Introducing New Town Kings

If you were to Google famous bands from Colchester (why you would I don’t know?) the only band that really gets mentioned is Brit Pop legends Blur. Other mentions I found were West End “star” Darren Day, guitarist Paul Allender from death metallers Cradle of Filth and apparently Jay Kay of Jamiroquai went to school at Holmwood House Preparatory School. Not exactly a massive list of stars even though they are all standouts in their respective genres. Now though there is a new band that we can add to that list of famous Colchester bands because coming out of the New Town area of Colchester is the New Town Kings. They are about to become huge!

For those who are unaware the New Town Kings are a nine piece ska band who formed in 2004.  Influenced by bands such as The Slackers, The Skatalites and The Specials the ska music they play is a modern take on the more traditional sounding ska from Jamaica in the 60’s rather than the popular ska punk sound that is more associated with ska these days. They have released two full length albums named Sound of the New Town and MOJO and more recently an EP named Pull and Rewind all of which are fantastic. All of these releases are perfectly produced and feature a wide range of instruments to create a wonderful ska sound. The songs are incredibly danceable and you will find yourself breaking into a skank when you’re listening to it anywhere.

Like all great bands the New Town Kings are at their very best when they are playing live. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them five times live and every time I’ve left the gig with a huge smile on my face. Very few bands can get a room moving like the Kings can. Whether it’s the relentless engine room of the bass, percussion and drums or the upbeat guitars, the brilliant brass section or front man Dabs endless enthusiasm there is not a weak link in the band. A good testament of how good the musicianship in this band is this: in 2012 original front man Chris left the band. For most bands this would spell certain doom. Happily this wasn’t the case with the New Town Kings. They went out and found Dabs and flourished. I never had the opportunity to see Chris play with the Kings but after speaking to some real old school fans and they were saying it doesn’t matter who sings for them, the band are so good it doesn’t matter.

Something I really love about New Town Kings gigs is the variety of different people who attend their shows. You get men and women of all ages; you get street punks mixing with housewives and grandmothers. I remember seeing them at the Camden Underworld and finding myself dancing with an elderly lady with a walking stick. She kept telling me that these guys are “bloody brilliant.” I think she may have had one too many cherries, I thought she was bloody brilliant. There are very few gigs where this sort of thing would happen.

It’s a matter of when and not if the New Town Kings blow up. I can’t wait for them to make you rock and make your boots swing. (That’s a poor attempt to use their lyrics to finish the post)

Check out the New Town Kings here https://www.facebook.com/newtownkings

Introducing ONSIND

In 2012 I was looking on the punknews.org website like I often did and I came across a story showing a video of a bunch of acts covering the popular song Starships by R&B songstress Nicki Minaj. The acts featured RVIVR, Spoonboy and ONSIND. At the time I had only I had only heard of RVIVR before and had no clue that Spoonboy was in fact a solo artist and ONSIND are an acoustic punk duo from the North of England. I really enjoyed the cover and was encouraged to check out more music by them. ONSIND really stood out to me. This blog is about them.

Nathan Stephens-Griffin and Daniel Xllis formed ONSIND (One Night Stand In North Dakota) in 2008 in Pity Me Durham. The very first actual ONSIND song I heard was Heterosexuality Is A Construct.  This song is an anthem about not discriminating against a person’s sexuality whatever it may be. The bridge of “Love Is Not A Crime, And I’d Rather Colour, Outside Of The Lines, Love Knows No Gender And It’s About Time, You Nailed Your Colours Up Next To Mine” really shows what ONSIND are all about. They are about playing catchy pop songs that aren’t afraid to speak out and tackle big issues. Other topics they write songs about include politics (Pokémon City Limits), sexism (That Takes Ovaries) religion (God Hates Facts) and mental health (Suicide Is Painful). Some very serious subject matter I think you would agree.

ONSIND have released three full length albums (Dworkin’s Bastards, Dissatisfactions and Anaesthesiology) and a number of EPs and splits put on independent record labels Plan-it-X and Discount Horse in the USA and UK respectively. All of their releases are absolutely brilliant and I would recommend listening to them all, often but for me ONSIND are at their very best when playing live.

Granted I have only seen them the one time but it was a truly special night. Supported my Mikey Erg (who is a hero and will be featured in another blog soonish) I was amazed by their performance. Having not previously seen much acoustic music live I wasn’t really sure what to expect. ONSIND were fantastic live. This was for me what a live show should be like, everyone was involved singing loud and proud along with ONSIND. This was a room full of mostly strangers joining together as one, ignoring each other’s differences and just enjoying each other’s company. It was almost like a political rally as much as it was a punk show such was the noise from the singing crowd, there was at best fifty of us.

ONSIND are a fantastic underground band who should be huge. It would be fantastic to hear more music like this in our top 40 charts rather than the normal songs about girls, love and going to parties. Do yourself a favour and have a listen to ONSIND, they might become you’re new favourite band.

Here is there Bandcamp page http://onsind.bandcamp.com/

See them in London soon https://www.facebook.com/events/271511149687755/

Now Listening To I'm Not Going To Lie To You by Wil Wagner

Introducing Off WIth Their Heads

The purpose of my “introducing” blogs is to direct people to new up and coming bands, this despite being only my second one will be slightly different. This blog is more of a spotlight on rather than an introducing. The spotlight is on Minneapolis punk rockers Off With Their Heads.

I’ve been going through a bit of a rubbish time lately and Off With Their Heads make perfect music for me to escape with, but more about that later, first a bit of background on the band.  Like I mentioned earlier Off With Their Heads formed in 2002 in Minneapolis. In that time they have released multiple albums and EPs on labels such as No Idea Records, Chunksaah Records and their current home, the mighty Epitaph Records. Since forming the band has always had a rotating cast of musicians with lead singer and guitarist Ryan Young being the only constant. Young has stated in interviews before that this has been good for the band as it has prevented touring life becoming stale and different people and personalities coming in and out has kept things fresh. Their style is often described as gruff punk rock and melodic hardcore. I also think that there is an element of pop punk in the music.

