As news that the next always highly anticipated Dirt Box Disco album is scheduled for a 2017 release, thoughts eagerly reflect on the fact that we now have a whole year to bask in and romp with the new and just as eagerly awaited Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions full-length. The side but equally essential and compelling project of DBD guitarist/co-songwriter Spunk Volcano, the band has already become one of Britain’s punk favourites through their previous EP and album, but with Shit Generation they have hit a whole new plateau with a sound revealing bigger and broader rock ‘n’ roll shoulders to cast energy inciting punk rock incitements from.
Bursting into view in 2014 with a self-titled EP, Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions quickly showed a more old school punk rock tone and ferocity to the band’s music compared to the anthemic punk ‘n’ roll of his ‘day job’. It was a boisterous and bruising flavouring which later that year helped drive debut album Injection into a waiting horde of greedy hearts and appetites within the UK punk scene. It also began revealing the variation to the band’s sound which did not have quite the room to show its prowess in the EP. Within Shit Generation it is in full flow, relishing the broad landscape of the songwriting. It is still prime punk rock, but bred with an array of anthemic twists and turns loaded with the spice of many flavours.
Alongside lead vocalist Spunk, The Eruptions consists of DBD colleagues in bassist/vocalist Deadbeatz Chris and drummer/vocalist Maff Fazzo, lead guitarist/vocalist Ste Lingard (Flat Back Four), and guitarist/vocalist Tom G Force Batterbee. Together they have created a tour-de-force of rock ‘n’ roll with Shit Generation, it getting off to a rousing and compelling start with Massive Mistake Masterclass. Fair to say, the opener had these ears from its first second, a grouchy bassline and equally gnarly riff instant seduction as jabbing beats move in alongside Spunk’s vocal introduction. In short time, the track is a blaze of aggression and incitement, a Stooges like flame colluding with the predatory nature of the song and its subsequently emerging melodic shimmer of a flirtation.
It is a storming entrance into the album which is matched by its title track straight after. Mixing strains of garage and hard rock into its seventies punk toned defiance, the song as the first, has feet and voice involved in no time, a quality all tracks present with unwavering success as shown by the outstanding XR3. This is a track all certain car owners are obliged to blast out whilst on the road. It is a web of gripping grooves and emotions arousing vocals and simply another best friend in waiting within the release. Within the first four words of its chorus, vocal participation is a given, a quality which is repeated throughout Shit Generation as shown by DNA Failure and after that Send The Boys Round. The first of the two stomps in on another virulent chorus built on band chants; that same infectiousness infesting verse and the tenacious song’s cantankerous punk ‘n’ roll confrontation whilst the second uncages even thicker aggressive sinews to sculpt a heavy rock spawned challenge.
TV God reveals a glorious nagging on the senses with its predacious riffs and rhythms, the bass alone irresistible animosity. The song relaxes its intimidation a touch as Spunk brings in the narrative, raising it again to greater toxicity for yet another enslaving roar soaked chorus within the album. Immediately installing it as a favourite amongst favourites, it still gets eclipsed in ears and emotions by X Factor and its declaration of something we have all voiced with zeal over the past decade alone. As the diversity in sound has expanded between releases, so has the potency and design of the hooks gripping attention. The band has never been lightweight in that department, but as this song shows, Spunk and co have honed their invention into something as intrusive and lingering as a virus.
Through the feisty pop punk infused romancing of Tattoo and the snarling Motorhead-esque rampancy of Fist Fights, band and album has limbs flinging and throats bursting whilst Satisfaction Guaranteed brings a crabby yet fiercely catchy punk ‘n’ roll badgering into play before Shut Up Or Fuck Off takes control. From its first breath, the track is a brawly proposition; sonically fractious and quickly backed up by quarrelsome tones from the vocals. Of course allegiance is a given by the time the contagiously pugnacious chorus arrives and imagination seized by the wiry classic rock lined sonic enterprise which spreads throughout.
For all the might of each and every song, favourite honours eventfully go to I’m Not Sure. A canvas of infection loaded hooks, sultry grooves, and again surly riffs; the song is manna for the ears. Deadbeatz’s bassline is an irritable enticement which aligns perfectly with the harmonic tone of the vocals and Maff’s ever incisive anthemic beats. Add seduction lined melodies and another flush of pop punk suggested catchiness and you have a near on perfect piece of punk rock.
The album is brought to a mighty close by firstly the equally resourceful and creatively eventful Let’s Go With Your Idea. Baiting the passions with Lemmy like spicing to an UK Subs-esque adventure, the track leaves enjoyment full to bursting and energies exhausted though no time is allowed to regroup as its successor Together Forever As Ghosts, swoops instantly on the senses with another Class-A bass lure aligned to barbarously swung beats. As the song broadens its invitation and character, keen involvement is unsurprisingly inescapable and it is hard to think of many better ways to finish up what is, from start to finish, an embracing of rock ‘n’ roll across the ages with punk passion at its core.
Shit Generation is the album that guarantees a thrilling time and proof that punk/rock ‘n’ roll is best served hard, heavy, and with adventure in its heart. We predict that 2016 will be the year of Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions.
Shit Generation is released March 17th through STP Records @ http://www.stprecords.co.uk/page4.htm
Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions embarks on the RELEASE THE BEASTS – ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR in March alongside Born To Destruct and Skurvi.
Dates are…
Sat Mar 12th – Abertillery – Dolls House
Fri Mar 18th – Cambridge – Corner House
Sat Mar 19th – Brighton – Prince Albert
Fri Mar 25th – Rotherham – Bridge Inn
Sat Mar 26th – Gateshead – The Black Bull
Sun Apr 2nd – Nottingham – The Maze
Fri Apr 8th – Birmingham – Flapper
Sat Apr 9th – Lancaster – The Yorkshire House
Pete RingMaster 01/03/2016
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