Last year at The Great Escape, the Alcopop!/Big Scary Monsters all-dayer at the less than salubrious Pavillion Tavern – a pub known for its insanely cheap drinks – ended in carnage. With a capital CARNAGE. The headliners – Scottish noiseniks The Xcerts – and, before them quirky indie-popsters Stagecoach, turned the whole pub into a raucous, ridiculous moshpit – bodies were flying everywhere, bouncers were throttling people, light bulbs and glasses were smashed, spectacles were dropped and trampled on, the promoter was nearly kicked out of his own gig and a chandelier was pulled off the ceiling and carried out by one supremely cheeky ...

Welcome to the 24th edition of New Music by Region . Every fortnight we aim to present the best new music in 7 major cities and regions from across the UK (and Ireland). With the help of regional correspondents, we present our shortlist of new music in Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow, London and Oxford. New Music by Region #23 can be found here ! Name : Electric Swing Circus – ‘The Penniless Optimist (C@ in the H@ remix)’ For Fans Of : Gogol Bordello and Basement Jaxx Website : Official site Correspondent : Lyle Bignon A musical cooperative in all senses, ESC capture and bottle the carnivalesque ...

Camden Crawl (4-6 May '12) // Words: Saam Das Building on a relatively successful day one of the 2012 Camden Crawl , things got off to less of a joyous start on the Sunday as not one but two passenger emergency alarms on a Northern Line tube scuppered my attempts to catch a low-key Charli XCX performance in the Crawl's media hub. But with plenty of other bands to see over the day, that was only a minor setback. For chat about those bands and an overview of the festival, keep reading below. Heading over to The Wheelbarrow for their afternoon ...

Our 405 Photography Editor Tim Boddy headed to North London for the world famous Camden Crawl festival to snap some of the band's that played, some of the people that attended and of course, Camden itself. Later in the week we'll be bringing you our official review, but until then, we hope you enjoy these photos. Day One Odonis Odonis Three Trapped Tigers A very apt poster post-Odonis Odonis Keep Shelly In Athens Clashes galore Echo Lake Veronica Falls Dam Mantle Johnny Foreigner The Futureheads Day Two Toy Micachu & The Shapes NCZA/Lines Fanzine Camden Gardens Trophy Wife ...

Throwing the migratory concept of the multi-venue multi-gig idea out of the window, due to a weird combination of the organisers timetable programming and our own summer festival schedule which gives opportunities to see certain artists at numerous events and therefore not necessarily this weekend in London, our whole second day  of the Camden Crawl is spent in the bunting dressed Wheelbarrow pub. Camden Crawl ? More like Camden Stationary. As the music and alcohol flows a constant stream of bladder-stressed punters are found pushing their way towards the front, for the location of the toilets is like a space planners ...

Camden Crawl (London, 4-6 May '12) // Words: Saam Das The 2012 Camden Crawl draws ever closer, kicking off this Friday with a party at Koko, headlined by Death In Vegas but also featuring the likes of Funeral Suits . The real party begins on Saturday however, as a mass of bands play across dozens of venues in the NW1 area, along with other events such as comedy and spoken word. We've compiled ten of our suggested highlights of the festival below. I've obviously had to leave off numerous other highlights, considering the sheer number of bands and events such ...

Good news vinyl fans, the excellent Johnny Foreigner album Johnny Foreigner vs Everything is getting a vinyl release. As reported by DIY earlier today, the album was originally released back in November of last year and will now get this physical release on special gatefold vinyl on 25th June via our good friends over at Alcopop Records. The bands frontman Alexei told DIY of how the release came about and what its like releasing music through an independent label like Alcopop - "to us, 'Johnny Foreigner vs Everything' is the greatest record we've ever made; in musical terms of sounding ...

With so many bands on the bill, the gig started earlier than I realised. I arrived just in time for the first song by Sheffield’s Screaming Maldini, and I’m very glad I did. It’s rare to hear pop music so intelligently constructed and yet so full of infectious melodies. They at turn make... Read more..

One of our favourite independent labels Alcopop! have announced that Manchester band, Doctrines are the latest to sign to their extensive roster. Doctrines will join the likes of Johnny Foreigner and Stagecoach, and to celebrate you can download a free track from the band below. If you like what you hear you’ll be pleased to know that you won't have to wait long for more material, the outfit will release their new EP EZ in late June. Jamie from the band had this to say about it: "At the time of writing, we were on a mad sci-fi ...

Manchester’s Doctrines (bandcamp/soundcloud) have an urgency and attitude that has given them somewhat of a visceral reputation for live performances up North with their punk-styled shouty indie, and choruses with sing-a-long pop sensibilities. On the musical spectrum they sit somewhere between Japandroids and Johnny foreigner, and our fine friends at Alcopop! are releasing their EP [...] Introducing: Doctrines was originally published on The Blue Walrus

This was Stagecoach's, and thus Alcopop!'s, contribution to Record Store Day, so sorry about the late notice. It still exists, though, the first sighting of material from the irrepressible power-pop outfit's debut album proper (produced by Dom James, who did Johnny Foreigner vs Everything), calmer than usual at least for as long as they can contain themselves without thrusting and wigging out, a lovely melody never quite learning to take itself seriously.

There’s something special about the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. Maybe it’s the fact that they seem to have the most eclectic variety of acts on in their small space, regardless of the band’s size (The Subways played here last year not long before their show at London Koko [reviewed here] and Dry the River [album review here] are scheduled to make a stop here soon.) Maybe it’s the unassuming layout of half Social Club,... Continue reading Live Review: Johnny Foreigner with Bearfoot Beware and We Are the Physics at Leeds Brudenell Social Club – 11th March ...

Line-up for north London three-day bash continues to grow

Following the recent addition of Glasvages, The Futureheads and Gaz Coombes to the Camden Crawl 2012 line-up, the festival have added 100 new artists to the line-up. They are as follows: 22, Ayah Marar, Beans On Toast, Binary, Bo Ningen (pictured above), The Chevi, Crowns, Debukas, Eugene Mcguinness, Foe Harry Oakwood, Joe Wilkes & Simon, Stanley Ward, John J Presley, Johnny Foreigner, Kellie Lloyd, Kyla La Grange, Liz Green, Loney Dear, Martin Creed, Matthew & Me, Micachu & The Shapes, Michele Stodart, The Milk, Mistabishi, Molotov Jukebox, Monsta, Mz Bratt, Night Symmetry, O Children, War Years">Post War Years, The Rumour Said Fire ...

Truck Festival has expanded its summer line up with Guillemots, British Sea Power and more set to take part. Truck Festival is under new ownership. The founders of the Oxford event stepped down earlier this year, arguing that they had simply taken the event as far as they could. With new organisers stepping in, fans wondered how this would affect the summer festival. In the event, it seems that Truck is going to pick up exactly where it left off. Returning to Oxford, Truck will welcome performances from Guillemots , British Sea Power and more. Making a new line up announcement ...