A groundbreaking album fusing the vast, arid landscapes of the Heathen Apostles spaghetti western music and the heavy rhythms of Dub Reggae in the spirit of The Clash, Bad Brains’ and Public Image Limited’s brews of Reggae and Punk.
Now a Dub Reggae Spaghetti Western album may seem a strange inclusion on these pages but for those paying attention Chopper Franklin is a member of the Heathen Apostles who have indeed featured her multiple times along with special guest on one track Phantom Of the Black Hills. On top of that seasoned Celtic-Punk fans will remember The Pogues foray into the world of the spaghetti western with the 1987 movie Straight To Hell. Here Chopper has taken several Heathen Apostles tracks and spiced them up (or maybe down) deep, bass-heavy rhythms and echo-drenched soundscapes of Dub.
The album kicks off with ‘Blood Tears And Thunder’ and thoughts spring to mind of bands like The Clash or Public Image Ltd. who also used Reggae and Dub to such great effect in the early days of Punk. Chopper is after all one of the last men standing from the notorious Los Angeles punk rock scene of the late 1970’s having played guitar and bass for The Cramps, the Mau Maus, Charley Horse, Nick Curran & the Lowlifes among others. His bio is well worth a look to see what this multi talented and multi faceted geezer has been up to. A life well lived! ‘The Scorpion Says’ takes the original and speeds it up while retaining the Dub Reggae edge. The star of the album without a doubt is the incredible Mather Louth whose beautiful voice, likened by some to Welsh diva Shirley Bassey, dominates the album and through the music is given the perfect platform to shine. The music here could be stripped directly out of Italian composer and orchestrator Ennio Morricone’s personal notebook and on ‘The Day The Men Died’ she is joined by the Phantom Of The Black Hills playing the part of a prisoner condemned to death. His vocal busting with the emotion needed to portray the part.
“Pardons denied | Two worlds will collide | The day the men died”
The Phantom Of The Black Hills are also signed to Choppers label and along with the Heathen Apostles, who they co-operated with many times, are the leading lights in the interesting Gothic Americana scene that Chopper has championed through his record label Ratchet Blade Records. The many movie samples throughout only add to the vivid cinematic feeling with ‘Gold In Every Hand’ as The Phantom returns and spits out the words through a world weary exhausted drawl as you can almost feel the dust blown across your face.
“Blackened eyes and blood upon our teeth | Got no souls to question our beliefs | Born alone and bred across the land | They’ll never understand”
The instrumental ‘You Can’t Drown Your Sorrow In Blood’ begins with the snarly sample or someone barking out “String him up, muchachos!” and the song drifts along with multiple samples some familiar some not. ‘Rotten Saint’ utilises Mathers vocals to great effect while ‘The Ghost Of A Believer’ again sees the Phantom return in ghostly form almost indistinguishable in the mix alongside more movie samples.
“Lay me down | In fields of stone | Lay me down | So I can’t roam | Lay me down | At her feet | Lay me down | Because I believe”
The album was produced and mixed by Chopper Franklin who also wrote all the songs here too. Alongside his many musical talents he has produced several albums as well as writing and producing soundtrack scores and directing music videos and is recognised as the driving forces behind the emerging Gothic Americana genre. A truly magnificent album that is huge in scope and unusually for us we will give you the links for the albums guests as they all deserve to be checked out and while this may be an unusual album for us to cover, the music of the Heathen Apostles and Phantom Of The Black Hills will appeal I have no doubt to all fans of the site. Spaghetti Western Dub No. 1 is available as a hand-pulled, screen printed, signed and numbered digipak limited edition CD, where no two are the same, so get in quick and their is also an international with cheap postage to Europe.
(Stream / download Spaghetti Western Dub No. 1 via Bandcamp)
Contact Chopper Franklin www.spaghettiwesterndub.com
Contact Heathen Apostles WebSite Facebook YouTube Instagram
Contact Phantom Of The Black Hills Facebook YouTube Bandcamp
Ratchet Blade Records WebSite Facebook YouTube
IMPORTANT NEWS: The Heathen Apostles toured the UK the first time last year and they recently announced they are returning again. Kicking off in Reading on July 17th and London the following day at The Lexington the tour includes a three day residency (August 5th – 7th) at Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival. A review of last year’s Lexington show – “As if plucked from a surreal spaghetti western, Mather Louth and Chopper Franklin made quite the spectacle, striding down London’s Pentonville Road in full regalia… The Heathen Apostles had etched themselves into our dark hearts, ensuring their spectral melodies and mystical storytelling would stay with us long after the last note had faded into the night.” Dates not be missed and more being added as the tour is finalised check the bands social media for up to date announcements.
LONDON CELTIC PUNKS WEB-ZINE 
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