Monthly Archives: May 2021

DAVID MYHR – And Now This EP

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David Myhr’s second full length solo release (2018’s ‘Lucky Day’) presented a slightly more mature sound for the Swedish singer songwriter. The core of the record still showed off his power pop core – it was easily recognisable as the work of the man who gave the world the brilliant ‘Soundshine’ a couple of years earlier – but there were a couple of deviations into more acoustic-based material and a smoother sound. Despite being a little softer in places, the tunes worked just as well, showing a definite artistic growth as well as an influence from Josh Rouse producer Brad Jones.

The recording sessions were so fruitful that CD buyers were treated to a couple of uncredited bonus tracks. What’s more, a few other great songs were left on the shelf. The 2021 EP release ‘And Now This’ finally makes the remainder of the album sessions material available to all, and amazingly, all four tracks are every equal to the best bits of ‘Lucky Day’ itself.

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WATTS – Shady Rock & Rollers

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Following the release of their digital EP ‘All Done With Rock N Roll’ in 2017, the members of Watts took a little time out to work on other projects. Over the following two years, drummer John Lynch recorded a new LP with garage rock legends The Neighbourhoods; both he and guitarist John Blout (along with Neighborhoods man David Minehan) contributed to a great solo release from The Dirty Truckers’ Tom Baker, and vocalist Dan Kopko eventually surfaced as a member of a member of The Shang Hi-Los, a brilliant power pop band also featuring The Deadbeat 5’s Jen D’Angora. You could never accuse the band of being lazy but, on top of all of that, several Watts singles appeared digitally via Bandcamp over the course of the period. By giving fans a new track every few months, it really helped to keep the Watts legacy alive during the relative downtime.

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A BUNCH OF JERKS – The Dead EP

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If you’re the kind of person who always expects musical perfection, Boston garage rockers A Bunch of Jerks just won’t be for you. Since their inception, the band have always championed a ragged style: their sound is often driven by an overly loud drum kit; there are never any attempts made to fix any wobbly vocal moments and, generally, you get the feeling the band put the same level of care into their recordings as they put into their frankly terrible choice of band name. Regardless of their trashy aesthetic, they’ve plugged on and won fans and supporters – not least of all from the bands within the Rum Bar family – and by 2020, they seemed to have a fairly solid online presence.

Their ‘White Girl Wasted’ digital EP – released in March ’20 – provided a reasonable snapshot of their no-frills style, presenting front-woman Stabby’s vocals high in the mix on a couple of raw, self-penned tunes. The free download also gave a welcome look into their broad world of influences via a spirited (but somewhat unfussy) cover of The Rezillos’ ‘Flying Saucer Attack’ which showed bassist Bat to be a pleasingly muscular player.

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PORTABLE RADIO – Portable Radio

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One of the best things to happen during the early 10’s was the resurgence of AM radio styled pop music. For decades, bands like Electric Light Orchestra and Supertramp were considered hideously unfashionable, but in the ultimate example of “what comes around goes around” or perhaps “everything old is new again”, ELO somehow – and against the odds – became everyone’s favourite band. Pinpointing the instigator for this resurgeance in popularity for 70s pop is difficult, but it’s fair to say the very retro soundtrack for Guardians of The Galaxy may have been largely responsible. By 2019, the 70s pop wagon was rolling at full speed once more. No longer were The Feeling and a couple of bands on the Lojinx record label swimming against the tide.

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Paradise Lost announce new live release and share new video clip

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Last November, everyone’s favourite UK goth metal band Paradise Lost performed via a live stream. Well received by fans, the show can now be enjoyed by a wider audience via an upcoming CD and blu ray release.

‘Live At The Mill’ will be released via Nuclear Blast on 16th July, but you can watch a clip of the band performing ‘Darker Thoughts’ below.  Full details of the upcoming release, along with confirmed tour dates – virus allowing – can be found in the following press release.

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