"Too punk for hardcore, too hardcore for punk," Throwing Stuff are a UK band which has members from Manchester (Kieran, Jamie), Liverpool (Alun) and London (Ben). Adding some humour to the often serious world of hardcore punk rock, they released their debut album, TSFU, in 2013. Short for Throwing Stuff Fuck You, it featured 9 tracks with titles like Napalm Death Fuck You and Throwing Jelly as well as a raucous cover of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi. You can snap it up "name your price" here : http://throwingstuff.bandcamp.com/.
They also did a split ep with Blackpool emo punks Boston Manor.
From the album, this is Steve's Job......
I want to smash my face into this fucking desk Living for the weekend life, it's such a mess
Get up early, go home late Living the life we love to hate Said you never wanted that 9-5 Shame you've got to eat to survive
I want to crush this mouse inside my fucking fist Eating cake on Friday there's no solace for this
Get up early, go home late Living the life we love to hate Said you never wanted that 9-5 Shame you've got to eat to survive
Fuck your job Fuck your boss Fuck casual Friday's Fuck the lot.
Forming in 1979 in Bristol, The Zeds featured a line up of Alex McPherson (vocals), Simon Burrough (guitar), Richard Braybrooke (bass) and John Zalokoski (drums). They were still at school at the time and it wasn't long before Zalokoski was replaced on drums by Simon's 13 year old younger brother, Ian Burrough. They also changed their name to Court Martial.
By 1982 they had 3 demos under their belt and were supporting bands of the calibre of Chelsea and Vice Squad. They signed to Vice Squad's Riot City Records and featured on that label's Riotous Assembly compilation with the song Your War. They released their biggest "hit" the Gotta Get Out ep and followed it up with their final release, the No Solution ep. They split up shortly after.
These Creeps are an energetic hardcore ska punk band from Plymouth who formed in 2012 and sing about "the boring, broken, drunken and conflicting life in the suburbs."
Featuring Ross Lawer (vocals), Anthony Goffin (guitar), Mr Bassman (bass) and Haylock (drums), they're one of a number of impressive bands on Bristol's Riot Ska label. A whole string of influences include The Clash, Streetlight Manifesto, Nerve Agents, Leftover Crack, Metallica etc......
They started the ball rolling with 2013's Bigger Problem ep, followed it up a few months later with the Brand New Gasmask single before releasing the Docker's Day single. This year saw the release of the very impressive debut album Sinning In These Suburbs. You can check them all out here : http://thesecreeps.bandcamp.com/
The song I'm posting is off the album and is called Cell Filler (6102319).....
A wonderfully sloppy song today that came out in 1980 on Gulcher Records.
The Panics were the self titled best band in Bloomington, Indiana and featured John Barge (vocals), Ian Brewer (guitar), Yara Cluver (bass) and Mike Ost (drums). Their crowning glory was the aforementioned 7" which featured the songs I Wanna Kill My Mom, Best Band and Tie Me Up Baby (this track was a cover of a song by The Gizmos from their Never Mind The Sex Pistols Here's The Gizmos ep).
A compilation album surfaced in 2001 titled 1980-1981 : I Wanna Kill My Mom!!! Mostly recorded live and featuring several Sex Pistols covers it's probably an acquired taste.
Today's song comes from The Dogtown Rebels, a band who's members, Dave Sadler (vocals/bass), John "Fanny" Adams (lead guitar), Chris Lloyd (lead guitar) and Wal Jarvis (drums), are based in East Anglia (Bury St Edmonds, Ipswich and Norwich). They've previously featured in a number of top acts including The Destructors, Special Duties, Red Flag 77, Infa Riot and Dangers Close.
Influenced by the likes of The Clash, UK Subs, Cock Sparrer, The Damned, Social Distortion, Sick On The Bus and The Jam, they play a brand of old school punk rock that has "more hooks than a Spanish fishing fleet."
Formed in 2011, they've just released a new album, Brave New World, which is a step up from their previous material (aided by better production) and features 14 tracks of blazing punk rock tunage. You can hear some music from the band here : https://www.reverbnation.com/thedogtownrebels
The song that I'm featuring today is their tribute to some of the punks that are no longer with us, this is Song For The Fallen.....
