UNFUN#1: RVIVR

So we thought it would be cool to put on a show to benefit a charity of which we believe in and respect. The charity we have chosen is Macmillan Cancer Trust. I think everyone in the world knows someone who's been effected by Cancer at some point in their life, and this sucks! So why not have some fun and do a little something to help the cause, and help those suffering from the disease!

Also, All Ages Punk shows need to happen in Swansea, there's no denying it. Swansea needs more punk bands! Unfortunately, we can't do All Ages this time round. However, we can do a 16+ show, which I guess is one step closer to achieving our goal. Hopefully if this show is a success we'll do another one in a few months time, and hopefully we'll be able to make it all ages!

There will hopefully be cake stalls, raffles, and other such stuff to raise money too! If you have any fund raising idea's or would like to volunteer to help out it would be MUCH appreciated! We need help with flyering and postering too especially in the out of town area's and colleges and schools. Please email us if you can help out: dividersuk [at] hotmail.com

So far the following bands are playing:

RVIVR - http://rvivr.wordpress.com

RVIVR are an awesome fun Pop Punk from Olympia USA, featuring Matt Canino of Latterman and Shorebirds fame. They are great, and should have copies of their new record (released on Yo Yo Records of Germany) with them too! First of hopefully many times in the uk, Not to be missed!

BANGERS - http://www.myspace.com/bangersbangers
Gruff Pop Punk from Falmouth, fresh off their Euro tour with The Arteries.

WELL WISHER - http://www.myspace.com/wellwisher10
Brilliant "Party-mo" from Manchester, ex members of Hail Brethren.

A THOUSAND ARROWS - http://www.myspace.com/athousandarrowsuk
Spanking new Cardiff Post Hardcore Supergroup featuring ex members of Raging Speedhorn, Panel, Shaped By Fate, The Slowdance...

& 2 more bands TBC

Our good friend Carly Davies is soon to be making an awesome poster for this too, so keep checking back!

Here are the event pages which are scattered around the web. Please feel free to invite anyone you feel would be interested in this at all:

Facebook

Last Fm

Hopefully you can make it, it should be a super fun day!

Date: 10th October, 2010

Doors Open: 4pm, Show should be finished by about 10pmish for those show have school or work in the morning!

Entry Fee: 4 quid (for 6 bands!)

SHOWS: The Menzingers, Above Them, Groundnuts, and Leagues Apart

"Hold On Dodge" is probably one of my favourite EP's of the past 2 years. Normally when I listen to records as much as I have listened to "Hold On Dodge", I burn them out and quickly become bored, but alas, this has not happened. The Menzingers are great, and it's needless to say when Trev announced they'd be playing in Swansea I was pretty damn excited.

The Menzingers are from Philidephia and play infectious and well crafted pop punk. There's a lot of bands doing the same thing at the moment (Note: Captain, We're Sinking, who're also great), but none manage to capture the massive vocal melodies, brilliant duel guitars, and perfect bass lines to the extent that The Menzingers do. The Menzingers are most certainly at the top of their game, and shit will undoubtably go off when they rock up Sigma.

Above Them are no strangers to Swansea, and no words I post in this shitty blog will ever justify how amazing they really are. Above Them hail from up north and play Poppy Indie Punk. I think the best way I can think of describing them is like a cross between The Loved Ones and Biffy Clyro, only BETTER!

The Groundnuts and Independents... everytime I see a description about them it seems to note how old they are, so I'm not going to do that, although I'm pretty sure I just did... but anyways, Groundnuts play Punk Rock 'n roll and have been doing it since the early 90's. They're good ol' fun, and don't seem to play a lot these days, which makes this night even more special. Everyone in Swansea knows who they are, so I won't drag on...

Leagues Apart are a band that I never quite "got" until I saw them live, I guess their recordings don't really do them much justice. They play fast and catchy Melodic Pop Punk and put so much time, energy and effort into playing that it's unreal! They've been a band for less than a year, and have already toured Europe and the UK countless times, and show no signs of stopping. They are good dudes to boot too, so I guess you can't really fault them.

These four bands will be hitting up Sigma in Swansea on 13th November, 2010. 8pm doors so get down early. Here's the amazing poster by Craig Horky...

NEWS: Secret Mixtape #1 (Update)

So the first part of Secret Mixtape will be happening this coming Friday at the Sauna Youth show at Sigma, Swansea. Basically come along to us at the beginning of the night (or before Sauna Youth actually play), fill in the form with your name and three of your favourite bands, chuck it in the box and then grab someone else's form out of the box (after Sauna Youth have played) to make a Mixtape/CD for. Bring along the Mix to the Nozzle show at Sigma on 4th March, and then pick up the Mix that's been made for you! "Simples". Hopefully people will take part in this!

Sauna Youth feature members of The Steal and play Garage Pop that to me sounds pretty simular to Cloak/Dagger. You can download their EP for free from HERE!

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!

PICTURES: Break The Habit at Sigma, Swansea

So when Spraynard came to Swansea, they brought Brightons Break The Habit (The UK's best Latterman/Get Bent rip off band) with them, who turned out to be very good. They have a great split 12" with Bangers, and splits with Spraynard and Cutting Class in the works which you should keep on the look out for!

