Thursday, 12 April 2012

Wolfcrusher Interview

Mudkiss interview with Dan Mucs and Gary Harkin of Wolfcrusher, another absolutely amazing metal band out of Manchester.

http://www.mudkiss.com/wolfcrusherinterview.htm

New RUSH album - "CLOCKWORK ANGELS"

RUSH RETURNS WITH 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' + NEW SINGLE “HEADLONG FLIGHT” LANDS AT ROCK RADIO ON APRIL 19TH...

Legendary rock band RUSH have unveiled details of its highly anticipated, new album, 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS'. This is the renowned trio’s first new collection of original material in over five years and their first studio release via Anthem/Roadrunner Records. 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS', the band’s 20th studio album, will be released in the UK on June 11th.

In the UK, the album will be released on June 11th in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form – providing a unique collectible package containing the 12 track studio album alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack cover will also feature brand new exclusive artwork from RUSH’s longtime collaborator Hugh Syme (who also designed the Clockwork Angels artwork). The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts including a limited edition Clockwork Angels keyring & artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailer. The Fan Pack is available for pre-order now at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/rush, where all early bird orders will receive a personalised RUSH poster. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the RUSH album will follow through Roadrunner Records on July 9th 2012.

The recording of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' began in April 2010 with Grammy Award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones) – who also collaborated with the band on their last studio album, 2007’s 'SNAKES & ARROWS'. RUSH co-produced both records. The first two songs, “Caravan” and “BU2B” were completed during that first session at Nashville’s Blackbird studios and performed nightly during the wildly successful Time Machine Tour, which ran from June 2010 to June 2011. Work on 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' resumed in the fall of 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto after the tour’s finale, with additional strings (arranged by David Campbell) recorded at Hollywood’s Ocean Way Studios earlier this year. Lyrically, 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' chronicles a young man’s quest across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams. The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, an exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. The novelization of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' is being written by science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson in collaboration with RUSH drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

RUSH will herald the release of 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' with a new single “Headlong Flight” landing at rock radio on April 19th. Details of a full-scale North American tour to support the new album will be announced shortly.

RUSH - 'CLOCKWORK ANGELS' tracklist:

1. Caravan
2. BU2B
3. Clockwork Angels
4. The Anarchist
5. Carnies
6. Halo Effect
7. Seven Cities Of Gold
8. The Wreckers
9. Headlong Flight
10. BU2B2
11. Wish Them Well
12. The Garden

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Talena Cuthbert - Solo Material

Along with her lead singer role in Manchester melodic metal outfit Gone Til Winter, Talena Cuthbert has made outstanding solo material entitled "Speaking in Tongues" available to stream via her Soundcloud profile.

Talena's outstanding vocal talents, incoporated within melodic, atmospheric compositions, allows the listener to drift slowly into a netherworld of musical bliss.

Relax and enjoy.

http://soundcloud.com/talena-cuthbert/sets/speaking-in-tongues/

The Miserable Rich - True Love

Always great to hear the story behind a song and here James De Malplaquet of The Miserable Rich explains the influence behind the beautiful "True Love," available as a free download at their Soundcloud page which also includes a personal reference from Tom Robinson.

My dad tells me he doesn’t believe in ghosts. Somewhat confusingly however, he also says he’s heard one.
When he was in the army, stationed in France as a military musician and stretcher-bearer, he was once stationed at a chateau not far from the front. It seems the old castle was haunted and many of the soldiers reported seeing apparitions of ladies in medieval garb, walking along the halls then turning to walk through a wall that hadn’t been there in times of yore.
One night my dad, a young man then and a bit of a lightweight when it came to alcohol, went out on leave to a bar in town with the guys he was billeted with. I’ve never known him to be a big drinker, and it seems back then he was just the same, quickly getting squiffy and deciding to stumble back to the digs.
He and two other guys were sharing a turret room on the side of the chateau, with access via some perilous winding stone steps which wound around the outer wall. He fell asleep quickly, and was woken sometime later by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs towards the room. They stopped outside and there were three soft knocks on the door.
Thinking it was his roommates, he shouted that the door wasn’t locked, feeling too tired and tipsy to get up and go to the door. After a couple minutes, to his surprise he heard the footsteps continue up past the door, winding up to the roof. They crossed the roof deliberately and stopped.
My father panicked. He thought his roommates had got so drunk they’d somehow missed the room and toppled off the roof. He jumped out of bed, ran up to the roof and looked around.
Nothing.
Running downstairs to the sentry post, he raised the alarm, and a search party bearing torches went all around the grounds, looking for someone who had fallen from the roof in a drunken haze. While this was happening, the roommates returned from the bar in town, drunk, confused but very much alive and wondering what all the fuss was about. They had not been back to the barracks all night.
The mystery went unexplained for several days, and the reputation of the castle and the strange things that had been witnessed there saved my young pa from the worst of the teasing about ‘hearing things in the night’.
As he recounted the story in the same local bar in town later that week, an old man listened intently, nodding sagely to himself at each new detail. When the story was told, he rose from his seat and cleared his throat.
He told the young British soldiers, in near-faultless English, the chateau’s tragic love story. It seems the turret bedroom was once occupied by the beautiful daughter of the local baron. She fell in love with a poor young peasant neighbour, and planned to run away with him.
The night of the planned eloping, her father found the love letters and locked her away, deep inside the castle. Her lover came to her room that night, knocked three times on the door, but heard no reply.
Night after night he returned. Night after night he was disappointed, until one night he went past the room, crossed the roof and threw himself from the ramparts. Ever since, he returns on the night of his death, retracing his steps, vowing his undying love, and disappointed once more, throws himself back to his doom.

