Post Covid is Pre Covid? Old Bands vs. New Bands....

Yes, we’ve been to a few gigs since Covid. We’ve written about a few. But the feeling has been somewhat ambivalent - to wear a mask, to venture into crowds? But hey, if you love music, the adrenaline (along with my four vaccines) may or may not protect me from the dreaded virus. But even if it doesn’t, I will have died happy seeing 5SOS (there, I said it), Franz Ferdinand, TOOL, Einstürzende Neubauten, GARY NUMAN and Charakter.

The latter two have been the best. One a very, very old artist, but a performer who has come out of his shell over the last four decades. Incredible stuff. If you ever get the chance to see GARY NUMAN live, do it.

The other is a new band. A band founded in Frankfurt by a Scouser cum Frankfurter with two of Frankfurt’s finest, Kiran Echt and Elias Hartard. Dylan Smith was recording and producing an album for Frankfurt band Past Reflection after he met them playing gigs with his former band. After PR split, he started writing songs with their drummer and guitarist. Whilst completing his final year at Leeds Conservatoire, he added Andy Danson to the mix and what you have is a unique voice with musical nuances of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Placebo and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that will take the music world by storm.

I was lucky enough to witness their gig at the Lending Room in Leeds and I cannot wait to see more of them. If their album is as good as their show, they may just give all the Machine Gun Kellys a run for their money.

Real music - yes, with bells and whistles, but not instead of actual music.

Here is a link https://linktr.ee/charakter.band - check them out!

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.