Formed by 3/4 of the original Fourfunzies line-up, Copout from Rosh HaAyin, Israel, have recently released their first 7", Spray Paint. As much as I loved the guys and did enjoy a few Fourfunzies' songs, there was always something a little bit too experimental with them which I didn't always get. With Copout, long term friends Uri (guitar/vocals), Omer (bass/vocals) and Nir (drum/vocals) still keep the essence of interesting, non-typical punk chords and slight jazzy arrangements but somehow wrapped up in a more hardcore punk package. With 8 tracks in total, this record runs for a little under 8 minutes. The songs are short and mostly pretty fast, with the whole band joining in on vocals and putting all their blood and sweat into the playing. Oh No! kicks things off with a joyous ditty about time wasting. Anyone who hates having deadlines for either college papers or work will relate to this track. It might not be long enough to really be considered an "anthem" but its "Procrastination is the one thing I do great" chorus is catchy enough to be memorable and sung at shows. There are other melodic parts throughout which could be considered hooks, such as in Where Is Your Mind? and closing track Tied Down. The latter is the longest, most melodic and most structured song here. The others are all still good short blasts of punk, which I guess is what they're going for. The song writing is at least relatable and doesn't touch too much on politics. Personally, that's great. The record as a whole needs to be listened to a few times for the songs to get inside your head, but they will.
Copout take the style and structure of acts such as Lifetime/Kid Dynamite/Paint It Black/basically anything with Dan Yemin, mixed with the energy of old school hardcore like Black Flag and Minor Threat and try and put a more technical spin on it. The band even include an impressive cover of Black Flag's Spray Paint, hence the record's title. They speed it up a bit more, utilise switching vocals and generally play it a whole lot tighter than the original. The tightness might lose the tracks initial intensity but only a tad. It's pretty hard to out-angry Henry Rollins.
I'm certainly looking forward to hearing a full Copout album but I've not been totally blown away by this. As a side note, they are a tight and impressive band to watch live, so if you ever get the chance, go do so. 4/5
True - this blog is called Punkalovich. True - I mostly write about punk and hardcore. However, every now and then I will just write about something I want to write about. Maybe a band close to my heart for whatever reason. Brit rockers Reef are precisely one of those bands. Like many people of my generation, and actually a little bit older, I was blown away by Reef's Place Your Hands; a hard rock song with a gospel flavour. That Glow album was just my favourite record for ages. Their debut Replenish and the soulful Rides also got excessive play on my cd player back in the day and I also got to appreciate Getaway in its entirety quite a bit later in life. They've just always had something about them that I found refreshing yet also familiar at the same time. They're basically RHCP meets Black Crowes and I've always dug it. Although still touring every so often and having side projects (front man Gary Stringer and bassist Jack Bessant's acoustic duo, StringerBessant, and their sister band, Them Is Me), Reef finally return with some new music, first single being a cover of Aretha Franklin's version of the Clara Ward penned gospel song, How I Got Over. I'll admit, I was not initially aware that this was a cover if it wasn't for reading a YouTube comment, so I had to look it up. This version is a tad less "gospel" in lyrical content as the original, omitting "Jesus" and "God" to make the song a little more relatable to all, but the musical structure is practically exactly the same. The real difference is Stringer's unique voice. It would have been nice for it to have been a lot more different but sometimes there are songs that don't need to be touched and just played as they are, which Reef do perfectly. It's the same with their I Just Walked In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) cover, although their cover of The Jam's That's Entertainment had more of a Reef bounce and their energy to it which makes it more interesting. When looking at the YouTube comments, there are a few people saying that it's a "different direction" for Reef. I think these people may not have actually listened to them before. Even their biggest hits had a gospel feel. Judging by some of the other songs they have previewed in live shows (that I've seen online, as I haven't seen them live since 2010), they've got other material which sticks to a more stoner rock-like sound as heard on Replenish and parts of Glow. Being a hard rock band, they're always going to have that blues/soul influence in them. It is certainly interesting to hear how soulful a few white West Country blokes can be. All in all, I am still stoked they are back and I will certainly be checking out the new album. The single will be released on 11th March, as will the Live at St. Ives album which features new songs Just Feel Love and Ball & Chain amongst a mostly Glow filled set.
Now and again, someone is going to post something to your Facebook or Twitter wall that they think will interest you. I tend to get the odd music video or anything puppet/muppet related. This week, an old friend decided to post this new video for hardcore punk supergroup Holy Fever, which features the band performing in paper bag puppet form and getting killed in some strange ways.
The band, made up of former members of American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost, The Hope Conspiracy, The Explosion and Suicide File, finally release their debut album, The Wreckage, on 8th April. From it, they have dropped a video for the song Find Your Fame. The band's style is less like their previous hardcore bands but more inkeeping with the more rock n roll punk styling of bands like The Bronx and Against Me! With dual female/male vocals, Holy Fever are just that little bit more interesting than your average punk rock band and this song itself is catchy pure rock. If you're not tapping your feet to this, there might be something wrong with you.
Some years back (roughly 6-7), my old London band, Ghostnotes, played a show at the Windmill in Brixton, London. I can barely remember that show. Not because of too much drinking or anything (at least I don't think so), I just have a really bad memory for these sort of things and I don't know why. Small moments I can remember of this particular show is getting to play and sing my sex song Sweating In The Alley for the first and last ever time and getting to check out and chat with these Welsh lads. Cardiff's Houdini Daxhave been rocking the UK circuit for years yet are still pretty much unknown. Basing their music heavily on the likes of classic acts such as The Beatles and Beach Boys, they manage to make music which is still current. This latest single, Found Love In The Dole Office, is catchy, coherent and just unashamedly British (Welsh is still British..you know what I mean). It's a bit dreamy, like some of the stuff Arctic Monkeys have done in recent years. It might not be breaking massive ground but it's a song which could almost fit into any decade. That's actually quite a feat. Same could be said about the video itself which, compared to other Houdini Dax videos, is kept a little bit simple with just the band in the studio with some lights and projections. Seeing as the song pretty much tells the story of meeting a girl at the "dole office" (British slang for "Job Centre" or "Social Welfare Office"), it could have been very cheesy to have that played out in a video, so they certainly went the right way. Ghostnotes may not have lasted as long as we hoped but I am glad that Houdini Dax is still going. They seem to be getting success in their native Wales but surely the time has come for that to spread?
Saturday Night Karaoke are a punk rock band from Bandung, Indonesia, who take their influences from the likes of The Ergs! and Descendents. I first discovered them via BlankTV, seeing their video for Indie Rock 101 from their SLURP! record (which I have been meaning to review for a while now). 90's Revival 101: How To Elaborate A Broken Heart With A Big Muff, from the same record, is yet another lesson in how to make a super short quirky punk rock number. There's nothing much else to say apart form the fact I've had a soft spot for these guys for a while and think they deserve a bigger global fanbase. If you like your punk rock honest, dorky and short, then Saturday Night Karaoke are for you. GET ON IT!
It's interesting for me to discover new names in hardcore and even punk that don't just pop up from the same group of people from within the "scene". Some months back, I decided to check out a private show and video filming for Tel Aviv hardcore band Eternal Struggle and I was heavily surprised by how heavy and "my sort of thing" this band is. My first encounter with Eternal Struggle was their support slot with Biohazard. Whether it's exactly the same band, I'm not entirely sure. There was definitely male/female dual vocals for that show, whereas now there's just Ori, who has good gruff vocals. I also wasn't all that impressed. They came off as a very weak attempt at hardcore and did a sub-par rendition of Sick Of It All's Take The Night Off, although I still "got my mosh on". Now, their performance and this video/track has converted me into being an Eternal Struggle fan. Lost has a tough, bouncy groove, heavy riffs and some solid beatdown parts. If you watch carefully (and know what I look like), you can just about make me out, nodding my head in pure HC style. The camera-work might be a little bit shaky, but overall, it's a pretty cool video that reminds me of some videos from the early 2000s like Raging Speedhorn etc.
Out of all the hardcore bands in Israel, including my favourites like Dust, Kids Insane and 03, Eternal Struggle, especially on this track, really take me back to the hardcore I grew up listening to, such as Biohazard, Madball and even Knuckledust. I actually find it quite depressing that Eternal Struggle seem to be in a whole different scene altogether from the other "hardcore" bands out here. It's because of this that they end up not doing a lot of shows that I get much notice about and mostly having a more "metal" crowd. For everyone out there who likes groovy and heavy hardcore, Eternal Struggle are not something to ignore.
Back in my college days, I met a guy on my Music Tech course who shared an interest in some similar music and we have continued contact for 10 + years. Having had a band at the time called Muswell and then somehow ending up in the more DJ world, he is still making hard hitting music with his industrial influenced project This Be The Verse. Started back in 2014, This Be The Verse is pretty much the brainchild of "Cyrus King", who, at least on the debut Consequences EP, did most of the musicianship himself. Although obviously heavily influenced by the likes of Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails, Cyrus King's vocals lead more towards the shouty hardcore side of things a la Frank Carter or even Rou Reynolds. It certainly has that very British flavour to it. A few months back, This Is The Verse released the track Stubborn Youth and more recently posted an audio only video of Unveil. Whereas the former takes in prog rock influences, flipping in between being almost Muse-like to Mastodon riffage and headbanging, the latter sticks to the industrial script, incorporating an intense funky beat, crunching bass, synths, heavy guitars and a gloriously anthemic chorus.
This Be The Verse may not have discovered its unique sound as such yet, but everything that has been put out so far is enjoyable and of great quality and musicianship. Hopefully, a full length album will emerge some time in the near future. If you like what you hear and want to check them out, they will be headlining a Camden Rocks show on 5th March at Camden Barfly, Chalk Farm, London. For more info see here.
During my teens, I was discovering new bands and new genres year by year, maybe even day by day. Having liked the more Brit pop, Brit rock and alternative acts that I saw on shows like Top Of The Pops and The ITV Chart Show, to then discovering more nu metal acts through Kerrang magazine, I then discovered the likes of Terrorizer magazine and even RockSound who opened me up to more "hardcore" bands. Somewhere along the line, hardcore came into my life and I was blown away by UK bands such as Stampin' Ground and now London HC heavyweights, Knuckledust. With the help of some friends at school, I started attending small London hardcore shows at around the age of 14, pretty much seeing Knuckledust at least every month for what has to be a good 10 years straight. This year finally sees the release of Knuckledust's newest offering, Songs Of Sacrifice. Despite also having released many split cds and Eps, this is the band's 6th (I think..) full length within their 20 years existence, the first since 2012's Bluffs, Lies & Alibis. Although always staying true to their original sound, Knuckledust were not afraid to experiment a little bit on the last record. Life Struggle, their latest video and first song to be previewed from the new record, shows that the boys have gone that little bit further this time around. Starting quite iconically Knuckledust, with Pierre's growling vocals accompanied by the fast and hard musicianship of Wema (guitar), Nicky (bass) and Ray (drums), the song takes an unexpected turn when, for what I am pretty sure is the first time ever, Wema takes over vocal duties. He's, of course, done the odd back up shouting now and again, but here he actually does clean vocals, bringing a bit of sensitivity into the song. Again, a first for Knuckledust. I have absolutely nothing wrong with clean vocals/singing in hardcore, although I do remember when most of the people from this "scene" were badmouthing Your Demise for experimenting and suddenly singing and being more melodic and therefore find it interesting to hear it from Knuckledust. That said, it was probably more the "Americanising" of their sound that irritated everyone. Luckily, we don't get that here and you never will with these guys. The track goes between their fast tough guy hardcore and the more H2O/Wisdom In Chains thumping hardcore punk with a sing-a-long chorus and a classic style solo thrown in. The video also cleverly fits the changing moods of the song, with Pierre battling with himself one moment, Wema wandering around talking to himself the next and then a massive pile-on as the band play to their people. Knuckledust may be bringing in influences from different bands and even other genres like Oi and hard rock, but, unlike other bands, they somehow still manage to stay them. They are basically reinventing what the Knuckledust sound is on every record and I can't wait to check out the new album.
