STALKERS

http://artrocker.com/node/1792
SINGLE OF THE WEEK: STALKERS / IN YOUR STREET TODAY (ONE LITTLE INDIAN)

Anthony: I enjoyed it, but it was the B-side, ‘Feral Children’ which really won it for me. It had a bit of Clash swagger, a dash of the Elvis hip shake… and ten pints of lager.

Richard: I agree with Anthony – that was enjoyable. Let's go and see them live! - ARTROCKER

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2008/08/20-questions-with-stalkers/#more-5934 - The Line of Best Fit

Released 4th August 08

Some classic rock 'n roll from Brooklyn wins over the hearts of our guest editors, as they delve into the mysteries of this weeks singles. But who will they describe as "absolutely appalling"? Find out here!

SINGLE OF THE WEEK: STALKERS / IN YOUR STREET TODAY (ONE LITTLE INDIAN)

Anthony: I enjoyed it, but it was the B-side, ‘Feral Children’ which really won it for me. It had a bit of Clash swagger, a dash of the Elvis hip shake… and ten pints of lager.

Richard: I agree with Anthony – that was enjoyable. Let's go and see them live! - Artrocker 08

http://highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=3912&band=2362

Stalkers - In Your Street
(One Little Indian)
Unexpected gem alert: this single has a seventies, T-Rex style pop opening with handclaps, an old school rock 'n' roll hurdy-gurdy bass line, and a gang chant chorus. Yes, vocalist Andy Animal croons out cheesy lyrics like "rock and roll saved my life tonight", but he also sings brilliantly simple ones like "we're still young and our hearts still ache".

It's playfully macho in a Thin Lizzy style, very catchy and would fit like a dream on a car chase scene in Life on Mars. It's made for proper dancing with twists and jumps.

This is a call to disaffected youth to "escape the world today", to "meet out back for a real cool time" - a sentiment as relevant these days as it was when rock 'n' roll began in the time of Elvis. Short and sweet, its abrupt ending leaves you wanting more.
4 of 5 star rating - High Voltage

“Single of the year thus far by some distance, for two reasons: firstly, the way the mere sleeve photo of these NYC gutter-rockers make Pete Doherty and his ilk’s tramp impersonations seem even less convincing; secondly, the bit before the chorus where the singer drunkenly slobbers, ‘Somethin’ happenin’! Happenin’ tonight! So are you ready?’ and 1,000 super-excited-but-also-slighty-scared cheerleaders scream, ‘YEAAAH!’
by way of response.�
TIME OUT/London
Hamish MacBain - TIME OUT

The young stalkers, it’s good,
the young stalkers.
And with punch, and attitude,
some fucking great songs.
Guitars that give you the feeling of thousand horses going through your brain, kicking your ass. Guys who know nothing, but are ready to tell everything, who believe that simple means not complicated, and that the prospect of learning a fifth guitar chord drive them insane, and who also don’t mind singing minor harmonies on a major scale. Guys who pose with a drink in hand on their album photo cover, a straw in the corner of the mouth, who throw up all of it standing up, but are careful where the wind blows. It is simple, Stalkers are the best invention from humanity since the invention of poney saoul (drunk pony).
No need to say “Watching You� doesn’t make you want to like them. It’s ugly to lie. They are 5 guys from NY, ones who think that beyond the Ramones, the Dolls of Thunders, the Real Kids or the Only Ones, there is no salvation. What to say? Nothing, but most of all, don’t teach lessons. For once that smoke comes out of fire. Then we rush to it, we throw ourselves into it, we run to “Feeling Alright�, “Sun’s Coming Up� or “ Silver Blood�, rawness delivered on this 1st album, which will be nothing tomorrow, and when you ‘speak’ punk, it’s a compliment.
Songs to listen to, foot down on the gas, smoke in the air, and girlfriend in arm, and not a hybrid car, pleeeeeze.
Jerome Soligny
- Rock & Folk

“For those of you who don’t know about Stalkers, they have been one of
New York City’s strongest and most consistent rock n’ roll bands for a few years now.
They’ve earned themselves a reputation for being one of the wildest acts on the scene.�

- Punk Magazine

"Ramshackle punk-pop heroes from Brooklyn, New York. The kind of thing
your mother warned you about. They make us want to pour a beer on our head and party.� - NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS

The Strokes should pay attention.
No band can sound more ‘New Yorkish’ than the Stalkers. Every pore of the music from this quintet breathes the spirit of Ramones, The Strokes and New York Dolls. Like the Twin Towers and CBGB still exist.
The way Stalkers do it, seems simple: take a bunch of power chords of which Johnny Thunders already proved its effectiveness and let the singer top it in the wandering, casual way of Strokes-frontman Julian Casablancas. Complete the whole thing with a few gang vocals in the chorus for some extra sing-a-long fun, and the obliged* attends to neglected / slovenly visual emanation. The instrumentalists are naturally going for Salvation Army-chic / posh, where singer Andy Animal unconditionally chooses for the Neanderthaler-look. This may sound like a simple recipe, but in reality it is quite diffi cult because it has been done so many times before. There are plenty of tasteless and mediocre punkbands. Punkbands with pepper in their assholes and the right ear for music/hits are very rare. ‘Yesterday Is No Tomorrow’ proves that Stalkers certainly belong to this last category. ‘Listen one time - stays in your head the rest of the day‘-hits like ‘Let’s Get It Together’, ‘Circus Baby’ and the titlesong abundantly compensate for the few paler songs on ‘Yesterday Is No
Tomorrow’. The Strokes should pay attention that they won’t loose their status as the band of the Big Apple to these pursuers. - KINDAMUZIK

I really wanted to dislike Stalkers. Reviews in the NME put me right off them, lumping these Brooklyn punks in with the likes of the Fratellis and Bay City Rollers. Further comparisons with The Sweet and Glitter Band did nothing to pique my interest further and when I stuck their debut album in the CD player for the first time, bad Louis XIV was what I was expecting.
But you know what? 'Yesterday is No Tomorrow' is an awesome record. Best of the year so far perhaps. It's so far up my street, it's pretty much bought the end terrace. It's a glorious mix of The Real Kids, New York Dolls and recent(ish) US 70s punk revivalists The Richmond Sluts and The Exploding Hearts.

It is, let's not pretend otherwise, a party record. But it's worthy of the mother of all parties. A big messy drunken best night of your life party, where you smash things up but no one gets angry or hurt. Where you get off with the hot boy / girl everyone wants and you've had a crush on for months. Where every record is a rock n roll classic and everyone is jumping around, and the living room falls through to the flat downstairs, and the people who live there just laugh, covered in plaster, and pour whisky in their eyes and request the DJ plays 'Jetboy' and everyone starts jumping around and hugging them and shouting. That kind of thing.

Even the ballad 'I'm watching you' is decent - an over the top emotional-mess-makes-impassioned-plea kind of tune, the sort of melodramaramalama The Devil Dogs were experts at. It's fantastic stuff.

But the strength of the record is of course the balls out Friday night drinking tunes. 'Yesterday is no tomorrow' is a killer opening track, setting the agenda nicely. 'Let's Get It Together' is a fantastic one-of-the-gang singalong and 'Blame Game' is enough to keep even the most knackered party go-er dancing in the wee small hours when the speed has worn off. Best thing about this album, is that for all the miles per hour, there's enough strain in the voice, enough heart strings being tugged to give the songs depth and stop them being too bubblegum.
Full marks to One Little Indian for putting out yet another excellent album this year (after The Mighty Roars' Swine and Cockerel)
No party should be without it. - ArtRocker 07