Cyanide Pills
By Geordie Pleathur
(SugarBuzz Nation)
SugarBuzz Magazine
'Really digging the CYANIDE PILLS-a young, loud, and snotty, pop band from Leeds, U.K.
Lotsa nineties American kids tried to achieve this pop/punk hybrid in the "Hit List" magazine era, but few achieved this level of hookiness, authenticity, and over-all coolness, save, perhaps, the Exploding Hearts, or Dimestore Halos' best stuff. The 'PILLS play the high-energy "Yellow Pills" power pop/punk stuff that always catches my ear, soundtracks my forays in and out of the rock'n'roll underville, ends up on all my best kiss-off compilation- tapes, and keeps me coming back for more. I love the bratty vocalist, Phil Privilege's voice, and lyrics. The guitars and kooky keyboardage are divine, very seventies-sounding. The Cyanide Pills remind me of, oh...only, ALL of my favorite pop/punk bands-Gen X, Eater, early Manic Street Preachers, 16 Forever, the Records, Hello Disaster, the Buzzcocks, etc.
There is a huge audience for this stuff in the U.S., simmering, amidst the young twenty-somethings, in the striped t-shirts, and Devo sunglasses, who love bands like the Briefs, Cute Lepers, and all those glammy punk bands on Full-Breach records. I love that they have the balls to call their rekkid, "Suicide Bomber", in this day and age, cos here in the 'States, free speech
is dead. You can't shoot lyrical spit-balls at the police state, without being censored and black-listed, at best, or tasered and incarcerated, if you attempt free speech in the offices of Washington, or in the streets of CLAMPDOWN U.S.A.
The billionaires of Congress, in the employ of imperialist trillionaires, have passed secret legislature declaring peaceful, Code Pink lady protesters, and anti-war activists, as low-level "terrorists". NOT the private armies, war criminals, opium drug-lords, spooks, torturers, assassins, election riggers, bio-weapons manufacturers, mind you-but The TAX-PAYERS. THE MOMS AND GRANDMAS are now being classified as "threats" and are routinely, being spied-on in the American surveillance-state!
The punk kids, over here, don't seem to care, cos most of 'em seem to belong to the more affluent families, who've yet to be directly affected by the rich get richer-looting, lobbying, and crooked law
making. You'd think every single freedom loving American would be actively organizing to halt the oil wars, and repeal the warrantless wire-taps, and domestic spying, like Obama promised he would, but most of 'em are unfortunately, oblivious, zombiefied, TV watchers, blissfully unaware their human rights have been stripped from them, in increments. I guess a lot of this slow-cook tyranny is happening in Great Britain, as well, but the English working-classes will fight back, eventually. I dunno about my sleeping countrymen. Even the ROCKERS are numbed out on the hypno-screens, playing video-games, shopping at Target, obeying the man, and all his new restrictions. Believing all his corporate propaganda. Even listening to phony rock'n'roll. I thought "V For Vendetta" was sci-fi. Nope-more like, current events!
I love the Cyanide Pill's tinny, spontaneous, cheap-sounding, production value, too. It sounds raw, and real...Americans tend to Pro-Tool the life outta everything, nowadays. They polish it 'til it becomes a product, loses all it's charm, and truthfulness. The 'Pills aren't merely eager young puppets, being master-minded by some grey haired old fart producer. I'm glad they ain't got nobody editing out all the raggedy, heart-felt bits! Man, the CYANIDE PILLS are fucking great! They're fun, boppy, now. Truly, the nazz. Bubblegum lyrics about politics and teenage alienation. They look terrific. You're sure to dig 'em. if you like real rock'n'roll. Seek them out, NOW.
http://damagedgoods.co.uk/news/509/cyanide-pills-debut-single-coming-soon
www.myspace.com/thecyanidepills
(-Geordie Pleathur)