Hancox - Vegas Lights

Pip Hancox is probably better known as the mercurial front man of psychobilly stalwarts Guana Batz, a band that to this day can still rely on a solid global fan base long after many of their peers have slipped from the pubic eye.

On this, his first solo outing, we join him as he stretches his muscles a bit and embraces some influences that may not comfortably fit in with his bands structured rock and roll remit, and while he's not straining to pull too far away from his rockabilly roots it's a refreshing change in sound that should allow fans of melodic punk to comfortably get on board with what he is doing while managing not to alienate his many Guana Batz fans.

That could be a deliberate move, but over the course of the album it becomes difficult to lean towards it being a calculated effort as each song organically bursts out of the gate and gives the listener a gentle, and often playful, slap.

Think about the Stray Cats and Social Distortion, bands who can mix rock and roll with punk and polish it up with some mass appeal, and you will be in the ball park of what's going on here, but don't for one second consider that he's playing second fiddle to these bands as there's enough solid gold nuggets on this debut, including a power pop classic in 'Sally', that puts Pip straight in there shoulder to shoulder with anything that they've released.

Don't believe me?

Buy it and tell me I'm wrong.

http://www.hancox-music.com

Mad Sin - 25 years/Still Mad

I'm not a fan of live albums in general and all the reasons for that are apparent on the first track of the new Mad Sin album.

None of the frenetic magic of the band is captured at all.

It's as if we are listening to some faded facsimile of them, and that's not fair on us, or them.

Thankfully the dank, and unimaginative, recording only last as long as the first track and from there on in the flickering flame takes hold, and as the fire kicks in it becomes business as usual as Koefte yelps his way through the bands back catalogue, while the rest of the band grind out song after song in front of what sounds like an appreciative audience.

Mad Sin along with Nekromantix are the bands who I felt revived the fortunes of the psychobilly scene, and while both are equally loved and loathed for dragging the sound forward, and bastardizing it to an extent, a degree of thanks has to be extended to them for breathing life into the corpse of a scene that was virtually dead on its legs.

That they have been going twenty five years is a testament to their commitment to their vision of how rock and roll with a twist of punk should sound.

Throwing in a cover of Demolition 23's Nothing's Alright had me bouncing about and following it with Vince Taylor's Black Cadillac was the icing on the cake.

Especially with the duel male and female vocals on it.

The sparring sounded................well cool as fuck.

In that one cover it encompassed everything that rock and roll should be. It's dirty it's sexy and it kicks the shit out of pretty much everything that the kids are listening to in the charts right now.

That's not to say that the covers are the highlights.

The throbbing bass that supports all the original material carries it all along at breakneck speed and it would be difficult not to allow yourself to get swept along with the band as they keep the needle bouncing in the red.

As an album to close the doors on the last twenty five years before the band step into the next, '25 Years - Still Mad' does an admirable job in underlining that Mad Sin are here to stay, and are still walking the walk rather than talking the talk.

The Meteors - Doing The Lords Work

It must be that time of year again as The Meteors have a new album out.

Not that I'm complaining as similar to The Ramones, Cramps and Motorhead, The Meteors are a band who can keep treading the same water repeatedly and I never get bored of it.

PP Fenech still wants to fuck the world, ghouls, corpses and anyone who doesn't like the Meteors.

It's rather reassuring to know though.

That's over thirty years they've been grave robbing bastards and like a snug well used security blanket they are the musical constant in many fans lives.

The guitars twang, the bass rumbles, the drums pound away and PP Fenech growls over everything in fine style.

There's no speed bumps on the highway with 'Doing The Lords Work'.

No messing with the template at all, and that's no bad thing because I would struggle to think of one note that could be added or taken away to make this album better.

Even the inclusion of Black Sabbaths 'Paranoid' adds to the over all flavour.

The Meteors....giving the fans what they want since 1980. 

OTMAPP.

Screamin' Sugar Skulls - Undertaker Boogie

It's been a while since I've heard a new band capture the spirit of the originators of the psychobilly genre.
Most of the current batch of rockers have been influenced by a mixture of both psychobilly, and it's second cousin horror punk, resulting in something that is often neither one nor the other.
So it was refreshing to hear these Camden based psychobilly's staying close to the roots of the scene and punting forward a tongue in cheek blast of rock and roll without feeling the need to grab onto the coat tails of the transatlantic sound that has been prevalent of late.
If you favour the Meteors over the Misfits then this will suit you down to the ground.

PS : That's not the cover as I'm not sure if the album art is completed yet, and details of how to pick up a copy will be added as soon as I know.
PPS : When I say details of how to buy a copy will be added I mean that you should in fact by the fucker.