Ok, ok, I’m won over now. Having been deterred slightly by a single I picked up for 50p, I’d steered clear of Leatherface (not that it was that hard to avoid a band that haven’t even existed for the past few years). But the smack in the face that the live experience delivered me has made me a convert.
Just in case you don’t know – Leatherface are British punk rock. Punk, cos when you play it loud, normal people will stare at you like you’re just plain crazy with a look that asks “how on earth can you listen to that stuff?”, and rock, cos it simply does.
Much of this 20 tune collection is purloined from various 7″ singles, and some surprisingly good quality live recordings. And pretty much all of them feature a ferocious hardcore guitar attack that could strip paint at 100 yards. Combine that with a sound that China Drum once used as a staple, and the Motorhead-esque vocals of Frankie Stubbs and you have quite a combination.
The range of tracks on here is pretty damn fine. “Hops And Barley” and “A Public House” are beer-smeared punk-ups with the former being a Dropkick Murphys cum Levellers Irish styled tune, with violins and stuff! And both are sub 2 minute marvels. Then there are the slightly Descendants/ALL-core tracks, such as “Book” and the quite startling “Dreaming”. Bolstering all this are out and out punk rock fests such as “Eagle” and “Leningrad Vlad”. And how about “I Want the Moon” that starts out like the Wildhearts “Caffeine Bomb”? Which reminds me. What is it about the North East? Wildhearts, Honeycrack, China Drum, Groop Dogdrill, Whatever, Leatherface.
So its frenetic, explosive guitars all the way. Apart from 2 tracks that you’ll probably end up skipping – one acoustic, and one piano & vocals. They just serve to take the wind out of the albums sails at just the wrong point. The live stuff is of good quality, apart from the occasional squealing feedback, and its a little disappointing to get “Hops & Barley” and “Leningrad Vlad” duplicated, though the live version of the latter is actually better.
What is most scary is that this is probably not even Leatherface’s best work. Seeing as its mainly live tracks and b-sides, plus a few cover versions (though admittedly the highly amusing “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” and the Police’s “Message In A Bottle” are brilliantly done), its mightily impressive. And through all this your toes are tapping so ferociously that your foot has worn a hole in the floor to the room below.
If you are as ignorant of this band as I was then its time to go to school. Educate yourself with this and you’ll see that for those noisy anti-social, “breaking stuff” moments, punk is the only way short of scary metal, and I am so scared of scary metal, that I daren’t even pick up the boxes in the shop, just in case the devil himself materialises right there, and jabs me with his trident. Ooer.