Looney Lefties, Rats From A Sinking Ship (https://www.facebook.com/RATSFROMASINKINGSHIP/) return today with a track from their excellent new album Glamorous Terrorists. The Ilkeston rap punk outfit features a core duo of Lusty on vocals and Jamie Price on guitars and for this new album they welcome Kev Frost on drums (he's a genre veteran having been in numerous bands such as Sick On The Bus, The Backstreet Abortions, The Varukers etc).
The album will be out in time for Halloween and whilst it's too early yet to feature my favourite track from it (Dedicated Follower Of Fascism), I've had permission to give it a play on next Sunday's Just Some Punk Songs show so don't miss it. As for the rest of the album, it's unmistakably Rats From A Sinking Ship lp; Lusty spits out his sharply observational punk rhymes over a menacing rap/metal soundtrack. Aim is taken at worthy targets and hits dead centre. I did comment to Jamie that this time around I was picking up somewhat of a Bob Vylan vibe from the album to which he replied "Oh. Yeah I like their stuff. We'd actually demoed everything just before I heard We Live Here. I saw the similarities but it's just coincidence or synchronicity or whatever you'd call it. We keep trying to do something we've not tried before."
Other highlights include Out In The Woods Where She Finds Peace in which the first part of the track comes across like a hauntingly atmospheric piece of poetry backed with something approaching a delicate Nick Cave type soundtrack and Lewis Collins As Bodie which is one for the nostalgia freaks conjuring up memories of everything from The A Team, Grange Hill, R White's Lemonade, The Two Ronnies and J R Hartley! Closing track Death To The Ex is particularly hard hitting (and the most like Bob Vylan). It's an album not to be missed.
This is the video they've just released. It takes it's inspiration from a classic and updates it to comment on 2020's biggest issue (that's if you don't think climate change is an even bigger issue as that's the one that'll make this year seem like happy days!). It's titled Wuhan Calling...
Yesterday's featured song was a bit of a left field cover version (Neutrals putting their own spin on The Exploited's Hitlers In The Charts Again) and today you're getting another one that had me thinking oh, I don't think I'm going to like this. But I certainly do, it's another inspired choice and makes me listen to the Del Amitri "classic" in a totally different light.
Ilkeston punk/rap duo Rats From A Sinking Ship (https://www.facebook.com/RATSFROMASINKINGSHIP/) last appeared on Just Some Punk Songs when they teamed up with Austrian producer Markus Kienzl and legendary poet Benjamin Zephaniah to record one of 2019's best songs (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2019/10/rats-from-sinking-ship-and-markus.html). Today they return with the title track from a new ep which is out on limited edition cd (75 numbered copies, pre sale link going live soon so watch out for it) on April 3rd. The ep will be called Nothing Ever Happens.
It contains 4 new tracks and I'm just about to have my first listen so here's some initial impressions...
The title track is the Del Amitri cover. They were a band I never paid attention to and though it's a song I've heard numerous times it's never really registered. This version though certainly does. Maybe it's because I prefer this style of music, maybe it's just because I actually listened to the lyrics instead of assuming it'd be lame ass kiddy and housewife friendly chart pap. It's a very valid commentary on misplaced values and the apathy that's all to prevalent in western society.
Track 2 is titled Muggins and is a slow burner with rumbling guitar and Lusty challenging "Who are you?..."
Next up is a song with a title that had me liking it before even pressing play. It's a more up tempo broadside at a music industry that's run by men with beards like 70's geography teachers that don't actually like music and who manufacture the same dross format of bands that they can slaver over like some paedophiles wet dream. Watch as the wannabe has beens are disposed of on a big pile of sad dreams, stolen fortunes and repossessed souls. This is just the first part of a song I really like, reality tv shows certainly fair no better in part 2! It's called Stop Making Stupid People Famous, it's very funny (and sad at the same time) and rather scathing.
They round things off with Corrie 94 and a little like the Skids classic TV Stars, it rhymes off a bunch of Coronation Street characters along with the repeat refrain of Your street is my street, My street is your street... You're a native.
All in all an excellent ep from a band that keeps on improving. You're gonna love it.
This is Nothing Ever Happens...
Post office clerks put up signs saying "position closed" And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats And janitors padlock the gates for security guards to patrol And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink While the married ones turn on a chat show And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Gentlemen, time please, you know we can't serve anymore Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go And by five o'clock everything's dead And every third car is a cab And ignorant people sleep in their beds Like the doped white mice in the college lab
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there The Martians could land in the car park and no one would care Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same movie every day And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed Just survive constant action replay
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
And bill holdings advertise products that nobody needs While angry from Manchester writes to complain about All the repeats on T.V. And computer terminals report some gains On the values of copper and tin While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs For the price of a hospital wing
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock And we'll all go along like before And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
In recent times, a majority of the British press never seem too far away from printing their next headline decrying the looney left. Supposedly first used before the 1987 general election it's a term often trotted out by red tops like The Sun, The Mail and The Express to pour scorn and derision on pretty much any idea the Labour Party might come up with. It's a slur that's thrown around not just at the Labour Party though, it's also used to label groups or individuals that don't share those tabloid's editor's political views and though I'm no expert on US politics but I'm sure people like Bernie Sanders also get tarred with the same brush and no doubt it's a term used world wide. Unfortunately it's a term that's been used so often that a sizeable proportion of the general public are swayed by the headline and don't bother to look deeper. If they did they might wonder, is it such a bad thing to think society's needy should be protected. Is it a bad thing to want nuclear disarmament? Is it bad to think animals should have rights or that the NHS should be protected? Today's song suggests that being a caring human being shouldn't lead to you being labelled looney left.
Rats From A Sinking Ship are Lusty and Jamie Price, a rap punk duo from Ilkeston who've featured on here a few times previously but who return today with what's quite possibly their best track yet. If you're unfamiliar with them you can find their music here : https://ratsfromasinkingship.bandcamp.com/
They recently completed work on their new album, it's a collaboration with Austrian producer Markus Kienzl and if the first single from it is anything to go by it's going to be very special indeed. The single sees them team up with legendary poet, activist, author and actor Benjamin Zephaniah for one of the year's best songs. Jamie lays down a bruising soundtrack whilst Lusty scornfully questions why he should be criticised for preferring to wave a flag for the community as opposed to one for the jubilee or for being pro human rights. Why should he be considered a troublemaker for caring about those who sleep on our streets or are being brutalised in places like Congo and Bahrain. So far, so great, but then then they play their trump card.... Benjamin Zephaniah adds a touch of class as he calls for revolution, world peace and the saving of the planet. He doesn't like the smell of anyone who is Conservative and he hasn't any respect for the church and state and you know what, I'm with him 100%. Great music, great lyrics. A vital release.
I recently posted a song from the new album by Ilkeston band Rats From A Sinking Ship. It's titled Fight The Future and it's out on March 17th (and it's bloody good). You can get details here : https://www.facebook.com/RATSFROMASINKINGSHIP/
Today you're getting a top 10 chosen by guitarist Jamie Price.....
In no particular order :
1) NOFX - Linoleum
Someone lent me a c90 tape1995 with punk in drublic on one side and and out come the wolves on the other. This was the first song to come blasting out of the stereo and I've been hooked ever since.
2) RANCID - Hyena
So seeing as they've been mentioned already, Rancid. their first 5 albums were a massive part of my life. I could have picked any track from them but this was always a favourite.
3) AIRBOMB - Nihili
played my first ever gig supporting these guys and Screamer in Nottingham. This was the first track on one of the best demo tapes I've ever heard.
4) CHAOS U.K. - Ronnie 11
Some good old fashioned shouty punk. I prefer the later albums with chaos on vocals.
5) THERAPY? - Screamager
Best band on the planet. No arguments. I will fight you.
6) ROAD RAGE - Borderline
Everything you want from a punk song. Pete's a great frontman, if you get chance to see him and the boys in 3 stone monkey, do it.
7) BEASTIE BOYS - Sabotage
The perfect mix of rap and rock.
8) THE BUS STATION LOONIES - Hops And Barley
Does punk rock mix with politics? Of course it fucking does, However there's still plenty of room to just be silly.
9) GUNS N ROSES - You Could Be Mine
I got this on its day of release, it was the first single I ever bought.
10) THE VARUKERS - Genocide
Had the pleasure of playing a fair few gigs with these when I was a teenager. great band great guys, they really looked after us and the bass on this is killer.
Today you're getting a song that went down a storm on a recent Just Some Punk Songs show. I've been hanging on to post it on here as I was promised an early listen to the new album that it's taken from. Now that I've heard the album I can shout from the rooftops why you should all be excited about what will surely be one of 2018's best releases.
Rats From A Sinking Ship are Lusty (vocals), Jamie Price (guitars), Steveo (bass) and DMT (beats). They're from Ilkeston in Derbyshire and appeared on here in 2016 with a great song that called for Tony Blair to get his just desserts (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/rats-from-sinking-ship-hang-him.html). What do they sound like? They mix punk with elements of rap and metal, I can see hints of Rage Against The Machine in there. It's more modern sounding than the typical old school '77 style punk so should appeal to a broader canvas but will still be equally beloved of traditionalists.
Fast forward to 2018 and they're preparing to release their 3rd album. Titled Fight The Future, it'll be available on March 17th. Topics covered include the special relationship between the US and UK, The Sun, standing together to get rid of the monarchy and Katie Fucking Hopkins. As you will notice, whilst their songs deal with serious issues, they aren't afraid to add humour into the mix. You can get more info here : https://www.facebook.com/RATSFROMASINKINGSHIP/
One of the songs on Fight The Future is a cover, I won't say what it is but the original is a classic that pretty much all of you will know and love and it mixes humour with riotous activity. It's a must hear and it'll be getting it's first play on tonight's Just Some Punk Songs show (8pm gmt, details here : https://www.facebook.com/events/195932727665149/)
This was the video they released to whet your appetites for the album, bloody good it is too. This is Cursory Rhymes....
