When it comes to buying things I have a strange way I go about choosing what it is I want. I go from one extreme to the other. I either go for the impulse buy - oh look, a flat screen tv, lets buy it. Wii fit, yeah cool. On the other hand, I can obsess with review after review on products I want, creating lists and blogs about my thoughts on what to get.
So when I knew I was getting an iPhone, I decided to ask around everywhere, watch video reviews and compare all the different tomotm apps available. I would never actually buy a tomtom standalone unit, it’s more the novelty of the iPhone app that appeals to me, even though I do think sat navs are really helpful and loads of fun.
I've only ever had one tomtom app before - Vodafone navigation on my Blackberry Storm. Now I don't know if it was just because it was on the Storm which is why I didn't like the app much but with all the other bugs with the phone (as documented in detail in my previous blog) the app did crash and freeze on me a lot, and often refuse to load. When the app did decide to load it worked pretty well. The routes were intuitive, if you took a wrong turn it would recalculate the route. I wasn’t really that impressed however with the bulky map view and trying to click screen the Storm was a pain in the bum.
iPhone has a number of sat nav applications, including the Vodafone app I had on the Blackberry Storm, however you have to pay monthly for the app. The main apps for the iPhone are:
Navigon
Co-Pilot
TomTom.
TomTom and Navigon come in at around £50 - £60 with co-pilot clocking in at around £20. I quickly dismissed co-pilot as from reviews it was clear it was a cheap and nasty alternative to Navigon and TomTom, full working sat nav apps.
When comparing products you very early on get a sense of which one grabs you, and often you tend to read reviews with a bias view. I very early took a shining to Navigon. It was clear they were both up to the task and ultimately it was a matter of opinion which one you went for. I think it was the look of the maps that grabbed me. It was confusing reading reviews because on one hand people would say that TomTom was really easy to use and that Navigon would take you on strange routs, but on the other hand people would say that TomTom would be difficult to use and that Navigon had cool points of interests integrated in Google. At the end of the day I got some iTunes vouchers for my birthday and bought Navigon.
After installing the app I decided to have a play, set up some favourite routs and see how it integrated with my contacts list. The home screen is really intuitive. You can Enter and Address, Search for POI (point of interest) including using built in Google, Take me home (navigates you home in one click) and Show Map. There are also some other buttons to press including your favourites list and contacts.
I had to buy a post code upgrade to allow me to search for addresses by post codes. Trying to route to a contacts was often quite strange. If I had an address of FE21 8UI then sometimes it would give me a list of destinations with the post code of FE23... which was nowhere near FE21. A little strange. Putting the post code into the address finder and saving it as a favourite was much more accurate. Searching for POI through the integrated Google option was quite cool although it didn’t always find exactly what you wanted it to find. There’s loads of options built into the app such as 2D / 3D view, show different POI on your route and many many more.
Once you’ve chosen your destination the app calculates your route. The app works both portrait and landscape. The app can be used with the TomTom car kit holder boosting GPS signal however I was just using a simple phone holder and car charger with my iPhone 3GS. If it can’t find a gps spot it will ask you if you want to simulate your route (show a demo of the route) or just wait until it finds a gps spot. Once it finds a gps spot the app launches into a 3D view with an arrow simulating your car and the route highlighted making it clear which way you are going. The app tells you your approximate time of arrival, displays either the road you are on or the next road to take, the next junction (such as left turn in 1 mile), the speed limit of the road you are on and how fast you are travelling – with an audio warning when you are speeding, road names, speed camera updates and POI. If you take a wrong turning the app automatically recalculates your route without making you turn around and go the way it initially wanted you to go.
I did a couple of short journeys around home and I did find it wanted to take me on a strange route but if I went a different way it would reroute me a more direct route. I then did a long journey around the A3 and the M25. The app did often lose GPS, but this was due to my iPhone 3GS losing signal at different points of my journey. The app would tell me in good time when the next turning was, which exit off the roundabout I would need to take, the name of the road or street name I needed to take, all in clear audio cues. One of my favourite things about the app is when you are on a motorway coming up to a junction the app displays a clear picture of the motorway with lane signs and clearly marks out which lanes you need to be in to continue on your journey. I was also impressed how it automatically went to night mode in the evening when it got dark, making the surrounding areas darker and the route nice and bright, so that it didn’t blind you as you drove home in the dark after a long days work.
I can’t comment on the TomTom app as I have never used it however I would definitely recommend Navigon to anyone wanting a sat nav app for their iPhone. I would probably recommend the TomTom cradle too as I can see it getting annoying constantly losing GPS. I have heard about twitter and facebook integration however have as yet not seen this function in the app. There is also a traffic upgrade for around £18 but I have heard it doesn’t work brilliantly so haven’t purchased it yet. Navigon is great, does exactly what you want from a sat nav app and is pretty to look at.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Machine Head – It all falls apart (Brixton Academy 18/2/10)
Man Must Die, Bleeding Through, Hatebreed, MACHINE HEAD – Brixton Academy Thursday 18th February 2010
Machine Head – It all falls apart.
Let’s get one thing straight from the start... I LOVE Machine Head. Ok, Metallica got me into metal, Machine Head kept me in metal. I bought Burn my eyes when it was released. I watched a documentary on Dave’s audition with Machine Head about 2 million times and then bought my first drum kit shortly after. I queued up at mid day to see Machine Head’s first show with Dave in London, and got to chat to Dave for a while, along with the rest of the band. I’ve seen every headlining show Machine Head have played in London (Yes, I WAS at Hellalive and Elegies). I’ve defended Dave McClain when people said Joey Jordison was better. I absolutely loved their hip hop “We bring chaos to blocks like, riots to watts blow up spots, taking the crown off the top notch...” I met Logan at a signing before he took the stage with Soulfly and admired him all night. I met Phil and he signed my hoodie at his first London shows. I love ‘The Dagger’. I’ve seen Dave drop sticks, PA’s blow up, line up changes destroy and rebuild the band, watched documentaries about their tour diaries. I’ve even taken my ‘I love Britney Spears and Panic at the Disco’ wife to the Metal Hammer awards to see Lamb of God and Machine Head, and converted her to loyal member of the MH family... “wow look at Dave, he’s all over the place”, and “Rob is a REAL man” she would say. I LOVE MACHINE HEAD.
So now that you know that I am a die hard Machine Head fan I hope you will read my review as it is meant to be read... genuine, and from the bottom of my heart.
It was really strange to turn up to a gig just 2 hours before doors open to find the queue empty. When I queued up for Metallica at Earls Court in 1996 there were 12,000 screaming fans at mid day, very different to the 50 or so that were stupidly stood freezing in the rain. Maybe I should have just gone to the pub like everyone else, stayed dry and met Phil and Rob for a drink. We did see Phil walk past, but no one really cared. I was the only one to shout “PHIL” and get a \m/ response from him as he walked past the bemused crowd “what that REALLY Phil?!?”. We confirmed it actually WAS Phil when he walked back about an hour later and got mobbed. Anyone queuing outside a few hours before would have had a great laugh and sing along to the old drunk dude staggering up and down the queue. It was also hilarious when one guy shouted “PLAY SOME SLAYER”.
Me and my loyal wife made our way up to the balcony of the Brixton Academy and took off our drenched hoodies, started on our drinks and watched Man Must Die warm up the crowd. It might be a strange thing to say but I was pleased their sound was so aweful... good old Machine Head screwing over the support bands sound check to make sure theirs is awesome again. Yeah Man Must Die were heavy, but it was a wall of noise from a band i’d never heard of. If I was in the pit it would have been more fun, if they’d created a pit in the first place there would have been something to watch, but from the balcony I just wanted to warm up, and spent the time chatting to my wife about how excited I was to see Machine Head yet again.
Bleeding Through got a massive reception. They were dam heavy and everyone seemed to know who they were. Sounding not dissimilar to Man Must Die apart from their better sound quality, they at least managed to get some crowd participation during their set.
Hatebreed were defiantly a fan favourite of the night. Everyone there was singing the words, pits and moshes all over the place and the energy on stage was immense. “We are from Orange County California and we bring Heavy Metal and Hard Core”. Their set was flawless, their sound on stage was not only clear, but brutally heavy, and at the same time catchy as hell. The highlight of their set tonight was ‘In Ashes They Shall Reap’ – Guitarists doom vocal “Booooorn” and singers “to bleed, fighting to succeed” chant filled the arena. They announced a headline tour for October and I have a feeling most of the people in the pit tonight will be back to see them.
All night the arena has been filled with the mighty “Machine Fucking Head” chant. The energy and anticipation of seeing MH was electric and I’ve not seen a crowd as excited to see Machine Head as this for a long time.
So, let’s get on to Machine Head. Lights go off, some music plays over the PA (not the usual Omen this time), then the curtains drop and the intro to Clenching The Fists of Decent is played over the PA. Then, in typical MH style, light up, Rob and Phil next to each other thrashing away and “GOOOOOOOOO” as they explode into a thrasterpiece of metal onslaught from one of today’s heaviest and finest bands playing their opener to their Grammy nominated album of the decade ‘The Blackening’. Machine Head are back and they’re on fire. Dave in his typical arms flaying all over the thing that barely passes for a drum kit, Adam pacing the stage like a monster, Phil looking like he’s having the time of his life, and Rob, like a general leading his troops into battle with a power of raw vocals, a guitar that makes your ears bleed and enough energy to take on world war 3 single handed. They deserve every single “Machine Fucking Head” chant tonight, every single one.
