If you want larger than life then look no further than JD
Wilkes.
Off stage he’s allegedly a mild mannered gentleman, but on
stage he is anything but. Plucking pubic hair (his own) and casting it into the
audience, relentlessly displaying tourette styled ticks, gurning and contorting
his body into pretzel shapes are all par for the course when attending a
Legendary Shack Shakers gig. The man is a combination of sweat, spit, and angels
and demons fighting for control.
And more power to him.
It may well all be an act, but he plays it to the hilt. The
stage persona is as real as you can get to lunacy unleashed, and unlike the Victorians
who would simply gape at the madman, we get to sing and dance along with him
and his band.
That this show was billed as an acoustic affair was
something that wouldn’t neatly lodge in my head though.
It kept slipping out and I’d have to pick it up, look at
this strange little thing, and then I’d shrug and try and pop it back in.
It was messing with me and I didn’t like it.
And up until the day of the gig I was actually in two minds
about going.
That is until a random message from a friend asking if I fancied
it tipped the balance of the scales from a maybe to a why the hell not, and I’m
glad it did because ultimately it wasn’t really an acoustic show at all.
My perception of what it would be, and what it was, had
nothing in common at all.
Rather than an acoustic guitar strumming snorefest facsimile
of what I had experienced at Shack Shakers gigs before, it was a stripped back set up that featured a
basic drum set up, a double bass, and an electric guitar that more than delivered.
Throw in JD and his harmonica, and a guest appearance of a
fiddle, and the juke joint on moonshine angle on entertaining was well covered.
In hindsight I’m comfortable in saying that energy wise you
can’t differentiate between a full blown Shack Shakers set and this version of
it.
In the aftermath of a show I’ve often pondered where the
band would sit most comfortably. Sonically speaking that is. And it has come to
me that they exist in that moment when the party peaks. When the drink has
worked its inhibition magic and the madness is in full flow, but also in that
moment just before the darkness slips in and fucks everything up.
You can smell the danger in the air and it’s intoxicating,
but the violence and blood hasn’t arrived yet. It’s a good time; a moment that rests
on the cusp, but the real deal never lasts long while these guys can stretch the
feeling of that moment out over a much longer period by tightly controlling it.
They work on the premise that it has to sound like the train
is about to jump the tracks, and if it doesn’t then what is the point.
It’s an illusion, but a damn fine one to get lost in as most
of us will admit that the feeling of living on the edge is thrilling, but the reality
carries a cost that is often too much to pay. This is why we gravitate towards the rollercoaster
at the fair and throw ourselves into night long marathons of horrors movies. We
want the thrill without the cost, and JD Wilkes and the Shack Shakers deliver that
very same thing. The pretence of danger without the burden of having to live with
the consequences, and that’s what makes it so fuckin good.
It’s a best of both worlds
scenario and they know it.
Next time let’s all see how near the edge we can get.
Imagine if you will, three waifs from Queens who look as if they’d crawled out of the background of a scene in Coppola’s “Mean Streets” and who wouldn’t be fussed about either mugging you at knife point in a dark alley or alternatively taking you to the hippest, druggiest, supermodel-infested late night dive and keeping you out till you’d experienced a full-scale psychotic meltdown.
Add to that, two albums bursting with seedy, opiated, dirty rock a la Lou Reed or Patti Smith mixed with a pop sensibility that seems so ridiculously right and you have Beechwood, a band from NYC who genuinely would be in jail or dead if rock and roll hadn’t saved them from themselves.
Managed by Cynthia Ross, former B Girl, member of New York Junk, friend and confidante of Sid and Nancy, former partner of the late Stiv Bators and erstwhile heart and soul of the beating heart of NY rock, it’s fair to say they’re being guided by a hand that’s seen and experienced the pitfalls….
The debut album, “Songs From The Land Of Nod” came out last year and showcased the young trio’s tense, brittle and beautiful songs that are indebted to Television, Lou, Bowie and The Velvets and are as close a match to the heartbeat of the city that birthed them as the subway that dissects it.
This is a band that is the polar opposite of the mannered, manicured scuzz-lite of The Strokes; they genuinely need this as a route out of the hustling and criminality that they were involved in before. The songs very much reflect this; desperation, melancholy, loss and a laconic, deathly attitude that infuses them with a dark and powerful grace. Entwined among these are songs with a classic pop sensibility that have a bittersweet delicacy about them that totally enriches.
The new album (less than six months on from the debut) is “Inside The Flesh Hotel”- they’re both on Alive Natural Sounds- and is a step up from the debut in song quality. There is a real depth to the material that unravels and entrances on repeated listens. There’s a grubby glamour, a pallid and bloodless ache amid songs of loss and betrayal and joy and solace. It’s barely been off my turntable since it arrived.
They’re on tour in Europe as we speak; unfortunately there’s only the one UK date in London. Hopefully that’ll be corrected next time around.
Beechwood are;
Gordon Lawrence (guitar/vox),
Isa Tineo (drums/vox)
Sid Simons (bass/vox)
Part travelogue, part review, part rambling flow of
consciousness from a sleep deprived rock and roll junkie.
I'm not sure if that's a promise, or a warning, but at the very least it is a
heads up before we proceed.
I'm sitting on a Megabus writing this, one hour into a twelve hour journey
home. I could count the hours that I have slept in the last three days on the
fingers of one hand. Mentally and physically all is fine. I've broken on
through to the other side of exhaustion hours ago. That's what happens after a
while. Just when you think the tank is empty the reserves kick in. I don't
think I could sleep now even if I wanted to.
Megabus probably wouldn't let me anyway. As a company they are apparently at
war with Hypnos. None shall sleep could be their motto, and they take their
motto very seriously.
Outward appearances are more deceptive though.
I look like a wreck.
I've got more bags under my eyes than Ryanair lose in a year. If I sat a
polystyrene coffee cup down in front of me then random strangers might start
throwing loose coins into it. It's a common look for those who do silly things
like travel through the night from one end of the country to the other to see a
band in a club.
Old hands like to claim they look elegantly wasted in the aftermath of such
trips, but strip the romantic prose away and they mean shell shocked and
fucked. I'm wearing that barge with pride.
I'm not bothered though because I seen Crazyhead last night.
Yeah, that Crazyhead. Leicester Grebo kings.
Remember when Grebo was a thing for a blink and you would miss it moment? Well
I loved that shit. That melting pot of rock and punk paired with an attitude of
not really giving too much of a fuck about the populist culture of the time
when you could conjure up a fantasy world of your own to inhabit instead.
It was all a bit Mad Max and 2000ADs Cursed Earth fashions sound-tracked by
garage rock and roll with some liberal soap dodging thrown into the mix for
good measure.
If your leather trousers couldn't stand up on their own then you weren't really
trying hard enough.
And out of all the bands that were spawned from that loose scene it was
Crazyhead that stole my heart. Stole it and kept it.
I've had a little flame burning for them in the hope that one day they would
return, and every once in a while I'd fan it with a binge of playing their
records just to keep it alive. I never really gave up hope.
And yet last year when they finally did reform, the chance to see them
unfortunately passed me by, and when it did a little demon that I call Cunto
whispered internally that I'd blown my chance.
I, of course, whispered back "we shall see Cunto" and fanned that
tiny flame with the sleeve of Desert Orchid.
And now here we are in 2018 and Cunto is gleefully being told to shut it as I
bathe in the luxuriant memory of seeing them in the 100 Club.
I'm grabbing my "sneer and gloating in London" moment, and if he could be
manifested in physical form then I'd rub his face in every glorious moment of
the night.
There's always a bit of trepidation lurking around these gigs. Will the band
deliver? Can they match former glories?
Any gig is a toss of the dice, but it feels like there's more of a risk with a
band returning to the stage after an extended break. In the main it’s just a
perception thing though. More often than not bands do deliver. Good bands that
is.
The Stooges return to the stage was off the hook, The Sonics
killed it, Mott the Hoople was another one that easily slapped the intervening
years out of the way to come crashing into the present.
And now Crazyhead have emulated the success of them all.
Stepping onto the iconic stage of the 100 Club they took the
faithful on a trip.
The songs from Desert Orchard still sounds as good live as they
ever did. There’s a deeper growl to Andersons
take on the material, but it doesn’t take anything away from the delivery. In
fact befitting the passage of time it feels like the songs have picked up some
dirt on the way, a raw throated tone of experience that contributed to them
sounding as if they have done the hard years along with the rest of us.
Some may have wanted a note perfect carbon copy of the album
in its entirety, but that would be a strange approach to take as Crazyhead were
always about pushing the pedal down hard and pushing the needle up as far as it
could go. Even back in the late eighties you wouldn’t get a sterile studio
rendition. They were a live band, not a studio one. So why expect that to
change? No, let’s just set that aside and appreciate that the aggressive
passion is still something that is firmly in the driving seat when they play.
There was a point mid set when I looked up and considered
the nostalgia angle on gigs like this, but it was a fleeting thought. It’s not
something that matters much to me. In the heat of the moment it’s not about
reliving the past, but about losing myself in the present, and song after song
of their set that’s where I was. Lost in the moment, not a moment, but the
moment, and so was everyone around me.
Beaming smiles seemed to be the unspoken order of the night,
and as the band pushed ever further through the album the smiles just got
bigger and bigger.
The smiles were not just plastered over the audiences faces
either. Each member of the band was revelling in the moment too. As they
thundered on the wall between band and audience was demolished and the show
became a party of like minded people who had one mission in life, and that was
to collectively get down with the music.
In short I came, I saw, they conquered.
The world needs more bands like Crazyhead, or to be more
accurate people need to reengage with bands like them. They are one of those
bands who when they take to a stage they draw from the audience a need to punch
the air and let loose a primal scream, and that’s a positive.
Now all we need is everyone to shower these lovely bastards
with love and maybe we will get a UK tour out of them. Or at the very
least a few hit and run weekend gigs up and down the country.
Note : Some photos from the night will be added as soon as Kelly manages to send them to me.
Imagine if Hanoi Rocks took their cue from The Small Faces
and The Who rather than from The New York Dolls, The Rolling Stones, and other
such rockers.
Well imagine no more because Last Great Dreamers are writing the music you can
hear in your head.
There's something quintessentially English about them. Like Gary Holton with
The Heavy Metal Kids they have that cheeky chappy a nods as good as a wink
shtick sorted out, but there's far more going on than a punk rock Oliver Twist
story.
It's as if someone has thrown a handful of the mod revival bands into the
Hydron Collider and seen what happens when you smash them into the UK's trashy
glam rock acts that spawned from punk.
And the fusion ultimately works too.
It's rock and roll dark matter created that will suck us all in and turn us
inside out.
Now how good does that sound?
Well now consider that these words just aren't covering it. They don't come
close. It's actually better than that.
The terrace stomp of the seventies, the summer of love, the sunset strip,
Camden Market and a soupçon of Soho. It's all
there. From the sixties through to now, and even a taste of Britpop to flavour
it further.
It's a heady mix of a trip of an album, and you can even dance to the fucker.
Last year it was The Main Grains
with the Drama Club Rejects that rolled into town. Between them they tattooed an
indelible memory in my head.
And now on this outing they are
back to open for another band that similarly impressed when I seen them on the Edinburgh date of their
Heavy Heart tour in 2017. They would be the mighty Ryan Hamilton and his Traitors.
It was a cold day in Glasgow, but these two
acts could easily heat up a cold day in hell on a solo jaunt, so we gleefully went in with high expectations
for the show they were doing together, and we were not disappointed.
The Main Grains.
The Main Grains are heavily tapping
into something that gets the primal blood pumping hot and fast through the
veins.
It's difficult to put your finger on what it is though. When you break things
down you might find yourself with all the parts, but in the process lose sight
of why it all works so well.
The best bands, or the best in my opinion, all had this sum of its parts
element. The Ramones, The Cramps, The Damned, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones,
Motorhead, The Stooges etcetera.
You don't look too closely at it what's going on with them. Instead you simply stand
back and let yourself be swept away with what they can do.
Thrashing drums, guitars chugging, or howling away, the bass underpinning it
all. They are all creators of an aural drug that is highly addictive. And now
so are The Main Grains.
Guitar rock and roll crack
anybody?
What do we want to call it
though? Good time rock and roll?
Is that enough?
I suppose it will have to do. It falls short, underplays the power, the
passion, but what else fits?
They can certainly offer the soundtrack for a party. Not a cheese and wine gathering.
The sort of party where casual nudity and vomiting in the bathtub will probably
feature, or in short the best sort of parties that we all remember from misspent
youth years.
It’s not a stretch to say that as a whole the band have positioned themselves
to be ready to accept the baton from legends such as The Ramones, Stiff Little
Fingers, and such and run with it.
Not a bad place to be really.
This is the third Main Grains show I've attended, and the best. They aren't
content with getting incrementally better. They want to, need to, make the huge
leaps, and they are doing just that with style.
My only concern is that with a tour of the UK
and Australia
coming up for Danny with The Wildhearts that it will possibly slow the momentum
that the Main Grains are garnering, but apparently there are plans afoot to
ensure that we don't forget about them.
I'm looking forward to these plans being revealed.
Ryan Hamilton & The Traitors.
Last year Ryan Hamilton rocketed
to the top of my "new favourite artist" list, and then stayed there.
Late to the party I might have been, but damn I'm enjoying playing catch up.
From his solo releases, to that with The Traitors, to his recent country
collaboration with Tony Wright of Terrorvision, I don't think there's been one
misstep made.
In fact I'd go as far as to say that I've yet to hear one song from him that I
would consider falls below a quality bar that he has set very high for himself.
How many artists could you say that about? Not one weak song!
Even his podcast "Lost the plotcast" is in my opinion essential
listening.
You just have to get on board with everything he is doing.
On stage is where everything Ryan
does makes complete sense though.
He, and his band, are born to perform. The live environment is where it's
at.
There's something familial about the experience. We are all in it together from
the first note to the last, and that's a good feeling to spread about.
It's the sort of foundation that great things can be built on. You could
imagine him a few years down the line playing a larger venue and reminiscing
about playing club venues in Glasgow,
and pretty much everyone who was there in Stereo would be standing front and
centre and reliving the memory with him.
Like the Marines, Ryan probably isn't going to leave anyone behind.
There's something special about that, but I guess you had to be there to
understand what I’m trying to convey.
Thankfully the upside is that you can be the next time he is in town.
It's not an exclusive party.
Everyone is invited. So if you like your rock with a country twang, like your
power pop bands too, then Ryan has his pen in hand and will tick all those
boxes for you.
Highlight of the set wasn’t
actually one of his songs, but a cover of Tom Petty that ended the night on a
high. Similar to what was said about the Main Grains being positioned to take
ownership of a baton Ryan is equally standing there with his hand out and ready
to run too.
If you want to get in early and
be able to crow about seeing these guys in clubs before everyone else picks up
on them then now is the time.
What is it with the old guard relentlessly
releasing albums that would shame the wannabe punk stars of today?
For a genre that lays so much stock
in short sharp burst of teenage rebellion it seems to me that in the last year
or two it is the veterans of the scene that are using their life experiences,
and the influences they have garnered through the years, to create music that
is far more passionate and relevant that anything that they have done that precedes
it.
That’s not to say that previous endeavours
were lacking in anything, but that they all seem to have reached a point of
maturity where the musicianship, song writing and live performances, are
peaking.
That’s certainly what it sounds
like when you slip the latest from Crimedesk into the stereo.
Like many of their punk peers in
Scotland they are growing old disgracefully on the surface, but underneath the nihilistic
veneer are showing themselves to be able to write and release nuanced songs
that don’t lack in any artistry.
Yeah okay. They do feature a song
about a Manky Hoor, but it is very clearly tongue in cheek and designed to
raise a chuckle rather than any offence.
It’s possibly time for another
Scottish punk compilation to be released. Maybe over-time.
If someone does do one then
Crimedesk must surely have earned a spot on it.
Drop the bomb Trump. C’mon you deranged orange shit gibbon. I fuckin’ dare you.
Once the dust settles we will just come out and party in the rubble to Buzzbomb. These guys are punk rock survivors who are more than able to provide the soundtrack to a brave new post apocalyptic world.
So on you go and throw whatever you want at them.
They will just keep coming back for more and that’s a promise and a fact rolled into one.
You just can’t keep them down.
Over the years they have outlived many of their heroes and peers, they have hung around as venues arrived with a bang and vanished with a whimper, and now here we are in the present and I would wager hard earned cash on them turning up battered and bruised as the house band for a post end of day’s party.
They are the sort of punk rock hooligans that are referred to as the real deal, and with Sixty Miles of Bad Road they have managed to take all those years of paying their dues and distilled it all down into a blast of modern sounding street punk par excellence .
It’s all killer and it shoves your filler where the sun doesn’t shine. There’s no slacking as the foot remains pressed hard down on the accelerator from start to finish.
This is ultimately a refreshing release because it has no faux pretence to be anything other than a celebration of punk and roll in all its wide and varied forms. From the Clash to Social Destruction, to The Ramones to Dead Kennedys, from old school thrashing to pop punk melodies, the influences keep being signposted as we fly past them at a dangerously reckless speed.
It’s an exhilarating experience when you strap yourself in to listen to this one, and it sounds as if every gig that they have played, and every release that they have unleashed on the public, was simply building up to this moment.
It’s the climax of years of putting blood, sweat, and tears, into playing in a band.
Yesterday my partner in crime, life, mishaps and adventures, drew my attention to a Groupon offer for tickets to see the Damned play in Glasgow.
The tickets were virtually half price. So a great deal, a phantasmagorical deal for those who hadn't procured them already.
Trump would call it the biggest and best deal ever.
No better deal has ever been offered to punks anywhere.
Not so great if you were one of the good little fans who bought tickets weeks, or months, ago, as we did though.
In fact it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to be honest.
Here's your reward for a bit of fan based loyalty and support. You can pay the premium price while the johnny come lately types and the casual fan gets a sterling offer of a money saving deal.
So thank you. Thank you very much. This feels great.
Of course none of us are blind to the harsh world of economics. We understand the reasoning behind the offer, and most of us can rationalize the benefits.
More people attending an event ensures that it takes place, and the increased volume of traffic maintains the gig economy.
Both are positives, but it still feels wrong on a personal level, on an emotional level.
I can't be alone in thinking this.
Here is a band that I have seen so often that I have lost count long ago, a band that I own every studio release of, a band that I have thrown cash at over the years for merchandise, and a band that I have paid virtually double to see in comparison to a chunk of those who will ultimately attend the gig.
Again, thank you. My heart is bursting with joy as I typed that out.
Of course I used the handy link the site provided and shared the offer with everyone that I thought would have a passing interest in the gig.
I'm not a cnut.
Keeping it a secret would have been churlish.
Just because we lost out on a deal doesn't mean we shouldn't get the word out, but this isn't a situation that has put a smile on my face.
My wallet is of course extremely unhappy with the offer too.
It's not as if my finances are in rude health. I'm sure others will commiserate.
Anyway, hopefully this doesn't set a precedent in punk circles. That's the bigger picture problem.
For the positives mentioned there are also negatives.
The main one being that punk music lovers start to hang about until the last minute before committing to a gig in the hope that they get a better deal.
With this then resulting in gigs being pulled due to the perception that there is a lack of interest in the show.
Not so great when you think about that is it?
Basically I don't consider live gigs to be the same as a lastminute.com offer on a hotel room, or a cheap seat in the back row of a play in a theatre. Maybe that is just me. My perception of it all.
I would argue that club level diy gigs by independent promoters definitely can't follow this example and survive though.
So there is a lot to think about here. Is it a good move, or a bad one?
This morning I was listening to
the always excellent This Day in Music Radio podcast, and thoroughly enjoying
their James piece, when Tim Booth mentioned heritage bands.
It’s not a term I had heard
before, but it struck a chord.
He was talking about how the
music business sees his band as a heritage one, and reading between the lines
possibly irrelevant.
This was something that he
obviously vehemently disagrees with. And of course he is right.
James are not known for resting
on their laurels, or for working up a lather as they flog a dead horse.
By dint of their talent they are
as relevant now as they were when they first grabbed the attention of music
lovers in the eighties.
Always fresh, always moving
forward, they are an act that will at some point deservedly be classed as hall
of fame material if we in the UK
had such a thing.
But to get to the heritage band
point, to my understanding that would be one that no longer records and just
tour a best of package.
Or if they do release new
material it is lacking in any momentum and the recording is approached with the
intent of touching base with past glories rather than forging forward in any
sense.
That is a heritage act.
In other words, the polar
opposite of what James are all about.
And then with the thoughts of who
are, and aren’t, heritage bands swirling around in my head I started thinking
about the popularity of the anniversary tours that are very fashionable at the
moment, and the reissues of classic albums.
Both have their place and it
would be churlish to have a dig as the response to both show that they are in many
ways what people want, but a whispering nagging voice keeps intruding and
asking questions such as ‘but what happens when the attention is driven away
from all of the new material?’
The answer isn’t too difficult to
reach. We all lose out.
It is a problem that the industry doesn’t seem to be interested in
supporting new talent; or that of bands with a long history that keep forging
forward, but it is a bigger problem if we, the public, follow suit. Because then
we become complicit in the music business eating its own tail.
If the majority gravitate towards
the past then there is no future.
Is that too harsh a take on it
though?
I am not alone in championing new
music, or artists that keep knocking it out of the park with fresh material
regardless of how old they are, but this minority voice is not one that carries
much weight.
I have to be honest with myself
and admit that.
And while the solution isn’t
really in my grasp, it is within that of all of us if we collectively reach out
for it.
All we have to do is just engage
with music again. It sounds very simple doesn’t it? And that’s because it is.
We can still get out there and
see the big bands of yesteryear, but maybe we should all up our game and slip
in a club sized gig now and then too, or how about picking up the album of the
band whose one song you heard and loved. Baby steps really.
Unfortunately that does take a
bit of effort though, and yeah, “give me convenience or give me death”
etcetera, but the returns could very well make it all worthwhile.
By making that bit more of an
effort we can all contribute to a future generation enjoying the classic hits
of a band that are just forming, or even add to the longevity of the artists who
refuse to find themselves so deep in a rut that all they can ever do is shout out
their hits from the depths of it.
So being part of the solution isn’t
really that bad an option when you consider the alternative.
And here’s a place to start. The Duncan Reid & The Big Heads gig in Nice N Sleazy (Glasgow) that I have arranged for next week. (A cheeky
wink should be inserted here)
Promoting his third album they will
provide a best of both worlds set, as alongside their hits of tomorrow, there will
be a sprinkling of a few songs from his past with The Boys. See what I mean by
best of both worlds.
And along for the ride will be up
and comers Heavy Drapes who in a previous incarnation opened for BowiesTin Machine and The New York Dolls amongst others. A prime example of how you can
teach old dogs new tricks.
And if that is just too much new
material to deal with there will be 3 Minute Heroes running through plenty of
punk and power pop hits to help provide the link between the old and the new.
Something for everyone really so let’s
keep the tracks greased, and if you can’t attend this gig then please do
consider attending another over the next week or two.
Go on and dip your toe
in. Very often the water is lovely and there is a great deal more out there
than just heritage bands, which have their place too, but don’t do anything for
all our tomorrows.
I guess the point is that we should ask not what the artists can do for us, but what we can do for them.
Less is more, less is more, less
is more, and Delinquents have taken that maxim to heart.
