26/03/09 - BARRY'S BACK - We're offski!
After enduring the last two weeks without Barry White (our van...THE van) we're celebrating his return by taking him down Manchester way for what will be a great weekender with our friends THE FRACTIONS. The following weekend we're entertaining them up here so hopefully you can make it to a show...The Aberdeen date is at Cellar 35, our first time playing there, but it's gonna be excellent (though we would say that)
So lately we've been working hard on new songs (lyrics below) and have some exciting news - we're booked in at the end of May to record with TimG again down in his new studio, BigTone in Manchester! Expect a new Hijacks release to coincide with a UK tour this summer from July 24th-5th Aug. If you want us, you know what to do!
Cheers!
The Hijacks...and Barry
GREED & FEAR
Everybody’s running scared, panic and fear,
The markets are crashing, unemployment’s near.
The headlines, and leaders, all followed the line,
Of the bankers and CEOs committing the crimes...
Live your life to work all day,
Sweat for the man, ‘cos we gotta plan
Follow the rules like a slave,
No protest, no stand, no things outta hand
Stop to think about this life,
Is this what we want, ‘cos it’s what we got
To continue in this system,
And watch our dreams rot, ‘cos that's all we got!
Why don’t we work less, and produce less?
If we consume less, we can forget this
Way of living, that don’t make sense
Dictatorship in disguise, democracy in demise.
It’s more, more than we need
To need’s not a crime
The crime is the greed
The greed and the fear
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29/01/09 - So, 2009!?
Hey folks, a belated happy new year from us – sorry it’s taken us a while to update this! The winter tour went really well with loads of good gigs and high jinks; hopefully there’s still a tour blog in the makings somewhere – but don’t hold your breath. There are some tour photos up if you haven’t checked them out already. Massive thanks to everyone who put us on, put us up & came to see us!
We’ve got our first few gigs of '09 coming up very soon, supporting Kris
Roe (of the Ataris) in Edinburgh this Friday, then playing with the amazing Bomb the Music Industry in Edinburgh and Aberdeen the following week! We should have a new song ready for the Aberdeen show, with a few more forthcoming. We’ve also got a whole heap of shows around Scotland in the next few months, with another full UK tour planned this summer, as well as a new recording! Also look out for the next batch of Brass Not Bomb T-shirts, which we've just ordered with 2 new colours added to tickle your fancy!
Below are the newest song lyrics to date, and our latest blog entry above has some recent EP reviews and an interview, so go check it out.
Hope to see you at a show soon!
WARS, INVASIONS (LOVE YOUR NATION)
I am bored of my nation
I am sick of its lies
Tired of hearing clichés
About why I should feel pride
Now I search for bigger symbols
And burn “my” flag inside
Stand up with my brothers
And sisters of no nation
But the myth and story-telling,
Of history persist
To keep the soldiers marching,
keep our pride alive!
The legends of the wars,
Or just the ones we won
The tales of the uncivilized,
In darker continents.
You never taught me about Amritsar,
Or bombs dropping in Dresden.
That my humane, proud nation,
sells weapons for poor children.
I never knew our great war hero,
was a racist imperialist
I guess it’s so much easier
to look the other way.
Wars, invasion, occupations, Conquerors and dead civilians
Truth distorted, propaganda. Stand in line with the millions
GROUNDHOG DAY
People say, this world is evil
We can’t change what’s born inside of us
Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest
Forget your ideals and bury your soul.
It’s all around me – Woah-oh-oh-oh x2
It’s all around you – Woah-oh
Change tomorrow, change today!
Change the future & make history!
So listen up, this ain’t a "groundhog day",
We can change, tomorrow’s not yesterday
Human nature, it’s just a poor excuse
To close your eyes and tie the noose!
It’s all around me – Woah-oh-oh-oh x2
It’s all around us – Woah-oh
Change tomorrow, change today!
Change the future & make history!
...AND WE STUMBLE ON
And we stumble on…
Into another passage of meaningless existence,
And acceptance of unjust order.
Where we only care about drugs and television,
One step closer to the end of struggle,
One step closer to the end of resistance.
Performing mindless tasks for profit and consumption.
An acceptance that this is all there is,
There’s no choice in life but to submit.
Wake up, before it’s too late
Stand up, for what you believe
Say no, to a pointless life
Strive for, what is on the inside
And we stumble on…
Without reflection of injustice on our doorstep,
Of lives of sorrow, hatred and fear.
Every so often something will remind us,
What it means to be alive,
But then it slips down the drain of memories,
Lost forever, in unknown seas.
Say no, to a pointless life
Strive for, what is on the inside
We all know how to smile on the outside,
Everyone is told what to dream for,
We all know how to smile on the outside,
Everyone is happy to walk on by…
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04/11/08 - Winter tour begins
Howdy! We’re currently chilling in the 13th Note in Glasgow where we’re playing the 5th show of our tour tonight. The shows have been going really well; the only problem so far being our yet unnamed van (suggestions on a postcard/myspace message) has been suffering severe leakages in the downstairs department, but thankfully Josh’s (Hostiles) dad has helped us out! We’re also missing GG who is sadly going to be working hard in Aberdeen for most of our tour. Check out the tour dates and try make it along to a show, and if we’re not playing a town near you we’ve got 6 dates to fill in December (1st-4th, 7th-8th) so please help us out if you can! Keep checking the blog for some drunken photos and tour diary updates.
Cheers, hope to see you skanking soon!
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30/07/08 - Brass Not Bombs T-Shirts - ON SALE NOW!!
Yes, that's right, our sexy new shirts (as seen below) are now available to purchase online by clicking here:
I WANT TO LOOK REALLY COOL!
If you haven't done so already, have a look at how we got on on our first UK tour in the blog above!
Our next gig is this Tue (Aug 5th) at the Lemon Tree as part of the International Youth Festival with our friends Onion Terror so please come along if you're free!
After this, we're planning on taking some time off playing live to work on a few new songs we've been trying to get down, and all saving up money to buy a tour van for more escapades later in the year! If you want to put us on, send us a message, we're gonna start booking dates soon!
Cheers,
The Hijacks x
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30/06/08 - BRASS NOT BOMBS TOUR!
Good news – our first UK tour starts this Thursday, it's all fully booked now so check out our poster to see if we’re playing at a venue near you! We look forward to meeting lots of new faces :-)
We’ve also got some new merchandise for tour including our first run of t-shirts:
These shirts are unisex and available in small, medium & large sizes. You'll be able to order them online when we get back from tour, stay tuned!
Finally, we’ve written a new tune to play on our travels, it’s called Don’t Grow Up and the lyrics go like this:
Don’t grow up, it takes too long
Just sit back and sing along
I hate to think that when you’re old
You’ll lie there with you’re heart gone cold
Forgetting when we sang that song
And no one cared if you were wrong
I felt an insight last night
That told me it was alright
To care so much when they ignore
What it is we’re striving for
Forgetting when we danced all night
When no one cared, it just felt right
I’ll miss the days when consequence ignored
When we were young and stupid, poor but free
And nothing really mattered, only being there
Being there together, laughing til the end
This song goes out to friends you won’t forget
This song goes out to nights you don’t regret
For no tomorrows or yesterdays
For drunk stories and memories
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08/05/08
Hello! We’ve got our first gig in a month or so next Thursday (the 15th) at The Tunnels with none other than UK Subs!! Crashdown will also be gracing the stage, and it’s the night before Grandpa Gerold’s birthday, so it should be an ace night. We’ll be “premiering” our new song, which has the working title of Apathy. The lyrics for it are below, a bit more tongue in cheek than usual. We’ve also included a nice review for our EP from cool online zine Punk or Nothing?...
The Hijacks: "Free Your Mind"
Ska Is Dead was the name of a recent compilation and, despite the people behind this trying to prove the opposite, I couldn’t help agreeing with this sentiment. I hadn’t bothered hearing the said compilation or much else ska-related as I had become sort of disillusioned with the ska-punk scene as a whole. The fervent ska-punk scene of the nineties (which produced gems such as ‘Hello Rockview’) seemed a long time ago by two-thousand and seven, but in the early months of ’08, I have heard a few bands that have completely changed my opinion of where this genre is heading. Most of these seem to be from the UK, and one in particular that stands out is Scottish skankers, the Hijacks. They are a really recent, up-and-coming band, hailing from Aberdeen, Scotland. This is an area not exactly known for being a punk rock hotspot, but they exhibit a high level of aggression in their songs that’s been missing from ska-punk in recent years. This is their debut EP, released at the end of two-thousand and seven, and certainly marks its intent in just four short songs. They roll back the years with ease. “Free Your Mind” is one of the best EP’s I have heard in a long time, perhaps on a par with last year’s fantastic Way Out of Control (For Science). Horns collide here with outwardly aggressive vocals, creating a very pure form of ska-punk. They often sound like what Rise Against or the Lawrence Arms would sound like to me, if they adopted any ska elements. “Love Thy Labour” clearly stands out as the best song on here, the potential of where they can go from here. The vocals fit almost perfectly alongside the music and if all else had failed, they still would have had that sweet guitar intro that is just crying to be air-guitared along to. However, that’s not to stay the EP doesn’t work as a whole; each track is just cool in its own way. I particularly like the slow-loud theme running throughout “Slow Down”. I’m predicting big things for the Hijacks: they have a formula for success here - they just need to more of it. He says: “no, silly, ska isn’t Dead”.
Cheers to ‘Skankin D’ for that!
APATHY
Bury our heads in the sand and don’t make a masterplan
Cross our lucky fingers and hope to understand.
Pray to gods, in the sky, and await our destiny
Don’t let awkward questions, stand in our way
Cos we’re generation x,
Generation xxx
Rather watch a porno,
Only clean up our own mess.
Watch paint dry, on TV, and enjoy the misery
Stare like plastic zombies at dull lives we replay
Sandcastles, on the beach, built on apathy
It’s not that important, it can wait another day
Cos we’re generation y,
Generation y y why
Why should we bother
When there’s crap to buy?
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30/03/08
A week today we’re playing a gig at Tunnels to raise funds and awareness for the Aberdeen Campaign Against Climate Change group. It should be a really good night – also performing are Rapunzel Wizard, Dave and Fred Wilkinson, and Escape to Victory (so Steve will be busy!) – and it’s also for a really good cause. You can check out some of the work that the group do at climatechangecampaign.blogspot.com/
The gig will also be your first chance to get your hands on the 4th issue of GFN? Zine – how exciting. Below is a review of the Arbroath gig we did last week – you’ll have to buy the zine for the full version (what an incentive!). The zine also features interviews with the JB Conspiracy, The Fractions, No Sweat UK, Brewdog, and the arrival of two exciting new features: the Nerdsearch and a Dot-to-Dot.
Hope to see you on Sunday!
Make It Better Later, Cole Appleyard, The Hijacks and Maxwell’s Dead@ The Waterfront, Arbroath – review by Claire and Mikaela
Maxwell’s Dead - If I had a £1 for every Ramones t-shirt or hoodie here then we wouldn’t have to worry about petrol money. We only managed to catch the last 2 or so songs of the first band as we were stuffing our faces with Arbroath’s delicacies. I’m not sure if they were supposed to be a Rancid cover band or not, but that’s what they sounded like. I’m sure once they come into their own and get older they will be a promising band.
The Hijacks – A very good set which got some interesting punters dancing. I’ve seen these guys many times now and I can’t help but smile whilst watching them, Slow Down and Rich Man’s Trick are my personal faves. [They are our friends so a favourable review is kinda to be expected!]
Cole Appleyard – The banter was rubbish!! They had some good punchy drum beats and anthemic choruses. Loved the use of the echo in the last song…and Kieran’s facial hair. I definitely think they saved the best till last. And with an album coming out it’s clear that they have drive. Totally worth checking out.
Make it Better Later – Good, upbeat tunes and the violin was a nice edge, like a ska band with a string section instead of brass. They had a good mix of fast jig type songs like The Pirate Song and The Ninja Song interspersed with some chilled out ones and a good reggae tune which I can’t remember the name of. They were well worth seeing and I’d definitely go and see them again.
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19/03/08 - New song finished
We finished up a new song at practise last night and shall be debuting it at our gigs on Friday (The Waterfront, Arbroath) and Saturday (The East Neuk, Aberdeen). It’s called Darkened Streets and is inspired by the moments of clarity you sometimes get walking along the street at night when it’s kinda eerie and quiet…anyway, the lyrics are below so you can sing along the very first time you hear it!
Ok so we’ve decided to start keeping this page more up-to-date, so keep checking back for more crazy hijacking news. Also, it would be cool to put reviews of our gigs on here so if anyone’s interested in writing one please get in touch or speak to us at the gig.
Cheers,
The Hijacks
DARKENED STREETS
One more walk down a darkened street
To the beat of the drum on the soles of your feet
One last walk down a darkened street
With a nod to the stranger that you'll never meet
And you realise, this is what you wanted to do
When you turned round the corner searching for something new
A reclaimed memory in the twilight of night
Of a time that you thought you'd never stop this fight
A dawning realisation in an unlikely location
A revised belief system coming close to "revelation"
A secret sunrise glimpsing a new wave of motion
A turning point, epiphany, unpredicted explosion
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Ok, so while we’re at it, here’s our previous new song’s lyrics as well:
EPILOGUE
Is this the end of history, or just another page?
Are we reaching boiling point, or repeating yesterday?
We proudly talk of progress and social evolution
Grasp on firmly to the myths of self-serving illusion.
Humanity starts another year, with no talk of resolutions.
Again we just continue blindly, with no prospect of solutions.
No promises or apologies; only righteous indignation
No fighting back or revolution, and no imagination.
Another year is ending, another year of tears.
Bombs, wars and killing, another year of fun.
Another year is ending, another year of tears.
A little more 'globalised', 'imperialised'in disguise
One hundred years from now, this story is completed
Human history on a shelf, with dust and pictures.
It's final chapter almost done; the epilogue is white,
Reclaim stolen narratives, shine humanity in light.
Online Now!
