Sleaford Mods - Three Singles

Sleaford Mods - Bambi/Scenery
X-Mist. XM-101. 7” [including lyric insert]

Sleaford Mods - Jobseeker/14 Day Court/Black Monday
Kraak. K083. 7” [some copies include sew on patch]

Sleaford Mods - Mr Jolly Fucker/Tweet Tweet Tweet
Fourth Dimension Records FD388. 7”



Filling the gap between last years Austerity Dogs and the launch of the next Sleaford Mods album, in Leeds, at the Wharf Chambers, on the 29th of March, on a date that can’t come quick enough,  appear three seven inch singles, each one a life affirming Stella Artois fueled belch.

The future will be Sleaford Mod shaped, of that there is no doubt. The gig in Leeds is already being talked about a full two months before it actually happens [its a much delayed gig which only heightens the tension]. There’s talk of the WC having to ration tickets. I know people that are genuinely excited [me] and worried that they might not get one. The ball is rolling. Interviews are becoming more frequent. Music journalists try in vein to define their ‘sound’ with ever increasing implausibility. Everybody from Gil Scot Heron, Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clark, The Normal and The Wu Tang Clan get dragged in to the equation, so its no surprise to see such a clumsy genre moniker as Punk Hop emerge. Punk Hop? Give me a break.

Each of these three singles will put you on until Leeds on the 29th but I recommend buying them all. They’ll cheer you up no end. On them Jason Williamson tackles social media [Tweet Tweet Tweet - ‘chopped heads on London streets, all you zombies tweet, tweet, tweet’] and on Jobseeker the exasperation with having to deal with the civil service when signing on [‘so Mr Williamson, what have you done in order to find gainful employment since your last visit’ ‘fuck all, I just sit around the house wanking all day’]. The lyrics are on the record label so you can watch them going round and round as it plays. Mr Jolly Fucker is an inspired of stream of consciousness rant; ‘baa baa black sheep have you any crack, Mr. Kipling acid dances, 60 kids wheres mine, fish fingers, take the batter off, I cant believe you had kids, digital time boards are the new public shitters, two pint buzz and loads of office turds pushing in, can’t you see I was here first you cunt’ interspersed with shouts of Mr Jolly Fucker! A blast thats all over in two minutes flat. Bambi’s mournful refrain is ‘oh yeah I forgot’ delivered in a sarcastic tone that mimics the slack jawed response of the couldn’t care less perfectly and begins in true Sham 69 fashion with ‘This songs about drones and water cannons 1,2,3,4’  and could be aimed at Steve Jones for whom ‘the 80’s didn’t work out but at least you made a record with Axl Rose’. 14 Day Court includes a false start [‘fuck it’] and the classic line ‘Sonic Youth fan MBV, if you like feedback that much get a job at the council’ and ‘I don’t want white teeth and big tits, I want yellow fingers and missed mortgage payments’. Black Monday is the nearest they’ve come to a full on Fall-esque Container Drivers comparison. Try listening and keeping your feet still at the same time. Unless you’re in a coma its not possible.

These songs could be about indie music, The Sex Pistols, the local council, Williamson’s neighbours, self abuse, drugs, Fawlty Towers or the existential travails of someone trying to make his way in the world armed with a bog standard job and the thought that it could be all that lies between the check out at Poundland and a food bank.


Fearns pumping computer driven beats do resemble The Normal, they do resemble The Fall, Williamson’s sense of humour does resemble John Cooper Clark, his observations on modern life are beyond compare. Williamson is a poet for our times and the Sleaford Mods make you want to jump about.

What they’re doing is unique and saying that in the year 2014 gladdens my heart no end.


www.sleafordmods.com