Disruptive Influence’s debut album Brink of War is for all intents a ‘best of’ of previous material recorded by the band’s current line-up. If the band’s original incarnation taking place in 2011 begs the question, has it been worth the wait? then the answer is, Continue reading
punk
Excuse Me, Love: The Hot Flab Debut is a Scorcher!
There are some albums that don’t merely convey a vibe or message, but also a time and place. Some utterly outstanding albums are only the first two. When one is all four, though, it becomes something . . . magical; something with the spine-tingling power to take the listener back to that time and place like being stood there breathing and feeling the very same air.
Excuse Me Love is one of those albums. Continue reading
Menstrual Cramps Drop Class War Video
The video for ‘Class War’ has been released to coincide with The Menstrual Cramps’ mini tour of the UK. The track starts with plenty of punch, only hitting harder and heavier from there as in touches numerous elements found under the punk umbrella—from upbeat ska to downright dirty rock ‘n’ roll riffs—before reaching crescendo with a bruising bout of hardcore. Continue reading
Double Trouble: GLU & Split Dogs Drop Awesome Vids; New Albums Incoming!
The last few days have seen two bands from UK’s punk scene drop videos so scorching hot they more than make-up for the utterly dismal summer. Continue reading
Hot Flab Debut Single Nails Bristol
Hot Flab’s first single ‘The City’ is a scorcher: punchy, fast; a rampant ride of punk burning with to-the-point socially aware lyrics. Continue reading
empress piru: i DECiDE
i DECiDE retains the Spanish/Persian flavour, cyberpunk feel of previous empress piru releases, while also taking on a more urgent, in-the-present, grittier edge.
Opener ‘Ni una meanos !’ would sound perfectly at home in a Tarantino movie, particularly if he ever decided to make one centred on crazed prowling cats. Continue reading
Zpangled Henz: A Punk As F**k Tour De Force
Zpangled Henz self-titled four-track EP rips an even bigger hole than the massive one left by the cell-phone-recorded-demo of last year.
Exploding with a vibe similar Continue reading
T.A.T. (There’s Always Time)
T.A.T. (There’s Always Time)’s debut EP Breathe prowls into life with the track of the same name; darkly moody and Bauhaus-esque in tone it stalks like a cold shadow carrying a jagged-edged knife. Sharon Watts—who vocally touches on Polystyrene-levels of pitch and passion—sings of escaping a coercive relationship with a conviction leaving no doubt the lyrics come from experience; a feeling of personality erosion and suffocation captured perfectly in the focus and obsessive mantra of Breathe that’s sung in the name of believing in the self to ride out the storm of anxiety the manipulative obsessive can force to run rampant in the innocent. Continue reading
Just For the Hell of It! Punk Times Bristol Nov 2023
One thing that doesn’t go unmissed by me when writing about Bristol’s punk scene is that in claiming so many bands are so good there’s risk of it sounding like Continue reading
Down with Split Dogs at Dean Lane
When first heading to punk gigs in Bristol and following the relevant social media, I fast became aware of a buzz around local band Split Dogs.
Such was that buzz my first attempt to see them live ended in failure when arriving at The Plough only to find a long line-up outside of people waiting for others to leave—which was unlikely—so they could get in.
It wasn’t until some time later that I managed to catch them at the Chelsea Inn. There they delivered a set of slick frenetic punk exploding with an energy knowing no bounds, producing so much joyous sweat the flood warning for Bristol seen earlier in the day online and making no sense at the time—the weather was fine—suddenly did in bounds. Continue reading
N. P. Ryan 