New Artist - Anthony Vincent (Ten Second Songs)

‘When I did an interview with Strange Music they described it as trojan horsing the mainstream.’ – Anthony Vincent, Ten Second Songs

He is taking the Internet, particularly YouTube by storm and music fans genuinely love him. I am talking about ANTHONY VINCENT whose unique version of KATY PERRY’s “Dark Horse” received a lot of praise. This video was meant to advertise his business, this video took on a life of it’s own and went viral.  So what made this video so successful?

“I think it was because it was something that no one else had seen before.” Anthony says. “Usually when you see something unique on YouTube you have the biters [people who want to copy it] but I haven’t seen that maybe because it’s so unique to me.”

As you can see in the video there are a lot of different artist styles featured in this video; from the brutally heavy PANTERA to easy listening Jazz legend FRANK SINATRA this unique cover of ‘Dark Horse’ certainly covered a lot of the music spectrum.

“I jotted down the artists in literally five minutes” Anthony explains “At the top of my head just jotted them down because that’s really my span of influence. Not only is it the kind of music I enjoy but also the kind of music I do with custom songs, which I’ve done for over a year now.”

Since then he has released a brand new cover of JASON DERULO’s 'Talk Dirty To Me' that features more diverse artists including Disco icons BEE GEES to Metal giants SLAYER. When speaking of his methods of future methods the analogy that came from his lips was quite genius:

“When I did an interview with Strange Music they described it as trojan horsing the mainstream” Anthony enlightens “You take a song from the top ten chart and you use that song to show people all these different artists that people aren’t getting enough of or don’t know about. For example you have a pop song sung in the style of NIRVANA, people then want to go and listen to NIRVANA.“

All I can say from this is be sure you keep your eyes peeled for this talented vocalist.

Find Ten Second Songs on Facebook, Twitter and his official website

Word On The Web: Sparks fly over 5FDP stage stunt

The news that is currently stirring the online sphere in the world of music comes in the form of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and their stage stunt involving nine year old Olivia Douglas. 

It involved lead singer Ivan Moody encouraging Douglas to sing along to the words "Burn MotherF****** Burn" in front of thousands of fans. She appears to be confused and unsure to what's happening in the video, even looking toward her Dad for reassurance. The issue is that it's being classed as abuse from different sources including lawyer Miguel Fernandez who had this to say:
"This child is being used as a prop. I feel sorry for this child. This child is helpless in that position. What does the child do? She's frozen."

Watch the video below:

Would you class this as abuse? I personally wouldn't, the band's intentions wasn't to harm anyone and whether this gets a positive or negative response the band are still receiving publicity.

Find Five Finger Death Punch on Facebook, Twitter and their official website

New Artist: Vehement

“Vehement will not kiss anyone’s arse.” – Andras, Vehement

Silence has been broken in Eastbourne, Sussex from the loud, thunderous sound of Extreme Metal piece VEHEMENT. Another band I was able to catch amongst the busy surroundings at Southampton Annihilation Festival. Influenced by some of the biggest giants of metal such as MAYHEM, EMPEROR and BEHEMOTH but also some unlikely inspirations for a metal band such as DAVID BOWIE and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. It seems though this break down of inspirations have defined the band’s sound.

“It’s a collective of music to help write our own stuff if that makes sense.” Guitarist Wraith explains. “I think for the most part with all of our different influences that come into it then combine everything to create something.” Bassist Nybras concludes, “Hence why we’re not necessarily Black Metal, we have a lot of different influences.” They are a different sort of metal which Wraith continues to explain “I think what makes VEHEMENT a bit more unique is that, like Andras was saying, there’s no bull**** between us. There are no theatrics and there are no gimmicks.”

It’s also fantastic to see a hardworking band that care about one thing and one thing only, keeping their fans and new listeners happy. Also how they will get places through hard work and not pay for Facebook likes.

“We’d rather grind through these shows and earn it. We played at half past 2 this afternoon and we had a great crowd; that’s all what matters to us.” Drummer Andras justifies “At the end of the day, Vehement will not kiss anyone’s arse.”

If you wish to check out Vehement and I recommend you do, find them on Facebook.

New Artist: Laid Wasted

"LAID WASTED have just made up the word fruitation so remember that bitches."  Sean Walsh, Laid Wasted

I had the pleasure of catching the Southampton based Death/Thrash Metal piece LAID WASTED at Southampton Annihilation Festival. This band however are different to previous Death Metal bands I have seen before; particularly frontman Sean Walsh's theatrically comical stage presence.

"People describe it as bats**** crazy but yeah you've got to get up there and do something otherwise people aren't going to want to watch you." Sean explains. "You might as put a cardboard cutout on stage if you aren't going to do anything."

They have mainly played around Southampton, Winchester and the Hampshire area but they are going to try and travel to more places. "We've got a gig lined up in Hastings at the end of the month." Guitarist Joe Long clarifies "Hopefully there'll be a string of dates in August where we will be playing in London."

To match Sean's crazy stage presence there are some crazy songs to match; including his Batman song that went down very well at the festival. "I thought it would be ideal to write about this particular Batman tale where he ends up going into the Asylum himself so it's mixture of Batman and Joker stuff." Sean tells me.

There is the news of a potential brand new album in the near future as bassist Sam explains, using a new word"We'll be busy writing over the next few months so the prospects are there; we just need it to come to fruitation so let's hope so." As Sean says in the first quote, Laid Wasted are taking credit; it was a pleasure to speak to the boys and hopefully I'll catch them again soon.

Find Laid Wasted on Facebook

Live Review: Southampton Annihilation Festival @ The Firehouse, Southampton 26.04.2014

Words by Charlotte Whittingham  Photos by Tomasz Wrobel

Bands and metal heads from all corners of southern England united as one in order to show their undying support and love for metal. This fateful occasion took place at Southampton Annihilation Festival accommodated by Southampton Solent University’s rock and metal society M.A.R.S and their favourite hotspot The Firehouse.

As I arrived at The Firehouse after just managing to get out of lunchtime traffic, Brighton Extreme Metallers WYRDFORGE had just started their set. Influenced by metal legends such as NAPALM DEATH and REPULSION, they showed a lot of energy when performing songs about manga related subjects such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Metroid. The Brighton metal heads had The Firehouse under their thumb; this was demonstrated through the crowd’s head banging and moshing for the first band. WYRDFORGE were a worthy choice to instigate the day of metal.

Next to conquer the stage were Southampton based Thrash/Death Metal five piece LAID WASTED. Their set got off to quite an obscure start where aggressive Death Metal will be played for it then to stop quite abruptly to interject spoken words that didn’t necessarily have any relevance to the song. This provided a comical side to the band’s personality, particularly when one of their main influences is every metal head’s favourite fictional Metal band DETHKLOK. This was reinforced by frontman Sean Walsh’s natural showmanship when growling those Death Metal notes; I would compare it to watching a Death Metal version of either Freddie Mercury or The Joker from Batman. I also heard him being compared to favourite know it all Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory”. The passion and energy was clearly visible and infectious as the crowd were certainly taken by their stage presence. Sean’s Batman song allowed Southampton one last mosh before concluding their set.

Hailing from Eastbourne, Black Metal four piece VEHEMENT were next to show Southampton what they were made of. The first thing I noticed was that their shadowy stage presence gave you chills from the word go; this presence reminded me of Black Metal legends DIMMU BORGIR. VEHEMENT offered up absolutely everything that you could ever expect from a Black Metal show on a silver platter; theatrical stage presence, aggressive up-tempo music, sombre guitar riffs and solos whilst keeping a dark atmosphere.  Their set certainly had Southampton metal heads in the palm of their hands and I do very much hope they come to Southampton again soon.

Now there are not a lot of Folk Metal bands in the UK but it was fantastic to see one taking part in this festival. Home-grown from Weymouth, GYMIR did exceedingly well to fill the shoes of the only Folk Metal band to take part. As they swept onto the stage dressed in their kilts and leather waistcoats with the folklore décor in tow GYMIR’s stage presence had the audience captivated from start to finish. The sweeping melodies on the synthesisers and the harsh vocals are two of the key things you’d expect from Folk Metal. Considering they had a bass player absent they did remarkably well to carry on like true warriors.

With a band name like SPAWNED FROM HATE and the first song on their set list “Filth” it doesn’t really take a genius to figure out kind of metal this band showcase. I personally didn’t get along with the pig squealing vocals within their music, which eventually meant I went upstairs to the ‘chill out’ bar. In terms of their set the crowd did seem interested and for fans of that kind of brutal metal I do think it was a spectacle.

Local Thrash Metal three-piece DESOLATOR had The Firehouse at their command from start to finish. Even with a little crowd they were the first band cause chaos via mosh pits and stage dives. Their melodic choruses’ and their aggressive music reminded me very much of EVILE. For me personally their songs sounded similar, which is what you expect from a Thrash Metal band but the fact they had a more than engaged and eager group of metal heads going crazy showed that they would be walking away with new fans. I could hear spoken words about the band within the crowd such as “I like DESOLATOR”.

For Thrash Metallers OVERTHROW it was the last time bassist Ted Bridges was playing with them, he certainly got a farewell metal style as this performance will be one he’ll be proud of before embarking on a new adventure. They got the whole of The Firehouse pumping with their melodic riffs and slick guitar solos, did I mention they even got people at the bar singing along and raising their rock horns? Definitely a last show that Ted can be proud of.

The last band I managed to catch before I had to dash off due to other commitments was the almighty upcoming Technical Doom Metal band HOLE IN THE SKY. I had the pleasure of catching them at Brighton’s Falmerfest last month and was very taken with their performance despite not being a huge fan of Doom Metal. Their set could have everything you expect from a metal show; moshpits, stage diving, crowdsurfing and of course headbanging. Frontman Monty McDoom is certainly becoming a favourite vocalist of mine and I think in the south of England; his deep growls, his charismatic stage presence and not to mention his iconic dreadlocks, that will make AMORPHIS frontman Tomi Jousten bow before him, will certainly open doors for HOLE IN THE SKY. Keep an eye out for him and drummer Sam Chase in solo project JEREMY LAWLER’S WINTER’S EDGE.

My only regret was missing the last few acts due to other commitments but I can hand on my heart honestly say that I certainly enjoyed this amazing day of local metal! My advice would be keep supporting it and keep it alive!

Find Wyrdforge here
Find Laid Wasted here
Find Vehement here
Find Gymir here
Find Spawned From Hate here
Find Desolator here
Find Overthrow here
Find Hole In The Sky here