ALBUM REVIEW: Spunk Volcano and The Eruptions – Knackers Yard (Avenue Recordz)
Is there no stopping the man who calls himself Spunk Volcano?
As well as being frontman and songwriter for punk rock sensations Dirt Box Disco, he also fronts Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions, who are much, much more than a side project.
He’s an astonishingly prolific writer. This is the sixth SV&TE album since 2014, and he’s also penned eight for DBD.
Inevitably, writing, recording and performing in two bands appears to have caught up with him, and The Eruptions have announced they’re taking a break after fulfilling their existing live obligations.
That’s a real shame, as this is their best album yet, and I’d hope the masked lunatic feels able to return refreshed at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Knackers Yard is 11 tracks of top-notch spunk rock, with a bonus track for those who buy the CD version.
It’s punkier than Dirt Box, with a bit of metal thrown in, and even a touch of hardcore in places. But whatever the style, the four-piece do it very well.
Remember when Steve Jones yelled ‘hold on, give it some bollocks’ on the Sex Pistols’ Friggin In The Riggin’? Spunk doesn’t need to be asked, as Knackers Yard is full of huge riffs from the off.
But where previous releases have celebrated the joys of being bored with nothing to do, hanging round the shops and getting your first car, this one feels much more personal.
Opener I Am A Capsule is a swaggering punk rocker about being wrapped up in yourself, while the title track Knackers Yard is an ode to the ‘joys’ of getting old – or, as Spunk puts it: “I’m fucking telling you I’m fucking fucked.”
It’s All Kicking Off, which tips a nod to Pretty Vacant, is about being caught up in bother when you go out for a quiet pint, while the pacey Job Opportunity features a great guitar solo and powerful drumming as the merits (or otherwise) of community service are outlined.
We’re entering the central section of the album now, and the boys have really hit their stride. Madhouse, six minutes long, with juddering metallic riffs, tackles the subject of mental health, while Menky Man, which is heading towards hardcore territory, calls out those who live ‘perfect’ lives on social media.
Mordrake is a slower number, and one of their most powerful. It’s about the fake story of a Victorian English nobleman who had two faces, and ended up killing himself because he was being driven mad by his ‘devil twin’.
Spunk pens some of his best lyrics here, singing: “I pretend that I am dead, to fool the people in my head, if I don’t move they think I’ve gone away”.
By total contrast, the breakneck-paced Pit Bull Facelift could be a classic UK82 band like Discharge, GBH or The Exploited, showing that The Eruptions can switch styles at will.
My Tears Get Washed Away, a break-up song with slick call and response vocals, is the most Dirt Box Disco-like song here. Based around a dirty, throbbing bassline, it urges a soon-to-be ex: “Hurry up, hurry up and go/Before my feelings show/Hurry up, hurry up and go/Before I cry.”
Dead And The Mirror, which closes the download version of the album, is another change of pace. The bluster and swagger are gone, and it has a real stripped-down gothic feel as Spunk croons “Scared of life/Scared of death/Scared of most things.”
The CD-only bonus track Shit Stirrers and Scaremongers is the one which best fits in with their previous work, ending with the coda “if you knew the truth you’d fucking shit yourself”.
If this does turn out to be the last Spunk Volcano and The Eruptions album (and I really hope it’s not), what a way to go out. 8.5/10.
- Knackers Yard is available from Avenue Recordz as a CD or download HERE, and is on all good streaming services.
- You can catch SV&TE’s last two gigs (hopefully for now) at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool on Friday, August 5, and Punk By The Sea at Morecambe on September 3.
