The latest lineup of Guildford punk band Hearts Under Fire
So here it is. After nearly a year of the Guardian running ‘is rock music dead?’ stories and readers’ polls to find Britain’s best band with results that make me weep for humanity, this punk fan is finally hitting back. I could go on a rant about major media outlets refusing to interview The King Blues because they were ‘too political’, I could talk about the Guardian beginning their pattern of dismissing UK rock last year with a story on the death of guitar music a few days before Sheffield metalcore torchbearers Bring Me The Horizon released their critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful third album There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret… but I won’t. Instead, I’ll introduce you to some of the UK’s leading lights and rising stars, and let you judge them for yourselves. Please note that this list is selective: I don’t listen to much metal, and wouldn’t feel qualified to talk about it, so I’ll mostly be focusing on punk, pop-punk, emo and post-hardcore. Maybe Chinny would do a piece on modern British metal? (hint, hint…)
You Me At Six
This pop-punk/kinda-sorta-emo five-piece (it might help to think of them as Fall Out Boy, but English and with a happier songwriter…) have released three albums to date. Their 2008 debut Take Off Your Colours was good, if slightly scrappy and immature, and spawned the fan-favourite single Save It For The Bedroom. 2010’s Hold Me Down was more rounded, and included ballads like Liquid Confidence as well as pop-punk tracks like Underdog. After their label forced them into an awful collaboration with Chiddy Bang, they bounced back last October with Sinners Never Sleep. The album’s first single, featuring a scenery-chewing cameo on the middle-eight from Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, was Bite My Tongue, a blistering attack on the people at Virgin Records who had screwed them over.
…and speaking of Oli Sykes…
Bring Me The Horizon
BMTH started out as a pretty brutal metalcore act. Songs like Chelsea Smile (from their second album Suicide Season) showcase their sheer raw aggression. They followed Suicide Season with a remix album, Suicide Season: Cut Up, using various producers and artists (including L’amour La Morgue, aka Ian Watkins of LostProphets). My personal favourite would have to be Football Season is Over (After The Night remix). Their third album, There Is A Hell… was released a day after Sinners Never Sleep. It is much more experimental, using electronics, a choir, strings and guest vocals from Canadian electro-pop songstress Lights and YMAS frontman Josh Franceschi. One particular track, Blessed With A Curse, stands out for me.
If you found that a bit too aggressive, why not kick back and listen to some Kids In Glass Houses? You could try my favourite KIGH song, Hunt The Haunted, or the brilliant The Best Is Yet To Come, or perhaps Undercover Lover, which features your one from the Saturdays who used to be in SClubJuniors (aka Frankie Sandford). It’s slightly depressing that if you go on Youtube and put ‘Undercover L’ into the search bar, the first suggestion is ‘Undercover Lover Frankie Sandford’ and KIGH don’t appear in any of the suggestions, but nonetheless it’s a great tune. Kids In Glass Houses are from Wales, growing up in the same scene that spawned LostProphets, Funeral For A Friend and The Blackout (more on all of whom later…), and they have the attitude that characterises all of those bands: they don’t care what people think, accusations of ‘selling out’ based on the fact that they know their way around a catchy melody are ignored and the music is all the better for it.
Twin Atlantic
If, like me, you’re a fan of Scottish accents, then Twin Atlantic are the band for you. I particularly love their song What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?
Deaf Havana
Starting out as a post-hardcore band, the departure of their original singer – with bassist James Veck-Gilodi shedding his instrument and moving centre-stage – saw Deaf Havana move towards a more alt-rock sound. Their latest album (and the first to feature Veck-Gilodi on lead vocals) is Fools and Worthless Liars, and it’s absolutely brilliant. The opening track The Past Six Years is an acoustic tune cataloguing the band’s story so far, and nodding to the greater success of Lower Than Atlantis and Young Guns (“Mike’s on daytime radio and John’s played Reading and Leeds/and I’m still playing the Purple Turtle on New Year’s Eve”). The tastefully self-loathing I’m A Bore, Mostly is a particular favourite of mine… something to do with the line about being kept alive by coffee, perchance? The first single from Fools and Worthless Liars, Little White Lies, which features up-and-coming folk/pop singer Portia Conn, actually made some commercial headway, and it’s a banger.
