Pistolhead – At Last A Band That Has Something To Say. By S.J. Howeth (former editor of Central Scene Music) Sadly in this business of music journalism and observing popular music culture in general one tends to get a little cynical and jaded by repetition and factory style churn outs of forgettable songs and even more forgettable performers and song writers. Maybe it’s my age but many other spectators much younger than me agree too that popular music or the spirit of what was once Rock and Roll has been suffering a very slow death over the last 15 to 20 years. Aside from some notable exceptions like Massive Attack, Radiohead, Kasabian, Marylin Manson, Daman Albarn’s Gorillaz, Eminem etc the music downloading public have been seen gravitating to dance music and the emergence of the superstar DJ, Carl Cox, Fat Boy Slim and Teisto to name 3 examples. And I guess that’s cool, pop music twists and turns all the time and reinvents itself but on the mainstream flip side after the death of the charts we have been under an eternal black cloud of ‘pop’ that has nothing NOTHING to say and vanishes as quick as it appears, Katy Perry, Jessie J, JLS, One Direction need I go on? Millions of kids in awe of what is basically fake, machine fodder. My brother’s favourite artist when he was a kid was David Bowie on the release of his Ziggy Stardust masterpiece in 1972, my sister was a huge fan of Paul Weller, The Smiths and The Clash. I grew up with The Verve, The Prodigy, The Stone Roses, Joy Division and New Order……this was radio ‘friendly’ pop music people!! I suppose I could write a book about the changing face of popular music and the fear that anarchy, revolution and change via this medium has become a thing of that past. I still shudder at the memory of seeing Noel from Oasis at Number 10 shaking hands with Tony Blair….the government bought and then owned Rock and Roll! So where does one go to find new music that is real, that does have something to say, written by people that are actually interesting and angry at the world? Well it’s hard but these artists are out there lurking in the shadows slowly gathering supporters and putting out music that is truly astounding. PISTOLHEAD are one such group and I have been privileged to have the opportunity to listen to their soon to be released (self published) EP This Is Not A Dance This Is A War. Essentially Pistolhead are two guys Daniel Bateman and Paul Brighton who in the vein of Matt Johnson’s TheThe or Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails have put together a mix of musicians to build layers on top of what were already strong impressive epic blends of electronica and out and out rock songs. The sound scapes constructed by Brighton are a glorious sonic punch in the head behind Bateman’s edgy satirical venting vocals with lyrics also by Bateman that talk of rejection and pain in such a way that they sound like pleasures rather than points of anguish and sorrow. The title track is a clash of hard distorted vocals over an almost jungle beat fighting it out with sweeping synths and weird sonic jolts and drops. Bateman shouting to the world “It’s not good enough!” as if a life time of rejection and let down has given rise to a superhuman desire to burn the world and start again with his newly found Pistolhead regime of revolution and love, violent caring. The song Drop The Gun comes next with a Kasabian type riff that plunders the listener into a bizarre nightmare vision of mass murder and love all wrapped up in a neat bundle of guitars and hard catchy beats, it’s a bloody pop song with teeth. The 3rd track is Sing And Be Free a epic anthem of Brighton’s wizardry musical constructs for the disillusioned ravers that has Bateman again demanding we all listen to his message of harmony being achieved through disregarding all we have learnt in favour of some new found freedom full of heroes and singing angels. The ending is really something to be heard it’s begging to be played to a Glastonbury audience just at sunset…awesome! The 4th and final track is a real shock and only cemented my belief in these guys as very special indeed. Little Soldiers is a soft ballad set to almost Spanish guitar stylings and light jazzy drums. The theme seems largely based in the futility of war but from the narrator’s point of view watching their loved one leave home to go to war and never return. It’s sung with real affection that gave me chills and left its mark on me for sometime afterwards, incredibly moving. And that was it, my taster of what is to come from Pistolhead and I must say I was blown away, I asked for a copy but they refused which I understood but on the drive home I chose to not put any music on which was unusual for me. I didn’t want the music I had just heard to vanish too quickly. ___________________________________S.J. Howeth 2014-08-05
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:39:57 +0000
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