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Young Guns/Every Avenue September Tour

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American pop-punk band Every Avenue will return to the UK in September in support of Young Guns. The Michigan five-piece is all set to release new studio album ‘Bad Habits‘ on September 5th, so the tour will be a good chance to catch Every Avenue testing out their new material on the live circuit.

Every Avenue singer David Strauchman had the following to say about the tour:

We’re stoked to be supporting Young Guns on tour this September! It will be amazing getting back to the UK and playing our new material from Bad Habits for all of you. After a full summer in the heat of Warped Tour in the States we’ll be ready for some rain haha! Get ready, UK – we’re coming to party!

Seven dates will be played in total and you’ll be able to catch the band’s at the following venues in September:

Fri, Sep 9               Lemon Tree          Aberdeen

Sat, Sep 10            QMU                       Glasgow

Sun, Sep 11           Ironworks              Inverness

Mon, Sep 12         Northumbria University      Newcastle

Wed, Sep 14         Academy 2            Manchester

Thu, Sep 15           HMV Institute        Birmingham

Fri, Sep 16             HMV Forum           London

All Time Low, Yellowcard, Young Guns @ Brixton Academy, Sunday 13th March 2011

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Dressed in a rabbit onesie accompanied by a tiger and a leopard huddled under thick duvet covers, fans have been queuing since early hours or the previous day. ALL TIME LOW has one of the biggest and dies hard fan bases to exist in the foundations of modern day pop-punk. So when the burley security guards open up ‘heaven’s doors’, the fans upon fans swarm in like a stampede of antelope, all wanting to grab a hold of that sacred barrier.

First up is the British High Wycombe collective, also referred to as the uprising and over achieving YOUNG GUNS. Hitting straight into “D.O.A” these boys try their very best to open up a pit, although the crowd is sadly made up of thirteen to sixteen year olds with the handful of watchful parents or those who chose to stay at the back and enjoy their view from the bar. How ever, despite this one flaw, it’s the only one noticeable in their set. Front man, Gustav Wood’s crowd control is unbelievable as he forces the audience to spring upwards, clap but most importantly chant back the lyrics. “Stitches”, the band’s most currently released single, changed the atmosphere into something entirely different. Yes, the four minute wonder still consists of jumping, but the spine chilling coos, deep base line entwined with beautiful guitar strums is something else. “Daughter of the Sea”, “Winter Kiss” and “Crystal Clear” brings a cry of lyrics summoned up by the audience joined by fists beating up into the air giving all three tracks an exceedingly powerful feel to them. Their performance tonight is definitely one of their crowning glory moments as they show such enthusiasm and passion in what they do, that it will be no time until they’re succeeding higher levels and opportunities for those on today’s British music scene.

It’s been some time since YELLOW CARD have been back in the UK, so it comes as no surprise when they bring their musical to life on Brixton’s stage for the second time that it has such an astonishing effect on the crowd. “Lights and Sounds” brings back a familiar and warm welcome as the clever use of instruments such as violins that stimulates the audience into one big cheer. Yellow Card may be stereotyped to be meeting the needs of the older ones gathered here tonight, but the catchy “Rough landing Holly”, “Five Becomes Four” and “Hang You Up” bring everyone up onto their feet with their arms flying in the air (despite most of them trying to imitate a Irish Jig). Infamous ballad, “Only One” makes everyone howl out the words “you are my only, my only one” like a dog kennels on a full moon, running smooth Goosebumps and raising every last hair on your entire body. Of course “Ocean Avenue” is pure amazement, as like a cherry and whipped cream, tops off such an astounding performance.

Opening with an anticipating intro before diving head first into “Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal”, pop punkers ALL TIME LOW take the stage like a wild whirlwind. With a deafening roar, captivating track “Dammed If I do ya, Dammed if I don’t” brings out the best in these Maryland Boys. It’s hard to believe that with such popularity that this band’s first ever single “Coffee shop soundtrack” only came out back in early 2007! All Time Low aspire to reach out to their oldest fans that have been there for them since the beginning, the selection of the classics “Jasey Rae”, “Poppin’ Champagne” and “Six Feet Under The Stars” are used to bring a pleasing grin to those from the very front to the back in both the standing arena and those sat (well now standing and dancing) on the balcony. Whilst “A Part Song” , “Lost in Stereo” and “Stella” un-veils your inner wild child with it’s bubbly choruses and upbeat backings, “Therapy”, “Remembering Sunday” and a solo cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” performed by front man Alex Gaskarth tweaking at his acoustic guitar, melts your heart and soul to the core. As curtain draws, the lights dim. Knowing that two obvious songs have not yet been broadcasted through the dome shaped building, the crowd beg for more. There’s silence for a moment but as soon as the dropping beats of “Weightless” begins insanity appears. Literally screaming back the words “I wanna feel weightless just because” makes you wonder how everyone has not yet lost their voice, although come Monday morning they might just find themselves having some difficulty with talking. Finishing on the infamous “Dear Maria Count Me In” has made an excellent choice of an encore. All Time Low tonight have most unquestionably put them on an all new high.

WORDS: EMILY RAWSON

All Time Low Kick Off Tour In Dublin

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Video by aislingkatemeade

All Time Low kicked off their tour in style last night as they performed a sold out show at Dublin’s Olympia with support from Yellowcard and Young Guns.

The band will now travel over to the UK for a show at Nottingham’s Rock City tomorrow evening, and will perform 10 shows across the UK over the course of an 11 day period.

The predominantly sold out tour will finish with two nights at Brixton Academy, the second date having been added as a result of the first show selling out. Tickets are still available for the Sunday 13th March show at Brixton Academy.

Yellowcard went on hiatus for a few years back in 2008, with a new album due for release later this month the band is most definitely back in action now however, and supporting All Time Low on this tour they will no doubt show why their fans missed them so much when they were away, and undoubtedly make a few new ones along the way as well.

Slam Dunk South (2010) Review

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Slam Dunk South was a festival that I’d been looking forward to for some time, and as the festival hit Hertfordshire it certainly didn’t disappoint. There were some serious congestion issues in the main foyer for the latter half of the day, if you weren’t stuck queuing however then there were certainly some fun times to be had.

Every Avenue was the first band we got to see once we’d made our way to the Glamour Kills Stage, and whilst the vocals seemed to be drowned out in the mix; the band still managed to put on a pretty decent performance as it launched through its half hour set. Whilst the sound levels could have been improved that’s certainly not the band’s fault, and Every Avenue gave a good effort as they looked to warm up the Hatfield crowd.

Heading outdoors to the Jagermeister Stage, the next band we got to see was Young Guns, and with perfect sound the young Bucks band certainly put on a show to remember. Young Guns has supported Lostprophets in the past and there are definite similarities between the two bands; as vocalist Gustav Wood bounced around the stage there was definitely some strong energy in the set, and the crisp and clean sound really helped to make Young Guns’ appearance something rather special. Whilst the indoor sound quality had underwhelmed, being treated to such clarity from the outdoor stage was definitely something to treasure, and Young Guns was able to take full advantage of the strong quality of sound with its impressive display of passionate rock music.

Back to the Glamour Kills Stage and it was now the turn of Ohio pop punk band Hit the Lights to show what they had to offer. Just like Every Avenue before them, Hit the Lights was given 30 minutes to please, and used their time well as they went through a number of upbeat pop punk songs. The sound was still suffering from imperfect levels, Hit the Lights was having fun onstage though, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the performance also. As soon as Hit the Lights had finished their set, Southampton’s Not Advised began playing on the Kerrang! Introducing Stage at the back of the room, and this was another performance that was not to be missed.

Not Advised is a band that I’d not previously come across, I’m certainly glad to have seen them play at Slam Dunk though, and the band genuinely seemed to hugely appreciate the opportunity to play the festival. Not Advised vocalist Jim Thomas has an absolutely incredible voice, and this was something that stood out strongly as the band played through its set. The band had a lot of energy to offer, had the crowd singing along with its upbeat pop punk, and definitely did much to please its audience. If you get a chance to see Not Advised in the future then I would 100% recommend doing so as you’ll not be left disappointed.

Turning back towards the Glamour Kills stage and it was time to watch Set Your Goals; a band that a lot of people were clearly quite excited to see, and they played their set well with their interesting mix of pop punk and hardcore. Matt Wilson’s microphone wasn’t working at the start of the set and to begin with half of the band’s vocals were therefore inaudible, once the microphone situation was sorted though the band was really able to pack a punch with its dual vocal assault. Hoping to see some of RX Bandits set we missed the last few tracks of Set Your Goals’ set, due to congestion in the foyer however we had to forget about getting to see any of RX Bandits as we made our way back out to the Jagermeister Stage to watch We Are The Ocean.

