As of late, the UK punk scene has been booming. Bands such as “Gallows”, “Hexes” and “The Ghost Of A Thousand” are all taking the live music scene by storm and leaving a trail of destruction across Britain. One band hoping to follow in their footsteps are “The Smoking Hearts”. Luke Morton caught up with vocalist Rodd Lethal for a quick chat.
Lethal describes his punk rock troupe as: “Good old fashioned, throw a TV out the hotel window, rock and roll. Played by five misfits who grew up on a diet of punk, metal and beer.”
These five misfits are scheduled to release their debut album “Pride Of Nowhere” on March 8th, which Lethal describes as being full of chugging riffs, screaming solos and “more fun than an octopus could shake eight sticks at”.
The album itself plays for only 29 minutes and 25 seconds, and yet the band manage to cram in 13 songs. Describing the tempo as fast would be a massive understatement. Having recorded it in just a fortnight, Lethal says: “Two weeks was probably a good cut off, we could still be there tweaking this here, and that there. But once we realised all we had to do was crank up the volume it pretty much just walked itself on home.”
The Smoking Hearts have toured constantly, supporting the likes of “Gallows”, “Bring Me The Horizon” and the punk legends “The Misfits”. Their live shows often culminate in the smashing up of equipment and throwing themselves into the crowd of screaming punks before them. Lethal says he’s learnt lessons from the bands he has met throughout his life.
“There’s no such thing as a useless lesson, so drink from the cup of knowledge. If it blows back in your face the valuable lesson you took away was to not do that exact combination of things again.”
On the subject of the rise of UK punk, he didn’t have a lot to say on the matter. Merely suggesting that bands such as Gallows and Hexes “open up different music genres to people who might have not even batted an eyelid before”.
The future for The Smoking Hearts may not be set in stone, but Lethal is looking forward to it. Stating he wants billboards, the stars and their names in lights and a bus (which he later changed to wanting a rocket). Sadly though, before a rocket becomes property of the band there is the summer tour agenda. He says there are lots of shows to confirm, but fitting around those are “barbecues, backyard tattoo sessions, cider in the sun…the Summer is fun-fun good times.”
Get more info about The Smoking Hearts and their tour schedule here.