Features

Weird Wave

All Maps lead to Isle of Eigg
Party time for Pictish Trail and pals

All the best parties are the ones you don’t get to hear about. Though that may be about to change with the 10th anniversary of Lost Map Records more… “Weird Wave”

Rat Scabies

Damned drummer expands Sinclairs’ horizons
with a little help from some friends

That’s the case with former Damned drummer Rat Scabies, who has expanded The Sinclairs – the side project he began in 2019 with guitarist Billy Shinbone – into something rather bigger.

The pair came together in 2019 when Shinbone – of psychedelic pop band Flipron as well as guitarist for former Specials Nevile Staple – approached Scabies about making an instrumental album.

The two soon had a set of recordings which became an album of psychedelic, gurgly, electronic soundtracks released as 2020 debut album ‘Sparkle’.

Since then Scabies got together on a celebratory reunion tour with his former Damned bandmates. However, with that mission accomplished he was able to return to his other loves – building cigarbox guitars and hunting for the Holy Grail(both of these, sadly, for another time), and of course, The Sinclairs.

Sophomore long-player ‘The Long Slow Death Of A Cigarette’ sees the pair expand their horizons, adding guest vocalists to this latest collection of skittery garage rock, arctic ambience, fuzzy orchestral pop, the odd dusty torch song plus an undulating Latin funeral coda.

If the first album “made easy listening more difficult” then this new album is “technicolor noir.”

“We decided that we wanted some actual songs on this record,” Scabies says, “and we hit gold with our guest artists”.

These include Zumi Rosow of Black Lips, Kid Congo Powers of The Cramps /Gun Club / The
Bad Seeds, Roger Chapman of iconic ’60s band Family, and members of Japanese garage punk treasures The 5,6,7,8’s.

The album’s first single ‘Ultra Splendid’ is as good a place to star in this eclectic mix – a ripping surf-rock-esque instrumental which the band declares, “crams masses of splendidness into a super short package of energy. All the good stuff in less than two minutes flat!”

And its video is likewise a “cheerful revenge on the drunken, self-absorbed arseholes who crash the stages in pubs and clubs across the land” and guest stars Kevin Eldon as the continually thwarted vocalist.

“We wanted each track to be like a deep, smokey draw that burns off the one that comes before it,”Scabies muses.

“Sometimes smouldering, sometimes incandescent, and what you’re left with at the end
is a funeral.”

However, the new album is, if anything, more of a rebirth, and is out now.

‘The Long Slow Death Of A Cigarette’ is out now on vinyl and digital.

This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth News.

The Wombles

Finding gold in trash
with Orinoco

Whether it’s Sia hiding her stage fright behind her fringe, Daft Punk’s ‘helmets on’ policy, or the scary giant eyeballs of The Residents, anonymity is a common refuge in the word of pop. more… “The Wombles”

How To Swim

Greek is the word

If it’s just me and your granny on bongos it’s The Fall”, said Mark E Smith about his status as his band’s only ever-present member more… “How To Swim”

Immigrant

Thai-based ex-pat goes it alone
with Graeme McNab

As winter draws in, many on this island will wish they were somewhere warmer – perhaps snapping scenery on a winter sunshine break. more… “Immigrant”

Jill Lorean

Jill Lorean

Pushing The Boat Out
Interview

After the success of the Jill Lorean full length debut ‘This Rock’, singer/guitarist Jill O’Sullivan returns with her second long player more… “Jill Lorean”

Pauline Murray

Punk pioneer takes a gamble
as Penetration frontwoman

Music biographies are all the range it seems with a host of household names vying for bookshop shelfspace alongside cult heroes with eager followings keen to discover more about their heroes. more… “Pauline Murray”

The Lovely Eggs

Oeuf-ul punning
with Holly Ross and David Blackwell

Easter is like Christmas for tabloid journalists. As well as overdosing on chocolate, means that they can torture their readers with awful puns, like “Eggstatic” and “Eggcelent.” more… “The Lovely Eggs”