JuiceheaD

For years people have been under the misapprehension that all you need to play punk is a sense of grievance and an upper lip that can twist into a sneer. Actuall you need to be able to play and to play well, otherwise you simply produce a bastard noise. Look at the Sex Pistols or The Clash – attitude to burn but they could play and the power and the cutting edge was vicious. Then look at Chelsea or Generation X – I think I make my point!

Juicehead are one of those who actually can write a melody and play their instruments and the result had me pogoing all over my listening cage and my neighbours shouting to “act my age and turn that racket down”.
Play this as background noise and all you will achieve is an annoying buzz coming out of the speakers but turn the wick up and the cutting guitar of Rob Vannice tears a new path between your ears while Tommy Kloss on bass and Mike Garelli fill in the hole and fill it with quick setting cement.

This is real punk, not the overblown Punk-pop of Blink 182 or prog-punk of Green Day. Anout a hundred numbers (actually 20) with titles like ‘Rotting From The Inside’ or ‘Deadly Nightshade’ or ‘No Regrets’, produced by Ramones collaborator John Cafiero and even loaded with little twists like Cello from Melora Creager (Nirvana & Rasputina) on ‘Black Roses’ or the Punk Pipers on ‘When I Fall From Grace’. The talents on show actually bring to mind The Pogues in their ‘Rum Sodomy & The Lash’ days, not for the music but the integrity and the preparedness to do different things.

For ages I despaired of hearing proper punk again and then in November there was the Bermondsey Joyriders and now JuiceheaD. Good days and a brilliant album.