If you’re into bands who make a conscious effort to do something different, Calling Apollo are well worth checking out. Here, vocalist Chris Neale chats about creative development, Calling Apollo’s earliest days, and new EP Hunter/Gatherer…
Your new EP Hunter/Gatherer is a real step up from your last release. What did you do to push yourselves to the next level?
We didn’t Read more…
Having had my ears blown by Employed To Serve’s debut long-player Greyer Than You Remember and seen the Woking-based post-hardcore upstarts tear through a riotous Palm Reader support slot, I can safely say that if you love hardcore-related shenanigans and haven’t checked these guys out yet, you need to fix that ASAP.
A bleak and brutal whirlwind of off-kilter riffs, hectic drum abuse, and scorching vocals, Greyer Than You Remember represents pure, no-shortcut quality; over the course of every track, Employed To Serve push themselves past their own limits and into the previously unknowable. Here, ETS vocalist Justine Jones chats about her band’s origin story, self-worth, onstage nerves, and some sick future tour plans…
Your album Greyer Than You Remember is dropping on May 25th. How do you feel right now?
Really excited! We’ve had some of these songs written for a year, so we’re really happy to finally be playing them live and for people to be able to listen to them!
How would you describe your creative evolution over the course of your last few releases and the creation of Greyer Than You Remember?
Pretty drastic! I feel like we’ve forced Read more…
This EP put me in two minds on the first listen under headphones. The songs were definitely great – but the sound was terrible. Waaaay too much treble. It almost gave me a migraine.
Then I tried putting it through proper speakers. It sounded sick. Then some Apple earpods. Still sick.
Basically, the Decoy (and producer Chris Coulter) showed me how shit my new Sennheiser earbuds are. Forty quid, they cost me. Forty fucking quid. Literally in the bin as I write this.
Anyway…the Decoy fill in the grey areas between Read more…
Thick. Solid. Big. Full of spunk.
Get your mind out of the gutter – this is a melodic hardcore EP we’re talking about. Honest.
Listening to Inside My Head‘s five cuts of plectrum-eroding, string-melting, Read more…
What a difference a year makes.
Fans of Arcane Roots, Coheed And Cambria, Deftones, and SikTh are guaranteed to find something to love inside this EP. Calling Apollo may make their influences obvious, but they’re playing with a wicked mix of punchy riffs, well-defined tones, and great songcraft. It’s certainly a leap forward from Read more…
Imagine Jamie Lenman jamming with Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine. Sounds like a tasty proposition right?
Well…meet Secret Black Boyfriend.
Aside from possessing one of the best band names you’re likely to come across for some time, Secret Black Boyfriend are Read more…
UPDATE: TMMP has been reborn! This video has the full story:
Click here to subscribe for free on YouTube!
Whenever I listen to Black Peaks, I wind up with a massive grin splitting my face like a Halloween pumpkin. Their Closer To The Sun EP has been played so many times at TMMP HQ that I’m sure the ones and zeroes are starting to wear out, and the more recent Glass Built Castles pushed things even further toward trance-inducing bliss overload.
In short, Read more…
I’m writing these words on a cloudless spring day. My laptop is on a table on a freshly swept patio, and birds are chirping happily in the trees. My neighbours are playing fetch with their dog.
Greyer Than You Remember is not an appropriate soundtrack for this.
Calling this album chaotic would be Read more…
Last damp and windy night, few sounds in Camden were as inviting as the loud, raucous rock’n’roll blasting from the Stillery. To be fair, there wasn’t much competition bar a handful of idiots driveby-harassing women, and a couple having a bust-up in the street – but Wicked Snakes would still have come out on top had the competition been much stiffer. Wicked Snakes deal in no-bullshit rock music in the same Zep-meets-Queens-of-the-Stone-Age vein as Them Crooked Vultures – and they do it damn well.
The Hyena Kill’s latest release, Blisters/Still Sick (reviewed on TMMP here) comes very, very Read more…
With a hotly tipped Hyena Kill showcase happening in London at the Stillery tomorrow evening, vocalist/guitarist Steven Dobb and TMMP got talking about said show, chaos, and swimming with sharks…
You have a showcase in London coming up tomorrow. How’re you feeling about it?
Really excited; every time we come and play in London it’s always an awesome show. Wicked Snakes are an incredible band as well – can’t wait to see them live.
How do you feel about the reception your new release Blisters / Still Sick [reviewed on TMMP here] has received so far?
It’s been really good. Both tracks are a bit more heavier and chaotic than our previous stuff so it’s good to see people getting into it and getting on board with Read more…