Fancy seeing some great British live acts at the brand new XOYO in London?

Well courtesy of Red Stripe we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky winner to join Rockefeedback and some very special guests to celebrate their 10th birthday next weekend.

With British Sea Power, Future Of The Left, Anna Calvi and Three Trapped Tigers all performing live sets plus an as yet unannounced special guest the night is sure to go with a band. On top of all that there will be DJ sets from Felix White of The Maccabees, Bloc Party vs Co-Pilots, White Heat, Young & Lost Club and plenty more to keep the party going into the small hours.

For a chance to win a pair of tickets to the event, which takes place September 17th from 8pm, all you have to do is leave a comment telling us what you did on your 10th birthday! The most entertaining entry will be chosen by myself on Monday evening (September 13th).

Please be sure to leave a contact email when commenting and please be aware the venue is 18+.

For more details on the event head over to Rockfeedback now. For details on the venue or to buy tickets visit XOYO.

Canadian legends Arcade Fire celebrated the release of their highly anticipated album, The Suburbs, on August 2nd with a concert at the Mann Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for a show I’ll never forget.

Opening act Spoon delivered a fairly solid set opening with ‘Black Like Me’ from Ga Ga Ga Ga and closing with ‘Jonathon Fisk’. It was slightly disappointing that the majority of the thousands of fans attending the concert hadn’t even found their seats by the time Spoon’s set was over, yet this is to be somewhat expected when opening for a band such as Arcade Fire, whose iconic image surpasses that of Spoon and most other artists right now.

As soon as Arcade Fire hit the stage the crowd excitedly rose from their seats in anticipation. Opening with ‘Ready to Start’, which is taken from the new album, could have been risky if the crowd hadn’t already been somewhat acquainted to the song, with many fans even belting out the lyrics. The song ending with the ever so fitting phrase “Now I’m ready” which seemed fitting as the band and crowd were definitely ready for what was to come during the rest of the night.

Following with ‘Neighborhood #2′ from Funeral and ‘No Cars Go’ from Neon Bible, the band then moved on to an amazing, standout performance of ‘Haiti,’ fronted by Régine Chassagne, who energetically held the stage. As the set progressed Win Butler announced simply “This is a song by Jay Reatard” followed by the band blasting out their rendition of the late Jay Reatard’s song, ‘Oh, It’s Such a Shame’, delivering it in a way which dramatically transformed it into their own.

Returning for an encore the band began with ‘Neighborhood #1 (tunnels)’ followed by ‘Modern Man’ from The Suburbs before concluding with the most breathtaking performance of the night ‘Wake Up’. As the classic anthem began the reaction of the crowd was astounding, all those in attendance began belting out the lyrics and dancing along with the band, making for absolutely breathtaking atmosphere. It was a truly moving, powerful performance which proved the band had surpassed all expectations, delivering what may have been the perfect live performance from a band truly reaching their prime.

Courtesy of Best Buy UK I’m thrilled to announce we have three, yes THREE! pairs of tickets to give away to see an exclusive Ellie Goulding performance in London.

The exclusive event, which takes place at The IndigO2 on Monday July 5th, is to promote the arrival of Best Buy here in the UK.

To enter our competition all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and an email address in the relevant field before midnight on Tuesday June 29th, it really is that simple.

If you’re not one of our lucky winners or are just after some new electrical goods then you can also enter the draw for tickets by purchasing £30 worth of goods from Best Buy then registering for first come first served tickets, more details are available here.

Please be aware that you and your guest must be over 18 if you’re entering the competition, anyone under 18 sadly can’t participate.

Three lucky winners will be chosen at random upon closure of the competition and duly notified shortly after. So get your entries in quick and your fingers crossed!

Ellie Goulding recently joined Lissie on stage at The Great Escape to perform a duet of Lissie’s track ‘Everywhere I Go’.

If you haven’t already then I’d recommend checking out Lissie’s beautiful rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ here.

Lissie’s debut album ‘Catching A Tiger’ is due out on June 21st on Coumbia Records.

Off the back of their sold out gig at the Electric Ballroom, a tired looking Foals performed a free gig at Brick Lanes infamous Rough Trade East on Tuesday night.

The record store was packed out with fans lucky enough to get their hands on wristbands. A mixed audience consisting of everyone from the indie kids to suited middle aged men, crammed in to hear some of their new critically acclaimed album ‘Total Life Forever’. This is probably the smallest venue you’ll see them play this year, Yannis himself can be quoted saying “this is going to be cramped” as the band took to the miniature stage situated at the back of the store.

The venue itself is awkward to say the least, after all it is a record store, this had an evident effect on the fans, who all seemed a little quieter than the usual following, even provoking Yannis to ask “are you guys alright, as hung over as we are?” Despite the lack of energy amongst the head-bobbing crowd, excluding one or two elderly women at the front (who appeared to be reliving their youth), the band played a great set lasting just over half an hour.

Kicking off with the title track, they took us through some of the best cuts from their new album; standouts were ‘Miami’ and ‘Spanish Sahara’ (which received the the best reception). At times you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking they are miming, with their live performances sounding near spot on to the recorded material.

Finishing the set with old favourite ‘Two Steps Twice’, the fans finally showed some excitement. With Yannis managing to liven things up, aimlessly pushing through the crowd, with a frustrated security guard tagging along behind. One thing, even more evident when played live, was the contrast in vocal styles and energy between their new album and old. The new material being a lot calmer, more polished and vocally stronger, whereas their previous cuts ooze with a youthful energy and whether the band like it or not, will excite the audience that little bit more!

Considering the current hype surrounding the five Oxford lads, it says a lot when they are still happy to go and play a free gig. It wont got down as their most memorable gig, that’s for sure, but none-the-less would of meant a lot to the hundred or so fans that squashed in to see them.

We’ve teamed up with Chevrolet to offer you guys, the readers of Indiescreet, the unique opportunity to see Mystery Jets perform in Liverpool on a ferry across the Mersey this Thursday (May 20th).

The rather odd venue is part of the Chevrolet Spark Unscheduled Tour which has seen Mystery Jets perform in a number of weird and wonderful locations.

We have a pair of tickets available to give away to one lucky winner who can answer the following question correctly.

Who designed the Chevrolet Spark Unscheduled Tour logo?

a) Jimi Crayon
b) Jimi Pencil
c) Jimi Watercolour

Once you know the answer (hint: check out the tour’s Facebook page) then all you have to do is send an email to indiescreet.com@gmail.com with the subject Mystery Jets Competition, the answer and your name.

Please note you must be over 18 to enter and please only enter if you can attend, I’d hate to see these exclusive tickets go to waste.

The competition closes in less than 24 hours (at midday GMT Wednesday 19th May) with one lucky winner chosen at random.

As you’re probably already aware, Mystery Jets will soon be releasing their latest album, titled ‘Seratonin’, check out a preview of the bands new material here.

After a pretty conventional first half of my interview with American indie rock outfit Titus Andronics things seemed to take a turn for the weird during the concluding questions. Read on and be sure to check out the first part of the interview here if you haven’t already.

Taylor Farnsworth: How has your touring been so far on this tour?

Ian Graetzer: “It’s been going pretty well. More people are coming out to our shows. On previous tours there had been a lot of dead shows but not really on this tour.”

Patrick Stickles: “This tour hasn’t really had any big duds.”

Amy Klein: “We’ve met a lot of nice people and a lot of really cool bands in unexpected places, like South Dakota. It’s always nice to see the kids out in full force in a little town that you didn’t know had a scene.”

Patrick Stickles: “The greater joy of finding these little places of joy and exuberance.”

Eric Harm: “We were also testing ourselves to tour more than our previous tours.”

Patrick Stickles: “We haven’t taken a single day off.”

Eric Harm: “We have about 9 days left and we don’t plan on taking any days off. We’re playing about twice as much as we usually play. We’re looking to play 80 minutes compared to the 40 minutes we’d usually play.”

Patrick Stickles: “We’re playing for much longer times. We’re pushing it to the limit. Why not, we’re young, we’ll sleep when we’re dead, or in like a few years.”

Amy Klein: “I’ll sleep tonight and a lot next week.”

Taylor Farnsworth: What has your weirdest tour experience been?

Patrick Stickles: “Definitely this interview! Just kidding, haha.”

Ian Graetzer: “We slept in a storm drain once.”

Amy Klein: “We stayed with a sleep walker recently.”

Patrick Stickles: “That was not as weird as everyone is saying it is.”

David Robbins: “They were incredibly nice though.”

Ian Graetzer: “Not too much weird on this tour, some weird stuff on previous tours though.”

Amy Klein: “There are some weird smells coming out of our tour van though.”

David Robbins: “We saw people with AK47’s in Detroit. There were people lining up outside the building and cops in camo. The National Guard or some sort of special force.”

Patrick Stickles: “It was freaky.”

Amy Klein: “We also played in this community center that was having this senior citizen’s bingo tournament in the next room, so when you went down the hallway you were confronted by pretty much 500 senior citizens really involved in a game of bingo. I have never seen bingo played with that intensity and dedication, I was pretty impressed.”

Eric Harm: “I also lost $3 in the Keno machine that night.”

Patrick Stickles: “That same night we stayed at this dude’s house, but it was really his parent’s house and his mother had prepared an Easter basket for us. That was weird but quite nice.”

Amy Klein: “This very nice woman asked that we sign her brand new waffle iron, that was by far the coolest thing that I’ve ever been asked to put my signature on.”

Ian Graetzer: “It’s not weird but I got a haircut by a very qualified stylist that we stayed with.”

Patrick Stickles: “Then we watched Blu-ray.”

Amy Klein: “That was pretty weird.”

David Robbins: “A little too realistic.”

Taylor Farnsworth: When will you know that you’ve made it in the music industry? Do you feel that you’ve made it now?

Eric Harm: “When everybody loves you and nobody hates you; when you’re on top of the world.”

David Robbins: “When about 40% of the band still lives at home, I don’t think we’ve made it yet.”

Patrick Stickles: “When we make our final compromise. For example, for this concert we didn’t want to exclude any kids. So this was the only venue that would do an all age’s concert that wouldn’t be ridiculous for us to play in as far as size goes. As a result we have to be done by like 9:30. So tonight we probably won’t get to play as many songs as we would like.”

Ian Graetzer: “But it’s definitely worth it.”

Patrick Stickles: “We’ve got to do it. But we will have made it when we can play all non-discriminatory shows and do whatever we want at them”.

Amy Klein: “I think that making it is playing music that makes you happy as often as you can. Personally, making it for me is being able to go onstage and inspire other girls to play music.”

Patrick Stickles: “What about other boys?”

Amy Klein: “Well there aren’t as many female role models out there. You can inspire other boys.”

Patrick Stickles: “I want to inspire other girls too.”

Amy Klein: “You can do that as well.”

Patrick Stickles: “My success will be inspiring any humans or maybe even animals.”

Amy Klein: “I want to inspire everyone in the galaxy.”

Patrick Stickles: “I want people to bring their dogs to concerts and have their dogs howl along with the music.”

Amy Klein: “I want to inspire ninjas and all of the robots out there.”

Patrick Stickles: “Are you saying that ninjas aren’t human?”

Amy Klein: “Ninjas and robots.”

David Robbins: “One of those things is definitely humans.”

Patrick Stickles: “But I really would like to inspire all humans. I was just kidding about the dogs. Although it is cool when dogs get to come to the concerts.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Where do you think your fans are the most receptive to your music?

Patrick Stickles: “I’d say probably New York City, where we play the most.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Any new music recommendations?

Patrick Stickles: “We’ve got to give a shout out to ‘Stuck On Nothing’ by Free Energy. We listened to it in the van today, the record’s great.”

Ian Graetzer: “They’ll be coming to the concert tonight actually.”

Eric Harm: “We’re looking forward to a pending release from Battle Ave Tea Club. I don’t know what the name of their release is.”

David Robbins: “A few of us have been into Hunx And His Punx. Also, I really liked Lady Of Lourdes, a garage rock band from South Dakota, they were awesome.”

Patrick Stickles: “I also loved a band at that show. It was Union Electric, the band that played right before them. The Nice Nice, we played with them in Texas. Although I’m not sure if I can recommend their record, they need to be seen to be believed.”

David Robbins: “It’s amazing what they do live.”

Amy Klein: “I have my own solo album which you can get for free.”

Patrick Stickles: “That’s a shameless plug. How about a hair transplant place called shameless plug?”

So that wraps up a great interview from a band who truly seem passionate about their music while at the same time are always having fun with what they do.

To check out more of my work head to my website, Shoot Me Pics. Check out some of the shots I took from their performance at The Barbary by clicking here.

Having recently released their sophomore album, ‘The Monitor’, Titus Andronicus are currently touring the US to promote it. I grabbed a great in depth interview (so in depth it’s been split up into two articles, the latter of which will be posted on Monday) with the band before their concert at The Barbary in Philadelphia, Pa on April 15th.

Taylor Farnsworth: What inspired you to use the civil war concept throughout ‘The Monitor’ and what does it mean to you?

Amy Klein: “The concept came about because Patrick was watching a Ken Burns documentary about the civil war. We as a band feel that the issues that occurred during that time are very relevant today. Although it appears that it is in the past a lot of the same things that happened in that time between our country being divided and issues of racism and trying to figure out how to confront the enemy. These issues are just as relevant today as they were then.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Along with your sophomore album your previous album, ‘The Airing of Grievances’, was a big success. Did you approach your sophomore album any differently than you did your first album?

Patrick Stickles: “We approached it with the same sort of spirit but with very different resources. As the record label that we made this one for has a real office and everything, rather than a guy’s house in New Jersey. There was a slightly bigger budget and, accordingly, more time to give proper attention to all the details.”

Eric Harm: “Along with that we had already done a pretty serious amount of touring and were just better prepared to do the best job when we went in. We had more time and were more confident about our abilities.”

Patrick Stickles: “But our ideas and aesthetic parameters were much the same. Hopefully we’ve just brought them to a more vibrant life this time around, in account of our superior resources.”

Ian Graetzer: “Superior resources are the big thing for sure, can’t really get the gears going without a little bit of oil.”

Patrick Stickles: “That’s the truth. We would have much preferred to have our first album sound like our second album, but we just couldn’t do it.”

Taylor Farnsworth: What are and aren’t you satisfied with on your new album?

Patrick Stickles: When you start thinking like that it can drive you crazy.

Ian Graetzer: I’ll say it, I’m satisfied with it. No regrets.

Patrick Stickles: There you go. Maybe there are some things that we could have done differently.

Ian Graetzer: Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We could complain about it or keep your head up.

Eric Harm: We’ve listened to it many times and at some point we decided that that was how we wanted it to sound upon release, the way that it sounds now. We made our bed and now we’re sleeping in it.

Patrick Stickles: Soundly. Furthermore, it’s for the kids to enjoy, not us.

Taylor Farnsworth: Who has influenced your music over the years?

Patrick Stickles: The influence of Springsteen on our music has been pretty widely overstated, though I do like him. We have Weezer…

Ian Graetzer: I think that’s fair.

Patrick Stickles: …Neutral Milk Hotel, No Doubt, Big Country (a Scottish band from the 80’s that we listened to a lot when we were making our record), And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.

Eric Harm: There’s also a song on our new album that’s highly influenced by one of our favorite bands, Spider Bags.

Patrick Stickles: A great band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina that will start a short leg of this tour with us in two days, much to our excitement.

Amy Klein: Yay!

Taylor Farnsworth: Have your family and friends been supportive of everything you’ve been doing?

Ian Graetzer: My parents let us practice at the house, let us eat their food and let the band be under their car insurance.

Patrick Stickles: That’s pretty big.

Ian Graetzer: They were very supportive for giving us a practice space and everything. It’d probably be costing us at least $3,000 a year, now it’s $300.

Eric Harm: It’s been pretty easy for my parents to support me through this endeavour because I didn’t have to leave anything super important. How about we hear from the two that left very serious jobs; how do your parents feel about it?

David Robbins: At first they didn’t like the idea of no health insurance, no more real job and why I had advanced degrees to play rock n’ roll.

Patrick Stickles: You don’t need a master’s degree to rock!

David Robbins: I didn’t need that master’s degree. I would just say that all parents want the best for their kids, not knowing what it means to be in a touring band. After a day or two the initial shock of me quitting, everything cooled down. They’re awesome; I think everybody’s parents have been great.

Taylor Farnsworth: What were your degrees in school and jobs that you left?

David Robbins: I studied music for grad and have a degree in IT for my masters. I worked in higher education at a couple of colleges and did some computer stuff.

Amy Klein: I initially started with literature and theatre writing but the job which I had wasn’t really related to that, so I’d say this is probably more in line with my life goals and I hope my family is starting to understand that. It’s what makes me happy, so it’s probably the best thing.

Patrick Stickles: Money cannot buy happiness.

So that concludes the first half of the interview, be sure to check back on Monday (April 26th) for part two where the interview take a rather odd turn. The band share with us their experiences with sleep walkers, AK47′s and how they want to inspire ninjas and robots everywhere. Be sure not to miss it.

To check out more of my work head to my website, Shoot Me Pics. Check out some of the shots I took from their performance at The Barbary by clicking here.