No frills, no
bullshit, just short sharp blasts of ramalama punk and roll to soothe the
savage beast within.
And yeah, I like this sort of
thing. Of course I do. In fact scratch that! I love this sort of thing.
The Ramones kicked it all off and
then in their wake a million bands rightfully rallied to the flag and ran with
the onetwothreefour, but while the Delinquents are all over that like a rash they’re
no weak facsimile of the brudders from the bowery because Gilman Street and Fat
Wreck Chords are in there too.
There’s plenty of that late eighties early
nineties heyday being revisited, but that’s not all. There’s more. Much more to About Last Night.
Shove
some Snuff, Travis Cut, Senseless Things and Mega City 4 into the blender alongside
the US bands and hit the switch and once you have given it a solid five minutes
you can pour yourself a big glass of Delinquents.
It's astounding how they manage to hit all the sweet spots.
You wouldn’t have been able to
get a band like Delinquents ten years ago. It needed everyone to come before them and lay all the ground work for it all to be stripped down and built back up
again, and that they have managed to do that and keep the passion and urgency
needles in the red throughout is impressive indeed.
Yet another worthy band that is
carrying punk into future and slapping the tired old punk is dead slur out of
the mouths of those who cared too little and gave up too soon.
We don't hide our appreciation for Yorkshire Rats.
We bloody love them.
So it was a nice surprise to see Don message fans to say that they were putting the tracks up that were recorded many moons ago.
Instead of me waffling about them here he is talking about the material himself.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not one for looking backwards. But I recently came across some tracks from an album that we originally worked on over 10 years ago. Back when me and our other lead singer Sean Úlfheðinn Brewin were both around 18 years old. We were kids, we were poor, we were from broken homes and we were both fucking furious. We weren't professionals but we'd work on those songs day and night then we'd make big plans over cheap pints. As hazy as those early days are, some of my best memories of playing rock n roll are with that man.We're a different and now but I wanted to share these tracks with you all. Much love!
The songs are free to download on bandcamp, but while there it goes without saying that you should grab something else.
You will not be disappointed.
Today the lords of darkness celebrate the birthday of a titan in their midst. Glenn Danzig is now the grand old age of threescore and two. Over the years that he has strode this earth as a behemoth his name has struck fear into many. Namely the parents of fourteen year old boys and girls going through a rebellious stage. As is right and proper we here at Reservoir Droogs are honoured to participate in this auspicious occasion and bring you some, just some, of the highlights of his career.
First is the time that he went out in daylight to buy some cat litter.
A small chore to some, but for an entity that prefers the shadows, the light of the moon, and the bloodletting of virgins when the sun goes down, we have to take on board how traumatic this must have been.
Hours of preparation must have been considered.
Sun screen or sun block? If it's sun screen then what factor? What to wear to blend in with the day walkers? Will black jeans and a shirt be okay for a trip to the store or is black jogging trousers and a t-shirt better?
Is it acceptable to wear a t-shirt with your own logo on it?
So many questions and so few answers.
You can imagine him sitting stroking his familiar at midnight and mumbling dark thoughts about disabled parking and wondering what the actual fuck a traffic update is.
It is entirely possible that this dark legend suffered a very serious issue with post traumatic stress disorder after visiting the local pet store.
More well known than the cat litter trip is the one where he grabbed headlines about a pile of bricks.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
This was when a neighbour had an issue about the the poor level of upkeep on Glenns property, and in particular some bricks that had been left in his yard.
Clear property kerb desirability etiquette had been willfully ignored and the neighbour just wasn't having it.
Now we ask you how are you supposed to keep up with the general repairs to a property when the norm is to get up when the sun goes down and retire before it rises?
This same neighbour who bitched about a few bricks would quite probably be the same one who wouldn't take too kindly to hammering and drilling at 3am.
You just can't win.
Options available to both parties were to seek out some mediation, find a middle ground that was acceptable to both, but that was a shipped that sailed when Glen decided just to break his routine and clean his yard up.
But only in his own style.
That style being uber macho aggression set at eleven when the dial only goes to ten.
The crowning achievement of his career is of course the incident below when he got knocked the fuck out.
Nothing else has to be added about this jewel in the crown of his long career.
You just need to watch it.
All hail Glenn Danzig the meanest cat litter buying brick throwing mofo on the block, apart that big guy with the right hook of course.
Historical footnote, and lesser known is that Glenn was also a member of the Misfits, fronted Samhain, and Danzig too.
How could you make the Green Day show in Glasgow better?
It's already a wet dream line up for punks of a certain age.
Green Day and Rancid together is what some would call a match made in heaven.
The addition of SLAVES on the bill isn't something to be sniffed at either.
Of the current crop of bands who sport some punk influences they are the band that has generated the most interest and the slot on the tour is well deserved.
You can't complain about the price of a ticket either.
When value for money is considered the three band line up is already the best deal of the year.
So thinking caps on folks. How could it be better?
Maybe the addition of a band that was part of the original wave of punk would be a good move, a Buzzcocks or The Damned or............the SKIDS.
Hell yeah, the SKIDS would be a good idea.
A scottish band who are currently back and garnering rave reviews from the hit and run gigs that they have been doing.
That would be the icing on the cake wouldn't it?
WHAT! The SKIDS are playing you say. Oh my giddy aunt.
The sound of air exiting the lungs after being sucker
punched in the gut.
Rancid are back and it would be hard not to notice.
Over the course of a career it can be hard to maintain a
sense of urgency never mind a level of quality, but here we have a band solidly
covering all the bases.
Take all of their previous releases and push them into a
blender to extract the pure undiluted essence of Rancid and what would pour out
would be Trouble Maker.
No matter what era of the band that you personally hold
higher than another you will find this is the natural evolution from that
point.
Everything that has come before has been in preparation for
this moment, this release.
There’s only one problem with it though.
And that’s that they are tapping on a glass ceiling and who
knows what lies beyond when they spider web cracks spread out and ultimately
leave them standing in the shards lying at their feet.
What next for Rancid?
Where do they go from here?
Fuck knows, but it’s doubtful that there isn’t a fan out
there that hasn’t felt a frisson of excitement at the thought of what lies
beyond Trouble Maker.
Rancid are now up there with the legends of punk, the real
legends such as the The Sex Pistols and The Clash, and they aren’t finished yet.
Far from it.
Ooft!
Just ooft!
The Sux Pastels – Final Daze ep
As swan songs go the final release from The Sux Pastels has
them going out with a bang, and it is rather telling that the promo art is of a
mushroom cloud as this three track ep is a nuclear blast of melodic punk rock.
Big Red Button sounds like The Ruts birthed from the womb of
CBGBs and that’s just the springboard that the band are leaping from.
Gather up all the lose strands from over thirty years of
punk and weave them all together and this is the result.
No, that’s wrong. You can leave all the UK82 nonsense out of
this rich tapestry as the band understand that having a political message
doesn’t mean devolving everything down to grunting fuck the police twenty times
over a couple of distorted chords.
Across the breadth of this EP there isn’t a point where the
eye is taken off the melody.
These are sing-along anthems that could be filed away as
evergreen. If they had been recorded in ’79 we would still be singing them now,
and for those of you who do make the effort to pick this up in the present then
you can look forward to singing along in 2047.
This release is a stunningly snapshot of the talent that
exists in the Scottish punk scene.
They will be missed.
Reaction – Old School Rules EP.
In the rush to find a new flag carrier for punk there have
been plenty who seem overly keen to thrust it into the hands of Reaction, and
their label mates Heavy Drapes.
And while both are very capable of taking on the
responsibility, and visibility, of being front runners in a scene, this urgency
can at times draw focus away from their talents.
The fire of the live gigs, and the word on the street about
them, draws attention, but at the expense of what everything they have is built
on, and that is to put it quite simply good songs.
If you don’t have the songs then the moment in the spotlight
is brief, but Reaction know this and aren’t looking to relinquish their moment
by not backing up their promise with the goods.
Remove the hype and what you have is still a solid band.
On Old School Rules they jump from being trash kings to
street fighting men to messing about with a dub mix that harkens back to the
12” single b-sides of old, but also manages to avoid sounding dated.
It’s less ganga haze and more eccies over Glastonbury Tor if
you get my drift, and just think about that.
Here we have a street level punk band from Airdrie messing
about with grand ideas of mixing Orbital with punk before jumping back into the
gutter with both feet.
If the adage of breaking the rules was to be captured in a
studio then it is Reaction that who are embracing that idea.
Within a scene that can be at times rightly accused of being
tired, too hung up on nostalgia, and even having lost its way, it is Reaction
who are offering a guiding light out of the darkness.
As an aficionado of the Universal horror films of old I don’t
have any qualms in saying that the first two modern day instalments didn’t
impress.
They didn’t offend either, but there was admittedly little
to get excited about.
It was definitely frustrating that after each outing the
studio went back to the drawing board as they very obviously had little faith
in their vision of the relaunch and preferred to let the box office decide on
the direction they would take.
Personally I would have been happy to hang in there after
The Wolfman to see how Guillermo del Toro got on with a classic take on Frankenstein,
but it wasn’t to be, and then again after Dracula Untold I would have accepted
the change in direction and committed myself to seeing how they moved on from
that one, but again Universal were unhappy with the reception and it all started
to feel like it was always going to be one step forward and two steps back for
the franchise.
And now here we are with the studio hoping that the Tom
Cruise led version of The Mummy will be third time a charm.
And you know what?
It is.
Or to be more precise it is in my opinion because I loved
it.
From start to finish I was completely on board with it all.
In fact I loved it so much that I’m struggling to understand
what the problem is that other people have with this one.
Everyone is great in it, the pace is kept up throughout, the
effects are all impressive enough, and I’m not getting the comments about it
being fragmented at all.
Do you ever watch a movie and think you have seen a
different one from everyone else?
That’s me with The Mummy.
Okay it’s not reverential to the root material, but there’s
plenty of little scenes that do cast an eye, if not a wink, back to those
movies, and the glimpses of vampire skulls, what looked like a limb from the
Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a mention of Gods and Monsters that I hope
was a reference to the 1998 movie about James Whale, was for me a nice touch.
Those who have been less than impressed are of course entitled
to voice their take on it, but each to their own.
We will have to agree to disagree about this one.
A big stumbling block right now is that in the first week of
it opening it hasn’t managed to capture the attention of US audiences, and the
naysayers are already out with their pitchforks and flaming torches ready to
bring down the Dark Universe, but as it has done okay elsewhere with the studio
recouping what was invested in it I will be crossing my fingers and hoping that
the next instalment is now being green lighted because Angelina Jolie in The
Bride of Frankenstein’s sounds pretty cool to me.
Hopefully people will make their own minds up about this and
it doesn’t slip through the cracks as Van Helsing, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
and Hansel and Gretel; Witch Hunters did.
All pretty much considered cult classics now, but none of
them spawned any sequels as they so richly deserved to due to their box office
failings.
So I guess it is just down to saying don’t blink Universal,
just don’t you blink.
Have faith and let’s see what you can do.
[SPUNGE]. Bad Impression, Strung Out Nights. 14/06/17 - Ivory Blacks (Glasgow)
With Strung Out Nights looking to hone a set to perfection in preparation for appearing at this years Rebellion festival the opening slot for [SPUNGE] was the ideal opportunity to do exactly that.
Within the Glasgow punk scene it is becoming increasingly obvious that this is the act to watch out for as credible opening slot after opening slot opens up before him.
He is out there as a solitary figure.
One man, one guitar, giving hope in the face of concerns that the scene is stagnating and struggling to find new blood that can carry the music across to yet another generation.
Rooted in the sound of the Clash he filters his self penned material through the prism of the US punk acts from the Dead Kennedys to NOFX and it is so seamlessly done that you can't hear any sort of clunky gear changes in his delivery.
Politically astute, fearless in speaking out, and still maintaining an ability to entertain he is now at the cusp of stepping from one rung of the ladder to ascend to the next.
If you are unaware of who Strung Out Nights is and call yourself a punk then you need to ensure that you deal with that sooner rather than later.
Don't be the punk that misses the bus here.
Bad Impression who followed are racking up plenty of plus points too.
As the name would indicate they are a covers band, but in covering others they are looking to hit a spot between Tragedy; The heavy metal tribute to the Bee Gees, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
And when it works it works very well, but behind the laughs, audience participation and the sharing of confectionary the set at times does stumble about a bit.
Some of the songs that they redefine are perfect in their execution, while others swoop and dive between working and not.
Lady GaGas Pokerface is as a good an example as any.
In parts it is well thought out and draws a good reaction from the audience, but there are points when the guitars and shared vocals descend into chaos, and not the good kind.
It's not something that the band, or anyone else for that matter, should be concerned about at this point in their playing career.
Every day is a school day as they say and with each performance I fully expect that the rougher edges will be smoothed off leading to Bad Impression jumping from delivering a good night out to one that people elevate to being called an essential night out for a crowd looking for shits and giggles.
[SPUNGE] have so many years under their belts now that they can put on a sterling show on auto pilot.
It comes with being road tested to the max, but settling in on cruise control doesn't appear to be in their DNA.
Instead it's full on from start to finish and as the years do pass they are edging closer to defining what the UK's ska-pop punk sound is.
As their homegrown peers fall by the wayside they are out there at the front waving the flag and refusing to lay down and die in the face of changing trends and fashions.
Some could argue that it is foolhardy, but not me.
There's something heroic about what they are doing. The never say die attitude is laudable.
Going out there night after night to give everything you have to entertain people is something that can't be knocked.
And when considering it in the light of being entertaining then they aren't being delusional about this either because they obviously fundamentally understand that there is no point in stepping up on a stage unless you are going to send an audience home satisfied.
The best part of it all is that they look as if they are still having fun doing it too.
Mates together having a laugh and bringing you into the circle to have a laugh with them.
You can't bottle that, there's no formula, a band has it or they don't, and [SPUNGE} have it.
Bloody well long live [SPUNGE] and all the other carriers of torches.
GENERAL UPDATE: The forthcoming EDEN FESTIVAL review that will feature. Gogol Bordello, The Stumblers, Rory Mcleod, Mickey 9s, Jamie and Shoony, Chibmarks, Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5 plus more will appear on the New Hellfire Club website. Links will be provided when that goes live.
Last time [SPUNGE} played in Glasgow it was a night of catching up with friends old and new to the backdrop of a whole lot of infectious ska punk being played.
A pint or two was consumed and the band provided an aerobic workout for some of us who really should know better.
It's doubtful that this Wednesday things will be any different.
Whether anyone wants to relive their board short past or are just looking for something to do midweek as an alternative to drowning in a deluge of soap operas then there's no doubt at all that this is the band who will deliver the goods to you.
Support comes from the always excellent Strung Out Nights and Bad Impression.
You can click on Strung Out Nights and message for discounted tickets.
Sometimes the best nights out are those that are arranged last minute.
This will be one of those if you haven't already committed to it.
Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life are gigging again.
And the news that he is doing another full UK tour should bring a smile to the face of the staunchest punk curmudgeon.
Crass fans will no doubt be digging out their black anarchist uniform, the one that separates them from all those conforming sheep, but without any hint of sarcasm it has to be said that this party isn't just for them, and anyone who is looking for a night of top quality entertained need look no further.
Forget any notion of grabbing a ticket for one of the shows being akin to jumping aboard a nostalgia train as Steve only pays lip service to the past from a solid position in the present.
This is not Crass: the return, this is all together something else.
If Crass was the evolutionary stage of flopping about on land for the first time then Slice of Life is when we get to growing some arms and legs.
And as the venues on the tour lean towards the smaller side then consider that a bonus as the intimacy will provide a greater degree of engagement between artist and audience.
Relevance for 2017 will be considered, but let's not beat about the bush here as Slice of Life are more relevant right now than a Sleaford Mods t-shirt at a Corbyn rally.
And you can take that the capitalist scum outlet that looks after your money.
Click on the image to enlarge it to get the dates. Website
Happy? I'm chuffing delirious! ;). As we were mixing it I was thinking; "This is bloody good, but will anyone agree with me?" Now the reaction has been ecstatic. Everyone is saying it's our best yet and the reviews have been magnificent.
That has made me very happy to say the least.
With it being your third album release in five years it’s not been a case of there being too long between new material coming out.
Do you find the process easy?
Yes and no. The writing process seems quite long winded. Being in a modern independent band means you have to do everything yourself because there's no record company to help. So, there's not just rehearsing and playing gigs although that takes a lot of time. There's also booking gigs and the whole process of marketing and releasing records, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bandcamp, the website ......... and so on.
It seems to take up all my time so that no "headspace" is left for writing songs.
I don't mind because I enjoy all of it but it takes longer to write songs than it would have done way back when.
Recording is the easy part!
Could you release more than that though? If the solo workload was not so time consuming? I ask because often there are others factors that sometimes people don’t consider.
For instance Nick Cave once said that he could release albums more frequently, but Mute, his label, wouldn’t.
That would be a business decision. For others it is financial?
No. As I said before, it's all determined by how quickly I can write. As soon as I feel I have enough good songs for an album we push the button.
You have a firm control over your career. You currently self release, self promote and even book.
As you experienced the other side of that when in The Boys what is preferable?
Obviously one is less work, but also less autonomy?
One of the benefits of having a few years under the belt is experience.
Someone once said of the film business; "no one knows anything". That's not strictly true of the music business, but I have a lot of experience and my opinion is as valid as anyone's.
So, that is a preamble to saying that the best would be to keep control but be able to direct people to help.
For instance, you can always tell when bands have digital marketing agencies who take over their Facebook, twitter etc. The output is totally bland and characterless.
I saw a tweet by a superstar from the punk days just recently which just said: "Retweet if you are coming to our gig at X venue on Y date" with a photo of the poster.
How boring and corporate is that!
You have to express your personality as much as you do with your songs. That isn't difficult if you are just being yourself. It is difficult if an office is doing it all as part of a roster of clients.
But with help there would be more time for writing.
Another example. Young bands on major labels who have a little success are pressured into coming up with another album after nine months or, they are told, new bands will come along and they will be forgotten.
Now, you can't write an album that quickly so they are put with the same professional writer/producers as everyone else and so end up sounding the same as everyone else.
As it happens I want to try co-writing more than I have, but in my own time!
On the other hand, record companies have influence. It's taken us years to get onto the festival roster and we have no real mainstream media exposure. Record companies can use the influence of having a bigger artist on the roster to get openings for new ones. "Play this new band and you'll get an exclusive on that big one".
Like life. There are swings and roundabouts.
The band has consistently been Sophie and you, but other members appear to slip in and out as required.
Is this something that you are comfortable with?
Not that there is ever a quality issue, but maybe more so on a personal level.
Wouldn’t a solid band all committed to the one aim, of being a Big Head, be better?
Actually the last four years has been a quest to create a stable line up.
It has just been very hard to achieve but, fingers crossed, I think we are there now. As you say, Sophie has been a constant for a long time now, Karen has been with us for over a year since Ciara became a mum and, although Nick is in a number of bands, he's committed to us.
It's just great to not be changing all the time. Having said that it'll probably splinter again now! ( I hope not). Everyone is so great and the Big Heads is such a good platform they are bound to get offers. I just pray it doesn't take them away.
You do appear to be travelling around outside the UK to play frequently enough. From your point of view what are the pros and cons? What could we learn about promoting shows and hosting them here in the UK from these other countries, and what could they maybe learn from us?
Since the end of last year we are trying to play more in the UK, especially as we've had some great festival offers. There just seems to have been a "tick up" in the level of interest here that is really exciting.
When we play abroad we have to travel light. There's always the stressful fight with BA or EasyJet when they try to insist our guitars go in the hold.
They get a mixture of fury, charm and crying from us to prevent the baggage handlers from having the chance to smash our gear up as they always do.
Big Heads meets bureaucracy. So far we've won.
We are just back from Sweden though and will continue to play in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland, Spain, Ireland and, hopefully South America for as long as we are able to.
We’d love to play the US again but the visas are a killer.
The biggest difference abroad is that you generally get treated better. There will often be food when you arrive for the soundcheck, dinner is laid on, drinks provided and accommodation.
With most promoters in the UK, and you are one of the notable exceptions, you have to fend for yourself. Often you don’t get as much as a single beer. I'm not complaining but the difference in approach is stark.
Other than that, there isn't much difference really. Great promoters are heroes in my opinion. They usually do it based on a love of the music which they are vital to the cause of keeping it alive. Musicians can be difficult as well, especially if they have a sniff of success!
There have been some comments coming from the music industry about the impact on musicians touring. Do you foresee any problems?
There is one major problem already and one potential one on the horizon. Venues are being shut down by complaints from local residents. These residents often live in houses built after a venue has been open for years.
Venues need to be protected. Having fun is noisy. Let's get the balance right.
The potential one is that if, after Brexit, we in the UK require Europeans to have work visas for temporary jobs here then it seems likely that the EU, like in the US, will require musicians to have visas to play in Europe.
I'm not commenting on whether that is right or wrong politically, it just seems likely to me. Like in the US and Australia, work visas always cost thousands of pounds so that will be the end of playing abroad.
A loss of livelihood for us and a little bit of foreign revenue lost to the UK. You could say I'm keeping a keen eye on it.
Looking back over the last five years, the albums and tours, is there anything you think that you would do differently. We all learn from our experiences. What have you learnt that could be good advice for other musicians?
Learn everything you can about how the Internet works.
There is science behind Spotify, Facebook, twitter etc. Go on courses, learn and do it yourself.
Then concentrate on building up a live following by being as good as you can be and playing as much as you can. Spend any money you have on playing live, and making the best records and videos you can afford.
Try to make personal connections with people who have followers like internet radio presenters and help them promote themselves. Help promoters and other bands do what they do.
It's all about helping each other.
Don't waste money on PR companies and record pluggers. In general the mainstream media only want to know about people who are already famous or who once were.
It’s all quite DIY in the original spirit of punk!
Lastly, don't be a prick. Nobody likes a prick and it all comes around.
What’s next for Duncan Reid and the Big Heads?
We carry on not being pricks! We have some great shows coming up.
Really looking forward to paying all the people back who lobbied Rebellion to have us there (Saturday afternoon in the Opera House - don't miss it).
Plus a few other great festival dates like Undercover at Margate in September, Skegness in October, Jessheim in Norway in August, Camden Rocks and Wychwood at the beginning of June.
Sorry to all the promoters whose gigs I haven't mentioned. Just too many. Look at duncanreidandthebigheads.com to see everything. The never ending tour goes on!
And of course we have been looking forward to your return to Glasgow. This time in NiceNSleazy so it isn’t far for you to join the patrons upstairs to dance to ABBA. Does Glasgow hold fond memories for you? Playing the Apollo with The Ramones in particular?
It's always great in Glasgow. The last time at Audio was part of the tour where things seemed to turn a corner for us. The reaction was incredible.
I'm really looking forward to NiceNSleazy. Heavy Drapes are great and we are relying on everyone who was at Audio to bring their mates.
As you say, we can pop into the guilty pleasures disco after and bop to Black Sabbath and Sheena Easton. What a combination!
That Ramones tour was mad. Imagine hanging out with Joey Ramone every night! And didn't the Apollo have a sky high stage?
Had to be careful not to go careering toward it at top speed.
We'd been told if Glasgow audiences didn't like you, you wouldn’t get out alive. They loved us so I'm still here all these years later!
