Sounds from across the glam and punk eras with more hooks than a trawlerman’s poop deck convention.
Formed from the post-lockdown remnants of St Albans’ cult vaudeville rockers The Tuesday Club, Post-Punks Narcotic Hearts unleash their new album ‘Open Up Your Mind’s Eye‘ tomorrow!
They describe their music thus: “We play trashy, ‘outsider’ pop, sonically stomping between glam, power pop & new wave, but who can say? One person’s meat is another person’s plant based quarter pounder… We prefer to be genre neutral”.
A band of many contrasts, the Narco’s colourful live set pitches somewhere between Glam, Post-Punk, Goth and Disco – think Alison Goldfrapp meets The Black Keys.
‘Open Up Your Mind’s Eye‘ is the band’s trendbucking sophomore album and has been
produced by the fab Gary ‘Sticks’ Hawkins. A much more direct offering than the band’s self-titled debut. “We had to learn how to be THIS band and THIS band alone” says frontman Andreas, it includes the carefree summer single ‘Summer’s Coming’, which the band have been touring throughout the summer months:
The glam influence is immediately apparent in stompin’ album opener ‘Do It For The Love‘ as lead vocalist and guitarist Andreas Vanderbraindrain (Andreas & The Wolf) channels his inner Marc Bolan to excellent effect.
The groovy ‘Always Do What It Says On The Tin‘ takes a pop at the rule-followers, with Doors-style Hammond organ adding to its rebellious sound.
I love the bass intro played wonderfully by Roger Millington (The Satellites / Morgellons) in ‘Signs‘; the bass guitar sound really growls throughout the song while the guitars swirl above it – divine!
We’re rocking it up a notch on ‘This Is Goodbye‘, a faster-paced Glam number.
We’re ‘Overwhelmed‘ by the underwhelming in modern society – where showing off on social media gives the vacuous a platform to display their trashy things and opinions – great lyrics!
Superb guitar from David Roddam kicks off the slower and more sentimental ‘Oh Girl‘, continuing with raw riffs and real emotion.
Drummer Jordan Thomas shines in ‘Dreamboy Doin’ Well‘, another banger of a track! Part warning, part piss-rip, it goes for the jugular of the AI and internet generations.
Album closer ‘Narcotic Hearts‘ returns to the Glam sound these guys play so well. More council estate than Soho glam, with just enough sleaze soaked spirit to get you swaying along!
A very well-produced album which shows a band growing into their eclectic grooves. Try to catch them live sometime for the full on Narco experience!
Main Photo Credit / All Photos: BRAD WIGGLESWORTH
- Do It For The Love
- Always Do What It Says On The Tin
- Signs
- This Is Goodbye
- Summer’s Coming
- Overwhelmed
- Oh Girl
- Dreamboy Doin’ Well
- Narcotic Hearts
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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.
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