Having only recently discovered The Bar Stool Preachers, I am, as usual, eternally late to the party and for that I can only apologize. It was a grave, and probably entirely avoidable, mistake on my part and one that I’m sure I’m going to regret, and be unable to live down, for the foreseeable future. See, the Bar Stool Preachers are one of those all-too rare bands who get the balance just right by cranking out incredibly infectious songs married with thoughtful, intelligent and insightful lyrics. They make you want to dance like there’s no tomorrow, while you’re humming along with their tunes contemplating and considering the inherent fallibility of the human condition and the disintegration of modern society and the multitude of ways in which all of us can change the world for the better.

Musically, they’re a perfect fusion of Rancid, The Business, Squeeze, Dropkick Murphys, The Clash, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, Elvis Costello and Gogol Bordello, and every tune on Grazie Governo is a sum of those influences, fusing ska, punk rock and folk music in equal measure, to create something  that’s both unique and instantly memorable. Every single song on Grazie worms its way into your skull and burrows into your brain like some impossible to remove without major surgery parasite, but in all honesty, you who mind one little bit. Because it’s the sort of symbiotic relationship that like me, you’ll instantly fall in love with. One in which you, The Bar Stool Preachers and Grazi Governo can do whatever you want; within reason of course. If, as I suspect, The Bar Stool Preachers are the future of punk rock, then the future is looking better by the minute. Grazie BSP, grazie…  Tim Cundle