These are my views on the death of Margaret Thatcher, specifically the reaction of the music community. I shall begine with one of the fake hipsters favourites, Mr. Frank Turner. When you think about it Frank Turner is just an over opinionated prick. His fans are the kind of people striving to be different while being exactly the same, genuinely not his fault but doesn’t help my opinion of him. Honestly, I should give his music more of a listen, for that reason I won’t attack him musically as it wouldn’t be fair and any thoughts I air would be merely speculation. My main problem has been his complaints about people protesting Margaret Thatchers funeral, when you’re a singer who penned a song titled ‘Thatcher Fucked The Kids’ you should show no sympathy for a person who made dreadful decisions and ruined a lot of people’s lives. Preach about it but clearly have no dedication or support for what they’ve said. This, however is not an isolated incident from what I have seen through hypocritical singers following the death of Margaret Thatcher, case in point The King Blues. The King Blues, one of the most politically motivated bands of the last 10 years, went through a couple of incarnations during their four album run however ending on a line up including Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox, Jamie Jazz, Josie Dobson and Kat Marsh. Of these four members only two showed genuine interest in the death of this tyrant. The first and most vocal being Itch, his reaction was one of joy and celebration, clearly this is something that was deep rooted in his past and choices made by Thatcher had caused his life to go in the certain path it has. He, along with Paul Barnes, or Barney Boom of Sonic Boom Six spent the day joking through tweets and seeing it as a reason to celebrate, their political music has always shown that they will enjoy a day when the little guy is victorious, a sense of closure to what Thatcher had done to the country. Jamie had no interest in it at all, he’s purely in the business of selling tickets to Bleach Bloods gigs and promoting himself to new levels, also nothing from Josie. Kat however seemed to sympathise with a tory leading, are you fucking kidding me, a member of the most political modern band saying ‘meh, Thatcher ruined lives by she’s alright’. Incredible.

There has been so much said, this is what I’ve read. It just goes to show what people are really like when something like this happens, you can see who would practice what that preach and who is full of shit. I’m no expert, clearly, I’d say quite the opposite, but just look at these musicians Twitter accounts, Facebook pages or news articles from outlets such as NME, you’ll see the sheer amounts of hypocrisy, yet in all that there is a glimmer of hope, for now at least.

effyeahska:

Song of the day: Sonic Boom Six - Flower

After not seeing Sonic Boom Six in around 8 months I had kinda forgot about the sheer magic of one of their gigs. Having previously only seen them in London venues and Sonisphere Festival 2011 I didn’t know what to expect from a little city just out side of London.

After having a few pre drinks in the Lloyds Bar in the city centre (cheeky Hooch) me and my girlfriend arrived at the tiny venue in search of what we were used to, highly energetic ska/hip hop/rock/punk. After a few more drinks I could tell that this gig was going to go slightly awry, my girlfriend began shouting to the guitarist of the band outside about how he’s unsociable and asking what he will do when a previous member (Ben Childs) returns. This was hilarious, not for poor Nick Horne I’m sure, but everyone else seemed entertained. After a while her alcohol intake got the better of her and the inevitable vomiting began. She tells me to go on ahead, which I did, foolishly but it happened. Boom had already began at this point, I entered just as Laila and Barney burst into the classic “piggy in the middle”, followed by some new tracks, including “Karma Is A Bitch” and “The High Cost Of Living”. I can’t remember which order these song went in, the hooch was crazy and has blurred the old memory hole, these are what I remember hearing/seeing. I saw around 5 songs of the set before I have a tap on the should with the words “your girlfriend needs to go home” and I’m forced to drag her back to Reading. These 5 songs however provided some of the most fun I’ve had at a gig in a long time, it was still the old bouncy madness of a boom gig, it didn’t have the atmosphere of a London gig granted, but Laila and Barney brought it very close. I will most definitely be attending the underworld gig coming up, this showed that they are still possibly my favourite live group, regardless of them touring with the blackout and the upcoming hadouken support slot.

I will however list several problems I had;

1. Obviously the vomiting girlfriend.

2. The barrier between the band and the fans, there is absolutely nothing Sonic Boom Six about have a barrier

3. I missed the familiar faces of a boom gig in London

These problems are however nothing to do with the band or their performance so I can’t hold it against them, I blame the venue.

To wrap up, a lot of Guildford now thinks I’m a complete “cunt”, not my words, theirs, for leaving my girlfriend, I saw only a very small part of the gig but what I saw has guaranteed my attendance at a lot of gigs to come.

This is a difficult review, the problem being I haven’t actually seen the film, although I have purchased it. I expect I may have liked the film but I will never know now other than if I buy another copy which seems to be a lot of hassle. Anyway, I see this as ‘The Social Network review part 1’ as when I either buy another copy, find my copy or stream it online I can’t say anything more about it. So yeah, kinda wasted my time with this post didn’t I? And so did you by reading it, oh well.

Never gets old. Ever. So don’t argue Trevor.

Lets begin by stating the obvious, it doesn’t all sound like The King Blues, it’s not as good as the first two King Blues albums but it is still Itch. The King Blues may no longer be a band but this carries the same message as the band carried from the beginning, however diluted it may have become by the end.

Back to the EP, Itch has clearly gone all out to show his anger in the track ‘London is Burning’, he shouts over a fairly aggressive almost dubstep backing. It sounds like he’s given up on his cause, he know longer feels anything can be done about the corruption of the country. It’s a little repetitive throughout and is the weakest track on the EP in my opinion, it was the first track previewed ahead of the EP’s release and almost completely put me off, however it has grown on my over time, it’s the ‘We Are Fucking Angry’ track, angry for the cause but comes across as angry to be angry.

The next track is ‘Spooky Kids’, thus far the only track to have an actual music video and not just a lyric video. Again it’s a fairly repetitive track, Itch is angry still about the state of things, he’s in support of the youth of Britain. It’s intended as the stand out track on the EP, it’s the one that’s clearly being pushed as a potential single, it’s not my track but again it’s a very strong effort.

The next track is ‘True’, in which Itch attacks movies and what they have told him about how the world works. This track goes along as a slower, more traditional King Blues track with a very confusing burst of ‘London Is Burning’. It’s one of the stronger tracks of the EP based around the vocals which aren’t overly angry for the sake of it. It’s a change from the angry two tracks from the album, other than the very confusing burst of ‘London is Burning’.

And now on to the the final and in my opinion best track from the EP. It’s a return to the roots of the original King Blues stuff, punky, ska-y and completely restored my faith in Johnny ‘Itch’ Fox. Featuring Tim Armstrong of Operation Ivy and Rancid only added to the quality of the track. No unnecessary anger, shouting or heavy banging backing tracks, it sounds like The King Blues, it’s obviously ridiculous to think that everything done will sound like The King Blues but he shouldn’t lose every aspect that gained him his fans to begin with. 

Overall I rate this EP highly, it shows Itch is willing to take risks but still show his old self, it shows he still hasn’t given up on his cause and finally it shows that he can still make quality music, after the final King Blues album I had lost some faith in Itch’s ability to make music to the brilliance that was ‘Under The Fog’, while this still doesn’t touch that it’s heading in the right direction.

Itch.

Gotta hand it to my team player! Give it up for stranger!