Punchy, pithy and politically charged, a slice of 70s Rock with a 90s Indie filling!
Lyrically confrontational and antagonistic, every song takes on (formerly of cult UK rock duo The Sea) songwriter Peter Chisholm’s disillusioned view on modern society. The internet, politicians, suicide and the media all take a kicking. Simultaneously astute and foulmouthed, LiVES second album ‘Let Them Eat Cake‘ is the voice of the lost and disenfranchised.
An excellent live band, they have been touring the album recently, winning new fans wherever they play, including us at Punktuation!
Hot on the heels of the 2024 singles ‘Come Together #2’ (co-written by multi platinum selling Brit award winner James Morrison) and the critically acclaimed, lyrically hard hitting single ‘Cancelled’, British Alt rock 3 piece LiVES new album ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ follows early LiVES releases, ‘The Naked EP’ and debut album ‘Bayonne 21’. LiVES are:
Peter Chisholm – Guitar & vocals, Alex Chisholm – Drums and Dan Billing – Bass & backing vocals.
Opening track ‘Cancelled‘ is Peter’s “critique on the zeitgeist; far right and post modernist attitudes – played out on the comments sections of all social media platforms. “I fucking hate how lame we’ve all become”. They claim to be decent whilst being indecent, tolerant while being intolerant. I hate them all!” The booming bass sound in this one hammers the message home.
Second song ‘Come Together #2‘ was written with a mate, James. “I love how his hopeful words juxtapose with my down lyrics – totally unintentional. Essentially the song is about depression, panic and disenfranchisement with the world, but also the yearning to pull oneself out of the darkness.” The funky guitar riffs add a hopeful note to the track.
Peter explains that ‘Is This What You Want‘ is a result of “Trawling through Instagram / Facebook / Tiktok et al for the umpteenth time and seeing (for the umpteenth time) how standardised every photo, video, pose, dance, cooking receipt, interview, band, surfer is, it’s a comment on how everything’s the same – all homogenised without any real originality. It’s also a “fuck you!” to me – I am just as bad as everyone else because I go on these platforms every day. It amuses me that to express this I use a very traditional style of Rock – maybe that’s the point!” Definitely getting his Led (Zeppelin) out, it’s another huge song!
‘What Away‘ is “Another song about hypocrisy and dislocation from the real world. Reflecting on people online saying outrageous, violent things.” Fantastic drumming holds this track up well.
Title track ‘Let Them Eat Cake‘ is a slower one, about the ultimate masters of hypocrisy; politicians! “I enjoyed writing the song from the perspective of them not me. Sleaze, lies and a total disregard for the people that vote for you, I compare them to a small time drug dealer, because that’s what they are – crooks!”
Funky 70s Rock number ‘Already Dead‘ resulted from a find on a tube journey “On a trip back to England I found a tabloid ‘newspaper’ on the tube. I basically did a David Bowie on this one and just cut up the words, put them in a hat and pulled them out – almost every word can be attributed to that.”
Closer ‘Hope and Freedom‘ is by far the longest track on the album. Pulling together all of the threads from the previous songs, it’s a lament about the world falling apart. Just voice and guitar are used to great effect at the start, followed by a reflective silence, then the rest of the band join in for a White Stripes worthy conclusion.
‘Let Them Eat Cake’ is an aggressive, loud and socio-politically charged slice of Indie rock, packed with razor-sharp riffs, pounding drums and bass with screaming histrionic vocals – let your hair down and get your rage out with this cracking album!
Out on 25th October on Roulette Records, stream the album HERE and buy your copy from all good record stores!
- Cancelled
- Come Together #2
- Is This What You Want
- What Away
- Let Them Eat Cake
- Already Dead
- Hope and Freedom
Follow LiVES on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Resolution Festival: Menace / The Outcasts 4th & Conflict / Rubella Ballet / Bones of the City 7th Jan at London’s 100 Club
Your Punktuation Editor resolved to see several top bands at the annual Resolution Festival at the 100 Club in London. Joint headliners Menace and The
Album Review : Self Torque’s debut album is about to land, and is all set for some heavy rotation
Self Torque have influences that spread fairly far and wide, including the likes of Weezer, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Hot Snakes, Young Livers and The
Album review: Buzzcocks make an ‘Attitude Adjustment’
Steve Diggle’s decision to keep Buzzcocks going, taken after the all-star Pete Shelley tribute show at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019, is a pressure.
Album review: Charlie Harper releases ‘An Anarchy Of Demons’ soundtrack
As many of you know, Charlie Harper of the UK Subs has written his autobiography ‘An Anarchy Of Demons’, which was released on 5th September
KNIVES release new EP: ‘REGLITTER 1’
We sincerely hope that KNIVES are on your listening radar! From Bristol, UK, the band released their debut album ‘Glitter’ in May 2025. They have
Video Premiere: GRIFF’s version of ’54-46′ gets a Dub makeover!
Punktuation Magazine is proud to present for your listening pleasure the Pete ‘Joyless’ Jones remix of Griff Griffiths’ version of Toots and The Maytals ’54-56′.
Usually found jumping around down the front at gigs, I also relish taking photos and videos, singing, speaking with fellow music fans, and asking musicians the questions nobody else does. Writing about my favourite bands and connecting with people who love music too keeps me more-or-less sane! I’ve worked for over 25 years at a video production company, mainly filming live music events, therefore I have an additional backstage perspective on the scene.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
