The Major Stuff of E3 2015: Bethesda, Microsoft and EA

Are you an American? Do you live in LA? Or wherever E3 is? No? 

Well, welcome to the masses, the gaming majority who have to rely on secondary judgement to get all the latest gaming gossip. 

And in some form of attempt to appear both credible and informative, here's the decent stuff found from various rummages around E3. All the good stuff, none of this unnecessary nonsense. 

Bethesda's Conference

The creators of many games of epic proportions decided, unlike many other firms, that they like money, so Bethesda decided to show us a cracking array of new games and smaller announcements.

Fallout 4 has seemed to have mashed up everything good off of Steam Greenlight over the past five years, despite the game being developed from around 2009. You know Rust? 7 Days to Die? Day Z? The Forest? Sir, You Are Being Hunted? Outlast? Nether? Well if you can recall one of these titles, chances are you'll know how mediocre they are; done with the best intentions and most likely never finished. Luckily enough, Fallout 4 seems to appropriately trample on all these games. You can customise guns, settlements, and your armour. And probably due to the extensive development period, you can also play as a woman! Take notes, Ubisoft. Plus, it'll actually get finished, before the end of this very year (the 10th of November, I believe). 

And they've even made a real Pip-Boy which you can put your phone in. I mean, the hype train has left the station. And in the best way possible, they even have a little iOS title, Fallout Shelter, which is free and available right noooooooooooooooooo-now. 

Doom looks pretty top; a fast paced, refreshingly simple shooter with a metric shite-ton of gore. Of course, because social commentators have the memory of a goldfish, Doom was now the cause of the good ol' video game violence debacle, because apparently Postal, GTA V and Hatred have faded into the past. It's like a simplified Wolfenstein, it's a game which is purely boiled down to shooting monsters. And com on, The New Order was already pretty simple, but now it's got demons instead of Nazis. 

Dishonored 2 looks equally grand. Play as Emily or Corvo. Either way, it looks like a sought-after exploration of Dishonored's world. I mean, the battle in the trailer had weird robots, new abilities and a cracking moving mansion thing. I personally never got around to finishing the first game, but the bits I did play were immensely enjoyable. 

And also there was like, an Elder Scrolls card game, (because Bethesda haven't heard of Hearthstone), and a bit more of an insight into Battlecry, their medieval Team Fortress 2 thingy. Looks alright, granted everyone will forget about them within 30 seconds because of the Fallout 4 info-dump, but they looked alright nonetheless. 

Microsoft's Glorified Powerpoint Thing

It seems Microsoft have also decided that they like money; backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360 guys. Pop in a 360 disc, and a download is triggered, just like a social justice warrior exposed to inequality. So now you can play all your 360 games in exactly the same way; apologies they're not accompanied by a higher frame-rate. And they're also quite limited at the moment. But, there's a new controller, so you can act all professional, with your interchangeable paddles and buttons which can be remapped. No quite up to the glorious PC master-race ideas of remapping, but not too far off. It's called the 'Elite' controller, by the way...

Although, Xbox 'Game Preview' is essentially their version of Steam's Early Access program. If they can monitor the system better than Early Access, and certainly better than their previous indie collection, then it should be a good idea.

In addition, remember the Kinect? Nope, neither does Microsoft apparently. Seriously, there wasn't a single mention of the device in the entire conference. It's a strange, but necessary, change of strategy from their previous conferences. And there was a refreshing lack of focus on exclusivity. 

Minecraft, rather than be cobbled in with the new indie games like Tacoma, Ion, Ashen and Cuphead, has now got its own little bit of the conference, with gimmicky holograms and stuff. I guess when you buy a company, you need to please investors, but there ain't much more one can do with a game as popular as Minecraft. 

Even after watching the entirety of the conference, I've still no idea what their 'Hololens' actually is. Is it VR? Is it some augmented reality thingy? Is it a hologram deal? Not a clue. In other news, the few remaining 12 year-olds who play Minecraft on a console all shriek in excitement simultaneously.

Let me fill you in with the new info of previously announced games, in a quick and snappy order:

• Halo 5, which is exactly what you'd expect.
• Fallout 4 again! With mods and shit! Hmmm, quite good I guess.
• Forza 6! And just as with every other Forza release, the conference momentarily turns into an advertisement for a particular car company, this year's manufacture being Ford, leading to a GT being lowered from the rafters in a fashioned which would make Cirque du Soleil a bit jealous. Oh yeah, it's out this September...
• Rainbow Six Siege! No idea why it's still being flaunted when some people are already playing the beta on PC.
• Rise of the Uncharted Tomb Raider! Nah, it looks good though.
• Fable Legends! (Honestly, I couldn't care less about this title, I've never been a fan, but let's gloss over that...) 
• Gears of War! Now in a remastered collection. In case you've accidentally got rid of your individual games.
• The Division, is anyone still caring about this?

