‘Cheap And Nasty’ EP – Snapblades
Snapblades just released a new EP on Vinyl Eddie Records, the York-based label’s 8th release. Snapblade is Matt “Smell” Keeley (vox and bass) and Dan “Gottie” Gott (Drums, guitar and vox). There are six tracks including two covers. Interestingly and possibly groundbreaking for the way the world currently exists and the way the music industry wants to operate, there will not be any sort of digital release for the EP. In the words of the punk duo, “No social media. No flow. No bullshitThat’s the true old school punk approach, but it probably means they’ll never read this review because I won’t be able to tag them anywhere! I’d really like to understand if the band without social events and streaming experiments worked out, right? They keep saying “Punk rock has become a form of prostitution. A popularity contest that no one can win! It was never like this before. Punk is the sound of the streets. And the streets are angry. Very angry! Can people still go out of their way to find music, without being fed by them? Snapblades offers a social experiment: do people still listen to the music press? (This is a question Snapblades will find the answer to). I guess the big question is what exactly is the current music press? Ink is long gone, monthly publications are glossy and mostly hindsight and that makes us own stuff online, right? So probably most of the reviews for this EP will be online and on social media.
But all of that is a different subject, what about the EP? It opens with a loud and heavy riff fest namely “Panto”. I remember the pinnacle of Motörhead with the speed and fury recorded on this track. “Obedience” picks up where “Panto” left off and has a euphoric ’70s punk feel, maybe early Damned or Adverts. The first of two covers was Flint’s “Broken Toys” and boy did this song do some serious justice and it’s my favorite at the moment. “Shiny Shoes” again has a 70s punk vibe, maybe Chelsea, or the Smiths TV band again. “Flowers And Thorns” sounds like a decent demo for a full metal attack, something I think this pair has. Instrumentally and vocally, it is possibly the best-recorded track on the EP. The collection concludes with a cover of “Anti Social” from Media Control and features an old school punk vibe. It’s a very good EP, that puts you in the kind of Incredible Hulk with tons of heroes and doesn’t give you any slack until the end. Click here if you want to get your hands on the limited edition black vinyl or splatter vinyl from Vinyl Eddie Records. I have a question for Snapblades, did they deliberately choose to do covers of bands who also had no presence anywhere on social media, or was this part of their master plan and these songs were actually secretly Snapblades originals? I’m not being cynical here, just curious, because if that was actually Snapblades’ own song, that would be pretty punk in my opinion! I hope to find out when I see the band later this month 🙂
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