Ladies and Gents, meet the Angels of Liberty

Angels of Liberty were formed in early 2011 and began constructing their songs in a decaying & dusty attic in North East England. The Duo met in Whitby, famous for its Bram Stoker/Dracula connections and Whitby Goth festival. They bonded over a mutual appreciation of Goth Rock and Vampire fiction deciding henceforth to form a band!

The sound of Angels of Liberty is drawn from influences on the UK Goth Rock scene of the early 90s whilst lyrical inspiration comes from a mixture of personal experience, dark mythologies and passion for alternative viewpoints and conspiracy theory.

Voe has been involved with electronic music since the late 90s, gaining experience working as a synth and drum machine programmer and writing music for TV. He has worked with John David of 60s psych legends Love Sculpture at the famous Rockfield studios, Dave Allen producer of The Sisters of Mercy, and programmed drums for Pete Watts of Mott The Hoople, as well as doing alot of bands demos and some live synth work.

Drawing on this experience and mixing two seemingly opposing things (Electronica and Rock), Angels of Liberty fashioned themselves as an electronic synth band with the sound and spirit of underground Pure Traditional Goth Rock. From the start, the band wanted to present Goth as they envision it; With tense drama, atmosphere and theatrical flare whilst never forgetting the importance of catchy hooks. Their style is about creating tight, intense grooves within a backdrop of creepy grandeur.

In April, 2011, the band had written their first track “Monster In Me“, which was released free on YouTube. Due to their obsession with underground gothzines & tapes of the 90s, 25 cassettes were made and given away free to the first fans. By June the band had written their first EP, and with the help of a friend, set up their own record label, Secret Sin Records, to release it. From the beginning the band wanted total artistic control over direction, ideas & integrity and setting up their own label allowed them to do just that while building a relationship with fans of Goth directly via the website and social media.

After the success of the ”Monster In Me” Ep, hailed as “a brilliant debut” and “Ep of the year” by Mick Mercer, the band quickly took over full control of the label with a view to recording and releasing more songs and using it as a platform for cool new Goth bands (so far Snakedance, Minnie d’Arc, with more to come). In their own words the band “Are fans of Goth first” so take a big interest in new bands within the genre.

The next 6 track Ep “The Black Madonna Ep” was released only a few months later in October 2011 proving the band are here to stay and have become a regular play for many Goth Djs and Radio stations. So far the main emphasis has been on getting new records out as the band believes that is the life-blood of the scene. Angels of Liberty are, however, getting ready to perform live after completing the recording and release of their debut album, expected in late Spring, 2012. Angels of Liberty aim to restore a sense of dark romance by taking the music and theater seriously without being humorless and overall respecting a genre they love.

Voe Saint-Clare- Lead Vox/Synths/Progamming
Scarlet Powers – Synths/Backing Vox
Echo Von Hammer – Drum machine

You can find more about Angels of Liberty by clicking here.

 

They are so green much too green – They are Grooving in Green…

Grooving in Green formed in 2008 when guitarists Pete and Si started writing music together for the first time in over 14 years. As a nod to the bands origins and inspirations they once again took their name from a March Violets song. Later that year Tron joined on vocals completing the lineup.

In early 2009 the band set to writing their debut CD, quickly establishing their own sound and feel ‘Groove Goth‘.
In June the band received critical acclaim for their first EP ‘Ascent’ which was described as “Obvious Quality” (Mick Mercer) and proved to be a hit on compilations and in clubs.

The band proceeded with the ‘Ascent Tour‘ to promote this release drawing comparisons to band such as Placebo and the Manic Street Preachers. During this time the band began working on a follow up to Ascent.

Grooving in Green played their first European date at the Judgement Day festival in Austria debuting songs from the new single, supporting Ikon and met with a great response. The band soon went on to play the Whitby Goth Weekend Festival supporting The Eden House to an enthusiastic crowd and officially released their second cd: ‘Dirt‘ which was once again met with positive reviews and praise ending the year on a high.

By the start of 2010 the band were putting the finishing touches on their debut album and played their first gigs in Germany in support of the House of Usher as well as Clan of Xymox- once again to a positive crowd. Within the week the band were once again recording- with Steve Carey (Eden House/Adoration/This Burning Effigy) producing as well as Legendary bassist Tony Pettit (Fields of the Nephilim/NFD/Eden House) contributing on a song and mastering by Andy Jackson (engineer for Pink Floyd).

