By DJ Monk
A little under a year ago I got a message, out of the blue, from a guy called Ollie Stygall. “Hang on a moment,” I said to myself: “I know that name from somewhere”. And, indeed I did: he had been one-third of a bunch of south coast riffriders by the name of Grifter, to whom I had been introduced by virtue of the fact that they at one time shared a label with my good friends in Trucker Diablo. After 14 years of playing every toilet that would have them, Grifter had ground to a halt in early 2018; but Ollie and bandmate Foz didn’t sit back and mourn their former band’s passing or take a well-deserved holiday in the sun, but rather jumped straight back into the rock ‘n’ roll cesspool with a new band. Enter now, once again, into the world of Disgraceland and this, their third EP in less than 12 months to grace the ÜRHQ deathdecks and see us turn the volume to neighbour-annoying levels…
What was immediately obvious on the aforementioned ‘EP#1’ was that Ollie and Foz, now in the company of one Chris Glew (veteran of the likes of Fatty Chan, Drivechain, Six Claw Paw, Toxic Shock Syndrome and more) had departed the dusty rock ‘n’ blues highway driven by their previous outfit and taken a sharp left turn at the next exit and headed off into the realm of punk ‘n’ roll. It’s a path they have followed still further with this latest six-track, with detours into ska, surf music and Spaghetti western memes by way of added scenic attraction. And in between some of the bitingly satirical and serious themes that they address, such as the Harvey Weinstein affair and the ineptitude of some people on social media, they allow themselves the occasional deprecating chuckle, such as pointing that, “if your handwriting is dodgy” then the title of the closing track, ‘Clint’, can look like “c**t”.
Muscially, the six tracks are exactly what you would expect if you have been fortunate to have graced the gates of Disgraceland previously: straightforward, no nonsense, no bullshittin’ around punk ‘n’ roll, played with one foot firmly on the accelerator and one eye on the rearview mirror to see just how they are leaving their competitors trailing in their dust. ‘Storming An H Cup’ blasts its way off the starting line with a good old-fashioned slice of rockabilly-infused romp ‘n’ stomp, while ‘Hillbilly Heroin’ adds a touch of Cave-esque gothic noir to its otherwise biting acidity. ‘Harvey’ (now, who’s that about, we wonder) combines some graphically ironical lyrics – “come up to my hotel room/and let me get inside your womb” – with a furious power pop groove that is as infectious as it is acidic.
‘Hard Of Thinking’, the only song to even think about bothering the four minute mark (it falls just six seconds shy) is proper old-school punk, with its glorious floor tom-fuelled adrenaline rush topped off by another infectious main riff and a catchier than the C-virus chorus, before finishing off with a cool reggae swagger. ‘Adult Fuckery’ (by contrast, the shortest song on the EP) is another dose of no prisoners punkishness, faster than those good ol’ Duke boys with Rosco P Coltrane on their tail, while the aforementioned ‘Clint’ rounds things off in inanely glorious style, with its Morricone-meets-Marvin rolling main riff, very obviously delivered with a smile on its gob as wide as the Grand Canyon itself.
Where music of this style works best is when its proponents manage to capture their collective energy, and that is where Disgraceland score big time, as the songs sound like they were captured live, with very little thought to overdubs or pretty production techniques. The result is a collection that most definitely be an extremely strong contender when it comes to compiling those inevitable end of year listings…
- ‘Dose ‘Em Up’ is released on Monday (1 June). You can get your copy HERE.
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