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| SADO-NATION 'Disruptive Pattern' (Gummopunx Records) June 2013 LP A neat little vinyl artifact here for all you budding obscure punk collectors out there. Featuring Sado-Nation from the US Pacific Northwest. Who were in my humble opinion, Portland's premier punk outfit during the early 80's. This is the first time these songs have been released, since they appeared on 'Future Past, Present, Tense' CD compilation in 2005. Now 8 years later they finally make their vinyl debut after the original release was shelved in '81. For those who are not familiar with the band, Leesa Nation's high octane vocal range takes up the lions share of the 12 tracks on show. While Dave Corboy, the driving force guitarist and founder member, takes lead on 4 of the other tracks. As an added bonus, we end with a trio of unreleased (in any format) cassette tracks from '83, which was sent to MRR as a promo and features the powerful presence of Mish Bondage on lead vocal. The productions great on all the tracks and Gummopunx records of the Netherlands have done well to give this artifact a bona fide release. Miss Nation's high pitched yelp is certainly to the fore on these recordings, which seemed to be a prevalent presence throughout the female singers style in this band. It certainly adds an extra quantity to the by now tight Sado sound and Corboy's growl. Songs like the impressive 'Cut Off The Cord' seems to benefit way more from Leesa's less impulsive vocal and was a neat foil for the sinister undertone. Corboy's guitar is always busy creating those razor sharp shards that grate across their rampant abrasive landscape. They take a different approach on 'The Dark' which speeds up and slows down as Corboy displays his most heartfelt vocal. The last 3 tracks blitz in at an unbelievably accelerated rate (2 mins, 10 secs in all) and are hardcore to the max, as Mish prowls your speakers as speed is of the essence before the album careers to a close. The band still play when they can all get on the same continent so this is a good example to set for new listeners. My only disappointment is the absolutely bland looking record cover, which looks like bad camouflage on the side of a Sherman tank. But having personally loaded Corboy's gigantic guitar speaker on and off the Sado war wagon a few times, maybe that's the thinking behind the mans big and heavy artistic control. At least we get the all consuming fascination with nocturnal afflictions on the lyric insert, but little else? And positively no band pics, but we are teased with a small cassette pic of the offending article that MRR might still have in their SF review bunker? Always expect the unexpected where Sado-Nation are concerned, but that's how we like it, and this baby plays at 45 rpm too for extra effect. WORTH A LISTEN Cheers to Mish for signing my copy. Gummopunxrecords |
| VARIOUS Dangerhouse: Complete Singles Collection 1977-1979 (Munster Records) 2013 2xCD I just had to get this CD collection, although the hardcore collectors among us can get the same set on pristine vinyl 45's, just like the originals. Which must be very tempting after a lot of these releases were only issued in small quantity's approximately 35 years ago, before becoming iconic slices of Californian punk rock. It all comes in a fantastic 2 CD digi-pack, with 2 neat booklets one featuring all the 45 covers, plus a full colour thick booklet that sets out the background noise to all of these by now legendary punk noises we grew up to love and hate in equal parts... Black Randy anyone? The booklet lovingly put together by Munster Records really does do justice to those fantastic Dangerhouse releases and features some fantastic rare shots of all individuals in action, plus some neat memorabilia to peruse while it blasts out your speakers. Musically this covers a lot of ground breaking acts making their vital debuts like the Avengers , the Dils, the Weirdo's, and X. On the other hand there's also the warts an all releases, like the delusional Black Randy lol. First band up are the Randoms who are something of a supergroup that featured Dangerhouse co founder Pat Garret on Vocals and guitar, John Doe of X on bass and KK Barret of the Screamers on drums. The Screamers connection continued with Dave Brown who was another Dangerhouse co founder and who wrote the informative sleevenotes to the booklet. Along with various input from other local luminaries. I'd never heard these 2 tracks properly, but remember John Peel playing the b side 'Lets Get Rid Of New York' on his show. However 'ABCD' is a really weak opener that drones on with almost punk by numbers lyrics. But its flip really excels in punk snottiness. 