“Unfiltered, savage and animalistic.” That’s how Midnight main-man Athenar describes his second long player for Metal Blade Records (his fifth studio record overall), and I for one, think he’s hit the (nine inch) nail bang on the head with that description, because ‘Let There Be Witchery’ is indeed, a total beast of a record.

From the blistering opener ‘Telepathic Nightmare’ (which sounds like Discharge jamming with Hellhammer) through to closer (and perhaps one of the album’s most “commercial?” tracks) ‘Szex Witchery’, what you get is a set of songs that are, without question, Midnight’s strongest to date. You can forget the comments I made when reviewing their last album – ‘Rebirth By Blasphemy’ – for RPM that Midnight might be about to do a Ghost and break through to the mainstream, because the ten tracks contained here are a massive middle finger to anything even remotely resembling compromise.

Working once again with producer Noah Buchanan (who had worked on ‘Rebirth By Blasphemy’) is perhaps Athenar’s master stroke this time around, largely because when saying he wanted his new record to “sound like a cross between ‘Raw Power’ and ‘Apocalyptic Raids’,” the pushback he got from the man behind the desk was “those records already exist, let’s make it sound like Midnight.” This advice proving to be very wise indeed as tracks like ‘Nocturnal Molestation’ and ‘Snake Obsession’ simply ooze Midnight malevolence. Likewise, ‘Villainy Wretched Villainy and (the superb) ‘In Sinful Secrecy’ plough a now familiar Midnight groove in the same way Motorhead did through much of their back catalogue. Well, if it ain’t broke, eh? 

Elsewhere, ‘Let There Be Sodomy’, ‘More Torment’, ‘Nocturnal Molestation’, ‘Frothing Foulness’ and (the hypnotic) ‘Devil Virgin’ all sound like they have been taken straight from a Black Metal giallo movie soundtrack, albeit one that’s playing out in Athenar’s (hooded) head. There really is no let up as the (one man) band who pride themselves on producing music to start fights to turn in one metal suckerpunch after another, making the experience of listening to ‘Let There Be Witchery’ not unlike being constantly coshed around the side of the head with an aural battering ram.

“I always want it to be loud and nasty,” admits Athenar. “That kinda thing never gets old with me. How funny will that look to see me at age 77 – if I reach that point – sitting on the porch blasting Hellhammer?” Well, with ‘Let There Be Witchery’ it’s a job very well done indeed, as this 55 year old is listening to this and feeling like I’ve just discovered Venom all over again back in my early teens.

There are not many bands out there right now as brutally honest as Midnight, and ‘Let There Be Witchery’ really is the boot in the bollocks the metal world needs in 2022.

11 out of 10. Absolutely essential!!!!!!

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Author: Johnny ‘Satans Little Helper’ Hayward

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‘Giddy Up A Ding Dong’ be fucked, ‘we have lift off’ might have been a more apt title for tonight such was the gale blowing around South Wales. This rearranged fixture comes after the original pre-Christmas Tour hit Covid buffers. Tonight it was the turn of Storm Eunice to try to derail this sold-out show but unperturbed, the ‘Giddy Up A Ding Dong’ tour rolls into town thankfully without further incidents or act of God.

Tonight the bill was bolstered by the inclusion of Gary’s newly signed band Dead Freights which was my first introduction to this lively south coast band, it was also another chance to see Local(ish) members of the Libs extended family the wonderful Trampolene.

Dead Freights took to the stage bang on time and proceeded to knock out a very impressive thirty minutes of sharp, loud indie rock with an emphasis on the loud and the rock. Frontman Charlie looked confident with his fringe and skinny jeans as he thumped out the chords to the band’s post-punk, indie rock tunes that had plenty of punch in the rhythm section and some nice choppy guitars to complement that aggressive style. The highlights were ‘Kill Your Man’, ‘Girlfriend Experience’ and the sharp ‘Bat Man’ which mixed up the caped crusader’s riff into the song’s frantic and snarling delivery – excellent tune. A true story that’s every bit as menacing as the story suggests. I was impressed with an excellent starter from this evening’s entertainment and await to hear more from this fledgling south coast band who have recently signed to Gary Powell’s label.

Next up are a band I’ve championed for a while. Trampolene were in fact the first band I was lucky enough to see when we emerged into the new world post-Covid. Trampolene have a brand new album ‘Love No Less Than A Queen’ under their belt.

I’ve always found the band’s live shows to be a sprawling, exciting, bundle of energy from start to finish. Always entertaining and never dull. Whilst they nail the music side of it they have also oozed that “by the seat of our pants” energy that bands need. Stand or fall – they’ll go down having the time of their lives and as previous shows have proven they throw every ounce of energy into their performances be it in a tiny club or on the larger Uni circuit or in an arena.

Tonight was going to be special seeing as the band hail (as I do) from 40 miles down the M4 and aren’t exactly welcome in certain parts of this town, as a result of the superior sporting achievements (obviously) in the last decade. Jack embraces the jovial abuse of ‘You Jack Bastard’ and runs with it, grinning like a Cheshire cat it adds fuel to the fire. As the band get straight on with business ‘It’s Not Rock and Roll’ punches a huge riff-sized hole in the Great Hall air, and get down to the serious job of showing this audience exactly what they have in their locker.

The swelling audience is then treated to some of the stand-out tracks off the new ‘Love No Less’ album mixed with older ones as ‘Adrenaline’ and the grungy ‘Oh Lover’ whip up the audience before Jack introduces the fantastic ‘Beautiful Pain’. The trio totally locked in and took the audience with them on their energetic journey. They tap into the energy of the audience throughout the set that saw their thirty minutes fly by ending with a frenzied ‘Alcohol Kiss’. Jack, Wayne and Kyle take a thoroughly deserved ovation from the appreciative audience who put rivalries aside Cardiff knows a good band when they see one, and once again the Great Hall has a new Welsh band to champion. Trampolene moves on to their biggest headline show this coming Friday as they open the brand new 3,500 capacity Swansea Arena and this has been the perfect warm-up for both tonight’s headliners and their own big night next Frieday.

On this evidence, it won’t be long before they themselves are headlining the Universities of the UK and beyond. Get in there you jack bastards its been emotional.

With the packed out, Great Hall now nicely warmed up – the intro tape of ‘Get Down On It’ is fired up. Onto the stage strides the likely lads – with a spring in their step they take to the stage with some Only Fools and Horses dialogue only for it to be drowned out as the Great Hall hoards roar as ‘What A Waster’ signals the whole auditorium to move like an ocean in a storm. Pure pandamonium. The buzz is maintained throughout ‘The Ha Ha Wall’ and ‘Up The Bracket’ before a chance to catch one’s breath as the brilliant ‘Gunga Din’ plays out and the interplay on the vocals is still spine-tingling and majestic.

Docherty and Barat still have that special energy (that X-Factor if you like) as they collide into one another, but these days it’s more like an inspiring bump, a wink, and a nod rather than previously being a kick up the arse or a sly dig. The tension is less spikey and more an appreciation to each other for what they bring to the music of The Libertines and the stage. Maybe it’s an age thing or now it’s the music that is doing all the talking and not any “off-field” dramas being blown out of proportion and spiraling out of control. The Libertines have been there, done it and bought the T-Shirt but have now moved on. Thank God they’ve been drawn back into each other’s orbit like moths to a flame, knowing that when the four are on a stage it’s different, it’s certainly special and unfinished business awaits. They can do the side projects as well (most welcome they are too) but this band and these songs are special.

By the time the band breaks it down for the more laid-back task of ‘What Kate Did’ followed by the outstanding ‘You’re My Waterloo’ it’s shaping up to be one hell of a performance and setlist. Carl took to the piano stool whilst Pete handled the acoustic guitar until the solo when Carl picked up the Les Paul JR laid his emotional lick out there before signing off the piano part. The highlight of the setlist so far.

With only three albums in neigh on twenty Years they can pretty much fill a ninety-minute set with all killer and no filler and tonight the spread of songs was superb helping the set flow magnificently.

‘Boys In The Band’, ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ had the audience providing vocal harmonies that were clearly having an impact on stage. If I’m correct it was Fifteen songs played before the encore that raised the bar further (if that was even possible).

‘The Delaney’ became something of a new years eve late night sing-a-long before the band rattled out an epic ‘Fame And Fortune’, ‘Death On the Stairs’, ‘Don’tLook Back Into The Sun’ and finally closing a spectacular night with ‘Time For Heroes’ and we then shuffled out into the cold, wet and blustery Cardiff night having witnessed a fantastic night of live music. It felt great to be back out there and see fledgling openers introduce themselves, super confident support with a whole pocketful of excellent songs, and a master class in headlining from one of the best bands Britain has to offer.

If you are thinking about taking in one of this summer’s outdoor shows – my advice is don’t hesitate to get on it. The line-ups will be excellent and on tonight’s setlist and performance The Libertines will more than impress. Energy, enthusiasm, and above all fantastic songs. Now, how about a new album? Pretty please.

Author: Dom Daley

Fried Cheese & Pivo, the first time on vinyl, was originally recorded in Czech Republic in 1992 and was only released on CD in 1993 and for Czech market.

The Pleasure Fuckers were formed in 1988 in Madrid (Spain) and were led by legendary Kike Turmix there is no doubt they were an absolute tour de force of Garage punk rock and did it with style and played it hard.

During their ten years, they put in the hard yards on the touring circuit extensively across the toilets clubs of Europe and the USA.

From the opening roar of ‘Solid Steel Automobile’ they take no prisoners. I think that’s fair to say and the relentless barrage continues at pace throughout these four sides of wax.

If you’ve never experienced The Pleasure Fuckers then I guess it’s Bored!CavemenAsteroid B-612Turbonegro, The Ramones, Motorhead at their rowdiest, and then some Stooges (obviously), ‘Oh Yeah!’ has easy lyrics to remember but the solos that slice through the solid wall of Rock and trust me they are blissful. the sonic six-stringery of Norah Findlay and Mike Sobieski is off the scale at times, as for the rhythm section they were tight as two rizzlas and had style and swagger.

You know the drill it’s pretty much two to three minutes of all-out sonic assault with Marshall stacks turned up to 11 and away you go. ‘Away’ is supper snotty to the max and it’s followed by the 100 miles per hour blitzkrieg of ‘No Naggin Hag’.

They did pause for breath but it’s literally just that a pause. It’s not the best quality recording but that only adds to the charm of songs like ‘Haven’t Got Time’. ‘Destination Uranus’ is like a punk n roll hand jive if I might be so bold with its strip club pole grinding rhythm and sleazy attitude.

They’d slip in some extraordinary covers like the Dead Boys classic ‘What Love Is’ that truly gives Stiv and the gang a run for their money. I guess it’s fair to say These guys couldn’t give a fuck who they offended either (then again you aren’t hoping to reach TOTP with a name like The Pleasure Fuckers are you?). With albums like the charmingly titled ‘First Abortion’ they are truly underrated but this live album might go some way to bring them to a new generation of fans as it leans heavily on the ‘Supper Star’ album that was released the same year. Tracks like The Ramonesish ‘The Gimp’ is the band showing how tight they are and that they indeed had their tongue in their cheek as well.

Great to see bands like The Pleasure Fuckers getting some love from Bang! Records and hopefully we might see the studio albums get a similar treatment that would be the icing on the cake. Signing off with their tip of the hat to The Ramones is perfectly acceptable as is their slog through ‘1970’ it seems about right.

We need timely reminders that the 90’s weren’t all bad and bands like this didn’t give a shiny shit about what was fashionable because good honest loud Rock and Fuckin’ Roll has always been Hip and in fashion to those who knew it and they certainly did. The Pleasure Fuckers walked the walk and talked the talk. My advice would be to Just buy this its a start and better late than never right? It’s almost twenty years since the man-mountain and formidable force that was Kike Turmix passed away so time to catch up me thinks.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

A collection of four tracks recorded during lockdown by former and current members of The Hip Priests, TV Crime and Mannequin. Ben, Austin, Sid, Joe and Nathan, recorded these four tracks that Von Cruz had written, with no rehearsal at all and smashed them out in a few hours with the result that those lucky enough to purchase this here Hate Tape. Of course it’s limited to 50 copies. It’s not on vinyl or digital but on the ladies format – The bloody cassette tape. They might be all gone by the time you’re reading this but it’s worth a try christ of course it’s worth a try, it’s fan-fuckin-tastic.

Hipster fuckers knocking it out on tapes I guess that’ll piss off the vinyl illite how dare they use a dead format (or are they ahead of the curve? With every man and his mother out buying a record player maybe the Cassette isn’t just for the ladies but hip as fuck and something you can fit in your back pocket instead of a phone and plug this racket into a snazzy walkman and get fired up on Hate.

‘Some Of My Brothers Only Have One Speaker’ is Red Bull amphetamine Rock and Fucking Roll kids (Hell it’s all full-throttle what else would you expect?) It should carry a warning sticker and should be approached with caution. No, not because it’s shit but because it might blow your speaker. Of course, it’s fantastic why the fuck wouldn’t it be? As it’s lo-fi it’s also a sonic stick of dynamite. ‘Disgraceland’ is like having your skull rattled with a baseball bat, intense and pummeling would be a few apt adjectives.

Von Cruz and Austin Rocket go back before the Hip Priests when they rattled fillings with Gods Chosen Dealers and Ben is now also a Hip Priest so they have a great understanding anyway. Nottingham bands cross-pollinate big time here which I guess helps when jumping in on these tunes, it certainly helps reach these energy levels.

‘Little Johnny Thunders Is A Motormouth’ is a tub-thumping banger! It’s got a filthy amount of riff-a-rama and rocks like a bastard of the highest order. An absolute masterclass it is too and has some awesome guitar wankery to complement the manic rhythm section that’s like a runaway train and I love it, Joe is the prince of pound, make no mistake.

I have a hunk of burning love for this tape and if there’s more to come Mr Von Cruz then get it pressed up the world needs more Von Cruz and his Hate tunes right here right now and the less produced and more fired up the better now fuck off because I need to turn the tape over and get a sonic sorting and a brain full of more of this here Hate. 10 out of 10 no doubt about it!

Hit up Nathan Here to see if there are any left.

Author: Dom Daley

Bad Actors released their album on Sioux Records who have previously released the excellent albums last year from Richard Bacchus and The Yowl who both made my best of albums for 2021. Bad Actors was supposed to come out a while back and what with covid etc the can got kicked down the line and delays with one thing or another means it’s only now getting a vinyl release but it’s limited so don’t snooze.

So what do they sound like? well, it’s a Rock and Roll record in the time-honored traditions of The Heartbreakers and Joneses but the vocals have much in common with The Humpers.

Hell, it’s a loud sloppy old-school punk Rock n Roll record. It’s buzzing with energy from the first note of ‘Steal Your Heart’ to the final refrain of ‘Cold Mercy’. Ten tracks of really good noise.  When you hear influences like The Candy Snatchers and Humpers then you know it’s got to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

‘Eyes On Top’ is a scuzzy slow rumbling rocker with low-fi vocals delivered with a bit of menace that meanders to the chorus where you get hushed piano tinkling the time-honored stooges one finger fuck you honky tonk whilst the guitars just kick out the jams like the Nomads. There’s tub-thumping into a Heartbreakers slog on ‘Anthem’ of course it’s called Anthem why wouldn’t it be? Imagine you’re in a beer stained club, it’s late you’ve had one beer too many and someone hands you a large glass of Jager shots and then the dry ice hits you and the speakers crank out some ear-shattering bad boy boogie and ‘Backfire’ creeps out of the speakers and you can’t help but get involved well ‘Black Static’ does that and some.

‘Pale Rider Dark Horse’ sounds live in the studio with a cool lick on the intro before the whole band kicks up a shitstorm much like Chelsea Smiles. These cats can Roll with their Rock and its powerful stuff. It’s got attitude aplenty and they have a fantastic sleazy sound its like a muscle car with plenty of grunt and a middle digit in your face but once you familiarise yourself with it then you will be the best of friends.

Man there’s even time to wind up some psychedelic riff-a-rama on ‘Who Knows Why’ but once it gets going it’s top drawer stuff. ‘Off My Head’ is sleazy power pop at its finest mashing up old school 50-60s pop with Punk attitude and rounded off with handclaps and boogie piano. What’s not to like? Man as we head into the final fling of this record we get some Detroit-like riffs on ‘Sister Slowdown’ that will rival anything out of Sweden – honestly. The pace is taken down for the final fling as ‘Cold Mercy’ is sinister menacing Rock n Roll.

So when I say these are limited to 300 pieces on white vinyl don’t waste time – if the postage from further afield than the USA is your problem I suggest you check out their other releases and pick them up and discover a new label that supplies the most excellent punk rock and roll records.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

The Godfathers confirm UK dates in March, April & August to promote their sonic new ‘Alpha Beta Gamma Delta’ album!!

Cornwall, Paisley, Middlesbrough, London, Preston, Edinburgh & Blackpool!!

Pic – Simon Simon Balaam

Friday 18th March – Cornwall Punk Festival – Looe, South Cornwall Tickets Here


Thursday 14th April – Rocknrolla’s – Paisley, Scotland…plus special guests The Zips Tickets Here

Friday 15th April – TBC

Saturday 16th April – TBC

Thursday 21st April – Westgarth Social Club – Middlesbrough…plus special guests Johnny Seven & The

Paradox Tickets Here

Friday 22nd April – 100 Club – London…plus special guests The WitchDoktors & DJ David

Edwards Tickets Here

Saturday 23rd April – The Continental – Preston Tickets Here

Sunday 24th April – The Voodoo Rooms – Edinburgh, Scotland Tickets Here

Saturday 6th August – Rebellion Festival – The Pavilion, Blackpool www.rebellionfestivals.com

The Godfathers’ new studio album ‘Alpha Beta Gamma Delta’ will be released in early April, full details coming soon! European dates for the band will be announced in the coming weeks!!

THE IMBECILES ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘IMBECILICA’ RECORDED AND CREATED WITH LEGENDARY PRODUCER YOUTH

OUT MAY 20th VIA CADIZ MUSIC

PRE-ORDER HERE:

 Taken from their forthcoming album which is released on Cadiz Music and is a collaboration with Youth from Killing Joke who produced the album and played bass on it, and they’re touring with Killing Joke in March/April.

The Anglo-American Imbeciles are enigmatic writer/guitarist Butch Dante’s creation, with a history of being vividly reborn. In chrysalis form they were a conventional punk band, Wartoad, till a Californian tour finished at an ex-biker roadhouse, whose former denizens were still inclined to dig up guns and bury bodies in the surrounding desert. Improvising with extreme freedom at what felt like the end of the world, The Imbeciles were born here.

2019’s The Imbeciles debut album was taped in eight deranged days, in a haunted studio on the Texan-Mexican frontier, a record of abrupt razor-edits and spectral moods. This was followed by an unhinged gig at London’s Heavenly Social where the band crashed and burned, with Dante pulling only singer John Kent from the wreckage with him.

As lockdown hit in 2020, the Dissolution Sessions EP was the first sign of renewed life, with a rebuilt line-up and sound. “I said, ‘I want to do pub-rock,’” Dante says, “and it went over really well.” It outsold the original album, with Crystal Palace fan Dante’s art-punk football anthem “Sunday Leaguer” being played on Match Of The Day. Youth (aka Martin Glover), loved it, and invited them to his Andalusian studio to properly begin Phase 2.

Colonel Kurtz and Hunter Thompson had seemed guiding spirits during the first album’s stoned madness. Youth’s El Mirador studio was equally extreme in its way, rewarding the Imbeciles who’d survived Texas’s purifying flame with a hippieish, bohemian Shangri-La. Waking up in Peter Murphy’s bed (the Bauhaus singer is a regular guest), Dante had to pinch himself at this ascension into post-punk heaven. “It’s on a mountain on Spain’s southern coast,” he recalls, “where Youth has built a big compound with Moroccan-style minarets. It’s quite chaotic, with incredibly esoteric furniture, art and books. You climb up a ladder to a sorcerer’s library in a tower dedicated to music. It’s got a huge, sunken sitting room with a big fire, and a pool. When we got there, it was just me, John Kent and Youth. For three days we just ate food and talked, listened to music and watched Kubrick movies – and Final Destination! – and decided what we were going to do. The rest of the band turned up and plugged in, and things started happening.” Youth’s musical partner Michael Rendall played keyboards, with Youth playing bass and co-writing throughout.

photo Tom Sheehan

The first fruits of the sessions for new album ‘Imbecilica’ can be heard today in new single ‘Tiny Blue People’, a high-energy attack that explodes with vitality and melody. The Tiny Blue People in the video live an invisible existence at the bottom of swimming pools in the suburbs United States, cunningly camouflaged by their blue skin. At night they emerge to cause mischief and mayhem – and, sometimes, gory murder – before retreating back to their chlorinated and aquatic world.

“The song is about the duality of American middle-class society,” reveals Butch Dante. “At one level everything looks perfect, idyllic – but in reality, those perfect lawns and crystal blue pools conceal the vilest perfidy, a world ruled by egotism and base cruelty.”

The Courettes are an explosive garage rock duo from Denmark and Brazil who blend an exciting concoction of garage, surf, 60s girlie pop and riot grrrl attitude. Completed by the husband-and-wife partnership of vocalist/guitarist Flavia Couri (from Brazil) and drummer/backing vocalist Martin Couri (from Denmark, where they are based), following the critically acclaimed release of 2021’s ‘Back In Mono’ album and a hugely successful UK tour in October of that year, the very fabulous Courettes return with a brand new single and news of a UK in June later this year.

Available on 7” (with one thousand copies on white vinyl), ‘Misfits & Freaks’ is a new recording of a stand-out track from ‘Back In Mono’, coupled with a brand-new song called ‘Killer Eyes’ on the flipside, available February 25th via Damaged Goods Records.

“Misfits & Freaks” is a song about a bittersweet concert we played on the very evening France went into its first lockdown in 2020,” explains Flavia Couri. “The pandemic broke loose in the middle of our tour and uncertainty was in the air. It felt a bit like being in a kind of science fiction film. People were partying that day as if there was no tomorrow. And it was indeed the end of the world as we knew it.
We tried to capture this feeling in the video featuring some old b-movie apocalyptic scenes, while we keep on partying, singing, and dancing at the end of the world. We´ve all been struggling to keep ourselves sane, safe, strong, and sweet in the last two years. And we did it. Cheer up!”

Hot on the heels of the excitement The Courettes created last October as the UK welcomed back live music with open arms, The Courettes return in June 2022 for a full UK tour.

Our last tour in the UK in October was really a blast. The world was opening again, the venues were packed, many shows were sold out and we had such a great time. We are looking so much forward to being back this Summer. We´ll be promoting our latest album “Back in Mono”, our new single “Misfits & Freaks” and a very special new release that is due to come out on Damaged Goods Records by the beginning of the tour. Cheer up, cheer up!”

Catch The Courettes live at the following dates:

1 June Bristol The Louisiana

2 June Portsmouth The Wedgewood Rooms

3 June Margate Margate Mod/Sixties Weekender @ Olby’s

4 June Thetford Red Rooster Festival

5 June Stourbridge Katie Fitzgeralds

7 June Bedford Esquires

8 June London The Moth

9 June Brighton The Albert

10 June Middlesbrough Westgarth Social Club

11 June Glasgow McChuills

12 June Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms Ballroom

13 June Manchester Marc Riley BBC 6Music Session

14 June Newcastle The Cluny

15 June Liverpool Zanzibar

16 June Manchester Night & Day

17 June Folkestone Chambers

18 June Southend The Moonraker

Tickets available HERE:

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Goth ‘n’ Roll pioneers THE 69 EYES have been haunting stages all over the world for 33 years and have become a truly immortal part of the dark rock/metal scene. Widely known as the Helsinki Vampires, the quintet gained several platinum albums with ‘Blessed Be’ and ‘Paris Kills’ and, as well as reaching #1 on both the album and singles charts in their home country, also plunged the world into a sinful cosmos of love, death and melancholy, while outliving any other band emerging from the goth hype of the early 2000s.
By developing their sound further into sleaze rock on ‘Devils’ (2004) and ‘Angels’ (2007) and not shying away from pitch black Elvis allusions in singer Jyrki 69’s dark voice and unique onstage dance moves, the band has established a worldwide following. Over the course of over three decades, the band has toured relentlessly throughout Europe, America, Asia and Australia and released 12 full-length studio albums.

Today, THE 69 EYES announce their signing to Atomic Fire Records (worldwide excluding Finland). Get your vampire teeth sharpened as news songs and tours are in the horizon!

Singer Jyrki 69 comments this unholy new alliance:
”We are back in a full swing!! Our paths here in Helsinki crossed with our old A&R guy Gabi Hakanen who was with us when we released our highest selling albums “Devils” (2005) and “Angels” (2007), so as he heard our new demos, we sort of just continued like right after last time. So he got us on his label’s studio right away now at Vallila Music House (Hanoi Rocks’ Sami Yaffa, Ville Valo & The Agents etc). Simultaneously we also hooked up with the brand new Atomic Fire Records label which has our classic former Nuclear Blast dream team there, so this ”new” and fresh beginning for THE 69 EYES sounds like a dream, really! New big-time ROCKING music comes out very soon!”

CEO and A&R Markus Wosgien adds:
„We are more than happy to welcome our beloved Helsinki Vampires, the most unique and by far coolest Gothic band in hell and on earth. We worked together for more than ten years and their latest four studio albums, and will continue now, reunited under the Atomic Fire banner. This feels like coming home to all of us and we are honored to continue our long term relationship.“

Chubby and the Gang have shared a new EP entitled ‘Labour of Love’, featuring three brand new songs, as well as a music video for lead single ‘Who Loves Ya (Coup d’état)‘. Labour of Love is available now digitally, and a special picture disc 7″ is available to pre-order now (HERE). Steve Lamacq premiered ‘Who Loves Ya (Coup d’état)’ on his BBC 6Music show yesterday evening.

The video for ‘Who Loves Ya (Coup d’état)’ was filmed and edited by the band’s tour manager, Ted Foster. Frontman Charlie Manning Walker says of the song: “We had the idea to do a Valentine’s Day single and I sort of wanted to show all the angles of love. Warts and all. Quite often it’s not such a smooth experience. Can often feel scary and insane. So I wanted to write a bubblegum song about it but also show the duality of the emotion.

Chubby and the Gang released their acclaimed second album – The Mutt’s Nuts – last year via Partisan. The album was produced by Jonah Falco of Fucked Up, and was featured on year-end lists by Rough Trade and Kerrang! (“uncompromising Brit-punk anthems”). It also earned them a spot touring with Turnstile in the UK, which they just wrapped up. Chubby and the Gang will tour throughout 2022, full dates HERE. US headline touring is set to be announced soon.

The Mutt’s Nuts followed the band’s surprise 2020 critical hit, Speed Kills. Thanks to an unrelentingly fun concoction of hardcore, pub rock, doo wop, and blues, the album cemented them as leaders in a pack of new bands coming out of a new wave of British Hardcore. Alongside classic rock and roll themes of love and loss, their lyrics are rooted in worker’s rights, inequality, police brutality, government failure and gentrification – issues that are built into the fabric of the UK, and magnified in the English capital.