Big Crux

Interview with Elliot QP, One of the Better Reviewers (and Definitely one of the Younger) Reviewers of Heavy Music

Y’know that lad who’s around 13 & does all those amazing “to camera” reviews of heavy music over on Youtube? Well, his name’s Elliot & I decided it’s be a cool idea to have a chat with him for Louder Than War.

And y’know what? Dude’s a fuckin’ joy to work with. Much better than all those flaky musician types. Got his answers back to me in 2 days & apologised for his tardiness! Haha! More power to his arm anyway. That Neurosis review’s now up at 12,000 reviews! 

Louder Than War: Firstly can you tell us what kind of music you’re into & how old you were you when you first got into it. Perhaps this would be a good place to list a few of your favorite bands / labels!

EQPTV: I’m a massive fan of genres like post-metal, sludge, progressive, ambient, hardcore and so on. I generally like to listen to music which has a large amount of substance and changes often throughout an album or track. My favourite bands are Isis, Neurosis, Mastodon, The Ocean and bands of their ilk. There are certain labels that I fully support too such as Holy Roar and Hydra Head, Nuclear Blast, Inside Out Music, Southern Lord, Relapse…. The list goes on.

Louder Than War: Next logical question is how did you get into this kind of music?

EQPTV: I became interested in music through a series of bands when I was about 6, starting with The Doors and The Beatles. I became fascinated by the later era of The Beatles because of how strange and experimental it sounded to me at the time. The Doors were so dark at points, but had an incredible sense of melody. I later got into The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead. Miserable songs, but incredibly melodic and catchy. I watched a film, I think it was Flushed Away, which contained the song ‘Bohemian Like You’ by The Dandy Warhols… I thought that was heavy at the time as I was about 6 or 7 then. I asked my dad if he had any ‘hard rock’. He played me Black Sabbath - War Pigs. Of course this was heavy metal, and I was converted for life. I went on to find bands like RATM, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and a lot of my favourite bands through music websites. I spent a lot of time doing research about music and bands and it became a constant hobby of mine. All birthdays and Christmas’ that followed were for metal CDs and books.

It wasn’t until I was about 10 when I really got into bands like Neurosis, Isis and Pelican. They were difficult bands to get into, but once I did, I was hooked for life.

Continue reading the interview here: http://louderthanwar.com/interview-with-elliot-qp-heavy-musics-youngest-most-accomplished-reviewer/

Strife - Witness A Rebirth. Another In A Short Series Of 2012 Highlights.

As someone who’s just about old enough to remember when Strife first began releasing rekkids I’ve gotta say, Witness A Rebirth has definitely been my hardcore highlight of 2012. Apart from all the gigs of course. (And what a great year it’s been for them). 

And that’s not just nostalgia kicking in that’s a red hot FACT kicking in. 

It’s probably safe to say the only reason Witness A Rebirth scored a no. 16 in Louder Than War’s top 200 was because I repped it so hard but hec, if it doesn’t deserves not much else does. 

I’d give some serious good money to see them over here next year. If someone could arrange that for me that’d be radness personified & I’d thanky muchly.

MINE & Pariso. The Croft. Bristol.

So I went to The Croft on Tues for Pariso’s gig which was, naturally enough, a blast. Think Mazz had forgotten how low the ceiling is in there tho, dude went & uttered the line “I’m gonna jump off that (pointing towards an amp) & you’re gonna all hold me up” in a voice that suggested he thought we were just gonna watch him ‘jump off that’ (the amp) & go ‘splat’ on the floor. But ‘we’ didnt, ‘we’ held him up. Held him up so proper & good & well in fact that he ended up being pushed quite hard into the ceiling, it only being a foot or so  above the shortest persons head. Pretty hard to sing when you can’t get your mic to your mouth coz your mouths tasting the whitewash the ceilings painted with. (At this point I’m tempted to go so far as to say he was CRUSHED against the ceiling, but I won’t coz that’d be a well dodgy pun I I’d be opening my elf up to accusations of being the biggest waaaaaaankaaaaaa ever on Tumblr. And my elf wouldn’t like that). 

Pariso were great again but it lacked a bit of the heat of the gig they played with Weekend Nacho’s earlier in the year. Strictly on account of the audience not being as up for it of course, Pariso were as shit hot as ever. Fucking love those changes of pace they throw in & the massive crunching riffs. Dudes rock fecking hard.

MINE were pretty much as good as Pariso for my money. I’d completely forgotten they were playing & got into the venue just as they were beginning their set. Stood there for a minute or so thinking “Fuck, what’s a band this motherfucking tight doing playing this low down the bill”. Eventually the penny dropped though & I remembered they’re a supergroup (feat former members of Hang The Bastard, A Long Time Dead and Centurions Ghost) so of course they were tight. Plus it was their first every gig which explained their billing.

Assuming they don’t implode or anything these guys are gonna do vay good. Although not in the Pariso mould they still made an ace foil for them. No massive metally riffs from them, more of a measured post rock style of music, lots of build ups lulling you into a false sense of security before they launch into heavier screaming & fast guitar playing, all peppared with some clever tricky guitar playing. They were more cerebral than most of your hardcore bands but just as stomach churningly exciting.

Anyway I think MINE are on Holy Roar. There’s a bit about them plus details about pre-ordering their next release over on HR’s website here (you’ll need to scroll down a bit). In the meantime the track below was given away as a free download recently. I suggest you download it freely, listen to it a lot & then pre-order the record. IF you know what’s good for you AND you trust me.

Dead Chemists’s Videos

We Came Out Like Tigers - 03/04/2012 from Dead Chemists on Vimeo.

Motherfucking Jesus Bastard Egg That Wept, just done this once & lost it coz shitty Tumblr doesn’t auto save. Never thought I’d be wishing I used Wordpress to blog. 

Anyway (again) if you’re in Bristol you’ll know that one of the cities foremost Hardcore promoters are Dead Chemist & it seems they have a Vimeo channel featuring lots of video’s from show’s they’ve put on. If you’re interested Dead Chemist are one of the reason’s the cities getting a rep as one of the UK’s hotbeds of all thing’s fast n furious.

Bands / gigs featured here include the likes of Weekend Nacho’s gig at the The Croft and the Witch Cult / Unsu gig from back in Feb at the Gryphon.

Also featured are (see above) We Came Out Like Tigers who are playing in Briz again in a few weeks (6th Oct) with Cavalcades. Will be another awesome evening. Come along & punch some floors why dontcha? Deets here. Oh, and you can give Dead Chemist some liking on Facebook here too if you want.

Notebooks, Vales, Svalbard, We Came Out Like Tigers & Suis La Lune.

The title has these bands listed in order of best to worst.

Notebooks!!!!! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!!! Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Angry, Noisy and dark hardcore/sludge from Scotland” just about sums it up. THE most powerful band I think I’ve ever seen. If there were a contest where a bunch of bands were given the same kit, amps, stage & auditorium & told to make as biiiiiiiiiig a noise as possible Notebooks would come along & piss on everyone else. Imagine they can just squeeze more angry out of the same kit than any other band. 

Any. Other. Band.

All. Of. Them.

Ecouté:

It’s like a struggle to keep your position when they start playing & not be knocked backerds* by the force of their sound.

So psyched they were, so rapt in the music, so rapt in making noise, so rapt in making mincemeat of your eardrums, so so so…………so RAPT. The bass player in particular kept on trying to punch inanimate things, like the ceiling & the wall at the back of the room. Funny. And psyched. And RAPT.

Mad thing was I only came along tonight to see Suis La Lune & Vales (née Veils). Got there & found I could get into the front bar gig for an extra squiddiddly (1 of my english (or scottish for tonights porpoises) pounds). BEST POUND I EVER SPENT.

Suis La Lune were a bit lame but straight out of seeing Notebooks that wasn’t surprising.

Vales were dope, rad & siiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. Chlo was a FUCKING TROUPER, despite her voice being obviously fucked (cue swig on bottle of honey at start of the set) she manfully (womanfully) screamed her way through their whole set. So many clever changes of pace. Really intelligent hardcore, amazing they’ve only been going around a year. Everything you’d expect from a band of their ilk, no real new tricks but everything was done their way. This wasn’t some random hardcore gig this was Vales. Yep, they’ve been hyped a bit but they deserve it. Think this tour (or the name change) has marked a new stage for them, they’ve shifted up a gear, shit’s clicked. DO not miss this band play if you get a chance.

Elephants & rooms, proving the inclusivity of the hardcore scene, tonight not only saw a band with a woman in it but also a band with a black guy in it (!) (yay!) & a band with a VIOLIN (!) (yay!) in it. Sad that such occurrences are so rare that they’re worthy of comment of course. Fecking violins should feature more in hardcore. We Came Out Like Tigers were with a violin. They were rad. Another band new to me but now I’ve seen them I’m gonna remember that name coz they’re flipping ace. They have a free download you can get here. Emotive & honest they’re a Liverpool screamo band (don’t think I’m entirely sure what a screamo band is, they seemed like a straight up hardcore act to me, bit like any of the swell (rip) or crush bands around atm. But I’m obviously an oaf w/out a clue). They fecking rocked anyhow.

After Suis La Lune who were ok, nowt special, just ok, & on tonights bills that didnae really cut it, I rushed back to the front room for Bristol’s Svalbard who got the juices flowing again, got me moving again. Great band. “Super Rad” to quote Matt. Another band that kind of defy compartmentalising, an alternative, melodic hardcore band featuring lots of people from separate Bristol bands. Worth checking out some time. If you get a chance.

AND:

THE END.

*backwards.

Weekend Nachos, The Long Haul, Pariso, Witch Cult

I got in late & missed the first two bands, Merciless Precision & Atomck so here’s who I saw:

Let It Die (Main Room)

Witch Cult (Front Room) 

Shoot The Bastard (Main Room) 

Pariso (Front Room)

The Afternoon Gentleman (Main Room) 

The Long Haul (Front Room) 

Weekend Nachos (Main Room) 

A long anticipated stonking great evening featuring some of the best hardcore around at the moment. It totally didnt fail to please. Not one iota.

