Manifesto # 15 July 2010

15 JULY ‘10 /FREE t

CLUB

PLUS Give Me The Horn Top Tracks CD and Live Reviews Top fives

Contents

July ‘10 Issue 15

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Give Me The Horn This month...

Top Tracks Chapel Club CD Reviews Live Reviews Top Fives Philosopher Review

EDITOR Philip Jarvis DESIGN Callum Brand ‘Big Gulp Graphic Design’ biggulpdesign@gmail.com

WORDS Philip Jarvis, Kelly Horn, Emma Reynolds, Nicky Banggs, David Morton, Emma Reynolds PHOTOGRAPHY Nicholas Gray, Ian West, Jazzy Lemon, Amy Brammalll Manifesto Magazine 29 Stockton Rd Sunderland SR2 7AQ Tel: 0191 5671777 E-mail: manifestomagazine@ymail.com www.myspace.com/magmanifesto Facebook - ‘Manifesto Sunderland‘

MaNiFestO

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The Preaching of the Prompt

By Kelly Horn

Time is a very precious concept and, albeit with total ignorance, we make it then find it yet waste it. A great deal of us have it strapped to our wrists and succumb to that tedious tendency of eyeing up those spindly twitchy hands or the numerical neon blink when the working day is almost done, or the dire date you find yourself on is proving to produce more yawns than puns. So whether it be an old-school Casio, an upmarket Swatch or upon a phone of the mobile variety, time is carried about our person with carefree ease.

So why is it that the lateness plague runs rampant, rendering pedantic yet conscientious time-keepers like myself full of tardy-wrath? Let us attempt to reach an explanation via a city-safari excursion and observe the behaviour habits of this rare breed- Promptus Maximus. Park Lane Interchange is the meeting ground in which they frequent; primarily around the Greggs vicinity. Oh, look! There’s one! Now, stay back: the consequences of approaching such a creature without reason can prove fatal. Take note of the rapidity of pacing and the volume of exasperated exhalations; it is evident that this particular specimen has been waiting for approximately twenty-three minutes. Ah, situational desperation has come into play; see how it texts with such ferocity in order to make contact with the Lateus Idioticus. Twenty-nine minutes have gone. Aggravation is apparent through the erratic foot-tapping and flaring nostrils. Oh dear, angry recognition has flashed in the eyes of the Promptus. The Idioticus has at last arrived. Retreat! Retreat!

Despite such a comedic take on a commonplace occurrence, lateness does serve to heat my urine to boiling point. To me, such a vice is sheer ignorance and gives the impression that the rendezvous and rendezvous-er rate low on the importance scale. Ok, ok, I’m sure there are some instances in which an entirely plausible reason can be given: the poverty wagon broke down, some lunatic was dancing on the Metro lines, aliens have taken over the earth, etc. But if you dish out the “I slept in” excuse of patheticness, I will beat you into a coma and lend some credibility to your claim.

Perhaps I should try to be a tad more understanding- everyone has their vices whether it be smoking, nail-biting or nose-picking. However, none of the aforementioned forces me to stand looking like a friendless pillock whose only current joy in life is to count the cigarette ends flicked on the bus station floor. So spare a thought for the prompt, readers of the fashionably late form. It’s only a matter of time before they’ll make your kind extinct!

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This month I will be...

LISTENING TO...

Titus Andronicus’ latest album “The Monitor” if you ever wondered what Bruce Springsteen would sound like if he sang epic progressive punk songs about the American Civil war then give these boys a whirl.

WATCHING...

One of the perks of being sans TV is being able to avoid shite like the world cup and big brother; instead I’ve been watching Family Guy and Southpark episodes online. My movie of the month is “White Lightnin’” this film (directed by Dominic Murphy) is a biopic of legendary “dancing outlaw” Jessco White. With scenes of violence, drug abuse and mental ill health, Billy Elliot this film ain’t.

Herbert Soden

Schizoid Synth Dude

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READING...

I picked up “Less than Zero” by cult writer Brett Easton Ellis whilst on holiday in Suffolk. The book is a dizzy account of youthful hedonism in 1980’s Los Angeles.

It is almost like reading the shooting script for a very overproduced music video. If you’re looking for trash with a bite this book is a must.

GOING TO...

Work lots of extra hours to save up for my trip to India in October. Apart from that my band Schizoid has been working on new material and we have a couple of gigs in the pipeline, check out our facebook page for more on that.

LEATHERFACE

The Stormy Petrel Stunning New Album Out Now Available from all good record shops and online from Big Ugly Fish Recordings. http://www.biguglyfish.co.uk http://www.leatherface.biz Leatherface A5 Ad.indd 2

05/07/2010 13:02

Here’s what we’ve been listening to on repeat for the last month, discovered online, on the radio or at live shows.

Lady Godiva’s Operation – Cafe Bizarre

The stripped down Sunderland art-rockers have been making big waves on the local circuit with their riff-heavy, Sonic Youth inspired sound. This number is top draw stuff, brimming with untamed energy and rawness.

Catch one of their stellar live performances now! www.myspace.com/160lgo

Mis-shapes - Forlorn

Made up of ex-members of three of Manifesto’s fave ever bands – The Anglo Form, Widows and Show Off Summer – Mis-shapes have managed to fuse all the best bits from their previous incarnations into this stomper.

We can’t wait for their live debut. www.myspace.com/misshapesmusic

Nexilva -Dark Fissure

This Sunderland five-piece are raucous, loud and shockingly good. Their live performances are a sight to behold, don’t be fooled by their young and adorable appearance, these little fellas kick some serious arse. www.myspace.com/nexilva

Masamune - Hoax

Guitar licks like tightly coiled vipers springing an attack, BIG, bombastic drums and a bouncing bassline that drive the rhythm along, all combine to wrap around soaring vocals. This sounds like Muse but rougher, edgier and ultimately a lot better. www.myspace.com/masamunemu

MaNiFestO MaNiFest O Quiz.

Send the correct answers to all five questions, along with your name, address and phone number to manifestomagazine @ymail.com for a chance to win a year’s subscription to Manifesto delivered to your door along with all the CDs reviewed in this issue.

1.Which Lennon / McCartney penned song was the Rolling Stones’ second top 40 hit in 1963?

2.The last studio album released by The Smiths’ was named after which Manchester prison?

3.Thurston Moore is the frontman with which legendary New York artrock act?

4.Name three of the acts that played at last month’s Sunderland Live gig in Park Lane.

5.How many UK number one singles has Madonna had?

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CHAPEL CLUB

“In its current incarnation, Chapel Club was born in the summer of 2008 in the shadow of St. Luke’s Church, on London’s Old Street. It was here, two or three times a week, that the five members of a then unknown band would gather after rehearsing nearby to drink and discuss a name for their group “Like everything else with us,” says Michael (guitar, keys), “the name was unplanned and ill-defined in the beginning. We didn’t start out with one and we’d go ages without bringing it up. But on the occasions when we did talk about it down in the churchyard, there was a lot of disagreement.” Eventually, the answer came from the site of the discussions itself, and the embryonic band became Chapel Club.

The band’s founder, Michael grew up in the depths of Essex before moving to the capital. He spent some time playing in other people’s bands and often lent his abilities to friends’ projects, but his real focus was always on doing something much more personal. He began collecting ideas and inspiration – anything from vintage natural history illustrations and stop-motion film shorts to guitar lines, drum samples and snatches of melody – with a vague notion that, out of this ephemera, a band might one day be born.

When Michael met Liam (bass) and Liam introduced Alex (guitar), his best friend since junior school days in Swindon, the core parts were in place. What the band needed now was a drummer and a frontman – then the machine could start to move. Leeds-born Rich (drums) and Londoner Lewis (vocals) provided the missing pieces. Each was recommended by mutual friends and fitted in instantly with the existing trio’s tastes, temperaments and (importantly) savage sense of humour: in no time, the five were hanging out together, writing, rehearsing and trying to work out what form their strange new creation would take. For Lewis, who had never been in bands before and now found himself singing and songwriting for the first time, it was an intimidating experience.

In the end, it took very little time for the defining elements of Chapel Club’s signature sound to take shape: heavy drama from the guitars, a rhythm section as tight 10

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as a hanged man’s gullet, melodic intricacies aplenty and a vocal that crooned and swooned its way through stories of lust, love and loss like a modern-day Jacques Brel. It soon became apparent to all involved – as well as the growing legion of admirers the band picked up from early gigs and their first MySpace page – that Chapel Club were different from other bands. First, there was the music: they didn’t quite fit any of the existing stereotypes.

“I dread that question, ‘Who do you sound like?’” says Lewis. “Not because it’s a bad question, it’s natural enough for someone to ask that. I’d just love to have a quick and accurate answer. But I can’t think of anyone we sound like, especially live. I end up reeling off influences from Deerhunter and New Order to the Bad Seeds, Scott Walker and Chet Baker – and leaving the person who asked more confused than they were to begin with.”

The second thing that set the nascent Chapel Club apart was the words: Lewis drew on his love of wordsmiths like Ted Hughes, Mikhail Bulgakov, R.S. Thomas, Frank O’Hara, Ernest Hemingway and Knut Hamsun to create lyrics that flitted from the vivid and vernacular (the lovers’ argument of O Maybe I) or darkly poetic (the pained paean to desire that is Machine Music) to the acutely descriptive (After the Flood) and downright philosophical (Paper Thin).

The end result? Chapel Club aren’t run of the mill. They have their own formula, one they arrived at by chance and which they want to remain something of a mystery, in case they jinx it. More than anything else though, they are a band best described not in relation to other bands or musical precedents but in relation to the events, experiences and sentiments at the heart of their songs: sex, love, grief, frustration, pride, power, jealousy, even (in The Shore) the desire for the comforts of religious faith in a mind that’s far too cynical ever to accept the possibility of God. Chapel Club play 7even, Derwent St, Sunderland on July 8th. 7pm // £5 Support comes from We Beat The System and Chased

by Wolves.

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CD Reviews Absorb Vs Sequel - Step One (Single) Producer/vocalist duo Absorb vs Sequel describe their genre as “no step“, taking cues from grime, 2 step, dub and dubstep. Spot on. ’Step One’ is a dark track with a rock influenced hook. B-side ‘Step One (Sequel’s Dub)‘, a largely instrumental reworking of the first track, and holds up just as well if not better. ‘Step One’ is taken from the upcoming album ‘180‘ to be released this August.

B-Type – Sneaks Nerdcore rap covering such topics as having a crap wireless internet connection, Myspace (“A place for music and tumbleweed”), ipods, and something every gamer can identify with - the shame of not having played certain seminal videogames. Don’t even deny it, you liars. The last track takes its cue from that Mario rap that’s been doing the rounds on the internet for years now (beware, may ruin innocent childhood memories) and switches it up to rap about lanky sidekick Luigi. The track’s called Green With Envy – geddit.

Under The Influence - EP Under the Influence’s EP began with nothing really out of the expected, then the vocals came in. They instantly grabbed my attention with their fast-talking tale of a messy night out on EP opener ’Late Night Circus Show’. Three fast and dirty rock songs.

The Smoking Rolo Sideshow - Rocket Power The Smoking Rolo Sideshow is a Northumberland based collective of over 20 musicians which rose from the ashes of the original 5 member go of the band. This is their second album, which they’ve put out through their Them Oak Trees Recording Company. With so many different inputs, the album varies a bit in style from rock ’n’ roll to grungy to mellow indie pop, but it manages to work quite well together as a cohesive piece, though there are hits and misses

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Reviews by Emma Reynolds

Synoiz - Ever Emptiness Dark and atmospheric, Ever Emptiness is an absorbing instrumental electronic track off the aptly titled album Ambients. B-side Silhouettes clocks in at exactly ten minutes long and is along the same lines. The industrial influence is evident, with an abrasive, percussion-heavy section. Synoiz shift seamlessly between floaty and uplifting to eerie, almost menacing music that might have you looking over your shoulder… In a good way.

Dirt Box Disco - Demo Dirt Box Disco are a garage/punk band with an affinity for performing in drag. The first track on the demo I Just Wanna Be A Girl makes a cheeky reference to Billy Bragg’s A New England with the line “I don’t want to change the world, I just wanna be a girl.” Dead catchy and full of singalong opportunities, I reckon their gigs would be a lot of fun.

d_rradio d_rradio remixed Elements of electronica, ambient and post rock make up this stunning release from d_rradio (Don’t you just hate not knowing how to say a band name. To save you from any embarrassing moments, it’s D.R. Radio, short for Death Row Radio). d_rradio remixed is their well received debut album remixed by artists including Populous, The Matinee Orchestra and Cathode. Truly brilliant stuff.

The Folk Things – Roker Beach The Folk Things are Dave (Chalkie) Dawson and Dave Robinson, an acoustic duo based in London. Dawson was brought up here in Sunderland. Inspired by Panic Beach by Maria McKee, Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins and Rockaway Beach by the Ramones, acoustic duo The Folk Things felt there should be a song after Roker Beach too. The second track, Solon Road, is inspired by the other side of the duo’s background, taking its name from a London street.

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live Reviews Sunderland Live

@ Park Lane, 05/06/2010 Music fans and curious passers-by took to Park Lane for a day of sun, music and drinks at the Sunderland Live Fringe Festival, showcasing some of the North East’s top emerging bands. So against a backdrop of Greggs and Fourbuoys newsagents, both name checked at some point, the day’s entertainment began.

Just For Dave kicked things off with a cover of Katy Perry’s ‘Hot N Cold’, an… interesting choice, going on to cover tracks including ‘Pressure’ by Paramore, ‘Maria’

by Blondie, and set highlight ‘Guns and Horses’ by Ellie Goulding. It wasn’t long then before Young Kills and Thrills took to the stage with ‘Four Kicks’ by Kings of Leon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Zero’ dedicated to a band member’s mam in the crowd. They did remind me a bit of Karen O and co. Their original material held up just as well as the covers. When they announced their next song as ‘Ready for the Floor’, I was curious to see how they’d go about covering Hot Chip‘s electro pop hit.

An unexpected choice, but they pulled it off.

We Beat The System are a young band, still at school, who have been compared to Editors. They had a lot of fans in the crowd. They performed a great set of alternative tunes including ‘Mirrors’ and ‘French Regime’.

Next up was Sonner, an unpretentious rock band with a singer who can really belt it out with his strong, gravelly vocals. They played songs including ‘Horizons’, ‘Northern Lights’ and single ‘Timechanger’, which radio DJ Steve Lamacq described as 14

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“beautifully dreamlike”.

Manchester’s The Whip performed a great electro set, closing with their hit ‘Trash’, one of those songs that everyone’s heard, though they might not know where from as it’s been used on everything from that Coors Light advert, to Rude Tube on E4, to various videogame soundtracks. And the fact is it’s just a great track.

Electro rock band Viva City took to the stage with a swagger, looking like proper rock stars and performing like they were on stage at Glastonbury. Great stage presence, needless to say. They performed tracks including Hotwax “from the Bridges advert”. The infectious energy seemed to transfer to the crowd who had a good time.

The first time I saw Little Comets live wasn’t in a support slot at a gig as you might imagine, but rather more unconventionally on a metro of all places. Known for staging impromptu guerrilla gigs anywhere and everywhere from bingo halls to university lecture theatres to the bakery section in Marks and Spencer‘s (you can watch this on youtube if you like.

Oh the wonders of technology.), Little Comets play cheeky, jangly indie pop and have been likened to a British Vampire Weekend. With the stage adorned with dangling pots and tambourines, the band opened with ‘Friday Don’t Need It’ and got through an energetic set including ‘Adultery’, ‘Mathilda’, and the exactlywhat-it-says-on-the-tin closer ‘Dancing Song’, but the track that stood out to me was ‘Joanna’ with its attention grabbing acapella cry of “Joanna, Joanna take me home”, which didn’t leave my head until well into the next day. Little Comets were fantastic and the crowd loved them.

Come Together

@ Plugged Inn, 19/06/10 Last Sunday Plugged Inn hosted Come Together, an all dayer gig featuring 9 emerging Sunderland acts.

As well as Surround being the first act of the day, it was also the guitar duo’s first gig since some member (and name) changes. They did well, performing a set including Slide Away

by Oasis, who they count as one of their influences. Very powerful singing.

Young Kills and Thrills were next up.

There was a bit of a mishap early into the set with a guitar string snapping but they didn’t let that set them back, playing a set including Zero by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as songs

by Black Kids and Hot Chip.

Spoken Words are an indie band who formed late last year. They’ve come on leaps and bounds considering according to their bio they only started playing their instruments when they formed the band. They did a very competent cover of Psycho Killer by Talking Heads.

The Blitz sounded like a bit of a mix up of Green Day and the Arctic Monkeys. Fittingly their set included tunes from both bands. Oh, and Poker Face

by Lady Gaga. They proved to be a very gifted set of musicians.

The Seldom Seen are a four piece who played a set some really emotive rock songs. Great vocals, you could really feel the emotion! (someone get me a thesaurus).

Billy Bloodaxe changed up the tone of the day with a set of dark Depeche Mode influenced pop. For being the only one on stage he had great stage presence. And free CDs.... Great.

The electro continued as Schizoid took to the stage with their brand of synth heavy chaos. Some strange song topics, like Sewers, about some poor bloke on a night out falling into one and “not being the only thing there”.

Lady Godiva’s Operation are a three piece playing kind of stripped down garage rock. Guitar, vocals and drums. Must have took their name from the song by the Velvet Underground, as they count them, Joy Division and Sonic Youth as some of their influences. I like it.

From seeing them perform you wouldn’t guess The Attic Rats are an only recently formed band that just played their first gig a couple of months ago. They certainly seemed well put together tonight. By this point in the night the bar was getting filled up with people starting their nights out, and they seemed to enjoy the band’s punk/indie set.

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ToP Fives 5

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Annie’s Top 5 World Cups

Dwarfy’s Top 5 Dwarfs

Joanne’s Top 5 Dance-Off Moves

1. West Germany 1974 2. Mexico 1986 3. Chile 1962 4. Italia 1990 5. Uruguay 1930

1. Dopey 2. Doc 3. Bashful 4. Sleepy 5. Dave The Rave

1. Funky Chicken 2. Rock Lobster 3. Crafty Elbow 4. Hand Jive 5. Redhouse Rumba

Lee’s top 5 World Cup Legends

Smiffy’s Top 5 Fashion Tips

Stu’s Top 5 Snout

1. Pickles the Dog 2. Roger Milla 3. Eusebio 4. Harald Schumacher 5. Mario Kempes

1. Rosary Beads 2. Granda Hat 3. Michael Jackson Vest 4. Military Jacket 5. Painted Toenails

1. Woodbines 2. Embassy Number 6 3. Craven A 4. Captan Full Strength 5. Consulate

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Philosopher Review

Revolution

A monthly feature in which a guest philosopher reviews one of our local drinking establishments. This month, the ex-philosopher takes a look at Sunderland’s newest nightspot... Revolution.

People today are so accustomed to pretentious nonsense that they see nothing amiss in reading without understanding and many of them discover that they can, without difficulty, write in a like manner themselves and win applause for it....and so it perpetuates itself......

I had the pleasure of drinking and dining in Sunderland’s newest, brightest and tastefully designed bar, Revolution. I spent it with my fellow man. We drank, we ate and we laughed. Once alcohol had a grip, I spent the afternoon arguing that every other philosopher was an asshead, I think I proved it and, I should add, I proved also that I was one. Philosophy - a route of many roads from nowhere to nothing.

I do not know how I appear to the world, but to myself, I am a little boy playing on the beach diverting myself now and then, finding a smoother stone or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great sea of truth lays undiscovered before me.

Nice bar, food is good, the cocktails with the Tabasco sauce have a right kick to them. Make sure you get one of the cards; it saves you money in the long run.

A bit beyond perceptions reach, I sometimes believe I see, that life is two locked boxes, containing each other’s key.

Ex-philosopher rating 7/10

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