Sep 06
17
photo by Josh Logue
Howling Bells - ‘Setting Sun’
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I don’t like the name Howling Bells (sounds like a bad 80’s glam-metal act, possibly fronted by Bret Michaels), and for a while I didn’t like their music either. It took me quite a while to warm to their shoegaze/dark indie rock - plus I’m always wary of ‘hype’ bands ’cause quite often they’re shit, it’s just that the ‘right’ people think they’re cool. OK, enough of my tirade against the fickle music industry. Also, it helps when shit TV shows passed off as “drama” like The OC play one of your tunes (oh yeah, I hate The OC too - I watched half an hour of it once and had to turn it off. Come on, the acting is so bad, the script is full of cringe-worthy lines and the plot… well, who are we kidding, there is none! Oh, and people think I look like Seth!)
So, who are Howling Bells? Well most people only care about sexy frontwoman Juanita Stein (there was a rather obsessive-like tone to a certain Howling Bells article in Sydney street press music mag Drum Media a couple of months ago) - but the band consists of three former members of Waikiki who found a small amount of success in Australia with their pop/rock tunes. One minute they were there, and then they disappeared! And then, just as magically, Howling Bells appeared in Waikiki’s place.
Juanita Stein, live at the Annandale Hotel - photo by boudist.com
Howling Bells recorded their self-titled debut album with Coldplay producer Ken Nelson (interesting note - Juanita recorded her vocals in the dark), and there’s a definite Coldplay-esque sound to the recording, especially in the tone of the instruments and the mix. The album has been criticised for lacking variety throughout, and while they’re not a band I’d actively seek to see live, there are a couple of really solid tracks on the album which helped me to enjoy it more. At the end of the day, it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s not offensive, nobody’s gonna be pissed off ’cause it’s on, and it’s got a handful of solid tracks. Everyone’s gonna have a different opinion on this band… mine is that I like them, but I don’t love them. Listen and judge for yourself. The band are touring round Australia at the moment supporting Placebo before they embark on their own headlining tour of Australia and the UK.
http://www.howlingbells.com
http://www.myspace.com/howlingbells
P.S. Big shoutout to Daniel Boud (boudist.com) and the bloggers from whiteboydancefloor and The Sandwich Club who I met for the first time on Thursday at Candy’s Apartment for the launch of The Knife Factory. Excellent guys who run excellent blogs - we’re looking now towards a meeting of all Aussie blogs… kind of like a Blogapalooza or Blogacon…
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feelings mutual dom!
if our pics and shit come through we’ll b giving our dish on candy’s tommorrow. (we have a rule of no posting over weekends so as to pretend we r hard out at live gigs and clubs when really we r just working at our respective steak houses. me = hogs breath. chris = lone star. lol)
i tell ya though i think with the howling bells, im where you were before, i know what theyre doing is a good thing for aussie music but i just cant dig it yet….yet.
I should also mention that there were more bloggers attending the candy’s gig, Johnny and Mike from Brown Cardigan and Sean from A Reminder were there. Only I had no idea what they looked like. Maybe name tags or colourful hats are the way to go next time.
Jerry… everyone needs team jerseys!
I tried to avoid that obsessive-like tone, but DAMN you Daniel for taking such good incredible photos! How do you expect me to work now?!
And dont you dare go near Dawsons Creek Dom!
Let’s do Blogapalooza at The chimney stacks! Went there yesterday and just translated, in my head, the crappy beats and Dior sunnies into rock tunes and skinny jeans. WOW!
I was there also on thurs night, but had to skittle off early.. I got there late after my indoor soccer game, and realised I had no idea what you guys looked like. Guess I’ll see youse at blogcon if i get an invite!
I would’ve been there too if I hadn’t been chatting on the radio at the time. By the way, I think Howling Bells is a great name for a band.
lol i was gunna wear my whiteboydancefloor shirt down to make it alittle easier but chris thought it might be a bit pretentious n quite frankly that was my objective, but bloody mum didnt meet the deadline with the ironing!
Chris spotted jerry with his y&r shirt so luckily he’d done his homework on jerry’s connection to the band.
well I’m gonna try to go to the sound summit bloggers bbq thing on the 30th September. You all should come along then we can do a big guess who?
I think some of us bloggers should get a weekly club/band night or something….
Maybe we could all coordinate a terrible “post photo of yourself day” on our blogs. /kidding
I’ll be at Paper Scissors on Saturday! Come say hi!
Blogapalooza i am so in, just let me know where and when.
Tom&Duds, i take it you mean Earthdance @ the chimney stacks. You must have had your headphone’s in cause i didn’t hear crappy beats anywhere, i was busy dancing to the great tunes. That was an amazing day, i even wound up dancing on stage at some point in the night. Some of the djs wanted me to come to the afterparty with them, unfortunately i had work monday and had been up two days without sleep.
I think A BLogapalooza is a killer idea,
Or perhaps we should all organise a night where some bands play and we do what we do best….
Weird review
“(sounds like a bad 80’s glam-metal act, possibly fronted by Bret Michaels)”
uhh, ok guy.
i don’t get your blogs…..
fuck off you idiot. i went and checked out Howling Bells after reading your shitpaper like comments. oh, credit to you, you made me curious!!!! your head is up your arse, get over yourself!