We cut through the hype and give the one thing lacking in so many places these days: an honest opinion. We're not going to put something down for the sake of it either. For an honest outlook on music (and other subjects), you're in the right place!
First up on this weeks video roundup we’ve got Wall Street Riots with ‘One More Ride’, it’s a tune built for alternative club nights, with a really dancebale beat thats sure to go down well with the punters. Then we have Mariachi El Bronx, the gonzo offshoot of the hardocre band, proving there’s more than one string to their bow. First Aid Kit are here too, with their first ever proper single, the rather lovely ‘Hard Believer’ comes out at the beginning of next month, but check out the video now to whet your appetite! Sergeant mix their influences (semional 80′s acts like Orange JUice and Aztec Camera) and blend us up a perfect anthem for the last days of summer, this is a truly lovely little gem and I’d really recommend having a look. Last, but by no means least, those Foreign Beggars return with a studio diary showing how they put their tunes together that makes for really interesting viewing.
WALL STREET RIOTS vs. FRANKMUSIK
Free remix of ‘Dr. King’ available to download now!
WSR Debut release – EP ‘Playground Politics’ to be released 18th May 2009
Live dates through May and June
London-based band of rabble-rousers WALL STREET RIOTS is formed of childhood friends Karnig (Guitar), Mike (Bass) and Charlie (Vocals) with a more recent addition coming in the form of drummer Richard. Their debut release, an EP titled ‘Playground Politics’, will be out on 18th May and although this incarnation of the band and the moniker ‘Wall Street Riots’ are fairly new, the musical style that blazes through in their music has been a long time in its evolution.
Karnig and Charlie started out by playing nu-metal and pop-punk songs in their early teens with Mike joining once the duo began to get into hardcore and post-hardcore. After trying out numerous drummers over the years that followed, the band found Rich, honing their sound into more of a raw and aggressive pop approach. Their name was only settled on in September of last year. As you might expect, their musical tastes are somewhat eclectic and when combined they look something like this – Poison The Well, Thursday, Young Love, Glassjaw, Refused, Gallows, Reuben, Biffy Clyro, Hilary Duff, Lily Allen, System of A Down plus a lot of Electro and Bassline…
The lead track from ‘Playground Politics’ is titled ‘Dr. King’ and it’s the band’s mocking account of a guy they all went to school with who lied about having a brain tumour in order to keep a girl interested in him. The girl actually ended up turning him down even after he forged a doctor’s note from a certain Hilary King (yes, the one who used to be on This Morning). Other tracks like ‘Karma Kids’ are, by Charlie’s admission “pretty much all in the title”… Mike disagrees somewhat – “in my opinion all the songs are about easter eggs.” And Karnig says the songs are “about hot dogs mixed with spring leaves.” Whoever you believe, the tracks were recorded in Dungeon Studios in the middle of a field in Oxford with the assistance of Sam Williams (Noisettes, Supergrass, The Go! Team).
The band’s name actually has vaguely school-related origins. Charlie elaborates – “We really liked the idea of having ‘street riots’ in our name and tried desperately to find a cool street. I think it was after watching a certain Rage Against The Machine video that we made up our minds…That and Karnig and I hated Economics!” It seems the band pre-empted the current economic situation with their choice of name as Rich continues – “Then two weeks later all this credit crap erupted.”
WSR are known amongst the people lucky enough to have seen them live so far for their riotous performances at clubs and all-ages gigs, including RAR at the Albany theatre in Deptford where a lot of the ‘Dr. King’ video footage was filmed. WSR gigs have been known to include broken barricades, lots of groping, massive fights, police shut-downs, punks trying to steal monitors from the stage and a lot more besides. Bassist Mike diplomatically assesses their gigs – “We have all been touched a few too many times than we would have liked.”
WSR’s attitude to the music they make is refreshing. Honest to the core, with no pretention and no ridiculous agenda of being ‘rock-stars’, the band is intent on bringing something new to the music scene. Charlie says “We are a breath of fresh air. We don’t act like many bands and with us there’s no script. We’re raw, energetic and most important of all we can have a laugh. If people want to feel like they can have us as four new friends then that’s great.” Charlie goes on – “Music is everything. Nothing could give me a greater high than being able to play a good show, speaking to someone who liked a song or bought a t-shirt. At the same time it’s great to see us four develop as musicians, band mates and friends.” Describing the EP as ‘an excuse to play more shows’, the band are more than eager to play live all the time and get on the road, meeting and playing to as many people as humanly possible and working on further material before releasing an album in the months that follow. Drummer Rich says of their music “It means a chance to have some fun, a bit of a release for all of us I think. You’ll probably notice that on stage by the amount of sweat.”
UK DATES
24 May PLAYGROUND POLITICS EP LAUNCH Camden Barfly London
25 May Let’s Go Crazy at Ministry of Sound w/ Kano, Caspa and more London
03 Jun The Factory/ CBGBs Party, Proud Galleries, Camden 18+ London
10 Jun Club NME Brighton Coalition 18+ Brighton
16 Jun Riot House @ The Lexington w/ Billy Boy on Poison (18+) London
12 Jul Brownstock Festival Essex
PLAYGROUND POLITICS EP TRACKLISTING
1. Dr. King
2. Lords of Dogtown
3. Did You Know That Retropop Was An Aphrodisiac?
4. Karma Kids
