Our good friend Tony Thornborough (The Be Reet Radio Show) contacted us a while back with news of an album that Oldham band Drink and Drive had completed their album. Tony, a big fan of the band, who was one of the first DJs to share them with the outside world, suggested that the band had lots in common with the German Shepherd brand. The sample track that Tony sent through (see below) was more than enough to convince us that this was a band that would fit perfectly in the German Shepherd kennel. Contacts were made and ideas were swapped, Ian went to see them in Oldham, and Bob started on the background work to lead us to releasing the bands debut album “This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food” on December 1st.

Here is a taster, the massive six minute opener “The Itch-Scratch Cycle” (the aforementioned sample track that grabbed our attention)

Forthcoming gigs for the band……

December 23rd – The Bank Top Tavern, Oldham 
December 30th – The Witchwood, Ashton 
January 24th – The Peer Hat, Manchester

The album was recorded at 6dB Studios (where a lot of releases are laid down) with the ever excellent Simon “Ding” Archer.

We will also be distributing the bands first EP in the new year which has only had a Bandcamp release so far.

Being lazy sods and far too busy watching Stranger Things 2 and Gotham we insisted the band to write their own interview and did far better job than we could ever hoped to have done…….. and this is what they came up with via Ben the vocalist…..

Brief history please…..

We formed in Oldham in 2008 because there was nothing else to do. They cut off our escape routes and we had to write songs to keep warm. The band was born out of pure spite and an utter disinterest in anything musical that was coming from our town. This makes us sound snobbish but we’re just being honest. We were bored and we wanted to make a racket for ourselves, we didn’t care if anyone liked us. Some people did, so we carried on.

What are the bands influences?

The horror of the mundane. I never wanted to write songs about girls or cars, leave that to the experts. I’m too emotionally retarded to write love songs. I write about the things I find on the street, found lyrics play a big part. Recurring themes are TV & Media, deviants, people I don’t like, bands I don’t like, awkward social situations and a complete bewilderment at modern life in general.

How would you describe the sound?

It’s basically the internal monologue of an alcoholic smartarse set to music. Heavy bass riffs, repetitive. Irritating.

What’s with the album title?

The title is taken from a health information poster of the early 80s. It was designed by Charles Saatchi and was in hospitals, doctors and clinics the length and breadth of the country. It had a profound and terrifying effect on me as a child.

What is the band’s ethos?

We just want to do our own thing, make outsider art and be left the fuck alone. We have no desire to be included in any kind of “scene” and as such distance ourselves from Manchester, we are from Oldham – it’s a different kettle of fish. We’ve always done everything ourselves, artwork, videos, promotion and all that. We’re not a political band but we are political people, when it was the Jubilee a few years back, Oldham had just been named in the top ten most deprived towns. So we put a gig on and distributed every last penny we made round the town, in little plastic wallets for people to find. Although as a gesture it’s akin to pissing in the wind, I were dead proud of that bit of positive anarchy.

Are you Spinal Tap? How many drummers have you had?

Dunno. About six? All of them apart from Jonny are under my patio. We have an initiation ceremony where each new drummer has to dig their own plot before we’ll allow them in to rehearsal.

Who is FP Moonbridge?

He’s like our fifth member. He’s a Milk Lab Technician we contacted psychically. He didn’t really like it at first because we kept sending him dead cats in his dreams but he’s now like our unofficial biographer. He drinks mild in halves.

Why did your original drummer leave?

He was sacked. I won a bottle of bourbon on the football card and the little bastard drank it all.

What is the point of “False Lib”?

What do you mean? That it’s not about anything? Doesn’t bother me that it’s throwaway. The guitar riff is the bass riff from “Hate Song” by Fudge Tunnel but don’t tell em.

How many versions of “Stars Without Make-Up” did you write before this one that you still can’t play?

Several. But that’s not really on me, I wrote the guitar part so I can play it. It’s our guitarist who can’t play it the same way twice, which again is fine by me. You never saw Bob Holness wear the same tie twice on Blockbusters did you?

Which Fall album are you planning on pillaging next?

This is just getting lazy now. We sound fuck all like the Fall really.