Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies - I Heart Here
The Kings
& Queens of Kitchencore return with what is probably their strongest album
yet. This is a proper punk protest record. Bristling to the brim with party and social politics,
never preaching, often humorous, all
wrapped up in a DIY punk rock n roll that will have you singing along in
seconds.
Proceedings
kick off with opener Marcel Duchamp, a song celebrating the French-American
painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Dadaism
and conceptual art. He also collaborated
with John Cale and one of his most famous pieces of art, Fountain, was an
upturned urinal. It’s not everyday you
hear subject matter like this in a punk song but like all of the greatest punk songs it’s all
packed into an explosive spiky two minutes.
And this encapsulates what is so great about Pete and the Dinner Ladies
-make no mistake these guys are punk as fuck, but there’s a cleverness in the
songs, never condescending, but often addressing important issues from slightly
left of field and celebrating the truly unusual.
Next up is the gender busting Can A Boy Be A Dinner Lady?
Questioning how society pigeon holes and labels us all into what is deemed
acceptable based on sex, age or other preferences. And the protest songs just keep on coming, A
New Way Of Living literally tells of everyday folks taking up the Power to the
People call. Dead’s Not Punk is a clever
ditty stating it’s actually not clever, cool or punk to wind up a casualty of
the many vices often associated with the scene.
On I Spy For The DIY, Pete proudly wears his DIY credentials
on his sleeve questioning whether biting the hand that feeds is hurting the
man, with the answer coming back ‘I’d sooner keep it in my hands’.
The album is full of these gems. Clever, thought provoking and sometimes
humours lyrics all housed in a punk rock n roll with a hint of eastern folk and
country thrown into the mix. There is no
major change in direction from the previous two albums, but this time out there
is an added spikeyness to the songs and a consistency throughout – there is no room
for any filler here! And a saxophone has
not sounded this good on a punk record since X-Ray Spex’ Germfree
Adolescents!
It’s a shame John Peel is not with us any more as Pete
& The Dinner Ladies would certainly have been taken to the great mans heart
and been regular favourites of the twilight airwaves. This album has pretty much been on constant
repeat for the last month and protest has never sounded so great. This should feature highly in the end of year
best of albums that we so love to compile and read about.
Make sure Pete Bentham & the Dinner Ladies are
top of your must see acts this weekend at Rebellion. Catch them on the 8th August
getting a well-deserved headline slot on the Pavilion Stage.
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