Eat This Rock : THREE MINUTE HEROES (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Three Minute Heroes, a mental health & music initiative from Hull based Warren Youth Project, gives young people a voice to express the worries & concerns of their generation through an album of powerful music – written by them & recorded by musicians from Hull & East Yorkshire.

Following on from the successful first album which enjoyed support & coverage from BBC Radio 1 / 6Music, Radio X, MOJO, DIY & RnR Mag plus TV exposure on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, Three Minute Heroes Vol 2 sees the Warren Youth Project working closely with Withernsea High School in East Yorkshire, who’ve taken the bold step of embedding the Three Minute Heroes concept into the school’s curriculum to support struggling children, with a plan for other Hull schools to follow suit in the near future. The album features words written by more than 70 young people, supported by tutors and counsellors, which have been turned into powerful and impactful songs by local artists.

As a hotbed of emerging talent, Hull’s music scene has much to offer - and the album features many different genres within the alternative sphere. First up, the folk influenced Where To Begin by Alice Clayton who plays aBaritone Ukulele no less! Think The Staves meeting the Smoke Fairies at Laura Marlingsplace. Having written her track from the words given to her, Alice says, “it’s clear from what I read that these young people are trying to work out where they fit in the world with so many expectations. Everything’s so saturated and they’re trying to work out how to navigate their way through it all as they grow up”.

Being Alone by Brosnan follows with its distinctive vocal hooks and a guitar arrangement reminiscent of The Strokes and the Libertines in style and feel.This catchy slice of indie-pop, also described as ‘second-hand pop’, is one of the two tracks on the album that come with a video. The Being Alone video broadly touches on issues that most young people face like loneliness, depression and how Valentines Day can suck! - while also showing they’re not alone in having those feelings. Otherwise the band said of the experience that writing a song, which useswords written by someone still in school, meant they were getting a perspective that most bands including themselves could never authentically capture.

Next up is the post punk Brexit Is A Swimming Pool with its profound imagery and political lyrics by Serial Chiller. Under-pinned by a growling bass, angular guitar hooks are joined by a burst of further edgy guitars in the chorus. With its deadpan vocal delivery, reminiscent of Fontaines D.C.’s vocalist Grian Chatten, this track sees Serial Chiller, who were picked by BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens to play Hull’s Radio 1 Big Weekend a few years back and whose previous Three Minute Heroes offering (Bed Mood) featured on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, continue to grow from strength to strength.

Following on is alt -funk outfit Young Jack who this time give us a slower more contemplative mood on their track It’s Scary. With flavours of 70’s funk pioneers Parliament / Funkadelic in the music, the track’s lyric deals with the inevitability of change and accepting things outside of your own control. The guys have actually received a stamp of approval from the Godfather of Funk himself George Clinton no less as well as enjoying major love & support from Craig Charles on his BBC Radio 2House Partyshow.

Then comes the first single from the album Joe Russell-Brown’s, Nausea / Fatigue. Already catching the attention of Radio X’s John Kennedy, who played it on day of release, this slice of lo-fi indie slacker evokes a Bill Ryder-Jones flavour with its mellow guitar and whispery vocal. Again the words are a key part of the track and touch on dealing with overthinking and dealing with other people’s opinion. The video has been cleverly illustrated by the young people from The Warren and filmed by Hull’s AOO Media and is well worth a watch too.

Next up, the wonderful FINNO from Scunthorpe who deliver a slab of post-punk heaven with Sleep. As for the music, it’s straight ahead energy with no let-up.Idles comes to mind but the female vocal gives it something different,recalling elements of Black Honey and Dream Wife into the mix. On the lyrical front there’s a bucket list of life experiences to start with but then goes on to question how you actually get to do them and the fear of failure that can creep upon you!

Moving on we get Peccary with their track Chaperone. Described by the band as ‘great music for your great ears to listen to greatly’, there’s a distinct Delta 5 / C86 indie vibe here with touches of Wolf Alice and The Big Moonin the vocal, to bring it into the modern day.

Then folk blues artist Tom Skelly gives us My Teeth Hurt, an emotive & moving down-tempo piece with touches of Radiohead / Thom Yorke to it. Ghostly vocals reiterate dystopian imagery about a fear of going outside and the hopelessness of family battles. As Tom himself puts it “I hear to write, I paint to draw, I love to live, but we all have our flaws . . .”

Hull based alternative/punk band Spilt Milkcome next with Life As It Is - a post punk offering with echoes of Squid and Shame. in its delivery. Arguably the most positive and optimistic lyric on the album, it emotes ecstatic joy for the sensual side of life and the acceptance of all that is good.

New Meds with their pounding drums, killer riffs and vocals full of angst, give us a fusion of punk, metal & indie vibes in Dear World. A band self-recognised as “somewhere in between the Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Machine, with a splash of Emo’’, BBC Introducing describes them as ‘blowing the roof off everywhere they play at the moment’. Their track Dear World is lyrically about growing up and feeling trapped by ideas from the past. It finishes up, however, with the realization that by looking forward, you have the fellowship of your peers with which to build a better future.

Next up is Modern Mood Swings and My Own Little World. With touches of R.E.M in the guitar and vocal parts mixed up with early 00’s punk and emo, this relaxed indie slacker vibe tells a great story about coming out of yourself and facing the world with confidence in its raw but real self-assured lyric.

Closing the album is Wet Newspaper Wishes, a spoken word piece from Jodie Langford, who recalls Kate Tempest. She lifts the words off the paper with her performance to conjure up some powerful imagery, all underpinned by an ethereal soundscape that takes the listener on another worldly journey. Finally, as the album comes to a close, there’s a remix by Hull based producer/DJ EndOflevelBaddie– a true mash-up of styles that finishes the album in a very dif ferent place to where it all started.

Three Minute Heroes is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Hull City Council & The Joe Strummer Foundation.

In one word: Excellent !!!