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Death To Mods

(A Love Hate Relationship)

By Callum Warner-Webb

Disclaimer! Before you kit up in your desert boots and circle my house revving up your Vespas, I actually do consider myself to be somewhat of a ‘mod’. The culture took over my life during my mid-teens. I threw out my jeans for some stylish Sta-press trousers, donned the target and a new Mod was born. My new life of rebellion and music had started and i was proud to protect the sacred creed.

I HOPE I DIE BEFORE I GET OLD.

The whole spirit of this inherently beautiful British culture, to be uncontrollable, to live young and to be MODERN. I love all things Mod. All things except the old mod.The retro modernist.

Yes, my problem is with the old Weller clones copy and pasted across the UK funding their sons oasis tribute band, dressing them up like a polite LG that shrunk in the wash.

You see them bobbing around Carnaby St with their wives and squeezing themselves into an XXL gingham shirt. “I had one just like this back in the day” words that echo through the Sherry’s, Perry’s and Shermans of the UK.

The thing that angers me the most about these people is that they have developed a stereotype around us. that all mods are stuck in the past constantly banging on about Quadrophenia and the ‘good old days’.

Yeah I know the sixties were fucking unbelievable, and yeah the seventies, eighties and nineties were obviously pretty bloody wonderful to, but I wasn’t there and i’m fumin. So out of bitterness i’m going to live my generation BETTER. (you hear that pete?). Sod the past. Sod the dads. But most of all SOD THE MODS.

Writing this hurts my Laurel but it is true. It’s time to look where we’re going and not where we’ve been. I’m not like these people (not yet at least) and i’m stripping them of their mod badges. Dishonourable discharge. See ya later.

I want to see more of these old mods celebrating and understanding the importance of the modern mods (The mod mods), Because if they don’t were going to lose mod culture to the past. It will become a sad subculture that once was. Once upon a time there were mods.

I can see it now, the last of the once great mods wiping a singular tear whilst looking over Commercialised Carnaby. Sad but true.

So let’s make mods great again. Mod culture has a rich tapestry of culture and its threads can be found not only in tonic suits but in most modern British music. We’ve got Wolf Alice, Sleaford mods, Arctic Monkeys, Slaves, Idles and many more. Even Skepta buys his socks from Sherry’s you know. Thee artists I have just mentioned might not be suit wearing, big haired and wanted in Brighton but to me, they embody the true meaning of being a mod in the modern age.

Death to the mods. Long live The Mods.

Breaking Bands: The Green Brothers


The Green brothers are a raucous indie trio that are viciously spreading their catchy tunes at venues all across Essex and London. Hailing from the small village of Henham in Essex, brothers Albert Greenhalgh (vocals and lead guitar) and George Greenhalgh (Drums) started making music together at the young age, after realising that they had a shared interest in indie and punk music. After a few years, George and Albert (although having known him from their local school) met, future bassist and “adopted” Green Brother, Charlie Pitt at a Slaves concert.

Music is in the Blood of these siblings and when asked about why the two Greenhalgh Brothers decided to actually start a band a write their own music George answered “As we’ve been playing since such a young age, we’ve always been in bands and never really thought about doing much else”

The Green brothers describe their sound as “something between indie and punk”  a rough and humble approximation of their sound that echoes influences from Arctic monkeys, Slaves and the Clash.

The DIY punk and indie ethos carry, not only in the music of The Green Brothers but through their single artwork. All of which is designed and created by the drummer George.

Regulars with promoters at This Feeling, The Green Brothers aren’t shy of a sell out show supporting bands like The Scruff (another band from the same village of Henham), Strange Bones, Alexander O’neal and Yung Blud.

lead singer and guitarist Albert Greenhalgh describes his songwriting process as free and honest and goes on to describe further by saying “I’ve never really stuck to a specific structure of writing, I make observations on what I encounter on a day to day basis and try to communicate it in a way that is genuine” he elaborates “ aside from what the lyrics say about how I feel, I think those emotions in some way naturally come across in the songs because that’s predominantly how I feel, I try to avoid restraining or exaggerating these feeling while I’m writing so that a sense of honesty is always there”

The Green Brothers have released two strong singles in the past few months, their first being Something to lose, a fast, energetic and catchy first single followed by the anthemic, dynamic and lyric heavy second single under the name of Time moves fast.  Primed and ready to release two more in late summer of this year, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll be hearing more about these Green Brothers very soon.

For now Green brothers long term plan is to be writing, touring and want to play their music to as many people as possible (and possibly make a little money on the way)

The Green Brothers @ The Water Rats, London

By Callum Warner-Webb

Three seconds.

It only takes three seconds for these lads to take control of the room.

I am hooked in three seconds and can not resist being completely and utterly infatuated with their sound. The green brothers do not hold back and instantly capture you with a tune you can’t turn down. You can’t help but grin like a fool. A grin that is complemented with a nod and a bop, a grin that breaks only to say “holy shit! They’ve got it”.

Turn around and you’ll see a room full of eyes tethered to the Brothers. The People who know the lyrics are belting them out at the singer, arms out embracing the feeling. The ones who don’t are dancing themselves into a frenzy.

The spirit of the audience mirrors the Brothers energetic charisma.

So call in sick because three seconds takes you from ‘one more drink’ to ‘sorry I can’t come in today’

This band is not career friendly.

By all means treat a Green Brothers gig very seriously. They do not offer toilet breaks and this isn’t the music to make you sway. Mosh pits all the way. The ease at which the drummer rearranges the audience round the sweaty room could turn Keith Moon green.

Their melodic and tune-full post punk hits colour the room and are introduced briefly with a tight quip and a flirt from the lead singer. These songs do not need much introduction. They speak for themselves.

Punk: an old solution to a modern problem

By Callum Warner-Webb

A New Era of punk bands have started to sprout up across the world. A new blend of necessary punk with a familiar disdain for modern culture.

A fight against political madness? Powerful and poetic language? Cathartic and empathetic? Yes, yes and yes. Bands like Shame, Blinders, IDLES, Viagra boys and fontaines D.C. (amongst others) are making themselves heard all across the world and people are listening. Becoming more and more popular everyday this new taste for punk is spreading fast. An exciting trend that’s unearthing a whole new world of underground artists.

With bands like IDLES touching upon taboo topics like toxic masculinity and Fontaines D.C documenting the bleak opportunities that Irelands small towns have to offer, Punk is showing its empathetic and poetic side and people like it. Popularity shows with IDLES being nominated for “best British breakthrough act” at the BRIT Awards 2019 on the back of their second studio album Joy as an act of resistance, being the only guitar band out of six nominees. Although the award was eventually given to Tom Walker (a singer-songwriter from Scotland) this surely shows that punk has got its foot in the door of popular modern music and is poking its head out of the underground.

IDLES, in an interview with the BBC go on to describe the importance of musical diversity in the modern age by saying “There’s not much choice for kids, I think it’s important for them to see the other side”.

Although recently spearheaded by big hitters IDLES this movement has been bubbling under the surface of the music industry for years, with the help of rock and roll promoters like This Feeling lead by Mikey Johns creating amazing opportunities up and down the UK for new guitar bands. These opportunities have fuelled an influx of new artists, all of which are putting their own personal stamp on this new flavour of modern punk. new bands such as The Blinders who, after working with This Feeling are now playing sell out show to huge crowds that love their political, dystopian and tribal influenced punk.

Though perhaps just a subculture, this new age of punk is ultimately a necessary response to the political climate of the modern age. In the past, punk has always festered and blossomed in times of political and social turmoil. When people feel like they’re not being listened to they will stand up and make themselves heard. And perhaps that’s exactly what we need when suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 45, young people are feeling more and more undervalued by their political leaders every day and an estimated 3.4 million women have been victims of sexual assault in the UK.

Fontaines D.C. | Dogrel

Album review

By Callum Warner-Webb

A hard hitting yet tender and artistic landmark in modern music.

The new age of punk is here.

Fontaines D.C christen punks new age with their debut album Dogrel. Featuring singles Big, Roys tune, Boys in the better land and Too real. The album is well and truly packed with beautifully poetic punk hits. No fillers here though. Each song is as strong and confident as the last when painting a gloomy picture cold wet Dublin.

Fontaines D.C. make their intentions painfully clear to the listener with their melancholic yet  oddly optimistic collection of tracks.

Spoken word style vocals, repetitive lyrics turn these songs into instant belters. Learn them in a second and love them for life,“Dublin in the rain is mine” a phrase that resonates with even the most un-irish among us.

This is no beat poetry album though, 60’s Garage Rock and Roll lives on in their music with criminally energetic playing that often clamors into a cacophonic and atmospheric wall of sound

Contemporary songwriting with an unmissable Irish folk influence in every track, especially the albums final song Dublin City Sky a track that will surely be cried out in boozers across the country and will live in the hearts of the people of Ireland.

Romantic to say the least, these are unmistakable anthems of our generation.