Magnetic North - Islington Academy, London, 8/5//2012
by Daniel Cressey
published: 23 / 6 / 2012

intro
Despite poor sound quality and the cramped feel of the Islington Academy in London, Dan Cressey finds Welsh punk band Exit International, who were playing their first tour, to be a better band than the night deserved
London’s Islington Academy is never the most charismatic of venues, something that goes double for the smaller box room where tonight’s bands have been shunted. But faced with an appreciative, if not numerous crowd, Welsh band Exit International put on a show with enough energetic character go some way to making up this deficit. Focusing mainly on being loud, they smash through a short set that makes up in noise what it lacks in nuance or variation. The “I saw, you saw, he’s got a chainsaw” refrain of a song titled, with characteristic straightforwardness, ‘Chainsaw’ marks a particular highlight of their sound, which has shades of the Pulled Apart By Horses about it. A combination of two bassists, one drummer, and not guitarists was always going to make this gig rumbling, but the band is not entirely helped by some rather murky sound quality. Were they really singing “Where’s the glory hole?” at one point? And was that “thank you London” or “fuck you London”, as an opening nod to the crowd? It was hard to tell. Luckily for them, Exit International has an engaging front man in Scott Lee Andrews, who manages to get beyond these limitations. That is provided you are amused rather than offended by some slightly-schoolboy digressions about finger fucking and dead mothers. And to be honest, if this is too unsophisticated for you, perhaps a band named after a pro-euthanasia organisation is not for you in the first place. Exit International proved a better band than the night really deserved.
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/themagneticnorth/http://www.symphonyofthemagneticnorth.com/
https://twitter.com/magneticgonorth
Picture Gallery:-

reviews |
Orkney Symphony of the Magnetic North (2012) |
![]() |
Fabulous mix of the traditional and contemporary on debut album from electro folk super group, which includes Erland and the Carnival front man Erland Cooper, acclaimed singer-songwriter Hannah Peel and ex-Blur and Verve man Simon Tong, and that its takes its inspiration from Orcadian history |
most viewed articles
current edition
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every SongArmory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Bathers - Photoscapes 1
Colin Blunstone - Thalia Hall, Chicago, 16/7/2025
Visor Fest - Valencia, Spain, 26/9/2025...27/9/2025
Billie Eilish - O2 Arena, London, 10/7/2025
Robert Forster - Interview
Loft - Interview
John McKay - Interview
Editorial - July 2025
previous editions
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl EPManic Street Preachers - (Gig of a Lifetime) Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, December 1999
Oasis - Oasis, Earl's Court, London, 1995
Beautiful South - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Trudie Myerscough-Harris - Interview
Pixies - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Simon Heavisides - Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland
Paul Clerehugh - Interview
Doris Brendel - Interview
Prolapse - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Amy Macdonald - Is This What You've Been Waiting For?Sick Man of Europe - The Sick Man of Europe
Alice Cooper - The Revenge of Alice Cooper
Phew, Erika Kobayashi,, Dieter Moebius - Radium Girls
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the Jumbo
Lucy Spraggan - Other Sides of the Moon
Blueboy - 2
Cynthia Erivo - I Forgive You
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Lapsley - I'm a Hurricane, I'm a Woman In Love
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart