Way back in the day I used to do a fanzine. It never quite achieved what I intended it to do, and just when it was getting decent circumstance meant I had to stop it. I shan't bore you with the details. One of the things I liked about it was that I used to try to get a whole wodge of different things in it each month, so you never really knew what you would expect. It had its running strands, but I never wanted it to stay the same.
I got sent a good few demo tapes by up and coming band to review, and they tended to range from a bit naff to pretty average. There were a few that were okay, but mostly... I mean, there were even a couple that didn't even make it in to the pages of the zine as they were so dreadful. But, there was one demo CD that stood head and shoulders above everything else. That was by Pop Threat.
It was a three track CD with blisteringly good music on; wonderfully scuzzy guitars, and vocals to die for. The tracks were Falling Spike, The Last Resort, and D 4th S. I forget the order they were in, as I long ago lost the CD.
Of these tracks to me the best one was D 4th S; which is one of those tracks with two sets of parallel lyrics. It had an Atta Girl vibe to it, without actually sounding anything like it at all. The lyrics here almost feel like they're about to be drained out by the swirling guitars at any time. Sometimes you feel it's best to let the lyrics wash over you as once you pay attention to what they're actually saying, you almost wish you hadn't paid that attention. It's heartbreaking. Halfway through, the song becomes an instrumental. You can imagine this being played live with the reverb and feedback up to the max, and being bashed out of the instruments until they bleed. Just wonderful. Wonderful.
On the basis of D 4th S alone Pop Threat should have been massive. But, sadly, this wasn't to be the case. They lasted a mere four years, releasing a handful of singles, and an album, which didn't hit the shelves until after the split.
And I never did get to see them live.
The other day I was listening to music on my iPod on shuffle, and D 4th S came on. Made me smile. Just for the hell of it I googled Pop Threat, and found there was a compilation CD released in 2011, containing most of their songs including many I'd not heard in a while, and some I'd never heard before. It took me moments before I'd ordered the CD. And then moments later, thought... I wonder if it's on iTunes. It was! So, I bought another copy from there.
And... oh, it's great. I'm listening to it right now and loving it. Frankly every single one of you out there that hasn't already got a copy, which will be most of you let's be honest, must go and buy a copy NOW! It's called dirt 'n' dust, and is great. I mean, you only have to click here to go to the website to order the CD... And it's only £3.50!
If you want the iTunes release that's £7.99. Which is still a bargain for these 23 songs...
Go on. Buy it. You MUST!
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