That summer the band headlined the first night of the Lumous Gothic Festival in Finland and later the same month proceeded to play in support of Vendemmian and The Eden House once again at the first DV8 Festival in York where they were joined on stage by legendary March Violets vocalist Rosie Lugosi. This performance being described by Dominion Magazine as follows “Grooving In Green deliver a punky yet polished performance – superbly guitar led with strongly delivered vocals“.

With the debut album ready for release the band returned to Whitby once again for ‘DV8 fest at Whitby’ where they supported their idols ‘March Violets’ alongside O Children and Ulterior. The band released the album ‘Post Traumatic Stress‘ which has received great acclaim within the goth community and cited as one of the best goth albums of 2010. The album was placed at number 15 of Dominion Magazines Top 20 albums of 2010 and has been placed in several Top 20′s of 2010 and continues to receive positive reviews.

As of 2011 the band are getting ready to record a new single, launch an official webpage and of course – play many more live gigs throughout the UK and Europe. Don’t miss out on joining the ever growing ‘Green Army‘.

In August 2011 Grooving In Green were signed by Glory & Honour Records, 2011 is certainly turned out to be momentous year.

2012 the band already have a gigs booked and will be recording their 2nd album, again with Steve Carey in the early part of the year

 

On Eclecticism, Chaos and the Search for Unity – The Strange World of Minnie d’Arc

Minnie d’Arc may well have been conceived at a time of optimal celestial alignments. The 49-year-old musician from Sheffield, England launched her public career in June 2011, but her first recordings, issued online via popular sites like YouTube and ReverbNation (with, of course, the inevitable presence on Facebook) did enough to bring her to the attention of Voe Saint-Clare, of the formidable Angels of Liberty and head of Secret Sin Records. Her official debut, a five-track EP called “Eris Unbound“, is to be released on Secret Sin on 26 January.

Although solidly entrenched in the goth/gothic tradition, Minnie’s work is unusual. For a start, every track on the EP is an instrumental. Surely that’s a disadvantage in a genre which bases itself as much on words as a means of expression as music?

“I don’t think so,” she says. “I agree that it’s a challenge, because the listener looks to lyrics to give a song meaning. However, free from the constraint of lyrics which distract attention from a piece of music, I find there’s a massive opportunity to work with melody and counter-melody, unusual chord structures and overall ambience which I don’t think I’d be doing if I was working more specifically for voice.”

However, she’s quick to assure listeners that it may not always be the case.

“One of the first tracks I recorded was a neoclassical arrangement of XIII. Stoleti’s “Elizabeth“. I loved working with it as an instrumental, but at the same time, I would have loved to be able to add a voice, because the lyrics are so amazing. I’m also looking at other songs for my next EP which will definitely benefit from having lyrics, and so I’m approaching various people to do vocal stints for me.”

Which brings us nicely to the other point which makes Minnie’s work different. The “N” word.

“Oh, the neoclassical element,” she laughs. “Actually, that’s how I really started out. I was a member of the goth.net internet forum, and I thought it would be a really nice idea to make a piece of music for everyone there as a gift for the holiday season of 2010/2011. I wanted to do something really different, and at the same time make a piece of music which really explored my own influences.”

The result was “October’s Dance“, a piece which combines music in the European medieaval tradition with more recent classical elements, all placed over a doom-laden double drum beat to produce something which grows to a cathartic conclusion.

“I was expecting to get a couple of posts in response saying, “Oh, that’s interesting – thanks,” and that it’d be forgotten after a couple of days. To my own massive surprise, it wasn’t; people were still talking about it in February, and I got a lot of very encouraging response. People were saying, “You should be doing this professionally,” but I really wasn’t sure… Anyway, in the end, I plucked up enough courage to submit it to Nightbreed Radio, and in April last year I got a very encouraging e-mail back from Piers Sixx, saying that he could see that it might fit into Nightbreed’s playlists“.

So why didn’t we hear from you earlier?

“I had a couple of setbacks back in May which left me drifting for a month or so. However, at the end of that time, I just thought, “Oh, sod it – if I don’t do it now, I never will.” So, I went public. I started off by creating a video for “October’s Dance” and posting that everywhere I could; at the same time, I started getting in touch with DJs on Facebook, and also finished off recording work on “Elizabeth”. But, while everyone who I approached was really, really encouraging, what I was doing didn’t really fit on their playlists, which tend to be much more rock-oriented. And, I could understand that; I love good goth rock myself, and I really wanted to record something which would express that. So, I picked up something I’d had lying around for a while, and dusted it off. I’d never finished it, because I never really knew where I wanted to take it, but I thought about it, and realised it would be a perfect way of combining two things I love – the energy of goth rock and the elegance of neoclassical music. And that was the basis of the track “Eris Unbound.” And, to be fair, all my music since then.”

Why Eris?

“I was reading a wonderful Discordian text called “The Book of Eris“, which is more structured than the “Principia Discordia“, and I realised that many of the ideas expressed overlapped with my own view of things… And, also what was going on in the track I was recording. It was born out of utter chaos… And it seemed to me that there was no better hymn to the goddess of discord and strife. So, “Eris Unbound”.“

“It was about this time Voe got in touch with me and asked whether I wanted to issue an EP on Secret Sin, which he’d just taken over. We were both already quite well aware of each other’s existence, and found we had a bit of a mutual admiration society going where our music was concerned, so I jumped at the chance. Initially, I wanted to issue a “story so far” EP, with “October’s Dance”, “Elizabeth”, “Eris Unbound” and one other track, but there were technical problems with issuing “Elizabeth”, so I ended up recording three tracks specifically for the EP – “The Black Cat”, “The Unoriginal Sin” and “Ab Initio“.”

What’s it like working with Voe?

“He’s brilliant. I couldn’t wish for a better boss; he really takes a hands-off approach to artistic content, because he’s a great believer in artists having total control over their own material. Now, with me that could be bad news because I can be really self-indulgent, and spend weeks recording a couple of bars of music. Fortunately, I’ve also got a really great management group, the Sisters of Eris, keeping me on the straight and narrow, and also giving me a visual presence.“

What next for Minnie d’Arc?

“Well, I want to get a new EP recorded and issued, if possible, by the middle of the year, if not earlier. Originally, I was hoping to have an album out in the early part of the year, but now I find that I’d actually like, with the second EP, to actually “finish off” what I started with the first – then, hopefully, anyone who owns both will have something which flows like a two-part album.” She smiles enigmatically. “Then, we’ll see...”

You can contact her on Facebook by clisking here.

 

 

Rhombus

Rhombus is one of the finest Goth Rock bands to emerge from the North of England in many years.

Mixing male and female vocals with swirling guitars and driving bass, they combine some of the best elements of traditional 80s/90s UK Goth, with a more modern approach.

In 2002, Ed Grassby formed the band along with his brother and sister-in-law on guitars.  He soon moved from Bristol to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and recruited new guitarists Robert Walker and Simon Cardwell.

Rhombus supported bands such as The Damned and NFD, and played with a number of upcoming bands who went on to form the base of the contemporary UK Goth Rock scene (now sometimes referred to as “The Fourth Wave”).

Before releasing their debut album, ‘Remembrance Day‘ in 2007, the band released the EPs ‘RatCity‘ in 2003, ‘Attention Seeker‘ in 2004 and ‘The Closing Time EP‘ in 2006.  The album featured female rock singer Mya and guitar player/singer Ian Grinn (formerly members of the tribute band ‘The Sisters of Murphy‘).

Shortly after that, the band asked Mya to join them on a full time basis and in 2009 Ian Grinn replaced Simon Cardwell as second guitarist.

In 2010 a second album release followed, titled “Open The Sky”.  The band had drafted Stephen Carey of This Burning Effigy, Adoration and The Eden House to remix it and it was released through Resurrection Records during January.

That same year, Rhombus were declared “Artist of the Year 2010” by Static Magazine of Germany.

In January 2011 Rhombus released ‘The Anywhere EP, a four-track release composed of the songs ‘Anywhere‘ and two new tracks ‘Timeless and Elegant‘ and ‘Nowhere‘. Carey was once again given mixing duties and produced an extended remix of ‘Anywhere’ to compete the EP.

2011 saw the band pick up their first European dates, their debut being in Berlin in support of former Skeletal Family and Ghost Dance lead singer Anne-Marie Hurst.

You can read more or buy their releases by clicking here.

