HARD BOILED
Up To Our Necks
By Ryan Cooke
METAL / HARDCORE IN AUGUST By Ryan Cooke
you are in the wrong place. Your live show has to be one of the most energy filled shows I have witnessed, where does the energy come from and what could you recommend for people catching future shows? I would suggest you have an open mind and if your not keen on getting hit with any number of instruments -stand back Your new E.P, ‘In Blood’, is due out in the coming months. Why such the long wait in between recording and the actual release date? The delays are due to the packaging and we could not find a place that would print the small quantity we were after as we are not into having 400 up to our necks coasters around our house, the wait is almost over...almost Any future plans of playing some future shows in the north of the state? After the awesome reaction we recieved with the Left Hand Cuts the Right/Faux Defeated/ The Scandal show we are real keen to get up their soon and will definitely play in Launceston on our CD Launch tour. Last year you changed your name from Frontline Choir to Up to Our Necks, Why did you feel you needed a change? Frontlinechoir was a cheesy name, we needed something straight to the point, Up To Our Necks achieves this. Our sound has evolved from our frontlinechoir ep and as soon as you hear "In Blood" you will see why a name change was in order. In your short existence, the band has gone through 3 bass players; do you find it hard to write new material without a solid line-up so to speak?
Ben writes all the material so no it hasn’t been hard, our current bass player Sam is by far the best we have had in regards to talent and motivation. It’s safe to say that this will be our final line-up
Each member of UTON brings something to the band, what do you see as the band’s major influences?
Having supported big name acts like Mindsnare, Conation and more recently Left Hand cuts the Right and Faux Defeated, what have you taken from supporting more esteemed acts?
What is next for Up To Our Necks?
I see each show as equal and we give 100% no matter who we are playing with and that’s the way it should be, there aren’t any egos and if there are
Hardcore
Who knows...seriously. Everytime we want to chuck it in we play an awesome show or something and our mind changes! On the flip side though when we play too much we get burned out on it and need time apart. Nothing is set in stone
Alice Cooper @ Silverdome
ents; the highlight would have definitely been Eric Singer’s incredible drum solo.
By Ryan Cooke
The show came to a close with his classic ‘Schools Out’ which during it they released giant balloons which when popped released lollies. After a five minute break, Alice come back out and opened his encore with his biggest hit, 'Poison' which blew the roof off the dome. He rounded out the set with ‘Wish I Was Born in Beverly Hills’ and ‘Under My Wheels’. One of the best performances I have ever witnessed. Let’s hope he isn’t the last big name to come our way.
certainly a surprise, Billy is the last person in the world I thought I would be seeing doing this style. The first half of the set continued the theme, subsequently, most of the audience weren’t really that receptive - you're either a fan or you're not. The second half of his set focused on his older, more known material like ‘Rock Me All Night’ and the final song of the night ‘Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy)’ which brought down the house. It even inspired some of the younger members of the audience to make their presence well and truly known by starting the night’s first moshpit. After a short delay, drums started beating and we all heard 'Hey, Hey, Hey'…finally, Alice came strutting across the stage and the crowd went wild. From the opener ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ Alice owned the crowd.
You know something special is happening when over 2000 people are heading to the Silverdome for a concert. This time, the father of Shock Rock himself, Alice Cooper, was gracing Tasmanian shores for the first time in his long and distinguished career. At the stroke of 7:30, Billy Thorpe kicked off the show with his take on Prop Rock. It was
During each song he seemed to have a new stage prop which always ended up in the crowd for some lucky punter to take home and remember their night by. Alice took no prisoners and broke out all the classics, 'Dirty Diamonds', 'Be My Lover', 'Lost in America', 'I’m 18' and 'Feed My Frankenstein'. It was great to see each member of the backing band getting their chance to showcase their tal-
RYAN'S RECOMMENDED ALBUMS The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine
Terror One with the Underdogs
Left Hand Cuts the Right ...You Breathed Like Winter
Walls of Jericho All Hail the Dead
Meshuggah Catch 33
Bleeding Through This Is Love, This Is Murderous
Chicken Hawk Down Tidak Bagus
Norma Jean O’ God the Aftermath
Lately, it’s been great seeing so many people getting out and supporting the local metal scene. It’s also been great seeing some local musicians showing their metal roots. It was also great to see so many people out and about supporting the first Sonic Distortion in Launceston. Hobart college kids, Separatist have just released some new downloadable demos of tracks from their upcoming debut E.P. Devonport based hardcorer’s After The Flames are just wrapping up recording of their brand new E.P at the Traxx Studio’s, the new E.P will feature new guitarist Richard formally of Launceston band When Luck Fails. One of the most intense and brutal bands in Tasmania, Up To Our Neck’s are set to release their first album under their new name, the album was recorded earlier this year and as I understand it will be released in the coming months. Expect to see launches in both the north and the south of our wonderful state. In the coming months, Tasmania will be graced with some big names touring and there will be more to come, expect to see bands like Parkway Drive, I Killed the Prom Queen, Blood Duster and more. Some lucky Killswitch Engage fans had a great treat recently, the Western Massachusetts quintet announced on their website six days before hand that they would be playing a hometown show at the Worcester Palladium between days off on the Ozzfest 2005 tour to film their first live DVD. Fans were treated to performances from very special guests As I Lay Dying and Once Beloved. The DVD will be directed by Lex Halaby (Mudvayne, Chimaira) and will be released in November 2005. Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden will play a charity gig at the Hammersmith Apollo on September 02. The show is to raise money for the Clive Burr Multiple Sclerosis Fund. Former Maiden drummer Burr has the disease and in 2002, the band played three nights in March at Brixton Academy in his honor, donating the £250,000 plus profits from the concerts and merchandising into the fund. Maiden is also set to re-release their classic ‘The Trooper’ on August 15th in the UK, no word on an international release yet. Billy Milano, vocalist for Stormtroopers of Death, is set to appear on the track “Molotov” on the forthcoming Soulfly album ’Dark Ages’. Milano originally had a conflicting schedule with Soulfly, and because the band could not wait for him, Max called Billy and his piece was recorded via cellular phone. Morbid Angel recently filed a missing perons report for their rhythm guitarist Tony Norman after he failed to make contact with the band for a month and missed a scheduled tour of Portugal. August will see the release of the new albums by Fear Factory, Every Time I Die and Opeth, make sure you get hold of these quick as possible. August through until early November is going to be huge months for bands traveling to Australia to performance. August brings us Alexisonfire, Destroy Music Tour ft. IKTPQ, Behind Crimson Eyes and more. Nine Inch Nails, Eighteen Visions supported by In Name and Blood and Shai Hulud on their last ever visit to Australia. Mid September, Wednesday 13 will bring his version of Glam Metal to Australia for three huge shows, Wednesday last visited Australia in 2003 with the Murderdolls on the Big Day Out Tour. Last but not least Fantômas will be back in Australia in September treating fans to shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle. Mike Patton and his troops will not disappoint. That’s it for another month, as Cliff Says ‘Metal Up Ya Ass!’