Many thanks today to Dr And The Crippens bassist Wayne Elliott for providing a list of his 10 favourite songs (or at least the ones that were his favourites at the time of writing). Rather than list his selections in the normal way, I'm going to post them in the way that he sent them to me and try and add the songs in the right place. In Wayne's own words.......... For my 10 I am going to list songs that I am currently listening to rather than ones I have loved for years but never actually play. The Replacements have written many, many fine songs but I was delighted when they opened their recent London show with 'Taking a Ride' and 'Sorry Ma... ' has been in the car ever since.
Which brings me to lifelong 'Mats fan Craig Finn and his band The Hold Steady. I never see them getting posted on here but 'Boys and Girls in America' was an immense album. I don't think they have matched it since but I am enjoying 'Teeth Dreams' and the opening cut ' I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You' is a great song.
My most played track at the moment is Wonk Unit's ' King's Road Sporting Heroes'. I like everything I have heard by the Wonk and they are definetly a band I intend to check out live soon.
I still play some old stuff and The Cheifs comp. on Doctor Strange is excellent so I will include 'Blues'.
Leatherface are a band I saw but never bought anything by. I am rectifying that now and ' God is Dead' off 'The Stormy Petrel' lp is seeing some deck time.
Like the next 2 selections I picked that up from Different Kitchen Records . The Bomb - Official are a band who have yet to put a foot wrong and 'Watch Them Bleed' is another track getting plenty of spins.
No///se have released 2 superb lps so the title track of the second ' Lower Berth' also makes the cut.
Ex Ripchord boys Violent Arrest survived the loss of their vocalist to record a great lp on Boss Tuneage Records with ex Four Letter Word man Welly Artcoreproving an excellent replacement. 'Mission Creep' is one of several standout tracks.
The Castro album also on Boss T is a bit of a grower. My fave track though is ' Nocturnally Yours' which featured on the earlier 7 inch.
Last bu by no means least are Grand Collapse with another EP track 'Forecast'. Their album also comes highly recommended and they seem to be going from strength to strength. Enjoy !
don't look in the freezer , there's something nasty inside. don't look in the freezer , you wont like what you find. BECAUSE DADDY'S MURDERED MUMMY , CHOPPED HER UP IN BITS COS DADDY'S MURDERED MUMY , PUT HER IN THE FRIDGE.........
Today's song is from a band that came from my old home town of Lancaster. Dr And The Crippens formed in 1987 and were together for around 4 years during which time they gained plenty of attention for their live shows in which the killer hardcore tunes would be complimented by an array of flamboyant costumes and stage props (including an exploding head!).
Recording wise, they released the albums Fired From The Circus (1998) and Raphanadosis (1989), both on Manic Ears Records. There was also the 1992 Live Hearts album which compiled various live performances from the previous year's German tour. Amongst their other releases were the Live ep, the Avant Gardening 12", a Japanese split ep with Juntess and 1991's Turn To Gas 7" (this latter ep featured a great version of The Clash's I'm So Bored With The USA). They also recorded a couple of well received John Peel Sessions.
Members of the band included the splendidly named Max Von Reinheart (vocals), Tom Crippen (guitar/vocals), Wayne Crippenski (bass/vocals), Jesus Van Gogh (drums/vocals), BB Kablamo (drums) and Emily Danger (who guested as vocalist on today's song and who has a band named after her).
Nowadays, bassist Wayne Crippenski has reverted to plain old Wayne Elliott but he was kind enough to write a piece about the song you'll see posted below...
"Funny how Freezer became our most popular song as we only put it back in the set about 3 weeks before we recorded Fired From The Circus. The lyrics were written by me after a time when I'd got half way to the shop to buy some grub and remembered I hadn't looked in the freezer. It's loosely based on the horror movie Asylum where dismembered body parts are stored in a chest freezer. I was stockpiling Ramones style lyrics with the aim of putting something in that style together. The tune was written by our original guitarist/vocalist Andy Fox. He'd only heard a couple of da brudders tunes prior to joining so we lent him their first 3 albums, gave him some lyrics and off he went. He left the band around the time co-founder Ben and I discovered Poison Idea and went more HC. The female vocalist on Freezer was a French girl called Geraldine that we met down the pub. She said that she was in a band so we asked her along to the studio not realising she was a bass player not a vocalist. Cracking job she did though! Live it became a sing a long fave and is almost a punk standard in the North West these days with several bands covering it in their sets. D Liberate are the latest and earned themselves a repeat gig recently when the promoter heard them soundcheck with it. Just need Green Day to do it now as the publishing cash would be handy!"
