EP REVIEW: AND THE WASTERS- ‘State Of Repair’ (2017)

Will Tun And The Wasters carry on exactly where they left off except without Will Tun and with kind of a new name but still with plenty of that explosive folk’n’punk’n’ska rebel rocking they are renowned for!

We first heard of Will Tun And The Wasters a good few years back when I got a call out of the blue from someone begging me to let their band support The Dreadnoughts and The Lagan at Mannions in north London. They would even do it for free they were so desperate. Music to any music promoters ears so they were booked straight away. They arrived at the venue from universities from right across England and played a blinder, going down an absolute storm. Very young and enthusiastic, their energy was infectious as well as their music bringing with them equal doses of folk, celtic, punk and ska. Fast forward a few years and now mostly settled in Bristol they had become firm festival favourites as well as gigging and touring the length and breadth of these islands. Then all of a sudden vocalist Will Tun announced he was off. Nothing personal but it was time to get a proper job or something. Rather than agonise over what to call themselves they just dropped Will from their name and decided to just call themselves And The Wasters. I love it and think its genius!

Last year And The Wasters played the main stages at popular English festivals such as Bearded Theory and Boomtown Fair and also completed an extensive tour of Europe. Adding elements of Latin, dub and even jazz to their usual brand of folk, punk and ska played with accordion, trumpet and fiddle. So after a year of playing as And The Wasters this new 5 track E.P State of Repair is their first release post-Will Tun and stands up well next to their album release from September, 2015 The Anachronist’s Cookbook which came out not long before Will’s decision to leave the band.

The EP kick’s off with ‘Lions Share’ and this is proper what we use to call festival music. Catchy ska based music but with hints of something a bit more aggressive below. The trumpet is leading the way and the band gel fantastically well and it’s a grand start to proceedings. Jo’s accordion rears its head towards the end and if we thought they would be hampered by Will’s absence then we were wrong. Next is ‘Small Victories and it’s more of the same. Still catchy and music to get you on your feet.

They may have left their more overt celtic-punk/ folk-punk sound behind but it’s back with a vengeance on the re-cycling anthem ‘Reduce, Reuse, Rebel’ all being it smothered in a rather lovely ska beat with again some great trumpet playing. ‘Bound as One’ adds Balkan folk into the mixture and stirs it about. This band sure do catchy well before the EP wraps up with the slow ‘Intro Dub’. None of the rowdiness of before bit more of a head nodder this one!

The past few years have seen the band taking their feel good music out beyond the usual safe spaces bands normally go. This band would literally play anywhere they can so attached are they to the idea of DIY music. The idea that bands can do it all themselves without the need for managers, publicists or record deals. But don’t be thinking they are just some happy-go-lucky ska-punk band version of The Wurzels though. Their music is only matched by what they have to say. That attachment to DIY only echos their positive message of solidarity, friendship and collective action. The band live by their message and their beliefs, being active within the DIY music scene and by lending support to various good causes.

(have a listen to State Of Repair before downloading it for *FREE* below)

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ALBUM REVIEW: 13KRAUSS- TheEnd Is Nigh’ (2016)

Part Dropkicks, a wee part Molly’s but always 100% celtic-folk-punk!

The End is Nigh is the follow up album from 13Krauss  to their excellent debut album, Seguir En Pie, which was released to great acclaim back in 2014. For our review of that grand album then check out here. Originally forming up as a straight up, no frills punk rock band but after a Real McKenzies show in their home town they were inspired to change direction and take the celtic-punk high road. So the boys went on to add an accordion player and a bagpiper and 13Krauss the celtic punk band were born! Hailing from Zaragoza in what is basically the dead centre of Spain they have become firm favourites on the Spanish scene, and further afield as well, and on the basis of these two albums it is no surprise why either.

The album begins with ‘Reza Por Tu Vida’ and the sound of an ocean and a toiling bell adds some nice touches to this blistering slab of fast and furious celtic-punk. One of only three songs sung in Spanish, the rest are in English, except for the one instrumental. Its a brilliant start with shouty gang vocals atop of acoustic guitar and bagpipes and its very Dropkicks sounding indeed. ‘Doomsday’ follows and reminds me of my current scene fave’s Ferocious Dog with the fiddle looming large and cranked up electric guitar and mandolin. Bodi vocal style is excellent. Shouty and strained but never unintelligible and you know that if pushed he could give it a real ‘croon’ with the best of them. The bagpipes are back out for ‘Flying Broken Chairs’, a catchy as hell track telling of a wicked and wild night down the boozer. They literally just released the video for ‘Flying Broken Chairs’ just yesterday featuring footage from this years St Patrick’s Day gig in Sala López in their home town of Zaragoza.

