Stiff Little Fingers are delighted to announce a full UK tour in March 2020

Stiff Little Fingers are delighted to announce a full UK tour in March 2020

Legendary Northern Irish punk rock act Stiff Little Fingers are delighted to announce a full UK tour in March 2020 – The 2020 Tour.

The tour will see the band play their29th consecutive Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom St. Patrick’s Day show as part of their traditional March tour. The band also headline London’s Roundhouse to end the 13-date run.

All the dates will feature support from The Professionals and TV Smith. The Roundhouse show only will also feature a very special guest slot from the Neville Staple Band. With an iconic career of over 40 years, Stiff Little Fingers remain as vital as ever.

The full tour dates are as follows:
Thursday 12thMarch 2020                               Bristol, O2 Academy
Friday 13thMarch 2020                                     Cardiff, Great Hall
Saturday 14thMarch 2020                               Birmingham, O2 Academy
Monday 16thMarch 2020                                Norwich, UEA
Tuesday 17thMarch 2020                                 Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
Thursday 19thMarch 2020                               Troon, Concert Hall
Friday 20thMarch 2020                                     Newcastle, O2 Academy
Saturday 21stMarch 2020                                Leeds, O2 Academy
Monday 23rdMarch 2020                                Northampton, Roadmenders
Tuesday 24thMarch 2020                                 Nottingham, Rock City
Thursday 26thMarch 2020                               Portsmouth, Pyramids   
Friday 27thMarch 2020                                     Manchester, Academy
Saturday 28thMarch 2020                               London, Roundhouse

Tickets are available from www.slf.rocks

In addition to the dates announcement Stiff Little Fingershave just put out two special ‘Virtual Reality’ videos filmed with a 360 degree camera attached to the drum kit, from this years “Putting the Fast In Belfast 3” show in August. This gives the user, via their mobile viewing device or computer, the option to view whatever part of the stage and or band member they so wish via movement of the viewing device or via a mouse or pointing tool. The two tracks are their iconic punk anthems “Alternative Ulster” and “Tin Soldiers” available via the links below and on the bands own YouTube Page.

 

Stiff Little Fingers have been incredibly active in recent years, playing some prestigious live shows, including: three years of headline sold-out hometown performance in Belfast’s Custom House Square; London’s Hyde Park British Summer Time concert with Green Day; the 28th traditional St. Patrick’s Day sold-out show at Glasgow iconic venue Barrowland Ballroom.

In addition to the live performances, the past five years saw Stiff Little Fingers release two records: their tenth studio album “No Going Back” in 2014, which showcases a band at the height of their powers, still able to capture the heart of the listeners with relevant topics and honest sound, reaching #1 in the UK charts; and a live album “Best Served Loud – Live At The Barrowlands” in 2017, which immortalises Stiff Little Fingers’ epic performance at their annual St. Patrick’s Day show.

Formed in 1977 in Belfast Stiff Little Fingers were among the pioneers of punk rock. Joining ranks with the likes of The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Damned, Buzzcocks, and Undertones they brought in a new era of music and they’re still keeping that spirit alive 42 years on!

www.slf.rocks  / www.facebook.com/StiffLittleFingers  / www.twitter.com/RigidDigits

Band picture credit to :  Bernie Mcallister

The Bellrays head to the UK for January Tour with Los Pepes in tow

The Bellrays head to the UK for January Tour with Los Pepes in tow

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Blues is the teacher. Punk is the preacher. It’s all about emotion and energy, experience and raw talent, spirit and intellect. Exciting things happen when these things collide.

Bob Vennum and Lisa Kekaula made the BellRays happen in 1991 in East LA but they weren’t really thinking about any of this then. They wanted to play music and they wanted it to feel good. They wanted people to WANT to get up, to NEED to get up and check out what was going on. Form an opinion. React.

So they took everything they knew about; the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, the Who, the Ramones, Billie Holiday, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, the DB’s, Jimmy Reed, Led Zeppelin, to name a very few and pressed it into service.

It was never about coming up with a ‘sound’, or fitting in with a scene. It was about the energy that made all that music so irresistible. It was the history BEFORE Led Zeppelin that led them to that point. The Beatles thought they were playing R&B. It just came out like ‘Rubber Soul’. The Ramones were trying to be Del Shannon or Neil Sedaka and out came ‘Rocket to Russia’.

With the BellRays there was no conscious effort to ‘combine’ rock and soul because they didn’t see them as divided in the first place. Blues was teaching. Punk was preaching. The BellRays were always listening.

www.thebellrays.com

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The Sino Hearts – Leave This World Behind (Monster Zero Records, Target Earth Records)

The Sino Hearts – Leave This World Behind (Monster Zero Records, Target Earth Records)

We’re always open to a first here on RPM Online and we’re a broad church and we welcome a first for sure and that’s some immaculate power poppin rock and roll all the way from Beijing in the shape of the Ramones meets The Boys power pop of The Sino Hearts and a whole bunch of other influential pop tarts thrown in for good measure.  It’s primarily the work of Zhong who used to play in Dee Cracks so there is pedigree here.  Its got a sprightly production and the tunes are sharp as the smiles on the band’s faces as they hammer out their snotty tunes.

Twelve tunes all with a hefty helping of love from the bottom of their hearts but it’s not all Ramones by numbers (although their influence weighs heavily) I’d say there’s a more modern Green Day feel to the happy go lucky  sounds like ‘Vienna’ with a cool verse that flows nicely into the chorus and gang vocals that breakout – its an infectious sound and what it lacks in originality it makes up in quality.  The more laid back ‘Long Vacation’ has a great pre-chorus and those sort of riffs are timeless and if you love yourself some power pop punk rock then this is always a no brainer and ticks all the right boxes.

The tracks only break the three-minute barrier a few times which is spot on and they never overstay their welcome (how could they?) ‘Bittersweet’ has a weird ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ (if it were power pop) then off we go with a great melody and riff,  wahey! lets rock and roll some more before ‘Juan’  fires up the T rex side of power pop songwriting with some beach boy bv’s then to close off the record they break out with their native tongue which is great and something we totally approve of round here showing how rock and roll is indeed the global language and translates no matter where you are from if you get it then you just get it! even though the English version makes more sense to me ‘Long Vacation’ is a great track no matter how its sung.

The Sino Hearts have swagger and style and play power pop-punk rock n roll and do it perfectly well. Let’s all leave the world behind and just fuckin’ dance! Maestro 1-2-3-4 let’s go!

 

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Author: Dom Daley

The Mission’s Wayne Hussey launches 2nd leg of ‘Salad Daze’ UK tour with Evi Vine

The Mission’s Wayne Hussey launches 2nd leg of ‘Salad Daze’ UK tour with Evi Vine

The Mission’s Wayne Hussey launches 2nd half of ‘Salad Daze’ UK tour with Evi Vine

After a successful tour of mainland Europe and earlier UK dates, Wayne Hussey of UK alternative rock legends The Mission will be playing a new wave of UK dates with London-based dark ethereal artist Evi Vine. Hussey is touring in support of his recently released autobiography ‘Salad Daze’. Evi Vine is supporting her new album ‘Black Light White Dark’.

Evi Vine contributed backing vocals on The Mission’s 2016 album ‘Another Fall From Grace’, which hit the UK top-40 album chart. In 2016-17, she toured with Wayne Hussey and The Mission as featured vocalist for their 30th Anniversary Tour.

Wayne Hussey’s book ‘Salad Daze’ was published on May 23 by Omnibus Press, chronicling Wayne’s life from childhood to his days with The Mission. A confessional, engaging and explicit account of life in the eye of rock’s storm conveyed with warmth, humour and laugh-out-loud moments, each chapter is accompanied by a specially curated playlist (via YouTube and Spotify) featuring artists as diverse as Elvis, Radiohead, Suicide, Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, David Bowie, Television, T-Rex, Cigarettes After Sex, Iggy Pop, and Telly Savalas.

“My autobiography was recently published and, to celebrate, I’m going out on a mammoth tour of Europe. Having been in solitary confinement and chained to a desk for the last year or so I thought it was time to go and make some music and be a little sociable with the world. Hence, I’m playing 50 plus shows in just over two months visiting the UK, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Greece, & Sweden,” says Wayne Hussey.

“It’ll either kill me or make a man of a me at last. For the UK shows I am delighted to have Evi Vine as my very special guest. Evi, who recently released a third solo album ‘Black White Light Dark’, sang onstage with The Mission in 2016-17 on our ‘Another Fall From Grace’ tour. I am also hoping to persuade Evi to maybe join me onstage each night to sing a few songs together. It was always one of the highlights of the Mission show for me when Evi and I got to perform one acoustic song, I always looked forward to that moment.”

