Any band that shoots a video showing a skinted out, tin swigging, rough sleeping, Job Centre jibing Tweety Pie has got to be worth a listen. But when it comes to Scotland's Girobabies, the Tweety Pie tirade (I Want Answers) is just the starting point for a whole catalogue of catchy, punk maxed, fingers up songs to the world and its bankers…
The Girobabies describe their current album, Bus Stop Apocalypse, as a "manifesto for the disenfranchised to dance to". Too right. This is music to rip up your Bedroom Tax arrears letters to: the soundtrack to a life lived ConDem-ed…
`Do I want to join the army?
Do I fuck
I'm not brave or fearless enough
To get blown up
In a war I don't believe in
The news is misleading
Rupert Murdoch cheerleading for the bible-reading
Fuck the council tax bill I'll camp on a hill, I'll camp on a hill, I'll camp on a hill
Get a job, get a job, get a job, get a real job'
This (The Giros – click here to listen) is just one of the many top tracks that you won't find on glossy Freeview music channels. Paul Heaton, who invited The Girobabies to play at the Kings Arms, says they "tell it like it is, like it was and more importantly like it's going to be"…
Not only have The Girobabies got some ace tunes and vids, they also give their music away for what you can afford, while Thursday's quality gig is priced at only £5…and comes complete with top support from acts with similar ethics…
Salford's Death To The Strange are doing an acoustic set, which should include their own opus to the out of work, Sign On (see here for previous Salford Star article); while Liverpool's sharp dressing, lyrically cutting The Universal will be urging `England, England, you've got to rise up England' …and not from the perspective of UKIP or some other loony right party…
`Cast your votes for the puppets when the TV says
Just slaves in a bland karaoke age
Is this England?
You're safe in your world
And what was once great
You've let it slip away
…England, England
You've got to rise up England.'
(Is This England? – click here to listen)
For anyone who says there's nothing happening on the alternative music scene, these bands are the answer. A musical, lyrical, attitudinal breath of fresh air that needs massive exposure.
And if the bands aren't enough to re-kindle anti-establishment stomping, poet, JB, aka Words Escape Me, who describes himself as "just a scrote done good from Salford", will be adding verse like…
`When your views are cast upon the ones
Who fall down on their luck
When your furrowed frown has you looking down
When you should be looking up
Up towards the ones that take the most away from you
And not towards the ones beneath
Who are simply making do…'
(from Don't Look Down – click here)
Altogether the gig at the Kings Arms this Thursday promises to be one of those special nights. A night to rip up the current news agenda and replace it with real feelings from 2013. As The Girobabies state, "a manifesto for the disenfranchised to dance to… and right at this moment is exactly what we all need"… Don't miss!!!
The Girobabies,
The Universal, Death To The Strange, Words Escape Me
Thursday 23rd May from 7:30pm £5
Kings Arms
Bloom Street, Salford M3 6AN
Further details see the Kings Arms website – click here
Tickets can be got from the Kings Arms or online booking – click here
The Girobabies - to hear and download their tracks - click here /see also www.facebook.com/girobabies
The Universal - to hear their tracks - click here /see also www.facebook.com/theuniversalband
Death To The Strange - to hear their tracks - click here / see also www.facebook.com/deathtothestrange
Words Escape Me - to read more poems - click here / see also www.facebook.com/thewordsescapeme
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