I know punk rock ‘n’ roll happens in cycles, and whilst you wait for a void to be filled when one band of reprobates falls, you tend to hear several bands rise to the surface, and there’s no time like the present for a sleazy band of rock ‘n’ rollers to kick down the door with some rampant, distorted, sleazy rock ‘n’ roll. Lipstick Vibrators hail from the Seine and have been peddling their rock and roll since 2006, give or take a few hiatuses, but their brand of self-styled “Savage Rock’n’Roll” is most welcome from the dark, dank underbelly of Paris.

This, their third long player, is full to the brim of reckless wild riffs pushing their amps to the limit as they hack and slash through the weeds of rock n roll. The opener is a perfect example of what they’re all about, whereas ‘Revolution Baby’ enters Hip Priests territory with a thumping Stooges engine powering the rhythm along with some sleazy vocals barked out of a distorted speaker spitting punk rock n roll all over the listener. It’s suitably aggressive and wild, which is exactly what the rock ‘n’ roll doctor ordered for these wild times. It’s drinking music baby, dark and dangerous and bloody loud!

What’s not to like about the thunderous intro of ‘Partners In Crime’? It’s like pure Scabies- and James-inspired noise, and we totally approve. ‘Vivid Dreams’ is giving me UK Subs vibes on the intro, and then all hell breaks loose after the choppy guitar interlude.

‘Two Fisted Drinker’ is a beautiful, reckless noise; this album just gets better and better. In fact, it’s so sweet it could eat itself. Twelve songs in thirty-five minutes from top to bottom are loaded with bangers. ‘Burning Inside’ is a savage beast before the full-throttle whiplash of ‘Workers’ cuts loose.

Before we’re done, there’s the ragged ‘Do The Pop’ something of a Cramps-meets-Ramones speed paying homage to those who paved the way in some uber-cool punk rock genres. The Johnny Thunders guitar breaks are most welcome over the solid backbeat.

It’s not all crash bang wallop (almost but not quite). ‘Lockdown’ is a hypnotic rhythm and a more restrained charge with an emphasis on the groove and melody. Then, just to remind you what these cats are all about, they pull out all the stops for one last attack, and ‘Amphetamine’ is unleashed before we go back in for seconds. What a great record and a fine example of high-octane sleazy punk rock ‘n’ roll. Viva la Revolución, brothers. Go get a copy of this before it’s all gone.

Buy Here

Indian thrash mongers Carnage Inc. have been around since 2011. They have built up a steady following through gigging intensely. Carnage Inc. have released an EP and a full album in the form of Tenebris, which was unleashed in 2019.

The band’s latest effort is a self-titled EP consisting of five tracks of molten metal. Carnage Inc. sounds like a combination of early Anthrax, Exodus and Testament, and there are tinges of more traditional heavy metal; Judas Priest, Savatage and Queensryche come to mind.

There are some absolute bangers on display here. The band are more than competent musicians, and they can write a metal tune or two. Pounding double kick drums, crunchy riffs and tasty guitar solos are the order of the day. The tracks are well constructed with great production. Epik is my favourite song on the EP. It reminds me of Fistful of Metal era of Anthrax with its raw production and full-on headbanging effect. I’ve played the EP many times since sitting down to review it. It really is fantastic. I’m off to check more of Carnage Inc.’s back catalogue!

If you love your ‘80s metal, be sure to check out Carnage Inc. and you’ll see that thrash is alive and thriving. Horns up!

Buy Here

Author: Kenny Kendrick

Second EP offering from this Philly trio of noise makers who live in the shadows and walk on the sleezy side of town, where shit happens and the music is rough and ready. Brought up on a steady diet of T Rex rhythms and dreams but with a darker reality of festering punk rock, Problem Addict have got it going on. ‘Back In Jail’ is what the kids would describe as Fire, or the slightly older amongst us would say is banging. Me I’d say it has the beating heart of Bolan played through TSOL’s instruments and the DK’s four-track recorder.

What it lacks in finesse and big studio edits and sheen, it has a beating heart full of napalm and it ain’t afraid to let it all hang out. ‘Damaged In Transit’ is the sound of cheap alcohol fueled punk rock giving the listener the middle finger right up in their grill.

It’s short and oh so sweet, and we love that here at RPM Online, it’s got heart and soul in spades and a pocket full of great ideas and tunes, and boy is it gonna let ’em out. Hell, to finish they even open Pandora’s box of pop shit just to fuck with you some more. Bad drugs Bowie and Bolan mixed with some more noisy fuckers but with a style and swagger Problem Addict might get to make a diamond long player with great tunes or they really might end up in jail or as Michael Monroe once said ‘Dead Jail or Rock n Roll’ one of the three only they can decide but lets hop for the latter. top tunes.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

So there will be blood, apparently. Not really, I’m sure they’re nice chaps, but it’s the full bloodied opening track from their brand new long player ‘Vandalheart’. Birmingham neerdowells The Liarbilitys play full tilt wholesome street punk n roll with a passion and belief in what they do, and there is a wholesome honesty about the brand of street punk they peddle. It’s loud and toe-to-toe with the listener. There are plenty of sing-alongs in a Bad Religion meets Frank Turner on full tilt happening here, and I like it. The Levellers, if they turned to electric guitars instead of bodhrans and fiddles and sped it up a few BPMs.

The arrangements are clear and have vocals that sing melodies with attitude, like a Dirtbox disco meets Cock Sparrer which really works to be fair. Take the title track as an example. Lived in lyrics that are relatable, singing about yesteryear, be in nostalgic or just to convey a story, works wel,l and hearing “Twats” used in a song is heart on the sleeve stuff.

I like the aggression of ‘Strangways’ whilst ‘Sin Em All’ has the heart and soul of a Sparrer old school glunk about the rhythm. The pace is varied like the heartfelt ‘Gutta Percha’ that breaks out in timely fashion before the upbeat call to arms of ‘Battering Wall’ and the closing time sing-a-long of ‘Daisy You’re Gonna Wind Up Dead’.

All in all, it’s a well-constructed, varied album of anthemic street punk n roll that’s well produced and arranged and played. It signs off with the pacey ‘The Armada’ it might be a safe path to tread but you still have to deliver it well and The Liarbilitys do exactly that. I’m sure live they’ll sound exactly like the record and if you’re looking for a good time and a sing song then you need to get on this one.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

Holy fuck, I have to start by saying that my first spin was on ear-bleeding volumes, and as the title track burst through the ether, I felt quite emotional. The melody is exquisite and those gang vocals haven’t been heard since Turbonegro hit their zenith. Throughout the album trilogy ’Misanthropical House’, ’Algorithm and Blues’, and ’Research and Destroy’, were well above average, in fact, over ti.m,e I’d go so far as to say at times exceptional but his ‘November Boys’ is shaping up to be something else that blasts off into the red hot sun. The Good The Bad and The Zugly have limped their way through midlife crises and pubescent antics to release one mother fucker of a record from the opening pop sensible melodic bastards that ore the first two to ‘Norweigans Abroad’ which is a thrashing mother fucker of a track that is tight and raging and turning into everythinng you want it to sound like – turn it up please.

They might well be mediocre underachievers on the unglamorous Scandirock path to valhalla but fair play this eclipses everything they’ve done until here and maybe now people will take these slackers seriously and they will be championed for saving gumbo punk rock n roll single-handedly.

‘Dig A Ditch’ sounds like a heavy diet of UFO records and bad drugs for the length of the intro alone but man this record is making bad life choices seem like good ideas that have brought us to this point in life otherwise we’d have passed these nut jobs by and given them a wide birth, thankfully I’m not that sensible.

The bands press release is like it was lifted from a twin peaks script after some bad acid and too much vodka but the tunes will always be their saving grace when they’re this good. ‘Dig A Ditch’ could and should be a crossover radio hit anywhere and everywhere.

A snippet from the press kit reads as follows: “The fact remains: we have always been left behind ever since kindergarten (for those of us lucky enough to experience such a well-regulated institution). In sports, we were always picked last. Our finest effort was put into keeping the bench warm for all the tough and slick January boys whenever they got tired of scoring goals—and chicks. Our academic performances measured at impressively low standards. Lacking any ability to concentrate, our educational path was a fast track to the headmaster’s office and, eventually, special ed classes. Today, they would have stuffed us full of pills in no time.” Confused? Don’t be, join us and rejoice that we’ve got the best tunes just take the melody on ‘A Blazer In The Northern Sky’ and dance like nobody is watching and sing like nobody can hear you. It’s blissful, trust me.

‘Scandinavian CRISPR Brat’ is like their irresponsible hate anthem, but with a sweet melody and a riff to die for GBZ are on FIRE! The fact that there are only ten songs here fills me with sadness. I wish it were a double album with twenty tracks, such is the quality on offer, but he,y ten is fine and dandy. ‘FOMO’ is bone-crushing riff-a-rama as we’re almost at the finish line, it’s a burst on as we dash for the finish through a thrashingly good ‘Hadeland Hardcore’. The Stooges one-finger piano tonk on ‘All My Friends Are Dead Inside’ rings around my head before we sign off with the wonderful ‘New Kids on the Blockchain’ and we’re done. I’m going back in for more and might just play it on my headphones and see if I can just run as fast as I can for as long as I can to see if this album makes me go mental. What a fuckin monster of a record. Congrats GBZ, you have achieved a goal of writing and recording one hell of a record that is as good from the opening track to the closing track, and everything in between is pure fuckin fire (as the kids would say). Melodies to die for, riffs that are on point and life-affirming. The November Boys are here, and the summer isn’t even done yet. Buy this album; it might just be the best thing you hear all year.

Buy Here / Plastic Head in the UK: Here

Author: Dom Daley

The latest band hitting our collective ear drums on the Venn roster are Club Brat and what a punch to the ear drum they are. Joining the impressive Aerial Salad, High Viz, Split Dogs and Bob Vylan to name a few Club Brat have a pop sensibility about them but they wrap it in a velvet glove inside a boxing glove holding a sledge hammer.

’25 Cameras’ opens up this rapid four-track EP, and it’s everything you want to hear. Cool lyrics wrapped inside a hard-hitting, sharp guitar-driven song, is it indie post punk? Who knows who cares, it’s full of energy and packs a punch, that’s all you need to know, and once it’s in your ear, it’ll take something special to dislodge it.

A rich bass-heavy thump and volatile rhythmic urgency is the MO here. ‘Goodbye Pop Culture’ has the warm, rich Bass thump and those angular guitars chopping away through a twitching, crowded backdrop, excellent stuff and very accessible. Originally from Peterborough and now split between Bristol and London, the five-piece formed in 2023 and quickly earned a reputation for unpredictable live shows and a relentless DIY ethos, while still working with some of underground music’s most respected engineers. Club Brat has a statement EP, no question about it, now to follow it up with more live shows and then the album. On this evidence, they have nothing to worry about. ‘In It For The Money’ might not be what they’re about, but it’s like if Jane’s Addiction were from inner city UK and not Hollywood, California. It has the energy and drive, and most importantly, it has the tunes. The final cut is the rapid barking dog of a track, ‘Watch’ it’s heavy, fast but you can dance to it. Go pick up a copy and find out for yourself.

Fantastic EP buy it!

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

Tour Dates – September

18 September — Leeds, Headingley Social Club

19 September — Stamford, Mama Liz’s Voodoo Lounge

20 September — Bristol, The Golden Lion

25 September — London, Hope & Anchor

26 September — Nottingham, JT Soar

October

2 October — Sheffield, The Washington

9 October — Birmingham, The Rainbow

10 October — Brighton, The Pipeline

From the windswept, sheep-dotted cliffs of the Faroe Islands comes a band that are anything but pastoral. Joe & The Shitboys, self-described “queer vegan shitpunks”, have been raising hell, ruffling feathers, and flipping the script since their chaotic inception, and now they’re ready to unleash their debut LP, Greatest Shits, via Alcopop! Records.

A compilation of the band’s first three releases—each originally pressed on 7” vinyl due to their rapid-fire 10-minute lengths— ‘Greatest Shits’ also features a bunch of brand new tracks recorded straight to analogue tape. It’s a vital, venomous, and vibrantly unfiltered collection from one of punk’s most exhilarating and unique new voices, giving anything from down under a run for their bad hair cut money and (probably shit fashion sense).

Once you get balls deep into this a mix of ragged punk mixed with the more artsy side like PAvement or DKs mixed in with early Lemonheads and a vibrant wreckless abandonment like ‘Wonderwall’ which sounds like the instruments tied to the back of a tractor and dragged around a field would sound like before the excellent tribute to wrestling legend ‘Macho Man Randy Savage’ kicks in.

So there might be thirty seven tracks here but you don’t need to dig deep to hear the three second blast of ‘Fuck’ or the eleven seconds of ‘Eat Ass You Fucking Coward’ you know the drill it might be nothing new but its a lot of fun and highly addictive.

With Joe taking the mic and a rotating cast of Shitboys behind him (currently Ziggy Shit, Johnny Shit, and Ollie Shit), the band became a lightning rod for resistance against the backwards, macho values that persist in their homeland’s music scene. Their goal? Skewer toxic culture with speed, wit, and the occasional ass joke. Job done and an album to be proud of, no matter what.

The band might not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but Iggy had them on board for Alley Pally recently, so the right people are getting involved, and on this evidence, it’s not hard to see why. Potty-mouthed and kicking out the jams, Beastie Boys meet a whole goofball bag full of original punks. Joe has the world at his feet, and songs like Mr Nobody sound effortless as well as timeless. Then to follow it up with a groovy ‘Fuck Everybody’ is a band dancing to their own beat, and that only like it or lump it I doubt they give a single shiney shit.

Who knows what Jooe and the gang will do next, but I’m all ears, but let’s live with this bad boy for a while yet.

Joe & The Shitboys are just getting started, they declare, so jump in and join us. Joe and the shitboys are de bomb as the cool kids say.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

New LP AD ASTRA LP // 3 OCTOBER [featuring Graham Coxon]

UK & IRELAND TOUR DATES // ON SALE NOW

To coincide with the release of their forthcoming ninth studio album Ad Astra via Fierce Panda Records on 3 October, ASH have unveiled details of seven intimate Instore and Outstore shows. Tickets available here: https://ash-official.com/pages/shows

Containing eleven brand new tracks, including their raucous take on surprise single and Beetlejuice staple Jump In The Line and the most recent single Give Me Back My World, the Ad Astra album sees Graham Coxon appear on two particularly sassy songs and catches the perennial power pop kings in typically rocket-fueled form.

INSTORES & OUTSTORES // OCTOBER

Fri 03 BRIGHTON Resident Records (Instore)

Sat 04 LONDON Rough Trade East Records (Instore)

Sun 05 LEICESTER 2 Funky Café (Truck Records Outstore)

Tue 07 NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade Records (Instore)

Wed 08 KINGSTON Circuit (Banquet Records Outstore)

Thu 09 LIVERPOOL Baltic Jacaranda Records (Instore)

Fri 10 EDINBURGH Liquid Rooms (Assai Records Outstore)

Ad Astra follows hot on the heels of Race The Night – the band’s highest charting album for 20 years – and is being released two years and one month later, which is no coincidence. Always a band that lives for live music, Ash vowed that the fierce pandemic-induced five-year chasm between 2018’s Islands and 2023’s Race The Night would never happen again.

Pre-order Ad Astra HERE

By focusing on the endless horizon of galaxies far, far away and staring into an endless black hole Ash have somehow ended up creating a cohesive whole. There is classic Ash power-pop rocking action with the blistering purity of Hallion, the crunchy chuggings of Keep Dreaming and the furious sonic lunges of Dehumanised. But equally you can’t fail to succumb to the glorious swooping jangles on Which One Do You Want? – a whirl from Marr’s canon for sure; My Favourite Ghost and its acoustic elegance, floating on strings of desire; and Fun People (feat Graham Coxon) is quite simply one of the maddest, punchiest songs they have ever recorded.

As if creating this lovingly optimistic opus wasn’t enough to be getting on with, they’ve kept themselves busy elsewhere. Since Race The Night came out, they’ve run riot at SXSW in Austin, played Belfast for Steve Lamacq during Independent Venue Week, headlined the 100 Club in London for BRITS week and toured Australia. Already this year, they’ve amassed the masses at Glastonbury for the eighth time – equaling the multi performance record of Van Morrison – and toured the UK with The Darkness.

In short, three decades into a career peppered with timeless indie-punk nuggets and wildly inventive gigging and releasing concepts, the trio shows no sign of slowing down. To infinity and beyond indeed. Or as Rick McMurray gently muses …

The title Ad Astra, the worst kept secret of the last month, points to ideas that became a big identifier back in 1995, but they’re updated with 30 years life experience. I’ll leave you to compare the differences, and with the thought that while the optimistic innocence of 1995 might have been tempered by those 30 years, if you look to the stars, you might still feel a glimmer. Of hope.

And for those of you wondering, Ad Astra is Latin for “to the stars”, the words that came out of a teenaged Tim Wheeler’s mouth in the summer of 1995, setting up the classic chorus to the band’s first Top 20 hit Girl From Mars.

To celebrate the album release of Ad Astra, Ash embark on a huge touring schedule from this autumn into the early part of next year as follows:

SEPTEMBER

Tue 09 LONDON Scala

Wed 10 LONDON Scala

Fri 26 VALENCIA, SPAIN Visor Festival

OCTOBER

Tue 14 FUKUOKA, JAPAN Zepp

Thu 16 OSAKA, JAPAN Zepp

Fri 17 NAGOYA, JAPAN Zepp

Mon 20 SENDAI, JAPAN Gigs

Tue 21 YOKOHAMA. JAPAN KT Zepp

NOVEMBER

Fri 14 MINEHEAD Shiiine On Weekender Festival

Sun 16 SWANSEA Sin City

Tue 18 NEWCASTLE Boiler Shop

Wed 19 MANCHESTER New Century Hall

Thu 20 GLASGOW SWG3 Galvanizers

Sat 22 BLACKPOOL Bootleg Social

Sun 23 SHEFFIELD The Foundry

Tue 25 OXFORD O2 Academy

DECEMBER

Fri 05 LISTOWELL Mike The Pies

Sat 06 DUNDALK Spirit Store

Sun 07 GALWAY Roisin Dubh

Tue 09 CORK Cyprus Avenue

Wed 10 LIMERICK Dolans Warehouse

Thu 11 DUBLIN The Academy

Sat 13 BELFAST Ulster Hall

FEBRUARY

Fri 06 TUNBRIDGE WELLS Forum

Sat 07 CAMBRIDGE Junction

Sun 08 MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms

Tue 10 EXETER Phoenix

Wed 11 BRISTOL The Trinity Centre

Fri 13 LIVERPOOL Grand Central Dome

Sat 14 STOKE ON TRENT Sugarmill

Sun 15 HULL The Welly

Tue 17 NORWICH Epic Studios

Thu 19 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy

Tickets: https://ash-official.com/pages/shows

WEBSITE:               https://ash-official.com

FACEBOOK:           https://www.facebook.com/ash

INSTAGRAM:        https://www.instagram.com/ash_1977/    

TIKTOK:                  https://www.tiktok.com/@AshOfficial1977

X:                            https://x.com/ashofficial

YOU TUBE:            https://www.youtube.com/@AshOfficial

AFI announce new album
Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…

Out October 3rd via Run For Cover Records

AFI announce their new album Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… due October 3rd via Run For Cover Records, today. Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… marks the twelfth album from AFI and will include the lead single ‘Behind the Clock,’ which ushers in the bold new era for the iconic band. Alongside the new single, AFI share a music video directed by Gilbert Trejo.

Speaking about the ‘Behind the Clock’ video, director Trejo offers, “We wanted the video to feel like you’re seeing something you shouldn’t. In effect you are, because that’s how Davey writes lyrics. He’s expressing himself so openly, that you’re let behind this curtain. It’s a world that most artists don’t cut to, marrow deep.”

Sharing the experience working with Trejo, vocalist Davey Havok shares, “Gilbert’s video has sublimated the essence of ‘Behind the Clock.’ His vision and expertise is inspiring. Working with him was a privilege and utter joy. He is an artist of the purest form.”

Pre-order / save Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… HERE

For more than three decades, AFI has been in a nearly constant state of reinvention. The band have made it a point to evolve with every album – sometimes dramatically so – never allowing themselves to become too comfortable in one genre or rest on any of their impressive career laurels. It’s an approach that has grown their audience but also challenged it with a sonic identity that can shift in wild, unexpected directions. Now with Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, AFI are once again at the start of an exciting new chapter, only this time they’ve even managed to surprise themselves.

The goal of Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… was to make an album with a singular mood, something dreamy and ethereal, and the band members found themselves diving headfirst into influences that had always been deeply embedded in AFI’s musical core, but now were being brought to the forefront. The result is an album that feels out of time, at once familiar and fresh, drawing on classic sounds and reinterpreting them through a modern lens. Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… is dark and otherworldly, but also grandiose and stately, biting and beautiful in equal measure—in other words, it’s very AFI, yet not quite like any version of the band you’ve ever heard before.

It’s this combination of endless creative daring, deftly wielded influences, and above all else, an unshakeable sense of self that’s allowed AFI to stay relevant for more than 30 years, often leading the way through emerging musical moments. From their scrappy roots as a high school hardcore band in the early ‘90s (Answer That and Stay FashionableVery Proud of Ya and Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes), to their dark melodic punk reinvention at the turn of the century (Black Sails in the Sunset and The Art of Drowning), to their crossover into mainstream stardom in the early 2000s (Sing the Sorrow and Decemberunderground) and their years as shapeshifting alternative rock journeymen (Crash LoveBurialsThe Blood Album, and Bodies), the band has survived and thrived by staunchly being themselves—no matter what that is.

This fall, AFI will embark on their headline North American tour with special guests TR/ST to celebrate the release of Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… The 24-date run will begin on September 30th in Madison, WI with stops in Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver, before wrapping November 5th in San Diego, CA. The tour marks AFI’s first full-scale outing since their celebrated 2021 release Bodies, and will offer fans the chance to experience songs from across their extensive catalogue, delivered with the band’s signature electrifying performance. Tickets available HERE.

Connect with AFI: Instagram | Website | Spotify | Apple Music

MICHAEL SCHENKER 

SURPRISE AT WACKEN OPEN AIR

NEW MSG ALBUM DON’T SELL YOUR SOUL ANNOUNCED!

Exclusive world premiere of the title track – Album out October 3rd

What was already a standout moment of this year’s Wacken Open Air, the world’s largest metal festival, turned into something even bigger when Michael Schenker pulled a surprise no one saw coming. After delivering a fierce My Years With UFO set to tens of thousands of attendees on Thursday night, the architect of hard rock used the world’s loudest stage to announce a brand-new Michael Schenker Group studio album: Don’t Sell Your Soul will be released on October 3rd via earMUSIC.To mark the occasion, Schenker and his band closed the show with a world-exclusive live premiere of the new album’s title track – a powerful encore that took the Wacken crowd by surprise and was met with instant enthusiasm on the muddy festival fields.PRE-SAVE THE SINGLE HERE!

Earlier in the set, the Wacken faithful had already been treated to a once-in-a-lifetime moment: Slash walked on stage as a surprise guest, joining Schenker on the UFO classic “Mother Mary”. Two of rock’s most iconic guitarists side by side – a scene few will forget.Don’t Sell Your Soul is the latest studio album by the Michael Schenker Group and the second part of an album trilogy that began with 2024’s My Years With UFO.The album was produced by Michael Schenker and Michael Voss, and recorded with Schenker’s longtime allies: Bodo Schopf (drums), Barend Courbois (bass), and Steve Mann (guitar, keys). On vocals: the impeccable Erik Grönwall – undoubtedly one of the finest rock voices of his generation. Guest appearances on vocals by Robin McAuley, Dimitri “Lia” Liapakis, and Michael Voss round out the cast.Don’t Sell Your Soul will be available on CD, LP, and limited transparent red vinyl.

Pre-orders start Friday, August 1st.PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE!