With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Settle Down” – Apollo Junction (with Briana Corrigan) April 22, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:54 pm
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Apollo Junction seem to have an ability to up the ante with every release and there new single takes their talents up yet another notch. “Settle Down” is dripping with humongous hooks and pumped with pop passion. The AP lads are joined on this song by Briana Corrigan, formerly of the Beautiful South and a wonderfully talented solo artist. The band are extremely proud that Briana chose to sing on the song. The track has a slightly gentler feel than some of their more recent releases and is the vanguard of their next album which is due out this summer. In my view the song ponders a nostalgic reminiscence of a sunny sky blue past we remember but will never get back. For me this is accentuated with lyrics like “Here’s a thought are we ever gonna get away. In this town faces never change. We were born to streets that already knew our name“. That last line really resonates with my memories of my own early life. You need this track in your life!

Jamie, the band’s lead singer had this to say about the tune “This song means so much to us as a band and we feel it really shows a brand new side to what we can do, having Briana’s voice on it was something that we suggested very early on, but never imaged that we would make that happen! She sounds incredible on it and we are very very grateful to her for choosing to sing with us“. Briana also had something to say about the new release ““Settle Down” is a song that I just had to sing on, I travelled from Ireland over to the band’s studio in Yorkshire and we spent a wonderful day together recording and hanging out. I am a big fan and firmly believe that this song and the album they (Apollo Junction) are making is something very special. I am sure that my fanbase and theirs will really love what we have done together“. This has certainly raised excitement levels for the new album for me, how about you?

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“BLAIR!” – Industry Standard April 18, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:31 pm
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There is so much ignorance and apathy regarding climate change and environmental collapse. We should be thankful that some people are speaking up about it rather loudly. Industry Standard‘s new single “BLAIR!” highlights lead singer Gaby’s stress, worry, fear and concern about our planet. It is a powerful call to arms as Gaby repeats the songs mantra “Is She Gonna Make It“. The song is an absolute fucking cracker, and I am not talking about a cheap firecracker. I am talking of a cracker so explosive it would have sent Katy Perry and her Blue Origin pals beyond the known universe. Now that is a good thing right? Especially for the environment!

The band are the aforementioned lead singer Gaby (Gabriella Gonzalez) and three punk powerhouse musical henchmen: Phillip Stakem who knows a great riff, Oliver Jackson whose bass playing could start an earthquake and Tim Sketchley who plays his drums so hard I hear that Elvis heard them in his secret base on the moon! I reckon if you love Scene Queen and Casseyette you will adore Industry Standard. The video, directed by Ben Garnet, is a dark Barbie bad bimbo apocalyptic cartoon horror film and it is so very good in the way it communicates a serious message and entertains in parallel. The song actually appeared a few months ago, but you lot mostly ignored it. To mangle the great Liam Neeson’s line from ‘Taken’ (2008), “If you don’t ignore it this time and play it loads that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you do ignore it again, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kick your sorry ass” You have been warned!

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“Clickbait Reissued” – Sally Pepper featuring Millie Manders March 29, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 3:30 pm
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Sally Pepper’s songs are powerful, meaningful message carriers that issue a clarion call to the masses. “Click Bait” in its original form a fabulous song. Now Sally has rerecorded it with some support from her bestie Millie Manders. The new version, entitled, “Clickbait Reissued”, is as punk as fuck and rocks out like a barely contained music cyclone. The song slams the press, particularly tabloids, and lays bare the lies and hypocrisy that continues to be reported as truth. The full lyrics are great but some highlights for me are “But the only thing to cause offence is your lack of fucking common sense” which is clearly aimed at the idiots and hate mongers that feed off the shit that gets published. Then there is the “You’re not racist ‘cos you’ve got a friend who’s black, But you think it’s safest if we just send them back“. which sums up everyone that I have ever heard start a sentence with “I’m not a racist but …..“. As long as the world has people like Sally Pepper and Millie Manders in it then there is hope! I will be seeing Millie Manders and the Shutup live at the Crescent in York tomorrow and one of the support acts is Sally Pepper. Will we see a fully charged live version of “Clickbait Reissued” performed by Sally, Millie and the Shutup? I certainly hope so. Incidentally is that the Shutup playing on the track?

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“Speak Medieval” – Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii March 27, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:27 pm
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Two years ago I had an absolute blast witnessing Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii live for the first time, at the Fulford Arms in York. In my review of that night I used the opening narration from Rod Serling’s original Twilight Zone TV Series to try and give some flavour and explanation of what Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii are like. Having listened to their new single “Sing Medieval” I think Rod Serling’s words still sum them up perfectly. Those words are “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone“

The new song is frantic and full of warped post punk angst and energy. The angular guitar riffs are a punky take on Tome Verlaine and Television. There is a 60s cinematic feel to the track and a sprinkle of the B-52s “Rock Lobster”. The lyrics might have been made by someone throwing all the violent parts of nursery rhymes and fairy tales into a blender and spewing them out in swirling staccato voice shots. Word pairings like “I am trickster, mischief maker” and the infectious “Here comes the chopper, to chop – to chop, chop off their head” refrain are like no other lyric and work incredibly well because of that. Thomas Hawtin’s voice and delivery is reminiscent of early Talking Heads when David Byrne’s voice was weird, jagged and other-worldly. The band are on fire in this frenetic journey through the darker parts of the world and its bloody history. Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii are a truly and wonderfully different band and one that is perfect for this century and this sad, mad world that we live in. “Speak Medieval” is simply another step to world domination by Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii.

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“This Is Life” – Winnetka Bowling League March 16, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:27 pm
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Los Angeles trio Winnetka Bowling League issued a deluxe edition of last years “This Is Life” single recorded with Dawes and Medium Build. This edition features the original song, a live version and an acoustic version. Sadly, the song passed me by last summer, but I am so glad I have found it now. It is a fragile, emotional track which seems to be a stream of consciousness reflection on life. The lyrics are both simple and cleverly complex at the same time. “Like maybe death is time redirected. And hate is just the love we’ve rejected” for me those lines are the work of a genius. Especially as it is in the same song as the line “From being so broke I did sex shit on Craigslist“. The song is a mesmerisingly mellow thought provoking ballad for our times. What does it actually mean? I have no idea, but I suspect it might mean something different to everyone that hears it. I love this song and I will now power my way through Winnetka Bowling League’s back catalogue. I suspect that they may appear in these pages again in the future.

As a footnote, I discovered the band from a post that they made on Instagram about the last show of their recent tour which ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. What they said on that post and in the show was “Trump’s tariffs on Canada mean it would cost us 25% to bring our OWN merch / tee shirts back to America tomorrow when the tour ends. We said fuck that and gave it away for free in Halifax. Love you Canada“. So yes as we suspected there are good Americans (Winnetka Bowling Club definitely are!). Not everyone is under the orange thumb of Donold and Sissy SpaceX! Viva la revolution!

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“Hand In Hand” – Drop Dead McPhee March 14, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:11 pm
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Regular readers will have read about York’s Drop Dead McPhee on these pages before. I reviewed their support slot for Asylum last month, check that out here. They have just released their first single, “Hand In Hand”. When I saw them last month I likened them to Brinsley Schwarz and I think the new track also reflects that with and added abundance of American west coast rock, particularly in the guitar sounds which are majestic and the harmonies are delightfully Byrdsian. The B-Side/ 2nd track “Ignorance And Bliss” took me back to the early days of Aztec Camera. It is a wonderful slice of bright, tasteful acoustic rock. This is a great release from a band with great potential. I expect them to appear on these pages a lot in the future!

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“Wednesday” – Pick The Flowers

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:34 pm
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Chloe Munt a.k.a. Pick The Flowers has just released another single, “Wednesday”. This is around a year since her last release and oh boy has it been worth the wait. This dark, haunting, mesmeric, chilled, trance-like, cinematic anthem is her best yet. The soft electro sounds wash over you and just when you think you are drowning the beat kicks in and Chloe’s gorgeous emotional vocal drags you back to the surface. This track has huge depth and ambition and it scores a perfect ten on every count. “Wednesday” would make a great addition to the soundtrack of a 21st century British folk horror film soundtrack. One of my favourite tunes of the year so far!

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“Songs In The Key Of You” – David Judson Clemmons March 11, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:35 pm
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David Judson Clemmons has been an incredibly inventive musical artist for many years he is not afraid to try new things musically. He currently lives in a small town just north of Berlin, Germany, where he works as a full-time guitar teacher, an experience he describes as his greatest source of inspiration to date. He released his first solo album, ‘Life In The Kingdom Of Agreement’ back in 2004. Later this month on 28th March he releases his new album ‘Everything A War’. In advance of that he has just issued the second single from the album “Songs In The Key Of You”.

The track is anthemic and cinematic and heavy with emotion. I love the way it slowly builds from a soft start to a monumental crescendo. Clemmons vocals hold enough power to light a small city and the guitar solo is a stunning piece of work. The song made me think of Biffy Clyro and Pink Floyd among others. Lyrically it is mega powerful. I love the refrain “For those who live to break the hope of others. This song’s in the key of you“. Is this a message to so many of the vile leaders in the world today? I hope so. Based on just this song the album will be something special.

The tune is accompanied by a gorgeous music video directed by Stefano Mastronicola. The landscapes alone are stunning and surprisingly the monochrome seems to add depth and colour. Yes I know that sounds weird, but that is how it made me feel. You need to listen to this beautiful song and watch the video NOW! That is an order!

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“Eat My TV” – Liliths Army March 8, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 11:02 pm
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Liliths Army are Sylvie Studente on vocals and guitar, Tommy Mayo on bass and Sam Sherwood on drums. They are based in the UK in Northamptonshire. Their new single, “Eat My TV” is the finest slice of lo-fi British punk that I have heard for a long while. The song bemoans the fact that, in the bands opinion, music on TV is pretty shit right now. That is why they have suggested that they might eat their TV rather than watch shit music videos on it. I feel the need to make this a core part of a playlist aligned with Bowie’s “TVC 15” and Springsteen’s “57 Channels” for starters. The song is a taster for their album ‘Doll’ which will be out on Criminal Records later this month. The song was written by vocalist Sylvie and contains some rather ace lyrics, such as “I’d rather chew on a sweaty flip-flop, Than listen to fucking hip hop“. I understand the sentiment, particularly for some hip hop, but I also believe that there is still some good hip hop in the world. I am also sure that only a British band could include flip flops in a lyric! I love this song and I am really looking forward to the album! You can catch them on tour this year too. See the list below. I hope to be at the York gig in September!

28th March – Album Launch Party @ The Water Rats LONDON
22nd April – The Horn ST ALBANS
26th April – The Bear BEDFORD
31st May – Alice’s Wicked Tea Party Alternative Festival DORSET
6th June – The Victoria BIRMINGHAM
27th June – The Pipeline BRIGHTON
28th June – The Hope & Anchor LONDON
4th July – The Soundbar SKIPTON
25th July – Northants Rocks WELLINGBOROUGH
26th July – The Brunswick BRIGHTON
31st July – Moseley Punk Festival BIRMINGHAM
8th August – The Queen DONCASTER
9th August – Crank Studios LEEDS
12th September – Burton Lane Social YORK
13th September – Network 2 SHEFFIELD
4th October – The Shire Horse KETTERING
9th October – The Subside Bar BIRMINGHAM
15th November – Scruffy Murphys BIRMINGHAM
22nd November – The Puzzle Hall SOWERBY BRIDGE
30th November – Dan Fest @ The International LEICESTER
19th December – Percy’s SHROPSHIRE

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“Peace” – Dr Pushkin February 27, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:19 pm
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Austin, TX via Bolgatanga in Ghana uber talented hip-hop artist Dr. Pushkin has just released a new single featuring Isolirium and Ataman Nikita. The release precedes his SXSW performance on March 12th. The track includes a great blend of Ghanian Kologo guitar with some great Hip-Hop and R & B beats. The lyrics seek hope but also highlight the tough journey that finding peace will take. It is an inspirational tune and I love it, especially the vocal interplay between Dr. Pushkin and Ataman Nikita! Pushkin cites 2Pac and Nas as key influences and I can hear that throughout this wonderful song. the lyrics take some perfect and well primed shots at those in power. Get “Peace” in your ears and your life now!

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