‘Ming’ is the local nickname for Immingham, a petrochemical dock town near Hull that happens to have spawned one of 2014’s most exciting new bands and debut albums.
Aged 18 to 22 and fuelled by small-town frustration (plus abundant booze), Ming City Rockers spew incensed blues-punk onslaughts fired with MC5-level energy and monolithic Stooges brutality, Clancey Jones’ scabrous shriek conjuring Noddy Holder fronting the Ramones on crystal meth.
Like its best young upstarts, MCR reach before punk to rock’s original primal energy. Packing 11 tracks into 30 minutes, previous singles Chic And The Motherfuckers, I Wanna Get Out Of Here But I Can’t Take You Anywhere and Twist It are joined by magnificently unfettered rampages such as ultra-nihilistic I Don’t Like You, self-explanatory Get Out Of Your Head and the mercilessly feral She’s A Wrong ‘Un, plus their steaming cover of Robert Johnson’s Crossroads. A magnificent racket.
