Words by Michael Dickinson

Ollie Wride has come along at a very good time. With bands like Empire of the Sun and Lady Gaga bringing glam theatricality back to the mainstream charts people seem to be lapping up danceable tunes sung by people wearing increasingly outlandish clothing and questionable make up.

Gene Kelly once sang “Gotta Dance” and that’s what Ollie Wride’s music makes you want to do. Now, I’m not the kind of man who will easily get up to make a drunken fool of myself on the dance floor, but there is a something so fundamentally happy and smile making about this music that it is impossible not to attempt a bit of a knee shake.

‘Pop Music’ (which does exactly what it says on the tin) takes me right back to 1998 when Stardust were out with ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ mixed with a little Scissor Sisters it’s indicative of the musics mix of nostalgia with a modern mix. I cannot even begin to place all the different styles at work. Overall the music is well produced pop-dance but also there are elements of 80s power rock – the guitar fade out on ‘21st Century Love’ sounds like it could have appeared on a number of action soundtrack. ‘Thunder Kiss’ has the unmistakable sound of a glam rock bassline. At times Wride’s voice carries the androgynous tones that made Ziggy and Bolan so memorable.

Whether you want to dance in that ironic, “I’m too cool for school” way or dance because your a crazy bastard who likes to dance you will find much to enjoy. Wride has crafted a bevy of infectious, sing-a-long, footstompers. It comes as no great surprise that he has already been signed to Atlantic Records and penned songs for Justin Hawkins, Meat Loaf and Rob Cavallo. With the right backing Ollie Wride could become a major name on the charts. He is currently constructing his debut album, looking to fill it with “classic pop anthems” as he puts it.

Right now Wride is hitting the live venues, with a handful of dates in London this month. He has assembled the final line-up which will help in construct his potential classic pop album. James Cross (former live drummer for Alesha Dixon), Josh Dally on guitar and bassist Poppy Kavanagh will be backing up Wride power vocals and deliciously concocted synths.

It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like day to day. Everyone likes something happy, to put a smile on their face once in a while at least. Ollie Wride could be the name that starts filling dance floors and putting smiles on our faces in the very near future.

The Brute Chorus will be bringing songs from their new album How The Caged Bird Sings to the stage for the first time at The Luminaire on September 8th.

Despite completing the album in late February and touring their raucous stage show all over the country and into Europe, the band have kept a low profile in London this year. This hometown appearance will offer many fans their first glimpse of new material from the Whitechapel four-piece.

Written and recorded during the break up of lead singer James Steel’s engagement album demonstrates a darker side to the band’s music. The rama-lama of their live and eponymous debut album has been superseded with punch-drunk, reverb laden songs of love, loss and desire as demonstrated in the spaghetti-dub of Lazarus and the Doorsian doo-wop of Whipping Boy to the sardonic pop of current single Heaven. Aspects from the Brute’s broadened musical palette, from the caveman stomp of Birdman to the desolate and despairing Wife, all promise to be given an airing on this very special evening.

Ticket holders will have the opportunity to purchase pre-release copies of the album (not officially released until September 13th).

Support comes from three of the Brute’s favourite musical acts: Django Django will be DJ’s for the evening with live support from French Noir-Pop duo John & Jehn will be following the mystical doom-folk siren Mary Epworth & The Jubilee Band. All four acts tread quite different musical furrows but fans of any of these exceptional outfits should find much to love in their counterparts.

THE BRUTE CHORUS September and October tour dates

8th Sep – Album launch @ The Luminaire, Kilburn Road London – www.wegottickets.com
16th Sep – Ruby Lounge, Manchester
17th Sep – The Flapper, Birmingham
18th Sep – The Mad Ferret, Preston
23rd Sep – West End Centre, Aldershot
24th Sep – Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
25th Sep – Portland Arms, Cambridge
7th Oct – Brickyard, Carlisle
8th Oct – Uncle Alberts, Teeside
9th Oct – Bungalows & Bears, Sheffield
14th Oct – Spankey Van Dykes, Nottingham
15th Oct – Oakford Social Club, Reading
16th Oct – Sixty Million Postcards, Bournemouth

To mark the release of Röyksopp’s new instrumental album Senior, the Nordic electronica pioneers have joined forces with leading Mp3 blog aggregator The Hype Machine and online audio distribution platform SoundCloud to become the first artist to run a pre-release stream of their album exclusively through The Hype Machine.

