By Roxy Madison

 

Bands4Bombs Records - B4TB010

Available NOW Worlwide

The Pyratz bring you their first offering in over 25 years and it rocks! Rockson, Chris Rockson, SoundCheck Magazine's very own met up with his old band mate late in 2009 when he was in Liverpool to see the New York Dolls. After spending the day shopping and eating and drinking with buddy, Steve Conte, they ended up in a Liverpool bar before the show. The unlikely trio had spent the afternoon in The Cavern and various 'beat' shops, as Conte wanted to buy some genuine beat gear from the place it all began, he was instrumental in getting the guys to start playing again.

The Pyratz needed to get back up and running quickly and effectively, and the easiest way to do that would be to do an album of favourite cover songs........and so, the 'Rock n Roll Album' was born.

Rockson recruited his former bandmate, Sid Fletcher, on Bass Guitar and the line-up was almost complete. original drummer, Clive Southgate, has played in more heavy-metal bands since his short stint in the original Pirates, as they were known back then, so he was off the menu. Rockson had seen his daughters band play some shows over the years and was mightily impressed by the drummer, Sophia Hardman. As Chris said at the time 'great attitude and ability'. She agreed to join the band at a seconds notice and the line-up was complete. Ready to Rock n Roll.

It opens with 'Pipeline' by The Surfaris, the 60's surf band, a song that the original line-up always opened their live shows with. It pays homage to Johnny Thunders too, as he was the first guitarist that Rockson actually liked, so he tells me. Faster than anyone has had chance to check the arrangement of the song and it's on to 'Ball & Chain', the Social Distortion classic. The band run through punk classics ' I Fought The Law' [ actually, this was a Bobby Fuller 4 recording LONG before the Clash made it big ] and the classic 'Teenage Kicks' by the Undertones, John Peel's favourite song of all-time! Not a bad song to have on your album? Well, it fits the style, but personally, I would have re-arranged it completely and made it more punk! That said, they do a fucking great job of it!

Johnny Cash made his wife's song 'Ring Of Fire' famous, and again, done in very much the style of the Social Distortion cover, rings out majestically. The surprise song on the album has to be 'Lonely Planet Doll', a re-working of the classic New York Dolls number, with some added twists and tempo moves. Kram shows his class with the addition of the album's best guitar work, to compliment the arrangement of Rockson, Sid and Sophia.

The album comes to a rather quick ending with the sublime 'Company C', which is dedicated to Rockson's old mate Johnny. A clever re-writing of the lyrics and some nice acoustic work makes this the stand-out track on this record.

Plenty more to come from the Pyratz in the coming month's, so be on the look out for their new recordings and live shows. Go Rockson!

 

Rox

Soundcheck Rating

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