The Cure “Reflections” Show Preview: at The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, CA – November 21-23, 2011

Britain’s most successful post-Punk heroes are making their grand return to Los Angeles this fall with a special set of shows that are bound to dazzle the gloomiest of die hard fans. In case you hadn’t already heard, The Cure played their first three albums in entirety this summer at Sydney’s grand opera house. The shows were dubbed Reflections, and they were a smashing hit with fans (many whom traveled thousands of miles for the thought to be once in a lifetime event). Reflections marked original member Lol Tolhurst’s first show back with the Cure since 1987 and the return of longtime keyboardist Roger O’Donell who is now once again a member of The Cure for the third time.

Robert Smith and co. have decided to bring that same series of shows to the U.S. for a special 3 night run at The Pantages theatre. The pandemonium over these shows is already blowing up music blogs on the net and making tickets for the show must haves for any Cure fan. Thankfully tickets go on sale Monday October 31st at 10:00 am PST, which gives us all time to prepare for what is surely going to be The Cure’s takeover of Hollywood blvd.

Here is what fans can expect -
“Reflections”
SET 1 (approx 40 minutes) – ‘THREE IMAGINARY BOYS’ (1979) – The Cure Trio – ROBERT SMITH: Voice & Guitar / SIMON GALLUP: Bass / JASON COOPER: Drums
- approx 15 minute changeover interval
SET 2 (approx 40 minutes) – ‘SEVENTEEN SECONDS’ (1980) – The Cure Quartet – ROBERT SMITH: Voice & Guitar / SIMON GALLUP: Bass / JASON COOPER: Drums / ROGER O’DONNELL: Keys
- approx 15 minute changeover interval
SET 3 (approx 40 minutes) – ‘FAITH’ (1981) – The Cure Quintet – ROBERT SMITH: Voice & Guitar / SIMON GALLUP: Bass / JASON COOPER: Drums / ROGER O’DONNELL: Keys & Percussion / LAURENCE TOLHURST: Keys & Percussion
- approx 5 minute interval
SET 4 (approx 30 minutes) – ‘ENCORES’ of the period…
　
This will be The Cure’s first show in California since their headlining set at Coachella 2009’ where they played to a crowd of 40,000 fans well past the fests curfew.; eventually the power was pulled on them ending the show prematurely. With a band as enormous as The Cure playing such an intimate venue, the shows are bound to be memorable nights that will leave a lasting impression on all who attend. Huge teased up hair do’s and messy eyeliner aren’t required for entry, though expect a sea of fans sporting just that.

 

-Louie B.-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

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Danzig Legacy Show Preview: – at Gibson Amphitheatre – Los Angeles, CA – October 31, 2011

Halloween is a time for celebrating all things unholy while listening to the heaviest music at the loudest volume possible with a dish of candy to satisfy that sweet tooth craving. If you can deal with out that last ingredient, then the Danzig Legacy show taking place at the Gibson Amphitheatre is just the concert for you!

Glenn Danzig has fronted some of the most controversial hell raising Punk and Metal bands of all time with a career boasting 30 plus years in the business. The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig broke new ground with each release and pushed the limits of punk, hardcore and metal as the scenes and sounds evolved over the years.

This Halloween will mark the first time Glenn brings his three bands together for one show in LA, the Legacy show. The concert will feature a full set from his solo career as Danzig, his mid 80’s punk band Samhain and the legendary band that first put him on the radar - The Misfits. Joining Glenn for these special shows will be Misfits guitarist Doyle who joined Glenn originally back in 1980 at the age of 16. Also joining will be London May who played drums in Samhain from 1985-1987 and again on the Samhain reunion tour of 1999.

With a back catalog of more hits and cult favorites than what seems even possible, Glenn and co. will put on a concert that fans have been dying to see for ages. Songs from Walk Among Us, Earth A.D, Initium, November Coming Fire, Danzig, Lucifuge, amd How The Gods Kill plus more will bring together a chorus of the undead singing in unison like never before.

This is the Halloween show to be at with out a doubt, tickets are on sale and going quick! Make sure to get yours so you don’t end up being a trick on Halloween night!

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

 

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Wheatus – MC Frontalot – Math The Band – City Stereo – at The Tunnels – Aberdeen, UK

The Tunnels, Aberdeen – a dark dank walk under the city’s main shopping street into what looks like a hidden private club. On entering it’s more like a nice bar for meeting friends. With the doors opening at 7pm we expected a late night waiting for Wheatus and having to endure some boring support acts. First on out of the three support bands was City Stereo.They were a lively young five piece from Salisbury squashed on stage amongst the other band’s equipment. They were actually not bad. The sound was a little bit ‘5 years too late’ but the vocals were good and they had catchy tunes.


With the crowd nicely warmed up and filling up the room the next support act came on. Math The Band were (to put it mildly) bizarre, and will be very hard to describe! They consisted of Kevin on guitar and Justine on synthesiser. They self describe themselves as an ‘electro-Punk spazz duo who use a combination of old video game systems, analog synthesisers and energy drinks to make the fastest, loudest, party-est music they can imagine’. Basically this meant them playing fast, loud music along with shouty vocals and amusing energetic leaps and bounds on the stage. It wasn’t music you’d listen to at home, but to watch on stage was very entertaining! You just never knew what was coming next.

With two supports acts done there was now more room on stage and the guys from Wheatus started checking their equipment. It turned out that they would be playing as the next act did his MC’ing. MC Frontalot was ‘house called’ from the stage and eventually leapt into view. He was dressed in smart trousers, a shirt and thick glasses, with a torch on his head. Even those not into rapping enjoyed his style. He started off with a rap about grammar and grammatical mistakes and followed that with various rants about first world problems and spoilers of films. He was brilliant! He obviously got on well with the band and his rapping was seamless. Ken Flagg on keyboards assisted with vocals and was actually a very proficient singer.

Wheatus stayed on stage after MC Frontalot finished his set so they went full tilt into their own set. They didn’t feel like a main band playing to their own fans, it was more like a bunch of friends playing to friends who just happened to be really good at what they did. There was plenty of audience participation – before most songs Brendan would ask what people wanted them to play next and quite unusually the crowd would shout an array of tunes rather than just asking for the well known ones. The banter was fantastic – between the band and even better between the band and the crowd. At one point Brendan said he loved it in Aberdeen and that he’d definitely come back again as ‘you Aberdeeners are crazy and I love it’. He was promptly corrected to say ‘Aberdonian’ which he thought was hilarious, and commented back that if we were Aberdonians then why weren’t Canadians ‘Canadonians’?!

Wheatus played many great songs including ‘Fairweather Friend’ and ‘Leroy’. Between each song they chatted to the crowd, told stories and swigged whiskey (they called it Scotch and promptly got corrected again!). Some gigs drag on but this one was interesting, fun and hugely entertaining. For some reason the chant “here we, here we, here we fucking go!” was regularly shouted out and often played along to by Wheatus. It was such a shame when the gig was drawing to an end. Just before playing ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ Brendan gave an amusing little safety talk on moshing: ‘Please enjoy the music in a vertical manner rather than a horizontal manner to prevent little people getting a testicle squashed at the front’. The song went down a storm and the place kicked off. Even MC Frontalot came on to join in with it causing even more of a riot. The crowd begged for more and they obliged with one last song.

So much for a long boring evening waiting for a band to come on with not a hugely known repertoire. The whole night was entertaining from start to finish and just got better and better. Wheatus are definitely a talented band who fight against the norm (probably due to being messed around by Sony in the past) and seem genuinely pleased to mix with their crowd. Hopefully at some point they’ll get the recognition they deserve – although that could possibly remove the closeness currently felt between them and the fans.


Show review by:
-Sally M.-
Overseas Correspondent

-Dod M.-
Big Wheel Staff Photographer

 
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RKL – Come on in, The Water’s Fine

RKL, also known as Rich Kids on LSD, are one of the biggest bands to emerge from California's "Nardcore" scene. Naturally, the CD/DVD combo, "Come on in, the Water's Fine" is also pretty big. It presents itself in an intricate package, including an acid tab slipcase; it's also a limited edition of 1000 digipacks.

The first CD, which corresponds to the DVD, was recorded live at the Pound in San Francisco. It's full of everything you would think would happen at an RKL show- snarky remarks from the late vocalist Jason Sears, their mixture of Punk, hardcore, and rock elements, and a ton of drug references. Between the second CD (which happened to be their last show, also at the Pound in San Francisco) and the first, the set lists provide a good mix of songs, yet they keep the classics on both ("Scab on my Brain", "Senseless Violence", "Beautiful Feeling"). It seems like the '04 show should have been the last show, due to the fact that the set is significantly longer. The '05 recording isn't as impressive sound-wise; the sound fades out on some of the tracks, making it difficult to hear the vocals.

Listening to the '05 CD gave me a slight sense of sadness because of Sears's death that would happen a year later, putting RKL on hiatus. Since the future of the band is virtually unknown by many, if you want the closest experience to seeing RKL, get your dosage with "Come on in, the Water's Fine". Out now on Malt Soda Records, make sure you go get a copy of this TODAY.

 

 

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter
 

 

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Preview: at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on October 7, 2011

The Liverpool music scene in the late 1970s was an exciting and dynamic place to be. Everyone was either in a band, in-between bands or were forming a band. In the midst of all this activity was Eric's Club - a small discreet venue that was a favoured haunt for the people who would later form bands such as The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. So it was quite apt that Eric's was the venue of choice for the debut performance of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark in October 1978.

Founder members Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys had originally been inspired by the experimental electronic music of German bands such as Kraftwerk and Neu! Working with radio sets and home made synthesisers, Humphreys and McCluskey christened themselves VCLXI (after a valve diagram on the sleeve of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity album) and began their own musical experiments. This, however, was still a side project the pair indulged in on odd weekends while they were active in local bands such as Equinox, Pegasus and The Id. Although they had gained a lot of experience from working in a traditional band environment, it was never quite the creative platform they were looking for. It was time for a new approach.

Naming themselves after one of their own early songs, Humphreys and McCluskey launched their own unique style of catchy electronic melodies that helped form OMDs reputation for intelligent pop. Back then, to burden your band with such an unwieldy name as Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark might have seemed unwise, but the obvious commercial appeal of their music provoked enough interest that it eventually led to Factory Records Tony Wilson offering them the chance to cut their debut single Electricity on the Factory label.

Electricity (and its flip side Almost) perfectly captured OMDs infectious blend of melody and melancholia. Electricity, with its frenetic dance rhythm, rapidly became OMDs theme song and maintained its status as a live favourite up to the present day. Attracting the interest of Virgin, OMD signed to their subsidiary label Din Disc in 1979.

After a brief period of touring, notably as support for Gary Numan, OMD quickly established themselves with a number of classic singles. Messages, with its simple but engaging melody, managed to get OMD into the public eye in 1980 by reaching No. 13 in the UK charts. Later the same year they made the UK top ten and scored their first international hit (5 million sales) with the dance pop of Enola Gay - an up tempo number inspired by the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The success in 1980 helped OMD to rapidly become one of the UKs premier pop acts. Their use of extra personnel for live performances led to Humphreys and McCluskey recruiting people in the studio as well with the band soon established as a four piece outfit with the assistance of Martin Cooper (keyboards, saxophone) and Malcolm Holmes (drums).

OMD's 1981 album, the ethereal Architecture & Morality proved to be one of their finest moments. Blending choral effects and wistful melody the album produced three classic singles: Souvenir with its bittersweet Humphreys vocal, the religiously inspired Joan Of Arc and its epic follow-up Maid Of Orleans. All three singles secured a top 5 chart position and by 1982 had turned OMD into household names. With 3 hit albums and a string of million selling singles it seemed that the band had a Midas touch. It was about to desert them with the release of their most radical album to date.

The 1983 album Dazzle Ships described a fractured futurist soundscape of ideas that drew on everything from East European radio broadcasts to industrial robots for influences. Although the album concealed some fine pop songs, its lack of critical and commercial success was perhaps responsible for OMD taking a more cautious musical path in the future.

OMD's fifth album Junk Culture from 1984 saw the band steering closer to a more traditional band approach. The instant pop of Tesla Girls, percussive dance flavour of Locomotion and pastoral, dreamlike quality of Talking Loud And Clear proved that they could still deliver classic 3 minute pop songs, while retaining a flavour for the unusual.

Producer Stephen Hague was drafted in for the 1985 album Crush and the subsequent 1986 album The Pacific Age. Hague managed to give the songs on both albums a polished edge, while retaining an essential energy that was vital to the songs. Singles such as So In Love and (Forever) Live & Die drew on OMDs flair for writing engaging melodies, while demonstrating that they were taking much more of a traditionalist approach to song production.

This period also saw the band touring extensively in North America. If You Leave, specifically written for the John Hughes movie Pretty In Pink, was a huge success. However, the consistent schedule of touring took a toll on the band both professionally as well as personally and the 1988 single Dreaming was, at the time, the last single written by Humphreys and McCluskey.

OMD ended an era in 1989 with the departure of Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper leaving Andy McCluskey to forge ahead under the OMD banner. This resulted in the 1991 album Sugar Tax. It was a brash and dynamic approach that fused the classic OMD sound with a more mainstream 90s dance style. Sugar Tax managed to win over a lot of new converts, as well as the die-hard OMD enthusiast, with singles such as the spectacular Sailing On The Seven Seas and the dance pop of Pandoras Box (a paean to silent movie star Louise Brooks). OMD followed up on the success of Sugar Tax with the 1993 album Liberator. This album saw OMD broadening their field of influences with the Barry White inspired Dream Of Me (Based On Love's Theme).

Following the Liberator tour, Andy McCluskey took some extended time off to reflect and consider OMDs future. Suitably refreshed, he began writing again - taking a unique musical direction. The result of this work was premiered in 1996 with the release of a new single Walking On The Milky Way and the follow-up album Universal. With its mix of ethereal ambience and epic production Universal captured a sense of wistful mood that hinted at early OMD, yet still had a unique style and character that was very much its own.

OMD were effectively retired for the latter part of the 1990s while Andy McCluskey focused on management and production, most notably for the girl pop trio Atomic Kitten who scored a No. 1 hit single in 2001 with the McCluskey co-written song Whole Again.

Finally, deciding the time was right for an OMD revival, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys reunited alongside former band members Mal Holmes and Martin Cooper. In 2007 they embarked on an extensive UK and European tour showcasing their classic Architecture & Morality album. As well as playing the album in its entirety, the band also presented a stage show of their most classic hits to a spectacular visual backdrop. The 2007 Architecture & Morality tour served as a reminder of what an engaging band OMD were live. They had lost none of the power or the impact that they had demonstrated on those early 80s performances. With a new album on the way and more live performances scheduled for the future, OMD continue to delight and entertain audiences globally.

Back in March of 2011 would mark the first time in 23 years that OMD would perform in Los Angeles. That show would subsequently sell out in a matter of minutes thus convincing the band to play another show a few days later to a sold out crowd again. Big Wheel staff was at those shows back in March (see review here) and we can assure you that this upcoming show on October 7th will not disappoint. Like the March shows, this one will sell out too.... so act NOW while you still have a chance to get tickets.

 

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Cobra Skulls – Agitations

In a perfect world, this review would be two phrases: Cobra Skulls. New Album. And that would be all that needed to be said. But this is far from a perfect world, and so there are probably some of you who, despite the recent deal with Fat Wreck Chords, the tour with NOFX, the involvement with the Bad Religion tribute album, and the nearly non-stop touring need some extra encouragement.
Fine.

Reno, Nevada's Cobra Skulls are set to release their third full-length album Sept 27 (but if you're impatient, or just like to try before you buy, you can stream it for free right now at http://www.absolutepunk.net/artists/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=46382). Following close on the heels of "Bringing the War Home", a 7-song EP released at the beginning of this year, "Agitations" is another strong entry in the Cobra Skulls' catalog.

The album is more focused than the band's sophomore effort, "American Rubicon", which had an eclectic blend of styles running the gamut from ska to pop punk and back again, with bits from hardcore, and nearly everything else shoved in the back pockets. "Agitations" feels like the band has found a solid voice, though it's no less eclectic over all, with classic rock, punk, blues, and even a little country flavor blending together to create the Cobra Skulls sound. 

Cobra Skulls' lyrical edge hasn't dulled either, despite the high output. The album re-visits familiar topics, like the plight of the American working class, and our servicemen, but clever lyrical construction, and relentlessly energetic music keeps these topics interesting. Lines like "we're all too big to fail, so can we bail out everyone?" and "they've gotta find new ways to make living a crime" are begging to be shouted full volume, fists in the air.

If you're lucky, you can catch them on their current tour dates here: http://www.facebook.com/cobraskulls?sk=info, and if you're not, treat yourself to the new album and practice up for next time.

order direct from Fat Wreck here: http://www.fatwreck.com/record/detail/775



 

 

-Jo Problems-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter
 

 

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