Some chump pipes up every few years with the “rock n roll is dead” nonsense. As usual, you have to know where to look. And we at RPM have been championing Black Bombers for some time now. With their latest upcoming album ‘Vive La Revolution’, they have potentially one of the best albums of 2024.
With the added sonic muscle of Steve Crittall on guitar, ‘No Pity’ is righteously furious. The band are energised and focused, the mid-song breakdown is perfectly timed. ‘Everything Is Ruined’ comes across like a feral Buzzcocks, I keep hitting ‘play’ on this one. ‘Pretty Boy’ nails a primitive, hypnotic riff, and ‘Loose Lips’ is a snappy two minutes that shows their poppier side.
‘Last Bite’ is epic, and ‘Good Times Gone’ shows their contemporaries how to do it, there’s no shortage of great tunes here. The Bombers take the garage rock blueprint and inject some excitement and enthusiasm into it. You could even imagine Birchy smiling. Almost.
‘What Do You See?’ proves they can do something more delicate without losing their identity, before ‘The Price’ ramps things up again. ‘Sometimes’ is the last original Bombers tune, and no slouch, before they batter one of my favourite Bowie tunes. Yes, ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ emerges bruised and glorious, sounds like Steve enjoyed letting rip.
I’ve preordered, obviously. Alan, Darren, Dave and Steve should be rightfully proud of this, their best release yet. If you get the chance, go see them a.s.a.p. Vive la révolution!
Birmingham proto-punks BLACK BOMBERS have unveiled a new video from their forthcoming new album.
‘The Price’ casts a withering eye over the antics of the UK government, particularly with regard to their handing of the Covid pandemic.
Coincidentally, the video drops on the same day that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared before the official Covid Inquiry.
“The running of the country seemed like a game show,” says guitarist and vocalist Alan Byron. “Matt Hancock appearing on reality TV months after the song was penned only seemed to confirm that. A huge part of the population seeming blind to the culling of the most vulnerable – and of the VIP lane making obscene amounts of money out of PPE.
“On a personal level the band lost several loved ones, parents, life-long friends, and had to deal with all the restrictions around hospital visiting and funerals – basically, following all the rules that, in time, we found the lawmakers were breaking themselves. ‘The Price’ expresses all of that anger and frustration.”
The single is drawn from the quartet’s second album Vive La Révolution, their first album to feature new lead guitarist Steve Crittall, formerly of The Godfathers and the UK Subs. The album was produced and mixed by Crittall and Alex McGowan (Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, Urban Voodoo Machine) at Space Eko East Studios in East London and follows on from 2019’s mini-album Volume 4.
Out on 26 January through Easy Action, ‘Vive La Révolution’ is available to pre-order here.
Black Bombers play The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham on Sunday 10 December with Desperate Measures.
After releasing two albums in two years, 2023 promises to be another busy year for David Ryder Prangley. “The man who put the glam in Mid-Glamorgan” (as said Simon Price) will be releasing his third solo album this spring, alongside a reissue of Rachel Stamp’s debut ‘Hymns For Strange Children’. Just after this interview took place, Rachel Stamp announced a date to coincide with the album release on 14th April at Islington Academy. For all the details and more, read on…
‘Vampire Deluxe’ was my favourite album of 2021. There seems to be a strong lyrical link between it and ‘Black Magic And True Love’; were they written at the same time, or did you already have the idea to release two albums in quick succession?
Thank you Martin! I had most of the songs written for both albums before I recorded ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and I always had in my mind to release two albums in very quick succession, that sounded like companion albums. Kind of like The Police’s first two LPs where they sound the same and have a running lyrical theme. It was just a case of picking which songs went together and making two albums out of that. I did write ‘Sweet Heartbreaker’ and ‘Hey Stargazer’ after the first album was recorded. I actually had the guitar riff to ‘Sweet Heartbreaker’ kicking around for a few years and finally put lyrics to it. In general, over the two albums, and in fact on my next album too, I wanted the lyrics to all have a similar stylistic tone and I was conscious to not veer too far from the central themes of magic and space and other stuff that I’m too polite to talk about, but if you’ve heard the albums then you’ll know what I’m saying… The songs can be interpreted differently by different people and I did that on purpose. There’s no one meaning behind any of the songs and that’s why I didn’t print the lyrics on the albums. I want people to hear whatever they hear, even if it’s not what I actually sang.
pic by Rowan Spray
Tell us about your songwriting process. Do you demo songs at home once you have a solid idea, in order to choose which ones to put on an album? Does the finished song differ much from the demo? I noticed that old Ants demos were practically identical to the finished song, which I thought showed how strong Adam’s vision was for his songs. You seem to be similar, in having an image that is as important as the music.