Lower Than Atlantis
Frontman Mike Duce is ‘Mike’ from ‘The Past Six Years’. Personally, I feel that songs like Beech Like The Tree and I’m Not Bulimic (I Just Wanted to See How Far I Could Stick My Fingers Down My Throat) have a bit of a grungy vibe to them. Certainly Duce has cited bands like Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World as an influence, but he also called them ‘Dad rock’. Excuse me? He’s about two years older than me and he thinks the Foos and JEW are Dad rock? In fairness, they perform a medley of Foos songs at every show they do, so presumably he meant in an affectionate way…
LostProphets
Here we go back to Wales for one of the bands who sowed the seeds for the current UK rock scene. If you’ve never heard them, imagine Papa Roach, Bon Jovi, Taking Back Sunday and Minor Threat riding on a horse waving a bullwhip while being chased by Darth Vader on a bicycle with ET in the front basket, who in turn is being chased by John Williams waving an orchestral score… They’re entirely impossible to pigeonhole by genre, which is – in my opinion – no bad thing. For a whistle-stop career retrospective, check out The Fake Sound Of Progress, Burn, Burn, Last Summer, It’s Not The End Of The World (But I Can See It From Here), Where We Belong and We Bring An Arsenal…
How are you bearing up? Do you need a minute to breathe? That’s a shame, because here come Lostprophets’ compatriots Funeral For A Friend. I won’t inflict a retrospective on you this time, but I will draw your attention to three songs: Welcome Home Armageddon, Streetcar and She Drove Me To Daytime Television. If you have the time, go listen to their album Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation.
The Blackout
So, for our third Welsh band in a row, here’s The Blackout! One of their earliest singles, It’s High Tide, Baby, actually featured LP frontman Ian Watkins. Then there’s their secularist anthem Never By Your Side and the epically awesome Save Our Selves (The Warning). All together now: “GOING OUT! GOING OUT! GOING OUT!”
Young Guns
We’ve had a few leading lights in a row now, so here’s a band who are very successful and respected, but are still relatively new to the scene. Songs like Bones, Learn My Lesson and Crystal Clear are all stadium-fillers in-waiting, so keep your fingers crossed!
The King Blues
The King Blues are dead. Fact. They’re not coming back. Fact. They broke up amid a storm of unrepeatable allegations. Fact. Frontman Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox is embarking on a solo career, while bassist Kat Marsh and guitarist Jamie Jazz have formed new bands (Lionface and Former Lovers, respectively). Fact. But while they lasted, they were wonderful. Undisputable fact. I’ll just link to one song, Set The World On Fire, and leave it at that. Long live the struggle.
Sonic Boom Six
They’ve been around for a decade, but they’ve only recently started to get the recognition they deserve. Like TKB, they’re a heavily political band, and they mix together all sorts of genres: rap, folk, hardcore, metal, punk, D’n’B, dub, reggae and ska. Try For The Kids Of The Multiculture, written in the wake of last year’s looting. If you want something a bit more gentle, listen to Sunny Side Of The Street, a bittersweet acoustic ode to their hometown of Manchester. The Rape Of Punk To Come (and you’d better get the joke in that title) showcases their ska side, and is a brilliant attack on pseudo pop-punk bands like Busted, while All In focuses more on the reggae end of things.
Evarose
Evarose are one of my favourite bands. They’re for girls from Oxfordshire playing pop-punk/emo/pop-rock with great lyrics. They only have two EPs to their name, but expect great things in the future. Listen to We Can Pretend Anyway, Cough It Up or Change. Their short video On The Road, Literally, Acoustic, where they cover ‘Too Close’ by Alex Clare, is also worth a glance.
Hearts Under Fire
I’ve saved the best ‘til last. Hearts Under Fire are my favourite band. EVER. They’re friends with YMAS, and their song Liquid Luck, about the joys of alcohol as a social crutch, ended up with a name that’s a shout-out to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because they like Potter and YMAS had already taken ‘Liquid Confidence’ (I know this because I asked them on Tumblr). Go listen to it. And then go listen to It’s Not Me, It’s You and We’ve Come Too Far To Live In The Past. And then go buy their EPs. I really wish they would come to Ireland on one of their many tours (and they tour a LOT), but sadly that seems unlikely at the moment. Drummer Lexi Clark also plays in a hardcore band called Try Me/Love Me, who are great, but who are too far under the radar to get into this article (oh, well, it’s early days yet!) Incidentally, if any of you are on Twitter, follow Lexi. She’s hilarious.
OK, that’s a lot to take in, so I’ll bid you all farewell and let you get on with your listening! Please comment and let me know what you think of the bands, and also tell me about anyone you feel I’ve missed.
Just wanted to mention that I left Rolo Tomassi, a band that I really admire, off the list. I did this for a good reason: I want to write a piece on them alone at some point in the near future!
I fell quite hip and happening as I’ve heard music by 3 of them and seen one live, looking forward to listening to the others. I’ll be back…
Who’ve you heard? Incidentally, if it’s HUF you’ve seen live, I may expire in a paroxysm of jealously
it was the first two I’ve heard of/music by and I saw LostProphets a long time ago, in a supporting role, afraid I can’t remember who now (it’s my age).
Ah, the days when the ‘Prophets were a support act… I know they played one show as main support to Hundred Reasons and blew ‘em off the stage. It was a turning point in both bands’ careers and the UK music scene as a whole.
What an awesome ‘Spill debut post. Respec’ is due, man!
Got a shedload of work to do before another 6am start tomorrow, so let’s see if these are noisy enough to keep me awake!
Thanks!
Donds for what Darce said – epic first post, am looking forward to giving this some serious attention.
Are Biffy not the biggest rock band from the UK? I thought their last album was great.
Like I said, this is a subjective post… I left Biffy off for a few reasons: 1) they’ve actually garnered serious mainstream attention, even in the hallowed pages of the Graun, so they’re not part of the ignored underground, 2) I don’t much like them, 3) I don’t care what anybody says, they’re rubbish live. I’m glad you liked the piece, though!
Band Of Skulls? Are they big yet? I liked their album too, with their big riffing rockiness
Ah, Band of Skulls… completely forgot about them, to be honest, because they’re a bit too we-grew-up-on-Mastodon-and-we-love-our-riffs-ish (if that makes any sense…) for me, but they deserve recognition!
You Me At Six I already knew of, and whilst I liked Bite My Tongue on several levels, I wasn’t otherwise persuaded to go and be the oldest person at a YMA6 by about 20 years.
Bring Me The Horizon are a favourite of my eldest nephew, whose opinion I invariably respect, but yes, I’ve always thought too “brutal” [good word for them AIP] … until I just played Blessed With A Curse. Though I still have a problem with Oli (and every other unclean/guttural/growler vocalist), there was a breathtaking Mogwai blowout tune behind the frontman there. A deffo DsD thumbs-up.
D’oh! Insert the word “gig” after YMA6 in that last comment.
It’s me age, yunno?!
If you liked Bite My Tongue, maybe Time Is Money (which is from the same album and has Wiston McCall of Parkway Drive doing guest screams) might appeal.
I’m with you: I like screamed vocals, but for effect. Songs like paramore’s My Heart or Fall Out Boy’s Saturday, which use screamed backing vocals to convey depths of emotional despair, impress me greatly, but, as the CiF ads say, “if you shout all the time, no-one will listen when you have something important to say”. ‘There Is A Hell…’ is a pretty good album, though. The song they did with Lights, Don’t Go, is very haunting, and is actually about a real-life murder case where Sykes knew the victim (and possibly the perps).
On the subject of cookie monster vocals (or growled), I tend to like bands that used to do that, but now don’t very often like Opeth, Anathema and Moonspell. It can’t be good for their poor vocal chords, but it can be quite effective.
Ha! No, it isn’t good for them. I don’t think I’m betraying any confidences with this snippet …
My [technically 'ex-', but still socially close] brother-in-law and his partner had the contract to provide the artist-area/backstage catering at HeavyFest earlier this year. Amongst the products they happily supplied (that it appeared no-one had ever done well enough before) was proper hot honey&lemon, which had many of the growler vocalists downing nineteen-to-the-dozen after their sets.
