The Wonder Years- ‘No Closer To Heaven’

*punches air* *stage dives* *punches air once more*

Philadelphia emo six piece The Wonder Years have never been shy to perform open heart surgery on themselves to create albums. ‘No Closer To Heaven’ is every bit prepared to undergo the scalpel following in the footsteps of the four albums released before it (2007’s Get Stoked On It!, 2010’s The Upsides, 2011’s Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing, 2013’s The Greatest Generation).

Some bands spend years trying to find that progression and perfection, however The Wonder Years have nailed that and keep banging out the goods their fans demand. ‘No Closer To Heaven’ focuses on more gargantuan subjects, other than his usual angst, suburban lassitude and general necessitous. The band have kept those head bopping drumbeats that every pop-punk kid strives on and those sickening guitar riffs that transport you to the suburbs of Philly during autumn evenings. Lyrically the album is so cloak and dagger, at first listen you'd just think front man, Dan ‘Soupey’ Campbell, is shouting about the classic hatred for his home town and adult anxieties. However listening to the whole album closely you realise how dark it really is. “Thanks For The Ride” for example, a song thats catalyse was cored around a deceased friend and the question “what life would be like if she had lived?”. A “What if you'd woken up from the coma?” kind of scenario. The whole album is definitely Soupey’s most unrestricted album to date. 

‘No Closer To Heaven’ kicks off with 1 minute 32 second song “Brothers&”. An unearthly musical song, the only lyrics spoken are the repletion of “We’re no saviours if we can't save our brothers”. 

“Brothers&” starts with a simple journey through The Wonder Years classic guitars and slow drums it picks up once the crying vocals come in. And like a lot of things in life. Stops abruptly. 

“Cardinals” the second track on the LP, named after the iconic red bird, is not the most uplifting song on the album but is very deep and authentic. The truths of troubled America and broken promised are the main basis of the song. “Cardinal crashed into my window, think he might die. I’ll plan him a funeral, I’ll read his last rites. Cause I know what he saw in that reflection light. On the glass was a better life” speaks of the idea of the bird not knowing the difference between reflection and reality. So basically he's saying that at some point in your life you will have the same fate as that bird. You crash into what is a very literal glass window.

“A song for Patsy Cline”&”A song for Ernest Hemingway” paired songs about hitting that writers block and convincing yourself you're doing terribly at something you're supposed to be good at. Dan Campbell is quite simply singing about the struggles he had writing the album and comparing it to the constant difficulties Patsy and Earnest faced during the last few years of their lives as musicians. Musically the song is a progressive pop-punk. Starting with signature slow eerie guitars and eventually moving to a stronger harder hitting melody. The basic definition of pop-punk is melancholy lyrics over merrier melodies. Every song that The Wonder Years bang out hit this right on the mark. “A song for Earnest Hemingway” almost sounds like a gospel choir and yet again, quickly hits back into those violent drums and mellifluous vocals. 

The closing track “No Closer To Heaven” is the only acoustic track on the album, laced with calming acoustics that make you want to sink into a mattress. The song references previous songs on the album, this is a tendency of The Wonder Years Albums. Mentioning the death of birds once again and Ernest Hemingway and their matching forehead scars . The guilt riddled song may be soul destroying to listening but is oddly calming. The humble acoustic guitar sits gently on the ear. Any fan of The Wonder Years would agree that no matter what, you would catch a serious case of the feels listening to this album alone.

Lyrically the Philly hexad have matured, even if it is in the “death is inevitable and everyone hates me” kind of way. The stories behind this set of songs are hard hitting, leak authenticity and show the true colours of Dan “Soupey” Campbell. Any pop-punk fan would end up spiralling into an existential crisis after submerging themselves in the lyrical realness of ‘No Closer To Heaven’. The album screams pop-punk and defies the genre with surgeon precision. They have grown along side their listeners and have a devoted spot on top of the alternative music scene. 

*punches air* *cries into pizza*

Crom Dubh- “Sedition”

Taken from their new album ‘Heimweh’, “Sedition”, the love child of Biffy Clyro and Rammstein. With distorted beats and gruff vocals this London spawned  band have blown the roof with this song. Combining melodic guitar riffs and repetitive drums. The fitting name of Crom Dubh is coincidently translated to “King Idol of Ireland”, knowing this you cant tell they have that Kingly confidence this song and the album for that matter. ‘Heimweh’ is the bands first full length album but they've apparently existed since 2003. That said Crom Dubh definitely seem ready to throw more albums our way. They have that melodic metal sound and hit it right on the arse. As well as the progressive metal guitars the backing music has some traditional Scottish bag pipes. Crom Dubh, despite coming from London, have a Gaelic/Irish root sound. We can undoubtedly expect more fervent music from this London lot.

