Otto am Strand (Otto at the Beach), 2019 P.R.Wind

Uneasy Listening May 22: Caring/Not Caring

stream on mixcloud

Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night Helmettes - I Don't Care What the People Say

DJ speaks over The Plugz - Reel 10

Androids of Mu - Who Cares The Carter Family - I Couldn't Care Less The Flatmates - I Don't Care Collate - Who Cares About Tradition? SKIZOPHRENIA - Don't Care

Sticks and Stones - Reason to Care The Kids - I Don't Care The Modern Lovers - Someone I Care About Buddy Holly - You're So Square (Baby, I Don't Care) Morally Bankrupt - I Don't Care The Mummies - She Don't Care

Predator - Confessional The Monkees - Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care) CCCP Fedeli Alla Linea - Curami The Fleetwoods - I Care So Much Eddy Current Suppression Ring - You Don't Care

The Rats - Contradictions One-Way Subway - Jesus Loves Me Rickenbackers - She Don't Care About Time Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Just Don't Care Artificial Peace - Someone Cares Dark Thoughts - Why Should I Care George Jones - She Thinks I Still Care Shampoo - We Don't Care The Brood - See If I Care

The Everly Brothers - I Wonder If I Care As Much Youth Brigade - Care The Pixies Three - I Don't Care Richard III - Will You Care Elliott Smith - Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands The Skabbs - Don't Care No More

The Exploited - Don't Really Care The Lemon Pipers - Ask Me If I Care CIA - Who Cares? - Death

Carole King - Pierre

I produced a series of artist trading cards with my band the parts unknown!

each pack comes with 10 artist cards and 2 stickers!

there are 48 unique artist cards, plus rare inserts.  (including a 6 piece mural puzzle!) ...AND, there are 30 different sticker designs!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1000126806/2021-the-parts-unknown-artist-trading?ref=listings_manager_grid

i listened to living dead girl by rob zombie on repeat and needed to draw something inspired by it 🧟‍♀️🖤❤️

Dennis Medri, Catwoman

hymns for hope county. featuring black pistol fire, link wray, the bones of j.r. jones, patty loveless, parker millsap, & more. 

arise!

https://youtu.be/4d_7FXhbKkg

The Strays – Cool Your Jets

Every so often an album or band catch you unawares and as a consequence of that happy coming together, you feel energised and enthused anew. So it is with The Strays. I must be honest and admit they had not featured on my radar at any point over the last year. They came as recommended listening and whilst I am open to suggested music I am also very wary, as other people tell me “you’ll love” this band or song and I rarely do. In fact when people tell me I will love anything it never ends well. I am too cynical and suspicious for reasons I cannot even begin to explain.

The Strays were an altogether different matter. I loved the album artwork from the moment I saw it. I mean I am sucker for well-considered and iconic imagery. The band have lifted the graphic from the poster that accompanied ‘attack of the fifty-foot woman (1958) directed by Nathan H Juran. The title of the album ‘cool your jets’ which according to March (2004) alludes to something to do with ‘your food order being ready in an hour’ only conspires with this heady mixture and the listener is already expecting a sound and has some idea of where this ride might take us. So the fifties iconography is absolutely cemented in. But what of the songs?

The bar had been set very high so I was a little apprehensive when I pressed play and the speakers leapt into life. The track ‘Heyyyy’ is a glorious evocation of all things rock and roll and my fears waned and disappeared as the voice rippled through the room and I was immediately lost. Everything felt rounded and complete and as tune it is nigh on perfect. The vocal is breathy initially and drags you in, cultivating a sound and an image, but then the whole band assault you in the most lovely way. I must have played this track over and over and couldn’t escape it.

The Strays describe themselves as “raucous Punk Rock and Roll” and they are, but deary me the band are also so so much more than this description. If ‘Heyyy’ was the introduction I was even more delighted by ‘who’s crazy now’ which is like being dragged along by a freight train. It rattles and shakes you, and the band start to flex their muscles and exude a confidence in terms of delivery and song-writing. Both tracks are wildly different and evidence a range of influences that suggest and imply a thread through to some obvious comparisons. However make no bones about The Strays are highly original and operate in a space that is rare and unique.

The album is magnificent, I think the term is ‘all killer no filler’ (Whibley 2001). Cool Your Jets is the bands second offering. Their debut album ‘drop out zone’ released in 2019 was well received according to the bands bio. This comes as no surprise when considering the songs on ‘jets’. So ‘silence is golden’ is a stomper of a thing and doesn’t allow a moments respite from the inherent pop punk foundations the melody is built on.

If “music is an outburst of the soul” as Delius so eloquently offers then The Strays are standard bearers of a melodic sensibility that other musicians and bands would do well to learn from. I am not suggesting copying of ripping off what the band do. I am advocating that image, tunes and swagger are the prerequisite and gateway to an absolute love affair with a band and in that sense I am in.

The title track ‘cool your jets’ is sublime pop of the highest order. You know a song is good when you find yourself ‘Dad dancing’ and losing yourself in a glorious torrent of melodies, drums and guitars. I equally caught myself pogo-ing and playing air guitar to ‘Fred Batt’ which is a magnificent slice of rock and roll and I assume it to be homage to the Demonologist and self-proclaimed Witchcraft expert who regularly features on the TV show Most Haunted.

On ‘the house always wins’ the band evidence a dextrous touch though none the less filthy, with guitars that threaten and a vocal that returns to themes and subject matter that are the perfect foil for the song and album. If the suggestion here is ‘slight of hand’ and 'cheating' make no mistake, this is a band that is honest and truthful, though you sense Saint Nick wouldn’t say no to a front row seat and on exiting leave the place wearing a band t-shirt.

The album production is so lush it’s like an landscaped garden in full bloom. The whole thing washes over you and it seems that in a heartbeat it is over. I wanted more, more, more and surely that is the sign of a high-quality offering. Heed the words of PT Barnum all you fledging and not so fledgling rock and roll stars ‘always leave them wanting more’ and so it is with The Strays. They have a drive and enthusiasm for what they do and it is tangible in every song. Don’t take my word for it though. Go and buy this and see what you make of it all. You won’t be disappointed and if you ever needed living breathing proof of how healthy and vibrant music is, then call The Strays. You can get them if you dial 6 and keep it on repeat.

For more information go to

https://www.facebook.com/TheStraysLive/

@TheStraysMusic– Twitter

instagram.com/thestraysmusic/- Instagram

https://www.youtube.com/c/thestraysmusic- YouTube Channel

The Band

Vocals – Stella Sonic

Guitar – Sam Cordery

Bass – Krisztian Jakab-Hall

Drums – Gary Chamberlain

The Rock And Roll Fool

lowkey kinda proud of this for some reason

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