Labels: Boss Tuneage – Rookie
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This was a surprise! Stokoe released a 7″ many moons ago, probably one of the first few punk 7″ I ever bought actually. This was in ’98 and you can read my
naive review of it on these very pages, and also the line “I doubt there will ever be anything else put out by Stokoe,” that has obviously now been disproven. That
said though, this isn’t really the same band. Stokoe now sound nothing like the band on that 7″, and really its just a resurrection of an old name and little
more, although they still do feature Dickie Hammond, and he brings his classic punishment of the guitar to the fore magnificently. What a fucking great
guitar sound it is! One that you can instantly recognise and be drawn in by, although you probably knew that already. This time though, lead vocals are taken
by Gem Smith and the music is rocking and melodic in a way that you haven’t heard much since the likes of Sarge and Samuel hung up their instruments. Gem’s
vocals are strong and carry the tunes brilliantly, songs which are driving and melodic rocking numbers, injected with enough punk energy and enthusiasm to
keep it from straying into dodgy territory. Dickie crops up on backing vocals on many of the songs, you can spot him, he’s the one who sounds like a dog
barking. The woofs come in to play a couple of times and compliment Gem’s vocals really well, although the contrast can be a bit surprising!
There are one or two iffy numbers that contain a strong whiff of cheese, but for the most part this is a dynamic blast of a CD that keeps me tapping my toe
for the duration. Hearing a band that sounds like Samuel is not something that happens very often (i.e. pretty much never), so its great to find a band doing
this kind of thing. Check it out if you have a soft spot for Samuel and Dickie Hammond’s blazing guitarwork – you will not be disappointed, I am sure. All we
need now is another Stubbs/Hammond collaboration!