Last week, Waterford funk-rockers Kodakid brought fellow county-men Ghetto Amaretto to support them at their show in Cyprus Avenue. But unlike Kodakid, it wasn’t Ghetto Amaretto’s first show in Cork city. It was in fact the band’s tenth show in the venue, and that shows how much Ghetto Amaretto have become a Cork band over the last few years. So in that case, it’s probably about time we spoke to the band about who they are, what they do, and how they made the shift to the Real Capital.

So, first and foremost… Tell us how you came together and how long you’ve been together. All your sordid history

Scew: Well myself and Tom (Bass), used to play in a metal band, and we sort of broke away from the rest of the group and started to play more Muse/Incubus based material. Indie was cool at the time so we kind of decided heavy metal wasn’t the way to go! I was originally meant to be the singer, but that was hard for me to do, and we knew Chris from school and when he came in that instantly freed everything up.  We just started writing from then.

And when did ye have you’re first gig together?

Chris: We wrote for about a year, but didn’t do our first show until August 2008. Before that we recorded our first EP which was great because we had something to hand out at the first show. It was the perfect start. I mean we didn’t get to gig test any of the songs, but we did get a chance to nail them in the practice room.

Scew: We had always heard the stories of how bands don’t reveal themselves until they’re 100% ready, and we definitely wanted that. In hindsight we probably could have done a couple of small shows before that, but I think we had a dream start. We came out with a good show, a good CD and some really great material.

You lost you’re drummer in the middle of last year. How did that affect your sound and the shows?

Scew: After our drummer left we took a three or four month hiatus and regrouped last April. We took to a lot more programming and electronics. Since then we’ve really been sounding the way we want to sound. We were a lot more focused.

Chris: Yeah, we had a lot of old songs that were written in a different format and we needed time to write some that suited the new setup. I mean of our eight recorded songs, we only play two of them at the moment.

So given the fact that some of the songs that you’ve recorded at the moment have dated, do you plan to record any new material and how would you go about it?

Scew: It’s definitely something we’re looking in to. We’ll probably wait a couple of months before we get into it. We’re thinking that we might want to get a session drummer in for the new recordings, but a lot of the pre-production we can do ourselves and a lot of it is already done because of the way we play live. We’re definitely looking to get in to a studio to do it.

With your singer heading away for a few months you’ll obviously be taking a bit of a break for a while. Once he’s back, do you plan on hitting the gig trail again fairly heavily?

Chris: We’d like to but we’re realists also. We’re all in full time education at the moment and we’re not one of those band’s that have dropped out and are making a go for it. But we obviously want to be playing as much as possible.

Scew: We want to try and break out of Cork as much as possible; play in Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Belfast. I think there’s only room for one big band in Waterford, which is why we play out of Cork. When we’re gigging we’re gigging and we do it well.

So there you go folks. In this reviewer’s humble opinion, Ghetto Amaretto have a lot of potential. Their live set kicks something fierce, and they seem to have their heads screwed on correctly. You can expect great things.

Check out Ghetto Amaretto over on Facebook here to keep up to date with their gigs and new recordings.

Tuesday night saw two of Waterford’s best up and coming bands take to the stage on a quiet evening in Cork’s Cyprus Avenue. Kodakid, with Ghetto Ameretto in tow, blasted the patrons of the venue into submission with a set each of hard electronic rock and some straight up funk-rock.

Ghetto Amaretto got proceedings underway and their sound in something to behold. Having lost their drummer within the last year, the band have reinvented themselves as a driving, electronic based three-piece. Like many bands of the moment, they’ve opted to replace the missing member with a machine, and they seem much better for it. Declaring Nine Inch Nails as their chief influence, this is the only way the band could’ve gone and the power behind their new sound is shattering.

It’s still a little rough around the edges… With a tad more vocal projection and tightening up of their backing sounds and they could be world-beating. But there is some serious potential here. Ghetto Amaretto are definitely a band to watch.

Headliners on the night were Kodakid. Hailing from Waterford, the band bring with them a mix of soul, funk and rock, a combination that is all too familiar to this part of the world. Fresh off an apprearance on Monday night’s controversial episode of TV3’s The Apprentice the band played themselves out in front of an all too slight crowd.

They ply their funky trade with some serious proficiency. Singer Kev Power’s style is similar to that of Jim Morrison, while Kev himself looks like a modern version of James Dean. They have a tight rhythm section, brought out by bassist Johnny “Shoebomb” Duignan, drummer Tony Brown, and their combined experience. Meanwhile guitarist Alex Soikans lays some nice melodic guitar lines on top.

For me, while they are very very good at what they do, they’re not this reviewer’s kind of thing. I can see how some people might love them. In fact I can see how a lot of people might love them. But unfortunately, I cannot count myself among them. For fans of hard, funky rock, check out Kodakid. You won’t be disappointed.

Check out Ghetto Amaretto on their FB here, and Kodakid on theirs here.

.

Southern Lord have been making some fantastic decisions with signing, or in this case re-releasing, some phenomenal hardcore and crust acts from the genre’s darkest of corners, like Trap Them, Nails and most recently Baptists and the might Acephalix. Alpinist marks another success. Of course the German band had built a heady reputation alone, with only their own vigour and the strength of their music to go on. This will certainly spread their assault to more ears now and it couldn’t be more deserved.

This release sees their two most recent LP album efforts Lichtlærm and Minus.Mensch compiled into one absolutely vicious record. This is also the first time any of this material is available on CD.

Lichtlærm comes first on the CD, opening with Deliberate’s red-eyed fury and from there the record begins weaving in and out of each of its dank, dirty corners and recesses.

The thick, dirty basslines on this album are one of the most distinguishable features, adding a grimy feel to all the songs as well as gratifying heaviness.  Then there’s the trade-off of the duelling vocals ranging from the shrieking bark to a guttural grunt.

While Alpinist are certainly brutal, their assault is still multifaceted. The Cursed Word Open-Minded heaves with an impassioned zeal that combats the vitriolic ire that streams throughout most of Lichtlærm/Minus.Mensch.

Lærm, which appropriately translates as noise, an instrumental track, is what brings Lichtlærm to a finish until Nighttime Poet Daytime Dead beckons the start of 2009’s Minus.Mensch. It’s then followed by the ravenous Schalterhygiene, one of the highlights of the Alpinist arsenal.

The unrelenting vehemence continues ruthlessly and unabashedly, with the band thundering through violent bursts like Delta Flood of Ignorance and the daring conclusion in This Song Will Not Save Your Life and the outro, which ends Lichtlærm/Minus.Mensch in breath-taking fashion.

The feel of the record is altogether a dilapidated one; dripping with bile and maggot infested. Alpinist’s intensity is a presence to itself. This feral machine has a split record forthcoming with fellow dark hardcore purveyors Masakari, but another album couldn’t come sooner as this is utterly devastating and exhilarating stuff.

Drop-d Rating: 9/10

Alpinist