Album Review: Twistin' The Knife Away by Heart & Lung

Red Scare Industries continue their trend for only releasing bangers. Towards the end of last year, they released the brand new full length from Cleveland, Ohio’s Heart & Lung. I first heard of Heart & Lung thanks to a lot of listening to bands playing The Fest 2021 in Gainesville. I immediately knew they were a band for me and, knowing their sound, it was no surprise that Red Scare ended up releasing Twistin’ The Knife Away. The album is eleven tracks of superb punk rock and features three different lead singers and plenty of harmonies. What’s not to love!

Twistin’ The Knife Away begins with Watch You Suffer. After a short audio clip, we’re greeted with a high energy introduction. The guitars buzz and the vocals have a hint of urgency that ensures that the album kicks off in the right way. The track is also plenty catchy with a chorus that you will be singing from your first listen and for days to come afterwards. I felt that it was pretty gutsy of the band to take on religion on the first track but seriously enjoyed it. The next track, I’m Fine, has more of a mid-tempo style with Heart & Lung immediately showing off their different vocalists and influences. The switch in style may take the listener a bit by surprise but will also help retain attention throughout the entire album. I’m Fine is about trying to convince people that you’re okay, when in truth you’re just lying to yourself and everyone else. This is something I’m sure we’ve all done and can really relate too. The band return to the poppier side of their sound on Punk Posters. This is another real earworm of a track. The opening harmonies of “putting up all my old punk posters” puts a smile on my face every time hear it. The track is about getting over a break up by going back to the things you found love and comfort in before the relationship. In this case, it’s punk rock music.

Die Alone is a forty-four second song that is simply about dying alone. It’s short, catchy and has a shreddy solo to finish the track. I’m not sure there’s much more to say about it other than I bet it’s great fun to sing live. The fifth song is titled Headache. Headache is another of the slower tracks on Twistin’ The Knife Away and offers a bit of a rest after the high tempo nature of the previous two songs. It’s a masterclass in writing a catchy song but also being extremely melancholic. The song eases in gently and sets out the scene of what life suffering with depression can be like. As the song progresses, the whole band comes in and gives the song a fuller sound. I can imagine this song also being extremely well received in a live setting and it being super cathartic. Up next is Shit Together. Starting out with some dual vocalists trading off lines was something I really liked. I’m assuming that the band are all in their late twenties and/or early thirties as they question where their lives are going and wonder when “they will get their shit together.” Another hugely relatable song that will be super fun to sing along to. The song structure is pretty simple, making it really accessible for the folk listening. I particularly liked the verse where the band essentially lists all the things going wrong in their life – I thought that was some quite creative lyric writing. Never Come Home is a song about dealing with loss and coming to terms with the finality of death. It’s definitely the saddest and most emotional song on the album and displays a different style of songwriting from the band. The “whoa-oh” shouts throughout the track really add some extra atmosphere to Never Come Home and you can hear some heartbreak as they are bellowed out.

Caveman is another short song – this time it’s just thirty-four seconds. Heart & Lung do an impressive job of packing a lot into this high octane pop punk song about starting again and going back to when times seemed simpler. Track nine is named Drunk And Right. On my first listen through of Twistin’ The Knife Away, Drunk And Right was one of the stand out songs for me. In particular, it was the lyric “shit don’t change if you don’t push back” that really caught my ear. Given the amount of gang vocals and harmonies that Heart & Lung use, it makes sense for them to have a song that rallies people to fight back against injustices. The jangly guitar sound that introduces the song and leads into the opening “whoa-oh” is masterful – the song does a magnificent job in subtly building up. It’s one where you get hooked in without even realising that they have caught you. The penultimate song is titled Control. This is a shorter song that feels as if it’s been split into two parts. The first part is just one of the band’s vocalists and a guitar along with a simple drumbeat welcoming you into the song before the whole band gradually comes in and the song explodes into a huge sound. As the whole band does come in, the song also becomes more urgent and it eventually feels like it’s a race to the finish. Last up is Earth, Wind, And Water. What a wonderfully raucous way to finish the album! Once again, the track starts out at a slower tempo but it’s not long before the chaos begins. There’s so much going on throughout the song with tempo and melody shifts, key changes and vocals galore. It’s what I love to see in a punk rock song. It’s nice not knowing what’s going to happen next. I think it’s important for an album to finish with a bang and Heart & Lung certainly accomplished this. Great stuff!

The list of bands that have released amazing records on Red Scare and then gone on to do some amazing things is massive and I can fully see Heart & Lung following on in the footsteps of those bands.

Stream and download Twistin' The Knife Away on Bandcamp here.

Like Heart & Lung on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Album Review: The Erin Rose EP by Good Friend

On December the 11th, Irish punk trio Good Friend surprised us all with the release of their long awaited new EP. Titled The Erin Rose EP, it comes four years after their last Red Scare release Ride The Storm. This was the release that made me aware of the band and it’s been a long four years waiting for some new stuff. It’s finally here, it’s three songs, let’s dive in.

The EP begins with Erin Rose Drinks On Shift. This is a generous slab of mid-tempo heartfelt punk rock. The song gets off to a nice energetic start and there is a bit of a comforting feeling when lead singer Adam’s vocals come in. Something I really loved about the first half of the song is that it feels like a big sing-along despite not being the most bombastic of tracks. I guess this has something to do with the melody that really hooks itself into your head. As we enter into the second half of the song there is a bridge that ups the tempo of the song and things seem to get a bit louder which ensures a big finale. Up next is We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It which is an amazing song title. This is a slower, anthemic track that really showcases the full range of Adam’s voice. Personally I think he’s at his best when he’s at his most emotional. The song talks about working through your mental health problems and knowing that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. The simple drum beat that provides the backbone for the entire song somehow adds to the emotion that pours out of the song, something you don’t often hear. The final song is Rusted Friends. On this song Adam performs solo, which really adds to the emotion of the track. I’ve never seen Adam perform solo but I imagine it would be an emotional time. This is a love letter to the pals in bands who dedicate their lives to life on the road and the highs and lows of touring. A tour can be full of amazing moments but can also be hard physically and mentally. This is a song that’s equal parts sad and uplifting, Adam’s voice is sombre throughout but the message that comes through at the end is one of victory.

Four years is a long time to wait for new music but it really was worth it. Good Friend are one of the European punk scene’s best kept secrets. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to hang out this year when they tour with Red City Radio.

Stream and download The Erin Rose EP on Bandcamp here.

Like Good Friend on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Album Review: Sad In The City by Broadway Calls

It’s mad that it took Broadway Calls seven years to release the follow up to their brilliant 2013 album Comfort/Distraction. In July this year the three-piece from Oregon finally released a brand new album titled Sad In The City. Released by Red Scare Industries, label boss Toby Jeg has said it’s the best thing they’ve ever put out. That is a big statement when you look back at how many amazing releases Red Scare have put out over the years. Enough waffle, let’s crack on with Sad In The City.

Sad In The City begins with Never Take Us Alive. This was the perfect song to start the album and a great way to reintroduce the band to their fans along with showing exactly what to expect for any new listeners of Broadway Calls. The track begins quite slowly and softly before building up to the main portion of the song. As soon as the chorus hits, the band have you singing along passionately and looking forward to where the album goes. Up next we have You Gotta Know which also starts softly before vocalist Ty Vaughn’s distinctive vocals come in and inject the track will a lot of energy. I’ve always thought that Ty’s vocals are cleaner and poppier than many of the bands contemporaries in their pop punk scene and that’s helped the band stand out massively. The song is about wanting to tell someone special how you feel about them. The third track is the album’s title track, Sad In The City. This song looks at how communities are being torn apart by wars started by rich people. Lyrically the song is superb, there are some great sing-alongs alongside some hard hitting imagery. “There’s a stain on the road shaped like a kid” is just one instance of this.

Always On The Run is about life on tour and the different life experiences that happen along the way. With its simple and catchy chorus, it’s guaranteed to find a home in your head. The song also feels full of joy as Ty recounts moments from tour that he seems to have happy memories of. About halfway through the track there’s a nice call and respond moment that leads to the bridge and builds to one final chorus. It’s great stuff. The fifth song is titled There’s A Glow. Broadway Calls play around with their sound slightly on the track with the verses venturing into garage rock territory. Of course, when the chorus hits we get that big Broadway Calls anthemic style that we all know and love. It’s nice to hear a band playing around with their style but also not forgetting what people love about them in the first place. Take Me Down has quite a startling start. It opens with a brief moment of acoustic guitar before we get a fantastically brash chorus to really get us started. At the halfway point of Sad In The City this was great track ordering as it gives the album another shot of energy. The chorus is another huge ear worm that will encourage huge amounts of audience participation in the future. Radiophobia was one of the singles released to promote Sad In The City and shows a darker and heavier side of the band. For the first time on the release Ty plays around with his peddle board to create some fantastic effects that really set the tone for the entire song. The track is a personal one to Ty as it is about growing up near a radiation cooling tower and knowing from the age of seven what it would mean to his friends and family in the town if the nuclear reactor were to have a meltdown. Just reading about it is terrifying so to have experienced it firsthand must have been horrible.

Slick New Truth sees Broadway Calls revert back to the tried and trusted and is one of my favourites on Sad In The City. This is infectious pop punk at its finest. The track reminds me of Be All That You Can Be from Good Views Bad News as it feels like Broadway Calls are really trying to spread their political message. In the case of Slick New Shoes, it’s about how the news has been streamlined down and you’re not always given the whole story. This is a bad thing. This song feels more relevant than ever given how we consume our news stories these days. The ninth song, Meet Me On The Moon, is a song about getting away from all the troubles on earth with that special someone. The song is a lot of fun but also shows a serious side when you think about how bad the world must currently be if you want to escape all the way to the moon. I can see this song being a big favourite with Broadway Calls fans. The penultimate song is Big Mouth. This is more of a mid-tempo track that makes me think of a cross between Social Distortion and The Ergs, that will enable massive barroom singalongs when such things are able to happen again. The line “I’ve got a big mouth and it gets me into trouble” is perhaps the most contagious on the entire album which is really saying something. I can really see this song being a set closer for the band and what a joyous occasion it will be. Sad In The City is completed by Went Dyin’. This is such a change of direction after Big Mouth. It’s a sadder song with much heavier tones than anything else on the album. The song looks at self-destructive tendencies in people and why they occur. Of course the song has a massive chorus and will be extremely cathartic for anyone listening. A sadder song seems completely appropriate for finishing Sad In The City.

Sad In The City has received nothing but positive reviews and rightly so. From beginning to end it’s packed with fantastic pop punk. I’m not sure why it was such a long gap between albums but it’s certainly been worth the wait. For me this is easily the band’s best work so far. It’s the biggest shame that the band’s UK tour with The Flatliners was cancelled earlier this year, I was looking forward to seeing them at both Manchester Punk Festival and the New Cross Inn and I’m anxiously awaiting future dates. In the meantime I’ll be listening to Sad In The City a lot.

Stream and download Sad In The City on Bandcamp here.

Like Broadway Calls on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Top Tens: Sam Russo's Top Ten Punk Rock Influences

1. The first ten seconds of Ignition by The Offspring.

The first punk music I remember hearing and really relating to. I remember having my tape player and putting in this really uninspiring looking tape I’d borrowed from a friend. It just looked like shit. I assumed it was metal because it reminded me of Load by Metallicca which had just come out but I remember taking it and thinking ‘The Offspring. That sounds way cooler than Metallica.’ and oh man was I right. I sat down on the school bus, put my knees up and stared out the window like always, then I pressed play. Hearing Dexter screaming ‘FUCK’ over and over and then the drums kicking in with that beat. I remember thinking I was going to die I was so happy. I felt like I’d stepped into a suit of armour that had been forged to fit me perfectly. I laughed, my palms got sweaty, I was headbanging and I wanted to run into school and flip over the tables and dance around singing, I was just fizzing with energy. I felt like I’d found my soundtrack. I used to just rewind that bit over and over! That was when I realised eeeeveryone setting all these rules about what you can and can’t do in music and in life was completely full of shit. Not everything had to be nice, or macho or good looking, you don’t have to do or like what everyone else does, and there’s a place for everyone – even the misfits. No more sitting at the side of the disco wondering what’s wrong with me because I don’t want to dance to Backstreet Boys like everyone else – there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m different and that’s OK!

2. Skateboarding.

When I was a really little kid I discovered skateboarding and it totally changed my outlook on life. Paired with punk, it basically got me through school and my adolescence. Think about it like this: when you skateboard you try to do something with your body and a piece of wood on wheels over and over, sometimes hundreds of times, before you do it the way you want to. You fail constantly and you hurt yourself repeatedly. You look ridiculous and you push yourself to your absolute limit of what you can do physically and what you can tolerate mentally, and you do it alone in a car park at night for no reason whatsoever besides the fact that you want to because it’s fun. There’s no team behind you, no coach or ref or spectators, it’s just you and the brutality of concrete. There’s no judge besides you and nobody cares about what you’re doing. It’s rebellious, it’s liberating and it’s fun. I was not doing this somewhere where skateboarding was a thing – it was me and one other guy that I knew of using these terrible toy boards in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. People thought we were complete idiots. The reason it inspired me as a person and helped me understand my own idea of what’s punk is because it was the opposite of school. School is where you have to go every single day in a uniform looking like everybody else to perform within this insanely tight, narrow framework of behaviour and attainment, where every single thing you do is ranked and graded and recorded and where you’re incentivised to do what you’re told purely by fear of punishment and failure – skating for me was a perfect counterbalance to this imposed developmental framework that’s policed and enforced by cowardly, brutal, often pretty ignorant adults (with a few exceptions!). You fail to play by the rules at school and you will have to do something horribly wasteful with your time and your precious youth – you’ll have to suffer meaninglessly punitive punishments like sitting silently in detention with the other ‘bad kids’ or writing the same thing in lines hundreds of times and watching the teacher tear it up when you’re done. This teaches you nothing. You get put in isolation away from your peers for being angry and saying the wrong thing – you stay angry until you’re so angry you have no choice but to internalise it, then you’re just exhausted and you feel ashamed, confused and lonely. Then they let you go home to do your homework. Nothing is achieved. Skateboarding helped me see why that doesn’t work, and why it’s fucked. Skateboarding makes everything a canvas. If you’re riding along on a skateboard, you’re leaving everything behind you and you’re creating art out of movement. You’re in the moment. It taught me to embrace and celebrate failure and to find the humour in fucking up. It showed me a world within a work and introduced me to incredible artists, photographers, bands and musicians, language, clothes, places and people. Skateboarding introduced me to hip hop, rap, funk, all kinds of music I’d never heard before and it showed me places I’d never seen. The streets of southern California will always go through a fisheye lens before they reach my brain because I was obsessed with skate videos. I’d decided what I thought punk was by this point and getting into skating stopped me being narrow minded about it. Public Enemy was punk to me, skaters like Louie Barletta busting out crazy angular tricks in cardigans and argyle was just as punk to me as Corey Duffel and Dustin Dollin in their leather jackets. Tony Hawk was punk because he was goofy looking and shy, Chris Roberts was punk because he didn’t party, Rodney Mullen was punk because he was a nerd, Chad Muska was punk because everyone hated him! Skating gave me a physical outlet and a mental and spiritual vehicle to discover elements of culture that I had no access to otherwise. It always did and always does make me excited and happy. Even when I eat complete shit.

3. Julian Giles Harding.

When I was 15 I auditioned on bass for a band called Cry For Vengeance. I knew the guitarist, my friend Billy, but none of the other band members. Billy took me to rehearsal having vouched for me saying I was a good bass player and I was into punk and the singer had agreed to meet me and give me a shot. We got to the youth centre where they practiced and I this guy Julian was already there. He was pacing around rubbing the back of his neck, looking tall, mean and scary as fuck. He had spiky red hair and was wearing a white school shirt covered in what I assumed was blood. He also wore huge black boots and skin-tight black jeans full of holes everywhere but the knees. I said ‘Hi, I’m Sam’ from across the room and he literally looked up from his pacing, sneered at me and waved a hand in my direction like he was shaking salt on chips. I loaded in my gear and plugged in while a few kids heckled me through the glass doors that lead through to the youth centre proper – one of them called me queer and another one offered to fuck my dad for me which I found pretty confusing so I just smiled and nodded, but I heard this Julian guy behind me say in a really soft voice ‘ignore them, they only want a fight’. I looked up from my bass and he was standing in the middle of the room just staring at them and grinning like something out of a Clockwork Orange. They trickled away and he shifted his stare over to me. I thought for sure he was insane and immediately wished I wasn’t wearing my X-Files t-shirt and camo shorts. He had a gold microphone that looked like it belonged on a kids karaoke machine in one hand and a wrinkled piece of yellow notebook paper in the other. I could see the handwriting all slanting and angry with no crossing out, corrections or scribbles. Just line after line of visceral, articulate, precise, honest lyrics. He asked me if I’d learnt the songs and I said Billy had showed me them. Billy had set up his amp and stood silently in the corner the whole time. When Julian started speaking, he put a rubber strap on his glasses and got into a position I’d never seen him stand in before. In our other band he always stood hunched and floppy and stared at his fretboard grinning. Now he stood like he was about to run at me and headbutt me in the dick. The whole room was humming with electricity and anticipation and it all hung on this Julian guys’ next word. He lifted the rusty yellow mike to his mouth and screamed ‘THIS FUCKING SONG IS CALLED SONG FOR THE SCABS, FUCKING 1, 2, 3, 4!’ and we just ripped into it. He introduced it like there was 500 people watching and sang it like it we were headlining Woodstock. The song was this muscular, rolling, spastic blast of mangled rock ’n’ roll scales and screaming and I played it so fast I nearly broke my fingers. It was the first original punk song I’d ever played and I felt like I was on fire from start to finish. At the end, this Julian guy walked over to me sweating and grinning with these huge crazy eyes and red hair dye all over his face and calmly said ‘Yes.’ Then he looked at Billy and shouted ‘Next. 1, 2, 3, 4!’ and Billy started playing the intro to the next song. After every song he just got warmer and warmer and more and more talkative and excited and we started discussing music and films and school and books and by the end of the practice I’d joined my first proper band and become friends with someone who I wouldn’t go a day of my life without talking to for the best part of 20 years. Jules is the most creative guy I know and since that band exploded and imploded like a mad barrel of acid, he’s always been one of the biggest musical and personal influences in my life. He’s had such an eclectic artistic life it’s mind boggling – he made an incredible acoustic album, reams of wild, ahead of it’s time electronic music, he had a sick heavy rock band called BRO, he’s made videos and animations and short films, he’s just a creative monster and a true freak of nature. He showed me really early in my musical life how to be myself and say ‘fuck you’ to anyone who gave me shit. I was playing while climbing all over filing cabinets and jumping onto chairs, playing laying on my back and he would just get pumped up by whatever weird shit I did. It’s been like that ever since he’s always been there for me. He produced Storm and Back To The Party and I can honestly say I would’ve given up long ago if it weren’t for him. Not just on music, but probably on myself in a lot of ways too. He’s the funniest person I’ve ever known and the most original free thinker I’ve ever met. I’ll tell you about the time he took a keyboard to the face for me another time…

4. Pennywise – Live At The Key Club.

My favourite live album ever, one of my all time favourite punk records and relevant here because it really gets your imagination going. This album is as close to going to a punk show as you can get by just listening to a record and there’s just something about how raw it is that transports me to the show. The energy is insane, I love how fast the songs are, the crowd is going completely turnips and every time I listen to it I get lost in it and feel like I’m actually there. Cramps live at Napa and Johnny Cash prison records do something similar for me. There’s something really edgy and charged about the set. I will always go to that record when I’m pissed off or depressed. A real leaky old battery up the ass.

5. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

They’re pizza loving mutants who spend most of their lives underground and fight tyrants in big machines – they’re the ultimate punks! I have always loved the Turtles and I think the duality of their fun-loving nature mixed with their shady, violent outsider lifestyle and freak status has always resonated with me on a way deeper level than a comic book or cartoon really should! I constantly agonise over who’s my favourite, I mean it’s obviously Donatello, but I’ve come to realise that we are all all of the Ninja Turtles. The best of us just have more Donnie than the rest. Also, Splinter is my hero. Foot sucks, Cowabunga.

6. Music videos. 

I’ve always loved ’em. Just a portal into another world. The ones that had the biggest influence on me are When I Get Old – The Descendents, Down – Blink 182, Heroin Girl – Everclear, Same Old Story – Pennywise, Da Hui – The Offspring, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits and Back To School – Deftones. Just watch ’em. Everything I love about music is in those videos.

7. Stephen King.

I love Stephen King and his books constantly inspire me and help me relax and escape real life. I love a lot of literature and poetry, but nothing sucks me in like a King classic. My Mum got me into Stephen King and I will always thank her for that. She was reading IT when we were at Center Parcs when I was little and I was just making some cereal minding my own business thinking about how much fun we were going to have going swimming and shit when I saw her shout ‘OH FUCK!’, throw the book across the room and hide her face under her sweater. She’d been up all night reading it and smoking cigarettes and it scared her so bad she couldn’t even bear to hold the book anymore! I had to have me a slice of THAT. I got INVOLVED and I never stopped! He just writes good shit. Sometimes trashy, sometimes dumb, but always fun. Pet Sematary in particular is a fave. I have a big old Pet Sematary tattoo. I love Stephen King’s life story too. Writing Carrie while supporting a family by working nights in the hospital laundry and writing all day in your trailer home, then his wife finding the manuscript in the bin and persuading him to send it out to publishers? Amazing story.

8. The Lawrence Arms.

My favourite band. Most adults find it hard to pick a favourite band, I don’t. The Lawrence Arms are punk personified to me. Firstly, they’re the most intelligent, self-aware, funny, articulate and poetic lyricists ever. B.) They have consistently gotten better with every single body of music they’ve ever released. 4.) They sound like no other band – you can hear influences like any other band, but those influences are like riddles. You’ll be listening to a new Larry Arms song and second to second you’re hearing these accents, these little references. In one song you can just get all your bells rung at once ’til you have no idea what’s going on – you’ll think you’re hearing a little No Means No for a second, then maybe you think you hear a quote from Joe Dirt, but it could be Gabriel Marquez, then you vibe on some obscure 90’s hip-hop and a little tip of the hat to Poison and then you’re in the middle of a boozey, life affirming midwestern singalong and before you know it, it’s all over and you’re fucked. I got into the Lawrence Arms when Ghost Story came out and I’ve just been obsessed ever since. No band comes close. They’re the ultimate trio. They’re the musical equivalent of the perfect Bloody Mary, the best handjob you ever received and the feeling you get after you puke, all rolled into one. Brendan will HATE that analogy. Mostly because of his strong beliefs regarding handjobs. I could talk about this band all night but I’ll wrap up by saying that they are the best humans I know who play music. They’ve been so kind and generous to me over the years and who the fuck am I? I asked Chris for some advice about songwriting once and he put his arm around me and said ‘I’m gonna be honest with you, Sam. Nothing fucking matters.’ Now THAT’S a pal. Lawrence Arms. You’re either in, or you’re fucked.

9. Going to California.

A special place for me. The history of CA, the culture, the art, the films, the music, food, politics, lifestyle, geography; everything about California interests me and influences my life and my music. I love the sun and sand meeting concrete, graffiti and grime. Dessert, ocean, city, suburbia. I’ll keep this short because I’m literally obsessed, but I’ve never loved a place more in my life. Some of my best memories are of times I’ve spent in LA and all over California. I grew up with a pretty idealised and romantic view of life in California from books and movies and music but that didn’t in any way change how inspiring I find it. When I was a kid I did that thing where you write yourself a letter about the person you want to be – basically all I wrote was ‘Get to California’. Whether I’m getting California Donuts or Cactus with my lady or sleeping alone in a Super 8 in Santa Cruz, whether I’m playing a show at the Troubadour or hiking in the Hollywood Hills, going to a pool party with new friends, cruising overnight down the coast or swimming in San Diego – I’m just so happy and so excited to be alive. California keeps a little piece of me every time I’m lucky enough to visit and the thought of going back keeps me positive when I’m down. Just think of all the incredible punk music out of California and I guarantee you’re forgetting half. We made a classic California Punk playlist in the van on tour with Elway last year and it was something like 3 hours long. That’s a lot of 2-minute songs.

10. Red Scare.

Best punk label of all time, sir. Because of Red Scare I’ve played all over the world with all of my favourite bands and I’ve been able to make whatever music I want, release it and have people actually hear it. Nobody gets to do that these days, it’s amazing. Tobias Jeg saved my ass, let me tell you. I’ve been to Enumclaw, fuckers.

Stream and download Sam Russo’s latest album, Back To The Party, on Bandcamp here.

Like Sam Russo on Facebook here.

Album Review: Back To The Party by Sam Russo

It's been five years since acoustic punk troubadour Sam Russo released a brand new album. After touring 2015's Greyhound Dreams hard for a couple of years, Russo seemed to step away from performing live as much to crack on with new album Back To The Party. Released by Red Scare Industries, Back To The Party feels like such an apt title for the album.

Opening with Purple Snow, hearing Russo's unmistakable vocal is like slipping on your favourite football boots. There's a comfort there that is built up over time and when you get to that level it will stick around forever, even if you don't wear them for a while. A better analogy is it's like being reunited with an old friend and things picking up from exactly where you left them long ago. You know what you're going to get from a Russo album but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check out Back To The Party.

While Russo predominantly plays acoustic guitar on the album, there are subtle additions and effects sprinkled throughout Back To The Party. To my knowledge, this is the most experimental Russo has gotten on any of his releases so far and it's a pleasure to hear. Some of the electric guitar effects add a fantastic amount of atmosphere to the album. Whenever I've seen Russo live, I've always been so impressed with how he manages to use his guitar as a percussion instrument as well as it's intended use. This helps to give his songs a great deal of extra energy. This translate well to Back To The Party, particularly on The Window, Young Heroes and Anne. Anne is a song that starts quite quietly but builds delightfully.

Russo writes some fantastic storytelling songs. The way that he uses his voice ensures he really takes you along for a journey. When he sings in a quiet and low register he has this ability to really captivate the listener and, when he lets go of the shackles and begins to belt his lyrics out, you can't help but want to sing along. Russo doesn't step away from his traditional stories of friendship and loss. On the surface, Back To The Party feels like quite a sad album but it does also offer a sense of hope. One of my big highlights on the album is The Basement. It's a song about remembering good times from a moment in your life after you have drifted away from it. This happens to be the album’s closing song and it feels like the best way to finish the album with a rousing chorus.

I've read a few reviews and comments saying that Back To The Party is Russo's best album yet and I am inclined to agree with them. It shows a slightly different step in musical direction but also remains completely Sam Russo. I assumed that the title of the album references Russo returning to the party but, after listening to the album a few times now, it could also be Sam welcoming us back to his party. Either way, I'm happy he's back. Hopefully the world will begin to fix itself soon so we can see these songs live as soon as possible.

Stream and download Back To The Party on Bandcamp here.

Like Sam Russo on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Album Review: L’ennui by Guerilla Poubelle (by Emma Prew)

I’m about to attempt to do something that I’ve never done before: review an album where I don’t understand any of the words, unless I use Google Translate, because I don’t speak any French beyond ‘bonjour’, ‘je m’appel Emma’, ‘merci’ and ‘au revior’. This is not something that I would dream of attempting, did I not already really like the band in question. I listened to said album on the day of its release and then immediately put it on again because I enjoyed it so much – all despite the language barrier. It also felt pretty appropriate to be listening to a French band on the day the UK left the EU. Fuck Brexit.

Guerilla Poubelle are a punk rock trio from Paris who have toured the world, including playing shows at The Fest, Pouzza Fest, Booze Cruise Festival and Manchester Punk Festival as well as France’s own This Is My Fest (which, I think I’m correct in saying, they have a hand in putting together each year). They are a super hard working band with strong DIY ethics – they even have their own label, Guerilla Asso. Their new album, L’ennui (which translates as ‘Boredom’ by the way, if you also do not speak French but were wondering), was released on the 31st January on said label. Oh, and the legends that are Red Scare Industries are putting it out too!

