‘Bozo’ is the second single and video for Dez Dare’s upcoming album ‘Perseus War’ [out 17.Mar.23]. It delves into the murky underbelly of leadership, control and how the people who wield this power suffer a disconnect with reality and accountability (mostly…). Dez says… “Poor Bozo! The dishevelled leader who can’t get the people to understand he just can’t be fucked. It isn’t his problem, the plebs are so needy! Nanny always told him he was a good boy. Chin up mate.”
‘Perseus War’ is the 3rd album by Australian born, UK based artist Dez Dare. Leading on from 2022s ‘Ulysses Trash’, Dez presents 10 songs of dystopian indifference captured over 4 weeks in late 2022. Meant to be a companion EP to the last record, ideas spilled, riffs flowed, Perseus was born.
‘Ulysses Trash’ is a call to inaction, embracing the reality of the world around us and the place we have within it. ‘Perseus War’ is the violent struggle that the universe and all within it has to survive. The daily pressure of existence, the beauty in the destruction left by the way and the sweet solace of understanding we have no control.
Dez Dare (aka Darren Smallman of BATTLE WORLDWIDE, Low Transit Industries, Thee Vinyl Creatures, The Sound Platform, Warped) grew up in Geelong, a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia where he became involved in the local punk and rock scene in 1990, playing in a band called Warped, sharing stages with the likes of Bored!, The 5678s, Fugazi, The Dirty Three and the Hard-ons, going on to play in multiple bands spewing out sludgy punk rock, drone riffage and noisy pop abundance. Darren was embedded in the scene, playing music, running labels (founding record label and touring company Low Transit Industries in 1999 working with bands such as The Essex Green, Lilys, Elf Power, Okkervil River, Of Montreal, Black Mountain, Trans Am) before moving to the UK in 2010 where he has operated ever since.
“I looked into the void to find solace (freedom to fight, freedom of mind)” is sung out in the opening line of ‘STOP. STOP. STOP. TALKING.’. Regardless of the viewpoint Dez is singing from, this is the underlying sentiment. You can only be truly free with acceptance. Accepting you for who you are, that we all one day will die, that humans are flawed and beautiful, that otters are the best animals. Let go. The void has it covered.
Tease your hair back and paint those nails black. Close the curtains and turn the stereo up because today is a good day to embrace your inner Goth. Kepi Ghoulie leans on his favourite singers and bands and turns in a wonderful set of covers to celebrate their music…and why not? I adore some of the bands he’s chosen to cover – either a pretty straight tip of the hat or a twist on a classic it matters not if the end product stands up tall to the test.
Opening with the Bowie Classic ‘Heroes’ is a pretty ballsy move. Sure nobody is going to outdo the original we all know that but to turn in an anywhere close version is worth turning up and applauding and to be fair Kepi does just that.
When Ara Babajian of the Slackers approached Kepi about having an all-new challenge, Kepi jumped at the chance to work with his long-time friend and drummer hero! Bass player? B-face!!!! With a solid rhythm section secured, they started selecting songs that they loved! Selections by Nick Cave, Peter Murphy, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop and of course Bowie and Bolan this is a win win for me. The record includes contributions from Ian Fowles (Aquabats, Gerard Way), Prima Donna’s Aaron Minton and Kevin Preston (also currently playing in Green Day), and several other friends, with artwork by artist Tom Neely. and there are some bangers like ‘Perfect Girl’ and ‘Happy When It Rains’ which actually sounds like the band are grinning from ear to ear through the grooves. Its a stellar line up and getting in the Prima Donna boys is a great move because we love those guys at RPM Online they’ve never made a dull record and know what they’re doing and add some love and attention to detail.
‘Take Care Of Me’ is a killer and the one thing you do notice is Kepi dives deep and doesn’t champion or lean on the big hitters which is obvious as he didn’t go for ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ or ‘Lust For Life’ and to be fair he owns these covers and wipes them clean with his style. Sure ‘Heroes’ is an iconic Bowie song but why not dip into those greatest hits packages now and then?
the standouts for me have to be covering the Lords Of The New Church for a start and then hitting ‘Don’t Worry Children’; taking care of it is a joy to hear. I tip my hat to Kepi for this cover’s record it’s blown me away even the tracks by bands I’m not so familiar with like The Cars have given me a great appreciation for the artist and what makes him tick. Music is a broad church and knowing there are a thousand ways to interpret it is what keeps us coming back even when it’s borrowing someone else’s songs that you love and owning them.
My advice is absolutely to check this shit out its all killer and has absolutely no filler. Jesus and Mary Chain, Lords, Iggy, Bowie and Pete Murphy man these guys have been rooting through my collection. Oh, and of course it’s on purple vinyl. Now if you do happen to see any Goths outside not under an umbrella please send them home and make sure they have a copy of this record to keep them indoors
Following my recent enforced 3-month layoff from attending live shows I really wanted something special to usher in my 43rd year of going to see bands, so, after finishing off 2022 with the symphonic goth pomp of the Death Songbook, what could be more suitable than a night in the company of Swedish goth rockers Then Comes Silence, playing the final night of a short two date UK jaunt in conjunction with the Reptile club.
It’s the fact that this was going to be a dedicated goth night that really got me excited about a trip over the Severn estuary, with the promise of a night spent drenched in dry ice chicken dancing my way into the wee small hours instantly taking me back to my days of going to see the likes of The Cramps, Alien Sex Fiend and Sigue Sigue Sputnik in the mid-eighties, when going to watch a band was just as much about meeting the characters that attended the shows (in fact its how I first met RPM’s main man Dominic Daley) as it was as seeing the bands themselves. But would there be a goth youth here in the 2020s to help keep the flame alive I wondered?
Entering Zed Alley I really need not have worried as with the mandatory dry ice lapping under the door was already a reassuring sign, once past security I immediately felt exactly how I did back in (what some might consider to be) the scene’s heyday, albeit these days I myself feel more like how Colin Robinson (grown up version not the child entertainer version) must have felt when walking into Nadja’s nightclub. Reptile DJ Vade Retro is blasting out an eclectic selection of electro tunes via the club’s excellent sound system, and yes indeed the next generation of goths are all present and correct and enjoying the ambience (and very reasonably priced libations) of the club itself.
Of course, it’s the live bands we’re all here to see tonight and Aux Animaux provides the kind of Nice Inch Nails to Bowie baton pass that occurred when those two giants once toured the US together, by which I mean the Swedish hauntwave star sets the scene perfectly for what is to follow by providing a kind of Danielle Dax meets Bjork by way of the (song)book of the dead set of ambient theremin driven electro tunes, something that holds the audience in perfect reverence throughout. The fact that this is an artiste singing over backing tracks would probably have most classic rock heads foaming at the mouth, but to a goth audience this is all par for the course and the reaction Aux Animaux receives come the end of her short set is one of total respect.
Something I have long since held for tonight’s headliners Then Comes Silence, the Stockholm-based gothic post-punk rockers, ever since I first heard their ‘III – Nyctophilian’ album all the way back in 2015. This is my first time seeing them live though as their intended 2020 UK tour (which included a Cardiff date) in support of their excellent ‘Machine’ album got blown out by the Covid pandemic, but having lost guitarist Mattias Ruejas ahead of a US tour towards the end of 2022 I was hoping by high expectations for tonight really weren’t about to be dashed after all.
Hitting the venue’s tiny but (for a trio) perfectly sized stage with ‘Flashing Pangs of Love’ from the band’s 2017 ‘Blood’ was certainly a surprise as I was half expecting them to open with the number that actually followed it, ‘Tickets To Funerals’, from last year’s amazing ‘Hunger’ album, but what this did was allow the sound to level out, and for the backing tracks used on certain songa (like on the latter) to really cut through and make a difference to the overall sound.
Singer/bassist Alex Svenson is also the man in control of the box of electronic gadgets and whilst he is a man of few words between songs he’s someone who lets the songs do all the talking with the likes of ‘Apocalypse Flare’, ‘Chain’ and ‘Worm’ all sounding totally imperious here tonight. The ‘Eighties’ (excuse the intended pun) Killing Joke influence I’ve mentioned in previous RPM reviews is also huge tonight thanks to guitarist Hugo Zombie, someone who literally doesn’t stop moving even when things slow down for an epic Bunnymen-esque rendition of ‘Mercury’ whilst turbo-riffing his way through the likes of ‘We Lose The Night’ and possibly my all-time favourite track by the band, ‘Rise To The Bait’.
When drummer Jonas Fransson (who is also Mr Aux Animaux) has some unexpected trouble with his snare stand it actually acts as a natural comfort break for a few (myself included) and the sounds that emanate from the remaining two members helping plug the inevitable gap evokes memories of Cronos’ bass solo during the Seventh Date of Hell tour, yup even when they are messing around these guys exude an air of doom and melancholic cool many can only dream of conjuring up.
As with all great gigs though they all unfortunately have to end, and after an intense ‘We Lose The Night’ its left to ‘Warm Like Blood’ and the epic ‘The Dead Cry For No One’ to send us off into the cold night air with just the echo of ‘Bella Lugosi’s Dead’ still ringing in our ears as DJ Vade continued the party well into the witching hour.
Gigs like this really don’t come along that often that’s for sure, tonight was something very special indeed, and reading just hours later that Reptile may now not be moving forward in 2023 due to a variety of reasons involving their current London haunt, it makes me truly sad to hear this. Let’s hope that after 15 years of promoting bands and club nights like tonight this really isn’t the end for them, because as tonight proved goth is very much still a musical force to be reckoned with and is also one that seemingly never grows old. Timeless stuff indeed!
Taking a break from his recent Bob Dylan obsession (phew), Billy Childish returns to bring us more raucous garage rock in his inimitable style with CTMF. Seeing this upcoming release, I realised that I’d missed a CTMF album in 2021, ‘Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows’, so that was a double bonus for me!
This takes up where that previous album left off, with a hectic version of Richard Hell’s ‘Love Comes In Spurts’, the second time that Billy has covered the song, but it fits well here. As does the band’s take on Hendrix’s ‘Fire’, with Nurse Julie’s backing vocals adding something extra.
That aside, we have ten new songs, three of which are instrumentals. Normally, that might ring alarm bells, but with Billy and company, it’s a treat. ‘Walk Of The Sasquatch’ is particularly fine, with the publicity spiel of Billy quoting “the North Kent Sasquatch program has gone a little quiet of late, but I believe they are still trying to get Cobham Woods – nearby across the river – to be designated as a reserve, though of course this poses some danger to the public during the spring breeding season”. I think some people haven’t noticed his sense of humour.
The title track and ‘The Old, Long Bar’ are as good as any ‘Medway garage rock’ songs he’s ever written, with ‘Failure Not Success’ there is an autobiographical lyric, similar to those on the previous album; “at twelve years old, I walked the streets in my mother’s dress”.
There are some quieter moments, such as ‘Beneath The Flowers’ and ‘Becoming Unbecoming Me’, with its Velvets-like appeal. And even the reappearance of Mr Zimmerman with ‘Bob Dylan’s Got A Lot To Answer For’ can’t spoil proceedings; a list of potential pros and cons of Dylan’s influence on music, set to a ‘Stepping Stone’ riff. Masterful.
For us fans of Billy’s more abrasive tunes, this, like the previous ‘Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows’, is an essential purchase. An eccentric, a one-off, sometimes frustrating, always entertaining. We’re lucky to have him.
Former member of The Church, All About Eve and The Saints, Marty Willson-Piper embark on a UK tour next month, revisiting the guitarist’s extensive career-spanning catalogue on acoustic 12-string guitar and violin.
Says Marty: “After playing together in South America in 2016, Olivia and I set about discovering the possibilities of the 12 string acoustic and the violin, currently interpreting songs from my own back catalogue, and adding a completely new magical layer to tunes that you thought you knew, taking them to new planets, new dimensions and new emotions.”
Best known as a member of Australian luminaries The Church (from its inception in. 1980 through to 2013), Marty Willson-Piper has been writing and performing music for almost four decades. He was also a member of All About Eve and The Saints, and has co-written music with Grace Slick, Aimee Mann, Jules Shear, Susanna Hoffs and Linda Perry, among others. Today he represents one half of Cornish duo Noctorum. Marty is also lead singer and lyricist with Swedish band MOAT and a member of Swedish Prog legends Anekdoten, joining in 2015. Since the mid-1980s, Willson-Piper has maintained a steady solo output as well, with nine releases to date.
Born in a leap year near Cologne with a Polish surname to a Swedish air hostess mother from Västmanland and a German scientist father from “Kraftwerk” city Düsseldorf (who is currently designing bricks for a future moon station), Olivia Willson-Piper started playing the violin when she was nine years old and joined an orchestra at eleven. Playing concerts in Sweden, Russia, Lithuania, Spain and Germany, she became leader of the orchestra at 18. During her Uni years she focused on busking, jam sessions and Jazz violin.
The Willson-Pipers have been featured on Noctorum’s fourth album The Afterlife, are members of Atlantæum Flood and were part of MOAT’s 2021 release Poison Stream (Schoolkids Records).
Wed, 15th March – The Acorn Theatre, Penzance Thu, 16th March – Crofters Rights, Bristol Fri, 17th March – The Slaughtered Lamb, London Sat, 18th March – House Concert, Worcester Sun, 19th March – Kitchen Garden Café, Birmingham Mon, 20th March – The Musician, Leicester Tue, 21st March – Gullivers, Manchester Wed, 22nd March – Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek Thu, 23rd March – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds Fri, 24th March – Thornton Hough Village Club, Wirral Sat, 25th March – Nomad, Liverpool Sun, 26th March – The Flying Duck, Glasgow Mon, 27th March – Bannerman’s, Edinburgh
DADDY LONG LEGS, New York City’s most diabolical Rhythm & Blues street gang, have shared their new track “Silver Satin” from their upcoming and eagerly anticipated new album Street Sermons, to be released on March 17th via Yep Roc Records. The band are also thrilled to announce a full tour in May and June where they’ll be bringing their high-voltage street sermons to venues up and down the UK and Ireland.
The group describes new single “Silver Satin” as an experience where “we take the listener on a trip through New York City’s underground rail system with a bottle in hand concealed by a brown paper bag. Lose yourself in a song dripping with tremolo and electric piano, but whatever you do, don’t fall asleep on the subway.” Street Sermons is currently available for pre-order here.
The band’s fourth studio album represents a wellspring of bottled-up feelings and emotions that need to be taken to the streets. Produced by Oakley Munson of the Black Lips at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, NY the band expands upon a sound that’s all their own and features guest appearances from Punk Rock legend Wreckless Eric providing backing vocals on “Nightmare” and “Silver Satin” and The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian on “Ding-Ding Man,” In dark times DADDY LONG LEGS continue to shine their light everywhere they go, leaving a piece of themselves on stage every night because it’s in them and it’s got to come out.
DADDY LONG LEGS’ previous album, Lowdown Ways (Yep Roc, 2019), reached #4 on the Billboard Blues Chart. The band has received high praise from Rolling Stone Senior editor David Fricke, who calls DADDY LONG LEGS’ sound “Chicago blues fired at the moon played by the demented children of the Pretty Things” and No Depressionwho declared that “from the first note, this is clearly a record made by people who live and die for rock and roll.”
Over the last decade these gentlemen have burned down houses the world over with their explosive fire ceremony and have amassed a cult-like following all their own with a tough-to-beat reputation for being one of the finest live acts on the road today. Written and recorded against a backdrop of political tension, riots in the streets and a deeply uncertain future, Street Sermons is a testament to triumph over adversity.
Catch Daddy Long Legs live in the IE/UK in May and June at the following dates:
The details of their new album Roden House Blues, due out May 5th, via The Sign Records. Stream their most recent single “Chasing Death” HERE.
“The finest Rock N’ Roll band in the UK” – Eddie Spaghetti, Supersuckers
Since their inception in 2006, THE HIP PRIESTS have released a mighty thirty 7” singles, four albums, two compilations and three EPs by various independent labels from all over Europe & the USA. Fiercely independent and tirelessly driven, the ‘Priests have preached their high energy sermon of misanthropy, hate and contempt across numerous tours of the UK, Europe and USA and made countless rapturously received festival appearances.
Gaining a richly deserved reputation as a white-hot live band, the last few years have seen the band’s popularity increasing further with them regularly playing alongside kindred spirits such as THE HELLACOPTERS, GLUECIFER, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY, NEW BOMB TURKS, DWARVES and ZEKE at both festivals and in clubs. Rave reviews pour in for every release, ranging from ‘a band on top of their game & steps ahead of any of their UK contemporaries’ to ‘if you’re in any doubt about how good these bad boys are then you need locking up’. After 16 years some bands would be taking it easy but in spite of a global pandemic, there was no let-up in their determination and activity. Their fifth, and by far their best full-length album – Roden House Blues – was written, rehearsed, and recorded during this period and will be released May 5th, 2023, via The Sign Records.
Rehearsed, recorded and mixed between the numerous U.K lockdowns in Roden House, one of Nottingham’s former lace factories where the Priests have their own space, and which spawned the album title. This is no Mississippi Blues but perhaps it makes more sense than you think: Howling laments, loss, self-reflection and revelation – alongside some recurring Priests lyrical themes: negativity, nihilism, rage and revolution. After 2019’s Stand for Nothing the band were unsure whether they’d do another album – However, global lockdown inadvertently led to a renewed passion and realization that, like Jagger said, ’what can a poor boy do’ – especially when feeling more lost in a world that increasingly resembles a dumpster fire. A few dozen demos were scrutinized of which, through a stricter than ever group consensus, 14 were recorded but then honed down, razor sharp, into the tightest collection of 11 low-fat, lean and mean banging tunes that could fit into 30 minutes.
11 glorious tracks of High Energy R’n’R, anthemic, adrenalised, sweaty, singalong, life-affirming Rock and Roll. Huge Choruses, colossal dual guitar riffarama, more hooks than a fishing shop, and one hell of an attitude. Punk? Garage Rock? Scandi Rock? Just know this…. They ARE THE HIP PRIESTS and YOU are NOT.
Play Loud or just don’t fuckin’ bother.
Roden House Blues is released on May the 5th and will be available on all streaming platforms, CD, and in three color variants on vinyl; (1) black vinyl, (2) solid turquoise vinyl with solid white splatter, solid black splatter, and solid blue splatter, and (3) transparent/clear vinyl with transparent yellow splatter and transparent pink splatter.
The self-proclaimed “Barons of High Energy Rock n’ Roll” Märvel celebrate their 20th anniversary with a double album of their greatest hits, B sides and hard to find tracks, collected together on vinyl for the first time.
The Swedish power trio, consisting of The King (Vocals/guitar), The Burgher (bass) and The Vicar (drums) play the sort of high-octane rock n’ roll usually reserved for the likes of Hellacopters, Gluecifer and Turbonegro and are influenced by the most flamboyant and hard-hitting rock bands from the 70’s and 80’s.
‘Double Decade’ follows the release of last year’s ‘Graces Came With Malice’ album and takes the listener on a ride through their 9 studio albums and a plethora of EPs and singles.
They open proceedings with the title track of their 2015 EP ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, a poptastic affair with handclaps, whistling and urgent, bombastic beats. It’s so “Disco Kiss” it could be an outtake from ‘Dynasty’. In complete contrast, ‘Bring It On’ from the same EP, sees the trio veer off the Kiss train into laid back blues slumber, as The King wails ‘Bring it on motherfuckers!” over a sloppily delivered Billy Gibbons riff.
Apart from the most recent ‘Graces Came With Malice’ and the covers opus ‘Guilty Pleasures’, all the studio albums are represented. You wanted the best; you got the best! From the debut ‘5 Smell City’ to the 2017 release ‘At The Sunshine Factory’, we get a snapshot of the best Märvel have to offer. You want a band who sound like 70’s Kiss meets Hellacopters, with a smattering of Thin Lizzy and Bolan thrown about for good measure? Then look no further.
The punky ‘T.N.H.’ and ‘The Effort’ taken from the excellently titled ‘Warhawks Of War’ are two of my personal faves, along with ‘Pyrrhic Victory’ and the most awesome of B sides that is ‘Ambassador Of Fantastic’.
They include 2 new songs as well. ‘Catch 22’ and the killer ‘Turn The Page’ show that Märvel have not lost the art of penning a catchy chorus or two over the years.
Another highlight and a bit of a curioso is ‘The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord’, taken from the Hellacopters tribute album ‘Payin The Dues’ and is a faithful rendition of the classic and fits the vibe of this album perfectly.
A lot of these songs you won’t find on streaming sites, there’s no videos on YouTube. Hell, you can’t even find any info on Google (you try typing in “Märvel” followed by “Motherfucker” and scroll through pages of Samuel L Jackson quotes!). But this sort of adds to the anonymity and excitement of the band and sets them apart from their peers.
‘Double Decade’ is a killer 23 track compilation of one of the best unsung bands of Scandinavian rock n’ roll, that have been treading the boards for the past 20 years. If you’ve not discovered the joys of a Märvel album, this is your perfect introduction. Long may they reign supreme.
RPM Online would like to pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Patrik Sjöstrand from Doojiman & The Exploders. Rock in peace brother wherever you may roam.
The Fine Art of Self Destruction came out at a time before punk rockers were picking up acoustic guitars and doing singer/songwriter songs. I wouldn’t want it to be lost that at that time very few people were mixing Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and punk rock or any of that. You either liked one or the other. I believe liking the Rolling Stones was a sin in my circle of friends at this time. The internet hadn’t been there to absolve us of such sins yet.
There were a few people who liked these mixes of genres and took in everything instead of shunning things. They took it all in and received the transmissions that spoke to their hearts rather than thinking of what was allowed or safe. One of these was a guy who once set fire to bars in the Lower East Side, had things tied inside his dreadlocked hair, and fronted one of the wildest punk rock bands since The New York Dolls… And then says he has a singer/songwriter record coming? Mercy on our souls…
The Fine Art of Self Destruction opened up a new room in Jesse Malin’s world. And maybe, unknowingly at the time, opened up doors for many others who would follow in the future, myself included.
Jesse Malin and Ryan Adams were two of the first people in the forefront of showing that you could sing songs on records in a new way for punk rockers. The songs on The Fine Art of Self Destruction were punk in spirit yet broken and delicate in execution. These are beautiful songs about people in an in between, nocturnal world who “moved to Brooklyn”, back when that meant something, and people who “come so hard but their songs are so slow.” Those were the people I knew. That was a lot of people. And they felt like they were my songs, not that I wrote them, or could’ve, but that they belonged to me in my world. Jesse put those characters in songs that could sit with you on the drives next to Nebraska and Closing Time when you drove home at night.
I don’t think without Jesse making that bold move of doing exactly what he wanted instead of what was expected that I would’ve been here doing what I do now. I think there are a lot of people who could say the same. It’s not that we never heard music like this, we just didn’t know “we” could do it too. You didn’t have to be Dylan, or Bruce, or Tom Waits. You could be a punk rocker who knew three chords and had a story to tell and that was enough.
I also believe that there was no better person to produce this record than Ryan Adams, even though he may have cheated by knowing five or six chords to our three, but he knew what needed to happen with this record. He was in tune and tapped into the spirit. There was a magic Jesse and Ryan both caught on The Fine Art… And I think we’re all better for it.
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