Is it my imagination or are there a growing number of great bands springing up to voice their discontent about the current political landscape, both at home and abroad. There's always these types of band around but there seems to be a proliferation at the moment. I suppose a hypocritical and austere Tory government, the threat of an idiot taking over The White House plus concerns over refugees, terrorism and dick waving superpowers provides plenty of grist for socially concious folk to sink their teeth into.
Today's update features 2 men and a beatbox from Wolverhampton, England. Enemies Of Promise are a politically charged melodic punk band influenced by the likes of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, The Three Johns and The Skids. Those 2 men are Ade Bailey (guitar/vocals) and Rob Shinfield (bass/vocals) and they released their debut album last year. A follow up to the ep/mini album Please Enjoy Your Punk Rock Responsibly, it's called Heroes And Villains and it's been posted for your listening pleasure here : https://soundcloud.com/enemies-of-promise.
It's a great shame that despite the growing number of great bands, there still seems to be no coverage in the mainstream media so if you come across music you like (either here, elsewhere online or even better on a street corner in your hometown), spread the word. Post their music. Share their links. Keep the momentum growing. A fucked up world deserves a suitably scathing soundtrack.
Featuring an intro by the late Tony Benn, this is Democracy....
Thanks to that bastion of good taste Ashley Colman for pointing me in the direction of today's song. It's not the first time I've discovered great music because of him and I'm sure it won't be the last.
Hazard have been together since 2010 and are from Luton, England. According to their Facebook profile, they're currently unsigned but after a long break from touring they're now back on the road with a number of gigs scheduled, culminating in an appearance at the Rebellion Festival in August.
A 3 piece featuring Conor Hussey (guitar/vocals), Josh Murphy (bass/vocals) and Joe Smith (drums/vocals), their releases thus far include a single called Machine, a self titled ep and their 2014 debut album Nothing Changes. You can check them out here : http://hazardbanduk.bandcamp.com/.
Influenced by the likes of The Clash, Rancid, Johnny Thunders, Nirvana and a host of others but adding their own fresh spin to the classic punk sound, this is a song off the album called Police Oppression......
Police Oppression, cracking down on kids again. Hey man, what did I do? To be honest I have no clue. I'm out now, I need to go. Gotta get ready for that rock show. Hey man, who I am? I'm just your number one fan.
I don't wanna walk at the streets at night. Can't be asked to wait around and fight my way back home.
Dancing away to my favorite song, haven't seen my friends in so long. They're out there smoking weed, I refrained as it made my eyes bleed. The police just walk right in, looked like they'd hit the jackpot win. They round up everyone, now breaking rocks in the red hot sun.
I don't wanna walk at the streets at night. Can't be asked to wait around and fight my way back home.
Police Oppression, cracking down on kids again. Hey man, what did I do? To be honest I have no clue. The police just walk right in, looked like they'd hit the jackpot win. They round up everyone, now breaking rocks in the red hot sun. Breaking rocks in the red hot sun. Breaking rocks in the red hot sun. Breaking rocks in the red hot sun. Breaking rocks in the red hot sun.
One of my favourite songs of the year thus far is from the new album, Bricks And Mortals, by Durham punks The Relitics.
Forming in 2014, they feature Carol Nichol (vocals), Mick Hall (guitars/vocals), Neil Tunstall (bass/vocals) and Vince Ward (drums). Their songs deal with social and political issues that affect all of us and their influences include the likes of The Clash, New Model Army, Bad Religion, PiL, The Stranglers and Nick Cave.
2015 saw the release of debut ep Whitewash (check out the title track here : https://therelitics.bandcamp.com/releases) and they've just started taking orders for the new album ("For anyone wanting to buy a copy of our debut album, Bricks and Mortals, please send £7.50 (£5 plus £2.50 postage/Paypal fees - UK only) via:-
Los Pepes first appeared on this blog back in 2014 with a track from their debut album called Guilty Pleasures and they reappeared last year with one called Say Goodbye. Fast forward to 2016 and they're back again with a song from the forthcoming new album called All Over Now and it's out on Wanda Records in May.
One of the best punk infused power pop bands around at the moment, they're playing their first show of the year tonight (26th), on home soil at Nabucca, London and will play Pipeline in London on March 4th. They'll be embarking on a European tour around the time of the album's release and the dates are :
Feb 26th UK, London - Nabucca March 4th UK, London - Pipeline May 6th UK, Nottingham - Cameleon Arts Cafe w/The Breakdowns May 19th FRA, Paris - La Méchanique Ondulatoire May 20th FRA, Toulouse - TBC May 21st ESP, Valles / Asturias - Asociación Bocanegra May 22nd ESP, Bilbao - Satélite T (early show) May 22nd ESP, Bilbao - TBC (get in touch with dany@microsurco.com) May 23rd ESP TBC (get in touch with dany@microsurco.com) May 24th ESP, Madrid - Gruta 77 May 25th ESP, Zaragoza - La Lata De Bombillas May 26th FRA, Lyon - Le Trokson May 27th FRA, Besancon - Bar de l'U May 28th GER, Tübingen - Epplehaus May 29th GER, Munich - Unter Deck May 30th AUT, Vienna - Arena Beisl May 31st CZE, České Budějovice - Velbloud Music Bar June 1st GER, Kassel - Goldgrube June 2nd GER, Berlin - Schokoladen June 3rd GER, Hamburg - Der Clochard June 4th GER, Essen - Freak Show June 5th BEL, TBC (get in touch with bazooka-booking@live.de)
One of a couple of new songs they've posted on Facebook, this is a snappy little number called Can't Stand It.....
Hidden Spots were from Chattanooga, Tennessee and formed following the break up of The Jack Palance Band. In 2007 they released a split ep alongside Dan Padilla, The Tim Version and Tiltwheel and they also released a few 7"s (Important Transmissions, Secret Noise and a split with Black Rainbow). The song featured today though was on their highly rated Hundred Million Voices album. Released on Mauled By Tigers records it came out in 2009.
The line up on the album was Eric Nelson (vocals/guitar), Mike Pack (bass/vocals), Buddha (aka Brian D. Bush) (guitar/vocals) and Ryan Maddox (drums/vocals). Bands they subsequently featured in include Basement Benders, Dark Rides and Future Virgins.
Singing about politics and fucked up shit that makes them sick, this is Dance, Dance, Dance......
Taking their name from a song by Generation X, Youth Youth Youth were a Canadian hardcore punk band who featured Rob Mallion (guitars), Brian Taylor (vocals), Paul Bishop (bass) and Brian McCullough (drums).
Active during the first half of the 80's, they weren't overly prolific, much of their output was in the form of demos and/or cassettes but there was a rather cool remastered anthology of their work released a couple of years ago : https://youthyouthyouth.bandcamp.com/releases.
Originally recorded in 1983, this is Pop Song.....
The Domestics are an English hardcore punk band from Sudbury and Ipswich who got together in 2011. Influenced by the likes of Discharge, Chaos UK, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Poison Idea etc the current line up consists of James Domestic (vocals), Rhodes (bass/vocals), Ted Mint (guitar), Ed Ache (guitar/vocals) and Simon Battery (drums/vocals).
Their songs are short, sharp explosions of blistering sound whilst the lyrics are angry and relevant. You can check their back catalogue out here : https://thedomestics.bandcamp.com/.
They're going to be touring Europe in May alongside 2 Sick Monkeys and are still looking for a couple of gigs so if you can help out get in touch with them :
CAN ANYONE HELP PLEASE? The Domestics / 2 Sick Monkeys European Tour - May 2016 We're looking for 2 or 3 more gigs to fill it up, if anyone out there can help us out at all we'd be very grateful. Please get in touch through either bands facebook pages or at: booking@2sickmonkeys.com Thank you smile emoticon
May 2nd - Pino, Gronningen, Netherlands May 3rd - Independet Record Outlet, Amsterdam, Netherlands May 4th - Kulturcafe, Leipzig, Germany May 5th - GIG NEEDED - GERMANY (south west) / SWITZERLAND / FRANCE (north east) May 6th - GIG NEEDED - GERMANY (south west) / SWITZERLAND / FRANCE (north east) May 7th - Bar de Capucin, Lyon, France May 8th - GIG NEEDED - FRANCE (Calais / Dunkirk / Lille)
From the new ep, this is a scathing fuck you to the mundanity of the workplace called I Love My Job.....
IT’S GOT STAFF APPRAISAL IT’S GOT MEETING ROOMS AN H.R. DEPARTMENT AND A SWIPECARD ENTRY SYSTEM
I LOVE MY JOB
IT’S GOT POLICIES & PROCEDURES ITS GOT A STAFF CANTEEN A BACKED UP TOILET AND A FUCKED UP CHRISTMAS PARTY
I LOVE MY JOB
IT’S GOT POLICIES AND COMPLIANCE TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES AND A HARDLINE ATTITUDE TO LUNCHTIME DRINKING…
The Moans are a Californian 3 piece pop punk band who's members are from Lodi, Stockton and Sacramento. The line up of Matt (Bennett) Crap (vocals/bass), Jeff (Hollandsworth) Reset (drums/vocals) and Danny Secretion (guitar/vocals) are also in a number of other bands (The Crappys, Hit Reset, The Secretions to name just 3) whilst Matt is also head honcho of Outloud! Records.
Formed from the ashes of Ramones tribute band The Shitty Ramones back in 2011, they sing about cannibals, zombies, ghost ships, graverobbers from outer space and demonic possession and have thus far released an album (From Underground), a split 7" with The Hung Ups and an ep (Arrested For Possession). You can check them out here : http://themoans.bandcamp.com/
This was on the split 7" and I'm fairly confident in saying it's about the Russian pensioner Tamara Samsonova who would kill, cook and eat a number of people over a period of 2 decades. It's called Tamara's Got A Problem.....
Petrol Girls are a "Raging Feminist Post-hardcore" 4 piece from South East London. They formed in 2013 and feature Ren Aldridge (vocals), Joe York (guitar/vocals), Liepa Kuraite (bass/vocals) and Manfred Herzog (drums).
Their first release was a s/t 3 track ep which came out a couple of years ago and they've just followed it up with the Some Things ep (this features 3 new songs plus the 3 tracks from the debut). You can check them out here : https://petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/.
Taking their name from Les Petroleuses (women from the Paris Commune who allegedly burned down much of the city in May 1871 in protest at the government, allegations that were found to have no basis, Les Petroleuses were just a convenient scapegoat) they're a band who are an outlet for vocalist Ren's "visceral and political rage."
This is the video for the lead track on the new ep, the son's called Slug and it deals with depression and the borders prohibiting the free movement of human beings....
Back into the sludge There's less of me now Less human somehow Void of empathy Void of energy There's less of me now Less human somehow
The air is stale and thick with sleep Black mould rises all across the sweating walls The borders close, defences rise Hear no warmth in how some humans are described
These are the walls these are the words I can see them forming blocks around my days
Go through the motion With no emotion
Where are you now Lost in this fear Run to nowhere Nothing is clear
These are the walls these are the words I can see them forming blocks around my days I won't fear life while I'm alive Even as the colours melt into the grey
Airbomb got together in 1996 in Romford, London and took their name from a loud firework. Influences range from The Ramones, Rancid and The Misfits to more metal oriented acts like Motorhead and Twisted Sister.
1998 saw the release of debut album Look Out! and they followed it up in 2005 with P.N.U.K.
No spring chickens, they were just a bunch of veterans of their local punk scene who wanted to put out some quality punk music. I think it's fair to say they did just that.
I'm currently sat at my pc contemplating adding another addition to the growing number of great songs already posted on this blog (I've just noticed today's update will be number 800) and I'm looking out of the window at a clear blue sky and a blazing sun. I'm almost tempted to shut the pc down and head off to the beach and to be honest, I quite possibly would do that but even though it's sunny outside, I'm in the north west of England and it's too bloody cold!
But having had thoughts of the beach enter my mind, I've decided that today we're going to have something summery on Just Some Punk Songs so without further rambling on, this is a song that's inspired by all those great 60's classics about having fun in the sun and if that wasn't enough it even features one of The Ramones.
The Anderson Stingrays are from Rochester, New York and have been combining rock n roll, partying at the beach and sci fi since 2010. You've possibly already worked out that they take their name from the vintage Gerry Anderson tv series and you won't be surprised to learn that musically they're influenced by The Ramones, 50's style rock n roll and 60's garage rock. You can check them out on Bandcamp : https://theandersonstingrays.bandcamp.com/.
The song you'll find below was a single from last year and features Aaron Stingray (vocals, guitar), Matthew Mischief (bass) and Richie Ramone (drums). It's a snappy, fuzzed up burst of fun so why not hitch a ride to Summerville Beach.....
The Kobanes have been around in one form or another since 2008 and are not really a band for the politically correct or those who are easy to take offence. For the rest of us though, their tongue in cheek juvenile asininity is really rather endearing.
They recently released a new album called Lethal Injection and it's been made available "name your price" along with all their other material, : https://kobanes.bandcamp.com/. It features a bunch of dumb songs about dead Ramones, mongoloids, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the often unfairly overlooked 3rd installment of John Carpenter's Halloween series and it's really rather good.
Accidente are a hard edged but pretty damn catchy Spanish Anarcho-Punk band who are based between Getafe and Madrid and who have been together since 2010. They released a debut, S/T album in 2011 and followed it up a couple of years later with Amistad y Rebelion (Friendship And Rebellion). Round about this time they toured the USA and Mexico.
Their influences include The Vicious, Massysteri, Leftover Crack, Minor Threat and The Clash. As they sing in their native Spanish, Its not easy to understand the lyrics but fortunately they provide the English translations on their bandcamp page https://accidente.bandcamp.com/album/pulso
They've just released album number 3, Pulso, and you can snap it up for free here : http://accidentepunk.blogspot.com.es/. This summer they'll be heading back to the USA for a tour which will include an appearance at the Latino Fest in New York.
This is the title track of the new album .....
Dignity does not mean you do not scream when it hurts when you bit the dust and you are overcome by your demons It means watching the fire in your eyes it is seeing you grit your teeth, it is you ... convinced and heading forward, the passion in your face, it means living... It is that tension between desire and reality, It means that you may stumble but you are not afraid to fail take off again and go get some more The violent breathing, anxiety, adrenaline wounds that are inherent to the race of setting fire to this life For me life is a pulse that means coexisting with the problem and maybe we will not win But we won't lose either... Because there is no better way for me to face the gale, to corner it and jump, than knowing that I can trust
Another interview today, this time it's thanks to Mike Patton for taking the time to answer my questions. If you've been paying attention you'll have noticed me salivating every time his new band, Vista Blue, releases new material. They may not be the fastest or the loudest band in this blog but I doubt you'll find one that make catchier music.......
If I was to guess at your influences, I'd say that you're a little like Joe King (of The Queers) in as much as whilst you're influenced by 3 chord Ramones style punk, you're equally as much a fan of bands with big harmonies such as The Beach Boys and more recently Weezer. Which bands made the most impression on you growing up and led you into wanting to make your own music?
It's everything! Yes the easy answer we always give would be the main four influences of Beatles, Beach Boys, Ramones, and Weezer. I've always written songs, and I grew up in a house with music playing 24/7. I loved the Carpenters cause of my mom, bands like Iron Maiden and Dokken cause of my dad, and thenthe stuff I probably tortured them with, like Rick Springfield. I always liked the Beach Boys and the Cars, along with more obscure stuff, like Billy Squier's amazing power pop band, Piper. In middle school it was a lot of Smiths and Depeche Mode, stuff like that.
Of course when I was in high school, Dookie and the Blue album came out and changed my life, kicking off an amazing run of bands that we fell in love with, like Fountains of Wayne, Superdrag, Better Than Ezra, and Nada Surf. I know my friends hear some of this in my music. And then there is the inevitable influence of friends, like Wyatt Funderburk, who was my Loblaws bandmate and is probably the most talented dude I know. Also, you mentioned Joe, guys like him and Dr. Frank have always been so great to us, sharing our music with fans and offering encouragement over the years. Another positive influence has been songwriter Paul Sanchez, who was in the 90s rock band, Cowboy Mouth. It's made me more comfortable as a writer to have gotten great feedback from writers I admire.
I guess I hope my music is something of a combination of all that I just mentioned and more, even if it does only sound like three-chord pop punk at times!
I read that your first band was called Park Bench (who I'll admit that I've never heard of) and I know you were in The Robinsons and The Loblaws (pictured above) who I've heard some songs by but not as many as I probably should have. Are there any others I've missed and how would you say your sound has progressed from those Park Bench days through to your new band Vista Blue?
Man, Park Bench (1998-2000) was a typical first band. It was a great way to learn about playing shows, booking bands, making friends, breaking down on the interstate, and everything else that comes with being in a band. But you're not missing anything, believe me. No one needs to hear any of that.
The Robinsons were super busy from 2000 to 2002, with several reunion sets thrown in over the next few years.
From 2002 to 2005, I was in a fun New Orleans power pop/indie rock band called Sally Stitches with Brett from the Loblaws, Dave from the Robinsons, and our friend Richard Bates. We did an EP, and I think I'm going to get that posted on bandcamp soon actually.
Brett and i started a project called The Sunflowers in 2005, and we did some demos and played a few shows, but Hurricane Katrina blew through just as we got going and everything changed after that. When things settled, we just played as the Robinsons again, instead of trying to launch a new project during all the rebuilding of our city and our scene. I moved to Nashville shortly after that, and we started The Loblaws.
Our sound has not really changed a whole lot. But with the Loblaws, we specifically tried to fit right into that pop-punk community, just adding the harmonies that most bands weren't doing. Vista Blue is more about the "pop" part of pop-punk. We want this to be a little different and open to pretty much any kinds of songs we feel like writing.
Talking the whole first year to only release baseball (and then finally, Christmas) songs was sort of our way of saying "anything goes." It's still us writing the songs, but we're not trying to appeal to any certain audience here.
One of the baseball songs that Vista Blue released, Johnny's Gonna Strike Out, features your wife Donna on vocals. Like Weezer's I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams it's a curveball having female vocals on just the one track but I love it as much as I do that Weezer classic. Are you planning on letting Donna sing again?
Right, Weezer has done that, and of course the Apples in Stereo and Belle & Sebastian do it on every album, so we try to do it sometimes too.
Donna has a music degree, and we played music together throughout high school and college. She played off and on in our first bands. She sang an early Robinsons song called "All the Time" that got played fairly regularly on Tulane University's radio station, WTUL in New Orleans.
So yeah, again, this was about being up for anything with Vista Blue. The first release, "Good Eye," had a definite Ramones-core sound, so I wanted to come back with something super poppy to kick off the second release. I was listening to some Phil Spector and thought it would be cool to do like a 60s girl group pop song, set at a baseball game instead of a drag race or whatever.
Todd was also supposed to sing the Pennant Race song he wrote for that EP, giving us three lead singers on the release, but he got sick while we were recording.
But yes, Donna will definitely sing on a Vista Blue release again. I like writing for her, and I like to pass off as much responsibility as I can!
Before we get to your new record(s) i want to touch on another of your passions, horror movies. tell me about your Body Count podcast and list your 3 favourite horror movies
Well, that started after Todd moved to Cincinnati and the Loblaws kind of ended. We'd had a couple of horror blogs in the past and decided it would be an easy way to stay in touch. Horror and music were pretty much the things we always did together. In the early days, if the Robinsons had a weekend off, Donna and I usually hosted a horror marathon.
So we started the Body Count Blog (http://bodycountpodcast.com/), and indie filmmakers started sending us their films, as I'm sure you hear from a number of bands these days. Brett and I launched the podcast soon after, with Todd co-hosting some early episodes and Wyatt recording our theme song. We soon discovered another whole community, very similar to the punk scene, with some dumb drama, but also lots of awesome people making films.
In 2013 we started printing our horror zine, which is lots of fun too.
My favorite three horror films are kind of boring, I guess. I'd say something like Friday the 13th part 2, Halloween, and Dream Warriors. We're mainly into slashers, of course. Texas Chainsaw Massacre might beat out Dream Warriors. I don't know. More recent stuff that I've really liked would include High Tension, Hatchet, and The Descent.
By the way, I also have a really fun sports blog (and occasional podcast) with Allen from the Robinsons and our friend Andy, called Grab Bag Sports (http://www.grabbagsports.com/). I'm trying to get into some soccer, so you might needto keep helping me out!
Your new album will feature both Vista Blue and Loblaws songs, tell me about that
Well the Loblaws stuff was only released on vinyl. We had four songs on the Mutant Pop record and a couple songs on the split we did with Sci-Fi Nightmares for Killer Records. Many people have asked about a CD release over the years, and that was the eventual plan with Mutant Pop, before Timbo put the label on hiatus again.
We had started recording for our next Mutant Pop release, and that's where our "Banana Stand" track comes from.
When Marc from RTTB Records asked about releasing the Loblaws stuff on CD, along with some tracks by our new band, I thought it would be good to finally finish a few of the Loblaws songs that were never completed.
Wyatt and Matt Drastic both dug for me, and Wyatt found the drum tracks we had done at Drastic Sounds. So the first three VB songs on the CD use those original drum tracks, making this release a perfect bridge from our last band to our new band.
This is actually going to be our first CD release since One Eye Records did a Robinsons discography release in 2005.
All seven of the Vista Blue songs from the CD are now posted on our bandcamp. https://wearevistablue.bandcamp.com/
What's next for Vista Blue? Well now we'll finally start playing live shows, I think! My friend Mark has joined up on bass, and he played on our last baseball EP and all the Vista Blue songs on the CD. We also have a drummer here in Nashville and plan to start playing live very soon. Todd's in Cincinnati, so if he can join us for any shows, he'd play a second guitar.
We were asked to play the Nashville stop of the International Pop Overthrow Fest, and that's in early May. So we should play at least a warm-up show or two before that. I'm excited to finally get back on stage this spring.
Some other things coming up include a cassette release of all of our baseball songs, hopefully by MLB opening day on April 3rd. We'll also have a fun Record Store Day (April 16th) release that we're involved in, but I don't have all of the details yet. In the summer, we're actually planning to jump back into a sports theme and do a Summer Olympics EP.
Mainly, we've been so surprised by how quickly our new band has been accepted by fans of power pop and pop punk. It means so much to us that blogs like Just Some Punk Songs have been so supportive, along with radio shows like the Ice Cream Man, Cat Beast Party, and a bunch of others.
We're looking forward to a great 2016.
