I've another debut release for you today, this time it's a track from a demo by oi/streetpunk 4 piece Bent Out Of Shape. They hail from Fryslân in The Netherlands and feature former members of Icepick, Spirit 84, DSS and No Denial to name but a few. The ep was scheduled for release this weekend at their planned show with Bishops Green and Arch Rivals but the Corona Virus put the kibosh on that so I'll give it a plug on here instead. You can get it on cd or digitally (name your price) here : https://bentoutofshape.bandcamp.com/
There's 7 tracks of hard as nails bovver boy music. The opener is an eponymous track about societies rules and the assholes that impose them. Other tracks deal with the betrayal of a friend, boozed up bust ups on a Saturday night, giving up your mates for the "love of your life", refusing to be pushed around and they round things off with a joyful track about the buzz that you get from going to your football team's packed stadium with a scarf around your neck.
It's an impressive debut by a band that arrive fully formed.
This song is about how the rich create targets for the poor to blame for their ills as a distraction to the big picture. It's called Divide And Conquer...
The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich, It's been that way forever. And when it comes to placing blame, The rich are really clever. They emphasize our differences, Sow hate between you and me. So instead of the fucking system, You blame some poor refugee.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER, that's their fucking plan. DON'T FIGHT EACH OTHER, Fight- the man. There's more than enough, for us to go around. But the higher ups, wanna keep us down.
They take the best years of your life, And then your pension and your health. And while you're barely getting by, You create their wealth. They control the media, And play a nasty game. So we fight amongst ourselves, Even though we are the same.
St Louis streetpunk quintet Hard Evidence return to the blog today a couple of years after they featured with the excellent Yesterday's News (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2016/10/hard-evidence-yesterdays-news.html). This time around I'm posting an equally as impressive new song which is blazing a trail for new 12" mini album Last Gasp. It's on Rebellion Records in Europe and LSM Vinyl in The States. 7 tracks (including a cover of Slade's When I'm Dancing I Ain't Fightin) it's described as their catchiest, most melodic record to date with more glam and classic '77 punk influences.
With a line up featuring Ryan Brown (vocals), Bryan Clarkson (guitar), Jim Ulrich (guitar), Dave Jafari (drums) and Nathan Pionke (bass), the band enter their 5th year as a well honed outfit at the top of their game. You can get more info on them here : https://www.facebook.com/HardEvidenceSTL/
If you like your streetpunk and oi to be catchy as hell then this is the band for you. This is the lead track on the new record, it's "a true story about a good friend of vocalist Ryan going through a very bad series of events..." Let's hope this release isn't the last gasp of a great band. This is Blaze Of Glory...
Out of all the Top 10's I've posted on here thus far, my favourite is from Rebel Time Records' Randy Smith. The reason being the effort he put into the update, not only writing extensive comments but also putting up cool picture/videos for his choices (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/top-10-songs-chosen-by-randy-smith.html). It was a no brainer that I was going to ask him to do one of the regular Friday guest reviews and he's come through with another winner. If you're interested in checking out Rebel Time Records then here's a couple of handy links :
In the immortal words of Forrest Gump: "My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”
Well, in this particular case, the gettin' was good! And what I got, in the form of a FB message, was an introduction to a band called Urban Vietcong.
Back in May of this year I received a FB message from a guy named Bebe who said he liked the label (Rebel Time Records) and wanted to let me know about the band Urban Vietcong (out of Livorno, Italy) which he sings for. He included a couple of videos and left it at that.
Sidenote: after some FB back-and-forth with Bebe later on, I was stoked to learn that Bebe and Urban Vietcong's bass player both played in another of my favourite Italian bands, Trade Unions. Bebe seemed stoked to learn that anyone outside of Italy had even heard of Trade Unions. Look for Trade Unions on Youtube ...
The first video was for the lead-off song "Attacco" from the band's debut release, a 6-song CD called "A Colpi de Machete." What the heck, I press play, and, immediately, just one bite in, realize that this is good, real real good. An ooey-gooey, super-catchy, 3 minute almalgamation of streetpunk/oi and left-radical politics. In fact, the whole album is quite simply a pot of political punk rock gold, chock full of songs of protest and resistance.
Visually, the video starts off with a quote from Davide Rosci, imprisoned in Italy for his part in the 2011 riots in Rome that saw an armoured police vehicle set ablaze (He was released just a short time ago). Sonically, the video starts off with a sound bite from the movie 'Giordano Bruno,' something along the line of "all men are equal and have the right to think and raise their heads to the sky where the sun shines on the truth." Lyrically, the song deals with, as Bebe put it, "what should we, the proletariat (understood as workers, students, unemployed) do to organize, create and be more united..." Looking at the Italian lyrics, I noticed it name-checked, for example, the Black Panthers, the Viet Cong and the Palestian resistance and called for unity, organization, priortization and attack. A lot to chew on in just one song.
Musically, Urban Vietcong hits the sweet spot. Attacco is an instantly memorable, melodic and meaningful song. It's taut, it's tense, it's tough. Catchy-as-heck, anthemic, shout-a-long streetpunk(as are all the songs on the album). The kind of song that has me singing along after a first listen. Personally, I'd say the band are, in terms of music and message, comparable to such equally inciteful and insightful contemporaries as Action Sedition, Afterboltxebike, Cor Fort, Mossin Nagant, RPG-7, etc. All bands that, I guess, could be lumped together as 'redcore' bands and all bands that I have on repeat.
Apparently, the band will be back in the studio to record their second album early in 2018. Something to look forward to for sure.
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Lyrics:" Discoccupati senza dio e rifugiati presi a calci in faccia trattati come feccia il proletariatovariegato e incazzato va reso coscienzoso e pure organizzato PRIORITA' è la casa e si difende coi picchetti PRIORITA' e il lavoro si bastona i sindacati PRIORITA' la scuola lotta con gli studenti PRIORITA' è la strada si difende dai fascisti Non stringeremo le cinghie le farem rotear davvero caricheremo uniti assalteremo il cielo Non mancheremo il colpo vi spazzeremo il via con il sangue agli occhi non sarà solo utopia Lo stato borghese si difende con i maiali sguinzagliando digos usando tribunali seduti sempre dalla parte sbagliata insieme allo sfruttato dietro una barricata ATTACCO vietcong a colpi di machete ATTACCO al razzismo come pantere nere ATTACCO come Palestina contro israele ATTACCO come Spartaco contro il potere "
Grade 2 are a young oi punk band from Ryde on the Isle Of Wight who formed in 2013. They're a trio featuring Jack Chatfield (guitar/vocals), Sid Ryan (bass/vocals) and Jacob Hull (drums). Their first release was a demo, this was followed by the Broken Youth ep and then a split with Saints & Sinners. 2016 saw them release debut album Mainstream View and the excellent ep Heard It All Before. You can get more details from their official site : https://grade2official.co.uk/
On the 6th August they'll be releasing their new album, it'll be titled Break The Routine and as with previous releases it'll be available on German label Contra Records. 6th August will also see them appearing on the Pavilion Stage at this year's Rebellion Festival. Later this year they'll be touring Europe so watch out for them if they're appearing near you. https://www.facebook.com/grade2iow/
They've just released a video for one of the songs from the new album. This is Pubwatch.....
"Snakes in suits offer no solution They've been playing both sides Making working class victims With their conflict legacy and mind pollution"
Rising from the ashes of the sadly departed Belfast Oi legends Runnin' Riot, United Bottles are a melodic street punk band featuring Marty (vocals/guitar), Ralph (bass/vocals), Phil (guitar/vocals) and Eden (drums).
They've just released their debut album The Spirit And The Legacy and it's packed full of honest, working class anthems that to my ears is the type of record that will fly off the shelves over the pond in the USA. It's been 2 years in the making and the wait has been definitely well worth while. If you're a fan of the likes of Street Dogs or Gimp Fist you'll lap these guys up. You can find the album here : https://unitedbottles.bandcamp.com/
They've a few gigs arranged to promote the album (including an appearence at this year's Rebellion Festival) and you can find details here : https://www.unitedbottlesbelfast.com/
I'll play a different song from the album on Tuesday's Just Some Punk Songs show (https://www.facebook.com/events/1738702039492877/) but for today's update they recently released a video for the song Working Class Victims so that's what I'll post.....
Here's a song that I came across a few days ago by a UK Oi/Streetpunk band called City Miles. The lack of any real info about them online plus them only having the one track on Bandcamp leads me to the obvious conclusion that they're a new band and going by the quality of that one song they arrive fully formed. They're definitely a band any fan of this kind of music should keep an eye on https://www.facebook.com/citymilesoi/ (As of writing they've 13 likes on Facebook, let's see if we can get that number up).
Skinheads since their youth (it ain't a phase), they'll be skinheads till the end of their days but just because they wear boots and braces it doesn't make them racist so they're gonna stand strong and sing their songs. Let's hope their future songs are as good as this one. This is Skinhead Till The End.....
One, Two, Fuck you
Stand tall Stand strong Don't live on your knees We're everything the past has made us This is the sound of the streets We hear the truth in stereo Music's all we need Makes us who we are now and that's what we believe
A fact's a fact Ain't that the truth Skinhead since I was a youth Oi! Oi! This ain't a phase Skinhead till the end of my days
We live this life in the walls that we've made Ruin ourselves for minimum wage But music fills our souls Put down that stick that you beat me with I'm re-taking control Alarm bells ringing The songs are worth singing Fabric of all we know
A fact's a fact Ain't that the truth Skinhead since I was a youth Oi! Oi! This ain't a phase Skinhead till the end of my days
A few weeks ago, I posted an interview with Booze & Glory in which they chatted about their new album, Chapter IV and the enormous number of gigs they have lined up throughout this year. I also asked them about alienating some of their early fans by moving away from their skinhead roots towards a more polished sound. Whatever your views are on their progression towards being a stadium friendly band I think it's hard to argue with the massive numbers of people that are now lapping up their music (my interview with them attracted twice as many views as any other post) and let's be honest, a great song is a great song no matter no matter how polished it may be. You may prefer your music a little more raw and gritty but hopefully you'll still agree that Chapter IV contains many great songs. Anything that attracts the masses to the Oi genre can't be a bad thing.
Hopefully the above paragraph doesn't come across as me being all sniffy about Booze & Glory's radio friendly sound (not that any big radio stations appear to be interrupting their 24 hour diet of anodyne pap to feature them but many of the songs on Chapter IV would sound awesome blasting out over the airwaves), I think the new album is great but I decided to address a few of the comments I'd heard about the band and give my opinion. The massive choruses and gang vocals are still very much in place even if a combination of talented musicianship and an expensive sounding production job have filed off a few rough edges. It's not really a surprise that they're reaching so many people, they're a great band. The album's out now on Burning Heart Records and you should check it out.
The video you'll see below was directed by Jean Christian Larche and is the first of several videos that will be released in support of the album. This is Simple....
Tear Them Down are from Goteborg in Sweden and list amongst their influences the likes of The Briggs, Voice Of A Generation, Bombshell Rocks, U.S. Bombs, Teenage Bottlerocket, Rancid etc.....
They formed in 2010 and feature Vic (guitar/vocals), Gorb (guitar/vocals), Jonte (bass/vocals) and Maaran (drums).
Their debut ep, This Is A Mutinty, came out in 2011 and debut album, Their Fault, Our Problem followed in 2014. The ep, Ett Liv I Harlighet (on which they sung in their native tongue) was released last year and their new ep, Abide is out now. You can check them out here : https://tearthemdown.bandcamp.com/
If high energy street punk is your cup of tea, you won't find many better eps released this year (all 5 songs are great). This is the lead track, Take A Walk In My Shoes......
Takers & Users are a great, newish (est. 2014) band from Belfast who play "sing along" streetpunk. In June of this year they released their debut album, Backbars And Alleyways, on Randale Records. It's the type of record that hasn't had all the edge smoothed out for mass consumption and sounds all the better for it. It's definitely an album that will still fondly be played in years to come and will still sound as exciting and vital as it does today. Their only previous release was last years Bootboys ep which featured 4 songs from the album. Amongst the new material on the full length is a cover of Runnin' Riot's Judge, Jury, Executioner.
Forming in 2013, Knock Off are a trio from Watford with a love of classic punk, streetpunk and oi as well as football and beer. They're influenced by the likes of The Partisans, The Business, GBH, UK Subs etc and mainly write about their disillusionment with how the country is run but they also aren't averse to covering such topics as love and football.
They released their debut album, Same Shit Different Day in 2014 and followed it up earlier this year with This Is Who We Are. This Is What We Do. They also put out an ep (Forever Angry) and a recent single called Football Beer And Punk Rock. You can check out the albums here : https://knockoff.bandcamp.com/
Signed to the excellent Randale Records, they're following up a successful appearance at the Rebellion Festival with a host of gigs, including the current German tour. This is a band who's star is in the ascendancy so make sure you check them out.
From the latest album, this is an anthemic song about having to work your fingers to the bone and still struggling to make ends meet whilst others sit around at home all day........
I'm afraid I know very little about today's band. They're called Cinderblock, they feature Elie and Mark from Who Killed Spikey Jacket? and they're a hard edge streetpunk band from Boston, Massachusetts.
Well they came in and they wanted to party With their disco balls and their lazy money So we said NO they couldn't do it Opened the door and kicked em through it, We are...
Disco killers Disco killers
We've had enough and it stops today workin all week to make my pay Friday night, my night to howl Me and the pack are on the prowl, We are...
Disco killers Disco killers
bills been paid and so is rent With a couple bucks left unspent Here todays and gone tomorrows Fucked up tonight and drowning sorrows, We are...
