The Über Rock Singles Club – Jukebox July (Part One)

Curated by DJ Monk

It’s hard to believe it’s been a fortnight since the Singles Club opened its virtual doors and we fired up the death decks with a selection of the finest single-track releases to have come our way in recent weeks. Yet, here we are again with another bumper pick of the crop – a massive 17 tracks in total for your aural and visual delectation, whittled down from the 250+ submissions which came our way over the past 14 days or so, and once again hopefully containing something to tickle almost everyone’s musical taste buds as we traverse multiple subgenres of the glorious artform we like to refer to as rock ‘n’f’n’ roll…

And we first up we have one of the most legendary names in the genre, L. A. Guns. Now, like many bands of their era, there are actually two different versions of the band, and the one joining us today is not the line-up featuring the now reconciled Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns, who released their latest album earlier this year and were due to tour the Über Kingdom just last month. No, rather it is the incarnation featuring the band’s long-time rhythm section of Steve Riley and Kelly Nickels, who themselves are releasing a new album later this year… Confused? Don’t be… instead, just pour yourself another beer and enjoy this slice of rock ‘n’ roll action from a group of veterans aiming to prove that they are still a ‘Well Oiled Machine’:

Talking of veterans, Gilby Clarke needs no introduction as he sidles up to the Singles Bar for the second time this year to present us with ‘The Gospel Truth’, the title track of his latest solo album, which is due for release later in the year:

Another group of Singles Club regulars are those rowdy cowboys from the darkest heart of Worcester, the Bootyard Bandits, who have featured here a couple of times – and also one of our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ awards back in April. Well, they make welcome return to the Club as they climb aboard their ‘Hobby Horse’ on the first single to be lifted from their forthcoming debut full-length album. It comes complete with a video which features hand-drawn animation, ah homage to the cartoonist Tex Miller:

Also making a welcome return to the Singles Club are punk upstarts Lucy And The Rats, who earlier this month ‘Got Lucky’ with their self-titled debut album of the same name, which deservedly earned them ÜR’s approval. They celebrated by proving that they are ‘On Fire’, with the latest slice of power pop dreaminess to be lifted from the album:

The Club regulars are definitely in full attendance this edition, as we also welcome back Suzie Stapleton, who has presented us with the appropriately titled ‘We Are The Plague’, the title track of her new album, which is being released at the end of this month, via her own Negative Prophecy label. The song was actually written in 2018 but takes on a different meaning in these changed times:

Another talented songstress makes her club debut now, in the form of Elizabeth Cook, who tells us all about those ‘Perfect Girls Of Pop’ with a neat slice of Americana-influenced alt-pop/rock, very much in the vein of REM, The Replacements and their ilk, taken from her new album, ‘Aftermath‘:

A complete change in mood and tempo now, as we travel to Austria for a dose of freaked-out fuzzed-up psychedelia, courtesy of Mother’s Cake, who are flying high with ‘Crystals In The Sky’, the new single from their forthcoming album, ‘Cyberfunk!’, which is being released in September:

Another change in mood, as Swedish warriors Sabaton have just unleashed ‘Devil’s Dogs’, complete with a video filmed (appropriately given the song’s subject matter) on the North American leg of their most recent ‘The Great War’ tour:

Two more Singles Club regulars have just walked in, in the shape of neo-folk/punk proponent Frank Turner, who tells us that he is ‘Falling In Love’ on his cover of the NOFX track. Once again, it is taken from the forthcoming collaborative album, ‘West Coast vs Wessex’ which sees the two acts covering a clutch of each other’s songs. Turner says of ‘Falling In Love’: “it’s a beautiful lyric and melody, and I wanted to come at the song in a way that would lay that bare and highlight the beauty of the writing. I think it came out pretty good…” And so do we, to be honest:

Our next guests come all the way from South Africa. The Amblers have flagrantly breached the social distancing guidelines by bringing with them a crowd of ‘Sixteen 100 Year Olds’. The single is a slice of distorted, heavy blues rock that is as visceral and raw as the emotions if addresses:

Something mystical and gothic for you now as we ‘Illuminate’ your listening pleasure with the new single from cinematic metallers Dark Sarah and the final preview track from their forthcoming album, ‘Grim’, which drops at the end of this week. Definitely one for fans of Nightwish or, more especially, Delain:

Some power balladry now, thanks to Swedish hard rock crüe Thundermother, with the surprisingly mellow ‘Sleep’, which is lifted from their new album, ‘Heat Wave’, which comes our way at the end of the month:

Now, it’s time for a cookery lesson: take one-part Ramones, one-part power pop, and one-part early ’70s glam an bubblegum, mix it all up, and what have you got? Something pretty scrummy from Norway’s pretty darn well-named The Yum Yums, who have released not one but two singles to preview their forthcoming fifth album, ‘For Those About To Pop!’, which our good friend Lou across the pond at Rum Bar Records assures us is “one of the most “pop” albums ever made!’. On this evidence, we’re not arguing with him:

We pop back across the Scandinavian border to Sweden and something somewhat darker from black ‘n’ roll unit The Vice, with ‘To Each His Own, the second single to be lifted from their forthcoming second album, ‘White Teeth Rebellion’, being released at the beginning of next month:

To the land down under now, and a slice of manic Australian hardcore punk, thanks to The Owen Guns, a band who already have released one of the most gloriously to-the-point singles of the year, in the form of the brilliant ‘F**k Cyclists’. They’ve now followed that up with ‘It’s Too Late’, another slice of no-nonsense Seventies-style punk rock of the style the land of Oz seems to be specializing in at the moment:

It’s last orders at the bar, so time for one last beer… or rather a brace of them, thanks to Korpiklaani who have been entertaining us during lockdown by releasing their drinking anthem ‘Beer Beer’ in different languages. The latest version comes to us in Russian, courtesy of a renewed collaboration with St Peterburg-based folk rockers Troll Bends Fir:

Not quite had enough to drink yet? Well, just before we kick you back out onto the street, it’s time to declare that there’s some Rumahoy as Captain Yarrface and his pirate metal crüe open fire with the greatest weapon of mass destruction ever to grace the Überverse – their ‘Treasure Gun’. Get ready to plunder and dance your way home…

Well, that’s your lot for this iteration of the Singles Club. Yet again, we’ve drunk the pumps dry and the optics are running low, so it’s time to neck the dregs and feck off to enjoy what’s left of this Sunday afternoon sunshine. We hope you agree that it’s been another eclectic collection, and that you found something to tickle your earbuds and drive you to explore some new musical horizons. Until next time, when the big lad by the name of Astrocreep will be back behind the death decks, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StaySafe!