garage rock | Aural Aggravation

Posts Tagged ‘garage rock’

Watch: ‘Doom of Love’ by Knuckle

Posted: 26 January 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
Tags: Blues, Doom of Love, garage rock, Gritty, Knuckle, Philophobia, Riffs, video stream, Yorkshire

Huddersfield garage rockers Knuckle have shared new single ‘Doom of Love’ taken from their upcoming second album Life’s a Bench, Then They Put Your Name On It. Due next month via beloved Wakefield DIY label Philophobia, the West Yorkshire DIY stalwarts follow-up to 2019’s ‘Life Is Hard When You’re Soft Inside’ will be released in February. Alongside the new single, Knuckle have shared news of a long run of dates between February and June this year, including headline shows in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield.

A return to the scuzzy riffs and chaotic garage rock of their much-loved debut, ‘Doom of Love’ is a succinctly explained by singer Jonny Firth as being “a song about being scared to love somebody that’s in love with you, because you know one day you will fuck it up” and finds Knuckle at their raucous best. A slab of perfectly crafted confident and noisy rock music, Firth’s soaring vocals and a wonderfully unserious look at serious subjects.

Check the video here:

Made up of Jonny Firth, Ben Wallbanks and Rob Crisp, Knuckle have been working on their own clash of blistering intensity, massive riffs and tongue in cheek wordplay tackling issues near and dear to them for years, with hundreds of headline, supports and festival shows under their belts, the band released their debut album in 2019 to rave reviews, closing out the year with a massive headline show at Wakefield’s Warehouse 23 venue, documented by Long Division Festival.

Admitting to a slightly longer gap than anticipated between albums one and two, the trio have found life getting in the way since bursting onto the Huddersfield DIY scene. From getting married and starting families to launching t-shirt brands (Jonny Firth’s Wild West Yorkshire label) and standing on CWU picket lines (Drummer Ben Wallbanks is a postie supporting the strikes), the various members of Knuckle have poured all of this living and hard won experience into their second album – a raucous, gentle, crushing, hilarious and complex documentation of their own lives and those around them in Huddersfield.

Knuckle will be launching their new album at Wakefield’s Balne Lane Working Mens Club on Saturday 18th February.

Tour dates:

FEBRUARY

18 – Balne Lane Social Club, Wakefield

25 – The New Adelphi Club, Hull

MARCH

1 – Jacaranda Liverpool

2 – Oporto Leeds

3 – The Peer Hat, Manchester

8 – The Washington Sheffield

9 – Tom Pudding, Google

17 – The Grayston Unity, Halifax

APRIL

15 – West Riding, Dewsbury

JUNE

3rd – The Golden Lion, Todmorden

Knuckle – Credit: Emily Ryalls

Mister Strange – Nothing at All EP

Posted: 7 November 2022 in Singles and EPs
Tags: Review, Punk, Grunge, Hardcore, The Strokes, Punk Slime Records, garage rock, Mister Strange, Nothing at All EP, The Hives

Punk Slime Records – 11th November 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

I sometimes feel a twinge of embarrassment when I see press releases and reviews referencing bands I haven’t heard of, in that it makes me feel like I’m failing in my diligence. So when I see that So Young Magazine has described Manchester quartet Mister Strange as ‘An uncompromising cross between the manic charisma of The Dead Kennedys, and the contemporary fury of Melbourne rockers Civic’, I fleetingly think ‘shit, I’m behind the curve here’.

But then, you work with the reference points you’ve got, and this EP packs no shortage of raw punk energy, and plenty of unexpected turns, too.

There’s very much a vintage vibe to Nothing at All, and while the fuzzy, lo-fi production is an integral part of it, the fact that they play hell-for-leather garage punk with murky guitars and reverb-heavy vocals is the main factor. Back when The Strokes and The Hives and The Vines emerged to lead a garage revival shortly after the turn oof the millennium, I got the urge to dig out the various Pebbles and Nuggets compilations. Listening to this, the urge is sated by the gritty authenticity of the band’s lo-budget sound and full-throttle riiffery.

The title track leads off, starting with a raging feedback inferno before ploughing into a relentless high-octane psychedelic punk groove, before suddenly slowing to a heavy trudge that’s 70s heavy metal melted into 90s noise in the vein of Terminal Cheesecake, before reigniting the tempo and racing to the finish.

The remaining five songs aren’t quite such a rollercoaster, pushing instead a muggy, fuggy, grungy guitar style that pursues more sustained riffery and tempos, at least until they arrive at the relentless closer, ‘Rat Bench Alley’, which slugs hard.

In between, ‘Dead Weight’ is fairly standard garage fair, but it’s loud, scuzzy and punches hard, and ‘Crazy Lemon’ pushes a repetitive riff to the max. It’s pretty damn heavy duty, and it’s a decent racket.

Weekend Recovery announce UK tour dates and new EP ‘No Guts’ out 4th February

Posted: 3 January 2022 in Previews and Editorial
Tags: 2022 Tour Dates, Any Old Iron, Caesar Did It, Criminal Records, EP release, garage rock, Grunge, No Guts, SNAYX, Weekend Recovery, Yur Mum

Almost exactly a year on from the release of their second long—player, False Company, Leeds grunge/garage-rock act and longstanding AA faves Weekend Recovery will be unleashing a new EP, No Guts on through Criminal Records on 4th February, having given us a taster with the lead track ‘No Guts, All the Glory’ in November.

With shows – and some exciting supports – lined up from the end of January through to the middle of July, they’re certainly making up for the time lost in 2020 and 2021.