The Song That Became THE Anti-Woke Anthem

 

Over the past year the Woke movement has become short-hand for an agenda that has become more radicalized by the minute. It's turned into a mutated Frankenstein monster for the snowflakes of society, turning people against each other over the smallest micro-aggression, to the point that it has started to impact freedom of speech. 

Just like all the intelligent people in society we are against racism, and are for freedom of choice and life, but tip-toeing though a minefield of woke propaganda is no way to go through life. This is where the song Buttons comes in.

The band Paranoid Alice have released this exciting track (part of the new Punge Rock movement) which features a deadpan recital, ironic lyrics, ''You're still my favourite porn star", "Tell the world that it's going broke'' and "Hey bitch your like Destinys Child.'' Imaginative and with an infectious cheeky beat with a fresh approach. It offers many implications, but no straight answers – an excellent introduction to an intriguingly mysterious band that has dared to call out the Woke Movement. Even coining the phrase ''Drama-geddon''

The songs chorus, ''I was not happy last night TRUST'' is a chant about being trapped in bad scene after bad scene, the vocals lurch and spiral, sidling away from the unrelenting rhythm section and canine guitars like a child going floppy to escape her parent’s arms. Brilliant absurdity, their music is a mix of indie-rock and post-punk and it’s far from mainstream, but this danceable track will push the band and Punge Rock into the spotlight, and elbow Woke into the past, as we all learn how to just get along without complaining too much. 

Paranoid Alice: Facebook / Instagram

PARANOID ALICE’S DEBUT ALBUM ‘MENTAL ILLNESS FOR THE MASSES’ FOR KAMIKAZE SUMMER RELEASE

Over the past month Paranoid Alice have been in Electric Fields studio with Chris White recording their debut ‘Mental Illness For The Masses’. After a tense first few days of inner band fights ”stop fucking smiling”, “more reverb!!”, trying to record haunted accordions, ‘5-6-7-8’ count in’s, & demands for more cowbell, the album is a mix of dark psych/punk & anthemic grunge rock. Spidery psych guitars were whipped & wah-wah’ed, bass FX’s were pushed to 11, while killer drum heads were smashed. The band combines a wild guitar thrashing stage act with dark poetry, chemistry, and sexuality that delves into a twisted Alice In Wonderland cinematic dreamscape. 

This album comes along as an exciting line of new rock bands such as Black Midi, Squid & Dry Cleaning have appeared; but Paranoid Alice is their psychotic glam sibling. While band members Fab (guitar, sitar, vocals), Luca (bass, vocals), Mat ‘Krug’ (drums, screams) have been gearing up for more live gigs, heres what they have to say about the album so far: 

Fab: ”We’ve made a special unhinged schizophrenic album, I wanted to mix acid-rock, and grunge, where every song has the potential to be an anthem and to infest different genre’s. Some songs have catchy psych/grunge choruses & Oasis melodies, but others will rip your brain out like In Utero, or are experimental like Sonic Youth. We’re a gang and these songs need to be played at maximum volume. You’ll also hear new guitar moon sounds that have never been heard before. I've been listening to Joe Meek, Delia Derbyshire & Martin Hammett productions, mixing them with electric ragas, reverse solos, and sound collages of dictators, plus an evil cat recorded in a graveyard.’

Luca “This album is gonna be some of the wildest shit you’ve ever heard. Punk rock aggression, crushing riffs, blistering solos, whiplash genre changes… we just let our imagination run riot for 12 tracks. Some of the songs are deeply meaningful, some are just dumb stupid fun. Please keep your arms, legs, ears and minds inside the ride vehicle at all times.”

Mat: ”I’m so excited about this album. Its come together really nicely. To say that we set out on a tight budget, been hit back so many times because of COVID, it’s nice to see it all come into fruition! What really makes this album so good is that we all have such varied tastes, and influences, in our own personal style yet it all blends together so seemlessly! It’s time to get proper music back out on the scene and shift away from samey manufactured drivel that has plagued us over the last decade and we are going to rock, riding the crest of the wave, as we bring that back!”

REVIEW: Paranoid Alice 'Live at the Factory'

 

A masterpiece in left-field experimental rock music, which combines every technique under the sun, from buzzsaw guitar feedback to ghostly bass, drums played with bananas, exotic sitars, and low-fi keys. Its a tidal wave of sound, linking everything that was unique about the Velvet Underground, Brian Jonestown Massacre & 80's Jesus & Mary Chain and turns it up to 20!

Its five tracks each capture a distorted feel mixing the rumble of footsteps walking down a misty midnight alley and Jack The Ripper waiting in the wings to stick his knife down your throat. Opening track 'Dreams Are Only Meant To Be Dreamt' is exactly this. Drummer Mat Kenny hazely plays his drums using bananas as mallets, while bassist Luca Crews stalks the beat as it amps up. Guitarist Fabrizio Federico can be heard in the background playing spider web licks as the song dares to look into the sun until it blinds you.

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/ZDuvyGwAe0I

Mixing psychedelic sounds, grunge, pop and classical avant-garde, the band are in a league with current bands pushing sonic bounderies such Black Midi, Empath, The Horrors, Gnoomes & Greys. 

'Morphine' captures everything right about a band in the middle of a fist fight to break through each others eye sockets. The song speeds into an apocalypse of meyhem. 'Pop Girl Of 1966' has a seductive swagger as if its walking down a New York City street dressed in leopard print and Edie Sedgwick sunglasses.

As the album progresses the titles explain it all, experimental music has never been so outrageous and free as this. 'Vietnam Underground' is the sound of a plague of flies, voodoo feel to it, as the guitar phase creates a witchcraft sense of dread with a paranormal call and response between bass and drums similar to a Vietnamese napalm ridden jungle.

The albums closer 'Angel Dust' is the track that pushes the brains nerves to the absolute limits even incorporating sitar into the mix as each member dances into a tornado of supersonic future sounds leaving the listener bleeding.

PARANOID ALICE: Your New Favourite Band ''We're an international band''

COMING STRAIGHT OUT OF ENGLAND, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BIGGEST WORLDWIDE VIRUS KNOWN TO MAN, ARE THE BAND 'PARANOID ALICE' WHO'S MISSION IS TO MAKE THE WORLD ''MOSH'' - ''WE DONT WANT A 2 METER DISTANCE BETWEEN EVERYONE, WE WANT UNITY.''

Band Members
Fab - Vocals, Guitar

*Fav Album: 
Nirvana - Nevermind
Spice Girls - Spiceworld

*Interests: Rock gigs, Filmmaking, Clothes, Avant Garde weirdness.

*Describe your self: A little devil

*First live gig: My dad took me to see Oasis as a kid & it was like finally finding your religion.

*Fav movie: I saw Bad Timing recently which is about this incredibly bewitching girl who is really alluring but she is also slowly going insane. Maybe I'll meet her doppelganger in a mental institution one day. 

*What do you think of the future of British rock? Wait till you get a load of us.

Robert Carr - Vocals, Bass                                                                            

            *Fav Album: Really depends on my mood. I enjoy so many different genres it's hard to say. I guess my favourite on terms of influence would have to be Blink-182  self titled album. Its put together so well and all the songs are strong on it. That being said I cant get enough of 20/20 Vision by Anti-Flag right now.

*Interests: Music obviously, it's my main interest. Always has been, But I also love poetry, psychology & sociology. I guess its people I really find interesting.

 *Describe your self: 5ft something, slim build usually wearing a cap. Neurotic, shy, manic and certifiably crazy, but dont let that influence your thoughts on me, Im certainly intelligent, creative, loving although spend most of my time irritated.

*First live gig: Blink-182, class. Like I said earlier, hugely influential band for me. Tom DeLonge is my hero.

*Fav movie: Another impossible question to answer. If we are talking classic films I must say Passion Of The Christ....jokes, it's probably Finding Nemo, in terms of animated films, but also Fight Club has a place in my heart. Also a great book.

*What do you think of the future of British rock? I think theres a potential for it to be in jeopardy. If we as musicians stay true to the art, we can stop that from happening. Rock & Punk in Britain needs a comback. So many amazing bands out there right now that need recognition. And with the way things are going we could certainly need it in society right now.

Mat Kenny - Drums & One Liners                   

*Fav Album: This has got to be Fat Of The Land by Prodigy, It was something so completely different from everything that was going on at the time. For me it was the last of the 'album' albums; a collection of songs that were all part of something rather than just put together, it is a journey from start to finish.

*Interests: Music I think is the obvious one, I've got the day job to keep me going but music has always been with me throughout my life.

