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.  

The Hyperjax on Facebook

The Hyperjax Official

Buy the LP/CD

Hellacious Harmonies on Facebook

The Hyperjax "March To Your Own Beat"

(Lime Digital Music 2015)

Staring Out The Old Guard

Hard Knock Chops

Blood And Sand

City Of Broken Rain

Three Sheets To The Wind

Whatever Happened To The Krewmen?

Blast Me Into Outer Space

Sweet Solitary

Burn In Your Own Flame

It's The Nature Of The Beast

Angry Young Man

Carats, Briefs And Boils

The Hyperjax eh? One of those bands that seem to have been on the periphery of the scene for many years. But which scene? Too clever for psychobilly, too ballsy for rockabilly and too rockin' for punkabilly. The boys are a law on to themselves. Perhaps as the album title suggests, they definitely march to their own beat. And what a fuckin' beat it is. It's an enigma of sorts. There's pounding drums and slap bass accompanied by that Holy Grail of guitars, the Gretsch. Nothing different about that ensemble of musical tools when it comes to things with "billy" stuck on the end, but it's what the lads do with their tools (oooooh matron) that makes the sound instantly recognisable as The Hyperjax. They're like a sub genre on to themselves. Thedogsbollocksabilly! Yes, that's it. This is some powerful stuff. Power mixed with melody. Some bands have either one or the other (some neither) but The Hyperjax have both. They're fuckin' hyper alright. And I had to run to the jacks* in between songs as the sounds within loosened my sphincter. (*jacks is Irish slang for toilet...hyper...jacks...did you see what I did there? ....tough crowd!). But anyway, the lads have a fairly sparse back catalogue given the fact they've been playing together in various incarnations for almost 20 years. I of course own all the stuff they've released prior to this and it's self-evident that the boys have really honed their skills in the studio/production department. That's by no means disparaging towards their previous output. It simply means that the production values on this album hits a new pinnacle of perfection for the trio. It just oozes quality...sonically and lyrically. The album is currently available as digital download from over 200 sites (Amazon, iTunes, 7digital etc.) with both CD and vinyl releases to follow. Fine, I'll stick up some links ye lazy shower of shites! Usually I add a sample song at the end of these reviews but it's hard to pick just one so you can sample em all on the download sites below. What a guy!

The O'Prez

THE HYPERJAX OFFICIAL

THE HYPERJAX ON FACEBOOK

MARCH TO YOUR OWN BEAT ON AMAZON

MARCH TO YOUR OWN BEAT ON iTUNES

MARCH TO YOUR OWN BEAT ON 7DIGITAL

HELLACIOUS HARMONIES ON FACEBOOK