Descendents

This Christmas my little brother gave me a small tattoo using a needle, a lighter, some Indian ink and the trust that his undergraduate art degree meant he was good as this DIY stuff. What was it of? A square, spectacled, odd little emblem - a caricature of Milo Aukerman, the sometimes singer of the Descendents.   

Now obviously tattoos are the norm nowadays and for the most part connote a notion of “cool” but so far none of mine could be considered such. Wrestling logos, Dickens novels and now some pop-punk dweeb feature on my naturally disgusting body, but this isn’t about tattoos. This is about a band, a documentary film and a tweet I read the night after I got my Milo.

Descendents forever. Both literally and figuratively in my case. This tweet, the square-in-both-senses drawing on my ankle and my recent viewing of Filamge: The Story of Descendents / ALL got me thinking just why I, and so many others (evidently including the awesome pop-punk group The Swellers), love this band.

 The history of the Descendents is somewhat complex and too name change heavy for a lazy writer such as myself to attempt to detail, but Filmage manages to explain it with a comprehendable flair far superior to anything I could churn out. What is more important however, is that through the various periods and changes of their disjointed career the Descendents managed to become one of the most essiential, influential and universally loved bands of the punk genre. Their pop-punk energy, high-school problems lyrics and overall champion of the adolescent persona has always just felt so natural and uncomplicated. This is a notion clearly felt by many, as Filmage features interviews from the likes of Dave Grohl, Mark Hoppus, Tim McIlgrath and Greg Graffin to name a few, highlighting the importance of the Descendents in shaping the punk rock landscape throughout their scrambled history that began in the late seventies and continues in some form today.

However, it’s not just an A-grade punk history lesson that Filmage provides. Directors Deedle Lacour and Matt Riggle manage to capture the very essence of the band through their fast paced, light hearted documentary. They portray the confusion that fuels Descendents with a firm clarity, detailing the juxtapositions of exactly why a cherished lead singer chose being a scientist over a rockstar, why the band morphed into the side-group ALL and exactly how that silly little logo came to mean so much to so many. Every grim, flatulant and embarassing story is revealed and that’s what makes it such an accurate reflection of the group. Descendents are farts, doing your homework, wanking because you can’t get laid, choosing petri dishes over platinum records and ultimately fantasising over what it must be like to NOT be a Descendent. 

So many bands, particularly in the punk genre have an overblown sense of self-importance, but not Bill, Milo and co. Descendents capture first world problems with the unexplainable aggression with which they occur. Their music has more to do with being annoyed at a girl you’ve never actually spoke to than the regime of a democratically elected president and above all captures that quintessential problem of youth; being bored.

Despite this Filmage is far from tedious. Unlike many rockumentaries it is able to provide clips from the bands discography to soundtrack the film, keeping you continously hooked and offering engaging moments where you could actually visably witness members of the audience’s face light up, as a track perhaps not heard since they left their parents basement twenty years ago rages into the spotlight.

Filmage: The Story of Descendents/ ALL is essential viewing for everyone with an interest in music. Whether, you’ve got the Milo tattoo, are simply curious about those weird album covers, or just fancy watching a music film that doesn’t centre around doom and drugs, this is entirely for you.

Descendents Forever.  

Blink 182 to headline Reading and Leeds

I’ve been going to Reading since I was 10. It’s a lame, pretentious fact that I like to wheel out every year when the line-up is announced in order to say FUCK YOU MY OPINION MATTERS MORE THAN YOURS I HATE KASABIAN WHY AREN’T METALLICA HEADLINING?!

I’ve never understood people that don’t like Blink 182. When they first came out they provided the perfect modern day Descendents vibe, and when they graduated to creating one of the most universally loved pop-punk records of all time Enema of the State everyone was smitten and everyone applauded it.

So what’s changed? The follow up album was just as hit ridden, catchy and memorable; I’d defy any teenager not to like it, regardless of your cultural preferences and catchments. 2003’s grown up self-titled record was critically acclaimed and, I recall, passed around the P.E. changing room more frequently than shower gel or Lance Wilkins’ glasses.

