With Takedown Festival on the horizon, there are many reasons to get excited for this weekend. Goth-punk superstars-in-waiting Ashestoangels are one such reason. TMMP caught up with Ashestoangels frontman Crilly to talk creativity, memories, and the time his band almost demolished a music venue… Read more…
Imagine you’re a beatboxer. You’re pretty good, so you enter the UK Beatbox Championships. You win. You eat, breathe, sleep and sweat beatboxing for a solid year before returning. You win again. Things get a bit crazy. A comedy video you made in a kitchen gets uploaded to YouTube (as freshly purchased by Google). In time, it will attract over 5 million views.
Over the next several years, you take solo beatboxing as far as it can possibly be taken. You play underground comedy clubs, TV shows, festivals. Your YouTube presence grows. You begin experimenting with live looping technology, battling not rival MCs but inefficient circuitry and user interfaces in the name of getting the ideas in your head into other people’s earholes. You find yourself in a studio, recording an eclectic collection of tracks that takes in everything from dubstep and hip-hop to almost every international folk music style recorded by history. Your debut album gets released; it sells nicely.
Finally, you hit on a pair of serious problems. Read more…
Romani Beau’s upcoming EP Molly and the Boys has been a long time coming, but it will be worth the wait for fans of lilting, breezy folk. Although Romani is currently living an underground existence, to say that he has the potential to break out of obscurity is a real understatement. This guy is the Surrey folk scene’s best-kept secret – but only for now. With great songs, a hugely talented team backing him up, warmth and charisma seeping from every pore, and a hilariously self-deprecating sense of humour, Romani shows all the signs of a star in the making.
TMMP caught up with the man himself to chat about the past, present, and future, memories and happiness and more… Read more…
New Kingston are a band on the rise right now – and it’s safe to say they’ve earned it. From Brooklyn basements to an album (their third, Kingston City, reviewed here) released on New York’s own Easy Star Records, New Kingston have poured everything they have into their band, and are Read more…
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Of all the shows I caught during Independent Venue Week, Jamie Lenman’s Saturday night acoustic set at the Boileroom in Guildford most effectively captured the community spirit celebrated by IVW. Intimate, emotional, and packed with Lenman fans old and new, it was a genuine experience made truly special by Read more…
Festival season may be months away, but fans of live music across the UK will have plenty to look forward to next week as Independent Venue Week 2015 kicks off. IVW is all about Read more…
Welsh alt-metallers Kyshera have a lot going for them right now. Their fans are true fanatics, getting hyper at shows and spreading the good word about their favourite band all over the world; the respect and love afforded them have been hard earned through two albums and countless shows; and 2015 is looking bright and promising, with third Kyshera LP Circles on the way. TMMP caught up with frontman James Kennedy to find out more. Read more…
Now is a very exciting time for live electronica legends Submotion Orchestra, with their latest long-playing opus Alium (reviewed here) dropping on November 24th and their biggest headline show to date taking place at the Forum in London tomorrow. Submotion Orchestra keyboardist Taz took some time out of his hectic schedule to talk about Alium, his single-item bucket list, and more. Read more…
Moddi (full name Pål Moddi Knutsen) is a rare and special kind of artist. A Norwegian singer-songwriter unafraid of breaking taboos and capable of conveying intense emotions within the most stripped-down musical formats, Moddi and his recent Boileroom set blew me away to the point that I felt compelled to invite him for a short post-set conversation the moment he arrived at the merch table.
The following interview took place in an empty venue while Moddi was packing up for the night, preparing his gear and remaining merchandise for the next stage of his UK tour. Although I was a freshly converted newcomer to his work and world, Moddi remained patient, passionate, and heartwarmingly friendly throughout this additional and spontaneous demand on his time.
This is what we talked about. Read more…
Cea Serin’s upcoming sophomore album The Vibrant Sound of Bliss and Decay will be more than worth the ten-year wait. Fusing a multitude of styles both metallic and non-metallic and sprawling over almost 50 minutes despite being composed of only five tracks, The Vibrant Sound of Bliss and Decay is a tad epic, and raises a number of questions. TMMP posed a set of said questions to multi-instrumentalist J. Lamm – and the answers were nothing short of fascinating… Read more…