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Featured Pop Threat Release:
SQRL31
Dirt N' Dust: 1999-2003
Before The Blanche Hudson Weekend, before The Manhattan Love Suicides - there was Pop Threat. Featuring Caroline and Darren from those aforementioned bands on vocals and guitar respectively, along with Juliet (bass) Mick (drums) and, for a brief amount of time in the early days, Rob (guitar). Pop Threat only lasted 4 years, and in that time only recorded a relatively small amount of material (the majority of which is gathered here) released a handful of singles and one album (which came out after the band split in February 2003) and played sporadic gigs all over the UK before eventually imploding on stage at The Moles Club in Bath (ask anyone who was there that night and they'll tell you it was a perfect rock n' roll mess of feedback, tensions, frustrations and general drunken behaviour) But for anyone who paid attention to this band while they existed, they will testify that Pop Threat were one of the loudest, most ramshackle brilliant live bands operating in a music world (mostly) full of blandness.
Heavily influenced by bands such as The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Raincoats, Swell Maps, Sonic Youth, The Fire Engines and The Velvet Underground, Pop Threat combined a love of pop melody with experimental elements and more often than not, just pure balls to the wall noise assaults.
Their first appearance on vinyl was a relatively straightforward affair - the track Falling Spike (taken straight from their first demo CD) on Fierce Panda's Otter Than July EP, but then they unleashed their proper debut EP on Mook Records which kicked off with Amarantal Meltdown - 6 minutes of absolute mayhem. Guitars clash against one another (literally) strings are stretched and broken, amplifiers are kicked around, ears are well and truly damaged. Nobody played it on the radio. Eventually, Pop Threat settled into becoming a more straightforward pop band, but always with the volume cranked up to 12, that experimental side never far from the surface, tensions between band members running high, all the while maintaining a truly militant attitude in all that they did as well as a general disliking for most of their peers. Caroline often performed with her back to the audience, or simply walked off stage and could be seen getting drinks from the bar during the bits of the songs she didn't sing on, sets lasted no more than 25 minutes, and there was no addressing the audience or indulging in conversation. They made a few friends along the way though - most notably
The Cribs who were big fans of the band and even produced 2 of the tracks on this collection, the raw as hell Cheap And Vulgar (recorded in one take live in the studio with the needles absolutely buried in the red all the way through) and the sublime 1 minute 20 seconds of Hit It ! which is pure pop sonic fury captured on reel to reel tape.
So here it is, almost the full collection of Pop Threat recordings, all in one place for the first time ever. Turn up the volume, stick your head in the speakers and enjoy going deaf.
Released: Monday 25th July 2011