Nadir – Collecting Misery (self Release)

Nadir – Collecting Misery (self Release)

What an enjoyable record this was.  When something new and unannounced lands in the inbox and you’ve never heard of them or have a clue what to expect but download it anyway and find something that’s quite dark yet has a sense of uplifting joy it’s a great thing. Well, that just happened with Nadir and ‘Collecting Misery’.  I guess if I had to describe Nadir I’d say in general this three-piece from Queens would make for a great touring partner if Against Me! we’re to ask me (not that they will but hey).

Its got that big wide open space guitar rage but with some great passionate vocals from Robbie Swartwood who usually plays four strings in ‘Off With Their Heads’. The real draw for me was that bass sound, man its superb courtesy of Mike Foti it’s a real growling snarling thump he’s got going on and it drives some really good tunes.

From the get-go they are pounding it with ‘Doomed From The Start’ with infectious post-punk rage. The band carries forward the uptempo punk rock tunes through the opening few tracks with ‘Buried Above Ground’ is the best example of their harder songs.  the subject matter might be a bit heavy duty and it certainly fits the tone of the record until the title track pops up halfway through with its acoustic strum.  The beauty of the song is its bittersweet melody but you half expect it to break out and the band resists the temptation which is great and there’s an Americana feel maybe on another day you could hear someone like Brian Fallon crooning to this had he grown up on the UK Subs rather than Springsteen.  The melody is part of the same movement that brought us Beach Slang when they play quietly.

The album really finds its feet in the middle section with ‘Early Graves’ hitting it hard with its military beat thumping away behind that Bass thump for the albums high point. To be fair there are no lulls in this eight-track album and ‘Born To Die Alone’ is another gentler story they tell which really helps the flow of the album in stopping it getting boring or one dimensional.  To close off proceedings they pick it back up for one final Hoorah! as ‘Back Home’ is leaving the circle unbroken and you can easily press repeat and do it all again.  Overall a really strong record and an admirable cause. If Bad Religion or Against Me! are ever your thing then I recommend you check this out pronto.  You won’t regret it.

All profits from the sale of this record go to Save.org you can buy it Here

Author: Dom Daley

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants ‎- ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ (T&M Records)

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants ‎- ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ (T&M Records)

Forty years into his career as the number one 4-string plank spanker on the UK punk rock scene you can perhaps forgive Alvin Gibbs the “self indulgence” (his words, not mine) of a solo record. I mean he’s worked with some of the biggest names on the scene during that time, plus he’s also penned some absolutely amazing songs along the way too… and the musician’s modesty aside, I for one was straight out the blocks to order my copy when the pre-order for ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ went live on the T&M Records website just after Xmas. So, why all the rush of anticipation I hear you ask?

Well, the best place to start is with the guest list of musicians that Alvin has assembled to help him make this record. It reads like a veritable who’s who drawn from his expansive career and boasts the likes of Brian James, Mick Rossi, Timo Kaltio and James Stevenson amongst the names eager to offer up their services as Disobedient Servants. It was only the name of Iggy Pop that for me was the real glaring omission, but then when I first got to hear ‘Ghost Train’ the lead single from the album, I had to double-take. Could my jug-likes be deceiving me? That is surely Iggy crooning his way through this belting ‘Instinct’ like rocker, but no…it’s actually Alvin Gibbs, and what a great voice he has too. ‘Clumsy Fingers’ the flipside of that mega limited and long since sold out 7” also proved to be a fun time piece of Iggy influenced garage punk, and these two tracks alone were enough to convince me that this was certainly no vanity project and Alvin Gibbs was possibly about to do a Keef and release a solo album fans of his day job band would be clambering to hear too.

With Alvin having also released one of the best books about being in a rock ‘n’ roll band, the awesome ‘Neighbourhood Threat’ (recently re-released as ‘Some Weird Sin’) written about his time spent playing bass for Iggy Pop. It kinda feels eu natural for ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ to kick off with ‘Arterial Pressure’ a (just shy of 2 minutes long) barnstormer of a track written about how Alvin got to know Joey Ramone through Mr Osterberg.

Next up is the aforementioned ‘Ghost Train’ which here perfectly segues into the equally Iggy -like strut of ‘Dumb’, and right here we have as near a perfect opening 1-2-3 to any album I’ve heard in many a long year. Seriously folks if these tracks were on a new Iggy record the mainstream music media would be spunking their chinos over them.

‘Camden Gigolo’ takes things down an anthemic gear or two before ‘Clumsy Fingers’ speeds off in a frenzy of glam tinged punk rock guitar complete with few week’s road dirt under those nails.

Not unlike Glen Matlock’s excellent ‘Good To Go’ album from the tail end of 2018, where ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ really excels is when it throws you a curveball and in side one closer ‘Heaven And The Angels’ Alvin delivers a menacing slice of southern fried psycho-drama that challenges the listener with each new listen twisting and turning itself into your very soul.

Flipping the record over and side two kicks off with perhaps the most UK Subs like track on ‘Your Disobedient Servant’, the riotous ‘Back To Mayhem’ a track that simply fizzes with raw energy, that’s before the more subtle slide driven ‘Polemic’ takes you on a fascinating trip through what influenced Alvin to get into the music business in the first place.

It’s here that for me the LP flips from the overarching influences of Iggy and garage punk to that of one drawn from the likes of Mott and Bowie with ‘No!’ hinting at latter day Hunter and ‘Desperate Dave Is Dead’ doffing its baker boy cap to one of the young dudes passed all to soon. ‘I’m Not Crying Now’ too has more than just a little bit of cracked acting going on within its grooves, whilst album closer ‘Deep As Our Skin’ hints at just how great Cheap And Nasty might have been if Alvin had been given more a role in front of the microphone.

Having been lucky enough to get a good few preview listens of ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ the immediate thing that leapt out at me was just how much this sounds like a band, not a solo record. So kudos indeed to the real heartbeat of The Disobedient Servants; guitarist Steve Crittall, drummer Jamie Oliver and of course Alvin himself for making this one hell of a riotous rock ‘n’ roll record….and one I just can’t wait to get my finished vinyl copy of.

As I mentioned in the intro to this review ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ is available to pre-order right now via T&M Records on LP/CD and via Bandcamp for the download (the links are below). If you are after the LP/CD combo you best make sure you snap one up sharpish as when those red and white splatter babies are gone they really will be gone. So, trust me when I say, ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ is one record you really do not want to be without.

 

Buy It Here

Bandcamp

Author:Johnny Hayward