Indeed, DsD. I can back that up: Sykes lost his voice early in the recording of ‘There Is A Hell…’ in Sweden, and the vocals for several of the songs had to be recorded in LA just before BMTH started on the Warped Tour. I also know that, despite spending years as a screamer in Arma Angelus and doing a fair few death grow backing vocals in FOB’s early days, Pete Wentz has found it increasingly hard to scream live as the years have gone on…
On the evidence here, I think I’d like Kids In Glass Houses a lot better if they’d dump their producer and come back having spent 6 months sharing a tourbus with The Gaslight Anthem. And if they last more than 5 years, they’re gonna hate their name!
Twin Atlantic: now this I like; A LOT! A metal Placebo (that’s a good thing in my book. Will definitely be looking out for them now.
KIGH are a bit over-polished, true. Funnily enough, all the songs I posted were produced by Romesh Dodangoda, who has also produced Motorhead, Lostprophets, Funeral For A Friend, The Blackout, Twin Atlantic, Young Guns and Enter Shikari. Guess it’s their own fault…
Twin Atlantic have a brilliant song called You’re Turning Into John Wayne, which you might find worth a listen
… A-a-a-n-n-d here’s the errant “)” for THAT comment too. Kerrist, I’m tired.
Yeah, I know the feeling… off to bed myself before the top of my head falls off!
Placebo are metal, aren’t they? That’s what my iTunes calls them! (I quite liked Twin Atlantic too, but not as much as Placebo).
I’d call Placebo metal and Twin Atlantic alt-rock, but that’s just personal preference
Totally epic first post. Going to have to listen to it piecemeal over a few days i think though due to schedule. Did have a listen to You Had Me at Six while cleaning, and i think i’m with DsD on that one. (You know i like my snotcore). I liked it fine too, and was easy enough to listen to. But just a bit emo for my taste, and i’d be the oldest there by 30 years
Will be back!
The bad news? Couldn’t be doing with Lower Than Atlantis.
The good news? Deaf Havana‘s F&WLs just ordered from the [not so] good folks at Amazon for the princely sum of a fiver.
And as I already own some Lostprophets, and know I don’t like Funeral For A Friend, I’m going to take that as a natural break before coming back later.
I will have a listen back to the new comment suggestions though.
Cheers, AIP.
Yay! I’m gonna order the deluxe edition of F&WLs for my birthday, and I can’t wait…
Great post AIP, looking forward to having a listen!
It is a very interesting post, and I am looking forward to listening to the tracks ! ! !
Well done, now what will the next one be about ? ? ?
The next one will be either a review of Sonic Boom Six’s new album, or a piece on the current state of Irish rock (and believe me that’ll be short!) I also want to write individual pieces on Rolo Tomassi and possibly Hearts Under Fire…
Great first post, as many have said. A very cursory listen leads me to think there’s a few quid to be spent on i-tunes. Thanks for bringing us a little more up to date. I’m now going to spoil it all by posting a flamenco review…
Oh I promise to read/listen to that too, Maki, but not tonight … I’m too tired and after all this new rock, too wired at the same time.
Have to write it first DsD! It’s estrella’s new album and I don’t really know how to go about it. I like it too much! (But you’re allowed not to.)
I’m glad you liked it! Looking forward to the review
Just back from the Eliza Gilkyson concert (she didn’t play my request!) and have to go to bed. Just doing the click thing.
Have always liked what I’ve heard from King Blues, they did make me go watch some Jamie T on youtube
I’ll admit I’m not massively into Jamie T, but I’ve always loved Sticks’n'Stones, so thanks for posting the video
Hopefully will get round to a listen later, but congrats on your first posting
Thanks for all the positive feedback, guys!
Incredible debut post AIP !
A wee bit too poppy for my more extreme tastes (BMTH excepted, I liked all the stages that you linked to there) , but really enjoyed listening through these.
The thing that I liked was it really feels like a scene, which is something I kinda miss now I’m the ripe old age of 35. It reminded me a lot of the US scene around 2000 with The Get Up KIds/Promise Ring/Rival Schools/Hot Water Music etc.
They missed a trick not getting Sonic Boom Six for the Olympic opening ceremony !
So, what happened to A Hundred Reasons and Million Dead, anyway..?
Hundred Reasons just fizzled out… they recently reissued Ideas Above Our Station, so that might be a sign of activity to come. As for Million Dead… well, I believe the singer has made a bit of a name for himself as a solo artist
He’s recently formed a hardcore band called Mongol Horde, so they might be worth checking out….
If you liked BMTH, then you’ll probs enjoy my future post on Rolo Tomassi! Also, maybe check out Architects, The Devil Wears Prada, Of Mice & Men and We Are The Ocean
Yeah, the US scene around 2000 is a good comparison. I’d compare it to Chicago at that point, where it was going through a period of transition from Racetraitor, Arma Angelus et all to FOB and Rise Against, or maybe Long Island, where everybody knew everybody else’s name (and sexual infidelities…) It is very much a scene, or maybe several interlocking scenes, and bands that have made it always bring up-and-coming bands on tour and promote them.
cheers, I will indeed check those out…I always like bands named after poems, books or writers, so I think I’ll start with Of Mice and Men….
…wil be interesting to see Frank going back to more punky stuff. Million Dead were the last live band I saw in the UK (probably around 2004) and were brilliant live.
Oooh Rival Schools mention, Mr Panther – seeing as it’s been more than a decade I’m now declaring “classic” status on “Used For Glue”!
A classic beyond all doubt!
Dond for Used For Glue – well deserved classic status given !
Cool, had a bit of time to listen now. So I already know that this is music that is out of my usual listening zone, see I’m a bit of an old goth, thus tend to get rather irritated by emo, and if I want something noisy it tends to be industrial metal or a bit more hairy than these guys, but you’ve pleasantly surprised me!
I’m afraid the ones I’d already heard of were not bands I wanted to hear more by, but they do what they do well and most have some impressive tattoos.
I feel I should support Deaf Havana as I did spend a year at UEA (Norwich, not Kings Lynn) and the acoustic one is okay, not quite my thing though. Twin Atlantic remind me of the Darkness, in a good way, I like the vocalist. Pressing on I really like Hearts Under Fire, you did save the best till last. I shall be investigating them further.
Great post, thanks for putting these songs up, I’m glad to have heard them.
You were at UEA? Good lord, girl, we must be kindred spirits. I already knew we were both at Essex.
I was, I did my PGCE there. Loved Norwich, if I could have towed it closer to Cornwall I would never have left, I still miss the cathedral and the pubs
Ah, my course was distance-learning and we were only there for residential weekends and the odd summer school. Did a bit of drinking though.
YES! YES! A CONVERT TO HUF! And yes, Oli’s tattoo collection is something else…
I’ve never really ‘got’ goth myself (well, bar the Cure and Souxsie and the Banshees) being more of an early-00s emo myself (if I want sad music, I want it to be snarky, intellectual and, to quote Taking Back Sunday, “literate and stylish/kissable and quiet”) Maybe you could do a post on the best goth bands, thus converting me?
Glad you liked it
HUF have some songs on Spotify, I’ve discovered, yay. Each to their own when it comes to music genres, but I wouldn’t try to convert anyone to goth, I think I’d lose, however on the 23rd October I (with the help of the wonderful Amylee) shall be posting a selection of darker songs, so maybe you’ll like some of those?
Sounds great, Bethnoir! If it doesn’t tread on your and Amylee’s toes, maybe I’ll complement that with a Halloween post of dark party songs from my collection… In fact, it could be interesting if several people did that, all choosing dark, Halloween-party-ready songs from their own areas of interest. Anyone up for it?
Can’t do anything for Halloween, AIP, but you may well be interested in a Christmas compilation I put together a couple of years back, entitled “It’s Dark At Christmastime”.
Email me if you want something posting or ‘Boxing …
sounds good! People post when the mood takes them really, a Hallowe’en list sounds like a good idea to me.
AIP -
If you’re interested – last year for Halloween i put up a post on the 100 Greatest Goth Tunes as listed by our local alternative rag to get some feedback from our panel of experts here. The songs are gone from the player here now, but it’s not a bad list (with corrections by ‘Spillers!) and intro to the genre. I’m eagerly awaiting listening to Beth’s list next week! (I don’t cheat and pre-listen).
