North Sydney keeps delivering…

In recent times North Sydney has displayed further growth in its group of young hardcore bands always showing more talent than the last. Give them a listen and help them to establish themselves.

LEGIONS – http://www.myspace.com/legionshc

Comprised of former members of other broken up bands such as Against All Odds from around that area this 5 piece has impressed me to no end with the couple of songs they have posted. Definitely look forward to whats to come and hopefully this will last longer than some of the members previous endevours. Drawing influence from some of America’s most hard hitting bands like Cro Mags and No Warning.

FIXTURES – http://www.myspace.com/fixturesaus

Not a whole lot I can say for these guys without a track to listen to but expectations are good and if you like any of their influences such as Converge you might want to add them and wait it out to hear what they can do.

ADVERSITY – http://www.myspace.com/adversityhc

A new project from Ged of Goonzilla and Feed the Bears. 1 pretty solid track of sort of semi-melodic hardcore up as a taste of what to come which Ged has written and recorded all parts for. If you like it try sending a message if you are interested in joining as it seems he has no other members. He will be singing.

- Dylan

Snake Face Interview

At the Sydney leg of the Ghosttown/Earthlings East Coast Tour, I had time to catch up with the vocalist of the upcoming Sydney band, Snakeface. I recorded the interview on my shitty phone, sitting around near the toilets. The interview went for quite some time and covered some deep and meaningful topics, it may just be the best interview ever conducted. However, after finishing the interview, I looked down at my phone and it had already stopped recording and only caught a minute or so of the interview. So I deleted that minute and met up with Dean again on MSN, here it is:

For everyone who hasn’t heard your band, sum up the sound in a couple of words and tell us a short history of how you got together.

We are a hardcore band of sorts. That is not mosh…

Scotty and I had always wanted to do a project like this, but there has always been something in the way, such as previous bands. One weekend Scotty wrote and recorded a bunch of songs with help from some of our mates. They then came up to me and asked me if I wanted to lay down the vocals on top, and that is how it started.

Where abouts are you guys from?

The hills and western Sydney.

What are your main influences as a band?

Skating.

Haha sick! Can you do a kickflip?

Tim can and he doesn’t let us forget it, but we aren’t cool enough for that street stuff so we mostly stay in the bowls.

Bowls, fuck yeah. I quit skating when I realised that I was just a shit lanky uncoordinated cunt. Is there a theme you aim to write lyrics about?

No, not really. Mostly just what is pissing me off at the time, which seems to be everything.

Do you guys have a message? I’ve noticed lyrics about the typical masculine man, and how shit that is, What are you trying to tell everyone?

Big issues for me are; abuse towards women, the porn industry, and the fact that the whole mentality of a man is that a women is on this earth only to pleasure them. I guess what I am trying to say is you don’t have to be a complete asshole to be a ”man.”

So you have demos for sale? where can they be bought? how much for?

All the demos that we have left will be out at our shows and will be free to take.

Where did you record them?

We recorded them in the bass player’s garage. He has a nice little studio in there.

Hey that works out pretty sweet hey. What is next for snake face?

An E.P. or possibly an album

Why do you sing for a band? Is it to get chicks?

Singing in this band fell into my lap, it is an awesome way for me to vent. And no, that is not really my thing. I have a rather amazing partner.

Who are you backing in the Arab/Israeli battle for Israeli soil?

Personally I’m backing the oven dodgers; they aren’t necessarily the underdogs anymore. They took a strong beating in WWII and good luck to them that they’ve come back in such strong form.

Hahaha, that’s a war that will never be won. In 20 years North Korea will kill us all anyway. They say the world ends in the 2012, not long now.

They say the world will end every couple of years, Doesn’t mean shit.

Here’s a chance to settle the rumours about you dudes and Hillsong:

We are not affiliated with Hillsong church in anyway, but some of us do attend church. I feel that is a lot better then being a regular at Hot Damn.

So I hear you have a strong view on most kids in the scenes view on religion.

At the end of the day, preaching is preaching, whether it’s for or against a god. There is a fine line. ‘God free’ is one of those things that has made its way into being a trend, and I think its just as dumb and ignorant as organized religion.

Best band in Sydney? Best venue in Sydney? And best restaurant in Sydney?

The best bands here are Had It and Sawn Off, I really like Hermann’s Bar, they should make that the next CBGB’s and Mad Mex is hands down the best Mexican.

Thanks for the time, Dean.

In closing, what is the ONE band you wish you were a part of?

Oh that’s an awesome question. The Mars Volta.

You can check them out here: Myspace
Thanks
-Ed

New wave of Australian hardcore?

I was thinking about how things are in Australia and I decided to note, in my opinion, the five most promising up and coming bands of 2009. Keep in mind this is in no way all the bands Australia has coming out right now but a select few i’m pretty stoked on.

5. SMASH

There isn’t a whole lot to say about Smash as of yet. Just an awesome song that was recorded for a compilation. Smash features recently broken up Sydney legends No Apologies’s vocalist Pete Abordi who’s charisma will likely aid this bands success. Says on the myspace that a demo is on the way so look out for it because expectations will be high.

MYSPACE

4. IRE

Formed from the ashes of Australian hardcore legends, MINDSNARE, this band containing 2 of Mindsnare’s members looks like it could be just as good. With only a rough 8 track rehearsal recording up you can already tell this band is going to be pretty decent. There isn’t much talk about whats to come yet as far as I know but you would be mad not to keep a look out.

MYSPACE

3. LOOKIN IN

Having just released their debut 7″ on Trial and Error records I would say this Melbourne band has got something pretty good going on. Fast, old school hardcore taking influence from bands like Floorpunch and Gorilla Biscuits. I don’t know a whole lot about this band but give the tracks a listen on their myspace and i’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

MYSPACE

TRIAL AND ERROR

2. ILL BRIGADE

I can’t really say this band is new. As far as I know the band started off as ILL, then they moved the drummer to vocals, changed their musical direction and re-formed under the name ILL BRIGADE. However, they still cover a handful of their ILL songs live. I saw them at one of the shows on their E.P. release tour in Sydney and they blew me away so I picked up a copy of the E.P. (released on common bond records). Funnily enough, it is called The E.P. as a rip off of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s E.P.

Taking very strong influence from 80′s American hardcore punk bands such as Agnostic Front, this release is too good. Definitely worth picking up and I seriously hope we can expect more from these guys.

MYSPACE

COMMON BOND RECORDS

1. IRON MIND

This band has just blown me away so far. High praise for their live performances and a very highly anticipated CD E.P. about to come out on Suppression, hopefully being the first of many releases. Taking influence from NYHC bands (such as Cro Mags), their songs are hard as FUCK and guaranteed to tread on the face of Australian hardcore. The preorders are going out now and I cannot wait. Expect a full review and hopefully an interview.

MYSPACE

SUPPRESSION RECORDS

-Dylan

WORLDS APART new e.p.

The central coast’s best export, Worlds Apart, have finally got copies of their new 7″, after 6 months of delays. The e.p. builds on their previous release Trials and Tribulations on washed up records and reinforces their unique sound. Vocalist AJ’s lyrics sound sincere and meaningful making it easy to relate to them. The recording quality is great and you can’t deny the artwork is pretty sweet.

The band have posted it on the internet for free downloading here: http://rapidshare.com/files/182615846/NA R001.rar

Or alternatively you can stream the whole e.p. on myspace at: http://myspace.com/worldsaparthc

As I understand it the band is in a bit of debt over this so please do the right thing if you can spare it and buy a copy from them or they won’t be able to keep putting out great music. I’m pretty sure you can also get test presses off Matt, so get in contact with their myspace for that. The details for purchasing are on their myspace along with a couple of shows coming up so try and make it to those as well.

- Dylan

VERA – Demo 2008 Review

I downloaded this little 3 song gem off their MySpace a month or so ago, and it blew my mind. These 17-19 year olds from Canberra play a cynical style of melodic hardcore, in the vein of LLT, and although this is a heavily overdone sound, they make it work. Even with not so great quality recordings, each song is well written and tight. It packs a great listen, and it will continue spinning on my iPod for a long time. I am definitely hanging tight for later releases, and the chance to see these dudes live, and you would if you heard the demo too.

Get it here:  www.myspace.com/veracruise
(and if your not one for downloading, they have two of the songs right up there for your listening pleasure)
-Ed

TIME WILL TELL posts 4 new tracks

Northern Beaches reigning champs of melodic hardcore have posted four new tracks off their upcoming 7 track self titled cd. The songs definitely show the bands growth over the year or 2 they’ve been around. My pick would be Change. Go to the myspace below to give them a listen and make sure you leave them some feedback if you can.

http://www.myspace.com/timewilltellhc

New call of duty 5 zombie map!

I know this is a fair way off topic but if you have cod5 and still play it I highly recommend you buy the new map pack. I think it’s only around $10 anyway. The 1 new zombie map is easily the highlight and here’s a video demoing it. It is harder than the first one but has more thought and features put into it. I have to stress the importance of 4 players and good teamwork because it gets hectic.

The pack also contains 3 new multiplayer maps which obviously have had a lot of thought and planning put into them. All are quality maps and have at least for me renewed my experience with the game and made it that much better. Definitely go for it if you are thinking about it.

*** Played shortly after writing this and got to LEVEL 24 with only one other person. So hectic ***

Time bomb zine will be digital

Decided to make it a blog as you can see. I don’t have the money or knowledge to print it all up and this way more people can read it. Will hopefully get started posting content within the next few days but life is busy right now with school and everything so we’ll see how things go I guess. Any bands who read this don’t hesitate to shoot me an email about demos or anything like that.

flyingv@tpg.com.au

I see there’s a few votes there. If you have a suggestion feel free to comment it.