The Hip Priest drop New Video and album order details

The Hip Priest drop New Video and album order details

Now you know we love nothing more than championing bands that we love and there aren’t many bands we love more than the Hip Priests Shit –  Islands very own Garage Rock N Fuckin’ Roll darlings.  Unless you’ve been dwelling under a rock or sat with your head up a UKIPers arse you’ll know they have a brand new album on the way (Stand For Nothing). We love it and we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t let you in on the pre-orders so here goes –

The new Magnum Opus (Hopeless?) goes LIVE this morning 10 am in advance of the official release date of March 11th! Here’s the first track off the album in video form, ‘Welcome To Shit Island’ has some fine lyrics and is just a brief taster of whats to come. You know what to do folks!

 

Order your copy  Here Xx

Video by Baron Von Strange and Dan Poole @ GVFilm

 

Snakerattlers – All Heads Will Roll (Dirty Water Records)

Snakerattlers – All Heads Will Roll (Dirty Water Records)

From the dark heart of Yorkshire, this is Snakerattlers’ second album, and I admit that this is my first encounter with their music. The duo are husband and wife, Dan and Naomi Gott, guitar/vocals and drums/vocals, and, unlike some other duos, they have the tunes to ensure that they are no novelty act. Yes, there are elements of The Cramps here and there; ‘Do The Rattle Rock’ and ‘Rattle Rock Stomp’. But, their approach has more in common with Dan Sartain; see ‘I’ll Destroy Your Soul’. ‘She’s Strange’ sways, makes your hips shake. In fact, you could dance to the whole album, should you feel inclined.

 

They certainly have too much class to be tagged as psychobilly, in my opinion; a lazy description. ‘Standing On My Own’ is worthy of any Tarantino soundtrack, while ‘Ooga Booga’ does pretty much what it says. ‘Wild’ is a fitting end and makes me want to see them in a sweaty club sometime soon; their natural environment. But this is also a fine addition to your album collection. They know how to roll.

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Buy ‘All Heads Will Roll’: Here

 

 

 

Author: Martin Chamarette

Babylon shakes – Exile To The Velveteen Lounge (High Vol Records)

Babylon shakes – Exile To The Velveteen Lounge (High Vol Records)

We all remember a time when hard rockin’ guys walked the earth and MTV was happy to have programmes dedicated to genres of rock outside of Led Zep or AC/DC and then Grunge was alleged to have almost made a whole scene extinct apart from a few outposts that kept the faith well, 2019 and some of those people who remained true to their roots have come crawling out of the ashes of the past and are once again proud to drape a scarf over their mic stand and wear their attire like they were born to rock rather than some work clothes and sneakers like they’ve just walked in from working on their car.  Babylon Shakes are one of those bands – no not work clothes and oily clothes but a band who remember when Tyler and Perry rocked or when Faster Pussycat had the strut on Sunset Blvd.

 

Without a hint of irony, ‘Exile To The Velveteen Lounge’ can and will be compared to that Debut Faster Pussycat album or pre MTV Aerosmith because that’s where they are coming from or strutting from.  Take the second song ‘Sunset Striptease’ its certainly got that sleazy Joe Perry riff happening and the song is a rollicking good time and the fact they are happy to hit that cowbell like its going out of fashion is marvellous. It’s sleazy, loud and a bloody good time and it keeps it rock n rolling and not falling into that cheesy metal field.  I think the fact they are wearing their influences on their sleeves and its stretching back into the ’70s for inspiration rather than the 80’s makes this record authentic and above all the songs whilst often have cliched lyrics are pretty decent.

 

The production is big but it’s not Bon Jovi big and they keep it real without the temptation to add studio trickery or lush keyboards ‘No Pictures Please’ could be The Sweet and it’s impossible not to reference classic Faster Pussycat on songs like ‘Velveteen Liberteen’ and possibly add to that a hint of the Dogs D’Amour swagger.

Similar themes crop up throughout the rest of this album and they don’t stray from their tried and tested comfort zone and there’s nothing wrong with that being a loud sleazy Rock ‘n’ Roll band is alright with us and I thought I’d got away without there being the big soft ballad but then ‘Star In Your Eye’ crawled out of the speakers like it’s 7 am and they’ve just got in. It’s a decent arrangement but I’m not convinced it was needed but hey that’s one opinion.

Leaving just ‘Motel Lights’ to rock this bad boy home and with a great rumbling bass line, it certainly does that. I like Babylon Shakes and this album is a very decent affair now if they along with label mates the Prophets Of Addiction can kickstart more bands to follow suit then we might be in for a resurgence of a genre people said was gone forever but we know better folks and on this evidence so do Babylon Kicks.  Good Work fellas good work!

Buy Exile To The Velveteen Lounge Here

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Author: Dom Daley

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

On this day in 1979 Simon John Ritchie otherwise known as Sid Vicious passed away On the evening of 1 February 1979, a small group of friends, including Jerry Only and Howie Pyro, gathered to celebrate Vicious having made bail at a friend’s Manhattan apartment.

Sid was clean, having been on a  methadone program during his time at Rikers Island, but at the dinner gathering,  photographer Peter Kodick, deliver him heroin. He had apparently spent hours during the party looking toward the future, planning an album he would record to get his life and career back on track should he be acquitted. Sid played Max’s along with a stellar line up including Mick Jones, Steve Dior, Matlock (who he replaced in the Pistols) Jerry Nolan to name a few who he played with or made plans to help him record this solo album he had planned. Sadly none of those pans would come to fruition as Sid overdosed at midnight, but everyone present worked together to get him up and walking around to revive him.  Sid died in the night and was discovered dead by his mother, Anne Beverley, early the next morning. Aged just 21.  still to this day its such a sad story to tell and a waste.  RIP Sid.

Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City. There had been a party to celebrate Vicious’ release on $50,000 (£29,412) bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at midnight. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon and heroin residue were discovered near the body.

The Specials were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Special A.K.A. Live E.P’. The lead track ‘Too Much Too Young’ was the shortest song to reach No.1 on the UK singles chart in the 1980s that also happened on this very day in 1980.

On this very day in 1978 Van Halen signed a record deal with Warner Brothers.  Seems as good a time as any to play this then…

 

Oh and it was on February 2nd 1949 that the first ever 45 RPM record was released.  How about that for a fact?

 

The Hip Priests – ‘Stand For Nothing’ (God’s Candy/Ghost Highway/Speedowax/Digital Warfare)

The Hip Priests – ‘Stand For Nothing’ (God’s Candy/Ghost Highway/Speedowax/Digital Warfare)

It’s been 5 long years since The Hip Priests’ last studio album, but as some wise old sage once said “good things to those who hate”.

During that time events have certainly seen the UK become a more divisive place to live and as such ‘Stand For Nothing’ has never felt like a more perfectly timed record. It’s one the band said they’d never release but now felt compelled to, plus it’s also one that contains not a single song about the old in out … a true first in Priests terms.

But wait just a minute, because I’m getting ahead of myself here and forgetting you just might be someone discovering The Hip Priests for the very first time, sat there all comfy on your toilet (I mean where else would you read about the Hip Priests?) thinking that in those intervening 5 years the band’s core trio of bassist Lee Love, guitarist Austin Rocket and vocalist Nathan Von Cruz must have been hidden away on some tropical island paradise recording a masterpiece in studio fuckery with Muff Flange. Well, you’d of course be very wrong indeed, because during the past 5 years what The Hip Priests have actually been doing is working their arses off by relentlessly touring (with the likes of Zeke, The Dwarves and The Bitch Queens) whilst releasing a bazillion independently funded and released limited edition 7” singles. Whilst in the process of doing all this they also managed to lose 2 drummers (before arriving at current sticksman D.P. Bomber), decided to turbocharge their sound via the addition of a second guitarist (via the enigmatic Silent Mike – who has subsequently moved on to pastures new), and then came within a hair’s breadth of finally getting themselves signed to a major label. Something that would ultimately come to nothing when the A&R guy signing them was “let go” by the label.

Phew! That potted history reads like a draft film script doesn’t it, but this boys and girls is the harsh reality of being in a proper rock ‘n’ roll band, one that is driven to succeed at all costs.

So, after all that does ‘Stand For Nothing’ live up to my heady expectations as the record to propel them into 2019 as the number one independent rock band on the UK scene?

Well, it takes exactly one line of the album’s blistering opener ‘Welcome To Shit Island’ to answer this conundrum as Nathan Von Cruz venomously spits out “Small minds, dumb pricks – drop a bomb on this isle of shit” and I can immediately feel myself grinning from ear to ear whilst punching the air with absolute joy. YES! Someone is finally not afraid to speak the truth and there really is no time like right now (excuse the pun) to celebrate it. In fact, all joking aside if ever there was a sign that The Hip Priests were evolving into a much bigger and angrier sounding beast than ever before it was that 10 minute epic (which curiously doesn’t make the final track listing here) that well and truly pissed the line in the sand regarding the band’s musical ambitions.

The expansion of sound that was so evident during the horn-driven ‘No Time (Like Right Now)’ is thankfully driven headlong into this album too and the aforementioned addition of a second guitarist gives tracks like the stunning ‘Losers Of The Faith’ (which I must admit is my favourite track here) and the glorious one-finger piano-driven ‘Stand For Nothing’ an additional melodic edge, something that just might have been missing from previous Priests’ records where the band chose to simply bulldozer you into aural ecstasy.

Fear not though fellow Spasm Gangbangers because that old school Priests sound is still very much here in abundance during tracks like the caustic ‘Social Hand Grenade’, and the thundering album closer ‘Rock N Roll Leper’ plus let’s not forget the already firmly established live favourite ‘Cheers To Me’. It’s just that this time around I’m finding myself going back to the likes of the pounding ‘Deja F.U.’ and the dare I say it the “gothic sounding” ‘How Do You Get Off?’ (is that a hint of Farfisa I here in there lads?) time and time again as The Hip Priests truly spread their musical wings…sonically speaking of course.

What also really stands out on this record are the lyrics, and on the vinyl only track ‘U Okay Hun’ we get to rejoice in Lee Love’s lightning fast take on the world of the vacuous self-centred fucks that litter social media, a track which is without doubt one of his finest moments yet, and he’s written quite a few of those that’s for sure.

At the start of this review I stated that ‘Stand For Nothing’ contained no tracks about sex, which will be a total shock to any Priests fan’s moral system I know, but for those of you hankering for the ‘Saints Of Excess’ of old there’s still ‘Last Train Wrecks’ to look forward to, a glorious tale of self-destruction that comes complete with an intro from Happy Tom and actually revolves around some of the very people who will no doubt be rushing to buy their copy of this album when it goes on pre-sale on Feb 4th via the various labels involved and linked below.

Look, in ‘Stand For Nothing’ The Hip Priests have written one of, if not THE most important garage punk albums of 2019. Buy it now (via the links below) and help the band save Shit Island from forever falling into the sea of musical mediocrity.  Essential!

Spasm Gang

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Author: Johnny Hayward