Smalltown Tigers Five Things

Le Smalltown Tigers presentano il video/singolo “Five Things” che anticipa l’uscita dell’omonimo album il 24 Aprile per Area Pirata Records, in versione digitale e in versione vinile per un numero limitato di 300 copie.
Il singolo segue “Just Friends” uscito lo scorso autunno e conferma quello che sarà il sound di questo primo mini album composto da 8 pezzi di puro garage punk marchiato anni 80. Grezzo e ruvido ma in grado di miscelare al punk dei Ramones il glam delle Runaways, sembra ispirarsi ai primi album delle The Donnas.

Prodotto dal sovrano del garage-punk Stiv Cantarelli, il disco registrato dal vivo da Ronin Roberto Villa e masterizzato dal leggendario produttore di Detroit Jim Diamond (Sonics, White Stripes, Dirtbombs) testimonia il carattere deciso e forte di questo trio romagnolo tutto al femminile.

Il trio, Valli (basso/voce), Monty (chitarra/voce), Castel (batteria/voce), si forma come gruppo solo nel 2018 ma il loro sound è in realtà frutto delle singole esperienze maturate negli anni all’interno del panorama punk, rock e metal.

Hanno già avuto occasione di farsi conoscere nel 2019 prima in Italia con un tour di spalla alle Baby Shakes e alcune date con i Not Moving LTD, e poi farsi notare oltre confine con un tour nel Regno Unito.

Il video girato dalla produttrice Amelia Wornell, proprio mentre la band era a Londra per i loro primi spettacoli in Gran Bretagna lo scorso autunno, è il perfetto biglietto da visita di questa giovane band.

Alessandro Pentassuglia – Punkadeka 16/04/2020

Ci mettono 22 minuti scarsi le Smalltown Tigers a tirare giù tutto il possibile e immaginabile.
In un lasso di tempo minimo, che manco nell’Hardcore anni ’80, il power trio all female targato Rimini assembla 8 tracce splendide dall’incedere ruffiano e poderoso, surfando un’onda immensa – e generata da 50 anni almeno di background sonico – con l’ardore incosciente e traballante della Prima Volta. Valli (basso/voce), Monty (chitarra/voce) e Castel (batteria/voce) non soffrono minimamente di un qualsivoglia complesso di inferiorità nei confronti dei loro numi tutelari, anzi li guardano dritti negli occhi pronte alla rissa.
Che siano Ramones o Runaways non fa differenza, perchè le Smalltown Tigers riescono a sfilarsi agilmente da paragoni (imbarazzanti) suonando di brutto dall’inizio alla fine dell’album: l’energia è sincera, la personalità è solida e acclarata, le canzoni filano via come zucchero filato dal retrogusto power pop, cosicchè il futuro prossimo venturo parrebbe una pura formalità da interpretare, però, senza eccessi di zelo.
Piacciono le Smalltown Tigers – e parecchio – soprattutto dal vivo, sia in Italia che all’estero dove ormai sono di casa. Ma attenzione, concentrazione, perchè tutto fili liscio la conditio sine qua non resta una e una sola: continuare a sognare ad occhi aperti.
“Five Things”, masterizzato dall’asso “detroitiano” Jim Diamond, è in uscita intorno al 24 Aprile sempre per i kids di Area Pirata.
Pigliatelo al volo!

Davide Monteverdi – Razzputin Crew Milano 07/04/2020

 

Core de Roma!

Sappiamo bene quanto sia stato sempre difficile emergere nel mondo della musica in Italia, soprattutto se si usa il linguaggio del rock nelle sue svariate sfumature. Se poi ci si ostina a non cantare in italiano, la strada diventa sempre impervia. Se poi si milita in una band tutta al femminile e ci si propone di suonare punk rock, allora tutto diventa più difficile. Non so se le ragazze che compongono le Smalltown Tigers si sono poste questo problema, né ci importa più di tanto visto che su queste pagine cerchiamo di scrivere di musica e dischi che abbiano ragione di esistere, seppure in un mercato che riserva non molte soddisfazioni a chi vi opera.
“Five Things” è l’album di debutto del trio romagnolo ed uscirà il prossimo 24 aprile in versione LP in edizione limitata a 300 copie, e che giunge a compimento di un percorso di crescita che ha portato le ragazze riminesi a farsi conoscere dapprima nel circuito garage punk italiano, suonando da spalla a leggende del rock italico come i Not Moving LTD, e nomi di spessore della scena power pop newyorchese come le Baby Shakes nel loro tour italiano dello scorso anno, ma anche volando oltre manica e dividendo i palchi con altrettanti gruppi femminili in ascesa che rispondono ai nomi di The Speedways, The Menstrual Cramps e Hagar The Womb.
Dopo una fase di preproduzione curata con l’ausilio di Stiv Cantarelli (Satellite Inn, SC and The Silent Stranger, J.D. Hangover e l’Abbiati Cantarelli Conspirancy) che ha visto al lavoro Valli (basso/voce) e Monty (chitarra voce), l’arrivo di Castel (batteria/voce) in formazione, serve a definire i contorni musicali che uniscono punk e glam a massicce dosi di rock’n’roll stradaiolo, che rendono la loro proposta estremamente godibile. Gli otto brani del disco tra i quali spiccano il singolo “Just Friends“, la trascinante “Runaway Girl“, la crampsiana “Darling Please” mostra di che pasta sono fatte le ragazze che non hanno paura di mettere in mostra i loro nomi tutelari che sono riconducibili ad una sacra triade composta da Ramones-B’52-Runaways, senza sembrare per nulla derivative. Il disco è suonato in presa diretta in studio e registrato dal Ronin Roberto Villa e masterizzato da un nome leggendario come quello di Jim Diamond (The Dirtbombs, White Stripes) che rendono il prodotto finale estremamente godibile. Non resta quindi che mettere sul piatto il disco, alzare il volume e lasciarsi andare

Eliseno Sposato – Sotterranei Pop 29/03/2020

 

Volete una soluzione alla noia della quarantena? In arrivo le Smalltown Tigers, tre Glam Punk Rockers romagnole con il loro album di debutto Five Thing.

Credetemi sono la giusta soluzione. Energia allo stato puro, un roccioso mix di punk rock sound e attitudine glam.

L’album è stato registrato su bobina da 1″ interamente live in studio. Il tutto senza sovraincisioni e assoli di chitarra. Basta così? Certo che no perché c’è anche lo zampino del guru del garage punk “Detroit” Jim Diamond.

Ancora una volta Area Pirata ha fatto centro!

Maurizio Galli- musicalmind 03/05/2020

Qualche sera fa sfogliavo un vecchio numero di quella splendida rivista che fu Sottoterra; un esperienza magnifica alla quale anch’io ho dato il mio modesto contributo. Su quel numero c’era una mia column intitolata “Speriamo che sia femmina” nella quale parlavo dei nuovi album delle Darts e delle Cleopatras (ed accennavo a due band che ho nel cuore quali le Wide Hips 69 e le Bomb-o-nyrics).

Sorvolando sul contenuto di quelle righe quel che tentavo di dire era che, in un mondo in larga parte maschile come quello del rock’n’roll, ci sono gruppi di ragazze (donne) che sanno il fatto loro e che nulla hanno da invidiare alla stragrande maggioranza dei loro colleghi maschi. E come dicevo per telefono con Lorena – che delle sopracitate Wide Hips è la chitarrista – non esiste un rock al femminile, esiste il rock, chiunque lo suoni.

Tale discorso vale ovviamente anche per le riminesi Smalltown Tigers che se ne escono con questo breve ma intenso ellepì per i tipi di Area Pirata etichetta che, solitamente, quando da alle stampe un disco dimostra di vederci assai lungo. Five Things parte subito alla grande con il pezzo che da il titolo all’album e nel quale viene concentrata la rabbia delle prime Hole tanto da poter affermare che si tratti della loro My beautiful son.

Proseguendo nell’ascolto fanno sobbalzare dalla sedia Darling Please! – il mio pezzo preferito – dove i ritmi si fanno più lenti e viziosamente crampsiani e Runaway Girl dove, oltre a massicce dosi di glam, si intravvede il lato più pop delle nostre nello stile dei primi Blondie.

E poi non venitemi a dire che Poison Ivy non fosse (sia) uno dei personaggi più rock’n’roll fra quelli che hanno deambulato sulle strade di questo triste mondo, a prescindere dal sesso. Una sola avvertenza, ho provato ad ascoltare la prima volta questo disco a volume contenuto per non molestare i vicini.

Bene, sappiate che è la cosa sbagliata da farsi, quindi girate la manopola dell’amplificatore e sparatelo più alto che potete , solo così riuscirete davvero a capirne e goderne l’essenza.

Luca Calcagno – InYourEyes ‘zine 07/05/2020

Punk sporco e indolente, una voce catarrosa che fa da contraltare a melodie allo zucchero filato avariato e un’urgenza, come si dice in questi casi, che ti riconcilia con il mondo. Le Smolltown Tigers sono tre teppiste di Rimini che suonano un rok’n’roll cattivo e senza pretese, pieno di coretti deliziosi e guidato da un suono di chitarra minimale ed eccitante. Per quel che mi riguarda hanno tutti gli ingredienti della band perfetta. Non fanno nulla per farsi piacere e invece sono irresistibili. Questo lp di 8 pezzi targato Area Pirata arriva dopo un ottimo e promettente singolo uscito qualche mese fa. Ma quello era solo l’antipasto: con “Five things” le ragazze dimostrano che ci sanno fare alla grande. “Girl”, il secondo pezzo in scaletta, è una vera bomba, così come “Runaway girl”, con quel ritornello zoppicante e quel riff clamoroso, che ti entra subito in testa. Ma tutte le otto canzoni in scaletta sono dei veri gioielli. L’album sembra registrato 45 anni fa, agli albori del punk, quando una manciata di band decise di resuscitare il vecchio rock’n’roll, con una dose di cattiveria in più. Non voglio tirarla troppo per le lunghe, ma credo proprio che “Five things” si candidi a diventare uno dei dischi più belli usciti quest’anno. Non è un caso che le Smalltown Tigers siano in piedi da poco tempo, ma abbiano già suonato in giro per l’Europa.

Diego Curcio – Huskercore blog 09/05/2020

 

Ci mettono meno loro a sbranare il rock ‘n’roll che Carlo Cracco a fare la mise en place. E questo già mi piace.

E poi vestono un po’ alla Ramones e dei fratellini newyorkese conoscono a memoria tutti i pezzi. Come me, che però non li so suonare.

Su Five Things però i pezzi sono tutti di tasca loro e al di là delle sciocche analogie che viene facile facile tirare fuori dal cilindro ogni qualvolta si tratta di parlare delle ragazze che fanno del bubblegum rock, le analogie con le varie Runaways, Joan Jett o Suzi Quatro non sono neppure così vere. Degli amplessi chitarristici di cui i dischi di quelle erano pieni, qui non ne troverete neppure l’ombra ad esempio. Tutto è molto più “punk”, più elementare, più essenziale, più basico. Strofa-ritornello-strofa-ritornello-strofa-ritornello-strofa-ritornello-strofa-ritornello come in The Bitch, I Want It Now, Runaway Girl o in Find Myself Another Name. Che qui non c’è neppure tempo e voglia di costruire ponti. E quando ci sono, come sul pezzo di chiusura, servono solo per urlare ancora più forte, mica per farsi le seghe. Che di questi tempi sono tornate di grande attualità, peraltro, quindi se quello che amate è il lavoro da amanuense solitario, state alla larga da qui. E pure da me.

Lys Di Mauro 10/04/2020

Dopo il successo ottenuto con il singolo/video di debutto “Just Friend” la band femminile arriva al loro primo album. Romagnole, di Rimini, con una base fatta di concerti in centri sociali e party on the beach, tanto amore per il punk alla Ramones ma anche il surf punk che accomuna tantissime bands. Una serie di date a Londra che hanno lasciato il segno in ottobre 2019. Un gruppo che si diverte e diverte, sincero e vero quanto basta, un disco godibilissimo per gli amanti del genere. Darling Please!

Stefano Ballini – Trippa Shake Webzine 09/05/2020

Queste tre tigri romagnole debuttano alla grande con questo disco, dopo aver ottenuto un discreto successo con il singolo “Just friends”.

Con un pedigree di tutto rispetto, in quanto nonostante siano giovanissime, hanno già suonato a Londra, il disco è stato registrato da Roberto Villa (Ronin) e mixato da Jim Diamond (The Dirtbombs, White Stripes) e hanno condiviso il palco con i Not Moving LTD. Figlie più che legittime dei Ramones e del glam-punk suonano una miscela tra il sound dei quattro fratelli e dei B52 del periodo 1976-78.

Gli otto brani, contenuti in 22 minuti, sono strutturati con cori, ritornelli chitarre roteanti e ovviamente aggressività punk da vendere. La title-track evoca le riot girls e in “Find myself another name” le chitarre sono particolarmente affilate.

Se “Ther bitch” è tirata, Con “Darling please!” suonano un punk rancoroso e “Runaway Gal” è purissimo e distillato punk-rock: insomma queste tigri con i loro graffi e ruggiti ci riportano nella New York del CBGB!

Vittorio Lanutti – RockOn.It – 22/05/2020

 

Arrivano dall’ Area Pirata Records, sono tre ragazze e trasudano garage-punk dal sapore d’oltreoceano. Un Punk armonico (scusate l’ossimoro) che caratterizza l’originale trio femmineo, pronto a dare inizio ad un disco rude e intenso.

Definito da ritmica in battere e da sporchi ma intellegibili passaggi, la band da battesimo al loro Five things con la titletrack e Just friends, tracce pronte a virare su stilemi passatisti che, a più riprese (Darling please!), ci portano vicino al Surf rock anni ’60. Rafforzata da una vitale sezione ritmica, la giovane band si mostra in grado di ammorbidire gli essenziali spigoli del proprio sound, all’interno di una setlist perfetta nel disegnare uno sguardo in cui il punk rock funge da collante ad accorte divergenze strutturali.

L’album, vestito da una buona cover art vintage, ci offre ottime impalcature emozionali, anche grazie alle toniche di Find myself another name e agli stop and go di Girl, in cui alle distorsioni si affiancano armonie più accoglienti ed easy.

Se poi con I want it now le Small Town Tigers ci portano ad una deliziosa linearità posta tra grinta “Pink Ladies” e l’immediatezza di semplici accordi, è con la linea vocale che paiono pronte ad ammaliare gli astanti, nel tentativo, peraltro riuscito, di arrivare ad un pubblico più ampio rispetto a quello che si può presumere dopo un primo ascolto.

Vi basterà ascoltare la conclusiva The Bitch per chiedervi, per davvero… “Ma perché mai le Small Town Tigers non dovrebbero passare su Virgin Radio?”

Loris Gualdi – Music on TNT 07/06/2020

Tre ragazze di Rimini che suonano come delle novelle Runaways, Suzi Quatro o delle Girlschool senza metal e con un marcato amore per il garage-punk e il glam anni Settanta, musica diretta, senza fronzoli, con la giusta dose di sporcizia e di energia, ma anche giri sinuosi che si infilano in mente al primo ascolto come in “Darling Please!” e l’efficacia delle cose semplici ma capaci di far ciondolare a tempo.
La loro è musica con le radici salde nello scorso millennio e che ben si potrebbe definire vintage, ma è anche la tipica proposta senza tempo e fresca nel suo azzeccare i cori giusti e non scadere mai nello stucchevole, cosa per nulla facile quando strizzi l’occhio al power-pop e tenti di rendere immediatamente memorizzabile un pugno di anthem che rispecchiano fedelmente i titoli, brevi e senza tanti giri di parole. Per ottenere la resa ottimale e conservare il giusto tiro, i brani sono stati registrati live (ad esclusione della voce) e affidati al mix analogico di Roberto Villa, infine sottoposti ad un nome importante della scena garage-punk di Detroit, ovverosia Jim Diamond (Dirtbombs, White Stripes), per il master finale, accorgimenti che permettono a questo Five Things di presentarsi con il fascino ruvido e la credibilità che un suono troppo pulito/laccato avrebbe compromesso in modo irrimediabile. In breve, tutto torna e viene trattato con la giusta attenzione ai dettagli, i pezzi ci sono così come il giusto piglio scanzonato e sguaiato caro al genere, ogni tanto si infiltra anche quel tocco un po’ kitsch dei B-52s a donare un che di esotico al tutto, così da coinvolgere l’ascoltatore e soprattutto e fargli venir voglia di vedersele dal vivo (cosa che speriamo torni possibile quanto prima).
Se le coordinate descritte finora vi intrigano e non disdegnate un bel tuffo nel garage-punk del periodo d’oro, vi consigliamo di fare un giro sull’ottovolante di queste ragazze, non sarà dotato di effetti speciali e tecnologia all’avanguardia, ma sa ripagare il prezzo del biglietto e non fa assolutamente rimpiangere il tempo speso.

Michele Giorgi – The New Noise 24/06/2020

Be warned Italo-Punx Smalltown Tigers have just released one hell of an addictive mini-album. ‘Five Things’ bubbles with the Stooges kissing Nirvana riffs, spat out, harmonious and slurred vocals plus some sugar motoring fur brushed bass.
Opener ‘Just Freinds’ thunders from early to present day Punk with every related sub-genre in between getting squeezed into the Smalltown Tigers cage. Next up is the beach riff on ‘Girl’ which cuts ‘n’ surfs the Grunge waters with some prime time attitude. The songs fifties high school dance sound leads beautifully into the modern trash can racket and if the band were ever asked to play Arnolds they’d probably stick Fonz’s head in the deep fat fryer. ‘Raw Power’ isn’t so much copied, more gyrated against as ‘Another Name’ whisks some early Iggy into the mix before ‘Runaway Gal’ spins ‘n’ twirls in a beautifully distorted cacophony of noise. The happy days’ soundtrack returns for the chorus corruption of ‘Darling Please’ while ‘I Want It Now’ stands by the record machine dripping in leather, smeared eyeliner as a tilted cowboy boot heel taps the jukebox. The Smalltown Tigers aren’t reinventing the wheel more like dragging it to their own garage and patching it up with duct tape before blindly rolling it down the middle of the strip. ‘The Bitch’ has more fuzz than sesame street before album closer and title track ‘Five Things’ pounds the heart, head and senses into Smalltown Tigers submission.

grade: 9/10

Guy Shankland – Original Rock.net 10/04/2020

 

The Smalltown Tigers are three young Italian punk girls straight out of Rimini on a mission to infect the world with there brand of low-fi grunge punk and this 22-minute-long 8 song mini album is almost the bands manifesto or at the very least a calling card to get them out and playing loads of live shows as soon as that’s possible again.

The album is produced by Stiv Canterelli from The Silent Strangers and is mainly recorded live in the studio without overdubs to keep it sounding good and raw.

The Mini-album opens with Just Friends, that was also the bands Debut single last year when they came over on the bands first UK tour, it’s a great low-fi punk message to let someone know you are Just Friends that reminds me a good bit of the Voodoo Queens in it’s rough around the edges grunge punk appeal and it has a chorus that you’ll want to chant along too.

Girl has a cool simple guitar riff that they then tell us what they think of the particular Girl this full-throated song is about and it has a similar sort of sound to the Irish garage punk band September Girls.

Find Myself Another Name ups the energy levels and will get the mosh pit going as you slowly work out how much they have re-worked New Rose into an anthem to escaping and making your own life with a new name.

Runaway Girl is very similar to The Healthy Junkies Runaway Devil and that’s no bad thing and it sounds like this Runaway Girl might be fleeing from the same sort of problems although I think in this case the Runaway girl is a bit older than 12 but not much and hopefully she doesn’t suffer the fate of The healthy Junkies devil.

Darling Please! sounds a bit grungier and more like Pretty On The Inside era Hole but with lyrics that put it more in line with Maid Of Ace and could easily be played in more of Oi! Punk style than the one it currently borders on as they stand there ground.

I Want It Now well of course you do and with enough energy and if they are allowed to go out and tour this properly this has all the signs it could be a great fist pumping anthem.

The Bitch isn’t about that Joan Collins film thankfully but is a bile ridden rant against a bitch that has done the Smalltown Tigers wrong and they are ready to reap their revenge in a good low-fi garage punk style.

Five Things lets you know that you might have Five things to think about but only one is really essential, you’ll need to listen to this properly catchy punk song to figure out just what those Five Things are and then to decide if you need to share them with everyone on Facebook, I’m sure They wouldn’t do anything that lame mind you.

Our rating: 7/10
Simonovitch – whisperinandhollerin.com 24/04/2020

There’s something about the raw, classic punk rock sound that hits you just right when you hear it. The combination of influences from 1960’s rock-n-roll smashes into its unapologetic stance against the mainstream and keeps it walking its own rebellious path while giving us that specific punch we didn’t know we needed. Since 2018, Italy’s Smalltown Tigers has channeled those influences and poured them into their music. Following the success of “Just Friends,” and riding the wave of their most current single “Five Things,” the trio is now getting set to release their debut mini-album Five Things later this month (April 2020). With the 1-2 punch of “Five Things” and “Just Friends” kicking things off, we’re instantly introduced to their lo-fi, garage punk sound that leans on crunchy guitars, riot grrrl inspired vocals, and brash, in-your face lyrics.
They perfectly bookend this beginning with the closing track “The Bitch,” which brings a similar style to the album to close it out. But it’s what’s in between that gives us our full spectrum look at who Smalltown Tigers are overall. While they stay mostly in the garage punk pocket, they offer a lot of bending and stretching to the edges of that proverbial box. “Another Name” takes a page from the Sex Pistols handbook by giving us a snotty flare, they give us an irresistible clap along melody on the Joan Jett infused rocker “I Want It Now,” shift into a vibey, 1960’s surf inspired guitar on “Girl,” and complete the puzzle with a the Bond-like, spy feel of “Darling Please.”
Over only 8-songs, Smalltown Tigers gives us all the different pieces of who they are while still retaining their signature sound, but they also keep us guessing as to what will flow from our speakers when the next song plays.

All Ages Zine 01/05/2020

In a time when all the reports and news coming out of the beautiful country of Italy (I’ve spent two of my best ever holidays there) is negative and tinged with sadness, I’m delighted to have something positive to report. That news is, Valli (Bass, Vocals), Monty (Guitar, Vocals) & Castel (Drums, Vocals), collectively known as Smalltown Tigers have released a mini album, Five Things. A release, in more ways than one, that is brimming with bold defiance.

&West started back in the mid seventies (there is perhaps a nod to them here on a track called Runaway Girl), add a bit Joey Ramone’s swagger, and a slice of sneering Lydon attitude and you’re part of the way there. If you then chuck in the edgy rawness and ire of the likes of Babes in Toyland/Bikini Kill and the rasping brusque vocals from frontwomen unafraid to speak their minds like Courtney Love and Brody Dalle, you’re about there.

The Ginger Quiff – neilho27 07/05/2020

Eight tracks (not Five) of raw, guttural, furious glam punk’n’roll with lashing of brashness and attitude. I defy you not to be pogoing along, these songs are a joy to behold. Fuck the whole world – I don’t bloody care anymore…I need these tunes in my lockdown playlist. Time to let my, increasingly long, hair down…

From the infectious opening bars of the stonking Just Friends I’m putty in their hands. From then on in, I’m hooked. A bit of Pistols riffing in Girl, a hint of Devilgate Drive at the start of Find Myself Another Name. Cramps like tendencies in Darling Please! Spitting venom in The Bitch. Full on Ramones punk rock attack on Five Things. All that’s missing is the 1,2,3,4 intro…What is not to love?

Dear Italy, as impressive as they are, you can keep yer Pavarotti’s & Bocelli’s, send us over more of this sort of stuff (and Giuda). Cheers, the GQ.

Don’t sit back and wait for the lockdown to be over. Get this ordered now (the posties are among my favourite people just now) and make the most of your extra time getting to know Smalltown Tigers.

Raw, Guttural, Furious Glam Punk’n’Roll

Depending on how you view such things punk is either one of two things. Either it was a time and a place, a musical event that can be marked with a cross on the timeline of musical history, something that is now only accessed by the shockwaves it set in motion. Or it is an attitude, an approach, a swagger, perhaps even, if it isn’t riding the hyperbole too hard to make such a statement, a way of life.

If it is the latter, and this is the side of things that I come down on, then Smalltown Tigersare punk as fuck! ‘Scuse the language. Anyone who cuts their teeth playing Ramones songs at squat gigs, opened for the likes of Baby Shakes and The Menstrual Cramps and who sounds like The Ramones jamming with The B52’s whilst working as Joan Jett’s pick-up band, has nothing left to prove in those stakes.

What is great for a band so far removed, chronologically speaking that is, from the initial punk spark is that they carry all of the necessary influences which poured into the generic crucible in the first place, the New York version at least. Girl is that 60’s girl group sound turned from sugar and spice and all things nice into riffs and wails and puppy-dogs’ tails, Darling Please is the ghost of The Runaways strutting their stuff and the title track and opening salvo is the perfect reminder that punk was just the bastard offspring of rock and pop, the result of a drunken dalliance in a midnight back alley somewhere on the Lower East Side, an ill-judged fumble which both parties constantly try to deny ever happened.

I’m not going to be as dramatic as to say that Smalltown Tigers are re-inventing punk, but they are reminding us of where it came from. Forget year zero, Five Things is the sound of the few years prior to that, before there was a plan, if there was ever a plan, before there was a name for this new noise, before there was any semblance of a scene. No, it doesn’t reinvent punk but it does help to steer it back on to its original course bit, the one it was on before the identikit mohican and bondage trouser clan took over.

Or for the more mathematical amongst you here is the above review expressed as a formula.

3 punks + 4 Chords + (5 Things / 8 songs) = One great album.

Dancing About Architecture.com – Dave Franklin 05/05/2020

Smalltown Tigers are a three-piece all-girl garage-punk band from the Italian town of Rimini, and this is their debut mini-album.

Valli (bass, vocals) and Monty (guitar, vocals) got together in 2018 and cut their teeth playing Ramones songs at squats and beach parties.

After being joined by new drummer Castel in 2019, they hit the UK for the first time last October, playing with fast-rising bands The Speedways and The Menstrual Cramps and anarcho-punks Hagar The Womb.

Their debut single Just Friends was released at the back end of last year to rave reviews, and this eight-song mini-album is the follow-up.

If you like your punk served raw, with a big dash of glam, Smalltown Tigers might just be the best thing you’ve heard for a while.

Recorded mostly live in the studio to old-school analog tape, with no overdubs, they mix the grungey sound of The Runaways with the rock ‘n’ roll chops of Suzi Quatro, and the anger of riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill.

After opening with the swashbuckling title track, which reminds me of The Donnas, we get the aforementioned single Just Friends, and I’m immediately taken by its lo-fi sound and attitude-filled vocals.

Girl, with its seductive riff and off-kilter backing ooohs, is even more alluring, and suddenly, three tracks in, I’m hooked. Find Myself Another Name has fuzzy guitar and a propulsive bassline which Johnny Thunders and Richard Hell would surely approve of,
Runaway Gal‘s sleazy riff sounds inspired by Buzzcocks‘ Boredom, while the echoey surf guitar and driving bass of Darling Please owes more to US proto-punks like The Stooges than ’70s UK pioneers.

I Want It Now adds handclaps and Strokes-like riffs, while closing track The Bitch brings home the realisation that it’s probably not a good idea to get on this wrong side of this girl gang.

Sadly, the Tigers’ scheduled May UK dates have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they hope to line up some new dates for the autumn, by which time they’ll be raring to go.

IPA Music UK- Gary Welford 01/05/2020

What’s Smalltown Tigers about?/ Where did the name come from?

A friend came up with it, for no particular reason.

We liked it & we thought that the name reflected who we are & where we come from.
We come from a small town in the north east of Italy, Rimini, so …& why Tigers? Well, the tiger is a feline & we feel a bit like that.
Of course we could have chosen cats, but Smalltown Cats sounded weird for a non-rockabilly band.

What inspires you to play music?

The bands we listened to when we were kids & the dreams of living the life of our idols has been our main inspiration & the leading force that brought us here.
But what keeps us going is the adrenaline of the stage. It’s the desire to play always & everywhere. That’s our true passion.

What’s your writing process?

It’s some kind of a random thing.

Sometimes we find ourselves whistling a melody in our car – the Tigermobile! – and that same melody becomes a song in the rehearsal room.

Other times we just start from a text, a message never sent, something written in a moment of anger that any of us would need to become a song just for the sake of shouting it in the face of someone.

Mood & circumstances are usually very important.

Who are your main influences in music/life?

Our influences have changed over time. Of course, our main influence are The Ramones.

They not only shaped the way we play music but also the way we dress. Apart from them, we love anything punk rock from the 70’s to these days.

Regarding life, I guess we have different things that inspire us but the one thing that’s common for all three of us is reading. Books, all books, all kinds of them. Whether they talk about music, poetry or essays.

Tell us about your aesthetic!

We love our black leather jackets!

We actually like colours as well, but we always end up wearing a black look. You know, you can’t go wrong with black.

How would you sum “punk rock”?

Loud, fast, wild & cocky.

When you’re not doing band stuff what do you get up to?

Living with our music today is really hard, especially here in Italy & now, in this situation.
We all have day jobs that allows us to pay our bills. Apart from that we all go to the beach. Growing up in a coastal town, we love beaches.
Then in the time we have left we have many hobbies. Some of us love sports, some painting, but we all love to read & cook.

You guys have had an amazing year touring & playing with some great bands, what’s been the highlights?

Last year has been a great year!
As newly formed, in March 2019 we did a mini-tour as opening band with Baby Shakes from New York & it’s been amazing. Those girls are so cool, we learned so much from them that we couldn’t thank them enough.
In October, we played in England for the first time, & for the first time we travelled in London not just as tourists but also as musicians.
We all love London & really felt the spirit of punk music history over there, it’s been a blast to play in places like The Hope & Anchor knowing that we would step the same stage as rock’n’roll royalty.
We met so many people we never met before, or we just knew on social media. It put us in the perfect frame of mind for the gigs.
Performing & connecting with these people, it’s been amazing. There’s so many highlights that to list all of them would turn this interview into a novel but … before our first gig ever in London we lost a bag in a pub with all our passports & credit cards inside that would have turned the whole week into a mess! Luckily we came back to the same place after a few hours & find our bag untouched. That’s what rock’n’roll is about.

What does feminism mean to you? / What 1 thing could everyone be doing to make the scene a better place?

As you know, there are three of us, so if we each look deep inside ourselves, each of us can have different opinions about feminism that come from our individual ideas & experiences.
As an all-female band, & as friends, we’ve discussed & challenged each other on this topic & many others. Generally speaking, when we were younger we had a more radical view of feminism. But as we gained more life experience, some of our rebellious & less refined positions grew clearer, based on knowledge, as opposed to just pure passion.
We feel that women & all people should have the freedom to express themselves by following their own instincts, morals & beliefs. Women also have to have equal rights in the workplace & should feel safe from sexual harassment & discrimination.
We’re way past the time when women should be criticized about how they dress or their hair style at work. We also feel that when women prove that they can do a good job that they should get the same pay as men. Sadly, there are still a lot of problems when it comes to true equality.
As for what everyone could do about it, perhaps the first thing is to recognize that the problem of sexism still exists. We see it in marketing, advertising, pop culture, music lyrics, videos … everywhere. This has to change.
We also think that it can help if girls are empowered when they are young. They don’t have to accept sexism & can fight back. When there is an injustice, they should be encouraged to say something!
When someone tells you that girls should be wives & not rock’n’rollers, you should tell them to fuck off.
As a rule, we say be open to discuss these issues & support other women fighting the fight. As women, we need to continue to show men that we are equal. When Smalltown Tigers are onstage, we are not just women, we are rock musicians & we will kick ass just like men.

Tell us about your last release – what’s the feeling to it/what’s it about?

‘Five Things’, our first mini album, came out on April 24th. It’s a record about different moments in your life, when things don’t go exactly the way you have imagined them to do.
The whole mini-album is a collection of powerful rather melodic songs. It’s alive, loud, fast & powerful. That’s what Smalltown Tigers are about.
We like that little bit of anger just to make sure that everyone would understand the nature of the band. We like to play fast & we’ll be out there to prove it. Can’t wait for new year to come & (hopefully) hit the road again.

What’s next for you guys?

At the moment, our new video of the album’s title track ‘Five Things’ just came out & you could find it at link here.
Other than that, another single & another video will be issued pretty soon. We know this is our first record but we’re very proud of it & we want to keep it running as much as we can.
As for the future, I guess that this pandemic situation will allow us to take some extra time off working & playing, enabling us to work at some new songs, a thing we already started doing before we’ve been forced to isolation.

Five Things has a lot of bite & real grit to it – how did it come about?

First, we would like to pay our dues to Joan Jett & Suzi Quatro.
It’s been an honour to be compared to them, as they defined the role of the female bandleader during the ’70s where rock’n’roll was mainly ruled by men. Along with The Ramones, they have been vital for what we do.
As for our sound, it’s true that it’s a sum of what’s been played on our stereos since we were kids that we brought into the recording room along with the live experience. We recorded the whole album at L’AmorMioNonMuore studio in Forli, Italy. It’s an all analog studio, where they use reel-to-reel recorders & an old ’70s mixing desk. No computer tricks, just a bunch of tube amplifiers.
The whole process took really a few hours: we didn’t want to stack too many layers of sound in it just to make it sound bigger. Our goal was to create a raw & unfiltered sound, & I think that with the help of our producer Stiv Cantarelli & the mighty Jim Diamond, who crafted records for The White Stripes & Dirtbombs & made the final cut – we succeeded.

Dates for any upcoming shows/livestreams/releases etc?

We were due to make an England comeback in May for a record release tour, but that’s been cancelled because of the world situation. All the tour dates have been postponed to November & we really hope it could happen.
We are still optimistic that when this crisis will end we could be able to tour extensively & bring ‘Five Things’ to the stage anywhere in Europe they would want to have us!
About livestreams – for now the rules of lockdown over here in Italy don’t allow us to meet so it’s temporary undoable, but we’re already setting up the stage for doing it as soon as the rules will be loosened & allow us to be all together in the same room.
So please stay tuned on our social media channels & we’ll update this very soon �

How does the punk scene differ between London & Rimini? Or the UK & Italy?

As opposed to what many people may think, Rimini has always had a lively club scene since the ’80s. Although everything has changed since those days as most of the clubs where the action was have closed down.
Today most of the clubs only want tribute bands to play because it means easy money for them. But there’s still a whole underground scene going on around squats & private spaces where you could organize a party & see the best local bands play.
Despite this, nothing beats the UK when it comes to a live music scene! As said before, you could really feel you’re walking around the places where history has been made.
I know it’s more difficult to find your own spot & grow your following as there’s so many good bands out there, but we guess that in the end it’s all about the music.
Also, English fans seem to be more interested about new music & prepared when it comes to go out & enjoy it. We know sometimes they can be a bit more rowdy, but we rather choose that over indifference & apathy that seems to rule in most of any other places including Italy.

We love a roaring crowd, it turn us into tigers. Smalltown Tigers.

Victoria Louise Peckham – Kiss n Make-Up UK 21/05/2020

Smalltown Tigers are a young female trio from North Italy who play raucous rock and roll with a 70’s punk vibe.

The group, which consists of Valli (bass, vocals), Monty (guitar, vocals) and latest recruit Castel (drums), was formed out of the remnants of a Ramones cover band, and played their first UK tour last year.

They have just released their debut mini-album ‘Five Things’. Lo-fi and raw in sound, it was produced by cult producer and blues rock veteran Stiv Cantarelli, and whiplashes its way through a breathless and furious eight songs in just over twenty minutes.

Pennyblackmusic spoke to Valli about ‘Five Things’ and Smalltown Tigers’ career to date.

PB: You can hear the sound of the Runaways, Suzi Quatro, the Stooges and the early B-52s in your sound, which you then merge together into something of your own. How did you discover these acts?’
V: Well, they have been all part of the process of growing up as musicians and as a band. It’s easy for us to say that The Ramones have had the biggest influence on us since we discovered them as teenagers. After that day everything we used to listen to before started to sound dull and slow. Since then, we became interested in which bands have been influenced l by the Ramones and which bands have influenced the Ramones themselves, and we discovered bands like the Stooges or the MC5.

At the same time, being an all-female band (even when we just played Ramones covers) it led us to follow female models, and Joan Jett was too strong a personality to be ignored for the influence she had on all female musicians to express themselves, as well as Suzie Quatro. Other bands like B52s came later. Like many others. Like Motorhead, for example. I guess it’s a natural process for any band.

PB: How did develop from being a Ramones cover band to writing your own material?

V: We remain huge Ramones fans and we still enjoy playing their songs. I guess we never played a set without a Ramones song in it! We, however, wanted to try something new and more creative for a long time. In order for us to grow as musicians and still continue to be part of the local live scene, we needed to start a completely separate band, Smalltown Tigers, that could take the time to grow and hopefully bring our original music into a bigger scene.

At first, we hadn’t a clue about how to do it, but we’ve been lucky enough to meet veteran musicians like Stiv Cantarelli and Antonio Perugini of The Silent Strangers that helped us a lot. Stiv is a respected songrwriter on the underground scene, he taught us how to write and produced our music, turning it from ideas to final songs. From that point on, we dedicated ourselves to creating our own sound.

PB: You are from Rimini in Northern Italy, a city more renowned for opera and being cited in various Italian popular songs rather than its punk and new wave bands. Does it have a large underground scene?

V: That old stereotype of Northern Italy being stuck in the age of opera, it always makes us smile! Italians have been exposed to foreign music since the 40s, mostly American and British. Don’t forget that we were an unofficial US colony after the WWII…Italians love all genres of music: classic rock, new wave, metal and, of course, punk.

In the region around Rimini there’s always been a huge music scene since the late 70s. The best clubs and bars have always been from this area. Mods, rockers as well as the first new wave fans in Italy had festivals in this town since the 80s.

Now that scene’s almost gone, most of those clubs have closed and we didn’t experience any of that because of our age, but what’s left of the scene has spread throughout the whole region. These days there’s a large DIY punk scene that developed with the help of local musicians, internet radio and word of mouth. It’s also based on a punk YouTube channel runned by Canthc, a former punk/music journalist that almost every day talks about records, shows and new releases (mostly punk.

PB: Your songs are about remaining just friends with boys rather than making the mistake of going out with them, standing up for yourself, escaping your stifling small city roots and falling out with other girls. Are you writing about simply what you know?
V: I’ve been told that’s the first rule of songwriting…Yes, many of our lyrics are from our personal thoughts, experiences and feelings. Everyone has his own journey through life, but we try to capture the things that our listeners can identify with. Sometimes it’s just a story for the song, something fictionarl. The most important thing, though, is that the lyrics have to match the raw musical energy of the music. We’re not poets, we’re rock’n’rollers.

PB: Your songs are all in English. Did you ever consider singing in Italian or was that never an option?

V: When we first started writing originals, we tried to write some songs with Italian lyrics. We quickly realized that there’s a reason why English is the language of rock’n’roll. Our idiom doesn’t really fit the metric, the pace and the feeling of our songs, maybe because all the bands we learned from come from English-speaking countries. Sure, we don’t rule out writing in Italian, maybe we will change our minds in the future. For now we just want to write and sing in English.

PB: ‘Five Things’ has a wonderful, spiky, lo-fi sound and was recorded mainly live and without overdubs. Was it recorded very quickly?
V: Yes, our goal was to create a raw and unfiltered sound. We recorded the whole album at L’Amor Mio Non Muore studio in Forli, Italy. It’s an all-analogue studio, where they use reel-to-reel recorders and an old 70s mixing desk. No computer tricks, just ears and a bunch of tube amplifiers. The whole process took only a few hours: we didn’t want to stack too many layers of sound on it. It has to be live, loud, fast and powerful. That’s the Smalltown Tigers.

PB: Your album was mastered by Dirtbombs and White Stripes producer Jim Diamond. How did you persuade him to become involved?

V: It happened that some good friends of ours, a band from Arezzo called The Cogs, went to record with Jim Diamond in his studio in France. We listened to their record, loved the sound and, since they remained friends with Jim, they introduced us. Despite the incredible stature of the bands he produced and played with, he was happy to work with us. And we knew from the start that he would be the right person to craft our sound.

PB: You have a new drummer Castel. What has she brought to the sound?

V: She brought her own distinct sound: she’s so wild, tight and accurate. Having Castel provide such a steady and strong beat enabled us to stay focused during rehearsals and then allows us to perform on pure instinct and adrenaline for our live shows without having to bother too much about where the tempo goes. She’s our motor, and we wouldn’t make it without her.

PB: You played your first mini-tour of the UK last October. Did you enjoy the experience and what were the best things and worst things about it for you?

V: We love London. We felt the spirit of punk history and that helped us to find the right attitude when we were there. You know, taking the stage in places like The Hope and Anchor where the history of rock’n’roll has been written was a blessing, and a bit scary at the very beginning, but once you’re there you forget everything.

Performing and connecting with the audience was amazing. Our English friends can be a bit more rowdy than their Italian counterparts can, still they’re much more passionate for the music and this helped our performance for sure.

We spent the best part of a week in town playing gigs, shooting videos, hanging around special places all around East London, we nearly lost our bags with credit cards and passports while jumping from one pub to the other but everything have been great.

You know, it’s not for everybody to realize the rock’n’roll dreams you had when you were a kid. We’ve been blessed.

PB: You were due to come back here in May but that has been cancelled because of the world crisis. Have those dates been rescheduled? What else can we expect from Smalltown Tigers hopefully in the near future?

V: Yes, due to the crazy situation the tour dates have been postponed. At the moment it seems that November it may be good for a rescheduling and we really hope so, but you couldn’t say it for sure. We are still optimistic that when this crisis will end we can go on tour and bring ‘Five Things’ on stage all over Europe. In the meantime, the best thing we could do is spread our music as much as we could through radio stations, the web or anywhere somebody would want to have us. Continue to create new contents on social networks for all the people who follow us, rehearse in our own space, stay in touch with our amazing fans and hope for a brighter future.

PB: Thank you.

John Clarkson – pennyblackmusic.co.uk 27/05/2020

High energy punk that’s both familiar and new.
There’s something familiar about the Smalltown Tigers EP Five Things. Maybe it’s their obvious love of the late 70s sound. This could have something to do with their acknowledged influence: Joan Jett. Overall, these eight songs just feel like they should be listened to in a garage, so that’s what I did. I set up some speakers in my garage, sat down with a beer, and enjoyed myself.
The fuzzy sound of the instruments come across as a direct homage to the band’s 70s influences. The high energy playing mixed with the equally enthusiastic vocals is contagious. Before long, even without knowing what’s next, I found myself nodding along imagining seeing them live (God I miss shows). It doesn’t take long before the ladies, while staying true to their roots, put their own spin on the music. Songs like “Just a Friend” and “I Want it Now” stood out for how well the vocals and music complimented each other. While both of these tracks are solid, “Runaway Gal” was the true stand out. The title name checks a major influence, but there are also hints of something new and individual blended in, which creates a fun and personal variation.
Smalltown Tigers have a lot of the hallmarks of a fun live band: high energy, catchy, easy to get into, and a DIY feel. They sound like a band that would be great to see in a smaller/non-traditional venue with wall-to-wall people, and after the show there would be a sense of being in on a really great secret. Like you couldn’t wait to let your friends, who weren’t there, know about the show, so that way they could make it to the next one, and then they would be in on the secret too. That’s what the EP feels like, a well kept secret that’s building up steam via word of mouth, so allow me to spread the word a bit: this was a lot of fun to listen to in my garage on a warm summer night with a beer in hand, but I suspect that this would be something incredible to see live.

B Hazy – That’s Good Enough For Me webzine 23/06/2020

Great three-piece. all-girl band from Rimini in Italy. The songs are raw but as catchy as they ought to be, sounding like The Ramones being fronted by Joan Jett. The vocals are delivered with a snarling attitude, while the drums stomp along like the greatest Seventies Glam and the buzz-saw guitar sound rips through the speakers, only easing up occasional to add some twangy, Surf-like breaks. Eight tracks in less than 25 minutes, they go straight in, do the job and get back out before your ears stop ringing. Be sure to hear this album and keep your fingers crossed that we’ll get a chance to see them live…

Andy / Fear & Loathing – July-December 2020