Jizzy Pearl has been abusing our speakers for a long time now, thirty five years in fact. In a few weeks he’ll be hitting the UK for a string of dates celebrating that anniversary of Blackout In The Red Room‘s release and I’d put money on Gary being at Bannerman’s for the opening date.
Thing is, Blackout isn’t a long album so what do you fill a set with? How about a whole new album? By a wild and improbable (and fortunate) coincidence, here comes Punk Rock Fiesta! which drops a whole four days before that tour starts. We are reliably informed by The Man himself that plenty of CD copies (and maybe some vinyl) will be available for purchase at each live date so you can actually own something instead of Spotify eating 99.999% of the revenue.
To save you reading words, yes Punk Rock Fiesta! is good. It’s not “classic” Love/Hate because this isn’t the same band it was 35 years ago. To me, they were summed up by the first two albums. This is Jizzy’s Love/Hate and it’s a bit punkier, though importantly and obviously features Jizzy’s trademark vocals. Most tracks are fast-paced or heavy rocker with the exceptions of “Over The Edge”, “Can’t Be Wrong” and “I’ll Be Your Shadow”.
“Over The Edge” is a bit more ploddy and desert-rock, but definitely none the worse for it. A great chorus, the change of pace is welcome around the midpoint of the album. “Can’t Be Wrong” strays almost into shoegaze, being quite slow and hypnotic with some trippy guitar work. “I’ll Be Your Shadow” goes more for a chuggy feel and rounds off the trilogy of slower numbers well.
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The speedier material isn’t samey, though. You can check out opener “You’re Gonna Burn” below for a sample, but it’s relatively calm compared to “Eye For An Eye” which will have a crowd jumping and perhaps an aging rocker or two trying to start a pit. “Wrath of Love” is as classic a dirty rock song as you’re going to hear in 2025, and this ethos is carried over into “Didya Think you Could Fall In Love” which isn’t the ballad you may have expected from the title.
“Time To Take Your Pill” rounds the album off with a nice mix of vocal styles towards the end.
Punk Rock Fiesta! is short, to the point, raucous and energetic. It has the core essence of the band from decades ago, but somehow still sounds fresh and angry.
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Header image by Gary Cooper
Punk Rock Fiesta! is out on March 1st
Check out all the bands we review in 2025 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
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