Another shameless plug for my nephew’s band.
Wil Max is in good voice for the second single – England Breathes – from Max Raptor’s forthcoming album, Mother’s Ruin released by Naim Edge on 30th September 2013.
The video depicts the seedy side of the nation with a defiant but glum-looking cross-section of working class types .
“In and out and get over it” is the lie-back-and-think-of- Eng-er-land rallying cry.
Max Raptor are back! Here they are putting plenty of shouty attitude into their latest state of the nation address, a single entitled Breakers is out on Naim Edge records and available now at all the usual outlets.
It’s a taster for a full length album entitled Mother’s Ruin scheduled for release on 30th September 2013.
I have a vested interest in the band becoming global superstars since the cute lead singer is none other than my nephew William, or Wil Max to all you punk rockers out there!
An ‘exclusive’ preview of the raunchy new video for Max Raptor’s forthcoming single The King Is Dead (from their debut mini-album Portraits) is viewable from today at Kerrang!
Lead singer Wil Max is my nephew so I don’t feel too guilty about destroying this temporary exclusivity and sharing the video for Animal My Soul viewers.
Those of a sensitive disposition be advised that it features scenes of a suggestive nature, presumably on the basis that if a bit of S&M works for Rihanna then why not for these men from the Midlands.
As Wil said when he showed me a preview of the preview this summer, “you may see me in a new light after watching”.
Lock up your grannies!
Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)
“If you say we’re not Punks, we’ll break your fucking neck” is the message I get from the cover shot of The Stranglers’ debut single.
In the summer of ’77 drummer Jet Black was 39, Hugh Cornwell and keyboard man Dave Greenfield were both 28 while Jean-Jacques Burnell was a mere spring chicken at 25. They’d come through the pub-rock scene and got tagged as punks largely through being at the right place at the right time.
Their music had little in common with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks et al. The prominent keyboards alone set them apart and Grip also features Eric Clarke, a Welsh coal miner, on saxophone although he got no credit for his contribution. Continue reading
Max Raptor: L to R- Tom Garrett (bass), Wil Ray (vox), Matt Stephenson (drums), JB Wilcox (guitar)
The long-awaited debut Max Raptor mini album, Portraits, hits the streets today.
In case you didn’t know, Max Raptor are four young men from The Midlands and UK’s finest Indie-metal punksters to boot.
If I sound a little biased, this is down to the fact that the band’s charismatic front man, ‘Wil Ray’, is my nephew.
The album is out on Naim Edge records and is produced by Dan Weller and Justin Weller, respectively guitarist and vocalist from the now defunct UK metal band SikTh.
It features eight quality tunes which Kerrang magazine call “heavy slabs of rocking punk” .
Carolina is the most obvious power punk number although this is the sound of a generation born too late to experience the rabble rousing Brit-Punk spirit of ’76/’77 first hand so they also take on board hard-boiled metal, classic rock and a hint of screamo.
The result is potent blast of articulate rebellion backed up by rowdy yobbo chants.
I have seen the band two times, on both occasions they produced performances full of energy and commitment in relatively inauspicious settings. The first was in a muddy field in Derbyshire as part of the Y-Not Festival, the second was a show in December 2008 at a freezing Bar Fly in Birmingham. I remember musing that if they play like that in such inhospitable surroundings, what would they be capable of in half way decent venues?
Since then, they have gained valuable experience of more glamorous gigs; especially as a result of landing a prestigious support slot to Punk survivors The Stranglers last year.
This constant gigging has made their sound even tighter and Wil has effectively nailed the art of channelling his rage into songs that positively drip with indignation and venom. “We talk about cheery things like alcohol abuse and domestic violence” he says in an interview for Rock Sound in which he also highlights the fact that the songs are deliberate rants about politicians’ abuse of power and how we ordinary citizens struggle to make our voices heard. Continue reading
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