A very wise man (and record producer) once told me that he thought “some of the best songs ever written start with a chorus.” I argued back that in rock that’s not usually the done thing, you build to the hook, but he then went on to list a whole host of Atlantic Soul, Tamla Motown and Stax tunes just to prove his theory, and it’s something that’s obviously stuck with me to this day.

Whether producer James Bragg had the same conversation during the recording of the long awaited eighth studio album from London Oi!/streetpunk legends Cock Sparrer (Bragg returning to duty following his sterling work on the band’s ‘Forever’ opus), I’ll probably never know, but it’s exactly how ‘Hand On Heart’ begins. BOSH! Straight into the chorus of ‘With My Hand On My Heart’ and this 2 and half minute belter is an instant classic.

What quickly becomes obvious though is whatever chats were had, this time around the Sparrer boys are doing things a little bit different. Yes ‘Hand On Heart’ is quintessentially the band we all know and love, but this time around they are (just like Desperate Measures have done with their recent album) pushing the punk rock envelope just a little bit more. Take the distorted guitar and thumping drum introduction that segues into the fantastic ‘Mind Your Own Business’ for example, is the hook here the gang vocal chorus or the guitar riff? I’ll let you decide, but for me it’s one of the many highlights that ‘Hand On Heart’ has to offer, and yeah this could finally be the sound the band has always looked for from a studio record.

‘I Belong To You’ is up next, and this is a song that if you could cut it open would positively bleed Cock Sparrer, as would ‘No Way Out’ which follows at the album’s mid-point, the latter reminding me of the band circa the ‘Here We Stand’ era (a record which is now 17 years old, jeez). This is feelgood music to shine your cherry reds to getting ready for a Friday night on the town… classic Cock Sparrer.

Talking of which, the lyrically brilliant ‘Rags to Riches’ is all about just that; dressing to impress and having a sense of self pride whatever the world can throw at you. Something that the chugging ‘Take It On The Chin’ (a track that had previously featured the ‘Garry Bushell presents: Oi! 40 Years Untamed’ LP) echoes and it’s at this point I have to say that its tremendous to hear Colin McFaull in such fine voice, delivering some of his most impassioned work to date.

That punk rock envelope I mentioned earlier gets well and truly ripped to shreds by the time we reach the opening bars of ‘One Way Ticket’. Is this the band writing for a yet to be filmed Bond movie theme? Whatever it is, it’s epic, and the early-70s Slade-mid section is absolute bloody genius, as is the “Where are they?” vocal hook that drives home the pounding ‘Nowhere To Be Found’, a song that could easily have come from (Sparrer guitarist Daryl Smith’s other band) Argy Bargy’s superb ‘Hopes Dreams Lies & Schemes’ album.

Oh, and then there’s my real highlight of ‘Hand On Heart’, the beautiful, (yeah you read that right) ‘My Forgotten Dream’. The string section arranged by Simon Dobson (who’s worked with everyone from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Bring Me The Horizon) is like a ray of spring sunshine cutting through the clouds on this most wonderful of Cock Sparrer moments, and even the hardest of heart listening to this is going to melt just a little bit, trust me on this one.

Which leaves us just enough time for the album’s final track ‘Here We Stand’, a boisterous call to arms kind of affair, cut from the same cloth as ‘One By One’ from ‘Forever’, and if this really does go on to prove to be the band’s final hurrah, what a way to end it all eh?

There’s no one out there that writes Oi!/streetpunk anthems quite like Cock Sparrer, and that’s a fact. That they have taken their magic songwriting formula and augmented it with new ideas and techniques fifty-two years after the band first got together shows their continued commitment to be the band other band’s look up to when it comes to punk rock music.

‘Hand On Heart’ is released on 5th April 2024 via Captain Oi!/Cherry Red Records on a multitude of formats to suit everyone’s needs and you can catch the band live at two exclusive album release shows at  O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – Saturday 6th April 2024 and O2 Academy Glasgow – Saturday 13th April 2024.

Hand on heart, punk rock doesn’t get much better than this, so get your copy on pre-order NOW! Here

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Author: Johnny Hayward

Full steam ahead they said as the good ship RPM Online Podcast sails into treasure-filled waters. This Episode is positively overflowing with new tracks as well as an exclusive Live cover from Ravagers that will never be on streaming services or CD and is limited to 100 copies of White Vinyl. Spaghetty Town Records have kindly let us play the Ravager’s cover of ‘Goin Downtown’ by the Lords Of The New Church. That’s only one of the reasons why you should check the Podcast out.

Sweden’s First Boy On The Moon Kick off this Episode with the opening track of their new album ‘Dreamer’. Hot on the heels comes a new track off the Final Cock Sparrer Album ‘Hand On Heart’ out on April 5th. ‘I Belong To You’ is classic Sparrer and an album that sees the band get better and better.

Now co-host Hotshot likes nothing more than fantasising about Sex Pistol and Radio broadcasting inspiration and role model Steve Jones so we’ve dug deep for a sparkling live rendition of his classic ‘Silly Thing’.

Gareth ‘Hotshot’ Hooper

Hotshot wanted to change the mood by introducing a track from Garbage who penciled in a re-release of the album ‘Bleed Like Me’ with his favourite track off the album. How about Japan’s finest glam punks Angel Face with a brand new track off their Slovenly Records self-titled album. A new track from Bullets And Octane, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard before Hotshot plays Suede with a track off their latest album ‘Autofiction’.

Ravagers are a glam punk n roll band outta The USA and they have a brand new LP released through Spaghetty Town Records as pointed out in the intro above. 100 copies pressed no streaming and no downloading. This will be a must-own record and rare as rocking horse shit. We’ve got an exclusive don’t miss it.

Desperate Measures have been playing support to Cheetah Chromes Dead Boys around the UK and currently in Europe and getting great reviews so having heard the new Desperate Measures album it’s only fair we play ‘Sublime Destruction’ the title track of their soon-to-be-released Cadiz records album. Staying with Cheetahs how about a new track off The Streetwalkin Cheetahs and a wonderful track ‘Call The Dogs’ being released on Poland’s awesome Heavy Medication Records. While we’re playing the label’s newest releases we also have one from Jonesy the potty-mouthed Canadians 10″ release on HMR but not before Californians Crymwav pop by with ‘Mars Fever’ and Mala Vista get aired with a single off their soon to be released album coming out on Spaghetty Town and Beluga Records in Europe.

Marc Valentine is set to release his second album on Wicked Cool Records in the next few months, so, no time like the present to play a track off it, and having had the privilege to hear the album I can tell you it was tough which one to play seeing as the whole record is fantastic power popping Rock n Roll. Gareth drops in one of his favourite songs from Powerkeg before a fine track from The Mysterines who we reviewed recently when they played support on the Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes tour of the UK.

