Endless Disappointment 3 - Wake Me Up When 2019 Ends

Endless disappointment Issue 3 - Wake me up when 2019 Ends

Featuring Fukpig Callous Records Practice Room Shows for dummies A revew of the Year you never asked for

Cheers for picking up the 3rd Issue, it’s no labour of love but it passes the time and I’m dead-chuffed people have bought into the concept (or at least not completely buried the idea).

First two issues were about Wrestling as I couldn’t be arsed to reach out to anyone and while I was off work I caught up on a LOT of Wrestling; this issue though, and probably every issue moving forwards, will be a mix of fast music, riffs, lifestyle stuff, shows and guides on issues which I’m not 100% shit at. Next issue will likely be Politics based, I write this staring down the barrel of an election that nobody is looking forward to and will likely leave the country more scarred and divided than every before.

Cheers for reading; if you don’t see another issue for a bit, it’s likely because I’ve oversubscribed myself, as I stare down the barrel of 3 different releases, the prospect of putting on shows again, a yard-long list of things that need doing around the House.

It’s not Thrasher, but I did my best.

2019 - 10/10 a Year that happened You get a lot of blogs that do their whole “Top Albums” or whatever of the year around December time, well you know what? I’m going to do one too.

There’s been lots of cool things that have happened this year, nothing ever stays too consistent and for all the bands that part ways or call it a day, there’s several others come up which is always nice.

Let’s start with the parts of the year that weren’t too great The current British Government Whether it’s having to cover up a scandal every other month, being defeated a disproportionate amount in Parliament, hiding dossiers in the runup to elections or simply consolidating the powerbase and wealth amongst an increasingly small majority, it’s safe to say that nobody of reasonable value to society has benefitted from the current regime.

Slayer are no more Whilst Motley Crue stretched their “farewell” tour out over what seemed like an eternity, Slayer appear to have legitimately called it a today and we’re going into 2020 knowing Slayer are no longer around. Probably not the worst thing actually, everything after God Hates us All was a bit poop.

Leeds Not the City, the expansion of the City Centre that’s shat on not only Temple of Boom’s longterm future, but a lot of other businesses in the immediate area. Bristol suffers from this as well and it truly takes a scene made of Iron to recover from it.

Dreadfest going on a Hiatus after next year We’re all Human and have Families and real-world commitments that take precedent; whilst we all fully respect them taking the decision to step away from it for a bit, there’ll be a Dreadfest-shaped hole in the Calendar that nobody else is going to be able to replace.

The many incarnations of Batushka For a band that spends a solid Third of their set blowing out candles and posing in weird religious poses, there’s sure a lot of people fighting over the right to be the real version of a band that fancy-dresses as clergy and plays ok-ish Black Metal.

2019 - 10/10 a Year that happened It’s not all bad though, some real cool stuff has happened too. I’m sure everyone has their own highlights, here are some of mine.

Infest Toured the UK I missed them on their first run of the UK, they had to pull out of their 2nd time in the UK due to Injury, 3rd time’s a charm though and I finally saw them at the Underworld on Easter Sunday with Arms Race and Throatpunch. Still can’t see the hype about Gutterknife though, they were dead shit.

New Music After lengthy times away, we’ve seen new music from Grim Existence and Opium Lord. We’ve also had new albums from Downfall of Gaia, Dawn Rayd, Full of Hell, Minors, Noisem and Knocked Loose . Some band called Tool finally released an album too, whoever they are. If you see over the page you’ll see my favourite releases of the year.

ArcTangent 2019 Meshuggah, Carpenter Brut, Caspian, MOL, 65 Days of Static, Cult of Luna, Nordic Giants and Russian Circles all in one weekend.

ArcTangent is a stupidly relaxed festival which, despite most bands on the bill being compared to American Football, still has a bloody good lineup for people who partake of heavy music. Literally zero arseholes at the entire weekend and managed to make friends with another AFC Bournemouth fan. Lovely.

I Got Married Not music related at all, but it was really nice all the same.

Dreadfest I wasn’t even there this year, but it was a proper matesfest and it was nice to see South Wales represented again in the form of Tides of Sulfur and They Live We Sleep.

