Bilk - Essex Drugs And Rock And Roll

Say what you like about that album title; it knows exactly what it is.

Three-piece Bilk (guess where they’re from) released their self-titled debut album in 2023, consolidating their grassroots following through a clutch of EPs and incendiary live shows since their formation five years earlier.

Their no-frills approach to music continues on this second album. Following in the veins of early Arctic Monkeys (certainly not the current iteration) and The Streets, these are tales of life in modern Britain, brutally unpolished and unrefined.

As such, it’s designed to have mass appeal, speaking to a disenfranchised youth. Opening track ‘RnR’ proudly and shamelessly lifts the spirit from ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ by Oasis, an aspirational song about aiming for stardom (‘Forget about the bullshit outside my room’) but fused with boisterous glam rock guitars and incessant vocal delivery.

At the other end of Essex Drugs And Rock And Roll, ‘Band Life Blues’ outlines the story of Bilk to date, detailing the meagre pay new bands receive, offset by the joy of living their dream.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/bilk-essex-rock-and-roll-review/