NO DEAL.

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Every single time I find a band I love and discover they are from Italy, every part of me wishes I was fluent in Italian (I’m half Italian and it is shameful I can’t speak it that well) and packed up my stuff and moved there. I’m pretty sure the way of life is less rushed and annoying than that here in London. My main gripe is other people on public transport. I value my personal space a lot. I love hugs and things, but I really don’t want your smelly armpit or vile coffee breath on me at 7am, you know? 7am or anytime- just back off a bit. Which is probably why I blast Fugazi or Flesh Rag really loudly in my ears on the way to work so I can drown out my surroundings. This is all kept inside, then I get to work and I’m calm. Rage and longing to live some place else aside, I’m going to write about No Deal- a band from Italy.

No Deal are a proper Rock & Roll band with elements of Punk and Garage Rock. For anyone who thinks music in Italy is watered down nonsense, you might want to take back your words. There are SO many great bands from Italy, and it’s enough to make you question all that you listen to. No Deal are no exception. With the handful of songs I’ve heard, I’m confident that they are one of the most exciting bands in the country.

No Deal make music that’s made for live shows- the drums are furious. From watching a couple of live clips (they don’t have soundcloud etc) it is fair to say that their live shows is where you need to be. Right in the middle of it with all kinds of bodily fluids falling off you-even if they aren’t yours. Who cares! No Deal will make you want to launch your body into walls whilst clinging onto someone in the crowd as your sweat falls onto them, and vice versa. It’s nasty stuff to some, but for others- it is the ideal live setting. There is nothing more boring than seeing people stand still and rigid at a live show, especially when you can see the band putting their all into it. The videos I’ve seen of No Deal show how a crowd should be at a show. They aren’t afraid to move themselves in a questionable fashion. Who cares who sees!

Their songs are unruly, chaotic and fast. There’s no time for thinking about your next move when you listen to these guys, all you can do is throw your body about and take the music in. No Deal tap into the part of you that lays dormant around others, but when you’re around like-minded people who like this kind of music, then it comes out. Surround yourself around people like this and let No Deal take you wherever you want to go.

GARAGE ROCK: ITALIAN STYLE.

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I have two main loves- music and pizza. I can’t make music, but I can make pizza. Come round, and I’ll make you one. Or maybe two so you can have it for lunch the next day. I guess in a way Garage Rock might not be deemed as a “proper” genre of music, and even though labeling music is bullshit- I’m allowing myself to contradict myself for the god knows how many time just to talk about a certain kind of noise that I absolutely love. There’s correlation between Punk and Garage Rock, well for me there is. And that’s probably why I love both a hell of a lot. My record collection doesn’t hold much weight compared to some but my most prized possession is my copy of The Gruesomes’ first record. Nobody will ever understand how much me owning that record means. The Gruesomes are Canadian-not Italian, and this is about Italian Garage Rock bands. Turns out there’s a wealth of them and for the past few nights, it’s what I’ve been listening to. I’ve dragged myself through today on 3 hours sleep. If I’m falling into a pattern I had 5/6 years ago, then so be it. I’ll use my time wisely finding music to write about. If I was going to take the easy route I’d probably mention a few songs and make life easy for myself. I don’t know how to make life easy and if there isn’t a wave of chaos about to hit me, I won’t know what to do. This is unplanned, for my own benefit- the result of having an internet connection. I’ll educate myself, and maybe you’ll find something you like. If not, then at least I got this out of my system. ANDIAMO!

To start off, I’m going with my favourite and one of the hardest bands to find ANYTHING out about. This song is 50 years old. It probably sounded perfect back then, and it sounds perfect 50 years on. It’s got a typical Garage Rock sound going on. What I love about a lot of Garage Rock songs is how they seem to be about pining for someone who is a bit of a dickhead. We’ve all been there, it’s completely fine. Songs like this are the ones that get you through it. Cupidation reminds me slightly of I Never Loved Her by The Gruesomes- I think it’s all in the vocals and that alone makes it one of my favourites.

 

See what I mean? Italians know how to do to this. The Rippers have a sound that’s off the wall and unlike anything else. I Wanna Put A Tiger In Your Tank is hopefully a euphemism for something- if it isn’t, I’ll be pretty sad about that because it’s a pretty great euphemism. Imagine using that line on someone. Hey if it works, then go for it. The Rippers have a brilliant style that comes across in how  they look and how they sound. Sometimes bands get it twisted and pay more attention to how they look rather than how they sound, and that can be a sure waste of talent. Thankfully The Rippers didn’t fall victim to that.

I found out about The Hangee V last year when in Camden looking through some old records. I was on my lunch break, and I felt the need to buy some music. I was sifting through the records, and the cover of one of The HangeeV’s records caught my eye. I loved their menacing look, and how they looked like a bunch of undertakers who would probably dig a grave for you-even if you were still alive. They’re easily one of my favourite bands, and I love the mystery about them. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, that’s fine and all- but buy records based on the artwork, chances are it will be just fine.

I got a little sidetracked finding these bands, and quite possibly have ended up with more recent bands than not. That’s alright-if anything it just shows how great the music scene is in Italy. The Mighties are from Perugia. I remember visiting there when I was about 12 years old and just falling in love. I’ve been to only a handful of places that felt like “home” to me, and Perugia was one of them. It’s a beautiful city, and is home to one of Italy’s finest bands. I’m not sure how well known The Mighties are but they sound like a band who have taken on board what bands before them have done and made their own scene, on their own terms.

Gli Sciacalli may have been around in the 90s but they captured that typical 60s Garage Rock sound like no other. This is a song I would definitely place in my favourites of all time-regardless of genre. It sounds slightly like the Beach Boys mixed with some Mersey Beat. It’s the perfect Garage Rock sound, and Mai is a song I really can’t get enough of. Much like The Bumpers who have a few decades on this band, they still capture that raw Garage Rock sound.

There are many many more bands I could mention, and I’m probably a tool for missing some out. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 some day. Special mention needs to go to Go!Zilla who are one of the best new(ish) bands around and will get a deserving piece written about them soon. I think condensing it down to 5 for now was a semi-wise move. I could have kept going, but maybe on another trip to buy records I’ll find something else to write about. I know I should have mentioned The Kartoons. Next time. Next time.

DUSTY MUSH.

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A week or so ago I wrote about a band called Druggy Pizza. Druggy Pizza is Cédric’s other project. Where Druggy Pizza make you feel like you’ve taken something, Dusty Mush are the lead up to that. I’ll write this as if I’ve no idea that the two bands are unrelated so I don’t make any lazy comparisons.

Dusty Mush are a noisy French band. They’re the kind of band that would piss your folks off and would probably cause your neighbours to pack up and skip town. There’s slight aggression in their music but for the most part, it is really bloody loud. It’s wonderfully brutal in some parts, and for me that is part of the attraction. As a painfully shy idiot, I like to unleash it all by listening to music that is the opposite of how I am, for the most part. I like to think that if I was musically talented, I’d start a band that was weird and noisy to make up for everything I lack. Instead, I just write about it with no long term plan. Dusty Mush are perfect for you if you’re feeling a little helpless or weary. You can throw your tired limbs about to these guys without a care in the world. You can hope they come to your town so you can do this, or you’ll make do with playing them loudly in the comfort of your own home.

They’re not an easy band to get into. I mean I loved them with my first listen, but I can fully appreciate that some would listen to them and not know what the hell was going on. That’s another thing I love about music. I’m pretty sure they’re not for those who can’t handle a bit of gore in their lives. They’re a band you can only play loud in order to get into it, and I think because they are so obnoxiously loud (and I mean this is in the best way possible because it wouldn’t sound right any other way) that’s what makes them stand out. Yes there are other bands around who are loud and whatnot, but Dusty Mush are something else. Part of you feels like you’re entering a different world but another part of you feels as if you’re losing your mind. Maybe both at interchangeable moments.

Dusty Mush have this brilliant fuzzy Garage Rock sound going on, and I think that’s what makes it easy to really get lost in their music. You do feel as if something strange and beautiful is happening as you succumb to the music, but no good has ever come from fighting something like this off. I’ve said it a bunch of times before about other bands, but I reckon my hero Lester Bangs would be into these guys. Dusty Mush are one of those bands you play around this time of night, maybe a little later when everyone else has gone to bed. So you can launch yourself into whatever world you’ve created in your mind. You’ll feel like you’re in some made for TV horror film where the blood is obviously tomato sauce and the victim is being bludgeoned with again, an obviously foam hammer.

What I sincerely love about Dusty Mush is that you can’t tell where these guys are from and that’s part of the charm. They’re one of the most exciting bands I’ve heard in a long time, and I’m aware they’ve been around for some time but I get sloppy with actually writing stuff. After careful consideration and obsessive listening, I think I’ve said all I can about these guys.

Listen to their sounds and play ’em loud: http://dustymush.bandcamp.com/

LOS NASTYS.

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Never one for making life easy for myself, I’m going to write about a band that don’t sing in English. As someone who is heavily into lyrics, I’m putting my love for words aside to focus on what the music does and how it all sounds. If I thought the band were rubbish, I wouldn’t write about them. But my opinion isn’t worth holding onto, you can just listen to the band for yourself. If stuff like The Vagrants, Count Five etc are your thing- then Los Nastys are probably going to blow and warp whatever is left of your mind.

Los Nastys have that dirty Garage Rock sound. They make you feel as if you’ve been dragged through a sweaty crowd backwards. At least five times over. They’ll leave you trembling, satisfied and broken. Sort of like winning the lottery and losing all your “friends.” Maybe these guys are who Lester Bangs would be raving about if he was still around. I wish he was around. I’d attempt to constantly get hold of him and thank him for all he’s done for me and my inability to get my point across about how music is what keeps me going. The uncool recognising the uncool.

Back to Los Nastys. Their music feels like the party and the aftermath. The destruction, the chaos and the hangover. I don’t know what they’re singing about but I know the music and the delivery of the vocals clicks with me. The fury and force in the music is something else. They have the potential to be as beautifully obnoxious as the Dead Boys, as rowdy as The Stooges but at the same time, they’re unlike anything else I’ve heard.

Maybe we’re wired to fall for a certain kind of music or a way of life. Personally, I’ll take the dark and strange over what is classed as “normal.” Then again, what is normal? It doesn’t exist. It’s just an ideology that’s forced upon us so we stay in line. Fall out of line and go find out what you like. Los Nastys are musical deviants, and we need bands like that. We need bands who sound different to the rest, and without a care in the world they end up taking over our record collections. For me, I’d be happy with a bunch of bands that sounded like this rather than some over-hyped Pitchfork nonsense, you know? I find the music I like by accident.Sometimes how I feel about them becomes apparent quite early on and sometimes it needs dragging out of me. I guess it is like falling in lust and love. One is stronger than the other, but one lasts longer than the other.

I think they’ve only been going for a couple of years but they sound like they’ve been together for decades. Maybe they have. Again they are one of those bands that, if I was in a band, I’d want to have this kind of sound. I’d want to make people feel like they’ve been beaten up, I’d want people to feel like they are part of something unheard of and I’d want to start a riot at shows. There’s a lot of fight and passion in their music, and the way that their ferocious sound rings in your ears makes you really believe in this band-even if you have no idea what they are saying.

Los Nastys are a band that should be played exceptionally loud and as often as possible. They make you feel like you’ve just stumbled into a drunken brawl an hour before closing time. I hope more bands with this sound emerge this year. They’ll always be around, but it’s time for these kinds of bands to really shine and to tear apart basement bars leaving us battered, bruised and a little bit deaf.

Listen: https://losnastys.bandcamp.com/

THE AR-KAICS.

 

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I don’t really agree with sharing weaknesses with anyone, but when it comes to music I’ll gladly unveil the kind of music that sends my heart fluttering and my legs to go like jelly. I like to listen to all kinds of music, but what really grabs my attention is something that sounds like a mixture of 60s Garage with something passionately aggressive. Something that moves you emotionally but also makes you want to slam your body into the nearest drum kit. With everyone else reeling off the bands that got them going with their indulgent end of year list, I’ll just ramble about a band that are relatively new (but probably aren’t.) Let’s not dwell on the past, let’s head into the unknown listening to a band that are everything I want from music.

The Ar-Kaics are 4 pals from Virginia. They sound like The Vagrants and The Gruesomes. They are my idea of a great time, my concept of a great band. The kind of band you’d hope someone would listen to and be inspired to go out and make their own kind of noise. They’ve got a basement band sound, you feel like when you listen to them you’re spying on a band rehearsing. The rawness in their sound is unlike anything I’ve heard recently, and it gives you some much needed faith in modern music.

 

Their songs are short. But part of you is wanting them to last a little while longer, but the other part of you knows that it would just ruin the moments in your mind if it was stretched out. These are the songs for kids in cold, desolate bedrooms to throw their body around to. For those who are uncomfortable in their skin and are attempting to thrash their way out of their hell. The Ar-Kaics are one of those bands that don’t happen all too often, and I’m such a fool for not finding them sooner. I just believe that music should leave you feeling something. It doesn’t matter what, but it’s always useful when it is something positive. The Ar-Kaics have that teenage lust/wonder in their music that is so important to hold onto. When you lose that as you head into adulthood, you cling onto the feelings of youth wherever you can.

If like me you are wishing to escape everyone lobbing Christmas songs your way, The Ar-Kaics are the dream band to listen to whilst you escape it all. Go back in time, or forward a couple months. The Ar-Kaics could be anyone’s favourite band, so let it start with you.

You can listen to their gorgeous sounds right here:

https://thearkaics.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

LAME.

In my biased opinion, many great things have come from Italy. However, the music from there is something I’ve always had slight reservations about. There’s more to Italian music than Litfiba (they were kind of good so it’s okay.) I can only apologise for Eiffel 65. I’m so sorry. Italy has more to offer than that.

LAME come from the same beautiful city as my stepdad. Torino is one of the best cities in the world, and is also home to LAME.

LAME make a lot of noise, and their most recent release The Lame Shall Enter First is probably one of the year’s most underrated records. I don’t even know how many people have heard it or are even into this band, but the record is an angry piece of work that cannot be played quietly and privately. I’m writing it whilst listening through headphones but I know the ideal setting for it is to be played so loud until the walls shake and pictures and mirrors fall down. It’s effortlessly brutal. Cold Night feels like a maniac losing their mind late at night, when they probably should be asleep.

Known for the bluesy but Punk sound, they don’t fail to live up to that notion. Half the time you feel like smashing shit up whilst listening to the record, the other half you just want to sit with a bottle of something and watch the weary world go by. Like most bands I’ve written about, and write about, LAME are a mixture of strange and wonderful kinds of genres and noises into one and end up creating something really weird and passionately brilliant. I always want to listen to something that makes me want to start a band, even though I never will (too old and I have no musical talent) but if it can leave me feeling this way then surely it can cause some lost teen in the depths of Cleethorpes to pick up an instrument and make some noise of their own. That’s all any of us can hope for.

Another thing I love about LAME is that they feel like you’ve invaded a nightmare. You’re looking in and LAME are providing this menacing and eerie soundtrack. You want to be part of it somehow- so you start feeling as if you’re being chased through some creepy forest with some local loon close behind you muttering delirious words, brushing branches out of their face to grab a closer look at you, and to probably grab you. You’d run a lot faster with LAME blasting in the background. This feeling of being lost in the wilderness could drive anyone a bit nuts, but LAME are the perfect soundtrack to losing your marbles slightly.

Sounding like a band possessed by something greater than any of us could imagine, LAME are just a rowdy lot with something brilliantly sinister in their music. Much like Bikes who I wrote about last night, they make you want to leave where you are and go explore somewhere new.

You can listen to their recent record here: https://aliensnatch.bandcamp.com/album/lame-the-lame-shall-enter-first

As far as first LPs go, this one is nothing short of excellent, and it leaves you wanting more and more from them. Favourite new band.

Play it as soon as it gets dark, unless you’ve got a weird imagination like mine- if so, sitting at your desk on your lunch break whilst listening to something weird like this will probably give you equally mental images in your head.

FORZA LAME!

BRAIN TRAPS.

Sometimes you’ve just got listen to music that shatters your brain and makes you feel as if someone is stood up in your face screaming muffled words at you. More often than not, this is pretty much what I listen to and I guess it’ll cause my hearing to be questionable in later life.

Brain Traps are a mighty fan band from Cologne. I’ve never been to Cologne, but I’m going to assume it’s a nice place. Does all the music sound like that there? I sincerely hope it does. Brain Traps are great for many reasons, and for me I just love the way they make you feel as if someone has grabbed you by the head and is shaking you repeatedly. There’s no venom just pure fury, and I love this kind of music. It doesn’t make you feel loved, it makes you feel as if you’ve gone a few rounds with a heavyweight boxer and lost spectacularly.

Their fuzzy sound with hints of reverb will speak to those who are clinging .onto something as great as Psychocandy and the likes. This is different, and is a different wave of heavy. I’ve said it about many bands before that I’ve written about, but Brain Traps are the kind of band I’d want to sound like. They are noisy fuckers who are the ideal band to play one of those dodgy basement venues that have next to no lighting and make you sweat buckets before you get in the venue.

I have no idea what kind of comparisons have been thrown at Brain Traps, and I really can’t think of any (I’m not that lazy) but they just merge all the kinds of music I love into one and make their own kind of noise. The kind of noise that your parents wouldn’t really approve of, but would probably listen when no one is around. Ah man, life is too short to act like you don’t want a bit of rowdy music in your life.

Brain Traps do sound like a bunch of naughty school kids who have snuck into the music room at school and have gone a bit mental. There’s a fair deal of experimenting in their music, and in all its chaotic glory- it works. It’s loud in all the right places and is the right side of confrontational.

Their songs are really short but as proven by the likes of Ramones and Girl Tears, you don’t need to do a 10 minute symphony to get your point across. Brain Traps are an excellent band who will make the most uncomfortable and awkward person feel alright in their own skin. They unleash what you can’t, and they do it in a way you wish you could. They’re just perfect for any mood, and I really hope they play in the UK soon because I get the impression that their live shows are what really makes them. Some bands just come alive during their shows, and I reckon that Brain Traps are one of those bands. The kind that leave you smelling of everyone’s drinks and sweat after the show because you got a bit carried away and threw your body around with everybody else in the venue.

The kids are alright, they’ve got Brain Traps.

Listen and purchase: https://braintraps.bandcamp.com/

BIKES.

Berlin heartthrobes Bikes are brilliant. They are a proper rowdy and obnoxious band. Their sound is part Iggy and The Stooges and part drunken street brawl. The songs are awfully short (like myself) but don’t let that be a deterrent. They’re one of the finest bands doing this kind of music. What kind of music is it? Oh it’s just noise to the outsider, but anyone else would realise very quickly that it’s a stroke of potential genius. The G word is lobbed around too often, so I’ll say it is potentially genius, but in my heart I know it has already reached that point.

When I find a band like Bikes I feel like I’ve won the lottery. However if you saw my bank statement you would probably think I’ve been a victim of fraud. Truth is, I’m shite with money. I found a new record store to venture in next week when I get paid, but today on my lunchbreak all I could do was lustfully look at it as I walked past. It didn’t help that my uncle (he’s on holiday in Canada) sent me a photo of two records he bought today (The Cramps and Fucked Up.) My time will come next week on pay day.

Money woes aside, Bikes are the kind of band you go to when you’re broke,bored and unsure. They’re the right kind of loud and they just make you want to pack up your stuff, and escape to Berlin. As you make your escape, you decide that Bikes are going to be your soundtrack and you throw yourself into their scene. Bruised and sore, covered in various shades of booze and sweat. They are the epitome of a good time for those who want to throw themselves into the unknown. Their sound is a mixture of weirdness, Punk and Garage Rock. All the typical things that I adore rolled into one to make this incredible sound.

They’ve been going for quite some time now, and I’m foolishly only just now discovering them. I first heard them about half an hour ago, and I knew I had to try write something about them, even if it makes no sense. I’ve never planned any form of writing, and I’m fairly sure it shows. Bikes are the tyrants that are coming to save you. Their menacing and infectious sounds can pull anyone through the worst day of them and are just a real joy to the ears, and soul.

You can do a whole bunch of nothing to this band or you can go on a journey of self-discovery, regardless of your mood and general state of being, Bikes are a band to really get behind and play as loud as you can stand. They’ve got a song called Ocean Penis, that’s pretty great.

All you snotty nosed brats and restless adults, let Bikes be your soundtrack.

Get the tunes here:

https://bikeshateberlin.bandcamp.com

MAKEOUTS.

Built on a chaotic and destructive sound, Makeouts are one of the best bands around and you need to listen to them. The noisiest band in Stockholm for sure. They’ve got elements of The Damned in their music and the loudness of a gang of teenage lads causing trouble in school. They’ve got a sound of pure rebellion in them, and it’s something to fully embrace.

In all honesty, I don’t know much about them other than where they are from and how great they are. Their sound is a bundle of chaos that works so well, nothing here needs to be tamed. If anything, they could probably go a little louder and a bit more brutal. They make the kind of music you’d want to trash your room/house to. It’s a whirlwind, a riot and should be getting into the brains of the youth. They’ve been around for quite some time now so I think it is fair to call them one of the finest Garage/Punk bands in not just their homeland, but Europe. They’ve got something really rare about them and it makes you want to delve deep into their music.

Makeouts aren’t just for snotty nosed brats or those who are constantly bored, hell they can be for anyone, everyone. Their accessbile noise is what makes them so appealing and just a general treat for the ears. You just stick them on repeat and go off into your own world. I don’t know if they’ve ever played over here, but when/if they do, I’m pretty sure they’ll cause some kind of hysteria that leaves fans in a puddle of sweat and other fluids, just wanting more. With the trail of destruction they could potentially leave just by hearing them on record, I’m fairly sure their live shows are different levels of crazy.

Have we had a band as exciting as Makeouts come around? Maybe we have, but it is important to know that these guys aren’t wet around the ears no more. They’ve got a solid sound that needs to be played loud, you need to sing a long and listen as if your life depends on it. They have songs to go nuts to, to sing a long to at 3am when you should be asleep and not having another drink. They’re the right level of destructive and chaotic. It isn’t forced, it isn’t for show and they aren’t trying to impress you. You know all of it comes from a genuine place and I think that’s what makes them easy to approach and to just enjoy their music.

They’re that band you find by accident when you’re supposed to be doing something else, but you get immersed in their music and you just forget all you were supposed to be doing. That’s not always a bad thing and don’t let people call you out on it.

Play Makeouts as loud as you can stand and go break stuff.

THE BARON FOUR.

With daily/modern life being a general bore and about as challenging as a child’s wordsearch, I seem to always fall back on new(ish) bands that sound like something from the past. Maybe it’s a way of holding onto a time I was never there for, a time I wish I could have witnessed. It’s okay because at least there are bands around that make you feel as if you there, even if you are stuck in the now surrounded by people taking photos of themselves and getting in the way of beautiful scenery because they need you to tell them look gorgeous instead of where they are. People are becoming more and more boring. Hiding behind their phones because mouth and brain don’t match up. Give me some records, and I’ll be fine.

The Baron Four have been around for the past 3/4 years and are solid beat band. They’ve got bits of the Count Five and even The Kinks within their sound. I’m a fan of the Count Five in a big way so to hear a current band who make you feel as if you’re discovering the likes of The Vagrants and The Gruesomes for the first time is bloody good.

The Baron Four have brilliant songs that focus on a lot of heartbreak and how women can be cruel with hearts.. Their music is perfect for a break-up or for attempting to forget the face of someone you’re fond of, even if you’ve not told them. Beating yourself up over your timidness as they waltz off with another. We’ve all been there and we all deal with it differently. The Baron Four have this way of portraying heartbreak in an accessible way. You feel as if the songs are for you, even if you’ve not had your heart torn out in a while.

This UK band have a proper Garage Rock with some kind of freak-beat going on which makes them stand out from most. Their songs don’t really last longer than 3 and half minutes, just enough time for you to be thrown back to the 60s and forget where you are, and who you are. You can close your eyes whilst listening to them or you can dance as if you have no control over your limbs. They can make the lifeless feel something, and I’m just really in awe of how they’ve perfected an old sound but made it sound so current. I know that sounds borderline pretentious and I really don’t mean it that way. It’s just you see a lot of bands trying to do this, ripping off other bands and you’re left uneasy and unsure about it all, but with The Baron Four you can’t help but actually believe that this band were around in the 60s giving the others a real run for their money.

The Baron Four are a credit to the UK music scene and them not being huge is almost criminal. But those that love them know exactly how brilliant they are.

You can listen to their magnificent sounds here:

https://thebaronfour.bandcamp.com