News: Lockjaw records release new EP by Tunbridge Wells punks, Animal Shithouse

Well this is certainly going to wake some people up in the UK punk scene. Hailing from Tunbridge Wells, the four-piece are a product of the Kent town’s grassroots venue The Forum, an ex-public toilet converted into a community space, with studio facilities. The quartet all met at The Forum, recorded their music there, learnt their craft on that stage, and now they are ready to share their jagged hardcore post-punk ferocity with the world.

Whilst the name will obviously be truncated if radio airplay comes their way, this 6 track EP (12 if you buy the CD version) Who Taught You To Hate?, leads out with the intriguingly titled Downing A Red Stripe And Punching An Old Lady Called Penny, which was the first song to be written for the EP and, says BM Martin, “aims to lure the listener into a world of maximalist and darkly comedic violent urges. The speaker suggests violence as an answer to boredom, both an inescapable conclusion realised from the cynical world that surrounds the youth of today and an ironic jab at punk’s glorification of violence.

“Red Stripe is an invitation to unadulterated, violent angst,” he continues. “A story of finding a scapegoat for anger and tackling one’s own incapability to cope in an ever shrinking and frustratingly changing world. As light-hearted and darkly comedic as Shithouse’s more traditional explorations with punk, paired with a genuinely wrenching mean-spiritedness.” Couldn’t have put it better myself. It’s a bit of a schizophrenic track, changing identity as it progresses. It evokes the effect of somebody tuning an FM radio late at night, scanning the frequencies for suitable output. It begins in a Idle-ish frame of mind, before RATM era melodic hardcore takes over, then passing through jazz funk, before returning top the previous station. Track 2, the spoken word Snowing In March is a bold move so prominent in the running order, reminding me of one of Manchester two-piece Slap Rash’s quieter moments. CK opens with a drum machine and fuzzy vocals way down in the mix, as the bassline drives us forward until getting screechy heavy, certainly adding a freshness to the genre.

MOREMOREMORE!!! edges into psychobilly territory and my only real criticism is that at 01:06 its too damn short!

2:53 another skit-poem, this time sees the speaker framed as a hunter, the epitomisation of every contrivance and absurdity of ‘alpha-male culture’, every type of man that no one wants to meet,” explains Martin. It’s nasty and it works

Enemy bookends neatly what I feel would have been better presented as a 4 track EP. A really strong finish, urging men to tackle the wide and relevant issue of male sexual violence, aggression, and the responsibility all men in every facet of society have to call out others and hold each other accountable.

The CD version as previously mentioned delivers a further 6 tracks including I Just Punched Piers Morgan, which is sadly not a true tale.

‘Who Taught You To Hate?’ Track-listing: