Concert Review: 5 Seconds of Summer in Hamburg, May 26th 2016

Last time I opened this blog to type a live review was over a year ago and it was for the same band like it is today. Kinda ironic, isn't it? It's not like I haven't seen any artist ever since, but none of them gave me this itchy feeling of sitting down and putting my thoughts into words. I'm actually typing this on my phone right now because I still have an hour to kill before my plane is taking off. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, maybe I just need to get back into this whole blogging thing.

Anyway, let's get to the important part. We had Soundcheck tickets, which means the following: we received a laminate and a wristband which turned us into VIPs (such important you have no idea), we also got an early entrance to the arena and a few more minutes with the boys. 

Once everyone had their assigned seat, 5sos came on stage and played Long Way Home. The performance was followed by a Q&A session which contained a few interesting moments. For example, Calum would study to become a teacher (PE and music) if the band didn't exist, Ashton wants 15 kids (I fully support this wish), and they don't want to continue this insane touring schedule because it makes them "lose touch to real life" according to Calum. Then they played If You Don't Know for us, and that was it. Long story short: Think twice about getting Soundcheck tickets, kids - it might be sold as an "intimate experience" but I still haven't figured out what's so intimate about being in a room with 150 others and the band. Maybe in the big scope it is intimate, maybe not.
After soundcheck, we were guided outside and had to go and find our seats. I'm not the biggest fan of sitting at a concert, but this time it was pretty convenient. No holding your bladder because you actually had to pee pretty bad, no pushing through the crowd and no aching feet from standing so much (my feet did ache a little because I was smart enough to wear high heeled boots, cheers to me). 
Don Broco got this party started big times - I only knew their name, but it took them just one song to convince me of their talent. These dudes have energy, catchy tunes and just the right pinch of heaviness to make listening exciting. I recommend y'all to have a listen, it'll be worth it. 

Something everyone in the 5sos fandom is very used to is them being late to everything. They were already late to soundcheck so I was slightly surprised when they came on stage on time. I'm not so surprised anymore now that I know that they wanted to see AC/DC play next door - from superstars to fanboys real quick. 
For an intro, they split their song Outer Space/Carry On and used Carry On to kick the show off. Luckily, they then played my least favourite songs right afterwards so we got these out of the way pretty quickly (Hey Everybody and Money) and moved on to Voodoo Doll and Don't Stop. These two songs took me right back to last year, however it was interesting to hear how the boys developed vocally. They try different things now to make the songs sound different from the album versions and that's pretty cool. 
One of the songs that made me look like the heart-eyes emoji was Waste the Night, one of my favourites ever since the album came out. Luke's voice has this sound that makes me want to burst sometimes because it goes so deep and creates this warm feeling in my stomach, you know? With songs like Waste The Night it's like coming home after a long day and knowing that things will be okay. The next song, however, literally rips me open and all my deepest thoughts and fears and worries spill out, and it seems to have the same effect on Michael. When Jet Black Heart was on, he was the only one on stage at first. I told myself it would be cool because I'm a tough girl who can't be messed up by a damn song. Yeah, that worked until Michael had tears in his eyes and tried to sing. When his voice broke so did I. In this moment he was so vulnerable in front of thousands of people, and that's something I haven't witnessed before. The crowd supported him by singing the words for him, in this moment everyone was so with him and it was just beautiful. I'm damn thankful I got to experience this. To cheer things up again, they played If You Don't Know right afterwards. That was sarcasm, sorry. They fully killed me with this one because I've longed to hear it live ever since I got into their music. They did it, I shed a few tears, all is well. You can find the full setlist [here], to finish this way too long review I quickly want to remark that I missed the interaction with the crowd - it's cool to ask how we're doing once, maybe twice, but asking every 10 minutes is boring and rushing through the set ain't cool. Ashton saved it with his speech on how it's his dream to fill football stadiums like AC/DC did across the street, and with She Looks So Perfect the night was over and the boys ran to catch the last two songs of their fellow Australians. 
All in all it was a fantastic night, I had loads of fun and walked through every emotion you can imagine. 5 Seconds of Summer are an incredibly talented band, and I hope I'll be there when they actually fill football stadiums.

Album of the Week: Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby

Y'all probably thought I'm dead or something, but I just had a few crazy months. I really hope that I'm back on track now, so maybe I'll finally get to catch up on all the reviews. The records are literally piling up on my desk, it's ridiculous.

The first album I'd like to discuss today is Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez. It was released on August 14th and features 16 songs. The title of each song refers to something you definitely know from your childhood, e.g. Sippy Cup or Play Date or Teddy Bear. However, the themes aren't really about childhoods, but rather about problems you face as an adult.
Song number one immediately names the album and talks about the struggle of keeping friends while dealing with inner struggles. Do you know what it feels like to see one person after the other leave you? Maybe you're different than them for whatever reason, they don't understand your mindset, but you tell yourself it's not you it's them. Maybe you cry a lot and they see it as some sort of weakness when it's not, sometimes "your heart's too big for your body, it's where your feelings hide. They're pouring out where everyone can see." None of that matters though because sooner or later you'll find someone who looks at you and will see themselves because no matter how different you think you are, there's always someone who will understand.
This album is fucking real, excuse my language, but it's true. Dollhouse is only the second song, but it talks about the picture perfect family which is a damn mess behind the curtains. All of us know this one family that looks totally perfect on the outside, but none of us know what happens inside their four walls. We don't see the cheating husband or the son who's addicted to drugs. the mother who drinks, we don't see how desperately this family tries to hold everything together for the sake of not showing what's really going on. So next time you want to talk bad about that family, think of that they could possibly have to deal with.
Melanie goes on wrapping real lyrics into a relaxed tune, but don't let yourself just enjoy the sound - pay attention to these lyrics because they're extremely important and will definitely make you think.
Carousel is about love that doesn't work. She clearly says that "it's all fun and games until somebody falls in love" because that's when things become complicated, sometimes they even turn into a freak show. If it's unrequited love you spend way too much time chasing the person and it's like a fairytale because it's not real. 
Personally, I find Soap pretty interesting because Melanie uses a bath tub as a metaphor for herself and her actions: never say too much because otherwise the tub overflows (like her emotions?), and again it's about love  but this time it kills you because you "threw a toaster in the bathtub."
Training Wheels is for those of us who always want to be safe, the ones who always go the safe way. No risks, no crazy things. If you use your training wheels all your life, you'll never know how much you would have been capable of without them, you see? So take them off, listen to this song and let them go because someone will always be around and carrying band-aids in case you fall and hurt your skin.
Pity Party is one that hit me on a personal level because I'm the kind of person who tries not to drown in self-pity no matter what. In fact, I'm the kind of person who rather bottles my emotions up until I explode. This song is an anthem for people who embrace their sadness and throw a pity party for themselves - when the party is over, they move on. 
Tag, You're It deals with the topic of sexual assault, and through this song the atmosphere of the album changes. What used to sound like cotton candy tastes, is now dark and creepy - the experiences shaped the protagonist (let's just call them that) in a form that they do not care about boundaries or pretty much anything anymore, for example Pacify Her is about ruining someone's relationship because "You don’t love her, stop lying with those words."
Mrs. Potato Head covers the issue of unrealistic beauty standards of today's society. I'm sure you're all aware of the mentality that you only live a fulfilling life if you wear a certain size and your face looks a certain way because "no one will love you if you're unattractive" 
Remember how the protagonist was chasing their love in Carousel? Well, they gave that up pretty quickly: In Play Date there's a line that goes like this: "I'm tired of always chasing, chasing after you. I don't give a fuck about you anyways, whoever said I gave a shit about you?" You can now see the development I was referring to.
Teddy Bear picks up the subject of domestic violence: in many cases, the relationship is all great and lovely and the partner is like a teddy bear until they change into this aggressive person - "You were comforting and quiet, how did love become so violent?"
Most victims can't do anything about their situation because they're paralyzed and don't know what to do. However, if they find the courage to kick their partner out the way the protagonist of this song does, the violence doesn't stop. It shows up through phone calls and stalking and physological terror. 

All in all, Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez is an album everybody should listen to no matter what genre you usually like. This review focused mainly on lyrics, but as you can see the lyrics of this album are extremely important and socially aware which is rather rare these days. Melanie is a damn talented songwriter, singer and her music is absolutely honest. There's no sugarcoating of anything that goes wrong in our society - this woman keeps things real, so I feel like it's my duty to force everyone I know to listen to this album and to give this woman all the support. 

Album of the Week: One Direction - Four

One Direction were still five members when they released their current album Four; now they're four members doing the wild job of touring to promote this album.
The first song on the record is also the first single of the new album: “Steal My Girl” comes along with a catchy tune and typical boyband lyrics about this special girl they want to keep because “she belongs to [them].” Can somebody please tell them that girls don't belong to anybody but themselves?
Steal My Girl seems to be the exception though because song number two, “Ready To Run”, immediately convinces with grown-up lyrics and it shines through that One Direction have distanced themselves from their past sound. Ready To Run already foreshadows what to expect.
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” is a legit question, but unfortunately they don't know the answer either. What's interesting is that by now, they don't explicitly sing about girls anymore, but they use the neutral pronoun “you”.
One Direction have made “a long way from the playground” in a very short period of time, they've matured a lot since Midnight Memories, and “18” is only another way to prove that. This track is different from past songs because it's not the boy chases girl because she's so pretty anymore; this track talks about deep emotions that have grown for a while now, it talks about making mistakes and learning from them, it talks about how to love means to try.
Song number five has to be my favourite one ever: “Girl Almighty” quickly became the anthem for girls all over the world; there's just something about this song that boosts my confidence. Maybe it's Liam singing “I get down on my knees for you” because that's exactly how girls should be celebrated.
The atmosphere is becoming thoughtful again when “Fool's Gold” kicks in and we're back at deep lyrics. This song is for those who were betrayed, who have this one person in their life who keeps playing with them but they aren't able to leave. It's for those who know that their relationship won't go anywhere, but they still hold on tight.
This album is a rollercoaster: from sad and deep songs you're pushed to up tempo tracks like “No Control”: certainly there's nothing sad about someone telling you that they're “waking up beside you, I'm a loaded gun” and that they're all yours and got no control. This song is probably the farthest away from the cliché boyband material people still associate One Direction with, what makes it even more important than it already is.
With “Fireproof” the relaxed tunes are back with harmonies that are on point, and “Spaces” follows this with lots of phrases that could keep you up all night evaluating your own life. In light of recent events, the question of “Who's gonna be the first to say good bye” can be answered with Zayn, and the rest is dealt with in secret. Obviously, the spaces between Zayn and his life as a famous band member kept getting deeper until he couldn't do it anymore. The question for their management would be “Will we ever learn? When will we learn?” because it's only logic that something like this was going to happen when the band never gets a proper break.
The last song on the album is also the one that's the most fun: “Act My Age” has this Irish vibe as it tells the story of somebody who still enjoys their life even when they're “fat and old.” It also perfectly shows that One Direction take their job seriously, but they can take a step back as well and laugh about themselves.
All in all, Four is the best album One Direction have relased so far. It's the perfect prove to show how much these boys have grown and matured during their five years as a band. They've reached the point where they can make the music they like which is an important step in their career, whether they're four or five members.