Napalm Death announcing a Bonkers Tour The Last Campaign for Musical Destruction Tour saw Shane Embury play with Brujeria, Lockup and Napalm Death all in one night over a course of a tour; this year he’s calmed down a bit and instead has brought EyeHateGod, Misery Index and Rotten Sound in as supports; better get the fitness training in I guess otherwise I’ll be coughing blood by the time EyeHateGod come on.

2019 - 10/10 a Year that happened Right. Last page of this shit. Top releases of the year.

Opium Lord - Vore Years in the making, by far their heaviest stuff so far. I haven’t heard anything heavier this year within the doom scene.

Grim Existence - Expansion of Reality It’s 2 tracks long, it’s been years in the making and it makes all other hardcore bands in the UK look like Fools. Yes I am biased because I released it. Fight me.

Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race This was originally set aside for Planetary Clairvoyance by Tomb Mold, then this spicy boi came out right at the tail-end of the year Alcest - Spiritual Instinct The last two albums didn’t hit the mark the same way Les Voyages de L’ame did; but this, this is something really special.

Misery Index -Rituals of Power It’s the first time they’ve released anything in what seems like forever. It’s no Traitors, but nothing else is I guess.

Geist - Swarming Season The best Hardcore band in the UK right now, only most hardcore fans can’t tell because they’re too goosed up on either Beatdown or 2-step nonesense.

Friendship - Undercurrent Exceptional output from Japanese Blasty Bois and one of the most exciting fast releases of the year from somewhere you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to come from traditionally.

Practice Room Gigs We need more of them So you’re looking to put on a gig in your local practice room? GOOD Throughout the course of this article I will try my best to convince you that Practice Room Shows are the best and ultimately the best way of resolving a lot of the issues bands/promoters face.

They’re usually available on Weekends If you’re local scene is anything like Cardiff, Fridays and Saturdays get booked up as quick as Doctor’s appointments. Unless you’re scene is truly magical you probably don’t draw a great deal of people on weekdays, which is oddly enough when most bands rehearse.

They’re smaller Ever really wanted to put a lineup on but know it’ll look depressing as hell if only 10-20 people show up? Not in a practice room it won’t, any more than 30 people and people will start getting uncomfortable real quick.

They’re Cheaper No sound Guy, No Venue overheads, No Mercy.

Even during the Winter months they’re usually warm affairs I saw State Funeral play in Cathays a few years back, it was about -1 outside but in the gig itself I was comfortable without a jacket even before everyone started flailing around like Salmon diving upstream.

Arseholes don’t really like playing them You know those guys who get really shitty because the venue isn’t “professional”, the kind that want a top-rank soundguy, professional lighting rig, projector and decent stage to play dreadful metal in front of 5 people? Yeah, those guys are too rockstar for places like these.

They make for good Photos No smoke machines, no Lighting rig, no mitigating factors that will make your picture look shit. My phone is an utter potato and still managed to take the shots that are used as the background for this page and the next one.

Things to remember for your Practice Room Show Below are some tips that will make your show that little bit more manageable knowin there are some things you gain from putting on shows in a Practice Room, but also some things that you lose as a result of not using a proper venue.

Always make sure there is at least one decent Fan I put a gig on during June; it wasn’t even a heatwave and I had to rush to Lidls over the road to get cases of water to stop the crowd getting too headachey or shitty.

Load Bands out wherever you can There’s rarely enough space to store stuff in legitimate venues, let alone practice rooms designed to house literally one band. Avoid the pain of having a sea of leftover gear and cables at the end of the night by loading bands out the moment they finish.

Don’t overstretch your PA They’re almost always Vocal PA’s which weren’t meant to take much abuse.

Make sure any microphones are as far from cabs/speakers as reasonably possible otherwise the feedback will be horrific and the speakers will probably crumble like a sack of shit.

Never rely on the Backline the Practice Room Provides If you’ve got a good space they may have decent cabs, most places though provide nothing but Combo-Amps which will obliterate Guitar-heads in no time at all. Message the place to confirm equipment spec, it’s shocking how many times I’ve had to lend my cabs to promoters on the night.

