Fully Backed.

But we’re halfway through building a new Fully Backed site so resources are being poured into that and this one is winding down. Please bear with us through the transition. I could write an essay about it all but I won’t.

And lastly, please stop asking me stuff which is covered in earlier Fully Backed entries. I am not your own personal verbal Google engine!

THE BUCK STOPS HERE #1.

Constructed throughout the otherwise shitty year that was 2008. Simpsons talk with HARBOUR, riff tactics with CHAINS OF HATE, taking it back to ‘88 with FREEZE UP, military grade interrogation with Alex CCHC, IRONCLAD confess where they jacked their riffs from, trips to the OLD BLUE LAST, the JUSTICE final show and Ashford Diner, essential comps with Bryony, grouching with McKee, Welly’s Wasteland and heaps more.

56 pages of hardcore science compiled by the cut & paste soldier that bought you MODERN HATE VIBE zine.

Orders…….

South Wales orders: Paypal £1.50ppd to sean@sm76.com
Other orders: Paypal £1.50ppd to bryonyismyname@hotmail.com

The first rule of blog sites is that you are not supposed to acknowledge huge gaps in productivity, but just carry on posting and hope nobody noticed. But looking at my stats and seeing that this site is still getting a good bunch of hits per day, I figured you all deserve an update…

Basically, I moved away from South Wales to South Croydon in January 2008. For the first 6 months I had a huge change of persective. All of a sudden the diverse and exciting musical activities of South Wales were no longer on my doorstep. Fullybacked.com was born out of my ongoing enthusiasm for various things happening in South Wales, and also the fact that I heard a lot of stuff word-of-mouth that I then ended up relaying verbally to another 10 people. So I figured I’d start putting it all up in one place to save me repeating myself. But then 2008 started to take the piss out of me. I had to move house four frigging times, lost my internet access for a couple of months, and was also becoming more out of the loop with happenings back home.

Behind the scenes myself and a couple of others have been working on Fully Backed v2. I can’t put a timeframe on this, but we’re recruiting contributors. I had zero response to the last post asking for help, so this is a fresh appeal. I want like five people updating the news section regularly because I want to widen the net and get a bunch more perspectives and insider knowledge.

See below for full details.

Due to a change in circumstances my internet access is now about 15% of what it was. I was planning on bringing in a couple of other roving reporters anyway, so now seems a good time to do it. If you can write short, tight, news items about interesting things in South Wales then please get in touch. You need to know how to FTP, crop images, use decent grammar, and use the Fullybacked back-end.

There is no reward or payment. You will just be a fidgety geek that always needs to be working on something. I rule with an iron fist though, so you need to ‘get’ what kind of things should make the site, and not try to turn every gig flyer into a news item, etc etc. If you’re interested please email info@fullybacked.com, yeah?

I’d heard of 4DEE years before I met him. The hip hop heads I knew in Cardiff in the mid 90’s would always be like “You’ve met Fordy, right?” and I could never put a face to the name. Then one night in Buffalo Bar a couple of summers ago, it clicked. I was watching two of the tightest and most confident emcee’s I’d ever seen in Wales bounce verses off each other with this incredible chemistry. One was JOE BLOW, who I’ve already harped on about at length elsewhere, and the other was 4DEE himself. This would be my introduction to the UNDECORATED VETERANZ, and when I planned to start Fullybacked.com, grabbing an interview with 4DEE was right at the top of my wants list. So here it is…..

Your involvement in hip hop spans three decades. At what point did you go from being an avid listener to an active emcee?
Well I’m into the third decade now! I became an MC in 1985. I started spitting over tapes and instrumentals from records that I had bought. My first gig was Sams Bar where there was a jam session every Monday night until I started putting on an event every Saturday in Grassroots (City Centre Youth Project) in Charles Street, Cardiff.

Was there a regular venue that played host to hip hop events in Cardiff the 80’s? From a hip hop perspective, how does Cardiff 2008 compare to 20 years ago?
In the mid 80’s the only place that would play hip hop would have been Ritzy, but to the end of the 80’s there were places such as Valatino’s which was opposite the Welsh Club where the Toucan used to be. There was a really good place called The Venue which is a gay club now in Charles Street called Exit Club or something. But yeah them clubs were really tight. Back then hip hop was big in Cardiff – everyone was into it. It’s a bit different now, a bit more organised.

What was your first recorded appearance and do you still listen to it now?
My first recorded experience – Hmm, I’m not sure what that was but I’ve got loads of stuff that I’ve done from back in the 80’s. I have listened to a bit, it doesn’t sound nothing like me though – I don’t think my voice had broke!

You’ve got a few years on most of the other emcees around in South Wales. What do you think of kids that are active in music in their teenage years and drop out when they hit their mid 20s? Do you ever feel like school is in session when you grab the mic and show how a veteran kicks it?
There is a lot of younger MC’s coming up and its good to see them getting the props they deserve. No matter what the age or length of time you been spitting, if you’re saying something worth listening to then big up. It’s a shame that some of them look at it as a faze and quit cos there is some very talented MC’s that could help the scene grow much bigger.