Since the band’s first hiatus in 2005, people (and by people I mean faceless wisecrackers on the internet) seemed to develop a hostility and unwillingness to enjoy Blink, a pattern recently repeated (more justifiably) towards Green Day. Why did this happen? Maybe people didn’t like, or rather get Tom Delonge’s desire to indulge his space-porn passion in Angels and Airwaves, failing to understand that he was doing what he wanted, because he could. Mark Hoppus’ +44 fared better, in as much as nobody gave enough of a shit to moan about it, while Travis Barker escaped any critical cynicism purely through passing between punk and hip-hop royalty, barely staying still long enough to get a tattoo finished.

Maybe this brief Blink One-Eighty-Tutoridge goes some way to explain the relative disbelief, subversive mocking and all round “ugh”ing that has greeted the announcement that the trio will be headlining Reading & Leeds 2014. The 2011 comeback record Neighbourhoods would be appreciated if people actually gave the time and shits to listen to it. I have, I love it. It’s a perfect blend of pop-punk noises and older but bolder themes that sound like all three members are fully comfortable with. If you want 40+ blokes talking about sodermising dogs join a rugby team, or see if Ian Watkins has a zoophilic brother.

Seriously, I can’t think of many other bands I’d rather be drunk at a festival seeing than Blink. You’ve only got to look at how singalong smiley, sappy people get when “Small Things” comes on in a club to see that anyone groaning “man the XX should headline” or “Mumford would provide a more contemporary experience to the current dynamics and general feel of R&L” are talking out of their NME wiping arses. I fully understand the argument that Blink have headlined before, and mainstaged on several occasions, but as a first announcement I’m more than happy for a solid, guaranteed fun headliner. Hey, Jason Derulo’s never headlined before. Plus how often do the risks pay off at festivals? Guns & Roses big return went well, The Strokes looked like they gave a shit, Red Hot Chilli’s weren’t self-indulgent, Travis above Green Day works and Razorlight  TOTALLLLY deserved that spot.

If you don’t wanna see Blink, don’t. Chances are La Roux’s comeback album will secure another headline spot on the Radio 1 tent...

The Miley Movement

So it turns out Kanye West’s proclamation that Beyonce had “the best video of all time” was as premature as the time he blew his beans up Kim Kardashian.

For my money (-£739 to be exact) there’s only one person in pop worth writing about and it would appear EVERYBODY wants to write about her, pops perky twerky princess Miley. 

It must be a butt fucker for the wealthy art school girls of America’s cosmopolitan cities that some rich red neck chick has muscled in on their NYC art house cinema screenings, completely grabbed pop-culture by the wrecking balls and drained it of all its shallow spunk. Gaga overestimates and overrates pop culture, Cyrus gets that it’s simple. Gaga wears meat, Miley makes people beat theirs. She’s hot, and she wants to get naked. You don’t ask Terry Richardson to direct your video and expect to keep your clothes on. I’m pretty sure he could take your primary school yearbook photo and you’d leave with just your tie on.

But apart from creating the two best pop singles of the year so far, what I really like about Miley 2.0 is that she literally does not give two fucks. Nerds smarter than me have attempted to classify her creation as racist and anti-feminist but what most seem to fall short on is that it’s awesome. Breakdown queen Sinead O’Connor has had a pop, Miley responded by mocking her mental health problems. No fucks. She’s wearing 12 hole Dr. Martin’s in her video and she’s backing it up with 12 round comebacks to people who literally couldn’t be further from relevance from right now. What makes Miley different from Sinead, Britney, Li-Lo and co. is that she’s doing drugs the right way. Whilst the PR machine is carefully hiding such mischief, there’s no doubt that at some hipster LA party Cyrus is sniffing harder than the builders brought in to take away THAT wrecking ball. The party will undoubtedly stop, but not for a while yet. And if it does she’s got Billy Ray’s money to fall back on, as well as country music’s ever welcoming embrace. There’s no chance of a Cyrus breakdown, unless it’s a carefully thought out re-birth a couple of albums down the line.

