The new rock 'n' roll?

Way back in February, I was on my second sitting (two of three, totalling eight hours altogether) for the start of a sleeve on my right arm. My good friend, gig enthusiast, and stalker of many bands, Scoob, accompanied me and, being the awesome and thoughtful person that she is, she brought a copy of Kerrang! magazine to keep me entertained. 

I started reading Kerrang! when I was about 14, but back then there was no such thing as emo (or if there was, it wasn't being covered by the rock media) so it was where I learned all about my favourite bands, such as Slipknot, Korn, Metallica, etc. It was also where I read extensive gig reviews, and cursed my home in stupid Dublin, where no bands ever play (even nowadays, it's fairly pathetic), and where one pays double the price of gig tickets in the UK, where there’s always a gig, and also where venues are better, bands are more accessible, and rockstars are more easily stalked (according to Scoob). 

However, over the years, the magazine has evolved to adapt to a changing rock landscape, wherein so-called emo bands, such as My Chemical Romance (yay!) and Panic! At The Disco (boo!) flourish, while old-school metal bands, while continuing to sell out arenas, don't really get as much attention. I still read Kerrang! because it still features a lot of bands I love, along with the same awesome gig reviews, some great photos (especially from the awesome Paul Harries) and just enough metal to keep me interested (not every week, mind, but most of the time). I have faith that, when push comes to shove, Kerrang! will still come through and feature those who truly deserve the column inches. And, above all else, the standard of journalism is still pretty great (when asked in college which magazine it was my dream to write for, I enthusiastically answered “Kerrang!”, baffling everyone in the room). 

It was with a roll of the eyes and a dismissive tut that I greeted the following front cover.

How shit is that All Time Low competition!?

In her defence, Scoob bought this for the "Billie Joe gets personal" bit, and little else. Although I wasn’t surprised at the magazine, I was nonetheless incensed. "Who’s this little bitch!?" I scoffed, "And who does she think she is?" before reading "Andy" and quickly realising it was a boy. Photos inside the magazine confirmed that this was, in fact, a male we were looking at. I'm not against men wearing make-up. In fact, when done right, it can be disarmingly sexy. But this poncy git, pouting like a fat chick in her cleverly-cropped Facebook profiler, didn't sit right with me at all. And, frankly speaking, I wanted to punch him in his stupid poser face.

However, since I was stuck in a chair for three hours, we decided to read the interview anyway. It was the usual up-and-coming band puff piece, with quotes about taking over the world, having written the best album ever, not letting fans see them without any make-up on, eating only one meal a day to stay teeny tiny (eh!?), the usual cliches about the sex, drugs and rock 'n' lifestyle, etc, etc. It turned out this young man's band, Black Veil Brides, were currently touring the UK with my old friends, the Murderdolls. This just made me even angrier. I've loved the 'Dolls since I was 15, and was thrilled they were back together. Now these new kids come along and pretend they're better? And steal the cover, and feature, that should really the 'Dolls'? Not only that, but they looked an awful lot like the 'Dolls I remembered. 

I really wonder what the brief was for this shot

I hated that some stupid new emo band were copying this group of freaks, whom I'd worshipped as an angry, weird, little goth teen, but had also somehow earned the right to tour with them (on a higher billing than the other support band, The Defiled). Besides that, it made me feel really old. If these guys are this generation’s Murderdolls, then I must be really fucking out of the loop.

Now, just to be clear, I don't hate all new bands. And I’m certainly not self-righteous or arrogant enough to claim only old-school giants such as Metallica are relevant, when new bands like Bring Me The Horizon and Lostprophets are making great music. This year, the new bands catching most of my attention are probably Versaemerge and New Years Day, both of which are female-fronted, which to me is hugely important. I also have a soft spot for The Pretty Reckless, but Taylor Momsen's increasingly Cherie Currie-esque brand of lingerie-wearing, boob-flaunting, attention seeking makes me feel slightly ill. It's important to me that females - and by this I mean weird, strong, genuinely talented chicks, whom I can relate to, who have shit to say, and who refuse to ride along on good looks or simply having tits - are represented.  

So, new stuff can be great, but it’s the trend for looking and acting a certain way that really irritates me. And it is something I feel is more prevalent with male-fronted bands than female, possibly because teenage girls are easier to fool than their male counterparts (Amy Lee is an exception, don't get me started). It should, after all, be about the music. Who gives a shit if some dude has a clothing line? Can he fucking sing or not? After witnessing The Blackout turning the O2 into a screaming pile of hormones at the start of this year, purely by shouting some incessant lyric the mostly-female crowd could repeat back and forth, I'd lost all hope of finding a new, male-fronted band that didn't make me want to throw up.  

However, there is one emo band I love and that I feel can go the distance - the fantastic My Chemical Romance. I've seen them live twice, and both times they were excellent. Furthermore, their latest release, Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys took the band in a completely different, brave new direction, and with great results. Gerard Way and co. still look silly, but nowhere near as silly as they used to look. More importantly, they are talented, they work hard and their message is one of positivity and perseverance. They are one of the only "emo" bands who have managed to outlive their gimmick, and actually grow into something great. 

So cool, it hurts my eyes

MCR are a huge exception, therefore, I dismissed this Andy person and his stupid band of Kiss-wannabes, the way I'd dismissed many before them as bands that couldn't (and, in most cases, didn't) last. When I spotted them on the schedule for Rock Im Park, my curiosity was tapped - it'd be hilarious to see them live, poncy and wannabe-glam and silly. They'd suck; too, because they couldn't possibly be good, none of these identikit new emo bands ever were. And so, with no one else of interest to see, I dragged my mates in, to the sweaty, balmy, indoor stage, where just a day before I'd cried and shouted myself hoarse at the sight of Sierra Kusterbeck and Blake Harnage (Versaemerge), and we proceeded to chuck sweets (the singer is pretty fucking skinny, in case that wasn't obvious) at, and make fun of, the hilariously glam, big-haired, tight leather trouser-wearing, mostly-topless, Black Veil Brides (even the name made my skin crawl). After about twenty minutes, it was decided that we should go.

Strangely enough, and against my better judgement, I'd found myself reluctant to leave. The third song of the set, which I know now is titled God Bless You, had a hook and a riff that instantly caught my attention – accompanied by a swagger I hadn't witnessed since seeing Kiss years before at Download. It was undeniably catchy, and immediately lodged itself in my brain, but of course I said nothing. When the others complained of the "noise" this silly emo band had created, I nodded along, refusing to acknowledge their hypocrisy when I was later on subjected to Kings Of Leon's set. I also held back from correcting their genre classification, since what we’d witnessed had not been an emo performance, by an emo band - it was much louder, the guitars too fast, the set too theatrical, the gang choruses too positive and the smiles too big.

I told myself I'd just download that one song, and it'd be over. That would be it. Like Miss May I's fantastic screamo cover of Swing, which is the one and only song of theirs that I'd even consider listening to, I’d keep God Bless You to myself and silently love it, never telling anyone of my shame.
 
Of course, what started with one song quickly turned into two albums, a tonne of Tumblr blogs (andyfuckingbiersack.tumblr.com is my current favourite), and several wonderfully funny Youtube interviews (mainly by the great Bryan Stars). When I discovered, via the below video, that he doesn't take himself as seriously as one would assume, I fell hopelessly into rock star obsession mode. There is nothing more refreshing than listening to someone who is truly passionate about what he does, while not taking himself seriously the slightest, with a positive message, who isn’t out to do anything but play music. I was truly captivated.

The man known as Andy Biersack (great name) is easily one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen in my life, not to mention he has a voice that holds up very well in concert, and a stage persona that screams how little he gives a fuck. More than that, and I hate to admit this, he's a voice for the outcasts of the world - little freaks like me who dress all in black and don't really feel like they fit in anywhere. When I was an angry little teenager, I looked up to Slipknot (and still do) but Black Veil Brides are different, because their music isn't as dark, it's more hopeful and encourages strength of character (of course Corey Taylor writes from a much darker place, having lived a dreadful life). 

Before I knew it, a few mere months since I'd thrown sweets and laughed at them in Germany, I was standing in a packed, relatively small venue in Nottingham, make-up streaming down my face, screaming my head off as the lights dimmed, the first chords were strummed, and Black Veil Brides took to the stage. How did this all happen? I honestly don’t have a fucking clue.

Gig review coming up...pretty much, now!

Red State (2011)

I feel like I've been waiting years to write this post...and I have so much to say that I'm terrified I won't say enough, or that I'll write way too much and crash Firefox (again). But since it's all about to pour out of me, I might as well just begin. First, let me just state that the above poster is not the "real" one. I've posted that one before. I used this one because it's much more raw, and for me, exemplifies the best, most frightening scene of the film (and the real message, via the tagline).

Now, I've been a fan of Kevin Smith's work for close to ten years. Despite his many, many, many detractors, I think his films are clever, hilarious, well-written, feature a cast of wonderful, mostly unknown actors and touch on subjects that mean nothing to 90% of the world's population, but a great deal to those of us who feel as if we don't really fit in anywhere. He is an important voice, in Hollywood, for those who rarely one - something which is most evident in the excellent Clerks. He has taught a generation of us to live the way it makes sense for us, despite what anybody else says, and that we can do anything to which we set our minds. 

 The one on the left was Jack's son in Will and Grace. Go figure.

It was with a mix of trepidation and excitement, that I greeted the news that Smith was making a horror movie. His forte is, surely, comedy, and while horror-comedy is possible, it's incredibly difficult to do (see, Fright Night remake). So, I wondered, would this be straight horror? Would it be funny? Would it exist in the View Askew universe? Would Jason Mewes star (sadly, no)? Above all else, I hoped it would be good, I hoped everyone would like it, but most of all, I hoped it would be well-received. In America, it was. In Ireland, it was not. Two of my favourite critics panned it (however, one of whom is incredibly high-minded and likes only upper class, indie fare and films with subtitles, despite whether they're any good or not). Their reactions made me nervous to even think about what Mark Kermode will have to say (I still haven't listened to his podcast from last week), since he is one of my heroes, an excellent movie critic and a horror buff. Some day soon I will face up to his critique. But not just yet.

This man is god

The good news, as far as I'm concerned, is that Red State is great. It works as a horror, as a drama, and as a strange little addition to Smith's other religion-centric film, Dogma. The story concerns a family cult in middle America, known as the Five Points Church, which is led by Pastor Abin Cooper, played with crazy eyes and undeniable charisma by the fantastic Michael Parks (why the fuck does this man not work more!?). Three horny teenage boys are lured into their clutches via an internet sex ad, but when they turn up to cash in, they are greeted by middle-aged, mumsy Melissa Leo, in full wretched hillbilly look. Next thing they know, they're tied up, watching mental sermons and ritual killings. The film then quickly descends into a shootout, between the forces of law and the crazy clan. 

It's worth noting that the film looks and sounds fantastic - possibly the best of any of Smith's films. The camera work is jumpy in places, but in a great way, and the editing is very well done. The colours remain dark and broody throughout, adding to the tense atmosphere. The tone almost changes drastically towards the end, but, unlike the majority of net nerds, I was glad that it didn't, and was pleased with what I saw as the logical closure point. After all, Dogma is fantastical and silly, so there's no real need for Red State to be. 

I would de-flower her

As a horror, Red State works very well, and it is indeed horrifying. The extended scene in the chapel, with Michael Parks delivering a particularly mad, Old Testament-centric sermon, is tense to the point of nausea, due to one of the protagonists being locked in a cage throughout, while a sheet ominously hangs over a giant cross (as seen in the poster above). What happens when the sheet is pulled off doesn't really matter (although it is frightening), it's the thought of what's underneath it that really builds the tension. Several critics felt this scene dragged a little, and that there was too much sermonising involved. I was on the edge of my seat throughout, and while long, Pastor Cooper's sermon only made me more nervous - which is a very good thing.

Although the shootout takes away from the horror element somewhat, turning the film down a different route, John Goodman is great as the leader of the feds, and commands each of his scenes with ease. The action itself is fast-paced, and the deaths quick and consistent. However, since protagonists are dispensed with with such ease, it's difficult to sympathise with anyone, making the viewer somewhat detached from what's happening onscreen. This, coupled with the political conspiracy ending, meant I left the cinema feeling somewhat unsatisfied. The reason, I feel, was the length of the film. At just 88 minutes long, it's slightly rushed. Not enough is shown about the inner, daily workings of the Five Points Church, and I could've used more of a backstory, to elaborate on their actions. A nod to the Phelps family ("No no, not them, we like them" - cue nervous laughter) is a total pussy move on Smith's part, and wholly unnecessary. The subject matter of the film is brave, especially considering the real-life existence of the Phelps family, so I would've respected more if Smith had've just left it up to us to decide whether or not he was referring to them throughout. None of this made the Cooper clan any less sinister, though. 

Michael Parks is the star of Red State, and it's an absolute travesty that he doesn't get more work. Kevin Smith claimed he wrote the part of Abin Cooper specifically for Parks, and wouldn't have done the film without him. That may sound crazy to some, but he makes the story work, so I totally understand it. John Goodman is another gem, as are the three main lads, who do a great job of appearing both naively horny and absolutely terrified. Although I felt the film could've been a good twenty minutes longer, and that more needed to be said about the cult, Red State still kicks a serious amount of ass. If I don't see it again in the cinema soon, I'll be very surprised.