Fly53

Artrocker smash Camden Crawl

Dom — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:34:11 +0000

Festival season finally kicked-off for us here at Artrocker with a stage at the Camden Crawl. There’s only so many hours in a day at the Camden Crawl to submit your ears to the onslaught of musical noise and exploration, so travelling at speed to maximize hearing potential is key. My advice is to run or just get a bike, that’d help too.

The perfect start to this year’s Crawl was catching Toy on the Artrocker stage at the Purple Turtle, whose psychedelic fuzz-pop served to heal any remnants of the pre-event hangover.

Toy. Photo by Kane Howie

Next up was Fiction’s minimalist tropical post-punk, which was so engaging that I lost track of time and missed the Blacklisters set at the Earl Of Camden…

Fiction. Photo by Kane Howie

But the pre-apocalyptic doom-sludge of Black Moth was there to remind us all of why the Artroker stage had the best NEW talent of the whole festival. When ‘Chicken Shit’ went down the place exploded under the behomothic brew of hammering drums, thrash guitar and the charisma of lead-vocalist Harriet Hyde.

It was a ball-crushing end to a manic weekend of modern psychedelica, post-punk, through to electro-pop and proto-punk influenced Rock ‘N’ Roll. Now I know why it’s called the Camden Crawl… although crawling around the Artrocker stage was all you needed.

53 Days of Summer – Glade Festival

Dom — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:55:20 +0000

We are now on our 3r^d week of 53 Days of Summer, Fly53’s very own festival give away which will last until 18^th June.

Last week we gave away free tickets to both Forbidden Fruit and Apple Tarts festival, that’s a massive 6 ticket give away in total. If you weren’t the lucky winner of either festival don’t sweat, were upping the game once more. Anyone heard of Sven Vath, Andy C, Foreign Beggers and Krafty Kuts ? That’s right, this week ( 11th till 18th May) were giving away 2 weekend tickets to Glade festival which takes place on the 14-17 June, set deep within Norfolk countryside .

As an added bonus (not that its needed) we will also be giving away FLY53 clothing to the winners and on the final week one lucky customer will win a £250 spending spree.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the rules are simple:

1. Click on the link below to be transported to our facebook page.

2. Click on the ‘win’ icon at the top right hand side

3. ‘Like’ us (if you do already like us, you can skip this and head to number 4 below)

4. Enter your email address (Enter once and you’ll be in the draw each week, no need to re-enter.)

5. Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as we will be offering mini comps and breaking news of additional festivals that we have partnered with.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW

Click on the images below for more festival details. Good luck.

Tickets only, no transport costs, sorry. But you can enter this from anywhere in the world.

FLY53 Gig Review – Veil Of Maya

Tom — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:04:40 +0000

Did you have a good Bank Holiday? We spent the Monday evening of ours checking out some metal bands. Birmingham’s O2 Academy 3 played host to Veil Of Maya’s Eclipse tour, which featured no less than 5 bands from across the planet. All of the bands play a style of progressive metal commonly known as ‘Djent’ which is currently making a lot of headway in the metal scene, most famously pioneered by legends Meshuggah who we reviewed a couple of weeks back.

First up were Structures from Toronto, who started things off right. Due to there being 5 bands on this tour everyone played slightly shorter sets than expected. Structures only had about 20 minutes, so they rattled through 4 songs fairly quickly, but were impressive nonetheless.

Next up were Volumes from Los Angeles. The response to this band was so huge that you might have been forgiven for thinking they were headlining. There was chaos in the crowd with most of the room off their feet and absolute carnage in the mosh pit. Definitely one to watch here’s hoping they come back again soon.

Vildhjarta from Hudiksvall, Sweden were there to represent for Europe. Many of these bands were playing in the UK for the first time, and Vildhjarta were no exception. Playing their own brand of ‘North Swedish metal’, they came out swinging to a heavy instrumental song before being joined by their vocalists for the rest of their set. The crowd responded very well to the band as many have had their eye on for a while now and were glad to finally see them live.

Another European representative was up next in the form of Betraying The Martyrs. The band themselves are from Paris, France but they have imported a vocalist from the UK. There seems to be very little of a language barrier between them, but they do all speak the universal language of metal. The band exploded onto stage and the crowd went nuts as the keyboard player/vocalist Victor Guillet threw himself into the crowd almost immediately. They delivered an impressive half hour set before making way for the main event.

Finally it was time for Veil Of Maya to prove why they were headliners, and prove it they did. Hailing from Oak Park, Illinois they were here promoting their newest album ‘Eclipse’. Sadly due to a long changeover between bands they were only left with around half an hour to perform but they seemed to cram the intensity of a full set into that half hour. Ploughing through a set filled with favourites old and new, the atmosphere was electric. After they finished their set the crowd were crying out for an encore, but when they came back to play it they were denied by the venue due to being past curfew.

Another awesome gig to witness, we look forward to catching all these bands again in the future.

Retailer of the week – HoF Nottingham

Dom — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:39:57 +0000

This week we have chosen the Nottingham HoF as our retailer of the week. Located within the Victoria Centre, in the midst Robin Hood country, House of Fraser has held a concession of Fly53 gear since Fly met 53. We have our concession manager Claire Dilks to thank for all the hard work she’s put into keeping our stand performing to its full potential.

Who’s been out and smashed Rock City recently – ‘The UK’s best independent live venue and club’ now in its 30^th year of life and still holding some of the craziest sets in the country. If that’s not your perfect blend check out Nottingham’s Gatecrasher, set over 4 floors and offering everything from Big Dawg Westwood (fog hooorn) to old school 90’s classics. So get down there and party you toots off.

If you do follow our advice and head to our amazingly crafted HoF stand, heed our warning.. Watch out for Robin’s ‘merry’ men, they can be particularly brutal this time of year. Oh and get down there on thursday 31st May and friday 1st June where they will be offering 25% off all current full price stock. Check out the stand below.

Product of the day – Riparian Shirt

Dom — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:35:08 +0000

Fly53 have a lot of time for vintage design and dual colour summer styles, but never before have we designed a garm with more personalities than Charlie Sheen. Our product of the day, the Riparian shirt lives a relaxed existence during the day only to come out at night to drink, fight and sing till the morn. This short sleeved summer classic is the perfect item for when a tee just won’t cut the mustard.

Click on the product below for more information

53 Days of Summer – Forbidden Fruit & Apple Tarts

Dom — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:12:07 +0000

We are now on our 2^nd week of 53 Days of Summer, Fly53’s very own festival give away which will last until 18^th June.

Last week we had a huge amount of interest with one lucky winner receiving free tickets to The Great Escape festival. This week (4th May till 11th May) Fly53 are giving away 2 weekend tickets to Dublins own Forbidden Fruit festival AND 4 day tickets to Apple Tarts festival in Kent. So get your green festival paws in the game.

As an added bonus (not that its needed) we will also be giving away FLY53 clothing to the winners and on the final week one lucky customer will win a £250 spending spree.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the rules are simple:

1. Click on the link below to be transported to our facebook page.

2. Click on the ‘win’ icon at the top right hand side

3. ‘Like’ us (if you do already like us, you can skip this and head to number 4 below)

4. Enter your email address (Enter once and you’ll be in the draw each week, no need to re-enter.)

5. Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as we will be offering mini comps and breaking news of additional festivals that we have partnered with.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW

Click on the images below for more festival details. Good luck.

Forbidden Fruit

Apple Tarts

Tickets only, no transport costs, sorry. But you can enter this from anywhere in the world.

FLY53 Gig Review – Of Mice & Men

Tom — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:53:49 +0000

This week FLY53 went to The Fleece in Bristol to check out Of Mice & Men on their headline UK tour, and they almost melted our faces! Southampton’s own Bury Tomorrow got the party started for them, playing a solid half hour set list comprised of 3 old songs, and 3 new songs off their upcoming second album ‘The Union of Crowns’. From the moment they blasted into their opener ‘Lionheart’ it was clear that they meant business. They also played their newest single ‘An Honourable Reign’ which had premiered the night before on Radio 1’s rock show. By the time they left the stage, they had shown Bristol what they were all about, and more than likely won over some new fans.

