I’ve been nuts about old English punk for a long, long time. But I’ve never kept up too well with new English punk. In 13 years of reviewing punk records, I only covered a handful of bands from the Rutledge ancestral homeland. Seems kind of odd, doesn’t it? The ones I did write about were awesome. Remember the Apocalypse Babys? The Pits? Barse? Formed in the fall of 2008, London ’s Ten O Sevens represent for a new generation of English punk bands. And in this case, new English punk sounds an awful lot like old English punk! If you know me, you can guess that I have no complaints about that whatsoever! The Ten O Sevens are freakin’ bad-ass! They’ve got a classic snotty ’77 sound with a serious rock and roll accent to it. Think early Saints meets Vibrators meets Slaughter and the Dogs meets Eater. They also remind me a little of the great German punk band The Pack. These lads have two seven-inches out on No Front Teeth (including a sold-out split with The Hateful), and at least six of their songs are playable on-line. They’ve some got killer tunes. “We Are the Brigade” seems to be their anthem, but personally I’m partial to “TV 13”, the rockin’ “Gash”, and the super-fast “Unforgivable”. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for straight-up ‘77 punk. But whereas some bands try to revive the style and come off like pale imitators, there’s something undeniably legit about The Ten O Sevens. They are serious up-and-comers in the punk world and can only get better. Let’s pogo!
I almost burned The Pack and PVC for a friend of mine. He lived in Germany for a number of years and speaks the language fluently. Next time...
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to hear more German punk. Pack and PVC are the stuff!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely covet my PACK and PVC cds and records. PVC are in my top 5 i think... well, thats what i say, but dont wanna really declare... if you know what i mean...
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know your full top five, Shawn! That would be one hell of a list.
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