Wow

I'm a little too excited about the fact that McFly are doing a gig in the town next to mine. It's the closet they're gonna get cos there's no where here. I must get tickets! I mean wow!

Oh how my blog has gone down hill now it's not for uni work. Ho hum!

Matt Willis LIVE!

Well i thought I may aswell carry on the pattern and talk Matt, again!

It's been just over a week since I went to see Matt at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and I've finally got around to writing about it!

All I can think to say is that it was fucking awesome! The crowd loved it and you can tell Matt was enjoying himself as much as we did! He looked so happy during "Luxury" when he let the crowd do the singing! I'd definitely go again if I had the chance, it was the best night I've had in ages!

He did all of the album, even the hidden track! And also his new track, "Crash" and Busted's "3am".

If anyone else went, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! I can't wait til next time!

Just a note

for anyone who cares! To say that i've been V busy of late, writing my dissertation. I shall hopefully start posting again when I have some more time!

Oh MCR's single is out today, I've ordered the picture discs :-)

Gigs

Well, next year is already shaping up nicely! I've got MCR tickets for 30th March, McFly tickets for 10th April (just, long story) and hopefully going to get Matt tickets for February tomorrow. Wahey!

That is all!

All hail King Matt!

So Matt Willis actually WON "I'm a celeb..."! I actually couldn't believe it when Ant and Dec announced it. I was shocked enough when Jason came third. In Matt's words, I'm "proper chuffed" for him!

I also can't believe what he did for the trial either. That was gross!

But congratulation MATT! Let's hope this will help get his album what it deserves.

No. 66?

Oh Matt why didn't you wait until after I'm A Celeb?. The album deserves soo much better.

Murder on the dance floor

Why would you do it? Why?

Someone's gone a done a dance version of truly madly deeply. The original only happens to be one of my all time favourite songs of all time. Now I don't know who'd covered it - some crappy dance artist - but I hate it. I actually can't get over it. Someone tell me why?

Why murder a perfectly amazing song by covering it? And turning it into a dance track? That is what I call murder on the dance floor!

Don't let it go to waste...

the name of Matt Willis' album, and also what I think about it. By that i mean that it deserves some credit because there's some bloody amazing songs on there. But no doubt it won't chart high due to lack of promo, despite him currently being on TV everynight. I don't understand why he's released it this week to be honest, he should have waited until a couple of weeks after "I'm a celeb..." finishes and got some promo in!

I'll do a little review at a later date!

Check it out! >

Is it just me or is Lil Chris' new video, Gettin' Enough, not hilarious?

Hilariously crap! I can't even understand what he's saying!

Oh one more thing; go back to school and learn how to spell!

Congratulations!

To Matt Willis for bungee jumping out of that helicopter. He looked so scared yet still did it. There's no way you'd even catch me anywhere near a helicopter. Haha

MCR - Bournemouth 11/11/06

So, this Saturday I travelled to Bournemouth to see MCR for the seventh time, and they never fail to please! The only thing that does disappoint me is how short their set always is!

The gig was in the weirdest venue ever, reminded me and my friends of a school sports hall! We got let in fairly early and waited for a while before the support band, Pray for Silence, came on. They pretty much sucked, but that's becaused I hate support bands. It's just not the same when you don't know the music! My Chemical Romance came on and we couldn't have been happier! They opened with The End, the first track from the new album. They did most of the new album, which were all great live, and a few songs of each of their other 2 albums. I hate that they don't do Head First for Halos anymore, cos that's amazing live! Gerard's English accent made an appearance again. That's the third time in as many shows I've had to cringe at it. Nice try but don't give up your day job Gerard!

So all in all, great night!


Mikey and Gerard Way.

Matt Willis fans...

Matt's album release has been put back again. It is now apparently being released on 4th December according to Matt's MySpace. But why I hear you ask!

Because he's going to be in this years series of "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" which starts on Monday.



Now that should be interesting!!

Motion in the Ocean

Just a short review of McFly's third album. I do like the album, but I'm not keen on the name!


We Are The Young - With a dramatic start, some great drumming and vocals, this song could make a future single I think.

Star Girl - The second single from this album, I loved it the minute I heard it. Good old McFly are back! Gotta love all the "Ooh ooh ooh ooooohs!"

