Blab – Eton Mess

After stealing the show at Get Cape Wear Cape Fly’s Half Moon weekender, Southend’s Blab has been busy writing punk anthems for a new generation in ‘Casual Sex’ and ‘R.I.P’.  She is back once more with the new single ‘Eton Mess’ via Asylums Cool Thing Records.

Featuring the aforementioned mentor Get Cape as producer (and backing vocals), Blab has stepped up the vitriol as she laments the Tories. Sure, whatever, everyone does it, right? Not this well though!

The guitars fire out nastier and dirtier than The Libertines’ ‘Vertigo’ alongside the brutal infectious hooks of The Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers. Like Pete and Carl’s writing style, there’s a lot of heart to the song. However, these are not the heady days of ‘Up The Bracket’. Racism, homophobia, and fatal incompetence are brushed aside as jokes or, if dare questioned, are ridiculed for not being patriotic enough. Blab expertly taps into the rage that far too few of us wake with every day about this government.

With disdain in her heart and a guitar on her shoulder, punk has been reawakened, reimagined and, put her in a class of her own mt lord!

*Image courtesy of Cool Thing Records.

Asylums – A Perfect Life In A Perfect World

Southend’s Asylums returned in February with ‘Catalogue Kids’ (full review here). It slotted straight back into 2018’s high calibre ‘Alien Human Emotions’ (full review here). Can the second single, ‘A Perfect Life In A Perfect World’ up the ante?

All Artwork and images supplied by the band. DIY forever!

When recorded, it was an expression of not living in the moment. With the world in lockdown, it’s rapidly engulfing a sense of longing. For anyone without a garden, with their job, their business drifting out of sight, Asylum’s gothic punk ironically, has become the epicentre of sentiment.

There is so much emotion and raw power running through this single, it could have sound tracked ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. It is, only a matter of time before Britain embraces them as national treasures. The ante is up!

‘A Perfect Life In A Perfect World’ is availble on the bands own record label Cool Thing Records.

Asylums - Catalogue Kids

Less than two years ago, Southend’s Asylums released their second album 'Alien Human Emotions'. Not a second thought was given to dwelling on that success. Last fall, they ventured to Chicago, Illinois, and begun work on album number three with the legendary Steve Albini.

The lead single from the album is 'Catalogue Kids' and, it's slotted right back into their groove. Jazz Miell has his guitar set to warped and Luke Branch's vocals are at their pop punk best.

Last time out, they tapped into the of mood younger generations. Increasingly maligned by housing policy and a jobs race to the bottom, society has continued to nose dive. So, it’s fitting Asylums have not only returned, but with more animosity than ever.

What was disillusionment, has morphed into a rage. At points, its despair, but, crucially, in the closing moments on ‘Catalogue Kids’, the it’s defiant! The colossal thrash signifies enough is enough. It's violent and venomous, it begins to paint pictures of a lost generation kicking back.

No wonder Iggy took them tour.

Key to the UK punk scenes success in the 70s was, its ability to highlight generational divides and disrupt the social status quo. In 2020, elder generations who were afforded jobs for life, secure pensions and affordable housing now sneer upon those under 35. “Work harder” or “sacrifice more” are bellowed out, ignorant to the fact that work isn’t paying, education is a con and mortgages are a fantasy for anyone below 40k a year.

Asylums are picking at this scab. Well, they rip it clean off really. This raw polemic, is delivered with the angst it deserves and, culminates with the genius twist on The Who’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’:

“the kids don't seem alright”

Maybe, just maybe, this is the cultural needle needed to prick elder generations to be more emphatic. However, what really must be, is, a clarion call to younger generations. Get angry. Get poetic. Form a band and strike out!

The Asylums play their biggest headline show at London's Moth Club this October. Get your tickets here.

*Image courtesy of Luke Branch

Suspects: Village Green Festival

Complete with Ric Flair “wooooos” and righteousness in their veins, Southend’s Suspects led two-man crusade at Village Green Festival this past Saturday. Few were not saddling up to ride into battle with them afterwards.

The sheer power of their set shook the Idea13 stage. On ‘Armageddon and Me’, such was the ferocity, they made The Stooges and Royal Blood look like the exponents of nursery rhymes. Despite the frenetic chaos they generate, front man Thomas Prescott’s adorable soul shines bright, giving the audience something heartfelt to cling to.

This was personified on the intimate ‘Recovery’. The honesty of Frank Turner’s lyrics combined with the early fire of The Black Keys to create a furious sense of euphoria. Former single ‘Anaphylactic Shock’ took this even further. It was as though Therapy? had joined forces with The Walkmen on their classic ‘The Rat’.

During ‘Mental Health Act’, they drew their battle lines in the sand. For anyone who has ever been lost, it was a welcoming hug in the disguise of a behemoth rock monster.

Heavy. Destructive. Noble. All hail the Suspects.

*Image Courtesy of Kana Waiwaiku

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Asylums: Village Green Festival

On Essex’s grandest live stage, the main stage at Village Green Festival, Southend’s Asylums stole the whole effing show this past Saturday. Their brand of Ash meets The Clash embodied everything great about alternative pop, full of heart, desperation and better than annoying the mainstream could ever manufacture.

Essex, a county a tradition in right leaning politics, was lit up with Joe Strummer’s sloganeering and Billy Bragg’s social comment via frontman Luke Branch. ‘Joy In A Small Wage’ was pure pop rebellion. The imagery of the “outsider” knowing their worth, in today’s society, is a truly powerful one.

Taking messages such as “Sexists, we fucking hate you” to the suburbs seems innocuous, but really, it’s brave. How many of us can truly say we stand up and be counted in little England? Refusing intolerance, Asylums launch into a scorching rendition of ‘Second Class Sex’. The destruction levels are taken sky high on ‘Napalm Bubblegum’, no one was left unscathed!

With a certain other Southend outfit headlining the day, Asylums showcased everything pop music could and should be. They held up a mirror to a fractured society with pop hooks from the heavens. Credible, lovable, outsiders do not wear school uniforms!

*Image courtesy of Andrew Kenyon

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Asylums: Camden Assembly, London

Southend’s Asylums celebrated their 5th birthday in style this past Friday at London’s Camden Assembly.  Supported by the raw talent of BLAB, the furiously entertaining Suspects and a certain breakout act of 2019, October Drift, it was a stark reminder just how fucking great the music scene in the UK is right now.

No one can touch Asylums on the pop-punk circuit right now. They check all the boxes of the greats with great hooks, melody and angst. However, it’s the lyrics which catapult them to another plain. Intelligent, witty and of the moment, Asylums can carry you to the mosh pit and lead you out the other side a better person.

‘Joy In A Small Wage’ is this generations ‘Live Forever’. Gallagher’s sentiment of ‘We’ll see things they’ll never see’ runs throughout. As fun as the sonics are, it’s the honesty and integrity of Luke Branch’s vocal delivery which cuts through the room. It almost makes Jarvis’ heyday look trite.  

Togetherness is thrown into disarray on ‘Napalm Bubblegum’. Worlds are torn down as their brand of cosmic guitar licks enter hyper drive. “This bubbles gonna blow” is putting it mildly. It erupted into a rabid frenzied attack of the senses.

With the success of their second album ‘Alien Human Emotions’, this was the perfect send of for the 2018 by the Essex outfit. Intimate but far reaching, feral but loving, Asylums have hit a groove that will surely win hearts and minds for a long time to come.

*Image courtesy of Rob Humm / Si Deaves / Thomas Prescott