THE CANDY SNATCHERS – Good Riddance / Round Up

On their self titled record from 1996, The Candy Snatchers ripped their way through sixteen high octane tracks in a little over half an hour, setting a brilliant punky blueprint that would suit the band going forward. With tunes like ‘Yeah You’ and ‘Haunted Road’ playing like an unholy hybrid of the Misfits and Electric Frankenstein, and ‘Sauced Again’ tapping into some even more razor sharp rock ‘n’ roll, the band immediately set themselves in place as a force to be reckoned with.

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THE SLEEVEENS – UFO’s / Bernadette

Released in February 2024, The Sleeveens’ self titled debut launched the band in largely great style. In a little over half an hour, potential fans were reeled in with the help of eleven punk ‘n’ roll numbers that, in the main, fused high octane riffs with a knowing sense of humour. ‘Give My Regards To The Dancing Girls’ provided the perfect opener with its combo of old school punk riffs and distorted vocals; ‘Aretha Franklin’ added a little more of a punk ‘n’ roll feel via a harder sounding guitar, and ‘Metallica Font’ served up pleasingly trashy riffs on an ode to teenage love. Best of all, a cover of The Undertones’ ‘Get Over You’ – dressed in a cloak of distortion – ended up sounding like The Sleeveens had dug up an old Real Kids track and given it a welcome kick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the perfect debut: the over-long, mid tempo ‘Dry Cider’ did some serious damage to the middle of the album, not just through dragging the mood, but also due to offering some unwelcome lyrical content: a weird, outdated reference to “The Handicap Association” suggested that The Sleeveens really did believe they were still living in 1977. [According to the band, the lyric is based on a real life story from several years ago which puts things in a clearer context, but it doesn’t stop archaic words jarring with a modern ear.]

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #86

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar! We’ve got another cool selection this week, taking in some punk ‘n’ roll, very dark electronica, some incredibly raw garage based noise, and the return of a funk rock powerhouse. As always, we hope the variety offers something for everyone. If you find something new to enjoy, we’d love to hear from you!

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Watch: Eastbourne punks CHUB crank the speed on ‘California Reaper’

Eastbourne has often been labelled an old peoples’ town. Comedian Lee Evans once joked that the shops all had bifocal windows. It’s true that it lacks the vibrancy of the nearby city of Brighton, but Eastbourne is far from being somewhere that people go exclusively to live out their final years. Party punks CHUB aren’t just set on putting the town on the musical map; they’re also seemingly making a play for becoming one of the noisiest things to ever emerge from that south coast seaside resort.

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DEATHWISH – The Fourth Horseman

Deathwish’s 2017 long player ‘Unleash Hell’ presented almost half an hour’s worth of full throttle thrills. With song titles like ‘Live Fast Live Forever’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is One Hell of A Drug’ and ‘Watch You Burn’ doing some extremely heavy lifting, the best material shared a no-nonsense sound that blended the speed driven sounds of ‘Overkill’ era Motorhead with classic Supersuckers, and threw in a few thrash metal tones for good measure.

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