{"id":23932,"date":"2014-03-19T10:01:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T10:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:33:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:33:45","slug":"album-review-bottler-smithereens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Bottler &#8211; Smithereens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><strong>Bottler<\/strong>\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a 1960\u2019s kitchen sink drama, everything about <em>\u2018Smithereens\u2019<\/em> has a distinctly London feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Opener <em>\u2018Ex-Members\u2019<\/em> is a great start, introducing the listener to the band&rsquo;s style. A knowing song about being in a band and being broke; they describe themselves as <em>\u201cthe ex-members of the bands you never knew\u201d<\/em>. The band are adept at these sarcastic touches in their songs and this\u00a0 song ends with a classic sounding, <em>\u201cwe will never give it up\u201d<\/em> which is cut down with <em>\u201cat least until responsibilities get in the way\u201d<\/em> \u2013 a twist on the usual life on the road anthem.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>What separates <strong>Bottler<\/strong> from the pack is the timelessness of their songs, songs like <em>\u2018Mastermind\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>a tongue-in-cheek song about being a criminal mastermind which starts with <em>\u201cthrew a brick through the window\u201d<\/em> and quickly escalates to \u201c<em>killed someone\u201d,<\/em> could have been written in any time period. The wry use of a prison style harmonica and the dead pan London delivery of each line keeps it fresh, without slipping into overly-emulated Gaslight Anthem faux-retro territory.<\/p>\n<p>While religion is certainly a bit of a soft target these days, <em>\u2018No Questions Please\u2019<\/em> is still a sarcasm-dripped criticism of organised religion. Declaring <em>\u201cour greatest trick was to convince the world that the devil and hell exist<\/em>\u201d, the whole song is a fairly venomous attack, though you\u2019d be hard pressed to find someone to be offended by it.<\/p>\n<p>The only flaw in <em>\u2018Smithereens\u2019 <\/em>is that some of the production sounds terrible, the drumming across some of the songs is brittle and tinny, which distracts from the great lyrics. Overall however, <em>\u2018Smithereens\u2019<\/em> is rough, scrappy and full of promise \u2013 a bit like London itself really.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Smithereens\u2019<\/em> by <strong>Bottler <\/strong>is released on 24<sup>th<\/sup> March via <strong>Disconnect, Disconnect<\/strong> <strong>Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bottler<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/bottlerband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/bottlerband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/BottlerBand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Jay Sullivan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a 1960\u2019s kitchen sink drama, everything about \u2018Smithereens\u2019 has a distinctly London feel.\u00a0 Opener \u2018Ex-Members\u2019 is a great start, introducing the listener to the band&rsquo;s style. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,10509,224,10510],"class_list":["post-23932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-bottler","tag-disconnect-disconnect-records","tag-smithereens"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Bottler - Smithereens - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Bottler - Smithereens - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-19T10:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-17T15:33:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Bottler - Smithereens - Already Heard Staging","description":"Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Bottler - Smithereens - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2014-03-19T10:01:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-17T15:33:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: Bottler &#8211; Smithereens","datePublished":"2014-03-19T10:01:12+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:33:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/"},"wordCount":336,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","Bottler","Disconnect Disconnect Records","Smithereens"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/","name":"Album Review: Bottler - Smithereens - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-19T10:01:12+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:33:45+00:00","description":"Bottler\u2019s EP is one of the most humourous, fun EPs I\u2019ve heard in a long time. Sounding like a mix of Frank Carter\u2019s Gallows, John Cooper Clarke and a","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-bottler-smithereens\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_inline_n2lcnby2NO1qheirv.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38561,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932\/revisions\/38561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}