Born in Bristol and raised as a Mormon, Wayne had his epiphany as a young boy while watching Marc Bolan and T-Rex on Top Of The Pops. Seeing his destiny in a blinding flash of glitter, mascara and dark curls, he decided he was going to be a rock star. After moving to Liverpool, Wayne eventually gained recognition and notoriety as lead singer and principal songwriter in The Mission after putting in time as a guitarist with Sisters Of Mercy, Dead Or Alive, and Pauline Murray’s Invisible Girls.

Most recently, both Wayne Hussey and Evi Vine have been collaborating with LA-based supergroup Beauty in Chaos, spearheaded by Michael Ciravolo and also involving members of The Cure, Ministry, Cheap Trick, King’s X, The Offspring, Van Halen, Marilyn Manson and Bauhaus, as well as Ice T, Tim Palmer and Rolan Bolan, among others.

The ‘Salad Daze’ Tour with Evi Vine runs until November 8 at Stockholm’s Nalen Klubb. His final UK date is November 10, when Wayne appears at the Louder Than Words book festival in Manchester.

TOUR DATES (all dates with Evi Vine, except where indicated *)
Oct 22  Southend-On-Sea – Chinnery’s
Oct 23  Bedford – Esquires
Oct 24  Manchester – Night People
Oct 25  Blackpool – Bootleg Social
Oct 26  Newcastle – Cluny
Oct 27  Glasgow – The Audio
Nov 2   Whitby Pavillion – Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival * (with The Divine)
Nov 5  London – Nambucca
Nov 6   Bath – Komedia
Nov 8   Stockholm – Nalen Klubb
Nov 10  Manchester – Louder Than Words book festival *

UK tour tickets https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/songsofpreysgigs
Europe tour tickets https://tinyurl.com/yy732xqz
Order ‘Salad Daze’ book https://themission.bigcartel. com
Wayne Hussey ‘Wither on the Vine’ https://youtu.be/6gfsdPPoxYM
Wayne Hussy ‘Marian’ https://youtu.be/HSwIMEAiiFE
Wayne Hussey with Evi Vine ‘Black Mountain Mist’ https://youtu.be/aQ4FGubGjQ8
Evi Vine ‘Black Light White Dark’ LP https://evivine.bandcamp.com/album/black-light-white-dark
Evi Vine ‘My Only Son’ https://youtu.be/v-DXpbrnsdA
Evi Vine ‘Sabbath’ feat. Simon Gallup https://youtu.be/oSKQb33ZwC0

“He is one of a kind, and whether he likes it or not, he’s an absolute legend, and I can’t think of anyone on planet Earth who has a better story to tell” – Gary Numan

“I toured a lot with The Mission and Wayne was much too bright and nice a guy to be in the rock business. He always had a sense of humour” – Iggy Pop

“After years and years of living with repression and religious guilt, I had finally shaken off those shackles to become the clichéd licentious, degenerate, promiscuous rock star – everything that my mother feared I’d become” – Wayne Hussey

 

* Photography for ‘Salad Daze’ poster by Jill Furmonovsky

* Wayne Hussey photo by James Bacon of Sheffield Lens

Keep up with Wayne Hussey / The Mission UK
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iTunes | Spotify | Book order |

Keep up with Evi Vine
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Big Cartel | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | iTunes | Spotify

Slumb Party – Spending Money (Drunken Sailor Records)

Slumb Party – Spending Money (Drunken Sailor Records)

 

Imagine a record that manages to capture the sounds of prime time Pulp and some alt bands from yesteryear like XTC and that hard to pigeon hole post-punk and you pretty much have cornered yourself some Slumb Party. The songs pretty mu7ch all feature a throbbing bass some angular jarring guitars  and some coooool synth licks and to round it all of there are also some really jazzy saxophone stabs like the fantastic ‘Shingles Bells’ I’d imagine these guys n gal have in the past (or present) been influenced by The Fall and the likes of XTC and the X-Ray Spex and bands like Buzzcocks and magazine.  It’s fair to say at times they have a splash of colour like the Briefs.  I love the vigour and runaway train that is ‘Time To Stop’ that rumble of the bass with the rapid snare beats is fantastic against that vacant synth lick but the vocals are shaking away like they’re trying to shake themselves off the record.  In contrast, the next track is a vacant bored slice of desperation entitled ‘~Existance’ that throws up comparisons of the likes of Cabbage.

‘Back Stabber’ is like an indie Stooges and the saxophone is majestic as is that funhouse bass pinch n slap. this would give Julian Cope a run for his money and in a tight club, I can imagine the walls would be sweating along to the screams of this jazzy little number. Who would have thought Nottingham would throw up one of the alternative albums of the year with the East midlands turning up trumps again with the likes of RPM favs The hip Priests and TV Crime hailing from this neck of the woods or should that be forest?

I was wracking my brain to think who it was who the vocals and some of the tunes reminded me of and when ‘Sound Off’ sped through my speakers The name Richard Hell sprang to mind and sure on the more punky end of the scale there is certainly an element caught up in the tunes. Even though it’s quite the eclectic album there is a cohesive thread throughout the album and the quality is high and the songs are engaging throughout without ever getting too experimental or jazzy.

Right down to the last number – the title track with that saxophone howling I’m impressed and the B52’s chanting of the vocals is really appealing. Slumb Party deliver a really excellent album of alternative music songs like the one in the video below made me dig out my International Noise conspiracy albums because I love that garage keyboard sound theres more to this than greets the ears.  check em out!

Author: Dom Daley

 

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TONY HARNELL & THE MERCURY TRAIN set to release – ‘Round Trip’ on limited edition white vinyl

TONY HARNELL & THE MERCURY TRAIN set to release – ‘Round Trip’ on limited edition white vinyl

TONY HARNELL & THE MERCURY TRAIN will release their album ‘Round Trip‘ on a limited edition on white vinyl and limited to 500 copies worlwide on November 29th, 2019 via Livewire / Cargo Records UK. The album will also be available on all digital platforms. It’s the first time on LP, it was originally released on CD in 2010.

This is a masterful and critically acclaimed acoustic retrospective of Tony Harnell’s prolific career. With new arrangements and a stellar production, these great songs sound fresh and vibrant with a new spark breathed into them by some of New York City’s finest musicians. This is a very special record: a stripped down, reinvented retrospective of Tony Harnell’s past classics originally recorded with his previous bands TNT, Westworld and Starbreaker, with one brand new song “Anywhere But Here” recorded especially for this release. The idea of re-recording some repertoire classics came about after Tony performed some low key shows in New York in late 2008, with some talented and accomplished musicians that were not part of the Metal/Hard Rock scene. The desire was to breathe new life into the songs with new arrangements, key changes and added parts, it’s like listening to songs you know in a whole new way.

The limited vinyl can be pre-ordered Here

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Happy Monday folks.  who cares if it’s raining or not it doesn’t matter a toss when the rock and roll videos are from bands as good as the Cavemen, Backstreet Girls and the Wildhearts.  All three bands have recently released records and are on tour or going on tour.  So check out these bad boys starting with the awesome Cavemen who would go down really well as the house of commons house band none the less.  they’d get the likes of Boris and his cronies behaving themselves or else.

 

With a brand new album full to burstin’ with Bad Boy Boogie out on the shelves, how about the new video from Oslo’s finest Backstreet Girls as they pose the question of the day…

Finally with another round of tour dates done and dusted and a new EP to celebrate and a review just up on rpm have yourself some wildhearts to round off this Rainy Days & Mondays videos

SCUMBAG MILLIONAIRE -‘Got No Brain’ but they have a new 12″ on the way

SCUMBAG MILLIONAIRE -‘Got No Brain’ but they have a new 12″ on the way

12” MAXI SINGLE PRE-ORDER ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY!

Hey, just in case you missed this…


It’s been a year since they released their debut album ‘Speed’, and would like to celebrate by announcing the release of the fifth and last single from the album 💣

They went big this time. ‘GOT NO BRAIN’ is a 12 inch, 45 rpm maxi-single, containing three more songs which are exclusively released on vinyl. The three songs are in the same spirit as ‘GOT NO BRAIN’, fast and short!

PLACE YOUR PRE-ORDER HERE:

The Wildhearts, Janus Stark – Komedia, Bath 16/10/19

The Wildhearts, Janus Stark – Komedia, Bath 16/10/19

Bath Komedia was a new venue for the intrepid travellers from South Wales but we love an adventure and tonight we had to get there on time to catch the support of Janus Stark seeing as we’ve heard the new album and loved what we heard and wanted to see if Gizz Butt could knock it out live. After negotiating the Bath one-way system and eventually finding a place to park by the time we reached the venue the band had already taken the stage and were knocking out songs old and new.  they reminded me of a punkier Eureka Machines and Gizz is something of a guitar players guitarist with a great sound in the venue they were entertaining and engaging and the catchy power pop/rock sounded great. these were the perfect opener for The Wildhearts and ending the set with the best track off ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ was a bonus because ‘Every Little Thing Counts’ is just about spot on.  I can look forward to hearing a lot more of the band when the album is released hopefully in December.

When it was announced that The Wildhearts were adding another string of dates and that there would be the Renaissance Men tour part 2 I couldn’t wait to get another slice of loud rock’n’roll live-action after catching the boys in Cardiff on the first leg of the tour earlier in the year.

The nearest venue to me was the Komedia in Bath with a couple of hundred miles round trip (on a school night) I planned my latest Wildhearts action. Around 9:15 pm I heard the opening guitar riff to the lead-off track to the bands latest great ep the title track ‘Diagnosis’ and bam the band were on stage and away we go. 

The band are tight and as the glorious noize of ‘Diagnosis’ comes to an end the band launch into another Renaissance men soon to be live classic ‘let em go’ and this anthem gets the Bath crowd jumping and singing along with Cj taking lead vocals on the bridge doing the Frank Turner vocals.  Next up we have that all-time classic hearts tune ‘I Wanna Go Where The People Go’ and Ginger is on top form with some blistering guitar work and those rough yet melodic vocals of his soaring loud and proud. Some familiar favourites such as ‘Sick Of Drugs’ is welcomed and this night is turning out to be a show and a half as both band and crowd are right up for it in the confines of a really nice tight venue tucked away in the narrow streets of Bath.

‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’ sees the white album being represented and this leads us into ‘My Kinda Movie’.  Ginger announces that each band member is taking his turn in picking a track to play live and tonight’s choice is by Danny and what has mister McCormack picked, well he’s treated us to a P.H.U.Q. b-side the stunning “Mindslide” and that throbbing bass of his leads us into a rare treat and what seeing The Wildhearts on form is all about. ‘Caffeine Bomb’ is up next and this fast as lightning track showcases what a machine of a drummer Ritch Battersby is and why he is one of my favourite drummers and boy does he hit those skins hard.

‘Dislocated’ is greeted by this reviewer with a huge smile on my chops as this is my favourite track off ‘The Renaissance Men’ album and the guys blast it out with some real punk rock fury.  Great also to hear “Jackson Whites” being blasted through again at a furious pace. A real fan favourite is “Red light green light” and already this set is proving to be an excellent reason to venture out on a School night for a shot of Rock and Roll – could this night get any better?

‘Vanilla Radio’ has the Bath crowd singing “where’s my Elvis” in unison and that leads us into the 5th ‘Renaissance Men’ track of the night ‘The Fine Art Of Deception’ which is another Ginger penned classic. Tonight seems like the night for the lesser-known rare track getting a good airing as we are treated to ‘Action Panzer’ Nestled in with all the classics you’d expect to hear at a Wildhearts show.

The lights come up and with that the band walk off to a thunderous roar of appreciation from the crowd  – you’d think there was a couple of thousand in tonight by the sounds of them and shouts of “more, more, more” and as if by magic the boys walk back onstage and launch into the mighty riff of ‘Greetings From Shitsville’ and this crowd goes nuts.  Part two of the encore we are treated to the icing on this particular party cake as the band unleash the stunning earth vs b-side ‘Beautifull Thing You’ and indeed it is a glorious racket of loud harmonic beauty. It’s not quite done yet as there is one last song of the night and the fan fav ’29 X The Pain’ and with both band and fans singing their hearts out it is truly a great end to a special night.

All that is left for this reviewer to say is if you can get to a Wildhearts show please do as the band are on top form and are tight and clearly enjoying themselves and you will not be disappointed. Bring on round three and the doubleheader of the Backyard Babies slugging it out with the in-form and on fire Wildhearts Bring it on! 2020 is shaping up nicely if tonight was anything to go by.

 

Author: Gareth ‘Hotshot’ Hooper

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‘Diagnosis’ Review Here

Tour Dates for 2020 Here 

‘Renaissance Men’ Review Here