Vant
Leopallooza 2017 Festival Preview
By Jon Kean in Music / Festivals on 27 July 2017
Situated in a scenic Cornish valley, the eleventh iteration of the Leopallooza Festival takes place near Bude in Cornwall from July 28th to July 30th.
There are seven stages at Leopallooza, including The Temple of Boom, where you can have a spiritual experience to the beats, breaks and bass curated by Cornish DJ collective, Hong Kong Ping Pong. Falmouth's esteemed bar, Mono, curates and lends its name to the alternative stage. They've got dance wrapped up at The Treeline, laughter at the Punkomedy Stage and new talent at the BBC Introducing Cornwall Stage. The Main Arena has two stages, so that the music can alternate from one to the other, forgoing the need for lengthy changeovers. Throw in over 100 new and established acts, plenty of kids' activities, camping, plus excellent food and drink and you've got every reason to make the pilgrimage.
Ten Must-See Acts At Leopallooza.
Continue reading: Leopallooza 2017 Festival Preview
Vant - Interview
There aren't many front men around who wear their heart on their sleeve quite like Mattie Vant. He may look moodily like something from "The Lost Boys" in band photos, and he sounds like he's well up for punching your lights out when you hear the songs, but in reality, a fierce love of life and a compassionate humanity creates the heat that sears through Vant's distinctly vibrant blood. So interested and concerned was Mattie by the current American status quo, that he went to Washington DC to sample the mood of the presidential inauguration and join the Women's March, all of which will feature in a forthcoming documentary. A gentle Mackem charm struck me when I spoke to him recently.
Contactmusic [CM): Mattie, "Dumb Blood" is out this month, I have a sense that it's been down for a while. Are you bursting for it to be out there?
Mattie Vant [MV]: Yeah, we can't wait. As you say for us, it feels like a lot longer than it does for most people. Some of these songs are a few years old now. Although they're fresh to new ears, we've been living with them for a while, but for some bizarre reason, they seem more relevant than they did when I wrote them and with everything that's happened in the last six months, it feels like the album's coming out at the perfect time in terms of the messages and the fact that people need to hear it.
CM: So, "Dumb Blood" - I've assumed it's what is coursing through humanity's veins right now. Am I anywhere in the right ball park?
MV: I guess the great thing about the title is that it's open to interpretation and it is, of course, a metaphor. For me, it's a comment on the silent generation that we are. We need to wake up, and that's hopefully what the record will do - it'll wake up a few people to some new ideas and to the possibility of using their voices in the real world and trying to make change.
Continue reading: Vant - Interview
Vant - Dumb Blood Album Review
By Jon Kean in Music Reviews on 14 February 2017
Vant's debut album, "Dumb Blood", is awash with piss and vinegar. It surfs the tsunami of contemporary global spleen and seeks to awake a sleeping generation from its mute inertia. To say the band is 'impassioned' would be as much of an understatement as calling Trump's inauguration crowds 'sparse' or 'underwhelming'.
At the same time, they'll give you bits of every bloody good guitar band you've ever liked. Not because they're derivative, but because they're infectiously catchy. The Sonic Youth guitar solo on "Put Down Your Gun" demands multiple listens, the Frank Black screams of 'Everything is dumb with this generation' on "Lampoon Everything" defy you to disagree and the bristling garage punk of "Parking Lot" is overwhelmingly heady, like the uncontrolled parking lot urges of the entitled scrote in the song. The chorus, 'Wait a minute, 'cos your heart's not in it,' serves as sound cautionary advice to any vainglorious college swanker out there.
Continue reading: Vant - Dumb Blood Album Review
Mariachi El Bronx Lead Latest Additions To Reading & Leeds Festival 2015 Line-Up
By Holly Williams in Music / Festivals on 29 May 2015
They'll also be performing on the Lock Up stage as The Bronx.
Reading & Leeds Festival 2015's ever expanding line-up continues to grow with yet more acts announced to appear across the many stages; some of which are well-established, and some up-and-coming, but all definitely worth experiencing this year.
Kicking off proceedings, Mariachi el Bronx will be bringing a little Mexican spirit to the UK festival - which will be just as well if the English weather lets us down come August. They'll be joining headliners Metallica, Mumford & Sons and The Libertines, plus many more top billing artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Alt J and Bring Me The Horizon.
Continue reading: Mariachi El Bronx Lead Latest Additions To Reading & Leeds Festival 2015 Line-Up