Our favourite Basel Action rockers Bitch Queens are heading out the door to rock around the mainland on their City Of Class Tour. They then plan to head back to shit island and Spain which will be announced soon.
20.12. Slow Club Freiburg (DE) w/ THE MONOFONES 21.12. Fasskeller, Schaffhausen (CH) w/ BRONCO 03.01. Horst , Saarbrücken (DE) 4.1. Zebra Club, Hausen (DE) 20.2. Klub Famu Prag (CZ) 21.2. Arena, Wien (A) w/ Boogie Hammer 22.2. Klub Falcon, Klatovy (CZ) 13.3. l’Atelier des Môles, Montbéliard (F) 14.3. Freak SHOW, Essen (DE)
Two of our favourite bands have joined together in unholy matrimony once again for our listening pleasure and have released a brand new single entitled ‘Trillion Dollar Man’.
The two The Hip Priests and two Bitch Queens members recorded four high energy action rock tracks in one day. 7″ will come in red and blue vinyl. All you streaming folk out there in cyberspace can also shove it on your playlist like we will be doing from here – Spotify
Wow-what a fantastic record. That’s it I could leave the review right there that’s all you need to know. It’s nothing new – they’re not reinventing the wheel – just cruising around with the hood down supping on a few beers with the best eight-track sitting in their retro rocket-fueled hot rod. Dead Furies just play Rock and Roll and play it loud and loose and that’s all you need to know. Oh Yeah, incase you need it spelling out they write Great Songs!
Ok, so its not really all you need to know but you get the picture. I’m not really up on what’s hot and what’s not in in Tallinn, Estonia but I do know that it has one of Europes finest Rock and Roller bands out there making Solid Gold Rock and Roll right here right now. They mix up some classic ’70s rock n Roll and stand it next to some Classic Rock n Roll from the likes of Iggy or the Stones and the whole Scandi scene and let it all melt into one. What’s not to like on the blistering ‘Good God Damn’ it’s like Bolan Jammin with Iggy – everybody on your feet because this pre-chorus needs a standing ovation its that good. If I had to reward a tune ‘Tune of the month’ then this is it. Then, to follow it up with a slab of Motorhead inspired heads down Action Rock of ‘Holy Nothing’ these boys are having it and strutting their stuff like a Rock and Roll peacock and looking good doing it as well.
From the Stooges piano on the title track its feel-good Rock and Roll and seeing as Rockin is their business then I should declare right here right now that business is not just good its awesome. With more than their fair share of excellent songs, this record should, in a just world, see the band kick open plenty of doors and hear ‘Stay Gold’ blasting out of bedroom all over this globe. But they’ll have to work hard for it and tour the guts out of this record just to make a tiny dent I guess. It deserves to be heard because they don’t just have one or two good ideas they have a record bursting with very good songs.
‘Death Of A Comedian’ is coolness personified cruising along towards the understated chorus and we go again. There are fourteen tracks on this album so they’ve shoed in plenty of bang for your bucks. ‘A couple OF Winos’ could be about a few people I know and from the heavy lick it cools down into a good groove for the verse this should appeal to classic old school rockers for its arrangement but its got style and is nestled in well in the middle of the record next to the MC5 hip shake of ‘Sweet Lovin’ Body’ with a great chorus and maybe candidate for my favourite track on the album.
Oh, wait, ‘The More things Change’ howls in on a cool as fuck saxophone honk wearing an old Bowie jacket and a little heavy eye makeup. Such a good song. ‘(I’m Not Gonna) Go Down’ is straight out of the early Hellacopters and Total 13 handbook and why the fuck not? ‘Same Same But Different’ reminds me of The Heartbreakers ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ but it’s same same but different- you’ll get it. As we head into the homestraight the boys just cut loose with rockers ‘Cowboys And Indians’ before taking you up a side street for the closer ‘I Get A Kick From You’. I get akick from hearing records this good and would happily endorse this bad boy there is a lot of music and it has variety yet keeps its identity and they’re not afraid to tread outside their comfort zone now and again either.
The Drippers are a super sexy bunch. Of course they’re Scandinavian, ‘cos most great high energy Rock ‘N Roll bands are these days. They’ve got one foot in the original Action Rock gene pool of The Stooges, MC5, Motorhead and KISS and the other foot firmly planted in the nineties Scando rebirth of bands like Gluecifer, The Hellacopters and Turbonegro. The Drippers stand proudly amongst the young contenders like The Hip Priests, Flash house, Deathtraps and of course Scumbag Millionaire, shoving dirty Rock ‘N Roll into the ear holes of those who wanna Rock & Roll All night (and party every day)!
The album is a full-on, shit-kicking raw power freight train. With great tunes, a ton of energy and the legendary Tomas Skogsberg and the controls, what could go wrong…
Opener ‘(Ain’t No) Shangri-La’ grabs you right by the balls straight off the bat. One minute and twenty-five seconds of brain pounding ecstasy. Niclas Kristoferson is a drum god, FACT!
Max Ljungberg of Scumbag directed a video, for lead track ‘Gimme The Shakes’ and you are gonna love it. It’s one hell of a cool tune with more than a nod to Max’s Millionaires.
‘Feldman’s Exit’ is another pounder with Victor’s bass thump and William’s scorching glunktastic guitar creating another Scando-scorcher.
I realise I’m gushing like a fanboy about this chunk of plastic but I’ve been blasting it out for the last couple of weeks and it’s up there with the latest releases by The Hip Priests and Jonny Manak & The Depressives as a contender for my album of the year (so far) !!!!
‘Långgatan’ is full on Turbonegro with a nod to Cheap Trick, while ‘White Light’ shakes its ass in a Motorhead meets Scumbag kind of way. The double lead vocals throughout the album really add some bollocks to songs at set them apart from other bands.
‘Backbeat’ is a seriously groovy tune that in a sane world would take it to the top of the charts. This is a tune that’ll bend ears and turn heads.
‘ Bottled Blues’ starts like rolling thunder. If you like Motorhead of in fact any of the bands mentioned above you are gonna love this shit. It’s quite simply a Scando Rock ‘Ace of Spades’.
The closing third of the album kicks off with ‘Sweet Action’. Fast, full on and furious stuff. Another cracking chorus and some serious Fast Eddie riffory. If Motorhead works for you, then songs like ‘Sweet Action’ and ‘Finskt Blod’ will certainly give you a neck ache.
‘Ready To Fall’ takes you back into Scumbag land with a hook that any pirate would be proud of, while ‘Day Turns To Night’ closes the show in a full bore, no shit saved blast. You can taste the sweat dripping from your speakers.
The Drippers use a ton of distortion but this is DS1 heaven and not hell. While the guitars and vocals are seriously overdriven, they haven’t fallen into the trap of other full-on rockers and drenched the drums in fuzz too, meaning that the power and bollocks are retained. It’s the Sunlight Studio magic!
Action Rock’ is released on 2nd of August through The Sign Records. Buy it and thank me for turning you onto The Drippers later !!!
Checkout the video for the track “Solitary Speaking”. While not appearing on ‘Action Rock’, it was included in the “A Fistful More of Rock and Roll” compilation released by Sal Canzonieri of Electric Frankenstein.
Along with debut single ‘Full Tilt Boogie’ also missing from ‘Action Rock’.
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