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mrlightweight

Absolutepunk.net Review

3 weeks ago

Mr. Lightweight’s earlier EP, If Anyone’s Listening, gave audiences a taste of this rock quartet’s spirited guitar lines bannered by Kristian McGrath and meaty rhythmic kicks armed with bassist Spud and drummer Pat Byrne, but it was the husky vocal keys of lead singer, Des Foley that had the task of helming the course of these rushing deluges which proved to be a huge undertaking. The band again shows their unbridled energy that harks of NOFX’s racing chords on their current full-length album, Clock and Bottle. The main difference between the two, besides Mr. Lightweight calling Carlow, Ireland home, is that Mr. Lightweight maintain a melodic bandwidth reminiscent of Stone Temple Pilots, and that’s not a shabby place to be for a band on their first full-length record.

A few tracks like “Debs Song” and “Dog Without His Bone” were on the band’s previous EP. They reinforce the band’s attention to punk rock mechanics like having currents that pound hard and then soften through “Debs Song,” and the Celtic-folk twang in the acoustic guitar rattles of “Dog Without His Bone” making room for the punk rock spikes in Foley’s vocal melody. The band’s guitar treads are voluminous while ripping and roaring in tracks like “Maybe Baby” and “Time is the Only Enemy” showing a tamed barbarism reflective of Taking Back Sunday. The wavy melodic riffs along “Twelve Majestic Lies” and “Please Leave Me Now” have emo-rock platelets, while the smashing of guitars, drums and bass lines going into each other through “Waking Life” slip into gear after an alarm clock sounds off.

Mr. Lightweight enjoy putting little sound effects in the tracks like an alarm clock ringing, or the pop of a beer can being opened, and what is cool is that these are all universal sounds. You know what they are the moment you hear them. Mr. Lightweight don’t just use the sounds made by objects, they also build effects using their instruments like the salvo of drum kicks along “The Simon J. Byrne Instrumental,” and the beautiful synth-textured escape that starts off “The Inside Out Job,” which then breaks into a barrage of thrusting guitars and pounding beats. “The Inside Out Job” is a new song for Mr. Lightweight and brings the band out of their shell a little, while the slight ska-lifts in “Sun Bed” and the melodic flow of the tune builds up and subsides along the folds and returns Mr. Lightweight to their punk rock base.

Recorded by Neal Calderwood at Manor Park Studios in Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland, Clock and Bottle is as impressive as the band’s previous EP. They have a tamed barbarism about them which makes their music extremely spirited but melodic enough that you can listen to the whole album all the way through, and then want to hear it again. There’s a fine line between being barbaric and having finesse, and Mr. Lightweight have created a niche for themselves where they can be both.

Studio Diary [Day 4]

1 month ago

Day 4
Day 4 started kinda later than usual for us because neal was working on some of the songs himself but when we eventually got up we finished all the remaining vocals. One of the tracks actually features everyone 'singing' at one stage or another.

Then it was basically touchin up those songs a bit and adding the little things.. a bit of piano here..a bit of synth there ...and of course a bit of an orchestral intro too.... its all shaping up great..

Theres not long left now.. Tomorrow is all just mixing and mastering so this is the last diary entry.
-And finally I will reveal the highly secret/highly anticipated song titles.. Nothing very interesting but here ya go!

- Waking Life
- Please Leave Me Now
- Maybe Baby
- The Inside Out Job

Thats it! Hope you like em. We will post some or all of em later.. ENJOY

Studio Diary [Day 2]

1 month ago

Day 2
Well I'm writing this a day late but sure no ones gonna read the fuckin thing anyway.

Spud got all the bass done by the afternoon and then Des and Kristian recorded all the rhythm guitar parts by dinner time. After that we did a bit of second guitar on please leave me now and finished up for the day.

But that was really only the beginning.

Pat decided to drink (3 carslberg) ...and then about 2 shots of jager and vodka straight after each other. He then watched some porn and in a bizarre twist lost all his clothes and had a gay naked towel fight with spud who was also under the influence... this lasted for about one hour overall and also involved pat running around the producers house completely naked and then on the road before crawling back in the window...

...once back inside he got into the shower and got very wet and slippery ...then for the next 30 mins he fell every couple of seconds while towel fighting again... he managed to break a pool cue and then took a shit on the floor before deciding to finishing it on the toilet...

Many details have been left out of this but in future the 45 min video of the whole thing may surface as may one or two photos of the event...

Roll on day 3 :D

Des

Studio Diary [Day 0]

1 month ago

Day 0
We arrived at the studio at about 6 today and made ourselves right at home by gettin naked and drunk! ........Very naked and drunk.................

1st of all we got drunk as fuck. we still are drunk

As we continued with our time here we played a few drinking games.. Our conscious state lowered 2 a mere existence. Naked wrestling and projectile vomiting kept us entertained 4 a couple of hours. Yay!

After spud throwing up and destroying manor park interiors, Pat threw up, following the second drinking game.. Pat threw up on a slice of toast, WHICH SPUD ATE!!! IT WAS FUCKING DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Playing pool has become the main way of keeping us sane in the studio if we get bored...which is not very often as of yet!. To be honest we'r just getting naked and laughing!.

Pat byrne's hole is nice..

Our Zoo magazine. It gets us through the roughest of times.

Peace,
- Mr Lightweight

mrlightweight

Absolutepunk.net Review

Studio Diary [Day 4]

Studio Diary [Day 3]

Studio Diary [Day 2]

Studio Diary [Day 1]

Studio Diary [Day 0]