“What is work?” – it’s the name of a non-existent Haddaway B-side. It’s the first three words of this review. It’s also the howl of existential despair I ask myself at precisely 9:04am every morning (even on Sundays). Instead of work, we could take a leaf out of a book of folk songs. That’s what HEY YOU GUYS! have done with ‘Wild and Wicked Youth’, which is a reworking of Roud 490 – otherwise known as ‘The Newry Highwayman’, ‘The Flash Lad’, and ‘Rude and Rambling Man’, to name just a few names. Frontman Peter Richard Adams bellows: “I never robbed any poor man yet / Nor any tradesman did I beset / But I’ve robbed lords and ladies bright / And took their gold to my heart’s delight.” It surely beats earning an honest crust at Wilko.
‘Wild and Wicked Youth’ is the latest single from the new HEY YOU GUYS! record THE FOLK ALBUM! This isn’t the first time the band have dusted off some old source material and made it fresh. Back in 2024, I reviewed their single ‘Brave Bwoys’, which was a frantic 89-second update of the sea song ‘Greenland Whale Fisheries’. On ‘Wild and Wicked Youth’, Adams has tweaked the lyrics to include reference to his own origins: “We’ve started it out as if it’s about the highwayman, who was then hung by the neck until he died outside my childhood bedroom!” Sounds horrific.
This is in stark contrast to the single, which does not sound horrific at all. HEY YOU GUYS! are joined by Kim Lowings, who is the Kirsty MacColl to their Pogues. Together, they regale us with a tale of a life excitingly spent. If folk is not your thing, then have no fear – this is still very much a HEY YOU GUYS! track: big crunchy chords and not a fiddle in sight. Such is the track’s relentless bombast, you won’t notice the absence of a chorus unless you read this sentence, but choruses weren’t invented in 1788, so please bear that in mind. There is a rather lovely coda, over which Adams, in the video, punches the sky like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club. HEY YOU GUYS! always deliver and sometimes they stand.
‘Wild and Wicked Youth’ is out now on Bandcamp
HEY YOU GUYS!: Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Review by Neil Laurenson
Keep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook |Bluesky |Instagram | Threads | Mailing List