Versus The World - Nirvana, Curry and Bikes

Backstage at the Camden Underworld 

We went to see Versus The World put on a true Punk-Rock performance at Camden’s Underworld a little while back and caught up with bassist Mike Davenport to answer some Louder Now Grab Bag Questions!

Donald (vocals) and Steve (guitars) also jumped in on the action, because the Grab Bag is just THAT much fun that it almost has magnetic powers.

Who is your musical hero?

Mike: That one’s really easy. That’s Kurt Cobain. I am a huge Nirvana fan. I started on The Beatles as a very young kid maybe 5 years old and that got me

Would have never guessed who Mike's hero is

into music and then I started playing by 9. By 12 I played in my first band but Nirvana came up and made Punk Rock mainstream. They made it so that bands like ours who were just playing in our garage, who didn’t really think we were going to be able to do anything more than play shows, could tour the world which I’ve been doing now for 20 years. Their song writing is genius his lyrics are genius. I don’t really like him as a person but I love him musically. I think he was kind of a whiny bitch and he should still be around.

I was in a band called The Ataris before I was in this band and when I was in The Ataris we got to play Reading and I remember thinking then “Wow, this is where Kurt played maybe 12 or 13 years before.” That was sort of, completing my journey.

What excites you most about the future of your band?

Mike: Probably touring right now. We just finished our third album I always tell people, if your newest album isn’t your favourite thing that you’re doing then you should probably change what you’re doing. I love our new record and I’m excited to play it for people. We hadn’t played shows in a year and half. We broke down to make this record and spend some time at home. We just started touring again two weeks ago and the reaction to the new record is so great! I’m just excited because we’re going to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, The US, Canada so it’s a lot of touring coming up and I can’t wait to play these new songs to everyone.

Where are you the most excited to see?

Mike: I haven’t been to New Zealand ever in Versus The World so I’m really excited about that. I’m tentatively excited about Canada because Donald has big problems getting into Canada all because of a DUI. We’ve been turned away, not for whole tours but for shows here or there because of that. It doesn’t help that Donald is a little bit of a smart ass so his smart mouth definitely has kept us from getting in a couple of times.

Donald: Canadians are the nicest people…but they just keep on throwing me out!

You’re feeling ill and you can only have one home comfort. What do you choose?

Donald: When I’m sick as shit, like I can’t leave bed, my favourite thing to do is to order a pizza in bed and then play video games for like a full day.

Mike: My total cure is Thai pineapple curry. That’s my chicken noodle soup. I’m not vegetarian completely but I was one for 23 years so I get a vegetable curry pineapple. It’s spicy and it will get rid of anything. Fuck Chicken Noodle soup.

Is there anything you know this week that you didn’t know last week?

Mike: Yes! Amsterdam! They say, about the canals, 3 meters water, 3 meters bikes. So many people throw their bikes into the canal that if you were to dive in you would probably get stuck by a bike. I’ll tell you another little tidbit, because I did a walking tour in Amsterdam, there are actually 16 men employed 24 hours a day 365 days a year to fish bikes out of the canal and they probably fish between 12 and 15,000 bikes every year. See what happens in Amsterdam is that the locals don’t like the bike rental companies so if they see one, and it’s not locked up, they throw it in!

Is there any musical instrument that you would love to be able to play?

Steve: Oh this is a cool one! I would love to be able to play the Cello, I think it’s such a romantic instrument. I think it’s because I don’t actually plan on playing the Cello anytime soon but I would like to.         

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Versus The World bring Punk Rock back to Camden

Donald Spence - Vocals

California quintet, Versus The World, have just concluded their tour of the UK and EU and we were in the front row to soak up some of that west-coast summer punk rock. It was glorious.

Punk Rock has always been, and always will be, a staple part of our musical diets. For decades we have turned to the US west-coast for the unsurpassed and rawest form of Punk-Rock and Versus The World are right up there with the best of them.

We caught up with them at Camden’s legendary Underworld and, you guessed it, we forced them to answer some questions from the Louder Now Grab Bag, and you can read all about that here.

They burst onto the iconic stage with The Santa Margarita, the opening track from their new album Homesick/Roadsick (released on June 23^rd 2015) and all of a sudden we were at a classic rock show!

Bryan Charlson - Drums

The album is a time-warp of an experience, flying us back to the good ol’ noughties instrumentally and then dragging us back to the present with more despondent lyrics. Live, however, Versus The World are old school punk-rock through and through, even with those powerful lyrics.

And those lyrics…Donald Spence’s vocals are perfect, and he really brings it on stage. He has a well-rounded vocal range, hitting those high notes with ease on stage (and when he’s getting down and sweaty in the pit) and completely eradicating the nasal trademark that can sometimes, irritatingly, go hand in hand with the genre that he is a pillar of.

Stage too small? No problem...

There is no better example of all of this then in The Black Ocean (our favourite Versus The World track) which was followed up live by She Sang The Blues which, as Spence announces on stage, was written for his Mum.    

Tony Caraffa - Guitar

But those vocals are just the sweet cherry on top of the cake whose recipe has been passed down through generations. Distortion, wah pedals, power chords, it’s all rudimentary but it works and as the quintet launch into A Sight for Sore Eyes you know they’re capable of producing their own anthems.

Title track, Homesick/Roadsick, is surely self-explanatory in its meaning but Bassist, Mike Davenport, took the time in between songs to thank the partners of his bandmates for joining them on this tour. Versus The World seem to have found a cunning balance between Tour Time and Family Time. Bring the family with you!

As the set closed on Our Song it’s abundantly clear that Versus The World are sentimental and bursting with expressiveness but they deliver it in a punk-rock wrapping which truly makes it a gift to the scene.

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Highly Suspect release 'Mister Asylum' & we've lost our minds

A few weeks ago a dear friend of Louder Now e-mailed us a music video. 24 hours later we had played that video roughly a million and one times. That video was Highly Suspect’s Lydia which has now been released as track three on the New York Trio’s incredible debut album Mister Asylum.

Made up of Johnny Stevens on vocals and guitar, and twins Ryan (drums) and Rich Meyer (bass) Highly Suspect are quickly becoming the worldwide ones to watch this year. Hailing from Brooklyn New York, they carry that tell-tale home-grown sound but have far exceeded expectations with this spectacular record.  

Opening and title track Mister Asylum is the introduction to end all introductions. It’s dirty as all hell and filled to the brim with grit but, and this is THE thing with Highly Suspect, it’s the catchiest thing you’ll have heard this year.

The same goes throughout the record but is by and far the most evident in Lydia. I know I’ve said it before but, quite simply, I am in love with this song. Amongst several hundred other things, it showcases pure lyrical genius and has an almost hypnotising video to accompany.

Sometimes I fall into the heinous crime of neglecting the bassist. Well, there is no way on earth that would be possible to do with Highly Suspect. Rich Meyer is about to be fast-tracked into the Bassist Hall of Fame for sure. The bass lines in Lydia,  Bath Salts & Bloodfeather  (I would go on but that list is also known as ‘the tracklist’) give a beastly rock quality that you are compelled to grime to.

But if you prefer your rock to leave you sobbing like you’ve never sobbed before then I point you towards Mom, a record that maintains its heavy and thrashing place in the world but, just listen to those lyrics.

It’s actually also a prime example of the slinkier and saucier guitar riffs that are distorted in touches to match those chunky bass lines and complete what is potentially the sexiest instrumental line up of the decade.

So essentially what we’re saying is that this is one of the most impressive debuts in a long, long time and with pretty epic tours coming up with Black Stone Cherry and Halestorm it seems certain that this is just the beginning of a pretty epic future.

Highly Sexy. Highly Spectacular. Highly Suspect everyone.

Witchingseason - London's Quintessential Music Professionals

Tom Reynolds - Guitar/Vox

If you have an appreciation for real, determined, grungy and qualified rock music then, ladies and gentleman, we present to you, Witchingseason.

We caught up with the band last week at London’s The Islington, to see what all the fuss was about and can gladly report that the hype is completely founded.

Born just last year, Witchingseason have honed an expert skill of performing dark, gruff and passionate songs to an incredibly high set of standards. These guys know how music should sound both artistically and technically and strive to ensure that this is delivered on stage.

Spiders, is a key specimen of dirty guitar perfectly unified with those gruff vocals which will identify this band immediately for years to come. Impressively both factors come from leading man Tom Reynolds.  

The band's various influences scream through most of their tracks but perhaps no where more than in our favourite song from Witchingseason , The Healer, which channels Queens Of The Stone Age but with a grittier dimension which only a British Hard Rock band could add. That extra darkness really works and we've been singing those tiny high lines for a week.  

Wayne Summers - Drums

Honestly, it feels a little odd seeing Witchingseason on a stage of this size because they could, and should, be playing bigger. But one of the wonderful things about this band is that they are so focused on the music and getting that sound out that I genuinely don’t think they realise how big the venue should be. It’s a hard thing, to be a new (ish) band in London, but if you're going to do it…do it like these guys do. With the utmost respect for music, the willingness to constantly progress and blot out the schmoozing where you can.  

James Willans - Bass

The most remarkable thing about this band by far, is that it’s a work in progress. So much so that there was a song on the set list that drummer, Wayne Summers, could only refer to as ‘New One’. That excites us more than anything else because if this is what they're producing now then the future is going to be all kinds of amazing. 

Check out Witchingseason's Facebook here and listen to a few of their tracks on their Soundcloud here. Let us know what you think of them in the comments below! 

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