Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1
Encyclopedia
Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 is the debut album from English
steampunk
band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing
. The album, released by the band's own record label
, Leather Apron, is the first steampunk-based album to be released in the United Kingdom, consisting of 11 tracks.
The album was released on CD
and digital download
and as a limited edition
set containing one track on a phonographic wax cylinder
. It is the first time a musical track has been released commercially as a wax cylinder in Britain
since 1922.
", and a set of instructions on how to build a phonograph
so you can play the cylinder for less than £
20. The limited edition set is sold by Vagrants Among Ruins, the publishers of Steampunk Magazine
.
The editor of Steampunk Magazine, Ms C. Allegra Hawksmoor, said that one of the reasons for creating the cylinders was that: "Wax cylinders are one of the first forerunners of recording technology, they're a piece of history that has been lost in the ceaseless drive for progress, and it's really nice to be doing something to bring a little of that back." It is not yet known if more limited editions set will be made for Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 or for any of the band's future albums. Hawksmoor claims that the idea for creating the wax cylinder was from band member Andy Heintz.
genre and Neo-Victorian
ism. The style of the music has been described as: "Part Victorian Music Hall
, part punk rock
, stuffed full of barbed pop hooks and with tongue firmly in cheek".
Amongst the songs include "Steph(v)enson", which is a song about four famous Victorians named either Stephenson or Stevenson: George Stephenson
, Robert Stephenson
, Robert Stevenson
and Robert Louis Stevenson
. "Moon" concerns a hot air balloon
journey to the Moon with Jules Verne
, H.G. Wells and Captain Nemo
. "Goggles" is a song praising "hard-fighting women mechanics", referencing the steampunk fashion of wearing goggles
. O'Neill claims that "'Goggles' is an explicitly feminist song." "Bedlam" is about people visiting the Bethlem Royal Hospital
, a psychiatric hospital
better known as the Bedlam. "etiquette
" is about various rules concerning Victorian social behaviour and manners.
"Charlie" is about Charles Darwin
and ironically mocks the Victorians' reception of his theory of evolution
. "Sewer (live)" is a cover of the music hall
standard 'They're Moving Fathers Grave To Build A Sewer', about graves being dug up to build new sewer
s. The recording of "Sewer" on the CD and download features samples of a traditional English pub taken from a BBC
sound effects CD, and uses digital technology to create the impression of an old live recording. The version of the song released on phonographic cylinder is a 'straight' recording without sound effects or digital manipulation. "A Traditional Victorian Gentlemens Boasting Song" is a song in which each of the band members performs an act of one-upmanship
on each other. "Blood Red" is a satire
on the way the British Empire
expanded and exploited other countries' resources. The song features reconstructed extracts and a rendition of the traditional Welsh
male voice choir song "Men of Harlech
" from the film Zulu
in the performance.
said of the album: "For a long time, we have been waiting for a band that likes to mix a little punk into their Victoriana, and now, with the release of the Men's debut album Now That's What I Call Steampunk Volume 1, we finally have it. The album is filled with guitar-and-drum-driven cockney punk songs, complete with the musical saw and comedy lyrics that have made the Men notorious.".
Freq described it as "the Victorian Wave of British Heavy Metal," referencing the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
. Rock Sound
Magazine awarded the album 8/10. Jim Sharples of Big Cheese
magazine said that the album was "Outstanding".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing
The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing are a steampunk band from London. Their name is a reference to the chalked graffiti discovered above a section of blood-stained apron thought to have been discarded by Jack the Ripper as he fled the scene of Catherine Eddowes' murder...
. The album, released by the band's own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Leather Apron, is the first steampunk-based album to be released in the United Kingdom, consisting of 11 tracks.
The album was released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and digital download
Uploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
and as a limited edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
set containing one track on a phonographic wax cylinder
Phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
. It is the first time a musical track has been released commercially as a wax cylinder in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
since 1922.
Production
The album was released commercially on 24 May 2010 on the band's own music label, Leather Apron. It was released mainly as a CD and as a digital download. There was also a selection of limited edition boxsets which included phonographic wax cylinder records of individual tracks, created by Poppy Records. Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 is the first official wax cylinder release by a British band since 1922. So far, 40 have been made, of which 10 were reserved for the band. Each limited edition pack contained the full CD, the track "Sewer" recorded on the wax cylinder, a "lyrics newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
", and a set of instructions on how to build a phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
so you can play the cylinder for less than £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
20. The limited edition set is sold by Vagrants Among Ruins, the publishers of Steampunk Magazine
Steampunk Magazine
Steampunk Magazine is an online and print semi-annual magazine devoted to the steampunk subculture. It is published under a Creative Commons license, and is free for download...
.
The editor of Steampunk Magazine, Ms C. Allegra Hawksmoor, said that one of the reasons for creating the cylinders was that: "Wax cylinders are one of the first forerunners of recording technology, they're a piece of history that has been lost in the ceaseless drive for progress, and it's really nice to be doing something to bring a little of that back." It is not yet known if more limited editions set will be made for Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 or for any of the band's future albums. Hawksmoor claims that the idea for creating the wax cylinder was from band member Andy Heintz.
Musical styles and themes
The music in Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 mainly has a steampunk theme, in that most of the music is based on the steampunk sci-fiScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genre and Neo-Victorian
Neo-Victorian
Neo-Victorian is an aesthetic movement which amalgamates Victorian and Edwardian aesthetic sensibilities with modern principles and technologies...
ism. The style of the music has been described as: "Part Victorian Music Hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, part punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, stuffed full of barbed pop hooks and with tongue firmly in cheek".
Amongst the songs include "Steph(v)enson", which is a song about four famous Victorians named either Stephenson or Stevenson: George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
, Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
, Robert Stevenson
Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)
Robert Stevenson FRSE MInstCE FSAS MWS FGS FRAS FSA was a Scottish civil engineer and famed designer and builder of lighthouses.One of his finest achievements was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse.-Early life:...
and Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
. "Moon" concerns a hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
journey to the Moon with Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, H.G. Wells and Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
. "Goggles" is a song praising "hard-fighting women mechanics", referencing the steampunk fashion of wearing goggles
Goggles
Goggles or safety glasses are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and in woodworking. They are often used in snow sports as well,...
. O'Neill claims that "'Goggles' is an explicitly feminist song." "Bedlam" is about people visiting the Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital
The Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in London, United Kingdom and part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at its original location, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses....
, a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
better known as the Bedlam. "etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
" is about various rules concerning Victorian social behaviour and manners.
"Charlie" is about Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and ironically mocks the Victorians' reception of his theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. "Sewer (live)" is a cover of the music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
standard 'They're Moving Fathers Grave To Build A Sewer', about graves being dug up to build new sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
s. The recording of "Sewer" on the CD and download features samples of a traditional English pub taken from a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sound effects CD, and uses digital technology to create the impression of an old live recording. The version of the song released on phonographic cylinder is a 'straight' recording without sound effects or digital manipulation. "A Traditional Victorian Gentlemens Boasting Song" is a song in which each of the band members performs an act of one-upmanship
One-upmanship
One-upmanship is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor.The term originated as the title of a book by Stephen Potter, published in 1952 as a follow-up to The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship and Lifemanship titles in his series of tongue-in-cheek self-help books, and film ...
on each other. "Blood Red" is a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on the way the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
expanded and exploited other countries' resources. The song features reconstructed extracts and a rendition of the traditional Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
male voice choir song "Men of Harlech
Men of Harlech
"Men of Harlech" or "The March of the Men of Harlech" is a song and military march which is traditionally said to describe events during the seven year long siege of Harlech Castle between 1461 and 1468. Commanded by Constable Dafydd ap Ieuan, the garrison held out in what is the longest known...
" from the film Zulu
Zulu (film)
Zulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....
in the performance.
Reception
A reviewer in Steampunk MagazineSteampunk Magazine
Steampunk Magazine is an online and print semi-annual magazine devoted to the steampunk subculture. It is published under a Creative Commons license, and is free for download...
said of the album: "For a long time, we have been waiting for a band that likes to mix a little punk into their Victoriana, and now, with the release of the Men's debut album Now That's What I Call Steampunk Volume 1, we finally have it. The album is filled with guitar-and-drum-driven cockney punk songs, complete with the musical saw and comedy lyrics that have made the Men notorious.".
Freq described it as "the Victorian Wave of British Heavy Metal," referencing the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
. Rock Sound
Rock Sound
Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts.-History:...
Magazine awarded the album 8/10. Jim Sharples of Big Cheese
Big Cheese (magazine)
Big Cheese is an independent British magazine which covers alternative music including rock, punk, and metal amongst others. It is circulated monthly.-Features:...
magazine said that the album was "Outstanding".
Track listing
- "Etiquette" - 2:10
- "Steph(v)enson" - 3:51
- "Bedlam" - 2:56
- "Goggles" - 2:30
- "Sewer (Live)" - 2:15
- "Boilerplate Daniel" - 2:09
- "Moon" - 4:00
- "A Traditional Victorian Gentlemens Boasting Song" - 2:14
- "Victorian Grindcore" - 0:14
- "Blood Red" - 4:17
- "Charlie" - 2:58