Punk - The Ginger Quiff

Bob Vylan – The Price of Life – album review

April 28, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

Fresh of the presses, the new long player from the band that keeps punk relevant into the 21st Century and beyond picks up the baton passed on from We Live Here and runs full tilt with it, leaving those punks stuck in a rut around 1982 wallowing in their own self pity.

The seamless handover is evident in the coherence between the two albums, with The Price of Life allowing Bobby & Bobbie to continue to vent their legitimate anger at lying politicians, meathead racists, right wing gammons, lefty liberals and beyond… hitting each of them square on target with every knockout verbal punch aimed, no-one escaping in a full on aural assault on the current post-Brexit dystopian climate across this clusterfuck of nations, which in many ways has regressed further since the release of their hard hitting debut.… Read the rest

Run Into the Night – Common Stream of Consciousness – single review

April 28, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

One of the Ginger Quiff’s “22 for ’22”, the revamped Run Into the Night release the first single recorded as the new 2 piece with Christina on guitar and vox and long term friend and collaborator Andrew (also of Powderkeg) on drums, with additional backing vox from Steven Young.

The result of their hard work is the addictively compelling Common Stream of Consciousness which will be available to purchase (or stream) tomorrow, and infiltrate your own consciousness, lodging itself firmly there and refusing to budge.

Hulking great dirty crunching riffs from Christina accompanied by a vigorous thunder of drums from Andrew herald the arrival of this deeply resonant rumbling growl of a tune.… Read the rest

Weekend Offenders – a weekend of punk’n debauchery

April 24, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

My creaking bones and tired feet are just recovering from my old folks weekend out (no offence meant to anyone else on the wrong side of 50).

Talking of offence, the weekend offending started on Friday might with a gathering of the usual suspects in the intimate surroundings of McChuills on High Street, for what seemed like the first time in forever.

This is Scotland Calling …

On the bill, two of Scotlands finest exponents of harmonious first wave of punk rock sound, The Zips and Reaction. This was one of several gigs around Glasgow on the eve of Scotland Calling and Record Store Day, triggering conversations around the reasons why bands such as these two are constantly overlooked for the annual punk festival in Glasgow, an ideal opportunity to showcase the best in Scottish punk.… Read the rest

The Ones That Got Away… Punk Double Feature – The Pulsebeats & Year Zero

April 3, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

A couple of first wave of punk influenced records here from The Pulsebeats & Year Zero, most definitely on the melodic end of the scale here, with The Pulsebeats verging on power pop, we’re talking Buzzcocks/The Vapors crossed with Husker Du territory here, with Year Zero continuing in the vein of energetic classic punk rock taking their lead from the usual suspects but putting their own spin on things with influences from throughout the decades.

Apologies to both bands as these were albums that were sent to me an age ago and ended up on my “to listen to and review” list for way too long, ending up getting lost amongst the chaos, a great shame and pity that I haven’t shared these before now as they are both exuberant collections of sing/dance/pogo along to punk anthems.… Read the rest

The Ones That Got Away… Filthy Filthy – Getting Away With It – album review

December 30, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Continuing in my attempt to get some last reviews in before we hit 2022, for some albums that I was late in getting to, or that were just too late to get into my end of year blog posts.

Next up its some old school punk rock n’ roll courtesy of Hull’s Filthy Filthy. Having noted that I hadn’t featured many albums that could be classified as “punk” in my top 25 albums of the year, I’ve been enjoying this and the debut from Year Zero which was also released in the latter stages of the year. More on Year Zero in another post though..… Read the rest

Thirteen – Ego Trap – EP review

November 23, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

“We are Thirteen, punk rock and roll” yell’s Dolly Robinson on the bands theme song and literally the closing number on their new Ego Trap EP, a full frontal assault on the senses, this is a mighty head rush of exactly what the band claim to be on heir eponymous song.

Dolly Robinson is the only remaining member of the original line up. The band formed in 2013 and have so far released two EPs and two full length albums. There was a bit of an enforced hiatus when Dolly was looking to recruit new band members following the departure of original members, but I’m glad to say, this search for new members has been a more than fruitful one.… Read the rest

The Muslims – Fuck These Fuckin Fascists – album review

September 15, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

As John Lydon does all he can to piss on the legacy of punk and the Sex Pistols, through wearing his MAGA hats and moving further to the right and dissing the left, the true voice of punk in the 21^st Century belongs to the likes of the visceral voice and unyielding energy of Bob Vylan, the most important UK punk act to emerge in recent years. And from the US, while musically treading a poppier punk path but with no less anger and resentment towards a countless list of deserving targets it’s the turn of THE MUSLIMS “a crunchy, kickass punk band of Black + brown queer muzzies.”… Read the rest

monsterpop – Undaunted – album review

August 28, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Jimmy Dev seems to have been an omnipresent part of the Glasgow music scene forever, playing with countless bands putting his hand to a variety of music styles over the decades. Testing and honing his craft throughout his career, he can most recently be found and heard releasing singles and EPs under the nomenclature of monsterpop (lower case “m” intentional).

The resultant sound for monsterpop is a harmonious amalgamation of the different incarnations of Jimmy through the years (and believe me, if you’ve seen him on Facebook, there are many of those….) take a hunk of hard rock, a peppering of punk, a few grains of glam, an element of the eighties and plenty of punchy power pop, mix well and you’re pretty much there.… Read the rest

GIFTSHOP – Kewl With Me & More Than That

August 28, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

I recently interviewed Carol Hodge, and reviewed her new album The Crippling Space Between, for the Ginger Quiff (read it here), during our chat we talked about streaming gigs, and how over the period of lockdown, we initially religiously tuned into every stream going, but eventually got tired of doing so, longing for the real thing.

However, two of the most memorable live streams for me were the two I stayed up into the wee small hours for, both “live” from the Big Apple. One was to watch the wonderful New York Junk supported by an incredible set from Beechwood and songs from a host of other supporting acts (including Glasgow homeboy and friend of the blog, Jonzip).… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2021 – Pt 8

August 16, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

This is a singles round up of mammoth proportions. I spent some time scrolling through the wealth of e-mails I received over the last few months, and other singles I’ve been particularly enjoying. 2021 has been a treasure trove of new music across so many genres. Even though this is my biggest singles round up of the year so far, it still only scratches the surface of what is going on just now…

…and then there are all the albums, just recently, over and above the ones I’ve already featured/reviewed I’ve been enjoying the new albums from The Media Whores, monsterpop, The Hurricanes, Jackal Trades, Mickey 9s, Jeshua and The Strays to name but a few.… Read the rest