“If it’s us versus them then we’ll be winning …you’ll never be alone”

London via Cornwall four-piece The Velvet Hands return after five years to release their second album ‘Sucker Punch’ (JamX / Blood Records). It follows the exhilarating Ramones and Strokes-inspired debut ‘Party’s Over’ in 2018. The album was produced and mixed by John Logan at Par Studios (Cornwall) and mastered by the legendary John Cornfield (The Stone Roses/Supergrass).

‘Party’s Over’ was a buoyant expression of youth. Their enthusiasm for life laid bare in short, fiery garage-psyche rock anthems to soundtrack a new generation coming of age. ‘Sucker Punch’, although sonically linked to the debut, becomes the antithesis of this lyrically at points. ‘Holiday In My Head’ witnesses the late teen zest for life descend into the forlorn 20s, sick of being skint:

“If I had money left to burn / But sparks just won’t fly / When you’re billed for every penny, you earn”

The fog of life without a future swell to unprecedented levels in the verses as they play The Ramones sound in ferocious Stooges style. The intensity is several levels above anything their debut offered, exemplified by the explosive Nick Valensi meets Russell Lissack solo. It encapsulates the pressure and stress of bills mounting, work not paying, and life becoming too much with such vehement brilliance.

‘Telephone Love’ takes the band to darker pastures of overindulgent all-nighters of booze and drugs. The party is over, but the protagonists remain, caning it. A snapshot of a generation sold down the river in every industry. Now they’re left praying the next line will make them feel alive enough to carry on:

“Bloodshot eyes and bleeding gums,
Welcome to the house of fun
And now you’re talking insane,
Telephone love runs through your veins
And I don’t know just how you found me, I don’t know Just how you found me

And now, and now it’s dawn
Riding from the dusk before
We could waste the night
You know you help me feel alive”

Despite the intoxication, The Velvet Hands find their way out and offer hope in the closing stages. With punk’s DIY spirit in their veins, they demand this be their time in the sun (“But You ain’t ever seen me next in line, / It’s my time, it’s my time, it’s my time”). Impatient and angry, the band are set to piss off the middle classes dominating the airwaves, and the world will be a better place for it.

The violence and desolation continue on the title track, ‘Sucker Punch’ but there is a more thoughtful musicality to the band not seen before, which spreads its wings elsewhere on the album. The title track initiates with jagged 00s guitars reminiscent of Bloc Party, Dogs, and early Razolright whilst the vocals roar like Johnny Rotten. Despite the uncompromising snarling of the verses, they lead into melodic Vaccines-esque chorus for fans to buy into joyously. Not finished there, they serve up a breakdown akin to an out-of-body experience. The message of getting up of the canvas and keep fighting becomes less naive and one of “now or never” and “don’t give up”. They emerge on the other side with confidence and solidarity, which is utterly undeniable on this remaining 00s guitar scene.

‘Devil’s Tale’ continues the band’s musical expansion with a sumptuous Doors via a Doves opening. Bugged out, the band takes their time, allowing this stoner trip to floating towards its solo climax. The guitars, inevitable, they’re coming, we all know it, and yet, the excitement, hysteria, and fever they create are no less mesmerising. ’40 Up and 40 Down’ sees the influx of Gang of Four, Franz Ferdinand, and XTC’s angular post-punk disco riffs flood the senses and, if any justice exists, will become an indie club floor filler for years.

‘Sucker Punch’ may have taken five years but in every conceivable way, it was worth the wait. Perfectly capturing the landscape that normal folk, especially creatives, face today. Skint, downtrodden, and overtaken by those who can afford it or the artistically redundant. Despite the odds against them and cultural pressures pushing them toward a boring mainstream landscape, the band have funnelled their joyous punk debut into something more studied and grander this time out. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world realises their quality.