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…
It would take a hard-hearted writer to heap criticism on a track called Feels So Good – and when it’s pulled off this well, there’s really no reason to in the first place. Upbeat, bouncy, and irresistibly catchy, this is a great comeback track from a band nearly stopped in its tracks by major brain surgery. Read more…
When viewed from the outside, alternative music venues can be easily misunderstood. Judging by the expressions of mainstream Friday night revellers heading toward Casino or Dusk or wherever, the queue of kids snaking around The Boileroom might as well have been the aliens from Mars Attacks. Some people don’t seem to understand that it’s not necessary to spray yourself orange and wear clothes so tight that you look like one of the X-Men after a Topshop makeover in order to have a good time.
Good times were definitely on the agenda last night, fastidiously trendy clothing or not. With jelly babies waiting in bowls behind the door and a mood-setting ska soundtrack engulfing those heading bar-ward, thoughts of the affluenza-ridden masses outside were quickly forgotten. Then a few bands played, and they were a bit good… Read more…
Opinion
The Greasy Slicks
I made a pretty big mistake in missing these guys. I timed my arrival with the start of Wilde Eyes’ set, but by the end of the evening I wished I’d experienced some more rock ‘n’ roll awesomeness. I’m told these guys delivered in spades, and now very much regret missing them. Read more…
Today, it’s a beautiful Sunday – complete with that perfect combination of boiling sun and cool breeze that practically demand you spend the daylight hours lounging in the garden with some ice-cold water and fresh fruit to hand. And, just to add a cherry to this big cake of happiness, Free Peace have seen fit to grace us with a live version of their track ‘Honey’, available to view below. If the singer looks and sounds familiar, that might be because she also sings for Lunatrix, whose Mr Sunshine EP was reviewed on here a while back. Read more…