Thursday 18 June 2020

Dead Sheeran - Things Were Better in the Eighties



  As someone brought up on music made by groups of energetic guys and gals banging away on guitars, bass and drums (and the occasional keyboard) the idea of listening to an ep by someone sat at home during lockdown with just a laptop for company wasn't really getting my pulse pounding. It's all gonna be a bit underwhelming ain't it?

  Boy was I wrong. This is one of the year's best releases.

  Dead Sheeran is the alter ego of Paul Catten ("I have a bunch of other music out under my own name and I wanted to keep this separate"), a Sleaford Mods fan from the south eastern Herefordshire town of Ross On Wye. I played a track by him called The Fonz on a recent Just Some Punk Songs show and it turns out it was just the calling card for a terrific 6 track ep. Like the rest of the ep, it contains plenty of angry and razor sharp wordplay ("selfish bastards with enough toilet rolls to wipe a thousand arseholes"... "feds on pushbikes / cycling proficiency badge wankers / breaking up picnics / hi vis jackets and masks / try nicking the real criminals in this country... THE ONES IN FUCKING CHARGE!").

https://deadsheeran.bandcamp.com/releases

  And things continue in the same vein. Imagine half Man Half Biscuit if they were pissed off rather than wryly amused. We get spot on vignettes of puking pissheads rolling out of  'Spoons on a Sunday afternoon, self congratulatory vipers in the House Of Commons toasting their success as the death toll rises ever higher and Brexit voting gammons stalking the landscapes of dead end towns. As closing song, Wanking With Tear In My Eyes, tells us... there's nothing to see here, the country's in fucking tatters.

  It's not all topical angst though, there's also a nostalgic trip back in time to the days of Grange Hill, Hornby trains and Betamax video players. Things Were Better In The Eighties...   

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