Frank Turner- Get Better (Review)

I’ve been a Frank Turner fan boy for many years now and even met him a few times, I was present at a very small acoustic show with only 8 people in the room, received free tickets to his show at Nottingham Arena and even played him at pool (I lost but that’s a different story). So due to this I will try my hardest to give a fair judgement of this new single ‘Get Better’. Just in case you don’t know who Frank Turner is, Frank Turner is an English folk/rock/Pop acoustic artist who performs with his band The Sleeping Souls.

As soon as the instruments kick in at the start of the track the rawness grabs you by the throat and the energy of the song rocks your soul to pieces. The beat is very hard and upbeat and the tempo keeps the energy of the songs flowing throughout. Now in my opinion Frank Turner is a lyrical genius and his lyrics and poetry will live forever in the hearts of everyone that listens to his work. This song does not change my opinion of that at all! The lyrics are great! Frank can really change your mood no matter how low you are feeling. With lyrics such as the main hook “We could get better because we’re not dead yet” and “May I always see the road rising up to meet me and my enemies defeated in a mirror behind” the message behind this song is no matter how bad things are and how low you feel things can always get better as it’s not the end of the world and you’re still alive. Also it could be interpreted as never settle for less always aim high and reach your goals no matter what gets in the way. Frank Turners band (The Sleeping Souls) always manage to bring Franks songs to life with beautiful instrumentation especially the great rock and roll piano and hard distorted electric guitars which have been implemented into this song perfectly.

Frank Turners new album should be out sometime this year and I can’t wait. If it’s anything like this song and his last 5 albums it will be well worth my money and yours!

Twenty One Pilots- Fairly Local (Review)

So what do you get when you cross Indie, Pop, Screamo, Electronic music and 2 very talented guys from Ohio? ‘Twenty One Pilots’ is the answer. I got into Twenty One Pilots in the summer of 2014 when I was watching the Download Festival highlights. I hadn’t actually heard of them before but their song ‘Car Radio’ Instantly had me hooked and I was listening to both of their albums constantly and still do; Car Radio is one of my favourite songs of all time and always will be. However, ‘Fairly Local’ their new single which has been released 2 months before the release of their 3rd album ‘Blurryface’ shamefully doesn’t stand out too me. The lyrical content which is usually phenomenal when it comes to Twenty One Pilots is completely missing. Lyrics like “…this song will never be on the radio…” seem to be a lie as this song is very basic compared to their back catalog and it seems like all they are trying to do is get their song on the radio. One thing that is great about the track though is the beat, Josh Dun is one of my favourite drummers of recent years because even with the most simple beats he makes them sound tremendous and powerful. The same synth’s, strings and choral sounds repeat throughout the entire song but in true Twenty One Pilots fashion ‘Fairly Local’ does seem to get heavier towards the end.

‘Blurryface’ will be released on May 19th and I can not wait for that but I hope the rest of the album is a lot different to this particular single. There’s always hope as they have never really stuck to one genre as it seems they like to mix it up a lot.

Infinity Presents: Hollow Bodies, Crimson Tale and Others (Review) 25/2/15

As the most people i’ve personally seen packed into the Voodoo Lounge; Kane Coulson was the first of the 7 acts to perform tonight (Yes 7!!!). He kicked off the night with a solo acoustic set by banging out some solid covers such as ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, an Elvis Medley and my personal favorite ‘Knocking on Heavens door’. This was a great way to start the night but I would have liked to hear more original material. Next up was the future star Meg McPartlin with a blend of folk, indie and pop. Just from a quick 25 minute set I can tell that she has incredible talent and her original song ‘You’ was like food to my ears as it reminded me a lot of my favorite acoustic artist Frank Turner. She showed a lot of passion when performing a mix of originals and some very good covers and my only complaint would be that she wasn’t higher on the bill. Third on stage was the first full band of the night ‘The Magic Brownies’ who didn’t live up to their incredible name. The female vocalist was a great singer but the whole band need to up their stage presence, with the singer not moving much and the bassist with his back to the audience for the most part. However, their cover of ‘Bring Me To Life’ by Evanesence actually featured the male vocals unlike when I saw Evanesence live and there was an added solo which was great. Getting past the halfway point of this very long night came from Emily Acid who are a psychedelic 3-piece featuring a vocalist, keyboard and a drummer. Honestly, I had no idea what I watched; the musicianship was average but the vocals were pretty terrible and the lead singer looked like she was having a seizure on stage; which was quite scary to watch.
Taking us into the second part of the night was Maisie Tsunami And The Merchants. This was a tight 3-piece rock band with a female singer. It was great to see a female lead vocalist that could also do great guitar solos. They had decent stage presence and made me think that If Lily Allen was in a rock band they might sound similar. Penultimately was Crimson Tale and in their own words “We make noise; beautiful noise! We also look good too!” This was the opposite of what they did. They describe themselves as Glam/Theatrical Metal and by playing covers by bands such as The Misfits, The Ramones and The Darkness they didn’t really prove their Glam/Theatrical title. Due to the looks of a wannabe Black Veil Brides, a lack of stage presence and many unneeded high pitched vocal squeals I would probably never choose to see them again. Finally was the band of been waiting for all night Hollow Bodies. The lead singer Alex Waller starts off stage and in the crowd which had narrowed down a lot so late in the evening. His strong voiced mixed with the whole band’s great stage presence made a great live experience. The humour he added to the set with very unsubtle puns and wise cracking jokes which made everyone laugh. Their mix of hardcore and the few pop covers (especially ‘Heart Skips A Beat’ by Ollie Murs) was a great blend and something fresh to add the local music scene. Hollow Bodies are a young band who you should definitely check out and keep an eye on.

Photo by Sam Walton Photography