ROIDH

Kieran moved up to Manchester last year to start Uni and has since got very involved in the Punk Scene around here, he’s put on a couple of shows and writes a blog which covers a wide aspect of the UK scene. He’s also a massive above them fan. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.
He’s written a preview of sorts on the new ROIDH release, you can read it here;

http://movingnorthuk.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-release-caves-pure-graft-calvinball.html

Hey folks

Just a quick post to let people know, the first 25 pre-orders for ROIDH6 are in, which means there are no free gifts left. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the record early, it is really appreciated. The records will ship on either the 20th or 21st July, gift included.

The pre-order is still up, there are going to be 2 colours of covers, one slightly rarer. More details on that next week i’d imagine.

Thanks again for the continued support.

Andy

Thanks to all that have pre-ordered so far, the response has been incredible, at the time of writing this post, there are 5/6 pre-order free gifts left. So if you want one, then get your order in now. I’ll update this blog and bigcartel when the free gifts have gone.

We’re working out the sleeves as well, there will be 300 on one colour and 200 on another, the pre-orders will get the rarer colour.

Remember; http://roidh.bigcartel.com to order.

Ok, tests are dropping on monday so the pre-order is now up! This is the new release from ROIDH, will be posting around 20th July. 500 Copies, 4 bands, 8 songs, Black Vinyl, Screenprinted covers.

Not only that, the first 25 pre-orders on the ROIDH Bigcartel will get a free gift which is not available anywhere else, I can’t tell you what it is yet, but its pretty rad.

ROIDH6

So, you can pre-order this record by going to the ROIDH BIG CARTEL PAGE. Remember, as its a pre-order, if you grab anything else with it, i’ll hold off until the record is out and post all your stuff at once.

Thanks for the continued support, the later half of 2010 is going to be quiet from the ROIDH camp, I may have 1 more release to do, i’ll let you know in good time.

Andy

So reviews for the Amistad album are coming in, thanks to Bombed Outs hefty Hype / PR machine. I assume. lolz.

BIG CHEESE

COLLECTIVE ZINE

The arrival of this CD in my letterbox couldn’t have been timed better, spring has seemingly jumped up to say hello and The Amistad are providing a great soundtrack (don’t worry, its out on vinyl as well.)

The Amistad hail from Sheffield, which will become fairly noticeable as soon as this album starts to spin (no faux American accents here). Some of you may well recognize the band from their previous incarnation as Four Dumb Kids, and this pretty much leaves off where that band finished ; Their brand of gruff pop/punk brings to mind bands like Leatherface, Latterman and Dillinger Four (although with a distinct UK twist ).

Even though this sound has been done to death, they pull it off well thanks to a group of songs that are pretty varied in pace and feel. The best example of this is the sparse, haunting acoustics of “An Unobscured view….” that suddenly jumps into the catchy and pace ridden “So This is Where The Fun Times End…” which incidentally has one of the best opening lyrics I’ve heard in a long time. The ebb and flow of this album makes it a real pleasure to listen to – make no mistake, this is a well crafted album, not just a collection of songs thrown onto a CD as seems to be the trend these days.

Throughout these songs there are some great vocal and instrumental breaks, these prevent the songs falling into mid paced mediocrity and add some real drive and urgency that translates into the urge to dance around like a loon. Add this to some utterly infectious lyrics and you’ve got something pretty special indeed.

Vocally is where this album shines, with some great melodies that are accompanied by some dry humour, stark honesty and a pinch of politicism. It is also the vocals that mark the most noticeable change from their previous releases, with the backing vocals providing some great harmonies. This adds to the accessibility of the tracks and helps to give these guys an identity beyond the hordes of bands shouting their way through Leatherface rip offs. There is a slight absence of truly memorable riffs here, but this a pretty small complaint given the standard of the songwriting on display. My other complaint is the ridiculously long song names, which is mainly because I can’t be bothered to type them out and use up precious words!

If you’re a fan of gruff, honest punk rock then you can do a lot worse than pick this album up. If you’re a bit unsure then I’d thoroughly recommend checking out the split with Above Them that came out on Disillusioned last year.

I’m still searching as much as possible for Reviews of the Above Them release, this one is from  Issue #2 of “Excuse Me, Do You Have Any Cocaine?” (http://cocainezine.blogspot.com and http://cocainezine.bigcartel.com)

“At the moment, there are few that would argue that Above Them are the best band in the UK. That’s a grand statement but these three fellas (Ollie, Tom and Mark) from the middle-of-fucking-nowhere town Pontefract have set venue after venue ablaze with their super tight, catchy-yet-complex style of gruff punk mixed with a very British form of rock. Think Hundred Reasons if they were from Gainesville. This album is an instant winner and if you haven’t already bought it I suggest you stop reading this right now and get it any way you can before the end of the day! Seriously you do not sleep until you have this record! I don’t care if you’re a paraplegic goat herder stranded on a mountain side in Uzbekistan you fucking let the wolves come and devour your flock and run to the nearest computer or independent record shop! Opening track For Those Who Paved The Way drops and crescendo’s its way forever into your head while stand out track Keep Smiling is so uplifting it will give you goose pimples that actually hurt. There is a positivity and confidence that runs all the way through the album that never wanes into self-indulgence or boredom. These guys have got some serious, serious talent and this may well be the UK album of the year.”

Check this badly taken Iphone picture. It exists;

You can buy a copy now from our BIG CARTEL PAGE

Hi all

Having moved house recently, I put some Distro LPs in one box and recently unearthed them, so if anyone wants a copy, message me.

ALGERNON CADWALLADER – Some Kind of Cadwallader LP – This is the 2nd Press for Europe that remi put out, it has the “ant-eater” cover, limited to 300 copies and I think most of them are sold now. I’m down to my last couple of copies of this, its sold really well. If you are looking for it, or know someone in Europe who is searching for a copy of this LP, let me know. These are £7

BANGERS / BREAK THE HABIT – Split LP – Bangers recently played in Manchester and didn’t have any LPs to sell because they’ve sold out of them, so if anyone enjoyed them and wanted a copy on LP but didn’t get one, drop me a message. Limited to 300 copies again and most of them have sold out, £6 please

ABOVE THEM – Blueprint for a better time LP – This one is my release, I’ve recently done a trade with a US label for a huge chunk of the pressing and  what with the bands copies and the ones i’ve already sold, I can’t imagine this LP being around by the end of this year, if you’ve not picked it up yet, you can get a copy from http://roidh.bigcartel.com or reply here, these are £7

All prices don’t include shipping, but i’ll make it as cheap as I possibly can. Buying all 3 LPs would be your best option. wink wink.

I also have a few copies of these LPs, but some have only 1 or 2 copies;

HAIL BRETHERN – Free with any other LP or £4

CHEAP GIRLS My Roaring 20’s LP – £7

RAGAN, CHUCK Gold Country LP – £7

V/A – LIVE AT THE ATLANTIC VOL. 3 (FEST EDITION) LP – £7

NEW BRUISES – TRANSMIT TRANSMIT – £4

WITCHES WITH DICKS – £4

WHAT PRICE WONDERLAND – THIRTY WITH A WINK – £5

Thats about it really, in other news ROIDH5 – The Amistad – Kept Under… LP will be here on April 12th, just in time for the gig in Manchester that evening, sorry to anyone who will be seeing them on tour before that, problems at the pressing plant meant they couldn’t get to me any earlier.

Thanks again for all your support.

Andy

Hey hey

So ROIDH5 is not even in my hands yet, and already i’ve got ROIDH6 lined up, this record will be a Split 10″ featuring 4 of the UKs up-and-coming punk rock bands.

BIG CITY PLAN

A while ago, when I used to put on gigs, most of them would feature a stoke 3 piece called Shermer, they’d turn up, take the piss out of each other and make the most godawful racket and then drink themselves silly. Anyways, they broke up a while back, then got back together, then broke up again. Shortly afterwards, Lewis moved to Birmingham and started up a 3 piece band in a similar vein with Kev and George. That band was Big City Plan. Now they’re a 4 piece with Kev moving onto guitar as well. Protect your ears.

PURE GRAFT

Members of Writhe, Lavotchkin, The Mercury League, 46 Itchy got involved here, I think. I’m not too up on me toon bands. This is fast, somewhat technical but also gruff as fuck punk rock. Remember the Mercury League? Think more gruff. There you are.

CAVES

Back in the depths of 2002, I went to liverpool to see a band called Flamingo 50, since then i’ve seen them sporadically over the years, seen them change bass players enough times, even robbed a member for my own band, anyways, last year Louise moved to Bristol and unfortunately met Brent, and thus Caves happened. They’ve already put out a 7″ on Specialist Subject, and by the time this comes out, they’ll have spent 2 weeks in Europe as well.

CALVINBALL

Can’t beat a bit of Calvinball, I don’t wanna be too obvious here, but if you dig the sounds of Latterman, Get Bent etc, you could do worse than check these guys out. They’ve played the fest, and toured the UK a couple of times, I think the drummer broke his foot in a skateboarding accident, at least I hope it was, because that is cool.
And thats a bit of stuff about the bands, The release will be 500 copies on 10″ Black vinyl with a nice screenprinted cover. In theory. Hopefully it will see the light around May / June.

http://www.myspace.com/wearecaves

http://www.myspace.com/bigcityplan

http://www.myspace.com/puregraft

http://www.myspace.com/calvinball

The Above Them LP version is nearly sold out from me, you can pick up a copy from the band at the following shows;