Festival-friendly punk duo dish out seven songs of resistance on Grow Your Own Records!
I first saw Poorly Trained Radicals at Bright N Sleazy Festival in Brighton a while back, and they were a welcome breath of fresh air. This new album ‘We’ll Go On To Win‘ out on Grow Your Own Records affirms that notion. Poorly Trained Radicals play a welcome combination of festival-style ska/dub music, combined with electronic dance beats. There are also incidentally, plenty of punk rock sensibilities present in their attitude and their message. This duo are both portrayed on the front cover in colourful cartoon form, courtesy of K. Creative, and the album was recorded and mixed by the band in Eastbourne. This music takes me back to my free festival days in the early 90’s, and I haven’t heard a collection of songs like this in a very long time. This release comes to us on limited vinyl, CD, and digital download.
Poorly Trained Radicals are:
Phillippa Groves – Vocals, Melodica, Percussion
Kev Groves – Vocals, Guitar, Programming
(Samples on ‘Gonna Be Free’ by Jez Howarth)
The first couple of songs are quite lengthy with the opening track, ‘Gonna Be Free‘, clocking in at 7 minutes 25 seconds. That duration flies by though, and this particular tune features heavy guitar and electronic dance beats, conjuring up images of bands such as Pop Will Eat Itself and Blaggers ITA from my younger days. “You know you gotta raise up!”, the band tell us, in a world “free from fascists and spreaders of hate”. It’s a hypnotic and infectious song with Phillippa on vocals, and towards the end, this tune gives you the opportunity to well and truly get your dancing shoes on – or bare feet on grass maybe?
‘All I’m Asking‘ is another long track, but with the welcome addition of a dub sound system. This is a song asking for little more than gender equality, where women strive for the things that many men take for granted. “To walk alone on a Friday night. To get straight home without a fright. S’all I’m asking”, the band sing. It’s a worthy message about the threat and harassment from certain males that women have to deal with on a daily basis. The song is almost Poison Girls-like in spirit, but with a dub groove. This track also includes the sounds of a melodica, as it starts to take a mellow and slightly trippy turn. The guitar playing towards the end reminded me of Ozric Tentacles, and is accompanied effectively by some keyboard sequencing.
‘Manifest Destiny‘ is an upbeat ska song, just like Back To The Planet used to play it! This song features dual vocals from the band, who sing about “freedom and democracy” as well as the sad truth; “genocide and slavery, it’s all for Uncle Sam”. It’s about the white man of the Western world, who has relentlessly invaded innocent countries throughout history, and continues to do so. A melodica and a neat percussion break bring this enjoyable song to a close.
‘Corporate Enablers‘ brings out the fast techno beats with a big rock guitar to great effect. Lots of the guilty multinational companies get a name-check during this song too, helpfully making you aware of who some of these warmongering enablers actually are.
Side two of the album kicks off with ‘PC23‘. It’s a dub/ska song with lots of political samples throughout. It’s quite a meditative and hypnotic number, where the song builds up to a sudden climax, where Poorly Trained Radicals shout in unison, “Get those fascists off our streets!”
An atmospheric intro with samples and an electronic dub/dance beat starts off the next track. It also features some inspired and very danceable keyboard programming. Kev is on vocals for this number, but Phillippa harmonises on the chorus. ‘War For Water‘ is a poignant song about how the world is sadly fighting over its natural resources. When will it end, you may ask, is the world eating itself?
‘We’ll Go On To Win‘ is the album’s title track, and it’s a soul-bearing song about hiding from reality and not wanting to get out of bed. Reaching for the bottle instead of answers… It is a song full of hope though, where it encourages us to: “Turn your head up to the sky” and where “perseverance is the only way.” This is a great little song and a big highlight of the album for me. Dub/ska is its style, but I’ll leave you with the closing lines of this song – “If there’s one thing we can all learn from the troubles that we face. We have the strength, the fortitude, the resilience and grace. And, no matter what is thrown at us, we can deal with anything. It’s a wonderful thing. We’ll go on to win.”
This album is thoroughly entertaining, and one which doesn’t shy away from the politics of today. It really is the breath of fresh air I imagine Poorly Trained Radicals are striving for.
Buy your copy of ‘We’ll Go On To Win‘ on vinyl, CD and download HERE
Poorly Trained Radicals gig dates:
31st October – ‘Love Music, Hate Racism Festival’, Unitarians Hall, Doncaster
6th November – New River Studios, London (with D.O.V.E from USA and Omega Tribe)
- Gonna Be Free
- All I’m Asking
- Manifest Destiny
- Corporate Enablers
- PC23
- War For Water
- We’ll Go On To Win
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I have been writing reviews for Brighton & Hove News, and more recently Vive Le Rock magazine for a few years now. Previously, I could be spotted playing drums for many a band over the decades. A noisy habit developed whilst wearing short trousers at school, and one that has had me touring around the UK and Europe. Punk rock is my life, but I am also quite eclectic. I am an avid gig go-er and music devourer, and can feel out of sorts if a gig date is not on the horizon. I have also been known to put gigs on myself in order to fill those gaps.
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