The Menzingers & WTFest 6

On Thursday, last week, I left work and headed off to London to meet my boyfriend, Steve, and go to a gig. This is something we do a lot – ‘school night’ or not – but for once we actually had the day off afterwards! Though not simply to sleep in…

The gig was The Menzingers, pretty much my favourite band (not to mention the reason me and Steve met last year), at the Electric Ballroom in Camden and it was damn good. Electric Ballroom is not so small, 1000+ capacity, yet I wandered on over to the barrier at the front and decided that that was where we would stay all night. And stay we did. Throughout the excellent supports, The Holy Mess and The Smith Street Band – big fan of the latter already – and throughout The Menzingers too without getting pulled into any mosh pits.

Snapping a few Instagram-worthy photos:

The Smith Street Band

The Menzingers

I often leave a gig thinking ‘damn, I wish I could do that all over again’. Well, this time we did! The next day, we drove to Southampton for a little three-day (it was actually four, but the first day was Thursday!) punk rock festival called WTFest. I’d seen the poster a couple of months before and was very impressed by the line up – we don’t really get punk festivals in the UK, certainly not like The Fest in Florida! So, I persuaded Steve that we should go (not that it took much, he loves much of the same bands I do).

On Friday evening we saw: Milk Teeth, Bleach Blood, Creeper, Great Cynics, Moose Blood and Apologies, I Have None.

Great Cynics (The highlight. Apologies, I Have None were good too but no photo.)

On Saturday afternoon we saw: Doe, Pale Angels, Bangers and Harker.

Bangers (My favourite band from Cornwall, especially since Crowns broke up.)

On Saturday evening we saw: Dear Everyone, Muncie Girls, Onsind, Caves and Andrew Jackson Jihad.

Muncie Girls (Already a fan. Not a bad performance at all.)

Onsind (Definitely the surprise of the day. Excellent acoustic duo.)

Caves (Bloody awesome. Second time I’ve seen them and can’t wait to do so again.)

Andrew Jackson Jihad (Viewed from the back. Wasn’t a massive fan but pretty good live.)

And on Sunday afternoon, we took some time to explore Southampton (I’ve been a couple of times but not seen much), and then repeated Thursday night with The Holy Mess, The Smith Street Band and The Menzingers but in a much tinier venue. I claimed the same spot – left side of the stage, in front of guitarist/vocalist Greg – as in London but could literally touch the stage in Southampton.

The Holy Mess (Having barely listened prior to seeing them twice in a few days, now a fan.)

The Smith Street Band (It could have been their own show. Everyone loved them, us included.)

And the main event… The Menzingers (I didn’t think it was possible to beat London. They did.)

Steve asked Menzo’s tour manager, Scott, for one of the set lists for me at the end.

I’ve never had a set list from a show before and this is the first time that I have ever seen a band more than once on a single tour. The Menzingers deserve to be that band for me. Now. Sleep…

I Don’t Wanna Be…

…An Asshole Anymore.

This video is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, amusing and well produced. Although, to be fair, I don’t really pay much attention to music videos. Whether they’re by one of my favourite bands or not.

I’m going to see these guys at a teeny, tiny venue in London tomorrow night. Only my second time seeing them live – you may or may not remember this post about me gigging alone. Not gigging alone tomorrow though, woo! It will be awesome, although I will probably get completely squished.

The Menzingers’ latest album, Rented World, has been the soundtrack to my Japan trip. Today, listening to it in my car for the first time, I was reminded of travelling on buses and trains in Japan with my headphones in. So even though I don’t like the album as a whole as much as On The Impossible Past, their previous album, it’s always going to be special to me for the Japan memories. It’s also not a bad album by any means! This song is the album opener and a very good one at that.

In Remission

I can’t put into words just how excited this video/song/band makes me. I’m not even going to try… I’m just going to continue listening to this on repeat until April 22nd when the new album Rented World is out. (Nevermind the fact I’ll be in Japan – it’s cool, I’ve got Spotify mobile.)

I ♥ The Menzingers

Posted a few hours ago on Noisey. I have pre-ordered the album on vinyl!

I haven’t used iTunes in a while…

ps. noone tell the band but I don’t like the album cover. It doesn’t matter too much, I know the music will be brilliant, but I am a graphic designer and I do design record sleeves myself (sometimes). I am generally not a fan of album covers with a photo of the band on… and where’s the band name/logo? Hmmm… 

Drop the needle again

Well, it was about time I got granddad’s old record player back up and running. Given that I’m partial to a bit of record sleeve design here and there, it makes sense that I have something to actually play them on. I mean, they’re obviously nice to look at and all but…

Here’s one I didn’t design…

Plus my nice friend Steve sent me [his copy of(!)] The Menzingers’ On The Impossible Past so that I wouldn’t have a crappy record for my first record. Freebies of records I’ve designed the sleeves for don’t really count. If more people gave away records from their own collection – or anything like that – to their friends, whom they know will really appreciate it, then the world would be a better place.

Now what to buy for myself…

Now playing one designed by me…

How to waste a Sunday afternoon as a Menzingers fan

For the last few months, well the last year really, I haven’t been able to stop listening to The Menzingers. I’d say it’s verging on musical obsession now, especially considering what I spent several hours doing this afternoon…

So because I’m a sad and slightly obsessed Menzingers fan, whenever I listen to them I like to play a game of ‘Greg or Tom?’. This basically involves trying to work out who the main vocalist is for a particular song. They both have pretty distinct voices to be fair but sometimes they both sing at the same time and it can be difficult to work out on some of the older songs. I’ve even seen comments on You Tube where people have said they didn’t know that band had two singers!

What did I work out? At least if my own ears and YouTube observational skills are accurate enough. I’m sure I may have got a few of these wrong (No We Didn’t in particular, I had to listen to several times and I’m still not certain it’s Greg singing).

• Overall, it seems that Greg sings more songs but that’s more because Tom has a lot of songs where Greg joins in for the chorus, which doesn’t seem to happen so much the other way around.
• They both sing at the same time in a lot of the earlier songs, particularly the choruses if not the whole song.
• Tom sings a lot of the earlier stuff including when Greg sings a bit (A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology and Chamberlain Waits). Whilst Greg has the majority on the latest album (On The Impossible Past).
• If you count the songs that are ‘Mostly Tom’ as just being Tom and the same for Greg, they sing an equal amount of songs… But then maybe that’s just how my ears worked it out.

And that’s how to waste a Sunday afternoon as a Menzingers fan – and a graphic designer.

It’s okay to gig alone

I really love music and I like nothing more than going to see my favourite bands live. However, I listen to a lot of music that none of my friends do. Which is fine, I like that I have my own tastes and I’m not influenced by anyone else too much (although by all means, suggest something if you think I’ll like it! New music is great too.). But it’s always nice to go to a show with a buddy – and preferably one who likes the band in the first place, rather than just being dragged along.

I went to a lot of gigs with friends when I was younger and lately I’ve been to quite a lot with my dad. He’s brought me up well on good bands (R.E.M., Neil Young, Pink Floyd and more recently Arcade Fire). We both love Band of Horses and we saw them a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately dad isn’t so much of a punk rock fan like me.

So, now when my favourite punk rockers announce shows I’m buying myself a ticket regardless of whether anyone is coming with me. Which is exactly what I did for the show I went to last night…

Whenever I take a camera to a show, I always end up just using my phone…

I went to see The Menzingers who are an American punk band who I’ve been wanting to see live for ages. I was meant to be going to see them last September but had to sell my ticket when I couldn’t go. I was going to go alone to that gig and I went alone last night after giving up trying to find someone who would vaguely like them. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t drag anyone along because I stood right at the front and got crushed and sweaty, but for The Menzingers it was more than worth it.

I’d like to say I talked to strangers at the show and shared our like-minded music tastes, but I didn’t. It was enough for me just to be surrounded by people who appreciate a band as much as I do, because I really love this band. Maybe next time I’ll be brave and talk to someone new, but I was there for the music and the music alone.

They were far more electric than this, but I like this version too.

EDIT: This is even better! Billy Bragg cover.

Punk ’n’ roll

I've literally only just realised how much I like modern American punk music. Here's a new track by the Menzingers, recorded in one take apparently!

The Menzingers: Irish Goodbyes from Love Drunk on Vimeo.