This One Song… USA Nails on Feel Worse

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?

Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.

Off the back of announcing their new album ‘Feel Worse‘ (out March 22nd 2024 via One Little Independent Records), guitarists / vocalists Steven Hodson and Gareth Thomas of USA Nails talk us through their new single of the same name. Take it away, Steven and Gareth…

Words: Andy Hughes (Photo Credit: Patrick Smith)

Steven: “Right, I’ll be completely honest here, I don’t really think I was involved much with the writing of the music of this tune. I remember listening to demos of songs Dan, Tom and Gareth were working on and planning to record with Wayne (Adams – Petbrick etc) and I’m pretty sure this was one of them. The three of them recorded a bunch of music they had written in London whilst I was doing raindrops and eating butter pies in Chorley, then sent me the mixes and I shoehorned some guitar and moaning in there. It wasn’t our usual way of working and I found the whole process quite hard. Not being present when a song is being formed was strange for me as I’m a bit of a practice room sergeant major.

We thought we’d have a bit of a theme with this record and laughing at the misfortune of others, or schadenfreude, seemed like a fun topic to explore. ‘Feel Worse‘, the song, is about the horrible nicknames kids give each other at school. Sometimes playful comments and ribbing can be taken to heart and definitely as kids we go through these learning curves of being complete shits to our nearest and dearests. Being a teacher myself I’ve had to support loads of spuds through these types of issues. Some would label it bullying but, at times, I’m not sure if that is helpful. I think the harm comes from a place of insecurity from the perpetrator.

I had no idea of what to play guitar-wise on this song so I just turned two horrible distortion pedals on and mashed my hand on a nasty chord then bent the strings around in the middle 8. I love Gareth’s mad guitar bits in this section too. I also did a bit of ‘spelling the song title out’ in this bit, a bit of a homage to ‘Be Aggressive‘ by Faith No More.

So yeah. Try not to make people feel worse… but ultimately, you probably will… but yeah, try not too.“

Gareth: “The writing for this song and a bunch of the songs from the album was a bit different as Steven says, now that he’s moved back up north, and the rest of us are down in London. Steven is always such a tornado of momentum when we are writing together, so we had to try and figure out a new way to work. I think it can be useful to force yourself to do things in a different way sometimes though, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone can help you break new ground, but it can also obviously be quite challenging.

At first we felt quite rudderless, and at times the process didn’t feel ideal as we were used to having a quick back and forth in the room and then – bang – song is written. But it was quite painful getting started on stuff as a 3, trying to figure out where to leave space for other guitar parts and vocals. In a way it was a bit of an experiment, writing in this way, and we’ve learnt a lot about how to make it easier on ourselves next time. Having said that, I love this number now, and the bunch of songs we ended up with, so i guess, the ends justify the means?

We made the video ourselves, as we almost always do. I originally had some ideas about doing a narrative based video, but got cold feet at the last minute so ended up doing something more abstract, as my visual art sort of background is more based in analogue photography and such.

I had this idea about projecting and refilming band footage onto different textures and shapes but couldn’t quite get it to look good. So, bit of a brainwave maybe – I sellotaped a chopstick to a turntable, and stabbed a ball of crumpled up paper on the top of it and projected onto that. Turned the lights down in the room and then got super close up with my camera and ended up with the weird rippling effect you see. So all the effects are totally practical, which gives me a huge sense of smugness. Though to be honest if I was clever enough to achieve this digitally I would have, I wouldn’t know where to start with that sort of thing though. Danny on the other hand, is all about that stuff, so keep an eye out for his video for one of our next singles!“

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

a/s/l: Joyce

Remember the days of the old schoolyard? Remember when Myspace was a thing? Remember those time-wasting, laborious quizzes that everyone used to love so much? Birthday Cake For Breakfast is bringing them back! 

Every couple of weeks, an unsuspecting band will be subject to the same old questions about dead bodies, Hitler, crying and crushes.  

This Week: Off the back of releasing new single ‘R​.​U​.​R‘, Joyce a.k.a Running Punk Jimmy Watkins answers a series of inane questions!

Words: Andy Hughes

a/s/l?
40/male/Bath.

Have you ever seen a dead body?
Yes. I saw someone fall down a concrete staircase in London when I was 18. They died immediately on contact with the ground. I had their blood on my white, grass-stained trainers, and I caught their mobile phone as it fell out of their hand.

Who is your favourite Simpsons character?
I have honestly never seen a full episode of The Simpsons. From what I have seen, I really like Marge. She seems like she’d be part of a cool book club, and I imagine her making mashed potato with no lumps.

What T-Shirt are you wearing?
A t-shirt with a dj on it and the word Butter underneath.

What did your last text message say?
I can’t stop listening to this remix today! Perfect.

What’s the last song you listened to?
Looking for Satellites by David Bowie.

How did you meet the people in your band?
On the latest Joyce single it’s myself, my dad, and Stale Winton. I met my dad when I was younger, and I met Stale Winton while I was earning my BTEC in rhythm guitar with Future of the Left and we gigged with God Damn.

What’s the first record you bought?
Everything Must Go by the Manic Street Preachers.

What was your favourite VHS growing up?
Vanishing Point.

When was the last time you cried?
It was either when my son was born in 2017, or the finale of The Traitors. Both were big moments in my life.

Have you ever kissed someone & regretted it?
I’ve never regretted kissing someone, but I’ve regretted talking to lots of people.

Best Physical Feature?
My whole body.

Worst physical feature?
My brain.

Reasonably ok/not bad feature that you’re not fussed about?
The warmth I leave behind on the pillow when I wake up every morning.

Do you have any pets?
I’ve got a goldfish. It has no name, but I once had a dream his name was Prawn.

Ever picked up any injuries on tour?
Aside from the occasional hamstring or calf pull, I’ve been lucky on tour. I did break my nose and jaw in a fight a few days before going on tour in 2012 though. Great days!

What did you do for your last birthday?
I went for a run. Wore a zebra print gilet and drank a load of alcohol-free beers.

Name something you CANNOT wait for?
The day my nervous tick vanishes.

Do you have a crush on someone?
Yes. Anna Kavan.

What’s the shittest experience you’ve had as a musician?
Uploading any Joyce song on the BBC Uploader. Thinking I looked cool with a Les Paul was a pretty shitty experience too.

If you could go back in time, how far would you go?
I’d go back to the fourteenth century to start a podcast with The Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales.

How do you want to die?
In a busy place, shouting random dates at anyone who looks at me. Saying things like “See you on October the 5th, 2048”. You know. Just to mess with their heads. I’d also like to die like Joseph Knecht in The Glass Bead Game. He’s feeling unwell, so swims in a freezing cold lake and never returns.

What’s your favourite thing about pizza?
The scraping sound a pizza paddle makes as it slides in and out of a pizza oven.

What are you craving right now?
I’ve been vegan since January the first and I’m craving a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and a cup of tea.

Have you ever been on a horse?
I have indeed. I used to go horse riding a lot as a kid. I fell off one once and landed on a cattle grid.

What did you dream about last night?
Someone stole my identity, and I went to this shop near my house to talk to the fridges to find out what I had to do next. I ended up arguing with tins of Dunn’s River Nourishment.

If you could go back in time and kill the baby Hitler, would you?
Only if I could become a baby myself. If I’m going to save the world, I want it to be a fair fight.

Do you like Chinese food?
I like all food. I’m a big fan of Chinese chips.

Have you ever been on TV?
Lots of times.

Ever meet someone famous?
I have a lot of famous person stories, but one of my favourites is about the time I met Will Arnett and he asked me to make him a scrambled egg panini. I also had an electric shock in front of Natasha Lyonne!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A lighthouse keeper.

‘R​.​U​.​R‘ is out NOW  – Buy yourself the Digital Track here!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Live Review: 2000 Trees Festival 2022

Words: Andy Hughes (Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandpop)

With current heatwave predictions suggesting the UK is going to skyrocket towards 40 degrees Celsius at the time of writing, it makes one long for the practically mild mid-20 degree days encountered at the start of the month during the sun-soaked 2000 Trees Festival. With a return to inner-city festivals ticked off the list post-restrictions, we were chuffed to have our in-an-actual-field festival come-back take place at 2000 Trees, the 15,000 capacity event set in the picturesque Cotswolds one that’s close to our hearts.

Having put up the tent and filled up the fridge (bucket) in record time, we loaded up on golden ales and set off for the Main Stage, a spot we’d encounter quite a number of highlights across the weekend. First up, Brighton’s Tigercub and as we walked to the Main Stage with the trio off in the distance and a sea of punters between us, it felt so good to be back! A bloke dressed as Tigger was surfing above the masses and looking stoked as drummer James Allix thundered away on ‘Memory Boy‘. The bouncy, trouncy friend of Christopher Robin went up again not long after with arms (legs?) outstretched for the wallop of ‘Stop Beating on My Heart (Like a Bass Drum)‘.

Old favourite ‘Centrefold‘ called to mind Josh Homme and his Queens of the Stone Age, the guitar squealing and howling, whilst lights flashed from on stage. A headline anywhere else, but a joy to watch early doors on a Thursday afternoon knowing the out of office is on. It was at this point however that I was regretting the long sleeve Turnstile top, as the sun shot down rays upon me – but one has to represent, right?

Having shared the bill with them over the years, Dinosaur Pile-Up took to the same stage hours after Tigercub. ‘Thrash Metal Cassette‘ opened things up with a bang and a proper big sing along chorus, with all three raging through the big single from their last album. “What the fuck is up?” Asked vocalist Matt Bigland in the form of a giant shout ahead of the joyous ‘Stupid Heavy Metal Broken Hearted Loser Punk‘. Absolute dons of the sing along chorus, they maximised the fun in the sun, creating such a top atmosphere and preparing us for the weekend ahead.

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop)

From the same album, crowd surfers galore went up for title track ‘Celebrity Mansions‘ and a can flew high in the air just as the pit went nuts for ‘Pouring Gasoline‘. Not long after, we were told by Bigland that the fifth shot of Tequila before coming on was a mistake, yet he seemed overjoyed to announce “I’m gonna be sick!” Sure enough, the crowd rejoiced at the very idea as he started a “throw it up” chant before doing what looked like a wee bit of throw up on stage.

“Message from Mike – are you still there?” Bigland asked on behalf of the drummer ahead of the crushing ‘Traynor‘. “Show me that fucking pit!” He shouted, soon opening it right up. “Keep going motherfuckers, keep going!” Cherry on top came in the gigantic ‘11:11‘, the crowd becoming unglued and overjoyed in the heat, guided on by the vocalist as he shouted out one last time – “It’s all fucking you!“

“This song is called Wonderwall II…” Announced Thom Edward of God Damn in jest during their sound check over on The Cave stage. A raised can minutes later signalled they were good to go, drummer Ash Weaver soon all octopus arms as, along with keys player Hannah Al-Shemmeri, the Wolvo trio blasted through new track ‘Little Dead Souls…‘ Suggested by Thom that attendees have the best music taste in the country, he later acknowledged how mad it was to see so many people getting into it on a Thursday afternoon off work. Massive blast from the past ‘Shoeprints‘ joined a few oldies in the mix, including a monumental run through of ‘Vultures‘ from their 2015 album of the same name.

From new album ‘Raw Coward‘, ‘Yout‘ was a particular rager that had the trio going full hammer and tongs, whilst a healthy pit got going during ‘Cowkaine‘, the ending of which proper rumbled the ribs. A “Big Jeff” chant launched ‘Shit Guitar‘ – where Edward sings of there being “no such thing as rock and roll” and that “Your idols are all paedophiles“. A slow start built into a tasty pit as it royally kicked off, culminating in a proper metal drummer ending – the sticks exploding out of Weaver‘s hands, one flying skyward and the other into the crowd.

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop

Now a proper live space in its own right, The Forest area provided an atmospheric change of pace to the other stages, whilst still packing an oomph. Now completely revamped, it featured a much improved new stage, ginormous compared to what it once looked like. Where once The Forest was an intimate hideaway, it’s now transformed into an idyllic spot to bask in the sun and still enjoy artists giving it some welly. Queer punk Londoners The Oozes were our first taste out in the woods, sounding gnarly on arrival, the full band plugged in and providing a proper ear-splitting punk set in amongst the trees.

Wych Elm, bringing ‘Midsommar‘ realness and Jesus-on-the-cross thorny headwear to The Forest, looked and sounded terrific and we were gutted to have missed their full set, but the 1 1/2 songs we did catch were a scratchy guitar’d, grunge delight that had a crowd down the front cutting about. Elsewhere across the weekend, Island Of Love tore it up on the same stage, bringing a bit of speed and noise to the early Friday afternoon crowd.

Theirs was a proper old school rock and roll vibe (check out the flares on the bassist), though the guitarist/vocalist was dressed like a hardcore kid (such are the circles they move in back in London). Add in a wee bit of a fuzzy American throwback sound and the band came across like Dinosaur Jr in parts, particularly the Mascis-esque ripper guitar solos, sounding especially good whenever they went at it in 100mph full on anthemic mode. As an added touch, the music played in-between bands featured the likes of DAF, Wipers, Happy Mondays and Human League, providing a top soundtrack should one want to lounge about on the forest floor!

Out of the woods, our first go on the Neu stage came via Chipping Norton alumni Cassels, and you could hear the hypnotic rumble of ‘Your Humble Narrator‘ from outside the tent, everyone inside vibing off the lengthy opener from their latest album ‘A Gut Feeling‘. “VILE” came the shouts from the pair as they moved on through into the brilliantly titled ‘Pete’s Vile Colleague‘, the brothers Beck gelling together like a wee boys hair after the discovery of Brylcreem.

Vocalist Jim acknowledged how pleased they were to be at the festival – “On the day that BoJo packed his bags no less!” (which naturally received big cheers). The crowd were on every word for ‘Mr Henderson Coughs‘ (complete with a great faux cough from drummer Loz), going nuts for the full on ending. Having announced they’d be off home after the final note due to working the next day, lots of pushing and shoving kicked off down the front for the rapid, post-punk stomper ‘Charlie Goes Skiing‘, as the dedicated audience sang back near every word.

Back on the main stage, as the moon moved across the blue sky, stage sparklers marked the arrival of Creeper, the UK’s answer to My Chemical Romance. Though the sparklers got less and less impressive as the set went on (particularly in the bright sunlight), there’s no denying this lot are clearly experts at wowing the festival crowd – a sea of hands waving back and forth on ‘Thorns of Love‘ an early indicator of that, as was the big pomp for the arrival of Annabelle, a bloody bride in her gown.

With the goths showing no signs of backing down in the heat, there were Misfits / Danzig vibes aplenty, with the band sounding as anthemic as you like. Right in the palm throughout, vocalist Will Gould at one point had the crowd singing back the entirety of the chorus before shifting gear into full on Freddie Mercury mode, encouraging both sections of the crowd to give it some.

(Photo Credit: Jez Pennington)

This Will Gould kid sure knows how to work an audience, popping up again over the weekend at The Axiom fronting Salem, looking darling with his little neckerchief. Legs were high in the air and surfing over the barrier for one eager punter right before a big space was opened up in the middle for kids to run around in, as drummer Jack Wrench smashed away. As he does in Creeper, Gould makes everything fun as hell and creates such a show, building up the crowd and making sing along moments mean so much.

Thursday night headliners Jimmy Eat World arrived for their day in the sun ahead of what seemed like an entire audience chanting “Jimmy“! Slicker than slick throughout their 1 hour plus, big one ‘Bleed American‘ came out early doors, a proper anthem, whilst personal favourite ‘The Sweetness‘ was a hairs on the back of the neck treat. ‘The Middle‘ was naturally their last, sing along central as the evening drew in. In fact, the crowd sang back near enough every word all night, though if you didn’t know the tune (hiya) it became a touch samey after a while (though ‘Blister‘, with guitarist Tom Linton taking on lead vocal duties, was a total jam).

Humorously, with a big smile on his face, vocalist Jim Adkins dished out some of the most generic sounding thanks for the crowd. Unintentional I’m sure, but very funny to hear – disingenuous, like a character from a video game, though perhaps it’s just what happens when you’re deep into a UK tour (and have been at it for nearly 30 years!)

Mornings before midday were spent queuing up to grab a Happy Banger (if you know, you know) and a coffee, each given their own soundtracks – Saturday via cucumber cool Yorkshire lot Avalanche Party (with some killer sax) and Friday via heavy Brummie outfit Creature, who almost knocked us off our feet with ferocious guitars during their soundcheck. As recommended by God Damn‘s Thom during their set the day before, Creature soon filled the head-banging quota for the morning (difficult with a scalding Americano on the go) with throat shredding vocals. A wee bit early for us, though there was no faulting the sincerity of vocalist James Thompson as he suggested “Get some fucking mosh pits on the go yeah?”

In other heavy news, I liked that before we got into the tent for thrash-metallers Heriot – with the guttural harsh vocals of Debbie Gough sounding like when you clear your throat in the morning – we passed the Women’s Institute in the merch tent, selling lovely sweet baked goods alongside all the wares on offer. Grab yourself a Blondie before getting your head caved in, why not?

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop)

“…We are Twisted Sister!” Announced Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs vocalist Matt Baty as Friday night moved into a heavier gear. “Who’s on next, Status Quo?” He asked, during one of his very funny in-betweens, the Geordie doom peddlers arriving in deafening fashion prior to that, whilst I worked through my only gyros of the festival (sad!)

“Listening to some loud as fuck music since Wednesday?” Asked Baty after the quintet ripped through an old one from back in the day (the 70s we were told). Next he’s commenting on the setup itself, suggesting the scaffolding made it feel “…like a Rammstein show!” Having recently caught them bringing the walls down at The Albert Hall in Manchester, it’s clear as day they’ve stepped their game up to warrant the shift to headliner. Building and building through the frantic ‘A66‘ from the acclaimed ‘King Of Cowards‘ album, lights flashed ahead of its climax as the vocalist roared “Here we go!“

Southerners High Vis (“I’m not from fucking London, but that’s where we live” – Vocalist Graham Sayle) transported us back to Manchester (or maybe Birkenhead) on Saturday afternoon, shifting from angry hardcore to baggy, Mad-Chester style mood enhancers which the crowd ate up with much gusto. Mannequin Pussy did some transporting of their own, offering up sun-soaked grunge-y throwback numbers, which were a treat in the far too hot afternoon heat. Having been over here for three weeks, vocalist Marisa Dabice acknowledged the shared hatred of governments between the UK and the US! Sweet vocals one minute, hoarse the next, Dabice sounded particularly raging when giving it the latter, off like a rocket at one point as she lunged to the front of the stage and shouted, before moving back and chucking shapes, whilst bassist Colins Regisford became all hair, headbanging during heavier moments.

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop)

Manchester trio False Advertising very much made the most of their late afternoon slot on the Neu stage, the giant ‘Won’t Feel Love‘ sounding real large. A joy to see the local lot from back home killing it amongst so many great acts, their new one ‘Personal Space‘ was the highlight, a grunge-y gem that provided the perfect soundtrack as one looked out past the tent to see the idyllic countryside.

Who knew that two people could look quite so small on such a big stage? Crystal Palace two-piece JOHN made it work however when they took to The Axiom, both doing impeccably in the heat as they hardly let up throughout their half hour. Drummer John Newton looked down on the crowd from a big old riser, thundering away as they exploded into life. Guitarist Johnny Healey gritted his teeth as he played, the only one at the festival wearing a SAVAK shirt I’d wager!

Towel on the face from drummer John as he kept hitting before letting us know about their new chart bothering album ‘Nocturnal Manoeuvres‘. All smiles on stage as they opened up a pit full of smiling punters out front – A wee lass ended up giving her friend her hat, glasses and pint and then disappeared into the throng.

The Chats from afar looked like a sun-blasted delight, as Aussie as can be, ripping through their set at x10 speed on the Main Stage. The wee daisy dukes on bassist/vocalist Eamon Sandwith were no distraction as he spat out every acerbic word. On the other side of the festival, The Wytches provided the blast from the past portion of the evening, grunge and psych infusions as the sun baked those sticking around The Cave stage.

“If I forget how to play this song, In a way it’s your fault.” Suggested vocalist Falco of groove-heavy trio Mclusky, later requesting during their set that maverick clapping should be reserved for ArcTanGent (the sister festival to 2000 Trees) as here they’re happy with just standard clapping. Screaming out the vocals to ‘Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues‘, people rushed past to get stuck in, as bassist Damien Sayell rolled up his sleeve to show off a bulging bicep. After a few false starts on one, Falco laughed as he looked out and announced. “Ladies and gentlemen you just witnessed an organic band experience – nothing to do with me.”

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop)

Mclusky came up again late Saturday evening when IDLES vocalist Joe Talbot acknowledged the importance of sharing the bill with the trio and how vital they are. Similar shout outs would follow for Safe Gigs 4 Women, JOHN and The Chats, but first their arrival with the ominous question from Talbot. “Are you ready to collide?” Setting out their stall as final headliners of the weekend, the outfit thrashed through opener ‘Colossus‘, soon knocking the hits out one after another – ‘Mother‘ sounding solid as the red lights flashed and Talbot raised a hand high, later running in a circle ahead of ‘1049 Gotho‘ and chanting hypnotic ‘La la la la la’s‘ on ‘Love Song‘.

Giving proceedings a proper big match feel, IDLES ticked all manner of boxes. Drummer Jon Beavis went into overtime on ‘Never Fight a Man With a Perm‘, guitarist Mark Bowen not long after getting acquainted with the front row, taking a microphone with him and singing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U‘ and ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)‘. Not to be outdone, Talbot on stage transitioned into ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You‘, all set against their nails brand of lapel-grabbing noise. Keeping the crowd lively, everyone got crouched down on ‘I’m Scum‘ before springing up, not long before closer ‘Rottweiler‘ and a final word from Joe: “We’ve been IDLES, you’ve been fucking magic.”

Our real headliners of the weekend however came early into Friday evening with our hardcore heroes – the main reason for making the trek up from Manchester. After some delay, drummer Daniel Fang ran on in front of the big pink backdrop on stage to queue in the rest of Turnstile. Vocalist Brendan Yates wasn’t far behind, propelling everyone forward on euphoric opener ‘MYSTERY‘, raising the microphone stand high for the crowd to shout back every word in unison. Whilst Yates looked very high school gym in his shorts and white tee, bassist Franz Lyons on the other hand looked slick wearing the band’s own merch, standing high on a monitor and looking out at the masses, perfect teeth visible from where we were stood! A star all set, later Lyons got a big sing along going himself on ‘NO SURPRISE‘, the crowd backing him 100%.

Joining in on the percussion at the end of ‘BLACKOUT‘, Yates too got some crowd back and forth going, again raising the microphone stand out their way to much hurrah. The sun caught the vocalist looking like a Greek god as he outstretched his arms on the heart-swelling ‘UNDERWATER BOI‘, the vocalist soon flowing through his dance moves like it’s nothing as the band pushed on, full steam ahead.

Near enough a run through of their massive new album ‘GLOW ON‘, major highlights came from the frantic ‘WILD WRLD‘ and ‘HOLIDAY‘. Before long, Yates chucked himself into the crowd, as Franz and guitarist Pat McCrory waved to him from on stage. Hardcore thrash heaven ‘T.L.C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)‘ put an end to it, everyone’s hearts full as they screamed back “I want to thank you for letting me be myself“, vocalist Yates soon down the front, slapping hands and embracing the front row.

(Photo Credit: Joe Singh – SnapRockandPop)

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Listening Post – March 2022

Words: Andy Hughes

Back we are then, a new month and a new soundtrack for you to sink your teeth into. Handpicked – 20 tunes, old and new – with all manner of delights, ranging from nostalgic sounds to Swedish punk, jazz and British post-punk.

If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to share with your friends, co-workers, parents, pets and oligarchs.

TRAAMS – A House on Fire

Ripper territory from Chichester trio TRAAMS, one which keeps the vibe alive long past the point you’d expect it to end, racing through its 8+ minutes in chaotic and euphoric fashion. It’s taken six years to discover this, but I’m fully on board now!

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The Way It Shatters
(Endless Rooms)

Whenever there’s a new album on the way from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, the opening gambit always delivers – the Aussie quintet laying their cards out on the table, with it always being a good hand. Trust them then to tease the release of new album ‘Endless Rooms‘ with the brilliant ‘The Way It Shatters‘, a sun-soaked good time. 

Cate Le Bon – Harbour
(Pompeii)

A delectable new cut from the latest Cate Le Bon record, the Welsh artist very much reeling you in with the 80s vibe of ‘Harbour‘. Composed entirely on her own, primarily on the bass, Le Bon plays nearly every instrument across ‘Pompeii‘ and in a similar fashion to previous album ‘Reward‘, you can really feel that sole, personal touch within.

Holograms – ABC City
(Holograms)

From their 2012 self-titled debut album, Swedish punks Holograms bash out one hell of an anthemic chorus on the infectious ‘ABC City‘. According to the press release from the time, synthesizers were a bit of a rarity in Swedish punk bands, something which they clearly capitalised on real horrorshow as evidenced here.

METZ – Demolition Row

From a forthcoming 7″ out on What’s Your Rupture?, Canadian trio METZ continue on with their all killer, no filler repertoire via the fuzzy ‘Demolition Row‘. A bit moodier than we’ve perhaps heard before, it still packs in that wallop we’ve come to expect.

Vocalist Alex Edkins recently talked us through the ins and outs of the track, which you can read about here.

Folly Group – I Raise You (The Price of Your Head)
(Human and Kind)

The debut Folly Group EP ‘Awake and Hungry‘ ticked many a box for us here at BCFB HQ and their collaboration with Metronomy from last year was a total joy. With sights set on their follow up ‘Human and Kind‘, the Londoners have got another infectious number to add to their collection in the raging ‘I Raise You (The Price of Your Head)‘. Early reviews suggested the quartet were the UK answer to Crack Cloud, which sounds about right.

USA Nails – It’s All In The Context
(Split)

50 seconds of solid noise-rock from our favourites USA Nails, taken from their forthcoming split with American quartet Psychic Graveyard. ‘It’s All In The Context‘ carries on our favoured suggestion that you should be able to wrap everything up in 60 seconds or less. A solid sign of things to come.

Kokoroko – Something’s Going On

Proper vibe of a record from LDN collective Kokoroko that you wish could go on forever! The soulful jazz delights on offer from new single ‘Something’s Going On‘ signal a return off the back of 2020s ‘Baba Ayoola‘, the band having spent the past year working on new material. Crafted in the studio and infused with what was going on in their individual personal lives.

SASAMI – Call Me Home
(Squeeze)

Having very recently received a tip of the hat from Japanese Breakfast and with upcoming dates supporting Mitski and Haim, SASAMI is looking to make the most of 2022 off the back of releasing her latest record ‘Squeeze‘. Having previously knocked us senseless with the thrash metal stylings of ‘Sorry Entertainer‘, on ‘Call Me Home‘ she takes a softer, more beautiful approach, the track reaching glittering, transcendent highs towards its close.

Judee Sill – The Kiss
(Heart Food)

Wonderment on offer from 1973s ‘Heart Food‘ and the late American singer/songwriter Judee Sill. ‘The Kiss‘ is very much stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous, with no need to compete for your attention during its heavenly build. Andy Partridge of XTC apparently once called it “the most beautiful song ever recorded“, describing her as the female equivalent of Brian Wilson.

Bachelor – Back of My Hand
(Doomin’ Sun)

From the 2021 collaboration between Palehound’s Ellen Kempner and Jay Som (Melina Duterte), ‘Back of My Hand‘ sees Bachelor tackle the potentially darker side of fandom (as evidenced in their One Direction kidnapping video) against a heart-swelling musical backdrop. 

XTC – Outside World
(Drums And Wires)

Having spent a lengthy period of lockdown listening to ‘Black Sea‘, it seemed only right to give the record that came before it a whirl. Intrigued enough off the back of a tweet from Mclusky/Future of the Left vocalist Andrew Falkous, the snappy ‘Outside World‘ was an instant favourite, capturing XTC at their most infectious.

U.S. Girls – 4 American Dollars
(Heavy Light)

A funky, disco-ball dance delight from 2020 single ‘4 American Dollars‘, reminiscent of husband-and-wife duo Tennis. The story goes that U.S. Girls (the work of Meghan Remy) has changed somewhat over the past 15 years, developing from a noisy, abrasive solo act into a hip-shaking pop outfit.

Metronomy – Love Factory
(Small World)

‘She’s so industrious…‘ From the rather wonderful ‘Small World‘, Joseph Mount and his mates Metronomy return with a new album and the loveliest apocalyptic tale of survival. Dark tones indeed, but it’s hard not to laugh at the little one liner style lyrics about fixing a splint and getting “that leg seen to“.

Girls In Synthesis – Enveloped

To coincide with a run of UK dates, noisy trio Girls In Synthesis bring industrial style moodiness to the table with the raging ‘Enveloped‘. Straight down the barrel vocal delivery from John Linger as he barks out “I’ve seen a glimpse of the future!“

Turnstile – Can’t Get Away
(Time & Space)

Having been mildly obsessed with the latest Turnstile record ‘GLOW ON‘ over the past six months, the love-in continues off the back of catching them live in Leeds the other week. Gnarly stuff on the head-nod-heavy ‘Can’t Get Away‘. Love that nu-metal style riffage and Metallica-esque guitar solo.

Big Thief – No Reason
(Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You)

From their mammoth new double album ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You‘, Big Thief hypnotise on the wonderful ‘No Reason‘, the flute parts making the skin tingle! Love that line – ‘Like a feeling, like a flash, Like a fallin’ eyelash on your sweater, Threading future through the past‘.

Queens of the Stone Age – In The Fade
(Rated R)

Raise a glass to the late Mark Lanegan! When the news broke, this track popped up again and again on Twitter, bringing back visions of getting the long bus into college with a trusty portable CD player and a small number of chosen discs in a wallet. ‘Rated R‘ was seemingly always in there (even the bonus CD if I was feeling flash) and ‘In The Fade‘ remains a favourite.

Cold Comfort – Suck My Blood (Please Don’t)

Forrester goes fuzzy! ‘Suck My Blood (Please Don’t)‘ is the latest from the Northwich based one-man-band, destined for sweaty rooms with its Covid-catchiness. We were chuffed up to premiere the video for the single, which you can find for yourself here.

Gwenno – An Stevel Nowydh
(Tresor)

Box fresh new single from Cardiff’s Gwenno, the first taken from her forthcoming new album ‘Tresor‘. Her second full length to be almost entirely in Cornish, on ‘An Stevel Nowydh‘ there’s a definite 60s soundtrack vibe, but it also calls to mind the brilliant ‘Room For The Moon‘ from Russian artist Kate NV.

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

What’s On Michael Portillo’s iPod: Sugar Horse

Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music that influences them is just as important as the music they make. With that in mind, off the back of announcing new album ‘The Live Long After‘ via new single ‘Fat Dracula‘, we’re delighted to have Sugar Horse talking us through a host of records that helped shape and inspire them.

Words: Andy Hughes

Mclusky’s album The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire
(2004)

“This record is kind of a strange record for Mclusky. Their previous records felt super thought out and precise. Like every nook and cranny was filed down until it was as simple and effective as it was possible for them to get it. The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire feels like they hit the studio with fewer completely realised ideas. Somehow it still manages to be my favourite Mclusky record. There’s just something about the meanness of the whole thing. It’s really got that mid-20s “lash out in every direction at once for no discernible reason” thing going on. It’s proper bottled bile.

I’d been listening to it a tonne when we got together the first couple tracks for the album (you can probably tell which ones pretty easily to be honest) and even went to see them play in Dublin. The whole scathing, sarcastic tone of the record just made me wanna make something nasty as hell.

Something really cutting and violent. I still think You Should Be Ashamed Seamus is up there with the heaviest songs ever written. It might not be all downtuned guitars, bR00tZ growls and blastbeats, but I defy anyone to not look like they’ve just had a seagull shit in their mouth from a great height when that bass line comes in.

There’s also a big sense of eclecticism on this record, which is something every “heavy” record needs to some extent I think. I find it really tough, although I’m a right little wimp, to listen to just pure brutality for 30mins-an hour. It just gets a little dull after a while and the more impactful/noisy/horrible parts kinda lose their impact, just ‘cause you’ve got no softer stuff to stand it next to. It just becomes a bit one dimensional and that’s certainly not something this record can be accused of. One minute it’s a multi-car pile up and the next it’s a creepy drive through a suspiciously crowded woodland.“

The Cure’s album Wish
(1992)

“If you could see my haircut (maybe through the magic of a jpeg), you’d probably guess that I fucking love a bit of Robert Smith. The Cure are one of those bands that bounce in and out of fashion through the decades. They seem to be having a big resurgence right now, but have been essentially a lame South Park joke since maybe the early 2000s. Kinda sux to be honest, ‘cause their back catalogue is so varied and of (mostly) such high quality that it surprises me every time I speak to someone at all into the more indie side of rock that claims they dislike them. I suspect they’re lying though. I suspect they heard Friday I’m In Love once and thought “HE ISNT SINGING IN A FAUX CALIFORNIAN ACCENT! WHERES MY PUNK GOES POP CD?!?” The idiots….

Wish is kinda their attempt at stadium rawk it seems. It’s definitely their most bombastic. It’s also one of their most diverse records. You get the feeling that Fiction asked them to make Disintegration Pt2 and in pure Uncle Bob style, he went straight home and wrote Friday I’m In Love.

I love the dynamics on Wish. Its peaks and troughs are so much bigger than other Cure albums, which tend to go for an almost krautrock structure most of the time, like “Here’s the bit. Hope you like it ‘cause it’ll go on for a bit.” Dynamics are really drastic on The Live Long After, overly so some would say. That all comes from Wish (and a bit from Mogwai… ok a lot from Mogwai). From The Edge Of A Deep Green Sea especially informed both the softer and heavier sides of the record, which is a kinda weird statement I s’pose. The way it dips in and out of being an assault and whispering to you. Those kind of big shifts in dynamic just make everything seem that much more extreme.“

Metallica’s album …And Justice For All
(1988)

“When I was in my mid-teens I literally listened to absolutely nothing but Metallica for about two years of my life. It’s kind of mad how much of an impact they’ve had in the way I hear music. Especially in their early stuff, James (or Papa Het as he insists on being called) very rarely even really sings vocal melodies. It’s all kinda one note that moves a fraction now and again. When you stick that on top of guitars that are essentially palm muted low E for 5-9mins at a time it gets into a really droney space. It’s a really odd combination when you actually dig into it. I’d hesitate to say subversive, but we all know that’s what I’m thinking. I love the simplicity of that. It’s also an unsung skill to be able to make things that are monochromatic actually catchy. Somehow they do it.

