Lesson No.1

THE LOW END FEAR ‘EE

2012-01-17T21:15:00.000Z

OK, so basically the deal with this gig is that it’s an identical lineup to one that took place in October, which was written about here, which is comfortably still on the front page of this blog. If you want to know why it’s being done again, I guess try and find the thread for the original gig on Southwalesmassive for (some would say) an overly comprehensive explanation.

Long story short, Conan drove down from Liverpool just to play the show, played for about ten minutes and were physically coerced into stopping by the relief* landlord of the venue, who had been drinking solidly for something like 15 hours, due to Wales’ world cup game that day. Then they drove back to Liverpool again. What a rip! Well they didn’t want to leave things hanging like this, neither did the folks who organised the show, and the fine Swalian metal/punk/whatever dudes who attended didn’t really get to see the headline band. So we booked CONAN, ZONDERHOOF and PUS into Buffalo for Sun 22 Jan – that’s THIS SUNDAY – and will be letting you in for only TWO QUID.

In exchange you will get to see three kickass bands do their thing, and no staff members will be drunk to the point of abject incapability. Regarding the bands themselves, most of what I wrote a few months back still applies, I think: Conan have finished recording their new album, which might be their debut depending if you think four-song, 30-minute slabs of stone called ‘Horseback Battle Hammer’ are albums or not, and will doubtless be playing a wedge of it. Pus have continued to get glowing reviews for their debut EP, likewise Zonderhoof for their ‘Hakken!’ full-length.

Basically it would be really neat if you could go to this and finish off a job that was left incomplete by the vagaries of the pub/gig interface. Don’t blame pubs, though. They’re not the guilty party here.

*this means that he isn’t the normal landlord, and this sort of thing doesn’t normally happen. I went to see Diet Pills and others in there about six weeks afterwards, it was just as loud, and everyone was good people.

GUEST BLOG PARAISO

2011-11-10T08:21:00.001Z

The title of this entry is a pun on ‘Guest House Paradiso’, which is a movie from the late 90s that’s basically a feature-length episode of ‘Bottom’. It may have made you think that it was going to be written by someone who isn’t me (Noel who does Lesson No.1). Sadly it is still me, but in a sense I am a guest of Paul from Burial Chamber, in that he booked a show for ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO UFO, and invited me to help him out, by doing things such as writing this blog post.

This show is in Bridgend because Paul has an affinity with the place, I think, and especially the venue it’s in, Hobos. I’ve never even been to Bridgend, but I will be getting the train after work, which runs regularly and is a piece of piss from Cardiff. You can do it too. AMT will easily finish in time for you to get the last train back. Let’s talk about them! Acid Mothers Temple, that is, not trains.

What you might know about them, and/or the stuff that should probably be talked about first anyway: they come from Japan. They’ve released records in the mid-90s, and absolutely bonkers amounts of them. You don’t have to worry about getting them all, really, but they have a surprisingly high quality threshold considering their prolific nature. Their music runs from classic psychedelia to free improv to heavy riffing stoner thud-rock to intense drone pieces to a bunch of other stuff. They often give their stuff titles parodying some of their favourite bands, with Pink Floyd and King Crimson coming in for treatment especially – the album they’re currently touring (on the Riot Season label) is called ‘The Ripper At The Heaven’s Gates Of Dark’. They are just DEVESTATING live, and while they play for ages (expect anything between 80 minutes and two hours on Mon 14, I reckon), they shapeshift and switch up so lithely and electrically, time will just fly by.

South Wales-wise, they’ve done three Cardiff dates and a Carmarthen one, by my reckoning, although nowt since 2008. (The last one, in Clwb Ifor Bach, I chiefly recall in the context of the huge Cymdeithias banners that were hung behind them onstage. I’m sure they do indeed care deeply about the preservation of the Welsh language.) People who’ve seen them on this tour – they’re already in the UK – have assured us that they’re killing it. This will seriously rearrange your head in ways that you will only understand once it’s happened. ALSO! As it stands the real, no-foolin’ Nik Turner out of HAWKWIND is set to rock up on the night and play some of his underground psych sax blare onstage with ‘em. I mean, this kind of thing is pretty ad hoc, but he asked the band to play, this isn’t some desperate hype ploy.

Add BEAR-MAN to this cauldron of excitement, as they are tonight’s support. If you ask me, they make a lot of sense. Here’s what I wrote when they played with Drum Eyes in Buffalo earlier this year: “Bear-Man are a Cardiff-based trio who are playing their debut show. They feature ex/current members of The Martini Henry Rifles and Brown Wings, but don’t sound much like those bands. Exciting free improv guitar-drum-knobs blowouts are the name of the game – think, let’s say, Ultralyd, Aufgehoben, The Dead C, Sunburned... to kick you off. They have a cassette release coming soon on Cardiff’s rad Phantomhead label.”

That cassette has now been out the best part of a year, and was/is dope; you might be able to buy it somewhere still, but if not check this. You will however be wanting a wad of notes for the Acid Mothers distro table, which tends to groan under the weight of virgin vinyl and lurid tripster colour schemes.

BONEHEADS’ BANK HOLIDAY [N.B. NOT A BANK HOLIDAY]

2011-10-19T23:40:00.001Z

To be honest with you, I just came in from a really disappointing gig – Tropics, as in the dude who just had an album out on Planet Mu; the album is totally worth hearing but I’m not feeling his indie-jazz-funk thing as a live trio at all – so I’m gonna try and get buoyed by writing about the Swn show we have coming up this Friday (Oct 21). And then go to bed.

SKULL DEFEKTSare a band from Gothenburg in Sweden who started out in the mid-00s as a CDR-releasing, pedal-mangling, endurance-testing totem of noise-rock. Over time, they have become... well, not exactly accessible, but more alive to recognisable ‘rock’ idioms, with occasional non-epic song lengths. This has most recently culminated in two records on the Thrill Jockey label, ‘Peer Amid’ and ‘2013-3012’, which have former Lungfish singer Daniel Higgs on vocals. They have proved a mystically excellent match, which makes it a great shame to tell you that Higgs won’t be here with them at Buffalo. (More so since the Daniel Higgs Trio show we did in April – don’t look for it on this blog, I never got round to writing about it – was half-ruined by non-payers talking over it.) Anyway, they will crunch and drone (they have a CD called ‘The Drone Drug’, which I think might be a personal ‘classic album title’) and freak and riff to the point of euphoria. They have a dude who used to be in Kid Commando in the band! Lesson No.1 put them on in 2005, they were great but the show was crappy. I bet he doesn’t even remember. Union Carbide Productions and Anti-Cimex (!!!) too. I think some of them might be pretty OLD. I can’t wait to greet them!

THE GOOD WIFE don’t have anyone from bands that ~seminal~, but they are fronted by a super guy called Emile, who used to sing and do karate kicks in Chariots. By their own admission, they don’t play anywhere near enough – the last time they were in this region, I think, was early 2008 supporting Cursed. Since then they’ve released a 7” on the Superfi label, and also have an album pretty much ready to go. Sludgy jazz noiserock uncompromisability is their game, pal. ‘An Evil Heat’ meets ‘My War’ meets ‘Liar’ is the hyperbole I’m sticking with, and if you’re immediately turned off by the fucking arrogance of writing those album titles like they’re household names, then buck up your Googling skills before it’s too late and you’ve missed the band.

Also do not miss BRANDYMAN, the cucumber down the crotch of rock’n’roll. This is their first show since March, on account of member kerfuffle – they currently have one of Shaped By Fate and one of The Death Of Her Money, as well as DC Gates (Gindrinker) and Ben Woods (Truckers Of Husk, FTSE100), but should still bring the same precise beatdown of gnarly riffology. They are going to be on at about 7.30, The Good Wife at maybe 8.30, Skull Defekts around 9.30. Early finish. If you don’t have a Swn wristband, I think it’s gonna be £7 on the door. Go somewhere else after, maybe one of the other Swn things.

DOT.CROM START UP

2011-10-06T19:28:00.002Z

Just over a year ago Lesson No.1 helped some folks out with a Cardiff show for a band called CONAN, who come from Liverpool and play bone-meltingly powerful sludged-out doom metal. I don’t know if everywhere they play gets this treatment, but they helped increase their affability by posting on local messageboard Southwalesmassive in the style of some kind of comedy Norse warrior. Because they’re called Conan, I suppose. Anyhoo, it all helped get folks’ dander up for the show, which was in Buffalo and owned hard.

Since then, Conan have incrementally increased their standing in the doom community by a combo of rare-but-valuable shows, and good auld word of mouth. They’ve also added to the one release they had in 2010 – a lumbering four-song half-hour monster called ‘Horseback Battle Hammer’ which I reviewed here – in the form of a split album with oppressively bleak Irishmen Slomatics. It’s out on Head Of Crom (12”) and Burning World (CD) and I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to buy both at this show happening on Saturday.

Support this time round comes from ZONDERHOOF, a Cardiff band who have been (at) large in the city since the middle of last decade. If you’d gone to WH Smugs and bought last month’s issue of Terrorizer magazine, which usefully has been taken off the shelves literally today as I type, you would have got a FREE copy of ‘Hakken!’, their debut album. Instead, you can buy it in a proper case at the show or from Undergroove, the label boss of whom is a Terrorizer staff member. HE’S TRYING TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING GOOD FOR FREE, DUMBASSES. Oh yeah, what does their music sound like? Fine and bottom-heavy rumbling instrumental metal averaging about seven and a half minutes per song, with a Melvins jones but much for fans of Keelhaul, Capricorns, Neurosis, Loincloth und so weiter. They don’t play live enough, so come out and pay respect.

First on (probably a wee bit after 8pm) are PUS, who were also one of the supports last time out. They’ve got t’ings done since then, too – notably their debut EP, which came out on Universal Tongue/Feretro a couple of months back, and has been awarded glowing reviews by the doom community (them again). Some people seem to think that blazing up 24/7 is crucial to its appreciation, but I don’t think it’s necessary to shut out cowards like me in that way. “Relentlessly tranced out black dirge, doomy and psychedelic, mesmerizing and hypnotic,” is another line from a review, though, and I’m pretty well on board with that.

So yeah. This is once again only a fiver to get in, the drinks are cheaper here and it’s a Saturday. If you’ve already given yourself over to the Michael Forever concert in the Millennium Stadium, perhaps as a result of working in one of the companies that got free tickets for every employee as they literally can’t give them away, then... sux2BU.

SHINE CAUSE I GRIND

2011-08-27T19:23:00.000Z

What sort of music do people think of when they think of Cardiff-based gig promotions entity Lesson No.1? It is not a question you expect to be asked. Maybe a better one would be “do people think of Cardiff-based gig promotions entity Lesson No.1 at all?” Whatever, if you’re reading this you’re thinking of it. Right? But your answer to the original question will probably not be “incredibly deranged and badass 30-second-song grindcore,” and that is fair enough... as long as it doesn’t stop you from coming to see this blitzin’ four-band bill on Thurs 1 Sept, headlined by Singapore dealers of disgustingness WORMROT.

Grindcore has been a properly global scene for at least the last 20 years, having been galvanised by tape-trading, zines etc. Being angry about social injustice is a truly cross-cultural pursuit, as is watching gross gory movies, so no wonder that you can find grind in nearly every nation on earth. Wormrot formed in 2007 and quickly got to work releasing EPs and splits; in 2009 Digby from Earache Records got in touch after hearing them on the internet, and Earache reissued their debut album, ‘Abuse’, the following year. ‘Dirge’, its followup, came out a few months ago, and is just as crushing – 18 minutes, 25 songs, incredibly exhilarating energy and precision, production by a chainsaw with 10,000% perfect hearing.

It’s funny. If Earache Records had never got started, Wormrot might not play the music they do now – Napalm Death, Carcass and others would have surely found an outlet for their grind prototypes, but without Digby’s dedication, who knows what might have happened to the scene. And yet the label has been through the wringer like almost no other since the early 90s, earning a reputation best described as ‘mixed’. Even amid the Ademas and Adrenalin Junkies, though, there’s always been some decent-to-great stuff on the roster, and it’s telling on some level that the two grind bands Earache have released in the last few years – Wormrot and Insect Warfare, who Lesson No.1 put on in 2009 – have been two of the realest motherfuckers active in the genre. Moreover, if being on Earache has helped Wormrot get over to the UK, then you don’t know how damn lucky you are.

In the support ‘slots’ are three of the raddest examples of the worldwide grind aesthetic in the 2010s. EVISORAX are from Wigan and have shifted genre priorities in recent times, from brutal (or maybe even br00tal) death metallisms to musclebound technical grindcore. This has much to do with a rejigged lineup that features ex-members of Narcosis – who also got a discography issued on Earache a while back, and also owned – and post-Narcosis outfit the Ergon Carousel. They have an album called ‘Isle Of Dogs’, which it says here is out on the actual day of this show! They’re the UK tour support, too, so expect no slacking from them, else Wormrot will make them look like CHUMPS.

The other two bands on the bill, THE ATROCITY EXHIBIT and ATOMÇK , have in fact just been tour partners themselves, on a continental jaunt that took in the legendary Obscene Extreme festival. The former of those bands come from Northampton and Milton Keynes, and also have a bit of death metal in their DNA, while also touching on overdriven crust battery. They have a few EPs out there somewhere, and a three-way split thingy with Magpyes and Jesus Of Spazzereth (I just like typing their name). As for Atomçk, I wrote some blurbabout them less than a month ago, which obviously still applies... EXCEPT they sorely need a new drummer, as the current dude is going to explode after this show. In fact, they’re saying that if no-one steps up to the stool, this might be one of their last gigs EV-ARRRRGGGGHHH. So if you like this kind of music and can play a fucking blastbeat, get in touch with the band on their Facebook page or whatever.

AREA MEN

2011-08-03T18:50:00.004Z

You don’t have to be a man to go to this of course, that would be completely insane and inviting a world of trouble, but it is undeniable that over the course of this six-hour extravaganza, you will be seeing nothing but penises onstage. Or you would if all the bands played in the nude. MOVING SWIFTLY ON, this show focuses on the local (to South Wales, in origin at the very least) and the heavy. Lesson No.1’s name is on the poster but thanks be to Chi of Spider Kitten for the day’s name, the 90s-tastic Loserpalooza; Rhys from Pus for the psych-tabulous poster; and the bands in general for spending the last three months hyping it. Now all it needs is for you to attend.

Here, I shall attempt to explain why you should, one band/sentence at a time. You might have seen some or all of these before, but some don’t get to play as often as they should – Pus haven’t ‘done’ Cardiff this year, for example – and you might have missed others because they opened the bill or something. Today you should have no excuse (disregard if you have an actual excuse), as it’s a Saturday and is supposedly gonna be nice weather. It’s £6 on the door, which is a pound per band, or get a £5 ticket from the link on the right. This is how it will happen.

THORUN: Cardiff quartet play music which has no vocals but speaks through the medium of epic stoner rock, doom and classic metal (5pm).
PUS: incredibly zonged-out and oppressive lo-fi sludge with treats for fans of Eyehategod, Electric Wizard or Fleshpress, and a spanking new debut EP on the Universal Tongue label (5.45pm).
SMILER: frantic hardcore with overtones of crust, powerviolence, thrashcore and 90s UK fodder like Hard To Swallow, as showcased on their Seven Records mini-album ‘Con-Demned’ (6.30pm).
JIMMY ROWE: deeply rare live appearance by a dude who plays gravelly blues-rock that swings and twangs inna Creedence/Allman Bros/Peter Green manner (7.15pm).
SPIDER KITTEN: a decade deep as a band, their current lineup – featuring three guitarists and Chris ex of Taint on drums – is their most powerful yet, and their grungey invocations of psychedelic doominess will alter your head (8pm).
ATOMÇK: intense grindcore trio whose vocals/guitar/drums/no bass setup takes in ample proggish and noisy angles – a split with Spider Kitten exists, likewise one with Chicago’s Paucities and an EP on the Grindcore Karaoke label (9pm).

So there you go. If you don’t know, now you know, blog-reader. This is gonna be really good and it finishes early enough (10pm tops) for you to go and carry on partying.

BIG CAT DIARY

2011-07-07T18:14:00.003Z

Hi all! Welcome back to this sparsely updated 'weblog', on which I am going to make a note of a show we have... tomorrow. Maybe you've seen me pimping it on Facebook, or flyering people.

Anyway, here are the facts. It's upstairs at Buffalo in Cardiff on Friday 8th July. It costs £5 to get in, on the door (no advance tickets). It starts early, at 7pm, and finishes at 10pm - because Friday night is, for many people, club your troubles away night. I'm one of them. (Pro tip: after this, go to the Obey night in Undertone, it looks like it'll be deadly.) It is presented by me, Lesson No.1, and The Joy Collective, which is two or three or so people depending on which way the wind blows, and who I put on the totally great KELLIES with last month. There are three bands playing and these are they.

From Brighton, Cold Pumas play madly repetitive and shiny guitar abuse, locking down riffs that are both loudly motorik and shimmeringly melodic. They have releases on Upset The Rhythm and Faux Discx and make a hypnotic racket that fans of ABE VIGODA, BOREDOMS and SONIC YOUTH will lean into.

Friendo are another three-piece, this time from Calgary, Canada and featuring current or ex members of a million other bands (notably WOMEN, but also Azeda Booth, Topless Mongos, Puberty and more). Their scrappy rocking fits a band who started as an experiment in playing unfamiliar instruments: charming, dreamy home-recorded gold that might make you think of SEBADOH, VIVIAN GIRLS or early PAVEMENT.

Having just released two records on the exciting 10” format – one a split with Exeter band Kids return, one a five-tracker all to themselves – Welsh quartet Saturday’s Kids, who are in fact suitable for any day of the week, have ample evidence out there of their rampaging evolution. They still sound like a slashing noisy punk band a lot of the time, but are also indulging their taste for tricksy instrumental bits and quiet, measured guitar parts that fans of SONIC YOUTH, MOSS ICON or CODEINE might eff with.

CHEEKY ANTA

2011-05-06T10:31:00.010Z

Alright! This blog has been dormant since March, on account of Adam - half of Lesson No.1, and the half which took responsibility for the blog's upkeep - moving abroad. Also I (Noel, the other half) was too lazy to get on the case, even though I could have done. Anyway, we have a bunch of gigs booked from now until September (as it stands at the start of May) so I'll try and get this going a bit more, hopefully. We are on Facebook as well, but not everyone is, so yeah.

This is the next Lesson No.1 gig, and it takes place next Monday, May 9. Rhys, who plays in the band PUS, is responsible for much of the booking, and all of the poster designing. Damn he's good. Below you will find descriptions of all three bands on the bill, I hope they will whet your whistle.

ANTA
...Multi-discipline Bristol underground scene dudes (members of – and this won’t cover it by a long chalk – GONGA, GEISHA, ROSE KEMP’s band and BOXCAR ALDOUS HUXLEY), together as a settled quartet since 2009, play proper cosmic and totally unashamed prog rock with lots of synths and no singing. They have an album on the new DIOGENES label, a spinoff of Geoff Barrow’s INVADA, called ‘The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit’. You might well like it if you like KING CRIMSON, ANCESTORS (the Tee Pee ones), ASTRA (the Rise Above ones), TANGERINE DREAM or the last two COMETS ON FIRE albums. See'n'hear here

PUS
Is this the first show of 2011 for these scattered-around-South Wales doom dealing dudes? If it isn’t I will look stupid and/or forgetful. Pus are a quartet who play blackened crusty sludge metal with everything in the red. They have a demo called ‘Colin’, which you can probably still buy, and are recommended to fans of EYEHATEGOD, ELECTRIC WIZARD, WINTER, UNEARTHLY TRANCE etc. I give you sound.

THORUN
Big riffs bustin’ out of Orange amps from this band, who are again from a variety of locations in South Wales, and are still only a handful of gigs old. Thorun have a debut EP available to download free here - if you like KYUSS, SLEEP, KARMA TO BURN, SPIRIT CARAVAN and of course SABBATH you will be on pretty solid ground here. http://thorun.wordpress.com/

So there you go. Doors at 8pm, all done by 11, £4 on the door. Bosh.

LA POURSUITE DE L'EXCELLENCE

2011-03-01T10:04:00.007Z

Great to see about a million people at Les Savy Fav (well, 300-odd folks selling The Globe out, at least). Onwards to the next Lesson No.1 gig, which is this Wednesday (March 2), bringing back some visitors deep in our gig putting-on past...

Vialka make a thoroughly welcome return to South Wales. We put on this multi-discipline French duo back in the dark ages of 2005 and 2006. A lady, Marylise, plays frenetic drums; a gentleman, Eric, kicks out border-traversing punk rock guitar jams. There are jazzy math-rock bits, Eastern European turbofolk bits, some gypsy dancing (if yer lucky - seen 'em do it before) and Chinese-styled melodies from their time spent there. They are just TONS OF FUN. For fans of The Ex, Secret Chiefs 3, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Minutemen, Sun City Girls. Hear them do weird things here.

Threatmantics play their first Lesson No.1 show, and with a bit of luck they're as stoked about it as we are. It's said by some people that bilinguals are just greedy, but that's totally unfair on the Threatmantics, a band from Cardiff who sing in English and sometimes Welsh, and have done so since the middle of last decade. They have releases on the Double Six, Ciwdod and AM labels and you can probably buy them somewhere. They tell great stories through the medium of punky guitar and screechy viola, like The Velvet Underground and dEUS and Gorky's did. They also now feature Graf from Gindrinker and many other bands. Take a listen.

Brandyman make a final hurrah before one of their number ups sticks to London. This is the lowdown, if you believe Brandyman's own biog: About Brandyman // Biography // Retired early had triple bypass enjoying life to the full // Location // Orkney Islands // Interests // Touring and photography // Occupation // Retired. What's definitely true is you can get hold of some cracking free tracks this way.

The important details, in a nutshell: this is all at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm-10.30pm (early start and finish due to a clubnight afterwards), £5 on the door. You know you want to...

WHO ROCKS THE PARTY

2011-02-05T23:23:00.005Z

Every so often there's a gig possibility so exciting that Lesson No.1 would rather go in with some friends from round South Wales than see the band in question take their tour elsewhere. In past years, we've brought the likes of Lightning Bolt and Silver Jews to Cardiff aided by our departed compadres Forecast. Latterly, we've teamed up a good few times with their natural successors, Swn. And we come together again for this show detailed below, on Wednesday 23 February, alongside flux=rad.

Les Savy Fav are a band you don't quickly forget once experienced in the live environment. The Brooklyn crew ram art school smarts into spiky post-punk aesthetics, topped off with the poetic ramblings of bearded, burly frontman Tim Harrington over five albums and a bunch of incredible singles, EPs and compilations predominantly on Wichita and their own French Kiss label. But gigs are where things truly get interesting, Harrington a whirlwind of costumes, sweat and manic intent prone to invading the crowd more often than he stays onstage. The last time they played in South Wales, the best part of a decade ago, was a typically anarchic performance in Newport involving Harrington tying various onlooker to TJ's pillars with his mic cord. God only knows what he'll get up to in The Globe, but you probably won't even be safe on the balcony. Get an aural peek, if you don't already know, this way.

Young Legionnaire are LSF's tour support and current labelmates. Fused by a love of detuned guitars, maths formulas and volume, if you haven't heard of YL, you probably do know some of their past and current vehicles: the men in question are Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party), Paul Mullen (Yourcodenameis:milo/The Automatic) and some chap from La Roux's band. Education is available right here.

Truckers Of Husk are perennial Lesson No.1 favourites and complete the bill in their relatively new look incarnation, now permanently featuring Kelson Mathias of Future Of The Left/Jawcrew fame. We've lost count of how many occasions we've put them on, but the last time it was on a stage this big was opening our aforementioned Lightning Bolt show almost five years ago when they were but an itty-bitty baby of a band. Much has changed since then, as you can hear here.

All this is happening at The Globe, Albany Road, Cardiff from 7.30pm. Tickets, which cost £14, were still on sale at time of writing here but it seems there's every chance this will sell out before the night, so don't say we didn't warn you...

FUTURE POLICE

2010-12-30T12:41:00.009Z

Let's dispense with the fact that this is actually being written in the dying days of 2010 and get to the sharp end: welcome to 2011, Lesson No.1 style. Well, technically, Lesson No.1 AND The Joy Collective style, linking up with like-minded fellow Cardiff promoters for our first show of the new year, on Friday 21 January, to be precise.

Drum Eyes get the two-oh-eleven off to a flyer. As regular attendees at our shows (Sid and Doris Bonkers) may know, we ♥ the man who calls himself DJ Scotch Egg and put him on all the time. We didn’t in 2010, but we start 2011 off with the first Cardiff show for his awesome Krautrock-meets-noise ensemble in which he plays his trusty Gameboys alongside members of other bands including Boredoms and Trencher. Live they are towering and hypnotic, yet also sunny and rippling. For fans of Boredoms, Fuck Buttons, Shit+Shine, Hawkwind and the like. Their debut album is out now on the Upset The Rhythm label. Audio evidence in this general direction.

H. Hawkline = a nice Cardiff-based man called Huw, who also plays in Means Heinz and Sweet Baboo's band, joined by pals, including Sweet Baboo himself. They electrify his cosmic instrumental folk songs into gnarly Kraut-ish psychedelic epics, as showcased on an LP called ‘A Cup Of Salt’, out now (in wicked limited numbers) on the Shape label. Get Hawk ish on your speakers here.

Bear-Man are a Cardiff-based trio who are playing their debut show. They feature ex/current members of The Martini Henry Rifles and Brown Wings, but don’t sound much like those bands. Exciting free improv guitar-drum-knobs blowouts are the name of the game – think, let’s say, Ultralyd, Aufgehoben, The Dead C, Sunburned... to kick you off. They have a cassette release coming soon on Cardiff’s rad Phantomhead label. Until then, get an aural mauling over this way.

Last but certainly not least, we welcome DJ action from The Kingdom of smart Cardiff night Obey keeping the volume levels up between bands.

The need-to-know nitty-gritty: all this is happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, £6 on the door, and please take note of the times - 7pm to 10pm - as it's an early start and early curfew.

Oh, and while we're here, look top right of this page for the ever-growing list of (if we do say so ourselves) AWESOME Lesson No.1 shows upcoming in 2011. You can even buy advance tickets for four of them if you follow the obvious links (plus a special bargain dual combined ticket for our Liturgy and Cough gigs if you want to join us for two consecutive days of METAL!). Gonna be a vintage year, yo...

(And if you want a bit of a look back at the music that rocked our collective worlds during 2010, check two Lesson No.1-selected podcasts that are up now over here.)

BENEATH THE CRUST

2010-10-30T11:53:00.003Z

Congrats all round to everybody we put on at Swn, tearing good three days on the Lesson No.1 front right there; watch out for more of the same next October.

Thankfully you don't gotta wait that long for the next Lesson No.1 gig action, coming YOUR WAY on Thursday 25 November and we're properly counting off the days until this one...

Black Breath are incredible, incredibly raging bulldozer metal godliness from Seattle, featuring (ex) members of Shook Ones, Go It Alone, Blue Monday and other bands they don't sound like. On their two releases to date - 2008's 'Razor To Oblivion' EP, re-released last year by Southern Lord, and 2010's Kurt Ballou-produced debut album 'Heavy Breathing' - they mash up old skool Swedish death metal, crossover thrash, Japanese hardcore, crust and a bunch of other ish. Dirty and hairy but also impeccably focused. If you like metal, don't even think about missing this. MySpazz evidence is over here.

Shaped By Fate turn in a rare-ish hometown show, having spent much of 2010 writing and recording their second full-length album. We're pretty sure it's going to bang. They take influence from nasty hardcore, nastier metal and helpfully enough nasty metalcore (the sort that is good and doesn't have dayglo merchandise) and their shows tend to be mad lively. You may already know all that but if not get an aural taste.

33 are also making a fairly rare South Wales appearance. They started in Swansea and are now also based in Brecon and London. They feature current and ex-members of a bunch of bands, notably Captain Insano, Ironclad, Save Your Breath and Dukes Of Nothing (Tony Sylvester, their newest member, used to be in the latter. Anyone see DoN with Scissorfight in Swansea? That was great). They play fast and uncompromising hardcore nodding to the early 80s New York and Michigan scenes, among others. Respec' knuckles for having only one 30-second song on their MySpace.

Other things you need to know: this is all happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm doors (with an early-ish curfew as interesting dubstep dude James Blake is playing the clubnight afterwards). Tickets are £6 adv from this link here and £7 on the door.

THE IN SWN FROM WAY OUT

2010-10-18T03:12:00.007Z

It's that time of year again: welcome back the Swn festival, aka the biggest collection of bands to hit Cardiff annually. Lesson No.1 have sticky thumbs and wandering fingers in three shows this time around, something of a record contribution for us, so without further ado...

We peak earlier than a schoolboy spying on the girls' changing rooms on Thursday 21 October with this noisy beggar of trans-European scale.

Bellini allow us to break with blurb-style traditions. "This band should not be confused with the German dance act, 'Bellini', comprising two producers and three singer/dancers and famous for their football based hit, ‘Samba de Janeiro’ (1997)." We don’t make a habit of using Wikipedia to write our band blurbs, but on this occasion it comes correct. Bellini are a powerful and emotionally resonant band who play what could be described as ‘math-rock’, especially considering that they feature one member of Don Caballero and two of Uzeda – but there is none of the fiddly dryness sometimes associated with the genre, just wicked slicing riffs and lyrical word salad. Their newest member is Alexis Fleisig, who used to play drums for Girls Against Boys, and if you know that band you’ll know you’re gonna witness supreme sticksmanship. If you don't know any of the bands above, you should probably get to know.

Årabrot make an overdue Cardiff showing. A duo (sometimes a trio) who live in Oslo, they make what they call True Norwegian Noise Rock. Their albums – the finest of which are ‘The Brother Seed’ and the brand new ‘Revenge’ – combine scraping metallic fury and tortured vocals, harking back to the glory days of labels like Amphetamine Reptile and Skingraft. They have a personality and drive all of their own, though. Gonna get loud. And over this way it already is loud.

Wounds are a youngish crew from Dublin, in Cardiff for the second time and promising to rock in the manner of their debut mini-album ‘Dead Dead Fucking Dead’. Ballpark-wise, we're talking nods to Dischordian post-hardcore, At The Drive-In’s anthemic qualities, Drive Like Jehu’s expanses and olde tyme Three One G bands. This show, which Wounds are coming over just to play, is also notable for being the band’s first show since James, the band’s guitarist, fell a really really long way off a balcony and ended up in intensive care. Having recovered a treat (that’s his torso top left of their MySpace), they’re back and “raring to go”. Get Wounded.

Goodtime Boys dispense frantic hardcore energy. They're a Cardiff-based band fronted by Pennie, who you may know from the altogether poppier concern Decimals (and previously - although they prefer not to mention it - The Automatic). His full-tilt performance provides the focal point of Goodtime Boys’ compact, fierce yet melodic songs. This venue should have lots of places for him to...explore. Split mini-album with fellow Cardiffians Solutions out now. Listening fun in this direction.

SET TIMES:
Goodtime Boys 7.15pm-8pm
Wounds 8.45pm-9.30pm
Arabrot 10.15pm-11pm
Bellini 11.45pm-12.30am

The Model Inn, 14-15 Quay Street, Cardiff
£8 on the door (also includes admission to see the Shape Records night with Sun Drums, Attack + Defend and Munch Munch downstairs)
£10 for one-day Swn wristband (buy one-day wristband here)
£45 for three-day Swn wristband (buy weekend wristband here)

Next up, on Friday 22 October, we have...

The Ex formed at the end of the 1970s in Holland, inspired by Crass and the early wave of UK anarcho punk bands, and have spent the following three decades absorbing a matchless range of global influences, while remaining an unquestionable and self-evident punk band. These influences have come from, to name some, Eastern European folk, Ethiopian dance-party jazz, Euro/US free improvisers (their UK tour performing with various jazzers earlier this year was whooped up by basically everyone who saw it) and Spanish protest songs of the Franco era. They are absolutely not ‘world music’ as it is often understood and marketed in the West; they are merely receptive to sounds and scenes that most ‘rock’ bands never even get to hear. It is a genuine honour to have them playing here. Musical evidence here.

Truckers Of Husk have been alive in some form or other in Cardiff since 2004, going through multiple lineup/instrument changes, but each one has been a consistent live draw in this roadworks-filled city. They play complex but danceable rock, more often than not instrumental and with lots of tapping and groovy repetition. For fans of Battles, Tortoise, Deerhoof and so forth. New single ‘Awesome Tapes From Africa’ (named in tribute to a blog which unearths just that, and actually released on tape) is out now. Trucking great tunes on this link.

Brandyman star former and current members of bands including Truckers Of Husk (yes, the ones we just mentioned), Joy Of Sex and Gindrinker, becoming a Band To Go And See despite being yet to release anything. They’re less than a year old, mind, so it’s no disgrace, you understand. They have two guitars and no bass, and will klang their way into your heart with riff-centric blooze noise. ZZ Top, Melvins, The Jesus Lizard and Dazzling Killmen seem like names worth mentioning if we wanted to get a certain sort of person’s attention. So are these songs.

SET TIMES:
Brandyman 7.15pm-7.45pm
Truckers of Husk 8.30pm-9.15pm
The Ex 10pm-11pm

Clwb Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street, Cardiff
£10 on door (also includes admission to see the Artrocker show with Fiction, We Are Animal and O Children downstairs)

£15 for one-day Swn wristband (buy one-day wristband here)
£45 for three-day Swn wristband (buy weekend wristband here)

Lastly, but certainly not least, are one of this year's Swn headliners: the mighty reformed Swans, supported by James Blackshaw. As we actually have had minimal input to this one it would seem slightly cheeky to take the credit away from John Rostron, Swn co-organiser, who pretty much nailed the show without our help! Full Facebook-shaped blurbs are over here though and for biographical details on this show/the full Swn lowdown head to the official Swn website.

Big ups to Hannah Truran (Bellini poster), Dan Lazenby (The Ex poster) and Carl Rylatt (Swans poster) for all their banging artwork efforts. And get ready to wear earplugs for three days straight (or be deaf for a good deal longer, no doubt).

MAN VS HORSE

2010-09-16T03:26:00.006Z

Do you believe in curses? The swearing variety we'd be fine with; the curse of bad luck isn't so much fun, but it's been following Lesson No.1 shows for a while now. The latest example: our next show, on Monday 20 September, will be minus original headliners Racebannon, who've postponed their tour until early 2011. Sucks. But it takes more than that, as ever, to stop the rock round here, so...

A Thousand Arrows are newish but building a rep day by day, providing an outlet where dudes from bands you know – Shaped By Fate, Raging Speedhorn, Panel, The Slowdance, The Human Race – act out love of (mostly) 90s bands like Helmet, Snapcase, Quicksand and Cave In. Solid metal riffs, cane sugar melody, as you can hear over here.

Brandyman are dudes ex/current of other Cardiff bands – Truckers Of Husk, FTSE100, Joy Of Sex, Gindrinker – plus, in the case of the drummer, the acting profession (non-standard Lesson No.1 link posing as evidence). Brandyman have been active since the start of the year and play wicked tight math-rock with ZZ Top b(l)ooze riffs and lyrics to make you giggle, and think. Take a sip.

The Milk Race number three and have served in these bands. Ready? The Martini Henry Rifles, Space In The 50s, Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi, The International Karate Plus and Nameless. So they are old hands in the realm of indie-rock and punk and garage and sweating. They purport to be influenced by Devo and The Wipers this time out, which gets our vote. This is, we believe, their first gig, so for now there's only one piece of recorded evidence online here.

BOOZE are legends in their own liquid lunchtime who have manfully stepped up to open this show. Featuring Dan Lazenby, who has played in quite a few bands as well as designing the fine head-wrecking poster above, plus members of The Death Of Her Money, their M.O. is to get really, really drunk before playing trashy rock music and falling around a lot. Ace. No links that we know of: they're too busy downing whiskeys to worry about such trivial pursuits as websites/MySpaces. Probably.

As usual, this is where the details land: this is all happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm doors, a bargain £4 on the door.

DYING GIANT(S)

2010-08-11T12:04:00.005Z

How do you know when summer is over? Well, given the weather round here is no real guide, it's when Lesson No.1 return from our holidays in far flung lands (Canton, Roath) with another ear-breaker for you...

Specifically, in this case, on Saturday 11 September, in collaboration with the fine folk of the band PUS.

Conan are a slow ’n’ low bottomed-out doom metal juggernaut from Liverpool who have been round a few years but have only recently cooked up their first proper release, ‘Horseback Battle Hammer’, on the Aurora Borealis and Throne labels. Its four long tracks are manna from Valhalla if you like Electric Wizard, Moss, Floor or Eyehategod. They are also an object lesson in how to use heavy metal iconography without looking naff or trying too hard. Stick your cursor this way for back-up evidence to those statements.

Spider Kitten are South Wales veterans (around for the best part of a decade now, so we're calling it) who have shifted, release to release, between Earth-hailing drone, mucky proto-grunge, big-booted doom and shimmery psychedelic rock. This is apparently an “improv drone set” which you can expect to move a lot of air. They have several tracks right here.

PUS was initially the project of two fellows from Merthyr named Rob and John, but swiftly added members and, in the last few months, have been witnessed playing sets of buzzing, feedback-consumed blackened punk sludge, as well as recording a 30-minute demo of the same. The battle at this show to play the slowest and puke the most distortion out of the amps will begin keenly. Check out some sounds.

This is all happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff and please note the early start/finish: 7pm doors, 10pm strict curfew. £5 on the door.

While we're here, it's a perfect juncture to also point you in the direction of a Lesson No.1 related show earlier in the week of our Conan show. We're DJing alongside hot live action from Action Beat, Brandyman and Saturday's Kids, again at Buffalo, on Monday 6 September, also a fiver on the door. It's brought to you by our friends The Joy Collective and Businessman Records; wander this way for more info.

And lastly, tickets are now on sale for the Swn festival in October. Lesson No.1 is involved in three gigs, two of which are already in our gigs list on the top right of this very page. And there's one more corker involving The Ex to be announced in full shortly. Awesome.

GRAVY AND BLOOD

2010-06-10T22:03:00.010Z

So, that Total Abuse show was closer to total fucking disaster (it was eventually cancelled, through no fault of Lesson No.1's, sadly). But the rock doesn't stop round here. Well, it does, actually, for a couple of months, but not until after this ear-splitting Load Records extravaganza on Monday (14 June).

Noxagt are awesome Norwegian noise-rockers with riffs-a-go-go. They've released a bunch of records on the aforementioned Load (among lots of others) and this is their first show here since four years ago when they tore Clwb Ifor Bach a new fire exit. Feel the noise right here.

Ultralyd are touring with Noxagt for a few of their dates. Which is probably a fairly simple arrangement as Ultralyd are basically Noxagt members indulging their blazing free jazz sweet tooth. Can't argue with that two-for-the-price-of-one Scandinavian logic. Also made sweet music in recorded form via Load. Have a listen why don't you?

The Death of Her Money are, at risk of repetition, simply one of the UK's finest metal bands. Summed up in an array of seemingly random words: sludge / doom / shoegaze / riffs / trio / South Wales / awesome / second album / soon. One of their greatest songs is called 'Scandinavian Accent', don't you know, so here's hoping TDOHM try out their best Norwegian impersonations during this show. Or not. As the case may be. You can hear that and other pop delights over this way.

Brown Wings are another set of Lesson No.1 favourites, a crazy fun noisy math-rock duo from Swansea region for those who dig Lightning Bolt, Pink & Brown, etc. No let up in the volume here, then. Check the evidence.

Important details: this is all going down at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff from 7.30pm, £6 on the door. Thanking you.

FUCKED AND INJURED (UPDATE #2 - GIG CANCELLED, SORRY!)

2010-06-01T10:21:00.014Z

***************
UPDATE #2: Total Abuse's tour fell apart in Germany, and they haven't made it to the UK. If you care you can have a look around online you'll find a load of bored idiots talking about it. We were going to carry on with the three bands plus one more TBC, but no-one we asked could fill in at that short notice, then Crossbreaker had to pull out too so we said nuts to it - there didn't seem much point having a gig with two local bands who play quite often as it is. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was looking forward to this...
***************

We're fast approaching Lesson No.1's traditional self-enforced summer break, but we're not done just yet. First up, get some of the below down your throats this coming Tuesday (8 June).

Goodtime Boys are a Cardiff-based tour de force whipping up punk, hardcore and emo in chaotic style (although they're not big fans of either of the first two genre terms, according to a recent interview). Features Pennie of Decimals note in the frontman role. Lots of movement guaranteed. Have a, err, goodtime here.

Crossbreaker are Newport HC kids playing it downtuned and negative in the best way. They have a tape out now and a 7” following on the Purgatory label. They did a shirt that was a homage to Crossed Out, so you know they're all right, okay? Sounds this way, unless you'd rather read their up-to-the-minute views on the world in modern technological form over here.

A Thousand Arrows complete the evening's fun via rolling 90s-ish heaviness a la Helmet, Quicksand, Snapcase, yadda yadda. They're something of a SUPERgroup in all meanings of the word too, their squad featuring ex/current Shaped By Fate, Raging Speedhorn, Slowdance and Panel bods. This will be among their first shows. Get an upfront aural taster in your ears.

+ One more band TBC very soon!

The small print: this is all happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 7.30pm, a bargain £5 in, oh yes.

COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS

2010-05-10T22:01:00.005Z

As Britain moves into uncertain political times, it seems a fine juncture for Lesson No.1's latest extravaganza this coming Thursday (13 May), in association with Loose and Bethan Elfyn.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists are in town for their first Cardiff show since 2003. Hardly anyone attended that last one. But since then American punk rock veteran Ted (Citizen's Arrest, Animal Crackers, Chisel) and his band of tunesmiths The Pharmacists' collective reputation has mushroomed. That's mainly thanks to countless awesome, memorable songs packed with social commentary and encompassing punk, new wave, mod, hard rock and folk. He’s a proper indie celeb in the States, thanks to releases on Lookout, Touch And Go and Matador (new album 'The Brutalist Bricks', out now) and is going the same way over here. We have wanted to put him on since forever so this is kind of a big deal. Nice cross-section of tunes this way if you please.

Spencer McGarry Season were on our notional list to support Ted Leo when we made (fruitless) inroads into putting the latter on a few years back. The grounds: he made killer post-punk/powerpop type tunes a bit like a Cardiff answer to Ted. So we booked this show, then heard his new album, ‘Episode 2’: amazing pop-orchestral mini-epics coming in at almost 70 minutes, in a Gershwin, Tin Pan Alley or Randy Newman style, with a new wave/punk sensibility peeking through. Which is pretty different, but still great, and with about a million (okay, nine or ten) people onstage, pretty watchable. Some examples of his new steez.

Bedford Falls are another band we've wanted to put on, yet failed thus far since we started putting on gigs. Shocking! If you’re not familiar with them, they’ve been making country-drenched punk rock tunefulness – for fans of Husker Du, Buffalo Tom, Lemonheads, etc – in and around Cardiff since 2003 or so, with releases on Boss Tunage, Newest Industry and Rat Patrol. Tom, the main songwriter in the band, was as keen to play this show as we were to host them, so that worked out nicely. Take a trip to Bedford.

What else do you need to know? Well, all of this and more (with DJs until late afterwards) is at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, doors 7.30pm. Tickets are £7 plus booking fee if you get them RIGHT HERE or £8 on the door. Sold a good number of tickets too so advance buying is at about a code amber right now. Looking forward to it.

(Incidentally, that poster up there was due to be a temporary one, but a planned proper design fell through. Back to normal service next month with a fine scuzzy effort for Total Abuse, though, never fear...)

TIME AS WHITE SOUND (UPDATED)

2010-04-07T19:47:00.008Z

Welcome back to what seems to have become, by accident rather than design, the monthly blast of GOOD SOUNDS in the form of a Lesson No.1 gig.

Our Miss April on the calendar of rock - on Wednesday 14 April to be precise - is representing on a local tip. And if cheap sweaty fun is what you're looking for, then this little beauty works out at £1.33 recurring per band. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

Facel Vega are in essence a South Wales band, originating in Porthcawl from the remains of the shortlived but sweet State Run, but are part-resident in Leeds at the moment, so don’t get to come together too often. Word is there may not be too many repeats in the future, either, although don't quote us on that. This makes attending this gig all the more imperative. They are an intelligent and exciting combo of Revolution Summer emo, later stuff of the sort that Ebullition Records released, and some twisty noisy, uh, alt-rock type stuff. You can hear them here, which also contains a link to their label store, where you can buy their split LP with Harbour and their split 7” with the following band...

The Sceptres are, conversely, not a local Band, but they do have a singer from South Wales. They are based loosely in the south-east of England and feature members of The Shitty Limits, who as you probably know are the tits. On their releases to date – the Facel Vega split mentioned above, plus two singles on their own label Dire – they retain some of that stripped-down garage punk fire, but take more influence from the Dangerhouse Records roster of the late 70s, and UK bands of the same time (vocals are very X-Ray Spex, which is certainly A Good Thing). Listen for yourself.

Evariste Galois are a pretty new band from Cardiff who, keeping with the theme here, have a split EP with Saturday's Kids out about now. Their ‘thing’ is scrappy 90s indie-punk and hook-filled college-rock: “Jawbreaker, Garden Variety, Archers Of Loaf, Superchunk, Buffalo Tom etc” they say here, which also provides aural pleasures to back up all of that.

All of this is going down at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30-10.30pm, £4 on the door. It's a fairly early curfew so get down asap. And feel free to update Lesson No.1's hapless perpetrators on the Tottenham v Arsenal match, which we're missing FOR YOUR PLEASURE.

Oh and while we're here, we don't often sell tickets in advance, but that's exactly what's happening for our May show with the unreasonably ace Ted Leo And The Pharmacists. Sold a decent amount so far, so for guaranteed entry wander this way. WeGotTickets are having a booking fee free day to celebrate their birthday on Monday 19 April, incidentally, which gives a certain incentive to get buying pronto, y'all.

While we're here snippet #2: this isn't a Lesson No.1 show but recommended watching from two under-appreciated bands later in the week:

SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD (UPDATED)

2010-02-27T21:11:00.007Z

***UPDATE: Disregard that poster up there. GEOFF FARINA, who has fronted great bands like KARATE and GLORYTELLERS, has had a family bereavement and has had to fly back to the States from the UK, where he was touring with CHRIS BROKAW. However, Chris is a trooper from the old school and will still be playing. In Geoff's place - well, not really fulfilling the same role, but making an Interesting Noise on the guitar nonetheless - is THE SPINES, aka Cardiff experimental geezer Chris Eynon. So get involved.***

Not that Lesson No.1 shows exactly occupy the £25-a-ticket bracket of ever-inflating gig admission prices, but here's hoping you have your wallets/change purses/other cash-carrying accessories handy between now and the summer: we have four shows in as many months incoming.

The first is on Saturday 27 March, in association with all-round awesome folks Loose, turning the volume down a little on usual hearing-challenging antics...

Chris Brokaw is, we believe, making his Welsh debut (unless anyone wants to correct us). Veteran of some great and powerful guitar rock bands – Codeine, Come, The New Year, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth’s band - and guest with another ton. His guitar style can alternately be downhome folky and blisteringly electric. He's touring the UK to play’n’plug ‘The Angel’s Message to Me’, his new album with Geoff Farina. Get clicking for some idea of what to expect.

Ratatosk is the ambient/electronica/folk/avant/etc/etc project of Rhodri Viney, who you may know from the bands Right Hand Left Hand and Vito, among others, as well as solo as Broken Leaf/Teflon Monkey. This finds him employing lots of pedals and a musical saw, or has done whenever we’ve seen it at least, and is likely to make you swoon like a fop if you like Matt Elliott, Yann Tiersen, Brian Eno, Eluvium and some other wonky ambienty stuff of that nature. Trust us. And if you don't, then listen here, doofus. Oh yeah, and it's his birthday this weekend so buy him a pint.

The Spines, as mentioned above, is the solo one man/guitar/FX unit project of Chris Eynon, who is a Cardiffian with a past in droney, hypnotically blank musicial entities like Know Point and Hotel X. "Gel with sand in it...Nicely picked out notes, gentle interference, in love." That's a review from when he played for The Joy Collective earlier this year. He has helped us out massively at short notice so be a sport and come see him. He doesn't have a Myspace or anything like that. Neither did The Shaggs. (They do now, though. We just checked.)

As ever, the small print: trundle on down to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 7.30pm-10.30pm (early start, early finish); it's a mere £5 on the door.

IN LOVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL WORM

2009-12-19T15:10:00.004Z

Before Lesson No.1 disappear to collectively eat and drink more than any healthy adult male should, let us leave you with the lowdown on our first show of a brave new year/decade, coming up on Tuesday 19 January.

Diet Pills play their first ever Wales show, part of a UK tour. The Leicester-based band have one 7” single out (on the Force Fed label) and a split with Dead In The Woods. They are one of the best ‘new’ bands in the UK if you want to know what we think. They are slow and sludgy and piercing and antisocial and will appeal to fans of The Jesus Lizard, early 90s Neurosis, Racebannon, Born Against and some other bands who you’re doing it wrong if you don’t like. Have a listen, like.

Smiler are local boys who have been around for a bit under their current name and even longer if you count their previous membership of bands like George Annihilation, The Cull and Makeshift Truth. This is the first time we’ve put them on. They are influenced by, and a combination of, UK sludge, US powerviolence and punk-rooted grindcore. Which can be confirmed over here.

Brandyman are making their debut show, a Cardiff-based band who started to come together in the summer after two of the members left their respective bands, Truckers Of Husk and Joy Of Sex. While the Brandyman trio remains enigmatic, it looks set to combine twisty instrumental rock complexity (people who say ‘math-rock’ leave the hall) with heavy noiserock riff power and sensible shoes. MySpace page? We think not (for now)! So you'll have to trust us on this one.

Other essential info: this is all at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 8pm and a bargain £4 on the door. Think of it as our present to you. Happy Christmas and a merry New fucking Year.

NARC PARTY

2009-11-03T17:17:00.005Z

The last Lesson No.1 show of the decade? What, already? Yep indeed. So bravely follow us in a last stand before the, err, teenties, with a squall of rock-based action this coming Sunday (8 November).

Foot Village are Californian crazies who will kiss, then melt, your face with their drums-and-voice tribal punk beatdowns. Ex-Gang Wizard and Friends Forever; releases on Too Pure, Not Not Fun, Upset The Rhythm and some others. A product of the same excitable young-people-in-LA scene (centered round punk venue The Smell) as No Age, Abe Vigoda, The Mae Shi, etc. They get highly nude for some of their record sleeves and while we don’t promise this will happen at Buffalo, photos/footage of live shows back home look frickin’ wild (and the whole jaunt is called the Anti-Magic/Pro-Creation tour). Listening is advised too, so go here.

King Alexander are Cardiff favourites dealing in tangy angular punk rock funfunfun. They haven’t played enough this year. We are pleased to be a cog in the slight changing of this. Buy their records at the link on their name above or have a preview.

Joy Of Sex do Young Marble Giants-esque post-punk with riot grrrl and garage stirred in. Stand-up percussion, love und romance, rhythms that might be called ‘skeletal’. Righteous! It's their first time playing for Lesson No.1. Go cop an earful of, um, sex.

All of this, and maybe more, at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff; 7.30pm doors, £5 on the door. Thanking you.

SCOTCH GRIME

2009-10-20T11:13:00.008Z

The third running of Swn, the annual festival from Radio 1 DJ and all-round dude about Cardiff Huw Stephens, begins this Thursday (22 October) and Lesson No.1 are bringing the noise on the opening night at The Model Inn.

Devil Man are the shadowy latest concern of Lesson No.1 favourite Shigeru ‘Shige’ Ishihara, aka Game Boy gabba loon DJ Scotch Egg, with pal Gorgonn from likeminded London crew Dokkebi Q. Promising dark, heavy dub fit to crumble walls, it's Scotch Egg's third ongoing project alongside his solo work and noise-rock band Drum Eyes. No music online that we know of but concurrently copping tunes from here, here and here will give the general idea...

andtheywillriot! (all lower case, thankyouverymuch) burned brightly a few years back, with post-hardcore cleverness along the lines of bands like Botch and The Blood Brothers. Having relocated from Cardiff to London, they’re back after a hiatus, ready to issue a second EP. andyouwillhavealisten,okay?

Team Brick, aka Bristol noisemaker of some repute Matt Williams, deals in a unique, ever-morphing brand of experimentation, previously encompassing guitar pedal abuse, throat singing and even, at the Invada Invasion show in Bristol last month, orchestral pieces. A new album, 'Hyper Vapour', is on its way before the end of the year. Before that, the self-titled debut LP by Beak>, Williams' side concern with Portishead's Geoff Barrow and one of Fuzz Against Junk, comes out on Invada. A Lesson No.1 first no less (unless you count his cameo drumming for Steveless supporting Shooting At Unarmed Men and Duracell way back in 2005!), so get a sonic education.

The Death Of Her Money are more Lesson No.1 staples and almost certainly the finest, heaviest band in South Wales operating today. Throwing names like Isis, Pelican and Neurosis about tells half the story, but their doom-laden discordance is a lot more besides. Their next record is recorded and ready for release - savvy record label owners, you know what to do. And if you don't, bone up here.

Times for the night run thusly:

And They Will Riot (10.30pm-11.00pm)
Devil Man (9.30pm-10.00pm)
Team Brick (8.30pm-9.00pm)
The Death Of Her Money (7.30pm-8.00pm)

And the fine print: wander down to The Model Inn, Quay Street (just round the corner from Clwb Ifor Bach, for the geographically confused) from 7pm. It's £7 on the door or else point your browser this way for festival wristbands and that way for a full list of festival info/times, etc.

(Disclaimer for anybody interested: in the slightly nightmarish preparation for our Swn show, bands we attempted and failed to get for one reason or another included Themselves, Burning Love, Magik Markers and All Leather, so don't say we never tried, yeah?)

AT WAR WITH GRINDCORE

2009-10-09T10:42:00.002Z

Once again the spectre of cancellation hits Lesson No.1, but even swine 'flu can't stop this virulent little bastard TONIGHT (Friday 9 October)

Insect Warfare are Texan grindcore supremos on the final tour ever and they're guaranteed short, fast and loud. They have product on Earache (their latest release ‘World Extermination’, which is actually a Euro reissue of a 2007 LP), Relapse, 625, Six Weeks and labels like that, which may give you an idea of what to expect – 100% raw, unfiltered blastbeat brevity with more than ‘nuff powerviolence and hardcore nous chucked in. They broke up in 2008 and then threw it together once more for this tour, so represent. Check the aural war right here.

Atomçk are a digitally-mangled grind duo from Newport for fans of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, The Locust, Pig Destroyer and various digigrind madmen. Mainly given to kicking out guitar/vox/drum machine mini-mini-mini-symphonies between 30 and 90 seconds long, sometimes they’ll switch it up and introduce some dragging sludge riffs. Split with Spider Kitten out now on their Sharp Noodle label. Sample their noise here.

Pus replace Desecration, who were forced to pull out last minute due to swine 'flu. Who is Pus and why would someone call themselves that? It's a two-guitar drone/doom/riff/noise duo, although can't entirely help you on the latter. They are a mega late replacement so we are grateful in equal megatude.

What else? Get to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm doors (early start, early finish!) and hand us just £5 for the trouble. Perfect Friday night entertainment, we think you'll agree...

A GOOD STALKER NEVER QUITS

2009-10-02T19:29:00.004Z

We'll keep this simple as the above show ain't strictly a Lesson No.1 effort - it's one of the gigs that make up the ambitious and hugely thumbs-up-worthy Meze Festival in Newport venue the Meze Lounge and adjoining Mojo. Other endorsees of this night of decibel-laced fun are The Joy Collective and Sharp Noodle, so go check those folks out too.

Before all that though, cop an earful of all the bands playing:
Big Naturals
The Death Of Her Money
Spider Kitten
Brown Wings
Atomçk & Cementimental

The two dubiously-skilled members of Lesson No.1 will be DJing afterwards too. T'other essential details for anybody unable to read the above poster = Newport Meze Lounge, Tuesday October 6th 2009, £4 adv, 8pm-2am and tickets are this way. All requests for records you'd like us to play post-gig will be treated with snobbish disdain, no doubt. Unless you ask for some Pissed Jeans or Jesus Lizard, then you'll probably be in luck...

LIVE IN HELLSINKI

2009-09-29T16:27:00.006Z

Anybody who caught Zu at the Invada Invasion in Bristol on Saturday (or Supersonic in Birmingham in the summer) will know this imminent Lesson No.1 delight in association with Swn ain't to be missed. Saddle up THIS THURSDAY, 1 October, then...

Zu are an Italian band who have taken time since the '90s to explore how and where jazz could meet hardcore could meet noise could meet metal could rock your face off. It's abrasive stuff as you might imagine, but life-affirming for real, and we've basically never known anyone to go and see them and not be hit for six. We put them on in 2004 in Le Pub, and they played in Cardiff a year or two before that. They were dope evenings, but sparsely attended. Don't make the same mistake, twits. Their new album 'Carboniferous' is on Ipecac and features Mike Patton and Buzz Osborne, the latest in their many collaborative ventures. Awesome band. Hear for yourself.

Zail = one guitar, one drumkit, some pedals and a storm of overdriven instrumental noise-skree racket. There are two people in Zail and they both used to be in Mountain Men Anonymous. They live in Cardiff and Gloucester respectively and haven't played these parts too much recently, so get involved (turn up early to do this). Listen here.

For all this fun and maybe more, take a trip to downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff from 7.30pm - there's a real early curfew on this one (10pm) so don't turn up for last orders and wonder what went wrong. And save two whole coins on the door price by getting an advance ticket for £6.50 here or here.

I WANT TO (GO)

2009-09-02T01:38:00.006Z

Summer's all but over, so Lesson No.1's 'holiday' (read: a couple of festivals and some beers in the park) is over. Back in the house with this humdinger on Thursday 24 September; look to the right of your monitor/iPhone/WHATEVER to see a handful of subsequent forthcoming shows, plus stay tuned for news of our Swn show on 22 October.

Lovvers are Nottingham punk-rock party-starters touring amazing debut album ‘OCD Go Go Go Girls’. This is their first Welsh show for 12 months. The last one was put on by us too. It was enjoyable. Seeing as ‘OCD...’ is like everything their three 7-inch singles and mini-album were building up to, this will be even better. Logic, man. Essential noise for fans of Germs, Jay Reatard, early Nirvana, Wipers and 600 others. Feel the (aural) love.

Harbour are South Wales melodic hardcore supremos, mega-catchy and for fans of Dag Nasty, Kid Dynamite and Lifetime. Ex-some other bands you should have liked. We ought to have put them on ages ago but that’s the way it goes. Listen to what we've been missing out on.

Islet = two drumkit freaky noise action from ex-Victorian English Gentlemens Club and current Attack + Defend peeps. Some people have called them the best new band in Cardiff. Feel that hype as fast as it's created! Battles, Oneida and Boredoms fans look this way. Maybe also stuff like Young Marble Giants for their scratchy guitars parts. No MySpace, suckers, so if you're not already aware, you'll just have to trust us on this one.

Saturday's Kids are young locals with Pissed Jeans, Black Flag and Nirvana in their sights, fizzing out awesome gonzo clawhammer punk-rock. They have a really nicely packaged demo (their second) which you can hopefully still buy. They also have the official Lovvers seal of approval! They told us so. Get your ears ready if you don't believe us.

The wheres and what fors? Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 8pm, £5 on the door. Can't say fairer than that. Oh and you may as well Facebook us while you're here, yeah?

BLACK STEEL IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS

2009-06-15T12:41:00.009Z

As summer proper approaches we're off for our customary seasonal break for a month or two (read: counting our last pennies in a darkened room to a soundtrack of Slayer and tears). But not before this weighty weekend bastard, Sunday 21 June to be precise, probably our heaviest bill in five years of Lesson No.1.

Thou are from Baton Rouge in Louisiana and are one of the most talked-about bands coming up for air from the doom/sludge underground over the last 12 months. Why? Because they’re heavier than a ruined life, playing black metal-soaked slo-mo epics with riffs as thick as the glass on the Popemobile. If Electric Wizard quit eulogising about weed and extracted all the musical optimism from their songs, it might sound a bit like this. They also have a commendably busy release schedule (without going so far as to flood the market), with releases on Level Plane, Southern Lord (upcoming), Woodsmoke, Feast Of Tentacles and more. They all have amazing artwork that’ll make the aesthetically-minded bust a nut when they see them. Don’t miss this! Aural proof here.

Moloch make their South Wales debut (not for want of trying, but still); really great hardcore-infused sludge warriors from Nottingham, featuring dudes from Brain Dead and Army Of Flying Robots. Nihilistic raging gloom for fans of Eyehategod, Grief, Iron Monkey, Sourvein, yadda yadda. They have so far issued a demo, which is sold out, and a 10” single on Feast Of Tentacles/Shifty which you should be able to find in distros and whatnot. Ear abuse you say? Sure.

Ghast - formerly known as Souldust (hence their MySpace URL) - have got to be one of the most slept on black metal bands anywhere. Their debut album ‘May The Curse Bind’ is out now and goes to town welding that Darkthrone-esque cold guitar buzz to obese doom/death pummeling, played with a crusty punk anger. They don’t play round here that often so we're really looking forward to it. Get blackened.

Spider Kitten have been shadowy ambassadors for South Wales downer rock since the early part of the century, shifting focus over the years from an exercise in Earth worship to weirdly anthemic, industrially damaged doom rockouts. Vitus style solo-mo riffing meets the blank garage of early Sub Pop bands. They release all their records on their own Rugland label and can be contacted this way, which also includes tunes, yo...

The nuts and bolts: get down to Le Pub, Caxton Place, Newport from 7.30pm, hand over £5 and, erm, rock the fuck out. Why wouldn't you want to?

DARK STARS IN DAYLIGHT (UPDATED)

2009-05-04T14:16:00.010Z

Afternoon. Believe it or not, Lesson No.1 are not the sole awesome gig putters-on in the fair city of Cardiff and the greater area of South Wales. And it's a pleasure to join up with one of a small handful of kindred spirits, Loose, for our next show this coming Thursday (May 7).

Experimental Dental School are a two-piece creating a cranky and rousing noise that sounds like it’s being made by more than two people. Hailing from Portland, something of an indie-rock haven, they make a complex yet accessible, sing-songy yet gnarly hoedown for fans of Deerhoof (who they’ve toured with), Melt-Banana (who they’re shortly to be on a split EP with), Les Savy Fav, Devo, Ex Models and the like. Releases on Cochon, Deleted Art, The Company With The Golden Arm. Normally at this point we point you MySpace-wards; well one up this time, because you can download the entire new EDS album right over here, you lucky, lucky people.

Riffmonster replace King Alexander, who have been sidelined with illness (hopefully not swine 'flu or whatever). This will be their first ever live performance. They are not monsters but they do have riffs. They play improvised rock music on guitar, bass and drums. They feature Sam from Zail, Mountain Men Anonymous and aka John Barnes, Andy from Derrero and Cymbient and Tom aka ZWolf. We are indebted to them for filling in at short notice. They are so new and spontaneous they don't have any online presence but feel free to look at the profile of a probably dreadful German band with the same name.

Pretty Girls complete the line-up, replacing Means Heinz, who have sadly flaked on this show. The band, as they say themselves, "consists of four leek eaters and a cockney who play dynamic punk, utilizing free improvisation, non-traditional usage of instruments and any other noise that can be harnessed through an exploration of our surroundings and the tools available to us. Two and a half drummers a bassist and a guitar, it's loud and has a good beat. Influences: Lightning Bolt, Boredoms, Polvo, Please Inform The Captain This Is a Hijack, Hoover, Unwound, 1.6 band, Melt-Banana, Fugazi, Pixies." Can't argue with that. This appears to be their first show, so fingers crossed all their chums turn up for the party! Thumbs up for stepping into the breach, have a wee listen.

The fine print, you ask? Sure: Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 8pm, £5 on the door. And for anybody dashing down to Minehead the next day for All Tomorrow's Parties, what better way to kick off your weekend of drinking and indie-rock? None, that's right...

A WINNER EVERY TIME

2009-04-19T14:46:00.005Z

And now, as people often witter, for something completely different. Well, sort of. Get your educated selves down to Chapter Arts Centre's Y Llofft space next Monday (27 April) for talk of fighting, but with a gentleman twist...

Eugene S Robinson is probably best known as the lead singer of San Francisco heavy blues-rock noisemakers Oxbow - you know the dude, the one often semi-naked, jostling in his jocks as if wrestling some kind of mythical snake. Well forget all that, because on this tour he presents his critically-acclaimed book Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ass–Kicking But Were Afraid You’d Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking. A spoken word performance with Eugene talking freely about the world of fight culture, expect a no-holds-barred chat with one of combat's most eloquent analysts. Don't just believe us; take it from somebody who knows a little more about this literature lark:

"Sort of a unified theory of unarmed combat, Fight pulls off the nifty trick of being thorough to the point of compendiousness while maintaining a core of bristling idiosyncrasy. Robinson is Bouncer Lit’s Norman Mailer. And occasionally in the time–warped, Finnegan’s Wake seconds before someone chokes him out, its James Joyce." James Parker, The Phoenix.

Plenty of examples of ESR's writing this way, please.

DC Gates delves into the world of solo spoken wordage in support. What will the Gindrinker frontman do? It's going to be a surprise to us, a surprise to you. Hear his words of wisdom, albeit put to Gindrinker's distinctive music, right here.

It all starts at Chapter from 8pm (Y Llofft is up a little staircase at the front right of the Arts Centre and you pretty much have to walk across the stage from the entrance so please arrive on time to avoid possible physical challenges from Mr Robinson). Tickets are £5, on sale now from this unwieldy URL. The capacity for this show is tiny (40-50 people) so advance tickets are definitely advised...

The necessary footnote: Y Llofft is a temporary performance space being used throughout the redevelopment of Chapter's facilities. Unfortunately, it is not accessible to wheelchair users and access is via a steep external staircase. Please call the Chapter box office on 029 2030 4400 for further details.

SONGS FOR FAILED RELATIONSHIPS

2009-04-09T12:33:00.009Z

After the minor disaster that was our Shitmat show (proving once and for all, in case of any doubt, that Facebook-based confirmations of attendance aren't worth the cyberspace they're written on) and the splendid but stressful Nadja show, allow Lesson No.1 to ease you from your Easter stupors with this rare treat on Monday 13 April (that's Easter Monday).

Matt Elliott first emerged as Third Eye Foundation from the mid 90s post-rock scene in Bristol, which also included names like Flying Saucer Attack and Movietone – bands that he was either in at one point, or remixed, or just generally kicked it with. Taking the then-still-pretty-new drum’n’bass template and mixing it with shoegazing fuzz and pure, invigorating noise, he released a bunch of albums and singles on the Domino label in the late 90s/early 00s before moving to France (and now Spain) and venturing further into the territory of dark, nervous breakdown folksong with walls of effects-laded gloom. And now he’s playing live in Cardiff for the first time since 2001, maybe 2002. Hear what he's been crafting.

Trembling Bells are a late but vital addition to the bill. They come from Glasgow and have some fine past form. Probably the best-known of the quartet is Alex Neilson, a fantastic drummer who’s played backing Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Alisdair Roberts, Six Organs Of Admittance and a ton of others, as well as having several other projects. Other members have been in, or still are in, Directing Hand, Scatter, Lucky Luke and Motorghost among others. Their debut album ‘Carbeth’, on the really ace label Honest Jon's, is a sideways look at 70s British folk-rock, with chewy jazz parts and the occasional freaky jam session. Take a listen.

Ratatosk is the moving ambient multi-instrumentalist project of Rhodri Viney (who also performs as, or as part of, Right Hand Left Hand, Vito, Broken Leaf and too many more to mention in full). He’s influenced by post-post-rock types and experimental pioneers, the likes of Eluvium, Tarentel, Steve Reich, Do Make Say Think, and is probably the person in Cardiff most excited by this Matt Elliott show, even more than the people putting it on. And we’re excited so y’know. Get excited too.

John Barnes is otherwise known as Sam Arnold, currently found hurting a guitar in instrumental power duo Zail (featuring former members of Mountain Men Anonymous). He plays a very rare show under his football-inspired pseudonym, for which he will no doubt put breakcore, avant-classical and prime IDM in his old kit bag, which is actually a laptop bag probably. Releases can be found on the Fire, Boobytrap, Machine and No Ground Processes labels. Might be a bit of a treasure hunt finding them these days, but still, have an aural butchers here.

All of this is at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff - 8pm doors, just £5.

Thanks to Lesson No.1's man in Eire, Mr Keith Tormey, for the fine poster above. He's also lining up a beauty for Eugene Robinson's spoken word show - more info on that here shortly. But for now, guarantee you can get in by buying your ticket for this super-limited capacity gig from the link right here. Thanking you...

ONE FOOT IN THE GLASS (UPDATE #2)

2009-02-27T16:36:00.012Z

The INTERNETZ ate entirely the first lengthy attempt at posting this, so let's keep things simple in case of further failure: Oxford Collapse was great last week, thanks to all; next up is double trouble, with these two ear-breakers imminent for March. CHECK IT:

1. WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH (UPDATED WITH FINAL LINE-UP - DON LEISURE/JAMAL ADDED)

Shitmat, aka Henry Collins, plays his first Cardiff show for a few years. Hopefully it won’t be the last, at least for anyone who likes his overdriven, straight-up rofflin’ brand of breakcore, rinsin’ jungle, rave and mashed pop samples as much as Lesson No.1 does. He was going to ‘die’ at the end of this (very long) tour, presumably something to do with the release of his new album ‘One Foot In The Rave’ on the Planet Mu label, but guess he isn’t now. Whatever. This will be a midweek blast to the power of infinity. Get Shitty.

Don Leisure/Jamal are two guises of the Cardiff-based producer/DJ best known by the latter alias. Spanning everything from electronica to, latterly, dubstep, drum & bass is where Jamal made his name, however. Aligned with Cardiff's Aperture crew, Jamal worked for Dillinja & Lemon D’s Valve Recordings while living in London, but is now back as a resident of Wales's capital city. He's just had a single out on DJ Hype's Ganja-Tek label, which to these ears sounds like jungle being messily fed through a dubstep steel crusher, oiled with a love of thumping hip-hop beats. Peep those very tracks and more here.

Soundfiend is one of the major pushers of dubstep in Cardiff thanks to his nights Mud and, brand new on the block (in the Tafod venue), Phase Two. James Lawrie, as the government knows him, has spent a few years now honing his large, rumbling, dancefloor-friendly yet subtly steppin’ dubstep jams. He even got Radio 6 airplay recently. This should be great! Sounds of the soundboy here.

Parasite is a hero of the Bristol electronic scene with a hand in promo (the Toxic Dancehall and Bashout nights), a label (the awesome Death$ucker Records) and a distro (the equally awesome DSWAT). His set here will probably smash together jungle, breakcore, ragga and anything else you can link up with those genres. Get bitten.

Demon Cabbage is proof that when you make inroads into the music genre ‘breakcore’ you are likely to encounter some silly names. Steel yourself and wade in, though, because it can hide some pretty corking ruff jams. Based in Bristol, Demon Cabbage is one of the faces behind Shitmat’s excellent Wrong Music label; he will offer laptop-based live turnouts encompassing jungle and breakcore, we'd wager. Get, erm, Cabbaged.

There is more than likely one more name to be added to this line-up, but in the meantime: fly on down to Basement/Undertone (the basement club of 10 Feet Tall), Church Street, Cardiff, 9pm-3am, £5 on the door.

2. FRIDAY 20 MARCH (UPDATED - FALLEN PAINTING CANCELLED, REPLACED BY BLACK CESAR!)

Nadja are a man with a beard and a lady who looks like a character from a webcomic, hailing from Canada and in Wales for one night only. While here they intend to send you into paroxysms of pleasedness with a really fantastic musical meeting of shoegazing, ambient drone, doom metal and electronics. Releases on rad labels like The End, Profound Lore, 20 Buck Spin and others. Skyscraping sounds here.

Black Cesar are fine late in the day replacement for the had-to-pull-out Fallen Painting (aka solo experimental folk type Nickie Charles). Black Cesar are not experimental folk, but they are folk who like to experiment with the doom, sludge, stoner and hard rock formalities a bit. Chiefly instrumental, their spacey, riffy jamouts have a strong backwash of country blues. For fans of Clutch, Fatso Jetson, Kyuss and Grand Funk. Split 7" with fellow local instru-metalists Zonderhoof, soon come. Tunes this way; the MySpace address suffix says it all, you'll find.

Caricatures are Bristol-based doom sludge exorcists with members of a bunch of bands from around the way (Mea Culpa and Rose Kemp's band). For fans of Khanate, Swans, Monarch, Neurosis. It's good this, isn't it? Even though we basically could just be listing chocolate bars. Damage your ears now, so you don't need to later.

For this fine triumvirate, the place to be is Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm-10.30pm (get there early), £5.

Yeah? Yeah!

REMEMBER THE NIGHT PARTIES

2009-02-04T11:27:00.006Z

Welcome to 2009, Lesson No.1 style. Okay, so we're a month late here, but everybody needs a Christmas break, right? Get back ON IT with this imminent little beauty on Monday 16 February...

Oxford Collapse come from Brooklyn and are signed to Sub Pop and basically play indie rock. Don’t make that face – if the wind changes, y’know. Oxford Collapse stay a country mile away from ‘generic and sappy’ and park their bus in ‘kicking and vital’ by virtue of sticking some frickin’ PUNK ROCK in there. Oddball punk rock like Meat Puppets and Husker Du and the Wipers. Mix that with the melody x noise = LOVE equation that serves/served The Thermals, Yo La Tengo and Superchunk very well and you have a dope band in our opinion. They were great at Le Pub last year. More people better come see them this time though. Get listening.

Exit International are one of two bands on the bill with the ‘people from a bunch of bands just starting out in another one check it out’ thing going on, featuring members of Midasuno, Space In The 50s, The Martini Henry Rifles and Stray Borders. This is one of their very first gigs – the first was in late November – and it will showcase their two-bass no-guitar rock tackle. We do believe they’ve been listening to some Girls Against Boys records, as a sensible boy or girl oughta. Check for yourself.

Markers are the other band on the bill with the ‘people from a bunch of bands just starting out in another one check it out’ thing going on. Some might describe them as Cardiff punk royalty, ex-Douglas (Doug to you oldies) and The Take no less, with Boom In The Diamond Industry (who weren’t from Cardiff) personnel also herein, offering up tunes for days. Six minutes’ worth on their MySpace page, anyhow. You can refresh the page when they finish. Catch 'em while they’re young! Listen before you go deaf!

The only way you can grab all this for the sweet price of £5 is head on down to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff from 8pm. We're going to try and run this a little late too for all those hopeless romantics who want to watch Cardiff City's FA Cup replay with Arsenal.

Also, it should be mentioned, you can now find Lesson No.1 on Facebook, so come stave off the inevitable loneliness of your own life by being our friend, yeah? For shame...

TERROR & DREAD

2008-11-19T11:36:00.005Z

So our Sŵn show has come and gone (apart from Indian Jewelry, who failed to show; anybody who knows why, please get in touch, because we still are none the wiser!). But there's no let up, because this Friday (November 21) one of Lesson No.1's favourite bands return.

The mighty Racebannon are Bloomington, Indiana cult heroes back here for the second time, having played a mega dope set in June '06. Since then they’ve moved labels, from hometown imprint Secretly Canadian to Southern, who’ve just released their fourth studio album ‘Acid Or Blood’. It is a teethgrindingly intense assault on the senses through the mediums of noiserock, 90s screamo and hardcore. Don’t miss a thing. Go the usual MySpazz route or download the wonderfully-titled 'Sister Fucker' from 'Acid In Blood' in full.

Human Race are a new hardcore battering ram from South Wales, featuring members of other bands from round here who went out in a blaze of glory. Old dirty NYC hardcore style with low down metal guitars – get in. Debut cassette demo is out now on CCHC, which you can pick up at Cardiff's ever-great Damaged Records or download from their MySpace.

Brown Wings are a raw, cussing raucous duo of noise nomads based in Cardiff and Swansea. Honourable upholders of the aesthetic contained in many bands on the Load and Skin Graft labels over time. First show for Lesson No.1! Which makes it sound like getting a scout badge, or something like that you accomplish. Well. Get an earful here anyway.

So get yo' sweet Friday night asses down to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff from 7.30pm. The damage? £5. The experience. Priceless. Or something...

I LOVE TURBULENCE

2008-11-11T17:11:00.005Z

Carefully avoiding gags about how Sŵn sounds a bit like the word 'soon', the second running of Huw Stephens' festival is upon us. Imminent. You might even say it's coming...okay, enough already.

Lesson No.1's contribution this year is on Friday 14 November and, in our own humble opinion, represents the best show of the weekend. Especially when combined with what's happening elsewhere in Clwb Ifor Bach on the same night. Full details of that below. But for now, in collaboration with our pals at Plan B magazine, we give you:

Rolo Tomassi formed in Sheffield in 2005 but despite now being veterans of the ‘touring circuit’ and indeed the recording studio are still younger than you. What a pisser! Mixing up cut-glass hardcore guitars, gloopy analogue synths and alternately screeched/growled vocals, since their earlier stuff (a demo, split seven-inch and tape releases and a debut EP on the Holy Roar label) they’ve moved on from Locust/Trencher move-copping to something weirder, more drawn-out and a lot less classifiable. Their debut album ‘Hysterics’ is out now on the Hassle label and there are a few tasters right over here.

Indian Jewelry played for Lesson No.1 last summer. Not enough people watched them but they went down a treat with LIGHTS, RHYTHM, SOUNDS and NOISE on their side. Repetitive riffs and fields of feedback as far as the eye can see and presented to you in VERY BIG format because it’s from Texas and everything is bigger yadda yadda. For fans of Suicide, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Spacemen 3 and Royal Trux. Lots of releases, mostly impossible to find, but their latest album, ‘Free Gold’, is on the We Are Free label. Get your rocks on.

Volcano! also played for us in Cardiff, a couple of years ago, supporting Lightning Bolt, off the back of great album, ‘Beautiful Seizure’. Now they’re back again with an even better album, ‘Paperwork’ (on the Leaf label, like its predecessor). If you like twisty prog rock beatdowns and African-sounding guitar parts and captivating vocal tics and nods to the OG math-rock bands (US Maple, say), you will be HOT for this trio from Chicago. Personally we think you should write their name as Volcano!! Aural evidence this way.

Here's the complicated part: the above three bands are downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff, doors 7.30pm. It's totally free if you have a Sŵn weekend wristband (£45 - more details at the Sŵn site). BUT if you want to pay on the night it's £12.50, a whacking price perhaps until you consider you also get to see all of the three bands who play upstairs in Clwb the same evening, with times staggered so you can catch them all.

So for your hard-earned you also get:

- Clinic: bone-dry concept-garage Scouse legends on the Domino label...
- Threatmantics: Cardiff-based bilingual psych-indie raucousness...
- The Big Pink: weird, unclassifiable merging of mongy shoegaze rock and console-bleep electronics from London

Value for money? We think so.

YORKSHIRE SHIRT POTATOES

2008-10-08T18:48:00.004Z

Thank you one and all who came out to see Lovvers last week. Everyone who played who was supposed to - Lovvers, The Shitty Limits, Saturday's Kids - were great, but special mention to Crimesss who stepped in at a moment's notice to fill in for broken down car victims The Dissolutes.

Next up, we're giving a few friends - namely FYB (fairly sure that's the polite version of Fuck Your Band) and Suntreader - put on this little ear-breaker, on Friday 10 October. That's THIS FRIDAY, for anybody who can't work out that you get a calendar if you double click the time on your computer. Okay?

From Sheffield, Flatlands vomit out slow, lumbering slabs of solid rock along the lines of The Human League, Arctic Monkeys and Def Leppard. There's probably a 'LOL' in there somewhere. Just kidding: try Neurosis, Isis, the Melvins and Breach for size instead. Releases on Superfi and Sound Devastation, yo, and sounds right here.

The Death Of Her Money: riffs, pedals, repetition, delay, sludge, feedback, metal, shoegazing. These are some words we have used before when writing about TDOHM, a trio (with fresh lineup and everything!) from South Wales who everyone in the world should really admit are awesome. They, like Flatlands, have a release on the Superfi label (debut album ‘Spirit Of The Stairwell’). They will complement them, and compliment them too if they play well. Some musical evidence for your ears.

Dead Wolves turn in a rare Cardiff show, a decibel-emitting lot who might legitimately term themselves “the heaviest band in Swansea”. Extreme doom with electronics, drones and downtuning like you wouldn’t believe, son. For fans of Unearthly Trance, Khanate, Moss, Swans and the like. As this should prove.

So, get over to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, bright an early from 7 pm (curfew10.30pm), £3 on the door. Get there pronto!

WASTED YOUTH

2008-09-20T14:19:00.005Z

It's been a long (not very hot) summer without Lesson No.1 in the house - elongated by Racebannon postponing their tour to later in the year (look out for a new date soon hopefully). But like students and leaves falling, we're back for the autumn, on Wednesday 1 October, in fact, with this little beauty...

Lovvers are, quie possibly, the hardest-working band in Britain. Since forming in 2006 (from the ‘ashes’ of The Murder Of Rosa Luxemburg and Kamikazee), the noisy Nottingham lads have toured like there was a maniac threatening to blow up their van if they dropped below 30 shows a month. This will be their first headlining show in South Wales, having previously supported Brutal Knights, Los Campesinos! and I Was A Cub Scout. Three seven-inch singles on the Jonson Family label, 'Think' mini-album/EP soon-a-come on Wichita. Fuzzed-out, sharp-edged proto-grunge style ramalama for fans of early Nirvana, Mudhoney, Wipers kinda thing - listen!

The Shitty Limits: Britain's second hardest-working band. Debut Cardiff show for Guildford band who have also put out three seven-inch singles (in under a year; a fourth should be out by the time of this show) and caused people to fall in LUV. They do crazy fast crazy short songs that sound like bits of ‘Pink Flag’ by Wire meets early US hardcore, and longer, not as fast songs that are more 60s garage punk meets Billy Childish-type monomania. All of it is rad and you can hear some evidence here.

Saturday's Kids are one of the newest punk bands from the hamlet of South Wales. But if you ask us (which you didn’t) they're gonna be one of the best if they keep it going like they started. “Sounds like a guitar being beaten by a hammer,” they say. Enduring image. You probably want to have some names listed though. Patience! Pissed Jeans, slow-era Black Flag, Scratch Acid, Fang; in other words, grimy feedback rawk. Catch an earful.

The Dissolutes are from from Worcester and are pals of Lovvers, who asked if they could support as they had a cool thang going on. Went to their MySpace and had a listen, as is the modern way. The tracks are taken from a video of their first gig so you can probably imagine what the sound quality is like, but if you like garage and raw 60s rock (The Kinks and The Sonics through to Crypt Records bands to the Black Lips et al) this is some good eatin’! So we said “yeah sure” to Lovvers and that pretty much takes us up to where we are now, with you reading this stupid waffle. Take time out to check 'em out.

The nitty gritty, you say? Sure: it's at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 8pm, and it'll set you back a cool £5.

Oh and while you're here, look right for a few new upcoming gigs, including Lesson No.1's rather awesome contribution to the Sŵn festival. Might not have been a baking summer, people, but it's going to be a pretty HOT autumn/winter. Oh yeah.

SCOTCH CIRCUS

2008-07-04T12:04:00.007Z

The curse of Lesson No.1 has struck our next gig, BUT the show goes on (on Sunday 13 July, this is). If we're not contributing to bands splitting by putting on shows on their final tours (Coughs, The Blood Brothers, Kid Commando, Les Georges Leningrad, Some Girls, Wives, etc) then they're cancelling on us. So it is with Philadelphia loons Clockcleaner, who have sadly pulled their entire UK tour. But as we proved last month when Pterodactyl canned their tour too only to be rendered unimportant by a brilliant, packed show from Truckers Of Husk, there's no need to panic. We have an extra treat instead, in the shape of the...

We put on DJ Scotch Egg a lot. But if you don’t have room in your life to see him do his thing at least twice a year then you’re probably some sort of hell damn international jetsetter or something? Well he’s back for the first time in 08 and this time his Gameboy-fuelled hyperspeed experimental rave mania is joined by an whole supporting cast: his Osaka Invasion. It features various friends from Osaka, Japan - some of whom we put on in 2006. They are, in no particular order, bonkers breakcore bods Ove-Naxx and Maruosa, plus ex-Zuinosin nutballs Bogulta, and they'll be teaming up for some sort of mental breakin' rinseout. Alright! It’s Sunday. Live a little. Before that, get Egged up with a few tracks from Scotch Egg himself.

You probably know The Death Of Her Money. You should really go and listen to them if you don’t. Even if you do know them you’re probably doing something right now that’s not as worthwhile as listening to them. Lesson No.1 have put them on a fair bit as well but they are one of our favourite bands to come out of South Wales in, well, certainly this millennium. They now have a proper album, ‘Spirit Of The Stairwell’ (Rat Patrol/Superfi) where their three-man tsunamis of sludgy, metallic nastiness and shoegazing-tinged whoosh are showcased in ace fashion. Don't believe us? Proof, yo.

Finally, replacing The Good Wife who sadly preempted Clockcleaner in pulling out, are Dethscalator. We were going to have these guys play last month but they, in turn, couldn't make it. They will be worth the wait though, no messing. They feature former members of messy jazz noiserockers Hunting Lodge and emo chaosmakers Narwhal, and create a lurching, thrilling racket that's pitched between post Sabbath/Electric Wizard doom and porky Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard/Unsane post-hardcore. Get excited over here.

The finer details, as ever: downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff; 7.30pm (get there early!), £5.50/£5 adv. Oh and the clued-up handful of you who bought tickets before Clockcleaner cancelled, you should have received refunds by now - venue policy to do it that way, but then the decision on whether to respend your cash is up to you. Can't say fairer than that.

Lastly, apologies to Ash for butchering his fine, fine poster somewhat to include the updated line-up. Our Photoshop skills are closer to a five-year-old boy with feet for hands, but there you have it...

PANTHER PARTY

2008-06-04T12:26:00.003Z

It is, frankly, a minor miracle that this gig is happening in any form, after original headliners, New York rockers Pterodactyl, pulled their entire European tour and support band, Dethscalator, subsequently cancelled too. Perhaps it's because it's on FRIDAY THE 13TH of June? But the show must go on, as someone once said between mouthfuls of Brazilian rent boy. So...

Can fretboard-tapping math-rock with added cello bring the party to your Friday night? You bet your ass! This isn’t the first Lesson No.1 show for Truckers Of Husk, Cardiff faves since 2006 with a fresh debut EP on My Kung Fu Records, but it is their first one as headliners. Their ‘star’ is ‘rising’ at the moment – hell, they were on TV the other week! – and fans of Battles, Foals, Oxes and other good word-shunning dudes are likely to get their kicks here. And, beforehand, via the means of THE INTERNETSSS, right about here.

Stepping in at short notice(ish) are Il Goblini. If you are into your classic 70s horror movies, you will probably know Goblin, an Italian band who provided the soundtracks to Dawn Of The Dead, Suspiria, Profondo Rosso and a few others. They emerged from the prog rock movement, but turned themselves into something much more creepy and suspense-filled. Il Goblini are a Goblin tribute band from Bristol, who perform Goblin tracks plus selected songs from their contemporaries Fabio Frizzi and Libra. What an awesome idea! This might be your only chance to hear these songs done live, you know. No tunes online yet, but get searching on YouTube for a few choice live videos, like this one.

Fringes deal in forceful yet right pretty rock jazzing from Bristol SUPERgroup. Pretty much brand new but with 165 years of experience in total (we added it up*) with ex and current members from The Murder Of Rosa Luxemburg, Scarecrows, Movietone, Soeza, Line, Headfall, and more! You'll be wanting a taster and this 'ere link will be only too happy to oblige.

(*this is a lie)

The nuts and bolts: this is all happening at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 7.30pm, and it's a princely £5 on the door. Assuming nothing else Friday the 13th-level goes down in the meantime.

Lastly, thanks again to Ruth who did the smart poster. Go check more of her work at UWIC's end of year exhibition thingy at Howard Gardens then hit her up at ruthclucas [at] yahoo.com and give a poor student some artistic work, m'kay?

KÜSS MICH, MEINE LIEBE

2008-05-09T01:29:00.003Z

A quick update on this mad fun from our friends at Forecast, this coming Monday (May 12) with a little help from us Lesson No.1 douchebags...

Shit & Shine make incredible rhythmic noise emanating from London but drawn from, well, lots of places. Have played with as many as 12 (that's t-w-e-l-v-e, old school vidiprinter fans) drummers in the past but this show will almost certainly be slightly less populated. Imagine an angry redneck version of the Boredoms with The Butthole Surfers’ sense of the absurd and you might be getting there. Features two members of awesome pigfuck rock combo TODD. Releases on Riot Season, Latitudes, Conspiracy and forthcoming product on the mighty Load. Skip the shit and get the shine at their brand spanking MySpace.

Geisha are performing their debut Cardiff show! It’s been too long. Bristol-based controlled eruption of guitar’n’rhythm’n’electronics noiserock mentalism with releases on Blood Red Sounds, Superfi and Crucial Blast, and a second album out soon! Fans of Unsane, My Bloody Valentine, Whitehouse, Burmese, queue the hell up. Before then, get listening.

You'll probably already know Gindrinker, the Cardiff-based duo for whom there’s always room. Debut 7” single out now on the Businessman label. Deformed skeleton guitar, black lung cornet, irregular heartbeat drum machine, St Vitus’ Dance stage movements, fevered delusion vocals. Yeeeah. Refresh your memory this way.

The super-quick closing blurb: downstairs @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff; from 8pm; £7 in advance, £8.50 on the door (so get TICKETS if you can) - sorry, we didn't set the price!

By way of a post scriptum, we haven't had a lot of luck with Ex-Models and their related endeavours: our planned dates with both the band themselves and member-sharing Brooklynite dinosaurs Pterodactyl have gone nipples to the sky. The date of the Pterodactyl show is still going ahead, sans them, with Truckers Of Husk now headlining. More on that one, and an ace poster, soon...

GOD LUCK AND GOOD SPEED

2008-03-13T12:15:00.002Z

There's every chance if you loved the wonderful Anni Rossi last month, aka the previous Lesson No.1 gig, you might prefer to syringe your own ears with a carving knife than check out our next instalment of noisy fun. Because this month (Monday 24 March, that's Easter Monday, to be exact), ladies and gentlemen, we slow it down to a crawl of sludge rock...

Weedeater are heavier-than-you swamp sludge metal from North Carolina, formed in the 1990s from the acrid ash of Buzzov-en and continuing that band’s commitment to downtuned, crawling doom ugliness. Their latest album, ‘God Luck and Good Speed’ (awesome title) is on Southern Lord and will please fans of Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, Crowbar and possibly glue sniffing. So will this show, we expect. Look out for potential mid-set vomiting too, incidentally. Get tuned down over this way.

Stinking Lizaveta have played in South Wales three times. The first two times we put them on and they killed it in a small room. The other time they supported Corrosion Of Conformity and Clutch and killed it in a huge room in front of hundreds of people who had pretty much never heard of them. They come from Philadelphia and have been going since the 1990s, touring ferociously and unleashing their technically dizzying, double bass-using brand of instrumental, jazz-informed doom rock every so often in album form. Releases on Monotreme, At A Loss and Joe Lally of Fugazi's Tolotta among others. Doom-jazz in your face here.

Zonderhoof have been around Cardiff for a couple of years now and have started to get the props they deserve, thanks partly to a debut EP released by Sound Devastation but thanks mainly to being a really rad band. If you like Melvins, Keelhaul, the first Pelican EP, Hey Colossus and the like, don’t have that extra rock of crack before leaving the house – turn up early. And if you don't trust us, listen.

Where is all this ear-breaking debauchery going down? Downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff. Action starts from 8pm, it's £6 in advance (TICKETS) or £6.50 on the door. So round your bank holiday weekend/celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (delete according to delusional demeanour or otherwise) in style, okay?

SAFETY OF OBJECTS

2008-01-27T23:19:00.002Z

So, when there's two Lesson No.1 gigs within a fortnight of each other, it's hard to find the chance to update this damn site at optimum time. But here were are anyway, a little late, simmering down from The Mae Shi's excitable and exciting January cobweb blowing and preparing for something entirely different to begin February (Friday February 1 to be exact) with a unique muted bang...

Anni Rossi, with origins in LA and Chicago, is in her early 20s and a classically trained violinist who does not play classical music, or the violin. It's a viola and she uses it to deadly effect in her minimal, giddy folk songs that fans of Joanna Newsom, Faun Fables, Björk or Nico might well be into. She played in O'Neill's in Cardiff in the summer and was great (the attendance slightly less so, but then greatness has always endured a slightly inverse relationship with popularity). Records out on the Sound Virus label (which has released stuff by The Blood Brothers, Pretty Girls Make Graves, !!! and other bands who are nothing like Anni Rossi) and, right about now, a seven-inch, 'Wheelpusher', on Too Pure Records, home to Future Of The Left et al. Buy that or, for the financially challenged, check four bits of tuneage.

Rollin Hunt is Anni Rossi's boyfriend, so they've gone on tour together. There's lovely. He creates very fragile, awe-filled music derived from folk, gospel and 60s girl group type stuff. If you like Daniel Johnston, Jandek, Lou Barlow or The For Carnation you will be in a good place here. Get the aural goods this-a-way.

Completing the quiet splendour are Silver Spurs, Cardiff's number one for back-porch rockin' hoedown country melancholy fired off like we were in the Depression (and, hey, who's to say by the end of the decade/year/week we won't be once more). Members of The Gentle Good and Zumbar involved, which should serve as some mark of decentness, right? Point your computer cursor moving thing round about here for songs.

Blurb-info-burst: this is at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 7.30pm-10.30pm (an early start and finish for all your clubbing needs) and will set you back no more than £5 on the door.

Oh and a quick thanks to the rather talented Ruth who did the poster (above) for this. She's probably not available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and christenings, but does do a very neat line in graphic design. Hit up ruthclucas [at] yahoo.com for your posters needs, innit.

DO NOT IGNORE THE POTENTIAL

2007-12-18T01:56:00.000Z

Self-congratulatory backslapping ahoy: from the moment David Yow threw his mic stand into the crowd and demanded everyone took several steps back (then picked it up and beckoned them all forward again) how fucking awesome were Qui? Very, that's how. Best Lesson No.1 gig ever? Maybe.

But the internets (copyright Mr H Rollins) doesn't shut down for Christmas, so time for a bulletin on our next gig that won't be, MySpace-stylee, sent at you every day, twice, all in upper case and with spelling that makes your eyes feel like they've been jabbed with pointy razorblades.

Our first show of 2008, the next episode of fun-based noise (and vice versa) is on Monday 21 January and will go a little something like this...

The Mae Shi playfully throw out hyperactive avant-rock/post-hardcore influenced by everything in the world. They once released a mixtape with 1200 songs on it. From California and signed to the Moshi Moshi label in the UK, their new rekkid, 'HLLLYH', is due around the date of this show and, for the label in question, is fairly out of left field. So don't be put off. Previous releases, on imprints like 5 Rue Christine, Strictly Amateur Films and Narshaada, include a quite awesome split LP with Racebannon's 'other' band, Rapider Than Horsepower. For snatches of 'HLLLYH' and whole lot more get listening right here.

King Alexander are a Cardiffian two man/one lady jamboree of excitement and spiky guitars. Ex-Shooting At Unarmed Men, International Karate Plus and Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi (although a different member of the latter two bands than previously detailed below in Heck, fact fans), plus you may have seen frontlady Laura performing solo as Le B. New material soon; for now ears can be rewarded this way.

Right Hand Left Hand are a tasty new Cardiff-based side dish featuring two members of Vito (and by extension several other bands, thanks mainly to Rhodri ‘Broken Leaf’ Viney featuring). Squirreled away "experimenting with loops and random instrument swaps" for some months now, this is scheduled to be their second ever show, cruising the instrumental autobahn a la Trans Am with spacey post-rock bits. Get clicking for their first brace of tunes.

Where is this all happening? Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff. What time? 8pm. How much of your hard earned will it set you back? £5, yo. Most jobs pay more than that in an hour, right?

STRAP ON YOUR KNEE PADS

2007-12-03T18:09:00.000Z

It's almost Christmas party season. There's no good gigs to be attend until 2008, right? WRONG. David Yow and his new troops have the proof next week, Friday 14 December to be exact.

Qui are a trio from Los Angeles, California who have been festering away since 2000, foisting stripped ’n’ damaged noise-punk on a small but appreciative audience. Until last year they were a duo, whereupon something magical happened: David Yow, man of legend thanks to his time in the bands Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard, joined as frontman and made them a trio. This is, in noisy rock terms, somewhere approaching Zinedine Zidane joining your Sunday league team, and got Qui a host of attention, much like ZZ would. Recently released on Ipecac, the second Qui album ‘Love’s Miracle’ is an ugly molesting of the blues that harks back to TJL in the best way. Don’t miss this like a clown. Get busy for tunes and a blog that tells it like it is.

Space In The 50s are two-thirds of The Martini Henry Rifles with a fella called Marv hitting some drums, soon to be recognised as greater than the sum of their past experiences. They're still a wholly rocking and messy affair, with the influence of 5,000 noisy punk combos from the last 25 years making themselves apparent. Audio for y'all.

Heck have formerly done time in Sammo Hung, Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi, Shooting At Unarmed Men and some others along the way. Having been teething since the start of the year they're now a big bouncing baby, not a tiny purple ratty one. They have the angular tuffness of Wire or Mission Of Burma, mixed with the new wave popness of Blondie. Evidence right about here.

The vital nitty gritty: it's an early show, so get down to Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff from 7.30pm (we were a little optimistic about timings when the poster was conceived) and expect things to be fairly brisk in running; Qui should be on around 8.45pm we think. Tickets, which are a bargain-tastic £7 in advance, can be snaffled this way. Rocking.

HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS GLANDS

2007-11-17T14:20:00.000Z

So, Sŵn was great, been and gone. Big thanks to all involved in our contribution, especially the quite awesome White Mice, who blew the whiskers off all watching with a last-minute special guest set.

But the rock doesn't, ahem, stop round Lesson No.1's metaphorical gaff. And this coming Friday (November 23) we've got a messy proposition that will cost you a grand total of £0.00. Yes, stoopid, that's FREE.

Chops are from Leeds and play intensely rhythmic post-everything music on guitar, bass, drums, keys, sax, a tone generator and, unless they are lying, a human skeleton. They do it on the dancefloor directly through their amps because they long to be close to you. They have a demo out at the moment and a 12” on the Upset The Rhythm label this autumn. Choppy tunes this way. Oh and that's their odd, quite dizzying head logo thing spinning up above until the poster for this show gets resized, incidentally...

Also from Leeds, touring partners Cowtown are 1000 per cent funtimes DIY punk/no wave/pop, with records on the Golden Lab and (shortly) Chinchilla-Tone labels. “A sound that touches upon Devo, The Beatles, Deerhoof and Link Wray” is what the marketing department at the label say. They are dedicated to making you dance. Learn more in the form of music here.

This will be, as things stand, the second gig for Newport’s Brainpipe, who are the latest mutation of the Meltmen and Punk Action Shotgun (which means they feature one-man surf bandit Lt Meat). It’s gonna be another Texan-flavoured punk juggernaut, which, as anybody who caught their fancy dress tag-team face-off with Space In The 50s in Cardiff recently will attest, is definitely an enjoyable thing. Check the Meltmen MySpace for a ballpark idea. This is a different band though.

In the spirit of White Mice, Puttin' On The Ritz are a late addition to the bill. They're two fellows from New York who have also played in bands like Storm & Stress, Talibam!, Coptic Light, Get The People and more. Also, trivia fans, one of them works on The Daily Show. The Village Voice says: “Started in a drunken haze at a friend's party in '04, the band is the creation of drummer Kevin Shea and singer B.J. Rubin, punk fans who happen to love the standards (Shea even studied jazz at one point). Though Rubin hilariously howls through ballads like ‘The Rainbow Connection’, ‘My Funny Valentine’, and ‘The Girl from Ipanema’, he insists that POTR are sincere: ‘While most bands who do these songs sound dead, we try to explore it more and be off-the-cuff.’.” Songs you say? Yessir.

In summary, this is from 8pm at Le Pub, Clarence Place, Newport and it's motherflucking FREE. Excuses? You have none.

Also coming to ears near you SOON: this coming Wednesday night/early hours of Thursday is scheduled, terrifyingly for all involved, to see the radio debut of the two-headed foolfest that is Lesson No.1. It's for Bethan Elfyn's brand new Introducing... show on Radio 1. We'll be picking some records and talking, no doubt, some rambling crap sometime between midnight and 2am.

And lastly, having witnessed David Yow and his Qui troops in Bristol this week, let's just say next month at Clwb Ifor Bach promises to be something of a treat, possibly with jokes about welders and/or ice cream. So book some tickets why don'tcha?

HOW SŴN IS NOW...

2007-10-17T01:01:00.000Z

Apologies for The Smiths reference. It's 3am. And it's probably been used a hundred times before. But before we disappear into a diversion on exactly how much of a bequiffed cock Morrissey is, it'd be better to get the lowdown on our night at the Huw Stephens-curated Sŵn festival, just a few short weeks away. It's the next Lesson No.1 night, the lastest in our series of 'Lesson No.1 presents DJ Scotch Egg' and, here, the second of possibly, ooh, two pictorial journeys to celebrate Monsieur Egg playing Cardiff.

Mr Shige 'DJ Scotch Egg' Ishihara should be known to all with eyes and ears in the UK, and possibly a few without. In between bringing increasingly chaotic Nintendo Game Boy-catalysed merry hell to venues across the world, Scotch Egg has released records on the ever-great Adaadat and also has a long-promised finally forthcoming album on Load, home, of course, to Lightning Bolt. He also dons a nice line in hats...

Though every Lesson No.1 show with Scotch Egg has, thus far, been a solo enterprise, he also ropes in a bunch of sticks-wielding buddies for Drumize, AKA the Scotch Egg band. So don't blame us if he turns up with so many people nobody else can fit in the venue. Or if he plays this...

Or throws these (even if most people erroneously assume he does so at every gig)...

For the uninitiated: A classic video and listenable business.

In considerable support are Scotch Egg's angular Brighton-ish punk-rocking pals Charlottefield (the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted their drummer, Ash, spinning fine slabs of vinyl at our Lightning Bolt show last year; Charlottefield tunes right about here) and Cardiff's very own answer to the question 'Why hasn't this been done before?, Gindrinker (songs, yo).

The fun should start from around 8pm, but there's an early curfew so get there sharpish, okay? Tickets for the whole festival are on sale now from Sebon but if you want to pay on the door it will cost you a princely fiver.

Be there, else we'll send this fella round...

Or if you're really lucky, this one...

GROW UP THROW UP (UPDATED)

2007-08-29T14:10:00.000Z

Back from a break over the season formerly known as summer, the first Lesson No.1 action of the autumn sees an endorsement for a lesser known love of ours: punk fucking rock. So without further ado, here's what to expect from your dollars on Thursday September 20 (in association with the fine people of the Dead Souls Collective)...

Toronto quintet Brutal Knights dish out raging garage punk mayhem with frequently hilarious lyrical content. Responsible for a clutch of seven-inches and two albums on the Deranged label (Fucked Up, Career Suicide, Tranzmitors, etc), this is their first UK tour. Ex-members of Teen Crud Combo and Hacksaw; for fans of New Bomb Turks, Dwarves, Angry Samoans, etc. The singer is also a stand-up comedian in his spare time! Versatile. Tunes? Yessiree.

It would also be wholly irresponsible not to pass on the lyrics to the Brutal Knights song which, metaphorically, tipped the balance on this show happening:

FAKE YOUTH
Too many pixie haircuts
Too many hot, shitty girlfriends
I have had both these things
Except for pixie haircuts
Your haircut is a joke
The punchline is you're balding
Shave your head
Become skinhead
Or you I'll be insulting
Fake youth, I break tooth
Your manhood: I want proof
Fake youth, break tooth
You can't handle the truth
You have the face of failed wizard
And the body of a forest nymph
You have zits; you're forty one
Shoot yourself in the face with a gun
Your haircut is a joke
The punchline is you're balding
Shave your head
Become skinhead
Or you I'll be insulting
Fake youth
Your haircut
Fake youth

BK also list their influences as (deep breath): fear (not that band), the need to feel accepted, food, our parents, men hugging, asses, peer pressure, music scenes, people making scenes, jews, rap and metal (seriously), sexuality, Steve Bennett, the power of suggestion, Starbucks, the Christmas spirit, gay bands from around the world".

AMEN.

Lovvers hail from Nottingham and are one of a number of bands to form from the splintered membership of The Murder Of Rosa Luxemburg. Lovvers have released two seven-inch singles on the Jonson Family label, both of which have expressed a love for lurching garage rock and the pre-Pearl Jam grunge scene, among a bigger bag of influences. They also have a fearsome reputation for bringing it live in messy fashion. Get lovving.

To quote A Kid Called Power "Influences: Dead Kennedys, TSOL, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Husker Du, Gorilla Biscuits, Lifetime. Sounds Like: a mess.” We'll drink to that. Ex-Four Leter Word among other tings. Don’t miss this once-an-aeon opportunity!

Last but not least, to mine the phrase cliche book, are Capital. This is gonna be the debut show for these guys, who feature ex-State Run and current Savage Henry personnel and promise something located in the disputed territory of Moss Icon, Fugazi and Sonic Youth. The name is probably to be changed at some point, as there's a band on Revelation with the same moniker, but forget about them for now. No online presence yet to our knowledge, but it's ex-State Run. So, erm, come on!

The small print: venue = Le Pub, Caxton Place, Newport; doors = 8pm; admission = £5.

And while we're here, check out the upcoming shows top left of this very page for details of the return of DJ Scotch Egg (as part of Huw Stephens' rather awesome looking Sŵn festival) and, later in the year, Qui, who - for those wondering - are the smart new vehicle of David Yow from The Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid! Legendary business.

***UPDATE: A Kid Called Power have had to pull out of the Brutal Knights gig at short notice due to work commitments or something. Lt Meat is hopefully replacing them.***

DIE TONIGHT

2007-06-24T17:22:00.000Z

Do you like doom? Or volume? Or girls? Or girls from France? Or any combination of the above? Then, brother, has Lesson No.1 got THE show for you in a little over two weeks, Monday 9 July to be precise...

Monarch are two men and two ladies presenting utterances of incredibly downtuned sludged-out extreme doom. From France. Who knew that such beautiful ugliness lay within? Anyone who’s picked up their releases on labels like Throne, Crucial Blast, Shifty, Youth Attack or Rise Above (a Turbonegro cover single!) for starters. If you like Burning Witch, Khanate, Corrupted, Melvins et al, miss this and die! In the meantime, taste the doom...

The Death Of Her Money are a gentlemanly trio of earthmoving heaviness from South Wales. You may already know them. Loved by everyone from the smallest baby to the snootiest butler, they will shortly have an album, ‘Spirit Of The Staircase’, out on the fine SuperFi label, that will no doubt showcase their heavy-riffin’, shoegaze inflected power all over again. Get in t'Money.

Short shocks of dirty rolling grind-crushed hardcore from Coventry, Castor Troy recently released their debut EP on UK label Calculon. They rock fast and they rock slow. They are also the tour support for this jaunt. Tracks and self-deprecation here.

Low-profile, high-volume Bristol instrument manglers Tractor deal out unfriendly, 80s-ish sludge. Like Swans? Unsane? Melvins? The Jesus Lizard? It’s your lucky day, bucko. Ride the Tractor.

Details? What? Ah, simple: Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, kicking off from 8pm, costing a whole £5 on the door. Just do(om) it.

Sorry.

FOR THE UNBELIEVERS

2007-06-09T15:47:00.000Z

So, barely a week after the last slightly underattended but actually BRILLIANT Lesson No.1 gig - Indian Jewelry were the ass-kickingly awesome headliners in case your browser's scroll bar is broken or something - prepare for another. It's this Tuesday (12 June) to be precise. And this time it's ROCK (in uppercase and everything).

Bossk wield intense, drawn-out ambient metal. The quintet, straight outta Ashford in Kent, recently signed to the Throne label in Spain, and their new record '.2' is on the way soon. For fans of Isis, Cult Of Luna, Jesu and that crowd. They played with Ephel Duath in Clwb Ifor Bach last month, and by all available accounts, slayed it. Music is here, boss.

Shaped By Fate, as of late at least, haven't torn up many hometown shows. They're back on home turf again though with their champion teched-up metal/hardcore and new album 'The Unbeliever' on In At The Deep End. One review compared it to a scorpion. Awesome. First showing on a Lesson No.1 bill, not before time either says we. Get tuned up.

Manatees are back for one of our shows at Buffalo for the second time this year. They ruled last time, despite battling with technical problems, so imagine how good they'll sound this time. Here’s what we said before the previous gig: “Awe-inspiring, long, graceful and heavy doom-influenced progressive metalscapes from up in the north-west of England. Now you’re quite possibly as weary as us when it comes to reading about ‘Neurosis-esque’ bands and the like, but these guys are absolutely at the top of that particular tree, and there’s a whole bunch of other stuff in there besides (King Crimson, Swans, Guapo, etc).” Refresh your memory.

Atomck are Newport electro-grind nutbars featuring members of Meltmen and Snork Maiden, messing your head up like Fantomas, Pig Destroyer, The Locust et al. Their songs are very short and mental and you may wish to sit down while listening. Fair warning is available here.

That final blurb of important details: VENUE = Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff; DOORS = 8pm; THE DAMAGE TO YOUR WALLET = £5. And there's a very real chance this could get busy so don't turn up at 9.30pm and whine when we have to tragically turn you away...

SWARM OF ANGELS

2007-05-13T12:04:00.000Z

After taking May off for no other reason than no great shows worked out this month, ye olde Lesson No.1's noisy fun is back on Sunday 3 June with another show more random than the Eurovision Song Contest...

Houston, Texas collective Indian Jewelry deal in totally damaged psychedelic outpourings. Operating under a number of names since coming into being early this century, they've most recently had product on the Monitor, Tigerbeat6 and Lovepump labels. Expect gurgling cough syrup effects, battered electronics and post-punk attitude through a wall of guitar haze. A cross between Royal Trux, Suicide and Silver Apples. Maybe. Hear stuff here.