Album Of The Week: 5 Seconds Of Summer & their self-titled

To be honest this isn't just my album of this week, it's been my album of every week since it's been released, which was on June 27th (sidenote: I had to look the date up and it slightly shocked me because it feels like the album just dropped two days ago).
It also slightly annoys me how people mock this band just because they're four teenage boys who are currently opening for One Direction. First: Who cares and second: why does that bother you so much? I could rant about this for the next ten years, so let's move on to the actual album.

The band's most popular song, She Looks So Perfect, opens the record with a nice riff and  the story of a girl wearing American Apparel underwear - the lyrics might not be the deepest you'll ever come across, but it's most likely not the goal of this song to make you question all of your life choices.

Don't Stop, song number two, picks up the atmosphere of SLSP and convinces with catchy tunes and a good mood. 

Apologies to whoever cares, but I usually skip song munber three: Good Girls. I'm just not really feeling the sound of it and the story behind it doesn't really impress me either (I mean, good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught might be an existing thing, but in my opinion it's not something that delivers a good base for a song.)

What I'm extremely happy about is the fact that Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low helped the boys with a few songs (if you want to play a game called "guess the Alex songs", I highly encourage you to do so, you'll definitely hear it): Kiss Me Kiss Me is one of them. I don't know what it is, but Alex has this musical fingerprint so to speak which he leaves in every song he writes, and he didn't miss this one either. It kind of reminds me of All Time Low's Nothing Personal era.

When I first got into 5sos, I already knew they were probably young (aka younger than me), but I hadn't expected their vocalist to be 17 (he's 18 in the meantime, but still), and their oldest member is their drummer who's 20 now. Obviously this age thing brings a few difficulties sometimes, so the boys wrote a song about it: 18. I don't think I have to say much about this one, just pay some attention to the lyrics and you'll see the difficulties I'm talking about.
After a handful of rather fast and loud songs, the guys show that they can be quiet as well: Everything I Didn't Say and Beside You deal with the flip side of being a touring musician. I can only imagine what it feels like to drop off your special one at the airport and let him travel the world while you sit at home and wait for him (mad respect for all the couples who actually manage this).
End Up Here puts an end to the sad mood: it's fast, it's catchy and it contains fantastic vocals. The story behind it makes me chuckle every single time because it's basically about the loser boy who gets to be with the fantastic girl who is so out of his league that his friends suggest he should lock her down before she can run. I'm pretty sure that it's the other way around in the meanwhile.
Another Alex-song is coming up and I definitely see and hear All Time Low perform this one as well: Long Way Home comes with a mental music video right away (at least I immediately see a couple driving around aimlessly for hours just so they can be together. So, if anybody connected to 5sos is reading this right now, I'll gladly play a role in this video if you ever decide to make one). 

Heartbreak Girl was the very first song of 5sos I ever heard and it's one of my favourites ever since. I'm not gonna start a feminist rant about the ridiculous concept of being "friendzoned" now, so let's just say that the song is good regardless of the topic.

English Love Affair might be the song that made the fandom speculate the most. Who is this English love affair? And who is the lucky boy who got involved? I heard a few rumours concerning these questions, but I won't discuss them here. If you'd like to share your opinions, hit me up!

Their current single Amnesia was written by the Madden brothers and I just love it. Y'all know that I'm a sucker for acoustic songs, so this song is super important. Both Luke and Calum are really talented vocalists, and I think their voices can shine even more than usual in this song (another sidenote: Michael and Ashton have amazing voices as well and sometimes it makes me sad that they don't get to sing more often).

Michael does some vocals in Social Casualty but this one and the next song (Never Be) are unfortunately filed under: songs I skip. I don't know what's my problem with Social Casualty, but Never Be is too slow for my taste, it lacks a little energy. The chorus is amazing actually, but I'm not feeling the rest.

However, Voodoo Doll is one of my favourites as well. When I got into this band it was like this: my best friend introduced me to them, I had no idea who was who and kept mixing up Luke and Ashton, I listened to Out Of My Limit and I was sold. Since then I feel like there's some higher force keeping me here even though I sometimes wish I didn't know them (my bank account would definitely be happier).

Kudos to you if you read all of this, but I just really like this album, so I thought every song deserved a little something. In all honesty, it makes me angry when people are all mean and mock this band because this is their first full-length album and it's already pretty amazing, so I'm quite excited to see where this whole thing is going. Also it's lame to say that only teenage girls enjoy this album because boys can like this just as much and it's not very punk rock to keep yourself from listening to a certain band because some people associate them with One Direction.

Album Of The Week: This Wild Life - Clouded

Don't judge a book by its cover. I never used this proverb in a serious context, but when you talk about This Wild Life, it's pretty accurate. Kevin and Anthony look like the perfect example for hardcore guys with hardcore tunes, but as soon as you press play and actually expect some heavy sounds, you'll be quite surprised.
This Wild Life only need guitars and Kevin's voice to convince you, and they only needed one song from Clouded to convince me: Concrete went straight to my mind and has been staying there ever since. No More Bad Days slowly has been developing into my life motto lately because Kevin is right when he sings "no more bad days for you my dear". Maybe it'll work, maybe not (I shall give this experiment a try and will report the results!). Apart from uplifting lyrics, Kevin's vocals feel like you're being wrapped in a warm blanket after a stupid day, especially in History, Roots And Branches or Better With You. 
This Wild Life give you the perfect soundtrack for rainy days, for stressful days, for days when you have to take a step back from all the metalcore you've been listening to for weeks (I certainly enjoy some calmer tunes from time to time).
Looking Back is one of my favourite songs on the record, simply because of its lyrics. It reminds me a lot of my own story when it's about taking two steps forward and three steps back, or when it's about this thing called life getting harder every year. It's not a negative song at all though because "it's gotta get easier from here, I had to learn to life without looking back" and I personally think that's one of the most important aspects of life. No matter what happened, don't look back. I also share the last part of the song where it says: "One thing I've learned is that good things will not fall in my lap. I had to work harder and longer, be smarter and stronger than the person right beside me. Have the confidence and common sense to know there's still something inside me. I gave my very best, with the purest intent and I'll be proud when I look back."

This Wild Life are such an important band, and I really hope they'll be more and more successful during the next few years. I appreciate these songs so much because they're so passionate and pure and honest.

Album Of The Week: Hands Like Houses - Unimagine

Hello and happy Sunday my fellow music lovers! I recently started reading the Divergent series (I'll probably review it in a video soon), which makes me forget everything. When I mean everything, food is included, so I almost forgot to upload a review today. Last night I got the new Punk Goes 90's, on which I found a band called Hands Like Houses. They covered Torn, originally by Natalia Imbruglia, and it was the only song on this album I actually liked, so I proceeded to have a closer listen to them. Due to this, I discovered Unimagine, the band's current album, which I'll talk about in this post.

I haven't listened to Hands Like Houses before, so I only had a slight idea of what to expect. I was honestly prepared for some breakdowns and screaming, but nothing like that happened. In fact, I got some new, refreshing rock songs.

I really like the dramatic touch with which Developments kicks off the record. It actually inspires me a lot for the stories I write, and I'm very thankful for that.
The first line of the second song Introduced Species is something I thought to myself a million times during the last few years. I never had a place where I had the feeling that I belonged, that I could be the way I was, until I stumbled into this part of the music scene. I haven't met a single person who shares my taste in music and judges me for my looks or my "depression" or whatever people judge me for, I stopped caring a while ago, thanks to this music. 

What I really like about Hands Like Houses is the energy they convey, and how this energy makes me feel like there's nothing I couldn't do, for example in Shapeshifters, when he sings "We will be unbreakable!"
With Oceandust, the band shows that they can be quiet and sensitive as well. The drums and any electric instruments leave and are replaced by a piano and acoustic guitars during the biggest part of the song, but Oceandust still possesses a tiny rock part when an e-guitar appears for a couple of seconds. 

The last four songs on Unimagine form a great ending of a brilliant record. The very last song, A Fire On A Hill, closes the record and if you weren't fully convinced of this band and their work until this point, you will like them after the last tune faded. 

NEW RELEASE: A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy

It's here! The long awaited album of the five-piece hardcore/metalcore band from Florida was released almost a week ago and proved the whole music industry that A Day To Remember know how to make music and how to surprise people. First of all it's important to say that Common Courtesy is self-released because the band has some serious trouble with their (ex-) record label Victory Records (yes, this is a hint for all of you to go and buy this record in order to show your support).

Common Courtesy only hits a small part of my expectations and that's something I'm very happy about. I thought it would be just like What Separates Me From You but I couldn't have been wronger. In fact, it's fresh, it's energetic and it brings out all the great aspects of every band member, especially of Jeremy. It's really good to see (or hear) how there's a perfect mix of aggressive hardcore sounds (for example in Violence) and slower songs which even contain acoustic guitars (for example I'm Already Gone). It's also very good to hear how Jeremy performs the clean vocals, for example in I Surrender. It doesn't really sound like the A Day To Remember we all know but most changes are for good because they show how a band develops and improves and that's definitely something they did. 
My favourite song on the album is I Remember and I suggest every band to do a song like this one. Why? Because it's a great way for the band to share their craziest, best, most memorable experiences of their life in a band with us fans. We're all interested in these stories! There's this part at the end of the song where they talk about how they saw snow for the very first time and when I heard that I was a little confused until I realised that not everybody is used to snow like we Europeans are. It's just so great to hear these stories because band guys experience so much on their way around the world!

All in all, Common Courtesy turned out to be my favourite album of A Day To Remember ever and it's ranked very high on my list of albums released in 2013. All the hard work the band put into this record was definitely worth it.

New Discovery: Those Who Seek

Between all the preparation for university and writing for The Wellz Street Journal, I sometimes forget that I have a blog to run, too. In other news: Sorry for the lack of posts, it shall get better soon! 

Today I got some free music by a band from Manchester, UK called Those Who Seek. They released their debut EP Because Really, We're Just Animals on July 12th 2013 and will tour the UK this month (so, if you can go to see them, do it!)

Those Who Seek classify themselves as "progressive heavy pop punk" band what couldn't be more accurate. The record contains breakdowns and screaming (e.g. in Look To The Skies), acoustic guitars and clean vocals. It offers passion, emotions, stories and experiences we all have to make sooner or later, for example in Run From Me. It's a pity that there are only four songs on the record, I'd love to hear more! 

Now it's your turn: go listen to Because Really, We're Just Animals on bandcamp and give the band a like on facebook!

Thanks for the music, guys!

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New Discovery: Double Lined Minority

Today I've got something for the lovers of pop punk: Double Lined Minority from Gold Coast, Australia. Founded in 2009, the four guys released their debut EP "Calling All Liars" on June 18th 2013 and I highly recommend you go check it out. 

The record kicks off with Stop Me, a song which already makes you want to mosh around your room because it has everything a good song of this genre needs. 

Song number two, I Hate This Song And So Should You, could easily be by Fall Out Boy before they came back to save Rock and Roll (and I'm not just saying that because of the title). I like how catchy it is and Eddie, Double Lined Minority's vocalist, has a very pleasant voice which fits perfectly with the sound of the band's music. 

