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9 out of 10
Before I tell about how great this record is I would like to tell you a few choice facts about Mr. Phil Saunders;
He kissed a Spice Girl when he was 13 (he doesn’t say which, so I’m guessing it’s Geri or Mel C, I’ve seen Mel C up close, she looks like a shaved badger. True.)
His first punk band was dropped by their management company in favour of Busted.
He has a day job as a promoter with acts as disparate as The Cheeky Girls to Nick Oliveri.
You know that whole thing about 1st albums & 2nd albums. Somebody once pointed out that you have your whole life to write your first album & maybe a year to write your second, which you inevitable write whilst touring & promoting the first album, so all the songs are about hotel rooms & tour buses.
So Much For The Aftershow is what happens when you’ve been touring, promoting & watching bands your whole life, but with rickety transit vans & gigs in the back rooms of pubs instead of the aforementioned comparative luxury.
The raw & joyfully ramshackle nature of each brilliantly woven tale of a life a lot of you will know all too well is as punk at its heart as any noisy racket you might hear, if not more so. There is an honesty & warmth to this rocked out folk that makes you feel like he’s on your side.
A lot of modern folk is just too wishy washy, but this collection of three chord goodness has an edge & a "It’s Funny ’Cause It’s True"-ness to the lyrics that lifts it far above most singer/song writers I’ve heard this year, or last year, or for a really long time.
If you’ve ever got the last train home having watched a band play in front of less than ten people, or carried an amp, or handed out flyers, or slept in the back of a transit with a cymbal bag for a pillow, I guarantee you will find something about this record to fall in love with. Mr. Saunders has one thing that 99.9% of people releasing music don’t have: He’s the real deal.
Listen: www.myspace.com/philsaundersband
Tracklist:
1. The Singers In The Bands
2. One Song Then I’m Done
3. Stupid Skinny Shit Shoes
4. So Much For The Aftershow
5. The Poison, The Cure
6. My Lucky Stars
7. Leave My Wife Alone
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