Sorry if the title is a bit misleading. I’m not talking about the return of that glamorous era of the 80’s, no, i’m talking about one of my favourite bands of all time…..the Brighton psychos Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. They’re finally releasing a new album. “Blood and Fire” is set for release on the 17th of May, more than 5 and a half years after their last offering “The Royal Society”. If you haven’t heard these guys before i’d seriously recommend starting off from the beginning and getting their debut “Horse of The Dog”. You won’t be disappointed.
TRACKLISTING FOR BLOOD AND FIRE
1. LOVE TURNS TO HATE 3.09
2. MISSION FROM GOD 2.36
3. SO LONG GOODNIGHT 4.25
4. UNDER MY CHIN 2.18
5. RIPTIN 3.25
6. MONSIEUR CUTTS 2.32
7. I HATE THE BLUES 2.49
8. MAN FOR ALL SEASONS 2.14
9. DON’T ASK ME TO LOVE YOU 2.41
10. HOMEMADE 4.05
11. NEVER BE THE SAME 3.21
12. ARE YOU LIVING 4.08
The Matchbox hold a very special place in my heart. They were a band i found just by chance when i raided my sisters CD collection one night back in 2002. The cover of “Horse of The Dog” jumped out at me initially so i took the CD, gave it a listen………and never returned it. I’m sorry Lisa. The album is one of sheer punk psychobilly garage noise. Guy McKnights wild tones swinging from a woozy and evil Elvis to an even more intimidating version of Lux Interior. His almost primal shrieks were the perfect match for the Cramps and Birthday Party-esque structures and frenetic pace of the music. For an album that clocks in at just 25 minutes it certainly managed to leave a massive impression. It was just what i was looking for at that age (16 going on 17), aggression and rebellion.
Their second album “The Royal Society” was more of the same. Dirty music, filthy tongues, self assessing lyrics, there was an almost paranoid feel to some tracks with Guy McKnight tying to keep his personalities in check. The paranoia feel only added to the tension and made the tracks even more appealing. On “Royal Society” the Matchbox had also proved that they had an ear for a catchy song or two. All 3 singles released from the album were Top 40 UK chart hits. With Mr Mental giving them their highest ever position at 25. Mr Mental also featured in the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead in a memorable car scene.
After releasing “The Royal Society” they kind of stalled. There were a few in’s and out’s on the guitar front between 2005 and 2008. The inconsistency there would obviously have had an effect on the non release of new material. But new songs were aired during live shows. Most went down well, really well in fact. A few of the songs from that era (circa 06-07) are actually on the upcoming new album. Two of the songs in question are “Love Turns To Hate” and “I Hate The Blues”. During this time i was aching for more Matchbox and i successfully managed to get a hold of just about every single Matchbox track available through a Russian fans unofficial website, sadly this site exists no more. It had every b-side and demo they ever done as available free MP3s, a live version of just about every song, videos, everything a fanatic would need. It’s safe to say i downloaded every single file i could from that website and i still have them to this day. My favourite demo and in fact one of my favourite Matchbox songs of all time is “Count The Voices”. Sadly for me it’s not made the album. But i’ve still had the joy of seeing it live about 4 or 5 times. Which brings me to the next section. The Eighties Matchbox live = amazing chaos and a guaranteed party.
I’ve not missed one single live show of theirs in Scotland since 2003. I’ve seen them play just about every single small venue in Glasgow and Edinburgh. I also had some of the best nights of my life when i seen them support Queens of the Stone Age at the Carling Academy back in 2007 and also in support of System of a Down at the SECC in 2005. I’ve seen them bring crowds to their knees, to their feet, to the celing (actually to the ceiling, yes) and on to the stage. Actually most of their gigs i’ve seen always end up with the crowd on stage, myself included on two or three occasions. Without a doubt though the best gig i’ve ever been to of theirs (there’s been a lot) was at the Garage in 2004 for a Halloween gig (they love their Halloween shows). Words can’t describe that night. So i won’t even try. Ok i will, it was just a perfect harmony of razor edged punk on their part and some of my best friends and i having a fucking brilliant night on our part. That was also the first time i met some of the band members. I would go on to meet them all several times over the next few years. I was once even accosted at a set of traffic lights by the bassist Sym Gharial looking for a cigarette. I happily obliged and he walked back to Glasgow Central station with us before heading off to some nightclub like the rest of us. That’s the thing see, they’re just normal guys. All lovely people who just happen to be in a crazy Rock n Roll band. There’s no egos, no complex.
In 2007 there was finally an official release in the form of the “In The Garden” EP. My friend Melanie very kindly sent me up a pre-release copy from London a few weeks before it was due out. It was put on constant rotation for about 3 months there after. After the EP release there were rumours abound of a new album. In between that time and the present the band have recorded with several different people, James Lavelle and Chris Goss included. The details of the new album seem to be quite close guarded though so who knows what versions of what songs have made it on…..
The band also sometimes choose to moonlight as The Boogs. They released a song under the moniker, it was “Palomino’s Dream”. A delightful psych-rock number as could only be expected.
So there we have it. That was a quick summary of the career of the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster so far. Thank god they’re back.
S.I.T Wolf X
ps. if anybody has or knows anybody who has the Eighty Degrees of Separation DVD please let me know! It’s ultra rare and is just about the only thing i don’t have of theirs.
I’m not one for TV theme songs, i don’t watch a lot of programmes never mind listen to the theme songs, my attention span for TV is very short. Basically i bore very easily. There are however a handful of theme songs that i like. Curb Your Enthusiasm being my favourite, closely followed by the chirpyness of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Then there’s the classic Baywatch one, extra cheese on that.
But this morning a friend informed me of a very unique videos that includes some classic theme songs….
Step forward the talented Fredrik Larsson. A one man theme tune machine.
Here’s the order:-
0:01 Two and a Half Men 0:22 The Simpsons 0:36 O.C 1:00 Naruto 1:11 Family Guy 1:41 Married with Children 1:57 Cheers 2:16 That 70’s Show 2:41 Big Love 2:58 Freaks and Geeks 3:18 Malcolm in the Middle 3:35 X-Files 3:55 Firefly 4:09 The Office 4:24 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 4:44 Scrubs 4:54 True Blood 5:27 Charles in Charge 5:38 The Big Bang Theory 5:55 How I Met Your Mother 6:05 Mission Impossible 6:14 Friends
Disappointingly though for me he’s missed out doing Baywatch so i’m going to be forced to post the original version myself…….any excuse really.
Have you ever listened to a song and thought that it totally encapsulates and sums up a film?
I don’t mean a song from a soundtrack though, that’s too obvious. So for example, “Eye of the Tiger” and the Rocky franchise is a no go! Â I mean a song that is totally unrelated to a film, one that isn’t on the soundtrack, one that seems to capture that hour and a half or two hours and pour it into 4 or 5 minutes of music.
Well, Thursday, on the way home form work a song came on in shuffle mode on my iPod that just hit me. I’d heard it a thousand times before but this time it just said “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. So i went home, had a shower, had my dinner (by this time it was 10:30pm) and crawled into my bed and put on my “Eternal Sunshine…..” DVD. I was right. The song IS the film. I’d found the perfect musical version of “Eternal Sunshine”. How did i not realise this before?
The song in question is “The Rudiments of a Spiritual Life” by The American Dollar.
Below i’ve posted MP3’s of the original version and also one that i decided to edit a little. All i’ve done is take a few segments from the film and play them over the intro and the kinda bridge-y part of the song. I think it fits perfectly.
How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot?
The world forgetting, by the world forget
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Each prayer accepted, each wish resigned
This video montage is worth posting just for Becks cover of “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime”
I’m interested to know if anybody else has any ideas for songs that you think perfectly captures a film so let me know.
It’ll all click when the mortgage clears
All our fears will disappear
Now you go to bed
I’m staying here
I’ve got another level that I want to clear
My skin feels like orange peel
My eyes have been vacuum-sealed
My organs move like a squirm of eels
We should be more adventurous with our meals
They annoy me those who employ me
They could destroy me
They should enjoy me
We eat chinese off our knees
And look for each other in the TV screen
The sun goes up and the sun goes down
I drag myself into the town
All I do I want to do with you
Everyday I’m at my desk
At my desk I’m like the rest
All I do I want to do with you
On the city’s skin they move on mass
Like a rash on the back of a manky cat
Now in I go like a fool
I can’t resist dipping in the pool
I watch them watch me I watch them too
Across the street across the room
I dress myself like a charcoal sketch
My eyes are brown and my hair’s a mess
They annoy me those who employ me
They could destroy me
They should enjoy me
We eat chinese off our knees
And look for each other in the TV screen
The sun goes up and the sun goes down
I drag myself into the town
All I do I want to do with you
Everyday I’m at my desk
At my desk I’m like the rest
All I do I want to do with you
The sun goes up..
The cells I am at the moment will soon die
But I will be here
Oh I’ll still be here
The cells I am at the moment will soon die
But I will be here
Oh I’ll still be here
Last Friday me and my friends Simon and Morgan were driving through to Edinburgh to see Emalkay play a set at the Cabaret Voltaire. The journey was laced with dirty jokes, humorous discussions on which member of S Club 7 was the hottest (none in my opinion) and just general random banter. Morgan seems to have some obsession with trying to find out if i currently have a “thing” for anyone. By “thing” i assume she means someone i like. “You should find a girlfriend!” she shrieks, piercing my eardrum. Even though i’m sitting right next to her in the car. I, of course, keep schtum, like a gentleman should and simply offer a “yeah, actually, there is someone i really like but i’m not telling you” cos i know that’ll irritate her just that teensy bit more! Simon on the other hand freely discusses how and who he spent the previous weekend with. As he always does. Don’t you Simon? You man whore.
