|
#471
19th May 2015, 01:11 PM
| ||||
| ||||
 Music @ The Digital Fix - PIL announce new album and tour "Public Image Ltd announce the release of their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now… on 4th September. The 11-track album follows the critical success of 2012’s This is PiL, the band’s first album in 17 years. Album opener and lead single ‘Double Trouble’ will be released on 21st August. The 10” vinyl version will be backed by ‘Bettie Page’ and also come with additional non-album bonus track ‘Turkey Tits’. Tracklisting: 1. Double Trouble 2. Know Now 3. Bettie Page 4. C’est La Vie 5. Spice of Choice 6. The One 7. Big Blue Sky 8. Whole Life Time 9. I’m Not Satisfied 10. Corporate 11. Shoom They will also play:
Inspector Abberline likes this.
__________________ People try to put us down Just because we get around Golly, Gee! it's wrong to be so guilty  |
|
#472
1st June 2015, 11:27 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| NICE N SLEAZY 2015: Ramblings of a sound engineer part 1 FRIDAY 9 AM: I arrived at the studio in Bradford, tired from too many beers and a late night from the previous night’s band practice, thankful that most of the heavy equipment we were taking to the festival was already loaded into the hire van. After making myself a coffee and helping load up the rest of the gear, I did some final checks to make sure we had everything we needed for the trip. It was during this time that Tony (one of the owners of the studio and bass player from Bradford punks The Negatives) received a phone call from the hire company asking why he hadn’t picked the van up yet! It turns out that he’d gone to the wrong place and picked up a van meant for somebody else (both hire companies feature similar logos, an easy mistake to make). So, after much pissing and moaning about the situation, we headed off to the hire company to see if we could keep the van for the duration of the weekend. Much to our annoyance, they wouldn’t let us have it, so we had to unload the entire thing in the car park, and then wait while Tony & John (his business partner and Negatives drummer) got the van from the right hire company. Finally, after loading up (again), we set off to Morecambe for 3 days of punk, stopping on the way at John’s house to pick up the keys for the lock box on top of his car, where all Clan of Anarchy (the band we were taking with us, more on them later) were keeping all their camping gear, seeing as they didn’t qualify for the free Hotel room like we did (perks of being staff). 13 PM: Finally arriving at the festival site in Morecambe, with aching legs from being cramped in the front of the van, and dying for a cig, I took a tour of the site, specifically the Marquee where I would be working all weekend. After introducing myself to the Sleazy Team, and getting my Access All Areas pass, it was time for the gang to unload the van and car, ready to start the task of setting up both the Marquee Stage & the Acoustic Lounge, inside the Trimpell Club where the Main Stage was. 3 PM: All set up and ready to test the P.A system; I went searching for the lads in Clan of Anarchy so they could be used for a sound check. After discovering they had pitched their tents and buggered off into Morecambe to find food, it was decided that The Negatives would have to do it (seeing as lead singer and Guitarist Rik had finally arrived from Bradford). Quick sound check, with me doing a rough mix of the sound while they played, then it was time to check in to our hotel and relax before the show started in the evening. 4 pm: We arrived at our hotel and quickly discovered that the room consisted of one single and one double bed, so after much complaining from me, the staff brought a mattress up to the room, which was to serve as my bed for the weekend (not ideal, but better than sharing a bed with another bloke!). Almost time to go back to the site, ready for the festival to begin, not before having a quick pint in the hotel bar, with none other than Henry Cluney & Jim Reilly, ex-members of Stiff Little Fingers, now of X-SLF. Needless to say, the Irishmen, along with their bass player, were already drunk, having been drinking on the plane over from Ireland, so I knew they’d be trouble later on (thankfully they were playing the Main Stage and not my problem!). 5:30 PM: Back at the festival site now, few quick final checks of our gear then it was off to the Main Stage to check out the band that were playing and have a chat with Mal, the sound engineer for that stage. 6:15 PM: Showtime! First band on my stage was the Negatives, within minutes of their opening song the Marquee filled with punks of all ages, bouncing to the sound of my employers and their 3 chord punk. Everything was going well until an almighty screech came from Rik’s guitar amp, so obviously all eyes were on me, but seeing as I’d muted his channel on my desk, there was nothing I could do about the noise, it was his guitar that was broken (something which I’d told him about hours earlier). Thankfully they only had 2 songs left and they blasted through them, drowning out the awful sound of Rik’s broken guitar, overall a pretty successful opening to our stage for the weekend! During the Negz set, I was approached by the drummer for the awesomely named Spunk Volcano & the Eruptions, telling me that they were being moved from the Main Stage to our stage, due to one of the bands being stuck in traffic on their way up from Cambridge. Also, he sheepishly informed me that he was left-handed, meaning a complete rearrangement of the drum kit, great stuff! I made the decision to put them on last, otherwise it would have been a nightmare to sort out the kit between bands, and thankfully the late comers had arrived from Cambridge, so I quickly got them set up and ready to go before our beloved Marquee emptied. 7:15 PM: Freedom Faction blasted their way through a 45 minute set, with little problems, only the fact that the singer liked to swing the microphone round, knocking over one of the mic stands! (Luckily Tony was on hand to stand it back up again). The place wasn’t as busy, but those that stayed sang along and bounced throughout their set, another success. 8:30 PM: Time for the unplanned headline band, and what a band they were! Spunk Volcano & the Eruptions get their name from the lead singer, who is also in another band that played the festival (Dirt Box Disco, more on them later), who wears bright orange boxer shorts, a leather jacket full of safety pins and syringes and a one-eyed balaclava with orange Mohawk! They were unbelievably entertaining, with songs about the old 80’s kids game Crossfire, XR3 cars and my personal favourite, last song of the night, DNA Failure, featuring the sing-along ending of “You can’t get a job, cos you’re such a ****ing nob!”, which the entire Marquee sang back at him. 9:30 PM: My job for the day was over, so we shut our stage down and made our way into the club to check out X-SLF, before heading back to the hotel, exhausted from the traveling and lugging the gear about. As I’d predicted, the very drunk members of X-SLF caused nothing but trouble for Mal, the sound engineer, constantly turning their amps up on the stage, then complaining about the feedback coming from their onstage monitors (no shit Sherlock, what did you expect!). I’ve gotta say, I was disappointed in what I see as professional punk rockers behaving like this, making poor old Mal’s job harder than it needed to be, I prayed I had no such drama’s on my stage all weekend! 11 PM: We were shattered, so we headed back to the hotel to sit in the bar and have a couple of beers before bed, knowing a good night’s sleep was needed for the long day ahead of us on Saturday. Our quiet drinks were soon disturbed by X-SLF, who came bursting in demanding yet more beer and insisting we join them for a drink of 3, so much for the early night! SATURDAY 8:30 AM: Up bright an early, quick shower, full English breakfast, and then it was time to make our way back to site to prepare for our first full day of the festival. 9 AM: After a morning briefing meeting with the Sleazy Team, discussing the events of the night before, we made our way over to the campsite to kick the lads from Clan up and out of their sleeping bags, so they could sound check on the Main Stage, ready for their opening performance at 12. Thankfully, they’d taken my advice and not got drunk the previous night, meaning they were fresh as daisies for the show today. Bit of milling about, chatting with some of the punks in attendance, then it was time to check out Clan of Anarchy, making their Nice N Sleazy debut, and apparently the only punk band to feature members with disabilities (don’t quote me on this though!). 