“This ain’t cabaret” sings Steve Grantley, before crucially adding: “this ain’t punk” on “Rock N Roll Fever” and maybe in so doing he clearly marks the lines between The Zed Hedz and his day job.
You know Steve Grantley. He’s the drummer in Stiff Little Fingers (a job he’s held since 1996) but he’s also played with The Alarm and Patsy Kensit amongst others, he’s written books and all sorts of things.
Clearly, he’s a man who hates being bored as much as I do, and Steve Grantley and The Zed Hedz is obviously his outlet into rock n roll, in the purest form.
It’s a lot more than that too. It’s a homage to Poison Ivy, the guitarist in The Cramps, who disappeared from public life after her husband and bandmate Lux Interior died in 2009. The results are “inspired by” The Cramps I guess you could say.
“Poison Ivy Where Did You Go?” opens things with some 12-bar blues with a strut. It’s got more lip-curl than Billy Idol on that Workday advert, then you find the hook has wedged itself in.
“Bombshell Baby From The USA” has an innocence, a return to the 60s. It’s not hiding its love of surf rock – listen to the solo – but it’s expertly done.
As is “The Queen Of Rock N Roll”. It chugs superbly. It is exactly what needs to be, a homage to the vibe, the feeling of the music.
That goes for the rest of the EP too. The best thing about it is it is not trying to be “hip”, “cutting edge”, “original” or anything like that, rather it’s people playing what they enjoy and that comes over from the first second to the last.
Rating 8/10
