First up, big apologies to HORSKH as I ended up missing your set. Sadly I was hit by a whopping double whammy of football AND Justin Bieber traffic, who was performing at the Arena in town. It took me far longer than planned to arrive at Sound Control in Manchester. But go check out their music, very Industrial sounding Electronic duo!
Texan born GosT (aka Baalberith) is just gearing up for the release of his second full length album "Non Paradisi" on the Finnish home of Synthwave and Extreme music, Blood Music. As the lights went low and the theme song from The Omen started playing, the skullfaced GosT leapt onto the stage and began with some furious beats which sounded especially pounding over the Sound Control speakers.
GosT had a minimal setup with two laptops and an Ableton touchpad. Sometimes he would add live effects and samples to the music, but he was often rocking out, cheering on the crowd and darting about like a madman, moving to the energy of the music. GosT's sound is certainly similar to headliner Perturbator, but a little more stripped back, and a bit more fun and cheesy. Outside of highlights from his two albums was a hilarious remix of Bonnie Tyler's 80s cheese classic "I Need a Hero", combining the original song with one of his original thumping beats underneath that had the crowd going wild.
It was great to see so many Extreme Metal fans out tonight at this Electronic rave, and even the most solemn Black Metal fan couldn't help but dance and bang their heads to GosT's energetic set! 8/10.
James 'Perturbator' Kent has become known as a hero in the Synthwave scene, recapturing the zeitgeist of Horror Synth that extends from the classic film scores of John Carpenter right upto the recent nostalgic sounds of Drive and Stranger Things. Though not a household name, Perturbator has been integral at establishing this Synth revival of recent times, with 4 majestic concept albums channeling the best parts of 80s Sci-Fi in music form.
Perturbator's setup tonight was much more serious, with two large synthesizers mounted on stands, an intense lightshow and lots of wires on stage! He opened with the pounding Industrial Techno of 'Neo Tokyo', and took us on a journey through much of his latest opus "The Uncanny Valley", with a few older cuts thrown in too. Compared to opener GosT, Perturbator's setlist was built on more complicated rhythmic beats, occasionally glitching and throwing the headbangers in the crowd off guard. Perturbator weaved in his Carpenter-esque synthesizer arpeggios, creating an icy and chilling atmosphere, recalling the greatest retro Horror and Sci-Fi film scores. Of course combining those retro feels with the most modern and pounding Electronic production is what makes him so endearing. He threw in a couple of slower numbers, but mostly it was a display of mammoth, pounding beats and thumping bass that had the crowd moving relentlessly. Perturbator appeals to the young and older crowd in equal measure, and there were just as many Emperor fans as their were Aphex fans in the crowd tonight! This fantastic Electronic show made for a perfect alternative to the hype and trend of the Warehouse Project down the road. Darker, colder, more chilling and sophisticated, tonight was a perfect warm up for Halloween! 9/10.
As I entered the sold out Manchester Academy gig room the place was already chock-a-block full of music fans of all creeds. Hip Hoppers, Metalheads, Indie kids, Ravers, Punks and Rockers all united for the most hyped up gig of the year. The giant room was a sea of bodies, and so dark it was hard to recognise anybody. An eerie, droning siren hummed away, creating a sense of nausea and dis-ease amongst the crowd. Slowly the discordant drone gradually escalated in volume. After a few mistaken round of applauses as roadies and sound engineers appeared on stage, eventually the lights went out completely and the trio of Zach Hill (on drums), Flatlander (synthesizers and sampler) and vocalist MC Ride emerged from the ether...
...What followed for the next 90 minutes was a sheer bliss of noisy and violent music. Death Grips blur the lines between Hip Hop, Hardcore, Electronic and Noise, explaining why such a wide array of music fans were in union tonight. The trio blistered through all of their best tunes without a single pause for breath or to talk to the crowd. MC Ride stood tall like a deranged killer in the fog, ranting and screaming maniacally into the microphone. Zach Hill was a force of destruction, battering his kit like it had insulted his mother! The man was a sheer ball of fiery energy throughout and was fascinating to watch, delivering a diverse performance from the Industrial battering ram of 'No Love' to the Black Metal-esque blastbeats on 'Giving Bad People Good Ideas'. Flatlander was perhaps the most focused of the three, combining samples, laptop and synthesizers to create dense layers of noise and waves of wild electronics, piercing eardrums in the process.
The mosh pit was extremely violent and painful tonight, and I've seen plenty of Extreme Metal bands that haven't even managed to conjure up this much chaos! I began the gig slap bang in the middle, and I ended up being swept right to the front and then all over the place. The room became a tornado where bodies would fly and people's belongings soon became lost. I don't think I've ever felt so exhausted at a show and I was soon gasping for air and water! I woke up today with a battered and aching body, with cuts and bruises on my legs and arms, but I'd do it all over again!
