SPINNING out of all the gnarl and edginess of West London’s Ladbroke Grove in the mid-1980s, Folk Devils were an outfit that were never appreciated as much as they perhaps should’ve been beyond a hugely loyal fanbase.
They released just four singles from 1984 to 1987, their last release being The Best Protection EP on Beggars Banquet; the singles were anthologised that same year on Situation Two on Goodnight Irony.
There were three sessions for John Peel, and a host of unbridled, raging live shows, with Nick Cave, The Fall, The Gun Club, Spacemen 3 and others.
Original lead singer Ian Lowery sadly departed this mortal coil 19 years ago; we may have thought that was the last we had heard of a fine band.
But they’ve just released their first new music in more years than I care to enumerate in the shape of the Forever EP for Preston’s brilliant carrier of the true indie torch, Optic Nerve.
It features two new songs: the title track and “My Slum Soul” and an adrenalized new version of live favourite “Ink Runs Dry”. You can hear the snarl and swing of that title track, below.
Founder members guitarist Kris Jozajtis and bassist Mark Whiteley relaunched the group with members of a short-lived 1987 version of the band: ex-Ski Patrol guitarist Nick Clift and drummer John Hamilton. Together with new singer Dave Hodgson they discovered they had all the ingredients for the same snarly urban blues that created a stir across the capital and beyond the first time around. Whatcha reckon? Take a listen.
Folk Devils’ Forever EP is available now on digital and exceedingly limited red vinyl 10″ from Optic Nerve, here, and at Bandcamp, here
