Berlin (dpa) – They are loud and look undisguised: Post-punk bands such as Idles, Fontaines DC, Viagra Boys and Shame have given the dusty guitar rock a makeover.
Even in times of high corona infection numbers and strict contact restrictions, the genre breakers deliver exciting new music.
“I think we have become more mature and grown up,” said Shame singer Charlie Steen shortly before the release of the album “Drunk Tank Pink” in mid-January of the German press agency. It is not without reason that many current British songs deal with identity crises and the breakdown of relationships, according to the record company.
The band has spent a large part of the past few years “on the road”. “People think that life on tour makes you more extroverted because you keep getting to know new people. I think that has exactly the opposite effect,” says Steen.
Shame are by no means the only ones expanding their repertoire: With “A Hero’s Death” the Irish Fontaines DC released a new album last July and received a lot of praise for it. With “Ultra Mono” in September, the five Britons from Idles pushed the principle of the sonic steamroller to perfection. A few days ago the Swedish Viagra Boys released their album “Welfare Jazz”.
The last time the Viagra Boys from Stockholm played more than 180 – sometimes feverish – live shows worldwide to advertise their first record “Street Worms”. In Corona times, however, a live stream had to be used for her new album. With “Welfare Jazz” the “V-Boys” will probably manage the surprise success of their debut appropriately, even if there are no catchy hits like on the predecessor. With “In Spite Of Ourselves” they cover a song by the country singer John Prine, who died in 2020.
According to the record company, the Viagra Boys have just made a series of photos with the legendary photographer Anton Corbijn for the US edition of “GQ”. As optimistic as the post-punks from Sweden are, they have already announced a tour for Germany. They want to play in Leipzig, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne in May 2021 – if Corona allows it.
What a Shame tour could look like in 2021 is a mystery to Charlie Steen not only because of the pandemic. “We got ourselves into the whole Brexit mess. We can’t blame anyone but our government,” he says, recalling the time when the five Brits drove to Paris with a van and little money for performances before their breakthrough .
Compared to then, not only has the world changed, but also the sound of Shame. “The Talking Heads are certainly a great inspiration for us,” said Steen in a dpa interview, when asked about the song “Water In The Well” from the new album. The quintet dares to take new approaches in their lyrics as well: Actually, he never wanted to write about heartbreak, “but then you get older and suddenly you understand why so many people write about it,” said the singer.
The new record should not only depict the inner workings of a mature band – it should also entertain like its predecessor “Songs Of Praise”. Steen assures us that there is no lack of the necessary pinch of humor and fun in “Drunk Tank Pink”.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210112-99-991400 / 4
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