Keys – Innocuous Beats EP

The Innocuous Beats EP from UK band Keys is certainly not going to be for everyone, the distinctive and unrefined treats within destined to leave many confused and scared to take on the teasing unpredictable challenge on offer, but for those it does make a connection with there is the strong possibility of it being a long-term union. The three track release is a psyche sculpted mesh of indie, punk, noise, and colour soaked melodic enterprise bled into pastoral shades without losing vitality. It is not easy to truly describe in word but if any of the references it offers through the rest of the review up strike your ardour than Keys is an awaiting joy.

Formed in 2009, the Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk quartet of William Burns (vocals/synth), Jon Titcombe (guitar), Ed Pipe (bass), and Ben Ward (drums), according to the promo sheet accompanying the release started Keys ‘from a mutual sense of not fitting in.’ A term which describes the sounds on Innocuous Beats perfectly, their ability to not fall in with any established or dare one say accepted style but stride forward with their own unique DIY intent and flavouring refreshing.  The band has built up a good and devoted fanbase through their live performances which have flourished from a policy of showing up at as many gigs as possible in within a 60-mile radius and persuading promoters to put them on and their release can only bring further recruits to their aural cause.

The Sturm Und Drang released EP opens up its presence with the title track, a song which immediately encroaches on the senses with a grouchy yet beckoning bass call. As beats muster their wares jangling guitars add a bright funk high stepping breath to proceedings, their vibrant and keen presence bringing an early Orange Juice flavour to the heavier tones of the enthralling bass persuasion. The vocals of Burns are expressive without blowing the cobwebs from the passions but fit perfectly in the teasing overall sound which suggests a major explosion but never does take the full leap though its riotous climax with a funk infused boisterousness which brings thoughts of eighties band Mouth, certainly energises and triggers a livelier escapade.

It is an infectious and compelling start easily matched by the following Hiding In Our Smirks, another song opening with the throaty call of the bass making the strongest beckoning. As vocals and guitars strut their hypnotic stuff with again understated intensity but enthused energy the track is a scuzzy trigger to an even stronger hunger for sound and release. The track seemingly has seeds found in the likes of World Domination Enterprises  as well as a tinge of early Gang Of Four to its gait and like its predecessor simply fires up the senses and emotions with its post punk and punk invention.

Communications Tower is the last contribution to Innocuous Beats and lives up to what came before with ease. It is a prowling blend of again the likes of Mouth and World Domination Enterprises with loud whispers of Swell Maps and The Fall which stomps and swaggers with uninhibited confidence and in the face disobedience. The melodic swell of the synths are also eighties borne with a Martha and The Muffins touch to their warm caress  and with its brief but potent offering the song completes an impressive and deeply persuasive encounter.

Recorded by Cambridge DIY supremo Richard Rose (of R*E*P*E*A*T Records fame), the Innocuous Beats EP marks the arrival of an exciting and hopefully boundary stretching if not breaking band of the future. Right now they simply offer an extremely pleasing and inciting encounter which if their quirkily inventive and unapologetically stand-alone sound ignites a connection will leave a big grin on the passions.

https://www.facebook.com/RustyKeysBand

8/10

RingMaster 05/05/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

The St Pierre Snake Invasion – Everyone’s Entitled To My Opinion

    The St. Pierre Snake Invasion is one of those bands which has the capacity to ignite an immediate rapture and lustful hunger for their sounds, something they certainly did with us with the release of their debut EP Flesh a couple of years ago. It was a startling and synapse twisting slice of devilry, a caustic brew of punk, garage rock, noise, and insatiable mischief, though to tag their sound is as easy as scaling the Shard on the back of Katy Perry, impossible but sheer fun trying. Now the UK band return…finally…with its successor Everyone’s Entitled To My Opinion, a release which rips out the essences of the earlier EP and distills them with new imaginative additives for an even greater irresistible riotous slab of Satan spawn rock n roll.

The five track EP is quite sensational, realising all the selfish expectations and hopes placed upon the band and then some. The Bristol quintet band have unleashed their distinctive venom of noise since forming in the latter months of 2010, earning a devoted and passionate fanbase and plenty of acclaim through their wild and exhausting live performances as well as the first release, but the widest recognition still waits to be triggered, something Everyone’s Entitled To My Opinion has all the potency, sonic armoury, and big boy balls to achieve.

Call The Coroner opens up the release with immediate demands upon the ear and attention, which both willingly submit to as chunky scything riffs and a scowling banshee cry split the air. Rhythms lay in wait as the intro lays its net with the vocals of Damien Sayell scouring the senses in expressive and tortured tones, their earnest and slightly maniacal embrace as incendiary as the hungry sounds. Into its stride the chugging riffs from Szack Notaro and Patrick Daly abrase and seduce whilst the bass of Mark Fletcher prowls with menace from note to note, the combination with the magnetic rhythms of drummer Sam Forbes chaining up any chance of escape, a deliciously bedlamic yet contagious maelstrom of energy and sonic virulence.

The following Encore! Encore! plunders the ear with raptorial riffs and mutual offensive rhythms whilst the impacting squalls of Sayell scar the air with his romantic violations. The raining down of muscular and intensive slaps from guitars and bass offer a little respite in one moment of mercy as they step back for the escape of melodies and harmonies before taking charge again and completing the face to ear incitement. It is a riveting explosion of glorious filth in tale and sound which seamlessly flows into U.S.S.A., a punk fuelled bruising riot of industrial lime like sonic scrubbing. The track strains itself and the listener with greedy glee, the growling broody bassline and insatiable riffs an unrelenting scourge with the rhythms of Forbes the ringleader to total subservience before the alchemy of noise, with the vocals a rodeo cowboy riding the rapacious charge.

Hey Kids! Do The Choke Stroke steps up next to continue the eclectic force of the EP, its reserved chain gang/gallows hung intro bursting into another punk brawl with irresistible aural theatrics and epidemic infectiousness. Like many of the band’s songs it does offer up one issue…the thing is too damn short, just as the passions and limbs, not to mention voice, are casting their additional help the track leaves them a lone voice in a big all eyes watching crowd… damn them.

The closing Say No To Stop Motion leaves one final slice of brilliance, the scuzz coated epidemic of catchiness a last stomp to lose the heart to. It rattles the cages with attitude and sonic spite, something applying to the whole release, and provokes with suggestions of who the aimless ears of today’s media led appetites should really be listening to, as well as certain artists, climaxing the track. The song leaves a lasting swipe with the final forceful recommendation of The Fall, a band which is more than a potent whisper in their sound.

It is a brilliant end to an equally sensational EP, a release which goes far beyond the assumptions from an already biased heart. As mentioned it is hard to truly describe the sound of The St Pierre Snake Invasion but at any time across Everyone’s Entitled To My Opinion there is a mix from the likes of obviously The Fall, as well as Marc Riley and The Creepers, Gang Of four, Wire, Houdini, McLusky, Dope Body, Melvins and many other similar suggestions, though the band in as many ways does not sound like any of those either. A must have release from one of the UK’s most impressive and boundary splitting bands.

http://tspsi.co.uk/

10/10

RingMaster 30/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Bombers: Drawing / Buddy’s In A Cult

Crawling all over the senses with sonic clutches of psyche post punk, the new single from UK band Bombers is an unfiltered treat of barbed lures and raw expression. Offering a double track acidic caress, the release has a chilled yet hypnotic beauty which whips one back to the vintage days of the post punk whilst wrapping the ear in a fresh and inciting sharpness.

Released through Dead London Records on January 28th, the single follows their acclaimed debut EP Film Fanatic of just over a year ago. With further tracks in the pipeline, the two songs which make up the single confirm the Birmingham quartet of vocalist/guitarist David Duell, guitarist Matty Warke, bassist Darren Mullen, and drummer David Owen, as a band primed to turn 2013 into something big for them and us through their very satisfying frenzied abrasions of discord beauty and melodic scouring.

Drawing immediately starts on the ear with guitar grazes and a resonating bassline amongst snapping rhythms. As the vocals of Duell add their nails to the encounter the track is a near toxic rub of sonic teasing and fiery energy. It is a compulsive presence using simple barbed enterprise and small snatches of repetition to great effect and coming over like a slightly unhinged hybrid of The Fall, Joy Division and Artery. A fingertip short of two minutes the track is a thrilling excursion into tart aural shadows and quite simply mesmeric.

Accompanying the song is the equally irresistible Buddy’s In A Cult, its entrance on another delicious bassline and Joy Division inspired guitar coaxing an instant compulsive embrace impossible to ignore. Once Duell adds his cold tones the Exploding Seagulls song Johnny Runs For Paregoric springs to mind. Bombers soon take the senses into different dark corridors though with flames of passion vocally and musically to light the way whilst the drums of Owen rally energies with barracking rhythms to enthuse further the whole enthralling experience. Again barely long enough to warm up the speakers the tasty little sonic tartlet is a real gem and arguably outshines its partner.

Both tracks are outstanding and show that there are still creative melody violating artists out there with imagination and dark inspiring intent. Bombers are on the runway and ready to drop the biggest thrills for 2013 (oh come on there had to be an obvious flight reference from us at some point.)

www.bombersbombersbombers.com

RingMaster 20/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Matt Finucane: Glow In The Dark

Hard Science the latest single from UK songwriter Matt Finucane left a mixed emotion to its intriguing and unpredictable sounds. The song hit the spot at times but also missed easily in others moments to spawn an uncertainty towards his wrong footing invention. August 13^th sees the release of his new album Glow In The Dark via Light Crude and is a collection of songs which offer a broader understanding of the man and his intent. It does really not solve the riddle of how one feels about his music but it certainly makes it fun trying to find out.

From Brighton, Finucane began on his solo quest in 2008 after fronting art rock band Empty Vessels. His limited edition Episodes EP of the same year drew some attention but he stepped back to write more songs. Last year saw the singles Wet Dream Disaster and Hands Up released, the latter earning some good radio play. Both marked the way for debut album This Mucky Age which came out in July that year and again to strong responses. A re-issue of Episodes began 2012 with Hard Science which with its release in July heralded the imminent arrival of Glow In The Dark. Though our first introduction to the man, within a few tracks of the album it is clear Finucane is one who rips up the supposed rules into little shreds and discovers his own path. There is always something impressive about a musician prepared to create his own world of sound and disregard what came before and the opinions of others. The album is a perfect reflection and one can only admire its rugged use of discordance for a blistered adventure. Sometimes it did not work to the preference of these ears but to the ideas and emerging intention one can only nod in approval.

Finucane is from the same stock and well of musical destruction as Mark E. Smith, an explorer and purveyor of the wonderfully unconventional and confrontational. You can add elements of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop especially vocally to the man but it is that breath which took The Fall to such heights which marks the sounds and invention of Finucane.

The album opens with the acoustic enticement of Into It. The track is simply guitar and voice stirring up the air with a gentle coaxing of the senses whilst an electric whisper plays in the background like a searchlight of inciteful invention. Finucane has a voice which takes a little while to warm to and at times is not easy to get a handle on though as always it is a matter of personal taste and connection. As the song plays there emerges a shuffling sound as if the body of familiarity and expectation is being dragged to the nearest dumpster to inspire great delight even if the thoughts drawn were not as intended.

Hard Science works better within the context of the album or it is just that it has worn the defences down through multiple plays. The sizzling electrified surface sound which roughs up the ear is a great counter to the strong melodic play and eager hook which becomes quite infectious over time. Imagine Thomas Dolby creating sound with 1,000 volts running through his veins and you can imagine Hard Science.

The likes of Face Of Stone with its assembly of disconnected but perfectly aligned sounds, Impermanence and its disruptive garage rock barracking, and the acoustically shimmering In The Market Place, all leave one in various degrees of pleasure. Each keeps one attentive to their presentation though trigger many questions alongside the enjoyment they bring, though thought provoking music is never ever a flaw in our book.

The highlight of the album comes with a consecutive trio of songs. The first Larkin’ hypnotises with a nonstop spotting of the senses through pulsating beats and irresistible melodic guitar strikes. Easily the best song on the release it jabs persistently whilst giving a caustic vocal rub and that alone is mesmeric but with the distillery of thrilling concussive unique sounds and teasing hooks it elevates itself to greatness. The other two tracks have their own individual and equally compulsive worlds. Great Beginnings pulsates with a swing groove which no one can say no to within its stirring discordance whilst Doom Vibes is a sinister caress with less than healthy intentions which leaves one rattled but needing to feel its shadows again.

The album is maybe a rocky journey with the likes of Love Unknown, Alter Ego Hi-Way, and Yr Own Poison not hitting same personal target of the hungrily received imaginative sounds of the tracks previously mentioned. There is nothing truly wrong with them but just do not find a welcoming home but this is a release for individuals, what works for one will not always for another. Glow In The Dark is a release which deserves investigation, to ignore it would be a mistake. Honesty dictates that we declare the album was certainly enjoyable but by how much is still in debate with a decision not expected until further meet ups.

http://mattfinucane.net/

RingMaster 10/08/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

Conformist – Paid To Fake It

Paid To Fake It from UK electronic conjuror Conformist is one of those treats which is near on impossible to describe, a tall order to give a representation of to others in words, and ridiculously easy to be infected by. The album is a wonderfully schizophrenic patchwork of sounds and a raging maelstrom of energies and textures which leaves one on the edge of sanity and deeply enveloped in a consumption of for want of a better word, brilliance.

The Cardiff based Michael Simmons, the man behind Conformist, first lit our fires with his single Savages Go Modern!, the track which also opens up the album which is released August 6^th. The track drew great attention and acclaim as well as strong radio play and coverage which the album is sure to reinforce and explode. Simmons is a master at manipulating and layering sounds and samples into perpetually evolving aural creatures. He uses unexpected and startling noises in unison with samples from the likes of cable TV shows, shopping channels, talk shows, pornos, and the lower end of TV, to create destructive and constructive not to mention provocative mental intrusions. It is more than just cutting and pasting these things together though, his mastery ensures the pieces come alive and breathe with individual intent and attitude to create an overall journey of stark reality and suggested crumbling futures. The great thing is you can interpret things to your own thoughts and visions, so if the intent of Conformist evades recognition at times there is an equally impactful personal premise forming in its absence.

Savages Go Modern! riles up the senses from the off, its apparent disentangled elements fused perfectly into an edgy cluster bomb of magnetic blisters. From punk scuzzed guitar scrapings to post-dubstep baselines the track triggers imagery and thought whilst laying an infectious canvas to unleash the body upon.

It is an outstanding start instantly backed up by the spitting industrial ambience of Big City Buzz Band and the senses distracting punk fuelled Ladybug Ladybug. Both tracks are immense and build on the excellent opening with their own individual distressed soundscapes. Think the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Aphex Twin, Mindless Self Indulgence, and The Art Of Noise and you get a whisper of what triumphant goings on erupt within the walls of Paid To Fake It, but you can also add flavours from anything from Pere Ubu to The Fall or Pop Will Eat Itself to Ministry to the expansive palette the album explores and corrupts beautifully. The release plays like a further mutated soundtrack to an Eraserhead no more so than on the second of this pair, its presence a prowling expulsion to falsehood and safety. It is a glorious sonic mind fuck to willingly submit to and let shatter the world and its balance spiralling.

If you look under the industrial tag and genre there are a lot of bands which really are just abrasive metal/rock bands at most but something like Paid to Fake It for us is a truer entrant to that sphere. It distils and then further corrupts the sounds of life and an estranged world into an apocalyptic like honest distortion which offers irresistible contagion with a festering underlying truth. Tracks like Post Death Sales Spike and its manipulative deceitful world and Mr Grosse and Mr Playfair with its arcade/computer game trickery expose and assault the ‘misadventures’ of modern society to inspiring effect. Of course as mentioned things are individual in interpretation and it is that quality as much as the sounds which make for a powerful involvement.

Further highlights like Schrodinger’s Cat and Panic Buying continue the album as a mesmeric and disturbing treat. By the end one is breathless with a torrent of ideas and thoughts raging inside. Paid To Fake s outstanding and though it will not be for everyone it is essential listening to all who need something more than a good tune. It is experimental and unsettling as well as forthright and wholly satisfying. Conformist is an artist who understands and soundtracks the real world better than any other.

http://www.conformistmusic.co.uk

RingMaster 03/08/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

Interview with Gavin Tate of The Gaa Gaas

The Gaa Gaas Brighton Aug 2011 by Katherine Missouri

The Ringmaster Review ever since being seduced by The Gaa Gaas debut single Voltaire has eagerly and persistently tried to convert all and sundry to their psyche punk/post punk beauty through word, voice and with the kind help of The Reputation Radio Show. Neglectfully we have not actually got the band to sit down for an interview so we remedied that by grabbing the time of singer/guitarist Gavin Tate from the band to catch up on all things The Gaa Gaas as well as look back on their early days.

Hello and welcome to The Ringmaster Review

Please introduce the members of the band.

Huurah! We’re the artists formerly (known) as Gavin, Chris and Mark.

How did The Gaa Gaas begin?

It all started in my Mum’s garage, got some amps and a drum kit in there and put loads of posters over the walls and ceiling (a couple of nude lady ones as well, I’m not going to lie much). We began just jamming as an instrumental trio and then soon found a poor excuse of a P.A system for the vocals and that’s when the Police started showing up every night!

What inspired the band name?

A psychedelic prog group from Germany called Gäa. We started off as a messy garage band and I thought (that) The Gaa Gaas really suited what we were doing and still does.

Was and is there a vibrant music scene over in Jersey? 

Yes but it’s long gone now, an amazing garage punk night called BOMP kicked off around 2002 held at the best venue in Jersey which was called The Q Bar now The Live Lounge. It was a 7 night a week place and BOMP was on Thursday nights; they would bring some really good bands over and have local support. There were a few other great nights there as well, an indie night called Moroccan’roll and some great Motown/Reggae nights.

There seems to be a more frequent emergence of strong and very diverse rock bands from Jersey in recent years, besides yourselves we have come across Top Buzzer and Hold Your Fire to name a couple. Is there less distractions to take youngsters away from music there than elsewhere in the UK for example do you think?

I think most towns with not a lot produce the best bands and I’ll be honest in saying Jersey didn’t offer a lot to musicians aged 17 – 25 apart from a long fight to play your own material in clubs, most club owners always wanted bands to play covers which was rubbish if you wanted to play your own songs to people. In a way it made us want to escape!

You moved away from the island, relocating to Brighton. Was this a necessity for you and is for all bands really hoping to make progress?

You can’t do anything more than play the big local festivals in the island. You’ll get promises but they never happen. The only way you can do it properly is to move somewhere else, not just the UK. I know bands from Jersey who have started up in Europe and are doing really well; it just takes a lot of ammunition and a few massive guns!

As distinct as your sound is anyone who hears it can name some of the influences, for the record though what are the major influences musically which have shaped or flavoured your creativity?

There are so many. I’d say The Fall has really shaped us, I love every era and they’re still producing great records to this day!

Many I have introduced your music to fail to notice the ‘Almost Red’ era Killing Joke sounds whereas it seems obvious to me, is it them or me? Haha

We’re always getting compared to either Killing Joke or Bauhaus and when I told my Dad about it he said (in a scouse accent) “Think of it as a massive compliment Son” so I think you might be right on that one!

There seems a definite revisiting back to the post punk era with bands recalling inspirations from the likes of Joy Division, Wire, Pil, Gang of Four etc, do you think you may have instigated that a little yourselves?

I hope so, when groups like Neils Children split up I was really gutted because there wasn’t many bands trying to maintain their own sound by using those types of influences. There were lots of bands just trying to sound exactly like Gang Of Four because it was in at the time. I thought the Neils boys were really on to something and had produced a great sound that was their own. There are some other really good bands instigating it at the moment like… Wild Palms, O.Children and Disconcerts.

Do you still see yourselves as part of an underground movement with this new emergence of bands?

We’ve never really felt part of any movement. We originally started because of bands like The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and the whole garage revival so if we’re part of anything I think it would have to be that. It’s been slow for us being from Jersey and having to relocate but I’m happy with everything we’ve done so far and the debut album is going to be a reward to everyone who has helped us along the way!

Your debut single Voltaire was unleashed in 2010 on The Playground Records, how was that initially received?

People couldn’t believe the transformation of the band. We were always trying to look like a band and always ranting about being in a band but after the single was released we actually had it written in stone. There were 8/10 reviews, some reviewers hated my voice and some loved it but I think the statement was made and I always wanted the first release to make a strong impact!

The single was produced by James Aparicio (Nick Cave, Mogwai) and mastered by Robert Harder (Brian Eno, The Slits) , how did those link ups come about?

We were put in touch with James Aparicio through our former record label and when we signed to The Playground team we were introduced to Robert who we plan to continue working with, the man is a genius!

I mentioned Voltaire as your debut but there was the Repulsion Seminar EP before that. Tell us about that and are the tracks are still available in some form?

The only hard copy releases we have are the Voltaire 7″ vinyls that we had to get pressed up ourselves as we were messed about by the label. There were 200 copies of each of the EP’s but they sold out pretty fast!

You took a long time to release anything officially was this down to the band striving for the exact sound you wanted or merely lack of opportunity and finance?

I think a lot of it was to do with relocating. Brighton isn’t the easiest place to get known. When we first arrived there you couldn’t get a gig, demos would be put to the bottom of the pile and we were looking at a 3 month wait just to play The Prince Albert but soon we managed to gig quite vastly and the name was getting more popular in London, it was a case of waiting for the press to take notice and then soon label interest started. We didn’t have the funding to be D.I.Y; I was stealing food every day to exist and putting my equipment in Cash Generator to fund touring. I don’t regret any of it though we’ve had some amazing times!

You have also had tracks featured on various compilations, with a new one out right now I believe?

Our first ever release was a psyche-garage cover of Plastic Bertrand’s “Ca Plane Pour Moi” released by Filthy Little Angels Records. It was for a compilation titled ’1978′ with lots of bands covering songs from that year. Our cover got the best reviews and is a signature to our early sound. The Peter Out Wave compilation CD was released last week on Swedish label Peter Out Records, a 17 track album by bands from all over the world. They asked us if they could include Hypnoti(z)ed (Alt Version) on the album and we gave them the nod!

How does the song writing work within the band?

It’s made up of jams mostly. We got heavily in to The Stranglers ‘The Raven’ album and loved the improvisation they had so we started working on songs with the same analogy and it’s really worked out. I think bands that just go in to a room with a song wrote 2 hours before at home are really missing out on the musicianship that can be worked. Listen to (The Stranglers) and throw your Libertines albums in the bin.

You are almost veterans of festivals not only in the UK but in Europe, which has been the most rewarding and pleasing to return to?

Drop Dead Festival was an amazing experience. Great bands and great ideologies! We’re due to play Fave Rave in Berlin again, that was one of my favorite European ventures, such a great city!

Do you get a distinct audience for your hypnotic and intrusive sounds or is it generally varied at shows?

A lot of the people that come to our shows are dark wave kids. They like the darker element of our sound and the groove that goes with it but we’re trying to mix it up a bit. The album is going to have a dance feel to it! The dance element in bands needs to come back and we’re hoping to revive that!

What have you lined up for the rest of the year gig and festival wise?

We’re relocating to London and starting to write and record the album in full, having a bit of time off over the summer but will begin playing shows again in August starting with a festival appearance at Vale Earth Fair in Guernsey with bands such as Roots Manuva and then we’re due to play some come back shows for a certain band later on in the year. We’ll announce a 12 date UK tour at some point as well, really looking forward to getting back out there!

Is performing live the most rewarding aspect of the band for you?

It’s definitely the most fun part of being in the band but I’d say the most rewarding aspect is when we have written a track, recorded it and hear the response from the fans. It’s all about the fans, they’re what keeps us doing it as well as our own passion to write, record and play. If they don’t like it then we give them a massive slap!

Going back to compilations, I think you will correct me I am sure, it seems that your songs have been on more compilations than your own releases. Is that right and was it planned or just how things worked out?

Yeah I’d say that is true but I think it’s a good thing, I don’t know many other bands who get asked to be on a 2000 pressed compilation CD released in Europe without an album out. We’ve been quite lucky in that respect, completely fluked it!

What is next song wise in regard to releasing something?

Our next single is called ‘Never Tell You Again’ and it sounds like the second chapter of Voltaire which is what we were striving for. It’s a faster pace and it’s a bit Twisty, people are gonna think of bands like Mclusky on this next release. The B-side will be Statues, a song we made available as a free demo download but has recently been mastered by Robert Harder who has made it sound FAT.

Any chance of an album or multi track EP sometime soon?

We may release another EP but we’re concentrating more on writing the full album, we want to get it out there next year for our 10 year anniversary, god we sound old!

Many thanks for talking with us, much appreciated.

Have you any words for you’re the readers?

Learn about cooking, baking, meal planning, cuisines, entertaining, holidays and more with Allrecipes’ informative articles and step-by-step photo tutorials - allrecipes.com

And finally tell us the song or tracks which made the deepest impact on you as people leading to the choice of music as your life.

Gavin: The Count Five – Psychotic Reaction

Chris: Black Flag – TV Party

Mark: Led Zeppelin – Ramble On

www.thegaagaas.co.uk

Listen out for an upcoming special Bone Orchard show from The Reputation Radio Show featuring the new remastered by Robert Harder version of Statues.

www.reputationradioshow.com

The Ringmaster Review 22/06/2012

copyright RingMaster

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

Damn Damn Patriots: Duke It Out with Damn Damn Patriots

Damn Damn Patriots play buzz-saw pop or to give it an image, it is like having an aural visit to the dentist with an insistent and perpetual drill resonating within the senses. It is something quite simply sensational as proven by their new album Duke It Out with Damn Damn Patriots. Consisting of ten tracks spanning a mere twenty two odd minutes in true punk fashion, the album is an unapologetic brew of pop punk, garage punk, and roughened pop, basically a feisty feast of rock n pop and punk n roll. It is irresistibly infectious, a sonic contagion as virulent as any air borne germ with open mischief at its insatiable heart.

Damn Damn Patriots are a quartet from Reading, UK who originally formed as a three piece warm up band for a local venue, the Know Your History Club. The band evolved to a quartet of vocalist and guitarist Jason Applin (also of Union Starr), guitarist Kev Wells, drummer Patrick Bingley, and bassist Mark Smith, though he has recently left the band, and with a back to basics air recorded and mixed the album in just seven days. This instant and uncluttered premise gives a wonderful raw energy and excited breath to each and every song on the release as well as a nostalgic prompt back to the days of do what you want punk.

The teasing opening chords of Keep Swimming, instantly grabs the ear as it bursts into the first of the parade of reverb and discordant soaked songs. With a garage punk sound of scuzz and impetuous energy the track is a far too brief slice of trashy excellence and the perfect opener to what emerges as one of the most exhilarating releases this year so far.

The high quality is continued and raised by the following A Bible And A Bottle of Pills. A hook as infectious as any Pete Shelley has ever conjured entices the ear initially and is a frequent tease throughout another electrified burst of scantily clad melodic wantonness. With a bruising bass line and scathing guitar tones the song is a feverish rascal of distorted sixties garage sounds.

      Bam Bam lets the peddle lift a touch as the reverb knob on the vocals of Applin is taken to its fullest resonating level, its fall out a niggling added pleasure alongside highly pitched additional vocals. A thumping rock n roll stomp it makes a great appetiser for current single Family Unit. It also is the first to exceed two minutes; in fact it goes the whole hog as it wickedly extends its electric swarm of noise to beyond 3 minutes.

Family Unit is an outstanding song and makes one wonder if The Monkees had found their origins in this decade whether this is where they would have been musically, the song having that same pop contagion. The song has a statically charged breath which sparks only the strongest pull towards its riled pop air.

Tracks like the emotively charged This Is The Song That You’d Expect Me To Write, the summery over heated melodic first single Do The Sell Out, and The Fall meets The Pixies blistered pop gem State Of NY with wonderful additional female vocals, well we think they are it could be just a band member squeezing tightly, all leave one excited and immersed in a cloud of satisfaction.

A couple of the biggest highlights come in the songs Blood On Satan’s Claw and In The End. The first with an underlying riff which shouts The Clash anthem White Riot is again a far too short, you evil people, track of brilliance. The song scratches and pleasures in equally majesty and despite its short existence is an adrenaline fuelled ignition switch for the overload of the senses.  The second of the two is a mesmeric blend for the first time of full smoothly toned vocals against a back drop of hazardous scuzzy bred caustic melodies. Both tracks are outstanding in what is an album of continual uncompromising magnificence.

Closing on a maelstrom of discord and acidic fingering called Supermoronic, a corruptive sing-a-long though all the songs on the album can be tagged as such, Duke It Out with Damn Damn Patriots is simply a dynamic and delicious pleasure. A punk driven senses sizzling, lo-fi, hi quality supercharger of pop sound. The must have album of the summer.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/DDP-Musical-Endeavours/176959165682794

RingMaster 19/06/2012

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

Houdini/Frau Pouch: Split EP

Houdini

May 28^th sees the return of an irresistible friend and the reason for a new bout of infatuated stalking. Let us elaborate. That date is when the simply stunning new split EP from UK bands Houdini and Frau Pouch is unleashed upon the world and it is destined to leave ears and hearts blistered and awash in salacious wanting. Houdini is a trio which are no strangers to RR and a band who without fail always ignites the hottest fires with their scuzz punk creations. Frau Pouch though are completely new in name and sound here and easily the sexiest and most essential conjurors of sadistic dirty post punk scratchings heard in a very long time, and the instigators of energies and wicked desires that we never knew existed.

To say the EP is impressive is an understatement, alone the duo of songs from each band would bring excitement and heaps of enthused attention but together it creates a release which shows the deep quality within UK indie music if you go beneath the artificial surface.

Houdini set a flurry of ears and emotions blazing with their brilliant second single Smokers Cough though their first release What A Fire, and its more singular punk sound was not exactly slow in announcing the promise of the band. Smokers Cough was stunning, an instant contagious pull into their inventive and addictive garage punk scuzz rock sound which still has the same magnetic power two years on. The following Deadlines EP only confirmed the acclaim their debut release deservedly earned but with the two songs on the new EP the band has brewed all their invention and ability into a blitz of garage/punk rock triumph. Don’t Look Down leaps upon the ear with vindictive riffs and intimidating rhythms, guitarist Greg Webster, drummer Tom Bonner, and bassist Giles Barrett all taunting with energy and intent whilst crafty melodies wind themselves around the senses from underneath the powerful and muscular attack. Once more the band find a chorus and line of hooks as infectious as any germ to make a mockery of what most pop punk bands come up with.

The siren pull of that song is replaced with a bristling cloud of electrified scuzz in Your Dog Is Not A Horse. With a meaner heart and darker intensity the song mugs the senses with heavy riffs and smog like energy to outstanding effect. Imagine Reuben, The Fall and first generation Faith No More and you get an idea, it is immense.

Frau Pouch is a different beast entirely though from the same overall stable as their partners in crime. Another trio in the irrepressible shape of Joe Wise (guitar/vocals), James Thompson (bass), and Suzanne Freeman (drums), the band incite all the wrong feelings and mischievous intent, and it is wonderful. The best way to describe them is as the bastard evil offspring from an illicit intrusion between The Fall and The Victorian English Gentlemens Club with some fingering from The Cramps and Turbogeist. The band thump and bruise the senses with highly charged melodies and belligerent riffs all soaked in vintage discord and infected defilement, the result pure magic. Their first song Sexy Architecture quizzes and attacks synapses with unbridled choppy serpentine riffs and insane melodic scrapings lighting them up like fireworks whilst the  vocals come over like an over exited Mark E Smith as they tease and twist the words through the ear.

Second track Sexy Mittens is even better as the band add some psyche punk to the mixture. The song prowls and sways with hypnotic posture, its energy a wanton violation upon the ear with tempestuous acidic ingenuity. Still reminding of the previously mentioned bands you can add some mesmeric noise tease from the likes of The Gaa Gaas and Engerica to the frenetic bedlam of discord. With both songs barely seeing two minutes in their binoculars it offers up the only gripe as one could listen to this for hours and not find a lull in the pleasure.

If there is only two bands you check out over the weeks ahead make it these two. Houdini and Frau Pouch have combined for one of the most stirring and invigorating, not to mention brilliant releases so far this year and most likely for the months and months ahead

http://houdinisaur.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/FrauPouch

RingMaster 25/05/2012

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

The Wedding Present: Valentina

Every time there is a new release from The Wedding Present it is like meeting up with an old mate, the reunion of a long standing friendship with new thrills and excitable tales to tell. They may not be accounts of joy or successful passions but each time they leave a warmth and smile in the heart as well as a happy glow within the senses. Their new album Valentina is no exception, with declarations and expressive reflective looks and reports of love plus all that comes with relationships, the release is a wonderful mesmeric album with a heart that connects deeply.

