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Straight from the 'Hang on, does anyone need to know this?' part of our brains to your screen.

Do You Want Work Experience With Rock Sound?
Posted Monday, 29 April 2013 at 11:00 by Ben Patashnik
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Working at Rock Sound isn't all writing about awesome bands and going to gigs. Sometimes we play darts and go to festivals, too.

We're currently looking to take on prospective journalists on four-weekly editorial work experience placements starting at the beginning of September 2013, and we're booking up until the end of September 2014. If you want a head-start in music journalism then we want to hear from you: we're looking for talented, savvy and motivated people who will get stuck right in and who are as keen to do the menial tasks as they are the cool stuff.

Work experience is by no means a guaranteed short-cut to a job, but bear in mind that in the past, several previous placements have led to paid work, as one of our staffers got a start at Rock Sound through work experience, as did a number of our regular freelance writers. See? Dreams can come true.

Duties you can expect to undertake include but are not limited to transcription, proofing pages, sourcing and writing news stories and potentially interviewing bands. The more ideas you have, the more work we'll give you and the more we'll like you.

If you're interested please send your CV, the dates you're available, an appropriate 100-word review written in Rock Sound's style and a 100-word statement on why you'd be right for us to the editor [your first job: finding the editor's email address on this website] with 'Rock Sound Work Experience' as the subject. Applicants must be over 18 years of age and all placements are based in our London office (near Aldgate East / Whitechapel tube stations). Only successful applicants will be contacted. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay expenses.

Applications close on Monday May 06.
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Chi Cheng, 1970 - 2013, Remembered By A Close Friend
Posted Monday, 22 April 2013 at 14:56 by Rock Sound
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Deftones are my favourite band. There are bands that we love during our life time and there are those that save our lives. Their music and friendship has got me through some incredibly tough times in my life and they will forever be in my heart and soul.
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Heaven’s Basement US Tour Blog, Part One!
Posted Tuesday, 2 April 2013 at 23:10 by Rock Sound
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It was freezing cold and icy in the UK when we left, I was nervously excited to head to Texas. Flying to me is a slight anomaly to my mind, It doesn't matter how many times you bunjee jump off a bridge, the floor's still there looking up at you with a smarmy grin, and that's how I feel about flying. But, besides what my subconscious was thinking, I knew exactly what we had to achieve while we were out there, and at opportunities like this, i'll play to my death to achieve a response from an audience. We all do.
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Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun US Tour Blog
Posted Tuesday, 2 April 2013 at 15:00 by Rock Sound
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Last month, we flew out to the USA to support Dropkick Murphy’s on their infamous St Patricks’ Day Tour and managed to sneak in a couple shows of our own in Harrisburg, PA and at SXSW in Austin, TX. Beginning in Atlanta, GA, our van snaked its way around the East coast en route to Boston, MA.

Clockwise L to R: DKM Tour Buses, Shiny ‘Lammies’, Phil throwing the horns, DKM lighting up The Tabernacle and Si with our tour shirt.

DAY ONE – The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA.

We arrived in New Jersey disoriented and full of recycled air. After working out our bearings, drinking gallons of soda, picking up our gear and driving some 14 hours from New York to Atlanta - we knuckled down to play our first show on American soil. The busy crowd were very loud and welcoming, a great start to the run!

Clockwise: Onstage at the Fillmore, Si setting up, Jim and Ryan doing the lifting and Post-show burger feast.

DAY TWO – The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC

Feeling strangely at home already the Fillmore show ended up being one of our favourites, another full and welcoming crowd made our job pretty easy. Afterwards we piled into the diner across the street for burgers and fried Oreos. Waistline already being tested at this point.

Clockwise: Norva listings, an excellent photo bomb by a Dropkicks fan and Si braving the cold Virginia wind.

DAY THREE – The Norva, Norfolk, VA

One of the liveliest by far, fights in the pit and chants of ‘lets go Murphy’s’ drowned out the music for the hour before we played and for 2 or so hours after. These are the shows we love. Joey our new friend from Old Man Markley regailed us with Rancid covers on the piano in DKM’s dressing room too. A good night.

Clockwise LtoR: Gear set up, Si Warming up, The open Road, Harrisburg streets, Beer can shaker, Chris and Ry discuss tech tactics.

DAY FOUR – Fed Live, Harrisburg, PA

Our first headline show in the US goes to Harrisburg, an apparently ‘small’ town in Pennsylvania. Pre-show pints of Rum make for a hazy memory but some lovely folks from New York travelled by train to Harrisburg to attend. Without a tambourine for our ‘Boat Song’ crowd invasion we whittled one ourselves from broken pieces of plastic and a beer can. Rock’n’roll.

CW: Philadelphia skyline, Electric logo and lights, Wendy’s lunch, our tech Ryan hard at work and Dropkick’s set.

DAY FIVE – Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA

We slept too late to see any of Philadelphia, no mention of finding the Fresh Prince or reenacting the scene from Rocky, ah well, maybe next time. We were greeted at the show by a pretty vocal Electric Factory crowd, bodies were being passed over the front barriers during our set, they were mostly being shown the door during DKM’s. A drunk Saturday night in Philidelphia. A rowdy one, to say the least.

Clockwise LtoR: Chris at IHOP, 9:30 Burgers, Onstage in DC, Phil’s ‘pick-me-up’, Jim and Chris learning Nickelback songs, Phil’s Melodica solo.

DAY SIX - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC.

Washington’s antics included a pancake breakfast, free Ziploc bag of coffee, Jim punching a hole in his guitar on stage, the best hospitality and a load of cheesy cover songs. The next day was filled with visiting Great Falls, the White House, Washington Monument, our mate Abe and China town. DC was winning by this point.

