Last week's Tracks Of The Week competition was one of those when acts with active social media followings (The Warning, Myles Kennedy, Those Damn Crows) went head-to-head in a battle that careened wildly across space, time and the internet, to-ing and fro-ing like atoms in the Hadron collider. And at the end of all the colliding, Mexican sister act The Warning triumphed. So well done to them.
This week, we've got no bands from south of Tijuana, but we expect the ongoing fracas to be no less spicey.
Below are this week's choices. Aren't they nice?
Massive Wagons - Missing On TV
Opening with a delicious slab of classic rock riffage and flying to clever, catchy highs from there – think AC/DC shaken up with politics, pop punk sugar and skater jeans – the first taste of Massive Wagons’ next album is a ripper. “The song's about the government, all sides just milking the rest of us to fund their lifestyle,” frontman/mouthpiece-in-chief Baz Mills says. “They have zero shame, zero accountability, and zero remorse about stamping all over the common man. We are washed away out to sea, missing on TV. It’s an age-old message, but more relevant now than in a long, long time.”
Bones UK - Bikinis
With a follow-up to their 2019 debut album now set for September (titled SOFT), rock mavericks Bones UK are back with this dynamic, sexy fusion of industrial-blues swagger, empowering sentiments and hypnotic beats. ‘It's the brand new sexy,’ they sing. “It’s everything you loved about the first record, turned up,” says vocalist/guitarist Rosie Bones. “Keeping things scrappy, raw and real, with enough electronic beats to keep our industrial dance-heads happy and enough heartbreakers to keep our romantics listening.”
Orange Goblin - The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine
Marinated in all the tasty sounds that have long shaped this bunch of noisemakers (Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd…), the opening track from their upcoming album, Science, Not Fiction, is a hooky, galloping lion’s roar of a track. Heavy metal, hard rock, rock’n’roll… call it what you like, it’s ‘Orange fucking Goblin baby’, doing their thing in style. “Lyrically, it's about how we can't change our past, but as the rest of the world is seemingly falling apart, we all have a chance to change our future,” newly sober/ripped frontman Ben Ward says. “We are very excited about adding this banger to the live set at future shows!”
Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse - Wild Woman
Ever committed to her craft, blue-haired singer/co-founder Greta Valenti swings from a harness, karate-chops bad guys (well, stunt people) and literally sets herself on fire for Beaux Gris Gris’s new single/video extravaganza. A raunchy blues rock boot-stomper with a shoutalong chorus and a whiff of tequila sloshed over shot glasses, it’s a very good reason to check out their new record, Hot Nostalgia Radio.
Crobot - Come Down
Pennsylvania-founded freaknik beardos and groove-mongers with a taste for the fantastical, Crobot burrow deep into their heaviest influences on this first cut of their new album, Obsidian. Brandon Yeagley channels his inner Layne Staley, Chris Bishop rips some of his beefiest, most metallic riffs yet (along with some super-atmospheric grunge strains) and drummer Dan Ryan, the song’s chief architect, just thunders into those skins with avalanche momentum. Welcome back, fellas.
Broken Hearts Club - Hate It
Lithuania-born pop rocker Bea (mastermind of new project Broken Hearts Club, with an EP of the same name coming in August) might look like a poster-child for all things ‘cool Gen Z’-ish, but Hate It is way more old-school than we expected. Revelling in the freedom of Bea coming out as gay (after a strict, conservative upbringing) the overall vibe and beat made us think of The Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian, shot through with punky energy and bright-eyed notes of McFly at their rockiest. Nice.
Mr Big - Up On You
Mr Big's 10th studio album, the cleverly titled Ten, is out next month, and Up On You is the latest tune to tease its sparky contents. The video finds Messirs Martin, Gilbert, Sheehan and D'Virgilio going "bat-shit crazy" (their words, not ours), switching their instruments around and having more fun than an overactive kitten on a catnip high. The songs thuds along nicely, the playing is exemplary, and the "switcheroo" (their words, not ours) bodes well for the climax of shows on the band's upcoming European tour, which begins next month.
Redd Kross - I'll Take Your Word For It
Almost unbelievably, Californian legends Redd Kross have now been together for 46 years, and they're still pumping out songs as youthful and zesty as they are well-written. I'll Take Your Word For It has a Teardrop Explodes vibe to the melody and a chorus bigger than a bulldozer, with harmonious vocals that tower and soar and generally make life better all round, even if the song is about people who make your life worse. "When you’re contemplating telling your nemesis to take a hike," says Steve McDonald, "maybe it’s smarter to put on your best suit, matching bass, and matching band (if you’re as lucky as I am) and take a hike yourself."
