The average age of death for people experiencing homelessness is 45 for men and 43 for women. People sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence. More than one in three people sleeping rough have been deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless.
Homeless people are over nine times more likely to take their own life than the general population.
On any given night, tens of thousands of families and individuals are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness across Great Britain, this includes over 200,000 households in England alone. For the last five years’ core homelessness has been rising year on year in England, reaching a peak just before the pandemic when the numbers of homeless households jumped from 207,600 in 2018 to over 219,000 at the end of 2019. By the end of 2021, 227,000 households across Britain were experiencing the worst forms of homelessness.
These statistics show that we as a society are losing touch with this horrific issue, governments past and present are just not doing enough.
Every little thing that we do to help this catastrophe is a step in the right direction. John, JP, Dave and Wills, have put together this album of punk classics, not only to raise money for the homeless, but to help outline the scale of human tragedy in a so-called 1st world country.
Each track tells a story, each of you will read something different from the lyrics, and the feel for the music. Ordinarily, I would describe each song that the lads do when they “do” their own stuff, with John’s sometime unique look on life, his incredible vocal range, Dave belting out bass lines to cave in ya chest, JP on blistering guitar work, and of course, Wills as the heartbeat and pulse of the band of the band.
Apart from the message this album sends out, the biggest joy for me was learning about the songs, from bands I’ve known for years, a couple I’ve not, the musical genius of Flux of Pink Indians. The sublime sound of Omega Tribe, and last but not least, the prolific work from The Subhumans. Crass and Rudimentary Peni make up the rest of this cleverly put together album, outlining mental health issues, social issues, and the apparent ignorance of many towards the plight of the few (which isn’t actually a few).
Every song is perfectly re done by the Retchsters; each song tells its own story. Musically, I can’t think of another band that could pull this off, vocally and instrumentally this is a great album, by a great band. Searing voice throughout, loadsa guitar distortion, and I mean loads, deep hard bass line yet again complimented by Will on drums.
I am certain that each of the original artists would no doubt be more than pleased with this project, I for one believe the band have done the songs proud for all the right reasons and more. Hard work, hours of practice and belief for doing the right thing, makes this is album what it is, a statement and a message that we as a society must take notice of.
The Fun is Over - Flux of Pink Indians
Another Bloody Day - Omega Tribe
Cloud Song - Rudimentary Peni
The Gasman Cometh - Crass
Man Made - Omega Tribe
Contaminational Power - Crass
Rain - Subhumans
Mother Earth - Subhumans
Inside - Rudimentary Peni
They Lie, We Die - Flux of Pink Indians
Where’s the Freedom? - Subhumans
My Tears (Reprise) - Omega Tribe
Finally, a big shout out to Neil Crud from Spam Javelin for the backing vocals on “They Lie, We Die”.
The album was constructed and refined by Comrade Cornes, with the front cover idea coming from Comrade Dave the Bass as a tribute to Crass. Album title conceived by JP, Operation Uranus being part of the military effort that led to the downfall of Nazism in WWII. Interestingly, the back picture was created by an unknown Soviet artist from the victory parade in 1945, showing the taking down of Nazi symbols, banners, flags and standards. A truly iconic image indeed.
This is a very good album, made for a reason. All profits go to the Punk4theHomeless charity and is well worth getting, a different take on some classic tunes for a very important cause.
The Dry Retch do it again.
Words: Johhny Reay, Photos: Band Media/Richie Yates
Links
Dry Retch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDryRetch
Bandcamp: https://thedryretch.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dryretch/
Punk4theHomeless
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/punk4thehomeless
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Punk4TheHomeless
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