British political punk duo The Meffs have today released their latest EP ‘Broken Britain Pt. 2’. Produced by legendary punk rocker and songwriter Frank Turner, the EP is the follow-up to their December 2022 drop ‘Broken Britain Pt. 1’. Both EPs were released via Bottles To The Ground, Fat Mike of NOFX‘s new label imprint of Fat Wreck Chords. In celebration of today’s news, the band has shared their new music video for “No Future“. The track can also be found on the Bottles to the Ground label compilation ‘Bottle Music for Broken People’, now available on all streaming platforms. Speaking on the EP, The Meffs shared:
“Anyone can write a record of love songs, but where’s the truth in that? The sequel to Broken Britain Pt.1 is out now on Bottles to the Ground. Produced by Frank Turner. Great songs, good friends, no rules.
(And yes, we really do have those accents.)”
Stream ‘Broken Britain Pt. 2’here, pre-order the 10″ vinyl of the EP here, and watch the music video for “No Future“ below.
BROKEN BRITAIN PT. 2
The Meffs
Tracklisting:
1. No Future
2. Dead in the City
3. Sex Sells
4. Look At You
5. WAR
Upcoming Dates:
March 18 – Colchester, UK @ Colchester Arts Centre w/ The Buzzcocks
March 26 – Norwich, UK @ The Waterfront w/ Dune Rats
April 7-9 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Punk Festival UK
April 21 – Sheffield UK @ Corporation w/ Barstool Preachers
Broken Britain UK Tour:
May 6 – Bury St Edmunds UK @ Hunter Club
May 8 – Brighton UK @ Prince Albert
May 9 – Cardiff UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach
May 11 – Glasgow UK @ King Tut’s
May 12 – Newcastle UK @ Zerox
May 13 – Blackpool UK @ Bootleg Social
May 14 – Manchester UK @ Star and Garter
May 16 – Norwich UK @ Waterfront Studio
May 17 – Birmingham UK @ Asylum
May 18 – London, UK @ Old Blue Last
Download Festival:
June 11 – Donnington UK
Since exploding onto the UK scene in 2019, The Meffs – aka Lily on vocals/guitar and Lewis on drums/backing vocals – have built up a reputation as purveyors of frantic punk bangers and an absolute must-see live sensation.
A performance at Frank Turner‘s Lost Evenings Festival was followed by the band hitting the studio with Turner to record, arguably, their best work yet. Pulling no punches as ever, Lily calls out societal inequality at every opportunity over a wall of hard-hitting melodies.
2022 saw The Meffs sign to Bottles to the Ground, imprint label of Fat Mike‘s Fat Wreck Chords. Described by Turner as “an absolute monster”, Broken Britain Pt.1 and Pt.2 are out now!
Following a multitude of festival appearances and sold-out shows across the UK, May 2023 sees the band embark on their first tour of the UK: BROKEN BRITAIN TOUR. Tickets are available on their website and most major ticket sites. 2023 also sees The Meffs join the likes of Buzzcocks, Grade 2, Barstool Preachers, and Dune Rats on the road, alongside making their Download Festival debut.
If there was ever a time society needed this band to make some noise, it’s now, and don’t the people know it.
Irish American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly are in the midst of their North American Winter Tour 2023, with help from Skinny Lister and Anti-Flag. Ultimate punk rock party came to Montclair New Jersey on a beautiful but little chilly Saturday night. However, the amount of beer and dancing made outside cold irrelevant.
Written by Andris Jansons
As soon as you stepped inside the venue, you immediately understood that you were here to party. British folk punk band Skinny Lister got the party going with lively performance that included a lot of dancing, drinking and liberal use of nsfw language. Songs performed included Hamburg Drunk, Company At The Bar and a new song Down On The Barrier. Bands vocalist Lorna Thomas did some crazy acrobatics on her high heel shoes, and offered some free classes for those willing to learn after the set. While for me this was absolutely first time seeing and hearing Skinny Lister, and my personal thoughts are that they play wonderful and uplifting music to have a party to, I will pass on the judgement call to a punk rock specialist and New Rock City punk rock music festival organizer Stephen Moss who was also in the attendance : “I never thought I’d see a musician jump off stage and play an accordion in the crowd like rockstars do at a rock show. Not only that, Skinny Lister had a bass player who played a stand up bass and he would twirl it around like a guitar! This band has such an amazing stage presence. In fact, the female singer even came off stage to arm wrestle me and two other guys in the front row! Their music was great and totally fit the theme of Celtic Punk. They opened up for Anti-Flag and Flogging Molly and totally matched their level.” Well, if that does not get you in Skinny Lister mood, I don’t what will.