Be realistic how many you can fit in the room Sure everyone loves a story of how crammed a venue was, but these stories rarely come from the people who were there the whole show. Don’t overcrowd, if people need to be turned away then it’s better that than people getting pissed off and just leaving due to poor organisation.

Give at least 10 minutes warning before a band starts If Cardiff is anything to go by, whenever you tell someone a band is about to start they have a burst of urgency, followed shortly by them rolling a fag at tectonic pace before forgetting what they wanted to see again. This cycle usually repeats about twice.

Available now at fhed.bandcamp.com Grief Ritual - Moments of Suffering

Brand new album from Gloucester’s finest. It’s essentially Rudiments of Mutilation by Full of Hell, only a bit slower and better recorded

Grief Ritual - Life is a Phase

Debut EP FFO: Trap Them, Rot in Hell and Minors. They played Bloodstock earlier this year too.

Grim Existence - Expansion of Reality

Gnarly Death Metal with Hardcore Riffs. First new material since 2014. FFO: Entombed, Leeched, Gatecreeper

Jotnarr - s/T 12”

Blackened Hardcore/Doom Crossover from Colchester, one of the hidden gems of 2019.

The Atrocity Exhibit - Extinction Solution 12”

Latest full-length from the elder statesmen of UK Grindcore. FFO: Gets Worse, Wormrot, Human Cull and anything with Blastbeats.

Deus Vermin - Monument of Decay (CD)

Some of the best Death Metal to happen in 2018 and the heaviest stuff out of Leeds in years. FFO: Of Feather and Bone, Tomb Mold and Dragged into Sunlight.

Archelon i/II CD

Compilation of the first two albums from Sheffield’s Sludge/Post-rock Heavyweights.

Opium Lord / Churchburn split 7”

Split 7” between Blackened Sludgelords Opium Lord and US Sludge Heavyweights Churchburn

Acrid Pork Smell - Acrid Pork Smell EP

One-off side project featuring former/current members of Extreme Noise Terror, Desecration, The Drowning and Gorgantuan

Fukpig Hailing from the same breeding ground that gave us Mistress and Anaal Nathrakh, Fukpig are as bluntly pissed off with the world as they are sustainable as a long-term concept. they disappeared a bit, but with the shitshow the world is going through it was too tempting to return.

I had a chat with one of the core members.

For the purpose of getting it out the open, where did the name Fukpig come from?

My old boss called me Fuckpig while he was attempting to tell me off. I burst out laughing and immediately thought it would be a perfect band name. So, thank old boss prick, they named a near twenty year project.

After a few years of inactivity Fukpig have been back for about a year or so, how’s it feel to be playing shows under the Fukpig banner again?

We had an amazing response at Damnation, Playing to packed room. The shows have been really good so far. Hopefully we will get a load more in 2020. Playing Dreadfest was a highlight, we had a stage diver in between songs!

After a lengthy break from playing live, you made a most-welcome return at Damnation last year, what got you back into the live-sphere?

Frustration at the current political landscape, we couldn’t take it any longer, we had to get out there and shout about it. I emailed everyone at the beginning of 2018 asking everyone if they were ready to go back and it just seemed time.

So, this is largely an end of year issue so I’ve got to throw it out there, how has 2019 treated you? Doesn’t have to be band related.

Yeah, not bad. A lot has changed. Its hard to keep up with everything a lot of the time.

Depending on when this gets printed, either we’ll be preparing for a horribly divisive and bitter election or we’ll be living with the outcome of it all. What’s your take on this massive shitshow?

Its just ridiculous. It’s so hard to keep up with, so many lies out there and twisting of truths. Though its given us enough ammo to write 2 albums worth of material, so its not all bad. The whole feeling in Britain at the moment isn’t good, we just can’t tell what’s going on, what will happen, what could happen. So we just scream and yell about it.

Get this out the way real quick, Bastards is a banger and More Bastards carries on quite nicely; am I to assume to current events helped somewhat?

Yeah totally, without it, we probably wouldn’t have done gigs or done the two albums. Its really pushed us.

Considering that Thatcher/Regan era politics inspired some excellent hardcore/punk-rock bands, I don’t seem to see that same output matched on a similar scale with the current surge in Right-wing Populism, what say you?

Well, why bother when you can just look at a phone with the entire history of everything contained within it. Instead of writing and recording a song, you can just call Farage a prick on twitter and the outcome is the same.

In a digital age where foul-language and sentiment is intercepted quite quickly, have you found yourselves in hot-water over your song titles?

Yeah, we have had albums sent back to re-name from digital distributors, but it hasn’t stopped us. We also can’t promote our music on facebook with boosted posts, just because of the band name; but that’s fine, we have a big enough following to sell direct to as soon as something is released. We do it all ourselves, so we just sell direct to the fans, and sell out pretty quick of all small runs. Its good to be in control of everything we do.

For the most part, your releases have been self-released through your own Devizes label. Aside from endless runs to the Post Office, what's the biggest ballache you've had with self-releasing your own material?

Most of it is fine. in fact i quite enjoy being in total control of what we do and what gets released. apart from a few items not selling and losing money on them, everything else has been good.

Going back a few years, I can remember 3 coming out, only a few years later for it to be re-recorded and repackaged; there’s some excellent songs on those recordings, what motivated you to not only re-record them but alter them somewhat?

We had a new studio, and felt 3 didn’t sound right. Though I’ve since listened back and it sounds ok, I think that album was a bit rushed. We had been working on it for a long time and it just needed to get out of the studio. The songs are good, the overall sound isn’t as good as it could be Will the original recordings from 3 ever see the light of day?

We were selling old unsold stock of it fairly recently. I suppose we could stick it on bandcamp for free.

For the purposes of recording, for the most part it’s largely just the two of you, do you prefer the idea of having a whole band’s input or would you rather keep it between yourselves?

I tend to record and play everything and then it goes to Dunk for vocals, once the vocals are done we reshape the tracks around the vocals. So it would be frustrating for other members to keep learning changing structures. It’s much easier for them to hear the finished track and learn that for gigs. It tends to work for us. It takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the band

Given that everyone in Fukpig plays shows with their faces obscured, has there ever been a point where either you or (frontman) Drunk have been tempted to watch the show from the crowd to see if anyone would notice your absence?

Not yet, but we have had reviews where members have been mentioned playing instruments, but they were standing in the crowd. As we don’t have a 100% confirmed line up apart from me and Dunk, the masks cover up for that reason.

Going off on a tangent – favourite Horror movies. Discuss.

The wickerman and kill list.

If you could go back in time and stop one album from happening, what would it be?

Probably 3, I’d tell younger me to get someone else to mix it, or leave it for 6 months before putting it out.

You’ve also dabbled in some other projects, including Stoner-Doom outfit Kroh. Kroh’s first release sounds a lot different to their final release, sporting a new vocalist with a very different vocal style. What inspired the switcheroo and would you ever entertain resurrecting Kroh as a project again?

Nah, I cant do that again. It was too much effort and no payoff. No one bought it. I have piles of unsold Kroh records at home, I might make them into flower pots or some shit.

I’ve always loved doom and wanted to have a doom project, but the last two kroh releases took miles too long and wasted loads of time I could have used focusing on something good. Both versions of Kroh took too long, I like to work fast and bash stuff out as i get bored quick and want to do something else. I’d much rather do a song a month, or a song a week and stick it out on bandcamp or something, I don’t have 18 months to wait for a track; I’m old, I could die waiting.

Are there any other projects in the works at the moment?

Yeah I’m doing Thicko with Paul Catten. It’s grindcore / D-beat in the same vein as Fukpig, slightly faster and a lot angrier. We just put out a 8-track album a few weeks back, check it out if you like Fukpig. We should have another album done for next year; Other than that I’m just writing tracks and getting ideas for future music.

For more information and music, follow the links below www.fukpig.bandcamp.com www.ds.bigcartel.com www.thicko.bandcamp.com

Dan Melizan Callous Records / Hollow Life Records I’m not going to pretend that I’ve ever been in touch with the whole Screamo thing post 2009. Let’s not be mistaken, I was a sucker for Alexisonfire, Finch and Thrice in the early 2000’s (just like any other teenager at the time), but a lot has changed since then and screamo is a whole different kind of beast compared to what it once was.

Callous Records was one of the labels involved in a split between Underdark and Antre. Below is some words from Dan, the brain behind it all.

Introductions pls Hi! My name’s Dan and I run Callous Records and Hollow Life Records.

Every journey has a start, what releases have had the greatest influence on you?

The releases that have had the most influence have mostly been released after I started the label. There’s a great label called Larry Records based in New York and the sheer love and passion that Eric puts into his releases is phenomenal, but my biggest influence is definitely Gabriel who runs Le Blast Records out of Quebec City; every single thing he does is phenomenal, and the absolute definition of thinking out of the box. Sheer genius.

How did Callous Records come about?

An old housemate had recently started a label called No Love Records (RIP) and he put out a couple hardcore bands from Bristol. I’ve always been into screamo but I’d been getting more into it at the time and I thought fuck it, running a label looks fun and I’d love to just throw myself into the deep end of the screamo scene and start a label. It came about at the perfect time too because one of my best friends Max’s band Treehouse were finally getting round to releasing a record and I said I’d release it, and then I also helped put them on a show in Bristol which served as the Callous Records launch.

So how many releases is it so far?

I’ve released 32 tapes, two 7”s and two 12”s on Callous Records and 4 tapes through Hollow Life Records (38 records in total).

I know this, but for those who don’t, biggest ballache you’ve experienced in terms of running a label?

The biggest ballache is definitely trying to pull in sales. When you’re releasing local bands who have a really small following, especially being a UK based label that’s releasing a lot of European and South East Asian bands, getting people to actually pay attention and fork out a fiver for a tape is really difficult sometimes.

Dan Melizan Callous Records / Hollow Life Records How steep was your learning curve when you started out? Any lessons you learnt the Hard way?

It was pretty steep to start with, there were a few things I got wrong on early releases but it’s not something I’d go back and change, because I love the idea of someone being able to see my learning curve through my releases as well. The biggest lessons I’ve learnt are making sure I organise everything to make sure that 1, I have enough time to meet deadlines and 2, I have enough money to fund everything. At the end of the day a record label is a business and it needs to be run like one to at least some extent.

Any spicy releases in the pipeline?

There’s some very spicy releases indeed, most have been announced so I can do some cheeky promo. Due for a January release is Punch On’s sophomore record ‘Harm Passes Forward’ on 10”, co-releasing with some fantastic labels as well (La Soja, I Corrupt, Dingleberry/Tim Tam, Hardcore For The Losers and Missed Out). There’s also a split 12” between Chivàla and Suirami which is already out digitally but I’m just waiting on my copies; this one’s being released by Tifone Crew, Longrail Records, Non Ti Seguo Records, TimTam Records, Missed Out Records, Akira Motorpool Records, Les Disques Rabat-Joie, Yoyodyne Records, Equal Rights and Lost Dog Records.

I’ve also been working on a 4-way split which is just a whole bunch of great mates. It’s a co-release with my 3 favourite labels at the moment, Missed Out, Larry Records and Le Blast Records. It’s ‘Au bout de mes lèvres / Pique / Wild Heart / A Paramount, A Love Supreme’.

Release your proudest of?

My proudest release is the Perfect Blue boxset I did, hands down.

They’re probably my favourite band ever and I’m so stoked that I was able to release their entire discography!

Self-releasing isn’t anything new, but is becoming more and more prolific and with each year the relationship between band and label changes.

Where do you think DIY labels fit into the mix these days now the traditional 80’s/90’s label/band relationship is dead and gone?

Record contracts are dead, the idea of them is trash. Who am I to say a band has to release their record with me and not anyone else? I think the current position of DIY labels is just to support band with what they do and use their experience to produce a cleaner physical product than some bands might be able to do without that experience. My goal is to have bands come back to me for every release because they want to, not because they have to.

You reside out of Bristol, a city that celebrates all the music activity of a Major city but with all the problems that come with it. Can you talk about your experiences with the city?

The Bristol scene is in a bit of a lull at the moment to be honest but when I first moved here a few years ago it was thriving. There were quite a few DIY spaces and just loads of bands and promoters doing cool shit.

To be honest there’s no standout experiences that I wouldn’t have had in a different city with a similar scene that I can think of but it’s been a great time getting involved with putting on, playing and going to shows.

Taking out of consideration the bigger promoters, who really contributes to Bristol’s music scene that we should check out?

Yeah like I say there’s definitely a lull at the moment. The small DIY people who are really trying to still hold the fort are everyone in SickOnes, particularly Kristie who runs VenomFest as well, the guys in Punch On have put on shows before but Isaac’s taken the plunge and puts on shows a bit more ‘officially’ as Left Foot Shows. Dean Evans runs Bristol Noise Assembly doing more old school punk shows and although they often do bigger shows, Invisible Llama and Dead Punk haven’t lost their DIY roots either.

There’s been a few tidy venues that have closed over the years in Bristol, which one do you miss the most?

This isn’t even a question, ask anyone in Bristol and they’ll say Stag and Hounds. I was fortunate enough to put on the last heavy show they’ve done but they were very close to cancelling it on us. When I first moved here I probably went to a show there once a week at least and I’ve seen some absolutely incredible bands play. It was quite literally the hub of the Bristol punk scene. The Exchange is slowly taking that position over but with it being such a great space for bigger shows, there’s been less availability for DIY shows until they recently re-opened their basement stage.

Bands you’ve been listening to a lot lately. Go. Been listening to loads of Frail Body from Illinois who’ve just released an insanely good new record, Heart On My Sleeve who share members with about 7 other screamo bands, Low Relief from France who are amazing, and a fair bit of Sonny Rollins.

Best releases of 2019. Go. Best releases is always such a hard one.

Frail Body - A Brief Memoriam Jøtnarr – s/t (out now on 12” via www.fhed.bandcamp.com) Vi som älskade varandra så mycket - Det onda. Det goda. Det vackra. Det fula.

4-way split between Massa Nera / Frail Body / Dianacrawls / Infant Island.

For more information and their full discography, visit them at the below sites. Please support DIY labels however you can, your support means everything. www.callousrecords.bandcamp.com / www.hollowlife.bandcamp.com

Venom Prison Shallow Graves Kold War Cathays Community Centre 3rd November 2019 So you’ve got one of the fastest-rising Death Metal bands around playing an utteraly grim practice room in Cardiff on a really pissy Sunday night. To add further weirdness to the mix, Venom Prison had literally headlined the 2nd stage the night before at Damnation Festival, taking up a slot that has been filled in previous years by Enslaved and Cannibal Corpse.

Venom Prison’s crowd has always been a broad church; there were hardcore fans who knew the venue and were already capitalising on the BYOB policy and the Tesco down the road. By comparison, there were a few metalheads in the crowd that shrivelled at the prospect of such a small room, awkwardly laughing through a series of emotions ranging from excited to concerned, as if they were having sex for the first time or something. I sat in between, Cathays Community Centre is one of my favourite venues for both music and wrestling, but being 31 I am at the age in hardcore where I should probably be taken behind the coal shed and put out my misery.

Kold War opened up, whose frontman not only put on the show but heads up Nuclear Family Records. Their set was decent, it probably would have been even better if their guitar didn’t pack out midway through, still pretty decent though.

Shallow Graves were up next. As far as slow and heavy hardcore goes they do a sound job of it, and their set would have probably been ace if not for the fact that their bassist scarpered right before they were due to go on. Turns out absolute liabilities exist in every genre of music.

Venom Prison are clearly used to bigger setups now, their lead guitars running through the PA so that everyone could here VP’s Stench-of-Redemption-esque solo’s above all else. It were good, pit-action was limited but, thankfully, riffs were not. For a Practice room the sound was actually pretty decent. Venom Prison shot a video at a House-Show once, I wasn’t there but a lot of people was saying this was arguably hotter and stickier.

There’s a video somewhere on Youtube of Venom Prison’s full set.

Photos courtesy of Elisio Williams Photography