A lot of people fucking hate Justice’s (yeah I’ll shorten it, like a true fan would) production. It’s definitely Marmite. No bass, no reverb, type writer drums, a million edits, absolutely zero guitar mid range and a bass drum that sounds like a piss drenched sock being thrown at a leg of lamb. Personally, I love it for all those things. Nothing sounds like Justice. You stick it on and you immediately know what it is. It’s so singular. Really fucking bleak and austere. Plus, James’ voice is at its very peak. Proper godly.

We wanted to make a record that sounded as singular and immediately identifiable, as pretentious as that sounds. A lot of modern heavy music/metal sounds super similar to me. We didn’t want to make another one of those records. I think we succeeded on that front. The Live Long After sounds pretty different and I’m really into that. Whether it’s any good or not, I’ll leave up to the reader. I’m sure the last couple of high and mighty bollocks have soured it already for you, so I’ve really shot myself in the foot here.“

The Chariot’s album The Fiancee
(2007)

“The Chariot are a band that, I feel at least, don’t get remembered for the right reasons. Yeah, they were batshit live. They were carefree and totally chaotic. That juxtaposed against the unexpected levels of faith within the band makes for a heady YouTube comment section brew. On face value that is all pretty interesting, but nothing legacy making. What is legacy making is the inventiveness and sheer audacity of their records.

Some of the ideas they’ve committed to tape (Pro Tools, I know, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely) are unfathomably original. The constant left turns. The willingness to, at first glance, appear to have no idea what they’re doing. There’s a distinct lack of ego with The Chariot and it shines through at all times. An unwillingness to be a Hardcore band, even though they undoubtedly are. It’s just art… and trust me I know how much of a complete clown I sound saying that.

While Long Live is probably my favourite of their records, The Fiancee is definitely the most “out there”. It’s so mangled and collaged together, but somehow feels like this uniform piece that’s meant to be consumed as a whole. They were experimenting with Pro Tools digital edit glitches, noisy effects pedal chains, blown out “so wrong it’s right” production techniques and even sampling gospel choirs in 2007. This is while every other heavy band was just trying to play the HEAVIEST BEATDOWN POSSIBLE MAAAN. Honestly, I don’t even think people have caught up with this record today. It stands alone, drenched in glory (of God if you must).

Low’s album Things We Lost In The Fire
(2001)

“Reading a description of Low on paper would lead you to believe they’re just a regular, pretty gloomy, three piece. Listening to it you can even kind of hear that, but the music itself just completely transcends that. It’s so far from other rock music. They’re just willing to go that much more stripped back and simple than pretty much anyone else would dare. At times I kinda feel like this record is barely existing. There’s just so little going on. I fucking love it though. It’s so absorbing. Makes you listen to every tiny detail so closely. You end up paying more attention to the string scrapes between chords than you would to some giant riff.

It was really hard to pick a particular Low record for this, as I listen to them all constantly. Even as I write this they’ve just put out Days Like These, which is an absolute gamechanger. The simplicity of the idea morphed into something that’s so supremely original. No other band could’ve released that. Anyway, I digress, Things We Lost In The Fire feels like their early Slowcore stuff distilled and perfected. It’s just so sparse and enveloping. Laser Beam in particular is barely even a song. It’s just one semi-whispered vocal with an almost non-existent guitar part. The sheer audacity of doing nothing else with that makes me want to weep with joy just thinking about it. As you can probably tell, we haven’t gotten nearly that courageous yet.

There’s probably about 90 tracks on every song on this record, much to the displeasure of my frankly inadequate mixing computer. Still, I like to think we at least attempted to nick a couple things off this record. What they are I’m not sure, but I’ll probably realise when I listen back in a couple years.“

The Twilight Sad’s album Forget The Night Ahead
(2009)

“It feels a bit wrong writing that a band that recently (2020 doesn’t count as a year, we’ve all made peace with this now) finished a stadium tour with The Cure and can sell out The Barrowlands are criminally underrated, but this is an indisputable fact I’m afraid. Those who do not agree, feel free to send an email to loose.women@itv.com with the heading Please Cancel This Pseudo-Right Wing Think Tank and I will reply to you as quickly as I possibly can.

Forget The Night Ahead in particular is commonly glanced over and forgotten, but to me it’s their finest work. The grubby production, howling guitar, tidal waves of fuzz and lyrics that seem to indicate James Graham murdered someone and got away with it some time around the year 2009. Oh, and don’t forget THE NOISE. It’s just wall to wall feedback on this thing.

Even the prettier, more stripped back songs like The Room (one of the greatest songs ever written by the way) are permeated with it. It was my introduction to that particular brand of Sonic Youth-esque feedback and I’d recommend it as a starting point for anyone wishing to journey through said Noise Rock black hole. While it is for the most part abhorrent sounding, somehow they manage to pull these beautiful and even catchy melodies out of it. Truly a magic trick.“

‘The Live Long After’ is out this August via Small Pond! Pick up a copy or two here!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

This One Song… The Vega Bodegas on All My Fish Are Dead

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?

Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.

Off the back of releasing latest single ‘All My Fish Are Dead‘ – their first new single in over three years – running punk Jimmy Watkins takes us on a deep dive of the latest from The Vega Bodegas! Take it away, Jimmy…

Words: Andy Hughes

“Like a lot of bands during lockdown, we had to find a new way to write songs without being in a room together. In the past we would bring ideas to the studio and would play around with them until we had a song. Last year all that changed, and we started writing and recording demos at home and would email them to each other. I was out on a run one day when guitarist Marc sent me this idea. I think the recording started with him saying he’d had a lot of rum, and he wasn’t even sure if this song idea made sense, but maybe there was a riff or two we could use for a song. I stopped running, downloaded it, and ran to five minutes of wild riffing and weird solos. I loved it straight away, and the final recording of this song has the exact same structure as that original demo.

When I got home from the run I messaged the boys to say I really loved the idea, and would work on some vocals and lyrics straight away. Well, that was an absolute nightmare. I must have spent two weeks trying different things. I sung, I shouted, I tried doing this weird thing where a lot of the track was an instrumental and I came in with a few lines now and again, but nothing seemed to work. I felt really bad about it because I could imagine the band playing that song live and having a great time doing it. I wrote an apologetic text saying I couldn’t think of anything to put on top of the music, so we shelved it and worked on other ideas which came together much quicker.

Time passed, but there was something about that instrumental that I kept coming back to. It didn’t have a name, and it was saved on my phone as ‘crazy idea.’ Every now and again I would stick it on during a run and would use it to motivate me. One day, at least three months after giving up on the lyrics, I had it on when I heard someone shout to his friend by a petrol station in Llanelli “nice one Tony, have a great day”. A little bit later, on the same run, I heard someone say “you get what you pay for” to an Amazon delivery driver. That was it. I knew I had the opening line, and I knew I would have to mention Tony at some point during the song. I finished the run early and got to work writing the lyrics.

Now, this is where it gets weird, because a song that refused to get written for so long, finally started writing itself. My house was quiet, I sat down and prepared to get in the zone, when my neighbour started doing DIY. I could hear him drilling and fixing things, so that went in the song. Then I remembered my other neighbours have an outdoor swimming pool, so I mentioned pool parties and mojitos. I also asked Marc to email over the wav of the song and to give it any title, so I knew where it was on Google Drive. He called it ‘All My Fish Are Dead‘. After that I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the song. I wanted to write something that got more intense as the song went on, but I wanted it to be uplifting. I had this idea to document a modern day breakdown, but to do it in a way that felt joyful and exciting.

At the time I was reading a book called ‘Strangers’ by Rebecca Tamás, and it was changing the way I thought about the modern world. It was terrifying, but at the same time it had answers about how we could change things like capitalism and the destruction of the planet. It introduced me to panpsychism and I was fascinated by this idea that our surroundings influence how we think. I was also reading a book called ‘American Cosmic by D.W Pasulka. In that book she meets people who believe their great ideas have come from aliens. I used that for the lines about “operating on a whole other level… outside on my mile high decking” and about our body parts being full of galaxies.

Together, those two books painted a picture of humans destroying the planet whilst also receiving messages of hope and innovation from outer space. That was a pretty surreal combo for me, so I went for it lyrically and described a modern world full of chaos and weird beauty. I wanted to paint a dreamlike landscape which was driven by capitalism and greed, but had a soft middle where it talks about how magical the human body can be. I have no idea if I succeeded, but for the first time in my life I can listen to a song we’ve recorded and think to myself that I’d put everything I could into the lyrics.

With all the lyrics written, I recorded my vocals at home and sent it to the boys. I was so happy to have finally done something with this song, and the rest of the band seemed to like it. We are very honest with each other when it comes to ideas, so I was fully prepared for a message telling me it was rubbish or made no sense.

As lockdown eased, we booked some time at Music Box studios in Cardiff and jammed through all of our lockdown demos. This song sounded great immediately, and everyone worked on their parts in a room together, while I did my best to memorise the 500 or so words that made up the lyrics. I don’t play guitar on this song, so it was a joy to see Marc, Jamie and Nathan refine what they were playing and making the song more dynamic. The demo had a drum loop on there, and I loved watching Nathan mixing it up with his own drumming style. It gave the song a Beastie Boys groove which changed the way I delivered the vocals. It allowed me to go a bit more full on than the demo, which was almost spoken word.

One of the things we were aware of was that the demo was over 5 minutes long. We decided to up the tempo a bit to get it under that 5 minute mark. We worked on this song in rehearsal for a few weeks until we were happy with it and then we decided to get in the studio to record it properly.

Through my Running Reviews, I’d become friends online with Todd Campbell from the band Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons. I was a massive fan of how that album sounded, so I message Todd and asked if he’d record us at his studio, and was delighted when he said he would. We booked two days with him and sent him demos of some of the songs we’d written.

As time went on, myself and the band were not sure if ‘All My Fish Are Dead‘ was the right song to put out first. We had this other song called ‘Global Electronic Village‘ which was under 3 minutes long, so we were tempted to play it a bit safe with that one instead. The day before recording we took our stuff to Stompbox Studio and told Todd we would record ‘Global Electronic Village‘ first, and immediately, we could tell he was a bit gutted. “What about All My Fish Are Dead?” he said. We all looked at each other and knew he was right. I was relieved to hear him say that. It gave us the confidence to record it.

Todd was very inspiring to work with. He seemed to know exactly what the song needed to make it more powerful and driving. It was his idea to add POG to some of the guitar riffs, and that totally transformed the feel. Another great idea he had was with the ending. Originally, I was whispering “all my fish are dead” at the end, but he suggested giving it much more force. I did that, and again, it totally changed the vibe of the song.

One of my highlights during the recording was watching Jamie singing “daddy was a big believer” for the breakdown bit. I don’t think he knew we were recording at the time, and he was practicing his pitch, but we left all four of those lines in there. The plan was to have just the one, but it sounded so wacky and weird that we simply had to keep them all in. I also love how his bassline evolves as this section goes on.

The last thing to be recorded for the song was Marc’s acoustic guitar for that middle section. The demo didn’t have acoustic on it, but after Jamie had done his vocal, we decided we could country that section up a bit. Marc and myself have been best friends since school, and seeing his song come to life like this was a real buzz for me.

So, there you are. I went on a bit as usual, but that is how we wrote and recorded our brand new single “All My Fish Are Dead”. I hope you like it.“

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

What’s On Michael Portillo’s iPod – End of Year: Jimmy Watkins (Running Punks)

Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music they listen to is just as important as the music they make.

In the nothing year that’s been 2020 we’ve had all sorts talk to us about inspirations, including the likes of Vennart, Hey Colossus, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and The Lovely Eggs!

With the year coming to a close (and having announced our Top 50 songs of 2020), we’ve decided to once again turn it on its head a bit and ask some of our favourites what releases they’ve been raving about this year. With that in mind, we’re chuffed to have former GB athlete Jimmy Watkins – currently cooking up a storm with his brilliant ‘Running Reviews‘ – talk to us about some of his favourite releases from the past 12 months.

Words: Andy Hughes

Billy Nomates’ album Billy Nomates
(Invada Records)

“I read something recently that said if you create art with courage, it automatically becomes political. The idea is that bravery will always stand up to what’s corrupt in the world. This album is like that for me. When I listen to it, it makes me feel like I’m still living in the world before the pandemic. It seems to exist in a parallel universe where none of this has happened. There’s an intimacy and playfulness to this album which I honestly don’t think I’ve heard on a record before. If you listen to it and look at the artwork, you feel like you’re on the other side of the table to Billy Nomates.

It’s an album with so many highlights, I could write an essay about it. Off the top of my head, there’s the chorus to ‘Hippy Elite’, which blows my mind every time, there’s the rolling bass line to ‘No’ which makes me feel like I’m racing through space in a homemade rocket, there’s the backing vocals on ‘Escape Artist‘ that carry me away into the night, and then there’s that uppercut guitar on ‘Fat White Man’ that makes me feel like I could walk through buildings. It’s not just the music though. Billy Nomates casually tosses lyrics around that land perfectly like light and shade in an Edward Hopper painting. You walk and dance with her through each song, picking up the smell of a strangers aftershave, or the hum of the fridge in a supermarket freezer section.

There’s an amazing narrative shift on ‘FNP’ where Billy Nomates suddenly sings to you and includes you in the song. When I first heard that, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. This is an album I keep turning to, no matter what mood I’m in. I feel like it’s an album that understands the listener, and helps them see their world a little clearer and with a new found sense of humour! In a weird way it has the personality of a Van Halen guitar solo. It seems to be plugged directly into the artist creating it. It’s like mainlining joy!”

Dream Nails’ album Dream Nails
(Alcopop/Dine Alone Records)

“I fell in love with this band the moment I heard the bass intro to ‘Jillian’. It bounced around my head like a brand new basketball and I suddenly found myself on Team Dream Nails. As I ran to this album I got whisked up on the journey with them, and moved through different revolving doors as we all chased freedom and acceptance. I hung on every word that Janey Starling sung, and I stopped to catch my breath as Anya Pearson quickly became my guitar hero. I’ve never wanted to join a band so much in my life. I’d happily play one chord per song, just to stand in the centre of the hurricane that holds each song together.

When I thought this feeling of sugary bliss would last forever, dark clouds rumbled through the end of ‘This is The Summer’, and then it hit me. This is an album that rolls like an avalanche towards the realisation that men have the ability to ruin everything, including that party that you’ve been invited to. I was ashamed and disgusted at the destructive power of my own sex. When the punch-bag heavy riffs of ‘Payback’ hit me, I noticed I was running with clenched fists. When the chorus for ‘Kiss My Fist’ burst like a fountainhead through my skull, that was it, I was committed to Team Dream Nails for life! This is an empowering and eye opening album. It inspires rage and kindness. It offers you an ice cream and then punches your lights out!”

Idles’ album Ultra Mono
(Partisan Records)

“In many ways, this album has changed my life. Idles were kind enough to let me do a Running Review before it came out. That was such a big deal for me and Running Punks, but that is not what I mean when I say this album changed my life. No, it was more profound than that. I heard something on my first listen and it seemed to mirror my own inner journey as a man who’s faced some demons and has battled through to find a place of peace and understanding. Connecting with an album like that is life changing! The same happened when I first heard ‘Damn’ by Kendrick Lamar, and these two albums feel very similar to me. They both seem to be about reversing curses that you’ve inherited due to where and how you were brought up as a young person.

I’m also a massive fan of the guitars on this record. I think Idles have always been seen as a bass led band, and I think the main sonic change on this album is brought about by some delicious 1950s style guitars!”

Wendy Eisenberg’s album Auto
(Ba Da Bing Records)

“I love music with holes in it. I like it to have gaps in logic and to move me in a hard to define way like poetry. This album does exactly that. Guitars climb and crawl through fascinating and spooky landscapes, while flashes of wonderful lyrics light up the sonic territory like lightning from the pen of a fearless artist. This is my night time running album. I’ve thought about how I can do a Running Review of it, and I’ll be brave enough to try it one day. It reminds me of Captain Beefheart, and that wonderful space you occupy between being awake and falling asleep.

This album contains a song called ‘Futures’, which is probably my favourite song of the year. It has this lyric about a shipwreck being in a garage, and when I first heard that, it was like an image had been burned on my imagination. I closed my eyes and saw that shipwreck, I went to the shops and I saw that shipwreck. The shipwreck followed me around all day. It also has the line “think of the futures that you want, that guided you here.” I could live inside that thought forever!”

Venom Prison’s album Primeval
(Prosthetic Records)

“Picking 5 albums from this year has been really tough. I’ll have to do my own list because I feel like I’ve left a lot of great stuff out here. Venom Prison deserves this slot because they are the first death metal band I’ve ever listened to and I absolutely loved it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I heard this album.

At first I was just so excited to be running to it, but then bits of music started jumping out at me and I was like “oh my word, I’ve never heard anything like that before.” It’s got these hooks and bits of swing which just totally take you by surprise. It gets better and better with every listen. I am absolutely fascinated by it. I’m fascinated by this band. I have no idea how anyone can play music like this. In amongst all the riffs and chaos, there’s a beauty and that beauty is best summed up with the lyric “everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves.” This album is unique in that it crushes your skull and offers you hope. Amazing!”

Catch Jimmy on one of his many, many ‘Running Reviews‘ – putting out brilliant takes on releases from the past and present with a wonderful outlook on music and, well, just about everything. He also kick-started the Running Punks, with their mission statement being human development – “…to change lives for the better through showing those who don’t fit into the traditional running scene the benefits of running on the body, mind and soul.”

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

What’s On Michael Portillo’s iPod: Total Wkts

Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music they listen to is just as important as the music they make. With that in mind, we’re delighted to have our old friend John Newton – vocalist and drummer in LDN based two-piece JOHN – talking us through what helped shape and influence the debut album for his new project Total Wkts!

Words: Andy Hughes

Emails from Graeme at Outré Disque

“Graeme at Cumbrian label Outré Disque emailed me out of the blue in March 2020 about a really creative collaborative album idea that he had for his label. Sadly, the limitations of the lockdown prevented this from being able to go ahead. Instead, we struck up a correspondence, meaning he was the first person to hear the opener of the Total Wkts album ‘HP Envy’ – made from the sampled sounds of a printer. Luckily, he was ‘into it’ and ended up asking to play it on his guest slot on Soho Radio. From there everything seemed to develop rather organically. I’ve also recently worked on a – yet to be released – remix for band Yes Grasshopper who are currently rolling out new music through the label.”

Christian Fitness – ‘3 Speed Limiters’
(love letters in the age of steam, 2015)

“Having listened to Mclusky since I was a teen, it was really refreshing to hear Andy Falkous’ Christian Fitness project, and it was particularly inspiring to see the playful attitude of his solo writing in this particular project. Having shared stages with him, it’s been great to strike up a friendship and quiz him on how the songs come together. I’ve also tried to embrace a sense of play throughout Total Wkts, grabbing at small accidents and encounters through process.”

Mogwai’s album ZEROZEROZERO (OST)
(2020)

“I always really enjoyed Mogwai’s soundtrack work for television/film, and having trained/worked as a visual artist for a fair few years now, I’m always interested in how music, lyrics and artwork can collide to generate the world of an album. Having moved away from South London back to my childhood town in the South West of England for a brief period, I wanted to try to capture a feeling of the surroundings, and using rather incidental phone recordings helped as a way of bring the location into the music.”

Crack Cloud’s album Pain Olympics
(2020)

“In a similarly visual way, I’ve been really enjoying the pretty broad range of directions on Crack Cloud’s new album. I wasn’t that captivated by their earlier work, but this album (as a body) is a really refreshing and enjoyable piece of work. The variety of instrumentation including brass, samples etc are used so seamlessly and successfully. They’re definitely a band I’d like to catch live when there’s a good moment too, I’d like to see how all the elements come together in the acoustics of a room.”

Arab Strap – ‘The Turning Of Our Bones’
(2020)

“After a rather nervous moment clicking the link after the song was posted in the press, I was hooked in straight away, the song’s been a solid companion whilst running around Crystal Palace in the last couple of weeks. I’ve always gravitated (in both JOHN and Total Wkts) to familiar, close-to-hand images and narratives, and that’s what Aidan Moffat just excels at, he twists mundanity and poetry in such a potent manner. I certainly can’t think of a stronger starting line in a long while too: ‘ I don’t give a fuck about the past or glory days gone by…”

‘Running Tracks’ is out on the 18th of September via Pets Care Records! Click through to find out where you can grab some limited edition wax!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Live Review: JOHN at The Deaf Institute in Manchester 29 January 2020

Words: Andy Hughes

Mid-week in Manchester and whilst the wind is relentless throughout the Northern city, Southern duo JOHN out of Crystal Palace are in town and not to be missed. The pair have been on quite the run as of late, putting out their second album ‘Out Here On The Fringes‘ to much acclaim and sharing stages with the likes of IDLES and Future Of The Left.

The last time they were in Manchester it was in the much smaller confines of The Castle, so it’s a thrill to see them leapfrog their way up to the much bigger Deaf Institute (plus the stage is higher up, so it’s unlikely any whoppers would jump on stage and walk all over the pedals this time…)

On arrival, my eyes dart to a number of Hot Snakes shirts knocking about (including on the frame of guitarist Johnny) and it comes back to me that one of the most recent visits to The Deaf Institute was to see Hot Snakes, who it turns out would end up paving the way for more rock hard, full pelt noise from JOHN.

Coming on stage to the best of USA Nails‘ oeuvre (‘They’d Name An Age After Me‘), the duo do their best to dust off any cobwebs and vanquish the notion of any January blues. Opener ‘Squad Vowels‘ is teeth-chattering in its ear splitting loudness and they rarely let up over the next hour.

For those unsure of who they’ve paid to see, up on stage behind the band glows the word ‘JOHN‘ from their bright light box, offering something visual in the darkened room as shadows of bodies move about up front. The guitar squeals and howls on ‘Future Thinker‘ (winner of Steve Lamacq’s coveted BBC 6 Music Roundtable honours) after drummer John opens it up solo, thundering along at pace, his sticks looking mesmerising in the low light as he hammers away.

“This is a delight for a Wednesday night.” Says drummer John, calling Manchester almost a hometown for them. Not long after they dive into a number of singles from 2017’s ‘God Speed In The National Limit’, with opener and absolute ripper ‘Balfron‘ sounding ridiculously big in the much larger room. ‘Ghost Printer‘ follows immediately without a missed note, and not long after comes a much older number in ‘Dust‘, one they’ve not played live for around seven years we’re told: “I doubt anyone’s heard it…”

A mid-show survey proves that most attendees at The Castle in October have made the leap along with JOHN to The Deaf Institute, but there’s also a lot of newcomers amongst the audience. To thank them for coming out, everyone is treated to the unveiling of a new song which is just as raging, danceable and LOUD as the rest.

We’ve been with JOHN almost from the start and it’s been joyous to see their fan base grow with every release. The rooms get bigger as do the tours, and it’s great to see they’re still hitting all the right spots. A night out with a room full of people, low lighting, two bodies on stage playing so loud your chest tightens. No fucking about, bashing it out.

Having a piss afterward, I overheard some revellers discussing what had just taken place.
“Sound big for a two piece.”
“Mate, sound massive for a two piece!”
Job done.

“There’s a lot of emails in punk rock…” Read an interview with JOHN here!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

What’s On Michael Portillo’s iPod – End of Year: JOHN

Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music they listen to is just as important as the music they make.

In 2019 we’ve had all sorts talk to us about inspirations, including the likes of International Teachers Of Pop, Working Men’s Club, WARMDUSCHER and Die! Die! Die!

With the year coming to a close, we’ve decided to turn it on its head a bit and ask some of our favourite artists what releases from this year they’ve been raving about. With that in mind, we’re chuffed to have John of Crystal Palace duo JOHN talk us through their favourite releases from the past 12 months.

(Photo Credit: Duncan Cruickshank)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ album Ghosteen
(Ghosteen Ltd)

“I’m sure this will make a lot of lists, but for good reason. His ability to intertwine the mythical and the mundane never ceases to amaze. I was a relatively late bloomer – with 2013’s ‘Push The Sky Away’ really clicking into place. ‘Ghosteen’ has followed suit, a truly beautiful collection against a backdrop of grief. The instrumentation is perfectly sparing and lets the weight of the words sink in… Particularly perfect on a rain-dashed trip on the 450 bus.”

USA Nails’ album Life Cinema
(Dipped In Gold)

“A band that Johnny and I have the privilege of calling good friends – but only after having aspired to share stages with them throughout our early years. ‘Life Cinema’ records and warps the ramble of quotidian experience, the album appearing like the often confusing journey into surbubia/middle age. Whichever you feel is relevant for yourself I guess? The lyric “In my dreams, I am the second best noise artist in Mitcham” (from ‘You Wish’) illustrates this well and deserves to be on a massive blue plaque on a pebbledash house.”

Dry Cleaning’s EP Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks
(IT’S OK)

“In a similar sense, Dry Cleaning also capture the humdrum of our daily systems and routines. The straight-faced delivery of genuinely witty lyrics is just so potently placed over dynamic instrumentation. The seriousness of the instrumentation so perfectly undermined by the vocals. It’s just really captivating and refreshing; definitely a favourite whilst in the van.”

Drahla’s album Useless Coordinates
(Captured Tracks)

“We shared a stage with them supporting METZ last year and it’s been fantastic to see them touring all over the world off the back of their wonderful debut. Always consistently creative with their output, the limited edition’s put together by Lucille and Rob of the band are really beautiful things. They’re also locals to us in Crystal Palace but they’re barely ever in town because of touring (one day we’ll get a drink).”

Christian Fitness’ album You Are The Ambulance

“For those that aren’t aware of Andrew Falkous’ (Mclusky*/ Future Of The Left) other venture known as Christian Fitness, you’ve got a bit of catching up to do. He’s released six albums since 2014 with the latest landing this year (Bandcamp and CD at the moment). Having had the pleasure of sharing stages/carbonated drinks with Andy, each album is a spectacular – often bizarre – collage of illogical logic. He crushes pop-cultural images together, creating songs that could be considered in the same vein as William Burrough’s cut-up texts.”

‘Out Here On The Fringes’ – the brand new noisy album from JOHN – is out now through Pets Care Records!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Album Review: Warmduscher – Tainted Lunch

Words: Nate Holdren

In German “warmduscher” means “someone who takes a hot shower” and the term is used dismissively. In English, on the other hand, Warmduscher means art rock band populated by trashy, deranged artists, and the term is something of a threat. (I had planned to make a joke about Brexit here – something about how Brits and Germans don’t understand each other – just to spite my friend Benjamin, but nothing I can say is funnier than the actual ongoing saga of Brexit. Fuck you Benjamin!) The band are a super group of sorts, with members of Fat White Family, Paranoid London, and Insecure Men.

Warmduscher play some weird shit. It reminds me of the aggression-through-strangeness of bits of Ween, Beck, the Butthole Surfers, and the awful/awesome Iggy Pop song ‘Nazi Girlfriend’. It’s the kind of material that if you heard it just once and weren’t paying attention, you might mistake it for a novelty act. But it’s serious music, even if parts of it seem funny.

Appropriately enough, ‘Tainted Lunch’, the London-based quintet’s third full-length, opens with living legend Iggy Pop delivering a minute-long monologue. He warns you that this will be a trip “straight to the backrooms of your minds” and calls on listeners to “stand up and push back with ‘em, show this world where we’re coming from” against the big lies and money that rules the world. It’s an old punk sensibility – broken freaks will be who they are, gabba gabba hey – and in a more commercial setting it might ring hollow – everyone feels put upon and on the outs sometimes, and that can sell a lot of records to teens – but here it sounds like a declaration by genuinely fucked up people. Pop speaks over the top of some sleazy funk that gets increasingly glitchier and harder to listen to. Then comes the title track, a barn burner driven by a catchy, simple and aggressive bass riff that’d be at home on a Christian Fitness record, with various other noises layered on top.

The lyrics careen between big and maybe insincere aspirations – “Gonna make ‘em feel it, gonna make ‘em sweat!” – accumulated frustration and resentment – “college boy high heels prom queen, Mr. I Can Be Anything I Fucking Want”, “twenty years wasted and I can’t take it no more” – and self-destruction – “dark web, cheap chemicals”, “anything for cheap thrills.” Much of this, like most of the vocals on the record, are delivered in a tone of bravado. The bravado can be intoxicating – it’s your best, most charming drinking buddy urging you to have several too many and be out too late on a work night and let down people who count on you.

Over the rest of the record the band veer all over the place musically. I’m tempted to call it broken rock and roll, but it’s more that it’s warped, mutated. The music shambles and lurches, leering and drooling, a little bit gross and very, very pleased with itself. There are occasional bouts of noise rock, disco, mild funk, blues riffs, soul, and lounge rock.

Despite all the changes, it all manages to cohere still, sounding like the same band, due to two unifying elements: first that most of the sounds are very 70s, in a sleazy sounding way, with some real hooks, even if strange ones. (Autocorrect turned that into strangulations. That’s appropriate.) Second, there’s vocalist Clams Baker’s distinctive voice. He does multiple styles – singing soulfully, weird falsetto, and a bit of rapping – but most of the time he’s doing a kind of American everyman talk-singing that reminded me of Protomartyr, but better.

There’s a very quick bit in the title track that I didn’t catch until the second or third listen and that I’ve not been able to stop thinking about for the past week or so. “Two shots in my morning coffee just to start my horrible fucking day,” sings Baker in a way that sounds genuinely vulnerable and in need, like he’s talking to himself in the bathroom mirror. That made the rest of the bravado on the record sound to me like the kind of talk that straight men will sometimes do on the way to the bar, or in a gym locker room, the kind of talk that’s neither fully sincere nor insincere, where men try to puff themselves up in front of others in order to re-inflate their own damaged self-image. It’s also the sort of bravado of people who are close to bottoming out, but talk like they’re on the verge of their big break. Sure I just lost a job again and had to borrow from my roommate to cover rent, but I’ve got an interview early tomorrow morning, so let’s get drunk tonight, kind of thing.

I could be wrong about the intent of the band here, but that bit stood out to me. I found it genuinely moving and it serves as a kind of crack in the facade the rest of the songs set out, raising a doubt that maybe the stories told here are by an unreliable narrator and don’t so much take place in the world as they do in the back room of the narrators’ minds. Between the unreliable narrators and the sound, I started to think of the record as set in the mind of a punk rocker who has some kind of fit and hallucinates that he’s living through a version of the Shaft movies.

Part of what Warmduscher does so well is to act strange in an Andy Kaufman way; the weird shit is clearly not fully sincere but they studiously refuse to crack a smile, staying in character so much that it stops being a joke and becomes performance art, a kind of study of a person living out a sick joke of a life. It makes for uncertain listening. The act is compelling enough that the broken weirdos littering these tracks evoke a little pity but also an attraction because they’re so charismatic. But you can’t play along for long without becoming self-conscious because it’s so over the top and out there.

The person who introduced me to Warmduscher said “they’re an acquired taste” and that’s right. It took me a few listens for the record to fully click. Then it clicked hard and now I can’t get out, I just keep playing it over and over. This is a really good record, compelling and creative, and very catchy once you get into it. Once you acquire the taste for Warmduscher you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

(Photo Credit: Holly Whitaker)

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Live Review: JOHN at The Castle Hotel in Manchester 4 October 2019

Words: Andy Hughes

It’s a funny thing whenever we discuss Crystal Palace duo JOHN – we feel we have to mention that Simon Pegg was an early fan (it’s true!), and we shamefully acknowledge that up until a few years back, we continuously missed them live whenever the opportunity was offered to us. We’ve made up for it since (even catching them in Germany late last year) because when it comes to their double-trouble live show, the pair are a thrill to witness.

Our last outing with the duo called JOHN (both of its members named John, for ease) came earlier this year, up the road at Gorilla supporting Mclusky to a sold out crowd. In Manchester last week it was another sell out, albeit in a cosier room, tucked much deeper into Manchester’s Northern Quarter at The Castle Hotel (though at the sweaty conclusion to their set, one wished the venue had the same level of air conditioning as Gorilla…)

2017 single ‘Squad Vowels‘ opened things up on Friday night, the noise deafening from the first note and a crushing sign of things to come. The rapid-fire ‘Standard Hauntings‘ followed sharpish, punters up front becoming unhinged, a blur as they thrash about. Guitarist Johnny tilts his head back and riffs away, eyes shut as he and drummer John thunder along at breakneck speed.

This year has seen the pair become radio friendly, performing live earlier this year for tastemakers KEXP during a UK tour for the station and closer to home more recently, featuring frequently on BBC Radio 6 Music. Their new album ‘Out Here On The Fringes‘ has been picked up by a number of DJ’s, most notably sprightly punk leg-end Iggy Pop.

“It’s a song that Iggy Pop likes – which is nice.” Announced John prior to recent single ‘Future Thinker‘ and people get right into the spirit of things, raising the temperature in the room. A bloke as close to the stage as possible has his arms outstretched and clearly feels every thump.

A quick break between songs comes with it a tally of who has and hasn’t seen JOHN live, coming in at around 50/50. Those in the know are chuffed to show their allegiance, whilst those new to the pair were likely pinching themselves. ‘Western Wilds‘ is described by drummer John as “a danc-y motherfucker” and sure enough, it lasts all of 10 seconds before a drunkard attempts a stage dive, treading all over guitarist Johnny’s pedals in the process.

“Look after him, he’s learnt his lesson.” Calls out John, admirably cooling things down and not losing his head as many others might have done. This drunkard isn’t the only pissed dickhead knocking about – knocking over and smashing glasses, all that – but it doesn’t take away from the evening and the atmosphere remained friendly.

‘Balfron‘ – rock-hard opener from debut album ‘God Speed In The National Limit‘ – sounds gigantic, especially when twinned with the anthemic ‘Ghost Printer‘ from the same LP. The back to back tunes are a workout for both John’s we’re told – “Hope everyone’s bought a towel…”

In and out in just over 30 minutes, their unofficial album launch captured the duo at their best – crunchy and ear-splitting, guitarist Jonny all smiles whilst drummer John was all growls. There’s talk that they’re back in January – don’t miss it (but just don’t jump on stage and walk all over the pedals, yeah?)

An interview with JOHN? Yes – Read it all here!

Like what you see? Why not stick around and check out the other articles and interviews!
Don’t forget to follow Birthday Cake For Breakfast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter