volumeNORTH WEST EDITION

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STOKOZ TO

MOSCOW

THE REGIONS LOUDEST NEW BAND!

CHANNEL 4 STARS TALK TO VOLUME! PLAN B AND GORILLAZ REVIEWED! FESTIVAL LINE UPS ANNOUNCED!

LEEDS FESTIVAL 2010

MAY 2010

WELCOME!MAY 2010

CONTENTS

Welcome to Volume, the new music magazine specially created by teams across the country to bring you music from your area.

Don’t you just hate it when you read about bands in magazines, get excited about them and can’t go and see them because they are playing miles away?

We solve that by having the best bands from your area, bands you can support and go and see play live.

We’ve separated the country intro segments, what you hold in your hands is the North West edition, packed with the best music in Cheshire and North Wales.

This time we have an exclusive interview with Stokoz to Moscow, one of the heaviest hitters from this area.

As well as this we have all the national music news and album reviews for your delectation.

Thanks for choosing Volume, and don’t forget to turn it up to 11.

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Richard Leahy

4-5 : News

6-7 : Reviews

8 : Editor’s Column

9 : Local section introduction

10-11 : Stokoz to Moscow

12 : I Am Austin

13 : Tha Repetitionz

14 : Classic Albums

15 : Next Time

VOLUME

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NEWS THE BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL MUSIC

NEWS

Festival season is hereAs the festival season draws nearer, organisers are pull-ing out all the stops to ensure quality line ups. New acts have been announced to play Glaston-bury, Download and Read-ing/Leeds, taking the amount of live music this summer to a staggering high. All of the major fes-tivals have pulled off major coups with a selection of amazing headliners. Download Festival has managed to get three legen-dary rock bands to headline the nights of the 11th to the 13th of June. Rock behemoths AC/DC will top the bill on the Friday, helping to celebrate thirty years of festivals at Donington Park.

Headlining the Saturday night will be Christmas chart-toppers Rage Against The Machine, and closing the festival will be Aerosmith, recently reunited with lead singer Steven Tyler. Other acts on the bill include freshly reformed Stone Temple Pilots, Deftones and Megadeth. Glastonbury has the eclectic triplet of U2, Muse and Stevie Wonder headlining the nights of the 25th, 26th and 27th of June respectively. Elsewhere on the line up is rap legend Snoop Dogg and, arguably the biggest star of the past year, Florence and the Machine. Literally hundreds of bands and artists are sched-uled to play over the weekend, over a range of 13 stages.

The last major festival of the summer, Leeds, or Reading in the south, has also managed to tempt high-profile names to come back to the UK music scene. Headlining the Friday of Leeds will be the fantastic Arcade Fire, followed by the eagerly awaited return of Pop-Punk heroes Blink-182 and then closing the festival will be Axl’s Guns ‘n’ Roses. It will be Guns ‘n’ Roses’ first appearance at the Festival since their controver-sial appearance in 2002 when they arrived on stage two hours late. There is also rumoured to be an appearance from Josh Homme supergroup Them Crooked Vultures.

The Arctic Monkeys headline last year’s Leeds Festival

S IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF -

MAY 2010

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Possibly the biggest story gen-erated by the announcements for this Festival is the return of The Libertines, who will be second headline to Arcade Fire. Pete Doherty, Carl Barat and the others are rumoured to be getting £1.5 million just for the performance alone. All in all, it is a great summer for live music and festivals, make sure you stick with Volume as we cover each festival.

Carl Barat and Pete Doherty of the Libertines

Biffy Clyro announce tour of uk arenas

Scottish noise-merchants Biffy Clyro have just announced a seven date winter tour. The last year has seen the band hit the mainstream hard with singles like Mountains and they have been rewarded with the honour of playing massive arenas. Simon Neil and friends will kick off the tour in Aberdeen on November 25 before clos-ing it in London on December 4.

Biffy Clyro will play:Aberdeen AECC (November 25)Glasgow SECC (26)Hull Arena (29)Nottingham Arena (30)Plymouth Pavilions (December 1)Manchester Central (3)London Wembley Arena (4)

Tickets go on sale April 30 Biffy’s Simon Neil hypes up the crowd

S IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF - NEWS IN BRIEF -

Green Day re-record album

US Punk kings Green Day are to re-record their smash 2004 hit album American Idiot with the cast of their broadway mu-sical of the same name.The album will also feature songs from their latest record 21st Century Breakdown.

Eminem album released soon

Eminem’s new album Recovery is to be released on June 22.The rapper is scheduled to play T in the Park on June 10.He was due to release Relapse 2 this year, but thought his new material was varied enough to release a brand new record.

Bieber’handling voice break

US Teen heart-throb Justin Bieber has insisted that he is dealing with adolescence.The 16 year old is receiving vocal coaching in an attempt to keep his high vocals.He has himself admitted it is hard for him to hit the highs.

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REVIEWS ALL THE LATEST MUSICREVIEWED AND RATED

PLAN B - THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKSTHIS is a very odd album to review, in that first listens are tainted with our pre-conceptions about Plan B; he was Britain’s answer to Eminem when he first appeared in 2006, spouting off four-letter rap tirades and penning such songs as Mama loves a Crackhead. But now he’s completely reinvented himself as a soul singer; sure there are rap verses thrown in every now and again but this album is pretty much all Motown-in-spired soul.It’s an odd experience to listen to if you are familiar with Plan B’s earlier work; it’s slightly jarring to listen to this London hardman sing soft and sweet love songs. However, if you listen to this album solely for what it is, and push any ideas you had away, it is a decent listen. Plan B, real name Ben Drew, has a great soul voice, reminiscent of Smokey Robinson back in the day.

However his lyrics on some songs are cringeworthy cheese, but he somehow redeems himself with his flows on the rapped sections. He’s also chosen to approach the album as a concept record, which tells the story of a down-and-out soul singer called Strickland Banks, and his attempts to get back on track.This approach, once you get your head round it, allows Drew to get away with things his Plan B perso-na’s fans would never have allowed him to.Standout tracks include first single Stay too Long, which sees Drew sing and show off his rap chops and She Said, one of the albums more soulful numbers.A complete reinvention then for Ben Drew, one guaranteed to see him achieve chart success, how-ever, the strength of the songs is sometimes questionable and some tracks feel like padding.It is definitely a great accomplishment, but it still feels like this soul record is lacking, well, soul.

6/10

GORILLAZ - PLASTIC BEACHAFTER 5 years, Gorillaz are back, and the cartoon band from the mind of Blur man Damon Albarn have brought some friends with them, in fact only 3 of the albums 16 songs are solely by the band themselves, with the rest featuring a guest artist in some capacity. However, this hasn’t dimmed the animated group’s ability to create beats that move, soothe and groove.Proper album opener (ignoring the rather ostentatious Orchestral Intro) Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach grooves like a sample of a soundtrack from a 70’s blaxploitation movie, and the presence of legend Snoop Dogg only serves to heighten this feeling. First single Stylo is a mad slice of soul-imbued hip-hop, Bobby Womack’s passionate vocals being a highlight.As the album goes on though, you can’t help but get detached after a while; it’s length is 56 minutes, and in the age of Spotify and iPods, that can be a little bit too much, Plastic Beach falls flat a little bit in the middle, and at some points it can get a tad preachy, with its ‘save the world’ mentality and messageThe album peaks at On Melancholy Hill, one of the few tracks with-out a guest musician; it sees Albarn at his best, vocally and lyrically, and hearkens back to the glory days of Blur.

Despite it’s faults, this is an album that merits multiple listens to get the best out of, and the songs that drag the record back on first listen eventually grow on you.

8/10

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MAY 2010

PLAN B - THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS

FOUR YEAR STRONG - ENEMY OF THE WORLDAmerican pop punk band Four Year Strong’s third album, Enemy of the World, is one of those rare records which can make you simultaneously head-bang and grin stupidly at the same time. Their use of Blinkish vocals and hardcore metal gui-tars combine to provide perfect summer songs; and a quick warning, these songs are insanely catchy as well, so if you plan on thinking about anything else after listening to their CD, forget it. Wasting Time is a brilliant concoction of major-key punk guitars, angsty vocals and a chorus the size of a particularly hefty elephant. Vocalists Dan O’Connor and Alan Day are very clever in their wordplay and melody, and you can really tell that the harmonies they use have been thought out meticulously; the range of their voices is also worthy of note, ranging from low, soulful vocals to raspy screams. What the hell is a Gigawatt? sees the band embracing their metal influences, with a distinct old-school vibe mixing well with the 90’s punk influences so obvious in their music. Four Year Strong have been gigging since 2001, honing their sound and constantly improving, so maybe 2010 is the year they move up to the big leagues of rock. A UK tour in support of this album in the summer should see interest in them rise, and if this album is anything to go by, it is totally deserved. The album walks the line between heaviness and catchiness perfectly, and not once does it out-stay its welcome.

9/10

INCOMING...REVIEWS COMING IN FUTURE ISSUES

Guns ‘n’ Roses’ former guitarist Slash is back with his brand new self-titled solo album; Axl’s Chinese Democracy was something of a failure so let’s hope Slash can better his ex-lead singer. Guest artists include Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, and bafflingly, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.Welsh Metallers Bullet for my Valentine bring us Fever, their highly anticipated third studio album. The band are also confirmed to be headlining the second-stage at Download Festival. Quirky Indie group Foals follow up Antidotes with their second album Total Life Forever. Some songs from the album have already had a warm reception live. Rock legends Oasis are planning to release a career-spanning singles collec-tion called Time Flies in the next few months. The whopping set contains 49 songs and will include some never before heard tracks.

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VOLUME

EDITOR’S COLUMN

GENRE CONFUSEDOkay so, we have rock music, I can understand that. Pop music, yes, that’s easy, popular I see. We have metal music, sure I can see where that comes from. R’n’B yeah I see where that comes from.

Post-rock. Uhh what? It’s after rock? I don’t get it, why

is it post? And what is dub-step? Isn’t dub associated with Reggae? But it doesn’t sound anything like Reggae.

It’s easy to get lost in the crowded jungle that is musical genres, with almost any band who attempt to try something different being pigeonholed into their own new “unique” genre.

Take Biffy Clyro for instance, a brilliant band who pretty much rock the shit out of anything they touch. A quick glance at an unnamed music rag tells me that these guys are “Post-hardcore”. Sorry, again I don’t understand.

To me this band are just rock.

Sure they have their twinges of other things, but to save a lot of time, and annoyance, let’s call them rock; It is just their influences showing through, there is no need to call them anything other than rock.

One of the oddest new genres that is being touted around is “Crabcore”, so named because of the way the instrumentalists, in what are basically metal bands, stand when they play.

The Internet is probably to blame, as soon as someone thinks of a new genre they can spread it and make a Facebook group that will have thousands of fans within an hour.

The point of this argument is that often a band will not be given a chance because they are lumped in a genre which doesn’t suit them; this isn’t to say a new genre should be made for them, but that an existing, and widely understood, genre should be used to define them.

It’s stifling for bands to be put under the pressure of conforming to a pigeon hole of a genre.

If we can call a spade a spade, why can’t we call a rock a rock?

Volume presents...the best of the north west

Stokoz to

MoscowRock/Progressive

I am

austinDANCE/ROCK/SOUL

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MAY 2010

THAREPETITIONZ

RAP/METAL

10-11

12

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They’ve been tearing up shows with their army of fans recently, and are currently taking an extended break to write and record new songs; luckily they were willing to take some time out to talk to their favourite maga-zine, VOLUME, about what it’s like being in the regions loudest rock band.

