Dead Harts
Adelaide
I Divide
Mechanical Smile
Reachback
Strangle Kojak
The Jellycats
Golden Cats (This years Wild Card band)

Kerrang! Tour: While She Sleeps

You played the Kerrang! tour at the beginning of the year. You were playing with bands that aren’t in the same genre of music as yourselves. How did you find it and what was the tour like overall?

It was really cool. It was a big eye opener for us. We were playing rooms bigger than what we had played before. It was really interesting to play to massive crowds. It was great playing to a couple of thousand people a night. It was good mixing with the other bands. All the dudes in the other bands were cool and it made us make a lot of new friends. It got us watching music that we wouldn’t usually watch. To be honest it’s all alternative – Big groups like New Found Glory, Letlive - one of our favourite bands at the moment, and The Blackout were cool anyway. So it was sick. Kerrang! Tour was awesome.

What was the highlight of the tour?

On the first night in Dublin, all the bands went to a club and everyone got fucking slaughtered. It was such a good way to start the tour off. Everyone became good mates with each other and by the next morning everyone knew each other. I woke up the next morning thinking shit, I was on Ian from New Found Glory shoulders last night, so I better talk to him today.

What was the best show on that tour?

I fucking loved Birmingham. Birmingham / Manchester were awesome. I don’t know if this is a highlight – probably a low-light – I fell off the stage at the Roundhouse in London which sucked! I sprained a load of ligaments in my leg. I jumped of my cab and hit a monitor. The monitor slid off stage and I went with it. I went face first into the photo pit. I carried on playing, but I was fucked and the next day I couldn’t walk for shit.

You’re new album comes out August. What can the fans expect from the album? Does the sound differ from previous album, “The North Stands For Nothing”?

It’s a progression. We didn’t go into the recording process with an idea of what sound we wanted. We just went in and made the record we wanted to make. We did whatever we liked. So it’s kind of like the old stuff but much better. It’s a lot more polished.

You’ve just signed with Search and Destroy, was there any added pressure from the label to get the album to a certain standard?

We got given deadlines. I recorded the last album, but this time we went to the studio and did it properly. In that respect we had deadlines. There was no corporate bullshit about anything. We weren’t forced into anything we didn’t want to do. It was a lot better than the last albums recording process. We got to reach out a bit more and try some new things.

What can fans expect from the “This Is The Six” single? (Music Video below)

Everything you could want in a song. It’s heavy but it’s something you can sing along to. We’ve not got softer, its going to be a big record.

You hit the festival circuit in a few weeks starting with Slam Dunk. You played last years festival as well. What can fans expect from the set?

Everything from last year and more. We’re going to be playing some new songs, so it will be good to see how the fans react.

Which festival are you most looking forward to playing and why?

Download. We’ve never played it before.

Apart from the album release, single release and the festivals, what’s next for you guys?

Usual thing man, we’re going to tour as much as we can. We’re going to do what we did with the last album for this album. We’re just going to carry on how we’ve done things in the past.

“This Is The Six” (single) is out now and can be purchased from iTunes:

You can also pre order the full length album, which will be released on the 13th of August and features these completely new tracks:

1. Priorities
2. Hold On
3. Yeah Man
4. Here’s the Thing
5. Whole Truth
6. Fancy Dress
7. In My World
8. Back In The Day
9. You Got It Girl
10. Let’s Go Back to School
11. Actors

“Priorities” official music video

The making of the “Priorities” video

“Priorities” live acoustic performance on the BBC Review Show

IMPACT WRESTLING returns to the UK and Ireland in January 2013 for ‘The Road To Lockdown’ Tour – promising fans a steel cage match on every show. The action-packed live events will take place in Dublin (January 21), Glasgow (23), Nottingham (24), Manchester (25) and at London’s Wembley Arena (26). The show at Wembley will see two episodes of TNA IMPACT WRESTLING taped for broadcast in more than 120 countries around the globe, including on Challenge TV in the UK and Ireland.

• Lockdown steel cage comes to the UK and Ireland for first time ever
• Wembley show to be broadcast on Challenge TV and around the world
• Live events also set for Dublin, Glasgow, Nottingham and Manchester

Worldwide wrestling stars announced for the five events include Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, James Storm, AJ Styles, Mr. Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Velvet Sky and Gail Kim. Many more top names will be added in the coming months.

TNA President Dixie Carter said: “Our wonderful fans in the UK and Ireland have made us their number one rated wrestling show once again – and this tour is our way of saying thank you.

“This is the first time that the Lockdown steel cage has ever left US soil. Those matches will really be something special.

“Taping TNA IMPACT WRESTLING at Wembley this January was a high point in the 10 year history of this company, so coming back in 2013 is something everyone is looking forward to.”

Tickets for the four UK shows go on sale at 9am on Friday May 25, with Irish tickets on sale from Tuesday May 22. Tickets can be bought from www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051 or www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0844 826 2826. Full details of the UK and Ireland events are:

Monday January 21
Dublin National Stadium
818 719 300

Wednesday January 23
Glasgow Braehead Arena
0844 499 9990

Thursday January 24
Nottingham Capital FM Arena
0844 412 4624

Friday January 25
Manchester Arena
0844 847 8000

Saturday January 26
London Wembley Arena
0844 815 0815

You can listen to a preview of “Saviour” below:

Anti-Flag decided to hold their own festival this year. Aptly named AntiFest, the event took place at The Forum in Hatfield, a venue which has played host to many festivals and all-dayers in the past. With a solid punk/rock line-up I was really looking forward to the event. Unfortunately, due to train delays (Thanks First Capital Connect!) I missed out on the first couple of acts, but made it just in time to see Exeter’s finest, The Computers play an awesome 30 minute set. The highlight was the performance of “Music Is Dead”.

Next up were The Menzingers. Having been robbed in Manchester the night before, it was great seeing continue with their live dates. Even after being robbed of $10,000 worth of stuff, the band powered through an amazing set. The band put a lot of energy in to their performance and this was reflected by the reception and reaction of the Hatfield crowd. The highlight of the set was the eccentric performance of “Mexican Guitars”.

Penultimate band of the evening, The Skints did not disappoint. After seeing them on the You Me At Six tour last month, I knew that they were going to put on a stellar performance. I was not wrong. They are a band that keeps getting better every time you see them. They were truly appreciated by the Hatfield crowd. The band were tight musically and every song was pulled off flawlessly. Expect big things from these guys in the near future.

If there was one word to sum up Anti-Flag‘s set tonight it would be EPIC. The energy generated by the Pittsburgh punk-rockers was something that had to be seen. From the first chord strummed and first note sung, the Hatfield crowd burst into a frenzy of circle pits and moshing. The atmosphere in the room was amazing. With a back catalogue of nine albums, the band played something from every release keeping old and new fans happy. Highlights from the set were “Cities Burn” and “1 Trillion Dollars”. Overall a brilliant set – Hopefully we’ll see Anti-Flag back over here before the end of the year.