PUNKTASTIC 13.03

Hello, and welcome back to our third compilation of the year.

Our Editor Tom Aylott has been in Japan all month, and hes left us in charge of 13.03. Introducing new bands is a hugely important part of Punktastic, without new bands, who is there to get excited about?

Lots of differing styles for you this month. From theelectronica-fuelled Anavae, the eery punk tones of Baby Ghosts, or Fake Clubs balls-out rock, weve got you covered.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy some outstanding new music.

Chris & the Punktastic team

INTRODUCTION

01. Anavae Invaesion

02. Attention Thieves Cant See The Light

03. Baby Ghosts Heaven Is A Place In Space

04. Dying Breeds Church Of The Saturday Saints

05. Fake Club Over and Over

06. Grappler Im Everything I Ever Feared

07. Gunning For Tamar Yogging

08. Hold The Fight Face It Kid, You Cant Build a Bridge out of Algebra

09. Orestea Miss Catastrophe

10. Reaper In Sicily Horizons

11. Scholars More Medicine

12. Summerslam88 This Song Is Not About Lloyd Dobler

13. Watch Commander Getting Old

TRACKLISTING

01. AnavaeInvaesion

To put it simply, this song is huge. It has a massive electro influence throughout, and quite honestly Rebecca Need-Menears vocals blew us away. We do admit that its a bit of a leftfield choice and not all of you listening will get on with it, but hey, the point of these compilations is to get new music into your ears where you wouldnt normally take notice.

Anavae formed in late 2011, releasing their first EP Into the Aether the following year. Since then theyve gone from strength to strength, getting featured in the press until in January 2013 they signed with the guys over at LAB

Records. They released their first single Storm Chaser last month.

The future seems especially bright for this lot. Theyve hit a niche which hasnt been fully explored yet, and we think it works really well. Make sure you keep an eye out for them.

facebook.com/Anavae

02. Attention Thieves Cant See The Light

Following in the steps of Deaf Havana and You Me at Six, Attention Thieves are a band who seem just the on the cusp of becoming the next big British rock band.

Formed in 2010, theyre a four piece rock band from Reading. So far their career has seen them play the likes of Reading and Leeds Festival and Redfest, as well as receiving support from the likes of Daniel P. Carter and Edith Bowman on Radio 1.Just a few weeks ago, we persuaded them to play a Punktastic Presents event for us

in London. Surely the highlight of their bright and upcoming careers.

facebook.com/AttentionThieves

03. Baby Ghosts Heaven is a Place in Space

Salt Lake Citys own Baby Ghosts provided the track Heaven Is a Place in Space for us this month, and its led to us coin a new genre. You heard it here first: Eerie Punk.

The band met a few years ago through chance meetings, but it led to recording some DIY tapes and a CD before going on short tours around America. They told us that all we really wanted to do was make music that was fun and loud. They come across a bunch of friends who definitely enjoy making music together.Nevertheless, theres a serious underlying to the track theyve chosen for us. The song is really

about not knowing what happens after you die. Most of our songs have silly-sounding lyrics (because thats what they are), but they are usually about serious things in my mind. Keep that in mind when youre listening because it gives Baby Ghosts a whole new dimension.

facebook.com/Baby-Ghosts

04. Dying Breeds Church of the Saturday Saints

Since they got together about 5 years ago, Dying Breeds have evolved from a pop-punkabilly a genre they say they invented by themselves into a sea of related genres. Its their way of pushing their own abilities and keeping their music fresh.

The band started out as two friends with acoustic guitars and no drums, a truckload of acoustic showcase nights, and a variety of opening slots. Later the band agreed their full line up and signed to Intruder Records in 2010, releasing three singles and a full length album. The band are

constantly gigging and recording, but by the end of this year theyre hoping to have two new split EPs out, as well as one of their own.The song they submitted for us is titled Church of the Saturday Saints, a song written about the darker side of faith and how open interpretation of any religious teachings can be a dangerous game.

facebook.com/DyingBreeds

05. Fake Club Over and Over

When we turned our attention to this compilation this month, we knew straight away we wanted to get Fake Club involved. Their brand of snotty punk rock is one of the more exciting things weve heard recently.

The song weve got for you here is their new single Over and Over. The band explain that its predominantly about giving up growing old. And on the lyrics: You say you wanna live, you nev-er wanna die is about living life with the vigour and spirit of immortality even though we all know inside of us the day will come that we are over and over

and over and under.

Were confident youre going to hear a lot more from them in 2013.

facebook.com/FakeClubBand

06. GrapplerIm Everything Ive Ever Feared

London/Leeds based Hardcore mob Grappler have been around as a band for near on four years now. After recording two small EPs, theyre on the brink of releasing their debut 12 vinyl titled Everything Ive Ever Feared through Dog Knights Productions. If you like what you hear, you can catch them touring the UK throughout April on the back of the record.

The song theyve given us for the compilation is the title track off the record, Im Everything Ive Ever Feared. Its a fierce follow up to their last EP Callow, after the

naivety and lack of experience felt by our vocalist at the time. This new record carries on from that theme, but instead focuses on the disappointment of growing up and realising how far from your younger selfs aspirations you have strayed. Theyre not afraid to open up, telling us that this track is the climax of that [feeling of] disappointment.

facebook.com/grappleruk

07. Gunning For Tamar Yogging

Gunning For Tamar are a band who formed around two years ago, and in that short space of time theyve got a lot done.

Originally signed to Walnut Tree Records, the band say weve constantly found ourselves touring in our trusty van since the very beginning. It better be trusty, because now they find themselves neck deep in a 35 date UK/EU tour through 9 different countries. And dont forget theyre now releasing their second EP Camera Lucida through Alcopop Records.It seems their songwriting process can take a long time to hit a point where the band are satisfied. We

tend to alter/ get bored of/ discard a lot of ideas before were all happy.

The track theyve submitted is called Yogging and it was one of those that just felt right. It was one of the songs that came together really quickly, with every part fitting in its right place without any pain.

facebook.com/gunningfortamar

08. Hold The Fight Face It Kid, You Cant Build A Bridge Out Of Algebra

Hold The Fight began out as a duo from Eastbourne playing music together in 2010, but after becoming a trio in March last year things have started to progress quickly. The band have played numerous tours up and down the UK as well as recording and self-releasing a mini album.

The song theyve given us is the catchily titled Face It Kid, You Cant Build a Bridge Out Of Algebra. Quite simply, its about moving on from the people and bad experiences that threaten to drag you down.

After a few bad experiences last year, vocalist/guitarist, Laurie found himself turning to the band to help keep him positive. The song is about finding self-belief enough to realise that the bad things that happen in life can only make you stronger if you move past them, its about taking that negativity and forging it into something beautiful and serene.

facebook.com/holdthefight

09. OresteaMiss Catastrophe

The name Orestea has been going around for four years, but the band has suffered from a lack of stabil-ity due to a few line-up changes. However, it seems theyve now found some even ground with a line-up that has remained the same since the beginning of 2012.

As an unsigned pop-rock band, Orestea have a some pretty im-pressive achievements. Theyve played stages at Bloodstock and Download Festival, released two albums and two EPs, and played a bunch of DIY tours in the UK. Their drive and determination is admirable.

The song weve got here is Miss Catastrophe, and its a bit of an in-joke. We have the worst luck of any band I have ever known. Every single tour we have done has been riddled with injuries, illness, hos-pital trips, broken down vehicles, keys getting locked in the back of the van, stolen wallets etc. All good though - theyre quick to point out that these are the memo-rable moments of life on tour, and theyre always good for a laugh later.

facebook.com/Oresteaband

10. Reaper In SicilyHorizons

Reaper In Sicily formed in 2009, hailing from Aberdare in South Wales. In that time theyve seen major highs and major lows.

Their first year was a knockout, signing a deal with Search and Destroy Records, appearing on Kerrang TV and Radio 1 amongst others.

However, 2010 was a testing year for the band, after guitarist Mat-thew Jenkins was diagnosed with leukemia. They immediately went on hiatus until his recovery, and their comeback at Reading and Leeds Festival.

The band will release their debut album Islands in June this year and theyve given us their forth-coming single Horizons for the compilation. In a roundabout way, it related to us as well with our addiction and frustration with music. Have a listen.

facebook.com/Reaperinsicily

More Medicine11. Scholars

Scholars are a five piece rock band from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. They started life six years ago as unnecessarily widdly pop rock band but after a handful of shows both their singer and guitarist left the band within the space of a month. After some perseverance and some recommendations, the line-up was completed once more as a four piece.

From here the band toured with the likes of Don Broco and Hundred Reasons and recruited a second guitarist. 2012 was especially eventful due to the loss of yet another guitarist and and

recording an album. So its not all been plain sailing for the boys in Scholars, but theyve since found a new guitarist and are gearing up for the album release.

More Medicine is a song about the terrifying, sterile nature of the hospital explains vocalist Sam Nichols. I wanted to portray that sort of paranoid, helpless feeling when the life of a loved one is in the hands of total strangers.

facebook.com/Scholars

12. SummerSlam88This Songs Is Not About Lloyd Dobler

Brighton posi pop-punk SummerSlam88 formed from the ashes of several punk and ska bands in 2012. They describe their sound as a mix of Bouncing Souls and Kid Dynamite.

This is song, true to its name, not about Lloyd Dobbler (were not too sure who he might be at the moment!) but you should probably listen to it and then watch Say Anything.

There is a low budget, DIY video for this track on YouTube that the band suggest you check out to get a real feel for the track.

facebook.com/SummerSlam88

Getting Old13. Watch Commander

First getting together in January 2011, Watch Commander are a band formed out of the ashes of previous Worcester bands. In just seven weeks, the band had already recorded a four track demo and now felt comfortable looking for shows. Another four song EP came later, and before long Watch Commander had started writing songs for their debut album, Clock and Compass, which was released in July last year.

The last song on our compilation is called Getting Old and its taken from their forthcoming split 7 release, out digitally on April 5th

through Cats? Aye! Records.This song was the first full-band song I had written in about a year, after a period of not writing anything for a long time. So while the song is essentially about what it can mean to get older, its also about embracing age as a good thing: because we realise whats most important to us and shape our lives around those things.

facebook.com/WatchComm

Thanks for taking the time to read this magazine and listen to our third compilation of 2013.

If your band would like to be on one of our monthly compilations, then please email a song and a bit about

yourselves over to tom.aylott@punktastic.com.