London’s Videotapes. That wasn’t an intentional sentence, but kind of was. The band’s name has a period at the end of it. Videotapes. Was that one on purpose? You’ll never know. The start and stops of my sentences are almost metaphoric in nature to the band’s unconventionally timed rhythms found on their brand-new (and cleverly named) release “Forest/Fire.”
LISTEN NOW!!!
This release is the follow up to their raucous single, “Howl (for Jane Doe)” inspired by the book “The Five” and released back in May earlier this year.
In true punk fashion, the band does not list much in their bio outside of noting that they are “noisy alternative rock.” I do know via Bandcamp, however, that the primary lyricists are Flo Holt and Ollie Collard. Collard also appears to be the primary composer as well as recording engineer and mixer. Jon plays bass and Jack drums. A total punk ethos, DIY effort here, a kin to my heart. The band plays with a reckless abandonment, tension and dissonance. Yet at the same time collectively stays tightly together in complex rhythms. I love music that sounds like structured chaos. Especially in the first track, “Fire,” which reminds me of mathcore/post hardcore at times, but much more dimensional than like say, Norma Jean. The band will venture into melodic and straight forward pop punk at times, making it an interesting mixture of sound, more in the vein of At The Drive-In. In fact, the mutual love for At The Drive-In is credited for the formation of the band. They also credit Turnstile and Fugazi as influences, and that Fugazi credit makes a lot of sense in the more straight forward, gang vocal parts of the songs.
Never ones to shy away from social and societal commentary, the songs are lyrically embedded with references to the global political climate. In “Fire” Holt sings the line “So where does this end up? We all take our seats, as history repeats, we’ll watch the flames erupt” during the chorus and a more dystopian “the news is getting bleak, but still, no one’s concerned” sentiment during the second verse.
In “Forest” Holt sings lyrics referencing “another cold heart in a uniform” and belts “Take me to the river, before we burn this forest down” during the chorus. The track crescendos with shrieking vocal fry screams of “Don’t look away” repeating during the outro and in background of the final chorus. The kind of screamo that gives you chills. Love it.
They also have some shows coming up, including the night of this single’s release in London that you should be privy to:
Friday, October 14th – 02 Academy2 Islington, London
Get Tickets HERE
Sunday, November 20th at The Fiddlers Elbow, London
Tuesday, November 29th at New Cross Inn, London
Keep up with the band online for tickets and show times!
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow on Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, and Spotify. You can also visit their linktr.ee. If you enjoy their music and are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share their music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Alterindie State Of Mind, Female Rising Stars, Sickest & Dopest, Only Punk, and Unknown But Essentials!.
Remember that you can always find me here AMS Radio for all my social media and collaborations.
P.S. If you enjoy discovering new artists and fresh new music you can subscribe to this blog Less Than 1,000 Followers and follow the Playlist with all the artists that we have presented here!
This coverage was created via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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