It's been almost a month since I last updated this blog. I've had a few things going on, but finally life is settling back down again so I'm keen to crack on with writihng about some new records that I have been listening to.
Just before xmas I ordered a 7" by a new UK band called Mob Handed. I was keen to pick this one up as it features Tony Maddocks on vocals, who used to sing for a band called Above All in the 90s. They came from Southend on Sea, which was a town that I lived in for a bit during the 90s and where my Dad & brother still live. The guys from Above All were kinda influential to my future music journey, so I was interested to hear this new band.
This self titled 7" was pressed in a really small run, with only 102 copies made in total. The first 30 copies come in this limited cover. It's a parody of the first Bad Brains album, but instead of the US Capitol building, the lightning is striking The Kursaal, a local Southend landmark. I got number 7/102.
When this went on sale the label also put up one test press for sale, which I grabbed. It was sent to me in a plain white paper sleeve, but then a couple of weeks ago I was in Southend and invited myself around to the guy's house who released it, at which point I asked for a spare sleeve to put it in. 'Good idea' he said, and gave me one of the regular sleeves for test press number 2 of 5.
The front cover features an artistic photo of Southend Pier, which in case you didn't know, is the longest 'pleasure pier' in the world.
Overall this is a really solid 7". There are six songs, four of which are around 2 minutes long and the other two are about one minute. Short hard blasts like hardcore should be.
If this sounds in any way interesting to you, then you can still buy a copy of this on the Then And Now bandcamp page, HERE.
