That mighty metal behemoth better known to us mere mortals as Not Now Norman are back with what I reckon is their best song to date, and let’s face it there is some tough competition! It is called “Save Me” and is available on all platforms now. It is a song about humanity is destroying the planet and was inspired by the Australian wildfires and the talking shop of COP26 that ultimately achieved nothing. We can’t stop climate change, but we can begin to lessen its impact. “Save Me” is a heartfelt message to humanity, especially the younger generation to do something. Listen to Greta Thunberg and her peers and listen to this anthemic song. The riffs are drawn directly from heavy metal Valhalla and Taylor’s vocal performance is passionate, emotional, and in a nutshell fucking awesome. Added to that the whole band is at peak performance. The lyrics are simple but so very powerful, how can anyone ignore words like “Save me from our destiny. Save me from a time, where everything around us dies“. Click here to check out the complete lyrics. This is a mosh pit anthem with a great message. Download, stream, buy it, I don’t care how you get this song in your life, just get it, become a Norminion, and more importantly, listen to it (and I mean REALLY LISTEN), take in the message, and act!
You can catch the band live in Stockton-On-Tees this Saturday, 5th March as part of Women In Music.
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This is the fifteenth in our Mayhem Virgins series and it features Bruno Skibbild a Singer/Songwriter, Author, and Social Worker. He was also the winner of the Best Country Song Award at Clouzine Fall 2020. A country song, you’re thinking this guy is American right? Well, think again the rather talented and diverse Bruno was born and raised in a small town in Denmark called Snejbjerg, which is roughly in the centre of the country. Mr. Skibbild got his first guitar from his sister when he was in 7th grade and he still plays it. As a teenager, Bruno played in a local band, M87 and this is where he began writing his own songs. After completing his Masters in American History Bruno taught at all levels of education from elementary school to high school. At the same time he moved away a little from his music to bring up his children, twins no less. Then in 2017, he got his music muse back and travelled around Denmark with Neal Ashley Conrad performing songs from The Boss in “The Springsteen Show”. As a teenager, his first music loves were Springsteen and Kiss. Nowadays he takes some of that influence and would probably describe himself as a country-rock artist.
In 2019 Bruno Skibbild finally recorded and released his first single, a song he wrote when he was just 16, it is called “A World Tomorrow”. It’s a great tune with a really 70s soft rock vibe and exceptionally good considering how young he was when he wrote it. By then Bruno was in his mid-forties and didn’t take anywhere near as long with his second single “Long Walk” which came out in 2020. This tune chugs along nicely with riffs reminiscent of Keith Richards on the more country-style Stones songs. Bruno was much more prolific in 2021 releasing four singles; “We Pray For It Everyday”, “Dead To Me”, “When The Past Is Done” and “She Would Never Give In”. There is a vein of darkness flowing through these four tracks and maybe that was driven by some of the awful turmoil going on in Bruno’s life at the time. I particularly love “Dead To Me” which I can imagine Nick Cave singing. His next release was full of rightful anger and questionable justice after social services wrongly removed his children from his care. Bruno said this of the track “I wanted to tell the story about a personal family nightmare that me and my children experienced in 2007. I was wrongfully accused of the abuse of my children and the County took them into custody without any further investigations than the original accusation. It took me 8 months to get my children released from the institution where they were kept isolated. Now being an artist, music helps me push away the trauma through singing it out.” Given the anger and sadness in the lyrics, it is quite an upbeat tune, which perhaps reflects the positive outcome of his children being returned to him. Bruno recently released another single “Gonna Jump Like An Evil” which sounds like Dire Straits recording with a South American Salsa band with jazz aspirations. Without a doubt, this is my favourite Bruno Skibbild song to date. He records his music at Oak Mountain Black Swamp Studio in Copenhagen. Click here to check out all these tunes on Spotify
A quick shout to those of you who have faithfully followed the Mayhem Virgins series, you know it is for artists that have never featured on these pages before. However, technically, Bruno got a mention in a recent Mayhem’s Top 20 Artists post, but in my defence I had mostly drafted this post by then!
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I don’t get the opportunity to review books here on With Just A Hint Of Mayhem, but I am pleased to say that following hot on the heels (ok more than three months) of my review of John Illsley’s autobiography I have just read another, obviously music-related tome. This one is for ‘Into the Never – Nine Inch Nails And The Creation Of The Downward Spiral’ By Adam Steiner, which was originally published in 2020 by Backbeat Books. This is Adam’s first non-fiction book following his first novel ‘Politics of The Asylum’ from 2018. Adam also publishes poetry and is a journalist. Among other things, presumably in his spare time, he has also lectured on Creative Writing and Publishing at Coventry University.
If you are a fan of Trent Reznor’s music then you may well have already read this book, if you’re not then I would recommend that you do, maybe using the album that it covers in great detail as your soundtrack. There is a similarity between Steiner’s book and the ’33 1/3′ Series that has published some great pocket-sized books which explore the creation of classic albums, (including book 78 in the series covering Nine Inch Nails ‘Pretty Hate Machine’) although ‘Into The Never’ goes to a far greater depth to study how ‘The Downward Spiral‘ came about. In fact, one of the huge collection of Steiner’s references is Daphne Carr’s 33 1/3 book.
‘Into The Never’ not only deals with the actual music and how it was constructed and recorded but also analyses the whole creation of the album. Including Trent Reznor’s probable state of mind at the time and that he initially worked on the album at a home recording set up in a rented property on Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Not just some random property though, this was the house where the infamous Manson Murders took place. Although there is no suggestion that Reznor rented the place because of that. The book has caused me to completely re-examine ‘The Downward Spiral‘ which I always considered a good album. But after playing it quite a few times while reading the book I have come to appreciate it as a great album a truly seminal release and possibly Trent Reznor’s finest recorded moment. Adam Steiner writes with a great intellectual gravity while ordering his words in a beautiful flow that kept me interested from start to finish. Questions about whether ‘The Downward Spiral’ is autobiographical or simply a concept album akin to Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ are considered. As well as Reznor’s fraught addiction issues and his path on a rocky road to self-destruction (which thankfully he survived) the book also deals with relevant aspects of US social history from the aforementioned Manson Murders to the Columbine School shootings via the Vietnam War.
There are some really sharp references to what most definitely did influence the album or in some cases may have influenced. Including, my list is not exhaustive,
Authors; George Orwell, Greil Marcus, Chuck Palahniuk, Albert Camus
Philosophers and Thinkers; Michel Foucault, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche
Musicians; David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Richey Edwards, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, Johnny Cash
Artists; Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon
The book also discusses the theological impact alongside the major world events that probably played a part. Additionally, there are plenty of references to films (‘Natural Born Killers’) and music (“Helter Skelter” by the Beatles). This is perhaps the most in-depth publication about an album that I have ever read and frankly, my musical knowledge and appreciation of ‘The Downward Spiral‘ is so much richer because of it. Fans of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails will devour this book and those who appreciate great music and classic albums will love it too. Click here to find it on Amazon, or better still pay a visit to your local independent book store or your public library!
Adam Steiner
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On the last Mayhem Top 20 post, I mentioned that I was changing how it would be published. Instead of waiting for Obscurify to tot up listens on a seemingly random date, I will now take a snapshot at the end of each month. So the Top 20 for February is the first of those. Many of you know that I am a keen user of a site called Obscurify. It claims to tell you how obscure your listening on Spotify is. Compared to the rest of the UK I achieved a level of 100% more obscure than other users in the UK. 100%, is that even possible? Either way, I am proud of it! Anyway, regular readers will know that it also lists my most obscure artists, (the top two of which have been there since I began doing these posts) which currently are;
Woke Up Dead (One of the two bands that have been ever-present in my obscure list and an excellent band to boot!)
