Top Tens: Top Ten Punk Rock Love Songs (by Robyn Pierce)

Since the capitalist love festival of Valentine’s Day is today, it seems appropriate to put together a top ten list of punk rock love songs. Love and uncomplicated relationships is not a common theme in punk (and, to be fair, many of the songs that I’ve chosen are from pop punk bands, which are traditionally less serious in their choice of subject matter) but there were still quite a few tracks to sort through before settling on this final ten. I decided early on that I wouldn’t choose any ballads and that all the love songs on this list would be up-tempo songs that you can move around to. If you don’t have anyone to share this Valentine’s Day with, just remember that most of these songs can be sung to pizza too.

10. I Think I Love You by Less Than Jake
I know that Less Than Jake’s version of this song is just one of many covers, but LTJ’s sped-up version is the first one I ever heard and it stuck with me. It captures all of the nervous energy and anxiety that accompanies a new relationship and the fear that you may get hurt, but it’s also sweet and innocent in its apprehension.

Line that makes you go aww: “Do you think you love me? Yeah, I think I love you”.

9. Hot Air Balloon by The Lippies
The Lippies made it into my list of the top ten albums of 2016 and this is probably my favourite song from them. It’s catchy and great to singalong to, but it belongs on this list because it celebrates the safe space created by a loving relationship, which allows you to relax, be yourself, and escape the frustrations of the world ‘out there’. In this miniature world, you can forget everything and just be.

Line that makes you go aww: “No need to hide when it's only me and you”.

8. Best Friend by 7 Seconds
This is such a fun and heartfelt track that speaks to the importance of grounding long-term relationships in being both good friends and lovers. It’ll make you happy, it’ll make you wanna jive, and it’ll make you want to do something nice for your significant other, just because.

Line that makes you go aww: “Inspired by a love that never ends, I’m so that glad she is my best friend”.

7. Million Bucks by All
There were a number of Descendants songs that I considered for this list (including ‘Marriage’, ‘Silly Girl’ and ‘Nothing With You’) but it’s All’s ‘Million Bucks’ that ultimately made it. There are many things to like about this song: its straight-forward message of devotion, the rejection of a materialistic ideal for a personal and emotional ideal, and its glorious bass line. Play this on your boombox outside his/her window and you will be fishing, going to the movies, and camping together in no time.

Line that makes you go aww: “Everybody says they want a million bucks, but I’d rather just have a million days with you”.

6. Joy Comes With The Morning by Red City Radio
While ‘Electricity’ is also a great love song from RCR, I think this song (and this album) is ultimately better. I know this song is quite ballad-y in some ways, but it’s worth bending the rules for. By the time Garrett sings ‘You were my Ginger Rogers and I was your Fred Astaire’, you are completely invested in his yearning daydream.

Line that makes you go aww: “And I dream of you, you took the floor right underneath me and I never knew how to say that I want you in the worst way”.

5. What You Want/What You Got by The Unlovables
I was so happy to discover this fun and vivacious love-themed track from The Unlovables. The narrator of ‘What You Want/What You Got’ isn’t afraid to put herself out there and make the first move. Have a crush you want to ask out? Let this song be the confidence boost you need.

Line that makes you go aww: “Can’t you see how perfectly we were meant to be you and me?”

4. Spanish Reds by Banner Pilot
‘Spanish Reds’ doesn’t immediately strike you as a love song, until you take a moment to listen to the lyrics. This song is interesting in its choice to focus on the ways in which a loving relationship works in the drudgery of everyday life, which makes it feel more authentic and relatable. It’s also one of the stand-out tracks on the album ‘Heart Beats Pacific’, which is possibly the best (and definitely my favourite) album from Banner Pilot.

Line that makes you go aww: “I watch you fall asleep on a dead end street and the world is right somehow”.

3. 25 To Life by Masked Intruder
I don’t think a list of love songs would be complete without Masked Intruder. Green, Red, Yellow and Blue are very romantic, misunderstood criminals who just want the same things we all want: a steady life of crime and a steady girlfriend. Their 2016 e.p. was entitled ‘Love And Other Crimes’ but they have many great love-themed songs like ‘Heart-shaped Guitar’, ‘Crime Spree’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Alone Tonight’. But, I think that ’25 To Life’ is their best love song, with their best pun.

Line that makes you go aww: “Tell me baby, will you be mine for 25 to life?”

2. Todayo by Teenage Bottlerocket
Numbers 1 and 2 on this list are the songs that immediately sprung to mind when I was faced with compiling a top ten punk rock love songs. They are they songs that make me swoon and think about my own happy and loving relationship. Not only is ‘Todayo’ a great song to sing along to, it serves as a reminder not to get bogged down by petty problems. The concept of ‘living in the moment’ has, perhaps, become a bit cliché – but I think it’s worth remembering.

Line that makes you go aww: “Let me know you and I are gonna live like we might die tomorrow”.

1. International You Day by No Use For A Name
Tony Sly was a great songwriter, and this track is excellent whether you go for the full-band version on ‘Hard Rock Bottom’ or the acoustic version Tony did on the split with Joey Cape. There are also some great covers (Joey Cape’s among them, and I quite like the one by Thomas Oliver). ‘International You Day’ is simple, pure, and cuts right to the heart. If you’re making a mix tape for someone this Valentine’s, this classic should really be on it.

Line that makes you go aww: “You see, one million words can’t describe how it feels to know your love”.

Honourable mentions:
A Very Pretty Song For A Very Special Young Lady Part 2 by The Ergs!
The Rock Show by Blink 182
I Want You To Want Me by Letters To Cleo
I Have A Date by The Vandals
Lovers Of Loving Love by The Aquabats

This top ten was written by Robyn Pierce.

Album Review: Breaking by Cold Wrecks

Cold Wrecks are a four piece punk band from Brooklyn, New York. Last July (yes, I'm very late to the party again) they released their album Breaking. Finding the band on Spotify, the related artist section linked them with bands such as RVIVR, The Holy Mess and Signals Midwest. Cold Wrecks are clearly going to be a band that I love.

The first track on Breaking is named Price. Beginning with some dramatic guitar effects underneath some vocals, that slightly remind me of the guy from Modern Baseball, the track starts slowly. As Price moves forward it gradually begins to get a bigger sound. I think this was a great choice for the opening song on the album as it eases you in slowly to what Cold Wrecks are all about. Up next is Kids. Picking the tempo up from Price, Kids is a foot stomping sing-a-long from the outset. The track is about growing up privileged but feeling bad for not knowing what terrible things are happening in the world. The chorus of "We're Selfish Kids, We're Oblivious" should get a whole crowd shouting along with the band. Following Kids we have Suburbs. Suburbs is about growing apart and feeling different from the place where you grew up. This is a first class pop punk song with plenty of ups and downs, changes in tempo and melody - and it's so unbelievably catchy. I loved the lines "I'm Just Trying To Flush The Suburbs From My Blood, And I'm Scared That You're The Person I'll Become." Letters is a song that allows Cold Wrecks' singer to really explore his vocal range, switching from a nice pop style to a more shouty sound. These two different styles mesh really well together on the track. Musically it's an extremely danceable song that will have you swaying along from the opening chords.

The fifth track on Breaking is titled Drawbridge. My first thoughts when I heard the song was how much it reminds me of early Menzingers. It's a well written and structured pop punk sound with a fantastic raw and intense quality to it. Drawbridge is about going after someone you have a crush on and one day working up the courage to say something despite knowing it could all go horribly wrong. The song ends on a massive finale with a loud drum beat and some gang vocal shouts of "When I Said I Love You, You Said I Hope So." Friends is about feeling like you should miss the people that you used to know but actually not doing so. Despite the kind of sad subject matter the song really feels quite upbeat and happy. More so than anything else on the album so far, the gang vocals and harmonies really come into play and add to the track. I think this also adds to the joyousness of the song. The seventh song, Heaves, starts out slow before, after a little hesitation, we get a big hook line. On Heaves, Cold Wrecks have again written a song with plenty of changes in tempo and melody that really shows off the band's musical skills. The song is about feeling like everything around you is falling apart and having to medicate because of that. Up next is one of my favourites on Breaking, the song Sad. It's a shorter song that doesn't quite make the two minute mark but during that time Cold Wrecks pack a lot in. One section of the song in particular really stood out to me, it's a fast paced lyrical section that sounds like there are two vocalists involved riffing off of each other. (I could be wrong). There is a lot of energy here that I really loved.

The ninth song on Breaking is named Down and features the vocal talents of Freya Wilcox of the band Freya Wilcox & The Howl. The addition of Wilcox on this song allows for some great back and forth vocals on the song, giving Cold Wrecks sound an extra element. Down is about letting somebody down and it being clear that it is about to happen. Fistfight is one of the slower, softer songs on the album. This is a nice change of pace, allowing the band to show more of an emotional side to their sound. Fistfight talks about taking a chance and being prepared to go down swinging. I particularly enjoyed the jangly guitars that are used throughout the song. With previous sadder songs on the album they've still felt quite upbeat, this certainly wasn't the case with Fistfight. The penultimate song on Breaking is named Montreal. From the opening guitar riffs Montreal is a much more rambunctious affair. It still has the slower moments that are littered across Cold Wrecks' songs but for the most part Montreal just doesn't slow, breathing a whole lot of life into the ending of the album. Montreal is about remembering a time spent away and all the wonderful memories you made before you sadly had to leave. Finally we have the song Broken to bring Breaking to an end. This is a mid-tempo song that really comes alive towards the end of the track with some great gang vocal harmonies. I imagine that this is also the traditional Cold Wreck set closer with the whole crowd shouting "Distract Me" along with the band. An excellent way to finish the album.

I wish someone had shown me Cold Wrecks and Breaking a lot sooner. This was a fantastic album from start to finish. If you're a fan of The Menzingers, PUP and Modern Baseball, and let's face it who isn't, then you will absolutely love this album.

Stream and download Breaking here: https://coldwrecks.bandcamp.com/

Like Cold Wrecks here: https://www.facebook.com/coldwrecks

This review was written by Colin.

Gig Review: New Town Kings at MK11, Milton Keynes 10/2/17

When you think of a cold, snowy night in Milton Keynes the first thing you think of probably isn't a ska and reggae night. Well that's what Emma and I decided to do on Friday. It was a bit of a special night for me as it was a chance to see my favourite band from my hometown, Colchester (some home away from home for me) as well as one of Emma's favourite discoveries, Easydread.

This was my first time going to tonight's venue, MK11, so I wasn't completely sure what to expect. Especially as it didn't seem to be in a traditional setting for live music - a sports and social club on an industrial estate. As we entered the venue I could tell instantly that this was going to be a pretty great place to watch live music. It's well set up with a nice sized dance floor in front of a reasonably high stage with lots of place to stand and still have a decent view of the stage if you don't fancy a dance.

Unfortunately Emma and I were slightly late to the gig so we only caught the end of the opening act, Mid Reflection, which I believe was a cover of the classic song Jump Around. Emma was quite excited to see Bedfordshire ska/reggae act Easydread after seeing them support [Spunge] last year, as well as seeing them perform at the Bedford Festival. I immediately understood her excitement. Tonight performing as a six piece, Easydread effortlessly got a good portion of the crowd grooving with their upbeat and energetic performance. Despite not knowing any of their music I couldn't help but have a dance. When the set times were announced for the show I thought that Easydread having a 45 minute set might be a bit much but boy golly I'm glad that they did. The band clearly love performing together on stage - and at times in the crowd, where we were joined by the band's guitarist, bass player and trumpeter for the last song, Scrotes. A wonderful song about the people of Luton.

If it was possible for me to be more excited to see New Town Kings, Easydread made it happen. Suitably warmed up, it was time to really have a dance to Colchester's finest. Things seem to have been a little quiet in the Kings camp over the winter. Judging from the sheer amount of new material played I can only guess that they've been hard at work finishing up their long awaited third album. It seems such a long time coming and, judging from the new songs, it's going to be more than worth the wait. The new songs had me dancing just as much as old classics such as Dynamite, La La Land and Fire In The Hole. Frontman Dabs Bonner is always the star of the show - he's got a natural charisma and sense of showmanship, it's difficult not to watch him. Even whilst skanking furiously to set closer Fire In The Hole, I watched him intently wondering what he would do next. It's hard to remember a time when he wasn't the band's frontman. They were great before him but with Dabs leading the way the Kings have really upped their game immensely. By the end of the night the New Town Kings had everyone in MK11 singing, dancing and smiling away - bringing a fun summer vibe to the freezing cold night. This is a powerful thing live music can do, make you forget about all the rubbish that is going on outside of the venue and just allowing you to have the best time possible.

Easydread were excellent, the New Town Kings were even better. A great night had by all. Now hurry up and get that new album out New Town Kings!

This review was written by Colin.

Gig Review: PMX at The Unicorn, Camden 9/2/17 (by Dan Peters)

I’m generally a big fan of the Unicorn in Camden. It may be a little out the way compared to the other Camden venues but the atmosphere is great, the stage is good and I’ve seen some kickass bands there. Last night [at the time of writing this] was no exception either as I made my down to a free show headlined by the outstanding PMX and featuring a slew of excellent support.

Quick disclaimer for the entire night. This was not a good gig for vocalists. I’ve not had an issue hearing people previously but tonight for some reason not a single band I saw had reasonably audible vocals. Luckily I’m familiar with Ships Down and I know all the words to every PMX track so I knew what was going on but to the others on this list I’m sorry if I missed the subtleties of your vocal stylings but it was a rare point at which I could hear them at all.

The first act started a little earlier than I could make it down for but I managed to catch half a set of Our Lives In Cinema. These guys are going down that new school pop punk rock route and from what I can hear they’ve got a good thing going on. It’s only their third gig and they’re kind of rough around the edges but they’ve got some good potential.

Second up I got to pop my Captain Trips cherry and man was I pleased to do so. A four piece from Portsmouth, they were fast and tight and Rich Mayor is maybe one of the most fantastically good looking humans I’ve had the pleasure of setting my eyes upon. I mean seriously, I could just stare at him for the full 30 minutes in complete silence and still be perfectly happy!!! Of course there wasn’t complete silence, there was some real good kickass skate punk and I’m looking forward to checking out their EP today as I missed it when it was released last year.

The penultimate act were a new firm favourite of mine, Ships Down. I don’t want to bang on about them too much here. I like them so much that I’m going to talk about them at length elsewhere but for the purposes of this review just know that they are a force of nature. Outwardly they are playing my jam, it’s Melodic Hardcore. If you’ve never heard them then for reference they play a kickass version of The Horse by A Wilhelm Scream partway through. There’s more to them though and Stage Presence plays a big part. Every member of the band, from little Ikhsan on the drums to straight-off-a-pirate-ship Joeseph on the mic, exudes a charm and charisma you can’t train for - you either have it or you don’t and damn it these guys have it. Pay attention to their name. You’ll be hearing from these London boys a lot I think.

Lastly all the way from the unfathomably far North of mythical Scotland were PMX. Smashing out perfect renditions of tracks from their nigh perfect EP Dark Days as well as older and brand new tracks to keep us all on our feet and screaming. I was most disappointed with the lack of vocal clarity for PMX mainly because I know the vocals are next level and what I could make out over the music and my own yelling of the lyrics was amazing and, although not hearing the words properly made me a little sad, it didn’t detract from just what a great set I got to witness. I bought Dark Days when it first came out circa late 2015 and have been dying to see these guys ever since. Last night was just as good as I’d hyped myself to believe it would be for all this time. Standing watching PMX along with 100 other people for free on a Thursday night will be something to tell the next generation of punks as they desperately try to buy tickets to see them for £60 a pop in ten years time!!

The whole night was put on by the boys from Umlaut Records and they clearly have a very good thing going on, from the bands on their roster to the talent they are attracting to their shows. Long Live DIY.

This review was written by Dan Peters. 

Colin's Punk Rock World Playlist: The Alphabet Game

Here at Colin's Punk Rock World we like to have some fun and what is more fun than the alphabet. We devised a game where we split the letters of the alphabet between us and each had to pick bands beginning with the letters we got for a playlist. What fun!

Top Tens: Roy From Black Volvo's Top Ten Punk Rock Influences

Ok, so Colin asked me to put together my top 10 punk rock influences, which got me thinking. I never really listened to the bigger punk rock bands when I was growing up and only started to appreciate them in the last couple of years. So I figured this is about my influences that got me playing in punk rock bands, so they are punk rock to me. I’ve kind of put them in order of how I started to know them… or just how they popped in my head thinking of how I started listening to and playing music.

Suicidal Tendencies
I took guitar lessons for 2 years from when I was 13 and the guy who was “teaching” me, was a big fan of Suicidal. I had never heard anything like it – it was fast, loud and shouty. I bought The Art of Rebellion and started to play the songs. Playing punk rock started there for me.

The Offspring
One of the big punk rock bands. I remember a friend of my brother coming to our house and bringing either Ixnay or Smash, can’t really remember which because I bought them both shortly after that. I went to see them years later, in the biggest venue in Amsterdam, about 10 years ago it was still awesome!

Peter Pan Speedrock
Growing up in Roelofarendsveen, a small town between Leiden and Amsterdam, Peter Pan Speedrock was a band you couldn’t miss. Every year they came to our local venue called Splotsz and the first time I saw them there I was blown away. It’s rock 'n' roll, it’s punk rock, it’s metal, it had something I was looking for in the music I was trying to make, it had that rock 'n' roll feel but was still loud and really heavy. They were also known as the Netherlands' hardest working band as they toured relentlessly. This was a real inspiration to me to start pushing my band at the time (Noctophyle) to start touring and I started to put all my free time in getting us as many shows as possible. We ended up supporting Peter Pan Speedrock a couple of times, and they were really supportive about us trying to tour more and gave us a some tips and contacts. Last November they called it quits after 20 years unfortunately.

Zeke
My favourite band to this day! Their sound is truly amazing! They can combine fast and slow and it never gets boring! I must say this is my biggest influence in music, from the first time I heard Dirty Sanchez till their last album Till The Living End. They are playing a show in Rotterdam in March and I’ve never been more excited for a band to tour the Netherlands as they haven’t toured in years!

Motorhead
Peter Pan Speedrock and Zeke are both influenced by Motorhead, so it wouldn’t be right to leave them out of my list. I like the combination of rock ’n’ roll with any loud kind of music and Motorhead is just that. After watching the documentary “Lemmy” I really got the idea behind Motorhead / Lemmy and that’s the feeling I always looked for in music and playing in bands.

Psychobilly
I think it’s the rock ’n’ roll thing combined with loud music. Mad Sin, Nekromantix, the Meteors, Kings of Nuthin’. I listened to a lot of them. I’m just not a big fan of the whole horror theme stuff.

Herman Brood and his Wild Romance
This is the greatest rock ’n’ roll artist the Netherlands has ever known. I only started to listen to his music later. He made rock ’n’ roll in the 60s and 70s and after that became more famous because of his artwork and drug abuse. He could play jazz and blues and still it was interesting to me.

Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick is a band that has influenced me over the years. Their live shows are great and there is always a good atmosphere. Basically it’s not just Dropkick Murphys but a whole range of folk punk bands that I really like and I keep discovering new ones – well to me new ones. Recently I've been listening to The Rumjacks and The Mahones a lot. I always like the unity thing they've got going on. Plus I really, really like anything that sounds piratey to me! I wouldn’t say Alestorm is a big influence, but if you don’t know them and you like pirates you have been missing out!

Municipal Waste / Iron Reagan
The thrash party vibe is amazing! The energy that goes around at these shows is something I really love. The way thrash bands act on stage is something that has influenced me as well. For me, playing music live is about trying to get the energy across to the people who are there not just listening but also watching. I think the visual part of a band is half of the performance – I’ve seen bands live that played brilliant but were still boring because nothing was going on. Iron Reagan gets the vibe across and gets a mass moving, that is something Black Volvo always tries to accomplish at a show. Even if it’s just one person who starts to move, that’s a success to me.

TNS Records / UK punk scene
I’ve been touring the UK for over 10 years now, I’ve played tours in mainland Europe as well, but most tours I’ve done were in the UK. It always amazed me how enthusiastic everybody is and how friendly and willing to help. That motivated me to put on more shows in our hometown as well and help out as many bands as I could. But it wasn’t until we met Andy and Bev from TNS Records that we really felt a part of the UK punk scene. I know it sounds weird as I’m Dutch, but since they helped to put out Black Volvo’s first record we’ve played more shows in the UK than we have in the Netherlands. I still don’t really remember how we ended up being a part of the TNS family but we are and it opened a lot of doors for us. Through them we met loads of new people, got to play great festivals – this really kept me going when the shows in the Netherlands were getting harder and harder to book.

Well that was 10… in no particular order I guess… Our new record will be out on March 17th on TNS Records and Make-that-a-take Records, so go and check out if you can find any of these influences.

Pre-order Black Volvo's new LP Bad Driving from TNS here: https://tnsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bad-driving-2

Album Review: The Nerves by The Cut Ups

The Cut Ups are a band that I first listened to during my uni days (2009–2012). I listened to their 2008 album, The High And Mighty, a lot but then sort of forgot about them. However, last year I saw them live for the first time (stupidly I never saw them whilst at university in Cornwall, even though they are from neighbouring county of Devon) at Manchester Punk Festival… then again about a month later, in Norwich. It rekindled my love for their songs and when I heard they’d be releasing a new album at the end of 2016 I was very keen.

The Nerves was released on Banquet Records in November of last year. I had such a busy end of 2016, mostly due to needing to find somewhere new to live and then moving when I’d found said place, that I ended up missing most of the new releases in November and December. But now, come new year, I have properly taken the time to listen to the album… and review it!

The Nerves opens with An Introduction. This isn’t an ‘introduction’ in the typical sense of being instrumental – it’s got lyrics and everything! – but it does set the tone for what’s to come. The drums are pounding, the guitars are noisy and, most importantly, the lyrics are assertive – ‘I don’t know what’s perfect but I know what’s not right, what’s not right.’ End Of The Road is the second track on the album and, in true Cut Ups style, it is quite the protest song. From the opening lines of ‘Hands up if you’re sick of intimidation’ to the bouncy chorus of ‘There’s hope for those nobody knows’ and the poignant closing lines of the song, ‘Bigotry, not here. Tragedy, no fear.’, The Cut Ups have perfectly summed up the problems with Britain today. The third track on The Nerves is called Nervous And Anxious and, spoiler alert, it’s probably my favourite on the album. There’s elements of The Clash to the song – Joe Strummer even gets a mention in the fourth line – and also elements of Billy Bragg, two artists that I’m sure the band won’t be too upset about being compared to. The song is about suffering from anxiety but using music to help feel better. The chorus is catchy, despite the serious topic, and features some subtle backing vocals from Pippa. ‘Are you nervous and anxious at the thought of giving in? Roll up your sleeves and start again.’

Next up is Thomas Orchard Is No Longer Around. I wouldn’t really have known had I not heard frontman Jon Shoe explain the meaning of the song at a gig but Thomas Orchard was a man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was unlawfully killed by police in Exeter. It’s obviously a news story that was more relevant in the South West of England but by writing his story in a song, The Cut Ups have done a great thing in expressing their disgust for what happened. Musically the song has a great guitar riff and drum rhythm that I can imagine clapping along to. The fifth song is titled Walt Whitman’s Punkrock Band – a bit reminiscent of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band but, well, more punk. It’s a fairly simple track with a melodic guitar riff that sits comfortably behind Jon’s relatively shouty vocal style. It is perhaps slower than the previous tracks but it builds nicely to the last line in the song – one that you’re going to want to sing or shout along to – ‘I’m never gonna be like you’!

Head Over Water mixes things up completely as not only does bassist, Jack, take over for vocal duties but the sound is completely different too. It’s quite refreshing to have this song slotted in the middle of the album. The guitars have a different tone and the whole thing sounds cool, calm and collected. It reminds me of some American alternative rock bands but unfortunately I can’t think of anyone in particular to reference right now! The lines ‘The first part of changing is admitting it, Whatever you say just get on with it’ are some wise advice. Jon is back for the vocals on Everything Needn’t Fall Apart. This track is a lively, upbeat and fairly poppy-sounding. I would say that the instrumentation in the song is turned up a notch whilst the vocals actually sound a little distorted. Towards the end of the track however the line ‘I still conclude that things get better.’ rings loud and clear, ending the song on a positive note.

The tempo picks up again for a classic sounding Cut Ups song, We’ll All Sail On. It has a nice sort of question and answer style going on between the vocal lines and the guitar part, particularly for the lines ‘Am I now recovering, what it means to be a human being? Or am I losing everything?’ It sounds a little bit like an existential crisis but makes for a great punk song. You Don’t Need To Fit In is a track that I’m sure most people reading this review can relate to. Are you sick of being told all of your ‘faults’? That you should change yourself to conform to the norm? Does this sound like an advert that you’d see when watching TV late at night? If yes, you need to listen to this song instead of me. As Jon Shoe says ‘I can’t write it clearer, we don’t need to fit in.’

A Nuclear Half-Life is the penultimate track on The Nerves and is another shift in tone and musical style. Jon sings the first slow-paced chorus, featuring a little organ in the background – which Bandcamp tells me is played by Franz Nicolay – but then Pippa takes over for the chorus. Both the words and Pippa’s voice are beautifully haunting, ‘It was a long drive, A nuclear half-life, Or, one more chance to stay alive, With no one that we knew.’ It’s a shame that Pippa doesn’t sing more on the album in general really as she has a lovely voice. Then lastly we come to Stay Obscure. There’s a neat little melodic guitar intro before Jon’s shouty vocal style is back for the first verse. I have to admit, if I hadn’t have been reading the lyrics I’d have no clue what he’s singing – ‘The cannons and the tanks, Capote’s three’ . (And I’m not entirely sure what that means. Too obscure for me.) The contrast between the guitars and vocals is akin to The Cut Ups style but the musical bridge of Stay Obscure is not so much. It, unusually, features a brass section and really gives a sense of the album coming to a close.

The Nerves is a slightly more varied album than I was expecting from The Cut Ups and I like some songs more than others but it is a rather good release overall.

You can stream and buy the album from Bandcamp here and like the band on Facebook here.