museic

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, and bassist Johnny Christ.

(*The drummer James Sullivan died in 2010 shortly before the release of Avengeds 5th studio album, thus no drummer being mentioned as in the band.)

I’ve loved A7X since around 2006 when my ex used to blare out Unholy Confessions. Prior to that all I’d been exposed to musically was r’n’b and pop blasting from the radio, so a nice easy way to break me into metal I thought.. ha.  Since then I just kept on listening to them through the years, following the bands ups and downs- the most recent being the death of the drummer Jimmy ‘the Rev’ Sullivan. Seeing them at Brighton Centre was amazing and they were supported by another favourite band of mine- Stone Sour. Definatly one of my favourite gigs.

Heres a list in chronological order of my top 10 favourite a7x songs;

Afterlife     10

Dear god    9

Welcome to the family   8

Almost easy   7

Seize the day  6

Unholy confessions  5

Bat country  4

Little piece of heaven  3

Critical acclaim  2

Dangerline  1

I took ages coming up with this and I’m not 100% sure on the order of them, I think Ive chosen dangerline as number 1 as its the one I’ve listened to most recently and think its got a powerful ending as far as emotions go in an a7x song!

Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari is an English post-hardcore band, formed in 2003 in St Albans, Hertfordshire.^[4] The band is named after a boat belonging to Roughton “Rou” Reynolds’ uncle, and a character in a play which he wrote before forming the band, both of which are named Shikari.^[5] Shikari also means ‘Hunter’, in Marathi, Persian, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali.^[6] Their debut album, Take to the Skies was released on March 19, 2007 and reached #4 in the Official UK Album Chart. Their second album, titled Common Dreads, was released on June 15, 2009 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at 16.

I guess I should write about Enter Shikari here too- another band that I got started off on, seeing them at intimate boat gigs before they blew up. I remember going to a tattoo shop when I was 17 and asking to have Enter Shikari tattooed right across my stomach. Thank FUCK the guy had sense and refused to do it! A band that will always hold huge memories for me when I hear there songs, going way back to traff days right through to present day. Ive seen them a few times now at there gigs and at festivals. To be honest I havnt got into there latest album much- I’ve heard it and it is good but my favourite ES songs are definatly

Sorry Your Not A Winner, Jonny Sniper and OK time for plan B..  I much prefer the original recordings to the overly produced versions that’s on there album that you’ll purchase in the shops today (Take to the Skies).

My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of gothic rock, punk, heavy metal, glam rock and metal, and progressive rock. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004; the album was a commercial success, and was awarded platinum status a little over a year later.^[1] The band eclipsed their previous success with their 2006 concept album, The Black Parade, which gained generally favorable reviews among music critics.^[2] Their fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, was released on November 22, 2010, to positive reviews.

So I saw MCR at Wembley Stadium last Saturday- and what a show they put on! I had my concerns about seeing them as friends who had seen them before said they werent very good and frankly, I was worried that they would just play most of there new album. But they proved me wrong and not only played the best of their new, but also the best of most, if not all, of there albums! A great show, Way has brilliant stage presence and of course now they have quite a catalogue of good tunes I would definatly consider seeing them in the future. The only down side of the night was the bitch of a journey to Wembley stadium… Heres some of my favourite songs from MCR- most of which I think was played on the night…

Im not OK

Helena

Ghost of you

Bulletproof heart

Nanana

Cancer

Famous last words

I don’t love you

Its not a fashion statement, it’s a deathwish

Thank you for the venom

This is a song from there new album ‘Danger Days’  and its called Bulletproof Heart…

 

illScarlett

I dont know how I got into this band, I think I just stumbled across them on last.fm but a couple of songs have become ones I listen to alot at the moment… They remind me a tiny bit of Incubus. Heres a couple of songs…

Paradise Burning

Nothing Special

 

Random film chat!

Films are a passion of mine- so I’m going to talk about films that I’ve either seen recently, has had an impact on me, or are favourites. They wont be so much as technical film reviews slating cinematography or using proper terminology. Just me rambling on about a certain scene or plot of a film…

I’ll start off with a film I recently watched that I wouldnt normally view but glad I did…

‘Whatever Happened To Baby Jane’- 1962

                  

      Starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford 

This is a film starring both Hollywood starlets in their later years, as a bitter sibling rivalry tale of jealousy, revenge and hate. I was suprised how much I enjoyed it and how original the storyline was. It revolves around ‘Baby Jane Hudson’ (Davis), who, enjoying immense fame as a youngster and receiving complete devotion from their father, leaves her sister in the cold and out of the limelight. Blinded by the spotlight and her fathers attention Baby Jane is evil to her sister Blanche (Crawford) and Blanche feels isolated from the family.

This is all portrayed in a 5 minute opening before the title has even come up, with the girls’ mother standing by a young Blanche crying, asking for her to not be as cruel as ‘they have been to you’ when she becomes the bigger star- which her mother has promised her will happen one day… ‘Oh I wont.’ Is the last words from a young Blanche before the screen fades to black to some years later when indeed Blanche is the Hollywood actress on everyones lips and Baby Jane has faded into the background.

A ‘mysterious’ car crash later (which the viewer knows to be Blanches car) and alot of close ups used, it is evident there has been an accident and someone has been run over outside their home, which turns out to be Blanche as the next scene is Blanche confined to a wheelchair in her room.

Now the script goes on focusing around the housebound or rather, room bound, Blanche and her full time carer sister Baby Jane and the bitterness that has become of Jane due to the turnaround of the sisters’ career. Blanches massive success turns things sour when Jane becomes mentally ill- pining for her father who adored her and becoming so filled with jealousy and hate for her sister that she starts terrorising the disabled women… One line going, ‘You wouldnt be able to do all these awful things if I wernt in this chair.’ With a Jane screaming ‘Oh but you are in that chair Blanche, you are! And what are these awful things I’m meant to have done to you?’

Oh how so many! How about killing Blanches pet bird and serving it up as breakfast on a platter… And then a rat from the cellar causing Blanche to become paranoid of eating- leading to her nearly starving herself to death!

Or how about perfecting Blanches voice (Davis is so good at this, I’m sure it must have been a voice over) so that she can order more bottles of gin for herself. Then replicating Blanches signature to withdraw all her savings so she can hire a ‘song writer’ to re create the Baby Jane show- which by this point in the movie Jane has become so deluded and blinded by her own madness she is in dire need of a doctor, something Blanche is desperatly trying to do, but being room bound and Jane having ripped out the phone and buzzer is nigh on impossible! Eventually Jane kills the maid Alvario, who is on to her throughout the whole film, as she returns to the house after being fired, and finds Blanche hung up in her bed bound and gagged.

The thing that I had an issue with throughout the film is Crawfords character not being more savvy, but when thought about it I guess it had its reasoning, as my issue was that Blanche just didnt do enough to help herself ie shout out the window to the neighbour who was regularly trimming the flowers, or perhaps scream down the stairs when Janes new ‘friend’ came round. But theres 2 things that could back this weakness in the film up- Blanche being so proud of being an admired Hollywood actress she didnt want people to know what was going on and the other being (I wont ruin it but makes sense at the end of the movie) the love Blanche has for her sister and the recognition of her mental illness despite the pain that has been inflicted on her. Of course as the film goes on that has to be thrown out the window because Blanches life becomes seriously jeapordised. One scene making you sit on the edge of your seat is where Blanche has managed to crawl down the stairs to get to a phone to ring the doctor for help, and in the middle of doing so Jane walks through the door…. A nail biting moment which ends in Blanche being beaten half way to death and once again, Jane using her immaculate impersonating skills to get rid of the doctor on the phone and leave poor Blanche hopeless.

I guess the whole film is worth watching to the end if just for the twist. If you like the sound of this film and want to watch it without knowing the end then dont read on……

It comes to a climax when a dying Blanche (beaten, starved and generally abused) is driven to the beach by Baby Jane after fleeing because of the murder of Alvolia. There is a national hunt for them both which is described as a ‘mystery of the Hudson sisters’ but Baby Jane is so unaware of any troubles at this point as being by the sea takes her back to her youthful, happy days with ‘papa.’ Blanche is sprawled out on the sand, pale as a ghost whilst Jane sits by her side smiling and building a sand castle.

Blanche knows she is dying so tells Jane what, perhaps, your left thinking, Jane has known deep down all along… As Blanche begins ‘No I dont want to hear, you promised we never would never talk of that night’ a deranged Jane cries clutching her ears as Blanche talks about the night she was run over. The viewers have been lead to believe that Baby Jane was so jealous of Blanche that she run over her own sister leaving her crippled as it was only the two in the car of the night and Jane fled the scene and didnt return for days.

It is here that Blanche confesses that it was she who was driving the car and crashed into the gates , trying to run over Jane, but missed which caused the damage to herself. Blanche then tells that she crawled out of the car and laid infront of it so it would look like she was run over. Now your thinking, how could Jane not remember this? Its explained that Jane was so drunk that she wouldnt have remembered anything but Blanche said she had done this to her sister to watch her suffer for all the times she had made her suffer as a child. ‘I made you like this, I made you ugly, I made you look after me your whole life, I did this all to you.’

Baby Jane, showing clear signs of having gone mad smiled and said she’d go get some ice cream for them both and skipped off to the ice cream van. Whilst there two cops have heard the radio and spotted the car in question parked across the road causing a jam. By the time Janes skipped back to the beach with the ice cream, the police have grabbed her and a crowd have formed around them.

Being as deluded and insane as she is by this point- possibly snapping to a point of complete loss of who she used to be- Jane thinks the crowd have come to see her perform as Baby Jane once more and starts singing and dancing. The police find Blanche, but thats as far as the film goes, leaving you thinking- whatever happened to baby Jane?

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and although if you’ve read right to the end of this, I do recommend watching it even if just for the sheer dark comedy value. I found myself laughing out loud at some parts, but I think Bette Davis’ acting and character made the movie completely what it was and having a bit of background knowledge in being that Crawford and Davis hated eachother in real life, it made it even more funny seeing the expressions of hate on Davis’ face when she had one liners to say to Crawford.

Heres a video I found on youtube, its not the trailer its a song that I’m presuming they made for the film, its got a couple of the parts mentioned in the blog so check it out!

Welcome to my world!

So I’m brand new to this blogging malarky but I recently stumbled across a couple that I really enjoyed and liked the look of, so I thought I’d start my own one. I’ll talk complete bollocks most of the time and things I post wont relate to eachother whatsoever- there’ll be no theme to what I write or post about but I guess thats what blogs are for. So heres to a whole load of waffle!

 I guess I should briefly introduce myself so you know who I am and what I’m about. My name is Harry Hennah (not Peter Steinbeck but it has a ring to it no?!) and I live in South London and am 22 in March. I enjoy alot of varied stuff which will probably become evident in the posts I produce but mainly at the moment in Summer you’ll find me at music festivals with my friends with a bit too much drink in me and in Winter you’ll find me in the pub with my friends with a bit too much drink in me!

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