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Revenge of the Psychotronic Man
It’s fast, it’s loud, it’s wonderful… Goodbye guys, you’ll be missed.
Stupidly fast punk from Manchester. Revenge started out in 2004 and played their last gig at a sold out 500 cap show at Rebellion Bar in Manchester in 2018.
They played 575 gigs, which took them all over Europe, released three studio albums and numerous splits and EPs and even did a BBC session at the famous Maida Vale studios. That led to Steve Lamacq picking their track, ‘Look At Me I’m A Fucking Tiger’ in his top five independent tracks of 2012.
RIP
Biography
Here is the statement Revenge released in early 2018 when they announced they were splitting up. They carried on playing until the end of 2018, before going out in style at an epic all-dayer:
“After pushing 14 years and well over 500 gigs, 4 albums and numerous splits/EPs/7”s Revenge of the Psychotronic Man have come to a big decision. We’ve had an unbelievable run but we collectively have realised that our time as a band is coming to an end.
Trying to do this alongside full-time work and numerous other commitments has been exhausting. We leave this knowing we have given absolutely everything we could. Doing around 50 gigs a year and ensuring we record and release as often as possible has taken its toll. We have got to a point where we have realised that this is affecting relationships with friends/family/partners and, significantly at times, mental health. There have been occasions where we were practising 2/3 times a week, then gigging all weekend and trying to squeeze work/TNSrecords/Manchester Punk Festival/MBBP in alongside it all. We guess we can’t do all of that forever. We would never want something we have prioritised and loved so, so much to become a chore. But we could never do this half-heartedly either – this is worth way more than that.
We have so many awesome gigs booked (including a handful that we haven’t announced yet) and we have absolutely no intention of letting anyone down. We also want to go out on a good run as it’s probably what we will remember all this by the most. So, we will be doing all the gigs we have booked (and maybe a couple more). They will be our tightest and most passionate performances ever, they simply must be. We will then wrap it all up with a final Manchester gig on 8th December. Everything we can announce atm is listed in the gig guide.
We have genuinely not thought about what comes after that. But this isn’t a hiatus. Maybe we’ll want to come back to it in the future, maybe not, we will see where our lives take us individually. At the moment none of us really want to think about that, but if it happens it certainly won’t be any time soon. It quite possibly will be never.
We will be releasing one last record too. It will have selected tracks from our last three albums plus some rarities and unreleased stuff. More news to follow on that soon.
There are so many people to thank that we’re not going to attempt it right now. We have been truly humbled by our experience and it’s safe to say that the DIY music scene is in a much healthier position than it was 14 years ago. What a community we have, it’s so heart-warming. It’s impossible to overstate how honoured we are to have played a small part in that. We can’t list everyone we want to thank here, that would be ridiculous, but we’d like to acknowledge the contribution of past members, Dave Allcock, Liam McDevitt and Tom Fildes and also our number one roadie, Malibu Phillip McKie. And we do want to take this chance to publicly thank Tim Bevington. We couldn’t exist as a band without him and what he has selflessly done for our band (and for independent music in general) also can’t be overstated. We told Bev what we’d decided yesterday and he called me to chat about it. He said, “if someone had told you what you would achieve at the start, you wouldn’t have believed it”.
And that rings so true. We are so lucky to have had all these incredible experiences. If you’d told us that three idiots would sell pushing 10,000 records/CDs, play to capacity crowds with likes of Bad Religion and three years in a row at MPF, play all over Europe, get mainstream radio play and do an actual MAIDA VALE session, we would have just laughed out loud. But we started this band to have fun, to gig as much as we could and to get our favourite new bands playing in our own town and to help build communities of like-minded people, where people supported small DIY gigs. We can genuinely say we’ve tried so hard to do all those things and that our happiest moments are the small, packed gigs where the crowd gets ridiculously silly. Seeing the crowd responding to our music means everything. We’ve made so many friends and seen thousands of incredible bands. Writing this is bringing tears to my eyes, but we all know it is time. I think we leave the DIY scene in an incredibly healthy place, with so many amazing bands coming through right now. And obviously we will all continue to be involved with that individually in a variety of ways.
It would mean to absolute world to see you all at some of the remaining gigs. Thank you so, so much from the bottom of our hearts. This has been a life-changing, mind-blowing and wonderful experience. Much, much love.
Andy, Matt and Big Hands”
See a list of all 575 gigs here.
Reviews
That Was Just A Noise (2004-2018) LP
“Revenge Of The Psychotronic Man have given over and over to the UK DIY punk scene during the last decade and a half. They’ve never sought to push musical barriers, but rather to break down walls and bring bands and fans together, and they’ve done it with great success. As they sign off, they leave us with a storming back catalogue, some glorious memories, and the hope that their label (That’s Not Skanking) and promotor duties will go from strength to strength. Jurassic Park!” 10/10 Louder Than War
“This may not be so much a review as a eulogy for – and, perhaps, a love letter to – a fine band. After 14 years of getting pissed, talking shit, dancing like idiots, drinking in the van, beer for breakfast, supporting local venues and colossal velocity, Revenge of the Psychotronic Man will be calling it a day at the end of this year… There isn’t enough room to mention individual tracks but there isn’t a track here that is less than superb.” 10/10 Outline Magazine
“As a band, they did it all right – totally DIY from a record label, gig promotion, festivals and fan-fucking-tastic records… Already missing these guys… was a constant thrill every time a new REVENGE… release appeared. So, for one last time – pass the whiskey mofo, turn up the stereo and… ‘Get pissed, talk shit, dance like an idiot’” Scannerzine
“As the title of this album suggests, the curtain is coming down on the punk rock steamroller that is Revenge Of The Pyschotronic Man. The band, renowned for its hard work and a level of fun-filled revelry which is matched by few others, offers up a final audio celebration… I’m hoping to make the band’s final ever show in December. It’s likely to be the musical event of the year—with another fourteen bands on the bill too—and also a sad day in the world of punk rock.” Razorcake Online
“I recall hearing their debut ‘Make Pigs Smoke’ in 2009 and it stood head and shoulders above what most Punk Rock was offering at the time. The music was loud, fast, without the trimmings and they offered something lyrically, which too was out of step with the era… These twenty five songs provide the chance to reflect on how good a band they were and emphasises the fact they quit before they went lame. Damned good” Riot 77
“A vital musical record of such an amazing and important DIY band… a definitive punk album” Issue
“The three piece are one of the most incredible live bands I’ve ever seen, connecting with their audience in a way that no other band can……It’s just bloody wonderful that so many of the band’s greatest songs have been collected together in one final package so we can remember one of the best and most important DIY punk bands that the UK has ever seen.” Colin’s Punk Rock World
“It’s fast, it’s loud, it’s wonderful… Goodbye guys, you’ll be missed.” Just Some Punk Songs
“Their vaguely pop-infected take on hardcore was notable and very well represented here… They zip from one slicing yet catchy tune to the next. Sad to see ’em go, but they definitely made their mark” Razorcake Magazine
“Sometimes your impression of a band is influenced by experiencing that band live, and having recently witnessed Revenge Of The Psychotronic Man steal the show at the Strummercamp Festival last month with an absolutely stunning set, this is very much the case with That Was Just A Noise… a fitting final chapter to mark the bands existence.” The Punk Site
“It’s like Kid Dynamite slathered in lager… If you love well-executed, fast as fuck rock that’s casually presented but with some enclaves of intelligence and experimenting, you’ll want this. If you’ve been a casual fan of the band and label over the years, far from following every release (like me), this will provide enough things that you missed to be worth your money. And frankly, it would seem that they’ve earned any pennies you can give them. The TNS/ROTPM crowd has always seemed to make their DIY punk work seem preposterously prolific and yet simultaneously direct and effortless (they achieve so much, they must be quite simply “just doing it”).” Radical Beat Writing / Apathy And Exhaustion
“The demise of such a well-loved and respected band who for 14 years have formed part of the glue of our community is going to be sad for all of us, especially those of us who came of age in the Manchester scene, but this album is destined to become an instant classic, a riotous, triumphant reminder of what can be achieved with perseverance, a sense of humour, and the love of the punk rock family. Play it loud, play it often, but remember, if you wear it out there won’t be another one.” Kally Wheatcroft
“The perfect send off album” Down For Life
“At a whopping 27 tracks long in just 42 minutes, it may have been just a noise but what a glorious, fast, booze soaked noise it was. Cheers.” The Punk Archive
“Ferocious “crash bang wallop punk rock pandemonium”… if you still haven’t dipped your toe in the ferocious fast and furious fire pit that is Revenge of the Psychotronic Man, here’s one more opportunity and if you still haven’t caught ‘em live, hurry up and do so as they are doing a slew of farewell gigs around the country. You’ll miss ‘em when they’re gone”. Gadgie
“with their humorous view of the world set to the dynamic abuse of strings and skins they created a musical experience more than a band.” Ten Midnight
“Underground punk legends” Louder Than War
“a good example of just how good the independent punk scene can be” York Calling
