“You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you’ve got music,” so Sid Vicious famously said of the very DIY ethos of punk rock. Whilst boasting slightly more credible guitarmanship than the notorious Sex Pistols bassist, energetic East London trio False Heads (that’s Luke Griffiths, Jake Elliott and Barney Nash) possess the same unpolished, aggressive and uncompromising bluster.
Signed to 25 Hour Convenience Store – the label run by The Libertines’ Gary Powell – and approved by Iggy Pop, the very Godfather of Punk himself, False Heads already have some serious endorsement ahead of dropping their latest single ‘Thick Skin’. Clocking in at just under three and a half minutes, False Heads’ sound is unapologetically English, fiery rock n’ roll without lacking a decipherable chorus, yet still vigorous enough to avoid any ‘pop punk’ labels. Recalling ‘Take Her Back’-era Pigeon Detectives crossed with the vocal delivery of PiL, the band’s raw, noisy riffs sound straight out of the garage, waiting to be snapped up by Kerrang!.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/237533226″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
In a seemingly homespun video, the trio are kidnapped in the back of a van and nonchalantly strum their instruments with an antagonistic swagger. It’s clear that anger fuels the blaze that is ‘Thick Skin’ as the Londoners protest “What a waste / what a waste”; and judging by the state of our world in 2016, False Heads have a lot to be angry about.
Words by Kristen Sinclair