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Day: 19 April 2017

Festival Preview: Slam Dunk

Written by Katie Shepherd on . Posted in Music.

Slam Dunk is a festival that has grown exponentially over the past ten years, having quickly established itself as one of the country’s biggest, best and most highly anticipated festivals. With the full line-up having now almost entirely been released, 2017 is undoubtedly set to continue Slam Dunk’s winning streak.

The line-up, as always, is a brilliant combination of pop-punk nostalgia and the latest names in alternative music, showcasing some of the greatest bands and musicians in the music scene across all eight stages.

The main stage is packed with headlining acts, beginning the day with Japanese electronicore band, Crossfaith, who are certain to inject the crowd with all the energy they need, ready for rock favourites Deaf Havana and Don Broco. The night wraps up with a special set from Enter Shikari, who will be bringing their 10 year anniversary celebration of ‘Take To The Skies’ to the festival.

In the meantime, pivotal pop-punk band Neck Deep are headlining the Monster Energy Stage, following The Maine, whose sixth studio album was released this month and has already soared in the US Rock charts.

If this wasn’t exciting enough, the Key Club stage and the Signature Stage are hosting bands like Waterparks and With Confidence, who have been inciting noise from all over the alternative music scene over the past year, whilst Frank Iero and The Patience are a band well worth checking out, their raw honesty making them one of my personal favourites on the line up. Combine this with the likes of Tonight Alive, SVPES and Memphis May Fire, and Slam Dunk 2017 is bound to be the perfect way to kick off your summer!

Tickets are extremely reasonably priced, at £44 or £49 with afterparty entry, so are perfect for that post-dissertation celebration — or just because honestly, why not?

While Slam Dunk South tickets have already sold out, tickets for Slam Dunk North, taking place in Leeds city centre, and Slam Dunk Midlands (for those of you going home to somewhere further down south for the summer) are still available.

Tickets can be purchased via Luna Tickets here.

Or, if having seen this line-up you already know that you’re going to struggle to see all the bands you want to see in just one day, you can get yourself a Slam Dunk Mega Ticket, which gives you access to all three dates across the weekend, plus after parties and a limited edition T-Shirt. Mega Tickets are available here.

Review: See No Evil — The Moors Murders

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

How do you get inside the minds of the horrific Moors Murderers? The two-part television series See No Evil does just that, giving us a chillingly accurate insight into the lives of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley during the time they kidnapped five children aged 10-17, savagely abusing them and burying the remains on the Saddleworth Moors in England between 1963 and 1965. The body of one victim, Keith Bennett, is thought to be up there and remains unfound to this day.

This production was fully backed by the families of the victims, based on extensive research, interviews and of course Hindley’s brother-in-law, David Smith (Matthew McNulty). If not for Smith, the missing children would probably have never been linked back to Brady (Sean Harris) and Hindley (Maxine Peake), each murder pulled off leaving no trail whatsoever.

Only after their confessions and the forensic analysis of the bodies did we find out their recurrent pattern for killing these children. The children were always alone, and always asked to help look for a lost glove of Myra’s. Ian would reportedly then proceed to rape and then strangle the child with a cord or a shoelace. We never see this happen, only through David’s time spent with Ian Brady do we start to see red flags that indicate Ian’s perversion and twisted mind.

In an attempt to include David into their secret, Myra and Ian arrange a live murder for David to witness. This is the only gruesome shot of the two episodes, in haunting red lighting Ian wields an axe fourteen times into his last victim, seventeen-year-old Edward Evans.

Keeping it together somehow, David does as he is told and helps clean up the mess. In the early hours of the morning he finally gets home, a total wreck, to his wife Maureen (Joanne Froggatt), through a mixture of heaving and sobbing from shock, he tells her everything.

Maureen coils at the idea that her own sister (Myra), that she knows so well, could be mentally capable of such things. Nevertheless, at the break of dawn the pair rush to the police station. This experience will destroy their lives forever, and is only the beginning of a painful “concatenation of circumstances”.

Once denounced, the trail of evidence comes together incredibly fast. The discovery of Evans’ body in Brady’s flat along with the axe. Soon followed a suitcase, containing tape recordings and photographs of the sexual abuse of missing ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey.

The sound is not heard and the photographs are not exposed, mercifully so, the sound of the tape recordings of 10-year-old victim Lesley Ann Downey and the obscene photographs taken of her would have been unnecessary to the depiction of the story. The mere knowledge of their existence is enough and was a card the director did well not to play.

David Smith is initially questioned by the police, as Brady and Hindley attempt to include him in the rape and murder of the children. Public opinion of Smith is that he is the third Moors Murderer, and this will follow him and Maureen for their entire lives.

Finally, Brady and Hindley are charged with three counts of murder and get life sentences. It is only in 1985 that Brady confessed to the killings of sixteen-year-old Pauline Reade and twelve-year-old Keith Bennett, of which only the body of Pauline was found in 1987 on Saddleworth Moor.

