Honey Trap are a hugely talented three-piece band from Leeds with members Owen, Aidan and Ben. They have just released a cracking new song, “Pretty Substance”. The tune has a deeply chilled light reggae feel to it. The vocals remind me of Richard Archer of Hard-Fi. This is perhaps one of the finest late summer songs ever!
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The Biffy boys return with a mighty slab of emotionally driven hard rock. Some of the exquisite riffage evokes the finest of late 80s and early 80s heavier bands. Meanwhile some of the harmonies could comfortably and seamlessly grace a great Queen song. “True Believer” is among their best from one of Scotland’s finest bands. ‘Mon The Biff! Biffy Fucking Clyro are back baby!
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A Michael Jackson cover by a metal band? Will that work? Fuck yeah! This is on a par with Alien Ant Farm’s cover of “Smooth Criminal” from 2001. “Give In To Me” in its original form was the seventh single released from Jackson’s eighth studio album ‘Dangerous’ in 1992.
Apparently Pure Obsessions & Red Nights recorded the song six years ago during the sessions for their ‘Mr. Strangler’ trilogy. They take the song from it’s syncopated modern pop R & B roots to another level entirely. They bring some magnificent dark metal and industrial vibes to give their take on the tune a deep and Stygian gothic feel. This is not some awful facsimile type of cover. They make the song feel new, fresh, disturbing, bombastic and absolutely fucking awesome!
Philippe Deschemin, who took care of mixing and mastering, reflects on the release: “During the recording of the Mr. Strangler Trilogy, I wanted to step aside from my own compositions and work on a cover. I’ve been a Michael Jackson fan since my early days, and many of his songs have a strong rock foundation. The choice of ‘Give In to Me’ felt natural. With the Trilogy leaning toward Gothic Metal and Industrial Rock, I wanted to push the guitars and give the song that weight. I’m glad to finally release it, six years after its recording.” Give this cracker a spin, you won’t regret it!
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Jesse Hartman who had a very successful time with his alt-pop project LAPTOP in the early part of this century releasing three classy albums; ‘Opening Credits’ (2000), ‘The Old Me vs. The New You’ (2001), and ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ (2003). I have been listening to those collections again and they have aged very well. Hartman is now working on a fourth LAPTOP album, ‘On This Planet’, with his son Charlie Hartman. The first results are “Weirder” released back in May and new single “Additional Animals”. It is a dark pop masterpiece about extinction, meat and the human urge for more. It has the classic LAPTOP alt-pop synth sound with some funky horns and was that some mandolin I heard too? The single was mixed by Mario McNulty who has worked with David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Laurie Anderson and Julian Lennon to name just a few. LAPTOP will be opening for UK indie darlings Cast in New York in September.
Jesse Hartman said this of the song “This song is about the human appetite — for meat, for more, for everything — and how that hunger’s eating us alive. It’s a song about extinction that you can dance to. The lyrics are a little more connected to the moment than usual for me — our failing planet, our endless consumption — but it’s still wrapped in this shimmering, international pop packaging. We tracked the song in hip Valencia, added harmonies and Caribbean instruments in Nevis, and finished it in our hood in New York. It’s a global pop fever dream about survival, meat, and the slightly hilarious fact that humans always want just a little more.” Lyrically it is pure brilliance. I love the lines that essentially deal with the demise of meat “Maybe cloning with help. Biotech can help. Another planet can help? Maybe god can help?” I love that it invokes such a range of things from biotech to god! Based on the two singles so far the new album is shaping up to be damned good!
Jesse directed the songs video and it is rather splendid! It was filmed during a surreal family summer in Valencia and features Jesse, Charlie and Jesse’s daughter Lulu. Jesse had this to say about the film. “It stars me, my kids, our percussionist Mike (who used to play with Brian Eno), and our Nevis family singer Denise. It’s chaotic and colorful and oddly hopeful — like maybe we’re not the last animals standing“. Watch the film, stream/ download/ buy the track, just do what you can to have this song in your life!
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At the end of last year I reviewed Andy Watson’s book ‘Total Cover Band Domination’ which is in effect a manual about the best way to build, manage and make your covers band more successful. His new book ‘Your Band Is A War Machine’ takes things to the next level. If the earlier book was a GCSE level tome the new one definitely sits at A Level. As regular readers know, I am not a musician and have never been in a band, but I have always been passionate about music and probably always will be. I have met plenty of musicians who have spent time in covers bands and while they all have different levels of commitment and passion there cannot be many with the same level of passion for his covers band that Andy Watson has.
The advice in the new book is even more practical than the first, in particular the element of getting paid and negotiating gigs and contracts. I also love some of the heckles he has experienced and the advice given as to how to handle different types of heckler. My favourite quote from that part is the heckler riposte “Who ordered the Screaming Bellend with extra bitterness“. There are some obvious bits of advice, like being polite to all venue staff. It seems simple but I am sure there are a few bands that are a bit up themselves and think they are better than other people. Andy gets it and gives you the lowdown on how to behave to build the best relationship with other people.
Andy writes with clarity, confidence, passion and he does it all in an easy to understand conversational manner. This book seems to add more detail than the previous one when talking about keeping the band together, not just through rehearsals but debriefing, band socials and agreeing a fair share of income based on effort and input. i was a mobile DJ for more than thirty years (now retired) and some of this advice even resonated with me too. Particularly agreeing and confirming a fee and ensuring that you get paid on time. Along perhaps with making sure you refresh your playlists regularly so that you never stop having something fresh to hit the crowd with.
If you are in a covers or tribute band (or even a non covers or tribute band) investing just a few quid in this book will be prove to be very much worth your while. You can get the e-book for £6, the paperback for £15 and the hardback for £22. The easiest way to get your copy is via the yourwarmachine.com website, just click here to zoom straight there and tell Andy I sent you!
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Brooklyn’s Biohazard are preparing to release their first album in almost ten years. It is called ‘Divided We Fall’ and to get us prepared for the riff onslaught they have gifted us with a new single hot on the heels of “Fuck The System” (July) and “Forsaken” (June). The third single from the new album is “Eyes On Six” and it is a magnificent metal monolith powered by riffs forged in the bowels of Valhalla. This sound could make a planet full of people mosh together. Get it into your head now and be ready for the album in October!
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The new EP from ace Louisiana based artist SINthetik Messiah is called ‘Beneath The Surface’ and it is a dark shrouded, deeply pertinent comment on the world today. Musically it evokes the Prodigy and Faithless, but with even more balls. The voice samples on opener “Maniacal Means” is apt and as scary as fuck. “Caught In The Grip Of The City” layers in a Stygian industrial sound that is cinematic classic horror film in its scope and ambition. I would love to hear a Trent Reznor remix of this one. The third track “Ideological Subversion”, for me. describes exactly what Putin has done to the USA via Trump. The track explains that demoralisation stage in the US is pretty much complete now over a dub style take of Faithless’ “Insomnia” that might have been driven musically by Gary Numan. The eastern style chanting is haunting and gorgeously disturbing. The increasing control of the rich elite is covered in EP closer “Life Hack”. The music here is poppy electro put through an anti-matter blender with the painful screams adding a further edgy layer.
SINTHETIK MESSIAH is the work of the Cajun songwriter and sound designer, Bug Gigabyte. Surely that’s not their real name, is it? The PR for the EP describes it as “a descent into the undercurrent — a raw, unfiltered excavation of the chaos, cruelty, and confusion that define the world we live in. Each track is a spade hitting the dirt, digging deeper into the systems, histories, traumas, and human instincts that keep everything so relentlessly messed up. It’s not about offering answers. It’s about refusing to look away.” It is impossible to deny that in my opinion. Give the EP a listen and maybe download it too, just click here!
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We haven’t featured a release from the delightful Safe Suburban Home Records for too long and we will rectify that now as we tell you about the new single from LOWMOON. UK based musician and producer Mikey Wilson is LOWMOON and his new song “Vacant Youth” is simply gorgeous. The music is a wonderful blend of exquisite jangly 80s and 90s indie with a charmingly blithesome vibe. It has that happy sounding music with the lyrics overlaying a slightly darker tone. I was reminded of Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian. This bodes well for the next LOWMOON album scheduled for next year. “Vacant Youth” is out on all platforms this Friday, 22nd August, get it in your ears as soon as you can, it will make your life better! While you wait for Friday click here to check out more of LOWMOON’s great music on Spotify!
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Here is the Mayhem chart for July 2025, a little late (just like last month) I know, but better late than never right? Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. My taste in music dropped one point to 98% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, Carole King and Bob Marley. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for March and they are Liz Davinci, Dead Rat Society and The Dead Zoo. Bowie, Dead Rat Society, Liz Davinci and David Bowie have retained their obscure and legacy positions from last month.
Panic Shack sit atop the artist chart for July 2025. party Nails was the only act that remained in the artist chart from last month, falling from number 1 to number 10. Three artists appear in the artist chart and the song chart: Scene Queen, Panic Shack and the Dead Zoo. Scene Queen smashes her way to the top of the song chart with her wonderful single and future disco classic “L-Shaped Couch” 70% of the artist chart is female or female fronted and the song chart is not far behind! ALT BLK ERA and Delilah Bon make a welcome return to the artist chart. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Seventeen minutes of fabulous music!
Mayhem Artist Chart July 2025
1 Panic Shack 2 The Dead Zoo 3 Paul Weller 4 Jah Wobble 5 Scene Queen 6 ALT BLK ERA 7 Delilah Bon 8 Cassyette 9 Kindelan 10 Party Nails
Mayhem Song Chart July 2025
1 L-Shaped Couch – Scene Queen 2 Thelma And Louise – Panic Shack 3 Catherine – Rival Consoles 4 Catch 22 – Specky Cult 5 Bruise – The Dead Zoo
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On this day, 18th August 1982, the City of Liverpool named four Streets after the Beatles: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive. So yes, they became their own long and winding road!
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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 