Wonk Unit - Nervous Racehorse

Wonk Unit are a band not easy to pigeonhole. This is possibly because they come across as having a higher modus operandi than merely playing catchy melodic punk music, which admittedly they do very well. It’s just that in Alex’s lyrical content which can switch from absurdist to heart-rending sincerity in an instant, in the snatches of shouted poetry between songs and in the acoustic moments of contemplation which are juxtaposed against the frenetic intensity of guitar and rhythm assault, there is the feel of a band who have truly found a niche within the punk rock world which no-one else has touched. They have now teamed up with the unstoppable TNS Records to release Nervous Racehorse, a perfect marriage of two groups who have gone channelled the spirit of DIY to create something very much their own. This is the end result of said marriage, a collection of musical curios which should intrigue as much as fuel the pit at your local independent venue.

Highlights? Highlights start from the very beginning with the acoustic guitar, Hammond organ and claps of ‘Wood Pigeon’, a mellow and haunting opening gambit before ‘Lewisham’ goes  full throttle in a manner which would turn half of the late 90s Fat Wreck roster green. After a few listens while skating around the streets, ‘Lewisham’ is my favourite song on here so far and has trouble staying out of my head for more than a day. ‘Nan’ shows the band’s darker side, with a downbeat melody and a recurring yell which brings to mind the halcyon days of Brit Pop. From here on in you’re into the genre-fluctuating world of Wonk - anchored to punk as it is, but by a very long rope which has clearly left room for plenty of exploration. Songs of angst, love and troubled friends are penned with an honesty which is almost uncomfortable but is kept from becoming so by a wry humour and a sense of optimism throughout, as well as being lightened by moments like ‘The Trail (French Booty Song)’ which is redolent of So Long and Thanks… era NOFX. It’s a reminder of why we get into punk music in the first place; for the innovation, the excitement and the sheer fucking fun which stems from listening to it.

By Jono Coote

Epic Problem - Lines EP

Epic Problem – Lines EP

The 90s were a brilliant time for punk compilations – as a teenager getting into punk music in the early 2000s, I found myself quickly giving up on the Punk-O-Rama’s and Give ‘Em the Boot’s being put out at the time and delving into earlier issues. While these compilations dipped a toe into the mainstream via Rancid, NOFX and the like (while still remaining brilliant, don’t get me wrong…well, at least until the 4^th or 5^th release by either series’), TKO threw together some awesome, angry and harder to come by releases under the title of Punch Drunk. These focused heavily on rough and ready street punk, ideal drinking music which also, while the media was calling any old shit with spiky hair and guitars skate punk, was picked up on by the SF based skateboarding company Deluxe and used as the soundtrack to actual, balls out skating rather than hanging out by the Corn Exchange wearing Bernie’s jeans and a fringe. I write this only because it seems a perfect starting point to talk about midlands-based punks Epic Problem, who have just released a four track EP called Lines and who would sound right at home on one of those classic compilations, taking those anthemic sounds but created something more intricate and dare I say mature sounding – I guess the opposite way to approach describing their sound would be to evoke Leatherface but with more drive and anger.

The record turned up on my doorstep a couple of days ago, resplendent in blue splatter vinyl and with stickers thrown in (I fucking love stickers), and I haven’t really stopped listening to it since – it is a perfect soundtrack to skating down the street, cheering up a stressed girlfriend or drinking wine dead fast because fuck it, you’re celebrating Wednesday. A clearer sound quality than previous releases does full justice to the four tracks, with a Scrooge level tightness to the musicianship backing up a gravel-voiced vocal which conveys a sincerity and passion you ain’t gunna hear in the charts any time soon. Some carefully placed harmonies add to their sound nicely, especially the ‘whoooaa’s’ which open ‘Sink’ and bring to mind the Bouncing Souls way back when they were good. With alumni from the Dead Subverts and Blitz being involved in this group it was never going to be a half-arsed job, and this definitely shows a band going from strength to strength. Whiskey-flavoured icing on the cake is a cover of the Beltones’ ‘Weak’, bringing me back round to the Punch Drunk comparison and giving some love to one of the Bay Area’s finest exports, fucking quality! I’m looking forward to checking them out live ASAP, as this is damn fine drinking and dancing music.

By Jono Coote

Revenge of the Psychotronic Man - 10 Year Anniversary 7"

It’s hard to believe that Revenge of the Psychotronic man have been going for 10 years. 10 years ago, I’d just finished school, probably only really just starting to get into punk and going to gigs properly. It wasn’t till 4-5 years later, when myself and a few mates got our hands on a comp called “Music by People Who Drink Cider in the Gutter” that we found out who this dead noisy, relentless sounding band were. We were all in instant agreement that this was the best possible name for a compilation album, and, I think, probably still is the best one I’ve heard today. We also all agreed that ROTPM were a band we needed to listen to a whole lot more, and so when the split with the Fractions came out, we pooled together our dwindling financial resources to get a copy. We only had 1 copy between 3-4 people, and we rinsed it. Make Pigs Smoke became our pre-gig drinking album that we’d listen to, in my final year at uni. Hell, I still listen to it now if I’m getting drunk, or need to do something really fast when coffee won’t cut it.

The 10 Year Anniversary 7” EP is essential listening for everyone who's been to see this band over the last decade. In 10 years, they’ve become part of an established punk label, played hundreds of gigs across the UK and Europe, assembled what must be thousands of human pyramids, and more recently even did a session for the Radio 1 Punk Show. That’s big stuff! I think what I like most about this 7” is that not only is it still brutally fast, it also sums up what Revenge are about as a band. Anyone who’s heard of TNS Records will know the slogan “Get pissed, talk shit, dance like an idiot”. The vast majority of people who have ever been to a punk gig can relate to it, and are almost certainly still doing it. Rita, Sue and Bob too has been re-recorded and now sounds bigger and noisier than it did in the original 2005 recording. Side B switches things round a bit, with some remixes from the 2012 album, Shattered Dreams Parkway. Definitely a must for fans of bands such as China Shop Bull and Cradle to the Rave, who remixed Things I Have Learned in my Life so Far. The remix of Beer for Breakfast sounds great, however for me it’s the Cradle to the Rave remix which shows that it doesn’t matter if you’re using guitars, or keyboards, or computers, you can still make music sound fast, loud and heavy, which can be sometimes neglected in punk music. Embrace it!

I hope Revenge of the Psychotronic Man keep going for another 10 years and more. Still getting pissed, still talking shit and still dancing like idiots. Let’s hope it never changes.

U.S. Bombs @ Keighley Arts Exchange

There are undoubtedly plenty of situations I have got myself into in the past which could be married with the term ‘surreal’; a penchant for heavy drinking and smoking, coupled with an affinity to life’s less salubrious characters and a prudent avoidance of adult lifestyle choices like a full time job, means that I have witnessed my fair share of weird shit. However even by these standards, telling people that ‘I’m off to a gin bar in Keighley to see Duane Peters play a gig’ sounded like the start to a rubbish joke. With a venue in Sheffield (easy to get to on public transport, good city with stuff to do before and after a show) falling through last minute, somehow the U.S. Bombs’ show was moved a few miles down the road to Keighley (arse end of Bradford, little public transport, Friday and Saturday night hotspots include anywhere you can drink Lambrini or Frosty Jacks without getting picked up by the cops).

Of course, this was a gig for people of character – and we were chock full of that, a car full of us heading over from Leeds with more people meeting us there. It turns out that Keighley Arts Exchange is a pretty decent venue, with a wide selection of gin as advertised and a gig room that, despite looking like a school sports hall, had a really good sound. The gig opened with a band from Huddersfield whose name I forget, playing a strange mish-mash of genres which ended up sounding slightly like Faith no More (or maybe it’s just that one of the band had that band’s t-shirt on?) and went down as well as could be expected at a punk show…fair play to them, they looked to be enjoying themselves, and they were up there doing it, but it wasn’t what I expected for the night’s beginning. Thank fuck then for In Evil Hour, the next band up and a complete turn-around in sound. Female fronted hardcore punk with a slightly gothic bent a la the Nerve Agents, they played a hard, fast but still melodic set, the perfect sonic slap to the face to wake people up and get feet moving; well worth checking out if you don’t know them. A short acoustic set by Bombs’ guitarist Chip Hanna followed, an unexpected bonus set of which the high point was a cover of Sam Cooke’s classic ‘Don’t Know Much…’, and which was joined toward the end by Duane decked out in leopard print jacket and cane replete with urethane wheel base.

This set things up for the Bombs nicely, with everyone ready to git some as that familiar drum beat built up the tension before crashing into ‘Tora, Tora, Tora’. The night descended into a sweaty, drunken whirl of which details are hazy, so I won’t give a song-by-song account of what was played… but suffice to say Duane did his best Fred Astaire impression with the cane, I danced like an idiot, and everyone shouted every word to ‘Jaks’. There’s something about their melodic street punk that hits the nail squarely on the head, and by the end of the night everyone had smiles on their faces even after consuming varying amounts of gin. The U.S. Bombs are awesome, go see ‘em then go downhill on a skate!

By Jono Coote

RIP Junior Murvin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngGdngdruQE

Yesterday the music world lost a reggae legend in Junior Murvin. Despite having a similarly prolific output as many reggae artists, it was for the Lee Perry-produced ‘Police and Thieves’ for which he is most remembered by many. Released in 1976 and pertaining to the constant battles between badmen and a violent police force in Kingston, it struck a nerve over here too due in part to its coinciding with the Notting Hill Riots and a growing distrust with an institutionally racist police force. It also found popularity within the fledgling punk movement and it was The Clash’s version on their debut album which propelled the song further into the limelight in the UK, Murvin’s breathy falsetto vocals replaced by Joe Strummer’s gruff tones. ‘Cool Out Son’ was more recently given a boost in public consciousness by its inclusion in the game EA Skate 3, but these two tracks are merely the tip of a soulful iceberg. Of particular note are his Curtis Mayfield covers, of which the only easily findable song is probably ‘Rasta Get Ready’ from the Police and Thieves album. Apart from his brief moments of fame Murvin is probably one of the most underrated artists in Jamaican music, so if you ever find yourself in a dingy record store down Portobello Road, or wherever you are, and see any one of his records, don’t be put off if it isn’t his 1976 moment in the sun; give it a chance for some of the best music you’ll ever kick back with some good chronic and lounge to.

RIP 1949-2013

The Restarts @ Temple of Boom

The Restarts @ Temple of Boom

There seems to be within DIY touring circles a certain avoidance of Leeds by certain bands. Hardcore shows are almost guaranteed to have a good turnout of crew and a fun atmosphere, as are any TNS affiliated events, but for most southern punk bands (younger ones at least) things can get a little strange. As such Leeds is often ditched in favour of Manchester and Sheffield, so it was good to find out that The Restarts were Leeds-bound, and at the city’s finest new DIY venue at that. My plans to finish work and then cruise around on a skateboard until the gig were scuppered by shite weather, so my gig preparation consisted of sitting in the back of my shop drinking cider and chatting shit, before I headed to the venue for doors to carry on in a similar vein. After texting a bunch of the usual suspects and receiving replies in the negative I wasn’t sure how many people would turf out, but by about 8 the Temple was getting nicely packed out. Sitting in the bar area, the building is small enough to usually hear the moment a band plays their first chord and head through – unfortunately this doesn’t compute to acoustic music, so my first inkling that Paul Carter was playing was the gradual drain in bodies from the bar. This was a slow realisation, hampered by a fog which was equal parts customer service exhaustion and cider abuse, and as a result I only caught the very last few songs. These were good songs however, including his classic ‘Speed’, ‘You’re Living in the Past’, and to finish a crowd-enhanced sing-a-long of something which I should remember, but which is unfortunately lost in the foggy haze of a week and a half ago.

Mood uplifted, I headed out to the bar where it was bought crashing down by, shall we say, the attitudes of certain crowd members (I originally wrote this out in detail but fuck negativity, this blog is meant to get people hyped on going to shows).Luckily Canadians The Rebel Spell put me back on keel with a set of melodic hardcore which bought to mind such luminaries as SNFU, Avail and Youth Brigade. Fast, tight and with a shit hot bass player, they worked out a treat as the only unknown for me in the evening’s line up. As the evening wore on I started to flag, but The Restarts are always a reliable wake up and they didn’t disappoint with a set of gravel voiced classics including ‘Outsiders’,  ‘On To You’, ‘Timewaster’ and a glorious encore of ‘Frustration’ while everyone got jumping down the front. Tiredness was paradoxically washed away in the rivers of dank which poured into my lungs, and I headed out stoked on places like the Temple and bands like the night’s line up who are out there keeping the DIY spirit alive!

Jono Coote

Jaded Eyes - Gods and Monsters LP

Jaded Eyes – Gods and Monsters

 

Sometimes you hear a band and are immediately gripped – the music is exactly what you had been waiting for, sometimes without even knowing it. The first time I saw Jaded Eyes, at the always enjoyable Fox and Newt pub in Leeds, was one of those moments. As much as I am thoroughly enjoying the recent penchant for melding 80s style hardcore with UK82 anthemic choruses, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a band break away from the mould and temper their full throttle, rabid approach with a sense of melody and a lean towards intricate structures which separates them from the pack. Their debut record Gods and Monsters captures this in a spot on manner, nine tracks of Dischord style melodic hardcore punk rock which channels the bands influences and melds them with the northern hardcore which is clearly in their blood. In case you were wondering, all the best UK hardcore comes out of the north of the country, and as Jaded Eyes are made up of veterans of the scene, the chances of this not being good were very slim. Still, it has outdone my already high expectations and is now on heavy repetition on hill bombing journeys around Leeds with just me, a skateboard and some tunes blasting. I was going to give some highlights like I usually would, but to be honest the whole thing is fucking sick…if you like punk and hardcore music, get hold of a copy and I promise the stoke will be high!

Jono Coote