*Describe Your Self: 'Crazy' would be the word most people would jump to I guess. Not in a horrible serial killer way but in a fun, enjoyable way. Always trying to see the happier side of life and inviting anyone that want to join in. 

*First Live Gig: If we're talking actual 1st live gig then it would be a band called Production G (local town band). I think the G stood for Gorman as they were all siblings. A little like Hanson except didnt get the 1# hit wonder. They did do a wicked cover of Button Moon though.

*Fav Movie: This is difficult, there are so many! Really want to say Fight Club, just genius throughout; great story, brilliant actors, awesome scenes, directing on point, and a stupidly annoying Easter Egg. But then there is Ghostbusters. I did spend a large proportion of my youth thinking I would grow up to be a ghostbuster! Me & my sister even had proton packs but we never had the trap so could never fully capture ghosts. We were told to imagine the trap - bizarrely this was the hard part looking back!

*What do you think of the future of British rock?

It is whatever we choose to make it. Like everything in life, if you want it you have to go out & get it. Dont like it? Change it!

FACEBOOK (Paranoid Alice)

Paranoid Alice - The Alice Kennedy Tape (Live at San Alcatrez bootleg) surfaces online

A bootleg of the rock band Paranoid Alice called 'The Alice Kennedy Tape' (Live at San Alcatrez) has surfaced online resplendent in a Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' album cover tribute. Many bands throughout the years have paid respect to this 1966 masterpiece and it's cover art, including the notorious criminal Charles Manson, who even wrote a song for the Beach Boys. 

Paranoid Alice are featured here in a different light. ''We recorded it how Nirvana did MTV Unplugged in New York. We're usually a hundred times louder so it was a curious twilight experiment''.

LISTEN HERE

                                  

FABRIZIO FEDERICO OF 'PARANOID ALICE' PICKS HIS CURRENT MUSIC MIX

What’s Your Band Called, Mate? Get to know PARANOID ALICE

THE PSYCH/GRUNGE BAND ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

 Robert Carr - Bass, Vocals

Favourite bands: Blink-182, Sum41, Anti-flag, Leftover Crack and Nirvana and I also love Jack Johnson, Colin Hay and Newton Faulkner 

Favourite movie: Currently it's Avengers: Infinity War but I also love Filth. 

First live gig: I've been going to live gigs for years and years but the first proper big gig was Blink-182 in Liverpool. I've seen them twice and loved it both times 

What I look for in a girl? Caring, compassionate, funny, driven and intelligent. I'm lucky enough to have found her 

Favourite dead musician? It has to be Kurt Cobain. Such a legend and music has been inspiring to me 

Hobbies: as a singer songwriter i enjoy music, poetry and booze. Duno if booze counts as a hobby but god knows I like a drink. And i used to be heavily into DC but I'm all about Marvel lately especially the cinematic universe.

Pets: I have a dwarf hamster called Franco, we currently have made him our band manager. 

 Fab - Guitar, Vocals

Favourite bands: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Iceage, The Doors, anything druggy.

Favourite movie: The Last Movie, it got Dennis Hopper blacklisted from Hollywood.

First live gig: The Spice Girls; I had to take my little sister when I was twelve. Posh Spice blew me a kiss.

What I look for in a girl? Intellectual and sexy.

Favourite dead musician? Syd Barrett, Lil Peep and David Bowie.

Hobbies: Visiting weird museums, film-making and practising witchcraft.

Pets: Had a snake called Snacks but my landlord stole him.

 Jack Gourley - Drums

Favourite bands: Parkway drive, Nirvana, Blink 182, Trivium, Arctic Monkeys all sorts of stuff really. 

Favourite movie: Of all time.... Jurassic park (insert theme here) 

First live gig: Love me some live gigs, the last one I went to I was lucky enough to see the prodigy before Keith flint took his own life. 

What do I look for in a girl? Yknow, someone who can match my enthusiasm for everything. 

Favourite dead musician: Has to be John Bonham for me as a drummer hearing the intro to when the levee breaks by zeppelin gives me chills 

Hobbies: Drums, drums and more drums? In all honesty though I do dabble with the music tech side of the world cant get enough, total gear head when it comes to tech, I'm also a fair carpenter, I like wood work and that sort of stuff. 

Pets: No pets, had a cat once.