NYC-based anti-folk punk outfit American Anymen has announced they will release their new EP in mid-September. Called ‘Flag Burner’, this release addresses multiple contentious aspects of today’s governance and society, and the corrupt situation prevalent today in the echelons of power.
This is the band’s 12th album, following up on the band’s ‘Start My Center’ LP, which was produced by Jen Turner (Natalie Merchant, Here We Go Magic), also known for her involvement in recording Swans’ ‘The Glowing Man’. The band also recently explored their softer side on the recently-released ‘Oui’ EP, which entailed a collaboration with French songstress Lise. Both releases were critically acclaimed.
American Anymen was created in 1999 in NYC’s Lower East Side. With an unconventional approach to guitar, their sound is an eclectic mix of folk punk with indie rock and old-school hip-hop. With singer/songwriter and guitarist Brett Sullivan as its core, American Anymen’s current lineup also includes Joey Patches (drums and vocals), Scott Fragala (bass and keyboards), and Jen Turner (guitar and vocals).
Unique to American Anymen is the band’s strong political and ethical importance. While previous releases explore such issues as the downside of globalization, social injustice, police brutality, corruption and inequity, The new American Anymen release is their response to what has become known as Trump’s America.
“Flag Burner is a reaction to the fascist in the White House,” says American Anymen’s Brett Sullivan. “It was written with the idea that messages being subtly delivered in poetic lyrics were simply not enough in a Trump America. So the songs are blunt and literal. We have to speak out against these people, and the culture and rhetoric they promote. Locker room talk should not be their norm.”
‘Flag Burner’ is out as of September 15 and is available to stream from American Anymen’s Bandcamp.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/americananymen
http://americananymen.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/americananymen
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The Membranes – A Strange Perfume
With sixteen epic, powerful and darkly romantic songs on offer, this is The Membranes’ eighth studio album overall and the second since they reformed in 2010 when former support band My Bloody Valentine convinced them to return to the stage for the ATP festival. This album is a game changer in the tradition of Manchester bands like Joy Division.
This album features appearances from vocalist Kirk Brandon (Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny) and 84-year-old folk singer Shirley Collins, one of England’s premier folk singers of the ’60s revival. Renowned nature TV presenter Chris Packham also contributes, as does the legendary Jordan, who practically invented the punk look in 1975. Half the tracks also feature the 20-piece BIMM Choir, offsetting a sound laden with dark drones and an atmosphere of melancholic epic power.
The album was recorded at 6DB Studio in Manchester with Ding Archer, a former band member with PJ Harvey, The Pixies and producer of the last nine albums by The Fall. John Robb wrote all the parts for the choir. This release follows up their acclaimed album ‘Dark Matter/Dark Energy’, the band’s best selling release, which received rave reviews and ample radio play on BBC 6 Music and internationally.
‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’ is about the beauty and violence of nature. This is a very diverse work with dark, brooding cinematic choir-driven songs. Imagine the sound of Hieronymus Bosch paintings to discordant wild songs about crows, demon flowers, strange perfumes, voluptuous petals, voluminous oceans, treacherous seasons and the poetry of life and death set to spooked pulsing musical pieces, ranging from epic choir-driven postpunk songs to dark dub workouts, from throbbing dirty disco dark wave pulses to grinding heavy bass-driven pieces, from apocalyptic visions to choir-driven epic swirls.
“This is the pinnacle of our long and strange journey. This album is steeped in the powerful forces of nature and an underlying emotional undertow that is dark and brooding bass driven postpunk with the epic swirl of the choir and diversity of sounds that takes you on a trip. I put my life into this album musically, lyrically and emotionally,” says John Robb.
“The Membranes was born of postpunk in the late 1970s – a time when a generation inspired by punk rock created music on their own terms. We were immersed in that scene and that world and when we reformed we picked up on those themes and ideas and the diverse fellow travelers that we were contemporaries of like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave, PiL, Big Black, and newer bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai, Ulver, and Wardruna – bands who fuck with the template to create an atmosphere and mood.”
Formed in 1978 in Blackpool, The Membranes played classic bass-driven northern post-punk and were part of the same world as bands like The Fall, Sisters Of Mercy, Echo and The Bunnymen and Cabaret Voltaire, all inspired by 1977 to launch their own idiosyncratic journeys. The band released a remarkable series of records that combined their small town frustration with a love of heavy bass and distortion. This ultimately became a prime influence and the precursors to such American noiseniks as Steve Albini, Swans and Sonic Youth.
John Peel and music press favourites, a continual frenzy of releases, public acclaim and touring worldwide with national TV appearances, the band went on hiatus in 1990 until finally reforming in 2010.
The Membranes are Peter Byrchmore (guitar), Nick Brown guitar), Rob Haynes (drums), and John Robb (vocals and bass), a renowned TV and radio pundit, editor of Louder Than War, a key UK music site and national magazine, and curator of the Louder Than Words festival. In autumn, John Robb will also release ‘The Art Of Darkness’, a book on the darker side of post-punk, adding to his collection of best-selling books on punk rock.
As of June 7, ‘What Nature Gives … Nature Takes Away’ will be available on vinyl and CD, and digitally from stores such as iTunes and streaming platforms like Spotify. There is also a deluxe double vinyl ultra limited edition of 150 copies. This summer, cosmetics company Lush will release a Membranes perfume called ‘A Strange Perfume’ after the album’s opening track. In the meantime, the band will tour the UK in support of their new LP.
LINKS:
http://www.themembranes.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/themembranes
https://www.twitter.com/membranes1
https://www.instagram/themembranes
https://membranes.bandcamp.com -
Davey Woodward And The Winter Orphans – Bad Day
Davey Woodward And The Winter Orphans have premiered their new video for the track titled ‘Bad Day’. Capturing that quirky magic of the music, the video for ‘Bad Day’ gives that alt-rock bravado combined with the first-person perspective in a slow energy style grit guitar fiasco that is the signature of creativity. This is a new anthem for a new age. Let’s hope the title doesn’t carry over (lol).
‘Love and Optimism’ is out now, available on limited edition white vinyl and black vinyl, on gatefold CD with a booklet, and also digitally. It can be ordered via Bandcamp.
Check out our other features with Davey Woodward And The Winter Orphans HERE.
ABOUT DAVEY WOODWARD AND THE WINTER ORPHANS
Bristol indie music legend Davey Woodward and The Winter Orphans present ‘Bad Day’, the latest single from their ‘Love and Optimism’ LP. Best known for his bands The Brilliant Corners, The Experimental Pop Band, and Karen, they recorded this album ‘live’ in the studio. A very personal collection, this is Woodward’s most emotional performance, putting Davey solidly amongst the best songwriters of his generation.
Davey Woodward and the Winter Orphans play alt folk, often intimate songs set in Bristol. Sometimes they get into drainpipes and pointy boots ‘New Wave’ mode. ‘Bad Day’ is one of those moments.
‘Nobody visits. I’d like someone to stay
In my single bed with my microwave
I’m having a bad day.‘“Imagine a time when putting together the best cassette compilation ever (Today it’s called a playlist) was the sole purpose of the day. Getting it right would mean the difference between a good day or a bad day. It was also the best way to impress girls and show your mates how hip you were. A time when dreaming, looking cool, and disregarding the rules was everything. Decades later and life catches up, poverty, broken relationships, broken families. You could make a playlist but who would you send it to?” says Davey Woodward.
Ahead of this, the band previewed two singles – ‘Occupy This Space’ and ‘Warm Hands’, which could be a soundtrack to a David Lynch movie. This is pop music for grown-ups loaded with dark mysteries of desire and loathing, melody and lyrics that stick in your head.
‘Love & Optimism’ is the band’s second collective long-play, following their 2018 self-titled debut album, released via Tapete Records. On both set of recordings, the band wanted to capture that elusive live magic and spontaneity that is often lost by today’s modern recording techniques.
Davey Woodward first came to prominence with his 1980s band The Brilliant Corners, part of the jangly indie C86 scene, but with a diverse palette of indie pop, country, rock n roll, post-punk and humour. The mini-albums ‘Growing up Absurd’, ‘Fruit Machine’ and ‘Whats in a Word‘ brought the band to the attention of the music press and wider public, followed by their best-known album ‘Somebody up there likes me’ (1987), several John Peel sessions, indie chart success and regular tours. In 2013, Cherry Red Records released a retrospective of the band’s work ‘Heart on Your Sleeve’ (A decade in pop 1983-1993)’ to much interest.
Woodward’s next band The Experimental Pop Band (1996- 2012) was again championed by Peel and signed to City Slang Records, enjoying critical acclaim in the UK and Europe, and performing at Glastonbury.
In the last decade, Davey has released a handful of solo LPs, including the lofi folk pop album ‘6 miles east of here 5 miles north of nowhere’ (2011). He also recorded with alt guitar band Karen, releasing several EPs on The Environmental Sounds label.
The album was recorded in Summer 2019 prior to the Covid 19 pandemic and the tragic events that led to Black Lives Matter, but strangely it is still relevant to these times. ‘Occupy This Space’ seemingly captures the whole feeling of ‘Lockdown’ and the song ‘Clara’s Ghost’ is partly about the history of Bristol’s involvement in the Slave Trade. Just a few months after it was written, Bristol residents pulled down the Statue of Slave Trader Edward Colston in the center of town, making worldwide headlines.
LINKS:
https://daveywoodward.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/daveysongs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LjUye3GMgM&feature=youtu.be
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/davey-woodward-mn0000527805/biography
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/davey-woodward-and-the-winter-orphans/1412097438
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Oiv29FDDnrhtM3UiP7Lq2 -
Peter118 – Money & Lies
Originally the solo project of Peter Field, formerly of punk bands Senseless and Ambassadors of Shalom, Peter118 stormed onto the scene with the release ‘Make It Or Break It’ EP in 2014, when Field was joined by his wife Janine on bass and backing vocals, and friend Sam on drums to form fully fledged three-piece punk outfit.
2016’s ‘Need You More’ EP marked a pivotal point in Peter118’s career when they won the support of legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer in LA who championed the lead single. Rodney still champions the band today on his SiriusXM show.
With their recent releases, the band has gained airplay on Kerrang! Radio, Total Rock, ARFM, FCUM, Primordial Radio, Touch FM, Radio KC, The Mike James Rock Show and a plethora of other stations all over the world.
They’ve been featured on With Guitars, Pure Grain Audio, Spin Sunday Reviews, and The Ringmaster Review and they’re looking forward to seeing what 2019 will bring.
Money and Lies are featured on a “split e.p.” with American band The Bricks on Raven Faith Records and is available now.
LINKS:
http://peter118.com
https://facebook.com/peter118uk
https://twitter.com/peter118uk