I don’t have one process for writing, though I often make the songs up in my head and then have to work them out on guitar or piano. The songs on ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and ‘Vampire Deluxe’ are very simple in terms of structure, and I arrange all the basic parts for the different instruments but leave room for the players to bring their own personalities to the songs. The solos are left up to whoever plays them. It’s really important for me to work with people whose playing I like and it’s important that the band have a connection to the music. I’ve been really lucky to have great musicians with me on these albums – Rob Emms and Belle Star on drums, Laurie Black and Grog Lisee on piano, Anna-Christina on bass guitar, Liza Bec on recorder and saxophone and Drew Richards on guitar, who also co-produced ‘Vampire Deluxe’ with me. Adie Hardy co-produced ‘Black Magic & True Love’ with Marc Olivier co-producing the song ‘They Came From The Stars To Capture Our Hearts’. I started producing other bands whilst I was still in my band Rachel Stamp and I really enjoy it. A lot of what makes a good producer is being organised – which sounds a bit dull, but it’s vital to have a plan and rehearse stuff before you get to the studio so you know what you’re doing when you get there and don’t get freaked out when the red light turns on!
In terms of the connection between the image and the music – that’s vital for me. I want people to look at the cover of the record and when they play it, the songs fit perfectly with the cover image. It’s funny that you mention Adam Ant because I played bass with him for a short while. He’s a brilliant musician and a great arranger, especially with vocals. He’s certainly a musical and visual inspiration for me.
Pic by Ben Ga
What can you tell us about your upcoming solo album and the Rachel Stamp reissue? Any gigs lined up? My next album is on the way! I have the title and cover image already and I’ve demo’d three songs and have about four more written and I have some songs leftover from the first two albums. This album will continue the themes of the first two but have a few twists. I’ve been singing in a lower register lately so I’m going to explore that side of my voice as well as what people know me for already. I’m hoping to release the first track from the next album in April, around the time of the Rachel Stamp re-issue. That came about when we were approached by the label Easy Action to contribute the Rachel Stamp cover of T Rex’s ‘Calling All Destroyers’ to a compilation LP they’re putting out. We got on well with the label and they suggested re-issuing ‘Hymns For Strange Children’ so here we are, and the release is set for Friday 14th April and we’re playing a show at the O2 Academy Islington in London to celebrate the release on the same day.
To be honest, it was quite odd going back and working on ‘Hymns For Strange Children’ again. I never listen to that album, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. I had to go back and tweak some of the songs for the vinyl version so ended up spending several hours with headphones on immersed in Stampworld! I think when we originally made that album I wasn’t thrilled with the sonics but in retrospect I love it. It’s a really unusual album that doesn’t sound at all dated and doesn’t sound like anything else. I always described Rachel Stamp as ‘Prince meets Black Sabbath’ with the heavy riffs, tri-tones and then the synths on top of it all. We never used programming or sequencers – it was all played live and has a very different feel to, say, the industrial bands or indie guitar bands of the time. Everyone in Rachel Stamp has very eclectic tastes and generally were into more off the wall bands like Devo, The Nymphs, Big Star, Parliament, Sabbath, Bodycount… bands that were doing their own thing. It was important for us to do our own thing too and people had a weird reaction to us because they couldn’t easily catagorise us. The press tried to dismiss us some kind of glam revival which we never were. I mean, we loved Marc Bolan and David Bowie and Sweet, and me and Robin were certainly into some of the 80s LA glam metal bands like Ratt and Poison but we weren’t trying to revive anything, we were all about the moment. I would say that visually we were more influenced by English punk and by bands like We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It and Prince and by movies like Blade Runner, Near Dark and The Abominable Dr Phibes.
The fans totally got it, but other bands were kind of scared of us. They couldn’t understand how we could walk around the streets looking like we did and then get on stage and play super loud high energy heavy music. So many musicians jump on trends and it blows their minds to see someone just using their imagination. It’s actually not that hard.
Are there any more plans for Sister Witch? I was so pleased to see them play once! I love the Sister Witch album and I love writing and working with Lux Lyall. We still write together and we co-wrote a lot of her first solo album and I played guitar on it too. In fact, we just wrote a song for my next album called ‘Let’s Fall Apart Together Tonight’.
I don’t think there will be another Sister Witch album as such but there will definitely be more DRP/Lux Lyall music out there.
As an amateur musician, currently swapping between guitar and bass, I’ve been learning a lot of your bass lines. Nerdy question; what’s your favourite guitar and bass, live and in the studio?
My favourite bass guitar is my BC Rich Eagle and Anna-Christina actually played that bass on the ‘Black Magic & True Love’ and ‘Vampire Deluxe’ albums and at my live shows. It has a really great mid-range and doesn’t just take over the low frequencies like a Fender Precision might do. I bought that guitar way back when Rachel Stamp got signed to WEA and I used it on the ‘Bring Me The Head Of Rachel Stamp’ EP but it got stolen a couple of years later. Fast forward about 17 years and I was looking on ebay and someone had it for sale! I recognised it because there was big chunk out of the headstock where I’d thrown it across the stage at a gig, so I knew it was mine. The seller was a young guitar dealer in Bristol who had no idea of its history – he’d just innocently bought it from a company that had found it in a skip! I told him the story and sent him some photos of me playing it and I luckily still had a copy of the police report from when it was originally stolen, and he was really cool about it all and we made an arrangement for me to get it back. I was so grateful. Since then, I’ve had the headstock repaired and I wrote ‘Suzi Q’ on the back in gold in tribute to Suzi Quatro who was the first musician I ever wanted to be when I was a kid. She played BC Rich basses in the late 70s.
pic by Rowan Spray
As far as six string guitar goes, my favourite for recording is my old 1972 Gibson SG Special with mini humbuckers that I bought about ten years ago. It has a very unique sound, kind of halfway between a Gibson and a Fender tone. The previous owner had refinished it in Cardinal Red, a non-regulation colour for that guitar so I got it for not much money at all because it wasn’t ‘vintage correct’. I don’t really care about ‘vintage’ or ‘all-original’, I just play something and if I like how it sounds and feels then I’m happy to use it. That guitar was all I used on ‘Black Magic & True Love’, plugged into a Marshall JCM 900 through a 4×12 speaker cabinet. I had the amp quite overdriven and I’d turn the volume knob of the guitar up or down depending on how much overdrive I wanted. On ‘Forever In Starlight’ I might have plugged it into a Roland Jazz Chorus or a Fender combo, I can’t remember exactly, but something with a cleaner sound than the Marshall. I did the solo on that song through a Mesa Boogie Mark 3 to get a kind of Santana sound. If you listen to that album my guitar is panned to the left and the guitar panned to the right is Drew Richards playing a Washburn Idol Goldtop. We did the same for 95% of ‘Vampire Deluxe’, except I also used a couple of different guitars to overdub some solos on that album, and there’s the acoustic guitars too which were my old Encore plastic back Ovation copy and Drew’s Washburn acoustic. Those two albums were, for the most part, recorded live in the studio with the band playing all at once. We then overdubbed percussion, vocals and a few solos. It’s a very simple approach but it’s amazing how effective and fast it is. I wish I had recorded all the Rachel Stamp albums this way. I plan to do the same for my next album.
When I play gigs, I use a different set up which is my Fender Stratocaster through a Marshall combo and I use a Suhr Riot distortion pedal that I leave on all the time. With that set up I can go from clean to fully distorted just using the volume control on the Stratocaster. Some people find that an odd set up but it’s pretty old school actually. It’s kind of how Brian may does it, except he uses a wall of Vox AC30s all on full volume!
How was it to play again with Adam Ant recently? You and Will obviously played with him some years ago. I’m guessing you fitted in pretty easily. Was he an influence on Rachel Stamp?
That recent chance to play with Adam again came out of the blue when Joe Holweger, Adam’s bass player, got covid and Adam was due to headline a big festival. I got a call from Will asking if I could step in and I was more than happy to. I knew most of the songs to play because, as you mention, I had played with him previously. I had to learn a few more songs and we did one rehearsal and then it was the gig in front of 10,000 people so no pressure, right?! A funny thing happened at that show – people probably don’t realise but when bands do those festival shows with so many other bands on the bill, you don’t get a soundcheck, you just go on and during the first song the band is usually frantically signalling the monitor engineer to turn things up or down so they can get their sound balance on the stage. The audience is hearing something else entirely that’s mixed by another engineer who is in the sound booth in the middle of the field. Well, at that show we walked on and kicked into ‘Dog Eat Dog’ which has a very prominent bass line and I just couldn’t hear my bass at all. I turned around and went to the bass amp and turned it up and still couldn’t hear it and then realised the amp wasn’t working! Luckily the bass guitar is fed directly to the front of house PA system as well as the amp so the audience could hear my bass fine, but I couldn’t hear it on stage. I had to rely on just knowing I was putting my fingers in the right place, but it was pretty nerve wracking. We got it all fixed after that though… Then during ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’ the entire stage power cut out and all the amps and guitars and everything just went silent! The audience started singing the song and it became this quite magical moment of us standing on the stage waiting for the power to come back on whilst the crowd serenaded us.
Adam was definitely a huge influence on Rachel Stamp. I even stole some of the lyrics from ‘Vive le Rock’ in our song ‘Ladies & Gents’ and we named a song ‘Pink Skab’ because when Will came up with that riff I thought he was playing an Ants b-side! We used to cover ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ and ‘Fall In’ too. Will had been a huge fan as a kid but I got into Adam a bit later, when a friend at school played me the b-sides to the singles. That’s what really got me, songs like ‘Christian Dior’ and ‘Physical’. When we first played with Adam, I think he was impressed that we knew all the ‘obscure’ songs and we could play most of them already. There’s a great video of us playing at the Scala and we open with ‘Plastic Surgery’ and go straight into ‘Lady’ and then segue into ‘The Day I Met God’ and the audience goes fucking nuts. They never expected in a million years to hear those songs and all that was basically Will’s idea. Adam would just say ‘what do you want to play?’ and we would play it and he would sing it. It was a pretty incredible thing to be a part of.
Would you consider playing in Europe, or post-B****t is it just too complicated/ expensive? It’s a selfish question, as I’m based in France now.
I would love to play in Europe! I’m doing more shows now with just an acoustic guitar and I really enjoy playing that way. My solo music lends itself to being performed in a stripped-down way. I’m not sure if that answers your question? I guess what I’m saying is that I’m very open to offers if someone wants to book me!
London glamsters Rachel Stamp have announced a one-off London show in celebration of the reissue of their classic debut album.
The androgynous four-piece had become darlings of the London rock scene during the late 90s, sharing stages with acts as diverse as No Doubt, Cheap Trick and Korn.
Following a string of indie hits, Hymns For Strange Children was recorded and mixed in a week with Nine Inch Nails producer John Fryer. It emerged in early 2000 to waves of ecstatic reviews and magazine covers, leading to a sell-out UK tour culminating in a show at the 2,000 capacity London Astoria.
“We paved the way for a whole generation of fans to be themselves and not to blindly conform to what someone else told them they should be,” says singer/bassist David Ryder Prangley today. “It was really tough to walk around looking the way we did back then. There was a lot of verbal and physical abuse directed towards us and I’m sure it was the same for our fans, but we all lived through it and came out the other side for the better.
“I meet a lot of musicians who used to come and see us play when they were teenagers and were inspired by us,” he adds. “But I don’t think there has really been a band since Rachel Stamp that mixed heavy, distorted guitars with synths and melodic vocals like we did. We’re still unique in that way and I’m very excited that Hymns For Strange Children is being re-released and hopefully reaching a whole new audience.”
Now fully digitally remastered and repackaged, the album is being released on vinyl for the first time ever through Easy Action Records on 14 April, in a limited edition of 700 pink vinyl copies. There’ll also be new CD edition with bonus tracks, plus a digital edition available from all the usual platforms.
To celebrate Rachel Stamp will be playing a special show at London’s O2 Academy Islington on the album’s release date. Tickets are on sale to O2 priority customers now and go on general sale on Wednesday 8 February at 10.00 am.
Due sometime in August or September the long wait is finally over for the Gunfire Dance album on vinyl for the first time. Easily one of the finest bands of their generation Gunfire Dance had it all except for the breaks. ‘Witness To The Crime’ will see some of the band’s finest songs on vinyl LP for the first time through Easy Action Records. It features twelve tracks from the incredible ‘Blue’ through ‘Burning Ambition’ and ‘Suit And Tie’. If there is one album you should pre-order then this is it. Snooze you loose, this is a limited pressing
Black Bombers – ‘Last Bite’ (Easy Action) there is an air of confidence and an overwhelming sense of quality when the guitar chimes in on this new single from Birmingham’s finest. Channeling the spirit of Stivs Lords and the cool of Killing Joke with its howling guitars and haunting rhythm it’s a smoldering smokestack of a tune and as it reaches the guitar solo, it gives you goosebumps as the band reaches the climax before dropping back into the groove on what is a most excellent single. It’s taken a while to reach your turntables due to covid but this one has had a couple of years to ferment into this beast of noise. Flip it over and you get treated to a rather splendid version of ‘Take My Money’ from the Damned criminally overlooked second album ‘Music For Pleasure’. What a killer tune ‘Last Bite’ is and thats why its the pick of the pops for the month no question about it! Cool tunes and cool artwork – if only all 7″ singles were this good. Buy Here
Buzzcocks – ‘Senses Out Of Control’ (Cherry Red Records) The songs to emerge from the post-Shelley Buzzcocks are creeping out after the covid hibernation and ‘Senses Out Of Control’ is a lovely slice of Diggle fire and brimstone. Uptempo and out of control as Diggle fires up the telecaster and smashes the chords out of the speakers for what is your typical Diggle Buzzers tune (effectively) I’m not going to debate the should it be released under the Buzzcocks banner or not but I will say it pretty bloody decent to be fair. Live it will sound punchy and brutal but there is a huge Shelley-shaped hole happening. The B sides to this lovely 10″ record also feature the tracks ‘Carnival Of Illusion’ that tackles cancel culture in a more measured track. But the diamond in the rough here is the excellent ‘Hope Heaven Loves You’ with a great meandering guitar line. Sure to become a collector’s piece these two tracks won’t be on the album when it’s released this summer so fill yer boots. Buy Here
Suzi Moon – ‘Animal’ (Pirates Press Records) Hot on the heels of her debut EP Suzi Moon unleashes ‘Animal’ her latest EP on Pirates PRess and this time it rips out of the blocks with the super turbocharged ‘Sonic Attraction’. Her debut album ‘Dumb & In Luv’ is due this summer and if this trio of tunes is anything to go by then it’s going to be an absolute blast. the title track is a brooding, twisting, rhythm meandering along before the guitars crash in on the chorus when Moon declares she’s a fucking animal you better believe it. To wrap up this EP Moon indulges some power pop tinged punk rock on ‘Gold Record Autograph’ its another string to her bow. With a vibrant melody, the chorus is fuckin’ excellent and like a bubble gummed chorus Moon knows shes is onto something, and surely it’s only a matter of time before she sells out venues globally and she’ll have her very own Gold Record. Get it here
Flickertail – ‘Don’t You Let Me (Let You Down)‘ (Golden Robot Records) Irish Aussie rockers FLICKERTAIL release new single ‘Don’t You Let Me (Let You Down’ on 29th March, out on Golden Robot Records. liftedfrom the upcoming live EP ‘Afterlife‘, which is slated for release mid-year. The track features sizzling guitars, high-paced lyrics about parties and poor decisions and a balls-to-the-wall drum solo that could make John Bonham blush.Pre-order/add/save ‘Don’t You Let Me (Let You Down)’HERE
Chuck Norris Experiment – ‘Where Eagles Dare’ (Self Release) By no means a new tune but a new version from the mighty CNE as they lay into the Misfits classic. CNE gets the tempo and rawness of the song and capture it perfectly. Free Rock n Fucking Roll – yes please. Fill yer boots and if you already haven’t got yourself on board this is the perfect opportunity. Get it Here
WolfWolf & The Tuzemak Orchestra – ‘Monster’ (Lux Noise Records) For fans of the Bop n stroll Blues rock n roll of Urban Voodoo Machine, Wolf Wolf make an impressive mind-bending noise on this new single ‘Monster’ where they team up with The Tuzemak Orchestra: https://www.wolfwolfband.com
J Prozac – ‘Building Blocks’ (Rum Bar Records) Another band rolls off the Rum Bar conveyer belt and onto our stereos. This time its heart-worn sleeve heartland punk & garage rock from J Prozac. while still keeping the big hearted ‘whoa ohs’, snotty vocals and powerful punk rock guitar riffs of his former bands in check. It’s a memoir, diary, and photo book of lost but not forgotten moments, anthemic pop-punk lifted from the new album ‘Building Blocks’ is punk rock with a smile. Get the album Here
The Brokendolls – ‘The Only’ (Lux Noise Records) Lifted from the bands upcoming album ‘Snakecharmer’ Hard Rocking Punk N Roll sees the Brokendolls impress and march to the top of the pile giving the likes of Backyard Babies a run for their money with this new track. If the rest of the album can live up to these expectations then it promises to be a belter!
These Arms Are Snakes – ‘Camera Shy’ (Suicide Squeeze Records) US hardcore gents These Arms Are Snakes have announced a new rarities album called ‘Duct Tape & Shivering Crows’ which will be released April 15th so they have this video for the first single.
Ultrabomb – ‘Star’ (Ultrabomb Records) Greg Norton, once the driving force behind one of the most influential bands to emerge from the American punk scene, Hüsker Dü, alongside Finny McConnell, a name you’ll recognise from thirty years as the frontman of the Canadian Irish folk-punk sensation The Mahones. Completing the trio is the drumming powerhouse Jamie Oliver, having served well over fifteen years in the seminal British punk band UK Subs, as well as shorter stints with the likes of SNFU among others. Written for the singer’s daughter this is quality alternative punk rock. this second single has hints of Early Buffalo Tom and The Replacements which is always a good thing. With an album out soon the future looks written for Ultrabomb. Buy Here
Rough Gutts – ‘Control’ (Boss Tunage) From the ashes of Rotten Foxes Rough Gutts have only gone and made a record and if this video is anything to go by the Brighton rockers are gonna blow away everyone in 2022. Tour dates and a record out of control punk rock n fuckin roll is back in business and Rough Gutts are gonna rule – get on it kids before they’re all gone.
The Lickerish Quartet – ‘ Fortunately’ (Stranger Danger Records) The first song from Threesome Vol. 3, ‘Fortunately’ is Set for release May 20 on Stranger Danger Records and Tapes, distributed by Burnside and the Orchard in the U.S. and by Lojinx in the U.K. and Europe. Sony Japan recently partnered with THE LICKERISH QUARTET to release all three EPs on June 29, as a collection entitled ‘FABLES FROM FEARLESS HEIGHTS’, which will include two previously unheard cover songs, as well as a special “best of” vinyl LP in that region. Pre-orders can be found Here
The SoapGirls – ‘Breathe’ The SoapGirls consist of French-born, South African-raised sisters Noemie Debray (Mie) (guitar, vocals) & Camille Debray (Mille) (bass guitar, vocals) The fearless siblings began their music career as child street performers at ages 8 and 9,roaming the streets of Cape Town singing whilst selling handmade soap for charity, earning the name ‘The SoapGirls’. ‘Breathe’ is the first single from soon to be released 4th album ‘In My Skin’. It’s a load of energy with the uncompromising style and attitude & all the excessive, debauched live shows have paid dividends. The pair have gained quite a reputation through their live shows such as Rebellion & Camden Rocks.
You can catch the pair as Their Don’t Give A Damn tour kicks off in the UK in April at Nambucca on the 15th before heading to Europe, followed by the US in July & Japan in August.
Originally formed in Christchurch, New Zealand all the way back in 1981 (and hence the NZ part of their name), this 2021 version of Desperate Measures is much more London-centric with singer Eugene Butcher the only band member remaining from those formative years. With an interchangeable UK lineup allowing the band to play live over the years since Eugene relocated to Blighty, he has now assembled the band’s definitive line up, boasting ex-Glitterati and current Rich Ragany & The Digressions guitarist Gaff, ex-Done Lying Down and current Dealing With Damage drummer James Sherry along with ex-UK Subs bassist Ricky McGuire with which to write and record this six track mini-album.
The beefy chug of Gaff’s guitar heralds the arrival of opener ‘Scars & Memories’ a song very much honed by the post-Pistols sonic attack of The Professionals (a band they will soon be touring the UK with) and I must admit this is incendiary stuff from the Measures where you can almost feel Butcher’s breath on your face as his gravely Tyla-esque voice spits out the breakdown mid song.
Lead track, and one of the best “Fuck The System” terrace anthems you’ll hear anywhere this year, ‘The Rich-Tual’ is up next and this for me is the band’s defining moment to date, Gaff’s bandmate (and renowned producer) Andy Brook really capturing the Measures balls-out approach to songwriting, and trust me when I say you’ll be screaming the “Woah Oh” outro hook to this one long after your first listen.
After that initial ferocious hook laden opening 1-2 ‘Flowers At Your Door’ slows things down ever so slightly and features some magnificent vocal harmonies plus synth string swells that really give the song a kind of Steve Jones fronting the Lords Of The New Church vibe. So, if that sounds like your kind of thing you really do need to pre-order a copy of this mini album now via the link at the end of this review.
Of the two versions of ‘Lost Angels’ that feature on ‘Rinsed’ the 1988 demo version sits very much sits in the same sleazy back alley as early Dogs D’Amour or in fact the LOTNC whilst the 2021 ‘live in the studio’ reboot thrashes away like the band have been fuelled by 4 bottles of silver label Merrydown, relentlessly driven on by the tight as hell rhythm section of Sherry and McGuire, and whilst being the same song seems a world away from the original demo.
Finishing things off there’s a ‘live in the studio’ run-through of ‘Don’t Gimme No Lip Child’ (shortened here to ‘No Lip’) a 1964 R&B song initially covered as a B side by Dave Berry and then suitably ripped to shreds by the Sex Pistols and included on ‘The Great Rock N Roll Swindle’ album. Here the Measures cover that latter version of the song and in spite of it missing the explosive mid-section of the Pistols version (where Fatty Jones’ guitar literally explodes) it’s still a boisterous homage to Rotten and Co.
‘Rinsed’ is available on CD and 10” vinyl from Easy Action Records and is recommended for anyone who likes their punk rock delivered like a boot to the privates. “This really is great stuff!” (Said with a very squeaky voice after repeated listens.)
Headline gig at the legendary London venue the Hope and Anchor on July 30th
Support to The Professionals confirmed for their 13-date October 2021 tour
DESPERATE MEASURES, the London/New Zealand punk and rock four piece will release their brand-new mini album ‘Rinsed’ on Easy Action records on September 3rd. Containing six tracks of hard-hitting punk with a big helping of rock n’ roll and available on 10” vinyl, CD and download, these recordings feature the new line-up of founder Eugene Butcher, former Glitterati and current Rich Ragany and The Digressions guitarist Gaff, Ricky McGuire (U.K SUBS, The Men They Couldn’t Hang), and former K-Line/Done Lying Down drummer James Sherry.
Following the release of ‘The Rich-Tual’, the stomping first single from the ‘Rinsed’ sessions released earlier this year comes new single ‘Flowers At Your Door’. Channelling the dark energy of Iggy Pop, Lords Of The New Church and the Doors, ‘Flowers At Your Door’ is a brooding rocker that finds Desperate Measures shifting in new directions with their new line-up with excellent results and is available via Spotify, i Tunes and Bandcamp today.
“Flowers was written after being stuck in pretty much self-isolation for 3 months on last years first lockdown as a relationship went down the pan,” explains frontman Eugene Butcher. “It was a lonely time for a lot of people and this song was born out of all that.”
The video was directed, edited and shot by Craig Temple of Racketeer Pictures and perfectly captures the mood of the song.
Desperate Measures play at London’s iconic Hope and Anchor on July 30th before heading off on a 13 date U.K tour with the Professionals (Paul Cook-Sex Pistols) in October.
Dates are:
JULY 30TH LONDON HOPE AND ANCHOR (Album launch with Vibrators’ Knox and Backstreet Abortions)
OCTOBER 3RD – HRH PUNK, SHEFFIELD ACADEMY
Desperate Measures with The Professionals dates as follows:
Written and recorded in-between lockdowns in 2020, New Zealand born but London based punks Desperate Measures managed to escape the COVID-19 madness for some cathartic writing and recording sessions and the first taste of those gatherings arrives today with ‘The Rich-Tual’, a bullet of classic punk reloaded for the pandemic generation that rips from the speakers screaming ‘fuck the system, before the system fucks you!’ Recorded at The Brook Studios in South London by Andy Brook, ‘The Rich-Tual’ is taken from a forthcoming mini-album that will be released this summer by British rock n’ roll label Easy Action (home to and in good company with Iggy and the Stooges, The Damned’s Brian James, Marc Bolan and T-Rex and Lords Of The New Church). The video, assembled by Craig Temple, perfectly captures the intensity of ‘The Rich-Tual’.
The “Queen Of Rock N’ Roll”’s new single and video for the song ‘The Devil In Me’. Pioneering American rock vocalist and musician Suzi Quatro has confirmed the release her superlative new studio album, ‘The Devil In Me’, on Steamhammer / SPV on March 26th as a Digi Pak CD (+ poster), double gatefold 140 gram black vinyl LP (with printed inner sleeves), download and stream.
DEAD DIRTY DINOSAURS release new video for single ‘Holding Back‘, announce new EP.
It seems to be the common thread in Rock and Roll these days. Either a retrospective is being released or an artist is claiming they had no intention of making a record but circumstances dictated they do so seeing as touring is a no go and all they have is time to think and create. It’s like a silver lining I guess considering the turmoil the world is currently so TV Smith sees himself penning a new album and here we are with ‘Lockdown Holiday’.
Conceived, written, and recorded in lockdown Britain over the Spring and Summer of 2020, “Lockdown Holiday” is TV Smith’s sixteenth album of new songs and marks a career highlight after more than forty years of making music so nobody could accuse TV of taking it easy and having a pandemic break and hibernating until its safe to re-enter venues. When we do He’ll have a whole raft of new material in his armoury. Tim said that when he finished recording ‘The Lucky Ones’ he went straight into the next one and so on such was his energy and drive to get this done.
From his sickbed, Tim watched with utter disbelief as the mismanagement of the situation got worse and worse, and when he started to feel well enough he began the process of what I have here in my hands.
Big chords and heartfelt storytelling. You weren’t expecting a techno album, were you? Intense times breed intense subject matter and some of Smith’s most personal lyrics yet began to pour out of his punished body and some of his finest I might add.
He takes on the Virus and the second wave and extolled his experience on what you need to do to survive this virus. Don’t think Brexit or the US elections get away with it and aren’t too far from Smiths’ thoughts and entwined in all of that would be ‘Fake News’ and with a beaten vocal Smith delivers a really fine lyric.
It’s a collection of songs that can be enjoyed as one sitting, like you’re there with him as he lays down the songs and his feelings unfold and wash over you. There is the usual uplifting feeling of TV Smith and his acoustic guitar. These strange times call for drastic measures and artists to take a chance and do whatever it is they have to do to move on. TV Smith writes songs, TV Smith plays those songs with passion and a sense of DIY and get off one’s backside and keep going. Lockdown Holiday is everything you’d expect it to be it’s not Techno nor is it ballads. It’s the sound of one man and one guitar delivering the goods. Sit back relax and enjoy, I Did.
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