Here are some photos which Scott Neill took from the Show:

INTERVIEWS: OK Pilot

OK Pilot are a post punk three piece from Exeter, UK, described as "Orgcore for Englishmen" by punknews.org (though I'm not too sure I fully agree with them on this). This interview was meant to be filmed at our house, but everyone (including me) got way too drunk after the show at Sigma in Swansea. So in the end we did the interview on the bar, scribbling all the answers on the back of a clubnight poster and a couple of flyers. Keeping it old school, amirite? I wrote as fast as I could and I didn't catch it all. I can't even guarantee that I wrote who said what properly. Interview by Kat. Photo by Scott Neill.

Me: Ok. So, you guys played Fest recently. Obviously. I was there. I only managed to catch you at the 1982 Pre Fest, I've no idea what I was doing when you actually played. I think I was staring at my feet in The Venue after Bangers. Sorry about that. Anyway, how was your reception from the American crowd? Or were there too many boozey brits to tell?

Ben: Every time we've played in America it's been slightly overwhelming. People like us more in America I guess. The Fest show was probably the best we've ever played... it was pretty overwhelming.

Me: How did the Brits Abroad split come about?

Ben: Basically, Bangers asked us if we wanted to do it and everyone was like 'hell yeah!'

Me: I've read some pretty rad reviews. I guess it's been pretty well received?

Ben: Yeah, um, I feel like it's all the other bands that have been well received, not us.

Me: Really?

Tom: I'll be honest with you, I haven't read the reviews so I couldn't tell you... That's a terrible answer!

Ben: I'm very happy with the reviews. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed it. That's why we do this-

Tom: Basically, if you can sum up this action (Tom gobbles off an imaginary horse)

Me: Ha. Um, Exeter is notorious for producing very attractive punk rock bands like Computers, Dead City Stereo, Brothers etc. Do you find yourselves taking more time over your appearance in order to live up to these sexy expectations?

Ben & Chris. Maybe Tom, too: NO.

Ben: You can quote me on this, I didn't know there was a sexpectation (looking very pleased with this word)

Chris: Tom is sexy NO MATTER WHAT.

Ben: You can quote me on this too, a sexy scene is built on a sexy venue. And we have one of those.

Me: I stopped very briefly in Exeter train station a few months ago on the way to Plymouth I think. Everyone looks exactly the same. Am I mental or amirite?

Ben: I think you're generalising... (someone says something. I can't remember what) I think this is a weird question.

Tom: Do you mean every train station looks the same or everyone in Exeter looks the same?

Me: Everyone in Exeter looks the same.

Tom: I thought you said everyone in Exeter was sexy!

Me: They are! ...But they all look the same.

Ben: Everyone doesn't look sexy in Exeter.

Tom: (aside) I'd rather Chris wasn't involved in this at all...

Me: You're on your third day of tour. Are there any places in particular you like to play?

Ben: Yeah. South Wales. Swansea!

Tom: Not my words! (Initially I wrote down that Chris said this but Tom corrected me. I think he wanted to make it clear that he's not into Swansea)

Ben: Anywhere where we get to see friends we never see.

Me: What have your best and worst shows been?

Ben: The best was our Fest show this year.

Me: The worst?

Tom: There's been a lot of them.

Ben: I would say the one time we played in Swindon and, uh, we set everything up, went to get some food, came back and the promoter said 'I wouldn't bother playing. Some people came... but they left. So you might as well not play'.

Me: What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you guys on tour? Like women, crusties, ghosts...

Tom: This is quite a good one. Last year in May we were going on tour with The Dead City Stereo and Chris was having lunch with his girlfriend, his CURRENT girlfriend, in Exeter in a café called Giraffe and a suicide bomber tried to blow up the cafe.

Ben: That, or anywhere in America.

Tom: And, if he had succeeded, Chris wouldn't be here right now.

(They all sing along to The Smiths: This Charming Man)

Me: So... I've run out of interesting questions.

Chris: Ask us a shit question!

Me: OK. Uhh... What's your favourite sandwich?

Tom: Cheese and onion!

Chris: How can you ask that? You can't just expect someone to answer that. Uhh... Swiss cheese and coleslaw.

Tom: What?!

Chris: I went there.

Me: Ben?

Ben: Um. Fuck! ...I had this really great BBQ sort of tofu sandwich from America.

Me: Oh! From the Reggae Shack?

Ben: Nah, from The Top.

Me: Oh. Hang on, where?

Ben: The Top. Opposite The Atlantic.

Me: Ohh. So... What does the future hold for the band?

Ben: We really, really, really don't... tend to plan that far in advance. But, if you must know, say, if anyone out there is waiting for us to release an album, it's never gonna happen. But we're doing a lengthy e.p. in January-

Tom: It won't be done in January!

Ben: Say next year. Then we're going on tour in June with a band called Hour of the Wolf (Ben had to write this down for me as I didn't have a clue what he was saying. He has lovely handwriting)

Me: I guess that's it. Worst interview ever?

Ben: No.

Tom: Uh... (very long pause)... No. Not it's not, you smell nice so it's pretty enjoyable. That's a bad answer.

Me: I'm glad you think I smell nice because I feel very sweaty.

Tom: Worst interview was probably last year at Fest because it was a bit weird.

Ben: I said some terrible things and a lot of people saw it.

PICTURES: Bridge and Tunnel and Solutions

On April 24th 2009, Bridge and Tunnel came and played Sigma in Swansea. It was a great show, great atmosphere an great turnout. I think it was one of the only gigs we've put on that we actually broke even on, but that's not important.

Here are some pretty rad photos of Bridge and Tunnel and Solutions, taken by my good friend Zach Williams. Expect more cool photos by him on the site soon!

SOLUTIONS

BRIDGE AND TUNNEL