The Soapgirls – Societys rejects

The Soapgirls are South African sisters bassist/vocalist Camille (aka Millie) and guitarist/vocalist Noemie (aka Mie), plus a drummer. While they may be based in Cape Town, South Africa they spend a large amount of their time in the UK and Europe touring to build up their fanbase. Their live shows are great and they seem to be steadily gaining fans as a result.
Musically they’re a mix of old-school punk (and they certainly have the true punk spirit in their attitude too), grunge and rock.

“Party in hell” is a great track. In between the usual verse-chorus-verse there’s a spoken part that shows some of their attitude – “Hey it’s a party, All those politician wanks, they’re fucking you, and you don’t even give a shit, you know what, your kids on crack”

I suspect “Sams on crack” is an in-joke directed at their manager , Sam Debray. Clearly she isn’t as there’s no way she’d manage to cope with the organised madness that is a Soapgirls tour where you never know what to expect.

Check out the video for “Rather b dead” here…

“Bury me” has the feel of a slightly heavier version of Blondie (minus some of the disco element). It’s not got as much of a raw punk edge as some of the other tracks but is another great track.

Check out the video for “Bad bitch” here…

For an independent release they’ve made a lot of effort – it’s well produced and well packaged too. I like the fact the CD booklet is just that – a booklet containing lyrics to all the songs, rather than a single bit of card.

I’ve seen the Soapgirls play live and their shows are a lot of fun and have a slightly chaotic feel to them, but I wasn’t sure how well they’d work on CD. Happily this album shows they can make great albums, not just play great live shows. Their “barely there” stage costumes and the crazy onstage antics aren’t a mask to make up for a lack of talent – this album shows they’ve got the talent, and the outfits etc are just them doing what they want to do, how they want to do it.

Track listing:

1. Societys rejects
2. Johnny Rotten
3. Waters edge
4. Party in hell
5. Air
6. Step outside
7. Original sin
8. Sams on crack
9. You hate losing
10. Drag you down
11. Play with fire
12. Break you
13. Bury me
14. Bad bitch
15. Rather b dead