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SUNPOWER "something to say" lp
- SOLD OUT from me, try Peter
Bower recs if you want to order a copy. |
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Regular
cover: |
 Special
cover with stencils: |
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Split
release with Deviant recs & Peter Bower
recs. The cd version is available through Rock'n Roll Radio
recs. reviews After three 7”s the Belgian answer to Dead Kennedys and Circle Jerks delivers their first full length record. Sixteen raging punk/hardcore songs that sound like they could have been written in the early 80’s. The lyrics are great, a lot of songs with a political message against the “great” world leaders we have these days. Some good self reflecting lyrics to the current state of the punk/hardcore scene en the kids that are into it. Combined with the solid artwork and okay production this seriously is a band we should keep an eye on. This record rips. If you pick up the LP version of this record you also get a copy of Something To Say fanzine with contains some more background info on the guys in Sunpower and interviews with Dead Stop and some other crucial Belgian kids. Rating **** [asice webzine 2006] Après le très bon « John Terror EP » sorti il y a un ou deux ans, les belges de Sunpower remettent ça avec cette fois un album 16 titres sous le bras, et ma foi ils n’ont pas fait les choses a moitié ! Déjà la pochette est belle (un dessin montrant un gros pit avec un kid au premier plan subissant un petit ravalement de portrait par le chanteur, le tout avec de belles couleurs), puis le vinyle en lui-même vaut le coup puisqu’il est couleur jaune pisse, ou plutôt style jaune Tchernobyl fluo, tu vois le truc ! Mais ce n’est pas tout, il y a aussi un fanzine d’une cinquantaine de pages comprenant les paroles et crédits du LP, ainsi que des interviews (Peter Lintfabriek, Dead Stop…) et des chroniques, colonnes, en anglais. On en vient presque à oublier la musique avec tout ça ! Donc Sunpower joue un excellent punk hardcore 80s rappelant autant Circle Jerks et Black Flag que Dead Kennedys, d’ailleurs on en vient a se demander si c’est pas Jello Biafra qui s’est emparé du micro pour démontrer son style sur certains titres comme « My revenge » ou « unsatisfied ». Il y a des titres plus punk rock classiques qui sont de veritables tubes comme « ready to attack », « real punkrockdude » ou « i’m a creep », ça risque de faire mal en concert ! Au niveau des lyrics, il y a les classiques critiques des flics, des politiques, la société, ou encore la guerre nucléaire… tout ça balancé à travers la gueule comme on le faisait si bien il y a de ça 25 ans. Il y aussi quelques paroles originales, non pas dans les thèmes mais dans la façon d’écrire, comme « swastika youth » sur la jeunesse nazi ou « this is grrrls fun » sur la place des filles dans le punk rock, Mike Meat se mettant à leur place pour écrire. Intéressant et très bien foutu. Voila un excellent exemple de ce que le punk rock devrait toujours être : énergique, concerné et énervé !! ps : en plus c’est pas cher, et ça vaut vraiment le coup, donc qu’est ce que t’attends pour commander les skeuds pour toi et tes potes ??! - xrafoux (warthbirth fanzine) Premier album complet, sur Still Holding On records, pour ce groupe belge de punk hardcore dans le style à Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, etc... Ils ont trois 7" à leur actif avant cet album, j'ai le "John Terror" EP, et j'étais déjà fan. Et maintenant, encore plus! Que du bon, rien à jeter, le vinyle n'arrête plus de tourner chez moi. Du bon punk/hardcore à l'ancienne comme j'aime, des riffs accrocheurs, bourrés d'énergie, niquel! Côté voix, sur certaines chansons on sent l'influence de Jello Biafra comme par exemple sur "I'm a Creep". Et puis les textes aussi, des textes intelligents(parlant par exemple des récentes émeutes en France, de la police, du gouvernement Bush, des poseurs dans la scène, des drogues dures,etc); des textes plus "énervés" comme My Revenge, Anger Is An Energy, Shut Up,...une chanson aussi dans le style à Reagan Youth(Swastika Youth),etc... Un fanzine écrit par les membres du groupe est offert avec le disque, avec des interviews de Dead Stop,d'un des gérants de la Lintfabriek, des chroniques,etc... A coup sûr, un des meilleurs groupes de hardcore à l'heure actuelle en Belgique. Voilà qui est dit [sixpack webzine 2006] Hold everything, stop the press!!! I have just found my absolute favourite album of this year! And frankly, nothing cán happen to change my opinion of that! The wonderful thing of it all, is that it concerns a Bélgian band. Now don't you go thinking that has to do with a possible nationalistic or chauvenistic trait of mine, but I can't help glowing with a certain feeling of pride for what this Bélgian band brings us here! So, what's on offer? The purest Reagan-era Hardcore you can imagine! Remember early '80s bands like 7 Seconds, Minor Threat, Reagan Youth, Youth Brigade, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Adolescents, Descendants,and more of that ilk? Short and simple, but quite effective tunes on a PunkRock/ Hardcore basis, with a singer that máy spew out his lyrics, but always quite comprehensibly. It was an age where the message was equally important as the fact of being “against everything” (admittingly, youngsters had to deal with quíte a bit during the Reagan years). Singer Mike Meat and bassist Gerd had played together during the '90s in Hardcore outfit Les Schtroumphs Alcooliques (from the Brussels suburbs, their sound was remeniscent of older bands like Attitude Adjustment or Excel, with a whiff of Electro Hippies, and who -to my knowledge- only released an untitled mini-CD), and when that band split up in the new millenium, Mike came to the disappointing discovery that still nothing had changed in the world. There were still so many things he (and other people with a healty affinity for fairness) couldn't agree with, and so he decided that the end of his former band would nót mean a halt for hím! Playing guitar and singing, he found an immediate accomplice in Gerd, and together with drummer Jerre, thge band started writing new songs and rehearsing feaverishly. They did their very first gig on November 30 th, 2002, and haven't looked back since. In April 2003, a selected part of the public at large (only 300 copies made for private distribution) were enabled to enjoy the band's music through their very first release, the 7-track 7” vinyl EP “Back To Basics”. Lasting only just under 8 minutes, this black slab already contained all the elements for which the band would gain its hardent fanbase, even if in somewhat pour production. At that same time, Mike felt he wanted to concentrate on his singing, and leave the guitar play to somebody else. Enter Kevin (ex-Dead Man's Handle) who was to truely solidify the Oldschool Hardcore sound. Jerre left only a month later, and got replaced by ex-Sad Origin, ex-Die My Demon, ex-The Setup skinsman David. This line-up then recorded the 8-track 7” vinyl EP “Total Control” (released through the Still Holding On label on a 400 copy rotation, with an extra 100 on coloured vinyl) for a December 2003 release, and continued playing gigs with the likes of Reproach, Dead Stop, Victims Of Society, Capital Scum, Vortex, The Kids, Die My Demon...but also sharing the stages with some of the band's heroes, like MDC, Spermbirds, DRI, Poison Idea, Colera, Oi Polloi, Raw Power, Direct Control, and many more! The next release, “The John Terror EP” (again an 8-track 7”EP; 650 copies released on the Deviant) would wait 'till January 2005, but meanwhile the band's reputation (and their fanbase) had steadily grown stronger. That same year, the band had 2 new songs out on an Indonesian compilation CD (released through Time Up), also featuring Train In Vain, Jackstone, and Powercore (Indonesia, respectively with 5, 4, & 3 tracks), I Object (US, 4 trx), Kobra XL (Chech Republic, 5 trx), and Dick Cheney (Sweden, 4 trx) in June. Somewhere along the line, the guys switched drummers again (the current one calls himself Keith Mon), andgot in contact with the people at RocknRollRadio, which resulted in a deal for the band's first “full-length” release! And I use the term “full-length” with a certain portion of humour (a concept the band is not alien to in some of their lyrics), because the 16 tracks on the CD only last a good 19 1⁄2 minutes! Lyrically, Mike delves out of a socio-political and scene-releated barrel (plus an occasional 'personal' one), using a humoristic twist to bring his statements (and stuff most "concerned citizens" are in touch with). Vocalwise, he's deliciously backed up by Gerd, and 3 other guys (one being one of the two recording engineers of the album). Mike himself shouts his lyrics with an occasionally more melodic moment, adding a certain degree of vibrato to his voice. And when that happens, he becomes ever so remeniscent of some of the greater singers in the early '80s Hardcore scene. Listen to album opener “Too Radical”, and you might be reminded of JelloBiaffra (Dead Kennedys)...listen to “My Revenge”, “I'm A Creep”, or “Unsatisfied”, and you'll find him remeniscent of Mr. Chi Pig from Canadian band SNFU. And being friends with one of the people at R3 has had the advantage (besides getting the CD 10 days ahead of anybody else) to get an addidional viewpoint, because Ludo felt this Belgian band reminded him a lot of Circle Jerks (a viewpoint which I was unable to check, since my only knowledge of that band comes from having seen them play in the 2 nd half of the '80s). In fact, the artwork for the back of the CD was styled in the fashion of one of Circle Jerks' (the left picture, near that refrigerator, with the guys in the same position).For a feminist point of view in the song “This Is Grrrlsfun”, the male singers were exchanged for the all-female set-up of Kika D (lead vocals, also presenting her book “Polar Fury” at the release gig of the album on Sunday, May 14 th), Jessica, and Natcha (with Kika also helping out during the backing vocals). Having had the opportunity to listen to the album quite elaborately (because our editor-in-chief was pre-occupied with other stuff), and having heard it at léast 20 times by now, I am amazed about the fact that I still haven't gotten bored with it yet. That may have someting to do with the delicious style, of course, and the fact that it brings back so many dámn nice (musical) memories. Still, I cannot help myself from giving the album a completely perfect rating, and for once I have found myself an absolutely top best album of the year! Believe you me, nóthing's gonna change thát! In fact, my positive feelings about this release will only increase, because it's also to appear in 12" vinyl format (through Still Holding On & Deviant in Belgium, and through Peter Brower in the UK (the last on coloured vinyl). Of course, I have already ordered my copy, because I am a complete vinyl buff! As an added extra, the vinyl comes fith an additional fanzine...something the band apparently already did for their 7" releases. Yet another thing to look out for! 100/100 [concreteweb.be 2006] |
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