Simons weekend bag
Anyway the journey wasn’t just filled with inquisitive minds and stories of indulgence. It was also soundtracked by some pretty fucking amazing music. On the way there we had a mixtape that Si and myself had put together a few days beforehand. It consisted of mainly of ambient chillout music so we quickly swapped for one that i had hastily assembled just half an hour before we left for Edinburgh. It contained some Aphex Twin, Beetroots, Blue Mars, Skream, NIN, Fake Blood and of course the man we were on our way to see, Emalkay.
The gig itself was awesome. Loud, smokey, wonky, glitchy, bassy, scratchy. You know that feeling when you can feel the bass come through your feet? Well imagine that ten fold. Just what i’d hoped for. After the gig and one too many tequila it was back to the car. I genuinely felt sorry for Morgan as she had to drive an inebriated Simon and i all the way back to Glasgow whilst listening to us have a drunken but friendly disagreement about how good/shit Team Sleep are. Just for the record i’m the one who thinks they’re good. In the midst of this verbal battle Morgan had managed to somehow slip the Bring Me The Horizon “Suicide Season” album into her sound system. I didn’t even notice at first. To be honest, they’re a band that i knew about but had never actually heard anything of. Their image and reputation had kinda put me off if truth be told. But i slowly warmed to it. Bit by bit, riff by riff i was converted. One song in particlar stuck out like a sore thumb, “Death Breath”. The opening riff (and main riff throughout) chugs along like a sledgehammer. Josh Homme would be proud. That was my initial thought actually. A few of the riffs could be QOTSA-esque. A lot of bands would kill for an opening riff like that. So after we managed to get through the full “Suicide Season” album i announced, in a drunken state, “I’m gonna *hiccup* download that album *hiccup* in the morning“.
So the morning came and download i did. To my surprise when i downloaded it i was offered the chance to download another version of the album, “Suicide Season: Cut Up”. It’s an album that consists of the same songs on the original only this time they’re all remixed by artists varying from the dude from Gym Class Heroes to The Toxic Avenger. Yes, the Toxic fucking Avenger. The man’s a legend (i’ve posted a few of his tracks before, mainly in the mixtapes section i think, if you haven’t heard him check him out) so when i found out that he had done a remix i had to get both “Suicide Season” and “Suicide Season: Cut Up”. Just by sheer coincidence the song that he remixes is, yes, my favourite track “Death Breath”. He keeps THAT riff yet somehow changes the style completely by sprinkling some of his electro magic over the track. The bite and snarl of the vocals marries well with the bleeps and loops that he chooses to mingle in among the heavy rhythms.
You share your birthday with Will.I.Am, Terence Trent D’Arby and Eva Longoria. Julius Ceasar was murdered on this day as well apparently.
Oh and it’s a national holiday in Hungary. Just thought i’d throw that in for some international appeal. And you never know they might be secretly celebrating your birthday.
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you….”
I know you’ve probably seen this before but here it is anyway….
So this is the second part of my update. Basically it takes in Aberdeen and then The Unwinding Hours gig.
I don’t have much time tonight so a summary of the Aberdeen trip is as follows:-
Being stoned in a busy car park
Dead seagulls
A lot of walking
Morrisons sandwiches
Listening to Limp Bizkit on the journey up to Aberdeen (just for nostalgia)
Shitty North Sound Radio on the way back down
Ghost stories
Morgans Spiced Rum
Getting ID’d for cigarettes (“Do i look under 18? Do those glasses work?”)