Hopefully now enraptured by the gorgeous sounds and vocals of The Miserable Rich, check out the latest album "Miss You in the Days" and head out to one of the forthcoming UK dates commencing next week on April 17th in London.

Me, I'll be at The Deaf Institute in Manchester on Friday the 20th.

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

The Amazing Manchester Metal Scene- 2012 Update

After the Mudkiss Manchester Metal Interviews last year, 2012 began and continues to be another important and prolific year for the rejuvenated Manchester metal scene. SPIRES are recording their new limited edition acoustic EP "Lucid Abstractions" prior to working on their highly anticipated second album, follow up to the truly breathtaking "Spiral of Ascension" later in the year.

Spires Vocalist/guitarist Paul Sadler commented "we have a suitably pretentious title: 'Lucid Abstractions'. It's gonna be 5 tracks, which is 4 brand new, and an acoustic version of Spiral Of Ascension from the debut album.

It's gonna be purely acoustic, with prominent use of cello, female vocals and percussion. The EP will have an ethereal, dream-like quality that I think our fans will appreciate as a natural progression from some of the lighter moments from 'Spiral...'. Artwork will be by Daniella Morrison (who previously did the cover art for ‘Spiral...’)”.

Latest news on the EP, hot off the Paul Sadler / Spires press.

Update for you all, as I realise we've been a bit quiet on that front recently. Rest assured we've been mind bogglingly busy getting it all together, and it's sounding absolutely great! All guitars and bass are done, some vocals done, just 3 drum tracks to do, then cello, bits and bobs and finishing vocals. The original release estimate of late April is looking unlikely, but should be some point in May (predictable!).

Spires recently visited Ireland for a mini tour last month with good mates BETRAEUS, who released their debut "Towards the Sun" at the end of last year to critical acclaim. Betraeus playing the following dates in May with Scar Symmetry and Xerath.

Check out the recent Mudkiss Interview with Spires.

http://www.mudkiss.com/spiresinterview.htm

You can catch the lads at Grand Central in Manchester on April 26th with Core of Nation and Fantasist supporting ALIASES (ex Sikth) at their hometown Moho Live show in the city on May 26th along with the equally brilliant melodic death metallers NOT ABOVE EVIL and they will also appear at S.O.S Festival in July for an acoustic set.

For your NOT ABOVE EVIL fix, head to their Bandcamp page for a run through of second album "The Transcendental Signified" released last September.

WOLFCRUSHER, who have also undertaken a mini tour outside the confines of the city, are currently working on new material for album number two. The intelligent money is on a couple of new tracks appearing before too long. I met Dan Mucs and Gary Harkin from the band for an interview on behalf of Mudkiss http://www.mudkiss.com/wolfcrusherinterview.htm and they play The Riverside in Selby on May 20th.

Talking of Gary Harkin, his Blues Rock project Ten Foot Wizard which also includes Dan Mucs on guitar, are close to releasing their debut album. Having only played two gigs in 2011, they've surpassed that figure already this year, with hopefully many more to come.

Female fronted INCASSUM are currently in Gracieland studio recording their debut album, hopefully released by the Summer. They also appear at the S.O.S festival on July 22nd, but prior to that accompany FOREVER NEVER on a couple of dates from their forthcoming tour including June 2nd at Moho Live where Mudkiss will be accosting the band for an interview before reviewing the gig.

THU 24th MAY - DERBY - THE OLD BELL + Sworn To Oath + locals TBC
FRI 25th MAY - LIVERPOOL - THE KRAZYHOUSE + Sworn To Oath + Incassum + Annular 18+ KROSSFIRE CLUB NIGHT
SAT 26th MAY - ALDERSHOT - THE WEST END CENTRE + Orestea + Fires Of Tartarus - 14+
WED 30th MAY - LONDON - CAMDEN BARFLY + Sworn To Oath + Orestea 14+
THU 31st MAY - MARGATE - THE WESTCOAST BAR + Sworn To Oath + Orestea + Callous + Crashgate.
FRI 1st JUN - BARROW IN FURNESS - SANCTUARY + Sworn To Oath + locals TBC
SAT 2nd JUN - MANCHESTER - MOHO LIVE + Sworn To Oath + Incassum + Dirty Habit 16+

Also playing the Moho date on June 2nd, another Dan Mucs from Wolfcrusher project, DIRTY HABIT another outfit keen to stress the heavier end of music isn't confined to the male of the species, so get down there early. If you can't make it, there's still a couple more chances to catch Dirty Habit at The Barcelona Bar in Liverpool on April 28th or The Cockpit in Leeds on May 12th.

GONE TIL WINTER are another outfit playing S.O.S Festival who fly the flag for females in metal, not quite as rare an occurence as you might think. Currently working on a new album "Hiding from the Sun" due this Summer, they have a series of gigs throughout May

Saturday 5th | MOCKFEST II | Castlesands, Manchester
Thursday 10th | The Snooty Fox, Wakefield (with Awaker)
Friday 11th | The Dove & Rainbow, Sheffield (with Awaker)
Sunday 13th | The Hollywood & Vine, Hull (with Awaker)
Thursday 17th | The Moon and Sixpence, Glossop
Saturday 19th | The Star & Garter, Burton-Upon-Trent (with Awaker)
Sunday 20th | The Green Star, Stoke-On-Trent (with Awaker)
Thursday 31st | Grand Central, Manchester (with Awaker)

Lead vocalist Talena Cuthbert has just released new solo material, a four track EP "Speaking in Tongues" available to stream via her Soundcloud page.

While perhaps not from Manchester, instead just down the road in Stoke, SWORN TO OATH are also creating big waves on the extreme scene and spending a lot of time further North, don't miss them on the majority of the Forever Never dates and there's also a rumour the guys will be accompanying WOLFCRUSHER on more dates in May to be announced.

The Manchester metal scene is a real hot bed of amazing talent at present and while the purists will throw names like I-DEF-I and PROFANE into the mix as perfectly righteous examples metal is far from new to the North West, no one can surely doubt there's a real impetus behind a burgeoning scence, destined to become even bigger as the extreme seeds continue to be sown, blossoming in the U.K's rainy city.

And lest I forget the irony of my situation, current exposure to Manchester Metal began via a band from London, the mighty TALANAS after their extrodinary album "The Waspkeeper" dropped via Mudkiss in May last year and the quartet appeared at The Witchwood in Ashton-Under-Lyne with Spires and Incassum in support. For this reason, I'm making Talanas honourary Mancunians for the day and here's an interview with the guys. They are currently working on the follow up to "The Waspkeeper."

http://www.mudkiss.com/talanasinterview.htm

Saturday, 7 April 2012

2:54 Live review

Great gig down at The Deaf Institute in Manchester on Wednesday night with 2:54 on top form supported by Palma Violets.

http://www.mudkiss.com/254livethedeafinstitute.htm#.T34IFjHnANM.facebook

Thursday, 5 April 2012

Quick Mudkiss Pre-Easter Round-up

Just a quick round-up of Mudkiss features prior to the Easter weekend and as usually, the music from completely opposite ends of the age and genre spectrum.

On the new band side, check out an interview with a brilliant Norwegian Punk Band "Honningbarna" already making waves in their homeland and due to hit these shores in the middle of April.

http://www.mudkiss.com/honningbarnainterview.htm

Nige Cartner reviews and interviews one of his heroes, Ian NcNabb.

http://www.mudkiss.com/ianmcnabbinterview2.htm

http://www.mudkiss.com/ianmcnabbshowreview.htm

Phil King is back with a bang, scouring the North West for the best in underground music, on this occasion, Wasted Life and soon to be Green Man headliner Feist.