Category: Punk
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From The Jam: Live!
We’re not really into tribute bands but this one seems pretty good, not least because an original band member is in it. Former Jam drummer Rick Buckler, then working as an antique furniture restorer and dealer in Woking, formed From The Jam, playing old material from The Jam’s back catalogue. In 2007, Buckler’s former bandmate…
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The Front Bottoms: Going Grey
This is possibly the worst band name ever, not even really offensive just puerile. Maybe it gets them straight to their core audience: beer chugging students who want likeable shouty indie to sing along to. We’d favour that explanation: The Front Bottoms are not stupid and can turn in a great tune. We came across…
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Tigers Jaw: Spin
Tigers Jaw have been going for 12 years. Half the band left a couple of years ago, leaving guitarist Ben Walsh and keyboard player Brianna Collins (both singers). For 2014’s Charmer, the musicians who had left the previous year came back, even though the band was officially a duo. Spin (technically lower case, spin, but…
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Gogol Bordello: Seekers and Finders
Gypsy punks Gogol Bordello emerged from the depths of the Balkans (ok so it was Lower East Side of Manhattan but that doesn’t sound so romantic) a good few years ago. We’ve never taken to their raucous brand of punk: it’s good fun and brilliant at a festival, but not something you’d sit and listen…
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Chris T-T: Best Of
We had this a couple of weeks before playing it. A bloke we’ve never heard of issuing a best-of package as he jacks it in after 20 years of limited success? What’s going to be good about that? A lot, it transpires. The man’s a genius at what he does, with an unlimited supply of…
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The Undercover: Hippy Truth and Fiction
The Undercover Hippy — his mum calls him Billy — is one mixed up dude: he sounds like he should have long hair but doesn’t; on record he sounds a bit of a crusty but he’s a smart young man (his mum must be proud); he raps like Eminem but to reggae. He’s certainly different.…
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The Jesus And Mary Chain: Damage and Joy
We were never ones to worship bands; we never raved about The Jesus and Mary Chain — they’re just a band, all said and done — so this new album, the first new one in 19 years, seems pretty good. Maybe diehard fans will feel differently. The main problem for the band’s Reid brothers is…
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Creeper: Eternity, In Your Arms
For some reason, were we expecting swampy goth rock from this but it’s mostly punk, in some parts the rapid snare/kick drum punk of bands like NOFX (though there is no band like NOFX, of course), as well as that shouted call/more melodic response thing that punks do. Elsewhere it’s somewhere between AFI/Alkaline Trio/Blink 182,…
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Bleeker: Erase You
Bleeker are a Canadian trio and this album is as polite and well-behaved as the national clichés have it. Opener Highway is somewhat of an imposter and kicks things off in misleading fashion. It’s a sleazy glam stomper, with scuzzy if polished riffs and a throbbing bass. It was, the internet reports, played at the…
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Vant: Dumb Blood
We like this because they sound like a band at all times; some of the songs may not be the best but they always work because the band works as a unit. Opener The Answer is a great first track, with feedback, swirling guitar and throbbing bass held together by a tight drum pattern; if…
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