Album Review
The Termites
Square Go
13 Deluxe Records
LP/CD/DL
out now
Kilmarnock psychobilly legends. Loud, raw & wild since the ’80s. Back with a vengeance, their first ever live album — and their first album release in nearly 20 years. Recorded on 9 May 2026 in a circus big top tent erected in the grounds of Dean Castle, Kilmarnock, it captures the raw chaos and electricity of a band that has spent four decades refusing to quiet down. It’s a document of a band that never sold out, never softened, and never stopped. Nearly 40 years on, the fire still burns. Just one listen, start to finish and Ged Babey is convinced. The Termites are probably the greatest of Psychobilly’s contenders to the Meteors throne.
Yeah, but all Psychobilly bands sound the same don’t they?
Well, no, they don’t. The Termites are the exception that proves the misconception. This is an incendiary performance, captured to perfection.
The difference between the Termites and yer common or garden Psychobilly band is the violin. All the way thru it’s like a duel between guitar and violin trying to outplay each other, but concentrating on the aim- to make the song rock. The drummer is amazing and even the double-bass player keeps up.
They really do sound like a ‘Billy Motorhead. It’s the throaty harshness of the vocal but also the sheer velocity. I may not be a devoted fan of Psychobilly, but I know enough to know that this is a band who are the fuckin’ best.
The venue couldn’t be more fitting. Just streets away from where The Termites first formed in 1983, the big top sits in the shadow of Dean Castle — a stone’s throw from the New Farm Loch estate where it all began. There’s something poetic about it: a band born in working-class Kilmarnock returning home to record a live album under canvas, in a tent that by all rights shouldn’t contain them. From the opening salvo to the final chord, Square Go is the sound of The Termites doing what they do best — loud, fast, and with the crowd right in the thick of it.
Starting with a manic instrumental (the emphasis on mental) called Overload and ending with the self-descriptive Rockin All Night it really is a performance of a life-time. Tales of excess, abuse, revenge and violence have a horror-comic glee and malevolence abounds. Crazy Mama’s, Bad Men and Devils populate the songs and The Termites would scare the shit out of timid Christian gentlefolk.
I refer you to Neil’s more-informed review at The Ginger Quiff for more detailed analysis and praise. And here is some video evidence (although not from the actual album).
I expect most self-respecting Psychobillies have bought ‘Square Go’ by now, but it’s such a great album – a shot of sheer energy and raging good-time rock’n’roll – that it deserves to be heard and enjoyed by everybody, irrespective of youth-cult affiliations from our long-gone dog-gone youth.
Bandcamp
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All words Ged Babey with Press Release content in italics.
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