The King Blues

Alright all,

Now I know it’s been a while since I’ve given you an up date and it’s been for a lot of reasons but mainly uni work. And I know what your thinking that I’ve missed some fantastic releases including the likes of Dropkick Murpheys’ Going Out In Style and the sensation from Rise Against that is Endgame. But I couldn’t think of a time better to get back into the swing of things.

So I remember it was around Feb/March two years ago and King Blues where getting hype from everyone and had seen the advert for the album in every magazine I read, so thought I should check them out. I was hypnotized the first time I ever heard Mr Music Man and had to get an album. The album that I got was Save The World, Get The Girl and it was a big moment like the first time I heard In Love And Death and when I was 15 that was a big thing.

So it was inevitable that I was going to get the first album, which was just as exceptionable and by this time I was hooked. From then I read, watched and listened to every interview, the more I learned, the more I liked. Then came along the singles Holiday and Headbutt, what more did I need to start drawling at the thought of a new album.

Come November and the talk had begun about the new album. Just around Christmas Mike Davies interviewed Itch and he spoke about the album and gave the low down on how it was still to be King Blues but heavier and angrier which just sounded amazing.

On Janyary 27th We are Fucking Angry was available for free download, 12 days later Mike Davies airs Set The World On Fire. By this time I’m bursting for the release of Punk and Poetry, April 18th couldn’t come soon enough.

One week to go and the count down had begun. Mike Davies had Itch on the show and The Future Is Not What it Used To Be and Five Bottles Of Shampoo was aired for the first time. By this point I was looking for anything to do with the band so when I saw Itch perform Five Bottles Of Shampoo as a poem (below) and an album sample (below) Monday couldn’t come sooner so when it came first thing I did was go done HMV and the rest was history.





The King Blues – Punk and Poetry

Since the release of Save The World, Get The Girl back in 2008 the King Blues world has changed drastically, from Mike ‘Fruitbag’ Payne leaving and the complete backup band changing to both Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox and Jamie Jazz both becoming fathers.

The band had gone into the studio thinking that they had done political albums and they wanted to do something closer to home. But with this new government, the band couldn’t sit back and not say or do something. Don’t get me wrong there are songs about their lives for example the final track on the album, Everything Happens For A Reason is all about Itch meeting his girlfriend, falling in love and becoming a father.

Although lives are happy The King Blues as a unit clearly aren’t happy with this world. After intro track Last Of The Dreamers a track that lets you know that is for the people, the album explodes into action with the fierce song We Are Fucking Album, before moving onto Set The World On Fire, which both are phenomenal tunes.

As the album moves on, it covers a variety of different topics including; the way in which we have darkened the future with the world we’ve built (The Future’s Not What It Used To Be), the way men treat woman and respect for them (Five Bottles of Shampoo) and the BNP and how their grandfathers would have never been out voting for fascists but shooting them (Shooting Fascists).

In all this is an amazing album. The great thing about this album is that it is actually something to riot about. This is an album that is all about now and what is going on in this world at this moment.

Since the days of Under The Fog with every new release The King Blues just exceeded themselves and evolved their sound. On Punk And Poetry you see them not only making punk rock songs the likes of We Are Fucking Angry and Shooting Fascists, they are pop sons like Set The World On Fire, The Future’s Not What It Used To Be and Headbutt which are contagiously catchy. Also in The Future’s Not What It Used To Be the group bring the sound of DnB to the table. And if that wasn’t enough the exceptional poem Five Bottles Of Shampoo which could be the best track on the album.

Apart from being on 35 minutes long, a bad word cannot be spoke about this album. These album only leaves you craving another hit, the twelve songs on the album may seem short but each one could be a possible single. For King Blues this album only opens up another door to the start on a ne journey as they are one of the best bands around at the moment and if they carry on the way they are they could be one day the best.

5/5

Cheapdog

Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy

It’s been eight years since the release of debut album ‘Stone Sour’ was released and Stone Sour began to tear up the metal scene. With the release of second album ‘Come What(Ever) May’ the band are more than mask less rip offs of front man Cory Taylor and lead guitarist Jim Root’s Slipknot.

‘Audio Secrecy’ is the band’s third instalment. The album kicks off with piano intro ‘Audio Secrecy’ (For those who have seen the video for ‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’ will have heard it already) then tears into second track ‘Mission Statement’ which leaves you feeling like the band have picked up from where they left off.

As the album proceeds the feeling stays the same with gritty, thrashy tracks the likes of first single from the album ‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’ and ‘The Bitter End’. On ‘Come What(Ever) May’ the band showed a more melodic side with single ‘Through The Glass’. It is apparent from ‘Audio Secrecy’ that the band are out to prove that they not only can play loud angry songs but also have that more melodic side with songs the likes of ‘Hesitate’ and ‘Miracles’.

‘Audio Secrecy’ shows the band has a bundle of different talents, whether it is from making hard-hitting tracks to softer, easy listening tunes. Stone Sour never disappoint and ‘Audio Secrecy’ is no different. The only problem with the album is that riffs for songs tend to sound a lot the same to others and from albums before.

3/5

Cheapdog

BBC Radio 1

Last night before bed I decided that I wanted to read my new copy of Big Cheese Magazine. I was sat in the lounge and decided that some music in the background but the stuff you get on the likes of Scuzz and Lava at 2am tend to be proper naff, luckily for me I remembered that Tuesday mornings mean a bit of the Punk Rock sow with Mike Davies.

I started listening to the Mike Davies show about a year ago. The fact that there's a radio one DJ that actually plays the music I love is great but that's not just the only reason I think his show is so great. It's the passion that he puts across.

When I was in secondary school I remember listening to Radio 1 in art classes and I hated it. All this crappy music and the DJs seemed like morons. They just sat there talking rubbish and having phone in competitions. If I'm going to listen to the radio I want the station to be all about the music.

It's a shame that Mike Davies lives in LA and only has a weekly two hour spot in the early hours of a Tuesday morning. This is a man that clearly knows what he is talking about. He has blatantly grown up with the music and knows the best of the big, small, old and new. His show is all about the music which is what I love.

So Mike Davies for this I salute you!! And for those of you yet to take the time and tune in it's BBC Radio 1 at 2am-4am Tuesday mornings or head over to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wq52 where you can catch the show anytime for the next seven days.

Cheapdog

Street Wars

OK, so lately Bizarre magazine has covered some of the most random but fun sounding events that I have heard of. Yesterday I was reading the latest issue (issue 166) when I came across a piece about a city wide water fight.

Liking the sound of such an epic event, I was forced to do my homework and and find out what it was all about. So I went over to the website (www.streetwars.net) where i was blown away from what I read and watched.

So the idea is that for 30 days and nights, entrants take to the streets of the hosting cities in search of a target to assassinate using water guns and water balloons, but at the same time the hunter is always the hunted. At the start of the event you are given a portfolio on a target with details on where they live and work and stuff like that. Once you've got your target then you take over the hunt for theirs. The winner is the person with the most kills.

This all sounds fun but if it's for 30 days straight then how does it fit around work schedules? This was the thing that puzzled me but after watching a couple of videos on the competition it became clear that even at work a strike could be coming. Seemly if you're a dedicated player then it's likely that your work will suffer but o'well in the end there might be a cash prize in it.



Cheapdog

These should have been up a long time ago: Interview

Here I interviewed a sailor friend and presented it in a spread along with a mock up front cover for the magazine.

These should have been up a long time ago: Travel mag

For this magazine i worked as editor of the group for putting together a travel magazine suitable for over the Christmas period i designed the front cover, contents and editors page then once i ad all the work in then began making the changes needed on everyone's pages.

These should have been up a long time ago: Sport Magazine

This layout was done for a sports magazine. The topic of this spread was this years Six Nations.