THE CYANIDE PILLS

THE CYANIDE PILLS

STILL BORED 

Red Vinyl

Damaged Goods (2013)

This one was on the list from last year, just didn’t manage to get it in 2013. I had checked out a few songs, thought they sounded pretty good, and put it on the “I’ll get that one sometime” list. I finally tracked down an import recently. 

Worth the wait, I think. This is a cracker, and it got back to back runs on the turntable for quite a few days, and is still on high rotation. This is great ’77 inspired stuff. The opening salvo of  Can’t get it up, (tongue in cheek, I assume), Up against the wall, and Johnny Thunders lived in Leeds had melodies revolving around in my noggin for about a week. Gotta love a song that not only mentions Johnny but gives a bit of a history lesson as well. Things slow up a bit with Teargas, but are back on track with the infectious Apathy. I’m often suspicious of songs that contain the word “dub”, but Lock up Dub manages to successfully marry melody with reggae/dub beat, and is another one that gets stuck in your head. Good to see a successful departure from the punk/powerpop mould, and a nod back to The Ruts and ’77 era influenced reggae/punk  perhaps.

The next couple of songs sit firmly in powerpop territory (They even have a new non album single Waiting for you to call me that has “70’s powerpop” as a heading on the front). Whilst there’s nothing wrong their powerpop efforts here - they’re all still solid tracks, it’s the punkier numbers that are more my preference. The album is consistent though, and it’s a strong listen from start to finish. I just hope they don’t fuck things up and embrace the powerpop side of things too overtly in the future or they could  be in danger of turning into the Strokes. Not to worry, the foot gets back on the accelerator a bit more  with Formica and more so with Nonbeliever. Don’t turn right lifts side two right up for my ears with its rawer approach. Still Bored closes with the buzzy Never gonna give it up, and if they stick to that manifesto, things’ll continue to be great. 

I’ve read a few reviews that mention comparisons with the Buzzcocks, which I don’t understand. Yes, there are a few love themed songs, but there’s no overriding unrequited love theme ala Pete Shelley. For my money they echo closer to original ‘77 snotty power punk poppers The Boys, which is no bad thing.  

Package wise this is a pretty neat record. The cover is prefab retro (at least done well). It even comes complete with faux-fading (where the record inside would fade the cover in a circular mark) and I had to look twice – I thought the seller backhanded me a crappy 2^nd hand or inferior copy. I like the cover though, the yellow and red contrasting colours, works well with their theme.  Red vinyl is a bonus, and the sound is full, but not glossy or slick, and captures everything quite well. Unfortunately, there’s no inner sleeve/lyric sheet, which as you may have guessed, is bit of a bugbear of mine. All round, pretty fricken’  good. Ya gotta love it when ya get a record that looks and sounds good, and ya wanna keep giving it a spin, and this comes up on all those fronts. Great stuff.    

PUNK- ROCK’N’FRICKENROLL VINYL ONLY chrismccousin@gmail.com