I am mountain

FEED - Demo Tape 2008

Yes! The tape was finally in my mail box today. I asked Dominik of mindxmatter records (check his blog: mindxmatter) to send it to me after I have listened to the myspace-tracks for days. To give you a little description of what FEED is I just quote mindxmatter:

Members and (ex-) Members of Iron Age, Bitter End, Lie And Wait whorship the lonestar state. Heavily influenced by Alice In Chains, Only Living Witness and the desert. A 2 song demo lasting 11 Minutes. You know what that means.

First of all I have to admit that FEED isn't that sort of band I usually do pay attention to. It's very melodic and way different from what I have expected when I heard of ex-members of Iron Age and Bitter End playing in there. But the songs have so much honest emotion and a soundrange that I was really taken by suprise. While "Saving face" lets us guess the hardcore-influence, "Grove" is a 7 minutes-long and moving ballad. I wanted to make some photos of the tape itself because i think it's layouted/produced with much love and passion for the music; perhaps I'll do it in a few days...
Unfortunately they broke up (2009, I guess), so there's no chance to see them live anymore. But at least their only record "Human engine" is available for free download on their myspace, so go for it!

FEED myspace

A sausage dog´s blood

On Saturday, you will be able to celebrate the final (at first) show done by Tanzbär Records. It´s a pity that Fabian, the dancing bear, is going to study in Berlin this year (although Berlin is the best city!). I got to know him and his label last year, we did the Carpathian-show in Sulzbach together and we even made a trip to Scotland in summer, so I can truly say that this would be a great loss for myself and of course for the "scene". It seems like a character trait of him to always keep an eye out for more special and alternative things like when he puts out records of bands I´ve never heard of before. And so, the show on Saturday also offers a lineup of very untypical bands (but nevertheless good ones!). So come to Regensburg, hang out at the "Alte Mälzerei" and have a good time celebrating the Tanzbär!
(Btw. I did an interview with Fabi as Tanzbär Records for my first fanzine-issue; I´m gonna publish it here soon, I just have to translate it)

I am extraordinary

Blacklisted - No one deserves to be here more than me

Wicked! I know that Blacklisted always did their own unique stuff and the new record is just again the reconfirmation for this. "Heavier than heaven, lonier than god" had already been something fresh; this album, however, goes few steps further! They have been experimenting, they did an acoustic song, a female songpart and even a trumpet-intro. I must admit that I felt asleep when I first listened to the record (which was perhaps down to the fact that it was right after school ...). But I also know that really good records that you keep in your mind for a long time do need time to unfold their whole expression. Just as I said, the record finally overwhelmed me after having listened to it thrice. The songs have more rock and groove than ever and the songwriting shines again through the almost creepy honesty and the lovely tendency to cynicism. So it doesn´t even bother you when George isn´t quite able to hit the notes of the "ballads". I entrust the record to everyone who´s interested in innovative and honest hardcore and I really hope that the announcement for the euro-tour follows soon. I already saw them live and they really don´t disappoint you. However, George represents his lyrics in a perfect way, which means that he´s just like this introverted and cynical.

Blacklisted myspace

I was the calm before the storm, I am the calm before the storm!

As long as I don't take the time to write some new reviews and stuff, I'm going to upload two "old" interviews out of my mini-fanzine damn good coffee. First of all the interview with the Irish hardcoreband Famine. I saw them live in 2009 when they played a show together with Bitter End in Lichtenstein. I really did like the gig, because in my opinion Famine do catch one's eye in the today's modern-hardcore-wave. So read the interview and check out their myspace!

First of all introduce yourself and the band
I´m Robbie Kirwan.
Stephen Cruise, Ian Kelly, Lee Byrne and Jonathan Boyce make up the rest of Famine.

Your former band name was "Forging friendships" - why did you become "Famine" (perhaps any link to the movie?)
Forging Friendships was originally supposed to be the name of our singers zine. So when it came to coming up with a name I don't think there was any other suggestions. After nearly 2 years, we grew to not like the name anymore. We felt that it didn't really suit us anymore and then while recording the record, Stephen suggested it and we just went with it.
I've never seen the movie.

Your sound is very unspecific and it isn’t easy to find a drawer for your music (which is good), but can you name some bands that influenced you the most while writing on your songs?
We all listen to different stuff so when it comes to actually writing songs it's just parts put together. We all just write at home and then eventually show it to each other. If we all like it, then we'll go with it.
To be honest, I can't think of which bands to list here.

I’ve been in Scotland this summer and it was very difficult to figure out some kind of "hardcore scene". Of course there’ve been some flyers but there are big distances of time between every show. Is there some kind of "hardcore scene" in Ireland or is it hard to find people with these same interests?
About Scotland. We played there last June and the show itself was okay but it was a very low turnout. It reminded me of when I started going to shows in Dublin. We are playing in Dundee on our next tour.
The local scene in Dublin is great. Shows are regular, new bands are starting and current bands are putting out records and touring. And thanks to people like Mac Kell (Demented Promotions), Look Back and Damo, more and more touring bands are coming over than I can ever remember.
Bands worth checking out from Dublin would be Frustration, Crowd Control, Forced Out, Find a Way, Tunguska, Sort it Out and The Blind.

You did a little trip to the "mainland" this year and you did shows in Germany as well. What do you think are the main differences between shows (like the people, the location, the meal etc.) in Germany and shows in Ireland ... or are there any differences?
Those shows we came over and played were so good. It was our first time on the mainland and we couldn't have been treated better. The shows were a lot more packed than we'd ever played either here or in the UK, which was great. All the places we played and travelled to were awesome too.
Seriously, it was such a relief playing shows over there and knowing you would be looked after.
It's very similar to how bands get treated when they come over to Dublin.

It seems that you don’t like Dublin that much. The first song I would write for my band would also be some kind of "hate song" for my hometown. Do you know why so many bands want to burn down the cities they’re born in?
IAN KELLY - I guess it's because it reminds you of all the hard times that you go through in your life. I have a love hate relationship with Dublin. I always miss it when we are away. I miss the city but I don't miss the people.

Do you have any definite planes for the future (except for releasing the LP-version of "Every road leads back here")?
We're doing a 2 week UK/EURO tour with a band from Dublin called Frustration. It starts on September 21st and ends on October 6th. All the dates are on either of our Myspace pages.
We decided that we're going to do a 7". Writing for it has begun.

Anything to add?
Thanks again for asking us to do this. Pick up the Crowd Control and Frustration records and check out Hurry Up! Records.
Peace.

Links:
Famine
Frustration
Crowd control
Forced out
Tunguska
Sort it out
Find a way
The Blind

Involution

Following:
- music reviews
- interviews I did with bands
- advertisement for shows
- a lot of other stuff

Enjoy!