The Blow UP: The death Set

(They're on Ninja Tune ya know! Bye bye dinner jazz!)

Presenting ‘The Death Set’: loud, unruly kids, from Australia and now residing in Baltimore, US. They roam around with makeshift instruments, packing a punch into electronic music by ‘punking’ it up to its utter limits. Loud, abrasive and sickly fun, they compare to noise stalwarts Tiger Force pumped up on Love Hearts, the excitement and energy seeping through their sweaty pores and instruments in a tangled, hyperactive unison. But it seems, as I call up Jonny Sierra, one half of the spazzed out duo, I’ve caught him at the worst of times.
‘Hi. I’m Jonny Sierra, and I’m really hung-over right now’ he burbles politely when asked for an introduction. ‘Let me go and splash my face with water’. Meanwhile, on the other end of the line I shuffle my notes and chuckle; what a way to break the ice so commonly reserved for us lowly music hacks. On his return, we chitchat idly about alcohol, bands, and the Baltimore rock scene.
‘I guess it’s really good’ he suggests. ‘It’s changed since I moved here (from oz). There was a crazy warehouse scene, and people were doing loads of mad shows. There’s a lot of spirit to it.’ The conversation flows as we chat about fellow BA noise merchants such as Dan Deacon.

Taking the DIY ethos literally, the band have shed sweat and tears, relentlessly touring and recording 3 eps and many collaborations; Jonny’s got every reason to feel worn out. But since Counter Records, Ninja Tunes rock offspring label picked the band up, the workload is easing off.

‘We haven’t had much strong label support or anything up until now. We did everything ourselves, y’know what I mean? That DIY ethos is sort of ingrained in us and our music (the band offered their homemade synth for sale on their myspace) from touring and putting on our shows. Yeah, playing shows with Dan Deacon in Baltimore to like four kids!’ he snorts gleefully.

And it seems Jonny’s excited to be among the first on this fresh, breaking imprint. ‘I’m totally psyched. This record’s been planned for such a long time, and to have someone help us push it is amazing. I’m generally psyched about everything, and its great to get help from our label!’
The conversation drifts into struggling bands without label backing, relentlessly playing out of love and hope, so I appropriately ask how he felt to support legends Suicide a while back.
> ‘Oh it was so weird’ he laughs. ‘We were playing in the financial district of Manhattan. It was cool, but it was weird to see them on this big stage in the middle of Manhattan with families walking around and suits and stuff!’ he quizzes. ‘Obviously, you can’t turn down the chance though.’



If he thinks it’s weird to find Suicide in Manhattan, imagine what it must’ve been like to hear a noisy band screaming and shouting their vocals at the passing traffic. Is this hybrid sound more of a concentration on dance or on punk music?
‘First and foremost, we’re a punk band’ he says proudly. ‘Obviously we have that big electronic element. The reaction we usually get is like kids going to punk rock shows rather than out clubbing’ Jonny slowly muses. ‘We’ve played shows with 100% dance acts like Bonde Do Role, but we’re punk all the way’ he states

So what makes the elements of a good punk show? Mad energy? Crazy attitude? Or simply just youth having fun (take note reformists)? In some circles, DS are known for serving up high octane, fever pitch shows, where kids literally run riot; blood, sweat and sticky booze. Surely Jonny has seen some insanity whilst touring.
‘Its usually kids man’ he grins, ‘its getting harder and harder to play on the floor. They’ll try to help by holding the mic stand and they’ll thrash out, smashing you in the face. It’s all fun, but those Brooklyn shows are especially badass’ he pauses, as he gulps a mouthful of liquid (presumably water!). ‘We played with Dan Deacon at this one venue, and there was asbestos everywhere and kids were hanging on pipes made of it and stuff…scary shit, but the crazier the crowd the more fun it is. It’s hard to play high energy music to three people with their arms folded. We feed off each other, the audience and us’ he says admiringly.
>
> And punk music’s core lies within the audience’s interaction, seemingly a strong part of the bands success. On inspection of the myspace site, it’s refreshing to see that the band give away song accapelas for people to download and make remixes of. After all, we live amongst the ‘free market’.
> ‘I guess it’s really the idea of ‘the more versions of our songs out there, the better’ and it’s good for feedback’ admits Jonny when quizzed behind his thinking. ‘We’ve been getting some really good ones lately, id love to hear them in a club someday!’ he laughs. And, I wonder, what with the more high profile mixes?
‘I really like the Dan Deacon remix, but my favourite has to be the Bonde Do Role one, its completely rad!’ he gushes.

