Since re-assembling Avengers-style in 2020, Black Spiders have continued to make a loud and compelling case for heavy guitar music from the sin city streets, with three chords and the truth – revelling in the glories of the genre, its sacred lore, with a top-shelf collection of riffs, a sly dash of humour, plus an iconic logo that sits alongside the best.
Released in May of this year, ‘Can’t Die, Won’t Die’, the bands fourth studio album, was unleashed to critical and fan acclaim by Spinefarm Records. It was a cocktail fans have come to expect – 42 minutes of back-street trouble, produced by regular studio compadre, Matt Elliss.
“Destroyer is a spanker off the new record and sets the tone nicely for the September tour dates,” says frontman Pete Spiby. “We can’t wait to get out there for some hot summer nights, pizza sandwiches and beer!”
The tour starts tonight at The Forum in Tunbridge Wells and winds up in Plymouth on September 25th with friends The Hot Damn! in support.
Full dates below. Don’t miss your chance for some proper rock n’ roll action!
Catch Black Spiders live at the following dates on their September tour.
First up we have the first video off the brand new Baz Francis EP ‘Wake To The Morning’ check it out and pick it up at the links. Facebook / Pick it up Here
second time around we’d like to share the brand new video from Girls In Synthesis and ‘Watch With Mother’ the post punk outfit are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s incendiary debut, ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’. Entitled ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ it’s available this coming October via the band’s own label Own It/Cargo Records, it’s mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content – create as challenging a record as you will hear this year! Pre order here
Dawes have released another track from their forthcoming new album MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER (out July 22nd on Rounder Records)
Acclaimed Los Angeles-based rockers Dawes have shared “Everything Is Permanent,” available now via Rounder Records at all DSPs and streaming services. An official performance video – directed by Caitlin Gerard at Hollywood, CA’s historic EastWest Studios – premieres today via YouTube.
“Everything Is Permanent” marks the latest single from Dawes’ upcoming eighth studio album, MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER, arriving everywhere on Friday, July 22. Pre-orders are available now. In addition, a number of exclusive bundles – including Limited Edition Preferred Pink Vinyl w/Optional Exclusive 11×11 Signed Band Photo, Turntable Slipmat, Black Hoodie, White Pocket T, and Socks – are available now at the official Dawes webstore.
“This is a song (about how everything about us is tracked, documented, recorded, filed, mined, bought, sold, etc. etc. on some level) that is wrapped around a molten core of a breakdown/freakout/majorminorinterweave that is probably the moment I’m most proud of on the whole record,” says singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith. “After showing you the blood and guts, we gently sew the song back together again and end with what could be the tagline for all of social media and the screen-life-culture that we subscribe to these days to varying degrees: ‘Did you really need to cry? Or be seen crying?’”
Dawes will celebrate MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER with a non-stop live schedule getting underway with a very special Independence Day event with Phil Lesh & Friends, set for Monday, July 4 at Asbury Park, NJ’s Stone Pony Summer Stage. A jam-packed international itinerary follows, including headline shows, festival performances, a summer run with The Head and The Heart, and a just-announced co-headline tour with GRAMMY® Award-nominated Canadian artist Bahamas. “An Evening with Dawes and Bahamas” will see both acts performing together for two unique live sets, with Dawes backing Bahamas and Bahamas then joining Dawes for an unprecedented collaborative performance. The tour begins September 7 at Knoxville, TN’s Bijou Theatre and then travels the US through the month. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit dawestheband.com/tour.
Produced by longtime collaborator Jonathan Wilson (Billy Strings, Father John Misty, Angel Olsen), MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER represents an adventurous new turn for Dawes, evincing a more ambitious, exploratory approach towards recording than ever before. The album includes such recently released singles as “Comes In Waves” and the epic opening track, “Someone Else’s Café / Doomscroller Tries to Relax,” both available now at all DSPs and streaming services. Official performance videos are streaming now via YouTube.
MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLERmarks Dawes’ first new LP following 2020’s Rounder Records debut, GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER. Produced by 7x GRAMMY® Award-winner Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, the album earned critical applause around the world, with Esquire declaring it “their liveliest, most visceral set yet.” Dawes celebrated with a range of high profile TV appearances, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert #playathome series as well as CBS This Morning: Saturday Sessions.
Black Spiders have always appreciated the level of support from their fans and had been discussing new ways to get their music out to people.
pic by Babz
The band have been recording material towards a new album, that they hope to release at some point in 2022 but have been looking at different ways they can release their music straight to their fans.
On the 1st of December, they relaunched their Patreon ‘fan club’ with what they are hoping is a new way of forward thinking.
All the tiers are priced differently, depending on what fans can afford with regards to supporting the band, the fans that sign up to the higher ‘tiers’ will now receive a link, every single month, to hear a BRAND-NEW Black Spiders song. And we’re not talking about unfinished mixes, or rehearsal room demo recordings. One fully mixed and studio recorded brand new track, every month, for as long as they subscribe.
They aren’t dismissing the idea of traditional album releases altogether, as they still intend to release physical albums for all the collectors and vinyl lovers out there, and the next album may contain some of the tracks they are releasing direct to the fan club.
As well as a brand-new song every month, there will also be a ‘making of’ video, discussing the writing and recording process and some studio footage of the band recording the song.
Their podcast ‘The Waffle’ will continue on a more regular schedule and they’ve also got big plans for next year to host an annual show, with reduced entry for fan club subscribers. All subscribers will also receive a discount code for Black Spiders merch store at Big Cartel, valid for all purchases as long as they remain a subscriber. There are also plans to throw in guestlist giveaways, free prize draws, and other content into the mix, as and when.
This is of course all on top of the content that is already included in the current Patreon set up – the making of the latest album, other live track giveaways, unheard song downloads, as well as a Fan Club only tee shirt exclusive patch.
Says guitarist Ozzy: “We’ve reached the point in our career, where we need to monetise our product. Our currency is music and if you want to encourage us to keep doing it, I encourage you to pay into our collection bucket and let your ears soak up the profit from your investment.”
“Since we got the band back together it’s been an incredibly creative time song writing wise,” continues bassist Adam Irwin. “We were all excited by the tunes and wanted to get new music out to fans as quickly as possible, without settling into the old routine of album/tour/album/tour/repeat. We’ve been heading into the studio every month to record, so I suggested we start giving a song away once a month to our biggest fans, the guys who sign up to our fan club on Patreon.”
NEW SINGLE ‘STABBED IN THE BACK’ OUT FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12th
When Sheffield rock heroes Black Spiders announced their hiatus in 2017, no one in their right minds would have predicted that when the good times, big balls n’ riffs rockers did return, it would be in the middle of a global pandemic. But that is, of course, exactly what happened and in March of this year, Black Spiders unleashed their highly anticipated brand new self-titled album upon an eager, locked down, rock hungry audience.
Critically acclaimed and hungrily lapped up by the Black Spiders rock starved fans, the album put the band firmly back on the map of rock, the only piece missing from the jigsaw being the opportunity to take these pulsating new songs out onto the world’s stages where they belonged. With gigs scheduled to happen right after ‘Freedom Day’ in July, the band were scuppered once again and had to cancel the dates having fallen victim to the ‘ping-demic’. Thankfully, the Black Spiders were able to finally crank out their riffs at this year’s Bloodstock Festival for a triumphant set and are now primed to tour the UK in November and will be releasing a new single from the aforementioned album, the defiant ‘Stabbed In The Back’.
“Even before Julius Caesar made it popular, people have been getting ripped off, misrepresented, f**ked over and double-crossed, left, right and centre,” states guitarist and vocalist Pete Spiby. “It happens all the time and we are no strangers to this occurrence. You just have to find the strength to carry on and keep some dignity.”
“It’s been and continues to be such a strange time, so we’re still getting used to being out and about,” continues Pete. “We set out to tour this album this year and we are determined to honour that. We are already back in the studio, recording towards our next release, so we need to get out there and play these songs while we can!”
Under the Volcano kicks off in style with the chaotic ‘Sublime Architect Of Death’ banging on like a spastic blur of the best of Mark E Smith and his Fall and a bit of Gun Club for good measure. Hey, even a hint of Idles here and there if you’re looking for genres and reference buddies.
Shit, ‘King Of Rock and Roll’ kicks off with a throbbing unravelling bassline decaying with overdrive before the abrasive guitars kick in. Vistic is on fire as he preaches his sermon in front of a wall of vicious guitars colliding with the rhythm section setting off shards of glass-like spears into your ear and burrowing through your head making for uncomfortable sounds but pleasing and addictive drops of raw garage Rock and Roll.
‘Psycho Death Cult’ is like early hypnotic Gallon Drunk mixing it with eldrich or even some extreme garage punk rock Depeche Mode. hunter, gatherer this is primal screaming alright all the way to the chanted chorus. A most excellent start to the record.
‘Its Nature’ is almost tame in comparison – a more gentle Rocker with a pop melody trying to break through as we head towards the chorus which pokes you in the temple demanding your attention and bloody well getting it. Excellent track almost Bowie-like in places. ‘Louts’ is a twisted electronic pop song with distant drums and super fuzzed-up guitar. ‘I Am The Shadow’ is like a long lost classic Pete Murphy – Bauhaus number, it builds to a twisted crescendo with a wah wah static solo – at times it feels claustrophobic and your gulping for air but the music pulls you about like a rag doll and I like it, I like it a lot!
‘Heart In Danger’ builds with a hypnotic drum beat over a raw repetitive guitar rip before a stabbing jarring lyric. This already impressive album just got more epic, more intense, more interesting and believe it or not more enjoyable and we’re only two thirds through.
‘Moronic Inferno’ invokes the likes of Bauhaus meets swell maps and a simple riff meets some twisted stabs and lush piano fills to make a simple yet complicated song but completely enjoyable. To wrap this up we are treated to an acoustic song ‘Sapiens (When We All Are Free)’, building on big Bowie-like chords is the perfect full stop to a really good album and one I’ll invest some time in for a multitude of moods and reasons. Take a bow John E Vistic you’ve done good Man – real good.
Sami Yaffa has had a unique career as a musician both in Finland and around the world. First in Finland in the band Pelle Miljoona Oy and then as a founding member of the band Hanoi Rocks, with whom Yaffa lived the life of an international rock musician with all its spices. Fortunately for the man, there have been enough callers since Hanoi to keep him busy: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and Hanoi Rocks’ big influence, the New York Dolls, to name a few were Yaffa’s bands for years before forming a new band with his old Hanoi Rocks partner Michael Monroe in 2009. This collaboration continues, but now Yaffa is also releasing music under his own name.
The second single from Sami Yaffa’s solo album ‘The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind’ will be released. A song called ‘Down at St. Joe’s’ had been sitting in Yaffa’s desk drawer for a long time as a finished composition, but the lyrics were not coming together. Fortunately, Sami’s bandmate from the Monroe band, Rich Jones, came to the rescue.
“Rich had already written some lyrics for my album when I decided to send this song to him. I definitely wanted this song to be included on the album because it differs from the electronic world of the other songs on the album with its down-home acoustic approach. I wanted to raise a glass with the song to thank The Faces, Stones and Dylan for their brilliance and innovation. Eventually, the theme of the lyrics was found to be the king alcohol, its pros and cons and especially how close to a complete collapse one can get if it gets to take a stranglehold on your life. Richie’s ingenious lyrics brought this song to life, and it became one of my favourite songs on the album,” says Sami Yaffa.
Sami Yaffa: The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind album will be released on September 3, 2021, in Finland by Vallila Music House and internationally by Cargo Records
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:
Riskee and The Ridicule honour New York singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey with their own unique take on her hit ‘Young And Beautiful’.
Not a band you can second guess, unpredictable Kent punks Riskee and The Ridicule follow-up their first lockdown release in May, the seething anger of the Brexit-baiting single ‘Blue Jacket’, with their own respectful take on New York pop singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey’s award-winning 2013 smash-hit, ‘Young And Beautiful’. This, however, is no guilty pleasure for the band, who are longtime fans of Lana’s work.
“Lana Del Rey is one of pop music’s best storytellers,” states frontman Scott Picking. “There’s something about her music that is so intense and descriptive that it’s movie-like and in these times of being locked down, that type of escapism has been a personal paradise. In choosing this song, I knew I could bring something different vocally and musically, we were excited about changing the song dynamically while staying true to the emotiveness of the original.”
