...Their first EP, Grand Junction, is an instant classic of uninhibited garage. Recorded on a four-track machine in their rehearsal rooom, it bursts with energy and verve. The Jug’s sound mixes the mystery of The Doors’ organ with the directness of 60’s punk: simple, clear and gutty.
FUZZ, FARFISA, SCREAMS AND MORE
GARAGE Beat Blues Funk Instro Mod (Power)Pop Psych(obilly) Punk Rhythm'N'Blues Rock(abilly) Soul Surf Trash Twist......
Sunday 6 December 2020
The Broken Jug - William (Glitterhouse Records 1986) + Grand Junction EP (Glitterhouse Records 1985)
...Their first EP, Grand Junction, is an instant classic of uninhibited garage. Recorded on a four-track machine in their rehearsal rooom, it bursts with energy and verve. The Jug’s sound mixes the mystery of The Doors’ organ with the directness of 60’s punk: simple, clear and gutty.
Tuesday 1 December 2020
Pussycat And The Dirty Johnsons - Exercise Your Demons (Johnson Family 2010)
RED HOT, SLEAZY GARAGE ROCK 'N' ROLL.
These
Basingstoke based punk 'n' rollers have built themselves quite a reputation on
the London live scene, not least because of vocalist / guitarist Pussycat's
flamboyant persona that's part cat woman, part Ivy Rorschach. The Dirty
Johnsons mix punk, blues and garage with nods to The Stooges and The Cramps and
a bit of atmospheric Theremin for that b-movie feel. There's a rich vein of
humour in 'Orgasmic Pizza' and 'Daddy Long Legs' without detracting from
seriously raucous rock 'n' roll. Fans of Devilish Presley and The Creepshow
will find plenty to like on this album.
-Vive Le Rock
I saw this band live a week ago and was blown away by them. I hadn't heard their album before I saw them, but it showcases their music to date. Pussycat has a fantastic voice - which is exactly the same when she sings live - a great big voice from such a tiny frame! I highly recommend this album and if you get a chance to see them live you MUST GO!!! Their 'punk rock 'n' roll' music has slight elements of The Cramps and The Stooges and when playing live there was a mixture of Punks, Rockabillies and others among the crowd. I can't rate this band highly enough! Top marks all around! -Psycho
Thursday 26 November 2020
The Scumbugs - Bugging Out With... The Scumbugs (Screaming Apple Records 2015)
BUZZFUELED INSECT RIOT ROCK AND ROLL! STRICTLY FOR DANCING OR BUGGING OUT YOUR SQUARE-ASS NEIGHBOURS.
These five, fly-faced primates hail from a dirty basement smack in the middle of Bergen, Norway. And they only have one agenda: make you stop, stare, stomp your feet, spill your beer and leave you with a permanent buzz ringing in your ear. The Scumbugs play straight forward fuzz and organ driven garagepunk, spiced up with some wailing harmonica and demented lyrics. Top that off with a bucket of earworm hooks designed to stick in your brain and destroy your frontal lobe. Cause this is primitive instinct rock and roll, catchy and infectious.
Based on pure passion, joy and aggression with no room whatsoever for intellectual stimulation. These flies have been on the wall of all the "BACK FROM THE GRAVE" and "TEENAGE SHUTDOWN" recordings, sucking it all up to spew out their own brand in 2015. If you imagine THE MIRACLE WORKERS and THE BRANDED both in a fight with THE MUMMIES! Or THE SONICS drunk on strychnine going wild wild wild in the bed with LES SEXAREENOS. That's a pointer towards their sound.
Sunday 1 November 2020
Fury 161 - Los Reyes De La Carretera (Tear It Up Records 2005) + Talk Of The Town (Tear It Up Records 2007)
Fury 161 - Los Reyes De La Carretera (Tear It Up Records 2005) FLAC 320
I couldn't find any reviews for this album, but you can be shure, it's as good as "Los Reyes De La Carretera". In my humble opinion it's even better. Here are a few songs to listen to ... then decide for yourself ... and last but not least I really want to mention this incredibly great cover artwork by Mitch O'Connell.
Monday 26 October 2020
The Breadmakers - Cool! (Corduroy Records 1996)
Tuesday 20 October 2020
Thee Windom Earles - Mai Tai Pink Eye (Earlesworld Rec Co. 2019)
It's been a long time since this album was released (February 2019) and no one told me about it .... but now that I've stumbled across it, I feel the need to recommend this "10 out of 10 points" album to YOU (just in case you doesn't discovered it yourself before). As usual I leave the talking about it to other, more eloquent people. Big big thanks to them.
Have the Windom Earles crafted a genre all to themselves? The 5-piece surf punk outfit from Manchester, UK have released an album fueled with fuzz, punk and chaotic rockabilly. Call it Fuzzabilly or what ever, this album is an absolute entertaining piece of work. Mai Tai Pink Eye shines from beginning to end with it’s fuzz-laced rockabilly. Thee Windom Earles take influences from bands like The Cramps and Amazing Royal Crowns and toss in some punk distortion along with stoner rock energy. Now this may sound disorganized, but it works. The band throw a ton of punkish attitude into the album while sticking to their rockabilly roots. The icing on the cake may be the lead vocals who reminds us of an odd blend of David Yow, Lux Interior and a bit of Glen Danzig from his Misfits days. The bottom line is this album crosses into so many rock genres it’s ridiculous. Fans who love stoner to hard rock and puck to hardcore will find it hard not to get into this album. -Source
This video was recorded live for broadcast at Thee Earles Cave on Wednesday 20th of August 2020. See your favourite greasy hotdogs blast through a half hour of foot stompin', wig flippin, garbage fire rock & roll.
A review by Olivia C. from her brilliant blog "Beat In My Bones.": If you’re looking for something extra creepy & extra trashy- then you’ve GOT to listen to Manchester’s finest Thee Windom Earles. They are a fascinating band that make you feel like you’ve stepped into some weird Horror B-Movie. They are off the wall, in your face and just brilliant. Think along the lines of Captain Beefheart and The Cramps, then you’ll get it.
Where do you begin with a band like this? I know nothing about them, all I know is that they are from the greatest city in the world (Manchester) and they make the kind of music that would even move us fellow introverts. They’ve got a really cool style, and this Psychobilly sound is just exceptional. You cannot help but move when you listen to them, and you cannot help but play their music super loud.
Their debut record, Mai Tai Pink Eye came out in February this year. I know, I’m late with this one. But it’s such a great record. You don’t feel like you’re listening to a band from 2019. There is something nostalgic about this record- they’ve got every essence of The Cramps, but they don’t do it in a rip-off style at all. They take this creepy Rock ‘n’ Roll sound and make it theirs. If The Cramps came from Manchester, they’d probably sound like this. Songs like Sex Pizzeria are MADE to be played super loud and Oom Sha Cha too. Just play the whole record loud at least 5 times a day. You’ll feel better for it.
Mai Tai Pink Eye is not only probably the best name for a record you’ll hear this year, but it’s also got a such a tight sound. The production is flawless, and the sound is beautifully unruly. It is the best form of chaos possible- it’s basically a band making a lot of noise and having a great time doing so. I’m having a great time listening to it! It is such a thrilling record. Bands like Thee Windom Earles and Night Shades who are making their own style of Rock ‘n’ Roll right now; I’d love to see both play a show together. It would be insane. To hear a sound so refreshing on this record just makes you fall in love with music over and over again. Songs like Lunchtime Munchtime and Freight Elevator are just these incredible pieces of real Rock music. There’s the Garage Rock thrown in, there’s the effortlessly cool and weird style that lures you in. The vocals are delivered with this infectious energy that is happening throughout the whole record. I cannot praise this monster of a record enough! You cannot help but play every single song to death. It’s only 9 tracks long, but those tracks are enough to have you hooked in every single way. You’ll be having dreams about this record.
Lick The Flipper has this awesome Surf Rock feel to it, but it also has something a little eerie/sinister about it. I just love how the band mess with your head. The only thing that’s consistent is how brilliant they are- everything else is a pleasant surprise. You just have no idea how the next song is going to hit you. I think this is the song I’m obsessed with the most (for now) it’s definitely a stand-out song on this record, but truth be told, the whole record is an underrated masterpiece. Manchester is truly home to some amazing musicians and bands- Thee Windom Earles absolutely back this notion up for sure.
When you listen to this record you cannot help but let it take over your soul. You feel like it has corrupted you in the best way, and all good music makes you feel this way somehow. Imagine being about 14/15 years old, and finding a band like Thee Windom Earles and just letting this sound blow your mind, and you end up starting your own band? That’d be so cool. Instead, as a 32 year old, I’m just in awe of the band and I’m so glad they exist. I’m so glad I found them. Just when I think I couldn’t love this city even more, something like this happens! I think it is safe to say that Mai Tai Pink Eye is probably the year’s most underrated record. It’s got everything you could possibly want from a pure Rock ‘n’ Roll record.Enjoy!
