December 2015 | Punk, Rattle 'n' Roll

A few thoughts on 2015

Well, the year will soon be over and 2016 will be ushered in no doubt with much regretful imbibing of alcohol in the process. This is a wee baby of a blog though, sadly we hadn’t gotten around to sorting out and fully bringing it into the world until the year was almost done an dusted and it’s been at a time where I’ve had a fair bit on and couldn’t really justify logging many hours on scribbling opinions and articles on bands I like and feel others should like too. So here’s a quick rundown of somethings we wish we’d been up and about in time to cover and of what I think are the best albums of 2015… for what’s its worth.

Firstly we remember Brandon Carlisle drummer with the legendary pop punkers Teenage Bottlerocket who was so suddenly and tragically taken from us at the age of 36 in November. I haven’t been able to listen to them since without nearly shedding a tear and his loss sent a palable shockwave through the relatively small and tightknit community of Pop Punk both in the US and UK.

There’s a tribute and benefit gig for the Carlisle family organised by Fraser of the Murderburgers and it’s scheduled for 23^rd January at the venue: 13^th Note, Glasgow. 8pm start and £5 on the door, money raised will be going to the Carlisle family to cover the costs of the funeral and medical expenses.

Bands booked to appear are:

Teenage Rammyrocket – a TBR tribute act made up of members of The Murderburgers, Kimberly Steaks and Lemonaids.

Manchester’s – Don Blake catchy stuff played by a great band who go from strength to strength whenever I’ve seen them live.

Glasgow’s: The Lemonaids– Surf Pop Punk inspired by the Queers, Ramones et al.

A great night of great music for a great cause. Check out the facebook page here for more up to date information when posted-

https://www.facebook.com/events/426289124226951/

Farewell of course as well to Lemmy, a man who lived the rock n’ roll lifestyle 24/7 and wonderfully hang up free and with no affectations. He was what he was, and if there are any such things as ‘rock n’ roll clichés’ it’s probably because he invented pretty much all of them. Let’s be honest though and admit we’re all a little bit amazed that he lasted to 70 given his diet, drinking and intake of class As over the years. How Death had the nerve to come for him is anyone’s guess. His finest moment for me will always be the raucous appearance on The Young Ones which sent school boys up and down the nation shaking their heads to ‘Ace of Spades’ … and not a pot noodle in sight.

Also we bid farewell to John Bradbury the late drummer of the Specials and The Specials AKA and his own band the Soul based JB Allstars. Bradbury had joined the Specials shortly prior to their break out year and the founding of 2tone and he subsequently would go on to join the post break up version of the band known as The Specials AKA. In later years he would play again with one of the reformed line ups for the Specials reunion tour.

ALBUMS of 2015:

My own personal choice for four of the best from the crop of albums which graced my stereo this year are (in no particular order)-

Giuda: ‘Speak Evil’ on Burning Heart Records

A rip roaring trawl through some proper Bootboy era Glam Rock reimagined for the 21^st century and played by Italians. Slade meets Streetpunk and all carried off with platform booted panache. This is their 3^rd and possibly best album yet. For a fuller review check out the earlier post on this blog titled ‘Viva Giuda!’

Teenage Bottlerocket: ‘Tales from Wyoming’ on Rise Records

The sixth and we hope not the last album to be recorded by the band prior to Brandon’s tragic death. TBR have matured well over their existence and it all accumulates in this release which sees a broader, deeper scope of sound whilst still retaining the recognisable TBR formula on the whole Pop Punk thing. As with all the other TBR albums made after Kody joined this one also sees Kody sharing frontman duties with Ray Carlisle and it’s a neat trick as both have very different vocal stylings and bring something entirely different to the songs they’re entrusted to sing.

I loved nearly every minute of it although the ballad-esque ‘For the First Time’ seemed a little out of place tagged on as the final track and had the effect of jarring the listening experience. It’s inclusion is evidence of the band wanting to add a bit more subtlety to their repertoire and it’s no bad thing to have that diversity of tracks rather than wall to wall Pop Punk all the time. This album is evidence enough of why TBR became one of the preeminent bands on the scene.

Desperate Journalist: self-titled on Fierce Panda Records

Ohh! Lovely! Bit of brooding post-punk C86 styled Jangly guitar brilliance. You could almost forgive your ears for making you think this was a period 1980s indie band rather than the young fresh faced 21st century group of talented so n’ so’s which they are. At times the homage to the whole Post Punk/Darkwave thing can become a tad too obvious with song titles such as ‘Control’ and things aren’t helped in that respect by the band also being named after a Peel Session dig by The Cure directed toward formally very important music journalist (and now talking head for hire for all manner of naff retrospective documentaries on BBC4) Paul Morley. But hours of fun could be had by dissecting every minor yet important influence which goes into the melting pot. They’re really very, very good and in an wider indie scene which seemingly can only take its cues from Britpop, the 1960s, New Wave or the more mainstream side of the genre designed for radio playability it’s nice to have something more darker and created of far more earthier substance than the light fluff often tagged as being ‘Indie’ nowadays. Desperate Journalist hark back to the cold dark days after the joyous Punk boon in local bands doing it for themselves, the soundtrack not of the suburbs but of the greying concrete New Town, empty streets and the damp mid-winter of the Thatcher years. Angsty but wonderfully joyous in spirit at the same time and I’ve found them the perfect musical accompaniment to getting ready for a night down at the local ‘Goth Night’ in my home town. They will no doubt draw comparisons to Joy Division, Bauhaus, Echo & The Bunnymen, Siouxie & The Banshees and the early Cure and The Smiths amongst the most obvious on your first few listens but frankly they’ve added a lot more to the equation than just a rehashing the Darkwave sound of old. It’s fresher and far more exciting than being a simple retrospective group. Jo Bevan’s vocals are wonderfully eerie and uplifting cutting through the jangle and excellently crafted music the rest of the band provides. I’m in awe of this band and for once I agree with the plaudits which have been given them by the usually slow on the uptake glossy magazine music press. (a bit of a cheat as this is a 2014 release)

The Spitfires: ‘Response’ on Catch 22 Records

Let’s get it out of the way now, lead singer Billy Sullivan sounds a lot like Paul Weller in full Post-Punk Jam era swing. The comparison is unavoidable as Sullivan clearly wants to sound like the Modfather but the thing is you frankly don’t care. He’s very good at it and he’s got his own set of hard hitting and emotive songs to back him up. This band of Neo-Mods is well honed and tight and clearly influenced by the Jam rather than say fellow Mod 2^nd Wavers the Merton Parkas or even the more recent Ocean Colour Scene but they’ve added enough of their own style and the here and now to make sure they don’t fall into the simple ‘era tribute act’ trap which so often befalls other bands who wear their influences on their short sleeved button down oxford shirts. According to the band’s website they’ve had interest from Paul Weller and even The Specials and have supported both (to say nothing of the sponsorship interest from Ben Sherman) thus further cementing their connection to the late 1970s/1980s Mod and Rude Boy revivals. Thankfully The Spitfires are not destined for the ever decreasing circles of playing the retrospective scene circuit such as Scooter Rallies or Punk/Skin festivals. They’re far too good to become just another roster filler for middle aged men who despite their middle aged spread and thinning hairlines still squeeze into the fashions of their youthful years and get misty eyed and nostalgic whilst drinking and dancing to this sort of thing. It’s about time we had a young band who married the best of the Mod revival with an undeniably modern twist and sound and they’ll appeal to the broader music fan base of whatever passes for the Indie market now.

Viva Giuda! The ‘Bovva Boy’ Glam Revivalists.

We love Giuda here at PRnR and follows of my Facebook page will be able to attest to that having been plagued with postings of videos and updates on their output for the last few years. Giuda are former punks who shifted their sound to whole heartedly adopt not just the music but even the fashion styles of the UK’s late Glam scene and it’s more earthy appeal to the hordes of Booted flare jeaned terrace terrors who favoured the more yobbish and rock tinged efforts of Slade, The Sweet and of course The Jook proving that removed from the nation which spawned the sound and the subsequent scandals surrounding its biggest pop star (and to an extent the entire decade itself) that foot stomping, common as muck Glam still has a cachet. I was an instant convert on hearing them for the first time and I love the concept, since the 1970s UK music scenes of Glam Pop & rowdy Pub Rock in turn spawned Punk why not turn the clock back musically and explore those roots?

It works a treat. Personally I’d rather have a band like Giuda than a million Mohican & spikey leather wearing carbon copies of the UK82 and Street punk sound which still steadfastly refuses to acknowledge it is itself a poor recreation of the first wave. This is fresh; it’s oddly new even though it’s unapologetically retrospective and more importantly its bloody good music.

I’m a bit of a fan of the era which they so lovingly attempt to recreate I like the no-man’s land appeal of it, sitting somewhere between naff prog stadium rock, the optimistic bubble-gum pop or post hippie more experimentally earnest Glam of Bowie and Bolan in which sits a plethora of near forgotten bands who produced heavy sounding, thumping beat laden and unashamedly yobby soundtrack to a thousand nights on the tiles and hurried snogs outside of the social club disco. Sadly history has not been kind to the bands of the Boot Boy years, most formed far too late to capitalise upon the initial wave of interest in the music and failed to develop too soon to then cash in on punk. It’s an era (apart from the well-worn clichés and aforementioned scandals) which is often ignored or forgotten by most everyone who touts the history of subcultures, pop and youth cults and therefore is seemingly only worth mentioning (if at all) in passing before everything is supposed to have got better with Punk allegedly kicked over the traces (but really just changing the fads and inventing new rules)

Giuda have chosen to even dress in ‘period costume’ but fear not, no Noddy Holder silver disc covered top hats or wildly impractical platform knee length zip up silver space boots here. Rather the more every day and harder looking image which was the norm amongst those young working class men of the era who adapted the established Skinhead & Suedehead aspects of their older brother’s wardrobe, an odd mix of post-Skin, Post-Suede and terraced yob fashion with a trend conscious nod to current high street fads such as flares and horrendous knitwear. Lots of blue double denim, Crombie styled coats, longer (compared to the preceding working class Skin off shoot fashions) hair with mutton chops on the sides, high upturned flared jeans showing off the battered boots underneath, football club scarves worn in every way imaginable and even hanging off the belt loop on your jeans and of course more often than not the ubiquitous clumpy ‘bother’ boot be it ex-Army, work or Dr Marten in origin. It was never quite a scene in itself as say Mod or Skin was, more a general ‘look’ and if any music can be accredited as being ‘theirs’ in the same way that Soul was to Mods or Reggae was to the Skinheads then it could be argued Glam Pop was it. Ah yes, the stuff of Richard Allan pulp novels indeed, worth a read for the fashion tips alone if you can stomach their dated language and un-PC attitudes of the period in which they were written. Giuda though appear to have taken The Jook’s no nonsense look as their main style guide rather than the more scruffy generic ‘bovva’ boy.

Since they formed and have gained more acceptance and acknowledgment not just in the ether of the online world but getting favourable mentions now in glossy music press mags. They’ve also of course spawned the inevitable rush of sound-a-like and copycat groups, the bandwagon jumping has begun with some truly terrible efforts being thrown up in the wake. I’ve no wish to name names but there’s a band who just murder the concept and it’s all rather painful. Thankfully there are also some fairly decent attempts as well which is good for fans of this sort of thing.

Giuda prove that given enough time even the most unlikely of music style revivals can sound fresh and exciting again if injected with just enough tongue in cheek self-awareness, wit, style and obvious excellent musicianship. Giuda are a band which loves and lives the music of the decade that taste largely forgot and do much to remind us that there was a simmering of working class based 1970s pop-rock music which existed on another rough n’ ready level to radio fodder of Mud, Can and Slade et al and thrived well before punk threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Viva Giuda indeed.

Their new album: Giuda Speaks Evil is out now on Burning Heart Records.

Hello world!

Punk, Rattle ‘N’ Roll was originally a radio show that ran locally in a small provincial city from 2009 until 2013 and showcased (as the title hopefully conveyed) the best in current and classic Punk, Rockabilly, Punkabilly (and many variations of that ‘Billy’ theme) Freakbeat, Garage Rock as well as Dark Cabaret and yes even Blues & Jazz. To be honest the show simply reflected the host’s many interests in music.

Now it’s the tile of this blog which will feature the odd review, gig report, band update and opinion pieces on everything from subcultural style and fashions to individual scene histories. In that way it is completely unoriginal to hundreds of other Blogs but I hope you’ll dip into it now and then anyway regardless of that admission.