Single review / video premiere
CRABS
Shouting At Hotels
DL / Vinyl 7″
Out now
Follow up to their brilliant Down From London album, Margate’s middle-aged punk protest band target misguided so-called patriots with the two weapons in their arsenal: piss-taking and punk rock. Ged Babey bemoans the fact things move so fast that maybe it’s old news – but a song still worth hearing… and a great B-side cover version.
You don’t need me or LTW to try and influence your opinion of the cynically orchestrated ‘Raise The Colours‘ campaign. So, in CRABS style, I’ll just take the piss.
Look! Fat, bearded Lefties cunts dressed as crabs – That’ll save the country from Muslamic invader rape gangs! Tony Robinson-Barley-Water for Deform UK on BG News.
A little bit of politics, as Ben ‘I didn’t mean it maan’ Elton used to say, mixed with Garage Punk. Absolute Genius. Love it! Lee Stewart – Comedian who likes Jazz and Post-Punk.
To be honest – it’s fab – a no nonsense take-down of stupidity (and racism) in the form of straight-forward reportage. With an insistent Cramps meets The Fall riff. And a crustacean costume with a Wookie DLT squeezed into it…. who breaks his mic whilst bellowing into it.
And the CRABS Press Release says…
Shouting at Hotels takes aim at ‘flaggers’ and their disingenuous claims about their intentions.
“The first time we saw a cross painted on a roundabout it just seemed so daft,” says the band. “I mean, as an apparent way of showing national pride, it seems so half-arsed. But as it happened more and all the flags started appearing it became less funny quickly. It’s territorial marking. It’s an effort to make people feel uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to travel far to find roads with flags on every lamppost. And, of course, our county council is Reform’s flagship. There’s a worrying emboldening of views that you would hope were a thing of the past. We don’t know what the answer is, but it felt natural to write a song about it.”
Out now on limited edition 7” and digital download from Bandcamp, it’s backed with a cover of The Human League’s Sound of the Crowd
Now, that is brilliant. A punk rock cover version that shows the synthesiser was an unnecessary evil that killed real music! Maybe.
Vive Le CRABS! The best god-damned garage punk protest band dressed in red in Margate, if not the UK, nay, the world!
Buy from CRABS Bandcamp
CRABS Facebook
All words Ged Babey
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