Thee Headshrinkers (Shrink Ray Records) slap on some reverb and hit those cymbals Thee Headshrinkers are here to ‘Save Your Life’ with a groovy lick on the guitar and a song that indeed lies somewhere between Mark E Smith fronting The Cramps and poison ivy joining The Fall and just rocking out without a care in the world. To flip this bad boy over you get more of the same with ‘Head On’ sounding like it was recorded by Ron, Scott, and the Iggster, and even they were too fucked up to remember where they left the tapes. Excellent songs and a great vibe coming out of thee Headshrinkers I particularly like ‘Head On’ they should tour with Thee Hypnotics when COVID fucks off they’d be a lot of fun methinks.  get it Here

WARRIOR SOUL – ‘Elected‘ (Livewire/Cargo Records), the track is taken from their covers album called ‘Cocaine and Other Good Stuff‘, out in November ‘Elected’ is the first peek into the album and to be fair to Kory who is no stranger to a cover after tackling some quality songs previously taking on the ‘Coop is a no brainer. Maybe bludgeoning down the smoother edges of the original Warrior Soul have left in those cool horns and knocked out a very decent ‘Elected’ to be fair. Kory turns in a very tidy vocal as well to be fair.  If you want to hear it before you pick up your copy of the album stream it here

Teen Creeps – ‘Seeing Shapes’ (Pias)  Harking back to a sound that filled every student uni certainly in America with the likes of Dinosaur Jr or Buffalo Tom with a healthy dose of mid-period Lemonheads thrown in for good measure.  Teen Creeps have absorbed the lot and gone down the Teenage Fanclub route of writing a decent song with what they have and ‘Seeing Shapes’ is what spilt out in the studio.  this is the first single from the album ‘Forever’ that’s set for an early 2021 release and if this is the benchmark then I’ll be having some of that along with many others.  top tune. Facebook

Mad Caddies – ‘House on Fire’ (FAT WRECK CHORDS) 25 years and still standing this Californian band had some big plans for this year (Pre Pandemic) it’s not all bad though because the band were able to work on this EP (their first new music in six years) and finally they finished recording and got the damn thing released. Opening track is a gentle commercial number.  The band refers to it as punk rock turned ska and that’s about the size of it.  With one eye on the commercial success, they’ve hit a winning formula and the band’s horn section run riot here ‘Waiting For the Real Thing’ is pure pop.  I think they’ll be adding a whole heap more to their half a million sales with this. In these dark times, it’s a little ray of sunshine for sure.

J. Graves – ‘Deathbed’ (Illumin Records)  Call me lazy call me what you like but J Graves reminded me of PJ Harvey. Certainly on first play but there’s more to this than sounding like someone else because ‘Deathbed’ is a gutsy introduction from the repetitive guitar lick to the guttural howls on the chorus to the trashy drum beat its got something and I like it.

Portlands Jessa Graves has the talent and the post-punk rattle of ‘Time Travel’ has a real vibrant DIY feel to it and the X-Factor of it being a bloody good song.  ‘Lo The Morning’ is the third offering and proving that the first two are no flunk. wrapping up the EP is ‘331’. interesting, experimental and above all good. pick it up here at  Bandcamp

GILBY CLARKE ‘Tightwad’ (Golden Robot Records) ‘Tightwad‘ is the latest single from Gilby Clarke, and the follow up to his recent singles The Gospel Truth and Rock n’ Roll Is Getting Louder. It was written around a guitar riff he wrote while trying out a new fuzz pedal. Lyrically, it was inspired by deceit, treachery and the creative extremes people will go through to get ahead. Tightwad features Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx on bass and Stephen Perkins (Janes Addiction) on Drums. Facebook

KING BULL – ‘What Happened Here?’ (Riot Records) Boundless energy and guitars that are louder than everything else x 10.  Nowt wrong with that for us.  Canada’s King Bull has got a pocket full of catchy hard rockin’ tunes born in the ’70s and fueled by a fuzz box guitar and a bad attitude.  ‘Secret Sauce’ reminds me of another tune but I can’t quite put my finger on it. This EP gets better the more you play it and the songs get better as the EP wears on ‘Dontcha Know’ is wonderfully flamboyant from the guitar lick to the vocals its a ripper.  I’m only disappointed there isn’t a full-blown ballad on here but these five will keep me going as they save the best ’til last with ‘B Side Baby’ being the pick of the bunch and makes you want to punch the air in some arena wearing the silk scarf you picked up off their merch table.  Thoroughly enjoyed check em out! Facebook  Pre-order/save What Happened Here? HERE