This new video and single is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel for Mike Peters so lets celebrate this Monday with the brand new video and song off the new album – Take it away MP…
NEXT is the brand new single from The Alarm and is available to listen to now at all DSP’s and online music services. Are you ready for what’s next? 28 February 2023 Subscribe – http://smarturl.it/SubscribeToTheAlarm
“Words cannot express the joy of leaving hospital after a long stay on the wards, especially when it means you have regained your health,” he says, referring to the last year of hospital visits, chemo treatments, and life-threatening pneumonia brought on with the relapse of his leukaemia, which was originally diagnosed in 2005.
While the single may signal that he’s newly energised from a healthy prognosis and ready to return to what he loves best – recording and performing – the fact is that Peters never stopped doing either of those things. Writing new music and performing it live to hospital staff while undergoing medical procedures to keep his cancer in check, Peters wrote “Next” with his trusty acoustic guitar and an IV stuck in his arm.
“The lyrics of the song were conceived while I was being treated for a leukaemia relapse and a lung that had filled with blood,” Peters explains. “The outcome was uncertain, but the medical and nursing staff did all they could to keep me going and, in fact, were probably the first people to hear what I was working up musically while they did their life saving work. It wasn’t planned, but once the realization hit me that I was going to be in hospital for a long time, I knew I needed my guitar to break the monotony of the isolation. Being able to play music to myself kept me going and I’m convinced that it helped me make the transition back to life.”
As a reminder of what he went through and what he leaves behind, Peters filmed the new video in hospital corridors, a familiar sight in the last year especially. “I wanted to film something that captured the elation of knowing you are going home, moving on, going forwards ready for what lies ahead, for what’s next,” he says. “At night and in between IV sessions, I would walk the very same empty hospital corridors of the North Wales Cancer Centre trying to preserve whatever human strength I could hang on to.”
Back in the mists of time, sometime around 1994, I was gifted a second-hand t shirt (sleeves cut off, obviously). On the front was a cartoon dog and a cat with a baseball bat, in neon pink writing the band logo of some obscure, local glam band who had long since split up. That band were called Sister Morphine and on the back of that very same t shirt was the immortal phrase ‘SUCK MY JUBE!’. To this day I still have no idea what that means, and until recently what Sister Morphine actually sounded like, but I loved that t shirt and wore it to death. Turns out the singer of that very same band would be my boss/editor/sender of cool music during my time as a reviewer for the legendary Uber Rock website.
South Wales based Sister Morphine were regulars on the club circuit back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, supporting the likes of Last Of The Teenage Idols and Gunfire Dance. But sadly, the stars didn’t align and the band went their separate ways. Who would’ve guessed that Gaz Tidey, guitarists Jamesy & Jonesy, bassist Mike DeSouza and drummer Denley Slade would get the band back together during lockdown and record the debut album that they threatened to make back in those halcyon days of hairspray, fags and thunderbird wine.
So, while you and I were baking banana bread, drinking beer at 10am and watching Tiger King on Netflix, Sister Morphine were scouring their lofts for lost rehearsal tapes, to find the best versions of their beloved songs from a lifetime ago, to see if they really could resurrect Sister Morphine from the graveyard of empty bottles and claim their rightful place as the kings of Glunk Rock 2023!
But why should you care about lost songs recorded by a bunch of 50-somethings, written a lifetime ago? Well, it turns out Sister Morphine can knock out a few tunes, and bloody good ones at that! I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the first single and title track ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’. Who knew Mr. Tidey had such a sleazy vocal delivery that would stand up after all these years. With a voice that sits somewhere between Ricky Warwick and Zodiac Mindwarp, he takes the catchy melody by the scruff of the neck, over a tune that could be an AI generated mash up of The Dogs D’amour and The Quireboys. It’s a 70’s glam rock boogie of a tune and the perfect introduction to the party going on down at Heartbreak City!
Recorded at RedRock studios in Blackwood and produced by Lyndon Price of Welsh metal legends Wild Pussy, ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ is a 15-song blast of high-octane rock n’ roll that features regulars from their live sets, lost tracks from the archives and four brand new songs for you to devour.
Opener ‘Holy City Zoo’ has already been likened to Motorhead by those in the know, and references Bowie, Duran and Roxy Music. It’s a 2 minute & 22 second statement of intent, job done.
You want punky, low slung rock n’ roll with more attitude than Rocky on steroids? Then look no further than second track ‘Do You Wanna Get Wasted?’. Now that’s a song title any angst-filled youth of today can get on board with, right? Good job it sounds like Zodiac Mindwarp jamming with Backyard Babies and Johnny Thunders then, innit!
The Scandinavian punk rock vibes continue on the likes of second single ‘Nothing Dirty In The Truth’ where the rousing verses and killer chorus showcase a band who really mean it. Elsewhere, ‘Black Hearts & Bruised Egos’ channels Circus Of Power and early Alice Cooper garage rock vibes to great effect.
What’s not to like here? I’m loving this album. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, or maybe I’m biased, but I’ll tell you one thing for certain, Sister Morphine have some killer tunes going on.
Lifting a page out of Tyla’s songbook, ‘Cry The Rain’ is a big tune about love gone bad, set to a Faces-lite rock n’ roll boogie, with some rousing backing vocals. Sava a place in your heart for this one. The hook-laden ‘8 Tracks & Zodiacs’ is another of the new songs, and a potential single for sure. A song about a girl, it has catchy 90’s brit rock vibes that sit well and is a serious earworm.
The strengths of this album lie in the songwriting, the diversity and the production. It’s all pretty high-octane stuff, but they do throw in a curve ball towards the end with the countrified blues of ‘Living With Snakes’. Acoustics, slide guitar and harmonica go a long way to show Sister Morphine ain’t one trick ponies.
While ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ has one foot planted firmly in the past, it brings a classic sound smack up to date for 2023 with a great production. Full of rock n’ roll nostalgia and clever tongue-in-cheek lyricism, we get sleazy punk rock, 70’s boogie rock and countrified goodness all wrapped up in one cool little package.
If Sister Morphine’s only ambition was to realize their dream of releasing a debut album that could stand tall with the artists of their era, then they have easily succeeded. But I feel they have surpassed those ambitions by taking the music to places their teenage selves could never imagine. ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ is a pretty unique album, in that it has been recorded by a bunch of 50 somethings, yet it has the energy and sonics of a band half their age. And you know what? I’ll be happy to file that shiny new CD in the rack, somewhere between Shotgun Messiah and Skid Row, where it should have sat for the last 30 years.
After releasing two albums in two years, 2023 promises to be another busy year for David Ryder Prangley. “The man who put the glam in Mid-Glamorgan” (as said Simon Price) will be releasing his third solo album this spring, alongside a reissue of Rachel Stamp’s debut ‘Hymns For Strange Children’. Just after this interview took place, Rachel Stamp announced a date to coincide with the album release on 14th April at Islington Academy. For all the details and more, read on…
‘Vampire Deluxe’ was my favourite album of 2021. There seems to be a strong lyrical link between it and ‘Black Magic And True Love’; were they written at the same time, or did you already have the idea to release two albums in quick succession?
Thank you Martin! I had most of the songs written for both albums before I recorded ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and I always had in my mind to release two albums in very quick succession, that sounded like companion albums. Kind of like The Police’s first two LPs where they sound the same and have a running lyrical theme. It was just a case of picking which songs went together and making two albums out of that. I did write ‘Sweet Heartbreaker’ and ‘Hey Stargazer’ after the first album was recorded. I actually had the guitar riff to ‘Sweet Heartbreaker’ kicking around for a few years and finally put lyrics to it. In general, over the two albums, and in fact on my next album too, I wanted the lyrics to all have a similar stylistic tone and I was conscious to not veer too far from the central themes of magic and space and other stuff that I’m too polite to talk about, but if you’ve heard the albums then you’ll know what I’m saying… The songs can be interpreted differently by different people and I did that on purpose. There’s no one meaning behind any of the songs and that’s why I didn’t print the lyrics on the albums. I want people to hear whatever they hear, even if it’s not what I actually sang.
pic by Rowan Spray
Tell us about your songwriting process. Do you demo songs at home once you have a solid idea, in order to choose which ones to put on an album? Does the finished song differ much from the demo? I noticed that old Ants demos were practically identical to the finished song, which I thought showed how strong Adam’s vision was for his songs. You seem to be similar, in having an image that is as important as the music.
I don’t have one process for writing, though I often make the songs up in my head and then have to work them out on guitar or piano. The songs on ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and ‘Vampire Deluxe’ are very simple in terms of structure, and I arrange all the basic parts for the different instruments but leave room for the players to bring their own personalities to the songs. The solos are left up to whoever plays them. It’s really important for me to work with people whose playing I like and it’s important that the band have a connection to the music. I’ve been really lucky to have great musicians with me on these albums – Rob Emms and Belle Star on drums, Laurie Black and Grog Lisee on piano, Anna-Christina on bass guitar, Liza Bec on recorder and saxophone and Drew Richards on guitar, who also co-produced ‘Vampire Deluxe’ with me. Adie Hardy co-produced ‘Black Magic & True Love’ with Marc Olivier co-producing the song ‘They Came From The Stars To Capture Our Hearts’. I started producing other bands whilst I was still in my band Rachel Stamp and I really enjoy it. A lot of what makes a good producer is being organised – which sounds a bit dull, but it’s vital to have a plan and rehearse stuff before you get to the studio so you know what you’re doing when you get there and don’t get freaked out when the red light turns on!
In terms of the connection between the image and the music – that’s vital for me. I want people to look at the cover of the record and when they play it, the songs fit perfectly with the cover image. It’s funny that you mention Adam Ant because I played bass with him for a short while. He’s a brilliant musician and a great arranger, especially with vocals. He’s certainly a musical and visual inspiration for me.
Pic by Ben Ga
What can you tell us about your upcoming solo album and the Rachel Stamp reissue? Any gigs lined up? My next album is on the way! I have the title and cover image already and I’ve demo’d three songs and have about four more written and I have some songs leftover from the first two albums. This album will continue the themes of the first two but have a few twists. I’ve been singing in a lower register lately so I’m going to explore that side of my voice as well as what people know me for already. I’m hoping to release the first track from the next album in April, around the time of the Rachel Stamp re-issue. That came about when we were approached by the label Easy Action to contribute the Rachel Stamp cover of T Rex’s ‘Calling All Destroyers’ to a compilation LP they’re putting out. We got on well with the label and they suggested re-issuing ‘Hymns For Strange Children’ so here we are, and the release is set for Friday 14th April and we’re playing a show at the O2 Academy Islington in London to celebrate the release on the same day.
To be honest, it was quite odd going back and working on ‘Hymns For Strange Children’ again. I never listen to that album, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. I had to go back and tweak some of the songs for the vinyl version so ended up spending several hours with headphones on immersed in Stampworld! I think when we originally made that album I wasn’t thrilled with the sonics but in retrospect I love it. It’s a really unusual album that doesn’t sound at all dated and doesn’t sound like anything else. I always described Rachel Stamp as ‘Prince meets Black Sabbath’ with the heavy riffs, tri-tones and then the synths on top of it all. We never used programming or sequencers – it was all played live and has a very different feel to, say, the industrial bands or indie guitar bands of the time. Everyone in Rachel Stamp has very eclectic tastes and generally were into more off the wall bands like Devo, The Nymphs, Big Star, Parliament, Sabbath, Bodycount… bands that were doing their own thing. It was important for us to do our own thing too and people had a weird reaction to us because they couldn’t easily catagorise us. The press tried to dismiss us some kind of glam revival which we never were. I mean, we loved Marc Bolan and David Bowie and Sweet, and me and Robin were certainly into some of the 80s LA glam metal bands like Ratt and Poison but we weren’t trying to revive anything, we were all about the moment. I would say that visually we were more influenced by English punk and by bands like We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It and Prince and by movies like Blade Runner, Near Dark and The Abominable Dr Phibes.
The fans totally got it, but other bands were kind of scared of us. They couldn’t understand how we could walk around the streets looking like we did and then get on stage and play super loud high energy heavy music. So many musicians jump on trends and it blows their minds to see someone just using their imagination. It’s actually not that hard.
Are there any more plans for Sister Witch? I was so pleased to see them play once! I love the Sister Witch album and I love writing and working with Lux Lyall. We still write together and we co-wrote a lot of her first solo album and I played guitar on it too. In fact, we just wrote a song for my next album called ‘Let’s Fall Apart Together Tonight’.
I don’t think there will be another Sister Witch album as such but there will definitely be more DRP/Lux Lyall music out there.
As an amateur musician, currently swapping between guitar and bass, I’ve been learning a lot of your bass lines. Nerdy question; what’s your favourite guitar and bass, live and in the studio?
My favourite bass guitar is my BC Rich Eagle and Anna-Christina actually played that bass on the ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and ‘Vampire Deluxe’ albums and at my live shows. It has a really great mid-range and doesn’t just take over the low frequencies like a Fender Precision might do. I bought that guitar way back when Rachel Stamp got signed to WEA and I used it on the ‘Bring Me The Head Of Rachel Stamp’ EP but it got stolen a couple of years later. Fast forward about 17 years and I was looking on ebay and someone had it for sale! I recognised it because there was big chunk out of the headstock where I’d thrown it across the stage at a gig, so I knew it was mine. The seller was a young guitar dealer in Bristol who had no idea of its history – he’d just innocently bought it from a company that had found it in a skip! I told him the story and sent him some photos of me playing it and I luckily still had a copy of the police report from when it was originally stolen, and he was really cool about it all and we made an arrangement for me to get it back. I was so grateful. Since then, I’ve had the headstock repaired and I wrote ‘Suzi Q’ on the back in gold in tribute to Suzi Quatro who was the first musician I ever wanted to be when I was a kid. She played BC Rich basses in the late 70s.
pic by Rowan Spray
As far as six string guitar goes, my favourite for recording is my old 1972 Gibson SG Special with mini humbuckers that I bought about ten years ago. It has a very unique sound, kind of halfway between a Gibson and a Fender tone. The previous owner had refinished it in Cardinal Red, a non-regulation colour for that guitar so I got it for not much money at all because it wasn’t ‘vintage correct’. I don’t really care about ‘vintage’ or ‘all-original’, I just play something and if I like how it sounds and feels then I’m happy to use it. That guitar was all I used on ‘Black Magic & True Love’, plugged into a Marshall JCM 900 through a 4×12 speaker cabinet. I had the amp quite overdriven and I’d turn the volume knob of the guitar up or down depending on how much overdrive I wanted. On ‘Forever In Starlight’ I might have plugged it into a Roland Jazz Chorus or a Fender combo, I can’t remember exactly, but something with a cleaner sound than the Marshall. I did the solo on that song through a Mesa Boogie Mark 3 to get a kind of Santana sound. If you listen to that album my guitar is panned to the left and the guitar panned to the right is Drew Richards playing a Washburn Idol Goldtop. We did the same for 95% of ‘Vampire Deluxe’, except I also used a couple of different guitars to overdub some solos on that album, and there’s the acoustic guitars too which were my old Encore plastic back Ovation copy and Drew’s Washburn acoustic. Those two albums were, for the most part, recorded live in the studio with the band playing all at once. We then overdubbed percussion, vocals and a few solos. It’s a very simple approach but it’s amazing how effective and fast it is. I wish I had recorded all the Rachel Stamp albums this way. I plan to do the same for my next album.
When I play gigs, I use a different set up which is my Fender Stratocaster through a Marshall combo and I use a Suhr Riot distortion pedal that I leave on all the time. With that set up I can go from clean to fully distorted just using the volume control on the Stratocaster. Some people find that an odd set up but it’s pretty old school actually. It’s kind of how Brian may does it, except he uses a wall of Vox AC30s all on full volume!
How was it to play again with Adam Ant recently? You and Will obviously played with him some years ago. I’m guessing you fitted in pretty easily. Was he an influence on Rachel Stamp?
That recent chance to play with Adam again came out of the blue when Joe Holweger, Adam’s bass player, got covid and Adam was due to headline a big festival. I got a call from Will asking if I could step in and I was more than happy to. I knew most of the songs to play because, as you mention, I had played with him previously. I had to learn a few more songs and we did one rehearsal and then it was the gig in front of 10,000 people so no pressure, right?! A funny thing happened at that show – people probably don’t realise but when bands do those festival shows with so many other bands on the bill, you don’t get a soundcheck, you just go on and during the first song the band is usually frantically signalling the monitor engineer to turn things up or down so they can get their sound balance on the stage. The audience is hearing something else entirely that’s mixed by another engineer who is in the sound booth in the middle of the field. Well, at that show we walked on and kicked into ‘Dog Eat Dog’ which has a very prominent bass line and I just couldn’t hear my bass at all. I turned around and went to the bass amp and turned it up and still couldn’t hear it and then realised the amp wasn’t working! Luckily the bass guitar is fed directly to the front of house PA system as well as the amp so the audience could hear my bass fine, but I couldn’t hear it on stage. I had to rely on just knowing I was putting my fingers in the right place, but it was pretty nerve wracking. We got it all fixed after that though… Then during ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’ the entire stage power cut out and all the amps and guitars and everything just went silent! The audience started singing the song and it became this quite magical moment of us standing on the stage waiting for the power to come back on whilst the crowd serenaded us.
Adam was definitely a huge influence on Rachel Stamp. I even stole some of the lyrics from ‘Vive le Rock’ in our song ‘Ladies & Gents’ and we named a song ‘Pink Skab’ because when Will came up with that riff I thought he was playing an Ants b-side! We used to cover ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ and ‘Fall In’ too. Will had been a huge fan as a kid but I got into Adam a bit later, when a friend at school played me the b-sides to the singles. That’s what really got me, songs like ‘Christian Dior’ and ‘Physical’. When we first played with Adam, I think he was impressed that we knew all the ‘obscure’ songs and we could play most of them already. There’s a great video of us playing at the Scala and we open with ‘Plastic Surgery’ and go straight into ‘Lady’ and then segue into ‘The Day I Met God’ and the audience goes fucking nuts. They never expected in a million years to hear those songs and all that was basically Will’s idea. Adam would just say ‘what do you want to play?’ and we would play it and he would sing it. It was a pretty incredible thing to be a part of.
Would you consider playing in Europe, or post-B****t is it just too complicated/ expensive? It’s a selfish question, as I’m based in France now.
I would love to play in Europe! I’m doing more shows now with just an acoustic guitar and I really enjoy playing that way. My solo music lends itself to being performed in a stripped-down way. I’m not sure if that answers your question? I guess what I’m saying is that I’m very open to offers if someone wants to book me!
There was one album in particular that got me through the first Covid lockdown here in the UK, and that was ‘Graveyard Island’ the superb third album from Isle of Wight punk rocking skinheads Grade 2. Released at the tail end of 2019, it was a record that had initially passed me by, but once I discovered it (via a good friend who also resides on Graveyard Island) it was like a true beacon of punk rock hope shining through those darkest of days.
Fast forward to Rebellion 2022 and playing to a packed Pavilion audience Grade 2 then went and delivered one of the performances of the weekend, giving us an immediate sneak peak of the new album they already had up their sleeves (more of which in a second) to help kickstart a blistering set of older tunes that instantly had the audience in singalong punk rock heaven. They then turn up on the “hush hush” Pirates Press released Cock Sparrer tribute album, that snook out around Christmas time, and here the lads managed to take a Sparrer deep cut and truly make it sound like one of their own, which is no mean feat I’m sure you’ll agree. Reviewing that album for RPM (something you can read here) I declared that 2023 really could be Grade 2’s year, so with their fourth album now cued up on my system and ready to play, what would the next 35 minutes have in store for me, and would the album actually live up to my high expectations?
Just like during their aforementioned Rebellion slot ‘Judgement Day’ gets things off and running in fast and furious style, the bass of Sid Ryan rattling the speakers with its punchy bottom end and drummer Jacob Hull attacks his kit like the IOW’s very own Joey Castillo whilst it’s the almost Dick Dale like guitar work of Jack Chatfield that truly propels this 1 minute 32 second ball of sonic fury, and before you know it we’re into one of the album’s (many) highlights, the cowbell (yup punk rockers use cowbells too) tonking beauty that is ‘Fast Pace’. It’s on tunes like this where Grade 2 really stand out from the punk rock pack, ditching the speed for a more intense melody packed approach, in many ways they remind me of Newport’s very own 60 Foot Dolls. This is music meant to be danced to, and there’s even a Hammond organ solo that crops up mid song to seal the deal. Fantastic stuff!
Up next, ‘Under The Streetlight’ takes us back to ‘Murder Town’ complete with a doff of a cap to the band’s label masters Rancid, whilst ‘Doesn’t Matter Much Now’ is another bootboy terrace anthem in the making, very much like latter day Argy Bargy. Then there’s the early days Jam anger of ‘Midnight Ferry’ which switches the perils of missing the last tube home for the last boat home, and oh the delights of living on an island eh! I must give a special mention here to the band’s ear for a melody, as this tune could very easily have been a contender back in the days when singles sold, instead of TikTok views, actually lead to artists becoming household names.
Having been one of the lead videos from the album ‘Brassic’ is the song that initially got me truly excited about this record, its jagged riff and instantly memorable chorus (complete with female backing vocals) knocking the tune well and truly out the park.
As the album reaches its midway point the tracks that fall either side, the Matt Freeman like 58 second blast of ‘Gaslight’ and the anthemic ‘Don’t Stand Alone’ complete with its (once again) glorious backing vocals, really are the perfect example of the two sides of the Grade 2 songwriting coin, and it’s at this almost perfect point I’m going to dip out and let you discover the rest of the album for yourselves, because you really do have to hear it.
I said it at the top of the review that I thought 2023 could very well be Grade 2’s year, and with a proper multi-date UK tour kicking off in just a few weeks’ time, along with dates with Rancid and The Bronx (now that is a one hell of line up) later in the year, it very well could be, it just needs you to get off your arses, buy those gig tickets and most importantly snap up copies of this 15-track Grade-A punk rock record. It’ll never be off your turntable, or out your CD player (you might even be constantly streaming this) come its February 17th release date.
‘Chasing Death’ from their forthcoming album ‘Roden House Blues’ – which will be released May 5th, 2023, via The Sign Records.
The song is, say the band “about self-destruction and self-sabotage. A story stuffed with vice and excess. A tale about one person’s journey, after buying a one-way ticket on the train wreck to end all train wrecks. The age-old colourful topics of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Is it autobiographical? Is it celebration or commiseration? Hero or Rock N Roll failure? Chasing death or embracing life? Crank it loud and make your own mind up.”
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.
picture credit is Ralph Barklam
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.
Today, The Hip Priests blast out a second offering ahead of the album’s release with new single ‘Chasing Death’, a song that is, say the band “about self-destruction and self-sabotage. A story stuffed with vice and excess. A tale about one person’s journey, after buying a one-way ticket on the train wreck to end all train wrecks. The age-old colourful topics of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Is it autobiographical? Is it celebration or commiseration? Hero or Rock N Roll failure? Chasing death or embracing life? Crank it loud and make your own mind up.”
The Hip Priests. Zero fucks n’ less success since 2006. The most prolific band you haven’t heard of. High energy sweaty sermons of misanthropy, disillusion (self) loathing and despair. Get ready to have your ears torn clean off.
Following the rollicking and crashing guitar-driven ‘Ballad of the Knucklemen’, The Balladmongrels second single ‘Trouble’ is the title track from their forthcoming debut album. A towering anthem that will have you singing along from the start, it sets the standard for this eagerly anticipated record which is due for release 12th May 2023.
There’s a whole lotta shaking going on down on Neverland Ranch as this three-piece explosion of the blues, Rock n Roll, Experimental Rock, Post Punk and whatever else they decide to throw into the pot.
Guitarist/singer Tex Mosley: one-time alumnus of Philly’s legendary Afro-punks Pure Hell is driving the bus at NRD There’s a healthy dose of minimalist R & B happening on ‘Fat Back’ that reminds me of Vintage Trouble when they weren’t performing ballads mixed with a shade of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. ‘Aqua Velveteen’ carries on this journey with the sparseness growing and getting more trippy. Pat Todd cited Suicide as an influence when describing the band’s sound and I hear that here its certainly not frantic like Jon Spenser but the use of feedback and the blues is all here. It’s like the morning after the night before – you can’t remember much but you sure as hell know you had a good time.
The band can also rock it up, ‘Liquor Store’ has some street-wise attitude that sounds like they’re riding the local bucking bronco with a beer in one hand and the other hitting a snare drum without a care in the world. It’s a simple time-honored formula this Rock and Roll when done right. Knocking out a rhythm and putting some words down before breaking it up with a whacked-out solo that’s trying to tame that fuzz n feedback before it’s too late.
The guys in the band are just rolling with it and kicking out the jams on ‘Solid Monkey Blues’ playing it straight no bullshit I’m sure Iggy would approve.
The band operates without a bass player and figured The Cramps didn’t need one (most of the time) and neither did the Gories so NRD gave it a miss as well.
