ALBUM REVIEW: Knife Club – Our Club, Our Rules (TNSRecords)
Knife Club are a ‘supergroup’ comprising members of five popular bands from the UK’s thriving DIY punk scene.
They had the misfortune to form in late 2019, and were just starting to build some hype around a great new must-see band when Covid-19 hit.
Unabashed, they pressed ahead and released their debut album We Are Knife Club (reviewed here) in 2020 anyway, but, like everyone else, were unable to tour it due to the pandemic.
After marking time with a dance-orientated remix album, Club Classics (reviewed here), they finally got to play live last year, appearing at Manchester Punk Festival and Rebellion, among others.
The unexpected downtime meant the band – featuring members of Nosebleed, Haest, Casual Nausea, Revenge Of The Psychotronic Man and Matilda’s Scoundrels – were able to write new songs, and Our Club, Our Rules is the result.
Knife Club’s members are based in Manchester, Leeds, Hastings and Ipswich, which means even holding a practice session is a major achievement. They’ve also had a line-up change, with Mark Tanner joining on bass and Kim Morey on keytar and vocals, and it’s those catchy keys which drive the melodies on several of their new songs.
Fast and furious
It’s fair to say their very existence is a triumph over adversity, so it’s comforting that they’ve come up with 11 tracks of fast, furious and catchy punk, addressing lyrical themes such as mental health, depression, addiction and female visibility in society.
Things kick off with Repeat, Repeat, which questions the point of leading a mundane existence, with vocalists Andy Davies and Zoe Barrow trading lines before singing together, with their very different voices working well together.
The interplay between the pair is a key part of Knife Club’s appeal, along with the fact that while they sing about sometimes serious subjects, they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Stolen Focus is about not being able to concentrate (“Can I find my flow/I wouldn’t have thought so/My mind says no“) while Today is about the despair of anxiety, with the vocalists singing “I just can’t do this any more.“
On You’ll Hear My Voice, Zoe takes lead vox, striking a blow for frmale empowerment as she sings: “I am going to be seen when I want to be seen.”
Free Spirits/Bad Attitude is a standout track, with a real swagger to it, but it’s rivalled for the best song here by Bozo Is An Underused Insult, which rages: “You’re still a cunt in a pandemic/Your policies are fucking shit“. I wonder who they can be talking about?
Somehow we’re more than halfway through the album already, and it feels like Knife Club are just starting to get warmed up.
A Ballad Of Sorrow is about struggling to cope, insisting: “It’s better to die on your feet/ than live on your knees“, while No Motivation is about surviving the pandemic, asking repeatedly “what the fuck is going on?“
Toxic friends and people who open their mouths without engaging their brains are the subject of the catchy Don’t Get Me Started, while You Can Only Try Your Best is about making the best of the crap hand that life deals you.
Things draw to a close with Doom, Doom, Doom, Doom, Knife Club Are In The Room, another pandemic anthem. They sing: “I miss all my friends, I miss weekends/Gigs were all we had, it’s so fucked up and sad”. I remember the feeling well.
Eleven songs have raced by in 22 and a half minutes, so it’s almost over before it’s begin, but Our Club, Our Rules is so infectious that you’ll want to hear it all over again. 8.5/10
The album, which is available on pink and baby blue vinyl, is available from TNSRecords HERE.
