ONE MAN STAND

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ONE MAN STAND ARE

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Ant on lead vocals/guitar, Chris on bass/backing vocalsJan on Drums.



ONE MAN STAND - "ONE MAN STAND"



Western Australia is not a great place to be to keep your finger on the punk pulse, but the lifestyle makes up for it, but then something crops up and kicks you up the arse like an exocet and makes you homesick and wish you were back home and involved again. It’s finally happened to me with an advance copy of One Man Stand's new album, ‘One Man Stand’. Nowadays any album that makes me take off the walkman and stop gardening or whatever and run inside to whack it on the stereo at full blast is few and far between. From the first time I saw One Man Stand in a pub in Preston with about half a dozen punters many moons ago they were always a band who I would go out of my way to see and help where I could, no pretensions, no punk rock clothe horse clones - just three lads who loved playing their own brand of punk. A new bassist a few years ago brought new life to the band who grabbed the new lease with both hands. A few of us knew how good this band could be, the first album showed just what they were capable of but the new album pushes the bar to new heights.



Enough waffling on with the album review



I was already familiar with the opening track ‘Break Down The Walls’ - a stomper of a punk track with a bit of Oi swagger thrown in, but the second track ‘78’ shows how far One Man Stand have come in a couple of years since their last album .OMS have upped their game both in the writing stakes and belief in themselves. Starting off with the familiar OMS guitar intro, bass runs and drum rolls lead into a fair paced track about a first experience with punk in 1978, showing the band are not afraid to try something new with the addition of spoken samples thrown in before an ending of a great sing-a-long chorus. Track three ‘Just Like Me’ starts off with a bit of a reggae dub intro reminiscent of the Ruts then it bursts into a Leatherfaced type aural assault before dropping back into a dub beat, some bands try the reggae route and are unsuccessful but ‘Just Like Me’ is so carefully crafted it works well. One thing OMS have always been good at is a sing-a-long chorus and again this one hits the spot.



‘Take Your Chances’ and ‘Keep On Running’ again with bass runs aplenty and the trademark OMS driving guitar sound, the band have structured their own style that brings a familiarity to songs you haven’t heard before, this is carried on throughout the middle of the album until ‘Surface To Air’ shows a new intensity to both the bands song writing and structure



‘Little Red Riding could’ along with ‘Just Like Me’ are my picks of the album which is hard considering the quality of every track, this is thinking man’s punk of the highest order and again shows OMS pushing themselves to greater heights.

As this album is being released in Japan track 9 ‘Kampai’ shows off Ants Japanese albeit with a Manc accent (New language called Mancanese?) with a song I’m reliably informed by the Mrs is about friendship. The Japanese lyrics and sing-a-long Oi style chorus is a sure winner and works well.



‘Fetch The Noose’ the penultimate track jumps from the speakers and gives your ears a good kicking with tempo and aggression in perfect harmony.

As a bonus track 10 is an almost acoustic version of ‘Black Hole’, an OMS classic track from way back. Never thought of it as an acoustic track but boy does it work well and again shows OMS are not afraid to do what they want to do and not be afraid of pushing their own boundaries.



Everything about this album just oozes quality from the lively production right through to a band on fire. An album and a band that can’t be pigeonholed grabbing their influences from the Clash through to Leatherface and producing an album that if released by Epitaph, people would be wanking themselves stupid over like stressed out chimps. This is an album that raises the bar for the underdog punk scene and slaps the face of the punk rock circus that dominates. Do yourself a favour and get a copy of this album then you will start to understand what punk rock should be about.



Think I’ve just found something better than sex, two cigarettes after listening to it again, yeah I Have!



Review by Humdrum Andy