If you’re making plans to go and see Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and whoever isn’t Bill Ward on drums playing as “Black Sabbath” this winter, you’ll no doubt be aware that – provided you can resist the temptations of the smoking area or the off licence outside the venue – you’ll also get to see Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats as support.
The band have enjoyed a rather meteoric rise on the underground over the past couple of years, as I’m sure I don’t need to tell you . Coming from Cambridge & bitter obscurity, K Starrs (to give the uncle his writing credit name) & his bandmates have signed with Rise Above Records, released two critically acclaimed albums, played at Download and generally done rather well for themselves.
And now, Mr. Starrs has well and truly surpassed himself.
How? By releasing a Christmas single…
Dropping the Uncle Acid name for this 45 in favour of The Sharon Tate Experience, Starrs has written and recorded a Christmas classic worthy of a thousand Cliff Richards – a festive favourite that, unlike Christmas itself, you’d be happy to live through every day.
Indeed, ‘Christmas Killer’, as the song is called, was described to me today by one of this magazine’s occasional contributors as sounding “like a fuzzy version of something like The Ronettes”, which isn’t far off the mark. The whole thing is a traditional Christmas classic, from the sleigh bells to the John Candy-esque farting sax solo in the middle. But its distorted, damaged sound and John Lennon-after-a-mushroom-binge vocals serve to make it something..well, really brilliant.
There’s never really been a credible Christmas song, but by taking the silliness of the “holiday season” and filtering it through his own perverse prism, Starrs has come up with something truly unique – a sick, depraved, off-kilter tune that brings tears to the eyes, makes the heart bob about with joy and infects the soul like a particularly enjoyable bout of flu.
Listen to it and get ready to throw away your Wizzard/Paul McCartney/Wham!/(Insert shibboleth here) records. Christmas just got made killer…
According to the song’s YouTube listing, 100 copies on vinyl will be made available as raffle prizes as Rise Above’s 25th Anniversary shows at The Garage in London on Fri 27th & Sat 28th Dec. Further still, ‘The Sharon Tate Experience’ will make their debut live appearance at the gigs. So, I guess, expect Uncle Acid in a Santa suit and work from there…
Anyway, this song’s brilliant and should be heard. It was, admittedly, released four days ago, but given the fact that Uncle A’s audience consists of weirdos, perverts, dope fiends and drop-outs (like myself) I thought you might’ve missed the news. Enjoy!