I was a bit anxious going down to this gig to be honest as it was entirely feasible that someone who’d been kind of cyber bullying me would be there (you know, making up lies about me, calling me names, threatening me, that sort of shit) but ultimately there was no way I was gonna miss out on this evening & it would’ve looked like I felt guilty if I hadn’t gone. So I went. And shit was I glad that I did coz this was some night.

Two gigs had been amalgamated for this one night, across both front & back rooms at the Croft.  The front room was headed up by Weekend Nachos & The Afternoon Gentlemen, the back by Pariso & The Long Haul. 

In each room every band improved on the previous one (tho it’s probably not accurate to say that of the whole night). If I were to award a top 3 Weekend Nachos would score top spot coz they were, like, out of this world. Really fucking unbelievable. Even better than Trash Talk. Which, I know, is unbelievable. But below them I’d have put Pariso in third place, a mere whisker behind The Long Haul whose music I wasn’t too familiar with before seeing them but bloody well am now - top band.

The front room has a capacity of 75 but the whole venue had almost sold out which made for some hot sweaty, fun times in there. Witch Cult were pretty amazing again but coulda done without the hate moshing, (ie the guys in the ‘pit’ bundling full pelt into those stood round the side). Although that was kind of fun too a bit if I’m completely honest. It makes you feel ALIVE like. Weird how Witch Cult inspire hate noshing - same happened when they played The Gryphon a few months back. Didn’t really happen with any of the other bands.

Pariso were as ace as I knew they’d be, still love (obviously) Nothing Beyond Everything After & a lot of what they played was off that. So much riffage. And like I say, The Long Haul were a revelation, riffs n power but clever with it, tricksy tempo changes, chopping around, keeping you on your feet. Literally in my case, bouncing on tip toes quite excitedly.

I was reminded while reading Jed’s review of this gig that people were crowdsurfing in the room which, with it’s 7 foot ceiling, meant they were getting properly squashed against it. I couldn’t stop with the “haha, oof, haha, oof“‘s as I watched them.

Weekend Nachos were just astonishing. Pummeling violent hardcore at its pummeling violent best. It was great watching the two sets of fans from different ends of the hardcore spectrum all getting down & dirty with each other. No fucking “my scene’s better than your scene” stuff, more like “hey, your scene’s pretty cool too” sort of thing. (I imagine, didn’t actually hear anyone say that). Hopefully these people will be more adventurous in the future.

Be awesome if the Croft made it law that if someone pays to go into a gig in one room you can also go into the other room between bands, like #indiepop in one room & #deathmetal in the other. It worked with #ukcrush bands in one room & #powerviolence bands in the other so I bet it’d could work with other combo’s too. I’d be stoked coz I fucking love anything. Except, as I’ve pointed out before, britpop.

Mad night anyway, gonna be one of the best of the year no question. Roll on the next one.

Pariso: Nothing Beyond Everything After - album review.

Did a slightly rambly, very effusive review of the above for Louder Than War today. If you wanna check it in all its effusive rambly glory get ye going hithurrrrrr ☞ Pariso: Nothing Beyond Everything After - album review.

No one’s made any comments on it yet, so you could be first. Something like “Dope fucking elbym but the writing tends towards the overly rambly & overly effusive.” should do it.

Guess I should embed this ere video now, for good measure y’know? There may be someone out there aint seen it eh?

Pariso - Nothing Beyond Everything After

Getting shit back on a hardcore tip, this new stuff from Pariso’s soon to be released album frigging rips dunnit? Hard as f’ing nails, guaranteed to trample to buggery what senses you’ve got left after all those years of going to mad noisy gigs.

They’re playing at the Croft start of July w/ shed loads of other proper blunt bands - think I may’ve mentioned this already once or twice? It’ll be one of those front room / back room jobbies by the look of it - big lineup (and BIG lineup). Check gig deets out here. (Of course if I’m asked not to go then I won’t coz I’m like that - there’s no need for threats or anything like that, a polite request always does it, he says, somewhat cryptically).

Anyway, Pariso are also giving away the track embedded via their Bandcamp. Album’s out on 28th May which is a bummer as I’ll be offline for a week from then so will have to wait to get my hands on it. Happen I should use the “I’m the reviews ed for Louder Than War & can you sort me out with a download code / streaming link please” line so I can get it before the rest of you’s (then of course actually buy it when I get a chance coz I’m like that - despite doing about 40 hours unpaid work on LTW a week to support ‘music’ in general I still feel uncomfortable getting stuff for free. I know, I’m a twat. And then of course if I do get sent stuff for free I feel dead guilty if i don’t review (or delegate for review) whatever I was sent. Crazy. 

A final thought on the music: sometimes only brutal will do. Whaddya mean you already knew that?