AMPjam needed a facelift and Josh held me back on releasing until 2010, which I am now thankful for as I’ve tweaked a lot of bits into this one to make it look sexy, easy to navigate and also help blend the old and the new, we’ve been going for around two-and-a-bit years now and the scene has changed along the line, which is more than reason enough for us to do so.
So, what’s new?
As you can see, we have a new media player that effectively acts as an online media stream or “radio station” for local bands, that includes material from new bands on the rise down to legendary local names like Phema, if you want some airplay, just send us an email so we can sort something out.
On that note, we have a new proper email now too, so you can easily post your whims and whinges to contact@ampjam.net, it’s all a bit superficial but also a hell of a lot more proffesional.
You might also note some fancy new bars too, you can pretty much navigate your way everywhere around the site through that from history details to the latest articles, interviews and venue info, oh and the forum that you really must check out.
If you fancy your news at a quick glance you can also see the latest main articles (venue reports, cd reviews and band interviews down on the right hand side alongside what we’re twittering about and whatnot.
The Pitz has given me some good memories of Christmas, back in the day I remember Ollie & The Wallies, Son Of A Gun/Slideshow and Titan System giving a packed house a good time, with Titan System throwing chocolate into the audience, mad times! Tonight has a bit more of an inclination with those times than recent years, the bands tonight being quite far apart as far as genres are concerned. Heart Of A Coward have the aggressive screams, This Contrast Kills supply the punk and Tesseract have the progressive moods. Unfortunately Godsacksman don’t make it to the night, but sod the snow, there’s still some good bands on.
The saying goes that you can never keep a good dog down, and it’s pretty much the case as far as This Contrast Kills are concerned. Rob, Kieth and Tim may have last been seen playing together in 2007, but instead of just going back to a life of daily drudge and boredom, the three are back with new ideas, new sounds and a new lease of life that’s been of some interest to a fair few people. With that, the lads have also managed to get a six-track Ep recorded under the name of “The Corrupted Luxury”.
Kids Picked last have had a pretty interesting story over the past year or so, from punk/metal origins to a sound growing out with electronica beats, lasers and glow sticks on all sides. What you’ve probably heard countless times when we’ve covered them is how the idea is a hard one to pull off without any hiccups, but in a studio with the opportunity to refine their ideas and sounds, we can get a glimpse of KPL’s grand schemes with their recently released “Rumours” album.
Backstage is back once more this year in the winter season, the night seems a bit reorganised this time around with Firetone having to duck out of the gig, but there is a replacement in the way of Scrapbook Heroes with their pop-punk reverberations taking the last slot for the night. The support remains the same though, with Borneo Function and a new band called Footswitch. The turnout looks good too, so onto the review…
Though the indie scene isn’t as strong as it used to be, there’s a few bands still taking on the genre in their own particular directions. One such band is the recently established Magazines who proclaim themselves as normal as a band can get and have been on a bit of a rise so far on open mic nights, particularly with a special set at the Sno! Bar open mic under their collective belts. As with most bands, the guys also have an Ep up too, named Current Affairs…
The Craufurd has become a bit of a main venue now, there’s been a good few local bands through, some downright obscure names, Jeffree Star and now the word on the street is that Towers Of London are in town. This one’s been on a good few peoples calenders for a while and if you have a band as glammed up as Towers in, you need some similarly good looking bands to warm up the punters, this is where Lionsex, Frantic Alice and Lecarla come in…
It’s down to the last Thursday show from Beatdown, as hard to believe as it is. The guys have been rocking off Thursday nights for a few years and the weekday gigs are coming to a close. Playing the last show are two very juxtaposed bands who couldn’t get much different, all glammed up and dressed in the tightest threads available are Lionsex, while they are joined by Citizen Keyne who are as old-school, down to earth punk as you can get. The venue has supplied some good memories so far, tonight is no exception…
I won’t lie, it’s been a bit of a bad year for local music, in the year we covered a dire amount of Cd reviews which reflects on how many new local bands are playing. In turn with the recession and general “I can’t be bothered to go out” attitude there’s not much of an outlook. That said I still laugh at people who say they won’t go to a gig because of a pre-emptive bad turnout. Cause of the problem? I do think so indeed!
It’s been out a while already, but we were finally able to grab a copy of Lecarla’s debut Ep last weekend, hearing stuff on Myspace is okay but it’s not quite the same as having the hard copy blaring out to get the party started. On that note, catchy metal infused rock seems to be on the rise, though Lecarla have been onto it a little longer than most and managed to build up a decent fanbase, gig like hell and even get this three-track baby under their belt.
