The Lucky Devils "News From Earth"

(Self-released 2019)

Ride For My Life

We're All Gonna Die

Banzai

Greensleeves

Zombie Kids

Cryin' In My Head

Bongos Sound

Grendizer Surf

Welcome To Hell

Psychos

Rasputin

Celebrating their 20th anniversary, the trio of Lille Lotharios bring forth their 11-dittied disc o' delights "News From Earth". The Lucky Devils have always been that band that bridge the gap perfectly between neo rockabilly and old school psychobilly. They've also always been that band that give a two-fingered salute to your common or garden array of cover versions. Actually, when ever they release an album I always perk up with glee when I see what they've chosen to cover. More often than not they're songs I like that don't "belong" in the rockin' rule book. Fuck rule books I say. A couple of years ago they did an astounding version of Matt Bianco's More Than I Can Bear on their Under Cover And Still Alive double album. This time they've taken Boney M.'s Rasputin and turned it into a cossackabilly stomper! There are a couple of other covers here too but they're not just a cover band so enough dwelling on that side of the band. The boys know how to pen a melodic original too. Melody is something that can get left behind in psychobilly when bands try to outdo themselves in the speed department....and those awful fucking shouty sore throat vocals with no air whatsoever. Conversely, Phil Lucky can hold a vocal note and then some. Add some dangerous-sounding, twangy, reverb-drenched guitar, a bass that seems to slap off the four walls, drumming that is for the fit and not the fat and that pretty much sums up News From Earth. All wrapped up in the excellent art of David Vicente, it really is a quality package! (I have one of those, in my trousers). It's available directly from the band on both CD and vinyl.

 

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The Hyperjax "Bringing The Bad Back Home"

(Wolverine Records 2019)

Bringing The Bad Back Home

I Persevere

Roaming The Dead End Streets

Shadow Brawler

Chasing The Night Down (To The Screaming End)

The Blind Leading The Blind

Cannon Fodder Blues

Age Of The Addictive Personality

Wayward Son

The Crowning Of A Fool

Going Down Smilin'

The Hyperjax. They're everything I like about punk and I'm picky as fuck about punk. With that said though, they're no punk band. They're very much the anti-pigeonhole outfit. They just have the elements I like about some punk bands. Catchy melodies and intelligent lyrics dealing with social issues, and observations about our current generation and life in general. Of course they also have the rockin' ingredient of a big ol' slap bass. They are not the much maligned "punk with a slap bass" combo though. They're way beyond that and are very much their own machine. They always have been since their inception in the mid 90s. But years of honing their craft and sound must make the guy down the record shop sigh with dismay as he tries to slot their records into the genre-specific sections of his music emporium. I have a press release here which states "Like The Jam meets Stray Cats meets The Living End". The Jam comparison I can see as Sam Woods' lyrics are comparable to those of Paul Weller. The Stray Cats...not so much and they're everything The Living End are not. That's one band that started out good and became something else altogether. Conversely The Hyperjax started out good and became something great. They didn't "progress" in such a way as to completely alienate their original audience. Sam Woods really has a way with words and together with Dan Clark and Neil Holden the trio have created an album that has none of the grating annoyance of 99% of punk and none of the tired run-of-the-mill blood and gore of 99% of psychobilly. What we have here is simplistic yet cleverly created, finely executed, punk rockin' parables for the denizens of many's the underground scene.  

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