It’s hard to believe in our age when punk is cute and cuddly and available off the peg at the local mall, but there was a time that the mere mention of “punk” would instil fear and induce heart attacks in the general population. With their provocative record sleeves, confrontational and perverted lyrics, along with a love of fisticuffs and violence, you could say that the Dwarves tap into punk’s original aesthetic. A career that has built up some seriously bad karma with self-mutilation, onstage sex and hard drug use (often all at the same time) the Dwarves should have been killed (several times over), so we are lucky that the Dwarves are still alive. Not only are they still here, but they’re still dicing with death and picking fights and, most importantly, releasing some of the sickest punk ever put to wax, and if proof were ever needed, look no further than latest release JENKEM.

It’s quite an achievement for any artist to have a forty year career in the cut throat world of music, and quite another for a band like the Dwarves. What’s more amazing is that there’s been no let up in the way they attack life; their songs are still tightly wound balls of aggression whilst their live shows exist on a knife edge and seem as if they could descend into chaos at any moment. That’s not to say that the band haven’t evolved at all, far from it; their sound has widened in scope to include everything from surf rock to hip hop, yet there’s still that volatile, manic core which suggests that things could implode at any moment. That’s very much the vibe into which JENKEM taps…as fourteen songs in eighteen minutes should tell you. There’s a wonderful lack of fluff on this album; each and every song is boiled down into its purest form until all that is left is pure, unadulterated fury. Case in point being opener ‘Confused’, a 67-second sonic shock that encapsulates our modern malaise so succinctly. While only one of these songs breaks the two-minute barrier (barely), they are full and bursting at the seams with ideas and as such, the likes of ‘I Must Confess’ packs more into its grooves than most bands put into an entire career. Things often verge on the surreal, such as ‘I’m Dead’ and it’s immortal lyrics: “I’m Dead/Like Norma Jean/And the American Dream”. There’s some discombobulated surf (‘Bad Drug’), hardcore psychedelia (‘Psychosis Tripping’) garage rock (‘Here We Come’) and their own version of a love song (‘Last Chance Lily’)…and all within twenty minutes: eat your hearts out the Ramones!

That the Dwarves are still alive and creating kick ass music is something of a wonder, and JENKEM is a miracle in your hands.

• JENKEM is released on 6th June 2026 (available here).
• Official Website

Track List:

1. Confused
2. We Are The Scene
3. Drug Lust
4. Damned If I Do
5. I Must Confess
6. Too Messed Up
7. I’m Dead
8. Bad Drugs
9. I Wish You Were Dead
10. Psychosis Tripping
11. Melania
12. Here We Come
13. Be Ruthless, Destroy
14. Last Chance Lily