“WELCOME BACK MATTHEW LEONE”

Exeter Lemon Grove was home to the concluding show of Madina Lake’s 2011 UK tour on November 18^th.

The night begun with first support band; Super Happy Fun Club who performed tracks such as “My Life’s A Mess” and “Partners In Crime” from newly released EP; ‘Go Fun Yourself’. Being hardly known to the British public, the Chicago 6 piece gained a positive response from the crowd right from the word GO! Guitarist Bradley Chagdes had a malfunction half way through their set, where his guitar went kaput, however, the problem was swiftly solved and was hardly even noticed by the already gathered crowd due to most eyes being on lead vocalist; Stubhy. Every song Super Happy Fun Club executed were well written and had a get-up-and-go feeling when listening to them. So it’s safe to say that Super Happy Fun Club proved themselves to the mass of the Lemon Grove and will be high on many people’s play lists.

The performance area was prepared for second support act of the night; My Passion, who leapt on stage with such energy that blew everyone away. From the first vocal sung, the audience were hooked and couldn’t believe how Simon Rowlands (bassist) wasn’t plummeting to the ground after performing repeated split jumps off amps, stools and the drum kit. My Passion performed songs from both ‘Cooperate Flesh Party’ and ‘Inside The Machine’ such as “Day Of The Bees”, “The Girl Who Lost Her Smile” and recently released single “Lily White Lies”. After developing a fan base over the years, My Passion certainly know how to please a crowd no matter what the size, the result is always the same; screaming girls wanting attention from the members, fans singing their lyrics and a little mosh pit to grow.

After an extensive time, “Lila, The Divine Game” finally reverbed through the sound system resulting the audience to go utterly mad with pure excitement. The Chicago headliners; MADINA LAKE were equipped to complete their UK tour of 2011. The band everyone were waiting endlessly for, emerged from the side lines and blasted track after track such as “Welcome To Oblivion”, “Hey Superstar” and “Never Take Us Alive” from following albums, ‘From Us, Through Them, To You’, ‘Attics To Eden’ and prior release ‘World War III’.

After his brutal attack in 2010, the return of Matthew Leone (bassist) was extremely wishful thinking. But a miracle happened and now he’s standing in front of every single fan getting back into what he knows best alongside twin brother; Nathan Leone, drummer Dan Torelli and guitarist Mateo Camargo. There was a super fan amongst everyone, who kept a banner with him saying ‘Welcome Back Matthew’, brought it to each show on the tour and got fans to write messages of thoughtfulness to be then given to Matthew directly. Front man Nathan Leone, interacted heavily with the crowd and was telling anecdotes of life resulting in him quoting, “Never take s**t from anyone, and if anyone treats you like s**t then just crap in a box, wrap it up and mail it to them!” He really did this too!

Once “True Love” came to its closing stages, everyone in the building of the Lemon Grove went into a thunderous roar of cheering, applauding and general positive emotion for this band that have been through so much in the past couple of years. Madina Lake are one of THE best bands and ahould not to be missed. They are amazing people in every way shape and form.

Come back to the UK soon guys!!!

Van Susans’ Debut EP “We Could Be Scenery”

Bromley based indie band; Van Susans, released debut EP ‘We Could Be Scenery’ on behalf of Beatnik Geek Records on May 21^st 2011.

Being a hardly known British band, Van Susans have played shows in venues such as The Clapham Grand, London’s famous 100 Club and London’s O2 Academy either as support or for charity gigs. Recently, Van Susans have toured with The South (formally The Beautiful South) around Scotland and a one off show at Islington O2 in mid February-start of March.

Van Susans is a collection of young men who have a similar objective and came together to create music, which is understandably amazing and truthful. Each song in its own right has a purpose and is enhanced by the beautiful vocals and obvious London accent of Olly Andrews because his voice bonds completely well with the music and lyrics that’s written solely by the members of Van Susans themselves and is in fact remarkable lyrically, vocally and instrumentally, this is why they’ve obtained such a growing fan base, which by the looks of things won’t stop increasing.

‘We Could Be Scenery’ showcases 5 independently written songs, including a remixed version of previous song release “Bones”. They all have a connection with each other that’s demonstrated through the fluidity between song changes and every track by Van Susans is written to perfection.

Their debut EP begins with “Cha Cha Bang” where the link between acoustic and electric guitar is brilliant because it confirms that two different forms work well together because the chords used, sound simple yet produce great sounds, alongside with Rob Dullaway on percussion, it shows that this band means business as soon as you listen to them.

“Get Up, Get Out” is more acoustic based compared to the rest of the EP because the rest has some sort of addition musically to make it a whole. This track starts off in a quieter tone and builds up to a slightly louder one; a positive note for this is hearing the intricacy of an acoustic performance.

“Plans” is more up tempo and makes the listener tap their foot or even dance because it sort of has an Irish feel to it in a few sections of the song. The drums are used a lot more, therefore, Tim Dullaway has a bigger contribution in the song to use his bass. In future recordings, Van Susans should adapt on Tim’s ability and maybe give him a bass solo because from the modest hints that we hear, he deserves a chance to show us what he can do.

The most adorable and emotionally touching song on the EP, “Glow” starts with Olly Groome on piano, which changes tempo and tone throughout. He has a gift when using the piano and is applied fantastically to this song. The drumming is lighter throughout this track but still has enough power to bring the song further into perspective due to the straightforwardness performed. In the bridge, lead guitarist; Ed Dullaway, shows off his astounding talent, which when you see live looks absolutely effortless but in truth it’s not. This song can have a significant importance to anyone because the lyrics are written straight from the heart and are quite expressive to listen to when you’re going through a rough time. 

On March 12^th, Van Susans’ new single “Bricks Not Sticks Or Straw” will be released, which after listening to their EP constantly will be fantastic in every way possible, so I advise each and every one of you to listen to their music, watch their videos and when you get the chance see these lovely boys live because they’re heading to hit the big time soon.

Exclusive Review: Baddies – Bronto (Single)

In

In advance of their second album, Essex indie Quartet Baddies release new single. With their follow-up album approaching, Hit The Floor has been given an exclusive preview of “Bronto”.

The Essex band is a little similar to Transplants, due to particular drumming styles in which Jim Webster (Baddies) and Travis Barker (Transplants) perform. For example, in “Bronto” the drumbeat slightly increases in speed and volume throughout, however, still linking to the concept of the song. This gives Baddies new track more of a rhythmic dimension.

In comparison to Baddies previous releases, it has to be said that “Bronto” is an improvement lyrically and musically for the band, as it seems they have finally found themselves. You can notice this from the lyrics as they are reasonably memorable, mainly the chorus rather than verse and along with a fine tuned guitar and bass, it produces a great sound as a whole, which fans of Baddies will appreciate. For people who aren’t fans or have never heard of them before, this single will take a few listens until understanding their style of music.

 

After listening to their initial single “Bronto” from their forthcoming album, we’ve agreed that we can’t wait to hear more of this record when it’s finally unleashed onto the world and it sounds as if Baddies are a band that aren’t to be missed, so go check out their Myspace!

Note: As you can tell I wrote this review for Hit the Floor magazine, but unfortunately I missed the deadline and it wasn’t posted onto their website :’( So instead of my writing going to waste I’ve posted it onto here for everyone to read. Thank you J

Faulkner gives it his all @ America’s Cup

As part of the America’s Cup that came to Plymouth in early-mid September, a whole host of entertainment performed throughout the week including the likes of Michael Collins (Britain’s Got Talent) and Mad Dog Mcrea, but the artist most people were extremely excited for was Newton Faulkner.

Taken by me

Newton played on September 10th at 8pm and the much-anticipated crowd stood waiting in the sharp rain until finally the ginger-deadlocked dude emerged from the cover to take centre stage on Plymouth Hoe. With an acoustic in his arms, he was geared up to entertain the awaiting Plymouth audience that gathered in the pouring rainfall and chilly weather.

Faulkner performed an assortment of tracks from his debut ‘Hand Built By Robots’ and follow up album ‘Rebuilt By Humans’ as well as a couple tracks from new album (name unknown) that’s due to be released some time in 2012; such as ‘Badman’, ‘Dream Catch Me’, ‘U.F.O’ and ‘Robot Woman’ (new song). Every track that was performed received an immense response from the crowd and was shouting such things like “We love you!!” and one guy yelled “I want to eat your hair!” near the end of his set, which of course gained a load of laughs from everyone who heard because we weren’t expecting that at all.

Prior to performing his cover of ‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack, Faulkner attempted to play the theme tune from Matilda (film), and because the track doesn’t make any sense he was having a little trouble with it but laughed the fact he wasn’t able to complete it. But hey, at least he attempted it in front of us all. Throughout each song, every individual who came to see him that night sang their hearts out to him and apparently you could hear us on the Hoe singing along from nearly quarter of a mile away!

Taken by me

It’s safe to say that Newton Faulkner gained a lot of respect and pure love from the Plymouth audience who tried to bundle their way to the front or at least get a better view of him and some were a little upset when he left the stage, but all in all it was a simple yet excellent show he put on, which definitely illustrated his big talent vocally and instrumentally.