MASSIVE DARBEX ALTERNATIVE SEMI FINAL ALL-DAYER THIS MONDAY
+
HAVE A RIOT BY THE RIVER THIS EASTER SUNDAY!!!
+
ALL-DAYER AT THE PHOENIX - TOP LINE-UP!

RESULTS FOR SUNDAY 16 MARCH – Alternative

1ST – THEIR STRANGE GATHERING

2ND – THE TROUBLED

3RD – EPICO

RESULTS FOR MONDAY 17 MARCH – Metal to the Masses

1ST – SILENT DESCENT

2ND – BLOODLOSS

3RD – CARPATHIA

RESULTS FOR TUESDAY 18 MARCH – Alternative

1ST – BLACKBIRD

2ND – FOXES AND CROSSBOWS

3RD – THE BROKEN BRICKS

Sarah from the 103.7 TGR Sound TakeOver Show speaks to the winners of the heats at the Drayman and the Bull and Vic. Tune in to hear exclusive interviews and tracks from bands playing the Darbex Band Quest on 103.7FM and at www.tgrsound.co.uk.

Sponsors:

DINGO JACKS MUSIC STORE | ELEPHANT MUSIC | DOGHOUSE MUSIC | ROADRUNNER RECORDS UK | MEDIA SOURCING | VICTORY RECORDS | DEMOLITION RECORDS

Partners:

BLOODSTOCK-METAL TO THE MASSES | ORE NET SERVICES | JIGGA JAM STUDIOS

Support from:

TGR 103.7FM | NEWSSHOPPER | BEXLEY COUNCIL | KN MEGA PIX | RICHARD MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY

A whole day of semi final music but with the bonus of two bands going through to the Darbex Alternative final.

BLACKBIRD breezed through their heat last Tuesday but will face tougher competition in the form of groovemeisters APOLLO WITHSTANDS, consistant hard rockers LIVE POLITICS and local heroes BRAIN ACHE. Sleaztastic RED 13 are also on the bill along with THEIR STRANGE GATHERING. DJ 69 keeps things moving between bands.

Darbex Band Quest – Alternative Semi Final at The Drayman in Bexleyheath. £3.00 for loyalty card holders – £4.00 for everyone else.

PLEASE NOTE: The Drayman is over 18s for Darbex Band Quest – Alternative.

What track would you really like to hear played by the DJs at the Alt Semi at the Drayman on Monday? – Email us a request now!

The Darbex Band Quest comes to Dartford. CODES IN THE CLOUDS bring their musical landscapes up against the timeless, classic and futuristic rock n roll of CRACK SILENCE AND THE WIDOW SYNDROME. YOUR BROKEN EGO also compete.

Darbex Band Quest – Alternative at the Bull and Vic every Tuesday.

£2.00 for loyalty card holders – £3.00 for everyone else.

WIN £20 bar tab at Bull n Vic each Tuesday if you are Loyalty Card Holder.

What track would you really like to hear played by the DJs at the Bull n Vic? – Email us a request now!

Due to the Easter Holidays this Sundays heat moves to Wednesday.

The highly impressive SCARLETT OCCURANCE compete against the catchy melodies of scene regulars DIRTY SAM. DISTURBANCE WITHIN aim to upset the balance.

Darbex Band Quest – Alternative at The Drayman in Bexleyheath every Sunday. £2.00 for loyalty card holders – £3.00 for everyone else.

PLEASE NOTE: The Drayman is over 18s for Darbex Band Quest – Alternative.

What track would you really like to hear played by the DJs at the Drayman on Wednesday? – Email us a request now!

Go Mental! at the Zero Bar this week sees resident DJ DJ KING STEVE and guests churn out the big tunes, requests and new stuff!! Remember the music and drink goes on until MIDNIGHT!

FREE entry for loyalty card holders – £1.00 for everyone else.

What track would you really like to hear played by the DJs at the Zero Bar? – Email us a request now!

Bloodstock Open Air returns in 2008 and is set to be the biggest yet. Three days full of pure metal and a little bit more at Catton Hall!

The line–up is far from complete but here are the bands confirmed so far:

• NIGHTWISH
• OPETH
• EVILE
• DIMMU BORGIR
• ICED EARTH
• HELLOWEEN
• OVERKILL
• SOILWORK
• AT THE GATES
• PRIMAL FEAR
• TYR
• AS I LAY DYING
• ELUVEITIE
• COMMUNIC
• MOONSORROW
• SWALLOW THE SUN
• KATAKLYSM
• CLOUDSCAPE
• CROWNING GLORY
• MOB RULES
• SAINT DEAMON
• ALESTORM
• PRO-JEKT

For more information on the festival visit the Bloodstock website.

SILENT DESCENT
BLOODLOSS
CARPATHIA

Brutality is the meal on tonight's menu and if you're looking for melody and nice vocals it will be very, very rare tonight. Silent Descent kick the evening off with a simple operation of ground and pound; everything here is on top form from what I see and hear tonight (plus what I heard at Banana Road Studios last Saturday). Their singer knows how to grunt and growl for a change (unlike some of these emo/alternative/death metal bands) along with the musicality of this band is just vicious. There sound was superb, Jack Oxley was on fire with his Gibson, the drummer was amazing and is deemed worthy of a special mention (his stamina is amazing) as well as the singer.

My only problems with their entire set were these: The Bassist and DJ need to stop thinking they are in Slipknot. They looked rather silly and a little bit out of place, plus I felt it detracted from the rest of bands performance and was ever so slightly distracting. If you are going to have a DJ use him in your set rather than two tracks and then let us hear him in the other tracks. Finally the wall of death mosh pit that was cooked up on their final track ‘I Can, I Will!' just didn't work. If they were playing the Astoria or Wembley Area then yes there would be a place for it but not in a smallish pub. It just looked like a punch up by a group in a pub or a football fight down Millwall.

Saying that though I like these guys. Nothing wrong with a nice slab of symphonic Death Metal. (10/10)

Having played with Bloodloss I know what Killswitch inspired maelstrom is about to be unleashed but can they raise the bar set by Silent Descent?

Bar raised without even trying! Tonight is going to be tighter than a ducks butt. Their sound is awesome; their lead guitarist is on form. They are formidable and pulsating this evening and I think they have improved since I played with them last year at the Woodman. They have incorporated a lot more influences into their entire sound. Machine Head is just one of them I picked up on, and it works really well, giving them a more rounded, full bodied sound.

I really think it is out of Bloodloss and Silent Descent tonight! (10/10)

Final act tonight - from Coventry (but whom I have been told once resided in Bexleyheath) may I introduce to you Carpathia! So let's hope that being away from the area hasn't affected them this evening. Brutality is the word I used at the beginning to describe the evening's event and I will end with it to describe Carpathia! These guys are a powerhouse. The sound once again is fantastic (praise has to go to Arran for that tonight). These guys are amazing and a decent slab of blackened death metal with slight hint of Opeth (which to this reviewer is no bad thing!). The musicianship is of the highest quality, a continuity of all of tonight's bands. The vocals are incredible. Once again a singer who knows how to grunt and growl. Their set is varied with an instrumental dropped in for good measure, which as much as I enjoyed I felt drifted over many of tonight's audience's heads. Carpathia I think have made tonight's choice even better, I seriously enjoyed these guys and would love to see them again! (10/10)

There can only be one winner and as Carpathia won the judges vote the overall winner was: Silent Descent. Bloodloss though are still in the running for a prize by grabbing the second spot.

Review by Warren Holmes

BLACKBIRD
FOXES AND CROSSBOWS
THE BROKEN BRICKS

Heat six began with The The Broken Bricks. The duo (vocals, guitar and drums) crept through a twenty odd minute set with their stripped down sound providing a few surprises. The singer at times has a croon beyond his years and the addition of a slide guitar midway through the set was a particular highlight. What they didn't do is engage the crowd. At times it felt like you were watching them jam through a keyhole. Even at their most introspective bands like Mad Dog still keep the crowd involved. A nervy but competent set. (6/10)

Foxes and Crossbows were without their drummer for their set which unfortunately led to them suffering. Many of their songs lacked any real flow or direction but what they lacked in actual songs they made up for in energy and resourcefulness. The vocals at times recalled Kurt Cobain during one of his many crys for help while some of the bass shone through. This was most evident on the set closer which had a simple but damn catchy bass line throughout. In fact the song was one of the best of the night with the energy created forcing members of the crowd to move for the first time. (6/10)

Blackbird were obviously a few leagues above the rest tonight. Catchy, groovy and soulful songs performed well with duel male-female vocals. When you add a few attractive guitar solos and a consistant rythem section giving the songs a real spine there was no way the other bands could compete. (7.5/10)

Review by Alan

"THE TIDE AND ITS TAKERS" STREETS MAY 26th!!!

36 CRAZYFISTS have revealed the album art for their upcoming release, THE TIDE AND ITS TAKERS, due May 26th in Europe (and G/A/S on May 30th) on Ferret Music.

The artwork is available at:

www.ferretstyle.com/36crazyfists/36CRAZYFISTS_cover.jpg

The album artwork was designed by Sons of Nero (www.sonsofnero.com). Sons of Nero has previously designed for such bands as In Flames, Every Time I Die, Full Blown Chaos, The Human Abstract and many more.

Calling all Bands in South East! Darbex is still open! Massive £7000+ of prizes and huge exposure. Nothing to lose! read more....

With bands that have not paid their deposits and other that cannot play the dates left we have just a few places left on the Darbex Band Quest 'Elevation of Creation' competition and related activity (Scratch the surface compilation CD and Altascope Magazine).

If you are interested now.. please read over the details at this link and ask any questions through darbex@rockmatrix.co.uk, we are looking to cover from late March onwards 5 slots in Dartford and 5 more slots in bexleyheath. All we need is the form here completed and a £25 deposit (not a fee) to assure you of a place. The METAL section is closed so we are looking for Indie/Alt/Rock bands as well as acoustic acts to play in darbex between March 18 and May 7th (Heats).

The Prize fund is worth over £7000 now and we are looking to award 33 prizes for the 99 bands we are looking to take part, min prize value is £99 as it stands and the max £1000 CASH!! Prize list here.

We will launch - this week the scratch the surface CD - Your chance to have a professionally released CD with over 1000 copies bieng distributed throughout the South East and Industry from May onwards in 2008.

Further more.....We are putting out 3 magazines to maximise your chance of exposure for you band and activity, this is being worked on now!

Dont miss this once in a bands lifetime chance to utilise this promotional vehicle and get yourselves into the local and national papers and many event listings all handled by rock matrix through out this project.

What ya got to lose?

Adam

The Rock Matrix

If you want to help make this a massive success come to any of the 3 events this Sunday / Monday / Tuesday.

4 alternative bands needed – we need more bands to 'confirm' their intent to play.

We are doing this:

- 1x A Battle of the bands with a twist featuring show case events!
- 2x 20 track cds called 'scratch the surface' one heavy one light!
- 3x Magazine called Altascope, featuring all acts taking part and more!

We have now got 99 bands interested with 82 confirmed, so we are now taking on a reserve list and back up list in case any bands that have committed drop out or decide not to take part for what ever reason.

Therefore we ask 3 things of thee!

1. If you want to have a chance in taking part complete this application form
2. If you want to help make this a massive success come to any of the 3 launch events this Sunday 3rd/Monday 4th/Tuesday 5th – events are here: www.eventmatrix.co.uk/events/
3. Or just wish us well, this really could elevate bands form our local scene to something much more promising. Help by adding graphics to your site etc or reposting bulletins. Thanks for anything in advance.

We are deep in talks with festivals and promoters about getting our bands playing for them. We have £7000 of prizes already committed and 1 in 3 bands will win something.

There will be:

- 100 bands playing by the end of this comp
- 2 x 20 track cds launched to support the quest
- 3 Magazines called Altascope covering ALL local music activity
- Around 400 playing musicians and 100 professional people involved in making this work
- 45 events with over 6000 people attending
- 20,000 flyers hand to hand
- 500 posters
- 33 prizes worth over £7500
- Media, Radio, Record label support and coverage
- And a bucket loads of bloody great nights in good venues!

All further enquiries and questions will be answered only through darbex@rockmatrix.co.uk

PS. We would love to know if you are in a new band or have left a band we thought you may be in.

For FULL DETAILS see the full details blog.

A MODERN CLASSIC.

The TTX stands alone among professional turntables because it was exclusively designed for the modern DJ, with a silicon rubber base that absorbs vibration and dampens low end feedback, and an interchangeable tone arm system that adapts to any DJ style. The TTX is the first turntable to feature user-variable torque. The TTX also delivers versatility and control thanks to an illuminated output bay, a built-in BPM counter, and interchangeable S-shaped or straight tonearms.

Additional features include digital outputs for direct sampling, Key Lock and ±50% pitch control for unprecedented mixing options. The TTX remains ahead of the game and delivers a new standard in turntables by expanding the possibilities of vinyl.

Information taken from www.numark.com/tt. Please see this website for more information.

Please contact Shane:

snake_tooth@hotmail.com

We are a rock/indie/punk band looking for an experienced drummer to join the group. We are a highly energetic band with a good backlog of catchy and original material and we need an enthusiastic drummer who shows passion for music. We have gigs and other opportunities lined up so we need someone ASAP. Have a listen to our tunes at www.myspace.com/mainshum. We only have a few tunes recorded, but our style varies a lot so they don't necessarily portray us accurately.

Please contact Jake:

07786852007

j_sadzik@yahoo.co.uk

MAINS HUM myspace