Why Said the Moon to the Earth. Live at Talk (Killr Punx show) + Video!

And now the last chapter of Saturday's Killr Punx show at Talk.  Where the very wordy WSTHMTTE were launching their debut EP, which I got a free copy of it for coming along early (although I'd not known if if it wasn't for the little card that came with it. There was no cover and the CD was spray painted black) WSM (as I'm abbreviating them to) are shoegazers both literally and figuratively.  They spend more time looking down -with long hair covering their faces- than facing the audience. In fact a lot of the time they didn't even hold their instruments. For some songs The bassist let his instrument hang over his back while facing away from the crowd.

 Their songs are all slow paced numbers that mix gentle melodic guitar tones with droning guitar noise and pounding drums. They don't tend to do an awful lot other than just stand there while playing them, but at the end did invite us all to come and stand right next to them at the front of the 'stage'. WSM got the biggest audience of any of these bands and they seemed to enjoy it, even if this music doesn't lend itself to moshing and cheering.  

This is less music of songs, more about mood and ambience. And i'm sure any fans of Mogwai or Devil Sold His Soul will love them. See if you do by watching the video below. 

https://www.facebook.com/whysaidthemoontoearth

You can buy your own black cd at the link below
http://whysaidthemoontoearth.bandcamp.com/

The Mighty Young, Live at Talk (Killr Punx Show)

The Mighty Young are my kind of band, two lads playing raw rock n roll, that thanks to the likes of Royal Blood and Drenge could not be more in fashion at the moment. The sound is obviously indebted to The White Stripes (in fact i think they did a cover of them) which is just as well as this might be as close as you'll get to seeing jack n co at the moment.
Much like the aforementioned bands there is an obvious blues influence on this band.  I've always felt that the best bands are those who respect the blues.  They were jumping around and thrashing about this blues rock riffage for a good 20+ minutes
They were by far my favorite band of the night. A huge amount of energy went into their set, even the very last drum note involved the drummer launching himself off the stool onto the wall behind him.
The Mighty Young. They live up to their name.

https://www.facebook.com/ruttingdevil
https://twitter.com/TheMightyYoung

Ultimate Grand Supreme. Live at Talk (Killr Punx Show)

Once the rockers had a go it was time for the nerds. Ultimate Grand Supreme make very strange experimental music. Their singer was mostly either on the floor messing with pedals and keyboards or playing his guitar. The resulting music was just totally bizarre. The experimental nature of it all inspired me to experiment with the functions on my camera, hence the strange photos you see here.
I spoke to one of them afterwards  and i told them that they reminded me of BATTLES and while he understood the comparison he felt that his music is even looser and even more experimental. I see what he means. He's also happy that none of the photos show their faces as they like to stay a bit anonymous.
The drums provide a constant rhythm, which makes a backdrop on which you'll find droning guitar noise, keyboards making sounds like you've never heard before, while the bands main man presses all sorts of pedals to make it even weirder. Theres no catchy songs, just experimental freak outs. I found that I had to just respect them for going all out and making this crazy noise.


If you want some idea  of what all this sounds like then check out this video for 'A Tribute to BJorn Again'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sbCdm_Cms0

https://www.facebook.com/ugsmusic

Women. Live at Talk (Killr Punx Show)

Next up was Women. Not  actual Women but three guys from Wolverhampton looking a bit like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club playing doomy stoner rock on MASSIVE Marshall Amps. It was about 5 minutes before i had any idea of what they were about as they spent ages jamming, building up the tension before playing any songs. When they did sing it was just vowels. The music they make is full of big riffs, and the tempo was very slow. The singers vocals were low in the mix while it was the drummer who did all the screaming. The name is obviously ironic but i feel that Monster would be a much better name for this band. They aren't  huge on showmanship, they just let the music do the talking. Each track just went into one long groove after another. After a while it was hard not be headbanging a little. The songs are all short but seem to go on for ages, with riff after riff after riff. Theres no bass either, just solid, distorted guitar riffs. This is real heavy shit. I'd recommend them to any fans of Black Sabbath, Uncle Acid, or Kyuss

By the end of this set my ears felt like they were underwater, though I'd only noticed this after they'd finished playing.

















http://womentheband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/womentheband
http://soundcloud.com/women-theband
http://twitter.com/wmnband

A Werewolf. Live at talk (Killr Punx Show)

I have seen A Werewolf! not an actual werewolf. but something just as rare, scary and strange. A Werewolf were the first band on last night at Killr Punx 'Why,Said the Moon to Earth' EP launch show.  Two guys in Hawaiian shirts playing incredibly loud Math/hardcore/post/rock/etc. It was quite early and they were the first band on  so not many people were around to see these two guys make this incredible racket. Its hard to say what time signatures they use, or even if they know what those are.
Playing songs called things such as 'Chop yourself off at the knees and pretend your Tom Cruise' and 'Psycho Scientist VS Super Massive Giant Swan' they were able to walk around and get right in everyone's faces, as Talk doesn't really have a stage as such. There was one guy playing the guitar who had some pretty cool finger tapping skills, while the other guy just bashed the shit out of his drums. They also use film samples in between songs, just to make it extra strange. 'Psycho Scientist... shows some signs of melody and was pretty laid back compared with most of the set. But A Werewolf are more about raw noise than songwriting, and they do noise well. I didn't see that much of the set and i wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. Though by the end of it my ears were shattered and I still had 4 bands to go. 

This was the first Killr Punx Show  I've been to and I'm splitting it up into 5 blogs as Killr Punx presents Why, Said the moon to earth Ep Launch Show, Featuring The Mighty Young,Ultimate  Grand Supreme,Woman and A Werewolf. is a very long title for a blog.

you can get this bands Ep for whatever price you name at the link below.

awerewolf.bandcamp.com/releases
www.facebook.com/awerewolfawerewolf

Duke. Forever young

Duke at the Actress and Bishop 4/4/14

Duke seem to be doing pretty well at the moment. this gig was to be the shoot for a promo video for their upcoming European gigs. I was surprised when i found out that duke were playing 3rd on the bill and that this gig was being filmed on a phone by Lewis girlfriend.
the first band on the bill was 'The Black Fox' a two piece rock band who i found to be a little uninspiring, they played some originals and some covers, including a rather down beat version of 'get lucky'
After a band huddle 'Duke' headed onto the stage and played a solid set. They're getting stronger and tighter as a band and they played a selection of the songs from the new EP.  The new tracks definitely mark a step up from the first EP. Duke put on a good show.  it was just a shame that barely anyone had shown up to see it, because Duke were easily the best band on the bill last night.
I had a chat with Jack (the bands singer)  after the gig and he talked about his love of Oasis and dismay at the jangly indie bands currently ruling the scene, that there is a lack of balls  in a lot of band. We don't really agree on everything, (I'm a massive fan of Peace, and he's not) but his words definitely rang true while watching. Karma Corner, and Fallen Clouds. both reasonably good indie bands but no real balls. not when compared with duke anyway. They've got good songs and they play them well.
Duke have headlined this venue before to much bigger audiences before and proved themselves to be a great live act. Its a shame that so few got to see them this time.

Oh and another thing. Here  is the bands first Music video - filmed by Lewis Girlfriend on a mobile phone https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0qWOsmsyYhE

 http://www.weareduke.co.uk

Oh, and one more thing. here are a few photos of the band i took after the gig in front of the ladies toilets. It was really dark in that little corner so i used my cameras flash to light it up. after about the  4th shot i think I'd blinded them.  but i think these shots were worth it.