Category: punk rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Aussie Punks CIVIC Share a Furious Ripper

Hailed by Stereogum as “an unholy lo-fi pile-up of garage rock, punk and 90s-style noise rock,” Melbourne-based punks CIVIC — Jim McCullough (vocals) – Lewis Hodgson (guitar) – Roland Hlavka (bass) – Jackson Harry (guitar) – Matt Blach (drums) — have developed a reputation for reimagining the reckless intensity of proto-punk for an era of unending and unceasing uncertainty.

Earlier this year, the Aussie outfit released their acclaimed album Taken By Force through ATO Records. They supported the album with a European tour, which brought their brand of masterfully controlled chaos, which blurs the line between furious catharsis and unbridled fun. And they’ll be embarking on their first Stateside tour this fall. The tour will include an October 7, 2023 stop at Elsewhere Zone One, an October 8, 2023 stop at Johnny Brenda’s and several others across the country, as well as sets at this year’s LEVITATION Festival and Gonerfest. All tour dates and ticket info can be found below.

Along with the tour announcement, the members of the acclaimed Melbourne-based punk outfit share a new single, the blistering ripper “Hourglass.” Built around scorching riffage, breakneck drumming, an angular bass line and Jim McCullough’s snarled delivery, “Hourglass” is a mosh pit friendly anthem that’s furiously cathartic yet upbeat. The song manages to evoke the sensation of wanting to bust out of rut, even if you don’t know how.

“Off the back of Taken By Force we wanted to create something new, an evolution of sound for us,” CIVIC’s Jim McCullough explains. “We’d dropped down to a 4 piece so already Lewis [Hodgson] had more space to come through with his guitar parts, be more experimental, less chaotic; more defined. Lyrically I am touching on aspects of change, more specifically the process during change. Going through some kind of shit and sediment and coming out the other side; a hopeful development of a refined version. We start again”

Directed, filmed and edited by Oscar O’Shea, the accompanying video follows a Mickey Mouse sweater-wearing man with headphones rocking out throughout various locations in suburban Melbourne, while the band drives around aimless and goofs off in a claustrophobia-inducing room. Proudly DIY and endlessly goofy, the video accurately captures the sense of wanting to bust out of a rut.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dublin’s SPRINTS Confront Imposter Syndrome with Furious Ripper “Up and Comer”

Dublin-based punk outfit SPRINTS — Karla Chubb (vocals, guitar), Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums) and Sam McCann (bass) — formed back in 2019. And since their formation, the Irish quartet have developed a reputation for crafting an abrasive brand of punk rock, influenced by early Pixies, Bauhaus, Siousxie Sioux, King Gizzard, Savages, and LCD Soundsystem.

Their first two EP’s, 2021’s Manifesto and last year’s A Modern Job were released to rapturous praise from UK music outlets like DIY, The Guardian, NME, Loud & Quiet, Dork, and Clash. They also received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music.

The Irish punk outfit’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Letter To Self is slated for a January 5, 2024 release through City Slang Records. The album, which will feature previously released singles “Adore Adore Adore” and “Literary Mind,” was recorded in France’s Loire Valley with Gilla Band‘s Daniel Fox over the course of 12 days. The album “is a deeply personal and autobiographical lyrically and in its key themes, while sonically it explores a space inspired by our love of early 80s gothic, 90s noises rock and more modern influences,” SPRINTS’ Karla Chubb explains. “It revisits our most vulnerable moments and imbues them with visceral garage-punk. It aims to take the things that are considered inherently negative – feelings of anxiety, anger and rage, and turning them into a positive. Using our experiences to fuel us and pouring them into a positive outlet. It’s cathartic, it’s honest, it’s raw.” While pain is used to fuel growth, at its core, the album is rooted in a message of self-acceptance.

The album’s lead single “Up and Comer” is an earnest and furious ripper built around buzzing power chords, thunderous drumming and mosh pit friendly hooks paired with Chubb’s feral delivery. The song thematically sees the band exploring and confronting imposter syndrome — but through the perspective of embittering, lived-in, fairly universal experience. And as a result, the song will be catharsis inducing for anyone, who has felt like an imposter –whether professionally, personally or both.

“It’s an invisible narrative that has been constructed by the doubts and negativity I’ve been fed by others,” SPRINTS’ Chubb explains. “It’s a song that takes aim at these ideas, and instead of letting them continue to hold me back, sees me finally break free of the expected, embrace the anger and let it rip.” 

Directed by Ellius Grace, the accompanying video captures the band’s frenetic live energy — with the band performing in an empty auditorium with a fan and a bored janitor. Throughout, the band’s members confront their own feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so, emerging London-dance punk/post-punk duo Shelf Lives — Sabrina Di Guilio and Jonny Hillyard — have released a handful of singles that have seen them quickly earn comparisons to Le Tigre, CSS, Sleigh Bells and others.

The British duo’s latest single “Off The Rails” is a dance punk/post punk ripper built around a frantic and propulsive beat, squiggly synths, scorching, angular guitar attack paired with Di Guilio’s sultry cooing and feral shouts. It’s a winning and irresistible mix of sultry and sleazy reminiscent of Is Is EP-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Ting Tings but rooted in incisive, satirical social commentary.

“In our current era, we stand fully aware that consumerism fails to fullfil our genuine needs,” the members of Shelf Lives explain. “Despite this knowledge, we remain fiercely hooked, unable to let go. The notion that was intended to make us feel exceptional actually leaves us feeling ordinary and in this perpetual cycle of wanting more. The track is that moment of realisation that we can’t ‘fall off the rails’ because despite all of the ‘stuff’ we buy into we’re still ‘none in a million’ The problem is we hesitate to be the first to abandon the obsession in fear that we’ll be the only one and end up feeling isolated anyway.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Minneapolis’ Spit Takes Return with a Breakneck Ripper

Minneapolis-based punk outfit Spit Takes — Vanessa McKinney (vocals), Monet Wong (guitar), Angie Lynch (bass) and Charles Gehr (drums) — formed last year. Influenced by Amyl and the Sniffers, X-Ray Spex, Bikini Kill, and The Slits among a list of other acts, the Minneapolis-based punks pair crunchy guitar riffs with raw, unapologetic lyrics.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “God Bless (Holy Tits)!,” a pub rock-like take on punk rock that reminded me of Amyl and the Sniffers. So of course there are the prerequisite big riffs and thunderous drumming paired with most pit friendly hooks and choruses. But at its core, it’s a hilarious and defiantly crude, feminist anthem delivered with a zero fucks given aplomb.

The Minneapolis punk outfit returns with “Hogwash,” a crusty post-punk tinged, breakneck ripper punctuated with angular guitar bursts and McKinney’s punchy shouts. The song captures the band calling out the bullshit around them with an incensed fury. While continuing a run of catchy, mosh pit friendly rippers, “Hogwash,” as the band explains is “a rallying cry to tear through the veils of falsehood, seek out justice in the chaos, and clasp the raw, unembellished essence of existence.”