Pic by Ste
Stepping out from the punk ‘n’ roll shenanigans of the UK’s irrepressible masters of rock mayhem Dirt Box Disco, the band’s masked lunatic and guitarist/vocalist unleashes his own project of devilry, Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions. With a sound which is irresistibly contagious and riotous, Spunk and cohorts are poised to release debut EP called simply…EP on February 1st. Though arguably not a major departure from the DBD sound, the release provides a leaner and debatably stronger old school bred persuasion which emerges with a distinctive presence through five tracks of unbridled punk rock virulence, or as they call is spunk rock.
Alongside DBD colleagues, drummer Maff Fazzo and bassist Deadbeatz Chris, and guitarist Ste Lingard from Manchester based punk band Flat Back Four, Spunk has sculpted an encounter which bounces and romps with exhaustive energy and merciless addictiveness, no second of the EP refusing to tempt with salacious intent or devoid of epidemically spawned infectiousness. It is a record which if you are not physically stomping with and vocally uniting with its anthemically cast songs at some point, then deafness of death has beaten it to your senses.
The opener Sellotape makes a relatively subdued entrance, singular riffing nudging the ears before punchy beats and a coaxing
heavy bass sound move in to increase the enticement. It is not a fiery or dramatic start but rigidly compelling with a lure which increases as its intensity raises degree by degree and the great vocals of Spunk, aided by a strong backup from Chris and Ste across the release, start working on thoughts with an emotive narrative which again can be said to be a step away from the attack found with the day job. With a brew of hooks working independently and in tandem with each other and a dark menace to the rhythmic pressing, the song is a magnetic trampling through the ears and into the passions and the irresistible appetiser to even greater glories.
The Devil Spits You Out shows its intent at the start with forceful beats and a raw guitar grazing laying lures before the Spunk’s vocals start working the imagination within growing sonic flames. Finding greater potency and contagion to its senses worrying riffs and the antagonistic but affirming narrative, the track soon has feet, voice, and passions in league with its call and suasion, a power the following She’s The Girl has little problem in replicating and accelerating. Within seconds a ring of na na na na’s recruits instant submission and alliance from body and heart, its entrance taking the already ripe aural addictiveness of the release into a richer stronger brew of irrepressible toxicity. Guitars and bass grab the ears by their lobes and thrusts them into a riot of insatiable roughhousing rock ‘n’ roll whilst the drums unleash a blast of tempered yet explosive sinews to frame the outstanding group vocal provocation; the result one exceptionally dynamic and irresistible slab of rascality.
Matching its might and temptation Crossfire steps up next to rile up the passions, the song a rapacious look back at the times of real toys and the vicious board game of the song’s title, well it was violent how we played it. The band also musically dips back to the seventies, where the game was a must have alongside many other mentions in the track, to craft a roguish wash of old school punk sweat and pleasure. Impossibly addictive and demandingly anthemic, the song is a scintillatingly blast of punk ‘n’ roll alchemy. Probably the most DBD like song but again with that essence and bold character in sound and hunger to launch itself into the deepest corners of your passions and imagination, the track is another slice of mastery which makes you hope this is not a one off adventure by Spunk and the guys.
The rawer sound of the previous song is increased with a defiant nastiness and belligerence on the final song Superior Brain Damage. It has a harsher combative breath than its predecessors but does not short change on wonderfully toxic entrapping hooks and lung sapping energy. It is a towering conclusion to an outstanding explosion of the finest punk ‘n’ roll sculpting and the start of something which in the future could rival its creator’s main band in appeal and success. Released via STP Records on the first day of February and followed soon after by a five date UK tour, the EP thrusts Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions to instant ‘stardom’. To be honest using Dirt Box Disco as a reference brought assumptions that the EP would be something special, but it is nice to be proved right before being shown an even more impressive triumph which surely only those deaf or dead souls will ignore.
10/10
RingMaster 31/01/2014
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up on the ear with honest unfussy rock riffs and a tempting if familiar hook. The vocals of Armand ‘croon’ in a pleasing if expected style whilst the group clad anthemic chorus soon has the voice joining the already engaged feet in the simple yet infectious opener. It is a song you know before you have heard it but still makes for a satisfying introduction which sets down the template for the upcoming party.
single takes little prompting to seize ears and attention as El Santo Vs. Los Vitaminas flies at the imagination with its Mexican wrestling tale and challenge, the bruising intensive bass of Swift instantly pressurising the senses alongside the coarse and acidic riffs of Phillips. It is an incendiary engagement from the first note spiked by the punchy raps of Baldwin which has little difficulty in exciting ears and emotions. The vocals of Phillips backed by great band garage punk harmonies are as equally discord and scuzz coated as the sounds around them , the result a song which has a Stooges like punk blaze to its breath and Led Zeppelin seeded sinew to its hunger.
