Hands Like Houses – Reimagine EP Review

 Hands Like Houses are Australia’s hottest new band, having released their second album ‘Unimagine’ last year, gaining a whole legion of fans. Hitting the road, they’ve played every where they can, and are back in the UK later this year, supporting Bury Tomorrow on their UK Headline Tour, taking in venues like The Institute in Birmingham and the legendary KOKO in Camden.

After releasing ‘Unimagine’ fans have been waiting for a follow up release and they have it in a reworked EP titled ‘reimagine’ taking 5 tracks from that previous release and rewriting them in a different way. Having wanted to show the songs the same respect as they were first shown when they were first written, the 5 track EP has come out very well.

Reordering the tracks as well, as the first song to be given the ‘reimaging’ is ‘Shapeshifters’ retitled ‘recollect’. The new version has a Deaf Havana twist to it, which gives it a new lease of life. Trenton Woodley’s vocals were shown to be impressive on ‘Unimagine’ but they hit a whole new level on ‘reimagine’, especially on this first track. A jangling guitar riff and a dreamy bassline, combined with a chorus of claps gets the EP off to a great start.

‘reimagine’ has a very dreamy effect throughout the course of the five songs, taking in many different influences and effects. Some great guitar playing comes from Matt Cooper and Alex Pearson, showing growth both as players and writers. ‘No Parallels’ (retitled ‘rediscover’) is still a catchy song, showing that Hands Like Houses have many different arrows in their bows, and all those arrows are differently colored. ‘A Tale of Outer Suburbia’ (retitled as ‘release’) has become a proper ballad number, with haunting vocals and intimate instrumentals, this could easily be slipped into a live set and be a real lighters in the air moment for the band.

Overall, the EP may seem like a stopgap to some people, but it’s an incredible show of talent by the band, to be able to rework some of the best songs of their career so far and still make every one of them essential listening for fans. If you’ve never listened to Hands Like Houses, this EP is a great start.

Hands Like Houses tour the UK in October 2014 as main support for Bury Tomorrow, along with In Hearts Wake and Slaves (UK).

‘reimagine’ is out now on iTunes.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handslikehouses?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter: @HandsLikeHouses

Foo Fighters Rocking Return!!!

When the rumours started circulating that the Foo Fighters were going to be playing three UK club shows alongside their headline slot at the closing ceremony of the Invitcus games this coming Sunday, the last place that anyone expected them to play was Concorde 2 in Brighton… Yet they did just that. The first of three club shows, proved why the Foos are one of the best live acts currently on the scene and will go down as one of the best acts ever to play a live set.

Accustomed to playing larger venues than the 600 capacity Concorde 2, the band has never failed to create chaos and mayhem wherever they play. Deciding to play a lot of rare songs, some of which haven’t been played for many years, they delved into their back catalogue as well as playing many of the hits which have become a staple of their live set. Playing under the guise of ‘The Holy Shits’ and opening with the energetic and emotive ‘Enough Space’, the crowd created the perfect atmosphere, with many diehard fans not being able to believe their luck as to be able to see this show, as well as hearing some classic Foos. Playing for near two hours, the rarities were very much weighted with the hits, and the crowd sang every single word back.

Frontman Dave Grohl was on top form, bantering with the crowd, talking up the history of the Foos, commenting on the venue having not changed since they were last there, calling it ‘a f*cking sweatbox, just like the last time’. ‘I’ll Stick Around’ followed and the crowd collapsed into pandemonium. Grohl then decided it was time to slow things down a tad, before launching into ‘Big Me’ one of the love songs as he so eloquently put it. This signaled the start of the ‘hits’ aka the classic Foo Fighters set list. A ferocious ‘Rope’ followed ‘Generator’, but the biggest cheer of the night so far was saved for a near ten-minute rendition of ‘The Pretender’ with extended bridge and breakdown for good measure.

Grohl also acknowledged that the UK’s tribute act for the band ‘UK Foo Fighters’ were in the building, before inviting the lead singer ‘Jay’ up on stage to sing ‘White Limo’ which was a surreal moment. Looking at the stage, you’d be hard pressed to tell who was the real Grohl! After a plug for the UK Foo Fighters playing at the Concorde 2 themselves, the originals got back to it and delivered hit after hit, including a cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ‘Breakdown’. The main set concluded with a song, which the Foo Fighters wrote after visiting the UK for the first time, and possibly had the biggest singalong of the night ‘My Hero’. ‘Hey, Johnny Park!’ and surprisingly ‘Everlong’ rounded out the main set after which the Foos left to make the crowd wait for a good 5 minutes, building the anticipation for an electric encore.

Striding back onstage, the front man pointed out that there were ‘a good 2000 people stood outside, listening in’ and after a muted reply from that crowd, they finished on an incendiary ‘All My Life’. Even without playing ‘Best of You’ or ‘Times Like These’, the Foo Fighters showed why they’re one of the best bands in the world today. Not many bands could come to a tiny venue like this and treat it like it was Wembley Stadium. They did just that, and with a perfect sound to boot.

Joking about a ‘week of Wembley’ shows, Grohl was masterful throughout, and all the members played their parts to 110% accuracy. No hiccups, no bad atmosphere and best of all no dodgy sound. Perfect show.

Foo Fighters are back and with a new album on the horizon, that week at Wembley Stadium may not be far away…

Sonic Highways is available on the 8^th November 2014.

The Hiding Place - So This Is Home... - REVIEW

I have sent this review off as an audition piece for Punktastic's website and I thought I may as well post it up on here as well. This band are quality and definitely deserve to be so much more prominent in people's minds. These guys are definitely worth a chance.

Short, expansive and loud. These are just three adjectives, which sum up the latest release from Midlands upstarts, ‘The Hiding Place’. Having been a band since 2010, they’ve developed a decent following of fans on social media and in their base city of Stoke-on-Trent. Combining furious guitar playing from guitarist, ‘Jonny Wood’ with ‘Dominic Webber’s’ croons and screams brings together an EP of such promise, ‘So This Is Home…’.

Opening salvo ‘Maybe You’ll Drown’ is quite calm, echoing the intro of many ‘Of Mice & Men’ songs, a dark brooding riff with ‘Webber’ very quietly singing, before an avalanche of riffs, drums and bass hit with a great scream. The opening song may only be just over two and a half minutes long, but it is impactful and shows intent. Whilst the EP is just shy of fifteen minutes long, it hits all of the right notes and shows off some expert playing. Lead single ‘Guts’ could be the song which garners them the most attention, with it’s heartfelt lyrics and an expansive palette of sound, it’s a solid choice for a lead single.

Moving onto ‘Barfly’ a song named after the legendary London venue was always going to incorporate themes of alcohol wasn’t it? With a harmonized chorus and a crunchy riff, the song is one of the strongest the band has. ‘The Whole World Is Ending In My Head’ shows off the vocals again with a quiet-loud dynamic which just works, whilst closer ‘Long Winters’ sounds like ‘Anberlin’ but a whole lot heavier. This isn’t a bad thing, and it closes the EP with a barrel full of sound.

Overall, ‘The Hiding Place’ could be on the cusp of joining the ranks of the national alternative rock scene, and could prove to be one of the leaders if this EP is anything to go by. They’ve got the tunes, now they need the overwhelming support that they deserve. Fans of ‘Mallory Knox’, ‘Finch’ and ‘Anberlin’ will love these guys.

‘So This Is Home…’ is out now via iTunes & http://thehidingplace.bigcartel.com/