Cyanide Pills - Damaged Goods Records Party at The 100 Club November 04th with Talulah Gosh & Helen Love

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"The journey to the 100 Club was epic. The van broke down at 3am eight miles from Dieppe Ferry Port. 3 recovery vehicles, 2 missed ferries, 1 hire car & 16hrs later we arrived at the 100 Club an hour before we were due to play..." That's taken from the Cyanide Pills' Facebook page posted up the day after the gig on November 04th. Hard to believe, as the band had put on an excellent show bursting full of energy and spirit. Just after their set, I'd heard the story from bassist Al and road manager Paul, who explained how they barely made it to this special night to celebrate 25 years of Damaged Goods Records and 50 years of label boss Ian. You would never had guessed it but they must have been exhausted, and I suppose they just put all the frustration into the performance as they crashed straight into "Waiting For Nightfall" and didn't let up for one second.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

The brilliant "Break It Up", with its naggingly catchy guitar riff is followed by one of their more salacious songs, the almost Zodiac Mindwarp cartoon naughtiness of "Cheap 'n' Nasty". "Making Her Mind Up" is a track that the Buzzcocks would be proud of, as it captures their sense of timeless melody with buzzing guitars and a skewed sense of cynical romance. In "Johnny Thunders Lived In Leeds" from their latest album "Still Bored", they cross the Atlantic for their influence and do a decent take on the New York Dolls sound, with some very amusing lyrics, "I'm a Yorkshire Man, not a New York junkie...!" must go down as one of the best lines in Punk Rock.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"Conquer The World" with it's tale of a jilted lover going on the rampage is a real treat but it's the next track, "Non-Believer" that is probably my highlight of the evening. A perfect Power Pop Punk nugget that steamrollers along on a superb chorus. Cyanide Pills zoom through various Punk Rock influences throughout the ages, from the echoes of The Damned's first album on "Shallow" to The Briefs on the new single "Apathy", but they manage to retain their original edge, mainly thanks to their undoubted knack with a damn fine tune. The brilliantly witty "Mail Order Bride" is followed by the singalong "Where Did It Go?" and the set ends with "Suicide Bomber", which could almost be called their signature tune, as it crams the essence of the band into two minutes of humour, melody and energy perfectly. As their Damaged Goods Record label boss Ian told us in our special Retrosonic Podcast, the Cyanide Pills are "pure genius", and he should know...he signed them!

Damaged Goods Records boss (and Birthday Boy) Ian by Paul Slattery

Ian also had two of his favourite Damaged Goods acts on the bill, Talulah Gosh and Helen Love who both went down a treat with their fans - and everyone left smiling and buzzing after a great night's entertainment. Please don't forget to check out the other great bands on the Damaged Goods Rosta here, including their stunning collection of coloured 7" vinyl releases. 

Talulah Gosh by Paul Slattery

Helen Love by Paul Slattery

You can hear Ian talking about the Damaged Goods label and playing some of his favourite and most important releases, including songs from Billy Childish, Manic Street Preachers, Thee Spivs, Graham Day, Giuda, Thee Headcoates and Pete Molinari and, of course, Cyanide Pills, in our two part Retrosonic Podcast series, Part 1 is here, and Part 2 can be found here.

 
 

Thanks to Ian and to Paul Slattery for the excellent photos. Here's a video of Cyanide Pills at the 100 Club with "Conquer The World", for more videos check out the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel.

Introducing: The Hot Hooves - Fake Modern Art

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

Photographer and regular Retro Man Blog contributor Paul Slattery went along to see the Oxford based band, The Hot Hooves, at Islington's Buffalo Bar recently following a glowing recommendation from Ian of Damaged Goods Records. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it, but according to Paul the band were great and I have been listening to their latest album "Fake Modern Art", which has been released on Rivet Gun Records, pretty much non-stop. It's a blistering collection of powerful Punk Rock that reminds me of the great Swedish band Division of Laura Lee in the way they create a wired and edgy, almost claustrophobic sound. The album has an excellent production so the songs thunder along and the guitars positively burst out of the speakers with some spiralling riffs and crunching chords. Similar to Wire and Pixies they have that knack of confounding your senses with some unexpected chord changes and melodic twists and turns. The perfect example of this would be on the stunning title track "Fake Modern Art" with its lovely backing vocal harmonies almost fighting to be heard amongst the twisting guitars, it's a work of genius.

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

By chance I saw Hot Hooves guitarist Peter Momtchiloff playing in The Would-Be-Goods who were supporting The Monochrome Set at Bush Hall. After listening to Hot Hooves I must admit to being a bit surprised to discover Peter has also previously played in Indie-Popsters Talulah Gosh and Heavenly as sonically they are poles apart - but then again it's all about the melodies - albeit just played at slightly different volume levels!

Nightshift Magazine, Dec '12 - Short, sharp shocks are the order of the day rather than bilious pontificating; Hot Hooves cram an irresistible amount of energy, melody, wit and cynicism into two and a bit minutes. Album opener "Youth Activator" is a well aimed pop grenade, puncturing modern age posturing and protest as the song cavorts effusively with the spirit of '77. "Uncomplicated Flow" might be a decent description of much of Hot Hooves' output - an onward rush of effortless three-chord ire and disdain with its tongue only slightly in its cheek. What sticks with you is both the strength of melody, even when the band seem to be trashing anything to hand, and a sense of youthful abandon that's rare. If only more bands would grow up so disgracefully.

Nightshift Magazine, Nov '11 - "The band kick out a few-frills buzzsaw brand of pop that fleetingly reminds you of early Teenage Fanclub or even the poppier side of Husker Du. Highlight of the album is the rambunctious "Spark Up Agenda", a full-throttle pile-up between The Ramones and Status Quo helmed by Mark E Smith, while "Midlife" and "My Telekinesis" display a withering wit that few bands can hope to emulate.

The Hot Hooves are Peter: Guitars & Vocals, Gary: Drums, Mike: Bass and Mac: Vocals & Guitars. Here's a great video for the album's opening track "Youth Activator".

Thanks to Paul Slattery & Peter. You can listen to the band at their Hot Hooves Soundcloud page.