As a young rocker Sam Hariss (The Sweet Things) heard Izzy Stradlin doing “Crackin’ Up” and it stuck with him like an earworm. He later discovered Izzy himself was doing a cover of “Crackin’ Up” by Bo Diddley (1959). So he decided to get together with Tobin Dale (The Sweet Things), head into the studio and do their own version. To round out the song, they enlisted an army of stars to play on their nod to Bo Diddley.
Appearances including Taime Down (Faster Pussycat) Danny Nordahl (Faster Pussycat, Motochrist, The Throbs) Ricky Vodka (Motochrist) Joey Huffman (Georgia Satellites, Drivin’N’Cryin, Soul Asylum) Charlie Paxson (has recorded with James Blunt, Ricky Lee Jones and many more)
The British/Slovak band Craggy Collyde have joined the Austrian record company Mai Lei Bel and will be lighting up 2023 with a brand-new album and spring tour. The trio are based primarily in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and spent much of 2022 taking their live show to clubs and festivals across central Europe. They are currently working on their debut long-player, which will be released early this year. The album will follow on from their most recent material – the 2020 six-track mini-album Wrapped up in Ribbons.
Mixing their love of various creative influences, Craggy Collyde explore the boundaries of alternative rock and roll music whilst always retaining an uncompromising and intense energy.
You can catch them on these dates, with more being added soon:
Do you know this year so far has been a blinder in terms of new releases we’ve only just left February and tipped into March and there have already been any number of contenders for Album of the year, this baby included, and judging by the number of pre-orders I’ve got pending there are going to be a fair few more.
This LP as I slip it onto the virtual deck instantly washes over you drawing you in to a gorgeous blend of Classic Americana, while holding on to a punk driven perspective, and that jarring of styles, so difficult to get right is what singles this Lp out as something a bit special.
If you’re a Springsteen fan, think back to the classic Darkness on the edge of town, The River, Nebraska period a songwriter redefining, honing in his style, very much as Rich has within the songs on this LP, embracing influences while building on his own style, (think if Bruce Springsteen did punk rock) moving to a beat that’s beginning to fully form, if you think Tom Petty, the Aforementioned Bruce Springsteen, hinting at Steve Earle but also dragging in Jesse Malin and some of the raw blues tinges of Lucinda Williams. This is a real step up from the Role Models a shift in focus embracing the past but moving into a future of real creativity.
Looking at the tracks stand outs for me “Til I’m on my feet again” hits hard with a huge sense of drive , desire and urgency reaching out to the future that’s not coming quick enough. Next up the searing, soul searching “The end of all things”. Not to say the prior tracks are weak tracks truth be told there isn’t a weak track on the LP.
“Forever Ghosts” and “Pretty Breeze” to me perfectly illustrate the light and shade within this baby play them back to back and you’ll see what I mean, So what do we have?
Contender for LP of the year? Definitely
A songwriter strengthening his style, embracing change? Absolutely
The LP that breaks outwards from the scene opening the music up to whole new audiences? Defiantly!!!
Do yourself a favour Buy, download, treat yourself to the t-Shirt, be one of the cool kids and more importantly support the artist.
Gyasi rose to the top of the pile when the album dropped and a whole load of RPM reviewers gave it the seal of approval at the end-of-year awards. Keeping the fire stoked it’s time for some more Glam slammin’ sleazy Retro Rock n Roll. ‘Baby Blue is a four-track EP crammed full of guitar-driven hedonistic Rock n Roll.
I love that they make no apology for their over-the-top showmanship and cocksure swagger. The lead track is one Bolan boogie woogie hip shaker in spangly spandex and more make-up than Bowie wore. That riff is familiar but boy is it good, no it’s great. No scratch that it’s fuckin great and the breakdown into the chorus is wonderful. It’s so unashamed of its inspiration and history, and I love thatit’s delivered this well.
The other three tracks on offer are all live cuts that show the band have the chops when out on the road. ‘Cheap High’ is badd ass like when Aerosmith were out there kicking up a storm in the late ’70s an air of mystery but don’t fuck with them because these cats can play. The sleazier ‘Tongue Tied’ with its rolling beat is one monster sleazy tune before signing off with ‘Sugar Mama’ and all it’s bombast and glory. I’d love to see these guys hit the UK with their live shows in some sweaty club at ear shattering volume it would be a glorious beast indeed. Please make it happen on the next album so until then this EP will do nicely thank you.
Following my recent enforced 3-month layoff from attending live shows I really wanted something special to usher in my 43rd year of going to see bands, so, after finishing off 2022 with the symphonic goth pomp of the Death Songbook, what could be more suitable than a night in the company of Swedish goth rockers Then Comes Silence, playing the final night of a short two date UK jaunt in conjunction with the Reptile club.
It’s the fact that this was going to be a dedicated goth night that really got me excited about a trip over the Severn estuary, with the promise of a night spent drenched in dry ice chicken dancing my way into the wee small hours instantly taking me back to my days of going to see the likes of The Cramps, Alien Sex Fiend and Sigue Sigue Sputnik in the mid-eighties, when going to watch a band was just as much about meeting the characters that attended the shows (in fact its how I first met RPM’s main man Dominic Daley) as it was as seeing the bands themselves. But would there be a goth youth here in the 2020s to help keep the flame alive I wondered?
Entering Zed Alley I really need not have worried as with the mandatory dry ice lapping under the door was already a reassuring sign, once past security I immediately felt exactly how I did back in (what some might consider to be) the scene’s heyday, albeit these days I myself feel more like how Colin Robinson (grown up version not the child entertainer version) must have felt when walking into Nadja’s nightclub. Reptile DJ Vade Retro is blasting out an eclectic selection of electro tunes via the club’s excellent sound system, and yes indeed the next generation of goths are all present and correct and enjoying the ambience (and very reasonably priced libations) of the club itself.
Of course, it’s the live bands we’re all here to see tonight and Aux Animaux provides the kind of Nice Inch Nails to Bowie baton pass that occurred when those two giants once toured the US together, by which I mean the Swedish hauntwave star sets the scene perfectly for what is to follow by providing a kind of Danielle Dax meets Bjork by way of the (song)book of the dead set of ambient theremin driven electro tunes, something that holds the audience in perfect reverence throughout. The fact that this is an artiste singing over backing tracks would probably have most classic rock heads foaming at the mouth, but to a goth audience this is all par for the course and the reaction Aux Animaux receives come the end of her short set is one of total respect.
Something I have long since held for tonight’s headliners Then Comes Silence, the Stockholm-based gothic post-punk rockers, ever since I first heard their ‘III – Nyctophilian’ album all the way back in 2015. This is my first time seeing them live though as their intended 2020 UK tour (which included a Cardiff date) in support of their excellent ‘Machine’ album got blown out by the Covid pandemic, but having lost guitarist Mattias Ruejas ahead of a US tour towards the end of 2022 I was hoping by high expectations for tonight really weren’t about to be dashed after all.
Hitting the venue’s tiny but (for a trio) perfectly sized stage with ‘Flashing Pangs of Love’ from the band’s 2017 ‘Blood’ was certainly a surprise as I was half expecting them to open with the number that actually followed it, ‘Tickets To Funerals’, from last year’s amazing ‘Hunger’ album, but what this did was allow the sound to level out, and for the backing tracks used on certain songa (like on the latter) to really cut through and make a difference to the overall sound.
Singer/bassist Alex Svenson is also the man in control of the box of electronic gadgets and whilst he is a man of few words between songs he’s someone who lets the songs do all the talking with the likes of ‘Apocalypse Flare’, ‘Chain’ and ‘Worm’ all sounding totally imperious here tonight. The ‘Eighties’ (excuse the intended pun) Killing Joke influence I’ve mentioned in previous RPM reviews is also huge tonight thanks to guitarist Hugo Zombie, someone who literally doesn’t stop moving even when things slow down for an epic Bunnymen-esque rendition of ‘Mercury’ whilst turbo-riffing his way through the likes of ‘We Lose The Night’ and possibly my all-time favourite track by the band, ‘Rise To The Bait’.
When drummer Jonas Fransson (who is also Mr Aux Animaux) has some unexpected trouble with his snare stand it actually acts as a natural comfort break for a few (myself included) and the sounds that emanate from the remaining two members helping plug the inevitable gap evokes memories of Cronos’ bass solo during the Seventh Date of Hell tour, yup even when they are messing around these guys exude an air of doom and melancholic cool many can only dream of conjuring up.
As with all great gigs though they all unfortunately have to end, and after an intense ‘We Lose The Night’ its left to ‘Warm Like Blood’ and the epic ‘The Dead Cry For No One’ to send us off into the cold night air with just the echo of ‘Bella Lugosi’s Dead’ still ringing in our ears as DJ Vade continued the party well into the witching hour.
Gigs like this really don’t come along that often that’s for sure, tonight was something very special indeed, and reading just hours later that Reptile may now not be moving forward in 2023 due to a variety of reasons involving their current London haunt, it makes me truly sad to hear this. Let’s hope that after 15 years of promoting bands and club nights like tonight this really isn’t the end for them, because as tonight proved goth is very much still a musical force to be reckoned with and is also one that seemingly never grows old. Timeless stuff indeed!
The details of their new album Roden House Blues, due out May 5th, via The Sign Records. Stream their most recent single “Chasing Death” HERE.
“The finest Rock N’ Roll band in the UK” – Eddie Spaghetti, Supersuckers
Since their inception in 2006, THE HIP PRIESTS have released a mighty thirty 7” singles, four albums, two compilations and three EPs by various independent labels from all over Europe & the USA. Fiercely independent and tirelessly driven, the ‘Priests have preached their high energy sermon of misanthropy, hate and contempt across numerous tours of the UK, Europe and USA and made countless rapturously received festival appearances.
Gaining a richly deserved reputation as a white-hot live band, the last few years have seen the band’s popularity increasing further with them regularly playing alongside kindred spirits such as THE HELLACOPTERS, GLUECIFER, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY, NEW BOMB TURKS, DWARVES and ZEKE at both festivals and in clubs. Rave reviews pour in for every release, ranging from ‘a band on top of their game & steps ahead of any of their UK contemporaries’ to ‘if you’re in any doubt about how good these bad boys are then you need locking up’. After 16 years some bands would be taking it easy but in spite of a global pandemic, there was no let-up in their determination and activity. Their fifth, and by far their best full-length album – Roden House Blues – was written, rehearsed, and recorded during this period and will be released May 5th, 2023, via The Sign Records.
Rehearsed, recorded and mixed between the numerous U.K lockdowns in Roden House, one of Nottingham’s former lace factories where the Priests have their own space, and which spawned the album title. This is no Mississippi Blues but perhaps it makes more sense than you think: Howling laments, loss, self-reflection and revelation – alongside some recurring Priests lyrical themes: negativity, nihilism, rage and revolution. After 2019’s Stand for Nothing the band were unsure whether they’d do another album – However, global lockdown inadvertently led to a renewed passion and realization that, like Jagger said, ’what can a poor boy do’ – especially when feeling more lost in a world that increasingly resembles a dumpster fire. A few dozen demos were scrutinized of which, through a stricter than ever group consensus, 14 were recorded but then honed down, razor sharp, into the tightest collection of 11 low-fat, lean and mean banging tunes that could fit into 30 minutes.
11 glorious tracks of High Energy R’n’R, anthemic, adrenalised, sweaty, singalong, life-affirming Rock and Roll. Huge Choruses, colossal dual guitar riffarama, more hooks than a fishing shop, and one hell of an attitude. Punk? Garage Rock? Scandi Rock? Just know this…. They ARE THE HIP PRIESTS and YOU are NOT.
Play Loud or just don’t fuckin’ bother.
Roden House Blues is released on May the 5th and will be available on all streaming platforms, CD, and in three color variants on vinyl; (1) black vinyl, (2) solid turquoise vinyl with solid white splatter, solid black splatter, and solid blue splatter, and (3) transparent/clear vinyl with transparent yellow splatter and transparent pink splatter.
RPM Online would like to pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Patrik Sjöstrand from Doojiman & The Exploders. Rock in peace brother wherever you may roam.
The Fine Art of Self Destruction came out at a time before punk rockers were picking up acoustic guitars and doing singer/songwriter songs. I wouldn’t want it to be lost that at that time very few people were mixing Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and punk rock or any of that. You either liked one or the other. I believe liking the Rolling Stones was a sin in my circle of friends at this time. The internet hadn’t been there to absolve us of such sins yet.
There were a few people who liked these mixes of genres and took in everything instead of shunning things. They took it all in and received the transmissions that spoke to their hearts rather than thinking of what was allowed or safe. One of these was a guy who once set fire to bars in the Lower East Side, had things tied inside his dreadlocked hair, and fronted one of the wildest punk rock bands since The New York Dolls… And then says he has a singer/songwriter record coming? Mercy on our souls…
The Fine Art of Self Destruction opened up a new room in Jesse Malin’s world. And maybe, unknowingly at the time, opened up doors for many others who would follow in the future, myself included.
Jesse Malin and Ryan Adams were two of the first people in the forefront of showing that you could sing songs on records in a new way for punk rockers. The songs on The Fine Art of Self Destruction were punk in spirit yet broken and delicate in execution. These are beautiful songs about people in an in between, nocturnal world who “moved to Brooklyn”, back when that meant something, and people who “come so hard but their songs are so slow.” Those were the people I knew. That was a lot of people. And they felt like they were my songs, not that I wrote them, or could’ve, but that they belonged to me in my world. Jesse put those characters in songs that could sit with you on the drives next to Nebraska and Closing Time when you drove home at night.
I don’t think without Jesse making that bold move of doing exactly what he wanted instead of what was expected that I would’ve been here doing what I do now. I think there are a lot of people who could say the same. It’s not that we never heard music like this, we just didn’t know “we” could do it too. You didn’t have to be Dylan, or Bruce, or Tom Waits. You could be a punk rocker who knew three chords and had a story to tell and that was enough.
I also believe that there was no better person to produce this record than Ryan Adams, even though he may have cheated by knowing five or six chords to our three, but he knew what needed to happen with this record. He was in tune and tapped into the spirit. There was a magic Jesse and Ryan both caught on The Fine Art… And I think we’re all better for it.
Back in the mists of time, sometime around 1994, I was gifted a second-hand t shirt (sleeves cut off, obviously). On the front was a cartoon dog and a cat with a baseball bat, in neon pink writing the band logo of some obscure, local glam band who had long since split up. That band were called Sister Morphine and on the back of that very same t shirt was the immortal phrase ‘SUCK MY JUBE!’. To this day I still have no idea what that means, and until recently what Sister Morphine actually sounded like, but I loved that t shirt and wore it to death. Turns out the singer of that very same band would be my boss/editor/sender of cool music during my time as a reviewer for the legendary Uber Rock website.
South Wales based Sister Morphine were regulars on the club circuit back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, supporting the likes of Last Of The Teenage Idols and Gunfire Dance. But sadly, the stars didn’t align and the band went their separate ways. Who would’ve guessed that Gaz Tidey, guitarists Jamesy & Jonesy, bassist Mike DeSouza and drummer Denley Slade would get the band back together during lockdown and record the debut album that they threatened to make back in those halcyon days of hairspray, fags and thunderbird wine.
So, while you and I were baking banana bread, drinking beer at 10am and watching Tiger King on Netflix, Sister Morphine were scouring their lofts for lost rehearsal tapes, to find the best versions of their beloved songs from a lifetime ago, to see if they really could resurrect Sister Morphine from the graveyard of empty bottles and claim their rightful place as the kings of Glunk Rock 2023!
But why should you care about lost songs recorded by a bunch of 50-somethings, written a lifetime ago? Well, it turns out Sister Morphine can knock out a few tunes, and bloody good ones at that! I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the first single and title track ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’. Who knew Mr. Tidey had such a sleazy vocal delivery that would stand up after all these years. With a voice that sits somewhere between Ricky Warwick and Zodiac Mindwarp, he takes the catchy melody by the scruff of the neck, over a tune that could be an AI generated mash up of The Dogs D’amour and The Quireboys. It’s a 70’s glam rock boogie of a tune and the perfect introduction to the party going on down at Heartbreak City!
Recorded at RedRock studios in Blackwood and produced by Lyndon Price of Welsh metal legends Wild Pussy, ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ is a 15-song blast of high-octane rock n’ roll that features regulars from their live sets, lost tracks from the archives and four brand new songs for you to devour.
Opener ‘Holy City Zoo’ has already been likened to Motorhead by those in the know, and references Bowie, Duran and Roxy Music. It’s a 2 minute & 22 second statement of intent, job done.
You want punky, low slung rock n’ roll with more attitude than Rocky on steroids? Then look no further than second track ‘Do You Wanna Get Wasted?’. Now that’s a song title any angst-filled youth of today can get on board with, right? Good job it sounds like Zodiac Mindwarp jamming with Backyard Babies and Johnny Thunders then, innit!
The Scandinavian punk rock vibes continue on the likes of second single ‘Nothing Dirty In The Truth’ where the rousing verses and killer chorus showcase a band who really mean it. Elsewhere, ‘Black Hearts & Bruised Egos’ channels Circus Of Power and early Alice Cooper garage rock vibes to great effect.
What’s not to like here? I’m loving this album. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, or maybe I’m biased, but I’ll tell you one thing for certain, Sister Morphine have some killer tunes going on.
Lifting a page out of Tyla’s songbook, ‘Cry The Rain’ is a big tune about love gone bad, set to a Faces-lite rock n’ roll boogie, with some rousing backing vocals. Sava a place in your heart for this one. The hook-laden ‘8 Tracks & Zodiacs’ is another of the new songs, and a potential single for sure. A song about a girl, it has catchy 90’s brit rock vibes that sit well and is a serious earworm.
The strengths of this album lie in the songwriting, the diversity and the production. It’s all pretty high-octane stuff, but they do throw in a curve ball towards the end with the countrified blues of ‘Living With Snakes’. Acoustics, slide guitar and harmonica go a long way to show Sister Morphine ain’t one trick ponies.
While ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ has one foot planted firmly in the past, it brings a classic sound smack up to date for 2023 with a great production. Full of rock n’ roll nostalgia and clever tongue-in-cheek lyricism, we get sleazy punk rock, 70’s boogie rock and countrified goodness all wrapped up in one cool little package.
If Sister Morphine’s only ambition was to realize their dream of releasing a debut album that could stand tall with the artists of their era, then they have easily succeeded. But I feel they have surpassed those ambitions by taking the music to places their teenage selves could never imagine. ‘Ghosts Of Heartbreak City’ is a pretty unique album, in that it has been recorded by a bunch of 50 somethings, yet it has the energy and sonics of a band half their age. And you know what? I’ll be happy to file that shiny new CD in the rack, somewhere between Shotgun Messiah and Skid Row, where it should have sat for the last 30 years.
Originally released via Zero Records in Japan back in 1995 ‘Walk On Water’ marked the reunification of what many fans refer to as the “classic” UFO line up of singer Phil Mogg, bassist Pete Way, drummer Andy Parker, keyboardist/guitarist Paul Raymond along with the mercurial talents of guitarist Michael Schenker.
Bringing back producer Ron Nevison to the fold (he had worked with the line up on their influential ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Obsession’ albums) to help re-capture the magic of the band is perhaps the secret behind why ‘Walk On Water’ worked so well and the two Mike Varney produced albums that followed it perhaps didn’t.
There’s a real vibrancy to Schenker’s playing throughout ‘Walk On Water’s’ eight new studio tracks the guitarist dishing out some fine crunchy riffage over which Mogg’s vocals truly soar, especially on songs like ‘Venus’ and ‘Pushed To the Limit’ both of which would figure in the resulting tour in support of the record (sadly though not the splendid Way/Mogg penned rocker ‘Knock Knock’).
A tour which is captured on ‘Werewolves Of London’, a semi-official 2CD set originally released via Zoom Club Records in 2008, and according to the original sleeve notes, sourced via Pete Way, probably for a couple of Special Brews and a curry, knowing the man. Recorded at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on February 10th 1996 (jeez I was 31 the day before) whilst the band at this point had replaced Andy Parker with Simon Wright (as the former found it impossible to tour due to family commitments) they still sound bang on the button across the 15 track set list. A set list that would feature the usual crowd pleasers such as ‘Natural Thing’, ‘Love To Love’, ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ and ‘Rock Bottom’ alongside three ‘Walk On Water’ tunes (‘A Self Made Man’ in addition to the two I’ve already mentioned), whilst for the UFO purists out there there’s a sublime ‘Electric Phase’ along with a stunning ‘One More For The Rodeo’ to really get excited about.
For what is essentially a straight from the mixing desk recording (something Paul Raymond confirmed within the original CD’s sleeve notes) this a fantastic (albeit slightly flawed) live recording, in fact it’s one that I would rank up there alongside ‘Strangers In The Night’ just because it isn’t as perfect as that record. Once again Schenker sounds absolutely spellbinding in his six string delivery with the finely tuned Mogg as always as cryptic/succinct with his between song banter. Then again, we surely wouldn’t want it any other way, would we?
Listening to both releases once again all these years on, and whilst its great to hear the guys back together and writing some cracking new material on ‘Walk On Water’, I can’t help but think there’s a little something missing from the record when compared to those aforementioned late 70s UFO albums, and the fact the original CD came with two bonus re-recorded versions of ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Lights Out’ (along with a spoken word track ‘Message For Japan’ not included in this reissue), probably spoke volumes for what would happen over the next couple of years as the band once again struggled to function as a working unit. Something you can just sense is already happening within the grooves of ‘Werewolves of London’.
With both title’s having been out of print for some years it’s now Cleopatra’s turn to give both titles an all-new audience both on CD, and now for the first time ever on glorious looking (and eye wateringly expensive) coloured vinyl pressings. ‘Walk On Water’s’ eight track album complemented by the re-recorded bonus tracks as an additional 7” EP, complete with all new cover art, whilst ‘Werewolves Of London’ gets a kind of ‘Strangers In The Night’ cover art makeover and comes complete with a 17″ x 22″ poster of the band!
The flame of the ’Walk On Water’ era of UFO certainly burned brightly, and yeah, oh so briefly it looked like the five guys might finally attain the levels of success they so justly deserved for all their hard work and stellar back catalogue, but UFO being UFO it just wasn’t to be, as once again the band started to slowly unravel, in some cases in truly spectacular fashion. Relive the magic (and not the misadventures) of those years via these quality reissues.
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