On Monday, 6 September a SoundCloud player will be added to The Hype Machine giving fans who search out Röyksopp the opportunity to stream ‘Senior’ in its entirety one week ahead of its global release. As part of this SoundCloud player, fans will also be given the functionality to share details of this global exclusive to their friends via Twitter/ Facebook.

The Hype Machine’s network of trusted international bloggers will also be actively encourage to embed the SoundCloud player into their personal blogs to ensure their readerships also have access to the full album stream.

Speaking of the partnership with ROYKSOPP and The Hype Machine, SoundCloud’s Dave Haynes said “The Hype Machine has fast become one of the best places to discover new music. We’re really thrilled to be a part of this by allowing artists like Röyksopp to make their music available to bloggers and The Hype Machine itself via SoundCloud”

The Hype Machine’s founder Anthony Volodkin said “Working with SoundCloud and Röyksopp on this has been very seamless, Soundcloud allows teams to collaborate at the speed of the web”.

Röyksopp release Senior – the counterpart to last year’s critically acclaimed album Junior – on the 13 September. More introspective and freeform than its poppier partner and fully instrumental, Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland recorded Senior at the same time as Junior and it finds Röyksopp in fine form.

Röyksopp explain: “The two albums (Junior and Senior) have a kinship, in that they represent Röyksopp’s two very different artistic expressions. Junior - with emphasis on vocals, accessible melodies and harmonies, has the energy, the inquisitive temper and confident “hey-ho, let’s go!”-attitude of youth, whereas Senior is the introverted, dwelling and sometimes graceful counterpart – brimfull with dark secrets and distorted memories, insisting “I’m old, I’ve got experince…”. Senior is furthermore an album about age, horses and being subdued – with devils breathing down your neck.”

“It would take a hard heart not to enjoy the ride.” **** Q

‘‘Klaxons have somehow found themselves with a clean slate and an album that can be judged simply on whether it’s any cop. That they’ve succeeded so well is an enormous relief.” 8/10 NME

“The finished article is a real victory from the jaws of defeat.”
**** Daily Telegraph

Hot on the heels of two sensational London shows showcasing their new album (currently sitting at number 4 in the midweeks) KLAXONS are pleased to announce details of their forthcoming tour in November.

Kicking off in Manchester on November 11, their jaunt around the isle takes in a performance at London’s HMV Forum in Kentish Town.

Pre-sale tickets are available from 9am on Wednesday September 1 and on general release, Friday September 3.

Dates & ticket links below:

11/11 Manchester Academy – www.gigsandtours.com/?a=klaxons&site=klaxons

12/11 Norwich UEA – www.livenation.co.uk/artist/klaxons-tickets

13/11 Bournemouth O2 Academy – www.ticketweb.co.uk

14/11 Nottingham Rock City – www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/home_klaxons.html

16/11 London HMV Forum – www.livenation.co.uk/artist/klaxons-tickets

20/11 Birmingham HMV Institute – www.gigsandtours.com/?a=klaxons&site=klaxons

21/11 Glasgow Barrowlands – www.gigsinscotland.com

22/11 Leeds 02 Academy – www.gigsandtours.com/?a=klaxons&site=klaxons

23/11 Dublin Tripod – www.ticketmaster.ie

Buffalo, New York’s Every Time I Die have posted a seventh episode of Shit Happens: The Series? at www.vans.com/ETID! In this episode, we follow the band in another Euro Episode. Witness the boys crash a party for Sweden’s equivalent of American Idol. This episode, and the rest, are all part of a weekly video series entitled Shit Happens: The Series?

Fans should expect even longer, funnier episodes to be included on the DVD, which is set for release this October. The DVD will include 30 minutes of extra footage, plus an hour of unreleased bonus material. To sweeten the deal, EVERY TIME I DIE is including a free copy of their latest full-length album, New Junk Aesthetic, with the purchase of the DVD.

The series finds Every Time I Die teaming up once again with Space Monkey Studios. Over the coming weeks, Every Time I Die will unveil episodes that are packed to the gills with impromptu footage showcasing the band’s signature brand of humor that has made them infamous amongst their fans and peers alike. This is by no means a scripted reality show containing foreseeable plot twists and over-dramatic story arches. Nor is this your typical live band DVD that focuses on the tedium of tracking a record or the self-congratulatory tales of what inspired their lyrics. Instead, Shit Happens: The Series? focuses on what it is exactly that drives 5 individuals, from similar backgrounds, to forfeit family and friends and take to the road year after year for the sake of their craft. Whether you’re a fan of music or simply an admirer of the nomadic spirit that resides in all of us, Shit Happens: The Series? will make you feel at home.

Every Time I Die is poised to announce a slew of brand new tour dates in the coming weeks.

Celebrating three decades of influential, thought provoking and groundbreaking punk rock, Bad Religion will release their fifteenth studio album, The Dissent of Man, on September 27. The album’s first single The Devil in Stitches made its debut on the world famous KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles last month and can be heard now at www.myspace.com/badreligion. Fans can preorder The Dissent of Man now at www.BadReligionStore.com.

Produced by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool), The Dissent of Man finds Bad Religion pushing the boundaries of their music as much today as they did in their formative years as a genre defining punk band. Over the course of making the album, primary songwriters Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz’s songwriting was informed by life changing events, with Graffin writing his forthcoming book Anarchy Evolution (out Sept 28) and Gurewitz embarking on parenthood again.

“These are some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” says Gurewitz. “A few of them took me way outside my comfort zone as a writer to a place I haven’t gone since Recipe or Stranger than Fiction.”

The result is one of the band’s most forward thinking and musically varied albums ever. The Dissent of Man is not only a snapshot of the band’s personal experiences of the past years but also of their continued maturity in songwriting, capturing an array of styles ranging from blazing punk rock songs like the opener The Day That the Earth Stalled and Meeting of the Minds and classic rock-tinged cuts like Cyanide and Turn Your Back on Me to radio rock ready hits like the first single The Devil in Stiches.

“I feel like the last couple of records have been amongst our most conservative, never straying too far from a Bad Religion sound,” adds Gurewitz. “Whereas on this one we’re taking the songs to a lot of different places, exploring our influences and trying out some new things in a way we haven’t done in years.”

The Dissent of Man is a testament to why Bad Religion has remained relevant for the better part of three decades. Already having cemented their place in history as a groundbreaking band who helped create a movement in Los Angeles with classic releases like How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Suffer, Recipe for Hate, Stranger Than Fiction and Process of Belief, Bad Religion continue to inspire and create with a unique style that continues to cross boundaries and transcends genres.

As BAD RELIGION wraps up their 30th anniversary, they open the next chapter of their storied career with The Dissent of Man.

The Dissent of Man Track Listing:

1. The Day That the Earth Stalled – 1:23
2. Only Rain – 2:43
3. The Resist Stance – 2:32
4. Won’t Somebody – 2:42
5. The Devil in Stitches – 3:28
6. Pride and the Pallor – 2:56
7. Wrong Way Kids – 2:43
8. Meeting of the Minds – 2:06
9. Someone to Believe – 2:38
10. Avalon – 3:28
11. Cyanide – 3:55
12. Turn Your Back On Me – 2:24
13. Ad Hominem – 3:27
14. Where The Fun Is – 3:04
15. I Won’t Say Anything – 3:22

The band have unveiled a music video befitting of such a melodic rock anthem-in-the-making which sees the members of the band taking on various characters. Several facts pertaining to the making of the video are as follows –

Bonus Fact 1: DPU made the bad guys’ costumes out of exercise balls and silver gaffa tape.
Bonus Fact 2: Matt’s giant head took 1.2 kilometers of plastic piping, 3,000 cable ties and a shit load of pink paper to make.
Bonus Fact 3: The dead dude under the white sheet in the doctors’ surgery is Matt’s best friend, Matt Maude. The pair wrote and co-directed the video together.

Produced with longtime collaborator James Kenosha, Dinosaur Pile-Up’s debut album Growing Pains will be unleashed on the world the week after ‘Mona Lisa’ is released and the band will set off on a full headline tour shortly after that.

LIVE DATES

SEPTEMBER
18 Norwich, Arts Centre (warm up show)
25 Skipton, Culture Shock Festival (warm up)

OCTOBER (headline tour w/support from Turbowolf)
6 Stoke, Sugarmill
7 Wrexham, Central Station
8 Liverpool, Masque
10 Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
11 Exeter, Timepiece
12 Bristol, Cooler
13 Brighton, Coalition
14 Southampton, Joiners
16 Sheffield, Plug
17 Nottingham, Bodega
18 Cambridge, Haymakers
19 London, KCLSU
21 Manchester, Ruby Lounge
22 Crewe, The Box
24 Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
25 Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy
26 York, Stereo
27 Leeds, Cockpit

One of the foundations of the metal revival of the past ten years, Austin TX’s The Sword, have released two flawless slabs of vintage heaviness on Kemado Records, toured the world with Metallica, and were one of the first bands to lock into a whole new legion of fans through Guitar Hero. This summer, the band casts its gaze to the stars for Warp Riders, their third full-length and their most ambitious effort to date.

Warp Riders is The Sword’s first concept album, a science fiction maelstrom put to the storming, relentless riffage and pounding rhythms upon which the band has staked its reputation. It’s also their most flat-out, supercharged, adrenaline-pumping work yet; a chrome-plated war machine that lords over the blackened sky. From the street-prowling anthems Night City and Lawless Lands to the two-part showdown of The Chronomancer, to the furious mechanics of closing track (The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire, THE SWORD forces eminent domain ruling over heavy metal for the next decade, and welcome all challengers for an ill-fated shot at the title.

Warp Riders tells the tale of Ereth, an archer banished from his tribe on the planet Acheron. A hardscrabble planet that has undergone a tidal lock, which has caused one side to be scorched by three suns, and the other enshrouded in perpetual darkness, it is the background for a tale of strife and fantasy, the battle between pure good and pure evil. How it’s told – through the dueling lead guitars of J.D. Cronise and Kyle Shutt, and the concussive rhythm section of bassist Bryan Ritchie and drummer Trivett Wingo – underscores the narrative with molten steel and unreal precision.

Guitarist and lead vocalist J.D. Cronise explains the lineage of Warp Riders: “I’m pretty sure the first concept album I ever heard was Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche when I was a kid, which I was way into. Even though I never really understood the whole story, I was nonetheless enthralled by how the album created its own world. I wanted to create a setting for our songs that would be unique and different, but still a place where epic sagas unfold in proper Sword fashion.” Inspiration took hold from “lots of things … the legend of Atlantis, old Heavy Metal magazines, the films of René Laloux, a childhood dream, and The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda to name a few.”

The story of Warp Riders, entitled “The Night The Sky Cried Tears Of Fire” (written by Cronise), follows Ereth as he discovers a mysterious orb and meets the Chronomancer, a being beyond time and space who enlists him in a quest to restore the planet’s balance. Along the way he encounters strange warriors, mysterious witches, ancient androids, and a crew of space pirates with a vessel that will alter the course of history… a vessel known as, The Sword.

“(Warp Riders) is very mythological in scope and presentation, but it eschews some of the fantasy-inspired, romanticist themes that run through our first two albums,” says Cronise about the album, the story of which has been years in the making. “It deals with themes of death and rebirth, and the perception of time. Using allegorical fantasy and mythological imagery to write relevant, interesting lyrics can be somewhat difficult, so the idea of creating a complex narrative to draw from was very appealing.”

Produced by Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Isis), Warp Riders is the band’s first foray into outsider involvement in the making of an album, having self-produced both their first two LPs for Kemado (2006’s Age of Winters and 2008’s Gods of the Earth). “It was sort of an unspoken thing that we’d use an established producer for this record,” Cronise explains. “We felt it was important on the first two albums to do things ourselves, so we could sort of draw the blueprint of our sound exactly the way we wanted.” Bayles picks up the torch on Warp Riders and delivers the band’s most full-sounding, nuanced recording yet, bringing the music to a new level of face-shredding ferocity. Says Bayles of the experience, “I think there’s a more diverse set of influences coming through in the songwriting. Don’t fear: it’s still The Sword, just with a few extra twists. J.D. has gotten more confident as a singer and I think it shows on Warp Riders.”

Everything you’ve loved about The Sword in the past has been magnified, amplified, boosted and gnarlified. Warp Riders is the most accurately realized effort by the band yet, a tribute to comic books, dimestore sci-fi paperbacks, the legacy of FM rock radio, and the all-consuming power of heavy metal.

The Sword UK & Ireland Tour Dates:
Tickets now on sale – www.gigsandtours.com | www.kililive.com | www.seetickets.com | www.ticketmaster.ie

29th Nov: Portsmouth, United Kingdom @ Wedgewood Rooms
30 Nov: Bristol, United Kingdom – Fleece & Firkin
1 Dec: Birmingham, United Kingdom – O2 Academy 3
3 Dec: Leeds, United Kingdom – Cockpit
4 Dec: Glasgow, United Kingdom – G2
5 Dec: Newcastle, United Kingdom – O2 Academy 2
6 Dec: Manchester, United Kingdom – Academy 2
8 Dec: Nottingham, United Kingdom – Rescue Rooms
9 Dec: London, United Kingdom – O2 Islington Academy
10 Dec: Brighton, United Kingdom – Audio
11 Dec: Ireland, Dublin – Academy
12 Dec: Ireland, Belfast – Stiff Kitten

Tres Brujas

The Sword | MySpace Music Videos

Vancouver Canada’s Mother Mother will release new single Body of Years on September 20th, backed by B-side Touch Up. Vocalist / guitarist Ryan Guldemond says the track is “a Gouge Away meets Billie Jean inspired rock anthem about reconciling with, or perhaps NOT reconciling with one’s dirty little secrets from one’s sordid past, and of course, all the inherent guilt that comes along with all of that. Something we learned from our parents and good friends.”

MOTHER MOTHER have generated a lot of support from all sides in the UK after the release of their album O My Heart and the recent visit with performances at The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City amongst others. Their modern pop/rock with beautifully bent portraits of vocal harmony, clever, offbeat lyricism, and dynamic instrumentation found many fans. Their sound is best encapsulated on their sophomore album, O My Heart, produced by Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, The New Pornographers).

First two singles Hay Loft and O My Heart picked up broad support from NME Radio, Absolute Dabble with a wide range of DJs giving their support on BBC 6 MUSIC and Radio Two, where O My Heart was voted to become RECORD OF THE WEEK.

The support didn’t stop at radio as also press gave it wide support with a 4 **** review in Q and the song O My Heart was part of the best tracks of the month selection. The band won VIDEO OF THE DAY accolades and NME.COM as well as DROWNED IN SOUND have been strong supporters of the band.

Mother Mother are:
Ryan Guldemond – Vocals/Guitar
Molly Guldemond – Vocals/Synths
Jasmin Parkin – Vocals/Keys
Jeremy Page – Bass/Horns
Ali Siadat – Percussion