ROSCOE VACANT - Article/Review/Interview, and MPFree Download!

Since I last wrote about Roscoe Vacant he has released a new album and a tape. For the album No Attack No Decay Roscoe has returned to his roots as a solo preformer. In 2008 he released the Escape From Doom Valley (Live EP) and a year later Nothings Gonna Change, but in 2010 he was backed by the Gantin' Screichs for the brilliant spikey and post-punk sounding Reckurdt. No Attack No Decay features several tracks from this, which stand naked and stripped to the bone. This is 'Acoustic Punk and Angry Pop!' full of passion and vitriol. Nine songs where the words mean something, these are songs about the small and big political picture; From domestic dysfunction to global drama; As Baghdad burns plates are smashed in the kitchen of a broken home where culture is delivered in shortbread tins to sanitised young lovers who bought it all from the liars and thieves who will not lead us anywhere because nothing is gonna change, not unless you make it! These are songs of love, pain and betrayal on several levels. If misery loves company then it needs Roscoe Vacant for a companion, because these are also songs of hope that are more real than likes of Frank Turner and Jake Bugg.

The tape finds Roscoe backed by Lo-Fi legends The No-Men, covering three songs by the arch avant garde glam/punkster that is Steve Treatment, who also contributes some of his own musings on the flipside of this brightly coloured yellow cassette. In a world of mass production and instant downloads It's good to see the ethics of DIY culture is alive and well, thanks to the good people at Topplers Records. It is also good to see that there are still artists out there pining their hearts on their sleeve and playing it for real. The album and tape are both available here, the limited number of lovingly hand crafted physical copies have all sold out, but they are sill available as downloads.

For a bit of background to No Attack No Decay, the demise of the Gantin' Screichs and how he found himself working with Steve Treatment, I emailed Roscoe, and this is what he had to say.

“Roscoe Vacant & the Gantin' Screichs started in 2010 and we released the album "Reckurdt" in 2011. Our lead guitarist Ross Gilchrist left in 2011 for personal reasons, but he and I are still really good friends. From then on we went in a different direction, moving away from grunge into more country punk type stuff. We got a fiddle player and a new guitarist in 2012 and put out a video for our first recording with that band in January 2013 "Conrad Brooks" (on Youtube just now). The band continued for a few months but it kind of petered out - again mostly personal and interpersonal reasons. I'm still really good friends with everyone in the band but none of us really want to do it again. Releasing the EP "No Attack/No Decay" in 2013 was an attempt to go back to basics and why people enjoyed my stuff in the first place - solo acoustic punk rock. It was also a means by which I could get the song that inspired the title out - "Exit Strategy". I split up with my fiancee of 9 years in Feb 2013, so that had a baring on the band too. Being able to get back on the horse and make some music was liberating."

“I've been a fan of Steve's for about 5 years. I knew Allan from the NoMen because we have mutual friends but also because he was in the legendary Scottish folk punk band Nyah Fearties from the late 1980s early 1990s. The Steve collaboration just came out of that. I wanted to cover some of his less well-known songs and songs he'd only really demoed or played with his band The Ticket Inspectors in the late 1980s, so I recorded the 3 songs on the cassette. It was very spontaneous.” 

For more info on Roscoe Vacant take a trip to his Facebook page and you can visit Topplers Records here. 

One last thing.... I thought I'd save the best till last....Here is an exclusive unreleased 4 Track collection of Roscoe's work selected by himself for your ears only! Enjoy!

ROSCOE VACANT & THE GANTIN' SCREICHS - Reckurdt - *A Review*

I was reading this weeks NME on the bus to work the other day (Journey time ½ Hour, reading time 10 minutes) I buy it each week, fuck knows why, it aint what it used to be, and it seems to be getting worse, more adverts, uninteresting writing and new bands every week, saying nothing, doing nothing and going nowhere, just trying to kiss the arse of the music biz, and I thought….this is shite, I need something to excite me musically. I got home from work and found the postman had delivered a package….A promo copy of Roscoe Vacant and The Gantin’ Screichs debut album Reckurdt. Available in August on Newtown Products on CD and Digital Download. If the name Roscoe Vacant sounds familiar, it may be because I posted a couple of his earlier recordings a while back, several which have been reworked for this album. It would appear that these were/are just tasters for the main course….A rich and tasty plate full of…. for want of some better words Alternative-Punk. Reckurdt is a brutal, beautiful and brilliant record by West Scotland’s finest.
The guitars are spikier than a hedgehog on heat, and more scratchy than scabies, vocals are delivered with a feral howl of Scottish passion. This is fast, frantic and furious stuff. Twelve tracks that range from the skiffle folk-punk of Non Repentant, to the Punkabilly of Dehydration Blues, via the Bass Punk Funk of Pins and Needles, to the anthem for the barricades Nothings Gonna Change, then there’s the almost Pop Punk of Shortbread Tins and Tartan Hats.
The songs and sounds on Rekurdt tear into yer brain, then rip out yer spine before giving you the kiss of life. Painting by numbers, but using the wrong colours, tunes that tick all the boxes, before jumping on the box and flattening it. A great album that kicks arse rather than kissing it, and keeps the flames of insurrection burning bright. People should be listening to this, not those bastard Mumford and Sons.
Roscoe Vacant is a songwriter, that shouldn’t be housed in some Alt- Punk ghetto, because this stuff is diverse enough for people that like Bloc Party and The Gaslight Anthem, and those that remember the sounds of 80’s Post Punk bands like Scars and Gang of Four. This is some New Music that’s got me Excited. Highly and hugely recommenced!

ROSCOE VACANT

Roscoe Vacant is a Scottish writer and performer, whose music ranges from electronic punk to piano dirges and all things in-between. He works as both a solo artist, and occasionally as part of a band. Roscoe Vacant and the Kamikazes. Nothings Going To Change is his 6-Track acoustic EP released in 2009, the Escape from Doom Valley EP was Roscoe Vacant and The Kamikazes first live performance. Recorded on April 22, 2008 for Generate Ayr FM. This is stripped to the bone acoustic Punk Rock Blues, frantic, wired, powerful, passionate and totally electric. Imagine Billy Bragg scrapping in the street with Gang of Four and Wire. If you fancy a blast here ya go, two for the price of (n)one. There’s several more downloads available at Roscoe’s website, Including three tracks he recorded with legendary Scots punk band The Zips, and kicking back against corporate Rock’n’Roll, they’re all available free to download, and well worthy of yer ears and time.