scorching sonic beckoning. Feet and body are soon twisting to its pure rock temptation whilst a hunger for the sound is already starting to stir, though to be honest any rockabilly release does that at the start. Many then lose their grip but no such worry with Girl Trouble as second song Rock Me does what it says on its label. Rhythms and bass slaps tease and recruit the senses with ease whilst the guitar craft of Striegler send sonic tendrils of excitement around the same receptive bodies with the contagious vocal bait help the seizure of the passions.
producing her finest Wanda Jackson strength and charm. Her guitar strokes equally spark an always eager appetite for the band into the usual hungry reaction, a want increased by her raw Cochran/ Poison Ivy Rorschach like guitar sound which rubs the senses and emotions into a delirious expulsion of emotions whilst the crisp thumping beats of Duncan lead the body into a kinetic dance. The groove of the song is out of the Road To Ruin songbook but with its caustic kisses and sonic intrusiveness it is a temptation unique to the pair.
psychobilly contagion which without creating new realms for the style provides a predatory thrill which ticks all the right boxes for the passions. The vocals of Legaspi on this song have initially a voice close to that of Blackwood but as the album expands she shows her distinct and unique presence potently alongside the musical adventures. With the upright bass craft of McNab as delicious and inciting as expected with the band’s invention, the track is a stonking start to the album which is soon backed by The Devil’s Son. The song from its opening second has a sultry lure and heated breath to its rockabilly prowl, keys a smouldering glaze over the rhythmic caging of the imagination and the seductive Wanda Jackson hinting vocals. Insistently infectious the song merges a fifties swagger with a sixties keys narrative which with the excellent vocal harmonies just captivates and mesmerises the imagination.
features members from some of Australia’s most prominent punk rock bands from over the years including Crucified Venus, Crankcase, Rule 303, World War 24, and Black Rose. The band is no stranger to acclaim back home and further afield from live performances which has seen them veterans of three UK tours and recently their first around America, as well as sharing stages with the likes of Dead Kennedys, GBH, Peter & The Test Tube Babies, The Exploited, UK Subs, DOA, The Business, Sham 69, Rose Tattoo, The Varukers, The Vibrators and many more. With equally potent responses to their releases, especially the 2010 album Lean Mean Street Machine and Oi Oi Aussie Rock & Roll live, Rust now offer two striking tracks to Olde Worlde-New World, starting with Send My Love From England. An opening throaty bass croon immediately grips attention and more, its coaxing irresistible and soon joined by the caustic riffs and strikes of guitar within a punching rhythmic testing. With the kind of punk vocal delivery you almost expect with old school bred assaults, the track offers strong magnetic hooks and excellent anthemic moments to seize full vocal and body co-operation from the listener. It is a great start, a song with no surprises but one that ticks all the boxes for a deeply pleasing slab of punk antagonism
Taking over on the EP, Darlington trio Keyside Strike create tempests of punk infused with dirty rock ‘n’ roll, blues, hardcore, and psychobilly. Formed in 2002 their sound is one which stomps on the senses whilst plucking the passions with irresistible hooks, all within again a brawling maelstrom of roughly imposing energy and invigorating urgency. Their two albums and numerous appearances on compilations has made the band one of the true rock ‘n’ roll bands in the Northeast of England whilst their impressive live shows has seen them share stages with bands such as The Business, Murphy’s Law, Street Dogs, UK Subs, Demented Are Go!, Discharge, Madball, Demon City Wreckers, Stitch Hopeless And The Sea Leg and loads more across the UK, Europe, and America.
Livin’, drums and bass making an instant rapacious charge around and through the ears whilst the guitar scorches their surface with sonic causticity. The vocals of Conan snarl and growl with a throaty rasp which you could easily mistake for Winter without prior knowledge, to again cement that feeling of the band around the time of Kamikaze though there is also an air of the now in the venom and inciting breath of the track, and subsequently album. With a raw edge suggesting the release was recorded live in the studio and an unpolished touch which only ignites the instinctive appetite for dirty rock ‘n’ roll, the track makes a strong and magnetic start to the album, its groove one which only eager submission is the order of the moment.
it is a restrained fall into the track there is an immediate coaxing and pleasing of the ears with entwining strands of guitar enterprise and firm rhythms. They take their time to tease and tempt, soon assisted by the excellent vocals of James, and even once into its stride the song is still a laid back confrontation where all the instruments parade their individual persuasions in a contagious union. Like the EP as a whole, the track makes an instant allurement but also smoulders, getting stronger with subsequent strolls through its melodic magnetism and rhythmic beckoning.
up and transforms it with a Misfits/Danzig like intimidation. The vocals of band founder Tor Abyss snarl with contempt and force whilst his clean delivery only adds to a great alluring presence. The merger of all that melodic swagger and feisty intensive rhythmic, riff, and vocal abrasion leaves a potent persuasion which has feet and throat in unison more often than not.