Other properly new stuff, which is arguably less notable consisted of:

• Sea of Thieves, think Guns of Icarus without the airships. A pirate sandbox multiplayer game, which is all well and good, but more importantly, Rare isn't dead apparently...

• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. Jesus, really?
• The thankfully simply named Gears 4. Which looks just like Gears. If you're a fan, you can look forward to some more waist-high wall simulations in the near future. Oh wait, it's actually still got the 'of War' bit...
• Dark Souls 3, which has succumb to the dead horse method. I mean, what's the point, especially with the recent release of Bloodborne?
• Rare Replay, $30 for all your childhood nostalgia in one convenient package...

Not bad, certainly upped their game from last year. But still a bit shite. Who's money is still on Sony? The likes of Crackdown and Quantum Break were promised to be present at Gamescom...

EA's Thing Which People Showed Up To

Sports! New sports games! New! Innovative! Honestly! Trailers for NHL, NBA Live, FIFA and NFL 16, even though it's still 2015 but you know... You'll have to excuse my lack of focus on these titles, but what can you say about a game which could easily be rendered irrelevant by some DLC?

Star Wars: Battlefront got gameplay footage, and EA may not mess it up!  That being said, the game does look more and more like a properly done mod for Battlefield 4. Still excited for Battlefront? Well sorry to tell you, but you may want to simmer down a bit, and there's always the new expansion pack for The Old Republic, which is great if you're one of the few who are still into that game. And the lady who spoke during the Battlefront segment took an eternity to actually show us the game, leading me to scream at her through my laptop.

Need for Speed got a release date, trailer and a tiny bit of your modern in-engine gameplay business, or the 'emergency retort if our graphics look worse upon release' idea. That being said, the game, confusingly titled 'Need for Speed' without any numbers or subtitles, did look quite nice. Granted, it had a peculiar camera angle, but it promised to bring all the best elements of the franchise together, like the customisation of Underground and the world of Carbon. Unlike the aforementioned Battlefront, I'm cautiously optimistic...

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 announced, (already?). And besides, if you'd already watched the Microsoft conference, you'd already known of this game. And then you would've fallen asleep when you sensed the trailer. It is nice for a game to not take itself too seriously, but I'm still having trouble indulging EA when it comes to this title.

Mass Effect: Andromeda has graced our presence with a cinematic trailer, leaving the room appropriately excited. No gameplay, and no dates, but still, colour me happy.

What is it with card games this year? A new one, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is another one which is hurtling towards us very soon. 

Ah well, at least there's the new Mirror's Edge which is going under the moniker of Mirror's Edge: Catalyst. Which isn't actually a sequel. Oh. But, it's an open world, and it looks great. And we did all promise a grimacing Peter Moore that we'd buy it. So I guess we better keep our chins up and just get all hyped about it. 

Not too bad. I mean, the third party conferences are always notoriously meh-worthy, in this case with the exception of Bethesda. Microsoft were fairly strong this year, although Sony always seem to be able to match them somehow. 

So, hopefully before the wonderful event of E3 is over, a bit more info will be posted on this particular part of the internet. Be sure to check back and have a gander.

Gig Review: Muse at Manchester Academy, 22nd March 2015

At 10am, after a few detours and a bit of misdirection, we stumble onto the pavement at Manchester Academy, a venue holding less than 2,000 people. Me and my mate have been to a Muse gig before, so we’re slightly shocked when there’s already a queue of around 25 people ahead of us, with a couple of tents heading the line.

The following nine hours of waiting, using the toilets at McDonalds without buying anything, and offering sausage rolls to other queue-goers in an attempt to make friends, was an emotional roller-coaster; queue-jumpers received their comeuppance, people cried at the stage door, and questionable characters went around sternly demanding for entry, although the event had no physical tickets.

So, in the final hour of waiting, people began to get very defensive of their position in the queue, although this was understandable. Given that pre-sale tickets made up a good percent of the capacity crowd, these were the very dedicated fans who were present. These were the types that would scrap over a drumstick in a vain attempt to, one day, clone Dom Howard from it. You always had slight paranoia that someone was pushing in. You worried over how close you’d be to the stage. One fan, who I met while waiting to use the facilities at McDonalds, assured me that the set, and view, would be spectacular. I should’ve been a bit more confident, I mean, this guy had been to every date on the tour so far; but I still had my doubts.

Despite my doubts, I didn’t expect the crowd of crushing fans to miss out some opportune moments of moshing and dancing to a stellar setlist, an idea which seems more peculiar when you consider how well everyone knew the songs, and how lucky they were to hear the songs which were played. Obviously, new, more complicated songs like ‘Dead Inside’ can’t be danced to immediately, and at least everyone got behind the fairly basic riff of ‘Psycho’. Although, it was fairly amusing watching everyone attempt to shout “Drones!”, in time with the chorus of the new track ‘Reapers’.

But before that, there was another hour of passive-aggressive nudging as people jostled to get an inch closer to the stage. Chants of “Come on, Morgan!”, (the live keyboard and synth player for the three-piece), had started, admittedly by myself. Eventually, a quick warm-up from the Marmozets came to tide the crowd over. However, this set did suffer from the same issues I’d previously experienced at Royal Blood’s gig in Sheffield; no-one knew any of the support act’s songs. Hence, despite a lively performance, the best I and the rest of the crowd could offer was the occasional bit of head-bobbing.

Then the main performance arrived as the lights dimmed and everyone simultaneously screamed, and I’m still surprised about how many fans seemed to miss out. ‘Bliss’ was played early on, to roaring chants alongside the first few notes. Appropriate synchronised jumping then ensued, until the verse, which I can understand. Yet, even with the much-loved ‘Hullaballoons’ reminding fans of a previous early tour, and a cracking extended outro which followed the same rhythm as the intro, there was little actual movement from the crowd. There was always someone who thought that they could match and/or top Matt Bellamy’s falsetto, which resulted in an out-of-time scream equivalent to a banshee caught in a bear trap.

Sometimes it felt like the two of us were the only ones expressing our enthusiasm while we were surrounded by Manchester’s terracotta army, and while this clearly wasn’t the case, I must say that at moments, the crowd didn’t exactly do rare performances of ‘Dead Star’, ‘Fury’ and ‘Hyper Music’ any justice.

Apart from being a tad disheartening, this reaction didn’t affect the performance of the band. The cheesy segments of ‘Psycho’ including a Full Metal Jacket-esque Drill Sergeant had been thankfully removed, (or they were inaudible over everyone’s cheering), leaving the catchy riff behind for everyone to jump to. It was, unfortunately, one of the few songs that everyone got into, a flaw which even the mighty finisher ‘Knights of Cydonia’ couldn’t resolve.

I may have slated the crowd and dedicated fans for their performance on the evening, but there were some redeeming factors. During the Marmozets’ set, a group of people who’d previously attempted to queue jump were going mad. And I mean properly mad, moshing to songs which no-one else knew, attempting to start a conflict despite being given space by those around them.

The aforementioned undesirable bunch were put in their place once Muse came on, and the actual crushing and jumping began. They were shown as much respect as they previously gave, and by the end of the main set, two of them were dragged over the barrier; one for passing out, the other for being unnecessarily violent. There’s always someone who thinks they’re the centre of attention, but when surrounded by 1,800 other people who want your place, it’s probably not the best of ideas to act up.


Long story short, the gig as a whole was pretty top, for lack of a better word. Exceptions to this statement are few and far between, but here’s what I can remember: ‘The Groove’ was introduced as Matt’s favourite song from the album Absolution and all of its B-Sides. But the band had previously hinted at another track from the same period. Subsequently, fan-favourite ‘Fury’ was expected, but ‘The Groove’ was played instead, and played in a lower key, just as many older tracks are, (I mean, Bellamy isn’t 20 anymore), and the outro was slightly messed-up, as another chorus was expected. In addition, tracks like ‘Starlight’ seemed a bit out-of-place, and some of the regular material such as ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ were nothing special, but overall the gig was great. If I’ve resorted to nit-picking at how songs are introduced, you can probably get an idea of how the band performed.

In 2012, I went to the LG Arena in Birmingham, on Muse’s The 2nd Law tour, and all in all that gig was average. If you went to the gig as a fan of rock, not as a fan of Muse, it would’ve been a cracking, head-banging show. For those who could really appreciate the rarities which were played, it was almost fantastic. The gig was a real treat for fans, and while I was a bit sceptical of Bellamy proclaiming that Manchester had been “the best crowd so far” on the small tour, with the set they played and the atmosphere which accompanied it, it’s easy to see why.
My mate and I joked about this new album being Muse’s “new emo phase”, as the trio wore matching outfits and bassist Chris Wolstenholme seemed to be sporting a fringe which would look at home on Tobey Maguire’s head in Spider-Man 3, but if this ‘phase’ results in the likes of ‘Psycho’ and ‘Reapers’, then let’s get the face paint, eyeliner and issues of Kerrang! at the ready…
After support from the Marmozets, Muse played 15 songs, (the Interlude to ‘Hysteria’ doesn’t count), and a bunch of great intros and outros, consisting of:

• Psycho
• The Groove
• Bliss
• Dead Star
• Time Is Running Out
• Hysteria
• Stockholm Syndrome
• Hyper Music
• Starlight
• Supermassive Black Hole
• Uprising
• Reapers

Encore:

• Fury
• Plug In Baby
• Knights of Cydonia

Album Review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday

It’s hard for an artist, especially one as critically acclaimed as Noel Gallagher, to separate themselves from their past. Both of the Gallagher brothers have attempted it, but it seems only one has succeeded. That being said, I challenge you to find a review or impressions piece on Chasing Yesterday which is free of talk regarding Oasis, I can tell you that this article certainly won’t be.

Despite resorting back to the odd piece of older material, Chasing Yesterday is a clear step away from his work in Oasis, and Noel’s first solo album released four years ago. Noel manages to make old ideas sound fresh and innovative in 2015, and we're talking almost 20 year-old ideas here. With a variety of songs ranging from easy-listening pop beats to classic rock, it’s easy to see why the latest work is a step away from the past, and a pretty good, arguably necessary, change to Noel’s previous work.

However, it’s not a complete change. Riffs and melodies may have changed from the instantly recognisable likes of ‘If I Had a Gun…’, which almost immediately made Oasis fans trip back to the nostalgic memories of hearing ‘Wonderwall’ for the first time, but Noel’s new tunes remain catchy after the nth listen, and they certainly do become the air-punching ballads that we’ve been promised after only a few instances.

Tracks are certainly new, but not a step into obscurity; it’s an appropriate change which seems to hit the fine line between experimentation and expectation.

That being said, Chasing Yesterday is chock-full of charm. It’s an album which needs to be listened through from start to finish, not necessarily for the narrative it tells, or the sequence of songs, but for how each song bleeds into each other. Sometimes you’ll get a bit of synth which transitions from one song to another, like between ‘The Girl With X-Ray Eyes’ and ‘Lock All The Doors’, (which are arguably two of the stronger tracks on the album), and you’ve still got all the count-ins and snippets of communication between the band at the beginnings and ends of songs which fans will love.

While the new stuff isn’t exactly the raw, swagger-inducing rock which preceded it in the 90s, Noel’s stuff does have some trace elements of rock, and even though some of the better tunes stem from that nostalgic period, (the ideas behind ‘Lock All The Doors’ are at least 20 years old, and ‘The Dying Of The Light’ has been floating around, being played during sound-checks for a few years), their lengthy development certainly shouldn’t be held against them.

His solo work does seem a lot more relaxed in comparison to his previous endeavours, and that trait is continued here. Chilled songs vary in their catchiness, and tend to be a tad more forgettable, but at the very least their atmosphere will make you relaxed enough to endure. To give the man further credit, he knows how to pick out his singles, and I’d sincerely hope that ‘Lock All The Doors’ is next in line to receive the standalone treatment, it really does embody the anthems that Noel was apparently trying to create.

As someone who’s distanced himself from the likes of Elbow and The Verve in recent years, maybe I’m just not as fond of more relaxed music, although this wasn’t an issue with Noel’s last album. In order to try and stagger towards some kind of conclusion, I’ll attempt to be somewhat statistical about this. On Chasing Yesterday, there are six songs which became the catchy, sing-while-drunk ballads which I expected from the mastermind behind Oasis. I don’t think it’s a case of quality, rather taste. Noel’s listed ‘The Right Stuff’ and ‘Riverman’ in the top twelve songs that he’s wrote, yet they weren’t among my favourites for this album, never mind his discography. As I write this, ‘The Right Stuff’ is starting to grow on me exponentially, so it, along with the other six, will be making their way onto a playlist of mine in the very near future. 

But that’s not to say the others aren’t good; I’m pretty sure that this man could whack out a tune consisting of white noise and snippets of a political debate, and we’d still like it. At the very least, someone would call it the long-lost Oasis song that they’ve been searching for over the last 20 years.

Long story short, if you like his solo debut from a few years ago, you’ll like (or love) Chasing Yesterday. You’d also love the deluxe version for the B-Side ‘Do the Damage’, and the personally long-awaited proper recording of ‘Freaky Teeth’. If you were after the revival of Brit-pop and all the brash sentiments which came with it, you’d be a tad disappointed. 

But, if you can look at these songs without holding certain expectations of them due to their classification in the rock genre, you’ll be in for a treat. It does seem a bit odd, the fact that the title of Chasing Yesterday has seemingly no links with his previous work, or even any of the main themes of his past album. But if I were to be cynical, I’d guess that all Noel’s recent vocal outbursts didn’t line up with the release of this album purely from coincidence, because after all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity is there? Especially for a man like him.

Regardless, he’s held it steady with his second solo release, and now has our hopes up for an equal, ideally even better, third installment. And also, he’s started singing a song about lasagna on his live tour. 

Yes, N.G.

The Debate of Plus-Size Models

We, as a society, have a reputation for blowing things out of proportion. We can’t help that whenever someone famous does something insignificant, we need to make it so widespread that it becomes significant. For me, the idea of labelling certain individuals as ‘plus size’ in the world of modelling is a bit of a grey area.

Therefore, I think it’s necessary that I throw a quick disclaimer into the mix; I am in no way clued up on the intricacies of the industry, and to quickly summarise my opinion, I couldn’t care less who’s modelling for what establishment.

If you want to model, then good on you. Size, attractiveness and whatever else models are judged upon are completely subjective opinions which vary from person to person. You may say that one model represents the ‘perfect’ size, or figure, or another quality which appeals to you. I may say that the same person is too thin, and hence this article, which is thinly veiled as a small rant, should be seen as nothing of much significance. I’m not being a social commentator, but I would like to throw an odd sentence or two into the already-saturated mix.

I was looking up the odd article while researching this, and I did find one or two lovely opinions. As with most individuals on the internet, different sentiments were thrown around with conflicting intent. It’s funny how a barrage of capital letters and misspelled swear-words can make the most complex and rounded argument go from excellent to something to be ignored.

One of the most favoured arguments for those who don’t see a problem with a lack of varied women in modelling, is that magazines simply cater for demand; models within a certain height and appearance will be favoured over others because people prefer such sizes. I can appreciate that the industry is just like any other, in that it must provide the customer what it wants in order to succeed. But then, apart from various magazines and agencies, who can actually promote the acceptance of a wider variety of sizes in modelling?

I must also add, everyone should keep their minds open, as a lot of this could easily be attributed to male modelling too, and I for one would be interested to see what the resulting backlash (if there were one) would look like. After all, when was the last time you remember seeing a visibly-larger male model?

Let’s put gender aside for now and get back to the previous notion: just because something isn’t in demand doesn’t mean it should remain without representation. In an ideal world, models in media would represent all the different shapes and sizes which are present in society, and I personally think that is a relatively reasonable concept to strive for. If we had models of all sizes, in every medium in which they are frequently employed, then I could safely bet that people would be a bit more confident with themselves. We might even appear to be a society that is more accepting of differences within it; not one which makes everyone endeavour to an elitist ideal. Can you imagine that?

But I think the crucial concern of the matter is what constitutes a ‘plus-size model’. For Calvin Klein, that’s roughly a UK size 14. I for one think it’s an absurd concept.

Thankfully, most people I’ve talked to seem to agree that a size 14 lady should be regarded as a ‘model’, not a ‘plus-size model’. Of course, a lot of people have different opinions on what sizes are excessive, and what sizes are too small, and I’m not in a position to try and change that for you.

However, when a medically-spotless, perfectly healthy women who happens to be the most comfortable in size 14 is regarded as too big, that’s when I start getting a little bit cautious of using, or going anywhere near, the concept of ‘plus size models’. At that point, I start questioning the opinions of those who organise modelling agencies, and those who are high up in the industry.

Keep in mind that models as small as a size 6 (yup, a size 6) are sometimes considered to be ‘plus size’. I thought that the concept of pressuring women to aspire to a certain size was thrown out of the window years ago, but apparently not. Some seem to regard inducing anorexia and anxiety in women as absolutely fine, and when such a small size (an unachievable ideal for most) is considered to still be in excess of what is to be desired, something is up.

So, most of the talent in the industry meet the criteria for anorexia, in terms of their body mass index. That, and some more worryingly hidden facts can be found scattered across the net, but I found the best article on the matter came from Edward Lovett, at ABC News.

The other side of this coin is that ‘larger’ women are becoming more comfortable and more confident, hence their growing role in the industry. That’s good; it means that the fashion industry is becoming more representative of the actual size of women, and it means that the expectation of becoming a size 0 is slowly diminishing. But still, the ‘plus size’ label means that intentionally, or inadvertently, a degree of societal shaming is still occurring.

While I hate the term ‘plus-size model’, I can see why it is sometimes used as an accurate depiction of a person’s weight in regards to what is actually healthy, and not what is considered healthy by society. Personally, any weight, size or shape can be regarded as absolutely fine. As I said earlier, if you want to model, then good on you. But, I think if ‘plus size’ is going to regretfully remain the vocabulary of tabloids and media outlets, then the same needs to be pointed out for models who are medically regarded as underweight.

