting impression. She later studied photography at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, also working as a stripper to support herself. Her exhibits at this time dealt with issues such as sexism and AIDS, although her work was taken down before public viewing by school administrators in the name of censorship, prompting her to create an independent feminist art gallery called Reko Muse. She also did spoken word sexism and domestic violence and volunteered for a domestic abuse organisation.


Bikini Kill was named after a fanzine that members Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, Tobi Vail and Billy Karren created as a response to sexism in the punk rock scene, with the band later writing songs involving such ideals. They released a cassette, EP, split LP with Huggy Bear and two albums - Pussy Whipped and Reject All American before splitting and creating side projects (eg. The Frumpies - minus Hanna, with the addition of Molly Neuman of Bratmobile).


Post Bikini Kill, Hanna started a solo project called Julie Ruin, experimenting with New Wave sounds before later starting political outfit, Le Tigre, who released three albums before becoming inactive.


As someone who is frequently aggravated by sexist comments for sexist comments sake (my guy friends will find themselves quickly shot down), as well as believing in equality, Hanna is certainly an inspiration for me, with herself and her contemporaries challenging a whole scene with their feminist ideals and championing a message that reached new generations across the world. Even now, it continues due to the accessibility of the internet.


Her music is highly catchy, and definitely worth a listen whether you agree with her message or not. 'Decaptacon' by Le Tigre, for example, could easily be the soundtrack to my life, because I am yet to get bored of it! Her image also influences me time and again, as she always looks very put together in with her retro updo's and red lipstick, and wearing prints, tartans. In her Bikini Kill days, she was known to dress as a school girl. Hanna also evidently influenced her friend, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, famously writing 'Kurt smells like teen spirit' on a wall and subsequently inspiring the name of the perhaps the most iconic Nirvana song!


Anyways, check some of the vids below, and I'm pretty sure we have a well deserving first Wonder Woman of the Week.

Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl

Le Tigre - Decaptacon

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Hanna
http://www.kathleenhanna.com/

Just one of those days..

That's what yesterday was.

I woke up in an epic mood. Got invited for a day trip to Birmingham with the guys from the band and mutual friend's of ours but turned it down because I wanted to write up a contribution to The Guardian. They advertised a link via Twitter asking for thoughts on the legacy of iconic British punk band, the Sex Pistols to commemorate the Jubilee (35 years ago they unleashed 'God Save the Queen' on a coinciding and infamous jubilee boat trip ).

But first, I wanted music on my iPod.

I left my Japanese Voyeurs B-Sides CD ripping onto iTunes whilst I took a shower and came back to find that my computer had entirely crashed and would now not even turn on, with the CD stuck inside. Now that requires fixing.

Left the house to buy the 2:54 self-titled album only to find nowhere stocking it (I resorted to good ol' reliable Amazon), when I my aunt rang me whilst up town to say there were job vacancies at TK Maxx. I enquired, and the woman that I was speaking to had absolutely no idea what I was going on about. So I got on the bus home when my aunt txt me to say that the jobs were for their distribution centre so I'd have to go there to get a form -_-

I then attempted to write the article at my Nan's (I could write many a detailed page on this topic but was contested with a pretty short word count), and accidentally deleted more than half of what I'd actually written because I was looking at the wrong count.

It was just one of those days and I was close to pulling my hair out!

Luckily, I was due to see a group of my friends up town for our weekly get together and, I won't lie, got intentionally rat-arsed just for the hell of it. It was a good night even though we just ended up doing frequenting our regular haunts - Varsity (a pub where the band played), Babylon (cheesy '80's/ '90's music with 1 playlist), Planet (charmingly dingy rock/metal nightclub), along with a bar called Numa.

A sucky day turned into a great night (from what I remember)!

My Mom has the Jubilee weekend off so we may be venturing out to do something interesting.

Also, not sure if you'll see that Voyeurs review any time soon, given that the disc is stuck in my desktop. If they can't salvage the disc, I'll cry (it was a limited run, number 231 out of 250). Ah wells.

New Waves.. letlive. - 'Muther'

My friend recommended a band called Letlive. to me today, describing them as 'Bring Me the Horizon, but more American and weird in places'. Not entirely correct in my opinion, but they certainly an interesting band!

Whilst looking them up on Spotify, I came across this song and it really stood out to me, originally due to the nice female guest vocal, the owner of which, upon further investigation, is not a professional singer at all, but a friend of a member of the band. It really is stunning for the short time that it lasts. This aside, the band's vocalist, Jason Aalon Butler, is a talented singer, showing us impressive range between his powerful rough and clean vocals, which occasionally reminded me of a pre-Skrillex Sonny Moore, as well as Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo.

'Muther' is delightfully heavy and passionate, a song about infidelity, though the highlight for me must be the last third of the song which turns all jazz piano over a soaring refrain of 'Don't you cry mama, we'll, we'll be OK'.

In Letlive.'s other songs, such as 'Renegade '86', the punk elements shine through; nice heavy post-hardcore, which at times reminds me of A Day To Remember.

Anyway, check out the video above, wait it out til the end for the tempo change and the band will appear in a whole more interesting light!

Their album, 'Fake History' is available now.
http://www.epitaphstore.com