 

Any arguments that it’s the countless agents, management and PR guru’s that are running the Miley Movement are probably rooted in fact, but Cyrus is using them like she’s using us, sticking a foam middle finger right up our arses. Even on MTV’s attempt at getting a slice of the pro-Cyrus propaganda pie “The Miley Movement” she managed to distort and fuck it up by coming across as a bit of a bratty twat. Perfect. That’s how we want our rock-stars, moaning about the tiniest thing going wrong backstage and then stepping out into the camera’s glare all teeth, tits and tongue. I haven’t gotten round to buying Bangerz yet, but I sure as hell will and so will you, probably. One of my best friends did his dissertation on Miley Cyrus two years ago. He was well ahead of the game and the fact that he could get 10,000 words plus out of the old Cyrus gives the clearest indication yet that there’s serious depth to this pop-parade that delves deeper than just soft-core porn. She looks like a little boy made to do PE in his pants in the “Wrecking Ball” video; she gets kicked in the head in the “We Can’t Stop” video and she continually keeps getting bollucked by her parents. This is angst, this is youth, and this is quite frankly the best thing to happen to pop-culture in forever. I also can't thank her enough personally for choosing to jump onto rap culture and, unlike those stoopid models, stay the fuck away from punk.

No we don’t want our daughters or sisters copying her, but what we do want is a sledgehammer sucking, tantrum chucking, finger fucking superstar. Here she is:

A Democratic, Pussy-footing Around How Festivals Are Now Shit and Full of Twats.

Basically I hate this post, but it didn't get picked up by the monetary outlets I'd hoped it would so it's a shame to waste 500 words...A subtle moan about the scrots that go to, and get booked on festivals nowadays. It's kinda boring, but then so are Mumford & Sons and people consume that shit like lollipop dicks shooting coca-cola. 

With the festival season now over and that final layer of grime just about washed off your skin it seems a pretty good time to consider another fun filled festival summer.

One trend that seems pretty prominent in the UK festival scene right now is the frequent additions of more mainstream pop and r’n’b artists sharing the stages and tents with the more traditional alternative bands. On the flip side of this many of the remaining big niche genre festivals appear to be struggling to stay afloat and avoid a chart takeover.  
This year’s Glastonbury followed on from Beyonce’s headline performance with mainstage sets from the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Rita Ora and Professor Green, whilst the traditionally rock festival at Reading and Leeds introduced a new stage featuring grime, garage and hip-hop artists such as Wiley, Angel Haze and Waka Flocka Flame. Meanwhile V Festival has seemingly decided to focus almost entirely on MTV, top 40 acts with Emeli Sande, Ellie Goulding and Kendrick Lamar all enjoying prominent slots.

Whilst some festival purists may well resent moves to appeal to a wider audience, doing so may well be crucial to ensuring long-term survival of these live music institutions. Although the metal based Download Festival appears to be thriving, many alternative events in the UK have been forced to downsize or dissolve altogether. Sonisphere’s Knebworth event was cancelled in 2012, citing the economy and low ticket sales as the main reasons, despite boasting Kiss and Queen (with Adam Lambert) as headliners. This year’s Hevy Fest featured Black Flag and Killswitch Engage and yet despite trying to reschedule as an indoor show was also eventually forced to cancel. Alternative festivals may well find resisting excessive commercialisation difficult, both in attracting fans and finance. One worry for the old school is that mainstream artists across all festivals will lead to events losing their identities and differences. With so much of TV and Radio mainly focusing on the music in the charts festivals are often rare chances for fans to get all of their favourite music together in one place, a chance to escape the commercialised wave that is smothered across the media.  Celebrities, “IT” girls and reality stars have all gate crashed the festival scene, potentially threatening to steal it away from the real music fans, leaving a worse taste in your mouth than the burger van on the final day (although festival cuisine now seems more of a draw than the music for some, Ostrich burgers at Glasto anyone?).