The only way to finish this interview is with Jonny’s line about the forthcoming album: ‘It’s totally mental’. Clocking in at 25 minutes over 18 tracks, it’s a short, sharp cardiac burst of colourful mayhem. Go grab the ‘MFDS’ ep and prepare yourselves!


Words: Joe Gamp

official! more to do in Holland than just smoking weed

Really? What's all this i hear about Northern Europes Biggest Breaking bands showcase? (My ear actually looked like this)


>> Fear not music lovers, for a place exists that’s cheap, friendly and still rocking in the gloomy winter months. The Noorderslag/Eurosonic festival started as a battle of the bands between 10 Dutch and Belgian outfits. It’s now grown into Northern Europe’s largest showcase for breaking new music, attracting industry types and record labels from across the world. If Europe ever needed a platform for showcasing their wares outside the American Market, then this was the place to do it.
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>> At one point, when travelling by train across Holland to the city of Groningen, I cursed myself for not bringing ‘hard-wearing’ shoes and foolishly choosing slip-ons. With over 220 bands, acts and showcases, crammed into three evenings across 30 venues in the city, I realised I had my work cut out. In the following piece, it’ll become clear how I damaged the ligament in my Knee whilst attempting to make a dent in it all.
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>> Thursday
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>> After spending the day chilling around the student City and settling into my hostel (!), chaos broke at Dam square’s immense Grand Theatre for Swedish superstars I’m from Barcelona, who in amongst the contemporary walls of the theatre, opened up the festival positively. Queen samples and melancholic lyrics bubbled over orchestrated, big band party music. When the balloons and the clapping started, I realised shots were needed to sedate them, before I choked on ecstatic happiness.
>> A short walk away lay Vera, Groningen’s favourite rock venue (apparently, Nirvana got spotted there and U2 once played for 10 guilders), the basis for British urban-country stalwart Lightspeed Champion to display his talent in a tight and eye-openingly deep set (elsewhere, The Ting Tings played). After getting lost on route, I caught the tail-end of Austria‘s Killed By Nine Volt Batteries, who peddled sludgy shoe-gaze rock, with heavy feedback in the vein of Kyuss, at Shadrak, a poky venue down a tight alleyway. Two tracks later, we were running back to Grand Theatre to catch the crazy sine wave, Go! Team-esque Alphabeat, who raised the roof with their funky, 80’s influenced disco in a sea of aural pleasure. Half way through, I hobbled off over to Muziekschool for hotly tipped Swedes The Kleerup who failed to disappoint even though slotted at the same time as France’s Zombie Zombie and Britain’s Ripchord. After watching a rather hair-raising show, where the country bluegrass and trip hop eventually became a geeky man in lens-less glasses shout-rapping, the sweat was pouring and my calf’s were niggling. Defiantly, I shot back to Vera’s for The DO, a dischorded, wailing and strung out grunge band, peddling minor chords and obnoxious, angst vocals. Pity it was in French.
>> Alarm bells rang. I ran, well, limped toward the electronic Dutch whiz-kid that EVERYONE spoke about; Adept. It was a 20min walk to the Simplon where they played. Luckily, I jumped in a taxi with some Italians en-route. We were lucky enough to catch the last ten and boy, it was worth it.

'Urgh, where my contacts?'