If you’re still with us then stick around for a banger from The Empty Page who announced this week that they have a new album coming out on their own label if this is anything to go by it promises to be excellent and the first Empty Page track we’ll be playing. With just a couple of tracks to play Sweet Tooth blast away any fatigue with their banger ‘So Gone’ from their epic Lövely Records release ‘Split Image’. This leaves River City Rebels to wipe the floor with us as they blow the fuckin doors off the show with ‘Unless Your White’ out on Screaming Crow Records.

That boys and girls is one hell of a playlist from top to bottom we doubt you’ll hear a running order with as much quality as that. Keep it RPM Online Podcast – It’s A Revolution!

COCK SPARRER

Hand On Heart’

the new studio album 5 April 2024

Legendary punk band Cock Sparrer announce their eighth studio album Hand On Heart, alongside shows in London and Glasgow

Widely considered to be one of the most influential street punk bands in history, Cock Sparrer have been a constant on the circuit since 1972. They can name an enviable list of punk rock royalty who have covered their songs, from the likes of Rancid, Against Me! and The Interrupters to The Aggrolites, Bouncing Souls, Agnostic Front, Grade 2 and Dropkick Murphys.  

Back with their latest (and most likely last) studio album, Hand On Heart is their strongest statement yet. Their first since 2017’s Forever, it’s an album full of their trademark anthemic sound; hooks, singalong melodies and strong mob chorus’ are present in abundance and key tracks like With My Hand On My Heart, Rags To Riches, I Belong To You and Here We Stand stands out as some of their finest material to date. That’s not to say there aren’t a few surprises for old and new fans alike. On My Forgotten Dream, string arranger Simon Dobson (Bring Me The Horizon, Mike Oldfield) has added something truly unique that will excite fans.

The band will be the first to admit that the studio budget in the past has usually been spent down the pub, but with Hand On Heart they acquired the production services of James Bragg (BC Camplight, Martin Barre) who worked alongside guitarist Daryl Smith. Also on board was Grammy award winning 2022 UK Mastering Engineer of the year, Kevin Tuffy to do the final mastering.

Cock Sparrer is still the same four guys who started playing punk music 52 years ago – Colin McFaull (vocals), Mick Beaufoy (guitar), Steve Burgess (bass) and Steve Bruce (drums); alongside their new guitarist Daryl Smith, who has been in the band for a mere 31 years! They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2022 with two sold out shows at Camden’s Roundhouse, and 2024 includes a year of headline festival shows booked to celebrate the launch of the album. The shows include the world’s premier Punk Festival Rebellion, Mighty Sounds in Czech Republic and Hellfest in France where they’ll play alongside Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age. However, it’s their club shows that show the strength of loyalty and love that their fans have, and to celebrate they’re playing two UK launch shows in London and Glasgow:

O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – Saturday 6th April 2024

O2 Academy Glasgow – Saturday 13th April 2024

Hand On Heart is available on 180gsm black vinyl, limited edition colour vinyl with unique artwork, picture disc vinyl, hardback book CD edition and strictly limited-edition cassette.

Fifty years of Cock Sparrer. Who would have thought that possible back in 1972? Perhaps not the five teenagers who helped form the band in East London, and most certainly not Sparrer’s newest member (of 30 some years), guitarist Daryl Smith, who just happened to be born the very same year.

It only feels like yesterday that I was holding my copy of ’40 Years’ the Captain Oi! released compilation of hits and deep cuts that got put out for their, err…. fortieth Anniversary, and therein also probably lies the “eureka” moment regarding tonight’s event. The concept of the evening being a well thought out affair, with Sparrer basically supporting themselves with a set of “rarely” or in some cases “never before” played songs taken from across their expansive back catalogue, with the guys also promising a few surprises along the way.

Originally intended as a one-off date, tonight’s show sold out so quickly that the band also added a second night on the Friday due to the fact that almost 70% of the original night’s tickets were sold to fans outside the UK, and the band didn’t want to see any of their UK ‘family’ missing out. Talk about giving the fans what they want, eh?

So, arriving in Camden just after what would have been full-time on any normal Saturday afternoon for a few pre-gig drinkies with some old London based mates the thing that immediately strikes me is just how many different accents are audible within our chosen boozer. There are people from all four corners of the UK and from what I can pick out from the constant excited chatter, most of the rest of the world is here too. The band’s legions of fans having assembled to raise a glass at one very special birthday party, and in turn celebrate the music of the undisputed champions of streetpunk, Cock Sparrer.

Although in saying this, I’ve always felt a little uneasy about labelling Cock Sparrer as just simply streetpunk, simply because, as their first set would soon prove, they are a band that really does transcend genres, and if you want proof of that just Google some of the tracks, I’m about to mention…you might just be in for a surprise…pretty much like all of us were tonight.

Getting into the Roundhouse with ample time to get a great vantage point (and by that, I mean one that’s close enough to the front for me not to require a week off work on the sick recovering) the lights soon dim and up goes the intro tape, which for the first set is the band’s cover of ‘Back Home’, a song which immediately hits the mark with the terrace hardened faction of the band’s fan base. What follows next though is probably the biggest curveball I’ve ever seen the band throw, as tonight it’s left to frontman Colin McFaull to step out alone and sing the often requested ‘Out On An Island’, the closing track from their seminal Shock Troops’ album, and I swear you could hear a pin drop if it wasn’t for the Roundhouse choir of skins, punks and just about every other demographic you can think of who join in come the chorus. Something that continues throughout both sets tonight.

Flanked by video screens that immediately spring into life as the band join their singer on stage, the story of Sparrer is retold by all five band members along with Will Murray, their legendary road manager (and sixth member) from their second single for Decca, their cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘We Love You’ (a song drummer Steve Bruce swore he would never play live again), through to one of the finest songs the band have ever written in the shape of ‘One By One’ from their 2017 studio album ‘Forever’.  We get deep cuts such as ‘I Need A Witness’, ‘Bats Out’ and the rather wonderful ‘Battersea Bardot’ all given a well-deserved run out, complete with the added help of the Cockettes (namely James Bragg on guitar and backing vocals and Jet Baker on keyboards and backing vocals).

It’s this phenomenal sounding Sparrer line up that takes me back to my comment at the top about not wanting to pigeonhole the band, as these tracks as diverse as they all are, all have one thing in common and that is the top-quality songwriting that has been prevalent throughout the band’s entire career. Something that is once again hammered home during the 30-minute beer break between sets, where the audience is treated to a variety of different cover versions of Sparrer tunes albeit delivered in styles you would never have thought possible.  

However, doing the seemingly impossible is something the band have always excelled at, and as bassist Steve Burgess so rightly says during one of his talking head segments tonight; “for a band who never made Top of the Pops back in the day we certainly seem to have topped a lot of bills all around the world this past 30 years or so.”

And as their 2nd set of the night that showcases the band’s “greatest hits” illustrates, whilst record sales might mean absolutely nothing to the band, when it comes to writing top class anthems that touch your very soul, they really are world leaders. Be it a Poundshop Slade or a punk rock Chas & Dave (terms Daryl Smith uses as complements when describing their sound earlier in the show) the simple fact is there must be at least three or maybe even four generations of fans here tonight standing shoulder to shoulder screaming along to the likes of ‘Riot Squad’ and Runnin’ Riot’, and that alone speaks volumes. Plus, let’s not forget the very high percentage of (suicide) girls in attendance here too, something I know the band themselves are very proud of. We are their family, and tonight we’re all here to celebrate the magic of Cock Sparrer.

Granted I could have done without the pic of guitarist Mickey Beaufoy in white budgie smugglers that was flashed up on the video screens during ‘Because You’re Young’, but this retina-burning image was more than made up for by a pic of Colin with an 80s perm that has me roaring with laugher. This pictorial homage to days gone by perfectly illustrates that whilst they treat their songwriting and gigs very seriously indeed, the lads are certainly not afraid to stop and have a giggle at themselves.

Closing things out as only Sparrer can with ‘England Belongs to Me’ and ‘We’re Coming Back’ the latter complete with a KISS style ticker tape finale. I just hope that Colin’s earlier comment (prior to them playing new track ‘Take It On The Chin’) that maybe next year we’ll get an all-new Sparrer studio album, comes to fruition, as by the sounds of that tune there’s still plenty of tunes left in the ole boys yet. Until then though I think it’s safe to say we’ll have one hell of a live album to look forward to, as tonight was being multi-cam recorded, and I for one can’t wait to relive the magic of this most special of occasions all over again.

Exceptional stuff!

http://www.cocksparrer.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/cocksparreruk/

REBELLION FESTIVALS ANNOUNCE STAGES AND TIMES FOR BOTH REBELLION AND R-FEST!

TIME TO START PLANNING YOUR SCHEDULES!

R-FEST – A NEW OUTDOOR FESTIVAL IN FRONT OF BLACKPOOL TOWER AUGUST 4-7, 2022, IN ADDITION TO REBELLION AT THE WINTER GARDENS

It’s the news Rebellion Festival regulars have been waiting for! Now is the time to start planning and scheduling as stages and times for both Rebellion Festival in The Winter Gardens and the new R-Fest outdoor festival, situated in front of Blackpool Tower on the promenade directly down from the Winter Gardens, have been announced.

With so many bands playing across the multiple stages at The Winter Gardens, and now the R-Fest outdoor stage, there is inevitably going to be clashes of some people’s favourite bands, so meticulous planning is essential for those who want to see all of their preferences!

Full line-up, times and stages for both Rebellion and R-Fest here: https://www.rebellionfestivals.com/line-up

Rebellion Festival is the largest punk and alternative festival in the world and is returning this year to full-strength for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic, with a robust line-up of punk legends that includes Sham 69, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Cock Sparrer and Stiff Little Fingers among many, many more.

R-FEST will be located slap bang in front of Blackpool Tower on the promenade, directly down from the Winter Gardens. The organisers are building an arena with the sea on one side and the town on the other, with a capacity for 15,000 punters and space for bars, food, and band merchandise.

The full line-up for R-Fest is.

THURSDAY 4th AUGUST: Levellers, Hawkwind, Misty in Roots, Dreadzone, Ferocious Dog, Beans on Toast, Millie Manders and the Shut Up

FRIDAY 5th AUGUST: The Stranglers, The Undertones, The Skids, From the Jam, Toyah, Jilted John, The Vapors

SATURDAY 6th AUGUST: Gary Numan, Peter Hook & the Light, Pop Will Eat Itself, Spear of Destiny, The Wedding Present, Primitives, Pete Bentham & the Dinner Ladies

SUNDAY 7th AUGUST: Squeeze, Billy Bragg, Tom Robinson Band, Hollie Cook, Buzzcocks, Altered Images, I, Doris

Tickets available here: https://rebellion.keekmerch.com/

Head to www.rebellionfestivals.com/r-fest for all info and tickets.  

Whilst the rest of the UK seems to be going batshit crazy, the Fleece really is the place to be tonight if you want to feel any degree of post-lockdown normality. There’s even one of those much hated 10pm curfews in place and arriving early for a pre-gig catch up with some old mates it’s almost like the last 18 months haven’t happened at all. Especially as the “sold out” flashes had been up on tonight’s gig posters long before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19. That’s right folks Cock Sparrer are finally back in Bristol for what was originally going to be their 2020 Not The Albert Hall Tour of smaller venues and boy does it feel good to be back inside a packed out and sweaty club. That’s not to say that the Fleece hasn’t had to make some changes to deal with the ever evolving post-lockdown situation though.

 

The most immediately obvious of these changes is perhaps the venue’s turbocharged air-con system, which is cranked up high enough to make the early evening air positively ice-box. So much so that Spunk Volcano has even ditched his trademark on stage action pants for tonight’s show. Then again, this is probably the least of the band’s concerns as having a guitarist walk out just prior to going out on tour and then having to quickly rework your set as a four piece (with the aforementioned Mr Volcano now also taking up second guitarist role as well as being singer) must have been a much more serious matter for them to deal with.

 

Not that you’d really notice the line-up change though, as the likes of ‘Death Or Glory’, ‘Cellotape’ and ‘Crossfire’ all blast out of the PA at maximum volume and velocity much to the joy of those eager enough to get in early doors. The Eruptions’ excellent lockdown released album ‘Barry Milner Is Thick’ gets an early look in too via the awesome ‘Only Got Eyes for You, and I can’t help thinking the misfits might never have sounded better.

 

Whether its cruising in his ‘XR3’ or standing on ‘Platform 3’ the ability of Spunk Volcano to turn everyday situations into memorable rock anthems is what really draws people in, and be it a metal or punk audience the band are playing to if you can’t relate to the likes of ‘I Can’t Stop Thinking About You’ then you’ve obviously led a very sheltered life indeed. By almost direct contrast though tonight’s closing track ‘DNA Failure’ stubs a finger in the chest of the crazy world outside the Fleece and screams “fuck you” in its face, seemingly much to the delight of everyone around me.

 

It’s all over way too quickly, but with an eleven date tour booked for early 2022, if the Eruptions can just slot in a Welsh/Bristol date into their already busy itinerary that would make the ideal early Spunkmas pressie for yours truly and many others here tonight.

 

Cock Sparrer will also be looking forward to a busy 2022 as they look to celebrate their 50th anniversary, with their recently announced one off “two set” show at London’s Roundhouse close to selling out at the time of writing. It’s their 49th anniversary we’re all finally celebrating tonight though, and as the ‘Overture’ intro segues seamlessly into ‘Riot Squad’ and the inevitable mosh pit follows swiftly kicking any social distancing well into touch, for the next 90 minutes at least we are back to the “old normal”, something I openly admit I’d had my own reservations about. However, once we’re into ‘Watch Your Back’ and the frenzied boogie of ‘Working’ it is impossible not to be a part of it all.

 

Throwing in a few setlist curveballs is always something Sparrer enjoy doing, largely to keep it fresh for everyone, and tonight we get a searing ‘Sussed’ from the ‘Here We Stand’ album to put everyone’s memories to the test. Meanwhile, three tracks from their 2017 released ‘Forever’ album sees ‘One By One’ emerging to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of ‘Argy Bargy’ and ‘Take Em All’ as a real fan favourite. For yours truly I’ll never tire of hearing the likes of ‘AU’ and ‘Tough Guys’ or in fact (Colin McFaull’s very own favourite Sparrer song) ‘Because You’re Young’.  These songs all proving without a doubt that the band has always been more than just their seminal ‘Shock Troops’ record in the songwriting department. Although granted it’s the likes of ‘Take ‘Em All’ and ‘Where Are They Now? that really get the Doc Martins moving on the dancefloor and the previously mentioned ice-cold air con is seriously struggling to keep up by the time the band has ripped through the three song encore of ‘Suicide Girls’, ‘England Belongs To Me’ and We’re Coming Back’.

Along with a grin stretching from ear to ear the overriding thought I’m left with leaving the Fleece tonight is the songs that Sparrer didn’t play. You know the ones that you hear people around you shouting for at all Sparrer gigs, songs like ‘Sunday Stripper’, ‘Chip On My Shoulder’ ‘Bird Trouble’ and ‘Bats Out’ (granted that one was me), songs that would make the “two set” Roundhouse show seem even more essential than your usual Sparrer gig. There’s only a year to wait to find out if they will get played again folks, and trust me that time will fly by.

 

Hit the ticket link below to make sure you don’t miss out on this once in a band’s lifetime event. You can thank me later.

 

Roundhouse Tickets Here

Author: Johnny Hayward

 

 

 

 

 

REBELLION FESTIVAL AND BLACKPOOL WINTER GARDENS PRESENT:

 

HITS 25 – Celebrating 25 Years since Holidays In The Sun…

 

TICKETS FOR SATURDAY 7th AUGUST 2021 ON SALE NOW!

Despite Rebellion Festival being postponed again this year due to the ongoing restrictions with the Covid pandemic, one point that became clear to the dedicated organisers early on was that, festival or no festival, punks from all over the country were still going to head to Blackpool. Previously due to take place August 5th – 8th at the famous Winter Gardens, one of the things that makes Rebellion Festival different to many other music festivals is the undeniable fact that the audience, bands, promoters and everyone involved are all one big family. Long established as the world’s largest punk festival, the fact that so many regular attendees were still prepared to come to Blackpool and support the city that has always welcomed them, and spend time with their extended punk family, without the festival even being on, meant that if it was possible to host at least some kind of gig for the people heading down, Rebellion would.

So, when news came that covid restrictions were going to be lifted on July 19th, Team Rebellion went into overdrive and have successfully pulled together in record time ‘Hits 25 – Celebrating 25 years since Holidays In The Sun’, the event from which Rebellion Festival was originally born.

To be held in the Empress Ballroom and an acoustic stage in the Pavilion on Saturday August 7th, Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, UK Subs, GBH, The Barstool Preachers, Dirt Box Disco, Maid Of Ace, Gimp Fist, Fire Exit, Death Trails, Mille Manders and the Shutup are all confirmed to perform, whilst the acoustic stage in the Pavilion will see TV Smith, Atilla The Stockbroker, Carol Hodge and more provide a more relaxed soundtrack.

It’s testament to the goodwill that the bands and audience have for the festival and with thanks to the Winter Gardens and Blackpool Council that they’ve been able to bring together such a strong line-up in such short time, for the incredible value of only £21.50 on the door, or online in advance with booking fee.

Rebellion Festival tickets have nothing to do with this gig. Rebellion 2020 and 2021 tickets remain rolled over to 2022. It’s only a one stage main gig, so capacity is limited and therefore there obviously won’t be as many tickets available as usual.

The Winter Gardens, however, will have FREE ENTRY for Thursday / Friday and Sunday, giving everyone a place to meet up and hang out on those days.

Tickets are available from: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/1F005AE5C06D6E89

HITS25 is an All-Ages show with under 14s getting in free of charge. Everyone under 18 needs to be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Rebellion Festival 2022 is already well underway, and the promoters are rebooking many of the headline bands from the cancelled 2020/21 events and have also booked three bands that were not due to play either of those years. English rock legends The Stranglers and first-wave Los Angeles punks The Dickies are now confirmed to return to the festival in 2022 and are joined by Brighton folk-rock maestros The Levellers, who play the festival for the very first time.  The Levellers are still one of the most popular independent bands in the UK, and headlined Glastonbury Festival in 1994, where they performed to a record-breaking crowd of 300,000 people! Their anthemic, uplifting set is sure to be a highlight of Rebellion Festival in 2022.

These join returning and rebooked artists such as Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, The Undertones, Tom Robinson and Stiff Little Fingers, Ruts DC, Sham 69 and many more.

Rebellion Festival in 2022 will also see the welcome return of an outdoor stage, the council have agreed for the festival to have the area of the promenade right in front of Blackpool Tower (Tower Headland, on the ‘comedy carpet’). This is an amazing space for an outdoor stage. A straight walk down from the Winter Gardens. Rebellion can double the capacity with this area and have some fantastic plans to make both sites amazing.

For those who don’t have tickets rolling over from 2020/21, tickets for Rebellion 2022 will be available from August 5th.

Head to www.rebellionfestivals.com for more information.

 

Twitter: @rebellionfest 

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/RebellionPunkMuskFestival

 

View the auction items Here

 

AHOY PIRATE FAMILY NEAR AND FAR!!! Pirates Press need your help!
THIS AUCTION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR A LOT OF KIDS – GETTING THEM MORE ACCESS TO ART AND MUSIC IN LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
ALL AUCTIONS ARE OPEN TO ANYONE, ACROSS THE GLOBE.
Auctions take place online and end at 6 PM PST on Saturday, Oct. 19th!
All of the auction items will be available for people to check out at ROCK THE SHIP, both at Starline Ballroom (Thurs/Fri) and at the USS Hornet (Sat).
Without further delay, listed below the AMAZING packages you can bid on.
You can view the auction page HERE!!
All proceeds will go directly to arts and music programs in the Oakland Unified School District.
Happy bidding you incredible and wonderfully generous people.
Here are just a fraction of the amazing items on offer –

One of Norway’s most legendary bands, (that you might be forgiven for never having heard of them, Right? Right) anyway Norway has a good history of knocking out some fantastic bands and a lot of them have been mentioned here on RPM.  Backstreet Girls, Turbonegro, Gluecifer, Good Bad the Zugly, Razorbats, and of course Mayhem.

Well, these punk/hardcore veterans are fronted by Billy Cockroach, one of the first vocalists of Mayhem he performed on the 1987 album “Deathcrush” under the moniker of Messiah and they offer us well-aged vintage punk rock full of cheerful aggression and infectious tunes. throwing in Mayhem is a bit of a red herring because its nothing like Deathcrush this is polished positively glistening in the production stakes compared to that Black Metal demo.

‘Songs about Blunt Knives and Deep Love’, has only taken 22 bloody long years to reach our ears kinda puts Axel to shame with his Chinese Democracy. They’re being heralded as one of Norway’s most legendary bands, it basically consists of new recordings of old hits as well as a handful of new tracks and a cover of Mountain Goat’s “Going to Georgia”. It started out as an idea from producer Hugo Alvarstein (The Good the Bad and the Zugly, Raga Rockers, etc…) Who suggested the band go rehearse their best songs from the 1990s then call him up and he’d take em into his studio and get them recorded and give the songs the justice they deserve. To be fair he’s clearly a man of his word and has recorded one hell of an album..

The band started out as far back as 1994, building a loyal fan base and a reputation of being a riotous live band along the way. Compared to the bands two previous offerings this one is the dog’s bollocks and one that should rightly exalt them to the top table of punk rock.

Having honed the tunes by sharing the stage with acts like The Toy Dolls, Discharge, UK Subs, The Exploited, Cock Sparrer, Anti-Nowhere League, Vice Squad and GBH through the years, now it’s about time they put their hat in the ring with a bunch of songs that justified their boast of being up there with the best of them.

The album begins with a cover, ‘Going To Georgia’ and it drops its music bombs right square in the middle of the speakers with it’s spoken/sung verses holding up rather well over a musical backdrop that just crackles along with a joy and sound of a band just killing it doing something they love for the love. ‘You Have A Bun’ is a breath of fresh air as it has plenty of bounce and whilst the vocals are aggressive (often quite shouty) what did you think he was going to sound like? Ian Gillan? that’s the thing its aggressive as fuck but it sounds content and dare I say it – Happy at the same time, oh and the production is great and really lifts the songs.

‘Fantasyland’ has a little bit of Thin Lizzy in those dueling guitars on the intro.  I did a little momentary gasp on the intro of the piraty ‘Three Wishes’ as I thought we were getting some h ho ho shanty music but worry not me hearties it was only a false intro. Still, it’s quite piraty its the good end of piraty.

‘On An Island’ is just a banger with its head down its one foot in the Motorhead camp and the other, say, Argy Bargy – Imagine that? To be fair the middle part of the album isn’t fucking about and gets stuck in like The Adicts on a good day.  ‘Facts On The Wall’ is Ramones rapid with a dumb yet happy melody and ripping solo this is shaping up to be an excellent record.  ‘Necktie Party’ has a bit of a Crass vibe about it. These boys and these songs would go down a storm at somewhere like Rebellion Festival.

A lot of the pace and tempo of the songs remind me of a Norweigan Sham 69 and none more so that ‘Do It Again’ which is one of the highlights of the record on the breakdown it’s like vintage high jinx Damned who always threw in some cool off the wall melodies in fact there are plenty of influences I am feeling here more than ripping off a band they dance to their own tunes and just let their influences just bleed through..

With twelve songs on offer, I would highly recommend you at least give these cats the benefit of doubt and check em out and once you do that I’m sure you’ll be convinced.  Great album I’m glad has seen the light of day and hope it’s given the band the energy and drive to do it all again except to say next time don’t leave it so fucking long. – Buy it!

 

 

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Fast rising Brighton based ska punkers The Bar Stool Preachers are just about to embark on their biggest UK headline tour to date, whilst tickets for the legendary Cock Sparrer’s 2020 Not The Albert Hall UK club tour are one of the hottest on the scene right now.

RPM caught up with Preachers’ vocalist T.J McFaull and bassist Bungle along with Colin McFaull lead singer with Cock Sparrer just a few weeks ago at Rebellion Festival to talk all about…well, just about anything really.

What follows is RPM interview gold as father and son (plus Bungle) ‘Take ‘Em All’ on ‘One By One’ whilst ‘Looking Lost’ in the interview seat is one Johnny H.

The last time I was sat in this very bar I was interviewing you Colin and I asked you this very question, so here it is with a very subtle twist. See if you can spot it.

I was stood watching you last night when it suddenly dawned on me that when The Bar Stool Preachers do the 20th Anniversary ‘Gracie Governo’ tour I’ll be 72 years old, so T.J. and Bungle tell me what’s it like to be young? (laughing)

T.J.: (laughing) Well we’ve never been busier; we’ve never been more successful and we’ve never been more broke. So, it’s brilliant being young. Although the years seem to be flying at the moment and suddenly, we do have to stop and think “have we really played this place six or is it seven times now”, and you kind of have to forget you are young and just crack on.

Bungle: The one thing people forget though is that being in a band doubles your age rate. (laughing)

TJ: Yeah it’s that and its also as a band you’re only as young or old sorry as your youngest member

Bungle; Why did you look at Col when you said that?

T.J.: Well Daryl is keeping ‘em tempered, to the ground (laughing) and we’ve got Whibs in the band our drummer (Alex Whibley-Conway) and he’s only 23 years old. So we really are a very young band (looking to Colin – and then follows loads of laughter)

We were only commenting yesterday that he’s a real powerhouse for the band.

T.J.: Yeah we met him when he was 19. That’s how long we’d struggled on with our old drummer, and we kind of groomed him into it more than anything. The first couple of tours we let him do anything, let him run wild. Then it was next couple of tours smack the shit out of him if he did anything wrong and the subsequent 7 or 8 tours, he’s been nothing short of amazing.

He was a jazz drummer first and the way he plays music is just so intuitive and as such this next album is going to be so heavily drums lead. That’s its just really fucking fun to listen to.

As I wasn’t expecting to get all of three of you in this interview, I’ll open this one up to Colin too. What’s it really like to play the Empress Ballroom at Rebellion?

