PLUS: Dave Hause and The Dear And Departed
The Waterfront, Norwich
9th May 2012

Words and Photos: Charlie Wallis

So it’s finally here, after being pushed back at the last minute last time this show has come around and Alkaline Trio are playing to sold out crowd at The Waterfront in Norwich and the venue fills up quickly. It’s been often said that Alkaline Trio are one of those bands who, when on their game, are mind blowing to watch, but can all too easily slip into the realms of tedium. It will be interesting given postponements and the fact that this is nearing the end of the tour which side of the scale they’ll end up on tonight.

First band on tonight are moody Orange County rockers The Dear and Departed who are given the role of kicking the evening into gear. What’s noticeable about this band from the get go is the atmosphere they create is aided in a big way by the stage presence of kiwi lead singer Dan Smith who oozes charisma, falling somewhere in between Morrissey and AFI’s Davey Havoc. The band put on a strong showing but struggle to get much in the way of attention from the crowd which is starting the burgeon mercilessly which is something of a shame as they deserve far more of a reaction than they end up getting.

The Dear and the Departed

Second on is singer songwriter boy wonder Dave Hause who, despite the acoustic nature of his set manages to provoke something of a reaction from the crowd. It may be the sheer brass balls of opening for one of the biggest names in punk music on just your todd, but the audience respond incredibly positively to the one man show, especially when the one man turns into two as Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano takes to the stage acoustic in tow for a couple of songs. One thing the set doesn’t do is provide much in the way of energy for the crowd to feed off and subsequently psyche themselves up for the top of the bill, leaving Alkaline Trio a mammoth of a task to try and get the whole crowd motivated.

Dave Hause

Now at the start of this review I said that Alkaline Trio trend one of two performances, but tonight that trend appears to have been bucked in the sense that it was bang in the middle. This tour marks the 15 year anniversary for Alkaline Trio and the effect of a decade and a half of doing this shows in more ways than one. Despite a set list comprised of the more obscure elements of Alkaline Trio’s back catalogue the sound is incredible. Matt Skibas voice is unparalleled in this kind of music and the sound is tighter than a nun’s chastity belt. It’s hard to argue that the evening felt lacking for a lack of favourites like “Private Eye” and “Stupid Kid” but what I missed more was the energy Alkaline Trio have been famous for. In between songs the band are extremely entertaining but in many respects much of the musical performance felt slightly rigid which could be down to any number of factors, an insufficiently warmed up crowd, the tour nearing it’s end e.t.c. but whatever the reason something of the magic was missing.

Alkaline Trio

I doubt Alkaline Trio will have lost any fans tonight and all in all it was a well executed, if a little lack lustre performance.

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With the release date of Above the Undergrounds new EP approaching, Noise Addiction caught up with Frontman, Will Kirkman and Bassist Nick Barlow to talk about the meaning behind ‘Autumns’, their ideal festival line-ups and the bands recent signing to Lazy Bear records.

What do you think had been the bands best achievement to date?

Will: I think for me, writing and recording “Autumns” was our best achievement. We’ve played some fairly big shows and gone on some decent tours but musically Autumns is the best thing we’ve done and the first thing we’re all totally proud of.
Nick: I feel that everything we have done is an achievement. Looking back on the 2 and a half year we’ve done a hell of a lot, played some amazing shows, toured with some great bands and written a record that we’re all proud of.

How did the name Autumns come about for the new record?

Will: Certain songs on the EP describe events that happened in, or were related to in some way, Autumn. Although it doesn’t have a theme overall, a concept that keeps coming up repeatedly in the lyrics is change. We felt “Autumns” tied in with this and described the overall mood of the record.
Nick: Autumn has been really our most positive and hard working season; we got together in Autumn 2009, did our first tour and also wrote this record.

The new record sounds more mature than your previous records, is this the new direction for ATU?

Will: We’ve grown up as people since we started out and I think that’s reflected in our music, so I can’t see us going back to having synths and singing songs about parties if I’m honest. Not that I didn’t love that, it was awesome, but it just doesn’t suit us any more.

Do you think as a band you’ve changed much since your past EP’s?

Will: As people, no. We still work and act very much the same way as we did when we first started out, we’re a bunch of weird guys and to be honest I can’t see that changing. Musically I feel we’ve not so much changed as progressed. It wasn’t a conscious decision as such. We’ve never really sat decide what we like and what we don’t. But things are definitely different, the music now means more to us I think.
Nick: A lot changes in music anyway and it’s forever progressing. After Joey (ex-synth and member) left the band our writing focused a lot more around the guitars. I just think it’s the growth of the band, there’s been a lot of hard work into this release so I feel it’s more honest and more so ‘us’ as a band.

Where do you find the inspiration for the songs?

Nick: I only really write bass so what lyrics are written and such are more than likely personal to Will.
Will: I tend to write almost as a natural response to anything that’s happening in my life at the time. One thing I noticed, when I was writing Evelyn, was that if a song meant more to me personally, it would come out as a better song than if I was writing about something I didn’t care about. So I guess I find inspiration from the things that mean a lot to me at the time or that I learned something from in hindsight. It makes for more honest music that way I think.

Which bands or artists inspire the band?

Will: So many bands. We all love pop-punk, from early Blink all the way to the bands like Fireworks and The Story So Far that are coming out today. Al and Nick are really into their hardcore, and Bran’s a big metal fan. Personally, when we wrote the last record, I was listening to a lot of post hardcore, a lot of emo bands like Midtown and Daytrader. I think it all has an effect, although it might not all be obvious, it’ll be there somewhere.
Nick: Blink 182 always is the one for us. Myself being a bassist it’s Mark Hoppus. We grew up listening to Blink, New Found Glory and Sum 41 and this is still the case. I think we also inspire each other to work harder and really push our boundaries.

You’ve recently been signed to Lazy Bear records, How did that feel?

Nick: Great to be honest. It’s nice have another opinion and option on board with us, it gives us a better idea of what else we can achieve as you very much can’t see out of ‘the box’ I like to call it cos we’re the ones who make it all and maybe don’t realise where we could be going right or wrong. So it’s good to have some professional guidance there to help us along. We’re really looking forward to our future with this label, they understand us as a band and what we do, so it’s the best of both worlds and now we can actually concentrating on being in the band, being musicians rather than business men and having to do loads of marketing and PR, cos the label know exactly what they’re doing.

The video for Under The Weather has over 9000 plays on YouTube, have you noticed the increasing fan base?

Will: It’s hard to tell. It’s definitely seems to have got people excited for the release; there have been some really amazing comments on the video. I’m excited that other people are excited to hear our stuff.
Nick: We notice the likes going up on the Facebook page and more people coming out to shows.

Where can people go to listen to you guys?

Will: Facebook, YouTube, just search Above The Underground. We’ll have a link up on May 18th where you’ll be able to download our new EP for free.

What’s the plan for Above the Underground for the rest of the year then?

Will: We’ve got some pretty major tours in the works, so we’re focusing on that at the minute. We’re also planning on putting out a 7″ split with another band.
Nick: and a new music video or something like that!

Above the Undergrounds EP, Autumns is set for release Friday 18th May via Lazy Bear Records and will be available as a free download. Keep checking out the bands Facebook page for more info. Their video for Under The Weather is currently on YouTube, watch it by clicking here.

PLUS: Modestep
Corn Exchange, Cambridge
1st May 2012

Words and Photos: Emma Bowdidge

Lostprophets are back once again touring their new album ‘Weapons’ with support from dub/rock band Modestep. They’re both in Cambridge tonight playing the Corn Exchange in which Lostprophets included on their 2010 tour when they toured their last album ‘The Betrayed’ – Noise Addiction also had the pleasure to review them at that gig too.

Opening the evening up are London dubstep rockers Modestep. From the start the band are there to purely entertain and get the crowd pumped for the headliners. The first quarter of the venue from the stage were the most enthusiastic, bopping up and down and throwing their arms in the air in time with the bass of the songs. Stand out tracks from their set were remixes like ‘Levels [Skrillex Remix]‘, Cee Lo Green’s ‘Fuck You (Modestep Remix)’ and ever popular Rage Against The Machine ‘Killing In The Name Of’ cover. Modestep bring many of their own extremely catchy songs to the stage including ‘To The Stars’, new single ‘Show Me A Sign’ which saw the majority of the crowd holding up lighters and mobile phones as instructed by front man Josh Modestep and finished up with ‘Sunlight’, leaving the crowd some what exhausted and thrilled to hear a new style of band out there as one girl discussed with her friend- ‘I wouldn’t think about going to a dubstep show but I really enjoyed them and would watch again’.

