This episode of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’ features exclusive interviews with Prima Donna and UK artist Faultress as premieres from ASM, BLɅCKƎLVIS, Dar.Ra, Drew Davies, Elizabeth The Second, Fea, and Fo Fera.
About Prima Donna
Prima Donna is a band that has strong ties around and within the music scene. They are, to me, the underground underdogs. What I mean by that is that they keep their street-creds while raising the flag for the indie scene showing just how awesome it is.
And, in this interview, we get to talk with one-fourth of this awesomeness in the form of David S. Field, drummer for Prima Donna. We cover a lot of ground here too. We get a glimpse of the beginnings of Prima Donna as well as collaborations including there inclusion into legendary musician Steven Van Zandt’s illustrious Wicked Cool Records stable of artists as well as the side project David and Prima Donna frontman Kevin Preston have with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong called The Longshot.
Prima Donna clearly has a full plate throughout 2020, as you will hear in the interview, including a new video for ‘Sing to Death’ (read our single review HERE) as well as a new album and more.
LINKS:
http://primadonnarocks.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/PrimaDonnaVision
https://twitter.com/primadonnaband
https://www.instagram.com/primadonnaband
https://www.facebook.com/PrimaDonnaOfficial
About Faultress
Faultress is an extinct word for a female criminal, and this musical project is about wearing your unpolished faults and imperfections on your very female sleeve. As an artist, Faultress embodies the challenge to heterodoxy implied in her name, which she wields as a firebrand to write incisive and psychological songs that offer us a look into the complex fragmentation of feminine power, desire and mental health in a rapidly changing musical and cultural world.
Faultress’s prime influence is Kate Bush, a soul she shares a love of theatricality with – Faultress has a playwriting MA from RADA – alongside a diverse set of influences that includes the likes of James Blake, Aldous Harding, FKA Twigs and Joni Mitchell. Her full banshee show is a six-part girl choir replete with synths and drums. In her solo shows, Faultress plays piano and loop stations. With the release of her 5 Myths EP, she reveals herself something of a polymath: lyricist, musician, singer, and storyteller employing the full spectrum of her skillset to make unforgettably charged music.
LINKS:
https://www.faultress.com
https://www.facebook.com/faultress
https://soundcloud.com/faultress
https://twitter.com/thisisfaultress
https://www.instagram.com/thisisfaultress
About ASM
ASM drop their new collab with Chinese Man with their new video titled ‘Honey’. Like a sucker punch to the gut, the track hits you hard with the beat and lyrical assault to the senses like depleted uranium to the skull. The video perfectly compliments the song with cut and paste-like creativity and dropped mic-bombs with each scene cut that keeps to the rhythm of the track. A perfect marriage of audio and video.
LINKS:
https://www.chinesemanrecords.com/asm
https://www.facebook.com/ASMastateofmind
https://twitter.com/ASMastateofmind
https://www.instagram.com/asm_astateofmind
https://www.youtube.com/user/ASMastateofmind
About BLɅCKƎLVIS
BLɅCKƎLVIS (BLACKELVIS), A South-Wales based band who have created a monstrous stir across the music scene within just 3 months of their first debut show at Tiny Rebel Cardiff in May 2019.
The band’s infancy has included headline bookings at six of the most renowned venues in and around Cardiff, which have consistently generated rapturous “always-wanting-more “crowds each time without fail – in addition to numerous support bookings across the region. “It is rare to see a band that can captivate a room full of people and takes them to a level of musical ecstasy. To do that on your debut performance is almost audacious and a wonderful spectacle to behold. BLɅCKƎLVIS is quite simply the best new band we have seen in a long, long time and could well become one of the biggest bands to emerge from Wales this year.
LINKS:
https://instagram.com/blackelvisband
https://twitter.com/blackelvisdiff
https://facebook.com/Blackelvisband
About Dar.Ra
Dar.Ra scores cinematic gold in this first-person hyperactive sonic blitz of a video for his new track titled ‘Rock Steady’. The track itself is something that must be listened to. Again and again. The adrenalin in the hook is like a drug that will keep you up for days. The video, however, adds layers to each beat in such a unique way as to make you wish this was a full movie. Think ‘Hardcore Henry‘ vs #indie gold. Pure genius!
LINKS:
https://facebook.com/Dar.Ra7
https://youtube.com/kushadeep7
https://twitter.com/kushadeepmusic
https://instagram.com/dar.ra.brady
About Drew Davies
Earlier we brought you the review for Drew Davies’ new single titled ‘Mrs Taylor’ and told you how special the meaning behind the music is. This time around we concentrate on the video, which just dropped.
