Review: Emilie Autumn at Nottingham Rock City, 10/3/12

"Tell me no stories and I'll tell you no lies..."


(Please note that the beginning of this review was written earlier today while I was killing time waiting for the train. Hence any random asides. Feel free to ignore bracketed stupid comments. Anyone not wanting to know setlists should look away NOW.)


I attempted to draft this last night, but my pen died so here goes attempt 2:
Sitting in the sun outside Nottingham Castle (which looks nothing like the one in Robin Hood, by the way), the intensity of last night's show seems a long way off. However, given that my legs ache like hell and I'm still rather gig high, now seems as good a time as any to try to capture the emotion.

This show marks the first time I've ever really queued for a gig, which should be a good indication of how much I love Emilie Autumn. After queuing for two and a half hours for doors, then another hour and a half waiting inside, I was beginning to get fed up. I'm not a patient person at the best of times and combined with my fear of crowds, my patience almost snapped after a teasing false start. The situation was remedied ten minutes later with the most dramatic entrance I think I've ever seen. Against the electronic tones of "Best Safety Lies In Fear" the Bloody Crumpets took to the stage. The Bloody Crumpets being Captain Maggots, the Blessed Contessa and the Naughty Veronica. Emilie Autumn's... fellow cast? We'll get onto that. Last to grace the stage - Queen of Rats, star of the show, Emilie Autumn. As "Best Safety..." segued neatly into Four O'Clock, the show got well and truly under way.

(and now at Nottingham Station)

I'm tempted to to a run down of the whole show, track by track because it rather needs it to capture just how theatrical it was. However, that isn't how reviews are supposed to work, so let's just pick out the important bits. The set was heavy on new, as-yet-unreleased tracks from upcoming album Fight Like A Girl. Normally this irritates me, but the point of this tour is as a sort of album preview, so we'll let that slide. Besides, they were pretty great tracks. "Girls, Girls, Girls" has a wonderful dark carnival vibe, while Gas Light harks beack to EA's Enchant album. My personal favourite of the new tracks though has to be Time For Tea. Sounds lovely, yes? Dainty, yes? Think again.

What's different about Emilie Autumn's shows (at least compared to what I've personally seen before) is this: this is music as theatre. It's not just a group of people on stage playing music.

(and I think I just saw someone who was at the gig. Going by the attire, anyways)

Where was I? Ah, music as theatre.

(aaaand change platforms)

Music as theatre. Probably most noticeable on "Girls, Girls, Girls", which involved EA playing the role of guide in a tour of The Asylum, with the Bloody Crumpets as inmates.

(getting sidetracked by station stuff. Will resume once on train)

(ohmygod, I just saw a train leave the station exactly on time)

Ahem. It's now more than 3 hours since I got off the train and it's proving a little difficult to pick up my thread. Right, music as theatre it is. Well, we sort of covered that. Then there's the fact that not the entire show is songs. Each Crumpet got their own little segment. Captain Maggots introduced everyone (eventually. She rather struggled with Contessa). The Contessa lead the audience in a (supposedly) mystical chant involving something to do with fingers and toes which lead into the opening of God Help Me (wonderful track). Veronica, who has a background in burlesque if I remember rightly, performed a gorgeous feather fan dance to EA's instrumental track "Dominant" and then proceeded to 'corrupt' a pair of fans in the fan favourite Rat Game. (Look it up). Finally, Captain Maggots got a second shot at the limelight with some fantastic fire-hula-hoop-dancing-thing. There was fire. And hula.

This review has turned into a non-review and is in severe danger of degenerating into random babble, so let's bring it to a close. Closing the main set with new track One Foot In Front Of The Other (actual title? Maybe not.), the ladies left the stage to applause and shouts for more. So of course there was the inevitable encore, which consisted of two piano led tracks - the beautiful Mad Girl and then Thank God I'm Pretty which turned into an audience sing-along. Finally, the Crumpets rejoined EA on stage to perform a sort of farewell dance and when they finally left again the house lights came up to Monty Python's classic "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" which resulted in another audience sing-along and a lot of very happy fans. The only fault I can find is that the music was almost entirely played from a backing track, but given that it's very electronic based, I can just about forgive that. Besides, the theatrics more than made up for it and EA's voice is pretty much perfect live.

That'll do, yes? Here follows a just about correct setlist - some bits (in the middle especially) might be in the wrong order, but it'll do.

1. Best Safety Lies in Fear (instrumental/sampled)
2. Four O'Clock
3. Dr Stockhill (spoken word) <- I'm informed this is the title, but might be wrong
4. Fight Like A Girl
5. Time For Tea
6. How To Break A Heart (poem)
7. The Art Of Suicide
8. Liar
9. Take The Pill
10. God Help Me
11. Dominant (instrumental)
12. Girls, Girls, Girls
13. Rat game
14. We Want Them Young
15. Gas Light
16. One Foot in Front of the Other
17. Encore: Mad Girl
18. Encore: Thank God I'm Pretty

Spread the Plague...

Oh, did I mention there was tea, biscuits and cake flying around? What other reason do you need to go to a show?

Band of the Week: Emilie Autumn

Finally! Finally, I have got round to making a post about the woman who is quite probably my favourite musician EVER. And all it took was the fact that I'm seeing her live this coming Saturday. One second, flailing is required.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Ahem. Moving on. So, an introduction to the world of Emilie Autumn. There is much in the way of classical influences, electronic violin and romantic literature references. Oh, and tea. There is always tea. The music is self-styled "Victoriandustrial". Take this to mean electronic-based with a lot of classical influence as just mentioned. Do not expect to find any actual industrial, although she does come fairly close. To be fair, a lot of Ms Autumn's music is closer in style to darkwave or ethereal wave than to industrial (for which read: not close, but closer than industrial) and on the Enchant album, the style swings all over the place from jazz to tango to various rock elements. So, instead of tangling myself up in knots trying to define exactly what Emilie Autumn does, let's just have some samples, shall we?

From Enchant, check out How Strange, Chambermaid, Second Hand Faith, Castle Down and What If.

From A Bit o' This & That, check out By The Sword and the cover of Monty Python's legendary Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

From the Liar/Dead Is The New Alive EP, check out Mad Girl.

From Laced/Unlaced, check out Unlaced, Manic Depression and Face The Wall. (not such a fan of the classical half of the album. Classical's not my thing.)

From the 4 O'Clock EP, check out Organ Grinder.

From the Girls Just Want To Have Fun/Bohemian Rhapsody EP, check out Gentlemen Aren't Nice.

And from the last album Opheliac, check out Shalott, Dead Is The New Alive, I Know Where You Sleep and Miss Lucy Had Some Leeches.

Think that'll do, yes? Oh, one last thing...

Not quite one last thing, cos I just remembered this.

Atrocious quality, but it's Emilie Autumn. Emilie fucking Autumn in a fucking bath. Singing. *fangirling*

Seriously done now.

Band of the Week: Bandcamp discoveries

Bandcamp is a wonderful website and a most amazing tool for finding new music. So I thought I'd share some of my favourite discoveries.

First up, Brighton's dark cabaret finest Birdeatsbaby. Scrumptiousness all round. Have a listen to their new album:



Next up, the ever awesome One-Eyed Doll. Female fronted punk-metal-rock thing. Here's their most recent album:



And then, I think we'll have Norwich locals Fever Fever. I'd forgotten that I found out about them through Bandcamp until I saw them supporting Fight Like Apes last year and realised I recognised the sound. They have a free download of their track Teeth.



Then we'll have the deliciousness that is Jill Tracy. More dark cabaret, this time with a more classical, jazzy feel.



And finally, I think we'll have Fawn Spots, because their new EP just arrived today. Hurray for cassette tapes. Lo-fi indie rock. All fuzzy and awesome.



Think that'll do, yes? Oh go on then, we'll have a pic of the pretty pretty tape.

Shinies.

Band of the Week: One-Eyed Doll (take 2)

I feel shit today. Guess what makes me feel better when I'm ill?

One-Eyed fucking Doll.

Given that it's just over a year since I first heard of them and they're still pretty much my favourite band (which is a big deal, given my fickle tastes), I thought they deserved a second Band of the Week feature. Prepare for video wall.

You're A Vampire

"Let’s go outside
And chase the squirrels
And drain their blood
Because you’re a vampire"

Nudie Bar

"Gonna rig up some propane tanks
Gonna light the fuse and kill some skanks
Gonna stand back and watch it burn
Maybe that will make him learn"

Fight

"Am I crazy
Am I deranged
Am I crazy
Or have things changed"

 

Committed

"To be a sheep; a blissful guinea pig
Ignorance is your god, too
Society awaits with open arms
We'll brainwash your demons out of you" 

Hoochie Mama

"I don't care about
How much you can lift
And I don't want to hear
Your new death metal riff "

'K, so not as video wall-ish as I intended, but I figure those 4 videos are enough to explain just how awesome One-Eyed Doll are. But just in case you need a little more persuasion, just check out how very endearing Kimberly Freeman is in this doc (and PJ aka Number 3).

Aaaaand, that has positioned weird and I can't quite work out how to fix it. Blame my on-the-verge-of-passing-out brain. Ugh, bugs.

Basically, One-Eyed Doll are most awesome female-fronted rock with an insane amount of energy and totally worth your time to check out. Keep an eye out for the new album, Dirty, which should be releasing in the next few months.

Finally, have a shit-ton of links. I wonder how much a shit-ton actually is? Does anyone else actually use shit-ton as a term or is it just me?

Shutting up now. Linkies:

Bandcamp

Last.FM

Twitter

Facebook

Youtube

Official Forums

Is that enough links, d'you think?