Death Grips were absolutely relentless and shredded through just about all the songs a die hard fan could wish for! 'Get Got' and 'Bitch Please' were absolutely thumping, 'Giving Bad People Good Ideas' and 'Come Up & Get Me' were extremely raging, 'I've Seen Footage' offered a rare breather where fans could dance their asses off, 'Guillotine' was a bizarre sing-along anthem, and the finale of '(I've Got) The Fever' certainly left everyone wanting more.
Public Enemy may have warned us not to believe the hype, but I'm sure almost everyone will attest that Death Grips' live show was sheer enjoyment and an experience that was almost too good to be true! 9/10.
Impavidus are a Melodic Death Metal quartet based in Manchester. The band only formed just over a year ago, and have already hit the UK Metal scene hard with a fantastic debut EP and plenty of crushing live shows!
I chatted to bassist Patrick McBride to find out where their unstoppable momentum had come from.
L-R: Chris ORourke (drums), Michelle Adamson (lead vocals), Gav Smith (guitar/vocals) & Patrick McBride (bass/vocals). Photo Credit: Simon Robertshaw
So how long has Impavidus been going and how did you get together?
We have been together since the end of June 2015. We’ve all played in bands together before in one format or another and decided that we wanted to start something new & fresh with the sole intention of enjoying creating music again.
For n00bs like me, please explain what Impavidus actually means and how did you settle on the name?
It means fearless in Latin. We drew up a LOOOONG list of potential names and got it down to two that we all agreed on. Then we decided that Impavidus would fit us perfectly because it's powerful, punchy and isn’t a mouthful to say.
You have an excellent debut self titled EP, how did the writing and recording process go?
Thank you! The writing was really good. We didn’t have a plan or a direction which made it more interesting. We all brought some ideas to the table and once we started to work on them with all four of us in the jam room, the ideas grew into the songs you hear now. The original demos sound a little different in places. The four best songs we had at the time were recorded. Scourge was the last song we completed - the week before we went into Skyhammer studios.
Recording at Skyhammer Studios was such a pleasure, it was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun and Chris Fielding is an excellent producer. He nailed the sound we wanted and we enjoyed it so much that we’re booked into record our second EP in February 2017!
You delightfully capture the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal sound, a bit of a rarity for a British band... Who are your biggest influences from that scene?
Our sound developed itself - this is what it sounded like when the four of us started jamming. The guitar, bass and drums naturally found their own sweet spots in the mix where they sound great individually and compliment each other perfectly to give you Impavidus. We had an idea of how we thought the vocals would sound and when Michelle [Adamson, lead vocals] walked in and started singing on Exculpate, the rest of us started grinning like Cheshire cats! It was better than we had hoped for and she brought vocal dynamics and ideas we hadn’t considered. That was the first moment we knew we had something special.
So the fact that we’ve captured that Gothenburg sound is a real compliment but it wasn’t our conscious intention.
Our influences are wide ranging but from that scene in particular, it would be remiss of us not to mention The Haunted, At the Gates and In Flames.
What other important influences contribute to the Impavidus sound?
Our personalities, our lives, our experiences past and present and our opinions and viewpoints.
What inspires you outside of music completely (eg films, games, art, books)?
Films - Chris [ORourke, drummer] is a movie maniac, he knows so much about film and can remember scenes like no-one else we know. It’s like he eats film scripts for breakfast.
Life is the greatest inspiration - the world around us, how people behave & treat others. Our families influence us whether they realise it or not.
Art, books and film are great ways to escape from the normal world for a while. Being immersed in a story whether it's based on true stories or fiction, is a fantastic experience. And really, music is part of our escapism! So all of these things are intwinned and link together.
Impavidus are very good at using social media, how important is it for upcoming bands to be active on social media sites?
Talking in broader terms - it’s essential for bands to be in people's consciousness and at the moment social media is the best way to do that apart from releasing your music.
It seems to be the best way to grab people's attention. Chris deals with that aspect for the band - he has a knack for it. You can’t jump in and out of social media - it just doesn’t work. You need to be immersed in it all the time to understand how to use it.
The best aspect of how he approaches it, is that he doesn't always talk about us. Through our band page he promotes a lot of other local bands we like too. We often discussed that there are great bands in Manchester but not a great scene - except the doom / sludge scene who seem to have really rallied together to create a strong community of similar bands and styles.
The potential is there for the metal bands too and if the current local bands can create a strong scene / community then we’ll all benefit from it. Other bands are taking notice of what Chris is doing so maybe we’ll see it happen in the coming years.
Impavidus have a lot of great shows coming up, what do your fans have to look forward to this winter?
We have 10 gigs booked until the end of the year. They’ll all be great but the special ones will be October 9th at The Club Academy supporting Akercocke, the Sophie Festival at Rebellion in Manchester on 26th November and we’re doing a 4 date run in December with our friends in God Shaped Devil and Deified in December: 8th - Grand Central - Manchester, 9th Rok Box - Wigan, 10th The Alma - Bolton & 11th Rendezvous - St Helens.
And what are your future plans after touring?
We’re currently planning 2017 - we have Skyhammer Studios in February, the new EP launch and we’re looking at gigs for 2017 / early 2018 Thats far enough in the further for us - for now!
And finally, what is your favourite packet of crisps?
McCoys Cheddar and Onion or Brannigans Roast Beef & Mustard.
Photo Credit: Jo Spooner
Thank you to Patrick and Impavidus for taking the time to chat and contribute to the answers!
Dystopian Future Movies are a Post Metal trio from Nottingham, although with such diverse sounds and influences, there is no easy way to describe this band, so I thought I would ask them directly! The band have two fantastic EPs under their belt and are gearing up for a UK tour with Fvnerals starting in October and a debut full length to follow!
I chatted with Caroline Cawley, Emily Azadpour and Bill Fisher about Irish Folk music, Nottinghamshire and of course, dystopian future movies!
How did the three of you come together to form Dystopian Future Movies?
Caroline: I had been writing some basic song ideas and looking for a drummer to collaborate with when I met Bill. Emily and I had been friends for a while, she had always wanted to play bass... So with similar taste in music it made sense for us to get together.
You have a diverse sound that takes elements of Post Metal, Atmospheric Rock and Indie, how would you describe your sound in your own words?
Bill: Caroline describes it as ‘detrimental’. Not detrimental to anything, just ‘detrimental’. Which somehow does make sense.
Caroline: I think our sound is dark, atmospheric and dynamic. The melodic vocal brings a spooky element, it hooks you into the darker elements.
Who do you consider to be your biggest music influences?
Caroline:I heard everything from Rush and Thin Lizzy to Julie Tzukeas I toddled round my house from a very young age so I have a broad palette where influences are concerned! The delicacy and heart on sleeve nature of contemporary Irish folk music was something that made a massive impression. My dad and I would travel to see Mary Black in concert when I was 9 years old and I'd sing every word. Herinterpretations of Noel Brazil’s Sparks Might Fly and Columbus have stuck with me since I was a small child. Heartbreaking and vulnerable lyrically, a wistfulness drawn out by her pure vocal. I am drawn to troubling chords, dissonance, whether in subject matter or musically. Crushingly heavy riffs were something I got into more as teenager.Memorably, hearing a track called All Is Forgiven on San Francisco band Jellyfish’s second album blew my mind wide open and showed me that intense melody can be fused with cacophonous noise to incredible effect.
Bill: Drummers that have influenced my approach to this band would include old favourites such as Billy Cobham and Jimmy Chamberlain, and notably Hozoji Matheson-Margullis of Helms Alee, who has a really unusual approach. Caroline always frowns at straight rock beats, so I’m always looking to add something more off-kilter. Bill Ward said he tried to play like an orchestral percussionist, thinking in terms of dynamics and texture, which I try to apply to this music. When we get to the arrangement stage in DFM, I try to keep Hounds of Love (Kate Bush album) in mind. It’s sonically very different, but the structures are often based around one pattern or riff which repeats and builds to awesome crescendos.
Emily:That’s a tough one! I grew up in a small seaside town in Scotland where dance music was popular, along with Britpop.. It was only when I left for university that I was introduced by friends to a whole new world of other genres. Neil Young, Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Jeff Buckley, Pavement and the Pixies are just a few of the bands I remember coming to quite late on, hearing them for the first time and feeling an affinity with that music that I’d never felt before listening to anything else.
DFM is based in Nottingham, what is the music and arts scene like there?
Emily: There is a thriving independent music and art scene in Nottingham. We have some great DIY venues including the Chameleon, JT Soar and the Lofthouse in collaboration with passionate local independent promoters such as Buttonpusher, I’m Not From London, Default This and Thee Cosmic Goat. Nottingham feels like a very exciting place to be creating music at the moment and we feellucky to be part of such a diverse yet inclusive and supportive artistic community.
Your latest EP "NYD" is fantastic, how did you find the writing and recording process?
