he unrelenting spirit of wayward youth, burnished decadence and fizzing unpredictability arrive nearly packaged as Liverpool’s ferocious punk duo Generation announce their second single Tokyo, lifted from their upcoming debut mini-album Suicidal Champagne. Tip-toeing back home in someone else’s clothes from the night before, the brotherly duo slips briefly from their own world into civilisation to discharge a three-minute flare via Tri-Tone Music on Wed 16 December 2020.
From New York Dolls and The Stooges at the start and rushing past eyeliner-era Manics in the middle, Generation represent the present of chandelier-swinging punk, combining raucous instrumental energy with low-waisted, high-heeled anti-glamour. The new release follows on from the momentum of their first single and title track from the album, Suicidal Champagne, which gained them critical praise and denomination as figureheads of a fresh, angst-wave, neo-punk scene being cultivated in Liverpool.
Tokyo was written by the duo, brothers, James and Dean Carne, about wanting rid of old band members that had aggravated them, willing them to leave the scene. The track talks of being trapped, painting claustrophobia on a canvas of gritty chords that are played with wild freedom. Ultimately, Tokyo finds the duo getting lost in the escapist fantasies that seem more relatable than ever as the world, not least Generation’s 20-something peers, lose days, weeks and months to the global pandemic.
Tokyo was recorded and produced in an atmosphere of fertile creativity in a converted barn in the company of producer/drummer, James Kenosha (Pulled Apart By Horses, Rhodes, Dry The River), with the Carne’s picking up the reins of bass, guitars and vocals at will.
Generation was originally formed in the Carne brothers’ late-teens in the midst of period of self-discovery and experimentation, gathering word of mouth from their must-see live shows, yet stubbornly holding back recorded material until they were satisfied that they were meeting their own, exacting standards. Pursued by industries as interested in their style as their sounds, the brothers sway between fashion and music, gigs and runways, deadbeat bars and photo studios.