On Monday night Showcase Wales broadcast an interview with Amped on GTFM, conducted by Adam Perkins, the interview runs for 30 minutes and can be heard on our brand new Soundcloud account.

You can follow Showcase Wales on;

Twitter – @ShowcaseWales

Facebook – Showcase Wales

www.gtfm.co.uk

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

Cardiff based glam rockers Tigertailz have parted ways with bass player Sarah Firebrand. The band have released the following statement;

It is with regret that we have to announce that Tigertailz have parted company with Sarah Firebrand. Statement as follows:

“It’s with a heavy heart that we have to inform you that we’ve decided to part company with Sarah. The last thing the band needed right now was another line-up change.. But unfortunately as a band we’re just not functioning and a change w…as needed to move forward. It’s unfortunate, but keeping a band going year-on-year isn’t easy and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made. We would like to thank Sarah for all she’s done and wish her all the best for the future.

Our priority is the longevity of Tigertailz and to raise as much money as possible for the Amser Justin Time charity which helps people suffering from Pancreatic cancer. With this in mind we’ll be announcing a new Bass player as soon as possible and resuming touring duties.

Thanks to you all for your fantastic support and let’s keep the faith…

TIGERTAILZ

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

“Bring Me The Heads”, a long lost track by the cult outfit Midasuno has just emerged. The 2 and a half minute recording was found by guitarist Chris Morgan, who recorded it at the University of Glamorgan Atrium campus.

You can hear the track on the following link;

Midasuno – “Bring Me The Heads”

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

Best Album

Exit International – Black Junk (49% of the vote)

Best Single

The Dirty Youth – Fight (33% of the vote)

Best Unsigned Band

Buried in Alaska (44% of the vote)

Best Live Band

Exit International (44% of the vote)

Best  Event 2011

Merthyr Rock (61% 0f the vote)

Band of the Year 2011

Exit International (45% of the vote)

Amped Icon

This year the Amped Icon award goes to the Manic Street Preachers.

21 years since their debut single Motown Junk; 10 studio albums and 38 singles later they’ve released a greatest hits followed by a sell out show at the 02 arena.They are without doubt the most prolific band to come out of Wales and arguably the last great British rock n roll band.

Korn - Photograph by Rick Wenner

Hot on the heels of their tenth studio album, ‘The Path of Totality’, Korn have announced a full and intimate UK tour for 2012.

Infusing dubstep anarchy into their signature sound, the legendary quartet stand on the cusp of a musical revolution for both hard rock and electronica. Korn are no strangers to revolution or innovation though. In fact, they’ve been purveyors of heavy music’s progression since forming in Bakersfield, CA in 1994 and becoming one of the most influential entities that the genre has ever seen.

Their legendary self-titled debut took the world by storm with its schizophrenic metallic catharsis. No one had ever played heavy music with such personal lyrics and funked-out grooves. Immediately, they earned a place in the hearts of fans across the globe. However, their third offering, 1998′s Follow the Leader, bridged the gap between hip hop and heavy metal seamlessly. It also solidified them as inspirational innovators.

Numerous acts “followed the leader,” and heavy metal underwent a renaissance in the early 2000′s with Korn at the forefront. Slipknot, Staind, Disturbed and countless others nodded to the group as an inspiration. In addition, they’ve garnered two Grammy Awards— one for Best Short Form Video for  “Freak on a Leash” from Follow the Leader and one for Best Metal Performance for “Here to Stay” from 2002’s Untouchables—and sold 35 million albums worldwide.

However, they’re ushering in a new horizon for heavy music with The Path of Totality. Collaborating with dubstep heavyweights Skrillex, Excision, Downlink, Noisia, Feed Me, 12th Planet and Flinch, Korn have constructed a hypnotic hybrid of dubstep and metal. Bouncing from polyrhythmic guitar pummeling into drastic electro drops, the music is dark, dangerous and definitive Korn.

UK Tour

March 2012

Mar 25th – London O2 Academy Brixton
Mar 26th – Birmingham O2 Academy
Mar 28th – Manchester Academy
Mar 29th – Glasgow O2 Academy
Mar 31st – Belfast, Mandela Hall, County Antrim

April 2012

Apr 1st – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
Apr 3rd – Bristol O2 Academy

Tickets are £29.50 (£32 London)
On sale: Wednesday 21 December, 9:00am

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

The Amped Awards are back! So get voting on a painstakingly chosen shortlist of the best Welsh talent.

Who wins? You decide!

Please vote for your favourite in each of the categories below and come back in 2011 when we crown the winners, including the prestigious Amped Icon award.

Voting closes December 31st

Writer, Actor and Musician Boyd Clack is back, with a brand new album called ‘Labourer of Love’.

His autobiography ‘Kisses Sweeter than Wine’ was published to critical and popular acclaim in 2010 and Boyd has performed his songs both as a soloist and lead vocalist with several bands since the mid-seventies.

His first album ‘Welsh Bitter’ was released in 2009 to critical acclaim-“Unclassifiably haunting songs…beautifully enunciated and musically sung in melting chocolate tones” Cambria (The National Magazine of Wales)

The 13 track follow up promises an eclectic mix of genres from 60′s Pop, Rockabilly, Waltz and even a Hymn.

Boyd says,

“The songs on Labourer of Love are inspired by people and places I have loved and in some cases lost over the years. All remain in my heart, the moods, the details, the beauty and the pain. It is also about love in the greater sense, love as the purpose, love as the Holy
Grail; love as magic. In that sense we are all Labourers of Love.”

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

Justice Tonight

To paraphrase the lyricism of Alain Boubill, “I dreamed a dream”, a dream where revolution rocker Mick Jones brought an ad hoc lineup of politically charged musos to grace the stage at the Cardiff University Solus. Hang on, it actually happened!

Watching opening act Wibidi from the merchandise stand I take in the influx of punters descending on the Solus. A mixture of punk edge and terrace chic is abundant, a coalition of hardcore music lovers and football fanatics have come to witness this rare treat, the allignment of Mick Jones, Pete Wylie, The Farm and James Dean Bradfield.

Tonight these cult heroes have come together for one cause, Justice for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield is the first special guest of the tour, an unquestionable choice having penned ‘South Yorkshire Mass Murderer’, as well as being a Nottingham Forest fan.

Following a brief conversation at side stage with rock journo supremo John Robb, tonight’s compere, he rushes on stage to introduce The Farm.

The cult Merseyside band play a greatest hits set, which goes down a storm. The bombastic half hour or so featuring classics ‘Groovy Train’, ‘Stepping Stone’ and of course the terrace anthem ‘All Together Now’ – queue the first of many crowd driven sing alongs.

During The Farm’s set Mick Jones, in a baby blue teddy boy suit, makes a fleeting appearance at side stage taking time to sign autographs and pose for photographs.

Up next is Mighty Wah front man Pete Wylie, bringing a handful of hits and a healthy dose of Scouse banter. ‘The Day That Margaret Thatcher Died’ goes down particularly well with the crowd, as does ‘Come Back’ featuring James Dean Bradfield’s first appearance of the night.

Coolly taking to the stage Mick straps on his gleaming white Les Paul and bursts into ‘Train In Vain’, moments like this make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up; it’s not often you get to stand a few feet away from one of the pioneers of the punk movement.

‘Bankrobber’ is sang with serious integrity by Farm vocalist Peter Hooton followed by the strikingly apt ‘Armagideon Time’ – the refrain “A lot of people won’t get no justice tonight”  still echoing through the ages.

James Dean Bradfield joins The Clash for a brief moment, becoming Joe Strummer for an explosive rendition of ‘Clampdown’. The intensity of Bradfield’s performance is arresting, and it’s clear to see the sheer thrill he is experiencing whilst performing with Mick; one of the seminal influences on the Manics, both musically and politically.

The opening chords of ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go‘ ring out from Mick’s guitar and a wall of elated screams pour from the crowd, queue a 3 minute pogo-a-thon.

As I watch Mick unleash yet more classic Clash songs on the awestruck crowd, images of the Anti Nazi League gig, Victoria Park, 1978 come to mind. The passion and the integrity is there, music lovers coming together to unite against oppression. The climax to the gig is encore ‘Janie Jones’, delivered at machinegun pace to a rapturously rabid crowd.

The spirit of punk is still alive, and tonight it is evident, from original generation Clash fans to teenage upstarts. Many will say “I was there”, but only a handful can actually lay claim to witnessing this mind-blowing spectacle.

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

Global car giants Volkswagen have used Tigertailz ‘Love Bomb Baby’ for their new Internet advertising campaign celebrating 35 years of the VW Golf GTi.

The campaign takes two time travellers back in time to the first Golf GTi built in 1976 and then on through the years up to 1989 where the time travellers appear in the video shoot for ‘Love Bomb Baby’.

Tailz frontman Kim Hooker said “I’m absolutely delighted to be involved with a company who has such a fine engineering pedigree as Volkswagen. I feel like Gene Simmons”

See if you can spot the time travellers and Golf GTi Edition 35 in the ‘Love Bomb Baby’ video.

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens

Waterstones, The Hayes, Cardiff. The scene for the launch of the first of two books by Manic Street Preachers bass player and mouthpiece, Nicky Wire.

It’s strikingly appropriate that an event steeped in as much history as this should be staged in the heart of the Hayes, a district of Cardiff which more than any other shaped the Manics. Spending their formative years performing in the arcades and alleyways surrounding Waterstones before using their hard earned busking money to purchase the latest vinyl delights in Spillers.

The queue snakes around the perimeter of the store, a mixture of hardcore Manics devotees decked out in Wiresque outfits and the more casual ‘Radio 2’ fans hoping to finally get a glimpse of Nicky up close. The event has attracted a number of elderly onlookers inside the store, and as Nicky makes his grand entrance via a large Victorian staircase one gentleman asks me who he is. He goes on to remark that he saw the Manics on Strictly Come Dancing; proof that in 20 years the band have gone from anti-establishment upstarts to ‘National Treasures’.

‘Death of a Polaroid’, a baby pink hardback heavyweight, is a selection of pictures that intimately documents the history of the Manics, shot of course as the title suggests, on Polaroid format. Each picture comes from the private collection of Nicky Wire, the self confessed archivist of the band, and combines candidly captured portraits along with concept and documentary photography.

“I’m not a photographer. I’m a Polaroid freak who thinks that the colours and the vividness and the memories encapsulated in this art form are spectacular. Nothing moves me more.”
Nicky Wire

As a long time follower of the band it’s nice to get a rare view from the inside, particular highlights include studio bound shots and a myriad of alternative artwork for singles from the ‘This Is My Truth’ era. This visual journal is a fascinating look at what could be the last great British rock n roll band; the apt marriage of a dying genre and a dying photography format.

As featured on: The BBC Wales Music Blog

Jarrad ‘Nöir’ Owens