Bury Tomorrow – Photo by Zain Zia

Then it was time for the main event. A couple of months ago Of Mice & Men parted ways with their bassist, who also provided the clean vocals for the band. But this clearly hasn’t slowed them down one bit as was evidenced by their fantastic performance. Vocalist Austin Carlile is now handling all vocal duties, and did a great job too. If you had never seen the band before you could be forgiven for thinking that he had always been their only vocalist.

Their set was a mixture of songs from both their albums. But the highlights must be live favourites ‘Those In Glass Houses’ and ‘OG Loko’. They returned to the stage for an encore with a rousing performance of ‘Second And Sebring’, arguably their most popular song, with a deafening sing-a-long. Special mention must be given to the over active security guard who was on stage duty. There was a never ending stream of fans climbing on stage just to throw themselves back into the crowd, and he was there to make sure they were sent straight back to where they came from. He spent almost as much time on stage as the band themselves. All in all another fantastic live gig.

Austin Carlile – Of Mice & Men

Product of the day – Riff Raff Sweatshirt

Dom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:00:53 +0000

Our product of the day – the Riff Raff sweatshirt, salutes the perfect gentleman with a middle finger whilst inhaling expensive champagne and smoking a Cuban. This high quality, 100% cotton crew neck sweatshirt screams class with its cornelli embroidered logo on the chest and triple bolt logo on the back of the neck. Making it the perfect piece for those times you want to look smart, but not as they know it. If your quick you may even snatch this relic in our 2 for £70 spring / summer deal.

Click on the image below for more details.

Fly53 gig review – Pinkunoizu

Dom — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:00:21 +0000

Pinkunoizu, from the Japanese word for ‘pink noise’, are an enjoyably eclectic four-piece Danish band who now call Berlin home. Making a noise in Germany’s largest city, with a population of 3.5 million, is hard work but they have managed to garner a large homecoming following.

We caught up with the band at The Old Blue Last, known as ‘East Londons most notorious venue’ – NME. We were blown away by their epic harmonies, syncopated lyrics and film style progression. They sounded like Muse and Sigur Ros’s abandoned love child, brought up and cared for by a pack of wild wolves. In our opinion, Jaleh Negari, the female drummer stole the show with surgical timing and musical licks that would impress satin himself.

Photo by Justin Thomas

The band were armed to the teeth with top of the range instruments. I must have seen more Fenders on stage than Larry Thomas even knew existed. These titans of the guitar world however weren’t fighting for attention but fit seamlessly into the mix. All in all this psychodelic pop rock circus band stunned and thrilled the crowd with precission.

Meet the band. Jeppe Brix (guitarist); Jaleh Negari (drummer); Jakob Falgren (guitarist, keyboardist, bassist) and Andreas Pallisgaard (guitarist, vocalist)

Win tickets with our 53 Days of Summer

Dom — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:36:09 +0000

We at FLY53 love scouting for new musical talent and want to share it with you this summer. We have partnered a host of the best festivals across the land to offer pairs of tickets for you and a friend to have the time of your lives. So each week, for 53 days, we’ll be holding a draw to win tickets – that’s eight chances to win. As an added bonus (not that its needed) we will also be giving away FLY53 clothing to the winners and on the final week one lucky customer will win a £250 spending spree.

This week (27th of April till the 4th of May) we are giving away a air of weekend tickets for the mighty Great Escape festival, a must for the U.K. scene. Maximo Park, Booka Shade and Natty for free. Look at that line-up below. Get in. Brighton is going to be going mental.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the rules are simple:

1. Click on the link below to be transported to our facebook page.

2. Click on the ‘win’ icon at the top right

3. ‘Like’ us (if you do already like us, you can skip this and head to number 4 below)

4. Enter your email address (Enter once and you’ll be in the draw each week, no need to re-enter.)

5. Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as we will be offering mini comps and breaking news of additional festivals that we have partnered with.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW

Tickets only, no transport costs, sorry. But you can enter this from anywhere in the world.

Cross your fingers and toes and we’ll announce a winner at the end of each week.

Click on the image below for more festival details. Good luck.