Mark McConville
Bio
Mark McConville is a freelance music journalist from Scotland. He has written extensively about music for online and print publications. He has also been published in a short story anthology.
Stories (12/0)
Being As An Ocean - Bashful But Honest Words Carried In Music: A Feature
By rightfully pushing the written word to its limits, Californian band Being As An Ocean is a true advocate for rough around the edges music that pulsates and connects with listeners. They have also been placed into categories, but don’t feel like they fit a particular mold. They’re unique, although many people will say that the act’s sound is drenched in post-hard-core dramatics.
By Mark McConville6 years ago in Beat
Pop Punk: A Revolutionary Genre
In the 90s there was an influx of bands trying to overlap. With Green Day and Nirvana becoming pioneers in their infancy, there were other acts who showcased their audacious ambitions. These outfits included Blink 182 and The Offspring. The Offspring’s straightforward punk thrills were surprisingly popular, 3 chord structures that excited people and enticed them to buy their records.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Green Day – Bullet In A Bible: A Riveting Live Performance by a Rejuvenated Act
Rock band Green Day rolled out a glitzy, riveting live performance in 2005, and they filmed it. The act released their seminal American Idiot album months prior and were a band rejuvenated and energised. This live performance was later placed on a DVD called Bullet In A Bible. And Green Day was always praised for their blistering live sets, but Bullet In A Bible showcased the band at their ferocious best.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Lester Bangs: A Troubled Hero
In the world of music journalism there are so many writers who try to imitate, who try to practise the art as a way of pulverising their peers. Through words, magic can happen, and when it comes to music reviewing or music criticism, one man stole the show. The man in question was Lester Bangs, a troubled hero, a man on the line, disenchanted by life but engrossed by those sounds and alcoholic tendencies.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Shrouded Clarity
In the morning it hits me like an intense bolt of lightning, that feeling of despair hitting every corner of my weak mind. Every thought pushing into the little optimism I have left, every morsel of hope, shattered by the incoming droves of demons, with their gleeful smirks and power to create such torment. And there’s me standing, looking at the sky, wishing it would swallow me up.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Psyche
Pvris — All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell: Album Review
Lead singer Lynn Gunn marches through a destructive atmosphere, she fights against the droves of demons which rack her brain, and she tries to overcome the strips of darkness which pummels the light. She’s damaged, there’s no doubt, but she’s an angel, shifting between rooms filled with love and hate. And on new record All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell, Pvris quiver the spines, their output is of struggle, but redemption comes. Gunn sings with pride, she pushes her bellows like red alerts, and she has written lyrics of her broken past, a past blotted in fear.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Paramore: Altering Of Styles. . Top Story - September 2017.
Pop punk has become somewhat swollen. It has many bands under its weighty arms. It gathers up many acts and spits them out into a state of failure. Many acts fizzle out or imitate, spearheading their music but cascading off into a fight for survival. But, there’s one band which shredded the rule book and blossomed into a colossal mainstay. That group is Paramore, an act flamboyant when they arrived on the scene in 2005 with their debut opus All We Know Is Falling.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Is Punk Rock Dead?
Is punk dead? Has punk changed its face a million times? Has its ethos and independent spark fizzled out? Well with pop music ruling the scene, it could now be a dead genre. Of course, we don’t want its sound to dissipate, or its character thrown to the wolves, we want punk to thrive and become great again.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Green Day: American Idiot—A Saving Grace
In 2004, a band from California revitalized their careers with a record which sent shockwaves through the industry. That band was Green Day, an act predominantly hooked to punk, a group of aging rockers looking to latch onto the prize once more. The prize would be acclaim from critics who thought the band was derailed, falling wayward, giving up. But they were rekindling their brand as punk showmen.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Brand New: A Retrospection and a Record of Wonder
It came like a red alert, it startled many minds, it now dazzles with its emotional entanglement, proving that the New York band Brand New love to surprise. They did so with their new record Science Fiction, an album which truly resonates, and an opus, formidable in its execution. With all the hype surrounding it, 500 copies of it were sent to unsuspecting fans who pre-ordered. This sent shockwaves through the industry, it managed to create a storm of bewilderment, but nobody complained.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat
Neck Deep: 'The Peace and the Panic' – Album Review
Pop punk is a strained genre and it has many acts under its umbrella. But, there’s always a shiny gem, a diamond in the rough pushing through for glory. That band is Neck Deep, an act raising hairs with their brand of loud, unapologetic, emotive, sneers. Led by vocalist Ben Barlow, they add a sense of intelligence to a scene which has somewhat faltered over the years. This stems from lacklustre releases and a bloated formula, sounds which imitate, and that’s not good for a genre that should be celebrated for its glittering past.
By Mark McConville7 years ago in Beat