MERRIDEW on Facebook...

MERRIDEW on Facebook...

So yeah, our Lee does numerous musical projects, one being MERRIDEW, through which he's already put out a couple of EPs via Glass of Spit. It's kind of instrumental ambient emo / hardcore for fans of stuff like ENVY, THE COPPERPOT JOURNALS, and MAHUMODO, so if that sounds like your thing, you should go check it out on the new Facebook page, here:

https://www.facebook.com/merridewmusic

Or listen to stuff here:

http://glassofspit.bandcamp.com/album/fears-that-kindle-hope

or here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKB8JbZ_Eo

Thanks a tonne! :D

xox

'The Screever' Orwell quote patches

'The Screever' Orwell quote patches

So yeah, Lee will be tabling at the Nottingham Zine Fest tomorrow (Saturday 12th October), attempting to shift some copies of our last few issues, but he'll also have a bunch of THESE; wonderful little George Orwell quote canvas patches, printed by the wonderful Lou at 13 O'clock Screen-printing. It's an appropriate quote given that it's spoken by the character in 'Down and Out...' whose 'profession' is a screever (a pavement artist). Not enough people wear patches these days, so pick one up and stitch it to your favourite jacket / backpack / satchel. Give us a shout if you'd like one!

Thanks a lot! :)

xox

Joint Last - 'Forever Endeavour' EP

Joint Last - 'Forever Endeavour' EP

So Lee's gone and done another EP, and this time it's four tracks of instrumental pop-punk, so if that sounds like your bag, head on over to Glass of Spit's Bandcamp to check the whole thing out:

http://glassofspit.bandcamp.com/

The CD will be up for sale (as soon as he's put all of the packaging together) from here:

http://glassofspit.bigcartel.com/

You can also give the second track a blast here:

Thanks a tonne :)

xox

MERRIDEW - 'Summer' - Glass of Spit Recordings

MERRIDEW - 'Summer' - Glass of Spit Recordings

So yeah, our Lee will be putting this EP out next week via Glass of Spit Recordings; 5 tracks of ambient, instrumental emo, possibly for fans of THE COPPERPOT JOURNALS, MAHUMODO, and GRADE. He'll love you a tonne if you go and check out this opening track. Cheers! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6zzCjiUimw

Also go here:

https://www.facebook.com/glassofspit

Thanks a lot! :)
xox

Secular Plague - 'Death For Sale' review

Secular Plague - 'Death For Sale' review

I figured I'd stick up another old review from issue three of 'The Screever', this one of Secular Plague (who we interviewed for the same issue)'s album 'Death For Sale'...

"So these guys from France / Belgium play very old-school hardcore / punk rock (crossed with what they refer to as 'deathrock'..?) in the vein of bands like T.S.O.L, CIRCLE JERKS, and even stuff like CONTEMPT, favouring quite short song structures and lengths, mostly in the thirty second to one minute range, the whole 11 track album coming in at about 13 minutes. It's quite basic musically, sustaining a similar mid-to-fast pace throughout, driven by a repetition of power-chorded riffs. The vocals really carry the whole thing for me though, with an awesome, quite nicely reverbed semi-hardcore singing style with, as you may suspect from the album title, a lot of lyrics centred on animal rights, sung (as far as I can tell) in English, so I absolutely dig that, even if the accent does slightly inhibit my understanding of some of the lines. I actually think they've done a great job on the short song lengths; sometimes stuff like this can be really dull if the songs are too long and repetitive, but this collection of angry, energetic, and focussed tunes are just about right. I think the most memorable tracks on this are the opening title track, 'Scapegoat', and 'Angry and Frustrated'. I got this as a download, but it's also available on CD with some pretty awesome looking artwork and packaging that I might order at some point. Cool stuff."

You can find Secular Plague here:

https://www.facebook.com/secularplague

http://www.secularplague.com/

Cheers! :)

xox

'The Screever' issue four

'The Screever' issue four

Oh my days, will wonders never cease?! Issue four of our lil' zine is complete, a mere few months after the last, and it's a staggering, unprecedented 48 pages long! This one features interviews with the mighty Constant Waves, the lovely Lou from 13 O'Clock, the rather incredible Tasha from A Zine Thing, and the unspeakably amazing Minus Tree, as well as pieces on Trees for Cities, Globe on Screen, and 'green graffiti', as well as the usual reviews, puzzles and recipe; what's not to love?!

You can grab yourself a copy for a mere quid from Glass of Spit at:

http://glassofspit.bigcartel.com/

and don't forget to 'like' our Facebook page over at:

https://www.facebook.com/thescreeverzine

Thanks a lot! :D

xox

The Red Heroes - 'It Fills That Void For Me' review

The Red Heroes - 'It Fills That Void For Me' review

So, The Red Heroes from over in the States are putting an album out in September, and I got a lil' exclusive blast of the thing prior to release. Here's a lil' review of said album...

"So these guys play pop-punk in a very modern, Western style in the vein of bands like MAN OVERBOARD and THE WONDER YEARS, and despite being similarly and unashamedly saccharine both musically and lyrically (though there IS some pretty miserable subject matter), THE RED HEROES play in a more straight and direct fashion, with less of the flare and superfluity of such bands. However, such a statement shouldn't be perceived in a negative light; here we have twelve tracks (plus an acoustic version of one of the album tracks) that are bright and, though quite catchy on the first and second listen, have a surprisingly uncanny knack for sneaking into your subconscious, and popping up in your head on arbitrary subsequent occasions, especially on the vocal side, thanks to some really quite memorable vocal melodies in both verses and choruses, and some pretty sweet backing harmonies. It invariably strolls at a steady mid-tempo, but the varied song-structures, song-lengths, nice drum time-changes, and use of contrast between full drive and some quite lovely mellow, acoustic sections keep the whole thing interesting enough, and I must say, the bass on this is pretty sweet, jazzing it up with some awesome picking and licks that add a lot of life to the straight chord-work. Stand-out tracks for me on here are 'Letters to a Christian Nation' largely for the hooky drumwork, the rather amusing and snotty acoustic number 'Martha', and the wonderfully chorused 'Valentine's Day (Hannah)', but the key tune here has to be the second track, 'Untouchable'; killer bass, catchy melodies, and the most infectious chorus on the whole album, and as if that weren't enough, there's an acoustic version right at the end that is just beautiful, and whoever Meagan Smith is, she has a wonderful voice that harmonises with the male lead perfectly, and her additional lines are a real treat. A consistent release that fuses the tempo and drive of old-school DIVIT and the melody and pop sensibilities of THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS and THE ACADEMY IS with the modern pop-punk stylings of MAN OVERBOARD; a pretty promising prospect."

You can find The Red Heroes in the following places:

http://theredheroes.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/theRedHeroes

http://www.youtube.com/theRedHeroes

http://www.twitter.com/theRedHeroes

Cheers! :D

xox

Glass of Spit Recordings now on Facebook...

So, our Leeboy has been running a not-quite-a-record-label called 'Glass of Spit' since 2009, putting out his band Sperare's stuff, as well as a bunch of solo projects, and for some reason they never made a Facebook page. Well, now they have, and Lee will absolutely love you if you head on over to the following link and give it a like:

https://www.facebook.com/glassofspit

And here's some other links that already existed:

http://www.youtube.com/user/glassofspit

http://glassofspit.bigcartel.com/

http://glassofspit.bandcamp.com/

Thanks a tonne! :)

xox

Tegan and Sara - 'Heartthrob' review

Tegan and Sara - 'Heartthrob' review

So, after waiting a good few years for them to come back around, I saw Tegan and Sara for the first time last week, and they were, unsurprisingly, quite brilliant. In the wake of that, I figured I'd post the review I wrote of their latest album 'Heartthrob' in The Screever issue three:

"Ah, TEGAN AND SARA; these girls can literally do no wrong in my ears. I've yet to hear a song that I dislike by them, and on this album, though their sound differs slightly compared to that heard on previous albums, leaning far more into dance-pop territory, this collection of tunes also features no such thing. The opener, 'Closer' (to which the video is hilarious and wonderful), is a killer party-pop tune, as catchy as anything you're likely to hear this year, and it literally goes from strength to strength from there, flowing through a bunch of some of the catchiest and most infectious chorus driven pop songs you'll ever hear, that are melodically perfect, both vocally and instrumentally. There's little point listing favourite tracks when such an endeavour would result in largely writing out the entire track list, and though containing less variety than I'm used to hearing from them, this is probably T&S' most consistently brilliant release to date. If I had to compare this to anything, you could draw similarities to bands like METRIC, THE TEMPER TRAP, and ROBYN's better, catchier stuff, but as long as you like decent music, you should love this. An incredible achievement in song-writing, it's going to take some seriously magic releases to stop this from becoming one of my favourite albums of 2013; perfect really."

