FESTIVALS anyone?

Is it just me, or are there more festivals than ever before? At Rockculture we tend to stick to the ones we know. I think for the most part, the festivals are a nightmare for the artists. They only have super limited time to play and the technical side of things can be challenging. For the fans it is equally challenging because there’s a whole cult of festival goers who go just to enjoy the festival rather than the musical acts. The organisers, for the most part, make sure there’s enough to go around for both though.

Still. We are lined up to go to these festivals in 2019- Rock im Park and Rock Werchter.

Highlights on Friday must be Architects and Bring Me. The latter got so much hate from their old fanbase for their last album “amo”, which is a technical masterpiece and has raised their ballgame. They have been able to truly grow as artists and even the hardest metalhead’s guilty pleasure must be to rave to some of BMTH’s dance tunes. Both bands have incredible live sets and I am in awe of the Architects to return to the stage where Tom Searle performed his last concert.

Saturday….Saturday….Saturday. Another band who got a lot of hate for going in a more melodic direction is Slipknot. Cannot wait for the intellectual of all metalheads, Corey Taylor, to prove to the crowd in Nürnberg how Slipknot are alive and kicking, knee- and spine surgery and all.

Sunday is going to be exhausting for us at Rockculture and we hope we make it all the way to Tool cos having to see some of our favourite bands in history, Smashing Pumpkins, Beartooth, While She Sleeps and Alice in Chains (!!!!!) will surely make our hearts race and our throats sore. Cage the Elephant could prove to calm things down, but then again, too many good tunes to stay still.

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We literally only have a few weeks to recover from Rock im Park before we head off to Belgium for Rock Werchter. We were not going to go back to Belgium for any festival for personal reasons, but the line-up has swayed us.

Thursday kicks off with a band who should be seen live before you judge their music, Deaf Havana. Their last album “Rituals”was too poppy for some (there is a theme here, with bands venturing into more melodic tunes and getting abuse), but it has opened them up to so many new fans. Live they are truly amazing, so don’t miss them. They are still pretty rock’n’roll, you know. P!NK is one of those acts, too. Yes, I am actually mentioning P!NK and Deaf Havana in one paragraph. Whilst Deaf Havana convince with their musical talents on stage, P!NK does so as an artist on a whole. Her live shows are phenomenal and her personality will grip you wholeheartedly.

Friday I am in Love- guess who we are here for. Yes, some of our favourites are here, Bring Me, SWMRS, Weezer and Snarky Puppy. But ultimately Friday I am in Love because….The Cure. Come on. This is the highlight of anyone, but especially us at Rockculture, and I don’t care if that is showing my age.

Saturday and Sunday is bound to be interesting, too, but who knows if we are still up for the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, Parkway Drive and Greta van Fleet. Send us loads of pics, in case we miss Saturday and Sunday due to exhaustion from the epic Friday at Werchter.

THOUGHTS AND STUFF

It has been a while. Personal reasons. But also just really depleted of news. Then all came at once.

Bury Tomorrow- “Black Flame”!!!!! How did that happen? I told you ages ago that they are the best new metal band to look out for, but since hooking up with Sony they really have taken it up a step. Not a lie. Cannot wait to see them this month or in December, depending on when I can get there, how often I can get there, you get the picture.

Bury Tomorrow are of course touring with Cane Hill, who I thought were okay until they released their new album “Too Far Gone”……so epic. And them in combination with Bury Tomorrow at a show may make a headbanger or two happier than Larry.

And to top it all off, have you listened to “Royal Beggars” off the new Architects album “Holy Hell”? Where are they coming up with the lyrics and the tunes?

It cracks me up to read that Jordan Fish from BMTH says that there isn’t enough rock music out there to stream. In his recent interview with Mark Sutherland from Music Week, he was talking about how Bring Me the Horizon are one of the few bands who make an impact on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Sure they have four million plus monthly listeners on Spotify and “Mantra” has become indeed a MANTRA on streaming services worldwide (it has sold over 50.000 copies so far), but to say that others are “generally bad” is really a bit rich, when Ricky Martin could always come back and have a say about how the “Livin’ la Vida Loca” was used in certain rock songs. Jordan Fish is a superior songwriter in his own right, no doubt, but there are rock bands out there who just don’t get the chance to be heard.

Saying that I am deeply grateful for Bring Me the Horizon to have introduced me to YONAKA who have been going for a while, but without their epic support slot for BMTH, I would have not listened to. Now that, my friends would have been a grave loss. They are a lot more rock than other bands with a female singer and they have an uncanny feeling of Siouxie of Siouxie and the Banshees, not a compliment given lightly.

Watch and listen, download, buy, stream. They are bubbciliciously yummy

youtube.com/channel/UCzBddYqg5UYiz3U6EhwDCEA

No, there is music out there and I love it when bands are able to adapt to new styles and take inspiration from other genres and artists (see BMTH), but also While She Sleeps. Have you heard “Anti-Social”? They are such an epic band and if this twist doesn’t catapult them to where they should be, I would be more than disappointed.

youtube.com/watch?v=22CmxMJU2V0

Loz doing what he does best. Photos of this show, amongst others, were taken by ARTUNOTTER.SMUGMUG.COM for ROCKCULTURE®, but in case you want to buy any prints, hit that webpage up.