The emotional ferocity and vicious post punk backbeat of "Human Poultry", by West Yorkshire bred, Glasgow based post punk / feargach punk provocateurs Conscious Pilot, grabs you by the collective throat and does not let go. I am digging the sonic barrage here, the sort of Buzzcocks-ian rabid bass lines, the jagged percussive guitar lines saturated with equal parts anger and angst, the thoroughly explosive drums, all as a off kilter set piece for Joe Laycock's diatribal vocal countenance. The track times out at an explosive 2 minutes exactly and given the monumental intensity from back to front, from top to bottom I cannot imagine it any longer. The intensity (to me) dictates the brevity.
About their sound I previously wrote this about Conscious Pilot, "comfortably straddles the performance art lipstick of proto punk artists like Human Sexual Response and the self flagellation of artists like The Dead Kennedy's or The Grim and I am speaking of attitudinal artistic outcomes, not necessarily direct sonic linkage" and that still feels right to me especially in terms of the band's bloodletting social commentary about our modern times. These modern times, at least, in America feels like we are in a shambles for so many ethical reasons, like we have lost our fucking minds from the top down.
Heavier and more urgent than anything the band have put out before, the track hits hard from the off — a fast, punky riff that somehow manages to be both relentless and completely irresistible, built for movement as much as catharsis. It twists through a sharp breakdown before landing somewhere that feels equal parts exhausted and defiant.
The song started life as bassist Jack Sharp's attempt to process the particular sting of being fired — that specific cocktail of humiliation, self-recrimination and forced acceptance. What emerged was something more tangled than a straightforward venting of frustration: a track that wants to scream but keeps catching itself, that reaches for humour as a defence mechanism while knowing full well that's exactly what it's doing. It doesn't quite let itself off the hook, and it doesn't quite let the listener off either.]
https://www.instagram.com/consciouspilot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552124134253
https://x.com/consciouspilotx
Founded by Joe Laycock and Jack Sharp as a successor to theatrical punk group Cheap Teeth, the pair birthed the project from their joint love of immersive, beat-driven soundscapes and an exploration of subtle shifts. Featuring members of Catholic Action and Pressure Retreat, the band aims to urge the listener’s ear into progressively choppy waters whilst simultaneously grounding them in firm lyrical soil. Having built up an archive of songs over the past year, the band is set to peek their head above water with lead single “Halfway to Hockney”. Recorded by Matt Peel at the Nave in Leeds, the track is centred forgivingly around an individual’s thirst for meaning, as the protagonist falls perilously from the tree of self-identity, grasping at every characteristic branch on the way down, desperate to not be swept away by their impending crisis.
Conscious Pilot, "Human Poultry", art punk, post punk, alt rock, feargach punk, Crafted by Joe Laycock and Jack Sharp, post punk revival,
The band shares:
"'Human Poultry' is about being slowly prepped and consumed by everything around you — trying not to hate yourself for not doing enough, overthinking, and ultimately just getting through the day."
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Glasgow-based post-punk quartet Conscious Pilot release their new single 'Human Poultry' on March 27th, the second offering from their debut album of the same name, due May 8th via Devil Duck Records — making them the only British band currently on the Hamburg-based label's roster.
Heavier and more urgent than anything the band have put out before, the track hits hard from the off — a fast, punky riff that somehow manages to be both relentless and completely irresistible, built for movement as much as catharsis. It twists through a sharp breakdown before landing somewhere that feels equal parts exhausted and defiant.
The song started life as bassist Jack Sharp's attempt to process the particular sting of being fired — that specific cocktail of humiliation, self-recrimination and forced acceptance. What emerged was something more tangled than a straightforward venting of frustration: a track that wants to scream but keeps catching itself, that reaches for humour as a defence mechanism while knowing full well that's exactly what it's doing. It doesn't quite let itself off the hook, and it doesn't quite let the listener off either.]
"Human Poultry" is the title track off of the band's debut album set to drop on May 8th and to celebrate the album's release will embark on a UK Tour beginning on May 1st.
TOUR DATES
May 1st Newcastle - The Cumberland Arms
May 2nd Edinburgh- Leith FAB Cricket Club
May 3rd Nottingham - The Grove
May 5th Oxford - The Library
May 6th London - The Shacklewell Arms
May 7th Ramsgate - Ramsgate Music Hall
May 8th Brighton - Green Door Store
May 9th Bristol - The Lanes
May 12th Hull - The Polar bear
May 13th Todmorden - The Golden Lion
May 14th Darwen - Sunbird Records
May 16th Leeds - Hyde Park Book Club
TOUR DATES
May 1st Newcastle - The Cumberland Arms
May 2nd Edinburgh- Leith FAB Cricket Club
May 3rd Nottingham - The Grove
May 5th Oxford - The Library
May 6th London - The Shacklewell Arms
May 7th Ramsgate - Ramsgate Music Hall
May 8th Brighton - Green Door Store
May 9th Bristol - The Lanes
May 12th Hull - The Polar bear
May 13th Todmorden - The Golden Lion
May 14th Darwen - Sunbird Records
May 16th Leeds - Hyde Park Book Club
May 22nd Glasgow - Stereo
[Conscious Pilot are Joe Laycock (vocals & guitar), Emmy Leishman (guitar & vocals), Jack Sharp (bass & vocals) and Chris McCrory (drums) — a band that also counts members of Cheap Teeth, Catholic Action and Big Girls Blouse among its ranks. Formed in 2023 when Yorkshire-born songwriters Joe and Jack decamped to Glasgow, they have spent the intervening years becoming one of the most compelling live acts in the UK, taking in The Great Escape, multiple UK tours and a first run across Europe in 2025 that included a coveted slot at Hamburg's Reeperbahn Festival. Two EPs — Epoxy Plains and Wipe Clean — laid the groundwork. Human Poultry is the main event.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/consciouspilot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552124134253
https://x.com/consciouspilotx
Founded by Joe Laycock and Jack Sharp as a successor to theatrical punk group Cheap Teeth, the pair birthed the project from their joint love of immersive, beat-driven soundscapes and an exploration of subtle shifts. Featuring members of Catholic Action and Pressure Retreat, the band aims to urge the listener’s ear into progressively choppy waters whilst simultaneously grounding them in firm lyrical soil. Having built up an archive of songs over the past year, the band is set to peek their head above water with lead single “Halfway to Hockney”. Recorded by Matt Peel at the Nave in Leeds, the track is centred forgivingly around an individual’s thirst for meaning, as the protagonist falls perilously from the tree of self-identity, grasping at every characteristic branch on the way down, desperate to not be swept away by their impending crisis.
Conscious Pilot, "Human Poultry", art punk, post punk, alt rock, feargach punk, Crafted by Joe Laycock and Jack Sharp, post punk revival,
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