Your most recent project UNDECORATED VETERANZ saw you sharing the stage and the booth with JOE BLOW aka PICTON. How did you two first meet and how did the existence of the VETZ come about?
The UNDECORATED VETERANZ is still a very active group just at the moment we’ve decided to drop some solo stuff. I first met JOE BLOW in 2000 through a mutual friend, a very close friend to both of us UMBILLACHORD aka DJ T-BONE. We were jamming drum n’ bass in his place when JOE BLOW, SKAMMA, CESTO and a few others turned up to jam with us. We clicked straight away. I was working with WAYNE LIDDEL at the time from the K DIFF SYNDICATE. A couple of days after I met them I was working on a beat at Wayne’s place – two days later I went back to finish the beat off and Wayne had recorded these Barry boys on the track and to my surprise it was them lot! The UNDECORATED VETERANZ was a name I came up with. The name symbolises the fact that we’ve been here since day one and haven’t had any reason to sell out so we’ve got no medals.

I remember some comments you made on the mic at the ROXE JAM about the current state of hip hop. Can you reiterate what you were getting at?
I cant remember what i said at the ROXE JAM, but it was probably the fact that I can’t stand these MC’s who talk about their gangster image.

Lastly, I’d like you to set the readers some homework and list the top 10 hip hop tracks that ever came out of the UK that people should check out.
Well there is so many tracks to mention. It’s a hard one but I will give you 10 different MC’s or groups to check out: DEMON BOYS, COOKIE CREW, LONDON POSSE, OVERLORD X, MC DUKE, BLADE, HARDNOISE, SILVER BULLET, CASH CREW, CAVEMAN. Finally, if you want to know a bit more about the scene in Cardiff since back in the earlier days I’ll set some research for the readers: Look up on Google the history of hip hop in Wales. Look up the first crew to come out of south wales H.R.C. HARD ROCK CONCEPT.

Link: 4DEE on Myspace
Link: Undecorated Veteranz on Myspace
Link: BBC Rap in Wales article

The first time I ever met ROB PICTON aka JOE BLOW we were both about 14 and he had just lost his front tooth in a fight. I also remember him being the only kid around the way to own more hip hop than the standard issue RUN DMC and NWA albums. That was over 15 years ago. After numerous appearances in recent years on other 12″s, mixtapes, and last autumns stunning METABEATS album, JOE BLOW finally steps into the spotlight with his own 12″ in the shape of the ‘SMOKING SKILLS’ six track EP. He sent fullybacked.com one, so here is what I have to say about it….

The EP kicks off with the immediately infectious METABEATS produced ‘Say Yeah’. It’s chilled but on point, JOE BLOW getting straight down to business commenting on the shitty bling & gun talk state of hip hop. The lyrics are brilliant and the flow is flawless – “Forget the Gat you shoot with, you lost me on the first bar, these actors that polluted rap, I’ll cripple ‘em like nerve gas”. Track two is another METABEATS concocted jam, but dirtier and more menacing than the first – and peppered with samples. JUNIOR DISPROL from DEAD RESIDENTS drops some brilliant and unhinged shit that sounds really fucking demented against the murky beat. Just when you think the track is gonna fade out it comes back round again for C MIMUS to close the deal with his recognisable dark alley delivery. ‘STREET PEEPS’ is another paranoid, plodding track, this time with QRED on production. To borrow a GLOCK N’ STEAL quote – “”The beat sounds like a quiet walk in the park meets serious female sexual assault”. ‘IT TAKES CONCENTRATION’ has been on Myspace for a while so you might already be familiar with its crisp HEKLA KOSH production, while JOE BLOW talks of FRED WEST and where his middle finger has been. FAKE PURSES is an ACKO beat, mid tempo and confident – and first verse goes to 4DEE who immediately sets it off with his effortlessly stunning rapidfire delivery. Something about this guys flow just makes me want to shadowbox around my flat like I’m watching a Tyson fight on a 50″ plasma. When JOE BLOW comes in for the second verse it hits home just how much we NEED an UNDECORATED VETERANZ album and we need it this year (right guys?). So if you see either of these guys, bust their balls about it. And just when it seems that they both have the track nailed, SKAMMA drops an equally venomous last verse. The EP closes with OPTIMAS PRIME produced ‘BLUNTS…’, a mellower track than the rest of the EP, but the perfect outro. JOE BLOW is in his element, a solid chorus hook and an uninterrupted flow which talks of the perpetual tug of war – loving music while society expects you to ‘grow up’ and become like every other sucker. As the track fades out you are filled with the feeling that this EP – like the METABEATS album – is merely a warning shot of great things to come out of Barry town.

Link: Joe Blow on Myspace
Link: Squid Ninjaz on Myspace
Link: Buy the Smoking Skills EP online at Suspect Packages
Photo: Fullybacked.com

Although born out of tragic circumstances, the success of last years ROXE JAM has ensured that it will return again this year. The festival is a tribute to young and talented Cardiff graffiti artist Bill Lockwood aka Roxe who was tragically killed in an accident in January 2007.

The festival is a celebration of several hip hop elements, incorporating outdoor graffiti activities and live performances from an ill list of great emcees. Like last summer the entire South Wales hip hop community is rallying round to make it an unforgettable event.

There is also a film clip made by Amy Cuff showing some of the highlights of last years Roxe Jam. Check the links below.

Link: Roxe Jam 2007 video by Amy Cuff
Link: New Roxe Jam 2008 event website

As a follow-up to the mean sounding debut recording of APRIL 2008, CHAINS OF HATE just came out of the studio with two more jams, both just as solid as the first.

I can hear huge MADBALL-isms and some nods to other DMS bands. Speedo’s riffing gets sicker and more menacing, and Toms vocal style just fucking kills me every time. Get on the Myspace and check them out.

Link: Chains Of Hate on Myspace
Photo: Michael Partridge

The Swansea Bay Film Festival recently awarded the Dave Beynon directed ‘World Of Magnumquilter’ video production with Best Avant Garde film award. The film weighs in at 15 mins and is based on footage shot from QUILTER’S debut gig in Callaghans in Cardiff in 2007.

Check then links below for more details about the artist, the director, and the film festival itself.

Link: Swansea Film Festival
Link: Magnum Quilter on Myspace
Link: Dave Beynon profile on Shooting People

It is way too minuscule and geeky for anyone to notice/care, but over the next couple of days we’re tweaking the fullybacked.com URL forwarding so that it doesn’t bring you onto the main homepage, but takes you direct to the news page. This means stuff in other categories which isn’t news will be invisible unless you go and click on that specific category. I am doing this to stop news items appearing like they’ve been pushed far down the page by interviews. But it’s all smoke and mirrors anyway.

Also, buy the JOE BLOW 12″.

Fullybacked.com is celebrating it’s 1000th unique hit today. The actual grand total hits the site has clocked up is more: 5658 at the time of typing. However, that includes repeat viewings from the same IP, so I consider 1000 a more informative figure. I’m pleased with this especially since the site is only six weeks old.

Also…

We now have a banner. If you want to plug the site by placing the banner on your own website that would be fucking amazing. Both HTML and UBB Codes are below. You just need to paste them into your page code.

UBB Code…
[url=http://www.fullybacked.com][img]http://oneshot.broxbox.co.uk/fullybackedimages/fbbanner.jpg[/img]

HTML Code…
<a href=”http://www.fullybacked.com” mce_href=”http://www.fullybacked.com”><img src=”http://oneshot.broxbox.co.uk/fullybackedimages/fbbanner.jpg” mce_src=”http://oneshot.broxbox.co.uk/fullybackedimages/fbbanner.jpg”></a>

Blink and you may have missed them, but for a few months there DISPATCH were a pretty busy hardcore band, that is until they came to an abrupt halt with the departure of their vocalist Ed.

To give DISPATCH some closure, a final send-off gig has been put together.

Details are still sketchy but the date is July 18th and the venue is Le Pub, Newport (where else??).

Meanwhile, check out the Myspace page which now has some tracks for their unreleased 7″.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/dispatchhc
Link: South Wales Massive Dispatch thread

So unless you’re living under a rock you will be aware of the current situation in Burma/Myanmar in the aftermath of the cyclone, and the desperate measures in place to try and save lives.

With this in mind, an emergency benefit has been organised at Clwb Ifor Bach this coming Sunday to help raise funds for international aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

MSF are working in the area desperately trying to treat victims, curb the spreading if diseases, and supply food and drinkable water.

The gig will have a bunch of bands playing (see flyer), a raffle with some sweet prizes, some vegan snacks, limited edition t-shirts (with the profits going straight to MSF) and a generally awesome vibe. It’s Bank Holiday Monday the next day so unless you’re especially unlucky, you probably don’t have to be up for work!

So…………..how can you help?

1. Fucking turn up, yo. This is REAL. Your entry fee can help save lives. Can you say that about all your planned weekend activities?
2. Make a donation. If you can’t make it, contribute some money to the cause.
3. Spread the word. Send people this news item, or the link to the flyer, or to the Clwb Ifor Bach event page. Raise awareness, both for the gig and for the situation in Burma itself. Spam Myspace and Facebook and Poutville (alright, I made the third one up, but it’s only a matter of time). I’ve heard some people say “Pah, aid doesn’t get through because of their government”. NOT TRUE, and perpetuating that kind of apathy may be costing lives. Read the below link to the MSF Burma/Myanmar FAQ’s.

Link: http://www.msf.org.uk/myanmar_cyclone_faqs_20080509.news
Link: http://www.clwb.net/eng/listings/event360/s-wales-benefit–8-burma-cyclone.html
Link: http://forum.southwalesmassive.com/index.php?showforum=139

A couple of summers ago I was playing in yet another ratty, disorganised hardcore band. We were called ROUTINE CHECK and we recorded a 7″ in the infamous Arches rehearsal rooms in Cardiff. These Arches were the birthplace some eleven years earlier to the first hardcore band I played in, called PUBLIC DISTURBANCE. After ROUTINE CHECK recorded, I got home to find my former PUBLIC DISUTRBANCE bandmate turned regular MTV darling Mike Lewis on MSN. “Yo, what part of the world are you in?” I asked, knowing that LOSTPROPHETS takes him to the four corners of the globe. “Right now I am in Hawaii, in Bob Rocks studio, and I just recorded my guitar parts with James Hetfield’s old Explorer. How about you?” “Me? I just got back from the same grotty old railway arches we were in 11 years ago, recording yet another demo on a crappy seventy five quid quitar. Funny how things work out, eh?”.

Since fullybacked.com seems on a roll right now, I thought I’d up the ante a little and what better way than to catch up with my former bandmate, housemate, skate buddy, and all round righteous dude Mike Lewis.

When I moved away from South Wales in 2001 the hardcore scene was in a horrible state. There were no local bands, no cheap venues, and no promoters with a clue. Every single one of my mates that claimed they gave a fuck about hardcore had dropped out, moved on or “grown up”. There were ghosts eveywhere, and I was glad to be getting the fuck out too. But soon, things changed, and it can pretty much be traced back to one pub and its role in helping a flat-lining community rebuild itself. By the time I got back to Wales in Feb 2005 Le Pub was THE heart of the re-emerging hardcore scene in South Wales. I feel like I’ve known Sam forever, although when I work it out it can’t be more than four years. But she is brilliant and I love her. So I figured it would be cool to have a chat with her about everyone’s favourite gig venue. Enjoy.

What was the first gig you ever went to?
I was 14 and I went to see NEDS ATOMIC DUSTBIN and THE SENSELESS THINGS in Newport Centre, I had brand new Doc Martens and everything!

Name 5 bands responsible for shaping the music taste you have today.
I dont think i can really, I can name bands who made me love music the way I do but I couldn’t even tell you what my music taste is! THE VIOLENT FEMMES and JANE’S ADDICTION are bands that stand out when I look back to being about 15, I was properly obssessed with PERRY FARRELL. METALLICA were a big influence, but I also really indie stuff like THE STONE ROSES and these days DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE. I dont really care what kind of music a band play, if they play it relatively well and with real passion and excitement for what they are doing then I’ll probably love it!

How long have you run Le Pub and what were you doing before?
My parents have owned pubs since I was a baby, so all I have ever done is bar work, I started in Le Pub as a barmaid 11 years ago, I’ve been manager for 5 years this coming September, when I took over as manager we weren’t doing anything with the live music side of things, local bands on a Thursday was about it, but I got together with the Dead Souls Collective and we started putting on touring bands and bands from a wider area than just Newport and its just gone on from there really,

What is your verdict of Newport in terms of the music that comes out of there, both now and when you first got into music?
When I first starting going out Newport was the “new Seattle” with NME journalists camped out in TJ’s hoping to be the one to spot the next big thing but then nothing really came of any of those bands. People seem to think that Newport is a hub of creativity but the majority of the good bands come down from the valleys and then people assume they are from Newport as they play a lot of gigs in Newport as its the only place close with decent venues for them to play in.

Do you feel Le Pub has a duty to live music? There must be more cash to be made from running a vapid, trendy mainstream bar with no stage, a massive screen showing twenty football matches at once at full volume, and a name like The Carrot And Weasel?
Le Pub does OK, we don’t have cash for massive widescreen TVs and stuff but then I don’t think I’d even want them in the place, Newport and South Wales in general needs Le Pub, some of the gigs we have put on in the past have been so amazing, there is something about that building that just makes bands play their hearts out and something about the kids we have coming for shows that make Le Pub the most amazing place in the world. So many bands tell me Le Pub is the best night of their tour and I even believe most of them!

Every now and again there are rumours about legislation that will kill live music and whatnot. Mostly nothing ever seems to come of them. What changes has Le Pub had to adopt in reflection to changes in the law or council regulations etc etc?
We had to have new soundproof insulated windows fitted upstairs, the cash we have to pay out in licenses and things is getting silly but generally we just try to get on with what we do.

Tell us about the Le Pub refit, and the scramble to get everything done.
August 06 we swapped the stage and bar round, it was a nightmare from start to finish, the brewery screwed up their dates and didn’t come to disconnect the beer taps so I had to do it with a man on the phone giving me instructions, everyone very nearly got a beer shower, getting the new PA was just as bad, the company we ordered it from refused to ship to the pub and would only ship to the owners house, only she was away and no one was there so we had to cancel the order and try and get a new PA sourced, pricematched and delivered in a week, we ended up being there installing it until 4am most days and then back in at 8am to carry on with the refit. DIGNITY DIES FIRST played the opening night of the new set up and literally while they were setting up and soundchecking me and the old assistant manager were varnishing the back of the stage! It was amazing though because we really got to see who cared about the place, i sent a text to everyone in my phone on the morning we were supposed to be opening begging anyone who was free to come help and the people that turned up were so amazing and just got stuck straight in, hywel of THE KEEP/OF NOBLE BLOOD fame was bottling up behind the bar, staff were turning up on their night off and helping to fill the skips, it was complete chaos but also one of my favourite times, i knew we were being ambitious trying to get it done in 5 days but thanks to everyone that turned up and helped we did it! Just.

I know we are roughly the same age, and when I was in college, if you liked ‘guitar music’ you were pretty much either a metalhead, or an indie kid. Metal hasn’t changed much but 10/15 years on you hardly see indie kids any more. Does ‘indie’ still exist as a stand alone entity, or is it redundant given the other (and somewhat louder) 21st century subcultures that anguished teens can subscribe to?
To be honest I think indie is the strongest it has been in a long time, the radio is full of indie all day along and indie bands are regularly topping the charts, its very different to the shoegazing soppy indie of 15 years ago, its a lot more upbeat and fun but its definately still very much alive but putting indie bands on in newport is a waste of time as no one turns up but in other places indie bands do really well in terms of turnout. As for actual indie kids I dont think I know what they would look like these days, its definateley not an obvious fashion like it was back in 19-dickety, the tie dye dresses and purple Doc Martens are gone, we probably walk past 20 indie kids a day but dont even notice, it seems indie has actually become about the music not the image.

Does Le Pub have a target demographic? Seems like a good mix of townies, Nathan Barleys, hardcore kids, skaters, goths, nu-ravers, and ginger left handed vegans. Is this deliberate?
Le Pubs target demographic is people that love music, any kind of music, we put on any kind of band upstairs and anyone is welcome to drink anytime they want. I’m not sure about the townie bit though, I’ve not really seen any come in regularly, just the few that wander in accidentally and leave quite quickly! People say Le Pub is realy cliquey, and I guess it does look that way from the outside, but its just because everyone that drinks and works there gets on really well, all you have to do is make an effort to talk to someone and you will be welcome, at the end of the day we all just like to watch bands and get drunk.

Last question then – Will we ever see you do a band again?
Never say never but I doubt it very very much, it was fun and despite how bad we were its something I’m really proud of, but I cant see it happening again, I cant sing for one thing, I have no idea why the rest of the band wanted me there!

Link: http://www.myspace.com/lepub

Wow. The METABEATS videos for ‘Live And Let Live’ and ‘Fuck With Me’ are done and dusted. I didn’t even know!

I won’t even harp on about METABEATS again, see the other news item about him.

Just click the link below to see them both (sorry, I can’t get the embed option working). Look out for several cameo appearances, including the lovely Ms Teri Crofts and her, erm, curves.

Link: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=TFZ22RVT
Live shot: Me

Here at fullybacked.com we back bands so hard we make our own one off shirts, as demonstrated here by my excellent home made garment ripping of a well known iconic hardcore shirt that you all recognise (right??).

Rest assured that when CHAINS OF HATE do make a batch of shirts, they will cater for the larger gentlemen unlike those sellouts in FREEZE UP who apparently make music purely for skinny kids and even skinnier kids. THIS IS NOT A GOOD LOOK GUYS. Listen to SHEER TERROR and then have a rethink.

I will give begrudging props to FREEZE UP however for the excellent mugshot of Chris Crabb of HUMAN RACE and SOCIAL SKILLS fame. Check the Myspace page if you’re emaciated enough to be able to wear one.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/freezeupcchc
Link: http://www.myspace.com/twisttheknifeukhc

If you give the slightest bit of a hoot about what is going on in South Wales (and Bristol) musically, then you need to take a look at the Joy Collective website. Not only do you need to look at it, but you need to bookmark it and invite it into your life on an ongoing basis. It contains a ton of information about upcoming gigs and has band features, and a really great blog. They accompany this with live clips, videos, interviews, and all that other good stuff.

None of it is a ‘token effort’, everything is done with lot of love and passion, and illustrates perfectly how vibrant, diverse and rich things are musically in this area. And promoter-wise they particularly back the underdog. They are not impressed by big promotion budgets, industry networking, and corporate schmoozers. In their own words: “We lean towards those independent promoters, full of passion and vision but empty pockets.”

There is a Flickr gallery of great live shots (by people who actually know how to take live shots) and the whole site has hit the ground running and fills a void that other South Wales basic music sites just aren’t capturing. It’s also a nice touch that they sneak Bristol into their catchment area too, for those of us who like the odd road trip or need an excuse to get the hell out of Dodge. Spend an hour on the site and you will learn ton of information about things happening right on your own doorstep that you were previously oblivious to, making you infinitely cooler than you already are – and all this for free! Joy Collective is fully backed over here at Fully Backed. Long may it continue.

Link: http://www.thejoycollective.co.uk

Newport’s Freestyle Skate Store has opened an online shop. For those who can’t get to Newport to grope new toys in the flesh, you can now order your goodies via the website.

To quote Freestyle’s owner Grim: “Yes that’s right it has taken us that long to set up selling online but we like our customers too much and we just want to see your faces. With that in mind if you do have a ’skater owned’ let me repeat that ’skater owned’ shop in your area, use them or lose them because they are the people who keep your scene alive”.

Link: http://www.freestyleskatestore.com

FREEZE UP just recorded a demo and I totally dig it.

What’s so good about it? Well to these ears it actually sounds like it came out of NYC in 1989. In fact, it sounds like a secret missing 5th band from the FREE FOR ALL 12″ on Hawker Records. And if you don’t know what record is, then I would suggest some extra homework.

Aside from that FREEZE UP get bonus points for being, alongside IRONCLAD, HUMAN RACE and CHAINS OF HATE, part of an upsurge of brand new bands coming out of Cardiff right now. They have some gigs lined up this Summer, check the Myspace page for details, MP3’s and message them to grab a copy of the demo.

Lets hope they don’t sell out on real men by only making shirts in skinny kid sizes.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/freezeupcchc

DT says:
freeze up, that’s half of twist the knife yeah? yeah iron clad are great
fullybacked.com says:
no chains of hate is half twist the knife. OMG you obvzly dont keep up with the crucial goings on at fullybacked.com

Damaged Records recently got some uber limited edition decks in. I would try to describe them in writing but I guess the photo says it all. Don’t be a plum with some chain store kiddy rig, take a trip to Damaged and pick up one of these for £30 (which includes griptape). Do it for Rollins. Or Ginn. Or Danzig. Or MacKaye. Or Mould. Or those other dudes.