Just like it had been for Young Guns at the Jagermeister Stage, the sound was absolutely perfect for We Are The Ocean, and the band put on the performance of the day so far as it punched through a powerful selection of songs. Covering material from its EPs as well as the ‘Cutting Our Teeth’ album, We Are The Ocean was really able to get the crowd moving, and chief screamer Dan Brown was a crowd hero as he jumped into the pit to get his screaming going from there. Dan also climbed a tree whilst out in the crowd, screamed from the branch, filmed the crowd from a video camera that was thrown up to him, and jumped back down again in slightly moss covered clothes. There was a lot to love about We Are The Ocean’s set; Liam Cromby has an absolutely sublime voice as the band’s clean singing vocalist, Tom Whittaker is a brilliant drummer, and the band always has a lot to offer with its guitars also. Add to this the passion and energy of Dan Brown and you have a live band that can never be accused of providing a dull moment. Aside from New Found Glory, We Are The Ocean was the band that stood out most at Slam Dunk Festival for me, and when the band tours in October I’ll be heading along to a few of the bands shows for more without a shadow of a doubt.

Back to the Glamour Kills Stage for one final time and it was not the turn of Four Year Strong to impress the Hatfield crowd. With four tracks from 2007s ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ and five from 2009s ‘Enemy of the World’, it was an even a split as the band possibly could have provided, and a nice selection of tracks from both of the band’s studio albums to date. Four Year Strong has never been my favourite pop punk band, they’re certainly not a bad band though and had good interaction with the crowd as they created a rather large pit and made sure that their music went down well with the fans that had shown up to see them.

When the Slam Dunk line-up was announced and I realised that New Found Glory and Capdown were going to clash, I have to say that I was bitterly disappointed. As much as I would have loved to have seen both of these bands, unfortunately a decision had to be made, and it was pop punk heroes New Found Glory that I ultimately decided to settle with, sadly meaning that I missed my favourite Milton Keynes skacore band. I’ll always have very fond memories of watching Capdown, getting into a fantastic position for New Found Glory I was not to be disappointed with my decision though, and New Found Glory for me was the ultimate headliner.

Celebrating in style a decade since the release of the ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ debut, New Found Glory launched through a set of 20 tracks, covering all six of their studio albums and even finding room for a couple of covers from the ‘From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II’ album in ‘Iris’ and ‘Kiss Me’. The performance was high in energy, packed full of fun, and there wasn’t a person in the room not having fun as the band gave its all from start to finish. The band mixed it up well as it played its way through the albums, and although the band left the stage after ‘Hit Or Miss’ having already covered a lot of ground; it was clear that the set was not yet over, and the crowd was well poised for the encore of ‘Truth of my Youth’ and ‘My Friends Over You’ as it began to chant ‘NFG’ rather loudly. For me, the only way the night could have been any better is if the band had played ‘Dig My Own Grave’ from the 2008 ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ EP released through Bridge Nine Records, sticking to the studio albums and cover album was certainly fine with me though, and not a single track of the 20 disappointed. The likes of ‘Head On Collision’, ‘Hit Or Miss’, and ‘Dressed To Kill’ were all there, as too were ‘All Downhill From Here’ and ‘Failures Not Flattering’ from the ‘Catalyst’ album, and as the band finished with ‘My Friends Over You’ I was left with a fantastic feeling of absolute satisfaction. New Found Glory put on an awesome show at Hertfordshire University, and if I’d gone along to the Leeds show the next day then I probably would have made the same decision again to finish the day with New Found Glory.

After an absolutely fantastic pop punk performance from New Found Glory it was time to head for the doors, as there was live music coming from the Jagermeister Stage it was clear that Alkaline Trio had not yet finished their set however and there was therefore time for a little more fun.

Arriving at the Jagermeister Stage we were able to catch closing tracks ‘Stupid Kid’, ’97’, and ‘Radio’, and the night therefore finished with the famous Illinois three-piece that is Alkaline Trio. There definitely wasn’t the same level of fun and excitement for Alkaline Trio that there was for New Found Glory, the band played the three tracks well however and before long Slam Dunk South 2010 was officially over.

All in all Slam Dunk South was an absolutely fantastic festival; there were a few problems with the sound on the Glamour Kills Stage, there were congestion issues with the venue, and next year there are a few things that will have to be done differently (presuming that Slam Dunk South is once again held at Hertfordshire University), a good day was still had though, and we at Alt-UK got to see a great selection of bands. Roll on Slam Dunk 2011, and here’s to hoping that some more brilliant bands will be booked for next year’s festival.

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