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes- “Blossom”

Gruff. Brash. Heavy. Three words to describe the new band of ex-Gallows lead singer. Frank Carter the former Gallows frontman has finally resurrected his music career and shat out ‘Blossom’. Yeah thats right, shat out ‘Blossom’ like a tattooed metal unicorn. The Rattlesnakes are a venomous bunch of musicians themselves. Made up of ex-Heights guitarist, Dean Richardson, and former Pure Lovers Tom Mitchbber & Memby Jago. The album itself is typical Frank Carter, with him spitting lyrics like “You’re a useless fucking cunt, you are nothing to me”. It weeps authenticity. These lot aren't trying to be edgy. They're not trying to sell records. They are simply just being Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. The albums power song ‘Juggernaut’ consists of screeching “Even on my own you cant stop me”, herculean drums and those Gallows-esque guitars. The more philosophical, ’Rotten Blossom’, questioning immortality, the afterlife and death, showing Carter’s true musical talent. Overall the album is lyrically genius, musically superlative and we hope to hear more monstrous tracks from the band. 

Trivium- “Until The World Goes Cold”

Florida bred band Trivium, release their sixth studio album since being signed in 2004. Post 2006’s The Crusade’ the quartet have mixed up their sound and become a mature metal band, finally getting that progressive twinge they've always wanted. Following in the footsteps of  thrash kings, Slayer, Trivium have that Slayer modus operandi with the drum patterns. As well as gaining and losing band members over the years Trivium have changed that ordinary thrash metal into melodic thrash metal. ‘Silence In The Snow’ kicks off with the progressive metal sound of “Snøwfall”. The band have kept those dulcet ‘Volbeat’ style vocals but contrasted them with their signature thunderous drum beats and spidery guitars. One of the more heavier tracks on the album, ‘Dead and Gone’ is drowned in sickening guitar riffs, blending that 21st century metal oomph with the anthemic drive of Iron Maiden. Bellowing lyrics “Will you keep fighting when I'm dead and gone”, the song shows the more hardcore side of the band. ‘Silence In The Snow’ is definitely their strongest material to date. Keeping this melodic thrash metal sound will definitely keep the quartet on the right road to even more success in the black metal world. 

Fresh Meat: Luke Woods.

“I’m Going To Get Myself To The Big Cities”

Being a rookie musician is always a hard book to read and for Blackpool folk singer-songwriter, Luke Woods, a mere pipedream is becoming a reality in the name of Bandini. 

“I've been sitting on a lot of these songs for a long time and it’s about time I released something. Having had and played these songs for a while on my own, it was real breath of fresh air to get a band backing them” 

Luke’s current music style has been built on a backwards travel through time. “I’ve gone through so many changes in genres. When I first really started listening to music for myself it was down to my best friends brother in primary school. He was a mosher and into Nu-Metal. About 2002 and I started to get into it too. Although my favorite had to be Linkin Park. From there I got into a lot of pop-punk, then onto indie stuff and post punk bands like Joy Division. That’s when I started looking further and further back. Looking at the musicians and bands that came before, grunge bands Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins, punk like the Ramones/Stooges. Going back further to The Velvet Underground and other acts of the 60s and the folk music of Greenwich Village in New York really stood out to me, just striped back, relaxed, really made you listen to what they were saying. Had a lot of heart. Then looking even further back I started listening to a lot of American roots folk, artists like Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and blues artists like Robert Johnson.” 

When talking about musical and lyrical influences they go down a more poetry and literature path “authors like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and especially Charles Bukowski and John Fante. The same goes for Lou Reed, a lot of what he wrote can be interpreted as poetry” it’s a clearly-documented love for folk and 1960’s culture that gives him his musical spark. 

For Luke his local area isn’t exactly teeming with fellow folk singers, “I come across a lot of acoustic acts but nothing I would consider folk, most musicians from Blackpool are brit-pop, indie and a lot of heavy metal”. As far as opportunities go for folk singers in the area there is very few places that accept the calming genre “When I first started playing around Blackpool there wasn’t much platform for new original bands to showcase their stuff, a lot of venues only really welcomed cover bands” he says “Now with the recent opening of The Blue Room and Underbar there’s hope for the future.”

There’s always something nice about quirky venues that support a range of artists, but then there’s playing in a church! “It was in Lytham, the stage was set up on the alter and the audience sat in the pews. The lights were dim; mainly candle lit and the audience was very quiet and respectful. They really listened to every act, the atmosphere was calmed and it sounded great in there too!”

So with the experience of playing in some gritty bars and a church added to the list, there must be a list of gigs Luke aspires to play “I like the idea of playing in an opera house, the audience all around and there’s not much going on, on stage to distract your attention away. Just a spot light. As far as festivals go I’d love to play Newport Festival in the US, but I would happily play any festival”.

Festival season comes pretty much straight after the release of Bandini, surely this is going to create a big stepping stone in the career of this singer-songwriter “I hope it will open more doors for me. Playing bigger venues up and down the country. It’ll also be good to have something to give to people saying, “hey this is what I can bring to you” rather than having to rely on word of mouth alone”. This will be the first full release from Luke’s solo career and for any musician the whole process of creating, recording and producing an album takes a lot effort. Especially with it being DIY. “It makes it much more intimate and personal I much prefer the idea of recording at home, you’ve got everything you need there. Although sometimes you're not as focused on the task at hand ,there’s a lot of distractions around but it’s also good because you not always constrained by time, so you can redo a lot of things if it’s not quite right and you don't have to worry about how much studio time you've got left.” Being time conscious must be a trait a musician needs when forming an album “We recorded the album over four days in December. The time leading up to that consisted of getting all of the parts down just right but it can be hard sometimes. When you think you’ve got something that sounds great then it comes to recording it and then using it in context with the rest of the song it might just not sound right, so a lot of time is used up just making it all fit together nicely. Then there’s the editing and the mixing that can be time consuming deciding on the best takes to use on the final product, luckily I've got friends who know how to do that well”. How did the “behind the scenes team” come to being a collective to help with the album? “I met Rob, who produced/mixed the album, at work, I already sort of knew him though my friends at college. I go to him to help me decide what my strongest songs are and how I could improve them. Jake I met through Rob; they have been friends for a long time. He also produced, engineered and played the drums on the album. He’s also helping me a lot in the other side of things such as promoting. Lloyd who also engineered the album again I met through Rob. Al who played electric guitar and bass on the album I only just met, he’s a great guitarist and I'm really happy with what he brought to the album. I can't thank them enough for the help they’ve given to me and this album.”

The post-album plans are already set in stone and Luke is keen to branch out more “As soon as its released the breaks will be off, I'll be gigging everywhere I can to promote it. I'm also always writing new stuff so who knows how soon it will be till I get another one out” he continues “So far a lot of the places I play have been in the northwest of the country. I'm going to get myself to the big cities and play a lot of the festivals in the summer. I'd also like to get myself into Europe.”

And finally, as far as future plans go, the image of continuing to play music and enjoy life in approximately 5 years’ time is something that appeals to Luke Woods “I just want to carry on with what I'm doing because it makes me happy.  It would be nice to be successful and touring and get the opportunity to release more material.  I'm really more focused on the present at the moment though the future will come regardless.”

Fresh Meat: Your Last Day

Exeter's “Bearded-cat-botherers”, Your Last Day, shed light on the subject of being a DIY band and exciting new releases. 

Devon quintet, made up of Ryan, Chris, Matt, Kevin and Neil, have been hitting stages and releasing EPs since 2012. Now gaining a sustainable amount of momentum, I managed to get an interview with talented drummer, Kevin Marshall.

 Devon doesn't exactly scream out the words pop-punk, but you'd be surprised at the amount of  heavier influenced bands that hide in the nooks of Devon’s countryside. “Its quite sparse, you don’t come across many other pop-punk bands, however there are heavier bands to come out of the area. I Divide, Idiom and The Computers are the main ones. Also Black Foxxes, another band from Exeter who are pretty much in the same position as us”. 

Speaking of being in a certain position, it must be tough for a new band to gain a solid platform to start on. “Of course its tough, it can take its toll emotionally and physically. You really have to put in money and effort and it becomes a brutal struggle unless you really make it in the industry.” For a lot of bands making it in the industry is a mere pipe-dream, however for Your Last Day the effort is starting to pay off. 

“It was always a happy-go-lucky kind of thing, we had to play some really shit gigs and do a lot of self promotion on social media before we got anywhere. You go through shit before it gets better”.

After all the self promotion, gigging and releasing free EPs this must have brought a significant amount of attention to Your Last Day. “Yeah, we bagged ourselves some recording time with Todd Campbell in Wales, where we recorded the single ‘Ship Wreck’. Its a big stepping stone going from DIY recordings to doing it in a real studio”. Does this mean we get to see some new material coming from You Last Day soon, “We’ve got a lot of exciting stuff happening in 2015, the release of ‘Ship Wreck’ on January the 16th and a live lounge-like session with BBC Devon on valentines day, sickeningly cute right?” Looks as if 2015 has got some big things lined up for this Devon five some, maybe a UK tour to treat us lovesick pop punkers.

“We have a few more stepping stones to cross before we can make a tour happen, maybe by the end of 2015/beginning of 2016 we’ll have a solid platform to do it, but for now we’re living in the moment and enjoying it” I know this is way past “the moment” but where would you like to see YLD in 5 years time “In 5 years time we want to be in a position where we’re trading shows around the world with some of our favourite artists, also to be in 2nd, 3rd album territory and still creating, having fun and being super best friends!”