Did Paramore steal the artwork from The Dead Class?

Paramore's album cover for RIOT (2008) is surprisingly similar to The Dead Class BOO cover (2006). What do you think?



Could Paramore have stopped off in Liverpool on their album tour, picked up a copy of BOO from a Dead Class show and nicked the idea for their album art?



It could just be a coincidence or... Tweet

The Drellas on Antipop

This is an interview extract with Masha and Phil from The Drellas talking about the emergence of Antipop with a few choice words from Tommy. The rest of the interview was lost.

Masha (M), Phil (P) and Tommy (T) from The Drellas take about new alternative record label Antipop. Interview conducted by Andy Johnson of Click Liverpool (Click).

(M) We're just not going to count on money from banks, it's a bit unrealistic. For companies that have been around for a while, they may have some capital. We have to push the record company sales and make some releases happen without any financial help, so the only way for us to do it is DIY. The only people we can rely on are young, they're not professionals, they're working without any new contacts.

You know how Woolworths collapsed, and 73,000 bands got dropped within months as a result of it by major record labels, because they were easy (to get rid of) and were not selling enough records for the record companies to keep them. But where are all these people going? They don't know where...

Phil (P) If you've got music in your blood you have to keep on going whatever...

(M) So basically I think if we keep on going with this right, and do some internet promotion and make some small releases happen, and try to get as much out of it, we will meet people in exactly the same position as us.

(P) That's pretty much how it happened anyway, we had the idea of doing Antipop, obviously with The Drellas and other things we had, but a lot of the other bands that we were playing with in Liverpool, the likes of The Dead Class, Fraktures, and all of them. We all became friends because we were all playing together. The guys from The Dead Class came to us one day cos' they were releasing their own record themselves; making their own albums and putting them out. Everyone came together, literally one day, we all converged here, and everyone said why don't we all just club together? Because we've got a movement already, with all the same people going to the same gigs and seeing the same bands, we know everybody, it's like a movement. Why don't we club together and do it all under the banner of Antipop, do you know what I mean?

(Click) It's a collective is it not?

(P) Ye, it's a collective, and obviously all the people from all the different bands come together and everyone's got different skills to offer, Metro are really good at PR, there are people who are good with booking agents and have got all that type of stuff and can get gigs/shows, I can make records. So between us all, we just pooled our experience and made a solid movement and it seems to be working.

(M) It's about 12 people working on it, we have everybody doing it in their spare time, for now. But we have hope that one day we will be a fully staffed record company with people working as heads of departments, whatever the structure is going to be, we don't know that yet.

(Click) That's how a lot of the success stories of the past have started isn't it?

(M) Ye, it's old school isn't it, there's nothing new there.

(P) Labels like Alternative Tentacles, SST, Rough Trade, Stiff, they all started with a group of like-minded people coming together going "we wanna do this" It's really totally out of the norm cos it's really all about...if you look at Metro Manila Aide or look at The Drellas, Dead Class, it's very far removed from what's going on. What would normally get the light of day in the press, they don't really care, cos they don't sound like the Ting Tings, or Snow Patrol, or your Razorlight or whatever's big at the time, so it's kind of difficult to get people to take notice of you. Do you know what I mean? Unless you sort of make them take notice. I think with the collective consciousness, with everyone moving in one direction, it's a lot easier to get people to make things happen.

(T) And to push things forward.

(P) Ye, push it forward, move things, we've got a lot of really good people around, a brilliant lad called Andy Cooper whose the graphic designer, he's a great kid, who did our tour posters, brilliant, he doing all the record work, he's doing everything and he's doing it for nothing, but one of the things we are doing, which no other record company in the world has ever done, well apart from one that I know from the 70's, is we're putting all the musicians on what's called points, putting percentages on everything. We're putting the graphic designer on a point , so he's not getting any money from us, but if it sells he'll get a little percentage. It may be a pittance, the same as what everybody else is getting, but it gives him an incentive to move forward and do great work.

(Click) One interesting question is whether artwork is still important for record labels?

(P) I really think it's vital. As kids we used to buy records, we didn't even know who they were, you'd see the cover and go "that's brilliant, I'm gonna buy it." Ok 50% of the time you would get home and it would be crap, but you would still like the cover!

(T) We're still very much hands on...

End of tape... Tweet

Down in the House of Blues

03/09/09

When you're in the Deep South there seems only one thing worth doing and that is go see a heavy metal concert.

Down fronted by the almighty Phil Anselmo ripped the roof of the House of Blues turning Orlando's coolest venue into something resembling the Titty Twister from Dusk Til Dawn. The 2000 strong crowd descend onto Downtown Disney but almost didn't have a show to see as the Anselmo explains "the powers that be almost didn't let us play." When thanking Weedeater who opened the show. "They didn't like the name." He shrugs. It is a good job it's not Anal Cunt playing isn't it? chips in Kirk Windstein on guitar. "There's a few cartoons in the archives they wouldn't want shown."

Lowering the tone before Down exploded onto the stage were The Melvins featuring Godfather of Grunge Buzz Melvin and backed astoundingly by duel drummers Dale Crover and Coady WIllis. Start to finish the beats rolled relentlessly with barely a rest and without taking on a drop of water. This 45 minute set was a legendary performance of classic grunge still going strong and finding new channels to plow. Finishing on an A Cappella rendition of "Okie from Muskogee" and signing off with "Thank you, we have been the Jonas Brothers," it was both fitting and strange. The Melvins defining a sound that will never die and spawned a million bands and a Seattle scene that took over the world.




Down hail from New Orleans are less than complimentary with their track "New Orleans Is A Dying Whore." The grit swilling, throat puking guttural clench of Phil Anslemo's voice is the driving force that whips the crowd up and the greatest frontman performance I have ever witnessed. Somehow singularly connecting with every single person in the venue. Anslemo takes the time during the lengthy trip fueled leads of Down to point to and thank seemingly each crowd member individually. This is the heavy metal equivalent to to a Hannah Montana meet n greet. But who the fuck is Hannah Montana? We want to rock the fuck out! And Down sure know how to it in style. "We only have one night together so let's make the most of it." The line that would take any girl to bed with the Down singer. The crowd scream for "Stone The Crow" during the encore but it is the full throttle stoner riffs that make Down the ultimate live act they are.



Quote of the night "We've stopped drinking whiskey." Cue Boos. "...and started taking more acid." Cue cheers. - Buzz Melvin.

Dedication of the night. "This one's for Dimebag Darrell." - Phil Anslemo.

Photos from www.jencray.com Tweet

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