It’s got grace, it’s got taste… “Whisky Sunburn” is a wonderful blend between psychedelia and rock and roll defying all those who think too highly of themselves. Watch out, brass polishing boomers. Watch out, “morally superior” young blood. Birdman Cult has arrived to put you all in your place.
Welcome back, all you beautiful people from around the globe. It’s release day for my good ol’ pals from Bristol, UK. The alternative quintet, Birdman Cult! So, in case you don’t remember, we had these guys reviewed a couple of months ago with their past single: Roll Em Up Tuck It In. And today, the band returns with yet another counter-political, morally defiant tune that sets to put all those self-entitled sons of a gun in place.
“In recent years we’ve all witnessed a particular ilk of sanguine faced patriarchy dismantling the once romanticised west. Those who strive to divide and conquer using race, gender and class politics.”
A critic towards the “brass polishing boomers” who believe that inherited wealth is somehow intrinsic to being morally superior or “good breeding”. A “sit down” to all the Gen Z and company who have an ugly intolerance to anyone that doesn’t live up to the new moral regime regarding red button cultural issues. “Whiskey Sunburn” goes straight to the point with a fun & entertaining way of saying “fuck off” with a smile on its face.
“Instead of embracing a modern and compassionate world and adopting humility or empathy towards people, they rather use entitlement, labels, or toxic national pride to keep ‘others’ in their place. This song is my ‘The end is nigh placard’ as I stand on the side and watch them all eat each other.“ – Birdman Cult
Starting with a sudden hit of drums, guitars, synths, and wailing, echoing voices, “Whiskey Sunburn” soon turns into a gritty rock song. Powerful and with an attitude, this track comes packed with fun for ages. Brilliantly performed, the vocals sing their mocking lyrics while the raw instrumentation makes its statement.
After a short bridge, the song makes its way into its climax. A high-energy guitar riff that seems to go on till the end of time, ravaging everything in its path. Pretty!
I had the pleasure to converse with Joe, Birdman Cult’s frontman. A conversation that turned into a very interesting and fun interview, which you can read right here, only in LT1KF.
MadZen: Hi Joe, it’s a pleasure and an honor to be speaking with you and to have you on our blog. First of all, congratulations on the new single, it sounds fantastic and I really dig the message.
It seems to me that Birdman Cult has a certain lean towards political and cultural themes, especially with your last two singles. Is this a characteristic that’ll stay overtime? Was it planned like this since the beginning?
Joe: “Hi mate, Thanks for speaking with me, and cheers were proud of this one for sure. It really wasn’t a conversation in terms of picking a theme. The way we write is actually quite different track to track. Sometimes it’s organic and spontaneous in a rehearsal studio and sometimes the guys send me a demo they put together on their own in mid to run through it once I’ve written. If anything we sort of wanted to rally against anything too in any zeitgeist or dare I say ‘woke’.
But what a few years we’ve had haha. So yeah I guess anything political is born out of being hit over the head with it since 2016. You’d have to be willfully ignorant to not have an opinion either way.”
MadZen: I find quite interesting the way you blend your lyrics with your music, it seems like two very different worlds colliding into each other but creating a new balanced harmony. I’d love to know more about your influences both musically and sonically if you know what I mean.
Joe: “Sure, so as a vocalist I started out as an MC in the north where I guess my love of cadence and vocal rhythm started, I always loved wordplay and would get obsessed with how a phrase or pattern would scan across a beat. With the band, it was a case of distilling that style and subtracting words but adding melody. I guess what I have now is somewhere between rapping and singing, sort of conversational. Or to some ears, it’s probably jarring for that reason ha.
The guys write all the music, then we jam it out and all chime in regards to structure and dynamics. But we’ve been making music together for a long time before this band so we tend to get through all these conversations quickly with less ego these days and just do what’s right for the song. Our sound is the sum. Of its odd parts, even if it’s not outlandishly experimental I don’t think we sound like anyone else I’ve heard. Our bass player is a classical trained guitarist and our lead guitarist is a shit hot jazz bassist.
But when we played it that way the sound was too tasteful, too straight maybe, things would go where you’d expect and while that’s fine we just found it more interesting when they swapped for this band.“
MadZen: That’s hilarious man, I guess that to achieve an unexpected sound you’ve got to do the unexpected.
So, after playing for as long as you have and releasing a bunch of great music, do you, as a band, ever think like “wow, how are we going to top that”? Haha. Or is it more like, “let’s just go with the flow and see what we come up with now” kind of method?
Joe: “Yeah, I think there’s a healthy amount of talk that goes into what should follow what song. We’re conscious that because we have no restraints it’s tempting to just keep experimenting but with BMC we wanted things to be a particular way, something a bit more what we were like live, a bit edgier, a bit more subversive. We only compete with ourselves and don’t really care what’s going on interns of a popular sound, that said we want to do something new so we always ask what’s unexpected from us at this point, certainly for our listeners but mainly for us. Otherwise your just going through the motions and won’t be long until it’s boring and formulaic.”
MadZen: That’s gold man, I really like that mentality. Is there anything else you’d like to add for all your fans and new-fans reading? Are there any plans for an EP or album release soon?
Joe: “Our idea on lockdown was just to build up a profile in and around our county. Without gigs all we could hope to do is record and release so we’ve been chumming the waters with a single every few months and I think we’re ready for an official release, personally I’d like to get some vinyl pressed up but we wanna do it when there’s a demand for it so I don’t end up having to melt it all down and make ashtrays to sell on street corners.
There’s no money to be made with streaming or YouTube at this level. Musicians are (probably rightly so) back to being Shakespearean plebs begging for attention on a Stage. So go out and enjoy live music, get amongst it and support your local cult!”
“Whiskey Sunburn” is released by Donut Records.
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow Birdman Cult on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, and Spotify. If you enjoy their music and are able to provide monetary support, you can download it on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share their music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Sickest & Dopest, Fresh Singles, and Alterindie State Of Mind.
Remember that you can always find me here Linktree MadZen for all my social media and music.
P.S. If you enjoy discovering new artists and fresh new music you can subscribe to this blog Less Than 1,000 Followers and follow the Playlist with all the artists that we have presented here!
This coverage was created via Musosoup #Sustainablecurator