Incase you’re living in a cave, Damaged is an awesome punk rock record shop in Jacobs Antiques in Cardiff. It is run by Welly who also sings in FOUR LETTER WORD and does ARTCORE zine and you can find full details and directions on the links below. Welly is also about to do me a very good deal on a blue YOT 12″ which is excellent news indeed.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/damagedrecordsuk
Link: http://www.damagedrecords.co.uk

Thank fuck for IRONCLAD. Hardcore made and played by kids that are actually psyched on hardcore, and not by part timers who have a shamefully low gig attendance except when their own band is on the bill. I make no apologies then for giving them their third mention on fullybacked.com and making it into a full blown interview. I sent their bassist Owain a bunch of questions and he fired them right back at me with solid and decent answers.

Photo: Mark Brown

What was the catalyst that triggered the inception of Ironclad, and who instigated it?
There was a thread on CCHC about how hardcore in South Wales could be improved, and I suggested “more bands with genuine anger and rage” in regards to the hardcore bands in South Wales who see being in a band as an excuse to goof around in front of their mates (or not as often is the case). Tom messaged me back and said “let’s make it happen” and it all started to come together. He suggested Rofe on guitar and that made it natural to bring in Gav on drums. We started practising and writing songs last June with the idea of taking our time and getting it right.

Did you have any goals influence-wise when you first went into the practice room or was it a blank canvas?
Not really. Tom and me started talking about it sounding like STRIKING DISTANCE. We started adding in other bands like RIGHT BRIGADE and FROSTBITE which I guess it ended up closer too.

You don’t all live across the road from each other, how do you cope with practices and where is the band based?
Rofe lives in the Mumbles, Tom is split between Hereford and Neath, Gav lives in Brecon and I live in Cardiff which adds up to about 4-6 hours of driving per practise depending on peoples’ locations. We practise under the rail arches in Cardiff which is fairly central to all of us, and has the best transport links for when people can’t drive. We’re all pretty up for the band, so we practise without complaining, just like Rollins would.

Unless I’ve got my wires crossed you’ve done two recording sessions. Did you abort the first, or are those recordings under lock and key?
We attempted to do a rough recording as we were desperate to play it to a few people and try and get a few shows after 6 months writing, so we got Hywel Of Bullets to come in and do a practise room demo on his four track. A few issues with guitar heads and vocals meant that we didn’t get it finished, and it ended up on the cutting room floor.

There seems to be a couple of splintered, self serving hardcore scenes in South Wales. Is there enough going on to warrant such divisions or would you like to see people open their eyes a bit more?
It’s a weird situation. On the whole, South Wales is pretty unified on the whole. You get bands like BEDFORD FALLS playing shows with bands like us, bands like BLACKBEARD playing with CARRION OF VIGRID and so on and no one bats an eyelid. Everyone knows everyone and it’s all pretty chill on the whole, but then there are a few seperate scenes that have come along. The “mosh” scene of bands like BRUTALITY WILL PREVAIL and THE JOYRIDE MANOUVRE seems to be pretty self sufficient and I admire it in a way. The attendances are always pretty good at Scott’s shows and they seem to be well into it and I back it in that regard, especially a band like BWP who are always touring and playing shows. It’s not music i’m into, but it’s nice to see a band from South Wales get further than Bristol. That said, the scene, at least to me, seems to lack a lot of depth. The majority of the kids into it wouldn’t know any bands older than SHATTERED REALM and HATEBREED (if that far back to be honest), and I don’t think any of them would care about that fact either. One of the attractions to me about hardcore has always been the depth, the sheer amount that’s out there, the histories, the storys (Ray Cappo chanting for Krishna in the middle of a riot anyone?) and everything that comes with that, and none of these kids seem to give a shit about it. I guess they are in the moment, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the less involved kids drifted away to something else in a year or two. But to answer your question, they don’t seem to need or want to us (in a non-hostile way), so I think it’s all chill. As for the Cardiff based bands, I’m not really sure. I don’t really see them at many of Alex’s shows and I guess that’s why they don’t really end up playing them. I can’t really speak to much on them as most don’t appeal to me that much, so I’m not at their shows in general and don’t really know what they are like, but the people involved seem to enjoy themselves. I have seen most of them a few times though where they’ve played with bands I’m into (local and non-local) which again I think demonstrates the crossover and that they aren’t an entirely separate scene.
I don’t think one big unified scene would necessarily be the greatest thing in the world. Obviously financial benefits would be advantageous for promoters, but it would be at the expense of quality control for the clientèle and i’ve seen enough shows spoiled by someone’s drunk mate with no interest in the good bands to know it wouldn’t be worth it. Everything seems to be running quite smoothly for the respective parties now, and while that continues there’s no need to fix it.

You were in NIGHT & THE CITY OF BROKEN PROMISES. Has that come to an end? What are your thoughts on your time in that band and their impact/influence on the local hardcore scene.
It’s on hiatus currently. With my illnesses the band slowed down a bit and ended up dropping behind our plans. We started to pick up a bit last spring, we played some shows (Cardiff, Newport, Leeds and Brighton) and Sam had enough songs for an LP written with the ambition of recording it around Easter. That slipped to summer and we layed the drums tracks down with Jim Le Take, but the rest never got done. Sam has HARBOUR, THE KEEP and the final year of his degree, Hywel has THE KEEP, his film making and various other fads, Al has HARBOUR, TOURNAMENTS and a Mortgage and I have IRONCLAD and a girlfriend who lives several hundred miles away. I think no one has the time or energy for it, especially considering that we’d need to restart it. We’ve lost any momentum we had and perhaps feel that it’s time has passed. That being said, I would really like the LP to be finished as it had some really good songs. I thought we did pretty well and had a good run of it. We toured the UK a few times (me only the once on our “unlucky” tour with A NEW SPELLING where I nearly died), played in Iceland (again, not with me), sold a few hundred records (including all of our 10″s) on our own label and played with lots of rad bands and made a lot of friends. I learnt a lot about to organise a label/tour etc. too which i’ve taken forward to IRONCLAD. I’m not sure what kind of impact/influence we had on South Wales, I guess people used to come out to our shows and buy records and shirts, so we weren’t unpopular or anything. Aside from STATE RUN/FACEL VEGA though, I don’t think too many bands would claim us as some kind of influence. I’m not sure that matters though, we never had any intentions to start or change anything when we began writing songs.

For those who don’t know the story, tell us more about the tour with A NEW SPELLING and the shit that happened to you that you mentioned earlier.
It was totally cursed. For the tour we were meant to have our split 7″ with THE TAKE available. Royal Mail tried to deliver the test presses when no one was in and took them back to the depot. After three visits and approximately two hours of waiting, they conceded that they were in fact lost. The time it took to get them redone meant there was no chance in having them in time. We also lost two vans we’d earmarked for it before even leaving South Wales and had to do the first two dates in cars, before driving back to Wales for a day off and waiting for our driver Dany to go home to Barnsley, pick up the van number three overnight, then driving back in time for us to be able to get to London and play that evening. Apart from a few equipment malfunctions and some ridiculously low amounts of money being paid to us (£20 doesn’t really go far between two bands on tour), the first few dates went OK. After playing Norwich (the fourth show), we had to drive up North to play Edinburgh, so decided to break the drive by staying at our Dany’s house over night. After driving for a couple of hours and getting to about 20 miles South of Barnsley, the van lost all transmission and ran to a halt. Unable to believe our luck and contemplating what could possibly go wrong next, one of A NEW SPELLING remarked somewhat ominously that they were worried someone would die before the end of the tour. We got it off the roundabout we were on at the time and pushed it into a nearby petrol station where we spent the night as the RAC were having none of it. The next morning our Dany’s parents came and rescued us and we got the van towed back for repairs. We had to wait a few days for this to happen, which meant the next few dates of the tour had to be cancelled. We had a few days off then, in the space of which Hywel’s dog died so he returned to Wales to look after his other one. Wanting to get eight smelly dudes out of their house, Dany’s parents suggested we go to their caravan near Scarborough and stay there for a day or so. We went there that evening, watched a VINCE VAUGHN film and chilled. The next day we went to Scarborough for the day. I had some stomach pains in the morning, but I get them regularly thanks to my Crohn’s disease. The day passed fairly uneventfully (my personal highlight was finding the XFILESX 12″ randomly in a record shop that appeared to sell no other hardcore records) apart from my stomach getting worse. By the time we started to go home I was walking bent over and in quite a lot of pain. It got worse and worse into the night, so they took me to hospital in sunny Hull, about 30 minutes drive away. By the time I got there I was regularly screaming in agony. After several scans and x-rays they discovered I had a perforated bowel and had to operate immediately otherewise I would die in the next few hours. The kicker to this was that while I recovered i’d have to have a colostomy bag. They said it would probably be for 3 months, but it was just under a year until I had the reversal operation. I then got to spend the next ten days in Hull, half of which I spent off my face on Morphine, to the extent where I experienced withdrawal symptoms when they reduced my dosage. For those interested, I didn’t count it as breaking edge. I had to have four months off work, which obviously meant that NATC couldn’t play any of the remaining shows on the tour. A NEW SPELLING did though (in the repaired van) before heading back home to the US a few days later. So, all in all, it could have gone a bit better.

What classic shirts can we expect to see IRONCLAD rip off?
While we obviously appreciate the precedent and pedigree in paying homage to other bands’ designs (given that our first shirt was a rip off of a rip off), we’d definitely rather see that as the exception rather than the rule. If anyone out there wants to create something for us, get in touch via our Myspace, unless it would include any knives, guns, skulls, roses or bullets, in which case, don’t fucking bother.

You just got picked up by Dead & Gone Records. How did you get talking to them, and were you talking with them for a while or did they just come out and offer out of the blue?
Totally out of the blue. We played a show in Nottingham with THE DOWN AND OUTS, CRIME WAVE and FAST POINT where we’d arranged to give Ian some copies of our demo for distro. At the end of the night he came up to Tom and asked if we’d be interested in doing a record with them, and there was obviously only once answer we’d give to that. We’re totally siked for it.

Your singers girlfriend is unfeasibly attractive. Does this cause competition with the rest of the band not to date any utter dogs?
The IRONCLAD WOMEN are all of an extremely high caliber and i’d say it’s far more likely the members of bands like THROWN BACK will feel intimidated by them.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/ironcladhc

So it’s been out for a few months now, but there is still no excuse not to pick up the brilliant METABEATS ‘Metaphysical’ CD. For the unfamiliar, METABEATS aka PERGYL brings his unique brand of solid, infectious beat mastery to the table, effortlessly drops his own rhymes, and generally hits the ball right out of the park, ensuring that Barry Town is well and truly nailed to the hip hop map forever.

The rest of the CD is made up of the extended SQUIZ NINJAZ and ASSOCIATED MINDS camp, fellow Barry artists SKAMMA and CERVANTIS particularly shine, and there’s an utterly incredible across-the-pond collab with a Miami based emcee called BELEAF. ASSOCIATED MINDS are pushing this thing hard. Get if from their website or if you’re lazy, bag a copy in HMV next time you’re in town. I’m on my third copy cos I keep giving them to people to make sure that they hear it.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/metaphysicalish
Link: http://www.associatedminds.com
Link: http://www.ukhh.com/features/interviews/metabeats/index.html (interview with ukhh.com)
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pAyn_6rx5w (Metabeats & Cervantis on Westwood)

Barry hip hop veteran JOE BLOW launches his ‘Smokin’ Skills’ EP this Thursday (May 1st) with a launch party event at Undertone aka The Basement, on Church St, Cardiff.

ATM Magazazine says of the EP: “Rolling in like storm clouds over Barry Town, you know that you’re on some heavy ride to bass bin oblivion. It’s been a while since I have heard something that hooks you straight away and Joe Blow has defiantly done that.”

The quantity and quality of hip hop coming out of my home town right now blows me away. Hopefully the METABEATS album has opened the doors for the often overlooked hip hop scene in South Wales. Keep your ears peeled for more news from the SQUID NINJA camp soon.

I can’t make it to this event, but if you’re in the area, you should check it.

Photo: Me
Link: http://www.myspace.com/joeblow77
Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=11784644999
Link: http://www.myspace.com/squidninjaz

If you’re a hardcore kid in the UK, you should know Dead & Gone Records. If you don’t, then it’s time to remove those bananas from your earholes and pay attention, in the long run this will bring everyone less tension.

So it was pretty cool to read on the latest D&G Records bulletin that they have picked up Cardiff’s IRONCLAD on the strength of their demo. Look out for an EP this autumn.

Photo: http://www.markbrownphotography.co.uk
Link: http://www.myspace.com/ironcladhc
Link: http://www.deadandgonerecords.com

HARBOUR is a hardcore band from South Wales that have been going for a couple of years now. They’ve recorded before, though I don’t remember hearing that stuff.

Anyway, they just recorded some new tracks for a split 12″ with FACEL VEGA from Bridgend, and you can find a couple of these songs on their Myspace page. I must say, I am really fuckin’ digging both tracks. They make me forget that I am a 15 stone 30-something and make me want to put on my MINOR THREAT shirt, grab my skateboard, and go out and play in the sun and not come back until Autumn.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/harboursucks
Photo: Sion Thomas

Nothing confuses me more than supposedly clued up skate kids that only ever shop in chain skate stores. It seems obvious to me to support a local, independent skate company that is more deserving of your cash, but I guess that flies over some peoples heads.

But whatever, here’s a link to whats going on over at Crayon Skateboards, a new Cardiff based skateboard company that needs your support.

Link: http://www.crayonskateboards.co.uk
Photo: Guto (courtesy crayonskateboards.co.uk)

IRONCLAD feature members of the unfortunately named CAPTAIN INSANO and the equally offensively titled NIGHT AND THE CITY OF BROKEN PROMISES. But by way of apology for all this, they have knuckled down to pour their energies into recording a demo of solid hardcore.

I dig it in a big way. Check the Myspace page for more details and info on when you can catch them live.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/ironcladhc

The much anticipated BRAVE NEW WALES triple CD compilation has finally arrived, packed with obscure and leftfield artists from around Wales. Beautifully packaged, this is a great, cheap way of obtaining a snapshot of a whole underworld of musicians you may or may not already be familiar with.

A lot of time, effort, love, and pride has evidently gone into creating this little gem. Check the Fourier Transform website for more details…..

Link: http://www.fouriertransform.com/010

Things got of to an unexpectedly quick start for Cardiff’s MAGNUM QUILTER. After sending out a bunch of demos he soon found himself with invites to play gigs in Bournemouth, London and a few other sets on his home turf on the strength of a very positive Mixmag review in November 2007.

As predicted in the review, the QUILTER already has some labels sniffing around him, and should hopefully soon be able to get his eerie, off kilter AUTECHRE style electronic jams out to the masses.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/magnumquilter

Cardiff’s meanest hardcore band TWIST THE KNIFE seemed to come to an abrupt halt at the end of 2007. With an early Buffalo Bar set that would turn out to be their last, many people blinked, missed it, and were left scratching their heads. Well, one thing that has some out of it is a new band featuring 3 members of TTK, but with Tom switching from drums to vocal duties and Jordan from EL SID climging behind the drum stool.

The result? One HARD sounding MP3 that could easily be mistaken for some DMS band from across the pond. This track is for a compilation, but they’ll be back in the booth later this year to record more. Check it out:

Link: http://www.myspace.com/twisttheknifeukhc