Friday 16 October 2020
The Booby Traps - Be My Caveman (9 Tr. CD-Single, Off The Hip 2007)
Sunday 11 October 2020
Phantom Jets - The Phantom Jets Play The ''Phantom Jet Set'' (Vinyl, Screaming Apple Records 2008)
Germany's fabulistic Screaming Apple Records present for your delectation ''The Phantom Jets''... a Sacramento, CA quartet comprising of John, Frank, Ted and Farfisa-squealer Sarah. If hip-swingin', surf-centred, garage teen-beat party punk is the thing that readily floats your boat, then you may soon be under the Jets' spell. The emphasis is on loudmouth, Jagger-by-Prevost-style hand-on-hip snotty vocals, dual-packed with reverberating twangs and speed-fueled rhythmic exhortations to frug the night away like there be no tomorrow. And who knows with these cats around...to them it wouldn't matter where you be… the supermarket, dentist's chair, school dining room or better still the parking lot of the local fleapit drive-in where the kids smoke‘n twist while schlock horror flicks play on a constant loop. But you always have to watch your back for deadbeat monsters and teenage zombie-head losers who lurk in every doorway and around every dark corner followed by unambiguous trilby-attired spies all of whom are out to do you no good, or at the very least steal your date right out from under your nose... perhaps they'll then do unspeakable things. Whoooo-haaa, file under sped-up cartoon garage punk fun. -Lenny Helsing (Review from "Lost in Tyme issue #5)
Phantom Jets - The Phantom Jets Play The ''Phantom Jet Set'' (Vinyl, Screaming Apple Records 2008) FLAC 320
Enjoy!
Tuesday 29 September 2020
Firebirds - Firebirds (My First Sonny Weismuller Recordings 2000)
The Firebirds, as “good old garage rockers from Groningen” they describe themselves on their FB-site, originated in 1991 from the Five Fantastic Firebirds with the guitarists Albert Jan Scheper and Hans Dallinga, but only Hans remained until today.
The band plays covers of obscure bands from the heydays of rock-&roll in the early sixties, instrumental material from the Ventures or Davie Allan, but also songs by the Kinks, the difference...the Firebirds play the songs much rawer and faster than the original versions. For years, the Firebirds entertained their fans perfectly in clubs with this awesome mix of wild rock'n roll and dirty surf instrumentals. In 2000 they released their selftitled debut album on “My First Sonny Weismuller Recordings”. 16 tracks (incl. 5 bonus tracks) that come in the same way. The Firebirds master the authentic rock 'n' roll sound like the best. Full of fire the guitars scream through the elementary sixties sound. Nothing but homage.
Hans
Dallinga - Guitar
Titus Smid - Bass Guitar
Arnold Veenkamp - Drums
Gerhard Rinsma - Guitar
André Dodde - Organ
Firebirds - Firebirds (My First Sonny Weismuller Recordings 2000) FLAC 320
Enjoy!
Friday 4 September 2020
The Riots - Love After (Sound Camera Records 2004)
Oh, there have been many punk bands named The Riots, but these hepcats are squarely in the 1966 garage, courtesy of Freddy Fortune’s excellent Sound Camera Records. Freddy produced the 2005 "Love After" long-player. It’s full of pop-tinged mod-garage fun, highlighted by spirited organ and energetic vocals. The Riots must’ve been a wailing good time at a house party – they sound like a party waiting to happen. Pick Hits: "Broken Man" and "Hold On Me". -Timothy Gassen (“The Knights Of Fuzz”)
Broken Man
Originally edited in “Mono”, now in version “Stereo”, reedition of a treasure, of this fabulous garage band, husband-and-wife, Ryan and Casey Dawson, did in Love After a mix of soul, garage and swinging, and if you have a Vespa, now it doesn’t lack you anything to celebrate the return to the mod/swing of the 60´s. -Francisco Ratb
Move Me
The Riots are a four member band from USA and this is their brillant debut album on Freddy's Fortune label Sound Camera Records. Their music has many different sounds from 60's pop, mod, soul, r'nb, surf. The recordings were made at Freddy's house. It is one of the best albums that I've listened the last years, full of 60's authenticity. Great songs like the opening "Hold on me" the organ driven "Wasting my time" and "Move on me" and of course the hip shakin "Broken Man" that you can listen in the zine’s cd will make you jump and dance. The album closes with a fantas-tic psychedelic song "Tomorrow" with electric sitar, bongos and nice vocals. Don't miss this album for any reason!!!! -Periklis Mihos (Lost In Tyme-Fanzine Issue #3)
The Riots - Love After (Sound Camera Records 2004) FLAC 320
Enjoy!
Thursday 27 August 2020
Los Villanos De Boraville - Haciéndolo En La Boraway (Velvet Cave Records 2008)
Bio (by Israel “Indy Tumbita” Ruiz)
For several years I lived in the city of Pontevedra while studying Fine Arts. During this time I met Juan Leiva (Guly) and together we decided to start a garage band which we called “Los Villanos de Boraville”. It was 2005 and the city of Lérez did not know what was coming. One month after the first rehearsal we recorded our first demo titled “Alligator Wine”. Soon we consolidated both the line-up (Arthur Morgan joined on bass and Alberto “Six Fingers” on Farfisa) and the sound, starting to work on what would be our second demo: “La Noche del Cazador”. In these two demos you can perfectly perceive our taste for the Garage Rock of bands like The Sonics, Grass Roots, Los Negativos, The Fuzztones, Miracle Workers, Link Wray...
In April 2008, we released our first CD " Haciéndolo En La Boraway" (Velvet Cave Records) from which two songs were extracted for the compilation "The 6th Generation Nation Vol.1" by Velvet Cave Records, another for volume 2 of the same compilation and two for the compilation Megaton Yeye Vol.11 (Bonvivant Records).
In the summer of 2009 we
recorded our second LP. "Coolio Weeckendo: Acción, Psychosis y Rock and
Roll" which never saw the light, although some songs can be listened on our
bandcamp site. The cover of this second work was commissioned by my friend, the
graphic artist, Nieves Prado. -Source
Los Villanos de Boraville is the side project set up by Israel on the fringes of the Tumbitas. A 60's garage band with organ in a Miracle Workers / Long Ryders vein with some surf parts (“Impala”) and a good half of the songs are sung in Spanish (not immediately obvious, but there is at least one great success, ”El Sabado Adios”, and long live the gloomy sundays).
We will also remember the first track "The Haunted House" from
this album “Haciéndolo En La Boraway”, which is reminiscent of the Chesterfield
Kings “Stop!” era. -Source
Los Villanos De Boraville - Haciéndolo En La Boraway (Velvet Cave Records 2008) FLAC 320
Enjoy!
Friday 14 August 2020
Jonny Chan And The New Dynasty 6 - I Hate You Baby! (2CD Sound Camera Records 2009)
"I Hate You Baby!" is an album that perfectly defines Jonny Chan's creative period, first with The Covingtons, whose best-known song gives title to this record. Born in Detroit Jonny Chan started his garage punk wanderings in the 80s, but it was when he moved to New York that he founded the New Dynasty 6. In 1998 they published on Dionysus Records their debut "So ... You Want Action" and after ten years they return with this album, "I Hate You Baby!"... a double album divided into “Nine pieces”, an excavation of all existing works, edited, unedited, acoustic, demos, TV Shows and a special live edition on Joe Belock's WFMU radio show "Three Chord Monte".
Some may recall Jonny Chan & the New Dynasty Six made a major dent in 1998 with their debut album “So You Want Action” featuring “Little Black Egg” lyrically rendered in Mandarin Chinese. Others might remember their extensive interview atop an ambulance in Flipside Magazine. Still others might think back to their live shows and festival appearances (e.g., Fuzzfest ’97 in Atlanta and L.A.’s Dionysus Demolition Derby) where they opened up the sense of anything could happen and many times frequently did. In fact, during their "It's All About Me" finale, an amusement park character walked into Detroit’s Magic Stick (a venue loft above a bowling alley). It was a surreal and perfect jolt for a stripped-down garage festival called Gutterfest held during Indian Summer ‘98. So what happened in these intervening 11 years besides the usual compounding conflictions of work, school life, egos and musical differences? I will refer you to the CD booklet for both sordid details and brushes with fame. The music will be the main focus here.
You may be thinking, “This sounds like any garage band that managed to play a live set on WFMU, shake some NYC action at Manitoba's Bar and release a record on Dionysus or SFTRI.” Yes, the band was guilty of crash landing at any moment, being comprised of shifting and incongruent lineups while sending out infrequent communiqués over intermittent cut-rate websites. In this turbulence, lies the genius of Jonny Chan & the New Dynasty 6. They could sound so sharply focused and other times spinning out of control--and out of their heads. In the end, Jonny Chan is kind of like art or life itself—sometimes there’s understanding or momentum, but most other times something entirely else it transpiring. This is the soundtrack to both the clarity and chaos.
The instrumental “Hook, Line & Sinker” sets the album off in true go-go motion before setting stage for the downbeat and folked-up “I Say Yeah” featuring a soaring Rickenbacker solo that recalls the Optic Nerve and the Nightcrawlers at their finest. On "It's All About Me,” the band reaches its summit with the song’s perfect arrangement, shifting dynamics and musical execution. The first time I heard the flowery strums of the intro at the aforementioned Gutterfest show, I thought they were going to cover The Monkees’ “The Day We Fell in Love” which would not only be heretical, but truly dangerous to play in rough & tumble 1998 Detroit. Everything comes together for them in this instantly connecting and signature song touched by the divine spark. Next, “See My Way” surges things forward and displays their Kinksian side. (JC & ND6 belted out a charged up cover of the Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." at the same Gutterfest show.) The song is also a perfect vehicle for Chan’s rush hour vocals conveying a native Detroit gunk accent clashing and converging with a transplanted snotty New York one. Chan’s vocals end up veering somewhere between John Felice of the Real Kids and the garage-pop sensibilities of Robert Wojz (of the Insomniacs). While this might not sound appealing under monitor glass, the voice is captivating, distinctive and a perfect fit for either a heartfelt ballad or a fast fuzz-filled ride.
The overflow reservoir department brims with an alternate and superior take of “This is the Place” overlaid with the more congruent vocals by Jonny vs. Wayne’s huskier straining lead vocals heard on the proper album. As every good architect has a trail of bad projects behind them there are a few throwaway pedestrian numbers (e.g. “Fatty Fatty Two by Four”) which were understandably sent to the impound. The real revelation is the pristine folk-rocker “I Want What I Can’t Have” which rates up with “Time Has Gone” from their debut album. One can only surmise sounding too much like Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo” layered with a veneer of “Norwegian Wood” disqualified this minor-key magnificence. While it may seem surprising this discerning Mr. Chan, who knows his Knaves from his Saturday Children, would have a Manfred Man blind spot, the head honcho of Sound Camera Records testified in Oakland County Circuit Court of no chicanery and Mr. Chan was truly unfamiliar with # 1UK hit from 1966. Flagrant rip off or not, this song is immaculate folk ‘n’ roll with an undercurrent of raga echoing in the distance. JC & ND6 always seemed attuned and aligned to regal feel and look of the Chicago ‘60s bands—from the Dunwich label in particular. This is testified in their glorious cover of “A Girl as Sweet at You” from their debut and the acoustic version of the Knaves’ “Your Stuff” which rounds out disc one. It’s not every decade that you hear a band covering the Knaves. Disc two features the Mosier Safe Sessions with its very apt echo making these rehearsals a Mondo Mid-sixties blow out. Also included on disc two, is a solid and satisfying WFMU set (15.5 songs from Joe Belock's Three Chord Monte program) from the dawn of this decade.
While coulda, woulda, shoulda surround the legend of Jonny Chan and the New Dynasty 6, these are only shadows contrasting with the moments of brilliance. With the perspective of time, Chan has come to terms with the missed opportunities, “It was 2000, Garage was hotter than it had ever been and we did everything wrong, we blew it big time. Nobody was willing to do what was needed to be done including myself.” Even if the band was able to ride the momentum, make an appearance on the Sopranos, play at the Randall's Island Donut Festival and release a glossy record on Wicked Cool, this path would have belied the unraveling energy of band lead by the unorthodox and unbounded spirit of Jonny Chan. Conversely, if the band was able to sidestep the fallows and minefields, they maybe could have achieved a string of releases and international festival appearances placing them in the upper echelons of the garage world. Nevertheless, this recovered bounty of previously unreleased recordings emanates with Chan’s considerable talents and vast capacities in commanding musical order while simultaneously dishing out the chaos. Furthermore, the story and sound are far from over as anything can happen when you enter the indomitable world of Jonny Chan and New Dynasty 6. -Ted Liebler
Jonny Chan And The New Dynasty 6 - I Hate You Baby! (2CD Sound Camera Records 2009) FLAC 1 2 320
Enjoy!