This is to fire!!!

Bands I'm discovering and loving right now

The Graduate
Explosions in the Sky
God is an Astronaut
Consider The Theif
Maybeshewill
Lydia

Resume Ignore

Being ill is soo boring! We have had so much snow and I haven't been able to enjoy it at all and now its all melting away and looks horrible. But enough about the weather its the start of a new year and it's looking promising.

I have numerous gigs to review for Birmingham Live! such as Reel Big Fish, YouMeAt6, HIM, Zebrahead and 65 Days of Static. I also have lots of other gigs to look forward to, Thrice in Manchester, Lostprophets, AFI, Dance Gavin Dance and A Day to Remember, and thats only upto May!

I can't wait to see Thrice, 'Beggars' has been spinning in my cd player for the last couple of nights and it just gets better and better! Plus it means going to Manchester and seing Ffi and Becky!

I'm so unbelivably fed up at work, this was meant to be a temp job, it has been over a year and half :(

The good thing is you can always count on OKGO for a great music video and their latest doesn't dissapoint!

Badges and Badges

It's late and I'm tired but this blog feels a bit neglected. So a quick update

New Year- Manchester- Awesome
Thrice- Manchester- Hopefully will be amazing
Work- Sucks
Snow- Fun but cold
Being ill- Sucks

this is shit, proper update tomorrow!

So this is the New Year!

So only 3 more days and 2009 is over! I can't remember the majority of it but some of the things I can remember

1. Moving out into my lovely apartment with my best friend and her lovely boyfriend.
2. Finally starting driving lessons.
3. Spending far to much money on Cd's.
4. Download and Reading!
5. So many gigs!
6. Reviewing for Brumlive!
7. Discovering loads of new bands!

So 2009 here we go

Top Albums

1. Alexisonfire- Old Crows/Young Cardinals
2. Manchester Orchestra- Mean Everything to Nothing
3. Bury Tomorrow- Portraits
4. Biffy Clyro- Only Revolutions
5. Thursday- Common Existence
6. Enter Shikari- Common Dreads
7. AFI- Crash Love
8. Billy Talent- III
9. Sights and Sounds- Monolith
10. Every Time I Die- New Junk Aesthetic
11. Thrice- Beggars
12. Dance Gavin Dance- Happiness
13. Chuck Ragan- Gold Country
14. mewithoutYou- It's all crazy, It's all a dream,It's all false It's alright!
15. Kevin Devine- Brothers Blood
16. In Fear and Faith- Your World on Fire
17. 30 Seconds to Mars- This is War
18. Moneen- The World I Want to Leave Behind

Biggest disappointment of 2009

Brand New- Daisy

Most anticipated 2010

Jimmy Eat World
We Are the Ocean
My Chemical Romance
Lostprophets

Favourite Songs of 2009

Manchester Orchestra- I Can Feel a Hot One
Kevin Devine- Another Bag of Bones
Enter Shikari- Juggernauts
mewithoutYou- Timothy Hay
Thrice- In Exile

Favourite Shows of 2009

Eastpak Antidote tour (Alexisonfire, Anti Flag, Four Year Strong & The Ghost of a Thousand) Birmingham Academy- 20/10/09
Alexisonfire- Lock Up Stage- Reading Festival- Aug 09
Manchester Orchestra/ Kevin Devine- Hare and Hounds- 19/07/09
Slam Dunk Festival- Leeds University- 24/05/09
Brand New- Old Birmingham Academy- 26/06/09
Rise Against-Old Birmingham Academy- 26/02/09

Favourite TV Shows of 2009

Flashforward
Top Gear
How I Met Your Mother
Gilmore Girls

Favourite Movies of 2009

Star Trek
Watchmen

So heres to 2010, let the music play!

Must be Santa

So Christmas has come and gone! A whole two days of work, wow! Pretty chilled out affair this year went back to the parents for a yummy Christmas dinner cooked by my excellent dad! I love my house at Christmas its really cosy and Christmassy with a huge tree in the corner and the fire on constant! Got the usual fare for prezzies and some money to buy a new camera, I have my eye on this one (purely because Kevin Spacey does such a great job at advertising it!)


As we all know Rage's Killing the Name is Christmas Number one, so on Christmas day we all watched the end of Top of the Pop's to see the video. My 70 year old Grandma then chips in with 'You actually enjoy listening to this kind of music?!' ummm yes, yes I do!

My Dad is more of a fan of the traditional Christmas songs with Bob Dylan 'Must be Santa' being his favourite and it not appearing on a single countdown of the 'best' Christmas songs he actually paid 20p for the video for 24 hours! Check it out its not too bad!



Next year watch out, my best friend and I are doing our own Christmas song!

Merry Christmas!!

Killing in the name

Rage Against the Machine are number 1.

Awesome

That is all.

Brooklyn Boy

Last night I went to see Kevin Devine for my first review for Birmingham Live!, I was very excited and very nervous and but it was amazing gig plus was on the guestlist oh yeah!

Here's my review

Christmas has come early for those at the Academy 3 tonight as the Big Scary Monsters Christmas Tour stops off in Birmingham bringing with it Shoes and Socks Off and Kevin Devine both signed to the independent record label. Its stripped down, festive affair tonight with all the acts playing acoustically and with crackers being pulled and paper hats being worn with pride!

The first support is already playing when I arrive, being 5 minutes late and only thinking there was 2 bands playing tonight things seem to be running annoyingly time due to the 9.45 curfew. I learn midway through the set they are called Henry’s Children a local band playing an acoustic set. With 3 members, 2 guys, one girl they play a good set, the lead has a great voice and the piano with it’s simple melodies adds that extra something and with some great harmonies provided by the female singer complimenting the singers voice nicely they put on a pretty good show.

Next up on stage is Shoes and Socks Off; it’s one man, a beard and his guitar. With no introduction and pretty much no crowd interaction Toby Hayes powers through his short set with sparse guitar and vehement lyrics. He has been described as being anti-establishment and that definitely shines through tonight but for all the wrong reasons as he manages to annoy the entire audience during Kevin’s set by talking really loud at the bar. It’s a shame really because he was something a bit different, not your average run of the mill singer songwriter.

Its 8.20 and Kevin Devine is wandering around the venue trying to find the sound guy who seems to have gone AWOL! However it’s not too long to wait and Kevin takes to the stage with no introduction and goes straight into ‘Brothers Blood’, it’s a hauntingly vulnerable rendition and even when not using his microphone he voice travels tantalisingly across the crowd. He then introduced himself ‘Hi I’m Kevin Devine and I’m from Brooklyn, New York’ he then heads straight into ‘Brooklyn Boy’. He plays a varied set including ‘Cotton Crush’, Yr Husband’, ‘Tomorrows Just to Late’ and ‘Carnival’.

Kevin Devine is very good at interacting with crowd and is a very funny guy getting a few laughs after revelations that his views on climate change are that it’s ‘scary and real!’ and pulling crackers with members of the audience after being told what to do with one! ‘Bag of Bones’ is pretty spectacular and with covers of Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘Holland 1945’ and ‘The sun will come out tomorrow’ thrown into the mix his amazing vocal talents are shown off. Closing with ‘Lord, I know we don’t talk’ the crowd have witnessed something a bit special tonight the only down point being the rudeness of a small minority of people speaking over him, why go to a gig, especially an acoustic one if your going to talk through the entire set?

Kevin Devine seems like such a genuine guy, making the effort to come and speak to fans plus I managed to get a limited edition split cd single with 'Splitting up Christmas' and 'Holland 1945' limited to only 25 copies which is pretty cool! All in all a great night!

What makes a man

I don't what it is but it's something about a beard that makes a man just look more manly! Facial hair whether some humble stubble or a fully fledged beard it just makes a man!

This is by no means a definitive list but here's a few of my favourite beards in 'ROCK'! In no particular order

Andy Hull- Manchester Orchestra

Dave Grohl-Foo FightersSimon Neil- Biffy ClyroGeorge Petitt-Alexisonfire

Dan O'Connor- Four Year Strong

Schuylar Croom- He Is Legend
Brent Hinds- Mastodon