Tipped as “one of Belfast’s fastest rising bands”, Franklin are definitely a band to watch out for over the coming months. Last year’s single ‘Bebby’ introduced a tight music unit with its combination of pumping basslines contrasted with overdriven, choppy guitar lines that captured the ghosts of The Skids and really early U2, crossed with the slightly more abrasive edges of early Franz Ferdinand. The blend of power and melody showcased an amazingly tight band on this track, but by throwing an old school lead guitar break into a pleasingly angular workout also advertised a band who might be unafraid to take a swerve into the unexpected. What’s more, a full live set from Bennigans in Derry (captured with a very professional multi camera set up) showed a band who were far more than studio based marvels.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #124
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individal tracks that have appeared in our inbox over the last few weeks. This time out, there are a couple of familiar faces, but their return visit to the SB ensures a genuine variety, genre-wise. Among other things, we’ve got a dance infused banger from a fantastic underground electronica act, a couple of country influenced tunes, and even a slab of metal that takes a rather unexpected turn! As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy.
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THE CAROLYN – Pyramid Scheme Of Grief
In 2023, US punks The Carolyn released ‘Harmful History’, an EP that provided a solid, if brief, insight into the band’s musical interests. The material made their love of The Ataris and The Gaslight Anthem rather apparent, but in terms of musicianship, the material was very strong.
In many ways, their 2025 release ‘Pyramid Scheme of Grief’ offers fans more of the same, but at times, the arrangements are tighter and the material more concise. This gives The Carolyn a serious amount of extra punch when required, without losing any of their songwriting focus.
Madness to release career spanning ‘Hit Parade’ in November
Madness have been well served by compilation albums in the past. Their 1982 release ‘Complete Madness’ brought together a complete run of the band’s hits up to that point, making ‘House of Fun’ and the single version of ‘Return of The Las Palmas 7’ (with extra sax during the final section) available on a full length release for the first time, and also threw in a random b-side ‘In The City’ for good measure. The later ‘Divine Madness’ was a little more purist in its approach, but gave pride of place to the later hits ‘Michael Caine’, ‘The Sun & The Rain’, ‘Wings of A Dove’ and ‘One Better Day’, showing how much the Camden Nutty Boys had matured as musicians and songwriters in the short time since the release of ‘Complete Madness’ and the band’s split just a few years later.
Watch: Levellers release video for “lost” track ‘Alive’ ahead of ‘Zeitgeist’ reissue
Sometimes, “lost” tracks are lost for a reason. One in a while, though, a gem will surface from the vaults that has the power to make fans not only sit up and listen, but actually question why such a great recording could’ve been shelved in the first place.
Such is the case with ‘Alive’, a track from the Levellers archive, released as a single as part of the pre-release promotion for a 30th anniversary reissue of the band’s much loved fourth album ‘Zeitgeit’. Huge fans will, of course, recognise ‘Alive’ as having pride of place as part of the bonus tracks on the “special edition” of the Levellers’ 2017 release ‘Notes From The Underground’, but its inclusion on a reissue of a far more celebrated release is guaranteed to introduce it to new ears.