Author Archives: Joseph Wynn

“Were you there?!” he was screaming in my ear. “Was I where?” I replied, a little confused. “Are you here?!” he rephrases the question, with no real increase in clarity. “Yes I was…here?” I tentatively venture before the penny drops. Yes, I was there, when there is here. I was there when Creeper headlined the Camden Underworld. Whilst my new drunken friend wasn’t really making himself clear, tonight was the night Creeper made it abundantly clear that this is one of the last times they hit venues this small. But before we got onto the main attraction, there was the small issue of a veritable mountain of hardcore to scale. We missed Muskets cos the…

When I started writing for What’s The Scene I was told quite emphatically that I was to cover underground and independent music. No pop music, and so definitely no arena shows. Or so I thought. So it came as a surprise that I got to do exactly that, covering a fiercely independent band headlining the UK’s biggest indoor all-standing venue: Alexandra Palace. Yup, the Shikari boys have surprised us all with both their pop appeal and enduring longevity. But before we caught the headliners we caught a few of the support acts on what must be one of the strongest bills of the year. First up were the newly-reformed King Blues, and what a nostalgia…

“Fuck Neck Deep mate, they’re shit,” the saying goes. “Ben’s dad owns a record label,” it continues. But, contrary to popular belief, Terry Barlow doesn’t own a record label, and according to everyone singing along in the Kentish Town Forum, Neck Deep are anything but shit. On tour for their belting sophomore, Life’s Not Out To Get You, the Wrexham boys have stepped it up a gear in terms of tour venues and tonight is no different; this isn’t some run-of-the-mill UK pop-punk show, this is a pro band playing a pro level venue. Not that any of the specifics matter to the queue that snaked round the back of the venue on a rainy Saturday…

The Windmill doesn’t look like a music venue really. It looks like a 1960s prefab that’d fall over if you poke it quite hard. There’s also a massive Alsatian on the roof that’s barking at me, not something I typically associate with music venues. I’m sat across an increasingly damp table from Stephen Davidson, lead singer and one of the 2 songwriters in indie-rock band Tellison. In fairness Davidson doesn’t really look like a rockstar, but as with The Windmill looks can be deceiving. We’re here for the “feel warm event of the winter”; Alcopopalooza. Curated by the Oxford-based Alcopop! Records, the event serves not just as showcase of their formidable roster but also as…

“This song is all about friendship,” says a bright-eyed Frenchman. “This stage belongs to us all, I want to see some STAGE DIVES!” he continues, as the signature down-tuned riff of ‘In Friends We Trust’ kicks in to the apparent approval of the assembled crowd, most of whom ended up on the stage for the majority of the song (causing much consternation in the lone security guard). Thus ended a night of pop-punk revelry, spearheaded by French upstarts Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Rewind a few hours and there’s a 30 man-strong queue snaking round the block outside the innocuous entrance to the basement of Manchester’s premier live music venue; Sound Control. The notable sporting of…

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“You’re 2 years too late for that”’ chuckles Parker Cannon, lead vocalist with The Story So Far, in response to yet another plaintive cry for them to play early fan-favourite ‘680 South’. It is a very different band that stands before us this evening compared to the one which put out those early demos; surely Cannon and Co. couldn’t have predicted as they recorded (whilst high) those early tapes that they would be heckled to play them from a stage thousands of miles from their home? Yet here they are, stronger than ever and headlining one of the best bills of the year. As was the case with the Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! gig last…

UK pop punk has always been a bit lame. The weather’s crap over here so we can’t go out skating that much, so I guess this is hardly surprising. However, of late we’re having a bit of a surge of quality UKPP that’s hard to ignore. Leading the way are the shamelessly poppy (and none the worse for it) Neck Deep, their sophomore Life’s Not Out To Get You being a critical and commercial success. In their wake, however, there have been many other bright lights of the UK scene starting to step up to the global stage. This year we saw south-coast emo merchants Moose Blood take to the fabled US Warped Tour, whilst…