Part and parcel of being opinionated music lovers is that we go and experience lots of music in its natural habitat – on a stage – and then we decide how good it was. Some spectacles are so powerful that they evoke emotions strong enough to form memories through the drunkenness. It’s a rarity but that’s why some here have to name several before deciding upon their Favourite Gig of 2013. There is zero reason for you to be reading this but if you’ve read this far, you’ll get at least halfway down before clicking the cross.

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We’re at the mercy of modern technology for this episode of the Thrash Hits Podcast – Raz has decamped to the USA for a few weeks for SXSW and some California sunshine, leaving the rest of us here in miserable old England. With possibly the dodgiest Skype connection imaginable, Hugh and Raz discuss how SXSW has changed over the years, as well as speculating on how two very different kinds of hype affect bands – that currently being felt by Ghost (or Ghost BC, if you’re an American) and the kind that surrounds Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats.

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There might not have been many people there (Sunday night gigs can GTFO) but Gavin Lloyd was at Palm Reader’s Islington show to catch all the carnage. Even if, err, the more unfortunate part of that carnage was caused by a support band playing their last ever show….

Six things we learnt watching Palm Reader play in London:

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If you don’t like  Cancer Bats, we’re not sure we can stay friends. If you also don’t like Turbowolf, well…let’d not even talk about that. If you don’t like Brutality Will Prevail…okay, we;ll let that one pass. Anyhow, all three of them packed out London’s KOKO on Friday night for Cancer Bats’ largest UK headline show to date. That’s why we’re going on about them in a spurious intro paragraph, obviously. We sent Gavin Lloyd along to see if the Bats were up to the challenge. (HINT: they were).

Six things we learnt watching Cancer Bats play their biggest UK headline show to date:

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Of all the indoor multi-day festivals that take place in the UK, there’s one right here in London that has always stood head and shoulders above all the others as far as we’re concerned – DesertFest. Returning to a brace of venues across Camden over a weekend this coming April, DesertFest is three days of the best sludge, stoner and doom carnage the UK will see in 2013. That’s why we’ve dedicated this week’s Slaylist to this year’s line-up.

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We don’t write about every tiny band in the world in a hope to one day claiming that we wrote about them first. Take a look at our Future Hits section if you want proof. We DID however tip Turbowolf, Black Moth AND Wet Nuns, though. They played a gig together in London so of course we sent David Keevill down to watch them whilst feeling unnecessarily smug to ourselves.

 Six things we learnt from Future Hits alumni in Highbury:

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It’s that time of year again – it’s the return of the Thrash Hits Download Festival splash page for 2012! All of our Download coverage from across the entire weekend will be linked to on this here post, so make sure you bookmark it as it’s all you’re going to need. That means individual band coverage in the form of photos and setlists, as well as reviews of each day’s highlights, every scandalous rumour and dirty bit of gossip that we overhear, and every outrageous photo of muddy debauchery that our photographers can get their lenses on.

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Those in the know described Turbowolf’s set at Download Festival 2012 as the band’s BEST EVER. Ignore this band at your peril. [Read more →]

Download Festival have announced another 12 names for their 2012 line-up, with the heavy-hitters in today’s admittedly pretty mixed-bag of announcements being Europe, Emmure, and Turbonegro.

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It turned up on various music television last week, but today Turbowolf’s rather fine video to ‘Let’s Die’ finally appeared online for those of us too cheap to buy cable or satellite TV to enjoy. And – somewhat unsurprisingly – we think it’s pretty damn good.

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