 

Stiv Bators

I found this interesting story on http://www.stivbators.com/ and thought it would be nice sharing it…

I copy the following from “biography” section:

“…Lords line-up varied during the last years. Treganna left the band in 1987 and Grant Flemming took his place and in 1988 Turner was replaced by Danny Fury.

The Lords Of The New Church broke up in 1988. Stiv had hurt his back very badly in Spain by jumping off the stage and was resting at his home in France. The other members of The Lords were in London and they were offered a gig where they could get a lot of money and they asked Stiv if he could do the gig, but he didn’t say yes or no because of his back. So, the rest of the Lords guys put an ad in the newspaper as an anonymous band looking for a lead singer – of course they hadn’t told Stiv. Somehow they thought that they could be The Lords Of The New Church without The Lord!

But Stiv had a way of knowing everything and he found out about that devious little plan by his so called friends. He called the band and told them he would do the gig in England but played dumb about the ad. The band couldn’t refuse so they did the whole gig. Meanwhile, Stiv had reproduced the ad from Melody Maker and had it blown up in big letters on T-shirts. They played the set and before the encore Stiv showed the shirts to the other guys and asked them to put them on. They were totally shocked by Stiv’s discovery of their plan. Anyway, they went back to stage to do the encore and Stiv said to microphone “Hey Brian, who’s the new lead singer for The Lords Of The New Church?” ” You are Stiv, right?” answered James and all the other Lords in front of the audience. ” No. Sorry. I’m not. You’re fired. And so are you. And you. You’re all fired! Bye!” So Stiv left the stage and the band was left there standing like idiots with their T-shirts on. Stiv had prepared everything ahead of time and had a cab waiting just outside the club. That was the end of The Lords Of The New Church…”

Although it looks like 7th of August 2000 was the last time that someone updated the site, this doesn’t mean the site stopped being interesting…

The following comes from the section “Open your eyes”

“IT IS A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT STIV BATORS WAS DEEPLY INTO CONSPIRACY THEORIES. FROM THE PAPAL ASSASINATION IN “HOLY WAR“, TO THE MANY POLITICAL REFERENCES ON THE WANDERERS ALBUM “ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE“, STIV WAS TRYING TO TEACH US TO LOOK BEYOND THE LIES IN THE MEDIA AND TO STOP BEING MINDLESS SHEEP BELIEVING IN OUR GOVERNMENTS PROPAGANDA MACHINES. THIS SECTION WILL DEAL WITH THE MANY CONSPIRACY THEORIES, POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, AND RELIGIONS THAT STIV WAS INTERESTED IN.

Miles Copeland – irs records
miles copeland III was the founder of irs records, who the lords of the new church were signed to. copeland’s father worked for the cia (central intelligence agency).
The story goes that stiv was called into the irs offices to speak with the younger copeland, but when he was buzzed into the office, instead two “men in black” were waiting to speak to him. were stiv’s subversive lyrics upsetting someone?”

For those who find it interesting, follow the link on the top of the post…

 

Tribazik (feat. Jaz Coleman) – Molten

I decided to post the video of this excellent track.

Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke) is doing the singing on “Molten” which is taken from Tribazik‘s album “All Blood Is Red“.

What are people saying about Tribazik ?

“Most innovative live act I’ve seen in 2010“
- Franz Treichler vocalist of The Young Gods

“The new Pink Floyd of heavy metal.”
- DJ Grendel (Dawn Radio)

“Tribazik could become one of the UK’s finest bands.”
- Giles Moorhouse – Rock Sound

“…metal, rock, tribal, acid techno and world mixed up in a melting pot and spat out creating an original sound and packing quite a punch”
- Jo Elliot (bbc.co.uk)

“…Uncompromising stabbing riffs, sampled siren calls and war dispatches, and dark, ominous bass, all dragged along by righteously indignant booming vocals.”
- Emma Johnson (Kerrang!)

“…Whilst a lot of industrial fails to make an impact in the UK, this home-grown act fires out memorable track after memorable track.”
– Phill May (rockmidgets.com)

You can follow Tribazik here

 

Danse Society offer a song for Free Download

Immediate download of “Embrace of the Ice Swan (12”mix)” here

The song is taken from the “Change of Skin” album which was released on 20 December 2011.

You can order the album from here: http://www.thedansesociety.co.uk/ or download it from iTunes.

