Devils, featuring Add on Guitar and vocals, Sam on bass and Woz on Drums are working their way through a ton of gigs scheduled in support of their pop punk influenced debut album, Runk Pock. The record is 14 tracks of mostly melody-rich, merry pop punk influenced mayhem informed by the Rich Kids, Buffalo Tom, Husker Du and Teenage Fanclub types.
Based in the West Midlands in the UK where they do a lot of their live work and where they recorded the album, despite their minimal line-up config. they are far from the dreaded power trio, the line-up provides for their unique energy and stripped tightness.
Add and Woz are perhaps better known from their band Skimmer, who infamously recorded the last ever John Peel session, while Sam also plays bass in Trivial Dispute.
The Devils project, Add says, has been brewing for a while but only recently came to the boil. "We’ve been writing stuff specifically for Devils for a couple of years. We do our own demos to help with the writing process. It really helps when we go into the studio, although things can change at any point along the way. It’s a great way to be creative - there are virtually no constraints. It’s a completely blank canvas. We like to work organically and let things evolve naturally."
There's a lot of fun on their songs, the opening chord salvo of Broken Banjo is a little, little metal Jilted John which made me smile at least and at times the Toy Dolls spring to mind... Add is happy that the humour shows through, "We all share the same sense of humour," he says, "Which comes through in our music. Although Devils are a serious band, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We don’t spend time onstage bogged down with technicalities. We just get on with it and hopefully everyone has fun along the way."
Now that the album is out, they Devils are stepping out with more gigs, Add says the shows are going down really well, but their experience he thinks helps, they've all been gigging since their teens and with Skimmer, Add and Woz played pretty much everywhere in the world I can think of.
Their influences are like a punk-pop-rock-grunge hall of fame and I am uncertain whether any conversation about music can be had without mentioning Leatherface. Also, Snuff, Toy Dolls, Husker Du, Nirvana, Descendents, Wildhearts, XTC, Teenage Fanclub, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Big guitars and nimbler rhythm sections.
Runk Pock was recorded at the Zoo in Hinkley, where the Devils worked with Carl “The Glue” Harris who's played in bands similar to Devils, so got the sound. Since they didn't have a permanent bass player at the time, Carl stood up, stood in and played bass on the whole album. They also recorded our first EP “Little Angel” at Zoo, too.
Devils are currently finishing up a new EP which sounds 'massive' Add says. Recorded at Robannas in Birmingham and the first to feature the full line up with Sam on bass. There'll also be a new YouTube video when it's released.
The album “Runk Pock” and the EP “Little Angel” are both on iTunes, Spotify and all the usual digital platforms. Both are on CD too, through Big Chunk records. Check it out.
Essential Information
Upcoming shows
27th October in Nuneaton (Venue TBC)
6th Nov in Stourbridge (Venue TBC)
24th Nov at The Haygate in Wellington near Telford
25th Nov in Wolverhampton, (Venue TBC)
24th Feb (2018) in Wakefield at The Badass Bash at The Snooty Fox
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