The Cult: Many Happy Returns To 'Love'

As wrong as it may seem, one song can make or break a record and there have been many examples over the years of sales figures swelling thanks to a game-changing track.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 20 October 2015

A Blade In Your Wrist Tape: The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell, Punk Rock And Pro Wrestling

Dan Campbell of the Wonder Years is a couple of thousand miles from home and among an excitable crowd of a few hundred at a California American Legion hall. There’s no back line in place and he’s not about to pick up a microphone. He’s gone coast to coast to watch wrestling.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 15 October 2015

Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd's Finest Hour

Ask a random person on the street to name a Pink Floyd album and it's a safe bet they'll say 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'.  Considering it is one of the biggest selling albums in history, a cast-iron classic and owner of one of the iconic sleeves in rock, that's hardly a surprise. But it isn't the band's creative zenith. That honour belongs to 1975’s 'Wish You Were Here', a record that recently celebrated its 40th birthday and one that flawlessly encapsulates each element that made the legendary group tick.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Devin Townsend: Louder Than The Pope

Friday afternoon. London hustles and, occasionally, bustles. St James’s church peeks from the Piccadilly landscape, but inside its hallowed confines is something strange. Something different.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 12 October 2015

No Back Up Plan: The Return Of City And Colour

“I never really had a dream to be a successful musician. I just started singing and playing from a young age and that’s all I latched on to. I was never really interested in anything else. I’m glad it worked out, ‘cos I didn’t have a back up plan.”

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 07 October 2015

Critical, But Funny With It: FTSE On 'Joyless' And Collaboration

Sam Manville is a realist. He named the debut FTSE album ‘Joyless’ because, sometimes, that is exactly how he feels about life.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 05 October 2015

Trivium: 'Silence In The Snow' And A Debt To Dio

August 7, 2015. Sabaton scorched the Earth beneath their feet in a pyrotechnic-fuelled display of manliness. Fists were pumped. Muscles were flexed. Testosterone flooded the floor of Bloodstock and the gauntlet was thrown with tremendous force at Trivium's feet. As debut headliners, following that should have had the Floridian metallers quaking in their unbelievably shiny boots.  

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Misery Loves Company: The Cult Allure Of Tom McRae

When it comes to the world-weary troubadour, being an outsider fighting for recognition is pretty much a cast iron badge of authenticity. In which case Tom McRae – who has spent the last 15 years quietly forging a reputation as one of Britain's finest songwriters – is the bona-fide sheriff of the guitar-wielding posse.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 28 September 2015

Black Sabbath: Many Happy Returns To 'Paranoid'

In 1970, free love, flower power and the psychedelic excesses of the previous decade were still fresh in the memory. The ‘60s had culminated in Woodstock, and there was anxiety and concern at the outset of a new time, almost as though a generation realised that the fun couldn’t last forever. Heavy rock hulked into view, part saviour and part destroyer of what went before it.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2015

'You Have To Believe It's Going To Get Better': Craig Finn's Faith In The Future

The crowd was too quiet. No one spoke, no glasses clinked. It was a cabaret of sorts, hosted by the New York Times and dotted with Broadway talent. Immediately before his set, a tap dancer performed. Mid-song, backed only by his guitar, Craig Finn thought his hands might start to shake.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 18 September 2015

The Menzingers: Portrait Of A Band As Cult Heroes

td#right {display:none !important;} One bus and two tubes. The 355 to Brixton, the Victoria line north and District west. Headphones in, likely crammed against the frame of a door. In the summer of 2010, my iPod played the Menzingers' 'Chamberlain Waits'. Every day.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 September 2015

Noise Not Music #13: Blacklisters, Christian Fitness And More

A late Noise Not Music this month, but one that hopes to make up for its belated appearance with a wide range of brilliant noisemaking, from Leeds’s answer to Big Black to avant-garde extreme metal at its most thoughtful.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 17 September 2015

Radio Songs: White Reaper And Punk's Pop Sensibility

Strip away the flags and bunting and it often boils down to a desire to play fast and loud. Since Dee Dee Ramone started belting out the 1234s that base punk urge has warped and mutated, but in White Reaper we have a band who get the idea on a basic level.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 15 September 2015

It Either Gets Better Or It Doesn't: FIDLAR Ride Again With 'Too'

td#right {display:none !important;} Illustration: Tom Norton The wheels might fall off at any moment. Things shake and roll before crashing to an unexpected halt. There’s almost a pause for breath, but then it starts again. FIDLAR’s first record was nothing if not honest about its intentions. Fuck it, dog. Life’s a risk.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 04 September 2015

Blood Brothers: Clarence Clemons And The Soul Of 'Born To Run'

Described by Bruce Springsteen as “the biggest man you ever seen”, the late Clarence Clemons left behind a legacy as large as his frame. While the beloved E Street Band saxophonist achieved success as a solo artist, actor and collaborator with Aretha Franklin and Lady Gaga, it was his work on 'Born To Run' - currently celebrating its 40th anniversary - that set the Big Man and the Boss on the road to musical immortality.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2015

Reading Festival: The Power Of Hetfield And The Endless Crisp Debate

td#right {display:none !important;} Photo: Reading Main Stage by Jen O'Neill/Reading Festival Rain pours. The old man snores. But he's woken by the clanging death knell of the summer festival season: Reading and Leeds. In the deepest, darkest recesses of the M4 corridor, hardened veterans roll in the mud, newbies anxiously sip from paper goblets of overpriced beer and swarms of gurning GCSE graduates fancy themselves as the successors to Johnny Knoxville and his roving band of Jackass clowns. Let's have you, Reading.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 01 September 2015

Bring Me The Horizon: Anatomy Of A Future Festival Headliner

People have been calling it for years, but few really believed. Cynics scoffed as fans valiantly denied that their band could succumb to such mainstream pandering. But, in 2015, Bring Me The Horizon are in the box seat as future headliners of some of the world’s biggest festivals.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 25 August 2015

Bloodstock 2015: Brutality And Brioche Rolls

Out in the campsite wilderness, there’s a man dressed as a tube of toothpaste and the bin-jousting tournaments are already in full swing. It’s only Thursday night. Hello again, Bloodstock, you many-headed metal beast.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Sweet Baboo: The Singer, Changing Perceptions And 'The Boombox Ballads'

td#right {display:none !important;} Image: Tom Norton/Kirsten McTernan ​​The idea that pop is a multi-purpose, one-size-fits-all commodity is a popular one. It’s the backbone of the snobs’ charter and the reason that so many music fans feel compelled to mount the ‘anything but the top 40’ defence. In its purest form, though, pop is what makes us tick. It’s where our greatest loves and losses find purpose, where communication is prized and where three minute songs become epics in the hands of the right performer. It can be transformative, surprising and, above all else, fun.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 07 August 2015

Misfits: Live In London And Living Forever

Photo: Jessica Wollstein Photography To describe the Misfits' Crimson Ghost simply as a band logo would be to do it a great disservice. It's not just a logo. The cadaverous ghoul, nicked from a mid ‘40s film serial of the same name, appears everywhere: t-shirts, skateboards, flip-flops, pants, bath curtains. It's invaded all corners of modern society. It comes as something of a shock, then, to hear Jerry Only say: “Even to this day, the band still isn't commercially successful.”

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 03 August 2015