Killed By Death Records

Second release from Sweden’s TST after their magnificent 7” released a year prior to this, and by now they had a new drummer (with a moustache!!!), bigger bullet belts and more studs, pins and acne. And a slightly more UK hardcore influenced sound. Thankfully not too audiable though as it’s pretty obvious that they’re still firmly rooted in the 77 loud n’ fast school of influences, even if some of the songs (most notable in both title and music on 6 million slaughtered bodies) shows obvious hardcore tendencies. I can play this record through a couple of times in a  row without cringe at any of the songs, but I know Peter disagrees. I can dig their youthful enthusiasm, the cheap and shitty production, the sloppiness as soon as they try to play fast (or actually in general) and the cliché filled and misspelled lyrics, but at the same time I can understand why Peter don’t like it. But it got so much charm! So. Much. Charm. And the lyrics to The Clash might be among the worst punk lyrics ever, and that’s exactly what makes them so good. They do however bring up a good thing, the Clash were a damn boring band. I’ve never managed to get what’s supposed to be so great about them, and believe me when I say I’ve tried. A few songs are good, but the constant hype about them? I just don’t get it. Too much rock n’ roll for my taste. I prefer T.S.T., so much easier to understand for a moron like me.

The last song on this 12″ is a re-recorded version of their love ballad V-as punx that was on their 7″ as well, but here they trimmed of some of the fat from it. On their next 12″ the did a last (?) recording of it where they trimmed it even more, leaving nothing but the bone structure of the song. Who can stand long songs anyway?

Country: Sweden
Year: 1982
Label: Modernes Pop
Format: 12″
Songs:
No teenage future.mp3
The Clash.mp3
So lonely.mp3
6 million slaughtered bodies.mp3
Song of victory.mp3
Third world war.mp3
It’s a crime to be young.mp3
Secret love.mp3
People dying.mp3
V-as punx.mp3

You guys remember Tony, right? Tony the punk business manager aka Mr True Ear. He did an amazing website about punk rock where every post was an essay with his thoughts and ideas about everything from the way way the band memebers looked, to the font, label name, recording qualities to the actual music with comments about basically every song on the record. Not everything he posted was my cup of tea, but I still read about everything with loads of interest thanks to the way he wrote about the records. Same thing as Erich did over at Goodbadmusic, not always great records, but the writing was superb. I still hope that some day I’ll come up with something interesting to say about one single record I post here, but I doubt that’ll ever happen. I just don’t have it in me I think.

Anyway, back to the reason I started this post with mentioning Tony is that he was the one that introduced this record to me when he posted it some 8  years back, and it shocked me that I’d never heard of the record before as I by then thought that I at least had heard about every first wave Swedish punk/ DIY record even if I haden’t heard them yet. Not this one though as it was brand new to me back then. And I liked it. I liked it a lot! Primitive, sloppy and charming. Lo-fi rocking without any power or chops, heavy Swedish prenunciation, oooh and aaah back-up vocals, tambourine mixed really loud. And it was released in 1977, which made it so much more interesting to me.
I knew I had to find a copy as soon as possible, but that wasn’t that easy. Took probably two years before I first saw a copy for sale, and of course I got outbid (and it ended pretty high as well of course), then another year went by and a second copy appeared which again ended in more money than I could afford. But within a week or two after that a third copy popped up and for some reason the bidding went slow and low on that one and I won it for a third of the price or so compared to what previous copies sold for. Sucksess!

So what about the music you might ask? Well, it’s not punk per se, but if it wasn’t for punk this record would not exist. Remember that it was recorded in 1977 when punk just got started in Sweden, and if it would’ve been recorded a year later my guess is that they would have ended up sounding like Bandage. Now it’s “just” sloppy and weak riff rocking, but the underlying aggression is very much there already. And do not forget the genuine DIY spirit of this release. Now there’s no info about the recording anywhere on the sleeve, but from what I can remember it was recorded by the band with the help of a friend in a little shed in the outskirts of Stockholm, and that the prime idea of the band was to record a 7″ and release it on their own. I don’t even think the band did any gigs, but I might be wrong.
For me it’s pretty easy to see the red line between this release, Homo Electrica & Butter Utter where they’re all stumbling and mumbling somewhere in the outskirts of the punk pond, and I hope that you, dear reader/ downloader, can appreciate this release as much as I can, even if you’re not obsessed with Swedish punk and general early lo-fi DIY attempts.

Year: 1977
Label: GUS999
Format: 7″
Songs:
Dreamland.mp3
Is that you.mp3

 I’ve had the Rivals’ second 7″ Here comes the night in the posting queue for quite some time, but never got around to rip it, which is a shame. It will show up here later on though, but here’s their equally amazing first 7″ while you wait. Got this one in a trade with a friend in the UK, and despite it’s never been a top want, it was not a trade I wanted to say no to. These guys was actually really good musicians as you can hear, and they don’t really ape any other band either. Great song writing, musicianship & punchy production. These guys should have gone further instead of fading into obscurity.

I’ve heard nice things about the Detour comp from a few years ago, and the same thing about their 1978 demo session but so far I haven’t picked them up, so if anyone have them and wants to share, feel free to do so.

If you don’t wanna pick up the original copies of their two 7inches, they’ve both been reissued a few months ago on Breakout records and are available from most good punk distros and shops.

Country: UK
Year: 1979
Label: Ace
Format: 7″
Songs:
Future rights.mp3
Flowers.mp3

After hearing Klips 1988 and their song Ultimatum I just had to have this comp. What a surprise the rest of the bands were great too but in a different way since Ultimatum is such an obvious  punk hit. Para-Noia: sloppy and rather typical UK punk but good. The Tee Vees: Plows along in a slow maner and may be a track I could’ve done without. The Friction: second to Ultimatum though it’s slow I totally love the vocals and lyrics and it saves the whole track.

Country: UK
Year: 1979
Label: Pink
Format: 7″
Songs:
Klips 1988 – Ultimatum.mp3
Para-Noia – Money – Time – Ever Been Conned??!!.mp3
The Tee Vees War Machine.mp3
The Friction – Murder.mp3

Hi everyone, many years ago a friend of mine did a compilation for me but never gave me any info on who the artists were. Over the years I’ve managed to figure them all out, but with one exception. And this last one has haunted me since back then. I’ve sent it to quite a lot of people who know their UK punk history, but without any luck. To me it sounds like a British band, but so far the best result I’ve recieved is Chuck H2D who said it sounded slightly familiar. Apart from that, nothing! The rest of the 10-15 collectors I’ve sent it to gave the same answer basically; never heard it before. It’s clearly a vinyl rip and it’s an amazing track! Very DIY, very primitive but obviously not a huge hit…
As everything else on the comp was from the UK (Devils Hole Gang, Scabs, Girls At Our Best, Desperate Bicycles, Au Pairs, The Arnold, Two-fingered Approach, Toys, Scissor Fits etc) I’ve always assumed that this band was as well, but I really don’t know. I can’t even figure out a single word of the lyrics, or even what language it is…

Any help on who it might be or any leads what so ever are more than welcome as it’s been haunting me for at least 1o years now. And before you ask, yes, I’ve asked the guy who did the comp numerous times, but his memory is sketchy at best so no luck there either.

Cheers/
Martin

Country: ???
Year: ???
Label: ???
Format: ???
Songs:
Mystery track.mp3