Bolanow Brawl have now proven that Hamburg is a prime address for street punk with their first full-length album, "First Shots!", which follows their debut EP, "Total Escalation," released almost nine years ago. Things are more relaxed in the north, but they're keen to give it another go. The band name—a combination of the cheap vodka brand Bolanow and the English word BRAWL, meaning brawl or scuffle—refers to the ambivalent experiences the band members had under the influence of alcohol in their youthful recklessness. Fast guitar riffs, driving drum beats, and rough, often snotty vocals form the musical framework of the Hanseatic band—which contrasts with the catchy lead guitar melodies. Singalongs lend the sound a beer-fueled touch. The blend of English, American, and Buxtehude stylistic elements gives the twelve songs that certain something that defines Bolanow Brawl's style. The old platitude about "lyrics written by life" also applies to Bolanow Brawl's songs. Personal experiences, observations, and insights from the world of work, subculture, and society flow into the lyrics – without a wagging finger, but rather with a raised beer bottle. The cover art is by Alteau, a Franco-Belgian skinhead and comic artist who published his first work in Spirou comic magazine at the age of 14. Since the late 1980s, he has designed numerous record covers for punk and Oi! bands – including Klasse Kriminale, Rancid, Bérurier Noir, and The Herberts, with whom he also performed as a singer.