In the Valley of Elah

Paul Haggis, the Oscar winning Director of Crash and famed writer of Mystic River, Casino Royale and Million Dollar Baby unleashes his newest and most provocative film onto British audiences this month. In the Valley of Elah is a thought-provoking and controversial film, focusing on US Army Veterans serving in Iraq and the effect this extreme conflict has on them and their families.
Starring Tommy Lee Jones as the father of a missing soldier, it charts his search for the truth. With the help from Detective, Charlize Theron, they uncover the startling reality behind the Veteran’s disappearance. Based on true events, Haggis looked for a challenge after his Oscar win.
“I said to the production company, find me a story that you know in your heart will never be made into a film and give it to me.” The story began from an article in Playboy and although the film is fictional, the majority of the story behind Tommy Lee Jones’ character is true. Jones is amazing as the tortured father and Vietnam Vet, dealing with the realities of his sons own actions at War.
Haggis is not a man who is afraid of strong political statements. His previous films have dealt with emotive issues such as Race and Child Abuse, this time his focus is on Iraq and our responsibility. “I’ve taken a lot of shit for this but I tried to be non-partisan. I don’t want to let people of the hook. Everyone has started blaming Bush in America but it’s not his fault. We should blame ourselves. They are over there in Iraq in my name and we cannot take the moral high ground.”
The film takes its name from the biblical tale of David and Goliath and this is an important motif in the film. “A lot of the real Vets in the film signed up on the
12th September 2001, wanting to be David. What I wanted to look at was, ‘What happens when they realise they’re not David, but Goliath?’”
The film does tackle these issues around Iraq, subverting the message in the guise of a compelling murder mystery, therefore avoiding moral overload. Haggis tries to entertain as well as teach, so the minutes fly by in this rousing and amazing film. A masterpiece.

Rotary Ten

‘I spent most of the Glastonbury weekend in my tent, crouched in the foetus position being sick. I don’t know if it was food poisoning or just a stomach bug, but I missed all the bands I wanted to see and only managed to catch the Bootleg Beatles on Sunday night.” says Guitarist Steven. Not very rock and roll.
Steven is part of foursome, Rotary Ten, a band that have been collecting rave reviews from the music press and comparisons as varied as The Libertines to The Smiths. However, one thing rings true, that this indie band are armed with intelligent lyrics and ambition. The foursome has released two self-funded 7in singles by their own record label, Quick! Records, produced by the esteemed Alan Smyth. ‘Idols of Our Own Design’ has graced the playlist of Radio 1’s Steve Lamacq and second single, ‘We Travelled without Mentioning It’ has been played by Radio 6 daytime DJ, Gideon Coe.
I meet up with two of Rotary Ten, Steven and his older brother, James for a drink and a chat in the Washington pub. Other band members, drummer Rory and bassist Richard are back home in their native Lincoln. “We grew up in the same villages and so we’ve know each other since childhood,” James enlightens me. The band got together through a shared love of music, eighties bands like Pixies and The Smiths, as well as Post-Rock, New-Wave American bands such as Death Cab For Cuties and Explosions in the Sky. James and Steven grew up on a farm and came to Sheffield to study at University, managing to stay in touch with their band-mates. So are they a Sheffield or Lincoln based band?
“Sheffield. We rehearse back home in our barn but we record and play most of our gigs here. It’s Sheffield that has given us the opportunities we’ve had. I think culturally, Lincoln is twenty-five years behind a city like Sheffield. When we left, there was one gig venue and virtually no music scene. Now you’ve got some cool places and a growing industry. Bigger bands are even venturing to play there.’ Evidently so, as the band are playing Lincoln University soon, supporting British Sea Power.
I ask whether they see themselves as part of a Sheffield scene.
“I don’t think there is a specific scene, there tends to be certain cliques. We associate ourselves with bands because we’re friends or we’ve played together before. I live with two members of Letters and Colours and we’re good mates with Fury of the Head teachers.” Steven chips in “Sheffield bands seem to be divided by the native older crowd who’ve been around for a bit and tend to sing in colloquial accents. We’re the guys who’ve moved here but there is no hard feelings. But I do think we’ve gained respect by gigging, so we’ve paid our dues!”
In October last year, the band embarked on a ten date tour throughout the UK and picking up fans along the way. “The Lincoln dates are always well turned out by our supporters and all our old uni mates turned up in Sheffield too. We get excited playing places like London, but they tend to be the worst. People seem to be more reserved, like their not there for the music.”
However their music is gaining recognition and rightly so. ‘We Travelled Without Mention It’ is an excellent example of what these guys are capable of, maturity and heartfelt lyrics that are reminiscent of The Cure. Like Robert Smith, Steven’s voice is delicate and almost strains at the peak.

Currently Steven and James spend their days working in menial admin jobs, but they find nothing worse than the current trend of bands moaning about everyday life. ‘We hate bands that go on and on about how shit their jobs are. I mean, there not working! Their touring the world and playing to thousands of people every night,’
So your not fans of Hard-Fi then? ‘Definitely not. I bet there working in their record labels offices as we speak, getting more material for their new album!’ laughs Steven. The band hope to record an album in the near future and continue touring but fame and the celebrity world is not top of their list. ‘We’d like to be able not to work…or most work part-time,’ says Steven. Aren’t you just moaning about work like Hard-Fi now? James jumps in defensively, ‘er…but we don’t sing about it!’ Good Point.

Singles ‘Idols of Our Own Design’ and ‘We Travelled Without Mentioning It’ are available from Jacks Records.
www.myspace.com/rotaryten

The Research and The Lodger @ Fuzz Club, Sheffield University Union, 13/12/07

There weren’t enough people to witness the live sets tonight, which was a big shame. People must have been saving themselves up for a night of snake bite and dj’s instead of catching some splendid live music from these brilliant acts, travelling all the way from West Yorkshire. The Lodger were as great as ever. With a new drummer since last time I saw them and a new album on the way, the set list was mainly filled with new delights. The band are tight and professional and the only problem is that the minutes fly by too fast. New songs like the delightful, ‘Getting Special’ retain the notable Lodger sound. Personally, I would have liked to have heard more songs from their first album but hey, bands have to move on. At least they played ‘Many Thanks (for your honest opinion)’.

It’s a night of threesomes and like The Lodger, The Research have changed too. Their latest incarnation sees them transform from keyboards to guitars and I have got to admit that I prefer it. Although you may argue that they are now less distinct from your average indie scenesters, the band seem more approachable and I dare say it, commercial. They even have a Christmas song, named aptly ‘For Christmas’. It’s brilliant and shows the band have still retained their unique charm and catchy melodies. Russell gives the audience a choice of which song to play at the end of the set, and the result is ‘Come on Chameleon’. It gets the crowd really going, which by now have finally turned up.

Why I love...Girls Aloud

I bet you won’t find many Music Editors (even of student mags) proclaiming their love of a girl band from the rooftop, let alone their music pages. But I am. I suppose it isn’t cool to listen to a manufactured band, especially one put together by a television show and even worse, by Louis Walsh. But I don’t care.

Of course, I could have used up the space to tell you of some other great bands I love and why you should listen to them too. The Smiths, Blondie, Belle and Sebastian, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles to name but a few that I daily listen to, admire and worship. However, I am aware that most of the music featured here is usually of the indie/alternative persuasion. That’s not any attempt by the ************ team to force our musical tastes onto the student population. It just happens to be the genre of CD’s that gets sent to us a lot. Also, people seem to be more passionate about indie at the moment and live gigs are at their most popular than they have been in the past fifty years. So lets have a bit of a change and express the love for pop.

Girls Aloud have been around for five years now making some of the most exciting and catchy music around. From the breakthrough funkiness of ‘Sound of the Underground’ to feisty ‘Biology’, the girls have constantly reinvented themselves with every single. After four albums (and a Greatest Hits), the girls have entered the Guinness book of records as the girl group with the most ever consecutive top ten singles, beating the likes of the Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child. Their live shows are breathtaking with amazing production and choreography, putting the ordinary concert to shame.

Okay, so some of the band members might be more famous for their tabloid exploits than the music but that’s mainly due to the nature of the media these days, taking five young women and manipulating an image for them. So they go and have a few drinks now and again, who doesn’t? It’s not their fault there’s a camera lens strategically aimed for that all-important ‘getting out of a taxi shot’. And maybe they don’t write their music, but to me that doesn’t matter. They don’t pretend to. Instead they are five girls who have achieved their dreams by performing and sometimes with two fingers up the industry machine and moguls which has created them.