Funeral For A Friend

Welsh rock legends FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND are set to release their excellent fifth studio album, WELCOME HOME ARMAGEDDON, on 14 March 2011. Produced by previous collaborator Romesh Dodangoda, the band homed in on the essence of their new material in a way which would present the new tracks as being as true to their live show as possible. The result of this approach will doubtless send shivers down the spines of many a FFAF fan.

Embracing the heady mix of raw heaviness and pure melody, which helped establish the band’s name when they first started out, Matt describes the album as, “a fist in the face followed by a kiss on the cheek”. The heavier vocals take an integral role on several of the tracks.

Drummer / vocalist Ryan, commenting on his contribution to FRONT ROW SEATS TO THE END OF THE WORLD, said, “It was a lot of fun for me to do a lead vocal again on a track, as it’s something I’ve not really done since way back on the first record”. The track was released as a free download in late January. The visceral explosion of riffs, screams and melody is one that fans of the band already know and love, but the constant shifts of gear in rhythm and twists and turns in the track will keep everyone guessing as to what’s around each corner.

From the fast, punky feel of OLD HYMNS, through the seven-string guitar-led riff spectacular AFTERTASTE, and the even more riff-heavy SPINNING OVER THE ISLAND, FFAF have crafted an album of potential classics with each track as exciting and unpredictable as the one before. Anthemic songs with killer melodies such as album closer WELCOME HOME ARMAGEDDON , and SIXTEEN, which actually started life as an acoustic song, are further demonstrations of the band’s song writing prowess, and their ability to incorporate a multitude of different musical elements.

The apocalyptic sway in the title track is explained by Matt, “A friend of mine was mentioning how he felt that the best thing for the planet was for the human race to just drop dead and, at times, I can see and understand his way of thinking, but a big part of me has this (probably) misguided faith in humanity to steer the ship in the right direction for a change. So WELCOME HOME ARMAGEDDON is the idea of patiently waiting for the end to arrive at your doorstep and give you a nice big hug”.

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND will hit the road in March and April with a lengthy string of dates at intimate venues, some of which are in towns they’ve never actually played before. The extensive run of dates has purposefully been plotted to traverse through those venues where both long-time fans and those who have discovered the band in recent years will appreciate for their up-close-and-personal, and the tour has now been expanded due to exceptionally high demand. Support on the dates will come from fast-rising British band RISE TO REMAIN.

The band play The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Tuesday 22nd March 2011.

Gavin Butler - The Blackout

Hope is the preserve of the foolish and the brave, the light at the end of the tunnel and the ball and chain that leaves reality inescapable. Hope, the new album by Welsh pop-bruisers The Blackout, is just that – except it sounds killer at ear-bleeding volume.

“The title came up a lot when we were looking through the lyrics,” says Sean Smith, “and we saw the recurring theme of the double meaning.”

“It’s a strong emotion,” agrees Gavin Butler, “because the word itself has sadness to it. But the album is about pushing forward and keeping your head high.”

Hope, produced by Jason Perry, is the work of a band re-energised. Having taken matters into their own hands and enlisting the help of the ‘Riot Squad’, the band funded the recording of this, their third album via Pledge, which in turn opened new doors in terms of labels.

Having signed with Cooking Vinyl (Prodigy, Marilyn Manson) on a worldwide deal at the beginning of 2011, The Blackout are looking forward to leaping to the next level with a label that shares their independent-minded philosophy and one which was enthusiastic about Hope from the very beginning.

HOPE track listing is as follows:

AMBITION IS CRITICAL / NEVER BY YOUR SIDE / HIGHER & HIGHER / HOPE (SCREAM IT OUT LOUD) / THIS IS OUR TIME / THE LAST GOODBYE / NO MORE WAIITNG / THE DEVIL INSIDE / YOU’RE NOT ALONE / KEEP ON MOVING / THE STORM

The Blackout will be unleashing their Welsh wrath once more on a sixteen-date UK tour. Supports slots, both from the US, come in the shape of Fueled By Ramens The Swellers and hip hop’s new boy on the UK circuit Hyro Da Hero, who also appears on the single Higher & Higher, due for release on 28 March.

Higher & Higher has already been called The Hottest Record in the World by Zane Lowe, in fact he loves it so much that he played it on his show twice in one night.

The Blackout will play Norwich Waterfront on Sunday 10th April 2011.

Senses Fail

New Jersey natives, Sesnes Fail, have announced a headline UK tour for February 2011. The band play Norwich Waterfront on Friday 25th February 2011.

Having just returned from a co-headlining US tour with Bayside, the band are taking a small holiday break before venturing across the Atlantic to showcase new songs live for their UK fans. Front man Buddy Nielsen, comments: “We are very pleased and excited to be heading back over for our first ever full UK tour. We’re looking forward to getting away from the bitter cold of NJ and into the tropical weather that is Great Britain in February. See you soon.”
 
The bands fourth full length album, The Fire (one of our favourite albums of 2010), was released in October 2010 and has since received praise from all quarters: Big Cheese called it “a truly giant juggernaut of rock and post-hardcore”; Total Guitar hailed the album as “pop punk’s long over-due evolution”; and Recoil Magazine settled with “a trembling, terrifyingly beautiful blaze of glory”.

The Pigeon Detectives are pleased to announce details of a new single, new album and their first UK headline shows since selling out London’s Alexandra Palace at the end of 2008. In the interim, the band took leave, recharged and spent the past year writing and demoing in New York before recording in earnest during the autumn of 2010.

The band will play Norwich UEA on Monday 4th April 2011

The entire experience has been a new one for the quintet from Leeds, whose two previous albums – which have now sold in excess of half a million copies in the UK – were written and recorded on home turf, the first fruits of which will be the brand new single Done In Secret .

Recorded at Brooklyn Recording Company with Justin Gerrish taking on production and mixing duties, the album UP,GUARDS AND AT ‘EM, will be released on 4 April through Dance To The Radio and will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally via all usual outlets.

The full track listing is as follows:

She Wants Me
Lost
What Can I Say?
Need To Know This
Done In Secret
What you Gonna Do?
Turn Out The Lights
Through The Door
Go At It Completely
I Don’t Know You

Glamour Of The Kill/Shadows Chasing Ghosts/Burn The Headlines
Norwich Arts Centre
Saturday 5th March 2011

York metal mob Glamour Of The Kill has revealed details of their debut album, entitled “The Summoning”. Set for release on 24th January 2011 via the band’s own “Afflicted Music” label, the highly anticipated debut holds 11 songs of incredibly powerful and catchy metal that will no doubt see York on the international metal map.

“The Summoning is all of our best work to date put into one album” says frontman Dave Richmond. “We all had big ideas for this record and when that happens we’ve learnt it’s best just to do things our own way. Some of the deal offers we received from reputable labels were wanting a cut of absolutely everything, which is the norm these days, so rather than hand over our souls for very little in return, we decided it would be in the bands best interests to create our own label, ‘Afflicted Music’, and release the album out on that. I can’t wait for everyone to hear the new material, it’s exactly what we wanted and couldn’t hope for a better debut.”

Burn The Headlines

Support comes from Shadows Chasing Ghosts and local band Burn The Headlines. Burn The Headlines have recently played the 100 club in London supporting Godsized, and are an energetic, six-piece, hard rock screamo band. BTH are combining the elements of sleaze and emotive styles to create a NEW and EXCITING sound. Hailing from the Norwich area with Influences ranging from Classic Rock to Post Rock, Heavy Metal to Punk, the combination provides melodic driven riffs that follow a solid beat, heightened by tasteful guitar solos and harmonised vocals.

For more on Burn The Headlines, check out their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/burntheheadlines.

Tina Dico

Norwich Arts Centre
Sunday 27th February 2011

Tina Dico comes to Norwich Arts Centre on Sunday 27th February promoting her new double album Welcome Back Colour, which is a collection of reworkings of old songs and some new songs. In advance of this gig we had a short interview with Tina:

What made you decide to put together an album of new songs
and re-workings instead of a full new album?


After 6 studio albums and with everything else that’s happening in my life these years it felt like the right time to do a kind of “Best Of” or anthology release. To both look back and ahead, closing the first chapter of my career and opening a new one.



How did the process of re-working the older songs work?


I wanted to sit down with my guitar and do naked versions of the fans’ favourites and I asked out on Facebook what would be the ideal acoustic session. I got tons of replies and I then recorded these songs but realised that it was dangerous to re-do the favourites at the risk of ruining what people love about them. So I had to change my approach and instead re-visited B-sides, collaborations and more un-expected stuff. It was far more difficult than expected, actually! I’m so used to playing old songs live but recording them again was a whole other ball game.


How did returning to Denmark influence Welcome Back Colour?


Welcome Back Colour wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t moved back to Denmark. I’ve been so busy and constantly on the go for the past 7 years and it was only in Copenhagen, in my new home, that I found the peace and quiet to think about where I’ve been; the journey I’ve been on, geographically, with my music and with me, personally.
That’s why I felt like making an album that would sum up a bit and at the same time point forwards.


Are the new songs the direction your next album will take?


There are five new songs on there as well as other songs that people probably won’t have heard before. The new songs are very different in style and I’m not sure either of them carve out the direction of my next album. I just enjoyed the freedom that Welcome Back Colour gave me to play around. Anything could happen – and that’s how I feel about my next move. I’m open and can’t wait to dive in.

And what can we expect from the forthcoming tour?


The forthcoming tour will be a mix of new and old material and will show both the rockier side and, as always, the more intimate storytelling side. I have such amazing Icelandic musicians with me and we give it all we have every night!

Tickets are available from UEA Ticket Bookings