Cheap Tissue

The Spill Magazine reviews Cheap Tissue’s ‘passionate’ debut LP

Cheap Tissue’s self-titled first album has all the grit, passion, and messy sonic energy of a classic punk band’s debut LP — think Bad Religion’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse but with more a more refined musical sound. Cheap Tissue is a thrilling ode to the ‘80s punk rock scene, with vocals that are just as distorted as the guitars. The LA band was formed by garage-punk wizards Andrew Taylor and Jesse Youngblood (both guitar/vocals), and the duo was soon joined by John Tyree (bass/vocals) and eye-patch sporting drummer Matthew Spizer. Cheap Tissue was recorded all in one adrenaline-fueled session and its spitfire blitzkrieg style echoes its frenzied pace of production. Despite its aggressive energy, this pulsing sonic wall of a CD doesn’t feel like an assault on the listener; instead, its prototypically punk chord progressions, choppy vocals, and shifting tempos are comfortingly familiar.

The music is an exhilarating celebration of raw, uncut rock and roll — while many punk bands pontificate on politics, Cheap Tissue is more interested in the spirit and nostalgia of DIY punk rock than in social justice, which is somehow refreshing. Cheap Tissue presents itself as a throbbing anthem for all old-school rockers who are proving that rock and roll is more than just a passing rebellious phase. The band somehow manages to channel a teenaged garage punk band, glorifying partying while spitting in the face of authority, while also maintaining the gravitas of washed-up punk rockers, sharing wisdom on battling drug addiction and wasted youth.

Many of the tracks hail back to hard-core punk classics, with a Black Flag meets Dead Kennedys feel in terms of production and vocals. “Apeman” has a catchy, jaunting riff reminiscent of ’90s Green Day, while “Feed the Children” is a fast-paced head-banging riot song that was made for moshing. “On the Corner” sounds more classic rock with a slower tempo but undeniable power. “New Promotion” sticks to its punk roots while integrating an amped-up ‘50s vibe, complete with “oohs”, modulated deep vocals evocative of Elvis, and a beat that makes you want to do the twist. Though the album is wholly unsurprising in style and content it doesn’t feel rehashed or trite – it is a revitalization of neo-punk emerging from a deep-rooted love for the classics, the kind of devotion to rock and roll that scares away any poseurs from the first riff. READ MORE…

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by Baby Robot Media

Planet Mosh reviews Cheap Tissue’s new record

Garage Punk ‘n’ Roll band Cheap Tissue from Los Angeles, released their self titled debut album earlier this month via Lolipop! Records. Founded in 2015 when Andrew Taylor and Jesse Youngblood got together and decided to write songs, which they felt, most people wouldn’t like very much! They were soon joined by John Tyree and drummer Matt Spizer thus the three pronged vocal attack which is Cheap Tissue came into being. Those who like to pigeon hole their music into categories may call them garage-punk/rock ‘n’ roll. According to their story here “they prefer being referred to as a very small, extremely sub-par orchestra with no conductor and the tendency to play songs at whatever tempo they feel like.” That sounds good to me, and when I read that they had played alongside one of my favourite bands Slaughter and the Dogs they sounded even better! Do they live up to expectations? READ MORE…

by Baby Robot Media

mxdwn premiere Cheap Tissue’s self-titled track off their debut self-titled LP, out March 2nd on Lolipop Records

Los Angeles quartet Cheap Tissue play punk the way it was meant to be: fast, no-frills and with a hard-hitting attitude. They fit perfectly into the lineage of classic punk bands, a few of which (The Vibrators, The Zeros) they’ve even opened for. mxdwn has the premiere of the title track from the band’s self-titled LP, which will be released on March 2. The group consists of members Andrew Taylor (Guitar), Jesse Youngblood (Guitar), John Tyree (Bass) and Matthew Spizer (drums).

Taylor and Youngblood lead the way vocally, delivering caustic yelps atop the blistering instrumentals. The four musicians move all over the punk spectrum, varying tempos and chord progressions to make the song feel a lot longer than its sub-two-minute runtime. Cheap Tissue is promised to be “12 tracks of unapologetic, blitzkrieg rock.” Speaking to the punk rock attitude of the band, their album was produced by Ignacio Gonzalez of Lolipop Records over the course of one session. That’s jammin’ econo.

While the band name may sound like its a reference to inexpensive bathroom paper, that is not the case at all. “Contrary to many hilarious Instagram hashtags (Seriously, check it out… There’s some funny shit). It’s not about fucking toilet paper.” said Taylor. “It’s about cheap human meat-bag body tissue and the fact that you, your life and your physical body are not as important as you might think.”

That sentiment may sound a little bit of a downer from a band playing aggressive but fairly upbeat-sounding music. But Taylor promises they’re not just a bunch of negative, harsh guys. “We’re not,” he said. “Ask around… We smile, we laugh. The name is just as much about us as anybody else. So are the songs for that matter. But we went with the theme for many of the songs we were writing at the time.”

Though the song and band name are the same, they are about two different things. “The song is about a fictional, dark romance with an indication of mental illness in the relationship,” Taylor explains. “It alludes to a woman killing her partner in a case of jealousy and possession. She then proceeds to think of her love, along with her hate and contempt that caused the loss of her love, due to her own actions. The last line (‘She said to me that love is never free and always costly / She said to me that tissue is so god damn cheap / Does it end or last forever? She called out from the street.’) shows the manifestation of her grief, and how love, regret and the strife that comes along with life, overall, may or may not last forever.”

Cheap Thrills will be playing a couple of free shows at The Echo in Los Angeles, CA this month on January 17 and 24.

The Deli Magazine LA reviews Cheap Tissue’s latest track “Dirt”

Cheap Tissue brings brash and fun energy on “Dirt”

Cheap Tissue don’t go out of their way to make nice. The skate punk foursome plays lean, short songs with fast tempos and pulverizing guitar parts that ring true to their defiant credo of pure, unadulterated rock n’ roll. And though first single “Dirt” rips with iron-fisted grit, there’s also a likable idealism in their raucous delivery that invites a congenial response.

“Dirt” can be found on Cheap Tissue’s forthcoming self-titled full-length, which is out on March 2 via Lollipop Records. You’re also welcome to crash their party at The Echo during their three-week residency this coming January 2018. READ MORE…

by Baby Robot Media

The 405 premieres Cheap Tissue’s new single, “Up My Sleeve”

LA-based punks Cheap Tissue have built up a reputation already in the Los Angeles scene, with support slots for The Vibrators and The Zeros under their belts. But in 2018 Cheap Tissue will be making their own unadulterated statement with the self-titled debut album arriving in March.

Ahead of that, The 405 has the pleasure of premiering ‘Up My Sleeve’, 2 minutes of breakneck punk harking back to the very core of what the genre stands for. 2 minutes of fast paced and frantic music isn’t a lot of time for singer Andrew Taylor to get across all of his complex thoughts, as he relives his battle with heroin, though he certainly gives it his all. He has described in full the thought process behind and the journey to making ‘Up My Sleeve’:

“I always seem to melt down and push in the pin/ Ha, call me back tomorrow cause I’ve fallen back again.”“I mean.. I guess anything about somebody being strung out can be cathartic just by being bluntly honest and not trying to hide anything, but there’s still nothing pretty. It’s not a joke, it happened. I lost a toe and almost my life?,? several times. But I guess somebody can find solace in the fact that shit can get really dark and there can be a positive spin on it based ?on? what you can learn from your experiences (whether they’re positive or negative), how those experiences can influence who you are (again, in both good and bad ways), and how you can rise above everything while still simultaneously battling the same issues and continuously attempting to grow from your experience.

“Another main point of the song is being judged for being “that type” of person while trying to come up in the real world and prove to people that you’re not just piece of shit. Life ain’t easy for a junkie in his twenties with no college degree. Thankfully it’s been a very long time since I’ve used… well, used heroin at least. I am most certainly not sober… or a saint. Not gonna lie, I’m still a mess at times. But I guess the point is that it’s not how it used to be. Best way to describe it would be ??the difference between a Crackhouse and a dive bar.

“I actually wrote this song when I was twenty and used it briefly in a previous band I had with Jesse. When him and I started Cheap Tissue, we took it, changed a thing or two and it was one of the first songs we wrote as a band and one of the first songs Jesse and I wrote together period. So you could say that it was the first song written on ?th??is? record.”

No more introduction is necessary after that, so listen to the single ‘Up My Sleeve’ below.

New Noise Magazine premieres Cheap Tissue’s cover of Hubble Bubble’s “New Promotion”

Cheap Tissue’s cover of “New Promotion” by Belgian punk rock group Hubble Bubble is a jeering and sardonic sing-along, taking jabs at Nazism. Give it a listen below.

The following is the band’s interpretation of lyrics that are essentially indecipherable and undocumented: “Silver Badge, Iron Breast / Looking Sharp, Dressed in Black / Straightened Tie, Brush your boots / All Correct, You’re looking good.”

Why Hubble Bubble?

We had a practice where it was only three of us and we just kinda started messin’ around with it because we all like the song and it was easy to do as a 3 piece. During that time we also realized that you could loop in “Oh Oh I love her so” by The Ramones because they have the same intro (essentially), so we were just having fun with going back and fourth with blending the two songs at first and it just kind of stuck around in our rotation. We also kept it and wanted to put it on our album because not very many people even know who Hubble Bubble is or that Plastic Bertrand was an original member of the band before leaving to pursue a solo career.

Political angle?

The song is totally anti-facist. Granted, it’s obviously of a completely different era. We usually stray away from strong political aspects/views in our song writing, while instead focusing on social issues.. But, that was another reason we did the song. America’s current regime is starting to look very reminiscent of things most of us had hoped the world (especially a world power) would have learned from.

What did you try and do differently in your version?

It was really difficult to decipher the lyrics. There’s nothing online. I looked. Hard. I found a couple things, but they didn’t seem to be correct. So I did what I could to get them as close as I could and made up the rest. We did a falsetto instead of whistling.. changed the rhythm up a tiny bit.. Added fuzzy single guitar notes… yada yada yada. We just tried to keep it true while still doing it in our own style.