Doesn’t really need an introduction but here goes – Jesse Malin pays tribute to NYC hardcore legend and former bandmate in both D Generation and Malins St Marks Social. It features Bad Brains Legend H.R as well and you can order the 7″ via Bandcamp from Wicked Cool Records.
‘In the Shade of the Wild Oak Tree’ – from the album ‘Wrapped up in Ribbons’ by Craggy Collyde is up next and the 10″ record can be purchased from their Facebook page also shipping from the UK.
Finally, check this one from The Hawkins taken from their new album out this week on The Sign records.
If it were a six a side knock about I’d be quite pleased these bad boys were on my team some old some young some borrowed and, well, nothing Blue Check out the last six singles for August and an amazing month for releases…
Divine Horsemen – ‘Mystery Writer’ (Self Release) The first new music in thirty-three years and it’s pretty bloody decent to be fair. With the duet vocals, it’s a slow-burning Rock and Roller reminding me of when the sisters of mercy rocked it up and some old school Keith inspired Rock n Roll. As the guitars weave their merry web the melody rolls on. On the virtual B side is the chunky riff of ‘Mothers Worry’. A live cut with a bit of guts and plenty of attitude. A decent offering and great pallet taster for the new music they must be releasing soon.
Jesse Malin – ‘Todd Youth’ (Wicked Cool Records) We jumped the gun a few weeks ago when we covered this Jesse Malin release but it’s here now. With an A-side paying tribute to former bandmate and guitar legend Todd Youth Jesse has penned a pretty upbeat number and not the tear-jerking ballad you might expect and he also gets Bad Brains legend HR to join him on the song. There’s a Motown feel here and a great way to pay tribute to one hell of a player and popular musician from coast to coast and continent to continent Youth touched many and its great he’s remembered here in such a fine way. The flip side sees a funky ‘Sally Can’t Dance’ that I’m sure even Lou Reid would give a standing ovation to from the horns to the Bv’s and beyond. Malin nails it again.
Pre Cog In The Bunker – ‘Precogs Dream’ (sister Raygun Records) Italian pair churn out a hellish noise of Garage rock goodness in the shape of Precogs dreams and on a wonderfully vivid pink vinyl. It’s just Rock and Roll in the time-honoured Cramps, 60’s VU style. They hit things & chop out some phat riffs and throw in plenty of howls! Its pretty much the MO for all three tracks its been done before but it will no doubt be done another million times with varying degrees of quality. This is a decent listen and whilst the songs are all mid-tempo its pretty good. So the final track is hanging on by a thread before the breakdown which is very VU if I’m honest and there’s nothing wrong with that at all and ‘On The Run’ is my pick of the three tracks on offer here. I certainly wouldn’t object to hearing more of this when I get round to hearing the album they also released earlier this year until then this will do. Buy Here
Joe Desglose – ‘Too Much TV’ (Self Release) Joe thought he’d sneak these demo tunes out and people wouldn’t notice or more likely Facebook and their algorithm wouldn’t let it reach too many people but we’ve always liked Joe from his Breakdowns days and through his tenure with DeRellas Joe has a great pedigree and these raw song ideas show he’s lost none of that trashy fury even with just an acoustic guitar and a voice you can see and hear the songs taking shape. From the uptempo ‘Tattered Star’ through the tribute to Ms. Jett in the shape of the excellent ‘St Joan’. You have the more laid back ‘Conversations With The Girl’ which has a slightly continental feel and with the Johnny Thunders guitar break we like a lot and when this virus eases to the point where Joe can get into a studio with an electric band this might just get a lot more exciting if this is the quality of songs we can expect. Not a bad one amongst them and ‘Wedding Song’ sounds like a long lost Frankie Miller number Joe is on form and long may it continue. Check them out here
The Candy Snatchers – ‘Picture My Face’ (Fandango Records) Heres the story for these two tracks and how they’re now getting their digital birth some time after the crime so to speak. The Candy Snatchers shouldneed no introductions to be fair I’ve said on numerous occasions how immense Larry Mays vocals are and how intense he makes every record sound and its always better than the last one and this is no exception absolute stone cold classics and this band should have been Fuckin huge no make that HUGE!
“Sometime in late 1997, Matthew Odietus handed Jake Starr a DAT with two new Candy Snatchers songs on it for a split 7” with Adam West on Fandango Records. Jake chose “Picture My Face,” a raucous cover of the Teenage Head classic, and released it as FR-012 limited to 510 copies. The 7″ single sold out nearly overnight and has never been repressed or released digitally… until now. This version of “Treda Douche” is the first take on the song and was originally released on a rare LP compilation on Intensive Scare Records. Both songs have now been remastered and are available for the first time digitally. These two songs also feature Black Market Baby drummer Tommy Carr, who was briefly in the band in between permanent drummers. Fandango is so proud to re-release these songs for your listening pleasure. Enjoy, kids!” I couldn’t have said it better myself
Chaser – ‘Look Alive’ (Self Release) Its hard not to admire any band who donates 100% of the band’s proceeds from record sales will be donated to Equal Justice Initiative, Educational First Steps, Crisis Aid International, and Surfrider Foundation so here you go fill yer boots with the video of the track taken from the album of the same title. Right out of the Bad Religion pocket.
