The Nite Songs Singles Bar - October 2021



Autumn’s here, the leaves are falling and the Singles Bar is open for business and having what can best be described as a mass clearout with no less than three parts to this month! Come in from the rain and cold and let's get you served up with something to take the edge off the chill...


Kicking us off this month, Brat Coven are a four-piece from Glasgow with a self-titled EP (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) who sound like some righteous collision between Dream Nails and the Runaways with the ferocious anti-dick pic culture snarl of Not Your Girl being a particular highlight. The frenetic Ugly is similarly raging against societal norms before the lurching Ninety Seven captures the creeping paranoia most women feel walking home alone at night. A very impressive first salvo - I'd say that this lot are well worth keeping an eye on. Bandcamp Link


Liverpudlians She Drew The Gun are one of those bands I've heard of on band bills without actually hearing any material by and Behave Myself (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) taking the fierce feminist polemic of Dream Nails or Brat Coven and marrying it to a slinky Goldfrapp style musical backing isn’t a bad introduction to their sound at all. This may be the first I've heard of them but I certainly don't plan on it being the last on this evidence.


In the event I didn't have to wait long as a second SDTG single Next On The List (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) landed in my pile just as this column was going to press. So in it goes. And deservedly too - it's another good one, a panic attack style assault of drums, guitars and electro effects railing against the culture that makes us all nine to five slaves. Rest assured we will definitely be giving the forthcoming SDTG album a spin in these webpages in the near future.


Second single in as many months from The Scaramanga Six and An Error Occurred (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) is just as dark and unhinged as its predecessor Horse With No Face was, powering along on pummelling drums, driving guitars and synths and deranged vocals in the very best Fall/Cardiacs style. Looking forward to the new album Worthless Songs when it lands in December. Bandcamp Link


And similar to She Drew The Gun, we got a second Scaramanga Six single just as this column was going to press in It Is The Face Wish How (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). This one is a lot more sinister with a definite Ennio Morricone feel to it (no idea if he's any relation to Paul and Steve from the Scaramangas) with its twanging guitar and ominous drums. Well worth a listen. Bandcamp Link


Whew...and now for something a bit lighter. We first encountered Californians Hayley & The Crushers in the early days of the year with their Fun Sized EP and they have a new single out in the form of She Drives (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) which is a sugar sweet slice of Go-Go's style power pop about hitting the road to get away from your problems. Difficult to resist, that's for sure - hopefully a full album will be on the way from this lot soon. Bandcamp Link


The Crushers are now signed the Kitten Robot records run by power pop veteran Josie Cotton and she has a new single out herself in the form of Calling All Girls (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). Similar to She Drew The Gun earlier, its bright and bouncy bubbling synths hide a serious and angry feminist message underneath and the collision of light and dark makes for a good listen here. Bandcamp Link


It's good to see biker sleaze veterans Junkyard back with a new single and I'm pleased to report that Lifer (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) shows that there's plenty of life left in these ol' dogs - crashing in on a strutting AC/DC style riff with a big singalong chorus, this simple ode to life on the road is exactly the sort of no-nonsense rock 'n' roll that always seems to click just perfectly. B-side Last Of A Dying Breed is a similarly no nonsense slice of riffed-up rock 'n' roll and worth a listen as well. Bandcamp Link


Well here's a blast from the past - first new single from Leeds indie veterans Cud in who only knows how long. As I've mentioned when I covered them for Sounds From The Junkshop a while ago, I was kind of more of a lukewarm fan of this lot rather than a hardcore follower back in the day but I have to hand it to them, Switched On (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a pretty damn good effort, slinking in on a funky indie disco beat and packing in a big singalong chorus to prove that this lot are still packing a quite sizeable punch in the 21st century. B-side I Like It Better When You're Not Around meanwhile is a typical slice of Cud oddball indie and works well too. If this is the precursor to a full album then colour me interested.


Also on the comeback trail are power pop veterans and recent Garbage Days Revisited inductees The Boys. I'm A Believer (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) isn't a Monkees cover but rather a chugging mid-paced Slade soundalike. It's...alright but I've heard better from this band down the years frankly. B-side She's The Reason is a better effort with its Ramones style sense of melody working to good effect and the frenetic (There Ain't No) Just One Beer is an enjoyable slice of fired up rockabilly. In other words, skip the main track and head straight to the B-sides for yer kicks here folks.


Ryan Hamilton's quest to release a single a month as part of his 1221 project continues with two new releases since our last Singles Bar column. First up, Banditos (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a solid rocker about pulling off a bank job. Kind of like the Georgia Satellites covering Breaking The Law, this ain't a bad effort at all. Also just out at time of this going to press is Do The Damage (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) which has a spikier feel to it, kind of like the Knack with added teeth. Not bad at all - with ten tunes down and two to go, it's safe to say Ryan's done pretty well at this project as it enters its closing stages. Bandcamp Link


It's always good to see some new material from Saint Agnes in the review pile and Uppercut (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) might just be one of their most ferocious records yet with the distorted guitars and Kitty's screamed vocals combining to make something genuinely unsettling but addictive. Saint Agnes are one of those bands who always seem to know just how to hit you with something you really weren't expecting and this song is further proof. Good stuff. Bandcamp Link


Finally for part one, the Linda Lindas must be one of the most incongruous bands to sign to Epitaph ever, four Japanese/Latino girls playing power-pop. Oh! (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) sounds like what might happen if the Slits and Mika Bomb had a garage punk rave-up with Danko Jones helping out on general musical direction duties. It could have been well south of disastrous but somehow there's something about its supremely tight power-pop sweetness that works pretty damn well. Bandcamp Link

***

Right, one part down, two parts to go. We’ll be back with the second lot of singles this month for your delectation shortly...

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