
The Hip Priests
Stand for Nothing
Speedwax /Ghost Highway
When your frustration levels rise to 11. When you just want to scream because the world is so fucked up you can’t stand it anymore, that’s when a down and dirty punk rock band is just what the doctor ordered. The Hip Priests are an English band who blend the don’t give a fuck attitude of old school punk with the bad boy posturing of neo-rockabilly. Stands for Nothing is their latest recording and it’s a blistering blast of balls to the walls snotty attitude and rock riffage.
The album opens with the nihilistic anthem, “Welcome to Shit Island.” It doesn’t really matter what they have to say. They dive head first into a maelstrom of squalling guitars and shouted vocals that provide the cathartic primal scream of classic punk rock. “Make Way For The Losers” is a screed for the left out and also ran’s of modern society. They scream, you don’t give a fuck about us, but we’re still here. The Hip Priests are channeling the ire and frustration of those left behind by a changing economy. Will these people become a “Social Hand Grenade”? Will the fucked over band together to demand something better? Will they blame someone else for their misfortune? Or will they just crawl into a hole and accept being the “Rock and Roll Leper” and leave it all up to someone else. Who knows? At least we can go down to the pub and scream and sweat until we’re spent with snotty punks like the Hip Priests.