Bamboo Vipers - Andrew Ridgeley Moment

  

  A new song today from a band that are no strangers to Just Some Punk Songs, I think this is their 6th appearance (the previous songs being Silver Boots, Haunted House, Inch High Private Eye, Spacewaster & The Runt Of The Litter). They're a band that has a back catalogue which would lend itself to a cracking "greatest hits" album (although a follow up to their 2014 debut album Dangling The Bait would be nice). 

  Bamboo Vipers (https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers/) are a trio from Hampshire that you never quite know what you're going to get from next. Except that it'll be something very good. I think previous reviews have made a range of comparisons with everyone from Suzi Quatro, Dead Kennedys, Glitter Band, Killing Joke & The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. 

  Not only do you not quite know what new music from the band will sound like, you never know what the song will be about. We've had topics such as glam rock accessories, spooky mansions, champagne socialists, one-party totalitarian states, the rock n roll hall of fame and cartoon detectives... 

  This time round George Michael's former partner in crime from Wham is front and centre of one of the tracks on the new double A sided single. You can find the single on Spotify :  https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Oue4KvOUT4GVWGrzmxDrz/discography

  This is Andrew Ridgeley Moment... 

Bamboo Vipers - The Runt Of The Litter

    

  No strangers to Just Some Punk Songs (meaning I don't have to write too much about them, just use the search function to find out more if you need it), Bamboo Vipers (https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers) are back with a new single. 

  Since I posted their single Silver Boots back in 2018 they've popped up at regular intervals with excellent singles and eps about haunted houses, Cambodian political parties and diminutive private investigators etc. It's always a joy to hear what they come up with next (a follow up to their 2014 album Dangling The Bait would be nice). 

  Their most recent single sees them puking up a heavy dose of fuck you punk rock attitude all over Glitter Band Rock n Roll Part 2 era glam stomp. It's a bruising and very enjoyable addition to a stellar body of work. 

Top knots, man bags, snoods and sliders..It's a hobby to you, it's life and death to me!!! This is Runt Of The Litter...

Bamboo Vipers - Spacewaster

  Hopefully you all know Bamboo Vipers (https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers/) by now, they've featured on here regularly and as frontman Shaun Morris is kind enough to send me their new releases often months before release they often end up as exclusive first plays on the show. They're a great band and you never quite know what you're going to get from them. Their last JSPS appearance was with a cool spy themed song (and equally cool video) about the diminutive Inch High Private Eye, this time around they return with something out of this world.

   Described as a stomping 2020 odyssey, the song at the bottom of this update also features a video shot out amongst the stars. "Beam me up Scotty" Shaun sings as a very talented bunch of musicians offer up a varied musical soundscape. It's alt rock inspired by elements of punk, glam and even big band era instrumentation. They're definitely one of the UK's most interesting bands and I'd love to hear what they could do on an album.

  The new ep is titled The Dawn Of Civilisation, it's 4 tracks and it's available via Santebal Records. It comes highly recommended. This track is titled Spacewaster...

Bamboo Vipers - Inch High Private Eye

  There's certain bands that when they release a new record, you're never quite sure what you're going to get. Bamboo Vipers are one of those. The new record in question is the Behind Closed Doors ep and even though it seems to have been a while coming, a video has now surfaced and the release date of the ep is imminent.

  From Hampshire and featuring a line up of Shaun Morris (vocals), Jon Webb (guitar), Ade Hood (drums), Count Click (bass) and Guy Wesley (harmonica), Bamboo Vipers' are an inventive rock n roll band who's sound incorporates elements of punk and alt rock and whatever else they can shoehorn in. Forming in 2013, they soon released debut album Dangling The Bait but it was only last year when I first came across them when I was blown away by their glam rocking stomper, Silver Boots. This was followed by the gothic tinged Haunted House ep (https://bamboovipers.bandcamp.com/track/haunted-house) and then after the tragic death of guitarist Al Woodcock they honoured his memory with the release of double A sided single America/Don't Go Poking Around.

  Their modus operandi is to remain in the public eye which means that they try to release a regular stream of eps. It shouldn't be too long after Behind Closed Doors is upon us before the next one surfaces (hopefully I'm not giving away any secrets by saying it's going to be titled The Dawn Of Civilisation and that the 4 tracks are winners).

  The video you'll see below was filmed by Ged Wesley and is for a song about the diminutive protagonist that was the titular star of a 70's Hanna-Barbara kids cartoon. Starting almost in lounge music style, the song is a definite earworm that infiltrates your brain. It's not long before Guy's trademark harmonica kicks in, Shaun is singing about sleeping in a pencil case, falling down inkwells and travelling by paper plane. As the song changes gear we get a killer riff, horns and a brilliant contribution on back up vocals by Southampton based vocal coach Toni Anastasi (playing the part of Inch's niece Lori). All in all a wonderful song with a bit of a 70's psychedelic groove that you can dance to. Yep, inventive is the right word for them. Snap up the ep when you can   https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers/

  This is Inch High Private Eye...

Bamboo Vipers - Haunted House

  As Silver Boots, from their previous ep, pretty much blew the roof off regarding viewers to this blog you can imagine how excited I was when I was allowed to give the first play anywhere for the title track from Bamboo Vipers' upcoming new ep. It aired on yesterday's Just Some Punk Songs show and as I have to now wait a week before uploading the saved versions of the shows to Mixcloud (to allow them to be aired a couple of times on Hong Kong station Radio Lantau) I thought I'd better post the song on the blog today.

  The ep is titled Haunted House and it's "out soon" so keep an eye open for it      ( I'm sure Vipers frontman Shaun Morris will probably post news of it's release all over Facebook when it's released!).

  As you may recall from my Silver Boots write up (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2018/02/bamboo-vipers-silver-boots.html), the band are from Lymington, are veterans of the UK scene and, as the new ep will demonstrate, are going from strength to strength. You can get more info here : https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers/

  As mentioned, this is the title track from the ep and my first thought when listening was "it reminds me of The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing." No bad thing in my book and another illustration of the band's versitility (don't forget, Silver Boots was a glam rock stomper that reminded me of Suzi Quatro). They're definitely one of the best UK bands around today. Dark arts in the basement, creaking signposts, a tug on the sleeve, strange things occuring and all of them bad, pumpkins, bubbling cauldrons and blood sucking vampires. This is Haunted House....

Bamboo Vipers - Silver Boots

 

  Those of you that listened live to this week's Just Some Punk Songs show (you can catch up here if you missed it : https://www.mixcloud.com/mick-fletcher/just-some-punk-songs-180218/)  will have heard me play lots of new music by British bands that went down well with the people in the chatroom (even as I'm typing this I've received a message from regular listener Ashley Colman to say "Deathtraps cd ordered 5 mins ago, £5 Bargain!). The song that I thought went down best of all was by Bamboo Vipers and it's that one I'm posting today.

  Bamboo Vipers are from Lymington and are a "hard punk rock 'n' roll band, armed to the teeth with ever-evolving killer tunes." They boast a line up of Shaun Morris (vocals), Jon Webb (guitar), Al Woodcock (guitar), Alex Rook (bass) and Jake Stillwell (drums). Veterans of the UK scene, members have previously featured in bands such as The Cropdusters, Peeping Toms etc.

  In 2014 they released an album titled Dangling The Bait which Uber Rock called a winner and compared them with both Dead Kennedys and UK Subs. Now they're back with a new ep and they've another sure fire winner on their hands. I'm not sure how long this link will work for as the last one vanished pretty quickly but if you get in early you can get a free download of the ep :  https://wetransfer.com/downloads/52e9798075642fbc19b4fc79a63a502d20180218163521/dd1d4dc710ff90c57e37d2e80f76ebf220180218163521/dec2ba 

  You can get more info on the band here :  https://www.facebook.com/BambooVipers/

  This is the song that got the chatroom excited, it's a glamtastic, 70's inspired romp namechecking the likes of Suzi Quatro, Ted Heath, Jon Pertwee, Burt Reynolds, Blue Peter etc. Pull on your Silver Boots and play loud.....