I actually just selected my song for the the Christmas Earworms, bypassing Halloween.
And i have to work today, but have Tues and Wed off so looking forward to getting the rest of this listened to then!
@DsD: sounds great, I’ll check it out
@Bethnoir: fair enough, I’ll go ahead and post when the time comes
@Amylee: there’s a few familiar tunes in there! I’d personally have my doubts about Joy Division being a goth band, and I’m not sure that Depeche Mode played music, let alone goth music
but I’m checking out some of the stuff I haven’t heard before. Dead Can Dance seem kind of fun…
Late to this – had an RR/’Spill minibreak over the weekend.
Interesting stuff, a lot of this sounds like a lot of US stuff from the late 90′s & early naughties that crossed back over the pond. Certainly some good musicianship on display; can’ help feel that some of these might be better served by varying the tempo & dynamics a bit. You’ve also helped confirm my prejudice that Emo mostly = tats & whining.
Particularly enjoyed Hearts Under Fire. They might even be the second best band from Guildford. Sonic Boom Six were interesting too, but possibly one too many genres in there.
Great post. Hope there are many more to come.
Yes, big cross-fertilisation with the US.
As I only mentioned two kinda-sorta-emo bands, it may not be wise to judge an entire genre based on this post
I suppose HUF provide the tats and YMAS bring the whining? As far as I’m concerned, any band that formed post 2005/06 isn’t emo anyway, but then I’m a purist!
Who are the best band from Guildford? Anyone I should check out?
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and I’m VERY glad you liked Hearts Under Fire!
The Stranglers were from/based in Guildford (or Chiddingfold to be precise).
Ah… I didn’t realise they were! Cool! And yeah, I’ll concede the number one spot to them!
You don’t have to – it’s all subjective & a lot to do with time & place.
& I’m sure HUF won’t make you wait nearly 30 years to come up with a half way decent album.
CLARIFICATION: having checked back over my list, I will concede that ‘It’s High Tide, Baby’ is both emo and whiny. However, overall, The Blackout aren’t like that. Every band is entitled to one ballad, eh?
Hopefully they won’t! But it’s been 3 years since they released a 4-track EP and what have we seen? Well, another 4-track EP will come out later this month…
In fairness, I’m on Twitter at the moment and Lexi Clark is bouncing up and down all over the internets with glee because she’s going to a Gaslight Anthem gig later, which is enough to distract anyone from songwriting!
Hi, AIP!
I’m very late to this. My bad, as I believe one says these days….
tbh, I feel a bit like young Mr Grace (from the dreadful Are You Being Served? – ask someone older), wanting to say you’ve done very well. It’s good that the energy, confusion and angst of young people is still being channeled through distorted guitars, heavy backbeats and shouty-song. I can hear lots of older stuff in there but all the bands make it sound current and vibrant. It’s honestly done and played by humans – unlike 95% of modern pop music – so deserves attention for that, at least.
It’s not my bag, really (if I’m allowed to lump them all into one bag, that is). I’m too old to have the emotional concerns they sing about and most of the music is – forgive me, please – somewhat formulaic in terms of structure and musical complexion.
I did like the Sonic Boom Six track about Manchester. Not only because it’s about my city but also because of its radically different tone and feel. I’m just disappointed that I didn’t recognise the location in the video.
But don’t let an old curmugeon like me put you off (and I’m sure you won’t!) doing more posts. [Have you seen the info in the Manual tab about creating a playlist? It's a more convenient way to listen to the music.]
Must go. Nursie has brought me some nice chicken soup.
Yeah, I saw the thing about playlists, I just wanted to link to videos for that particular post! Re: ‘Sunny Side Of The Street’ – I know Barney Boom is from Trafford, so I suppose there’s a chance they shot it there…
I understand your lack of interest in a lot of the subject matter – bar The King Blues and SB6 it’s all the emotional problems of people in their early 20s! I probably won’t still be listening to a lot of this in 10 or 20 years’ time. Having said that, I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of Hearts Under Fire
And I know what ‘Are You Being Served?’ is. Not a fan, but I’ve seen it. You’re not so old your cultural reference points are obsolete!