Australia, Australia, Australia! It seems that anything top-notch is coming from afar these days and powering through 2022 “Down under” has delivered time after time and it seems flipping off the year was the MO of Melbourne Rockers The Stripp.
From the great cartoon artwork, it’s obvious these rockers are all about having a good time and rockin’ out. Ten tunes between two and three minutes long keeping it short and sweet. They kick things off in style with a rollicking title track that puts the foot down and goes for it. You don’t need to concentrate to hard just know the title and shout out ‘Aint No Crime To Rock N Roll’ with your thumbs in your bullet belt and your head nodding back and forth. It’s part Scandi rock part old-school hard rock and a heap of Aussie attitude and a little bit of Bosh!
‘The Bitter End’ has a stinking attitude as the riff just cuts through the solid rhythm. Hold on a gawd damn minute it’s the backbeat of Joan Jett meets the bass grunt of Quatro that’s shoved down your ears on Ghost Town. I’m hearing comparisons of Sally Cato and her Smashed Gladys going on here. The songs come thick and fast and sound like they were born out of playing shitty venues left right and center and grinding out a style and sound born out of who they are and all they know.
The fact that Lux Noise are handling the record in Europe makes perfect sense and they should get over here pronto and hit the road with Bitch Queens and slay some audiences around the globe. ‘Witch Hunt’ has got some swing Whilst ‘Back In Action’ tunes into some fine Action Rock.
There’s no reinventing the wheel here and that’s not what The Stripp are about – They’re about picking up the blazing baton and carrying it forward – making a noise and doing it well and hopefully turning some young pups onto some good old loud hard rocking music. There’s no time for a power ballad its just foot-on wedge rockin’ out from the top to the bottom finally signing off with the shuffle of ‘Don’t Feed Me Your Lies’ with its hard n heavy tip of the hat to those who’ve gone before them and blazing a path to oblivion. Rock hard brothers and sisters and turn it fuckin’ up! The Stripp are in da house drink up.
Scumbag Millionaire / Upploppet – Split (Lux Noise) This is how a split should be done. One band you know, in this case Scumbag Millionaire, and the other- a new one on me, Upploppet. and boy what an introduction. Full tilt, no bullshit, heads-down rock and fucking roll. What a pair of bangers we have here.
Scumbags do write shit tunes it would seem and their contribution is (Don’t Say) I Didn’t Say So’ thunderous drums howling guitars and distorted vocals springing to the finish line before they inhale is how a punk rock and fuckin roll single should be and these mofos absolutely nail it. Not wanting to be outdone Upploppet kick the shit out of their instruments for a thunderous romp through the imaginatively titled ‘Born To Lose’ but forgetting the title, of course, they’re from Sweden and of course we highly recommend you pick up a copy of this before they’re all gone with the wind. Pick up here
Jerry Lehane – ‘Drinking Life’ (Rum Bar Records) A heartfelt wholesome Rock and Roll tune wrapped in memory soaked lyrics with some six-string strumming pierced with some sweet barbed solo licks sees Jerry knock out a hard-edged road worn slice of Rock and Roll with some help from Bosstone Dicky Barrett. Sure there are touches of Neil Young and Crazy Horse happening especially when the solo meanders through the chords. But its Epic in every sense of the word from the arrangement to the storytelling lyrics all adds up to a really impressive tune. Bosstones and Dogmatics couldn’t make a bad record if they tried and this is 100% proof. Check it out here
Electric Frankenstein / The Stripp – Split (Spaghetty Town Records) Whoever said rock is dead is definitely not listening to Spaghetty Town Records. They are back with a ripper of a split EP. First up is New Jersey kings of hard rockin punk Electric Frankenstein. If you aren’t familiar, where have you been?! Founded by brothers Sal and Dan Canzonieri, they’ve been knocking out their punk attitude rock and roll since the 90s, they’ve lost none of their venom and passion as ‘American Lies’ is like a cannonball being fired. Then they hit you in the guts with the beast of a tune ‘Everybody’s Dead Again’ which is an absolute banger of a tune. Worth getting hold of this 7″ for this song alone.
Second up, Melbourne Australia’s The Stripp. Who’ve created a buzz in the underground music scene down under. Fronted by Bek Taylor the band’s raw mix of high-speed sleazy hard rock with catchy riffs has had heads turning in the action rock community for their high-energy rock n roll. ‘Dice Man’ has the hallmarks of Girlschool meets something altogether more down n dirty. With their second offering being available in the video below.
Spaghetty Town has made a limited run of this 7″ on green, pink or black vinyl. Of course it’s available on all streaming and download outlets and also available from the bands direct.
Chubby & The Gang – ‘I Hate The Radio’ (Partisan Records)“I Hate the Radio” taken from the forthcoming album ‘The Mutt’s Nuts.’ sees a side step from the rip-snorting hard rockin new wave of hard core that you might have been expecting instead a soft song for hard men in the shape of I Hate The Radio. Absolute corker it is too. Check it out here in video form and then when you’re done go order the bloody album – Listen/pre-order: Here
Smashed Gladys – ‘Never Take No’ (Golden Robot Records) A little rough round the edges this is a demo that was going to make up the bands third album that never saw the light of day back in the day. With a familiar raunchy barroom rocker ‘Never Take No’ is classic Smashed Gladys. this is the third track from the album thats yet to be released. Sadly Cato sadly passed away in 2020 and Golden Robot Records are proud to bring you new material in her honour. These songs as demos for their 3rd album, which has now been remixed.
E.T. Explore Me – ‘President/Drug Me’ (Voodoo Rhythm Records) How about a bit of scuzzy disco then kids? Yeah we go tit right here from these Dutch loons. They’ve got a bit of dodgy lo-fi disco happening in their lives and these powerful grooves will have you out on the dancefloor in those silk shirts bustin moves. When they say columbia meets Trash Disco they aint messin wiv ya. This is exactly whats on offer. ‘Drug Me’ is more of the same with a funky late 70s early 80s keith Richards guitar work happenin’ – what a pair of ace tunes but don’t get me started on the video it will blow your tiny mind. Get on it here
The Chevelles – ‘Steve McQueen (I Wish I Was)’ (Wicked Cool Records) What a banger this is. From Western Australia, this is all flash guitar breaks Keith Moon drum beats and a top melody over some rip-snorting guitar riffing. the Chevelles are power poppin garage rockers with a heap of stone-cold attitude. A real sparkling single this is to be fair.
“Fuck just getting older, let’s get louder” said frontman Duane Smith and a big fat Amen to that we say. Clearly not giving a fourX we like that from our rock n rollas.
Jizzy Pearl’s LOVE/HATE – ‘Wanna Be Somebody’ (Golden Robot Records) I remember watching Jizzy in a small club near my home town and so loud were his vocals I thought they’d blown my eardrums he’d lost none of the venom in his tone and it would seem he still has one hell of a set of pipes on him as the heavy groove-laden sounds of ‘Wanna Be Somebody’ hits you like a baseball bat. Check it out by visiting Jizzy Here / Listen/buy ‘Wanna Be Somebody’ HERE
Listen to ‘Soul Mama’ HERE
Steve Conte – ‘Dog Days Of Summer’ (Wicked Cool Records) Lifted from his forthcoming new long-player Conte delves deep into the sounds of classic Rod Stewart when Rod the Mod was making better records than anyone ( well almost anyone) A real ‘Every picture’ vibe going on here. The sound of summer tweeting in the intro and outro makes way for the carefree sounds of two brothers and an awesome drummer (Charley Drayton) who played with Keith Richards in his expensive winos. A top summery tune – that’s for sure and if it’s the vibe that the album is hitting then this is the sweet spot of summer right here. It’s a Must have! Stream this bad boy here and pre order the album (‘Bronx Cheer’) from Wicked Cool Records. Website:www.stevecontenyc.com
Fake Names – EP (Epitaph Records) Fake Names, the band featuring DC punk legends Brian Baker, Michael Hampton, and Johnny Temple, fronted by Dennis Lyxzen from Refused, have surprise-released a brand new 3-track EP. The EP features guest drummer Brendan Canty (Rites of Spring, Fugazi)! and a punchy catchy ep it is too. Its bright opener has a good hook on the chorus ‘It Will Take A Lifetime’ is a brightly produced slice of post-punk with emphasis on the melody. ‘Running’ has a lot more punch as it steps into the Bob Mould, Bad Religion territory but has some great bv’s and a catchy breakdown. My pick of the three tracks is the laid back ‘Cuts You Down’ with a chilled verse leading to another catchy chorus. A very decent ep and hopefully the start and not a one off.
Seeing as Spaghetty Town released one of if not the best EP so far in 2021 we thought we’d bring you a few other of their releases via the medium of video and first up is The Stripp with ‘the Rising Tide’ which you can pre order Here
Next is a classic from Baltimore’s finest and out in September heres Ravagers with ‘Down That Road’.
Finally how about the brand new video from Chubby & The Gang? Coming Up Tough it is then. West London 5-piece Chubby and the Gang have detailed their much-anticipated second album – The Mutt’s Nuts out August 27th via Partisan – and shared its first single with accompanying music video. ‘Coming Up Tough‘ is part snapshot of modern London, part punk rager about government failure and the school-to-prison pipeline. It comes from frontman Charlie Manning Walker (aka Chubby Charles)’s own experience with one of his family members.
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