‘Not Punk’ is, ironically, very punk. However, you might find it hard to find two people who agree on what punk actually is. But if your take on punk is something that advocates honesty and authenticity, and does so over an intense salvo of incendiary riffs and pounding drums, depth-charge basslines and shout-along lyrical blasts, music at odds with the mainstream, music that sounds like it wants to start a fight with you, then this is for you.
It is also a reminder that punk came from a place of disenfranchisement and escape from such mainstream and sonic mores; it was, in part, a reaction against the rise of the, politically speaking, right (especially as it found a voice through two-tone), against lack of imagination, lack of adventure, that systems are there to be smashed, normality rode rough-shod over, and that comfort zones and conformity were always its enemy. It sounds like LiVES is exactly the sort of band we need in our lives right now.
This roaring and riotous sound, a blend of punk attack, post-punk edge and alt-rock energy, this pounding, pulsating carpet bombing, this three-minute sonic weapon plays with the idea that punk was about a moment, not a movement; it was an attitude and art form rather than a genre. That just because you sport a Sex Pistols shirt that you bought for a fiver on Temu, or say things like, “it was all different in my day” whilst polishing the Beemer on a Sunday morning, doesn’t mean that you are still part of the gang. In fact, quite the opposite.
And if you think that LiVES are just sloganeering, this lyrical rage is actually more of a shorthand that cuts to the heart of the anger. Born in Cornwall, fine tuned in Kent, this three-piece of brothers Peter and Alex Chisholm and Daniel Billing formed out of the ashes of The Sea and having already impressed the likes of BBC 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Introducing, not to mention a run of visceral live shows opening for the likes of The Buzzcocks, Span and The Wildhearts, their new album, Ghosts, out on 29th January is going to be the must-have music as we get into next years’ groove. And the way the world is turning, it will probably be just the soundtrack we are gonna need!
As the song rallies against phoney rebellion and those who still feel the need to gatekeep and guard their distorted idea of punk, it echoes the words of Gil Scott Heron. Not only will “the revolution not be televised,” it certainly won’t be on GB News.
Ten strings, six legs, three minds, two fingers and one helluva sound. As a wise man once said, they mean it maaan!