Richard Leahy talks to Stokoz to Moscow...

Just the facts...

Formed in 2007.From Shotton, North WalesInfluences include: Muse, Biffy Clyro, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Rage Against the Ma-chine.Biggest dream is to play Reading/Leeds festival mainstage.

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Martin, Gaz and Ben are Stokoz to Moscow

“We’ve been described as social rock, but the only agenda we’ve got is to rock, really, really hard.”

Coming from the depths of North Wales, a slumbering beast has awoken.

Sweaty, hairy and loud, it has come to life just in time to rat-tle the bones of generic indie bands region-wide.

Having shared the stage with bands such as The Automatic, Future of the Left and InMe, the band touted as the next Biffy Clyro are ready to make the step up.

This beast is Stokoz to Mos-cow, three piece racket unit and general rock Gods in the making.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Martin Gallagher calls the band “a mish-mash of every genre, all with a large portion of heavi-ness on top.”

And listening to the bands’ first single Tablets, it is easy to see where this statement comes from.

The song careers from dance-rock to balls to the wall Rage Against the Machine metal, with a baffling yet amazing mid section with some beautiful Pink Floyd-esque harmonies.

Live, the band bring to mind a slew of adjectives, including mighty, powerful and dirty.

In fact, Drummer and vocalist Gaz says that this is the only way to enjoy them.

“It’s hard to get the whole ex-perience just by listening to our recordings, we’ve worked hard to perfect our live sound and the best way to appreciate us is to watch us live.”

The band sing about what they know, and they are quick to shake off allegations that they are political or have some kind of agenda.

Martin says: “We’ve been described as social rock, but the only agenda we’ve got is to rock, really, really hard.”

“We just sing about what we feel and what we know, it’s as simple as that.”

And the proof of this is in the passion these boys put into their music.

To think that three guys can create such a powerful yet refined noise is terrifying, and even in the smallest venues Stokoz can get a crowd going.

They’ve been making waves nationally as well, coming in the top 10 in Channel 4’s Evo Music Rooms competition, as well as being on a shortlist of acts considered to play the in-troducing stages at both Leeds and Benicassim Festival.

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VOLUME

IAM

AUSTINIt’s been an incredible eighteen months for I Am Austin, since they formed a year and a half ago they have had Radio One airplay and been snagged to appear on a Channel 4 Music Show, they take a break to talk to Volume...

What’s left to be said about I Am Austin?

Radio One airplay, a place on a national TV show and shar-ing the stage with the likes of the Noisettes and Biffy Clyro.

Arguably one of the shortest bands in the UK are making the biggest noise.

Hailing from the Deeside town of Connah’s Quay the pair count Radio One DJs Bethan Elfyn and Edith Bow-man as fans and have worked with people who have in turn worked with the Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Drummer and vocalist Dave Mitchell says that the band’s success has come as a shock to him, especially as they only formed 18 months ago.

“I would never have expected to get this far this fast, going to London to record an actual single with a record label has been one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

“It is something I’ve always wanted and I knew from an early age I wouldn’t be happy simply working in the same job all my life; I love the unpredict-ability of this lifestyle.”

They are to star in Channel 4’s Evo Music Rooms; they will be assigned a mentor and given professional studio time to record 4 singles all the while being filmed by the cameras.

“I love it” said Dave, “I’ve always been outgoing and a bit of a show-off, at least I’m allowed to do it in front of the camera now!”

He explains: “I’ve been on the stage since I was five, went to a stage school and then have been singing and performing in bands since I was sixteen.

“I think building a local fanbase is so important in the music scene of today; loads of gig venues ask you to bring fans with you now, so you have to have them fans to bring with you in the first place.”

Next up for I Am Austin is a music video shoot for their new single ‘Stripper’, the tale of a lap dancer who rips off her customers.

The next year is going to be a great one for these boys, they have festival appearances lined up, and are being lined up to play a live show in New York’s Topshop store.

