Pianos Become The Teeth – ‘Charisma’

The Baltimore quintet have shared the first single from their upcoming new album ‘Wait For Love’, out in February through Epitaph Records. Was this going to be anything but epic?

Jaya The Cat – ‘Amsterdam’

Jaya The Cat have solidified themselves as one of the best reggae-punk bands in the world. ‘Amsterdam’, written about their home town, is taken from ‘A Good Day For The Damned’, which hits stores this Friday. Catch them on tour in the UK in a few weeks time.

Every Time I Die – ‘No Son Of Mine’

Every Time I Die are back on this side of the pond and currently smashing their way around the UK and Europe right now, with one of the hardest tour packages ever put together. ‘No Son Of Mine’ is taken from ‘The Big Dirty’ which turned 10 years old in September.

Daisyhead – ‘Common Ground’

The Nashville emo-quartet kick off their UK and EU tour in just a few days. Catch them on the road with Sibling at your local venue. ‘Common Ground’ is taken from ‘In Case You Missed It’, which is out now through No Sleep Records.

Onsind – ‘Immature’

Onsind are gearing up for the release of their new album ‘We Wilt We Bloom’ through Specialist Subject on Friday. Fantastic jangly, alternative punk with a distinctive Northern-English twang.

Clowns – ‘Destroy The Evidence’

These Melbourne-based hardcore/punks have spent the last couple of years hitting every corner of the UK and European underground scene and have really made a name for themselves as ones to watch. Keep a look out for new UK tour dates in 2018 – you want to catch these live.

Lionheart – ‘Shelter’

Having just released their new album, ‘Welcome To The West Coast II’ through Fast Break! Records, the Californian mosh crew kick off their extensive European tour in just a few days. Stick it on. Bang your head.

Giants – ‘Did It Mean So Much To You’

These London based skate-hardcore-punks are bringing an end to the band in a months time – December 14 – at The Old Blue Last, London. One of the truest punk bands from the isle, who weren’t afraid to work hard for their art. Will be a huge loss to the scene.

Smile And Burn – ‘Not Happy’

The Berliners released their ‘Get Better Get Worse’ album at the end of 2016 and it’s been all uphill since. Having played almost every festival and a hugely successful headline tour, 2018 is looking to be even bigger and better for the quintet. Clever, catchy and will be stuck in your head for days.

The Swellers – ‘2009’

I’ve had a bit of a binge on The Swellers this week. Unfortunately, they split up a few years back, but it’s well worth digging in to their back catalogue. An absolutely fantastic melodic punk rock band.

Across four shows, from the 30th November until the 21st December, the label will be bringing twelve bands to The Old Blue Last in London. Each show will be free entry and will feature a distro from the label.

The list of shows and bands are as follows:

NOVEMBER
30 Wren, TBC Guests + Watchcries
DECEMBER
07 We Never Learned to Live, Pijn + 52 Commercial Road
14 Giants, Pints + Goblins
21 Slabdragger, Haast’s Eagled + ADCX

“This year, it’s become apparent that some of us can no longer commit to the band in the way that it needs to function like it has done for so long – so we’re going to call time on it all for a bit. Maybe we’ll come back to it at some point, maybe we won’t. All we know is that at the moment it’s not making a lot of sense to us anymore and we feel that to carry on without all of us feeling the same way about it would be a farce, an insult to our fans and most importantly, the band itself.”

Giants play the Old Blue Last alongside Pints and Goblins on the 14th December. Event page here.

The band also released a two track mini-EP entitled ‘Four Wheels’ as well as a new music video for the title track. The EP is available via their bandcamp page.

“Below is a video we made with our friends Rohan & George for one of my favourite songs we ever wrote as a band called “Four Wheels”, which Holy Roar Records have kindly put out as a Double A Side with a song called “A&E”. Both of these songs didn’t make sense going on the album but, we wanted to put them out now as a sort of homage to what brought us all together. Thought we might as well go out as we started, singing about skating with our mates.”

The Surrey-based hardcore band will play in Birmingham, Bournemouth, and London in March, with support from Giants, To The Wind, and My Only.

A list of dates and venues can be seen below.

March
03 BIRMINGHAM Flapper
04 BOURNEMOUTH The Anvil
05 LONDON The Black Heart

“Our debut album ‘Break The Cycle’ has been out for a little over a month now and we couldn’t be happier with the reception it has received,” the band explain. “We wanted to showcase the songs in a live setting so we filmed this session with the guys at Live At The Lab and we’re stoked with how it came out. We we were able to set up without headphones and just play as we would at a show, no click track, no corrections, no bullshit – it was awesome.”

The punks performed the album’s title track, ‘I’ve Been Low’ and ‘Our Own Enemy’, all of which are available to view via YouTube below.

Giants begin the UK leg of their tour with Landscapes today, culminating in an appearance at Holy Roar Records’ tenth birthday bash on Saturday at London’s Tufnell Park Dome.

MAY
17 CARIDFF Fuel Club
18 BIRMINGHAM Rainbow
19 MANCHESTER Star & Garter
20 LONDON Boston Music Rooms
21 LONDON Holy Roar 10th Anniversary @ The Dome

It can be really hard to produce a hardcore album that is both relentless, brutally heavy and still accessible, but Giants have done it with grace. ‘Break The Cycle’ is packed with unmistakably British anthems. The singalongs are so infectious yet heavy, they threaten to crush your windpipes. Opener ‘Underachievers’ sets the tone in their typical aggressive style whilst ‘Our Own Enemy’ is a convincing and passionate call to arms. It’s clear they are angry, they have fire and they are passionate.

The vocals are concise and catchy, with traces of Bad Religion, Rise Against and their skate punk roots. The title track screams “there is no hope” with velocity and ‘Resignation’ in particular will no doubt be a soundtrack for stage diving. The most surprising thing about ‘Break The Cycle’ is the strength of the melodies; almost every track features a huge chorus that could be compared to While She Sleeps and Architects. You can only presume that Giants will continue to walk similar steps in their career after the strength of this debut release.

Without ever slowing down, there isn’t a dull moment on ‘Break The Cycle’. Every breakdown suits the tempo and even the odd guitar solo has its rightful place. With a Black Flag sensibility to it, Giants do what they enjoy and they do it better than the majority of the contemporaries. You might be disappointed that the album is less gritty than their older stuff, but the more polished production that Giants have gone for will no doubt help them grow and allow more ears to hear them; something they rightly deserve.

Refusing to stagnate, carry on writing the same old shit whilst getting nowhere, Giants have quite rightly just broken their own cycle, and demanded you take notice of them as one of the most promising UK hardcore bands of this generation.

LOUIS KERRY

Holy Roar newbies Giants get the evening underway offering up a steady selection of material lifted off their debut album. Due to some fairly intense and thorough bag searches on the door, the room is slow to fill up but everyone is in to witness the overwhelming delivery of a new song entitled ‘Evergreen’ that sends shivers down the spine with a crescendo of raw emotion.

Kids Insane from Tel Aviv instantly pick up the pace with their unique crossover sound. Think melodic hardcore with southern rock twinge in the vain of band such as Blacklisted. Hyperactive front man Corey races from side to side of the stage animating lines of lyrics as though he were a puppet being controlled by some other power. It quickly becomes obvious as to why this band were hand picked for the tour.

Break Even explode into action with a high energy performance and ferocious delivery. They are clearly having a lot of fun. Heartfelt speeches between songs discussing topics ranging from travelling the world to cherishing those closest to you instantly establish a connection and strike a chord with the everyone in the room .

Looking and sounding refreshed, Defeater kick start their set with a selection of newer songs but the room erupts to the sound of ‘Bastards’. Despite Derek Archambault’s poetic lyrics telling stories of various characters from their overall narrative, every line of every song is venomously released by crowd and band members alike. Defying any expectations or pre-conceptions anyone may have had, Defeater perform a totally fresh and unpredictable set before closing out the evening with fan favourite ‘Cowardice’ as an encore. Completing the circle and ending their set back where they started with the song that first introduces the main protagonist from the new album surely has to be more than just a coincidence, which just goes to show that Defeater are back on top of their game and on full form.

JAMES DAVENPORT

‘Break The Cycle’ is the extension of the band’s live show – perfectly executed, catchy but aggressive, measured and highly produced. Advance tracks ‘Against The Grain’ (a nod to Bad Religion, doubtless) and the album closer ‘I’ve Been Low’ are by no means isolated highlights – as you’ll hear for yourself, with PT’s exclusive stream of the album – out April 1st on Holy Roar Records.

Pre-orders for the digital and physical releases are all available through various links on the Holy Roar website.

Opening up the show this evening is Darko, a skate punk / hardcore band in the vain of early AFI or The Offspring with an undeniable English charm to the vocals think Gnarwolves / Hindsights. Mixing up traditional hardcore chord progressions with slightly more metallic guitar riffs isn’t anything new but Darko pull it off with their own unique style and finesse. It’s a shame the room isn’t full as a result of the early start but Darko prove themselves to be a band that show promise.

Next up are Kid Brother who unfortunately get off to a shaky start with some minor technical difficulties. Once they get going, the band meanders through a set reminiscent of some of the earlier releases by Basement or Title Fight. Some of the songs are a little hollow sounding and fall slightly short of the mark in grasping your attention. Although they look the part, Kid Brother appear to still be finding their feet, so here’s to hoping they can progress and don’t chose style over substance like so many other bands travelling the pop punk / emo route.

Create To Inspire burst onto the stage with an instant and explosive start. Holding their own throughout their set providing catchy hooks and choruses it’s not long before the steadily filling room are singing along. For some people closer to the front, not singing along is no longer an option as Sean Midson leaves the stage to play at eye level and thrusts the microphone into the hands and faces of of the front few rows. Sadly the crowd are slightly less interactive than one would hope for and it feels a little too late by the time people start to wake up and move around, but that doesn’t reduce CTI’s energy levels for one second as they race relentlessly through a set of their own brand of metalcore it becomes clear why these guys have just been snapped up by Basick Records.

If ever there was a band that represented a DIY ethic and hard work its Giants. Having perfected their trade now for many years, the Holy Roar newbies deliver a sterling performance. Playing through some new songs from their debut album, it seems a majority of the crowd are willing to sit back and take in the breath of fresh air that is being blasted towards them in the form of hardcore / skate punk. As soon as they start to play some of the better known and more familiar tracks from previous releases it’s only a matter of seconds before fingers are pointing towards the stage as people sing along, connect with the band and feed off the their energy. With their sound spot on and stage presence on top form, Giants prove once more why they deserve everything they’ve worked so hard for.

JAMES DAVENPORT

“‘Against The Grain’ is about the way we feel towards certain attitudes in society today, mainly the monotonous ‘follow the leader’ types that tend to shun out people for daring to go their own way with things,” says guitarist Jack Longman. “Although there is nothing wrong with wanting to fit in, we feel that people daring to be different is something to be encouraged – not looked down upon. Stay true to yourself and be who you want, not who other people say you should be.”

‘Break The Cycle’, produced by Neil Kennedy at The Ranch, will be available from the 1st April 2016. The band are currently on the road across the UK:

JANUARY
26 LONDON Islington Academy 2
27 SWANSEA The Scene
28 BIRMINGHAM The Rainbow
29 BOURNEMOUTH The Anvil
30 LEICESTER Pi Bar
31 LEEDS Eat You Alive Festival