Getting a new high score on Fall Down on my iPod
Being stoned and slightly paranoid in Subway
Coffee
Getting stuck in rush hour traffic
“Yah’s”
Talking with Kurt Cobains spirit in a high street store
Lipstick marks on pint glasses….yuck
Tiny bathrooms
Early morning phone calls
Running backwards
Discussions on bizarre ways to die
Horrible take away food
Losing a hat
Losing money on quiz machines
A cravat
Getting lost in nightclub toilets
Being eyeballed by a strange, drunk man
Custom handshakes
Talking to a kind policewoman
Being stoned in a supermarket (bad idea)
Attempting to decipher the Aberdeen accent
Lots of bottles of water
Almost spending ÂŁ1oo on a new iPod dock
Almost losing my tickets for The Unwinding Hours gig
Going home
So in short story form:- Aberdeen – Welcome To The North
Myself, Luisa and Keane took a road trip up to Aberdeen to see our friend Emma. Keanes girlfriend Lisa also happens to stay in Aberdeen so she kindly allowed us to stay at her place and joined us on our adventures. The original plan was to go see Emma and take in the Ex Lovers gig at The Warehouse. Unfortunately i believe said gig was cancelled but we decided to go ahead with the trip anyway. We left on the Wednesday morning, got there about 5pm on the Wednesday afternoon. That night we spent a few hours in various pubs and then onto a club. On the Thursday, those of us who braved the hangover (not you Emma!) went for lunch/dinner and then took a wander around a few shops before heading to the bus station to see off Luisa. She had to head back down on the Thursday night to make her work on the Friday. I spent the Thursday night with Emma and Gemma. It was a rather enjoyable few hours of storytelling and discussions and then it was back to the flat and tucked up in bed (the floor and a sleeping bag) for midnight. We left for home about 3pm on the Friday but not after i’d had one last stroll about Aberdeen city centre. Keane dropped me off in Glasgow about 7pm on the Friday night and it was straight to The Unwinding Hours gig at Stereo for me………
5th March, The Unwinding Hours @ Stereo
This was a gig and night that didn’t exactly go to plan. But it turned out amazing in the end. The plan was: I come back from Aberdeen, meet my brother in law Gary in Glasgow, we grab a few beers then head to The Unwinding Hours gig. Everything was going well until we got just outside the venue. I’d met Gary on time, we’d grabbed a few beers. Then i made the mistake of offering him a smoke. He hadn’t smoked in ages. Months and months. He felt really sick, really quickly and after taking my advice he decided to head off on the train home. I was on my lonesome.
Strangely though i didn’t feel awkward at all. The music kept me company. The Unwinding Hours have that knack of making comforting sounds. The epic and constant ethereal feel of the songs is more than enough company for any mere human. They recorded their debut album as a duo but live they are aptly assisted by a few more musicians. They will eventually play the album in it’s entirety over the course of the night.
The lighting makes for a warm mood. The lyrics add a somewhat sombre feel. They almost threaten to bring the place to a hush with whispery vocals in some parts before letting the songs soar again. Craig B’s lungs soar along with the music and i can feel a shiver in my spine. I take a look around and i can practically see the hairs on everyone’s necks standing up. We’re all sharing in this dream like sequence of songs together. It’s cold outside and the rain is lashing, the wind is howling but in here, downstairs in this little venue the sounds of perfection are keeping us warm and happy. And then it’s wake up time, the gig’s over but not before some more witty banter from the shy but charming frontman.
After the gig i end up chatting to a friend of one of the support bands “Olympic Swimmers”. We discuss various bands, mainly Aereogramme (if you don’t know why, you shouldn’t be reading this post.) But we end up on the subject of “slacker” music and shoegaze. Dinosaur Jr and the likes. I think it’s because i brought up a band called “A Grave With No Name” into the conversation. Get them checked out, seriously amazing band. A mixture of pianos and guitars with the wooziness of a softer My Bloody Valentine tinged with the vacant yet emotion full lyrical feel of Dinosaur Jr. And they can do sludgey shoegaze at it’s best too, just check out the song “Silver” for proof. Anyways back to the conversation, the subject of the “slacker” genre almost ultimately leads to Pavement. Alongside Dino Jr, Pavement could be credited with being pioneers of that movement. Of course there are so many others but those two stick out. So when Pavement came up i jumped straight in, “Oh my friend Emma absolutely loves Pavement….” before going on a ten minute spiel about Emma and her Pavement adoration. During this ten minute period, another few people join in, one being a member of said band “Olympic Swimmers”. He happens to mention his band have contributed to a Pavement tribute album called “Show Me A Word That Rhymes With Pavement”. It’s a free download. Find it here…http://www.filthylittleangels.com/
I know the website sounds like some sort of porn site, i was sceptical when the dude first told me. But it is genuine!
Seriously though it’s an album worth getting, especially if you’re big on Pavement. I downloaded it as soon as i got home from the gig on the Friday night and sent it straight to Emma.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the other support act for The Unwinding Hours, a band called “Holy Mountain” were very very good. And very loud. They reminded me of a two man Kyuss. You can find a free download of an EP on there MySpace page. Â Â http://www.myspace.com/mountainholy
So that was 3 very good Scottish bands in one night. Not bad for a night that looked set to be a downer.
So that’s the update finished. And as a parting shot here’s some of ” A Grave With No Name”, just in case you couldn’t be bothered looking them up! I highly recommend the album “Mountain Debris”. The songs “Lavender” and “Silver” are my favourites but couldn’t find a video for either of them. I’ll post the actual tracks when i have time.
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Someones In The Wolf 