Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. This time around, we bring you a genuinely sharp sounding piece of post hardcore from Brighton, a well arranged slab of stoner metal, the overdue return of a goth influenced act, a trio of very different singer songwriters…and more. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy.
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In the summer of 2025, The Rockerati released the ‘Black Book’ EP, a four song release celebrating a retro rock style that built upon the year’s previous single releases in a way that suggested the Brighton based band had reached peak confidence. Their earlier releases had attracted attention from a couple of major rock mags, but there was something about these DIY recordings that came a little closer to sharing a raw and honest sound.
During the first half of 2025, The Rockerati made their mark on the rock underground with the help of two excellent singles. The first, ‘Analogue Again’ set a great pub rock sound in place; loaded with solid riffs and a melodic edge that called back to the likes of Rockpile, it showed how the Brighton based act valued great influences more than they valued the notion of perceived “coolness”. That school of thought went into overdrive when the band dropped a bunch of Quo-esque riffs into the great ‘Big Dog’; with a bigger sound in place, the track demonstrated how tough The Rockerati could sound with an increase of both power and volume, and how solid playing will often trump originality.
The Rattlebacks had a very successful 2024. The Brighton based rock band released a selection of singles which received online acclaim, and towards the end of the year, they unleashed their debut album, ‘Sidewinder’, again, to a very positive response.
The album was a little more varied than a couple of the earlier singles suggested, with a couple of rather grungy tracks dropped between the huge old school rockers, and with a massive ballad providing one of the record’s standout tracks. It was very much the kind of album that suggested more greatness ahead.
Back in the year 2000, it was hard to avoid Wheatus. The rock-pop band’s song ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ was a hit on a massive scale. Not just in the UK; it also hit the top three of the singles chart in Ireland, Germany, Australia, Switzerland and Belgium and Austria. In three of those countries, it even reached the coveted top spot. Its peak of #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 seems almost conservative by comparison, but the band’s career certainly began with a bang. A cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’ was also a hit and a debut album was well received, but as far as many people are concerned, Wheatus subsequently disappeared and are best remembered as a flash in the pan success, much like Deep Blue Something a few years earlier.