Since day one The Wedding Present and remaining founder David Gedge has forged their own distinctive path, presented their own category of sound and style to invite and thrill devoted ears. Many bands have stayed a similar distance to the band but it is hard to recall many with the high consistency and continual pushing of their own limits to match Gedge and co. The only one to spring to mind is The Fall and maybe it is no coincidence that both bands and their heartbeats of Mark E. Smith and Gedge write and produce music which has an open honesty and directness to the emotions. The thought out simplicity and clarity in lyrical form and compulsive sounds possibly have kept both bands essential and constantly fresh, constantly important companions for the ear. Whatever the reason The Wedding Present never fails in creating and treating one to special releases, and in Valentina they have one of their finest albums yet.

The follow up to 2008 album El Rey, the new release is the eighth album from the band, with Gedge alongside bassist Pepe Le Moko who also brings some enchanting backing vocals, drummer Charles Layton, and Graeme Ramsay who provides guitars, piano and harmonium as well as co-writing all the songs bar one with Gedge on Valentina. The songs on the album are an eclectic array of sounds, energy and sentiments, each avoiding the gloss of relationships and love to bring forth the reality and black and whiteness that is really involved. The album is the everyday world of love in aural form, but a revealing of things y feelings already knew but maybe was avoiding.

As the opening You’re Dead announces itself on big ear catching beats there is an instant tingle and the feeling there could be something special on the cards. Then the drama less voice of Gedge unveils truths as the guitars coax the senses from around the continuing bulky rhythms. Sensitive yet defiant in word and sound the song is an engaging start though as the album progresses turns out to be quite a subdued beginning from the band. Not in energy or emotion but in giving the ear something unpredictable as the following songs like the excellent Meet Cute and The Girl From The DDR to name two subsequently do. The first is a provoking combination of minimal touches alongside climactic crescendos. Not for the first time on the album the track shows what a fine bassist le Moko is, her touch strong, inventive and pulsating with emotive tones. The second of these two is a mesmeric duet between Gedge and le Moko, her parts sung in German. The song epitomizes the band and its wealth of work, a song that touches the heart and imagination with emotive strength whilst keeping things surprising and intoxicating. The end to the song is stunning, one of the best heard to any song in a long time, the track teasing and playing with the ear as it builds to its wonderful sharp sublime end.

There is not one single negative that can be laid at the feet of Valentina. When you have songs like the energetic and veracious Back A Bit….Stop with its deep infectious pull and urgency that has limbs taking on a life of their own, and the impressive End Credits, a wonderful caustic melodic pop song that is hard to rival with extra meaty joy from the dark and grave bass that prowls throughout, there is only one result, a staggeringly great album.

With rhythms that invoke the essences of primal attraction, guitars that suggest and expose the passions within each song, as well as the ever intelligent and open verity of words and delivery of Gedge, Valentina is pure bliss, with the songs not mentioned like 524 Fidelio with more bass glory to drool over, are just as equal in quality and pleasure as those highlighted. The Wedding Present has returned with easily a contender for album of the year if not of the past few.

RingMaster 16/03/2012

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

Interview with Dick Venom of Dick Venom & The Terrortones

If you thought UK psychobilly was on the decline or started and ended with The Meteors and Demented Are Go then you would be very wrong for now we have a new pretender to the throne of  P. Paul Fenech and Sparky in the dark princely shape of Dick Venom. Leading an equally mischievous band of hell’s rejects in The Terrortones they are a fresh, sexy and insatiable addition to the garage/rockabilly/psychobilly freakshows of the UK. We have the pleasure to enter the lair of Mr Venom to find out much more about the unsavoury quartet.

Hello and a big welcome to The RingMaster Review.

Could we start with finding out the history of the man Dick Venom?

Awwww, me? Well I was born in the swamps of the moon’s lagoons and hitched a comet tail to earth. Guess I landed on my ass because my behind which stung like a beehive had been hangin out the back of it for about a month. I dusted myself down, sprayed off a load of space debris and here I am.

When and where did the Terrortones become involved?

They just kinda came outta nowhere. I’d been riding high on jungle janes and ‘gator tails for a while when all of a sudden they hit me. Hell only knows what they were doing in my neck of the woods but damn they sounded good. SugarBeats was pounding on something like a thundercrack jackhammer, Vicky Twist and Wrex St.Clair just seemed to jump out at me with guns and guitars blazin’, they caught me unawares and all the hairs on my unmentionables seemed to jump up to attention.

Your music throws a mix of rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, psychobilly, and garage punk into a swamp of dirty mischief, what are the strongest influences to your sound musically and personally?

Musically? Anything that’s got a lil bit of something raw and a little bit of life to it, stick a little of the Devil there too and you got yourself a mix – from Raw Power era Stooges to N.Y Dolls to Batmobile to Standells  hell… let’s throw some Patsy Cline and Wanda Jackson in there for good measure too.

Personally? A lil carpet burn and heat rash and some rubber marks and whiplash and I reckons I just might be entertained

Nottingham is your home, how do you find it for you as an artist and band for opportunities and for finding fans for your insatiable wickedness?

Y’know it’s pretty good. It’s where we started playing and started getting support. And there are always plenty of people to satisfy my appetites. Though I might have to leave when the spate of quiffed up moonchild newborns all come tumblin’ out. Oops.

The band line-up has an uncanny look and feel of The Cramps, intentional or sheer fortune?

Now that can’t ever be a bad thing cannit? I mighta got some fashion tips from a few folk that I like and the Cramps might have been one of them but as for the rest of the ‘Tones – they’re the ones who make the music and they aint never come across the Cramps before getting told they play like them.

You have just had a launch show for new release RockinRollin VampireMan, was it as much of a riot and flesh fest as certain pictures portray?

Awww. Yes. Yes it was. It was every kinda fuckphonic filth that you mighta guessed it would be. Having four sets of jigglies spelling ‘We heart Dick!’ is something I won’t forget. Some people wanna see their name in lights? Seein’ mine on ladylumps will satisfy me fine.

The three track release is a dark beast of gratuitous pleasure, are the songs ones that have riled up audiences at live shows for a while or brand new for the single?

Hmmmm, a lil mix of both. ‘RockinRollin’ VampireMan’ is a pretty old one. ‘StickyPants Trance’, that just had to go on, hell when we first played that song some folk got so wet you coulda drowned toddlers in their pantyhose. ‘Lilly & the Killers’, well that was just a nice lil closer. None were written specifically for it but we try to record just as often as we can so there’s never much delay.

Though your songs often have a horror/movie fuelled theme one gets the sense from the passion you deliver them even in your own inimitable way that there are personal inspirations at play too?

Well I do like to bite.

RockinRollin VampireMan is an infectious almost anthem track, maybe a personal declaration too?

Well with that being the very first song on the very first single then I reckoned I better had set myself up. Aint nutin like an honest introduction.

The tracks sound actually reminds of the first split release the Meteors were involved with but also in a way of very early The Fall. Are these bands that you have a liking for?

Now the Fall I like – but… Really? The Fall? I might have to dig the old stuff out and compare.

(Note from us to Dick..check out How I Wrote Elastic Man).

Included on the single is the track Sticky Pants Trance. We have all had some of that in our lives but what inspired the song itself?

Once I got stuck in a crater of a hiphole and then I got thinkin’ how I got there. Now it can’t all be my fault that chicklets get transfixed in my stickypants trance can it? Guess it’s a curse I have to bare.

The CD comes with a great comic book sleeve, the artwork is excellent, who drew and wrote that?

You can find here in the video for StickyPants Trance, she’s the nurse that gets carted away at the end. She’s called Nurse Catatonic.

Once the dust for the single has settled what comes next and how long before the next release?

Gigs, leather, latex, shows, caber tossing, goat blowing, olive oil, friction burns, corsets, tattoos, tattoos of corsets, pictures of tattoos of corsets, burlesque queens and the odd dream of Dana Scully. Got a bunji clunge jump all lined up too – that’s a bunji jump and target practice all rolled up in one. Next release? Shall we say end of the year? Thinkin’ it might be a new song we’ve written that we so sensitively called ‘Get Fucked Up Good’. It’s a sweet little ditty ‘bout the pitfalls of lovin.

Many bands now seem to be disregarding releasing an album to instead bring a steadier stream of singles or EPs, is that something you may consider?

I think that might be the case. Every time we get a set of dynamite songs we’re gonna get them down and get ‘em out to the masses. If there’s demand for an album then hells yes we’ll do one. Plus this way our comic strip will get longer with every release.

With your diverse sound which fights being tagged how easy is it to find bills and bands to fit easy with your distinct show?

It’s working pretty well, ‘cus we got bits of rockabilly, bits of punk, bits of garage, psychobilly, gothabilly we get tied into a load of different scenes. I reckon people don’t just wanna see one thing at a gig so having a mix up does us some favours.

Is it harder to find gigs further afield than Nottingham with venues that do not know the band or is it the opposite and places you have spoilt that are then more resistant haha?

Can’t say we ever had much problem getting out and about – the more places and people we sweat on the better. I’m a sociable lil critter so I like t’ hound promoters and venues wherever I can. I’d say we play a different city every two weeks at the moment and I reckon I wanna do more. And I aint never trashed a stage or venue too bad to not get an invite to go back.

I can imagine many bands would stay away from sharing stages with you for fear of being blown away from your performances.

Well maybe, guess folks in the audience can only get so wet.

What have been the best gigs you have had to date and most memorable?

The single launch was something unforgettable and every time we play at 12Bar in Soho it’s like the best sticky hotbox homecoming you could ever imagine. Got a nice big break at Rescue Rooms, Nottingham about a year back too.

And the best forgotten?

Already forgotten.

It is hard to believe your gigs are just another show for people, you make sure one way or another they are unforgettable one imagines?

Well now that’s just me all over– unforgettable. And without any show then you may as well be sat at home with a record in your ears. You want something to get caught up in right?

Are there any boundaries or limits that have not been or you will not push in your shows?

Hmmmmmm… I mighta knocked my tooth out  twice on a mike, split my lip so bad that I went to a vets right after the gig (I didn’t wanna wait all night at A&E). Think I broke a rib somehow too but I’d never do nuthin to hurt myself on purpose.

Thanks very much for sharing your time to talk with us, do you have any last thoughts you would like to share?

Yeah – I’m all outta whisky and my mouth is bone dry. But you probably had enough of me an mine – why don’t ya get down to a gig and share yours? Maybe check out our video too… www.dickvenom.com.

Finally Gillian Anderson?  I know you would and will you share?

Will I share Gillian Anderson?! Oh Heeeeeeellllllllllllls No! That ET bustin buxom she queen is aaaall mine. Hands off ya hear me?

The RockinRollin’ VampireMan is available now, for more information go to https://www.facebook.com/DickVenomandtheTerrortones or http://www.dickvenom.com/

Read the review @ http://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/dick-venom-the-terrortones-rockin-rollin-vampire-man/

RingMaster 07/03/2012

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.