Track Review: Can’t Even Hang a Man Right // Shanghai Treason

I love it when up and coming bands send me their songs. I don’t know what to expect and it sends me on a musical journey. Shanghai Treason certainly fit into that category. In 1976 during the first punk explosion, Buzzcocks supported The Sex Pistols in Manchester. Shanghai Treason in some way carried the baton by supporting Buzzcocks at their first gig. Their music is folk-tinged punk rock, mixing snarling guitars with a banjo!

‘Can’t Even Hang a Man Right’ is one of the most interesting, batshit crazy songs I’ve heard this year. It mixes punk rock and folk, similar to The Men they Couldn’t Hang and The Pogues. The song is about Brexit, and how messy, self-indulgent, and self-destructive it’s been. “You can’t trust the rats, the aristocrats can’t even hang a man right.”

Shanghai Treason take the best elements of punk and bring a barrel of fun into the process. They are interesting and creative, and I cant wait to hear more from them soon.

Words by Ermis Madikopoulos