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Fancy Weapon release the ‘Squid’

Fancy Weapon release the ‘Squid’

Poison City is thrilled to introduce you to Fancy Weapon, a new Melbourne-based group featuring musicians that have all spent decades in the rock n roll game & continue to leave indelible marks across the underground music landscape. Fancy Weapon are Mick Turner, Claire Birchall, Joel Silbersher and Guy Maddison. Their first single ’Squid’, with a lead vocal by Claire, who also produced the single’s video, is out today in the digital world with the debut album set for JUNE 19th.

 Fancy Weapon’s debut album will be available on limited edition ‘Deep Sea Blue’ colour vinyl (first 100 copies signed by the band!), CD and all digital stores world-wide.Preorders available now via Poison City E-Store and Bandcamp.

PRE-ORDERS for the Fancy Weapon LP/CD available from Poison City: https://poisoncityestore.com/ and Bandcamp: https://poisoncityrecords.bandcamp.com

And ahead of the album’s release Melbourne audiences will have two opportunities to catch Fancy Weapon live:
Friday May 1st at the Thornbury Bowlo, with Savak (from Brooklyn)
Saturday May 30th at The Corner, with Tortoise (from Chicago). 

Fancy Weapon. An unlikely band name and a most unlikely band. With a line up as unexpected as a ball of lightning, the band sees a cross-generational bunch of Melbourne music perennials – Mick Turner, Joel Silbersher and Claire Birchall – joined by recent transplant Guy Maddison, to make a singular brand of minimalist, incandescent guitar-heavy rock music in the manner that other singular, minimalist, incandescent guitar-heavy rock bands have been making for 50 years or so.  

The “Melbourne music perennials” thing is key here, even if Guy is a latecomer to the local scene. In a city of dedicated musicians, the Fancy Weapon people are dedicated. They’re not kids, but they all still play in multiple bands. They all have always played in multiple bands. Music oozes from the pores of all four. Indeed, it pours from the ooze of Fancy Weapon.

Guy Maddisoncame out of the 80’s Perth Punk Rock scene in the band Greenhouse Effect. Relocating with the Effect to Sydney, he soon started throwing musical mudpies around with Lubricated Goat, whose “In The Raw” ABC TV escapades and a contract with Minneapolis based Amphetamine Reptile Records saw them touring the US in the late 80’s. In 1992 Maddison relocated, with Sydney based band Monroe’s Fur, to Seattle, where he joined the Seattle based incarnation of Adelaide band Bloodloss, working again alongside longtime collaborator Martin Bland (the two are still active in La Paire D’Or) and Mark Arm. Recordings on In The Red and RepriseRecords ensued. Guy joined Mudhoney in 2001, replacing original bassist Matt Lukin, and remains the 4-stringer for Seattle’s finest to this day. Returning to Australia in the post pandemic malaise of 2022, he hooked up with old friend MIck Turner, who invited him to join in on what would soon become Fancy Weapon.   

Claire Birchall has been making music for the last 30-odd years and is prolific as hell too. Coming out of the Geelong scene in the ’90s, Claire avoided Geetroit expectations and made her mark as a somewhat experimental DIY solo artist before leading bands including Paper Planes and the Phantom Hitchhikers in Melbourne.  In more recent years she has charted another new course as a solo synth-pop artist (on Melbourne’s It Records) while at the same time constantly collaborating. Concurrent with Fancy Weapon, Claire is a mainstay of Kim Salmon’s Smoked Salmon project. Her most recent solo album is 2024’s The Haunting. Usually playing guitar or keyboards as well as singing, Claire came into Fancy Weapon as the drummer and co-wrote and sung a handful of songs on this first album. She’ll be doing more of that on the next one.

