Twit-twoo!

It's 1am on a Tuesday morning. Everyone is asleep, yet you're sat clutching your laptop in a sleep-deprived haze, eagerly awaiting a reply from your favourite band, looking upon a re-tweet as a gift from God. Sound familiar? No? Er...me neither.

There's no denying it, I am completely addicted to Twitter. And I know I'm not the only one. Some artists have so many followers, they have no chance of replying to the majority of their messages. Worryingly, one of these people is Justin Bieber... The point I'm trying to make is that websites such as Twitter have completely changed music. 10 years ago, however much you loved a band, chances are you couldn't easily contact them, let alone receive a reply. The closest you'd probably get would be a ill-advised stalkerish letter sent to their record company. And who's going to reply to that?

Now however, providing it's not too creepy, a tweet can be sent you your favourite musician, with a decent chance of a reply. The barrier between band and fan has been broken down - good for the band because it makes them more likeable, and good for the fans, because they can stalk to their hearts content, without the risk of a restraining order! (I would like to add, I do not have a restraining order. I'm not describing myself...) I admit last week, that I got so excited about getting a reply from Bowling For Soup I fell off my chair. The "jr" at the end was simply too exciting. That said, I really bloody hope that stood for "Jaret Reddick", and not some band manager called "John Richards" or something. Because that would REALLY suck. Anyway, my English lesson is calling me, so I must sign off. Well, not literally, that would be weird.

Help Needed - WHAT IS THIS NOISE?

I was sitting minding my own business yesterday afternoon, when inexplicably, to my genuine horror, a terrifying noise suddenly emits from my radio. The horrendous racket was incredibly painful to my ears -I rushed to turn it off as quickly as possible, but I was still exposed to the excruciatingly high pitched , unpleasant sound. Of course, once I had managed to stop it, I rang the radio station, and demanded to know the reason for such an unexpected and traumatic experience. They were perplexed by my query, but eventually tried to explain to me that the sound I was complaining about was in fact a noise that some people choose to listen to. I subjected myself to this awful sound several times more, but eventually gave up – it was just too unpleasant to bear listening to. I have included a link to it, and if anyone can explain what this sound is meant to be, please comment or message me. Though don’t say I didn’t warn you – it is incredibly unpleasant. Radio presenters should give prior warning to people burdened with ear drums, before they play such horrific noises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4&ob=av2e

Bowling For Soup & Orange, Suburban Legends - O2 Academy Birmingham - 16/10/2011

24 hours ago, if asked what the best gig i'd ever been to was, I would have undoubtedly said Green Day. Seven years ago, at the MK Bowl, they played to their largest ever audience. The band themselves say those shows were among their best - that gig made a huge impression on a 10 year old me. However, to give you an idea of how much I liked seeing Bowling For Soup last night, my favourite gig award has a new and very strong contender…

Three words come to mind when I try to describe what it was like in the crowd last night: awesome, bizarre, and genuinely-terrifying. (yes, I know that's technically four words..)
Orange were first on, the lead singer arriving on stage wearing what I can only describe as a significantly brighter version of Gerard Way in The Black Parade, with impressively big red hair. If you've read any of my blog posts, you might have noticed I've mentioned them a few times before. I love their album Escape From L.A, and was a bit disappointed when they played mainly new songs, but I’m not trying to be negative - it was a good set. They had great stage presence, with their 'Orange Salute' certainly engaging the crowd, I just felt they were perhaps not playing completely to their strengths.

Other than one or two songs, I didn't know much about Suburban Legends prior to last night. I soon realised what I’ve been missing - catchy upbeat songs, mixed with awesome outfits and a phenomenal amount of energy! Sometimes support bands can fall a little flat with crowds, but it’s safe to say that they certainly didn't! If I wasn’t so ridiculously excited I think I could have appreciated their set a bit more! Forget a support band, these guys deserve their own shows.

The main reason I like Bowling For Soup so much, is because their songs are both fantastic, and happy. So many bands, especially in punk-rock, have an endless back catalogue of truly depressing songs. Seeing what I like to call “miserable-emo-crap” bands live, is more often than not, just no fun. I’m so glad to say that last night couldn’t have been more different. The mixture of feel-good songs, and the fact that the band thankfully don’t take themselves too seriously, made the atmosphere in the crowd infectiously happy. Determined to get away from the moshers that kept pushing me over (who were for the record, unnecessarily violent!), I managed to get really near the front. The relaxed, genuinely funny nature of the show was what made it so fantastic – I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at a gig. I was so incredibly excited, I am ashamed to admit I did an embarrassing girly scream and hugged Jaret when he has near the stage. That is definitely not how I’d normally behave, to give you some idea of how excited I was! After two hours of singing my heart out and dancing non-stop, I honestly could have cried when it came to an end. It was without a doubt one of, if not the best gig I have ever been to.

