Dead Lucky - Sons of Lazarus

Western Cape punk bands are in short supply, restricted by a default elitist or naive mentality towards punk music. Although Dead Lucky themselves claim a dirty rock outfit, they do carry the ethos of punk, disjoined from its conventional attributes by incorporating catchy rock riffs and Lemmy-esque vocals.

Sons of Lazarus deliver a Gospel of authentic music, with accessible rock elements that grind to the bone. The album presents a variety of interesting licks and memorable lyrics, enabled by a tremendous effort on production. The twelve songs that span over 47 minutes affirm an LP worth the wait.

Kyle’s shouts/screams/highs and lows embedded with fair portions of elegance and fury makes him a fierce frontman. Jean’s jackhammer drum-blasts etch awesome grooves across the tunes. The guitar-front is consistent in delivering catchy riffs, the rhythm and lead complimenting each other. Sons of Lazarus and Sin City start with an “o my fuck it’s this song” bass intro, continuing with a varied and dominant bass range across the album.

The first song is a self-titled ‘fuck you’ type anthem. Following with a prophetic feel on the vocals, King of the Underworld resonates with evil through a brilliant chorus and a sweet and short solo that empowers Kyle’s demonic vocal capability. The single Prowler steers far from the punk-mark with catchy rock riffs. It is a radio-friendly song, even being 5 minutes long (*hint hint corporate cocksuckers). Fat bass lines walk the crafty drum work into a classic rock feel, leaning towards ‘rock’ rather than ‘punk rock’. 

Live Fast, Die Last slows the tempo, enabling a crass feel that adds variety to the album. Speeding off again in fast tempo, Our Prayer begins with a catchy guitar intro, followed by the drums drilling down and Kyle’s powerhouse vocals layered with style. The clean guitar intro to Favourite Kind of Woman soon spirals with rowdy riffs and wild snare-beats. Sin City continues the dirty feel that will make those of faint heart wash their hands. The crashing cymbals give a driving platform for the vocals.

With a swaying melody, Women of the Night illustrate a dirty and eager story that only good punk rock can tell – a win recipe for fun. End of the Day is an easy listen that contrasts the album with a very slow tune, expected from a veteran dirty-blues outfit.  Slow Dance with the Devil has a grungy feel; the slow tempo makes it a hypnotic song.

Immortals end the album, confirming fair accreditation of a ‘poes-cool’ LP. To my liking, 7 Sins would have been a nice bonus track, a raw golden oldie definitive of Dead Lucky. It is the song to which I usually lose my chill with pretentious, pious believers and am gladly thrown out of a venue, because FUCK YOU if you cannot hear the music.

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Photos accredited to Michael Ellis - Snapkamera

Half Price - Programmed to Party

Half Price is a great South African drunkpunk band with an accomplished track record of amusing live sets. Twelve years down the line, their fifth studio album Programmed to Party still carry the sarcastic leitmotif of music made for people that love to party. The 5 track EP presents a quarter hour of cheerful tunes. 

The band consists of uber-friendly dudes that always seem to have fun without succumbing to the sausage-machine music-industry’s norms and values. The DFG (Dirty Fucking German) plays bass with a sex offender’s passion, hailing from the sheep-herding town of Mariental. In 2008, Mawk were added on guitar (I might have been at his debut gig). Kyle, the drummer adds a solid backbone to the music, a poster boy for what a serious and talented drummer should be. I truly admire his technical capacity to play for a metal band as well, Bulletscript – flawlessly being able to differentiate between two rather different playing styles. Homo Pete is an enigmatic front-man that plays with conviction, together they are a well-rehearsed unit that each has a mind for music.

They started in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, and their first EP, the 2003 Bush, Bin Laden & My Mom’s Nought. My favorite album is their 2004, Taking Life Seriously. They then released Banned, apt for their situation at the time. The Monotony of Monogamy was released in 2010 and it is truly an amazing album for me – Oh My God... 

   

Programmed to Party is the opening track to the EP. Fast street punk beat, with a different, yet awesome feel to the vocals. To the end, there is a sample of people partying, escalating to an anthem, where the coherency between the vocals, guitars and bass are a joy to listen to. Familiar type harmonies on the vocals and interesting bass slides make for a very good opening song.

Still Playing Punk is a fast song, with the opening verse "Well, it’s been 10 long years and we’re still having fun." The second verse progress further with impressive bass that flows between persistent harmonies on the vocals, qualifying this as an anthem. The song reminds me of Conspiracy of One (The Offspring). The song ends with an aggressive vocal surge and a nice clean finish.

Mighty Black Lung is a lyrical acknowledgement of the addictive joy that is nicotine. The bass carries a cynical tune that makes for a good punk song. A long sample of the harmful effects of smoking, wedged between 3 different vocals make for a very interesting structures between the bass and vocals.

Iron Lion Zion is a very good Bob Marley Cover. Doubling the song in pace and adding punk elements to it, makes it an awesome circle-pit song. It is nice to have this cover on record, adding to Half Price’s impressive music repertoire. It’s “Rastafari, fucking reggae music Mon!” 

Roddy & Zecois exposes the difference in vocals on the EP. It is a good party song with a colorful story behind the song. After only a couple of listens, I find myself singing “Roddy, Roddy, did you fuck her?” Laughing spontaneously at “At least my dick is bigger than Kyle’s”

I have been fortunate enough to witness Half Price live a number of times, afterwards blissfully reminiscing at their tendency to play live naked. Ever since I witnessed a show in 2005 in my hometown in Namibia, I was astounded at how flawless they are at executing interesting music, while having immense fun. In 2008 I had the sincere pleasure of chilling with Pete post a gig in Stellenbosch, sharing perspectives on music. They are a fun-loving band that has mutual respect for good music as well as always being ready for a party. For a while now I've been hooked by their personas and I will always remain a fan of the band.

Homo Pete and your honorable Cesspiel

With 5 songs, including a Bob Marley cover and numerous samples, it is very much an EP. Yet, definitely a significant release in South African punk. Embarking on a tour around Germany in August and having toured Europe twice before makes Half Price the archetype of a good Western Cape DIY punk band.

Message them on Facebook for an EP by post

Punk Identities in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Sociology thesis PDF that references Half Price 19 times)

Streetlight Manifesto – The Hands That Thieve

I have an intricate (perhaps even intimate) relationship with Streetlight Manifesto. From the first time I heard of them with a vague recommendation of “something like ska”, I received my invite to the worlds’ greatest and fastest American third wave ska-punk act. I have been following them since 2008 and thus I have been very anxiously waiting for the new album since its original set date in November 2012. Long story short: fuck their record label Victory Records.

I feel a quick rundown of their previous material is essential, Everything goes numb (2003) was an absolute masterpiece, especially the song Here’s to Life. Keasby Nights (2006) was a remake of the Catch 22 debut album (Tomas Kalnoky’s previous band). Somewhere in the Between (2007) was their second studio album and had a lasting impact on my music taste, especially with the song What a Wicked Gang Are We.

Their previous release, 99 Songs of Revolution (2010) consisted only of cover-songs. With a NOFX cover of Linoleum and a remake of They Provide the Paint for the Picture-Perfect Masterpiece That You Will Paint on the Insides of Your Eyelids from Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution (which is a previous collective of classically trained musicians including Tomas Kalnoky, playing only on acoustics), the cover-album qualifies as a remarkable attempt.

The Hands That Thieve is thus their fifth album (third studio album), presenting ten original songs, spanning over 51 minutes of diverse sounds. The album is a well-polished product that contains traditional bold anthems and overall represents a truly superior class of musicianship. They create high-energy music that makes me smile.

Tomas Kalnoky’s is a huge feature on the album with his fast-as-ever vocals. They have very intelligent and powerful lyrics that create stirring music, enabled by catchy hooks. The rhythm section is simply put amazing. For the brass section, I only have compliments. Furthermore very impressive beats from the percussions.

The Three Of Us blasts the album off with good horn melodies. It is high-speed ska at its best. Ungrateful start with a slow guitar strum and a slow saxophone, and quickly explode into a fast-paced song and an anthem based final chorus. With Any Sort of Certainty contains trumpets in unison with vocals. It is truly a masterpiece of a song. “I will hold my tongue and I’ll breathe easily, if anyone can say with any certainty that there is something to believe”.

Tomas Kalnoy solo act (Toh Kay) is also releasing an acoustic version of the album on the 30th of April.