Tag: last resort

Hardmen and Hype!

Interviews with Hulk Hogan, Ross Kemp, Pixies and David Lovering

Diptic

I’ve had some awesome guests passing through the show of late.

Perhaps most importantly, I had the fairly ridiculous and excitable pleasure this week of interviewing WWE superstar Hulk Hogan who was in the UK promoting his appearance hosting ‘Smackdown’ live at the 02 Arena.

I asked him about his return to WWE, and how he keeps his cool in the ring.

Recently I also caught up with acclaimed actor, broadcaster and ‘TV hardman’ Ross Kemp to chat about his new book ‘The A-Z of Hell’ I am a big fan of Ross dating backto his EastEnders days so hereally was a pleasure to interview.

and also friends of the show The Hype Theory, who I played ‘Hype or Theory’ with. Is it a hyped band, or a well-known theory? It’s harder than you might think.

I also caught up on the phone with Pixies’ drummer David Lovering to chat about their most recent album Indie Cindy. They will of course be over here this weekend for Field Day Festival.


This weekend I headed down to Camden Rocks festival and checked out the aforementioned Hype Theory  – who today release an EP ‘The Hunted’ featuring acoustic versions of standout tracks from last year’s Captives debut. Other highlights included Apologies, I Have None, Turbowolf, The Blackout, the ridiculously young Drones and Hacktivist who DESTROYED The Underworld with their unique rap/metal/djent/ crossover.

This week I’ll be mostly saving myself for Last Resort’s 3rd birthday party at The Star of Kings, but I’ll find time to check out the new Twin Atlantic (currently #1 on the Kerrang! Rock Chart!) album which is being premiered on Wednesday at a top secret location. If their recent London date at The Dome in Tufnell Park is anything to go by, it looks set to put them firmly in rock’s premier league.




Meeting Fred Durst

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Last Friday I caught up with Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, ahead of the final UK date of the 2014 Kerrang! tour. We talked about building the perfect Bizkit setlist, the two new albums they have in the pipeline (Stampede of the Disco Elephants and The Unbeliveable Truth Part 2) and breakdancing on stage!

Talking of Limp Bizkit, I’m looking forward to heading to Last Resort next weekend – a club night that certainly likes its nu-metal. If you missed my blog from last summer you can check it out here.

Elsewhere, I’ll be heading to the Garage this weekend to catch Manchester’s finest Sonic Boom Six – who I haven’t seen do a headline show in literally years. They totally destroyed the crowd at Warped Tour last November – with Laila performing the last track on top of a security guard’s head! If you like your music heavy with lots of rapping, screaming and breakdowns, make sure you get there early and catch The One Hundred opening things up.

I’ll also be checking out the new Lamb Of God documentary, As The Palaces Bun, which is out in cinemas today.




Cut my life into pieces…

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In recent years I’ve really gone off rock clubs. Too often they really do take themselves seriously, and so, so many of them seem to insist on playing the same tracks in the same order every week and making the minimum effort possible. An awful lot are TERRIBLE at online and social media and therefore fail to create any sort of excitement or buzz about their night. This is particularly troublesome with weekly nights, since there are inevitably going to be weeks where it’s extremely difficult to get the punters through the door, and a lazy approach to proceedings is hardly going to help. Many are struggling and/or shutting down up and down the country against a difficult economic backdrop and frankly, I’m not surprised.

However, for a couple of years now I’ve been following the online buzz of semi-regular rock night Last Resort but for one reason or another never made it down until Last Resort 9 in June this year. I quickly concluded that it is by some distance the best rock club I’ve ever been to, for a variety of reasons not limited to the below..

1. It doesn’t even try and take itself seriously.
2. The music is largely rock emo, nu-metal and pop-punk from the early 00’s when most of the crowd were growing up.
3. There are regular social media updates on Facebook and Twitter, not just from the official accounts but from the promoters themselves, creating a buzz from months beforehand.
4. Every night is a separate ‘event’ to be treated as such. It’s only on a few times a year, which means it’s always rammed.
5. The music is amazing. Yes, it’s not to everyone’s tastes, and (bizarrely) not everyone wants to hear 8 Limp Bizkit tracks in a night BUT equally nobody is apparently afraid to drop a Katy Perry, a Rihanna track or even bloody Usher when the moment calls. And why should they be? In this day and age nobody wants to hang around with people who think they’re too good for pop music, especially after a few drinks!
6. There appears to be about 20 DJ’s. Presumably they are only playing a few tracks each, but it means there’s a great buzz around the decks.
7. It’s completely FREE and is bang in the centre of London.
8. Oh and everyone, without exception, is completely battered.

The next one is Last Resort 10 on Saturday 7th September it’s at The Star of Kings in Kings Cross, and it’s completely free!

In the meantime, get involved with the banter on Facebook and Twitter.