Next up in the Rocksins End of Year Awards 2013 is one of our resident photographers and interviewers Fran. Fran’s been very busy for us this year, so over to her for her best and worst bits of this year!
1) Album of the year: Palm Reader – Bad Weather
When Bad Weather was first released I gave it a couple listens and just wrote it off as a pretty good hardcore album. At this point it wasn’t even on my radar for my top albums of the year, but after seeing Palm Reader destroy every show they’ve played this year, it was clear this band were far more than that and each time you listen to Bad Weather you realise this more and more. It’s rare to see a hardcore band create something with so much passion, but this passion goes in to everything Palm Reader do as a band and is the reason why not only have they released the best hardcore album this year, but are set to be the future of the British hardcore scene.
2) Song of the year: Marmozets – Move Shake Hide
Not only would I consider Move Shake Hide the song of the year, but in fact the best song Marmozets have yet released. There isn’t a single song this year that has somehow piled so much hardcore aggression, power, emotion and just pure grunge attitude all into three and a half minutes. Between Move Shake Hide and what else we’ve heard, expectations are incredibly high for Marmozets’ debut album coming next year.
Honourable Mentions:
Frank Turner – The Way I Tend To Be
3) Gig of the year – Feed The Rhino, SGR Christmas show, the Borderline London, December 19th
Until a few days ago, Feed The Rhino were set to win my gig of the year with their headline show at the Borderline back in February with the rowdy lot in Marmozets and Steak Number Eight, but on the 19th of this month, they returned to London’s Borderline, brought along TRC, Palm Reader and The Hell, all four bands gave endless reasons for this to be gig of the year, but Feed The Rhino gave endless reasons why they are one of the best live bands around today.
Honourable Mentions:
Feed The Rhino- The Borderline (February)
Letlive. – The Electric Ballroom
4) Festival performance of the year: Yellowcard – Warped Tour UK, 17th of November
I cannot think of a moment this year that left a bigger smile on my face than Yellowcard’s set on the Jagermeister Stage on the Sunday of this years Warped Tour UK. Playing songs from nearly all stages of their career, the guys proved why they still deserve such an important place in the pop-punk scene, never mind the fact there’s no better way to end a festival set than a sing along to Ocean Avenue.
Honourable Mentions:
Billy Talent – Warped Tour UK
Sabaton – Bloodstock Festival
Cancer Bats – Slam Dunk South.
5) Video of the year: We Are The Ocean – Chin Up Son
Probably one of the most simple videos of the year, and in reality it is four guys just having some fun but some how they made it so much more. Doing the entire video in one take made gave it an impressive aspect and worked perfectly alongside the acoustic ballad. Enjoy the video for “Chin Up Son” below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT9zWcUALIE
6) Most disappointing album of the year: Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll
When news broke of Fall Out Boy’s return, I predicted it to be one of the highlights of this year… I may have been wrong. The disappointment from the album that is anything but “Rock And Roll” did lead me to sadly questioning if coming off of hiatus was at all the right move for Fall Out Boy.
7) Band of the year – Letlive.
Letlive. have had an honestly phenomenal year, narrowly missing out in at least three categories in my awards they definitely deserved this. Not only have they released an incredible album, but late this year they completed a tour of the UK, some venues doubling in size since the original announcement and still selling out. It’s great to see a hardcore band having as much emotion as Letlive. and between that and the pure talent of the band, I believe this is somehow still only a beginning for them.
Honourable Mentions:
While She Sleeps
Crossfaith
If you enjoyed reading Fran’s End Of Year awards, here are some links to the choices made by some of our other team members here at Rocksins:
Jamie’s End of Year Awards 2013 (click here)
Sam D’s End of Year Awards 2013 (click here)
James’ End of Year Awards 2013 (click here)
