The Black Bull - Supporting The Band for Disease Control and Prevention 28-05-2016

It was another one of those last minute decisions that we had on a late Friday night!
with all the guys having a free Saturday and nothing to do we needed to play a gig for the night
and behold there was an opening at our favourite punk pub the world famous Black Bull!


The Band for Disease Control and Prevention we're playing and there was no support bands confirmed for the show, until a quick phone call to shev soon sorted that out right away!!

Down at the Bull nice and early to set up our gear, we had the usual hiccups with equipment, since our good 'ol drummer hopped in the car with us, saving the journey in two cars, we could only bring what would fit in a tiny Nissan Micra, which is amazing in the list of items we actually fitted in the car. p.s google Nissan micra to see what i mean, its a 5 door one

3 Guitars in cases
1 Marshall amp
2 pedal board cases
1 merch case
1 bag of drum cymbals
1 snare
1 bass drum pedal
1 bass player
1 drummer
1 guitarist/ the driver

eventually we got sorted and kicked off a very intense 45 min long set, of blood sweat and snapping strings, kicking off with our favroite song CID by uk Subs we blasted through the set list and enjoying the view from the stage, and we could see T,B,F,D,C & P watching us perfrom and i spotted lead vocalist Marcia dancing along to our tunes! always great to see that during a show!!

coming close to the end of our set, we we're running out of songs and during the song R.A.M.O.N.E.S pop goes the string on my trusty SG, looks like my heavy strumming did it again!!
so quick guitar swap during the song and carried on, ending on the clash's White Riot!!!

old black strat had to take over for the end of the set

With our set over and sweat dripping down the side of my face, it was a good time to get off the stage and make way for the headliners T,B,F,D,C & P! which i've been wanting to see for a very long time!

they kicked off the set with a very loud track! but i missed a few of the songs during the set as there was a little issue involving a car sitting very very close to my dad's and spent most of the time looking for the owner to see if he could move it....but anyway back to the band.

T,B,F,D,C & P blasted through a great set of originals, and of course their very own version of blondie's 11:59 track which is something you must hear yourself!!

be sure to check out  The Band for Disease Control and Prevention on facebook >>> T,B,F,D,C & P

North East Unity At Graft Night @ The Black Bull 22-04-2016.

Well this was a very exciting night, for myself and Spitfire Bullets, our main drummer boy was unavailable to play the gig as such short notice due to his work schedule so i asked a young lad i know very well called Elliot to hop on the drums and learn our full set within 3 days for the gig, and he didn't disappoint us!

We got to the Black Bull nice and early to load in, have a quick game of pool and an adventure to burger king for something to eat.

poor lad was in the back seat with all the gear

once we got back, Anord were busy setting up and sound checking, soon it would be us to set up sound check and kick off the night of Punk Rock!!

8:30 soon arrived, we hopped on stage, did a quick check on sound tuning, making sure Elliot remembered the set and kicked it off with our opening track CID! taking things slow for this gig we blasted our way through our usual set list of covers and originals within our 30 min set finishing off with a high tempo of Beat On The Brat!!

Anord took to the stage with their Anarchy hardcore angry screams and grunts about David Cameron, being stuck on the dole and Katie Hopkins with a back line of screaming feed backing guitars and awesome Mowhawks. 

Keyside Strike took to the stage as the main headliners blasting out some wall of sound hardcore punk, with snarling vocals wah wah wailing guitars, heavy bass lines and good laughs even covering a few very very short songs such as "You Suffer" By Napalm death

All in all it was a great night as such short notice, its amazing when a group of punk bands can come together and instantly get a gig sorted within a week!!

Spitfire Bullets would like to thank the Black bull, Anord and Keyside strike for having us and a big thank you to Elliot for jumping on the drums for us at last min to play a great set list!!

Be sure to check out Anord and keyside strike on facebook and buy their merch!!!!

  

Black Bull 06-02-2016 All day punk event!

This was a huge show for Spitfire Bullets to kick off 2016 for us.
with the booking already sorted back in 2015 we didn't expect so many bands to start joining the
line up! Rotunda the main headliners of the night from Birmingham we're already planning a mini tour to Scotland sharing the stage with Happy Spastics and Angry Itch, soon Panic Attack, Criti kill and Anord joined in the set, from being just a night of a few big bands soon turned into a all day event!

So the 6th Febuary came, we were ready for it, with a rehearsed set list, two new songs added to the set and a fully planned out military style strategy for the stage everything was planned to go clock work.
we arrived about 4pm with the car overloaded with guitars amps and people. we eventually got all sorted and said a few hi's and hellos to the bands and chatted about punk, beer and amp lending.

soon 5:15pm came around and Panic Attack was ready to unleash their full on paranoid anger, with the crowd coming in wondering what the hell the sound was. tonight was going to be a blast. Panic Attack even had a wonderful song dedicated to Maggie Thatcher, i'm sure if she heard it she would throw herself into a furnace.

Soon Critikill took to the stage releasing a blast of Anarcho Punk Rock, with the lead singer giving it all he got and working up a sweat, with Guitars screaming and drums thundering, you could tell this band has been dying to take to the stage all day!

Anord took to the stage at 6:15 giving it all they got, loud proud and Angry, pulling in the crowds at the same time. these local lads we're obviously enjoying themselves a lot.

soon through the line up it was us *Spitfire Bullets* to take to the stage, of course not in the right was of stage presence, with myself going to the Left and Gilley the bassist going to the Right, which felt rather odd to us, as we are used to the opposite sides. but it didn't put us off one bit, we kicked off with our set of covers and originals, with UK SUBS  CID then keeping the feedback screaming we darted in to "Spitfire" ending on the final note Shouting out "1234!!!" playing our call to war Ramones Classic Blitzkreig Bop i'm pretty sure the crowd was stunned, this was the tightest we had ever been after a lot of line up changes and one good rehearsal the night before, we nailed the full set. announcing our new Songs "I Don't Remember" and "Flying Fortress" and blasting them out for the first time, they sounded better live than they did on the demos. we ended the set on a special track. Since Lemmy had passed away last year we dedicated the song R-A-M-O-N-E-S to the man himself!

Happy Spastics took to the stage and blew everyone away with their Hardcore thrash style Punk. if this was the 02 Academy, there would have been pits left right and centre! 

Angry Itch stepped up to the Black bull's stage of punk with their Birmingham style Punk, i just managed to catch these guys as i was caught up talking with a guy about another potential gig and ended up playing pool to cool off from the heat in the next room. but they kicked ass, only a 3 piece but with a very big sound.

And Finally the band everyone waited for Rotunda! taking to the stage with a lead guitarist who looked very crazy in the eyes jumping about, they got the crowd on stage for a sing along and had everyone shouting for more. 

at the end of this brilliant night. i was able to do a CD swap with Rotunda's lead singer Louis and have a few chats with almost everyone in the bar before the long and sober drive home to Sunderland.

Be sure to check out these bands and drop them a like!!

Rotunda

Angry Itch

Happy Spastics

Anord

Critikill

Panic Attack

Check out Spitfire Bullets. Review by Surrounded by music

check the site out hereCheck out Spitfire Bullets

Posted on 12/03/2015

In an era of perfect production and polished songwriting, the music scene is heaving with bands who cite classic punk acts as inspiration, yet there are so few genuine punks out there. Splintering open the door with a metaphorical hobnail boot and sweating venomous malice, meandering all the way from Sunderland, the mercilessly red raw delivery of “Spitfire Bullets”, a band that genuinely have a sound akin to the Ramones in their earliest recordings. Reeking of bad attitude and couldn’t carelessness (so it’s not a word, well we’re making it one, we’ve been listening to Spitfire Bullets, haven’t you been paying attention?), their self titled EP has been around for a while, but it’s brutish honesty really makes it worth a listen, it’s REAL punk and not for the faint hearted, but with tracks like the full throttled “Spitfire” and Ramones-esque “Psycho Girl” (replete with 1,2,3,4), “Head In The Toilet” and “She’s a Punk” this is pure homage to the New York and London punks of yesteryear.

Like we said, it’s not gonna be to EVERYONE’S taste but as far as we are concerned …Spitfire Bullets – “Gabba-gabba-we-accept-you-we-accept-you-one-of-us” https://www.facebook.com/spitfirebulletsband and https://soundcloud.com/spitfire-bullets

The EP recording

You probably heard the EP on sound cloud or bought one of our CDs at one of our gigs.
haven't heard our EP?? check it out here >>> Spitfire Bullets EP

But i know some of you are interested in how it was recorded 

It was recorded on 19th March Tuesday night back in 2013 down at the bunker in Sunderland.

The beginning, quotes prices and chaos 
Going back a few months before the recording i was emailing lots of recording studios for price quotes on a simple 4 track EP but they kept giving me sky high prices even as a whole band couldn't afford, a lot of these recording studios couldn't understand that all we wanted was a simple low price recording of drums, guitar, bass and vocals, nothing fancy just punk rock music stripped down to the bare bones.

The answer
Eventually after a lot of searching stressing out and about to give in and pay for a sky high price the answer was pretty much in front of us. The place we have rehearsals at (The Bunker) also has their own little recording studio, after enquiring about it and after a few emails back and forth we got a price quote 

Full Day Recording - £100

Half Day Recording - £50

Recording options

Live Recording (takes less time and therefore is cheaper than Multi-track Recording. Only an 8 track recording and therefore not as clean as a multi-track recording. Good for demos and EPs. Recording Estimate: 1 day)

Multi-track Recording (takes longer and therefore is more expensive than Live Recording. Infinite number of tracks to record and therefore a more polished recording than live recording. Recording Estimate: 2 - 3 days)

With this offer in mind and we had a very low budget of £100 we took the half day £50 live recording as we were told the multi track recording would take longer and would cost more, we only had limited time to get the recording in so it took place from 6pm till 9pm 

The Recording session
we recorded the whole EP in the bunker in the big room (i can't remember the room number but those who go there will know which room i mean) it was a simple set up in the room both guitar and bass amps were set up at the back with the guitar amp mic'd up with a nice fuzzy overdriven sound coming out and the bass with its treble sound was also mic'd up. The drums were set up at the side with a sound proof wall to stop any sound bleed coming from the amps on to the drum's mics. I used my old Marshall Valvestate with my FX pedal board and my Vintage SG for the recording and our old bass player used his Marshall bass state amp with line 6 multi FX pedal board and his Rickenbacker copy bass, John used the bunkers Ludwig drum kit and his Sabian cymbals all mic'd up. i guess i could say we were feeling fairly confident in doing the recording we just treated the session like the usual rehearsal no messing about just plug in pick which song to do first and go for it. for the full live recording we used a guide vocal recording from myself, recording each of the four songs 3 or 4 times before choosing the ones that sounded the best (the ones that sounded the best were the ones where i wasn't saying fuck and shit down the mic every time i forgot a lyric). this took about a hour and a half to get the tracks down and listen back to them to see which was the best.
after the tracks were chosen the vocals were re-recorded adding two backing vocals for the choruses.
In total the whole recording was finished by 9:00pm it was to be mixed and finalised on saturday where i picked up the master CD.

The Mixing
The mixing of the track was simple, i did a quick read up on how old 70's punk bands had their music mixed because i wanted that 1970's old punk sound captured. Now with it being a live recording having used 6 tracks deleting out the original guide vocals, there was a small bit of bleed on the guitar and bass tracks but hardly noticeable, so the rhythm and lead guitar track was set up front & in your face to the right and the (stranglers influenced bass sound) bass set just behind so it pokes through the guitar sound the bass was set to the left, with drums set at the back but loud enough to hear the thundering beat and set in the middle with the vocals also mixed in the middle along with the two backing vocals set in the middle also. 

its amazing how much work went into recording a simple 4 track EP nothing fancy just drums, guitar, bass, vocals and backing vocals all mixed left right and center for £50 and we were gonna pay a even higher price for a overly produce EP. A simple and stripped down recording sounds better and thats art to me!

NE Volume Spitfire, by the Spitfire Bullets Review

NE Volume did a review of our song "Spitfire" you can see the original article here >> NE Volume

Spitfire, by the Spitfire Bullets

Review By: Paul Heatly

Band: Spitfire Bullets

Album/Single Name: Spitfire

Sunderland based Spitfire Bullets are a three-piece punk band with a distinctly 70’s aesthetic, their fuzz-laden three-chord sound reminiscent of the likes of The Sex Pistols, Sham 69, and in some places even The Misfits.

Their single ‘Spitfire’ is representative of what they are: a throwback to a former era, embodied by the youth of today and eager to prove angry, dirty, paranoid punk rock isn’t dead yet. Propelled by storming drum work, throbbing bass lines, an angry guitar and some growling vocals that must surely leave the singer in need of a lozenge after every set, Spitfire Bullets are successful at what they want to do, which is presumably to make their music and have a good time. What they’re doing isn’t original or unique, but it’s done with passion, with a clear love for punk and everything it stands for, and it’s this love that shines through their music most of all.

Spitfire Bullets EP

Spitfire Bullets self titled EP released June 2013
Click here check out the EP

1: Spitfire!!!

When I wrote the song Spitfire, it was something that was just put together over one day, from reading about the Battle of Britain and the aircraft that fought in WW2. What I had in mind was a song that sounded cool, fast and short. Lyrically, its about a young boy in WW2 witnessing what was going on around him. Spitfires shooting down ME109’s. Lancaster bombers taking off fully loaded with bombs and coming back home shot to bits.  Hearing the thundering roar of the Merlin engines from the Spitfires searching for the Luftwaffe.  500 pound bombs being dropped from HE11 bombers and dog fights in the sky. The song is my tribute to those who fought in the air during the Battle of Britain.

2: Psycho Girl

The crazed stalker I couldn't get away from......the psycho girl.  I think every guy has had that experience once in their lives.  That one girl who would call every night and would follow you home.  This song is a true story that happened to me a good few years ago.  A girl, who was my friend, turned out to be a bit psycho. She knew everything about me and where i lived.  (It didn't help that we went to the same school.)  It got to the point when she began asking me out and started knocking on my door at night to see what I was up to.  She would call, text, email and Facebook message me almost every day, apart from the days when she would be shop lifting in Primark and signing on the dole, but in her free time she would be stalking me, cause she's a PSYCHO GIRL!!!

3: Head in the Toilet

*cough* *cough* *blurrargh* the sounds of someone throwing up in a toilet after drinking too much on a night out.  Yea, we have all been there.  We all have had our head in a toilet at some point and more than once.  This is how I wrote the song.  Too much whiskey and coke and bam!  I'm throwing up in the toilet and the song title comes in to my head!  Lyrically, its a song about a person’s outlook on life being grim.  Feeling washed up and useless.  They slowly become insane and paranoid.

4: She's a Punk

This is the very first song I wrote for the band.  It was written around a guitar riff I made up which is at the start of the song.  The lyrics and guitar were written over a few days.  I made a few early demo's before it became what it is now.  Originally it was 5-6 mins long, but with a faster tempo we got it down to 3-4 mins.  The song is a love song.  Guy meets girl and falls in love, but it’s girl meets guy, opposites can happen.

to hear the EP click here