![\"\"](\"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/rokapokalips3000x3000.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhen you begin your musical career by releasing a debut record as genre defining as \u2018Appetite For Destruction\u2019 or The Stone Roses\u2019 \u2018Self-Titled\u2019 album you\u2019re always going to get people asking if the new one is as good as that record. Dirt Box Disco have that very same albatross hanging around their necks too as their debut \u2018Legends\u2019 is easily one of the best UK punk rock records of all time in my book, yet somehow, they\u2019ve managed to dodge that metaphorical debut bullet, largely because they have consistently released strong follow up records ever since that astounding album first appeared back in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in 2023 with the imminent release of the band\u2019s eighth studio album, \u2018Rokapokalips\u2019 what strikes me now, perhaps more than ever, about the \u201calmost veteran\u201d Dirt Box Disco, is that (to my ears at least) they have more than just a proclivity for atrocious spelling in common with a certain 70s\/80s rock band from the Black Country known as Slade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay granted the opening word from singer\/guitarist\u2019s Spunk Volcano masked mouth to introduce \u2018# Bollocks\u2019 is never going to be viewed in the same endearing way as Noddy\u2019s immortal \u201cBaby, baby, baby\u201d holler, but there is just something about this all new ten track record from the Dirt Box gang that immediately makes me think of Slade\u2019s early 80s renaissance, and I\u2019m not exactly sure quite what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps it\u2019s the fact that the band (by their own workaholic standards) have been a bit quiet of late, or that whilst the terrible musical chemical laboratory experiment that helped create Dirt Box Disco will forever be embedded within the band\u2019s musical DNA, here on \u2018Rokapokalips\u2019 they\u2019ve broadened their sound palette to include a touch of ska during the verses of \u2018Kill The Music\u2019 (just like Slade embraced the Celtic jig to once again attain chart success) and in \u2018Land Of Hope & Glory\u2019 Spunk, Maff, Danny and Chris have a song that could very easily sit on a Cockney Rejects or Cock Sparrer album (and Slade were of course as equally at home playing to punks and skinheads as they were heavy rockers back in the day).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granted these are only very tenuous links though, largely used to bring an album you\u2019ve yet to hear fully to life and I should add that this is still very much the Dirt Box Disco we all know and love, albeit there are just enough new things going on to keep us all thinking, whilst also singing along, and of course smiling, as one listen to \u2018Up The Dirtbox\u2019 (fnarr, fnarr) will no doubt prove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the knockout punch that was \u2018TV Sex Show\u2019 the band\u2019s 2020 debut Weab-less record, it was always going to be tough to follow the likes of the glorious \u2018Unstoppable\u2019 and anthemic \u2018Barebones\u2019 where the band had sounded revitalised, but when you have the songwriting machine that is Spunk Volcano revving his engine and penning such instantly memorable tunes as this album\u2019s title track, the insanely hummable \u2018Cinderella\u2019s Motorhead Tattoo\u2019 and \u2018I Don\u2019t Wanna Go Without You\u2019 (yup I had to read it more than once too) you\u2019re never going to be a shortage of amazing songs with which to fill your next record. Just give top sing-a-long-a-Dirtbox \u2018Happy Pills\u2019 a play and tell me I\u2019m wrong. It\u2019s a song chock full of the band\u2019s trademark \u201cWoah Oh\u201d gang vocals, albeit here the underlying lyrical theme does appear to be a little darker than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you who have pre-ordered \u2018Rokapokalips\u2019 from Avenue Recordz directly you should be getting your CDs and LPs anytime soon, and for everybody else the album is being released on July 21st<\/sup>, but you can also hit THIS LINK<\/a> and get the masked menaces to send you your copy pronto!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And remember, \u201cWe\u2019re strong, together we are stronger, and we don\u2019t quit, Dirt Box Disco Armageddon, Rokapokalips\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Website<\/a> \/ Facebook<\/a> \/ <\/p>\n\n\n\n Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you begin your musical career by releasing a debut record as genre defining as \u2018Appetite For Destruction\u2019 or The Stone Roses\u2019 \u2018Self-Titled\u2019 album you\u2019re always going to get people asking if the new one is as good as that record. Dirt Box Disco have that very same albatross hanging around their necks too as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[95],"class_list":["post-22643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-dirtbox-disco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22645,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22643\/revisions\/22645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}