stolen recordings present: screaming tea party / ghost club / let’s wrestle

First band Let’s Wrestle are good for a laugh, and even have a song of the same name that contains the acid rugby chant of (you guessed it) “Let’s fucking wrestle!” Whether they’re fashionably shambolic or just crap musicians is open to debate, but one thing’s for sure; they do not give a fuck. “I am the motherfucker,” sings WPG, “and that’s the way it’s going to be!” Next up and we’re going from testosterone and youth to wrinkles and genius - and I’m sure Ghost Club wouldn’t mind me describing them that way. The modestly Pixies- aged group are adept at insinuating menace, but holding it at breaking point until the audience start freaking out. They then proceed to unleash Holy Hell all over the damn place, in equal measure scaring and delighting the crowd - it’s a trick currently being pulled off by Nick Cave’s Grinderman with equal success. Singer David Mitchell may look like a fuzzy mad scientist with all his curly hair, but when he starts punching his guitar with bloody fists, it erupts with strange Egyptian noises- and people get the fear. So how do you top that? How about… utter devastation! Destruction! Mutual terror! And pure chaos! I can only be describing Screaming Tea Party of course, who act like George Orwell’s 1984 incarnated as a rock group. It’s enough that they wear gas masks on stage like they’re part of some art terrorist group, but when they start eating the walls and throwing the drum kit, you’d better duck. God help us if these guys ever make it to the new Wembley Stadium – it’d be like the Nuremburg Rallies hosted by the Daleks. Having said that, I get the idea that Screaming Tea Party are a libertarian group at heart. When asked about it, their philosophy it is strictly “Buddhist”, and it doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see them soundtracking the fall of Milosevic, or perhaps even Gordon Brown. Damn! The imagination wanders. So here we have a good thing; Stolen Recordings are a label with an action plan for the UK rock underground, and with bands like Artefacts For Space Travel on their books the future is looking scarily cool. “When in doubt, look to the Indies”? Hell yes, and here’s to a genuinely independent label.