For me what make’s Off With Their Heads stand out above of their contemporaries is Ryan Young’s lyrics. For me he is the best lyricist not just in punk rock but in the whole world of music. Sure he’s lyrics can be incredibly dark but whatever the subject matter of the song they hit the nail on the head perfectly. The great thing about them is no matter how dark the lyrics may be (I Know I’m Sick and I’m Not Right, I’m So Fucking Tired Of Living This Life) the songs are incredibly uplifting. I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing them live once. The night before I had had a terrible night and was feeling so low. I nearly didn’t go to the gig but I forced myself along and it definitely sorted me out. It was like a night of therapy. I night of very loud, very sweaty therapy but I came out feeling like a tonne of weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

Almost every single one of their songs has some amazing lyrics in them. The song Drive which is a song about being depressed and struggling to find a reason to get by (I’m Not Alive, I’m Just As Good As Dead, I Can’t Find A Reason Why I Should Even Get Outta Bed) and wanting to get away from everything (So I Just Drive, It Doesn’t Matter Where, I Put My Foot To The Floor and Let The Wind Blow Through My Hair).

The song Their Own Medicine is about being bullied and having the courage to stand up for yourself.  The verse that goes “For All The Weak and For All The Poor, For All The Tortured Who Can’t Take Anymore, Don’t Let Them Get The Best Of You, Sometimes The Only Thing You Can Do, Is Wait Until You Cross Paths Again, You’ll Be In A Position To Make It All End, You’ve Been Dreaming About It All This Time, And It Will No More Affect Your Life” will resonate with anybody that has been a victim of bullying. Being bullied can affect you for a long time and you dream of being able to get closure.

The songs Clear The Air and Nightlife both serve as cries for help. Clear The Air features the lyrics “I Wanted To Tell You, I Wanted To Share, Some Important Details That You’re Unaware, I Want You To Listen, I Want You To Care, I’ll Choke To Death If I Don’t Clear The Air” and Nightlife has the lyrics “Don’t Want To Be Like This, Anxious and Angry Or Hopeless and Upset All Of The Time, Unable To Get Back The Feeling I Lost Somewhere Along The Line, I Wear It On My Sleeve and Everyone Sees No Matter How Hard I Try, I’ve Never Felt Worse In My Whole Life” are both lyrics that can strike a chord with anybody who has ever felt down and alone.

Finally I want to talk about the song Shirts. This is the song that inspired me to right this blog in the first place. Very recently I have been going through a difficult patch and have been seriously down. I was at work at the song came on my iPod and the lyrics “I Don’t Feel Like Me, Whoever That’s Supposed To Be, I’m Different Person Every Time I Come Home” really made me wake up and want to get back to being the real cheerful, fun, charming man with beautiful blue eyes I am rather than the miserable, moody, grumpy idiot I had turned myself into.

I find Off With Their Heads To Be wonderfully therapeutic. Whenever times get tough I can just pick out any one of their songs, crank my speakers up to eleven and shout along. I think not only are Off With Their Heads one of the best of the current group of punk bands but also one of the most important.

Now listening to: Seek Advise Elsewhere by Off With Their Heads

Introducing Gnarwolves

Today (5/6/14) the punk rock world had some bad news. BBC Radio 1 announced that they were cancelling the long running show hosted by Mike Davies – The Lock Up.

This news sucks for many reasons. Firstly because he plays some fantastic music from both sides of the Atlantic, secondly because that probably spells the end of the Lock Up stage at Reading and Leeds Festival. That stage has consistently been the strongest stage at those festivals for years. The final and most important reason the news sucks is because Mike was always championing new up and coming UK punk bands. Some of the most successful UK underground acts such as Random Hand, The Skints and probably the most successful The King Blues all got lots of air time because of this radio show. It worries me where all the new up and coming punk bands will get some mainstream exposure. The scene itself is the strongest it’s been for a long time so it would be incredibly disappointing if some of the exposure they have received goes away. I’m going to start championing some of the best and brightest of this next generation of UK bands. The first will be the band that is currently shining brightest in the scene, Brighton punks – Gnarwolves.

The trio known as Gnarwolves formed in 2011. In that time they have released three EPs (Fun Club, Cru and Funemployed) which have also been combined to make The Chronicles of Gnaria album. This name alone should be reason enough to love this band.

I first became aware of Gnarwolves in 2012 after watching them support Joyce Manor, Apologies I Have None and Bangers at a pub in London named The Old Blue Last. They were far from terrible that night but they didn’t quite click with me that night. A few days later however I did pick up their (at the time) latest EP Cru. I thought it was good but again didn’t really get it.

In 2013 I was going to a Broadway Calls gig at the Camden Underworld. They were being supported by Great Cynics, Moose Blood and Gnarwolves. I can honestly say this night Gnarwolves stole the show. Every single song clicked with me and I finally understood why they are so loved. The songs were played with such passion and energy and were incredibly well written. Gnarwolves themselves really connect with the crowd, always encouraging them to join them on stage and dive off back into the crowd.

I have now seen them five times and they have established themselves as not just one of the brightest punk bands but one of the brightest and most exciting bands in the UK. This year they have received their biggest break yet after being announced as opening the main stage at Reading Festival and later in the year they will be heading over to Florida to play The Fest, probably the biggest punk festival in the world. It’s been an absolute pleasure watching them progress and I really look forward in the very not too distant future when I can say I saw them playing at tiny pubs in London.