Reviews
“Not Right are defiantly not the future of rock and roll and anyone who wallowed in the anarchist punk bands of the early eighties will see blatant similarities to Crass – Penis Envy, The Poison Girls and in – particular the early Bullshit Detector compilation albums. The new album Your Turn could be described as a Dirty Dozen tracklist verbal assault on the senses that spiralled me back to the black and white days of Crass. I listened to the album on numerous occasions as you do and found it difficult and uncompromising however as with most decent punk albums you always discover little gems along this wretched path of punk. Think Crass, Action Pact, Paranoid Visions, L7 and Hole blended in a vat of 2014/15 anger.”
“[Kinky and Not Right] have delivered awesome old school-sounding punk/hardcore but with all the aggression of queer and feminist policies that I’ve come to discover over the past year. Kinky were so cool, we put them on twice in York and Not Right were amazing at Nottingham Queer Fest. Their albums are so sharp and snappy and moreish, unashamedly in yer-face it’s glorious and what I love about both punk and queer.”
“In my opinion what I am reviewing here is one of the most important punk albums for a long time. Intelligent, compassionate and raw … It demands solidarity and action … Not a comfortable album. When did comfort enter punk rock? Probably about the same time as nostalgia.”
“…ripping out their quickly beating hearts and thrusting themselves onto the floor, half yelping, half groaning, as the front woman yaps: “Where are all the girls / all the lovely girls?” over, and over, and over – to the extent that you might end up dialling up a few girls and starting a new project yourself sheerly out of the demand of this female fronted plea for help”
“Not Right (“The Lead Role”) – hysterical post punk flavoured with Crass sensibilities right turns and head off into the sunset before the song can hit the two minute mark.”
“For all intents and purposes Not Right have a total car crash set tonight. Their guitarist cancelled last minute, the drums keep falling apart, there’s surreptitious feedback and the pedals don’t work. None of this matters one bit. What makes their set so exhilarating to watch is the pared back rawness of it all, sans guitar, and the on-going commentary by uber-femsch Ruth Pearce, attacking every riot grrrl trope – written lipstick polemic over her torso, hyper LGB-eTc soapboxing and a cards-down acknowledgement of middle-class guilt. There’s even a call-and-response “we’ll shout tory, you shout SCUM”. Trans-Socialist utopia beckons.”
“The Sheffield LaDIYfest yesterday was so good, I missed most of the best bits I think but really got a lot out of the workshop on gender dynamics in poly relationships and the bands I caught later on. I especially liked Not Right, and I just listened to their free CD (and read their zines) – they’re the kind of ferociously amateurish punk band you don’t really see that much any more, and I found it really invigorating to see that. I don’t know how the band name “Not Right” hadn’t already been taken because it’s the most perfect punk band name ever. For Not Right’s lead vocalist Ruth it refers as much to politics as her gender identity – she is, as it became apparent when they played “Balls” last night, a transsexual woman, using her music to fight against the overwhelming stigmas attached to that identity. On “Balls” she does it as bluntly as possible: “I DON’T MISS MY BALLS / I DON’T MISS MY BALLS”. Seeing her on stage, epithets signifying the way her gender identity is perceived scrawled across her body (“freak”, “mutilated”, “wrong”), screaming something as brilliant as “I DON’T MISS MY BALLS” – and I like that she wasn’t 100% comfortable on stage, somehow; not because the crowd was in any way imposing but because she meant what she was saying so much.”
“This is Not Right. They make fucking angry, righteous, kick ass punk music that you will like. And if you don’t like it, you should. So there.
Not Right is based out of the Midlands in England, and they’ve been around for a hot second, writing songs about transgender rage, revolution, and how fucked UK politics are. They pretty much embody the personal is the political in their songs; their pissed off, knock your teeth in songs like “Balls” and “Intersectionality Song.” There’s tons of overdistorted guitar and trebly bass, and lead vocalist Ruth Pearce has a powerhouse punk yelp. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on!”
The Streetlamp Doesn’t Cast Her Shadow Any More
“…they are a band who too might be expected to fall foul of current popular prejudice, being fronted as they are by a trans woman named Ruth. Ruth was assigned a male gender at birth, but now identifies as female and it was her raging, screaming vocal performance that really caught my attention when I first heard Not Right. The other compelling aspect of the band are the extremely honest, overtly political, perhaps even confrontational, lyrical subject matter. Naturally, we here at the Streetlamp, with our long radical and anarchist traditions are happy, no delighted, to be confronted and reminded that prejudice of all types should be challenged and so we’re glad to take the opportunity to bring this band to your attention”
notrightpunk.com 