#mikerisms

Flashback Friday: Dead Poetic – ‘New Medicines’

Whenever I think about Dead Poetic, I think of 9/11. Not because they have any links to terrorism (that I know of); it’s the date that I saw them live in 2014 and from that day forth this date has thankfully held much more positive memories for me. It was a particularly great show because I was able to connect not only mentally with the superb performance but got physically involved as well.

‘New…

Flashback Friday – The Ongoing Concept – ‘Saloon’

‘Saloon’ opens with a bar scene in which a man can be heard complaining about the resident musicians: “Piano players keep playing the same tune every single night, over and over. I’m getting sick of it!” It’s a theme that’s carried over on the song ‘Cover Girl’, which has a central lyrical message that we should “stop being the print of someone else’s painting.” Clearly The Ongoing Concept had…

Flashback Friday: He Is Legend – ‘I Am Hollywood’

My first experience of He Is Legend was the video for ‘The Seduction’ which instantly drew me into the band, but not for the right reasons at the time. The video is based on a puppet show featuring characters like the little guy in the picture which, while being highly amusing meant that I didn’t take the band too seriously. Impressive musicians yes, but also a bunch jokers. Add in the fact that…

Flashback Friday: Finch - 'Say Hello to Sunshine': review and guitar cover.

Finch released one of the most memorable albums of the pop-punk/emo movement back in 2002 with their debut ‘What It It to Burn’, by taking the Drive-Thru records pop-punk template (set by the likes of The Starting Line, New Found Glory, The Movielife, etc.) and revitalising it with shades of post-hardcore. It was so popular that when ‘Say Hello to Sunshine’ was released three years later, it was…