Another week, another mix. Yet again there's no theme other than songs that have cropped up whilst driving, on shuffle or have just been part of an album I was listening to that stood out as songs I'd like to put in a mix.
As always, there's my usual blurb under the cut if you fancy losing 10 minutes of your life. If you do download and listen to it, let me know what you think cos it's a lonely old world if you have a desperate need for approval...
You can download the mix HERE
Frightened Rabbit - An Otherwise Disappointing Life
Care Bears On Fire - Barbie Eat A Sandwich
Thought Industry - Dante Dangling From A Noose
Wolfsbane - Smoke And Red Light
Oh Wonder - Landslide
Danny Frye & The Devil Dolls - Long Gone
Randy - Rockin' Pneumonia And The Punk Rock Flu
Floodgate - Through My Days Into My Nights
The Wannadies - Things That I Would Love To Have Undone
Crooked Saws - Three Minute Long Song
Rancid - A Power Inside
Black Veil Brides - Stolen Omen
P!nk - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
Dan Webster - One To Remember
Clutch - Your Love Is Incarceration
The Idol Dead - Six Feet Under
Weezer - Autopilot
Drown - The Day I Walked Away
Frankie & The Heartstrings - That Postcard
Cinderella - If You Don't Like It
The Presidents Of The United States Of America - Electric Spider
Trouble - Hello Strawberry Skies
Warrior Soul - My Sky
Frightened Rabbit - An Otherwise Disappointing Life
Taken from the 2016 album Painting Of A Panic Attack
This is a fairly low key start to the mix but it's a great song and I thought it fitted the cover photo I used for this mix. It's from the recently released fifth album by these Scottish Indie Rockers. It's an excellent album and worth checking out if you like this song. They should be much more popular than they are.
Care Bears On Fire - Barbie Eat A Sandwich
Taken from the 2009 album Get Over It!
At the time of this album being released, the oldest of the band was just 15. Get Over It! is a cheery and pleasant burst of Pop Punk. This song was the lead single from it and is about supermodels, fairly obviously.
Thought Industry - Dante Dangling From A Noose
Taken from the 1996 album Outer Space Is Just A Martini Away
The first two albums by this American Progressive Metal band were pretty weird. Odd time signatures, acoustic passages and impenetrable lyrics. Their third album, this one, was a lot more commercially acceptable, though still a bit odd. They went through a load of line-up changes following this and the last couple of albums are disappointing but the first three still hold up well. I guess this song is about suicide, its hard to tell with Brent Oberlin's peculiar lyrics.
Wolfsbane - Smoke And Red Light
Taken from the 2012 album Wolfsbane Save The World
I previously featured Wolfsbane on the covers mix a few weeks ago and I'm TRYING not to repeatedly include bands I've already used. However, this song has cropped up on shuffle a couple of times now and I really like it. It's from their reunion album and is about the fame they got early on. I like the alluding to their debut, Live Fast, Die Fast, in the chorus too.
Also, once you've finished here, go back to the covers mix and check out the photo from when they were young. They've changed quite a bit in the last 25-30 years!
Oh Wonder - Landslide
Taken from the 2016 album Oh Wonder
Not my usual fare but this laid back, London-based pop duo have caught my attention. Simple, Trip-Hop-esque pop songs that are easy on the ears. Their voices work well together and this is a pretty song. I saw them on the very metal TV programme Sunday Brunch and thought they were quite good.
Danny Frye & The Devil Dolls - Long Gone
Taken from the 2001 album Hellbent
Another band that had a song on the Covers mix, this time it's one of their own songs. It's a catchy Psychobilly song all about getting dumped. They'll probably turn up on further mixes at some point too.
Randy - Rockin' Pneumonia And The Punk Rock Flu
Taken from the 2001 album The Human Atom Bombs
Randy are a great Garage Punk band from Sweden. They've been quiet of late but released several excellent albums, the last being Randy The Band in 2005. I dunno what's happened to them since then but they're apparently still on the go.
Floodgate - Through My Days Into My Nights
Taken from the 1996 album Penalty
A Stoner band formed by Kyle Thomas, formerly of Southern Thrash band Exhorder, who were a big influence on Pantera. Floodgate have more in common with Monster Magnet or Corrosion Of Conformity maybe. They're full of big riffs and choruses. The band split after this and Kyle has gone on to do a range of things that haven't touched this classic album. He's currently the vocalist for veteran Doom Metal band Trouble (See below)
The Wannadies - Things That I Would Love To Have Undone
Taken from the 1992 album Aquanautic
It's a shame that The Wannadies will only ever be known for that one song because they've released a handful of albums full of catchy, radio friendly Indie Rock that deserve to be heard. This is a song about conscription that's perhaps slower than their usual stuff but still got a big, singalong chorus.
Crooked Saws - Three Minute Long Song
Taken from the 2015 album This Machine Sells Cars
Crooked Saws are a duo that played a twisted, skewed version of the blues, its dark, seedy and heavy at times. This song in particular irritates me greatly because it should be called Two Minutes Fifty One Seconds Long Song. Or they should have chucked in nine more seconds, it wouldn't have been hard.
Rancid - A Power Inside
Taken from the 2014 album Honor Is All We Know
This is pretty much Rancid-by-numbers. A straight forward Punk song with a shouty chorus about empowerment, unity and being true to yourself and all that business. I've been singing it all week.
Black Veil Brides - Stolen Omen
Taken from the 2014 album Black Veil Brides
A while ago I was watching Scuzz and a video for BVB's The Legacy came on. I thought it was ridiculous. A while later I saw it again, I still thought the band looked ridiculous but that the song wasn't actually too bad. After that I saw another video (Heart of Fire) and they'd somewhat ditched the stupid Glam Metal Corpse Paint look they had and I liked that song too. I downloaded a couple of their albums and they're actually pretty decent, There's elements of Hard Rock, Metalcore and even Thrash in there, all wrapped up in a nice, marketable package,
P!nk - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
Taken from the 2012 album The Truth About Love
I've liked P!nk for a long time, ever since that "Iiiiiii'm coming up!" song. I think she shows how it's perfectly possible to make competent, credible Pop music that's aimed at adults rather than little kids that'll buy any old shit.
Dan Webster - One To Remember
Taken from the 2015 album The Tin Man
Dan is a friend of mine, a former D&D companion, and a talented singer/songwriter. He treads the line between tradional Folk and contemporary acoustic Pop. Before I moved out of York I used to go his gigs out of choice not a sense of duty. He's still gigging around the area on a regular basis so you should go see him if you find yourself there. This is taken from his third album that''s also worth checking out.
Clutch - Your Love Is Incarceration
Taken from the 2015 album Psychic Warfare
I love Clutch. They've been consistently churning great albums for 20+ years now; from their hardcore beginnings to the bluesy Stoner Rock they make now. Their last album was a no-nonsense Rock album and this song was one of the highlights for me. It's catchy and fun to bob your head to. Join in with the "Uh!"'s.
The Idol Dead - Six Feet Under
Taken from the 2012 album Dark Little Hearts
The Idol Dead are a Punk/Rock band from Leeds. Full of energy and catchy songs like this one. lead vocalist, Polly Phluid used to be in a local band I remember back in the 90's called Phluid. I'm pretty sure I have one of their songs on an album of York based bands from back in the day. You'll sleep well knowing that fascinating little tidbit of knowledge eh?
Weezer - Autopilot
Taken from the 2010 album Death To False Metal
This is a song about being part of the 9-5 life and being stuck in a rut. I'm not entirely how much Rivers Cuomo, of the multi-million selling band Weezer, can relate to that problem but he wrote a good song about it anyway.
Drown - The Day I Walked Away
Taken from the 1998 album Product of A Two Faced World
Back in January I was doing a bit of reminiscing with a couple of friends about Nu-Metal. Following that conversation, I went up to the attic and dug out a load of old CD's of bands I listened to back then, Bands like The Union Underground, Hedshel, God Among Men, Kilgore, Ultraspank, (HED)pe, Groovenics and Drown. I liked this a lot when it came out but wasn't sure it would date well. I stuck the CD in the car for a bit and it sounded great music-wise but lyrically left a lot to be desired. main man Lauren Boquette is a big man, a hard man that liked to say so. It's strange then that half of the songs on Product Of A Two faced World are all about how mean his Daddy was to him. For example, there's a line in this particular song about how he had to grow up with 'Do as I say not as I do' like it was a traumatic experience. Who DIDN'T have that growing up?! Get over yourself ,you big fanny.
But yeah, after a couple of listens the songs dug themselves back into my head and I appreciated it a lot more. It's a good mix of Hardcore and Industrial with a Nu-Metal sheen. Just try to ignore his whining on.
Frankie & The Heartstrings - That Postcard
Taken from the 2011 album Hunger
Much like the Wolfsbane track above, this song keeps cropping up on shuffle and I've been singing it a lot as a consequence. Fans of the jingly jangly Indie Pop of The Smiths should find a lot to like with this Sunderland band. Both of their albums are decent though Hunger is the better of the two
Cinderella - If You Don't Like It
Taken from the 1988 album Long Cold Winter
It's weird to look back at old Hair Metal bands and think just how cool I used to think they looked. I was desperate for long, bouffant hair as a teenager, now I'm in my 40's and have long, bouffant hair, I hate it. Still, at least the music is a good as I remember. This album, along with Appetite For Destruction, was very prominent in my fledgling steps into Rock music back at school and I think it holds up pretty well.
The Presidents Of The United States Of America - Electric Spider
Taken from the 2014 album Kudos To You!
PUSA have been making throw away, feel good Pop Punk since the mid-nineties and this, their most recent album, is more of the same. Most of their songs sound like they were written in 5 minutes and, for the most part, they were. This one is about a cocktail and the ingredients therein. Good stuff.
Trouble - Hello Strawberry Skies
Taken from the 1992 album Manic Frustration
This seminal Doom Metal band were great! They're still on the go but half the band, including vocalist Eric Wagner, have left and formed a band called The Skull who sound exactly like classic era Trouble. The rest have carried on as Trouble with new vocalist Kyle Thomas (See Floodgate above) who, ironically, don't sound like Classic era Trouble at all. It's all very messy.
Anyway, this song is heavy and good.
Warrior Soul - My Sky
Taken from the 1997 album Fucker
Coincidentally, after Eric Wagner left Trouble but before Kyle Thomas joined, Warrior Soul frontman, Kory Clarke had the job. Personally I don't think he'd be a good fit for that band. Seeing as he only lasted a few months and didn't record anything I guess everyone else felt the same too. Warrior Soul on the other hand, he fits very well. They're a gritty, political Hard Rock band full off anger and bile. These days Kory is the only remaining member and they're a shadow of what they used to be. Their last album, Stiff Middle Finger, was awful.
This song is different to their usual fair and more introspective than the rest of their stuff. Its based around a rolling, repetitive riff that builds and softens throughout the song. It's one of my favouritrs from the band
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