Next band on the bill was American punk rock band Anti-Flag from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you look at Skinny Lister and Flogging Molly, then inclusion of Anti-Flag would prompt some questions as their music style is more traditional hard hitting punk rock with no elements of folk. Anti-Flag musical message is very political and is strongly left leaning and the band is also known for its advocacy of progressive political movements such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and the Occupy movement. So how such a politically charged act would fit between two party animals. Well, absolutely seamlessly. The minute the band hit the stage the crowd got immersed in the aggressive style of bands music delivery. Within the second song the circle pit was open and the constant flow of crowd surfers began. While band toned down their left political message, they rather concentrated on what bot sides of political spectrum would agree – politicians lie and they use government to usurp power, need for equal rights and respect for everyone, and that is something we all get behind. Punk Rock unites not divides. My personal favorite was Die For The Government. That song was literally a bomb. Other songs performed were – The Fight Of Our Lives, The Press Corpse, This The End (For You My Friend) and many others. They also played a medley of some legendary punk rock tunes – Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Blitzkrieg Bop, God Save The Queen and others. Band wrapped their set with Victory Or Death (We Gave ‘Em Hell and Brandenburg Gate. And just like that one more time I go for the experts view from Stephen Moss : “Anti Flag. They came in like a brick to the face! They are the perfect blend of energy, anger, and a political message of equality and justice. They don’t shy away from uncomfortable topics and they love to get the conversation started by making you see what many choose to ignore. In today’s punk scene, you would be hard pressed to find a more honest, and in your face punk band.”
Just in time when beer started to take control of your mind, the ultimate Irish party started. Usually drum set podium is covered with water bottles for the band to drink during the show, but not for proper Irishman, as Guiness outnumbered water by 3 to 1 – at least. The band came on stage missing very important person – Bridget Regan, violinist and vocalist for the band and wife of the bands vocalist David King. Dave explained her absence to the crowd due to an accident she suffered while in Texas, and jokingly pointed to our own Stephen Moss and said: “Her shoulder is as stiff as this guy’s hair (Stephen sports a red mohawk)”. Their music is characterized as Celtic Punk – you know, you take punk rock and combine that with Celtic folk sounds and a lot of beer and you get some proper party Celtic punk rock music that is tons of fun.
The most represented album in their set was 2002 Drunken Lullabies (kind of explains why this felt like a party) – Swagger, The Kilburn High Road, If I Ever Leave This World Alive, What’s Left Of The Flag and title song. From their latest release Anthem, that saw daylight last year, Flogging Molly played four songs. And new material blended with their older one almost seamlessly.
One more time I turn to Stephen (you know, the guy with Mohawk), for his expert take: “Now that the crowd was emotionally ready to start gearing up and making Molotov cocktails, it was time to turn it down a couple of degrees. The headliner was Flogging Molly. They were a nice balance between the warm Irish drinking songs and the angst of punk rock. They lead the crowd in a “Fuck Putin” chant and played new songs as well as some from their first album. When you watch how enthusiastic and energetic they are, it’s hard to believe the singer is 61 years old! I’m 39 and I can’t move like that! Overall, those three bands went together perfectly! It was one amazing show!”
I could not agree more. This fantastic show will continue for one more month as it slowly heads West.
2023 TOUR DATES
2.21 Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall
2.22 Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
2.24 Atlantic City, NJ – Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
2.25 Bethlehem, PA – Wind Creek Event Center
2.26 Huntington, NY – The Paramount
2.28 Worcester, MA – The Palladium
3.1 Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre
3.3 Madison, WI – The Sylvee
3.4 Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live
3.5 Ft. Wayne, IN – The Clyde Theatre
3.7 Fayetteville, AR – JJ’s Live
3.8 Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom
3.10 Kansas City, MO – Harrah’s Voodoo Lounge
3.11 Omaha, NE – The Admiral
3.12 Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
3.14 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
3.16 Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – Chelsea Theatre
3.17 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium*
3.18. Riverside, CA – Riverside Municipal Auditorium*
Frenzee is a band of three siblings – Apollonia, Adonis and Nick born in Melbourne Australia, raised and based on the island of Crete in Greece.
Growing up in a musical environment, Frenzee have been associated with music and other arts their whole life, being influenced as kids by bands such as AC/DC, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Prodigy, Motörhead, Hole, Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion, Bikini Kill, Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr, Green Day, Annihilation Time and many of their parent’s records.
With the pandemic hitting the world in 2020, Frenzee found the time to work on ideas that had been flying around over the past years. These ideas led to a selection of songs for their debut EP recorded in the band’s basement studio with the help of close friend and sound engineer Aristotelis Telis. The tracks were then mixed at Spin Studio (NY) by dear friend Nik Chimboukas and then mastered by legendary Roger Lian. Throughout these seven tracks, Frenzee don’t over complicate things and just deliver some energized punk n’roll tunes full of big hooks and loud guitars.
New Rock City International Music Festival is the world’s first internationally traveling punk festival! The first festival was a two day festival on July 29 and 30, 2022, in London, England. Now, New Rock City is coming to the USA!
On December 10, 2022, New Rock City will have a one day show in Charlotte, NC at a venue called, “Tommy’s Pub.” Fun fact, Tommy’s Pub was just named Best Neighborhood Bar in Charlotte!
The New Rock City show at Tommy’s Pub will feature 5 bands: 1) MK Ultra from Los Angles, California. 2) NeptuneFlyer from Charlotte, NC. 3) Two Eyes Open from Charlotte, NC. 4) Hena Larkin from Bristol, England. 5) The headliner for the show will be Dovecage from Charlotte, NC.
The show will start at 8pm and end at midnight. The venue has an age restriction of 21 and above to enter.
It’s a free show, so if you’re near Charlotte, come and be a part of punk rock history!
Formed in 2017, The Bloody Hell has gotten dirtier and more polished at the same time, with the band infecting fans with their pop-cultural hooks and concepts, while the guitars keep getting louder and the vocals becoming uglier. The Bloody Hell is pretty much what would happen if George Thorogood sang for the Misfits, but all the songs were written by Tom Petty.
Super catchy horror rock songs about drinking and heartache are played at punk rock speed with a lineup that features vocalist/guitarist Ian Kean (guitar, vocals), guitarist and pianist James Densley also known from Bubbles and The Shit Rockers, the band fronted by the character Bubbles from the hit TV show The Trailer Park Boys, drummer Kyle Cantfell (Elektric Mistress), and bassist Joe Woods (Root Cellar).
Fast forward now to 2022, and these Canadian punk rockers from Halifax, Nova Scotia return in 2022 to finally release their long-awaited follow-up to their 2018 debut self-titled album. Entitled “Nobody Cares”, the sophomore full-length is out now as of November 10th. Over the last two years during the Covid pandemic, the band shared two singles and music videos, “Nobody Cares About America Anymore” and “When You’re Gone” off the record to a great reception from fans.
“The album took about 3 years to complete due to Covid restrictions, lockdown, and all the madness that was the pandemic. With this album, we feel our sound has evolved nicely from the previous record released in 2018. We have worked hard to shape our songwriting and storytelling abilities and that is thoroughly displayed over the nine tracks on this album. We are hoping that fans who loved our first album will be super excited to hear this one to see how our songwriting has progressed. And we hope that people hearing us for the first time will find something in our sound to relate to or sing along with.” adds vocalist/guitarist Ian Kean.
“Nobody Cares” features The Bloody Hell’s signature sound of raspy aggressive, catchy horror, and politically charged antics over nine tracks that clock in at just over 28 minutes. From tracks like “Hide Away” with its fast punky driving riff and slick earworm guitar lead to “Barbra” a cover of an old Canadian punk song by Vancouver legends Modernettes to even having saxophone on “G” along with added piano on “As Above” and “So Below”, punk fans will find it to be an energetic and passionate sonic experience that conveys stories from lived experiences that many can relate to.
“It’s a true story and we mean every word, hook, and note on it. We give an emotional rollercoaster for your eyes and mind with twists and turns, ups and downs. Just as life is. All the lyrics come from personal experiences whether it be a relationship failure or success, a wild story of substance abuse, or just an observation about world events. I write what I know and try to be truthful in my lyrics.” says Kean.
Track Listing: 1. As Above – 1:10 2. Hide Away – 3:47 3. When You’re Gone – 3:20 4. Barbra – 2:09 (Modernettes cover) 5. G – 6:00 6. Nobody Cares About America Anymore – 3:38 7. Rulers of the Night – 3:34 8. Dead to Me – 3:01 9. So Below – 1:38 Album Length: 28:20
Album Recording Credits: • All songs performed by: The Bloody Hell • All songs were written by: The Bloody Hell • Produced by: Ian Kean • Mixed by: Alex Burris • Mastered by: Alex Burris • Album Artwork by: James Densley • Canadian Content (MAPL)
Album and Live Band Lineup: Ian Kean – Guitar / Vocals James Densley – Lead Guitar / Piano Kyle Cantfell – Drums Joe Woods – Bass
Some people say, “Punk is dead.” Well, those people have not been paying attention. In addition to all the USA bands who are cranking out amazing albums, Punk is still alive and well all over the world. Case in point, “Rumkicks.” They are a new, young, hot punk band from Seoul, South Korea.
In July 2022, they had their first ever UK tour! They were even one of the many bands chosen to play the world famous Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, England.
I had the privilege of seeing Rumkicks in London when they played their show at the venue called The Half Moon. They played with local legends, Healthy Junkies.
When Rumkicks took the stage, they had this amazing energy that they kept up for the entire set. They totally embody the punk spirit. This is definitely a band you need to check out. Listen to their song, “Punk Rocker,” and you can’t help but smile and dance along.
At one point during their set, the singer wanted to speak to the crowd, but she had to take out her phone and read off the message she wanted to say because she’s not fluent in English. Despite the language barrier, the crowd was able to understand the universal language of music, love, and passion these women had for punk music. It was such an incredible night with a show I’ll always remember.
Broken Jaw‘s Nutzie Shelley declares “We wrote Purge Yourself back in 2019 and it’s more prevalent and relevant than it ever was back then. From start to finish, this album exudes adrenaline, energy, passion and tenacity, giving you, the listener, a reason to keep on listening and just a small taste of what’s to come. And if you think that’s exciting, then you need to come see us play it live!”
Broken Jaw, from the Gloucestershire, England area, are a mixture of punk energy and attitude, spliced with huge, metal mosh-inducing riffs. The band boasts two furious guitarists (John Virgo & Sam Aston), a booming bassist (Josh Hughes, who also adds pummeling backing vocals), a rabid machine of a drummer (Sean “Garth” Watkins) and a tenacious, ferocious and venomous frontman (Nutzie Shelley). They are an extremely energetic, aggressive and rowdy band, who will spark adrenaline and movement into any crowd, with their manic and crazy live show. The band signed with big hitters, The Oracle Management (owned and managed by Dez Fafara) in early 2020, to release their debut album Purge Yourself.
Canadians know how to rock – period! Sure, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and all other Canadian hockey stars can “rock” the ice rink, but, damn, Canadian rockers can take down the house too. Sold out summer stage The Stone Pony at Asbury Park, NJ just barely survived full onslaught of variety of punk rock. And if anything, we Blame Canada. Canadian rockers SUM 41 and Simple Plan just wrapped up their co-headlined North American The Blame Canada Tour 2022. So we caught up with them on hot, steamy night by the famous Jersey shore in the famous Jersey rock venue to witness one of the last shows in the tour.
Written by Andris Jansons
Night started off with very colorful performance of American band Set It Off. I was able to witness the band wrapping up their set. Some very joyous music, as colorful as the bands members themselves, and setting off many positive vibes.
Simple Plan came on stage as sun started slowly setting. With no backdrop banners, some contrasting clouds and blue sky set the beautiful natural backdrop. For a Simple Plan this tour served as a way to commemorate 20th Anniversary of their debut album No Pads, No Helmets …. Just Balls, and the band opened their set with the song taken from that album called I’d Do Anything. Other songs from album that were played were Addicted, I’m Just A Kid, The Worst Day Ever and Perfect which served as a conclusion for their set.
Bands vocalist Pierre Bouvier kept constant contact with the crowd and made quite a few references of the previous times band played in New Jersey. He even let the fans play with his balls …. Ughh, the inflated beach balls that is. Why, what did you thought? One lucky fan even received signed by Pierre beach ball. Later during I’m Just A Kid song the bands drummer Chuck Comeau addressed the crowd about pandemic and tour postponements and decided to crowd surf, but not before putting on a yellow hazmat suit with hazmat facemask, and when fans “returned” him to the stage he got disinfected with some smoke guns. A little lighthearted step back from all the stress we suffered in the last two years.
SUM 41 barged on to the stage like a Nor easter winds from the Canada in the middle of January. We, Jersey people know that all too well. Fittingly, just before the band came on the AC/DC’s TNT blasted from the speakers, just to give way for SUM 41 to blast first three songs – Motivation, The Hell Song and Over My Head (Better Off Dead). All three songs felt like one, relentless onslaught of hard-hitting punk rock with Dave Baksh shredding like a true metaller and vocalist Deryck Whibley delivering aggressive vocals. Same goes for everyone else on the band. Everyone was fully immersed in the moment and performance.
SUM 41 dedicated this tour to their 21st Anniversary of their debut album All Killer No Filler. And while they played four songs from that album, rest of the set was nicely filled with the material from most of their discography.
Band delivered a hard-hitting punch for the night as crowd was going off in the pit and crowd surfers came forward like ocean waves crashing the Jersey beach.
Both Canadian bands are now scheduled to travel to Europe for better part of September and October, and later SUM 41 will join Offspring for their Australian Tour.
