The Über Rock Singles Club – November’s New Sounds (Part One)

Curated by Monk

It may be only a week 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, But, after last week’s special seasonal selection of spooky tunes for your aural delectation, we’re back on the attack with another jam-packed selection of tuneage covering the entire rock ‘n’ roll spectrum…

And to kick off the first of the three editions of the Club this month, I am delighted to say that we are joined by some true rock royalty, in the shape of Gilby Clarke, who has teamed up with former Motley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins to prove that he is anything but a ‘Tightwad’ when it comes to laying down some serious riffs:

Nikki Sixx is hanging around the bar for a while, and in the process proving that while his former bandmate Tommy Lee is messing about with hip hop beats, he’s still layjng the r’n’f’r smack down as he takes us into the ‘Belly Of The Beast’: OK, it’s an old tune – it originally featured on Sixx:A.M.’s ‘Prayers For The Damned Vol 1’ back in 2016, but it’s just been re-released, along with a brand new lyric video, to promote the new movie ‘Sno Babies’, which explores the grim realities of teenage addiction:

Sidling up to the bar next we have a group of regular liggers, Shotgun Mistress, who are joining us (virtually at least) all the way from Melbourne, where they ‘Collide’ with our aural cortexes via another dose of seriously groovy, hard-as-nails hard rock with a cheeky age. It’s more great stuff from this rising Aussie combo:

Staying in Melbourne, we first came across the highly impressive High As Hell last month, with their impactful debut single. Well, now they’ve delivered us a double whammy, with the knockout punch of the follow-up, which sees them taking a trip down the ‘Big River’. Once again, the band pushed the limits with the accompanying video, which saw them breaking the local lockdown curfew AND nearly killing frontman ave ‘Fazz’ Favazza for the second successive time. Fortunately, he once again survived to tell the tale and gear himself and his bandmates up for the release next weekend of their debut album, ‘Razorblade Dream’:

We’re fairly racking up the airmiles on this edition of the Club, as next we’re off to Montreal to share a sup or three with those badass boys known as Doom ‘An Blue, by whom we were ‘Ran Down’ with this pedal-to-the-metal slice of whiskey-fuelled retro rock:

Veteran anarcho-ska punks Less Than Jake continue to prove that they have lost none of their spit, vim and verve as they exclaim ‘Dear Me’ on the second single to be lifted from their latest album (their ninth in their 30 year career), ‘Silver Linings’, which is being released next month:

Hearts & Hand Grenades first came to our attention earlier this year with their excellent ‘Adrenaline’ EP. Now, they are gearing up for the release of their debut album early next year, and the lead single shows that it most definitely is not a case of these rising rockers having ‘Nothing Left’ to offer the rock ‘n’ roll Überverse – much the contrary in fact:

A total change in musical mood now, as post-punk outfit The Wave are about to release their first new album in 25 years. The second single, ‘Everything’, takes the form of a cathartic letter frontman Troy Payne wrote for his late father, and features a guest appearance from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry guitar Dave ‘Wolfie’ Wolfenden:

One band who have managed to capture new audiences, and deservedly so, during the various lockdowns have been Marisa And The Moths, who are now bringing the promotional campaign for last year’s ÜR-approved debut album to a close with the powerful final single, ‘Tied Up’:

Atlanta stompers Sevendust are hoping that 13 will prove to be a lucky number for them, as that is exactly the number of albums they now have under their collective belts following the release last weekend of latest opus, ‘Blood & Stone’. To mark this milestone, the band also treating us to another typically bombastic new single, the absolutely banging ‘Dying To Live’:

Adulkt Life, a new band comprised of Huggy Bear’s Chris Rowley, Male Bonding’s John Arthur Webb and Kevin Hendrick, plus drummer Sonny Barrett, have just shared not one but two new tracks from their debut album, ‘Book Of Curses‘, being released this coming Friday (6 November). We’ve chosen the second of the two, the album’s climactic ‘New Curfew’ to give you a taste of what to expect from this new collaboration:

London techcore groovers After Smoke Clears deliver a clear and clarion message with ‘Extinguo’, the sixth single from their upcoming debut album, ‘Edification’, which drops next month. The accompanying video is also the second in a series of three thematically-linked clips, depicting the demise and final extinction of the human race. It’s powerful stuff, both visually and, more importantly, musically:

Anyone the time? Well, according to those ever prodigious Bostonian garage rockers Muck And The Mires it’s ‘Six O’Clock Baby’ (so, it must be almost time for a party, right Spike?) as they deliver us another taster for the second of their EPs to come our way this year, the just-released ‘Take Me Back To Planet Earth’. Given the time of year that we’re in, it comes with a nice Halloween-themed animated video clip:

We keep the Halloween theme going, well sort of, as we cross the USofA to Los Angeles, where we accompany The Paranoyds on a trip to the local ‘Pet Cemetery’, the alternative love song title track of their forthcoming two-track EP, the follow-up to last year’s self-titled debut full-length offering:

Talking of Halloween, there’s another, possibly even scarier event on the horizon this coming week… We’re talking, of course, about the ÜS Presidential election. Now, we don’t do politics here at ÜRHQ, but if we could cast a vote we’d be flinging in the direction of Kory Clarke and Warrior Soul, who have just delivered a rather timely take on Alice Cooper’s classic ‘Elected’, taken in turn from their forthcoming covers album, ‘Cocaine And Other Good Stuff’, which is released on 13 November and features versions of classic tracks from the likes of Kiss, The Cars, Grand Funk Railroad and more:

Erstwhile suvern rock faves Black Stone Cherry released their seventh album, ‘The Human Condition’, this past week, and accompanied it with the third single to be lifted from same, on which they prove that they are ‘In Love With The Pain’. Need we say more, other than it’s another surefire BSC hit:

Another fave here at ÜRHQ, and a band for whom 2020 should have been HUGE, are Spirit Adrift, who have just released their latest album, ‘Enlightened In Eternity’. Despite the massive setback of having not just one but two UK tours postponed as a result of the pandemic, it is an album that, as I said in my review, “struts and swaggers with confidence”, and this is once again demonstrated in latest single, ‘Battle High’, which also gives us a taste of what to expect when the duo finally fulfil those tour dates next year:

Another duo make a big noise are London’s Royal Blood, who tell us that ‘Trouble’s Coming’ with the lead single from their third album, which they have been recording against the backdrop of lockdown for release next year:

Still proving that two most definitely is company, Los Angeles husband and wife pairing Dead Posey have grabbed the ‘Head Of The Snake’ for the second single to be lifted from their EP ‘Malfunction’, which was released at the beginning of the summer:

One band whom we hope aren’t going to ‘Burnout’ anytime soon are Millie Manders And The Shutup, who have just released their rather spiffing debut album. The release comes accompanied by the by now obligatory new single, which we hope won’t prove prophetic for the band as they seek to build from this concrete-solid foundation:

Some seriously heavyweight melancholia next, courtesy of Finnish doomsters Red Moon Architect, who have released the rather ironically entitled ‘One Shines Brighter’ from their rather more appropriately titled ‘Emptiness Weighs The Most’ full-lengther:

The White Buffalo – aka singer/songwriter Jake Smith – is in reflective mood as he seeks to shine a ‘Guiding Light’ into the darkness of the world as we know it today, with this new standalone single:

Here at ÜR we pride ourselves on bringing you hot new unsigned talent, and we’re about to ‘Do It Again’, thanks to the debut single of the same name from alt-rock upstarts Glass Waves, who lay down an impressive marker for more to come with a sound that brims with youthful confidence yet also provokes discussion about its subject matter:

London post-punks Drones are back with their first new material in two years, the hard-hitting and deeply personal ‘Josephine’, which draws heavily on vocalist Lois McDougall’s past unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and Britain’s normalization of binge-drinking as a whole. Speaking as someone with personal experience of the effect lockdown has had on my own drinking habits, it’s a resonant and powerful track which speaks from the heart:

We’re coming close to last orders being called, so just time to squeeze a couple more tracks into this week’s epic playlist, the first of which sees the reunion of long-term ‘Buddies’ Frank Turner and Jon Snodgrass, who have used lockdown to reunite and revisit the union they first forged back in 2010. The second single from the duo’s appropriately entitled ‘Buddies II’ collaboration is ‘The Fleas’, which takes its inspiration from both Snodgrass’ dog and a routine by the American comedian George Carlin to provide an apposite commentrary on the state of the world at the moment… “There is nothing wrong with the planet, the planet is fine… the people are f***ed…”

We round off this edition with one of THE most iconic heavy metal songs EVER. I mean, who doesn’t recognize the opening riff and electric hook of ‘Am I Evil?’? Well, the current incarnation of NWoBHM legends Diamond Head, still led to this day by the inimitable Brian Tatler, have used the 40^th anniversary of the release of their groundbreaking ‘Lightning To The Nations’ to totally rerecord the thing and give it a modern paint… and, believe me, it’s more than a case of merely giving it a lick of paint: more like sticking a tonne of dynamite up its arse and setting a very short fuse…

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 has 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 #StayTheFuckSafe!