Blackburn four-piece THE ILLICITS are back with their blazing new single “Modern Life”.
Fresh off the back of a packed out hometown show earlier this month, and hot on the heels of sensational earlier release “Feel It”, the amped-up new release blisters with live-ready, rollicking rock energy that nods to the genre’s pioneering past masters.
With fractious, looping guitar lines, relentless drum smashes and twangy, Britpop-tinted vocals, “Modern Life” tells a timely tale of a dilapidated and defective society. As songwriter and guitarist Brad Hayes explains:
“”Modern Life” promotes a voice of the disenfranchised youth. It best summarises our story as a band so far: razor-tongued lyrics, relentless energy and stadium-sized choruses. We rely on new writing tools to open up new avenues for social commentary. On this track we use a 12-bar blues, late ‘50s-inspired guitar riff — most commonly used by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Eddie Cochran — to help shift our narrative to present times.”
Written in the summer of 2022 in the band’s rehearsal room, the smouldering new track was recorded live at Prism Studios to provide its raw, punky edge, and produced by Shaun Lowe.
Blending scorching social observations with infectious riffs and mordant melodies, the new track sees the band hone in on their propulsive “terrace punk” sound as they bring the post-industrial imagery of their own northern towns to the fore.
