Gothenburg Action Rockers have cobbled together a double album’s worth of B-side and other non-album-work and those already in the know will be aware that the band simply don’t do bad songs so it is like having another studio record – or two to be fair. They’ve selected 16 tracks for this release, which was not an easy task, considering the number of releases since the birth of Scumbag Millionaire in 2014. The fact it’s nonsense free, zero fucks given record speaks volumes. No CDs, No limited editions on splatter, no cassette tapes – precisely zero Bullshit!

The Scumbags do love a record much like a lot of their peers and big hitters in this scene they’ve done loads of splits on 7″ with many of their equals and some of the genre’s big hitters. It’s great to see lots of those songs here and seeing as most are on long-since sold-out records it’s a chance for many to hear these songs for the first time.

Sixteen tracks of Rock solid Action Rock. In the old days a single would be the lead track of an album and maybe a couple of live cuts or an unfinished demo or remix but a lot of bands that respect the format of the 7″ don’t just pad it out and you often find absolute gems wedged onto a 7″ and bands like Scumbag Millionaire tend to drop singles throughout the year that aren’t just promo for a new album and that’s where compilations like this come in handy especially when the singles sell out in the blink of an eye and you can’t find a copy for love nor money. Well, this bad boy kicks off with the piano tinkling barnstormer that is ‘No Speed No Punk’ an absolute tour de force that the sound of a freight train steaming through your front door and devastating everything in its path but with added piano for texture, beautiful.

If you’re not familiar with Scumbag Millionaire this might be a great place to jump in. It gives a fantastically rounded view of where they’re at and the quality of what they do. It’s often full tilt, no compromising hard rockin’ punk n roll. The songs are born from a steady diet of Motorhead, MC5, and Machine Gun Etiquette but with some fantastic harmonica or piano added to show there is more going on here than crash bang wallop. It’s scandi Rock with Hellacopters and Gluecifer but with more aggression songs like ‘Schizo’ are what Backyard Babies could have been. As a stand-alone album if you didn’t know it was B Sides and oddities you’d be floored at how fuckin’ good this album is. ‘I’m In Love’ is like being kicked by a horse and enjoying it.

The band said of this record that it was coming out on black vinyl, no CD no bullshit and boy did they deliver. This is the poster boy for all killer no filler and if you ever wanted to know what high energy hard Rockin was then this is where it’s at. I can’t wait for vol two at some point because they’ve done over twenty-five singles so this being the first sixteen there’s scope for more more more.

I love the reckless take on ‘Burning Police Cars’ and then following it with the punk as fuck ‘Calm Down’. As the record comes screeching to its final track you get the wonderful ‘Paul Stanley’ that’s the mid-pace with the huge Bass rumble and drum breakdown that deserves to be covered in beer as the pit turns into a heaving mess before the filthy Bass chug of ‘Leave Me Be’ is the penultimate call to arms of an amazingly good comp. leaving only ‘Rubber Legs’ to sing off lifted from their fine Iggy tribute they shared with The UK’s finest noise makers The Hip Priests.

If you’re still reading then you know what to do next, buy steal or borrow this album it’s essential!

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Author: Dom Daley

A post punk album for a post pandemic generation – hailing from Cardiff South Wales Can Kicker certainly kick up a fair fuckin’ din. its riotous at times and high tension other times. It’s not for the feint hearted, it’s not polished punk by numbers – it has rough edges and the needle veers into the red at times whilst vocalist Luke Penny has a fine knack of conveying they desperate, fractured nature of hardcore post punk really well. Its attention grabbing and makes you want to concertrate on what hes howling at on the frantic ‘My History Is Not For Me’ whilst the lead guitar scraped out its melody over a rhythm section busting a gut to get to the finish line in one piece.

‘Looking For My Love’ is trying to find its way in the world as it staggers around in your speakers like the Fall on speed. ‘Aimlessly, Continually, Boring’ does exactly what it says on the tin. The vocals sound disinterested not unlike what Lydon has perfected in recent PIL albums. The format is often the same as Can Kicker rage through various stages of post-punk from rapid (‘Sterilised Experience’) to the slower metronome-paced throb of ‘Waking Dream’ again housing Perrys’ drone like vocal. The one thing that stitches the songs of this album together is how fuckin’ loud it all sounds. I imagine (and hope) this was all recorded as loudly as possible. Nowhere better is it exampled that the final offerings of ‘Stupid Game’ part 1 and The final track ‘Stupid Game’ part 2. The first sounds like prime Subhumans whilst part two have acoustic guitars next to a feedback-delayed lead guitar sounding like a post apocalypse soundscape that disappears into a void you daren’t even look into. Noisy as fuck but a whole lot of fun if fun is grey, dark, challenging and loud!

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Author: Dom Daley