Second post of the new year!

For Christmas this year I received a book entitled "We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001" It is widely available and even though I am only 50 or so pages into it, I am enjoying it. It covers and era of Punk that I am most familiar with - the end.

Punk Rock has turned into a drop down menu item option for a question on an internet personality survey. Right after - "Which gaming system(s) do you own?" and "How many hours a week do you spend surfing the internet?" It's pretty meaningless anymore. But at least in the 80's and early 90's it meant that you had to put forth a little effort or risk to find new music or a new hang out place or even more so, to make new friends...

One very slight risk I took one day in the early 1990's was to take the advice of some kid selling records in the Euclid Tavern. I bought this 7" - "Stuck On You" by a band called Gorilla (notice there is no Z at the end of their name!)

I just know this band will get mentioned somewhere in the middle of "We Never Learn" as this song is a highlight of the era.


Their label had this to say about them:
"Hailing from the Lower East Side, Gorilla sprang forth form the rhythm and blues, swamp rock, garage scene of New York during the early 90's. Their placement of vox organ as a driving catalyst for there songs is what truly separates Gorilla from the rest of the pack"

The Vox organ is in there, driving the song along, but man is this song fun to sing along to! I wish I had time to transcribe the lyrics for you all...

Stuck On You

Back From The Grave

Happy New Year!!!

I left this blog alone almost completely in 2010. but have decided to resurrect it in 2011, and want to do that with a really terrific song...

I have literally been exposed to thousands of new songs and scores of new bands with the explosion of music blogs and filesharing that exists today. A genre that has become a favorite of mine through this newfound exposure is Power Pop. I like all kinds of Power Pop, but the peak late 70's early 80's mixed Punk and New Wave into the formula and this era has quickly become a favorite of mine.

One of the best songs from that era is this one...

When We Were Young

by a band called Pumphouse Gang.

A fellow named James at a blog called Worthless Trash gave me my first introduction to them and keeps a dedication page to them at that link. They apparently have an unreleased record that James shared a few low quality samples of in the past.

I am sharing his file of "When We Were Young" with you here and it is a low quality MP3 but somehow that makes me like it even more. Something bittersweet and sentimental about this song always keeps me playing it... a great example of a time and place that gave rise to a really addictive sound! (more of which will follow)

The Normals: Almost Ready

I know very little about The Normals...just that they came out of New Orleans in the late 1970's...and not many bands can say that. Not many punk bands anyway.

This song is a classic along the lines of the second song I ever posted on this blog, (Television Addict) a great guitar intro and high energy! The singer sounds like he has some non specific accent (New Orlinan?) but that makes it cooler.

Thanks to the terrific Killed By Death site for this audio!

enjoy


Almost Ready

The Shirts!

My Parents had a reel to reel tape player on top of our stereo cabinet during the 70's and 80's. I swear to god that it was the same model used in the Evil Dead movies,but that could just be the similarities of most reel to reel tape players.

I remember my dad kept a couple dozen reels in the bottom of the cabinet and would play them from time to time. Steppenwolf, the Beatles, Jesus Christ Superstar and others. The Hair soundtrack was also played, which really is quite awful, but one of the female stars in the motion picture was Annie Golden lead singer of the band The Shirts.

The Shirts were among the first wave of bands to play CBGB in the late 70's art/punk movement. Not really given the notoriety of the Talking Heads, Television or the Ramones, The Shirts having a much poppier sound, they still add to an impressive list of the acts coming from that time and place.

Why didn't my parents go the extra mile and get a couple Shirts LPs and play those? Didn't they know Annie Golden was involved in something way cooler than Hair...all you had to do was Google it.... in the 1970s....

Here is a song called "Teenage Crutch" from their self titled debut LP.

Teenage Crutch

The Shirts apparently reformed after many years of inactivity... www.theshirts.net

14!

Popdefect are one of the few bands I can compare to Field Trip (see earlier post) and Shudder To Think and say that Popdefect makes them look like rock stars. I can truly say i am alone in all the people that i know who buy records that I own something by Popdefect. This is a travesty in the highest order.

Formed in the late 70's in Washington state, Popdefect put out their own records as Heart Murmur Records. They have about ten or so singles a few EPs (one of which is my favorite format the 10" record!) and a couple LPs. I own almost all of them and they got better and better as time passed. Their live record features Nick Scott their drummer playing a kiddie drum set with a 16" bass drum...and they still pull off sounding terrific.

At the tail end of their career they were on Flipside records (of Flipside magazine) right before that punk establishment went away. At this point Popdefect had become a very original quirky punk band with a pop edge. I really don't know how to accurately describe them other than that. They were a trio that had strong musicianship at each instrument. The Bass and drumming are varied and tight (usually) but what intrigued me ever since seeing them play at the Euclid tavern (opening for the awful Cows) was the guitar playing of singer/guitarist Al Anderson. Understand this, I am not a musician, i don't know much about the technical side of the music i love - I just know what i like. But I have yet to see a guitar player play like Al Anderson. First of all he plays a Gretsch...


I don't know how rare that is in general but it is rare for the kinds of bands I go see - it looks like a large string instrument from an orchestra rather than just a guitar. I guess it may be more common for rockabilly or country music. But it was not only the kind of guitar that was cool, but the way he played it. Using his top hand to aggressively stress certain moments - grabbing the strings and raking down on them. Playing above the part of the guitar called the "nut" (I had to look this up) which I think you can hear in this crazy song called The Moth and in the first few notes in many of their songs, they had a cool habit of having quiet guitar intros to lots of their songs.

They also gave away stickers like they were on fire, and made little photocopied books with their releases that were goofy and made buying their records that much more interesting.

I saw them again when I lived in Baltimore and was their back up place to stay, although that didn't turn out to be necessary.

I just ordered their limited edition farewell album from an Amazon collectible dealer because this post is making me bummed that they no longer exist, like so much of the music i love.... they called it quits in 1999 or 2000.

Here is my favorite song by them... Without . Live, this song turns into about a minute and forty seconds of pure aural mayhem that rivals any song ending in the history of music - I felt like jumping into the drum set with the guys in band...

This should be post 13, but it's 12...

...because Field Trip have a song called "Thirteen" that, even though it's not one of their better songs, I have a special place in my heart for. The song s written from the perspective of a man looking back at himself at age 13, wondering "How I'd look to me right now..." Something I have wondered more than once...

Field Trip are a band that can start a new theme of posts here on "Bands that I like that I don't think anyone else does" While I know this is not necessarily true,it has always felt that way. My friend Matt does like them, but I honestly can't think of anyone else who even knows who they are.

Who they are is a group from Pleasanton, California that existed in the late 80s and early 90s. They played upbeat rock with a slight (VERY slight) country edge. I am not sure if this makes sense but they seem to be smiling though their records. Their playing is energetic, their subject matter is usually light and innocent and there is just something special about them that comes across as positive and fun.

Here is an example: All My Fault from their Headgear LP

So of course nobody liked them in the era of grunge and the punk explosion in the mid 90's.

But really all three of their records are thoroughly enjoyable, other people agree- here and here

Their demise seemed to be written in the cards for them by the time their last album came out (seemingly straight to the discount bins) but the band seemed indifferent to it. My favorite song by them is the very last track on their last album called "Ballad of Field Trip". Singer Jim Galbraith recounts the beginnings of the band and their elation at being signed to a tiny independent record label. The song takes you from the bands youth and you grow up with them and in a strange way resign yourself to their inevitable eternal obscurity.

It's poignant, and brilliant.

Ballad of Field Trip

Eighth Wonder of the Blog.

"...and here's the new one from.. Rocket From The Crypt!!"

This was the announcement at the beginning of the first Rocket From The Crypt LP - Paint As A Fragrance. Unfortunately we will never hear anyone speak those words in truth again as RFTC disbanded in 2005.

Punk Rock with an emphasis on the Rock. RFTC were the one band I could handle with horns in their music, mostly because they never had a ska sound to their horn section, they always just beefed up the rhythm or bass lines of the music. RFTC brought attitude, fun and strong staccato guitar chords in a fun upbeat delivery that usually was not overly serious.

I once drove all the way from Cleveland to Philadelphia and back again in one day to see them, and would have gladly done it again.

One of the best parts of being a RFTC fan is the incredible amount of vinyl they put out. In between each album they usually released several singles and/or an EP or two. They kept you on your toes looking for limited releases and odd packaging...most notably the Cut Carefully And Play Loud EP which came as a 12" EP in a blank white jacket with a label sized hole (12" single style) on the outside of the jacket and over the the hole was placed a giant sticker which needed to be cut around the perimeter of the hole to free the record from the sleeve and provide the vinyl with a label. Yeah, I bought two just to leave one pristine. I am a collector.

I don't own every single one of their releases but I am pretty close. Unfortunately the ones I don't have may cost me.

On to the music...

It is very hard to pick a RFTC song, as they never had a hit single and don't have stand out tracks on their albums (they have stand out albums!)

So I'll try the method of posting a song that I feel represents them best and a song you might not be able to find of theirs.

here is the former: "Straight American Slave" from their "Group Sounds" LP



and here is the latter: "Tiger Feet Tonight" from their "When In Rome" picture disc.

Seven Means Seven!

Keeping on the theme from last post of bands I liked first, rather than stole from my sister...

And perhaps the greatest band of all time...(perhaps)

Nomeansno.

I first heard Nomeansno in high school when I bought their second LP "Sex Mad" purely on the basis of the review of it from Maximum Rock 'n' Roll magazine. This was a pretty common thing for me to do back then, as it was for lots of kids i would assume...there was no internet and magazines like MRR and Flipside were essential to finding new music.

If you don't know Nomeansno then please check out every single one of their releases right now...but start with the album "Wrong" from 1989. Considered to be their best work by many, including me. Not that their other releases have much wrong with them (no pun intended) you could do well to listen to anything in their career of over a dozen records, offshoot bands, EPs and singles.

Choosing a single track from Nomeansno is next to impossible so here are two. First a song from their LP "The Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie" called "This Story Must Be Told". Chosen because of both its musical prowess and the dark, off putting subject matter. Lyricist Rob Wright often pens lyrics from the vantage point of someone disturbing or repentant or both. This song seems to be the story of an attempted rape with some kind of revenge by the victim in the form of strange psychological turmoil that may or may not be self inflicted. Or...I could totally have it wrong. That is the beauty of Nomeansno lyrics.

Masterful Bass and Drum work, a staple of Nomeansno.



Second, "Everyday I Start to Ooze", a song that I have no idea what they are singing about except maybe frustration with the general populace. The lyrics remind me of something the killer from the movie "Seven" would have written in one of his composition notebooks. (whoa this is post #7)



Here is their official website but don't take anything there seriously

My dad used to put on Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" while vacuuming our house. While it doesn't have the ironic punch that tune surely did for my father, Nomeansno's "The River" is my vacuuming song of choice... go hide puppy.

Six posts in...

...and the first musician related death I would bother to write about has occurred. Lux Interior of The Cramps died yesterday. He was slightly younger than my parents..which makes him too young to be dying.

The Cramps were one of the first punk bands i had ever heard, from a tape that I borrowed and copied that belonged to the lady that cut my hair - her name was Chrissy (can't remember her last name) and she was married to the brother of one of the Dead Boys. Side a of the tape had The Cramps record "The Smell Of Female" and side b had The Dammed "Dammed Dammed Dammed" LP. A pretty good tape to borrow, I'd say. As a tip once, I went to a record exchange and bought her a Dictators LP and when I gave it to her she laughed because she knew the songs from "back in the day - seeing them play before they had a record out" She was a pretty cool lady.

To this day I think "The Smell Of Female" is one of the Cramps best records, mostly because it is short and a rare instance of a live recording being better than studio tracks. (very rare in my opinion) I do like the Cramps but their studio output doesn't hold my attention over a whole LP. I like the Cramps in short (preferably LOUD) bursts, they are great for that!



Here is my favorite Cramps song, the first track off "The Smell Of Female" Called "Thee Most Exalted Potentate Of Love"
I used to sign my notes to my girlfriend (now wife) with this title while we were in High School. What a dork.

FOUR!!!!

Staying in Australia one last time (for now)...

The Aussie punk band X put out an album entitled "Aspirations" in 1979 after a couple years playing around Sydney. It took me about two decades to hear this record, probably due in no small part to existence of the band X that most people know from Los Angeles. Don't get me wrong here, but X (L.A.) are a fantastic band that may get their own post here someday but the album from the aussie X is much more compelling to me than anything their L.A. counterparts ever did. The album is spastic, anthemic, catchy and it rocks with a raw energy that X (L.A.) only achieved live.



I had a hard time picking which song to put up here, so many of them are worthy. So decided to put up "I Don't Wanna Go Out" because it was the first song i ever heard by them.




The album has been reissued but still hard to locate try here.

You will not be disappointed.

Second post, Same as the first...

Sort of....

The Victims were Dave Flick (Dave Faulkner) on guitar and vocals, James Baker (drums) and Rudolph V (Dave Cardwell) on bass.
Flick and Baker went on to form The Hoodoo Gurus (hence the name of post)

This song is the title track from their first 7" record, and it is an incredible one at that...the sound is classic early punk...even Stooge-esque to me.




It would take a lot of cash to own this record now so hop on over to Digital Meltdown or Killed By Death Records blogs.

For whatever reason I am in Australia again with this post...I'll stay there tomorrow as well.