'Lets Get Rid Of New York' has the snot quotient ramped up to maximum levels as inter city rivalry was rife even in this scenes early stages, and is a must hear piece of punk rock at its most elemental level. The manic vocals steal the show along with their fast and energetic delivery. Black Randy of the Metrosquad may have been a legend in his own squalid right amongst the Hollywood punk scene, but he don't really seem as interesting or important musically as a lot of the others on this compilation. Which makes me wonder why he got such a large quota of singles 35 years down the line. The song titles are way more fun than the actual tracks, but best of the bunch has gotta be the hilarious line of "im a loner with a boner'.... and gonna im telephone her" which is raw, fast and extremely diy but i like it. 5 tracks in and the quality shoots up, as we are confronted by the Avengers from up the coast in San Francisco. And at this early stage shows why they were the most popular band in the arse end of '77 US punk scene after the Ramones. Musically they're light years ahead of whats previously been released on Dangerhouse, with fast, sharp abrasive outbursts on this their debut vinyl with 'We Are The One'. Penelope's vocals make an instant impact, you just knew they were special. Even when she makes up the words as she goes along during 'I Believe In Me' it just sounds perfect and underlines their pacy energetic punk with attitude. 'Car Crash' seals their fate as their ability and penchant for creating blitzin atmospheric punk with a vulnerability we'd come to love! It's followed by whats undeniably a punk classic via the Dils 'Class War' with its simplistic but highly contagious Ramones like riff and snotty vocals ripping apart the class struggle. 'Mr Big' shows the Dils in their Clash inspired style best, with neat tunes and great backing vocals. Followed by possibly my favorite LA punk band who looked as good as they sound. The brilliant Weirdo's spit out their punk classic double dose of nihilism with 'We Got The Neutron Bomb' and their unique view of madness in 'Solitary Confinement'. A song so good it was covered by bigger guns like the Dickies. We then zoom back out the asylum and back down the alleyways with the Dead Kennedyesque Alley Cats with 'Nothing Means Nothing' and its shimmering guitars, just a pity Randy Stoodoles vocals are a little theatrical to give em the street cred they deserve, but his guitar playing was exemplary but not half as appealing as Diane Chais photogenic presence. X 'Adult Books' seemed a little weak on this take, but you can tell they were something a little special by the time the anthem 'Were Desperate' kicked in, with its scratchy guitars and hallmark duel vocals and complemented the power of the record cover which was outstanding and a neat track to close disc 1. Disc 2. Black Randy kicks off disc 2 with the cultish 'Idi Amen' which was classed as "total rubbish" by Dangerhouse themselves. In fact during March '78 the label was starting to decline rapidly. Our next offering was Howard Werth the token Brit relocated to LA who done a deal with the label to release a 45 as a favour for negotiating with X, who by this stage were not getting on well with the label due to poor sales. Howard Woerth unknown here and still unknown in LA was to remain in obscurity after these two tracks. The Deadbeats fronted by the photogenic and slightly unbalanced Scott Guerin who looked like the long lost son of Mr Spock is a legend. And talking of legends his guitarist Geza X also fronts the cover of this compilation, but back to the music. The Deadbeats offer us 4 cuts including their minor cult hit 'Kill Hippies'..." send em back to San Francisco' which i always found amusing and full of snot. Then they start showing off their more quirky art rock side during 'Brainless' and 'Final Ride' which has hints of ???? Next up is another fave the mesmerising Bags with their slinky spy spoof intro before launching into the bombastic 'Survive', which has the talented Alice Bag who supplies the best female vocals to come outta LA's original punk scene. A delivery that's armed with sarc and malicious intent. Followed by the brilliant 'Babylonian Gorgan' with its brilliant lyrics and that fantastic guitar work by Rob Ritter. The Eyes appear next and are another band I'm not too familiar with. They supply well played new wave with a definite poppy overtone, complete with Doors organ. 'TAQN' or 'Take Another Qualude Now' features Charlotte Caffey on bass and vocals who went on to form the Go Go's. Rhino 39 i'd seen numerous times on vintage punk flyers from the LA area but had never actually heard them till now. They're pretty good too with 'No Compromise' speeding along giving a nod to pop punk before it had even been thought of. As we hit 1979 Dangerhouse Records were about to finish and it was all down to this man Black Randy And The Metrosquad to bid us farewell with 'I Slept In An Arcade' which is one of his better numbers and has a neat organ filled backing by the now pissed off Metroquad. Definitely well worth getting for a glimpse into this historic punk package with some great pics and a booklet full of info that gives us a fantastic snapshot of 3 years in LA's burgeoning punk scene. WORLD CONTENDER MUNSTER RECORDS |
