HEADSTICKS
The Best Thing On TV
Currently storming stages and packing venues around the country and beyond, Headsticks occupy almost their own space in the Venn diagram were folk and punk overlap. Happy to play on the same bill as the likes of The Men They Couldn’t Hang. New Model Army and Ferocious Dog, they can also mix it with the likes of The Stranglers and the UK Subs at festivals like Rebellion, where they will play both the main stage as well as offering Acoustic sets at other venues across the weekend. As a measure the popularity attend some of the more crossover festivals such as Bearded theory and another one and the sun base will be represented with T-shirts showing the support for the band. They are indeed more clash than copper family, but that isn’t to say that they can’t Folk it up when situation other subject matter demand. There is a strong Folk heritage within the band stretching back to the likes of struck down on the clay faces. It is true That they have been embraced more readily buy the more punk oriented options audiences but they still have much to offer to those who like the Folk with spirit belief energy and yes, a little more volume than is off the case. For those of us who do enjoy a driving Don’t the best thing on TV could well be this year‘s best thing on CD.
The band much more than a high energy sonic onslaught, there is considerable thought behind the songs, lyricism to be enjoyed and made admired besides getting the pulse racing, the clenched fists raised and the toes at least tapping. There are anthems to stir the heart, quieter, more acoustic and reflective tracks, but above all, words to make you think. Across the album they turn a dark light on an increasingly dystopian culture. Personal highlights include Keyboard Warrior whose sole contribution to society appears to be sitting in their lonely bedroom attempting to make others feel as angry and miserable as they do through, the medium of easy targets. St George’s Infirmary takes a clever look at the state of our nation in both metaphor and example, whilst truck three just offer some hope and uplift but that other track is a Ballad of Lucy Jordan for our times, where shattered dreams of sports cars in Paris have been replaced by the meagre hope for time spent in a personal space that is safe from the multiple threats of a closed and shrinking world.
If there’s any life left in you, then Headsticks will drag it out, push it around, make it move in time, and leave you feeling better for the experience.