Despite being isolated from each other at the time, Riskee and The Ridicule were able to create a video for ‘Young And Beautiful’ by recording their individual parts at home, allowing their former bassist David Thomas to collate them together with footage from one of the bands early hometown gigs.
“The video feels like a nod to both our early days as a band, just us and our own motivation, as well as where we are all at in this unique moment, one that we’re not likely to be in again any time soon (hopefully). ‘Young And Beautiful’ is a song I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” confesses Scott.
2019 was an amazing year for the band and saw the highly anticipated release of their third album ‘Body Bag Your Scene’ well received by both fans and critics alike, with their sets at Rebellion and Boomtown proving to be real highlights of 2019
Body Bag Your Scene was written and recorded at breakneck speed, a reflection of its reactionary nature to the daily uncertainty projected upon us. Taking aim at the powers that be (“Our Time”), sexual exploitation (“Sex”) and the barrage of contradictory news (“Black, White & Grey”) it’s a record that holds a mirror to the world with simultaneously acerbic and humorous analysis.
Growing up in Kent, Riskee and The Ridicule have always been a staple of the UK DIY scene, but their fervent attitude and unique “Grime-Punk” rallied troops of dedicated fans across the world. Musically, the band meld their genre-spanning influences with their intent to challenge preconceptions. On the surface they may appear easy to read, when in fact Scott Picking (Vocals), Jimbo Aglony (Guitars, Vocals), Jordan Mann (Guitars, Vocals) and Matt Verrell (Drums, Vocals) are a gang of progressive punks who form a powerhouse of change. Full of fierce energy, the Kent quartet have motives resting among The Clash with relentless streams of wit, literacy, and observational accuracy akin to The Smiths and a background in the UK Grime scene.
There is much more to come. You can be sure that Riskee and The Ridicule will be back onstage as soon as the world allows.
Dropping this baby onto the virtual deck and what leaps out in opener “Stop everything” is a sound grounded in the underground, hinting at punk, fuzzed-up rock “ala” the MC5. Does it move towards the new genre that I seem to hearing about everywhere “Action Rock”, I don’t think so, even though this will appeal to anyone with more than an affiliation to the underground. No, it draws on a much richer musical tapestry, but ultimately pinning your ears back and screaming “LISTEN TO ME!!!!!”
Next up “No Money, No Peace”, moves up the intensity, there’s a hint of the much-missed Stiv Bator’s sneer, but blink and you’ll miss it, this ain’t prog in any way shape or form. Moving into “How much will this affect us” and things get a darker heavier feel, that bass run holds you, before the guitar demands your attention, I really like this track it’s a real burner. “Worlds within a world” hits the raw fuzzed up psychedelia of the fuzztones, while at the same time kicking it up the arse, with that incessant punk underpinning. “Language Lesson” comes tearing out of the speakers, that iggy and the stooges madness taking centre stage, this is a blinder, but for once I’d have liked it a bit longer!!, “Slow Shadow”, moves to a very different beat, more commercial? Dare I say? Yup, it would make a cracking single, this just drips fuzzed-out psychedelia, dropping into 13th-floor elevators territory, complete with the space rock exit!
“The Process” kicks in with a tasty Tribal drummed intro, before it takes off and moves you on a very different path, this is rapidly becoming a fave for yours truly. “Strange Melody” again revisits the psychedelic sounds of the sixties, but with an added pop sensibility reminiscent of The Only Ones.
It’s at this point you begin to realize how good an LP this is, crammed full of ideas, honing a musical heritage, taking hints of the past, reimaging them for a current listening audience. I’m starting to drift here but I’m as always thinking about how this will play out live and smiling to myself. Maybe these years Camden Rocks?
“Shark Bait” again grabs you from the start, holding that crossover vibe, hinting at a more commercial line, there’s an almost gothic Guitar underpinning and extra to this track. “Some Colours”, “No Barriers” and “The People I see” maintain the power and intensity, “No Barriers” in particular mixing up the vocal style and again rapidly becoming a favourite, while “The People I see” moving into territories held up by The Ruts.
Finishing up with “For Barbara Dane” an acoustic gem with an underlying message, think The Kinks meet the Subways!!! Before the lp plays out with “The American Empire”, I love this Hardcore blast and what a way to finish up a powerful LP from a band that I’ll look forward to picking up on the live scene, and definitely an LP I’ll be investing in.
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