Here are some details of where to pick up a physical copy –
The track, now streaming on all digital platforms, appears on the band’s upcoming ‘Look Alive’ 7″/EP out on September 4. Vinyl copies of the 7″ have sold out, but digital copies and merch are available at www.chaserpunkrock.com.
The sold-out ‘Look Alive’ 7″ was limited to 333 copies, and available worldwide in 4 different color variants via Thousand Islands Records (Canada), Sound Speed Records (USA), SBAM Records (Europe) and Pee Records (Australia).
“October The trees are stripped bare of all they wear but what do I care”
October
We’re building up a head of steam as RPM goes live and one of the first thing Craggy does is pick up the cowpunk noisemakers Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and their ‘Poor Until Payday’ album (Oh yeah the one he didn’t review) That aside October saw Fraser jet off to warmer climates before chasing the Damned around the country and flying to Holland for Helldorado. But more of that later.
Several of us bought ‘Speed’ no not the drug but the fantastic new album from Swedish action rockers Scumbag Millionaires it is a thoroughbred non-stop wall of noise a turbocharged ride of exciting punked up Rock n Fuckin’ Roll and it deservedly got a rave review round here.
Whilst we’re on the subject of new records it seemed pretty much everyone picked up a copy of the Primal Scream‘Memphis Recordings’ and most scratched their heads wondering how the band ditched these swinging versions for the more straight rock versions that made the commercial release but we’re glad it did see the light of day that’s for sure.
Bringing up exciting new bands a promo for ‘You Say I’m Too Much’ by Estrons flew into our emails and proceeded to work its way around the review team as those that did hear it wanted to review it but the one pulling the lucky straw was Johnny Hayward who rushed out and picked up a copy and a ticket to see them live on the strength of the record that blew him away. One of the reasons why we do this is because we are music fans and discovering new bands and albums still gives us a buzz when it happens and especially when it’s this good.Certainly a potential album of the year right there.
Other notable releases this month were the magnificent Virginmarys‘Northern Sun Sessions’ and ‘Master Volume’ from the Dirty Nil. We also got stuck into a couple of fantastic interviews – firstly Gerald got Tyla to sit down long enough to tell us all about his new album as well as more in-depth responses to some burning questions Gerald wanted to ask someone he greatly admired it was the perfect time to get the exclusive lowdown on the new ‘In Vino Veritas‘ album that was due out in November which we were lucky enough to review first I do believe. As it goes Gerald also picked up the honour of reviewing that to which he gave it a glowing report and one that will certainly be near the top of his end of year list for best album.
Another album we got to review first and another that would easily be a contender for album of the year and that’s the debut solo album from Role Model frontman Rich Ragany. ‘…Like We’ll Never Make It…’ is a beautiful, skillful master class in songwriting and showed another side to the guy we call Rags and we were the first to ask the question of how this guy isn’t everywhere? How he’s not on the cover of music mags? Seriously it’s a weird business sometimes but we get it and so do others such has been the response from people who’ve taken the time to sit down and listen. Anyway, Released via pledge it gets its CD birth in the new year with a release show that will sell out fast and it has a supporting cast that makes me blush thinking how good it’s going to be and RPM will be there too.
I also got to interview one of my favourite players the one and only Alvin Gibbs. We chatted about his forthcoming album as well as his time with Iggy and Cheap and Nasty and found out about Alvin having a degree in History which isn’t something most musical artists can boast as well as a few choice stories about his love of the Subs as well as his book Neighbourhood threat (now entitled ‘Some Weird Sin’) having a makeover with a new chapter and title and a book I can’t recommend highly enough. It really is one of the finest books about touring and being in a band out there and absolutely captivating read and one you won’t want to put down.
Also if that wasn’t enough we also got the lowdown on The Hip Priests new album and it was exclusively revealed that the new album that’ll hit the shops in the new year will be called…Nah click the link and read it yourself. As well as the new album we spoke about playing in a band on shit island and about the expansion to a five-piece.
We could go on and on about all the great records released in October this year but we’d run out of time and we need to review the live shows we took in. So Fraser made sure I mentioned his Kiss Kruise and the fact that he finally got to meet Vinnie Vincent but knowing the kiss set up I can’t see if its Vinnie or if he sent his mother instead with a note explaining.
There were so many shows in October Johnny went gig crazy taking in a diverse range of genres from the Canadian thrash-punks Voivod who RRRRooooared into Cardiff and put on a fantastic display then he headed East to Newport Rock City when he spent a rather splendid evening with Ancient Shapes where he declared the evening to be such a success that it was one of the best gigs he’d been to all year and the only thing missing was the sold out sign on the door.
We also took in Classic rock when Leigh Fuge went to the Tramshed to see Glen Hughes where he was suitably impressed whilst Nev went across the river to see the finest in Americana done acoustically by none other than Chuck Prophet who was supported on the night by Jesse Malin a firm favourite of the team here. It was certainly all happening out West meanwhile in old London town Armitage happened upon a show where The Dirty Strangers followed a magnificent performance by Rich Ragany and the digressions but The headliners from Los Angeles The Brutalists made it a memorable evenings entertainment guvnor.
Sadly October wasn’t all wine and roses as we got the news that Biters were going on an indefinite Hiatus but Tuk later revealed he was heading into the studio to record a solo album which we look forward to in 2019. however, the real tragedy unfolded in California as the news swept social media that Our friend and incredible musician Todd (Youth) Schofield lost his life. It was one of those news stories you hoped was fake news and just an internet trolls mischief but it was later confirmed by his good friend Skye Vaughan-Jayne. Todd will be really missed by a lot of people most notably his daughters and close friends. Todd was a gent we had the pleasure of meeting several times when he toured the UK as part of Jesse Malin’s band and also when out with Chelsea Smiles. When Johnny was the head honcho at Uber Rock he had the pleasure of interviewing the guy who was very supportive of an alternative website championing rock n roll and for all the records he played on we salute you, Mr Youth, you will never be forgotten.
Before the month was out we still found time to review some fine records most notably Martins breakdown of the new Nicotine Pretty EP ‘Real Life Glories’ whilst Dom forensically picked through the charred remains of Deathtraps ‘Gotta Get Some’ and I even managed to take in a couple of their live shows where the songs came to life and were subsequently throttled to death through the medium of garage punk rock n roll it wasn’t pretty but I liked it – no I fuckin’ loved it! – great stuff!
Gerald flew in his Prophets Of Addiction album review which again impressed us at HQ whilst Ben was mightily Impressed with King Brothers and their wild Garage beats. There was even time for Jeff Dahl to drop by with a new mini album in tow which he recorded in Sweden with the excellent Demons. It was next month when I got to put some questions about his work and plans.
RPM was saddened to hear the news rippling across social media this evening that our friend and awesome guitarist Todd Youth has passed away. Details are unannounced thus far but our condolences and sadness go out to Todd’s family and friends. The Rock and Roll world has lost another good one and its light shines a little dimmer this evening.
We first met Todd when he played the UK with Chelsea Smiles and he was such a lovely humble sweet guy and we further met him when he was playing as part of Jesse Malins St Marks Social. Todd was a cool guy who turned in some awesome rock n fuckin roll records when he played as Chelsea Smiles and we got excited when he surfaced playing in Fireburn recently and we were happy to give column inches to their records. His current bandmate Ras Israel Joseph had this to say
On the passing of my friend, and my Brother Todd Youth
There are no words to express how sad I am at the passing of my brother Todd Youth. The music he made will forever be remembered, and I’m so thankful that I was able to work with him and that we created Fireburn together. Todd and I were living separate lives doing hardcore and reggae music. We met each other in 1992 and then never spoke again until 2017. We created Fireburn within two weeks of knowing each other and finished writing two of my favorite hardcore records that I ever worked on: “Don’t stop the youth”, and “Shine”. Closed casket records signed the band and we were on our way. We had great shows and lots of people showed up to them. We toured with gbh from England, hung out with the guys from Negative Approach, and got our blessings about our music and our records from the Bad Brains. I know that Todd is now resting in peace and I know that Krishna is taking his soul to a better place. He was a devout Hari Krishna and The Devout human being. Todd wherever you are I hope that we will make music again one day. Life is a circle and I know I’ll meet you again in that circle brother. We will meet again. Rest In Peace, Rest In Power, rest my brother. I am saddened that we cannot make music again together, but I am happy that you are finally going home to be with Krishna that Haile Selassie has finally giving you peace and comfort my brother. one day, I too will lay down and die. This body that I ware is temporary. I will probably be alone. They’re probably be no one around me. However I know that I will join you and all of our other friends in that good place and we’ll all see each other again. I’m sorry you died Todd. I’m sorry I can’t see you again. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you. You are my friend and my brother and I love you. Rest in peace my brother. May your visit to our Heavenly Home be full of peace, and comfort, and closeness to Krishna. Haribo. Haile Selassie I. FIREBURN.
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