It is no secret that I am a big fan of Wellington punks Underwire. These highly experienced musicians know exactly what they want to make music sound like, and they succeed every time. This new single, Heatstroke, is for me the best one yet from a stable of quality tracks.

Usual frontman Johnny Mills takes a vocal rest this time, passing the reins to Jane Brimblecombe, with Johnny backing up with the BVs and his gat. This is an absolute monster of a single, and is “the one” as far as I am concerned. This is it. Their breakthrough release.

It’s got everything. A memorable verse, mega-Green Day commercial punk chorus, and has the subject of bad times ahead for us all if we don’t knuckle down and put the mighty dollar second behind our kids. Jane‘s vocal has a number of my punk icons in it. Early Blondie Debbie Harry springs immediately to mind a la Rip Her To Shreds release. There’s a touch of Patti Smith in there. Powerful vocal performance, and a great performance by the guys on the instruments.

Johnny Mills has come through with a truly mesmerising AI-generated video to accompany the release. It starts off spacey and odd but swiftly turns into a nightmarish scene of aliens, burning Earth and utter devastation – all underpinned with a feeling that you just know there is no escaping this vision. VERY good work!

This needs to be picked up at a level their previous releases were, and then some. This single should be news. Look it up from Friday 1st December, which is the release date. It’ll be on the YouTubes, it’ll be on Spotty Fly. Scary, powerful, in your face and delivered with the snarl that only true Generation X punks can deliver.

F*** YEAH! Underwire. Heatstroke.