Let's get topical!

I've decided that since I've graduated from university, and as such have a bit more free time, that I should be contributing more to the big wide world of opinionated blogging. Here I tackle recent musical topics and point some fingers.

Royal Blood

"Rock is finally dead" - Gene Simmons, 2014

Gene Simmons has made some outrageous claims in the past, and he has added to this list by confirming the demise of a genre he helped contribute significantly to. He might have polluted his brain throughout his sex-fuelled 40+ years in the music business, hence the backlash to his remarks with regards to the state of rock music, but he has seen it all and has lived through many different waves of musical trends.

Well, if there's one band out there that are proving Mr Simmons wrong, it is definitely the dynamic duo Royal Blood.

The outfit hail from Brighton, and have only technically been a band for two years. Combining a love of garage-based riff rock with tight grooves Josh Homme would be proud of, they have taken the UK by storm, grabbing the airwaves by the bollocks and saying "now listen here closely pal, and prepare to have your eardrums burst!".

These guys have smashed the barriers of the mainstream to pieces, and after a lengthy summer festival circuit playing at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Download and T in the Park amongst others, they're one of the hardest working bands around today. This hard work has paid dividends though, and when they announced their UK tour at the start of September, the whole tour was to sell out in less than two minutes. Questions needed to be asked once tickets that were originally on sale for around £20 were now being sold for up to £300 on what can only be described as tout websites. If you too share my frustration about these evil corporations, or aren't totally educated on just how corrupt the live music industry is, please watch (or skim through) this video on the Viagogo Ticket Scandal.

Nevertheless, I really recommend you give these guys a listen. You will not regret it, I swear. My sincerest apologies if you're not 100% satisfied.

Glastonbury Festival 2015

Like many of you who have a similar interest in attending a music festival, I'm sure that applying for a ticket for Glastonbury is high on your agenda. The bookies are already going crazy, and amongst others, have Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, Muse, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, U2, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay and Depeche Mode listed as the potential headliners, but there can be only three. 

Out of that group, I'd say that AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac and Foo Fighters are the most likely to headline. AC/DC have never headlined the hallowed turf of Somerset before, but are a class act and would draw in many fans for a full blown set of rock n'roll, but I do wonder what with Malcolm Young retiring from the group due to illness, maybe it might scupper their plans. Fleetwood Mac have been on the rumour list for a long time, but recently said that they would headline Glastonbury if Michael Eavis provided them with wellies first, which is basically a "come and get me" plea to Mr Eavis. And finally the Foos, who I have always been a huge fan of. The American rockers have headlined pretty much every festival in the world, apart from Glastonbury that is, so they're long overdue a headline slot. They plan to drop their eighth album 'Sonic Highways' in November, with Dave Grohl professing that they have huge plans for the upcoming year, so maybe a headline show is on the cards.

Radiohead though... maybe. I bloody hope so.