Salford Punk Poetry Sadness Death New Life is the title of my debut album released By German Shepherd Records on 05/10/18. It’s a nine-track album of 36 minutes in length, bringing together a vast and eclectic style of musical form and spoken word. Ballads mixed with the experimental. Electro pop mixed with poetry. Its Diversity is an ethic I’ve always held to and striven towards and serves as a great medium for the emotional content of the album.
The album centres around my Dads death from Bowel cancer in January of this year, and goes on to explore themes like Geographical place, connection with your community, death, the afterlife and self-harm. There are references to actual places around Greater Manchester/Salford, people I’ve met and bands such as The Chameleons and The Fall. The Fall reference is in the song “Mark” which is a tribute To Mark E.Smith, who also battled the disease. The Chameleons reference is in the First track “The Lines That are Drawn”. Both of those bands have had a significant influence on me over the years and considering the theme of the album, I wanted to make reference to them.
The album starts with the Spoken word. A track called “The Lines that are Drawn” which depicts connection with local people. These things came more into focus after my dad’s death, so I wanted to highlight that feeling. The track really sets the tone for what is to come.
At a gig I played, I noticed a spoken word crowd was drawn to my songs, so felt that this genre incorporated with my music would be a good addition, added to the fact I value words and think words in themselves delivered in the right way can be very powerful. A video promo is currently underway for this particular track.
Next up is “Set Aside”. This is a throwback to post-punk, dealing with violence in the streets Of Oldham and violence in the streets of the mind. Its existence is quite widespread in these northern streets.
“The Spring within” deals with spiritual connection whilst “Forward Momentum” feels like a blinding burst of energy amongst the everyday. Three songs then follow about my Dads death with “Fall over into something new” being the standout track of the album and in contention for song of the year 2018 by Twitter group FIND A SONG.
“Mark” is a tribute to ex leader of The Fall, Mark E Smith, who also battled Bowel cancer. The album ends with a 10-minute synth composition called “My right eye is bleeding”, A Great contrast to the wordiness of the album. The title came about through words of my father in a dream to my girlfriend in which he asked her to look after me through mistakes I was making, resulting in my right eye bleeding. A fitting end…
Since the album’s release I have been offered a gig at The Kings Arms on the 25 January 2019 under The EL-Manisero banner, which is in effect a monthly showcase event for Manchester artists This was reviewed by Ian Leslie of The Salford Star as being synonymous with Salford’s Changing landscape and poetry for the people, and cited in Louder then War Magazine as an album that’s making Waves Locally.. It already feels a success but would be even more so if people reading this either listened, shared, sent me feedback or bought a copy. £2 on every sale through the link below goes back to German Shepherd Records, which helps us to continue putting out local cutting-edge music.
https://germanshepherdrecords.bandcamp.com/album/salford-punk-poetry-sadness-death-new-life
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