NEWS: NORWICH LCR RENAMED IN MEMORY OF LATE MANAGER NICK RAYNES

To music fans in the East of England, Norwich's LCR, situated on the University of East Anglia campus, is well known as one of the principal live music venues in the region. A huge plethora of bands, such as Muse, Enter Shikari, Bowling For Soup, Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Motorhead, and a frequent stop-off for the Kerrang! Tour (there have been hundreds of amazing bands playing the LCR, this list is just off the top of my head) have all stopped off in Norwich, and these are all largely thanks to the work of the late Entertainments Manager at the university, Nick Rayns.

He worked for 34 years, bringing in some truly incredible acts over that time, and in his honour: RIP Mr Rayns, and thank you for your work in bringing in some incredible acts over the years.

The late Nick Raynes - image courtesy
of the Norwich Tab

LIVE REVIEW; LABRINTH, 4/3/12, UEA LCR

****

Ahead of the release of his debut album Electronic Earth, slated for release April 2^nd, Labrinth paid a visit to a sold-out LCR on his first-ever UK tour. One of the most exciting new artists to come out of the UK in recent times, Labrinth is a self-taught singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who first came to prominence in 2010 when he featured on Tinie Tempah's hit singles Pass Out and Frisky – already a producer of some repute, he burst onto the UK scene last year with the hugely popular solo effort Earthquake and has since gone from strength to strength.

Testament to the hype surrounding Labrinth as an artist, the gig was originally at the Waterfront but was upgraded to the LCR after the original listing sold out. So needless to say the excitement was palpable as the lights went down and he burst onto the stage into what was a vibrant and diverse show. A man clearly determined not to be pigeon-holed into any single genre, Labrinth's set consisted of a great number of styles, blending elements of dubstep, electronic and hip-hop/R'n'B with flashes of indie and rock. Alongside singles Let The Sun Shine and Last Time, we were treated to glimpses of the album with rockier numbers such as Sweet Riot, as well as acoustic track Vultures, one of the night's highlights. Mixing these up with partial covers of more well-known songs by Tinie Tempah, Professor Green and Ms. Dynamite, before bringing the evening to a close with an encore of Earthquake, he made sure the crowd was well-entertained.

Clearly a born performer, Labrinth showcased why he is currently one of the UK's most interesting exports – a very diverse talent, as well as a very down-to-earth man, who took time between songs to engage with and thank the crowd for all their support. With his album due in just over a month, it seems that his popularity can only increase, and on the strength of this show Labrinth is a man that will go a long way.

COPYRIGHT Thomas Castle, March 2012

*No, I don't just do rock and metal...

INTERVIEW; ERIK CHANDLER of BOWLING FOR SOUP

Ahead of their headline date at the UEA LCR (17/10/11), I sat down with Bowling For Soup bassist Erik Chandler to chat about touring and what the future might hold for the band.

Tom: Erik, welcome back to Norwich. Is it good to be back?
Erik: Oh, absolutely. Actually, Norwich is one of the very first places we ever played, we did the Waterfront when we toured back in 2001.

T: This is the first time you've been here as a full band since late last year, but you did an acoustic tour back here in April, how was that in comparison to playing with a full band?
E: You know, it's cool because when it's just the two of us (Erik and singer/guitarist Jaret), the touring party's much smaller, and logistically it's just easier. I think in April there were maybe 12 people in total, and I think we're approaching close to 60 here. Trying to wrangle that many people, it's just a bigger headache, though we miss our friends when they're not with us.

T: And is it something you reckon you'd do again, the acoustic tour?
E: We're talking about it right now, so it's kinda in the works.
T: Would it just be you and Jaret again, or would you consider bringing in the others?
E: It'd just be the two of us. It'd take away some of the atmosphere of the acoustic show.
T: You've also been in Japan recently, doing shows for the (American) military. How was that?
E: That was really awesome. That was a hell of a trip, bouncing around Southeast Asia with the Navy, and we met some really cool people. We basically had our own Naval plane which flew us all around. And it was cool because we had the same crew every day, so we got to know them really well.
T: That sounds brilliant. Now, you guys are almost pioneers of the pop-punk genre as you've been doing this for 17 years now, and influence a lot of bands, but who do you take influence from yourselves, as a band?
E: Our influences are so vast. We all grew up, and still do, listening to everything. Country/western to hardcore punk to thrash metal, it's kinda difficult to point at a couple of things – everyone has their own personal favourite songwriters. Every album sorta absorbs a slightly different vibe, it's just the way it happens when you let them evolve on their own. We go in a studio with zero expectation and zero ideas – just see what happens. With (new album) Fishing For Woos, 3 days before we went in the studio I got the demos, which were just Jaret and an acoustic guitar, it was as broken down as it could possibly be. It's very cool and interesting to watch them take shape. Forget the quality of the songwriting, I think that's (Fishing For Woos) the best sounding album that we've made. We did it in a hurry, inexpensively, and somehow it worked.