Side two kicks off with an instrumental jig before ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ brings in layered gang vocals over some big melody and some cool lyrics to reflect the laid-back tempo that is almost horizontal. ‘Hen House’ gets a little funky and loose and has the same vibe early Lenny Kravitz once possessed when he was letting love rule. These cats have got the chops to pull this off you know, the album grows when you let it breathe and drip into your brain.
‘Stigmata’ has the feel that you’ve heard this before laying down some ’80s Keith Richard chops on that riff if he floated down a different path. ‘Knee On My Neck’ is heavy and is one of the highlights of the album that to be fair has plenty of highs. The record signs off with ‘I Believe To My Soul’ which is a brooding number with some excellent vocals and harmonising on top of a really strong arrangement that again doesn’t overcook the instruments and keeps it to a minimum or just enough to deliver the goods something Neverland Ranch Davidians do over and over again on this excellent album. If you’re looking for a pointer then I’d suggest you look no further than the Buy Here button below you won’t regret it.
Fronted by former Role Models leader Rich Ragany, the last few years has seen the Calgary, Canada born and now UK based songsmith build up quite a reputation with his band of rock n ’roll trailblazers, The Digressions. With musicians that include Andy Brook (celebrated producer, SHUSH), Gaff (Glitterati, Dedwardians, Desperate Measures,) Ricky McGuire (UK SUBS, The Men They Couldn’t Hang), Simon Maxwell (Role Models, Yo Yos) and Kit Swing (Mallory Knox, Seven Days And Doesn’t Die), the band won over the hearts of many in 2021 with their critically-acclaimed ‘Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache’ album, gaining considerable airplay on BBC Introducing, and rave reviews and features from the likes of Classic Rock, Vive Le Rock, Louder Than War and Powerplay etc.
Sharing stages with the likes of The Lemonheads, Warrior Soul, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Whitfield Crane, Ginger Wildheart, The Professionals, Steve Conte (New York Dolls) as well as packing out London venues in their own right, all this deserved attention has led to the band signing a deal with Barrel And Squidger (who have released music by CJ Wildheart, Massive Wagons, members of Status Quo and Sex Pistols) and are set to return March 3rd with a brand new album titled ‘What We Do (To Not Let Go)’.
Today, the band have launched the pre-order for the album and are giving people the first sweet taste of its charms in ‘One Last Thing To Prove’ – a song that lulls the listener into a false sense of security with a beautiful piano and simple chord refrain before out of nowhere the Digressions kick in with a Stooges worthy rock n’ roll riff, complete with ‘Raw Power’ one-note piano stabs. But the vocal harmonies that the band are renowned for lift the song far beyond any low rent garage vibes, and the song soars.
“One night out in Camden I ran into an old friend Pete,” explains Rich, remembering the origins of the song. “We go way back to Canada He’s a sound tech for some pretty amazing acts. Anyways, I see him, and his arm is in a sling. I ask him what he’s doing after. He says he can’t be out late as he leaves in the morning to hit the road. “With a broken arm man??” He replied “We all got one last thing to prove…”
It’s a taster of an album that is crammed full of soaring melodies and the kind of rock n’ roll that can take on many different moods, sounds and styles. For ‘What We Do (To Not Let Go)’ that band went for a different approach to its predecessor…
“As ‘Nostalgia….’ had that wide-screen depth and cinematic feel,” explains Rich. “I decided to lay down a new approach. Gone were layering guitars and keys, in with punchy one takes… everyone getting one shot… everybody gets one job (Gaff is lead guitar, Kit rhythm for example no layers… just the parts), solos are solid takes and not pieced together. This to me would ensure that everyone’s personality would shine right through while making the songs far more immediate and vital. If it’s one thing I’ve learned while being incredibly lucky to work with the Digressions, it’s that they have a ton of personality.
“After writing, recording our ‘Beyond Nostalgia And Heartache’ album through the pandemic I felt we were on an incredible creative roll. So just before the release of Nostalgia I booked time again with Andy at The Brook Studios in Wallington Rock City. I had the songs and the band had grown into something very special. We had to keep going, which felt natural. What you get is a muscular yet melodic, anthemic rock n roll album. A new way of telling our story. One I can say I am so proud to be part of.”
‘What We Do (To Not Let Go)’ is out March 3rd via Barrel and Squidger Records and is available to pre-order HERE.
Album release parties are confirmed for March 3rd at The Parish in Huddersfield and March 4th at The Camden Assembly in London.
Also, the band have just secured the main support slot on The Southall Lawless Stage of The Call Of The Wild Festival on May 27th. More dates across the country are being added.
Rich Ragany And The Digressions are:
Rich Ragany – vocals/guitar/drums Gaff – lead guitar Kit Swing – guitar/vocals Andy Brook – keyboards/vocals/guitar Ricky McGuire – bass Simon Maxwell – drums/percussion
Undisputed kings of the clamshell box set Cherry Red have put together the ultimate CD clam shell box of Dinosaur Jr from 1990-97 or the hits years when they were signed to Sire. On the four CDs, you get all four albums plus a plethora of B-sides and more. Albums, Singles, and rarities are pretty much the Jewson lot.
The booklet has a heap of awesome artwork to accompany the releases as well as extensive sleevenotes from Mojo Magazines Keith Cameron based on his interviews with J Mascis.
Born in the mid-80s post-punk and pre-Grungers Dinosaur Jr was the brainchild of Mascis and his unique guitar style. To be fair the run of sire records are an amazing body of work and a commercial success to boot. ‘Green Mind’ with its cool cover was intriguing at the time (pre-internet) but as soon as the needle dropped it was a sonic scalping. Songs like ‘The Wagon’ and ‘Whatevers Cool With Me’ were and still are fantastic songs.
To follow it up a year later with ‘Where You Been’ with its lead track ‘Start Choppin’ was nothing short of brilliant and deserved its commercial success proving that ‘Green Mind’ wasn’t a one-off or flash in the pan. The beauty here is pulling in all the bonus material onto one disc with its corresponding album with ‘Missing Link’ ending disc two which was the pick of the soundtrack ‘Judgement Night’ which pulled together some amazing collaborations.
Continuing the upward trajectory ‘Without A Sound’ and ‘Hand It Over’ wrapped up a real golden period for the band. They might not have reached the dizzy heights of the first two in the set but I’ve always loved ‘Feel The Pain’ and it still sounds amazing all these years later but again its the bonus tracks that are the main draw here Instrumentals, Acoustic live tracks all filling out this set.
With almost 80 tracks this is a superb box set that’s a fantastic in for new fans or people too young first time around and a great accompaniment for the vinyl reissues that broke the band when they came out a few years ago.
Australia, Australia, Australia! It seems that anything top-notch is coming from afar these days and powering through 2022 “Down under” has delivered time after time and it seems flipping off the year was the MO of Melbourne Rockers The Stripp.
From the great cartoon artwork, it’s obvious these rockers are all about having a good time and rockin’ out. Ten tunes between two and three minutes long keeping it short and sweet. They kick things off in style with a rollicking title track that puts the foot down and goes for it. You don’t need to concentrate to hard just know the title and shout out ‘Aint No Crime To Rock N Roll’ with your thumbs in your bullet belt and your head nodding back and forth. It’s part Scandi rock part old-school hard rock and a heap of Aussie attitude and a little bit of Bosh!
‘The Bitter End’ has a stinking attitude as the riff just cuts through the solid rhythm. Hold on a gawd damn minute it’s the backbeat of Joan Jett meets the bass grunt of Quatro that’s shoved down your ears on Ghost Town. I’m hearing comparisons of Sally Cato and her Smashed Gladys going on here. The songs come thick and fast and sound like they were born out of playing shitty venues left right and center and grinding out a style and sound born out of who they are and all they know.
The fact that Lux Noise are handling the record in Europe makes perfect sense and they should get over here pronto and hit the road with Bitch Queens and slay some audiences around the globe. ‘Witch Hunt’ has got some swing Whilst ‘Back In Action’ tunes into some fine Action Rock.
There’s no reinventing the wheel here and that’s not what The Stripp are about – They’re about picking up the blazing baton and carrying it forward – making a noise and doing it well and hopefully turning some young pups onto some good old loud hard rocking music. There’s no time for a power ballad its just foot-on wedge rockin’ out from the top to the bottom finally signing off with the shuffle of ‘Don’t Feed Me Your Lies’ with its hard n heavy tip of the hat to those who’ve gone before them and blazing a path to oblivion. Rock hard brothers and sisters and turn it fuckin’ up! The Stripp are in da house drink up.
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