Anxiety Attack / J'M'En Fous

Here's a post about a couple of cool bands that I was priveleged to host for a basement show a couple of years back. I can't remember if it was a lastminute thing, a there's no money thing, or a no suitable venues thing, but I think it turned out as a pretty fun evening and there were at least a few people down who I'd not expected (and none of the freeloading cider punks to deal with either).

First on was the short-lived Manchester band ANXIETY ATTACK with the incestuous lineup of :

vocals - Myke (The Day Man Lost, Burn All Flags, Lie Cycle, Mass of Bastards); guitar - Adz (Dreams Are Free Motherfucker!, Burn All Flags, Lie Cycle); bass - Andy (Run Like Hell, Hail Brethren, Well Wisher, Hammers); drums - Nick C (Dreams Are Free Motherfucker!, Run Like Hell, Hail Brethren, Well Wisher, Hammers)

Later on they recorded (what would have been) a wicked 7" just before splitting up, which was eventually put out by Slow Riot records as a CDR. Think you'll like this if you're into bands like OUT COLD, CUT THE SHIT, SCHOLASTIC DETH etc. There's obviously a few homages to THE MINUTEMEN in there too.


Download - Anxiety Attack/The Day Man Lost split CDR

J'M'En Fous, from Switzerland, are one of those bands that may seem desperately obscure but really built up quite a buzz on this visit to the UK. Maybe being such a great live band, writing hardcore punk music in a truly original way had something to do with this. They had two CDRs for sale but, as far as I can see, almost no online presence/distribution whatsoever. I hope they don't mind me posting these fantastic records. "Jazzy, noisy LIKEWHATTHEFUCKJUSTHAPPENED punk" is what I put on the flyer, I think that's fairly accurate. They're not a 90s sounding band in a retro kind of way, but I feel that J'M'En Fous surely must have been conceived at some 1 in 12 alldayer back around '95, maybe with proto-screamo types UNDERCLASS and noisy art-punkers BILGE PUMP somewhere in the mix*.

Download: J'M'En Fous - 2 CDRs



*of course, ex-members of HEADACHE. Not sure how I forgot that.

2010 Christmas Quiz

Q: What links :

My venue of the moment - the Spread Eagle, Chorlton

and the now defunct Sheffield-based hardcore band UNQUIET GRAVE.


Given, of course, that UxG never played there?

A: Both have had their leading ladies on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me this year. Landlord Bessie raised a few eyebrows with 'marmite chicken' and her 'manchester tart' whilst screamer Donna came runner-up on the Sheffield week with a Japanese-themed vegan meal.

Given the life-expectancy of the average vegan hardcore band (roughly 1/2000th of the average vegan) it seems I'm never going to be able to bring these two together in a "Come Mosh With Me" lineup, where every band has to bring a 3-course vegan meal and entertainment before laying waste to the venue. But then perhaps there's a blessing in disguise for the hardcore kids; though Donna doubtless achieved some kind of victory by scoring so highly against four carnivores - AND cheekily getting the band's demo here played on national TV - these appearances have always seemed something of a tightrope for the band/scene concerned in credibility terms, and I'm happy for her and the band that the spotlight isn't quite so strong these days. Just remember that harrowing footage of Karl Beuchner getting somehow pummelled on a Fox News over gang violence he had nothing to do with, Richard and Judy's bemused reaction to that tattooed girl from London talking about her friend punching her, or who could forget that legendary footage of xWithdrawnx walking into lampposts (though on second thoughts, I'm not sure that Chinese supermarket mock duck looks that great under camera lights either).

Current celebrity status aside, UNQUIET GRAVE were fucking excellent band who also featured Simon (ex-Army of Flying Robots) on guitar, Nick (Cracked Cop Skulls, Unborn) on bass and Olly (next after me to jump ship from ThexLegacy) on drums. Their demo is absolutely raging from start to finish; I have to say it may even be up there with xCanaanx's early output. Check out the cover, which is glossy black ink on black paper :

And the words - all in gothic - printed exactly the same inside. Still, with songs titles like "Avenues of Shit" it's not really about the lyrical subtleties here. There's a healthy mix of Acme and Gehenna in with the usual tremelo picked riffs and achingly slow breakdowns, and its that rougher punk edge that really makes this a grower. I picked this CDR up on the one occasion I saw them at 120 Rats in Leeds - quite a gamble as I forfeited the chance to see the short-lived TWISTED at Albany Road the same night - and then had to stay stranded out there in the Leeds industrial wasteland as the bands got progressively slower and more drugged-out as the night went on. Following the vegan mosh, there were at least two bands who sounded like Flipper on heroin (strangely all these drunk kids were trying to slamdance to!) and finally, one called BONG who I'm not going to waste my limited descriptive skills on. By 2am, I was in no state to liberate anything except myself from this squatted prison of darkness and scene-appropriate substance abuse... on reflection, an ideal starting point for putting on this CD.

DOWNLOAD : Unquiet Grave - demo 2009 (34.4MB)


Unquiet Grave, Upperthorpe Hotel, Sheffield, 03.08.09

Unquiet Grave | Myspace Music Videos

End of a Year List Time

Top gigs of the year -

1 Joanna Newsom @ Palace Theatre, Manchester

2 Melt Banana & the Ex @ Islington Mill, Salford



3 Henry Rollins @ Lowry, Salford
4 Netherlands Radio Orchestra - Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #1, Shostakovich Symphony #7 @ Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
5 Crushing Blows @ Bar One, Derby
6 Twisted @ Albany Road, Chorlton
7 Alasdair Roberts, Cath & Phil Tyler @ Sacred Trinity, Salford
8 The Ex & Brass Unbound @ Deaf Institute, Manchester
9 Mob Rules & Voorhees @ the Well, Leeds
10 NASDAQ, Crash of Rhinos & Well Wisher @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester

with a few that felt a bit extra special for going boldly where few bands hath ventured before -


1 Adrian Crowley @ Jolly Roger, Sherkin Island, Co. Cork
2 Contort, Cash For Your Stories @ Gullivers, Manchester


3 Catatumbo @ St Margarets Church, Whalley Range
4 DBH @ Albany Road, front garden

5 Moloch, Closure @ Royal Oak, Chorlton
6 Punch, Mob Rules @ Spread Eagle, Chorlton (see below)

Memorable Moments in Albert Rd basement gig history - Run Like Hell first EVER set

And as if on cue, Run Like Hell arrived just in time to save my waning interest in hardcore. Everything was so right about this band from the word go; the desperate in-and-out of time vocals; the "not a moment lost"-school of songwriting; their appearance – one hyperactive kid into Youth of Today backed by a minor British Earache thrash band from the late 80s; refreshingly uncool cover choices (Drop Dead and Chain of Strength - one you had no hope of recognising and one you almost wished you didn't), the fact that they actually seemed to enjoy their time on stage; Nick losing his dreads but still drumming like he was in Heresy; the way that like my other favourite "could've'-been" UK band Driven Down they never did a proper record thus remaining forever under-rated and romanticized; their patronage by Manchester music supremo Paddy Steer who filmed the first set and invited them in for a live session and interview on his radio show; avoiding the myriad of pitfalls of thrash (too wacky) powerviolence (too played out) and youthcrew (too camp) but still managing to include elements of all three; the second time I saw them at Lost & Found social centre impressing a crowd that associated 'hardcore' with its 90s dance namesake and even spurring me into moshing housemate Helen across the floor during "Impact" … I could go on forever! And they were only playing this as their first show because Sheffield's Up Late had pulled out. This house firmly believes that you could do with some Run Like Hell in your life.

(from upcoming M19 Housegig zine)

The Live Footage :

1 (unknown)


2 "Lifestyle Choices"


3 "Sorry"


4 (unknown)


5 "Chain Gang"


Filmed by Paddy Steer. I Object vids on their way.

The Cat [Mixtape] Came Back

More songs about cats for you to enjoy. Two 46 minute sides of them in fact. Merry Christmas.

Download : Cats II (122 MB)

We Close Our Eyes - Second Demo

What more to say... the holy grail of 2000s UK screamo.



Download We Close Our Eyes (second demo ) 36MB

When the Feeling's Gone and You Can't Go On...

"Tragedy worship" is one phrase we are all hoping will appear less frequently on flyers in 2011. But go back the best part of a decade and you can hear bits of that sound in bands that still sound fresh to ears today. Take the Dagda from Ireland. You've probably seen the "Threefold" LP in many distros (it was released on Enslaved, well worth picking up) but this final record seems much harder to get hold of. Its got some elements of the epic cust/neocrust/lounge-crust (thats my favourite) sound in there... maybe some black metal and a bit of Catharsis too. But it comes across proper raw and genuine. I never saw them, having missed their visit to the infamous Redhouse Rehearsal Rooms on Ludgate Hill (Rochdale Road), now demolished. Here's the final record.


Download: An Endless Betrayal (47MB)

Flyer from Helen's Helpyourself Manchester wordpress site. All the flyers from the real early days. Sure there'll be a bit of crossover between that blog and this one.