Browsing Tag

Sleaze Rock

The Elegant Chasers has unleashed their scuzzed up 90s Britpop revival, Let’s Ride.

Posted on 26 November 2021

Grunge, sunset sleaze and 90s Britpop viscerally converge in the latest single, Let’s Ride, from the indie nostalgia raconteurs, The Elegant Chasers. The anthemically-layered fuzzed up indie reincarnation is robust enough to shove the most iconic tracks from the 90s into the shoegaze category. The scuzzy guitars distortedly create a platform for the high-energy vocals that fall somewhere between Axl Rose and Ian Brown.

If you’re looking for a full-frontal trip back to the most iconic era of indie, Let’s Ride is your fastest mode of transport.

Let’s Ride is due for release on November 26th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

TBelly – I Never Want to See Me Again featuring Dennis Dunaway: The Non-sensically slick rock track of the year.

Posted on 21 October 2021

‘I Never Want to See Me Again’ is the intentionally non-sensical slick rock track from the down and dirty luminary act, TBelly, which has already scored a rave review from Alice Cooper. Who are we to disagree with the God of shock rock?

With Russell Keefe’s gnarled whiskey-soaked vocals against Dennis Dunaway’s equally gruff basslines and the symphonic keys, the enticingly euphoric hit hits the sweet spot; repeatedly.

If you can imagine what it sounds like from the gutter of the sunset strip, you’ll get an idea of what is on offer here. The best part? I Never Want to See Me Again evades every rock n roll cliché with the playful humility shown, but don’t worry, there are enough virtuosic short and sweet riffs to sate your rock n roll appetite.

You can stream the official music video for I Never Want to See Me Again for yourselves on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feel the frustration in Left of the Slash’s latest hard-rock hit, The Time is Now

Posted on 11 September 2021
Left of the Slash

Left of the Slash are the harbingers of doom in their latest single, The Time is Now, which uses screeching sleaze rock solos around the trepidation-laden rhythm section. In the vocals, you’ll find a sense of urgency for awakening that becomes infectious throughout the high-octane hard-rock hit.

Left of the Slash is easily one of the most promising alt-rock outfits to have fallen on our radar this year. Their expansive array of influence covers everyone from TOOL to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Black Sabbath to Pixies; which gives you an idea of how they came to cultivate such a dynamic sound that is unpredictable from one release to the next.

You can check out Left of the Slash on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hot Juice remind us how to have ‘Good Times’ with their swaggering party rock anthem.

Posted on 1 August 2021
Good Times by Hot Juice

UK-based rock powerhouse Hot Juice reminded fans how hedonism works with the release of their swaggering party rock anthem, Good Times.

With their vintage blues-rock style paired with their scuzzy reminiscence to Eagles of Death Metal and BRMC, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the sleazy desert rock atmosphere. It comes as little surprise that in the short time that Hot Juice has been running rampant on the live scene, they’ve already decorated themselves in accolades from the likes of BBC Introducing and Made in Jersey festival. If you get the chance to see them rip up a stage, take it.

You can check out Good Times for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp. For more info, head over to the band’s website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Switch N’ Whisky play it fast and loud in ‘Keep it in the Red’.

Posted on 8 July 2021

Switch N’ Whisky don’t just make Rock n Roll; they live, breathe and effortlessly exude it in their latest single, Keep it in the Red. It’s slick with sunset strip sleaze and motifed with solos that make it impossible not to be in awe of the powerhouse outfit that first established in the fall of 2016.

Their contemporary take on rock n roll abstracts nothing traditionalists look for in a stellar fast and loud rock track but the high-fidelity production allows you to every virtuosically-placed instrumental note and feel every ounce of feverish rock n roll furore from the vocals.

Check out the official music video to Keep it in the Red that released on June 11th via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

OCEANS OF TEARS have released their locked and loaded single, ‘Bullet in a Gun’.

Posted on 27 May 2021

Escape 2021 and catapult yourself back to the 80s with OCEANS OF TEARS semi-autobiographical rock opera single, ‘Bullet in a Gun’. If you need more music in your arsenal that speaks to you on an evocative level as well as an anthemic one, you will want to make Bullet in a Gun a playlist staple.

