Alt-UK

Music, Film, and Gaming

Rich

The Gaslight Anthem Studio Video

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A video from the studio as The Gaslight Anthem talks about recording the ‘American Slang‘ studio album, due for release through SideOneDummy Records on June 14th.

The album is available to pre-order from HMV right now, with a very respectable £14.99 price tag which includes a t-shirt and badges as a part of the deluxe edition. ‘American Slang‘ is the band’s third studio album to date, and is the follow-up to 2008s ‘The ’59 Sound‘, also released through SideOneDummy Records.

Harrys Gym May 2010 Tour Dates

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Norwegian Rock/Pop group Harrys Gym is hitting the UK next week, and can be seen at a number of different venues throughout the country.

Three of the band’s six dates are to be played in London, in addition to this however Harrys Gym can also be caught in Tunbridge Wells, Birmingham, and York.

The band is all set to officially release its self-titled debut album here in the UK on May 10th, and this short tour will then follow as the band looks to get its music out there to a UK crowd.

Here is a list of the six tour dates that Harrys Gym has planned between May 11th and 18th:

11 May – White Heat @ Madam JoJos London
12 May – Lumanaire w/Warpaint London
13 May – Forum w/Warpaint Turnbridge Wells
16 May – Stereo York
17 May – Hare & Hounds Birmingham
18 May – Flowerpot London

Cancer Bats and Bring Me The Horizon September 2010 Tour Dates

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Having not long finished a tour of the UK, Canadian hardcore punk band Cancer Bats already has plans to return as they have nine tour dates arranged for September with Bring Me The Horizon.

The band is actually back again in June to play Download, this will be Cancer Bats’ next proper tour of the UK however and is all set to begin in Oxford on September 21st.

Bring Me The Horizon will be hitting the Warped Tour between June and August, they’ll be back for September however and the shows involving these two bands will no doubt be absolutely packed full of energy.

Cancer Bats released third studio album ‘Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones‘ earlier this year, Bring Me The Horizon meanwhile will release its own third studio release later on this year in August.

Although there’s no London date scheduled for the shows involving both Bring Me The Horizon and Cancer Bats (with additional support from Tek-One), Bring Me The Horizon will be playing at London’s Relentless Garage on October 1st.

The following are the Bring Me The Horizon/Cancer Bats tour dates currently scheduled for September:

9/21 – OXFORD Academy 2
9/22 – NORWICH Waterfront
9/23 – BIRMINGHAM Academy 2
9/24 – GLASGOW Garage
9/25 – LEEDS Cockpit
9/27 – MANCHESTER Club Academy
9/28 – COLCHESTER Arts Centre
9/29 – BRIGHTON Concorde 2
9/30 – EXETER Lemon Grove

Owl City – Umbrella Beach Video

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Owl City’s ‘Umbrella Beach‘ is due for release through Island Records on May 17th, and this is the promotional video that has been recorded for the single, directed by Alexander Brown for Davey Inc.

Alexander Brown has been able to put together an extremely impressive video for the single, showing a young boy achieve his dreams as he creates from scratch his very own flying machine. The video serves as an absolutely fantastic backdrop as we’re treated to the fine vocal talent of Adam Young in another extremely impressive piece of music from Owl City.

‘Umbrella Beach‘ is the follow-up to the smash hit number one single ‘Fireflies‘, and is the second single to be lifted from Owl City’s hugely impressive ‘Ocean Eyes‘ studio album, released through Universal in February 2010.

Morcheeba Reunite with Skye to Release New Single and Album

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British band Morcheeba has reunited with lead singer Skye Edwards, and will release brand new album ‘Blood Like Lemonade’ through PIAS Records on June 7th.

Leading up to the release of the album, Morcheeba is also to release a new single, ‘Even Though’, and that will be available for download from May 24th.

‘Blood Like Lemonade’ is Morcheeba’s seventh studio album to date, and band member Paul Godfrey has had the following to say about the use of lyrics on the album:

The lines about “the hidden dangers” and being “cast adrift in space” reflect worries about humanity. That was inspired by reading interviews with astronauts – they’d get into space and look back at the world, and couldn’t understand why people were still fighting with each other, and why we were destroying our own planet, that was so beautiful from a distance. The heavy breathing sound is an astronaut breathing in his helmet. He doesn’t have long to live, and at the end his breathing stops. He’s basically just trying to send a message that we should all get along.

As well as having a brand new album set for release soon, Morcheeba will also be touring throughout June/July, and you’ll be able to catch the band at the following venues and events:

June
17 B1 Maximum Club, Moscow
18 Stereoleto Festival, St Petersburg
20 Parklive Festival, Bulgaria

July
8 Les Ardentes Festival, Liege
9 Festival Bete de Scene, Mulhouse
10 Festival Terres de Son, Tours
17 Festival Aux Zarbes, Auxerre
18 Den Atelier, Luxembourg
19 Paradiso, Amsterdam
24 Blue Balls Festival, Luzern
30 Hollywood Bowl, LA
31 Hollywood Bowl, LA

Boys Like Girls @ Shepherds Bush Empire, Monday 26th April 2010

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Having been over for a few shows in February, Boys Like Girls returned to the UK on April 26th 2010 for a gig at Shepherds Bush Empire, with support from UK based bands Me Vs Hero and Futures.

With doors at 7:00pm we unfortunately missed out on opening act Me Vs Hero, next to the stage was London’s very own Futures however, and the unfortunate thing there was that we didn’t miss them. In a set completely devoid of any energy or passion, and with a drummer that looked like he could fall asleep at any time (and may well have done at certain points), Futures droned through a number of tracks that all sounded distinctly similar. Finishing with ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’, the band certainly seemed to appeal to some of those at the front, personally however I found little to really smile about in the band’s music, and hearing that ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ was their last track was the most excited I managed to get during the band’s performance.

With Futures’ set having finished, the Shepherds Bush Empire decided it was time to slap Maroon 5 on the stereo, and even if Futures’ performance hadn’t been a hit with some, Maroon 5’s ‘Songs About Jane’ album during the interval certainly seemed to do the trick as the majority of the young audience began to sing along and get ready for Boys Like Girls to take to the stage. After what felt like an eternity of Maroon 5, it was finally time for Boys Like Girls to take to the stage and provide the crowd with the music that they’d been waiting for.

Kicking off their show with the Black Eyed Peas’ hit ‘I Gotta Feeling’, straight away Boys Like Girls began to work the crowd as they took to the stage and the predominantly teen audience began to go wild. Jumping straight into ‘Love Drunk’ from there, Boys Like Girls continued to impress with their upbeat brand of pop punk/pop rock and launched through a number of tracks from their first two albums.

In a set that included tracks such as ‘Hero/Heroine’, ‘Five Minutes to Midnight’, ‘Heart Heart Heartbreak’, ‘She’s Got A Boyfriend Now’, and ‘Thunder’, Boys Like Girls was able to keep the energy levels high at all times before bringing numerous crowd members to the stage for closing number ‘The Great Escape’. The setlist was identical to that of February’s show at the O2 Academy, Islington, despite playing the same set however the band certainly didn’t seem tired of it and looked genuinely pleased to be playing to a London crowd for the second time in just over two months.

Before coming back to the UK for this show at Shepherds Bush Empire, Boys Like Girls was scheduled to play a number of shows over in Germany, as a result of the closed airspace the band therefore had to miss out on their German tour dates however and these shows will therefore have to be rescheduled for a later date.

For fans of pop punk/pop rock, Boys Like Girls certainly put on an impressive show at the Shepherds Bush Empire, and if you’ve yet to see this band live then doing so at a later stage is a definite must. The band may only have released two albums thus far, Boys Like Girls is still a band with much to offer however and their live show certainly recreates the supreme positivity of their records. The Boys Like Girls sound is one that is extremely upbeat and exciting, and if you’re up for a bit of pop fuelled rock/punk energy then this is a band that definitely deserves to be seen.

Rating:

The Like London Shows

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All female rock group The Like has some London shows coming up, and will be playing a number of gigs throughout the capital between April 30th and May 5th.

The band is all set to release new single ‘He’s Not A Boy’ through Downtown/Polydor at the end of May, with the single available to purchase for download and as a limited edition 7” from May 31st.

The following are the London shows that The Like currently has coming up:

30th April – Club NME, Koko London
1st May – Camden Crawl London
1st May – Proud Galleries London
2nd May – Notting Hill Arts Club London
4th May – Pure Groove In Store London
5th May – The Old Blue Last London

Tweak Bird May 2010 Tour Dates

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Illinois based rock band Tweak Bird is hitting the UK in May and will be playing five dates between May 12th and May 23rd. With three dates in London, the band will also be hitting Birmingham and Brighton also.

Tweak Bird is all set to release its debut album later this year through Souterrain Transmissions, complete with production team Deaf Nephews (Melvins’ Dale Crover and Big Business’ Toshi Kasai) at the helm.

Here are the five UK tour dates that Tweak Bird currently has arranged for May:

12 London The Gaff
13 Brighton The Great Escape
21 London Stag & Dagger
22 Birmingham Capsule
23 London Brixton Windmill

3 Inches Of Blood Team Up Again with Rick Podd for ‘Silent Killer’ Video

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Having previously worked with Rick Podd (The Watcher, Hellraiser) for the video to single ‘Battles and Brotherhood’, 3 Inches Of Blood has once again linked up with the well known horror director in order to put together a video for ‘Silent Killer’.

3 Inches of Blood guitarist Shane Clark had the following to say about the new video:

Hey all. It’s that exciting time again when we’re making another video. Fuck Yeah! This time around it’s for our song ‘Silent Killer.’ It’s going to be a straight up East Van production once again directed by our friend Rick Podd who directed our barbaric ‘Battles and Brotherhood’ video. This time, it’s going to be about us getting killed by an assassin methodically throughout one fine Vancouver evening. I personally am excited because we have one of the industry’s finest FX artists around helping us add a nice element of gore and guts which will get your blood boiling. Not to mention babes doin’ the killin.’ All is going great so we will have it ready just in time for Rockstar Mayhem Fest, which we are super stoked as all Hell for. Lots of great bands and a whole lotta BBQs and partying. Can’t wait for this summer because we will be once again be bringing our brand of kick ass metal to the masses. See you there and lets rage!