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

  1. Live Review: We Are The Ocean, Hawk Eyes, 22 And Mallory Knox @ The Great Escape

    Posted Tuesday, 15 May 2012 at 15:08 by Andy Ritchie

    Having kicked things off yesterday with some of the UK’s finest talent rocking our stage, today sees us a) feeling a bit smug b) even more hungover and c) equally as excited for Day Two at The Concorde II. The good news is Mallory Knox are on hand to make everyone’s day a bit more manageable and led by frontman Mikey Chapman’s incredible vocal talents, this evening sees them once again proving why they’re just, like, so hot right now. Seriously, the dude’s got pipes.

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  2. Live Review: Kids In Glass Houses, Lower Than Atlantis, Don Broco & Max Raptor @ The Great Escape

    Posted Monday, 14 May 2012 at 17:17 by Ben Patashnik

    It’s never easy to kick off a festival but Max Raptor make a decent fist of it, warming up the crowd with more than a few gutsy riffs and a general sense of abandon. Theirs is a peculiar brand of rock – not quite gnarled enough to be hardcore, but certainly more barbed than the UK’s current crop of big-hitters – and the growing audience is certainly appreciative; the come-on-let’s-fucking-go-for-it funcore stylings of Don Broco kick things up a notch, though, and Brighton responds appropriately. The likes of ‘Beautiful Morning’ and ‘Priorities’ are received like old friends and, with charisma by the bucketload, it seems like Broco’s summer is going to be full of gigs like this: pleasantly chaotic, and immensely enjoyable.

    The good vibes seem to have infected Lower Than Atlantis too – in a good way. Mike Duce has grown into an engaging, witting frontman over the past year or so and he’s on great form tonight: even though LTA don’t seem to be that well-known in Brighton yet he’s smart and funny, and ‘Deadliest Catch’, ‘If The World Was To End’ and Marilyn’s Mansion’ all drip liberally with personality. Arguably, that’s what sets them aside from many of their peers – they sing about getting stoned and drunk and being a bit miserable, which is hardly groundbreaking, but on nights like tonight, when they just crank it out and turn their melodies and riffs into hammer-blow punches, they’re unstoppable. And in a world where Joey Barton is called a ‘character’ because he manages to be both a violent shit-thick hooligan and a violent shit-thick footballer, it’s good to have bedraggled herberts like LTA who have actual character, who are who they are because they don’t know how to be anything other.

    For Kids In Glass Houses, tonight’s another chance to effectively reintroduce themselves. Playing only three songs from last year’s outstanding but largely unloved ‘In Gold Blood’ (‘Black Crush’, ‘Animals’ and ‘Diamond Days’) and focusing instead on their first two records, the likes of ‘Saturday’ and ‘Matters At All’ elicit the greatest response. What’s most evident, though, is just how much people genuinely love ‘Youngblood (Let It Out)’ and ‘Undercover Lover’ – KIGH are five years deep on the scene and maybe they’re still finding their feet, but on tonight’s evidence, some truths are irrefutable. Firstly, dudes can play what struck RS about ‘…Blood’ is how effortlessly musical it was, and ‘Black Crush’ soars, thanks in no small part to Iain Mahanty’s rich guitar-work. Secondly, Aled Phillips, when he wants to be, is a great frontman – when he lets his wit and charm come to the foreground rather than trying to strike a pose he’s magnetic. And finally, Kids are a band with a fine catalogue of choruses, and that’s no small thing. Where next for them? Who knows. But, as they show on a rainy night beside the seaside, they have options.

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  3. Why I Went Back To DIY, by Joseph Trohman

    Posted Thursday, 10 May 2012 at 17:54 by Joe Trohman

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    Many of you may know me as the furthest thing from "do it yourself". Whether it's through Fall Out Boy or via The Damned Things, you'd probably assume I've had a lot of serious outside help pushing my bands and projects to get the most exposure possible. And for the most part, that's been true for a very long time.

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  4. The Day Marilyn Manson Grabbed My Bollocks, by Ian Camfield

    Posted Thursday, 3 May 2012 at 21:49 by Rock Sound

    Marilyn Manson's new album 'Born Villain' is out this week so we reached out to a friend for a trip down Marilyn's memory lane. Ian Camfield has interview MM on plenty of occasions, but in 2009 he got, well, erm, so...maybe we'll just let him explain what happened to his testicles!

    Now, just remember one thing all you keyboard warriors out there; this is Ian's story and Ian's recollection of events, if you got beef go take it up with him. Don't go getting all CAPS LOCK AT US because he got his nuts felt by a rock and roll icon! Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, over to you Ian...

    Rock Sound had the idea that it could be entertaining to write a behind the scenes account of what happens in the production of an interview for The Xfm Rock Show. Since the show’s inception in 1998, I have probably spoken to, on average, one artist a week. So you do the maths on how many conversations that amounts to. Most have been decent, a few dull, many great. In truth, even when discussing random topics with some of Rock’s most colourful characters, there aren’t many stories to tell in addition to those you hear on the radio. One notable exception to this was the day I met Marilyn Manson in 2009.

    On previous occasions I had found Manson to be engaging, articulate and incredibly eloquent. Even if he was adorned in full stage regalia, within moments my attention was always deflected from his outfit, no matter how distracting, as I became conscious of needing to be on my A-Game. He was a guest who required total focus. He did not give interviews by numbers. In my role as the interrogator, there was a need to “keep up.”

    Unfortunately, in 2009 his interviews were barely fit for broadcast. Upon arriving at the studio where we were recording it was obvious Manson had been making quite a day of it, possibly several days. His PR person was pale and exhausted, quietly confiding in me they’d just come from a TV recording, for a show, which was now highly unlikely to ever invite the Antichrist Superstar back. The usually impressively dressed frontman was this time wearing a hoody and some badly applied make-up. And asking if he could “do cocaine.” Then, without waiting for an answer, he produced a rolled up £50 note.

    A young lady was a part of the entourage. While she was never formally introduced, her Rock Star ‘friend’ was proudly showing pictures of tattoos on various intimate parts of her body. I would later discover his companion’s role was rather understated in my studio, as the following day she attended a BBC session, where she remained silent and completely naked the entire time.

    And so to the interview… As the aroma of absinth filled the room I attempted to garner some sense from our hero, but this was an uphill struggle. Occasionally he would rub my leg, a couple of times he grabbed my bollocks, all while maintaining virtual incoherence. “Ask me how much we’ve cost the label in drugs during the last three days” he demanded, now playing the role of both interviewer and interviewee.

    With hindsight, I think this was very much Manson’s midlife crisis. He’d been through a divorce, was not at a creative peak and about to dissolve relations with his long term major label. After a lukewarm reception to The High End Of Low album, his Download performance that year suggested he was in similar shape that day as he was upon our meeting a few months prior.

    Sadly this story ends with Xfm’s lawyers dissecting the interview and declaring that the most entertaining parts could not be aired. Perhaps they are destined for a podcast in the future.

    Marilyn Manson plays the Brixton Academy on July 05, Ian hosts the Xfm Rock Show every Sunday night from 10.00pm to 02.00am. This week there are exclusive interviews with While She Sleeps and Download Festival organiser Andy Copping plus you can win tickets to this year's fest! For more head to xfm.co.uk/rockshow.

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  5. Now Playing….Young Kato

    Posted Wednesday, 2 May 2012 at 13:13 by Rock Sound


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