Joel Silbersher, at the age of 15 in 1986, wrote and sung a song called “My Pal”, which he’s been trying to avoid ever since. A huge influence on the whole Melbourne/Geelong scene that followed – Magic Dirt, Spiderbait, through to the Drones et al – Joel and his fellow botherers in GOD were too troublesome to cash in their indie chart-topping chips for Triple J success in the ’90s. But Joel’s next group Hoss did become standard bearers of a certain type of Melbourne rock in the 90s, before expanding their horizons to create music that has is closely connected to what Joel is doing with Fancy Weapon. Having made a number of solo records (including one, in 2002, for Mick Turner’s King Crab label), Joel has also worked with The Sunset Strip, Charlie Owens (in the duo Tendrils), played occasional bass for the Dirty Three, Tex Perkins and the Simon Juliff Band, and has been sitting on a ‘new’ Hoss album for at least ten years while he finishes the lyrics. Joel’s long-held desire to form a band with Mick Turner has significantly shaped the band that Fancy Weapon has become.

And finally there’s Mick Turner himself. Seen now as something of a musical citizen of the world with the internationally revered Dirty Three, Mick is primarily a Melbourne musician, and has been since he deafened punk audiences with the Sick Things at the beginning of the ’80s. Admittedly he did spend time in the UK in the ‘80s with the Moodists (alongside Dave Graney and Clare Moore) but his iconoclastic and noisy outfits Fungus Brains and Venom P Stinger both had strong local roots, and existed before Mick seemingly became the milder post-rock musician we hear in Dirty Three (and more recently Mess Esque and Bleak Squad). While Fancy Weapon don’t reach Sick Things levels of volume, distortion or belligerence, the band does show that Mick is still happy to sometimes help whip up some sonic disturbance with a clobbering rhythm section for support.  

First playing out in early 2025, Fancy Weapon have a number of well-received local shows with the likes of The Double, The Beasts, Penny Ikinger and Toody Cole of Dead Moon behind them, and now, with their first album finished and ready for release, they are set to take on the world.

 Fancy Weapon’s self-titled first album was recorded in a single session at Finn Keane’s Head Gap studios in Preston in late 2024, about a week before the studio burned to the ground after a neighbouring business was criminally torched. Further mixing sessions were completed at another venue under the name Head Gap. The album was engineered by Finn Keane and produced by Finn and Fancy Weapon.

The album reflects a self-assured and creative outfit bursting at the seams with ideas. Joel and Claire share lead vocals – Joel on more than half the songs, Claire on three of them, and they share a duet. The vocal melodies are ragged but beautiful as are their occasional harmonies. Joel and Mick share the guitars, and, as a cursory listen reveals, it is very much a guitar record. They are two very distinctive players, and their singular styles mesh spectacularly. Guy on bass and Claire on drums lay solid, powerful and always gripping and striking foundations. It all gets back to that minimalist, incandescent guitar-heavy rock music that we mentioned earlier, and Fancy Weapon do it so well.

Contact Fancy Weapon – 

fancyweaponmusic@gmail.com / www.facebook.com/fancyweapon / www.instagram.com/fancyweapon

Marc Valentine – ‘Uncommon Side Effects’ (Wicked Cool Records)

Marc Valentine – ‘Uncommon Side Effects’ (Wicked Cool Records)

Some people just have a way with a tune, don’t they? You know that, when it’s time to release an album, it’ll be chock full of earworms. Step forward, Marc Valentine, former Last Great Dreamer, with his third long player, the second on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label. After 2024’s ‘Basement Sparks’, it should be clear that he knows his stuff.

With ‘Uncommon Side Effects’, you get ten quality tunes, the kind you used to hear on the radio. From ‘NY UAP’, with its simple keyboard melody, we’re straight into territory from the notebook of The Boys. An understandable influence, given Marc’s recent tour dates with the band. ‘High On The Underground’ shamelessly nicks from ‘Sweet Jane’, and reminds these ears of ex-Boy, Duncan Reid. 

Marc knows the power of the key change outro, as ‘The Other Side’ shows. Simple, effective and very catchy. In fact, that is the thread throughout the album. Writing simple, memorable songs is anything but easy. Another top songwriter, Chris Catalyst, would, I suspect, enjoy these tunes. ‘Loneliest Part’ and ‘Tiger On Glass’ have echoes of his work and Eureka Machines. They’re responsible for some of my favourite songs ever, so this is no random comparison. 

‘Half Moon Pendant’ is a lovely, brief acoustic interlude, before ‘Temporary Buzz’ clouts you round the head like it’s shouting “potential hit single!”. ‘When The Light Has Gone’ ends on a glimmer of hope and a minimal, Buzzcocks-style melody; another EM motif, and a great song. Marc should be proud of this collection of songs. In troubled times, we need a little spark of optimism and joy. Preorder, and catch him on tour in April and May. 

Buy Here

Author: Martin Chamarette

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Dwarves ready for June LP drop

Dwarves ready for June LP drop

New DWARVES LP drops JUNE 5! Hello, are you paying attention? ‘The JENKEM’ album harkens back to the hard, fast sound of the ‘Blood, Guts & Pussy’ era DWARVES! Thirteen short, sharp bursts of madness, and one mid-tempo classic to rope in the masses. Look for an avalanche of cool live and animated videos and a slew of cool 7″s! Get them all signed at thedwarves.com

Grade 2 – ‘Talk About It’ (Hellcat Records)

Grade 2 – ‘Talk About It’ (Hellcat Records)

Well, we’re a few months into a new year, and there’s already been plenty of quality new music, but I think there’s a big contender for album of the year already, up step Isle Of Wight finest the brilliant Grade 2 with the excellent ‘Talk About It’

This 3 piece are going from strength to strength and just keep getting better with every album. Being well into over a decade of making music from the earlier Oi!  And Street Punk influence Grade 2 are now fully cementing themselves as one of the UK’s finest melodic high-energy punk rockers. 

Sid (Vocals/Bass), Jack (Guitar/Vocals) and Jacob (Drums) are certainly honing their craft, and since singing to legendary Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong label Hellcat Records a few albums ago, they just keep stepping it up a notch. I could give lots more superlatives, but let’s get down to it, the new album. 

First up we get one of the singles ahead of the release and it’s a banger ‘Cut Throat’ starts with guitar feedback and you immediately sense this is going to be aggressive and in your face and that it is, a opening guitar lick that will be stuck in your head and a brilliant and prominent bass line throughout that Matt Freeman would be proud of. This sounds huge and brilliantly produced, these boys aren’t messing about here with the message being even in this Cut Throat world, Grade 2 are here to stay. 

Next up, we have the insanely catchy ‘Hanging On To You’ which showcases both Jack and Sid exchanging vocals on the verses, and with a chorus, I dare you to try not to sing along to. 

‘Standing In The Downpour’ will surely have audiences bouncing up and down on the band’s current UK and European tour. I’ve had a smile on my face every time I’ve heard it, it took a few listens to notice, but when the chorus kicks in, I’m sure fans of The Clash will also have that same grin as well. 

‘Better Today’ is up next and has a great message for anyone who’s struggling in this world, be it with mental health or loneliness. Speak to people, you are not alone, this is euphoric stuff. 

Title track ‘Talk About It’ comes in close to the halfway mark and is my personal highlight, with a brilliant opening riff that bursts into a “Nah Nah Nah” right out of the Lars Frederiksen playbook, with the surprise of piano playing throughout, this 2:37 song will have everyone pogoing around the room, no doubt about it. 

‘Don’t Worry About Me’ lyrically is brilliant and is a middle finger to the naysayers and people who try to push in certain directions. “I mean everything I say, I’m doing it my way, I never need anyone to validate me, so don’t worry about me”.

We’re getting deep into the album now and the next three songs “Crash And Burn”, “Smugglers Haven” and “Rotten” show off how tight this band have become, Jacob the man with the sticks keeps the pace up throughout and Sid’s bass-lines are right up front in the mix and of course there’s some monster riffs in here from Jack and some great vocal exchanges, this is like going back to the Rancid classic 2000 album and that’s a big compliment. 

And to finish this superb album, we get a double salvo of the dark, brooding atmosphere of ‘Wasteland’, which tackles the dying towns and cities of the UK, whether it’s the Isle of Wight or the country in general, it’s very apt. The writing is on the wall indeed. This is followed by the light at the end of the tunnel, the excellent ‘Otherside’, which is a song full of hope and looking forward, not backwards, overcoming difficulties. Grade 2 have made it through to the other side and is exactly where they should be!!!! 

