Butthole Surfers

Love this song.....

Ed Gein's Car - Brain Dead Baby (1984)

In 1984 as hardcore was descending into metal, out of New York City came Ed Gein's Car to smash you in the face with a great slab of old style, sing-a-long punk. This was their first 7'' and was closely followed by their long player "Making Dick Dance". Both are as catchy as hell and are "must haves". They released a live album and then disappeared for years until '91 and a new 7'', Naked Man, appeared.

They still play shows to this date.
 
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Crucified Barbara

Gotta thank John, again, for alerting me to this band.

Coming out of Stockholm, Sweden, Crucified Barbara Started as a punk band in the late 90's but morphed into a metal, and some say glam, band fairly quickly. Steer clear of this post Kenny; you'll hate them :)

They have two albums so far, both great, the first one being harder and more punky...ish. Comprising: -

Mia Coldheart (Karlsson) - Vocals, lead guitar
Klara Force (Ronnqvist Fors) - Guitar
Ida Evileye (Stenbacka) - Bass
Nicki Wicked (Jannicke Lindstrom) - Drums

I'm not a huge metal head, but I like some and these girls are right up my street, they play hard, uncheesy and catchy songs. Devil horns all round \o/

I could watch this one on repeat for days; Ida's bass playing is hypnotic, great tone.

Oh yeah, let's spend the night
We'll crucify you with no pain, yeah right
Four pieces of dirt and lust
Goddamn it, in distortion we trust

Run fast, you're going down
We are the superstars from Sheep Valley town
The noise will blow your speakers away
If you don't like the shit you don't have to stay

Wicked sounds on the gasoline drums
The Evil eye is watching you
Strings of steel Forces you down
The Crap is mad and it's shouting out loud

L-Seven - Insanity (1982)

I've always loved this 7'', it's trashy, poppy punk. Released in '82 on touch and go records, although it was listed as touch and go special forces. This was a way of differentiating between the "normal" hardcore on T&G and the more poppy punk of L-Seven. The band comprised: -

Larissa Storlarchuk - Vocals
Dave Rice - Guitar
Scott Schuer - Guitar
Frank Callis - Bass
Kory Clark - Drums

This is the bands only release and they split in '83. Larissa would later play guitar in the Laughing Hyenas with ex members of Negative Approach and, later, the Necros. Sadly she died in 2006. Kory Clark went on to front Warrior Soul. Both these bands are ones I like; Warrior Soul especially.

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G.I.S.M.

Defcon Zero

Damn fine band imho.......

Their album's really good...brutally good.

Gastunk - st (1985)

There's something about Japanese punk/hardcore that always grabbed me, they seem to be able to take many musical elements and totally fuck them up into something appealing. Gastunk were/are one of the premier league bands and this is their first 7'' from '85.

Formed after baby left Execute, they went on to influence a large number of Japanese bands. They've split and reformed a number of times over the years.

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Sub Second Rocket - Horsepower (2001)

Not punk warning!

By the early 90's I'd kinda given up on a lot of punk as too much of it seemed to be very closely based on bands who'd gone earlier; especially the power pop bands who based themselves on Bad Religion via Green Day. I like Dookie and early Green Day, but there's only so much of them, and their copyists, I can take. So consequently there wasn't anywhere near the quantity of new punk being added to my list as the previous two decades.

Other routes became far more appealing for me to travel. Bands like Mother Love Bone, Janes Addiction, Tool, Dub War, Tad, Solice, Flaw, Earshot, Alice in Chains, K-line, Helmet, DAD, Manifesto Jukebox, Ministry, RATM, Masters of Reality etc etc were knocking spots off the bubblegum punk bands imo....Blink 182.....please!!!

Sub Second Rocket were part of the Stoner Rock scene and fucking good they were as well. Hailing out of Sweden and consisting of: -

Peter Magnusson - Vocals
Patric Ifverson - Guitar
Daniel Melkersson - Bass
Ola Sundström - Drums

They, sadly, didn't last too long, but managed to spit out some fine releases; this one being a 4 song promo for their long player.

They formed in 1998 and by 2004 they were gone, another band killed in the Napster cull. A real shame as they could kick some stonking riffage. I had the pleasure of chatting to Daniel some years ago and he sent me a few demos; nice guy.

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Alice in Chains

A classic song from a great band.

Fudge Tunnel

Twisted Nerve - Caught in Session (1982)

A band who, around this time, were lumped in with the bourgeoning goth scene, UK Decay, Southern Death Cult etc....there was so many sub genres then. To me, and my mates, they were just another punk type band.....looking back they probably were goth.

Championed by the mighty John Peel they formed in Edinburgh in '78. They had a number of releases, this being their first 7'', however they had appeared on Mint Sauce for the Masses comp two years earlier. This was a peel session put to vinyl. I only had one more of their releases back then as I'd hit hardcore like a brick wall. I still like this release....takes me back :)

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Front Page - Qualified (1981)

You won't believe how many years I've been searching for this album, well the release date will give you a clue; now I have it, I'm kinda disappointed. Their first 7'' is just staggeringly good, so naturally I wanted this album to be as good and, sadly, it's not.

It starts on a huge high note with the opening track called Summernight Sensation and raises hopes of a joyous trip down the early 80's punk/new wave avenue, but it quickly runs down a cul-de-sac and rarely returns.

Anyway, as I chased this for years and haven't seen it pop up anywhere, not that I'm a huge surfer, I thought I'd throw it out there. It's worth getting for the first track alone btw.

Music

The Go Go's

The Stranglers ......

Just noticed this on their official website...woot!!

"We finally felt ready to start the recording process.

Quite a few ideas had been rejected, others had been kept on the back boiler not quite complete but not totally disposable.

Are these lyrics naff or are they saying something? Is this just a fourth form rant or is it meaningful? Does this melody remind you of anything or anyone? What rhythm can we hang this melody on? Is this song at the right tempo? Does this piece sound like prog rock? Is there enough space in this one?

Well, the first four pieces are underway. Their titles are Freedom is Insane (which many of you wll have heard during the tour earlier this year), Giants , Time Was Once On My Side and Boom Boom (not the John Lee Hooker song).

Watch this space..."

Their last two albums were a REAL return to form and if you haven't seen them live since Paul left...do. They're a fantastic live band again as a four piece, with Baz doing a great job as the other frontman.

The Stranglers.

The Damned - Shadows of the Damned (2011)

Can you believe it....35 years. It seems like two seconds since I was standing around the back of the school buying a second hand copy of Neat ,Neat, Neat.

The Damned remain my favourite band from then 'till now, yet I've not seen them live for years, 1986/87 I think.....that gig was a desperately poor event with Bryn and Roman trying to fill the boots of giants and not managing to do it. The atmosphere was dead, the banter with the crowd was gone and it almost looked professional...a bad, bad thing.

I now avoid them as I'm not a fan of the way Dave sings the old songs....I should cut them some slack and attend this years gig where they'll play Damned, Damned, Damned and the Black Album in their entirety.....hmmmm, I might just do that. God knows, no band has given me more pleasure than this lot.

Anyway...here's an MP3 of a recent song they did for the sound track of a computer game called shadows of the damned. I've no idea what the game's like, but the song's pretty damned good.....I did it again. :)

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