MUSIC

My Chemical Romance are the big name in town this month, but there are other things happening; Canine metal, extreme metal and record fairs, an interesting proposition from the land Down Under and some top class releases from MK artists. Sammy Jones has the details...

Can you Dug it? Heavy metal fans, young and old will lap up Slay Duggee when they perform at The Craufurd Arms on May 1

You are never too young to raise your fists and yell, and Slay Duggee, the barking brilliant bunch of yappies connecting kids with the power of heavy metal, are back at The Craufurd Arms on May 1.

Great news for ankle-biters (and their grownups) alike.

The group that Steve Lamacq declared to be the Lords of Toddler Metal have racked up more than half a million plays on Spotify, performed on Britain’s Got Talent, and to date they’ve sold out every gig in advance – their first ever live show was at the Wolverton haunt and every ticket was gone in two hours. Leave it to chance and you should prepare for an upset!

“Craufurd Arms is always a special gig for us,” said Black Shuck, “They were the first venue to ever book us, and always have the best crowd. People have driven from Wales and Southampton to see our legendary shows there.

“Slay Duggee staged the world’s first triangular circle pit there. The venue should probably be given a blue triangle heritage plaque for their wall.”

And the venue knows how to treat its canine rockers: “Jason and Paul at the venue always lay out a choice selection of chewing sticks for us backstage and serve our rider in dog bowls,” Black Shuck told Pulse, “It’s this level of commitment that makes Craufurd the greatest venue in the world.

“Giggers can expect metal music, circle pits, triangle pits, square pits, pogoing, stage invasions, laughs, tears, face painting...and that’s all just the kids in the crowd. It’s all ages, accessible, everyone is welcome, you don’t need to have kids, we have an adult mosh pit too.”

Tuskar returns to the haunt on May 15 in support of their hard-hitting debut album, Matriarch, which cuts a fierce concoction of sludge, doom and extreme metal.

It’s a special thing which has been garnering similarly stunning reviews, including one brimming over with compliments from Kerrang! which noted a tangible appreciation for bands like Mastodon, Baroness and Gojira, and said that the two-piece – drummer and vocalist Tyler Hodges and guitarist Tom Dimmock – have ‘the ability to meet those outfits’ superstar standards.’

And Tuskar are homegrown successes, which makes this show all the more exciting.

“We are thrilled to be taking our new album Matriarch to the stage, what better way could we celebrate than doing a hometown show at the Craufurd Arms?” Tyler said, “We are very pleased to have the awesome legend that is Our Man In The Bronze Age and Soden join us on this special occasion. The MK HERD IS DOOMED,” he promised.

For the past few years we have been told that vinyl is experiencing a revival of fortunes, but some of us never curtailed our passion (or our spending habits) for the wax.

And the finances are set to take another hammering on Sunday, May 22 with the return of the MK Record Fair at the Wolverton venue.

Entry is free and the rack flicking runs from midday to 4pm.

The bar will be open for business too; music and a swift half or three?

Sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday...

Have a charming time at The Stables

Charm of Finches

Charm of Finches have a wonderful new album out imminently, and for the first time ever they have come to the UK to promote their sounds.

The Melbourne natives release songs centred on ‘love, grief and whispering trees with tight sibling harmonies and chamber folk sound; baroque folk with many stringed things,’ promises the press bumf. Switching on their beautifully crafted cool makes the world and its nonsense go quiet for a while. And who doesn’t want that?

Tap into the Charm of Finches YouTube channel and meet the acquaintance of the Aussie sisters, and then you’ll understand just why they have been clocking up tasty awards (2021 Music Victoria’s Best Folk Act and Youth Artist of the Year at the 2021 Australian Folk Music Awards) and a nomination for the hotly contested 2021 Australian Music Prize.

That aforementioned elpee titled, Wonderful Oblivion has been out for a while in their homeland, but gets its freedom here on May 6 and the night prior they will play the snug confines of Stage 2 at The Stables in Wavendon.

> Book for a special night by tapping to stables.org

Listen Up... There is an urgency to this EP, which is an accomplished slice of ultra cool riffs, grooves and all good stuff. It’s moody, layered alt-rock that is taut and triumphant with choruses C ontroversially (apparently) we don’t much like Spotify, so it took us a while to log in (we’d forgotten the password) and access the link to the debut EP by Space Pistol (FB: @spacepistol) that infect the grey matter. We like this. A lot. Stand out tracks? There are none, and for all the right reasons. Imposters Syndrome, Padded Tomb, Wormhole, Exploding Whale and Someday all bring plenty to the party for different reasons. Every one of ‘em is a beast of which is unfortunate for us – because we beautiful proportions. could have been living alongside the self-titled And you thought Covid was contagious... five-track treat for longer than we have been. Sean Grant and The Wolfgang

This really is a feast from the MK quartet (FB: @sgwolfgang) have followed up a superwho say they are ‘a quintessential band for successful UK tour with this month’s single providing that feeling of “I’m mad as hell, and release, Montreal (Watch Me Bending), a I’m not going to take this anymore,”’ which is daring dose of darkgaze that treads a new path how the opening number Imposters Syndrome to enlightenment. kicks off. Sean has previously spoken with us about

Space Pistol formed during lockdown. So at overcoming personal battles and he is using the least one good thing came out of being policed release to document his own transformation by the drippy decision makers at the top. The away from a spiral of drink, drugs and selfsounds here might be new, but the players destruction,’ which happened following the bringing it are scene regulars; Garry Murphy, dissolution of the first band incarnation. Daniel Buckland, Jim Lucas and Joe Oxtoby are “With life, you have to go with the bends responsible for the noise. and the curves, like the path or the river,” he

Montreal (Watch Me Bending) the new single from Sean Grant and The Wolfgang and the debut EP from Space Pistol

explains, “And if you stand too rigid then the more likely you’ll get damaged or hurt. I don’t know everything, but I’m learning,” he realises, “I think that’s the way you have to live. ‘Montreal’ and the new album feels like I’m starting to understand this more.”

If you are tempted by the musical fallout of artists including Interpol, Joy Division and Ride, let this track tickle your ears.

The album, ‘33’ will follow in July.

It’s been off and on but New Jersey alt-rock types My Chemical Romance are all set to woo the crowds and feel the love at Stadium MK this May, writes Sammy Jones.

A fine Romance

Pic: Pooneh Ghana

They say the best things are worth waiting for, and fans of My Chemical Romance aren’t about to disagree; they’ve been patiently waiting for the Gerard Way fronted rockers to visit Milton Keynes since the pandemic saw their shows at Stadium MK postponed by two years.

The sold-out dates are on for 2022 though, and they will bring a combined audience of more than 90,000 to town in mid-May.

The New Jersey quartet emerged in 2002 with their independently released debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and things have been on the up and up ever since.

In 2003 MCR inked a deal with Reprise Records and their major label debut, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, arrived in 2004.

Incredibly, The Black Parade album was released 16 years ago, and its lead single, Welcome To The Black Parade has since been certified 3xPlatinum. It also settled at the top spot in the UK singles chart.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and Conventional Weapons have added to their folder of the fantastic, and the band remains in the echelons of rock royalty – despite members originally calling time on their band in 2013 to the dismay of admirers.

They officially announced their return to the fore in 2019, and their gargantuan army of fans were ready to roll again too!

When the Stadium MK shows were originally announced in 2020, those fans clamoured to secure tickets to the gigs; all tickets to their first UK shows in more than 11 years sold out in just minutes.

Incredibly, their songs rack up more than half a billion cumulative global streams every year.

A stellar support cast will be headed up by Placebo. The first time Pulse Music caught them on stage in Milton Keynes was back in 1997 when they played a decidedly hot and sweaty sold out date at the now defunct Pitz club.

A couple of years later, they were back in town – performing as part of The Big Day Out billing headed up by Metallica, so they’ll be able to find their way around just fine.

Placebo recently issued its eighth album, Never Let Me Go.

The elpee, the first for nine years, includes the track Surrounded By Spies, which confronts the erosion of civil liberties.

“I began writing the lyrics when I discovered my neighbours were spying on me on behalf of parties with a nefarious agenda,” frontman Brian Molko explains, “I then began to ponder the countless ways in which our privacy has been eroded and stolen since the introduction of worldwide CCTV cameras that now employ racist facial recognition technologies; the rise of the internet and the cellphone, which has turned practically every user into a paparazzo and spectators in their own lives, and how we have mostly all offered up personal information to enormous multinationals whose sole intent is to exploit us.”

They’ve tucked more than 13 million album sales under their collective belt and return to the new town to offer main support at all the shows.

Lostalone and Aviva will join the line-up on Thursday, May 19, with Barns Courtney and Cassyette appearing on Saturday, May 21 and Starcrawler and Charlotte Sands signed up for Sunday, May 22.

Placebo head up the support for the MCR show at Stadium MK