The Nite Songs Singles Bar September 2021

 

So here we are again. The autumn is rolling in although given that as I write this it's 25 degrees up here in Yorkshire, clearly no-one told the supreme being. Guess we'd better grab some cold ones, head out on to the terrace and see what aural delights the month has waiting for us then...

A couple of covers to kick us off this month, both courtesy of Screaming Crow Records' Action Jukebox series. First up, The Dirty Denims take on the Kiss classic Rock 'n' Roll All Night (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) and turn in a respectable version although it was always gonna have its work cut out matching the peerless original. The fact that they're a Donnas style female fronted band at least gives this version a slightly different twist (hey hang on, didn't the Donnas cover Rock 'n' Roll All Night themselves back in the day? :checks notes: No, turns out that was Strutter. Carry on) The original track Better Believe It on the flipside is actually the better tune here, sounding like an exact halfway house between the Donnas and Baby Shakes and there's certainly worse places to be than that. Bandcamp Link

Also in the Action Jukebox series, Black Sheriff turn in a cover of the old J Geils' Band classic Centerfold (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) Again, it's a fairly straight cover with the guitars amped up to give it a bit more oomph but it's a bit difficult to screw up a song like that and they do a reasonable job with it. Again, there's an original on the flipside in the form of Johnny's Fight which sounds like Black Star Riders relocated to some scuzzy biker bar in the midwest somewhere and isn't bad at all. Bandcamp Link

You know what you're getting when you see a new single by The Chuck Norris Experiment in the pile and the piledriving This Will Leave A Mark (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) coasts in on a jittery sinister riff before exploding into a furious chorus to blistering effect. Another great effort from these Swedes which comes highly recommended as always. Bandcamp Link

It's good to see The Scaramanga Six on the comeback trail and the sinister Horse With No Face (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) sounds like Theatre of Hate with its pounding drums, discordant guitars and vocals which switch between a sneer and a snarl. Slightly terrifying the first time you hear it, oddly addictive by the fourth. Well worth a spin if you fancy summat different this month. Bandcamp Link

Well, whaddaya know, a mere matter of days after I pontificated in his Garbage Days Revisited entry that we were probably due a new Billy Idol album soon and sure enough a new single turns up in the form of Bitter Taste (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). Veering towards the more mellow end of Billy's back catalogue (think Lady Do Or Die or most of the stuff from his Kings And Queens Of The Underground album). It also sounds oddly like an amped up version of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game in places as well weirdly but is no worse for it. The song is from Billy's new EP Roadside which we should be featuring in this column next month so stay tuned.

Dead Sheeran's debut album was one of the standout releases of last year and he's back with two new tracks this month. Bizarrely, World Beating (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) has its title track as the B-side with the A-side being the ferocious Brexit Beach Party which sees guitar and drums added to move the sound from Sleaford Mods style electro-punk to full on thrash to good effect. And let's be honest, any song with a repeated refrain of "FUCK OFF NIGEL!" is always going to be good with me. World Beating itself sees Sheeran returning to his old favourite topic of the lockdown or specifically how shit Boris Johnson's been at handling it and the ignorance of the population in general. Another righteous diatribe which is well worth a listen. Bandcamp Link

Bob Vylan's debut mini-album last year was a similar devastating slice of political invective to the aforementioned Dead Sheeran and new single Pretty Songs (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) is a similarly vicious slice of anti-racism aggro which sounds like a cross between Idles and Skindred before they lost their bite. Slightly more melodic than his debut (though not by much), it shows Bob evolving his sound to good effect - if a full album's on its way later this year then I'm very much looking forward to hearing it. Bandcamp Link

Of course, The Black Halos have been doing this sort of angry raging against the dying of the light voice of the down-and-outs schtick since time immemorial and new single Uncommonwealth (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) is probably their most explicitly anti-capitalist rant to date with its repeated snarl of "Build it up, tear it down, throw it away!" and its storming cement mixer riff. Fossil Fuel is similarly brutal before they sign off with a well chosen cover of Birdland's classic Shoot You Down. The Halos have been on a good run of form since reuniting a few years back - touch wood there'll be an album coming from them soon.

Mellower but just as angry, Ferocious Dog's new single Broken Soldier (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) takes a look at the despondent life of ex-servicemen thrown to the side and abandoned by the state once they've been drafted out. Heartfelt and honest, it sees the group doing what they do best. B-side Pentrich Rising is even more Levellers influenced with its tale of the workers across the world uniting.

Hailing from North Carolina and signed to Epitaph records, The Muslims, blurb describes them as "a crunchy, kickass punk band of Black + brown queer muzzies. Your racist dad is a piece of shit and THIS IS NOT A SAFE SPACE." Well, we kind of had to investigate this one didn't we? Fuck These Fuckin' Fascists (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a two minute blast of anger which kicks in sounding like the Fall before exploding into a scathing slice of lo-fi punk anti-racism. An album is due in the autumn and this has definitely whetted my appetite for listening to it.

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EP REVIEW

DESPERATE MEASURES - "Rinsed"

Desperate Measures, originally from New Zealand, have been regulars on the London punk/glam scene for a while now and count ex-Glitterati/Dedwardians and current Rich Ragany & The Digressions guitarist Gaff among their number. This seven track EP describes itself as a cross between the Pistols, the Stooges and G'n'R and while I can't hear much of a trace of the latter in there, there's definitely echoes of Iggy's vocals and James Williamson and Steve Jones' guitars in there on the likes of Scars & Memories and The Rich-tual while the cover of Don't Gimme No Lip Child (also covered by Rotten and co) is another telltale sign to this band's influences.

Former single Flowers At Your Door is probably the standout track here, a distant cousin of the old Dead Boys' classic Ain't It Fun with a touch of Mission style gothy guitars on it. It shows that Desperate Measures can vary the pace up a bit when they want to and possibly points the way forward for this line-up of the band. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here but this is a promising start...

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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Right, closing time folks, time to pull down the shutters for the month and go back to the albums and retrospectives. Hope you've all enjoyed this month's instalment and we'll see you again same time next month to see what the autumn brings us here at the Singles Bar...