The Echoes Exes and Whys

From the off it’s not hard to see why this Cheltenham pop punk quartet are so hotly tipped. The combination of emotional pop melodies and driving punkrock guitars create something special.
The band are certainly a pop punk act with the development of the genre in mind, and sound nothing like the late nineties definitions of the genre. There seems to be an influence from the Scandinavian specialty melodic hardcore, particularly throughout the instrumentation, and the vocal peaks and troughs which have served so many bands so well as a formula.

This debut single feels like a statement of intent and shows a band who know their way around a catchy hook and a powerful riff, combining both into an accomplished individual style.

With Cheltenham being such a melting pot of musical talent it will be interesting to hear more from these four gents and see how their sound develops. It would be completely unfair and unbalanced to make a full judgment on one single alone, but if the next one sounds like this I think Cheltenham could have found themselves someone to challenge the 4ft Fingers for their pop punk crown.

The Breadchasers - Time to stop (Offcut Records)

This debut album from Nottingham based The Breadchasers is only the second to be released on Offcut records which is owned and run by Jimmy The Squirrel front-man and artist in his own right Liam O’Kane. As you would expect from hearing JTS or Liam’s work the record has a strong reggae and ska influences.

From the off it’s apparent that this record is going to be good, the intro has a laid back tropical feel to it and moves into the first full track seamlessly. Vocally it’s always nice to hear a local accent coming through rather than a singer trying to sound like they’re from somewhere else. The vocals are multi layered and at times the passion comes through in a rough sound which would be at home on any punk record. 

As the album progresses the style is consistent without becoming boring, there is a definite combination of old and new styles of ska music. Vocally there is a vintage edge to the style which bears comparison with Terry Hall, Squeeze or Suggs without sounding like an imitation. Musically there is an incredible mixture of first, second and third wave ska with a very British feel mixed together with the obvious reggae elements. There are definitely small influences form the skacore of the early noughties with Capdown and Shooting Goon as obvious examples these are combined with a stylish mix of Skatalites and Slackers. The main comparison I personally found immediately on listening to the album was with many of the acts on Asian Man Records in the USA.

There are definite elements of Let’s Go Bowling, The Chinkees and Skanking Pickle in amongst the vast influences on the Breadchasers’ strylee. For me the three above bands are responsible for taking ska into another level where it wasn’t all about brass lines and upstroke and it’s nice to hear this come through in music with brass and upstroke to continue the progression.

There is a lot of depth to the record and it is musically incredibly complex, the brass-lines help to back up the points made both musically and vocally. At times the brass is used to create further rhythms allowing the musical depth to really shine through. At times the combination of brass, deep bass and organs create a tropical dub feel to tracks which adds balance to the whole album.

This is a record, which will be sure to warm your bones on cold winter nights. Considering it’s the first record from The Bread Chasers it’s pretty obvious there will be big things to come from this band in the not so distant future. 

A Beginers Guide To Punk

I totally agree with the popular opinion that punk died in the eighties when bands like The Exploited and GBH took the torch. The death of punk was the birth of every great sub genre that now exists, making punk as diverse as it now is.

Again the history of punk is very important as was the case with the last post about Ska. The start of the punk scene is something that will always be debated were The New York Dolls responsible for the birth or was it the Stooges, MC5, Ramones or even the Velvet Underground. I personally do not like the NY Dolls or MC5 so will be leaving them out and sticking with the other three. The UK scene is far less debated with the Sex Pistols, Clash, Undertones, Buzzcocks, Sham 69 and Stranglers all pioneers of the genre.

As the scene developed further the 80’s style seemed to kill off the genre as it sounded in the 70’s. Bands like the Misfits, Bad Brains, Joy Division, David Bowie and The Velvet Under Ground breathed new life into punk taking it to new levels and creating new genres. These styles were followed up by the birth of the sounds now classified as punk The Decedents opened the doors for NOFX, Rancid, Greenday and Bad religion to create Pop Punk and Skate Punk.

The hardcore scene also evolved into a more melodic style through Hüsker Dü, Satanic Surfers and Strike Anywhere. The melodic hardcore and pop punk scenes also combined to become Emo which in turn has a long list of sub genres.

The current 2nd generation Melodic Hardcore coming out of the ashes of Satanic Surfers in the form of the Enemy Alliance and Indecision Alarm is going further towards the punk sound and slightly away from the melodic style. This Is A Standoff have also developed in style after the break up of The Belvedere taking a step towards Hardcore. The retro sound currently being carried by The Gaslight Anthem and Zatopeks is yet to be given a name but with the success both have achieved it won’t be long before they are fronting a scene of there own

The Punk genre has spilt off into so many sub-genres you could almost connect it to every type of music released after 1976 and most music before will have a connection if you look hard enough. With this in mind the essential bands to offer inspiration have to be:


The Stooges
Velvet Underground
Ramones
Sex Pistols
Stranglers
Clash
Buzzcocks
Missfits
Descendants
Satanic Surfers
NOFX
No Use For A Name
Rancid
Anti-Flag
Belvedere
Captain Everything
Mr Zippy
The Bronx
At The Drive-In
Enemy Alliance
Indecision Alarm
Gogol Bordello
Gaslight Anthem
Zatopeks