T: So, are we going to be seeing any new material soon?
E: This tour kinda ends the year for Bowling For Soup, and next year we're just gonna take things a bit more slowly. Jaret and I have solo projects – mine's out in the spring, Jaret's is out towards the end of November, so we're gonna work on those next year, and then back to the Bowling For Soup business in 2013, I guess.
T: So finally, what have you got for us tonight, and on this tour in general?

E: This is a really interesting tour, because we've wanted do something like this, well, forever. We're playing all the singles that we've ever released, and not all of those are songs that we normally play, so we're having to remember all these songs. We never use a setlist; well, we have a list, but we just pick the order there and then. Everyone's got to be so on it – last night, we were playing one song, and there was a part where we all stopped. Then Jaret just starts playing another song, and when we'd finished that one, he went back to the one we were playing before, But I had forgotten what song we were in the middle of! But it's fun, keeps you on your toes.
T: Well, thanks very much for taking the time to have a chat with me.
E: No worries.

COPYRIGHT Thomas Castle, October 2011

LIVE REVIEW; BOWLING FOR SOUP, 17/10/11, UEA LCR

****

Heroes of pop-punk, Bowling For Soup brought the second date of their unforgettable live show to Norwich in support of their 11^th studio album Fishing For Woos. Heading to the stage amid a sea of rapturous applause, chants and their own recorded “Bowling For Soup, HEY!” introductory number, they burst into a unique and entertaining set.

Although they don't use a strict setlist, with 17 years as a band behind them, it's clear the band know how to open a show, and with an opening barrage of hit singles I'm Gay and High School Never Ends the crowd instantly tune in and sing along, almost louder than the band themselves. Their set mingled their most popular tunes, such as Emily, The B**ch Song and My Wena with slightly lesser known album tracks that nonetheless went down a treat with their hardcore fans. They even treated the crowd to 2 covers; Stacy's Mom, by Fountains Of Wayne – singer/guitarist Jaret joked that “most people thought we did this, even though we didn't, so we're gonna play it” - and Bryan Adam's classic Summer of '69.

A massive part of the BFS live setup is their interactions with each other and the crowd – between practically every song there would be a pause for the band's wonderfully immature jokes with each other about things that just can't be printed, or for complimenting crowd members on their figures – they even had their own bar on stage, where a handful of the crowd spent the entire show enjoying free drinks named after drummer Gary. Their rapport with the crowd is second to none, and the atmosphere created was one of toilet humour and laughs, yet their set itself was polished and excellent.

In their final flourish, BFS demonstrated the improvised nature of their set by breaking out into a jam involving the whole crowd and a member of support band Suburban Legends in the middle of final song Girl All The Bad Guys Want, that very much kept with their air of immaturity. When they left the stage, the crowd was all smiles; a very successful start to this tour for the band.

COPYRIGHT Thomas Castle, October 2011

LIVE REVIEW; ENTER SHIKARI, 5/10/11, UEA LCR

*****

Fresh from completing work on 3^rd album A Flash Flood of Colour (due for release early 2012), St. Albans quartet Enter Shikari hit UK roads for a headline tour following a summer that included a huge set at Reading/Leeds. Norwich was the tour's first port of call for a band fast becoming one of Britain's best live acts, and their unique blend of rock, hardcore and drum 'n' bass/dubstep went down a storm to an adoring crowd.

Wasting no time, the band dived into their set (quite literally – at one point vocalist Rou Reynolds actually swung into the crowd from stage-side rigging), and tore through a set comprising of their most popular songs covering their 2 records and recent singles, as well as some fan favourites. A semi-acoustic interlude fell a little bit flat, not keeping with the slightly chaotic atmosphere permeating the LCR (there were even human pyramids at one point); that said, the crowd knew every word anyway. After a blistering encore, Shikari left the stage triumphantly, and left the LCR itself battered, bruised and grinning from ear to ear. It's safe to say Norwich set a good precedent for the rest of the tour.

COPYRIGHT Thomas Castle , October 2011