The Decline - Cats, Bodyjar and Wembley Stadium

Back in August (our logistics suck) we saw Australia’s The Decline bring their sunny skateboard punk rock to Kingston’s The Fighting Cocks. The Grab Bag is always out of control in that venue so it was only right it attacked The Decline whilst they were over the water!

Describe yourself in one sentence.

Pat: One time…

Harry: You’re just describing yourself, you don’t have to tell a whole story.

Pat: I know but I want to tell a story that describes me. There are so many sentences. One time I borrowed this cat off of somebody and I had to give it back so I got another cat to replace it but then I got given the other one, so then I ended up with two cats, also, I really like cats.

Harry: That was two sentences.

Pat: No! They were all commas man. They were all commas. Two cats COMMA I like cats.

What is your favourite song to play live?

Harry: Do you remember the name of the songs?

Ray: I do now. I’m new to the band but I do know the song names. I think… I Don’t Believe.

Harry: You don’t believe what?

Ray:…the song is called I Don’t Believe. It’s probably one of my favourite songs on the new album, and there’s a section that I get to sing.

Harry: We don’t let him sing much.

Pat: Just one section on I Don’t Believe.

Ben: So in that song Ray is actually stepping in for Cam (Cameron Baines) from Bodyjar, who actually sings it on the album. So he doesn’t sing often but when he does it’s in the most important spots.

Ray: And Cam’s one of my favourite singers as well.

Pat: Ray has a Bodyjar tattoo, they’re one of his favourite bands!

Where is the worst place you have woken up?

Ben: I guess in the van after sleeping for half an hour. Or maybe a park…but I can’t remember how I got there. Maybe I was bird watching…drunk.

What is your favourite venue to gig in?

Pat: Do we have to of played there before? Because if not then Wembley Stadium.

Ray: I don’t think I’m ready for 60,000 people.

Ben: We could play to 5 people there…

Pat: Yeah, be realistic now.

Ben: We’ve been pretty lucky on this tour. There was a place called Bar Ceferino in Barcelona that was pretty cool. It was a small capacity venue, maybe you could fit 40 or 50 people in there max. We played there after playing Resurrection Fest to a few thousand people, which was something we had never done before, and then we played to a small group and that was amazing.

Ben: We should open a bar in Barcelona called Bar-celona.

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

Pat: This is hard because I really like pizza, and I really like cats, and my girlfriend so….pizza.

What is your favourite memory of being in this band?

Ben: Erm…waking up in the van? I don’t know, maybe the second show of this tour playing Resurrection Fest which was fucking insane, I had no idea what to expect.

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

Pat: UK traffic is pretty bad. That’s one thing.

Ray: Something from Karl Pilkington maybe?

Pat: Oh yeah! Karl Pilkington has some good stuff. He said that every time you remember something you’re actually remembering the last time you remembered it and not the first time it happened. I mean he didn’t say that but…

Have you ever had an epic fail on stage?

Pat: One time I fell over on stage. We were playing this weird bar like 5 years ago, but there wasn’t that many people there so it was okay.

Ray: At Resurrection Fest, in front of thousands of people, I was playing and I must have jumped and stepped on my leg. For like half a song we may have played without any bass.

Pat: I keep on forgetting to play this song called Wrecking Ball that we have. I keep forgetting that it’s on the set list so I just go straight into the next song where I start singing by myself and the rest of the band just doesn’t play. I’ve done that maybe 2 or 3 times on this tour.

Ben: It’s only been on the last third of the tour, so it doesn’t quite make sense because it was never an issue before.

Pat: It’s because we started adding this old song to the set and I always think that’s instead of Wrecking Ball but it’s not, it’s as well as Wrecking Ball!

The Decline caught up with their UK pals

So summer finished. I only know that because of the duvet that I’m cocooned in and the steaming hot soup I’m sipping through a straw.

But it was a fantastic summer and there’s no better way to wrap it up then by looking back at The Decline’s set at Kingston’s The Fighting Cocks in August. Nothing screams summer more than an Australian Skater Punk band, especially when they’re this much fun.

First things first, we sat down with The Decline and watched them face the Louder Now Grab Bag before their set. You can read that here. 

The Decline went full pelt with opening song, New Again, which is also the first track of their new album The Resister, released in July. Short and speedy, no other track could have got to the point faster. The point being that this band has so much energy it’s a wonder the drum kit didn’t get pummelled through the stage.

Ben Elliott - Guitar/Vocals
The Fighting Cocks - Kingston
17/08/2015

Next up was my favourite song from these guys, Giving Up is a Gateway Drug (also the second track on The Resister). A dedicated fan of explicit language, this song had me from the very first line. It’s another worthy example of fast paced punk-rock with a relentless drum track but with a downbeat mid-section to match the lyrics.

But I’ve got a problem with those lyrics, they’re a bit of an understatement: “I haven’t seen it all, just some foreign countries and a mattress for on my best friend’s interstate living room floor.”

Just some foreign countries? These Aussie natives have toured the States, Europe, the UK (holllllllaaaa), have just closed up a Japanese tour with our friends Versus The World and in a few days will be jetting off to Mexico. Just some foreign countries my arse.

I’m jealous of the frequent flyer miles but I understand. The Resister is album number three from a band who will celebrate their 10^th birthday next year. Tonight’s set spanned that decade long career and showcased the robust, energetic, decaying sunshine that is The Decline.

Tracks Excuse Me, 66B and $hit Yeah!!, all from the 2011 album Are You Gonna Eat That? were all highlights of the night because…well because The Decline have had punk rock nailed for a while now.

Pat gives up the mic to a fan
The Fighting Cocks - Kingston
17/08/2015

They’ve had it nailed for so long in fact that they can be half a planet away from home and still be surrounded by friends to have some chitchat with from the stage. And when that distance gets boring just get them up on the stage to sing with you!

When a band asks the crowd what song they should play next, and a discussion ensues, you know that there’s something pretty ridiculous going on. Pat (guitar and vocals) kindly wrote out a set list for me before he took to the stage (thanks Pat!) but that was COMPLETELY pointless. I told him afterwards that it sounded as if the set list had changed a bit. He smiled, chuckled a bit and said “once or twice I think, yeah!”

Ray Chiu - Bass/Vocals
The Fighting Cocks - Kingston
17/08/2015

But somewhere in there, around the middle of the set, they cracked out Almost Never Met You, the video for which was released this week (which is definitely the reason why I have waited so long to write this review, it has nothing to do with s**t logistics and laziness on my behalf). My challenge to you is to listen to this song and try to refrain from grabbing a board and pretending you know how to do rail grinds, flips and other stuff I learnt from playing Tony Hawks Pro-Skater.

The Decline were a pleasure to chat with and I’m so glad I got to catch them whilst they were over the water. They are a lot of fun to watch and are flying the flag for mindful punk rock with something to say.

The Decline Facebook. 

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The Decline Website. 

Young Guns - Heat, Sleep and Falling Over

Last week saw the return of a band that has been MIA from the UK scene for a while. They were sorely missed but now Buckinghamshire’s Young Guns are back and they haven't done their comeback by half.

They played a show on a bus, kicked off a headline tour and released an album, Ones and Zeros, the day after they went right back to where it all started, The Fighting Cocks in Kingston, where the band played their first ever show and where we managed to catch up with 4/5 of them. 

You can read what we thought of the gig and the new album here. 

ADVANCED WARNING: There’s a reason why this interview is on the brief side and that reason is that it was less of an interview and more of a…hostage situation. Whilst the guys were chatting with fans after the show I all but cornered them and forced them into answering some ridiculous questions for you! Aren’t I kind (to you, not to bands. Clearly.)  

Summer or Winter?

Ben Jolliffe (Drums): I would usually go Summer but because I just played the hottest show of my life and I would do anything for some cold water right now, I’m going to go winter!

If there was an extra hour every day what would you do with it?

Fraser Taylor (Guitar): That is quite easy.

Ben: Sleep!

Fraser: I would sleep yeah.  We last slept about, three years ago maybe?

Ben: I got a solid two hours last night but…

What was the most embarrassing thing to happen to you at school?

Simon Mitchell (Bass): Errr, so many. So many things! You know in the canteen when you use to get trays of food? Well there was a girl I really fancied and I just couldn’t stop staring at her and I just tripped straight over my best friend’s foot. The food went all down me! I fell down, I looked like a twat and I didn’t get the girl in the end so errr, that was a real shame! I spent the rest of the day looking like that, no wonder she didn’t fancy me!

McDonald’s or KFC?

Gustav Woods (Vocals): Neither! I’m a vegetarian! HA! I picked that one by accident, I just pulled it out! 

A huge thank you is owed to Young Guns for allowing me to grab some pics and stick a dictaphone in their faces. We also want to say thank you to all of the fans for not telling us to get lost. 

And, as we're thanking people, both Banquet Records and The Fighting Cocks are performing a vastly important service to the music industry and we are eternally grateful that you both exist. 

Young Guns launch out of this world album Ones and Zeros

Just in case you went into hibernation for the past few weeks and missed it, Young Guns came back!

All sorts have been going on. There was a show on a London bus, a headline UK tour, and a string of signings so that the several million Young Guns fans could get their hands on a signed copy of the new album, Ones and Zeros.

If all of that just doesn’t seem to be enough then we should mention that they also did an epic set at Kingston’s The Fighting Cocks. I know, I know, why there right? Well a) the place is incredible and a rock music landmark and b) Young Guns happened to play their first ever show there. Isn’t that neat?

Don’t panic, we got them to answer some Grab Bag Q’s (following some ever so slight coercion) and you can read their answers here.

The Buckinghamshire rockers burst onto the stage with what has easily become our favourite Young Guns track to date. I Want Out was first played on Radio One in August last year and is a beautifully articulate record that you can also lose your mind too. If you’re going to see Young Guns live make sure you have your jumping shoes on because when that chorus kicks in you’ll be thankful for it.

It’s also a strong indicator that Ones and Zeros was written with a live show in mind, but not the first. That honour goes to opening track Rising Up which was the next treat for the tiny Kingston venue.  

Throughout the album the chugging guitar lines, relentless drum tracks and countless lyrics that are literally screaming out for crowd participation show that this band are a live band and their short set in Kingston proves this to be right. The recordings are sensational but on stage, this band come alive and when you see it you understand why this band were so deeply missed when they left our shores for a while.

When the band launch into The Weight of the World (the first Young Guns song I ever heard) it was as if the whole crowd remembered that they were all old friends. As lead singer, Gustav Wood, points out this was the first track that they listened back to and realised that they could write songs. It was the song that started it all and it proved to be a timeless rock classic that will go down in history.

But we can’t think about the past for long as the band are now moving quickly into Speaking In Tongues and Daylight, both of which are shining examples of eloquent lyricism mixed with the raw rock core we’ve always seen from Young Guns but now with added dance quality. That’s something we wouldn’t have necessarily expected this time last year but it works. It really works.

Young Guns capped off this mini show with 2012 belter Bones as if to prove that they might have been away but everything we loved about them three years ago is as alive as ever. In fact, it’s got a whole lot stronger. Ones and Zeros is a stellar effort and the live shows are out of this world.

Young Guns are rock heroes already, they just have to do their time now.  

The only problem is with shows in June, at 2 in the afternoon, in a basement, is that they tend to get a bit on the warm side. But not to worry. Young Guns could have played all day long if they wanted. We would have happily evaporated for them.

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