It’s a shade over 40 years since The Hangmen first erected their gallows above the LA skyline, and 16 years since The Big Takeover remarked of their resilience, “Bruised and scuffed through years of debauchery, Bryan Small’s Hangmen continue to cheat death in a rock n’ roll world full of bands all too willing to pull the trigger on themselves and fade away.”

Not that The Hangmen themselves haven’t occasionally disappeared into the shadows.  On a high after releasing their self-titled major label debut in 1989, The Hangmen returned to the studio with producer Rob Younger (Radio Birdman), only for their label at the time, Geffen, to can it.  The album remains unreleased to this day.

The Hangmen returned to action in 2000 and, since then, seven stunning new albums have swung into view, among them the cheekily-titled Metallic IOU (2000), the glorious We’ve Got Blood On The Toes Of Our Boots (2002), and In The City, exquisitely produced by Mike Ness (Social Distortion).  Their last full-lengther, Stories To Tell, was released in 2023.

Still lining up as Smalls (vocals, guitar), long-time co-conspirators Jimmy James (guitar)​ and Angelique Congleton (bass) and relative newcomer Jorge E. Disguster (drums), The Hangmen’s glorious swagger and edge-of-your-pants sense of drama remains one of the indisputable seven wonders of the modern world, and “Real Blues” captures both their classic sound and their relentless drive for the future.

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And wait until you see the video, shot in downtown LA and directed by the SNORRI BROS.  Film noir meets sizzling electrification, it’s the ride of an urban lifetime, and a story in its own right.

As the band explain, “‘Real Blues’ touches on many different types of struggles and varies from person to person. Everyone has some kind of blues they deal with. The song touches on a few that are in the zeitgeist at the moment from living on the streets, loneliness, crime to media divide us apart.”

But, of course, it’s also great fun, an anytime-of-day call to arms for everyone who got up on the wrong side of the modern world, and an early taste, too, of the the new album that the Hangmen are now hard at work on.

In the meantime, they also have a European tour getting underway in Paris on April 22.

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

22.04 PARIS, FR LA DAME DE CANTON
23.04 LORIENT, FR PIT DOG +Dirty Old Story
24.04 SAINT GILLES GROIX THE VIE, FR ROCKSEA
25.04 DONOSTIA, SP MOGAMBO + Lluna
26.04 PORTUGALETE, SP GROOVE +John Deales &TC
28.04 A CORUÑA, SP MARDI GRAS
29.04 VALLADOLID,SP PORTA CAELI
30.04 MADRID, SP EL SOL +Diesel Dogs
01.05 BURGOS, SP RIVIERA
02.05 TALAVERA DE LA REINA, SP TBA
03.05 JEREZ, SP LA GUARDIA DEL ANGEL
05.05 GRANADA, SP LEMON ROCK
06.05 VALENCIA, SP LOCO CLUB
07.05 ARRASATE, SP GAZTETXEA
08.05 AVILES, SP FACTORIA CULTURAL
09.05 GASTEIZ, SP HELLDORADO +Reverend Beatman + Geminis Banda
10.05 BARCELONA, SP RAZZMATAZZ 3 + The Lizards
13.05. TJARNARBIO, REYKJAVIK CITY CENTER.
15.05 TJARNARBIO, REYKJAVIK CITY CENTER.