Clockwise: Soundcheck at Terminal 5, driving into the city and hanging out in Times Square

DAY SEVEN: Terminal 5 , New York, NY

When you get a tour schedule through there’s always one show you’re most excited for, this was ours, and it didn’t disappoint. A great reception from the big city crowd, some free time to work on new songs and Ken Casey beat up a Nazi stage invader during DKM’s encore. A good night all round.

CW: Jim onstage, Si hanging out, Phil and Jim on the porch and the frantic 6th street.

DAY EIGHT – SXSW Austin, TX

A five-hour flight found us in the company of the Xtra Mile crew, Glossary and Frank Turner. The searing Texan sun had let up by the time our Midnight set came around and the crowd were suitable watered and ready for the show. Austin is our favourite place to be in the States, though that might have something to do with Shiner Bock and the baking heat.

Ken Casey saluting the DKM crowd on St Patrick’s Day

DAY NINE – St Patrick’s Day, Boston, MA

Boston will be remembered as a bit of a blur. To play a show there on St Patrick’s Day with Dropkicks was amazing, and a great way to finish the tour. The Boston crowd was the best of the run it was a pleasure to play to them. Following a brief run around Fenway park and some street hot dogs we toasted the tour in a secret room in the House of Blues. Let’s Go Dropkicks.

After two weeks of shows, highways, and Pabst Blue Ribbon cans, we were heading home. We’re eagerly awaiting our return to the US this Autumn. Until then, we are stoked to be back touring the UK. A tour to finish off the what we cut short a few months ago which starts at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham on the 2nd or April. A full list of dates can be found on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jimlockeyandthesolemnsun.

FULL BLOG OF THE TRIP CAN BE FOUND HERE:
www.jimlockeyandthesolemnsun.tumblr.com

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Gustav Wood’s US Tour Blog: Part 2!
Posted Friday, 22 March 2013 at 14:38 by Rock Sound
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Backstage, knitting factory, Spokane, WA

Ahh backstage. Apart from the mountains of cocaine and a strippers there isn't much to do backstage at shows and if you aren't doing 'official band stuff' you spend much of your time having to amuse yourself in some way. From watching crap on your laptop to hiding your tour manager's important things to drinking for the sake of it, you are limited only by your imagination. We're pretty brain dead from years of said drinking, so spend most of our time sitting in silence staring at screens alone, and occasionally playing Risk on iPad together. We're all super competitive and it's never long before the scheming begins, alliances are forged and broken and someone emerges victorious. This time it was me.

Hard at work at Merch Seattle WA

A familiar sight if you've ever gone up to a Merch table mid show, and a clear example of why not many people in bands are ever likely to win sales person of the year. Nothing says 'come buy stuff' like a bunch of surly looking dudes (in this instance most of YG) glued to their phones, head down. We all know its bad, but we can't help it - wifi is a drug and we're always jonesing for our next fix, especially when so many thousands of miles away from home. We're nice really, come and say hello.

Ben and Simon at The Grand Canyon

To celebrate reaching no.1 on the radio chart we went to the Grand Canyon and shouted 'we're no.1!' into the canyon as loud as we could. Nothing happened but we felt pretty proud anyway. I might have made that up but it was nonetheless a great thing to see and felt like a really special day for us. Not the first American landmark that has made me think of Superman (Niagara Falls was the last place to do that), but I can't help but remember all the times I saw this place on TV when I was a kid and how I would wonder what it would be like to one day go there. To be here today because of my band gives me a buzz, and apart from anything romantic and of personal significance, The Grand Canyon is just fucking massive - indescribably so which is always cool. In the face of something so vast and eons old, you feel small and insignificant. Not an unpleasant feeling, I think.

Me and John hang out with Harry Styles, Fat Cat Lounge Modesto, CA

Who'd have thought we'd bump into Mr. 1 Direction himself at our show in California. Sadly turned out to just be a cardboard cut out (more like 2D, hoho!... Ahem) but thought we'd get a pic anyway. Turns out he was hanging about because the headline act drag him on stage every night so people in the audience can vent their frustrations at the vacuity of the unit-shifting-product-placement-corporate-agenda-pop-world by booing and throwing drinks at Harry. Me and the rest of the guys stand at the back nodding solemnly while hiding our iPods packed with Taylor Swift, 1D, Beyonce and the like. Just kidding, Fraser is wearing a New Kids On The Block tee and we ain't fooling anyone. We like pop music and we don't care who knows! As Dave Grohl recently said, fuck guilty pleasure music - how about just 'pleasure'?
Still, he is a little shit for being so rich.

Las Vegas, Fraser taking a picture at the Ballagio fountains.

Las Vegas! What a fucking intense place. I came here with my brother when I was younger but never really 'did' Vegas right. Certainly not how we have planned to as a band. We play a show in the Hard Rock Hotel before going out and completely ruining ourselves on the strip. I'm quite proud of the fact that I managed to spend one dollar gambling, even though that's mainly because I don't actually have one dollar to spare, but we have an outrageously long and extreme night with the guys in 10 Years and crawl back to our hotel Excalibur in the light of the next morning. It's like a bad acid trip version of a fairy tale castle but I'm too tired and broken to care and we crash hard. The next day (after getting out of bed at 5pm) we wander around and enjoy the fact we have a day off in one of the strangest cities on earth. Fraser is our nominated photographer and documenter of all things YG related (whether he likes it or not) and here he is in his natural position behind a lens at the Bellagio hotel, taking photos of the balletic water fountain show that happens every thirty minutes or so.

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