Singles Club – January 2021 – Welcome one and all!

Singles Club – January 2021 – Welcome one and all!

Nine singles, eleven bands.  Seems like a pretty decent way to ease yourself into 2021 post-Trump and hopefully with the worst of this pandemic behind us maybe 2021 will see us back in live music venues and more bands releasing more music for us.  Here’s hoping and in the meantime stay safe and enjoy…

 

Los Pepe /  Jibaros – ‘Together’ split(Self Release) Always a great day to discover Los Pepe has got a new record out be it a 7″ single or album.  today we bring you their side of this split that’s a pair of right bangers.  With their cover of the Testors and Spains Jibaros taking on Teenage Heads – ‘Picture My Face’ and turning in a rousing dance floor filler.  Los Pepe do what they do and that’s turn in some fast loud power pop, luckily for us, this is no difference and a rather impressive split we have on our hands but it’s very limited so don’t dilly dally or you’ll be disappointed.

Buy it now Here

 

 

The Spangles – ‘Boys Just Wanna Have Some Fun’ (Self Release) So off the back of the rather spiffin’ long-player Those Spangles have come back to the table with a very nice EP that does exactly what it says on the tin.  What you have here is five tunes written by other peeps knocked out in a Covid wasteland with as much emphasis on being loud and Rockin’ out as was possible in a socially distanced recording studio.  Kicking off with the rather splendid ‘Bad Reputation’ giving the manly frontwoman that is Polly Phluid the chance to belt out the classic and to be fair the chaps have done the classic proud.  It might be one of the most covered tunes ever but so what its all about the attitude and having fun right? Right!

To be fair its pretty much the MO throughout as the boys take on such pop dignitaries as Joan Jett, Kim Wilde, The Bangles and Wendy James and her Transvision Vamps, and if  ‘Walk like An Egyptian’ is given a good seeing to then the beastly ‘I Want Your Love’ is as camp as Christmas (it isn’t obviously) but I do want them to make a cover of the video for this one it’ll be glorious. Almost as glorious as a ‘Sex Sausage’.  What? ‘Sex Sausage’ you ask who the fuck wrote that bad boy?  Don’t ask just smile or grin, as I’m sure these gents are.  Fantastic EP from a fantastic band.  Now get that difficult second album done and we’ll all meet up again and Slamdance together.  Facebook / Bandcamp

 

 

Poison Boys – ‘Nothing But Darkness’ (unknown) The first single from the second album is upon us and what a banger it is too.  I love The Poison Boys they just get things done.  No-fuss or fanfare they just write kick-ass tunes and this glimpse behind the curtain of the second record is a joy. It’s a bruising affair all switchblade knives and dark alleys and the breakdown is a smoldering mass of sleazy Rock and Roll and if this is what coming then bring it on boys it’s gonna be a top record.

Buy it here

 

 

 

 

Eddie Mooney & The Grave – ‘Lockdown Baby’ feat Malte B (Still Unbeatable Records) Two track choc-full of sprightly power pop is the order of the day courtesy of Eddie Mooney Released at the death of 2020. With the spirit of ’77 coursing through their veins, it’s got the vital ingredients being some barbed wire guitar and some sugar-sweet melodies on the chorus’.  Extremely limited vinyl pressings so be quick or be gone.

Buy Here

 

 

 

 

Chuck Norris Experiment / Scumbag Millionaire –  split (Strange Magic Records)    Pressed on super limited numbers of 100 solid red, 100 dirty white, 100 black of course this is gonna kick your backside.  Swedens finest exponents of hard rock are in the house and turning up the heat on this the first Singles club of the year and already owning it.  You know the drill two track each with the CNE tracks being exclusive to this 7″ whilst the Scumbag Millionaire contributes one exclusive track and a track from their debut LP Speed that was never released on a single (until now).

Loud and in your face is how CNE delivers their hard rock best and this pair of tunes is as good as they get. ‘Let The Wheels Roll’ is a pounding rhythm with sharp guitars and a chorus you can raise your horns to and chant along.  What’s not to like? then in direct contrast is the attitude-laden acoustic (of sorts) ‘Dinosaur Fire’ showing they don’t just do hard rock they can mix it up and when they do it’s never off the mark as for their fellow Gothenburg noise merchants Scumbag Millionaire it’s one exclusive and one from their last album.  ‘Too Much Is Never Enough’ is a slice of Motorhead meets Early Hellacopters and is an absolute banger! whilst their second contribution is lifted from their debut long-player ‘Speed’ in the shape of ‘White Flash’ another good reason to revisit that album another pair of great tunes making this a must-have EP of four excellent tunes.  Get a copy right sharpish or miss out and end up down the line paying some scalper a small fortune.  ORDER NOW by sending an e-mail to info@savagemagicrecords.com

 

 

 

Holy Death Trio – ‘The Killer’ (  )  The band says, “‘The Killer’ was written in the same vein as an old blues song from the early 1900’s.  It was originally written and performed as a one-man blues band and then it naturally worked well with a full band, so we made it Holy Death Trio standard.  This song is meant to feel like built up aggression with two killer guitar solos and just straight-up power trio heavy blues rock-n-roll.” More rock than your Jon Spenser Blues Explosion but it’s got a neat groove and it prefers to crash and burn than fade away and we like that especially when its played loud and this sounds like it was recorded loud!

Connect With Holy Death Trio Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp

 

 

Venus Grrrls – ‘Goth Girl’ (MonoMyth Records) Goth culture and witchcraft.  Oh, go on then.  Venus Grrrls release their new single on the back of last year’s EP and a dark brooding hybrid of dark pop and rock it motors along once you’re through the spooky kid intro with the pumping synth beat and vocal and hit the chorus and off they go.

The song tackle stereotyping and Goth culture and how trends come and go and with the big chorus it’ll wake the dead for sure as it rolls off with the pumping synth and soaring vocals before fading back and then pow! into a final chorus.  Stirring stuff from this Northern five-piece.

 

 

The Revox – ‘Talk About Her’ (Voodoo Rhythm Records)  Walking on the wild side is this raw and punchy 7″ from Swiss punks THE REVOX, reclusive mountain punks, they’re a blast from the past, and their music is inspired by the original Swiss garage and beat scene from back in the mid-’60s so I’m reliably informed and on this evidence, I’m impressed and love what they’ve got going on its like a fucked up Fuzztones howling drunk and just partying way too hard. ‘Talk About Her’ is a hoot with some super cool guitar and a trashy reverb-heavy rhythm where the cymbals are taking a pounding.  flip it over and ‘Sick Of You’ is more of the same as the riff rolls on and some garage racket is beaten out of the instruments for our listening pleasure.  Play on guys this is quality. Check it out Here

 

 

Saxon – ‘Speed King’  (Silver Lining Music)  Biff and the boys are in the house.  Tipping the hat to those that paved the way for Byford and his band to do what they’ve done for decades.  Check out their take on Deep Purples ‘Speed King’ if you like it then why not order it Here  ‘Inspirations’ is a covers album, where in 2020 the band took residence at Brockfield Hall in York, to record cover versions of various songs which deeply influenced the band, engaging in a proper old-school live and recording process which was a hallmark of many old-school rock ‘n’ roll records.

 

Twelve days of Christmas – A look back at 2018 with RPM – June

Twelve days of Christmas – A look back at 2018 with RPM – June

 

Not Just your regular summer, no sir, this one is hot! and its only getting hotter!

June 2018

 

Whilst May was relatively quiet (slang) June was positively bristling with releases and live shows for the RPM crew and the beginning of the festival season was open.  But we couldn’t mention June 2018 without a few tributes to fallen comrades in Rock and Roll.

Firstly, Heavy Drapes frontman Garry Alexander Borland passed away the first week after returning from Holland after a really successful show at Rebellion over there.  Garry’s passing was a huge shock to people close to him obviously but his passing was also felt in the wider alternative community with his band on the verge of much bigger and better things what with the up and coming decent billing at Rebellion UK and their debut album ready to go so its only right we record this moment and pay tribute to Garry.  May he rest in peace.

Another sad passing was that of  DJ Fontana who was Elvis Presley’s drummer for many a year, Dominic Joseph Fontana was responsible for laying down the backbeat on almost 500 songs with the king which is no mean feat and a really impressive CV by any standard also it’s only right we recognise his contribution to music.  Rest in Peace DJ.

Sadly a third influential musician passed away in June this year, none other than Nick Knox the second but longest-serving Cramps drummer. Nick joined the band from the Electric Eels and occupied the drum stool from 1977-1991, Knox toured with the band and appeared on some of the Cramps’ best recordings, ‘Songs The Lord Taught Us‘, ‘Psychedelic Jungle’ and ‘A Date With Elvis’. Rest In Peace Nick Knox the man behind Lux and the man behind the shades.

Sadly the fourth person to pass away in June was none other than West coast punk rock legend Steve Soto of The Adolescents. Steve was originally the bass player in Agent Orange back in ’79 he then served as bass player in the Adolescents until passing.  the most recent album ‘Cropduster‘ being his final piece of work and easily one of 2018 finest albums.  The band went on to tour the summer around Europe with stand-in player and dedicated the set each night to Steve where they had a backdrop replacing the band’s logo and replacing it with SOTO at Rebellion in August Tony Reflex dedicated the show to his bandmate in a touching speech and subsequent performance that was electric and memorable,  Rest In Peace Steve 54 is way too young. 

 

Right hopefully onto much happier matters for the month of June 2018. With Festival season in full swing Fraser headed to Download and watched The Bronx, The Hives and Turbonegro show the festivals other acts how Rock and Roll was meant to be delivered to the people. elsewhere it seemed like the world and his Mrs were off to see the Rolling Stones play some enormadome or should that be a field?

IT might have cost the GDP of some countries to get close enough to see the band measure up to the size of a subbutteo player but it has to be said nobody was disappointed in either the performance or the setlist the band was knocking out on this leg of the tour. Jagger was ever his peter pan like self careering from one side of the huge stage to the other like he was a child with more energy than most performers more than half his age and some.

Nev decided he’d bowl darn London way and take in what Camden Rocks had to offer.  Basically, all the pubs of any note and the dive bars, as well as the more famous landmarks such as Dingwalls, Electric Ballroom etc throw, open their doors to live Rock and Roll for the day and if you have a wristband and there’s room at the inn then uh, you’re in! Just wear some comfortable shoes and a stage planner.  You might just happen across your favourite new band or someone you’ve been meaning to catch and hey presto there they are. (Deep Breath time) This year Nev caught The Ramonas at the Dublin Castle – Dirty Thrills at The Underworld Talia Dean in Brew Dog then back to the underworld for Sonic Boom Six and some knees up skanking ska which went down rather well with Nev. It wouldn’t have been right had our roving scribe not caught Urban Voodoo Machine down at the lock where the place to be was indeed Dingwalls then to finish off a marathon of live entertainment it was Camden Assembly for some Ryan Hamilton & The Traitors before the Rifles was a curtain call for Mr Brooks but he wasn’t banking on bumping into Paul-Ronny Angel either so his night wasn’t quite over!

Not wanting to be a party pooper Nev still had to take in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds playing the All Points East Festival along with an impressive support cast of Patti Smith, St Vincent and Courtney Barnett.

Ben went to Rambling Man Fair and enjoyed the performances of such heavyweight rockers as The Cult and also managed to catch RPM favourites  Jim Jones and The Righteous Mind as well as the real mock rockers Steel Panth..Nah I can’t type it sorry folks I’d be doing RPM a disservice even mentioning them. anyway, Ben also managed to take in the large club gig of the month that was the triple-headed Britrock Must Be Destroyed touring carnival that featured a rotating line up of Reef, The Wildhearts, and Terrorvision. there were multiple dates to be fair and it was decided on the day how the running order would play out. I reckon each band made new fans on the night as reports were coming in of all three raising each others game and an excellent way to tour. The night Ben had in Leeds also saw Dodgy added to the lineup.

 

Our intrepid European correspondent or one of them Craggy got to see Repetitor live at Kabinet Muz, Brno I said Craggy got to see Repetitor in Brno…oh forget it he enjoyed it anyway said it was one of his highlights of the year to be fair.

Now with a sharp intake of breath June was positively overflowing with album releases that would bother top tens come the end of the year. Just a few of those contenders has to be The Interrupters with their ‘Fight The Good Fight’ that saw them leap up the rankings with a fantastic collection of tunes that was shaking up not just fans of the bands previous two albums but new music fans who heard one of the many potential hits on the radio or tv with the album set to just keep on selling and selling we are looking at the next big thing as they won’t be playing clubs for much longer.

Getting Tim Armstrong in to produce the record is a great move as the guy oozes class and knows his way around a ska-punk record and if he had a hand in any of the songwriting or arranging then boy pat yourselves on the back because the infectious ‘A Friend Like Me’, ‘Shes Kerosene’ and the awesome ‘Got Each Other’ are three reasons why this record will deservedly be in many ends of year top 3’s and rightly so..

Elsewhere June saw the release of London Towns Portuguese legends The Parkinson’s return with the LP ‘The Shape Of Nothing To Come’ that confirmed that these gentlemen still had it and it was a fine return to the fold in every way. Now expanded to a five piece you can take the boys out of punk rock but you can’t ever take the punk rock out of the boys and that boys and girls is a fact. the Parkinsons still have the chops.

Another couple of worthy mentions in the albums released in June has to be Smash Fashion and their ‘Rompus Pompous’.  Which has gone down a right storm at RPM as they’ve really hit their stride on this one and joioning them would have to be Nottingham’s The Speedways with the fantastic slice of power pop that is ‘Just Another Regular Summer’ the brains behind the idea to write an album was Matt former guitarist of The Breakdowns he’s since formed a band after the success of the record and has played  a number of shows and next year they’ve already planned some shows in Spain and London.  It really is power pop perfection and a record we highly recommend.

The old school shouldn’t be forgotten either because June was also the month when the phrase you can’t teach an old dog new tricks was debunked because The Uk Subs once again released a new album ‘Subversions’ of some of their favourite songs by other people – sure a cover album.  there might well be some you could see coming but there are others on the album that you would never have seen coming. 

Over in NYC the birthplace of hardcore and home to some of the best bands around Madball made a new record they put out in June 2018 and the brutal ‘For The Cause’ was unleashed on the world and immediately felt at home with the RPM crew.

Finally a mention of records released in June this time for the magnificent London power poppin’ punk rockin’ Los Pepe who released their long playing Greatest Hits on Snap Records! it came with a CD of the album and they also got to knock out a single this month as well which was nice. Don’t get me started on singles that appeared this month because ther were plenty with my pick of the pack coming from the Randy Savages who were ‘Guilty Of Nuthin’ .