McFly – ‘Power To Play’

McFly are a confusing musical artefact, never quite making it and never quite disappearing.  Originally conceived as cash-calves to the chart-topping and tween-heart-stopping Busted, they were always squarely aimed at children but presented as being more ‘edgy’. They write their own songs, don’t you know. The band aimed

LIVE – Codefendants / Melvinator / Get Dead @ The Old Blue Last

Let’s make one thing clear: this is not a NOFX show. That would come a couple of days later at the site of the mighty Slam Dunk South. Rather, this is a sampler of where the members of NOFX are heading now, a celebration of their strengths and chance

Avenged Sevenfold – ‘Life Is But A Dream’

Imagine a beach in Algeria. A white man in his thirties pulls out a gun without emotion and shoots an Arabic man dead with a single shot after a long standing disagreement turns to violence at a party. Calmly, he walks over to the body and shoots it another

Rancid – ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Rancid were a spent force. After ten studio albums, thirty two years in the music industry, an age-inappropriate marriage and occasional dodgy British accents, their last three albums have been disappointing to say the least. However, whatever they’ve been eating for breakfast since

Phoxjaw – ‘notverynicecream’

Early 2020, despite being three short years ago, was an entirely different time. We could go out for as long as we wanted, meet in as big a group as we liked, and Phoxjaw had just released their debut album. ‘Royal Swan’ was a distinctly British first record which

LIVE: Steel Panther @ O2 Kentish Town Forum, London

There’s one question that pounces to mind before seeing controversial eighties larpers Steel Panther live: while their lyrics are comic, are they now a bit of a joke? They’ve won Loudwire’s ‘Live Act Of The Year’ award twice, but recent reviews have suggested that their whole ‘excessively crude’ schtick

Heart Attack Man – ‘Freak of Nature’

When a band’s write-ups include the words “comedy” or “humour”, it’s enough to make you a little nervous.  It could be light-hearted gold or, equally as plausibly, it could be Fat Mike’s awkward drug clown character. Heart Attack Man’s humour is different, the kind that’s in the memes

The Used – ‘Toxic Positivity’

According to the WHO (The World Health Organisation, not the band), the global prevalence of depression and anxiety rose by 25% in the first year of the pandemic. Amongst those affected was Bert McCracken, vocalist and songwriter for The Used. In 2022, the band cancelled their Slam Dunk appearances

INTERVIEW: Tigercub

Dropkick Murphys – ‘Okemah Rising’

Woody Guthrie, iconic American singer songwriter behind one of Mojo’s ‘100 Records That Changed The World’, was an artist who wasn’t afraid to put his money where his mouth is politically. Writing about the suffering faced by ordinary Americans during the Great Depression of the 1920s and the displacement