Tegan and Sara are on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/TeganandSara

Cheers for reading! :)

xox

Constant Waves - 'Pity Claps and Hearty Handshakes' review

Constant Waves - 'Pity Claps and Hearty Handshakes' review

Constant Waves are easily one of my favourite Midlands bands right now; I thought I'd just share this review from issue three of The Screever of a two-track demo(?) I picked up of theirs some time ago, just in case you missed it in print. Awesome stuff:

"When I saw these guys with NASDAQ last year, their instrumental force absolutely blew me away. They combine elements of funk, punk, post-rock, and ambience in a similar style to that of THE SHOGUNS DECAPITATOR, NASDAQ, and even WELL WISHER, with some truly fantastic guitar interplay throughout and sublime bass lines that hold everything together wonderfully. I loved the drumming on this, with a lot of pace and energy in the cymbal work, and song structures for the two songs on here are spot on, switching in and out of beautifully melodic clean sections and catchy, energetic funk effortlessly. However it's in the heavily distorted, louder sections that they really shine for me; both driving and sweeping, melodic and ambient with emotive chord changes, they really carry this style forward for me, and make up the most memorable parts. I know I'll be coming back to this again over the next few months, and if it's a sample of what to expect from future recordings, then anticipation will be high for the next release; a band that have contrast nailed to perfection."

You can find Constant Waves on Facebook 'ere:

https://www.facebook.com/constantwaves

Cheers!

xox

Sperare - Terrorizer Magazine's 'Band of the Day'

Sperare - Terrorizer's 'Band of the Day'

So yeah, Leeboy's hardcore band Sperare were featured on Terrorizer Magazine's website as 'Band of the Day'; go and read him talking a bit of nonsense, and trying to make sense of the past six or so years of their existence.

You can find the interview here:

http://www.terrorizer.com/2013/05/30/sperare-band-of-the-day/

Also please check out and 'like' the band's Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/sperareband

Incidentally, we're hoping to have a new issue of 'The Screever' out by the end of the month (or thereabouts)... :D

Ta very much!

xox

Caves - 'Homeward Bound' review

Caves - 'Homeward Bound' review

CAVES have a new album coming out very soon, so I thought I'd share this rather short review of their cracking last release 'Homeward Bound', that I forgot to squeeze into the last issue:

"CAVES are a wonderful three-piece pop-punk band from Bristol, and what I absolutely love most of all about them is that, unlike most bands on recordings these days, they sound 'real'; they sound like they might fall out of tune or time at any second, and for me that's a real joy given how a lot of punk these days is so neat and tight and almost unreal in it's cleanliness. Basically, they're what pop-punk should sound like. This is probably a little bit more creative musically and lyrically than their last 'Collection' release, and seems a little faster and shoutier; there's still plenty of woah-ing and ridiculously catchy vocal melodies though, and I especially love 'Taking on the World' and 'Bows and Arrows'. It's also pretty cool how the tracks run into each other as they ring out so it sounds like most of the thing was recorded in one take. If you like your pop-punk bright, catchy, and in exclusion of all of the typically hideous commercial polish, definitely check this out."

You can find Caves on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/wearecaves

or check out their Tumblr here:

http://wearecaves.tumblr.com/

Cheers! :D

xox

Cheesus Crust Records 2 @ Wahlbar, Manchester

Cheesus Crust Records 2 @ Wahlbar, Manchester

So yeah, this rather awesome looking gig is happening in Manchester next Sunday, and you should definitely try to make it if you're in or around the area; most of the acts are travelling a heck of a way to get there, so the support would be heavily appreciated!

The event has a page on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/518616118202652/

and you can find the label here:

http://cheesuscrustrecords.bandcamp.com/

http://cheesuscrustrecords.tumblr.com/

Thanks a tonne! :)

xox

SPERARE interview on IdiotEQ.com

SPERARE interview on IdiotEQ.com

So, our Lee plays in a hardcore/ screamo band called Sperare, and he recently did this interview with the guys at IdiotEQ. Go check it out, if only for the free download of the first tune from their forthcoming EP 'The Sea Takes The Rest'! Enjoy!

You can find the interview here:

http://www.idioteq.com/sperare-crafting-to-the-best-of-the-combined-abilities-exclusive-interview/

Thanks a lot! :)

xox

'The Screever' issue three

'The Screever' issue three

So it's finally here; issue three of 'The Screever'! It's about A6, photocopied in black and white, and features interviews with Stourbridge drone master ADAM BECKLEY, Birmingham thrash / skate-punkers LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF, Birmingham Straight Edge promoters LOCKDOWNxCOLLECTIVE, DIY packaging wizard Tom from ACDSLEEVE, zine legend Catherine Elms from SPILL THE ZINES, and French / Belgian punk rock band SECULAR PLAGUE, plus a bunch of reviews, a couple of puzzles, and a Vegan Creme Egg recipe. Sounds awesome, right? I had to make this one alone as it seems that Nat has disappeared from the digital universe, but hopefully she'll return with a vengeance for the next one.

This one has a run of 150 copies, and you can get yours from here:

http://glassofspit.bigcartel.com/

Also remember to follow us on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/thescreeverzine

Thanks a tonne! :D

xox

Sperare 'The Sea Takes The Rest' EP launch...

Sperare 'The Sea Takes The Rest' EP launch...

So yes, Lee's hardcore band SPERARE are having this EP launch at the end of this month in their home-town of Stourbridge, thanks to local experimental music label Carnage Club. It's shaping up to be a pretty awesome night, so if you're from around there, make sure you check it out!

There's a Facebook event page for the gig here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/180702262080682/

and make sure you check out the band here:

https://www.facebook.com/sperareband

Cheers! :)

xox

Merridew - 'Fears That Kindle Hope' - Glass of Spit Recordings

MERRIDEW - 'Fears That Kindle Hope' - Glass of Spit Recordings

Right, so yesterday I released another solo EP, this time under the moniker 'Merridew', and this one is three tracks of instrumental, ambient emo / hardcore.

You can hear the final track here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKB8JbZ_Eo

buy the EP on CD here:

http://glassofspit.bigcartel.com/

or download it for free from here:

http://glassofspit.bandcamp.com/

Thanks a lot! :D

xox

Come To Get Her - 'Another Way To Go' debut album release

Come To Get Her - 'Another Way To Go' debut album release

'Come To Get Her' from Belarus have just released their debut album 'Another Way To Go' (a follow up to their quite cracking DIY EP, 'Life So Changing'), and from what I've heard of it so far, it's going to be amazing. Check it out if you're into melodic punk-rock / pop-punk in the vein of UNDECLINABLE AMBUSCADE.

You can download it on a name-your-price basis from their bandcamp at:

http://cometogether.bandcamp.com/

and find them on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/cometogetherby

Awesome stuff! :D

xox

thescreeverzine

LockdownxCollective Presents: 'The Mongoloids' + guests

LockdownxCollective Presents: 'The Mongoloids' + guests / The Flapper, Birmingham / 19th June

So, thanks to LockdownxCollective, this is happening in Birmingham in June; that may seem a good while away, but if you're into your hardcore, straight-edge or not, then get excited because this is looking awesome...

You can find Lockdown on Facebook here to keep updated with shows and the like:

http://www.facebook.com/Lockdownxevents

Nice one!

xox

Coffee Club Collective: 'The Greatest Show on Earth' illustrated book

Coffee Club Collective: 'The Greatest Show on Earth' illustrated book

'Coffee Club Collective' are trying to raise money to publish this lovely looking limited edition illustration book; they have about 20 days left to reach their target, and a bit of a hill left to climb, so they'll love you a lot if you pop onto their Kickstarter page and donate a few quid in return for some lovely stuffs :)

You can donate funds here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tristolliday/coffee-club-book

...follow Coffee Club Collective on Facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/CoffeeClubCollective

or find out more about them on their blog:

http://www.coffeeclubcollective.com/blog/

Thanks a lot! :)

xox