Modestep

The anticipation steps up a gear in the Corn Exchange as the crowd fall slightly impaitent to Lostprophets kick starting their set tonight. The band soon approach the stage with drummer Luke Johnson taking his place first – The crowd by now are in a state of screams and cheers as vocalist Ian Watkins walks on stage lit up only by little green lasers attached to his waist band. He grabs the mic and starts off with ‘Weapons’ album opener ‘Bring ‘Em Down’. As mentioned earlier this is the second time Noise Addiction has had the pleasure of seeing the welsh 6-piece live and they’ve made a big step up with their light show tonight compared to the last time – They pretty much played in darkness. Every song is so clearly sung by Mr Watkins you can not fault their live performance one bit. The rest of the band are on top form as well! The majority of the songs are favourites with the crowd singing back every word or chorus of the song. They throw all the old favourite Lostprophet songs on to their set list ranging from their first album to their very new one ‘Weapons’. Stand out tracks for this reviewer are ‘Make A Move’, ‘Rooftops’, ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja’ (Which is always a big favourite for me) and ‘We Bring An Aresnal’. The band end on ‘Burn Burn’ and head off stage..

Lostprophets

For an encore of course! The Corn Exchange by now are stamping their feet in the seated area above and the standing crowd are clapping and chanting for Lostprophets to do more. It takes a few different loud chants before they come back out for ‘Everyday Combat’ and ending the evenings events with ‘Sway’. It’s been one hell of a night in Cambridge tonight and Lostprophets have won the crowd over again with their astounding live performance.

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What’s been your favourite city/venue to play on this tour so far?

Josh: Ahh can’t really say a favourite.. Yeah we can! Might have been last night for me.
Band: Really?!
Tony: I thought Leeds was pretty amazing.
Nick: Cardiff for me I’d say.
Josh: Last night was Nottingham mate. It’s different because I like the shows for different reasons. Some of them I like because we have better bass in some of the sound systems. Nottingham last night started off really quite tame and we had to win them over and that’s quite nice when you win over a crowd. Sometimes you go out there and they’re mental from the start and you love them because of that.
Matt: I can’t really put a finger on a favourite city, tricky one – Maybe tonight?! Who knows!

How have fans responded to you on this tour?

Band: Really good.
Josh: They’re so welcoming. Lostprophets fans are so amazing. Lostprophets are so lucky to have them.
Tony: They’re nice loyal people. We usually hang out after the shows, we’re very accessible meeting other people.
Matt: Getting pissed with the fans! We’re never one of those don’t look at us type people.

So there’s been a delay with releasing your brand new single ‘Show Me A Sign’ – Still how’s it gone down with the press and fans so far?

Josh: It’s gone down really well. The crowd seems to go more mad to that than any song we play in our set so far. Big thanks to UKF for that because the video helps a lot and UKF helped a lot with that. Yeah we’ll see how well it does next week. We never really saw it as a chart song so if it does well in the charts, it does well! If it doesn’t, it doesn’t! Support us, help us, if you can.
Matt: Just come and see us play live, that’s all we care about. Don’t judge us by just what we sound like on the radio to be honest.
Nick: I think the crowd can relate to that song more because it’s pretty heavy rock based and there’s Rage Against The Machine rifts at the end.

What inspired the music video for ‘Show Me A Sign’?

Tony: Mine and Josh’s warped brains.
Josh: It’s kind of ironic.
Tony: I don’t know what was it – We wanted a video with sexy girls, weapons, guns, violence and we wanted the execution of a bieber, that is definitely not Justin Bieber.
Matt: Definitely not, definitely not.
Tony: And it’s a bit ironic because we say destroy all commercial music, but we’ve been labelled as commercial music so we thought it would be a bit funny and ironic.
Josh: It’s basically a dig at X Factor, a big old dig at X Factor.

So there’s a full length album in the pipeline.. What can we expect from it and when?

Josh: It’s finished. Whenever the label decide to get up off their er..
Matt: Shoes..
Josh: Yeah whenever they decide to release it. Hopefully this quarter of the year. What should you expect – A combination of everything really.
Tony: Very a collective mix.
Josh: It’s got a lot of rock stuff on there, a lot of influences from Pink Floyd to some big Dubstep guys and drum and bass guys. So it’s a kind of.. mix of everything!

At this point in the interview their tour manager interupts us to share out Vodka between the band. Matt – “It’s impossible to do an interview without this”. Josh – “Nah, just give me the bottle” and we carry on..

Who do you draw influences from?

Tony: All different. Mine is kind of early electronic, UK garage kind of people – Tough Jam, big Daft Punk fan.
Josh: All Mowtown kind of things. Also Pink Floyd and I like modern electronic productions like Chasing Shadows.
Matt: Also quite heavily influenced by scat jazz from the 1930′s – Nah that’s a lie, obviously.
Nick: I’m more influenced by more of the old school 60′s rock and roll. Zepplin, Hendrix and obviously playing guitar all the guitar music. Quite similar to Matt I’d say.
Matt: Very similar yes and Pantera just for the power metal element.

What festivals will you be hitting up this summer?

Tony: Loads! Reading, Global Gathering, Wireless, EDC, Starscape, NASS, Park Life. A load!

What one are you most looking forward to playing?

Josh: EDC for me.
Tony: EDC in Vegas and Reading just for the nostalgia the fact it’s the first festival we ever went to. So we’re excited to be on the poster and actually playing there.
Matt: Last time we were there together was er..Phew..A very messy time.
Tony: Me and Matt woke up in drag.
Matt: That did definitely happen.
Josh: They don’t know how it happened. Took them a while to piece it together piecing together the wristbands.

For someone who hasn’t seen you before, what can they expect from a Modestep live show?

Tony: Frenzied energy.
Matt: Kicked in the nuts so hard that you puke blood for a week.
Nick: No, can’t top that!

Is it easy being two brothers in a band?

Josh: I think it makes it a lot easier with contracts and kind of stuff like that – We trust each other, we’re family. It’s much better than some best friends starting a band together and a couple of years down the line they want to go different ways and ends up being a big problem. But we’re brothers – Stuck with each other for life!

You got any crazy tour stories to share with us?

Matt: We went out drinking in Leeds and did gas chambers which is now illegal in several countries (Where you light the alcohol and you inhale the vapors.) We had about 5 or 6 of those and I swung for an invisible man, fell over, smacked my head off the pavement and was briefly unconscious.
Josh: Not briefly – A good few seconds! I’ve got it on video on Twitter.
Matt: I got 19 missed calls from my mother after she see that. It was on this tour. I also ended up in hospital because of my foot, that was fun.
Josh: Yeah, he had to miss out a show.
Matt: I was on the stage dancing on crouches so I was still there in some spirit.

If you could share the stage with one act, who would it be and why?

Tony: For me it’d be Lauren Hill because I love her.
Matt: And how would we go down with Lauren Hill!
Tony: She’d sound incredible on a dubstep tune. To share a stage with – I don’t know, The Prodigy, Pendulum – Someone like that.
Josh: I’d say Pink Floyd to warm everyone up. The Easy Star All Stars doing their version of ‘Dub Side Of The Moon’ and then we go on afterwards.
Matt: Yeah that’d be pretty cool. Good answer – Well done Josh!

And lastly do you have a message you’d like to leave to your fans and our readers?

Josh: Tony always has a message for the fans!
Tony: I do. I want to say a massive thank you. Obviously without you guys we wouldn’t be here and also massive thanks to Lostprophets fans for being so welcoming and so amazing to all of us. We love all of you, thank you very much – Big up! Genuine love.

Modestep’s brand new single ‘Show Me A Sign’ drops on 6th May via Polydor records. Pre-order from Itunes – http://itunes.apple.com/gb/preorder/show-me-a-sign-ep/id521784149.
And watch the incredible video for it HERE.

Noise Addiction spends a day with Harlow hairdressers Papa Shango. Apparently they also have a band, but we couldn’t get them to talk about that.

(Also available in HD. Just change the settings on the video below.) 

Camera/edit – James Burton