Coming soon will be a list of Wayne's 10 favourite songs but until then, this is probably his best known, Don't Look In The Freezer.....
The Grady Coffee Five, or GC5 for short, formed in Cleveland, Ohio, back in 1996. They were made up of Doug McKean (bass/vocals), Pete Kyrou (guitar/vocals), Chris Yohn (guitar) and Dave McKean (drums). Writers of socially concious, working class anthems they were compared with the likes of Rancid, Swingin' Utters and The Clash.
1997 saw the release, on Guttersnipe Records, of the cd, A More Agressive Approach Towards Peacekeeping and this was followed by a trio of 7"'s (Buy American, Takin' It To The Streets and The Price Of Security) before the 2000 album Kisses From Hanoi.
It was around this time that Paul Weaver replaced Chris Yohn on guitar but this didn't stop their upwards momentum. The Horseshoes And Handgrenades ep and a split album with kindred spirits Hudson Falcons (67,104 Miles Later...) was followed by what many people consider to be their best release. Never Bet The Devil Your Head came out in 2002 on Thick Records and saw punknews.org saying "This is a great cd, every song on here just is what punk should be, you should get this if you like any sort of street/Oi/hardcore/punk. This is one of my favorite albums of this year, and will probably be near the top of my top ten albums of this year. If you consider yourself a punk you should be listening to this right now, and until you do I will continue to be more punk than you."
Thick also released a cd containing Kisses From Hanoi/Horseshoes And Handgrenades whilst The Singles Collection (1997-2000) surfaced on Cosa Nostra. 2003 saw them split, Doug and Dave McKean went on to form the short lived Motel Blonde with former Dropkick Murphy Ryan Foltz, the man who produced Never Bet The Devil Your Head. From that album, this is The Long Goodbye.....
Another time, a different page, when ignorance was all the rage, I used to count my blessings to know you. It's mouths like yours that spread disease, and everyone in your sight is weak at the knees, waiting for your true intentions to show through.
Call in the exterminator, this place is full of bugs. Rats show their faces later, when you've already pulled the plug.
Boys like you don't wear no crowns, and girls like you don't wear no frowns, they're only jesters in someone else's court. Discontented but entertained, dangerous but easily contained, looking to someone to hold their fort.
Call in the exterminator, this place is full of bugs. Rats show their faces later, when you've already pulled the plug.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to turn, after all your bridges burn, got no shoulders you can cry on, and no one you can rely on. Apologies, the most that you'll admit
Another time, a different page, when ignorance was all the rage, I used to count my blessings to know you. It's mouths like yours that spread disease, and everyone in your sight is weak at the knees, waiting for your true intentions to show through.
Call in the exterminator, this place is full of bugs. Rats show their faces later, when you've already pulled the plug.
You and I can meet where the avenues hit the streets, and we'll settle our score of problems once and for all. I'll meet you in the park, an hour after dark, and I'll try to talk but you'd rather see a brawl. When your heroes and villains converge, another picture will emerge. Did we ever think that this would end with such a long goodbye?
A new song today from a band that got together in 2011 and are from Columbus, Ohio.
Nervosas feature Jeff Kleinman (vocals/bass), Mickey Mocnik (guitar/vocals) and Nick Schuld (drums) and they play an atmospheric style of gothic post punk (under influences they put "anxiety noise frustration and space"). Their first release was 2011's Ardentes demo cassette and they followed it up a year later with the Rev 45 7" and a second demo called Descension. 2013 Saw them put out a debut, s/t, album. You can check out all those here : https://nervosas.bandcamp.com/album/descension
Now signed to Dirtnap Records, earlier this month they released their second s/t album. Bass driven and moody with some of the best drumming you'll hear in this kind of music, the album has been picking up plenty of complimentary press. You can find out what all the fuss is about here : https://dirtnaprecords.bandcamp.com/album/nervosas-s-t
Uptempo, and featuring a great male/female vocal trade off, this is Parallels....
In 2008 there was a Japanese tribute album to Snuff featuring various artists, one of which, Razors Edge, covered the aforementioned Dicky Trois. The band formed in Osaka in 1996 and can be neatly summed up as "thrash, hardcore, punk, rock." You can find out more about them on their blog.... http://razorsedgejapan.com/
The best compliment that I can pay them is that their manic version of Dicky Trois matches and maybe even surpasses the original. Check it out.....
Getting together in 1996 in Piacenza, Italy, Stinking Polecats were a Ramones/Screeching Weasel/Lookout Records influenced pop punk band. They self released a single, Love?!, in 1997 and followed it up with a split ep with Home Alone. Uk label Irritation Records put out the following years debut album These Are Just Stoopid Songs Played By Morons.
A second album, A Song For Your Boyfriend, came out in 2000 on Wynona Records and there was also the 2003 Pretty Girl single as well as several splits with the likes of The Fairlanes, Travoltas, The Automatics, Destructos and Retarded. The latter, a 2001 ep on Bad Man Records, features the song I've posted below.
They split in 2006 but vocalist Chris Polecat can nowadays be found fronting Tough, another Italian band who aren't afraid to let their love of The Ramones shine through. You can check them out here : http://tough.bandcamp.com/
An upbeat, old school pop punk love song that features killer backing vocals, this is Claire.....
"It’s hard to be a punk in Aceh And do what you wanna do
They never listen when we say
We don’t wanna be like you! "
It's hard to be a punk in Ache sang Citizen Useless back in 2013. This was in response to an incident in Ache, Indonesia's only Sharia province, where in 2011, 65 punks were arrested and detained at an Islamic moral training camp where they had their heads shaved and clothes burnt. You can find out more about this on this documentary : https://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/punk-vs-sharia. Despite the oppression and persecution, the Indonesian punk scene is one of the world's largest and today I'm featuring a song by one of that countries best bands.
Citizen Useless are based in Jakarta and formed in 2006. They've had several line up changes down the years and besides Indonesia have featured members from Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Currently the line up consists of J Sin (vocals/guitar), Dang Dut (guitar), Yudah (bass) and Made Vomit (drums).
They released their first album, Don't Die For Lies, in 2009 and followed it up a couple of years later with The Presidents Of The United Mistakes. 2013 brought album number 3, Any Port In A Storm and this year they've put out what they describe as their best yet, Many Fingers Make A Fist. Their sound has been described as 90's street punk and they've been compared with the likes of Agnostic Front, Rancid and NOFX. They're angry and they write intelligent, thought provoking songs expressing their discontent with the world we live in. You can check out their music here : http://citizenuseless.bandcamp.com/
From the new album, this is The Streets.....
I walk the streets Underneath an empty sky They draw me in And there is no question why
There is a purpose To every step that I take I walk the line And every turn that I make
It starts a chapter Tells the world I am free and every corner Is a wave upon a sea
That has no ending So why not open up your mind And take off that suit And refuse to be confined
The streets are calling me home The streets are calling me home The streets are calling me home The streets are calling me home
There is a truth That is there for you to find If you go looking Within the galleys of the mind
Where every echo And every choice that you make It brings you closer ‘til you know it’s not too late
To let it go And end it all with good bye Find some good friends Who will never ask you why
You walk the streets Underneath an empty sky Guitar on your back And the future in your eyes
I've been lucky enough to see some really great bands down the years but one name that springs to mind whenever anyone asks who were the best is Lightyear. Maybe they didn't attract the crowds or sell the amount of records of some of the other acts I've seen (eg, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Stranglers, SLF, UK Subs, PIL, Dickies, Smiths, Killing Joke, Buzzcocks etc etc etc...) but for sheer fun and enjoyment they were as good as anyone.
