If you’re a fan of flat-out-fucked electronica à la the Prodigy, you’ve either heard of Black Futures already (and love them), or you’ve never given them a listen and must do so immediately.
Love‘s video carries a warning (“FLASHING IMAGES – MAY CAUSE FEELINGS OF ELATION AND ECTASY”) for good reason, while the track itself features a Read more…
If you’re trying to get the Girl All The Bad Guys Want, hung up on a Bitch, or suffering from mixed feelings about a girl named Emily, Bowling For Soup have not only felt your pain, but also written a song about it. These guys are pop-punk legends, and are set to return to British shores in February 2016 for their “How About Another Round?” tour. With live shows, longevity, and drinking in mind, TMMP wound up talking strip clubs, jail, nutsack uppercuts, and the Grammys with BFS bassist Erik Chandler…
You’re set to hit the UK next year for your “How About Another Round?” tour. On the topic of drinking, what were the contents of the most expensive round you’ve ever bought?
I can’t say that we actually “paid” for it, but this tab went to the record label and was eventually charged back to us. So, in the long run, we paid for it.
There is a legendary “gentleman’s club” in Atlanta, Georgia, called Tattle Tales, made famous by getting a name check in Motley Crue’s Girls Girls Girls – and I believe the tab was about $8000. That’s roughly £5100. It was a good night, and only one person went to jail – and he was not a member of BFS.
Which are better – American bars, or British pubs?
We, as a band, are a fan of the dive bars. So if you’re talking a straight up British pub, I have to go Read more…
UPDATE: TMMP has been reborn! This video has the full story:
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Few things in life feel as good as immersing yourself in something you love. Diving deep into awesomeness, allowing the world’s worries to slip away, replacing baggage with better things. Escaping.
Of all the modern world’s escape hatches, music remains one of the most enigmatic and rewarding options. However, everyday life offers few opportunities for extended periods of musical immersion. You can walk down the street under headphones, spend a lazy Sunday in the company of your sound system with the curtains drawn, or spend an evening at a top-class venue taking in a few bands – but for many music fanatics, such experiences still don’t go deep enough.
2000 Trees certainly does. Situated on an out-of-the-way Gloucestershire farm in a 3G-free dead zone, the Trees site is an ideal location for digital disconnection, and reconnection with simpler things. The feeling of sun on your face, wind on your skin, and pure live music vibrating every cell in your body.
Arcane Roots’ (95%) set was the perfect reward for an Read more…
Without bands who mix punk rock with horns, summer is incomplete. Be glad, then, that Ghouls are here to save not just the day, but a whole season. Here, TMMP chats to Ghouls about 2000 Trees, dodgy promoters, and the girl who tried to cheat on her boyfriend with the whole band – while they were onstage…
You’re playing a set at 2000 Trees this year. What thoughts and feelings are going through your heads right now?
We’re genuinely stoked to be playing. A couple of us have been as punters in previous years, and its been on our radar of festivals we’d like to play for a little while – so it’s great we get to do it this year.
We’re gonna really get into the festival spirit and do some acoustic sets as well as playing the main stage on the Friday, which makes the whole thing even cooler. So yeah, amped for it.
How did Ghouls come to be? What’s your origin story?
Originally, Ghouls formed in 2011 – but we didn’t become the band we are now until early 2013. We all met through each moving to London from various places around England, and mainly got to know each other through music – going to shows, playing shows, etc. Well, everyone except for Maz (sax) who we met through Gumtree…
What’s the story behind the first gig you ever played?
Our first show was a typical “London” show, where the promoter puts on naive bands and tells you to Read more…
When a brand new band pop up with an arena-ready release, they certainly grab your attention. Leeds-based horror rockers Fizzy Blood have done that – and on the back of new EP Feast, they’re set to do much, much more. TMMP caught up with the band to discuss the respectable story behind that quirky monicker, the band’s origin story, and the making of an EP you need to hear…
This first question is really bugging me: Is your band named after Jamie Lenman’s song, Fizzy Blood?
In short: yes. Ben and Paul are heavily influenced by Reuben and Lenman’s work, so when they formed the band and were spitballing names, as soon as Fizzy Blood was mentioned it just clicked.
As well as a nice little way to pay homage to one of our favourite songwriters, it’s also pretty cool – right?
Your new EP Feast is out now. How’re you feeling about it? Read more…
Opening with eerie arpeggios reminiscent of Soundgarden at their best and tangentially kicking into a fat, strutting vintage-modern groove, Black Sheep is so huge and sexy it should be filed under “BBW” on a porn site, not “Rock ‘N’ Roll” on iTunes. It’s also a great start to a six-track EP that wastes no time in establishing Fizzy Blood as ones to watch.
January Sun blends a warm four-to-the-floor beat with raw Read more…
Since 2007, 2000 Trees has evolved into one of the UK alternative music scene’s most treasured institutions. Combining a fiercely independent ethos with a super-positive DIY attitude and the backing of many brilliant musicians, this festival is not one to miss. For TMMP, the lineup alone is absolutely mouth-watering.
Eclectically-minded music buffs are guaranteed to find themselves satiated at 2000 Trees. Diversity is key at big events, and Read more…
From the outside, alternative music festivals can seem intimidating. Certain corners of the media choose to portray alternative music fans as universally antisocial and self destructive. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
Festivals are full of people out for nothing more than a good time. Great bands, passionate fans, and meticulous organisation are all essential pieces of the puzzle – and Slam Dunk’s organisers provided the former and latter. In Wolverhampton, everybody won.
Behind black t-shirts and often morbid iconography, the themes of the day were love, respect, and gratitude. Second stage openers Shvpes set the tone with a rapturously received hometown set packed full of Read more…
This wasn’t so much a show as a celebration. Judging from the pre-show chatter, Therapy have been very sorely missed – and when their set came around, it was easy to see why. Before that, Thirty Six Strategies opened the night up with a set that was cool and passionate, although to be totally honest the music felt too safe. That may seem an odd word to use in the context of punk-oriented rock, but the fact is that thousands of bands are pursuing exactly the same direction as Thirty Six Strategies right now. As instrumentalists, TSS are good, and their lyrics hint at tough, hard-knock experiences – but given that no two life experiences are precisely the same, it would be awesome to hear those experiences expressed in an idiosyncratic way with a generous helping of weirdness.
It’s one thing to refuse to conform to the standards of mainstream society – but it’s a whole other game to break away from the standards of literally everyone else, and forge your own 100% individual path. That’s where the best, most timeless and relevant music gets made – and Thirty Six Strategies certainly have the potential to push into that area.
Triggerfinger were explosive, and one of the most Read more…
I love this album. It’s dark, it’s dirty, it’s fucked up – and beyond that, its sheer depth and authenticity was enough to win me over from the opening bars of first track Still Hurts. There’s no trace of fakery or posturing here. None at all. Fucking hell.
Therapy?’s latest LP is stuffed full of Read more…