Please, Please - Was the first single from the album, supposedly about Lindsey Lohan. Whoever it is or isn't about I like it

Sorry's Not Good Enough - Will always remind me of "Arena Karaoke" from the tour. All I can say is I love it!

Bubblewrap - Bit of a weird title but actually it's quite a nice ballad. Not one of their best though.

Transylvania - The beginning makes you wonder what the rest of the song is going to be like, and it does have some interesting vocals! But Dougie gets a nice little solo bit and he does well.

Lonely - I've read that some fans think this is slightly boring but I actually disagree. I think it's a good pop/rock ballad and the lyrics are really sweet, if not a little sad. Despite the intro sounding very similar to Obviously.

Little Joanna - A real sweet ballad with great vocals. And a few weird "Bum ba bums" on the end!

Friday Night - Slightly rockier than the rest of the album, Harry's drumming really stands out in this song. I don't know what it is but I really like this song.

Walk In The Sun - Acoustic sounding ballad. Not one of my faves on the album but I think it'll grow on me, it's good to relax to!

Home Is Where The Heart Is - Really good to sing along to, I'm glad they put this song on the album.

Oh, a couple more things; there's a "hidden track" which is just the live version of Silence Is A Scary Sound. Again. And it comes in a weird CD case with rounded edges that is kinds awkward to get into!

Welcome to the black parade...

My Chemical Romance have come a long way since I last blogged about them. They're currently at number one in the UK top 40 for the second week. And that is something that would not have happened this time last year. They also have an arena tour lined up for March next year. They're even being featured in The Sun. Who knows what could happen next!

To the point - "The Black Parade" is MCR's third album. It's a concept album about a guy called "The Patient" who is dying tragically young. And After hearing some of the tracks when they previewed them for the first time back in August at a gig I went to, I wasn't sure if I'd like it. But I do, very much!

At first play it sounds completely different to their last album, but then that album was different to the one before. But once you get into it there's no mistaking it's My Chemical Romance. My faves have to be "I don't love you", "House of wolves" and "Teenagers".

Can't wait to see more of it live on 11th November!

Next albums I'm planning to buy:
McFly - Motion in the Ocean (out 06.11.06)
Matt Willis - Matt Willis (out 20.11.06)

Apologies

Wow, I just realised that I never quite got around to finishing my last post all those months ago. Sorry about that. I was looking at my MySpace profile and saw I have the link to this blog up and figured I should really start updating.

So I'm back.

I probably won't post as much as I used to because I'm busy with my third year uni work and stuff, but I'll try to keep it going.

I think I might review the new MCR album I bought yesterday. But not now. Keep checking back.

More Matt

Hmmm, so no one replied to my last post, I guess no ones reading...but I'll carry on anyway becuase I've enjoyed it.

Yesterday I met Mr Matthew Willis (See proof above!) in Guildford. Farnham does have its advantages after all! Anyway, Matt's debut solo single Up All Night (which I believe i already mentioned) came out on Monday. And the extra tracks are prety good so here's a little review for you all:

Rock Ya, CD1.
Review to come

Can I Come Too, Limited Edition CD2.
Review to come

Overrated, Limited Edition CD2.
Review to come

"So long and goodnight..."

This could be my last post for a while, as it's my deadline tomorrow. But I'd be interested to know if anyone's reading my blog? And whether it'll me worth me carrying on, because I've enjoyed it.

I stumbled across this blog: music for robots, which I just want to mention quickly. It features reviews of new music. I like the way it incorporates news about the artist into the reviews. I also like the layout.

I also read an interesting post on Neil McIntosh's blog about how Myspace is a "click factory" and could benefit from some changes. I wonder if that'll ever happen...

This week i've mainly been listening to: My Chemicl Romance and Panic! At the Disco. I hadn't listened to MCR for a while but after seeing them on Saturday I remembered why I like them so much and have been listening to both their first album, I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love and their second album Three cheers for sweet revenge.

Oh, one thing I have to mention after seeing them somewhere earlier. What is with the Pussycat Dolls (or pussychav dolls as my housemate named them)? I really can't see the point of having a song that's just full of beeps! As for don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me or whatever it's called. It's one of those songs that I dislike when I first hear it, except the rest of the world loves it and it just gets played all the time like it's haunting me! And what's with the name anyway!?

Okay, rant over. Until next time...

Give it a Name!

Once again I've had a little break in posting, but don't worry because I've got a treat for you today:



Give it a Name 2006 review!

Now if you don't know what it is, it's an all day gig that took place In London and Manchester this weekend, I however only went yesterday to London.

If you're particularly interested, here's the full line up:

1.30 : TAINT
2.15 : THE HONORARY TITLE
2.45 : THE BLED
3.20 : PARAMORE
3.55 : UNDEROATH
4.30 : DRIVE BY
5.05 : PANIC! AT THE DISCO
5.40 : MEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN
6.15 : THRICE
6.50 : BILLY TALENT
7.25 : ATREYU
8.30 : THE ATARIS
9.30 : MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
10.30 FINISH!!!!!

There's a couple of bands in there that I hadn't heard of before and a couple that I'm not particularly a fan of so I didn't watch every single band.

The first band I watched were The Honorary Title, who I've admittedly never heard of before. They weren't too bad. Acoustic and quite indie sounding. I'd listen to their music when I'm relaxing.

I didn't watch The Bled, they're too screamo for me.

I did like Paramore. I think they're my type of music. They're the only band on the whole line up with a female lead singer. Their performance involved the audience clapping a lot but none the less was very enjoyable. I'm even thinking about getting their album, or "record" as they like to put it being American.

Underoath to be honest I can't remember because I was pretty much just waiting for Panic! at the Disco. Plus they were on the the main stage and I was a bit stuck in front of the smaller one.

That did mean I had a good view for Drive by when they came on. I quite like Drive by. I've seen them as a support act before but I don't usually take any notice of support bands! They're good live though, and the music's not band. Good old rock music, not too heavy and none of the screaming.

Next up: Panic! at the disco. They were on the main stage too and I couldn't quite manage to get in front of it. They were still great. They don't mess around though. No chit chat in between songs like most bands, they didn't introduce themselves until the last song! They don't sound a lot different to the album apart from a few lyric changes on the odd song. They seemed quite popular with the crowd as I could hear quite a few people singing along. Was good to see them so soon after becoming a fan.

Men women and children were, how shall I put it...interesting! Quite different to any of the other bands. My friend's a massive fan but I'm not sure. The most memorable part of their performance was the song in which they sing something like "We're monkey, monkey men and we really are your friends" to which the audience had to respond "We're monkeys, we're monkeys, we're monkeys". If you say so!

Sorry but I didn't watch Thrice, Billy Talent or Atreyu either.

We decided it'd be a good idea to get a good place during The Ataris. They seemed quite popular with the crowd. The security must have hated the lead singer though because he decided to jump off the stage and try and crowd surf.

Then finally, what I'd been waiting for all day. My Chemical Romance. They were everything I expected, and more. But their set wasn't very long, but I guess nor was any of the other bands. I'm a bit disappointed the didn't do Head first for Halos as it's amazing live. But I guess they were short on time. According to Gerard it was the first gig they'd done in 4 months but it seemed liked they'd never been away. The crowd seemed pretty happy. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a fan, they were the headliner. Definitely my fave act of the day. Didn't think much of Gerard's English accent though!

Oh, speaking of English accents, there wasn't one English band!

My Chemical Romance

I know they're not new to me but how could I not review one of my fave bands when I'm going to see them in just over a week!

Now, they're not everyone's cup of tea and normally they wouldn't be mine, but after I saw them live I was hooked. And I shall be seeing them for the fifth time next week. There's just something about them when they perform live. The lead singer Gerard, can have the crowd in the palm of his hands and they'll do anything he says. They always put on a good show and I can't wait.

Ok so that wasn't strictly a review but I had to get a mention in! If you haven't already, check them out.


Picture courtesy of MyChemicalRomance.co.uk

World at their feet?

I'm running out of people to review...or music that's new anyway. Who'd have thought it, there must be thousands of bands and artists out there! So I had a look around, and thought about what's in the news at the moment, and what did I come up with? Embrace's World Cup Anthem for England, World at your Feet.

Don't ask me why I think this but it does sound very much like a world cup song! Catchy, easy to sing a long to and I can imagine it being sung by thousands of football fans (the chorus at least). It's not something I would listen but it serves it's purpose. I read that it stands a chance of being Embrace's first UK number one single. Good luck to them. Even if it doesn't quite make it to number one, it's associated with England and the World Cup, so it's bound to do fairly well.

Fall Out Boy

Love them or hate them? My friend saw them as a support band a few years ago and couldn't stand them and since being at home this Easter my brother's been playing a few of their songs. But I can't make up my mind.

I've heard a few of their songs, and as I said my brother's been playing them and my boyfriend likes Dance Dance. I've gotta admit the music's catchy and as you may have guessed I'm a bit of a sucker for a catchy song. I must admit, I do like Sugar we're goin' down. Parts of it remind me of Panic! At The Disco, but I can't make out why. They have pop punk sound, similar to Good Charlotte with plenty of guitars and drums.

I don't know a lot about them but they have an almost sold out UK tour next month, so I guess that can't be bad?

Matt's back!

Recognise this guy? That's right, it's Matt Willis, former member of Busted. I know what you're all thinking, but Matt's back. Charlie Simpson has Fightstar, James Bourne has Son of Dork. And 16 months after Busted split, Matt's going solo. His first single, Up All Night is due out May 22nd.

It's slightly rockier than Busted, but I'd still call it pop. While it does have that Busted vibe about it, and no doubt anything they do is going to be compared, it has its own sound. The song suits Matt's voice. It's upbeat, catchy and yes, I like it. I think it has the potential to do quite well in the charts. But you never can tell these days.

I also happen to have heard another of Matt's songs. It's called Broken. I don't know if it'll be on his album or not. But it's a nice rock ballad with plenty of soft guitars and a good drum beat. It's a beautiful song, if not a little sad. I'm definitely a fan.

And guess what? Matt's got himself a MySapce page. Take a look to hear clips of a few of his tracks.

Picture taken from Matt Willis' MySpace page.

Where's the pleasure with you?

Firstly, apologies for the break in posting. I've had a very busy week and haven't had a chance to get online. But now I'm back and I'm going to make up for it. Shall we say a review every day this week? I'll see what I can do.

So, I said I was going to try and find new music via the internet and so far I've used internet music shops to buy CDs, I've used MySpace and band websites and also websites that create "radio stations" with music you like.

Any other ways I can find music? Good old word of mouth! A friend of mine has been recommending Protocol to me and pretty much anyone who'll listen for months. And its worked. I've heard a bit of their single, Where's the pleasure, and have been meaning to check out more of their music for a while. So that's what I did. I popped over to their official website for a listen.

The first song I listen to was Where's the pleasure, which is one of those songs: once you listen to it, you can't get it out of your head! The beginning sounds a bit like Franz Ferdinand, but once the vocals kick in, it has a unique sound. The vocals are very distinctive, especially the chorus line "Where's the pleasure with you?" The tune is also extremely catchy.

I had a bit of a problem getting the music to play on the website so I went to their page on faithful MySpace. There I listened to a remix of Love is my drug. It starts off quite dancey, but I guess that's the remix? Again it was quite catchy once the vocals started. It sounds like something I've heard before but I can't quite think what. Not sure what genre I'd put them into but it's quite poppy. The sound of the vocals make their songs quite unique and the songs are catchy, the type that makes you want to dance.

Favourite song I listened to: Deborah: Fast and catchy with a good beat.


Picture courtesy of: www.myspace.com/protocol

McIntosh and Murdoch

My Online Journalism class had the pleasure of a visit from the Deputy Editor of Guardian Unlimited, Neil McIntosh this week. I found it really interesting to hear from someone who works in the business, and has his own blog.

He talked to us about podcasts. I didn't know a lot about podcasts until he spoke to us. Guardian Unlimited not long along launched their own podcasts and they're planning something special around the time of the world cup. He also happened to mention that a certain tabloid newspaper once recorded one of their podcasts in a loo!

One other thing I found particularly interesting, as a regular user of the site, was what he said about MySpace. He said that he has no idea why Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace, as he doesn't think he'll make any money out of it. I did wonder what Murdoch would want with MySpace.

Crazy!

Something happened this Sunday that has never happened before. The song that went to number one wasn't even in the shops yet. Yes that's right, it went to number one the day before the CD was avaliable to buy, so it got there purely by the amount of downloads.

I first read about this last Thursday then I saw a report aboit it on BBC news the same night. And I've got to say I've never heard of Gnarls Barkley, or heard the song, Crazy, before that day. And I can't say I particularly like it either.

This is a pretty major thing for the music business though.

So is this proof that downloading is becoming more popular than actually going out and buying a CD? Only time will tell...