Are Zavvi Lemmy haters..?

Walked into record emporium Zavvi on Monday intent on purchasing the latest CD offering from the Godfather of Heavy Rock and grandfather of oh so many hard rock and metal bands, Lemmy.

Knowing that Motorhead's latest offering, Motorizer, was due to hit the shelves on Monday, I was looking forward to slaying the pathetic with Lemmy, Mickey and Phil's latest...

Errr, then to my utter surprise, it was not on the latest release shelf. It wasn't even in the 'metal' section. Nor was it to be found in the rock and pop racks...

Ahh, thought I! I shall seek out the staff and ask. With a staff member detected wandering amongst the DVD section for the slow of thinking I asked, and lo he did consult the Zavvi computer....and no, neither the Abbeycentre or the Belfast Zavvi had stocks of Motorizer.

He expressed how perplexed he was at this unexpected development.

While my anger has now subsided (well a little) I pondered on this...Could it be that unless a rock or metal act is being promoted (Slipknot, Black Stone Cherry, Dragonforce) Zavvi were not going to stock it? Or could it be they don't really give a damn about keeping up to date?

Anyhow...said CD is now tearing up the laptop's speakers thanks to one very prompt online service. I'd rather have the pleasure of browsing the shelves, but Zavvi, c'mon it's fucking Motorhead - institution and legend! Get your act together

'Love, Blood, Family, You' amidst the shops

Somehow Belfast's flagship shopping centre didn't know what hit it on Friday, 18th July. Amidst the designer brands, fashionistas and chic shops a cacophony of hard edged rocking rattled the rafters of the architecture as Escape Fails ripped into an hour-long set to launch their début Cd.

All bar one track off Love, Blood, Family, You was aired for a crowd of family, friends, fans..and some stragglers who wandered unexpectedly to a congenially noisy set.

Banter about the price of the CD (in case anyone forgot...£6!) proved unnecessary as they fairly shifted off the shelves...helped no doubt by a confident airing.

Management asked, at one point, politely if EF could turn it down...well they did. A wee bit.

From album opener through to Wall the EF team may as well have been playing a stadium as they displayed a well-honed confidence in the limited space.

Played in CD running order (even if Ryan had to be reminded of the what song came where at least once!) the set may have been constrained by time and venue but EF maintained intensity.

Brighten the Blackest Sky, In the Arms of the Storm, Obsession and Wall particularly stood out when aired.

But overall, what was apparent was the album's running order made sense when played as a coherent entity.

Although CD closer Flarestar was left out - as explained by Ryan it's a personal, special song for the band - Love, Blood, Family, You's launch emphasised the heights EF can rise to, and judging from these beginnings they are starting to scale what could be heady heights.

Launch party for Escape Fails

ESCAPE Fails are bringing their album launch to the big city's top retail destination. On 18th July at 6pm the band will play a select set at the Zavvi store in the prestigious Belfast Victoria Square Shopping Centre. House of Fraser afficianados are in for a shock!

They'll be following that up with a gig for their Warrenpoint fans at the Square Peg in the town.

After that it's off to England for a short tour for the Escape Fails gang!

For those who want a sneak preview of some of the album tracks EF are supporting Arnocorps at Belfast's, Black Box on July 8th.

PS: Thanks to the Wayne for the quick heads-up from Rock Am Ring (see comments from previous post 'Been Away')