"Dirty Money" and "Just Changed the Rules" by Some Kinda Earthquake

On reviewing their "My Mamma Lives In a Bottle" single by Some Kinda Earthquake in March 2023, I reflected upon the delights of telling you about a new release by a band whom we'd featured on ‘Hot Music Live Volume One' on our occasional basis of "you may have missed them when they were around but we think you'll love hearing their music now": with the implication that their active years were behind them.

Now, with that 33 year gap in their timeline well behind them, here they are back again with "Dirty Money" backed with "Just Changed the Rules" (I appreciate that those unfamiliar with vinyl singles may find the expression "backed with" obscure, but I think it is appropriate given the band's style & their story).

However, though I calculated that you might like reminding of the context, it could have been better to leave you to experience the songs first without any expectations of what they sound like… certainly I'm not sure that anyone hearing them would not mistake them for a band just starting out such is the zest in their performances.

I think if you had to boil down the key factors which determine the music I feel motivated to tell you about, then honesty is one & the other is whether the artists appear to be loving what they are doing. Clearly if a band reassemble after so long to play both the old sets & create new songs, then that must apply. Listening to these two tracks confirms it in respect of Simon Kelly (vocals), Dave James (guitar), Simon Ward (bass) & Darrell Johnson (drums). (And check out Will Taggart guesting on saxophone on "Just Changed the Rules")

Unsurprisingly, given what I've just told you, the songs are marinaded in rockabilly authenticity: "Just Changed the Rules" sounds like it could have been recorded in the mid 1950s in terms not only of sound but lyrics: the same applies to "Dirty Money" but the sentiments in those words sadly apply just as much today as they did seventy years ago.

The pair swing along jauntily and although the 1980s recordings certainly possess that attribute as well, it's difficult not to hear in the performances on this single the results of all the accumulated musical experience of the intervening years: there is a lightness of touch In the playing which probably has developed from the serious intensity of their youthful playing.

The result is in one way intriguing. Skiffle (which underpinned the great beat music of the 1960s) has more roots than one might imagine for a music capable of being played by the least experienced and least well equipped amateurs, yet here Some Kinda Earthquake (who are very experienced & well equipped) demonstrate how rockabilly fed into the style: these sit astride the border with a foot in each camp. 

To be honest, they sound to be having such a ball that quite possibly the writing & recording alone brought them all they require. It would be wonderful if the band are able to convene & share what they have to offer live, but understandable if the logistics are challenging. Regardless, if you want to listen to artists who just relish what they do: pick up this single. It's just so refreshing. Go on: have a taste yourself.