Caroline: Thank you! NYD was written very quickly in one sitting. It came from a very raw place lyrically and seemed to just flow out of me that morning as I sat strumming a melody I had come up with a few days previous. It evolved an apocalyptic ending when I took it to Bill and Emily at band practice. Hopefully the emotional confusion of the song comes across in the ebb and flow.
Bill: NYD and Nova were both recorded with Joff Spittlehouse in The Old Library [in Nottinghamshire] which has a large theatre room. This gave us great natural reverb and thus a huge drum sound.
Emily: After recording the first four track EP ourselves, it was a new and exciting experience to work in another studio with someone else engineering. It was interesting to have the input of someone outside of the band and discover the different ways that could influence the recording outcome. Joff was amazing, very patient and accommodating, we really felt at home recording in his studio.
Name some of your favourite dystopian future movies, and can you explain how they influence your music?
DFM: La Jetee (the precursor for 12 Monkeys), Brazil, Children of Men, Blade Runner, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Dr Strangelove and Network are a few that come to mind. Movies such as this have a sinister edge, they have a visual as well as a sonic dissonance. There is notable light and shadow and we feel that contrast is similar to our musical dynamic. People have described our music as cinematic or like a soundtrack. Maybe we will have the opportunity to work on a movie in the future.
Bill: It’s really the feeling that these types of film create which is similar to our sound. Darkness, epicness, claustrophobia, ‘detriment’...
What else influences you outside of music and film?
Caroline:Words. Patti Smith’s Just Kids came to me at a significant turning point in my life and threw some doors open for me. Having surrounded myself in other people’s art; be it film or music all of life, after reading that book I suddenly felt capable or that anything was possible and that maybe my own artistic story was just beginning. I think as I've gotten older I've realised that self expression, creativity and the self-awareness they bring are fundamental to our happiness and functionality. I am also hugely inspired by the kids I teach. My class are only 8 and come from very diverse cultural and religious backgrounds but amid the current political turmoil; the hope, enthusiasm and accepting nature of my kids is a much more positive reality to get up for every day!
Emily:Lots of things really! Friends, teachers, films and books that I stumble upon or people recommend. I developed an interest in photography relatively recently having lived in Berlin whilst studying a Liberal Arts course. I was introduced to analogue photography and discovered a love for the dark room and the feeling that film photography evokes. Livingin Berlin was very inspiring to me because of how rich the city is in terms of culture and history. That whole experience was very influential, I met some amazing and inspiring people and rediscovered a desire to be involved in doing something creative as part of a group. That want had lain dormant for a long time and I hadn’t realised how much it was lacking in my life. I’m so happy to have the opportunity to play bass with two of my closest friends.
You have shows announced all over the UK, what are you looking forward to most on this tour?
Emily: Playing some of our new songs and trying out a new set. I am really looking forward to seeing parts of the country I’ve not seen before. Hanging with Fvneralsagain, of course!
Bill: We’ve not played many southern venues before as our previous tour was just the midlands and the north. It will be great to be touring with Fvnerals again as they are awesome people and an amazing band. You hear nightmare tour stories where bands fall out but everyone involved is really chilled and genuinely professional.
Caroline: We both really like each other’s bands and it’s pretty exciting to see one of your favourite bands play every night and watch them evolve.
Your music is available digitally and on CD. Physical music is seeing a welcome resurgence now, what are your personal favourite formats to listen to music on?
Caroline: As I was growing up it was tape and then I moved on to cd when I could buy music myself with pocket money. Over 15 years I collected hundreds of CDs! Because I mainly listen to music on the go now, it’s mainly digital. I do really miss the artwork and liner notes, when I can afford it, I’d love to buy my favourite albums on vinyl.
Bill: We are going to release our first album on vinyl.
Caroline: We have already discussed the artwork, I’d love to include the lyrics.
What does the future hold for DFM, and what are your plans after the tour is finished?
Bill: We have just recorded our first full length album in-house [home studio] and it is sounding massive! It is due for release on CD and vinyl early next year. We will tour and do some festivals on the back of that release, hopefully in Europe.
With all the uncertainty in British politics right now, do you feel like a dystopia lays in our future, or are we already in a dystopia?
Bill: The prophesies of many dystopian movies and novels have undoubtedly come true however we are still fortunate enough to be able to create art and music. May that continue.
...And to leave on a more positive note, what would each of you describe as being your perfect day off work?
Bill: Sitting down in a sunny beer garden.
Caroline: Amazing live music, nice beers, great friends and laughter.
Emily:I like to nap, daytime naps are good, and food, so those things, preferably with good friends in the sunshine near the sea and a dog or two.. Thank you to Dystopian Future Movies for taking the time to chat. Here are their upcoming tour dates!