 

New Zero God & Friends on # 1

This is to announce that the collective artists involved in New Zero God and Friends have hit Number 1 in both the Goth and Glam charts on CD Baby with their charity song “Second Chance”. This just goes to show the power of collaboration in the name of a good cause.

Check out HAWC, a very worthy cause here

Check out the Goth charts here

Check out the Glam charts here

 

 

Bow Wow Wow reform to tour the U.K.

Will Crewdson will be joining Bow Wow Wow on the guitar to tour the U.K. on April and May.
The funny thing is that Crewdson was playing the guitar for Adam Ant during last year and I think he worked with Malcolm McLaren too at some point…

In 1980, Malcolm McLaren persuaded various Adam and the Ants members including David Barbarossa, Leigh Gorman, the late Matthew Ashman to form Bow Wow Wow with singer Annabella Lwin.

We did an interview with Will Crewdson a couple of months ago, but probably he wasn’t aware of the Bow Wow Wow tour.
You can check our review on his new album here and you can find him again playing the guitar on the charity song “Second Chance” with New Zero God & Friends.

If you want more candy, a short Bow Wow Wow bio, tour dates and tickets, click here .

 

New Zero God & Friends – Second Chance

With over 30 years of experience in the industry, singer Mike Pougounas has always valued the gift of music. But with so many people who suffer problems that cannot be healed through a song, Pougounas wanted to give the world an even bigger gift. The gift of hope. The gift of survival. The gift of a second chance.

Keeping that sentiment in mind, Pougounas approached his band mates in Greek band New Zero God with the idea of a charity song that could give all the gifts he wanted to share with those who needed them most. With New Zero God on his side, Pougounas started gathering friends to record the charity song “Second Chance” in the summer of 2011. As each established musician gave a resounding “yes” to Pougounas’ request, this charity project was born.

New Zero God & Friends is comprised of respected musicians from all over the world. South African singer Raymond John Ross (ANKST) and Pougounas worked together for the first time in 2011 on a different charity song, and Ross was the first person to eagerly sign on for this song. Shaun Histed-Todd from the United Kingdom not only accepted the invitation to do the artwork, but he also brought New Zero God in touch with English guitar player Will Crewdson (Adam Ant, Johnette Napolitano – of the Concrete Blonde fame– Scant Regard, Rachel Stamp and others) . Through a common friend who was writing for an English music magazine, Pougounas reached out to another English musician, bass player Chris Tuke (Berlin Black, Luxury Stranger), who immediately responded positively. Pougounas then turned to friends – international musicians he knew for years – such as Stereoskop’s Susana Egea and Alex Brujas from Spain, Martin Birke (Genre Peak, Hardboiled Wonderland) from the United States, Lord Litter (Musician/radio DJ) from Germany, and Don Campau (Musician/radio DJ) from the United States. These musicians, along with New Zero God members Dimitris Steves, Michael Christou, Harris Stavrakas, and Mike Pougounas got to work right away.

Although the musicians are located in different corners of the world, they managed to complete “Second Chance” together. Once they summoned the Greek/South African sound engineer Chris Manolitsis to work his magic, they knew they had something great. “Second Chance” was finished and all it needed was a worthwhile charity to benefit.

Music buffs should know that the song was originally released in 2005 by Pougounas’ former band, Nexus, under the title “You Always Get a Second Chance” It was composed by drummer Dimitris Steves with lyrics by Pougounas. Both musicians formed New Zero God in 2006 and kept their Nexus song tucked away in hopes they could use it for a good cause in the future. When New Zero God and their friends solidified their plans to rerelease the song for a charity, they found the perfect organization to help with their song – they found the reason they wanted to do a charity song in the first place.

Pougounas and his fellow musicians chose to donate all proceeds of “Second Chance” to a Massachusetts based organization called HAWC (Healing Abuse, Working for Change). HAWC helps thousands of people who have been physically, mentally, and sexually abused, giving them the resources they need to get back on their feet and put their pasts behind them. In other words, HAWC gives people the second chance they need to start living life again.

New Zero God & Friends are proud of their musical creation and they hope it will fulfill its intended purpose. Each $0.99 download will go directly into an account for HAWC, helping the organization with every single click. Everybody involved in this charity project sincerely hopes this song will bring awareness, hope, inspiration, and a bit of funding to a worthy cause because everybody deserves a second chance.

You can click HERE to download the song from CD Baby or HERE to download it from Amazon.