Uncivilized – Let Rip (NBQ)
CD
Out Now
Portsmouth punks Uncivilized team up with Dorset label NBQ for their new album. Nathan Brown writes.
A strong love for NOFX and bands of their ilk comes through clearly in Uncivilized’s tunes and style of playing, which I’ve not noticed so much when I’ve seen them live before. Despite the American spelling of their name you can tell immediately from the vocals that this is a British band.
Gary (guitar and vocals) is the Tigger of the Portsmouth punk scene, bouncing around full of exuberance with a big grin. That shines through on this recording. Meanwhile Andy’s vocals, like his demeanour, carry more gravitas while his bass playing bobbles and roves around the fretboard. Pasty brings the extra attack of street punk in the way he bashes the skins into oblivion. These lads know how to play.
This combination gives off echoes of Rancid on songs like Section 6 while on at least two songs the combination of neat bass playing, the guitar sound and semi-tuneful vocals struck me as sounding very like Subhumans. That’s not a compliment to be taken lightly.
Uncivilized’s take on the world is a mix of anger and humour. They’re pissed off about things but they can also laugh about it. For example Bicycle in which they have a pop at cyclists. Now as they pay homage to skateboards (Skate and Die) it can’t be human powered transport they have a problem with. No, it’s the bloody Lycra that people wear to take a spin on two wheels. When they launch into Queen’s “I want to ride my bicycle” it brings a moment of tongue in cheek joviality you’d expect from the likes of Peter and The Test Tube Babies.
This is a band who have the hunger to be noticed and they’ve all got past form in good bands so they have gigged extensively to get their name around. This CD is certainly going to help them get noticed further afield and I’m sure NBQ will sell plenty of copies of this off the back of their hard work.
~
All words by Nathan Brown. You can read more from Nathan on his Louder Than War archive over here.
A Plea From Louder Than War
Louder Than War is run by a small but dedicated independent team, and we rely on the small amount of money we generate to keep the site running smoothly. Any money we do get is not lining the pockets of oligarchs or mad-cap billionaires dictating what our journalists are allowed to think and write, or hungry shareholders. We know times are tough, and we want to continue bringing you news on the most interesting releases, the latest gigs and anything else that tickles our fancy. We are not driven by profit, just pure enthusiasm for a scene that each and every one of us is passionate about.
To us, music and culture are eveything, without them, our very souls shrivel and die. We do not charge artists for the exposure we give them and to many, what we do is absolutely vital. Subscribing to one of our paid tiers takes just a minute, and each sign-up makes a huge impact, helping to keep the flame of independent music burning! Please click the button below to help.
John Robb – Editor in Chief
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO LTW
Leave a comment