Colin: Well this year will be our sixth time of playing it going right back to the days when the stage was on the other side of the room, and I’ll be honest it’s a difficult room, largely because the sound is not always great in there due to the acoustics, but the crowd are always fantastic.

I think we still hold the record, yeah we had 6,500 in there back in 2008, and for health and safety reasons they now have a cap on it so you never get more than 3 to 3,500 in there.

T.J.: As we found out yesterday (referring to the fact that people were turned away when The Bar Stool Preachers were on stage due to the venue capacity having been reached)

Colin: It’s just a really great venue

So what was it like for you guys? (pointing at T.J. and Bungle)

T.J.: Bungle (laughing)

Bungle: Yeah, it was crazy. Words cannot do it justice; it was just mental.  As we set up we could see the crowd as far back as the sound desk, then we came on lights went up and more people seemed to be in, then 2 or 3 songs in the lights went up and I stopped and turned to Tom and went “what’s going on? Have you seen this?” (laughing)

TJ: The response yesterday was phenomenal. Opening with ‘One Fool Down’ and first time in the big boy room, it could have all fallen flat on its face with about 100 people singing but less than 30 seconds into that first song it really did feel like there was 2,000 people shouting those words back as us.

Colin: What was really interesting from my point of view was having been to a few shows, as you can probably imagine. It’s gone from a couple of rows of people knowing the words to where I was stood last night (around 14 rows back) everyone around me knew every word.

You guys did genuinely seem moved by the reaction.

Bungle: I welled up I must admit.

TJ: I nearly cried during ‘One Fool Down’ when it got to the “Never Look Down” bit when that went off the first time, that stopped me taking that next breath and I looked around at Bungle and he was like the Blackpool Beach caricature of a dog with the biggest bone he’s ever seen (growling and laughing) and smiling from ear to ear.

Bungle: I wasn’t crying it was sweat in my eye okay? (laughing)

Do you still get that same buzz Col when you are headlining the Empress?

Colin: Always.

I was only saying to Tom earlier, people always ask us how long are you going to continue doing Cock Sparrer and I say as long as people pack out venues and sing the songs and enjoy themselves that’s good enough for us. When they stop, we’ll stop and it’s as simple as that.

TJ: You know the reason Rebellion is so special is that it is the one event a year where the various sections of the UK punk scene do come together with like one purpose, to have a great time. When we played at 5 pm yesterday it felt to me like the crowd all felt like they had part ownership in the band as they were all responsible for making it such a great event. Same when Cock Sparrer plays, everyone in there feels a part of that band, and their support really means something. That right there is amazing and it’s only at Rebellion here in the UK that you really get that.

At this point, I’d like to take you back to 2014 and a rainy night outside the Melkweg in Amsterdam. That night Tom you gave me and Nev (at the time we were both there covering that European Rebellion event for Uber Rock) your vision for this new ska-punk band you were forming. Five years on are you now anywhere near where you hoped you would be back then?

TJ: I’m there. I’m there (laughing) Yeah of course. We’re touring America 3 times in that the next 6 months. Plus, we’re putting out an album that people are potentially going to hear without us having to do 150 to 200 shows just to get it heard. We will still play that number of shows because we fucking love doing it, but it will get heard regardless now. So, 5 years down the line from that conversation I couldn’t be prouder of the boys in the band, how hard everyone’s worked, how much everyone’s sacrificed and just how good we all got at writing music. It’s been nothing but humbling every step of the way.

And the other person you mentioned being a part of that vision was of course Bungle, so what’s it been like for you?

Bungle: I remember when I first met Tom down on Brighton Beach which was a long time ago on a beautiful Summer’s evening and I said to him “this will be my last time for putting absolutely everything into doing a band” and he was like “cool okay” and now 5 years later I’m like “why did I say that?” (everyone explodes in laughter). What the hell have I let myself in for? Seriously though I don’t regret it for one second. It’s like all the bucket list things I’m getting to do, playing the Empress, touring with Bouncing Souls and The Bronx, playing with Street Dogs. The list just goes on now.

T.J: (who at this point turns to Colin) Well you’re taking a completely different band out with you next year so you won’t be on that list (again everyone falls about laughing)

Colin: To be fair you guys have put everything into it. You’ve not held back and as you said (pointing to Tom) being dedicated to it has been the only way of doing it.

Bungle: You get out what you put into it don’t you.

T.J: You know you sell somebody something and you say “it’s gonna be this” but you’re never 100% sure that’s what I did when I hoodwinked you and Nev in that bar in Amsterdam. I was all about telling you it was going to be like The Clash with this real puck rock ethic understanding the ska, reggae and roots origins of where that sound all comes from. I couldn’t believe that it actually turned into just that.  (laughing)

Or that the bassist I told you about that night could become the bassist he is right at this moment. I tell you there is no other bass player writing stuff like Bungle.

Colin: And what you didn’t do was compromise. You’ve stuck to that ethic when it probably would have been easier to get gigs if you’d changed your sound a little to suit what was in at the time. You stuck to what you wanted to do from the beginning and persevered with that original dream.

Bungle: It’s one of those things like when we first started and had the foundation of what we wanted to be we could start to do our own thing and let it grow naturally and let it be what it’s going to be. If people like it then that’s wicked!

T.J: When we started this though every interview or article always seemed to have somewhere in it… and features the son of Cock Sparrer singer Colin McFaull, and when that stopped or seemed to stop was when those people actually came out and saw The Bar Stool Preachers.  Largely because we went out and did 150-200 shows a year to show everyone what we did, and that allowed us to be us.

So, you don’t get that anymore? I mean firstly at Uber Rock and now here at RPM we’ve always tried to steer away from it.

T.J: Yeah from time to time, and yeah you guys didn’t and Dad and I were both like “Thank You for not mentioning it” but if you’re gonna sell tickets or clicks or whatever we understand. We all live in this same fucking rat race where you have to try and get yourself heard however you can, but you guys have always written about US first and that meant when you asked us for a chat we, of course, said “yes”.

Colin: We joked a few minutes ago about the UK run of shows Cock Sparrer are doing next year and us having another support band on with us. The simple truth is they have to distance themselves. They have to do their own thing.  As I said to Tom if you’re in a situation a year from now where you’re looking to support Cock Sparrer in Wakefield then you’ve wasted a year somewhere. You should be bigger than that by then.

T.J: (shaking his head in disagreement) I get it, but you’re holding us back. If you think we’d go into that tour asking you to help us out and give us a gig then you are wrong. By doing it together we get to choose to do those shows.

Colin: What worries me, and this is the truth, is you commit to those dates now and it’s a year away and then say Rancid came and asked you to go on a world tour with them.

T.J: We would blow you out in heartbeat (this comment is followed by much laughter)

Colin: It’s a little commitment that could come back to bite you on the arse, that’s all I’m saying.

Bungle: It’s like when we go back to the really small venues like the Ilkeston thing and people say “you’re too big to play there”. We’re like “who gives a shit?” if we want to play a pub in the middle of nowhere to however many people, then we’ll do it.

T.J: And the Ilkeston thing (Ed: it’s changed now to later in the year and has been replaced this time around) has proved that point right because this time it’s the only all-ages show on the tour and people have bought tickets from four hours drive away. Just so they can bring their kids.

Okay so with things getting a little heated around the table here, here’s a real loaded gun question for you, and of course bearing in mind who is sat next to you (pointing at Tom). What’s been the real highlights of the first 4 or 5 years of The Bar Stool Preachers existence then?

T.J: That’s a great question, and its one we’ve not been asked before.

Bungle: There are multiple ones for a multitude of different reasons. I think The Slackers tour was our first big one and they really taught us a lot about being on the road

T.J: They communicate with each other as musicians on a level that I have not seen since. It’s like they communicate out of the corner of their eyes to a bandmate 10 foot away and suddenly its 1-2-3 and they are off, and as still relatively new musicians that is unbelievable to watch. So suddenly we’re going like “if they can do that, we can do that.”

Bungle: Perhaps what ties all this together is that whoever it is we are playing with when we learn something and take something away regarding how to do it better that is a highlight. So, going on tour with Sparrer I learned how to play my bass lower thanks to (Steve) Burgess (laughing), but whoever the band is we are always picking things up be it as musicians, or even something as silly as learning on how to get from A to B quicker.

T.J: You should try being normal size and not Bungle size and try sound checking his fucking bass and its touching your ankles (laughing)

Colin: The learning though never ends, that never stops and whatever band you play with you should be watching and learning about how to do things better.

T.J: So, cast your mind back to Mighty Sounds in the Czech Republic in 2017 (then follows a long silence as you can see Colin thinking) and Cock Sparrer have never done a call and response live before. Yeah, Bungle you can laugh it up as you were there for it, and I’m glad you were as this is proof. You had never done one before at the end of the set, and you saw it being done by another band and you said to me “I’m gonna do that.”

Colin: (laughing) And how was it?

T.J: (shouting) Much bigger than any of ours!!! (laughing) But at the end of the set, he did this mighty long note, looked over at me and Bungle and raised an eyebrow and I thought “I love that cunt”. (much laughter follows this comment)

Colin: Oh yeah that was the same gig that we put the backdrop up upside down. Intro kicks in big build-up crowd is going bonkers and backdrop falls to reveal the Forever logo upside down. (laughing). I was standing next to Will (Murray, Sparrer’s long-time road manager and sixth member) and said “Will the backdrop’s upside-down”, and he goes “yeah you’re right”, and I’m like “you’re not supposed to just agree with me you’re supposed to be like fuck yeah I’ll sort it now”. Brilliant!

T.J: To go back to the original question another highlight has been some of the incredible bills we’ve shared, Street Dogs taught us a lot, The Slackers, The Interrupters taught us a lot and Sparrer of course taught us a lot in the long run, and most definitely not how to put backdrops up.  But to be good at something you learn in whatever you do in life, an apprentice chippie on a building site will watch how the others do things and take little things away to make life easier and that’s just what we do.

The next 2 years are going to be bigger and more exciting for us in terms of support slots than anything we’ve done so far, and that’s no disrespect to anyone I’ve mentioned so far, but we’re going back to play with Die Toten Hosen once again for an all-new run in front of 15 to 40,000 people, Bouncing Souls and The Bronx you know these are bands that we listened to growing up

Looking forward to the next Bar Stool Preachers album then, how much do current world events impact you as songwriters?

T.J: There’s a real disparity between reality and what people feel comfortable to say and experience in the real world. It’s really very, very hard to live without feeling like a hypocrite about feeling guilty with people going on about; you travel it’s your carbon footprint, you eat a steak you’re killing the environment. There’s nothing you can do that there isn’t some smart bugger going, “this is slightly wrong.”

For us, in terms of the message we put out for the first album we were almost talking in clichés, for the second album we were trying to tell stories. For album number 3 a lot of what we’ve got to say is about genuine questions we have to ask right now. That’s because right now is a very explosive time to come of age and it’s a great time to write about. I mean what happened at Grenfell? What happened to the Panama Papers? Why are British bombs destroying Yemen? Like where are these questions in our day to day life? If they are not there, then people, maybe like us, but we’re still a relatively small band, there are a hell of a lot bigger bands who could be saying a hell of a lot more, but why aren’t people saying it? Trouble is there aren’t that many flagship points that people can rally behind at the moment that’s not already propagated in fear and its really hard as a band to not talk about all this. In our opinion.

There are a lot of bands who write songs about summer and love and surfboards and all that and are playing the same fucking 3 chords over and over..and

Colin: (chipping in) What’s that about ironing boards? (everyone falls about laughing at this point)

So, can music really change the world?

T.J: You never understand the real themes and energies of life until you experience them for yourself. Your deaths your marriages your births whatever they may be and they don’t always happen as big things sometimes they are microcosms. Me I just feel the whole system needs a reboot.

How important is the US then to The Bar Stool Preachers?

Colin: Sorry I’d nodded off there for a minute. (Laughing) The US is one of the biggest markets out there but you have to come to play it to come to terms with it, you have to be clever about it and do it in a specific kind of way, you certainly can’t scattergun it. So as the guys tell me the more they go back, the more friends they make and the more records they sell so it’s all healthy.

With Sparrer the first time we went to the US was 2000, well we did go in 1978. We were coming out of the record deal we’d sold all our stuff to go, the idea being to take demo tapes and tout it around the record companies to see if there was any interest and we flew on Freddie Laker for £40 to New York we spent 3 days there and no one was interested. There was a guy who used to work at Decca had moved to the west coast so we thought we’d go and see him, so we drove across the Sates in an Oldsmobile with no air conditioning and then spent a couple of weeks in Los Angeles trying to get some interest.

T.J: You should have done some shows.

Colin: Yes, we should have, we just didn’t have the opportunity to do any. So, the first time we played there was 2000 and we did New York CBGB before we went up to Boston before flying to Los Angeles which was a riot and then ended up in San Francisco.

What about Bar Stool Preachers being the Def Leppard of the punk rock scene, as in breaking the US before the UK? I mean you are signed to an American label after all in Pirate’s Press.

T.J: (laughing) Def fucking Leppard…. Yeah alright. As for Pirate’s Press, like any good parents, they just let us do our own thing only do it more. For us its been more about redistribution of our efforts. Like we’re only doing this one headline UK tour this year in September (dates below) and that’s of course because we’re spending nearly 3 months in the US. We have this amazing fanbase in California and we don’t know where it started or where it came from and we are playing all the way through October with Badcop/Badcop who are fucking amazing.

As for the UK punk scene, I don’t think that’s there at the minute to be broken.

Do you not think that is kind of restricting your appeal though by simply labeling yourselves as punk?

TJ: Hmm that’s an interesting point because we do have the biggest demographic of non punk fans and I suppose that’s on top of us pulling 3000 people in the Empress at 5 pm on a Thursday afternoon.

So, are you like the punk band it’s okay for your mothers to like?

Bungle: Yeah I’ll take that. (laughing)

Colin: (laughing) I can just sense a new tattoo coming on here.

T.J: I suppose it’s how you look at punk. I think there are loads of new up and coming punk bands who aren’t going to be looking at it the same way as The Bar Stool Preachers do. Because for us punk is not a genre, it’s an ethos. Look I understand I’m really privileged to have grown up with this all around me and I can remember a lot of it right from the age of 6, so why wouldn’t I want to be in a punk band? Everything I knew that was cool before I knew what cool was was punk hands down. So, if the mainstream world isn’t into punk right now then maybe they fucking need to be. As an ethos.

We’ve never played as a punk band though, and we’ve never billed ourselves on a Cock Sparrer/Oi! ticket and that’s because we make the music we want to make and it’s about inclusion and community that is much bigger than punk.

With both of your bands planning extensive UK tours I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to see you doing this, and not playing just the odd one or two shows in London and Manchester like most other bands seem to do these days.

T.J: And which you did for many years (looking to Colin)

So why the extra dates?

Colin: For Sparrer there are two reasons really. 1.) is that Sparrer have always preferred It up close and personal and 2.) it’s the reaction we get when people see we are playing places like Wakefield. Now we’ve always been very privileged in that our fans our friends have been willing to travel to come and see us live so perhaps its now our turn to give something back and just like we’ve always done it to try and play places we’ve never done before and tick that box.

T.J: But you have a duty to your fans as leaders of the scene to give venues like the Robin 2 a little bit of time a little bit of daylight

Colin: And whilst I agree regarding this, it’s really more about making it easier for people to come and see us and not have to pay £400 to see us at a one-off in Amsterdam and instead they can pay £25 to see us in Newcastle or wherever. Of course, the real reason we’re doing it is because we had so much fun the last time we did it. I mean we played Cardiff and got out alive, that’s good enough for me (laughing)

Although Col one of the bands sat here is playing Cardiff on their upcoming tour and the other isn’t

(A cheer goes up from T.J and Bungle as I’m of course referring to their show in Clwb Ifor Bach on 21st September.)

T.J: Yes and I believe it’s only £10 a ticket for one of our shows too (laughing)

So just to wrap up what’s up next then for you both?

T.J: Loads more touring and of course album number 3

Bungle: To keep on writing better music and better songs really

T.J: For album number 3 the benefit is we now know what we’re doing, we’ve defined our sound, we know what our bits are. For us we found that some of our favourite recordings for the songs on ‘Gracie Governo’ were on our phones as voice notes and you know maybe we potentially overproduced those songs on the record. So, what we’re going to do on this next album is. We’ve got 35 songs we’re going to pick 20 and then over 8 days we’re going to record all of those songs live then we’re going to put them out there to get the opinions of people we love and respect – like mum. (cue much laughter) Then we’ll get 11 or 12 tunes that we can go in and record properly

Is there a temptation to drop more in the set?

TJ: That’s another great question. We think album number 1 is better than album number 2 because album number 1 was written with live audience feedback. When we played ‘Eye For An Eye’ last night second half I had no idea what was going on I was making it up as we went along. For album number 2 if we’d toured those for 12 months I think it would have been a much bigger album.

I’m not being critical of the last album I’m incredibly proud of Gracie Governo it’s just that the whole process was another of those learning points we’ll take into album number 3.

‘Late Night Transmission’ is another new one we played and that’s likely to be the lead track on the new album it’s our ‘Police And Thieves’. It’s a direct lift anyway, but don’t tell anyone. (laughing)

Colin: Mick Jones don’t exactly need the money. (laughing)

And what about Sparrer Col is there another album in you guys?

Colin: As I said to you all those years ago, we never say never. We’re in the fortunate position that as ‘Forever’ was funded by us we had control over everything, and that’s the only way we’d do another album. We’re certainly open to doing it and we’re writing new songs but as with ‘Forever’ if the content wasn’t going to be good enough, we certainly wouldn’t have released it. ‘Forever’ though we’re very proud of, and we love that album and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do another one.

Well with that awesome prospect in mind is there anything you wanted to add just to finish off?

T.J: Just that with everyone seemingly wanting our band to succeed right now is extremely humbling and we’ve got some really great people pulling for us right now so I’d just like to say “Thank You” to all of those people, and I hope to see some you on the road over the next few months.

Colin: What’s been most refreshing for me this weekend has been how seeing how diverse the Preachers fanbase is, the lads mentioned before the interview about the older lady on the barrier and in front of me were two young children on their parents shoulders, and that’s what its always been about for me and Cock Sparrer. You can come and see us whatever your age, colour, religion or sexual orientation, if you want to come and hear the songs, we’re happy to have you there and its brilliant to see it’s the same with the Preachers.

T.J: And that’s because it’s about family and not business.

If you are looking to be a part of the family for either of the bands upcoming UK tours then you can catch them at the following venues;

 

The Bar Stool Preachers (all dates are 2019)

Sept 13th Kingston – The Fighting Cocks

Sept 14th Derby – Hairy Dog

Sept 15th Manchester – Star ‘N’ Garter

Sept 16th Leeds – Brudenell Social Club

Sept 17th Newcastle – Trillians

Sept 18th Glasgow – Stereo Cafe

Sept 19th Carlisle – The Brickyard

Sept 20th Blackpool – The Waterloo Bar

Sept 21st Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach

Sept 22nd Bedford – Esquires

 

Cock Sparrer (all dates are for 2020)

27th Mar – The Robin 2, Wolverhampton

28th Mar – Waterfront, Norwich

4th Sep – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

5th Sep – Concorde 2, Brighton

25th Sep – Manchester Academy 2, Manchester

26th Sep – Warehouse 23, Wakefield

9th Oct – Roadmender, Northampton

10th Oct- The Fleece, Bristol

23rd Oct – O2 Academy Newcastle, Newcastle

24th Oct – The Garage, Glasgow

 

Bar Stool Preachers

Cock Sparrer

Cock Sparrer @ Rebellion pic courtesy of Dod Morrison Photography