Month: April 2019

Interview: Time Of The Mouth

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Based in Worcester, Time Of The Mouth (TOTM) are a pop-rock trio made up of Chris Jones (frontman and guitarist), Mitchul Tyler (bass) and Ollie Badger (drums). Following on from 2018’s release of Beautiful Storm, we caught up with the guys to learn about them and their new single, Tears.

Photo credit to @ro_bere

Hi guys, thanks for coming in to talk to us! Let’s talk basics first. How did Time of the Mouth form and how did the name come about?

TOTM were formed when Chris (who was 14 at the time) was approached by two school friends who had seen him perform his solo acoustic songs, to ask him if he was interested in forming a band.The name came about when, during a band naming session in Chris’s living room the three 14 year old lads found the name ‘Time Of The Month’ highly amusing, only for Chris’s Mum to enter the room and immediately ban them from using that name, so a similar sounding alternative was sought hence the now familiar version of TOTM.

What’s been your biggest musical achievement of your careers so far?

There have been a few highlights, which have been spread over the time that the band have been together. Playing at the LG arena on the acoustic stage before ‘The Who’ played on their Quadrophenia tour definitely stands out, as does our headline show at the O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham. Getting airplay on radio stations in America and Australia has also given us a buzz.

What drew you to wanting to be a part of the music industry?

A desire to perform, a love for music and a reluctance to accept living in the ‘real world’.

Your new single Tears was released on Friday – congrats guys! The subject of the song is rather dark but sadly all too common these days. Is this something you’ve had a certain experience with?

We have all had experience, either through friends, family or personally of various mental health issues and the message of the song is really to encourage people to reach out and seek support rather than bottle up mental health issues as we know that this can lead to very sad and tragic outcomes.

Do you think there is enough support for the mental health of musicians?

It’s something that is starting to be taken more seriously and there are various organisations out there, like ‘Music Minds Matter’ that have been set up to support musicians with their mental health issues.

It’s quite a serious music video – what gave you the idea to have your fans holding up signs with their diagnoses and issues related to mental health?

We were keen to get our fans involved with this video after getting to know the issues that some of them have have faced in their day to day lives. We have been told on a few occasions that our music has helped them when they have been suffering from mental health issues, as it has either reminded them of happier times, or it has provided them with a form of escape from their problems for a little while. Hearing this has meant a lot to us, and inspired us to come up with the idea for the video, so it seemed very natural to ask some of our friends and fans to take part in the video.

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

Apart from a guarantee of success for TOTM, we would love the industry to be less about financial resources at our level. We know so many great bands who don’t have the financial clout to buy their way onto tours, or to pay small fortunes for PR or guaranteed radio airplay, so a more level playing field would be fairer and would help make the industry more pure and more talent based. The total extermination of the entertainment culture that brought us the X-Factor and BGT would be nice too…

What has the rest of 2019 got in store for you guys?

We have an album ready to launch when the time feels right, but for now it’s really about getting out all across the UK and playing as many shows and festivals as we can to as many people as possible. We are working with some great people who are helping us to build on our successes so far, so you can expect a couple more singles, videos and hopefully a lot more exposure for us during the rest of 2019.

Check out the video for their new single Tears below:

Catch Time Of The Mouth at West Street Live in Sheffield on May 6th or at Uncover in Worcester on May 31st

If you feel like you need someone to talk to, you can contact Samaritans on 116 123

Review: The Hunna at O2 Academy Brixton – 7th April 2019

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My relationship with this blog is currently like that of Troy and Gabriella’s in High School Musical 2. Life keeps getting in the way and whenever I try, somehow the plan is always rearranged. I am trying though and it is a promise to my soon-to-be graduate self that I shall get there one day.

Anyway, ya gal here went to see The Hunna two Sundays ago (7th April) at O2 Academy Brixton as a very last minute thing. We’re talking “I’ve got a spare ticket, you’re coming”. It was great, I need more people like that. I digress… What was really great about the night though is that I thought I only knew one song (She’s Casual) but it turns out I actually knew TWO (Bonfire). Although this was then pointed out to me that that’s because they are almost identical melodies just with different lyrics but more on that in a minute…

I won’t lie, due to it being so last minute, I actually missed first support and didn’t know who main support was until I looked it up on Twitter. This is how unprepared I was. However, I was also unprepared for what a great night it was going to be. Barns Courtney was the answer, by the way, to who main support was. You might know his track Fire from the adverts for the 23rd season of Top Gear or the credit track of the Netflix original series Safe. Another of his tracks, Glitter and Gold,was used for the intro song for the series. Barns Courtney lived in Seattle, Washington between the ages of 4-15 and it’s safe to say that ‘American confidence’ has definitely stuck with him. What my friends and I couldn’t decide on was whether it made for a great showman or just came across as a little too cocky. Despite this, there was no doubt amongst us that there’s a definite Rockstar aura and a certain swagger about him. At times it felt like there was possibly too much stage presence for a support act with it feeling very American for a very British headliner (you’ll understand what I mean later on). Having said this, they sure knew how to get a crowd going and you couldn’t actually tell who in the crowd was there to see him and who was just discovering him that night which was very refreshing. Their sound is described as indie-rock with a hint of gospel thrown in however there is also a distinct folk-pop/country twang to some of it too. His songs all sound fairly similar but they’re accessible and make for easy-listening whilst still having that heavier hook. Basically, to sum it up, if you’re wanting a pint and a boogie to some carefree music, it’s perfect.

The Hunna were great. Like I said, I knew two songs without realising. If you want to get musically technical, this is because both songs employ use of the “four chord trick” – use of chords 1, 4, 5 and 6 (although saying this, most songs do – it’s what makes them so catchy and memorable, see ‘The Axis of Awesome’ video for an explanation) . The secret as to why these two songs, Bonfire and She’s Casual, are so memorable and similar is that the melody used for both songs’ choruses stick to the same pattern of using the root note of the key, the third and the fifth. It’s hard to explain without moving in to the realms of music theory, but have a listen to the chorus of She’s Casual, Bonfire and NY to LA – the latter they didn’t play live but it’s the same concept. This isn’t a dig at their song writing, by all means if you have a winning formula for a hit song, stick to it, it’s just interesting to see that these two songs appeared to grab the biggest reaction from the crowd.

They treated the crowd to an acoustic version of Brother and two unreleased songs I Get High To Forget and What You Waiting For (the penultimate song before ending with Never Enough) however didn’t mention when these would be released. Having listened to the original version of Brother, it was definitely the right choice to perform it acoustically because wow, that shit blew my mind away. It’s a bop, don’t get me wrong, but it transforms into a whole other song when acoustic.

Brother (Acoustic)

I have to say though, I was treated to two incredible acts, and had a great night having a boogie, but I just couldn’t get over the rather drastic contrast between them. You had Barns Courtney with all his American swagger, stage diving and running all over the shop, making sure to constantly be talking to everyone to then The Hunna who were very “British” about the whole thing with very little crowd interaction, solely performing their songs. All in all, I’d see both acts again but perhaps not together.

Barns Courtney. For fans of: cleopatrick, Bryce Fox, Cemetery Sun

The Hunna. For fans of: Sundara Karma, Circa Waves, Viola Beach

Youth in Retrospect: Kurt Cobain

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Hey kids, me again (surprise). Now I like to think I’m teaching you at least something on this blog but I decided to do this new history feature, Youth in Retrospect, just in case, so we can all ‘do a learn’ whilst (mainly) celebrating some major events in musical history.

Nirvana (noun): A transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death & rebirth. Often considered to be the final goal of Buddhism.

Now I won’t lie, I’m not a die-hard fan of Nirvana and never have been. If I’m completely honest, the grunge genre never appealed to me. Having said this, I can still understand the impact of Kurt Cobain’s loss on this fateful day 25 years ago (5th April). It’s an interesting one, this, because Kurt Cobain has been dead for longer than I (and I’m sure, many of you) have been alive. Heck, in two years he will have been dead for longer than he was alive. It’s one of those thoughts on which if you dwell too long, you’ll end up down a rabbit hole that, quite frankly, you don’t want to be down.

Okay so let’s get the basics out of the way. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on 20th February 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington, USA. He died on 5th April 1994 in Seattle, Washington, USA by way of suicide. In 1985, Kurt met Krist Novoselic (Nirvana’s bass player) where they went on to play in several bands together, including Stiff Woodies. Nirvana was formed in December of 1987 however it wasn’t until September 1990 that Dave Grohl became their drummer, completing the line-up everyone knows and loves to this day.

After 4 months of dating, on 24th February 1992, Cobain married Courtney Love whilst she was pregnant with what would be their only child – Frances Bean Cobain. A record executive once noted of Love and Cobain that they were “the nineties, much more talented version of Sid and Nancy”. However it would appear that the executive managed to foresee the future, also commenting that they would “self-destruct” if nothing happened. When they met, Nirvana were at their peak and Cobain never learned how to deal with the overnight fame that came from their album, Nevermind. It’s been said this was partially due to his poor upbringing, with him still choosing to drive a second hand car for the rest of his life. Nevermind was never meant to be so successful. Grunge was a subculture that started in the 1980s, largely in Seattle, however the album definitely influenced the popularity of it – which, as we all know, defeats the point of a subculture. The overnight success into alternate mainstream was something that Nirvana didn’t know how to deal with, and didn’t expect to have to learn.

Despite Nirvana’s popularity constantly being on the up, Kurt Cobain found himself in a serious spiral. This was causing his addiction to heroin to become more severe. The pair both tried to quit for the sake of their daughter however the story often went that only a few days after checking into rehab, they’d both be back out and searching for the next high. It wasn’t until February 1994 that Cobain’s spiral truly affected the band, with threats being made to cancel the European leg of the In Utero tour just five dates in. To add fuel to the already blazing fire, his relationships with both bandmates and his wife were rapidly deteriorating. On March 1st, Nirvana’s final performance came to a swift end when Cobain announced they would not be continuing due to laryngitis. With a 10-day break on tour, he flew to Rome to be met by Love and their daughter a few days later. This was where he had his first suicide attempt. He would then go on to have three more before shooting himself at his home in Seattle on 5th April.

Make no mistake though, Nirvana sure made sure to achieve a lot in the short space of time they had. They released 3 studio albums – Bleach in 1989 (pre-Grohl), Nevermind in 1991 and In Utero in 1993. They also released three live albums (one post-Cobain in 2009), two EPs and 21 singles. During their time, they were nominated for ten awards, winning five including ‘New Artist’ and ‘Alternate Video’ for Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom and Heart-Shaped Box.

Nevermind by Nirvana, released 1991

There are many conspiracy theories surrounding both Kurt Cobain’s death and reasons for his behaviour throughout his 27 years. Out of respect for both him and those close to him, I don’t feel it right to go into these. There’s only one more certain thing to say and that’s that we lost a legend that day. Rest in peace, Kurt.

Recommendations: Sophie’s Selection

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Hey guys, sorry for being slightly MIA but it’s a time to celebrate! This is the first of one of two regular features (the other is coming Friday). This one will include guest writers so you don’t have to get too bored of me (party over here).

Okay so without further ado, let me introduce to this feature. Below we have 10 of my top tracks. They aren’t all brand new but I’ve tried my hardest to include a couple and wow, if I’ve learnt anything it’s that I need to get my nostalgic ass out of my comfort zone and into the New Music Friday playlist on Spotify. Hopefully the guests can help me out with that one in the upcoming weeks but for now, throw yourself into some of these slightly older (but hopefully still unknown to you) songs.

Rhett Price – California Love

Although California Love, originally by 2Pac ft. Dr. Dre, isn’t one of my favourite songs, this genius just seems to know how to make any track sound insane in a whole new way. He truly taught me to appreciate a violin and as you can tell with my pick of Happiness (Reworked), it sure worked. Make no mistake though, for some reason this dark horse has kept his best work on Facebook including the likes of Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen – and yes, I did really just say that.

Fever 333 – ONE OF US

Okay, so firstly a warning – don’t listen to this around your grandparents. But if you’re all for nostalgia, you’re going to love the screaming which will throw you back to the early 00s and the vocals will remind you perfectly of bands like Sum 41. If you can get one step further and see them live, fucking do it. I can promise you you won’t have a fucking scooby what’s going on about 98% of the time and, trust me, you won’t be the only one but oh wow, it’s an experience that you absolutely don’t want to miss. I never have quite forgiven myself for going to the loo during their set and finding out I missed him smash up his drum set for the fun of it…


Dean Lewis – Be Alright

Lewis, an Australian singer-songwriter, released his debut album two weeks ago but his single Be Alright is definitely still my current favourite and has been the only song I’ve been sure of making this list since I had the idea three months ago (yes, it’s taken that long, shh). Although this song is about being cheated on and going through a breakup, it’s actually a combined number of experiences of both his own and his circle of friends. Whatever it’s about, it sure is relatable as hell with lyrics such as “I know you love her but it’s over mate / it doesn’t matter, put the phone away” and “it’s gonna hurt for a bit of time / so bottoms up, let’s forget tonight”. Okay, Dean, we hear you. We’re crying too.

Deaf Havana – Happiness (Reworked)

The funny thing about this song is that because it is my favourite song literally ever (and if you know me, you know how hard I find picking favourites), I don’t even know where to start. His insane vocals that just amaze me with every bloody song they produce? Those strings that come in towards the end that you don’t expect but my god, they make an already-perfect song better? The lyrics that I can actually kind of relate to? Guys, just go and listen. Nothing I can say will do it the slightest bit of justice so I won’t even try. Seriously, just go and listen. (P.S. if you want MORE chills, listen to the Live at Brixton Academy version – oh BOY.)

Handstand Parade – Want More

Hello, controversial time. I don’t like The 1975, okay? I think they’re rather overrated and although I can bop to a couple of their first EPs I JUST DON’T SEE IT, OKAY? Whew, that felt good to get off my chest. Anyway, if you’re like me but you still like that style of music then check out Handstand Parade. Think of them as The 1975’s younger brother with the same chilled out vibes as You. Want More is about them writing a letter to their teenage selves saying goodbye and telling them they’ll be making them proud.

James Bay ft. Julia Michaels – Peer Pressure

James, I love you, okay? And now I love you more because this time you only made us wait a year for new music. Fresh off the back of his Electric Light tour, Bay paired up with Julia Michaels to bring us Peer Pressure – a song all about meeting the right person. He says of the song, “It’s about that person who, no matter how much of a guard you hold up, finds their way through to you”. So with that relatable content, and Bay’s classic guitar, guess who’s going to have this on repeat until the end of time?

We Three – Heaven’s Not Too Far

We Three, three siblings from Oregon, first appeared on the first episode of Season 13 of America’s Got Talent last year. They took both the judges and social media by storm with this song as their first audition – a tribute written to their late mother who sadly passed away two years earlier. With lyrics such as “I’ve got to move up north / but it’s just temporary” and “no honey, I don’t want to go / please know that I have to” sung by Manny’s strong lead vocals, this one’s bound to be a tearjerker. The siblings also commented that every listen of this song for them is like “having another conversation” with their mum – who started chopping onions in here?!

Holygood – Oh No!

If you think you know the voice and you can’t figure out why, there’s a slight chance you’ll recognise them as Light You Up who, let’s face it, had a banger of an album with All You’ve Ever Known (check that out too, trust me). After an unexpected period of quiet following this album, things started changing in January when they reappeared, announcing they would now have a new identity: Holygood. Oh No! is classic pop-punk but oh god, it’s good. If that’s your style, check this and their other single Darling out. You won’t regret it.

Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved

I’m sorry, okay? I told myself I was going to try to not include songs that everyone and their mother knew but honestly it came on shuffle when writing this blog post and it felt like a sign. I don’t even need to speak about this track, we all know it does that itself.

Bring Me The Horizon – ouch

This track, from their new album amo, could be considered monumental for frontman Oli Sykes as he finally addresses his relationship with Hannah Snowdon. When talking about the track, he makes sure fans know he’s not wallowing in it any longer but that it was also an incredibly painful time for him. Can we also just mention that glo-up from “so you can drag me through Hell / if it meant I could hold your hand” in Follow You to “and I know I said you could drag me through Hell / but I hoped you wouldn’t fuck the Devil”. YES OLI.

Right that’s me out guys. I hope this hasn’t been too long a read for you – apparently I waffle on a lot. Who knew? I also hope that it hasn’t been too obvious and that you have been able to discover a few new songs. Stay tuned for the next version with a special guest!

To make it easier, we put them all into one playlist for you which you can check out below: