In The Family Way

A couple of days ago I got sent a copy of "Way Of The Zulu", the debut release by Zulu, due out on Stroll On Records on 5 March. The blurb described them as a "London punk 5-piece". Having fallen for that sort of thing before I was instinctively sceptical, imagining it would be a weedy modern watered-down version of punk. Fortunately I overcame my scepticism and gave it a listen, because this is pretty much the real thing. At 2:44 the free download track, "Sistine Chapel", is one of the longer and more sedate numbers. If you like this, just wait until you hear "Zombies" or "We're Watching You".

"Sistine Chapel" - Zulu

It may not be a coincidence but Zulu's bass player is one Louis Simenon, son of The Clash's Paul Simenon. My mate Mister F is also a veteran of the Punk Wars, although unlike Paul he never made it further than the trenches, and as it happens his nephew is also a bass-player with a band that has recently released its first record. The band is called Gilmore Trail, they are based in Sheffield, and the record in question is an EP called "Circle of Least Confusion". They play in a style that I understand the young people call "instrumental post-rock". It is not the sort of thing I would normally listen to, so I can't judge whether it is a good example of its type, but I quite like it. They may not take this as a compliment, but this track is almost poppy.

"Seven Meadows" - Gilmore Trail

If you like what you hear and want to get hold of the EP, it is probably easiest to contact the band directly at info@gilmoretrail.co.uk, although you can get a couple of the tracks on Bandcamp.

Sticking with the theme of bass players, we travel over to Minneapolis to bring you something from Fort Wilson Riot. Their bass player is Joe Goggins. No relation as far as I know, but with a name like that he's just got to be good hasn't he? Judging by this track from their recent "Generation Complex" EP, the rest of them aren't too shabby either.

"For All The Little Things" - Fort Wilson Riot

So we have brought you some bass-playing sons, nephews and namesakes. But for Johnny Cash there was only one person who could handle the bass, and that was Daddy.