A Wilhelm Scream!

[YI]

When I get the nerve to test the death for life renewal. You'll find me lying at the bottom of the pool.

FUCKING MINT!

I know there's a few fans here...there should be MORE!

I've always been a fan of the band, they hold the distinct privilege of being one of the few bands I've seen twice. Early last year and again at the beginning of this year. But recently it's really struck me that they're hands down quite possibly one of the best allround bands out there.

I mean, there's something here for everyone. Metal twinged, punk-twinged, just blisteringly fast rock music. There's some absolute amazing guitar playing and I haven't seen bass playing quite like it in the flesh, when they busted out "The Horse" live. Insane. They have some fucking incredible riffs, some great technical stuff, but they never over indulge in guitar wankery...no long solos and stuff. They also use some interesting chord progressions from time to time.

However, whilst heavily a riff based band, the vocals are great too. The melodies are so god damn epic and catchy, which is something that's often neglected in bands like this. Basically every song they've put out on their 'three' albums is easily recognisable. Nuno's got such a powerful voice. As for the lyrics. Again, absolute quality. A perfect mix of downright weird and obtuse, to the straight up 'rock song' style anthems.

And for their live show...so much fucking fun. So incredibly tight as well. The first time I saw them I kind of just stood about (was with a friend who wasn't really into it), but it was still a cool gig. The second time, I was full on in the pit, and it was insane. They were just so tight, the atmosphere, despite being only like 70/80 people there, was amazing. As I said before, the bass in "The Horse", spot on. In fact, everything was spot on, vocals pitch perfect, everything. Plus they always look like they're having such a fun time. The new guitarist especially, fucking beaming smile throughout, singing along even though he didn't neccessarilly have a mic. It's great when you have like a band playing to a small audience, but they're digging it, the audience is digging it...it was just...sexual.

So yeah...best all round band? Distinct possiblity.

Albums;

"Mute Print" > "Ruiner" > "Career Suicide".

I used to be in the "Ruiner" camp, but "Mute Print" has won me over recently.

Songs;

1. "William Blake Overdrive"

2. "Stab, Stab, Stab"

3. "The Kids Can Eat A Bag Of Dicks"

4. "Congratulations"

5. "Anchor End"

6. "The Rip"

7. "The King Is Dead"

8. "Jaws 3, People 0"

9. "Killing It"

10. "5 To 9"

There's a waiting list to the bottom, under you. Ex-husbands, romantics and perverts and masochists, I'm gonna be there too. Where's the stop where the train's gonna hit me? True, I live for when you bullshit me. Tell me you want me, tell me you need me. Undress me with your eyes. Lie to me.

Edited May 1, 2008 by YI

[Cactus Drags]

Best song title ever, Me Vs. Morrissey In The Pretentiousness Contest (The Ladder Match).

Love the lyrics you can just scream aloud to, proper rock-the-fuck-outtiness. I NEED to see them live. I also need to get Mute Print, I have ruiner and Career Suicide. How Route 40 something something didn't make that album I'll never know,

[METALMAN]

I checked them out in the first place simply because of the title "Me Vs. Morrissey In The Pretentiousness Contest (The Ladder Match)" and I liked it. I also liked the King Is Dead but I haven't checked out any others. Not because I don't like it - just because I don't really know where to begin.

[YI]

"Mute Print" > "Ruiner" > "Career Suicide".

So go with "Mute Print" first. "Ruiner" suffers from having too much filler. Seriously, there's 15 songs on it. If they cut it down to like 12/13 it'd be just as good as "Mute Print". "Career Suicide" is awesome, and doesn't have the filler "Ruiner" had, but it also has less songs that scream out "AMAZING!" at you, in comparison to the other two albums.

"Mute Print" is 11-songs of awesome. If you don't like it, you don't like music.

And I agree "Route 40 One Six" is awesome. I too think it should have been on "Career Suicide".

[YI]

Yes, mega motherfucking bump. I've been going to the gym a lot recently, and AWS are perfect pump-up music. It's angry (but not too angry) but proper 'macho' I guess, but not in a cuntish way. It's brilliant. The more I listen, the more I'm convinced they are easily one of my favourite bands going. They have an EP and album due this year and are on a UK tour in September (after Leeds), unfortunately only the London date appears to be with Polar Bear Club. Newcastle get Newbridge Downfall, who I saw with TIAS and were pretty good.

DATES CONFIRMED SO FAR:

September 1st - Moho, Manchester - w/Appease and Nana's Revenge

September 3rd - Trillians, Newcastle - w/Newbridge Downfall

September 4th - The Croft, Bristol

September 5th - Underworld, London - w/Polar Bear Club and A New Day

My current favourite random AWS lyrics are;

"There's a waiting list to the bottom, under you. Ex-husbands, romantics and perverts and masochists, I'm gonna be there too. Where's the stop where the train's gonna hit me? True, I live for when you bullshit me. Tell me you want me, tell me you need me. Undress me with your eyes. Lie to me." - Congratulations

"Came to my senses in this parking lot. I've found my arrogance a detriment to my heart. I had this feeling that you're cold, this raging fire. I've been listening to Wings every night, let's get it on!" - Diver

"Piss, drunks, and love. These too are found in gutters. I won't throw up. I'm smarter now." - Anchor End

"When I get the nerve to test the death for life renewal. You'll find me lying at the bottom of the pool." - The Pool

"Lost is the prospect of goals met. I'm 22 years closer to death. I would have found that hard to believe when I was 15. Familiar failure is all I know. Please forgive me if it shows, but I won't stop until this beats me, or I go crazy!" - A Picture Of The World

"There's me, with the geriatrics at the slot machines. There's me, the embodiment of how slow life can be." - William Blake Overdrive

"The world gets dropped, left covered in rust. We'll rule it with an iron fist, behind a drum beat again. It's all over you motherfuckers. The moral to story is shit to a rug, two fingers up if judgement comes. And one keg stand for Satan." - Cold Slither II

"Just because you're rotting doesn't mean you're dead. It doesn't make you loved. You just got lost in it. We both love the money, we all love our friends. It doesn't make us pricks. We just keep falling in." - Stab. Stab. Stab

"And the ones to resurrect sex and death bought the copyright. They ate shit on the record. Did you get the mix right? (note quite)" and "Fuck me if it pours, you're not built for this. But it's not raining is it?" - The Kids Can Eat A Bag Of Dicks

"LET'S GET THE FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK OUTTA HERE!!!" - Jaws 3, People 0

Yes, I can't sleep and I'm bored, but AWS are fucking awesome.

I still rank the albums; "Mute Print" -> "Ruiner" -> "Career Suicide". But they're all good. "Mute Print" is seriously too fucking amazing though. Their older Smackin' Isiah stuff has a few good songs too (can't believe they used to have a trumpet player haha) some of it's hilariously shit though, and it's basically a different band in my eyes (although "Benefits Of Thinking Out Loud" was re-released under the AWS name, I still see them as a different way). I do love this quote on their wikipedia entry;

After touring the United States and Canada a few times, they then began recording their next album, Mute Print, with Jump Start. For the recording of the album, the band decided to put "as much shit as you can possibly fit into a song and pull off live" into the songs, to which they attribute their faster, more aggressive and more technical sound.

Edited May 15, 2009 by YI

[probablyoliver]

So what's so sick, so wrong that you don't wanna believe that such a massacre is capable of coming from me, you're gonna lose your lunch, it's gonna blow your mind.

[YI]

RANDOM GUY ON STAGE!! (in a Strike Anywhere top too...he loses points for it being a 'vest' though) Trillians, if there's not a full scale stage invasion (given its lack of barriers), I will not be happy.

No vids from the 2nd time I saw them, where they were better. But No Trigger (1st time) were better supports than All Idols Fall/Failsafe.

Edited May 15, 2009 by YI

[IAceI]

No "I stared at heaven through the gates of hell, liked the weather couldn't stand the smell, but still I spill out razors from my bitter eyes?" - Check Request Denied?

[Cactus Drags]

"Must've broke every bone in your wrist, how romantic of you." Wonderful. Gonna try and see them in Bristol.

[YI]

"..."Be true to self, don't be what you're not. Hold onto what you've got". Thanks a lot. YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! That's fascinating news, now give me something I could use. Like how to work this detonator now. This club's got tonnes of assholes and the prettiest turtlenecks. It's a holy water super soaker fight. And all the denim left in Texas won't make you right!..."

I could seriously sit here all day and type awesome lyrics. Such an epic band.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

I am SO fucking at the Trillians gig in September

[METALMAN]

In addition to my earlier post - a friend of mine showed me Famous Friends and Fashion Drunks which I really liked. And gave me an album. With emphasis on FFaFD.

I will listen later on tonight.

[Cactus Drags]

This thread has just reminded me that when I saw them on a boat in Bristol, I picked up Benefits of Thinking Out Loud, and have yet to listen to it.

[YI]

Nowhere near as good as their AWS stuff to be fair. . They still bust out "Hike" live (as an 'intro' to another song). "You Kiss Their Ass And They Shit On You", "Carthasis For Dummies" and "Halycon Days" are pretty awesome tunes though.

They actually have about 4/5 release pre-AWS (one according to wiki under the name Koen). I only have "The Benefits Of Thinking Out Loud" and "Give Girls More Beer". The latter is fucking terribly shit and features possibly the shittest trumpet I have ever heard on record. That being said "You're Faker Than A Blonde Puerto/White Hats Inc.", "Butterflies Are Ugly Up Close" and "You Bendt My Wookie" have a place in my heart. "Butterflies..." is very AWS-y, only a lot simpler, actually that's a legit great song.

For novelty as a fan, they're fun to listen to...but honestly, don't expect anything...at all. Even "Benefits..." is really not that good, although a lot of that's down to production.

Oh man, listening to "You're Faker..." now;

PUNK IS DEAD! PUNK IS DEAD! PUNK IS DEAD! JARROD SAID!

PUNK IS DEAD! PUNK IS DEAD! PUNK IS DEAD! AND YOU'RE NEXT!

Edited May 16, 2009 by YI

[Cactus Drags]

It's the AWS re-release, not the Smackin' Isaiah one.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Vladimir Dragslov

[YI]

It's the AWS re-release, not the Smackin' Isaiah one.

It's still exactly the same from what I remember, I think it's just a repressing after the original sold out (at which point they were known as AWS, so it was labelled as AWS on the re-release, I still don't really see it as an AWS album).

I mean, it's the same 'band' (although there was a member change before "Mute Print")...but, meh, I dunno...it just feels different.

Oh, and one more thing I love about AWS. The singer's called Nuno Pereira, Nicholas Pasquale Angelini is on drums, but the guy who writes the vast majority the music/lyrics (basically all of "Mute Print" and "Ruiner") is some guy called Trevor...brilliant.

And haha, reading a Trevor interview about how their albums keep accidentally getting named after hardcore bands. "Ruiner" and "Career Suicide" haha. Not too big on the band Ruiner (over here with PBC soon) but I do love some Career Suicide.

Edited May 17, 2009 by YI

[YI]

Full dates!

08/27/09 Peterborough, UK - The Park w/ The Flatliners

08/28/09 Leeds, UK - LEEDS Festival - Lock Up Stage

08/29/09 Reading, UK - READING Festival - Lock Up Stage

08/31/09 Leicester, UK - The Shed

09/01/09 Manchester, UK - Moho Live

09/03/09 Newcastle, UK - Trillians w/ Flatliners

09/04/09 Bristol, UK - The Croft

09/05/09 London, UK - Underworld

09/06/09 Southampton, UK - Joiners

09/09/09 Glasgow, UK - King Tuts

09/10/09 Belfast, IE - Auntie Annie's

FLATLINERS!!! That's a fucking stacked bill for Trillians. I say 'stacked', 2 'non-local'/North American bands is big for Trillians. I'm thinking they might up from £7, although I don't think they'd go over £10. Happily pay.

Also means I can give Flatliners a miss at Leeds, opens me up to see more bands.

Edited May 17, 2009 by YI

[probablyoliver]

Might head up to the Underworld gig. Not sure yet.

[YI]

DO IT! Polar Bear Club are support. Fucking amazing band.

[IAceI]

"I BROKE MY BACK TO SPITE MY SPINE" - Speed of Dark

Fucking epic.