Lower Class Brats - Rock N' Roll Street Noize

Turkey Baster Records

 

Remember when punk rock was wild, dangerous and violent? For a few of you this might have been the 70’s and for some it were the 80’s. For me it was in my te...enage years in the mid to late 90’s when a whole new world opened up for me discovering bands like The Casualties, Oxymoron and the Lower Class Brats. I probably wanted to buy every single record Punkcore Records and GMM Records released at that time, but although working from time to time besides school this was nearly impossible so I must have heard records like “For The Punx”, “Fuck The 90’s… Here’s Our Noize!” and “Rather Be Hated Than Ignored” hundreds of times before I turned 18.

Now I’m 32, and just like I am still listening to these bands, these bands (or musicians) are still making the records I want to listen to and ‘recently’ Lower Class Brats released its latest effort in the form of the “Rock N’ Roll Street Noize” EP. In this case ‘recently’ dates back to 2012, but due the fact that label Turkey Baster Records went broke soon after this release it never got much of the media’s attention through reviews, advertisement etc…, so let’s get back two years in time and do a little write up for this 12” slab of wax after all, because it’s definitely worth listening to!

Thanks to the Brats’ image and songs like “Ultra Violence”, “Just Like Clockwork” and “Clockwork Fuse” these veterans will always be labeled as a “clockwork punk” band. To this list they can now add “King Of The Droogs”, opening track of “Rock N’ Roll Street Noize” and musical proof these guys still got it ever since their ’95 debut on Helen Of Oi! Records, but clearly with superior production and musicianship than in their early days. This without losing their raw and fierce edges in “King Of The Droogs” or the remaining five tracks this 12” EP holds.

Two out of these six songs might sound familiar if you already own the “Thoughts About You” 7” the band released in 2009 on the classic French punk and Oi! label Combat Rock, because besides that EP’s title track the song “America’s Standard” is also featured on both releases, but have been re-recorded for this record that was also released as a mini-CD for those without a turntable.

So if you are still into the Lower Class Brats after all these years just like me, but missed out on “Rock N’ Roll Street Noize” due the lack of media attention, bad promotion or it simply didn’t pop up on your timeline around its release date because Facebook refuses to show you everything you liked, it’s definitely still worth checking out. The 12” comes with a poster, a download card (that for obvious reasons doesn’t work anymore), insert and on ‘clockwork’ orange transparent vinyl with black and red splatter. Nice!