Something a little different today. As I mentioned when I played this song on this week's Just Some Punk Songs show, it's not really punk, but it is very good. I wasn't sure what reaction it'd get from the chatroom folk but they've good taste and they loved it.
It's a song that has a very 60's feel to it, especially in the rather lush vocals. Probably the nearest thing I've posted to it on here would be something by The Exbats.
It's a song by Big Blood, a band from South Portland, Maine, who I don't recall having come across before despite them being pretty damn prolific over the last (almost) 20 years. It's a sad state of affairs on my part and something I need to rectify.
It's a song that'll feature on an album titled First Aid Kit which will be released on June 9th. If this teaser track is any indication, it's an album I'm going to fall in love with. You can get your pre orders in here : https://dontrustheruin.bandcamp.com/album/first-aid-kit
As if releasing half a dozen albums in the last few months with his latest project The William Loveday Intention (and suffering a debilitating Covid infection) wasn't enough, Steven John Hamper (aka Wild Billy Childish) is back with a new album in collaboration with CTMF. It's titled Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows and it's the first CTMF album since 2019's Last Punk Standing (a track from which featured here : https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2019/07/wild-billy-childish-ctmf-some-unknown_24.html).
This is the title track, it's "about a river on the fens long ago. The last of the traditional eel catchers, and the wild iris growing on the fenland banks." It's called Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows...
If you like your punk music to be akin to a party in which everyone's having a ball as the banjo, mandolin, uke and washboard players kick up a storm then Days N Days (https://www.facebook.com/daysndaze/) are no doubt a band you're already familiar with. I know the Houston folk punkers are very popular as the views on this blog went through the roof when I featured them a few years back (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2017/03/days-n-daze-crustfall.html) and after hearing a couple of tracks from their upcoming album I can imagine they'll be gaining even more fans.
The core line up is Jesse Sendejas (Vocals/Guitar/Mandolin/Banjo), Whitney Flynn (Vocals/Trumpet/Uke), Geoff Bell (Gutbucket) and Meg Gan (Washboard) though others contributions are plentiful. They formed in 2008 and the new album, their 8th, is titled Show Me The Blueprints and it'll be released by Fat Wreck Chords on May 1st. Not much doubt that it's going to be something very special.
This track appears deeply personal and demonstrates that even the liveliest music can be juxtaposed with lyrics from the darkest depths. It's called LibriYUM...
Loaded to brim with LibriumHallucinating in some retro tele novaJust using worse drugs to quit the drugsWhen using to stay comfortable enoughUsed to be I’d drink myself through every twist and turnBut now I’ve grown upA bitAnd seen some shitMade my mistakesI’ve lost and wonWhat did I learn?LALALALALALAOHHHHHHHoly shit I’m not dependent anymoreIt’s fucking weirdI’ve been an addict for a decadeNow I can see the world so clearlyAnd it’s terrifyingMy mind it feels rejuvenatedAll those thoughts I drown outFor so long are bubbling back upAnd their driving me crazyOh, look now I can feel againThe numbness has evadedHow real life it’s fine and dandyNo, it’s not I fucking hate thisIs this really how all these sober people liveLife sober is over stimulatingPiece of shitThis feelings hell and boring normalcyWhy did I even quit?Oh, yeah that’s right I almost diedSo, I suppose I’ll give this sober train a rideAt least until I yank out all my teethDoes this boredom never cease?Reality is a diseaseOh, lord I need another drinkLALALALA OHHH..I sit in slippers on a dog hair coated sofaStaring at the ceiling contemplating godWhy I numb myself and what I’m so afraid ofAll while trying to ignore these racing thoughtsI've a never-ending naggingNeed to figure out the pointOr maybe there just isn’t oneWe’re all just maladroitMoronic Meaningless abominationHurdling towards an empty everlasting blank oblivionThe clarity is killing meBut so were the drugsWhy can I not just exist happilyWithout being numb?Is there something I’m missingWhich others have found?If you’ve answers inform meI’m being drug down by the weight of unknowingIt’s really bummin’ me outI’ve been to hell and backAnd seen so muchBeneath the heavensSo, what did I learnLeft to my own devicesAnd stripped of all my vicesI possess a tendencyTo overthink and analyze thingsBut I don’t think it worthlessTo contemplate our purposeNow that our societyAppears to have become so thoughtlessIt seems especially importantThat we take a sec to gather some perspectiveAnd remember that we’re all just specsA dust within a vast expanseCreated out of happenstanceDiluted from the same initial sparkSo, let’s party downLALALALA OHHH..
Casual Nausea are a "glorious frantic mess" from Ipswich who line up with Simon (vocals), Ed (guitar/vocals), Zoe (vocals) Shawn (drums) and Matt (bass). They formed in 2012 and a year later released debut album Change Your Reality
(free download : https://casual-nausea.bandcamp.com/album/change-your-reality). There's also a split album with Chewed Up.
In ways similar to the band who featured yesterday (The Muslims), they make political music that's fast, heavy and despite conveying a serious message, great fun. They've just released new album Demons and it's a blast. 19 tracks of raucous punk, ska, folk and hardcore, you can't help but be impressed. It's out on TNS Records (TNS describe it as being akin to The Restarts meets Gogol Bordello) and you can find it on vinyl https://www.tnsrecords.co.uk/shop/tns-releases/pre-order/casual-nausea-demons/ and digitally https://tnsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/demons-2
Another early album of the year contender, there's plenty of songs I could have chosen to highlight on here. On this week's Just Some Punk Songs show I played Zombie (an excellent reworking of a track from the debut album) so today I'm going with the title track. This is Demons...
There's some very good blogs and shows/podcasts around at the moment promoting new punk music (feel free to name your favourites in the comments as I'm always keen to check them out) but I can't help but think we're a band of modern day Sisyphus' eternally rolling punk rock boulders up never ending hills of indifference. No matter how good the music is that we promote, the vast majority of the music loving public prefers naff tv karaoke. But we plough on as we enjoy it, we love discovering a new band and shouting about it in the hope others will feel the same. Manchester band Autonomads aren't a new band, they've been together since 2007, but boy are they good.
Mixing elements of dub, reggae, ska, punk & folk, they're a 5 piece featuring Jay (guitar/vocals), Porl (drums/vocals), Ehliot (bass), Perkie (keys/melodica/vocals) and Eeyun (guitar/vocals). With round 500 gigs and several European tours under their belts they're a finely honed outfit who get stronger with every release. The latest of those releases, All Quiet On The Western Front, came out last month and is the sort of record that deserves to be heard : https://autonomads.bandcamp.com/album/all-quiet-on-the-western-front
Dealing with topics such as the gentrification of Manchester (including the chopping down of the 100+ year old Birley Tree in the city centre to provide student accomodation), border controls/small island mentality and the under privilaged sleeping rough or under lock and key on both sides of the channel, the exploitation of the many by the few.
And there's the song I'm featuring today. IT'S NOT AN INSULT! This is Run Like A Girl.......
I got more unwanted male attention when I was twelve years old I still have my keys between my fingers when I'm walking home Humans only love you when your smiling I'm told So look happy, look happy, keep smiling, keep smiling
Chorus
You run like a girl, not an insult You cry like a girl, not an insult
Gotta be the man they say don't show how you feel But its all constructed and you know it just ain't real When I was young they said you know that boys don't cry Keep it down and grit your teeth until they day you die
Laugh and feel and cry and scream Yeah I'll laugh and feel and try and scream Laugh and feel and cry and scream Yeah I'll try and scream yeah I'll cry and scream
Those of us that are old enough to have been around in the late 70's will remember that the UK punk scene was a hotbed of exciting new music with bands springing up in cities and towns across the country. Angry young men and women were discovering that you didn't necessarily have to be all that talented to join in the fun. All you needed, according to Mark Perry, was to learn 3 chords and away you went. Obviously though, many of those young punks were very talented, Strummer and Burnel were just a couple of them.
The mention of punk rock brings to mind noisy, fast songs. Often accompanied with lyrics protesting about pretty much everything. With socially active North Wales band Red Or Dead you get plenty of lyrics that hit out at deserving targets, what you don't get is noisy or fast. Instead you get a more considered approach, they're still trying to bring down the system but they're doing it at their own pace. Think intelligent acoustic folk with a punk influence, I'm almost tempted to say think latter day Chumbawamba, but maybe that's just me. Think well crafted songs that make you engage your brain rather than jump around.
The song you'll find below is a look back to a time when the band members were probably a little rowdier (if they were even around back then), before they became old punks and decided that angry songs were better delivered with rapier as opposed to bludgeon. This is Strummer And Burnel....
Comrades are the New York punk/ska/crust/folk collective who first appeared on here in July 2014 with a song about cats (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/comrades-cats-not-cops.html). In fact I'm wearing the Cats Not Cops t shirt as I type this intro to a new song by them which also features cats in the title. It's from their new record and it's damn good.
Forming in 2009, Comrades released debut album We Got This!!! in 2013. A decent summation of it that I saw proclaimed it "Fast and full on punk rock. Blistering and angry with dual vocals..." Fortunately, as well as being pissed off, the band can also write catchy tunes.
If you check back in a few days, Alexis from the band will be sharing her Top 10 songs.
From Matter Of Fact, this is Bodega Cats....
CIGAR GUTS AND BOOZE BREATH WITH THE STENCH OF PISS AND DEATH BODEGA CATS THAT I CAN PET TRYING HARD NOT TO GET WET MAKING TIME IN THE BACK ROW WHISKEY PIZZA AND A FREE SHOW TAPPING SPOTLIGHT HALO GLOW
CAUSE IM FEELING STICKY IN SOMEONE ELSES CLOTHES ROADSIDE FREE BIN IS CLOSED AND ITS SMASHED FINGERS PRETTY DRESSES IM CARDIAC ARRESTED FEELING STICKY IN SOME ONE ELSES CLOTHES
SIDEWALKS EATING UP MY SOLES CHEWING MUD UP AS THEY GO THE TEMPERATURE DROPS AND THEN WE ROLL SIDEWALKS EATING UP MY SOULS WITH CHILDREN GETTING PERMISSION FOR ROLES DRINKING ALL THE BEER THEYRE TRYING TO DISPOSE
CAUSE IM FEELING STICKY IN SOMEONE ELSES CLOTHES ROADSIDE FREE BIN IS CLOSED AND ITS SMASHED FINGERS PRETTY DRESSES IM CARDIAC ARRESTED FEELING STICKY IN SOME ONE ELSES CLOTHES
IM SPILLING INK AND DRAWING BLANKS I LOST THE BOOKMARK AND THE PLACE THROWING ROCKS AND GETTING STRAIGHT BUSTED LIPS FROM CHILDRENS GAMES HOPSCOTCH HIPS AND LOSING DAYS SIDEWALK SLAMS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY AND IM RUNNING AWAY FROM ALL THOSE BILLS IM NEVER GOING TO PAY
CAUSE IM FEELING STICKY IN SOMEONE ELSES CLOTHES ROADSIDE FREE BIN IS CLOSED AND ITS SMASHED FINGERS PRETTY DRESSES IM CARDIAC ARRESTED FEELING STICKY IN SOME ONE ELSES CLOTHES
Days N Daze formed as a duo (Whitney Flynn and Jesse Sendejas) back in 2008 and are an energetic diy "riot folk" band from Houston, Texas. They've been responsible for numerous releases including 2013's Rogue Taxidermy which was the first album I heard by them. They also guested on Leftover Crack's Construct Of The State album.
Last week saw them release a new album called Crustfall and it's one that fans of the band will lap up. As well as Flynn (vocals, trumpet, guitar) and Sendejes (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, harmonica, percussion) the band now also features Meagan Meloncon and Geoff Bell. They're not just your typical singer, guitar, bass, drums kinda band, they're far more interesting than that. Check out the new album and their earlier releases here : https://daysndaze.bandcamp.com/
To promote Crustfall, they're going to be extensively touring, you can check dates and venues on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/daysndaze/
Not easy to decide what song to post from the 16 that appear on the new album as I'm spoilt for choice but I think I'll go for the fast paced and rather humerous Days N Daze Of Our Lives
Thinkin’ back thinkin’ back to the good days I realized they were shit days And I was just too hammered to notice A moment of sobriety sure sheds A lot of light upon the truth Once upon a time I truly thought you were our friend But it turns out you're a black hole You consume till nothing's left You project your insecurities on others And it makes me fucking sick
All we did was give and give And all you did was take You told us that you cared about us You’re a fucking fake Cause in your eyes your Jesus Christ Yeah I’m so sure
You drive me crazy You drive me to drink I hope you drive your car off a cliff You self obsessed asshole I was so much better off after you split You drive me insane You drive me out of my head If it’s between living with you and death I’m better off dead I sincerely hope our paths never cross again
I hate to say but I’d find it entertaining If you sat on a tack or got stuck in the rain Or if you got super high Went and bought lucky charms When you poured yourself a bowl All the marshmallows were gone Every Time you play guitar I hope you break A & G Every Time you find a 40 oz Its filled up with my pee I hate to say I wish these things on you But you deserve it cause there’s no excuse To be such an aloof and shitty person
All we did was give and give And all you did was take You told us that you cared about us You’re a fucking fake Cause in your eyes your Jesus Christ Yeah I’m so sure
Former Victim/Androids frontman Joe Zero returns today with the 4th of 5 quick fire singles that are leading up to the release of his new album, The Eternity Man. The Irish punk pioneer, who's now based in Manchester, will be playing acoustic versions of some of the songs from the new album at his upcoming gigs. Those gigs include Punk For The Homeless at the Belfast Pavillion on 1st April and the Rebellion Festival Acoustic Stage in August.
This time around, Joe offers up a narrative on life's struggles. "A material view and spiritual view....we all end up in the same place." Proving his versitility, the new song ventures towards folk, it's a modern day sea shanty that touches on the journeys of Herman Melville's Captain Ahab and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. It'll be interesting to see which direction the final single in this run heads off on.
A question I sometime see asked is, who was the first punk? My answer is always Woody Guthrie. It's a question with no proper answer but I think mine is as valid as anyone's.
From Okemah, Oklahoma, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in 1912 and had a tough childhood which saw the accidental death of his older sister, Clara, the institutionalization and then death of his mother and the financial ruin of his family. He became a travelling man, hiking and riding freight trains in search of labour in order to support his family, he observed the goings on around him during the Depression years and wrote songs about his experiences.
Active in the New York folk scene, he was a protest singer with "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS" painted on his guitar. Hugely influential both through his music and his writing (check back tomorrow for proof of that) he was a voice of a generation who's message still resonates and is as relevant as ever . He suffered through his later years with Huntington's Chorea and eventually died on 3rd October 1967 in New York.
He left a rich legacy, including the song you'll find below (one of his best) which is called Ludlow Massacre......
It was early springtime when the strike was on They drove us miners out of doors Out from the houses that the Company owned We moved into tents up at old Ludlow
I was worried bad about my children Soldiers guarding the railroad bridge Every once in a while a bullet would fly Kick up gravel under my feet
We were so afraid you would kill our children We dug us a cave that was seven foot deep Carried our young ones and pregnant women Down inside the cave to sleep
That very night your soldiers waited Until all us miners were asleep You snuck around our little tent town Soaked our tents with your kerosene
You struck a match and in the blaze that started You pulled the triggers of your gatling guns I made a run for the children but the fire wall stopped me Thirteen children died from your guns
I carried my blanket to a wire fence corner Watched the fire till the blaze died down I helped some people drag their belongings While your bullets killed us all around
I never will forget the look on the faces Of the men and women that awful day When we stood around to preach their funerals And lay the corpses of the dead away
We told the Colorado Governor to call the President Tell him to call off his National Guard But the National Guard belonged to the Governor So he didn't try so very hard
Our women from Trinidad they hauled some potatoes Up to Walsenburg in a little cart They sold their potatoes and brought some guns back And they put a gun in every hand
We took some cement and walled that cave up Where you killed these thirteen children inside I said, "God bless the Mine Workers' Union," And then I hung my head and cried
After a spate of the best songs from 2015, today I'm going back a few years to post a cover of one of Billy Bragg's best songs. It's by The Go Set, a folk/punk band from Melbourne, Australia.
They formed in 2003 following the demise of vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Justin Keenan's previous band, Eddie Would Go. Influenced by acts as diverse as The Pogues, Radio Birdman, The Clash, AC/DC and the aforementioned Billy Bragg, they recently released their latest album, Rolling Sound. The current line up features Justin Keenan (vocals/guitar), Ago Soldati (drums), Lachlan McSwain (bagpipes/tin whistle), Evan Young (bass), Ben Fraser (guitar/vocals/mandolin) and Tom Collins (guitar/mandolin/double bass).
Back in 2007 they released an album entitled A Journey For A Nation, featured on it was Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards. Not only do you get a great cover of a great song but the video is pretty special too......
Born in Liverpool but now a resident of Brighton, Chas Palmer-Williams was the singer with one of Britain's best ever bands, Lightyear. I've already posted a track and written about them (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/lightyear-life-jacket-water-wings.html) but today it's my great pleasure to bring you a song from Chas' new solo album.
The album's called American Smile British Teeth and it's a more laid back affair than his work with Lightyear. Citing his inspirations as The Weakerthans, The Hold Steady, Johnny Flynn, Frightened Rabbit and Propaghandi he's produced an album that'll appeal to anyone who enjoys honest, acoustic folk/rock music.
Produced by Lightyear drummer Jim Harrison, this is the video to the song Absolutely Some Regrets.......
Do you think the songs in this blog are a little too poppy, maybe you'd prefer something a little noisier once in a while, then this could be the song for you. I'll add the lyrics as without them you'll be at a loss as to what the hell's going on. It sounds like the end of the world with everyone dying horribly. Bloody good it is too.
Comrades are New York City's finest crust/folk/ska/punk tribe, they previously featured in this blog last year ( http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/comrades-cats-not-cops.html) and they're back again due to the release of their new video (a video that'll go down well with any skaters amongst you).
They gave you a funeral, but not a wake your asleep and you don't realize how much they take from your soul just another hole to fill with empty promises and words and every dollar that you spend is one more that you have to earn, it's an endless cycle no one learns.
Yo requerdo risa as the cities burned Yo requerdo risa at the end of the world
bad habbbits bad habbits bad habbits getting worse self serenading rainy days lying facedown in the dirt my friends say i should get some help but getting better just feels worse
Yo requerdo risa as the cities burned Yo requerdo risa at the end of the world
brutish tendancies lead me away from anticipating, affectionate nights, new conversations, with hope continoulsly deflating that anyone can fathom rewiring, undomesticating we're all wrong wrong and backwards leaving books unread, smiles turned down, knives unsharpened and brains unfed, you'd say i'm not a hero for anything worthy on the side of the road beat up anxious and dirty
Pat The Bunny (aka Patrick Schneeweis) is from Tucson, Arizona and he plays acoustic folk punk songs (https://patthebunny.bandcamp.com/). He's also a member of anarcho-punk band Ramshackle Glory (https://ramshackleglory.bandcamp.com/). He first became the pin up boy for the diy folk punk crowd during his time with Johnny Hobo And The Freight Trains, the Vermont based acoustic solo project he began in 2000 which expanded over time to include trumpet, harmonica and washboard bass but remained acoustic and stuck to his original anarchist ethos.
Following the breakup of Johnny Hobo in 2007, Pat formed Wingnut Dishwasher's Union, a collective which featured more instruments (though often live shows featured just Pat) but similar ideals and sound. Before disbanding in 2009 they released 3 albums (Toward A World Without Dishwashers, Never Trust A Man Who Plays Guitar and Burn The Earth, Leave It Behind). https://diybandits.bandcamp.com/album/burn-the-earth-leave-it-behind
From Burn The Earth....This is Urine Speaks Louder Than Words.....
I swear that someday I'll tell you without lying I was born to quit smoking I was born to quit dieing on that day, not doing heroin will be easy as piss and on that day I'll stop talking so much shit about the government
'Cause urine speaks louder than words on a politician or on a prison warden urine speaks louder than words
I swear that today I was born to be living! I was born to be singing! I was born to be fighting but will somebody say is this resistance or a costume party? either way i think black with bandanas is a boring theme I don't gotta tell ya crackers are great with amnesia when you wanna forget something like centuries of racism they say look at the man on center stage and pay no attention while millions get locked in a cage riots break out in oakland
urine speaks louder than words on a prison warden or on a Bart policeman urine speaks louder than words
A song that many of you will already be familiar with today but one that deserves a place in any blog celebrating great punk songs.
Ghost Mice are a diy folk punk band from Bloomington, Indiana and currently comprise of Hannah (violon/vocals/bass), Chris Clavin (guitar/vocals/uke), Pascaloo (uke/bass) and Emily (mandoline/melodica/concertina).
Since their formation in 2002 they've released a number of albums, eps and splits, many on Clavin's Plan-it-X label. You can get most of them (and today's song of the day), "name your price" here : https://ghostmice.bandcamp.com/
There's also a Plan-it-X bandcamp with loads of great music here : https://chrisclavin.bandcamp.com/
Based on a true story and originally on 2005's split album with Pretty Hot, this is one of those feel good songs that it's impossible not to love. Free Pizza For Life......
I'm gonna write this in a book one day but for now this song will have to do It's about the lengths you and I were willing to go to to get some free food it was 1997 something I cant remember I'm bad with dates you and I were living in my van everything that we had we had to take and the saddest song ever heard on the radio
was let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow it said we have no place to go let it snow let it snow let it snow we didn't have any place to go it snowed it snowed it snowed
but wait
lets take it back a few years to the day were first met I moved to Bloomington to be a bum you were here on a full mathematics scholarship
I was from a small town you were from a small town we became the best of friends
Where our story begins is where our trouble begins
I never had a dime to my name you liked playing games a local pizza place had a deal 10 coupons got a free 12inch well here's what we did you see the college kids they never cut the coupons out wed dig through the trash and find them a few nights work put pizza in our mouths
we started to wonder where the coupons went after people turned them in so we looked in their dumpster and what did we find we found 140 of them
sooner then later we started making our own when kinkos got the red copy machine one day they busted me the manager said "we don't take photocopies"
So I jumped into the car told the driver to drive as we sped off into the night we yelled
Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza for Life Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life
A few years later you dropped outta school we both spent a few months in our home town we've both been down and out but we were doing our best to get back up now
One night we were sleeping in my van it was fourteen degrees below I woke up because I heard something crack you said it was your foot frozen to the window
Our desperation drove us to dishonesty we were criminals distinctive and vile declared most of the world to be our enemy
we stole checkbooks and credit cards signed signatures that were not ours slice after slice we ate pizza every night we always shared it with our friends gave the driver a mighty tip in our simple minds we had a slice of a paradise
but I guess we took it a little too far cause you ended up doing some time when they slammed the door to your cell I swear I heard you yell
Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life
On the night that we bailed you out of jail it was 2 weeks later you looked scared and pale to celebrate setting you free we ordered some pizza and paid with forgery
cause when they knock you down you cant stay on the ground you gotta keep getting up you gotta keep putting your faith in luck and as we can clearly see that we made some mistakes
for the most part I have no regrets at some parts I feel a little ashamed but it all worked out okay in the end and I think I would do it all over again
sorry your the one they caught I wish it coulda been me my friend I'm not saying we were wrong and I'm not saying we were right all I know is what we want
Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life Free Pizza For Life
