Underworld

As previously discussed, it took a while for me to warm to bleepy stuff. Underworld in particular had a mountain to climb if they were ever to win a place in my heart, since they first came to my attention when I heard Born Slippy NUXX on the Trainspotting soundtrack - and that song fucking sucks.

But despite the challenge they faced, there was no direct mail marketing; no online or TV promotion; not even a personal message from the band themselves imploring me to just give them one more chance to prove themselves. It was almost like they were completely unfazed by my indifference.

But it clearly had an effect; because why else would they have copied Orbital's strategy of writing a killer tune and then sticking it on the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack, where I would just happen to stumble upon it?

And then it turns out that they'd had a whole stack of killer tunes all along, drawing on a whole heap of different styles; from pounding pounding techno music to weirdly ambient acoustic floatiness. The sneaky bastards.

Website: http://www.underworldlive.com/home.html

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/underworld

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underworld_(band)

I Hate Sally

If the quality of life in Canada is so good, then why are these guys so fucking angry at everything?

Perhaps that's why they split up; they could no longer reconcile their abundance of stunning scenery, clean cities, low crime rate and high technology with the acerbic sludge-tinged hardcore racket they were cranking out.

There's not much I can say about I Hate Sally, because I don't know much about them myself. I first heard the song Iscah's Life on a Rock Sound CD a few years back, instantly loved it and copied it onto my MP3 player, and promptly forgot all about it. Then a year or so later my MP3 player decided to randomly force it back into my ear, and I instantly loved it all over again; so I bought the album, copied it to my MP3 player; and promptly forgot all about it. Then a week or so ago my MP3 player decidedly to randomly force it back into my ear, and I instantly loved it all over again.

I'm sure that in a few days time I will have forgotten all about it again, but for now I am very much digging I Hate Sally's brand of sometimes thrashy, sometimes sludgy, always crushing hardcore dirge.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/ihatesally

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Hate_Sally

And So I Watch You From Afar

Bless 'em, the filthy little northern Irish scamps.

Their music is mostly described as post-rock, but with emphasis on the rock. And actually, for post-rock, there's not an awful lot of cocking about. Which isn't to say that ASIWYFA blast out simplistic sub-three minute walls of noise; quite the opposite, in fact. They manage to compose technical, grand and sweeping soundscapes without the pomp and pretense, and are accessible without resorting to lowest common denominator rock-by-numbers.

I guess as a label, post-rock points you in sort of the right direction; but it just doesn't prepare you for how damn good these guys are. They just play fucking great rock songs, without the vocals.

I went to see them play The Cooler last week (supported by Lafaro, another quite excellent band that are very worthy of your attention) on their headline UK tour. They were rightly adored by their fans, who had come out in some numbers - in distinct contrast to the first time that I saw them about ten months earlier, when they played to about a dozen people at legendary Bristol toilet The Junction. But regardless of turnout, ASIWYFA's performance was nothing less than life-affirming, brimming with passion and energy, and an unshakeable conviction that THEIR MUSIC IS THE TITS.

Bravo chaps.

They really are one of the best bands that no-one has ever heard of; so make the most of them before they dissolve in a fizzle of apathy and disillusionment.

Website: nope

Mypace: http://www.myspace.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIWYFA

Will Haven

Downtuned, uncomplicated, heavy, groovy, dark.

I got into these guys towards the end of 2001 with the release of their frankly superb third album, Carpe Diem; just in time for them to break up less than a year later. Fuckers. Three quarters of the band (Jeff Irwin - guitar, Mike Martin - Bass and Mitch Wheeler - drums) carried on with various other projects with various other people, such as Ghostride and The Abominable Iron Sloth.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, they reformed in 2005 and embarked on a co-headline jaunt with sludge metal behemoths Crowbar the next year.

This was a good thing.

The only problem was that singer Grady Avenell's wife got taken ill in France just before the UK dates, and so wouldn't be joining the rest of the band in the UK.

This was a bad thing.

But vocal duties on the tour were taken up by whoever happened to be around at the time; Craig B of Aereogramme and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro for the Scottish date; and Mikey D of Skindred and Kirk Windstein of Crowbar when we saw them in Newport; so the shows went ahead. And Avenell rejoined the tour for the next date in Portsmouth; so we went to see them there too.

This was a good thing.

They should have come back for another headlining tour in 2007, but shortly before setting off it was announced that Avenell would be leaving the band, to be replaced by long time friend and Red Tape frontman Jeff Jaworski. Jaworski can be seen starring as a drunken gutter-inhabiting bum about 1m 10s into this, the stunningly low budget video to Will Haven's "hit" Carpe Diem (from the afore mentioned album of the same name). Moments later, Chino Moreno of Deftones gets carjacked by an angry Avenell...

Avenell's departure was at worst a mild disappointment; but the tour promoters decided that no-one would be interested in seeing Will Haven without their original singer guy (despite the well-received gigs of 2006), and so cancelled the whole tour. The band themselves managed to organise just a single date at a pokey little dive in London called The Metro Club. I'm in there somewhere...

What's going on with Will Haven nowadays? Damned if I know. Apparently Avenell is back in the band again, Jaworski is still in the band, a rhythm guitarist has come and gone, and original bassist Mike Martin has left to be replaced by one of the guys from Slipknot... it's all terribly confusing.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/willhaven43

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Haven