Does It Offend You, Yeah? came to Leeds on Friday, playing the rather small Cockpit; quite a change from their stadium tour with Nine Inch Nails. One word: wow. Does It Offend You, Yeah? know how to put on a show. To start things off, an electro band from France: Housse De Racket. For two guys they make amazing music; the drums, the programming and the guitar. Fantastique!

Next is an artist called Trip, the only musician I know to mention a Transformers lunchbox in his lyrics. Trip raps over a fairly indie band that accompany him on stage. By the end of his set the crowd is electrified.

Finally, Does It Offend You, Yeah? take the stage. After being quiet on the studio front for quite some time, it’s good to hear some new material mixed into the proceedings. They come on stage and dive straight into things. “With A Heavy Heart” kicks things off and the crowd remains electrified. This is only the beginning of things. We are treated to the delights of “Attack Of The 60ft Lesbian Octopus,” a short but energetic song to which my girlfriend and I start a circle pit. The energy of the crowd is through the roof at this point. A new song is then played, Untitled as yet, but in the bridge warrants James Rushent to announce his hatred for Peter André, which is warmly received by the audience. “Let’s Make Out” sees the band ask for audience members to sing onstage (original vocals for this track came from Death From Above 1979 vocalist Sebastien Grainger) This is where the crowdsurfing and chaos starts (not a bad thing.) A few more songs play, until we get to the highlight of the gig: “We Are Rockstars.” An electronic explosion lights the crowd as the floor shakes underneath. Another pit is necessary for this song. The intensity of the song leaves the crowd desperate for more, but there is nothing; an amazing climax to an hour-long set, but still too soon.

The night doesn’t end there; we meet the band out back for a chat. James Rushent seems very pleased at the pits my girlfriend and I created; they are unfamiliar for this band, being so electronic. We are invited backstage, which is fairly awesome! It strikes me that after playing stadiums with NIN, they still prefer places like The Cockpit, and they’re still such normal people. We meet all the bands, language no problem for the french guys. We become so astounded that we’re backstage that we hardly talk. We’re sitting with the band that gave us the show of our lives. Then we realise we have to run for our train, bringing a swift end to an amazing night to remember.

No prizes for guessing my band to hear this week. Does It Offend You, Yeah?, a five piece electro band, likened to Daft Punk and Justice, but also Gorrilaz and The Killers. Their first and only album so far, You Don’t Know What You’re Getting [...]

Bad news… no Billy Talent review this week. They had to postpone. BAD TIMES! They’re ill or something. SWINE FLU!!!!

Ahem. I digress.
So I said I’d talk about the gig I’m organising at my school.  There is SO much work involved! Basically, it’s a competition, for both bands and organisation teams. We held auditions on Friday; there are some amazing bands out there! We couldn’t let ‘Barry and the Indonesian Ferret Tickler’ into the event… but they’re a new band, so it’s all good! One of the bands that auditioned were going to support All Forgotten! That’s pretty good. Now we have to sort out set lists, sound checks, painting the backdrop, merchandising, tickets and posters… lots of stuff. The music industry is hard work.

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So what the ruddy* hell is this?

Basically, it’s all about what’s going on over here (Britain) musically, every week. So that might be upcoming new artists, less famous artists, gigs I go to, interviews with artists (if i can!)… Things like that. I’ll include maybe what I’m listening to that week, people to look out for. And I apologise now if any slang confuses anyone. It happens sometimes. KEEP READING →→