Drummer and singer David Mitchell

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MAY 2010

THA REPETITIONZRuss, Adam, Sam, Steff, Jack and Kizz are Tha Repetitionz

Fusing rap and hard rock isn’t a new thing; Linkin Park, Anthrax and Rage Against The Machine have proved that while often refreshing, it is hard to do originally.

And hard to do well for that matter; think of Vanilla Ice’s rock album. Never heard it? There’s a reason for that, but it does exist.

But, now and again, you get a band who does it right, like Tha Repetitionz.

Revolving around the core of vocalists Adam Lawrence and Kieron McClafferty (Kizz Mac in rap terms), the band get the blend of rock and rap right.

Adam’s soaring vocals compli-ment Kizz’s intricate rhymes and verses perfectly, with

Jack’s bass and Steff’s drums providing the perfect thump be-hind the vocals.

The band have been going for about 5 years in various different forms, evolving every now and again.

Kizz said: “At first it was just me and a DJ, I done it because I was young and wanted to get laid, but eventually my tastes changed and I didn’t want to be doing that anymore.

“It’s hard to put a good show on when its just you on stage on your own, its not the same kind of anarchic feel as a rock band is, so I thought why not combine the two.”

Tha Repz, as they like to be known, have also just released a five-track EP independently.

Stand-out tracks include Mary-Jane and This ain’t one for the Radio.

Kizz explained: “It was a lot of fun going into a real recording studio, we spent a good few days in there and what we got was really professional.”

Hanging around Kizz’s neck is a Repz necklace, so are we to expect a clothing line a la Jay-Z’s Rocawear?

Kizz laughs: “No, this is just something I made in metal work in school, that’s probably the only reason why I kept the name Rep-etitionz, just so I could still wear this!”

volume’s modern classics

Gorillaz - Gorillaz

YEAR: 2001COUNTRY: UNITED KINGDOMLABEL: PARLOPHONE/VIRGINLENGTH: 73:55

It is hard to believe that the world’s favourite virtual band have been around for nearly 10 years now. Even today, in the early years of a brand new dec-ade, the idea of a band of cartoons producing real music is still uniquely weird.

In 2001, Gorillaz released their self-titled debut album to complete and utter confusion. Who were they? What are they? Are they real? The only certain thing anyone knew, was that their music was undoubtedly great.The album was a mish-mash of infi-nite genres meshing to create a musical menagerie of aural sensations.With a recipe of hip-hop, electronica, rock and old-school soul, Blur-front-man Damon Albarn brought his musical revolu-tion into the world.

Album opener Re-Hash sounds like the musical equivalent of laying on a sun-drenched beach sip-ping a cold lager; the In-dian-infused sounds running throughout pairing with the chilled out groove to lend a hypnotic feel to the track.

This relaxed feel attaches itself to many of the tracks on the album, which is by no means a bad thing.

Tomorrow Comes Today, New Genious, Man Research and Starshine are all ethereal

works of beauty; it’s music to get (legally) high to.

Not that there isn’t a fair share of booty shakers on the LP, Gorillaz, with their schizo-phrenic treatment of music, pretty much cover all bases.

Single Clint Eastwood has a relentless groove that gets your foot tapping and your

head bobbing, as well as a chorus that will stay in your head for days.

19-2000 is the ultimate sum-mer song, as well as perhaps the song with the most bonk-ers hook in the world: “Get the cool, get the cool shoeshine.”

But at the end of the day, it is this innate weirdness that defines GorillazYou get the idea that if they stuck to one thing, then they wouldn’t be as wonderfully endearing. This isn’t just music, it is a whole new art movement in one album.It is a symbol of pre-9/11 silliness and proof that the best artists draw their ideas from all corners of the globe.

MUST LISTEN!

CLINT EASTWOOD19-2000

5/4PUNK

ROCK THE HOUSE

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ALSO FEATURING: CALLING SHOTGUN - JAY-Z - NO ROOM FOR HEROES - TRADER - BIFY CLYRO

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