The best celtic-punk bands have the ability to slow it down and with the aptly named ‘Slow Down’ 13Krauss prove they can do it too. The story is of looking for leprauchauns and has quite the polka sound to it. Much like The Dreadnoughts use to play. Another thing a lot of non-celtic in origin celtic-punk bands are very good at is bringing new sounds and influences into their music and again ‘En Mi Ataúd’ has a sort of polka /Russian thing going on and its great. ‘Don’t Feed The Goblin’ is the only instrumental here and instrumental by name MENTAL by nature. A fast as hell ride through Dropkick Murphy’s style bagpipe punk rock. 13Krauss switch it up again and ‘Miserable Bridges’ has a skate-punk feel to it while again David’s bagpiping is absolutely superb. We are nearing the end now and ‘The Smitting Blow’ changes it up again with a country folk punk number that is unlike anything else here but equally as good and then finally we have ‘El Mañana No Espera’ and the end of the album. The bagpipes are loud and proud and the curtain comes down on this fantastic album with another piece of Murphy’s influenced celtic-punk rock.

The album was recorded and mixed in their home town and the nine tracks clock in at a very healthy thirty minutes. It was released just after St Patrick’s Day earlier in the year and is available for download as ‘name your price’ and only €9 for the actual physical compact disc which comes in a rather nice jewel case with all the song lyrics, credits and pictures in a extensive twelve page booklet. That there’s not a single cover version here is the first thing that struck me on hearing The End is Nigh. Just nine great slabs of celtic-punk that show the influence of other bands in the scene but always with the 13Krauss stamp of individuality on it. They have a great knack of switching it up and just as you feel your in for a ride of Dropkick Murphys expectations your off in another completely different direction. There are some outstanding celtic-punk bands from the region with Catalan bands The Drink Hunters and Sigelpa due to release new albums very soon, Bastards from Galicia still touring Europe relentlessly and The Fatty Farmers having also recently released a excellent new album too. 13Krauss deserve to be heard beyond Spain but also beyond Dropkick Murphys fans too as this album will appeal to all fans of the genre whether you prefer the punky or the folkier side of celtic-punk. 

(You can have a free listen to The End Is Nigh by pressing play on the Bandcamp player below. Follow the link below to buy)

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* the guys from 13Krauss have also set up the ZARAGOZA CELTIC PUNKS group on Facebook so trot along there and join up here…

(Check out this full concert from 13Krauss. a unusual camera angle but you can see how much the crowd gets into as the gig goes along. Brilliant!)

ALBUM REVIEW: THE SURFIN’ TURNIPS- ‘Awake The West’ (2016)

Proper scrumpy punkers from old Bristol town. Cult legends in the South West. Fusing The Ramones and The Wurzels in an orgy of fast riffs, cider and marrow dancing!

Now The Surfin’ Turnips been around for a few years now since 1991 (ish!) and though I have heard great things about them our paths have never crossed. They have played a few times in London over the years but things just haven’t connected right for us. So here we are with The Surfin’ Turnips new album Awake The West which was released back in January this year but actually recorded back in the Summer of 2014. The various band members hail from Cornwall, Devon and Somerset but have strong associations with the town of Chipping Sodbury where they met while working, and the areas around Bristol where they currently live. Now one of the long lost and lamented celtic-punk bands of recent years has been The Dreadnoughts from Canada. For a few years their star shone bright as they toured relentlessly from one end of Europe to the other seemingly all year round. Well they may have hung up their fiddle but they did briefly reform for a few gigs back in 2014 and they played a solitary gig in England with The Surfin’ Turnips in Bristol. While over they also played on this recording so if you a Dreadnoughts fanatic, like most of us, then this is for you.

The album begins with ‘Turmut Hoer’ and its straight forward, heads down, classic punk rock with clear vocals and lyrics sung in a broad Bristol dialect and a vocabulary that leaves me baffled most of the time. When I looked up what a Turmut Hoer is it just came up as the name of pub after pub after pub all over the west country!

“I am a turmut hoer, from Wiltshire I were born. Me parents they be workin’ folk.  The fly be on me turmut”

So lyrically I am but lost except I do know that its all a loving tribute to the boys home. ‘The Quaker’ carries on the punk rock and sails into ‘Evenin’ in the Village’ a spoken word tribute to The Surfin’Turnips favourite beverage Cider which is followed appropriately enough by ‘Oh Apple Tree’. Featuring the first appearance here of the accordion

“Pass round the jug and take a supp, Cutler’s name drifts into the night.

Nought could compare with this pasty we share – the souls of the West join the light”

A cover of the sea shanty ‘Eddystone Light’ is up next. Made famous by Scots folk band The Weavers the song is about the lighthouse in Eddystone which kept ships from washing up and wrecking on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, nine miles south of Rame Head.

While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the actually rocks are in Devon and the song tells of the lighthouse keepers son who meets his mammy, a mermaid.

“From this union there came three, A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me”

‘Ciderman Killed The Radio Star’ is another cider fixated song and it aint the last either!

They keep it local next up with a grand wee folky accordion led track ‘Sampford Peverell Pig Farmers Polka’. Thrashy guitars and that accordion keep the music up tempo and if nothing else this album is rollicking good romp and completely different from the celtic kind of folk punk I am more use to. Another spoken word piece follows and comes with a small dialect guide of west country words to help you through it.

“Gert = Big. Body = person. Axed = Asked. Batch – an areal of rough land. Ee = you. Queer – unexplainable. Shepton Mallet Races – Mid Somerset cider making town. Vleshy = fat. Vlat Voot – flat foot. Ar – Yes”

‘A Cottage On Dartmoor’ keeps the folk punk flag flying and finally Awake The West comes to an end with the traditional song ‘Spanish Ladies’ and for me is the true highlight of the album. Fast tuneful accordion punk rock with a real buzz to it except it doesn’t end there though as there is a secret track at the end that I won’t say anything about ‘cept to say it’s fecking brilliant!

The home of The Surfin’ Turnips the West Country has a proud, diverse and rich cultural, musical and literary heritage. In this time of globalisation and the creeping influence of London across England just as it is important for the celtic languages to survive we must not forget that tradition and language is not just confined to only the celtic countries. Places like the West Country and the northern counties and anywhere who had them also need to preserve their old ways. After all as a wise man once said

“If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong”

or something like that. West Country renaissance folk-punk aiming, and succeeding, in spreading the word of the West to those in need of apple salvation.

Ar, awake the West!

(you can have a sneaky listen to ‘Awake The West’ by pressing play on the Bandcamp player below then afterwards for just a measly fiver you can own it by following the link!)

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ALBUM REVIEW: PINT OF STOUT- ‘Choose Your Devil’ (2013)

For those of you who like your celtic-punk a bit more sea bound here’s the second release from Pint Of Stout from the city of Luhansk in Ukraine. reminding me a whole lot of The Dreadnoughts if you substituted the fiddle for accordion. Formed in 2011 their first self titled album ploughed more traditional celtic-punk fare and very good it was too, only just failing to make it into the ‘LondonCelticPunks Top 5 Albums Of 2012’.

On ‘Choose Your Devil’ this time the gruff, pirate-style, almost metally in places, vocals are wrapped around more sea-shanty style punk than celtic but is just as good. its all original compositions with only one cover (“Spanish Ladies” a traditional naval song) no fillers and the lyrics are in english and as is usual the musicianship is top notch. where this bhoys differ though is their attitude to their music having made their first LP a free download they’ve repeated it with their 2nd album so you’ve no excuses not to download and listening!

Kenedis – drums
Morion – mandolin
Kirill Savintsev – guitar/vocals
Daniil Marchenko – bass
Yury Kharchenko – bayan

PINT OF STOUT –

CHOOSE YOUR DEVIL

free download here. if the link is broken or gone leave a comment and we’ll re-up it as soon as we can.

if you speak Ukrainian then check out their VK account here.  (VK is the largest European social network with more than a 100 million active users…apparently) but if not then check their Facebook page here.

PINT OF STOUT- DEVIL JOKE VIDEO