You Need To Know: Tender Loving Medication
You know when you hear a band or an artist and you think to yourself, ‘holy shit, this is something really, really special’?
Well, let me introduce you to Tender Loving Medication. Four guys from Hamburg, Germany, who – believe me – are one of those bands. They make loud, pissed off, urgent music that sounds like the last 40 years of punk distilled, triple filtered, and polished into a gleaming nugget that shines through the tedium of a million imitators. It’s hooky as hell to boot.
Their debut album 'Panic in the Streets' is a raucous, clever introduction to what these guys do that I can only describe as essential listening.
Take the title track, for example. It's an immaculate piece of songwriting, and from the second you hear singer / guitarist Nicki Naughty grab the opening line (and I do mean grab) 'you say that you can't get high', you know you're in for a hell of a ride. Fuck me, you can practically hear that Billy Idol sneer.
The album itself, swallowed whole (ideally after a meal. Don't take this one on an empty stomach, folks), is simply stunning. Tracks like 'Burn The Mall' and 'Nine Years' WILL install themselves in your cranium and take up permanent residence in there, all while not paying any rent and destroying the furniture at any given opportunity. You know what? You won't even mind.
Moreover, this is a band with a clear message. To take just one example, in the three ish minutes that makes up ‘Pretty Little Riot’, they deliver a scathing dressing down of the clowns currently holding a death grip on the world's political institutions in a way that is uniquely their own (check out the video on YouTube). And in ‘Dancing When The Rain Falls’, one of the extremely rare slow moments on the LP, they capture that stinging sense of melancholy that comes from living in a world that is rapidly going to hell in an outdated, seldom used and outdated means of transporting items.
Follow up EP 'Hello Stranger' Is also an absolute gem. Five HUGE songs, no fucking around.
Singles 'The Means of Production' and the formidable 'Sell Out' take the bands already addictive formula and up the songwriting ante to otherworldly levels. As I’ve already alluded to, these guys make great music videos, and the one for the latter is well worth a watch. Think a rock and roll take on ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ and hopefully you’ll get some idea of what I’m talking about.
I’ve not even touched on the musicianship yet either. Make no mistake, Nicki, together with guitarist Philly Buster, bassist A.J. Swells and drummer Le Bob are phenomenal musicians. Put all four of them together and both six-strings weave together effortlessly with slithering basslines, all propelled by drums that give the song exactly what it needs, no more, no less. The music has an organic quality to it, natural, intricate without being over the top, and more hooks than your average fishing tackle shop.
As a live act, they are simply incendiary. Already speedy songs are delivered on fast forward, with a healthy dose of humour. These guys love what they do, and it shows. One of the several times I’ve caught the band live, a cover of Green Day’s ‘King For A Day’ was delivered with a kazoo substituting for the brass parts in the track, and it continued to do so in place of the guitar solos on the bands own songs towards the end of the set, all the while with Nicki insisting that it was, in fact, a saxophone, to terrific comic effect. But that’s just one example. If you get the chance, catch them live.
If you’re a fan of Bikini Kill, Bad Religion or Green Day, you will adore Tender Loving Medication. I guarantee it. Just buy their records and thank me later.
Check out Tender Loving Medication on YouTube and Spotify
Buy ‘Panic In The Street’s at Bandcamp
Written by Chris Hughes
Opinion
