The whole musical world seems to have the east end of london and its’ bands shoved down its neck at the moment. Luckily, the only thing we were shoving down our necks in London’s east end the other night was mediocre canapes and Sam Sparro’s tongue (we wish…well, not really, given I’m the wrong gender…ewww). Anyway, the point is Flyposter slithered its way in and proceeded to entrance / annoy in equal measure. Firstly we had the dubious pleasure of talking to stick in shorts Tara Palmer Tompkinson. Now we’re not ones to knock folk when they’re down, but really TPT….I’ve seen drunk kittens steadier on their feet than you in your YSL tributes. Next up we heard from the lovely Dave Gorman, who just gets it, you know? Anyway, as the cocktails progressed, things loosened up a bit and we found ourselves on the roof by the pool with the aptly named Gavin and Stacey star Matt Horne. All going swimmingly (i know, punny eh?) until pop stalker and clothes horse Alexa Chung takes to the decks. At what point did it become OK to say you’re a DJ if you can whack on a knowing Elastica album track then slide a fader across to ‘Now That’s What i Call Indie 78′…? I know we’re all sick of the Peaches Geldof’s of the world besmirching the noble art of a DJ, but a semi famous TV presenter whose main show is the execrable Vanity Lair (Lord of the Flies for vain people) taking to the decks? It’s beyond the realms of my understanding. Suffice to say for the hour she was on, most of the party decamped to the bowling alley and the roof……

There’s more to be told, including some nice gobbets from Orange ad star Steve Furst, professional baldie and nice lady Gail Porter, Sam Sparro, Olympic torch mugging victim Konnie Huq, the killer of Barry in Eastenders, Janine and most importantly, Lydia’s breasts…..

I had the fortune to chat to the gentle gents from Post War Years the other day. What a treat - lovely lads with lovely straightforward, honest to goodness english names (by english I mean spongy war time grey britain where fun had to be made, not bought. And boys wore their trousers short and had japes, not happy slappings.) Yes, Simon, Henry, Tom and Fred were nothing short of charming, and personnified the old school, war time good manners you just don’t see in nu rave bands. But then that’s probably because nu rave bands are public school boys who are brought up to believe that manners are for staff, whilst Post War Years seem more like the sons of staff. In a good way. Oh god, i’m getting in a mess here…..

Anyway, to quit whilst I’m only slightly submerged, I had a bit of a chat with them, principally to see if they were overweight.(you’ll have to watch the interview to understand that one) They’re not. So go check ‘em out in the next episode of Flyposter.

bah. and indeed humbug. Am I the only one that’s come away from last weekend’s Camden Crawl with a fetid taste in my mouth? and no, it’s not due to a late night binge at the Marathon, but a sneaking suspicion that this event may actually be rather cynical. i know, depressing isn’t it? yet more unscrupulous buggers extracting the urine in order to extract some cash from the music scene.

I’d previously been a bit of a champion for the Crawl, the idea of one of the world’s most famous musical locations opening up its many live venues for a couple of days of untrammelled indie meanderings was immensely appealing, but this year they jumped the shark.

The gigs were oversold, resulting in huge queues, thereby negating the main draw of the Crawl - the idea that one could traipse from venue to venue catching great up and coming bands. Hardly any of the bands were paid, believing mistakenly, that they would get some much needed exposure by playing. Sadly, most of the bands got no coverage, due to the fact that media passes were rarer than an early night for Kate Moss. Most of the people getting involved in the event were asked either to provide their services for free or were offered co branding. The main line sponsors paid a hefty whack, yet none of this cash was reflected in increased venues, payment for the bands or any form of investment in the very scene that’s generating so much money for them. Now maybe I’m being dreadfully old school here but that strikes me as cynical.

I could go on, but for me the most heartbreaking thing was seeing piles of folk who’d travelled down to London for the event, only to spend most of their time queueing in the pouring rain in order to catch a glimpse of a band before heading off to queue for another one. Tickets aren’t cheap, so surely they should at least guarantee that you’ll see some of the bands you came to see? or am i being naive again…? from where I’m stood though, the only people that spent money were the bands and the fans, whilst the only people making it and benefitting were the organisers.

Take the man behind The Memory Band and co-founder of Trunk Records (Stephen Cracknell), the twisted songwriter from Tunng main man (Sam Genders), one half of Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (Hannah Caughlin) and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Put them in front of a PC and add occasional input from guests including harpist Serafina Steer, Lisa Knapp, and various members of the Elysian Quartet and The Memory Band.

The outcome is new collective The Accidental and their beguiling debut single Wolves, out through Full Time Hobby on the 31st March.

Peter Moren, one-third of Swede popstars Peter Bjorn and John releases his debut solo album this year on Wichita Recordings.

Following an incredible last two years with PBJ, touring the world on the back of the ‘Writers Block’ album and the global hit ‘Young Folks’, having seen the inside of some of the world’s great venues and TV studios, Peter never stopped writing.

Having sold hundreds of thousands of records, PBJ have gone from cult favourites to bona-fide popstars. They played with Kanye West in Sweden, they appeared on Letterman, they were nominated for a VMA and more. They broke America, the even broke Japan. ‘Young Folks’ was a hit all over the world, taking on a life of its own. And Peter was responsible for all this.

‘The Last Tycoon’ is an album in the vein of classic songwriting. Think Cat Stevens, think James Taylor. Then think 2008 and what that would be now. And then think PBJ and their unique songcraft. The sum of all that is an album that speaks to one and all. Its an honest, characterful record, where familiar tales are spun but in a way that is more direct than his cotemporaries.

Peter is coming over for a handful of dates this April –

15 - London - Water Rats
16 - Liverpool - Barfly
17 - Manchester - Roadhouse
18 - Glasgow - Barfly
19 - Dublin - Sugar Club

Look out for the single ‘Reel Too Real’, set for release in April alongside the live shows.

Some musicians are meant to be heard but not seen - merely an auditory experience and nothing more. Berlin’s IAMX, on the other hand, isn’t merely a band… it’s an event - a full-on aural and visual attack with the dynamic and inimitable Chris Corner (of Sneaker Pimps) leading the charge.

With the European marketplace going bonkers for his blend of dramatic synth-rock, darkness-infused pop, and intricately-constructed indie dance, IAMX has been headlining festivals in Austria, Belgium, CZ Rep, Poland, etc. and sharing the stage with Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, and The Cardigans among others.

Like an 80s electro glam soundtrack to a Jan Svankmajer film or an almost unfathomable hybrid between the sexy swagger of Prince and the cool and collected respectability of Roxy Music, IAMX mixes Chris’ erotically-charged vocals with music that is, at once, frantic yet controlled.

With such strikingly cinematic songs as the waltzy drama of “President” to the percussive sexual predatory dirtiness of “The Negative Sex” to the indelibly infectious synthpop of the sweeping “Spit It Out”, The Alternative is exactly just that - the alternative to the cookie-cutter music scene that dominates the airwaves.

Considering the rabid reception he receives from his performances, it seems it’s time for the masses to latch onto The Alternative. When IAMX blew into SxSW Music Festival with their mesmerizing live show, Music industry trade Hits Magazine reported, “Consensus word of mouth today was that IAMX, played stellar show.” Back from their sold out US tour, IAMX will be hitting UK to transfer some of the overwhelming buzz and announcing the release of their second album The Alternative.

http://www.myspace.com/iamx

http://www.iamx.co.uk

Fall Out Boy Biography and news:

Fall Out Boy are a pop-punk band from Chicago, Illonois who have been topping worldwide music charts since 2006. The Fall Out Boy band members consit of: -

• Patrick Stump - Composer, lead singer, rhythm guitarist and front man of Fall Out Boy.
• Pete Wentz - Composer and bass player.
• Joe Trohman - Lead guitarist, famous for his signature spin move “Trohmania”.
• Andy Hurley - Drummer.

In the UK Fall Out Boy have had decent chart success, with their highest charting single (”This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race”) reaching Number 2 in the official UK singles chart. Their follow-up single, “Thnks fr th mmrs”, only reached Number 12, however this was mst likely due to it being included in the chart topping album, “Infinity on High”.

Fall Out Boy’s success has led them to team up with other recording artists to create some fantastic musical collaborations. One such example of this is Timbaland ft Fall Out Boy - “One and Only”. They have also recently appeared with Keith Buckley, of “Everytime I Die” fame, to cover “Walk” by Pantera on live sets.

The band have just finshed touring with the Plain White T’s (PMN favourites), Gym Class Heroes and Cute Is What I aim For… Their latest album release ‘Infinity On High’ debuted February 2007 at number 1, on the billboard charts… and went platinum in a month. Look out for an awesome new cover of Michael Jacksons ‘Beat it’… guitar riffs and Patricks voice are amazing…

www.falloutboyrock.com

www.music.podshow.com

In a world ruled increasingly by superstition and intolerance, Bad Religion’s rousing wall-of-sound punk seems about as necessary now as ever before. It is the impassioned sound of reason, anthems of a bittersweet idealism and a guarded hope set to propulsive guitars and charging drumbeats.

And while most groups with even half the artistic output have long ago morphed into stylistic self parody, Bad Religion is currently surging forward with a renewed creative intensity. Their fourteenth album, entitled New Maps of Hell, is both a nod to the band’s defiant past and an undeniable step forward in the evolution of a genre they helped to define.

While many of the new songs are as brutally fast and unflinchingly heartfelt as anything the band has done before, the record is also filled with unexpected sounds, inventive rhythms and lush pop choruses. “I think we’re reaching back to our roots as a garage band and doing some really aggressive music,” guitarist and co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz says. “But we’re also trying to look forward and write some really interesting new rock songs.” After some years away, Gurewitz has been back in the fold for the previous two records, Process of Belief and The Empire Strikes First, both discs widely accepted as a return to form for the veteran band.

He is again accompanying his longtime friends, co songwriter and singer Greg Graffin and original bassist Jay Bentley. The (slightly) newer band members read like a punk rock all star team, with guitarist Greg Hetson of the legendary Circle Jerks and Brian Baker of hardcore pioneers Minor Threat. The latest addition being a startling young drum prodigy and sought after session drummer named Brooks Wackerman.

For this latest record, Bad Religion convened with renowned producer Joe Barresi at a downtown Hollywood recording studio just blocks from so many of the nightclubs and halls where the band first inspired legions of like minded young malcontents amidst the vibrant eighties Los Angeles punk scene. Back then, the band members had been young teen rebels from the dystopian suburbs of the nearby San Fernando Valley, leather clad intelligentsia lashing out at a pervasive culture of greed and conformity.

And while the band might now look less like brash young upstarts and more like hip college professors (singer Graffin is, in fact, a college professor) - there’s still a whole lot to rail against and the band is undeniably up to the task. “I think at heart, Bad Religion has always been anti establishment and about open mindedness,” Gurewitz says. “Since we we’re kids, this country has vacillated between varying degrees of anti intellectualism, machismo and religiosity - maybe now more than ever. And we write with a secular humanist world view which really goes against all that.” This sentiment is echoed in his lyrics to the blistering state-of-the-art hardcore of Welcome to the New Dark Ages.

As a frantic wall of guitars power a rousing sing along chorus, Graffin’s surprisingly soulful voice calls out: ‘Welcome to the new dark ages / I hope you’re living right / these are the new dark ages / and the world might end tonight / So how do you sleep - there’s nothing to keep. This is deep / because we’re animals with golden rules who can’t be moved by rational views.’ It is this world view which infuses so much of New Maps of Hell. But there is also a sense of inner turmoil absent from the band’s previous efforts.

Where before there had been a defiant questioning and call for change, there is now an underlying sense of lost idealism - an acknowledgement that all the angry protest songs in the world could not prevent the mess we’re in. And as unsettling as this sentiment might be for the longstanding firebrands, it has undoubtedly inspired a vital and emotionally charged record. “Living in this world can leave you with a pretty bleak outlook,” Graffin says, at the recording studio. ”

But then we still have that same naive hope we had as angry idealistic teenagers, that human beings will hear this music and think, ‘This isn’t right and I’m gonna do something about it.’ There’s a song called Requiem for Dissent on this record which is actually one of the more uplifting songs - the idea behind it being to try and raise the dead rebel from his grave.” And while a stunning new record from one of the most influential bands in recent history may not be enough save this messed up world, it might very well inspire a few defiant souls into action.

Watching the band rip through a live set in front of a few thousand exhilarated fans days after completing New Maps to Hell, the sheer power of Bad Religion’s music is unquestionable. The kids are pressed against the barrier, many with eyes closed and fists raised, singing each lyric as if it means the world to them. The entire affair has an intensely inspirational and cathartic air, like some riotous punk rock baptism in the name of free thought and dissent. “I think a lot of our fans are just angry nerds like us,”Gurewitz says afterwards. “And that’s really who we write for.

Being a humanist and an intellectual is about as rebellious as it gets these days.” “In the end we do this because we still care deeply about inspiring people,” Graffin adds. “I know that may sound a little lofty, but the truth is when I was a teenager, music was only thing that gave me hope in this world.”

Bad Religion on Myspace | Bad Religion official site | Bad Religion on BT PodShow

Stars are soft-revolutionaries and music is their rallying cry. Amy Millan, Chris Seligman, Torquil Campbell and Evan Cranley are four young people who through their music are trying to save us from our mundane and complacent fears. When at a loss for words, one music writer said the only way to describe Stars was “beautiful hope”. Their music has been described as “breath-takingly effervescent” and they have been called the kind of band that “blue lights and fog machines are made for“. Their debut L.P “Nightsongs“, which is currently in its third pressing in the U.S., was a pristine prelude to “Heart“. It was called “one of the most thoroughly listenable albums in pop music history” and was pursued and further exposed by KCRW’s “Morning Sounds Eclectic” live radio show. In addition, the album rated highly on critics’ top ten lists across North America. It was a definitive pop classic, recalling the best of Prefab Sprout, The Smiths, Saint Etienne and New Order.

Their second release, The Comeback E.P., marked the band’s departure from New York and move to Montreal. It is filled with even more hooks and delicious sugary dance-ability and was the beginning of the band’s abandonment of pastiche and the formulation of their unique musical vision.

Within the bands first official Canadian release, “Heart“, the longing becomes more intrinsic. Stars have taken us from a lonely rooftop to the steamy bedrooms in the world’s sexiest cities. With lyrics like “You get back on the latest flight from paradise, I found out from a note taped to the door, I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight, through my window lying on the kitchen floor“, Stars tell the world that they are in love and that they are not afraid to sing.

Making the album was a painstaking experience. They spent many sleepless nights in a bedroom studio with only the ventilation of a rickety old fan propped in the corner. Whatever Stars did, it worked. So much so that acclaimed British producer Ian Catt (Saint Etienne) enthusiastically volunteered to mix three songs. The other eight songs on the album were mixed by Canadian producer Dave Hodge (Brand Van 3000, Wu-Tang Clan). The result is a scintillating work of art, a pop music masterpiece. “Heart” will be remembered because the songs are beautiful, and to Stars, beauty is what will save us.

Discography:

In Our Bedroom After the War 2007
Do You Trust Your Friends? 2007
Live at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2006: Stars 2007
Live at Lollapalooza 2006: Stars 2007
Set Yourself On Fire 2005
Heart 2003
Nightsongs 2001
A Lot Of Little Lies For The Sake Of One Big Truth 2000

Singles

The Night Starts Here 2007
The Comeback 2001

Compilations

From Toronto With Love 2007
Sounds Eclectic 2001

www.myspace.com/thestars

www.arts-crafts.ca/stars

music.podshow.com

Formed in 1982, NAPALM DEATH are the legitimate forefathers of grindcore and achieved a legendary status already during their early days with their viciously raw demos like “Hatred Surge” and the debut album “Scum” (1987), which started a truly violent revolution within the world of extreme music.

Ever since then their name is inevitably connected with raving high-speed, and although no member of the original line-up is playing in the band these days they haven’t cut down on their ferocity. The lot from Birmingham, England, still delivers a furious mix formed out of highly aggressive (extreme-) metal and savage hardcore/punk fitted with social criticism.

Passionately anti-war, pro-animal rights, and outspoken on social issues, the band never shy from standing up for their beliefs.

Worldwide touring has been a mainstay for the band, so after having completed a string of European summer festivals, NAPALM DEATH will head over to North America to initiate supporting their “Smear Campaign” on a tour with Hatebreed, The Black Dahlia Murder and Exodus to then return to Europe for more touring this Autumn. Expect to see the band crushing your vicinity sooner than later…

Discography :

Official Releases

Scum (1987)

From Enslavement To Obliteration (1988)

The Curse (7″) (1988)
Live In Europe (7″, 1989)

Split w/ SOB (split 7″, 1989)

Mentally Murdered (EP, 1989)

The Peel Sessions (1989)

Suffer The Children (1990)

Harmony Corruption (1990)

Harmony Corruption bonus live EP (EP, 1990)

Mass Appeal Madness (EP, 1991)

Death By Manipulation (1992)

Utopia Banished (1992)

Utopia Banished Bonus CD (EP, 1992)

The World Keeps Turning (EP, 1992)

Nazi Punks Fuck Off (EP, 1993)

Live Corruption (live, 1992)

Fear, Emptiness, Despair (1994)

Hung (EP, 1994)

Plague Rages (Promo, 1994)

Greed Killing (EP, 1996)

Diatribes (1996)

Cursed To Tour (split-cd At The Gates, 1996)

In Tongues We Speak (split-cd Coalesce) (1997)

Inside The Torn Apart (1997)

Breed To Breath (EP, 1997)

Bootlegged In Japan (live, 1998)

Words From The Exit Wound (1998)

Leaders Not Followers (EP, 1999)

The Complete Radio One Sessions (2000)

Enemy Of The Music Business (2001)

Order Of The Leech (2002)

Noise For Music’s Sake (2CD, 2003)

Punishment In Capitals (CD & DVD, 2004)

Leaders Not Followers: Part 2 (2004)

The Code Is Red…Long Live The Code (2005)

Smear Campaign (2006)

www.napalmdeath.org

music.podshow.com