Author: Sarah Williams

Do It Together Fest Preview

Introducing the bands playing Do It Together Fest this weekend, including music videos, fun facts and recommended reading.

Do It Together Fest is a celebration of the DIY punk rock community, which we’re hosting alongside our friends Be Sharp Promotions and Colin’s Punk Rock World on 24-25th January 2020.

Sat in a beer garden last summer, I stumbled on the idea of putting on a London weekender (an evolution of Shout Louder Fest in 2019)… a flurry of WhatsApp messages and not a lot of thought later, we’d planned the whole thing.

Paul, Colin and I all have our birthdays over the same two weekends so, rather than competing, we’ve clubbed together to create this shindig. We’ve invited our mutual favourite bands to play, and we’re giving a platform to other promoters by offering stalls to labels and zines. I’m even making PAPERCUTS (our community themed book) to tie in with the event.

Do It Together Fest takes place on 24-25 January at New Cross Inn, London. Grab a ticket and a zine.

Our aim was to create a diverse line-up, hoping to help you to discover some bands you may not have experienced yet. Here’s a run down of all the awesome artists we’ve got playing. Continue reading “Do It Together Fest Preview”

PAPERCUTS: Announcing Shout Louder’s new book,celebrating punk rock community

PAPERCUTS is an 80+ page paperback zine with contributions from 30+ authors and photographers, chronicling the community spirit of the DIY music community.

We’re proud to announce the pre-order of our paperback zine PAPERCUTS!

Purchase PAPERCUTS from our online shop

PAPERCUTS is a special collaboration between people from all different areas of the punk rock community: bands, fans and all things in between. We’re fortunate to be united through music, and we’ve attempted to condense some of that special bond into these pages.

Whether it’s finding love, overcoming loss, leaving home or finding a tribe, once you’re part of the DIY community it’s hard to see life any other way. Celebrate and commemorate that feeling with this lovely bumper print zine. Continue reading “PAPERCUTS: Announcing Shout Louder’s new book,celebrating punk rock community”

Casual Nausea: DIY or Die [Interview]

We interviewed Ipswichs friendliest punks Casual Nausea about all things do-it-yourself, their progression over years of recordings and… poo. Lots of poo.

Interview by Sarah Williams. Cover photo by Sara-Louise Bowrey.

Scrappy, shouty and faster-than-fuck, Casual Nausea are long-standing TNSrecords favourites from Ipswich, Suffolk. Earlier in 2019 they released a stunning album Demons, which was a huge step forward for the band both in songwriting and production quality.

Known for their DIY-or-Die approach and their sunny attitudes, we were keen to talk to Casual Nausea about their album, their ethos and their Suffolk roots. Answers are from Zoe Barrow and Shawn Fendley, Casual Nausea’s impossible-not-to-love vocalist and drummer.

Welcome to Shout Louder! You helped us out when we were first getting started with the website, so I’ve been super keen to talk to you about the new album Demons.

Casual Nausea has been a band for a long time – could you give us a brief band history lesson?

We formed in 2012 as a bit of a laugh and something to do. We had all been friends for years, and most of us had at some point been in bands with each other before. We never really thought it was going to go anywhere but were all up for giving it a go.

Our first gig was at the Grinning Rat in Ipswich on Friday the 17th of August 2012. Since then we’ve played all over the country, have done two tours in mainland Europe. Played Rebellion, Boomtown, Manchester Punk Fest and loads of other amazing festivals, but have mostly spent a lot of time in cars with each other discussing poo. Continue reading “Casual Nausea: DIY or Die [Interview]”

Punk Rock Tour Tales #3: Jason from UNIFORMS

Jason Rees talks about why touring is a gift, despite flight delays, unreliable vehicles and too many hot chillis. We also learn all about his survival techniques and his Megamixes.

Punk Rock Tour Tales is a new Shout Louder feature, where we interview bands about their tour stories. Read them all here.

Many musicians and fans who’ve stayed over in Dundee will be familiar with the smile, hospitality and positive approach of Jason Rees; drummer in UNIFORMS and The Blood Red Moon, supporter of Make-That-A-Take Records and some-time drummer in Terrafraid (and probably plenty of other bands we don’t remember!).

UNIFORMS are a gritty, honest poppy punk band from Scotland, with one hell of a live show. They’re playing Do It Together Fest, which Shout Louder is hosting in London in January 2020. We thought it’d be a great time to speak to Jason about some of his past tour experiences.

Of the touring you’ve done, what’s been your favourite so far?

I have fond memories from pretty much all the tours I’ve been on, though going round Europe with Forever Unclean (whilst drumming for Terrafraid) was bloody great. I’d never met them properly before the tour, but we all got on brilliantly and the tour was stress free. Even when faced with nowhere to sleep and not being able to get over the border, their attitudes towards difficult situations were infectious and we’d all just accept the reality of what was happening and find a solution together. Continue reading “Punk Rock Tour Tales #3: Jason from UNIFORMS”

News: Day Splits Announced For Do It Together Fest

Day tickets are now available for our London music fest, with Lightyear and The JB Conspiracy headlining.

We’ve just announced the day splits for Do It Together Fest 2020, the party we’re hosting at New Cross Inn alongside Be Sharp Promotions and Colin’s Punk Rock World.

The event’s taking place on 24-25 January 2020 and is a celebration of the punk rock community, with a record and zine fair. We’re even got some live music after parties yet to announce!

Grab your day tickets: http://newcrossinn.com/tickets/events/do-it-together-fest

On Friday legendary brass wizards The JB Conspiracy will be headlining! Before them, heartfelt, humorous pop-punk from Eat Defeat, bouncy ska-punk party machines Just Say Nay and over-driven hard rock from Midwich Cuckoos. Continue reading “News: Day Splits Announced For Do It Together Fest”

Top 10 Punk Rock Records of 2019

Make sure you haven’t missed out on any of 2019’s top punk rock albums.

Written by Sarah Williams.

Another year, another deluge of arbitrary Top 10 selections. We punk rockers love a list, and it’s fun to take a nostalgic look back at the past 12 months.

I’ve mapped out a lot of 2019 in records that are a far cry from the punk rock genre, although ethically they’re still subversive and alternative. My true Top 10 of 2019 would include albums by P Money, Lizzo, Loyle Carner and Kevin Abstract. You can read it over at the Lockjaw Records website.

Nonetheless, there have been some great punk rock releases this year. Here are my Top 10 Punk Rock Records of 2019.  Yes, it starts with #9… the reason will become clear at the end. Continue reading “Top 10 Punk Rock Records of 2019”

Shout Louder Podcast: Summers from Eat Defeat [S3 E2]

The latest episode of the Shout Louder Podcast features a conversation with Andrew Summers: Eat Defeat frontman and tour manager extraordinaire. Fresh from The Fest we talk about touring the USA, getting hounded by cops and surviving on caffeine.

On our latest episode of the Shout Louder Punk Podcast we have a great chat with Andrew Summers! You may remember him from such bands as Eat Defeat, Kickback UK and The Fractions… as well as his career as a well-respected, Pokemon-obsessed tour manager.

We get cosy in his living room in Leeds to talk touring, caffeine and all things ska. Fresh off a USA tour with Eat Defeat, he’s got plenty of tales to tell. We reminisce about the noughties UK punk scene, harmless run ins with the police and trips to our favourite tour venues.

Eat Defeat have just released a new single Wake Up, which you can hear on the podcast, along with their earlier song Can’t Say I’ll Miss You. Listen on Soundcloud, Apple, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Eat Defeat will be playing Do It Together Fest, which Shout Louder is putting on with Be Sharp Promotions and Colin’s Punk Rock World on 24-25th January 2020. Grab a ticket here.

 

Punk Rock Tour Tales #2: Lucinda from Cultdreams

Lucinda Livingstone gives us some sound advice for surviving touring, some fond memories and some amusing anecdotes from years on the road.

Punk Rock Tour Tales is a new Shout Louder feature, where we interview bands about their tour stories. Read them all here.

Lucinda Livingstone is the vocalist and guitarist of Cultdreams (previously Kamikaze Girls), and a wonderfully minimalist illustrator under the name Bloodflower Design. She also looks after one of our favourite reads: Ladyfuzz Zine.

As Cultdreams prepare to embark on their biggest ever UK tour in support of their new album Things That Hurt (out now on Big Scary Monsters), Sarah asked Lucinda about their best, worst and weirdest tour experiences.

Of the touring you’ve done, what’s been your favourite so far?

That’s such a hard question, I couldn’t pick one. But out of the last 10 years here’s a couple that stand out…

The 8 weeks that we did in the US and Canada completely self-booked off the back of our 5-track EP SAD coming out. We toured with four different bands over those weeks in Canada, the East Coast, and the West Coast. I remember getting to Fest in Florida at the five and a half week point. The day after Fest we went to the airport and flew to LA and did another two and a half weeks on the West Coast. I don’t think either of us had a clue where we were each day on that final stretch. It was long and tiring but we travelled with so many amazing people and had some really amazing shows. Continue reading “Punk Rock Tour Tales #2: Lucinda from Cultdreams”

Exclusive: Haest Premiere Video for ‘I Thought I’d Walked In Sh*t But It Was A Child’s Mitten’

Be the first to see the hilarious music video for the first single from Haest’s upcoming album ‘Anomie’, due out on TNSrecords in January.

There’s nothing we love more than a proper DIY punk rock music video, and today’s exclusive is just that. Haest are gearing up to release their debut album Anomie to the world – due out on TNSrecords on 10 January 2020.

The video for the first single I Thought I’d Walked In Shit But It Was A Child’s Mitten is a low-budget classic, featuring Snuff/Southport’s Simon Wells as a lairy estate agent. Would you buy this house?

In their short existence, Haest have been running roughshod through the UK DIY punk scene, clocking up two EPs, various compilation tracks, a European tour and a ton of support slots with the likes of The Dwarves, The Adolescents, Pears, Birds In Row and Clowns. The band have developed a sound of their own; mixing influences from hardcore punk, doom and noise rock. Their debut album sees them spread their wings even further, creating a truly unique piece of work.

Find out more and pre-order the album here. Continue reading “Exclusive: Haest Premiere Video for ‘I Thought I’d Walked In Sh*t But It Was A Child’s Mitten’”

Laughing In The Face Of: Getting Faster All The Time [Interview]

We talk to Laughing In The Face Of, one of the fastest, hardest-shredding bands in the UK, about how they’ve gotten faster as they’ve grown older, the challenges of self-recording and the joys of the punk rock scene.

Interview by Sarah Williams.

Birmingham’s fastest skate-punks Laughing In The Face Of have teased us with two video singles so far this year. They’ve posted plenty about the recording and mixing of their new record, which will be their first since 2013’s The Governor.

As a long-established band on Shout Louder’s sister project Lockjaw Records, we wanted to give them some much deserved hype, and find out what they’ve been doing with the last 6 years. We interviewed Steve Lowry (vocals, guitar) and Jimmy Carroll (bass) to learn more.

Rumour has it that you’ve got a brand new album on the way! How long’s that been in the works?

Steve: That rumour might be true. Both writing and recording were a long process. With writing, we just did what we could without forcing it into a time frame. We wanted to make the best out of it. No filler, every song well-thought out, nothing we would feel even remotely disheartened by at the end. I mean, we all wanted to get it done, but realistically it was never gonna be a quick job. Continue reading “Laughing In The Face Of: Getting Faster All The Time [Interview]”