MAGAZINE: April / May 2011 Issue Of Rip It Up In Stores Now

The new issue of Rip It Up features an exclusive talk with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters following their benefit gig in Auckland. Inside, Grohl shares rare insights on family, the new Wasting Light album, and his love of New Zealand.

There’s also big stories on Avalanche City, Disturbed, PNC, Liam Gallagher’s new project - Beady Eye, Erakah, Vince Harder, Luger Boa, Disturbed, Cavalera Conspiracy, 2011 Comedy Fest profiles and a stack load more.

We've also got heaps of prizes including Converse Chucks signed by Ivy Lies, movie tickets, DVDs and heaps more.

The exclusive Foo Fighters issue of Rip It Up - out now.

FOO FIGHTERS
Some things just seem to get better with age and experience, like fine wine or good sex. It’s the same with the Foo Fighters - judging by their comeback gig at London’s Wembley Arena a few weeks ago, and their recent performance in Auckland at their Christchurch Earthquake Benefit Gig.

Although they haven’t played together for nearly two years, since their last album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, their long overdue return, with an incendiary performance at Wembley, showed how much ringleader Dave Grohl, Pat Smear (guitar), Taylor Hawkins (drums), Nate Mendel (bass) and Chris Shiflett (lead guitars) have been missed.

It was clear that the Foo Fighters were enjoying being back on the road together again, following Grohl’s temporary detour to play drums for the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. It was also a chance for them to celebrate the return of Pat Smear to the line-up after his shock departure in 1997, and they did so in style with a setlist that bulged with classic Foo Fighters’ tracks like ‘This Is A Call’, ‘Times Like These’, ‘Best Of You’ and ‘No Way Back/Cold Day In The Sun’, as well as their latest single ‘Rope’ and other rousing anthems like ‘These Days’ and ‘White Limo’ from their arresting new album, Wasting Light.
Read the full feature by Des Sampson in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

BEADY EYE
After Oasis acrimoniously imploded just before they were about to headline the Rock en Seine festival in August 2009, nobody thought that Liam Gallagher would be the first one to strike out on his own. Following Noel Gallagher’s shock walkout however, the remaining Oasis members - Liam, guitarist Gem Archer, bassist Andy Bell and drummer Chris Sharrock - immediately regrouped as Beady Eye.

18 months later, as the world still waits for Noel’s first solo offering, the quartet have released their debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding on their own label, Beady Eye Records. We spoke to Archer in the middle of Beady Eye’s inaugural British tour last month, which saw the four piece greeted by partisan crowds enthusiastically chanting, “Beady fucking aye!”. The weeklong jaunt culminated with a triumphant gig at intimate east London venue the Troxy, which prompted the Evening Standard to declare: “there is life after Oasis".
Read the full feature by Stephen Jewell in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

THE VACCINES
In the last few years, a pandemic’s spread like a plague through British pop - an insidious desire to unearth and unleash the ‘next big thing’. However, amid the hysteria and hyperbole of reality TV, tabloid press and the NME, the BBC’s annual Sounds of… tipster’s poll proudly stands as a sentinel. Having previously launched acts like Keane, Franz Ferdinand, Duffy, Florence and the Machine, Adele and the Ting Tings, it unerringly shortlists the true, top contenders for brightest newcomers of the year ahead.

Although this year’s Sounds of 2011 winner was maverick singer/songwriter Jessie J, it’s her third-placed, London neighbours The Vaccines whose selection has been met with a fevered buzz. It’s been the same story ever since they emerged with a cache of infectious alt-pop gems in mid-2010 and were tipped for the top by everyone who’s anyone - including ex-pat kiwi and BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. He named their demo ‘If You Wanna’ his Hottest Record in the World in August 2010, and their debut record What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? as his album of the week.
Read the full feature by Des Sampson in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

STATE OF MIND
Nil By Ear is Auckland drum n bass team State of Mind's third studio album. Following on from Take Control and Faster Than Light, it sees this internationally respected production/DJing duo (Stuart Maxwell and Pat Hawkins) collaborating with a range of local and international singers, MCs and studio beatmakers. Titled Nil By Ear for a reason - the album's name is intended to bring the state of modern musical culture into public discussion.

As Maxwell explains, "This is our way of explaining that we don't think people listen for themselves anymore. People nowadays, with their music tastes, they don't really go out and look through CDs or research bands and decide what they like. It just seems to be whatever has the most YouTube views is what is popular. We think this is sad, because the internet was supposed to revolutionise our access to information. In a way, we have gone right back full circle. It used to be the corporate companies who would dictate what was big and people went along with it. Now it just seems to be what is big on YouTube is what is big. People are so lazy and spoon-fed that they just click, and whatever is popular is what they know."
Read the full feature by Martyn Pepperell in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

GANG GANG DANCE
Experimental New York band Gang Gang Dance are most commonly known for the illegal, and unacknowledged, use of part of their song ‘House Jam’ by Florence Welch on her chart topping hit ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’. The English superstar apologised last year, and argued that her use of the cut was simply an acknowledgement of her admiration for Gang Gang Dance’ output.

On their fifth (not taking into account the myriad of singles and EPs the group released before their debut in 2008), studio album Eye Contact, the band are taking things - in lead singer Lizzie Bougatsos’ own words - into a new stratosphere. “With this album we really tried to enter a different realm, like go into the stratosphere. You know, feel elevated into another place and who knows, maybe it’s another planet? I just think that’s kind of what happened with Eye Contact - we opened our eyes to a new planet, to a new geosphere. Yeah, that’s what happened.”
Read the full feature by Courtney Sanders in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

LUGER BOA
For those unfamiliar with Luger Boa, the act is led by ex-D4 member Jimmy Christmas, who formed it after the D4 decided to take an indefinite break. He has described his new band as “pop-oriented”, but with the “intensity of the D4”. Their debut album Mutate Or Die was released in 2009 and saw them hit the road for what seemed like months on end.

Now, after many years playing with a band renowned for the chaotic nature of their onstage delivery, Christmas is in a very considered, organised place, and clearly relishing the chance to take charge of his own destiny via Luger Boa’s newest release, New Hot Nights.
Read the full feature by Helene Ravlich in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

FLEET FOXES
It’s possible that indie folksters Fleet Foxes, along with Zach Galifianakis, could be to blame - or thank, depending on your preference - for the beardy, plaid wearing hipster trend that’s rippled its way around indie folk world over the last few years. When the act released their eponymous debut album in 2008 they basically bumped folk - and its aforementioned accessories - into the mainstream. Both the album and their Sun Giant EP were met with widespread critical and popular acclaim. Three years on, and Fleet Foxes finally have a follow up, Helplessness Blues, in the can. According to frontman Robin Pecknold, long hours spent touring and a stuffy nose are to blame for the wait.
Read the full feature by Sarah Illingworth in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.

ERAKAH
Talking to Erakah mere weeks before the release of her long awaited and debut album Infatuated, one can’t help but note that anxiety over the critical and audience reception of the album is taking its toll. “I’m really nervous", says the singer. “I think the excitement will come when I have the physical copy in my hands, and it’s out there. That’s when I’ll breath a sigh of relief”.

That she’s nervous is unsurprising. The road to here has been one carved by determination, and the belief that if you work hard enough you can do anything - and it’s a road Erakah has, to a large extent, carved out alone. She saved $1000 of her own money from an inglorious nine to five position to record her first demo. “I’ve always pushed and pushed, and tried to strive forward by myself”, she explains. “I just never thought anyone would help me and I didn’t know there was any help - I didn’t know about APRA, NZ On Air, [and] Creative New Zealand. All I knew was how to save up my own money, so that’s what I did. I’ve always believed in finding your own way to do something and this is what has worked for me”.
Read the full feature by Courtney Sanders in the April / May 2011 issue of Rip It Up. Out now.