>> Heading back, I split my time between 7 venues in the space of an hour; I glimpsed 5 minutes of Krakow, playing acoustic melodramas in the upstairs of a lovely, quirky pub (De Speigel). I moved swiftly to see rude-bwoy rapper De Kraan to lift my spirits, with boom-bap beats and a super smooth, Dutch spoken flow that would impress MC Solaar. Then, after 10 minutes of Calvin Harris’ neon disco, it was off to see Iceland’s Bloodgroup, a disappointment as people were turned away. Instead we subjected to chart botherer’s The Hoosiers, who surprisingly played a tight set, the mostly European crowd lapping it up; on the way to see Friendly Fires, I got lost again. I gladly saw the dirty, nihilistic and vitriolic Blood Red Shoes instead, whose set was awash with filthy riffs and nagging feedback. On the way, we witnessed The Dykeenie’s literally destroying a small pub; they were heard at the end of the street.
>> Playing next to my Hostel, Does It Offend You, Yeah? concluded many a bemused Dutchman’s evening in a raucous, high voltage show, that literally blew everyone away.
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>> Friday
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>> Friday night’s action was immense, with a further ten venues opening up across the City. Unlike the Camden Crawl, the venues were all within walking distance; except you had to walk loads and often up bastard hills, avoiding hurtling cyclists.
>> I kicked off with locals Nine Volt, a snappy, incubus like emo-core band; inexperienced, young and full of hope. Next it was Holland’s Get Well Soon. Nihilistic, drawn out and monotonous, the defeatist instrumentation and eerie presence reminded of early Interpol. Afterwards, I found myself watching sludge metalheads Kruger, strangely, in a bright white art space, with a sombre crowd of 20 moody long hairs. I quickly exit to get over for the Curtis Mayfield meets Hendrix vibes of The Heavy, one of the best bands of the weekend, with their dirty southern blues and raunchy, stomping drumbeats making a lasting impression. On my way toward Vera, I pop my head in for Miss Platinum, a Danish Ms Dynamite; quite awful, hideously generic and a touch boring. Two tracks later, I scarper for Sweden’s Taxi Taxi, whose eerily playful chimes and innocent vocals didn’t help before going to see the well established, mesmerising Cult of Luna, blending progressive rock and metal seamlessly.
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>> I scuttled back to Grand Theatre for Dutch heavyweight duo Pete Philly and Periquiste, who dazzled with the aid of live looping technology; the flowing rap of Pete and the jazz breaks combo fit perfect for a Ninja tune release.
>> New Killer Stars played at a cramped venue, the Oi punk sound needed to catch more attention and The Dirty Shambles, Britain’s continuation of Placebo style post rock made sure they were known. I forced my way into the seething mess of fans cramming into see Who Made Who at Vera; this time it was at breaking point, such was the case later on when attempting to watch Chrome Hoof. We ended up watching Pete and the Pirates after a short taster of jazz metal action.
>> The most triumphant gig, however, belonged to The Futureheads, who made a triumphant return previewing new material, and playing a blasting set of favourites. My knee was swollen, and I was drenched in beer and sweat. Time to go home.
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>> Saturday
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>> The Eurosonic section of the event closed, leaving Noorderslag, the proud jewel in Groningen’s crown, dedicated to the best of popular Dutch talent, broadcast across Europe.
>> Based In the multi-venue capacity of De Oosterpoort, Groningen’s cultural centrepiece, the modernised and well facilitated structure held a large capacity of people, a whooping 8 largely sized stages, a maze of corridors and a wide range of artists. Kicking off in the middle was Wouter Hamel, a popular modern folk musician who combines jazz and funk to his pop structure, and I was treated to a slice of his ambition whilst I through the building.
>> Holland’s love affair with Jazz and Blues constantly shows within their pop continuum. A tradition upheld by Room 11, who mix the sounds of Paulo Conte, Miles and classic finger-snapping, bar room jazz. Watched in a large concert hall, I moved due to the filling crowd size and struggling air conditioning.
>> Beforehand, I’d been treated to David Gilmour Girls, darlings of the Dutch scene and favourites of the British press, who made a great impression to the bustling crowd. When they finish I hear, behind them in another venue, the sounds of synths twitching and bass-cones firing up; Parra Soundsystem, Holland’s answer to SMD, unleash pounding techno beats, dirty stabs and rave pianos.
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>> Other bands worthy of taking note included Amsterdam’s Hospital Bombers, with their tweaky, weezer type rock; brat like, ska-tinged punk band All Missing Pieces and popular, indie rock outfit Moke, the formers well polished, articulately pronounced sounds grabbing the crowd in its British-like intensity (apparently Paul Weller loves them and invites them on tour), sounding like its straight off the stamping streets of London.
>> Other standout acts included Lolly Jane Blue, singing deep, throaty country tales of bittersweet love and life, and Voicst, possibly Holland’s hottest commercial, progressive rock outfit, playing a set that’s expertly executed through an exhilarating set.
>> Finally, a short stint in the Hip Hop stage unearthed conscious, dub reggae influenced GMB, mixing Dutch and English rhymes with full fat, rounded beats, which followed spaced out, thug type Space Kees; outer worldly beats on a more militant tip than Dr who Dat’s futurist sound.
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>> And with that it was time to travel back to Amsterdam, and then (eventually) onto Home. With my Knee hanging off, a scummy pad of notes and a backpack full of dirty washing, my head was buzzing from the energy and discovery of new music.
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>> Make sure you’re fighting fit and up for a good mission, because at 50 euros a ticket, and enough music to choke a horse, Groningen should be your first port of call next winter. If you’re up for going to a tucked away location to catch bands of a likewise nature, then you really can’t do much better. So many bands played, it was humanly impossible for me to catch them all; next year, go find out for yourselves.
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>> By Joe Gamp.
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