The video perfectly encapsulates said meaning with a symbolic journey via car and foot through what I think is one of the more beautiful countrysides in this world. The scenes are cut to the beat which punctuates the track and enhances the driving tone of the song as a whole. Topped by interesting guitar and chord changes that give soul and take score, ‘Mrs Taylor’ is one of those beat-centric anthems for the #indie scene.
LINKS:
https://www.drewdaviesmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://www.twitter.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://www.instagram.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://drewdaviesmusic.bandcamp.com
About Elizabeth The Second
Elizabeth The Second has officially dropped their new EP titled ‘Two Margaritas at the Fifty Five’. This set of songs is a modern guitarist’s dream to listen to. The riffs are varied and ethereal, to say the least. Combine that with a solid rhythm section and fresh vocals and you have that modern magic that shows Elizabeth The Second is first in new music.
‘Two Margaritas at the Fifty Five’ was released on November 9.
LINKS:
https://elizabeththesecond.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.the.second.band
https://www.instagram.com/Elizabeth_the_second_band
https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth_the_second
https://twitter.com/Elizabethe2nd
https://open.spotify.com/album/6R8Q2w3CUbdX2wLNItafCo
About Fea
Fea drops a monster of a single with visuals in the form of their new track titled ‘Itch’. A surf-Punk Riot Grrl with a tad bit of The Clash and fIREHOSE thrown in for good measure, Fea drops a soul bomb on the realities of touring and embrace the grit and grime of life on the road in the only way they know how: full throttle.
LINKS:
https://fea210.com
https://www.instagram.com/fea210
https://twitter.com/fea210
https://www.facebook.com/fea210
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3nKEqmxHdIu4WbtE2kKvya?si=ApteZrsqR_q6lnjCxVbFNA
About Fo Fera
Fo Fera has just dropped her new video for the song titled ‘Honey, Are You Broken’ as an exclusive premiere right here on Jammerzine! This is her second single and very first video and we are proud to show it right here. To listen to this track is to know a piece of Fo Fera. A very powerful and sacred piece.
Healing is a tumultuous process. And we’ve all been there. But, for some people, the light at the end of the tunnel comes through creative expression. That can be both a documentation and a process in which the heart can harden as well as heal. And that is what I believe Fo Fera is doing with ‘Honey, Are You Broken’. In fact, this song brought a tear to my eye before I read her biography (below). Fo Fera may not know it but she wears her heart on her sleeve with this track and video. Like a beautiful rainbow at night, you may not be able to see it, but, that beauty is still there. Just because it’s in the dark doesn’t mean its any longer beautiful. ‘Honey, Are You Broken’ is the sunrise that sheds light on that beauty with a wonderful song that can warm the heart and a video that will please the senses.
LINKS:
https://www.foferarecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/foferaofficial
https://twitter.com/FoFeraOfficial
https://foferarecords.tumblr.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaWLOVgAjIs4pulCSIJc-cQ
https://www.patreon.com/FoFera
Click HERE to watch Season 5 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 4 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 3 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 2 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 1 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
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Jammerzine Exclusive: An Interview with Hybrid
Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with a duo of masterclass composers and musicians that go under the moniker of Hybrid. With their new album titled ‘Black Halo’ releasing tomorrow via Distinctive Records, Hybrid are poised at just the right time to release a new album on the scale of originality and creativity as I have seen in this past year, to say the least.
Hybrid is not only a unique music project, but a pair of composers who have been in the game since the 90’s and have written music for over 30 feature films, computer games and trailers including Fifty Shades Freed, X-Men: Wolverine, Billionaire Ransom, the Fast and Furious franchise.
That culminates into the music of ‘Black Halo’ A concept album in flow and style and a soundtrack to that future set of memories you will get. You will hear me in the interview praise this album for a few reasons. Almost in a gushing manor. There is reason for this. Maybe I heard ‘Black Halo’ at just the right time. Maybe I heard it in just the right setting. To be honest, part of the reason I say this is the best album I have heard in a while was how it changed my mood and my outlook for the day with the first track and sustained that feeling, modifying it with each song, through the end. Prompting a second listen. That is what music should do. introspect, interpret, influence, and enhance. And I can say, with all honesty, that this has the potential to do the same for you. There are many layers in each song on ‘Black Halo’. Musical, emotional, and spiritual.
In today’s interview, we talk about the songwriting and creative process that defines Hybrid as well as the album itself. This is as much a good conversation as it is an informative interview. Enjoy!
About Hybrid
The sweetest musical spots are always found deep between the contrasts. Dark and light, orchestral and digital, dramatic and delicate, raw and polished, sadness and bliss. Searched for by many, discovered by few, conquered by Hybrid; it’s a creative place where any story can be told. From studio to stadiums, dancefloor bangers to symphonic film scores, the clue’s been in their name since day one.
Hybrid’s electric spark for splicing musical DNA has been evident since their first ever single in 1996; Symphony, a cult club anthem where orchestral dynamics met jungle-inspired breakbeats. 25 years, six studio albums, myriad tours and a few line-up splices later, their ever-evolving, often bass-laced,
sound remains a constant in an accelerate scene. And that same thirst for fusion they began with is now nuclear. Attuned and amplified over years of writing and performing with their full band; it’s a fine-tuned alchemy that runs deep in everything Mike and Charlotte Truman do. Be it conjuring powerful dynamic electronic productions that can tear down underground music havens like Fabric London, working on scores for Hollywood hits from Hobbs & Shaw to Hercules to Interlude In Prague or living, writing and recording in a family home with over 60 animals.
Their CV is a dizzying litany of pinch-yourself moments and accomplishments, including collaborations and credits with luminaries as far-ranging as Cypress Hill, Perry Farrell and Hooky from New Order. With band mates Stu Morgan (guitars and bass) and Simon Hanson (drums) they continue to take their art to incredible places through speakers, stage and screen. And at the heart of it all is simply this: powerful storytelling.
A deep emotional narrative runs through all Hybrid music. You can sense it in Charlotte’s stirring songwriting and vocals, you can hear it in Mike’s formidable sound design and production, you can tangibly feel it in the drama, tension and release of the arrangements. Their latest album – Black Halo – is the best example of this so far. Largely written during the turbulence of 2020, the album celebrates the perseverance and triumph of the human spirit. No matter what life throws at us, we thrive and survive. To enhance this narrative even more, and join further dots between their love of music and the big screen, they’ve created three conceptual videos with writer/novelist James Scudamore and actor Edmund Kingsley. Weaving sci-fi themes with the stark, hard-hitting reality of the 21st century, Hybrid’s visual fusion is just palpable as the music itself.
Following on from their critically acclaimed 2018 release Light Of The Fearless – an album eight years in the making which saw them execute a precision come-back with a sold out tour – Black Halo reaches for those sweet spots between the contrasts once again. Somewhere deep between organic and electronic, faith and escapism, strings and synths, drums and bass, fear and hope, it’s a place where Hybrid can tell their boldest stories so far.
A band whose electrorock influence echoed throughout the ‘90s straight up to today, Hybrid have always been on the forefront of the electronic music scene. Merging Jimi Hendrix-styled guitar riffs via guitarist/vocalist Stu Morgan into Mike’s sonic soundscapes and punctuated by drummer Simon Hanson’s meticulous rhythms, Hybrid’s music allows Charlotte’s clear and pristine vocals to float and weave effortlessly.
Originally formed in 1995 at the height of the UK-led Breakbeat Era, Hybrid became leaders of an electronic movement that encompassed a dizzying litany of pinch-yourself moments and accomplishments, including collaborations and credits with luminaries as far-ranging as Cypress Hill, Perry Farrell and Peter Hook from New Order. In their own right, Hybrid continue to take their art to incredible places through speakers, stage and screen. And at the heart of it all is simply this: powerful storytelling.
Hybrid is:
- Charlotte Truman (vocals, piano, synths, guitar)
- Mike Truman (sound design, producer)
- Stu Morgan (vocals, guitars, bass)
- Simon Hanson (drums, percussion, backing vocals).
Featured image by Steve Gullick.
LINKS:
https://www.hybridband.com
https://ffm.to/hybridblackhalo
https://hybridbanduk.bandcamp.com/album/black-halo
https://twitter.com/hybridbanduk
https://instagram.com/hybridbanduk
https://facebook.com/hybridbanduk
https://open.spotify.com/user/killcitymusic
https://www.youtube.com/hybridbanduk
https://geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/hybrid/4054018?mt=1&app=music
http://soundcloud.com/hybridbanduk -
The Dirty Dozen (JammerStream One)
The Dirty Dozen was a top 12 weekly countdown featuring the most listened to tracks on JammerStream One. It ran from 2010 to 2012.
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Youthstar & Miscellaneous Release ‘2 Shots No Chaser’ Video (The Week in #Indie Segment)
Youthstar and Miscellaneous have teamed up for their new video titled ‘2 Shots No Chaser’. Full of energy and loaded with verbal ammunition, ‘2 Shots No Chaser’ is all hook no filler, and full of a verbal unloading and musical party-mode with a party anthem just in time for a post-COVID summer.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/mcyouthstar
https://twitter.com/jayyouthstar
https://www.instagram.com/mcyouthstar
https://www.facebook.com/ChillBumpSound
https://twitter.com/ChillBumpMusic
https://www.instagram.com/chillbumpofficialClick HERE to watch Season 7 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 6 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 5 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 4 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 3 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 2 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 1 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.