Author: Jerry Actually

Sugar Louise – Everything’s Better With Sugar

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© 2011 Naked Hollywood Records
[rating:7/10]

So, I’m listening to Norwegian Pop-punk. Um, yeah, you read that right. Sugar Louise is a newer band from Norway. They’ve been around since 2009 and deliver a catchy, bono hating variety of happy poppy punk.

Everything’s Better With Sugar brings 12 up-tempo smile-inducing tracks. The songs clock in at mostly the twoish minute mark and are heavily influenced by 60’s pop. In fact, the influence is so pronounced that if you didn’t know it was a cover, Sugar Louise’s version of Henry the Eighth would feel like an original.

At any rate, the songs are quirky, catchy and incredibly likable. And while I like this band, there are a few drawbacks: 1. Guitar solos. 2. The music feels a little safe. (If you can write a song about telling your parents that you’ve become a porn star, I think there should be a bit more grit.) … My gripes are pretty minor though. Sugar Louise has a solid grip on peppy pop punk and are a great departure from the Black Metal that I generally expect from bands near and above the Arctic Circle.

Bottom line: Pop punk with a little more pop than punk. Likely a fun live band.

–Jerry Actually

20 Bulls Each – A Glorious and Bloody Revolution

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© 2011 Thorp Records
[rating:4/5]

Hell f-ing yeah! Dublin, Ireland band 20 Bulls Each rips it up on A Glorious and Bloody Revolution with a fusion of hardcore, punk and metal. The band has been channeling these influences for nearly a decade. All that time and work has culminated in this brand new release.

Borrowing as heavily from NYHC as it does from late 80’s thrash/metal, the album is a whirlwind of guts and fury. The tracks are articulate and precise with great breakdowns and a spit in your face delivery ala Blood for Blood. However, the outlook on the tracks doesn’t always take the same pissed off at the world path as the aforementioned band. Don’t get me wrong, the band is pissed, they’re just not going about it as many complaints about how they have to live.

11 tracks, just under 30 minutes of modern classic hardcore that won’t weigh down your soul on a Saturday afternoon and more than enough to get you fully revved up for more on a Saturday night. 20 Bulls Each is weighing in heavily as one of the best new (to me) bands that I’ve heard in 2011 and if you’d like to check out more, you can hit up their bio on the Thorp site: http://thorprecords.com/bands/20bullseach.php

So by all means, scream, shout, and let some aggression out because after all it will be a Glorious and Bloody Revolution. Mosh to this and enjoy as 20 Bulls Each turns the Emerald Isle a bit closer to black and blue.

–Jerry Actually

For fans of: Blood for Blood, Gallows, M.O.D.

Lineup:
Vocals, Guitar: Gareth Cummins
Guitar: Gavin Husselbury
Bass: Ciaran Mangan
Drums: Paul Duffy

The Smears – Freak Show

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[rating:2.5/5]

I don’t generally review singles, but ok, here’s a go at it. Freak Show by The Smears. This all female punk / rock and roll trio hearkens back to the RIOTGRRL sounds of the 90’s ala L7, 7 Year Bitch and Bratmobile. The difference being that The Smears are from Nottingham (you know, like the sheriff)

The music is solid three chord punk; rhythmically choppy, a bit staccato, if you will. The vocals are of the speak-as-sing variety and production-wise the feel is very garage / lo-fi. It certainly isn’t bad, but I’d really have to listen to more to make a more informed opinion.

–Jerry Actually

Mall’d to Death – The Process of Reaching Out

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(c) 2011 GC Records
[rating:3.5/5]

I’m listening to the tracks off the new Mall’d To Death 7” “The Process of Reaching Out”. Mind you I’m not actually listening to the 7” because I’m some sort of dirt bag that doesn’t have a turntable. (which sucks) My audio challenges aside, I’m still digging on this band.

The new release is six short but catchy tracks, each clocking in at around a minute in length, with the exception of the opening ballad. It is 1:30 … epic! The tracks have snot filled snarl and requisite distortion. Fast breaks and short takes; That is what it is all about. It does however leave me in the position of wanting more. I guess the bonus is that you can listen to this more than eight times an hour. For you OCD kids out there, that should really float your boat. … Wash, rinse repeat. I suppose that is a damn fine marketing strategy.

Based on the brevity of the material, I will keep my review brief in kind. Mall’d To Death rocks it. Go buy yourself a copy. http://www.gcrecords.com/

–Jerry Actually

Tracks:
1. Standard and Poor
2. Migraine Belt
3. Throwing in the Moist Towelette
4. Hardcore 64
5. Guilty of Being Black
6. Spray Can Sam

For fans of: Short form punk rock and catchy hooks.

Flatout Jones – Closed Doors and Weird Situations

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©2010 Flatout Jones

A. I love punk rock.
B. I love skapunk.
C. I love comedic overtones (and undertones)

Flatout Jones provides all of the above.

Consider this: the more punk side of Less Than Jake and the ska side of the Suicide Machines; add those together, recalibrate to those settings, set the dial a bit more towards punk rock, plant tongue firmly in cheek and I think you’ll get a decent idea of what I’m picking up from Flatout Jones.

Once again I’m faced with some music outta Mass that sounds badass. Closed Doors and Weird Situations from Boston quartet Flatout Jones has it where it counts. (See the above list)

In a nutshell you’ve got a punk rock band that isn’t afraid to bring the ska and interject an ample amount of humor into the tracks. Don’t, however, let the idea of humor scare you off, ya know if you’re a totally serious jackhole that can’t for a second let down your guard and everything has to be toughguy or die. … you know who you are. I like party songs. So sue me.

The intro track/song makes me think of Killface, that muscular talon-footed fella from Frisky Dingo, Not so much from direction more from intonation and intent. For my money you don’t get better sarcastic humor than that. I digress. You’ll probably want to know a bit more about the music contained on said release.

Certainly the band offers bang for the buck. 17, count ‘em, 17 tracks contained on one release. If you we’re to compare that to, oh say The Decline from NOFX, you’d have 16 more tracks. Beat that! Really though, the tracks rip, they’re played well and the mix of mostly punk with the occasional ska break doesn’t disappoint. (Assuming that sort of thing doesn’t disappoint you.)
If you wanna hear a bit for yourself, you can check the band out here in their online cemetery/museum: http://www.myspace.com/flatoutjones

Step 1. Listen
Step 2. Rock

–Jerry Actually

Getting to know Phat Meegz

Where are you from and when did you get started?

We’re a band from Tasmania, Australia, and all of us live here, albeit a bit scattered across the island at the moment. We got started sometime in early 2009, right after I moved to Tassie from Sydney. I was 16 and just moved out of my parent’s house to live with a friend halfway across the country.

At the time Tassie was a bit of a hotspot for traveller crusties and other such riffraff cause of these massive protests over the logging of the upper florentine, which is an old-growth forest that was getting turned into wood chips and chopsticks. So, living here, I quickly gravitated to a few other out-of-town punks that had just stopped by to fulfill their rent-a-riot duties, one of which (Joey) became the bassist of the band. We used to jam even though he claimed he hated reggae, and wrote a bunch of songs. We then found a drummer and enlisted him cause he was wearing an Op Ivy shirt, and a second guitarist just cause we could. Eventually we found a music nerd to play trombone for us. After about 3 months we decided to go on tour around Australia and all spent a bunch of money and met a bunch of people, which was cool.

Who are you and who does what in the band?

Well, I’m Ethan, I sing and play guitar. Joey is our bassist, he gets naked a lot on stage. Sam is our drummer and he’s the level-headed one. At the moment our Second guitarist is Jono, he’s 17 or something and has to sneak into all our shows. Luis is our trombone player, he lives on the other side of the island and handles all the complicated musical stuff, he doubles as our sound engineer and tambourine player.

How would you best describe the sound?

Old school reggae, if everyone in Jamaica was high on tweak instead of weed, and also white, angry and underage.

Dream rock moment (real or not)?

Real: Having the power cut at a show for playing too long, Joey being completely naked, and everyone in the crowd singing the words anyway.
Not Real: Brad Nowell somehow being alive and us opening for Sublime, and Joey flashing his balls to the entire crowd.

Still got day jobs?

Sortof. I’m usually unemployed but I just started work at a lettuce farm, picking and planting little lettuce babies. Joey goes to university and works at a fancy art gallery, Sam does furniture design at the same uni. Luis goes to Uni in Launceston, the other, shittier major city in Tasmania. Johno is still in year 12.

Any regrets?

Too many to count.

MXRCXL – Dump

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[rating:3.5/5]

Dump, from MXRCXL, is a two track demo that leaves me wanting more. The music is punk with indy leanings and a lot of articulation. It is modern in a very post-grunge way. Almost Helmet meats Nirvana, yet with more songcraft. … fans of King’s X might enjoy this.

It’s challenging to put forth volumes of critique (at least as far as my critique style goes) on a demo discs, but it does make it easier to be more direct. I like the two tracks and I genuinely hope there will be more forthcoming.

–Jerry Actually

Vultures – I’m Bad

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©2010
[rating:3/5]

Here I am in a position, once again, where I get to both critique and possibly introduce music from around the world to an entire new audience. At the moment, I’m listening to “I’m Bad”, a three track demo of macabre punk-a-billy from Ruma, Serbia. How freakin’ cool is that? Pretty freakin’ cool if you ask me.

The three tracks have the death and ghoulishness of Psychobilly down pat with a little metallic tinge on the guitar work. The tracks are in English and the vocals are articulate. Musically, I’d be hard pressed to distinguish Vultures as being from any particular region or not. I suppose that is neither here nor there, but it certainly is a testament to the impact that rock and roll music has had around the globe.

At any rate, Psychobilly is (dead) alive and well the world over and Serbia’s Vultures are proof to that. Let’s hope that there is a full-length release in the works.

–Jerry Actually

Blue Collar Convicts – $2 and Change

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(c) 2010 Blue Collar Convicts
[rating:4/5]

Well, I’m a sucker for the MA sound. Not sure quite what it is. Maybe it is something in the water, but that state produces some of the best punk rock and roll around.

Anyways, “$2 and Change” from Blue Collar Convicts is no shame to the form and a pretty damn rad release. It is full of guts and emotion without being sappy. The tracks feel true and from the heart. Maybe it’s my lower middle class upbringing, maybe it’s not, but I’m picking up on the sentiment of these tracks. As well, I think I get the idea of being trapped in the lower middle class workaday drudgery of existence.

On the comparison note, ‘cause I like to do that, think of an unusual hybrid of Social D, Op Ivy and Cadillac Tramps. It truly is a weird mashup, but it works.

I think the big sell here is that Blue Collar Convicts ring true. The music is exactly what you’d want when you’re slamming a few brews in your neighbor’s garage, or on occasion, a Sunday morning when you’ve decided that Saturday wasn’t quite enough.

Perhaps I’m rambling a little bit here, but I think this band has something, in a good way. I don’t see mega-stardom, but I won’t discount the idea that this band will be a go to when someone asks for some badass newish punk/rock(abilly)/anthemic rock and roll. At any rate, I gave it four out of five stars. I would have go higher, but well, I really wanted more tracks! Enjoy!

–Jerry Actually

reverbnation.com/bluecollarconvicts

facebook.com/bluecollarconvicts

myspace.com/bluecollarconvicts

twitter.com/bluecollarcons

soundcloud.com/bluecollarconvicts

plus.google.com/102265015778798980605

bluecollarconvicts@gmail.com

bluecollarconvicts.bandcamp.com/

The Crisis Kings

(c) 2011

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[rating:2.5/5]

The Crisis Kings are a new band in the old familiar genres of thrash/grind/hardcore metal. Newly formed in 2011, the East U.K. quartet wasted no time in busting out a 7 track EP. The seven tracks do an adequate job of showcasing the band’s skills and for a debut effort recorded in a pig shed, it really deserves praise just for sheer effort.

The music is great. It is aggressive and brutal with overtones of Sick of it All, but tempered with more plodding riffs and screamo / growl vocals in the vein of Superjoint Ritual and perhaps Crowbar. There is also a certain dissonance that I enjoy. This style is especially prevalent on track 4 – S.O.W. the overall effect really reminds me of Leatherface.

However, (and here’s where we bring in the down note kids) As with so many things musical, the major detractor for me is screaming vocals. I just don’t like ‘em. So take that in stride if you’re reading this review. Again, the music lives up to its brutal roots, but takes it over the top with too much throat sandpaper. Seriously man, you’re gonna snap a vocal cord or something.

But, here, check ‘em out for yourself: http://www.facebook.com/thecrisiskings

–Jerry Actually