Young guns of Punk stand up to be counted.
Having invented Punk rock back in the 70’s, here in Blighty we let the crown slip away as the anarchy of the genre petered out and we got all romantic, pretended we were highwaymen, wore thin ties, and then covered ourselves in denim, whilst rebel American bands grew their hair and showed how mean they were by wearing tight trousers, backcombing, and, er wearing make up. In the 90’s bands tried to get masculine again by firstly taken off the make-up en mass, before emulating lumberjacks, then when they looked back on what they had achieved they became depressed and turned to the God awful era of Grunge whereby it was once again cool to not wash, and suicide contemplation was hip and another option next to education and employment. Then bands tried rap/cross over, or dabbled with industrial to be part of the Nu-Metal scene, until it was seen cool to wear baggies, skate board, and sing about girls and broken hearts once again with radio friendly pop/punk. So, now I’m no longer sure what exactly is cool anymore, and what I should be listening too - but then that might just be my age!
I’m a lover of Street Punk, and I make no apologies for that, and what I am trying to get at, albeit in a rather long-winded way, is that Blighty is finally standing up to be counted again in the Punk genre, and Guns On The Roof, are a fine example of this.
‘New Frustration’ is a great debut album from a band that shamefully have no record deal behind them, but quite courageously carry on nevertheless with not a care in the world. Punk was never about money and success, and even those basin-haired scousers agreed that all you need is love, so it must be right (Of course they also stated they lived in a yellow submarine and was a walrus, so perhaps we can’t take everything they say as gospel). This is a nice mix of balls-to-the-wall punk with catchy tunes, and thoughtful slow numbers that border on pop/punk, giving the band an original sound and a grounding to bigger and better things.
First song, ‘Last Night’ is a little like The Briggs, that is a train crash of Street Punk and Pop/Punk, that succeeds in being both catchy and rough and tough at the same time. ‘Dying’ has the great formula of bass and drums in the background in the verses whilst building to a catchy chorus with flashes of melody. ‘Last Orders’ is a little like fellow Northerners, The Dead Pets, and is a classic drinking song. Great stuff, folks!
It’s always hard to explain the difference between songs within the written word, however G.O.T.R. do have a great ability to bring forth a number of songs that do all sound different, even on the first listen. This, for a Street Punk band, is not an easy task. Over here was have the fantastic, Strawberry Blondes, who blew everything out of the water last year in England with their debut, ‘Rise Up’, and whilst their album was pure razorblade raw punk with raspy vocals and tough punchy anthems, what we get with, ‘New Frustration’ is a more accessible type of Punk, which isn’t to suggest that it is watered down, but it’s more Rancid, The Briggs and Left Alone, than Time Again, The Casualties or US Bombs.
Album title track, ‘Frustration’ is catchy with clean chugging guitars, and Liam’s vocals are slightly more raspy, next ‘Punk Sweat And Tears’ is a little like early Alkaline Trio, then we have a touch of more punk rock with, ‘So Tired’ that nods it’s head towards bands like Slaughter And The Dogs and Last Action Zeros, whilst, ‘Road Of Our Lives’ and the riff-tastic, ‘Wake Up’ are more rock/punk in the vein of a band like The Loved Ones.
Never ones to be scared to go back to Punk-By-Numbers, like in ‘Remedial’ that is another instantly likeable song with a hint of American Punk of The Descendants and Social Distortion, it is this vast A-Z of influences that makes each song sound original and familiar at the same time. Even on the acoustic song, ‘Your Sincerely’ which some punk bands might stay away from, hits the right chords with me, and is just like a Matt Skiba solo song.
All good Punk bands need a sing-a-long song and we have it here in the fabulous anthem song, ‘On The Brink’, whilst ‘4 Brothers’ would only need a fiddle to sound like Dropkick Murphys, which leaves last song, ‘Shattered Feeling’ to bring home the proverbial bacon.
Let’s not try to get too excited about things as here in Britain we still prefer bland Indie bands, annoying Euro Pop, Pop reality TV show winners, and novelty acts, however if, God forbid, Street Punk was to become ‘cool’ then mark my words G.O.T.R. would not only have a record deal but would be headlining festivals and touring around the world in private jets; however unfortunately it’s still an underground genre, and so along with bands like Strawberry Blondes, The Dead Pets, You, Me And The Atom Bomb, Haddonfiled and Over & Out you could argue that there is only limited success available. That said, Guns On The Roof, are neck and neck with Strawberry Blondes and I can’t honestly decide between the two!
Having already toured with the likes of Rancid, The Briggs, Dead Pets, Stiff Little Fingers, and currently touring with Strawberry Blondes (what a show that must be!), they are certainly getting out to the right people. G.O.T.F. can do more than just hold their own against these big guns too, and this is a great album. Punkin’ fantastic!