Class of 2010 - Best Songs of the Year

So now ladies and gentlemen its times for the top 10 (yes i said ten instead of five) songs of the year. Remember, my music taste is extremely varied and many different genre will be covered !

10. Nightmare - Avenged Sevenfold
Just for the guitarwork and lyrics...great song all in all!

9. My First Kiss - 3OH!3 Feat Ke$ha
Such a catchy song from the boys of Colorado with the finished touch of the beautiful Ke$ha!

8. Playing God - Paramore
Yes, yes bias comes into play here, this song is one of my favourites of Brand New Eyes and now has significant importance in relation to the recent Paramore news...

7. The Captain - Biffy Clyro
Yeah it may have been out tail end of last year but hey ho am putting it in here. Why? The "HO!!" start of the song is an awesome opening and the chorus of "somebody help me sing !?!" makes it truly an anthem.

6. Watercolour - Pendulum
The lead song for Immersion and a fantastic track from the Aussie drum n bass boys. Such a great track to dance to and it gets ur feet tapping.

5. Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida & David Guetta
Final 5 ! I said i had a varying taste in music. Tbh this song always gets me grooving on the dancefloor it is soo damn catchy !!!

4. Love the Way you Lie - Eminem feat Rhianna
The vibrant mix of Rhianna's singing and Eminem's rapping skills make this song very much a highlight of 2010 in the summer time.

3. The Island - Pendulum
Second entry for Pendulum which shows how strong the album actually was in my opinion ! This is my favourite song on the album...the second part was indeed a "TUNE!"

2. Destabilise - Enter Shikari
The most plays on my iTunes?? Aye this deserves to be here. Its a great wee song with the added "shikari shuffle" and the added political meaning. TUNE!

1. Airplanes - B.O.B Feat Hayley Williams
Would you expect anything less. It has my hayley in it of course i am gonna love it ! Oh and part 2 with eminem is even better !!

Thats the top 10...comments guys??

Class of 2010 - Best Albums of the Year

Now that i have calmed down from my rant last night...time to continue my top 5s of the year. This time its all about albums released during the year!

5. American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem
Yes this band broke through with The 59' Sound and their followup album was just as good. With a blend of catchy songs and great lyrics. They are destined for bigger things.
Best Song - Stay Lucky

4. Nightmare - Avenged Sevenfold
After a rocky end to 2009 with the death of The Rev, M Shadows and the rest were very brave to bounce back straight away with this album. With very heartfelt songs about the passing of their drummer and very catchy guitar riffs it was a very good album.
Best Song - Welcome to the Family

3. What Separates me from You - A Day to Remember
Wow the final three, this was difficult to say the least. A Day to Remember returned with the follow up to Homesick and they did not disappoint. This album was filled with classic ADTR breakdowns and very catchy tunes.
Best Song - 2nd Sucks

2. Beneath it All - Hey Monday
I love love love this mini-album by the Florida band! Cassadee Pope's beautiful voice make every song in this album perfect in every way. Yes you can tell i am in love with Cassadee!
Best Song - Where is My Head?

1. Immersion - Pendulum
And yeap my number one is Aussie drum n Bass specialists Pendulum! Every song on this album is a tuuunee ! They are destined for greater things in 2011.
Best Song(s) - The Island Part 1 and 2

Paramore ARE a Band

I am going to break the cycle of my best of 2010 for one wee blog because i need to splurt out some stuff about big news.
http://www.paramore.net/blog/announcement/

Today it was announced that Josh and Zac Farro have left Paramore. It came as a shock to me especially only having seen them about a month ago in Aberdeen. But I look at the bigger picture... Josh is married now and wants to be with his wife and well Zac has been growing up on the road all the time...maybe he needs a wee bit of normality?

Through the sadness,i started reading comments on the announcement on Facebook and Twitter and everyone is saying "hayley will go solo" and "its all about Hayley in the band". This does infuruate me and hence the rant in the blog. This is why:

1. Yes you guessed it...Paramore ARE a Band...not just hayley
2. She hasnt sold out just because she was asked to do a track with an up and coming rap artist
3. The band as a whole are eternally grateful to the support they have gained for writing good music that have appealed to a generation
4. Hayley is a role model for many girls who have aspirations of being rock stars or being famous
5. The band were asked to do a track or two for twilight...the success of them made them bigger and more of a fan base...problem with that? No, not at all
6. You look at the big picture, the rest of the band are very quiet souls, just because she is the loudest does not mean that its all about her and the band
7. Finally, They are not splitting up, 2 members leaving does not constitute a break up. Hayley will not go solo. Paramore will continue as a band as they said for the South American tour dates and for the future!

Nuff said on this topic !

Adieu!

The Class of 2010 - The Gigs

Well as the year is coming to an end and it is time to close another chapter in the life of myself i guess i should do a favourites from the year. So this blog will focus on the best gigs i have been to this year. Since January i think i have been to about 30 gigs and seen verging on 100 bands (probably more) so here are my top 5 of the year:



5 The Prodigy - "Where are my warriors!!" is the line i remember as Maxim and the rest graced the stage in an electric set that shook everyone that witnessed it to the core. Light show, techno beats and the crowd going mental...prodigy are one of the best in the game for getting the crowd going.
Best Song - Smack my Bitch Up

4. Pendulum - The Prodigy's potential successor to crossing the rock-dance divide did not disappoint with a brilliant show that warmed everyone up while the snow and cold was causing all sorts of problems outside. With their mix of rock and dance they certainly know how to keep a crowd bouncing for the whole show.
Best Song - The Island part 1 and 2

3. Muse - Matt Bellamy is an absolute maestro and the T in the Park performance was just unbelievable. The three piece certainly deserve all the awards they get for being one of the best live bands in the business at this time.
Best Song - United States of Eurasia

2. Blink 182 - The return of "Mark Hoppus and the other two" was met by me with a massive amount of excitement. Their SECC performance brought back soo much memories of when i was younger and when i listened to them first. Oh and Travis Barker even threw in a massive drum solo woth a rotating drum kit...nuff said.
Best Song - Stockholm Syndrome

1. Madness - "Madness? they call it madness!!" Yes that quote was used a lot during that T in the Park Weekend and well Suggs and Co were exceptional. The crowd were up for dancing and jumping around and ska dancing...old and young ones alike. It was a massive party and easily one of the best bands i have seen in my years going to T in the Park. Oh and their return in November at the O2 Academy was not too shabby either.
Best Song - One Step Beyond

"I'm delighted to sign another deal at United. I've spoken to the manager and the owners and they've convinced me this is where I belong."

Hey world !

Captains Log: 22nd October 2010

Currently Listening to : That's what you get - Paramore

Well I haven't blogged in a good bit since the wedding and all that!

Things have been good tbh just getting on with Uni and stuff hence the lack of blogging activity.

However, I am gonna change things today with a look at a certain issue which has pissed me off recently. Two words: Wayne Rooney

Okay he hasn't had the best start to the season and has done the dirty on his wife and little kid. But why make matters worse for yourself by telling the world you want to leave Manchester United?


Football is full of overpaid players these days....

Yes maybe he wanted a new challenge etc but the amount of money that seemed to be involved in a potential move to the likes of rivals Manchester City (£300,000 a week in one paper) is beyond a joke. No one, not even Wayne Rooney, is worth that amount in the world. Football has turned into a total farce, just look at how much Cristiano Ronaldo went to Real Madrid and his sizeable wage package!

I was ready to accept that Manchester United were gonna let go of their biggest asset and become a 4th or 5th force in english football, I even sold him when I started playing Fifa 11 to Real Madrid!

The the total U-turn in decision today, he signed a new 5 year deal with the Manchester club, not the blue side. He has let me and many of Man Utds fans down with the events of the last week. It is now up to him to make it up by regaining the form of last year and previous years.

A disappointing start for the red devils....only way is up!

Thats all for today, was very brief and just a stop gap between Uni work for me.

Ciao for now !

Little less conversation...little more action please !

Listening to: We no Speak Americano (the tune of the wedding !)

Captains log 11th October 2010

Hey worrld!

Well...what a weekend !

It was of course the wedding of the year for all those people associated with the Shaws and Fergusons. The marriage of my lovely sister Nicola to Ross Ferguson.

Started early morning on the 9th October where the Shaw household was full of girls getting their hair and make up done....i just sat casually in my room and got ready in 30 mins in my dashing kilt :)

So my duties as an usher were very strenuous but i managed them okay...i think :) The wedding ceremony was lovely with emotions running high and happiness rife. Once the minister pronounced the couple were happily married the cheers bellowed throughout the museum where the service took place!

After all the pictures were taken and everyone wished the newlyweds their congrats Nicola and Ross Ferguson (still weird saying it!) hopped in the A-Team van, yes they had the A-team van, and we took our respective transports and headed to the Popinjay Hotel where the partying could begin.

The speeches were made by the father of the bride, the groom and the best man and we tucked into our dinner. Then the serious drinking began with the wedding reception starting.

The band were The Real Delmonte and they were superb, they added a real rock feel to each song and played songs that i did not expect to hear at a wedding. They played green day and feeder ! :):)

The wedding would not have been nicola's without a few suprises. Firstly a group of girls and nicola performed a well choreographed dance routine to Elvis' A little less conversation for the new groom and it was soo good.This was followed by Nicola and Ross singing I got You Babe by Sonny and Cher then Ross singing with his band Rio Calahan Rule the World by Take That. The reception was one big party and lets say i was very very drunk!

Well thats it all over now, one more thing to say now...

CONGRATULATIONS NICOLA AND ROSS FERGUSON !!!!!! <3<3>

We are young, we drink and we fight (8)

Good evening ! :D

Captain's Log 4th October 2010

Listening to: We are Young - 3OH!3

Wow so it is now October already !

Its a week or so since my last post so time to update y'all. This time last week i was in the Garage in Glasgow seeing the mighty 3OH!3 for the second time.

The support was a DJ band called L'Amour La Morgue with Ian Watkins (famous for being the lead man for Lostprophets) at the helm. They really got the crowd going with their own versions of songs like Sabtage by the Beastie Boys and Riverside. The the main event...the boys from Colorado blasted through a set littered with hits and album songs. Particular highlight was hearing House Party and them starting their very own "here we here we here we fucking go!" when the crowd started chanting it.

After the highs of Monday it was back to the grind on Tuesday with a return to University. It was good settling back in and seeing faces I hadn't seen since the end of April! HOLY CRAP AM A SECOND YEAR NOW!

Yeah it hasn't really sunk in yet that am not the bottom of the pile anymore!

So catching up with different folks i ended up going out for two lunches. One at the Ark Cafe and the other at Ketchup. The latter being the best damned burger i have tasted....ever !

So moving on to the weekend...well friday to be exact...i went to the West Bar's very own Oktoberfest where i sampled their german beer and listened to german traditional music :) It was all in all a good night with a lovely meal :)

Finally i bring you up to the present where i began working in Edinburgh again for Scotland Gas Networks one day a week and handed in my notice at KFC.

So an eventful week! Also congrats to the European Team on regaining the Ryder Cup in golf! Monty's boys did us proud !

Until next time...Ciao world !