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We’re adding an amazing new punk label to our review stable called Zodiac Killer Records. Based out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, these guys have a real lust for riff rock and are fast becoming one for our favorite independent record companies. They are currently unearthing tons of cherry punk from around the globe and making it available to the masses at dirt-cheap prices. No big company bullshit here just solid rock and roll that begs to be played loud. First on the deck are the Skintight Jaguars fresh from their UK tour with the Backyard Babies. Says their press release, “they’re loud, snotty and combine punk with sleaze in a way best described as decadently apocalyptic. They play with a garage rock mentality and a modern edge flare.” Their hit, the bass-driven “Joey Ramone Won’t Leave Me Alone” is already making waves and has made it onto at least one porn video. The band boast a killer guitar tone and though easily compared to the Pistols and Clash have their own version of spit and swagger. The eleven tracks that make up The Curse are rapid-fire wind-ups that will obliterate anything in their wake. The mix is a little off kilter and the drums have that hollow echo but it all adds up to a band doing it for the passion and not perfection. Classic moments are the guitar speedfreak “Kill You In Your Sleep” the head-pounding “I Am The Wolf” and brilliantly-penned “Dead From The Face Down” with its verbal onslaught and intoxicating chorus. Get it!

Sounding like the Backyard Babies without the budget, Skintight Jaguars rawk with their nether regions exposed on The Curse. The singer’s got that hot-young-couple-in-the-woods-pursued-by-werewolves (probably the ones from Dog Soldiers, given the band’s UK origins) sound, like the producer was holding a flaming brand below his testicles and inching them closer and closer until he got it right. (That’s assuming there was a producer, which, from the primitive sonics displayed here, probably wasn’t the case.) The band rages appropriately behind him (maybe they’re the werewolves) and the songs have surprisingly strong melodic backbones – almost power pop, even. Which leads to some of these tunes sounding a little too close to emo for my tastes, if your average emo boy had progressed beyond passive aggressive whining and into songs like Start the Fight and Kill You in Your Sleep. Same old story, I suppose – boys loves girl, girl won’t put out, boy wants to smash everything in sight to bits. Favorite song title: Joey Ramone Won’t Leave Me Alone.

This is a wild little CD. Total MOTORHEAD worship combined with a heavy dose of straight-edge inspired song writing- I'm talking gang vocals and all. I also hear a lot of DEAD BOYS in this. This will get you circle pitting for sure! Pretty intense shit. Think BLOOD BROTHERS without the cocaine. Well, at least BURN PIANO ISLAND BURN-era BLOOD BROTHERS, AS I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE NOWADAYS.

I think someone must've bottled pure Essence Of New York Dolls, and London rock reprobates Skintight Jaguars have been swigging it down by the gallon. Fast, freaked-out rock 'n' roll is the name of the game here, and if you're waiting for the ballad, you'll be hanging around for a mighty long time, buster. Everything here is played at escape velocity, encrusted with snot and attitude, and you can bet the amps are on eleven. Crazed, rampant rockin' all the way - It's not sophisticated stuff, for sure, and sometimes the songs themselves are knocked flat by the sheer noise. But what the hell. If you want sophistication there's always Dire Straits. And here's the clincher. How, I ask you, can you dislike a band that has a song entitled 'Joey Ramone Won't Leave Me Alone'?

Recorded, mixed and mastered in just four days, the intensity of this brief studio stint, which yielded one damaged voice and two broken amps, is apparent throughout the twenty-five minutes of Skintight Jaguars' debut album, The Curse. The songs launch out of the starting blocks with little regard for anyone or anything that might be in their way. Everyone plays like their lives depend on it; the strain on instruments, equipment and musicians alike always threatening to descend into complete chaos.

The band's glam-tinged hard rock could be likened to bands such as Motorhead, 80s Matchbox, The Hives, Towers Of London and The Horrors, though no one comparison truly fits the mould. These guys are fired up, angry and ready to go off at a moment's notice. You get the feeling that twenty-four hours spent with these guys would leave you dead or at least seriously injured. What more do you want from a band?

This band boasts having shared the stage with The Darkness - but dont let that put you off, they are an altogether different kettle of fish. Heavier, dirtier rock n roll, with an air of frustration, drives this debut full-length from start to finish, with an explanation; "it's about the reality of life in a shit job surrounded by fucking idiots" they describe messy live shows too, and their impressive track record along with this release gives the impression they don't do things by halves.

TG first heard these raucous Londoners when they won MySpace Band Of The Month in August 2006, and now this gang of back alley rockers have released their debut album The Curse. 11 tracks of teeth-splitting garage rock, brooding lyrics and louder than thou guitars. Jaguars' debut is justifiably self-assured. One of their songs, Joey Ramone, has even found its way onto porno flick Sex Offenders! Playboy rock 'n' roll...

The first thing I notice, before I've even hit play on this cd, is the striking artwork on the album sleeve. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but surprisingly, I already have a good feeling about this one...

Immediately, I am greeted with a kick start ("Streets of Blood"), I feel like I have been grabbed by the balls (in the metaphorical sense, of course) and shaken around the room. Is this really the same band I saw two years ago on stage, glammin' it up, clearly trying to revive a musical era of the 80's that was long dead by then?

Their sound has come a long way, I can't even see the stages of transition, or how they got here, I'm not going to ask questions, but it's clear the band have consciously made an effort to take their music in a totally new direction, for whatever reason that may be. (Maybe they realised cock rock is GAY...unless you are Motley Crue...of course.)
This is music to fight to, this is raw and this is gritty...
This is not what I was expecting.
The album is clearly punk influenced but somehow manages to maintain a substantial element of sleaze, combining the two in matrimony. ("Take Her Out," in particular.)

I see catchy, yet aggressive, foot tapping qualities in the melodies ("Joey Ramone Won't Leave Me Alone" , much like those of Turbonegro, accompanied by a swift slap in the face with the raw and harsh delivery of vocals, reminiscent of Amen vocalist Casey Chaos.

When attempting to sum up this album in a single sentence, "Music to Get Drunk To" was the first description that sprung to mind. Ironically, I later discovered that the boys recorded this album while paralytically intoxicated as a result of trying to nurse their vocalist's lost voice.

On the downside, I feel a few tracks to be somewhat "samey" and can't really differentiate between them as I find there aren't many distinguishing characteristics musically. I also find the "eerie" organ outro on the final track to be a bit of a cheese fest, but feel that the prevailing sense of mania and insanity this band produces and portrays generally eases most of my doubts, numbing them with the sudden urge to...get drunk.

So, on that note, I will leave you all and make my way to the nearest bar.

This is your ranting UK bunny, Baby, over and out.

The last time we heard of these guys Camden strip face Niro Knox was serving time with them and providing the required guitar widdles to complete their sleaze punk sound of the time. Since his departure, his former band seem to have headed in the exact opposite direction, stripping down to little bar noise and emotion. 'The Curse' comes off like a sorta sleaze rock Gallows, vocalist Kip now simultaneously embodying the hollerin' hellfire fury of Frank Carter and lavacious , hip swingin' fearlessness of Iggy the day he offered out an Angels chapter.

Musically it don't so much deliver songs as blows to the ear drums; a succession of white-hot slabs of shit-kicking noise full of punked up call and response vocals and scuzzy speed riffing that'll get fans of Disarm salivating. Most gratifying of all though is the fact it is, at long last, an original take on the 'drink, fight, fuck' theme, something the London scene sorely needs.

Yes, straight up punk rock n roll from Skintight Jaguars on their release 'The Curse'. Although you can clearly hear the influences from Backyard Babies and Turbonegro, the Skintights pull off an album and a sound that is their own. It's the rawness of this album that gives it so much character and credibility. Turn it up loud enough and it feels like you're at a Skintight Jaguars live show.

The New York Dolls metal mullets are back in fashion, and skin tight jeans too, and it's all on show. A blond captain Sparrow hosts the right hand of the stage on bass. The Jaguars are good though, the crowd is enthusiastic enough and all in all their snotty, sleazy punk rock and roll goes down better than some of the balls down the gutter.

You can forget The Drifters' talk of Saturday night at the movies – Bowling Lanes in the borough of Camden are the real rock 'n roll weekend hotspots these days. Sounds unlikely? Spend an evening in the company of tonight's acts and you may find yourself a convert to the cause.

Naturally such surroundings are fairly intimate, but that serves boisterous North London punk noiseniks Skintight Jaguars down to the ground. Seemingly on a mission to play harder, faster and louder than anything you've heard before, it doesn't take long before the whirling dervish of tracks such as 'I am the Wolf' have a variety of hips swaying, heads nodding and feet tapping in unison. It might not always be pretty, but it's never anything less than engrossing – keep an eye out for the impending debut album.

What do they sound like? Motorhead meets Turbonegro. It's no-frills hard rock all the way!
Why do they win? They've sold out 300-seat venues without having a record deal and the come across like the soundtrack to TG's perfect weekend. Nice work, Jag-fellas!
Fact me! Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson is a fan of the Skintight Jaguars.

The Skintight Jaguars have a name that sounds like a fetish club's fancy dress night, and a big blasting sound that doesn't mess about on its journey from the speakers to the human brain. They come on like a bunch of Motorhead heads, keeping the songs pounding out like a well-drilled artillery barrage, pow, pow, pow. In a sense, this opening slot, in front of a sparse audience, with most of the rockers still hanging about at the bar, isn't really the band's natural habitat: they need a packed crowd of sweaty denim 'n' leather merchants for their music to really make an impact. There are moments where the band seem a little nonplussed, the singer leaning on the mic between songs and gazing out beyond the monitors as if searching for the big reaction that doesn't quite come. The songs are tailored to get a moshpit rockin', and in the absence of a moshpit, the band's big bad rock concept falters a little. But for all that, the Skintight Jaguars make a suitably boisterous racket. I'll raise a glass of Jack Daniels to that.

They're loud, snotty, trashy, and combine punk with sleaze in a way best described as 'decadently apocalyptic'. Skintight Jaguars have spent the past couple of years playing anywhere and everywhere, with a garage rock mentality that has a modern edge. Check out their new three-track demo, featuring the amusingly titled 'Dead From The Face Down'.