There we have it, ladies and Gentlemen, 11 songs, 25 minutes, and we have one of the albums of the year with Grade2 and ‘Talk About It’. Once this album is in your head, it will be on repeat. Catch them on their current tour and buy yourself a copy, it’s an absolute banger. 

Buy Here

Author: Christian Davies 

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The 69 Eyes get set to Survive in a ‘Cold Sweat’

The 69 Eyes get set to Survive in a ‘Cold Sweat’

Finnish rock band The 69 Eyes is thrilled to announce the release of the new EP “I Survive”, out on June 5, 2026, via BLKIIBLK.

To celebrate the announcement, the band share today a cover of the timeless Thin Lizzy hit “Cold Sweat”. 

After touring Europe earlier this year with D-A-D on the Cowpunks & Glampires tour and continuing with shows in Finland, the new single is a fresh-sounding and hard-rocking take on the song, originally released in 1983. 

The 69 Eyes version is produced by Erno Laitinen and mixed by Barry Pointer (Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe). The video for the song was filmed in January during the band’s recent European tour. It features a cameo by Portuguese goth legend Fernando Ribeiro from Moonspell. 

“A friend of mine sent me our demo of “Cold Sweat” from over ten years ago and asked why we never released it. After hearing the demo, Gabi Hakanen, head of Vallila Music House, said this is exactly The 69 Eyes at their best. Rock for the radio!”, said Jyrki 69. “Every respectable rock band also covers Thin Lizzy at some point, so now that is done as well.”

The band will continue touring in Finland until early April, after which they will return to the rest of Europe. See the updated tour dates HERE.


Pre-Order “I Survive” HERE

Once you’ve survived the 80’s rock scene, you become unstoppable – and The 69 Eyes are living proof. Formed in Helsinki in 1989 and still going strong with the same line-up some four decades later, the Helsinki Vampires have earned their legendary status. 

In a world with fewer and fewer true believers in leather jackets, midnight sunglasses and low-slung guitars, The 69 Eyes keep the Johnny Thunders’ flame burning like an endless sleazy club night back in the days.

Their biggest hit, “Lost Boys”, from 2005, was made into an iconic music video by MTV’s Jackass star and skater Bam Margera and the song still remains on annual Halloween rock playlists. 

One foot on glam, another one on goth, The 69 Eyes have released thirteen albums, reaching gold and platinum and a mainstream status in their native Finland, where they are signed to Gabi Hakanen’s Vallila Music House. Their previous studio album “Death Of Darkness” was released in 2023, and they have been touring without any notable breaks all over the world the last twenty years. 

Vocals, a lead and a rhythm guitar, a bass and drums are the classic rock band line-up. The 69 Eyes have that magic on stage that is needed for these elements to carry on beyond the rock’n’roll dreams, theirs and their cult following.

Follow THE 69 EYES: 
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Rock In Peace – Ross The Boss

Rock In Peace – Ross The Boss

Ross Friedman (January 3, 1954 – March 26, 2026), also known as Ross the Boss, was an American guitarist, known as a founding member of both the punk band the Dictators and the heavy metal band Manowar.

On February 9, 2026, Friedman announced that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He died of the disease a month later, on March 26, at the age of 72.

Ross was born in the Bronx, New York, on January 3, 1954. He formed the punk rock band the Dictators with Andy Shernoff in New Paltz, New York, in 1973. Before this, Friedman had played in a local band, Total Crudd. After recording three albums with the Dictators, Friedman went to France and worked for one year in Fabienne Shine’s band Shakin’ Street.

On Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell tour in 1980 (on which Shakin’ Street were the support act), Friedman was introduced to bass player Joey DeMaio by Ronnie James Dio. Later in 1980, Friedman and DeMaio formed Manowar, with whom he recorded six albums before DeMaio asked him to leave the band after the 1988 album Kings of Metal.

In 1990, Friedman joined Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom with fellow Dictators Andy Shernoff and Handsome Dick Manitoba. With drummer J. P. Patterson the band released the album …And You? to critical acclaim.

In 1994, Friedman had a blues rock band called “Heyday”, and in 1999, CMC records released the Spinatras album @Midnight.com, a band whom Friedman described as “The Dictators meet Cheap Trick”.

The Dictators started playing again in 1996, touring heavily. In 2001, with original rhythm guitar player Scott Kempner now back in the fold, the band released their best effort, the mighty album “D.F.F.D.”, which they then toured to support in the U.S. and Europe. A resulting live album was released from the European tour, entitled “Viva Dictators”.

In 2004, Friedman joined Albert Bouchard, the original drummer for Blue Öyster Cult, in his band Brain Surgeons. He also recorded an instrumental album with Dictators drummer JP Thunderbolt Patterson, called imaginatively Thunderboss.

In July 2005, Friedman joined Manowar onstage at the Earthshaker Festival, performing “Metal Daze” and “Dark Avenger” with them. At the end of the concert, he also performed “Battle Hymn” with other past and present members of Manowar.

In October 2006, Friedman and The Dictators played Friday and Saturday nights of the closing weekend at punk rock venue CBGBs, one of the clubs where they got their start.

In 2008, it included an appearance with old sparring partner Handsome Dick Manitoba in Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom at the 2008 Joey Ramone Birthday Bash, performances with Shakin’ Street at the Sweden Rock Festival, and a few tour dates in Spain with The Dictators. He released a new album in August with his German metal band under the name “Ross the Boss” called “New Metal Leader”. The following month, he appeared on Inner Demons, the second album by the New Jersey metallers Skullshifter, playing lead guitar on the track “Etched in Sand”.

He recently played in a reimagined lineup of The Dictators without HDM, but released an impressive album that was self-titled. Managed to meet him several times, and he was always very pleasant, polite and courteous even when joking with Manitoba.

On January 18, 2017, Friedman was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for his contributions to Speed Metal while in Manowar. His musical output was varied to say the least, but leaves behind classics from The Dictators and Metal titans Manowar. Rock in peace, Mr Boss. The world is a quieter place without you in it. Go play a Dictators record or ‘All Men Play On Ten’ and remember Ross The Fuckin’ Boss.

The Sideshows – ‘The Sideshows’ (Boom Bird Records/European Phonographic/Yeah Right! Records)

The Sideshows – ‘The Sideshows’ (Boom Bird Records/European Phonographic/Yeah Right! Records)

The Digressions may well be on hiatus, The Role Models done and dusted, and The Loyalties a distant memory, but our favourite Canadian-born singer/songwriter who resides on this side of the pond is far from done with rock n’ roll.

Yes, Rich Ragany (Rags to those in the know) has roped in his friend and former Hanoi Rocks/current Michael Monroe bassist Sami Yaffa for a new project. Bringing along longtime drummer Simon Maxwell for the ride, they retreated to Sami’s studio in Spain to bash out a few tunes Rags had on the back burner. Something clicked, the stars aligned, and before you know it, they had an album in the bag, and The Sideshows were born.

Fast forward to 2026, and the power pop trio unleash their debut, self-titled album on an unsuspecting world.

If you are at all familiar with Rich’s past work, then you’ll be pleased to know The Sideshows don’t stray too far from that musical path. Opener and first single ‘Brand New’ feels like a statement of intent from the off. A low-slung, high-energy rocker full of Stiv Bators attitude and 70’s garage rock power. With hooks aplenty, killer vocals and pumping bass driving a song that delivers on all levels, it’s a fine start.

The sound of Rich’s influences is all over this album. The Replacements, Tom Petty and Johnny Thunders all come to mind, and that ain’t a bad place to be in my book. In fact, I’m sure Paul Westerberg would be proud to have written ‘Not Sorry’. Tribal beats and sloppy guitars build to an almost apprehensive verse onto a chorus with a hook you just don’t expect. It’s a great song.

The punkier ‘Our Love In The Shadows’ follows a familiar path, with a feel-good chorus that creates euphoria on first listen and demands the repeat button. A strong song for sure. ‘Rock n Roll Owes Me An Apology’ rounds off Side One nicely, rocking the fuck out with nice ringing guitars and no apologies.

Dropping the virtual needle on Side Two, we have ‘Say Goodbye On A Night Like This’. That may sound like a Bryan Adams song title, but it’s actually a power pop gem of a song. Urgent beats and a killer chorus are the order of the day, and The Sideshows keep the interest high, delivering heartfelt, anthemic and melodic in equal measures. I feel a theme going on with this band. Are you on board yet?

The flipside of the debut single is the more reflective and introspective ‘The Start’, a song that hits in the feels and is up there with the best of Rich’s discography. As with the following ‘This Could Be Everything’, the band create an early Hanoi vibe, emotive and haunting yet with added Billy Idol sneer thrown in for good measure.

The production, handled by Messrs Ragany & Yaffa, gives a very raw, live in the studio feel which lends itself well, especially to the rockers, like album closer ‘We’re Such A Shame’, an in yer face delivery which is surely gonna be a blast to witness live.

Whether it’s with one of his many past bands or as a solo artist, Rich Ragany has always impressed with his ability to deliver heartfelt songs that are uplifting, introspective and will simply brighten your day. ‘The Sideshows’ is another of those albums that delivers, and with the added attraction of the legendary Sami Yaffa on bass duties, it may open this troubadour’s songwriting talents to a whole new audience of fans that love real music played by real musicians who still have a story to tell and a song to share.

Here’s hoping this is the start of a band with an illustrious career, as this self-titled debut is a bit of a banger.

Digital Link Here

European Phonographic

Yeah Right! Records

Author: Ben Hughes

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‘Poison’: Punk Lifer Justin Maurer Launches J MAU & THE KISS OFF

‘Poison’: Punk Lifer Justin Maurer Launches J MAU & THE KISS OFF

Los Angeles, California’s J MAU & THE KISS OFF emerge from what they lovingly call their “beloved hellhole” with their debut single “Poison,” out March 25. Founded in 2025 by Justin “J Mau” Maurer, longtime punk lifer and founder of Clorox Girls, Suspect Parts, L.A. Drugz, and Maniac, the project finds Maurer turning toward something darker and dustier without losing the bite that’s always defined him. “Poison” is a cinematic honky tonk murder ballad filtered through decades of West Coast punk history. It’s the first glimpse of a songwriter who’s always followed the feeling, even when it led somewhere uncomfortable.

Maurer’s story isn’t mythology. It’s messy and real. A CODA raised between Los Angeles and Bainbridge Island by a single Deaf mother, American Sign Language was his first language. Punk became his second. After surviving a turbulent childhood and helping put his abusive father in jail as a teenager, Maurer found autonomy in the underground. By fifteen he was booking shows and touring. By twenty he was releasing records and circling the globe with Clorox Girls. Along the way he built a parallel career as one of the country’s most respected ASL interpreters, working alongside prominent political figures like Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden, stage interpreting for punk legends like Alice Bag and The Avengers, interpreting Deaf actor Troy Kotsur’s historic 2022 Academy Award acceptance speech, and appearing with Kotsur on Curb Your Enthusiasm. His life has always moved between worlds.

After stints living in Madrid, London, and Baja California, and in the wake of a divorce that leveled him, Maurer found himself flat on his back in an East Hollywood apartment, cowboy boots still on, old country records spinning. Hank Williams. Buck Owens. Merle Haggard. Gram Parsons. Kris Kristofferson. Townes Van Zandt. He finally understood it. “Real country music is poetry,” Maurer says. “It’s about failure, heartbreak, and the tragic human condition. Music to laugh and cry and live and die by.” That rock-bottom clarity led him to write “Poison.”

Recorded at Savannah Studios in Boyle Heights with Ignacio “Iggy” Gonzalez and backed by Patrick “Butterworth” Vasquez and Kevin “Quake” Milner, the track moves like a slow-burning reckoning. Acoustic strum, restrained rhythm, and a haunted vocal that feels equal parts confession and warning. From his window in Pico Union, Maurer could hear children playing at the elementary school across the street. Listening to old country compilations full of doomed protagonists, he imagined himself as a man on the run whose days were numbered, watching that schoolyard and knowing he might never see it again. That’s where the line came from: “When will you see the children play / You never will again.” The refrain doesn’t comfort you. It circles back like a hard truth you can’t shake: “It’s got a way / That poison’s got a way / It’s got a say / It’s got the final say.”

The single arrives with an 8mm-shot video co-directed by Maurer’s former MANIAC bandmate Zache Davis and Marta Ribate Gracia-Davis. Grainy, sun-bleached, and edited with a careful hand, it plays like a spaghetti western fever dream, a corrido where the protagonist must confront how he’ll be remembered before the end comes calling. The artwork, designed by longtime collaborator Matthew “Snake” Davis, leans into vintage flash tattoo skulls and silent-film menace.

J MAU & THE KISS OFF Online

INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | BANDCAMP | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE

Inflatable Idols – ‘Get Stiff!’ (Rum Bar Records)

Inflatable Idols – ‘Get Stiff!’ (Rum Bar Records)

You want Rock n Roll played with swagger and a dash of panash and with the amps turned up loud oh, and a brass section for added pizazz, Well Rum Bar has it and its called The Inflatable Idols and this is their debut album drawing from several corners of the SoCal underground punk rock scene and RPM favs like TSOL, JJ & The Real Jerks, The Adolescents and Ultrabomb. What else do you need to know to validate this record and make it a must-own for your collection?

Jim Perrault – lead vocals, bass / Frank Agnew – guitar, backup vocals / Joe Jennings – guitar, backup vocals,  / Brian Coakley – guitar, backup vocals / Greg Kuehn – piano, organ / Derek O’Brien – drums, percussion, backup vocals / Geoff Yeaton – baritone, alto, tenor sax / Tavis Werts – trumpet / Belle Johnson – backup vocals / Mika Lett – backup vocals make up this motley crew.

‘GET STIFF!’ kicks off, quite literally with ‘Oxygene Thief’ straight up punk rock old school as Jim snarls out the lyrics whilst the ensemble of Idols harmonise their response whilst those guitar riff and throw out the shapes to keep this crazy train on the rails, just.

The album motors on with a wonderful energy and manages to mould the combined forces into a cohesive punk rock record with Garage rock and even some sweet soul for added flavour. The tempo is set to rage as ‘Drunk On Nostalgia’ rages into ‘Get Up And Get Out’ with its sleazy late night vibes and some of that sweet saxophone honkin out the place with some great call and respond BVs. The swagger of ‘Hero To Zero’ is right up there with som much going on its a real aural assault on the senses but you can bet your bottom dollar its good shit and you want to turn it up and hit repeat.

‘Make Some Noise’ is easily achieved and the overriding feature of this collection of songs is that the band sounds like they’re all on the same page and having a real blast. The arrangments are spot on and varied and the songs might all be in step they are never boring. Its timeless melodies and songs with plenty of punch but delivered with a smile and a swagger that the Infamous Idols know exactly what they’ve got on their hands. If Alice Cooper wrote ‘Imaginary Monster’ for his new LP the Rock n Roll world would lose their shit over how good it was so I’m here to tell you to Crank it up & shake your ass to the Super Superfluous sounds of the Infamous Inflatable Idols and get your sweaty mitts on a copy of this bad boy, you wont regret it and you can thank me later maybe at the Rum Bar over a cold one. Buy It!

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

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Dead Pioneers – No Kings

Dead Pioneers – No Kings

DEAD PIONEERS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘WAGON BURNER’ TO BE RELEASED JUNE 26TH VIA HASSLE RECORDS

PRE-ORDER HERE

NOW CONFIRMED TO PLAY THEIR FIRST UK FESTIVAL APPEARANCE AT 2000 TREES IN JULY

“No kings, No masters / Kick against fascist bastards”

Following their packed-out first EU and UK headline tour last month, Dead Pioneers, the Indigenous fronted band from Denver, are now preparing to unleash their third album ‘Wagon Burner’, set for release June 26th via Hassle Records.

Succeeding the album’s first statement with the initial single ‘Nazi Teeth’, a powerful attack on the upsurge of the far right and white supremacists, Dead Pioneers are back with a second single ‘No Kings’, which delivers an equally powerful punch to right-wing politics.

“Last summer, there were protests all over the United States called ‘No Kings’, in opposition of the current administration, the policies they’ve been implementing, and the rights they’ve been taking away from citizens,” explains frontman Gregg Deal. “While the issues are obvious, it’s important that we all say it out loud. It’s important that we show up and make our opinions known, that we won’t allow our inherent rights to be trampled upon for the benefit of the Epstein Class.

“Not unlike ‘Nazi Teeth’, ‘No Kings’ is meant to bring the points home,” he continues. “ICE, rights being taken away, mass shootings, greed over life, demonising immigrants, black, brown and queer people, widened economic gaps by the Epstein class, and the sincere frustration Americans feel over this. While this is happening, we realise that the right-wing politics coming out of the United States is emboldening conservative right-wing politics all over the world. We are against dictators, authoritarian regimes, Nazis, fascism or any other power structure, political, social or otherwise that seeks to take away the rights, freedoms or lives of human beings trying to live their lives. To that, we keep it simple: NO KINGS.”

Dead Pioneers is rooted in a 2020 piece called The Punk Pan-Indian Romantic Comedy, a deeply personal work that dealt with Deal’s upbringing. Following an embryonic performance of the piece, Deal secured a grant to expand it to include music created especially for the work. “The idea was to mix spoken word with punk music,” explains Deal, who hooked up with drummer Shane Zweygardt and guitarist Joshua Rivers during lockdown and began kicking the concept around.

A miraculous, natural chemistry made this supposed one-off project an actual band almost as soon as they cut what became their 2023 eponymous debut album (“We approached it like I approach my visual art: execute quickly, first thought is best thought,” Deal says), but they didn’t necessarily take it seriously until, unexpectedly, the outside world did. “I was like, we’ve made this record – what should I do with it? Put it online?” Deal remembers. The response was vigorously positive, and soon came demands to commit this noise to vinyl. A first thousand-copy pressing sold out in minutes. “So, then we pressed another thousand,” he adds, still marvelling at it all. “And then they were gone, too.”

What followed was “a series of strange accidents” that led to the group signing to Hassle, befriending Jello Biafra and touring with kindred spirits like Pennywise, Propaghandi, and even Pearl Jam. “Punk-rock had made everything seem so accessible when I was a kid,” says Deal. “Like, simply having the balls to get up on stage and stage dive and then be carried off by people that become your best friends once they get your feet back on the ground.” Now, punk-rock was reaching out its hands to Dead Pioneers and pulling them onto larger and larger stages. The group returned that favour by simply getting better and better: their second album, 2025’s PO$T AMERICAN, was sharper, angrier, funnier than the debut, a riot riveted with punch-a-Nazi thrills.

And now, Wagon Burner, their fearsome third album. Described by Deal as “more collaborative”, it’s a heavier, harder but also more accessible set, vicious hooks scattered among the punk-rock melee and guest appearances by kindred spirits Cheap Perfume (on the righteous ‘Nazi Teeth’), The Interrupters (on the shout-a-long anthem ‘Never Alone’) and, bringing it back to the group’s beginnings, Sleaford Mods (on the searing slow-burn of ‘The Worst Among Us’). The world might be darkening by the day, but Dead Pioneers are rising to that miserable occasion, casting their empowering light into the gloom.

Pre-order ‘Wagon Burner’ HERE

Co-produced by Dead Pioneers and Chris Beeble.

Recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Dead Pioneers are:

Gregg Deal – vocals

Josh Rivera – guitar

Abe Brennan – guitar

Lee Tesche – bass

Shane Zweygardt – drums

See Dead Pioneers at the following dates in the UK and EU.

July

8 – IE Róisín Dubh, Galway

9 – IE The Workman’s Club, Dublin

11 – UK 2000 Trees Festival

16 – DE Back To The Future Festival

17 – DE Adieu Tristesse Festival

18 – DE Seepogo Festival 

Find Dead Pioneers online HERE: