avitculture-blog

[avitculture-blog]

Feature article- Zac Woolley talks about new single and the current “state” of the industry.

“I don’t think its time for guitar music to stop, anyone who does think it will is naïve to say so, everything’s swings and roundabout, everything turns full circle”

I walked in to the kitchen where two empty cans of K cider and a barely warm coffee stood. Arranged perfectly in order next to him as if it were his three course dinner. Zac Woolley, the lead singer and guitarist of Mice On Mars, has recently moved from “the north!” or York to be precise to the depths of tooting.

Mice on Mars are a garage/punk band sticking to the old fashioned mentality of 3-chord punk with hints of dub, funk and reggae. They’ve been playing and living in London for a mere three months but have played venues such as The Shackelwell Arms and Brixton Windmill. “It’s a venue I’ve always been to and supported, possibly the best venue in the city. It’s very rare you go to The Windmill and leave disappointed.”

They are yet to officially release a single just a couple of demos on Soundcloud and have been “waiting for the right time.” Zac thinks the right time is late January to pick people up from the winter blues with their new single Naughty Dog. It’s the first track they will be launching on Spotify and Itunes this time without the help of a label. I was given a sneak preview of the demo, it’s more polished than previous releases on Soundcloud but it’s definitely still “rough and ready”. He was very down to earth about the overpopulation and cruelty of the music industry and is hoping to pick up a manager in the new year, “the industry has become the mess that it is now, you need help to navigate your way through the crap”.

https://soundcloud.com/mice-on-mars/dirty-rotten-good-for-nothing-live

“We don’t ever restrict ourselves by saying we write purely songs of political aura. Sure we love to have a good shout about something that winds us up but that could be anything from a loud arrogant bloke on the bus to Fidel Castro.”

Conversation moved onto Sleaford Mods specifically their gig at Brixton O2 Academy on 22nd September this year. “One of the most important gigs I’ve ever seen. It gives you a lot of hope with the industry in the place that it is at the moment, seeing a band like Sleaford Mods sell out O2 Brixton is... refreshing.” He boasted of knowing all the words to Jobseeker before reciting the lyrics start to finish with no backing vocals just to prove the point. “Pull your jeans up, f**k off! I’m going home, Jobseeker”

 https://soundcloud.com/mice-on-mars/the-scapegoat

“My mum” was the simplest answer I got out of him all-afternoon when asked about his biggest inspirations. Musically he was less concise “you can find inspiration sub-consciously. Just by listening to music it alters the way you write the simplest chord progression could inspire a whole song.” 

Zac left me with one final statement before he kicked me on my way “I don’t think its time for guitar music to stop, anyone who does think it will is naïve to say so, everything’s swings and roundabout, everything turns full circle eventually.” He and his band hold guitar music close and are willing to fight for it. Until January when the first single comes out, Mice on Mars are just grafting at the bottom. We can only wait and see if January is “the right time” for them.

https://www.facebook.com/Miceonmars/?ref=bookmarks

[avitculture-blog]

PR and Media Plan

Dear Campbell,

“Gaz’s rocking blues hasn’t missed a Thursday since 1980 and there’s a good reason for it! It’s raw, it’s live and it’s loud”

 The concept is to have a feature article every issue of the magazine on a one-nighter that happens either weekly or bi-weekly. This not only informs but also creates a scene where readers of your magazine can come together and appreciate music side by side. Your magazine puts a huge focus on watching bands live and I truly get on board with that ideology. This, in turn, must mean your readers do as well that’s why I believe promoting other live music nights besides just promoting the bands would work well. However I do feel that the nights should all be based in London as the majority of your readers and bands are London based.

I have been going to Gaz’s rocking blues night weekly (missing the occasional week) for the past 6 months and it doesn’t fail to entertain. I’ve spent a lot of the evenings personally chatting with Gaz and have got to know about the history of the place. As well as this I think Gaz’s rocking blues would work well in your magazine because he puts a high emphasis on illustration and design, like yourselves. I am young and can appeal to your audience in the same way you do… with informal but informative articles.

If you were to get me in to write more feature articles I will fit to the theme of So Young theme. With nights such as Custard Thruster which have previously had multiple bands you write about weekly e.g. Shame and Goat Girl.

 I moved down to south London from the north of England almost 2 years ago now. Whilst down here I have set up 2 bands: one blues-rock and the other punk rock. We have played venues such as Brixton Windmill ands Old Blue Last. Once alongside Peeping Drexels, whom I’m aware have made it onto your magazine before. I love the South London scene which your thrive upon and I definitely have the knowledge of the scene and the bands currently calling themselves a part of it.

 Genres personal to me:

      Punk

      Post Punk

      Folk

      Acoustic

      Blues

      Rock

      Grunge

 Bands I listen to currently:

      Shame

      Idles

      Gary Clark Jr

      Jack White

      Massive Attack

      Radiohead

      The Strokes

      The Magic Gang

      Sorry

  Future features: 

      Custard Thruster

      Miranda

All the best, 

George

George Ullyott | Journalist

T: +447814040485   E: gfullyott@hotmail.com

[avitculture-blog]

Opinion piece- Punk’s Not Dead

To say punk is dead would be jumping to conclusions but it’s definitely on life support in an intensive care unit with the plug about to pulled. Ever since the late 80s when it rose through the pub gig scene into the mainstream music industry it has been close to tens of thousands of peoples hearts. Still today some of us grip to it and everything it stands for; but the numbers are ever decreasing and its relevance ever dwindling.

 In London’s current ‘Punk” scene it is full of self-conscious, pretentious, middle class youth trying to find anyway to rebel against anything and everything. Also to hide from their incredibly safe upbringings and avoid getting a job because its “the big corporations that are ruining this country”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVbXHTZTlwM

 Don’t get me wrong there are still 100s of bands and fans that grip to the mentality of punk, and like myself, still love it. In fact if you were to take a walk down the depths of Peckham or to watch a gig at Brixton Windmill you may still think that punk is still alive and kicking.

 Lets not forget bands like Slaves who have emerged recently but ask anyone who used to listen to conventional punk and for some reason they have been disregarded as true punks among musicians. Still they bought punk an extra few weeks of funding for the life support machine and they bought themselves a seat in the mainstream market.

 Take a band like Fat White Family for example; they are regarded as one of the biggest punk bands to emerge in the last 3 years. They talk about anything and everything politics in satirical ways, which their fans love. Even so their biggest gig of the last year was a sold out show at the 100 Club (Oxford Circus) to a measly capacity of 350. It shows really they aren’t making an impact on what they believe and preach about. Mention the name Fat White Family to 100 random people and you’d be lucky to even get 1/100 who knew them. Whereas hop in a time machine back to 1980 and ask the same question about the Sex Pistols I’d guess probably 90/100 would know them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXZQqa5pwc

 The great thing about the Sex Pistols/ the Clash and everything in between, besides their music, was the fact that parents hated it (so I am told I wasn’t actually there to witness it).  Yet now our parents are the people who were buying these albums and loved that music. So that element is lost. The best rebellion when your young and fresh is finding something the older generation just cannot stand. Especially something that challenges what they know is right and wrong in society. Basically it was a middle finger to the rose tinted glasses.

 Due to that playing punk music, as it was known then, is lost. Even if you challenge modern day political issues and still make a beautifully disgraceful noise to the heavily conservative ears, its just not the same. I believe the new wave punk will come in a complete different form and name of genre.

 In my opinion its happening as you read this right now. That is in the form of trap music. It has the nation divided, the youth divided and the musical world divided. It causes controversy. Isn’t that what true punk is supposed to do. To make you question is this right, wrong or truly brilliant? Another way to put it, it’s the modern day marmite.

 To sum it up punk its still living and breathing in the dark deep cracks of the cities. It’s definitely still alive in the fashion statements and the lifestyle but the music itself has had its children and they are now the ones on top who can truly call themselves punk.

[avitculture-blog]

Album review- American Dream LCD Soundsystem

Out of the hiatus and straight back into the swing of things as if they’d never been apart. American Dream marks LCD Soundsystem’s 4th studio album and its as groovy, interesting and outright entertaining as everything else they’ve made.

James Murphy turned 47 this year but his voice isn’t affected by this in anyway. On tracks like oh baby he’s happy to pull back and let the melody do the work. By the next track Murphy shows he can let it go by growling and screeching “you’re still a baby now”.  

Another element unaffected by Murphy’s age is his desire to experiment with his songwriting. The diversity in the album is, at first, slightly off putting- you don’t know which way they’re going to drag you next. However by the 3rd listen of the album familiarity sets in and it just works. Its one of those albums you are still finding new: riffs, noises, screams and percussive parts the 10th time you listen to it.  

For me an element often over-looked on albums is the production. Personally I think this is produced beautifully! You can tell it’s a labour of love ordeal when you hear it. So then you wont be surprised to hear that the man of many talents Murphy was behind that as well.

Tonite is full of dark depressing tones about death, “truth be told we all have the same end”. Yet it’s easy to overlook to Murphy’s subtle digs at him self and the thumping heavy techno synth that loops throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqq3BtGrpU8

One issue I have is I struggle to understand why they named the album after the track they did. If you were to jump to the title track by the third line “you took acid looked in the mirror” you might think the album was going to be about Murphy reminiscing over his misspent (or well spent, depending on how you look at it) youth. For me the title gave me impressions Murphy might be challenging more political and less self-indulgent issues. Perhaps, however, he may have just liked how the title rolled off the tongue.

I could count on my fingers the number of albums I’ve listened to this year and truly enjoyed… this is definitely one of them. It’s a comeback album and it was worth every second of the wait for it. The lyrics are powerful, as always their groove is infectious and the songwriting is as clever as ever.

[avitculture-blog]

Live review: Dead pretties @ Boston music hall 12/10/2017

What a shame

Dead pretties have groove.  They’ve got fuzz filled overdriven bass-lines. It’s messy yet tight. It’s simple yet catchy. It’s manic and insane. I would say go and see them but, unfortunately for us all, their 2 year reign of the underground scene is over. What a shame.

Dead Pretties reputation has been growing up and down the country over the past 2 years and yet a week before their show at Boston Music Rooms in North London they announced that it would be their final show. Luckily for me I’d had my tickets booked for several weeks and was there to witness their final performance on stage.

The second Jacob Slater’s presence entered the stage you could tell something not too far from the fine line of insanity was about to unfold. His guitar screeches, growls and screams to give him time to stare down and intimidate the audience; almost as if to say “I don’t need you or your approval”. They kick-started the show with their recently released single “Water” to show the crowd that somewhere buried deep beneath the madness Dead Pretties do have a softer more melodic side after all. 

https://soundcloud.com/dead-pretties/water

This was rudely (or brilliantly) interrupted by the thumping bass riff in their second single “Confidence”. There’s no other word to describe it than it’s simply dirty, and I love it! The rhythm section Ben Frith (drums) and Oscar Browne (bass) are not to be undermined, I don’t recall them missing a beat all night. This band was meant to play live; no recording can ever quite grasp the energy that was in the room last Thursday. The rhythm section Ben Frith (drums) and Oscar Browne (bass) are not to be undermined  Neither can it capture Slater’s smoke stained husky vocal or some of the obscure screams he pulls out of the bag to keep the crowd on their toes.

https://soundcloud.com/dead-pretties/confidence

To introduce the final song they were ever to play live Slater simply says “One more for you bastards before we go“ and then punches himself in the face several times. I’m torn between the ideas of whether he was fed up of playing the same songs or if he was simply doing it to boil his own blood. Whatever it was it worked and the night was theirs.