However, is the argument of a mainstream invasion really such a worrying issue, or is it just a bad rumour like the “girl who fell in” one of THOSE port-a-loos? Reading and Leeds still boasted a strong alternative presence on the Main Stage, whilst Eminem as a headliner is certainly nothing new, having also topped the bill back in 2001. Another major plus point for wider ranging festivals is the variety of styles that is provided by broader artists. Genre fusion has always been a key part of alternative music and allowing different artists to interact and share a stage will surely lead to innovations in sound and staging that can only serve to see festivals evolve and not stagnate. In addition to this pop music appears to have realised the importance of live shows and touring in recent years, leading to a major improvement in the quality of performance. The massive recent tours by the likes of Rihanna and Taylor Swift emphasise that pop acts certainly do have a place in the live music calendar, whilst the entertainment and production values they utilise make for an enjoyable set regardless of whether or not you enjoy the music. Much of the fun of going to festivals is discovering new things, especially new music and the opportunity to be introduced to a new genre or band certainly can’t be considered a negative.

Whatever your opinion regarding increasingly mainstream acts on festival bills it seems like for the larger events in particular, they’re here to stay. Fans usually vote with their feet, so the fact that these festivals continue to thrive and the acts continue to avoid being bottled off stage suggests that fans have either accepted the change, or, heaven forbid, actually enjoy the sets. Thankfully however, there are still plenty of smaller niche festivals in the UK, Dead Punk festival in Bristol this year was one of the best all day shows I’ve ever attended and emphasised that despite a number of high profile festival cancellations in recent years, there is still places for alternative music fans to escape the charts. Meanwhile, the big festivals all still provide enough variety to find or discover something you like. And hey, if you don’t like the music stay in your tent and don’t spoil it for those that do!

Pure Love - Anthems

Anthems is unashamedly, and unreservedly an appropriate title for a record brimming with confidence, it doesn’t feel particularly punk, and it’s not supposed to. Opener “She (Makes The Devil Run Through Me)” provides an irresistibly catchy riff, and it’s not the last. The same can be said for one of the top tracks of last year, “Bury My Bones” with Carter outlining Pure Love’s ambitions: “I’m so sick of singing about hate, it’s time that I made a change.” Follow up “The Hits” centres around brilliantly scuzzy guitar work from Carter’s new partner in crime Jim Carroll, formerly of The Hope Conspiracy, whose power chords are the driving force of this album.

Carter’s time with Gallows, one of the UK’s most important bands in recent years, showcases his ability to scream and bleed vocally, but here he reaches a whole new level, as is clearly evident on the slow-burning “Anthem” and the U2 -esque “Heavy Kind Of Chain,” highlighting the classic rock direction Pure Love are embodying. Carter hasn’t totally given up on revolution however, with “Riot Song” offering a Manic Street Preachers sounding depiction of “a riot on the streets of England.”

It’s admirable to hear a band admit that they are directly going for the stadium rock, popularist market, and thankfully Anthems has the songs to back it up. Although the idea of seeing a face tattooed, fire haired front man gracing the world’s biggest stages may be somewhat unlikely.

Soundgarden - King Animal

God bless Eddie Vedder. Soundgarden’s reunion, a return of one of the Mount Rushmore carvings of grunge, is a cash-spinning, half-arsed return that should have remained firmly in the mid-nineties. Fresh from a triumphant headline slot at last year’s Download festival, Chris Cornell and co have released their first LP in sixteen years, an ageing rock-a-thon that pays more testament to Pearl Jam’s brilliance and durability more than Soundgarden’s own relevance.  Cornell’s voice has always been a diamond that deserves far more credit than he, or Soundgarden, are ever given, but ‘‘King Animal’’, the comeback album from the Seattle rockers, only serves to typify this unfulfilled promise. After the brilliance of his early Audioslave work, and a hastily swept away Timbaland produced R’n’B’ turn, you would’ve expected the Soundgarden frontman to come out blazing, rather than this under gunned, somewhat dull return.

