A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of catching up with a magnificent and extremely talented band, the Dead Zoo. It was around the time of the release of their cracking new single “Do Clean/ Do Dirrrty”. The band spoke about the single, gigging after covid, what comes next for them, and many other things. Click here to listen to the interview. Turn your volume up loud as it was a Zoom to mobile call and you know how temperamental tech can be right? I really love this band and I had great fun speaking with them. I hope you enjoy listening to it. This post also gives me the opportunity to share the fabulous official video that accompanies the single, a song that I believe is the band’s best so far.
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Tomorrow the Dead Zoo, one of my favourite current bands release their cracking new single “Do Clean / Do Dirrrty”. I am honoured to say that they have given me the opportunity to premiere the song a little early and share with you the lyric video. The actual video will be available soon and is just getting its finishing touches. As for the song, it is a punk mega blast full of anger, vitriol, and perhaps most importantly, hope. It is the sort of tune that could take the roof off a venue. Real 21st Century punk that smacks you right in the face and makes you listen. Here are some of the things the band had to say about the song. Singer and guitarist Kaoru says the song was driven by a conviction that “when trapped and lost, making a bold move to escape that reality regardless of the destination is sometimes necessary. In my case, the drive to move on emerges most strongly from my gender transition and is particularly relevant as trans people are currently being ‘monstered’ daily in an unprecedented attack by all sides of the establishment, society, and the mass media. The lawless mentality embraced by the lyric’s narrator fits well with that sense of being outside the bounds of a ‘normal’ world that seeks to cancel you and all those like you.” Joint lead vocalist Somrata, who also contributes a searing textural synth lead to counterpoint the buzzsawing guitars, says “that narrative is universal. The prevailing forces of populism and conservatism are those that are being fought by those they seek to keep under control. The song is all about that sense of finding our freedoms and enjoying that getaway drive in the process. It’s very Thelma and Louise.”
Spiderman has the Spiderverse, well this is the DeadZooverse!
This is a tour de force from a supremely talented band and takes their sound to a whole new level and hopefully a much wider audience. I once said that the Dead Zoo are destined for great things and on the evidence of “Do Clean / Do Dirrrty” that most definitely still holds true. I haven’t seen them live yet, but they are definitely on my “see live” bucket list. Look out for an interview with the Dead Zoo on these pages very soon. I also love that they have taken Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” to another level with that statement extra ‘r’.
‘Do Clean / Do Dirrrty’ is released on all digital platforms on August 10th, 2022, backed with monstrous psych stomper ‘Siluett’. Get it and get on it tomorrow!
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Greetings to readers new and old, I hope that 2022 is a great one for you. But frankly it can’t be worse than 2020 and 2021 can it? Well my 2022 has started with me isolating with Covid, so who knows! 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 99% 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;
Promethium (This metal bunch continue to fly the flag for great British rock)
The Dead Zoo (This fabulous band make another appearance at number 15 in this months top 20)
Catherine Anne Davies (a.k.a. The Anchoress. This entry is thanks to me spending some time with the sublime album she released with Bernard Butler, ‘In Memory Of My Feelings’)
The Suncharms (Two months in a row in the obscure gang and top of the last chart too, falling to number two this time out)
So who were the top artists for January 1st (which incidentally was also my birthday!) ? Check the full lists below, the Dame is back at the top after a lowly showing last time. Suncharms stick around at 2. Number 3 is the home of one of my favourite ever acts, the KLF. Meanwhile the Kunts, the marvellous punk Christmas chart Crusaders are at number 4, thanks to me looping their excellent attack on Boris Johnson in a campaign to get it to Christmas number one There are a few new (to me) artists in there, notably Kid Kapichi, Captain Accident and Ferocious Dog. Also, plenty of the usual classic acts, including Paul Weller, Frank Zappa, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Wings and Procol Harum. Give Obscurify a spin and let me know what your chart looks like and how obscure your tastes are 🙂
Mayhem’s Top 20 Artists on Spotify (January 1st 2022)
1 David Bowie 2 Suncharms 3 KLF 4 The Kunts 5 Paul Weller 6 Emmylou Harris 7 Frank Zappa 8 Bruce Springsteen 9 Gregory Porter 10 Alicia Keys 11 Captain Accident 12 Cat Power 13 Ferocious Dog 14 Wings 15 The Dead Zoo 16 Apollo Junction 17 Procol Harum 18 Stanley Clarke 19 Kid Kapichi 20 Depeche Mode
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The Dead Zoo promoting their “In The End” CD. The music is so tasty it’s edible!
Here comes the seventh Christmas Message for this year and it is from the rather wonderful Dead Zoo, who also provided a fab message last year too. Like many bands this year has been relatively slow for the Dead Zoo. However, that has not stopped them from releasing a fabulous single “In The End” which came with some banging dance mixes and a great cover of Mr. Bowie’s “Everyone Says Hi”. They have also played a few live dates recently. The Dead Zoo are on my bucket list of bands to see playing live next year! Click here to check them out on Bandcamp, there are still a handful of CD copies of the “In The End” CD available. Their merch is also on Bandcamp too. How about a particularly tasteful T-Shirt or a lighter/ bottle opener combo, now the latter is pretty ace in my humble opinion!
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Regular readers will 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 remain 99% 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;
Promethium (This metal bunch also made it to number 11 in this months top 20)
The Dead Zoo (This fabulous band made an appearance at number 19 in this months top 20)
Hans Deville (Hans makes an appearance at number 12 in this weeks chart while his band, ska punkers King Prawn sit at number 17)
The Suncharms (Not only did the majestic Suncharms get themselves into my most obscure list, they also made their first Mayhem chart number 1, well done lads!)
So who were the top artists for December (12th)? Check the full lists below, but I have already revealed that the Suncharms were number one. Delilah Bon was a chart-topper in October, and for her fifth appearance overall she has hit the number two spot. Radiohead is at number three. There are a few new artists in there, notably Gabby Barrett, Alanna Lyes, Efterklang, and the aforementioned Hans Deville and King Prawn. Also, plenty of the usual classic acts, including David Bowie at a very lowly 16, KLF, Frank Zappa and Paul Weller. Give Obscurify a spin and let me know what your chart looks like and how obscure your tastes are 🙂
Mayhem’s Top 20 Artists on Spotify (December 12th 2021)
1 Suncharms 2 Delilah Bon 3 Radiohead 4 Ch-Lites 5 Paul Weller 6 Gabby Barrett 7 Alanna Lyes 8 Frank Zappa 9 Silk Sonic 10 Millie Manders and the Shut Up 11 Promethium 12 Hans Deville 13 Gregory Porter 14 Joy Crookes 15 KLF 16 David Bowie 17 King Prawn 18 Efterklang 19 The Dead Zoo 20 Dave Gahan
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OK I know I have been somewhat slow with reviews these last few months, so as an early Christmas gift this will probably be the final singles round-up of 2021. I will focus on a collection of tracks that I really loved but thanks to life (and laziness? Hopefully not that) I never got around to reviewing. Some of these came out quite a while ago too. I plan to be much better at this in 2022. If you have sent me something to review and I never got around to it then I am truly sorry, keep sending stuff though, as I really plan to get more done next year!
AP, who has featured on this site quite a few times now, returned with the rather splendid ‘Alternate Vision EP’ this summer and this dark riff laden romp was the lead single. AP is definitely one of those rare talents that grows with every release. Click here to check out the EP on Spotify, the cover of the Hives classic “Hate To Say I Told You So” is sublime.
If Karen Carpenter had been in the Cocteau Twins rather than Liz Fraser they might have sounded like Tay Temple. This is a lovelorn torch song with bite and I love it!
A gorgeous acoustic ballad from the supremely talented Marnie Glum. A perfect fit to soundtrack a chilled summer afternoon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to brighten up a dark winter day as well.
A towering track from the magnificent Not Now Norman. The riffs and hooks hit you on the first listen, a band that gets better and better with every release. I am proud to be a Norminion and I am also in the video, can you spot me? 😉
A modern twist on bands like the Clash and perhaps the less in-your-face elements of Blink 182. Catchy rock at its best, I particularly love the guitars on this track. Matt’s vocal oozes class too!
This raucous garage band from Huddersfield sent me a great song, “Could I Bare” back in September, it is bloody good, but finding stuff online from these lads has proved difficult, so the video below is for an electrifying excerpt from their set supporting Skylights on their Yorkshire tour!
That delightful bunch of talented musicians released a classy Giorgio Moroderesque single earlier in the year and it comes with some incredible dance mixes. I shelled out for the CD version and it was well worth it. Click here to check out the original, remixes along with their rather ace cover of the Dame’s “Everyone Says Hi” on Spotify. I really need to see the Dead Zoo live in 2022. In the videos below you can see the band play “In The End” live.
This track shows the breadth of talent and versatility that Andy of Cold Culprits fame has. This is a real step away from his punk style that I was familiar with. “Pink Champagne” is a frenetic, edgy dance track that would sound immense over a nightclub sound system. Andy also created the rather wonderful animations in the video too.
The band launched this single 7 months ago and it is pure dirty, grungey, punky, bluesy, garage rock class. The band rock out like the Stooges on a tune that will undoubtedly rip a hole in venue roofs across the country.
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In case you missed them click here for my most recent interview podcasts, hosted on BuzzSprout!
This series features some very strong and incredibly talented female artists; Lauren Tate (a.k.a. Delilah Bon), Millie Manders (of Millie Manders & the Shutup) and Kaoro Sato (of the Dead Zoo). Keep a good eye and ear on all of them. Delilah Bon releases her first album in May, Millie Manders & the Shutup have just released a new single and the next Dead Zoo single will be out soon! All of these will be reviewed on these very pages. So to whet your appetite please give the interview podcasts a spin! New interviews will be on here soon, watch this space!
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Last week I had the honour and pleasure of interviewing Kaoru Sato the talented frontwoman of the Dead Zoo, a band who are destined for great things! Kaoru talks about her musical influences, her previous bands, these strange days and the Dead Zoo among many other things. Click here to take a listen and let us know what you think. While your listening check out the Dead Zoo on BandCamp and maybe buy yourself some fine music! When you have listened to the podcast and bought some great stuff from BandCamp I have included a few of my favourite Dead Zoo tracks from YouTube below!
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Many of you regular readers know that I am a big fan of the Dead Zoo, they are a band with a very bright future. They have a new single “In The End” lined up for release on 26th March, I reckon it will be their best yet from what the band have told me. But in the meantime they took the rather strange, but rather wonderful decision to release the B-Side early. It was released on January 10th, the fifth anniversary of the passing of David Bowie. It is a cover of one of my favourite later period Bowie songs, “Everyone Says Hi” from 2002’s ‘Heathen’. It is a faithful take on the tune but singer Kaoru adds a hauntingly beautiful and respectful vocal to it. Their is an undercurrent of emotion in her voice, maybe she is channelling her inner Bowie, I know she is a huge fan of the Dame. I also love the sublime vamping backing vocals too. It was a brave cover to attempt, but the Dead Zoo nailed it! I am looking forward even more to the A side now 🙂 keep your ears peeled for it good people! If you love this track like I do, I also urge you to check out Kaoru’s fabulous covers album released last year on BandCamp, click here to find it.
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Only six more sleeps until the bearded weirdo drops down your chimney, are you excited? I think I am. So excited in fact that I am sending you another great Christmas message from another fabulous band that we love here at With Just A Hint Of Mayhem; The Dead Zoo. We have featured them before, click here to read our review of their rather splendiferous single “Mother”. I have had a sneak preview of a couple of tracks the band plan to release in 2021 and they are both incredible, so incredible that they will put a a very special shine on the new year, especially after the shitstorm that 2020 has been. The Dead Zoo Christmas message is below.
Here is what the band have to say to you 🙂 “We had a really promising start with four great live shows in winter 2019 and 2020 before Covid and we’re looking forward to building momentum again in 2021 with the release of our next single in the spring. Our debut “Mother”, released in the summer, did really well and we raised a lot of funds for #saveourvenues
We’re really grateful for the grass roots blogs and music fans who supported us in the early days and we hope we can all go forward together, no matter what.”
Somrata, Kaoru, Gabby & Jon (collectively known as the Dead Zoo) xx
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 