This week so far

so far this week has consisted of...

5 hours on a train...
2 days in meeting/board rooms
2 free meals
1 night in the hilton

and lots of bonding.

Muscles, Muscles EVERYWHERE

Can someone please clarify that if you work out and have muscles, it doesn't necessarily mean you can win a fight?

Im not talking one on one with an MMA fighter, i'm talking a dude who works out with muscles and the average drunk douchebag on the street.

Memories you can hold in your hand.

In August 2004, me and a friend went off to Rome for a week. We had an awesome time, went sightseeing and took hundreds of photos on a camera I had borrowed from my father after mine had been stolen in a club in London.
We ended the trip at Ieperfest in Belgium. To cut a long story short, my bag got stolen and the camera went with the bag. Luckily, my parents were understanding (which reminds me, I need to buy my father a replacement), but I also knew that I had lost all the precious photos that I took.

I spent months on european hardcore messageboards begging whoever had stolen it to return the memory card to me, but was ignored.

The pictures were to be of the last holiday that myself and said friend took together, as we grew apart after that, and it also included pictures of people that I met that I would never see again. I was truly gutted.

A couple of weeks ago, PostSecret linked this website- I Found Your Camera.
A simple but ingenious idea. People find memory cards/cameras, send in the pictures already on the card and hope that the owner/someone that knows the owner will see the picture and contact the holder. There are good people in the world, and this shows it.

If you do find someones camera, by all means, keep the piece of machinary but please, do anything you can to return their memories to them. While I know that my pictures are gone for good, I still return to the site every Thursday to read the success stories.

Damn you Betsey Johnson..

Damn you to hell.

Betsey Johnson, is, by far, one of the best fashion designers around at the moment. A quirky looking woman herself, her clothes have always had an ultra cool "twist" to them. Unfortunately, while her clothes aren't Vivienne Westwood expensive, they are still a bit too out of reach for an individual who doesn't have an above average level of disposable income. If you can bring yourself to pay more than £100 for a dress, lucky you.

She does, on the other hand, have an affordable quaint line of hangbags named "Betseyville". Unfortunately, the bag that I have my eye on, also costs an extra $50 just to have the item shipped.




I repeat, damn you Betsey Johnson!

RunningRiotFest AKA Ninjafest

Ninjafest is over. Myself and Rachel promised each other from the start that if one of us left, the name would go with them. Both Rach and Louise decided that last year would be the last time they would be involved.

I decided to continue. Ninjafest, although terribly stressful, was one of the best times of the year for me. I would put on a fest at the same venue, over the same weekend, with the same sort of theme, but under a different name. I was such an organizational nazi anyway that I knew that I would be able to sort out everything anyway. 2 of my best friends proved to be the most help last year so they are in with me, helping me out.

So the name. For months, I deliberated over names. I knew that it was the last one, but started thinking about a name for the next last June. I was stuck. Then, one day, when on tour, I was talking to the dudes and was like "I can't think of a name!".. Colin turned to me and started reeling off amazing names, old UK punk songs, and then said "Running Riot!". That was the one.
"You come from a country with such amazing punk history, I can't believe you can't come up with a name.". I didn't even think of that. Naming it after a Cocksparrer song was genius (thanks Colin!!).

So here we are. 5 Months away from the fest, and its pretty much completely booked. The smaller bands are done, just waiting on headliners to confirm and then thats that.

While I was worried I would only end up with tough bands (everyone knows my love for tough guy bands), the line up is looking pretty sweet and quite diverse. I returned the original idea of Ninjafest. I didn't care what people thought and I am only generally putting on bands that I am proper psyched on seeing.

so ADD. Line up should be announced in the next couple of weeks

http://www.myspace.com/runningriotfest

Mr Trump.

You should consider firing the person who suggested that you build a luxury golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Why, I hear you ask?

Is it because I think that the dunes/enviroment will be ruined?

No.

This is a picture of your golf course in California. Note, the beautiful sparkling blue sea, the yacht in the distance, the weather that looks amazing.










This is a picture of Aberdeen in June:

Note, the clouds. Don't get me wrong, i'm not knocking Scotland, but really, it's not known for its amazing weather.

"Hey Honey.. I booked us a holiday.. we are going to be staying in a luxury hotel, Im going to play golf, its going to be awesome!"
"Really? GREAT! Where are we going?"
"Aberdeen"
"........."

SUMMER IS HERE!!

Sunshine, booty shorts, no huge handbangs that you can fit your hoodie in, festivals and finally, Big Brother.



The show began last thursday, claiming to be the most strict series to date. The contestants include a blind man, a bunch of girls that love themselves, 2 lads, a crazy little Thai lady, the token gay guy, a black man with an american accent that is an albino, an old couple that have an air of "swingers" about them (I am willing to put money down that they are), and a boy that really resembles Frank from the Gallows.
We have already formed loyalty to the one that we want to win (personally, i like darnell, the black albino, but being that we are a nation of sympathisers, the blind man will probably will prevail).

GO DARNELL!

People You Need In Your Life. Interview #2: Sheep

"Are you sure he's straight-edge?", the euro boy I'm talking to asks, as he watches Sheep with another of my friends run out of the Belgian club, wearing nothing but a balcava and when I say nothing, I mean NOTHING. I grin and nod as he shakes his head in disbelief.

This was nothing we all hadn't seen before. Sheep has always, and will always, be the life and soul of the party. With more energy than anyone I know, and more passion than most, Sheep is, by far, one of my favourite people on the planet.

A talented photographer, frontman of one of the UKs hardest working bands, Honour Among Thieves, and a good friend, I bothered him whilst he was on tour in Australia to ask him some questions.

You all DEFINITELY need more Sheep in your life.

Name: sheep
Vital Statistics: 28, tall and skinny with a fake beer belly.
Location: Based in London
Current Occupation outside of music: photographer

Describe yourself in 3 sentences. EXACTLY 3.

annoyingly hyperactive northern lad who talks too much. quite likes a
bit of mischief and doing things most people don't do. likes to party.

Hi sheep, How you doing?

not bad. i was up till after 7am, but had to get up at 10 to switch hotel rooms (long story). now i'm up, waiting for the sweet mexican place down the road that does tofu burritos to open so i can get dinner.

You have been an active part of UKHC for a long time. The first time I heard your name was when Sakari Empire was being mentioned. For the younger kids that haven't been around for that long.. would you care to explain what exactly this was, from how you got the name to what was done with it?

sakari empire was a record label i used to run in 2000/2001. sakari empire was originally the name of the edge collective run by the boys from canvas in leeds circa 1997/98, i just pinched it. ironically, i seem to remember nathan bean claiming he had come up with the name or something, but i guess that mustve been before everyone realised he is a total fucktard.
It didn't last very long, i put out 3 records and a few demos... to be honest i don't think it was ever very important in the grand scheme of things, no one really cared about the majority of the records i put out. I guess in the clear were an important band for out scene at the time though, but it was probably more a case of the band making the label, rather than the label making the band.

it's worth noting that the kneejerk record i put out features Frank Turner, who went on to play in million dead with a reasonable amount of success, and now has even more a country/punk/folk singer.

Ian Wiles of In The Clear went on to form the last chance who we all know and love (i hope) and founded dead and gone records, one of the biggest hardcore labels this country has ever had.

the label folded in late 2001 when i moved abroad.... wasnt keen on trying to run it from another country.

You have put on loads of shows in your time. Which would you say was your favourite?

mmmm that's a toughie... so many good ones! the american nightmare/walls of jericho all dayer at josephs well in leeds, 2003 stands out. as does sweatfest in 2004, mainly because everyone was going mental for UK bands. i always get stoked when kids lose their shit for homegrown talent. more recently the pre-ninjafest show last year was a banger for the same reasons.... one of the very early shows i did stands out too, withdrawn, area effect, canvas and vengeance of
gaia, the packhorse, leeds 1997. it broke even (a rarer thing those days), all the bands were rad. i think i foolishly made a tiny speech at the end of the gig about how awesome hardcore was or something like that, but i was only 17 at the time so i'm willing to forgive myself.

As I write out this interview, you are on tour in Australia tourmanaging Bring Me The Horizon. How did this come about?

well i've known the bmth dudes since before they were a band.. they used to come to my shows. i remember ripping oli for wearing a scarfin a roasting hot blood brothers show on the blog i used to keep at the time when he must've been like 16 or something. been TMing them for a little while now. It's neat, i get paid to go to cool countries and hang out with cool people. job does have it's downsides but mostly it's awesome.

You have been in several bands.. The earliest I remember being 12th Angel Calling.. Whats your favourite memory of being onstage?

i never really regarded myself as being a band dude. 12th angel calling never really did anything and no one liked us anyways, so i dunno if i'd even count them. the 1st real band i was in that did anything was seventh cross, i joined them in late 2005... so i'd been going to shows for a decade before i was in a proper band.

like i said, no one cared about 12th angel so i don't really have any cool onstage memories with them, just the chill outs and tour shit. i have a good story about the aftermath of a gig in grimsby but that wasn't onstage so i guess it doesn't count.

playing with seventh cross was fun.. i guess the highlights would be the one show we played in sweden, ghostfest and the last 2 shows, they were both pretty mental. i suppose the shows where kids went mental are always gonna be the standout ones for me.

i think the best ever would probably be the demo 7" release show for HAT last year... so many kids singing along. i was uber stoked. nothing is like that feeling at all.....


Your "new" band, Honour Among Thieves. Tell us a little about it?

um... if you're after some kind of summary (the type band members hate having to do) then i'd say we're a melodic hardcore band with an aggressive edge and socially aware lyrics and topics..... we've only been going about a year so it's early days at the moment but we're
having a lot of fun.

When you first started, I asked you to describe your sound.. You said it was a mixture of comeback kid and someone else who I cant remember. The sound that you guys developed is not really a sound adopted by many hardcore bands here in the UK. Do you think that has benefited or hindered you guys?

to be honest i'd say it has hindered us. if we had more breakdowns and moshy bits i'm sure kids would dig us more.... but when we started out we didn't want to be just another moshy band. i'm glad we're maybe doing something a little bit different, even if no one cares that
much.

You have done a number of uk tours, a russian tour, played mainland europe...your band seem very driven, to be doing this off a back of a 3 track demo?

well most of us in the band have been around for a while and have a few friends here and there, so we just utilised those connections.... we should've put something else out by now but cuz we've been touring a fair bit it hasn't happened... the band is pretty much the only reason i still live in england, so i wanna make the most of it while it's going... so i guess driven is a word that's fairly accurate. we just wanna play everywhere and anywhere we can.

Congratulations on the signing to GSR by the way...

cheers. we've known rob and theo for a long time, and they actually approached us back in october, but it took a little while to get it all ironed out. we don't really fit in on their roster but it makes an interesting challenge! i can't wait to put the full length out with them...


Lets move on a bit. You and Sean Oxley are possibly two of the most famous stagedivers due to that picture. How do you feel when you hear that people you dont know have blown up the pic to cover a wall or put you on their credit card?

ha i dunno if i would agree.. in recent times maybe, but there are quite a few classic 80s dive pics (the swazzi on the balaclava diver for example) that have that pic beat hands down. it's kinda funny that the pic travelled so far and wide. when i saw the pic of that dude who
had it blown up on his wall i just laughed. it's funny. i never saw the credit card but i heard about it, that's pretty funny too. i bet ryan wishes he was scoring some kind of royalties for all the use his pic has seen!

As a photographer, do you sometimes wish you had taken the pic?

it's funny that you should ask that as a lot of people actually get confused and think that i took it rather than being in it. it would be a sweet pic to have taken, but life is about living not watching so i'm glad it's the way it is.


Plug your photography here...

err.... pay me to take pictures of stuff? i'm dead good, honest.

and now please plug a UK band that you feel everyone has to listen to.

well i'd normally say dead swans cuz they are the shizznizz but they're blowing up so they don't need any help right now.. where as MORE THAN LIFE from bristol are amazing and are looking for a label.they just recorded a new MCD and it's smoking. so good. hook them up
if you're a label dude! www.myspace.com/morethanlifehardcore

What does the rest of 2008 hold for you?

a whole lot of touring.. i'm supposed to fly home from oz on the 10th, but think i might stay to tech for the ghost inside who are on the road here till the 22nd... then i get back, and bmth have some euro fests to do. then probably warped tour with them. then i guess we have
to record an album... then touring some more. so mostly touring.... although when i get home i'm definitely looking forward to riding my bike. it's been too long....


THANKS DUDE. We miss you x

The Devil Wears Primark

This show was supposed to be aired today at 9pm on Channel 4, but has mysteriously disappeared from the latest tv listings.

Word on the internet grapevine is that one of the biggest clothing retailers in the uk have not only been training staff on their "ethical trading initiative" and that the company had taken legal action to prevent the show being aired.

The programme had gone undercover and revealed that companies, used in India to supply the chain, had broken their own ethical code of conduct. Workers were forced to work in unhygenic and unsafe conditions, often working overtime unpaid, and possibly employing child labour.

Primark has revolutionalised the high street fashion world. With new lines added every week, super cheap prices and clothes sometimes going for as low as £1, the chain is, by far, the biggest clothing retailer in Britain at this present time. It has been featured in every fashion magazine, including fashion bible Vogue, and many style programmes also.

Stop any woman residing in the UK on the street, and more than likely, she will be wearing at least one item from the store. With such a fast turnover of styles, it also means that there arent thousands of women on the streets of London wearing the same thing.

Case in point:
2 years ago, Primark released a polka dot dress.. a couple of days later, said dress was featured on "This Morning" and the dress flew off racks becoming one of the best selling articles of clothing of the year.

Would the show have done any damage to Primark? Probably not. A similar show was aired on BBC3, entitled "Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts" which showed six brats living like indian sweatshop workers. What it did show was that MOST high street retailers use sweatshops. But these high street retailers have been losing profits due to the popularity of the chain , so the show maybe would have benefitted them. The TV series also did not make people stop buying clothes.


Hopefully the show will be reschduled though.
And for the record, I love Pri-marni.