12 PM: Clan of Anarchy blasted onto the stage for their 30 minute opening slot, playing a mix of originals, written by guitarist Ed Havokk and covers by bands such as Bad Religion, The Ramones and Reagan Youth. Despite there only being around 50 or so people watching, they gave it 110% and put on a fantastic show, making me as their producer proud, Tony as the bass players mentor and tutor proud, and John as the drummer’s dad proud, they smashed it! After they’d finished their set, I went up to them to congratulate them, saying “That’s it now, you’re done, you can set yourselves on fire now for all I care, well done lads, grab some beers!” 1:30 PM: Time to open our stage for the day, first band up were a three piece called Don’t Look Down, who played a mix of punk, ska and reggae to a busy marquee, despite the sun cracking the flags outside! 2:30 PM: Next up were a band described as a cross between the Levellers and New Model Army, called Headsticks. Great band, something totally different to the loud electric guitars heard elsewhere during the festival. My only problem was the acoustic guitarist’s guitar kept on cutting off (what is it with punk guitarists and knackered gear!!!), again all eyes were on me! 3:30 PM: Three piece punk band from Derby were on next, called Mayhem Freak, another top notch band, playing a blend of old skool punk and Blink 182 Style pop-punk. Another trouble free set. (I’m starting to enjoy this job!) It was during this part of the day that I decided to take advantage of the free beer provided for us, not too many though, I still had another 3 bands to work with before I finished for the day! 4:30 PM: After a spillage on the previous night, we decided that only bottled water was allowed on stage today, provided for free from the organisers. I told each band this as they arrived in the Marquee, and the only ones to complain were the next band: Destination Venus, a bunch of old skool skinhead punks who didn’t take too kindly to me telling them they couldn’t drink on the stage. Tough shit, it was for both their safety and the safety of our equipment, get over it and stop complaining, otherwise I’ll make you sound shite out front! (I kept these thoughts to myself obviously, I’m daft but I’m not stupid!!) 5:30 PM: What’s this then, a 4 piece band featuring three female members, that’ll explain the amount of blokes down the front filming the set on their phones! Pink Hearse were a delight to watch (not just because the singer reminded me of Juliette Lewis in her band), great songs played with masses of energy, the singer had everyone in the palm of her hand, especially the male members of the audience! 6:30 PM: Last band of the day on our stage were Borrowed Time, another run of the mill punk band that were enjoyable, but nothing special that makes me remember anything about their set other than the singer jumping over the crowd barrier, running round the outside of the Marquee before rushing back onto the stage after nipping off for a quick piss mid set! 7:30 PM: Background music on, beer in hand, time to head into the club to watch a band I’d been hearing about all weekend so far, Dirt Box Disco. The Main Stage area was absolutely heaving, the heat hit you like a fist as soon as you walked through the door, definitely didn’t need the hoodie I was wearing! The best place to stand, as I find at most gigs, is by the sound engineer, because that is where it will sound the best (in theory) and because he has a platform, raised up from the crowd meaning this short arse could see what I considered the best band of the weekend. Similar to yesterday’s Spunk Volcano (not surprising seeing as he’s the guitarist and main songwriter for the band), Dirt Box Disco were amazing to watch, I highly recommend checking them out if they happen to play near you. Songs such as Ladyboyz, My Life Is Shit and Tragic Roundabout had the entire place bouncing from the second they landed on the stage to the final notes of the last song, this band know how to entertain. 9:30 PM: After the heat of the club, we decided to sit in the site office with the staff and relax with a few cans of Carlsberg. Well, me and Tony did anyway, seeing as John was driving (and refused to take the car back to the hotel and come back), he was drinking coffee. For some reason he assumed we’d want to go back to the hotel at 10:30, not a ****ing chance, we had free beer and plenty of bands to watch, we weren’t going anywhere just yet! So, off he went sulking as he did so, miserable sod, leaving me and Tony to get pissed, watch some bands before making the one mile journey back to our hotel on foot at 1 AM. 2:30 AM: Few more beers in the bar, shitty kebab apiece then it was time for a few hours kip before our final day at the festival. To be continued.....
__________________ If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the ****ing car! |
|
#473
1st June 2015, 11:33 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| NICE N SLEAZY 2015: Ramblings of a sound engineer part 2 SUNDAY The same routine as the day before, up, shower, breakfast, complaints from John about waking him up pissed the night before, then back to site to open our stage at 1:30 for a day of bands provided by Stu Taylor of STP Records in Manchester. 1:30 PM: Opening our stage today was Dischord, an aggressive punk band from Blackpool, who ripped through their set with such speed that I couldn’t keep up! Only trouble coming from their drummer who was paranoid about the makeshift drum riser constructed for the stage (not one drummer fell off the back of it all weekend, he was worried for bugger all). 2:30 PM: Hair of the dog next, not the name of the band, but the name of my hangover remedy! It was the Poly-Esters turn next to entertain our packed Marquee, a four piece all girl band, again from Blackpool, who put on a great show with catchy tunes, Riot Grrl style lyrics and fast, energetic rhythms, another highlight of the weekend for this long haired rocker! 3:30 PM: It soon dawned on me that most of the punks playing were in more than one band, which I discovered when the singer from yesterday’s Dirt Box Disco arrived on the stage with his other band, Kid Klumsy. Another highly entertaining band with songs such as Dyslexic Monkey getting the punters singing along. 4:30 PM: Time for Ze Germans to play on our stage. A band from Munich called Garden Gang proved to be the biggest pain in the arse for me all weekend! They were highly professional, and very good, but they insisted that I turn stuff up in their on stage monitors, before demanding I turn it down again seconds later! All I could think of was Bucks Fizz at the 1981 Eurovision Song contest singing Making Your Mind Up, because our German friends here certainly bloody couldn’t! 5:30 PM: Brassick were up next, I think they were from Stoke, but I’m not sure. Either way, they were a female fronted band that again had the crowd bouncing throughout their set, easy job for me behind my desk in my cage, meaning I could watch with a beer in my hand. 6:30 PM: Last band of the festival on our stage, and I was told by a few people that they were a professional band that have toured the world, no pressure for me then! Loaded 44 blasted onto the stage a little later than advertised, due to us wanting a full Marquee for our final act, a decision which pulled off considering the amount of people that crammed in to watch them. They were fantastic, ending their set with a cover of Judas Priest’s Living After Midnight, rather strange hearing it sang by Vicki, the female singer of the band, but excellent all the same! 7:30 PM: Done and dusted, 15 bands played on our stage over the course of the weekend and it was fair to say we pulled it off, meaning we’ve been invited back next year, with talks of us running all the stages, great for my confidence as a live sound engineer and great for the company too, with nothing but praise heading our way all weekend. Time for more beers, a brief sit down in the office, followed by more bands on the Main Stage. 8:30 PM: Who should walk into the site office, none other than Ed Tudor-Pole of Crystal Maze fame and a brief stint in the Sex Pistols? Me being me, always one to crack jokes, when asked by Ed who else was playing tonight, I gave him a program and pointed to his name on the line up and said :”I’ve no idea who this guy is, but I’ve heard he knows who shot Bambi”, the look he gave me was priceless! He sat next to me, chatting away and when I’d felt I’d got to know him enough, I preceded to ask him to say his catchphrase from the Crystal Maze, something which he was reluctant to do at first, but after bullying him into it, he did it followed by a chorus of cheers and laughs from everyone in attendance, brilliant! 9 PM: Me and Tony checked out half of Ed’s brilliant set on the Main Stage, before reluctantly heading into the Marquee to help John (who was pissed off with us for drinking, yet again!) wrap all the leads up ready to take the equipment down in the morning. It was during this that I suggested he take the car back and come and have a beer with us, toasting what a success it had been and for all the hard work we’d put into our part of the festival. Needless to say he wasn’t interested, so at about Midnight, he buggered off back to the hotel to get some sleep (there’s another story here, which I will get to shortly ha ha). 10 PM: I’d been hearing about a 7 piece ukulele punk band all weekend, so I had to check them out, I did this from the side of the Main Stage and what a band the Pukes were, totally unique and very entertaining! 11 PM: Another well-known band now, the Vibrators who were absolutely shite, worst band I saw all weekend and another band that caused trouble for poor old Mal running the stage, constantly turning up their amps meaning the sound out front was awful! I didn’t stick around for long, soon venturing back into the office for more beer. 12:15 AM: Final band of the festival, a Scottish Ska band called Big Fat Panda. Time to loosen up a bit, thanks to the beer, me Tony and the members of Clan of Anarchy found ourselves down the front dancing away like twats to Ska versions of the Stone Roses’ Sally Cinnamon, Madness and original songs, an excellent end to the festival. Or so we thought! The daughter of the festival organiser kindly informed us that the aftershow party was about to begin in the lounge area of the club, and that the bar was free, oh dear! 2:30 AM: Now completely pissed, and having set up a microphone for some drunken karaoke, it’s fair to say we ended the festival in style, getting anyone who was willing up to sing along to tracks played through the house P.A via You Tube was one of the better ideas I had all weekend, it was brilliant, plenty of fun had by all and plenty of free drinks flowing until we decided it was best that we got some sleep at around 4 AM! 4:30 AM: During the taxi journey back to the hotel, I was convinced we wouldn’t be able to get in due to us only having one key and that was with John, soundly sleeping upstairs in our room, or so we thought! The front door was surprisingly open and even more surprising was the sight of our teammate laid asleep on the couch in the hotel lobby! He claims that when he got back, he had to wait for someone to arrive to let him through the front door (we had to leave the key each morning for housekeeping), and then couldn’t find anyone to give him the key to our room, despite the phone number being in plain view, no idea why he didn’t try it? So, because Tony was pissed, and because he was annoyed that his mate was having to sleep on a couch instead of a bed, he thought it would be a good idea to set off the fire alarm, causing the owner to come rushing out of his room (closely followed by too partially dressed young lads, hmmm) demanding to know what the **** was going on! We acted all innocent, denying we’d set the alarm off, before getting our key and crashing for the night for the few hours’ sleep we’d have before the miserable task of packing the gear away in the morning. MONDAY Nothing much to report from this day, besides loading all the gear into the vehicles, saying our thanks to the staff for making our festival enjoyable and listening to young kids singing My Life Is Shit from the stage in the marquee! Needless to say, John wasn’t best pleased with us, but we didn’t care, we’d had fun and it didn’t affect our work all weekend, so bollocks to him! So, after 3 days of hard work and hard drinking, we made our way back to Bradford to unload the vehicles, have a coffee and get home to relax. It was a brilliant weekend and I look forward to doing the same, and maybe more, next year. This log haired rocker has been welcomed into the punk family, and I’m happy to be a part of it! The photos were too big to upload here, so for anyone interested, they're on my Facebook page here
__________________ If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the ****ing car! Last edited by Rik; 1st June 2015 at 11:49 AM. |
|
#474
1st June 2015, 05:03 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| Quote:
Blimey Rik you packed more into those days than I do in a year,Highlight of my weekend was breaking into a new packet of Hob nobs  So what's your new punk moniker goin to be? Rik Vicious,Rik Ramone or Rik Astley  Greay stuff sir well done. Make Them Die Slowly and Rik like this.
__________________ Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much..  |
|
#475
1st June 2015, 05:20 PM
| ||||
| ||||
|
That's just what I could remember this morning, there was loads more that Carlsberg got rid of ha ha! Which is why I was dead on my feet for most of last week! Inspector Abberline likes this.
__________________ If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the ****ing car! |
|
#476
25th June 2015, 10:48 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| The Plasmatics - Butcher Baby |
|
#477
24th July 2015, 05:01 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Make Them Die Slowly and Demoncrat like this. |
|
#478
13th September 2015, 07:17 PM
| ||||
| ||||
|
One of the original punk bands, The Velvet Underground, are set to release a New box set containing some "legendary scorching live material" from 1969 Velvet Underground: New box set FINALLY releases legendary scorching live material from 1969 | Dangerous Minds
__________________ People try to put us down Just because we get around Golly, Gee! it's wrong to be so guilty |
|
#479
25th September 2015, 04:12 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| Don't Open 'Til Doomsday Demdike@Cult Labs likes this.
__________________ Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.. |
|
#480
26th September 2015, 10:49 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| Dead Kennedys - I Kill Children
__________________ Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.. |
 |
| Like this? Share it using the links below! |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
| |
994Likes
Linear Mode