Opening track Been Away Too Long is self-aware of its own importance, with an opening riff that is nowhere near as big or as long as it should be,  a representation of much of this disappointingly OK album that would have surely benefited from letting Cornell scream and bleed a little bit more. Kim Thayil’s guitar work does sound fresh on second song Non-State Actor, with its follow up By Crooked Steps providing a gritty sound that would’ve worked so much better had it not been overdubbed by Cornell’s echoed and overproduced crooning. Blood On The Valley Floor offers a brooding resistance cut short by Bones of Birds with Cornell admitting ‘time is my friend, till it ain’t’ a dark admission of what surely could’ve been given such a fantastic voice.

Taree and Attrition showcase what is a much funkier return, with the severely downtuned acoustic focused Black Saturday offering an experimental turn that would’ve benefited from remaining solely guitar based, something also true of Halfway There, a victim of poor track placement.
As Cornell admits in Been Away Too Long, ‘I never wanted to stay’ unfortunately it may have been better if Soundgarden didn’t return, a harsh reality of what could’ve been a revitalising return. Though ‘‘King Animal’’ is by no means a bad album, it feels somewhat stagnated and self-aware, with Cornell never really letting his own talents, or that of his band mates, verge into anything unprecedented or new. Eddie Vedder’s got a ukulele album you know…

6/10

Green Day - UNO!

The return of Green Day has found them at something of a cross roads in their career. No longer the pop punk whirlwind of fresh air from the 90’s and early 2000’s but bona fide arena filling rock superstars. The all-conquering success of American Idiot in 2004 created something of a problem for Billy-Joe and co as to what direction they really wanted their group to head in. Thankfully, on Uno!, (the first of three LP’s planned in coming months) they have achieved something of a balance between past and present, though this is by no means their finest hour.

Opening track Nuclear Family starts promisingly but is something of a false start, lacking a truly massive chorus. This is something that is amended on second song Stay the Night and its follow up Carpe Diem as the album steps up a gear, with trademark chord heavy hooks and catchy melodies announcing that this record is unmistakably Green Day.

Let Yourself Go is perhaps the punkiest, and best, song on Uno!, charging through three minutes of energetic delirium complete with a screamed refrain that is the highlight of a superbly produced record. Unfortunately this is shadowed by the weakest song of the album, and perhaps Green Day’s career, Kill the DJ. Though the danceable riff should perhaps be celebrated for its experimentalism, it’s just a plodding, lazy mess of a tune.

Fell For You and Loss of Control are solid enough songs, however they don’t do anything special enough to save the middle of Uno! from feeling somewhat half-arsed and comfortable. Such filler suggests that Green Day may well have made a mistake releasing three albums in such a short space of time with Dos! and Tres! soon to be upon us in coming months.

One thing that is clear here however is that Green Day are oozing with a swagger and carefree attitude that was missing on 2009’s 21^st Century Breakdown. Whilst this no doubt comes with the financial security and knowledge that this record and tour will of course sell, it’s refreshing that they clearly feel under no obligation to make American Idiot part II, exemplified by Troublemaker, as Billy-Joe snarls and coos his way through 2:45 of breeze pop heaven.

The classic Green Day power chords charge back in on Angel Blue (the most American Idiot esque- track), presenting a strong finish to the LP along with the delicate Sweet 16 and the Warning era pop punk perfect Rusty James, which in quoting St. Joe Strummer suggests that such a sound and heritage was very much on the bands minds during this recording. Comeback single and album closer Oh Love polarised opinion on release, but as an album closer it actually works quite well, feeling more like a bonus track or encored  curtain closer then part of this collection of songs.

Only time will tell as to whether Green Day would’ve been better suited to putting all their golden eggs into one basket, rather than such a trilogy and Uno! unfortunately suggests that this may well be the case. However, it does provide a solid return, encompassing what we love and loved about Green Day. It’s a pity that any experimentation falls somewhat flat, but hey, I’d much rather see a stadium filling band take a few risks (*cough* Mumford *cough*) rather than playing it safe. After all, as Billy Joe so eloquently put it, ‘‘he’s not Justin Fucking Bieber’’.

                                                                                                                                                                                7.5/10