ALBUM REVIEW: Riot City Radio – Spitting Teeth (Sunny Bastards)
Riot City Radio are a street-punk band from the unlikely UK outpost of Plymouth in Devon, and Spitting Teeth is their second album.
Devonshire Oi! might seem a bit niche, but its members have served time in bands like Arch Rivals, Hostile Minds, Hard Wax and The Bus Station Loonies, so they’re old hands at this game.
Formed in 2019, they quickly found a following among those who like their punk packed with melody as well as bite. Their 2022 debut album Time Will Tell (reviewed here) made the Top 5 in our albums of the year.
They’ve shared stages with like-minded souls such as Gimp Fist, Crown Court and Fatal Blow, and in a scene which can have grey areas, I’m pleased to note they’re staunchly anti-fascist.
The first taste of their new material came last year, when the football-themed We’re Still Singing was released on a split 10in with Gimp Fist, and it was followed in February by Underground, which celebrates unity and pride within the punk and skinhead subcultures.
They’ve had a change in personnel since the first album, with Sam Sharp joining on vocals and guitar, and Tony Hopkins replacing founding member Tom Boutwood on drums, but they sound just as good.
One of the things which made Riot City Radio stand out for me is they share lead vocals as well as making liberal use of gang chanting, and that’s the case again, with a batch of songs designed to be sang back at them.
Title track Spitting Teeth, released as a single just before the album came out, is a defiant call to arms for the working class to stand up against the elite: “Let’s start a riot, come on let’s start a ruckus, if we all stand together, we can show those motherfuckers, we can get knocked down, but we’ll never be beat!
Alpha Fail is a furious takedown of the sort of toxic masculinity which gives blokes a bad name, while Spitfire salutes the bravery of ‘the few’, who protected Britain’s skies from attack in the early days of the World War Two.
Going Nowhere and A House United are anthemic songs about community and belonging, while Scars warns that actions have consequences, and Saved My Life is about being grateful when you’ve been given a hand up from your lowest ebb.
It’s hard to pick a standout track when they’re all as good as this. Riot City Radio’s music is enormously upbeat, proud of what it is and where it’s from, and it absolutely kicks arse. 9/10.
- Spitting Teeth by Riot City Radio is available now on vinyl and CD from Sunny Bastards Records HERE.
Riot City Radio will be hitting the road to coincide with the album’s release, playing the Benidorm Punk Weekender from 9-11 April, Junction in Plymouth with Rust on 5 June, and Rebellion Festival in Blackpool on 6 August.
