Album Review: Healthy Junkies - Listen To The Mad
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
This week sees the release of the sixth album by Anglo-French alternative punks, Healthy Junkies, their first since 2020’s Forever on the Road. Although regulars at Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival and having shared stages with Sham 69, GBH, Vice Squad and UK Subs to name but a few would suggest the band are all card-carrying and fully-paid-up members of the punk rock establishment, Listen to the Mad is here to dispel any such myths.
Starting with the brief interlude – and title-track – Listen to the Mad opens with a polyglot of voices and psychedelic sounds, all chanting the four-word mantra of the title. That breaks into the first tune proper, Favourite Place, in which Healthy Junkies set about creating some dirty rock and roll, all built about a simple riff. Powerful bass lines from Dave Whitmore drive the song which straddles the line between snotty punk attitude and eminently danceable portions.
Nina Courson’s Galic tones and internation contribute to the Riot Grrrl feel of the tune, as other original member, guitarist Phil Honey-Jones takes responsibility for adding all manner of additional pieces.
Listen to the Mad does not skimp on the short, sharp punk assault: Self-Conscious feels a little more upbeat delivering a positive message; Now or Never has a big chorus and bigger attitude, whereas advance single, Lion in a Circus sets out the band’s intention in one sub-three-minute statement.
Earlier on the record, Julie’s Got a Job has fat, almost Motörhead, riff combined with some Gothicism reminiscent of The Damned. Tinnitus sets off with big intentions but acts as a stylistic bridge to the other aspects of Listen to the Mad, which sets the band apart from many of their seeming contemporaries.
Punks at heart they may be, but Healthy Junkies, are not without a myriad of other, extra-genre influences which they are all-too keen to add to their mix. Desire opens with a fat guitar and some jangling accoutrements, but the slow and deliberate tempo creates a very different beast from the short sharp shockers heard elsewhere. The tune is starkly beautiful at times, particularly when the band lock into a laconic groove, orchestrated by drummer, David Gaut. Nina’s wistful vocals plead she is saved from herself as Phil’s guitar screams and howls.
Media Whore and the closing World on Fire adopt the longer structure and alternate route with the former based around an understated yet unstoppable Seventies sound; and the album’s denouement a slow and doomy progression, with Sabbath-like dark guitar and as fierce a musical moment as heard on the whole of Listen to the Mad.
Before getting to that point, there’s the Eighties pop sounds of Dead Souls, the chilled reggae-vibes of Son and a Daughter and the skipping drums of Baroness. There’s even a hint of The Stranglers on Take Me to the Moon, even though it ends with a full-on solo and a tune strong enough to support it.
No respecters of genre, Healthy Junkies have made the album they wanted to make, incorporating the wide variety of styles and sounds that influence them as artists and musicians. For that, Listen to the Mad is as honest a creation as you could want to hear.