Review: Kerrang! Tour 2012 at Norwich UEA LCR, 8/2/12

Kerrang! Relentless Energy Drink Tour 2012: New Found Glory, The Blackout, letlive. and While She Sleeps

Where to start with this wonderful gig? Well, the beginning would be a good place. Even better, let's start before the gig even kicked off. Two weeks before the tour, original headliners Sum 41 pulled out due to their vocalist having a back injury. All well and good, but the organisers then had to find a replacement at two weeks notice. Welsh post-hardcore guys The Blackout stepped in. Cue the shit slinging. Seriously, so much hate. Ah well, I personally prefer The Blackout over Sum 41, but I can understand that a lot of people were disappointed.

Moving on to the actual gig. Sheffield metalcore mob While She Sleeps kicked off proceedings with an amazingly slick set, powering through their tracks non-stop save for occasional instructions from frontman Loz to open up the pit or to engineer a wall of death or two. From experience, music of the While She Sleeps variety has a tendency to sound a bit messy live, but this really was brilliantly polished - great vocals, strong guitars and an immensely powerful rhythm section.

Next up was L.A. progressive post-hardcore crew letlive. who really got the crowd moving with their infectiously catchy, wonderfully raucous music. Once again, frontman Jason Aalon Butler got told off by security for climbing on the speaker stacks, but the highlight was undoubtedly the segue from a Black Flag cover to fan favourite "Muther". As I posted on my Twitter last night: words cannot describe how much I love Muther and it's infinitely more amazing live.

Following letlive.'s set there was something of a mass exodus from the LCR. I am going to put this down to the vast number of people who whinged about The Blackout playing and leave it at that. Personally, I'd rather people left than hung around and complained all the way through The Blackout's set as a group of guys next to me did. Incredibly irritating. But onto the actual set. This was my fourth time seeing The Blackout and they were just as wonderful as always. Launching their set with "I'm A Riot, You're A Fucking Riot", the crowd really got involved - evidently just as many fans as not. They followed this up with an assertion that "we're not Sum 41" and promptly covered said band's Fat Lip. And a pretty good cover at that. They might just have managed to claw back their position as "Zoe's Favourite Live Band", although that's largely because they slagged off all the people heckling them. To which I say, good for them and feel I must share this wonderful image.

Courtesy of deviantartsecret

And so finally we come to the headliners, pop-punkers New Found Glory. All in all a great set, but they're not a band I'm particularly interested in. Also, if anyone cares to comment, I'd really like to know if their vocalist is always quite so nasal. Anyhoos, I can't pick out individual songs (because I don't know them), but the cover of Green Day's Basketcase in their encore was a stroke of genius. Even people who hadn't really shown much interest earlier in NFG's set suddenly took notice and most of the crowd was singing along by the end. Overall a brilliant end to an awesome show.

Review: Veronica Falls at Norwich Arts Centre, 27/1/12

Veronica Falls at Norwich Arts Centre, 27/1/12 (support from The Broken Seas and Fever Fever)

Kicking off tonight's show are Norwich locals The Broken Seas and it was indeed a wonderful kick off. Crunchy, female-fronted blues rock - all fuzzy guitars and powerful (although slightly American-accented) vocals. There were some great male-female vocal contrasts and for a band that consists just of a guitarist, drummer and vocalist, they were pretty damn loud. So, OK, the Americanised vocals grated slightly at points, but overall a brilliant opening set.

Following on from The Broken Seas were another local band, the ever-awesome Fever Fever. Gloriously raucous art punk with strong female vocals. Wonderfully sing-alongy in places and generally brilliant. That's all that really needs saying about them. They are amazing live, have a great stage presence and really interact with the crowd. I highly recommened checking them out if you can catch them live.

Finally, we come to the headliners, Veronica Falls. Personally, I found their particularly brand of dark indie pop a little bland and lost interest about two songs in. This might have been partly due to the minimal sleep I'd had the night before, but I don't generally find myself zoning out quite so much at gigs. That said, the set was polished, the music lovely despite the blandness and the rest of the audience seemed to love it. Stand out tracks for me were Beachy Head and latest single Bad Feeling.

All in all, a pretty awesome gig. Check out the bands via the links below.

The Broken Seas bandcamp
Fever Fever "Teeth" free download
Fever Fever Soundcloud
Veronica Falls Soundcloud


Now with added crappy photography! Yay! (Seriously, I need to start taking my camera to gigs.)
First up, The Broken Seas, way over there in the distance...

And then Fever Fever, in a rather fuzzy close(ish)-up...

Randomness: The Artist

I'm going to go ahead and assume that my (probably non-existent) audience have heard of The Artist. Black & white. Silent. Made of pure wonderfulness.

I saw it yesterday. I want to see it again. I was slightly dubious as to whether the story would come across properly, given that there's no audio dialogue. Very pleasantly surprised that it worked perfectly with no overacting to get a point across. I suppose this is helped enormously by the soundtrack - beautiful work and I had to stop myself dancing in my seat at the cinema.

I'll not bother reviewing it properly - I wouldn't know where to start with film, but I've got to squee just a little bit about the dog. The dog needs to win awards.

That is all. Hurray for crappy short posts.