Underrated and Unmissable

What do Take That, Lady Gaga, My Chemical Romance and Katy Perry have in common? Apart from their impeccibly staged PR stunts and irritatingly catchy choruses, they're all artists who never seem to fail. Their music rules the chart, selling out tours year after year, encouraged by an army of ever adoring fans. While I'm not denying they don't deserve their success, there are so many fantastic bands and singers who work incredibly hard, who simply don't recieve the publicity they're worthy of. Here is my list of underrated but truely unmissable bands.

Orange
My recently discovered favourite band emerged from LA, and produce more punk-rock gems than Louis Walsh produces mind-numbingly boring boybands. Their catchy songs are incredibly likeable - punk-rock with a playful edge. Joe Dexter has a voice perfectly suited to the band, an epic amalgamation of American and a typical punk 'English' accent.
Best album: Escaoe From LA
Best song: Last Punk In LA

Motion City Soundtrack
This band works so well, particularly due to the contrast between the wonderful pop-punk melodies, and Joshua Cain's beautiful but endearingly quirky voice. 'Worker Bee' from their album 'My Dinosaur' is a perfect example of their diverse abilities, beginning with a beautiful melody, and developing into pure pop-punk genius.
Best Album - My Dinosaur
Best Song -The Future Freaks Me Out

Bowling For Soup
They're by no means unheard of, but I still don't think they get the recognition they deserve. Songs like 1985 and High School Never Ends have been played countless times on radio stations throughout the world, but so many of their songs have not be heard. They have so many fantastic songs, they're a band that I'm so happy to have discovered. They understand not everyone wants to be miserable all the time, (you hear me Gerard Way?) and thankfully filled a gap in the market - they created happy rock songs.
Best Album - A Hangover You Don't Deserve
Best Song - Val Kilmer

Alkaline Trio
Again, well known, but not well known enough! Admittedly, the lyrics are little miserable in some of the songs, but the music is just so good it doesn't matter. They're cover of The Muppet's 'Movin' Right Along' is reason alone to love them! http://thepunksite.com/news/2011/08/12/alkaline-trio-movin-right-along-muppets/
Best Album - Agony and Irony
Best Song - Calling All Skeletons

No Use For A Name
I was so astonished by this band when I first heard them, because they didn't seem to have a bad song. Each one is melodically unique, and genuinely good. They're really worth a listen.
Best Album -The Feel Good Record Of The Year
Best Song - I Want To Be Wrong

Song Of The Week - 3/10/2011

My song for this week is by the Californian band Orange. I discovered them as they're touring with my beloved Bowling For Soup later this month, and are all i've been listening to for the past 8 days! After a bit of research, it seems that they're not overly well known. I can't imagine why! Joe Dexter's English/American punk vocals give it a sound from another era. Escape from L.A. is probably the best album they've produced. Listen, enjoy, and listen some more!

Not Coming Home - Orange

Can we blame Adele?

Adele was recently booed at by her own audience after announcing she was planning a 2012 Arena Tour, after saying she would never play one. The crowds reaction may be slightly harsh, but are they right? Are they an effective way of performing to the huge amounts of people, or just simply a money-making scheme?

They are undeniably a good way to perform to vast crowds, but it can't be ignored that these huge performances are often accompanied by equally huge ticket prices. Some tickets, for example Michael Buble have sold for £200+! I've been to big arena tours, and small venue gigs, some I've liked, and some I've not. I have come to realise that I'll never see bands I love such as Green Day in a small venue - arena tours are sadly as good as I'll ever get. But for increasingly popular bands such as The Vaccines, it would be a definite shame for them to ditch their small intimate shows for huge commercialised venues.

I think there's a good argument for both huge arenas and small venues. While there's something magical about the atmosphere of small venues, vast crowds provide huge amounts of energy that small venues can't compete with. That said, if someone said that I could choose between seeing Green Day at a small venue, or an arena, I would not hesitate in choosing the small gig.

As for Adele, yes she may have gone back on what she first said, but who can blame her for wanting to make some more money?

Song Of The Week - 24/9/11

I regret to inform that Song Of The Day has had to become Song Of The Week, as I don't have time. And I'm forgetful.

Anyway, my song for this week is Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. It was released in 2009 and is by no means a new song, but it's new to me. The beautiful laid-back melody gets under your skin, it's an addictive little song. You'll find yourself whistling it long after it's finished! Enjoy!