Parkway Drive- Club 334, Santiago de Chile

I have seen a fair few videos on Youtube of the Parkway Drive show a couple of nights ago- I think it is imperative to see them in another country- particularly one that doesn't speak English to see just how big they have become.

It's all well and good to play the big festivals, but a real test is to play in a country that speaks a different language, for the first time, and from what I could see, not a lot of advertising. Dad said he saw some advertising for their show in Argentina, but I definitely did not see any at all for the show here. It was similar when we saw Machine Head and Sepultura, I only saw any advertisements about one block away from the venue.

Funnily enough, the two different venues were only a couple of blocks away, on the same street. I guess that is a bit of poor form, we've been here for a month and only seen two shows, both of "big" bands. What was really weird though, at both shows is that there were no supports- I made a comment to someone that Parkway Drive would never had got anywhere if it weren't for some generous bands giving them a hand over the years- particularly with support slots. For me it has been a bit of a weird feeling- I'm getting old enough where I really don't care about the other bands and just want to get straight to the point, however I've just arrived in a foreign land, I want to check out some new bands, and international supports are often a great way to find out about a new band- as they are usually somewhere around the cream of the crop.

The video above (I didn't film it), it may make you feel a bit dizzy, but I think it shows exactly what the show was all about- apart from the inflatable beach balls, boats, crocodiles, but in general- flips off the speakers, everybody knowing all the worlds, and kids generally going crazy.

I do say kids, because most of the crowd seemed fairly young. It must be a weird feeling for Parkway Drive to turn up each night in somewhere far away from home, Serbia, China, tonight they play in Ecuador, and have the whole crowd screaming back at them- amazing to think about really, how a gang of surfer bums from Byron Bay could come so far, playing this aggressive style of music.

I had a lot of fun at the show, and I really hope they tour in South America again while we are still here- maybe they could bring some mates like Break Even and/or I Exist, now that would be a very fun show.

Another boring day in Canberra?

Yesterday was not one. Even though I had to work until 3 in the afternoon, on a Sunday, I still got to go to two different shows and see a bunch of great bands.

Now that I have a car, I can just pop on over to things, that's exactly what I did yesterday afternoon. Fifteen minutes after leaving work, I was there. I chatted outside for a while, Ivens were playing inside, I didn't get to catch any of their set, they were just finishing off when I came in.

First band I saw was Encircling Sea, I was really impressed with them. A lot of crazy effects, I don't even know what you call that kind of style, but they were really good. It was the first time I'd been to the basement at Morgan's place. A pretty small room, but plenty of people can fit inside. Most people watched the band, nodding their heads along to the beat. This band I really liked actually, I didn't really know what to expect from them, and to say the least I was very impressed.

A Secret Death were up next. It's a long while since they've played in Canberra (late 08 at a guess) and it kind of looked like they hadn't practiced since. Their set was still brilliant, they even chucked in a couple of old ones for good measure. "This songs called Lion of Progression".

Dun dun dun dun du du dun DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN etc

Incredible band. Even though no one seemed that into it, and between songs they debated which songs to play, every song was actually quite close to the sound of the recordings.

4 Dead were last at this show, and I think Morgan may have hesitations about inviting his own band back to play in his house. 4 Dead's set was pretty wild, lights broken, playing in the dark ala Hard Luck launch at Sound Underground. Jon actually went further back, saying last time he went to a show in the dark, he broke his arm and was out for six months. This was the Deadstare reunion show at Hornsby PCYC. Funnily enough, the drummer from Deadstare is now in 4 Dead.

So anyway, people flying everywhere, things getting smashed, there was a little girl who seemed to be moshing harder than anyone else, beer spitting, general chaos. It was what we've all come to expect from a 4 Dead set really. I was trying to stay out of the action, but it seemed unavoidable, I ended up going crashing over some guitar cases, more than once.

After the show I gave Dave and Bel a lift home. We talked old times about some of the venues that have been and gone, there sure are a lot.

After this I drove into the city and went to The Phoenix, where Hoodlum Shouts were playing with Will Wagner and the Smith Street band. Being a Smith St band, of course they are from Melbourne.

I was really impressed by this show. For a start it was free, but surprisingly there wasn't a great turnout. A solid turnout I guess you could call it. Will Wagner and his merry men play some sort of folk punk/rock mix. They are a good band, I had never heard of them before, but I enjoyed their set. Hoodlum Shouts, I have seen them a few times now, and there one of the best straight out rock bands I've seen in a long while. I really enjoy their sound.

On the way home I gave Pete K a lift home, we did some more reminiscing as well as a bit more talk about the future. I am going to be stepping in a bit more in the near future, having a bit more to do with the path of "the scene". Let's see how that goes.

Anyway, it was an awesome day, I'm sure all the people who say there's nothing to do in Canberra had a pleasant afternoon at home.

Shine bright baby shine bright- Break Even in London

This particular day was my favourite day of the whole trip. It combined numerous interests of mine, mainly sport, Break Even and beer.

I took a tour at Wimbledon. I got off at Wimbledon station and walked, which is not the way to go, it's quite a long walk. The museum at Wimbledon is very impressive. Being such a tennis aficionado, I was wearing my Rod Laver shoes, and found there to be a lack of mentions of the great man. I took a tour, which was also quite interesting. I wouldn't mind going to Wimbledon someday, I think that would be a good sports experience. Right up there, actually.

From there I decided to make my way to Hampstead Heath. My guidebook, which I probably looked at once, told me I could get good city views from there. To get there, I had to change trains four times, a couple of them being on the Overground line, which is notably inferior to the Underground. Funnily enough, they both run on a mixture of over and underground lines.

Hampstead Heath is an enormous park. It was still cold, so I found it surprising to see a guy swimming in one of the lakes there. There are walking and cycles paths everywhere, though no signage to tell you where your going. I think many London authors may have had there ideas of enchanted forests and that type of thing after a visit to Hampstead Heath. Once I got to what seemed like one of the highest points, I could look down to the city. I could barely make out anything as it was quite foggy. I took some more tourist pictures, then waited at the bus stop. The bus apparently came every six minutes, I think I waited twenty. It came eventually, I had to take a bus, then get a tube down to Camden.

Break Even were playing at a place in Camden called The Underground. It my normal style of organisation, I had no idea where it was, how I was going to find it, or if “Camden Town” was even the right stop. Coming out from the station, I looked down the road a little way, there it was. That was easier than I expected. I popped into a record store, they had a good collection there, if I was a collector of records, I may have parted with a significant amount of money. I'm not though, I don't have a record player, so the worry of how to transport these things was not an issue.

It had been a pretty long day, I wasn't really in the mood for talking to anybody, so I sat at the bar and drank some pints. I was meeting Dan is the pub upstairs from the venue, Worlds End. It was a pretty big place, so I wasn't sure where to sit. I had a pint in each bar, then ordered some chips. Just as I was finishing my plate, Dan walked in.

Break Even were on first, it seemed an early start, they were on at 7.30. We were sorted for pints and had a good position as they went into “Run For Your Life”. They played the usual set of songs from The Bright Side, but today they were in brilliant form. Definitely one of the best times I have seen them. During the time I started a circle pit around a pole and did a stagedive, all on the other side of the world. Their set was a lot of fun, and there were quite a few people getting right into it, singing along to all the words.

We went outside in search of some dinner. We ate some pizza slices from a nearby place, they were terrible. Probably some of the worst food in my life. We missed Awaken Demons, and came back in and saw a song of TRC. What a terrible band. They have two singers, one guy looks like a security guard patrolling the stage, that's how little he actually sings. I can't even remember really what sort of style they played in, but it wasn't good. Back to the bar for some more beer.

We had some good chats with Mawds, singer from Break Even. He may just win the prize for “nicest guy in the world”. I told him I was going to Perth later in the year, he told me he'd show me around. The Ghost Inside were next up, I didn't really know anything about them, so I was a little sceptical. They were really good, I will definitely check them out when they tour here later in the year. Kind of Hatebreed sounding, but with an added punk edge. I liked them a lot. I couldn't say the same about Deez Nuts. I've avoided them for so long, but I thought, while I was there, I might watch them. I think I lasted 45 seconds. What an absolutely terrible band.

Sometime in the bar, we met some more people from Australia. Most of them were wankers. However, Dan met this one girl that he had met once before at a punk show in Canberra and fallen madly in love with. They never met again until this night, unfortunately for Dan, the girl had met another bloke at that same show, they were now an item.

We had a few more beers after the show, then made our way into the city. We had to change from the tube to a bus as by this time it was quite late. We were walking somewhere around SoHo and came across a few guys kicking a soccerball in a laneway. We asked if we could join and got involved. As time went on, more and more people started doing the same, there must have been 20 people involved at one stage. Football fever is well and truly alive. The game was great, the ball would just come off windows, into cars, play on. It wasn't a game as such, but people would get on a run and then just as many people would come in as defence. It was a lot of fun. The game eventually dissipated, and we waited at the bus stop. We waited for a long, long time and eventually along came a red double decker bus. We both fell asleep and I woke up to “Next stop, East Acton”. “Get up, get get up, let's go”. “Lucky you were paying attention” “I just woke up, quick quick, let's go”.

When we got home, some of the other guys were drinking some more out the back. I think I might have had one more beer, but I was so tired, I was ready for bed. Goodnight.

Ruiner, Hopeless, I Exist @ Bar 32- April 20, 2009

So last night I went to see some bands. Ruiner were originally going to play Canberra on their tour, then it fell through, then they were going to add a show at somebody's house, that fell through too. Then Bar 32 came up with the goods.

Yet another venue is out of action, The Warehouse in Fyshwick didn't last long at all. I wish someone with some big money would buy up all the empty shops in Civic and turn them into venues. There's a lot of room for it to happen now.

If I was rich the old Impact Records (later JB), the recently closed Dick Smith, Cafe Macchiato/Bourbon Bar and The Akuna Club would all be "happening" places. Places where bands can play, all people welcome, etc. For now they lie empty. An ugly opening to a visitor's Canberra experience. These are all on main corners, they shouldn't be empty shops.

Unfortunately. I am not at all rich, far from it as a matter of fact. One day I'm going to do a zine about all the venues that have popped up in Canberra and then disappeared soon after. Even since I've lived in Canberra I've seen the rise and fall of Ground Floor, Green Room, Sound Underground, Jamison Inn and a few more. There'll be plenty of material for that one.

Ok, back to the show. It was only ten bucks to see an international band, Hopeless from Melbourne, and I Exist, who are becoming bigger than God these days.

We got there just a few minutes before I Exist started, got a good position at the edge of the bar, something to lean on. Unfortunately the sound levels for I Exist were way off, they were turned up to loud, the sound was not clear at all. They were pretty good still. New guitar player Josh (Pod People, Bloodduster) brought his metal element to the fore, throwing a few horns for good measure.

They played some new tracks, things are sounding a lot more metal these days. They are no longer this metal influenced hardcore band, they are really just a metal band. They are a band that is going to go far, they've gone a long way already in such a short time.

Hopeless were up next. They played a bit of a mix of old and new stuff. I only know the songs off "Dear World", which is a great album. They played a fair few songs off that to a fairly unreceptive audience. The audience was mainly people with arms folded, maybe a brief head nod every now and then. It probably reminded Hopeless of their hometown, Melbourne.

This was really a show I expected people to be going pretty crazy at, but it was fairly quiet all night. I don't know if it was because it was a Tuesday night, can't go to hard on a school night, or an unfamiliarity with the bands, but each band had a much better reception the last time I saw them in Canberra.

Ruiner took a while to kick off, but it was still before 10pm when they started. Once again, I only knew one album (What Could Possibly Go Right?), but they played a lot of songs off that. There were only 3 or 4 people who were really getting into, that was the biggest surprise to me. Ruiner are a band that is conducive to mic grabs and pile-ons, that kind of thing, but it really just wasn't happening. However the few people really getting into probably would have made it worthwhile for the band.

At one stage I jumped from the flashing light dancefloor, onto Jake (I Exist)'s back and got to have the mic grab. That was pretty sweet. Probably the highlight of the night.

So many people have told me the new Ruiner is subpar, but the new stuff they played seemed just as good as the rest of their songs. It wasn't as good for me, as I didn't know it. I wish I hadn't bothered listening to the knockers, and actually had a listen for myself. However it's too late for that now.

I did a good deal, I swapped a bunch of zines to the guys from Hopeless for a t-shirt. You can grab a copy at their Sydney shows in the next couple of days. I also did an interview with Rob and later went to Transit and did an interview with Jon Dangerous of the mighty 4 Dead.

I had a good chat there with Jon, another bloke Gav, his brother used to be in Lawnsmell, it was a great night all round for me. I also picked up "And The Boat Sails On" a little magazine about the last Ruiner tour with Break Even. I'll go more into that in another post.

Hardcore 2010

Now in it's 11th year, Hardcore 2010 is shaping up to again prove itself as Australia's premier hardcore music event. This year focusing on showcasing the best Australia has to offer the festival spans across July 2nd at the Manning Bar (18+) and July 3rd at the Factory Theatre (All Ages). Not wanting to keep anyone in suspense, this years line up is announced in full with the following bands playing.

July 2nd - Manning Bar 18+

Mindsnare

Toe To Toe

Extortion

Blkout

Relentless

Ill Brigade

July 3rd - Factory Theatre AA

Mindsnare

Extortion

50 Lions

Blkout

Dropsaw

Hand Of Mercy

I Exist

Ghost Town

Persist

Phantoms

So the lineup for Hardcore 2010 just got announced, and it looks like a lot of fun. I haven't been since 2006, I went the two years before that, and they were all a lot of fun. The recent ones haven't interested me that much. I like it how there's not some big international band, and that it's not in a massive venue either.

Also great that Canberra's own I EXIST will be playing. As well as that you have the great combination of Mindsnare/Toe To Toe. It's quite the lineup.