I am increasingly angry, frustrated, and depressed … How we as a society tolerate excruciatingly rich people getting even richer while people sleep on the streets or have to choose between eating or being warm, I’ll never know.
Well, to Brighton Road studios to start work on the next album with the amazingly talented Ali Gavan who recorded and mixed all the songs on Trickle Down Town.
The reality for bands like us is that recording studio time is limited by finance and, well, time, and generally it’s weekend days borrowed from family and other commitments and fitted in around the football and folk club calendars that see us in the studio doing our best to get it right first time, but there’s plans for a new album late this year or early 2025 plus a couple of singles and, if our plans pay off, a very special release for next season so, as ever, watch this space.
Next stop for us is back to Bally Studios to get match fit for Bearded Theory and Strummercamp. Maybe we’ll see you at one or both of those.
From the excoriating take down of the unhinged right on Bin Bags to the Duryesque Cockney wordplay of title track Trickle Down Town with it’s refrain of “only shit trickles down”, Steve and his Protest Family offer more opposition in 43 minutes than Starmer and his gang of wannabe Tories have offered in the last 3 years.
From four hour waits for ambulances to dumping toxic and human waste into our rivers Steve chronicles the state of the nation like a furious Billy Bragg fronting Chumbawumba.
Leyton Orient’s house band Steve White and the Protest Family, truly radical folk with fire in their souls … deliver the goods with Trickledown Town, a ranting, dancing howl of rage at the state of the Tory nation…The royal family get nailed, the “anti-woke” right-wing media get nailed and a host of downtrodden characters get upbeat support.
What I do like though are the punchy and vibrant Dead End Friends and the crackling Supersonic, which is no relation to the Oasis song of the same title; but I think Noel wishes he could still write a song as insightful as this is.
Bin Bags A fruity ska-punk suggesting the bad old days of looney lefties with a touch of Uncle Bill. 4.2%
The River Darker than the offering from The Tutu Brewery. This one is all about the Bass. 4.4%
Trickle Down Town By Austerity’s New Clothes. Wicked gamey with underlying Cooper Clarke. 4.8%
When the Sun Goes Down Country-flavoured, brewed with tears and despair. Best just have a half. 6.0%
Dead End Friends Bittersweet. Heavily influenced by celebrity. 5.0%
The Gable A diverse brew that some drinkers say reminds them of Slade, but that was several landlords ago. Best served in a plastic glass at half-time. 4.2%
Should I Be Wearing a Mask? Light but assertive. Most drinkers miss the hint of iron. 3.6%
Air Miles Andy Bitter, like the late Queen’s favourite paedophile. Drink it fast. 4.4%
Harry, Won’t You Fly With Me? Romantically named but tastes of gold, guilt and greed. You won’t want another. 3.0%
Supersonic Magpie-flavoured with hints of Silver Machine. Moderately heavy. 5.2%
Where Tina Goes Fizzy pop with more than a hint of bite. 4.2%
Holding Your Breath The sister brew to When the Sun Goes Down. Tastes like Covid medicine. 5.0%
Put Up Shut Up Britain Tart, bold and intense, with no notes of tomato or cucumber whatsoever. 5.0%
And it never was, coming as it did, second-hand from Mitcham Stadium, the brainchild of entrepreneur Sydney Parkes who built it in 1935, hosting among other things, rugby league, baseball and greyhound racing and, although the latter is disputed, the gable was built to be in line with the finish line.
Mitcham Stadium closed in 1955 and the stand was bought by Leyton Orient who gave it a new lease of life at Brisbane Road in 1958.
There’s much more of this story here and here, but in the meantime, our brand new video premieres next week, and you can find that here:
Steve White & The Protest Family 