My introduction to Zeitgeist 77 was a couple of years ago now when I heard the unforgettable ‘Braney is a Bastard’ on local radio. After a few mornings of offending my fellow commuters by accidentally signing along out loud to the chorus (not sure if it was the word bastard at 7am or my voice that did it tbh) a bit of curious googling led me to the equally brilliant ‘Chris Myers Fancies You’. These two songs are really light hearted and may give a Zeitgeist newbie a false impression of the band as a deeper dig brought out a host of far more deep and serious songs.
I was delighted to receive the band’s two CDs recently (thanks guys!). I had planned on reviewing both straight away but decided to concentrate on the first one for now and I'll come back to the second album at a later date.
Six Million Stories is the first album by the Teeside based four-piece and was released in 2014. I’m holding in my little hand a very professional looking CD with 40 minutes of fine music split between the 11 tracks.
The mere presentation of this CD tells me in no uncertain terms that these guys take their music very seriously indeed and I love their proud motto which is ‘No Covers. No Compromise’.
The band have a definite sound of their very own and they are hard to pigeon hole into a genre. The songs are really catchy with great tunes and extremely foot-tappable beats. Vocalist Chopper’s distinctive voice is easily distinguishable and I’d like to add that it’s so refreshing to hear a natural singing voice complete with regional accent rather than a faux American/Cockney one!
My favourite tracks on the album were always going to be the odes to Braney and Chris but the rest of the tracks all hit the spot nicely too. The album is an interesting mix of songs ranging from the aforementioned that will make you laugh and smile to the somewhat darker 'End of Days' and thought provoking 'The Day Everybody Dies'. There's a lot of clever lyrics in there - well worth a good listen.
I have discovered that the lads do great videos too – I was watching Just An Illusion, which is track 1 on the album, earlier – brilliant stuff!
I was disappointed to miss Zeitgeist 77 when they played at The Cluny in Newcastle recently. By all accounts this was an amazing gig and I’ve only heard good things from those who were there!
The band’s next gig is at The Sun Inn Stockton on Friday 20 May with Bitter Nostalgia and Opium. This one is FREE entry so if you’re in the area, get yourselves along!
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