Loved, song number three, is my favourite on the whole album. It contains some very accurate lyrics combined with an amazing guitar part at the end, and who doesn't "just wanna be loved"?

The next song has the most accurate title ever: Facebook Likes Don't Make You Famous (I'd suggest the band gets this printed on shirts and adds them to their merch, I'd wear one!)
Smoke And Mirrors is the end of a promising record. Double Lined Minority definitely is a talented band with much to come in the future and "Calling All Liars" is just the beginning of something great!

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Concert Review: letlive., Night Verses & The American Scene in Stuttgart

There are two things I still think about a few days after the concert: 1) Why did Douglas (vocalist in Night Verses) wear a rain coat on stage? (Douglas if you're reading this right now, you can probably give me an answer) and 2) Does Jason Butler count his bruises after a show? 

I arrived at the venue early because I didn't want to be late for the interview with Night Verses but in the end the guys were late because they were looking for a Starbucks - a mission which failed tragically. Anyway, when they came back with coffee, they took me downstairs to a room where the interview took place - on a billiard table.
You definitely have to check out Night Verses because they're the nicest people I ever worked with. They managed to take away all of my nervosity and actually they deserve an award for that because on a scale of 1-10 my nervosity before the interview was at 25. I didn't even worry about my english anymore. 

The venue itself was pretty small, there were no barricades so I stood right in front of the stage. 

The American Scene opened the show with a solid performance. They sound like a mix of Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, I liked how concentrated they were even though their setlist didn't fully convince me. They played a few slower songs which sounded great but I don't think they helped to increase the atmosphere in the crowd. I was hoping for more kick-ass songs.

I was so busy listening to The American Scene while taking notes that I didn't realise that Jason from letlive. stood right next to me during most of their set. However, when I noticed him, I didn't have the guts to ask for a picture or autograph (Yes I can be shy sometimes!)

Night Verses were up next and let me tell you, they tore the place apart. I literally got to shower in Douglas' sweat (why didn't you take that jacket off??), he almost kicked me in the face, things got intense up there and the crowd started to fill the space in front of the stage. The whole band gave their everything and watching them was simply amazing. I definitely have to get their current album Lift Your Existence soon and I'm very excited for new material!

Finally letlive. were on and things got totally mental. The first thing I noticed was Jason's beard, I mean how could you not. I'm not the biggest fan of beards but damn, he can definitely wear it. 

There were around 200 people there what doesn't sound like a huge crowd but nevertheless there was a mosh pit and a circle pit and both almost pushed me on stage while Jason stumbled around on it - I didn't count how many times he fell on the floor but there were moments when I wondered if he was okay or if he hurt himself. I also wondered if it stopped being common sense not to put your empty beer bottles on stage but that's another story.

I had enough time to think about their performance and I came to the conclusion that Jason Butler is an artist through and through. The whole show was a reflection of the dedication and passion and energy he puts into music. It was more than obvious that he breathes and lives music. I dealt with their songs long before I attended the concert, but I wasn't aware of the real intensity of every single track. I only realised how honest and serious they are when I saw Jason perform them. He almost started to cry when he told us how thankful he was for every single person who came out to see them because he thought nobody gave a shit about his stuff. Jason, here's a message just for you: There are people who give a shit about your music, there are people who appreciate and understand your lyrics because they know how you feel, me included. I'm so happy that I got the chance to see letlive. live because they're one of the most special bands I've ever seen. 

If you ever get the chance to see Night Verses or Letlive., go and take that chance, you definitely won't regret it! 

PS: I'm really, deeply sorry for the crappy pics but I can't afford a proper camera (hit me up if you're cool with donating to a poor student). 

Four Year Strong - In Some Way, Shape Or Form

First of all I have to thank Andy for keeping this blog alive while I struggle with the worst writer's block ever. I should probably bake him a cake or something.
On a brighter note: I'll see letlive. tomorrow and I'll have an interview with Night Verses so you can expect a long concert review, blurry pics and my weird accent. If you'll see me there, don't hesitate to say hi! In the meantime you can read about some "hairy hillbillies from Massachusetts".

by Andy

My first thought about the last recent album by Four Year Strong was that it has a pretty cool album cover showing a bunch of things, all in “some way, shape or form”. I was highly excited for the album, since 2009's “Enemy Of The World” was such a huge deal in the melodic hardcore scene. The album “In Some Way Shape Or Form” was released in November 2011 and is the most recent album of the hairy hillbillies from Massachusetts. God, I love their beards.

First of all, the sound is much different than in the previous albums “Rise Or Die Trying” and “Enemy Of The World”. Before they started working on their new album, the band announced the departure of keyboarder Josh Lyford and that the album would have no synthesizers in it. The guys kept word - there are truely no synthesizers in the album, which affected the record to have a stronger “hard rock” side. It's understandable that they wanted to develop their style in a more mature way, but I liked the old style slightly more.
Furthermore, the drums are kinda weak if you compare them to the drums in “Enemy Of The World”. I don't know why they did this, if they wanted to get a more mature sound it would have been better to add some kick-ass-doublebass drums. Drums are mostly overrated in music scene, look for example at Avenged Sevenfolds new album. Lame Drums really cut the quality of an album.
What and how Dan and Allen are singing in “Some Way, Shape Or Form” is just heaven. Four Year Strong always had and still have great lyrics touching your heart. They're writing about life, bad and good things happening and feelings everyone has. Maybe it's just me but I also think their voices improved due to all the touring in the last years.
The songs on the record are slower, the shocking breakdowns are less, the riffs are not as freaky as in previous pieces. They are more radio-rock like and even some fans started to call the band “Foo Years Strong” (You know the Foo Fighters, right?).
Nevertheless I think the album is a piece of decent music, the songs “Just Drive” and “The Middle” even made it in my list of favorite FYS songs. I always prefered Four Year Strong over A Day To Remember, so that pretty much says it all about the quality of the guys in lumberjack shirts.
God, I love those beards.

Rating: 7/10

Songs for listening: The Middle, Just Drive

For folks who like: A Day To Remember, The Story So Far

Zebrahead - Call Your Friends

by Andy

Zebrahead's new album came out 4 weeks ago. Since I put it in my car it was kind of stuck in the car stereo, so I had to listen to it. Driving without music is too boring, so what else could I do?

The album kicks off with a classic speed up song. “Sirens” is the perfect intro song for the album. Just after this first impression I already wanted to make love with the album. But it was stuck in my stereo! And...ehm...back to business.
The next 2 songs do have amazing titles for sure: "I'm Just Here For The Free Beer” and “With Friends Like These, Who Needs Herpes?“ are also very good pieces, you've got to listen to the intro of the second one, it's the best intro of the album and Zebrahead are gods in making intros.
“Call your Friends”, the title song of the album, is a pure party song. It's perfect for drinking games (Jesus, I really approve of that) and has a funny music video featuring 2 porn stars. At least that's how they look.
“Public Enemy Number One” is one of my favorite songs of “Call your Friends”. It's a little bit harder than the other songs. Again the intro is just perfect and the guitar riffs could easily appaer in a “Bullet For my Valentine” song. I also like the line “It sucks to be you, it sucks to be you, no matter what you do.”
While “Born to lose”, a song about not beeing accepted the way you are, is doing a pretty good job, “Stick 'Em Up Kid”, “Automatic”, “Nerd Armor” and “Don't Believe The Hype” are too exchangeable. Don't get me wrong, those are good songs, but you listen to them and ten minutes later you can't remember the chorus.
“Until The Sun Comes Up” is a song for long summer nights and partying at the beach (“Don’t wait up for us, ’cause we ain’t coming home ’til the sun comes up” … “have the time of our lives, never take it slow, so tonight gonna live, gonna let it go” ).
What excites me the most about Zebrahead is that they work so well, it's just great how Ali Tabatabaee's rap parts and the singing of Matty Lewis are so different but together they complete each other perfectly. The guitar parts are stronger than in the other albums, I think the reason for that is new guitarist Dan Palmer. The bass parts are cool and catchy and the drums really fit to every song.
The only weakness of the album is that too many songs are too exchangeable, what I miss are some hit songs which you can't get out of your head. Also they could have used less “Whoaaa wohooo” singing parts, I do like thid 90's style but they really took it too far.
If you compare “Call your Friends” to recent albums of the scene, the album is a 9/10, it's an impulsive album and Zebrahead really stayed true to themselves, and thats what I really, really appreciate.

Rating: 8/10

Songs for listening: Sirens, Call Your Friends, With Friends Like These Who Needs Herpes ?, Public Enemy Numer One

For folks who like: Sum 41, New Found Glory

COMING SOON: Tonight Alive - The Other Side

[I know I posted this before but it wasn't official back then so now you get it again.]

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the team of The Wellz Street Journal got the chance to preview the new album of Tonight Alive which will be released on September 9th and I got the honour to say a few words about it.

While listening to “The Other Side” for the first time, it was clear that the five-piece band with front woman Jenna McDougall matured a lot. They sound determined and more passionate than ever, they have something to say and they want the whole world to hear it.

“It talks about challenges and experiences that we’ve never covered before – it’s a whole new spin for us lyrically and musically it has so more direction than we’ve ever had before. It’s definitely rockier and it’s even more confident than What Are You So Scared Of?”, explained Jenna when she talked about the record and told the story of how The Other Side emerged: “The first track that we wrote for The Other Side was penned in Jakarta, Indonesia whilst we were on tour, the rest of the album was written on tour too and we’d spent so long on the road that we decided to go back to Australia to record it. To make sure that we weren’t in our comfort zone we found a big house out in the bush, five minutes from the beach, and set up our own studio there to record with Dave Petrovic who produced our very first EP.”

The Other Side perfectly shows what great musicians Tonight Alive are. With songs like “Coming Home”, “Bathwater” and “Lonely Girl”, Jenna demonstrates her amazing skills when it comes to carrying messages and emotions through her voice. The four guys around her aren’t silent either - “The Ocean”, “The Other Side” or “The Fire” outline how diverse the band is as a whole.

With this album, Tonight Alive tell the world that they have many plans in the future. They’re willing to make new experiences, to create memories and to make music until the end of all time and I can’t wait to witness all of this. 

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue Acoustic

by Andy

When pop punk was on its peak and bands like blink-182, Sum 41 and Green Day were played on the radio all day long, one of the greatest albums of the scene was Yellowcard's “Ocean Avenue”. Released in 2003, the album was convincing with a mix of impressive punk songs and heartbreaking ballads. Also the use of a violin in many songs was pretty cool. The smash-hits “Ocean Avenue” and “Way Away” got a lot of reputation in the scene. Now, ten years later, the band around the charismatic singer Ryan Key, published an acoustic version of the whole album simply called “Ocean Avenue Acoustic”.
The album cover looks very similar to the original cover and all songs are in the same order. The first 3 songs “Way Away”, “Breathing” and “Ocean Avenue ” are very loud for an acoustic record. The drums are as fast and as hard as the drums on the original songs. Furthermore, the bass guitar is a little bit too loud.
“Empty Apartment”, which was already half acoustic in the original version, is now completely acoustic and has beautiful guitar and vilolin parts in it. In “Miles Apart” you have loud drums again and the peaceful atmosphere gets lost. “Only One” and the amazing “Believe” (which prevents teenagers from depression since 2003) are still awesome songs when played in acoustic but they kind of lost the “Fire” they had back in 2003. “One Year Six Months” is played on a piano, so it slightly breaks up the album before “Back Home” finishes the record with a nostalgic touch.

All in all I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed by the album. Of course all the songs are very well written, but the original album from 2003 is way better than the acoustic version. It seems like Yellowcard didn't try very hard to give the songs their own spirit. Almost every song is played exactly like the orignals, just with acoustic guitars.
However, its a great album for an evening you spend with your girlfriend or for having a good time with your friends or you can just listen to the songs and imagine you are back in 2003.
At least for 49 minutes. nostalgia is in the air.

Stay true to yourself.

Cheers, Andy.

Rating: 7/10

Songs for listening: Empty Apartment, View From Heaven, Back Home

Blink-182 - Neighborhoods: A Guest Blog by Andy

Good evening lovers of reliable pop-punk music, I have something special for you today, a premiere: There are a few bands out there I have absolutely no connection to, for example blink-182. However, that's no problem at all because Andy, a friend of mine, is a huge fan of them with a whole lot of knowledge about this genre in general, so he sat down to write about Neighborhoods, one of the albums by blink-182. Enjoy!

Back in 2011, my absolute musical highlight of the year was the new album by my favorite band blink-182. I had been waiting for this record for years, so I was close to tears when I finally held it in my hands. Called "Neighborhoods“, the album was the first material in 8 years, and many people were wondering what style the album would be. Although the 3 gentlemen are known for their amazing pop-punk songs like “Dammit“, “All the small things“ and “Whats my age again?“ (the song which belongs to the video where they are running around naked), the self-titled album in 2003 was already showing a different, darker side of blink-182. So it was pretty obvious that Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker would not go back to writing fun songs about dating girls, parties and sex with dogs.

“Ghost on the dancefloor“ opens the album quite sad and slowly, it's a song about a lost love. You can clearly hear the “Angels and Airwaves“ influence on that song, Tom Delonge added a lot of effects and synthesized parts. The second song, “Natives“, is quite the opposite of the first one. Really fast and with an amazing guitar intro, the song reminds of Mark Hoppus side project “+44“. The next two songs, “Up all night“ and “After midnight“ have very strong and solid riffs, but they also can't hide their influence by the past side projects of blink-182.
“Hearts All Gone“, written by Hoppus and Barker, could easily be on the bands second LP “Dude Ranch“, the punk song is incredible fast and Travis' Drums nearly beat the sh*t out of you.
“Wishing Well“ and especially “Kaleidoscope“ belong to the better songs of the record. While “Wishing Well“ has some of the old blink-182 spirit in it, “Kaleidoscope“ impresses with a strong guitar riff, amazing drums and great lyrics, which makes it to my favorite song of the album.

All in all “Neighborhoods“ is an awesome album but it can't keep up with their previous albums because those are just masterpieces. “Neighborhoods“ is a very serious and dark comeback and in most songs you can hear influences by Tom Delonges side projects “Box Car Racer“ and “Angels and Airwaves“. In particular this means both strong riffs and many synthesizers.
People who buy the album because they hope for funny pop punk songs will be disapointed. This is a much more mature blink, it's like blink 2.0. If you allow a band to mature and you like open alternative-songs, buy this album !

Rating: 7/10

Songs for listening: Up All Night, After Midnight, Kaleidoscope

NEW RELEASE: Avenged Sevenfold - Hail to the King

Yesterday, Avenged Sevenfold from Huntington Beach, California released their sixth album Hail To The King in several countries, you can check all the release dates here. 

Hail to the King starts with one of the best intros the band could have chosen. "Sheperd Of Fire" sounds impressive with the combination of guitars, drums and trombones and their vocalist only underlines this impressive song with his incredible voice. 

Avenged Sevenfold probably has two of the best guitarists ever: Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance make the songs on this record alive with their instruments; I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is magic, for example "Hail to the King", the song which gives the album its name, starts with the best guitar solo I ever heard. However, it actually doesn't matter which song you pick because these two guys prove their excellence in every single part of this record.
If you take a closer look at the lyrics, you notice again that Avenged Sevenfold are very special. They carefully write and choose the words so it's not that easy to figure out what's going on. "This Means War" could be about struggling with inner demons and about being lonely because one line says "Lash your tongue of bane, carry me to nowhere, mental holocaust, battle never ends."
"Requiem", song number five, has a very religious touch. At the beginning there's some latin chanting which sounds like a church choir (I'd translate it for you but I don't trust google and I stopped doing latin at school three years ago so I don't remember anything useful).
The topic of religion can also be found in the lyrics with words like prayers, heaven, mercy or prophets. 
Another song which tackles religious aspects is "Heretic". I have to admit that this is one of the songs that makes me wonder how artists come up with lyrics like these. 

I can't really decide on which would be my favourite, but I like the last song "Acid Rain", especially this line: "Life wouldn't be so precious dear, if there never was an end."

Once again, Avenged Sevenfold showed the world why they're such a popular and famous band and if you don't already own this album or at least pre-ordered it, I highly recommend to do so!

NEW RELEASE: Blessthefall - Hollow Bodies

Two days ago, the five-piece band from Phoenix, Arizona released their new album Hollow Bodies and if you haven't listened to it yet, you're definitely missing out. 

Kicking off the record with "Exodus", we already get a promising start with a brilliant intro. Going on with "You Wear A Crown But You're No King", I feel like being taken to a huge concert - this song makes me think of sweaty bodies in a huge pit, it's one of those songs I listen to when I'm really angry. 

Blessthefall stick to the style we know from their other albums, they also added a calm song without any screaming again: "Buried In These Walls". In this genre, songs that only consist of clean vocals are the most interesting part of a record because they separate the vocalists from each other.
The band also got some guest vocals for Hollow Bodies: Jesse Barnett from Stick To Your Guns sings in "Youngbloods", Jake Luhrs from August Burns Red can be heard in "Carry On" and my personal highlight of the record is Lights, wife of blessthefall's vocalist Beau Bokan, singing on the last song "Open Water". The beginning of the song reminds me of "Don't Go" by Bring Me The Horizon where she sang with Oli Sykes but then Beau starts to sing and you stop thinking of anything else. These seven minutes belong to him and his wife and it's safe to say that  this is one of the most beautiful songs I heard in a while. Lights has such a clear, fragile voice and then there's Beau in contrast to her and before I start rambling I can only say that these were the best seven minutes I ever had while writing about an album. 

Hollow Bodies turned out to be worth the wait. It definitely fulfilled my expectations and you won't regret buying it, that's for sure. 

New Discovery: Lacey

It's been a while since I had a new band to introduce but today I'm supposed to review a band from Nottingham, UK: Lacey. They asked The Wellz Street Journal for a review about their current EP "Outlaws" and I gladly sat down to write a few words. 

Lacey are: Graham Turner (lead vocals and bass), Josh Lewin (guitar and vocals), Pete Maksymiw (guitar) and Dave Pearson (drums and vocals).
Formed in 2010, the four-piece band already released two EPs and achieved several things, for example headlining the Red Rooms Stage at Hit the Deck Festival. 

Their current EP, "Outlaws", contains four songs which emphasise the band's talent and passion. Throughout the whole record, it's noticeable what a pleasant voice Graham has and how well the other members build their instruments around it. It doesn't matter whether it's a fast song like "Burning Out" or a slower song like "Hometown" - Lacey perfectly manage to capture you and make you wish for more than four songs. At least that's what happened to me so I really hope there will be more songs coming soon!

Since you all fully trust my taste, go and check the band out here: 

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NEW RELEASE: Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny

"You're fucking crazy if you think that I'll ever change." 
That's the first sentence you hear when you listen to From Death To Destiny, the newest record by Asking Alexandria. If you know a little about Danny Worsnop's past, you'll find this at least as worrying as I did because it's not a secret that the vocalist has been struggling with drugs and alcohol for quite a long time. Don't Pray For Me, the song that opens the record, deals with this issue.During their whole career, Asking Alexandria had to cancel one single show, which took place in Seattle, because of this issue. Danny wasn't able to perform because he was too drunk and Ben asked the crowd to raise their hands if they'd support Danny if he went to rehab. I wasn't there but only the thought of it sends shivers down my spine. 

From Death To Destiny is like the diary of Danny Worsnop. It's brutally honest, it deals with his struggles and inner demons, for example in Killing You or Creature. Danny doesn't sugarcoat anything and this is the first time we get the chance to look behind the surface of the tough rockstar. It's a chance to identify with him on a whole new level, it's a chance to finally understand a little better what's going on in his mind.
This album is a lot more mature than their first two records were, it's inspirational. Run Free, song number four, is probably the best song on the album because if you take a closer look and pay attention to the lyrics, you'll realise that there's a very important message behind the song.
From Death To Destiny is a chance for Danny to show the world what an amazing vocalist he is, especially when it comes to clean vocals. It doesn't matter if you pick Run Free or Break Down The Walls or Believe or Moving On. His voice improved a whole lot, it's developed, it's able to completely capture you. 

This record totally blew me away. I have to admit that I didn't really know what to expect because Asking Alexandria never do what you expect them to do, so that's why the surprise was even bigger. From Death To Destiny is much more than I imagined it would be, it's much better than I imagined it would be, it's deep and honest and different than the Asking Alexandria we knew before. 

Album Of The Week: Biffy Clyro - Opposites

Hands down, the three guys from Scotland were my new discovery and biggest surprise at Rock am Ring (no, I'll never shut up about it). I still remember how Simon changed his guitar for every song - one was blue and one was red. I also remember how blonde his hair was and how they didn't wear shirts. What I'm trying to say is that Biffy Clyro is a special band and I'd like to discuss their current album Opposites now. 

Opposites was released on January 28th and contains 14 songs. The first thing I noticed after listening to the whole record was that there's a pattern in the arrangement of the songs: Slow songs alternate with fast songs which creates a balance -  neither the slow nor the fast songs outweigh the other. 
If you take a closer look at the lyrics, you'll see that most of the songs have a slightly dark touch. In Black Chandelier for example it says "we begin to relax when it’s just the two of us, and a cute little cup of cyanide". Cyanide is toxic, so it could be a metaphor for a toxic relationship. Skylight leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you hear Simon singing: "Looking alive with a broken mind, why don't you ever take my side?" or later in the song: "We're users but at least we use each other."

There's something about Simon's voice that makes you forget everything around you. Combined with the instruments, these tunes capture you and take you on a journey from reality to your deepest thoughts and secrets. Suddenly you forget to blink, you forget where you are, you even forget to breathe because in these 55 minutes nothing else seems to matter. With songs like Black Chandelier, Biblical or The Thaw you easily lose yourself in the sounds and I recommend you to take your time when you decide to check this record out because it deserves your undivided attention. I recommend you let Biffy Clyro do their magic and show you what great artists they are because I'm already a big fan and I'm sure you'll like them, too. 

All in all I can say that Opposites is an amazing piece of work. It doesn't matter whether you've been a fan of the band for a while or if this will be your first time listening to them - Biffy Clyro know exactly how to fascinate lovers of good music.