Abrazos – My Street
Fast, tuneful UK punk packed with sharp political commentary, inside-scene humor, and 16 tracks of no-frills energy.
Abrazos is a raging punk trio from the South Coast of England, originally started by Suspect Device zine editor Tony Whatley as a way to deal with frustration by playing some angry punk tunes. He was later joined by Alan Growbag on bass, and in that line-up they worked as a studio project before bringing in Nath Haywire of Armoured Flu Unit on guitar, solidifying Abrazos as a trio that could also play live gigs. Nath is, of course, also one of the best DIY Conspiracy reviewers, so you don’t expect me to say anything bad about the band.
After previously releasing a flexi, 7-inches, a split with Brain Anguish, the Nothing Gets Changed By Being Polite LP, and even a USB memory stick of MP3s, the band now returns with their latest album, My Street, released on CD and digitally through the new platform Subvert. The record contains 16 tracks in just over 16 minutes, so I won’t spend too much time describing the music here. It’s fast, tuneful punk with political lyrics, where a sense of irony and British humor runs through the whole thing. Nath’s guitars are relentless, similar to the unforgiving riffs of AFU, and I think all three members share vocal duties. The sound reminds me of other UK bands like Refuse/All, Active Slaughter, and 2 Sick Monkeys, with a slightly harder UK82 influence.
All song names come from slogans, inside jokes, and punk scene references, starting with “No Authority But Yourself,” coined by Crass in the early eighties, and continuing with titles like “Co-operation Not Competition,” “Governments Don’t Care,” “Free Speech From the Dumb,” “Friends Not Fodder,” and “Woke Song.” The message is all about staying true to punk ethics, standing up against the government, the rich, and all forms of exploitation, including not eating animals or taking part in speciesist cruelty. Overall, it’s about making punk not just a threat to the wealthy and powerful, but also a way to feel more alive and autonomous, both collectively and individually.
My Street was released on CD in 2025 by Tony’s own Suspect Device Records. Earlier in 2026, the band also put out the Redux CD, collecting their early material from 2017 and 2018, recorded when Abrazos were still a two-piece studio project.
