Norman Silver & The Gold - War Memoirs

Very often it seems that there is an urge by the wider populace to race to the bottom to get their entertainment kicks.

Especially in music.

We live in an era where the fast food aspect of buy, consume and die is king.

A time where anything of substance is passed over in favour of vacuous dance and rap tracks that are indistinguishable from each other and draw the maximum revenue regardless of quality.

The statement that 'the people get what the people want' rings loud in my ears, but as a salve I am thankful that I can reach out and drop the needle in the groove of 'War Memoirs' by Norman Sills and The Gold.

It is the polar opposite of what the market forces dictate that we should gravitate towards, and all the better for it.

A punk attitude, a country heart and an eloquent turn of phrase are all the ingredients cast into the melting pot, and the result is something that if you added it to the niche of country punk would rise rather effortlessly to the top.

There are however more strings to the bands bow than that though.

While the songs on display would sit well on a play list next to the likes of Social Distortion and the Supersuckers, they would also comfortable sit between releases by fellow Scottish east coasters Goodbye Mr McKenzie and the the west coasts The Humpff family as Norman Sills take on country lends itself to leaning towards the approach that those bands touched on.

The first subtly and the latter far more obviously.

On the surface it seems to have been a long road for lead man Norman Sills to travel from The Newtown Grunts - the punk band that he he cut his teeth with - and what we have here, but once the songs start to bed in the lyrics start to draw the connection together and it all begins to make perfect sense.

There's and earthiness and a dark sense of humour that stems from the past and sits well within the framework of how he is currently looking to artistically express himself.

Fans of old are not going to be disappointed, and anyone who is looking to expand on what they are listening to now may very well be looking for something exactly like this.

180 gram white vinyl is available direct from the band who can be contacted through facebook