We, as realistic adults, can admit that both ‘skinny-shaming’ and ‘fat-shaming’ are going to continue, regardless of what we do. These terms are unfortunate and inevitable results of an industry focused on vanity and appearances. Some people’s opinions are immune to change, which is good. If everyone had the same opinion, we’d be a lot worse off as a whole. So my ideal for this rather intricate dilemma of varied subjective opinions is as followed:

First of all, let anyone be a model. I mean anyone. I mean regardless of size, facial features, figure, and more importantly, regardless of conditions or disabilities (I think that’s a more significant matter, but I’ll leave that for another article). In doing so, everyone is fairly represented.

Tess Holliday, or Tess Munster, one of the recent models who inadvertently kicked off the debate.

Secondly, get rid of what fashion labels and model agencies consider to be ‘plus size’. Ideally, replace this with an accurate medical label instead. I’m glad that women who are size 22 are into modelling, and that they are ‘empowering’ similar women in doing so, (see Tess Holliday), but people should know that this is medically unhealthy if it can be prevented. If it can be helped, and is solely the choice of model, such sizes could be labelled as ‘plus size’, but similarly if a model is medically underweight, they could be labelled as ‘minus size’, or whatever other term is promoted by tabloids.

Being excessively large or disproportionately small are equally unhealthy. Neither should be promoted as favourable lifestyles, but both should be accepted. It’s fair to label those as obese as ‘plus size’, but only on the condition that we point out those who are the opposite too. That last section sounded like I intended to separate out bits of society in an attempt to promote a perfect ideal, and I can assure you that it wasn’t my intention. All should be welcome, as long as those on either end of the spectrum are aware of their position. Don’t promote a certain size; let people be whatever they want. I’d much rather society play the role of a middleman with good intent, pointing out extremes, as opposed to being an elitist figurehead which makes the remaining majority feel awful about themselves.

To finish off, I’d oddly like to disregard the majority of my previous rant/argument. Everyone seems to have forgotten that some women, and men, are simply born differently. I for one am overweight for my age and size, according to my BMI. Granted, I’m only a few additional pounds into the overweight category, but I am overweight nonetheless. Has it stopped me, or impeded any aspect of my everyday life? Not necessarily, but I can understand why it would for others. If I’m at a pub and see other gents walking round with just a slim shirt on, and I’m stood there with an open jacket, I do occasionally become a little jealous, as they appear to portray confidence that I don’t have in wearing a particular item of clothing.

Some people may have broad shoulders or wider hips, so need larger sizes to accommodate them. A friend of mine has to resort to XL men’s shirts, not because he’s overweight, but because he’s tall. In the perfect world, we would stop judging people for such factors, ones which they understandably cannot help. It’s entirely possible to be classified as underweight in accordance with your BMI, but still be relatively large in your frame. But apparently some agencies and magazines would prefer it if such people didn’t attempt modelling.

If only we could shake off the false ideals of being too large or too small. I appreciate that some people find different things attractive, but imagine how much easier (and arguably happier) the world would be if we could achieve such indifference. I look forward to the day when tabloids run articles regarding a different sized model doing a photoshoot, and how commentators would simply reply with remarks such as “that’s good”, or “good for them”, rather than leaving spiteful insults.

Maybe it’s not just sizes, or personal preferences. Maybe some people just need to cheer up and stop being dicks.

The End of Beady Eye

Remember Oasis? It’s hard not to, especially with all the rumours of the brothers burying the hatchet. It’s now over five years since they split, and the various ashes of the era-defining brit-pop band went on to different things.

Picture courtesy of Chris Boland on Flickr

The older Gallagher brother went onto a lucrative solo venture, with his High Flying Birds, a name which coincidentally suited the according critical acclaim. Although Noel’s latest works may not have the same rock-infused riffs and sounds that he pioneered in Oasis, but his latest tunes are still immensely catchy, and will have you singing along at the same levels as drunkards yell out ‘Wonderwall’ after only a few listens.

But what about the rest of the band? The group consisting of Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock?

Well, they went on to form the arguably less known band; Beady Eye. And although they pumped out more content than Liam’s brother, it was to varied acclaim. But none of this hullabaloo about singles and E.P.s really matters anymore, as Liam Gallagher, and then Andy Bell, took to Twitter to announce and then confirm the split of Beady Eye’s five year run. For those after music reminiscent of Oasis, your best hopes now lie with the other Gallagher brother, and the upcoming ‘Chasing Yesterday’.

But was Beady Eye the better phoenix which rose from the ashes of Oasis? Should you actually care that they’ve split? It’s all up to you, but here’s my opinion on the matter.

For me, Beady Eye was always the weaker band in the rat race consisting of themselves and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, with songs of varied quality and consistency. Noel could consistently produce catchy anthems, despite sounding like a mash up of folk and indie rock, but Beady Eye occasionally had the odd tune which was more focused on good old fashioned rock. Although these songs were a bit hit and miss to say the least, the likes of ‘Flick of the Finger’, ‘Four Letter World’ and ‘Beatles and Stones’, had a melody and a certain application of distorted guitar which made them a little bit more traditional than the work of the High Flying Birds.

Every now and then, Beady Eye could produce something which would sound like new Oasis material. Granted, Noel was the brains behind Oasis, but that didn't stop the younger brother from trying to create some hits which harked back to their glory days, something which dedicated fans lived for. 

While Noel was the brains behind Oasis, the odd one or two hits that Beady Eye had drove nostalgia-riddled fans to praise them beyond their actual worth, and while hardly terrible, some of their work was excessively praised due to the swaggering presence of front-man Liam Gallagher, whose character simply couldn’t be replicated by the likes of his brother.  

LG's arrogance simply cannot be recreated by Noel, and it rightfully shouldn't be. In knowing what he does best, Noel seems to have endured the musical storm. 

Take Beady Eye performing the likes of ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ and ‘Rock N Roll Star’, all Oasis classics which fans of either Gallagher brother adore. Maybe it's Liam’s excessively strained voice, or the fact that the band lacked Noel’s driven talent, but these songs just weren’t what they used to be when in the hands of Beady Eye. These tunes weren’t butchered, but they were hardly up to scratch.

That said, if Noel Gallagher’s latest single, ‘In the Heat of the Moment’ is anything to go by, I think his debut work may still be his best. Granted, it takes some getting used to, maybe it’s the intro and bridge sections which just repeat ‘Nah’ over again like a Monty Python musical number. I might need to listen a few more times until it inevitably becomes catchy, but it doesn’t have the same instant effect as older numbers like ‘AKA… What a Life!’, or ‘If I Had a Gun’.

Who knows? Maybe the downfall of one Gallagher brother will bring about the 2018 Oasis reunion tour, which everyone and their grandparents have been wanting for what seems like an eternity. But, if the worst case scenario becomes a reality, and everything remotely related to Oasis ceases to exist from the live music scene, it’s not like Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have barely enough tracks to scrape together. We’ve still got shed loads of great songs, and don’t necessarily need any more; it’s not the end of the world. 

Gig Review: Royal Blood at The Leadmill, October 31st 2014

Queuing outside the neon lights of one of Sheffield’s most highly touted small venues had the relatively small crowd divided. Half an hour before the doors opened, my fellow queue-goers consisted of completely emotionless combat-wearing people, giving murderous glares whenever someone sang an incorrect or poorly timed lyric, or those dressed as skeletons who were lovely and sociable, despite making references to incredibly outdated memes.

Throughout the night, the crowd may have been extremely mundane at best, being either detached from the freight-train sound which the duo blasted out to near-perfection or trying to mosh to slower songs such as ‘Blood Hands’, insisting that drumming on your back for the full set was just a bit of fun, (honestly), but it didn’t take away from the experience as a whole.

There’s always someone in front of you…

Drummer Ben Thatcher stood centre stage and parted the crowd, as security attempted to chemically bond me with the person behind me, as though I could fold away like an elegant storage solution. A coffin came through the crowd which was heaved over the barrier, and on stage to reveal a blank-faced Mike Kerr who then proceeded to belt out the immense-sounding B-side, ‘Hole’, with the duo, and the majority of the crowd dressed as skeletons, with varying degrees of convincingness.

The entrance, and subsequent performance of ‘Hole’ had set the tone for the night, and the band proceeded to live up to expectations. Apart from a tiny mic issue, and the odd off note in the closing number, the vigorously played ‘Out of the Black’ was a great performance which made you want to mosh to every song at some point (if you had the physical space and capability to do so).

Kerr’s vocals seem to have the rare talent of remaining consistent in the transition from album recordings to live performance, although this was somewhat ruined by the drunk guy behind me belting out the chorus to ‘Little Monster’ to the point where something dropped. Granted, for those who aren’t too familiar with their music, Royal Blood’s discography may seem relatively repetitive, as with other bands like Rage Against The Machine; the guy next to me really wanted to get into the spirit of things, head-banging like he was intent on breaking his neck, but when it got to the less well acclaimed B-side ‘You Want Me’, he understandably gave in. He deserved a medal for his efforts, but gigs as small as these need people who know pretty much every potential song that could be played.

However, the variation, or interpreted lack thereof, in their songs can’t be helped, and it’s a matter of personal taste. One of few other quarrels was the set itself, and the songs played. I appreciate that Royal Blood aren’t exactly a purveyor of slow, more mundane songs, but perhaps throwing in a lovely cover of ‘Ace of Spades’, or playing their catchier B-sides such as ‘Love & Leave It Alone’ would have been much more appreciated than the filler tunes of their latest album. Unfortunately, their singles retain the best tracks with the most punch.

If you do like being blasted with brilliant riff-centred noise for a good half hour or so, you can’t go wrong with Royal Blood, and their concise live performances. While I’m not a fan of their slower works, the likes of ‘Blood Hands’ really emphasis their prolonged two-pronged assault on the senses, the calm really helps elevate the upcoming storm.

And for fifteen quid, you even get a support act too. Pretty good deal, getting to see one of Britain’s fastest growing bands in a small venue. Especially if you get a group of moshing skeletons dancing to the appropriately vibrant ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’, it all made for one of the best Halloween nights out there.

After support from Turbowolf, Royal Blood played 12 tracks consisting of:

• Hole
• Come On Over
• You Can Be So Cruel
• Figure It Out
• You Want Me
• Better Strangers
• Little Monster
• Blood Hands
• Careless
• Ten Tonne Skeleton
• Loose Change
• Out of the Black

My Experience of Uni, So Far...

Please forgive the lack of creativity in the title, but trust me, I have an excuse lined up.

I’m typing this at 1pm, having only just woke up, and with a ludicrous headache for seemingly no apparent reason. And so far, I can only conjure up a single comment on how student life has been for me so far: It’s just like everyone says it is.

I’d usually go against stereotypes in any form, but when it comes to being a student, I’ve remembered that they do indeed exist for a reason. If you do decide to go to uni, you’ll certainly learn how to budget on the fly, you’ll meet a load of different people, and you’ll certainly drink enough for a lifetime or two over the course of your three years here.

So in a haphazard, disorganised manner, here are a few pointers/hints/comments on what uni has been like, (at least for me) so far.

Procrastination is a love/hate relationship:

I’m in my fifth week of lectures and seminars now, and I hate to admit it but every time the group is told to read and make notes on a certain play or poem, I’ve gone and left it until the morning of said class.  Even for me, this is some new kind of evolved laziness.

You know that you should do your reading and research, but it’d just be very rude and unsociable not to go out tonight. So in the near future, I can quite easily see myself relying even more on the likes of websites such as SparkNotes and Wikipedia.

For me, a quick glance at my timetable shows me that I’ve got loads of free time at university, apart from the occasional shift at work, but its absurdly easy how quickly said spare time can simply vanish. One minute you’re slowly losing yourself in the endless void of the internet, but next thing you know, its half-past 3 in the morning, and you’ve got to make notes on Great Expectations.

You’ll some things on the fly. And it’s not a bad thing:

One of the weirdest experiences of my student life so far has been the simple act of shopping. Not shopping to treat yourself, I mean the Sunday standard food shop. While walking around the local Morrisons, I spent a good 10 minutes wondering what to buy; what I needed, what I fancied, and what I could actually afford. But then I merely got a variety of Pepsi Max, frozen chips and chicken steaks for 8 quid and went on my merry way.

The sudden realisation that you’ve become an adult is quickly met with the need to budget how much you can spend on vodka this week, and that mini-crisis of looming responsibility disappears instantly.

But, basic budgeting and shopping are nothing compared to looking for next year’s accommodation. It needs to be done unfortunately, and little can compare to the dread of reading and trying to understand a 20-page contract of a house, while remaining realistic among five other optimistic, excited flatmates who want to put their deposits down straight away.

Would you ever learn about real-life skills like these unless you were thrown in at the deep end? Possibly, (probably) not.

You’ll learn to be social, at least a bit:

Speaking of being thrown into something, the first day of awkward greetings and glaring at your room like a dreadful Majorcan budget hotel room will soon be a thing of the past.

As long as you can remember everyone’s names, you’ll be fine; just get the alcohol going and go out as much as possible in your first week. Everyone’s in the same boat, as much as that phrase gets excessively used.

Even if you are inclined to dislike people, as long as you try for a week or so, you’ll make friends whether they be from in or outside your apartment. Looking at my flatmates, you’d swear that they switch places in their rooms; one minute we’re all quiet and minding our own business, the next we’re out being the loud, obnoxious and shameless students which society portrays us as.

Hopefully that doesn’t put you off of uni, and maybe even eases some of your uncertainties regarding the new, daunting experience of higher education. The social side of uni was one of the biggest worries for me, and probably affects a lot of other potential students. 

Regardless of how uni unfolds for you, it’s completely dependent on how much effort you put in. If you go around with no intention of making friends, then chances are that’ll unfortunately come true for you. However, if you join a society or two, go out to places you wouldn’t normally, and spend a bit of your budget on getting to know others over a drink, you’ll be absolutely fine.

Uni is simply what you make of it.