Its A Podcast Episode 51- Scandinavian Overload

Its A Podcast Episode 51- Scandinavian Overload

Episode 51 mixes brand-new tracks with some older classics that might have been forgotten, as well as an overload of covers.

First up is the exciting news that Midlife Crisis have a date of Feb 25 for the release of the long-awaited album. Fans of Hellacopters and Backyard Babies might want to tune into this bad boy. We play the opening track off the album ‘Silver Son Johnnie’ ’45 to 33′ is the name of the album and pre-orders to come along with a review of the LP.

Local South Wales noisemakers Bad Shout have an EP coming out in December on Repeat Records and its a banger. Six tracks of fizzing punk rock and we drop ‘Doublecross’ to get you excited and up for the preorder off Repeat.

Scandinavia features heavily on this week’s podcast with entries hitting Pumphouse HQ and the second offering from the North is Plastic Tears and their brand new single ‘Motorhome’. Hot on the heels is The Ratchets with the sound of Noo Jersey and ‘Holy Mother Of God’.

From the compilation album ‘Fucked By Rock’ Crazyhead should have been huge. Spearheading the Greebo scene they easily had the coolest single title ever committed to wax in ‘What Gives You The Idea Your So Amazing Baby’ but we entertain ‘Buy A Gun’ a forgotten classic. Probably not a song for the PC brigade but we love it and it would be nice fo the compilation to get a vinyl pressing doncha think?

David Delinquent and The IOUs are a new one on us and the Dundee pop n rollas have released this single ‘Nobody’s Else’ and what a banger it is. Looking forward to hearing more from David and his Delinquent mates if it’s even half as good as this. We need to get these bands into peoples ears folks and the only way to do that is to play the podcast and share the music.

Dharma Guns are a new one on us and rather impressed we were. ‘Ex-Generation Superstars’, the band’s debut, is all about high-octane rock ‘n’ roll with a side order of sleaze, don’t believe us well, give it a listen. Followed up by the king of catchy power pop Kurt Baker with his brand new single out on Wicked Cool Records (where else).

Front Kicks dish up some power pop before Heavy Medication Records newest release the Never Land Ranch Davidians rock up with ‘Cactus Cool Man’ and get on the groove from their forthcoming album due in Feb 25 it promises to be another top notch release to look forward to.

Laura Jane Grace has just toured England in support of the brand new album or mini-album ‘Give An Inch’ so it seems fair to drop ‘Karma Coming Close’ from the EP.

A Knife For An Eye are up next with a thumping track off their album ‘Damnation Rock N Roll’ again outta Sweden its fair to say they’ve really impressed us here at HQ. The album cover is very striking as well with the classic Chuck Berry pose really setting the tone for some attitude adjustment as ‘Getting Hooked’ is on point because we certainly did.

It’s cover time and this week we have the interesting take of the Dead Boys classic ‘Sonic Reducer’ from Sweden’s 69 Eyes followed up by a demo of The Dead Boys that’s on their recent new record out on Cleopatra Records. A previously unreleased Stiv led tune ‘Ya Really Don’t Love Me’.

For a little reminder of how good the genre of fuzzed-up Garage rock could sound we have Datsuns ‘Mother Fucker From Hell’ off their debut record. For another cover and we head to NYC and Electric Frankenstein who did a split with shit islands’ own still warm but sadly deceased The Hip Priests and took on their early banger ‘Young Savage’.

The penultimate offering this week sandwiched between some Garage rock n Metal we bring the excellent Steve Vincent with the title track off his solo album ‘The Best Kept Secret In Rock n Roll’ anyone who doesn’t know is myself and Steve still wears the finest pairs of Rock n Roll slippers also known as pixie boots or macho types refer to them as Chelsea boots but to give him credit Steve has quite the collection and hopefully we can see him wearing a pair live on stage sometime in 2025.

Finally, we’ve given in to Chris and his persistent nagging to get Therapy On the playlist as well as Judas Priest but I couldn’t possibly play anything by Halford and co so relented when he informed me that Therapy? had indeed paid their respects by covering ‘Breaking The Law’ so squeeze into your spandex, strap on your studded wrist bands and pull a wheelie on your chopper as we end with ‘Breaking The Law’. Catch you next week for more quality tunes from the Pumphouse here at RPM Online HQ.

Steve Vincent – ‘The Best Kept Secret In Rock n Roll’ (Self Release)

Steve Vincent – ‘The Best Kept Secret In Rock n Roll’ (Self Release)

Steve might get his fonts from his Wordsworth word processor and his drapes from Showaddywaddy but he gets his songs from his rock n roll beating heart. Oh, and he wears the best boots no question.

Joking aside Steve comes from a world that should have ruled the airwaves in the mid-eighties from Hanoi to the Lords to the Quireboys to the Throbs, sleazy rock n roll wasn’t hair bands they were genuine rockers writing soft songs for tough guys and living the dream twenty-four seven. Here Steve spills ten songs onto the digital airwaves made with style and an unwavering dedication to his beliefs. Steve is true to those roots and continues to fly the flag for punky sleaze n roll with plenty of the real Glam carved out of the likes of Stiv, Monroe and the Dolls.

The album opens with the sprightly rocker ‘Baby Don’t Cry’ and Steve wheezes a pretty mean gob iron to boot. Steve not only has his name in lights but pretty much does the heavy lifting from the drum programming to guitars, harmonica and vocals and no doubt tea-making duties as well. Steve has a distinct gravel n whisky vocals but holds onto some decent melodies throughout and also adheres to the rules of the old school in making sure the songs have a strong chorus and melody and then you can dress it however you like from the barroom guitars to the big boy solos ‘Baby Don’t Cry’ has got the jewson lot.

Steve does a decent lyric in reminiscing about the good old days and it’s a question I often ask about where have all those people who used to frequent the Buttz n Spike Club, st Moritz, the marquee a well as the clubs across the country that would sell out for shows from some sleazy mofos. Just where have all those “cool Kids” gone? They didn’t all get jobs cut their hair and have families did they?

There’s a good energy about ‘Live For Today’ and that twelve bar boogie is made for a cowboy booted foot on the monitor and lots of man hugging whilst the guitar player windmills those solos out like their shots from a bottle of jack that’s going out of fashion. Whilst Steve does the heavy lifting throughout the record he does get a heft amount of help throughout especially on the guest solos which helps add different flavours to the songs and I do like the harp throughout ‘Forgive And Forget’ is another with a standout chorus and embracing modern technologies on ‘Living In The Digital Age’ is probably a place the likes of Steve Vincent never anticipated but has embraced and used to his advantage knocking out a couple of solo albums that might never have seen the light of day otherwise.

I think Steve kept the best til last and a vibrant ‘Stop Messing My Heart Around’, the penultimate track, enhanced with the good old underused handclaps and late-night tempo the perfect set ender before the encore gets called for. That encore is the barroom honky tonk title track. Last orders boys n girls and get your dancing slippers on. Had this been on the new Quireboys album people would be saying they’ve turned the clock back to the early days and knocked out a banger but it’s not Spikes its Steves and the honkin’ Saxophone only elevates it further in my humble opinion. Good on ya Steve this is worth keeping on on its own, a slice of pure good-time rock n roll to warm the cockles of your heart. Now whisper it quietly but the best kept secret in Rock n Roll is zipping up his best Cuban-heeled Chelsea boots and he’s ready to rock, so join him and get involved you know you want to. Buy IT!

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Steve Vincent – Paradise Alley – interview exclusive

Steve Vincent – Paradise Alley – interview exclusive
A UK based sleaze Rock band from the 90s have picked up the baton and began treading the boards again.  After a recent return to the stage at Camdens Dublin Castle Paradise Alley are back in the ring taking another swing so we thought it was about time we got comfortable with frontman Stevie Vincent and found out who the hell is Paradise Alley and where do they fit in in 2019.
Can you remember the point when you realised you wanted to be in a band?
I remember when I was a little kid being obsessed with Elvis and Glam Rock. My Uncle gave me his old Elvis signature guitar which was as big as me and I would thrash away on it singing Elvis and Sweet songs so the spark probably started there, lol. Consciously though it was probably when I was around twelve and my friends and I started to talk about having a band, it just seemed to make you really cool and I was never one of the cool kids, hahaha.


How did you find your music as a kid?
To begin with, it was just through watching Top Of The Pops every week which when you were a kid in the 70s was the law, you had to watch it. Even your parents watched it just so they could moan about these new-fangled bands making a racket. Then I became friends with this other kid who was a year older and was totally obsessed with music, regardless of the type of music, he was into it so through that friendship I just started trawling record shops for hours every weekend and being exposed to lots of different types of music and bands.

Was it tough putting a band together when you first started out compared to now in 2019?
I would say easier back then than now. You could just meet people when you were out at the pub or in record or music stores which was really organic. Plus you had lots of ways to advertise for musicians, local music stores were everywhere and had notice boards and you had Sounds, Melody Maker and Kerrang classifieds so it seemed easier to network then. Strange when you think about social media now but so many “musicians” now seem purely driven by how much money are they going to get paid or when you ask for influences they just blurt out what they like and then say I want a band like that – there isn’t a band that sounds like Guns N Roses mixed with Slayer and Perry Como as far as I know, hahahaha. I mean, I like a lot of diverse stuff, but when it comes to the music I play, all of us in the band know where we are coming from musically.


When or what was the spark that made you want to resurrect the band?
Never say never eh? I was actually in Helsinki at the time and was with my friends from Plastic Tears, Miqu and Edu and we started talking a bit about our shared history and stuff and it cam up about how we had never actually managed to tour together which was something we had mentioned in the past. Anyway, by the end of the night I had contacted Taj and asked him if he fancied us putting the band back together and carrying on the legacy.


Did you reach out to the other past members or don’t they do Rock and Roll anymore?
Other than Taj, no. We had tried that before back in 2013 and that did not work out at all. People’s heads were in different places, old habits that had caused problems in the past were still there and it just became hard work to be around. In the end we were doing it for fun and certain individuals were making it anything but so we played our last show with a rag tag line-up in June 2015 and just walked away.


You recently returned to the stage. How was it?
It felt really good, we had some fire back in the belly and the audience reaction was just like the old days. It was a bit rough round the edges but that’s rock’n’roll and as we play more shows, etc things will smooth out more.


You have finally got all the pieces of the band together tell us about the band in 2019? who what and where did you find them?
Well, we are still drummerless actually and relying on session drummers to do the shows at the moment so that’s not ideal. We have a couple of really good guys helping us out on drums but it would be good to have the role filled permanently. Sadly everyone who contacts us either assumes we are signed to Universal Music and expects a massive salary, or just does not get what we are doing musically, so the search continues. 
Taj has been in the band since 1998 and been a friend even longer (since about ’89 or ’90), I always say he is my Nasty Suicide. We work together well and we both have a shared love of Hanoi Rocks.
Ben Webster, the other guitarist we actually found through Facebook. We had been looking for ages and his name kept cropping up and in the end, his mate put him forward for it. We met up and just sat around, had a few drinks, jammed and it gelled right away. He had the right attitude and was under no illusions that we were about to get signed for 10 million dollars or any of that crap. He has definitely helped put the fire back in the belly. Ben Alexander on bass was actually a fan of the band and again we were linked through social media. We knew he played bass so when we started putting the band back together we asked him if he was up for this  That was pretty much it.


The music climate has changed massively since the 90s what are the biggest changes you’ve noticed?
How people consume music. I mean, there does seem to be a bit of a shift back to CD and vinyl and actually listening to albums rather than just random tracks which is a good thing, but also, we don’t have the whole tribe culture that was there when we were growing up. There are punks, rockers, mods new romantics, goths in the way that there used to be. I think that is really sad. No one nails their colours to the post anymore and you don’t see people having the same passion for music or bands. Mind you, how could anyone be passionate about Ed Sheeran or bloody Jess Glynne? hahahahahaha


what about new music? Have you picked up a guitar and written any material?
We are right in the middle of doing that now. When we tried back in 2013, that had been one of my hopes but no one showed any real interest. When I first spoke to Taj in 2017 about doing this, I said I wanted to move forward and not just play the same ten songs forever or I would knock it on the head. So, we are looking to release something very, very soon as a bit of a taster and then work towards a full new album sometime next year. So, we ARE writing new songs, we are demoing too and something will be coming VERY soon.


You spent time in NYC and LA have you been recently? They were always great Rock and roll towns but it seems the world is heading to hell in a handcart and not holding a bottle of jack but wearing loafers and no socks with a lovely smelling beard? Do you think sleazy Rock and Roll will ever come full circle? 
I think it will always be there as long as there are people out there showing interest. It is very niche but then, I guess it always was. Even when GnR went massive, there were a lot of confused Mums and Das and “normal” people at the live shows because it wasn’t all sweetness and light, hahaha. Look at events like HRH sleaze, there is an audience and a younger audience too. I love seeing another generation coming through wearing cool clothes again and embracing the rock’n’roll world, without that music just becomes gentrified like all our cities and towns. I mean, look at the crap we are force-fed by the mass media, it’s Starbucks /identikit bland rubbish designed not to offend or make you think. I want music that makes you go “holy fuck!”, I want the musicians to look like they landed from another planet, not like they are here to fix a leaky tap.
Haven’t been back to LA or NYC recently although I know they are both shadows of their former selves. There are plans to visit both from a band point of view, but I’m not saying more than that just yet, don’t want anyone else stealing my plans.


What new music have you been listening to? (If any)
Does the Michael Monroe band count? hahahaha. I try and listen to new stuff but most of it just leaves me cold and even when I say I have listened to something new, it usually turns out to be from the late 90s or early 2000s. I do like The Struts. Got into them when the first album came out and no one here had a clue who they were. Sadly, I can see the rough edges getting chipped away and they are becoming slicker and slicker. I hope they resist it and keep that little British edginess, but I reckon the mighty dollar will win in the end. Can’t blame em, they are there to make money, but I like my artists to have a little bit of integrity.


Will there be any other live shows? who would you like to tour with?
Of course, there will, we are back and live is where we shine. We’re back in London at The Big Red on August 10 then off to Y Lew Coch in Mach as part of the Rock’n’Roll Circus weekend on August 25. There are other dates confirmed but we’ll be announcing those soon enough. We will tour with anyone we can. I don’t want to get stuck in the nostalgia circuit though which is very easy to do. It’s lazy on the part of some sections of the industry to just lump you in with certain bands but we seem to attract all types of music fans and we aren’t out to just live in the past.


If you were to explain what your band is all about how would you best describe your sound (we all love a pigeon hole) 
oooooh, that’s sneaky, hahaha. We’re just a rock’n’roll band that takes influences from all over the place and it comes out sounding like Paradise Alley. If you wanted to narrow it down I guess I would say Aerosmith meets the Ramones….that sound like a good pigeonhole to you Dom?


If you have anything else you’d like to say nows your chance –
Just that we are glad to be back and to be moving forward, if you love rock’n’roll in all it’s forms, check us out, listen on Spotify or Amazon or one of the other streaming platforms. We are here to entertain and make rock’n’roll glamorous and fun again. The world needs a little bit of escapism right now