Music Feature - The Ginger Quiff

Vulpynes – Sister – track review

June 24, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m way behind on catching up with new music. Work has been full on, but I’ve got a few days off now so a bit of breathing space to share my thoughts on a few recent single drops…

Dublin grunge punks, Vulpynes, recently dropped a new track Sister. Powerful duo Kaz and Molly are a force to be reckoned with, a boisterous duo with a luscious line in scuzzy grunge punk. Sister is as raw and visceral as you would expect. Vocals filled with rage and fury. “I’m your real friend, sister” the lyrics seethe, making you feel fear for that sister.… Read the rest

The Claudettes: Johnny Iguana Interview

June 13, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Chicago’s piano blues based jazzsters with added rockabilly flare and punk attitude The Claudettes recently released their stunning new album High Times in the Dark. Reviewed by yours truly for Louder Than War. Shortly thereafter, their touring plans (along with those of every other band) to promote the record, including a trip over the Atlantic to the UK, fell foul of COVID 19. Leaving 2020 as a barren gigless wasteland.

Johnny Iguana

Lead Claudette and pianist extraordinaire, Johnny Iguana, took some time out to share some thoughts on the lockdown brought about by the pandemic, the new album, and the current world-wide climate.… Read the rest

Starless – Earthbound – album review

May 28, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

The indefatigable Last Night From Glasgow show no signs of letting up in the light of COVID 19. With a bulging release schedule and a roster already bursting at the seams with talent, things are just ramping up.

The latest release from the label comes in the form of a roll call from many of the great and good of the Scottish music scene past and present.

Starless is the brainchild of the eminently talented Paul McGeechan. Writer, composer, engineer, producer and famed around these parts for being part of seminal Glasgow bands Friends Again and Love and Money.

Unfettered Charm & Beauty

Starless are releasing their second album, Earthbound, following on from the unfettered charm and beauty of their debut a couple of years ago.… Read the rest

Richard Davies and the Dissidents Human Traffic album cover

Richard Davies & the Dissidents – Human Traffic – album review

May 26, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

After a weekend of bullshit, lies and pretence, I needed something good and honest to replenish my faith in humanity. The new album from Richard Davies and the Dissidents does just that. The former Tiny Monroe/The Snakes guitarist takes on lead vocal duty and is joined by other alumni from the alt-rock/alt-country scene. Former The Snakes bandmate and Mega City Four drummer Chris Cannon and Case Hardin/Last Great Dreamers bass guitarist, Tim Emery. With Nick Beere (guitars) and Neil Scully (keyboards) completing the “last gang in town”.

This album is an antidote to all those self-righteous, self-serving, so-called public servants. Those whose only interest is themselves and the green folding stuff.… Read the rest

Diablofurs – Neon Satellites – review

May 20, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Birdland

In 1989 a band of four young guys, each with a shock of peroxide blonde hair caught my attention and my imagination with their sneering attitude and rage filled punk rock tunes. The excitement and energy displayed by the bands tunes and their live performances was incandescent. Electrically charged songs like Hollow Heart, Rage & White were bursting with vitality and, while the band imploded after only one album, their light radiated brightly and fiercely for that short period.

Diablofurs – Neon Satellites

Fast forward 31 years and another band have caught my imagination with the vivacious punky pop on their debut album Neon Satellites.… Read the rest

Ex- Ex-Tracts – The Complete EPs Collection

May 19, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I have recently been enjoying the new EP from Meek and Mowbray (see last singles roundup I posted), The “Meek” of the duo is the never resting and highly talented CT Meek, poet, author, raconteur, lyricist, musician, entrepreneur, feel free to add your own descriptions to the list. The man seems to have an inexhaustible creative streak, judging by the copious amount of high quality material he endlessly produces. Countless of his own books and now into editing the 14^th volume of collaborative book of poems and shorts stories, For the Many, Not the Few.

This work rate is also reflected in the output of the band Ex-, with 7 EPs and an album to their name.… Read the rest

Duncan Reid and the Big Heads Don't Blame Yourself

Duncan Reid & the Big Heads – Don’t Blame Yourself -album review

May 16, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Every now and again in your chequered and bumpy journey through life, there are special bands that come along. Ones that help you along that road, helping to smooth the bumps, to make the uphill parts of that journey a bit less exhausting and carry you across the massive potholes and dodge the unexpected sinkholes.

Duncan Reid and the Big Heads is one of those bands.

When music is such a massive part of your life, you have unbounded admiration, even love, for loads of bands, many of them holding a special place in your heart, and you attend countless gigs filling your life with the sights and sounds that bring you pleasure, it is a nigh on impossible task to pick favourites.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up

May 11, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

During lockdown, music is one of the things that is keeping many of us going, the postman has been busy delivering some fantastic new albums on CD and LP, but I’ve also been catching up on several cracking singles and EPs – both physical and online releases.

The following is a select few of the tracks and singles I’ve been enjoying, I’ve added them all to my Ginger Quiff 2020 Spotify playlist (if the’re on Spotify of course…) featuring bands and artists I’ve reviewed or featured on the blog or for Louder Than War this year.

Garlands

First Up and it is the sublime indie guitar heroes, Garlands, who have released two singles during the current lockdown period, The New Weird at the end of March and their new one Where Things Belong displaying their distinctive melodic alternative rock.… Read the rest

Smalltown Tigers – Five Things album review

May 7, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

In a time when all the reports and news coming out of the beautiful country of Italy (I’ve spent two of my best ever holidays there) is negative and tinged with sadness, I’m delighted to have something positive to report. That news is, Valli (Bass, Vocals), Monty (Guitar, Vocals) & Castel (Drums, Vocals), collectively known as Smalltown Tigers have released a mini album, Five Things. A release, in more ways than one, that is brimming with bold defiance.

Take the legacy that Currie, Jett, Ford, Fox & West started back in the mid seventies (there is perhaps a nod to them here on a track called Runaway Girl), add a bit Joey Ramone’s swagger, and a slice of sneering Lydon attitude and you’re part of the way there.… Read the rest

The Cravats – Hoorahland album review

May 5, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

If you want a crazy twisted fucked up soundtrack for the crazy fucked up twisted times we are living in you could do a lot worse than the Cravats latest offering Hoorahland. 43 years after the bands inception, they remain addictively bizarre, their jazz funk fusion combined with off the wall mind-bending lyrics.

Sinisterly unsettling is another phrase I would use to describe the tunes on this album. Hoorahland is the theme park you wouldn’t want to take your kids to. Like a Disney resort on acid to play on your kids’ deepest fears and darkest nightmares.

The Shend has a voice, and an image, that cannot be ignored.… Read the rest