Promethium (This metal bunch continue to fly the flag for great British rock and like Woke Up Dead have been ever-present in this obscure team)
Black Acacias -(I have no idea how I found this lot. Their album came out in 2008 and they have 4 monthly listeners on Spotify. There seems to be no information about them online, apart from the music on Spotify. If you were in Black Acacias or know anything about them please contact me. They appear at number 13 in this week’s chart)
Folk The System – (folky protest and frankly great songs, this lot make their second appearance in the obscure list. They appear at number 27 in the extended chart)
As for the February Top 20, only Dame David and Kate Bush remain from the last chart. Other classic artists include Suede, Arctic Monkeys, Glen Campbell, Alison Moyet, Culture Club, Bob Dylan Dionne Warwick, and Frank Turner. Bruno Skibbild makes his second appearance and there will be another post about him very soon. Nine Inch Nails crash in at number one, I have just read a great book about their album ‘The Downward Spiral’, lookout for a review of that on these pages sometime soon. The rest of the top five is The Skinner Brothers, Hawksley Workman, Heartsink, and the aforementioned Kate Bush. Four of the artists who feature in the February Top 20 are current contenders for my album of the year for 2022, can you guess who they are? Who knew that there was a band called Diamond Dogs? I didn’t until now. Gonora Sounds from Africa produce some of the most uplifting music that I have heard in a long while! Here is that all-important top 20. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
1 Nine Inch Nails 2 The Skinner Brothers 3 Hawksley Workman 4 Heartsink 5 Kate Bush 6 David Bowie 7 Glen Campbell 8 Paul Draper 9 Bob Dylan 10 Alison Moyet 11 Gonora Sounds 12 Culture Club 13 Black Acacias 14 Dionne Warwick 15 L.A.B. 16 Diamond Dogs 17 Suede 18 Arctic Monkeys 19 Frank Turner 20 Hurray For The Riff Raff
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Those purveyors of pop-punk perfection, York’s very own Heartsink recently unleashed a new EP onto the world, it is called ‘Mainspring’ and it is rather splendid! It is on Ernald Troutman Records. If you grew up with Sum 41, Blink 182, or even Green Day you will love this seven-song collection. The title track opens proceedings and although clocking in at just over a minute it serves as almost an overture to what is to come. “Starting Over” has “release me as a single” written all over it. It has an awesome production, riffs to die for and hooks, and a chorus that echoes in your head for hours after listening to it. “Andy Bernard Does Not Lose Contests” has a backing that stretches away from the band’s pop-punk comfort zone with some sky-high riffage that borders on great metal. Meanwhile, the harmonies soar and the vocals are packed full of emotion. I assume that Andy Bernard is Ed Helms’s character from the US version of The Office. Enlighten me Heartsink! If you like music that smacks into your head like a sledgehammer until you let it in then “Beacon” is definitely for you. The drumming here is on a kind of level with the power to cause an extinction-level event tsunami. “Keepsake” has a late 70s power pop feel to it and everyone in the band is on absolute perfect top form on this track. Check out the rather spiffing video below. Heartsink show even more depth on the beautiful power ballad “Getting Older”, which after listening to the EP five times is probably my current favorite track. There is real passion and soul on display. The EP closes with the hugely powerful “Chasing Moments” which boasts yet another hook to die for. This is a fabulous EP that shows that these lads are not afraid to step away from their pop-punk roots at times. This will be getting plenty of spins by me and it is a clear sign that the future for Heartsink may be very bright indeed! The band is playing an EP launch show at The Fulford Arms tonight, Sunday 27th February. Get along to it if you can!
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Greetings dear readers how is 2022 shaping up for you. I am a little late with this post, so there will be a February top 20 on the way soon and some news as to how these Top 20 posts will change going forward. Many of you know that I am a keen user of a site called Obscurify. It claims to tell you how obscure your listening on Spotify is. Compared to the rest of the UK I still remain over 97% more obscure than other users in the UK. It also lists my most obscure artists, (the top two of which have been there since I began doing these posts) which currently are;
Woke Up Dead (One of the two bands that have been ever-present in my obscure list and an excellent band to boot!)
Promethium (This metal bunch continue to fly the flag for great British rock and like Woke Up Dead have been ever-present in this obscure team)
Penfriend – (Not Laura Kidd’s first time in this list and a welcome return)
So who were the top artists for January 23rd? Check the full lists below, in a first for this chart there are more female artists than male artists for the first time (11 versus 9). In fact the Top 4 are all women, including a first number one for Gwen McCrae, what a voice! The Dame hangs in at number five. My reggae taste is represented by Dr. Alimantado (7), Dillinger (8) and Marcia Griffiths (17). My favourite 90s band Gene sit at number 18. There a a few classic artists (Kiki Dee, Kate Bush, Judie Tzuke and Joni Mitchell to name a few). This was before Joni removed her music from Spotify of course. Confession time, I really, really fancied Judie Tzuke when I was in my teens! There is a great showing for new artists too, some are more new to me, including The Anchoress, Helen Love, Bruno Skibbild and Yard Act. Look out for an upcoming Bruno Skibbild post soon. Give Obscurify a spin and let me know what your chart looks like and how obscure your tastes are 🙂
1 Gwen McCrae 2 Kate Bush 3 Tori Amos 4 Millie Jackson 5 David Bowie 6 Kiki Dee 7 Dr. Alimantado 8 Dillinger 9 The Anchoress 10 Joni Mitchell 11 Tavares 12 Helen Love 13 Beverly Craven 14 Yard Act 15 Shabazz Palaces 16 Norman Connors 17 Marcia Griffiths 18 Gene 19 Judie Tzuke 20 Bruno Skibbild
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Underground and leftfield York band Tommyrot are about to unleash ‘Turkey Vulture Of Drug Culture’, a four-track EP at the world. The EP opens with the darkly comic and mostly acoustic-driven “Circles”. The song has the feel of a lost nugget from the 60s and creeps into your head quite easily and makes itself comfortable there. The slightly funkier “Waiting On Tobyn” is next and it maintains that gorgeous lo-fi acoustic feel if those lyrics didn’t come from a drug-induced dream then I might have to eat my notebook. It sounds like a lost demo from the 13th Floor Elevators or perhaps Strawberry Alarm Clock. Lead Single “A Very Real Field” grabs you straight away and stays with you for days afterward. While it has a laid-back vibe (I can imagine sipping a beer in the garden while listening to it) I think they will make the song rock like a bastard when they play it live. It has a strong early 70s Kinks feel for me. “Turkey Vulture” is driven by an exquisite bass motif and is the sort of the that The Band might have created had they jammed with the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop. This is my favourite song from the EP and it needs to become the next single. If he was still with us John Peel would have loved this one. For you fact fans the Turkey Vulture is a real thing and is also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard and in some parts of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow. Tommyrot’s earlier release “Funky Feeling” now has a brilliant younger brother in the B-Side of “A Very Real Field”, called “Funky Monkey” which does what it says on the tin, it is as funky as fuck and is like something that George Clinton might have produced for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had they worked together. Currently, my second favourite of the five, and this one will be awesome played live. There is not a duff track on this EP. Get ‘Turkey Vulture Of Drug Culture’ in your life as soon as it hits the streets. You will not be disappointed! A big shout out to Edd Thomas who hand-painted the stunning cover, which is comparable with some of Roger Dean’s best work and maybe the cover of Elton John’s ‘Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy’. Tommyrot will be playing an EP launch show at The Fulford Arms in York on 26th February.
If you love screaming guitars and sumptuous, swanky 70s style rock then you will absolutely dig the delightful new platter from York band Anthea Drive. The band formed in 2019 and has been through a couple of line-up incarnations before settling on the present team of Cash Richards (Guitar), Sam Elliott (Guitar), Conor MacKinnon (Drums), Dec Suddaby (Bass), and newest recruit Michelle Jade (Vocals). While Michelle doesn’t feature on the forthcoming ‘Russian Roulette’ EP and the lead single “Yes, I Want To Be A Ballerina” she has joined as lead singer. Having heard her playing solo, I think she will improve an already fabulous sounding band. A quick shout to all you fact fans, in case you wondered the band is named after a road in York.
“Yes, I Want To Be A Ballerina” encapsulates every ingredient that a great rock song needs; riotous riffs, pounding drums, bone-shaking bass, great vocals, and hooks that really do hook you. Some of the bands’ key influences can be heard at different points. Notably Guns N Roses and the Foo Fighters on top of that there is a real sense of post-punk and power pop here. Bands like Sniff ‘n’ The Tears, the Motors, Be Bop Deluxe, and in the melody possibly the Buzzcocks. Given the right exposure, and I think they can get it, this is a band with huge potential. Based on this track I am looking forward to experiencing Anthea Drive live very soon and to hearing more music from them!
The single is available now on all major platforms, including Spotify and Amazon (click the links and check it out)
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Maybe it is that I am ancient, but tonight’s crowd seemed like a youth club crowd. But oh boy were they a brilliant crowd. First up was Vaquelin whose current album is a contender, along with Yard Act, for my album of the year already. The band absolutely stormed it and whether they set out to do this they played their set like they were headliners. Adrian’s vocals were soaring and powerful, do you think he looks a little like Enrique Iglesias? (Asking for a friend). Callum’s guitar playing was comparable with both Mick Ronson and Jimmy Page. How long will it be before he uses a violin bow on his guitar a la Page? Jack smashed his drums like he was possessed by the spirit of John Bonham and you could feel Luca’s bass in your chest. The so-far unreleased “Broken Windows” was incredible and needs to be a single! Vaquelin has a very strong core group of fans and I would like to name them Vaquelinians, Gaga has her Little Monsters so why shouldn’t Vaquelin have a fan family? You need this band in your life.
Next up was Rolla who signed a record deal this week. They are from Manchester, they have Brit Pop style, the lead singer, James Gilmore, wears a parka and sports a Liam Gallagher style haircut. That is how they appeared to me, but what did they sound like? Well the band seemed really tight and well-rehearsed and they do have some great songs, particularly “Sweet Lullaby” and “Show Me”. Gilmore also has the swagger, confidence, and charisma of a great frontman. But for me, they were a bit identikit Oasis. Is the world ready for a new version of the boys from Burnage? I said maybe………
The final band tonight was York’s excellent City Snakes and they were a bit special. Scuzzy garage rock like a punked-up Arctic Monkeys with an added portion of that dirty glam sound that the New York Dolls were so good at. The crowd went mental and created some pretty amazing mosh circles for such a brilliant intimate venue like the Fulford Arms. This is a band that knows how to entertain and they have an innate ability to whip their crowd into a frenzy!
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Since forming in 2008 this Worcester-based punk rock band has lived by their motto: “If you’re not having fun, then what’s the point in working this hard?” Fights and Fires are often described as emotive rowdy hardcore punk bangers or melodic hardcore-infused punk-rock, but however you want to think of them, they deliver a sound that is exhilarating and incendiary (pun intended). Since their formation, the band have released 4 albums, an EP, two split releases, and a handful of singles, which are now completely sold out on all formats. After turning their focus to touring mainland Europe, the band has built a solid underground fanbase throughout the continent. These guys love Star Wars, professional wrestling, and superheroes. Fights And Fires, offstage, look more at home in your local comic bookstore, than at a punk rock show. But, come stage time, it all changes – it’s nice guys, playing hard, in your face music, with wide smiles across their faces. Fights & Fires are Philip Cox (Vocals and trained professional wrestler), Ryan Price (Guitar and roller coaster fanatic), Philip Cook (Guitar and Football Manager supremo), Luke Tasker (Bass and lots of hidden talents), Lee Jackson (Drums and self-confessed football lunatic). Lyrically, this fun-loving quintet is not afraid to show us their emotions and musically not ashamed to wear their classic rock and post-hardcore influences side by side on their sleeves. What you get is a cleverly crafted sound of the likes of Thin Lizzy and Motorhead, as well as US punk bands Rocket From the Crypt and The Bronx.
‘Future Plans And The Things That Ruin Them’ EP, the latest addition to their repertoire, releases February 18 through Lockjaw Records. The EP was written throughout 2020 during the various lockdown periods, countless hours were spent writing over Zoom calls between the members’ homes in Worcester, Wales and France. In the summer of 2021, the band were able to re-unite, socially distanced of course 😉, to spend a day rehearsing before heading straight into the studio to record this well-crafted and poignant EP. “The only real theme of the EP is hope. The subject matter is often about hard times or struggles but the message is always one of finding a better way or a light at the end of the tunnel,” explains vocalist Philip Cox. I am pretty sure Philip, and the rest of his soulmates know about ‘Fights and Fires are the Flowers of Edo’ and how this expression is used to describe the destruction and rebuilding of Tokyo over the centuries. As we continue to destroy what’s around us, at some point we will rebuild and improve, giving us that hope of what may lie ahead in the future. The deep and meaningful stuff to one side, what about the EP? The hard-hitting opening track, “Disposable Dogs”, is their first single to be released at the back end of 2021. Cox’s distinctive vocals lead the way with his very own expressive style, reminding me at times of Robert Smith from the Cure and even Feargal Sharkey from the Undertones. Guitarwork from Price and Cook from start to end is always raw, pacy and sharp. Nicely complimented with Taskers pummelling bass throughout, this song is made up of many varied movements, a bit like a piece of classical music. The vocals, tuneful and melodic during the chorus, are very satisfying and anthemic. I can imagine being there at their gigs, singing along with the thousands of other fans. The lead up to the chorus focuses on the angst in Cox’s vocals creating the perfect backdrop for lyrics like ‘These are the problems that we face every day, these are our problems, and they don’t go away’. During the track, there’s a satisfying instrumental break, picked guitar and pounding floor toms, shining a light on how musically accomplished this band are. A belting opening track.
“Shitty Year”, released in January, begins where “Disposable Dogs” left off. ‘My indecisions are the source of my bad luck’, no wishbones, no four-leaf clover‘, the song takes a look back at a shitty year and looking forward with hope. Philip Cox and the band deliver another well-structured piece of melodic punk, thundering along with anthemic choruses. It’s been another shitty year yeah yeah – you have to love this clever wordsmanship creating a truly pop hook. Throughout Messrs Price and Cook hit us with clean and choppy guitar interlocking with a delicious sustained distorted sound. The solid drums and driving bass do exactly what you’d expect. Just over halfway through, after an unexpected and quite satisfying key change, we are treated to a powerful bass and drum interlude, before normal service is resumed, and the band continues to thump out to the end. Just when you thought you had this band’s style and genre sussed, the next 2 tracks stop you in your tracks. In “Bed For Bones”, the chaps show us that they know how to really rock. In your face guitar work, which often sounds very Iron Maidenesque and then some well-constructed and tight rhythms, where for a moment I think I am listening to Rage Against the Machine. This track has an abundance of styles and variety – it’s a love song…not a sing-along. It’s my favourite by far. “Up, Down, Labour, Conservative, A, B, Start” goes to the other end of the spectrum. It’s a real punk banger, bouncing along and politically charged. Less anthemic and catchy choruses than previous tracks, the band releases their angst through the music and vocals. ’History just repeats itself, but we just keep on letting it, we just keep on letting it’ – it’s a powerful message and let’s just hope that we do something about it. The closing track on the EP is “Pocket Full Of Flowers”, which was released as a single back in 2020. Vocalist Philip Cox said, “The song is about the naivety of love, and how focused we can be on it to cement our happiness…So, just as a token gift of a flower to a mother is put in a pocket to wilt away, a wedding ring can too end up in a sock draw wasting away. For the first time in my adult life, I felt like I could start again and build a new better version of me.” This track returns the EP to a more melodic and singalong style life as the punky and trembling vocals pack a mean punch on top of gritty guitars sitting perfectly with the full and round sound of Jackson’s drums. It’s a catchy number, energetic and melodic.
Fights & Fires will be hitting the road throughout February 2022, in support of the new EP, with remaining shows in Lincoln, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee – Tickets are on sale now. See them live on the following dates: February 2022 Fri 11th – LINCOLN – Akedo Sat 12th – BIRMINGHAM – The Victoria Sun 13th – LONDON – New Cross Inn Thu 17th – GLASGOW – Bloc Fri 18th – EDINBURGH – Banshee Labyrinth Sat 19th – DUNDEE – Rad Apples
Written by Juan Brooks
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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 