The Dregs are a Birmingham punk band who initially formed in 1979. They played gigs around the Midlands including the Cedar Club on the night of the Handsworth riots in 1981 and recorded two demos before taking a break in 1982. Intermittent get togethers were solidified when the original members started playing as a band again in 2015 and new songs were recorded. The band continue to perform both old and new songs and have supported many premier punk bands and have also graced the bill at numerous festivals including The Rebellion Punk Music Festival. They release a new double CD `Inner City Kids` this month with eleven newly recorded studio tracks included on the first disc and the second bonus disc covering the history of the band 1980 – 2018, from raw early demos and live tracks to their Rebellion Festival set in 2018.
Disc one `Now` begins with `Inner City Kids` a discourse on the despondency of growing up in an urban environment with low-income residents, few jobs, and poor conditions in a run-down neighbourhood with limited opportunities. The anthemic `In Our Hands` reiterates or echoes that change is in your own hands, if only you deem to take it.
`7 Years Gone` is a reflective number on how quickly time passes by while `When We Were Young` has a jagged Clash like guitar riff. An introspective musing that sums up the late seventies when three-day weeks and blackouts were the order of the day. An appealing garage rock offering with a reggae tinge.
`Drug Song` is quite forceful edging to hostile with a cracking guitar solo and questions the lack of purpose of the narrator’s life. I felt that `Time To Rise` was a sort of call to arms against the despondency of life.
`You`re My Man` is a kind of rhythmic riposte to Lou Reed`s `I`m Waiting For the Man` where here the perpetrator seeks out the dealer rather than wait for them. The title of `No More War` is self-explanatory, a pounding thumping anthem advocating the end to global conflicts.
`Acid Rain` is a blistering commentary of the effects of the harmful pollutant and the lack of response or care taken by the multi-national perpetrators. Nearly one in five of the country suffer from the effects of depression and the garage punk `Black Dog` shares this in a more personalised way.
This disc closes out with `I Don`t Know` which mirrors the frustration of governments and their seeming inability to address real life issues.
Disc Two `Then` opens with `The Dreg Song` a raw heads down no nonsense diatribe on getting by with little in the way of financial assistance. There`s a similar feel to `Stick Together` which opens with a rolling drumbeat before racing off with a controlled aggression. `Mass Despondency` and Spoils of War` are both brief adrenalin fuelled tirades although the latter does have a sing a long strap line.
I really loved `Liberator` with it`s punk reggae infused vibe and choppy wah-wah guitar riff, drum and bass line and lyrics that had a kind of downcast frustration about them. The reggae atmosphere continues on `Dole Day Blues` an enticing earworm about the disheartenment brought about by unemployment.
`Night Stalker` had a kind of exposed reggae/rock/punk texture while `Sandra Magee` has a real rawness about it and appears to be about the lady who ensured that the singer was as Garth from Wayne`s World would put it “no longer a stranger in the ways of the woman.”
The reflective `7 Years Gone` is an interesting listen especially to see how it compares to the finished version on the previous disc. There`s a real contemplative feel to `Love and Hate (Insanity)` where the vocals appear to be shared which gives the number a curious consistency.
`Public Enemy No 1` is recorded live and highlights the power of the band in a gig like situation before this disc concludes with a throwaway cover of Eric Idles `Always look on the Bright Side Of Life`
The Dregs have been described as ‘an authentic 1970s punk band playing politically charged tunes with a rock and roll feel’ and if I’m honest that probably sums them up much better than I could.
Purchase a copy and judge for yourselves.
Rating 9/10
