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RUPERT MALLIN... LOGO MAGAZINE... ROBOTS AND ELECTRONIC BRAINS... THE LOWESTOFT JOURNAL... FUSEBOX RECORDS... and A BLOKE DOWN THE PUB...
 

RUPERT MALLIN

Rupert Mallin, sometime local fringe politician, poet, artist and actor said this on his blogspot

STAIN at The Triangle

"Bang on"

In a room 20 ft by 20ft fifty to sixty people crushed into the front bar of the Triangle, Lowestoft, on Friday Feb 11th to hear 'Stain' - irreverently called a 'retro-punk band' for they are far more than this and not living 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' or sucking up to media twats who remake the past - 'Come Dancing' and all.

"God Save The Queen - it's a fascist regime" straight in your face at 9pm. For this - 18 years hence since the Pistols let loose - you've either got to wake up or go home to your Sir Cliff Richard prayer pew. 'Stain' are in your face immediately, racing through a wide range of punk classics. Their musical competence and artistry enables them to parody Bowie's 'I'm only Dancing,' 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' and 'What a Wonderful World' too.

It was young Dave's birthday - and they even managed to punked-up a version of 'Happy Birthday To You.' I'm waiting for them to do this treatment on the national anthem or even use Percy Byshe Shelley's 1820's version of 'God Shave' as their 'anthem.'

I first saw 'Stain' in 2001 - three dedicated geezers who are into rejoining with the music of their past (our past) - the electricity of punk. There are two kinds of nostalgia: that pappy-crappy remaking of the past by the media to deaden it and our own remembering. These guys are into the latter and so much more. Everytime I see 'Stain' - stir-crazy in their delight of musicianship and entertainment - I always have the feeling they're saying: "rejoice in this memory - but use it NOW!"

They don't talk much between numbers - it's a blast of a gig - yet a quick verbal snap led into their rendition of 'The Fifty-First State' - "this is for all of you who think Bush is a *****"

The other thing really I enjoy about 'Stain' is that they draw such a mixed age audience. It is that these are working geezers who put their all into their life and music. More than this, while they'll do lots of 'cover' numbers on the gig circuit, their own work is vibrant and impelling. Visit their site

www.stainville.com

There are original down-loads, a gig guide and well -

bang on!

LOGO MAGAZINE

Southampton based LOGO magazine reviewed the Fusebox sampler CD in their September 2002 issue, a brief synopsis of each of the featured bands was all they printed.

They described Stain as:

"Queens Of The Stone Age meet The Angelic Upstarts".

All we could think of in response to this was '.............Wow!'

ROBOTS AND ELECTRONIC BRAINS

This Cambridge university fanzine was also sent a copy of the Fusebox sampler to review. 'Robots' is the work of University Radio DJ Jimmy Possession, who also playlisted 'Sputnik' on his Saturday night show. His review astounded us....

"Four bands, but only stubborn Stain remain after a quick rinse and spin. Stain, hmmm. Somehow we know that the stains Stain were thinking of when they named themselves and their album (Stainville) weren't gravy, red wine or grass. So their two tracks on this 4-band label compilation could only be called one thing: Spunk Rock. Thank you, Cambridge and good night. Sputnik compacts Gold Blade and The Membranes into a few glorious minutes of riffage and frantic drumming and, for extra brownie points, sticks a couple of choruses of Hey Hey We're The Monkees over the fade out. Day Out is a punker crazyhead. Both could do with losing a bit of flab but Stain have made their mark while Last Caress, Llewelyn and Stare (the bands you'll skip over on the CD) haven't."

Jimmy Possession 2002

LOWESTOFT JOURNAL

After joining the fun in the East Coast Music Festival - Lowestoft's answer to Glastonbury - Stain were interviewed on 'The Beach' (a local radio station) and received the following review in the  Journal....

"Stain were very good - hope to see them again soon"

Lowestoft Journal 2001

FUSEBOX RECORDS

The insert for the Fusebox Sampler CD has the following to say about Stain....

"STAIN - UK based 3 piece band from the eastern flatlands of England. Formed in 1998 from the bones of many local bands, Stain have been gigging pretty much constantly ever since. Recorded their manic first single  'Day Out' in 1999 for the completely independent label Splintered Records. The album ' Stainville' was recorded this year, a glorious lo-fi experience capturing the razor-edged sound and energy of the band, but has many surprises demonstrating their subtlety."

Fusebox Records 2002

BLOKE DOWN THE PUB

This bloke down the pub said he thought we were pretty good... I didn't catch his name... I was totally wasted... and he fell over.

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