As of December 2012 CtrlAltRock is on hiatus.

We’ve had a great run these past few years, but feel that we can no longer dedicate as much time to the site as we would wish to, and have decided that for now it is best to take a break. We may return to this project some time down the line, or we may create something completely new – but the site will remain online as is for the foreseeable future.

We’d like to thank everyone for their support over the years – friends, fans, the record labels, extremely helpful PR firms and of course the bands themselves – it’s been a wonderful experience and we appreciate all the opportunities that we have been lucky enough to have had and shared with you all on this site.

For now if you’re looking for your pop-punk/rock fix we’d like to suggest some of the following sites:  TakeaShot (who Shiona will now be contributing to from time to time) , DIY, Noise Violation,  and Bring The Noise to get your music news fix.

TWIN ATLANTIC STORM GLASGOW (TWICE!)

Our Scottish favourites Twin Atlantic have just finished their 4 sold-out scottish dates on their end of year UK tour which included two dates at the famous Glasgow Barrowlands Ballroom. We went down to the second Barras date to capture the action!

VANS OFF THE WALL MUSIC NIGHT TOUR – REVIEW AND PHOTOS

After more than 5 years hosting the annual Vans Off the Wall Music Night, it’s clear that 2012 marks the year in which the tour has finally come into its element. Unlike many other annual tours, Vans Off The Wall always makes sure it pleases a wide range of people by providing the crowd with a mix of genres always providing something for everyone and this year sees no different.

We popped along to the sold-out gig at the HMV Ritz in Manchester to review the show in all it’s glory and then snapped some  pictures of Young Guns and We Are The In Crowd when the tour rolled up to the ABC in Glasgow.

TONIGHT ALIVE REVIEW

It’s been a great year for Tonight Alive – they’ve toured across Europe three times, played the infamous Soundwave festival in their home country of Australia, and they’ve graced the Kevin Says Stage for the whole summer on Vans Warped Tour. After this jaunt to the UK, they’ll be back to the US-of-A for a 6 week stint opening for Pierce The Veil.

But this evening it’s the people of Glasgow they’re here to impress. Last time they graced the stage at King Tut’s was to support Young Guns on their Bare Bones club tour back in February. Now they’ve returned as headliners in support of their own debut album What Are You So Scared Of, the followup to their successful 2011 EP Let It Land. read more…

TONIGHT ALIVE ROCK KING TUT’S

You can now check out our photo gallery from Tonight Alive’s incredible show at King Tut’s in Glasgow on October 3rd. A wee review of the show for those who missed it will also be up shortly!

AIDEN GRIMSHAW: REVIEW & PHOTOS

A lot of people are likely to be puzzled upon reading a news post here at CtrlAltRock that’s about a former X Factor contestant, but when said former contestant manages to successfully distance themselves from the SyCo machine and undergo wholly more organic process in order to create a record we feel it’s worth a listen…read more

THE BLACKOUT ARE READY TO START THE PARTY

Welsh favourites The Blackout have made a plethora of announcements today and all of them good! Not only have they announced the followup to Hope, but they’re giving us a pre-party tour to be followed by a set of intimate dates in January to support new album Start The Party.

The 11-track creation from Merthyr Tydfil’s finest will be released January 21st 2013 – but the first single and title track will be available from 29th October. Speaking about the album, which was recorded at the Distillery Studios,  vocalist Sean Smith explains “This album captures our real personality,” says Sean. “That laryiness, the yobbish, laddish, loud, shouting happy gang that’s all about doing what we want and having a good time. We’re like the Beastie Boys meets Andrew W.K. meets Dirty Sanchez.”

A number of formats will be available for purchase with standard physical and digital options as well as a Deluxe physical album with bonus dvd containing development of the album as well as live performances from Leeds and Reading; alternatively an itunes edition comes with 3 bonus cover tracks Boom! Shake The Room, Super Freak and Sorry for Party Rocking; while the HMV pre-order contains 4 holiday postcards and the play.com pre-order is a singed album.

The pre-party tour hits five cities this October, while the headline tour in January will take in alternative locations.

20.10 – The Globe, Cardiff (Part of SWN Festival)
23.10 – Cockpit, Leeds
24.10 – The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth
25.10 – Acacemy 2, Oxford
29.10 – The Underworld, London

20.01 – King Tuts, Glasgow
21.01 – Academy 2, Newcastle
22.01 – Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
23.01 – Institute, Birmingham
25.01 – Electric Ballroom, London
26.01 – Ritz, Manchester

YELLOWCARD ANNOUNCE UK TOUR

Yellowcard have posted the following on their website “Looks like we can finally announce that we will be touring the United Kingdom and Europe in February and March of 2013! Set It Off will be supporting the whole tour, Like Torches (new album out next year produced by Ryan Key and Ryan Mendez) from Sweden will be with us in the UK, and we will be making another amazing announcement about additional support very soon. We have been working really hard overseas these last two years so we are really looking forward to this headlining tour. Stay tuned for more details as they come!” 

The tour will be in support of their most recent album Southern Air, which has hit the charts worldwide and gained a top 10 spot in the US Billboard charts.

25.02 – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
26.02 – KoKo, London
28.02 – QMU, Glasgow
01.03 – Ritz, Manchester
02.03 – Kasbah, Coventry
05.03 – Waterfront, Norwich

Tickets go on sale this Friday, 21st September.

VANS OFF THE WALL MUSIC NIGHT TOUR

If Vans weren’t doing enough with themselves at the moment with the up and coming UK Warped Tour, they’re also supporting the annual Vans Off The Wall Music Night Tour.

This year’s line-up isn’t holding back with some of the best rising bands around including Marmozets, hardcore boys Your Demise along with pop-punk darlings We Are The In Crowd. Finishing this years line-up is Buckinghamshire quintet, Young Guns, who after the success of sophmore album Bones have more than earned their headlining spot.

You can catch this tour on the following dates:

08.10 – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
09.10 – Waterfront, Norwich
11.10 – Great Hall, Cardiff
12.10 – Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
13.10 – Ritz, Manchester
14.10 – ABC, Glasgow
16.10 – Cockpit, Leeds
17.10 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London

 

ANDY “THE BUTCHER” MROTEK RECOVERING FROM ASSAULT.

Good friend of ctrlaltrock Andy Mrotek, former drummer of The Academy Is shocked  his twitter followers yesterday by detailing an assault which left him with a broken jaw in 5 places, fractured orbitals and lacerations that required 25 stitches. He uploaded pictures of the injury which will require plastic surgery.

While he stated in a twitter response that anyone wishing to help him could  “..help me by promising that you’ll never walk around late at night by yourself.” fans have asked for more direct ways to donate.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the no doubt endless medical bills are encouraged to buy prints at theanimalupstairs.com

Donations can also be made via theanimalupstairs.bandcamp.com or via paypal using Butcherprints@gmail.com