By Jim Rowland
Formed in 2021, the brilliantly named Vicious Bishop are a punk, ska punk, punky reggae power trio, based in the Lancaster / Morecambe area. The band features drummer Dave Nuttall (ex-Toy Dolls), bassist Adz Woods, and vocalist/guitarist Rich Davenport (ex-Radio Stars). Gaining a good reputation as a live act, they’ve waited until now for their debut release, thefour-track ‘Miracle Formula 168’ EP, which features some pretty special guest appearances…
Across the four tracks, the EP features contributions from Rich’s former Radio Stars bandmate Andy Ellison, who was also a member of the infamous and legendary John’s Children in the 60’s, Sham 69 guitarist Dave Parsons and Micky Geggus from the Cockney Rejects – quite a collection of punk, and pre-punk, legends.
Mick Geggus features on the opening cut ‘Blood In The Water’, a catchy, big riffing slice of pop-tinged punk. ‘Magnetic North’ is an up-tempo ska-punk ditty, again very catchy, and ‘Shouting Down The Sewer’, featuring Sham’s Dave Parsons, is another high octane affair that criss-crosses between belting punk rock and a reggae skank. The vocals of Andy Ellison feature on the last track ‘She’s So Dissatisfied’, which goes down a harder rock route, with some guitar work that’s a bit Thin Lizzy-esque in places.
Mixing up a heady brew of punk, ska, reggae and rock, ‘Miracle Formula 168’ is a very decent EP and an impressive debut for Vicious Bishop.
- ‘Miracle Formula 168’ is released today (Friday 26 July).
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