When pop music goes bad

As a post clerk at a solicitors firm I spend hours folding and sending out hundreds of letters every week, but it's been years since I have written actually written a proper one.

Miss R.Black

247 Stuck in my head street
Won't leave my Headville

Worst song ever

SZI H8U

Dear Miss Black,

I am writing to tell you that your actions have ruined my life. I'm not the same person I was 2 months ago because of your imprint on the world I have changed, and it's all your fault.

Now no one likes getting up in the morning I'm going to be bold and say that is a fact. But because of you the getting up in the morning just isn't worth it. When I go downstairs and "get my cereal" the joyful ping of the spoon in my bowl and playful splash of my lactose free milk is just another reminder of your work. And what's worse I feel like you are mocking me, "gotta get down to the bus stop and then I see my friends", good for you Rebecca good for you, when I rush down to the bus stop I go solo. My friends are on the train or in their cars, I'm just minding my own business doing my Sudoku, but you miss it and get picked up in a soft top. Do you know what happens if I miss my bus? I get fired. Oh and P.S. my choice of seats on the bus is next to a sniffer, a talker or a worker with dead eyes.

My life used to be good, really good yes I'd get a song in my head from time to time, the Match.com and their enjoyment of old movies has definitely done the rounds. But I've always been able to shift them. But your song has not left my head, since the first listen and what's worse people take advantage of this hold on me. My boss mentions the word Friday on purpose and then sings your song/torture device. I call it torture device because I have seen films where they play the same song on repeat over and over until the detained screams out or just goes plain mad and well now that is my life.

At work it is an activity to get an annoying catchy song completely stuck in other people's heads and guess what it's yours. Your song isn't making people happy, it's the musical equivalent of The Ring, when people hear it they die inside.

I think my job aids it, constantly opening the post and checking dates to send letters out and people mention days of the week. On Monday I just know that in three days my hell will worsen, someone will ask what day it is on Wednesday I get a cold shiver and my palms get sweaty. Conversations go along these lines, "It's only Wednesday today, I want it to be Friday" then there "It's Friday, Friday". I dread hearing the days of the week, because it's just another thread to your tapestry.

It's like a gateway drug Wednesday is the equivalent of marijuana and Thursday is just full blown heroin.

People have said the glint in my eye has gone, my spring in my step in more like a thump and my sunny disposition has evolved into a thunderstorm. They say chin up, you will get through it your stronger than this, but I'm just not sure I am.

Now I'm not for one second claiming that my life is the worst life in the world but before I learn't of you it was at least 70% better.

Yes Rebecca I am referring to your song 'Friday', or at least I think that's what it's called I can't really remember what it's called because when I hear it my brain boils and then leaks out of my ears. I'm not one of those people who is going to post a death threat on twitter to you or wish you bad luck in your life I just thought you would like to know that mine is ruined.

Today is Sunday, so by your calculations, I've got four days until I can even consider "Partying partying yeah". Other things that have plagued me and your torture device are your sweeping generalisations, "Everybody lookin' forward to the weekend", really everyone? Do you think the nurses that have to look after Saturday nights people that have been "partying partying" so hard that they are consistently throwing up and soiling themselves think thank god it's the weekend.

I'm not saying that the inebriated general public that fill hospital waiting rooms on a Friday and Saturday night is your fault, but I'm going to be honest I don't think you've helped.

I think you have got my point and I hope as you drive round in your soft top, with your personalised number plate and your new designer clothes behind your newly whitened smile and your auto tuned voice should be the cold sting of guilt.

Yours

Cat.

Funeral For a Friend

Funeral for a Friend, have recently been praised for their latest album Welcome Home Armageddon. This record is a heavily anticipated return to their hardcore roots, and it has even been called, "Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation part two". Where other bands have failed to bring back the je ne sais quoi Funeral For a Friend have triumphed.

The Welsh rockers recently ventured up to Wakefield and I caught up with newest member Gavin Burrough to talk about the new record.

Your album Welcome Home Armageddon has recently been released how has that been received?

Yeah it's great, it's nice to be playing the songs that you've worked hard on over the last year. We're really proud of the record and we just want people to hear it. It's going well so far.

It's been compared to your 2003 album Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation, how do you feel about that?

I think that when we got together,and spoke about the writing process, there were elements of the band that were maybe missing. The ones that we knew people liked about the band and we wanted to introduce it back in. There's a lot more screaming, a lot more energy and it's fast paced, which we wanted to bring in. I suppose in a way you can kind of associate that with like Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation. I think at the same time we've still tried to keep it fresh and relevant.

Funeral For a Friend have been around for 9 - 10 years, why do you think there has been quite a big change in your sound?

I think when you're in a band you don't want to kind of rehash what you have done, you want to progress. I think the biggest change in sound was the third album with Tales. And I think the kind of impetus for that album was that everyone was copying what the band had done, and they didn't want to be associated with it, that was the big issue for that album. Now with this album we're trying to revisit our routes really and try and get that energy and aggression back into it.

The American pop-punk sound seems to be quite particular today especially in the charts, as a British band where do Funeral For a friend fit in there?

We're British Punk, pop punk. No I wouldn't say that, the Americans can do their thing and we'll do ours. Matt (leader singer) does sound a little bit American when he sings, he has a big passion for American punk bands. We're Welsh, but I think if we sang in Welsh accents it would be weird.

You have been awarded accolades like Best Band before, do these things change you ?

Oh they have it's gone straight to my head (laughing). No we're grounded people, we've all come from working class backgrounds and it's nice that people appreciate what you do and say nice things about you. At the same we know who we are as people.

How do you feel about the Welsh music scene at the moment?

I think it's great, tonight we've got a welsh band 'Tiger Please' playing with us. There's so many bands out there at the moment and so many good bands from Wales. When we started Lost Prophets were the first band to really kick it off from there on it's been obviously ourselves; Kids In Glass Houses, Bullet For My Valentine, The Blackout there's loads. There's really a melting pot for talent down there.

You guys are playing Wakefield's Black Flag, what do you think of Yorkshire?

Yeah we have been here plenty of times but not in Wakefield. We've played Leeds, northern people are nice.

What are you hoping for with tonight's show?

Sweaty people, jumping around and having fun.

What's Next for Funeral for a Friend ?

More touring, World Domination, just loads of touring going to Europe next month, festivals over the Summer and then Australia and America later in the year. Just pimping the album out getting people in people's faces, listen to it, it's great

The Black Flag in Wakefield is hotter than the sun, the front of the room is squirming with sweaty fans who are desperate to get a glimpse of Welsh Rockers, Funeral for a Friend.

The claps get faster and faster, as the sound technicians and roadies tease the crowd, taking a lifetime to complete all necessary checks on the equipment.

Lead singer Matt Davies worked the crowd easily with quick wit and charisma, you may have thought that you were watching a stand up act not a gig. In the middle of the set Davies announced that this was the best audience they had played to. The front-man was then hit with the ever popular "Yorkshire" chant, quick as a flash Davies replied, "Thank you I am very happy you are aware of where you are geographically", the crowd erupted with applause and laughter.

The band kept veteran fans happy dedicating the majority of their set to their older music, most of their 2003 album Casually dressed and deep in conversation was played. The crowd reacted manically to , "Juneau", screaming as the first chords were played before jumping and pushing each other to the beat.

They made sure that they made time for their newer material playing a few songs off their current album Welcome Home Armageddon, due to returning to their heavier sounding roots, this was recieving just as well as their earlier material was.

For fans of Funeral for a Friend if they had braved the front, the gig was rib squashingly good but the only downside was that you needed about 3 hours to cool off!

Mountaineer

Up until now the only bands I had heard about from Germany were called 'Die Toten Hosen', which literally means The Dead Trousers, but in everyday conversation it means 'nothing going on' or 'boring'. And another Deutsch band I am familiar with are rockers Rammstein -who are a great way to learn basic German.

Initially when listening to Mountaineer I noticed similarities between them and UK pop acts. The lead singers voice could easily be mistaken for Lancashires' Damon Gough (aka Badly drawn Boy) and the melody of the songs have hints of The Magic Numbers.

Listening to this album conjures up all sort of imagery of the 60s,

the flicks in the hair, the smooth shaped white furniture, the floral print and orange or beige coloured scenery. This is an album compiled of chilled out pop tracks, that some are guilty of lacking in atmosphere.

Among the tracks on the album to take notice of is ' The Real McQueen',which is extreme easy listening. This song is so laid back that it is almost horizontal, the beat and sound are so mellow, but repetitive hooks and interesting lyrics keep your attention. The influence of their sound in this song seems to point towards the American country and western scene.

'Aleena', echoes the trademark sound of our very own Damon Gough, armed with an repetitive catchy chorus, this track would probably be best suitable for single release.

On 'The Real McQueen' album, some of their tracks without vocals could be described as 'musak' and may be more suitable played in a hotel lobby or waiting room. These are all in-keeping with the overall sound of the album, but some tracks may have been best left off of it.

The final song of the album is a repeat of the opening track 'Always Coming Home', but taken down a few paces. Neatly ending the album, and showing there is an order or story that they are trying to convey.

This album is not designed for adrenalin junkies, people who need a therapeutic rock fix or parties. It is as mentioned previously definitely for easy listening, the chilled out sound, will not make you feel strongly about the subject they are singing of but will keep you swaying to it.

Wombats Leeds Met 9th March

Crouching on the stairs,solo, peering through the banister, singing along to the words, lost in translation when they speak but loving every single minute of it.....


In the past these three boys have danced to Joy Division, got lost in the fog, mused about killing a director, been slapped at the disco and relocated to New York. But now they are going to have to cross 'held a karaoke-type gig at Leeds Met University off their Bucket List.

Despite not always reaching the number one or even top five spot, the Wombats, have been hanging around the chars for the last couple of years. The trio has been making extremely infectious music; with clever lyrics, wit and inevitable oo-oo-oohs. These ingredients have always been a recipe for success, and they proved that they were worth their rightful place stuck in our heads, after a great performance in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

With an onslaught of five minute careers these days there is so much reliance of Auto-tune, and because of this commercially successful bands playing live could be unrecognisable. Because of this it was even more refreshig to hear the Wombats perform live. The Liverpudlians were pitch-perfect and sounded identical to their record oupit. The gig itself was like listening to the album but instead of being confined to a car or a house or a bus you were in a union surrounded by hundreds of strangers who appreciated your choice in music.

The Karaoke description is self-explanatory really; rarely is there a gig when more than three-quarters of the crowd know every singly word but in this instance they did. The volume level of the crowd frequently equaled the voice of frontman Matthew Murphy, and through most of the songs he was able to hold the mic to the crowd for the verses as well!

All the hits were played to the frantic crowd; 'Kill the Director', 'Jump into the Fog','Backfire at the Disco', 'Moving to New York and 'Tokyo(Vampires & Wolves)'. Most of the band's 2007 album A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation were included in the set, and a even a few songs off the new album. Despite the newer songs being relatively unknown, the audience's enthusiasm didn't ebb.

The bassist, Tord Overland-Knudsen, seemed to enjoy the performance even more than the crowd, with a grin stuck in his face although he had slept with a coat hanger in his mouth. The Wombats cleverly left their biggest hit until last, which promoted the crowd to chant 'Joy Division' at them - were they doing covers? The band teased a little more before stomping straight into 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' much to the crowds delight. The warm reception they recieved may make them change their mind about New York and give moving to Yorkshire a try!

All Correct - OK

Welsh band OK, are an indie outfit who's newest song Lego has been described as, " a blast of harmonic sunshine upon a grey music scene". The band have had a series of line up changes since their debut album in 2009. Ahead of the release of their new album they have released Lego as the first song off the album.

OK, have created a gimmicky video to go alongside their new song, Lego, which features puppets playing their instruments and generally rocking out.

Joe Paine the lead singer from the band answered some of my questions, with a particularly interesting analysis of The Thunderbirds, enjoy!

OK, tell me who OK are?

OK are a pop band from Cardiff who like to play music that makes you feel good.

Story behind the single?

I came up with the 'fit together like Lego' thing years ago. I got the tune sang it into a tape recorder so I wouldn't forget it. Then, low and behold years later I dug it up and thought this could make a good little song.

Single out this week how are you feeling ?

It's a weird process making a single. What with practising, recording, playing the track live and hearing it over and over during the making of the video. It kind of gets to the point where you can't really hear it anymore. But, I still catch myself singing the tune to myself sometimes, so I guess it's a good sign.

You seem to have a fondness for Lego, but what were your favourite childhood toys?

Depends what age you're talking. I was MASSIVELY into Turtles. Going further back it was all about Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank!

Indie is a pretty popular genre, how do you think OK stand out ?

We see so many bands that seem miserable or pretentious. Whilst this can sometimes be really cool I think we all share the same feeling that we don't want to be like that. It's great to sing about miserable things, just have fun doing it.

What's the best thing about being musicians ?

The chicks and the dollars... ha ha, no, it's cheesy as fuck but being able to travel around with your best mates having a laugh whilst doing something that you really enjoy is the best.

You have used puppets in your video, which do you prefer Muppets or Thunderbirds?

I was never really into the Muppets, I found it hard to tell the different between them and Sesame Street. I was a BIG fan of the Thunderbirds though. I remember getting to the age where you think back to the Thunderbirds and realise how utterly in-practical it was (slides into the cockpits, taking off through a swimming pool, always having the fly from the same place wherever the disaster is). Seemed like perfect sense at the time.

Light bulb

Today I realised that I write the word ventured A LOT. Need a Thesaurus