Chosen by Monk
Well, 2021 may be coming to the end of only its first month but already it is looking as if it as going be as much of a shitstorm of a year, if not more so, than its predecessor, with the Government apparently losing the war with the pan(dem)ic and “fighting back” with renewed, and even more stringent, lockdowns in place the length and breadth of the Über Kingdom (and beyond). But, with BoJo’s much vaunted pathway out of the crisis still some way off, and the summer festival season already in severe doubt following the cancellation of Glastonbury and other events looking set to fall like the proverbial dominos, at least 2021 is sharing something more positive in common with 2020, in that it already has produced some terrific new music, with the promise of plenty more to come, if the if the inbox here at ÜRHQ is anything to go by…
In that context, as the new rock ‘n’ roll year finally starts to stand on its own two feet, with its DMs firmly planted in the mire and muck of the dissolving world around it, there has been a healthy slew of new music pinging itself our way, and the number of submissions we received for our ‘Video Of The Week’ award was startlingly impressive, especially with the levels of creativity displayed in the adverse circumstances we continue to find ourselves. After viewing all of the entries – and we do watch each and every one of the 100+ submissions which we receive every week – at the end of the day (or night, depending on where you are in the Überverse), there could be only one winner…
And this week’s champion of champions comes from a triumvirate of black-clad female punk ‘n’ rollers who hail from the seedy underbelly of the city of angels, who have been beguiling and entrapping us with their energetic and enervating brand of garage-meets-grunge, and who use their songs to address the issues which haunt that darkest recesses of the so-called American dream that has become so polluted and dissipated in recent years.
The trio’s latest single is ‘Motorcycle Boy’, extracted from their ÜR-approved second album, ‘Play With Fire’, which I described at the time as “a pop-punk album that all but eschews the “pop” elements, retaining the catchiness and all important sense of melody but delivering both with a much darker hue, and also those of the “punk” aspect, replacing that with a sense of catharsis and noirishness, while, again, maintaining that mood of dis-respect and self-loathing which the genre always has promulgated so well…”
In that same review, I described this track as “a suitably dark and twisted tribute to cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen, delivered with in an appropriately gothic noir-meets-Western mien” and that is a feeling which is wonderfully evoked in the equally noirish and retrospective video by Ambar Navarro, which in turn pays affectionate, and faithful homage to classic biker movies like ‘The Wild One’, ‘Rumble Fish’, ‘On Any Sunday’, ‘Easy Rider’, ‘Hells Angeles ’69’ and ‘The Girl On A Motorcycle’ in a gloriously simplistic yet evocative way that really suits the song and its timbre.
Enjoy:
Well, there you go. That’s our latest ‘Video Of The Week’ winner in what promises to be another traumatic year for the music business. But, as ever, we at ÜRHQ will continue to do our best to shine a light into your darker corners by bringing the brightest new rock ‘n’ roll sounds to lighten your mood and uplift your soul. So, until next week, #StayAtHome, #KeepTheMusicAlive, #CrankItUp and #StayTheFuckSafe…
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