Radkey / Blackwaters – The Globe Cardiff 13/01/19

Radkey / Blackwaters – The Globe Cardiff 13/01/19

It’s a Sunday night and The Globe in Cardiff is the place to be although the good people of this city don’t seem to have gotten the memo. Every night is Friday night isn’t it?

Oh well their loss as Guildford Blackwaters take the stage and for the next thirty minutes(ish) they entertain those who bothered to turn up early with a most excellent set of post-punk, Sure the frontman has more than a shade of Ian Curtis about him as he bounces around the stage as their spikey set was warmly appreciated by the sparse audience.

With bands like idles dominating column inches, these young upstarts mich like Cabbage have the chops to go toe to toe with Idles and Slaves who are playing decent size venues or should that be selling out and it can only be a matter of time before these too start to cut their way through the press and pick up a good following as they hit the road and play around the country.  ‘Fuck Yeah’ and ‘Let The Good Times Roll’ sounded excellent as did ‘People Street’.  Its a shame they didn’t play longer and we didn’t get to hear ‘Moon On A Stick’ but there is always next time and on the strength of this time I can guarantee there will be a next time.  Excellent appetizer. A tonne of energy and a bunch of quality tunes will see bands like this succeed.

 

Onto tonights top turn Radkey. As a few more people shuffle through the doors on this Sunday night the band amble on stage but waste no time in delivering their tight rock meets punk sound and over the next sixty minutes proceed to deliver a set that just flew by and the similarities to the sound not a million miles away from Danzig era Misfits wouldn’t be far off the mark.  ‘Sons Of Solomon’ kicked off proceedings and a set that was pretty evenly split between ‘Dark Black Makeup’ and not off the LP was almost 50/50 new song ‘Rock N Roll Homeschool’ sounded great.  When I say sounded great the band sounded great even if the mix was a little muddy and the drums didn’t sound as if they were even mic’d up but that might just be me being a little picky.

The band really hit their stride by the time ‘The Basement’ was aired and by the time they hit ‘Glore’ they were on fire. Knocking out about seventeen songs in their set lasting just about an hour was superb and if the new track ‘Spiders’ is anything to go by the future sounds bright and hopefully it won’t be too long before they come back and next time Cardiff will be ready and a place like the Globe will be packed for such a talented power trio.

 

Although power trio doesn’t really do them justice but saying that there are just three of them and they certainly do have power but ‘Dark Black Makeup’ was a fine way to go into the end of the set and ‘Romance Dawn’ was great as the closing number as it builds to its frantic crescendo making sure the band leaves nothing behind and every ounce they had to give was certainly given.  until next time Radkey came – saw and rocked like fuck – Thanks!

 

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Author:Dom Daley

Gone but not forgotten

Gone but not forgotten

Terence Dale “Buffin” Griffin (24 October 1948 – 17 January 2016) Buffin was a founder member of Mott The Hoople and also famed producer of bands on the John Peel show between 81 and 94. Most famously he produced sessions for Nirvana, Pulp and the smashing pumpkins and also in his own right he noticeably produced Hanoi Rocks album ‘Back To Mystery City’.

As a founder member of Mott The Hoople Dale managed to attend the Hammersmith reunion shows back in 2009 but had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers so only played on the encores of the shows which were extended from three to five after an incredible demand although he didn’t feature at all in the warm-up shows the band did near Rockfield studios prior to the London gigs. his place was taken by Martin Chambers. Diagnosed at 58 he sadly passed away in his sleep back in 2016 at the young age of 67.

Rest In Peace Buffin   24 October 1948 – 17 January 2016

On a brighter note on this day in history, The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’. It peaked at No.15 on the UK chart. Also by some coincidence, Happy Birthday today to Mick Taylor, Mick joined The Stones in 1969 (aged 20), replacing Brian and left the Stones in 1974. He has appeared on some of the Stones’ classic albums and widely regarded as their finest period of songwriting including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Taylor has also worked with Bob Dylan, Mike Oldfield, Jack Bruce and Ronnie Wood.

Richards gave Taylor this fine appraisal when recording Its Only Rock And Roll’  during the Munich sessions, Richards confronted him and said, “Oi! Taylor! You’re playing too fuckin’ loud. I mean, you’re really good live, man, but you’re fucking useless in the studio. Lay out, play later, whatever.” Richards erased some of the tapes where Taylor had recorded guitar parts too.

Taylor responded by saying “I was a bit peeved about not getting credit for a couple of songs, but that wasn’t the whole reason [I left the band]. I guess I just felt like I had enough” Yeah right so you just leave The Stones and that’s it? He later said of his time in the band – “We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs – and he didn’t. I believed I’d contributed enough. Let’s put it this way – without my contribution, those songs would not have existed. There’s not many but enough, things like “Sway” and “Moonlight Mile” on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others” Oh well your contribution was recognised by the fans for sure and with the power of hindsight I doubt the band would have existed had Mick Taylor not joined the band.

They must have made their peace because Taylor has joined the band on stage many times since so Happy Birthday Mick aged 70 Today!

NFT release details of huge compilation album

NFT release details of huge compilation album

The time has arrived… it’s taken exactly one year and we are super-proud to honour our friend Peter from P. Trash Records and present the ‘TRASH ON!!!’ tribute set.

OUT NOW!!!TRASH ON!!! January 16th, 2019 marks the one year anniversary of the untimely death of Peter Eichhorn the man behind P.Trash records.

After this tragic loss,  No Front Teeth Records and FDH Records began working alongside a close family friend on behalf of P.Trash to release a tribute to Peter and the label. This massive project collects 104 bands from the P.Trash family, well over half of it being unreleased or rare material.

This massive (one-time pressing if 500) 6-LP collection is AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW physically and digitally. The physical set is $75 and the digital is $25. PROFITS GO DIRECTLY TO PETERS FAMILY!

All orders must be made through FDH Records Bandcamp and all orders ship from NFT in the UK so shipping will be kept as low as possible.

Website

James Leg announces extensive Eastern European Tour

James Leg announces extensive Eastern European Tour

Alive Records Natural Sound Recording Artist James Leg has announced dates for an Extensive Eastern European Tour. Leg who has been described as the Jerry Lee meets Lemmy is a phenomenal live experience and is out supporting his latest album ‘Blood On The Keys’ catch him at the dates below.


January 23 @ Hard Place — Zagreb, HR
January 24 @ Punk Rock Cafe — Smedereveska Palanka, RS
January 25 @ Kuglaš — Beograd, RS
January 26 @ Mojo — Senta, RS
January 27 @ Foxtrot — Novi Sad, RS
January 28 @ Hombre — Požarevac, RS
January 30 @ Soho Bar — Kosovska Mitovica, XK (Kosovo)
January 30 @ Rover Bar — Thessaloniki, GR
February 1 @ Stage Club — Larissa, GR
February 2 @ Hoxton — Athens, GR
February 3 @ Aigli — Serres, GR
February 4 @ Basement Bar — Kruševac, RS
February 5 @ Feedback — Niš, RS
February 6 @ MKNŽ — Ilirska Bistrica, SI
February 7 @ Cox — Milan, IT
February 8 @ Emce Plac — Velenje, SI
February 9 @ Gala Hala — Ljubljana, SI
February 10 @ Matinee show — Beograde, RS
February 12 @ Trafik — Pécs, HU
February 14 @ Pitcher — Düsseldorf, DE
February 15 @ Trompete — Bochum, DE
February 16 @ Pop Bar — Haldern, DE
February 17 @ Nochtwache — Hamburg, DE
June 27 @ Mod — St. Petersburg, RU
June 28 @ Wild Mint Festival — Moscow, RU
June 29 @ 16 Tons — Moscow, RU

Bad Mojos – I Hope You OD (Voodoo Rhythm Records)

Bad Mojos – I Hope You OD (Voodoo Rhythm Records)

Since the internet truly took off music has never before been so global and within a minute you can be chatting with some like-minded  punk rocker from the other side of this Globe (it’s not fuckin flat its a globe) it still freaks me out a little but as far as hearing music goes its the dogs danglies. I mean, how else was I going to be acquainted with Swiss loons Bad Mojo and their ‘Pass Out City’? When I first heard that bad boy I loved it.  Fast forward a couple of years and these masked/balaclaved up yobs are back in the house and living it large on nicked booze and other substances.

Whilst you’re waiting for The wonderfully titled long player (cough cough) to drop rub your peepers and read a fistful of this as I try to convince you its a good thing to send some money digitally through your computer and in exchange they’ll send you either a lovely big record or a small shiny CD I’m sure of it.  Anyway, You still might be wondering what these – listen now – Masked, scruffy, punks are up to. well, its only punk rock apparently and these three aren’t afraid to use it.

It begins with a howl of feedback and as the drumsticks count us in it’s off like a rocket.  there are no fineries here its punk rock in its most aggressive, pogotastic, fuck it and fuck you way. Bad Mojos opening four songs on the album sort of set the tone – ‘Diggin My Own Grave’, ‘Baby I’m Doomed’, I Wanna Be Dead’ and ‘I Hate’ so you go figure.  Its fast furious but it has melody in the same way the Ramones did. the songs are short sharp and fly straight to the part of your brain that controls toe tapping and head bobbing.

 

there is nothing not to like here its rough as fuck and at times sounds like it was recorded on an old school tape recorder that was carefully placed near a speaker and record and play were pressed and away you go. The title track has more than a hint of the UK Subs ‘Party In Paris’ about it and that’s fine by me and the next song ‘Too Drunk’ has a fuzzed out guitar that The Stooges had.  To close this fantastic offering off there is the catchy ‘Everybody Hates Me’ that is fucked up pop music if ever I heard it. Ten songs in fifteen minutes crash bang wallop fuckin’ have it! Adios, I out of here – go buy it!

Buy it Here

Author: Dom Daley

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The Last Internationale – ‘Soul On Fire’ (Firebrand Records)

The Last Internationale – ‘Soul On Fire’ (Firebrand Records)

Life in a rock ‘n’ roll band ain’t too easy these days, just ask Edgey Pires and Delila Paz from NYC band The Last Internationale. They released their major label debut album ‘We Will Reign’ to critical acclaim back in 2014. With Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk hitting the skins and

guitarist Tom Morello as their friend and mentor, they toured the world with the likes of Robert Plant, appeared on US prime time TV and did the festival circuit in Europe and America, winning fans for their incendiary live shows.

Call it fate or call it bad luck, but for whatever reason, the hard work never paid off. Shafted by their label and having the record industry slam doors in their faces, momentum was lost. The duo decided to take matters into their own hands, regaining full artistic freedom to record and release their music on their own terms.

 

After lengthy delays, their sophomore album ‘Soul On Fire’ finally sees the light of day and via PledgeMusic, a vinyl copy landed on my doorstep just in time for Christmas.

As I drop the needle on the rather pretty, light blue marbled wax for the umpteenth time, the jammed intro plays out with rising feedback as Delila proceeds to croon over Edgey’s dirty blues fuelled riffs and drummer Joey Castillo’s powerhouse beats. The three musicians play off each other, seemingly live in the studio, before leading into first song proper ‘Hard Times’, a solid rocker in the vein of ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood’ from their debut album.

“I’ve been lost, I’ve been pushed, pulled and turned around” sings Delila. Written during a turbulent time in their career, ‘Soul On Fire’ is the sound of a band with a fire in their bellies, a band with something to say and a band who will not give up the fight.

‘ Mind Ain’t Free’ follows. A retro sounding groove with a modern rock ‘n’ roll twist, that mixes up Jefferson Airplane pop sensibilities with Royal Blood styled grooves…nice! ‘Try Me’ with its stabs of Hammond like keys, lo-fi guitars and a great melody gives a more commercial, yet still classic rock sounding vibe. The vocals draw you into the verse, ready to power out and sing along on the chorus.

Funked up blues workouts like the slide guitar-induced ‘Tempest Blues’ and dirty bass ridden ‘5th World’ are all well and good, but it’s when they mix it up a bit that things really get interesting.

‘Freak Revolution’ closes side one. It’s a dark and foreboding beast that skulks along like the bastard son of Sabbath and Soundgarden. A great chorus refrain that sees Delila preaching the revolution we all need, as Edgey pulls off killer solos behind her.

 

The title track gets side two up and running with understated acoustic guitars and keys that intertwine with beautiful vocal lines, as it builds to a glorious crescendo of a chorus. Name-checking Jimi, Janis, and Nina Simone, The Last Internationale proudly wear their influences on their sleeves.

‘Need Somebody’ proves to be one of the key tracks on the album. Dark, brooding and with an intensity that slowly builds, but in a different way to ‘Freak Revolution’.  With haunting vocals and with just one opening verse, it’s a song that relies on its rousing chorus refrain to see it through, and it’s powerful enough to do the job. It builds like classic Fleetwood Mac meeting Patti Smith on a dusty highway, then takes an unexpected dive into the depths on the soul for the chorus, Trent Reznor style. Cinematic and glorious.

The rocket fuelled ‘Hit Em With Your Blues’ is a signature rocker that aims for the jugular. This is the sound and feel of The Last Internationale in the live arena or the hot sweaty club, vying for your attention.

Side two closes with Delilah acapella, just handclaps accompany her. Live and in one take, like an ancient chain gang work song, a snippet of a stadium-sized tune in its rawest form. It has more power than a wall of Marshalls in Wembley Stadium and that is something special.

 

It has been said that an artist is at their best when they have to fight for it, when they are down on their luck with something to prove and nothing left to lose. The Last Internationale have delivered the album they wanted to make and more importantly, the album they needed to make.

It doesn’t have the instant, radio-friendly hooks of its predecessor. No, ‘Soul On Fire’ is a darker album that takes time to digest. But with repeated plays, the melodies dig under the skin, dig into the soul and stay there. In time it will be accepted as a modern classic rock record that stands tall against all the competition this year. Do yourself a favour, buy the album, catch them live if you can and join the revolution, you will not be disappointed.

 

(This album was reviewed from a vinyl copy that was played on an actual record player. No downloads, MP3s or streaming services were used in the creation of this piece.)

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Author: Ben Hughes

 

 

 

Damned announced as headliners for this years Rebellion Festival

Damned announced as headliners for this years Rebellion Festival

Along with the recent announcement that Trigger McPoopschute will  be making their festival debut, The Damned have also been added to this summers bill along with a whole list of other great bands really strengthening these years line up after the early announcement of Cock Sparrer then The Stranglers

For all the latest updates and additions to the bill like the facebook page Here or their website Here

 

Also announced today was the inclusion of The legends that are The Dwarves and also from the USA Descendents.  We’re sure you’ll agree that this years festival is really beginning to take shape now.  for tickets Here

Christmas cracker in January – RPM talks to Max about 2019 and his band Christmas

Christmas cracker in January – RPM talks to Max about 2019 and his band Christmas
2018 saw Christmas release their third album ‘Scum As You Are’ to a huge nod of approval from RPM HQ so with a bunch of UK tour dates announced we thought it was only fair to get hold of frontman Max and ask him a few choice questions about the past present and future for Christmas.  Take it away Max…
firstly for those who don’t know to introduce yourself? Let the readers know a little about the band?
We started Christmas in 2010. We planned to found a glam-rock band. It didn’t end up as one (maybe luckily?!). Glam rockers are good musicians, we just have been looking good with our instruments. Also, my hair stopped to grow on my head and started growing on my belly. After a few years of searching for our sound, we released ‘APPETITE FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION’. It’s the perfect record for me!
Looking back to the first and second albums, those titles, did they cause the band any problems (we all know how touchy some Rock stars can be over what they perceive they own) or did people have a laugh at the titles? Tell us how you look at the recordings you’ve made to this point?
Well, like I said, ‘APPETITE FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION’ is the perfect record for me. Written in about three months we caught a wild mix of Turbonegro’s ‘ASS COBRA’ and Poison Idea’s ‘FEEL THE DARKNESS’. The artwork was made by a good friend of mine from Mexico who also worked for other huge bands and the producer is from the Mod scene in the UK and moved to Germany about fifteen years ago. He totally got into it and was a brilliant addition when we produced the record. 
As for ‘LOSE YOUR ILLUSION’ we worked way longer on the songs. The production process was not that perfect like the first time we went to JPs studio and I think he had different things on his mind. He did a good job in mixing and mastering, but he didn’t get the connection that much on that one. I can hear it from my side I think. The artwork was made by another good friend who also did our logo and the first EP’s artwork. You see, I know many people that are a genius in doing artworks! 
‘SCUM AS YOU ARE’ is the perfect example for a DIY record! Even if the beginning of the songwriting took ages because we had band members come and go, in the end, we wrote the songs very quickly.  Alex, our drummer at that time, has built himself a small studio in his basement and recorded everything himself. He also mixed and mastered it and did a really good job. My girlfriend, Annika, took care of the artwork this time. With her together we screen printed all the covers ourselves. Now we do all our merch ourself as well. Pretty much a lot of hard work, but definitely worth it!
You’ve announced a bunch of tour dates already for 2019 what other plans have you got lined up?  Any more recording or is the plan to tour ‘Scum As You Are’ for 2019?
We are a multi-tasking band! We will record our next album in the first half of 2019. In fall we will have a huge tour in southern Europe on the schedule, that one is not announced yet, so we tour as well.
Did you do anything differently for this third album? The total package was great and a lot of attention to detail was put into the whole thing how important is it to bring your music out on vinyl as well as CD? Does it enable you to tour or is it the other way around does the touring enable you to make records?
Music is made to be heard! For each and everyone, no matter if vinyl addict, CD listener or music streamer. Our vinyl album contains everything, vinyl, CD and download code. Packed in a screen printed sleeve and with a huge booklet! We wanted to deliver quality! 

Touring and releasing record goes hand in hand. You go on tour to pay the studio, then you release music and want people to hear it, so you tour again. Then you got money again and hey, why not go and record some new songs?
What about the future? singles? A new record.  any plans? or videos maybe?
Absolutely! We did three 7″ singles next to the album last year. One of them was a split with my childhood idols THE TURBO A.C.’s. Now we are working on a split single with SKINNY MILLIONAIRE, the other band of the guitar player from the TURBO A.C.’s. Probably there will be another one before the album as well.
Your playing with Trigger Mcpoopshute again when you come to Wales and you also have the excellent Pizza-tramp with you for a few shows on the continent is it important who you take out with you on tours?  
Punk rock means friendship. Our first show in the UK was with those grumpy old men from TRIGGER MCPOOPSHUTE. We straight felt in love, they are kinda punk rock daddys for us! Last year they came to Germany for some shows with us. I want them back next year! With PIZZA-TRAMP.  it is just by chance that we play together. In the past we played some shows here and there together, it never was planned. Pretty cool dudes though and they are wild!
That European tour last year looked great fun when you do it with bands who value what they do like those guys its lifelong memories and it has to be a good time doing it as well.
It’s always important to be on eye level with people. Never look down on someone else, you don’t want them to look down at you, right? Respectful and fair handling makes a tour a really cool time for everyone. Unfortunately, in the past, we also toured with bands that looked down on us. Each night they made a drama of everything. Horrible! 
Any future plans or news you want to announce? The floor is yours.  Just leaves me to say Good luck with the tour and hopefully, we can catch you when you arrive in the UK…
There is nothing with a deadline yet. But thank you for being there for us!!

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Always nice to get a Monday morning off to a good start well it won’t get any better than this slab of punk rock from Norway. Wet Dreams indeed get these bad boys on your radar asap.

Wow is it really 30 years?  Seems like a great time to watch this great song and video again and hope the reissue delivers some great bonus material. ‘Love Junk’

Finally with a new song up on Bandcamp but no video we thought it only fair to show this bad boy which guarantees to kiss any Monday morning right between the eyes take it home boys and turn up the speakers because its Watts with enough Kiss references to satisfy Gene and his payola machine. take it away gents

Remembering Jerry

Remembering Jerry

People always remember Johnny Thunders but his band The Heartbreakers helped shape the sound of one of the greatest album released in the seventies and rightly so.  The Heartbreakers consisted of one Jerry Nolan on drums thunders pal from his time with the Dolls. Out of the four members of the band, only Walter Lure is still with us and with it being the 14th of #january the day Jerry passed away we wanted to celebrate his time with us by championing his work and remembering Jerry Nolan. A powerhouse of a drummer who was old school and didn’t go for being flash and played the song.  If there needed to be silence or no drums then that’s what you got.  He had style and managed to look fantastic behind his kit he was a real showman without being flash for the sake of being flash.RPM is gonna champion those forgotten men (and women) who got taken way to soon and what better place to start than in the engine room with the one and only Jerry Nolan, May 7, 1946 – January 14, 1992.

First up is former New York Doll and Heartbreakers drummer  Gerard “Jerry” Nolan.

Jerry passed away on this day in 1992.  Jerry was born in Brooklyn on 7th May 1946 which makes him just 45 when he passed away in Manhatten at St Vincent’s after suffering a stroke. 2018 saw Jerry get some much-deserved limelight with the release of his excellent biography ‘Stranded In The Jungle’ penned by Curt Weiss available here.

Outside of his work with Thunders be it in the Dolls or The Heartbreakers Jerry only managed one 7″ single ‘Take A Chance With Me’ and the posthumously released EP with the Profilers both bearing his name, there were a few other bits here and there as he recorded in Sweden with Pilsner and there was his stint with The Idols that managed one single – not a lot for someone so talented but what we do have is well worth tracking down for one of a few really influential drummers of his generation.  Jerry RPM salutes you and raises a glass in your honor as we remember.

Other notable things happened on this day – This was the day in 1978 when the Pistols played Winterland in San Francisco and the last time Sid would play with the band. They did, however, reform in 96 for a stack of cash.  another pistols fact for this day is they sued Malcolm and were awarded a cool One million pounds (seems like chicken feed these days).

It’s also the very day in ’77 that Bowie released ‘Low‘ and the birthday of David Eric Grohl

Born this day in 1969 Happy Birthday Mr Grohl.