Suns Of Thunder are bearded good time amplifier worship down from Swansea for the evening. Bringing epic stoner/doom/Southern rock attitude, solo wigouts and mega low end are pretty much guaranteed. A new EP will be, well, new by the time this show comes around. Hit up their MySpace for ROCK.

True to his name, David Mysterious is a bit of a 'best kept secret' in terms of Welsh music. He's released one EP on the Peski label and will have an album along shortly. It will showcase, in one degree or another, his influences and touchstones: the long history of 'outsider music', 60s garage, American lo-fi (indie-era Beck, Mountain Goats, Guided By Voices) and cranky loopy pedal type stuff, which forms much of what he does live. Sweet! Evidence thisaway, y'all.

Also known as HL, Hurra Caine Landcrash is former Newport resident and film-maker Dan Hopkins. If you ever went to any of the No Ground Processes nights he was probably playing, or at least involved. He currently lives in Stoke-On-Trent and has continued with his incredibly blissed-out, dub-informed drone/soundscape material. But don't just believe us, have a listen.

The minutiae: downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff; 7.30pm-11pm, £5 adv. Get there early too as another night starts post-11pm, so things'll be kicking off kinda pronto after doors.

STABBED IN THE FACE

2007-03-28T15:35:00.000Z

Much as it always seems a touch smug when promoters thank everyone who came to a gig in some kind of self-serving DIDN'T WE DO WELL? dickery, nice work all who packed out Grabba Grabba Tape, who in turn entertained (and semi-stole from the bar) like all good multi-coloured Spanish folk should.

Things take a turn for the more serious and noisy in three weeks (Thursday 19 April), however: Wolf Eyes.

Wolf Eyes are rusty metal noise warrior heroes from Michigan, USA. They've racked up around one million releases [figure based on guess work] on Sub Pop, Troubleman, Important, Hospital and one thousand others [figure closer to fact]. They now feature Mike Connelly of Hair Police and this, friends and foes, is their first ever Welsh show. Get your face lifted off with songs right about here.

Consumer Electronics is the sometime solo project of Philip Best of Whitehouse (who have a new album in May, sick kids). We put on Consumer Electronics in autumn 2005 and it was cracking, so assume this will be as well. One laptop and a microphone meets rage, malevolence and frequencies that will kill you. There's some Whitehouse action here to get you in the mood - we can't rule out the possibility you'll get some of these numbers too.

Insanely, this is the first ever Welsh show also for Somatic Responses, who come from Ammanford and have almost as many releases as Wolf Eyes. Since the early 90s labels like Hymen, Praxis, Drop Bass Network and Six Shooter have documented the duo’s mashups of hard acid, breakcore, noise, electro and kitchen sinks. Dark, twisted and shortly to be in your face. Pre-gig sampling treats over here and they're also on the omnipresent MySpace.

Trawsfynydd Lo-Fi Liberation Front continues the rare show theme – possibly his second ever in fact – from a seldom-seen-these-days troublemaker of over a decade’s standing in Welsh-language music. More specifically, it's the noisy breakcore/digital hardcore project of Mr Steffan Cravos (Tystion, etc) - and, we hear, a special guest for this gig - with Kid606 and Shitmat among stated influences. Product on Fitamin Un, R-Bennig and High Quality. Tunes over this way.

The route to all this decibel-heavy madness? Downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff from 8pm, and tickets, which you can buy here, are £6.50 (this show is, incidentally, in association with the guys from Forecast).

CODE PINK

2007-03-10T21:42:00.000Z

See below for the blurb; see above for the awesomely smile-worthy poster (big thanks Dan!). And, well, BE THERE...

LOS MORANCOS IMITANDO A DAFT PUNK!

2007-03-08T18:41:00.000Z

April 2005, Le Pub, Newport. Even by Newport's heady standards, the day-glo creatures kicking up a riot onstage are kinda weird looking. Those tragic monsters were Grabba Grabba Tape and goddamn if they're not coming back this month, Monday 26 March to be precise.

Grabba Grabba Tape, for those who didn't witness them two years ago, are a very wrong Spanish duo who feature drums, keyboards, furry bodysuits, vocoders and Minor Threat covers. Think Daft Punk, Polysics, The Residents, Melt-Banana, and, according to the band themselves, ‘Funky Man’ by Dee Dee Ramone. Nothing could be that good, but GGT are pretty awesome. Mental music-style bizniz over this way, which also features a comedy broken English biog (even if we can’t speak Spanish as well as they speak English).

Hot new band of Newport punk celebrity yobbos Meltmen feature members with pasts in Four Letter Word and probably other similar scoundrels. Bursting out the garage and 80s Texas/90s San Diego punk sound up in the place, the results might make you scratch your chin - while bouncing off the walls - and remember Rocket From The Crypt, Really Red, Drive Like Jehu and Cargo Cult. Unruly. Nip off here for a brace of tunes.

South Wales’ reclusive experimental doomsters Spider Kitten complete the bill with a rare show. Having recently expanded from a duo to a quartet, they have a new album out very soon on their own Rugland label. Said record moves away from tectonic plate-paced Sunn0)))/Earth type work into more song-based Melvins-y territory, while still maintaining the unconventional heaviosity. Did we mention it’s dang good? Have a listen why don'tcha...

All we ask of you in return is get down to Buffalo Bar, Windsor Place Cardiff from 8pm with £4 in your sweaty palms. Prizes for the best fancy dress (the prizes being laughs of derision and bemused stares from Grabba Grabba Tape).

WINE COUNTRY CRACKER BLUES

2007-02-23T18:36:00.000Z

The rock, it's been noted, rarely stops chez Lesson No.1. Shout outs to everyone who was involved with and came to the Manatees and Silent Front shows. Great times. The next tasty dish is looming already though - Wednesday 7 March to be precise.

The USA Is A Monster return for their third Lesson No.1 extravaganza. They're a mega-righteous Brooklyn guitar/drums/keys duo. And we love ‘em. Classic progged-out rock meets Lightning Bolt-style complex freakery meets corn-eating country atmos meets a DIY spirit and anti-establishment outlook. Five full-length releases to date (plus a bunch of EPs and side projects), three of them on the ever-killer Load Records. Hear ‘Too Many Moves’.

Wolves Of St August are a pretty darn new band from the Cardiff area who take in classic US indie-rock, gently psychedelic country and the big moves of the Smashing Pumpkins when they fancied kicking out some (decent) quiet songs. The multi-talented Ross from this band also did the flyer above. Pretty. Tunage here.

Le B is the solo alter-ego of Laura from local indie-punky types King Alexander (and also satellite Lesson No.1 collective member), cranking out sweeeeet music with nowt but an acoustic guitar and a voice. To mention Cat Power would in no way disgrace either party. Do the MySpace thing for a song.

The nuts and bolts: get yourself down to Dempseys, Castle Street, Cardiff from 8pm. And it's a thoroughly reasonable £5 on the door. MORE ROCK SOON.

ONE OFF THE LIST OF A THOUSAND

2007-02-22T04:09:00.000Z

So, since this lovingly (read: sporadically) updated blog was last lent a new post, it kind of broke temporarily. The bad news is that means we barely have time to tell you about the combined joys of Silent Front, The Death Of Her Money and Serena Joy at Buffalo in Cardiff later today (Thursday 22 February) helping out the good combined folk of We Heart Records. The good news? We discovered that people actually DO post comments here, and we had a year's worth to approve upon switching over to some new-fangled blog version. WOW. No excuses now...

Silent Front steam in from London town, propelled by what we might call post-hardcore if it hadn't become a term rather intertwined with early 30s men desperately attempting to relive their youth, snare some teenaged girls and play emo. Instead, Hero Of A Hundred Fights, Shellac and Fugazi are to blame, at least in part, for the noise they actually emit. For evidence in the highly inventive form of music, take an Interweb-style left turn here or download 'One Off The List Of A Thousand', which the sharp among you will see we've borrowed as a title above.

Proving the world isn't, in fact, a fair and just place, South Wales's own The Death Of Her Money somehow continue not to be world-beatingly massive despite wiping the floor with nigh on every outfit operating in the same vague Neurosis/Isis/Pelican field. There's more than generic post-metal to TDOHM, though, and anybody from within about 100 miles who hasn't already witnessed so should really be a touch ashamed. Kill that sinking feeling with a preview tune or three right here or download 'Scandinavian Accent'.

Last but not least, the chief architects of this night, Serena Joy are half-Cardiff, half-Weymouth soundscapists with enough members to go somewhere toward approaching Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Why the locational split? Well, for this tour at least their ranks are bolstered by a couple of former members of sadly departed Wales-based screaming fret-manglers ...andtheywillriot!, who previously made Lesson No.1-facilitated noises supporting Some Girls and Hella before splitting late last year. There's the usual MySpace efforts or else add another mp3 to your virtual collection with 'Movement'.

Couldn't be assed to read all that? Fine: Silent Front/The Death Of Her Money/Serena Joy; Thursday 22 February; Buffalo Bar, Cardiff; 8pm until late with added DJ action; £4. Any questions? See you in about half a day then...

RECOMMENDED TO BE LISTENED TO ON DRUGS. LOUDLY

2007-01-28T16:45:00.001Z

No, we're not being smart. The above title really is the advice of Carlisle's Manatees - headliners of our next action-rammed show on Monday 19 February, since you didn't ask - to anybody slotting on their records. Awe-inspiring, long, graceful and heavy doom-influenced progressive metalscapes, their debut album ‘Untitled’ came out late last year and got gushing praise up the wazoo. Now you’re quite possibly as weary as us when it comes to reading about ‘Neurosis-esque’ bands and the like, but these guys are absolutely at the top of that particular tree, and there’s a whole bunch of other stuff in there besides (King Crimson, Swans, Guapo). Don't believe us? Luckily, through the medium of the intermeweb, there's proof at their MySpace plus via a nifty video thing here.

Space In The 50s head the mega supporting line-up. More details? Sheesh. Well, Cardiff’s Martini Henry Rifles broke up last year. Two thirds of the band have regrouped as Space In The 50s, with a real human drummer this time around. They are still utilising distortion and ugly repetitive riffs, with professed influences coming from Scratch Acid, Monorchid, Butthole Surfers, Landed and so forth, with an extra gob of surf-punk. The lucky will have caught their blunt and beautiful debut after The Blood Brothers the other night. This is their second show.

Infants live in London and number four. They have just (as in, this month) released their first single on the Tiger Trap label, and its unhinged bursts of synthesised guitar noise gutterness have been compared to Melt-Banana, Brainiac and the Blues Explosion. They’re also down with the good people of the breakcore/rave underground, having traded remixes with the totally awesome Drop The Lime, who we last encountered in Bristol jumping face-first into a don't-try-this-at-home stagedive/worrying bleeding head wound combo.

Solomon Kane are another brand new Cardiff band, also playing their second show (although at time of writing they're yet to play their first), featuring Chris from Taint among its lineup. No recordings have surfaced yet, but they’ve been practising to the point of perfection, and a collective taste for mega-riff mania gives a pretty solid indication that if you like your rock heavy and imposing, you will like Solomon Kane.

So bring £4 (plus as much beer money as possible) to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff. Doors are 9pm, and take note: first band almost immediately after opening.

While we're bigging up one future show, look above and right for all the exciting business we have approaching, more of which SOON.

Oh and for whoever might give a shit we can mention this now: thanks to everyone who came to The Blood Brothers at Clwb Ifor Bach. It was great. It sold out. But, for the record, it wasn't in the end technically a Lesson No.1 show. We handed it over to Clwb because we, ridiculously, weren't allowed to book any local bands at the request of the booking agent/band and were dicked around with the support bands before finally being told there'd only be one (Help She Can't Swim). And while moralistic chest-beating in local music is 200 per cent yawnworthy, we have some kind of principles in wanting to put on as many bands as we possibly can all the time and doing the whole value for money thing. So feel free to start pointing and laughing at the folks who passed up a few quid from a sell-out show.

SELF SELLER EVENT

2007-01-16T04:34:00.000Z

More on the above, and a couple more shows you might've noticed appearing to the right of this here post, after The Blood Brothers next week. Indeed, more on The Blood Brothers show after it happens. Watch this space, as people who run out of meaningful words tend to say...

YOUNG MACHETES

2007-01-03T14:49:00.000Z

There are no more bands to be added to this above. DON'T BLAME US. Tickets on the door? You betcha sweet ass there won't be many, if any, at all.

Welcome to the Oh-Seven...

TEEN HEAT

2006-12-12T18:14:00.000Z

A quick pre-Christmas post to impart two main pieces of information, presented to you in a handy format even a fool could understand:

1. Almost half the tickets for The Blood Brothers (pictured in fetching get-up ABOVE) next month - Thursday 25 January to be precise - have sold as of yesterday. So hit the link to the right and don't say we didn't warn you in six weeks when you're left in the cold outside Clwb wishing you hadn't been too damn cool to buy a ticket. Okay?

2. Whatever you may have seen in the Buffalo listings, there's no Lesson No.1 pop quiz for December. Although one current and two ex-Lesson types did finish second in the All Tomorrow's Parties pub quiz last weekend, with text message assistance from a fourth Lesson culprit. How terribly indie.

Seasons greetings and all that shite...

1, 2, 3, 4 GUITARS

2006-11-25T13:20:00.000Z

So as the season of covers bands and manic depression also known as Christmas approaches (apparently), here's a pick you up of fine musical standards in the shape of Lesson No.1's first gig of 2007. To be specific, Thursday 25 January. Hell yes.

The Blood Brothers are a super-spazzed pop-art-screamo quintet from Seattle who've smashed out five variously brilliant albums on labels like 31G and, erm, V2. The latest, 'Young Machetes', is released on Wichita over here in January and already knocking about on import. It's pretty great. They're currently touring the US with ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Three tracks offa the new record are over at their MySpace and there's also a selection of older gubbins right HERE.

After a little confusion over who would be The Blood Brothers' main support on their UK tour, it's definitely confirmed as Help She Can't Swim (so apologies anybody who wanted to see White Circle Crime Club, who aren't now supporting, but check 'em out regardless as they sound rather splendid). HSCS are a bunch of noisy art school boys and girl from around the south coast and London last seen round these parts, we believe, supporting the infinitely less brilliant Art Brut. But don't let that put you off: enjoyably yelping indie-punk LP 'Fashionista Super Dance Troupe' came out on Fantastic Plastic a coupla years back and they're due to follow it up real soon with new album 'The Death of Nightlife'. Tunes THIS WAY.

There's at least one more band to come (more on that REAL soon), but in the meantime all that's left to say is: this is all happening at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff and tickets are £8 from the Clwb site. They're selling like, if not hot cakes, then at least moderately warm scones and pretty sure this is not only the smallest venue on this tour but also the cheapest tickets. Result.

NOVEMBER (B)RAIN

2006-11-16T01:33:00.000Z

THIS WEDNESDAY (November 22nd) brings that time again when the supposedly bi-monthly Lesson No.1 Pop Quiz grinds back into random action - blame the quite wonderful Baroness and Torche for disrupting normal service in October.

We got rather drunk at the last quiz. Won't you join us this time around for fun, frolicks, and mainly answering questions about musical subjects of OUR choosing to win great cash* prizes (*cash = unspeakably good CDs and probably booze too). Then dance, drink and waste the night away watching the Lesson No.1 DJs remember how to use a cross-fader once more. FUN.

All the details are cunningly contained within the flyer above, but just in case of pictorial error: Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff; things kick off at a leisurely pace around 8pm and it'll cost you £1 per person to enter.

And, yeah, quit it already. Think of a better title for this post. Go on. Do it. Now. Put it in the comments below. And we hope there's more inspiration going round with your pop quiz answers.

DARK POWERS

2006-11-01T15:03:00.000Z

Everybody likes a bit of unadulterated noise come Friday night, right? What? You prefer to get plastered on tart fuel alcopops and lose all sense of dignity? Well, join the club, but for one evening only join Lesson No.1 with a litle help from Clwb Ifor Bach's Beneath The Surface night and check out an all-anti-American treat next Friday (November 10th).

Coughs are three boys and three girls from Chicago playing messed-up noise-pop/punk/no wave. Their new album 'Secret Passage' is just out on Load Records, home of Lightning Bolt, USAISAMONSTER, Noxagt et al, but this gives scant clues as to the mania served up by this sinister six. And the closest they're coming to Wales apart from Cardiff is, erm, London. So don't miss out. Check 'Dark Powers' from 'Secret Passage'.

Bringing the scratchier half of supporting local noise are The Physicists, three girls and one boy serving up the finest riot grrrl/skronk rock Cardiff has to offer. Having been frequently seen around town playing shows on punky/grrrly bills, this is the first time we’ve put them on in over 18 months. Since then they’ve released a single on Complete Control and toured Wales with soon-to-be-glue punkers Adequate Seven. Sound and, apparently, vision right on over HERE.

Opening fun comes via The Spines, the debut show from a one-man mystery machine who describes his creation as "Sunn0))) meets Suicide at Budokan". He is called Chris and has done time in some South Wales noise/experimental projects from the turn of the century like Know Point and Botanophobia. So he’s not that mysterious, really. Nowt to listen to yet, but rest assured it'll doubtless include some of the most brilliantly obscure equipment seen since World War One.

So shimmy on down to Clwb Ifor Bach from 8pm and splurge a whole five pounds on starting your weekend in messy style.

FUCK ADDICTS (UPDATED!)

2006-10-21T18:42:00.000Z

Such is the heaviness of the approaching next Lesson No.1 show that your cup of water/tea/beer/vodka (delete according to toughness) should be making Jurassic Park-level ripples already.

Baroness are a four-piece from Georgia who have released two EPs on the Hyperrealist label, and kicked the ass of stoner/doom/tech-metal/sludge/crust/hardcore types in the process. There’s a bit of all those things in Baroness’ sound, which is weighty as the universe and technical as rocket science. They’re going to blow the windows out of Buffalo. Duck, slowcoach! Hear ‘Rise’ here.

Torche formed from the ashes of cult Floridian sludge-rock bands Floor, Cavity and Tyranny Of Shaw (among others) as a three-piece precision machine that retains elements of those previous bands, while taking them to fresh, different places. Torche’s self-titled debut on the Robotic Empire label (soon to be re-unleashed on Mogwai's Rock Action) has thunderous riffs, angry-sermon-on-the-mount vocals and killer stoner grooves, but exhibits a melody-heavy pop sensibility that pulls the likes of Jane’s Addiction, QOTSA and Therapy? into the swamp. Great band.

Taint were originally added to this bill as a replacement for The Keep, but now they're BOTH playing. Confused? Don't be. Confirmed 100 per cent are Taint - representing Swansea from Cardiff, London and Birmingham - one of the kickassest bands to come out of South Wales. No, the UK. No, the universe. Their debut album proper, 'The Ruin Of Nova Roma' (Rise Above) shows you how they rock. But you have it already. Don't you? Latecomers can check a track right here.

Opening the whole gut-worrying thing are The Keep, who, if you're into such crass descriptive fun, could be compared to Isis discovering they really rather liked crust-punk doom and righteous polemic. Find the aural answers to the question 'What Do You Throw A Drowning Preacher?', a track off their demo of this very year of our Lord, 2006.

The business end of all this is: this Wednesday (October 25th); Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff; 8pm and five pounds of your hard earned. First band on around 8.20pm. so for that, and for reasons of guaranteeing entry to Buffalo's intimate surroundings, be early, okay?

JUNGLISM

2006-10-03T20:33:00.000Z

If y'all aren't off rambling up mountains, getting so drunk all your friends think you're a total wanker, or boiling children - or whatever it is YOU do for kicks on days-what-don't-have-a-Lesson-No.1-show - then this Saturday (October 7th) is the second Bashout at the Black Swan in Bristol. Lesson No.1 are lending a hand and Luke Vibert is headlining, donning his Amen Andrews and Spac Hand Luke guises. What could be better?

More at the Bashout website or else check these here flyers that would've broken this blog with obscene wideness had we posted them direct: FRONT or the more informative BACK.

Oh and buy tickets or else don't say we didn't warn you - the last Bashout was crazy busy...

CHARGE OF THE BROWN RECLUSE(S)

2006-09-28T22:01:00.000Z

More info on Lesson No.1's rather head-splitting next show soon, but for the time being witness the equally kickass flyer, with thanks to one Mr Stubbs...

TURNING IT DOWN SINCE 2001 (UPDATE #2)

2006-08-24T21:56:00.000Z

Autumn is shaping up to be VERY HEAVY - and we aren't just talking in new-fangled street slang terms, bruv - if you should choose to spend it with Lesson No.1. The double-headed sludge battering ram of Baroness and Torche are coming in October (more details on them soon), but for now feast your eyes on this little mass of rocking fun, on Monday September 25, with a little help from those musical fellas at Forecast.

Norway's Noxagt make a welcome return for their third appearance in Cardiff (but the first in three years). This time around the critically bummed power trio, pronounced Nox-att, are touting their new self-titled record, released by Load Records of Lightning Bolt-and-many-many-more fame. Moving away from their freaky, viola-employing dirge noize and into the stripped-down realms of a ton of 90s post-hardcore bands, you might think of Unsane, 16, Oxbow, Breadwinner and maybe a more direct version of recent bands like Pelican (Noxagt are also instrumental, you see). This may sound like a step backwards but it ain’t. It rocks so hard bits of you might fall off. Listen to them, thanks to a hawkish Aussie business tycoon, here.

Truckers Of Husk feature former and current members of Jarcrew, Future Of The Left, Mountain Men Anonymous (and, therefore - gasp - Lesson No.1) and S.K.W.A.D., and play dosed-up and dizzying prog jams. Two drumkits are given an angry beating and fretboards get tapped more than Richard Nixon’s enemies’ phones. It rocks in a way that recalls 70s prog heroes like King Crimson and the math bastards of 90s USA.

This is only the fourth or fifth gig for Cardiff dudes Zumbar, but they have a lot of lovers and admirers already. Blissful, yet heavy, stoner rock that gives it up for Sabbath, Pentagram (who they cover) and many more big dogs of 70s war. They don’t have anything to listen to yet, but should pretty soon.

Circa Regna Tonat are confirmed as the opening band, hot off the presses, replacing Thread, who had to cancel.

Clwb Ifor Bach is your destination for a night of volume to make you wish you hadn't forgotten your frickin' earplugs, all for the thoroughly reasonable price of £5 in advance. Tickets should be up soon on the Clwb website and maybe some other places should we sort our shit out.

SMITH & JONES FOREVER

2006-07-20T16:16:00.000Z

Silver Jews, The Point, Friday 14th July.

Yiddish-shaped love to all who turned out and helped make it such a great night.

And thanks to Mei Lewis for the above pic. Check a full gallery here.

HONK IF YOU'RE LONELY

2006-06-28T13:57:00.000Z

So here it is: the final Lesson No.1 gig before a summer break to allow bank balances (that's both you the punters and us the promoters) and sanity levels to be restored. But it's quite a way to, temporarily, go out.

Before this year, the legendary status of the Silver Jews had grown and grown over the best part of 15 years without David Berman - the main man behind the Jews name - ever touring. He played about one show every two or three years, if that. It's taken him this long to pluck up the courage to go on the road, with an entourage of pals (including ex-Pavement types), but responses to his performances so far have suggested it was worth the wait. Lesson No.1 went to see him in London a few months back on the debut UK micro-tour and it was cool beans. In short, he is a fucking genuine American poet and needs to be in your life. It'll be great to have him in Cardiff.
Listen to 'Black and Brown Blues' or check out the Jews' MySpack.

Marble Valley, the 'other' band of Steve West formerly of Pavement, is the sole support act. West also moonlights as the soundman for the Silver Jews, fact fans, and his band describe themselves thusly: "If you took a can of Kraftwerk, added a spoonful of Can, throw in a sprinkle of the Pogues, brought it all to a boil and tossed it on the Pavement you would have Marble Valley". Nice. More MySpace fun, including one whole track for your enjoyment, over here.

All this is happening, in conjunction with our friends in folk Forecast, on Friday July 14 at The Point in Cardiff Bay, which has just about the right regal surroundings to fit the occasion. Even better, tickets are £11.50, which is cheaper than either of the other two UK dates they're playing (London and Manchester).

The darkly intriguing poster continues to reside in online format (and also includes details of where to get your tickets, which can also be obtained soon by those (un)lucky enough to run into either of Lesson No.1) here.

And while you're website jumping like it was going outta fashion, check lots of splendid pictures of Lesson No.1 gigs, such as the one of Big Business's wall of amplification top right of this very page, and a stack more at Mei Lewis's rather splendid site here.

///UPDATE: POP QUIZ DATE CHANGE!/// Before we depart to work ourselves into a Jews-related frenzy, our fifth magical pop quiz and DJ night has been put back to August at Buffalo in Cardiff; Wednesday August 23 to be precise. Be there, or miss the chance to win real life alcohol and CDs, plus hear records cross-faded badly. YEAH! ///UPDATE: POP QUIZ DATE CHANGE!///

HEAVY AND AWKWARD

2006-06-08T00:44:00.000Z

There are only two balls-in-the-oven hot Lesson No.1 gigs coming up before we take an ill-earned break until late September-ish, but they might be two of the most awesome shows we've ever put on, for totally contrasting reasons.

First, a week on Tuesday (June 20), comes a supremely noisy bill that might just change your life.

Racebannon are an incredible, powerful and darkly funny band from Bloomington, Indiana, whose late-90s beginnings in the area of shouty hardcore mutated, in time, into something weirder and noisier perhaps comparable to The Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers, with howled vocals and a more intense tempo. Or if you want it simple like a special school kid, screamo with early Sonic Youth on guitars. They've released on Level Plane, Secretly Canadian, Alone, Witching Hour and many more, with their new EP, produced by Kurt Ballou (Converge), coming soon as well. Listen to a brand new song on www.myspace.com/racebannonrocks.

Touring support Battleship deal in arty hardcore shenanigans and have been making a racket from their Oakland, CA base for a few years. Their 2004 vinyl-only release ‘Presents Princess’ has just been released on CD. Black Flag and The Birthday Party are invoked by many. http://www.myspace.com/battleship gives YOU the chance to have an opinion.

South Wales's very own artcore masters Night And The City Of Broken Promises complete the madness - those not in the know can catch an earful of 'Accumulation of Correspondence'.

Which leaves us only to mention the particulars: it's all happening upstairs at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff. It's a measly £4. And though we'll be open from 8pm, this is a late show to avoid clashing with England v Sweden in the World Cup. Which means fans/haters of the beautiful game/dumbest sport on Earth can respectively catch the football, perhaps even on Buffalo's big screen downstairs, or avoid all the soccer morons in town and hide in a bush or something when the match is on. We're thoughtful like that.

And last, but resolutely not least, before that aforementioned summer break is the Silver Jews at The Point in Cardiff Bay, on Friday July 14. Full rundown coming real soon, but until then check the rather great poster here.

TONIGHT I SHOW YOU FUCK

2006-05-27T15:18:00.000Z

As many punters and probably more irked soundmen still will attest, us Lesson No.1 folks like to pack our bills with enough bands to give that hallowed value for money. Which brings us to this little beauty of a monster bill next week.

Vialka are a totally killer and 1000% DIY duo from France mathing up punk rock and Eastern European folk. F'real! Imagine a cross between The Ex, Minutemen, and the end of level music from Tetris. You may have seen them in Le Pub last March. www.vialka.com has all sorts of info and sounds – in the .ogg format. A prize for anybody who can tell us what that's all about (the prize is getting to hear Vialka).

Art Of Burning Water are an awesome bunch of metallic boffins from London town who also played here last spring – in Dempseys as part of their tour with Taint. They're heavy as hell yet intricate, and warrant the comparisons to Mastodon that often crop up in conjunction with their name. They have an album called ‘The Voyage Of The Pessimistic Philosoph: An Ode To Believers Of The Prevailing Law Of Sod’ out now, and they also provided us with the awesomely be-cocked poster above (a slightly more family-friendly version sporting an unfortunate man with a knife in his chest is around Cardiff NOW).

South Wales space sludge superstars The Death Of Her Money smack you up with savage serrated songcraft. By the time this rolls around there should be a 7” on Rat Patrol to help you learn more. Sweet. Playing here as part of a few dates with AOBW and a whole UK tour with Flatlands, who you can read more about below.

FTSE100 might just be the hottest purveyors of dizzying metallic math-rock to come out of Cardiff, and there’s some competition right there. They've been playing around the UK on and off, inviting mentions of bands like Don Caballero, King Crimson (ouch), and US Maple. They are now fully located in Cardiff and will probably be a duo for this gig.

Touring with TDOHM around this time, Flatlands come from Sheffield and tout a whacked-out doomy ambience that would in no way disgrace early Isis. They played in Le Pub last month and with that in mind, it felt good to cram them onto this already heaving bill. This does however mean their set will be short’n’early. So get in early. Especially if you're short. Split 12” out NOW on Superfi!

Most remarkable of the lot, it's only £5. That's £1 per band. That, as the kids like to abbreviate it, is MF VFM.

QUESTION THE ANSWERS

2006-05-23T11:57:00.000Z

It's that time of the (every other) month again when we play records, set question-master DC Gates loose, and generally do our pop quiz thang at Buffalo. £1 to enter and kicking off 8.30pm sharp this time around.

Big thanks to everyone who made it to Lightning Bolt last night, and further respect if you're still as deaf as us. Our ears know no mercy however: just confirmed is Racebannon come to Buffalo on Tuesday June 20. Which makes us rather excited. Oakland's Battleship accompany the Bloomington bruisers, and we've even had the foresight to make this a late-finishing show so all you Cardiff aliens (AKA England football fans) can watch the World Cup match that night, possibly on Buffalo's downstairs screen.

While we're here, Lesson No.1 is lending a hand to Toxic Dancehall's successor in Bristol on Saturday June 10. Venetian Snares and Mu-Ziq top the bill - check the Bashout site for full mash-tastic details.

A LIVER, A LUNG, A KIDNEY, A THUMB

2006-05-19T15:51:00.000Z

It's with heavy black hearts that we report The Paper Chase show this Sunday is OFF - John Congleton, vocalist and all-round lead Chaser, was rushed to hospital as the band were preparing to leave for Europe, so the entire tour has been pulled and will now be rescheduled later this year. Or in the words of their UK booker:

"John is in a bad state. He is out of hospital, but the tour has
been cancelled at this time."

Frankly, we blame whoever designed this sadly prophetic flyer:

In other healthier news, the Lightning Bolt show on Monday is likely to sell out in advance, so if you haven't got tickets yet, a weekend purchase would be wise. We also hope to excitedly confirm one of Lesson No.1's total favourite bands very shortly too. Watch this space, as nobody with any shame says...

IN AT THE DEEP END

2006-04-30T17:54:00.000Z

‘Head For The Shallow’, the debut album by Seattle’s Big Business, was the favourite album of 2005 by one of the Lesson No.1 party (the one writing this). It was also the most slept on. It was released on the Hydra Head label (Pelican, Isis, Jesu etc etc), which can never hurt when it comes to getting a band some initial attention, and the pair – bassist Jared Warren, ex of Karp, and Coady Willis, formerly of the Murder City Devils – have in the last 12 months become the touring rhythm section of the Melvins. All namedropping, all good. But it doesn’t start to talk about how FUCKING hard they rock.

‘O.G.’, the first track on ‘Head For The Shallow’, starts off with 35 seconds of Morricone-d Western atmos on the down low and then explodes. Shrapnel everywhere and Motorhead facing off against Lightning Bolt in the middle. Awesome. ‘Easter Romantic’ is the album’s highlight, and sounds like this: http://www.hydrahead.org/hh/mp3s/easter_romantic.mp3. A good hunt around has yielded precisely no bad reports of Big Business’ live show. Mammoth volume in small space; air turning to jelly around you.

Further fun to be had on the evening of Monday 15 May goes like this: Creepy Morons, who are the tour support for Big Business; also a duo, they used to be in The Beat Up (nee the Beatings) from old London town. They may not sound wildly similar to the headliners, being more in the vein of Pavement or The Jesus and Mary Chain, but have a similar approach to amplification - specifically, oppressive levels at all times. http://www.myspace.com/thecreepymorons tells you more.

Zonderhoof are a Cardiff band playing their debut show. They sent us a demo, claiming to be an Eastern European metal band relocated to South Wales. The story proved to be untrue; the demo was badass, with Keelhaul, Pelican and the Melvins recalled most prominently in three tracks of 100% instrumental riff worship. Hear what we hear here: http://www.zonderhoof.com/mp3/williamb.mp3. Finally, Zuma, who are almost as new – this will be their third gig – take things back to 1971 with some Black Sabbath / Pentagram (who they cover) / assorted other bellbottomed rock monsters styling. Can’t wait.

THIS IS RELIGION

2006-03-29T17:41:00.000Z

First off, we must give you the benefit of our 'Hot Off The Wires' inside contacts and tell you that this show is the only south-west of Britain date for miles around (Birmingham's the next closest) for the Some Girls tour. They were due to play in Bristol a few days after, but are now hitting up the Forum in London in support to their pals the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So! Don't say we never tell you anything.

Saturday April 15, then. This is gonna be a blast. 'Heaven's Pregnant Teens', the second album by US hardcore supergroup Some Girls, is one of our number's favourite LP of 2006 so far. It consists chiefly of raging jolts of angular hardcore coming in at around the 90-second mark, plus a really long, slow, grisly track at the end. The band are more often than not referred to in terms of their previous or current bands, which include The Locust, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, Give Up The Ghost (nee American Nightmare), Unbroken, Swing Kids, Over My Dead Body and more that I can't be fucked listing, much as I enjoy writing lists. If you listen hard enough, you may detect chunks of any or all of these bands in Some Girls' music, and if you don't, it should not detract from their kickassness. Plus their website, on which you can listen to choons, is called www.somegirlshaveallthefuck.com. Bawdy!

A supporting cast of splendour includes Malkovich, who hail from Holland and whose records can be found on the Coalition and Reflections labels. Their social background and sonic foundation in hardcore, they nevertheless bring a rock'n'roll party to the party that has caused some to suggest a cross between Converge, Refused and Guns N'Roses. The mind, if nothing else, boggles. Andtheywillriot! played Lesson No.1's Hella show back in December and were deeply tidy; still awaiting a debut release proper, although it should be soon, we assume they still sound like the camp blitz of Blood Brothers in a jam with the atmospheric tinkling of Mogwai and their peers. Finally, from Brecon come Captain Insano, who put the "youth" in "youth crew" - well strictly speaking that was done years ago, but you have to love the way these dudes get all worked up about late '80s bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Turning Point, who formed before some of them were even born, and make a damn fine fist of replicating their righteous energy.

SCREW LOOSE

2006-03-22T14:13:00.000Z

GLORIOUS TIMES

2006-03-22T14:03:00.000Z

Wherein Lesson No.1 and South Wales Massive join forces for the first time, and Clwb Ifor Bach prepares to shake like a skyscraper struck by a wrecking ball under the combined onslaught of two of the heaviest bands of modern times. Formed from the ashes of Electric Wizard, UK’s Ramesses play warlike, freeform ultra-stoner/doom with a dark melodic heart beating within its blackened chest. To date, they have recorded one CD, ‘We Will Lead You To Glorious Times’, out now on Devil Doll. “… Glorious Times isn’t doom-rock as a gateway to the infinite,” decided Terrorizer, “It’s a full-on tightening of the screw.”

Sourvein, meanwhile, hail from the waterlogged Dirty South stronghold of New Orleans. Formed in 1992 under the influence of Black Flag, The Melvins, and Millions Of Dead Cops, Sourvein have since slowed their sound down to a tar-thick stoner sludge, albeit without losing T-Roy Medlin’s larynx-shredding, extreme metal vocal style. The band released a record, ‘Will To Mangle’, on Southern Lord back in 2002, and followed it up with the thunderous Emerald Vulture last year. Support on the night comes from Dignity Dies First and Twist The Knife, with JayX of South Wales Massive rocking the middle floor with all manner of punk/hardcore tunes. Say it: DOOOOOOOM

HOLIDAY IN MALARIA!

2006-03-07T22:23:00.000Z

This is what it’s all about. Wandering through acres of incomprehensible or plain boring posts on obscure music forums, seeing one asking for tour dates for two bands you’ve never heard of, firing a few tracks into your ears, getting your musical horn on, booking a date. The process sounds dull, and I suppose it is, but it feels kind of lovely.

Let’s tell you a bit about the two touring bands, Eniac and Amtrak. Eniac are from Hamburg; who knows, when Hank from Turbonegro told our friend JWR it was his favourite German city, maybe he was thinking of this band. They certainly rock sufficiently, for anyone who likes the serrated and sweaty thug fug of Les Savy Fav, The Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu or Milemarker. The substance precluses the style. Their most recent album ‘Oh?’ is out on X-Mist Records (Wrangler Brutes, The Seconds, Men‘s Recovery Project etc).

Amtrak are also from Hamburg. They sound like a class act, what with them deadpan German vox and ‘lectro-retro production values and the like. You might be reminded of early 80s Teutonic ladies Malaria!, if you are us (Amtrak mentioned them before we did, along with a load of other bands we‘ve frankly never heard of). If Brainiac, Electrelane and Glass Candy go here those names might pique a bit of interest on their own right? Amtrak rock, for real, and they embody the DIY spirit as much as anyone else you care to mention. Go on.

In support tonight we have our pals Panel, for the first time in almost a year - since when a great mini-ish album ‘Command Box Street Scenario’ has been released on Cascade Records. They have also got better and better as a live band. Helmet’s crispy crunch, Quicksand’s bloodied emotion, and more - make sure you see them. Finally we have the mysterious-to-most Lt Meat, a Newport resident called Dave who was in Four Letter Word among other bands. Striking out on his own with a laptop and a surf guitar, Lt Meat will be retro yet electro, digital yet tubular. And gnarly. If that still means good, I forget. Man… Or Astroman? and Messer Chups are just two comparisons offered, anyway. And this is a Le Pub Saturday night so it’s all FREE! Cracker.

WE DID THINGS

2006-03-01T23:47:00.000Z

Words on this beauty coming soon, but until then go here and here

HYPERMAGIC BOOKING

2006-02-27T20:11:00.000Z

Lightning Bolt are coming to Cardiff!

Lightning Bolt are kinda sorta why Lesson No.1 exists in the first place. Back some years ago one of us picked up their head-banging, speaker-climbing, let's-play-in-this-kitchen tour DVD Power Of Salad And Milkshake and before long it had been passed through more sweaty, expectant hands than a porn mag at all-boys secondary school. Two dudes called Brian, one dressed like a day-glo samurai bashing chunks out of a tinpot drum-kit, the other nonchalently strumming continent-crushing swells of sound from his customised bass, they were, earnestly, a revelation: a band that oozed unfashionable positivity, wielded their fantasy nerdishness like a +4 warhammer, and rocked with a dervish energy sufficent to shake a 'Woah!' from the most hopelessly jaded. The first band we put on wasn't Lightning Bolt, but their labelmates USA IS A MONSTER back in 2004, but things have rolled along pretty nicely since and here's the pay-off. The show, in collaboration with our friends Forecast, takes place at Cardiff's The Point on May 2nd, will cost £7.50, and should be stuffed with enough tasty supports that it'll almost feel like we're paying you. Available soon from Spillers and The Dudes Abode, and we suggest you get in quick on this one, because tickets are liable to scoot pretty quick.

DUMPING THE FUCKING RUBBISH

2006-02-22T00:47:00.000Z

Whitehouse, Clwb Ifor Bach, Sunday February 19th

THE LOVVERS

2006-01-21T23:06:00.000Z

Supporting Whitehouse at February 19th's Lesson No.1 noise extravaganza is Canada's AIDS Wolf. We cold-called Wolf vocalist Chloe Lum while staring really hard at the picture above and breaking a light sweat.

LESSON NO.1: What do you say to people who’ve dismissed you out of hand because of the name AIDS Wolf? Do you take pleasure in shocking the prudish? And have you ever had any complaints from AIDS sufferers or their families?

Some people have gotten their panties in a bunch because of the AIDS part, others make banal lists and comments about bands having "wolf" as part of their names. We don't really heed either as you will always have people looking for a reason to be offended so they can claim moral superiority and other pointing out the obvious in a weak attempt at wit.

We did not come up with the "AIDS wolf" as a concept, the idea has been floating around in the public psyche for a while. In urban legends where wolves transmit AIDS instead of rabies, in depressing college towns where street gangs spray-paint "AIDS wolf" on the side of buildings. We heard these legends and saw these building at a time. we were looking to form a new band. The two words together sound brutal, but absurd. And once you really think about it, the image is too silly to be a real threat. Our sound is that of buzzsaws but we are nerdy and excitable folks who like comic books more than parties. We are lovvers. We don't need to shock the prudish, they shock themselves with their closed minds and uptightness. Shock someone and wake them up, expose them to something new and add some excitement in their lives. So far, no complaints from AIDS suffers or their families. Everyone gets sick, everyone will die. This shit should not be taboo, AIDS should not be taboo.”

What are AIDS Wolf’s major aims?

Our aim is to simply play the music we'd want to listen too and stay honest to ourselves, each other and our aesthetic vision. Our band exists as a creative outlet for the four of us. We try to make some majik and conjure spirits. We research tones that hypnotize. We are grateful that we are finding a receptive bunch of folks whom we can share our music and art with. Hail Mclean.

In certain press photos you’re all pictured minus various crucial items of clothing, or in some cases, all clothing full stop. Are you naturists, or just comfortable with your bodies? And are these photos trying to make any particular statement?

Free bodies = free minds = free music = free love. Freedom summer. We are animals.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
To clean up the food production. No more GMOs, hormones or pesticides. No more chemicals use in food prep. No more factory farming and no more farmers and labourers getting paid SHIT or working in unsafe conditions. Have all foods be clean, safe, healthy, tasty, FAIR and environmentally sustainable. It would be great to see governments subsidising ORGANIC farming instead of paying farmers to not produce.

Final question: sum up AIDS Wolf in five words.

Life force warriors, deluxe edition.

QUESTIONS NEED ANSWERS

2006-01-17T12:06:00.000Z

ALERT! MARCH IS SUPER WRONGNESS MONTH!!!

2006-01-13T18:17:00.000Z

SCOTCH ALERT!!!!1 NO TIME FOR CHICKENS!!! LESSON NO.1 REQUEST SCOTCH EGG SERVICES IN THE ORGANISATION OF NIGHT OF EXTREME WRONGNESS!

COME QUICKLY SHIGE! BRING WHOLE WRONG MUSIC CREW! BRING DODDODO AND OVENAXX! MARCH VERY SOON!!! M4 VERY LONG! MAKE WITH EXTREME HASTE!!!

CARDIFF DO WRONG TOO! MAXX RAMMAGE MASHES WITH EXTREME WRONGNESS!!!!1 STABMASTER VINYL COME WITH NEW WALTZING AND KLEZMER SOUNDS! CHAMPIONS OF WRONGNESS!!! HERO WELCOME!!!!1 DETAILS SOON!!!

IT WOULD BE LIKE CLUBBING SEALS

2006-01-07T17:01:00.000Z

CUNT FUCKS JUST LIKE A CUNT

2006-01-02T12:37:00.000Z

The other day someone told us it was always worth giving Lesson No.1 shows a punt because you’d probably see something you’d never seen before. That seems like a good enough place to introduce the unwary to Whitehouse. A national institution in the sense that Broadmoor is a national institution, Whitehouse was founded in 1980 by William Bennett - a sometime-member of abrasive post-punk band Essential Logic, who’d already decided guitars and drums were “loathsome wanking instruments”, and set out to manufacture a music that satisfied his desire for brutality, intensity, and extremity. An ever-mutating cell with Bennett at the helm, Whitehouse harnessed cutting-edge early electronics in the creation of a spree of early albums that merged calculated shock tactics with taboo-shredding subject matter, screaming sheets of white/pink noise, violent/(homo)erotic stageplay and uncompromising force.

In truth, it’s easiest to see early Whitehouse albums as a product of their time: the likes of 1981’s Dedicated To Peter Kurten – Kurten being a notorious German serial killer – and fascist-themed audio manifesto New Britain perhaps work best now as museum pieces, milestones of transgressive sound that have since outlived their purpose. Over time, however, Whitehouse would evolve, its ranks shifting to facilitate new facets of Bennett’s unyielding vision. This circulation of personnel first turned up a flurry of splinter groups and affiliated cells (the likes of Consumer Electronics, Sutcliffe Jugend, Ramleh, and the charmingly-named Male Rape Group) and later, a whole genre of (often pale) imitators, making so-called 'power electronics' - Bennett’s terminology, but one which would eventually come to describe a lurking underworld of pale-skinned misanthropists who trade yellowed cassette-tapes embossed with swastikas and concentration camp images over the internet.

Whitehouse, however, remain ahead of whichever curve you choose to place them on. Sessions recorded with Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago yielded a spree of ‘90s albums like Thank Your Lucky Stars, Halogen, and Quality Time that expanded Whitehouse’s range. 2001’s ‘Cruise (Force The Truth)’ was an improbable DJ favourite for none other than Aphex Twin, and it’s possible to hear Bennett and company’s influence in everything from the Japanese noise community to Wolf Eyes, Black Dice and the brutalist end of the Load Records roster.

Whitehouse aren’t, as you might expect, to everyone’s tastes. The Wire, in last year’s article on the role of comedy in music, wrote up a rather pejorative picture of the Whitehouse experience: “Bennett patiently and deliberately annoys everyone within earshot, simultaneously lampooning cock-rock posturing, fashionable nihilism, and every other desperate attempt to titillate the jaded. Song titles almost give the game away. ‘Lightning Struck My Dick’? ‘Rapemaster’? ‘I’m Coming Up Your Ass’? Most 12 year olds would find this degree of intellectually stunted sex obsession a bit much”. Hmmm, now, no arguments, Whitehouse are funny: live favourite ‘Just Like A Cunt’, for instance, is pure Derek And Clive - a rabid, mouth-frothing satire on the cosmetics industry (or a slice of rabid misogyny, if that's really how you choose to read it, but let's hope it doesn't come in the same breath as you droning at your girlfriend to pluck her eyebrows or shave her legs).

Recent years, however, have seen Whitehouse – now honed to a duo, just Bennett and right hand man, Philip Best - pursuing an intellectual eloquence to match their foul mouths. Take 2003’s Birdseed: part concept album about anorexia nervosa, cosmetic surgery, and poor body image, part hysterical hatchet job on modern celebrity (Tracey Emin gets it in the neck on ‘Why You Never Became A Dancer’; ‘Wriggle Like A Fucking Eel’ tuns the spotlight on Michael Barrymore’s poolside manner), it finds th literal brutality of old accompanied by hammer-head satire and blacker-than-black comedy. Yes, Whitehouse are funny. But – and this is the crucial bit - you can take them as high comedy, or as high seriousness - or at many other points in between.

Anyway, Whitehouse play their first ever Welsh show downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach on February 19th. No MP3s online, but one of Lesson No.1 were involved in the making of a Radio 1 documentary including Whitehouse, which should act as a neat introduction - hear that here. Tickets are available for £6, up on the Clwb website soon.

EDIT: As requested in the comments, here's a Quicktime vid of Whitehouse's Philip Best performing 'Dans Grozny Dans' at Clwb Ifor Bach last September. It's hosted on You Send It, which allows for a limited number of downloads, but if the link's expired leave a note in the comments and I'll repost it.

Photos courtesy of Susan Lawly

STINKING THINKING

2005-12-26T12:53:00.000Z

Philadelphia's Stinking Lizaveta return to these shores in January for their second UK tour in but twelve short months. If you caught them back last March in Demspeys, you'll know they mix up stoner, doom, math-rock and jazz like few other bands you've seen - and their new record 'Caught Between Worlds' - released on Monotreme in the UK and Europe - unfurls this ethos further than ever before. This time round, we've asked SL to headline one of Le Pub's Saturday night free shows, and check up this support line-up. On first comes Bristol's Fuck Buttons, noise heads channelling analogue freakiness and kiddie's toys into a sound on fighting terms with Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, and whathaveyou. And providing the meat in this sandwich are local heroes Death Of Her Money, here extending their giant, epic build-ups and gianter, doom-laden payoffs well into 2006. What else are you going to be doing January 7th? Round about 8pm? That could potentially cost you no money (until you start getting the twitches and wander over to the bar)?

BEWILDERMENT AND ILLUMINATION

2005-12-06T22:49:00.000Z

The Psychic Paramount, Clwb Ifor Bach, December 5th 2005

Download a short video of headliners Hella here (be quick - there's a limited number of downloads)

WHAT IS MUSIC ANARCHISM?

2005-12-01T10:15:00.000Z

So, next Monday's gig not so much crept up as sprang onto our shoulders wielding a katana sword and gave us an Osaka smile. What was originally going to be a relaxing little show for Yank avant-rock champions Hella has somehow grown into a five band bill, owing chiefly to our inability to say no to people filling the criteria of being a) Japanese and b) possibly slightly crazy. This explains the return to these streets of legendary gabba-noise fiend (and national anthem enthusiast) DJ Scotch Egg. And also, his Japanese friends Zuinosin (pictured, as if you hadn't guessed)

Zuinosin are a "new-wave anarchy" trio from Osaka in Japan. Formed at a seeing-in-the-Millennium show on December 31st 2000 in a performance that that saw them hurling fresh faeces at onlookers and police, they've since mutated into a bizarre, extreme rock band in the unhinged spirit of The Boredoms, Afrirampo, and Fantomas. Zuinosin date their spirit of dissent back to the events of the year 1995, when as schoolboys, they watched Japan's post-war industrial dream crumble in the wake of the Sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway, the devestating Hanshin earthquake, and "the Sakakibara incident", where a 14-year old schoolboy beheaded his classmate. Led by skilled drummist Satojima Nana - aka Drum Jockey Nani Nani Nani! - their game is channeling feelings of alienation, confusion and the fear of imminent social collapse into a rampaging punk-rock Godzilla. Just what you need on a Monday in December. Leech an MP3, courtesy of the good folk at 20 Jazz Funk Greats, over here.

It would also be remiss of us not to mention The Psychic Paramount. None other than Philip Best of Whitehouse gave us the thumbs up about them - they recently supported Whitehouse on a handful of US dates, and from what we can glean, they're going to be every bit as extreme as that recommendation implies. Think My Bloody Valentine, Swans, Sunn0))), Skullflower, brain haemorrages... and then watch this video. Fuck yeah.

That's Hella, taking a nap. Anyway, it's all downstairs this coming Monday. If you were locked out of Melt Banana, consider this your chance to get revenge. It's £5 on the door, or you can pick up tickets in Spillers, or on the Clwb website.

Oh, and if you see one of Lesson No.1 at ATP, buy them a drink. They're skint...

A CAR IS A WEAPON

2005-11-23T10:39:00.000Z

Neptune at Chapter Arts Centre, November 20th, shot by the good folk of Bologna Pony/Souvaris. Thanks too to The Voices, and Neptune themselves, who had amusing stories about shooting junk with Will Self and some of the most mouth-watering merch (home-shattered CD cases, vinyl sleeves covered with polaroids and watercolour artwork secured in place with masking tape) that you ever saw.

But enough of such metal-fused fripperies! In the Lesson No.1 universe, time moves inexorably on, and tonight - TONIGHT - is the debut excursion of our 'alternative' pop quiz. Hosted by Gindrinker's DC Gates, it's approximately 50 questions long, boasts a 'Seven Deadly Sins' round, features topics about AIDS and child molestation, and will culminate with a banging DJ set by Ian from Death Of Her Money. Not much like that quiz they have in the Pen and Wig, then. It's £1 a head with maximum teams of 6, and the prize is a big pile of random punk/hardcore/noise CDs, a Queens Of The Stone Age DVD, a bottle of spirits, and probably some other stuff too. The place is Buffalo on Windsor Place, doors open at 8pm, and the quiz kicks off at 9pm. Come down! It'll be, as they say in the pub quiz trade, 'a laugh'

INTIMATE LIGHTNING

2005-11-17T11:11:00.000Z

Boston trio Neptune could teach you a thing or two about DIY. And industrial. And hardcore. Sculptor-musicians, over the period of about ten years, they've built their own musical equipment out of scrap: bike wheels, radiators, bits of cars, saws. One of their guitars weighs about 50lbs. No messing. Over time, however, they've hammered their sound from a clangerous Einstürzende Neubauten racket into a noirish avant-rock racket that points to Shellac, Gang Of Four, This Heat, and in the quieter moments - which are typically rather brief - none other than Slint (listen out for 'Spiderland' homage 'A Little Spider'). Or right now, actually listen to the track 'Bro Bounce', using your real actual ears. It's that easy.

Anyway, being of an artsy bent, Neptune are the band joining Lesson No.1 to pop our Chapter Arts Centre cherry. Chapter's only about 15 minutes walk from the centre of town, if you're one of those Roath dwellers, so don't sweat it. It'll be fine. And it's this Sunday, kicking off at 7pm, with tickets retailing for £5. Support on the night comes from South Wales’ finest shoegaze/dreampop/smackdrone revivalists The Voices, two guys and a lady offering total drone blissout a la Spacemen 3/Jesus And Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine. They've an album out on My Kung Fu this month, so keep an eye out. And also, Bologna Pony, a Nottingham ultradrone duo who are a spinoff of cool post-rock band Souvaris. They create improv guitar pieces out of feedback, drone etc – think Sunn0))) or Glen Branca. Listen to a bit here. And then come to the show. Come on. Be brave. Bring a beret.

THANK YOU, THIS ONE'S CALLED

2005-11-16T17:24:00.000Z

Melt Banana, Clwb Ifor Bach, November 15th 2005

Download a short video here and here

HIGHWAY TO HELLA

2005-11-02T20:56:00.000Z

Well ooh, look at us: we just went and booked one of the most exciting rock bands in the United States of America, and this time, they're not even playing Bristol first. Aquaint yourself, if you will, with Sacramento's Hella - the calculus-clever prog-math tag-team act of guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill. Coming to British shores at the behest of The Mars Volta, who've booked them to play the December All Tomorrow's Parties, we'll have them fresh from the blasted shoreline of Camber Sands and ready to beat out the kaleidoscopic party jams.

Oft mentioned in the shame breath as Orthrelm, Lightning Bolt, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hella's recent double album 'Church Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard' is the sumptuous Turkish delight to LB's rock-hard 'Hypermagic Mountain' jaw-breaker. We're not talking some nerdilicious underground sensation, though: 2005 has seen these boys playing arenas with System Of A Down and Mars Volta, and Hill has even played sticksman-for-hire by acting as cog in Deftones man Chino Morena's Team Sleep project. This means we might even have some kids with Limp Bizkit hoodies and goatees in. Lord, just imagine! And while you're imagining, check out this video of 'Biblical Violence', or if you'd rather, this MP3 of 'The Mother Could Be You'. Spazzy, hmm? It's all going down in Dempseys on December 5th, anyway. More to follow.

Also, right, we're going to be holding hands with our friends in Forecast for a show forthcoming at the Buffalo. Fursaxa is Philidelphia's Tara Burke, a solo musician dubbed "the psychedelic Nico" for her minimal, unfolding experiments in droney acid-folk. Her album 'Lepidoptera', out now on ATP Recordings, is one of the year's best, and with support coming from fellow labelmates Alexander Tucker and Sharon Krauss, you're guaranteed a night of soporiphic, pagan mediations and meditations that awakens primal feelings deep in your psyche... for all the family! That's coming November 21st, with tickets in the region of £6. Should be sweet.

Also, for no real reason other than that we might have them back in February, check out this Grabba Grabba Tape video. Love those guys!

GOING LIKE MELT BANANAS

2005-10-31T16:51:00.000Z

A quick heads-up to let you know we've sold a good proportion of the Melt Banana tickets. It's unlikely we'll totally sell out before the night, but if you're super-keen to make the show or you're trying to impress some girl or whatever, be warned you should either turn up for early doors or get your tickets in now. The easiest way to do this is to go to the Clwb website, track down Melt Banana in the listings, and click on that little 'T' thing, but you can also get them at Spillers or Rockaway in Newport if that's easier.

The Peppermints at Buffalo Bar, October 26th, shot by the splendidly talented Meirion Lewis

MINT CONDITION

2005-10-16T12:31:00.000Z

Rejoice! A flyer, for looking at, with your eyes. This marks the second appearance of a penis on the Lesson No.1 site, if keeping track of things like that is your bag

JESUS CHRYST

2005-10-12T21:04:00.000Z

You thought the next bout of Lesson No.1 gig action was going to be Melt Banana. But you were wrong! What happened, you see, is that we were planning on putting on this 'alterntive pub quiz' thing to kick off our new monthly residency at the Buffalo Bar, but the only question we've come up with so far is 'Why is Fred Durst such a wanker?' (thanks to Noel Lesson No.1 for that one - it'll probably still appear, so get swotting) so when the opportunity came along to put on The Peppermints instead, we thought well, guess that's far from the worst idea ever.

Fresh from a tour with friends (and Paw Tracks paymeisters) Animal Collective, San Diego's The Peppermints play the sort of "experimental barfy trash-rock" that's sometimes compared to The Coachwhips, Melt Banana, and - hah! - GG Allin. If you were a chauvinist, you'd despair that such a guttural racket as 'Jesüs Chryst' would issue from the gullets of such lithe, slender young maidens (and one upstanding dude, who doesn't appear to be pictured above, but maybe that's his flip-flops). As it is, we propose you all come to new Cardiff venue The Buffalo Bar (formerly BSB) on October 26th, pay £3, and literally vomit your appreciation all over yourselves, your friends, and as much of the freshly-painted stagefront as you can manage. Aiding you in this task will be Bristol's Hunting Lodge, a disgusting band of foul miscreants who sound like the last track on The Stooges' 'Funhouse' being played in a deserted abbatoir. We have nothing else to add.

Except thanks to everyone who came out to see Wives, Night & The City Of Broken Promises, and King Alexander the other night. Funny ol' gig, it were - here's a couple of pictures.

That's Wives...

That's Night & the City...

... and that there's King Alexander

Oh yeah, and check out the new Kruger as well - it's got a great review of the USAIsAMonster show.

We never did put up that Consumer Electronics vid, did we?

Perhaps you can have it for Christmas.

YOUTH PROBLEM? WHAT YOUTH PROBLEM

2005-10-03T20:58:00.000Z

People don't talk about the pop-cultural impact of the Backstreet Boys very much. You might think this an obvious point, but every absolute truth in fact has an honourable exception if you look hard enough. In this case, there are a few. The one with the hair was hilariously addicted to prescription drugs and shagging groupies up the tradesman's entrance, for one thing, and that video they did that was like a cartoon haunted house was sort of awesome. But the best thing the Backstreet Boys, or one of them, did was ram the back of a car one day and pay its owner a big compensatory wad - thus allowing the owner, Dean Spunt, to finance a 7" by Wives, a brilliantly unhinged and discordant LA punk rock band for whom he sang. This was the beginning of a rocky road of shitloads of US gigs with bands like Lightning Bolt, THEUSAISAMONSTER and Wrangler Brutes: bands who, like Wives, have dunked their head in the skanky well of infant American hardcore but mangle the template in varied and dizzying ways. If you like the Minutemen, The Germs, Big Boys (whose 'Fun Fun Fun' they cover on their debut LP,'Erect The Youth Problem', Born Against, Rapeman or Killdozer, you might have a wet patch for Wives. Expect from their Clwb Ifor Bach show on Oct 10, then, what we're forced to call 'the unexpected'. Suffice to say it's the sort of everyone's-a-performer maximum smashism that will unquestionably benefit from being in Clwb Ifor's marvellous new downstairs venue, where the bands are smack in front of you, a stage but a madman's dream, and escape is IMPOSSIBLE! Hear some Wives here

Also bringing the jams: South Wales' Night & The City Of Broken Promises, who bring together extensive, almost dubby post-rock and chaotic emotional hardcore like someone should have done in 1994 but didn't (imagine if Mohinder and Bark Psychosis had met one hot sexy night). A bass-shaped absence in their camp is filled by the able hands of Jim from The Take. Superhero! King Alexander, who have a self-released EP in a purty sleeve that is in our useful and influential top 10; we should have put these gents on ages ago, what with their bendy structures built from lo-fi punk, spotwelder math-rock and spirit-of-93 riot grrrl. And An Emergency, a fresh product of the more-fertile-than-you-probably-know Exeter punk scene who take inspiration from Les Savy Fav, Sonic Youth, Hot Snakes, Ex Models and the like - see here for some kind of proof. Winter is looming and you are going to SWEAT.

SHOOTING MACHINE GUN AND LASER BEAM

2005-09-26T19:01:00.000Z

Brutalist noise-rockers Melt Banana need no introduction, but then we'd have nothing to write and that would be a tragedy, so here goes. Born in Tokyo in 1993, MB - that is, vocalist Yasuko Onuki, guitarist Agata, bassist Rika Mm', and drummer Sudoh Toshiaki - have built a reputation as one of the most inspired and idiosyncratic bands in experimental hardcore, crafting futuristic, 90-second noisescapes characterised by shrill vocals and demanding, complex dynamics.

A fine website called Ink 19, meanwhile, put it thus: "No wave without the self-conscious pretension, avant-garde composition compressed into one-minute-or-less bursts, urgency, intricate destruction, pure glorious abandon. MELT-BANANA play the same way that Repulsion, Naked City, The Ruins, or The Boredoms all make you want to scream and dance and kill your neighbors. This is not music that we are conditioned to accept. This is you delirious with joy scraping your five senses off the floor." Hear an MP3, 'Rough Dogs', here

Also on the bill: Cardiff's Shooting At Unarmed Men, aka Mclusky refugee J.Chapple, sometime King Alexander minion Simon Alexander, and a gentleman called Mogs, who drums. Jon has already called this "support slot of the year", although they haven't yet put it in their gig listings, suggesting they're just being kind and they're not that bothered at all. The Keep: a relatively new band who can mostly be found lurking around the South Wales Massive forum - this tendril of the Lesson No.1 empire must confess he hasn't heard them, but Noel Lesson No.1 said nice stuff about Isis and Pelican, so heads up for that. And finally, Vicelords - a wild card by anyone's stretch of the imagination, it's their debut gig, it involves Adam who used to play bass in Mountain Men Anonymous, and if promises become reality, it's going to get right in your face and fuck with you. Anyway, this all takes place November 15th at Clwb Ifor Bach, and tickets are available now from Spillers and the University box office.

Lesson No.1 are also preparing to begin a monthly residency at the Buffalo Bar (formerly BSB on Windor Place). There will be loud music, and an occasional music quiz, which will be hosted by Gindrinker's DC Gates. We need a name for the bugger, though. If anyone has any ideas, email them to us. There's a litterful of puppies up for grabs.

Apologies for the monochromatic content of today's post

IMAGINE HOW HOT WE'D GET UNDER THE LIGHTS

2005-09-22T21:37:00.000Z

Incredible show the other night - all the bands pulled a blinder, and if you came out, we thank you from the bottom of our putrid bucket of cow's hearts. Personal highlights would have to be a) The appearance of Doddodo, a little Japanese girl from Scotch Egg's Wrong Music gang. We didn't even know she was coming down until that morning, but as soon as she crawled out of the toilet with a strange head-dress and a microphone rammed in her mouth in an unhygenic and faintly erotic way we knew something curious was afoot. And, b) Philip Best's Consumer Electronics set. Must confess, we had some bad dreams about him being bottled off, as his two-piece Whitehouse were at the ATP Easy To Swallow event, and the fact everyone stayed transfixed all set is of great satisfaction to us.

Incidentally, the main vocal riff of his 30-minute set went something like this:

"Now imagine, now imagine
A ballet
A ballet at the Welsh National opera
For six hundred brown nosed children around ten
We’ll be wearing special costumes
And carrying baseball bats, studded with nails
It’d be like clubbing seals
As we wheel across the stage
Harvesting our crop
Imagine how hot we’d get
Imagine their little faces looking up"

As Keith Lesson No.1, now sadly departed for greener shores, said: "Put this man on the English curriculum now!"

There are some videos too, but oh shit they're big, and they won't stay up for long. Click here for USAISAMONSTER, crashing into the Lesson No.1 cameraman in an exciting moment of mid-gig aggression. Consumer Electronics vid coming soon.

So much more to write, and so little time: forthcoming posts on Melt Banana, Neptune, and the Lesson No.1 pub quiz (oh yes) just mere days away...

GOOD FORMA

2005-09-15T21:02:00.000Z

You might have caught Pro Forma supporting Les Georges Leningrad in Cardiff Dempseys earlier on this year. The show was great, but we couldn't get the glitterball Gary uses for Twisted By Design to work, so when they asked if we could come back we thought we'd put them in somewhere a little more fitting of their 'council house' sound; that is, Material - a weekly mutant disco shindig that goes on over at Moloko on Mill Lane. Supporting are Bristol's Sexy Bitch, and best of all, it's FREE ENTRY. So whether you're just coming along to drink strong imported lager, or you're planning to rifle through Pro Forma guitarist Chris Leo's bag in search of some worn underpants, it's what we like to call 'the right price'.

Don't forget the USA show on Monday. It's going to be a biggie.

Buy Melt Banana tickets at the Clwb website, or from the good folk at Spillers

SCOTCH CHICKEN

2005-09-03T22:11:00.000Z

It is of crucial importance that you view the video to DJ Scotch Egg's Scotch Chicken. Our Scotchie tears up the lanes of Brighton, engages in Street Fighter-style combat with a man in a chicken suit, and finally triumphs over his avian foe with the help of a bunch of 14-year olds. If only The Chart Show was still running.

Last week's noise spectacular at the Full Moon in Bristol was an eye-opener. A bloke from up North calling himself The Bear Faced Boy covered the stage in blood and broken glass. Load Records dude Prurient stripped to the waist and thrashed around, screaming and swinging double microphones like nunchukas. A young woman called Jessica Rylan sung poems and triggered strange washes of sound from ann unruly laptop. Oh, and we chatted to Philip 'Consumer Electronics' Best, who appears to be a lovely gentleman; he gave us a copy of 'Teenage Nuremberg' (possibly the most horrible record ever) and emphasised just how much he was looking forward to the Cardiff show. You're in for a treat. Incidentally, the promoters Abrasive have more "very harsh" shows coming up - more at their website.

Other Lesson No.1 news: there's a free show towards the end of the month we've organised in collaboration with our friends from Moloko club night Material, featuring our friends from the North (er, Scotland actually) Pro Forma and new Bristol disco-punk types Sexy Bitch. Also, we've got a big November show in the offing... but until it's set in stone, we'll have to keep it under wraps. Sorry.