REVIEW: PUPPET KINGS – VERY COOL AND GROOVY EP (2017)

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From sex to anti fascism in four songs. Via some great rock n roll

A good local band can always count on getting a support or two, but you have to be very, very good to count Black Peaks, Heck, Skindred, Therapy, Kobra & The Lotus, Sons Of Icarus and We Are The Ocean as bands you’ve opened for.

Brighton’s Puppet Kings can say they’ve done that, and now they are here with new EP “Very Cool And Groovy” to prove to the world exactly why.

Largely, it’s because they are very good indeed. Full of tight hooks and hard rock riffing that will appeal to those who liked Heaven’s Basement, but there is a little bit more to it.

The third track here – and the one they choose as the single – is a good place to start. Beginning with Trump’s “Mexican wall” speech, it proceeds to take the right-wing bullshit of Britain First and that odious piece of crap Tommy Robinson to task and debunk it in four minutes. “this patch of land is my birth right,” sings Neil Sawyer. “I’m entitled to her because I’m rich and white.” And it’s this acerbic wit that sets them apart.

That’s not to say that this is all political debate and earnest stuff. If you want sex and rock n roll fury then Puppet Kings are yer men too,  “Taurus” deals with the former (“slipping off her dress in a flash” goes its key line) while “Wanderlust” – which gets bonus points for starting with a guitar solo – takes care of the former.

There are only four songs here, but each one reveals a different side to the band. The last, “Other Side” brings a swaggering groove that will make those who like arena rock excitable, but really, there are many reasons to be excited about Puppet Kings.

And that, whichever way you cut it is pretty cool. And groovy.

Rating 8.5/10

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