Hailing from the Notts/Derbyshire border, a CD by a band I had never heard of before, dropped through the letterbox. Thanks Pete. The band are Tinsletown Rebellion. After speaking to Pete, the following information was gleaned. The band originally formed under the name Tinseltown Rebellion in July 1999 playing metal/punk. We had a fair few line up changes before Ellis Waring (current guitarist) joined. They had a good run of gigs all around the country before recording an entirely self made album in early 2000. After even more line up changes the band entered a hiatus and were put on hold for a short while (18 years) while Ellis went on to play for many years in Resistance 77 and Ferocious dog plus numerous other bands. Pete Haydon (vocals) went on to front a few metal bands but Ellis and Pete continued to play in Flying Blind On A Rocketcycle and write together. In January 2018 they had a jam with old Tinseltown bass player (Jim Plumb) and decided to find a drummer and have another bash. The band then released an Ep in late 2018 and after the departure of Jim, a new bass player (Cass) was found and the band went on and recorded a full length album, released in 2019. The band continued and played a handful of festivals and get on some gigs over the last few years. The band are currently working on the second album. A quote from Paul "Our style is literally anything that takes our fancy, punk metal reggae etc. Nice catchy songs with good choruses. Anything goes. Our influence is anything from New Model Army/Stranglers to Faith No More/Snuff and Consumed. The list is endless and ever changing. We all like a good drink and miss the pub." Don't we all! Cue playing the CD....
Rather than examine every track in depth, I'm going to highlight six or seven tracks that really stand out for me. If I was to describe every track in detail, my fingers would either be numb from all the typing or bleeding profusely from all the key hammering! Opening track is 'No Sanity' and it erupts into life with the drums and for a split second, I could swear I was listening to the mighty Cosmic Pyschos classic 'Back at School' but the similarity ends when the guitars and bass enter the fray. Clever stop, start with the stringed section whilst the vocals spit out and cover the listener with phlegm. Well put together, nice little guitar solo/riff towards the end and all in all a very good first track which draws you in, wanting more. And on it goes, the whole CD, captivating me. I was wondering when the mandolin would make an appearance and you don't have to wait, the mando plucks away to open up track three 'Bollocks'. A fast little ditty with the tight as fuck drums pushing up the ante, a proper punk sock that would have you dancing a merry little jig! Quite a different feel to this one than the previous track which reminded me very much of The Sentence. A reggae inspired track is the next one that stands out to me. 'Looting' is three minutes whereby the lads show their music prowess and takes you back to the heady days in the late 70's when bands like The Ruts, The Clash and to some extent Generation X explored the reggae genre. Looting has that very same feel but is also mixed with heavy outbursts of distorted guitar. The sixth track definitely has that Faith No More feel to it, walking bass line, clever drumming and a clean guitar sound picking out notes mingling it with a much heavier sound akin to Red Hot Chili Peppers. 'Monster' and 'Mr Sad' sit neatly in the middle of this CD and could also sit quite nicely in a metal album, the band cannot be labelled as 'every song sounds like the next' as this is far from the truth and I like this because on it's first listen I was intrigued as to there they were going to take me next on this musical highway. The intro to 'Keep You Down' reminds me of Olga and The Toy Dolls then transcends into The Sentence. If you buy this CD and I highly recommend that you do do not expect this to sound one-dimensional as it is a million miles from that. There is such diversity contained on that small plastic disc that is currently spinning away in the old laptop! I was however searching for the elusive chainsaw and I think I found it. Methinks it makes an appearance in the intro of 'Leatherface' which would make sense!Â
"Blood, Sweat And Tears" is the album in question. Fifteen tracks that are so different from each other, an eclectic mix of styles that twist and weave their way, each one finished with aplomb and perfectly mixed. Quick, slow, different styles and genres explored and executed with precision. After an initial hearing it is plain to see that the lads in the band know what they are doing, they know their way around their instruments and their craft and a mandolin thrown in for good measure as well as the bass player's second instrument, a chainsaw, Plasmatics-esque!! Every track on this album is a 'good un'. There's not one bad egg amongst them in fact it's the perfect bakers dozen - plus two! Fifteen in total (for those who aren't aware what a bakers dozen is hehe). A great album and a band I would like to one day see live, whenever we are allowed out play gigs again. Maybe we could get them up to play Liverpool one day!!
Words: DLW, Photos: Band Media