Mondays are tough. We’re all intimately familiar with post-weekend fatigue, irritating co-workers, and red-faced bosses bearing down on us with endless lists of unreasonable demands. After all that crap, we just want to chill.
The Boileroom, for many ska and reggae fans, was the ideal place to do just that this past Monday night. Read more…
This kind of gig is the reason I go to gigs in the first place. There’s nothing in the world as fun as watching a bunch of bands push themselves to the limits in the name of putting on a great show. Read more…
Last Friday night was pretty damn special. As I said before, it was the best gig I’ve ever been to. It even beat Mötley Crue – something I’d always assumed was impossible. In short, Reel Big Fish killed it.
However, the greatest headliners are usually made so by being forced to raise the bar by their support acts. If the supports suck, headlining bands often suffer for it. The Jellycats, then, were the perfect opening act – and this album contains many of the songs that made the start of my night absolutely perfect. Read more…
Punk is all about keeping things short and to the point. So I’ll do that here. Read more…
This is really interesting. A true musical melting pot that barely contains a brew of pop, rock, and punk spiced up with plenty of brilliant musicianship and real songwriting nous, Futures is intense, solid, and gloriously beautiful. Super cool, and an unmistakable sign of greater things still to come. Read more…
Dirty. Raw. Harsh. Aggressive. Frenetic. Hyperkinetic. Unrelenting. Packed with catchy and well-crafted tunes. Performed by a group of guys who clearly love what they do. Moving On is all of the above, and more besides. Read more…
I’m going to skip any introductory stuff and just jump to…
For Astronauts And Satellites
…because fuck me, I have no idea how these guys do what they do. I’ve heard of chiptune before, but since I’m not much of a gamer I always dismissed it as being a bit too geeky for my tastes. Judging by this display, I was dead wrong. Read more…
Here at TMMP, grassroots music is a big deal. I’ve never understood why people will happily watch rubbish, stuck-in-a-rut TV talent shows that promote an illusory path to instant fame (and drop almost every winner once the last pennies have been squeezed from their exhaustive promotional activities) when hundreds of far more fascinating stories can be found just down the road, at a local music venue like The Boileroom in Guildford. It’s incredible to think that so many great, even world-class talents can go ignored, despite being within such easy reach year in, year out. Why wait for the next week’s TV-scheduled slot when you could just poke your head out of the front door and experience something first-hand? Read more…
The Cottonettes
After a long, very tiring day, I needed a proper full-on rock pick-me-up with a little bit of complexity. The Cottonettes delivered on that first count with a ton of punk rock energy. A little too straight ahead for my liking, but you have to admire their passion; not to mention a knack for some really solid punk songwriting. If punk is your thing, The Cottonettes will tick all your boxes, and you must click their social media link ( provided in the list below) immediately.
In Dynamics
These guys really did it for me. As a longtime Biffy Clyro fan, it’s really heartwarming to hear their influence coming through via the music of a new generation of musicians. The world needs more music that lies a little to the left of centre, and Biffy and their devotees deliver precisely that.
When a band’s first notes gently lull you into a false sense of security before brutally punching you full on in the ear-guts, you know a stellar set is going to follow. If I’m being totally honest, when In Dynamics really got going my inner Cynical Critic Copycat Alarm was triggered for a song or two, but it wasn’t long before the sheet weight of their sound, passion, and confidence – not to mention their tunes – won me over.
It’s official – I am now a fan of In Dynamics. Nicely done, guys!
A Plastic Rose
This set was great fun to witness. A Plastic Rose really know how to relax in front of a crowd and work around the silliest technical difficulties (too-high mic stands, for instance) without getting flustered. A Plastic Rose just seem at home onstage – the mark of a well-experienced band who are going to be doing very big things in the future.
Musically, there’s plenty of grungy riffage with hints of Feeder, Biffy Clyro, and the kind of pissed-off punk energy that harkens back to the roots of modern rock as we presently know it. A Plastic Rose know their history, taking influence from a range of eras – but there’s something about the way they mix it all together that marks them out as something just different enough to really pique our interest.
Although I’d heard of A Plastic Rose prior to this show, I’d never heard them on record. This set was more than enough to make me kick myself for my complacence and rectify that sacrilege ASAP. All the self-kicking meant I had to hop home, but hey – learning from your mistakes is the best kind of learning.
Hool-a-Palooza is a punk festival crammed with bands whose speciality is keeping things short and to the point. So, in that spirit, we’ll do the same here. Read more…