Ian Brady remains imprisoned today, in the high-security Ashworth mental hospital since being diagnosed as criminally insane in 1985. Recently, Brady remorselessly explained that his actions were simply in pursuit of the ‘existential experience’ of it all.

Intended for television in 2006 on the 40th anniversary of the pair’s conviction, this was a remarkable effort in bringing this unsettling story into the light once again. A very well cast, tasteful production that I recommend watching to anyone interested in true stories or the psyche of criminals.

Lift-Off Film Festival 2017 Review: Busking Turf Wars

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Busking Turf Wars was advertised as a traditional documentary surrounding the busking scene in Leeds. Five minutes in and sadly I was very unimpressed. It took me far longer than I would like to admit to realise that this was in fact a mockumentary, with clear influence from shows such as The Office. From that moment on my opinion changed entirely.

Steven Lockmoore is no ordinary busker. He doesn’t just sing to the onlookers, instead giving them an unforgettable experience. In one scene he regaled us with a tale from his past about someone coming up to him during a set. ‘What chord’s that?’ they said. His reply? ‘I don’t do chords mate’. In essence that is Steven Lockmoore. There is no rulebook, and if there was he would have written it anyway. All improvisation, all heart. This sets him apart from the mainstream buskers, and what endears him to the locals of Leeds.

Beneath the surface there are some real issues dealt with during the film. Of love true and love lost. Of friends and of foes. Ultimately though it’s one man’s struggle to get the recognition he deserves. Along the way he faces hardship, like working in a corner store to continue his long hours of busking. Even the greats had to pay rent. Heck even Madonna worked at Dunkin’ Donuts. Chasing your dreams is not easy, but Steven battles on regardless.

Suddenly a challenger enters the arena. Whilst there is no rulebook to busking, there is an unspoken code of conduct. One of the most disrespectful things one busker can do to another is steal his spot. This is what the challenger, who goes by the name Paul, does. However Steven will not give up, he has been busking too hard for too long to let some spineless wannabe take his rightful position. So they solve the dispute in the only way they know how, a busk off. Taking it in turns to play a song, whoever makes the most money wins the rights and ownership of the land. But when Steven’s dad makes a surprise appearance, the battle takes an unexpected turn.

Six months on, with a new haircut and a middle-management position at the store, Steven is a changed man. Sworn off busking, he says his life has changed for the better, that he is happy. That could not be further from the truth and regardless of how much he applies himself to the corner shop nothing can fill the guitar shaped hole in his heart. The old Steven is in there, he just needs to be released from the shackles of society. Then the cameraman informs him that Paul will be at Battle of the Buskers X, the tenth anniversary. Just like that, in a fashion that can only be described as Hulk-like, the shackles are shattered and Steven quits his job. His mind is clear, his goal is set. Win the competition, and more importantly, beat Paul.

After I understood the satirical nature of this film, I was hooked. The script was incredibly well-writtten, with none of the jokes falling flat or feeling forced, which is a problem many mockumentaries face.

Christy Coysh who plays in the leading role was sublime, captivating me about the intricacies of the Leeds busking scene, something that until I watched the film I did not know existed. His performance, coupled with the outstanding direction made this a film of considerable quality. One that I feel has immense replay value.

Live: Mallory Knox

Written by Hannah Brierley on . Posted in Music.

2nd of April at Portsmouth Pyramids

8.5/10

On an average Sunday night in Portsmouth I normally would have said there wasn’t much going on, nor would I have thought I would end up attending possibly one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Mallory Knox were preceded by two opening bands. Indie-rock band Fatherson, who brought the energy and set a high bar for the rest of the evening, certainly outshined the guitar-fronted Lonely The Brave, who disappointed with a mumbled set that was lost in a sea of sound. Credit where it’s due, though, to singer David Jakes, who brought a cup of tea and a kettle with him on stage. Who said rock and roll was dead?

Mallory Knox kicked off their set with gusto, starting with palpable forcefulness with ‘Giving It Up’ from their most recent album. They performed a range of tracks from the last four years of their career that oozed with confidence and coolness, reminding us that they know just how good hits like ‘Beggars’ and ‘Shout at the Moon’ really are. The crowd hung on every word and every lyric, bouncing along with the shredding guitars and rock anthems which reverberated through the venue.

Halfway through the evening, the band paused to have a classy shot before frontman Mikey Chapman delved into current affairs: “There’s always a new fascist crawling out of the crevices — Theresa May and Donald Trump, what the fuck is up with that?!”, he said, lamenting that our generation will have to pick up the pieces previous generations have left behind. This all flowed quite nicely into their next song, ‘Savior’.

The setlist was all very well thought out, moving effortlessly from song to song and consistently striking the right balance between calm and chaos. It was clear to see, though, that Mallory Knox have been on the road for a long time: vocals regularly cracked and big notes were missed. It’s lucky, then, that their passionate and explosive attitude just about made up for this sloppiness.

The encore finished the night with some of their biggest tracks to date, ‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Better Off Without You’, which got the whole crowd up on their feet and losing themselves in the music. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen Mallory Knox, but this incredible display will be the one that I remember.