Their forbiddingly electrifying single starts with synth-driven discord that sets a B-movie-style macabre tone before the lyrics start to subversively find the parables between carrying around a loaded gun and drink-driving. While many rock acts rush to clamour about reckless hedonism, OCEANS OF TEARS artfully vent the broiling rage towards self-centric and self-destructive behaviour. That’s definitely a trend that I’m on board with.

Bullet in a Gun is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fastride are taking us all the way to ‘Sin City’

Posted on 17 May 2021

Fastride cut their teeth on the USA’s East Coast, playing clubs and bars like the Whiskey and the Viper Room alongside such luminaries of the rock scene as Black Star Riders, Jake E Lee, Hookers & Blow, and Michael Graves (The Misfits); formed around lead guitarist Ty Asoudegan, an alumnus of Berkelee College of Music who’s been featured in Guitar Player Magazine and name-checked by none other than Guns n’ Roses’ Slash, new single ‘Sin City’ is down and dirty, gritty, no-frills rock n’ roll. Hard-riffing straight from the off, this is proper LA screaming vocals, overdriven guitars, and thundering drums. There’s touches of ‘Slave To The Grind’-era Seb Bach to the vocals, the obligatory rip-snorting guitar break – all pinched harmonics and staccato muted flurries, trills, and hammer-on/pull-off runs – and a shouty, gang-vocal chorus. It’s the essence of 1980’s debauchery – sleazy, trashy, swathed in bandanas and black leather, and reeking of Marlboro and Jack’n’Cokes. Rock and very much roll.

Check out ‘Sin City’ on YouTube; Find Fastride on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Orson’s Well delivered a smoky stormer with ‘Serve the Verve’.

Posted on 15 April 2021

Rather than serving up yet another archetypal slice of Sunset strip sleaze, USA’s Orson’s Well brought modernism to their raunchy grooves with their latest single, ‘Serve the Verve’.

With Blues weaving its way into the anthemic stormer, Serve the Verve comes with a guarantee that you’ll find yourself mesmerised by the scuzzy yet soaring guitar solos that affirm Orson’s Well are bringing the pinnacle of modern rock.

Serve the Verve is rooted in the past, but it taps into that contemporary need for abrasive smoky rock n roll orchestrated for the discerning rock fan in 2021. For any fans of Guns n’ Roses and Aerosmith, Orson’s Well is definitely worth a spot on your radar.

You can check out the official video to Serve the Verve via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tyron Freeman’s raucous, indie-tinged rock – ‘Keep It Hid, Locked Away’

Posted on 10 April 2021

Like so many musicians during the last year or so, Tyron Freeman – a veteran of bands as a professional musician in the North West UK – found that the world shifted and skewed sideways at the beginning of the pandemic. Suddenly stranded, jobless and isolated in a studio flat in Germany, what does a creative musician do but call in his mates and put together a killer rock n’ roll track?

‘Keep It Hid, Locked Away’ is raucous, indie-tinged rock – think Goo Goo Dolls, Bush, a little of Royal Blood, and some Beatles-y sing-song sections. There’s influences of Fontaines and Tame Impala, the White Stripes, and Oasis, too, along with old-school rock in Zeppelin, Bowie, and the Stooges. Recorded at Liverpool’s Parr Studios, Chris Taylor’s production brings elements of the Lightning Seeds, Blossoms, and The Coral into the mix, giving the overall single a perfect mix of classic rock groove and North-East England indie-pop catchiness. This might be early days for Tyron Freeman’s solo career, but on the basis of ‘Keep It Hid, Locked Away’ he really, really needs to avoid his own advice; this needs to be shouted from the rooftops instead.

‘Keep It Hid, Locked Away’ is out now; check out Tyron Freeman on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Jade Moede gives garage rock a brand-new meaning with their single, ‘No More Lies’.

Posted on 2 April 2021

If you merged The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Greased Lightnin’ from Grease and threw in a little Pink Floyd attitude, you’d be left with an aural crumble not all too different from Jade Moede’s vintage rock track, ‘No More Lies’.

The theatric hit will almost leave you wondering what rock the artist has been hiding behind since the early 90s, and that’s no criticism. Anyone who appreciates filthy riffs, minimal production and sleaze rock-style unfuckwithability will have plenty of fun getting acquainted with Jade Moede.

You can check out No More Lies for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast