Seriously though, F@€K Busted

I was gonna work on an "End of Year" type post with lists of stuff but I decided not to (Local Resident Failure - best album, PMX & Twin Dracula joint top EP). Instead I'm going to write about something mildly topical in the world of punk rock. The "highly anticipated" Busted reunion.

In 2002 something amazing was happening in the UK charts. For the first time in a long while alternative music that wasn't brit pop was flooding the top 40. I remember this year as a year I think I saw more bands than I ever did before. Bands like Less Than Jake, MXPX, Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, New Found Glory, Fenix TX, The Offspring and god knows how many others. The punk/alternative world was blowing right the hell up and the charts reflected this. People like Avril Lavigne were in the top ten along with P!nk now singing songs off albums she was writing with Tim Armstrong. Bands  like Puddle Of Mudd and alternative sensations like Eminem could be found rubbing shoulders with the usual pop shit. All in all this was a huge time for rock music and punk was at the forefront of the charge, maybe not the stuff those guys in the 70s were listening to but us 90s teenagers had sudden easy access to all our favourite bands.
Kerrang TV had become a thing and by late 2002 they were playing more than just smells like teen spirit and enter sandman on 24 hour repeat and the bands we love were getting a hell of a lot of spotlight. Blink 182 in particular had been an overwhelming powerhouse when it came to breaking punk rock and alternative music into everyday households with cheeky but inoffensive videos and tunes that didn't freak your parents out.
Island Records obviously took notice of this and decided they wanted some of that sweet sweet punk rock pound. Island being a branch of the Universal Music Group, the company that also own EMI (you might recognise EMI as the record label the sex pistols fucking hated). In late 2002 'Busted', the debut album of brand new band Busted was released.

Main thing about Busted is that they were absolutely a pop band with guitars that they didn't actually play doing synchronised jumps and looking like total chumps. For someone who was genuinely in the scene back then Busted were an affront to everything that I loved. All those bands that were awesome and were pioneering alternative music from artist owned labels like Nitro and Kung Fu and Fat Wreck and Hell Cat were being shat on by this band.

I can't stress this enough, Busted were One Direction, only someone had gelled their hair up and given them guitars to hold onto.
It wasn't just that they were shit, and entirely manufactured, and catered to pre teen girls. It was that they did all this while pretending that they were in the Kerrang crowd. It was just deeply offensive for this band of public school assholes to label themselves in the same category as No Use For A Name or a pre American Idiot Green Day.
It's important to remember Charlie Simpson in all of this too. Charlie was a real rock music fan and HATED being in busted. Like really hated it. In an interview he gave with the guardian when Fightstar formed he has this to say about Busted:

"I was in a fucked-up situation. I was in a music career, which was amazing, and I hated it because it wasn't fulfilling me in any sense of the word. I kept thinking, imagine if this was a band I really liked, I'd be loving it. It was like torture."

Those are not the words of someone who thought they were in a good band, or an even remotely alternative band. Busted was his prison, which makes it all the more sad to see that he's back. I guess they must have offered him one hell of a lot of money.

So Why are we looking back on Busted now with a hint of nostalgia? Well my guess is that the mists of time have helped us forget who Busted really were. We look at them now like pop punk bands such as Fallout Boy, who are over-produced pop crap now but came from great beginnings. Or because they appeared in the charts at the same time that Blink-182 were in the charts we mis-remember them as part of that peer group instead of the major label cash in on the scene we were a part of. Today we have 5 Seconds Of Summer. A band that I care so little about I can't even be bothered to research them (I've already had to listen to Busted, don't make me do more!!). They are the modern Busted, probably even better if I cared to check out a song (I don't) yet we don't love them for the same reasons no one loved Busted back in the day.

We also have McFly, who, in the wake of the backlash against Busted being so blatantly fake made a point of playing everything entirely live and putting together a live show that showcased each of the members as great musicians. Their reputation eventually ended up tinting Busteds as being from the same crowd rather than that of the band that pretty much destroyed the genre before it had taken off.

I guess this all comes down to grumpiness and age in the end. I was eighteen and fully immersed in the punk scene at the time. Corporate entertainment always ends up ruining the things kids love and Busted was that corporate entertainment effort to cash in on what I thought was cool. If you got into alternative music five years later maybe Busted seemed like the pop punk band that the cool dude from Fightstar used to be in, or maybe everyone is being super ironic. I don't really know, all I know is I'm an older gen punk now telling the punk kids of this generation that Falling In Reverse and Yellawolf are shit, and it'll never be better than when I was 18.

So after reading this are you still excited for Busted coming back in a non ironic way? If you are then we probably can't be friends anymore.

p.s. even if you allowed for a 35 year gap between generations you're looking at roughly 30 in a 1000 year period. Your great great great granddaughter is more likely to occur in a 100 year window. Idiots.

SPOTLIGHT: The Twin Dracula - Hell Hath All Fury

Let me tell you all a story. If you've ever spent more than five minutes in my company face to face you may have heard it already but that's ok because it's my best one....

When I was 11 years old I went into Virgin Megastore and picked out what I thought looked like the coolest cassette in the place. Bill and Ted liked heavy metal and I liked Bill and Ted so I made the assumption that a band called Metallica would probably be pretty cool.
The album I bought was Kill 'Em All, after I picked it up my mum had to stop in tescos and I stayed in the car and put the tape in to check it out. What happened next basically shaped me into the human being I am today. I'd never heard anything so fast and heavy and fucking awesome in my life and from that point on I became the Dan you all know and adore today.

I bring this up because I just felt the second coming of Christ listening to Liars on the brand new EP from The Twin Dracula. It shook me down to my core. I'm not talking just goosebumps I'm talking taking a shot of adrenalin straight to the heart Pulp Fiction style! This is something exceptional right here. Powerful falls short on the list of descriptors for the TTD sound. If you want to categorise it into a genre pigeonhole I guess it would sit somewhere nestled in the middle of a venn diagram with Hardcore Punk, Thrash Metal, Motorhead and Fat Wreck Chords. Does that help to pinpoint what you're getting? probably not but it's the best I can do.

This isn't for the faint of heart. Whilst not exactly the brutal ferocity of Almeida, The Twin Dracula are heavy like a freight train, they switch in and out of full on Metal riffage and Operation Phoenix style hardcore easily and without skipping a step which can be heard perfectly on Allura. You'll Never Defeat The Cobras shows that speed is something TTD are just as comfortable with too, when not dipping into epic rock operatic breakdowns. There is a lot on display stylistically from what is essentially three tracks and an intro. One thing you may notice is that the average length of a TTD song is about three times the length of most punk counterparts, again making songs feel just that bit more Metal in nature. These aren't flash in the pan moments, these are deep and extended experiences which stand well by themselves and perfectly together.

So its time for the conclusion paragraph. The Twin Draculas new effort shows that this is a band that have barely scratched the surface of what can be done with their unique and awe inspiring sound. You'll have to look far and wide to find something more accomplished than this. If like me you were that little kid that heard some band playing distorted guitars and thought it was the coolest fucking thing in the world then you'll hear this and find it hard to ever put down again.

SPOTLIGHT: Larrakia - Self Titled

So here we are in what is the third brand spanking new Melodic Hardcore offering I've been lucky enough to be able to listen to recently. This third set of song comes by way of an introductory affair for Larrakia, a band who I have been unfortunate enough to miss seeing in person on a couple of occasions despite sharing billing with them in some cases! I knew going into this that I would like what I would hear due to them having released a few super cool videos leading up to this EP.

I'll get this out the way as usual. Of course I like this. I rarely (EDIT: never) review music I don't like, but how does this offering hold up to bands I would consider their peer group. Bands like The Human Project, Darko, Dead Neck, Almeida and my newly crowned favourite band PMX? I'll do the usual and measure this up against genre tropes I've come to expect from these bands.

Straight off the bat this is more of a straight up skate-punk record than many of the others in the list above. Whilst still retaining the insane levels of tightness and the technical guitar work that are a hallmark of the Melodic Hardcore crowd this feels more at home in amongst Fat Wreck collections. I get nostalgic feelings of listening to Strung Out and Face To Face listening to this. Whereas others are more hardcore or more thrash this is very close to the heart of skate punk. We still encounter the odd metalish breakdown, especially on the second track For What It's Worth, and the general pace over the course of three songs is blisteringly fast. Larrakia have managed to create a sound that both allows them to stand shoulder to shoulder with the bands that would be considered similar but at the same time differentiate themselves enough to not feel stale or like a re run of something we've heard previously.

Song wise, Feel The Burn is a feel good record that no self respecting punk should live their life without hearing, it's got energy to spare and is something that can quite happily live on repeat all by itself. For What It's Worth is an anthemic shout a long belter with the aforementioned metal esque breakdowns. Cruel To Be Kind is kind of my favourite out the bunch, a real flexing of the bands technical muscles and a great song to behold over and over.

Conclusions then. Larrakia are a band that should be on everybodies radar now. Their songs are expertly delivered and immensely entertaining to listen to, they are a credit to any punk scene you choose to associate them with and pay a loving homage to all the music I loved as a teenager. Fast, fun and instantly enjoyable. Larrakia will be taking over a scene near you soon.

SPOTLIGHT: The Drunken Ramblings - Dialectics

The Drunken Ramblings are a band I stumbled upon one night in Harrow after guitarist Victor told me he'd give me head for letting them play a show I was putting on. That show turned out to be the catastrophe known only as "The Junction disaster" and also the head was shit.

TDR are a band that put on a live show that has to be seen to be believed. Just imagine a drummer with a broken hand still smashing double time beats with a thousand mile stare only too much tremadol can give you, a guitarist who spends more time airborne than a migrating duck, a lead singer who is somewhere between a hobo and Jesus and bass player who is probably sleeping with your girlfriend right now. Smush these together and the Ramblings are born. It's an experience that can't possibly be described using our clumsy language but I'm not talking about them playing live today, instead I'm gonna talk about their almost new EP Dialectics, a term I just had to google but that I like very much now I know.

If you're one of those people who have seen TDR live then you may well be expecting this to be an 8 minute wall of noise and shouting but you would be very much mistaken. Dialectics is actually more of a thoughtful and considered record, never rushing to get to the end or desperate to be heavy enough to confirm to what the punk police are telling us is the correct distortion level. You'll find carefully laid down guitar licks and melodies which sit nicely underneath vocals that are deliberately not deliberately out of tune and time, rasped out in a stylised mumble much akin to Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong.

The Rancid parallels come quick and easy when listening to this record, but nothing is derivative enough to be able to pinpoint anything too specific which allows TDR to still shine on their own merits rather than being an outright tribute or parody. Standout tunes for me are Saturday Morning which is just the perfect punk rock chill out tune and End of the War which has an accompanying video my daughter is obsessed with and showcases lead singer Daves other talents outside of just songwriting and audio production.

It's worth talking about the audio quality of this entirely DIY record too. for something recorded in basic practice rooms and bedrooms it's awesome to pay attention to the clever flourishes and extra but understated tracks which never overpower the songs but always lend themselves very well to the overall feeling of the album. 

In conclusion this record is a charming and fun slice of punk rock life and the definition  of a "grower", something that only improves the more you listen, one for all the family to enjoy (as long as they don't mind hearing the odd fuck here and there).

Triple Sundae Special: Do I even like Ska-punk?

It's a very bold move sticking trumpets in your punk. The great ska crash of 20..... I dunno I was in Brighton when it happened and those years are fuzzy, but at some point all the ska kids became emo kids just like Home Grown predicted and all of a sudden people were definitely not "all about that brass" ..... see what I did there, it's a typographical pun! It's only "funny" when you read it because it don't make sense saying it out loud.

I've gotten wildly off topic within two sentences ....... so brass sections in punk became a very rare thing. Only very few people really truly can get away with putting brass in my punk these days, almost exclusively those people are in Less Than Jake. LTJ were perfect in their execution and any band that wanted to sound like that would be held in high esteem by me.

Enter Combust. The Trips boys disappeared at the tail of last year into a cocoon and have now emerged as the beautiful butterflies they always wanted to be. The caterpillar Triple Sundae, all gruffness and enthusiasm has been replaced with in tune three part harmonies, anthemic jams and of course, that brass. No upstrokes or comical swagger like the stereotyped ska-punk bands of yesteryear, just good old-fashioned 90s pop punk with horns that never seek to be centre stage and only help to drive things along.

I liked it. It gave me warm feelings and a nostalgia buzz from dancing in the Camden Palace to Gainesville Rock City on a Tuesday night. I'm very much looking forward to them getting back on the touring circuit and it's been well worth the wait.

SPOTLIGHT: Almeida - Social Media Circus

I'll admit to my shame that I've not checked out Almeida before, even though we've shared the same bill. I don't know why I never got around to it as I've seen them on the same bills as Darko and others of my favourites lists for a while and knew something of them being a band I'd probably enjoy. I guess you can just only check out so many new bands at a time. Anyway I feel guilty now and will be making a hell of a bigger effort to catch them in future, the reason is that my first ever taste of Almeida was this EP.

I feel like it gives me a nice perspective not having listened to anything by them before, yet holding them up to the Melodic Hardcore "Do I like it" template that I have done with their peers. It's not exactly going to be fair as it's fairly well pointed out that Almeida are "Progressive Thrash" and not Melodic Hardcore. What's the difference? well lets get into it:

This EP opens with the standard metal riff opening that I earliest remember MUTE doing in The Raven and thats become a fairly major staple in the bands I like to listen to. This time though it's goddamned hardcore, like way more than anything else I've heard. This opening really sets up everything you can come to expect from the EP and is actually a stroke of genius by the band. From the metal turned up to eleven opening gambit which then switches to a major key double time guitar solo and into alternate death metal growls and more standard skate punk vocals, you will have decided within twenty seconds of listening to this whether you'll like the record. Also there is a cough and you'll miss it Father Ted reference. Good stuff.

The album then settles into it's skate punk/melodic hardcore stylings, albeit with an intensity that is up at the upper limits of the genre, breaking more into flat out thrash metal more than any band I've come across before. You start to feel like you've got a handle on things and the tunes stream through at a blistering pace, fast and tight and technical all throughout. Which is a real hallmark of the top end of quality UK bands playing anything comparable.

Then "A Book Of Endless Pages" happens and oh fuck, you'd better be goddamned ready. The song is FIERCE like nothing I've known in a while. It's not exactly a total change in style but the really thrashy shit you've heard up until now is just an easy warm up for this. This song is intensity bottled and is an experience all of itself. The only thing I can liken it to is the song "Such the Fool" by Sikth, It's all deep rumbling growls and blast beasts and heavy as a tank riffs.
You'd be forgiven for being exhausted by the time it's over but you're not quite finished yet, Creed comes up as the ender and doesn't dare let up the pace and fun until you could swear that you've run a marathon.

In conclusion Almeida are far more aggressive and close to Metal than anything else I would class in a similar category and they may not be your cup of tea. To those of you that feel this way, know that you're wrong and probably a bad person. Luckily thanks to an opening intro so packed with personality it registered it's own netflix account, you'll be able to make your mind up pretty quickly about whether you're in camp right or not. To those that like the band or similar acts you'll find a deeply well crafted intense ride that will bring you back over and over as you piece together the narrative that runs throughout.

p.s. I apologise for not focusing one the words and instead just letting the vocal melody sweep me along because if I had paid attention I could probably say this with more clarity but I'm fairly certain this is a concept album, since from the opening all the way to the riffs in Creed there is a circus theme running throughout the music. Hopefully someone who actually hears the words can confirm this for me.

SPOTLIGHT: Jesus Hooligan - Touch Pure Passion

A while ago I reviewed an EP from 'Norse gods with drum sticks' ensemble Jesus Hooligan. That was a musical experience I'm never likely to forget, something so intense and against the grain that I quite happily threw myself into a feast of Touch Pure Passion - the bands (quite) new album. Admittedly I found it difficult to pull myself away from the brand new PMX EP, but like them good old pringles I popped and then couldn't stop!!

Now I've talked about these guys before, so I'll dispense with the overlong description and instead go for something a little lighter on the pallet for the TL;DR crowd.
Jesus Hooligan is the kind of music that absolutely defies any modern genre convention and instead opts to completely re write the book on everything we've come to expect from music. Part Tribal beatdown, part blues, part Danzig, part sea shanty, part rock opera, part Clash. They are at once no music that's come before and the building blocks of everything you've ever listened to. It's hard to imagine what I'm talking about until you hear it for yourself and I very much suggest you do.

Anyways on to the album. Now As I mentioned I have previous experience with the JH crowd. The "Feel" EP being a journey into guttural roaring to the sound of the earth grinding on it's axel which was both pleasing to take and utterly unforgettable. It's was quite the expedition and I fully expected this to be no different. What I found though was a slightly different kettle of fish. There's more in here that we could would consider popular music. Songs such as the opening Death Of Me and I Don't Wanna See That Woman No More are pretty close to being straight up rock songs, with some old school rock and roll slide guitar in there and a structure we would all recognise. This is the lighter side of JH and would be good starters for introducing the band to friends. Then there are tunes that left me literally short of breath listening to them, and I'm sat at a desk. Songs like Woman Girl and Girl are an assault on the senses with those tribal drums crashing and the didjeridoo to a pace that must be a real spectacle to witness live.

There is an ever prevalent sense of humour I love flowing through here too. It's smutty as hell but never disrespectful, crude but not at the expense of others and shocking but only to the prudish and uptight. In essence something anyone can get behind and enjoy. Lyrics like "When you're in my bed doing things with your head" are positioned directly next to an almost instrumental drum beatdown which proclaims " For I Will Love Her" over and over with a beautifully haunting turn of Mr Hooligans real life wife singing the reprise back to him. This sense of inclusiveness is an ethos the Hooligan tribe seem to hold very dear in their hearts and it comes across as endearing for a band of fearsome dudes pounding on the foundations of the world!! You're only likely to be truly offended by what they say if you do indeed have the body shape of a Wheatabix!

All in all this is something that is worth checking out if only for the fact  that you've probably never heard the like before or will after. Personally the fun in this recording, that sounds like they just played so loudly next to a record that the music was imprinted through sheer force of will, is a delight to behold and now I'm off to play Here In My Bed to my wife now to watch her knees go weak.

SPOTLIGHT: PMX - Dark Days

Just go and listen. I'll wait......

I know right? 

Melodic Hardcore is my bag. It's the only thing really in my music collection and my collection of UK bands that create this style of music are now far reaching and all close to my heart. So what's so special about PMX that puts this latest release above heavyweight contenders in the field such as Darko,  The Human Project and the many others I love with reckless abandon?

Well it has all the hallmark calling cards I come to expect from a HM record, the metalish riffs, the blistering speed of the drums, the level of technicality I can only stare at and weep as I wish I could be so talented. They're all here in spades and all with a tightness and polish that would make a grown man blush. To call PMX talented is to do them a disservice. These are musicians for which the music they create is no less a part of their body than their lungs or heart.

These things are all true and elevate PMX up to the lofty heights which I hold the others at the top of the MH spectrum, but there's more here which as personal preference elevates them to the very top of the bunch, and that's the pop aspect. As you can guess I love me some pop punk and the rest of the recipe that creates this sublime meal that is PMX is the beautiful vocals and 90s pop punk elements that glue the MH elements together. Think NUFAN circa "The Feel good record of the year", think Jimmy Eat World circa "Bleed American", think Ataris, Slick Shoes, Strung Out and Useless ID and you're on the right track. The pop here is a way of describing an accessibility to this record that I think other bands do away with or don't care so much about. This is the sort of record I'd play to my wife and she would enjoy, without a preexisting affiliation with punk rock. This makes this record a great gateway for anyone trying to convince people of Melodic Hardcores superiority or to entice someone who may have shunned it previously because bands like Forus and A Wilhelm Scream were just too much to handle straight off the bat.

Song wise I couldn't possibly pick a favourite although title tune Dark Days sets itself apart as something truly special. An almost 7 minute rock epic that left me genuinely sad that it had finished and desperate to get to it again via the rest of the tracks. It's something incredible to feel moved by a piece of music so epic in nature and construction and it makes me happy to have found it in the first place and able to hopefully share it with you all.

In conclusion if you were saving yourself to buy one single record all of this year well then you're lucky because it's right here and it's everything you could have possibly dreamed of. A roaring, soaring, heartbeat skipping, pulse pounding beautifully crafted and executed journey which I felt nothing but gratitude for being allowed to take. It's a masterpiece of whatever style of music you'd like to attribute it to and something that no-one should miss out on.

DANS SOAP BOX - Online Bullying

I'm adding a new feature to my blog, and that's a nicer way of saying that I want to have a place to have a long rant about something non music related without starting a brand new blog. In this series I will be tackling heady things such as stuff I feel needs to be addressed to a large audience. why not just write a long winded and bloated moany facebook post you may ask. To that I say yes, and let's continue regardless.

Todays soapbox is something I have become increasingly aware of and that's online bullying and harassment. That sounds kind of harsh when i say it like that but let me give you a few examples and you may find that you have indeed been party to it too. There was the girl who did the hunting, remember her, Ricky Gervais (more on him later) tormented her for a while and so did all his fans and most of the international press for a week or so, then there was that advert that used a well heard of phrase for getting in shape and looking attractive to the opposite sex while in swimwear who were the ire of all feminists for again, about a week. Let's not forget (did you already forget?) about the scientist who said something stupid and again was rocked by a landslide of abuse for a little while, lost his job too over that one. I could continue on for a while in this fashion and there are undoubtedly stories which are more relevant to you that I missed but you get the point.

The point here being that these people were mercilessly tormented by enormous amounts of people for a period of time and then all of a sudden were forgotten about as the world moved on to the next victim. Yes each one of these people did/said something that we don't agree with but MY GOD!! do they really deserve the anger of the planet for their "crimes"? Such a public throwing of shit at individuals hasn't been seen we put people in stocks, and that is truly what it feels like to me. We put these people up for public flogging for a length of time while we hurl detritus at them and we move on about our daily business, feeling like we've had a moral victory over those "bad" people. It's the same reason we watch Jeremy Kyle, except with wider audience participation. Well done human race, we've regressed  to the 1800s for our forms of punishment.

I'll look back at Ricky Gervais now. We like to feel like he's a crusader for animal rights. The people he singles out being the scum of the human race. When he tells us to attack we do, taking on these depraved humans and teaching a lesson about having an online presence they'll never forget.
But hang on, has Ricky Gervais shown us all his campaign to ban trophy hunting? Has he tried to use his giant influence to change gun laws? Has he used his considerable position of privilege as a straight white male millionaire to bully the tour companies that allow this so far perfectly legal thing to happen? No he has not. Or if he has it certainly flew under the radar. Instead what we have is a man with an angry army close to 10 million strong (on twitter alone) attacking individuals. That's like him singling out a junky on a street corner, telling everyone in London to kick them in the face and then telling the world he's totally fighting the war on drugs.

As for these people YES they do things that we find terrible, but really think of the consequences, do they deserve it? Let's put that into perspective. You eat chicken sandwiches right (Vegans go pat yourselves on the back for this analogy)? You probably have since you were old enough to eat a sandwich, I know my daughter does. Now what about the disgusting way poultry are treated in battery farms in the UK and abroad? I mean millions of chickens slaughtered (that's a strong word isn't it) every day so that there's enough chicken to go in your sandwich.
Now two things generally occur to you at this point. 1 - it's not your goddamned fault your tasty chicken sandwich had to be made from a terrified bird watching thousands of it kinsmen die as it too was dragged screaming to it's death. 2 - I don't fucking care because eating chicken sandwiches is such an integral part of life I couldn't imagine not doing it.
Now imagine that one day 10 MILLION people tell you that you're a monster for all that dead bird you're cramming in your mouth, not just that you're a monster but that they'll fucking kill you. Some of these people will actively try to find you. Your face is then plastered over the news, even though everyone else you know and an entire industry is built around making chicken sandwiches, you're the only one feeling the burn. Your employer undoubtedly sees your face on every site they look through and fires you, even though they themselves probably eat chicken sandwiches but they don't want to be seen as condoning such "terrible" actions.

And then it stops. The millions forget your name and decide that someone else who told a despicable joke about horses having long faces (don't cause body dysmorphia in horses) is the new evil and chases him. You're left broken and terrified and possibly financially ruined by a rampaging mob that can't even remember what colour hair you have now.
This is what we do weekly now. We jump on the scorn wagon, pile our hate onto people who are by all accounts just like us but raised with a different moral code and then dump them in favour of women holding coke can between their tits for no reason at all.

If it was you standing in the streets and someone was locked naked in the stocks would you throw a stone at their face along with the crowd? Can honestly say that you haven't in your life done something that couldn't warrant a similar tirade from people? If you are not fighting directly at the cause of something (say for example you're condemning a dentist for killing a lion but you're not vegan and fighting against international hunting laws) then you are the bully and it's time to stop.

SPOTLIGHT: Demon Smiles - Amped

You may well be thinking how could somebody who is best friends with the band and also an ex member and also self styled number one fan possibly review a record by that band. To that I say HA! and BAH! and afterwards in a more wordy retort I would say that surely someone who is as intimately tied to the band without actually being in the current line-up is in fact best placed to review such a thing. We already know I like it, I only review stuff on here that I like. I have more official means of doing a totally objective review that don't live here. What I'm gonna talk about  instead is just how good the album is and what makes it the greatest Demon Smiles record to grace our ears so far.

Now I don't know where you were on February 3rd 2013 but I was sat in a dark room listening to a brand new demo by Demon Smiles. It was raw as fuck and badly recorded and rough around every edge but by God was it cool and fun and full of pinache. Since that moment I've been there to watch the ebbs and flows of the band and when things hit a low point this time last year I stepped into guitarist duties for a few brilliant months whilst they pieced back together what had fractured. Last August whilst playing with Authority Zero I handed the guitar reigns over to newcomer Jazz, a sexy beast of a man with a beard that could impregnate a hundred virgins. Then the band, whilst keeping up their relentess touring schedule, knocked AMPED out.

This new album is many things to the band. It's a heartfelt display of sadness over the end of how things were, it's a positive affirmation of all the ideals the band holds dear, it's flexing of confident muscles showing the talent delivered week in and week out in stunning live shows but more than anything else it's all the potential the band has ever shown, distilled and magnified beyond measure. Quality wise in comparison to previous efforts it is as a hawk is to the mouse it is hunting. Superior in every facet. Even returning songs are infinitely better with almost the entire vocal focus of these going to Cat, who's beautiful, powerful vocals can shine so much more when not being interceded with tuneless growls. The drumming on display here is far and beyond anything heard before, rhythms in the brand new songs being faster and more technical than ever heard on record before. The pace of this thing is nothing short of break neck, apart from the odd dub reggae breakdown. Jazz the gorgeous new kid also shines through, keeping things all tied together with a skill and precision that was sorely lacking before.

Stand out tracks on here are hard to pin down to a one or two. Penny For The Wise is already an anthem for of all of us that have had to deal with band members going south. Based on a true story there are cheeky references to other bands and other things that warrant multiple repeat listens. Impropagandhi lets us know what the new Demon Smiles is all about, lightning fast with cleaner more precise guitar work than any older fans will be used to. Then there's Fuck You, which is the band personality, built into the most fun 2 minutes and 32 seconds you can have. I've mentioned improvements in the older songs so next up is my personal favourite We Are The Weirdos. This song is an affirmation of all the band cares most for whilst decrying those would ruin it for them, the bit where it goes "I'm in love with a dead generation, kept alive in my soul" is just too cool to handle. Enemy is the skatepunk-est song out of everything on display and also a close contender for favourite with the single fastest drumming anywhere in the DS back catalog.
Keys is a tune for every victim of street harassment to scream in the face of the next prick to attempt to force themselves on someone and become aggressive in denial. I may be a dude, but having to come home and hear stories from my wife of the idiots that try to woo her with such tactics as forcing her to take their number or calling her a bitch because she refused drinks I feel like this resonates with me the most out of all the others.

So in conclusion (for the TL;DR crowd) you could throw away everything that came before and not blink, this is the real deal, the peak (so far) of what the band is capable of and essential for your collection if you are in anyway into skatepunk.

SPOTLIGHT: On A Hiding To Nothing - Self Titled EP

ok ok ok ok, So I only ever seem to write nice things about bands I like. But that's because I only write reviews for bands I like to listen to so shut your traps.
On A Hiding To Nothing first graced my earholes around February last year and you can see how much I love them playing live here.
As much as I loved them they didn't really have anything to listen to outside of hyper energetic live shows. Just a few hastily recorded samplers on Bandcamp. Nothing that the band was happy to have put their overly long name to (OAHTN from here out).
Trouble with being in a DIY punk band is that Simon Cowells cheque book is not open to you and funding has to come from somewhere if you don't have a trust fund. These gents decided to offer up an indiegogo campaign to get things going at the tail end of last year and had a pretty succesful time gathering funds from unwitting chumps ( I pledged £20). Now we get to hear the fruits of their labours and I'm pretty happy to announce that it's flipping incredible:

So Sound wise it's obvious a lot of love and attention has been given to recording this and getting it to sound just right. This is no flash in the pan demo purely sampling a live show. This is a very nicely produced affair and sits comfortably alongside anything recorded with a giant budget that might exist in my music collection. This can be divisive to some punks who like a deliberately raw sound but being that you're reading a blog with "pop-punker" in the title you likely appreciate a meticulously crafted sound.

Like any really great set of songs, from any genre this thing is layered like an onion. If you just want some excellent riffage to skate to this has got you covered with catchy hooks and double time in all the right places. It passed the "is it fun to skate to down Regent Street" test with flying colours.
The vocal melodies are sweet enough to listen to without ever having paid attention to what's being said. If you want to dig a little deeper and start listening you'll find the OAHTN sense of humour. Ever present in their stage shows and definitely part of the bands personality there is a lot to laugh about in this set of songs as long as you a free thinking individual.
That last point leads me nicely to the last layer I cared to discover in my 30 or 40 listens, and that is a scathing look at Middle Britain and the ignorance and prejudice found in this green and pleasent land. From armchair pundits to tory daily mail religionists, if you are a narrow minded, uninformed, bigoted fool then this record stands squarely in your face, points a finger and says "it aint goddamned good enough".

There really is something for everyone here and those who pledged will be greatly pleased with how their money was put to use. A worthy debut in both quality and potential for a band brimming with both.

5 Reasons I'm not punk (according to the "punk handbook"): and also old.

Today is not a day for bands, unfortunately. It's also not a day for anything particularly music related. Instead I'm going to talk on a subject that count as one of the very few pet peeves I have and a few reasons why this annoys me so. The thing that got this all riled back up in my head was possibly the worst facebook post I have ever seen by a "punk" band. This whining, snivelling self pitying pile of badly written nonsense encapsulated everything wrong with the punk scene for me and I'd like to take a moment to say "do you know what, if that is what punk is then I'm truly glad I'm not. Here's five reasons I shouldn't call myself punk anymore:

1. I Give A Shit

It's almost the golden rule of punk rock isn't it? give no fucks. If you have a fuck to give then you aren't doing punk properly. Right? well do you know who else gives no fucks and only looks out for themselves? Big Brother Contestants. Jeremy Kyle. Katie Hopkins. Bank Managers. Simon Cowell.
I guess I don't want to be in those peoples clubs. I do give a fuck. I care that in doing the things I want to do that I don't detract from other peoples happiness. Am I a people pleaser? Well yes, that's the entire reason I sing in a band, I want people to enjoy what I'm doing. "But you can't worry about everybody all the time" I imagined you saying just now, that may well be true but I can give a little consideration to how people feel before I react to something. So this may be my age talking too, I'm well aware of that, but then again people that have stayed friends with me for a long time can heartily agree I was a prick when I was younger and am a much better person to be around now. So yeah, why not just spare a moment to think about the repercussions of your actions, or y'know, just keep being a tool.

2. Anything Politics

Man Fuck UKIP, and Britain First. Those guys are blights on the face of the earth as far as I'm concerned. The real issue I have with them though is that they (from what I have seen of life) really do represent the views of middle britain (I mean the average person, not like Birmingham or any specific location). That's what angers me. What I don't have is a view on policy reform, taxes, umm anything else that sounds like a political thing. I don't passionately hate the major parties for whatever things they've done and I guess that makes me a bad person in the eyes of the politically charged but hell that's just not me. I'm an escapist, I lose myself in books about fantasy worlds and in comics and role playing games and in playing music in my band. It's not that I don't care about politics, but if you want an example of what happens with a shift in power then look at the rubbish piling up in the streets because our champion left took control. Things will not necessarily be better with an upheaval and I'm too busy making sure my family are provided for to drop everything for a total revolution.

3. I am old

Old people always used to bang on about punk when I was a teenager. They would tell me I didn't know what good punk was and that the shitty 90s groups I was listening to weren't real punk. I would tell those stupid old men to go and fuck themselves. Punk was whatever the fuck I wanted it to be because it was mine, ours, and by that I meant it was a teenage thing that some stupid old jerk in a pub with a gammy knee that "used to be punk" could never ever understand because he was past it.
Well now the music of my youth is twenty years old and I generally don't like what teenagers listen to (unless it's what I listen to). Punk at it's core has always been a teenage rebellion that old people and the media labelled punk. Telling a kid that there act of rebellion isn't punk because it doesn't conform to genre rules is the absolute least "punk" thing in the world to do. I don't like what the kids are listening to these days, and that's ok.

4. I'm not offensive

This seems to be another staple of punk rock 101 that got a little skewed with time. When punk first burst onto daytime telly and top of the pops back in the day it was considered hugely offensive. Back when "dirty bloody rotter" was the height of bad language the punks were seen as pioneers of offense and somehow this turned into a rule where you have to be offensive no matter what to everyone you come across. I once played a show in Chichester (the punk rockest town in England) and this girl was stood at the front shouting abuse at me and spitting at me the whole time. When we finished she then tried to stick her tongue down my throat, clearly under the impression that since I was playing punk that all of her punky offensiveness would be a huge turn on for me. It was and we proceeded to have a forgettable evening but that's beside the point. There was no need for it and being offensive for offensive sake is just a stupid concept. Chav kids with their stupid slang and gang signs and appropriated black culture offend me today. So that just means the baton has been passed.


5. I don't like punk rock music that much.

I am a musician. I may not be a good musician but I am one. I play to the best of my abilities and I hope that when I perform in front of a crowd of people that they have a good time and want to see me do it again someday. I am especially in love with Melodic Hardcore these days like The Human Project and Darko, bands that blow me away with incredible musicianship and that clearly strive to be at the absolute top of the field. I don't really like just shouting into a mic whilst someone butchers three chords and a drummer barely plays a beat. That's what I hear a lot of the time when I listen to purist punk bands. I remember being played on a radio station a while ago. The song they played was Plus One which is an acoustic ballad dedicated to my daughter. the song before I think was about cunts and beer and beer cunts and cunt beers or something. I don't really know because I couldn't understand it. It's weird. The UK seems to be the only country still churning out bands like this. It all just reminds me of football chanting and is often a breeding ground for racism and sexism. I love a belting harmony. I love a screaming solo. I love super tight double time drums. I love light hearted and funny music. I guess I don't love punk.

Southbank vs Denmark Street - Half assed couch fights don't win wars

How many of us have been shocked and/or appalled at the rate at which music venues have been closing down? Probably most of us. I remember feeling like I'd been punched in the gut when I was told that the London Astoria was being demolished in 2009. Having been to see many bands there as a teenager it was saddening to know that future generations would be denied such a great place to watch their idols. It was home to incredible memories and I wished it was still there but do you know what, I didn't do anything to help save it so I guess I just need to live with it.

One thing I was determined to get on board with was saving the SouthBank undercroft. The Long Live South Bank campaign was something it was my very great pleasure to have been a part of. I wrote letters to MPs and National Heritage and promoted the issue using this very blog and any other means I had at my disposal. The real heart of the campaign too was fought tooth and nail by the volunteers who took up the fight. Even the website on it's own is a beautiful thing, filled with passion and love for the cause. Celebrities were endorsing their fight, it was in huge amounts of media and they endured slander and relocation propositions and rejections until even the London Mayor himself endorsed them and helped sway them to victory. This victory was not easily won and despite all they made it happen. I look back on it all and smile knowing that I helped in the little ways I could and that the core campaigners never let the end goal slip, even when people called them pests and unreasonable and tried to rub their reputations through mud. The alternative scene took a collective stand against rampant gentrification and held their own against big business.

I don't feel the same can be said for the loss of Denmark Street.


I have "researched" the Denmark Street closure and the most I can find online is a petition to stop with with 28,000 odd signatures (compare that to a similar one for the LLSB campaign that garnered almost 71,000) and a smattering of pieces in the BBC, talking about it going like it already had. I couldn't find a website or even a dedicated facebook page to the cause. I know there are a group called Save Denmark St but I can't tell you about their exploits or what they did to try to save things. I'm not saying that they did nothing I'm saying that there is nothing they have to show for it other than a few half assed articles and too many separate petitions knocking around.
Why wasn't there as much of an uproar? are things so clear cut that they couldn't fight? was the relocation offer just too good to refuse (12 Bar opens back up in Holloway soon) or were people just not as passionate as they made out? I don't want this to come across as me saying that nobody cared about what happened here but what I am saying is that there doesn't seem to be any record of the battle. They say history is written by the victors and it seems like the victory was so absolute that the opposition was wiped away.

Earls Court is going soon too, I went to a bunch of conventions there but it's not something I did regularly enough to be any more than mildly annoyed about it, however there are places like the New Cross Inn and Birds Nest that I frequent regularly and perform at and my patronage is hopefully what will keep these places alive. I know I will move mountains to keep them as they are should the need arise. We can't save the whole world, but when someone threatens something that is a part of our lives and history in a big way we should kick up so much fuss that people just have to pay attention. Even if we lose we should have to be taken down kicking and screaming with a shrine to our struggles against higher powers left for people to view and improve upon next time someone with a big budget  and re-dveleopment plans tries to pave over history.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Denmark St. group went down fighting till their last gasp. Show me where I can see this fight and I will happily, enthusiastic admit I was wrong, but the entire point of this is I can't see a fight right now, all I see is an obligatory objection and the steam rolling of an iconic landmark.

SPOTLIGHT: Jesus Hooligan - Feel

One chilly night I sat in a dark basement in North London and watched what looked to me like a heavy metal asguardian sing sea shanties whilst beating the shit out of a stool with a huge chain. Every word of that last sentence is true and yes it was as cool as you're imagining. What I glimpsed was only the tip of the iceberg though. I had only seen a Jesus Hooligan solo effort not the full band. The band is made up of minimal boring old shit like guitars and whatnot and mostly made up of anything you can savagely hammer with a lead pipe whilst bellowing to the wind for those pussy greek gods to test your viking mettle. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy their sparkly new cd Feel. and here's how that went.


"Feel" is a lot more than a string of songs. It's a social occasion. There's a story for those to tell who may be putting it on for someone brand new to the "hooligan" experience. "What the flaming fuck is this?" one may exclaim. The answer to this is long winded and and more fun to explain the more of you  there are who know the deal. This is something to pull out at parties when you decry pop bullshit and someone says "well what do you think real original music sounds like?" or to blare down a crowded highstreet from your battered pickup to say to the world "fuck you world, I wont do what you tell me". I would say more than anything though it's a memory of an outstanding band you saw that time with all your friends and you want to reminisce about just how cool they were. If you're after easy listening or something to quietly contemplate then this isn't it. If you want to become the centre of all attention then step right up because I'm pretty sure no one in your vicinity has heard anything like this.

"Old Fashioned Love Song" kicks things and let's you know right from the get go that you won't be getting all that "deep and serious" malarky from this set of songs. from opening lyrics like "whips and chains" and a chorus that let's you know that lets the world know Mr Hooligan is horny the tone here is unashamedly crude and a little silly on purpose. The whole thing is set to tribal feeling riffs and god only knows what being pummelled in the background.
"Rain" comes around and by this point you think "of course there's a didjeridoo, why wouldn't there be". The tribal drumming kicks back up over minimalist guitars and by now you feel like you're getting the hang of things. I like to think that this is what music was always supposed to sound like. at some point people became obsessed with scales and what was technically possible and they forgot to strip naked with their neighbours and stomp around a fire at night, settling disputes by who could shout the loudest while still keeping the beat and finding the love of a woman over embers and hypnotising rhythms.
"Sweat" starts with (somehow very appropriately) the death of a guitar and the ominous boom of what I like to think of as your preconceptions being smashed to smithereens. Structure as we imagine it is another of the things that Jesus Hooligan are determined to show is something the rest of us are doing all wrong. All that ABACAB shit is over-rated and what we all need as a tonic is hollering and chants and then stop. Subject matter here I guess could be considered humanist, or pagan or even satanic. telling us that human nature is perfectly ok and that all the primping and pandering of modern culture is the truly weird freaky stuff. Underneath all that is also a quite touching love song. Beautiful stuff.
"Jame's Song" kicks straight of with more shouting at the very tops of lungs and then the drums kick off. no more guitar here. No more words. No more anything that makes up the mainstream construct of music, bands and songs that any of us think need to be there. What your brain may not have clocked onto though is that al these ideas you had about "proper" music have slowly been removed throughout the course of the last three songs so none of this seems out of place and you don't feel like you're thrown in at the deep end. You just find yourself in a place the the groove and the fact that everyone from toddlers upwards can join in.
As if the first couple of songs teased a guitar just to help you get to grips with things "I Met A Woman" assumes you're fully up to speed with this particular brand of hooliganism and feels that full on tribals are all you'll need band wise and that you'll be totally fine with lyrics like "I'd like to skin her and wear her as a coat". eventually this track devolves into primal screaming and then it ends abruptly with no apology for bending your fragile mind into gooey paste.

Then it's over and you're left shivering in the stark silence and you understand that music as you understand it is a lie and that bin over the other side of your office never looked so musical before.

SPOTLIGHT: Eat Defeat - It's Always Sunny In Yorkshire

So For the first time (I think ever) I'm going to write about a band I've not personally interacted with, bare with me because this Thug Life we call bad music blogging is about to step up a notch.

So Eat Defeat are a band that I may not have played with yet but hail from Leeds, which as far as I can tell is knocking out some of the best UK bands around right now. They've arisen from the ashes of skacore to become a power pop skate punk quartet that are doing pretty well for themselves, having toured mainland Europe and all over the UK. In fact if you like what you hear after this review why not  check them out in an upcoming February tour.

Anyways onward to the actual EP:

This thing sounds chunky like you'd expect a Punk-Pop record to, the level of professionalism here is about what I'd expect from a band who have a few releases and members from bands like Fighting Fiction. They clearly have some stripes they've earned and this is the fruit of their wisdom. The hooks here on display will let you know instantly if it's your cup of tea and it certainly is mine!! The cover is a very quick indication that if you like your music exclusively dark and brooding then you're looking in the wrong place here

"Thundergun Express" is the kicker on this EP and it's a good one, I purposefully haven't listened to the previous material yet so I don't become biased but I can only hope its as cool and powerful as this. I don't recognise the quote at the beginning of the track but by virtue of the fact that it's there I feel at home. I may have mentioned that I was a giant Midtown fan back in the early 2000s and this gives me great memories of those guys.
"Luck is for Losers" is next along and this has a pretty special treat on it. In what I assume is a nod to their origins as a skacore band they have guest vocals from none other than Barney Boom. The breakdown in the bridge is setup in the previous song as an Eat Defeat trope and helps to make the drop in tempo style not feel too jarring, the guest verse is cool and will make Sonic Boom Six fans need this in their collection. The chorus for this tune is just superb and the strongest of the three tracks. It's a real pop punk anthem without the need for too much polish or bravado, just like great pop punk should be.
"Survival Mode" rounds out the EP and the intro feels like it could go in many a direction, being a little technical and feeling like it could be used to introduce something heavy or maybe just a throwaway beginning into more pop punk. Instead the guys choose the absolute best path (in my humble opinion) and kick the pace up to a thousand miles per hour. If there's one thing I love more than great harmonies and catchy choruses over a pop punk beat its the same over double time skate punk drumming!! Being addicted to the double makes this a definite favourite for me and an extremely strong finisher both in terms of wanting to finish with a bang and for this being something that can hold it's own against other established powerhouses in the skatepunk/melodic hardcore scene.

All in all really great set of songs that I've been listening to a hell of a lot since I was pointed in their direction. It's a crying shame that I haven't played with these guys personally and I'll be looking to remedy that soon. If you think the glory days of pop punk happened before a certain band released a certain shite self titled album then you will thoroughly enjoy this. In fact if you are a fan of music in general and you want to check out a well thought out fun set of songs then this is the place you need to be.

https://eatdefeat.bandcamp.com/

SPOTLIGHT: Cereal Box Heroes - Frier

Back around September I bullied my way onto a gig line-up because I really wanted to play a show with the headliner and also DropThis were playing and Triple Sundae two awful(ly good) bands with friends in the line-up. The other band on this bill were Cereal Box Heroes (a name I got wrong a few times on the night) and as far as I know it was their first show. Well to say they knocked that shit out the park is an understatement. These three dudes who by my old man standards couldn't have been older than 8 just smashed their way through the most incredible 90s power pop punk revivalist set and instantly won the hearts of a nation. If they had just been a great band they would have still won the night but on top of that it turned out they were bloody stellar blokes too the nail in the super awesome leagues coffin right there. Shortly(ish) after they managed to put out their first EP Frier. and that is what we're here to discuss.

Get past a  gaudy cover makes a bit of a mess of the band name and you'll find that Frier feels both perfectly comfortable around all your 90s Lagwagon, Blink and Diesel Boy albums and utterly fresh and new. A little track full of fart sounds and sets the scene and if you're put off by this then fair enough, you have obviously come to the wrong place, you'll find your humourless boring person shit somewhere else. The thing that will hit you from the get go is that this doesn't just sound like a 90 punk album, it sounds like one. The production is incredible for something that is a first ever effort and a lot of care has gone into perfect capturing the era in the master.

"Forget It" is the first "proper" track on the album and it's a revelation, fast and fun with all the right breakdowns and those stops which are synonymous with the style. The second double time verse shows that these guys are fully capable of keeping up with all their idols and anything else that I  would rank highly today.
"Homewreck" is blisteringly fast and awesome fun to listen to. It just makes me smile. There's no other way to put it. This track introduces to the fact that we have two lead singers in Conor and Dom. Who's my favourite you ask? That would be telling but the difference, whilst being obvious is as glaring or uneven as Blink was and you probably wont find yourself with one voice you hugely prefer. THe breakdowns found in this track could almost be thought of as derivative, but they are played so well and with such feeling that they quite right show off a loving homage to late 90s/2K pop punk instead.
"Mudface" is the last track on the EP and again the stage is set for a trip down memory lane. These retro punk vibes never overshadow the groups talent however and this in particular would be way beyond your average vocalist in terms of complexity in the verses. The choruses then reset us back into familiar sing-along territory, something these guys understand is necessary part of writing a fun album and something they work extremely well in delivering.

The comparisons to the past, especially to Dude Ranch are ever present in this EP and in the band as a whole, but rather than clinging to an ideal or a desperate emulation of better things these guys have created something born of the same basic foundation and can now proudly rest it up against all the albums of my own teenage years. If you can't tell from all this these few tracks are really something special and if Cereal Box Heroes aren't already on your radar then make sure they are now or miss out.

https://cerealboxheroes.bandcamp.com/album/frier

SPOLIGHT: Recluse Club - Osaka Mechaslug Concern

Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a struggling acoustic musician. He was bumbling through unfulfilling shows and watching his far cooler friends rocket up to fame/imfamy and felt like he was wallowing in obscurity playing shit shows to 0 crowds for no real reason.

Just as he was about to jack the whole thing in the aforementioned friends asked some punks who were putting a show on in Worthing if that sad acoustic pop punker could play the show too. He did and then he met some excellent dudes, they liked the things he liked and were awesome and welcomed the acoustic punk as a friend and then played the most ridiculously fast music he'd ever heard and saved his musical career. This man was of course me (you can see some depressing blog posts here from when i nearly gave up) and the band that restored my faith in playing shows was Recluse Club. One of the biggest shames about this band thus far is that they previously only had one shoddily recorded demo to go by. This is now not the case as the guys have the stellar Osaka Mechaslug Concern to please your lugholes with.....

OK lets start with genre definitions. This is a toughy, but melodic hardcore hits the general area, maybe a little Refused esque post-hardcore in there too. I hear a tad of Enter Shikari too, which is awesome since they are one of my best not punk bands.

This EP sounds good. Everything sounds like it's complimenting everything else and is clean enough to  ring the vocals and harmonies nicely whilst still being raw enough to convey the hardcore nature of the band. The opening "Linear" has an almost progressive feel to it, although if like me you think progressive is a dirty word in music don't fret as it's the only instance of it, serving to nicely warm up and  build expectation of the speed fest to come. "Errors" is straight up melodic hardcore and fits in well with anything else especially that you might hear on the continent that would fit in that bracket, a good thing in my book. "Evensong" is the most classically hardcore track with this offering and if I imagine the song as a human they have the biggest balls of all the tracks which is saying something since all these guys play rugby and are firefighters!! "The Crash" is ever so far from least as the last track, it's my favourite of all due to it seeming to hit every bit of 90s skatepunk nostalgia in a technical storm of cool metalish riffage and spot on EpiFat harmonies and blast beat drumming. It's a full storm and I felt a little out of breath just listening to it.

All in all this is the awesome sound I've been waiting roughly a year and a half to hear from these guys, a brilliant effort and one that will be hard to top on the upcoming album (I may have made up the upcoming album news). Remember supporting your local scene automatically makes you 63% better than other humans in your area who don't. so jump over to bandcamp and pick this up as a blinding first catch of 2015.

https://recluseclub.bandcamp.com/album/osaka-mechaslug-concern