Joining the bandwagon: Honest band confessions 1

These are probably internet old by now. Still, lets get on the bandwagon.

Song by Song: Blink 182 - Neighborhoods

If it wasn't for Blink 182, I probably wouldn't be in a band today. There are only a few bands that I loved in my early teens and still listen to regularly today, and Blink would be towards the top of that list. Certain songs are like a time capsule for me, bringing a wave of memories and associations with each.

Everyone knows the style change, or 'growing up' that came with the self title album in 2003 and the hiatus that followed. New album 'Neighborhoods' comes after a hiatus, helicopter crash and band members going in different directions musically. It's only natural for a blink fan to be both nervous and excited about the new album....

Though nowadays they look a bit like a gay couple and their rebellious, adopted son, these lads (and poor 'aul Scott) are the reason I've ever been in a punk-related band. Blame them.

(By the way, I think looking back at your early impressions of new music is always interesting so I’m going to try and write a ‘song by song’ review as I listen to albums after only hearing the songs a few times. )

Ghost on the Dancefloor

Ok, first song of an album a long time coming. Nice drumming by Travis
to start things off, and then an old style blink riff done in a weird
indie/electro dance way.. Toms singing is a bit annoying but the
chorus isn’t bad. Oh and they’re using synth, hmm. The song as a whole
is more indie than any blink style from before and it’s pretty
underwhelming, Travis beats the living hell out of the drums in the
bridge, it doesn’t really go with the music but maybe it’s his way of
saying ‘well if you’re going to bring those riffs then I’m gonna bring
these mad off time beatz’. The third chorus could do with a rhythm
change as well.  Not the most promising start.

Natives

Instantly this is a bit more like it. Nice guitar lead that reminds me of
very old blink and the bass is up good and loud. Travis does a nice
slowing down of the tempo every second bar as well. Mark comes in with
the chorus which is something I always thought they should do more,
it’s rare they both have lead vocals.  Yeah this song is a big
improvement on the first, don’t know why they didn’t lead with it on
the album. Oh and Travis is off doing complicated, weird timing in the
bridge. Third chorus is given a more upbeat drum rhythm which works
well. Marks singing is a bit deep but at least he isn’t doing the
weird accent/style Tom is.

Up All Night

Obviously I had heard this a good while ago. Very Boxcar Racer, which
is good. Mark tries his best to make it simple catchy pop punk with
his three chord line. Like the vocals crossing back and forth between
the two of them in the verse, don’t think they’ve done it like that
since Pathetic. Pre chorus is catchy but Toms’ voice is horrific.
“Strugguull threewwoohhoo, each and evvurry yeuuuuahur’. Dat riff
though. Nice. The verse is the best part in this by far, or maybe it’s
the chorus. Either way the actual ‘up all night’ part is pretty meh I
think. I like the outro when Travis ‘breaks it down’ (there’s probably a
technical term) and then speed up again. Pretty good song overall.

After Midnight

Promising start with a nice drum riff from Travis. Guitar and bass are
good too, even if again it’s not exactly pop punk. Tom is singing
again, but toning down the douchebaggery a bit. And another Mark
chorus! It’s a decent song in a catchy, non offensive, slow paced way.
No doubt there’ll be loads of drum covers on youtube.

Snake Charmer

Weird intro on this one. Sound a bit like Limp Bizkit or something. Oh
actually a heavy mosh bit, that’s kind of nu-metal. The guitars sound
weird as if the speed is going up and down. I’m guessing it’s
intentional but don’t really know what it adds. The verse is…I don’t
know, like a parody song. ‘Spoider…insoide her’ Yeah Tom singing
again. The chorus is good though. Verse is god awful, actually.
“spoine…it happens all the toime’. Song goes on too long and has an
instrumental outro. Unnecessary.

Heart’s All Gone Interlude

Not as annoying as the Fallen Interlude. It’s a bit long. And doesn’t
really run smoothly into the next song, there’s still a gap after the
last note.

Heart’s All Gone

This was the other song I heard before the album release. Mark
obviously wrote most of it, it’s actually pop punk. Really nice
drumming, fast tempo, distorted guitar, good stuff. It even has a
bridge where the bass takes the lead for a while. This is what Blink
songs used to sound like. Really nice contrast between fast drumming
and slowing down the beat under the same riff in the lead up to the
last chorus. Good pop punk song.

Wishing Well

This is a strange one, again like After Midnight it’s nice in a non
offensive way, and could actually sound like a Blink song with heavier
guitars. Really odd ‘la daa daw da da da’ bit that’s catchy but could
get annoying very quickly. I think if this was covered by a pop punk
band it could sound really good.



Kaleidoscope

Sounds a bit like Biffy Clyro at the start, then the guitars change
when Travis comes in with another ridiculous piece of good drumming.
Mark is singing at the start of the song, which hasn’t happened much
so far. Finding it hard to get used to the drumming, it’s technically
very good but doesn’t flow well, maybe I’ll have to listen a few more
times. Chorus is Tom and I think it actually works better than the
verse, so for the first time I prefer a Tom part. Actually, the second
verse flows a lot smoother because the drumming is a lot more
standard. Starts to drag towards the end a little. Drumming is so far
ahead of the music in terms of skill. And another extended outro.

This Is Home

First thought was that it sounds like Mercy Me by Alkaline Trio with
some synth slapped on top. Shocking mixing, unless they actually meant
the synth to sound pasted on top.
Verse is awful, sounds like somebody’s dad wrote a song, which I
suppose is the case. Chorus is odd again, he does a strange ‘aw aw I’
thing, which I don’t know how to feel about. It might get stuck in my
head but that doesn’t mean I won’t cringe. Yeah, this is pretty bad



MH 4.18.2011

Hey, this sounds like an old punk song! And Mark is singing so that
would explain it. Nice catchy one that would be a solid part of an
older album but is one of the better ones on this, if you’re looking
for Blink to be anything like their old selves. Pre chorus is
definitely a good hook. Not sure what the lyrics are about, could be
war, which would be a strange new direction. But maybe I’m
misinterpreting them totally. All I know is I listen to the words a
lot more when Mark sings.

Love is Dangerous

Takes a while to start. Sounds like dad rock when it does. Actually
the vocals are interesting at least, have some effect on and the two
lads harmonise with each other, which is a little different for a
change. Chorus is criminally bad though. Awful. Second time around and
I have to skip the song.

Fighting The Gravity

And yet another intro, still trying to wash the bad taste of the last
song away so I’ll take anything. Oh, yeah, they play around with
vocals again at the start, sounds a bit trippy and spacey, whatever,
I’m sure everyone gets a bit bored/experimental in the studio. Next
Song.

Even If She Falls

This actually sounds like a Blink song if it was being played by old
dudes, which is of course the case. I thought this would be more of
the style of the album. A less fun, less enthusiastic Blink. It’s an
unremarkable song in many ways except it’s an improvement on the two
previous Cure/U2-bastard-child songs.


All in all, it's not a bad album, but it's not really a Blink album. I'll go with 6/10 for now.

The Wonder Years - Newcastle o2 Academy 13/9/11

This was the second time I have seen The Wonder Years, and a reliving of an early date with my beure. The trip to the pretty unloveable Newcastle was a birthday present from her, but she wasn't to know that the town would have about as much personality as a stack of shoeboxes. Though it did have a good indoor market and we were only there two days, so maybe we missed out on some areas.

Opening up on the night were Such Gold, who played Galway not too long ago, and Valencia, who I knew lilttle or nothing about.

I've grown to like Such Gold alot since I first heard in the last year. One of the guitarists from No Trigger was filling in for them and i think he actually added to their performance. No one really knew who they were (except two tall American easycore brahs) who blocked my damn view later in the gig. Despite the lack of crowd response the band were impressive, considering the circumstances.
As I said, I knew basically nothing of Valencia before this, but now I know that their basist seems like a douchebag. You know 'that guy' in the teenage metallica cover band..that was him.We've all been there. Non-ironic glam rock moves and trying to get the crowd to clap along with overenthusiastic beating of his ham fists, and all this from a bassist for goths sake. This coupled with his horrific on stage banter

"This reminds me of one episode of Byker Grove where they all went to a rock show..." 

made the bar seem that bit more appealing. In fairness, they have some vaguely likeable pop rock songs, and played a decent cover of Linoleum. But still.

After doing their own soundcheck, which was nice to see, thought they might have people to do that for them at this stage, The Wonder Years launched into Came Out Swinging from their latest album. The sound was so much better than they had on their support slot of the kerrang tour and they seemed happy to be there, despite the slightly muted audience reaction. It was a small crowd but there was a lower level of douchebaggery than there usually is at a 14+ gig. What I noticed this time was the backing vocals, which were pretty spot on with how they sounded on CD, even if the bassist, Josh seemed to be straining sometimes and doing a weird holding his throat thing on some lines. The setlist was solid, avoiding all but one song of their first album, which is a bit of a shame, but understandable. You're not Salinger.. was probably the highlight of the night and I think everyone left happy.

Got to say a quick hello to Josh before the charming security men hassled everyone out of the place. A lot of people seemed to be waiting around for their parents to pick them us. We went to look for a bar.

Oh and, The Wonder Years merch guy was wearing pyjamas. I hope it's not going to become a thing that people do in public, more than it already is. Wouldn't trust it.

Take Two

I tried to have a blog before. I had about 10 posts. Blogs? Entries? Anyway. I didn't really do anything else with it and eventually deleted it. I have a fear of putting information publically on the internet it seems. Still, I'm going to try again. Probably music and film reviews. Not an original idea but at least I'm not adding to the masses of public diaries there are already.