| ANTAGONIZERS ATL. 'Hold Your Ground' November 2013 CDEP Rabble rousing testosterone punk here all the way from Atlanta and done with showmanship, flair and an agonizing amount of brawn. Their seemingly Oi! defiance merges well into a more rock'n'roll hardcore approach. Apparently they gig like animals, have a mis match of personalities for a band, but belt out the numbers well and sound like they mean it. They label themselves as 'working class rock'n'roll' and I don't doubt that for a minute. So if your still struggling with such a schizophrenic amount of styles in their Georgian polemic, just imagine the Dropkicks Murphy/Streets Dogs but with out the blarney or unique vocal. 'Hate City Rock' leers out the speakers, but unlike most of the other bands in this genre, the lead guitarist injects a definite late 70's fill into the mix which gives the Antagonizers a neat dimension. On the other hand the riff in 'City Boy' reminds me of a Micky Geggus creation. While the title track 'Hold Your Ground' is by far the best track and sets us up for a full on attack, but the big singer called Bohdan doesn't quite match up to his obvious on stage antics, his delivery is a bit flat in contrast to the music. However it is kept afloat by yet another neat gang vocal and a Dead Boys killer riff. This EP is produced by Joe Queer of The Queers, which is an unlikely alliance but works really well. Hes definitely captured the power without one pop harmony in sight. Comes in an limited 200 promo copies which are probably all over the globe by now. They are after a label to release a full length album so this sampler should easily secure them that privilege because they certainly have the publicity promotion thing well sussed. You can find out more here... WORTH A LISTEN ANTAGONIZERS ATL. |
| THE VAMPIRE JUNKIES FEATURING TEXAS TERRI (Angels In Exile Records) 18th March 2013 CDEP Really appreciate this EP arriving as I'm a massive fan of anything Miss Texas Terri's and her infamous female Iggy Pop drawl routine puts her name too. Which is a punk rock pleasure to witness both on record or especially live. Again apologies about the delay in review space but better late than never. It's a sure long way from South-fork to Southend where the Vampire Junkies reside. And a collaboration id never have really envisaged. But its a good one! Texas Terri of course just seems to keep on going in all sorts of weird n wacky places. And is usually placed in Berlin these days, so she sure gets around having more recently fronted a version of the Damned with Rat and Bryan James playing 'Damned Damned Damned' which id sadly missed. Decent backing bands are a must for a performer like her and the Vampire Junkies don't disappoint. The accompany her sleazoid take on life with aplomb. And is such a breeze coming from a female perspective rather the usual men only in these oh so PC laced times, its sonically mesmerizing. 'With My Machines; offers a scuzzy guitar riff you recall from god knows where, but fits her vocal style completely. 'Mainline' sounds like another junkie anthem but this ain't drugs were pushing its blood! As the junkies lurk through the city at night with tongue firmly in cheek. Drum rolls and guitar riffs signals 'Rocket Red' which could quite possibly be written about Miss Terri's big red lips, you just wanna kiss. But you soon get the feeling miss Texas Terri is just the voice as the lyrics sound like they were written from a male perspective? 'Denmark St' has has an almost Heartbreakers swagger as it celebrates being dumped in such hallowed surroundings complete with cool backing vocals and a Thunders solo you could die for. Finally 'Tokyo Rubber' sounds sleazy in a strange perspective but when its sung by a woman it flips it all around and works on these 5 originals. It all comes with an 8 page colour booklet and is out on Vampire Junkie drummer Steve Pegrum (aka Steve Machine), Angels In Exile record label. You can check out the promo video clip to 'Denmark Street' on the bands website. VAMPIRE JUNKIES. WORTH A LISTEN For further information go to... www.angelsinexile.com |
