There were two support acts, the first an indie pop duo Summer Camp.  Debbie Harry-esque vocals from Elizabeth Sankey, beautifully filled the Academy, decorated by swells of synth piano and guitar effects by multi instrumentalist, Jeremy Warmsley. The second were California formed band Surfer Blood who’s laid back surf rock sounds were the perfect appetizer for the headline.

The Vaccines opened their set with full audacity, a glowing stage and Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio? by the Ramones welcomed Justin Young and the rest of the band with punk rock flare. They opened with an anthemic Lack of Understanding, all songs followed suit with the crowd almost equalling the volume of Young’s vocals on every track of the album proving just how much the public have taken to them. Songs that were particularly climatic came in the form of Wetsuit, debut track If You Wanna and Nørgaad, all of which provide simplistic, driving guitar and drum rhythms which seems to be what people want and need right now, music to have a good time to.

This is what makes The Vaccines so great; there is no need for fancy synth looping or intricate, cryptic lyrics. Their matter of fact, quick fire rock and roll is something the public can relate to and something that needs to be brought back, true post-punk-revival spirit. So what DO I expect from the Vaccines? A bright future at least.

After a 2 year leg with his band, The Rascals and on and off spouts of appertaining to the super duo Last Shadow Puppets alongside Arctic Monkey’s front man Alex Turner, 25 year old Miles Kane has recently had his well deserved, ‘big solo break through’ . His debut album Colour Of The Trap was released in May of this year featuring appearances from the likes of Noel Gallagher and French actress Clémence Poésy . This year he has confirmed a stadium tour alongside indie-rock legends Kasabian, supported Beady Eye and The Courteeners and is currently touring as headline artist with EMI signed band, Folks.

The night began with support act Folks. The Mod-rock band originating from Manchester played a roughly 50 minute long set, the lead singer Scott Anderson brandishing a tambourine throughout the act but only playing it on occasion. The six piece band went down well with their driving guitar music and Gallagher-esque vocals.

After a quick set change it was time for the arrival of Kane, who swaggered on stage, fists raised and strobe lights pulsing, to a more than warm welcome from the already exuberant audience. His opening track, Better Than Invisible stirred the crowd into their unending frenzy with distorted guitars reminiscent of Elvis Costello’s Lipstick Vogue. Needless to say the rest of the evening followed suit with the sea of Paul Weller hairstyles never endingly bobbing up and down; the evening was ‘pretty alright for a Sunday’ as Kane put it half way through his set. Highlights of the set came in the form of King Crawler a shamelessly catchy tune sounding not so different from The Age Of The Understatement (a hit by The Last Shadow Puppet’s in 2008). Quicksand was also a climatic song of the evening with it’s Banana Split’s style hook line. Kane finished his set with the iconic Come Closer, built to fill stadium proportioned venues, it’s a track that rocked this year’s Reading festival to the ground. The encore came in the shape of Inhaler released in November of last year it’s high energy synth and punchy vocals were the perfect end to the evening.

After the gig I decided to wait around to see if I could have a chat with Kane, he duly obliged. Although it was brief I managed to ask him about his nomination for ‘best break through artist’ at the Q awards, to which he replied that he was very grateful of the nomination but like all things it was all public dependant and being up against contenders such as Ed Sheeran it was a given that the competition was steep. I also tried to ask whether another stint with Last Shadow Puppets was on the cards however due to other distractions he was unable to reply so we’ll have to wait and see as to whether he and Turner re-hit the studio. For now though Kane can only  be expected to carry on releasing more mod/ indie rock anthems and adding more tour dates to his ever busy schedule. Personally, if the chance to see Miles arises I would fully recommend taking it as his shows promise great, dance-filled evenings and he comes across as a genuinely nice guy.

By Choo Cooper

Panic! at the disco are back with the new album Vices and Virtues. They maybe half the size due to the recent departure of guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist John Walker but they still have the same eccentric, baroque pop flare.

Vices And Virtues offers a lot more of a pop/rocky feel to it using heavier guitar lines and  some understated synth work. The Albums first sneak peek was in the form of a youtube video entitled ‘Overture’.  this features (vocalist) Brendon Urie, (drummer) Spencer Smith and a group of circus like people packing to leave a town. During the video Brendon says goodbye to two ghosts in a bar, and ends up alone with Spencer after the crowd of circus people leave they then self admittedly “let go” of material things  ( whether these things are allusion to the ‘old’ Panic! we will never know for sure but it definitely seems it)

The albums main tone to me is one of not only nostalgia with songs like “memories”  and “the calendar” but also apprehension – “Ready To Go”, shown mostly through the fast tempo of the album of the album. An exception to this is the stripped down, almost serenade-like “Always”, but still it has a sentimental feel.

All in all Vices and Virtues shows us how although ‘artistic differences’ (whatever that means’)   can be upsetting for both band and fans. Artists can still make an emphatic, lively and reflective record.

By Choo Cooper

If you’re reading for anything but an amazed writer, I would stop reading now. My recent attendance to My Chemical Romance’s ‘world contamination tour’ performance has left me nothing but in awe of an amazing, inspiring band.

The night started with English band Lost Alone who, although they managed to get about half of the audience to chant back their name, didn’t really get many jumping. However they could fare well with a slightly more fickle ‘scene’ audience

The second act to come on was welsh screamo band The Blackout. From the first song, these set a fairly high marker. In contrast to Lost Alone they seemed to have the audience from the word go, despite calling them all “boring bastards”. Never have I seen a support act have the whole standing area of the arena kneel down for half a song.

Then was the turn of My Chemical Romance. Of course with the new album, most theatricality has been stripped down but there was still room for big screens projecting images from the new album, exciting the audience more and more. Predictably the band opened with ‘Na Na Na , Art Is The Weapon’, using the voice of ‘Dr Death Defying’ (as heard on the ‘Danger Days’) and a giant fire curtain dropping to reveal the band. The evening was packed with explosive music from the New Jersey group. MCR managed to maintain a good balance of new and old material, pleasing all fans. The musicianship from Ray Toro, Frank Iero and Mikey Way was outstanding and although they didn’t interact with the audience during the  gig, still conveyed such commitment to the art. High lights included ‘ Welcome To The Black Parade’, ‘ Mama’ and encore track, ‘Bullet proof heart’.

Though the band were of gold standard from the first chord, the most gripping song  for me, was performed by just Gerard Way, a pianist and a song entitled ‘Cancer’ from the third album. It needed no pyro or costume to have the entire audience fixed, just a spotlight and a singer, with such passion for his art. Midway through the song both Way and the piano paused for about two/ three seconds,  at which the whole arena was silent, it must  be one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever witnessed, to see an audience of primarily teenage, screaming fans to be so captured in the music.

Coupled with Gerard’s Way’s humility and the professionalism of the band, the groups cult following left my ears ringing with so much faith in the sheer power of not just live music but music in its entirety.

By Choo Cooper

After a long wait for My Chemical Romance  fans, the new album/ rock opera/ phenomenon, whatever you want to call it has landed. The new theme, a futuristic comic book, designed by  Front man Gerard way himself. And of course with a new wave of music comes a new wave of merchandise, tour dates and trailer videos.

The band have been  releasing song trailers and surveillance videos creating more and more hype as more and more information gets released on the album. With the dramatic cult following behind the highly ‘Emo’ “Welcome to the black parade” under their belts,  My Chemical Romance have taken a risk with “Danger days: the true lives of the fabulous killjoys”  because it’s more raw, more edgey and is shedding the old persona of the cancer suffering, gothicism of the last album.

Though the songs released don’t have as much of a sheer punk rock edge as previously conceived,  the three songs that fans have heard are truly anthemic. The first, “Na Na Na / Art Is The Weapon”  really portrays a ready for action mood, it’s fast  paced and is catchy beyond belief. The video to this song was really the first big reveal to the fans about the album. With the band clad in bandito scarves, running around the desert firing ray guns at men in masks and white suits what could go wrong? The second song to be heard is slightly more like a ballad,  called ‘Sing’,  again very catchy, this song is very much a stadium tune. The latest song  to be released is called ‘Save yourself, I’ll hold them back’ it starts with a guitar riff  reminiscent of  The Foo Fighters. The structuring and bridges remind me of Cage The Elephant, with Gerard speaking over distorted guitar  waiting for it to just build up and explode.

So With the band running all over Europe at the moment and the website updating more than Phillip Schofield does his twitter, the hype is building thick and fast. I’m sure I’m speaking on behalf of many MCR fans when I say , THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME.

By Choo/Chloe   Cooper

http://www.mychemicalromance.com/shop

On arrival at the Junction, I soon realised that they’re not just a novelty mariachi act; it was surreal to see that the audience were all fairly heavy punk fans (even if some were a bit “mature”).

When Mariachi El Bronx swaggered on stage in complete charo, Mexican outfits and  without a hint of irony; I realised that they take their somewhat imaginative, side project quite seriously. The hardcore fans, sometimes said to be a cult following, have responded well to the bands Latino rhythms and have shown, the true spirits of die-hard music fans and learned to love the Hispanic sounds. The running order pretty much twinned that of their self titled album starting first with ‘Slave Labour’ and ending with ‘My Love’ but all songs reeked of the passion and feeling they put into their music. The band played with straight up professionalism and didn’t show a trace of their hardcore punk origins.

The next band were the support, Ghost Of A Thousand. On first appearance these were an audacious band with a true punk spirit, so when singer, Tom Lacey jumped back on the stage after moshing with the crowd, it was a surprise to hear he had the speaking-voice of an I.T. guy. Although Lacey’s voice was juxtapositional it didn’t compromise the music that Ghost Of A Thousand play with that of a striking reminiscence to “Gallows”.

After G,O,A,T,  came the headline of the night as it were, The Bronx, this time lacking the trumpets. The band who were seen before as very serious had now taken off the mask and unveiled their gritty, punk , reality. Although they had been stripped  of their charo outfits they still played with the same edge of excitement and feel to their music and just like Ghost O f A Thousand’s singer, front man, Matt  Caughtrain ended up in the audience and dancing with the admiring fans. With so much going for them and the ability to laugh at themselves, the Bronx are a truly inspirational band and if ever you get the chance, go see them as it’s a night you will remember.

By Choo/Chloe Cooper

CC What’s been happening with Violet Bones of late?
VB Well, we’ve been very busy promoting our debut single ‘I Feel The Need’ trying to get ourselves out there, also spending a lot of time working on new material which is going well….

CC Obviously there’s been a change of name, because you used to be called 9fold Punch, does Violet Bones symbolize a change in the band?
VB Yeah definitely, when we started playing together we were all quite young and the music we wrote was very different to what we write now. We achieved a lot and we’re very proud of what we had done, but wanted to take things to the next level and felt drawing a line under 9FoldPunch and starting with something fresh, Violet Bones, was an exciting thing to do.

CC Your first album was called ‘Suddenly out of nowhere’ how do you feel you’ve progressed since then ?
VB Wow, now we’re talking 4/5 years ago! That album we recorded in 2 days and mixed ourselves. It was a good thing for us to do at the time, we had lots of songs that Si had written as a very young teenager that we had now got out of our system. It was very early days for us when we recorded that!

CC What do you see for VB In the future?
VB Well, we’ve got a couple of tours lined up for later this year and we’ll have a follow up single to ‘I Feel The Need’ coming in the next few months too. We’ve all started writing songs again since having a break over Christmas and feel really good about what’s coming out. So we’ll get in the studio to record later in the summer too! We’re also going to start putting on regular nights but running them more like a party than just your normal gig.

CC Who/What are Violet Bones’ main influences
VB We draw influence from all different genres really. We all love the original rock n roll from Led Zeppelin to The Beatles. More recent influences stem from the likes of Phantom Planet and The Libertines who write great indie pop songs! We recently support New York Dolls, who have been an influence over the years too

CC How long have you guys been together and how did you start?
VB We’ve been playing in a band together for the last four years! We all grew up together. Going to different secondary schools; Si met Oz and they started playing together. I learnt to play guitar and joined them on Saturdays. Stu then started at my school and said he could play bass (even though he’d never actually picked one up before our first practise!). And that was that!

CC And finally How would you describe your music?
VB Our music is a mix of different things we started out playing pop punk songs, as that’s what we listened to when we first started writing songs all those years ago and so our sound has developed as our taste in music has broadened, so we write and play songs that make you want to get up and have a dance and a good time, but at the same time still hopefully people can relate to what we sing about!

By Chloe Cooper

Lambert featured in last year’s series of American Idol; normally I would pay no heed to whatever comes out of Simon Cowell’s well-greased pop machine but, as early as the audition stages, Adam seemed like a clear winner due to his unique voice and polished presence.

Throughout the series it looked as if he was to be the sure fire winner but as the  shows started to draw to an end Kris Allen, the small town  boy next door, began to appear as a threat to Adam’s top spot with his safe performances.  On the spectacular final performance night Adam came  on and introduced Kiss who ascended from the ceiling  and performed about six songs with Adam. Despite the amazing performance he gave with Kiss, Adam still came in at second place along with another scandal about the idol voting system.

Since American Idol Adam has gone on to release his debut album “For your entertainment”, established without the monster publicity push of Cowell. The album features contributions from  P!nk , Lady Ga Ga, Matt Bellamy of Muse and producers with names like My Chemical Romance, Green Day and  Paramore under their belts.  But on the flipside, some songs have been produced by Greg Wells who’s worked with names like One republic, Hanson, Mika, The Veronicas and Natasha Bedingfield, contradiction?  I think so!

For me, “For your Entertainment” is a real split album, there are some gems and some over produced, nonsensical, rubbish thanks to the help of Ga Ga and Greg Wells. On the other hand the rest of the songs have qualities of Muse and even Queen standards. Such a varied album makes me think that Adam hasn’t quite decided his style yet and what interests me is the fact that Adam has co-written some of the best tracks on the record, they are better delivered and have more passion than any of the synth- pop computer work that is spoon fed to him.

Track Listing

01)   “Music Again”- I ‘m not sure about this track the opening intro gives off a sound of Black Eyed Peas- “ Boom Boom Pow”  but that is soon compromised by that distinguishing Darkness sound, which is a given as this track is written by Justin Hawkins, front man to the novelty band itself.

02)   “For your entertainment” -I’m not keen on the track, it’s too poppy and overly produced. It reminds me of something but I’m not sure whether it’s Britney or Rhianna. He uses his voice to full potential once or twice but the rest is pretty mediocre.

03)   “Whataya want from me”- Written by P!nk, there are certain streaks of her influences showing in this track. It’s one of the better tracks on the album, it feels more Adam. There’s more skill shown in this one, it’s more of what I want to hear from Adam. It’s less synth-pop and more guitar orientated.

04)   “Strut”- Written by Kara Dioguardi and Greg Wells. It’s not a very strong track, again computer orientated and not the most meaningful song on the album. After listening to it for the second time I had switched off completely, totally uninterested.

05)   “Soaked”-I Love this track as it reeks of Muse as it was written by Mathew Bellamy for Muse originally. With a great Rocky feel this is Adams sound that I believe he’s searching for. After listening to strut and for your entertainment it’s a breath of fresh air. One of Adams highlights of American Idol was when he did the Muse version of “Feeling Good.”

06)   “Sure Fire Winners”- after having listened to Soaked four times in a row I was disappointed to hear the synth sound back to haunt me. Whey! I hear a guitar solo, there’s a great little rocky bit and then it’s spoiled by the synth hook coming back in before the chorus.

07)   “Loaded Smile”- Good but it became a bit boring, though I’d rather listen to an album of this than the pop sounds of FYE and Strut. It’s quite Ambient there’s not much to say for this.

08)   “If I had you”-Just no, the same as FYE, Strut and SFW, Too Cascada for me, no thanks.

09)   “Pick U Up”- Not too bad but it hasn’t got much about it again quite poppy and slightly musicalish.

10)   “Fever”- Lady Gaga Love games, not too bad for Gaga still quite produced but I didn’t mind listening to it but it’s definitely background noise.

11)   “Sleepwalker”- Adam co-wrote the song and it’s quite One Republic. Definitely not overly produced with a slower tempo and shows more talent. Still not the most compelling but I think he has more feeling toward the song as with most artists.

12)   “Aftermath”- Rather Goo Goo dolls, more rocky and ballad-like. This is one of my preferred songs on the album, it’s also written by Adam.

13)   “Broken Up”- It’s Slower quite calming but I got bored after a while. It doesn’t change much and is too long for it to not change at all.

14)   Time for miracles- I’d heard this song before as it was released as a song for the movie “2012”. I like this song it’s quite rocky and lets Adam, passionately show his true brilliance.

By Choo/Chloe Cooper