The fact that the album has 13 tracks in a 30 minute run time is a sign that this going to be relentlessly fast-paced. And this theory is proved correct with opening track Les frontières du présent which is loud and fast from the outset. Here Guerilla Poubelle deliver a rousing protest against the world’s borders. The vocals are distinctly gruff and the chorus is a wonderful gang affair – even if I can’t quite sing along myself, yet. Second song, La chute, slows things down a little with chugging guitar and bass parts to open the song. The chorus is a catchy one which works well with the bouncy melody. The pace returns for Qui perd perd which is not far off being a full-on hardcore anthem. I wouldn’t want to be near the pit for this song – because I’m small and would probably get crushed. It’s easy to feel the rage that the band express here through the intensity of their playing and the almost screamed vocals. Unsurprisingly, the song finishes in just over a minute.

Fourth track, Apocalypse 6:12, is probably the song that stood out to me the most on my first listen through, not least because of its dark title. It’s definitely not as ‘hardcore’ as the previous track, instead taking a more mid-tempo path. I really enjoyed the exchanging of vocals between different members of the band for the chorus, something that is mirrored between the bass and guitar melodies as well. The next track, La bataille de Paris, switches in pace throughout. This helps to keep the listener’s attention and keeps you guessing what will happen next. Entre Booba et Balkany is the longest song on L’ennui, at well over 3 minutes long, and it sees Guerilla Poubelle deliver something quite different to everything we’ve heard so far. The song has a slow and extended musical introduction which builds with intensity for half of its duration before bursting to life. The whole song showcases what brilliant musicians Guerilla Poubelle are.

The seventh and eighth tracks on the album, La casse du siècle and L'aigle et la foudre respectively, are both super melodic, mid-tempo tunes. There’s plenty more shout-along-able gang vocal moments, catchy riffs and even some whoa-ohs. I should note that I have used Google Translate and read all of the lyrics for this album, it’s pretty dark stuff but inspirational at the same time, it’s good that Guerilla Poubelle are able to write songs about such important political topics. The volume is amped up once more for Passer l'arme à droite and we have one of the catchiest choruses of the album – ‘Est-ce qu’on passera l’arme à droite ?’ / ‘Will we pass the weapon to the right?’. Catchy but hard-hitting, much like the music itself. Vampire is the name of the tenth song. Opening with a beefy bass line, shortly followed by a steady drumbeat and those gravelly vocals, it’s unusual that the guitar doesn’t come in until just before the chorus. When it does come in however, it sure packs a punch. 

La guerre des pauvres is another upbeat ambush of angry punk rock. The track hurtles along at a breakneck pace but towards the end of the song there’s a short breakdown section that allows the listener to take a breath as they nod along to the riffs on offer. At least until the the pace picks up again for the last leg. The penultimate song is titled L'argile. Opening with a heavily distorted bass line and pounding drums, L'argile is probably the slowest song on the album but what it lacks in speed it makes up for with fraught emotion. In less than 2 minutes, however, it’s all over and Guerilla Poubelle ramp things up for their final song, Mare Nostrum. Bringing the album full circle, Mare Nostrum takes on the subject of refugees and freedom of movement. Understandably, it’s another hard-hitting song both musically and lyrically – the chorus being ‘Victimes de survie et d’espoir, Au fond du plus grand cimetière d'Europe’ / ‘Victims of survival and hope, At the bottom of the largest cemetery in Europe’. With plenty of atmospheric building throughout the song, it certainly feels like a huge and poignant way to end the album. 

Even before I’d copy and pasted the lyrics from the band’s Bandcamp page into Google Translate, I knew that this was an angry, anti-fascist, pro-equality, political protest album. I’ve seen Guerilla Poubelle live and I know that’s what they’re about. I also don’t have to understand every single lyric to feel the passion and raw energy they put into their music. So, if you too do not speak French, please do not let that stop you from checking out L’ennui and Guerilla Poubelle because I think it’s brilliant.

You can stream and download L’ennui on Bandcamp here and like Guerilla Poubelle on Facebook here.

This review was written by Emma Prew.

Album Review: The Aging Punk by The Reaganomics

I could make this review really short by saying that The Aging Punk by The Reaganomics is on Red Scare Industries and so therefore it is brilliant. Red Scare only release brilliant albums. That's a fact. I'm sure most people reading this have come to expect more from a CPRW review though and I'm more than happy to expand the review to explain exactly why The Aging Punk is brilliant and not just because it is on Red Scare.

The Reaganomics are a four piece band from Joilet, Illinois, who formed in 2008. They previously released two other albums – Get Lost, Stay Lost (2009) and Lower The Bar (2011) – on Red Scare. They left eight years between their last album and this new one. I'm not sure what they were up to but when The Aging Punk came out it proved to be well worth the wait.

The Aging Punk begins with The Four Cliches. It's a fitting first song for the band’s first release in eight years. It's about wanting to write a good punk song and hitting all the right cliches. If you're experiencing The Reaganomics for the first time, I think the best way to describe them is by saying they play rambunctious pop punk music. It's full of catchy hooks but there's also a wild intensity that pumps energy into the music. On Dear Jaymez that wild intensity continues with a heavy drum beat and guitar riff to open the song. The song kind of reminded me of some old school MxPx with a harder punk sound along with the melodic vocals. This is fitting as the song seems to be about still listening to and taking inspiration from music of the past. The third song, Dunzo, starts with some hand clapping and an 80s-style hair metal riff before jumping into a fast paced pop punk song. The vocals are delivered at some pace, this really had me invested into the song – I love a rapid fire vocal delivery. It also ensures that a lot gets packed into a song that's less than ninety seconds long. A stand out on the album.

Happy Birthday Jeff was released as a teaser demo before The Aging Punk came out. This song would have fit so brilliantly on a Lookout Records comp back in the 90s. Like The Mr T Experience? You'll love this. It's about going to prison for breaking a law that you don't agree with, for example using force to protect your house from a burglar. Obviously, this is a serious thing, but The Reaganomics manage to put a humorous spin on things during the song. It's much more fun than the topic really has any right to be. Mountains is another stand out song on The Aging Punk. Wasting no time at all in getting started, that word ‘rambunctious’ springs back to mind. There's a joyfulness about the song that I quickly got on board with. It feels like a party song, where you have your arm around the person next to you and shout every word back at the band. It's about finding somewhere to escape the stress and pressure of life and feeling better because of it. The sixth track is named Worth A Damn. It's another big ol' sing-along from the outset – so it's a lot of fun. The song is about realising that you've not always been the best you can be and trying to change people's opinions of you. It's a mid-tempo paced track with plenty of moments to really engage the listener.

STFU is another track that the band released as an early demo in the build up to The Aging Punk. The track begins in an explosive manor with a heavy rock influenced intro. This sound is continued throughout the song with the vocals providing much of the melody. STFU is about living with social anxiety and wanting to get the better of it. Meth Gator is a song about getting addicted to crystal meth and eventually dying because of it. They use getting attacked by an alligator and dragged down to the bottom of its swamp as a great metaphor for this. This metaphors offers a bit of humour to an otherwise dark song. I always enjoy when bands take a tongue-in-cheek approach to what is a serious subject. It humanises it and makes it more relatable to everyone. Bravo to The Reaganomics for this. Grown Ass Man starts with quite an angry bass line before moving into quite an uplifting song about getting older and being okay with that. This song makes me think of what Pennywise would be like if they had more of a sense of humour and poppier side. The tenth song Don't Be An Asshole reverts back to the 90s Lookout sound. I'm pretty sure the opening melody is borrowed from an old Green Day song. This really helped the song grab my attention so deep into the album. I really loved the message of the song – it's pretty obvious what that is from the song title, not being an asshole. It's a super positive song. I adored the chorus of "just don't be an asshole, you can literally be anything else in the world." It's simple but it's so effective.

Kingmaker shows off the heavier side of The Reaganomics again. Blending metal with melodic skate punk, it really allows the bad to show off their shredding ability. When I'm paying more attention to the song rather than annihilating my air guitar, I discover it's a song that takes aim at the trendy punks who are not genuine and act as if they rule the scene. I dislike folk like this so I really appreciated The Reaganomics writing a song to call them out. The penultimate song is named Summer Maiden. Again channelling their metal head side, the track has an extended introduction that you might expect from the UK heavy metal legends. The summer aspect of the sound comes from the vocals. The music and the vocals really offer quite a contrast but work surprisingly well together. The song is about making the most of your time with friends as it becomes harder as you get older. This is a nice and cheery song that did make me smile. The final song on The Aging Punk is titled Confessions Of A Snowflake Lib-Tard. I'm sure you can work out that this song is a political one and one that targets those humans who believe any old rubbish the media write and have a very dated approach to many scenarios. Sadly I can relate far too well with this song, there are many people like this in the UK as well as the USA. It's a fast paced and urgent song. The pacing of the track really allows the band to share their anger on the subject and it comes across brilliantly. The highlight of the track are the lyrics "I'm pro-choice, I'm anti-asshole." This was the perfect song to finish a fantastic album.

As I said in the introduction, this is brilliant. Red Scare do it again… obviously.

Stream and download The Aging Punk here.

Like The Reaganomics here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.