I want to work for Google!!!

WATCH THIS VIDEO (Apparently the BBC Website are too good to give us embedded videos).

Massage tables? Food being no more than 100 metres away??? SLIDES??? And breaks whenever you want? Fuck, I get shit for taking more than two cigarette breaks a day.. I need to work at this place.

But, there has to be a downside, right? I mean, they are offering breakfast, lunch AND dinner for free (mmm Ostrich), and an area that suspiciously looks like a bar. And note that they never actually show the office area/cubicles. Probably because zombies are operating their systems.

I think the workers are never allowed to leave. EVER.

People you need in your life. Interview #1: Dave Heck

A couple of years ago, in a room in Sweden at a festival called Deadfest, I met Dave Heck. In the space of the night, in his words, "we became friends, loved each other, hated each other, were awkward with each other...and then we were friends again".
I decided that Dave would be the first person I interviewed for this blog. He is known by everyone, loved by everyone and literally one of the best men in the world. That, and you all can never have enough Dave Heck in your life.


Name: Dave Heck
Vital Statistics: i've been to more continents than i have had sexual partners.
Location: Lansdale, PA, USA. philly suburbs.
Current Occupation outside of music: master of stolen goods on ebay.
Describe yourself in 3 sentences. EXACTLY 3.
I am a hermit that likes to travel. that makes sense i swear. i really, really like reptiles.


Hi Dave.. whats up?

ahoy.

So why Reign Supreme out of all the bands that are around at the moment? And I ask this question with a double meaning.. Why should we listen to them and why did you decide to join them out of all the hardcore bands that are around at the moment?

Well, when originally asked to be in RS, i was still in palehorse. i was actually in the van on tour with palehorse, with palehorse sitting all around me...so it was kind of awkward. either way, at that time i had my plate full with palehorse and my girlfriend already hated me for being away so much. either way, palehorse broke up and i talked to jay (singer of RS) on the way home while driving through NYC from connecticut. he said we'd meet up and discuss shit. i went to sweden the next day and came back about a week later. i tried out and i fit in with the guys in RS pretty well. Some members were old friends and some i had never met before. we're all pretty different but for the most part, we get along very well. i wanted to play with them because they wanted to tour and just play as much as possible, and that's exactly what i wanted to do.

as for why you should listen to RS, i don't know. we're really heavy and our singer looks good naked (like, seriously). the rest of us are kind of slobby retards with bad tattoos. on the whole, there are a lot of great bands out there right now. perhaps we are one of them, who knows.



You have been in a number of bands, which, at 25, these days, is not a big deal for someone into hardcore. Which one was the most fun being in, including your current band, Reign Supreme, and why?

I think my "old" bands were (and still are) the most fun bands i have played in. I play trombone/sing in a thrash/punk/pop punk band and we have been playing since 1998. our live show is interesting to say the least. Leavenworth is still a band, although none of us ever really hang out with each other because of school/work/other bands/drugs. these things take up time and shit. either way, i've had some of the best times of my life with those guys. palehorse was an experience and a half, but it was bittersweet more often than not. RS is fun as hell but i think some of the other guys take the band way too seriously compared to me, but i also don't really care about like, anything. so who knows.

The best person you met because of music (other than myself, which i'm sure would be your first answer, heh)?

honestly you are one of my favorite people i have ever met, and i'm really not just saying that. your follow countryman, xsheepx, is another favorite. i feel like we are the same person, just with different accents...and i'm fat. all of my friends in sweden are like family to me as well. it's really hard to put a thumb on the best person i've met because of music. joey, the singer of the now-defunct Fight Like Hell, is an amazing dude. i could really go on forever. i suck at this.

You have a deep love for Scandinavian cities. And you have been all over the world. What is it about scandinavia that stands out above all the other countries in the world?

well, i'll start at the beginning. my dad is norwegian, but he was raised in new jersey so he's basically just a shitty american like myself. either way, i was always really into the whole norwegian thing growing up. i've always listened to a lot of swedish bands (like my favorite, raised fist. shut up.) and had a thing for the nordic languages. after taking a pretty long vacation by myself in norway/sweden (when i met you) i learned to love the quality of life that scandinavians enjoy. not just the whole healthcare thing or the ridiculously hot girls...but everything. they (as well as most europeans) focus on different things in life than americans do. the concept of wealth, spirituality, community and just general, civilized behavior is much different. i don't know, it's weird. i really liked japan a lot too, but i'm not exactly japanese, so it's harder for me to be into their culture as much as i am into the nordic one.

honestly, i think how i saw the world changed a lot as i grew up (just like anyone else, haha). americans constantly have a false sense of pride shoved down our throats, it's fucking weird. we are taught that our lives are the best of anyone on earth. once i finished a couple world cultures books i kind of thought to myself "yo, america sucks". scandinavia was and still is much more appealing to me. everything i have in life i have because i was raised in a privileged home in a privileged country in a very un-privileged world. i can't really do much about it, but i can always see the world for what it is.

You are into reptile rescue. How many snakes do you have and how did you come to get into this?

i have 4 pythons, 3 boas, 3 kingsnakes, 2 ratsnakes, 2 milksnakes, 2 cornsnakes, 2 leopard geckos, a blue-tongued skink, a bearded dragon and an american alligator.
between being a vegan and just a fairly compassionate dude, i've always been into animal rights and trying to make life better for those who can't help themselves. i worked at a pet store that closed and basically kept all the reptiles that were in the store. i started taking in various animals (reptiles mostly) from vets, other rescues, schools and such. i've studied reptiles basically since i was like, 2. from over 20 years of experience, i'm just a snake dude or whatever.


You have a choice of erradicating one hardcore band off the planet and propelling one into superstardom (this band cannot be one of yours). Who would you choose in both instances and why?

i would eradicate too pure to die and basically any of the seventh dagger-type bands that make straight edge such a joke. it's nothing personal, i just miss when hardcore was, you know, hard.

i would shoot Trapped Under Ice into superstardom. i feel they will get there on their own. such a breath of fresh air in this day and age. best guys, totally deserve everything they get. check them out/support the fuck out of them. tell them i said yo.

and in the same breath, you can bring a band back, and im not talking a lame reunion tour. Im talking, bringing them back so they were the same age, and had the same enthusiam as when they were together.. who would you bring back?

i guess i would have to say the cro mags. i was never a worshiper of them like a lot of people were/are, but in their rawest form i feel they were untouchable as a band. they had so much right, it wasn't even funny. i know it's kind of a generic answer, but it's the truth.

Kevin wants to know when you are going to break edge?

probably right before i kill myself. couple years, max.

and he also wants to know who you think the best hardcore band is and the best topic on b9 ever was? hahaha

i'm guessing he means current bands, but i don't know. currently i would say that when it comes to heavy hardcore, death before dishonor has the world on lockdown. for more punk hardcore, wisdom in chains is doing very well. i'd also give honorable mention to blacklisted and have heart. those 2 bands work hard as fuck and it has payed off for them.

You have been to england a bunch of times. Whats your favourite thing about it, and whats your favourite UK band?

The girls in Scotland. hands down. haha. for me it would be the people in the hardcore scene there. from the By My Hands guys to you, XsheepX and company, i have some of my best friends in the UK. honestly i don't like much else about the UK besides the hardcore scene, the people it involves and scottish girls.
My favorite UKHC band is knuckledust, duh.



and whats your favourite memory of Sheep?

so many. us pissing into the english channel together...him ripping trash cans off the wall and throwing them into the channel (same ferry ride, haha). so, so many. i would say on the whole though, him teaching me how to play conkers (sp?) outside Deadfest 2005. him and i getting to know each other, wandering around linkoping and making fun of people. it ruled. that whole weekend changed my life, kinda weird to think about.

Thats about it. Thanks for your time, dude. Any last words?

check out my zine (myspace.com/gtrzine), everyone from the UKHC scene has a place to stay at my house whenever you need, listen to millencolin and nasum. buy records, support sincere bands. live the punk rock dream.

thanks may!

The Loved Ones

A year and a half ago, I went to see Strike Anywhere at the Underworld in London. A band I previously had never heard of before, The Loved Ones, from Philadelphia, were supporting.

The band completely blew me away. American Punk Rock at its finest.. They reminded me of Alkaline Trio A LOT. The catchiness of their songs.. the hooks were incredible. I got my hands on a copy of their album, "Keep Your Heart", and "Jane" was put on heavy rotation on both my Radio Show and my ipod.



The band are playing in two weeks in the UK to promote their new album, entitled "Build and Burn" on Fat Wreck:

May 7 2008 Joseph’s Well Leeds
May 8 2008 Barfly London
May 9 2008 The Cavern Exeter

I urge you to go and check them out. You will NOT be disappointed.

Opinions. Have them, fuckers.

This past year, I have had 2 seperate band dudes comment on me saying that their band was terrible online on some messageboard. Not naming names because frankly, it's not worth it, but I found this terribly amusing.

So, at 12am on a Thursday night, I asked some people online that I know that create music a simple question..

"If someone you never met before, went online and a number of times, fuck, every time your band was mentioned, went on about how "awful" you were, when everyone else was going on about how ace you are, would you care? "



I told everyone that answered that I would keep their answers anonymous.

"well if everyone was going on about how ace we were, it wouldn't matter"

This was the general response. Most people said that they wouldn't care..

"not really...i love that shit ha ha..not everyone is gunna like your band"

My theory is that even if someone is saying bad things about your band, at least people are still talking about them.

Im going to use an example. My Children, My Bride. This is a metalcore band from across the water that I wouldn't have even bothered listening to if they weren't the most slated band on a board a lurk last summer. Ok, they weren't good at all, but at least I listened to them.. someone else might have listened to them and loved them.

"cos i write music that I wanna hear, and I give up my all to play it to people for very little/no reward! so how could you not be a little miffed if someone just wrote off something you put your everything to in just one measly internet sentence"

This was one of the more negative responses. I see where he is coming from which is why I generally usually say "they aren't my thing". Not every band that fall under this catagory are bad bands. With some bands, the fact that they are good musicians, that they have good songs, can be seen, but is not necessarily the band that I would want to listen to when I'm walking home from work. They really are just not my thing. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't go watch them.

"I think as you mature as individuals and as a band you give less of a fuck about what other people think"

That was the only quote I could end with. I am a nobody. It shouldn't matter what I think. Because I say that I don't like your band doesn't mean I'm shittalking. It means what it says. I don't like your band. Its an opinion which all of us are entitled to, and along with the shit that comes along with the internet, it means that more of us can state it, BOTH positive and negative.

Don't mistake someone stating their opinion as shit talking. Shittalking is when someone saying "I don't like that band because their singer is a dickhead"... when something personal is said about an individual.

Not when someone says "I love this band on record but think they suck live".

Journalism

I have written this post about three times. Gone over it about 10. I don't know why, but I felt that this one needed to be, you know, just right.


When explaining that we have Arabsat in our house, people that have never heard of the company look at me wideeyed. A satellite that can pick up arabic channels and direct them into a home in South London? One that picks up Al-Jazeera, the channel that Osama Bin Laden sends his videos to?

Yeah.

What I tend to leave out, though, is that the majority of arabic people, and all the arabs we know, living in both the arab and the non arab world, have one of these satellite dishes.

The receiver picks up hundreds of Arabic channels, from music channels to news to general lifestyle channels to channels dedicated to Egyptian soap operas. The only programme I could name, though, stars a chef called Osama that my mother watches every morning on the Dubai Channel.

I will admit, before I began to write this entry, I didn't know what the deal was with Canada, North and South America but apparently there is coverage there too.

So, what is the point of this entry, I hear you ask.

It was to tie in with a buddy of mines website: Luke Wolagiewicz.
Luke has been to Iraq a number of times since the "shock and awe" campaign, and manages to take very real pictures that I think a lot of people should check out. If you feel yourself turning your head in disgust as to what you see, think of all the people in Iraq that have to see these images everyday.

http://www.wolagiewicz.com/index.html


Luke manages to portray not only death in Iraq, but the plight of the military that he was with. I wanted to take Luke out when he got back and ask him questions about Iraq.. I might interview him here later on but for now, I want to focus on his pictures.

Whilst looking at Lukes site, I found myself not being shocked by any of the images, maybe because I am used to them, but mostly because it was not anything I hadn't seen before. The images you see on arabic news are brutally honest and there is more sadness and more shocking images than the very much toned down UK and US news.

I urge everyone to take five minutes out of their day to check out Lukes site, especially the Iraq pictures. See what we generally don't get to see.

Last October..

I went on tour with Charlotte, Risky Bizzz and COA .

Ian Bizz just wrote up a breakdown.

Go read it here:

http://moshitup.livejournal.com/

Mark Speight

What is considered to be front page news nowadays here in the UK completely blows my mind.

Last Monday, the body of a children's tv presenter was found hanging at Paddington railway station.

Mark Speight's story was extremely heartbreaking. Speight is one of the most well known TV presenters in the UK after presenting the long running childrens art show "SMart". He met his fiancee, Natasha Collins when she co- presented a show with him entitled "See it, Saw it" in 2000 and they were engaged in 2005.

On the 3rd January 2008, Speight phoned the police and ambulance after he found Collins dead in the bath after she had ingested a lethal cocktail of cocaine, vodka, sleeping pills and wine with 60% burns on her body from scalding water. He was subsequently arrested then released after police said he wasn't a suspect. The coroner gave a verdict of "death by misadventure".

He disappeared at the beginning of april and was found dead on the 14th.
He was depressed and signs point to the fact that he had commited suicide by hanging.

Speight loved Collins so much that he couldn't live without her.

There was hardly any news coverage on this. I don't think it even made a front page of any of the papers. Considering that there was so much media coverage when he was arrested, it would have made sense for there to be coverage when he passed. But this isn`t the case. And if you google his name, the only article that comes up is the one from the Independant while many appear from the inquest.

May he rest in peace.

Sick Of It All

My earliest memory of music is being terribly young and dancing around my living room to Abba with my father. Fastforward about 7 years and Im stood at the Astoria in London trying to meet Machine Head, who were playing their second night, to get me into the show that night because I had been told that I was barred from the venue the night before for stagediving.

After being stood in the foyer for three hours with noone to talk to, a man comes out with his arm bandaged. I look up, and bored out of my brains, I start talking to him.

"How did you hurt your arm?" i ask inquisitively
"Ahh at the show last night" He replies with a grin on his face.
"oh right.. where did you play last night?" I ask, hoping he is someone with Machine Head so I can start my "pleeeeeeeeease help me get into this show.. you will NEVER believe what happened!!" speech.
"Bradford"
"ahh ok"
"Are you coming to see us tonight?"
"who's us?"
"Sick of it all". The band were playing downstairs at the astoria 2 with a band from Long Island called VOD.
"Oh. no. sorry. I'm trying to get into the MachineHead show"
"Oh. OK. You don't like us?"
"Not really. You aren't really my thing. I like metal and punk, not hardcore"
"Oh ok. Thats a shame. Well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you"

I had actually picked up Scratch The Surface around half a year before this meeting and only given it one listen before storing it with my hundreds of other tapes.

A couple of months later, I had gone to my first real hardcore show, which was an eye opener, I heard they were touring again. I dug out the tape and gave it another listen and fell in love with the album. For 6 months, it never left my walkman. They announced dates and as I was at university in Southampton, I booked tickets for Portsmouth and told my brother to pick me up tickets for their two dates in London at the Garage..

They blew me away in Portsmouth. I stood there for the entirety of their set with my jaw on the floor. I had seen hundreds of bands by this point in my life and never had I seen a band with so much enthusiasm and dedication.

The next day, I trained it up to London for the first of the two London shows. I was stood outside the venue with my best friend, and the man that I met at the Astoria walks out of the tour bus.
He looks at me and says
"hey. weren't you at the show last night crowd surfing all over the place?"
"yeah. haha that was me. I had a bit to drink". All I could think was "Please don't remember me from the Astoria.. please don't remember me"
"Haven't I met you before?"
"um.." I pause. "Yeah. I met you before the VOD show".
"HAHAHAH HOLY SHIT, you are the Machine Head girl. What, you like my band now, huh?"
I felt my face go bright red.

The rest, as they say is history.

There is no band that I have gone out of my way to see more than this band. There are no songs I have listened to more times. There is no band that I get so excited about seeing that I can't sleep the night before. The lights go down, their intro starts, and my stomach does flips and i'm grinning like a Cheshire cat. And after 5 days of following them around the country, I have lost my voice.. I am happiest when I am stood watching them onstage, singing along. The band end their UK leg of this European tour in Norwich tonight, and I am sat at work, miserable because I am not on a train right now going there.

Thank you for giving me some incredible memories.

BROWN GIRL IN THE RING...

If you are reading this blog, I imagine you know what I look like.

And you should know what Parminder Nagra (pictured below) looks like.. Who is that, I hear you cry? She is the English actress in ER and star of the film "Bend It Like Beckham". The English Actress of Indian descent.

When working as a receptionist, and when I still had black hair, everytime that damn film was shown on tv, I would get the "You know who you look like?" question from patients for a week. I would smile politely, and reply, "no, who?" pretending that I had no idea what was coming..
"OH that actress.. you know.. the one in that film?"
"Bend It Like Beckham?" I would ask, knowing full well that it was the answer.
"YES! THATS IT!" would always be their reply, always accompanied with a satisfied grin.

This happened a couple of times when I was in America as well, but people used the ER connection instead.

While "Thank You," was usually my substandard response, what I actually wanted to say was this:
"Yo. While I am quite flattered about the comparison, as I think the girl is a babe, I look nothing like her. The only similarity between myself and this girls looks are that we both have big eyes, are brown and have black hair. BUT my skin tone is different to hers, my face shape, eye shape, nose shape, in fact everything about my face looks nothing like hers. Like I said, she's a babe, AND she bags all the hot dudes in the show (minus the army medic dude. He wasn't my type), so, you know, awesome. But not all brown girls with english accents look the same.".

I never did though. One day....



On a completely different note, I have been singing "Brown Girl in The Ring" since I was a little kid, as it was a song that was on a Boney M tape that my father used to play to me when I was really young, and it was not till today that I knew where the song came from.

Good Charlotte

Having a little sister means that you can warrant doing many things in her name. Going out of my way to see Good Charlotte at the Brixton Academy last night to take her was definitely one of these things.

Pop punk, which is undoubtedly my favourite genre of music following hardcore, is a terribly guilty pleasure of mine. It reminds me of summer and good times. While my love for Good Charlotte does not exceed my love for New Found Glory, they are pretty high up there. And free tickets when i have nothing better to do on a Sat night? Yes PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

The crowd was comprised of a mixture of people which came as a great shock. As with any pop punk show, there were many young children with their parents. But there was a surprising amount of people in their mid-late 20s, people in the late 30s and as icing on the cake, many goths.

There was also an astounding amount of bad tattoos. Spotted in the crowd was a girl in her mid-20s with "MADE" tattooed on the back of her neck, a girl that couldnt have been older than 15 with the lyrics to "Hold On" in scripture on her arm, and my personal favourite, the girl whos picture was taken sneakily with the "My Chemical Romance" tattoo on her back. When she is in her 20s, she is going to regret that one terribly. But hey, at least its small enough to be covered up.

The band themselves were pretty good. Joel spoke possibly a bit too much between songs, gushing about his new baby daughter and how in love he is, as well as the usual "we wouldn't be here without you guys" schpeel. They played all their hits, the highlight being "girls and boys" and ended with what felt like a 20 mins speech about how the band could still play "lifestyles of the rich and the famous" because it didn't matter what the press thought as they didnt pander to them. The song still contained a certain amount of irony considering both Joel and Benji are currently involved with two of LAs biggest socialites.

All in all a good night. Sorry about the crappy phone pictures.

Cheap Thrills

As you get older, it becomes harder and harder to muster up any excitement for new bands. You find yourself in a rut of listening to bands you loved 10 years ago, and sticking to what you already know. Once in a while, though, a new band will come along that changes this. A band that gets you pumped and excited about hardcore again.

Recently, this has been Cheap Thrills. The band, hailing from the Ruhrpott area in Germany, first came over to the UK with Borrowed Time from Syracuse last September. The show at the 12Bar was competing with Bane/Ceremony/Blacklisted and Have Heart at the Peel the same night so not many people were out to see them. They then had the arduous task of playing second to last at From The Heart Fest in Colchester, and to pretty empty midweek underworld show. The band have not had the best of luck in the UK. I am hoping this will change soon.

The awesome thing about this band are that they are all of the older generation of hardcore kids. All members are over the age of 25 and grew up listening to old NYHC bands and this can be heard in the bands music. They chew up the cro mags with sick of it all with breakdown and spit it out with some EGH.

In a world where many hardcore bands cite their influences as being bands like Guns Up! and Bracewar (no disrespect intended to these two bands), its a breath of fresh air to hear a band that has none of this in their sound.

Check them out!

The Councilor, the Kidnapping and The TV show.

In March of this year, a Tory MP in Kent, caused uproar when he posted the following words in his personal blog:

“I think there is an increasingly strong case for compulsory sterilisation of all those who have a second, (or third, or whatever) child while living off state hand-outs.”

John Ward, who has sat on Medway council in Kent, for the past 8 years, made a public apology saying his comments were "tongue in cheek".

The family that he cited as an example was the family of Shannon Matthews, the recently "kidnapped" daugher of Karen Matthews. Karen has fathered seven children from five different men and has been living on benefits for x amount of years.

The 9 year old child disappeared and was found 25 days later, after a huge media campaign, in her stepfathers uncles house, in a drawer under his bed. Her stepfather was arrested for "possesing indecent images of minors" on his computer and the story unfolds as it is emerging that the child was alleged not kidnapped but it was, in fact, a ploy to get some cash out of the media and the general public, claiming the money was to help find the child. The idea was all taken from a storyline in the AWFUL Channel 4 television series, Shameless.

Personally, im with John Ward on this one.

Maan

Cadburys Chocolate have this advertising malarky DOWN..

Firstly, the famous Gorilla Advert:




AND NOW, they have come up with this gem, using one of my favourite songs ever:



Rarely does any company manage to capture the nations hearts with advertisements. And at the moment, Cadburys chocolate seems more appealing than Hotel Chocolat so they must be doing something right!

Integrity

"integrity is dark. like being paralized but feeling a cockroach crawling across your shoulders."

Integrity are playing the Old Blue Last, the pub in Londons trendy Shoreditch, on Friday night with support from Braindead and Rot In Hell. The show spectacularly sold out within eight hours which is pretty much unheard of for a hardcore show and promises to include "very special guests" who are rumoured to be Vegas, but sources can neither confirm or deny this.

The crowd is expected to be a mixture of people..

a. The diehard Integrity fan.
b. the Vice reading hardcore fan (who listens to nothing other than what Vice Magazine has recommended)
c. the hardcore kids that want to check out the supports and know that the show will be incredible and off the hook even if they arent Integrity fans
d. and finally, those that have been nicknamed the new breed of Integrity fans.. the ones that havent been into them for that long, and know all the words to "Vocal Test". *ahem*


The quote above was taken from a friend who is a diehard Integrity fan, when asked to describe the band in a sentence.

I have seen Integrity 3 times (once as Integrity 2000 so this doesn't count). Everytime, I have gone to see the look on his face. The man has a look in his eyes that has died in the hardcore scene. A look I used to see a lot in the late 90s..

I look forward to seeing this look again.

28 Days Till The London Elections

The right to vote is something that the people of England don`t take seriously enough. While elections for prime minister usually have a good turn out, local and mayoral election turn outs are poor.

The London Elections are coming up in a month, where London will vote to elect a new mayor, or re-elect Ken Livingston, as well as a representative for local constituenies in the London Assembly in City Hall (pictured).

The local elections are something I generally dont bother with, but I decided to check and see who would be running for the London Assembly in my area. I was happy to find that the British National Party had no canditates running here, which gave me a sense of comfort as it shows that there would be small or no support for this party from Merton and Wandsworth. I then looked down and with horror realised that the area that is four streets down from mine had a National Front candidate. I urge you all to go and check and see who is running and if one of these parties are running in your area and if so, to go and vote against them.


In regards to the London Mayoral Election, look into all the policies before you decide to vote. The two main players at the moment are Ken Livingston from The Labour Party, who is looking to be re-elected after eight years, and Boris Johnson from the Conservatives. The race is tight, with opinion polls showing only 1% difference in their support.

Not to try and bias your opinion, but would you rather someone that knew London after having the job for 8 years, or someone that went to Eton, has nothing to do with this city and brags to homeless people about how he owns a house that is worth "load-sa-moooooney!"(no he didn't use those words but they weren't far off).

And finally, we are all too lazy when it comes to voting, which is why parties like the BNP and NF can still function. Supporters of these parties will go out and vote, making it seem that they are more popular then they actually are. Even if you are going to vote for the looney party, do not give up your right. It takes less than 10 mins of your day.

New Kids on The Block Are Back.

www.nkotb.com has been dead for an age but was suddenly ressurected much to the delight of fans worldwide. For many women, many in their late 20s and early 30s, myself included, the group was an important part of their early teenage lives. Cheesy love songs, catchy pop songs and dashing pretty boy looks turned them into a multi platinum worldwide phenomenon..

The site has told fans to watch the Today show in America this Friday morning, where it is rumoured that they will be announcing a reunion worldwide tour. Or we can all hope. I, for one, will be awake all night trying to get front row tickets if they roll through town.

Instead of being predictable and posting one of their music videos, Im going to post Danny Wood and Joey McIntyre doing a live cover of the Jackson Fives "I`ll be there".

This was the favourite section of their "Step By Step" video for many 13 year old girls in the late 80s, early 90s. Believe me, I would know.