Doncaster Live has come and gone for another year… Criticism is thrown every year at the organisation of this event due to the lack of local bands on the bill and the lack of publicity of what must be Doncaster’s most expensive leap into live music…

… but is this criticism justified? Is the event worthwhile? Well, according to the reviews we’ve heard from people ‘down the front’ the answer was a resounding yes!

DbR spoke to one sceptic (Robin Burns) after a day watching what Doncaster Live had to offer…

“First things first, I had to swallow some humble pie today as I enjoyed the day much more than I expected… Throughout the course of the day I managed to see Liam Brown and the Triumphs, In Fear of Olive, Eureka Machines, Go Audio, The Magic Numbers, The thieves, Winterman and Stanton…”

What were you opinions on the bands you saw?

Liam Brown: enjoyable and very easy listening fun sounds, with saxophones keyboard and lots of different percussion they were great entertainment and extremely tight as well…
In Fear of Olive: sounded great I just cant help but . . . Read More

Hope Not Hate is a growing campaign against racism & fascism that educates the public about the real face of the British National Party.

Two BNP Candidates gained seats in the European Parliament in June on the back of low voter turn-out. This doesn’t represent a surge in support, they actually got less votes than in the last Euro-elections in 2004. What it does mean though, is that they now have greatly increased funding to step up their campaign in the run up to the council elections in May 2010.

But they ARE beatable. There is widespread anger and . . . Read More

Above Them – Those Who Paved The Way

Inhaler Records

Recently named by The Guardian as the frontrunners of the ‘Northern Grunge’ scene, Above Them are bound to come with a few demons. Labelled as the Biffy Clyro/ Hundred Reasons band from Pontefract, the group have been fighting upstream in a time where synth led indie dominates the live circuit.

Therefore it comes as a surprise to find ‘Those Who Paved The Way’ the most polished, perfected track the band have created so far. Laminated in a glossy production ‘Those Who Paved The Way’ is a slice of anti-rock which screams to its contemporaries. With a perfected vocal growl and a guitar hook to convert any conflicting fan, ‘Those Who Paved….’ is a track which swells with ease, and is about to present Above Them with their biggest fanbase yet.

Ruth Offord

Links
Inhaler Records Above Them page
Above Them Myspace

Nine Black Alps are due to make their Doncaster debut at The Priory on Saturday July 18th.

Explaining where they had been for the two years since the last release, Martin (bass) from the band told DbR “We took about three months off doing anything after the end of our last tour. We then spent six months writing the third album, then a couple of months getting that album all recorded, mixed, mastered etc… and now we’ve just been twiddling our thumbs for a little while“.

The new album, due for release later in the year, has been recorded live in the studio, something the band hadn’t tried before. Gone is the poppy edge found on the second album being replaced by “…slower, darker, sludgier, weirder…” tracks.

So, what can we expect from the set at the Priory next week? “Extreme guitar volume and feedback with minimal crowd interaction” is to be expected from an average NBA set says Martin.

Tickets are available from The Music Week for £8.00 plus booking fee…

Download their track “Buy Nothing” for free here.
(Right click and save link/target as…)

You can listen to the track in the player below…

North Carolina’s Hammer No More The Fingers have been credited with revitalising the Chapel Hill glory days when Polvo and Archers of Loaf reigned supreme. They are currently touring their J. Robins (him of Jawbox) produced debut “Looking for Bruce” but were kind enough to find time in their busy schedule to talk to Andy Maddison about their eagerly awaited debut and more…

Andy: The North Carolina area has a long and impressive musical history, are all of the band members local and why do you think it is that this particular area is so musically fertile?

HNMTF: Jeff, Joe, and I are all from Durham, NC. Durham, . . . Read More