They say that in life first impressions are everything, and when it comes to Oslo five-piece Gluecifer, for yours truly, that was most certainly the case.
I first encountered Gluecifer around a quarter of century ago, initially through a Rockpalast performance on (German TV channel) WDR early one Sunday morning after a night out in Abertillery Rock City. I was completely blown away by what I witnessed, not only by their rather unique take on the garage punk genre but also by the suave stylings of the band’s members, especially the ultracool onstage persona of singer Biff Malibu. I mean anyone who can wear white loafers and a red velour bowling shirt whilst ridiculing Joey DeMaio’s inability to drink a (piss weak) tin of beer is already a winner in life, right?
Having quickly taped this performance onto VHS for all my mates to see I then quickly invested in a copy of the band’s ‘Soaring With Eagles At Night To Rise With The Pigs In The Morning’ album and loved every second of it. Then, just a few short months later, me and my (pre) uber rockin’ amigo Gaz Tidey found ourselves stood stage front and centre watching the band live as they hit Newport’s Legendary TJ’s venue. This time around the guys were out on the road with Gaza Strippers promoting their then-new album ‘Tender Is The Savage’, and if they’d blown us away on TV playing live, nothing was about to prepare us for what they were like in the flesh. So, when drummer Danny Young decided that playing a gig in a fibreglass (pretend) cave somewhere in south Wales was also the best time to wear arseless leather trousers whilst at the climax of their set the guys also took a step back (they couldn’t take any more than that as they’d have been off the back of the stage) and unleashed an indoor firework display that must have set them back at least £3.50 of the tour budget, we fully understood why Gluecifer, really are the undisputed Kings of Rock.
Following on from that most eventful night, I went to see the band pretty much every time they toured the UK, and unlike some of my fellow Gluecifer fans who I have got to know through the years, I also thought they progressed as songwriters with each subsequent studio album they released, until in 2005 following the tour in promotion of their ‘Automatic Thrill’ album, they rather unexpectedly (to me at least) decided to call it a day. The world of rock was left with a giant Gluecifer shaped hole, something that not even the arrival of Bloodlights (guitarist Captain Poon’s excellent post Gluecifer band) could ever truly fill.
A posthumous Gluecifer compilation album ‘Kings Of Rock (B-Sides And Rarities)’ was released by Epic/People Like You back in 2008 and this is where the genesis of the idea behind the album I’m about to (finally) get around to reviewing first saw the light of day. That album (in their Norwegian homeland at least) took one album packed full of “hits” as its main selling point, then added a second album of deep cuts, whilst everywhere else in Europe it was that 16 track second album (with an added ‘Desolate City’ from LP number one) that hit the record shops as a standalone release.
Here in 2024 that rarities album has been expanded to a 24 track double LP/download, taking 14 of the tracks from the 2008 release and adding 10 new ones to the track listing, including some recorded during the sessions around the ‘Tender Is The Savage’ and ‘Basement Apes’ albums that have never previously been released.
Kicking off with (the aforementioned) ‘Desolate City’, which was the last track the band recorded together prior to them splitting up back in 2005, this track was penned for a Norwegian action movie named “Izzat” and since the guys reformed back in 2017 to play a series of live shows this tune has proven to be a particular set list favourite with fans. Listening to it again here in 2024 certainly reinforces my shock at the band splitting up back then, because as this tune proves, they really were going out on a high.
Not that there are any lows during the 23 other tracks that make up this compilation I trust you understand, as the band’s earlier tunes like the rip-roaring ‘Monoman’ (taken from the band’s debut ‘God’s Chosen Dealer’ single, which has all 3 of its tunes included here) sitting alongside the likes of ‘Beg Like The Dog You Are’ (previously unreleased from the ‘Tender Is The Savage’ sessions) make for a fascinating sonic voyage through the band’s deep cut back catalogue and their development as songwriters.
The songs I was particularly interested in hearing were the 3 previously unreleased tunes that didn’t make the cut during the recording of the ‘Basement Apes’ album. With this being my (when pushed to choose one) favourite Gluecifer album the harmonica honking ‘All The Young Droogs’ is an immediate “why didn’t this make the final album?” standout, whilst the almost Saxon-esque thunder of ‘The Hammer & The Wheel’ is also a winner, which just leaves the sassy strut of ‘(Gimme That) Good Butter’ (complete with some Stonesy female backing vocals) to close out ‘B-Sides & Rarities 1994-2005’ and illustrate once again that at the very heart of Gluecifer there was always more than just a balls out garage punk band.
At just shy of 1 hour and 20 minutes long there’s a hell of a lot to get through within the grooves of ‘B-Sides & Rarities 1994-2005’ so I’m going to leave you to fully discover what Captain Poon himself calls “a nice little treasure hunt”. It’s well worth investing your time and money in that’s for sure.
‘B-Sides & Rarities 1994-2005’ is available now on “slightly” silver double vinyl, tucked snugly into a gatefold sleeve via the link below, and you never know, if enough of us in the UK go out and buy this, Gluecifer might even think about playing the UK again (I have everything crossed here anyway).
In the mid to late 90’s it seemed that bands in Scandinavia had sold their collective souls at the Cross Roads found at the Three-Country Cairn, where each member was given the complete discography of the Nomads, The Stooges and the MC5 and told to go away and learn them.
Paving the road were the three horsemen of the apocalypse; The Hellacopters, Gluecifer and the Flaming Sideburns. Following on in their wake were the just as important and influential second wave, never quite making it to the Arenas but packing out clubs across their home Countries, Europe and even as far afield as North America. One such band was the “DEMONS”. Strangely enough, the States, notably the Pacific Northwest, embraced the Scandinavian Invasion and for a while, “DEMONS” were the uncrowned Kings of it.
To celebrate the band’s 25th Anniversary a live album called “No Loitering” that was recordedbetween their second album “Stockholm Slump” and third “Demonology” on the 5th March 2004 at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle is being released via Vitriola Recordings.
The press release says that “It by no means is pretty”, I’m not even sure if this is off the Soundboard or a very well recorded audience recording but it’s what we want, no scrub that, it’s what we need; fast, sweaty and furious without any compromises.The original classic four piece line-up kicking an eleven song set off with “Undertaker’s Lament” from the aforementioned “Stockholm Slump” but before you have time to register that fact the band are already ripping through “Devil In Me” but it’s not all past glories as the band road test the as yet unreleased “Lost Dog” and “What’s This Shit Called Love”, that both sit perfectly well in the set.The gig is the perfect length for us old school TDK 90merchants coming in at just under 40 minutes.
Back in the day if I did have this on a cassette on the other side would be the Ramones “It’s Alive”. The only gripe I have is no “Electrocute”. Over here in Dear olde Blighty gigs still seem a long way off. This is why “No Loitering” is so important;not only is it a band firing on all cylinders but it is a reminder of how good live gigs are.
I’m not a massive believer in fate or why things happen but I was asked to give a record a listen and possibly review it. The dilemma I had was it was originally released late 2019 but hey the world has been on stop for some months anyway sure I’ll listen. Then when I was putting together the pictures and links for this review I got a message from a label and asked if I’d ever heard a band named Stacy Crowne. Now here’s where it gets spooky up until a few weeks ago I hadn’t but they did a split with a band I love (Christmas as it goes) and I reviewed the single last month and was really impressed with the sounds coming outta Stacy Crowne and then things snowballed The singer got in touch I played the record and then the label got in touch over something else entirely and bang as I type I have one of those boxes pop up whilst I’m spinning the record on my laptop its only Stacy Fucking Crowne! now that might just be a coincidence but we all know the evil powers of Rock and Roll and how they work so it might well be a sign and horns up for the band because I took it as the rock and Roll Gods telling me to turn the fucker up and band out my review and let everybody know how damn good this slice of Hard Rockin’ action is!
Strap yourself in kid this might get bumpy! From the opening ring of the overdrive, this is most definitely in the same ballpark as the scene back a couple of decades that had Gluecifer and The D4 ruling the roost along with Hellacopters and a hint of Supersuckers and Turbonegro. If anything this is understated which is a shame (I missed it when it was released) because opener ‘Oblivion’ sets the tone but by no means is the standout track maybe its the loosener opening couple of shots to accompany the big one and you have to build up to that nobody dives straight in or you’ll crash and burn but its got all the vital ingredients to Rock and Fuckin’ Roll but ‘White Lies’ adds the tambourine which is nice as the band cruise through the gears with a song not a million miles from Captain Poon and Biff Malibu its loud got a cool hook and plenty of punch but remains cool as without a bead of sweat on their brow nor a hair out of place this is good no I mean Good!
There’s always time for a bit of Boogie along the lines of Backstreet Girls ‘Tightrope’ with a really tight chorus with layered BV’s almost power-pop wearing big boys leather gloves and mirror shades if you know what I mean? and the keys added really lift it. Great track.
When they just want to rock out they do so with consummate ease (‘Some Equals None’) they add some neat bass runs on ‘Get Loaded Now!’ Basically if you ever hankered after a record that has loud guitars but not for the sake of it loud and ever wanted riffs and plenty of crash bang wallop then ‘We Are Electric’ is an album you have to hear. The title track or ‘We Are The Rest’ delivers in spades and throw in some of that dirty rock that bands like American HEartbreak or The Four Horsemen touched upon but also delivered great records.
If I had to pick a standout track then it would have to be ‘Lovebite’ sure it sings from that classic Gluecifer hymnsheet but damn it’s a good song with gang vocals and laid back verses it’s quality and some splendid guitar playing, especially on the breakdown. It only leaves the power ballad of ‘Too Easy’ to cruise off into the sunset. Only joking its not a token power ballad but it is like one of the Hellacopters road movie tunes, a little more laid back than the others maybe, and with some dueling guitars noodling for good measure its been a blast.
I’m only gutted I didn’t pick this up late last year but hey we can’t be on top of everything and I’m glad I’ve had the pleasure of playing it over and over now. I won’t be making that mistake again. Just buy it.
A Fistful More of Rock & Roll, Volume 3 contains Twenty Six of the best Rock n Roll bands from all over the world! Originally slated for release in January of this year manufacturing problems and a pandemic pushed it back to July 31, 2020. Although all the bands/songs are sweaty, beer-soaked denim dripping Rock n Roll, Available on CD and gatefold double LP.
Liner notes from Producer Sal Conzonieri of Electric Frankenstein.
A Fistful MORE of Rock & Roll – Volume 3 continues in the same tradition that the original 13 volumes of A Fistful of Rock ‘n’ Roll did from 2000 to 2007.
It’s the Return of the Return of Rock ‘n’ Roll,Call it what you like Action Rock Punk n Roll does it really matter? It’s Straight down and dirty, Loud n lustful, Action Rock revolution, High Energy Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll yadda yadda yadda.
Action Rock, Punk N Roll, Hard Rock now we’ve established that you can actually call it what you like if its good I’ll give it a spin and if it’s not then no thanks I’ll pass. This new age of “Action Rock” is churning out records at a rate of Knotts and for the convenience of keeping all these alternative bands under one umbrella, I happen to think its in rude health. Having covered a lot of these bands over the years I find it warming that they’ve been brought together thanks to the super hard work of Sal.
Starting in the late 80s and early 90s, a worldwide Rock revival / New Rock Revolution sprang up, from Scandinavia to the USA to Australia to Wales. Spontaneously, around the world, a group of bands developed this new sound, such as Poison Idea, Action Swingers, Bullet Lavolta, Big Chief, The Fluid, Blue Hippos / Otto’s Chemical Lounge, Celebrity Skin, The Kings of Oblivion, Flower Leperds, Fearless Leader, The Lazy Cowgirls, The Donnas, The New Bomb Turks, The Didjits / The Lee Harvey Oswald Band / The Gaza Strippers, Dwarves, Zeke, Supersuckers, The Hookers, Nashville Pussy, Easy Action, Trash Brats, Candy Snatchers, Adam West, The Cherry Valence, Jakkpot, The Upper Crust, Speedealer, B-Movie Rats, The Stitches, The Humpers, Rocket from the Crypt, The Superbees, The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Zen Guerilla, The Murder City Devils, The Mud City Manglers / The Cheats, D Generation, Electric Frankenstein, The Black Halos, The Spitfires, Danko Jones, American Ruse, TV Killers, Dumbell, Temporal Sluts, Thee STP, Aerobitch, The Pleasure Fuckers, Safety Pins, The Nomads, Puffball, The Rockets, The Hives, Gluecifer, The Flaming Sideburns, The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Turbonegro, The Onyas, The D4, The Datsuns, The Powder Monkeys, The Panadolls, Mustang, Hoss, Teengenerate, Supersnazz, Jet Boys, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, and so on, that were all featured on the first series of the “A Fistful of Rock ‘n’ Roll” compilations.
Today there is a whole new generation of young bands and (cough, cough) not so young bands delivering the goods and knowing exactly where the action is. they have built upon what the previous bands started, keeping Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll alive and full of high energy. Thus, a second series is necessary to document this: “A Fistful MORE of Rock & Roll”; No mistakes at all when I say this is one of the loudest compilations and no quarter is given not even an inch. Side one pairs up Deathtraps with Egyptian Gay Lovers both playing loudly but both offer something quite different from each other. As far as Deathtraps go they’ve just released an excellent album full to the brim of loud rock and roll and a leap in quality from the first which was pretty impressive as it goes.
Flexx Bronco opens up side two with a cool rocker ‘Heart on the Floor’ and again it’s sounding quite different from the Elvis meets Danzig rock of Nevadah and ‘Iggy Dog’ but I have to admit I have a soft spot for the most excellent Drippers record ‘Solitary Speaking’ rumbles along like a freakin’ steam train heading for oblivion. A quite ferocious cut for sure. Then to follow that with Randy Savages Rockin’ and a rollin’ on their single Guilty of Nuthin’ is an exceptional burst of energy and how can anyone not get behind that guitar solo!
Of the bands I’ve never heard before Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre is one with a bit of a mouthful but fear not Rockers the guitars are slung low and the energy levels are in bloom. Moving away from the Punk n roll attitude of a band like Randy Savages you have The Dirty Denims who pray at the altar of DC and all things ROCK!
There are some bands I’ve not heard anything from in quite a while and to be fair bands like The Cheats are kicking serious backside as is Dog Toffee someone I’ve not hear anything from in a while and they sound excellent as do East Coast Low another new one on me and their solid thump.
It might be an idea to listen to this in healthy chunks so as to not overwork your brain and to give your speakers a chance to recover. Projeckt Daghouse are kicking up a hellish racket but they are overshadowed by a band I’ve championed since hearing their debut. Poison Boys have got the lot from the pretty faces going to hell. But trying to pick a favourite side is like being forced to choose between the kids. But don’t tell anyone but the last record is freakin awesome such is the quality of songs on offer.
It’s fair to say I’m impressed and this is right up there with the best for sheer quality and like I said earlier the amount of hard work that went into making this project a reality and all these cool bands delivering the goods on mass is a real Boon to the scene. An honour and a feather in the caps of those who get featured and being associated with such a quality compilation. I hope Sals turned his attention to volume 14 and I look forward to hearing who and what is on offer because this is only the beginning of the second wave. Now if only this virus would be kind enough to fuck off and let us get back to live shows maybe we can see some of these bands in the flesh tearing it up around the stages of the world.
Pre-orders and limited edition purple vinyl available exclusively Here
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!
Well, we certainly didn’t stand still in the last seven days as we brought you reviews from a range of artist old and new with The Lemonheads starting things off with the second studio album of cover versions entitled ‘Varshons 2‘. As Evan Dando and Co, head out on a UK tour this week to promote the record RPM gave it the thumbs up as Dando led the band through some pretty diverse waters. Westerberg, Cave and the Eagles all made it onto the record which as an aside came out in a scented banana yellow version as well.
It was also a week that saw two live albums hit the death decks at RPM with Metallica lending a ‘Helping Hand’ Where they released a double album with proceeds going to a most admirable cause and helping the most vulnerable in society a real genuine act of kindness that doesn’t get the exposure it truly deserves as the rock stars are often castigated for their excesses but seldom praised when they do reach out with a simple yet effective act of kindness. So a huge well done from us at RPM as Johnny H gets stuck into the double slice of vinyl trouble.
The second of our live reviews came when Martin gave The Godfather a good seeing to with their fantastic ‘This Is War’ the once over. describing it as, “Loud Sharp and Beautiful”, is about as close a summery as you can get. It’s fair to say that it damn near captures the current line up right at the top of their game. It’s certainly raw it’s certainly loud and no question it has the Godfathers roaring on all cylinders and has you wondering why all live albums can’t sound this good. Essential listening no doubt about it.
We also brought you a summary of this years Gathering from North Wales as Mike Peters and the Alarm romped through a huge chunk of their back catalogue over two nights with plenty of special guests that included original Alarm Guitar player Dave Sharp, from Texas Ryan Hamilton and 80’s pop rockers Mark Shaws then Jerico. This year’s festivities weren’t without incident as the PA went down twice but it didn’t deter PEters who climbed into the audience with his acoustic guitar and un mic’d got the audience singing along and making the most out of a potentially bad situation and making it a memorable evening no doubt about it. Gathering twenty-Seven was again a privilege to attend and I can’t wait for 2020 and number twenty Eight.
We also brought you The Spangles album launch show from way up North otherwise known as Harrogate as Ben Hughes had an equally splendid evening with an immensely talented band playing one hell of a debut album. I for one hope there is a lot more to come from these three guys because their album was easily one of 2018 best releases.
As far as news goes we joined the rock world in wishing Bernie Torme a speedy recovery from his hospitalization from double Pneumonia and hope he’s back to full health as soon as possible. The same for our Australian friend Hayden McGoogan from The Black Heart Breakers who also found himself in Hospital this past week – Get yourselves fit and health please gents and I’m sure I speak for all the writers at RPM in wishing you both speedy full recoveries.
There was also some superb festival news as The Dead Boys were announced as headliners for this year’s Rebellion Festival in Blackpool along with Walter Lure who will be playing L.A.M.F. at the festival and across the channel in Belgium Sjock Festival announced a raft of superb bands added to this years festival including RPM favourites The Hip Priests and Barstool Preachers who play alongside The Hives, Hellacopters, Electric Frankenstein, the Briefs and Gluecifer. To be fair news wise last week was a bumper week for great rock n roll news.
Anyway, that was last week on RPM and as we are always looking forward here’s what you can expect this coming week on the website. We’ve got a couple of bumper interviews with the likes of Slyder from Last Great Dreamers as they announce a lot of dates for 2019 in what appears to be a hugely busy year for the band. Also, we have a monster interview with “Demons” Matheus Carlsson which should see your Friday seem a lot more enjoyable as we spoke about the past present and future of the band in what also looks like a great year for the band.
As for album reviews we’re once again scouring the globe for great bands and we’ve certainly got those coming at you with the debut long player from ‘Wet Dreams’ reviewed today by Johnny H and there is also the long-awaited long player from Jim Jones & the Righteous Mind’ coming later this week as ‘CollectiV’ has certainly been entertaining RPM HQ and what will be one of the years top albums no question about that. We also look back on some significant happenings this coming week in punk, rock and pop music history so keep it RPM folks for all your turbocharged Rock n Roll!
A unique band with an unrivaled catalogue of singles a clutch of albums that are the top of any garage punk chart and the constant rebirth and pursuit of recognition The Hip Priests are relentless in their pursuit of the next-best song they seem to effortlessly write and release 45’s play memorable sporadic shows and on the verge of releasing a brand new album. Maybe the stars have aligned and finally 2019 will see an industry wake up and public catch on to what they’re about. How could I resist not slinging a few questions at Lee and Austin about what’s coming and whats been happening in the world of The Hip Priests (which usually is quite a lot)…
A new album? What made you decide to get back into the studio to record a full-length album?
OZ– In all honesty, there weren’t really any plans to do one, we were gonna carry on churning out the 7 inches. But I’ve never been totally happy with any of the albums we’ve done, either the Recording or the mixing has always been rushed and I wanted to do one album I’d be properly proud of where everything was right. So I mentioned it to Lee when we were playing in the US last year and twisted his arm until he Agreed haha.
Lee- I’d sworn I wouldn’t do one but then, yeah, Oz persuaded me. Part of it, too was that we had yet another person then fuck off (Joe Blow) and, in my/our own odd twisted way, we then think we need to go and show everyone again. I’m forever saying I’ve had enough n part of that is we just hit a point where it was evident, despite our ‘successes’ that we’d hit some bullshit Rocknroll glass ceiling.
Can you reveal the title?
Oz– We could but we’re gonna keep it under wraps for now until we know how it’s gonna be released.
Lee– Nah – I’m gonna piss Austin off and tell you (I’m sure that it’s been mentioned online anyway). It’s going to be called ‘Stand for Nothing’. I first heard it as a negative/pessimistic expression but then realised how amazingly it also tied into the Malcolm X Quote ‘A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything’. It then gave it that potential duality of meaning and then I just loved it and resisted changing it. Most people will likely just read it as another ‘Oh the Priests are pretending to be all nihilistic again’ thing anyway.
How many songs will be on it? Did you get a label yet mate?
Oz– The plan is that there’s gonna be 10 songs on the CD and 11 on the vinyl. As you know mate, we were on the verge of signing with SPV Steamhammer at the end of last year and actually had a draft contract but in true rock n roll cliché style, that all went to shit and we’ve since been looking for another label to release it. Ideally, it will come out on a bigger label that can sort us some PR and better distribution, as that’s what we’ve needed for a few years but we’ll see. If not we’ll do it the usual way I guess…..
Lee – As Oz said, we recorded 14 so ones gone towards a single and two have been left aside for the moment. We’re still trying to sort out who’s definitely doing it.
How did the writing process go? how do The Hip Priests work? from inception to recording?
Oz– Slightly different to usual in that Lee actually recorded rough demos of the songs this time and sent them round to the rest of us, which made it a quicker process to learn them. We then knocked them around in rehearsal until they sounded right and went in and recorded them. We also did the album over three-weekend sessions this time rather than one long, painful week of recording which was way better for everyone’s sanity! In typical Priests style though we did end up squeezing in an extra tune a couple of days before the last session just to get another 7” down!
Lee– Yeah, I bought some cheap as little Boss recorder and did rough as fuck demos with me just playing a couple of tracks of guitar and doing a couple of tracks of vocals. I guess it helped with also deciding what we’d work on and what we perhaps wouldn’t. The album started to give ideas of second guitar parts here and there. I guess the main thing that’s different on this album is the writing itself in that I’ve taken on different subject matters and characters even on this one. I really didn’t want to do another album that primarily about my fabricated ego, getting fucked up and/or fucking.
You’ve gone from a four-piece to five what was the reasoning behind this move? What have the two new boys brought to the band? Introduce us and let us know a bit about them?
Oz– We’ve talked about getting another guitarist for a long time just to fill out the sound. In smaller venues we’d get away with it through sheer volume but when we played some bigger festival shows it was noticeable in places that it was lacking an extra guitar. Mike had been pestering us for a while to join and as some of the ideas Lee had for the new album were needing a bigger sound, we decided to give him a shot. Having just auditioned drummers and found Des we couldn’t really be arsed with auditioning again for a guitarist so we just told Mike to come down and if it worked he was in, simple as that. It does sound fuckin huge now too and Mike’s got the rhythm side of things nailed. I guess what they’ve brought to the band, as well as their playing, is some new enthusiasm cos the rest of us are pretty jaded haha.
Playing shows sporadically around shit island to a rabid audience of people who actually “get it” must make up for those that don’t get it? Are people afraid of the Hip Priests? Songs like the last 12″ (‘No Time’) left the listener in no doubt about how you view what’s going on here in 2018 is the album going to be songs of a similar vein?
Oz– Haha, I’d rather play to a bigger rabid audience, to be honest, but garage/punk ain’t ever been a big hit in the UK really has it? Rather than being scared of us, I think most people are still oblivious to us as, despite everything we’ve done, we’re still kinda under the radar to most people. The album’s a perfect mix I think, there’s some similar stuff on the state of the UK as well as tunes about wasting yr life playing this stuff, surviving as a band for over 10 years, the narcissism of social media……just no songs about fucking.
Lee– I still think people here especially don’t get us and we’ve never been welcomed into any of the Island’s nepotistic ‘punk rock’ scenes or it’s middle-aged seaside specials. We still exist totally under the radar – and because we’ve always been committed to the idea that we’d never beg or brown nose anyone it’s been a hindrance. But then again, how many other UK underground punk or whatever fucking bands are on their 24th 7” single, 4th album and get invited onto bills with the Hellacopters, etc. “Hey, boys – you can come to Holland all expenses paid and play with RFTC, The Turks and the Hellacopters or play with The Anti Nowhere League in some bogging seaside town?”. Haha. As regards ‘No Time’ being a prelude to the new album. Yeah – I guess it was in a way. It’s pretty fucking dark in many places. I’ve always been socially and politically aware but it wasn’t something I’d really allowed to come into my writing, bar just expressing anger and admittedly worthless negativity but then I got to the point where I simply couldn’t stop it. I could have rattled off 14 songs about the state of the UK but chose to kinda make it snapshots of other things too, none of them very cheery though! Hahaha. From the sociopathic psychos that you might find in any town (actually written the day after meeting some scary bloke in le Pub early this year) to Mainstream brainwashing media, Zombie Social Media, broken relationships, woeful self-medication, etc I imagine it’s sounding like a laugh a minute!
You’ve played with some immense bands over the last few years and taken your blitzkrieg to mainland Europe – is there a different take on what you do over in Europe is there less judgment of a band like The Hip Priests?
Oz– They just understand rock n’ roll better in Europe and support live music in a way that the UK doesn’t. Some of the festival lineups we’ve played on have been ridiculous in terms of bands we love (The Hellacopters, Zeke, RFTC, New Bomb Turks and Nashville Pussy all on the same bill!) and that would never happen in the UK. In fact, you’d be lucky to ever get The Hellacopters or the Turks back in the UK.
The album will be out in early 2019 are there any other plans you can reveal that are being incubated? Tours? Singles?
Oz– A lot depends on who releases it at the moment but there should be another 7” before the end of the year to keep you going and we have a couple of other spare tracks from the album sessions too. We’re working on a run of shows in the UK with Scumbag Millionaire in early 19 too but waiting to see what happens album wise before we confirm it.
Lee – Can I say the word ‘retirement’ again?
The Spasm Gang are a supportive bunch and when the band release a new record they tend to be limited numbers that get hoovered up straight away and when they become available on sites like Discogs they fetch silly money the rabid bunch are around several hundred strong what are the plans to expand that mentalist club and what exclusive goodies have you got in the pipeline for the album.
Oz – Yes, they’re a loveable bunch of nutters and obsessive collectors, pretty much like the band members! There’s actually 200 out there, from Australia to Brazil and everywhere in between, which is pretty amazing for a little band like us. Weirdly enough, we’ve never really pushed it so it’s organically just grown through word of mouth. Yeah, we always do an exclusive SG version of every release for members only, there’ll be one for the album but no idea what it will be yet.
Lee – You liar – I told you my mental new hair-brained idea for the album giveaway in the van the other day! I’m not saying here though! Yeah, the Spasm Gang fucking rule. The loyalty some of them have and effort they make for our little fucking group is sincerely humbling – even for a massive arsehole like me Haha. When people travel around the world to see you it’s pretty mind-blowing…
Lee you write all or most of the material now must be a great time to be Lee Love with such horrible so and so’s in charge of powerful countries and so many people breaking cover with right-wing agendas and racist views it’s like shooting fish in a barrel for you, isn’t it? Would you like to write with anyone else? if you had the chance who would you look to for a helping hand not that you need it obviously but as a vanity project?
Lee- As I said, I could easily have written a whole album on how fucked up, scary, unfair, inequitable and more this nation and the rest of the world is starting to look but tried very hard not to.. I’ve never felt so fucking angry and depressed about it, how much worse it might get and what my son might have to fucking contend with. For this band to have overnight become some kind of agitprop band would have been a step too far.
As regards writing with someone else? I don’t know. Mind you, Oz wrote some lyrics on this one which I then adapted and made fit some tunes and it wasn’t long ago we did the Motherfucking Motherfuckers thing with our Bitch Queen boys but that more turned out that Harry rattled of half the tunes ‘n’ I did the others. Maybe the Priests are my vanity project Haha! It’s what happens somewhere between my ludicrous ego clashing with my crushing self-doubt. Actually, I’ve written a few super Aussieproto punk things recently which I might keep aside for something else for some fun. Perhaps I might sing ‘em too as I did a couple on the MFMFers. I don’t know, many days I just wanna stop and try to be ‘normal’ whatever the fuck that’s meant to mean.
Having played some superb festivals over the last few years and touring with your European boyfriends in Bitch Queens who else is doing it for you musically?
Oz – The Scumbag Millionaire album that’s about to drop is a scorcher for sure and Bitch Queens have a new one on the way too. Grindhouse from Aus are the best garage/punk band I’ve heard in a long, long time andhopefully, they’ll make it over here next year so we can hook up for some shows. I just got the Powerline Sneakers album (ex Bored!) which is fuckin great too.
Lee – I still listen to the same old Scandi/garage/rock ‘n’ roll shit I always did. Grindhouse are my biggest faves in a while – alongside all our mate’s bands like the Queens, Flash House, Rotten Foxes, Deathtraps etc.
Is this the best record you’ve ever made?
Oz – Without a doubt. Best songs, best playing, best production.
Lee – Yes. Everything else we’ve done there’s maybe a tune or lyrics that make me cringe a little. The lyrics on these I’d happily publish. It sounds like us still but I/we tried hard to change things a bit and fuck with arrangements, the usual kind of guitar parts, etc. I hope it’s noticeable! Haha
Who will be the first Hip Priest to record a solo record
Oz – Hopefully, nobody’s that much of a dickhead
Lee – Cheers! That’ll be me then. Haha
Right, it was time to let these two go about their business and with all that news in mind maybe its time to start getting excited about the new album when its released in early 2019. Easily one of the most prolific bands to release records anywhere and the UK should be proud to have them. when they play check em out when they release a record buy it you won’t be disappointed I promise you and if the last single is anything to go by they are getting better and better maybe they’ve gone through puberty and are growing into well-rounded adults… Nah they’re still the filthy – rude – foul mouthed garage punk rock and rollers they ever were its just they know what they’re doing now either that or they do a good job trying. God bless the Hip Priests!
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