SHOWS: Swansea - March 2010

There's a fuck load of awesome DIY shows happening in Swansea in March that you should most definitely check out. Here's a pretty comprehensive guide with (legit) download links where available too, written by myself (Gavin), Little Rory Matthews (Some Sort Of Threat) and Scott (Try and guess who wrote what!). Enjoy, and try to make it out to all of 'em!

Thursday 4th March 2010 - Nozzle, Solutions, Big City Plan @ Bar Sigma

After (literally) years of hiding, Nozzle are finally playing shows again (!!!) which can only be a good thing! Last seen with Brothers and The Doublecross at Mozarts (courtesy of Swansea Collective), Nozzle play sweet sweet Pop Punk with vocal harmonies to die for, reminding you why you first started listening to punk rock in the first place! It's bloody great they're playing shows again! Also playing are Cardiff's Solutions, whose recently released album has taken the UK punk scene by storm! You can download their album for free by clicking here, if you want to see what the whole fuss is about, seriously great band! And speaking of great, also playing are Birmingham's Big City Plan, bringing the "gruff" to the show, apparently. They have a member of Shermer playing for them too, so you know they're good. Much like Solutions, you can download their demo for free too from here, though they have since become a 4 piece so more than likelly sound different to that! Lastly, opening the show are Dividers. I hate writing bio's or bigging up my band so I'll just say this... we're just 4 dudes who listen to too much Get Bent and thought it would be a cool idea to start a band that sound like them but actually came out sounding more like Small Arms Dealer, which is cool by us! It's our second show, so it would be cool if you came down early and watched us. The Show kicks off at 8pm, first band'll be on at about 8:15 and it'll be £3 to get in, Cool!

Saturday 20th March - Chuck Ragan, The Arteries, Bangers, Livers and Lungs @ Bar Sigma Swansea
Chuck Ragan is from Florida and used to be in a band called Hot Water Music who have lots of amazing songs, but nowadays he plays country music and still has lots of amazing songs. He pretty much defined that whole punk-band-singer-gone-acoustic scene. Legend!
Axl Rose spent about Fifteen years constructing Chinese Democracy, he ended up with about as many shitty songs. He should have listened to The Arteries, they play rifftastic punk rock with killer everything. They've put out so many records, I can't imagine waiting Fifteen minutes for another one.
Bangers play gruff pop punk in a way that makes them exceptional, even with a plethora of bands from all over trying to do the same kind of thing. They have some of the best one-liners in the business, my current favourite being "If you think that you're obnoxious, then you probably are".
What do you mean this was supposed to be a country gig? Chuck who? Livers And Lungs sound a bit like Lucero, but with three or four awesome singers instead of one fairly shit one. In their previous bands, they spanned pretty much every other punk sub-genre, now they're taking cowpunk.

Sunday 28th March - PJ Bond, Adam Peachfuzz and Dividers (Acoustic Set) @ Mozarts

Sunday the 28th of March 2010 will be the second time PJ Bond, from New Brunswick (NJ) comes to our lovely Swansea. Again, Mozarts is the location, and an apt one at that. The first time PJ played, people were amazed at the severity of his foot stomping and the utter rawness of his voice and playing. It was genuinely intimate and honest. It's nice to get out of the whole sweaty-sing-alongs-'club'-vibe once in a while and retreat to a cosy, red atmosphere where you sip on a cold beer. There was a real excitement the last time PJ played, people wanted more and we were lucky enough to see him stick around until the next day, where he played with North Lincoln at the old Sigma. His return will be warmly welcome.
Peachfuzz are one of South Wales's finest Powerpop bands, and most definitely the most underated. It has to be said, I am guilty of not hearing enough of them, but I have seen them twice and really enjoyed. Adam Peachfuzz will be supporting PJ, and I'm pretty stoked on hearing some stripped down stuff. Adam's a good dude, and it's going to be sweet seeing some rawness from close to home.
I believe, there are only 3 acts for this show. The last, but first on is Dividers. We'll be playing an acoustic set, which we're pretty excited about. It should be different, but in a fun way. Hopefully by the time of the show, we'll have some stuff recorded to finally give out.
So this is Swansea Collective's twenty first show (I think I'm right in saying), and it's going to be really chilled out. Come along, drink some beer and watch some acoustic wonder.

Coming in April Imperial Clan, ONSIND, Fashanu, Failures Union, Bedford Falls, 255's, Groundnuts and Independents, Boneless Ones, Bridge and Tunnel, Young Livers, Bangers, Ssssnakes... phew! If you don't live in Swansea already, now would probably be a good time!