Been a while since you heard from us, hasn’t it? Last December, we celebrated what had been an exceptionally productive year for Creases Like Knives. Then, as if to undermine any hopes we’d become a ‘proper’, ‘professional’, or regular publication, we only gave you one article in the whole first four months of 2024. The truth is precisely this: we aren’t professionals, nobody’s paying us, and we just happened to have lots on our plate lately. One thing’s for sure: Creases Like Knives isn’t ceasing operations – I think in some form we’ll always be around. But our levels of activity will vary, depending on what else life throws at us. In this sense, apologies to the good folks from Common People, Primator Crew, Une Vie Pour Rien, Hellnation and Ballroom Blitz Records who sent us most of the albums reviewed here – we made some of them wait for ages. All reviews by me this time.
Matt Crombieboy
Nabat: Inacustic CD
(Ostia Records)
Moving from London to Bologna in the midst of the pandemic was an interesting experience, to say the least. Not yet speaking a word of Italian and hardly knowing anyone, I was largely confined to the four walls that I and my other half inhabited, only occasionally popping to parks or bars whenever lockdown restrictions permitted. One might think of this as an exercise in alienation, yet I think back of these early stages fondly: a new chapter had opened in my life.
What made the ‘new normal’ feel a little more normal during this period were occasional acoustic gigs by Euro-Oi titans Nabat, organised in parks and bars, played under all kinds of restrictions (no dancing; two people at each table max; and so on). This was a gratefully received emergency measure, but also more than that: Nabat’s youngest member Marco, who has been involved since the band’s 2018 album Banda Randagia and swiftly emerged as a driving force alongside vocalist Steno, is a highly accomplished guitarist. In an unusual twist for a skinhead band, he and Steno share a deep-seated interest in original blues music. So perhaps it was bound to happen that they’d continue to pursue their acoustic experiments beyond the lockdown period.
This CD is the fruit of their efforts and a monument to that strange time. It features twelve tracks, including acoustic reinterpretations of early Nabat classics such as ‘Nichilistaggio’ and ‘Scenderemo nelle strade’. Oddly enough, these are as powerful as the originals, if not more so: Marco simply milks these songs more than was the case the first time around. There’s two great new compositions, ‘Fuori dal ghetto’ and ‘Questa notte a mezzanotte’, as well as covers: ‘Midnight Special’, a Leadbelly tune performed here in Italian, and – a hidden track and, as far as I’m concerned, the highlight of the record – a cover of ‘La compagnia’, a mid-70s tune by Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti (a national treasure beloved by every Italian irrespective of age or subculture). That latter song is not an easy one to perform, and one thing becomes abundantly clear from this album: Steno isn’t just an Oi shouter but also possesses a rich and distinctive singing voice – something that hadn’t fully dawned on me until now.
My sentimental attachment to these recordings goes beyond them merely being part of the lockdown soundtrack. I was present during some of the recording sessions, with Francesca Chiari – a writer for this webzine and an important figure in my life – serving as assistant sound engineer. So, it’s fair to say that I’m heavily biased when championing this release. But as far as I’m concerned, if you don’t like Nabat, you don’t like Oi. This is your chance to hear them give their material an unusual country-blues treatment, and it will reveal sides to their songs that you never knew existed – don’t miss it.
Various Artists: Just Another Saturday Night LP
(Ballroom Blitz Records)
Just when you thought the bovver rock archives were exhausted, here’s another slice of cheap glam trash from the Skinners-sporting bootboy era. If I’m getting my history right, the subcultural revival for 70s glam nuggets began in serious with the Boobs (The Junkshop Glam Discotheque) collection of 2005. Things took a distinct bootboy turn when compilations like the laudable French Boot Power series followed, exploring the blood bonds between glitter rock and Oi, early Cock Sparrer and Slaughter and the Dogs being the most obvious evolutionary link. But the genre probably got its biggest boost when Italy’s own Giuda set out to unite hooligans, suedeheads and glam rock obscurantists around cut-price terrace stompers. Spin-offs such as the Aussie-focused Sharpies Attack unearthed yet more 70s prole rock wonders – and after all those bootlegs and fan editions, Cherry Red’s Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone (reviewed for us by Stewart Home last year) was clearly intended as something of a ‘definitive’ and ‘official’ collection, but came across as a belated cash-in. Personally, I prefer my trash glam served by dubious labels such as Ballroom Blitz Records and ideally on vinyl, both of which is the case here… Here too, the general thrust is more Slade than Brett Smiley. Some of the finds have previously appeared on similar comps – for example, William Shakespeare’s ‘Feeling Alright’ off Thug Rock Volume 2. Others, such as Jon Symon’s German-produced 1975 single Silver Star (with backing vocals and bass by Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder, who in the same year recorded the sleaze grenade ‘Love to Love You Baby’!) are likely given their first airing on a compilation here. On the downside, nobody has bothered to write any liner notes for this release, so if you want to know more about the artists involved you must google them and hope for the best. On the plus side, the good folks who compiled Just Another Saturday Night didn’t fill it with just any old crap they came across, but are clearly aficionados who included only hits they themselves would DJ on a Saturday night. The result is a handy all killer, no filler LP.
Rudy Bolo: Mezzanotte al soul bar / Mollo tutto 7’’
(Hellnation)
Readers may recall last year’s interview with Rude, a second-generation Bologna skinhead and Bologna FC ultra from the 80s. His original band, Ghetto 84, leaned towards punk rock ‘n’ roll rather than Oi, reflecting Rude’s inclination towards sounds that swing: reggae, ska, soul and Latin music have been a constant presence throughout his life. This slab of vinyl features two cover versions played in a northern soul style: one of Ghetto 84’s own ‘Mezzanotte al soul bar’, originally included on the band’s 1987 debut tape, La Rumba!; the other is a song by a more recent group from Florence that bears the Oiest band name ever, namely Bomber 80. Both covers flesh out aspects from these songs that weren’t that audible than first time around and easily surpass the original tunes. ‘Mezzanotte’ is a real anthem to Bologna and should become a staple with local DJs.
Zanzara: I fedeli aspettano senza chiedere il perche LP
(Common People)
When this enigmatic project – an Italian-language band based in London – released its debut album in 2020, I wrote that it stood as one of the few real contenders from the British capital, a place nowadays filled with well-connected mediocrities. I maintain that Zanzara’s music is an original entry in the Camera Silens and Second Empire Justice influenced ‘cold Oi’ subgenre. I like its fresh and unassuming approach to songwriting, and the keyboard textures add a peculiar atmosphere, sometimes reminiscent of Razzia circa Ausflug mit Franziska. On the downside, all songs are melodically very similar, and most are performed at a more or less uniform tempo. Four or five tracks in, I felt that I kind of got the idea and found it hard to stick around till the end. Perhaps this would have been a better EP – or else, greater variety is in order next time.
Force Majeure: s/t LP
(Primator Crew)
Karl from Force Majeure has left his mark in multiple other bands, including the short-lived Last Crusade during his time in the UK. In terms of productivity, one might say he’s the Billy Childish of Oi. Like Childish, he knows what he likes: despite the various bands and line-ups he’s been part of, there’s an unmistakable ‘Karl Sound’, drawing from influences like early Templars, French Oi from the 80s, and various Chiswick Records bands, particularly the one that some prefer to leave unmentioned. Yet, for all the aggression of the guitar playing and gruffness of his voice, Karl’s vocal lines often draw on the Warrior Kids’ school of melodic songwriting. This album – the band’s first full-length after a series of tapes, EPs and split singles – offers few in the way of experiments, then, but lots of well-crafted, honest-to-god Karl Oi, all sung in his native Quebec French. While the sole surprise here is an excellent cover of The Cure’s anti-trendy classic Jumping Someone Else’s Train sung in French, the whole album rips just the way you’d want it to.
Cran: Rejet 7’’
(Une Vie Pour Rien)
Cran, as is widely known by now, is a Paris band that plays a harder-edged variety of the rain-soaked Breton sound pioneered by the likes of Litovsk and Kronstadt. Equal parts Oi (of the Bombardiers variety) and post punk, theirs is a modernist approach to punk rock that imagines an Oi! Wave That Could Have Been, offering increasingly more accomplished takes on this idea while keeping both feet firmly on the street. In my view, this new single is an improvement on their debut album, Natë: less of a shrill anarcho-punk scream, the voice now sounds fuller-bodied and has more character, while the guitar atmospherics continue unabated.
The Clench: Dead-End Street 12’’ Mini-LP
(Common People)
This new band is hailing from somewhere between Glasgow and Edinburgh, but is formed at least partly by European immigrants from Poland and Spain – including former members of bands such as Last Stand, Static Shock, Fred and the Perrys and Skulldog. It’s essentially punk metal with Oi influences – music for people who wear black t-shirts rather than Ben Shermans and are into groups like Vis Vires. It is *not* my preferred direction, nor even is this record an outstanding product of that subgenre. The lyrics (about wage slavery and such) are on the class-conscious side, which is a plus, but something about the music just doesn’t work for me.
Asedio: Fuego LP
(Common People)
This Barcelona band has previously published two albums of basic 80s-styled Oi. After an extended period of inactivity and the recent addition of a second guitarist, it is now moving in a heavier direction that the promo blurb describes as Böhse Onkelz influenced. It’s been evident for some time that Böhse Onkelz hold a particular sway among the Catalan skinhead crowd, serving as an avatar of authenticity. Perhaps ironically so, considering that the Onkelz’ transition from Oi towards a more mainstream hard rock sound in the latter half of the 80s was far from uncontroversial within the German skinhead scene. The band’s gradual embrace by the big music industry, kickstarted by features in magazines such as Metal Hammer, was accompanied by interviews that saw the band apologising for the missteps of their youthful past. Skinzines of the era spoke of ‘treason’. Nonetheless, Böhse Onkelz remained a focus of attraction for rebellious youths from various subcultures and backgrounds, adeptly projecting a ‘defiant loser’ persona that millions identified with – because, let’s face it, who hasn’t ever felt like an outsider or found themselves at their wit’s end? A former acquaintance of mine, now sadly deceased, succinctly captured their appeal as follows: “Every ordeal that Böhse Onkelz sing about, I’ve lived through myself”.
But back to Asidio. I don’t actually think the Böhse Onkelz influence is as pronounced as the promotional material suggests. What strikes me more is a resemblance to Perkele during their earlier phase as a viking-rock influenced punk band, when they were singing in Swedish and crafting anthems such as ‘Arvet’ and ‘Stolt’. This was back in the 90s, a few years before Perkele became a popular but mediocre imitation of British Oi, belting out cliched English lyrics about ‘anger’ and ‘wankers’ in a mockney accent. Asidio’s latest material incorporates minor-key lead guitar lines that conjure a ‘when the north wind blows’ atmosphere similar to Perkele’s superior earlier work, all while maintaining a foundation rooted in basic 80s Oi. A decent release overall.
Brutal Siegers: Caras suicias 7’’ single
(Common People)
Basic yet authentically rugged Oi from Barcelona. The opening track, ‘Caras sucias’ (Dirty Faces), channels a vibe reminiscent of the 90s or 2000s, akin to Ultimo Asalto, albeit with a less proficient execution. Personally, I find the second track, ‘Sant Boi!’, more appealing, with its lo-fi charm and playful infusion of saxophone, evoking a vibe akin to Decibelios or Evil Skins.
Total Attack: Attack Total 7 EP
(Common People)
The carefree chirpiness of these tracks, combined with rough but not overdone vocals, has something of Plastic Surgery around the time when they cut their legendary Rivolta EP. Which is to say, it strikes me as Oi, but played by people who are too drunk to attempt anything above 120 BPM, with a dash of 80s peace punk. Attack Total are advertised as “punk/pub rock”, but there’s no Dr Feelgood or 101ers influence here – the ‘pub’ part refers merely to the level alcoholisation. Some of it also reminds me of Niblick Henbane and maybe a couple of pre-SSS Japanese bands – i.e. it’s the kind of sound you’d expect to hear on an early 90 compilation such as The Only Spirit Is Unity or American Headaches. Attack Total self-describe as “punk for the simple-minded”, and it’s slow enough for us simple-minded folks to follow along. If you’re looking for the musical opposite of the phrase “trying too hard”, this is it. I like it.
Teenage Hearts: Didn’t Get Invited LP
(Primator Crew)
Simplicity is the essence here. It begins with the monochromatic cover, portraying all four band members as ordinary lads sporting trainers and identical Adidas tops, and carries through to the intentionally basic ’77 punk encapsulated within the grooves. Teenage Hearts, hailing from Nantes and featuring members of Janitors, Daltonz, and Puissance Cube, is billed as a Sham 69-esque, late 70s style street punk outfit. When it comes to the drum, guitar and bass tones though, I’m more closely reminded of the garage energy of the first Clash album from the moment the opener ‘Too Bad’ kicks in. The lyrics are in English, underlining the fact that these guys don’t have anything too profound to say here. Musically a reasonably enjoyable record that should also appeal to fans of primitive 70s Killed By Death punk, such as the Pack album of 1978 – in fact, it might have sounded even better recorded on a 2-track.
Sympos: Hard As Nails Punts 7’’ EP
(Common People)
This is an Irish band, and they strike me as something like the Television Personalities of Oi. The vibe of these tracks is scurrilous, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it at first, but upon listening to their more immediate earlier releases, their peculiar charm and humour has grown on me a little. Undoubtedly, these lads seem like they would be great company for a pub crawl. Some of their numbers even carry a garage rock groove – a rarity among Oi bands, apart from the long-defunct Criminal Class.
Revanche: s/t 7’’ EP
(Common People)
It appears there are currently two bands named Revanche making waves. One hails from the French-occupied part of Switzerland, delivering brutal Oi that we described as “not for namby-pambies” last year. The other, a punk outfit from Barcelona, sings in French and has released the present EP. Their sound is reminiscent of new wave punk, featuring female vocals and synthesizers that could easily have emerged in ’78 or ’79 – somewhere between Starshooter and Bulldozer, albeit with a touch of contemporary Cran starkness. If you were to ask me which Revanche I prefer, I’d probably lean towards these guys.
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