Posts By Sam Brookes

I often ask myself; why do famous people keep working? Once I earned a certain amount, I’d stop and become a private citizen and enjoy a stress-free life. Californian rapper/clothing line designer/tv star Tyler, the Creator seems to have had the opposite reaction to his abundance of success. Following the release of Wolf, the final album in a pre-planned trilogy that was six years in the making, Tyler hinted he was done with music.
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There’s so much that can be said about Blink 182’s career. The scrappy trio of pop punk pioneers went from small clubs and basements to forgers of a whole new sub-culture. But there is an area of their career that doesn’t seem to spend much time in the spotlight. Their Self-Titled album.
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Time and Music are both funny things. Before I got into my first band at the age of 11 (Busted, if you must know) I would always get a strong feeling of irritation and discomfort when my mum listened to the radio. I can’t explain my discomfort in words, (maybe it was a sense of taste as my parents listened to a lot of ‘chill out’ music. Cringe), however I do have a strong memory of Madonna’s La Isla Bonita playing in my mum’s car as we pulled out of Asda’s carpark and just feeling annoyed by it. Fast forward twenty years and I listen to Madonna while I wash up.
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It’s hard not to be a little jealous of Donald Glover, A.K.A. Childish Gambino. The Atlanta born rap artist, actor, writer and former YouTube star has experienced a meteoric rise to fame in an incredibly short amount of time.
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The musical landscape is currently dominated by bands going on hiatus. Whilst often defined as “indefinite” or “going away for a long time”, it’s not uncommon to see the band promptly reform 18 months later. In the case of some reunited bands their return often dulls the edge of their previous work, and their new material isn’t quite up to standard, because the momentum they’d built up before their break has fizzled out. In rare cases however, a reunion is met with universal joy (as opposed to the scorn that less well-loved bands receive) and their new releases become hotly anticipated. Basement is an example of one such band.
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Well this came out of left field didn’t it? Formed from the pedigree of other hardcore and rock bands such as Trapped Under Ice, Diamond Youth and Angel Du$t, Turnstile released two decent if uninspiring EP’s: Step 2 Rhythm and Pressure to Succeed. With the release of their first full length LP, Turnstile have created something truly unique. Taking the 90’s hardcore sound from their former albums and pushing it into the background in favour of the groove influences, Turnstile have created an album that has simultaneously established them as the leaders of their genre, whilst transforming themselves into something that is so much more than just another hardcore band.
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Before the release of Neck Deep’s Life’s Not Out to Get You, I had written them off as an irrelevant rip off of their American counterparts. Upon the release of LNOTGY I was completely caught off guard. Moving away from what can only be described as “Neck Deep’s sound”, every song is like a love letter to the genre they represent, but with enough innovation to make each track feel unique whilst warm and familiar.
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I hate reality TV; let’s get that out of the way now. This will be my most biased article on Rockhaq because this was always going to be an attack. The thing I hate the most about these shows isn’t how it gives people a free ride or how it’s killing the brain cells of about six million people weekly or that it all lines Simon Cowell’s pockets. It’s how they take a musician, an artist and turn them into some cult of personality freak show that the red banner papers can’t get enough of. Read More

New Jersey pop punkers Man Overboard have been on the rise for about two years now but it took their stint on the Rock Sound Impericon Tour in April and the release of their self-titled in September to really launch their name in the UK. Read More

The first single from the upcoming self-titled album from Watford hardcore heavy weights is definitely a game changer. After the shock departure of lead singer Frank Carter who was widely considered to be the heart and soul of Gallows, fans were left surprised when the typically faceless band said “We are continuing without him.” Read More