From Derby, they formed in 1997 and after their self released Just Another Demonstration ep and a split with Evil Macaroni, they signed to Household Name Records. Their debut album was 2001's Call Of The Weasel Clan which featured fan favourites such as Blindside, Three Basics and the absolutely wonderful Pack Of Dogs.
A seven piece, the convenient tag for them would be ska punk but they were more than that. Featuring two trumpets and a tenor sax, they had a great brass section which combined with their sense of fun and innovation made them stand out from the pack.
Album number two followed a couple of years later, Chris Gentleman's Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop was slightly more polished than the debut but no less innovative or fun. The album's final track, 2,000 kebab shops, was an indication that the end of the band was nigh ("Well yeah, I find this really hard to do. I love being in a band, there's nothing like performing and playing live, and meeting people; but sometimes it all gets a bit too much. There are a few months where you're surviving on three pounds a day, which is three portions of chips and whatever we can steal off the big headline band. I'm spending that much time in a van with other people, it's a bit of a headfuck to say the least."), they split soon after. There's been reunion shows since (including the recent Slam Dunk Festival) but no new material.
Good news though, frontman Chas Palmer-Williams will be releasing an album titled American Smile, British Teeth and you can find out more here : http://www.chaspalmerwilliams.com/home
From Lightyear's last album, this is Life Jacket Water Wings.....
Head down pretending Like you've never seen them An old street called Withdraw and you walk on Everything's a pound Everything's too loud When I try and speak to you I'm speaking Klingon Who do you talk to? I wish you were see-through Where's the "Vod's Theory"? Where's the "Cotton Weary"? I look back, you're wonderful You're wonderful
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
Smile I said smile (S.M.I.L.E) In Street Fighter 2 that would be your special move Against Guile Is everything still there? Remember how we would drop anything, go everywhere? Yeah these songs say I spent my life on the motorway
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
Head down pretending Like you've never seen them An old street called Withdraw and you walk on Everything's a pound Everything's too loud When I try and speak to you I'm speaking Klingon Who do you talk to? I wish you were see-through Where's the "Vod's Theory"? Where's the "Cotton Weary"? I look back, you're wonderful You're wonderful
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
Hailing from Wilmington, Delaware, Jake And The Stiffs were one of those bands that should have been huge but instead seemed to slip through the cracks. Forming in 1989, they played old school pop punk/power pop and put out an album in 1992 called Love So Deep and a handful of killer 7"s; Steal This Record, Pot Belly Pete, Spike and I Like Girls. There were various other tapes and tracks on compilation albums, possibly the most interesting of which was their version of The Descendents' I'm Not A Loser (which is worth checking out on youtube).
Headed up by songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Randy America, the other original members were Jason (Jake) Loch and Scott Goldstein. They also featured at one time or another the likes of Algy Siouxicide (aka Vince Kilpatrick), Donnie Switchblade, Matt Drastic (aka Matt Yonker), Steve Funk and Zach Hansen.
Last year was a good one for JATS fans, not only was there the digitally remastered release of the debut album and of the previously unreleased second album LUB 84, there was also the Kelly Bundy ep and The Singles (a compilation album of the tracks from their 4 singles). You can check some of those out here : http://jakeandthestiffs.bandcamp.com/album/the-singles.......
The song I'm posting is probably my favourite of theirs and was on the Steal This Record 7", it's called called Holly.....
I was in kindergarten eatin glue (when I first saw ya) when my eyes looked up to you (ya I adored ya) you were holding that crayola blue (and I adored ya) like I'd never seen before I waited patiently until recess came around I followed you so quietly I didn't even make a sound Oh Holly I will give my heart to you, I'm true, yeah my first love
I started fixing up my hair, and my friends all stopped and stared I didn't even care, I'd never felt these thought before We'd sit and share our milk until recess came and gone And when the day was finally over I'd hold your hand and walk you home Oh Holly I will give my heart to you, I'm true, yeah my first love
One day I saw you out with Bob it's true, I didn't know what to do You were holding that crayola blue, like I'd seen you do before I finally figured out what you was all about you used me for my innocense so my friends would come around Oh Holly I now take my heart from you, we're through, yeah yeah we're done
