Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell Check ‘Em Before You Wreck 'Em

The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell are the last of a dying breed of Grease Rock Bastard musicians who somehow, despite and in spite of the last 3 decades trying their best to kill off balls out, non-bullshit rock’n’roll music, somehow, against all the fucking odds, still exist, surviving on a steady diet of God sent gigs, hire vans, broken down amps, split drum skins, greasy spoon fry ups, patched up jeans, roll-ups, cheap leather jackets, booze, weed and bathtub speed.

Spare them your sympathy – no-one made the silly bastards do it. They just NEED to!! Right??

Facts to face – the Shovell are named after a 17th century English naval commander; Bill Darlington plays drums, Louis Comfort-Wiggett plays bass and Johnny Gorilla plays guitar and sings, they have been together as a band since 2008.

Their debut 2011 Rise Above 7?, Return To Zero’/’Day After Day, sold out instantly and now commands £100 plus a copy; their 2012 debut long-player DON’T HEAR IT…FEAR IT received unilateral rave reviews and was described pretty accurately by one scribe as ‘the aural equivalent of stumbling into an 18 year-old male’s bedsit in 1973 – the kind of greasy hard-rock thrills rarely heard in this climate of blind nostalgia and misjudged authenticity. It’s hard ‘n’ heavy, without the marshmallow; it’s old-fashioned yet so NOW that it hurts!’’

They’ve toured and played with the likes of Orange Goblin, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Incredible Hog, Gentlemans Pistols, Graveyard, Gonga and countless more, toured Europe and had chief Groundhog Tony McPhee playing on their first LP!

On their new LP CHECK ‘EM BEFORE YOU WRECK ‘EM the Shovell somehow carry on the lineage of the truly golden age of British heavy rock whose dog shit stained road was paved by the likes of Budgie, Sabbath, early Motorhead, Quo, Lizzy, The Groundhogs, Stray etc. Chuck in a healthy chunk of U.S. and Aussie proto metallurgists Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, Bang, The Litter and Buffalo, as well as a healthy Vertigo ‘Swirl’ of dew picked mushrooms bad trip psych.

The Shovell thinks the world could do with another slice of no-nonsense re-gressive proto-rock ‘n’metal – one that you don’t need a Degree in doom-rock or a Masters in metal to appreciate – just a love of when music was F U N !!!!

Remember kids – CHECK ‘EM BEFORE YOU WRECK ‘EM!!!

Chris P. Bacon