But that’s where I want to leave the review. A MH chant, an opening blistering song, 4 guys on stage proving metal is alive and well, and one of the most electric openers to a gig. Not only do I want to leave the review there, I want to leave the arena there. From then on my heart sinks. Yes, if you’re in the pit, yes if you’ve never seen Machine Head before, and yes, if you like your ears to bleed, by all means you probably thought that was the most amazing gig ever. But as I look over at my wife, who was converted to loving Machine Head at the Metal Hammer Awards and knows every word to Aesthetics, she looks up at me and says “this hurts”. And that says it all for me. As MH plow through their 2nd song Imperium, I get very confused as to what the hell Dave McClain is playing. I can’t pick out what part of the song he is playing over the feedback of the guitars. From the balcony all we are getting is guitar squeal and the noise of a harrier jump jet taking off... and metal isn’t meant to sound like that, or hurt like that. Dave drops his sticks during the first verse of Imperium. I love Dave McClain, he is the best drummer in the world. I am a groupie, I told him so in 1996. His style of flat toms, ambidextrous technique, blast off beets, crazy fills and unbelievable power are missed by most people that say “Larz, Jordison and Lombardo are the best”. No they’re not, they suck lemons compared to Dave. But having been fixated by Dave for the past 15 years I am saddened to say he looks tired and bored and not his usual self, reflected in the stick dropping incident. I actually saw him drop his sticks during a gig in London in about 97 but I didn’t care because he was completely on fire then. Tonight though, it seemed to be a reflection on his tiredness. There are the usual throw the sticks off stage catch them continue playing mind boggling magic from him but its heads down, play a show, get it over with, and that’s not the Dave I know and love. And the attitude continues with Phil, who on a number of occasions walked off stage, took his guitar off (leaving only half a harrier engine flying over us), drank a bit of water and walked around for a minute. If it wasn’t for Rob continuing to shout at us I may have done what someone else tweeted 20 minutes into their set “-10 metal points for leaving a machinehead gig early. Seriously though - cranked too loud and just boring really”
All this is just my opinion. I love them and will continue to love them. Maybe you thought it was an amazing gig, I just didn’t and from the balcony the sound sucked and they looked bored and tired. After ‘All Falls Down’ Rob admitted he was pleased they’d made it through that song as back stage that song was more ‘All Falls Apart’ which ironically for me sums up their performance. That saying, Rob was definitely having the time of his life. He was stoked as hell to be playing London again and was loving the energy from the crowd. He was presented with a sliver disk for The Blackening going, well, silver, and kindly gave it to a fan in the front row. Respect Rob, respect.
It wasn’t all bad. Their set list was one of the finest I’d ever heard, because they played a bunch of song’s I’d never heard, London had never heard and really Machine Head hadn’t played live before. Exhale the Vile, Bite the Bullet, Beautiful Mourning, All Falls Down, all crushing as hell. Take My Scars, Old and Ten Ton Hammer, heavy and bouncy as hell. Bulldozer, as heavy as it sounds. Just a dam shame their sound was so terrible you couldn’t understand it. The highlight for my wife was of cause their mighty Aesthetics, but even she couldn’t sing along. Try sticking your head in a washing machine and singing “Burn in hell”, it’s not as easy as it sounds and not half as fun.
All in all, a sad night for me. Let’s hope they get some well earned rest, they have been touring for 2 years behind this effort, get into that studio and release a crushing album, a crushing headline tour (where they play London FIRST not last where they’re too tired to care) and remember to drip feed Dave some red bull back stage before his next show.
Set List.
Clenching the Fists of Decent
Imperium
Take my Scars
Bite the Bullet
Ten Ton Hammer
Now I Lay Thee Down
Beautiful Mourning
All Falls Down
Aesthetics of Hate
Old
Burning Red
Exhale The Vile
Bulldozer
Block
---
Halo
Davidian
Machine Head – It all falls apart.
Let’s get one thing straight from the start... I LOVE Machine Head. Ok, Metallica got me into metal, Machine Head kept me in metal. I bought Burn my eyes when it was released. I watched a documentary on Dave’s audition with Machine Head about 2 million times and then bought my first drum kit shortly after. I queued up at mid day to see Machine Head’s first show with Dave in London, and got to chat to Dave for a while, along with the rest of the band. I’ve seen every headlining show Machine Head have played in London (Yes, I WAS at Hellalive and Elegies). I’ve defended Dave McClain when people said Joey Jordison was better. I absolutely loved their hip hop “We bring chaos to blocks like, riots to watts blow up spots, taking the crown off the top notch...” I met Logan at a signing before he took the stage with Soulfly and admired him all night. I met Phil and he signed my hoodie at his first London shows. I love ‘The Dagger’. I’ve seen Dave drop sticks, PA’s blow up, line up changes destroy and rebuild the band, watched documentaries about their tour diaries. I’ve even taken my ‘I love Britney Spears and Panic at the Disco’ wife to the Metal Hammer awards to see Lamb of God and Machine Head, and converted her to loyal member of the MH family... “wow look at Dave, he’s all over the place”, and “Rob is a REAL man” she would say. I LOVE MACHINE HEAD.
So now that you know that I am a die hard Machine Head fan I hope you will read my review as it is meant to be read... genuine, and from the bottom of my heart.
It was really strange to turn up to a gig just 2 hours before doors open to find the queue empty. When I queued up for Metallica at Earls Court in 1996 there were 12,000 screaming fans at mid day, very different to the 50 or so that were stupidly stood freezing in the rain. Maybe I should have just gone to the pub like everyone else, stayed dry and met Phil and Rob for a drink. We did see Phil walk past, but no one really cared. I was the only one to shout “PHIL” and get a \m/ response from him as he walked past the bemused crowd “what that REALLY Phil?!?”. We confirmed it actually WAS Phil when he walked back about an hour later and got mobbed. Anyone queuing outside a few hours before would have had a great laugh and sing along to the old drunk dude staggering up and down the queue. It was also hilarious when one guy shouted “PLAY SOME SLAYER”.
Me and my loyal wife made our way up to the balcony of the Brixton Academy and took off our drenched hoodies, started on our drinks and watched Man Must Die warm up the crowd. It might be a strange thing to say but I was pleased their sound was so aweful... good old Machine Head screwing over the support bands sound check to make sure theirs is awesome again. Yeah Man Must Die were heavy, but it was a wall of noise from a band i’d never heard of. If I was in the pit it would have been more fun, if they’d created a pit in the first place there would have been something to watch, but from the balcony I just wanted to warm up, and spent the time chatting to my wife about how excited I was to see Machine Head yet again.
Bleeding Through got a massive reception. They were dam heavy and everyone seemed to know who they were. Sounding not dissimilar to Man Must Die apart from their better sound quality, they at least managed to get some crowd participation during their set.
Hatebreed were defiantly a fan favourite of the night. Everyone there was singing the words, pits and moshes all over the place and the energy on stage was immense. “We are from Orange County California and we bring Heavy Metal and Hard Core”. Their set was flawless, their sound on stage was not only clear, but brutally heavy, and at the same time catchy as hell. The highlight of their set tonight was ‘In Ashes They Shall Reap’ – Guitarists doom vocal “Booooorn” and singers “to bleed, fighting to succeed” chant filled the arena. They announced a headline tour for October and I have a feeling most of the people in the pit tonight will be back to see them.
All night the arena has been filled with the mighty “Machine Fucking Head” chant. The energy and anticipation of seeing MH was electric and I’ve not seen a crowd as excited to see Machine Head as this for a long time.
So, let’s get on to Machine Head. Lights go off, some music plays over the PA (not the usual Omen this time), then the curtains drop and the intro to Clenching The Fists of Decent is played over the PA. Then, in typical MH style, light up, Rob and Phil next to each other thrashing away and “GOOOOOOOOO” as they explode into a thrasterpiece of metal onslaught from one of today’s heaviest and finest bands playing their opener to their Grammy nominated album of the decade ‘The Blackening’. Machine Head are back and they’re on fire. Dave in his typical arms flaying all over the thing that barely passes for a drum kit, Adam pacing the stage like a monster, Phil looking like he’s having the time of his life, and Rob, like a general leading his troops into battle with a power of raw vocals, a guitar that makes your ears bleed and enough energy to take on world war 3 single handed. They deserve every single “Machine Fucking Head” chant tonight, every single one.
But that’s where I want to leave the review. A MH chant, an opening blistering song, 4 guys on stage proving metal is alive and well, and one of the most electric openers to a gig. Not only do I want to leave the review there, I want to leave the arena there. From then on my heart sinks. Yes, if you’re in the pit, yes if you’ve never seen Machine Head before, and yes, if you like your ears to bleed, by all means you probably thought that was the most amazing gig ever. But as I look over at my wife, who was converted to loving Machine Head at the Metal Hammer Awards and knows every word to Aesthetics, she looks up at me and says “this hurts”. And that says it all for me. As MH plow through their 2nd song Imperium, I get very confused as to what the hell Dave McClain is playing. I can’t pick out what part of the song he is playing over the feedback of the guitars. From the balcony all we are getting is guitar squeal and the noise of a harrier jump jet taking off... and metal isn’t meant to sound like that, or hurt like that. Dave drops his sticks during the first verse of Imperium. I love Dave McClain, he is the best drummer in the world. I am a groupie, I told him so in 1996. His style of flat toms, ambidextrous technique, blast off beets, crazy fills and unbelievable power are missed by most people that say “Larz, Jordison and Lombardo are the best”. No they’re not, they suck lemons compared to Dave. But having been fixated by Dave for the past 15 years I am saddened to say he looks tired and bored and not his usual self, reflected in the stick dropping incident. I actually saw him drop his sticks during a gig in London in about 97 but I didn’t care because he was completely on fire then. Tonight though, it seemed to be a reflection on his tiredness. There are the usual throw the sticks off stage catch them continue playing mind boggling magic from him but its heads down, play a show, get it over with, and that’s not the Dave I know and love. And the attitude continues with Phil, who on a number of occasions walked off stage, took his guitar off (leaving only half a harrier engine flying over us), drank a bit of water and walked around for a minute. If it wasn’t for Rob continuing to shout at us I may have done what someone else tweeted 20 minutes into their set “-10 metal points for leaving a machinehead gig early. Seriously though - cranked too loud and just boring really”
All this is just my opinion. I love them and will continue to love them. Maybe you thought it was an amazing gig, I just didn’t and from the balcony the sound sucked and they looked bored and tired. After ‘All Falls Down’ Rob admitted he was pleased they’d made it through that song as back stage that song was more ‘All Falls Apart’ which ironically for me sums up their performance. That saying, Rob was definitely having the time of his life. He was stoked as hell to be playing London again and was loving the energy from the crowd. He was presented with a sliver disk for The Blackening going, well, silver, and kindly gave it to a fan in the front row. Respect Rob, respect.
It wasn’t all bad. Their set list was one of the finest I’d ever heard, because they played a bunch of song’s I’d never heard, London had never heard and really Machine Head hadn’t played live before. Exhale the Vile, Bite the Bullet, Beautiful Mourning, All Falls Down, all crushing as hell. Take My Scars, Old and Ten Ton Hammer, heavy and bouncy as hell. Bulldozer, as heavy as it sounds. Just a dam shame their sound was so terrible you couldn’t understand it. The highlight for my wife was of cause their mighty Aesthetics, but even she couldn’t sing along. Try sticking your head in a washing machine and singing “Burn in hell”, it’s not as easy as it sounds and not half as fun.
All in all, a sad night for me. Let’s hope they get some well earned rest, they have been touring for 2 years behind this effort, get into that studio and release a crushing album, a crushing headline tour (where they play London FIRST not last where they’re too tired to care) and remember to drip feed Dave some red bull back stage before his next show.
Set List.
Clenching the Fists of Decent
Imperium
Take my Scars
Bite the Bullet
Ten Ton Hammer
Now I Lay Thee Down
Beautiful Mourning
All Falls Down
Aesthetics of Hate
Old
Burning Red
Exhale The Vile
Bulldozer
Block
---
Halo
Davidian
Monday, 1 February 2010
My new hobby, Run Keeper - a fine line between pleasure and stupidy
I have voluntairly decided to put myself through a stupid ammount of pain and taken up running... and yes it hurts and yes sometimes I go outside and its freezing and yes I've only done 3 runs this year but you know what, I LOVE IT. The fresh air, the exercise, the views around Portsmouth, and burning 500 calories in an hour of jogging (and yes mostly walking) more than makes up for any negative reasons I can think of. When I talk to people about getting into volunteringt I always hear "I don't have time" but its the same people that say that that will tell you they watched Eastenders, so they DO have time to volunteer. It's the same with running... it's to tiring and I don't have the time. It takes half an hour and the views are beautiful, and I don't watch Eastenders anymore so I have that time slot to fill. I just need to convince my wife to take up running too.
So, Jason Bradbury (@JasonBradbury on Twitter) from the Gadget Show recommend an iphone app GetRunning which gives you a running workout routine to encourage you to run. I looked into getting the app but as it cost I thought I'd see if there was a free app and that's when I came across Run Keeper @RunKeeper. It has a free and a premium version and trust me, if you run and you don't have this app or you want to run then get this. It plots your route on a gps course and gives you custom run routines and syncs with your music and then it logs everything on your website so you can see the route you ran, how far you ran, calories burnt, and it even posts to twitter and facebook. I recommend it. See the link
My Run Keeper Log
I just really hope this isn't a fad and I get bored, so Wifey, come running with me and I'll encourage you to get into it and keep fit and you can encourage me too.
So, Jason Bradbury (@JasonBradbury on Twitter) from the Gadget Show recommend an iphone app GetRunning which gives you a running workout routine to encourage you to run. I looked into getting the app but as it cost I thought I'd see if there was a free app and that's when I came across Run Keeper @RunKeeper. It has a free and a premium version and trust me, if you run and you don't have this app or you want to run then get this. It plots your route on a gps course and gives you custom run routines and syncs with your music and then it logs everything on your website so you can see the route you ran, how far you ran, calories burnt, and it even posts to twitter and facebook. I recommend it. See the link
My Run Keeper Log
I just really hope this isn't a fad and I get bored, so Wifey, come running with me and I'll encourage you to get into it and keep fit and you can encourage me too.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Forever Never, Malefice, It Dies Today, KITTIE - London Camden Underworld 23rd Jan 2010
Coming to take your town, pillage your daughters and perform ritual satanic sacrifices, the misconception of metallers today. Just like every teenage boy must be someone who wears a hoodie and robs old grannies, every metaller MUST be satanic. So, standing outside the Underworld in my Machine Head hoodie chatting about how the phone box just rang and how some random guy answered it and had a conversation with the person on the other end, some respectable guy in a suit walks past and says “MACHINE HEAD, GREAT BAND”. Metallers are actually among the nicest safest people ever, sorry to ruin their reputation. They are the people that once used to label metallers as evil, they are your politicians, bus drivers, teachers, footballers, shop owners, office workers, chefs, youth workers. You’d be hard pushed to find someone these days that doesn’t own at least one Metallica album.
Considering Kittie have been around for about 14 years and have released 5 major albums its surprising that they're still somewhat unknown, or even still labelled as "that girl band". Most metallers would say "you're seeing Kittie lol see a real metal band like Malefice", so I did, I saw them support Kittie, that's right Malefice SUPPORTED Kittie. So the question I had was is Kittie just a novelty or are they actually any good, and will it just be a bunch of emo girls coming to lend their support to a girl rock band? The consensus in the queue of guys outside was “They’re actually really good”.
Before we get on to Kittie, we have 3 support acts to listen to. The queue outside was tiny, and considering that there were 4 bands playing a 100 club tickets were still available on the door. Once inside I made my way to the front of the balcony and chatted to some hardcore metallers about Fear Factory, Machine Head, Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, Exodus... not just a bunch of teenage girls or horny little boys coming to see a girl group but real metallers, with leather jackets and tattoos.
The truth of the matter was that I was really only there for Kittie and I have to admit that I didn’t really know the other bands, I’d just YouTbe’d them a few days before. So what were they like and were they worth seeing. First up was Forever Never (ironic as the name sounds). Just before they came out someone described them to me as “good singer”. Ok, cool. Smartly dressed in shirts, the bassist with a nice emo hair, guitarists who defiantly blow dries theirs, and a singer that looks like he likes his McDonalds; they don’t strike me as a typical metal band, but they sounded metalcore enough. While the guitarists were a little stagnant at times, their drummer, pounding away with intensity and energy and their singer, pacing around the small stage going from clean to more shouty vocals more than made up for it. They had a pretty good following being from Essex and most people seemed to know their songs. All in all they were pretty good on the night and a crowd pleaser although they did strike me as a kind of alter-bridge wannabe band and I wished their guitarists had been more concerned with putting as much effort into their playing as they did on their appearance. Sadly being first on did mean that the floor was only about half full when they finished their set and they failed to get a circle pit going. ***
The second band on, Reading’s own Malefice were probably the best known support band of the night which surprised me that weren’t higher up the bill, but then again with a Canadian band headlining it’s not surprising they put their American neighbours It Dies Today as main support. Malefice is what a real metal band should look like – long hair, tattoos and aggression. They definitely take their influences from Lamb of God / Chimaira with full on metal, distorted guitar-drum blast beats and Mark Hunter screaming vocals. The drummer, blatantly the twin of Machine Head’s baldy Dave McClain, looked completely bored on up there. While his blast beats were impressive he looked like he’d not slept in months, putting hardly any effort into his playing. In between songs the singer admitted that the month touring they had done wasn’t as much fun as they had wished and they were all pretty knackered. That saying you can’t knock their stage presence and were actually the only band on the night to get a number of circle pits going. Definitely a band I’d see again. ****
Finally, America’s own It Dies Today. After the crowd participation during Malefice it would have taken a pretty good band to keep the momentum going but actually most people decided to take this as their opportunity grab a few beers before Kittie. It Dies Today certainly do love themselves, way too metal core after Malefice and far too up their own ass, licking their guitar neck and touching each other’s groins during their set. The guy next to me that was influential in starting the Malefice pit, yawned and chatted to his mate during their set, which sums up their performance for me. Stagnant, boring and nowhere near worthy to be main headliners to Kittie. The arena at this point had filled to almost capacity, but this was nothing to do with the band on stage, more the band backstage about to come out to show everyone that they’re not a bunch of chicks with guitars. SO let’s forget It Dies Today ever played, forget rating them and move swiftly on.
I’ve been into Kittie for about 9 years, and by that I mean I heard What I Always Wanted about 9 years ago, and although I thought it was a good song it was the “girl group” novelty that I liked about them. Nowadays that novelty has very much faded and their last 3 albums are actually phenomenal, and very different to their debut effort Spit. I absolutely loved Until the End, and Funeral for Yesterday cemented me as a Kittie fan solely for their music. As for their latest offering In The Black, this is a masterpiece of a metal album. Well produced, talent, as heavy as a Ten Ton Hammer and as groovy as John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. In some ways it’s a miracle Kittie are still around, with their struggles as a girl band in a male dominated metal world and their numerous line up changes. If it wasn’t for the sisterhood of singer/guitarist Morgan and drummer Mercedes Lander they probably wouldn’t be around today, and metal would be worse off for it. If you didn’t already know about their struggles, watching them together tonight you wouldn’t have had a clue.
The lights dim and Kingdom Come (the intro track on their latest In The Black release) plays over the PA. Suddenly the lights raise and 4 tattooed girls playing flying V guitars and 5 string bass’s mosh in front of your very eyes. You wouldn’t want to call these girls a ‘girl band’ and I will now no longer use that analogy or they WILL kick my ass. They tear through their opening track My Plague before seamlessly continuing into the mighty Cut Throat and Oracle with no stopping for breath. This looks like a line-up that has played together their whole lives. They are in tune with one another, a tight nit group, a premiership winning team, playing off each other and having fun doing it. They are as professional in their sound and ability as any well respected metal band. Morgan is on fire tonight. It’s completely surprising to see such a small girl creating such a screaming vocal range but as effortlessly as she makes the vicious screaming throat vocals look she also belts out clean crisp high notes with the same amount of ease. Her guitar ability is impressive too and trust me if you don’t know Kittie, their new material is no slouch. Lead guitarist Tara is impressive in her guitar skills going from heavy distorted riffs to technical solos with effortless precision. Mercedes doesn’t put a beat wrong all night, keeping them all glued together whilst also adding some doom vocals to accompany her sister. And as for the newest cat in the band Ivy, she looks to be having a complete blast on stage, playing off Tara and Morgan and moshing around the stage with her mass of hair windmilling all over the place. They’ve come to prove a point... and they’ve proved it, with a smile on their face and a bucket load of metal. The rest of their set is relentless, a freight train of distorted metal with a set list of Flowers of Flesh and Blood, Never Again, Pussy Sugar, Burning Bridges, Breath, Forgive and Forget, This Too Shall Pass and Sorrow I know. They even brought their very own pyrotechnics when a couple of their road crew fired off party poppers during the intro of the very bouncy What I Always Wanted. Kittie aren’t about flashy guitars and explosions, they walked on with guitars and walked off with the same ones, and in between delivered an onslaught. As much fun as I was having it was clear that everyone else lucky enough to see them tonight was having just as much fun, as were Kittie. Morgan joked with the crowd between songs commenting on a shoe that was being waved in front of her face and how some guy tried to steal the set list to which she stood on his foot – although I doubt it hurt as she wore socks throughout the gig.
I could go on and on about how good they were tonight. Maybe I liked them for the wrong reasons, I now love them for the right reasons. Get over yourself and get into Kittie. They don’t rock, they’re too metal to just rock, they come into your town and deliver 10 rounds of Mike Tyson and leave you wanting more. *****
The lights dim and Kingdom Come (the intro track on their latest In The Black release) plays over the PA. Suddenly the lights raise and 4 tattooed girls playing flying V guitars and 5 string bass’s mosh in front of your very eyes. You wouldn’t want to call these girls a ‘girl band’ and I will now no longer use that analogy or they WILL kick my ass. They tear through their opening track My Plague before seamlessly continuing into the mighty Cut Throat and Oracle with no stopping for breath. This looks like a line-up that has played together their whole lives. They are in tune with one another, a tight nit group, a premiership winning team, playing off each other and having fun doing it. They are as professional in their sound and ability as any well respected metal band. Morgan is on fire tonight. It’s completely surprising to see such a small girl creating such a screaming vocal range but as effortlessly as she makes the vicious screaming throat vocals look she also belts out clean crisp high notes with the same amount of ease. Her guitar ability is impressive too and trust me if you don’t know Kittie, their new material is no slouch. Lead guitarist Tara is impressive in her guitar skills going from heavy distorted riffs to technical solos with effortless precision. Mercedes doesn’t put a beat wrong all night, keeping them all glued together whilst also adding some doom vocals to accompany her sister. And as for the newest cat in the band Ivy, she looks to be having a complete blast on stage, playing off Tara and Morgan and moshing around the stage with her mass of hair windmilling all over the place. They’ve come to prove a point... and they’ve proved it, with a smile on their face and a bucket load of metal. The rest of their set is relentless, a freight train of distorted metal with a set list of Flowers of Flesh and Blood, Never Again, Pussy Sugar, Burning Bridges, Breath, Forgive and Forget, This Too Shall Pass and Sorrow I know. They even brought their very own pyrotechnics when a couple of their road crew fired off party poppers during the intro of the very bouncy What I Always Wanted. Kittie aren’t about flashy guitars and explosions, they walked on with guitars and walked off with the same ones, and in between delivered an onslaught. As much fun as I was having it was clear that everyone else lucky enough to see them tonight was having just as much fun, as were Kittie. Morgan joked with the crowd between songs commenting on a shoe that was being waved in front of her face and how some guy tried to steal the set list to which she stood on his foot – although I doubt it hurt as she wore socks throughout the gig.
I could go on and on about how good they were tonight. Maybe I liked them for the wrong reasons, I now love them for the right reasons. Get over yourself and get into Kittie. They don’t rock, they’re too metal to just rock, they come into your town and deliver 10 rounds of Mike Tyson and leave you wanting more. *****
I saw Kittie tonight, who wants to touch me... I SAID WHO WANTS TO TOUCH ME!
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
All you have to do is complain
So I had this BlackBerry Storm that if you know me you'll know I HATE IT, read my previous blog for my rant.
So it sux... and funily enough Vodafone can't do anything to help. So you complain, you basically camp outside the vodafone showroom until they take you seriously. So I went to the shop, twice in 2 days, with continuing problems with my phone. They ended up saying to me that there would be no way I could upgrade my contract early they could offer me a new contract on a new phone with a new phone number and a reduced tarrif on my storm.
I didn't take that. That's crap and I know it. So I wrote to the CEO of vodafone, and if you google it you'll get his and other CEO's addresses. Isn't it funny how I got a phone call from Vodafone following me writing to the CEO - "We take all contact with the CEO seriously and would like to help." That was back in december, and they offered me a phone call on the 11th January to upgrade my contract to an iphone or to cancel my vodafone contract early. So they can't upgrade me early eh, I think not. But guess what, they DIDN'T ring me on the 11th January, I HAD TO RING THEM. But no biggie, I did so and they offered me a 1 year early upgrade to an iphone.
Moral of the story, complain to the top and you'll ger results. Complain to the customer assistant on minimun wage and they'll do nothing. Complain to vodafone helpline and they'll transfer you for an hour until they hang up on you. But persist and you will get results.
Cheers x
So it sux... and funily enough Vodafone can't do anything to help. So you complain, you basically camp outside the vodafone showroom until they take you seriously. So I went to the shop, twice in 2 days, with continuing problems with my phone. They ended up saying to me that there would be no way I could upgrade my contract early they could offer me a new contract on a new phone with a new phone number and a reduced tarrif on my storm.
I didn't take that. That's crap and I know it. So I wrote to the CEO of vodafone, and if you google it you'll get his and other CEO's addresses. Isn't it funny how I got a phone call from Vodafone following me writing to the CEO - "We take all contact with the CEO seriously and would like to help." That was back in december, and they offered me a phone call on the 11th January to upgrade my contract to an iphone or to cancel my vodafone contract early. So they can't upgrade me early eh, I think not. But guess what, they DIDN'T ring me on the 11th January, I HAD TO RING THEM. But no biggie, I did so and they offered me a 1 year early upgrade to an iphone.
Moral of the story, complain to the top and you'll ger results. Complain to the customer assistant on minimun wage and they'll do nothing. Complain to vodafone helpline and they'll transfer you for an hour until they hang up on you. But persist and you will get results.
Cheers x
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
I HATE BLACKBERRY STORM
How much do I hate my BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone...
( T H I S ) much. It just plain SUX.
( T H I S ) much. It just plain SUX.
So, I left my pay as you go O2 contract to get the latest BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone for £35 per month for 24 months. It started off ok, the novelty of getting emails on your phone and using facebook on the train lasted a few months. Then it started to freeze, crash and reboot on me all the time. Blackberry brought out their latest version v4.7.0.181 which is a complete mess. So, lets look at the problems I'm currently having...
- The phone is slow
- The phone freezes constantly and needs a battery reboot
- The screen locks up
- The phone kicks me out of phone calls and reboots
- I get a symbol saying I have a new message when I don't have a new message
- The keypad doesn't work
- I can't get a txt or email tone
- The ringtone doesn't work
- The alarm works intermittently
- When I receive a txt or email I can't read it and it's deleted immediately from my phone and settings don't change this
- The calendar doesn't work
- I updated the software and it didn't solve anything and caused problems
- I spoke to a vodafone store member who told me to downgrade the software and in doing so lost everything on my phone which I wasn't warned about.
- 1 month free line rental
- The offer to reduce my contract in January to the lowest £7 tarrif and then to pay that off for the next 12 months and the option to take out a new contract, new number, on an iphone.
Vodafone web relations rang me offering me a free BlackBerry Storm 2 upgrade. While this was an ok offer I was at this point so fed up of BlackBerry that I stood my ground and requested an iphone. I Wrote to webrelations saying I wanted an iphone. They contacted me back saying they understood and would help me in the new year when the iphone was released.
I got a call from vodafone, from someone called GUY. This was because I wrote to the CEO. I was reassured that every correspondent sent to the CEO would be followed up. He understood my frustration with Vodafone so booked me in for a follow up phone call on the 11th January 2010 to offer me one of 2 options:
- An iphone upgrade
- The option to cancel my vodafone contract.
Cheers
http://twitter.com/GarethTheTwit
http://www.facebook.com/GarethTheTwit
What is this all about?
What IS this all about...
What's the point of Facebook, Twitter and Blogging anyway, can anyone tell me?!? I'm Mr. Secretive, I keep myself to myself and no one know the real me apart from one person, my beautiful wife Lucy. I don't have loads of friends that don't know much about me I have a few friends that know lots about me. So if I'm so secretive, and we have to ask WHY?!?, then why do I want to tell everyone what I'm doing via twitter posted to facebook follow my latest blog. No one cares anyway, so it poses the question...
Do I do it to feel important?
Do I do it in the hope that I will be important?
Am I really that sad that I'm in sense messaging myself?
Either way, maybe people will be interested in some stuff I have to say and then I'll let people into some secrets about me... I'm probably actually quite interesting once you get to know me.
Cheers...............
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