The Fauves are fronted by vocalist Mick Smith, Allen Hughes on guitar, drummer Bob Rowland & bassist Bri Smith.
Their new album is not exactly a snoozefest. Throughout are overtones of French alt. rock band Trust and twisty riffs alike to New York’s King of the punks, Ramones – make no mistake The Fauves are on the hunt.
We’re quite busy at the moment. This is our fourth album really, but we count it as our third because most of the songs on the second album Back Off World were redone with Micks vocals, he gave the songs a bit more aggression than the original version explained bassist Bri Smith.
Universal themes of money, war, drugs and love are delivered with seething anger and frustration.
Resistance 22 is obviously a pro-Ukrainian song, No Escape describes the first stages of war in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, while Sanctuary is about wanting to retreat to a quieter world explained frontman Mick Smith.
Who else is in the firing line?
We have a track about the so called social warriors, the compassionate narcissistic types in Shower of Fanatics – while the track Tax me when I’m Dead is about the lazy work shy being financed at the expense of the workers.
Mental health and the darker side of life is examined on Looking in the Mirror and Inject the Poison… That’s about someone overcoming drug addiction while Chemical Curfew is about the overuse of medication and alcohol to keep us in line.
Poverty of Thought is a song about judging and being judged and Sleeping Rough is someone who seeks love on the street because there’s no love at home.
‘You cannot sleep tonight, there’s a face right up close, try to close your eyes again, want to shake off this old ghost’
Among the chaos and debris of life The Fauves retain a sense of humour in the track Where’s Bob.
That’s about a man who will go to any lengths to get the right sound for his band – even killing several soundmen!
For Resistance 22 the band entered Garage Studios in South Shields and again employed the services of Kyle Martin.
Kyle is great, he engineered the album, we’ve recorded all our albums there and it’s also a great place to rehearse. Kyle knows our style of music and knows what sound we like.
He also throws a few ideas in as well. It’s a great little studio, ideal for us and it’s got all the facilities we need added Bri Smith.
We also did a gig at the Bunker in Sunderland in March where it was recorded live. The recording was that good we decided to release it as a live album which will be released soon. It also has a bonus track on, a new version of Slightest Push an old song from years back.
This summer The Fauves are looking to get back on the road to promote their new album.
We are going to break the new songs in gently, maybe introduce three or four songs at a time, we’ve already played a few of them live explained Bri.
We have a few gigs lined up over the coming months, The Black Bull punk festival 30th June, The Underground in Bradford 8th July, Angels Place Sunderland 22nd July, Trillians Newcastle 23rd July then we’ve got the big one on August 6th at The Rebellion four day festival in Blackpool. Really looking forward to that one.
The Winter Gardens stage Rebellion from 3-6 August, bands include The Damned, New Model Army, Big Country, UK Subs, Exploited, The Only Ones and many more. The literary stage features an interview with South Shields born Wildheart, Danny McCormack.
That’s followed by The Punk and Ska Festival in Redcar 7th September, other gigs are being lined up for later in the year at Manchester and other Northern areas.
Check out a promo of the album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO3PVGN4zxw
The new album on CD released on 1st July 2023 costs £10.00 + £2.00 postage in UK and a free exclusive badge until stocks last.
The CD will be available at all gigs from 30th June.
For details including merchandise, contact Phil on thunderbirdsport885@hotmail.co.uk or
Phil Rowland on Facebook Messenger.
From July 1st 2023 the album will be available on all usual online platforms including BandCamp, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer and many others.
Alikivi June 2023
Check out Ground Zero for more about The Fauves via South Shields punks Angelic Upstarts.
ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE 