Garage punk mob Fidlar have announced a new album for September 4th. Due via Wichita, the first taste of Too comes in the form of ’40oz on repeat’, a three and a half minute scrap paired with a new music video that see’s their tongues remain firmly in cheek.
Watch the video below and head to their website here, where you can make a Gif as daft as this one.
Fist City / Cousins
Shacklewell Arms
16.05.2013
Canadian bands have always delivered great underground punk music, from the recent slamming sounds of Fucked Up through to the old guard of SNFU and DOA, they just seem have a knack of digging out some classic stuff and bringing something beautiful to the scene.
Last night, Alberta rippers Fist City rolled into town for their debut London show over East and delivered an absolute treat to the lucky few who witnessed their balls-out, garage fueled surf attack. From the opening track ‘Endless Bummer‘ to their epic version of Devo’s ‘Uncontrollable Urge’, (video below) the quartet packed massive amounts energetic punk into their 30 minute set and blew the roof off.
Fronted by Keir Griffiths on guitar and vocals, Fist City’s overall sound is trashy, powerful and underlined with a surf twang that invites a feel good factor on par with the best of them. We are talking the cheekiness of the Black Lips and Fidlar, riffs that would rival Rites of Spring, all delivered with a confident presence that brings their live work directly into your face.
This is not a band that plays a show and doesn’t get involved. These guys shake and move to the banging sound of Ryan Grieve’s pounding drums. Griffiths threw his guitar onto the stage and then threw himself into the audience, pulsating and gyrating like a woman on fire in a sandpit. His mic was hurled into the open jaws of the lucky few watching, whilst bassist Lindsay Munro and guitarist Evan Van Reekum kept the rolling pace flowing from the stage. Born a girl and now a man following gender reassignment, Keir stomped the shit out of every inch of space between those surrounding walls and left the onlookers in awe.
This band are special and they don’t come around that often, so look out for them on your travels and pick up their album ‘It’s 1983, Grow Up‘ whilst there’s still vinyl available.
Headliners Cousins followed this carnage well and put on a good show. They hail from Halifax made up of guitarist/singer Aaron Mangle and drummer Leigh Dotey. The duo play rock and roll at each other with thunderous riffage. Their stripped down presence hails a sound as loud and as finely perfected to any four piece. Dotey’s rolling drum assault does a grand job of keeping Mangle’s deep garage swagger fulfilled and made this evening one of the most enjoyable this year.
Both bands are playing at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton this weekend alongside a bunch of other fine Canadian acts down there. If you find yourself on the beach, do yourself a favour and seek these two out.
Zac
Fidlar
w/ Drenge
Dingwalls Camden, London
4th December 2012
Hidden away is Dingwalls, but tonight Fidlar and support band Drenge are determined to make their voices heard. Drenge are made of two brothers from Sheffield who capture the familiar indie sounds of the steel city tonight. While taking elements from indie veterans The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines, making Drenge sound like a distant relative of theirs.
Dashing through like lightning bolts Fidlar burst into the hysteria and ear-piercing guitar rhythm of ‘Cheap Beer’, before pounding every ounce of energy and mutiny in ‘Stoked and Broke’. Lead singer Zac Carper tells the storming crowd “I want everyone under 30 down at the front” and within seconds the stage gets completely gate-crashed. There are limbs being pulled in agonising directions as one member of the audience even manages to yelp that they’ve broken their hand. Well that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll for you!
Oozing from the L.A quartet comes ‘No Waves’ which prides itself on the birth of a sea of mighty mosh pits. Guitarists Brandon Schwartzel, Elvis Kuehn and drummer Max Kuehn at one point even attempt to make a deal with the security who have been taking a firm monumental stand centre-stage to fight off crowd surfers. This promise comes with trying to make peace with security by getting them out of the way if the crowd “turn it down a notch”. All is well for the first verse of ‘Max Can’t Swim’ then it is back to pure teen destruction.
The likes of rowdy tracks ‘Got No Money’ and ‘Carnivore Girls’ take a blow to the 500 capacity venue, soaking the walls in sweat. The stage diving continues song after song as the band advise kids to “drop out of school and start a band”. It’s Fidlar’s rendition of Blink 182’s ‘Damn It’ though that eats up the venue, swallowing the stage whole by the end of the truly exhausting set.
The rising skate-punk four-piece released their official video for ‘Cheap Beer’ last month. Check them out.
Jenny Chu
Alcohol and skateboarding obsessed FIDLAR return to our consciousness with their high tempo track, ‘Cheap Beer’ which has a suitably adrenaline fueled, tongue-in-cheek promo video to match.
The LA based band are back over in the UK next month for a small run of dates that are sure to be hectic and sweaty. Make sure you check them out.
DECEMBER
4th – London, Dingwalls
6th – Manchester, Soup Kitchen
7th – Glasgow, Cathouse