kufa

// december // end of year approaching

2009-12-03T15:14:00.002+01:00

Here we are in December already, and it's been just over a year since I started at the Kulturfabrik, while I've learnt a lot over this past year there is still a lot to be learnt with the various shows I've done.

I've had an interesting week with a fairly low turnout for 2 shows which I thought would do better than they did,

it's getting to the point where I'm thinking I should take my expectations for shows, and subtract 100 from it and that will be the actual turn out, even for the smaller shows we do

it's a shame to see some of the best bands play in front of less people for whatever reason, the sheer increase in the offer of concerts in the past 2 years has definitely made a difference, those with disposable income also have a lot more choice with what to do with it, while at the same time being very conscious of where that money goes, am i just competing with the latest iphone and xmas sales? or other concerts with high ticket prices? should we maintain our stance on social ticket/drink prices? or adjust accordingly ?

a variety of questions that aren't necessarily easy to answer, i still go and see concerts first and foremost as a music fan, regardless of how much is at stake, but it makes you think about what kind of shows you're putting on despite the clear and evident quality when turnout is well below expectations, and maybe this is what hits you on the drive home

I'm still nice and surprised however and really grateful to those who make such an effort for these 'smaller' shows, whether they're in bars/cafes or smaller venues, the whole reason and motivation to keep doing these kinds of shows are the people however few or many that turn up, i saw one of the best shows ever with only around 50 other people in the room, this was the case last year,

can't necessarily do these sorts of things as often, but as long as there is an interest i think quality will find it's audience as long as they're prepared to listen

and if you've read this far then i thank you =0

To finish off this year we have 4 different shows in different styles hopefully see some of you out there, feel free to come and talk to me//send suggestions

I'm definitely more active on facebook, but i'd say most people are

re: Start of a new season

2009-09-22T12:33:00.002+02:00

So after a lengthy summer, not without it's share of drama and another hospital visit on my behalf , the season at Kufa has started again,

with 2 shows in the small room at the kufa, something that hasn't been done in a long time

the first of which being one of my all time favourite melodic hardcore bands Misery Signals, with their best album to date in my opinion, even tho Malice... is a very close second, it was great to finally see such a quality band headlining their own tour instead of being packaged with 5 or 6 other bands and playing a much shortened set,

these days it's kinda hard to promote and make the smaller gigs really stand out and garner enough interest to make them worthwhile,

but the second day Pompeii really reminded me why we still do these kinds of shows,

People I haven't seen in ages came out specially just to see Pompeii and the local bands play, guys I haven't seen since the 'messancy/belvaux cafe' days, by that i mean the old more DIY shows in cafes

we'll definitely have more shows in the small room wherever possible, and so far the schedule for this year is looking pretty filled up in november/december,

I've been asked the question maybe I'm putting up too many 'heavy' shows, which do indeed make up 50% of the upcoming shows til next january, I try my best to basically book what I think is quality music and also that people would want to see (a lot of the bands I've booked have never played luxembourg before for example),and it just so happens a lot of it is quite heavy

I think kufa is slowly molding a certain identity within the Luxembourg landscape for mainly smaller/alternative/indie/heavy shows with the occasional big name popping in from time to time (benabar anyone?)

I might be wrong about some things, but one year in and I'm still learning a lot about this industry as well as this country

You sometimes can get disheartened but seeing people show up for some really small shows with an equally small ticket price definitely started this season off well

hope to see more of you in the coming months

re: mid year

2009-06-10T12:09:00.003+02:00

finally writing here again,

sorry for the long delay between updates, i haven't been the best of late,

over the last 3 weeks i've been "doctor's note" ill for 1 , definitely not the best way to start summer and also my turning 28 hah

summer is upon us, better weather, t-shirt wearing season, and an attempt like every year to make those legs look less pasty white, but which always fails for some reason

we had some absolutely great evenings at the kufa over the past month or so, and maybe some of you reading this were in attendance

Vessels in particular, which was the 1st of may, this was special for a variety of reasons, I had the chance of opening the evening with my own band , and was my first concert in a very long time, definitely felt good . Vessels has been one of my highlights so far this year, their CD in any case is absolutely great but is nothing compared to the impact live, with only around 60 people there, mesmerizing stuff, branching between the higher echelons of post rock and ambient rock, pink floyd moments , great vocals and control , i can keep singing praise, but in any case this was definitely a band to see/hear , hopefully will return at some stage

We also saw 2 release parties in the last couple of weeks, the first being Rude Revelation and Riktus, the funny thing with Riktus is that i've seen them record 3 of their releases at the kufa in the last 5 years but never seen them live. was definitely impressed with the detail they add into their songs, a shame most people left after rude revelation played.
Rude revelation presented their new album and their brand of thrash with melodic influences, we had the big screen out for them to use and show the new video (which i think will be properly released soon). it was a very long evening in any case, after which i fell ill ugh

Before i get on to last week's release party, I'll mention a few words on the great gig we had last week , Thomas D, member of Fanta 4, if any of you remember ;) perhaps not the music i typically listen to, but like with benabar there's something these guys bring live that is just classy, the sound is always hi-fi, musicians are top notch and just a great impression from stage, Kufa tends to book the more alternative acts, but every once in a while we'll get bigger names in, and it's great to see it live and the mark it leaves on the audience.

the second release party which was last week, the almighty Mutiny on the Bounty, presenting the album which is almost 1.5 years in the making, between recording/mixing/tweaking, and their efforts can definitely be heard, in my opinion one of the hardest working bands in luxembourg, constantly playing shows and pushing themselves further, to the point that they're not just well known in this country but also being name dropped in our neighbours backyards as well.

The stage was setup like a forest with smoke and cardboard trees, special suits, costumes, and the evening itself was really an event, MOTB truly set the bar a lot higher in terms of release parties in luxembourg, and this i think was something great to see, motivates and pushes to try harder yourself (since i also play in a band), be interesting to see what other bands do after seeing this, considering the 450+ people we had there it was a great success, local support was also great and with the costumes definitely added to the event. as said the bar has been set =0 let's hope we see more evenings like this in the future

my last remark i guess is more of a rhetorical or not.. question regarding luxembourg and the sheer amount of stuff going on;

given our small country and relatively small population we have a huge amount on offer every given week in terms of concerts and going out, to the stage that places are becoming more often than not simply less filled due to the separation of the audience for various events, there are examples of this where places will suffer simply due to the amount going on, the fact also that we're in a financial crisis where 'every euro counts' doesn't help, what is the best way to react to this?

i'm an avid musician and still go to see a lot of concerts but i'm more and more conscious of these things, and seeing that costs get higher while we feel that we have less money available, is a bit scary, i can imagine how most people might feel as well, which is another reason why i'm trying my best to stick to reasonable ticket prices for quality events.

there is something called prestige, and everyone would like a part of it (through offering a certain extra special something) but in a small country it feels that due to the sheer amount on offer, this almighty prestige which might be the local band, the jazz trio playing in the cafe,the accapella from the middle east, the 4 piece punk band, acoustic singer/songwriter... simply gets lost in it all

in any case, hope to see you in upcoming events, come and talk to me, send me suggestions i'm always curious to see what people think

re: horizons

2009-04-22T17:04:00.003+02:00

So thanks to some crazy busy times I've had little or no time to update this blog

we've had some pretty good shows in the past month (it has been that long)

27.03 - Tomte
03.04 - Richard Julian
08.04 - Poison the Well
18.04 - Out of the Crowd festival (Pivot,God is an astronaut, minnaars and more).

And some pretty good concerts in the months to come, some particular highlights for me as well

The next one being Vessels and Jeniferever on the 1st of may, now while it's not my intent of this blog to plug concerts I feel this one is definately worth it, it'll be one of the first concerts to use the small room which in itself is an event worthy of attention ;) but more importantly Vessels are perhaps one of the best post rock bands I've heard in the last few years, while within the genre a lot of bands use similarly repetitive motions and varying volume crescendos and tend to fall off the map a bit, Vessels combine all the great elements of various post rock bands and add their own little 'je ne sais quoi' on the top of it

Vessels

Best to listen to their latest album, where within around 50 minutes you go between Redneck Manifesto elements to From monument to masses, this will destroy you, Godspeed you black emperor with stabs of electro and some vocal parts

In any case I'm looking forward to that, Jeniferever's latest album also received a lot of great reviews.

//

The past month has seen some exclusive shows here, one i'm particularly happy about is bringing Poison the Well to luxembourg, who finally after around 11 years of career have made it to our small country, almost a mythical group within the scene despite all these years and evolution. I saw them way back in 2001, got them to sign a frisbee which still hangs in my room =0

Out of the crowd last weekend had some equally great revelations for me, while the concept remained the same I think the bands to most people were largely unknown but of great quality, in particular Pivot for example (warp records latest signing), Minnaars also brought the popular UK indie/disco pop kind of vibe to the venue, made quite popular by foals/bloc party among others it was nice to hear those kinds of sounds over here.

Each year we tend to have more interest, which given the largely underground and unknown nature of the acts playing is quite encouraging in a country where we're certainly not spoilt for choice in terms of the amount of things going on.

In my position the difficulty remains convincing people of quality alternative so to speak, something which takes time and given the choice out there is not always straight forward but I'm always happy to see new and familiar faces gracing our venue for whatever the show and the Out of the crowd festival is a great example of this, another big thanks to the schalltot collective for keeping up their efforts over the years.

and here's some music to tide you over to the next update:

Pompeii

think death cab vibe with some cursive elements ('false alarm' is a particular favourite of mine) and set to play in the kulturfabrik next season =0

see you soon

re: 2 weeks and events

2009-03-23T14:41:00.002+01:00

A bit late unfortunately given 4 shows that have already passed, but things have been pretty damn busy of late (including a one day visit to the hospital , details for the hardcore :P )

A big thanks to the folk at disagreement for reviewing every single one of the shows in more detail here:

http://www.disagreement.net/

If we go back almost 2 weeks, the 11th of March was the date of Cult of Luna playing at the kulturfabrik, to my knowledge they've never played here. Some 150 people showed up for the night, accompanied by destruction INC. and Dysby two french bands.

I was still wondering how these bands got picked for the package considering how different they were to the headliners, think King's X style trio for Destruction Inc. and a bit more proggy metal for Dysby, quality bands still, but strange given how pummeling Cult of Luna are.

We went from bright lights for the first two bands, to 3 smoke machines and a very dark atmosphere for Cult of Luna, who played a little over 1hr15minutes i think, unfortunately their second drummer wasn't with them, but it was still an awesome show, hopefully see them again soon.

Friday the 13th bore witness to the locals Everwaiting Serenade and their much anticipated CD release, they even managed to get on RTL radio that afternoon which was awesome to listen to. Miles to Perdition (MTP) opened the show, and for me was probably their best show of the last month or so (including metal battle), intent was there and had people moving early, it has to be said that the new drummer has made them a better and tighter band, Mutiny on the bounty followed, which in my opinion sounded a bit weird given the kind of atmosphere that MTP set , and what people were expecting for the evening, but they played a great set just some vocal troubles i think that didn't help too much, but was great to see them play again after so long,

i expect their CD release in june to be absolutely mental =0

Fast Friday took the stage thereafter with some big news that they were splitting up, not many people saw that coming, and being backstage i can tell you was weird, as always a solid set, but lacking a bit of energy which was understandable given the circumstances.

Headliners Everwaiting Serenade didn't disapoint, the 6 months in the studio i think has taught them a lot, and despite hardly any shows in that time, I think they played an almost flawless set, I've had the pleasure of following them closely since Wacken last year, helping them out for their record so I was proud to see them put on such an impressive show at the Kufa.

//////////////////////////

the next week followed with another 2 big metal/hardcore based shows

18th of march had the mighty Ocean, Burst , Bison BC , Medeia and locals Retrace my fragments playing

I had yet to see The Ocean play live so was looking forward to the show, and particularly Bison BC and Burst, it's days like those that you really are thankful that you work at such a place,

Retrace my Fragments opened the evening, i was quite impressed having never seen them before, technical proggy death metal stuff, with a bit more experience/gigs i see them doing a lot better, most people know them for their lineup instability but hopefully this one lasts. Medeia have one of the fastest downpicking guitarists i've ever seen, and if you watch their music vids you know they have a great sense of humour as well. Bison BC were the insider pick for me purely for the good vibes and shameless rock n roll riffage, simple to the point sometimes mastodon like.

The ocean had a calculated set, sonically very impressive, for some people just how calculated things were was somewhat offputting (laptop controlling the rack systems/lights, stage moves and that) , but i found it very enjoyable, very heavy and reminded me somehow to a lesser extent of a dillinger set, (the swiss guitarist had a lot of energy shall we say =0. Burst finished off the evening, very modest guys and a great set, probably one of the most interesting bands i've seen this year in terms of identity in their music and very nice people.

///

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I've been a bit slack =0 , I won't say much for Metal Battle other than I think that Scarred really deserved to win, the best delivered set out of all the bands, technically flawless pretty much , great sound and even though i'm not always a fan of the more modern influences they are just a great band. i honestely hope they go far at Wacken, chances are pretty good for them in my opinion.

i'll try and update a bit more consistently =0

//

some music to tide you over:

http://www.myspace.com/hauntedshores

3 shows in a week - the aftermath

2009-03-04T11:43:00.002+01:00

So I finally got to taste what it feels like to have 3 shows within 5 days, tiring as hell but definately worth it =0

Between the 19th of February and 24th of February we had 3 very different shows

Benabar (french song) , Black Dahlia Murder & others (furious tech black metal hardcore mix) and finally My Vitriol (shoegaze+grunge).

Benabar was a sold out show, pretty much without any real promotion at all, within weeks of it being announced on our site and the official website it was sold out.

One of France's biggest sellings artists currentely, it was very interesting for me to see him play for the first time. While not really what i listen to mainly. I was quite impressed by his stage presence and charisma, you can really relate to the guy and his songs/lyrics. One of the best parts was a photo montage they did on stage with lights and a cd running, which they redid because they screwed up the first time =0 had a lot of people laughing including myself, and talk about stamina Benabar was on stage for a total of 2hours 20 minutes or so, truly epic and I think a lot of people were happy thereafter. This was also the first soldout show i've ever seen at Kufa (800 or so people is close but no cigar ;) awesome to see.

Three days afterward, we were in a completely different musical territory, to give you some idea:

6 bands on a sunday, some of the best concerts I've seen so far this year, MTP's new drummer is a very good addition, their new songs are sounding quite good as well, a short set but had the 100 or so people already there moving early,
I wish to make a particular note for Sylosis who absolutely kicked my ass on the night, think 80s thrash metal influences with modern metalcore elements, groovy and very punchy , very impressed, hopefully have them playing back here soon.
Cephalic Carnage had perhaps one of the highlights of the night when they did a 'black metal' moment, dressing up and playing some really dark jam, and Black Dahlia closed off the night with perhaps one of the tightest sets ever, new guitarist from Arsis, and a new album on the way, definately looking forward to that.

It had to finish quickly due to the plane they had to catch at 7am, but you could tell people really wanted to hear more after BDM finished their set.

and finally My Vitriol 2 days thereafter, a band that had one of the best albums of the 2000s 'finelines' , supported placebo back in the day where a few people might have seen them/remembered, but made a break for 4-5 years before returning with new material and a new album on the way. Think very loud big soundscapes with melody and a great voice, and above all incredibly nice guys,

March is going to be another busy month, with 2 concerts a week

11.3 Cult of Luna
13.3 Everwaiting serenade release party

18.3 The Ocean / Burst / Bison BC / Medeia / Retrace my Fragments
21.3 Metal Battle

27.3 Tomte
28.3 Intensity Band Contest

More updates soon =0 , as always come join us on facebook, feel free to leave me comments or send me suggestions i'm always looking to hear new stuff

January Roots - - - -

2009-01-29T22:54:00.002+01:00

After 1 week in the mountains, I came back to kufa for what has been so far quite a busy january in terms of paperwork at least =0 , for a change of pace i planned a roots/reggae soundsystem event.

I'll be perfectly honest, reggae isn't really something I listen to a lot, but I want to try and put on things that aren't necessarily well represented in Luxembourg and I think reggae kinda falls into this category.

for a saturday night we had the small room booming with bass and positive vibes =0
a good deal of very happy smiling dancing people even until the small hours of the morning, something very cool to see, and a different kind of crowd from the usual concerts i tend to go for

basically an awesome experience which i think i'll be repeating at some stage during the year ... have something in the pipeline for june, and maybe again in october, so amidst my 'usual' concerts you'll find a generous dose in the form of some serious positive evenings. (there's some wordplay in there somewhere ;0

//
music for the weekend:

Holding onto Hope
.. think as cities burn meets life in your way + newer underoath

2008 recap albums + Claude's list

2009-01-01T17:54:00.008+01:00

Time to start 2009 =0

Here were my favourite albums that i discovered in 2008 , but did not necessarily get released in 2008 ...sounds confusing but basically i remember albums by what year i discovered them =0

In no particular order (artist - album) :

Four Year Strong - Rise or die trying
Lower Definition - The greatest of all lost arts
The Forms - TBD
Kanye West- 808s & Heartbreaks
Hit the Lights - Skip School, Start fights
Misery Signals - Controller
Moving Mountains - Pneuma
The National - Boxer
Meshuggah - Oobzen
This or The Apocalypse - Monuments
Forever the Sickest Kids - Underdog Alma Mater
Mock Orange - Captain Love
Damiera - Quiet mouth , Loud hands
Our Last Night - The ghosts among us
saints never surrender - brutus
A skylit drive - wires and the concept of breathing
Veil of Maya - Common man's collapse

If you have time to spare, look the various bands up =0

And now below is a guest spot on my blog by Claude of Retrace my fragments, figured i'd add some other lists/opinions here =)

Take care

Paul

******

**** CLAUDE'S LIST ***

So here we go for another of these best of 2008 reviews. But this is not your Paul writing but Claude from RetraceMyFragments, most of you should know me and might foresee how this review will look like as I am more the Metalhead. I will let you know about my peronal favs of 2008 but also tell you about the albums that didn’t fulfill my expectations. So here we go:

Top 5 of 2008:

1. Metallica – Death Magnetic

Probably one of the most discussed albums of 2008, and well worth to be discussed of. There are many lovers and haters out there concerning Death Magnetic, but I definetly am a fan of that album. I admit not every song is good (Unforgiven III and The Judas Kiss are very boring and I skip them sometimes, Suicide and Redemption is a bit too long, cannot keep up with their other instrumentals but in my eyes could have figured on Load or Reload). But then you have the first six songs that I find really amazing, a proof that this band has not died out nor have their ideas. The opener That was just your Life is a good Metallica song, All Nightmare Long is a really good trash song with great riffs and Cyanide is one hell of a groove machine. If you liked ...And Justice for All then you should check it out, because this band has taken their roots to 2008, not too experimental nor totally old fashioned.

2. Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thundergod

The Vikings have set sail again to conquer the world and this is by far their most violent assault on today’s metal scene. Take your axe and spear, we are heading to war with Thor and Amon Amarth. This is melodic Death Metal at it’s best, there are some serious good war hymns on this album, the riffs hit you right in the face, yet they remain melodic and after hearing a song twice you yell the chorus as loud as you can. The opener and the album’s title track Twilight of the Thundergod is brilliant, heavy riffs, a perfect Viking chorus and a cool solo by COB’s Roope Latvala. When I got the album I was listening to it all the time, and when I put it on these days it still kicks butt. Get this album and your dose of Oden and Thor!

3. A.Armada – Anam Cara

A.Armada are a band consisting of members from Maserati and Cinemechanica. Their first album was definetly more of a mix of these two bands, good but not mind blowing. But this fine piece of Post Rock is far beyond anything in the genre that was released this year and there was some goos stuff that got released this year (Russian Circles, Mogwai and Post Rock gods Red Sparowes). Every note hits your ear in the right moment, the atmosphere created by them is impressive (I had the chance to see them live this year and it was amazing). They do not redefine the genre but with this album they proved how good instrumental music can sound and how good it can make you feel.

4. Disfear – Live The Storm

This band might be well known for their famous singer, who is nobody else than Thomas Lindberg (At The Gates, The Great Deceiver). But this band has nothing in common with his other bands apart his great and brutal voice. This is diryt Rock ‘n’ Roll, Crustcore at it’s best. I saw them live on Graspop and then got the CD, and everytime it’s a kick in your nuts. This band’s music is so straight forward and energetic that you just cannot resist to bang your head, move or body or just fuck random shit up. Get this CD and live the storm!

5. Meshuggah – Obzen

You are not into Meshuggah, the riffs are not catchy enough, you cannot cope with their mathematics? Well this is your chance to get into one of the most important bands on our planet. This album is far easier to understand than the amazing yet headache producing Catch 33. The album starts off quite trashy, to take you later into the depths of Frederik Thorendahls and Co’s dark abyss. Bleed features the best riff of 2008. But one thing remains the same, they remain as sterile as a labaratory in the Pentagon. No feelings or emotions allowed here. But this album is the best to get into Meshuggah, great piece of music or mathematics, as you like.

///

Now this is my top 5 List but I want to mention some more great releases of 2008: Cradle Of Filth – Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, Fuck The Facts – Disgorge Mexico, La Fa Connected – A Distant Fortune, Genghis Tron – Board Up The House, Protest The Hero - Fortress, Kingdom Of Sorrow.

Now let’s take a short look at those album that were a bit (or a lot) disappointing for me:

• Gojira – The Way of All Flesh
Back in 2005, From Mars to Sirius was my album of the year, so I was really looking forward to this album and when I finally had it I didn’t get into it at all. Were is the amazing atmosphere from the predecessor? And A Sight to Behold is definetly one of the worst songs ever written in Metal, awful chord and melody progression. Very disappointing.

• Red Sparowes – Aphorisms
Again an album I was looking really forward to and a band I worship for their debut At the Soundless Dawn, the best Post Rock album out there. And now a tiny 3 song EP, and moreover it was only a digital release (maybe I am a bit too old fashioned and not yet into this modern version of distribution). But the songs bored me too, nothing that stuck to my ear. Better listen to their debut again, there you won’t go wrong.

• Ex Inferis – Hidjama
Yes, you read right I dare to criticize Luxembourg’s Deathcore heroes and I even work for these guys as their roadie and they are all very good friends of mine, but still I need to share my opinion with you. It is not a bad album, 7even Days 6ix Kills is a brilliant song so is Blackenend by Daylight, the production kicks ass, the artwork is great, but some of the riffs sound quite similar and the lyrical mass murder theme might have been exploited a bit too much. But now comes my actual point. Comparing this album to Defunctus in Heresi it cannot keep up at all. Though the band clearly says that they are heading for a different musical direction and that they write songs now with a different approach, Arcadia cannot compete with Adonai.

So this is it, my musical 2008 in words, I hope you appreciate, if not, feel free to let me know. And now I wanna thank Paul for letting me do some guestblogging, I’ll buy a tea next time.

Xmas - final gigs, new announcements for 2009 =0

2008-12-27T14:24:00.004+01:00

Well it's just after xmas, a bunch of new shows announced for 2009 and some much needed rest =0

For our last gig of the year, we had the pleasure of having the (international) noise conspiracy rock the kufa before the xmas break. Metro opened the preceedings, I haven't seen them for a while, but their new stuff is 'ganz gudd' , their opening song in particular seems to really stick in my head. They have an EP or something coming out towards the start of next year so can look forward to that.
T(I)NC exploded onto the stage around 21h40 or so, all wearing skinny jeans and purple suits, high octane 70s inspired rock with a massive backdrop of their new album that just got released, I had never gotten to see them before but given the show they put on i was asking myself why, a really solid performance and a great way to finish off 2008.

Despite it being the holiday season I'm really happy to announce some new great shows for 2009, which all got confirmed in the past week or so:

24/02 - My Vitriol (UK) - think shoegazing meets grunge, big soundscapes with great melody, it might be on a wednesday, but they haven't been too active since their amazing record 'finelines' released in 2001 , taking a 4-5year break since, a band well worth seeing in my opinion

http://www.purevolume.com/myvitriol

(** amended date, due to routing issues they will be playing on the 24th of February **)

11/03 - Cult of Luna - absolutely crushing, saw them in London scala earlier this year, very impressive not only to watch but to experience, their sound really hits hard

18/03 - The Ocean, Burst, Bison BC -
Just confirmed, the ocean return to the kufa as part of a very impressive package, Burst will be presenting their new album 'lazarus bird' connaisseurs will probably remember them. Bison BC have been likened to Mastodon, absolutely great reviews from a lot of various press/magazines, insider's tip =0 definately

27/03 - Tomte - hamburgschule, awesome indie with a subtle touch

08/04 - Poison the well - Their first ever visit in Luxembourg, a big name within the hardcore/metalcore scene that they pretty much started off in the late 90's with their first EP and the LP 'opposite of december' , they have evolved into more experimental territory now, but still hit hard

18/04 - Out of the Crowd festival ... No word on the lineup just yet, but It's one of those things that you can just recommend in advance, great way to spend easter ;)

If you're wondering, Benabar has been sold out barely a few weeks after announcing it, which is why I haven't listed it here, it will be a hectic night for sure

Lastly, my band La Fa Connected, has just released a 5 song EP , free to download and stream on myspace

www.myspace.com/lafaconnected

We play indie influenced guitar rock =0 , it's free either way so have a look if you have time.

Anyhow, all the best for the end of the year, and hope to see you all in 2009

take care

best lists of 2008 ...

2008-12-15T16:36:00.001+01:00

so they're slowly surfacing ;0

pitchfork have got some up already, and you can download/listen to all the tracks they nominate for this year, pretty cool

have a listen

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/

The past week - concerts + more =0

2008-12-12T16:04:00.002+01:00

So it's friday already and I haven't had time until now to update this , guilt trip ;0

Let's start off in chronological order which makes a lot more sense.

Last week we had Bang your head on the saturday which basically made for a long day of heavy music and unfortunately in my case a bad case of hiccups which lasted 3-4 hours...not the best of things to have at a concert i can tell you ;0

Following a monstrous sound-check and epic dinner, the doors opened at 19h , I was happy to see a bunch of people show up early enough to see Scarred, a band i'm yet to see live. They played a very tight gojira influenced breed of metal with certain modern influences, tight set , great musicians, be good to see them again at some point.

The concept for the evening was to have a local band on and then an international act, after Miles to perdition finished their set we had Psyke Project play... heavy heavy stuff but they somehow didn't get my memo on 35minute stage time, playing almost 45 instead...ah well, made things get a bit later than expected, but this didn't deter the crowd at all, who after shaped by fate's crushing destruction ;) nearly all stayed until hatesphere finished up at around 1:15am...now that's dedication, ex inferis also had a good sound for once =0 which was a really good thing , hatesphere played this song at 1am...made my night anyhow

was a real busy week, we also had Murder by Death on the tuesday , unfortunately there was bad bad weather on the night which i think deterred some people from showing up, but for the people that were there it was definately worthwhile, after a 40minute set from traumkapitan, Murder By Death reminded me what made them so good, a solid set of americana noir so to speak, numerous people told me they had chills just from the singer's voice...so i'm guessing he was doing something right ;0

whisky not water...maybe we should all take note heh

music for the weekend: - swedish influenced prog melodic metal hardcore ... now that's a long description

http://www.myspace.com/hauntedshores

hope to see you all at noise conspiracy next week =0 ,will be a great way to finish off 2009.

Joe Satriani sues coldplay...

2008-12-05T19:31:00.004+01:00

Now i don't know what shocked me more...that joe satriani is sueing coldplay , or that he's actually 52 years old...wowzers

Satch sues coldplay

have a listen, same chord progression and pretty much the same melody in both songs...

seeing as Satriani's song was first...who's right?

and the plot thickens...

and again ** sorry about the 239048 invites to bang your head on facebook, for some reason it sent out 10+ invites after i clicked it

band for this weekend...seeing as it's bang your head tomorrow ;)

http://www.myspace.com/bleedthesky

Kanye West - 808s & heartbreak

2008-12-02T23:45:00.002+01:00

Just got this album today, quite a departure from his previous albums, really grows on you , and definately worth a listen even if you generally hated his music lol

he called this 'pop art' , heavily using the roland tr-808 for sounds, with nice big production , songs that stick in your head and somehow sound fresh despite using 'dated' technology

considering i've been listening to a lot of pop-punk and melodic hardcore recently, this really hits for some reason

22.11 The Notwist

2008-11-26T22:05:00.002+01:00

Quite possibly one of the slickest and best concerts I've seen all year, everything was spot on from start to finish.

Surprising maybe =0 considering the bad weather and delays earlier in the day that meant that the timetable was runnin 3 hours late heh.

We were lucky that we didn't have the same weather conditions that were present the day after, turning most traffic to a halt on the sunday, and our hall was pretty much half full by the time we hit around 21h.

Unfortunately the support act cancelled just two days before the actual concert, and a replacement could not be found in time for the actual gig, which meant that the notwist started a bit earlier. the notwist singer Markus put on some cool sounding records for about 40 minutes or so before the notwist actually hit the stage to an eager crowd, many who had driven quite far to see this.

I was lucky enough to watch some of the gig from the light technician's desk upstairs and was very impressed not only by the songs but the precision of the light show, every small nuance of the songs were reflected somehow with the light show, something very nice to see. The band played a lot of songs off the new album that definately came over better live for me, and some quality picks from their big album 'neon golden' ... it seems almost impossible to talk about the notwist without mentioning this album ;) and look I've just done it heh

They played a good 1hr 15 minutes or so, not missing a beat between songs.

we have also finally got a proper camera today so expect more photos on here and more specifically on our facebook profile =0 for upcoming events

thanks to all those who came up on a cold and icy saturday to witness a truly great concert, and hope to see you for our upcoming events =) have some great shows for december so hope to see you soon

18/11 - Never say die tour

2008-11-21T12:15:00.002+01:00

The longest day I've had to work yet =0 and totally worth it

Their tour bus arrived at 6am! , the fine folk from alphadoubleplus turned up around 9:30am for a long day of metal and hardcore.

I haven't seen so many merch stands for a while, but with 7 bands playing that was to be expected, soundchecks started mid afternoon, a massive backline of crushing peavey amps =0

Having around 50-60 people around the kufa halls was quite a difference from the concerts i've had until now, all the bands were extremely professional, definately made things very very easy, at one point there was around 12 people on laptops in our backstage =0 quite a sight and probably one of the best adverts for apple too hah

considering it was a tuesday we had a good turnout, a lot of kids showed up, (there was even a kid there from around 4 pm or so that was hanging around listening to soundchecks...now that's dedication =0 .

there was circle pits...even a wall of death on stage during unearth which was a little crazy , and kids climbing up on stage and moshing about, awesome to watch either way =0 and the bands were all on the mark

particular highlight for me was protest the hero who technically blew my ears off, and architects . I had been lucky enough to see most of the other bands before but they definately didn't disapoint,

saw the concerts...bought a shirt ;0

I'll really need a proper camera to put up pictures as the phone camera just isn't good enough for some reason (all the pictures seem to come out grainy)

Notwist tomorrow! , should be quite a few people, definately looking forward to it

good times for the weekend:

www.myspace.com/hitthelights

stay out all night :P

Quentin Lagonza - 14/11

2008-11-14T15:28:00.003+01:00

A long week so far, we've had France3 television filming the kulturfabrik for a short 'reportage' that should feature in the next few weeks,

also featured in some interviews =0 be funny to see all of it on tv when it appears heh

tonight we have Quentin Lagonza who will release their first CD, just waiting for them to arrive, I still haven't gotten a proper camera, but hopefully I'll have figured my phone camera out a bit better.

Two big concerts next week, Never say die and then the notwist on the weekend, amidst all this I have to stay on the ball and book things for next year, I'm loving the challenge anyhow =0

As always send me suggestions, I'll update with some photos a bit later

Some suggestions for the weekend

www.myspace.com/delphic

www.myspace.com/carrythetorchmusic

www.myspace.com/therefortomorrow

the disliked - 1/11

2008-11-02T12:32:00.011+01:00

first time working a saturday , and it was awesome hah

a fair amount of people i know were there, and quite a lot of people showed up for the event,

when i finally closed up and left at 3am i was tired but happy, really glad that so many people turned up, especially just after halloween, will write more later but for now some photos, unfortunately i have to figure out some settings, so there's white grain on some of them due to the lights , these were all taken before people arrived of course ;p , i didn't get round to taking more pics of the backstage, but i'll do that next time...and maybe with a proper camera too ;0

some new links

2008-10-27T22:26:00.002+01:00

thx deborah =0

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/newbandoftheday

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music

working on february/march bookings at the moment, january is surprisingly...or perhaps not so surprisingly dry in terms of artist avails, picking up

post new year's syndrome? =0

which means a big flux of concerts from late january onwards,

band for the weekend

2008-10-24T14:01:00.002+02:00

four year strong !

http://www.myspace.com/fouryearstrong

put pop punk stylings a bit of synth and occasional hardcore/gang vocals , aweeesome

reading material

2008-10-24T10:59:00.002+02:00

my daily visits to the following =0

worth looking at =0

mainly hardcore,'underground' releases
www.lambgoat.com

more of the same ;0
www.decoymusic.com

a big mix of everything indie/punk/underground
www.pitchforkmedia.com

punk and all it's variants
www.absolutepunk.net

keep on trucking

2008-10-23T11:40:00.002+02:00

discovered this today, truly inspirational

www.whatiswhat.com

2008-10-23T10:53:00.002+02:00

zomg, A.Armada and FMTM were amazing last night, wore the oldschool t-shirt as well heh , good to see bands again after like 4-5 years, thank you schalltot =0

got sent this today...how awesome is this at a festival:

Top 100 need to know bands in 2008...

2008-10-22T12:53:00.004+02:00

Nice little list...

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=300005

considering it was printed at the start of 2008, some pretty good names,

Some personal highlights ;0

The Audition
August Burns Red
Charlotte Sometimes
Jaguar Love
Genghis Tron
Enter Shikari
All Time Low
Bottomless Pit
Baroness
The Forms *ahem ;0
Kate Nash
Foxy Shazam
The Cribs
The Valley Arena
National Product
Forever The Sickest Kids
Attack In Black
Maps & Atlases
Bear Hands
MGMT
Black Kids
Four Year Strong
Oh,Sleeper
Vampire Weekend
Portugal , The Man
Dartz!
Sonny
Crystle Castles
Coliseum

the forms

2008-10-22T10:26:00.003+02:00

pinback meets dismemberment plan ?

for some reason i can't stop listening to this, maybe one day they'll play in this country =0

http://www.myspace.com/forms

I strongly suggest going to see From monument to masses with A.Armada, artaban tonight at dqliq, will be a really really good concert

2nd month , a 2nd start

2008-10-21T15:21:00.000+02:00

So it begins =0

I've been at this job for almost 2 months now, still getting to grips with the other side of the music industry.

After 5-6 years playing in local bands playing shows of various sizes and experiencing what it is to try and get stuff moving as a band, I'm now on the other side of the coin as it were.
Instead of sending off band information and asking for shows and or information i'm receiving it, it's strange but also probably a good thing for being able to relate to most of the bands/bookers that contact me for shows.

As for the job i couldn't be happier, it's flexible and above all i get to book and thereafter see concerts of some of my favourite bands =0

The point of this blog is to show the other side of shows/concerts that people might not always get to see, setting up/backstage/sound checks , all the things that go on silently in the background the foundations for what you end up seeing in the evening during one or two hours, as well as my thoughts which will be unavoidable ;0

I'll be trying to take as many photos as possible and hopefully video at some point of concerts/events that I put on here which will hopefully not only interest me, but others as well.

I will try and update this as much as possible with not only the events I'll be organising but also in a typical blog way, thoughts and input on the local scene and the music industry in general.

Here are the upcoming events for 2008 so far:

1/11 - CD release - the disliked (ska punk) + support
14/11 - CD release - quentin lagonza (garage rock) +support

18/11 - Never say die tour . Parkway drive, unearth, architects .. (metal)
22/11 - The Notwist (electro pop rock)

6/12 - bang your head festival , hatesphere,psyke project,exinferis,shaped by fate (metal)

9/12 - Murder by death - (americana / post punk)

19/12 - The (international) noise conspiracy (rock)

//

next update soon =0